Randolph County Indiana Biographies Surnames Starting with M

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The Macys
William A. Macy
, son of Jacob C. and Mary (Shreeve) Macy of Union City, came into the neighborhood about the year 1891 when he married Malinda Brumfield, the daughter of Jesse Brumfield. They spent the first years of their married life southwest of Winchester, but about the year 1894 they moved two miles north of the present Meetinghouse, where he resided until his death in 1936. He held important posts in the Meeting, and he and his family have been continuously active members of the Meeting.
Jericho Friends Meeting And Its Community Randolph County, Indiana 1846
Submitted by: Lora Radiches

GRANT C. MARKLE gave more than thirty-eight years of his life to the conscientious performance of his duties as a physician and surgeon in the community of Winchester, and the splendid work of his own career supplemented the record of his father in the same profession, so that for considerably more than half a century the Markle name has been one deserving of all the honors paid it in this Eastern Indiana community. The late Grant C. Markle by his ancestry represented several lines, chiefly from the northern and New England states. His grandfather, Jacob Markle, was born in New York and married Permilla Sackett, a native of Massachusetts. Her family provided the name for Sackett's Harbor, a port on the Great Lakes frequently mentioned in the annals of the War of 1812. John Edgar Markle, father of Dr. Grant Markle, was born at Ithaca, New York, and married Emily Victoria Johnson, who was born in Pendleton, Indiana, daughter of Jeptha and Percella (Dougherty) Johnson a the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Pennsylvania. The Johnson family came from Pennsylvania, traveling by boat down the Ohio River, the boat being laden with two horses, a cow and household goods. From Cincinnati they traveled overland to Henry County, Indiana, and later to Pendleton. Dr. John Edgar Markle began the study of medicine under Doctor Cook, but in August, 1861, enlisted for military duty in the Civil war. He joined at Anderson, Indiana, was put in Company E of the Thirty-fourth Indiana Infantry, later went to Louisville, was promoted to second and then to first lieutenant and was with his regiment at Helena, Arkansas, and also in Texas. He received his discharge with the rank of captain of Company G, Thirty-fourth Indiana Infantry, on February 5, 1866. After his military service he resumed the practice of medicine at Portland, Indiana, but after his marriage entered Ohio Medical College, where he was graduated in 1869. He practiced at Portland until 1873, then for a time at Hagerstown, and in November, 1874, located at Winchester, where he was associated with Dr. W. G. Smith. In the fall of 1878 he went east for post-graduate work in the Bellevue Hospital at New York, receiving a diploma in the fall of 1879. He then resumed his partnership with Doctor Smith, and after 1885 practiced alone. In 1896 he was elected county clerk of Randolph County, filling that office four years: Dr. John Edgar Markle passed away March 20, 1906, being one of the honored old-time doctors and public men of the county. His wife died April 8, 1918. Dr. Grant C. Markle was born at Portland, Indiana, October 31, 1868. He was graduated from the Winchester High School in 1886, took his Bachelor of Science degree at Wabash College in 1890, and his degree in medicine from the University of Louisville in 1892. Immediately thereafter he embarked in practice, and the community of Winchester had the benefit of his professional skill and his high-minded citizenship for over thirty-eight years. It was this loyal and devoted service rather than the tragic end of his life, which will make his name long loved and esteemed in Winchester. As one of his close friends and fellow Rotarians said: "His outstanding attributes were fidelity to duty; gratitude for kindness shown, and loyalty to his friends. He has not lived in vain, for his influence will be felt in our midst for many, many years. A good, true life, bravely lived, does not end at the grave." On January 16, 1931, Doctor Markle had his car parked on a narrow roadway just east of Winchester and only a short distance from the tracks of the Big Four Railway. A school bus came along, and being unable to pass, stopped until Doctor Markle got in his car. In the confusion incident to his desire to clear the way for the school bus Doctor Markle apparently failed to hear or see the approaching train and drove on to the track in front of the locomotive, which struck the car and he was almost instantly killed. Doctor Markle married, December 30, 1897, Miss Bessie Smith, who was born at Winchester, February 13, 1871. Mrs. Markle, who survives him, is a daughter of Dr. W. G. and Julia (Lucas) Smith. Her father was a native of Madison County, Indiana, and her mother of Randolph County. Much of the time of Doctor Markle was taken up with the public side of his profession. He served as city health officer and in 1909 was appointed county health officer for a term of four years. In 1914 he was elected county coroner, holding that office for fourteen years. Subsequently he was appointed county and city health officer. Doctor Markle was a Republican, attended the Presbyterian Church, was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity, a past master of his Masonic Lodge, a past chancellor of Lodge No. 638, Knights of Pythias, member of the Modern Woodmen of America and a past junior vice commander and chief of the Sons of Veterans of the Civil war. He was for seventeen years treasurer of the Randolph County Republican central committee and United States pension examiner. He was a past first lieutenant of De Bullion Camp No. 22, and at the time of the World war was enlisted in the Medical Reserve Corps. He was a member of Winchester Chapter No. 532, International Rotary Club. For two years he was honored with the office of president of the Randolph County Medical Society and also belonged to the Indiana State and American Medical Associations.
This book has no cover, and no index, and no author. I bought it on Ebay; it just has the insides, but it is full of Indiana biographies. I am not researching this family, just thought I would share. I do not know anymore about these families or these surnames. NOTE: I don't know if there is any additional mention of this family in the book, it has no index. I do not want to sell this book. I am typing the biographies from it.
Typed by Lora Radiches

Pages 304-7

Letter from John Martin to Mrs. Lynch

Chapter II


Mrs. Lynch:--On receipt of your letter asking me to write a short, concise history of this part of Randolph County or of what came under my own personal observation and other antheuticated transactions of which I my know about in the early settlement and anectdotes and doings of the pioneers, I hardly felt myself capable of doing the subject justice. Thousands of those men and women who braved the trials of pioneer life have passed on to the other, and let us hope, the better life; their stories are untold and unsung by this generation of people, and where was once heard the ax of the frontiersman as he felled the mighty trees, the melodies of the modern musical instruments is wafted over well kept lawns and fertile fields, fine carriages, phaetons, and surreys have taken the place of the mud boat, cart and wagons, as in early times these were the vehicles used to go visiting and trading and, yes, to funerals.
What a change has taken place since that time. Those piooneers are gone; the wild beasts of the forest that they fought are gone; the game that they hunted to supply their tables are gone; the waist land for which they had no use has been subdued and is now yielding the golden grain, and finds a market a thousand miles from where it was grown, quicker than they could it six miles in those early days. Then it could only be taken to market during the summer or in the frozen winter.
Their wants were few, but at times they were hard to obtain. In their rude cabins they were happy with their axes and trusty guns, surrounded by wife and children. He was a monarch of his domain. Do not think for a moment sorrow and trouble never came to those people; with the country reeking with nuiasing swamps, sometimes whole families would be stricken with chills and fever, or better known in those days as ague. Noble men and women laid down their lives in the terrible struggle to subdue the fair state of Indiana from the terrible wilderness when they first came to it.
Everything they had to sell was cheap; everything they had to buy was dear. A few prices will not be amiss at this place: Eggs, 3 cents per dozen; corn, 12 ½ cents per bushel; wheat, 40 cents, marketed in Piqua, Ohio, mostly; salt, $3.00 per barrel; calico, 25 cents per yard; common casinet, $1.25 per yard; shirting, 25 cents; New Orleans sugar, 12 ½ cents per pound; labor, 25 to 50 cents per day from sun-up until sun-down.
My father moved his family from Cincinnati to Randolph County in 1832, and on Easter morning went over to the grocery to buy some eggs, and as baskets were scarce, he picked up a half bushel one and started for the eggs. Arriving at the grocery he told the proprietor to give him a quarters worth of eggs, handing him the basket. Soon he came out of the little ware room, the basket full of eggs and asked father if he anything to put the of the quarters worth in. Explanations were made, matters adjusted, and he went home with a basket full of eggs and some change. I have seen no better eggs sold at 50 cents per dozen. What a change.
These were good Democratic days; we heard no talk about greenbacks nor silver certificates; nothing but gold, silver and wild cat bank money. When a man got fifty miles from home with the paper money he was obligated to keep it or have it discounted. A hundred dollars in the morning was apt not to be worth a hundred cents in the evening; but these were good Democratic times and the people did not complain. In these good times postage on a letter was twenty-five cents, payable on delivery. I have known letters to lay in the postoffice two weeks because the man to whom it was addressed did not have the twenty-five cents to pay the postage; he then borrowed the quarter from the clerk of the court, and it was eight months before he could pay the money back. Oh those were splendid times!
There was one consolation that always filled the hearts of the pioneers with joy, and that was that when they got a patch of ground cleared off. It would produce an abundance of everything they planted. There was one old gentleman, Mr. James Forsythe, who always raised a large quantity of water melons. On one occasion a young man, a neighbor's son, who lived about three miles away, called on Mr. Forsythe. When ready to return home Forsythe told him he could take some melons home with him. He filled up a three bushel tow linen sack and loaned the young man a blind horse on which to carry his melons home. The horse was named Dragon. He was told that when he came to a log all he had to do was jerk the bridle rein gently and say, "over Dragon," and the horse would do the rest. So on coming to a log that laid across the path he jerked the rein and gave the word, but all too soon, for the horse lit on top of the log and fell about twenty feet on the other side, spilling the boy and bursting the melons at the same time. Fortunately the boy was not hurt, and regaining his feet he placed his hands on his hips and was surveying the wreck in silent meditation. Soon finding his voice he merely remarked, "that was one h-l of an over."
In early times in this county there were many wild animals that was a menace to the flocks of the early settlers, such as wolves, wildcats, panthers and some bear. My father, on one occasion, went out to try his hand killing bear. He carried a rifle and a double barreled shot gun which was loaded with buck shot. When he got about a mile from home he went up to the west side of a cat-tail pond, and climbing up on a lodged tree near the edge of the pond and getting a position that gave him a commanding view, he set up a hallowing which started two bears out of the pond on the opposite side. He discharge all his artillery at their retreating forms, but got no bear. The old gentleman says he thinks they are running yet, as that was what they were doing when he last saw them. There were many deer and turkeys throughout all the country. I was born in 1837, and I remember to have seen bear tracks in the snow, and tried hard to shoot deer, and have killed several wild turkeys north of Winchester. It was practically an unbroken forest as far as Fort Wayne. Throughout Jay, Wells and Adams counties for long years hoop poles and coon skins were legal tender for all debts, public and private, except taxes and marriage licenses, which had to be paid in gold and silver. The politics of those counties was mostly Democratic, and there was a story I heard in my younger days, that every Sunday morning the people had to catch their children with dogs to put their clean clothes on. I always thought that was a lie, and feel free to day at this time that I am yet of that opinion, although Mr. Lynch has told me some things that leads me to believe that there was was some truth in the hoop pole and coon skin stories.
Of the old residents of this township (White River), and more especially in what was called the Salt creek and Sugar creek neighborhood, they are nearly all gone; and in some instances every one in the family have passed away to the other side of life. Some of the children of those pioneers faced the stern realities of life on the sanguine battle fields. Many of my school mates of 1844, 1845, 1846 and 1847 and later years now sleep the sleep that comes to the soldiers far away from the home of their children. Some of their bones are bleaching on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico; others lie beneath the waters of the turbid Mississippi river; one I assisted to bury on a noll in the woods above Memphis, Tenn. They were children of men and women that conquered the towering forests and provided happy homes in their younger days for those that in time yielded up their lives to pereptuate those home, to fall in defence of that flag that in early life they were taught to honor and respect. Many returned home again after the struggle, wounded and broken in health and have fallen in the race of life. Doubtless some are buried in the cemetery which you are proposing to fence by the proceeds of the sale of this little book. Let us hope that if for no other reason the generous and patriotic people to whom it may be offered will gladly and willingly respond and that you will be successful in your efforts; that it may be said that no grave of a man who fought for his home, his country, his flag, shall be turned out to the commons, that the horses of the husbandman shall trample them, nor brouse above their mouldering ashes.

John Martin,
Winchester, Ind.

Reminiscences of Adams, Jay and Randolph Counties City of Publication: Fort Wayne, Ind. Publisher: Lipes, Nelson & Singmaster, job printers Date: 1897? Page Count: 366
Transcribed by Andrea Long.

Pages 308-9

Mr. Meier bio

Chapter III

John C. Meier , son of Lorenz and Barbara Meier, was born in Gesees, near Bayrenth, Bavaria, Germany. His father died November 9th, 1881, and his mother in 1892. He received a good common school education, after which he assisted his father in farm work until he was 18 years old, when he learned wagon making. On April 9th, 1870, he bid adue to his native home; on the 13th he boarded the fated steamer "Cimbria;" on the 27th he landed in New York City; on May 4th he arrived at Cincinnati, where he soon found employment at his trade. In 1871 he concluded to learn the baker's trade, of which he made a success. In 1873 he came to Winchester at the request of Mr. Manderbach, for whom he worked five years. In 1874 he married Miss C. E. Keller, daughter of G. G. Keller. Miss Keller received her education in short winter and subscription terms of school. She also attended the seminary under Prof. Ferris. Mr. And Mrs. Meier had ten children, Alice J., Lorenz G., Bertha C. (died October 7th, 1894) twins died in infancy, Hugo H., Edwin J., Alma A., Irene L. and Clifford S.
In 1878 Mr. Meier moved to Union City, Ind., where he started a bakery, which he carried on very successfully for three years. At this time his father-in-law, Mr. G. G. Kelley, who kept a grocery under the firm name of Keller & Son., wished to retire from business and offered his place to Mr. Meier, which he accepted, and for this purpose removed to Winchester. After January 1st, 1881, the business was carried on under the firm name of Keller & Meier. Mr. Meier not being contented with his trade soon added a bakery to the already rosperous business. In March, 1887, the bakery was destroyed by fire, but was immediately rebuilt and the baking capacity enlarged. The firm continued successfully until the end of 1892, when G. W. Keller retired, Mr. Meier taking sole charge and continuing the same, assisted by his children. On the 13th of May, 1887, Mr. Meier left here for a visit to his aged mother and two brothers. He returned in three months, content to spend the remainder of life in this land of liberty and plenty.
Mr. Meier is prominent among fraternal orders. He was instrumental in instituting the I. O. R. M. in this place on January 28th, 1894. He has passed through all the offices of the order. He has also held important state offices, and now is United States Representative of the Hay Makers' association. He has also filled all the offices of the K. of P's, has also been state representative of the same order. He is also a member of the I. O. O. F. Mr. Meier has filled the office of vice president, and is now one of the directors of the Winchester Home and Savings association. Although not a church member, Mr. Meier has contributed to the various churches which have been erected during his residence here.
In politics Mr. Meier is a Democrat, of which he is an enthusiastic and valued member.


Reminiscences of Adams, Jay and Randolph Counties City of Publication: Fort Wayne, Ind. Publisher: Lipes, Nelson & Singmaster, job printers Date: 1897? Page Count: 366
Transcribed by Andrea Long

JESSE W. MENDENHALL , one of the active and enterprising agriculturists of Jefferson Township, residing on section 22, was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, December 27, 1833, a son of Pennell and Maria (West) Mendenhall. His parents were born and reared in the State of Pennsylvania, and shortly after their marriage settled in Ohio. With their four children, Jesse then being a babe of three months, they left Columbiana County for Randolph County, Indiana, in June, 1839, settling in the woods of Franklin Township, where they built a good home, and lived many years to enjoy the fruits of their own industry. The father died September 16, 1871, aged sixty years, his widow surviving until October 11, 1880, dying at the age of sixty-nine years. Of eleven children born to them ten grew to maturity -Jesse W., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Sarah Campbell of Wayne Township; Joseph, was a member of the Fifty-sixth Indiana Infantry, and died during the siege of Vicksburg; James resides in Jefferson Township; Mrs. Lydia Mills, living in Saunders County, Nebraska; Mrs. Susan Betts, of Randolph County, Indiana; Daniel, of Cass County, Nebraska; Mrs. Margaret Waltz, also living in Cass County; Mrs. Eliza Betts, living in Randolph County; and William, of Saunders County, Nebraska. One child, Elizabeth, died in infancy. James, the third son, served three years in the war of the Rebellion, enlisting September 28, 1861, in Company F. Fortieth Ohio Infantry, and was in the campaign against rebel General Humphrey under the late President Garfield. While home on a furlough he was married, May 19, 1864, to Miss Delilah Odle. Jesse W. Mendenhall, whose name heads this sketch, remained with his parents until his marriage, November 6, 1856, to Miss Phoebe Badgley. She was born in Darke County, Ohio, December 12, 1839, and when she was five years of age her parents. William and Elizabeth (Wilson) Badgley, settled in Randolph County, they being among the early settlers of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Mendenhall are the parents of twelve children -Mrs. Maria E. Morical, of Jay County; William P., of Olmstead County, Minnesota; Thomas B., at home; James E., of Jay County; John A., of Olmstead County, Minnesota; Mrs. Sarah E. Philips, of Jay County; Mary J., Rosetta I., Jesse F., Nellie J., Anna L. and Melissa A., the last six living at home with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Mendenhall commenced married life on their farm in Franklin Township, Randolph County, but in 1865 Mr. Mendenhall sold that property (eighty acres), and in September of that year bought the homestead in Jefferson Township, which he and his family have seen occupied. The home farm contains seventy-three acres of well improved land, having 545 rods of tile drainage. Beside this property he owns a fine farm of 120 acres on section 23 of the same township, one mile east of his residence, which he bought in 1876. The farm buildings on that property are at present rented out to a tenant. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mendenhall are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Mount Pleasant. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL RECORD OF JAY AND BLACKFORD COUNTIES, INDIANA The Lewis Publishing Company, 1887 Page 346-347
Submitted by Dusti

WILLIAM EDWIN MILLER . Although the career of William Edwin Miller belongs to the past of Winchester rather than to the present, his death having occurred November 6, 1916, no record of this part of the state would be complete that did not mention the achievements of this successful and honorable merchant and public-spirited citizen. A resident of Winchester for the last eighteen years of his life, he was the founder and president of the W. E. Miller Company, one of the largest department stores in Indiana outside of the large cities, and a man whose conduct in every phase of life was irreproachable. Mr. Miller was born at Germantown, Ohio, June 2, 1846, a son of Samuel and Nancy (Troup) Miller, the former of whom died in Ohio and the latter at Winchester. William Edwin Miller attended the public schools at Germantown, Ohio. During the Civil war he enlisted, in 1864, when only a youth of eighteen years, in Company D, One Hundred and Eighty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until September, 1865, and after receiving his honorable discharge returned home to Germantown. On his return home after the war he learned the baker's trade, at which he was employed for a time. He then went to Dayton, Ohio, and entered a commercial college, after which he secured employment as a clerk in a dry goods store in Dayton, where he applied himself energetically to learning every detail of the business, at the same time saving his earnings, with the result that he was able to open a modest establishment of his own of the same kind at Ridgeville, Indiana, which he conducted for nine years. He sold a half-interest in his store to Henry T. Kitselman, and still later sold out to his partner. Coming to Winchester, he founded a dry goods, clothing and carpet store, and in 1898 organized a stock company, known as the W. E. Miller Company, enlarged the building and increased the stock, and eventually developed one of the largest department stores in the state outside of the large cities. He continued to be identified with this business until his death, when he was known as one of the most substantial and capable businessmen of the city. In 1911 he erected a beautiful brick mansion on South Main Street, where his widow still lives. Mr. Miller was a man of high character. He was a Mason, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and a Republican in politics, and at all times contributed of his ability, time and means to the development of beneficial civic, educational and religious movements. In October, 1871, Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Mary Moser, who was born at Strausburg, Germany, and was four years of age when brought by her parents to Dayton, Ohio, where she was reared and attended the public schools. She is a devout member of the Presbyterian Church and one of the most highly esteemed ladies of Winchester. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller there were born the following children: Vora, of Winchester, is the widow of Thomas L. Ward, who has one son, Robert Miller, who married Martha Howard and they have two children, a daughter, Susan Ann and William Howard. John D., who succeeded his father as head of the W. E. Miller Company, married Kate Macy and has four daughters: Alice, who is Mrs. Neal J. Bly, of Winchester; Sarah, who is Mrs. Robert Watson of Indianapolis, and they have a daughter, Alice Miller Watson; Mary, who is Mrs. Norman Johnson, of Liberty, Indiana; and Elizabeth, at home. Olive is the wife of John Clark, of the W. E. Miller Company, who has one daughter, Ruth, who is the wife of Philip Holton, of Indianapolis.
This book has no cover, and no index, and no author. I bought it on Ebay; it just has the insides, but it is full of Indiana biographies. I am not researching this family, just thought I would share. I do not know anymore about these families or these surnames. NOTE: I don't know if there is any additional mention of this family in the book, it has no index. I do not want to sell this book. I am typing the biographies from it.
Typed by Lora Radiches

Monks, Leander J ., is a lawyer residing at Winchester, Randolph county, Indiana, his native town, where he was born July 10, 1843. He is the son of Geo. W. Monks, who migrated from near Cincinnati, O., and located at Winchester in 1839. and Mary A. (Irvin) Monks, who was born in Randolph county, Indiana. His father was a man of great popularity in Randolph county, where he was twice elected county clerk, in 1839 and 1846, serving fourteen years in that responsible office, and in 1854 was elected to the general assembly and served in that body during the session of 1855.

He was a philanthropist and an optimist. His disposition was charitable, and towards his fellowmen he was noted for his love and good-will. He loved the sunny side of human affairs and sought to make life worth the living, not only for himself, but for all who came within the radius of his influence. He died in 1864, a year subsequent to the death of his wife.
Judge Leander J. Monks, confessedly ranking among the first jurists of the state, obtained his primary education in the schools of his native town, which were of sufficient excellence to prepare him to enter the State university at Bloomington, Ind., which occurred in the fall of 1861, where he remained until 1863, but did not graduate. He became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and regards the university as his Alma Mater. Judge Monks was admitted to the bar in 1867, and from the first was a laborious student of the principles of laws. He explored its intricacies as if he were delving for gold and precious stones or diving for pearls. The science, the philosophy of law fascinated him. It aroused his mental energies, broadened his vision and inspired his ambition to equip himself to expound law before courts and juries. How well he succeeded is told in the fact that after a practice of eleven years he was elected judge of the 25th Judicial circuit, composed of the counties of Randolph and Delaware, by the unanimous vote of the district, than which no higher compliment could have been paid him, nor a higher recognition of his integrity and learning, and he was three times elected judge of the same judicial district.
Judge Monks, in 1888, was a candidate for a seat on the supreme bench of Indiana, but did not reach the coveted goal; but in 1894 the tide of fortune came and bore him to victory by a majority of 46,000, a splendid tribute to him as a man and a jurist.
Judge Monks, in politics, is a Republican, in whom his party places implicit confidence. In 1870 and 1872 he was chairman of the Republican central committee of Randolph county, and during the campaigns of 1874 and 1876 was a member of the state committee and also of the executive committee. But, while as a speaker Judge Monks is clear, logical and forceful, it is as a judge and master of jurisprudence that his well-earned reputation securely rests. In that high office the partisan disappears and the judge comes to the front as the champion of justice and right. He likes to see lawyers come into court thoroughly prepared to maintain the rights of their clients, evincing the fact that they have a ample library and have studied their books, for which he has set them an example worthy of emulation.
In 1865 Judge Monks married Lizzie W., only daughter of Alex. And Margaret White, and four children have been born of the union.
Judge Monks is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Winchester, where he has resided all his life and where his character, whether subjected to searchlight of X-ray investigation, is found invulnerable and without a blemish.
Men of Progress A Selected List of Biographical Sketches and Portraits of the…..1899. pages 356-7. Found at HeritageQuest.com Transcribed by Andrea Long

JOHN MUSSELMAN , is a native of Maryland, born November 13, 1817. In his infancy his parents, John and Christina Musselman, moved to Pennsylvania, remaining in that State until 1829. They then removed to Darke County, Ohio, where they lived until he was about seventeen years of age. In 1834 they went to Elkhart County, Indiana, subsequently returning to Darke County.

Our subject was married in Elkhart County, Indiana, to Miss Keziah Odell. After his marriage he moved to Lawrence County, Missouri, and there his wife died. They had a family of five children-- William A., Daniel M., Nancy M., Elizabeth C. and Samuel G. In 1846 Mr. Musselman returned to Ohio and there married Miss Sarah Spencer, and to them were born eight children, two sons and six daughters-- John A., William L., Sarah K., Mary E., Anna T., Emily A., Harriet O., Margaret H.

In 1850 he went to Randolph County, Indiana, and eight years later came to Iowa and entered 120 acres of land in Clarke County, and at the same time bought forty acres of timber land adjoining, which is his present farm. Mr. Musselman has been a prominent and influential citizen of Fremont Township, and is honored and esteemed by all who know him. In 1880 he lost his eyesight from some unknown cause, but otherwise is in good health, and is active for one of his years.

from reprint of "Clarke County Historical and Biographical Record" by Lewis Publishing, 1886. p. 168
Posted by Celia Davis on Fri, 16 Jun 2000

Farmland Enterprise, June 17, 1904 - The tenth annual reunion of the families of the Moormans, Diggs and Ways , held on Thursday of last week at the grove of Henry A. Moorman, four miles east of Farmland, was one of the best they have ever had. About one hundred and fifty representatives of the families were present. Following the dinner the association was called to order by T. Frank Moorman, its president, and a literary and music program given. The Diggs branch of the family are the descendants of Sir Dudley Diggs, Master of Rolls, under Charles I of England, who settled in Virginia upon a grant of 4444 acres to which he gave the name of "Chilham Castle Manor Place," in honor of his castle in Kent couty, England. From Virginia representatives of his came to this county about the year 1820. The ancestor of the Moorman family came to America with William Penn, settling in Pennsylvania. He was a Quaker and came to obtain for himself and his descendants that liberty of conscience which was denied him in the land of his nativity. The immediate ancestors of this family came to this county from Guilford county, North Carolina, in 1822. In the early history of the county they owned large tracts of land which the descendants have quite largely retained. The Way family are the descendants of Henry Way, the Puritan who came to America in 1630 and settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts. William Way, the great-great-grandson of Henry, was born on the island of Nantucket, August 8, 1756. Later he removed to South Carolina, and from there to this county, in the year 1817. Paul Way, a son of his, acting as county agent of this county, platted and laid out the original plat of the city of Winchester, and for many years was one of its foremost and most public spirited citizens, while many other members of the family have been and are men of sterling worth. Moorman Way was probably the ablest lawyer who ever practiced at the Randolph county bar. Intermarriage is responsible for the relationship of these families, and so for the triune character of their reunions. T. Frank Moorman was re-elected president and Henry A. Moorman secretary of the association, and the place of meeting for next year the grove where the present reunion was held, the time being the second Thursday in June, 1905.

Submitted by Billy Baker

From - William G. Cutler's History of the State of Nebraska
First published in 1882 by A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL.

Seward County --

LEWIS MOFFITT , farmer and real estate dealer at Seward, was born in Randolph County, Ind., December 1,1834. Here he received a common school education, and first came West to Iowa in 1854, settling in Jasper County, where he followed farming until the spring of 1865, at which time he came to Nebraska and took up a homestead on Section 31, Town 12, Range 2 east in C Precinct. In June of the same year, he entered the land where the present city of Seward now stands, and was the original proprietor of the town, making his home here ever since. When Mr. Moffitt first came to Nebraska he had to go for supplies either to Nebraska City or Plattsmouth, being a distance of eighty miles, and the nearest blacksmith shop was twenty-five miles away, at Lincoln. He has never held any political office but has always been identified with public interests in settling up the town or county. At the completion of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad at Seward, Mr. M. in company with H. Harris, were the donors of the depot grounds and various other lands. He was married in Indiana in 1854, to Miss Mary A. Thomas, who was a native of Ohio, and by whom he had one son Jothan L., who died May 28, 1874. The subject of the sketch was the second Postmaster of the county.

Submitted by Billy Baker


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