Bartholomew County IN Archives Biographies.....Danforth, Charles 1836 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 21, 2007, 1:13 am

Author: B. F. Bowen (1904)

p. 202-204
CHARLES DANFORTH.

   Charles Danforth is the oldest broom manufacturer in Indiana and is not only
a man of great business activity, but is also of much intellectual force. His
reading has made him a man of scholarly attainments, with general information
greatly exceeding that of the majority. He is also one of the pioneers of
Bartholomew county and because of his worth and prominence he certainly deserves
representation in this volume.

   Mr. Danforth was born near Wilkes-barre, Pennsylvania, on the 13th of
November, 1836, and is a son of Elijah and Pamelia (Bodman) Danforth. The
mother, a native of Massachusetts, died in early womanhood. The father was also
born in Massachusetts in 1807. He continued in that state until twenty-five
years of age, when he removed to Pennsylvania, where the birth of the subject
occurred. In the Old Bay state he had learned the trade of making brooms and
followed that calling in Pennsylvania and Indiana. His was a long and active
business career, terminating in death in 1873. His political support was given
in early life to the Whig party and upon its dissolution he joined the ranks of
the Republican party. He held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, his
Christian faith guiding his actions and prompting his conduct toward his fellow
men. Successful in business, he was the owner of two hundred acres of rich land,
which he acquired through strong purpose and indefatigable energy. Unto him and
his first wife were born four children, namely: Charles, of this review; W. H.,
now deceased, who married Rebecca Sater and is a farmer; Lyman, who wedded Ann
Luker and after her death was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Hulse; and
Caroline, the deceased wife of John Lamb, a tailor of Elizabethtown. The father
was later married to Mary Gullet, in Butler county, Ohio. There were five
children by this marriage: Lucina, Viola, James, Eliza and one that died in
infancy.

   Charles Danforth began his education in the schools of Butler county, Ohio,
to which place he had removed with his father in early childhood. In 1850 the
father brought his family to Bartholomew county, Indiana, and here his education
was completed, he studying Greek, Latin and algebra, and being the only student
in the school to pursue these branches. At the age of twenty he started into
business on his own account at farming and broommaking, having learned the
latter pursuit under the direction of his father. Throughout his entire life he
has engaged in the manufacture of brooms and is now proprietor of the oldest
broom factory in the state. His labor has brought him success and yet he has
been unfortunate in having to pay security debts. He has done as much physical
labor as any other one man in Indiana and yet he is an earnest student. In his
political affiliations he is a gold Democrat and has made a number of campaign
speeches, recognized as forceful, logical and convincing. He has also
contributed to the Indianapolis News and other papers. Mr. Danforth often
expresses his well digested ideas on the-four great questions of the day, the
liquor question, the sword question, the race question and the labor question,
in articles appearing in various periodicals. In religious thought he is free
and untrammeled by dogma or doctrine, living peaceably and being just and
considerate with all with whom he comes in contact. There are many elements in
his life that have won for him the kindly consideration and confidence of those
with whom he has been associated and many of his characteristics are worthy of
emulation. He owns property in Elizabethtown in addition to his business
interests and has the satisfaction of knowing that all has been honestly
acquired. Mr. Danforth is a man of strong character and forceful individuality
and all who converse with him are impressed with his clear ideas and his
interesting and logical presentation of them. For long years he has made his
home in Elizabethtown, where he commands uniform confidence and respect. His
wife was Eliza Sayre, who, after twenty years of companionship, passed to the
brighter world on the 30th of December, 1902.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY
INDIANA

INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GOVERNORS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF INDIANA

ILLUSTRATED

1904

B. F. Bowen PUBLISHER

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