Brown-Washington County IN Archives Biographies.....Spurgeon, Wiley 1825 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 4, 2007, 5:43 pm

Author: B. F. Bowen (1904)

WILEY SPURGEON.

   A resident of Indiana since his birth, nearly eighty years ago, and for over
half a century an honored citizen of Brown county and a political factor in its
affairs, few men in this part of the state are as well known and highly esteemed
as Wiley Spurgeon, a brief review of whose career is outlined in the following
paragraphs.

   Mr. Spurgeon's father was Josiah Spurgeon, who was born November 13, 1777,
probably in North Carolina. When a young man and as early as 1811 he moved to
Indiana territory and settled near what has since been known as Spurgeon's Hill
in Washington county, where he took up a body of public land from which in after
years he cleared and developed a good farm. Shortly after coming to Indiana Mr.
Spurgeon and a neighbor, Mr. Colloner, returned to North Carolina to get money
with which to make payments on their land, leaving their families here. Mrs.
Spurgeon and Mrs. Colloner frequently exchanged visits to see that each was
getting along all right. One morning Mrs. Spurgeon went to her neighbor's cabin
and was horrified to find the mother and two children lying dead on the floor,
tomahawked by the hostile Indians. She immediately hastened back to her home,
put her three children on the horse and took them eighteen miles to the fort at
Utica, whereupon men went from the fort and buried the dead. Indians were
numerous and several years elapsed before Mr. Spurgeon was permitted to enjoy
the undisputed possession of his home. He was a true type of the rugged, daring
pioneer of the olden time, experienced in full measure the various
vicissitudes-and hardships of backwoods life, but in due season triumphed over
the many obstacles in his way and lived to see the country redeemed from its
original wilderness condition into one of the finest and most highly improved
sections of the state. The maiden name of Mrs. Josiah Spurgeon was Elizabeth
Johnson. She was born September 22, 1785, in North Carolina, bore her husband
twelve children and departed this life in Salem, Indiana, in November, 1858, Mr.
Spurgeon dying at the same place in January of the preceding year. The following
are the names of the children who constituted the family of this excellent
couple: William, Archibald, Charles, Jesse, Joseph, Wiley, Pally, Phoebe, Cloy,
Susanne, Jane and Elizabeth, all deceased but Joseph, Jane, Elizabeth and the
subject of this review.

   Wiley Spurgeon was born February 4, 1825, in Washington county, received his
early training on the family homestead and grew up under the rugged but
healthful discipline of farm life, attending during his childhood and youth such
schools as the county afforded. His educational experience, which included about
three months of the year, enabled him to acquire a pretty thorough knowledge of
the branches taught in the pioneer schools, while a naturally inquiring mind and
love of reading subsequently led to the accumulation of a large fund of valuable
knowledge and made him not only a well informed man but a leader of thought and
opinion in the community of his residence. When the war with Mexico broke out
Mr. Spurgeon enlisted in Company D, Second Regiment Indiana Volunteers, under
General Joseph Lane, afterward a senator from Oregon; and served one year in
General Taylor's command, during which time he took part in the campaigns from
the Rio Grande to Buena Vista, in which latter battle he had the honor to
participate,, receiving in the heart of the engagement a painful wound in the
arm. Returning home at the expiration of the period noted, Mr. Spurgeon resumed
the pursuit of agriculture in Washington county and there continued to reside
until 1852, when he changed his abode to Brown county, purchasing the farm in
Van Buren township on which he has since lived, as an industrious, energetic and
prosperous tiller of the soil. In connection with farming, he has also devoted
considerable attention to the matter of live stock and so successfully has he
conducted his affairs that he is now able to spend his declining years in the
enjoyment of the fruits of his well directed toil, being the possessor of an
ample competency and surrounded by everything in the way of material blessings
that can minister to or enhance his comfort. Mr. Spurgeon's farm, consisting of
one hundred and sixty acres of good land, is under an excellent state of
cultivation, highly improved and for general agricultural and live stock
purposes compares favorably with any other farm in the county of Brown. During
the long period of his residence therein he has added very materially to its
beauty and attractiveness, and made it not only productive and the source of a
liberal income, but also a home whose fireside has oft resounded with the music
of childish laughter, and the sacred precincts of which are hallowed by many
tender recollections and happy associations of the past.

   Mr. Spurgeon has always manifested a commendable interest in the affairs of
his township and county and throughout a long and exceedingly busy life has
never neglected the duties of citizenship or failed to meet the obligations
which every true man owes the public. In early life he was a Democrat, but
becoming dissatisfied with the policy of the party at the time of the late Civil
war, he withdrew his support therefrom and cast his first Republican vote for
Abraham Lincoln, whose cause he upheld and of whom he was a great admirer. He
continued his allegiance to the Republican party until a comparatively recent
date, when he became a Prohibitionist, being firmly convinced that the liquor
traffic is the crying evil of the day, and the only way to . rid the nation of
the curse is by recourse to the measures which the latter party advocate.
Although never an office seeker, Mr. Spurgeon at different times has been
elected to positions of responsibility and trust, having served three years as
township trustee, three years as a member of the board of county commissioners,
two years as assessor and four years as justice of the peace, in all of which
relations he discharged his duties ably and conscientiously, proving a faithful,
judicious and painstaking public servant whose course met the unqualified
indorsement of the people. In matters religious he has strong convictions and
well grounded opinions, being a firm believer in the Bible, which he takes for
his only rule of faith and practice, and by a life singularly free from fault,
demonstrates the beauty and value of practical Christianity. A number of years
ago he united with the Church of Christ and has been a faithful and consistent
member of the same ever since, belonging at this time to the congregation at
Becks Grove, being one of its most active workers and liberal supporters.

   On the 27th of February, 1848, Mr. Spurgeon was united in marriage with Miss
Frances McKinney, of Washington county, Indiana, and a daughter of Col: James
and Elizabeth (Robinson) McKinney, the father of Scotch and the mother of Irish
descent. Mr. and Mrs. McKinney were the parents of eight children, namely:
Susan, Margaret, Elmire, Robert, Mary, James, Elizabeth and Calin. The family
was among the first to settle in Washington county, moving to that part of the
state as early as 1811, and its different members were highly esteemed in their
respective places of residence. To Mr. and Mrs. Spurgeon six children have been
born, the oldest of whom, Dr. William A. Spurgeon, of Muncie, is a distinguished
physician and surgeon with a reputation second to few medical men of Indiana;
Charles W., the second son, is living at home and managing the farm: Miranda
Jane, the third in order of birth, is the wife of A. L. Carmichael, a prosperous
farmer of Brown county: Mary married William Thompson, a blacksmith of Becks
Grove; Elizabeth is deceased, as is Harriett Ann.

   During his long period of residence in Brown county Mr. Spurgeon has become
widely acquainted and those knowing the man cannot fail to recognize in him the
sterling qualities of mind and character by which his entire life has been
distinguished. Honesty, generosity and loyalty are among the most conspicuous of
these attributes and it can be stated with all candor that a kinder neighbor, a
truer friend or a more worthy citizen would be exceedingly difficult to find. He
has been a faithful, uncomplaining worker along the world's quiet, sequestered
ways, but, true to every duty and honorable in all his relations, his life,
while not conspicious, has been truly great, in that it has ever followed noble
aims and tended to the good of his fellow men.


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


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/brown/bios/spurgeon880gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/

File size: 9.3 Kb