Carroll County IN Archives Biographies.....Horsely, Joseph R. 1816 - 1914
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 17, 2006, 5:54 pm

Author: John C. Odell (1916)

JOSEPH R. HORSELY.

   Joseph R. Horsely published the Western Republican three years prior to 1848.
The Delphi Times succeeded this paper in 1849 and was published by Mr. Horsely
until 1857, when Frank Burns was its publisher until November, 1857, when Milton
R. Graham became its publisher.

   Mr. Horsely, before the Civil War, moved to California. He resided at
Waterford. On January 7, 1901, he wrote a letter, from which is made the
following extract: "I am at the age of eighty-five years, when men live in the
past. They know that the future has little for them, and they are inclined to
live their lives over again. Delphi has always had a warm place in my memory.
There is where I lived the happiest days of my life. There is where I wooed and
won one of the best wives, and there is where four of my living sons were born."
   He died in 1914.

   Mr. Horsely became a well-known poet, and one of his poems, addressed to a
young comrade, entitled "To My Chum Billy," is here set out:

TO MY CHUM BILLY.
A Reminiscent Screed.

Our hearts were fall of the joy of life, 
And in all our plays there was no strife, 
With pranks and mime onr time was rife; 
In the old days, when we were young, 
   My Chum Billy.

In an old log house we went to school, 
And sometimes we sat upon a stool, 
With a paper cap, marked "Here's a fool;" 
In the old days, when we were young,

We often sought the meadow brook,
Where we caught fish with a baited hook. 
Do you mind the shiners there we took! 
   In the old days, when we were young, 
       My Chum Billy.

No bird ever flew beneath the sky, 
That could ever build its nest so high, 
That we couldn't find it, if we would try; 
   In the old days, when we were young, 
       My Chum Billy.

The "ole swimmin' hole" I've not forgot,
On Deer Creek banks, when it was hot, 
It was our loved and favorite spot;
   In the old days, when we were young, 
       My Chum Billy.

In Wilson's grove we had our sport, 
We played at war and stormed the fort, 
With other games of every sort;
   In the old days, when we were young,
       My Chum Billy.

When we played marbles you'd slap your knee. 
And cry as loud as loud could be. 
"Knuckle down tight if you shoot at me!"
   In the old days, when we were young,
       My Chum Billy.

Far up the creek, where grew the vine 
Of berry and grape and eglantine, 
We spent the day in bright sunshine;
   In the old days, when we were young,
       My Chum Billy.

In the shady grove, above the mill, 
When night came on. and all was still. 
We heard the cry of the whippoorwlll; 
   In the old days, when we were young,
       My Chum Billy.

You "crossed the divide" long years ago— 
For me life's way has been long and slow— 
And time is near when I, too, must go; 
   I feel that I am no longer young,
       My Chum Billy.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY INDIANA

ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS
BY
JOHN C ODELL
With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and
Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families

ILLUSTRATED
1916
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc.
Indianapolis, Indiana

CHAPTER IX.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF DECEASED PIONEERS OF CARROLL COUNTY.


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