Carroll County IN Archives Biographies.....Neff, James A. 1841 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 26, 2006, 7:02 pm

Author: John C. Odell (1916)

JAMES A. NEFF.

   Among the well-known and highly respected residents of Deer Creek township,
Carroll county, Indiana, is James A. Neff, a soldier of the Civil War, who, on
July 21, 1862, enlisted in Company A, Seventy-second Regiment, Indiana Volunteer
Infantry, and who was honorably discharged on February 17, 1863, on account of
disability. After returning home and recovering from a period of severe illness,
he re-enlisted on July 25, 1863, as sergeant of Company E, One Hundred and
Sixteenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged on March 1,
1864.

   James A. Neff was born near Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio, October 15,
1841. He is the son of John and Susan (Price) Neff, the former of whom was born
on May 30, 1814, in West Virginia, and the latter on October 14, 1811, at
Mifflenburg, now Miflin, Pennsylvania. John Neff died on February 6, 1863, and
his wife on June 5, 1889. Both are buried in the Odd Fellows cemetery in Delphi,
Indiana.

   John and Susan (Price) Neff were married in 1837 and engaged in farming in
Montgomery county, Ohio, until 1849, when the family moved to Carroll county,
Indiana, purchasing land in Deer Creek township, in the old Bondee Indian
reserve. They paid seven hundred dollars for eighty acres and added to it by a
purchase of eighty acres for thirteen hundred dollars in 1852, from Spears, Case
& Company. He also owned one hundred and sixty acres of land in Jay county,
Indiana, and forty acres in Montgomery county, Ohio. John Neff was a Democrat in
politics and served as road supervisor for many years. He was also a veterinary
surgeon and enjoyed a large practice in Carroll and adjoining counties. On two
occasions he was recalled to his home in Ohio, for professional service. He was
a member of Delphi Lodge No. 28, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

   The paternal grandparents of James A. Neff were Abraham and Polly (Speece)
Neff, the former of whom died at the age of seventy-six and the latter lived to
be ninety-two years old. They immigrated from Montgomery county, Ohio, to
Carroll county, Indiana, about 1820. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Neff,
Solomon and Polly Price, moved to Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1822, where they
both died. They were engaged in farming, Abraham and Polly (Speece) Neff were
the parents of six children, Lewis, who owned the Dayton nursery in partnership
with Philip Groves, died at the age of ninety-two; Lydia and Sylvester,
deceased; John, the father of James A., was forty-eight years and one month old
at the time of his death; Henry is deceased; George died at the age of
thirty-five. The children of Solomon and Polly Price were David, Catherine
Shock, Peter, Benjamin, Gideon, Solomon, Daniel, Mrs. Polly Slutman, Mrs. Esther
Dille, Mrs. Susan Neff, Mrs. Nancy Jones, Mrs. Hannah Price and Mrs. David
Favorite. John Scott Price was killed in the Mexican War in 1847.

   James A. Neff received a common-school education in the public schools of
Carroll county. He also attended the high school at Kokomo, Indiana, for twelve
months. After finishing his education, he taught school for three winters in
Carroll county. During the summer seasons he was employed by his uncle, Lewis
Neff, as a fruit tree salesman. In fact, he sold fruit trees until July, 1862,
when he enlisted as a soldier in the Union army. Mr. Neff's brother, John S.,
also was a soldier in the Civil War, having served in Company E, One Hundred and
Fiftieth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and in Company B, Thirty-sixth
Regiment United States Army.

   After the war, James A. Neff returned to Carroll county, Indiana, and farmed
for a number of years. Subsequently, however, he took up the business of
handling nitroglycerin and dynamite and became an expert in blowing stones and
stumps and ice gorges in the river.

   On April 12, 1868, James A. Neff was married to Sarah Wilson, a daughter of
Leonard and Mary (Goode) Wilson, the former of whom was born in Randolph county,
Indiana, and the latter in Tennessee. The Wilsons came from the Old Dominion
state. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Neff died in Carroll county and the
paternal grandmother in Randolph county. Mrs. Neff's maternal great-grandmother,
Mrs. McCoy, lived to be one hundred and four years old.

   Mr. and Mrs. James A. Neff have been the parents of four children, two of
whom are living: Mary E. died in infancy; Leonard L. married Mertie Kerlin and
lives in Deer Creek township; Minnie B. died at the age of four years; James C.
is unmarried and lives at home.

   Mr. Neff owns six and one-half acres of land, which is all well improved. He
is a member of Delphi Post No. 31, Grand Army of the Republic. He is a
Republican and has held the office of justice of the peace for several years.
Before he was elected justice of the peace, he was a notary public in this
township, and also holds this office at the present time. He was also United
States pension attorney. In the Grand Army of the Republic post he has been
adjutant-general for twenty-one years. He is also a member of the Old Settlers'
Association and Mrs. Neff is a member of this association also.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Biographical Section of
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


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