626 HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

86. J. M. Fravel, Posey township, Clay county.
87. David Grider, Nevins township, Vigo county.
88. Stephens Tradhave, Posey township, Clay county.
89. Z. K. Bryant, Posey township, Clay county.
90. Joshua Cole, Posey township, Clay county.
91. Stephen Carter, Posey township, Clay county.
    The ninety-one whose names are here transcribed from the official
record were not more than half the membership of the organization, but
the charter membership, or organizers.
    On the 8th (day of March, 1856, this society held a meeting, regu-
larly called, when by mutual agreement the organization was dissolved,
which record is signed by James W. Modesitt, president, and William H.
West, secretary.
    Of the members enumerated above, eight are known to be living:
Joseph R. Huffman, Greene county; Nathan A. Gibbons, Jacob A. Car-
penter, Brazil; M. L. West, C. J. Grider, Cloverland; John M. Bailey,
Washington Modesitt, Staunton; Thomas Sarchett, Knightsville.
    For this reminiscence in the history of the county the author and
reader are indebted to the interest and kindness of Jesse A. Decker,
Brazil.
Single Men Elected to County Offices.
    Under the statutes •of Indiana, as elsewhere throughout the states,
the bachelor as an elector is accorded the same civic privileges as the
benedict. While it is not the rule to call unmarried men to positions of
responsibility and trust in the public service, neither can it be said to be
the exception.
    The first single man chosen to office in Clay county was Jesse Fuller,
the first auditor, elected the first Monday in August, 1845. On Sunday,
the 16th day of November of the same year, he married Miss Susan
Thorp, niece of Owen Thorp, the, first marriage in the society and history
of the town of Brazil, the ceremony performed by Dr. John Williams.
    Thomas Hyland, elected auditor in i886, then a bachelor of thirty-
seven summers, is still unmarried, at the age of threescore years, residing
at Terre Haute.
    Charles W. Moss, elected sheriff the first Monday of August, 1847,
and re-elected at the same date in 1849, married Miss Elizabeth Adams,
Thursday, April 11, 1850. Miss Adams, who was a sister of Joseph T.
Adams, of Perry township, then resided in Parke county, with whom the
bachelor sheriff became acquainted while teaching in this county.
    Jeptha M. Ellington, of Lewis township, elected sheriff in 1858, was
unmarried, and continued to live a bachelor.
    John G. H. Klinger, of Brazil township, who was elected sheriff in
1896, and re-elected in i898, was then and is still a single man.
    Clinton M. Thompson was elected county recorder on the second
Tuesday and 9th day of the month of October, 1860, and on Friday, the
12th day of the month, which was also his thirty-first anniversary, he
married Miss Kate E. Geiger, eldest daughter of Paul J. Geiger and wife
of Bowling Green, Rev. Robert Moore, of the Methodist Episcopal
church, performing the ceremony.
    Charles H. Knight, elected recorder in 1864, and clerk of the Clay
circuit court in 1868, was a single man, having married Miss Libbie
Pinckley, of Bowling Green, within the time of his second term of official
service.