HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      13

Prohibition movement. He held membership with the Brazil Lodge, No.
264 Masonic order. His children were as follows: Susan Jane, wife
of Wilson Houck; Charlotte, wife of F. Mershon; Arabelle (Mrs. Kidd)
Mollie, wife of Howard Cutsholl.
    Mr. and Mrs. Kidd are the parents of the following children: John
Charles, a member of the firm of Turner, Seiders & Kidd, insurance and
real estate; Fannie M., wife of G. P. McCarty, a business man of Rush-
ville, Indiana; Jennie E., wife of Dr. J. E. Baker, of Brazil, Indiana;
Robert M., a sign painter.

    JOSEPH E. SHERFEY, president of the Sherfey & Kidd Company,
dealers in furniture, carpets, draperies and other goods of this line,
doing an extensive business at Brazil, Indiana, was born in Fountain
county, Indiana, April 7, 1843, and has the honorable distinction of having
been one of the soldiers who put down the great Civil war. He is the
son of David and Mary (McNeill) Sherfey. The father was born in
Adams county, Pennsylvania, on what is now known as the battlefield of
Gettysburg. The great-grandfather, Casper Sherfey, came from Ger-
many in 1750 and located in Pennsylvania and became the father of fifteen
children, a majority of whom reached maturity. The mother, Mary
(McNeill) Sherfey, was born in Frederick City, Maryland, and by her
marriage to Mr. Sherfey became the mother of nine children—six sons
and three daughters—two of whom now survive—Samuel W. of New
Mexico and Joseph E., who is the eighth child in his parents’ family.
The father came from Perryville, Indiana, about 1834 and was by trade
a miller, which trade he followed throughout his entire life, He was a
devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church and in political affilia-
tions was a Whig, which was the forerunner of the present Republican
party.
    Joseph E. Sherfey was educated in the common schools of Perry-.
ville, Vermilion county, Indiana, and at Asbury University, Greencastle,
Indiana, then in the winter of 1862-63 began teaching, and taught in the
winter of 1865-66. In the summer of 1866 he opened a furniture store
at Bainbridge, Indiana. One of the most important chapters in Mr. Sher-
fey’s career, however, was the one relating to his Civil war record. He
enlisted as a member of Company D, Fifty-fifth Indiana Regiment in
July, 1862, for a three months’ service and was shot through the left hip
at the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, August 30, 1862. The rebels
marched over him and later he found himself in a hospital; in the month
of October, 1862, he was sent home on parole. In the spring of 1864 he
enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-third Indiana Regiment,
for one hundred days and served at Bridgeport, Alabama, guarding Gen-
eral Sherman’s rear until the term of his enlistment had expired. In
the autumn of 1867 he moved to Brazil, Indiana, and has been engaged
in the furniture trade ever since, except one year, when he was city
treasurer. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity, being a member
of Brazil Lodge, No. 264, A. F. and A. M.; also belongs to Brazil Lodge,
No. 30, Knights of Pythias order and Ben Hur Court, No. 8. Other
societies of which he is a worthy member are the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, Brazil Lodge, No. 215 and Benevolent Protective Order
of Elks, No. 762. He is a zealous temperance worker, and a firm believer
in the principles of the Republican party. He was married October 20,