22                          HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

in the bakery business here for forty years, conducting an enterprise
which is now one of the oldest and best established business interests of
the city. He has always followed most honorable methods in his trade
rejations and has given to the public excellent products, so that through-
out the intervening years he has enjoyed a profitable and constantly
growing trade.
    Unto Mr. and Mrs. Plumb have been born nine children: Maria M.,
the wife of William Bubb; Rebecca Anna, the wife of H. V. Sherburne;
Emily Ann, the widow of H. Ahlemeyer; Nellie, the wife of F. J. Plott;
John William; Charles; William H.; Ralph H., and George, who is
deceased.
    Mr. Plumb votes with the Democracy and has been somewhat promi-
nent in its local ranks, while his fellow townsmen recognizing his worth
and ability have called him to office. He served for four years as county
assessor and for four years as a member of the city council and in both
positions ably discharged his duties, so that no shadow of wrong or suspi-
cion of evil fell upon his official career. Without ostentation or any
desire for praise he has labored earnestly for the welfare of his city and
his efforts have redounded to its credit and benefit. He has never had
occasion to regret his determination to make America his home, for he
has not only found prosperity here but also a good home and many friends
and is sincerely attached to the stars and stripes—the symbol of this great
country and her free institutions.

    WILLIAM C. STEINER.—The native born citizens of Harrison town-
ship have as an excellent representative William C. Steiner, of Clay City,
the son of Christian Steiner, one of the pioneers of this part of Indiana.
He remembers the country when it was in its original wildness, the beasts
of the forest roaming at large, and the Indians being numerous. The
people lived in a most primitive manner, scarce even dreaming of the
conveniences and comforts of to-day, which were made possible through
their unremitting labors and privations. A life-long resident of Clay
county, he was born December 10, 1852, of honored Swiss ancestry, his
father and his grandfather, Peter Steiner, having been born in Canton
Berne, Switzerland.

    Peter Steiner worked at the carpenter’s trade in his native canton,
but with the small wages that he received found it hard to make more
than a meagre living for his family. Therefore, in 1831, he emigrated
with his wife and seven children to America, locating in Holmes county,
Ohio, where he subsequently bought a home and worked at his trade of
a carpenter until his death. After his death his wife, whose maiden name
was Elizabeth Mosser, came to Indiana to live with her chidren, and
died at the age of eighty-seven years in Clay county. She reared seven
children, as follows: Annie, Elizabeth, Christian, John, Uriah, Peter and
Annie Elizabeth.
    Born in Canton Berne in 1817, in the month of September, Christian
Steiner was in his fifteenth year when he crossed the ocean with his
parents. He had attended school quite regularly in Switzerland, and
after coming to this country learned the carpenter’s trade, which he
followed for a number of years in Holmes county, Ohio. In 1852, char-
acterized by the same motives that had previously inspired his father,
he sought a more favorable location in which to bring up his family,
and, accompanied by his wife, came with teams to Indiana, being two