270                    HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

    Both he and his wife are devout members of the German Evangelical
Lutheran church and he has been one of its deacons for twelve years.
His life has ever been actuated by honorable principles and upright mo-
tives and he is known as a thoroughly reliable business man and progres-
sive citizen and a faithful friend. He has never had occasion to regret
his determination to seek a home in America, for in this land he has found
the opportunities be sought and utilizing them he has through his well
directed industry and diligence gained a place among the substantial resi-
dents of the community, while at the same time be has enjoyed the friend.
ship and esteem of those with whom he has been brought in contact.

    NICHOLAS MARSHALL CROMWELL—A representative agriculturist of
Harrison township and a veteran of the Civil war, Nicholas Marshall
Cromwell is distinguished not only for his own life work, but for the
honored ancestry from which he traces his descent, being a lineal descend-
ant of Oliver Cromwell, the Protector, and of pioneer ancestry on both
the paternal and maternal sides of the house. A native of Clay county,
he was born in Washington township February 11, 1841, a son of Owen
D. and Huldah (Rizley) Cromwell. Further ancestral and parental his-
tory may be found elsewhere in this work in connection with the sketch
of his brother, D. T. Cromwell.
    Brought up in pioneer times, Nicholas M. Cromwell, as soon as
physically able to work, assisted his father in the labor of clearing a
homestead, in the meantime obtaining his early education in the short
terms of the district schools. On July 9, 1862, imbued with the spirit of
true patriotism, be enlisted in Company D, Seventy-first Indiana Volun-
teer Infantry, which was subsequently known to the Sixth Indiana
Cavalry, and was with his regiment in all of its marches, campaigns and
battles throughout the remainder of the war, receiving his honorable dis-
charge from the service on June 17, 1865. Mr. Cromwell enlisted as
a private, but in 1864 was promoted to the rank of sergeant. After return-
ing to his home he resumed the occupation to which he was bred, and
carried on general farming on rented land for a number of years. In 1876
be bought the farm which he now owns and occupies, it being located in
section thirteen, township nine, range seven. Under his management
his land is well improved and judiciously cultivated, yielding abundantly
of the crops common to this section of the country, the estate bearing
substantial evidences of his agricultural skill and good judgment.
    In August, 1865, Mr. Cromwell married Caroline Toelle, who was
born in Hoofengeisen, a village of Hesse-Cassel, Germany, December 6,
1844. Her father, John Toelle, was born in the same locality, and lived
there during his earlier years. In 1845, Owing to accounts of life in this
country as pictured by his brother Frederick, who had emigrated to
Indiana and lived for a time in Washington township and later in Sugar
Ridge township, he came to the United States to reside, being accompanied
by his wife and four children, crossing the ocean in a sailing vessel, and
being nine weeks on the water. After spending a short time in Ohio
be came to Clay county, locating in Washington township, where he pur-
chased the farm on which he lived several years. Removing from there
to Harrison township, he resided there until his death in 1884, at the
venerable age of four score and four years. He married Maria Louise
Toelle, who, though bearing the same surname, was not a relative. She
died at the age of seventy-seven years, leaving six children, namely: