HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY	287

He was devoted to the interests of his clients but his devotion carried him
beyond the limits of legitimate duty. There was the genius of success in
his methods which gave him a large place in the public confidence. If
he was not eloquent he possessed qualities of intellect of a more valuable
kind. His mind was disciplined, systematic and discriminating and he
reached conclusions by a process of reasoning which left little room for
mistake. As a judge of the highest court in the state his opinions are
brief, compact, and proceed from well defined premises to clear conclu-
sions and constitute models of judicial precision and brevity.”
	No man in public life perhaps in this community has had so few ene-
mies. Even those opposed to him politically entertained for him the
warmest personal regard and admiration. It is said that he never forgot
a friend: The playmates of his boyhood, the associates of his early man-
hood, his comrades in arms, those with whom he labored at the bar and
his colleagues on the bench were alike remembered through all the years
with their added responsibilities and honors. His life record finds em-
bodiment in the words of Pope:

Statesman, yet friend to truth of soul sincere,
In action faithful and in honor clear;
Who broke no promise, served no private end,
Who gained no title and who lost no friend.

	J Acon LUTHER.—Among the native-born citizens of Harrison town-
ship who have spent their lives within its precincts, aiding in every pos-
sible way its growth and development, is Jacob Luther, whose birth
occurred September 20, 1858, on the farm which he now owns and occu-
pies, and which his father, Jacob Luther, Sr., entered from the govern-
ment.
	Peter Luther, Mr. Luther’s grandfather, was born in Randolph
county, North Carolina, and was there reared to agricultural pursuits. In
1828, impelled by the restive American spirit that led so many to seek
new locations on the frontier wilds, he came with his wife and children to
Indiana, performing the long, bard journey with teams. Settling in what
is now Harrison township, he took up a tract of land that was in its pris-
tine wilderness, and here, on the homestead which he improved, he spent
his remaining days. He married Sally Randall, also a native of North
Carolina, and she proved herself a wise helpmeet and companion.
	Jacob Luther, Sr., was born in 1817 in Randolph county, North Caro-
lina, and when a boy of eleven years made the memorable trip across the
country to this state. In that early day the greater part of the land was
owned by the government, and was covered with a heavy growth of tim-
ber. Wild animals of all kinds were numerous and destructive, and many
Indians were living in the forests. Much of the wood in this section was
either black walnut, oak or poplar, and the huge logs made of the latter
kind were rolled into piles and burned, that being the only way to dispose
of them quickly. Arriving at man’s estate, Jacob Luther, Sr., entered
government land, a part of which is included in the farm on which his son
Jacob was born, and which he now owns and occupies. For many years
afterwards there were neither markets nor railroads in the state, and he
used to take his hogs and other surplus products of the farm to Gosport,
thirty miles away. The people lived on the productions of the soil or the
fruits of the chase, and the busy housewife invariably dressed her family

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