314                 HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

    Mr. Meyer assisted his father and resided in one of his houses for
five years after his marriage, after which he removed to a farm of his
own in Washington township, consisting of one hundred and seventy-five
acres, to which he later added a tract of twenty-five acres and another of
seventy-seven acres, making a total of two hundred arid seventy-seven
acres. lIe has since prospered in general farming and in the raising of
cattle and hogs, being accounted one of the leading agriculturists of the
township. He is a member of the German Reformed church, and in his
political associations is a Democrat. His living children are Oscar F.,
Walter Harman, Mary Christina and Harry Franklin Meyer. Mr. and
Mrs. Meyer suffered the misfortune and grief of having twins stillborn.

    WILLIAM WHITE BARBER.—Occupying a foremost position among
the worthy and respected citizens of Perry township is William W. Bar-
ber, who is conspicuously identified with the agricultural and horticultural
interests of this part of Clay county, being extensively engaged in general
farming and fruit growing. A son of Aaron Gleason Barber, he was born
February 27, 1835, in Miami county, Ohio, of Dutch ancestry, his grand-
father, Aaron Barber, having been born in Holland.
    Coming to America in colonial times, Aaron Barber settled in New
York state, and at the time of the Revolution remained neutral, taking
sides with neither the crown nor the colonists. Subsequently removing
to Rutland, Vermont, he spent the remainder of his short life in that state,
meeting an accidental death from freezing while lost on the Green
Mountains. He married a Miss Boutwell, a member of the prominent
New England family of Boutwells, and they became the parents of four
children, Aaron Gleason, Roswell, Fanny and Electa. After his death
his young widow with other Dutch colonists who had moved to Vermont
when he did started westward in search of a home. For a time this little
band lived where the city of Syracuse, New York, now stands, afterwards
being located on Cayuga Lake. Going still farther towards the frontier
line, the little band sailed down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers to the pres-
ent site of Cincinnati, at that time a mere trading post, with no special
attractions for the travelers. Continuing their way to the interior as far
as the present site of Dayton, Ohio, some of the colony concluded to
remain there. Mrs. Barber, with her four children, located in what is
now Miami county, and there took up one hundred and sixty acres of gov-
ernment land, it being heavily covered with timber. She subsequently
married for her second husband Colonel Dugan, an officer in one of the
Indian wars, and there resided until her death, at the age of sixty years.
    Aaron Gleason Barber was born May 9, 1802, in Rutland, Vermont,
and was but a boy when he went with his widowed mother to Ohio, where
he was brought up and educated. A natural mechanic, he learned the
cooper’s trade when young, and was equally as skilled as a plasterer or
a blacksmith. Leaving Ohio in 1851, he came with teams to Clay county,
Indiana, locating in Perry township, and here bought of David Christy
eighty acres of land, about twenty of which had been cleared, the re-
mainder being covered with its virgin timber. Devoting his time to the
improvement of his place, he remained there until 1875, when, having
acquired a competency, he removed to Saline City and there lived retired
until his death, in July, 1883, at the advanced age of eighty-one years.
The maiden name of his first wife, mother of William W. Barber, was
Mary Murphy. She was born in New Jersey, a daughter of John and