HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      365

    Mr. Graeser is of German birth, born in Heidelberg, Germany, July
15, 1848, a son of Otto and Elizabeth (Fries) Graeser, and a grandson of
William and Annie (Rens) Graeser and of Christian Adam and Louisa
(Hadeus) Fries. His father died in Germany January 24, 1901, and his
mother a number of years previously, January 15, 1891. Their son Will-
iam received a college education in his native land, and during sixteen
months he served in the Franco-Prussian war. Coming to America in
1873, he went from New York to St. Louis, Missouri, thence to Illinois,
and some time later, on the 4th of July, 1878, arrived in Center Point,
where he was first employed as a gardner and farmer, and his home has
ever since been in this city.
    Mr. Graeser was married on the 27th of August, 1881, to Barbara
Giltz, who was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, July 3, 1850, a daughter
of Ehrenrich and Catherine (Schuler) Giltz. They were born in Wur-
temburg, Germany, and coming to America were married in Ohio, and
from there came to Jackson township, Clay county, Indiana about 1855.
The two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Graeser are Elizabeth and Will-
iam O. The daughter, born June 3, 1884, married Emery E. Schaffer,
of Center Point. The son was born July 28, 1887, and since January of
1907 has served as the deputy auditor of Clay county. He married Floy
Williams, who was born in Ashboro, Clay county, a daughter of Fred and
Sarah (Tribble) Williams. Mr. Graeser gives his political allegiance to
the Democratic party, and is a member of the Lutheran church.

    SIMON BROWN, one of the leading agriculturists of Sugar Ridge town-
ship, was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, February 22, 1850, a son of
Christian F. and Elizabeth (Sheir) Brown, who were born in Germany,
the father in Wurtemberg. They came in their early lives to the United
States, and were married in Ohio, after which they farmed in Tuscara-
was, Greene and other counties of that state until finally, in 1864, they
came to Clay county, Indiana, and bought prairie land in Jackson town-
ship, remaining there until their deaths, the father dying on the 6th of
June, 1876, and the mother on the 26th of July, 1897.
    Simon Brown, the seventh born of their eight children, five sons and
three daughters, was with his parents on the farm in his early life with
the exception of one year which he spent in Shelby county, Illinois, and
after his marriage he rented land in Jackson township for two years. He
then located on the eighty acres in section 19, Sugar Ridge township,
where he is now living, and which belonged to his wife. Only eighteen
acres of land had been cleared, but he has since cleared the remainder and
placed the entire farm under an excellent state of cultivation and is
engaged in diversified farming and stock raising. In 1888 he added
eighteen and three-fourths acres to the boundaries of the farm, and just
ten years afterward, in 1898, he bought fifty-four acres, twenty-nine acres
lying in section 20 and the remainder in section 19.
    He was married on the 30th of January, 1876, to Mary J. Morgan,
who was born in Posey township of Clay county May 13, 1856, a
daughter of John M. and Elizabeth (Wright) Morgan, the former born
in Henry county, Kentucky, and the latter in Jackson township, Clay
county, Indiana. They have had three children, Ira A., Harry E., and
one who died in infancy. Ira A., born January 11, 1878, is at home, and
Harry E., born January 7, 1882, is employed on the Erie & Terre Haute
Railroad and resides in Evansville, Indiana. Mr. Brown upholds the