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"Biographical and Historical Record of Jay County, Indiana," Chicago: Lewis
Publishing Company, 1887. Reprinted by Mayhill Publications of Knightstown,
Indiana, 1974.  This is the reprinted section out of the original combined
1887 History of Jay and Blackford counties.

p 297: "Jonas VOTAW, one of the leading and influential citizens of Jay
County, was born January 1, 1813, near New Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio,
being the tenth and youngest child, and the only one now living, of John and
Rebecca (BURSON) VOTAW.  His father was of French descent, his mother being
of Scotish ancestry.  They belonged to the Society of Friends, and were
married in a Quaker church, in Londoun County, Virginia, in accordance with
the usual custom of that society, the date of their marriage being January
9, 1793.  The father was a blacksmith by occupation, and manufactured all
kinds of edged tools then in use, farming utensils, etc.  He made the
knives, forks, and plates, and also furniture with which he and his wife
began housekeeping.  By strict economy and close application to his trade,
he accumulated a little money.  In the fall of 1796, they left their native
county, having two horses on which they loaded their clothing, placing their
few goods on pack saddles, crossing the Allegheny Mountains, and locating in
Harrison County, West Virginia, where the father bought land on which he
made his home seven or eight years.  He then sold his land and with his
family, then consisting of wife and six children, he moved to Columbiana
County, Ohio, in the fall of 1803, where he purchased a section of
Government land, five miles west of New Lisbon.  He sold 160 acres of this
land, retaining 480 acres which he paid for by working at his trade.  He was
a skilled and reliable workman, and his patrons came to his shop a distance
of from ten to twenty miles in the early settlement of the country.  His son
Jonas, the subject of this sketch, had but limited educational advantages in
his youth, only attending the common district school four terms of three
months each between the age of twelve and sixteen years.  Prior to reaching
the age of twelve years he had been [p 298] taught at home by his parents.
>From sixteen until attaining the age of twenty-one years he was engaged in
farming on his father's farm.  For two years from the age of twenty-one to
twenty-three years he was engaged in burning wood into charcoal, making
100,000 bushels of charcoal from about 2,000 cords of wood, and sold the
same to HUGHES & DOYLE, this firm using charcoal furnaces in the manufacture
of iron, nails and castings.  This work was very laborious, requiring
constant attention both night and day, Mr. VOTAW having three coal pits
burning most of the time, and not sleeping more than four or five hours
during the day.  From this labor of a little over two years he realized a
net profit of $600.  Desiring to travel and see more of the world, he made a
safe deposit of his money, and November 1, 1835, contracted with Captain
McINTOCH of Wellsville, Ohio, for $40 a month, and was one of four men to
row two large flat boats, 40 X 80 feet, lashed together, making a surface of
40 X 80 feet [sic].  This boat was loaded with different kinds of produce to
supply the wants of the people on the Lower Mississippi, and the trip,
including the coast trade on the lower Mississippi, embraced a period of
almost five months.  Although attended with many exciting incidents, both
romantic and dangerous, such as passing over the falls of the Ohio River at
Louisville, and the eddies and whirlpools of the lower Mississippi, the trip
was much enjoyed.  The Captain was an experienced man, this being his
nineteenth trip, and landed them safely at New Orleans February 1, 1836,
with his goods mostly sold.  Mr. VOTAW remained at New Orleans ten days,
viewing the city, and February 10, 1836, he embarked on a large steamboat,
bound for Louisville with a stock of oranges and lemons, which were sold in
Cincinnati, the profit from these more than paying steamboat fare.  He
proceeded to Richmond, Indiana, for a short visit to relatives and friends,
and was very favorably impressed with the country.  At that time there was
much talk and excitement about the sale of cheap Government lands at Fort
Wayne and Northern Indiana, and Mr. VOTAW resolved to invest his small means
in the purchase of lands.  He according returned to his native home,
collected his money, and started on foot and alone for Fort Wayne, Indiana,
arriving at his destination about the middle of May, 1836.  He was there
informed that the receiver's office was closed, and would remain so about
two months, and this gave him a good opportunity to explore and prospect for
land.  He received much information and kind advice from Mr. BRACKENRIDGE,
the Registrar of the land office.  After remaining three days at Fort Wayne
he started for the wilds of Northern Indiana, sometimes going from ten to
twenty miles between cabins and settlements, passing through a part of
DeKalb, Noble and LaGrange counties, entering the state of Michigan at
Sturgis, going on to Kalamazoo, which at that time had but a dozen small
houses.  Finding that Michigan land had been taken up he returned to Fort
Wayne, and in the meantime he had taken the numbers of forty-six tracts of
land, numbering them first to forty-sixth choice.  At this time the country
was full of land hunters, and at the opening of the land office at Fort
Wayne, about July 1, 1836, there were at least 2,000 people in the village,
most of whom were land buyers from New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio,
and the speculators and money sharks took advantage of the honest,
unsuspecting land buyers, getting the number of their lands, to come in
conflict with them.  Then for the sole purpose of making money they would
offer to release and compromise for $50 or $100, called hush money.  Mr.
BRACKENRIDGE, seeing how mat- [p 299] ters stood, gave notice to those
desiring to enter land to prepare their numbers by section, township and
range by writing, and hand the same into his office the following morning,
and that no other entries would be made until those applications were gone
through with, and this to a great extent stopped the land sharks from
imposing on the people.  Mr. VOTAW had to remain in Fort Wayne fifteen days
before his entries could be reached, he finally entering five eighty acre
lots, four hundred acres in all, his selections being among the choicest
tracts of land, one tract being on the north branch and another on the south
of Elkhart River.  All of said land he sold within three years of the date
of entry, receiving on average $7 per acre before any tax had accrued
thereon, Government land being exempt from taxation for five years from date
of purchase.  He had paid for these lands $1.25 an acre.  After closing his
purchases at Fort Wayne Mr. VOTAW, with sixteen other eastern land buyers,
purchased a large canoe, in which they floated down the Maumee River to
Toledo, then a village of not more than fifteen houses, and from there
proceeded to Cleveland by steamer, subsequently reaching his home in
Columbiana County, Ohio, with but sixpence in his pocket.  The news of his
land purchase created no little excitement among his relatives and former
associates, and in the fall of the same year his father, John VOTAW, his
brother-in-law, Preston BECK, and James FERREL offered to pay Mr. VOTAW's
expenses if he would pilot them to Fort Wayne, which offer he accepted, and
all mounted on good horses they soon arrived at their destination.  There
learning that the choice land had all been sold in northern Indiana, they
went to Jay County, where they found an unbroken forest of heavy timber land
subject to entry, and here his father bought 400 acres, Preston BECK 240 and
James FERREL eighty acres located on the Limberlost Creek near the present
site of the village of Westchester.  These three gentlemen then returned to
their homes, and our subject went to his lands in Noble County, where he
remained over a year, making some improvements, and in the meantime cut and
split 6,000 rails for other parties.  He still kept his plats in Noble,
LaGrange and Elkhart counties marked up by sending them to the registrar of
the land office, thus being able at all times to show the vacant lands to
those wishing to purchase, which occupation he followed when called on.  He
was an expert woodsman, often making as high as $5 a day.  In the fall of
1837 he was taken sick with bilious malarial fever, followed by an attack of
ague, and on recovering he returned to his native home in the latter part of
1838.  He remained with his father the following summer and winter,
recuperating his health and helping on the farm.  In the fall of 1838 his
father, with his two sons, John, Jr., and Isaac, sold their farms, and in
the spring of 1839 came with our subject to Jay County, Indiana, and settled
on their land near Westchester.  The father having money hired help, and in
a little over one year he had fifty acres of cleared land.  In the fall of
1840 he was taken sick with typhus fever and died September 7, 1840, in his
seventy-first year, his death being a source of great grief to his family.
He had left a home, surrounded with all the necessary comforts of life, and
many friends and relatives in Ohio, where, with such a constitution as his,
he might have been spared for many years.  Jonas VOTAW, having previously
purchased 280 acres of land in the vicinity of Westchester, built a frame
house on his land, and cleared forty acres in 1840-'41.  In August, 1841, he
was elected treasurer of [p 300] Jay County, being nominated by the Whig
party.  He was three times re-elected by the people, and held that office
twelve consecutive years, serving with credit to himself and satisfaction to
his constituents.  He resigned the office of treasurer June 10, 1853, he
having previously been elected treasurer of the Cincinnati, Union & Fort
Wayne Railroad, which he held four or five years.  While treasurer of Jay
County he acted as agent for many non-residents in selling their lands,
buying and selling many tracts of land, and it was a common saying that
'VOTAW never bought a poor piece of land, and you can bet the title thereto
is good.' He was married September 8, 1842, to Ann BROWN, daughter of Aaron
and Mary BROWN, and immediately after his marriage located at Portland, and
at once became interested in the improvement and development of that city.
He has since lived in Portland, or the immediate vicinity, his present
residence being about one mile from the business center.  To Mr. and Mrs.
VOTAW were born seven children -- Wilson C., was born August 10, 1843;
August 10, 1861 he volunteered in Company C, Thirty-ninth Regiment Indiana
Infantry; was a Sergeant of Captain George F. WINTER's Company (C), Eighth
Regiment of Indiana Veteran Cavalry Volunteers; was enrolled on the 12th day
of February, 1864, to serve three years, or during the war; was honorably
discharged from the service of the United States July 20, 1865, at
Lexington, North Carolina, by order of the Secretary of War; and was married
October 21, 1866, to Jane SIMMONS; Ruth A., born April 18, 1845, was married
in September 1860, to A. J. CALLAHAN, a farmer residing near Johnstown,
Bates County, Missouri; Mary R., born May 7, 1847, was married September 20,
1866 to D. A. HENRY, a farmer living near Clinton, Henry County, Missouri;
Sarah G., born August 6, 1851, was married September 7, 1879, to J. R.
COULSON, a farmer residing two miles southwest of Portland; Howard E., born
December 30, 1853, married November 14, 1885, to Ollie M. MILLIGAN, and is
engaged in farming two miles west of Portland; Homer S., born January 26,
1856, is a ticket and freight agent, and also telegraph operator for the
Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, now located at Smith's Mill,
Minnesota; John J., born March 10, 1859, died October 23, 1859.  Mrs. VOTAW
died March 18, 1859, aged thirty-three years, ten months and twenty-seven
days.  Mr. VOTAW was again married June 17, 1861, to Lizzie K. DRESSER, a
daughter of John DRESSER, who lived near Old Stockbridge, Berkshire County,
Massachusetts.  She had a liberal education and followed school teaching for
several years.  She was an exemplary Christian, a member of the
Congregational church.  To this marriage were born five children -- James
F., born and died June 29, 1862; Clara B., born June 26, 1863, is now
clerking for her brother, Homer S., in the office of the Chicago &
Northwestern Railroad Company at Smith's Mill, Minnesota; Lillian K., born
January 22, 1866, was married April 9, 1887, to John E. BISHOP, a teacher in
the Portland City Normal School; Emma L., born June 17, 1871.  Mrs. VOTAW
died July 13, 1874, aged forty-three years, seven months and nineteen days,
and lived and died a devoted Christian.  August 10, 1875, Mr. VOTAW married
at Little York, Ohio, Mrs. N. J. (PERDEW) CASE, daughter of Philip and Amy
M. PERDEW.  Her father was a native of Pennsylvania, born September 2, 1805,
and her mother was born near Providence, Rhode Island, August 2, 1813.  The
latter was of French extraction, the third cousin of Mar- [p 301] quis de La
FAYETTE, her maiden name being DES TREES.  Mrs. VOTAW is a Christian woman,
in early life joining the Methodist church.  She was first married July 9,
1857, when seventeen years of age, to Augustus B. CASE, and to them were
born two children -- Amy L., born June 18, 1858, and died the day of her
birth; Cecil E. A., born May 16, 1860, was married February 19, 1881, to
Etta B. WHITE, who died September 20, 1884, aged twenty-one years.  Both
were members of the Christian church.  Augustus B. CASE was a soldier in the
war of the Rebellion, enlisting in 1861 in the Fifty-fifth Ohio Infantry.
He veteranized January 22, 1864, and was killed at the battle of Reseca,
Georgia, May 15, 1864, at the age of twenty-six years.  He was a brave
soldier, and a true Christian.  Cecil E. A. CASE now lives with his parents,
and is engaged in farming.  Jonas VOTAW was appointed and commissioned by
Governor Oliver P. MORTON director of the Northern Indiana State Prison to
serve for a term of two years, from March 11, 1861, to fill the vacancy
caused by the resignation of Colonel Milt. ROBINSON, which position he
accepted and filled with satisfaction to the State.  He was also postmaster
at College Corner, Jay County, for five or six years, which position he
resigned February 15, 1872.  February 22, 1853, the Cincinnati, Union and
Fort Wayne Railroad Company was organized, and Jonas VOTAW was chosen
treasurer, which position he filled satisfactorily for six years, when the
company failed, and was finally dissolved in 1863.  The citizens of Portland
and Jay County were heavy losers by the failure of this enterprise, they
having expended about $100,000 in grubbing and grading the railroad bed from
Union City to Portland, Indiana, a distance of twenty miles.  This railroad
bed still remains unironed, but the prospects are that in the near future it
will be utilized.  Mr. VOTAW was appointed chairman of a commission by a
Congress of the United States, said commission being to partition the
Me-shin-go-me-sia Reservation in Grant and Wabash counties, Indiana, under
Act of Congress of June 1, 1872.  In said reservation there were about ten
sections of land which had never been surveyed.  In the spring of 1873 the
commission commenced work and was occupied about ten weeks, by which time
they had sectioned of the land, and divided it per capita among the band of
Me-shin-go-me-sia, consisting of sixty-six Indians, making each a division
of almost 100 acres.  Mr. VOTAW took an active interest in the organization
of the Jay County Agricultural, Horticultural and Industrial Joint Stock
Company, which was incorporated December 21, 1871, with which he has since
been identified either as president or director.  The fairs have always
proved a success financially, and the growth and breeds of all kinds of
stock have been greatly improved, and the general interests of the country
have been developed by the society's progressive course.  Mr. VOTAW was
chosen delegate from the Eleventh Congressional District of Indiana to
represent said district in the National Republican Convention that convened
in Chicago, June 3, 1884, which resulted in the nomination of James G.
BLAINE for President, and John A. LOGAN for Vice President.  He took an
active part to secure the nomination of Mr. BLAINE.  Mr. VOTAW is a public
spirited citizen, and has given liberally of his means to all public
enterprises for the development of the city of Portland, and the country at
large, doing all in his power to secure railroads to Portland, and gravel
roads throughout the county, and has aided in the support of schools and
churches from the early settlement of the country to the present [p 302]
time.  In his religious views he is a liberal and progressive, not
recognizing the Jewish ceremonies an ordinances as essential to salvation."


p 302: "Judge Jacob M. HAYNES, one of Jay County's early settlers, of whom
none is more favorably or more widely known, was born in Monson, Hampden
County, Massachusetts, April 12, 1817.  His father, Henry HAYNES, was born
in the same town in June, 1786.  The HAYNES family are of early New England
origin.  Our subject is a descendant of Walter HAYNES, who emigrated from
England in 1636, only sixteen years after the landing of the pilgrims on New
England's shore.  David HAYNES, the paternal grandfather of Judge HAYNES,
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and his father during the war of
1812 was engaged in the manufacture of fire-arms.  His mother, Achsah
(MARCH) HAYNES, was born in Millbury, Worcester County, Massachusetts, in
October 1792, and died in July 1870, six years after the death of her
husband.  She was a relative of Bishop CHASE, an uncle of Chief Justice
CHASE.  The parents of our subject reared a family of twelve children, four
sons and eight daughters, of whom Judge HAYNES was the second son and third
child.  His father being a mechanic, he was engaged in his youth for a
considerable time in assisting him at his work in the shop, but for three
years he lived with his uncle on a farm.  He received a good common-school
education, and afterward took a classical course at Monson Academy, and
later pursued a literary and scientific course of study at Phillips' Academy
at Andover, Massachusetts.  He began the study of law with Hon. Linus CHILD
at Southbridge, Massachusetts.  In 1843 he came west, and resumed the study
of law at Muncie, Indiana, with Hon. Walter MARCH, and in order to defray
his expenses and furnish the means for completing his legal studies he
engaged in teaching, having charge for a time of the Delaware County
Seminary.  He was admitted to the bar at Muncie, in March, 1844, and in
December of the same year he came to Portland, where he now resides, and in
the early part of 1845 he began the practice of his chosen profession.  He
was married in Portland, August 27, 1846, to Miss Hilinda S. HAINES, who was
born in Clarksville, Clinton County, Ohio, in 1828, and died May 11, 1885,
leaving eight children -- Josephine; Susan, wife of Charles F. HEADINGTON;
Walter M., cashier of the People's Bank, of Portland; Sumner W., an attorney
of Portland; Elwood, at present manager of the Portland gas works; Frank,
Calvin H. and Edward.  Judge HAYNES' prominence as a lawyer, and his long
experience on the bench have made his name well known throughout the State
of Indiana.  He has held official positions since 1846, in which year he was
appointed school commissioner to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of
Wilson MILLIGAN.  In August of the same year he was elected to that office,
and served two years.  In 1848 he was appointed school examiner, which
office he filled four years.  In 1856 he was elected judge of the Common
Plea Court.  In 1860 the district was enlarged so as to embrace the counties
of Randolph, Delaware, Jay and Blackford, for which district he was elected
in that year.  He was re-elected to this ofice in 1864, and again in 1868,
and in 1870 he was made judge of the circuit court embracing the counties of
Wayne, Randolph, Jay and Blackford.  This term of office expired in 1877, he
having served on the bench for twenty-one years.  In 1856 Judge HAYNES [p
303] began taking an active part in politics. During the war of the
Rebellion he made many speeches in support of the administration, taking a
radical stand in favor of the prosecution of the war. In early life he was a
Whig, casting his first presidential vote for General HARRISON in 1840.  On
the organization of the Republican party he identified himself with that
political body, ardently supporting its principles, and sharing in its
glorious achievements.  Since 1875 Judge HAYNES has given his attention to
the banking business, having been president of the People's Bank since that
time.  The many sterling qualities of heart and mind possessed by our
subject, have ever won for him the confidence and esteem of the people."


"1922 History of Jay County, Indiana" edited by Milton J. Jay, M.D. with New
All-Name Index. Originally published as Vol. II of a 2-volume set that
included the Montgomery History.  Indianapolis, Historical Publishing
Company, 1922.  Reprinted 1978 by the Bookmark of Knightstown, Ind.
Sponsored by Jay County Historical Society, Portland, Ind.

p 108: "William R. HAFFNER, a veteran of the Civil War and a retired farmer
of Bearcreek township, living at his pleasant farm home in that township,
where he has resided for many years, one of the best known men in that
section of the county, is a native son of Jay county and has lived here all
his life.  Mr. HAFFNER was born on a farm in Jackson township on February 8,
1843, and is a son of John and Mary (PEARSON) HAFFNER, the latter of whom
was born in Ohio.  John HAFFNER was born in Virginia and was about nine
years of age when his parents moved to Ohio, where he grew to manhood and
was married, later coming over into Indiana and making his home in Jackson
township, this county, where he spent his last days.  In addition to his
farming, John HAFFNER also was a cabinet maker and carried on quite a
business in making furniture for his pioneer neighbors during the earlier
years of his residence in this county.  He and his wife were the parents of
ten children, six of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch
having two sisters, Julia and Emma, and three brothers, Albert, John and Eli
HAFFNER.  Reared on the home farm, William R. HAFFNER received his schooling
in the old Higgins school, a hewed log structure.  He
was eighteen years of age when the Civil War broke out and in the next year,
on August 15, 1862, enlisted his services in behalf of the cause of the
Union and went to the front as a private in Company E of the 89th regiment,
Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which gallant command he served for a bit
more than three years, or until his discharge at Mobile, Ala., August 24,
1865, the war then being over.  Upon the completion of his military service
Mr. HAFFNER returned home and resumed his place on the farm.  When
twenty-two years of age he bought an eighty-acre tract of woodland in
Bearcreek township, a part of the place on which he is now living, and began
to clear and improve the same, meanwhile renting adjacent fields on which to
carry on his farming operations.  In the fall of the following year he
married and established his home on that place and has since resided there
with [p 109] the exception of a period of three years which he spent at
Portland.  Mr. HAFFNER has a well improved farm, the operations of which are
now carried on by his son, Orville HAFFNER, who took charge upon his
father's retirement in 1919.  William R. HAFFNER has been twice married.  On
October 18, 1866, he was united in marriage to Mary A. HOLLOWAY, who was
born in the vicinity of Plattsville, in Shelby county, Ohio, and who was
about fourteen years of age when she came to Jay county with her parents,
George P. and Elizabeth (CARMONY) HOLLOWAY, the former of whom formerly and
for years was engaged in the harness business at Portland.  To that union
six children were born.  Of these, three are still living, Elmer, Vioretta
and Leona, the latter of whom married Otis HUTCHENS, of Muncie, and has two
children, Robert and Alma.  Elmer HAFFNER, who is farming in Bearcreek
township, married Lillie DOUGHERTY and has seven children, Forrest, Cloyd,
Walter, Dale, Wayne, Fern and Hazel.  Vioretta HAFFNER married William
WATERMYERS, a farmer of the Findlay neighborhood, in Ohio, and has five
children.  Mrs. Mary A. (HOLLOWAY) HAFFNER died and on June 28, 1900, Mr.
HAFFNER married Dora B. MAST, of this county, and to this union two children
have been born, Orville W. and Mamie B., the latter of whom is a member of
the class of 1922, Bryant high school.  Orville W. HAFFNER was graduated
from the Bryant high school with the class of 1918
and is now, as noted above, carrying on the operations of the home farm for
his father.  Mrs. Dora B. HAFFNER was born in Pike township, this county,
and is a daughter of John and Priscilla (CORLE) MAST, the latter of whom
also was born in that township, a member of one of the pioneer families of
this county.  John MAST was born in Union county, Ohio, and early became a
resident of Jay county, moving from Pike township to Bearcreek township when
Mrs. HAFFNER was about fifteen years of age.  He and his wife were the
parents of three children, Mrs. HAFFNER having a sister, Mary, and a
brother, John V. MAST.  The HAFFNERs have a pleasant home in Bearcreek
township, rural mail route No. 11 out of Portland, and have ever taken an
interested part in the
general social activities of the neighborhood.  Mr. and Mrs. HAFFNER are
members of the Christian Union church and in their political views are
inclined to 'independence.'"


rcreath@azstarnet.com (Betty Creath)