"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 Jay County section out of the original combined 1887 History of Jay and Blackford counties. P 689: "Samuel MONEY, farmer, resides on section 22, Madison Township, where he owns eighty acres of well improved land. He was born in Jackson County, Ohio, August 24, 1827, and when three years of age was brought to Mercer County, where he grew to manhood. In 1848 he came to Noble Township, this county, where he resided until 1862, then came to Madison Township and bought his present farm. About twenty acres were cleared and an old log cabin stood on the place, in which he lived six or seven years, and he then built his present home. He was married September 7, 1848, to Miss Susan DAVIS, who was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, January 10, 1828, and when she was eight years old her parents removed to Darke County, Ohio, living there until she was twelve years of age, when they came to this county, where she was reared and married. She is a daughter of James and Elizabeth (ZIMMERMAN) DAVIS. Her parents had a family of ten children -- Mary, Suan, James, John M., Benjamin, William, Robert, Catherine, Nancy A. and Elizabeth. Mr. MONEY was a son of William and Anna (ANDERSON) MONEY, the former a native of Loudoun County, Virginia, and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father died in Mercer County, Ohio, in 1846, aged sixty-nine years, and is buried on the old homestead, where he had lived so many years. The mother was about ten years younger than the father, and died ten years later. Both had been professors of religion many years, and were members of the Christian church. They were the parents of twelve children -- Elexander, Rachel, Nancy, William, David, James, John A., Mary, Samuel, Josiah, Nicholas and Martha. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel MONEY have had nine [sic] children -- Elizabeth A., born July 13, 1849, died October 7, 1852; James D., born December 30, 1852; Mary E., born March 30, 1856, wife of Calvin R. WHETSEL; Almaretta E., born August 6, 1858, was married December 28, 1876, to Jacob B. LOTS, who died March 13, 1882; William M., born September 21, 1860; John M., born December 27, 1863; Samuel E., born April 27, 1865, died in September of the same year; Asenath, born November 7, 1866, married Lafayett SCOTT June 7, 1883. Mr. and Mrs. MONEY are members of the Christian church, and in politics he is a Democrat. His grandfather, William MONEY was born in Ireland. His maternal grandfather, Alexander ANDERSON, was born in Ireland and married Martha McCREERY, also born in Ireland. In his grandfather MONEY's family were the following children -- Ephraim, William, Nicholas, James and Nancy. During the late war Mr. MONEY enlisted March 23, 1864, in Company E, Twenty-third Indiana Infantry, joining his regiment at Alexandria, Virginia. He marched to Washington and participated in the grand review, thence to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was mustered out, and was discharged at Indianapolis." P 564: "William J. ROOK, postmaster of Pennville, and an active and enterprising citizen, is a native of Jay County, Indiana, born in Richland Township November 21, 1842, a son of Jacob and Jane (SCHRICK) ROOK. Our subject was reared on the home farm, receiving his education in the schools of his district. He remained on the home farm with his parents until attaining his majority, when he engaged in farming on his own account. In October, 1864, he enlisted in the war of the Rebellion in Company F, One Hundred and Fortieth Indiana Infantry, serving under Sherman in Tennessee, North and South Carolina and Kentucky. He remained in the service of his country until the close of the war, when he received an honorable discharge at Indianapolis, Indiana, in July, 1865. He then returned to Jay County, and August 31, 1865, he was married to Miss Mary HAYES, a native of Syracuse, New York, a daughter of Lawrence and Bridget (BODKIN) HAYES, who were natives of Ireland, coming to Jay County in 1859. Seven children have been born to this union, of whom six are still living -- Theresa Ann, Elizabeth Jane, Lawrence W., Mary Catherine, Rosa Bridget and Esther Jane. One son, John Sylvester, died aged six months. Mr. and Mrs. ROOK began housekeeping on a tract of eighty acres, which was entirely unimproved. Mr. ROOK immediately began the task of clearing and improving his land, to which he subsequently added eighty acres of heavily timbered land, and of his 160 acre farm he has cleared and improved 110 acres, and brought it under a high state of cultivation. He followed farming until July 1880, when he took the contract for carrying the mail from Camden to Portland, in connection with which he ran a passenger and express hack for nine months. He then resumed farming, to which he devoted his time until he received the appointment of postmaster of Pennville, October 26, 1885, under President CLEVELAND's administration. Beside his duties of postmaster he carries a stock of groceries, and by his cordial manners and strict attention to the wants of his customers he is building up a good trade. In politics Mr. ROOK affiliates with the Democratic party. Both he and his wife are members of the Catholic church." P 589: "Philip C. BECHDALT, section 7, Pike Township, was born in Auglaize County, Ohio, July 15, 1842, a son of Peter and Susannah (GENBAR) BECHDALT, of Irish and German descent. His father died in Auglaize County in 1875, and his mother still lives in that county. Philip C. was reared on a farm, but when nineteen years of age began to work at the carpenter's trade, subsequently working at the cabinetmaker's trade. He came to Jay County in 1864, and has since followed agricultural pursuits. He was married February 9, 1864, to Mary A., daughter of James and Sarah DARBY, of Pike Township, a native of Clinton County, Ohio, born January 14, 1842. They commenced married life on the farm they now occupy, in a little log cabin. But little clearing had been made, but now their 100 acres are under cultivation, and in 1886 they built their present fine residence. Mr. and Mrs. BECHDALT have four children -- Lizzie A., wife of Elmer BOST; Riley G., Emma J. and James O. In 1866 Mr. BECHDALT joined the United Brethren church and most of the time since has been a local preacher. He now has charge of six churches -- Zion Class, in Pike Township; Union, in Bear Creek Township; Elm Grove and New Hope, in Jefferson Township; Hopewell, in Greene Township, and Bethel, in Blackford County, supplying each once in three weeks." P 696: "Benjamin R. ROWE, the leading harness manufacturer of Portland, was born in the village of Etna, Licking County, Ohio, the date of his birth being October 19, 1856. He was about eight years old when his father, R. T. ROWE, came to Jay County with his family and settled in Noble Township, where he still owns a fine farm. For many years the father followed mercantile pursuits, but later has been engaged as traveling salesman. Benjamin R. spent his youth in alternately working on his father's farm and clerking in the store, being thus engaged until he began learning his trade. He came to Portland in the spring of 1873, in May of that year becoming apprenticed to John BRADLEY to learn the trade of harness-making. He remained [p 697] with Mr. BRADLEY three years, and at the expiration of his apprenticehsip, wishing to learn more thoroughly the details of his trade, he went to Columbus, Ohio, and worked under instruction for eighteen months. He worked at his trade at Portland, Greenville, Ohio, and Unionville, Indiana, until March, 1881, when he established his present business in MILLER's Block, Meridian street. He is master of his trade, understanding thoroughly all its details, and has met with excellent success in business. In addition to a large and complete stock of harness, he also deals in boots and shoes, his store-room, which is 22 X 70 feet in size, being well filled with his stock of goods. Quiet, industrious in his habits and strictly honorable in his dealings, he has gained the confidence and esteem of all who know him, and is classed among the respected citizens of Portland." P 487: "Benjamin W. HAWKINS, one of the old and honored pioneers of Jay County who is now deceased, was born in Preble County, Ohio, in the year 1815. The first settlement in America of the HAWKINS family was during the first half of the eighteenth century, when four brothers, John, Samuel, Benjamin and James, emigrated from England and settled in the Shenandoah Valley in the Virginia Colony. These brothers were slaveholders, and were direct descendants of Sir John HAWKINS, who was the first Englishman to establish the slave trade between Africa and the American colonies. Of the four brothers mentioned above our subject was a descendant of Samuel. Samuel HAWKINS, the great-grandfather of our subject, took part in that memorable struggle which resulted in America's independence. He lived in Virginia until his death. His son, Samuel, the grandfather of Benjamin W. HAWKINS, removed to what was afterward Bourbon County, Kentucky, when the immigration to Kentucky and the West commenced, and is believed to be the pioneer settler of that county. In 1791 he was in ST. CLAIRS army on an expedition against the Indians of the Northwestern tribes, where the former were so disastrously defeated at the present site of Fort Recovery. After WAYNE's successful expedition and treaty opening new territory to settlement he became a pioneer settler near the present site of Eaton, Ohio, and is thought to have been the first white settler to cross the Miami River. His son, John J., the father of our subject, was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, the date of his birth being September 25, 1789, and in his boyhood went with his father to Ohio, being reared without education. He was married to Miss Nancy SELLERS, who taught him to read and write. He was a Lieutenant in the war of 1812, and later became a popular and very efficient sheriff of Preble County, Ohio. Losing his property in Preble County, he concluded in 1829 to move West, and the spot near the Little Salamonie which he had selected proved to be section 11 of Pike Township, Jay County, Indiana, and he was the first settle in the county. The family, consisting of the parents and six children, cut their way through the woods and arrived at their new home March 8, 1829, with but $3 in cash. All in the family who were old enough aided in clearing their land, and in the spring of their arrival had cleared and planted about seven acres, raising a fine crop of corn and garden vegetables. The first season they lived in a 'half-faced camp,' which was a rude shelter against a large log, entirely open on one side, the open side serving as door, window and fireplace. The following September they erected a log cabin. In those days their corn was taken to Greenville, Ohio, or Richmond, Indiana, to be ground. Game of all kinds was in abundance, and the father was an excellent shot. The sale of skins and furs kept the family supplied with a little money, and by strict economy they managed to accumulate a little property. The father died March 15, 1832, from an injury he had received caused by the carcass of a deer falling upon him while he was endeavoring to suspend it. His widow survived until 1868. She was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, June 4, 1789, of Irish descent. Her father, Nathan SELLERS, was a Revolutionary soldier, and distinguished himself at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. While in [p 488] Kentucky he was made a magistrate, and was finally appointed sheriff, which office he resigned because of the inhumanity of the laws he had to execute. A common mode of punishing negroes in that State was to nail their ears to posts and then whip them. He was strongly opposed to slavery, and seeing no prospect of its abolition in Kentucky he left that State of Ohio in 1809. He died as he had lived, a consistent Christian, in 1826. Several ancestors of Mrs. Nancy (SELLERS) HAWKINS served with Daniel BOONE in the war with the Indians, and were victims to the tomahawk and scalping knife. The six children of Mr. and Mrs. John J. HAWKINS are as follows -- Samuel, Nathan B., Benjamin (our subject), Avaline, wife of James SIMMONS, of Randolph County, Joseph C. and Caroline, wife of B W CLARK. Benjamin W. HAWKINS, whose name heads this sketch, was united in marriage July 20, 1837, to Miss Caroline ENSMINGER, a native of Washington County, Virginia, born December 28, 1816, and of the eight children born to this union only three are now living -- Nancy, wife of Curtis CLARK, of Portland; Charlotte, wife of John FIDLER, residing on the old HAWKINS homestead, and James, who married Angie DAVIDSON, and is now living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The names of those deceased are -- Mary, Jane, Theodore, Philip and Nathan. Mr. and Mrs. HAWKINS commenced married life on the HAWKINS homestead and subsequently removed to Portland, where they made their home for sixteen years. In politics Mr. HAWKINS was in early life a Whig, and later affiliated with the Republican party. For nearly a quarter of a century he was in the public service of his country, serving eight years as sheriff and sixteen years as clerk. He was the county agent who laid out the town of Portland. In his earlier life he had many interesting experience while in the fur trade, carrying the mail and in other pioneer features of life. While fugitive slaves were passing through the country he refused to betray them to their pursuers even when offered $1,000 as a bribe. He was a worthy member of the Baptist church, and among the highly respected citizens of Jay County. He died at his home in Pike Township, October 27, 1878, his death causing universal regret throughout the neighborhood where he had lived so long. He left an estate of 320 acres of valuable land. His widow still survives, and yet occupies the homestead, and is one of the most prominent representatives of the pioneer days of Jay County. She is also a Baptist in her religious faith. Mrs. HAWKINS enjoys nothing better than to entertain friends or strangers, her home being the abode of hospitality, and to tell stories relating to pioneer life in Jay County. The old home is picturesquely situated on the banks of the Salamonie River, retired from the highway, and its surroundings and associations so interwoven with the pioneer history of the county, the family burying ground immediately in front of the residence containing representative members of the family, even one buried almost a hundred years ago, all help to make the homestead of great interest, even to the most careless visitor." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. 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