History-Bios Burson, Clancy, Coffeen 7 History Of Delaware County
T. B. Helm
1881

Lora Radiches
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�Surnames: Burson, Stroud, Williams, McDowell, Stroudsburg, Wolf
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HON. JOHN W. BURSON

To none of the many enterprising men once residents of Muncie is this city more indebted for substantial encouragement than to Mr. Burson.� Through a life of honest industry he advanced from moderate circumstances to opulence, and dispensed his bounty for the improvement of the town, and to ameliorate the condition of those to whom fortune had been less kind than to himself, instead of hoarding his gains and adding to a fortune already ample. By the course he pursued in life he endeared himself to all who knew him, and his record as a business man, a friend, and a Christian gentleman is stamped indelibly upon the memories of all, while the benefits of the public enterprises to which he lent his exit are felt and appreciated by those who survive him.

Mr. Burson was born August 21, 1820, at the Burson homestead in Springfield Township, Bucks Co., Penn., within five miles of the town of Bursonville. His parents were Dr. Edward and Jemima (Stroud) Burson, who removed from Bursonville to Stroudsburg, Penn., and subsequently to Wilmington, Ohio. His father was a very able physician, and practiced both in Pennsylvaniaand Ohio. He died at Waynesville, Ohio, in 1852. His mother died at Richmond, Ind., in 1863. His paternal grandparents were David and Lydia (Williams) Burson. Lydia Williams was one of a numerous family of the same name who settled near the Delaware River, above Bristol, and not far from Irvina. David Burson�s father was a native of Wales, and settled in America about the middle of the eighteenth century. The maternal grandparents of our subject were Col. Jacob and Elizabeth (McDowell) Stroud. Jacob was the founder of Stroudsburg, now a flourishing and beautiful village, situated above the Delaware Water-Gap,on a fine plateau, between a spur of the Allegheny and Pocono Mountains, and at the confluence of Brodhead�s and Pocono streams. In the campaign of the English against the French, Col. Stroud, although a young officer, served on the staff of Gen. Wolf, and was present at the death of his General at the storming of Quebec.��� �������

In early life the subject of this memoir sustained an injury, which kept him in feeble health for several years until he outgrew the effects of it. His early education was such as the times afforded, which, at best, was indifferent. He had a studious mind, however, and� learned much that was beyond the prescribed course of study. In 1832, he removed with his parents to Stroudsburg, Northampton (now Monroe) County, Penn. During this time he was placed under the instructions of a Mr. Hubbard, who was employed as a teacher and became an inmate of the family. Under his guidance young Burson received a good intellectual training, and at a later date was sent to West Town Boarding School, then one of the leading educational institutions of the Friends in the United States�being outranked only by Haverford College.

In the year 1837, Mr. Burson accompanied� his father�s family to Clinton County, Ohio, where, for seven years, his time was employed in conducting and superintending a farm near Wilmington. Subsequently� he learned the carpenter�s trade, and worked at that trade in Ohio and afterward at La Porte, Ind. Returning from the latter city to Ohio, he engaged in mercantile pursuits with the means saved from his earnings� as a mechanic. He possessed the qualities of a successful business man, more as the endowment of nature than as the result of education, and, in 1848, at the age of twenty-eight years, he was elected Teller of the Eaton Branch of the old State Bank of Ohio, where he remained for about four years. It was during this period that he formed the acquaintance of his devoted wife, Miss Mary E. Wilson, to whom he was united in marriage February 19, 1851.

In 1853, he left the Eaton Branch Bank, and with John Hunt founded the Cambridge City Bank, at Cambridge City, Ind. In the great financial crisis of a few years later, this was one of the few banks that with stood the shock. In 1856, he came to Muncie and founded the Muncie Branch of the State Bank of Indiana with a capital of $100,000, which was soon increased to$150,000.� In 1865, this bank was re-organized under the capital of $200,000; and, a surplus sum of� $100,00 and Mr. Burson was its Cashier. In 1871, the capital increased to $300,000 the surplus remaining as before. The establishment of this bank aided materially in developing the resources of the county and building up the city of Muncie, and for its establishment at this place the citizens owe their thanks to Mr. Burson�s efforts, as some of the heaviest stockholders of the old State Bank were at first�opposed to this place for the location of the Branch.

For a number of years, Mr. Burson was a Director of the �BeeLine� Railway, and a Director of the La Fayette, Muncie and Bloomington Railway at the time of his decease. Said one of his friends "The best guarantee our people had that this last-named road would be completed was the fact that he was determined it should be". He was prominent in various other public enterprises, and all measures for improving the city or county received his support and encouragement .� In polities he was a� Republican, and served as a member of the State Central Committee from this district from 1868, to the time of his demise.� He was unremitting in his labors for the success of the party, but not ambitious for personal recognition. Only once did he permit himself to become a candidate for office. This was in 1870, when he was elected State Senator from the district composed of the counties of Delaware and Madison.

After an illness of three weeks, and with his mind fully reconciled to his approaching dissolution, Mr. Burson�passed�peacefully away September 21, 1872. The funeral obsequies took place on the 24th, and a Masonic special train draped in mourning carried the Masonic Order of neighboring cities, together with a large number of friends to mourn the loss of the deceased. Business was suspended in Muncie, and the entire county was in mourning. The funeral services were conducted according to the rites of the Masonic Order, and the corpse was in charge of the mandery, and the members of the Scottish Rite Order, from Indianapolis, were also in attendance.� Every one united in paying homage to the memory of the distinguished dead, and over five thousand persons joined the funeral procession. (Page 207)

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Surnames: Clancy, Dalrumple, Putnam, Brady, Mellette, Gregory,Todd
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ALBERT WORTHINGTON CLANCY

Superintendent of Schools of Delaware County was born in the little village of La Grange, Jefferson Co., Ohio, on the 27th day of January 1848. William Clancy, his father, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was the youngest of eleven children while his mother, whose maiden name was Permelia Dalrumple, was German antecedents.�Events which had a controlling influence over his later life began to come to our subject at an early age. When he was but three and a half years old, his left hand was accidentally caught in a corn-sheller, and so badly crushed that amputation above the wrist was rendered necessary; and when he had reached, the age of five years, a shadow crossed the threshold of his home, deeper in its reality and effects than the children, in the simplicity of their childhood, could comprehend. Disease, in the form of typhoid fever, invaded the household, and within three weeks, father, mother and a brother slept among the dreamless multitude. An older sister, two younger brothers, and Albert, were separated, to occupy homes apart from each other. Albert was taken to the home of a kind old uncle, who lived among the hills and beside the flowing waters of the Muskingum River, in Morgan County, Ohio. The subsequent death of his aunt left him again homeless. In�the meantime, his grandmother had conceived the plan of re-uniting the children, and had them all in her house excepting Albert; and while he was on his way to join his brothers and sisters, she died. We next find him beside his grandfather�s desolated hearth, under the care of his father�s unmarried sister, whose marriage, at a later day, again broke up the home life. Albert; then became an inmate in the family of an uncle, a Methodist minister, living at Mount Vernon, Ohio. At a later date, his uncle removed from his farm to Mechanicsburg, Ohio, where Albert entered upon a course of study in the graded schools. In a short time,we again find him on the farm, engaged in the work incident to�rural life. He possessed a great fondness for horses, and, but for his maimed arm, he might have followed the inclinations of his boyhood and to day have filled the jockey�s role, instead of the honorable position he now occupies. Misfortunes are sometimes misnamed.

After a summer spent at Cardington, working in a carding and gristmill, he returned to his country home. During his last summer on the farm in Champaign Co., Ohio he saved from his earnings $100 and, with the money thus accumulated, prepared himself more fully for the profession of teaching. He received his first certificate at London, Madison Co., Ohio, in 1865. While visiting friends near Daleville, Ind, he was induced to remain and teach his first school in Delaware County, receiving his teacher�s license from Frederick E. Putnam, then County Examiner, and was afterward examined by Thomas J. Brady, A. C. Mellette, Ralph S. Gregory and O.M. Todd, respectively.

In 1867, while on a journey to the West, he met with another painful accident. In attempting to prevent an insane passenger from escaping, he was thrown from the coach, and, before the train could be stopped, the arm wounded in his childhood was crushed beneath the wheels of the cars. The physician gave him little hope, and his life hung by a thread for several weeks; but a strong constitution and a determined will, aided by skillful medical attendance, finally triumphed, although his arm was amputated at the shoulder.

After one summer spent at the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, he returned to teach at Daleville, and organized the first graded school in Salem Township. He next became Principal of the Lewis Academy,in Western Iowa, and afterward Principal of the Washington school building at Muncie, which position he occupied with credit and ability for four years. In February 1879, he was elected County Superintendent of Schools, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of O. M. Todd, and in June of the same year was almost unanimously elected to the same office, which he still occupies. His ability and eminent fitness for the position are well expressed by a friend, who says:� He is a born disciplinarian and organizer, and, since his election to this office, the schools have become thoroughly systematized. He has always been a firm friend and advocate of the temperance cause, and the sworn enemy of intemperance in all its forms, practicing his principles in his daily life. He is President of the Temperance Union of Muncie, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for many years a teacher in the Sunday school For fifteen years, he has been connected with the order of Good Templars. For twelve years, he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias for three years. In politics, he is an ardent�Republican, enthuiastic and indefatigable in his efforts for the success of his party; and this enthusiasm extends to any enterprise or under taking in which he engages.� Those who know him best find in him a stanch friend, a man of intelligence and honor, and a true philanthropist.� He loves books, and has a well-selected library at his room on south Walnut Street. His room is his home, and his books are his companions.� He is respected and honored by the community in which he resides, and for whose schools he has accomplished so much. (Page 212)

Surnames: Coffeen, Huston, McCreary, Langdon, Sutton, Snurr, Anthony

HON. ELEAZER COFFEEN

One of the early settlers of Delaware County, and now a resident of Carthage, Mo., was born at Cavendish, Vt., in the year 1799. At the age of two years, he accompanied his father's family to Jefferson County, N. Y., locating six miles above Watertown. In 1816, he accompanied his father and twenty others upon a surveying expedition to Western Virginia, where there was a tract of about one hundred thousand acres, situated between Parkersburg and Charleston. The owner of these lands had agreed to take the lands of the surveying party at an appraised value, and give them, in exchange, land in Western Virginia at $2 per acre. From early spring until late in the fall, Mr. Coffeen remained, with this party, carrying the chain, sleeping on the hard ground, and living on very rough fare. It was well that a personal examination of this land was made by those chiefly interested, for they found that very little of it was adapted to agricultural purposes, and returned to the State of New York, determined to retain the lands they then owned. While en-route to Virginia, young Eleazer had an adventure that would have resulted fatally but for the timely arrival of his father, upon the scene. At Fort Schlosser, above Niagara Falls, he and two other boys of the party procured a yawl and floated down with the current of the river, in dangerous proximity to the rapids. His father saw the peril of the boys, and, wading out to them, pulled the boat ashore. But a moment longer, and the frail craft, with its precious burden, would have been in the rapids, floating down to certain destruction.

The party consisted of about seventy persons, among whom was Mrs. Huston, the aunt of Mr. Coffeen, then on her way to Vevay, Ind. She accompanied them from their home in New York as far as Parkersburg, Va., where she left them, and, embarking on a flat-boat, pursued her journey down the Ohio.

The subject of this biography remained in his native place in New York until the year 1822, when he removed to Lebanon, Ohio, and, in 1823, married Cynthia McCreary, who still survives. She was born in the year 1804. The fruits of this union were eleven children, eight of whom grew to maturity, and six still survive, viz., Cynthia, wife of Turner, a resident of Muncie; Salome, wife of Mr. Langdon, of Muncie; William, now engaged in the manufacture of brick in the State of Texas; Amelia, wife of Mr. Sutton, of Carthage, Mo., Adeline, wife of Mr. Snurr, editor at Joplin, Mo, and James, who is the general agent for a horticultural and fruit company at Springfield, ILL.

After a residence of five years at Lebanon, Ohio, Mr. Coffeen removed to Middletown, in the same State, where he resided for an equal length of time. He came to Muncie in 1833, and opened a small stock of merchandise. He sold goods here for a time, and was afterward the proprietor of a drug store and two sawmills, and erected a large woolen factory on Buck Creek, which has since been converted into a flouring-mill.

He purchased a tract of land (now within the city limits of Muncie), which was entered by a reckless, dissipated man. The owner became involved in a fight, was stabbed, and died ten days later. The estate was sold at public sale, and passed into the possession of Dr. S. P. Anthony. The widow induced Mr. Coffeen to redeem it, and gave him a deed for the property. Years afterward, her heirs entered suit against him for the recovery of the land, but finally abandoned the proceedings, after the costs had aggregated $1,300. This same piece of land afterward played another conspicuous part, in connection with the Fort Wayne, Muncie & Cincinnati Railroad. Mr. Coffeen improved the land, thus increasing its value; and, when this road was first projected, he took stock to the amount of $10,000, in payment of which he transferred the land to the railroad company. The railroad, for a while proved a failure; its stock was worthless, and the company had the land. Absolute loss of the property seemed inevitable, for they were very tenacious of their acquisition; but Mr. Coffeen gave them no peace until they consented to sell him back a portion of the land for $3,000. Altogether, the history of this tract of land is quite curious.

Mr. Coffeen, while one of the early citizens of Muncie, was also one of the most enterprising. He laid out the village of Coffeentown (now a suburb of Muncie) in 1851, and kept pace with the march of improvement in all matters of public interest while a resident of this city. In the earlier years of his prime, he was called to the performance of various public duties in this county. He was Associate Judge for several years, a member of the Indiana Legislature in 1840, and occupied other offices of a local nature. In 1869, he removed to Carthage, Mo., where he now makes his home with the family of his son. He is in the eighty-second year of his age, yet he retains his activity of body and mind in a very marked degree. He is spending the present winter (1880-81) among his children, and the friends of other days, at Muncie. Among these, as well as all who know him, he is regarded with affection and esteem. (Page 212)


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