His paternal grandfather came from England and settled in the State
of Vermont, where he engaged at farming, and later, at the carpenter�s trade.
During the struggle for independence, he espoused the cause of the Colonies,
and participated in the battle of Bennington. He married Mary Bull and reared
a family in the county of Bennington, where he resided until his decease.
Nathan, his son, was the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born in
the year 1711, in Bennington County, VT, and worked at home until he attained
his majority. He married Rosanna Foster, a lady of Revolutionary antecedents,
and a native of Connecticut, and shortly after marriage, settled upon a small
farm given him by his father. There he was engaged until the year 1812, when
he sold his farm and emigrated to Morgan County, Ohio, where he continued the
pursuit of farming until his death in 1827.
His children were Electa, John, Mary Ann, Mahala, Ransom, Betsey, Elizabeth,
Martha, Ambrose, Nancy and Stephen.
John, the eldest son and second child, was
born September 23, 1799, in the town of Manchester, Bennington Co., Vt., and,
until twenty-one years of age, was engaged in the usual duties of farm life at
the home of his parents, attending the common schools during the winter. After
attaining his majority, he engaged his services to various farmers, saving his
earnings with a view to purchasing a farm.� At the age of twenty-two years, he,
accepted employment in the salt works at Kanawha Salt Licks, W. Va., where he
earned from $25 to $30 per month, and at the close of his engagement,
had saved a sum of money with which he purchased eighty acres of land in
Muskingum County, Ohio.
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January 5,1826, he was united in marriage with Miss Harriet A. Preston, the
faithful wife whose presence has been spared by a kind Providence to cheer the
declining years of his life. Her parents were Horace and Patty Preston. Her
father was a farmer and millwright in Luzerne County, Penn., where
their daughter, Harriet, was born January 6, 1808. The parents moved to
Washington County, Ohio, in 1816, where the father was engaged in. the
erection of mills, and also in the pursuit of farming, until his decease in
1828.
In December 1829 having disposed of his property in Ohio, Mr. Smith started
out upon his journey to Indiana, with his family and all his household goods
in a wagon drawn by three horses.� The two eldest children of his family
accompanied him to the home in the wilderness. During the winter of 1829�30,
he left his family at in this county, and, in the meantime, purchased a forty-
acre lot in Liberty Township, upon which a cabin had been erected and a small
clearing made. Subsequently, he entered an eighty-acre tract adjoining and in
April 1830, moved his family to the farm, which was yet to be cleared and
improved. In this labor he spent the best years of his life, and cultivated
his farm until about fifteen years ago, when he purchased his present
residence on the Burlington Pike, just outside ofthe corporate limits of
Muncie.
In the pursuit of his calling in life, he has always manifested an industrious
nature, and the profits from his labors have accumulated year by year,
not withstanding the lavish hand with which he has ever contributed to the
support of all enterprises designed to promote the interests of his county,
until, in the gloaming of life, he possesses a competence in earthly goods.
As members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, both himself and his estimable
wife have led lives exemplary of the faith they and the noble, generous
natures of each have endeared them to all with whom they have been associated
in life. To crown the happiness of their wedded life there have been fifteen
children: Caroline and Lucetta, both of whom were born in Ohio,and came with
their parents to this county; Martha, Louisa, William H, George W., Mary,
Benjamin F., Elvira, Daniel, Sarah, Edward, John, Emily and Eliza J.,who were
born in Delaware County.
Lucetta married William Walling, and now resides on a farm opposite her
father�s home; Martha (now deceased) was the wife of Parker Moore; Louisa,
married to Milton Truitt, now resides in this county; George W. married Mary
Moore, and now resides in the State of Minnesota, Mary, residing in the same
State, is the wife of Andrew Gessell, Benjamin F., married to Sophia Keesling,
resides upon the farm entered and improved by his father; Elvira married John
Graham, and resides in this county; John D. married Sarah Franklin and resides
in the State of Missouri; Emily is the wife of Samuel Gibson, Treasurer of
Delaware County; Eliza J., the wife of Z. W. Simmons, resides at Selma, in
this county; Caroline, William, Daniel, Edward and Martha are deceased. (Page 231)
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George A. Spilker the father of this gentleman was a native of the Kingdom of
Hanover, Germany (now Prussia).� He was married to Miss Charlotte Engle King,
a lady of French and German extraction, and highly accomplished, talented and
refined.� She died prior to the removal of her husband to the United States,
leaving one son, George W. In 1839, the father immigrated with his son to the
United States and settled at Germantown, Ohio, where he pursued the baker�s
trade. In 1842, he came to Muncie and engaged in the bakery and grocery trade
in this city, which he continued until his decease in 1851. In Preble
County, Ohio, he married Miss Sarah Brown, who bore him one son, Henry, and,
in 1843, he was a second time bereaved in the death of a loving and devoted
wife. Henry, the son,enlisted in the Union army during the late war, and died
at Nashville, Tenn.� About two years subsequent to the death of his second
wife, the father was united in marriage with Miss. Sophrona Smith, at Muncie.�
This union was blessed by four children-Mary J, Caroline and Juliet, who still
survive, and one son, Otho Nile, now deceased.� Mary J. married Frank Hain,
of Perry Iowa, and now resides at that place; Caroline is the wife of Henry
C. Klein, of Muncie and Juliet is the wife Alexander Lemmon, also of this
city.
George W., the subject of this sketch, was born December 10, 1828, at
Nienburg, in Hanover Germany.�
The loss of his mother in early childhood was an affliction that he has deplored very deeply throughout his life; and his
memories of her are very tender and filial.� To her he attributes more by way
of inheritance than to his father, so far as regards the qualities of blood,
while he blesses and loves them both equally well. He received a good
education in his native tongue, which was finished in the English language to
the extent of his father�s means after settling in this country. He was
placed in a store when quite young, remaining until twenty-three years of
age, and during that time acquired a�large proportion of that practical
education which developed the perfect businessman.� His father was a man of
moderate business capacity.���
In the spring of 1853, he joined a company
composed of citizens of this county, and started by the over land route to
California, reaching his destination after a perilous and tedious journey
with an ox team. His mining operations proved only moderately successful,
and, after an absence of two years, he returned to Muncie and embarked in
mercantile pursuits, in which he met with very flattering success.
October 16, 1855, he was united in marriage with Miss Mall R., daughter of
Job Swain, Esq., an early and highly honored citizen of Muncie. He continued
his mercantile pursuits until 1858, when the citizens of this county paid a
high tribute to his integrity and ability.�He was nominated by the Republican
Convention for the office of Circuit Clerk, and the opposition refused to
nominate a candidate for the same position, thereby unifying the choice of
the voters of the county.� He was elected without opposition, and, after a
faithful service of four years, was re-nominated and re-elected without an
opponent, serving four years longer.
In 1871, he formed partnership relations with C. E. Shipley, with whom he
conducted a very satisfactory business in insurance, brokerage and real
estate, until 1874, when this relation was dissolved. On the 16th day of
November 1874, he was elected President of the Citizens Bank of Muncie, which,
in March 1815, was re-organized under the�name of the Citizens� National
Bank, with a capital of $100,000. He has been successfully re-elected to this
position every year, and was again chosen by a majority of the stock holders
January 11, 1881. He won his eminence in the business-world by his merits
alone, and in every position has proved himself a man of rare ability. He is
endowed with quick perceptive powers, and good judgment, and is by nature
economical and provident; and by these characteristics is eminently fitted
for the position he occupies. So well and favorably is he known, that no
written eulogy could, in the slightest degree, enhance the high regard in
which he is held by all. Almost his entire life has been passed among the
citizens of Muncie, and from the days of his boyhood, he has
always��maintained the same reputation for integrity and nobility of
character. He has acquired a competence in worldly goods, and while he has
always conducted his financial affairs economically, he has yet been a man of
public spirit, and has contributed liberally to the public interests of the
city and county. He has gained the goal that lured his youthful�ambition,
and his life has been a success. His only son, Carl, is now a young man, and
occupies a responsible position in the bank. (Page 230)
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Mr.Stradling was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1818.
At the age of eight years, he lost his father by death, and, within a
fortnight thereafter, his mother also died, leaving him thus early without the
tender associations and hallowed influences of home. This loss was measurably
repaired, however, by his kind old grand-father, who took him to his home and
reared him as one of his own children. He attended the common school during
the winter, and worked on his grandfather�s farm during the remainder of the
year, until he attained the age of seventeen years. At that age, he became
the apprentice of a carpenter, and, after learning the trade, worked as a
journeyman in his native county, and in the city of Philadelphia. At the age
of twenty-four years, he decided to seek a home in the West, feeling assured
that his opportunities there would be more favorable than in the East, where
the trades and professions were over crowded.
In 1837, he arrived at Muncie,
then a small village, and began work at his trade. He was engaged at
carpenter work until 1841, and, in that year, began the manufacture of wagons.
This he continued successfully for eleven years, and then, with the money
saved from his earnings as a mechanic, he purchased eighty acres of land in
Section 7, Center Township, where he has ever since resided, devoting his time
to agricultural pursuits. About thirty acres of his farm had been cleared
when he purchased it, and he addressed himself at once to the task of
clearing and improving the balance. Subsequently, he purchased forty acres in
Section 18, a portion of which he has since cleared.
His entire life has been
marked by industry and energy, and, by faithful and diligent labor; he has
amassed a competence to sustain him in his declining years. While he has
always been prudent and economical, he has never been close or stingy, and is
a well-known friend of public improvement. All enterprises having for their
object the welfare of the county have received his hearty encouragement and
support, and he has contributed liberally, of his time and means, for their
advancement. His life has always been up right and honorable, and, wherever
he is known, he is honored and esteemed by all.
On the 4th day of May 1848,
he was united in marriage with Miss Jane Stewart, who was born in Warren
County, Ohio, January 4, 1824 and came with her parents, Samuel and Mary
Stewart, to Delaware County, Indiana, settling in Salem Township, in March
1880. They are the parents of seven children, named, respectively, William
H., John M., Mary E, Martha J, Warren S., Charles E. and Arthur R. William H,
and Charles E, are deceased, and Martha J, married James J. Warfel in October
1877.
William H. enlisted in Company B, Eighty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry,
and served with the same until his death, at East Pascagoula, Miss., January
5, 1865. (Page 234)