JASPER CONVERSE

    Jasper Converse, a farmer, is a grandson of Squire Converse, and a son of Edwin G. and Louisa (Ketch) Converse.  His father was a native of Vermont, and came with his father to Ohio in an early day, settling in Madison County, where the Squire died.  The subject of this sketch was born in Jerome Township, this county, in 1840; his parents died when he was eleven years of age, and he was put under the care of L. M. Fairbanks, by whom he was raised.  When the call for troops was made in 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Eighteenth United States Infantry, regular service, in which he served until one month after the battle of Stone River.  The regiment was then consolidated into battalions, and he was transferred to Company F, First Battalion, in which he served the balance of his three years' term of enlistment.  He participated in the battles of Stone River, Perryville, siege of Corinth, Winchester, Tenn., Resaca, and lastly, at Pumpkin Vine Creek, where he was taken sick and sent to the hospital, where he remained until the close of his term of service; he was discharged near Jonesboro, Ga.  In 1864, he married Melissa, a daughter of Perry Douglas, and a native of Madison County.  To this union five children have been born, four now living, viz.: Perry, C., Elta M. and Ada I.  Mr. Converse settled on his present farm of eighty-one acres.  In 1865, and has since made it his home.  He had two brothers in the war; Henry G. enlisted in the same company and regiment, and died at Louisville while in the service; Ammon P. enlisted in December 1861, in the Forty-sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war.  He was in the battles at Shiloh and Vicksburg, and with Sherman in the march to the sea.  He suffered from sickness, but remained with his command until the close of his term of service.