AUGUSTUS T. DYE. A former County recorder and one of the most popular men in public affairs of Madison County, Mr. Dye has a prominent place in financial circles of Anderson, being assistant secretary and treasurer of the Farmer’s Trust Company, of which he was the original organizer. The Farmer’s Trust Company is one of the most substantial organizations of its kind in this section of the state, and among its directors are many of the reliable business men and well known citizens of both Anderson and the surrounding country.
The career of Augustus T. Dye began in Clermont County, Ohio, where he was born July 27, 1864, belonging to an old family of that state. His grandfather was James Dye, a pioneer of Ohio. The father was Francis M. Dye, who was born in Ohio, and for many years an attorney. His death occurred during the year 1866, after four years service in U. S. Army. He married Miss Amanda Manchester, who was born in Kentucky, a daughter of Hiram Manchester and granddaughter of Chas. C. Manchester, who began his career as a minister in his eighteenth year and was widely known among the early settlers of Ohi0 as a preacher, living to the advanced age of eighty years. On the mother’s side another ancestor, through a collateral branch, was Roger Williams, the noted character of early New England history, who in order to attain freedom of worship, according to his own ideas, left the old Massachusetts colony, and settled in Rhode Island where he gathered about him a small congregation and founded what was known as Providence and Rhode Island plantations. Mrs. Amanda Dye is still living at Hamerville, Ohio, and was the mother of two children.
Augustus T. Dye spent his early boyhood on a farm in Ohio, and attended both the common ‘and high schools at Felicity, Ohio, until completing his education in the high school. He then returned to the farm and engaged in its various duties until he was twenty-one years of age. His experience since that time has connected him with the larger phases of business life. He spent two and a half years as traveling salesman in Ohio, and then came to Anderson, where he followed various lines of employment. His popularity as a citizen in 1898 resulted in his election to the office of County recorder, and he gave four years of faithful and intelligent service in that capacity. He was a Republican and had the distinction of being the only candidate on the Republican ticket who was successful in that election. On the expiration of his term of office as recorder he spent three years in the mercantile business, and then with others as his associates, organized the Farmer’s Trust Bank. On the organization of this well known financial enterprise he was made assistant secretary and treasurer and has held those offices ever since.
Mr. Dye was first married to Miss Anna Ayres, daughter of William and Nancy Ayres. The three children born to this union were: Harvey, now an employe of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, with headquarters in Indianapolis; Lula, graduate of the high school, and a teacher of music; and Stella, now a student in the high school of Anderson. The mother of these children died on April 22, 1899. Mr. Dye subsequently married Miss Lida Brooks, of Anderson, a daughter of E. A. and Catherine Brooks. Mrs. Dye before her marriage was for seven years a teacher in the schools of Anderson, and is remembered as one of the most efficient and popular in the profession at the time. Mr. Dye has membership in Fellowship Lodge No. 681, A. F. & A. M., Anderson Chapter No. 52 R. A. M., Anderson Commandery No. 32, K. T., Indianapolis Consistory, has attained thirty-two degrees of the Scottish Rite Masonry, and is a member of Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine in Indianapolis. His other fraternal affrliations are with the Elks Lodge No. 209 at Anderson. His residence in Anderson is at 920 West Fifth Street.