Vanderburgh County IN Genealogy

Slave Narrative of Henry Clay Moorman

Interviewer: William R. Mays Person Interviewed: Henry Clay Moorman Location: Franklin, Indiana Place of Birth: Breckenridge County, Kentucky Date of Birth: Oct. 1, 1854 Place of Residence: 427 W. King St., Franklin, Ind. William R. Mays District 4 Johnson County HENRY CLAY MOORMAN BORN IN SLAVERY IN KENTUCKY 427 W. King St., Franklin, Ind. Henry Clay Moorman has resided in Franklin 34 years, he was born Oct. 1, 1854 in slavery on the Moorman plantation in Breckenridge County, Kentucky. Mr. Moorman relates his own personal experiences as well as those handed down from his mother. He was a boy about … Read more

Biography of Stephen S. Glidden

STEPHEN S. GLIDDEN. – Spokane Falls, Washington, has been fortunate in possessing from the first business men accustomed to large enterprises. Such a man is Mr. Glidden. He was born in Northfield, New Hampshire, in 1829, and at the early age of two years removed with his parents to Scotia county, Ohio. Upon reaching a few more years, he was taken back by his mother to his native state to enjoy educational advantages. Returning s a youth of eighteen to Ohio, he entered the store of the iron company with which his father and uncle were connected. Upon their purchase … Read more

Slave Narrative of George W. Arnold

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: George W. Arnold Location: Evansville, Indiana Place of Birth: Bedford County, Tennessee Date of Birth: April 7, 1861 Occupation: porter in a wholesale feed store This is written from an interview with each of the following: George W. Arnold, Professor W.S. Best of the Lincoln High School and Samuel Bell, all of Evansville, Indiana. George W. Arnold was born April 7, 1861, in Bedford County, Tennessee. He was the property of Oliver P. Arnold, who owned a large farm or plantation in Bedford county. His mother was a native of Rome, Georgia, where she remained … Read more

Smart, Mildred Lucille – Obituary

Mildred Lucille Smart, 92, formerly of La Grande, died Oct. 1 at a care center in Salem. A memorial service will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in La Grande. Private burial was held at the Grandview Cemetery in La Grande. Mildred was born on June 11, 1915, to Ferris and Grace (Wakeland) Miller in Evansville, Ind. On Feb. 26, 1935, she married Alva Asa Smart in Evansville. The couple moved to Missouri, Arizona and Southern and Northern California before finally settling in La Grande in 1997. Alva preceded her in death on Dec. 11, 2004. … Read more

Slave Narrative of George Fortman

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: George Fortman Location: Evansville, Indiana Place of Residence: Cor. Bellemeade Ave. and Garvin St. Evansville, Indiana Occupation: Professor of faith in Christ, Janitor Ex-Slave Stories District 5 Vanderburgh County Lauana Creel INDIANS MADE SLAVES AMONG THE NEGROES. INTERVIEWS WITH GEORGE FORTMAN Cor. Bellemeade Ave. and Garvin St. Evansville, Indiana, and other interested citizens “The story of my life, I will tell to you with sincerest respect to all and love to many, although reviewing the dark trail of my childhood and early youth causes me great pain.” So spoke George Fortman, an aged man and … Read more

Biography of Joseph Franklin Hickey

Joseph Franklin Hickey, president of the Mercantile Insurance Agency of St. Louis, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 19, 1876, a son of William P. and Elizabeth (Roddey) Hickey, both of whom were also natives of the Buckeye state. The father served during the Civil war as a member of an organization for home defense known as Squirrel Hunters and received honorable discharge and special mention for individual service from Governor David Tod of Ohio at the close of the war. Joseph F. Hickey was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati and in a private school at Ludlow, Kentucky. … Read more

Slave Narrative of Katie Sutton

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: Katie Sutton Location: Evansville, Indiana Folklore District #5 Vanderburgh County Lauana Creel “A TRADITION FROM PRE-CIVIL WAR DAYS” KATIE SUTTON, AGED EX-SLAVE Oak street, Evansville, Ind. “White folks ‘jes naturally different from darkies,” said Aunt Katie Sutton, ex-slave, as she tightened her bonnet strings under her wrinkled chin. “We’s different in color, in talk and in ligion and beliefs. We’s different in every way and can never be spected to think oe [TR: or?] to live alike.” “When I was a little gal I lived with my mother in an old log cabin. My mammy … Read more

Biography of F. M. Garvin

F. M. GARVIN. The American bank is the synonym of dignity, respectability and safety; the medium of exchange between cities and foreign countries and the great sustainer of the various business enterprises of the country, The bank is the teacher of method and system and is a check upon reckless and indiscriminate speculation, the spirit of which is too prevalent in the country. The Harrison Bank, of Harison, Arkansas, of which F. M. Garvin is the efficient and trustworthy cashier, was established in November , 1887, with a capital stock of $30,000, the stockholders of which were largely residents of … Read more

Shock, Mary Amanda Wallace Mrs. – Obituary

Halfway, Oregon “Pine And Haines Resident Passes” Funeral services will be held for Mrs. Amanda Shock, who died early Wednesday, April 16, at the home of her son Jesse in Pine, at Halfway Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock. Mrs. Rev. Mae Budd will officiate at services at the Christian church. According to Baker Funeral home, burial will be made Saturday, with grave services at Haines cemetery at 2 pm. Mrs. Shock was born on August 15, 1862, in Evansville, Indiana. She moved to Fort Scott, Kansas when a small girl and later to Missouri where she was married in 1882 … Read more

Biography of John Lane

Colonel John Lane, the senior member of the law firm of Lane & McDonald, has long resided on the Pacific coast, but has made his home in Lewiston for only two years. In that time, however, he has gained prestige as one of the ablest members of the bar of this locality, and is therefore a valued addition to the professional circles of the city. A native of the state of Indiana, Colonel Lane was born in Evansville, May 17, 1837. His ancestors were of Irish and French stock and were early settlers of North Carolina, where they founded the … Read more

Biography of Guy Wilson

Guy Wilson, president of the Traffic Motor Truck Corporation of St. Louis, has in his business career demonstrated the fact that opportunity is ever open to ambition, diligence and determination, for these qualities have been the dominant factors in the attainment of his present position and the success which has rewarded his labors. He was born in Christian county, Kentucky, May 1, 1878, his parents being Richard Henry and Maggie (Smith) Wilson. The father was a planter, who was descended from a long line of ancestors engaged in the same pursuits in Virginia. He had removed to Kentucky immediately following … Read more

Slave Narrative of George Taylor Burns

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: George Taylor Burns Location: Evansville, Indiana Ex-Slave Stories District #5 Vanderburgh County Lauana Creel THE LIFE STORY OF GEORGE TAYLOR BURNS [HW: Personal Interview] Ox-carts and flat boats, and pioneer surroundings; crowds of men and women crowding to the rails of river steamboats; gay ladies in holiday attire and gentleman in tall hats, low cut vests and silk mufflers; for the excursion boats carried the gentry of every area. A little negro boy clung to the ragged skirts of a slave mother, both were engrossed in watching the great wheels that ploughed the Mississippi river … Read more

Slave Narrative of James Childress

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: James Childress Location: Evansville, Indiana Place of Birth: Nashville, Tennessee Date of Birth: 1860 Place of Residence: 312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana Ex-Slave stories District #5 Vanderburgh County Lauana Creel JAMES CHILDRESS’ STORY 312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana From an interview with James Childress and from John Bell both living at 312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana. Known as Uncle Jimmy by the many children that cluster about the aged man never tiring of his stories of “When I was chile.” “When I was a chile my daddy and mamma was slaves and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J.T. Willett

Among those who have toiled and continuously wrought for the development of the resources of Wallowa county in the agricultural portion of the population, we may mention the capable and intelligent subject of this sketch, who has demonstrated in the years in which he has been domiciled in our county his fitness to be classed with the representative men of the county and to take rank among the leading ones whose names appear in this compendium of the builders and pioneers of Wallowa County. In Union County, Kentucky, on May 3, 1856, J.T. was born to James M. and Mattie … Read more

Slave Narrative of Joseph William Carter

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: Joseph William Carter Location: Evansville, Indiana Age: 100+ Ex-Slave Stories 5th District Vandenburgh County Lauana Creel SLAVE STORY JOSEPH WILLIAM CARTER This information was gained through an interview with Joseph William Carter and several of his daughters. The data was cheerfully given to the writer. Joseph William Carter has lived a long and, he declares, a happy life, although he was born and reared in bondage. His pleasing personality has always made his lot an easy one and his yoke seemed easy to wear. Joseph William Carter was born prior to the year 1836. His … Read more

Slave Narrative of Betty Jones

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: Elizabeth Jones Location: 429 Oak Street, Evansville, Indiana Ex-Slave Stories District No. 5 Vanderburgh County Lauana Creel THE STORY OF BETTY JONES 429 Oak Street, Evansville, Ind. From an Interview with Elizabeth Jones at 429 Oak Street, Evansville, Ind. “Yes Honey, I was a slave, I was born at Henderson, Kentucky and my mother was born there. We belonged to old Mars John Alvis. Our home was on Alvis’s Hill and a long plank walk had been built from the bank of the Ohio river to the Alvis home. We all liked the long plank … Read more

Slave Narrative of Samuel Watson

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: Samuel Watson Location: Evansville, Indiana Place of Birth: Webster County, Kentucky Date of Birth: February 14, 1862 Ex-Slave Stories 5th District Vanderburgh County Lauana Creel 1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHILD BORN IN SLAVERY SAMUEL WATSON [HW: Personal Interview] Samuel Watson, a citizen of Evansville, Indiana, was born in Webster County, Kentucky, February 14, 1862. His master’s home was located two and one half miles from Clay, Kentucky on Craborchard Creek. “Uncle Sammy” as the negro children living near his home on South East Fifth Street call the old man, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Andrew Barclay Meldrum

Meldrum, Andrew Barclay; Presbyterian minister; born, Scotland, Sept. 9, 1857; son of Capt. Robert and Agnes Ness (Grant) Meldrum; educated, professionally, at Knox College and University of Toronto, graduating in Theology at the Theological Seminary of San Francisco; (D. D. Hanover College); married, in 1885, to Laura R. Rison, of Oakland, Cal.; issue, two sons and two daughters; in 1907, married Ella Hoyt Herrick, of Cleveland; pastor in San Francisco, Cal., Evansville, Ind., St. Paul, Minn., and now Old Stone Church, Cleveland; Grand Chaplain, Masonic Grand Lodge of Ohio, 1913; member Robert Burns Society of Cleveland, and Rotary Club; Chaplain … Read more

Vanderburgh County Indiana Will Abstracts, 1821-1873

Abstracts of over 600 wills for Vanderburgh County, Indiana, extracted by Mrs. Arthur C. Bitterman. Book A was typed by Mrs. James A. Gentry, book B typed by Mrs. Marvin J. Huff, and published as one by the Vanderburgh Chapter of the DAR. Book A primarily covers wills written or filed within the time period of 1823-1849 and book B includes the years of 1849-1873. In both cases there are wills that fall outside those dates.

Slave Narrative of George Washington Buckner

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: Dr. George Washington Buckner Location: Evansville, Indiana Date of Birth: December 1st, 1852 Ex-Slave Stories District #5 Vanderburgh County Lauana Creel A SLAVE, AMBASSADOR AND CITY DOCTOR [DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON BUCKNER] This paper was prepared after several interviews had been obtained with the subject of this sketch. Dr. George Washingtin [TR: Washington] Buckner, tall, lean, whitehaired, genial and alert, answered the call of his door bell. Although anxious to oblige the writer and willing to grant an interview, the life of a city doctor is filled with anxious solicitation for others and he is always … Read more