Thomas Dean Duling, Jr., a leading farmer of Fairmount township, Grant county, Indiana, was born in this township October 22, 1849, and is a son of Thomas Dean and Nancy (Meskimen) Duling. The Duling family are of English ancestry and were among the first settlers in Virginia. They were also one of the first to locate in Fairmount township, Grant county, Indiana, the father and his brother Edmond coming from Ohio on horseback and selecting farms in the then unbroken wilderness. They cut the first trees from their land and built the walls of two rude houses in April, but before they completed the dwellings they returned to Ohio and the following fall brought their families. Their brother Solomon and his family had been here about four years before this. They reached here in October, 1845, stopping one day with their uncle, Thomas Dean, who was the third white man to brave the dangers of pioneer life in this township. They then moved into their log houses before the chimneys had been built or the doors hung, sleeping on the floor until the buildings could be completed.

        The first trustees of Fairmount township were elected in 1856, three being chosen, namely: Thomas D. Duling, James S. Wilson and Edmond Leach. Mr. Duling was elected secretary and the meetings of the board were held in his house it being large and roomy and the most convenient place at that time. He was elected to this office a second term and had served in the same office in his old home in Coshocton county, Ohio. He was a farmer by occupation, following that vocation all his life.

        He was a native of Virginia, having been born in Hampshire county. He was united in marriage to Nancy Meskimen, a native of Guernsey county, Ohio, on February 4, 1836, their union resulting in the birth of eight children, namely: William M., born May 27, 1837; Mary, born March 24, 1839, now Mrs. John C. Nottingham, of Fairmount; John W., born September 10, 1841, died August 24, 1872; Barbara, born November 18, 1844, died July 13, 1862; Elizabeth, born February 3, 1847, died aged fifteen years; Thomas D., Jr. born October 2, 1849; Joel O., born December 30, 1851; and George E. W., born August 15, 1854, died September 2, 1894. Mrs. Duling was a most lovable woman and trained her children to lives of honor and usefulness. Her death occurred January 16, 1877, while her husband survived until January 14, 1891. His residence here had been for so long and so intimately connected with the progress of the township that his taking away was a personal loss and was deeply mourned. His brother Solomon was a minister, and soon after reaching this locality established a Methodist Protestant church and organized a class that is still in existence. Mr. Duling's maternal ancestors were from Ireland, his great-great-grandfather being a brother of John and Eli Shryock, and their father a very wealthy merchant of Baltimore. His grandfather Meskimen was married in Maryland and afterward located in Ohio.

        Thomas Dean Duling, Jr., received his early education in the schools of his native district. He was reared to agricultural pursuits and in early manhood left the schoolroom to take up the vocation of a farmer, and such has been his perserverance and energy that he is to-day nicely situated on eighty acres of rich, fertile farm land about two and one-half miles from the flourishing little village of Fairmount. This is a neat, attractive farm, and has been his home many years; the buildings are of tasty design, comfortable and commodious.

        Mr. Duling was united in the holy bonds of marriage with Miss Laney E. Dean, daughter of William G. and Charlotte (Gardner) Dean, and three daughters have blessed their union. The eldest, Malissa H., was born December 1, 1875, and married Milton A. Rich. She is the mother of three children: One infant, deceased; Doyte R., born January 14, 1898; and Earl D., born September 1, 1900. The second daughter, Sina Emily, was born May 23, 1880, and Barbara Ludilla, born March 10, 1886, the youngest, died February 27, 1901. Mr. Duling has spared no pains to bring up his surviving daughters in a manner befitting their station, and they are among the most agreeable and charming ladies in their locality. It was their sad misfortune to lose their kind and loving mother December 25, 1900; it was

        But the folding of the hands in sleep,
          After a day of labor or of strife,
        To be awakened by the gleams of dawn,
          The golden dawn of an eternal life.

        "Twas but the laying down of care and pain,
          To work and weary not in fields more fair,
        To know that here we did not love in vain,
          For Love's great heart itself receives us there.

        The hearth is desolate, but the most cherished treasures of memory's store house are fond recollections of that beloved being who has but preceded them to the better land.