Hon. John Ratliff, surveyor and farmer, and one of the representative men of Marion and Grant county, Indiana, was born near Richmond, Wayne county, Indiana, March 1, 1822, and descended from one of the oldest so-called "Quaker" families in America, to which allusion will be made more fully at the conclusion of the remarks to be here applied to John Ratliff and his immediate antecedents.

        Joseph Ratliff, father of John Ratliff, was a native of North Carolina, and was a mere lad when brought to Wayne county, Indiana, by his father, Cornelius, who was also a native of the old Native state. Joseph was educated in the schools of Wayne county, and was himself a teacher, as well as farmer, in that county until the winter of 1834, when he came to Grant county, and entered government land, four miles south of Marion, in what is now Mill township. Joseph was an orthodox member of the Society of Friends, was an active Whig in politics, and as a farmer was quite successful, as he owned about three hundred and fifty acres of good land at the time of his death, which occurred when he was but forty years of age.

        Sarah Shugart, wife of Joseph Ratliff and mother of John, was a daughter of George and Mary (Charles) [written in pencil above Charles is the name Davis] Shugart, was born in North Carolina, and when young came to Indiana with her parents, who settled ten miles north of Richmond, Wayne county. She became the mother of four children by Joseph, her husband, viz.:   Millicent, who was married to Jesse Small and died at the age of sixty years; John, whose name opens this sketch; Cornelius, who was a farmer and school teacher in Grant county, was a profound scholar, was a Republican in politics, and was the candidate of his party for county auditor at the time of his death, which was caused by a kick from a horse; Mary was married to Solomon Hubbard, and died when forty-five years of age. After the death of John Ratliff, Sarah (Shugart) Ratliff married David Harris, of Wayne county, and in that county her death occurred.

        John Ratliff passed his life on the home farm in Wayne county, until twelve years of age. His education was begun in the common schools, and supplemented with one winter's attendance at a LaGrange school, and then by six or seven years study in the Quaker high school at Richmond in the summer season, and at Franklin College for two years. During the winters he taught district and subscription schools in Jonesboro, Grant county, and in Deer Creek, and also in Wayne and Randolph counties. Having been well grounded in algebra and geometry while at school in 1848, John Ratliff began surveying with Ephraim Smith, county surveyor of Grant county, but about a year later Mr. Smith resigned his office and John Ratliff was appointed county surveyor for three years by the board of county commissioners, and re-appointed for one year.

        In 1849, John Ratliff purchased a tract of timberland six miles southwest of Marion, erected a cabin upon land previously entered by his father adjacent and when not surveying devoted his time to clearing off his land and developing a farm from the wilderness, and on this farm he lived ulntil 1871. The earlier part of his life on this farm, as hinted above, was spent in odd jobs at surveying ditches, turnpikes, etc., constituting the character of the work in which he was employed in this line.

        In 1867 John Ratliff was elected to the state legislature on the Republican ticket, and so efficiently did he fill the office that he was re-nominated and triumphantly re-elected in 1869. In 1870 he was elected county auditor, removed to Marion, served as auditor four years and at the expiration of his term was re-nominated for the same office--but at this election there were three candidates in the field and he was defeated by the grange element. In 1875 he returned to his farm and resumed farming and surveying. In 1887 he again came to Marion, erected two dwellings, and Marion has since been his home.

        John Ratliff married, December 20, 1848, in Grant county, Indiana, Sarah Pearson, daughter of Levi and Hulda (Thomas) Pearson, who were natives of Henry county, Indiana. Sarah Pearson was a child of about one year of age when she lost her mother, and was about five years old when her father died. At the age of fifteen, she came to Grant county and lived with her maternal uncle, Jesse Thomas, until her marriage.

        To John and Sarah Ratliff have been born seven children, of whom one died in infancy; Joseph is a carpenter and farmer and a local preacher at Lyons, Kansas; Levi, also for a time a local preacher, is a representative farmer in Grant county, Ind., is an able author, writing chiefly on sanitary subjects, is an active politician and in 1896 made several political speeches throughout the country; Nela H., is a farmer and horse fancier, and in politics is a Prohibitionist; Harvey now residing on the old homestead, is quite gifted as an orator and is a frequent speaker at the Friends' meeting, being a member of the Society; Charles is deceased, but further mention is made of him in the sketch of his widow, Emma L. Ratliff, to be found elsewhere in this work; John W. resides in Marion.

        John Ratliff for more than forty years has been active in politics, having first been a Free-soiler, then a Republican, and since 1884 has been a Prohibitionist. For four years he was a prominent and useful member of the board of agriculture. As a business man, he has been remarkably prosperous in his peculiar lines, and at one time owned eight hundred acres of land in one body, but bought piecemeal, but his property he has divided up, or parceled out, among his children retaining but two hundred acres for himself, as a sheep farm; he also owned one hundred and sixty acres of farm land in Kansas, which has been deeded to this son Joseph. The value of the land and money donated to his children approximate $59,000. His town property in Marion and Fairmount is valued at about $8,000. He was reared in the faith of the Society of Friends, and has ever lived in strict accordance with the precepts of that respected sect.

        The Radcliff, Radcliffe or Ratliff family, as the name has been variously spelled, originated in England and members of the family were known in shires of York, Lancaster, and in the northeastern parts of Albion's isle. The family became members of the Society of Friends at the very incipiency of its formation, and the persecution which they suffered for conscience sake, even reaching martydom, would at this day shock the sensibilities of the most hardened bigot in existence; but it was not in England alone that this cruel persecution was indulged, for it was practiced in the colonial days of America. But it does not come within the scope of this article to give the details of the sufferings of the individual members of this family and other Friends--they are matters of historical record that long since appeared in volumes still extant.

        James and Mary Radcliffe, it would appear, came from England to America near the close of the seventeenth century, bringing with them five children, viz.: Richard, born April 8, 1676; Edward, born August 14, 1678; Rachel, born February 16, 1682; Rebecca, born November 11, 1684 and James born in 1686 or 1687. The family settled in Bucks county, Pennsylania, (sic) where many of their descendants still reside. A quotation from a manuscript written April 29, 1877, by Daniel Hough, of Indianapolis, Indiana, will throw considerable light upon the history of the Ratliff family of Indiana:

        "During the summer of 1768 there was quite an emigration of the Houghs, Knights and others from Bucks county to North Carolina. It is fair to think that their kinsmen, the Ratliffs, were of the number--accordingly I find in the History of Wayne county, page 355, the following: Cornelius Ratliff, Sr., was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, about the year 1755. He was the son of Joseph Ratliff, whose ancestors came over from England with the Quaker emigrants to Pennsylvania. He removed when young with his father to North Carolina (if they went in 1768, he was thirteen). He there married the widow Elizabeth Charles in November, 1810, came to White Water and settled on a farm where his son Cornelius now resides and which he had purchased in 1808. (?) He was a member of the Society of Friends. He had eight children, all born in North Carolina. All lived to the age of majority and were married as follows: Mary, in North Carolino, (sic) to Robert, son of John Smith, both deceased; Elizabeth to Nathan Overman, who settled near Centerville; Gulielma to Andrew Hoover and resides in Clinton county; Joseph to Mary Shugart, of New Garden, and died near Marion, Grant county. (If I remember right this was the first Quaker marriage at New Garden); Sarah to John Shugart of New Garden; Millcent, first to Benjamin Alberton, second to Thomas Newman, both deceased; Cornelius to Mary Kinley; Abigail to Joshua Albertson and died in Clay township, where he still resides (1872). It is an old name in England; you will find on examining the Parliament Rolls that Thomas de Redcliff was a member of that body. I find accounts of the Radcliffs owning estates in England back to the time of Edward I."

        In Hon. John Ratliff we find a worthy representative of a worthy ancestry, a patriot, an intelligent man of affairs, and a gentleman of the old school, and it is with pleasure that this biographical review is accorded a place in these pages devoted to Grant county's representative citizens.