CAPT. JOSEPH C. ABBOTT
Capt. Joseph C. Abbott is a native of Henry county, Ky., was born June 5, 1881 [sic]. Came to Milton Ky., with his parents at five years of age. He was raised in Milton, Trimble county, Ky., attending the city schools of Madison, Ind. Afterward he went to college at Carrollton, Ky. After finishing his education he engaged as clerk on the steamboat "Leonora," packet between Carrollton, Madison and Louisville, and continued as pilot clerk for about two years. Then he took a trip down South on a flatboat. In 1874 he built the steamer "St. Francis Belle" at Cattlettsburg, Ky., and ran her in the St. Francis river, Ark., and afterward ran her in the White rive, Ark., from Memphis, Tenn., to Jacksonport, Ark. In 1876 he brought her up and ran her from Louisville, Ky., to Leavenworth, Ind. In 1877 he took her to New Orleans and sold her.
He came home in 1877, and his father retired from the ferry business, and turned it over to him; he has continued in that business ever since. Mr. Abbott's parents were John M. and Mildred (Garriot) Abbott. His father was a native of Culpepper county, Va., born September 11, 1803, and came to Kentucky in 1816. Is now living in Milton, and is very active for one of his age. His mother was a native of Trimble county, Ky. She died in 1875, at the age of 63.
Capt. Abbott was married in 1876 to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. Nat. Williams, of Madison, Ind. He removed to Madison in 1876, and has resided there ever since. Capt. Abbott is a member of the Second Presbyterian church. He belongs to Masonic Order, and has taken the Thirty-second Degree in Masonry, is a member of Union Lodge, No. 2, in Madison, and belongs to the Consistory at Indianapolis. The Captain is also a member of the I. O. O. F., Madison Lodge, No. 72; also of Madison Lodge, No. 21, K. of P.; also of Red Men and Knights of Labor. Was chairman of the Democratic committee for eight years.
CHARLES W. ALLFREY
Charles W. Allfrey, school-teacher, was born in Switzerland county, Ind., and was raised on a farm. He is the son of Joseph Allfrey and Elizabeth Gray.
His father was a native of Nicholas county, Ky., born in 1798, of Virginia people. His grandfather was a soldier in the War of 1812.
Mr. Allfrey's mother was the daughter of James Gray, and was born in Virginia; she came to Indiana with her father in 1800, and settled in what is now Switzerland county. They were the earliest settlers of that county. Her father was a soldier in the War of 1812.
Mr. Allfrey was educated in the common schools of his county, and then took a course at the Woodward School, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. He commenced teaching in 1853, and followed it until 1869; then for two years he flatboated. In 1871 he was appointed School Examiner, and served at that for two years; then he went at the traffic of goods on the river. While from home on this business he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for Recorder of Jefferson county. He was elected to that office and served for four years; after which he resumed his profession as teacher, which he still follows.
When a boy he was engaged as cook on a flatboat, and in that capacity made quite a number of trips to New Orleans. He has made several trips through portions of the Southern country since he arrived at manhood. Mr. Allfrey is considered one of the best teachers of the county, and is well liked by scholars, parents and the school officers.
WILLIAM M. AMSDEN
William M. Amsden, County Superintendent of Public Schools, Smyrna township, the son of Caleb and Nancy (Moncrief) Amsden, was born July 28, 1857, in Smyrna township, Jefferson county, Ind.; was brought up in this township, attended the public schools of this county, and graduated from Hanover College in 1886. While attending college, during the vacations, for six years, from 1880 to 1886, for four months of each year, he acted as traveling salesman for McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, of Chicago, Ill. After graduating he was clerk of the Indiana House of Representatives, remaining there the session of 1887.
In June, 1887, was elected County Superintendent of Public Schools for Jefferson county, on the Republican ticket.
Mr Amsden was married, April 19, 1888, to Miss Sophia Dean, daughter of Mr. A. C. Dean, of this township.
He was Deputy Assessor of Smyrna township from 1881 to 1885, four years; and has been a law student since 1881. He was made secretary of the Republican Committee from 1888 to 1890. He has been Delegate to two Republican State Conventions, to two Congressional and one Judicial Conventions. And is chairman of the Smyrna Precinct Committee. He was a candidate for the Legislature in 1888, but was defeated in convention.
His father, Caleb Amsden, was a native of New York State, and came to Indiana in 1830 and located in Jefferson county, at Madison. He was a traveling salesman for Mr. E. C. Barbour, of Madison. Has been a traveling salesman for the greater part of his life. In 1865 he located in Smyrna township, on a farm, where he has been ever since. He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and is member of the Baptist Church at Wirt. He is now in the seventy-second year of his age.
Mrs. Amsden, the mother of the subject of this sketch, is a native of Jefferson county, Ind., and was a daughter of Abner Moncrief, who was a native of Kentucky, and came to this county in 1808, and was one of the first settlers of the county. He was a farmer, and died in 1872, at the age of seventy-two years. He was an active member of the Baptist Church at Wirt, and was a deacon of his church for many years. Mrs. Amsden is still living, being fifty-nine years old.
CAPT. JOHN ARMSTRONG
Capt. John Armstong (deceased) was born in the State of Maryland, on the Susquehanna, about the year of 1789; owing to the death of his father when he was quite young, and no family records remaining, the exact date of his birth is not positively known.
Captain Armstrong remembered Cold Friday--which was February 6, 1806, and always thought he was about seventeen years old at that time. His mother removed to Montgomery county, Ky., when he was an infant, and there remained and died, leaving one half-sister to the Captain, named Axia Carson. The Captain was bound (as was the custom in those days, in Kentucky, with orphans), but he did not like his boss (he was a cabinet-maker) and ran away. He passed through Maysville, Ky., and finding a canoe there, he paddled down the Ohio to Sedansville, and from here made his way to Hamilton county, Ohio; there he found a home with an old lady named Scott, and lived with her for a short time. He next worked for a man named Moore for two years, at four dollars per month.
Later he worked for some years for Thomas Marshall, with whom he made his home for many years. In 1814 he embarked, as a bargeman, on the keelboat "None Such," and made a trip to New Orleans. The wages for the trip was $40 for the downward trip, and $100 for the upward trip. The "None Such" arrived at new Orleans a few days before the last battle of the war of the 1812 was fought there by General Jackson against Packingham. Armstrong was on the barge at the time of the battle, and distinctly heard the noise of it. He followed the life of a keelboatman for some years, making four trips from Cincinnati and Pittsburgh to New Orleans and back. This was a slow business and it took about twelve months to make a round trip.
In 1819 he commenced steamboating as a deck hand on the old "Gen. Pick," the first steamer ever built in Cincinnati. "It was built and principally owned by John H. Piatt. Jacob Strader, a clerk in Piatt's bank, was clerk on the vessel." Then Armstrong became pilot and afterward captain of many boats: "Rodolph," which he built, "Empress," and other boats that ran on the Kentucky river, and a number on the Ohio. He was at one time owner of the entire Mail Line from Cincinnati to Louisville. He continued at boating until June, 1847 (his family had been living on a farm for many years previous to this time), when he retired to his farm, in Jefferson county, Ind., above Brooksburg, at about the age of 56. In 1833 he had bought this farm, and had afterward improved it to suit his ideas of a home, so that it was all ready for him when he retired from the river; it had been his intention for many years to enjoy life as a farmer, and he did so for about thirty years. He died at his farm February 2, 1880.
In 1822 he was married to Miss Sarah Marshall, the daughter of Thomas Marshall, with whom he had made his home for many years. The issue of this marriage was seven children, viz: James, John, Thomas, George, Eliza Ann, Henrietta and Charles; of these, three are living: Thomas, George and Eliza Ann.
Mrs. Armstrong died January 16, 1838, and in 1839 Captain Armstrong married Harriet, a sister of his former wife, and they had six children, all of whom are living, viz: Sarah, Margaret, Frank, Florence, Florida and Harriet.
Capt. Armstrong was successful in business and accumulated quite a little fortune, and at the same time made for himself many friends in all the classes of life which he had passed through. He was a kind husband, father and friend, esteemed by all of his neighbors. His dust rests in peace in the burial place on his farm, which overlooks the river which he loved so well, and on which so much of his life was passed.
HOLLY AUSTIN
Holly Austin, a farmer near North Madison, was a native of Jackson county, Ohio, and was born in 1829, April 6. His parents were William and Sarah (Erwin) Austin, natives of Ohio and Virginia. His father is a farmer and is still living, at 84 years of age. Mr. Austin came to Jefferson county in 1848, and has been engaged in farming and saw-milling for the most of the time since then. He is now engaged in farming and making cider and vinegar. He makes vinegar during the entire year, from crab-apples. He has an orchard of 1200 trees on the farm; controls 277 acres of land. Mr. Austin was married in 1853 to Miss Aurelia Castle, of Licking county, Ohio. They have three children,--William A., Henry C. and Fred. Mr Austin sent the first substitute to the war from Indiana--sending a substitute before there was a call for a draft in the State.
