FRANCIS M. LANDON
Francis M. Landon, Lancaster, Lancaster township, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, November 23, 1832; is the son of William and Elizabeth (Riggle) Landon. His father was born in Kentucky, December 22, 1810; his mother was born at Walnut Hills, Ohio, October 7, 1811. They were married at Walnut Hills, February 12, 1828, and raised a family of five children, of whom Francis M. is the second child. His father was a miller and farmer of this county, and died October 9, 1863, at the age of 53 years. His mother died January 2, 1860, at the age of 49 years.
His parents removed from Ohio to Scott county, Ind., when he was an infant, and about five years after removed to Jefferson county, and located on Big creek, his father buying what was known as “Settle Mill,” a flour, grist and saw-mill. His father farmed, also.
The subject of this sketch attended the common schools of this county, He was married, April 15, 1856, to Miss Malinda Zenor, daughter of David Zenor, who was born at Harper’s Ferry, Va., of German parentage, and who died in this county, January 5, 1887, at the age of 80 years.
Francis M. Landon and wife have five children, one boy and four girls: Elizabeth, William A., Jennie, Agnes and Clara.
Mr Landon commenced the milling business when only twelve and one-half years old, and has been engaged at the same business ever since. He took charge of the mill at that early age because the failing sight of his father incapacitated him for the work. Francis M. and his brother George built a new mill in 1856, a stone structure, 37x40, four stories high, with capacity of 100 barrels per day, at at cost of $10,000. It was destroyed by fire in 1869. His father was in debt at the time, but the young man succeeded in making a living, and paying the debt, and at the same time building up a large trade, which has remained with him ever since. His long experience has made him thorough in all departments of the mill. so that when he gets any improved machinery he is able to put it up himself, also can repair almost anything about the mill.
Except for a few months of that time that he was in Jennings county, the whole of that time has been spent in Jefferson county. The mill he is now running is located at Lancaster; it is a merchant custom mill (flour and grist). His son William A., is now with him in the mill, the firm being Landon & Son.
In 1878 Mr. Landon was appointed county commissioner, to fill the unexpired term of James Baxter, and in 1880 was elected county commissioner for the term of three years, on the Republican ticket.
Mr. Landon is a member of the Baptist Church at Lancaster. Mr. Landon has been successful in his business, and very few who have started out to make their fortunes at so young an age as he have succeeded so well. Honesty in business and probity of life have been his rule of life, and once a friend of his always a friend has been the result. He has now customers who have dealt with him forty-five years. Such a testimonial is vouchsafed to few men in this world.
Mr. Landon is in remarkably good health for a man who has been so long engaged in the milling business, night and day. He deserves his success as the reward for such persevering labor, as well as for his pluck. A boy who at that age was laden with the reponsibility of a family and of debt, is seldom able to come out from under the load, and if he does is usually soured. Mr. Landon is as cheery as if everything had gone smoothly for him in this world, and does not show in him manner the troubles he has come through.
JOHN W. LINCK
John W. Linck, attorney-at-law, was born in Jennings county, Indiana, December 7, 1843. He was the son of Frederick E. and Ester (Todd) Linck, who were natives, the father of Germany, and the mother of Ireland.
His father came to the United States when sixteen years old. He was a farmer and teamster.
John W. Linck, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the common schools and at Asbury College--now DePauw University--at Greencastle, Indiana, which he attended for two years after leaving the army.
On June 19, 1861, he joined Co. K, 13th Ind. Inf. Vols., as a drummer boy; was out in the field in active service, over three years, in that capacity, and was in all of the battles in which his regiment fought during that time.
He began the study of law in 1866, under the Hon. William Hale, of Iowa. He attended the lectures at the law school at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee. He returned to Madison, Indiana, and continued the study of law in the office of Messrs. Allison & Friedley, and was admitted to the bar in 1867. During the time of studying in the office of Allison & Friedley, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and served as such, for the double purpose of continuing his studies and of maintenance, as he was quite poor. He was appointed Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, which office he held for two years, and was also City Attorney for two years. he was appointed by Gov. Baker, Prosecutor of the Criminal Court of Jefferson county, upon its organization, and was afterward elected, and held the office for nearly four years, or so long as the court was in existence.
He was United States Commissioner from 1874 to 1877.
He was director of the Indiana State Prison, South, for four years, up to 1880, when he resigned, before the expiration of his commission, in order to accept the place of elector for the Fourth Congressional District of Indiana on the Garfield ticket.
From 1881 to 1885, he was postmaster at Madison. In 1886 he was elected as Representative from Jefferson county to the State Legislature. While in the House of Representatives he was chairman of the committee of public buildings; chairman of the special election committee; also chairman of one branch of the committee on prisons. He was re-elected in 1888, Representative from Jefferson county on the Republican ticket. In politics he is a Republican.
He was married in 1868, to Miss Julia LaCroix, of Nashville, Tenn., who died in 1870, leaving one child, Stella Esther, and was again married to Miss Mina Frevert, who died in 1884, leaving one child, Lizzette.
Mr. Linck is a member of the G.A.R., and the order of Masons, of the I.O.O.F., Red Men, of the Grand Lodge of U.O. and K. of G.R. He was an original stockholder in the Madison Woolen Mills. He assisted in organizing the Madison Stove Foundry, and was its first secretary. He was also one of the original stockholders in the Cotton Mill. He is a member of Fire Co. No. 1., of Madison; and a member of the M. and M. Club, Board of Trade. Mr Linch owns 160 acres of land in Jefferson county, Ind., and a fine orange grove in Florida, together with several houses in the city of Madison.
ZEPHANIAH LLOYD
Zephaniah LLoyd, farmer, Republican township, Jefferson county. The subject of this sketch is a farmer, and has always resided on a farm, having been born on one. He was born in Somerset county, on the eastern shore of Maryland, in the year 1805.
Mr. Lloyd was left an orphan when only five years of age; his mother died when he was only three months old. He was reared by his half-brother, Mr. Tubmond Wright, and came West, and settled in Switzerland county, Ind., in the spring of 1817, when he (Lloyd) was only twelve years old. He remained with his half-brother until 1822, when he was seventeen years old, when he came to Jefferson county, where he has resided ever since.
His brother Tubmond Wright died in March, 1828, at the age of 39 years; he was a farmer of Switzerland county, Ind.
Mr. Lloyd was married, in 1824, to Miss Anna Latimore, who was a native of North Carolina, and came to Indiana in 1811, with her father, Daniel Latimore, who was a farmer of this county.
Mrs. Lloyd died September 23, 1881, at the age of 81 years and 8 months. She was a member of the M. E. Church for sixty-two years. Mr. Lloyd has raised nine children, and has lived to see them all married--six girls and three boys, viz: Isabel, Elizabeth, Rhoda, Jane, Rebecca, Delpha, Oliver, Zephaniah, and Marion. Rebecca died January 31, 1868; Elizabeth died June 28, 1882; Rhoda died August 1, 1883.
Mr. Lloyd bought the eighty acres of land upon which he now lives in 1830.
Mr. Lloyd is the only one of his family now living; he is one of the oldest citizens now in the county, and is a good citizen, a man who is well liked by his acquaintances, respected by his neighbors, and loved by his friends.
He now resides in the family of his son, Zephaniah, who takes care of him, as he is almost blind, so much so as to be unable to read or do any labor which requires sight.
In June, 1887, Mr. Lloyd visited his old home, in Switzerland county, to attend an old settlers’ meeting, it being seventy years since he landed in that county; there were only three persons that were then living in the county, who were still alive. Mr. Lloyd has attended all of the old settlers’ meetings of Jefferson county, and says that there are very few of them who are still living.
Mr. Lloyd has had a long and useful life, and now, at the age of 83, cannot expect to tarry much longer on earth, but when he is called he will be sorrowed for as for one who has done his duty.
Zephaniah Lloyd, Jr. (or young Zeph, as he is called by his friends and neighbors), is married and has a family of two children, Eva J. and Thomas L. Eva is married to Orlando Cooperiden, a farmer of this township; Thomas L. is in his sixteenth years, and is at home with his parents. Young Zeph. married Miss Sarah I. Cosby, of Smyrna township.
JOSEPH H. LOCHARD
Joseph H. Lochard (deceased) was born October 22, 1810 in Cumberland county Pa. His father, James Lochard, was a Revolutionary soldier, of Scotch birth. After the war he came to Pennsylvania, and there married Mary Hicks (or Heicks), daughter of George Hicks, who was a large land owner in Cumberland county; he was bitterly opposed to the match, and the young people eloped and were married. Several children were born of this marriage, the youngest of whom was the subject of this sketch. The father emigrated, with his family, to Indiana in 1810, and settled on the site of Brooksburg, on the Ohio river, in Jefferson county. He died shortly afterward--about 1815--and was buried near the mouth of Locust creek, Kentucky. This left the family dependent on the mother and themselves. The mother, who was an invalid, suffering severely with sick headache, died a few years after the father, leaving the family in a strange, wild land without any parental protection or guidance.
In his boyhood the subject of this sketch was bound to Mr. James McCarty. During this time clothing and shoes were hard to procure, and the boy was compelled to dress in the summer in a tow linen shirt as his entire suit, always barefooted--often he would be barefooted until midwinter. When he first went to Mr. McCarty’s his clothing was so wretched that Mrs. McCarty--afterward Mrs. Stewart--pitied him so much that she made his first pair of pants from a large linen apron of her own. Upon the death of Mr. McCarty the boy returned home, and being very desirous of procuring an education, he went to a Mr. Simmons, who was teaching a subscription school in the neighborhood, and bargained with him for a winter’s schooling, for which he paid with beans. During this winter he found that he must have a slate in order to succeed with his studies, and how to get it without money was a problem of considerable trouble to study; after a time he procured work for a day from a neighbor, for which he received one bushel of corn in payment, then he worked another day for the use of a horse, and took his bushel of corn to mill, and had it ground, and then he carried it to Madison (seven miles) and sold the corn-meal for eighteen and three-fourth cents, and with that purchased a slate. He studied at night by the light of burning hickory bark, and thus got a little information which was of very great value to him in after life.
He was first married when only eighteen years old, on the 18th of June, 1829, to Miss Nancy Bear, who was born April 5, 1815, and died August 15, 1844. There were three children from this union who were reared to maturity: Vilitta, Solomon B. and Sarah E. Just before this marriage he worked for three months for the sum of twelve dollars, with which he bought clothing at Madison, paying prices for it which would now be considered enormous.
When he first married he made the furniture for his cabin himself. The bedstead was made by boring holes in the house logs for one end of the rails and setting up posts for the other end of the rails; the rails were made of sapling poles cut in the woods, and the ends dressed down with the axe to a size to fit the holes in the house logs and in the posts; then across these poles, for a bottom for the bed, were placed smaller poles. The chairs or stools were made by splitting logs of a proper diameter and hewing one side smoothly, then boring holes through the slab he put legs to them. About this time he began to chop cordwood for steamboat use. The first winter was spent in chopping wood for a very pious old man, who prayed much. He let his account stand open, not drawing any wages until the last of the wood was cut and delivered at Madison; then he found that the old man had overdrawn his account and not a cent could be collected for his winter’s work. With the money from his wood he had hoped to get a horse and some other property of which he was sadly in need.
He continued to chop wood, and in the course of a few years he moved to Kentucky, where he owned an interest in a wood yard. From there he returned to Jefferson county, Ind., again in 1840, and settled in the place now known as Manville, where he engaged in a grocery store; his beginning was on a small scale. A few years later he built a business house in that place, known as Lochard’s Store, where he continued to do business until 1866, when he removed his store to Canaan, Shelby township (his store was formerly in Milton township), where he continued in business until 1878, when he sold out to his two sons, S. B. and C. H. Lochard. From this time he only engaged in his private business, assisting his sons by advice in their store until March 22, 1887, when he died.
Mr. Lochard was three times married; his second wife was Phoebe Sherman, who had before married George Bear. She was born on the 23d of June, 1819, and died May 18, 1875. There was born one son, Cyrus H., who attained majority, by his marriage.
His third marriage was to Anna M. Wick, who survived him about one year.
Mr. Lochard served as justice of the peace for about fourteen years; in his younger days he flatboated on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He was a prominent Mason.
Mr. Lochard was emphatically a self-made man, coming in his old age to a position of ease and affluence; having started in early life in want, by industry, energy and preseverance and strict application to business, overcame all obstacles and made himself a success in life as a business man, and in old age enjoyed the fruits of his labors.
He acquired quite a fortune in money and stock.
CHARLES V. LORING
Charles V. Loring (deceased), the subject of this sketch, was born in Jefferson county, March 20, 1827. He is the son of Richard Loring, a native of Kentucky, who came to this county at a very early date. Mr. Charles V. Loring was raised a farmer, educated in the common schools of the county.
At the age of 23 he was married to Cynthia McClelland, daughter of Robert and Esther (Benefiel) McClelland. Robert McClelland came to Indiana in the year 1814. The result of this marriage is three children: Mary, married to John B. Sellick; Mahala and William.
Mr. Loring was a man of prominence among his neighbors. He held the office of justice of the peace for one term. He was a member of the Home Guards during the war. He lived on his farm near Bryantsburgh till the day of his death, which occurred January 10, 1888. He was a kind husband and father, a good citizen. He owned a farm of 100 acres of well-improved land at the time of his death, where his widow still resides. She is cared for and supported by her son William, who is a good son, therefore a good citizen.
