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Surnames: Settlemyer, Wilkinson, Arick
Classification: biography
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Message Board Post:
From Biographical Memoirs of Huntington County, 1901, pages 688-689
The well-known gentleman whose biography is embraced within these lines belongs to the
large and eminently substantial class of citizens which the state of Ohio has contributed
to Huntington county.
He was born April 3, 1840, in Warren county, Ohio, near the town of Lebanon, and is one of
five children constituting the family of William and Annie (Wilkinson) Settlemyer, being
the second in order of birth. The names of the others are: Charles, a private in Company
E, Seventy-fifth Indiana Infantry, in the late Civil war, wounded at the battle of
Chickamauga, from the effects of which he died in 1874; Baylis lives on the homestead in
Ohio; James is a farmer living in Wells county, Indiana; while the youngest died in
infancy.
John M. Settlemyer remained in his native county until 1860, and in company with his
brother Charles came by wagon to Huntington county, Indiana, and settled on a
four-hundred-acre tract in the township of Jackson, where the two built a small log cabin
of one room and began clearing their land and otherwise preparing a part of it for
tillage. The land being heavily timbered, necessitated long and arduous toil to bring it
to a condition for the plow, but in time the task was assomplished, principally through
the efforts of the subject, his brother being absent in the army a goodly portion of the
time, and but little fitted for active work upon his return by reason of his grievous
injury.
In 1874 Mr. Settlemyer replaced his primitive log dwelling with a building of greatly
enlarged dimensions, and one year later erected the large and commodious barn which still
answers the purpose for which it was erected. On the 12th day of June, 1872, his marriage
with Miss Margaret Arick was duly solemnized, and two children have resulted from the
union: James W., a farmer and stock raiser of Jackson township; and John E., his
father's able and faithful assistant on the home farm.
Mr. Settlemyer has been unusually fortunate in the accumulation of this world's goods,
being at this time the possessor of five hundred and sixty acres of fertile land in
Jackson township, the greater part of which is in a successful state of tillage. He
cleared a large portion of his land himself, but for some years kept from four to six men
almost constantly employed in removing the timber, ditching the wet places and blasting
out stumps, and now his area of tillable land is larger than that belonging to any other
farmer in the township.
Mr. Settlemyer is a progressive farmer, and as a business man is charaterized (sic) by
excellent judgment and clear foresight. He has a comprehensive knowledge of all matters
relating to agriculture and live stock, and seldom if ever fails to make good bargains in
all dealings with his fellow men. While fortune has usually come his way, he is
nevertheless a man of strict integrity, and in his many business transactions no one has
ever coupled his name with any disreputable act or charged him with anything tinged in the
slightest degree with dishonor. He bears the reputation of an honest, straightforward
gentleman, whose word is never questioned and whose life will bear the closest and
strictest scrutiny. In his political belief he is a Republican, and has decided opinions
relative to all the great questions of the day, upon which he expresses himself
intelligently when it becomes necessary so to do. While his early educational training
was limited to a few months' atten!
dance each year in the common schools, he has always been a close observer, and by coming
in contact with the world he is now the possessor of a fund of practical knowledge which
has aided him materially in building up his fortune. He occupies a commendable place in
the commmunity, and Jackson township is proud to acknowledge him one of her most
prosperous men.