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Surnames: Unrue, Eubank, Barnes, Athan, Webb, Miller, Zent, Sprow
Classification: Biography
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From "Biographical Memoirs of Wells County Indiana," 1903,
pp. 251-253.
JOSEPH UNRUE.
A list of Jackson township's enterprising farmers and prominent citizens would be
incomplete if it did not include the name of the well known gentleman whose simple life
story is told in these lines. A resident of Wells county since his twelfth year, he has
literally grown up with the country, and few have been more active thn he in behalf of the
agricultural interests of the township which is proud to claim his citizenship. Joseph
Unrue is an Ohio man and the son of George and Mary Unrue, who for many years were
residents of Montgomery county, that state, the father a native of Virginia. The
subject's paternal grandparents were George and Catherine Unrue, who moved from
Virginia to Ross county, Ohio, when their son George was about seven years of age.
Subsequently the family moved to Montgomery county, where George, Jr., grew to maturity
and married Mary Eubank, daughter of Hezekiah and Christina Eubank, early settlers of that
part of the state.
By occupation George Unrue, Jr., was a stone mason, but later in life he evoted the most
of his time to agricultural pursuits. In October, 1852, he came to Wells county, Indiana,
and purchased a piece of woodland in Jackson township on which, with the aid of his son
and the few neighbors in the vicinity, he hastily built a log cabin, sixteen by sixteen
feet in area and six feet high. Into this rude dwelling of a single room his family was
domiciled and during the first years of their residence eight acres were partially cleared
and planted in corn. Mr. Unrue brought with him sufficient provision for one year,
obtaining his meat the meantime from the wild game with which the woods then abounded. In
the course of a few years he had a comfortable home and in due time became one of the
prosperous farms of his township, as well as one of its most highly esteemed citizns. His
wife died in 1878 and in 1894, after reaching a good old age, he too was called from the
scenes of hi!
s early trials and successes. George and Mary Unrue were the parents of four children,
three of whom are living, the subject of this sketch being the oldest of the family. John
the second in order of birth, is a farmer of Jackson township and lives on part of the old
homestead; Henry, the third, is deceased, and Catherine, the youngest of the number, is
the wife of Isaiah Barnes, of Warren, this state.
Joseph Unrue was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, on the 24th of March, 1840. He received
his preliminary education in thistrict schools of his native place and at the age of
twelve was brought by his parents to Wells county, since which time, as already stated,
his life has been very closely identified with the growth and development of Jackson
township. Here he attended school a few months of each winter until reaching the age of
eighteen, meanwhile assisting to clear the farm and tend the crops, proving a strong and
willing hand at all kinds of work required in carving a home from the wilderness. When
nineteen years old he began taking contracts for clearing land and in this way worked
until his marriage, which was solemnized March 25, 1861, with Miss Charlotte Athan, whose
birth occurred in Jackson township in the year 1843. Mrs. Unrue is the daughter of Jacob
and Mary Athan, who moved to Ohio from Virginia in an early day and from the latter state
to Wells county in!
1838. They were among the earliest settlers of Jackson township and spent the remainder
of their lives on the land which Mr. Athan originally purchased from the government. Of
their four children three are yet living, Mrs. Martha A. Webb, Mrs. Unrue and Wilson, a
resident of the state of Washington; Hannah Eliza has been a number of years deceased.
Mr. Unrue spent the first year of his married life with his father-in-law and during the
ensuing ten years rented land of his wife's uncle, Thomas Athan. He then moved to his
father's place, which he cultivated about ten years, and at the end of that time again
took charge of his father-in-law's farm which he made his home until 1872. In that
year he purchased a small tract of land in section 6, Jackson township, on which he built
a rough log cabin, but after occupying the place about one year sold out and later bough
forty-five acres of the Athan farm. Moving to the latter, he farmed it in connection with
rented land until 1889, when he changed his residence to the old family homestead for the
purpose of taking care of his father in his old age.
At the death of his father, Mr. Unrue took charge of the farm and from that time to the
present he has been engaged in agriculture and stock raising with most gratifying results.
He is a man of progressive tendencies and to say that he has made a success of life is to
state what is apparent to all who know him or have heard of his industrious habits and
enterprising methods. Like a number of his neighbors and fellow citizens, John Unrue has
the good fortune to live in one of the rich oil producing districts of Indiana and
receives from thirty-five to fifty dollars per month income therefrom. This has been a
very material aid to him and the prospects are fair for other wells and much larger income
from the oil interests in the no distant future. As a stock raiser Mr. Unrue has made
considerable money, there being a large and constantly increasing demand for the fine
breed of hogs to which he has devoted much attention of recent years. As a citizen he
enjoys the confidenc!
e and esteem of the community, holding worthy prestige as a neighbor and no one has ever
had occasion to question the loyalty of his friendship. He is a good and just man, and
has always endeavored to square his life according to the precept of the Golden Rule and
to do all the good within his power among those with whom he is brought in contact.
Fraternally he belongs to Warren Lodge No. 392, I. O. O. F., and politically is and always
has been a staunch supporter of the Democratic party. He is recognized as an effective
worker in campaign years and, though by no means a seeker after the honors or emoluments
of office, the people of his township elected him twice to the position of justice of the
peace. After serving in that capacity for eight years and proving a most efficient
dispenser of justice, he resigned the office, refusing to fill out his second term.
Mr. and Mrs. Unrue have had born to them seven children, but, as with the majority of
families, the angel of death has crossed their threshold until there are only four of the
number left; the names of these offspring are as follows: George, deceased; Nancy J.
married William B. Miller, who lives on a part of the home place and works in the oil
fields; Jacob S. is deceased; Mary I. is the wife of Henry Zent, a resident of Jackson
township; Hannah C., now Mrs. John M. Sprow, lives in the town of Warren, and Sarah E.,
who married Elam Sprow, a painter, residing on a part of the subject's farm. Mr. and
Mrs. Unrue have in their possession an old parchment sheepskin deed, executed under the
administration of President Van Buren and bearing his signature.