From Biographical History of Tippecanoe, White,
Jasper, Newton,
Benton, Warren and Pulaski Counties,
Indiana. Lewis Publishing Company 1899.
Pages 936-938
THOMAS L. HUFTY
Thomas Lucas Hufty, the oldest citizen of White
county, was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, April
28, 1815, near the village of Jefferson and he now
resides on a farm near the village of Wolcott,
Indiana, remarkably active and shrewd for a man of his
year. He is a son of James Barkley and Cassandra
(Lucas) Hufty, and a grandson of Jacob and Sarah
(Barkley) Hufty. His grandmother came to America from
England when a girl, and his grandfather was a native
of Philadelphia, who drove a supply team during the
Revolution. Some time during the beginning of the
present century he moved to Greene county,
Pennsylvania, and entered what was known as a
"tomahawk" survey of four hundred acres. He was one of
the first white men to settle in that part of the
country, when the nearest gristmill was forty miles
away. He cleared a part of this ground, and before his
death divided it among his children among whome was
James Barkley Hufty, the father of our subject. James
was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, October 22,
1790, and was a young man when he moved with his
parents to Greene county, that state. After the farm
was divided he sold his share to two of his sisters
and bought one hundred and sixy acres one and a half
miles north of them. This he cultivated for a number
of years and then sold, buying again one mile east of
this. This in turn was sold and he retired to Rice's
Landing on the Monongahela river, where he purchased
town property and resided until his death, August 3,
1874. His wife, Cassandra, nee Lucas, was born in
Greene county, April 4, 1796, and died at Rice's
Landing October 20, 1884. She was a daughter of Thomas
and Martha (Swan) Lucas, natives of Pennsylvania. Her
father received a commission as justice of the peace
from congress, and held it for more than fifty years.
Eight children were born of this union: Thomas, our
subject; James, a stock farmer of Ohio; Jacob,
residing in Missouri; Martha and Amanda, deceased;
Cassandra, widow of John Hughes, residing at Rice's
Landing; her husband was captain of the second
steamboat on the Monongahela river; Phoebe, the widow
of Lucas Pryer, of Iowa; and John, a farmer of that
state.
Mr. Hufty attended subscription schools for the short
sessions until he was twenty, when he attended one
long session and had the school-teacher for a
room-mate. He drove a team for several years, for this
father, between Wheeling and Baltimor, but
discontinued soon after his marriage. He then learned
the trade of carpenter and carried it on in connection
with his farming, having purchased thirty acres of
land in 1842. Later he disposed of this property and
moved, with his family, to Monroe county, Ohio, where
he rented land and farmed for several years. He then
went to Tyler county, Virginia, and bought land, which
he sold about the year 1852, and came to his present
farm, three miles north of Wolcott. He shipped his
goods through Monon, and followed them with a team and
wagon. He first purchased fifty acres adjoining it on
the south, which he has since sold to his son,
Charles. He has added almost all the improvements now
seen on the place, and has a cosy, comfortable home.
He was united in marriage, in Greene county, August 4,
1836, to Louisa Murdock, who was born January 28,
1814. She was a daughter of Charles and Ann (Campbell)
Murdock, the former a native of Ireland and the latter
of Pennsylvania. Their union was blessed by the birth
of a large number of children, four of whom died in
infancy, one in Greene county, Pennsylvania, and the
others in Monroe county, Ohio, Tyler county, Virginia,
and in White county, Indiana; Ann died at the age of
four years; John is a dry-goods merchant in Mount Ayr,
Indiana; Thomas is a mechanic in Louisiana; Charles
resides on the home place; Martha is the wife of Henry
Hofley, in this county; Jasper is a farmer near
Pittsburg, Carroll county, this state, and George is
farming near his brother Jasper. Mrs. Hufty died
January 21, 1887.
Mr. Hufty was early impressed with religious
convictions and united with the Baptist church at the
age of nineteen years. His life has exemplified his
Christian teachings, and he has the esteem of all for
his upright, manly bearing in every path of life. He
is a Democrat, but has never taken an active part in politics.
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