Stories of Related Family’s

ABRAHAM LASHER is a native of Bullitt County, Ky., and was born July 11, 1823, being the eldest son in a family of ten children, eight of whom lived to be grown: Clarissa C. (deceased, who married P.H. Esarey), Abraham, Isaac (deceased), Rebecca (now Mrs. Calvin Dysdale), Jacob (deceased), Elizabeth (deceased who married Sam Ader), Daniel B. and Mary (now Mrs. Louis W. Goble), born to Jacob and Elizabeth (Comstock) Lasher, natives of Pennsylvania and Kentucky. They were married in Perry County where they lived at the time of their respective deaths. The father served in the war of 1812 under Harrison. The parents were members of the Regular Baptist Church. The father laid the foundation of the court-house and jail at Rome, Perry Co., where he became acquainted with his wife. Abraham was reared and educated by his parents and remained at home until his marriage to Miss Sarah, daughter of John and Martha (Thrasher) Lanham, which occurred June 16, 1844. Ten children were born to this union: William B., Elizabeth (who married Wiliam Cassidy), Martha A. (now Mrs. James M. Cassidy), Rebecca N. (deceased, who married Joseph R. Bradshaw), Mary E. (now Mrs. H.T. Rhodes), John N. (deceased), Hiram E., James B., Louis C. and Josephine (deceased). Mrs. Sarah Lasher was born April 13, 1822. She died on June 2, 1860. Mr. Lasher was married again December 6, 1860, to Miss Sarah B., daughter of William and Rachel (Litherland) Bennett, and to this union nine children were born: Melvina (deceased), George M., Daniel V., Sherman, Cynthia C., Thomas J., Benjamin F., Calvin A. (deceased) and Martin L. Mrs. Sarah B. Lasher was born March 20, 1834 and died April 9, 1885. She belonged to the United Baptist Church. Mr. Lasher is a farmer and owns over 900 acres of land partially improved. He is a Democrat in politics. He was elected county sheriff in 1862 and served as township trustee of Clark Township three years and acted as real estate appraiser of Clark Township. He acted as deputy clerk of Perry County seven years. He belongs to the Order of Masons. He is well known and respected.

The 9 May 1857 Cannelton Reporter contains a death notice for Shubal C. Little.

Volume 3 of the Centennial History of Arkansas (Dallas Tabor Herndon, published 1922 by S.J. Clark Publishing Company), pages 871 and 872 contains the biography of C.J. Evrard:
“One of the leading citizens of Blytheville is C.J. Evrard, president of the Evrard Abstract Company and the Blytheville Insurance Company.  He was born in Perry county, Indiana, on the 29th of January 1853 [ s/b 29 Jan 1852 ], a son of Godfroid and Pauline (Lambert) Evrard, the former a native of St. Medard, Belgium, and the latter of Libramont, Belgium.  On the maternal side C.J. Evrard is descended from Wathier Lambert.  Walthier being his great-grandfather.  He was a government contractor for France and his seven sons served under Napolean, three of them being members of the great leader’s body-guard.  One of the sons became a general.  They were with Napolean at Waterloo and on the famous retreat from Moscow.  None of the sons was severely wounded while in service and they returned home in the best of physical condition, despite the fatiguing marches, poor food and exposure.  Mr. and Mrs Evrard were reared to manhood and womanhood in their native country and there married.  One child was born to them while residents of Belgium, but her death occurred on the voyage over and she was buried at sea.  In 1853 [ s/b 1851 ] they came to America and after sixty-five days on board a sailing vessel, they landed at New Orleans on the 1st of January, 1853 [ s/b 10 Dec 1851; 1 Jan 1852 may have been when they arrived in Indiana ].  They were twenty-one days on the river trip, which was a perilous journey on account of the ice flows.  They reached the state safely, however, and located in the Belgian settlement of Leopold, Indiana, where the father immediately engaged in farming.  C. J. Evrard’s birth occurred just eight days [ s/b abt 28 days later ] after his parents landed in Derby.
In the acquirement of his early education, C. J. Evrard attended the district schools near the home farm and prior to his seventeenth birthday he began teaching school.  For more than thirty years he was engaged in educational work and won a widespread reputation in that connection.  He is a highly educated and intellectual man and speaks French fluently.  At one time he was offered the chair of French at Notre Dame University but his health would not permit such close confinement.  In 1902 Mr. Evrard came to Blytheville and engaged in the abstract and loan business, which he is now actively conducting under the name of Evrard Abstract Company.  In 1920 he established the Blytheville Insurance Agency and he is achieving well merited success in both connections.
On the 9th of February 1881, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Evrard to Miss Sarah Jane Ballard of Perry county, Indiana, and to their union eight children have been born:  Daisy is the wife of S.C. Moore, a successful farmer of Mississippi county; Gordon is railroad agent at Black Oak, this state; James B. is a despatcher at Wynne, Arkansas.  He served for twenty-seven months in the navy as wireless operator during the World war and crossed the ocean ten times; Marcus, who is associated with his father in business, served as first-class yeoman in the navy for twenty-seven months during the World war.  The other children are deceased.
Since attaining his majority Mr. Evrard has given his political allegiance to the democratic party and the principles for which it stands.  Although he has never sought nor desired public preferment on his own account, he is ever cognizant of the duties and responsibilities of good citizenship and is active in every movement for public improvement.  Fraternally he is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, holding membership in Blytheville Lodge, No 1211.”

JOHN CHRISTIAN DODSON.

Sol H. Esarey. There are few law firms in Indianapolis that enjoy as good a pres­tige and more select practice than that of “Watson & Esarey, whose offices are in the Pythian Building. The members of this firm are Ward H. Watson, James E. Wat­son and Sol H. Esarey.
The junior member of the firm was for a number of years assistant reporter for the Supreme Court of Indiana, and is a man of wide legal training and experience. He was born in Perry County, Indiana, May 17, 1866. No other family has been known so long or so prominently in Perry County as the Esareys. It is said that his great-great-grandfather, John Esarey was either the first or the second permanent white settler in that part of the state. The grandfather, Jesse Esarey, lived his entire life in Perry County. Associated with his name are a long list of pioneer activities. He was a miller, owning and operating the first grist mill in Perry County, the machin­ery of which was operated by horse power. He also had the first lumber and saw mill in the county, and was the first to introduce steam power in the operation of such a mill. He was also a man of affairs viewed from a public standpoint. He was a whig and later a republican, a strong temperance man when temperance advo­cates were few, and served as captain of the Home Guards of Perry County. He reared a large family of twelve children, all of whom grew to manhood and woman­hood. One of them was John C. Esarey,. father of the Indianapolis lawyer. John C. was born in Perry County in 1842 and made his life occupation farming. He is still living, at the age of seventy-five, and enjoying the best of health. He has done much to develop Perry County’s life in religious and educational affairs. As a republican he served two terms as town­ship trustee and one term as county com­missioner and has been deeply interested in the Methodist Church. In 1864 he en­listed in Company G of the Fifty-third Indiana Infantry, and joined his regiment at Atlanta, Georgia, participating in Sher­man’s March to the sea and thence through the Carolinas until the surrender of Johns­ton’s army after the battle at Benton-ville, North Carolina. At the close of the war he received his honorable discharge at Indianapolis, and going back to Perry County took up the vocation which has busied him to the present time. He mar­ried Barbara Ewing, and they had nine children, eight of whom are still living.
The second oldest of the family, Sol H. Esarey was born in Perry County May 17, 1866, and largely through his own exertions acquired a liberal education. He at­tended the Academy at Rome, Indiana, the Central Indiana Normal School at Dan­ville, where he was graduated with the class of 1890, and had his legal education in Boston University Law School, graduating LL. B. in 1902. Mr. Esarey practiced law at Cannelton, Indiana, and was one of the leading lawyers of that locality un­til 1905. In the latter year he removed to Indianapolis to take up his duties as as­sistant reporter of the Supreme Court, and was chiefly known to the local profession of the capital city in that capacity until 1913. Mr. Esarey is a stanch republican, and during his residence at Cannelton he served as a member of the School Board and was a leader in establishing and building the Cannelton Public Library, the first institution of that kind between Evansville and New Albany. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, the Modern Woodmen of America and other orders. For a number of years he has been a member of the Methodist Church at Indianapolis, and for the last two years has taught a large Bible class of young ladies. Dur­ing his practice at Cannelton Mr. Esarey established the principle affirmed by decision of the Supreme Court of the right of a tax payer to compel a public official to return money unlawfully obtained. April 8, 1893, at Cannelton, he married Miss Emma L. Clark.

GEORGE ALVEY was born Abt. 1773 in St. Mary’s Co., Maryland, and died April 06, 1840 in Perry Co., IN. He married (1) JANETTE “JANE – JENNY” SMOCK May 07, 1797 in Washington Co., KY, daughter of GAROT SMOCK and JANETJE VANDYKE. She was born Bef. March 28, 1758 in North Branch, NJ, and died Unknown in Indiana. He married (2) SARAH ELIZABETH WEST November 01, 1832 in Perry Co., Indiana, daughter of NICHOLAS WEST and ELIZABETH LEE. She was born June 27, 1787 in Nelson Co., KY, and died February 17, 1864 in Derby, Perry Co., IN.

JOHN TIPTON CONNOR, one of the early pioneers of Perry Co., is one of a family of two boys and four girls born to Samuel and Nancy (Hyde) Connor. His father who had been previously married in Breckenridge Co., Ky., came to Perry Co., IN, in 1806, and bought a farm in Tobin Township. About 1819 his wife died and he married the mother of our subject of our subject the following year. He was engaged in farming in the  Co.,  until his death, with the exception of four years, when he was employed in mercantile pursuits at Rome and Troy. For a number of years he was a member of the Territorial Legislature, and was one of the leading men in this part of the State. He died in 1864. His widow is still living at the advanced age of eighty-six years. John T. was reared at home, receiving only a limited education in youth. September 5 1848, he married Sarah M. Robinson, a native of the  Co.,  and located on land given him by his father near Rome, where he has since resided. For a number of years he also had a one-half interest in a general mercandise store at Rome, and in a tannery near that place. February 20, 1873 Mrs. Connor died leaving a family of six children, Lucy F. (wife of Joshua H. Groves), Orval E., Eva G. (wife of Clarence Wheeler), Albert R., Ellen I, and Mabel L. October 23, 1882 Mr. Connor was married to Mrs. Kate Parker, a native of Harrison Co., Ind. He and wife are members of the Methodist Church. In politics he is very liberal, but is inclined to accept the principles of the Republican party.

From the 1898 book “History of the Catholic Church in Indiana”:
“FRANK J. GEORGE, county superintendent of schools. Perry county, Ind., was born in Hachy, Belgium, April 28, 1852. He attended school in his native place until the age of twelve years, when, with his parents, he came to the United States, settling near Leopold, Ind., where he was reared to manhood on his father’s farm, and later learned the trade of stone cutting, studying industriously the meanwhile. In 1872 he went to Spencer county and worked at his trade on St. Meinrad’s college, the construction of which was begun that year, and studied under one of the professors during his spare time, noon and night. In 1874 he went to St. Joseph, Wyandot county, Ohio, where he obtained a position as teacher in a Catholic school. He remained there six months and then returned to Perry county, where he resumed his studies and also continued to work at his trade. In 1876 he received his first license to teach, his percentage, in examination, showing a high average. The first school taught by Mr. George in Indiana was near Leopold, his former home.
In 1877, work having again commenced on the building of St. Meinrad’s college and monastery in Spencer county, Mr. George went to work there at his trade of stonecutting, and still assiduously pursued his studies, as in the four years preceding this. He subsequently attended the Central Normal college in Danville, Ind., and graduated in the teacher’s course with honors. Mr. George came to Tell City in 1884, and at once began to teach school, later he was appointed to the position of assistant superintendent of city schools, which place he resigned for that of county superintendent, to which office he was elected as a democrat in 1891, and is now serving his third term.
At the age of twenty Mr. George was married to Miss Elizabeth Genet, the union being blessed with a family of seven children, five of whom are living, viz: Ellen, Alvin, Oliver, Theodore and Frank. Prof. George speaks and writes, fluently, the French, German and English languages, and Perry county has never had a more efficient superintendent of schools.”