Person Page - 18

The death of a bright, young person always makes a lasting impression on the friends. The community was shocked on Wednesday of last week to learn of the death of Miss Ama Nowlin, although it had been expected for several days.

She was born Jan. 28, 1868, near Guilford, Ind., where she spent most of her life. She was educated at the Cincinnati Wesleyan college, graduating from there in June, 1887. After the death of her mother in July, 1884, she spent her time when not in school keeping house for her father or staying with her brothers, wherever she could do the most good.

In October, 1892, she had a severe illness from which she never fully recovered, although she was able to be up nearly all the time until about a week before her death. After becoming bedfast she sank very rapidly and passed away the morning of July 19, 1893. Being of a gentle and lovable disposition, she leaves a wide circle of friends by whom she will be greatly missed. But only her relatives , who were brought in close contact with her, knew the extent of her broad, unselfish charity.⁹

Miss Ama Nowlin, a most estimable young lady, died yesterday morning at the home of her brother Harry near Pella after a long illness. She was greatly liked here by a large number of friends, and her death early in life saddened many hearts.³

Miss Amy Nowlin died at her home in Miller Township near Pella on Wednesday, July 19th, 1893, aged 25 years. Miss Nowlin was born and lived all her life near where she died, and was much respected as a lady. The deceased left a father and two brothers.⁸

Survivor(s): Archy E. Nowlin, Jane Gertrude Taylor, Ama Lana Baker, Martha Belle Honecker and Ada Nowlin Sykes. Predeceased by his parents: Jane H. Langdale and Enoch Blasdel Nowlin. Predeceased: Elena Nowlin.²⁴

HARRY LANGDALE NOWLIN.
One of the country's greatest manufacturers, a man who has received more than passing note by reason of the methods he employs in securing ungrudging and efficient service on the part of his small army of employes, and whose close personal relations with the men who have helped to make the product of his great factory a household word throughout the country is a matter of common knowledge. Upon being asked: "What do you call a man?” quickly answered. "One who stands four square to the world in reference to the functions that should be absolutely right with regard to himself those who are dependent upon him and society in general.” Upon being asked to extend his definition so as to cover the process of "making a man,” this manufacturer declared that he made men “by the application of horse sense." This, of course, but emphasizes, by giving personal authority to the utterance, the truth that is not only self-evident, but widely accepted. It invariably is found that the men who really stand four square to the world in all the relations of life are the men who are possessed of a large portion of what commonly has come to be known as “horse sense,” upon the proper exercise of which they base the success which, without exception, follows their efforts. Happily, there are many such men in Dearborn county, among the best known of whom, perhaps, is Harry Langdale Nowlin, retired farmer and enterprising insurance secretary of Lawrenceburg, this county.

Harry Langdale Nowlin was born in Miller township, Dearborn county. Indiana, February 12, 1860, the son of Enoch B. and Jane H. (Langdale) Nowlin, the former of whom was born on the farm in Miller township, on which he spent his entire life, and the latter, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but who came to this county with her parents when a small child, and grew to womanhood here.

Enoch B. Nowlin was a thrifty and successful farmer as well as one of the most progressive and influential men in the section of the county in which he spent his whole life. He owned about five hundred acres of fine land in Miller township, as well as lands in Kansas and Wisconsin, and at the time of his death in the year 1900 was accounted quite well-to-do. His father, Jeremiah Nowlin, a native of Kentucky, was one of the pioneers of Miller township, this county, where he married Pamelia Blasdel, who was born in that township, a member of one of the earlier pioneer families of the county. He was of Irish descent and she of English descent. They founded in this county one of the most substantial families of the county and were accounted as among the leading residents of the community in which they lived and labored, being among the foremost and most honored pioneers of that region. It is undoubted that their influence in that community did very much toward bringing about proper conditions of social and economic life in the formative period of the now prosperous and established farming region, and the fifth generation of their descendants in this community find conditions of living immeasurably easier for their having striven, “blazing the way.” Jeremiah Nowlin died at the age of sixty-five, his widow surviving him a few years, her death not occurring until she was past seventy years of age. They were the parents of Enoch B., Ferris J., Ambrose E. and Jacob Z. Nowlin, besides two or three children who died in infancy.

Robert H. Langdale, maternal grandfather of Mr. Nowlin, was a native of England who came to this country, locating at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he engaged in the grocery business and where he married Mary Corbin, the pair later-moving to this county, settling in Miller township, where they were accounted among the substantial residents of that part of the county, being held in the very highest regard in that section of the county. He lived to be about seventy years of age, and she died several years previous. They reared their family in the ways of sterling citizenship. Five of their children grew to maturity and to useful manhood and womanhood: Jane H., Martha, Frances, Robert H. and Louisa, the first named of whom was the mother of Mr. Nowlin.

Enoch B. Nowlin, who married Jane H. Langdale, lived to be sixty-eight years of age, his death occurring in the year 1900. His wife died in 1835 at the age of fifty. They were earnestly devoted to the best interests of the community in which they lived and were among the leaders in all good works thereabout. They were devoted members of the Presbyterian church and actively interested in the various local beneficences of that church. Mr. Nowlin was a member of the “home guard” during the Civil War. He was a Republican and took an active interest in politics, though not an office seeker. Enoch B. and Jane H. (Langdale) Nowlin were parents of four children, two sons and two daughters, Harry L., of Lawrenceburg, the immediate subject of this sketch; Mary, who died at the age of five years; Robert Jeremiah, present trustee of Miller township, who lives on the old Nowlin farm in that township, and Ama, who died during her young womanhood.

Harry L. Nowlin grew to manhood on the paternal farm in Miller township, being reared with the highest regard for the principles of good citizenship. He attended the district school in his home neighborhood, the course of instruction there being supplemented by courses in the normal schools at Ladoga and at Danville, this state. For one season he taught school, after which he turned his attention to practical farming, beginning his successful career in this line of endeavor upon a small tract of land which he rented. He prospered at this venture and later bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Miller township to which he gradually added until at one time he owned a farm of four hundred and ten acres, all of which was under a high state of cultivation, the most of which he still owns. In the spring of 1908 Mr. Nowlin retired from the farm and moved to Moores Hill, remaining there until 1913, in which year he moved to Lawrenceburg, re-purchasing a home at 20 Oakey avenue, which some years before he had built and occupied for a time, later selling the same, and which is now his home. Upon moving to Lawrenceburg, Mr. Nowlin engaged in the insurance business and has built up an extensive business in the way of fire and tornado insurance.

On Christmas Day, in the year 1882, Harry L. Nowlin was united in marriage with Lana Martha Smith, who was born near the village of Guilford, in Miller township, Dearborn county, Indiana, February 12, 1861, the daughter of David E. and Martha C. (Grubbs) Smith, both of whom were natives of the same township.

David E. Smith was the son of William and Ann (Ewbank) Smith, natives of England and early settlers in Dearborn county, who died in Miller township, both being well past middle age at the time of the passing. They were the parents of six children, four sons and two daughters, John, George, Thomas, David, Elizabeth and Ann. Martha C. Grubbs, who married David E. Smith was the daughter of John and Jane (Cassidy) Grubbs, natives of Pennsylvania and pioneers in Dearborn county, the former of whom lived to a green old age and the latter of whom died in middle life and who were the parents of nine children: Mrs. Martha C. Smith, Mrs. Mary Jane Haddock, Mrs. Honor Kirkpatrick, Mrs. Susan McClure, Hugh, John, William, Richard and Hansel.

To David E. and Martha C. (Grubbs) Smith were born thirteen children: Mrs. Jane Ann Whittaker, Will John, Mrs. Elizabeth Jolley, Mrs. Mary Lounsbury, Honor Davis, Robert Henry, Jonathan G., Jarius D. and Lana M. (twins), George M., Mrs. Evelyn C. Hansell, Scott M. and Ira. The father of these children died in 1872 at the age of fifty-three years and the mother died on December 11, 1911 at the advanced age of eighty-four years.

To Harry Langdale and Lana Martha (Smith) Nowlin five children have been born: Archey E., Jennie Gertrude, Ama L., Elma L. and Martha Belle. Archey E. Nowlin is managing a part of the home farm. He married Elizabeth Huddleston, and to this union three children have been born: Hubert A., Elizabeth Lenore and Frances Ama. Jennie Gertrude married Milton L. Taylor of Indianapolis to which union one child has been born, a son Harry Hilton. Ama L. is employed in her father's insurance office. Elma L. died at the early age of sixteen years. Martha Belle is a student in the Greendale public school at Lawrenceburg.

Mr. and Mrs. Nowlin are members of the Presbyterian church as are all their children, and are deeply interested in the good works of their home community. Mr. Nowlin is a member of Guilford Lodge No. 90, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the affairs of which order he takes a hearty interest. He is a Republican, and for years has been a strong factor in the political life of the county. During his residence at Moores Hill he was for nearly five years a member of the school board there and for two years served on the town board, while some years ago he served for a period of two years on the town board of Greendale.

The Nowlins are cultured and refined people, and being members of two of the oldest families in the county, are fully representative of the best life of the community in which they reside and in which they are so deservedly popular, and in which they are held in such high respect by all who know them. Mr. Nowlin takes an active interest in the business life of Lawrenceburg and is warmly concerned in all the measures designed to promote the best interests of the city and county.³⁰

Harry Langdale Nowlin Dies at Age of 99
Harry Langdale Nowlin, 99 years old, died June 21, 1959 at Indianapolis. Ind. Born Feb. 12, 1860, the son of Jane H. Langdale and Enoch Blasdel Nowlin, on the Nowlin Homestead in Dearborn County, Ind., he attended Lebanon, Ohio and Central Normal College at Danville, Ind.

He was a school teacher and farmer in Dearborn County, a member of the State Board of Agriculture from 1896-1912, serving as president one year. Mr. Nowlin was secretary of the Mutual Insurance Companies Union of Indiana for 33 years; secretary of the Patrons Mutual of Dearborn, Ohio and Ripley Counties from 1900 to 1911, when he moved to Indianapolis. Instrumental in organizing the Indiana Mutual Cyclone Insurance Company he served as secretary until 1941, during which time it was merged with the Indiana Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. He was also instrumental in organizing the Meredian Mutual and The Indiana Union Mutual and the Indiana Hail Insurance Companies. Mr. Nowlin served as Secretary of the Lawrenceburg, Ind. Fair from 1894 to 1906; served as trustee of Greendale and Moores Hill, Ind; served on the school hoard at Greendale and Moores Hill and as trustee of Moores Hill College.

Harry Langdale Nowlin married Lana Martha Smith, they celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary. They had five children, a daughter, Elena preceded them in death. Mrs. Nowlin died July 8, 1946, since that time Mr. Nowlin had made his home with his three daughters. He was a member of the Irvington Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis and Guilford 1.0.0.F. Lodge.

Survivors are a son, Archy E. Nowlin Pensacola, Florida; three daughters, Jane Gertrude Taylor, Greensburg, Ind. Ama Lana Baker and Martha Belle Honecker, Indianapolis; eight grandchildren; 28 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren and two cousins, Ada Nowlin Sykes and Margaret Follis, Lawrenceburg. A brother, Jerry died June 20, 1958.
Used by permission of the Blaisdell Family National Association
Used with permission of (an unknown value.)²⁴

Died May 18 at her home near Palmer Rapids: Amanda Manteufel, wife of the late William Wasmund, whom she married on March 14, 1895. Her age was 53 years and 25 days. Se leaves eight children: Stanleu, Wilfrid, Reuben, Gordon, Lawrence, Charlotte, Alice and Laura; a brother, George Manteufel of Palmer Rapids; a sister: Mrs John Phannenhour of Pembroke; Page 105.⁴