A. Wilmont Brelsford
A resident of Grant County for more than sixty years Mr. Brelsford has followed farming in Mill Township for the greater portion of this time, and his home on Section one is a fine farm which has all the outward appearances of thrift and prosperity, and those who are acquainted with the enterprise of Mr. Brelsford testify as to his substantial success as a farmer, and his usefulness as a citizen.
A. Wilmont Brelsford was born in Greene County, Ohio, September 11, 1848. He was three years of age when he came to Grant County, in 1851. His parents were Thomas and Lydia Ann (Mann) Brelsford, both natives of Green County, Ohio. The father was Irish and the mother English in ancestry. They were married in Green County, and in 1838 came to Grant County, locating in Center Township, where Thomas Brelsford started to make a new home with his wife and small family of children. Early in life he had acquired the trade of carpenter, and it was in that capacity that he was first known in Grant County. Some of the early homes in and about Marion were built by this skilled artisan and some of them still stand to testify to the substantial industry of the builder. Later he bought a farm in Liberty Township, and about the time the war broke out sold the place and located in Mill Township near Gas City. Finally in 1880, having sold his interest in Grant County, he moved to Jackson, Michigan, where he resumed his work as a carpenter, and lived there until his death. He was nearly fourscore when he passed away, while his wife was sixty-eight years of age. Besides his industrious career as a farmer and carpenter, he worked as a lay preacher in the Methodist Church. There were three sons and four daughter, five of whom are still living and are married and have children of their own.
A. Wilmont Brelsford grew up in Grant County, spending most of his boyhood on a farm, and with a common school education. Having been reared on a farm he chose that vocation and has followed it successfully for more than forty years. His home has been on his present place in Section one of Mill Township since 1877.
Mrs. Brelsford was married in Jonesboro, September 11, 1875, to Miss Jennie Wiley. She was born on the farm which she and her husband now occupy in Mill Township, June 4, 1856, and was reared and educated in this county. She is a woman of superior character and has proved an excellent wife and mother, and the success of Mr. Brelsford in no small degree may be credited to his wife's capable efforts in cooperating with him. The children born to their marriage are mentioned as follows:
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Leota B., who is the mother of five children, is the widow of the late Guy Heath, who was accidentally killed on the Pennsylvania Railway, June 9, 1913.
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Arlie F., lived in Forsyth, Montana, and has one son.
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Alvary T. died at the age of six months
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Alvin R., is a bookkeeper with the Tin Plate Company at Gar, Indiana, and is unmarried.
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Garr is at home with his parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Brelsford and family are Methodists in religion, and in politics he votes the Progressive ticket.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.