Orlando H. Couch
There are probably few progressive farmers and stock men in eastern Indiana who are not familiar with at least the reputation of the Matthews Stock farm of which Orland H. Couch is proprietor. this stock farm, located in Section Five of Jefferson Township is the seat of a big industry and one which for value and usefulness of its output equals any large industrial factory or commercial establishment in the county. Of the one hundred and twenty-one acres comprising the far, one hundred acres are under intensive cultivation. Some of the features which at once attract the eye, and indicate the class of business done on that place is a large red barn, a silo of fifty-tons capacity, a first-class grain barn, a stable for the stallions, and a comfortable and commodious house of eight rooms. An unfailing supply of good water is furnished both to the house and to the stock farms by means of windmills and gasoline engines. Besides the facilities on the farm itself, Mr. Couch and his brother own a large brick property fifty by three hundred and fifty feet in Matthews, and utilize that for the feeding and breeding of hogs during the winter seasons. Some of the best red Duroc swine in the country can be found on the Matthews farm, and they are raised both for breeding purposes and for market. Mr. Couch keeps about four hundred head of these red Durocs. Jersey cattle is another specialty of his, and he has perhaps made his greater reputation as a successful breeder of Percheron horses. His Percheron stallion known as Lafayette, is a thoroughbred and was imported from France in 1909. Lafayette weighs twenty-two hundred pounds, and cost Mr. Couch three thousand dollars, won the gold medal at Chicago as the champion Belgian stallion in 1908, and has not only proved valuable in a financial way to its owner, but has been the source of much up-breeding and improvements in the horse stock in this community. Mr. Couch ahs followed stock farming since young manhood, and has proved himself both a practical and scientific breeder and manager of live stock. All his colts have turned out well, and many of them have won prizes in the exhibitions.
Orland H. Couch is a member of a family that has been identified with Grant County since the early days, and a somewhat detailed history of the family and its connections will be found elsewhere in this publication, under the name of Thomas M. Couch, a brother of Orlando. Orland H. Couch was born in Jefferson Township June 10, 1870, a son of Samuel and Nancy (Furnish) Couch. The maternal grandfather was Judge Benjamin Furnish, one of the early settlers of Jefferson Township, who entered large tracts of land, and that land, or a considerable part of it, has been in the possession of some of his descendants down to the present time. Mr. Couch was one of a family of five sons, and two daughters, all of whom are married and have families of their own, except one sister, Nettie, who died after marriage to L. E. Richards.
Orland H. Couch was reared and educated in his native township, and since twenty-five years of age has given all his attention to the practrical business of farming and stock breeding. In Madison County of this State, on August 31, 1893, he married Miss Ida m. Worth, who was born in Van Buren Township of Madison County, March 24, 1873, was reared and educated there, is a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Hoppis) Wroth, who lived and died in Madison County, passing away in the fullness of years. Mr. and Mrs. Couch are the parents of eight children whose names and some facts about whom are mentioned as follows:
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Hallie L., who graduated from the Matthews High School with the class of 1911, but still remains at home.
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Wade S, who is attending high school.
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Marion G.
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Howard O.
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H. Joseph, the above three are all in the grade schools.
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Helen M.
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John R.
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Samuel W., the oldest child died at the age of eleven weeks.
Mr. and Mrs. Couch attend worship in the Baptist Church, and in politics he is a Democrat.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.