Clinton Cretsinger
Residing on a property which has been in the possession of the family for three generations, Clinton Cretsinger has spent his entire career within the limits of Washington Township, where he is known as an able and energetic agriculturist. Mr. Cretsinger was born January 12, 1879, on the old family homestead, one mile west of his present place, in Washington Township, Grant county, Indiana, and is a son of Holmes and Sarah (Martin) Cretsinger.
The paternal grandparents of Clinton Cretsinger were John and Mary Magdalena Cretsinger, of German descent, but natives of Virginia. Among their children was David Cretsinger, who was born in Virginia and as a lad was taken to Licking County, Ohio. There he worked for some years and succeeded in accumulating a tidy sum of money, only to see it swept away in the crash that accompanied the failure of A. J. Smith's bank. In 1849 he joined the rush to California, in search of gold, and after four years returned to Ohio with enough money to purchase and eighty-acre farm. In 1857 he brought his family to Grant County, Indiana, and first settled on a farm on Hummel Creek, but soon sold this and bought the Henry Prickett place of eighty acres. On this he resided until his death, February 10, 1910, at eighty-eight years of age, the last years of his life having been spent with his son, Holmes, to whom he has sold forty acres of his land. He was successful in accumulating 1,500 acres of land, in addition to a large amount of money, and was one of his community's well known men. He married Nancy Wheeler, a native of Licking County, Ohio, born in 1828, and she died in August, 1896, having been the mother of three children, namely: Holmes, the father of Clinton; Mrs. Mary Ellen Goff, who resides in Grant County; and David, Jr., who resides at Marion, where he is proprietor of a horse sales ban and the owner of a large amount of property.
Holmes Cretsinger was born July 5, 1853 in Licking County, Ohio, and attended district school No. 4 in Washington Township, Grant county, Indiana, whence he had been brought as a lad of six years. He continued his studies for three months of each winter until reaching the age of twenty years, and when twenty-one years of age commenced assisting his father, his salary being $200 a year for five years. AT the time of his marriage he rented a tract of 240 acres, and following this was engaged in agricultural operations on rented land for a long period, but eventually, by inheritance and purchase, secured land of his own. He is still engaged in active pursuits, and although more than sixty years of age is able to take care of his own farm and do his own plowing and harvesting, and has upwards of 400 acres. He has been successful in both farming and stock raising operations, and has improved his property with handsome structures of modern design and substantial character, in which are to be found all of the most modern conveniences. Mr. Cretsinger was married May 28, 1878, to Sarah Jane Martin, daughter of Philip Martin, of Wabash County, Indiana. and seven children have been born to them. Clinton; Frank, who died at the age of nine years; Ross. living in Section 3, Washington Township, a farmer; Florabel, who married Mr. Pritchett and lives in Wabash County, Indiana; Floyd, who raised on the old homestead farm; Cleo, who is now Mrs. Steuber, of Grant county; and Minnie, who died at the age of three years. Mr. Cretsinger is a Republican, and his wife and children are members of the Christian Faith.
Clinton Cretsinger secured his education in district school No. 4, and remained under the parental roof until becoming of age, at which time he rented his present farm, a tract of 200 acres in Section 17, Washington Township. Having been reared to habits of industry and thrift, he carefully saved his earning,. and in 1905 was able to purchase this land, of which he has since been the owner. These habits of perseverance and economy have assisted Mr. Cretsinger greatly in his ventures. He has all but forty acres of his land under cultivation, and has improved his property with substantial buildings, including a modern eight-room residence, erected in 1907. In 1912 he raised 1,600 bushels of corn and 1,000 bushels of oats, and cut forty tons of hay, in addition to selling sixty hogs. He now has seventy-four hogs, among them ten brood sows; has thirteen horses and colts, principally Belgians; thirteen cattle, and a drove of seventeen sheep, each producing about seven pounds of wool annually. A man of progressive ideas and methods, he has adopted modern machinery in his work and the running water in his house and barns is pumped by a gasoline engine, which also grinds fee, operates the washing machine, and does much other work on the farm. Mr. Cretsinger has always been known as a man of strict integrity and high business principles, and is esteemed by the large circle of acquaintances which he as gathered about him during his long residence here.
In 1900 Mr. Cretsinger was married to Miss Dora Renbarger, who died in 1903. In 1905 he married Miss Cora Pritchett, daughter of Roy Pritchett, deceased, and step-daughter of Samuel Calloway, of Grant County. In his political views Mr. Cretsinger is a Republican, but has been too busily engaged in his agricultural operations to take other than a good citizen's interest in public matters. He enjoys the privileges of membership in Marion Lodge No. 96, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Neptune Lodge No. 1 of the Masonic Order. With his family, he attends the First Christian Church.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.