Alexander M. Deeren
This name bespeaks a large family relationship with pioneer settlers in eastern Indiana, chiefly in Delaware, Madison and Grant Counties. The Deeren, Van Meter and Suman families have their share in pioneer things, agriculture has been their chief vocation, and an examination of the records show them to have been staunch defenders of their country, upholders of morality and religion, and people of intrinsic neighborliness and usefulness.
The late Alexander M. Deeren, who died July 3, 1896, was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, April 14, 1839. He grew up in his native locality, and when a young man enlisted in an Ohio regiment for three months service in the Civil war. At the end of his service he was honorably discharged, and then returned to Ohio. Some time later he moved to Grant county, and followed the occupation of school teaching, clerking in a store and farming.
He was first married in Jefferson Township of Grant County to Melissa Brown, who was born and reared in that township, coming of a family of early settlers. She died about five years after her marriage, at the age of twenty-five, leaving three children, Minnie, Annie and Martha E. Minnie and Annie are twins. Both married and now live in Jefferson Township. Minnie married Charles Curtis, a farmer, and they have one son and a daughter. Martha E. was one year old when her mother died, and she was reared by her stepmother, Mrs. Deeren, and has never married.
In Fairmount, on March 26, 1876, Mr. Deeren married Mrs. Naomi L. Suman, nee Van Meter. Mrs. Deeren was born in Delaware County, Indiana, July 11, 1838, was reared there and for her first husband was married on November 1, 1859, to Absalom Suman. Absalom Suman's father was born in Maryland, was a young man when he came west to Indiana, and lived in both Madison and Delaware Counties. Absalom Suman was born in Madison County, Indiana. The Suman family were among the early settlers in that section. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Suman lived in Madison and Delaware Counties on a farm until March 43, 1864, when they came to Grant County and bought one hundred acres of land in Section Thirty-six of Fairmount Township. Their land adjoined the present village of Fowlerton. It was on that farm that Mr. Suman spent the remainder of his days. A hard worker, he made many improvements, and prospered steadily. His death occurred January 24, 1874, and he was born December 10, 1838. His church was the Methodist Protestant. Absalom Suman was a son of John and Elizabeth (Van Meter) Suman, natives of Maryland and Ohio respectively. John Suman was an early settler in Madison County, Indiana, where he entered land from the government, getting two hundred and seventy-five acres on White River, for his homestead, and two hundred and sixteen acres farther up the river in Delaware County, north of the village of Daleville. On the Delaware County land, he erected a large flour and saw mill, and that enterprise was just well started at the time of his death. He was then past sixty years of age. His widow married for a second time Dazzell Neely, and they lived together until his death. She later went out to California, where her death occurred when past ninety years of age. They had no children by the Neely marriage.
Mrs. Alexander M. Deeren is the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Bell) Van meter. The annals of Delaware County show the name of Van Meter first in the list of pioneer settlers, and there are many representatives of the name still to be found in this section of the state. William Van Meter was born in Ohio, December 28, 1798, while his wife was born in Harrison County, Kentucky, March 8, 1799, and when a girl moved to Fayette County, Indiana, where she was married June 1, 1820. In 1825 William Van Meter and wife moved to Mt. Pleasant Township in Delaware County, and there secured about four hundred acres of land from the government. Their third child, Mary, was born March 8, 1825, and had the distinction of being the first white child born in Mt. Pleasant Township. William Van Meter was a rugged and industrious pioneer, and during his lifetime acquired substantial property and was a man of striking influence and usefulness to his community. He died October 10, 1861, while his wife passed away March 16, 1864. The home farm was undivided until 1874, when Mrs. Deeren sold eighty-three acres inherited by her, and came to Grant County. The Van Meter family were early and active members and organizers of the Presbyterian Church in Delaware County, and William Van Meter was an elder in the society for twenty-five years, up to the time of his death. In early life he was a Whig in politics. The ancestry was Holland Dutch. The records of Delaware County show him to have been a man of highest standing, and frequently honored with places of trust and responsibility. He was always a leader in local matters, was one of the early county clerks, during the decade of the thirties, represented his county in the State Legislature, and left a name long to be honored by his descendants.
William Van Meter and wife had nine children, two, John and William Josephus, dying in infancy. Joseph M. died unmarried at the age of thirty-two. Mary died after her marriage to Abraham Pugsley, leaving no children. Dr. Milton was a physician at Gaston, and died in 1868 leaving a widow and a daughter Helen, who is now married. Isaac N. died November 22, 1852, leaving a widow and a child that died in infancy. Henry H., a farmer, died October 12, 1861, the day following his father's death, and left one daughter, who is still living. Naomi L. is Mrs. Deeren. Oliver H. died and left three sons; for some year she was a government surveyor and land looker in Michigan.
Mr. and Mrs. Deeren became the parents of one son, Hugh Deeren. He was born June 26, 1877, was educated in the public school, and is now active manager of his mother's farm, a young and progressive citizen. He married Miss Nora White of Fairmount Township, and they are the parents of three children: Naomi Letha, born September 26, 1900, and now in the sixth grade of school No. 7 at Fowlerton; Wilson Alexander, born October 10, 1901, also in the sixth grade of the Fowlerton School; Artie Mary, born May 14, 1904, in the second grade of school. Mrs. Deeren b her marriage to Mr. Suman had three children. Of these William Van died in infancy; John N., born September 11, 1862, is a gas and oil well man in Texas, has a son, James M.; Harry P. Suman, born March 17, 1865, is an extensive rancher in North Dakota, his place being forty miles from Fargo, and has two children, Artie S., the wife of Robert A. Morris, whose home is in Grant County, and whose sketch will be found on other pages, and Ida, who lives at home. Mrs. Deeren and family are members of the Primitive Baptist Church of Fowlerton, and her late husband was an active worker in the same denomination.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.