John W. Himelick
The Himelick family has been identified with Grant County for about forty years, and John W. has spent nearly all his life here, being remembered for his work as a teacher, during his early manhood, and is now one of the exceedingly prosperous and progressive farmers of Section One in Fairmount Township. His ability as a stock raiser, is recognized beyond the limits of his own community, and many of his fine shorthorns have won ribbons in the live stock shows.
The ancestry is German, and the name was first established in Pennsylvania. In that State John Himelick, great-grandfather of the Fairmount Township stock raiser, located towards the close of the eighteenth century, where he lived the life of a farmer, and died when an old man. His marriage probably occurred in Pennsylvania. there were three sons: Joseph, George and John, Jr., all of whom moved west and found homes in Franklin County, Indiana, where they were married, John, Jr., lived his last years in Jennings County, Indiana, where he died and left a family. George, some years after his marriage moved out to Kansas, and his home for a number of years was in the vicinity of Leavenworth, where he died. Some of his children are still living.
Joseph Himelick, grandfather of John W., was married in Franklin County to Mary Curry, of a pioneer family, either in Franklin County or Union County. After their marriage their home was for some years in Franklin County, where all their children were born. Their son John, father of John W., was married about the time the family moved to Washington Township in Madison County, where Joseph Himelick bought eighty acres of land near the corporation of Summitville, developed a good farm and spent the rest of his days there. His death occurred about 1880, and he was born in 1815. His widow is still living, a venerable old lady of ninety-one, having been born in 1822. Her home is in Summitville. She has been almost a lifelong member of the Christian Church, in which denomination her husband was also a member. In politics he supported the Democratic party.
John Himelick, Sr., was born in Franklin County, Indiana, December 25, 1840, and moved to Madison County about the close of the war. Some years later, in 1875, he came to Grant County, and bought one hundred and five acres in Section Fourteen of Fairmount Township. That farm was later sold, and another bought in Mill Township near Jonesboro, where his last days were spent, and his death occurred July 12, 1906. His widow now makes her home in Summitville in Madison County. Before her marriage she was Mary C. Morris, born in Franklin County, Indiana, September 28, 1844. Her parents were Nicholas and Elizabeth (Ringer) Morris, both natives of Pennsylvania and her mother of pure German stock. Her parents were married in Franklin County, Indiana, alter moving to Madison County, where they died after a long and happy married companionship of nearly sixty years. Both were seventy-five years of age, and their deaths occurred within two weeks of each other. John and Mary Himelick had a family of six sons and three daughters, among whom John W. was fifth in order of birth.
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George, who is a farmer in Jefferson Township of Grant County married Lydia, a daughter of Jacob Wise, and has six sons and four daughters.
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Joseph, a farmer in Madison County, married Ella Webster, and has three sons.
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Elizabeth, who died when twenty-six years old was the wife of Ulysses Horner, and had one son and one daughter.
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Robert is a teacher in the State of Wisconsin, and his children are Frances and Jesse.
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John W. Himelick.
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Olive is the wife of Virgil Duling, a farmer in Fairmount Township and has a daughter, Mary.
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Maude is the wife of William D. Moss, of Marion.
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Orville, who lives at Upland, married Nancy Ruley, and their children are Louise, John, Paul and Elizabeth.
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Earl, who is a glass worker at Jonesboro, married Dora Nelson, and has three children, Lucile, Raymond and Robert.
John W. Himelick was born in Madison County, April 27, 1872. His education began in the public schools, was continued in the Fairmount Academy, with a course in the Danville Normal College, and at De Pauw University. With this liberal equipment he devoted ten years of his young life to teaching and there are hundreds of his pupils who still recall his work and influence in kindly memories. Nearly all his work as a teacher was done in Jefferson and Fairmount Townships. From teaching he turned his attention to farming, and is now the possessor of one hundred and sixty acres of fine land in Section One of Fairmount Township. His specialty is the breeding of thoroughbred shorthorn cattle, and his animals when exhibited have taken a number of blue ribbons. His farm has many improvements, and among those that attract the eye is a splendid stock and grain barn painted red, and a large white house, containing twelve rooms, and comfortably and tastefully furnished. Mr. Himelick married Miss Sarah Lorena Richards, a native of Jefferson Township in this county. Her parents were L. G. and Mary E. Craw Richards, both natives of Indiana, and married in Grant County. Mrs. Richards died in Jefferson Township in 1893 at the age of fifty-six. Mr. Richards married the second time, and now lives on his farm in Jefferson Township, October 20, 1913, being his eightieth birthday. The Richards family are members of the Primitive Baptist Church, and in politics Mr. Richards is a Democrat. Mrs. Himelick has two brothers, William and Leman, both of whom are married and have children, and one sister is Lucina, wife of R. C. Nottingham, with children, and another sister Molly died after her marriage to frank H. Kirkwood. Mr. and Mrs. Himelick, who have no children of their own, are members of the Methodist Protestant Church, and his politics is described as Independent Democratic.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.