Arthur W. Jay
One of the thriving and well-kept farms of Liberty Township is the property of Arthur W. Jay, who has here been operating in the agricultural enterprise for some years. His earlier vocation was that of a teacher, but his inherent love of the soil and his strong natural qualifications for the life of a husbandman induced him to give up his educational work, and he has since been devoting himself to the upbuilding of his farming property, known as "The Pines," and located five miles south of The Square in Marion, in Liberty Township. No more highly esteemed man and citizen maintains a residence in Liberty Township than Mr. Jay, and with his family, he shares in the unqualified friendship of the best people of the community.
Arthur W. Jay was born in Mill Township, Grant County, on February 3, 1856, and he is a son of Denny and Anna (Cogshell) Jay. The father was born on a farm in Miami County, Ohio, while the mother is a native daughter of Indiana, born in Wayne County, and coming with her parents as an infant to Grant County, making the journey in her mothers arms on horseback. The father was a boy of six years when his parents migrated to Grant County, Indiana, from Ohio, and thus the family are entitled to especial consideration as pioneers of the most distinctive order. These children grew to young manhood and womanhood and were married while yet young in years. They were people of the staunchest integrity, their religious faith being that of the Friends, or Quakers, and the tenor of their daily lives being maintained well up to the standard set by these vigorous Puritan people. They had a family of five children, named as follows:
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Riley J. is a resident of Fairmount.
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Eva is the wife of Oliver Davis of Center Township.
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Arthur W., the third born, is the subject of this sketch.
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Gulie is the wife of Bennett Shugart of Franklin Township.
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Harvey J., who lives in Mill Township, Grant County.
Arthur W. Jay was reared in Mill and Liberty Townships and his education was gained in the district schools, and in Amboy Academy and Earlham College. He was fitted for the teaching profession and took up that work in Grant County when he had finished his college training, and had he elected to carry forward, it is highly probable that he would have made a distinctive success therein, for he displayed the possession of no little talent along those lines. The call of the soil, however, was stronger than he cared to resist and he in time turned his mind and energies to the development and maintenance of a farm, in which enterprise he has since continued with a generous measure of success.
Mr. Jay married Flora Clark, a daughter of Simon and Julia (Nottingham) Clark, the marriage occurring on October 9, 1879. Mrs. Jay was reared in Grant County, and here educated, and like her husband, has a wide acquaintance hereabouts. They went housekeeping in Mill Township, and the house is still standing where they initiated their wedded careers. Mr. Jay then was the owner of a small place of about fifty acres, but his holdings have increased very materially since that time.
Two children were born to them: Carl S. J., a student in the Normal College at South Marion, who is married to Nellie Warrenberg, and has one child; and Iona J., who is a graduate of the Marion Normal College and is the wife of Professor Harry L. Foreman, of Bloomington, Indiana. Prof. Foreman is a graduate of the State University, with a degree of A. B., and is one of the successful and rising educators of the State.
The family are members of the Friends' Church, Mr. Jay being an elder for years. Politically, he gives his material and moral support to the Prohibition party, and his citizenship is one of the highest order, calculated to wield an influence of the most genuine and praiseworthy nature.
Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914