Garn Jett
One of the younger generation of farming men of Mill Township is Garn Jett, who has, since locating in Grant County, devoted his entire time to general farming. Thus far he has enjoyed a reasonable measure of success, and he is ranked among the more solid and stable agricultural men of his township. Mr. Jett, however, is no mere tyro at the business of agriculture for he comes of an old Virginia family that for generations back have devoted themselves to the soil. His widowed mother even now maintains her residence on the fine family plantation of some four hundred acres, and members of the Jett family have in many instances proven themselves masters of the business.
The Jett family is one that has for many years been established in Scott County, Virginia, and the first of the name who shall enter into this recital was John Jett, the paternal grandfather of Garn Jett of this review. All of John Jett's life was spent in Scott County and was devoted to farming. He came of one of the finest of Virginia families, and his life was one of singular completeness in his community. A slave holder and a man of considerable wealth, he busied himself chiefly with the care of his magnificent plantation of 2,000 acres, and in the ante-bellum days he was indeed a power to be reckoned with in the agricultural activities of Scott County. He was born in 1802, and died in 1877, after have suffered heavy losses a as result of the Civil War, from which he never really recovered.
John Jett married Irena Wolff, who was also born and reared in Scott County, and she survived her honored husband by some years, death claiming her on February 15, 1895, when she was just turned eighty years of age. She and her husband were both members of the Methodist Church, South, and he was an ardent Democrat.
Three sons were born to John and Irena Jett -William, Stephen and John, Jr. The two last named served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and Stephen lost an arm while a Confederate soldier. He is now a resident of Boone County, Indiana, and has two sons. John Jett, Jr., died in Scott County, leaving a widow and one daughter.
William Jett was born in Scott County on the old home plantation in 1852, and he died on January 14, 1910, when he was but fifty-eight years of age. He spent his entire life on the old home place, and in his native community was married, in early manhood, to Miss Susan Smith, a sister of Pascal Smith, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this review. She, too, was a Scott County native, and all her life was passed within its confines. She was born in 1853, and is still living on the old homestead of 400 acres. Since the passing of the father, William H. Jett, in 1910, Mrs. Jett, with two younger sons, has had the care of the plantation and they have done justice to the task in hand.
Seven children were born to William and Susan Jett, and of that number Garn Jett of this review is the eldest born. He was reared and educated in the home community, and when he was married in 1898 he was then just twenty-three years of age, his birth having having occurred on March 5, 1875. He married Miss Catherine Smith, who was born on October 30, 1887, a daughter of John S. and Eliza (Pope) Smith, both now residents of Scott County, Virginia, where they have long made their home. They have devoted themselves to farming activities all their days, and are among the prominent people of their community.
Soon after his marriage, Mr. Jett came to Grant County, and in 1909 he purchased in Mill Township a small place of seventy-eight acres, all of which is under cultivation, and which is in a high state of productiveness. Small grains and a quantity of clover comprise his crops, and the farm is well stocked and in every way reflects the enterprise and ambition of its proprietor.
Two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jett, -Margaret born February 14, 1896, a freshman student in Fairmount Academy, and Irene, born on May 25, 1898, and a student in the local public schools.
Considering that Mr. Jett has only spent fifteen years in the county, he has gained a place of no little prominence therein, and is reckoned among the progressive and influential men of the town and county. He is a Democrat, and possesses qualities that make for a high degree of efficiency in citizenship, so that his influence in and about the community is one of the finest order. He and his family have a host of good friends in their new home, and are well content with the results of their migration to the north.
Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.