Henry J. Kline

    Henry J. Kline, tile manufacturer, Jackson Township, was born on the farm where he now lives on Section 32, the only child of Isaac and Mary (Vance) Kline. His father was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1820, and when a boy his parents moved to Fayette County, Indiana, and in 1845 he came to Blackford County, where he was married. He died in October, 1848. The mother was born near Morgantown, Virginia, August 22, 1828, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Lackey) Vance, and came to Indiana with her parents in her girlhood, and thence to Blackford County in the spring of 1845. After the death of Mr. Kline she married Levi Ream. She is now postmistress at Millgrove.

    When Henry J. Kline was six years old he was taken to Burlington, Iowa, remaining in that State until thirteen years old, when he returned to Indiana and lived in Delaware County until he was twenty-one years old, and while living there he enlisted in Company G, Ninth Indiana Cavalry. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, and nearly all the mounted men of the regiment were taken prisoner at Sulphur Branch Trestle, Alabama, by General Forrest, who was pursuing General Thomas in his retreat to Nashville. He was a prisoner six months at Cahaba and Selma, Alabama, and was then paroled at Vicksburg, and started north on the steamer Sultana, on which were 2,100 paroled prisoners. When well on its way up the Mississippi River the steamer burst her boiler, and 1,500 men lost their lives, Mr. Kline being one of the few survivors of this terrible disaster. He was discharged June 17, 1865, and returned to Delaware County, where he remained a year, when he went to Montana and engaged in placer mining two years.

    In August, 1868, he returned home, and for several years was engaged in farming during the summer and teaching during the winter. In 1882 he began the manufacture of tile in Jackson Township, Blackford County, and in April, 1887, his sheds were destroyed by fire. His neighbors immediately rallied to his assistance, some furnishing logs, others hauling them to the saw-mill, or helping to erect the building, and when it was ready to be shingled there were forty-one men on the roof at one time, nailing on shingles, and in a short time he was ready to resume his business.

    Mr. Kline is a popular citizen of his township, and although a strong Republican, and his township being Democratic, he was elected assessor by a large majority.

    He was married June 1, 1872, to Melinda Ward, a native of Jackson Township, Blackford County, born January 13, 1853, a daughter of William and  Tabitha (Holton) Ward, both of whom are deceased, her father dying in 1865, aged fifty-eight years, and her mother in 1880, aged sixty-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Kline have four children -Edith, Merton, Daisy and Horton.

Source: Biographical and Historical Record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1887.