Category Archives: Wayne County

Solomon F Custer

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Solomon F. Custer
b. 1816, Montgomery County, Ohio
d. 27 March 1885, Dublin, Wayne County, Indiana

m. 16 November 1836, Wayne County, Indiana
Frances “Fanny” Alger
b. 30 September 1817, Behobeth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, to Samuel and Clarissa (Hancock) Alger
d. 29 November 1889, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana

Children with Frances Alger:

  • Mary Clarissa (b. 1840)
  • Lewis A. (b. 1844)
  • Suphronia Alice (1848–1875) married [–?–] Vickers
  • Benjamin Franklin (1849–1929) married Anna Rebecca Overholtz
  • Lafayette Paul (1854–1930) married Hannah Elizabeth Stephens
  • Clarissa (1847–1857)
  • Sarah Suphronia (1860–1939) married John Luther Bond

According to family tradition, Brigham Young came back East from Utah with Fanny’s brother John to ask her to marry him. She refused, saying, “You are a fine young man, but I want to be an only wife.”

Submitted by:
JoAnn L. Kester
Tipp City OH

Lafayette Paul Custer

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Lafayette Paul Custer
b. 29 August 1854, Dublin, Wayne County, Indiana, to Solomon and Frances (Alger) Custer
d. 19 May 1930, Belvedere, Los Angeles County, California

m. 31 July 1875, Dublin, Wayne County, Indiana
Hannah Elizabeth Stephens
b. 1849, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana
d. 1944, Los Angeles, Orange County, California

Children with Hannah Elizabeth Stephens:

  • Charles (May 1885–1887)
  • Arthur (8 May 1887–29 November 1959)

Lafayette P. Custer is mentioned in the book Indiana in Transition as an Indianapolis labor leader. After moving from Indiana to California in 1921, he identified himself as a retired telegrapher.

Submitted by:
JoAnn L. Kester
Tipp City OH

Sterne Brunson

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Sterne Brunson
b. 1806, Genesee County, New York, to Reuben and Nancy (Cathcart) Brunson
d. April 1878, Benton Harbor, Michigan

m. 27 April 1826, Wayne County, Indiana
Sarah Shank
b. about 1808, Pennsylvania
d. August 1886, Benton Harbor, Michigan

Children with Sarah Shank:

  • Lewis
  • Nancy A. (b. 28 October 1830, Wayne County, Indiana) married (1) Alvin Burridge, (2) S.G. Antisdale
  • John (b. ca. 1832 in Elkhart County, Indiana)
  • Rufus (b. 24 June 1835)
  • Allen (b. 21 October 1837)
  • Horace (b. ca. 1838)

Sterne Brunson moved about 1812 with his parents and his grandparents from Genesee County, New York, to Cincinnati, Ohio. David Cathcart, his mother’s brother, was postmaster there.

After only three years in Ohio, the extended family moved to Wayne County, Indiana, where they remained until 1830, when they moved to Elkhart County, Indiana.

Sterne’s maternal grandfather, Revolutionary War veteran Robert Cathcart, died several years after the move to Elkhart County and was buried at Bristol, Indiana.

Sterne Brunson remained on his farm near Elkhart until 1859, when he purchased two hundred acres in Michigan, the present site of Benton Harbor. There he conceived the idea of building a canal of nearly one mile in length to connect the St. Joseph River with Lake Michigan. The canal was first named Brunson Canal, and the village established on the east bank of the river was named Brunson Harbor but later changed to Benton Harbor. To many, Sterne Brunson was known as the “father” of Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Submitted by:
Elaine Smith
Elkhart IN 

John Luther Bond

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John Luther Bond
b. 14 December 1853, Knightstown, Henry County, Indiana
d. 22 December 1931, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California

m. 14 September 1875, Dublin, Wayne County, Indiana
Sarah Suphronia “Phronia” Alger
b. 10 February 1860, Trenton, Grundy County, Missouri, to Thomas and Sarah Ann (Edwards) Alger
d. 14 June 1939, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California

Children with Sarah Suphronia Alger:

  • Clyde L. (1877-1955)
  • Wilson Claude (b. 1879)

John and his family emigrated from Indiana in 1904 to Los Angeles, California.

Phronia’s father died in the Civil War when she was two years old. Three months later her mother gave birth to another child. For reasons unknown, Phronia was given to her aunt and uncle to raise, and her mother took her other children, including the new baby, and went on to Salt Lake City where she joined her husband’s parents, Samuel and Clarissa (Hancock) Alger. LDS records in Salt Lake City show that Sarah Ann, Joseph J., Clarisse E., John W., and Polly A. Alger arrived in Salt Lake City with Captain Peter Nebeker’s ox train on 29 September 1866.

Phronia was brought to Dublin, Wayne County, Indiana, and raised with the other children of Solomon and Frances (Alger) Custer.

When Phronia and her husband and their sons moved to California in 1904, they visited with her biological mother in Arizona. The mother and daughter hadn’t seen each other in over forty years. Phronia’s mother died soon after this meeting.

The Algers were Mormons, with the exception of Fanny (Alger) Custer, who raised Phronia. Samuel Alger, Phronia’s paternal grandfather, traveled from Bristol, Ontario County, New York, to Willoughby, Astubula County, Ohio, to Mayfield, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to Kirtland, Ohio, to Nauvoo, Illinois, to Independence, Missouri, to Missouri River, to Iowa, and on to Salt Lake City, Utah. The family is said to have traveled west to Nauvoo, Illinois, with Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet who was killed at Carthage, Illinois, while living at Nauvoo.

Submitted by:
JoAnn L. Kester
Tipp City OH

Cassius Clay “Cash” Beall

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Cassius Clay “Cash” Beall
b. 17 December 1861, Camden, Somers Township, Preble County, Ohio, to Benjamin C. and Lucinda (Brower) Beall
d. 18 August 1941, Binghamton, Broome County, New York

m. 28 October 1891, Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana
Flora Margaretha Hoerner
b. 15 March 1867, Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana
d. 1 June 1914, Binghamton, Broome County, New York

Children with Flora Margaretha Hoerner:

  • Ruth Myra (b. 1892)
  • David Benjamin (b. 1894)
  • George Omar (b. 1896)
  • Irene Anna (b. 1898)
  • Paul Theodore (b. 1903)
  • Kathryn Louise (b. 1909)

Cash immigrated to Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana, in 1885 from Eaton, Washington
Township, Preble County, Ohio. In July 1885, Cash Beall began work at Peter Lichtenfels & Co. Clothing Store at $8.00 per week. In 1892, he and Albert Gregg bought Sam Fox Clothing Store, but in 1899 Cash bought Gregg’s interest. In 1908, Cash sold the Cash Beall Clothing Store and purchased a half interest in Beall Bros. Clothing Store in New Castle, Indiana, in 1911. Having sold his interest in the store to Benton Beall in 1912, Cash moved to Binghamton, New York, in 1914, bought a dairy farm, started a retail milk business, and founded the Dairyman’s League of Binghamton.
Submitted by:
Paul M. Beall
Stuart FL
E-mail: prvista2601@aol.com