Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties,Indiana.Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1887. p. 864-865.
NATHAN LANCASTER, farmer, Chester Township, was born in Grant County,Indiana, October 25, 1830, son of John and Ruth (Shields)Lancaster. His father was born near Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, and of English-Scotch ancestry, the Lancaster family being direct descendants of the Lancasters of England. The mother was born in Virginia, of Irish ancestry. Nathan was only a year old when his parents removed to ChesterTownship, and here they have resided ever since. At that time not a blow had ever been struck on the place, and the father made his own clearing and built his own log cabin. Deer were plenty, and Nathan well remembers when six or seven deer came into the fields in a drove. He was married in this county, December 18, 1862, to Miss Mary Starr, born in ChesterTownship, and a daughter of Benjamin and Matilda (Popijoy) [sic] Starr, natives of Ohio, the father of Hocking County and the mother of Fayette County. Her grandfather settled on Six-mile Creek, Wells County, in an early day. Mr.and Mrs. Lancaster have had seven children, of whom two, Matilda Ellen and an infant unnamed, are deceased. Those living are–Louis Grant, Harvey B., Louisa Jane, John Edward and Orley Lionel. Mr.Lancaster�s brother John was a soldier in the late civil war, being a member of the Seventy fifth Indiana Infantry, and died from disease contracted while in the service. He was in the last stage of his disease when brought home.Politically Mr. Lancaster affiliates with the Republican party, and religiously he is a member of the Christian church. He owns 240 acres of land, 100 acres being cleared.
Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. HARVEY B. LANCASTER (p. 456-457) Harvey B. Lancaster, born February 17, 1864, one-half mile south of Keystone, Wells county, Indiana, is a son of Nathan Lancaster, a native of Indiana, born in November, 1836, and Mary Starr, born on the old Starr farm in Chester township, Wells county, Indiana, both of whom are yet living in Chester township. Nathan is a son of John and Ruth Lancaster, both natives of Ohio who settled in Grant county, Indiana, in an early day and later came to Wells county, Indiana, where John died in June, 1899. Ruth is yet living with a daughter, Mrs. Mollie Cox, in Hartford City, Indiana. Nathan Lancaster is the father of seven children, four of whom are still living: L. G.; H. B., the subject of this sketch; Jennie, who is now the wife of G. A. Mason; J. E. Lancaster, deceased; M. E., deceased; and O. L. Lancaster, now at home with his father. The subject of this sketch attended the schools of Keystone in Chester township until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered the normal school of Bluffton, Indiana, in which he remained for three years. He then taught two terms of school in Chester township, at schools Nos. 3 and 4. The subject remained with his father, working for his board, clothes, etc., until he was twenty-one years of age, when he began farming for himself. He spent one season on his grandfather Lancaster's farm and the next year, March 13, 1886, he married Miss Sarah Jarrett, born in November, 1866, a daughter of John and Mary (Sells) Jarrett. The parents of Sarah were both old settlers of Chester township, Wells county, and are now deceased. After his marriage the subject settled on the farm where he now lives, which was then all in the woods. At the time of his purchase there were no improvements whatever on his land, but he now has seventy acres of it cleared, in a high state of cultivation, and improved with good buildings. Mr. Lancaster has been a breeder of common-grade stock and, being located in the oil fields, has devoted some time to his interests in that line. There are two wells on his farm which are producing five inches (tank measure) per day. Mrs. Lancaster is a member of the Friends' church in Keystone, and an amiable, intelligent Christian lady, devoted to her husband, home and children. The subject is a Republican in politics and an active worker in the ranks of his party and especially interested in all matters politically pertaining to his own county and township. The foregoing record of the subject establishes the fact that the old pioneers and first settlers cannot appropriate all the credit for subduing the wilderness and clearing up the country, and proves that a worthy descendant of that class to whom the present population owes so much even of the third generation, after availing himself of the opportunities by obtaining an education, had the ambition, energy and force of character to carve out for himself a farm and home from the virgin forest. His achievement and success in that line, as well as his efforts to improve the live stock interests of his locality, with his intelligent interest in public affairs, should prove an inspiration to the young men of his vicinage to emulate his example in his aspiration to a higher citizenship. Such men as Harvey B. Lancaster are an honor to the state and wield an untold influence in moulding that higher commonwealth toward which we are tending.
Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties,Indiana.Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1887. p. 834-835.
B. F. STARR, a progressive and enterprising farmer of ChesterTownship,was born in Chester Township, Wells County, Indiana, August 12,1846, ason of Benjamin and Matilda (Popejoy) Starr. His father was anative ofVirginia, and when three years of age was brought by his parentstoHocking County, Ohio. There he was reared to manhood and was marriedinthat county to his first wife. They came to Wells County among theearlysettlers, settling here in 1840 on a tract of eighty acres whichMr.Starr had entered in the spring of 1839. The land wasentirelyunimproved, not a tree having been cut on the place. The familycame fromOhio to their new home in Wells County in an ox wagon. They madea brushshanty on their land, in which they lived until the father clearedasmall space and erected a log cabin, into which they moved as soon asitwas completed. Here Mr. Starr lost his wife the following spring, andwassubsequently married to Matilda Popejoy, the mother of our subject,andboth parents are still living in this county, enjoying the restwhichthey have so well earned by years of toil and industry. B. F. Starr,oursubject, was reared and educated in Wells County, where he hasalwaysmade his home. When twenty-six years of age his father gave himeightyacres of land of which twenty acres had been cleared. Byperseveringindustry and good management he has prospered in hisagriculturalpursuits, and has added to his original eighty acres untilhis home farmin Chester Township now consists of 160 acres, of which 125acres havebeen cleared, and beside this he owns sixty acres about a milesouth ofhis home place, twelve acres of this tract being cleared. He haserectedall the buildings on his land and made many substantialimprovementsabout the place. January 14, 1872, Mr. Starr was united inmarriage toMiss Sabina Nutler, [sic] a native of Hocking County, Ohio,whose fatherwas an early settler of Wells County, Indiana. Five childrenhave beenborn to Mr. and Mrs. Starr; four still living: Mary Blanche, OraOtis,Oliver and Olive (twins). Levi is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Starraremembers of the Methodist Protestant church. He is a trustee ofBlancheChapel, and is Secretary of the Quarterly Conference, SalamonieCircuit,Indiana Conference. In politics he affiliates with theProhibition party.