Biography of Benjamin Close, pages 582/583.  History of DeKalb County, 
Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc. Indianapolis, 1914.



Benjamin Close



	Standing for upright manhood and progressive citizenship the 
subject of this sketch has long occupied a conspicuous place among the 
representatives of the great agricultural interests of Indiana and his 
influence in every relation of life has made for the material 
advancement of the community in which he resides and the moral welfare 
of those with whom he has been brought in contact.

	Benjamin Close, one of the enterprising farmers and public 

spirited citizens of Grant township, DeKalb county, Indiana, was born 
on August 24, 1858, in Ashland county, Ohio. He is descended from a 
long line of sterling ancestors, the first member of the family to 
locate in America being Benjamin Close, who with two brothers came from 
England to this country in early colonial days.  The subject’s paternal 
great-grandfather, Benjamin Close, Sr., was a soldier in the American 
Revolution and lived about forty miles from Buffalo, New York. Among 
his children was Benjamin Close, Jr., who married Elizabeth Gale, and 
among their children was Samuel, the subject’s father, a native of 
Ashland county, Ohio, who married Mary Foote. Mary Foote was born in 
Lorain county, Ohio, and was the daughter of Charles and Mary (Hunter) 
Foote.  The subject’s parents grew to manhood and womanhood in their 
native state and were married there, subsequently living on a farm, 
which pursuit the father followed during his active years.

	The subject of this sketch was reared on the home farm in Ohio 
until thirteen or fourteen years of age, when the family moved to near 
Garden City in Blue Earth county, Minnesota, where the father bought a 
farm and lived there about twenty-five years, and there the mother 
died.  After her death the father lived among his children and is now a 
resident of the state of Oregon.

	The subject of this sketch was reared to manhood in Minnesota and 
attended the public schools there, being graduated from the high school 
at Garden City.  After his marriage, which occurred on 1884, he 
continued farming in Minnesota for thirteen years, having acquired a 
splendid tract of one hundred and sixty acres.  On October 1, 1897, he 
sold that farm and came to DeKalb county, Indiana, buying one hundred 
and eleven acres three miles north and a half mile west of Auburn, to 
which he has since devoted his attention with splendid results.  
Besides this farm he and his son own thirty-seven and one-half acres of 
land together.  The subject’s home place is well improved with a 
substantial and attractive residence, large and well built barns, and 
other outbuildings, and the attractive and well kept, grounds and other 
features of the farm reflect great credit on the owner.  Mr. Close is 
modern and up-to-date in his ideas and keeps in touch with the most 
advanced thought relating to agricultural methods and practice.  In 
addition to the raising of all the crops common to this locality he is 
also engaged in the raising of fruit and the breeding and raising of 
live stock, in which he has met with splendid success.

	In 1884 Mr. Close married Emma Shumaker, of near Napoleon, Ohio, 
the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Weiler) Shumaker, both of whom are 
descended from staunch old Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. These parents 
remained on the farm, being engaged in agricultural pursuits until 
about ten years ago when they retired from active life and moved to 
Napoleon, where the mother died July 19, 1913. To Mr. and Mrs. Close 
have been born six children, of whom one is deceased, as follows: 
Percy, born August 5, 1885, died at the age of twenty-five years, May 
2, 1911, He married Grace Goetchkins, of Union township, this county, 
and left one daughter, Audrey; Arden, who lives on a farm in Grant 
township, this county, married Lottie Grogg, and they have a daughter 
Irene; Elam is at home with her parents, as are Joseph, Elbert and 
Maurice.  The subject himself is one of ten children born to his 
parents, of whom one sister, Mrs. Jessie Osgood, lives in Calgary, 
Canada, and Perry is editor of the Dixon (Montana) Herald, the other 
children being all deceased.  

	As already indicated, Mr. Close has devoted much close study to 
the science of agriculture and is without a peer among the farmers in 
his section of the county, being progressive in his methods and making 
use of the latest and most approved implements and appliances by means 
of which the labors of the farm are not only greatly lessened but made 
much more effective and economical.  He keeps in touch with the trend 
of current events, takes and active interest in public and political 
affairs and is numbered among the most progressive and enterprising 
citizens of his section of the county.



Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com