Biography of Samuel L Widney, pages 984/985/986. History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914. The name borne by the honored subject of this review is one which has been long an intimately identified with the history of DeKalb county, its identification with the annals of this favored section of the Hoosier state dating back to the early epoch in which was initiated the development of the industrial and civic interests of DeKalb county. He has here passed his long and useful life, and as its shadows begin to lengthen from the west he finds himself favored in being surrounded with hosts of friends and enabled to enjoy the rich fruits of his former years of earnest toil and endeavor. Samuel L. Widney was born in Newville township, DeKalb county, Indiana, on June 26, 1839, and is the son of John P. Widney, who is referred to elsewhere in this work. When he was but three years old the family moved to near St. Joe, where his father had traded the Newville farm for one hundred and thirty-four acres of raw land. The new place was densely covered with timber except a small tract which had been slashed, that is the timber cut and piled in winrows to be dried and burned. The only attempt toward the construction of a dwelling had been the erection of the frame of a plank house, in which not a nail had yet been driven. The frame work was of poplar wood and the plank were afterwards fastened on with wooden pegs. That was in 1842 and in this house the family lived until 1858, when they built a commodious and comfortable new residence. Even at that period all lumber came rough and all dressing was required to be done by hand. The house that was built in 1842 was an up-to-date building for that period, having the first brick chimney built in that part of the country, at the foot of which was an old-fashioned fireplace, with the customary accessories of that day, including a crane, reflector and other pioneer baking and cooking facilities. When the family bought a cook stove in 1847 it was a great curiosity in the new settlement and many came to see it. In other ways the Widneys followed the pioneer customs of the period, doing their own spinning and weaving and enduring the hardships and privations of frontier life. Samuel Widney attended the subscription schools in early childhood and in 1851, when the family moved to Auburn because his father had become county clerk, the subject completed his schooling in that city. In 1860, at the age of twenty years, Mr. Widney married Mary A. Moore, a daughter of James and Ellen (Hemphill) Moore, her birth having occurred in Richland county, Ohio, in 1837. In 1842 she accompanied her parents to DeKalb county, they locating southeast of Auburn in Jackson township. Soon after his marriage Mr. Widney returned to the farm near St. Joe and there engaged in operating that land. He was an industrious and intelligent farmer, giving close attention to all the details of his work and being progressive in his ideas he was somewhat in advance of his neighbors in many respects, especially in relation to the proper rotation of crops in order to conserve the fertility of the soil. During all his active years he devoted his main attention to general farming, although to some extent he engaged in the raising of Shorthorn cattle, in which he was successful. Eventually he became the owner of three hundred and thirty-three acres of splendid land, one hundred and twenty acres of which he had cleared from the virgin forest by his own efforts. Sixty acres of the original farm north of St. Joe had been given him by his father at his marriage, but he soon bought forty acres more, for which he went in debt. When the tract was paid for he continued to buy more land as opportunity offered and at length was enabled to realize the returns of his investment in both labor and money. After many years of arduous toil Mr. Widney retired from farm work and resided in St. Joe until 1912, but in that year he sold his home in the latter place and returned to the farm, where he now resides with his son. To Samuel L. and Mary Widney were born five children, namely: Marion died at the age of four months; Byron E. lives on a part of his father's farm near St. Joe; he married Rosetta Sechler, and they have a daughter, Edith, who is the wife of Ross Abel; Viola is the wife of D. L. Carpenter and lives on the farm north of St. Joe that was her father's from 1860; she is the mother of three sons, Deral, Carl and Paul; Otto L. married Bernice Vandergraft, of Adrian, Michigan, and is now living at Hicksville Ohio, where he is engaged in the general merchandise business; he has no children of his own, but has adopted two little girls, Dorothy and Ruth; Iva, who died in 1905, was the wife of Clarence Hart and lived at St. Joe. Religiously, Mr. Widney is a member of the Methodist Protestant church at St. Joe, of which he is trustee and in which he has taken an active interest for many years, being a generous supporter of its various interest. Mrs. Widney died on October 20, 1905, their daughter, Iva, having precede her in death on the 7th of that same month, and Mr. Widney's father also died on the 11th of that month, there being thus three deaths among his immediate blood relatives within two weeks, a daughter, wife and father. It is scarcely necessary to revert in detail to the experiences of Mr. Widney in his boyhood days, for the tale of the scenes and conditions of the pioneer period has been often told. Modern facilities were notable for their absence and the pioneers were self dependent to an extent that seems almost impossible of realization to the younger generation of the present time. Mr. Widney stands today as one of the venerable and sturdy pioneers of the county, and it is gratifying that his life history can be perpetuated by outlining his useful and honorable career as a man and as a public-spirited citizen. Submitted by: Arlene Goodwin Auburn, Indiana Agoodwin@ctlnet.com