Lemon Cain, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Lemon Cain
LEMON CAIN. Numbered among the native sons of Porter county who are well upholding the prestige of names long honored in connection with the annals of the county and who are representative exemplars of the great industries of agriculture and stock-raising, stands the well know citizen of Morgan township whose name initiates this paragraph and who is distinctively popular and influential in his community, where he has been successful in his chosen field of enterprise and where he has proved himself altogether worthy of the unqualified confidence reposed in him. Mr. Cain recalls with pleasure that he was a schoolmate in the early days of Benjamin F. Lewis, president of the company by which this publication is issued, and has been glad to contribute his quota toward making this history of his native county one worthy of the county and its people. His co-operation, as well as that of many other of the representative citizens of the county, has been a matter of deep appreciation on the part of the Lewis Publishing Company, of Chicago and New York, the interested principals in which undertook the compilation of the history largely as a matter of deep personal interest, as Porter county was the home of their youth and is endeared to them by many gracious memories and associations.
Lemon Cain was born in Morgan township, Porter county, on the 5th of May, 1844, and was the third in order of birth in a family of four sons and two daughters born to Elias and Elizabeth (Lee) Cain. Of the four children now living Mr. Cain is the eldest; Leonard, who was a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, is likewise one of the representative farmers of Morgan township; Alfred is successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits in Center township, this county; and Mary is the wife of Charles Stoner, of Valparaiso. Elias Cain was born in Virginia and was a scion of one of the sterling families early founded in the Old Dominion commonwealth, where he was reared to adult age. As a young man he came to Kosciusko county, Indiana, and secured employment in the mill operated by his father-in-law and located on the site of the present town of Leesburg, which was named in honor of Mr. Lee, whose daughter Elizabeth the young Virginian wedded within a short period after entering the employ of Mr. Lee. In the spring of 1844 Elias Cain and his young wife came to Porter county and he purchased eighty acres of wild land in Morgan township, not far distant from the fine farmstead now owned by his son Lemon, of this review. In thus initiating his independent career he assumed an indebtedness in the purchasing of his land, for which he paid only three hundred dollars, and he later added an adjoining tract of equal area, so that with the passing of time he developed a productive and valuable farm, freed himself from all indebtedness and became one of the substantial and prosperous agriculturists of the county. His original place of abode was a log cabin of the type common to the pioneer days, and the latch-string of this primitive domicile was always out, even as the later and more pretentious home was known for its generous and unostentatious hospitality. He won success through well directed industry and careful business policies and his sterling integrity of purpose not only gained and retained to him the respect and confidence of his fellow men but also made him an influential factor in the directing of those agencies and enterprises which touch the general welfare of the community. He was a man of superior mentality and strong convictions, but was kindly and tolerant in his judgment and ever ready to aid those in affliction or distress. Prior to his death he had accumulated a landed estate of one hundred and ninety acres in this county, besides which he also owned property in the city of Valparaiso. He united with the Republican party at the time of its organization and cast his first presidential vote for its first candidate, General John C. Fremont. He never wavered in his allegiance to the "Grand Old Party" and he was zealous in the support of measures projected for the general good of the community which so long represented his home and in which he won success of unequivocal order. Both he and his wife held membership in the Christian church, in which they were identified with the Adams church, in Morgan township. This honored pioneer was summoned to the life eternal on the 18th of December, 1906, and was nearly eighty-nine years of age at the time of his demise. His cherished and devoted wife, a woman of most gentle and lovable personality, passed away on the 21st of April, 1892, secure in the affectionate regard of all who knew her, and the remains of both rest in the Adams cemetery, in proximity to the church with which they were long identified. Mrs. Cain was born and reared in Kosciusko county, this state, and her father was one of the pioneers and most influential citizens of that county.
Lemon Cain, whose name initiates this review, was reared under the conditions and influences of the pioneer days in the history of Porter county and it has been his to witness and assist in the development of the county along industrial and civic lines. Wonderful are the changes that have been wrought here since his boyhood days, for the forests have given place to broad and productive acres of as fine farm land as can be found in the state; the little log houses of the pioneer settlers were abodes of happiness and contentment but gave slight promise of the many beautiful farm residences which adorn the county in this second decade of the twentieth century; the log school-house, with its primitive equipment, has realized a manifest destiny by giving way before the march of progress, to make way for the excellent structures which now represent the public schools of the county; Valparaiso has grown from a mere village to a beautiful and thriving little city; and on every side are shown the gratifying evidences of the endeavors and enterprise of the pioneers and those who have succeeded them on the stage of life's activities. Mr. Cain was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm, in the work and management of which he continued to be concerned until his marriage, and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the common schools of the locality and period.
On the 31st of August, 1869, at the age of twenty-five years, Mr. Cain was united in marriage to Miss Emma A. Robinson, who has proved a true companion and helpmeet and who has made the home associations of ideal order. Of this union were born two daughters, -- Nellie M. and Effie G. The elder daughter is the wife of Edward Beach, of South Chicago, where he is in the employ of the street-railway company, and they have four children, -- Louis E., Esther, Verna and Eveline. Mrs. Beach was afforded the advantages of the public schools of Porter county and has been a zealous member of the Christian church from her girlhood days. Effie G., the younger daughter, is the wife of Walter Wallace, one of the representative agriculturists of Morgan township, and they have six children, -- Ethel Fern, Martha Louise, William Garland, Marion Vernon, Howard Wayne and Forrest Lemon.
Mrs. Cain was born in Worcester county, Massachusetts, on the 31st of July, 1851, and was the fifth in order of birth of the four sons and two daughters of John G. and Adaline (Thayer) Robinson. She was a child of four years at the time of the family removal from the old Bay state to Porter county, Indiana, where she was reared and educated and where she has continuously maintained her home. Her father and two of her brothers were gallant soldiers of the Union in the Civil war and her father was killed in the battle of the Wilderness, the loved wife and mother dying in the year of 1853. Mrs. Cain received all excellent education, much of which was gained under the effective direction of her aunt, Miss Ada Robinson, who was a woman of superior talent. Mrs. Cain was a successful teacher in the district schools of Porter county for two years, and after her marriage she and her husband remained with the latter's parents for one year. They then purchased a little farm of forty acres, in Morgan township, to which they later added twenty acres. This place they later sold, and for the following sixteen years they rented and resided upon the old homestead farm of Mr. Cain's father. At the expiration of this period Mr. Cain purchased the property, and by earnest application and good management he soon cleared off his indebtedness, as he paid to his father the entire purchase price. Thus he has today a finely improved and valuable farmstead of one hundred and sixty acres, and the same is doubly valued by him on account of the memories and associations attached to the same from the days long past. In 1899 Mr. Cain erected his present attractive and essentially modern residence, and here he and his wife delight to extend welcome to their wide circle of loyal and appreciated friends, the number of whom is equal to that of their acquaintances.
Progressive and public-spirited as a citizen, Mr. Cain is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and he has voted for its every presidential candidate from the time when he cast his first ballot in support of the martyred Lincoln. He and his wife are earnest and zealous members of the Christian church, and he is a deacon of the Adams church of this denomination, in Morgan township. In addition to carefully rearing their own daughters Mr. and Mrs. Cain, with true kindliness and abiding sympathy, took into their home Martin Galbreath, who was but six months old when he thus came into their hearts and home and whom they have reared with true parental solicitude. He received his diploma from the public schools and then was given the advantages of a full course in the department of pharmacy in the Valparaiso University, class of 1895. He is now associated in the work and management of the fine farm of his foster-father and is a valued coadjutor to Mr. Cain in the handling of the various affairs of the farm. He wedded Miss Emma Dade, of Wanatah, LaPorte county, and both are members of the Christian church. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and his wife holds membership in the adjunct organization, the Order of the Eastern Star.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 571-574
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook