Benjamin G. Crisman, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Benjamin G. Crisman
BENJAMIN G. CRISMAN.
A life-time of hard, earnest endeavor in pursuing the occupation of the husbandman, coupled with strict integrity, honesty of purpose and liberality in all directions, has resulted in placing Mr. Crisman among the truly respected and honored citizens of Porter County. He is the owner of an excellent farm, and though the active management of this has fallen into other hands, he is yet interested in its management, and is active and hale for one of his advanced years. He was born June 9, 1814, at Sinking Valley, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, his parents being Benjamin and Merelis (Yingling) Crisman. His grandfather, Frederick Crisman, came to this country from Germany prior to the War of Independence, followed the occupation of farming, reared a large family and died at Altoona, Pennsylvania. Benjamin Crisman, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born July 14, 1772, in Maryland, in which State his parents resided for some years, but later became a successful miller of Pennsylvania. In 1820 he went to Carroll County, Ohio, and purchased a 100-acre farm which he improved, and upon which he lived until his death, which occurred after the close of the great Civil War. He and his wife reared a family of eight children: Isaac, deceased; Rachel (Gill), of Ohio, deceased; Hannah (Idenire), deceased; Frederick, who died in Porter County, Indiana; Thomas, who also died there; Ruth (Hardisty), deceased; Eliza (Shoup), who died in Kansas, and Benjamin. Both parents were members of the Lutheran Church, and politically the former was a Whig and Republican. The early life of Benjamin G. Crisman was spent on a farm, and after he reached the age of twenty-one he continued to remain with and assist his father, receiving one-third of the crops raised for his services. In 1849 he went by wagon to Porter County, Indiana, where he purchased a 240-acre tract which he greatly improved with the assistance of his seven sons. He was first married to Elizabeth Baughman, March 2, 1836, a daughter of Jesse and Nancy (Hoover) Baughman, a farmer of Pennsylvania, and she was one of their eight children. Her union with Mr. Crisman resulted in the birth of ten children, nine of whom reached maturity: Addison, Isaac and Oliver, who were soldiers in the Civil War; Wesley; Frederick; Milton; Nancy, who died at the age of thirty-nine; Henry, Jane, wife of Eugene Cole of Michigan, and Clara, wife of Joseph Bender. The mother of these children died December 15, 1888, having been an active and consistent member of the Christian Church. Mrs. Hannah Foster, widow of Samuel Foster, became Mr. Crisman's second wife. She was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a daughter of William and Hannah (Cochran) Carroll, who came from Ireland and Canada, respectively. Mr. Carroll became a resident of Canada when about twelve years old, and there later became the proprietor of a distillery. About 1830 he moved to Ft. Wayne, in the vicinity of which place he died on a farm April 21, 1862, at the age of fifty-nine years. He was a Democrat. His wife died in 1859, having become the mother of five children: Charles, Mary (McGraw) of California; Jane (Graham); Catherine (Fuller); and Hannah. Mr. Carroll's second wife, Sarah Greer, bore him three sons and two daughters. Mr. Crisman cast his first presidential vote for William H. Harrison and his last for Benjamin Harrison.
Source: Goodspeed Brothers. 1894. Pictorial and Biographical Record of La Porte, Porter, Lake and Starke Counties, Indiana. Chicago, Illinois: Goodspeed Brothers. 569 p.
Page(s) in Source: 457-458
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