Newton Co., IN Biography

Newton County, Washington Township.  From A History of Warren, Benton, 
Jasper and Newton Counties, 1883.

   WILLIAM BEST was born in Ohio, December 8, 1822.  His parents were
John and Elizabeth (Berry) Best, natives of Virginia.  His father was 
a soldier in the war of 1812, and afterward settled in Ohio.  When
William was seven years old, his father moved to Tippecanoe County,
Indiana, where our subject was sent to a subscription school, working
some on the farm until eighteen.  He worked at farming until twenty-one,
when he learned blacksmithing, working at that trade until recently.
   In 1849 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Prior and Anna (Hayes)
Russell, of Wayne County, Indiana.  They had seven children--John P.,
James A., Luther H, (deceased), Laura J. (deceased), Anna M., William
R., and Margaret.
   In 1853, Mr. Best moved to White County; farmed until 1857, then
came to this township and bought 160 acres of land, which he has
cultivated, and also worked at his trade.  He owns now 175 acres, well
improved, and keeps some stock.  When his father moved to Indiana in
1829, he built his house next to an Indian.  His parents died on the 
land they entered, his father in 1869, his mother in 1870.  Mr. Best
lost his wife in 1881; she was a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church.  He is a member of the same church, and a Democrat in politics.


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Submitted By Gerald Born
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