On  the  1st  of  April,  1880,  he  married  Miss  Catharin",  daughter
of  George  Holman,  of  Richmond,  Ind.  This  was  the  fii-st  mar
riage  ceremony  ever  celebrated  in  Jackson  Township,*  and,  in  the
absence  of  a  clergyman,  John  Carey,  who  was  then  Judge  of  the
Carroll  Probate  Coui-t,  officiated.  For  half  a  century,  this  de-
voted couple  were  spared  to  each  other,  bearing  their  mutual
burdens  and  sharing  the  worldly  prosperity  that  crowned  their
mutual  labors.  On  the  1st  of  April,  1880,  they  celebrated  the
fiftieth  anni\erHary  of  a  happy  wedded  life,  and,  in  August  of  the
same  year,  the  golden  chain  was  severed  by  the  death  of  the  wife,
lay  fairly  bo  called  the  advance  corps
to  witness  the
I  one  of  the  tew


Mr.  Porter  alone,  of  what
of  the  pioneers  in  this  township,  now
changes  wrought  in  fifty  years,  and  his  farm
whose  boundaries  remain  precisely  as  described
pa{?!ut.  The  house  in  which  he  now  lives  win
and  \h<-  brick  of  which  it  is  constructed  were  iiij


1  the  Government
erected    in  1859,


David  Harter  was  prominent  as  one  of  the  early  settlers,  his
I  family  being  the  second  in  the  township.  He  located  here  in
I  1827,  and  purchased  several  hundred  acres  of  land.  He  belonged
to  the  austere  sect  of  German  Baptists,  and  consequently  never
I  served  in  any  official  positions.  Yet  he  was  a  prominent  citizen,
and  did  as  uiuch,  perhaps,  for  the  public  good  of  the  township  as
any  of  its  settlers.     He  was  enterprising  and  industrious,  and,  in

j  addition  to  clearing   and  improving  a  farm,  he  constructed  and

j  operated  a  saw-mill,  which  is  mentioned  more  particularly  under

I  another  topic  in  this  chapter.  He  possessed  the  good  will  and
confidence  of  all,  and  was  associated  with  the  development  and
improvement  of  the  township  until  his  decease.
