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THOMAS, JOHN
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ARTHUR
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Arthur Leverton Bullock was born near Federalsburg,
Maryland, January 27, 1860. When he was three years old he came with his parents
to Indiana. His birth may have been premature since he weighed only three pounds,
and he was a delicate child. In fact, he never gained the six feet or more in
height attained by his brothers. His first remembrance of family activities was
walking along the tow-path of the canal between Cambridge City and Milton after the
family debarked from their trip to Indiana from Maryland on their way to visit
relatives in Milton. Then to again follow the tow-path as far south as they
could to the Claypool farm in Fayette County.
Life there must have been fairly uneventful, since the next
high point seems to be the move from the Fayette County farm to another Claypool
farm just east of Muncie in Delaware County. Probably before this time, his
brothers had already nicknamed him "Eck". None of the children married
before they moved to Delaware County. Arthur was about thirteen and his
brothers drove the cattle. He has pointed out the place on a creek north of
Cambridge City where the cattle would not cross the bridge, but went across the ice
which broke through, with no serious results but some excitement. There were more
boys at home than what was needed to do the farming so they "worked out.
" Among Arthur's employers were Uncle Jim Williamson, who lived
near Pleasant Grove Church in Hamilton Township and Taylor Williams. Mr.
Williams, a one-armed Civil War Veteran, was one of the early breeders of
registered Poland China hogs and Arthur helped him show these hogs at near
by fairs. Later he and his brother Nebraska lived on and farmed the Black
farm east of Selma. While they were here their sister Althea lived with
them and did the housekeeping.
Arthur was married February 4, 1892 to Mary Corbly,
daughter of John and Emily (Williams) Corbly. She was born in
Little Rock, Arkansas May 5, 1869. When she was three or four years old her
parents died and she lived for some time with William and Jennie Corbly
, an aunt and uncle, in Cincinnati. When she was eighteen she came to Delaware
County and resided with Mr. and Mrs. William Meeker, the latter a
cousin. Mary and Arthur went to housekeeping in the southwest edge
of Selma, on what was known as the Dill farm. They spent a part of their time
reading aloud to each other. They had a complete book of Sir Walter Scott's epic
poems, and Arthur could recite most of "Marmion" from memory. A
stony incline on the road from Selma to their next home became "Horncliffe
Hill." In his own way, he set "Marmion" to music. He couldn't
carry a tune, but had a little sing-song chant based on "Oh Susannah",
and the least provocation caused him to burst out with Marmion, in operatic form.
He also enjoyed singing the original version of "Oh Susannah" and the
song that is now called "The Cowboy's Lament".
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THOMAS, JOHN
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ARTHUR
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It was no doubt the result of the reading done together that
prompted Arthur to name a horse "Enoch Arden". He bought him at a sale
held by a woman whose husband had disappeared.
Sometime before the turn of the century, Arthur and
Mary moved to her uncle's farm near Shideler. Here their two oldest sons
were born, Frank Corbly on 5 February 1895 and Robert Oliver 30
August 1898. Mary had a sister in Texas, and in 1901 it was decided Texas offered
greater opportunities than Indiana. A farm sale was held, furniture crated and
shipped, and the family left for Texas. On their arrival, the prospects were not
so inviting and the shipment of furniture was stopped enroute and all returned to
Indiana. They settled east of Royerton on the Thomas farm. Another son,
Frederick St. John was born 20 January 1904. At the age of seven, their eldest
son Frank fell from a horse, was stepped on and died of lockjaw.
In 1906 the family moved to the Edward Williams farm,
south of Selma in Perry Township. A daughter Lois Virginia was born 1 May
1907. In 1911, with two boys large enough to help with the farm work, they moved
to the William Stafford farm of 250 acres, near Black's Mill, west of
Albany. It was here their youngest child, Carol Marjory was born 22
March 1913. After the boys were grown, the family moved to a small farm near
Andersonville, on Bethel Pike near Muncie, where they lived until Arthur's
death in 1929.
Mary maintained an apartment and did practical nursing
and held other domestic jobs until few years prior to her death December 9, 1963.
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