Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 368-370.

WILLIAM LIPKEY.

Prominent among the leading citizens of Union township, Wells county, Indiana, stands William Lipkey, who was born in Brooke county, Virginia (now West Virginia), May 26, 1822, a son of Charles and Margaret (Crow) Lipkey, of remote German descent and of ante-Revolutionary citizenship. Charles Lipkey, father of William and a soldier of the war of 1812, was the only son in a family of six children born to Henry and Mary A. Lipkey, the former of whom was the first of the family to come from Germany to America. Henry Lipkey was but sixteen years old when he arrived in the colonies, but at once espoused the cause of freedom and served as a private soldier in the army of the patriots until the glorious end had been achieved. To Charles and Margaret (Crow) Lipkey were born three sons and three daughters, viz: Philip and Charles, deceased; Margaret, now deceased, was the wife of Edward Meacham, and left two sons; Elizabeth was the wife of George Clemmens; Rachel died unmarried; William is the subject proper of this sketch. In September, 1822, Charles Lipkey moved from Brooke county, Virginia, to Trumbull county, Ohio, where young William was reared on his father's farm, and where he acquired as fair an education as that early day afforded. At the proper age he went out to work by the month and found employment at various occupations until he had amassed a small sum of cash, and then started out on foot for the West. When he reached Wells county, Indiana, he entered the land on a part of which he still resides. He continued to add to his original tract until he became the owner of one hundred and eighty acres of well-improved property in Union township, and has here made his home continuously since 1856. He is today one of the most honored of the township's citizens, having devoted his best energies to the development of the resources of the country and the prosperity of the community in which he has lived for more than half a century.

Mr. Lipkey has ever been among the foremost in advocating public improvements and was one of the first to agitate the project and petition for the building of the road that runs east and west through the center of Union township, from the Indianapolis pike to the George Glass farm, which petition was granted in March, 1849, the line being surveyed by the then county surveyor, George Mann. Mr. Lipkey has always interested himself in these affairs and his judgment is implicitly relied upon by his fellow citizens who time and again have selected him as administrator of very important estates.

February 1, 1854, William Lipkey was joined in marriage with Miss Belinda Lewis, daughter of Wheeler and Abiah Lewis, of Connecticut. Although no offspring has blessed this union, Mr. and Mrs. Lipkey's hearts warm toward the orphan and they have reared, or partly reared, six children, born to others, viz: Margaret Lipkey, who at the age of two years, was taken to their home, but who, at the age of fourteen was most untimely called away; Jennie Dick, at the age of fourteen, won the affection of Mr. and Mrs. Lipkey, and by them was reared until her marriage to Thomas Lepper; she died at twenty-nine years of age; James Lipkey was but ten years old when in the fall of 1865 he found a place in the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Lipkey; he is still an inmate of the old homestead, operating the farm, and is married to Martha J. Longshore; they have two children, Jesse W. and Hattie A., and lost one, William H., in infancy; Frances McDermott was taken by Mr. and Mrs. Lipkey in the fall of 1866, when she was about four years old, and is now the wife of Ira Longshore; Annie Fry was next adopted, at fourteen, but she, too, passed away aged twenty-one, and Frank McMullen lived with Mr. and Mrs. Lipkey six years, from the age of ten. To each of these children who were married Mr. Lipkey donated sufficient means for a start in life, and there probably exists nowhere in the township or county a similar instance of munificence.

Mr. and Mrs. Lipkey united with the Methodist Episcopal church in December, 1856, and have ever been earnest and active in their work for this denomination. They are liberal contributors financially toward its maintenance and rejoice in its prosperity and the spread of its teachings. Mr. Lipkey has been officially connected with the church as trustee since 1861 and class leader for forty-two years thus showing the sincerity of his faith and the kindness of his heart in acts innumerable. He has been a member of the quarterly conference since 1856, and for several years has served as Sunday school superintendent. Fraternally he is a member of Ossian Lodge No. 297, F. & A. M., and politically he is one of the leading and most substantial Republicans of Union township and Wells county. Mrs. Lipkey, it is sad to add, was for many years an invalid, and Mr. Lipkey, with his usual patience and charity of disposition, cared for her until she passed into the silent land, November 7, 1886.

Mr. Lipkey in his youth did not have the opportunity of obtaining a very complete education, the ordinary grade of arithmetic being the highest study in the school curriculum in his day and neighborhood. The school house was of the common type of the period, with slab benches, greased-paper windows and other rude accommodations. During his long life Mr. Lipkey has contributed toward the erection of eight church buildings, seven in Wells county and one in Allen county, and has in many other ways exhibited a lively interest in the welfare of those about him.

To the message board post I am attaching a portrait of William Lipkey.