Biographical sketch extracted from:
Biographical and historical record of
Adams and
Wells counties,
Indiana. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1887. pp. 844-845.
ROBERT
CURRY, deceased, was one of the earliest pioneers of Zanesville. He entered the land upon which his widow now resides in 1847. This tract was a portion of the Indian Reserve. Mr. Curry was born in
Preble County,
Ohio, and was a son of John and Nancy (
Downey)
CURRY. John CurryÂ’s father was also named John. He was born in
Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania, and removed to
Preble County, where he was married to Nancy
Downey, and they had six children, four of whom were reared—Robert, Josiah, Martha and Elizabeth. Robert was reared on the farm, and learned the art of pioneering in detail. His accumulated savings were barely sufficient to pay for his entry of 120 acres of land in
Wells County, but with a determination to have a home of his own, in March, 1850, he moved upon his land in the wild woods of
Wells County, which three years before had been the home of the Pottawatomie Indians. There was no road cut through the woods, but Robert made his way to his lands, fonnd a suitable location and built his cabin near the place where their present home was built. Nothing now remains to mark the place where their early life was passed and where so many happy days were experienced, save the ancient chimney. Robert was a bachelor when he built his cabin, and he was in a measure prepared for housekeeping before he thought of getting a wife. James
Gardner with his family had located near
Murray in the fall of 1849, coming from
Wayne County,
Ohio. Neighbors were not numerous, and religious services were held at the most central point. Robert was a member of the United Presbyterian church, and services were held regularly at
Murray. He there formed the acquaintance of Miss Elizabeth
Gardner, daughter of James and Jane (
McCaughey)
Gardner, and March 2, 1852, they were married at the residence of her parents in
Lancaster Township, Samuel
Caley, Esq., performing the ceremony. March 8 found them domiciled in the log cabin, and the young couple were ready to begin life in earnest. Children came to gladden their home. John
Irvin, Martha J. and James G. were born in their cabin home, and its walls were rendered doubly sacred by the death of their first-born and the youngest child. The first was almost four years of age, and the daughter two years of age. Notwithstanding their bereavements the family lived contentedly, and their hopes centered upon their son James, who grew to manhood to be the joy of his father and the idol of his mother. He was reared to manhood, and prosperity came before the death of the father, which occurred November 16, 1883, aged sixty-five years. His son took charge of the farm, and January 7, 1886, was married to Miss Naomi, daughter of
Elijah and Lybia [sic] (
McGuire)
Jacobs, residents of Union Township. They settled on the home farm and never knew the hardships which came to those who first settled in the new country. Charles
Irvin, their first son, was born on the home farm within a few rods of the birth-place of his father. The widowed mother is an inmate of their household.