Asberry Jarvis was born August 17, 1842 in Monroe County, OH to John & Elizabeth Loughead Jarvis. John & Elizabeth were married March 4, 1830. Asberry grew up in a house of 14 siblings which included 8 brothers, 2 sister, 2 half brothers, & 2 half sisters. His mother passed away in around 1848 when Asberry was only about 6 years old. Asberry's father remarried the following year to Susan Dennis in Ohio. When the Civil War started, Asberry served in the 77th Ohio Infantry. He obtained the rank of Corporal January 1, 1862 at the age of 20. He mustered out December 27, 1864. During the war he fought in the following battles under Colonel Jesse Hildebrand :

Battle of ShilohSiege of Corinth
Battle of Bayou Fourche
Battle of Prairie D'Ane
Battle of Marks' Mills
Battle of Jenkins' Ferry
Siege of Spanish Fort

After the war, Asberry returned to Ohio and married Mary Ellen Dillen on October 15, 1865. The family moved to Owen County, Indiana before 1870. Asberry passed away February 18, 1910. It was an honor to clean Corporal Asberry Jarvis's headstone.

How many times are you able to hear the story behind the person buried there or their headstone that marks their final resting place? Well that is one of the rare joys that we get to experience doing the work we do. Today Tracy Wilson & myself, Co-Founders of Headstone Healers of Indiana, were able to enjoy that today. We was looking for a cemetery that we believed to be west of Fish Creek Road here in Owen County. As we turned on this road we was greeted with a sign that said "Dead End" but our determination pushed us on. We got to the end of the road and there was this beautiful creek with an amazing waterfall and an old iron bridge that hadn't seen a vehicle in over 50 years we found out later. To our right was a drive that went back to a old cabin and barn and signs saying "NO TRESPASSING". 

Well we no more than stopped the car and here comes this older gentleman, appox 80+ years old, in bib overalls on a lawn mower down the long lane. I stepped out of the car and met the gentleman and when he turned his mower off I greeted him with my name and he said "Mines Leonard Hendershot, nice to meet you". So I stated our business for being there. I said "We are looking for a cemetery in this area, have you ever seen one around here?". He looked me over and scratched his chin and thought for a second. Then he asked me "How big is it?" and I replied "I have no idea, the county has no record of it." Then I notice a small toothless smile come over his face and he said " I think I know what your looking for." So I asked him "Can you tell me how to get there?" and he said "Well you wont have to go very far, follow me." 

So we walk about 20 feet back down the road we just came from, following Mr Hendershot, and he stops and says "We'll go up the bank right here." So up this steep embankment we went and when we got to the top he said "Now I havent seen this in many years but my mother told me the story about it. See my grandfather cut the logs and built the cabin I live in around 1840. My mother was raised here and she told me wonderful stories of the people that came through here when this was the main road to Terre Haute. She told me stories of when the circus would come that they would camp out here and the elephants would move the wagons around because they was heavy for the horses to move. She even witness one of the elephants get mad and pick up a wagon and smash it. There is only one grave here and the story my mother told me was that the lady died while traveling through going west and that her family buried her here and made her this stone before they moved on to where they was headed. Only one other person has ever showed up asking about it. The headstone is leaning against a tree and made of sandstone". So we started looking for this stone and low and behold we found it! It read "Eliza Gash 1848". 

I began cleaning the stone and like always, the name and dated started to appear. The tree it was leaned against was now only a rotted stump. Mr Hendershot said "That was a nice size tree when I seen it".as he sat down to rest. It was almost like finding GOLD! So if your every west of Spencer and want to stop and visit with Mr Hendershot, I'm sure he would love to tell his stories to you as you visit Ms Eliza Gash.

As time goes by, we forget about those that helped shape the world as we know it. There has been a lot of people who were born and raised in Sweet Owen and went on to do great things and represent how wonderful it is to call Owen County home. The Wilson family from Clay Township made their mark in history but now few people have heard of them. One of my great loves is Genealogy so when I am out in the cemetery I often research families that I reset stones or photograph and that is how I learned the history of Jesse & James Wilson.
James Benjamin Wilson was born Feb 2, 1859 in Clay Township, Owen Co., IN to John Wesley & Piety Jane Maners Wilson. Below is James's Obituary:

Bloomington (Monroe County, Indiana) Daily Telephone, September 12, 1956
(Note: Article is accompanied by a photo.)

JUDGE J. B. WILSON DEAD AT 97; DEAN OF LOCAL LAWYERS

Judge James Benjamin Wilson, 97, dean of Monroe County attorneys and Judge Emeritus of the Monroe circuit court, died Tuesday night in the Gosport Nursing Home where he had been a patient since his retirement from active legal practice a year ago. His residence, one of the city's landmarks, is at 410 N. Walnut St.

Judge Wilson was the oldest member of the Monroe County Bar Association and the 
oldest living graduate of Indiana University, having earned his law degree in 1892.

His career was a colorful one. He was known as the most celebrated judge of his time in the county since his birthday was on February 22, George Washington's 
birthday, a national holiday. For the past 20 years members of the local bar had celebrated his anniversary with a party, until this year, in the county courthouse. On his anniversary last February, the party was held in the Gosport Nursing Home. 

Twice during his career his name was wide spread. Once when he was candidate for U. S. Senator from Indiana on the "Teddy" Roosevelt ticket in 1914, and during an unsolved murder case at Bedford in 1905 and 1906 when a 
story hit the newspaper front pages over the entire country after the accused murderer was found not guilty from the "bench" of Judge Wilson.

Characterized by his erect stature, his cane and his hearing aid in later years, Judge Wilson was seen daily strolling the downtown streets of Bloomington as he 
was accustomed to saying, "Keeping up with the times."

He had practiced law in Bloomington for 65 years and served two terms in the old 
Lawrence-Monroe circuit court from 1902 to 1914. He had been Monroe County and Bloomington City Attorney.

For 35 years he was a member of the Speakers bureau of the Republican Committee.

His eloquence was a mark of his success and popularity as an attorney. Each year at his birthday celebration, his philosophies of life were noted.

At his 90th year party he said "I have no dread of passing years for old age has its joys the same as youth has its pleasure."

In 1952, the Indiana Odd Fellows Lodge had honored him in services at his home chapter at Worthington, for his 65 years as a member.

Born in 1859 at a farm home five miles from Spencer in Owen County, Judge Wilson was graduated from Spencer High School and taught school at 17, obtaining his law degree at Indiana University in 1892, at which time he opened a law office here. He formed a partnership with the late Joseph E. Henley in 1896. In later years he opened a partnership law office with his son, Fred, who died in 1940.

Mr. Wilson was next to oldest in a family of 10 children of the late John Wesley and Piety Jane (Maners) Wilson of Owen County. He was married to Ona Stephenson who died in 1910, and then in 1912 to Maude E. Showers.

At Indiana University he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta, social fraternity, and Phi Delta Phi, legal fraternity.

Mr. Wilson taught a Sunday School class at the First Methodist Church here for 17 years. Earlier he had served on the school board at Spencer.

Besides his long Odd Fellows affiliation, he was a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge and Borrowed time Club.

Survivors, besides his son, Ben Wilson, N. Walnut St., are a stepdaughter, Mrs. 
Burl Holland, N. Washington St., two sisters, Mrs. Emma Chadwick and Mrs. Effie 
Hampton, both of Danville; a brother, W. Herschel Wilson of Chicago; four grandsons, Dr. Fred M. Wilson, Indianapolis; Dr. Ben J. Wilson, Dallas, Texas, 
Dr. John W. Wilson, Johnstown, Pa., and James B. Wilson II of Huntingtonden (sic), Pa.; one granddaughter, Mrs. Nancy Dasey, Miami, Fla.; a step-grandson, Dr. Charles Holland Fowler, and 13 great grandchildren.

Memorial services for Judge Wilson will be conducted at 1 PM Thursday at the Day Funeral Home Chapel, Rev. Merrill B. McFall will officiate and burial will be at 
Rose Hill Cemetery.

Active pallbearers will be Horace Karsell, David Rogers,Sylvan Tackitt, Nat U. Hill, Len Bunger and Lloyd Griffin.

Honorary pallbearers will be Herman B Wells, George Henley, Frank Regester, Donald Rogers, Q. Austin East, Eugene H. Johnston, George A. Chandler, James 
Regester, Charles Waldron, James H. Ferguson, K. Edwin Applegate, Leroy Baker, R. I. Black, James Cotner, George Gregory, George E. Huntington, Sr., James 
Kent, Robert McCrea, Norman Neely, Sam F. Sirois, William Henry Snyder, George M. Tomey, Richard L. Wilder, Harrell E. Young, Frank Beck, Dean Wampler and Arthur Rariden.

The body remains at the Day Funeral Home where friends may call.


The information below on Jesse E Wilson was taken from the Indiana County History Preservation Society

Jesse E. Wilson. This well-known attorney at law of Rensselaer, Indiana, like many of our prominent public men, began life on a farm and worked his way up from teaching a country school to the study of law, and from the bar to a prominent place before the public. He first saw the light of day in Clay Township, Owen County, October 4, 1867, and is a son of John W. and P. J. (Maners) Wilson. His father was a native of North Carolina, but moved to Owen County, this state, when about eight years of age. Here he became a prosperous farmer and married Miss P. J. Maners, whose father was a native of Tennessee. She is still living. John Wilson, the grandfather of our subject, came to Indiana in 1833, and was one of the pioneers of the state. He was formerly a slave owner, but, realizing the injustice of such bondage, he lived up to his convictions and set his slaves at liberty.

Jesse E. Wilson was the sixth child in a family of eleven children. They grew up to be a credit to their early teaching, and are now useful and honored citizens of Indiana, as follows: John F. is a farmer of Spencer, Indiana; James B. is an attorney at Bloomington, Indiana; Frank A. is Postmaster at Stinesville, Indiana; Charles E. is a traveling man from Indianapolis; Jesse E. is the subject of this sketch; Emma is the wife of B.B. DeMarcus, of Danville, Indiana; William H. is a traveling salesman of Indianapolis; Mack D. is a druggist at Spencer; and Effie resides in Danville. The other two children are dead and buried in the family lot in a cemetery near their old homestead, where also is the resting-place of their father.

The childhood and early youth of Mr. Wilson was spent on the farm in Owen County, where he attended the common schools. Later he entered the High School at Spencer, and after that engaged in teaching school for a period of four years. He then became a clerk in a dry goods store, remaining until he had secured sufficient means to defray his expenses through the State University at Bloomington, Indiana, from which he graduated in June 1895. He came to Rensselaer the 20th of the following month, and formed his present partnership with Mr. Ferguson. They are engaged in general practice, and have built up a clientele that bears favorable comparison with the old-established firms of the city. He appears to be particularly adapted to the legal profession and promises to occupy a high place in the legal fraternity. He belongs to the Uniform Rank of the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons.

Mr. Wilson has been reared in the pure atmosphere of Christianity, his people being worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which he affiliates, although his name is not on the roll of membership. He is a young man of pleasing address and far more than ordinary ability, and his worth as a public speaker was soon recognized and taken advantage of by the Republican Party, in which he is an active and intelligent worker. He has gained an extended reputation as a stump speaker, having been called upon by the Central Committee to make political speeches in different parts of Indiana. He has a large fund of information and has entire confidence in the position he takes, giving unanswerable reasons for his views, and thus bringing his audience into sympathy with himself and his subject.

Article below is taken from the book Courts and Lawyers of Indiana, Volume 3