PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM
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LAFAYETTE RUNYAN.
Harmony Township, Clark County, has been settled by a class of men more
than ordinarily enterprising and intelligent, and among these the subject of
this notice holds no secondary position. He
has for many years been operating successfully as a farmer and stock-raiser, and
while pursuing a career which reflects great credit upon himself, has
contributed largely to the growth and development of the country around him.
The enterprise and industry of one man operates as a stimulus to those
around him, who insensibly emulate his example, and like the pebble dropped into
the pool, the circle of his influence is thus largely felt and seen.
Mr. RUNYAN was born near the town of
Center, Pleasant Township, Clark County, April 21, 1848, and is the son of one
of its representative men, Peter L. RUNYAN, who with his wife, Jane WRIGHT, was
also a native of Pleasant Township. The
father of our subject died March 24, 1876, at the age of sixty-two years. He had been four times married.
By his first wife, also a Miss WRIGHT, he became the father of one child,
Lemuel, who is now a resident of Champaign County, this State.
His second wife, Jane, became the mother of two children, Lafayette, our
subject, and a daughter, Susannah. His
third wife was Sarah PAGE, and she died without children.
By his fourth wife, Elizabeth RENSHAW, Mr. RUNYAN became the father of
four sons—William, U. S. Grant, George and Charles.
The fourth wife is still living, making her home in Catawba, this county.
Mr. RUNYAN and all his wives were members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church.
The father of our subject was a self-made
man in the strictest sense of the word. Setting
out with no capital but his own resources, he accumulated a good property,
leaving two hundred acres of fine farming land which, with its improvement,
constituted a valuable estate. His
parents were George and Susannah RUNYAN, who were natives of Virginia.
In 1812, after their marriage, they settled on a farm in Pleasant
Township, where the grandfather effected many improvements, and became prominent
in his community. Both he and his wife were active members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. They made the
journey from Virginia on horseback, bringing with them their first-born.
That same year Grandfather RUNYAN was drafted and furnished a substitute
for the War of 1812. He became the
father of the following children, viz: John,
Peter L. and Susan, who married Nathan MARTIN.
All were married and had families but all are now deceased.
Grandfather RUNYAN and his wife died at their homestead in Pleasant
Township.
The subject of this notice spent his
boyhood and youth in a manner common to the sons of pioneer farmers, growing up
healthy in mind and body, and when twenty years old began farming on his own
account at the old homestead. On
the 14th January, 1875, he was united in wedlock with Miss Louisa,
daughter of Jerry and Jane (HODGE) TEAZEL.
Not long afterward he removed to a farm of one hundred and eight acres,
which he had purchased in Champaign County.
Remaining there until 1882, he then removed to his present farm in
Harmony Township, this comprising two hundred and thirty-eight acres in the
northwest corner. Mr. and Mrs.
RUNYAN are now the parents of four children—Nora Myrtle, Lester, Carrie Anna
and Ralph M.
Mrs. Jane (WRIGHT) RUNYAN, the mother of our subject, was a daughter of John and Ruhama (MATTHEWS) WRIGHT who were natives respectively of Jefferson County, Va., and Gettysburg, Pa. John WRIGHT was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth SNYDER, who bore him seven children, two of whom died in Virginia; the survivors were named respectively: Samuel, Elizabeth, Mary Ann, Jane and Ellen. These all lived to mature years. Mr. WRIGHT and his children removed to Clark County, this State, in 1835, and located in Pleasant Township, where he improved one hundred and fifty acres of land. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died November 28, 1866. He was the son of John WRIGHT, whose family consisted of four children—John, Samuel, Elizabeth and William. His wife, Ruhama, died October 16, 1866, a few weeks prior to the decease of her husband. She was born in Pennsylvania, and by her union with Mr. WRIGHT became the mother of three children—William E., John W. and Silas J.