Source: History of Boone County, Indiana, by Hon. L.M. Crist, 1914.
ISAAC H. BELLES It is a well-known fact, fully recognized by
physicians and by all
others who have made the subject a study, that a quiet life and
steady habits promote
longevity. In the cities, where the people are falling over each
other in their desperate
attempts to get rich suddenly, and where they are, as a consequence,
in a severe nervous
strain all the time, the mortality tables are much higher than
in the rural districts. The
farmer may, therefore, congratulate himself that though his life
may be less eventful, it is
certainly much longer, more satisfactory in every way than that
of his city cousin. This
important fact should be borne in mind when the young men of the
farm catch the fever
to become clerks in some cheap grocery in a town or hie away to
the nearest metropolis
and secure employment in a smoke-surcharged, noisy machine shop
or factory. How
much better is the life of the farmer who has won a farm from
the forest, or plied his trade
as blacksmith or wood-worker in a rural shop, reared a large family
of healthy children,
made a comfortable home and is able to spend his old age in peace
and surrounded by
plenty, beloved by all who have known him. Such a man is Isaac
H. Belles, of
Thorntown, Boone county, the oldest man in this section of the
state, and one of the
oldest in the state, for if he lives until Washington's birthday,
1915, he will have lived
ninety-nine years of a century, and, being hale and hearty, as
the result of a life of right
thinking and wholesome living, he bids fair to pass that milestone.
He has lived to see the
wonderful changes of this protracted epoch, making his own country
appear like another
world. He has seen the horse replace the oxen, the scythe give
way to the mowing
machine, the reap-hook supplanted by the self-binder and modern
labor-saving
machinery of all kinds doing the work of planting and harvesting
formerly done by hand.
He has seen the old-fashioned ox-cart and lumber wagon relegated
to the rear and
carriages, spring wagons, automobiles and even airships take their
places. He has lived to
see vast primeval forests melt away before the sturdy stroke of
the axman and fine farms
spring up as if by magic, and the country everywhere dotted with
substantial dwellings in
place of the log cabin, school houses and church edifices built
in every community, and
thriving towns and populous cities where once were the tepees
of the red men or roamed
at will the denizens of the wild, and he has seen the winding
Indian trails changed into
costly turnpikes and broad highways. He has not only been an interested
spectator to all
these vicissitudes but has acted well his part in the transformation.
Mr. Belles was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, February 22,
1816. He is a son of
William and Mary (Huff) Belles, both natives of New Jersey, where
they were reared and
married and lived until all their children were born, after which
they removed to Ohio and
finally came on to Boone county, Indiana. The father was a wagon-maker
by trade. His
death occurred July 31, 1842.
Isaac H. Belles was reared in a pioneer environment, amid the
hardships and privations of
that interesting period in our country's history, so he had plenty
of hard work to do and
little chance to obtain an education. When a young man he learned
the trade of wagon
maker, at which he became quite an expert, having been taught
the same by a lad in Ohio,
and he worked at this for some time. He also farmed some in his
native state; in fact,
continued tilling the soil there until 1855, when he removed to
a farm in Washington
township, Boone county, Indiana. He was a good manager and prospered
with advancing
years, adding to his original purchase here from time to time
until he became owner of a
valuable farm of two hundred and nineteen acres, being rated as
one of the leading
general farmers and stock raisers in that township. Owing to the
encroachment of old age
and the fact that he had laid by a goodly competency he sold his
farm in 1909, bought a
pleasant home in Thorntown and has been living here ever since,
but he is still very
active and is in possession of all his faculties, and has the
appearance of a much younger
man.
Mr. Belles was married to Abigail M. May, who was born in Hamilton
county, Ohio, and
there reared and educated like the rest of the children of her
time, in the brief terms of
subscription schools, taught in log cabins. She was a daughter
of Andrew and Catherine
May, natives of Pennsylvania. Her death occurred in 1869. To our
subject and wife the
following children were born: David is deceased; Emmeline lives
with her father;
Angeline, Sarah and Francis A. are all deceased; Clark W. lives
in Indianapolis;
Alexander died in infancy; Mary M. is the widow of Lee M. Corkle,
of Thorntown;
Theodore lives in Indianapolis; Elethia is the wife of Joseph
Jaques, of Thorntown; Alva
C. lives in Indianapolis; Herschel, deceased.
Politically, Mr. Belles is a Republican, but has never sought
to be a public man in any
way. He has always been a man of good habits, and never used tobacco
or liquor in any
form, or in fact, had any bad habits, which, he thinks, has had
much to do with
lengthening out his long life. He has never been a member of secret
or fraternal societies
or orders.
BELLES CORKLE HUFF JAQUES MAY
Submitted by Amy K Davis
