EDWARD GILL BREWER.

Among the strong and influential citizens of Johnson county the record of whose lives have become an essential part of the history of this section, the gentleman whose name appears above occupies a prominent place and for years he has exerted a beneficial influence in the locality where he resides. His chief characteristics are keenness of perception, a tireless energy, honesty of purpose and motive, and every-day common sense, which have enabled him not only to advance his own interests, but also largely contribute to the moral and material advancement of the community.

Edward Gill Brewer, than whom no farmer in Pleasant township, Johnson county, Indiana, enjoys a higher degree of popular confidence and regard, was born on the farm where he now lives on September 23, 1860, and is the son of David D. Brewer, who was born in Kentucky in 1812 and died on April 24, 1884. The subject’s paternal grandfather, Daniel Brewer, a native of Kentucky, came to Johnson county early in the thirties and entered the present rural homestead. David D. Brewer married Nancy Green, a native of Tennessee and the daughter of George Green. She was born in l825, was brought to Johnson county by her parents in an early day, and her death occurred in 1901. By her union with Mr. Brewer she became the mother of six children, namely: Daniel A., who lives on a part of the old homestead in Pleasant township; Mary J., who died in 1900; E. G., the subject of this sketch; two who died in infancy, and John, who died at the age of two years. David D. Brewer was a prominent man in the community in his day and at one time owned three hundred and eighty acres of fine farm land near Whiteland. He was also largely interested in the First National Bank of Franklin, and at the time of the bank’s failure lost between fifty and sixty thousand dollars. He was progressive in his disposition and enterprising in his attitude toward local matters, being an influential man and active in the advancement of the community’s best interests. Politically, he was a Democrat, religiously, a Presbyterian.

The subject of this sketch received his education in the Whiteland schools, though he was compelled by necessity to leave school at the age of eighteen years and assist his father in the operation of the home farm. At the latter’s death he inherited a share of the estate, comprising one hundred acres, the operation of which he has been successful and to which he added eighty acres. At one time he owned two hundred and fifty acres, but of this he has sold seventy acres. He carries on a diversified system of farming and raises all the crops known to this locality and gives a share of his attention to live stock. He has at present forty-five acres planted to corn, thirty-three acres in wheat and three acres in hay, eight acres in peas and twenty acres in clover. In live stock his annual output is one hundred and fifty hogs, he having more than two hundred animals on the place, and he feeds about one load of cattle, having also twenty head of horses and mules. The farm is kept up to the highest standard of agricultural excellence and its general appearance and the method of its operation reflects great credit on the sound judgment, wise discrimination and indefatigable energy of the owner.

Politically, Mr. Brewer has given his ardent support to the Democratic party, but has been in no sense a seeker after the honors of public office for himself. Fraternally, he belongs to the Free and Accepted Masons and Knights of Pythias, belonging to the Franklin lodge of the first named order, while his religious affiliations are with the Presbyterian church, in the prosperity of which he is deeply interested.

In I889 Mr. Brewer married Cora Vanarsdell, the daughter of Jackson Vanarsdell, a native of Kentucky. Mrs. Brewer was also born in the old Blue Grass state, where she was reared and where her marriage occurred. To this union have been born two children, namely: Wilbur Jackson, born in August, 1890, graduated from Franklin College, and for the past two years has been teacher of English in the high school at Sioux City, Iowa; Norval David, the younger son, was born on December 16, 1901, is a graduate of the Whiteland high school and now has practical charge of the home farm. That Mr. Brewer is enterprising in his operation is evidenced by the fact that in 1897 he bought forty acres of land north of the interurban crossing at Whiteland, for which he paid two hundred and twenty-five dollars per acre, and three years later he sold this for three hundred doIlars per acre, a substantial profit. In all his operations he is actuated by the highest motives, his relations with his fellow citizens having been such as to gain their confidence and good will, and, because of his unassuming manners and genial disposition, he has earned and retains the sincere regard of all who know him.