Compendiumof Biography Of Henry County, Indiana B. F. Bowen 1920                                                   THOMAS WILHOIT.                             Surnames: Douglas, Bowers, Huston, Henshaw, Maloney, Wertz,McKee, Jackson,                    Pickering, Baughn, Allshouse                Thomas Wilhoit, late proprietor of the Pine Grove ShorthornStock Farm at Middletown, Henry County, Indiana, was born in Adams county,Ohio, March 20, 1822, His parents, Moses and Nancy (Douglas) Wilhoit, werenatives of and married in Kentucky, but, from that state removed to Ohio, withone child, and there resided until   September, 1831, when they came to Henry County, Indiana, and settled on what is still known as the Wilhoit farm, three and one half miles south of Middletown. The land was then deep in the forest and was entered by Moses Wilhoit from the government, and on which he died at the age of seventy years, his wife dying when eighty-four. This venerable couple were the parents of nine children, all of whom reached mature age save one, who died when ten years old.The Sons of this family were as follows: John, who went to Iowa about the year 1840, but later removed to Oregon, where he died when eighty-one years old;Thomas, whose name stands at the head of this biography; Joseph, who went to Fulton County, Indiana, about 1863, and there passed the remainder of his life;Benjamin, the only surviving son, lives in New Castle, Henry county, Indiana.Of the daughters, Elizabeth was married to Henry Bowers, but is now deceased;Leonora, also deceased, was the wife of Asa Huston; Sarah Ann, who was married to Calvin Henshaw, and Margaret, who was the wife of William Maloney, are likewise deceased, and Mary died when but ten years old. The late Thomas Wilhoit was reared on the parental farm in Ohio until nine years old and was then brought to Indiana where he was reared to manhood in Henry County. February 22, 1844, he married Mary Huston, who was born in Wayne County, October 20, 1824, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Wertz) Huston, natives of Pennsylvania who were married in Ohio and thence came to Indiana and resided in Madison County and in Wayne County until 1833. Their daughter, Mary, was twenty years old when she was married in Adams Township, Madison County. The Wilhoit and Huston families lived but five miles apart and attended the same church, the Methodist Episcopal at Mechanicsburg, and were therefore quite intimate. Soon after his marriage, Thomas Wilhoit and his two surviving brothers each received twenty acres of the home farm and each built a cabin, but Thomas soon afterwards purchased the tracts owned by his two brothers and finally bought his father’s share in the property. Thomas lived ten years in his cabin on his twenty acres following the occupation of farming, and in 1855 built the Wilhoit residence near the old home; later he added eighty acres to his home place, but just opposite, and still later added two-thirds of an eighty-acre tract adjoining.   Ever in the lead, Mr. Wilhoit began breeding shorthorn cattle about 1851. He first bought two heifers and a bull from Milton Thornburg, of Wayne County, for which he paid thirty-five dollars per head, the stock being unregistered. His neighbors  signalized the act as an insane one and the ridicule caused him to sell one of the animals. Later on he purchased the samebreed in Kentucky, paying for some of his animals as high as five hundred dollars per head, and about 1880 bought the shorthorn bull Athelstand II, for which he paid three hundred and fifty dollars.This animal was  of the best prize-winning blood of that time and his use marked one of the most strikinge pochs in American Shorthorn history. His exhibits in the ‘eighties were marvels of substantial flesh, and he was classed among the greatest breeders of the time.   Mr. Wilhoit was a man of few words, but was thoroughly practical in his under- takings. His herds at times numbered from ninety to one hundred head, and his exhibits were made at all the great state fairs of Illinois,Missouri, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio, and at one time he had the finest herd in United States. He always realized good prices in making sales, getting from four hundred to six hundred dollars per head and more than once refused one thousand dollars each for choice heifers. He continued to make exhibits of his stock up to the latest years of his life and never lost faith in his method of breeding; even when stock fell off in price he kept his own registered, believing that a reaction would take place. He lost three head of his finest animals a few months before his final sale, but at his death, which occurred August 21, 1893, he had acquired a handsome competency. In politics Mr. Wilhoitwas quite active as a Republican and served his fellow citizens as such for four years in the capacity of county commissioner. In religion a Methodist, he donated land for a church edifice, which was erected in 1888, and is still known as the Wilhoit church, and of which he was a trustee, steward, etc. To the marriage of Thomas and Mary (Huston) Wilhoit were born two children,Tabitha Ellen and Nimrod Scott. Tabitha Ellen has been twice married, first to James McKee and, secondly, to Benton Jackson. She now resides in Shirley, Henry County, and has two children, Ida, wife of F. E. Pickering, who conducts the old Wilhoit farm, and Roscoe McKee,residing on the old McKee homestead. Nimrod Scott Wilhoit son of Thomas and Mary, married May Catherine Baughn and died in his thirtieth year. Nimrod Scott wedded May Catherine Baugh, and by her had two children, Charles Clarence, who is married and resides in Middletown and Pearl, deceased, who was the wife of Artemus Allshouse, of Cadiz, Indiana. Thomas Wilhoit, outside of stockbreeding, was also engaged to a large extent in the development of Middletown’s enterprises. He aided in starting the bank, was its largest stockholder and its vice-president, and also largely interested in pike roads. Mrs. Wilhoit is a member of a family of eleven children, of whom one brother and       one sister beside herself are still living, and no residents of Middletown are more highly respected than Mrs.Wilhoit. She has spent over half a century in this township, and has watched its growth from a veritable wilderness to its present high plane of civilization, having also witnessed the laying of all the railroads in the county. She is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is greatly beloved because of her kindly spirit and noble deeds.          q