My Genealogy Hound

JAMES S. GREATHOUSE, a descendant of some of the earliest and most prominent pioneers of Spencer County, was born in the county May 13, 1833. His father, John B. Greathouse was born February 12, 1797, in Kentucky, where he learned the tanner’s trade. When about twenty-one years old he came to this county, where he followed his trade in connection with farming the remainder of his life. He died May 2, 1857. Elizabeth Grass, the mother of our subject, was born in Kentucky, December 22, 1803. She was a daughter of Judge Daniel Grass, who came to this county between 1800 and 1805. His parents were murdered and his sisters captured and killed by the Indians in Kentucky. After that occurrence, he lived with William R. Hynes in Nelson County, Ky., and may have come to this section to attend to the possession of that gentleman, who was a large land owner here. Daniel Grass married Jane Smithers, in Daviess County, Ky., and soon after located on land near the present site of Rockport, and later settled on a farm near the line of the township which now bears his name. He was a member of the Indiana Legislature, and Judge of the County Court for a number of years. James S. Greathouse received a limited education in youth, but afterward attended the Rockport school and acquired a good practical education. April 6, 1862, he married Catharine W. Scammahorn, a daughter of Rev. Jacob Scammahorn, a United Brethren preacher, who came to the county in 1850. This union has been blessed with five children: John F., James V., Tina M., Nellie D. and Jacob S. Mr. Greathouse is a stanch Republican, a member of the Royal Arch Degree of the Masonic fraternity, and is one of the most enterprising and highly esteemed citizens of the county.