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Below is a family biography included in The History of Switzerland County, Indiana published by Weakley, Harraman & Co. in 1885. These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary. Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more. There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.
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SILAS H. VAN HOUTEN, merchant, Patriot, born in that village in 1854, is a son of James and Temperance (James) Van Houten, both of early families of this and Ohio Counties. His father was born in New York, came to Rising Sun with his parents when a child, grew up there and married. He subsequently dealt in produce and traded on the river, and in this manner continued most of his life, in which he made and lost a considerable fortune. He died in 1867. Mrs. Van Houten is still living, in her sixty-fourth year. They reared a family of six children to maturity, five still living: Polly (wife of James Stevenson), Laura (wife of Silas B. McHuron), Minnie, Carrie and Silas H. Our subject grew to maturity in Patriot, and was educated in its schools; began clerking with James Stevenson when quite young and continued with him till 1876, when he began business for himself in the grocery and provision trade. He was married in 1880 to Louella Harrison, daughter of Rev. William Harrison, of the Southeastern Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and they have one child, N. Grace.
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This family biography is one of 215 biographies included in The History of Switzerland County, Indiana published in 1885 by Weakley, Harraman & Co. For the complete description, click here: Switzerland County, Indiana History and Genealogy
View additional Switzerland County, Indiana family biographies here: Switzerland County, Indiana Biographies
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