Immediately he said to himself, "If she ain't married there goes my
wife." Sometime later they met and were married Christmas day in 1866.
To this union twelve children were born four of whom are living today,
two in Gary and the others in the south. After his marriage he lived on
a farm near Glasgow for several years, later moving to Louisville, where
he worked in a lumber yeard. He came to Gary in 1924, two years after
the death of his wife.

President Grant was the first president for whom he cast his vote and he
continued to vote until old age prevented him from walking to the polls.

Although Lincoln is one of his favorite heroes, Teddy Roosevelt tops his
list of great men and he never failed to vote for him.

In 1926, he was the only one of three surviving memebers of the Grand
Army of the Republic in Gary and mighty proud of the fact that he was
the only one in the parade. In 1937 he is the sole survivor.

He served in the army as a member of Company K of the 108th, Kentucky
Infantry (Negro Volunteers).

When General Morgan, the famous southern raider, crossed the Ohio on his
raid across southern Indiana, John was one of the Negro fighters who
after heavy fighting, forced Morgan to recross the river and retreat
back to the south. He also participated in several skirmishes with the
cavalry troops commanded by the famous Nathan Bedfored Forrest, and was
a member of the Negro garrison at Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi which
was assaulted and captured. This resulted in a massacre of the negro
soldiers. John was in several other fights, but as he says, "never onct
got a skinhurt."