INDIANA 1I()RTICULTIT|;AT, SOCIRTV. 5.11 



T. S. Willetts. NatliMiiicl \\'('st. .Toscph Boelcr, Iloury Cobuni, Calvin 

 Fletchor, Abner Poiio, I'owt'll Ilowiand and others, all of Marion County. 

 These worthy fathers shonid Ito l<oi»t in brij,'ht ronionibrance by us, their 

 descendants, who now enjoy so nuich as tlie result of their good work 

 and example. 



The immediate suceessor of Mr. Aldridge as the leading nurseryman 

 of Marion County was Martin AVilliams, who had his nursery on part of 

 the h\nd now occupied by CroAvn Hill Cemetery. In about 1859 the firm of 

 Fletcher (our late associate and friend, Calvin), Williams & Loomis was 

 organized. Mr. Williams contributed his accumulated stock at Crown 

 Hill, and thus became a member of the firm. This firm woiild doubtless 

 have l)een successful and ultimately Iiave grown into iniportan(,-e Ijut for 

 the rebellion and succeeding war. that almost completely paralyzed all 

 peaceful pursuits for the time being. In the meantime, John F. Hill, who 

 administered the Aldridge estate, had for a time continued the l)usiness 

 in his own name on the old site, wliieli was l)etween the Deaf and 

 Dumb Asylum and the older portion of the eity. But real estate had now 

 become very valuable in that locality, and the enterprise of Mr. Hill was 

 soon directed into a different and more remunerative channel— that of real 

 estate agent. 



In about 1830 the pioneer nursery of ^Morgan County was established 

 at Monrovia by the late Joshua Lindley, of North Carolina. For intelli- 

 gence and enterprise among pioneer nurserymen of his day Mr. L. stood 

 in the front rank. He continued in the business at Monrovia until about 

 1843, when, on account of climatic conditions, he returned to his native 

 State, wliere he lived until rip.e old age and left as a legacy to posterity 

 his only son, heir and successor, the present J. Van Lindley, than whom 

 the South has no n\oro. worthy or enterprising citizen. Mr. Lindley, while 

 a resident of Indiana, was especially active in securing and testing new 

 and promising varieties of fruits. The pear was a great favorite of his, 

 and he was, i>eyond doubt, the first to fruit the Bartlett within the bor- 

 ders of th.e State. Of this fact the Indiana Farmer for August, 1840, page 

 3, bears me witness, where the testing of the first specimen grown on his 

 place is made a matter of record. 



Hendricks County's pioneer nurseryman was James Sigerson, who 

 established a nursery near the present village of Avon. He also was an 

 intelligent and enterprising man, who later became a noted pioneer nur- 

 seryman near Oirondelet, just .south of the city of St. Louis, Mo. His 

 successor at Avon, Indiana, was George W. Merritt, who, in October, 1840, 

 exhibited fruit of his own growing before the Indiana Horticultural 

 Society, at Indianapolis, and received the following notice by the Com- 

 mittee of Awards: "By George W. Merritt, Large Merritt Apple, Vande- 

 vere Tippin and otlier kinds." This record may be found in the October 

 munl)er of tlie Iiidian.i Farmer for 1S40. and I quote the same because of 

 the opportunity it affords me, and it is a pleasure as well, of saying that 



