Eli Russell Van Pelt
Eli Russell Van Pelt, farmer and stock raiser, was born in Adams County, Ohio, August 25, 1827. He is a son of Peter and Mary Van Pelt, natives of Tennessee, who came to Ohio and settled on a farm in Adams County, at an early day. In 1831 they removed to this county, and settled on a farm but a short distance south of the village of Staunton. Here the father resided until his death. His widow is still living on the farm with her son Simon and family. She is now in her eighty-second year, and shows marked evidences of her old age. For more than seventy years she has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They were the parents of twelve children: Charles, farmer, living in Highland County; Sarah, married to William Craig, and lives in Iowa; Mary, married to William Johnson, and lives in Kokonio, Indiana; Susan, married to Andrew Post, both deceased; Peggy A., deceased; Andrew, married, and lives in this county; Elizabeth, married to George Rowe, and resides in this county; William S., died in California, in 1856; Simon P., married, and lives on the farm with his mother; Malinda Jane, deceased; Oliver P., killed at the battle of Shiloh, in 1862.
Our subject, Eli R., went to California in 1851, and remained five years in the mines, which proved a financial success. Soon after his return home he married Malinda Jane Rowe, daughter of Martin Rowe. They are without children. They own and live on a most excellent farm of one hundred and twenty acres, adjoining the village of Staunton.
On Mr. Van Pelt's return home from California, they encountered a most terrible storm of four days' duration, when in the Gulf of Mexico, expecting every moment the vessel and all on board to be lost. This vessel was considered unsafe, and was condemned on her arrival at port, but was repainted and given the name of "Central America." On her first trip, when returning, she was met in the same gulf, and went down, losing some four hundred lives, and two millions in gold dust.
Mr. Van Pelt in politics is a staunch Republican. He is also a sound temperance man. Himself and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
From R. S. Dills' History of Fayette County