Pylant Geneology

BIOGRAPHY OF DAVID B. PILANT (From History of Clay County, IN)

DAVID B. PILANT - A worthy representative of the agricultural interests of Clay county, David B. Pilant owns and occupies a good homestead in Van Buren township, where he has a substantial frame residence and all the necessary out-buildings for the storing of hay and grain and the care and shelter of his stock.
A native of Indiana, he was born in Henry county March 18, 1838, a son of James Pilant.
Born and brought up in North Carolina, James Pilant, determining to take advange of all offered for securing the comforts of life, came as a young man to Indiana, then a frontier state, locating first in Henry county. Investing his money in a tract of land of which a few acres were cleared and on which a log cabin had been built he began the improvement of a homestead. Not quite satisfied with the results of his labors he disposed of that property in 1857, came to Clay county, and in section one, Van Buren township, bought a tract of heavily timbered land. Clearing a goodly portion of the land, he was here employed in tilling the soil until his death, about fifteen years later, at the allotted age of seventy years. He married Elizabeth Tweedy, who was born in North Carolina, a daughter of James and Elizabeth Tweedy. James Tweedy, a native of England, was, it is supposed, the only member of his family to cross the Atlantic. He followed the sea for a few years after his emigration and then located in North Carolina. From there he migrated to Indiana, becoming a pioneer of Van Buren township, Henry county, where on the farm that he improved from government land he spent his remaining days.
Mr. and Mrs. James Pilant had nine children, as follows: Joshua, David, Elizabeth, Maria, Whitman, Millie, James, Jonathan and Joanna.
Born in this little log cabin in which his father's family first lived on coming to this state, David B. Pilant remembers well the trials and hardships incidental to pioneer life. When he was a boy, railroads were conspicuous by their absence, and the surplus produce of the farms had to be taken by teams to Cambridge City, the nearest market and depot for supplies, and also to Cincinnati. The family lived principally on wild game and the production of their land, and in common with others, dressed in homespun garments woven and made by the mother. Coming with his parents to Clay county, Mr. Pilant remained with them until his marriage; when he rented land and began work for himself as a farmer. He subsequently bought forty acres of land in section one and lived there for awhile. Selling out, he purchased his present homestead of one hundred and twenty acres in section fifteen and at once began cutting off the dense timber which covered it from one end to the other. Toiling with well-directed energy and wisdom, he has evolved a good farm from the forest, erected excellent frame buildings, and made other improvements of value, everything about the place bespeaking the thrift and good management of the owner.
In November 1858 Mr. Pilant married Jane Poff, who was born in Van Buren township, Clay county, where her parents, Samuel and Sarah Poff, settled as pioneers, coming here from Virginia, their native state. Eight children have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Pilant, six of whom are living, namely: Octavia, Mary Sophronia, Peter J., David Milton, John F. and Elizabeth Catherine. Azbarine died at the age of one year and seven months and Sarah Amanda, who married Joseph Bultz, died at the age of twenty-five years. Mr. and Mrs. Pilant are held in high respect throughout the community in which they reside, and are valued and consistent members of the Christian church.