SAMUEL F. BADDERS.-Although long and prominently identified with the agricultural and business interests of Sullivan county, Samuel F. Badders, was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, January 5, 1827, a son of James and Christena (Frey) Badders, both of whom were born in York county, Pennsylvania. They went to Ohio just after the war of 1812, but in 1829 returned to Pennsylvania, where they spent the remainder of their lives on a farm in Beaver county, the husband preceding his wife in death several years. Their estate in Beaver county consisted of three hundred and eighty-two acres of land.
Samuel F. Badders secured his educational training in the district schools of Pennsylvania, and in 1845 he started out in life for himself in connection with a wholesale and retail grocery house in Wellsville, Ohio. After he had been there two years the house purchased a steamboat and Mr. Badders was given the choice of staying in the store or going on the boat. He had studied steamboat bookkeeping at Duffs Commercial College at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and choosing the latter, he was to receive thirty-five dollars for the first year and fifty dollars for the second year, and he was just one dollar in debt at the close of his two years service. For several years he was employed on different boats, and during the latter part of his service on the water he received as high as one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month. He continued boating until 1853, and after the death of his wife he resumed the occupation, and was in Florida and other points in the South for one year. In 1857 he came to Sullivan county and bought four hundred acres of canal land, which was almost entirely covered with timber. He at once began the arduous task of clearing and preparing his land for cultivation, and he has resided on this farm ever since, it now containing four hundred and twenty acres of rich and highly improved land, richly underlaid with coal, but he has sold the coal from three hundred and five acres of the tract. He is engaged in general farming and stock raising, and aside from being one of the representative farmers of Jackson township he is perhaps the oldest living member of the bar of Sullivan county. The exact time of his admittance is not known, as no records were kept by the clerk at that time, and in all the walks of life he is honored among the people with whom he has so long made his home.
On the 5th of January, 1854, Mr. Badders was united in marriage to Miss Harriett Todd, a daughter of Joshua and Rachael (Wiley) Todd, both of whom died in Columbiana county, Ohio. Mrs. Badders has joined them in the home beyond, dying in 1856, and her two children, Emma Luella and Tascala Adella, are also deceased. On the 8th of June, 1858, Mr. Badders wedded Miss Mary Snowden, who was born in Ireland to Orr and Nancy (Alartin) Snowden, her natal day being the 16th of March, 1832, and in 1852 she came with her parents to the United States and to Sullivan county, Indiana, locating near the home of her future husband. The parents spent the remainder of their lives here. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Badders, namely: Indiana, the wife of E. H. Irwin, of Cleburne county, Arkansas; Harry M. who is married and also resides in that county; Martin E., at home; John Charles, who married, but his wife is deceased, and he lives near his father's farm; Marietta, the wife of William M. Case; Samuel Burton, deceased; Clinton S., at home; Lewti, the deceased wife of Charles Shivers; Nina, now Mrs. Gordon; and William Webster, who married Leona Allen, deceased, and he resides in Hebron, Arkansas. Mr. Badders is a Socialist in politics. He has been a Mason since 1872, at Lewis, Indiana.