RICHARD WILLIAM HOKE.-A worthy representative of the agriculturists of Sullivan county, and a respected and highly esteemed citizen of Haddon township, is Richard William Hoke, of this brief personal history, in which are recorded a few of the more important events of his life. A son of George H. Hoke, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work, he was born in Widner township, Knox county, Indiana, April 4, 1862, of pioneer ancestry. His father was three times married. By his first wife, whose maiden name was Mary H. Pearce, he had three children, of whom Richard W., is the only survivor. George H. Hoke married, second, Mary Polk, who bore him three children. By his marriage with his present wife, Alice Scanling, he has one child.
Brought up in Widner township, Richard W. Hoke obtained his early education in the district schools, and until twenty-six years of age assisted in the care of the home farm, in the meantime acquiring a practical knowledge of the science and art of agriculture. Buying then the old Pearce homestead, on which his grandfather, Richard William Pearce, settled in the very early part of the past century, while the Indians were still numerous, and while
"The forests in their grandeur all proud and noble stood,
Ere the woodman's blows rang echoing in the deep and darksome wood."
Continuing the improvements previously begun. Mr. Hoke has added greatly to the value of his property, his buildings being now in excellent repair, and his house occupying a beautiful site on a natural elevation. As a general farmer, he has met with richly deserved success, both as a grain raiser and as a stock breeder and feeder, raising each year from two to four carloads of hogs, an industry which brings him much money, as do his two carloads of cattle which he ships each year. Mr. Hoke has also other interests of value, being a stockholder in the People's State Bank of Carlisle. He is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, and a member of Carlisle Lodge, No. 3. F. & A. M.
On March 5, 1889, Mr. Hoke married Mary Osborn, who was born in Widner township, Knox county, Indiana, September 17, 1865, a daughter of Wines and America (Colton) Osborn. Her father was born in Greene county, Indiana, December 20, 1839, and her mother was born November 3. 1842, in Haddon township, Sullivan county. They were married in 1864, in Haddon township, and after living for a year in Greene county, settled in Widner township, Knox county, where they resided until 1900, when they retired from farming, and have since made their home in Oaktown. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Osborn, as follows: Mary, wife of Mr. Hoke; Emma, deceased; Anna, wife of Lee Bond, of Oaktown; and Theodore W., of Oaktown. Mr. and Mrs. Hoke have one child, George Osborn Hoke, born June 5, 1897, now attending school in Carlisle. Religiously, Mrs. Hoke is a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In December, 1906, Mr. Hoke, his wife and little son Osborn made a pleasure trip to Monterey, Mexico, and spent some two months in the land of the Montezumas. Mr. Hoke is known amongst the citizens of Carlisle as an intrepid hunter and dead shot, and passionately fond of the chase. Whilst in the mountain wilds of Mexico, he killed fourteen deer, one Mexican tiger, one haviline or wild hog and a mountain wolf and hundreds of ducks. He had the skins of the animals tanned by a Mexican and they adorn his country residence. He killed the Mexican tiger with a No. 303 "Savage" rifle, sixty yards distance, whilst the animal was feeding upon the carcass of a deer which Mr. Hoke had slain. He expects to again spend some of the hunting seasons in that country. His father, George Hoke, and wife also spent a vacation at Monterey and Tampico, on the Gulf of Mexico. Richard Hoke and his brother Charles, who is a resident of Monterey, witnessed four bull fights, which is the national sport in Mexico.