JAMES H. STUCK, a prominent farmer in Curry township, was born in this township May 23, 1858, and on the paternal side is a descendant of an old southern family from Kentucky and a grandson of William and Polly (Smock) Stuck. The grandfather came from his native state of Kentucky to Sullivan county, Indiana, during an early epoch in its history, and he was a millwright and farmer.


Henry Stuck, a son of William and Polly Stuck, was born after the removal of his parents to Sullivan county, and when the Civil war was inaugurated he became a member of the Thirty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but his death occurred shortly after his enlistment. In his early manhood he had married Sarah E. Vest, a daughter of John and Polly (Johns) Vest. John Vest, who followed both carpentering and house moving, lived for a time in Boone county, Indiana, from whence he later came to Sullivan county and finally became a resident of Terre Haute. From there he went to Kansas, to the home of one of his daughters, and died there at the age of ninety-five years. Mrs. Stuck still survives her husband and is living in Terre Haute.


James H. Stuck, the only one living of the four children born to Henry and Sarah Stuck, supplemented his common school training by a course in the seminary at Farmersburg, and when the time came to select a life's occupation he chose that of farming. After his marriage he purchased and moved to a farm in Jackson township of sixty acres, but in 1894 he sold that tract and bought forty-eight acres in Curry township. There he lived and farmed until after the death of Mrs. Stuck's mother, and from that time until 1905 he lived on the Hill farm. In that year he purchased fifteen acres of his present homestead, but he has since added to this little farm from time to time until he now owns eighty-three acres, located one mile west of Shelburn.


He married, July 22, 1880, Mallie Hill, who was born in Curry township November 27, 1860, a daughter of Paschal and Lettie Hill. They have two children, Effie E. and Zula M., born respectively June 10, 1887, and April 10, 1897. The younger daughter is now attending the public schools. Mr. Stuck is a stanch Republican politically, and fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Shelburn Lodge, No. 420, and the Encampment, and of the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 3744, at Farmersburg. He is a member of the Baptist church.