Adrian Asbury Beecher ^{1 2 3}

   Another name for Adrian was Adrian A. Bitcher.^{4 5 6 7}

   FamilySearch ID: 297B-YPX.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Census in 1860 in Pierson Twp., Vigo, IN. ⁵ George Bitcher, 42, is living with wife Keziah, 35; Perry A., 14; Almira, 11; Almeda, 9; Lucinda, 6; Adrian A., 3. Also with them: Levi Grover, 67, and Malissa, 18. George, Keziah, and Perry are born in Ohio; and all other children in Indiana. Levi is born in ? [not a state or country name, and hard to read].

Next door is Charles W. Grover, 25, and his wife Pheobe, 20; Charles W., 4; and Mary L., 2.

2. Census in 1870 in Pierson Twp., Vigo, IN. ⁶ George Bitcher, farmer, 52, was living with wife Kissiah, 45; Perry, 24; Almida, 19; Mary L., 16; Adran A., 13; and May, 4. The parents and Perry were born in Ohio, and all other children in Indiana. The post office is Cookerly.

3. Census in 1880 in Pierson Twp., Vigo, IN. ⁴ Adrian Bitcher, farmer, 23, was living with wife Catharine, 22. They were born in Indiana, as was Catharine's parents. Adrian's parents were from Ohio.

4. Moved: 1887, Terre Haute, Vigo, IN. ¹

5. Book: History of Virgo County, Indiana, 1891. ¹⁰
Adrian A. Bitcher, Pierson township, P. O. Soonover, is secretary of the F. M. B. A. of Virgo county, and is a popular young man. He is a native of Pierson township, Virgo county, Ind., and was born March 26, 1857, a son of George and Keziah (Grover) Bitcher, former of whom was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, July 14, 1818, and died in Pierson township, this county, June 7, 1887. Keziah Grover, was born near Lancaster, Ohio, September 13, 1824, and now resides on the home farm. They were married in Ohio, and moved from there, in 1855, to Vigo county, Ind., their entire means consisting of $30 in cash, a team and a wagon. At that time George Bitcher commenced to improve the farm where his window now lives, consisting of 185 acres of Vigo county's best land, well stocked and improved. Mr. Bitcher was well known and respected by all. At an early date he was one of the trustees of Pierson township, but never afterward, although urged to be by his many friends, would he accept offers of official trust. He was a member for many years, as is his widow, of Fletcher Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he was a Republican. His parents were Abram and Elizabeth (Coffinberry) Bitcher, former of whom was born in Basle, Switzerland, and came to the United States before his marriage, locating in Ohio, after residing in Pennsylvania for a term of years. His wife was a native of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Keziah (Grover) Bitcher is a daughter of Levi and Cassie Grover, who were from Vermont. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. George Bitcher was blessed by the birth of six children - four daughters and two sons - all of whom are living, Adrian A. being the fifth in order of birth. He attended the schools of Pierson township, also Ascension Academy, in Sullivan, Ind., and at the age of sixteen commenced to teach school in Fayette township. Soon after, however, farming became his business. In 1885 he was made an honorary member of the Vigo county bar, both in the circuit and superior court, and in January, 1890, he was mad secretary of the F. M. B.A., which position he ably fills. For two years he was secretary and treasurer of Pierson Township Fair Association, which is soon to become a district fair, rivaling in importance and success the Vigo and Sullivan counties fair. On November 6, 1879, he was married to Miss Kate, daughter of Harden and Phoebe Hodges, and born in Vigo county in 1857. To their marriage have been born five children: Walter L., Mary Lucinda, Gertrude, Eloise, and Genevera. Mr. Bitcher is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mrs. Bitcher of the Missionary Baptist Church.

6. Census in 1900 in Terre Haute, Vigo, IN. ¹¹ Adrian A Beecher [indexed in census as Adrwin A. Bucher due to poor handwriting], 43, was born Mar 1857, and married for 20 years to wife Kate, 42, Sep 1857. She had birthed 7 children, all alive in 1900. With them: Walter L. 19, Mar 1881; Lucinda M, 17, Apr 1883; Gertrude, 15, Dec 1884; Elouise, 12, Oct 1887; Genevra, 10, Nov 1889; Samuel E., 7, Apr 1893; and Katherine, 4, Apr 1896. Everyone and their parents were born in Indiana, except Adrian's parents were born in Switzerland.

7. Census in 1920 in Terre Haute, Vigo, IN. ¹² Living at 1009 North 8th Street was Adiran Beecher, lawyer, 62, was living with wife Kate, 62; daughter Eloise, school teacher, 31; daughter Katherine Hopp, 23, widow; and her son William, 2. Everyone and their parents were born in Indiana, except Adrian's parents were from Switzerland and spoke German.

8. Book: History of Indiana from Its Exploration to 1922, 1922. ¹
[Note: his picture appears on a full page in this book]

Adrian A. Beecher, who is favorably known to the people of Terre Haute and Vigo county as an attorney of ability, was born in this county March 26, 1857, the son of George L. and Kezia ( Grover) Beecher. His father and mother came from near Lancaster, Ohio in about 1847, and located in Pierson township, Vigo county. The trip was made overland in a covered wagon, and they started from Columbus, Ohio, where the father was at that time employed. His total capital was $35.00, but nothing daunted, he brought his wife and two children into what was then practically a virgin wilderness. He bought 185 acres of land, and by hard work and frugality, brought it into a high state of cultivation before his death. He cleared much of the tract, and built excellent outbuildings and residence, having all the improvements possible at that time.

They reared a family of six children : Perry A. ; Almira, who married Col. A. P. Asbury, now State Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic ; Almeda, who married Mr. Bazel Brown, who is now deceased ; Lucinda, Mrs. Henry Grover, who is now living at the old homestead where she has spent most of her life ; Adrian A., whose name heads this biography, and May, now deceased, who was Mrs. Rankin Winans, and lived in Kansas.

Mr. Adrian A. Beecher attended the district school in Pierson township, and for a few months was a student in Ascension Seminary at Sullivan, Indiana. At the age of sixteen he began teaching, his first license having been issued him by Mr. John Royse. He continued intermittently in this profession for two or three years, and then gave his entire attention to farming.

However, the profession of the law had always attracted him, and in 1887 he came to Terre Haute and went into the law office of Faris and Hamill, where he studied for two years, although he practiced from the beginning of this association. He was admitted to the bar before he came to Terre Haute to live, his admission having occurred in about 1884. He continued with Faris & Hamill for three years, and then refused a position with the firm as one of its members, and instead opened a law office in partnership with Mr. Frank A. Kelly. This association continued for four years, and for the ensuing three years Mr. Beecher practiced by himself. He then entered upon a partnership with Mr. Ben Henderson which endured for four years, or until Mr. Henderson made way for Mr. Charles C. Whitlock, who continued as Mr. Beecher's partner until the Spanish-American war, when Mr. Whitlock entered the service of the United States. Mr. Beecher went on with his practice alone until his son, Samuel E. Beecher, was graduated from the Indiana Law School at Indianapolis and returned to Terre Haute to become associated with his father.

Mr. Beecher was married in 1879 to Kate Hodges, who was born and reared in Linton township, Vigo County, the daughter of Harden Hodges, who was accidentally killed, and the granddaughter of John Hodges, one of the earliest settlers of Vigo county, and at one time a member of the legislature.

To Mr. and Mrs. Beecher the following children have been born: Walter, a farmer in this county; Lucinda, a graduate of the Indiana State Normal School, and now Mrs. Harry Snyder, of Terre Haute; Gertrude, who married Mr. Walter H. Garrigus, a native of Parke county, Indiana, a graduate of Rose Polytechnic Institute, and now a resident of Terre Haute ; Eloise, a graduate of the Indiana State Normal, has taught continuously for fourteen years, and makes her home with her parents; Genevra, who married Mr. Augustus Nelson, a native of Baldwin county, Alabama, now living in Mobile ; Samuel E., a graduate of the Indiana Law School, and now associated in practice with his father; and Katheryn, the widow of Mr. William Hopp, who was killed on the Vandalia Railroad, is a graduate of the State Normal School, teaches in the Terre Haute schools, and lives at home with her father and mother. The mother of Mr. Adrian A. Beecher's father was a Coffinbury. The Coffinburys have been a race of prominent lawyers, practically every one of its male representatives having followed the profession. Wright L. Coffinbury taught John Sherman, and laid out the city of Grand Rapids, Mich., and was about the only one of the family who was not a lawyer.

Mr. Beecher is keenly interested in local historical matters, and is at present engaged in writing a history of the life of Joseph Liston, the first white man that ever planted a crop in Vigo county. This crop was planted and harvested in 1811, and Liston furnished the corn for the men under General William Henry Harrison when they built Fort Harrison on the Wabash.

Adrian married Katharine Hodges, daughter of Harden Hodges and Phebe Lovelace, in 1879.¹ (Katharine Hodges was born on 27 Sep 1857 in Linton Twp., Vigo, IN,^{1 4 7 11 12 13} died on 9 Jun 1948 in Terre Haute, Vigo, IN ¹³ and was buried in Terre Haute: Highland Lawn Cemetery, Vigo, IN ¹³.)