| William H Neff |
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He Was Well Known in Delaware County. Spent A Fortune Had Made It by Manufacture of Washing Machines. Died A Physical Wreck William H. Neff. 54, died at 5 o'clock Sunday morning at the home of his son, John Neff, in Cowan. He had been ill for several weeks with yellow jaundice, which was the cause of his death. William H. Neff was born Sept. 19, 1848, in Rockingham county, Virginia. His ancestors were native Virgi-nians. While still young he entered upon an apren- ticeship to learn the carpenter's trade. When about twenty-one years old, Mr. Neff came to Indiana and located in Henry county. He worked for some time as a farm laborer in Henry and Delaware counties and later took up the carpenter's trade again. Meanwhile he had been giving much time to the perfecting of an improved washing machine, for which he was granted a patent in 1882. In the same year he began its manufacture on a small scale at Cowan. In 1891, the factory was enlarged for the fourth time and made into the largest ana most thoroughly equipped establishment of its kind in the United States. William H. Neff was united in marriage on November 6, 1871, to Helen Fulton, of Delaware county, They were the parents of six children, Sanford Neff, Mrs. Alberta Rinker, Edward, John. Lillie and Nellie Neff. Mr. Neff had been a member of Lodge No. 561, I. O. O. F., and Cheyenne Tribe, No. 133. I. O. R. M. The funeral services will be cconducted from the Friends church Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock. The body will be interred in Beech Grove ceme- tery. "William H. Neff was a friend of every one in his more prosperous days," said a man Sunday evening, who knew him intimately for a number of years. "He was born a mechanical genius," he continued. "Untll drink wrecked his career, he was industrious and possessed of marked business ability. It may be truly said of him," he ended, "that his only enemy was himseif. Whiskey was the cause of the downfall of William Neff. He was a moderate drinker for several years. Then when his invention of a washing machine and the machine's subsequent manufacture, brought him wealth, he became too prosperous. He began to dissipate. That, was in 1898. At that time, he was in spiendid financial condition. But he neglected his business. He heavily mortgaged 168 acres of land that he owned in Monroe township. He was worth at least $20,000 when his downward career began. The day of his death,he was worth practically nothlng. In four years he lost everything, not by speculation but by drink and other forms of dissipation. Mrs. Neff was granted a divorce from him, in 1900. About this time he disposed of his washing machine factory in Cowan, to his son, Sanford C.Neff, and his son-in-law, Jerry Fitzpatrick. With the cash in his possession, he went downward even at a more rapid pace than he had traveled before. The ravages of disease came as an aftermath of fast living. He became a physical wreck. As a culmination of his unfortu- nate career came the suit for $10,000 damages filed by William Matthews who had been a tenant on Neff's farm near Cowan. Matthews claimed that Neff had alienated Mrs. Matthews' affections. The case was tried in the Delaware circuit court, last October. The Jury was out for hours and just returned a verdict granting the plaintiff a trivial amount. The evidence in the trial was followed, day by day, by many former friends of the defendant and when the verdict was announced they were truly glad for old friendship's sake, that it was as it was. For several years, Neff'a invention court, last secured for him a monopoly of the washing machine trade. He sold his machines all over the civilized world. In 1892, probably his most prosperous year, the sales of washing machine aggregated, in round numbers, $17,000. |