"COUNTIES OF MORGAN, MONROE & BROWN, INDIANA. HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL."
CHARLES BLANCHARD, EDITOR. CHICAGO: F. A. BATTEY & CO. PUBLISHERS. 1884.
F. A. BATTEY.  F. W. TEPPLE

MORGAN COUNTY, INDIANA
GREEN TOWNSHIP
PAGE 358

RICHARD A. ABRAHAM was born in Morgan County, Ind., July 4, 1842.  He is
the son of William and Maria (Arnold) Abraham, both natives of England.  William
Abraham was a resident of this township for thirty-seven years.  He was born in the
Isle of Wight, England, in 1815, and is the son of James and Sarah (Pittis) Abraham.
James was born in the Isle of Wight about the year 1777.  His wife Sarah also was 
born in the Isle of Wight.  James and Sarah were married in 1810;  on May 26, 1821, 
the husband, wife and five children embarked for America, arriving in Philadelphia July
19, 1821, and thence proceeded to Newcomerstown, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and
thence in a few years to Deersville, Harrison County, Ohio, where they permanently 
resided until his death at the age of eighty-two years.  He was the father of seven child-
ren, three of whom are still living, and of whom William is the second son.  The latter
was only six years of age when he crossed the Atlantic, but he still remembers many 
incidents of the voyage.  After reaching manhood, he traveled down the Ohio River
into the then wild regions of the Lower Mississippi River through the States of Louis-
iana, Mississippi and Arkansas, and as far north as Wisconsin.  Returning home to 
Deersville, he there married, on October 7, 1840, Maria, daughter of John Arnold.
She was also born in the Isle of Wight on September 18, 1817.  With her parents
and in the same vessel with the Abraham family, she emigrated to America in 1821.
John Arnold, soon after his arrival, proceeded with his family to Rush County, Ind.,
and entered a half section of land east of Rushville, which land is still owned by his
children, and on which he died June 27, 1864, aged seventy-six years.  His wife, 
Mary Ann Cole, was also born in the Isle of Wight.  After his marriage, William 
Abraham proceeded with his young wife to Cumberland, Marion County, Ind., 
where, ten miles from Indianapolis, he purchased 160 acres of land, and moved on
it.  The land at that early day not being considered desirable, he soon disposed of
it and came to Green Township, Morgan County, and moved on a farm he had pre-
viously purchased, and which is at present owned by his son, Richard A.  He moved
on this farm in December, 1845, and lived here about sixteen years.  In 1861, he
moved to what was known as the John Hughes farm--now owned by William R.
Abraham--where he lived until 1882, when he moved to near Providence, Johnson
County, where he still resides.  During the many years which William Abraham has 
been a resident of Morgan County, he and his wife have braved many hardships
and suffered many privations, but they have been rewarded with a competence for
themselves and their children.  Richard A., the eldest of the children, and our subject,
came to this county with his parents, and, on April 6, 1870, was married to Mrs. 
Mary A. Flake, the widow of Aimor Flake, and daughter of Henry and Sarah (Davis)
Elkins.  She was born in this county on March 22, 1849.  After his marriage he settled
in this township, where he has since remained, moving on the farm which he at present
occupies in the year 1873.  He owns over 700 acres of land.  Mr. Abraham and wife 
are the parents of three children, viz., Alfred O., Nora and Richard.  Both are members
of the Christian Church.