Short Biography of Peter C. Welborn

The Welborn family was among the early immigrants who came to Indiana from North Carolina. Joshua Welborn, the head of the family, was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, July 6, 1800. Phoebe (Haley) Welborn, his wife, was also a native of the same county, where she was born June 6, 1802. She was the sister of Jesse Healey, the first sheriff of Henry County. The Healeys came first to Indiana in 1818, settling in Wayne County, near Richmond. In the Spring of 1821, before the organization of the County of Henry, they settled near the present townsite of New Castle. Jesse H. Healey took an active part in the organization of the county and became the first sheriff as above noted.

Owing to the favorable reports sent by Jesse to his sister in North Carolina, as to the opportunities afforded by the new county, and to their desire to escape from the environments of slavery, Joshua Welborn and his wife and two children carne to Richmond in September, 1822, and in the Spring of 1823 settled in Henry County, first near the present-town of New Castie and afterwards, in the southwestern part of the county, where the family has ever since played an important part.

Joshua and Phoebe (Healey) Welborn were married September 22, 1818, and were the parents of twelve children, namely: Jesse, Peter C., William Joel, Oliver H., Shelby R., Marion E., Martin Van Buren, Irene Ellen, Joshua T. C., Amanda and Henry C. The two oldest children were born in North Carolina but all of the others are natives of Henry County. Joshua Welborn died November 23, 1878, and Phoebe (Healey) Welborn, his wife, died October 18, 1886, and both lie buried in the Old Cemetery, at Knightstown. The only survivors of this numerous family are Jesse, who is now living in Anderson, Indiana, at the advanced age of more than ninety years, and Joshua T. C. Welborn.

Joshua T. C. Welborn was a soldier of the Civil War in Company F, 11th Indiana Infantry and in Company F, 84th Indiana Infantry, reaching the rank of Captain in the latter. Shelby R. Welborn and Henry C. Welborn were also soldiers of the Civil War, the former in Company B, 42nd Indiana Infantry, and the latter in Company A, 139th Indiana Infantry. The military services of each of the above names are fully set forth in their respective regiments, as published in this History.

Peter Clinard Welborn, the second son, born in Guilford County, North Carolina, December 11, 1821, and brought to Henry County by his parents, when about a year old, was the father of Luther Scott Welborn. In after life, he became a man of affairs and an important factor in business at Knightstown and vicinity, as a farmer, stock raiser and general trader. He died April 10, 1896, and is buried in Glencove Cemetery, near Knightstown.

On February 20, 1845, he was united in marriage with Jane Eliza, daughter of Jesse and Anna Scott, by the Reverend William Lynn. The Scott family came from Rockingham County, Virginia, and were early settlers in the northern part of Rush County, Indiana, living on the south side of the State Road, one mile south of the present town of Dunreith. Peter Clinard and Jane Eliza (Scott) Welborn were the parents of the following named children: Mary Frances, now Mrs. J. Lee Furgason, of Knightstown; William Clements; Jessie Ann, now widow of Professor Charles Hewitt, of Knightstown; Augusta Virginia, now Mrs. Alpheus O. Morris, of Knightstown; Luther Scott; Nannie Narcissa, now Mrs. William L. Manson, of Boston, Massachusetts; and Charles Eugene, now of Kansas City, Missouri.

Luther Scott Welborn was born in Spiceland, Henry County, Indiana, November 14, 1856, and was appointed a cadet at the United States Military Academy, as above stated. On October 22, 1903, he was united in marriage with Luna Belle Confare, daughter of Ephraim and Angelina Confare. of Indianapolis, at the residence of the bride's parents, by the Reverend Lewis Brown. Ephraim Confare was a Henry County soldier in the Civil War, who attained the rank of Captain of Artillery. His military service is fully set out in connection with the Second Indiana Battery of Light Artillery, published elsewhere in this History.

Source: "Hazzard's History of Henry County, Indiana 1822- 1906" ⁴³⁷