Della Green

Delilah Alberta “Della” Jones Green (September 20, 1867 – October 1, 1944) was a lifelong resident of Porter County, Indiana whose story reflects the endurance, faith, and family-centered labor that shaped rural Midwestern life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She was the daughter of Jonathan Sellers Jones and Angeline Howard Jones, and was born in a log cabin just north of Valparaiso. Her early life was marked by hardship: her father, a Civil War soldier, died of tuberculosis in 1867 when she was still a baby. Her widowed mother relied on extended family support while waiting for a widow’s pension. Della lived primarily in Valparaiso (with a brief period spent in Grand Rapids) and remained deeply rooted in the local community. In 1888 she married Lewis Malcolm Green, who later became a prominent Porter County public figure: a farmer, steelworker in the Gary mills, and Sheriff of Porter County from 1904 to 1908. Together they raised nine children. They lived at the Green family farm in Washington Township near County Road 575E and 150N, where Della spent her later years. Like many women of her era, her work was largely undocumented but essential—managing the household, cooking, raising children, and sustaining family life. During Lewis Green’s term as sheriff, when the jail was attached to or closely connected with the sheriff’s home, Della likely played a support role in daily operations, including preparing food and caring for inmates. Della was associated with the Bertholomew Methodist Church on Washington Street. In later years she suffered two strokes and died at age 77. She was buried in Luther Cemetery, where cemetery records note that the gate pillars were dedicated in memory of Lewis M. Green and Della Jones Green, a lasting tribute to their place in the community.