USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 94
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Father Moench is not a dreamer of dreams. He is practical, far-seeing and his sound judgment has enabled him to transact the business part of his duty in a most gratify- ing manner. Indeed, so rare is it to find a priest who possesses the varied gifts that have enabled Father Moeneh to fill the difficult role of pastor, teacher and finaneier so effectively that he has always had his full share of the latter. Wherever he has been stationcd he has been obliged to undertake the unpleasant task of removing debts. Plymouth was no exception. He found a small congregation, a debt of five thousand dollars and an annual interest of five hundred dollars. At the elose of his sixteen years of labor he had the happi- nes of seeing this entirely eleared, with the addition of many valuable improvements and four thousand dollars in the treasury. He was happy and content and came to look upon Plymouth as his abiding place during his earthly career. But God had ordered other- wise. There was a vacancy at Valparaiso and he was asked by the bishop to take up the work there.
Like a faithful soldier who knows no word but " obey," he went to Valparaiso in July, 1898, and found conditions similar to those of Plymouth in 1883. Although he remained there but four and a half years, he won the love and respect and esteem of all, irrespect- ive of ereed, race or party. He proved him-
self a pastor of whom his people were proud ; a sympathetic, true friend; and a citizen and publie benefactor of the highest type. On all important questions concerning the well- being of the community his wise counsel was sought. He improved the church, rectory and church property (which he found in a very dilapidated condition) until they looked like new. He purchased the school property from the Sisters of Providence and made it a permanent part of the church property. He redneed the indebtedness many thousands of dollars, and when he left, non-Catholies united with his own people in a loving trib- ute of esteem to the Right Reverend Bishop. In February, 1903, at the word of command, he took up the important work at Mishawaka, left incomplete by the death of the lamented Father Oechtering. Here he is following out the plan so dear to his heart, and is well fitted for the work.
He is a most convineing and persuasive speaker, an able theologian, a scholar of wide and varied culture. He has won for him- self an enviable reputation as an educator of high rank. Under such guidanee it is safe to predict that the parish and schools of St. Joseph's will rank among the first in the dio- cese. In all these things, however, he takes no eredit to himself, humbly maintaining that,
" Neither he that planteth is anything, nor he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase."
CALVERT H. DEFREES. In connection with business interests the name of Calvert H. Defrees is not confined within the limits of South Bend or St. Joseph county, but is widely known through the northern portion of Indiana. He is a representative of one of the earliest families making permanent settle- ment within the borders of St. Joseph county, and throughout the many years which have since come and gone its members have aided materially in the development of the re- sourees of the community and taken an active part in everything intending to promote the welfare of its people. As early as 1835 Archibald Defrees located on a farm west of South Bend, being accompanied on his jour- ney hither by his son, Joseph H., who was a native of Ohio and was seventeen years of age at that time. He was here subsequently. married to Sarah Calvert, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but when a young lady in 1834 eame with her father,
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Isaac Calvert, to St. Joseph county, Indiana, where they were numbered among the early pioneers and where the father became well known as an agriculturist. Together Mr. and Mrs. Defrees lived and labored in St. Joseph county until their life work was ended in death, the father passing away at the age of seventy-five years, while the mother was seventy-six when called to join her husband in the home beyond. They became the par- ents of two children, a son and a daughter, the latter being Isabel, of South Bend.
Calvert H. Defrees, the elder of the chil- dren, was born in South Bend on the 5th of August, 1859, and during his youth and early manhood received an excellent educational training, having attended the high school of his native city. Ilis first business venture was with the Stone & Pipe Manufacturing Company, and after severing his connection therewith was engaged in the laying of ce- ment sidewalks and in sewer contracting until embarking in the sale of cement, lime and mason's supplies. Later Mr. Defrees be- came well known as a contractor for brick pavements, having constructed many miles of those pavements in South Bend. and he is now extensively engaged in the manufacture of cement, building stone, sewer pipe, fire brick, etc. Thus he stands today at the head of one of the leading industrial concerns of the county, and his prestige has been won through marked executive force, keen dis- crimination and unfaltering energy. Many enterprises stand as the result of his splen- did ability, one being the South Bend & Southern Michigan Traction Railroad, which he built from South Bend to Niles, Michigan, and he has also done much contract work in this city and in Niles. Mishawaka, Michigan City, St. Joseph and Knox. It is a master mind that can plan, execute and control large undertakings, and the man who stands at their head well deserves to be ranked among the most prominent business men of northern Indiana.
In 1878 Mr. Defrees married Ellen Curl, who died after becoming the mother of two children, William. a resident of Los Angeles, California, and Grace, who died at the age of twenty-one years. The father subsequent- ly married Mary S. Brown, and they have four children, Victor, Frank, Inez, and Isa- bel. Mr. Defrees has given a life-long sup- port to the Republican party, and is a prom- inent member of the Masonic order, in which
he has reached the Knight Templar degree, and of the Elks of South Bend.
JAMES DAUGHERTY. One of the prominent and well-known citizens of South Bend and St. Joseph county was James Daugherty, who has long since passed away, but his influence for good yet remains with those who knew him, and his example is well worthy of emula- tion. Born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, March 28, 1824, he was of Irish parentage. His father, James Daugherty, Sr., was a na- tive of the Emerald Isle, and was there mar- ried to one of its native daughters, Elizabeth MeCloggan. After the birth of their first child they came to America, first locating in Pennsylvania, but later removing to Canton, Ohio, and for twelve years the father was a member of the teacher's profession. It was in the year 1850 that the family home was established on a farm in Penn township, St. Joseph county, Indiana, where the loving husband and father died just one year later.
Of their five children, three sons and two daughters, James Daugherty, Jr., was the eldest son. In Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, March 28th, 1849, he was married to Anna Elizabeth Stauffer, also a native of Pennsyl- vania, but when a little maiden of five years her parents came to Wayne county, Ohio, where she was reared to mature years, mar- ried and lived there until 1858. Her father was one of the well-known and prominent agriculturists of that county, as well as one of its leading public men. In 1864 he pur- chased a farm of eighty acres in Madison township, which he owned and operated until 1877, in that year, on the Democratic ticket, being elected the sheriff of St. Joseph county, in which he served for two years, while for two terms he was a county commissioner and for eight years a member of the board of trustees. He took an active part in the ad- vocacy and adoption of all measures tending to prove of public benefit, and lived that prae- tical life which teaches charity, kindness, sympathy and benevolence. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Daugherty were born eight children : Charles A., Alice M .. Minnie E., John. Emma, Anna, Carrie, and George M .; but three, Alice, Minnie, and John, are deceased. The three youngest were born in St. Joseph coun- ty, and all were reared and educated here. During many years Mr. Daugherty carried on his agricultural labors in St. Joseph county, winning for himself a name and place among its leading business men, and in addition to
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his farm he also owned a third interest in a sawmill near by. Throughout the period of his residence here he was elosely identified with the locality's leading interests, was suc- cessful in his business, and in his death, which occurred on the 20th of October, 1896, the community mourned the loss of one of its valued citizens. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity.
THE N. P. BOWSHER COMPANY. This eom- pany, manufacturers of feed-grinding mills, mill eogs, conveyor flights, speed indicators, balancing ways and other like specialties, has done a large part in spreading abroad the reputation of South Bend for reliable goods and fair dealing. Their feed mills are per- haps their greatest specialty, and have brought the Bowsher name to the favorable attention of cattlemen throughout the United States and even in many foreign countries. The Bowsher Company serve a widely varied class of customers, from the fancy dairies along the Hudson where expenditures for equipment are sometimes on a prodigal scale, to the humble farm of the newly arrived emi- grant on the extreme northwestern frontier, where the investment of every dollar must be considered and planned with care. The busi- ness was established in 1882 by the late N. P. Bowsher and removed to its present location, corner of Sample and Webster street, in 1894.
NELSON P. BOWSHER, the founder of the company, was born in Noble county, Indiana, in 1845. He was the second son of Boston and Sophia (Koonce) Bowsher, who came from Virginia Dutch stock and reached In- diana by ox-team as the Pottawatomie and Miami Indians were leaving it. The youth early learned the trade of cabinet making, himself felling the walnut trees which he afterward worked into finished goods. After finishing a four years' apprenticeship at Ligonier, under W. A. Brown, he spent a short time in Cineinnati, which was then the center of the furniture industry. and followed his trade as a journeyman. In 1871 he walked into South Bend, a frail-looking young man of twenty-six, but charged to the brim with energy and dauntless spirit. He first secured employment in the overhauling of the Keedy & Loomis flouring mills, where his industry and mechanical skill and insight brought prompt recognition. Soon after he was employed by Bissel & DeCamp, machin- ists and millwrights, and his next engagement was in the pattern department of the Oliver
Plow Works. The eight years of his assoeia- tion with the latter firm established his rep- utation as both an originator and an expert mechanic, but, to their mutual regret, ill health compelled him to sever these relations.
Several years before Mr. Bowsher had pat- ented his speed, or motion indieator, and as his health compelled him to adopt an outdoor life he took a horse and wagon and eom- menced to install his devices in the small flouring mills of the country. Eight months each year he spent in travel and four months in the manufacture of goods. In this way he virtually covered the northwest, and in 1884, with restored vigor, located in South Bend, on the old West raee, and opened a job machine and blacksmith shop there. Busi- ness continued, with varying seasons of growth and discouragement, until the elose of the World's Fair year, 1893. By this time it had so expanded that Mr. Bowsher was justified in removing to the present location. The finest exelusive display of feed mills at the World's Columbian Exposition was made by Mr. Bowsher, and his company later main- tained its reputation at the fairs held at At- lanta, Omaha, and St. Louis.
The death of Mr. Bowsher oceurred in May of 1898, and during the last six years of his life he was a semi-invalid. During this period the responsibilities of the business fell upon his sons, D. D. and J. C., who were thus trained to carry forward the work he had established. The company was incorporated in 1897. The business done today is ( Juble what it was at the time of its founder's death, the works having been enlarged, new machin- ery installed and other changes brought about to make the plant an up-to-date coneern.
The deceased was an active factor in the public improvements of South Bend. From 1884 to 1887 he was a member of its board of water works, and he was largely instru- mental in establishing the city's fine supply of artesian water. In religious and charitable matters he was also a leader, being a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and one of its trustees. Generous hearted in all his dealings with his fellows, by his will he left a thousand dollars to the Epworth Hospital building fund, which nucleus went far to- ward encouraging the active promoters and friends of this enterprise in renewed effort for the completion of the work. When build- ing operations commeneed his sons also eon- tributed liberally toward its completion, and
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
his widow served for many years as secretary of the woman's board.
In 1865 Mr. Bowsher married Clarissa Hostetter, whose family emigrated from Ohio about the same time as his own and settled on an adjoining section of land. Mrs. Bow- sher's elder brother was the first white child born in Noble county. Mr. Bowsher's first wife, who was a most earnest and loving help- mate, died in 1892, and the deep grief and shock caused thereby undoubtedly weakened his vitality to a point which brought about a recurrence of his former illness. His second wife was Miss Laura Caskey, of South Bend, to whom he was married in 1897, but he sur- vived her less than a year.
DELEVAN D. BOWSHER, president and treas- urer of the company, was born in Ligonier, in the year 1868, and his parents removed to South Bend upon his third birthday. In 1884 he graduated from the High School, was connected for a short time with the Tribune Printing Company, and was then taken into his father's shop, where he worked as a me- chanie in the day and as a bookkeeper at night. With the growth of the business all his time was given to the office and the adver- tising side of the business, and the success of the company is largely a testimonial to his efficiency in these departments. He resides in the old home at No. 805 West Washington street.
JAY C. BOWSHER, the vice-president of the company, was born in South Bend in 1872, and. practically his entire life has been spent in the city. IIe was educated in the High School and through special studies. Travel from home, with business responsibilities laid upon him at an early age, rounded out the work of the class-room. He has always given special attention to the mechanical de- partment of the business, has taken out a number of valuable patents, and in these re- gards has done eredit, in a marked degree, to his father's name. Mr. Bowsher was married, in 1898, to Eva A. Spencer. They have two children and reside in a very comfortable home at No. 828 West Colfax avenue.
JOHN C. KNOBLOCK. No more honored family exists in northern Indiana than that of the Knoblocks, who from a very early day have been intimately associated with the de- velopment and increasing prosperity of South Bend and St. Joseph county, the name being inseparably interwoven with the record of their advancement. The family was estab-
lished here by John C. Knoblock, who came from Canton, Stark county, Ohio, where he was born November 3, 1830, to St. Joseph county, Indiana, in 1843, locating first near Bremen. In 1847 he came to South Bend, where he became one of its leading business men. He engaged in the grocery business in 1856, and originated the wholesale grocery trade of South Bend. He organized the South Bend Chilled Plow Company in 1875, and was its president until he sold out in 1890. He assisted in organizing the St. Jo- seph County Savings Bank in 1869 and was its treasurer until he died.
He was married, July 12, 1853, to Lizetta Meyer, who died in 1897. He married Mrs. Rebecca Baer in 1905, who survived him. Mr. Knoblock died August 18, 1906. South Bend has had few more valued citizens, and by the pioneers who knew him, as well as the younger residents, his memory is revered.
OTTO M. KNOBLOCK, son of John C. and Lizetta (Meyer) Knoblock, was born in South Bend June 19, 1859, and has spent his entire life within the confines of this city. After completing his studies in its public schools he became a student in the Indianapolis Business College, in which he graduated in 1876. With this excellent educational train- ing he was well fitted to engage in life's activ- ities, and entering the manufacturing field, assisted to organize and was treasurer of the South Bend Chilled Plow Company, but in 1890 he sold his interest in that corporation and turned his attention to the manufacture of wagons as secretary of the Miller-Knob- lock Company. In 1900 Mr. Knoblock en- gaged in the manufacture of electrical appli- ances as a member of the Knoblock-Heideman Manufacturing Company, of which he is now the president. He is also a stockholder in the Knobloek-Ginz Milling Company, of South Bend. As a representative of the manufacturing interests of South Bend he fills an important place in its business life and has made the institutions with which he is connected the leading financial concerns of this section of the state.
On the 24th of November, 1887, Mr. Knob- lock was united in marriage to Margaret Starr, who was born in Cass county, Mich- igan, of which her father was one of the hon- ored early residents, and they have one son, J. Starr, a young man of seventeen years. Mr. Knoblock holds membership relations with many of the fraternal orders, including
.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Maccabees, the Modern Woodmen of Ameri- ca. and the Travelers' Protective Associa- tion. He is also a member of the Country Club, the Indiana Club. and is treasurer of the Northern Indiana Historical Society. He gives a stanch and unfaltering support to the principles of the Republican party, and as its representative served as the trustee of the city water works. Upright and just in all his relations, Mr. Knoblock has won the con- fidence and high regard of all who know him, and is a man of the most sterling worth. ter of Christopher and Christene Muessel. The father is well known throughout St. Jo- seph county through his identification with the brewing business, and his residence here dates from 1852, during all of which time he has been prominently connected with the for- mative history of the locality. Two daughters have been born to brighten and bless this home: Hattie, the wife of John Ober, and Ottilia, wife of Homer Miller, both of South Bend, where Mr. Miller is connected with the Stephensen Woolen factory. During the long period of fifty-three years Mr. Poehlman has been prominently identified with the history of South Bend, ever taking an active and commendable interest in its publie life and ever honored for his integrity to every trust. He has given a life-long support to Demo- eratie principles, and fraternally has been a life save his connection with the Muessel . member of the Odd Fellows for fifty years. Brewing Company. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, June 5, 1835, and in 1853, when about seventeen years of age, he left his Ger- man home and came to America, coming direct to South Bend. For a short time there- after he clerked in a dry goods store. after which he learned the tinner's trade in the hardware store of Massey Brothers, with whom he was connected for seven years. In 1860 he joined the tide of emigration to
GODFREY L. POEHLMAN. From an early period in the development of South Bend and . St. Joseph county Godfrey L. Poehlman has been an important factor in their improve- ment and advancement, but he is now living retired from the active cares of a business
Pike's Peak, Colorado, making the journey across the plains with a team, and after spending a short time in the mountains went to the city of Denver, where to him belongs the distinction of putting on the first tin roof of the first mint built at Denver. Remaining there for a time, he worked his way back. making the return journey via Council Bluffs and Iowa City to South Bend. For four years thereafter he was employed as a clerk in the dry goods store of John Brownfield, at that time the leading merchant in the city, and on the expiration of that period estab- lished in company with Godfrey Meyers a hardware store and tin shop, the firm being known as Meyers & Poehlman. They con- tinued in business from 1864 until 1893, when Mr. Poehlman sold his half interest to his partner's son, John B. Meyers, the present proprietor of the business. Although Mr. Poehlman has retired from his mercantile in- terests, he is yet a stockholder and one of the directors in the Muessel Brewery Company, one of the large establishments of the city.
On the 10th of July, 1864, Mr. Poehlman was united in marriage to Anna K., a daugh-
JOHN N. LEDERER. John N. Lederer, one of the leading business men of South Bend, was born in Arzberg. Bavaria, Germany, on the 16th of November, 1833, a son of Fred- erick and Barbara ( Kunstman) Lederer. He acquired a good education in his native coun- try, first attending the public schools and then a gymnasium. In April, 1853, he left his little German home and sailed for the United States, and after his arrival came direct to South Bend, first securing a position in the office of Harper & Company, the lead- ing manufacturers of this city at that time, and with whom he remained for one year. During the following year he was an employe of the Lake Shore Railroad Company, while from 1854 until 1860 he was a clerk in a gro- cery store, on the expiration of that period purchasing a meat market on West Washing- ton street, which he condueted until 1871, being very successful in that venture. In the following year, 1872, Mr. Lederer returned to his old home in Germany to visit his par- ents and the scenes of his boyhood days, and on his return to this city he engaged in the grocery business with John C. Knoblock, for whom he had formerly elerked. So honor- able had been his relations as clerk. and so diligently had his duties been discharged that Mr. Knoblock was anxious to admit him to partnership, and this connection was main- tained until 1877.
Disposing of his interest in the business in that year, Mr. Lederer went to Nebraska to look after his landed interests there, but in 1880 returned to this city and opened a
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
steamship ageney, also a fire insurance busi- ness and was a notary public. He is still in- terested in these various enterprises, and as the years have passed he has enlarged their seope until they have assumed large propor- tions, and he has thus won for himself a name and place among the leading business men of South Bend. He is a man of more than ordinary ability, and carries forward to com- pletion whatever he undertakes.
In 1860 Mr. Lederer was married to Miss Antinetta Bauer, who died in 1871, and he was afterward married to Miss Margarette Kunstman, a native of south St. Joseph county and a daughter of Christopher Kunst- man, who emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1849, and at onee established his home in St. Joseph county. One daugh- ter, Anna, was born of the first union, while by the second marriage there were three ehil- dren: Herbert, who is engaged in business with his father, and Alma and Irma. During the early years of his residenee in South Bend Mr. Lederer served as city and county eom- missioner and also as a member of the sehool board. Public-spirited and progressive in all his ideas, he lends his influence to all meas- ures which he believes useful to the majority. and throughout his long connection with South Bend and St. Joseph county has ever been recognized as an earnest and patriotic eitizen.
WILLIS A. BUGBEE. Since the early days of South Bend's history the Bugbee family have occupied a distinctive place, and Willis A. Bugbee is a worthy seion of the name. IIis birth oceurred in this city on the 17th of September. 1845, and is a son of Almond Bugbee, the history of whose life will be found in another part of this work. Willis A. attended the publie schools of South Bend and Chicago, and in 1867 graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. After his admis- sion to the bar he entered the law and ab- stract office of Andrew Anderson, with whom he was associated until 1880, when Mr. An- derson retired from the firm and Mr. Bugbee purchased the records and established the business on his own account. His office eon- tains a perfeet set of records of the title of every foot of ground in the county, and being a painstaking, particular and conseientions worker, his records are unqualifiedly accepted by every real estate man and attorney in the county. His real estate transactions eover
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