A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 2, Part 66

Author: Howard, Timothy Edward, 1837-1916
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 887

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David E. Rupel was reared as a farmer and stockman, but he became one of the most successful educators that St. Joseph county has produced, while to him is accorded the longest record as a teacher in Lincoln town- ship. Receiving his diploma from the dis- trict schools with the class of 1886, he then entered upon the work of his profession in Laporte county, but in the following year re- turned to his home county and for fifteen years has been one of its most successful edu- cators, the greater part of his labor having been performed in his home township of Lin- coln. His professional career has covered the long period of sixteen years, and during six and a half years of that time he taught in one school, boarding at home, and in that time he walked a distance to and from his school which would reach across the conti- nent from New York to San Francisco and half of the way back. His labors as an edu- cator have been effective in raising the stand- ards of the schools with which he has been connected, and he keps fully abreast of the advancement made in his profession by the reading of the best literature.

Mr. Rupel remained at home until his twenty-ninth year, and on the 29th of April, 1894, was united in marriage to Miss Daisy Snethen, by whom he has had four children, two sons and two daughters: Edna Belle, who is pursuing her studies in the seventh grade of the public schools, and has a spe- cial fondness for mathematics; Elsie Ann, a member of the fifth grade; Isaac Walker and Ernest Willard. Mrs. Rupel was born in St. Joseph county, Indiana, August 30, 1874, and in addition to her district school education pursued a course in the Walkerton high school, and for a time was numbered among the successful teachers of the county of her nativity. Mr. and Mrs. Rupel began their married life on their present farm of one hundred and five acres in Lincoln town- ship, Mr. Rupel paying for the property with the little aid which his father advanced him, and in addition has added fifteen acres to its boundaries, while the home has been re- modeled and enlarged, and the homestead is now one of the valuable ones of Lincoln township. As a Democrat Mr. Rupel cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland, and he has often been selected as his party's representative to attend the county conven- tions, but he has never cared for the honors or emoluments of office. He is a worthy member of the German Baptist church, al- ways giving freely of his means toward the cause of Christianity, and the family are members of the Sunday-school. Mr. and Mrs. Rupel are worthy representatives of honored pioneer families, and they now have in their possession one of the parchment deeds signed by President Martin Van Buren, August 10, 1837, and is a title to the land which they now own and occupy. This is a valuable heirloom in the home.

RAYON BEALL. The name of Beall is so well known throughout southern St. Joseph county that its representatives need no spe- cial introduction to the readers of this vol- ume. Rayon Beall, one of the firm of Beall Brothers, which has contributed so materially to the business advancement of the commu- nity, is a native of Noble county, Indiana, born on the 15th of February, 1845, the eld- est of the five children born to Allen and Angelina (Lee) Beall, a full review of whose lives will be found in the sketch of Rev. Beall. The Lee family were numbered among the heroes of the Civil war, and are related to the celebrated Robert E. Lee, the head of

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the Confederate forces during the Civil war.

Rayon Beall has been numbered among the residents of St. Joseph county for over half a century, but the first twenty-one years of his life were spent in his native county of Noble, where he attended one of the old time log cabin schools, a little building twenty feet square, heated by the old fashioned box stove and furnished with the slab seats and desks, while his text books were the Elemen- tary speller, McGuffey's reader and Davies' arithmetic. He has lived to see these primi- tive structures of learning give place to mod- ern and elegant school buildings, and in the work of advancement along all lines he has not only been an eye witness but has also performed his full share in the transforma- tion. He was reared as a tiller of the soil, and remained with his parents until the time of his marriage, which occurred on the 26th of August, 1868, Miss Lillian Monroe becom- ing his wife, and they have become the par- ents of six children, three sons and three daughters, of whom five are living. Her- bert E. is a prominent educator of Lincoln township, having received his diploma from its public schools with the class of 1889. He also attended the summer normal for one term, and then entered upon his work as a teacher, which he has followed for fourteen years in St. Joseph and Stark counties. He wedded Miss Carrie Nash and their three children are Wendell, a member of the sixth grade in school, Mamie, in the fourth grade, and Walter, who is also in school. The wife and mother was born in Vermont, but when seven years of age came with her parents to Indiana. Dr. Walter C. Beall, the second son, is a prominent physician in Indianapo- lis, Indiana. After graduating with the class of 1889 in the common schools of Lincoln township, he was engaged in teaching for five years in Laporte and St. Joseph coun- ties. He then took up the study of phar- macy at Valparaiso. Indiana, while in 1898 he entered the Medical College of Indian- apolis, in which he graduated with the class of 1901. During one year thereafter he served as an interne, and then began the active work of his profession in the city of Indianapolis. He married Miss Pearl Mourer June 14, 1903. She was born in New Castle, Indiana, August 15, 1865, a daughter of John and Ann E. (Reid) Mourer, and graduated with the class of 1881 in that city. Mr. Mourer was born in Pennsylvania in 1842,

and traced his lineage to the Hollanders. He is yet living in New Castle, which has been his home for forty years, and he made the journey thither from Pennsylvania in true pioneer style in wagons. Mrs. Mourer passed away in death August 4, 1882, aged forty-four years. Nellie, the eldest daughter of Mr. Beall, is the wife of John E. Wenger, a car- penter and joiner of St. Louis, Missouri. She was also a teacher in Stark county. Nora resides with her parents. After graduating with the class of 1898 she became a teacher in the public schools of the county, but at the present time is a student in the Val- paraiso University. Roy C. is a resident of Walkerton, where he is serving as a route agent. He received his diploma with the class of 1900, and then spent three years in the Walkerton high school, after which he became a teacher. He married Miss Adah Jack, who was a successful educator in La- porte county.

Mrs. Beall, the mother, was born in New York February 3, 1852, a daughter of Robert H. and Margaret E. (Crouch) Monroe, in whose family were five children : Alvina, the wife of Hiram A. Hall, an agriculturist of Traverse City, Michigan : Mary, the wife of James Otwell, a farmer of Berrien Springs, Michigan ; Mrs. Beall; and Lenora, the wife of Dennis L. Stowe, a barber in the city of Chicago. Mr. Monroe was a native of New York, born on the 5th of January, 1821, and his death occurred in November, 1898, after a career devoted to .agricultural pursuits. He served for four years as a soldier in the Civil war, a member of the Army of the Ten- nessee, and after his return from the service he became a physician, his death occurring in Grand Traverse county. The Monroe fam- ily were of Scotch lineage, and the original spelling of the name was "Munroe." Mr. Monroe was in early life an old-line Whig. but supported the Republican party from the time of its organization. Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist church. She was a native of New York, born on the 6th of . November, 1823, and her death oc- curred in 1879, in St. Joseph county, while her husband passed away in Traverse City. Michigan. They were married on the 27th of March, 1843. Mrs. Beall was a little maiden of six years when she left her native state of New York, and came with her parents to Starke county, Indiana. where they resided until her father left for the war, when the

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family came to Walkerton. Here she com- pleted the educational training begun in Starke county.

Mr. and Mrs. Beall began their married life on the farm on which they now reside, and they own a valuable little estate of sixty acres. Mr. Beall is a Republican politically, casting his first presidential vote for Grant, and during the campaign preceding his elec- tion Mr. and Mrs. Beall with others went to South Bend in wagons, and one of these, con- taining forty ladies representing the different states of the Union, mired in the mud on Michigan street not far from the court house. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and occupy a prominent place among the leading and honored residents of Lincoln township.

THOMPSON TURNER. The United States officials play a most conspicuous part in the affairs of the state and nation, and in the progressive little town of Walkerton we find in its postmaster, Thompson Turner, a worthy representative of these important personages. He is a native son of Marshall county, In- diana, born on the 13th of August, 1868, the only child of Anthony and Evaline (Hardy) Turner. The father was a native of Delaware county, Ohio, born on the 14th of February, 1844, but during his early boyhood days he was brought by his parents to Michigan, and was reared in Berrien and Cass counties of that commonwealth. During the Civil war he offered his services to his country, and was one of those brave soldiers who suffered the tortures of Libby Prison. For a more complete history of his life see his sketch elsewhere in this work.

Thompson Turner, whose name introduces this review, spent the early years of his life in his native county of Marshall, and after completing his studies in its county schools entered the Walkerton high school, in which he was graduated with the class of 1886, while during the following three years he was a student in Otterbein College, there pursuing the classical course. He further continued his pursuit of knowledge in the Columbus College, of Columbus. Ohio, in which he grad- uated with the class of 1888, after which he attended the National School of Oratory at Cleveland, that state. It had been Mr. Turner's intention to enter the teacher's pro- fession, and returned to Plymouth, Indiana, to become associated with the normal train- ing department, but as the office of cashier Vol. II-24.

of the First National Bank of Marshall county was then vacant, he was selected for the position and continued therein for six years. During that time he also took up the study of law, and on the 7th of February, 1898, was admitted to the Indiana state bar in St. Joseph county, under Judge Hubbard. In the fall of 1893 Mr. Turner had taken up his residence in Walkerton, as cashier of the Farmers' Bank, continuing to discharge the duties of that important position for four years. Under Mckinley's administration he was appointed postmaster of Walkerton, his present position, and for ten years he has discharged its affairs with such efficiency that he truly merits the commendation of all. Un- der his management the office has become a strong one for a town of eleven hundred pop- ulation. It has thirteen outgoing mails and twelve incoming, while from it also radiate seven rural routes, with about three thousand names on the delivery. The daily mileage covered by the deliverers will reach one hun- dred and eighty-eight miles daily, while the territory covers one hundred and ninety-five square miles. He is assisted in the manage- ment of this important office by his deputy, Miss Anna Conrad!

On the 22d of August, 1889, Mr. Turner was united in marriage to Miss Ella Swank, and of their three children, two sons and a daughter, two are now living: Malinda, who is pursuing her studies in the fifth grade of school, and Thompson, Jr. Howard A., who died at the age of thirteen years, had com- pleted the eighth grade in his studies, and was a Latin scholar and a fine historian. He was a bright little lad, and his death was a severe blow to his parents. Mrs. Turner is a native daughter of Walkerton, her birth having here occurred on the 23d of May, 1868. She graduated from the high school with the class of 1886, and for a time thereafter served as cashier of one of the large printing houses in Chicago, holding a very responsible posi- tion. Mr. Turner gives a stanch and unfal- tering support to the Republican party, cast- ing his first presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison, and since age conferred upon him the right of franchise he has been active in the political arena. He has been a member of the Republican County Committee and was also an active member of the Citizens' League. He has often made speeches favor- ing his party's principles. and for seven years delivered the annual addresses before the

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G. A. R. encampment at Walkerton, which indicates his high standing as a citizen. He was formerly vice-president of the La Salle Club of South Bend, a political organization of St. Joseph county, has at various times served as a delegate to the state and congres- sional conventions, and for eight years was one of the leading attorneys of Walkerton. His fraternal relations connect him with the Masonic order, Lodge No. 619 at Walkerton, in which he has served as a junior warden, also with the Knights of Pythias, Walkerton Lodge, No. 263, which he has represented in the Grand Lodge of Pythians. For four years he was also deputy grand chancellor of the Second Pythian district, and at one of its services he was presented with the past grand jewel by Grand Chancellor Merrill E. Wil- son. With his wife he has membership rela- tions with the Eastern Star, Lodge No. 319, in which she has served as a patron. They are valued and worthy members of the Pres- byterian church, active workers in the cause of Christianity, and Mr. Turner has served as a deacon and trustee of his church and as superintendent of the Sunday-school for four years. The school has an average attendance of one hundred, and he also conducts the teachers' meetings. Mr. and Mrs. Turner are numbered among the leading citizens of Walk- erton, and their prominence in its varied re- lations have won for them the high place which they now occupy.

DANIEL W. BEALL is so well known to the citizens of St. Joseph county that he needs no special introduction to the readers of these volumes, since he is a scion of one of the oldest families of Indiana, his father having removed hither from Fayette county, Ohio, in 1832, first establishing his home in Noble county. It was there that the son. Daniel W., was born, in September, 1851, to Allen and Angelina (Lee) Beall, in whose family were the following: Brenton H., who re- ceived his education in Fillmore, Missouri, is married and is a retired Methodist minis- ter living in Walkerton; Daniel W., whose name introduces this review; and Helen, the wife of Frank Byers, a horticulturist of Salem, Oregon. Allen Beall, the father, was a native of Fayette county. Ohio, born in 1817, and his death occurred in 1903. He made the overland journey with his parents to Noble county, Indiana, crossing the Black Swamps, the quagmires and the dense woods to their destination, where they entered land

from the government. Mr. Beall was suc- cessful in his business life, and as a me- chanic he erected the first foundry in Noble county, and, becoming a general iron worker, built forges at Rochester and Lima. During his youth he had received but a limited edu- cation, but he constantly added to his store of knowledge by reading and observation, thus becoming a well informed man. His political support was given to the Repub- lican party, casting his vote for its first presi- dential nominee, General Fremont, and he continued to support its presidential candi- dates until his useful life was ended. He was a charter member of one of the first lodges in northern Indiana, and both he and his wife were Methodists in their religious affiliations. They both passed away on their farm in Lincoln township, near Walkerton, on which they had taken up their abode in 1867. Mrs. Beall was born and reared in Richmond, Virginia. To establish a home amid the new and wild surroundings which existed in Indiana at the time they took up their abode within its borders, and to cope with the many privations and hardships which were the inevitable concomitants, demanded an invincible courage and fortitude, strong hearts and willing hands. All these were characteristics of this brave pioneer couple. whose name and deeds should be held in perpetual reverence by those who enjoy the fruits of their toil.

Daniel W. Beall remained in his native county of Noble until sixteen years of age. when he became a citizen of St. Joseph county, his educational training having been received in both counties, in their early pio- neer schools. The "temple of learning" which he attended was a little structure eighteen by twenty feet, with a clapboard roof, and the seats were of slabs, secured from a neighboring saw mill. They were without backs, and the desk was a broad board resting on wooden pins driven into the wall. With the passing years he has wit- nessed the remarkable change which has transformed St. Joseph county from a com- parative wilderness into one of the richest and foremost sections of the commonwealth. He was reared as an agriculturist and stock- man, and on reaching his twenty-first year he engaged in those occupations with his father on the old homestead. Shortly afterward. in 1873, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Hummer, and they have had

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three children: Effie, who received an ex- cellent education in the Walkerton high school, is the wife of Scott Blaine, a mer- chant of Walkerton; and Ralph, who also received his education in the Walkerton high school. One child is deceased. Mrs. Beall was born in St. Joseph county, Indiana, in 1851.

The young couple began their married life on a farm in Lincoln township where they yet reside, and Mr. Beall has spent his entire life as a citizen of Indiana with the excep- tion of a two years' residence in Andrew county, Missouri, where he was engaged with his father in the milling business. He now owns a fine estate of five hundred acres near the corporate limits of Walkerton, as well as a fine brick block in that city, and he is also well known as a successful stockman. He handles pure bred stock in cattle and hogs. and ships to the Chicago, Pittsburg and Buf- falo markets. He has also been quite actively interested in real estate operations, in buying and selling property, and he has served as vice-president of the Walkerton bank since its organization. Mr. Beall is a stanch Re- publican in his political affiliations. casting his first presidential vote for its soldier presi- dent Grant, and has ever since supported its candidates. He has at various times been selected as delegate to county and state con- ventions, and for eight years served as treas- urer of Walkerton. His fraternal relations connect him with the Knights of Pythias, Castle Hall Lodge No. 2, of Walkerton, and with the Odd Fellows order. Mrs. Beall is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Having made good use of his opportunities, Mr. Beall has prospered from year to year, conducting all business matters carefully and systematically, and in all his acts displaying an aptitude for successful management. To all moral, educational and social interests he is a liberal contributor, doing all in his power to benefit and elevate humanity.

DENNIS W. RUPEL. The life history of Dennis W. Rupel is closely identified with the history of St. Joseph county, for within its borders he has spent his entire life, and has lived and labored to such goodly ends, while none more than he deserves a fitting recognition among its honored pioneers and business men. He was born in St. Joseph county on the 28th of November, 1839, the eldest of six children, two sons and four

daughters, born to David and Sarah (Mel- ling) Rupel.

David Rupel was reared in Pennsylvania until he was nineteen years of age, when (in 1830) he decided to venture into the wilder- ness of the west. His party traveled in wagons, in true pioneer style, and as there were but two or three guns among the mem- bers each man took his turn at hunting for game on the way. Mr. Rupel used to relate with some gusto how upon one of his solitary hunts, despite instructions, he got out of hearing of a big cow-bell which was to limit his territory, and wandered around all night before he found his friends,-and none the richer as to game. The party finally reached the eastern part of the county and camped for the winter on the banks of the St. Joseph river. David earned his first money by split- ting rails, and in the six years of this occu- pation he figured that he got out some thirty- two thousand. The first land which he en- tered consisted of one hundred and sixty acres one mile southwest of Liberty township, and Andrew M. Rupel (his other son) has still in his possession the original government deed, dated March 30, 1837, and issued under the hand and seal of President Martin Van Buren. This was the third deed of the kind issued in the county. David Rupel located his homestead before the village of North Liberty was platted, and his first home was a little log cabin on its present site. There were two windows in the hut, one behind and the other near the door, and this arrangement was not unwise, since bears, wolves and other wild animals were plentiful in those days and inclined to be inquisitive and troublesome. The Indians, on the other hand, mostly Pot- tawatomies, were friendly, especially when they were hungry, and the young pioneer gave them many a "hand-out," and even en- tertained them at his fireside. As the years went by, however, his prospects improved, and he eventually accumulated six hundred acres of land, all in Liberty and Lincoln townships. . But although accounted a very successful man of the world, he never lost interest in church matters. The German Bap- tist Brethren often held services in his house. He was mainly instrumental in organizing the first church in 1866, and in 1877, when their building was destroyed by a cyclone, he was one of the prime movers in its reconstruc- tion. David Rupel's wife, formerly Sarah

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Melling, was a native of Preble county, Ohio, born December 10, 1818, and her death oc- curred in January, 1875. She was of Eng- lish descent, and was reared to young woman- hood in her native state. Mr. Rupel's fam- ily is of German ancestry, the founders of the American branch being Jacob, Mathias and John, three brothers.

During his early boyhood days Dennis W. Rupel attended the log cabin schools of the early days of Liberty township, a little build- ing sixteen by twenty feet, with a clapboard roof held in place by a weight pole, heated by the old fashioned fireplace, and furnished with slab seats without backs and resting on wooden pins, and a long board for a desk. He has written with the ever memorable goose quill pen fashioned by the master, and this school was maintained by subscriptions and was built on land belonging to Mr. Ru- pel's father. This was one of the most primi- tive schools of the early days of St. Joseph county, and forms a striking contrast to the beautiful and well conducted school of the twentieth century. Remaining with his par- ents until his majority, Mr. Rupel began at the age of eighteen years to make his own way in the world, beginning his business ca- reer as an agriculturist, and he can well re- member the primitive methods of farming then in vogue. He has used the old turkey wing cradle, and among his most valuable souvenirs is the skeleton of this old imple- ment. He has rode the horses while they were trampling out the grain on the barn floor, and he can well remember when the populous city of South Bend with its fifty thousand inhabitants was no larger than the little village of North Liberty of today, and his father helped make the first brick manu- factured in that city. He can also recall to mind when the first railroad, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, was constructed through the county, the Baltimore & Ohio following soon afterward.

On the 30th of April, 1863, Mr. Rupel was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. O'Con- nor, and seven children, five sons and two daughters, have been born to them, and five are now living, namely: David Edmund, whose history will be found elsewhere in this work; Charles F., who ministers to the Ger- man Baptist church in the Pine Creek charge and is also an agriculturist of Liberty town- ship, supplemented his common school course by attendance at the South Bend Commer-

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A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 2, Part 66

Author: Howard, Timothy Edward, 1837-1916 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 887

Author: Howard, Timothy Edward, 1837-1916
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 887