A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 2, Part 68

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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gentleman of the old school. Mrs. Eels was born in Erie county, New York, July 25, 1812, and her death occurred on the 3d of March, 1880. She was a devout Christian from the early age of seventeen years, strict in her devotional life, and was a brave and noble pioneer wife and mother. Mrs. Swank was a little maiden of two years when she was taken by her parents to Marshall county, there receiving a good educational training which enabled her later to enter the teacher's profession, having taught in both Laporte and St. Joseph counties. She has been her hus- band's faithful helpmate in the establishment of their home and the rearing of their chil- dren, and is a lady of many noble character- istics. She is a devout member of the United Brethren church, and is identified with its Ladies' Aid Society. As a Republican Mr. Swank cast his first presidential vote for Lin- coln, also supported Garfield, Blaine, McKin- ley and Roosevelt in their race for the presi- dency, and has ever performed his full share in the public life of his community. He wit- nessed the remains of Lincoln as they lay in the state house of Indianapolis. His services as a soldier in the Civil war entitles him to, membership in the Jesse Coppie Post, G. A. R., at Walkerton. He was a member of Company D, Twenty-second Indiana Infantry, and was sent with his regiment to Indianapolis. He entered the ranks in September, 1864, and received his honorable discharge in May, 1865. He, too, is a member of the United Brethren church, and he assisted materially in the erec- tion of the beautiful church of that denomina- tion in Walkerton. His life has been ex- emplary in all respects, and his high moral worth is deserving of the highest commenda- tion.

WILLIAM A. ENDLEY. For over twenty years William A. Endley has been a resident of Walkerton, and throughout that entire time has been connected with its journalistic inter- ests, being now the editor and proprietor .of the Walkerton Independent, one of the lead- ing journals of the county. His birth oc- curred in LaGrange, LaGrange county, In- diana, in October, 1865, a son of James F. and Nellie (Coomer) Endley. The father was born in Jacksonville, Ohio, in 1841, of Ger- man ancestry, and his death occurred in Wal- kerton, Indiana, in 1892. He was a graduate of the Bennett Medical College of Chicago, and also studied in Rush Medical College of that city. He began the practice of his pro-

fession at Butler, Indiana, later removing to Brimfield, this state, and subsequently came to Walkerton, where he achieved success in the practice of medicine, and was also a well- known pharmacist and druggist in this city for many years. As a representative of the Republican party he took an active part in the political history of Walkerton and St. Joseph county, and was the recipient of many public honors at the hands of his fellow townsmen. Mrs. Endley, who was a native daughter of Ohio, is yet living and a resident of Walkerton.

William A. Endley, their only child, pur- sued his studies in the schools of Brimfield, Butler and Walkerton, while later he pursued a course in the literary department of Sprague University, and at the early age of eighteen years was made a reporter on the South Bend Tribune. In 1884 he became the city editor of the Times, but in 1887 he transferred his residence from South Bend to Walkerton and purchased the Visitor, edited by H. S. Mintle. Mr. Endley at once changed the caption of this paper to the Walkerton Independent, in- creased its size to a seven-column quarto week- ly, installed new machinery, and the office is now fitted with a power outfit and two job rotary presses. His is one of the up-to-date printing houses of the county, located in a beautiful cement building, sixty by twenty- eight feet, which he erected in 1905, and which contains a solid cement floor. The circulation of the paper now reaches fifteen hundred copies, and it to-day ranks among the ablest journals of this section of the state.

The marriage of Mr. Endley was celebrated in 1888. Miss Nellie Jones becoming his wife. She is a native daughter of Cleveland. Ohio, but pursued her education in the high schools of Buchanan, Michigan. where she received her diploma and became one of the successful teachers of St. Joseph county. Mr. Endley also received a diploma from the Chautau- qua Literary and Scientific course in 1898. He and his wife took the full course, completing it by themselves. Mr. Endley is prominent in the Republican circles of the county, and his first presidential vote was cast for Blaine, the peer of the diplomats. He was selected as delegate to the state convention which nomi- nated Governor Frank Hanly, and he also served as a member of the school board of Walkerton for three years. He has member- ship relations with.the Masonic order, his con- nection being with Walkerton Lodge, No. 619.

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of which he is the present treasurer, and with the Knights of Pythias, Castle Hall Lodge, No. 263, of Walkerton. During his long resi- dence in Walkerton he has been closely con- nected with its progress and advancement, and in addition to his journalistic interests he is also a director of the Walkerton State Bank. He is a man of well rounded character and while his energies are chiefly given to his business he is a valued factor in social circles, where his upright life and genial tempera- ment make him a favorite.

REV. HOMER P. IVEY. Among the efficient and earnest laborers in the cause of Christian- ity in .St. Joseph county is numbered Rev. Homer P. Ivey, the resident pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church in Walkerton. The Ivey family so far as is known is of Welsh origin, and Rev. Homer P. Ivey is a native of Hendricks county, Indiana, born August 29, 1879, the youngest of the seven children, five sons and two daughters, born to Benjamin F. and Emeline (Collins) Ivey, and five are yet living, namely : M. Waters, who is married and is an attorney at law in Kewanna, Indiana; J. Luther, who graduated from De Pauw University with the class of 1901, and is a minister in the Methodist Epis- copal church at Upham, North Dakota; Don- nell R., a graduate of the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons of Indianapolis and now practicing his profession in Wolcott, In- diana, but he formerly resided in North Da- kota : Homer P., whose name introduces this review ; and Susie E., the wife of J. C. Dim- mick, an agriculturist of Upham, North Da- kota. Rev. Ivey, the father, was born in Georgia March 12. 1851, and was reared to years of maturity in his native commonwealth, but is now a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, and is serving as pastor of a Methodist Epis- copal church in a near-by community. He was formerly a Cumberland Presbyterian, but in 1884 joined the Northwestern Indiana Con- ference of the Methodist Episcopal church. His political affiliations are with the Repub- lican party. Mrs. Ivey was born in North Carolina, about 1841, and her death occurred on the 10th of October, 1895. She was very devoted to her home and secular duties, and won the love and respect of all who knew her.

Rev. Homer P. Ivey was but two years of age when he was taken by his parents to Put- nam county, Indiana, there' remaining until 1884, and afterward accompanied his parents to the different charges to which they were

sent in the father's ministerial labors. He re- ceived his diploma in 1894 from the public schools of Fountain county, after which he became a student in the Ladoga high school and graduated with the class of 1898. In the same year he entered DePauw University, where he pursued the full classical course and graduated in 1902. Thus fifteen years of his life have been devoted to hard and persistent study to prepare himself thoroughly for his chosen profession, the ministry, and it is his intention to pursue in the near future a the- ological course at Boston, Massachusetts. The first charge at which Rev. Ivey officiated was at Union Mills, Indiana, where he remained for two years, and in 1904 he assumed the pastorate of the Methodist Episcopal church in Walkerton, where he has now in course of construction one of the finest church buildings in St. Joseph county outside of the city of South Bend. Its approximate cost will reach fifteen thousand dollars. The church is con- stantly growing, both in numbers and influ- ence, and it now has a Sunday-school attend- ance of ninety-five. Rev. Ivey is also inter- ested in the literary lecture course, and served as president of the association. He is an ef- ficient laborer in the cause of Christianity, earnest and eloquent in the presentation of the truth, and his efforts are being abundant- ly blessed.

On the 28th of August, 1904, Rev. Ivey was united in marriage to Miss Zela R. Tinsley, and they have one little son, Homer Merrill. Mrs. Ivey claims Dallas county, Missouri, as the place of her nativity, born February 8, 1874, a daughter of T. S. and Julia Tinsley, both natives of Tennessee. The father passed away in death on the 2d of July, 1905, and the mother is now living in Buffalo, Missouri. Mrs. Ivey received her education in the Ken- tucky University and the Valparaiso Univer- sity, graduating in the latter institution with the class of 1894, and was an efficient educa- tor in Laporte county. She is an earnest worker in the Home Missionary Society at Walkerton, and is an able consort to her hus- band in his ministerial labors. In political matters Rev. Ivey is independent where only local issues are involved, but in national politics he votes with the Republican party. He has fraternal relations with the Masonic Lodge of Walkerton, with the Knights of Pythias, and during his college life was a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity of DePauw University and upon the completion

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of his course he was elected to membership in the honorary society of Phi Beta Kappa. Rev. Ivey and his estimable wife are leaders in the younger social circles of Walkerton, where they are loved and honored for their true worth of character.

ERATUS S. DARLING, A. M., LL. B., M. D. Of all the different professions of our nation that of medicine plays the most conspicuous part in the annals of a county or state. The twentieth century physician and surgeon is a factor which tends to elevate the social status of a community, for he is usually well equipped from a scholarly standpoint to com- mand a greater respect than the common prac- titioner of a quarter of a century ago. Among those who have achieved success in this noble 'calling is Dr. Eratus S. Darling, who traces his ancestry back to the mother country of England, but more recently the family were from Worcester, Massachusetts. Although sympathizers of the crown of England, they remained neutral during the Revolutionary war. One ancestor, John Darling died in 1787, twelve years before the death of General Washington, and the doctor's grandfather, Hiram Darling, was deputy grand master of the L. O. L. and a soldier in the Canadian re- bellion of 1837. He was a man of large physique and a gentleman of more than pass- ing importance, and it seems that the male descendants of the Darlings were all men of large physique.

John Darling, the father of the doctor, was a native of Ontario, Canada, born in April, 1840, and is now living a retired life in Tor- onto, Canada, having been successful in the real estate and loan business. He married Catherine E. Copper, who was born in Nap- anee, Canada, July 5, 1845. and died July 8, 1884. She was a ripe scholar, had received an excellent musical training, and believed in the thorough mental training of her children. Her father was of Scotch birth, born in the same county as Robert Burns, and was twen- ty-five years of age when he bade adieu to the land of the "hills and heather" and sailed for America. He was a merchant by occupa- tion. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Darling were born five children, four sons and one daughter, all of whom are living. The eldest, Hiram. is a dental surgeon of Edmonton, Alberta. Can- ada. He received his professional training in the Toronto College of Dental Surgeons. where he received his degree of L. D. S .. also holding a degree D. D. S. from the Chicago College

of Dental Surgeons, a part of Rush Medical College, and is well equipped for the practice of his chosen profession. He is married, and socially is a Knight Templar Mason, while during his residence in the United States he was a Republican. Dr. Darling is the next in order of birth. Charles D. is serving as pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Red Wing, Minnesota. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from McAllister College of St. Paul, Minnesota, and is also a graduate of the McCormick Theological Seminary of Chicago, one of the leading institutions of the middle west. Previous to accepting his present charge he served as pastor at Walker- ton, Indiana, three years, and while there erected the present beautiful cement and stone church, costing fifteen thousand dollars. In April, 1905, he entered upon his duties at Red Wing. He is strictly and technically a scholar, a man of great concentration of thought and action, and he is now ready to receive his degree of Ph. D. from Wesleyan University at Bloomington, Illinois. J. El- more is pastor of the Presbyterian church at Stanley, Alberta, Canada. He attended Ho- bart College, of Geneva, New York, and also spent two years in the McCormick Theological Seminary. Marian, the only . daughter. is a resident of Red Wing, Minnesota, where she is an ordained minister in the Congregational church. Her education was received in the McAllister College at St. Paul and the Chi- cago Theological Seminary, and she is a lady of marked ability and accomplishments.

Dr. Darling was born in Ontario, Canada. February 10, 1872. He pursued his studies in Canada until reaching his majority. He is a ripe scholar, and received an education which is accorded to but few. Graduating at the Victoria College of Toronto, Canada. he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts, after which he followed the lecture platform for two years, lecturing on popular scientific sub- jeets. He next pursued a post graduate course in the New York University. studying philoso- phy and Christian evidences as special work. and with this excellent training he took up the study of law in the University of Minnesota. where he remained during the years 1895 and 1896. graduating in the two years' course. During the year 1897 the doctor occupied the rostrum as lecturer. In his Bachelor of Arts degree he took honor work in English liter- ature and history. and in 1898 entered the Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis.

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where he graduated with the class of 1903. After spending a short time in that city as a physician he located in North Liberty, In- diana, where he has ever since continued in the practice of medicine. He has a fine library of fifteen hundred volumes, and is a gentle- man of profound education and research, ad- mirably fitted for the work to which he is de- voting his life. He is a man whom to know is to respect and honor. He was one of the leading factors in the establishment of the lecture bureau in North Liberty, and is serv- ing as president of the association. Frater- nally Dr. Darling is a member of the Amer- ican Medical Association, and is a Mason and a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Since the above compilation the doctor has purchased property in the coming greatest steel city of the United States, Gary, Indiana, and has located there to practice his profes- sion. This wonderful city is calling for . brains, enterprise and energy and men with such equipment are fast becoming citizens of this coming city.

REV. ISAAC EARLY. During many years Rev. Isaac Early was a most efficient laborer in the cause of Christianity in the German Baptist church. A strong and forcible speak- er, earnest and eloquent in the presentation of the truth, his efforts were abundantly blessed. He was of German descent, (for his grandfather was born in the fatherland,) and was a native of Rockingham county, Vir- ginia, where his birth ocurred on the 7th of March, 1838, a son of Jacob and Mary (Sim- mons) Early. In their family were nine chil- dren, seven sons and two daughters, but only four of the number are now living, namely : Rev. Early, whose name introduces this re- view; Abraham, a retired farmer living in Cairo, Ohio; Samuel, a prosperous farmer in Allen county, Ohio; and Jacob, also an agri- culturist of that county. Three of the sons were soldiers in the Civil war, Noah, Abraham and Jonas, and Abraham was for seven months incarcerated in Libby prison, where he was nearly starved to death.

Jacob Early, the father, was also a native of Rockingham county, Virginia, born about 1818. He was reared as a farmer's son, and was a well, although self, educated man, speaking and writing both the German and English languages. In 1840 with his family he joined a small colony bound for Lima, Ohio, making the journey thither in true

pioneer style. Mr. Early had saved five hun- dred dollars, and with that amount he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of heavily timbered land, their first habitation there being a primitive log cabin of one room, where the family ate, slept and lived, the mother cooking on the old-fashioned fireplace. Lima, the now populous city, was but a hamlet, and their farm was located five miles north of that city. Wishing to add eighty acres to his original purchase and being without money, Mr. Early sought the aid of his friend, Samuel Miller, a wealthy man who had come with the colony, who advanced the money, and the first crop of wheat raised paid for the land. About 1864, however, Mr. Early sold this farm of two hundred and forty acres for ten thousand dollars and removed to Illi- nois, there purchasing three hundred acres of land, but sold it ere it had been inclosed and returned to his former home in Ohio, where he remained until his life's labors were ended in death in 1905. In his political affiliations he voted first with the Democracy, later with the Whigs, and at the formation of the Re- publican party he joined its ranks, remaining thereafter a loyal supporter of its principles. Both he and his wife were members of the German Baptist church. He was a grand old man of his time, and the family were honored in the communities in which they resided. Mrs. Early was born in Virginia about 1815, and her death occurred in 1882, both being interred in Allen county, Ohio, in a little cemetery laid out by the colonists who came with them from Virginia.

Rev. Early, a son of this honored old pion- eer couple, was but two years of age when the family journeyed to Ohio, where he was reared as a farmer lad and received his edu- cation in the little log school house so com- mon in those early days. When twenty-one years of age he purchased his time of his father, for he was then earning fifteen dol- lars a month as a carpenter and joiner, all work then being dressed by hand, and after working one year he again entered the school room as a student. With his education com- pleted he entered the teacher's profession, which he continued for two terms after his marriage. On the 18th of April, 1861, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Ir- vin, in Allen county, Ohio, and all of their eight children, three sons and five daughters. are yet living, namely : Sarah M. is the wife of John Reish, a well-known farmer of Port-

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age Prairie, Indiana, and they have four chil- dren, Ella M., Mary E., Charles and George. Hattie E. is the wife of Ira Gard, a resident farmer of Sawyer, Ward county, North Da- kota, and their four children are Nellie, Claude, Russell and Joy. Mary E. is the wife of Charles Ullery, also a resident of Portage Prairie, St. Joseph county, Indiana, and they have two children, Chadwick and Ralph. Mrs. Ullery completed her education in the Valpa- raiso Normal College, and afterward taught school for one term. A history of the eldest son, Charles Early, will be found in another portion of this volume. Ella May, a twin of Charles, is the wife of Abraham Whitmer, a salesman in Munich, Cavalier county, North Dakota, and they have three children, Ray, Carroll and Larmon. Mattie is the wife of W. D. Knott, a well-known lumberman of New Madrid, Missouri, and she is an artist in crayon. Their three children are Mary, Dorothy and Robert. William I. has been principal of the public schools of Hunting- ton, Indiana, during the past five years. He, too, attended the Valparaiso normal, and is also a graduate of the state normal at Bloom- ington, Indiana. He married Mariel Peffley, a representative of one of the honored old families of Liberty township, and they have four children, Lee, Harold, Helen and Rich- ard Deane. The family reside in a pleasant home in Huntington. John J., the youngest, is now superintendent of the Warsaw, In- diana, public schools, where he has been lo- cated during the past four years. He was educated in the same institutions as his brother William, the brothers having worked their way through college. He married Miss Mary Whitmer.

Mrs. Early, the mother, was born in Au- gusta county, Virginia, May 15, 1843, a daughter of John and Malinda (Mosingo) Ir- vin. Of the parents' five children, four sons and one daughter, three are now living, of whom Mrs. Early is the eldest. The son Henry is a resident farmer of Lima, Ohio, and on his farm are located valuable oil wells. Hugh, the second son, is a dentist in Lima, and he is also the owner of a fruit farm in southern California. Mr. Irvin, the father. was born in Augusta county. Virginia, March 13, 1813, and although a miller he gave his time prin- cipally .to farming. He traced his lineage to the English, Scotch and Irish, and the orig- inal spelling of the name was Erwin. Mrs. Irvin was born in Western Virginia on Janu-

ary 7, 1813, and in 1856 they emigrated to Ohio, where both passed away in death, the father in 1889 and the mother in 1896. In their religious affiliations he was a member of the Presbyterian church and his wife of the United Brethren. Mrs. Early was reared in Virginia until her thirteenth year, and she well remembers the trip across the mountains in wagons to Ohio, the journey consuming twenty-two days. After her marriage the young couple located on a rented farm, but after two years they were able to purchase a small place, which they sold in 1865 and came to St. Joseph county, Indiana, he making the journey by horseback and the wife on the train with the children, locating in Liberty town- ship, four miles northeast of North Liberty. Their first purchase consisted of two hundred acres of partially improved land, for which they assumed an indebtedness of four thou- sand dollars. Subsequently they sold that land and leased a farm in the eastern limits of the village. Rev. Early in 1868 was chosen as a minister of his charge, this district com- prising four ministers, and he labored faith- fully and earnestly in the Master's vineyard for twenty-eight years. At the expiration of that time his health failed and he was obliged to give up the work. He was thoroughly sin- cere in all his thoughts and deeds, and his noble life proved an inspiration to many of those who came under his ministrations. Dur- ing a period of three years he served as a county commissioner, fulfilling the duties of that important position with the same loyalty which ever characterized all his acts. Mrs. Early served as president of the Ladies' Aid Society of her church, and for many years she has been a teacher in the Sunday school. She has in her home a little kettle given her when a small child by a servant, and which is nearly a century old, also a large double coverlet over three-quarters of a century old woven by her mother. Many years have passed since Rev. and Mrs. Early cast their lot with the residents of St. Joseph county. and as their golden years drew apace they re- ceived the love and veneration of all who came under their benign influence. But the husband and father has answered the final roll call, dying August 14, 1907, aged sixty-nine years, five months and seven days. Besides his devoted wife, three brothers, eight children and twenty-four grandchildren are left to mourn his loss. He wielded a noble influence in the church and community. He was a man

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of truth, honesty and Christian integrity. His life harmonized with his preaching which ren- dered his life a success among those who knew him. He possessed tact as a counselor in the church and in the home and was admired by young and old for his amiable qualities. All realize that a Christian soldier has fallen, but he fell clad in his armor and loyal to his trust and has gone to reap his eternal reward.

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A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 2, Part 68

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