USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A standard history of Elkhart County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume II > Part 20
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The instruments manufactured by this concern have a large domestic sale, and are shipped also to Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia, India, Egypt, the Hawaiian Islands and South America, and the trade slogan, "Horn Makers to Particular Musicians," is known around the world. A testimonial to their quality and tone was rendered at the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, California, in 1915, when the company was awarded a medal for superiority in band instruments. Mr. Martin has devoted himself uninterruptedly to the development of this business and has not allowed himself to be diverted by side lines. He is a republican in his political views, but takes little interest in politics, and his only connection with public life is that held by every good citizen who has the welfare of his city at heart.
On July 3, 1890, Mr. Martin was married to Miss Ella Martin, who was born at Niles, Michigan, and to this union there have been born eight children : Charles, an expert hornmaker, representing the third generation in this line to be engaged in instrument making ; I. W .; Harry, who died at the age of ten years ; and Florence, Rob- ert, Gwendolyn, Llewellyn and Carrol Jane.
WILLIAM DELBERT COOK. It is hardly necessary to mention the many relations and associations which the Cook family have with Northern Elkhart County. William Delbert Cook is a substantial farmer citizen of Baugo Township and has spent practically all his life in that locality.
However, he was born in Penn Township of St. Joseph County, Indiana, April 27, 1871. His parents were John and Geneva (Tib- betts) Cook, while his paternal grandparents were Robert and Cath- erine (Lichtenburger) Cook, and the maternal grandparents were Abner and Mary ( Mathews) Tibbetts. These were all well known people in Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, and an extended recital of the principal facts in the lives of the Tibbetts and Cook families will be found on other pages under the name of Dennis Cook.
William Delbert Cook attended one term of school in Penn Township of St. Joseph County and received the rest of his education in District No. 4 in Baugo Township of Elkhart County. His home was with his parents until his marriage, and after that he worked for his father a year. His career as an independent farmer began on rented land and from time to time he converted the proceeds of
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his thrift and industry into investments which have now netted him a substantial prosperity. Altogether he was a renter in Elkhart County for fifteen years. In 1914 he bought the farm which he now owns. This is a highly developed place of 120 acres situated in section 25 of Baugo Township. Nearly all the land is under a high state of development and improvement, has a set of excellent farm buildings, and the industry which Mr. Cook most successfully carries on and from which he gets his revenue is general farming, dairying and stock raising.
On April 22, 1893, he married Miss Martha Holdeman. She is an Elkhart County girl, having been born in Baugo Township, a daughter of Abraham and Mary (Kilmer ) Holdeman. Her paternal grandparents were Christian and Christina ( Buzzard) Holdeman. Her maternal grandparents were Isaac and Anna Kilmer. Both the Kilmer and Holdeman families were among the pioneers in Elkhart County, and the record of their activities is closely associated with the period of development in this locality. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are the parents of seven living children : Earl, Warren, Mabel, Bert, Grace, Vesta, and Lois. Their daughter Ruth died when only six- teen months of age.
WILLIAM L. MIKAEL. A good deal of early history in Elkhart County could be told in the annals of the Mikael family and their relationship. They were here when the entire country was a wilderness. They were not only early comers, but bore more than an individual part in clearing up the land, establishing homes and institutions, and in carrying forward the great work of progress and civilization.
The recollections of Mr. William L. Mikael, whose home is in Baugo Township, go back into the early pioneer days. For almost seventy years his memories and recollections are fairly definite as to the progressive changes and developments which have taken place in this county. Mr. Mikael was born in Baugo Township May 12, 1841.
His grandfather, Solomon Mikael was probably born in Miami County, Ohio. He continued to live in Ohio until 1828. That year he came West and located in what is now Penn Township of St. Joseph County, and bought a tract of land on the banks of the St. Joseph River. Those familiar with the history of the early settlement will recall that the year 1828 marked the advent of some of the very earliest arrivals in the St. Joseph Valley. There were a few clearings and cabins along the course of that stream through Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana, but otherwise civilization
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had made very little progress. There were no railroads, and most of the marketing was done by means of the St. Joseph River and the lake or else across the country by tedious wagon routes to the larger cities. It was a common practice for the early settlers to load their grain or other farm product on flat boats, ferry it down the St. Joseph to Lake Michigan and there exchange it for supplies that came around the Great Lakes. Grandfather Mikael continued to live in Penn Township the rest of his life. He and his wife reared one daughter and four sons.
One of these sons was Edmond Mikael, who was born in Miami County, Ohio, and was a very young lad when brought to the St. Joseph Valley in Northern Indiana. He grew up in a pioneer community, had training to industry and thrifty sober habits, and most of his education was of this practical discipline rather than a knowledge of books. He assisted his father in clearing up the land, and on becoming independent he came to Baugo Township in Elkhart County and bonght a tract of timbered land in section 27, built a log house. In 1847 Edmond Mikael sold his first farm, and bought another tract of land in section 34. There was not a single item of improvement, not a "stick amiss" on the place. He was confronted with the heavy task of making the land cultivable, and he was still busily engaged in this heavy performance when the . Civil war broke out. Though at that time past military age, he showed his ardent patriotism by enlisting in 1861 in Company E of the Forty-eight Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He went South and was with his regiment in all its various marches, campaigns and battles, up to the great battle of Nashville in December, 1864. He was severely wounded in that engagement, and on account of dis- ability was given an honorable discharge and he returned home, but not until he had seen the principal part of the war fought and the Union practically insured. He never recovered from the severe wound he received on the battlefield at Nashville and died in 1869 at the age of fifty-one.
Edmond Mikael married Eliza Noffsinger. Her father, Joseph Noffsinger, was a very prominent pioneer character in Elkhart County. He was born in Canada, but when a young man came to the states, first locating in Knox County, Ohio, but in 1827, accom- panied by his family, he started for Indiana. He made the journey overland with ox teams and wagons, the wagons containing all the household possessions. Joseph Noffsinger entered 160 acres of land and bought another 160 acres on section 27 of Baugo Township.' and he bought other land in Madison Township. He was several years in advance of the other pioneers and carly settlers, and by
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character and personality he was well fitted for the responsibilities of the pioneer. He was able to talk the Indian language and always made friends with the red men, and exercised a beneficial interest over them. Like many early settlers, he was proficient in all the arts of woodcraft, and got most of his provisions from the wild game which frequented the forest, including deer, bear, turkeys. The first home built by Joseph Noffsinger in Elkhart County was a log cabin. This was later replaced by a substantial hewed log house. Joseph Noffsinger had striking ability as a natural mechanic, and that skill served him well in the early days, when there was very few shops and it was almost impossible to get tools or imple- ments except such as were brought across the country at great expense or could be manufactured at home. It is said that Joseph Noffsinger could fabricate almost any article out of wood or iron. He set up a blacksmith shop in the wilderness of Northern Indi- ana and made a great many farm implements used by the early settlers. He frequently made the old fashioned plow, which had a wooden beam and mold board, with an iron point. He also superintended the clearing of his farm and continued to live in Baugo Township until his death. During his lifetime he gave three acres of land in section 27 of Baugo for use as a cemetery. The Noffsinger Cemetery Association is still a local institution, and William L. Mikael, a grandson of Joseph Noffsinger, is one of the ' trustees of the association. Joseph Noffsinger married Elizabeth Siler.
Eliza (Noffsinger) Mikael survived her husband many years and died at the age of eighty-six. She reared seven of her eight children, namely : William L., Jacob, Jonathan, Biddy Elizabeth, Mary Jane, AAnnora and Ada Prudence. The other child, Joseph, died when seven years of age.
As already stated, William L. Mikael can remember incidents of his early boyhood which have the strong flavor of pioneer his- tory. He recalls when Baugo Township was almost an unbroken wilderness and he can tell many interesting stories of pioneer days. In company with his father he several times visited Indian camps before the Indians had left this section of Indiana. He recalls his mother sitting by the fireside spinning and weaving, and nearly all the cooking was done by the fireplace. His own career of usefulness began at a very early age. He was employed by his father in help- ing clear off the land. The Mikael farm was heavily wooded, and Edmond Mikael for a number of years converted his timber into charcoal, which found a ready sale at the foundry in Mishawaka. When only nine years of age William L. Mikael drove an ox team
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drawing a wagon loaded with charcoal to the furnace which each year took several thousand bushels of charcoal from his father's kiln.
During his active and independent career Mr. Mikael has followed farming as his basic pursuit and many years ago succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead. That is one of the best improved and all-around farmsteads in Baugo Township. His revenues have come from general farming and stock raising and there is no citizen who has better deserved his substantial success.
Mr. Mikael was first married at the age of twenty-three years to Eliza Overlease. She was born in Elkhart County, a daugh- ter of James and Charlotte (Leonard) Overlease. At her death she left one daughter, Lodema Isabel, who married C. W. Andrew of Laporte County, and their two children are named Myrtle and Harold. For his second marriage Mr. Mikael married Susan Wil- lard. She became the mother of two children, but both she and the children are now deceased. The third wife of Mr. Mikael was Ellaminah Freed. She was born in Olive Township of Elkhart County, a daughter of Deacon Daniel Freed. Her father was born in Mansfield, Ohio, a son of Joseph Freed, who was probably born in Pennsylvania and was an early settler at Mansfield, Ohio. Joseph Freed married Hannah Snyder, and they both died in Ohio. Deacon Daniel Freed was reared in Ohio and from there came to Elkhart County as an early settler in Olive Township, where he bought a tract of timbered land and built the log cabin in which Mrs. Mikael was born. He hewed a farm literally from the wilderness and kept his home there, and in later years enjoyed comfort and plenty, and passed away honored and respected. Deacon Daniel Freed married Anna Nusbaum. She was born in Ashland County, Ohio, a daugh- ter of Peter Nusbaum, who was a native of Switzerland and of German ancestry. He came to America when a young man, settling in Ashland County, Ohio, where he spent the rest of his days. Peter Nusbaum married Barbara Pletcher, who was probably born in Pennsylvania, and died in Ohio. Mrs. Mikael's mother died in her eightieth year, having reared eleven children whose names were: Joseph, Hannah, Ellaminah, Elizabeth, Reuben, Anna, Peter, Celesta, Mary Alice, Martha and William Henry, and two who died in infancy. Of these Hannah and Anna are now deceased. Mrs. Mikael's parents were both members of the Mennonite Church and her father was a deacon in that denomination. Deacon Freed was one of the splendid old time characters of Elkhart County. He and his wife vied with each other in their hospitality, and they kept & home which never turned away a stranger or anyone in need from its door.
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REV. GEORGE LAMBERT. Missionary, minister, lecturer, traveler and explorer, Rev. George Lambert of Elkhart is one of the most versatile men in the county, and for years has been prominently identified with the extension of Christianity and all its interests, not only at home but abroad.
His career began with his birth in Northampton County, Penn- sylvania, May 11, 1853. His parents were David C. and Catherine (Unangst ) Lambert. His father was born in Northampton County and died April 30, 1901, aged seventy-eight years, five months, six days. His mother was a native of the same county and died April 23, 1891, aged sixty-five years, two months, thirteen days. They were married September 29, 1846, and became the parents of thirteen children, nine sons and four daughters, one of whom died in infancy while twelve grew to be useful men and women. Eight are still living, and Rev. Mr. Lambert was the fifth in order of birth. His father was a cooper by trade, but during the Civil war times engaged in farming. In 1870 he retired, and thereafter lived in Freemans- burg, Pennsylvania, to the close of his life. He was an active member of the Evangelical Church, and for a number of years held the office of burgomaster in Freemansburg. He was a man implicitly trusted, a leader in affairs of a local nature, and was called upon to administer a number of estates. In his early life he voted with the whig party and later became a republican.
George Lambert received his early education in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and his life was spent on a farm up to the age of seventeen. He then took up the trade of carriage building, and followed that as a means of self support for about six years, in the meantime pursuing his studies at night and qualifying himself for his chosen work as a minister. In 1878 he entered the ministry actively, and in 1879 was ordained. His first charge was in Kent County, Michigan, where he remained about two years, and was then called to Elkhart County, being located at Wakarusa until 1897. He then had charge of a church in Elkhart, but has been retired from the active service since 1909.
In 1884 Rev. Mr. Lambert started for Palestine, and arriving in England found that the cholera had become epidemic all around the Mediterranean, and after spending some time in England re- turned home. About a year later he made a trip entirely around the world, visiting Japan, China, Ceylon, India, Egypt, Palestine, and other localities in Asia Minor, Greece, and returned through Europe to the United States. In 1806 he wrote a book under the title "Around the Globe and through Bible Land," containing 431 pages, and filled with many interesting chapters of description. It was
REV. GEORGE LAMBERT AND FAMILY
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through his efforts that the Home and Foreign Relief Commission was started in 1897. On the 3d day of April in that year he himself left America for the purpose of assisting in relieving the suffering people of India. He was one of three who had under their super- vision 90,000 bushels of corn, rye flour and beans besides a large amount of money donated by American churches of different denom- inations for distribution to the famine stricken people of the Far East. It required eleven months to properly discharge the duties of this responsible office, most of which he spent in India distributing the donations. Bishop Thoburn and Elder Johnson were the other two working members of the committee. After that he engaged in active missionary work and helped to establish mission stations in India, where he spent about eight months during the year 1898. It was in 1908 that Mr. Lambert made his most extended tour, cover- ing Germany, France, Switzerland, Russia, in which countries he delivered 130 formal and informal speeches and addresses. He also visited Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, and was accompanied by his daugh- ter Rose through Palestine and Egypt, but they parted company at Cairo, whence she returned to her station as a missionary. Mr. Lambert also visited Baroda, India, East Africa, spent much time in the interior of Africa, and it is noteworthy that he was in that coun- try before the notable expedition headed by Theodore Roosevelt. On coming out of the interior at Mombasa he soon after returned to Aden and then crossed the Indian Ocean to Bombay, and made an extended tour of the mission stations before his return to New York. In 1898 he published a book entitled "India, the Horror Stricken Empire." Reverend Lambert is a member of the Indiana Confer- ence of the Evangelical Association.
Two of Mr. Lambert's daughters have also performed notable service in the noble task of foreign missionaries. On August 10, 1872, he was married to Amanda Gehman, who was born in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, daughter of Rev. W. and Anna ( Mussel- man) Gehman, both natives of Pennsylvania. Of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Gehman seven are living, and Mrs. Lambert was their oldest child. Eight children have been born to Mr. Lambert and wife. The oldest, Ella, is the wife of John U'mmel, living five miles south of Elkhart, and they have nine children. The son Ed- ward married Rose Nusbaum, and has two children. Rose, the second daughter, now the wife of David G. Musselman, living in Victoria, Texas, and the mother of two children, has performed many conspicuous services as a foreign missionary. She entered the missionary work in 1898, going to Hagjin in Turkish Asia Minor, and remained abroad seven years. She again returned to the same
.
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locality, and lived there until 1914. It was Rose Lambert who made a striking appeal to the United States Government through the United States Consul at Constantinople for the protection of the American people, two of whom had lost their lives before the United States paid heed to her call and sent a warship as a guard to American interests. She has been an extensive traveler throughout the United States and Europe, has written many articles on the subject of mis- sions, and her efforts have been effective in stimulating interest and in improving the service of the foreign missions. She is also author of a volume largely with reference to her own activities in various mission fields. Emma, the fourth child, is the wife of Robert Fan- cher of Louisville, Indiana, and they have two children. Ira, the fifth child, married Louisa Domer, now deceased, and there is one child to that union. Nora, the sixth child, has also had an exten- sive missionary experience, having gone to the Asia Minor countries in 1909, and was active in the missionary field up to the beginning of the European war in 1914, when she was compelled to return home and arrived only after experiencing many difficulties in getting out of the country. At the present time she is attending a college in Bluffton, Ohio. The seventh in the family is Jessie Marie, wife of Rev. H. Luther Fancher, living in Cloquet, Minnesota. Marie is the wife of Roy W. Fries, of South Bend, Indiana.
WILNA S. PANCOST. Though he is now venerable in years, Mr. Pancost still holds prestige as one of the active and influential busi- ness men of the City of Elkhart, where he has been identified with the flour-milling industry for more than forty years and where he is now the pioneer representative of this important line of enterprise, as president of the Pancost Milling Company. No citizen of the county has more secure place in popular confidence and esteem, none has proven more loyal and public-spirited and none is more definitely entitled to representation in this history of the county and its people.
Wilna S. Pancost was born on his father's pioneer farm in Huron County, Ohio, and the date of his nativity was December 10, 1836, so that the close of the year 1916 will record his arrival at the eightieth milestone on the journey of life,-a journey that has been marked by large and worthy achievement on his part. Mr. Pancost is a son of Hiram R. and Caroline (Cannon) Pancost, both of whom were born near Auburn, Cayuga County, New York, -the former in 1808 and the latter in 1809. Mrs. Pancost was summoned to the life eternal in 1848, and her husband survived her by thirty years, his death having occurred in 1878. Of the five
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children the subject of this review is the first born, and two others still survive the honored father. For his second wife Hiram R. Pancost wedded Miss Hulda Bugbee, and they became the parents of four sons and two daughters.
Hiram R. Pancost was reared and educated in his native county, and there his first marriage was solemnized. With his young wife he immigrated from the old Empire State to Ohio and became a pioneer farmer of Huron County, where he reclaimed his farm from the wilderness, and literally hewed out a homestead in the midst of the virgin forest. He left standing on his farm two white-oak trees of exceptionally large size, one of them having been nine feet in circumference at its base and the other nearly as large. They stood for many years as stately landmarks in Huron County. Mr. Pancost finally sold his farm and engaged in the general merchan- dise business in the Village of Olean, Huron County, and after conducting this enterprise for a time he disposed of the same and purchased a farm in Lucas County, near the City of Toledo. This property he later traded for real estate at Maumee, that county, and this village property he eventually exchanged for a farm near Swanton, Fulton County, Ohio, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1878. as one of the sterling and honored pioneer citizens of the Buckeye State. He was a stanch supporter of the principles of the democratic party as exemplified by Jeffer- son and Jackson, but when the Civil war was precipitated he followed his honest convictions and allied himself with the republi- can party, with which he thereafter continued to be affiliated until the close of his long and useful life. He had no predilection for political office but his loyal interest in community affairs caused him to accord service in various township offices.
In the common schools of the old Buckeye State Wilna S. Pan- cost gained the discipline which proved a stable foundation upon which he has reared the superstructure of the broad and liberal edu- cation which he has since acquired through self-application and long association with men and affairs. Mr. Pancost first came to the City of Elkhart in 1856, when the place was little more than a vil- lage, and in the preceding year he had established his residence at Bristol, this county. Upon coming to Elkhart he entered upon what may consistently be termed a practical apprenticeship to the miller's trade, and through six years of such preliminary service he admirably fortified himself and became an expert miller. In 1861 he became superintendent of the flour mill operated by D. Ellis at Goshen, this state, and this position he retained until the autumn of 1864, in the meanwhile having supervised the manufacturing of
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flour for the use of the Forty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which was then in active service in the Civil war. He also manu- factured flour for the Union forces under the command of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler in the City of New Orleans.
In the fall of 1864 Mr. Pancost removed to Hillsdale, Michi- gan, where he was superintendent of the Emory flour mill until 1868, when he established his residence at Walkerton, St. Joseph County, Indiana, and assumed the supervision of the erecting and equipping of the Walkerton Steam Flour Mill. He was superinten- dent of the operation of this mill until 1872, when he established his permanent home in the City of Elkhart. Here he was superinten- dent of the Beardsley mill until 1876, when he became one of the organizers of the Elkhart Milling Company, in the stock of which he owned a one-third interest for twenty years thereafter, the cor- poration having been dissolved in 1896 and Mr. Pancost having thereafter continued the operation of the mill under lease for a period of about four years. Later he purchased the machinery of the mill and in 1904 he erected his present modern mill, which has the best type of mechanical equipment throughout and the products of which are of maximum excellence. The business is conducted under the corporate title of the Pancost Milling Company, and Mr. Pancost is president of the company, his eldest son, Clarence E., being secretary and treasurer, his second son, Lewis G., being vice president, and the youngest son, Ernest V., the superintendent. In the buikling of this mill Mr. Pancost made effective use of the machinery which he had purchased from the older mill, as pre- viously noted, and in 1904 the Pancost mill was thoroughly remodeled, the most approved type of modern machinery being installed. The products of the mill are of the best grade and find ready demand not only in a local way but throughout an extended outside territory.
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