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 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
664
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
eight children, four sons and four daughters. Five of them are now living, and Payson E., of this review, was the seventh child.
Payson E. Schwin passed his boyhood days on his father's farm. He was twenty years old when he entered the Ontario Veterinary College at Toronto, Ontario, and he was graduated from that school with the class of 1888, at the age of twenty-three years. He was an honor pupil in his class, and was the first American student to take the gold medal in general exams in this college. After his graduation Mr. Schwin located in Elkhart, where he has since been engaged in his profession, enjoying much success and prosperity in his work. He is a member of the Indiana Veterinary Association and the American Veterinary Association, and fraternally is identi- fied by his membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Elkhart Lodge No. 425, and Elkhart Tent No. 3, Knights of the Maccabees. He is a member of the Century Club and is a republican in politics.
On September 8. 1892, Mr. Schwin was married to Miss Kate Boyd, a native daughter of Elkhart. Two children have been born to them. Helen Louise is a graduate of the Elkhart High School, class of 1913, and of Oberlin College, where she took a special course in public school music. Newell T. Schwin is the second and youngest child, and he is now finishing his studies in the Elkhart grades.
JOSEPH MILLER. A long and well spent life has been that of Joseph Miller of Baugo Township. He is a veteran of the Civil war, having fought with the Union armies during the closing months of that great struggle. His home has been in Elkhart County for half a century and through the peaceful vocation of farmer he has prospered, has reared his family, and now dwells in comfort and plenty among children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, January 22, 1837. His father. Joseph Miller, who was a native of Bucks County, Penn- sylvania, moved to Ohio in the early days and settled in Wayne County. He was a miller by trade and followed his vocation in that section of Ohio until 1844, when he came to Indiana accom- panied by his family. They started with a wagon and team. Their route lay through the famous Black swamp of Northwestern Ohio and Northeastern Indiana, and after proceeding but a short distance they were stuck in the mud and were obliged to retrace their steps for two miles. Joseph Miller, Sr., then embarked his possessions, wagon and team on a canal boat and made the rest of the journey down the old Wabash and Erie Canal as far as IHuntington, Indiana.
665
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
In the neighborhood of that Indiana town he bought 160 acres of timbered land, upon which he erected a log house and stable. The clearing and cultivation of his land occupied only part of his time, and the rest he spent as a miller in the winter seasons in Liberty, Manchester, Wabash and Huntington. He finally put up a steam sawmill, one of the first driven by steam power in that section of the state. He continued to reside in that section of Indiana until 1864, when he sold his interests and moved to Baugo Township of Elkhart County. There he bought a farm including the southeast corner of section 25, and lived there quietly until his death. Joseph . Miller, Sr., married Catherine Zelner, who was also born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and who died on the old homestead in Elk- hart County. She became the mother of thirteen children, and three of her sons gave loyal service to their country during the Civil war.
A boy of but seven years when the family came to Indiana, Joseph Miller has some recollections of that eventful journey. All the country surrounding Huntington was then little more than a wilderness, abounding in every kind of game, and even an occasional Indian roamed through the woods. He recalls many interesting inci- dents of pioneer times. When he was a boy his mother cooked the meals for the family by the fireplace, and she carded and spun the material which entered into their garments. Joseph Miller assisted his brothers in clearing up the land and continued farming until 1864, the year his father started for Elkhart County. About that time he enlisted in Company A of the One Hundred and Fifty- second Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry. This regiment went to Virginia, and was attached to the Army of the Potomac. He was in the service during those great campaigns which marked the fall of the Confederacy, and was honorably discharged from the ranks on June 22, 1865. In the meantime he had been severely injured, having three ribs broken, and has never fully recovered from those casualties which marked his life as a soldier.
After the war he rejoined the family in Elkhart County. In the spring of 1866 he located on the farm he now owns and occupies. including the north half of the southeast quarter of section 36 in the extreme southeastern corner of Baugo Township. \ very small part of this land was cleared when he took possession, but half a century has made wonderful transformations and changes. His first habitation was a small frame house unfinished, and with such as the nucleus of his effort he has gone forward from year to year placing new improvements, adding and changing and re- modeling, until he now has all his land under cultivation, has a
666
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
substantial frame house, a good barn with sheds, granaries and other outbuildings, and has planted numerous fruit and shade trees, so that his own farm is a picturesque spot in the landscape. Mr. Miller has taken his part in community affairs, and is a member of Shiloh Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.
In February, 1886, shortly before taking up his home at his present farm he married Miss Ann Inwood. She was born in Baugo Township, daughter of James and Sarah Inwood, who were pioneers of this section of Elkhart County. Mrs. Miller died in 1887. For his second wife he married Mary East, a native of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Her father, Samuel East, was born in Bucks . County, Pennsylvania, moved from there to Medina County, Ohio, locating in Grafton Township, and purchasing a farm he spent the rest of his days in its cultivation. Samuel East married Mary Bru- baker, who was also born in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and spent her last years in Medina County, Ohio.
Mr. Miller's children, three daughters, are all by his first wife. Their names were Ellen, Sarah and Agnes. Ellen married Amos Legnitler, and at her death she left three children named Agnes, Bessie and Myrtle. These are the granddaughters of Mr. Miller, and two of them have children, who are his great-grandchildren. Agnes Legnitler is the wife of Walter Lockman, and they have a son named Warren Scott. Bessie Legnitler married Charles Lock- wood and has three children. Mr. Miller's daughter Sarah died at the age of nineteen, and Miss Agnes was for some years a teacher.
FREEMONT THOMAS. A resident of Elkhart County all his life, Freemont Thomas has made his years purposeful and useful in the varied occupations of teacher, farmer and as a building contractor.
He was born in Concord Township of Elkhart County August 14. 1860. The Thomas family originally came from Wales, his great-grandfather having been born in that country and having come to America before or about the time of the Revolutionary war. He reared seven sons. Grandfather Nathan Thomas was probably born in Virginia, but early in life moved to Ohio and became an early settler in Columbiana County, and there spent the rest of his days.
Hiram Thomas, father of Freemont, was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, in 1828. He was only three years of age when his father died and but fifteen when he lost his mother. Hence his early life was one of straitened circumstances and meager oppor- tunity. Apprenticed to learn the cabinet maker's trade, he became a very skilled workman, and his proficiency was such that on com-
667
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
pleting his apprenticeship he was taken into partnership by his employer. He continued to live in Ohio until 1849, when he re- moved to Elkhart County. Here for three years he was employed at his trade by Joseph Cowan. He then bought the farm of his wife's father in Concord Township. That was still in the early days of agricultural development in Elkhart County, and only a small part of the farm had been cleared up. Thereafter he devoted his time to cutting down the timber, improving and cultivating the soil, and he was recognized as a first class and prosperous general farmer until his death in 1887.
Freemont Thomas' mother was Caroline Matilda McKelvy, and the McKelvys were very early settlers in Elkhart County. She was born in Pennsylvania July 15, 1834, but was only three years of age when her father, James McKelvy, who had been born in Pennsylvania in 1789 removed to Elkhart County, accompanied by his wife and four children. That was years before the first rail- road was constructed through Northern Indiana, and the only means of conveyance was by the overland road or by the slow going canal and river and lake boats. The McKelvys came overland with team and wagon. James McKelvy's wife was Elizabeth Peebles, who was born in Pennsylvania, March 23, 1795, and died September 15, 1866. When the McKelvys arrived in Elkhart County the town of that name was a very small village, surrounded by an almost complete wilderness, alternating between the dense forests and the beautiful prairie lands of this section. Only a com- paratively small part of the country had been taken up by actual settlers, and government land was for sale in generous quantities at a dollar and a quarter per acre. James McKelvy bought a tract of land two and a half miles south of Elkhart. There he began his labors as a pioneer, and continued them productively until his - death on January 30, 1855.
Mrs. Hiram B. Thomas died December 29. 1912. She reared four children named Uree, Fremont. Ada and Mayo.
Freemont Thomas grew up on the old homestead. His educa- tion came from the public schools and when only nineteen he quali- fied as a teacher and spent five winter terms in district schoolrooms. He was also a practical farmer from early youth, and managed the old homestead until 1891. For the past twenty-five years his busi- ness interests have been centered at Elkhart, where he first learned the trade of carpenter.
Mr. Thomas married Charlotte Hunt, who was born near Rush- ville, Rush County, Indiana, April 5. 1858. She represents some of the fine old Quaker stock early settled in Eastern Indiana. Her
668
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
father was Rev. John W. Hunt, who for many years was a minister of the Christian Church in Indiana, Iowa and different parts of the South. Rev. Mr. Hunt was born near Greensboro in Guilford County, North Carolina, December 16, 1830, and was of Quaker parentage. The father James Hunt was born in the same locality as was also the grandfather Thomas Hunt. These were descendants of Nathan Hunt, a noted Quaker missionary who practiced and carried that faith into various parts of England, Ireland and Scot- land. Mrs. Thomas' grandfather, James Hunt, married Lydia Mendenhall. She was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, also of Quaker parentage. Her father, Moses Mendenhall, was an inventor of more than local note, was granted several patents, and one of his devices was an improvement for a cotton gin. When Rev. John W. Hunt was three years of age his parents moved to Middle Fork, Indiana, not far from Richmond, and became identi- fied with the old Quaker settlement in that part of the state. They lived there a number of years and then went to Cambridge City, Indiana. Rev. Mr. Hunt acquired a good education, finishing a high school course and also a college course at Newcastle. In early manhood he learned the trade of carriage maker and followed that at Cambridge City and a number of other places. He was ordained a minister of the Christian Church in Little Flat Rock, Rush County, Indiana, and his last regular charge was in Elk- hart, where he died in 1903. Rev. W. Hunt married Indiana Os- borne, who was born in the State of Mississippi December 2, 1832, and was reared in Louisiana. Her father, Samuel Osborne, was born in Vermont, while her mother Sarah Ann Allston was a native of Mississippi. In 1903 Mr. and Mrs. Hunt celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. They reared twelve children, all of whom are still living, and Mrs. Hunt is also alive at the age of eighty-three.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have been born six . children : Hallie Bernice, Emmet Hunt, Jean, Helen, Paul and Dorothy. They have had the advantages and opportunities of a good home, and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have taken particular pains to rear their children to be useful and wholesome members of the communities in which they are to take their place as workers. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are both members of the Church of Christ. He cast his first presidential vote for B. F. Butler, and has always taken an active interest in public affairs, and for one term served as a member of the Elkhart City Council.
JACOB F. HAUENSTEIN. This is a name which is significant of long residence and prominent activity in Elkhart County. Jacob
669
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
F. Hauenstein is now president of the Elkhart Farmers Home Fire Insurance Company, and has long been one of the leading farmers and citizens of Baugo Township. The family is one that has been identified with Elkhart County for nearly eighty years.
It was in Baugo Township on the old farm of his parents that Jacob F. Hauenstein was born December 25, 1854. He was a wel- come Christmas gift on that day to his parents, John Rudolph and Anna ( Meyer) Hauenstein. His father was born in the village of Underendingen in the Canton of Aargau, Switzerland, August 27, 1820. He was about eleven years of age when he came with his parents, brothers and sisters to America in 1831. The family lived in Wayne County, Ohio, for several years, but in 1838 came to Elkhart County, journeying across the country by wagons and teams to their new home. In 1838 Elkhart County had advanced very little beyond the stage of civilization in which the first settlers found it. There were many log cabins scattered over the prairies and in the woods, but the population altogether was very meager and sparse, and there were practically none of the conditions which mark the modern twentieth century civilization in this locality. There were no railroads, and the present flourishing city of Elkhart was only a hamlet. The Hauenstein family located on the River Road in Baugo Township, and in September, 1838, John R. Hauenstein's mother passed away, while his father died in the month of November. They left a family of six sons and a daugh- ter : John, Abraham, Andrew, Rudolph, Frederick and Henry, while the daughter Mary died young.
John R. Hauenstein received part of his early education and training in his native land of Switzerland, and also attended the rude pioneer schools in Wayne County, Ohio. He was already capable of doing a man's work and assuming a man's responsibilities when he came to Elkhart County in 1838. He soon afterward bought forty acres of land, including the southwest quarter of the northwestern quarter of section 23 in Baugo Township. The improvements comprised a log cabin, a stable, and a little black- smith shop. He had all the enthusiasm and industry which are required of pioneering and he soon had most of the land under cultivation and created some substantial improvements. A few years later he sold and bought another place of sixty-five acres in the same general locality. That was his home until his death on October 2, 1890.
On January 19. 1847. John R. Hauenstein married Anna Meyer. She was born in the Canton of .Aargau, Switzerland, on February 5, 1821. In 1830, when she was nine years of age, her parents
670
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
came to America, and after living two years in Marion County, Ohio, they removed to Seneca County in the same state, where her parents spent the rest of their days. Mrs. Anna ( Meyer) Hauen- stein died May 5, 1907. Both she and her husband were baptized in the Reformed Church of Switzerland. The names of their eight children who grew up were: Barbara E., Emily J., Mary A., Jacob F., William H., George W., Frena I., and Rudolph.
It was in the wholesome environment of the country district that Jacob F. Hauenstein grew to manhood. He attended the rural schools, and also the Elkhart High School and the Northern Indiana Normal at Valparaiso. Much of his public service has been in be- half of education. He was himself a teacher for many years, and as trustee of his home township has done much to keep up a high standard of schools. Before going to Valparaiso College he taught his first term in what is now the Macie District in Olive Township, and he afterwards was employed to teach several terms in Baugo Township. While teaching he also bought a farm in section 23 of Baugo Township, and by one purchase after another his possessions have grown until he now owns 175 acres of land with excellent improvements, and several groups of substantial build- ings.
In 1880 Mr. Hauenstein married Miss Mary A. Chokey. She was born in Jefferson Township of Elkhart County. Her father, Ernest Augustus Chokey, was born at Lomatz in the Kingdom of Saxony, Germany, June 5, 1819, and was the only member of his father's family who came to America. Reared and educated in his native land, he was married there on May 1, 1850, to Johanna Charlotta Beichelin, who was born in the same section of Saxony on October 6, 1826. A few days after their marriage they started for America, making the voyage by an old fashioned sailing vessel, and was twenty-one days between ports. After landing in New York they went directly to Milwaukee and a short time afterwards arrived in Elkhart County, where Mr. Chokey bought a farm in Jefferson Township. That was his home for seven years, and on selling he bought another place in section 22 of Baugo Town- ship. Its improvements comprised a log house and a frame barn. He had all the thrift and enterprise of the typical German emigrant, and made a great success as a general farmer. His death occurred in Elkhart County March 25, 1902, and his wife is also deceased. The Chokey children, eight of whom grew to maturity were : Lavina L., Mary A., Samuel, Charles, Emmeline, Oscar, Clara and Alice.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Hauenstein were reared in the Lutheran
671
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Church and still hold to that faith. He is an active member of the' Baugo Grange and the Elkhart Pomona of Patrons of Husbandry, and he was selected to represent the Elkhart County Grange at the meeting of the State Grange in December, 1915. He is a real leader in agricultural affairs and both he and his wife give much time to the study of problems connected with rural life. Mr. Hauenstein has served as master and lecturer for the Baugo Grange, while Mrs. Hauenstein has served the organization as chaplain. Very frequently have the honors of public office been turned to Mr. Hauenstein by his fellow citizens. Altogether he served about fifteen years in the office of township trustee or township assessor.
JOSEPH V. RICHARDSON. After a long life of industry and use- fulness Joseph V. Richardson is spending his declining years in com- fortable and contented retirement at Goshen. To this city he first came nearly sixty years ago, and while his operations have carried him to various parts of Indiana, he has always kept in touch with Goshen and shown an interest in its growth and development. For a long period he was one of the best known men in the manufacture of hardwood lumber in Indiana, and is still remembered well by many of the older manufacturers, although more than ten years have passed since his retirement from active participation in busi- ness affairs.
Mr. Richardson is a product of the farming community of Tus- cawaras County, Ohio, where he was born on his father's home- stead, April 15, 1834, the second son of Abraham and Mary M. ( Stoddy ) Richardson. His father was born in Ohio, a member of a family which originated in Scotland and settled at an early date in the Buckeye State, while his mother was born in Pennsylvania, of English descent. In 1847 the family removed from Ohio to Butler, Indiana, the father there buying a farm in DeKalb County, a property which he built up and improved, erecting good buildings and becoming one of the prosperous citizens of that neighborhood, where he passed the best years of a long and useful life. He was an industrious agriculturist, a progressive and public-spirited citi- zen, and a man who won the respect and esteem of his neighbors and associates.
Joseph V. Richardson received his early education in Tuscarawas County, where he attended the public schools, but after moving to Butler, Indiana, when thirteen years of age, was sent to a select school. When he completed his literary training he went to work on the home farm, but at the age of eighteen years learned the trade of carpenter, which he followed in connection with his farming
672
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
operations. After several years Mr. Richardson came to the City of Goshen, where he secured employment in the plant of the Lesh Manufacturing Company, and later with the Hawks Furniture Com- pany. Securing some small capital, and being desirous of being in business for himself, he purchased a traction engine and engaged in the manufacture of hardwood lumber, moving his mill from point to point in the different counties of Indiana as the timber was sawed out. At one time he handled lumber extensively as a contractor, furnishing large concerns at Chicago and various other points, and thus became a well known figure in the trade. Mr. Richardson returned to Goshen in 1904 and here became interested as a stock- holder and director in the Superior Ladder Company, for the product of which concern he had furnished a high grade of lumber for some years. Since his arrival here he has been living a somewhat quiet life, but still retains his holdings in a number of enterprises and is the owner of a valuable eighty-acre farm located in the vicinity of Goshen. His residence is at No. 739 North Main Street and is made attractive and valuable by handsome and appropriate surroundings.
Mr. Richardson's first wife was before her marriage Miss Sophia Henderson, the second daughter of Francis and Julia Henderson, and they became the parents of one daughter: Martha A., who is married and resides at Warsaw, Indiana. Mrs. Richardson died, and Mr. Richardson was married a second time, wedding Miss Eliza Abbott. Two children have been born to this union : Agnes and Rena.
Mr. Richardson has long taken an interest in Masonic affairs and is a popular and valued member of Goshen Lodge No. 12, Free and Accepted Masons ; Goshen Chapter No. 25, Royal Arch Masons; Goshen Council No. 5. Royal and Select Masters, and Goshen Commandery No. 50, Knights Templar. While he has not taken any prominent part in public affairs, having never cared for public office, he has never withheld his support from movements which have promised to benefit the city, and his citizenship has never been questioned. His life has been a long one and full and the many friends that he has attracted to him have remained as such, while he is generally esteemed throughout the community as a worthy citizen.
JAMES M. FISHILEY. This well known mason contractor who has for a number of years done an extensive business in the con- struction of sidewalks, sewers, and similar lines of work in Elk- hart, represents some of the real pioneer stock in Northern Indiana
673
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
and Southern Michigan, and in the following paragraphs are men- tioned names of a number of the most substantial and worthy early settlers of these sections.
Mr. Fishley himself was born at Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana, December 26, 1871. His paternal grandparents spent all their lives in Germany. John A. Fishley, father of James M., was born in Wurttemberg. Germany, February 2, 1823, and was one of two children. His sister has passed all her life in her native land. John A. Fishley was reared and educated in Germany and when still a young man in 1852 emigrated to this country and first located at Huntington, Indiana. After a few years he moved to Fulton County and from there in 1878 came to Elkhart, where he lived until his death July 17, 1893. John A. Fishley married Susanna Wales, who was born in Snyder County, Pennsylvania, and represents an early colonial ancestry. She died August 6, 1900. Her children who grew up were Ellen Lucy, Jennie, Amanda, Ida, James MI .. Nora and Alfred, while she also reared John C. Fishley, who was a son of John A. Fishley by a previous marriage.
James MI. Fishley was still a boy when his parents removed to Elkhart County, and he acquired his early education in the public schools of Elkhart. When eighteen years of age he began learning the trade of mason, and following his apprenticeship was employed as a journeyman. He was a hard worker, faithful, skillful and reliable in the performance of his duties, and these qualities more than capital proved of value to him when he started in business for himself as a general contractor. For several years he has employed his organization, equipment and experience chiefly in the construc- tion of sidewalks, sewers, and that class of mason construction.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.