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 36
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
Mrs. Davidhizar has one brother, John, who is a farmer and a preacher in the Mennonite Church. Mrs. Davidhizar received a good education in the public schools, and she early became interested in the study of therapeutics. She is a graduate of the Universal Institute of Mental Healing in St. Louis, a graduate of the Weltmer Institute of Suggestive Therapeutics of Nevada, Missouri, and is now continuing her extensive investigations in this field through the medium of the American College of Mechano Therapy at Chicago.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Davidhizar were born five children : H. Alsina, Barbara Ellen, Noah Ernest, and Martha Marie, while Catherine Ruth, who was the fourth in order of birth, died at the age of three years. The daughter H. Alsina married Elmer Mishler and their three children are Bertha May, Dorothy Ellen and Inez. Barbara is the wife of Samuel Moneyheffer, and they have a son named Henry Cornelius. Noah E. married Eva Clark. Mr. and Mrs. Davidhizar are both members of the Church of the Brethren.
JOHN H. CRIPE. It will serve to indicate the place of John H. Cripe in the numerous relationships of the family of that name in Elkhart County to say that he is one of the grandsons of Samuel Cripe, the pioneer, who arrived in this section of Indiana before Elkhart County was organized.
In his individual career John H. Cripe has been one of Union Township's most progressive and successful farmers He owns a
740
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
substantial country home in that section of the county, and has made himself honored and respected by his work and his influence.
He was born in Clinton Township of Elkhart County, September 26, 1861. His father was Levi M. Cripe, who was born in Elkhart Township. Grandfather Samuel Cripe was a native of Pennsyl- vania, and a son of Daniel Cripe, a native of the same state, who subsequently moved to Montgomery County, Ohio, and when quite advanced in years came to Elkhart County in 1830, buying land and doing considerable farming. Daniel Cripe, it should be remembered, was the first minister of the Dunkard Church in Elkhart County, and all his family were reared in that faith. Grandfather Samuel Cripe arrived in Elkhart County in 1829 and exercised his industry and judgment to such advantage that he acquired the ownership of over fifteen hundred acres of land, so that he was able to give each of his seventeen children an eighty-acre farm. His death occurred at the age of sixty-two. By his first wife he had three children, named Benjamin, Daniel and Jacob, and his second wife was the mother of fourteen: Joseph, David, Emanuel, Levi, Noah, Aaron, Solomon, Catherine, Magdalena, Tobias, Susan, Fannie, Mary and Elizabeth.
Levi Cripe grew up on a farm, but when quite young left home and put his ingenuity to test in making a living and acquiring a good education. For a time he was a teacher, and then was in the gro- cery business at Goshen. In 1863 he bought a farm in Union Township, and continued a resident there until his death at the age of fifty-eight. Levi Cripe married Rebecca Pippenger, who was born in Union Township March 15, 1838, and spent her life there. Her father, John Pippenger, was born in Pennsylvania March 10, 1798, a son of John Pippenger, who was born in Holland and came to America accompanied by his wife Rebecca, settling in Pennsyl- vania. John Pippenger Jr., grandfather of Mr. Cripe on his ma- ternal side, moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio when quite young and lived in Montgomery County until 1829. He then started West by overland trail, accompanied by his family, and soon arrived in what is now Elkhart County. He located in the Waterford com- munity about two miles south of Goshen, and proved his ability as a homemaker and as a sturdy influence for improvement in the community. In 1837 he traded his land near Goshen for the north- east quarter of section 21 in what is now Union Township, and on reaching the new location he built a cabin of round logs and at once started to clear and cultivate. That was his home until his death. Mrs. Levi Cripe died in Union Township at the age of fifty-eight. Her children were John H., Daniel A., Emanuel, Francis, Joseph, Lydia and Oliver S.
741
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
John H. Cripe, who was two years old when his parents moved to Union Township, grew up on a farm, learned its duties as well as the lessons taught in the district schools, and since reaching manhood has found in farming a congenial as well as profitable vocation. His first purchase of land was forty acres, included in his present farm on section 28. That land is now the nucleus of a well improved and productive farm of eighty-four acres.
In 1883 Mr. Cripe married Amanda Cripe, who was born in Clinton Township, a daughter of Tobias and Barbara (Burket) Cripe, and a granddaughter of Samuel Cripe, the pioneer. Mr. and Mrs. Cripe have the following children : Clara, Ella, Mervin, Vern, Lulu, Laura and Otis. The daughter Clara is the wife of Logan Mays, and her four children are named Cynthia, Theodore, Rich- ard and Raymond. Ella married Jason Roose, and has three chil- dren, Vernon, Merrill and Robert. Alphe married Lillian Cameron and has a son named Harold. Mervin married Mina La Bounty, and their family consists of Lucile, Edith and John. Vern mar- ried Ruth Pippenger. Lulu is the wife of Hal Winters and has a son named Howard. Mr. and Mrs. Cripe are active members of the Church of the Brethren and reared their children in the same faith.
JAMES BROWN. Here is a name that bespeaks a large relation- ship with the families of early settlers in Elkhart County. The Browns themselves have been identified with this community for three-quarters of a century, and the family relationship also includes the Stumps, who were here at an even earlier date, and also the Brumbaughs.
One of the fine country homes of Union Township is now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. James Brown. Mr. Brown has been active as a farmer and also as a public spirited citizen in that section for the past thirty-five years. He was born in Union Township November 10, 1862, and is a son of James Brown, Sr .. and a grandson of Jacob Brown. Jacob Brown was born in Lan- caster County, Pennsylvania, grew up there, and when a young man went to Canada, buying a tract of timbered land about twenty miles from Toronto, Ontario, and about five miles from Humber. There he put up frame buildings, cleared a goodly portion of the land, and kept his home until 1840. At that date, having sold his holdings in Ontario, he set out with his wife and four children for Indiana. A team drew their wagon the greater part of the way, and on arriving in Elkhart County Jacob Brown acquired a tract of 160 acres of timbered land in section 36 of Union Township. Vol. II-22
742
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
This was still a pioneer district, very little of the timber had been cleared or the swamp drained, and there was an abundance of game to supply meat for the table of the few settlers in that locality. Jacob Brown built for his first home a house of round logs and also a stable. His settlement antedated the arrival of railroads in North- ern Indiana by seven or eight years. In time he had cleared eighty acres of land, on which he erected a set of frame buildings, and he resided in the county until his death.
James Brown, Sr., was a native Canadian, born on a farm eighteen miles from Toronto August 9, 1829, and was eleven years of age when his parents moved to Elkhart County. He grew up at the old home just described, made a success as a farmer, and was seventy-seven years old at the time of his death. He married Sarah Stump. She was born in Vaughn Township, eighteen miles north of Toronto, Canada, September 27, 1832. Her father Daniel Stump was born in Pennsylvania May 1, 1790, a son of Abraham and Mary ( Meekley) Stump, who were probably natives of Ger- many, and from the State of Pennsylvania they moved to Canada about 1804, establishing a home among the veritable pioneers about twenty miles from Toronto. Daniel Stump was about fourteen years of age when he went to Canada with his parents, grew up there, and in 1838 he joined a colony coming to the States. They made an overland journey with wagons and arriving in Elkhart County he bought a tract of timbered land in section 24 of what is now Union Township. In a clearing he erected a log cabin, and did most of the work of construction, splitting the puncheon for the floor and the clapboards which covered the roof. Daniel Stump was a preacher in the River Brethren Church and also officiated as bishop of the church. He continued to superintend the improve- ment of his farm and lived in that locality until his death in 1877. Daniel Stump married Sally Smith, a daughter of John and Chris- tina ( Nunemacher) Smith, both of whom were born in Germany and died in Pennsylvania. Mrs. James Brown, Sr., was in her sixth year when the Stump family moved to Indiana, and as she is still living at the venerable age of eighty-four, she has a very clear recollection of the long journey and its various incidents, it taking the party four weeks from the time they set out from Canada until they reached the wilderness of Elkhart County. There were very few highways in the modern sense of the term, and for a con- siderable part of the journey they followed trails blazed by trees. When the Stump family arrived in Elkhart County the greater part of the lands here could be bought from the Government for a price approximating $1.25 per acre. Mrs. James Brown,
743
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Sr., is one of the few women of Elkhart County who recalls pioneer circumstances, and she has seen deer, wolves, and other wild animals in great numbers on the prairies and in the woods. She also learned the various household arts as then practiced, and for a number of years she did her cooking by the open fire, spun and wove and dressed her family in homespun. For a number of years she has lived among her children, and for what she has accomplished as well as for what she has experienced she deserves special mention in this work. She reared five children: Elizabeth, James, Daniel, Lydia and Jacob C.
James Brown spent his youth on the old farm in Union Town- ship, attended district schools, and lived at home and assisted his parents until his marriage, at which time he located on the Brum- baugh homestead, and there he has been successfully engaged in general farming for many years.
On September 16, 1882, he married Miss Addie Brumbaugh. who was born in Union Township, a daughter of John Brumbaugh and a granddaughter of Jacob Brumbaugh. Jacob Brumbaugh, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Indiana as one of the early settlers in Jefferson Township of Kosciusko County, and there cleared up a farm from the wilderness and occupied it until his death. Jacob Brumbaugh married Susan Bowser, who survived him and lived to a good old age. John Brumbaugh, father of Mrs. Brown, was quite young when brought to Indiana and he grew up in a frontier environment. On making a start for himself he purchased eighty acres of timbered land in Union Township of Elkhart County and his first home there was a log cabin. Like most of the early settlers he had considerable skill in the handling of tools and he did the riving of the clapboards with which the roof was covered. In this rude home he and his wife commenced housekeeping. His farm was improved throughout by his good management and indus- try and he lived there and prospered until his death at the compara- tively early age of forty-seven. In the meantime he had weather- boarded the log cabin and had constructed a frame addition to it. John Brumbaugh married Nancy Jane Johnson, who was born in Ohio, where her father died, and her widowed mother, whose maiden name was Self, afterwards married Jonathan Foster, and they all came to Indiana and settled in Elkhart County, where Jonathan Foster lived until his death. Afterwards his widow moved to Ligonier, where she died. After the death of John Brumbaugh his widow remained on the old homestead three years, and then married David Brumbaugh, and they moved to Kosciusko County, and lived there until a few weeks before her death, when she
744
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
returned to their homestead in Elkhart County, and Mrs. Brum- baugh was cared for during her last days by Mrs. Brown, her daughter. Mrs. Brown's mother died in April, 1815, at the age of seventy-six. Her three daughters were Clara, Sarah and Addie, the last being Mrs. James Brown.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born three children: Carrie, Hazel and Quincy. The daughter Carrie mar- ried Charles Wysong and their five children are Cleo H., Carol F., Jay H., Roberta and Arline. Quincy married Ruth Bowser and they have two children named Quincy, Jr., and Veloris Woodrow.
Mrs. Brown is an active member of the Church of the Brethren. Politically Mr. Brown is a democrat and cast his first vote for Grover Cleveland. He has assisted in community affairs by serving one term as justice of the peace in Union Township and has also filled the offices of township assessor and township trustee.
ELLIS MARK CHESTER. There are many substantial reasons why the memory of the late Ellis M. Chester should long be cherished by the citizens of Elkhart. He was a citizen of the type whose presence in any community makes for betterment and progress. Many people who did not know him personally recall his excellent administration as mayor of the city, and also the fact that he died when still at his post, only a few hours before the expiration of his term. Mr. Chester had been identified with local business and public affairs nearly thirty-five years, and the qualities of his man- hood and character found civic recognition when he was tendered the position of chief executive of the city whose destinies he guided so capably and faithfully until the close of his career.
Ellis Mark Chester was born in Suffield, Connecticut, July 9, 1858, of sound English stock and English parents. He died at his home in Elkhart January 4. 1914. His parents were John B. and Elizabeth ( Ellis) Chester, both natives of England. His father was born in Liverpool and his mother in the City of London. The late Mayor Chester was the fourth in their family of seven chil- dren, three daughters and four sons. John B. Chester came to this country with his wife and two children, first locating in Suffield, Connecticut, later moving to Westfield, Massachusetts. By trade he was a cigar maker, and followed that trade for a number of years in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
While living at Westfield, Massachusetts, Ellis M. Chester at- tended the public schools, but while in later life he always passed for a man of thorough knowledge and efficiency, he was as a matter of fact largely self-educated and self-made. He had left
N
745
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
school at the age of ten, and thenceforward until the close of his busy career was constantly engaged in some service that was useful to himself, his family, his friends and the public community. As a boy he became proficient in cigar making under the direction of his father, who was his employer at Westfield, Massachusetts, and in 1880 he came west and settled at Elkhart to engage in the tobacco business as a cigar manufacturer. He built up a considerable local industry, and was the chief manufacturer of cigars in Elkhart for many years.
Genial, popular, a man of rectitude in all his relations, it was only natural that Ellis Mark Chester should be recalled to public responsibilities. In 1891 he was elected councilman from his ward, and served the people in that office three years. In 1910 he was elected mayor of the city, and accepted the many opportunities which go with that office to serve the city in a large and wholesome way, and his record as mayor is one that will always figure large in the history of the municipality. Mr. Chester died just thirty-two hours before the expiration of his term of office. In fraternal affairs he was a loyal member of Elkhart Lodge No. 75 of the Knights of Pythias and of Elkhart Lodge No. 425, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Politically he was a democrat.
Mr. Chester is survived by Mrs. Chester and his two sons. On November 26, 1890, he married Miss Libbie Hull, member of an old and prominent Elkhart family, a daughter of the late John and Mary (Shupert ) Hull, reference to whom is found on other pages. The two sons of their marriage are Willard H. and H. Whitney.
JOHN HULL. One of the earliest residents of Elkhart was the late John Hull, and such was the character of his activities and the beneficent influence that flowed from his life that something in the way of a brief memorial should appear in these pages.
One of the twelve children of Joseph Hull, he was born near Wooster, Ohio, May 24, 1825, and died at his old home in Elkhart July 22, 1907, when past four-score years of age. When he was still a boy in years his parents removed to Elkhart County, locating four miles south of the City of Elkhart.
John Hull received a common school education. He became a contractor and builder, but for more than a quarter of a century lived a retired life at Elkhart. When the Lake Shore Railroad was first constructed he built under contract many of its bridges and culverts. For forty years he had lived in the home which he built at 1245 South Main Street in Elkhart, and that has long been one of the residence landmarks of the city.
746
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
During the war he attempted to enlist in the army, but was rejected on examination, and afterwards gave his influence and means to forward the cause in behalf of which he was ready to risk his life. His entire career was marked by upright, conscien- tious conduct, and unflinching integrity and many acts of kindness and unselfishness.
June 25, 1848, John Hull was married at Elkhart to Mary Shu- pert, who was born in Ohio, February 23, 1832, and died in the same year as her husband, December 2, 1907. Of their seven children, four grew to maturity, and three are still living, Mrs. E. M. Chester and her two sisters, Mrs. Henry Lorman and Mrs. H. C. Hogue, all of Elkhart.
THOMAS HILBISH. The prosperity and growth of a community depend upon its commercial and industrial activity and the men who are in control of the leading business enterprises are the real promoters and upbuilders of their respective localities. Thomas Hilbish, whose intense and well directed energies have given him prominence with representative men of the county, is now owning and controlling an extensive department store in Bristol. His life record began in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, in 1842. The Hil- bish family is of German lineage and was established in Pennsyl- vania, at an early period in the development of the Keystone State. The name is found upon the roll of Washington's soldiers at the time of the Revolutionary war. Peter Hilbish was born in Penn- sylvania and following his marriage came to Elkhart County, Indiana, in 1856, settling in Washington Township, where he fol- lowed the occupation of farming. He prospered in his business affairs, which he managed with great care, decision and energy, and although he was a tanner by trade, and followed that pursuit in his early life, it was as an agriculturist that he gained his prosperity. His political allegiance was given the republican party and he was a member of the German Reformed Church. He married Kather- ine Beckhart, who was born in Snyder County, Pennsylvania, was also of German lineage, and was a member of the Reformed Church. Mr. Hilbish died in 1858 at the age of sixty-three years, while his wife survived until 1882, passing away at the age of seventy years. By their union they were the parents of five children: John, now deceased ; Jonathan, who is living in Washington Township; Thomas, of this review : Peter, also of Washington Township; and Sarah, the wife of William Houseworth of Bristol.
Thomas Hilbish was educated in the Bristol schools, and was reared to farm life, remaining with his father until twenty-three
747
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
years of age, when, thinking that he would find other pursuits more congenial than to follow the plow and the cultivator, he took up his abode in Bristol, where he established a general store in part- nership with William C. Birch and Andrew Aiken, under the firm name of W. C. Birch & Company, this relation being maintained for three years, at the end of which time Mr. Birch retired and the firm style of Hilbish & Company was assumed. In 1880 Mr. Aiken retired and Mr. Hilbish has since conducted the business alone. He now has a large department store of three rooms with a frontage of sixty-six feet on Main Street. He carries dry goods, groceries, hardware and farm implements, and each department of the business is proving profitable owing to his capable management and his understanding of the public needs. In 1893 he established a private bank, which is the only institution of the kind in Bristol, known as the Banking House of Thomas Hilbish.
: In 1875 Mr. Hilbish was married to Miss Emma Walter, a daughter of Mr. Isaac Walter and a native of Snyder County, Pennsylvania, born in 1852. They have three children: Clyde, who is with his father; Myron, who is bookkeeper for the Franklin Trust Company of Brooklyn, New York; and Florence. The family own an attractive home in Bristol, noted for its hospitality. Mrs. Hilbish is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while Mr. Hilbish belongs to the Reformed Church. He is a republican in politics and has been treasurer of Bristol. He owns farm lands in the township in addition to his home, and business property and he is one of the representative citizens of the county, who while promoting individual success has also advanced the general welfare. It has been through the utilization of opportunity that he has risen to a prominent place in the public regard, working along modern lines and shaping conditions to meet his ends. Moreover his policy has ever been in accord with straightforward principles and he has naturally gained the respect and confidence of men.
HARVEY W. KANTZ. For more than a quarter of a century Harvey W. Kantz has lived in Bristol, Elkhart County, Indiana.
He comes of stanch old Pennsylvania lineage, and was born in Snyder County of that state October 31, 1863, a son of Samuel B. and Sarah (Wetzel) Kantz. Samuel B. Kantz was also born in Pennsylvania. The grandfather, John Kantz, had a farm one mile cast of Freeburg in Snyder County, on Susquehecca Creek. The great-grandfather, also named John Kantz, fought as a Revolu- tionary soldier during the war for independence. Samuel B. Kantz after a successful and active career as a farmer died in Snyder
748
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
County May 1, 1872. His wife, Sarah Wetzel, was born in Penn- sylvania, a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Erdley) Wetzel. The Wetzels were of Holland ancestry. Her grandfather, Henry Wetzel, was of the family of the famous Lewis Wetzel, whose exploits as a frontiersman, Indian fighter and explorer, have been written at great length in the annals of early American history, and one of the principal counties in the State of West Virginia bears his name.
The fourth of a family of eight children, Harvey W. Kantz grew up in Snyder County, Pennsylvania, attended the local schools and took academic instructions under the tutelage of Maj. William H. Dill, principal of the Freeburg Academy. In 1882 he came west to Indiana, and located at Danville. He attended Normal School there a time, and then came to Bristol, but for the following year was a student in the University at Valparaiso. Returning to Bristol, he engaged in teaching and during vacation periods pursued studies in the Indiana University at Bloomington. In 1886 he went to Florida, was a teacher in that state for two years, but returning to Elkhart County took up the study of law at Goshen in the offices of Wilson & Davis. He was admitted to the bar in 1889, and then relocated at Bristol where he has resided permanently ever since.
As a democrat he has figured in local politics, being twice elected to the office of town treasurer of Bristol and thrice as trustee of Washington Township. In 1893 he was appointed by President Cleveland as postmaster of Bristol, which office he filled during that President's second administration. Mr. Kantz is affiliated with the "Ancient Order of Masons," the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He has been married twice and bv the former marriage has one daughter named Ruth V., who is an accomplished musician, having entertained in many of the principal cities in both the United States and Canada.
JACOB OSCAR KANTZ, one of the associate editors of this publica- tion, is well known over Elkhart County, and particularly in the southwestern part. He is a lawyer by profession, and located at Nappanee and has represented his large clientage in that section of the county for a number of years. He is also an enthusiastic anti- quarian, and has gathered a collection of curios from all parts of the world such as is not usually found outside of large museums.
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.