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 39
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
On September 30, 1880, Mr. Wagner married Catherine Eliza-
768
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
beth Umbaugh. She was born in Union Township of Elkhart County, a daughter of William and Anna Elizabeth Umbaugh, both of whom were natives of Germany and on coming to America lived in Lewistown, Columbiana County, Ohio, but later went to Elkhart County and were among the pioneers of Union Township, locating in section 17.
Mr. and Mrs. Wagner have reared seven children named Ida, Lilla, Almena, Leona, Irvin, and Mervin, twins, and Otis E. The daughter Ida married Morris G. Rummel; Lilla is the wife of J. I Leatherman and her two children are Morris and Mary; Almena married Mervin Michael and her three children are Harold, Paul, and Inez. Leona married Orange Christner : Irvin married Saloma Beaverstine and has a son named Lowell; Mervin married Eva Auglemyer and has a son named Donald. Mr. Wagner was reared in the German Reformed Church. He is a moral upright man, has been faithful to every trust imposed in him, and has deservedly prospered and increased in esteem among his fellow men.
ALBERT WAGNER. Variety of experience and versatile ability have characterized the career of Albert Wagner, one of the best known citizens of Union Township, and the southwestern quarter of Elkhart County. Mr. Wagner is now looking after the cultiva- tion and management of a good farm in that township, and one feature of his agriculture is the growing of mint, and he is one of Elkhart County's citizens who have made a success in that compara- tively new branch of Northern Indiana farming.
His life since early childhood has been spent in Elkhart County, but he was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, May 18, 1862. His grandfather Jacob Wagner was born in Germany and spent most of his years there, but came to the United States late in life and lived in Harrison Township of Elkhart County until his death. He reared two sons, George and Nicholas, and a daughter who died unmarried.
Nicholas Wagner was born in Hesse Cassel, Germany, and as a youth served an apprenticeship at basket making. That trade he fol- lowed in Germany until twenty-two years of age, when he set out for America. The sailing vessel on which he embarked had battled with the waves and adverse winds for two months before landing its passengers at Baltimore. From Baltimore Nicholas journeyed west- ward to Mahoning County, Ohio, where he enlisted his modest capi- tal in ten acres of land, constructed a small home, and set up a shop for basket making. His skill at that trade soon gave him a profit- able patronage, and he found a ready market for all the wares he could produce. Then in 1866 Nicholas Wagner brought his family
769
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
to Elkhart County. In Union Township he bought eighty acres in section 27. The improvements were a log house and stable and a small tract of cleared land. For some years following he worked at his trade to provide immediate necessities for his family, but also continued the clearing of his land and its cultivation, and in the course of years his industry was rewarded by ample means for his family and his declining years. In 1901 he moved to Nappanee and died there four years later. Nicholas Wagner married Rebecca Akins, who was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, a daughter of William Akins, a native of Virginia and said to have been of Ger- man parentage. William Akins moved from Virginia to Mahoning County, where he improved a farm and lived until his death. He married Sarah Ludwig, who spent their last years in Mahoning County. MIrs. Nicholas Wagner is still living and makes her home with her children whose names are Martha, Perry, Albert and Wal- ter S. Nicholas Wagner by a previous marriage had three sons named Henry, Louis and Eli.
Albert Wagner was four years of age when his family came to Elkhart County, and he grew up on the farm, gained an education in the district schools, and he early began to employ his strength in assisting in the work of cultivation and in clearing up the land. He lived on the home farm until 1890 and in that year moved to Nap- panee and engaged in the butcher business, which he followed with considerable success for twelve years. He then embarked in an entirely new venture, purchasing a Merry Go Round, which he op- erated at many places for two seasons. Since then he has applied his time and industry to his farm of forty acres, which is a portion of the old homestead, and in addition to general farming he is find- ing it profitable to raise and distil mint.
Mr. Wagner is also an accomplished veterinarian, though not a college graduate in that profession, and his ability to render skill- ful service has brought him a practice which has required much of his time for the past seven years.
In July, 1880, Mr. Wagner married Miss Jennie Stump. Mrs. Wagner represents one of the oldest families of Southwestern Elk- hart County. She was born in Union Township, a daughter of Ben- jamin and Catherine (Snoke) Stump, and is a granddaughter of Abraham Stump and a great-granddaughter of Daniel and Sallie (Smith) Stump. The last were natives of Pennsylvania who moved from that state to Canada, and in 1838 they brought their family to Elkhart County, becoming pioneers of Union Township. Daniel Stump was a bishop in the River Brethren Church, and many of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren are still living in Elkhart
770
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
County. Mrs. Wagner's maternal grandparents were Andrew and Sarah (Sulenbarger) Snoke, who were also among the early set- tlers of Elkhart County.
Mr. and Mrs. Wagner are members of the Mennonite Brethren Church and are very worthy people, having given attention to schools, churches and have also reared and now enjoy the comfort and companionship of an excellent family of children. These chil- dren are five in number, Bertha, Daisy, Chloe Ellen, Gertrude and Catherine R. The daughter Bertha married Ludo Watson and has three children named Paul, Ruth and Louis Albert. Daisy married George Whittle and has three children named Ethel, Wilbur and Ancel. Chloe is the wife of Arthur Carlson and has a daughter named Frances. Gertrude married Jasper Fisher, and her three children are Samuel Albert, Everett and Charlotte.
ELDER JOHN R. MILLER. Here is a name which bespeaks a large relationship in Elkhart County, and no family has possessed more enviable qualities that make for good citizenship and lasting influ- ence. The Millers came to America in colonial times, and they are of a sturdy, long-lived, and industrious German stock, Elder John R. Miller is one of the oldest native sons of Elkhart County, and has spent more than seventy years in this section. A great many years of his life have been spent in church work, and he has long been a pastor of the Church of the Brethren.
Including his own, the family record extends over five genera- tions. His ancestry goes back to Philip Miller, who spent his life in Germany, but three of his sons Daniel, David and Abraham came to America and their progeny are now scattered over most of the states of the Union. David settled in Maryland, Abraham in Vir- ginia, and Daniel in Pennsylvania. Daniel Miller was the head of this particular branch of the family. He was born in Germany in 1755, followed farming after locating in Pennsylvania and died there in 1822. His eight children were: Stephen, Jacob, Susan. John, Israel, Abraham, David and Elizabeth.
John Miller, grandfather of Elder Miller, was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1787. About the time he reached manhood the tide of emigration was at its height, and from Pennsylvania he moved to Montgomery County, Ohio, purchasing land on Wolf Creek near Dayton, and taking an active part in the pioneer activities of that community. He succeeded in making a farm out of a portion of the wilderness, but in 1835 he took still another step of progress toward the west and established a home a mile south of Goshen in Elkhart County. There he purchased a portion of Elkhart Prairie, which
J. R. MILLER AND FAMILY
771
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
had been partially improved as a farm. In Ohio he had become a preacher in the Church of the Brethren, and was one of the first of that denomination to preach the Gospel in Northern Indiana, and did much missionary work in Elkhart and surrounding counties. He made his rounds on horseback, going over bridle paths where no roads existed. He usually held services in the German language. In about 1854 John Miller removed to Harrison Township and built a house in the same yard occupied by the residence of his son Jacob, remaining there until his death. Elder John Miller married his cousin Ester Miller, a daughter of David Miller and granddaughter of Philip Miller, already mentioned. Like her husband she was one of eight children, the others being Michael, Lydia, Esther, Catherine, Jacob, Nancy and Susan. She survived her husband a short time, and the remains of both rest in the family cemetery on the farm of Jacob Miller in Harrison Township. John and Ester Miller reared fourteen children: Daniel, David, Abraham, Jacob, John, Magdalena, Elizabeth, Stephen, Esther, Samuel, Sallie, Catherine, Solomon and Noah. The remarkable fact about this large house- hold is that every one grew up and married.
One of the family was Jacob Miller, father of Elder John R. Miller. He was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1812, and was reared and educated in that section of the Buckeye State. In 1833 at the age of twenty-one he paid his first visit to Elkhart ' County and at that time selected a tract of land including the south- west quarter of section 21 in what is now Harrison Township. He entered his land at the land office in Fort Wayne, and returning to Montgomery County, Ohio, married during the winter and in the spring of 1834 set out with his bride, making an overland journey with team and wagon, and spending the first year at Goshen, which was then only a hamlet, chiefly dignified by being the county seat. He worked in and about Goshen and acquired a little money with which to start life on his own home. In the spring of 1835 he went to his land and began the heavy task of making a farm. Few set- tlers at that time lived in Harrison Township and the entire country was a great wild game preserve, filled with deer, turkey, wolves and . other game native to that section, while Indians were frequent call- ers. His first home was a round log cabin, with clapboards rived from the native timber to cover the roof, and these were held in place by weight poles since nails were a scarce commodity. The house had a puncheon floor, had one window, and a blanket was hung over the door opening to keep out the cold and wind. At one end of the house was a chimney built of sticks and plastered with clay, and before the large fireplace Mrs. Jacob Miller did all her
772
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
cooking, and in addition she manufactured the cloth with which she dressed her family. Another piece of furniture which should be mentioned, was the bedstead, which stood in a corner of the one room, and the frame consisted of poles inserted in holes in the wall, thus requiring only one post to support it from the floor. A dim light was shed in this home by lard lamps and tallow candles.
Jacob Miller was not only industrious at home but also in behalf of community development. He assisted in constructing the first bridge over Yellow Creek. He was one of the original members of Yellow Creek Church of the Brethren. His was an industrious and useful career and he lived in that community until his death. Jacob Miller married Catherine Rairick, who was born in Penn- sylvania in December, 1815. Her father Jacob Rairick moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio, becoming an early settler in Miami County and improving a farm on Harris Creek near Covington, where he lived until his death. Jacob Rairick married Elizabeth Hoover, who survived her husband and spent her last days with her daughter Catherine in Elkhart County. Her remains are at rest in the family cemetery in Harrison Township. Mrs. Jacob Miller died July 29, 1876, at the age of sixty. Her five children were: Levi, John R., Elizabeth, Mary and Andrew.
Elder John R. Miller was born on the old farm just described in Harrison Township November 30, 1844. His life began early enough so that he had a share in pioneer experiences. The first school he attended was taught in a log house, the seats being made of slabs without backs, and no desks in front, a school of the type which has been so frequently described. Later he attended school at Goshen where his teacher was Miss Emma Chandler, and he attended a select school taught by Valois Butler, a well known instructor and at one time county examiner. Mr. Miller had his share of teaching, taking his first school in his twentieth year in Union Township. Later he taught two terms near Goshen.
His work as an independent farmer began with the renting of the Hess farm near Goshen, and by careful economy and persistent industry he got his start in the world. In 1870 he bought seventy. acres in Locke Township, in section twenty-three, that land being included in his present fine farm. The improvements were a small frame house and a log stable, and a few acres cleared. At the present time Mr. Miller has 140 acres under his proprietorship and has made it one of the most valuable places in this section of the county. He has reserved sixteen acres for timber, but all the rest of the ground is under cultivation, and has been improved
773
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
by the planting of both fruit and ornamental trees. He has a comfortable frame house, a large barn, and it has been an excellent home for his family.
In 1879 Mr. Miller was ordained a preacher in the Church of the Brethren, and for more than thirty-five years has continued his ministerial duties, most of the time serving his home congre- gation but supplying pulpits elsewhere as occasion demanded.
On March 1, 1868, Elder Miller married Rachel Rupart. She was born on a farm about two miles from Latona, and about five miles from the Village of Columbiana in Columbiana County, Ohio. When she was about six years of age she came to Elkhart County with the family of her uncle, Samuel Hoke, and grew up and re- ceived her education in this county. Her parents were Andrew and Mary ( Paulin) Rupart.
Mr. and Mrs. Miller have reared eight children: Ira, Vernon, Elmer, Ella, Edwin, Curtis, Almeda and Harvey. Ira married Martha Eshelman and they had four children: Bernice and Bea- trice, twins, and Theodore and Forrest. Of these children Bernice is the wife of Harold McCuen, and her three children are Donald, Frederick and Albert. The second son Vernon married Nettie Overholser, and his five children are Warren, Emert, Mary Ellen, Dorothy and Harold. Elmer, the third child married Lucy Buck, and has a son Eugene. Ella married Charles Brubaker, and both went to India as missionaries, Mr. Brubaker dying there, and she now lives in New Jersey, the mother of two daughters, Eunice and Lois. Edwin married Hattie Everett, and their two children are Maurine and Edward Everett. Curtis married Hattie Long and has two children, Maxwell and Eldon. Almeda is the wife of Curtis Geyer. Harvey married Minnie Martin and has a daugh- ter Miriam.
EUGENIUS M. SENSIBAUGH, who recently passed the seventieth milestone on his life's journey, has spent all these years at one local- ity in Elkhart County. It has been his privilege to witness nearly all the important transformations made by civilization in this sec- tion of Indiana. He was a child when the first railroad penetrated Elkhart County, and in the subsequent work of improvement and progress he has borne his individual part worthily and well, and has earned the respect and esteem which he enjoys in the community where his lifetime has been spent.
His birth occurred on the very farm where he now resides in Union Township December 15, 1845. His father, Abraham Sensi- baugh was a pioneer in Elkhart County. Abraham was born in Vol. 11-24
774
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Marion County, West Virginia, March 20, 1803. Grandfather Sen- sibaugh came from Germany to the United States about the time of the Revolutionary war. Abraham Sensibaugh moved from West Virginia to Pennsylvania, lived there until 1837, and then loading his goods upon a wagon started upon the long overland journey to Elkhart County. He was of true pioneer stock-comprising those families who arrived in this section during the decade of the '30s. Union Township, where he established a home, was then a veritable wilderness. Some clearings had been made in the forest, but the swamps were undrained, and a large share of the land had not passed out of the title of the Government. Abraham Sensibaugh entered the southeast quarter of section 25 and he also bought forty acres in the northeast corner of section 36. It was on section 25 that he built his cabin of round logs. That humble abode was the first home of the Sensibaugh family in Indiana. The cabin had a chimney made of earth and sticks, and as there was no stove the housemother did all her cooking by an open fire. Abraham Sensi- baugh had a small flock of sheep, and with the wool the mother spun and wove and dressed her family in homespun. It was not a difficult matter to supply the table with meat, since deer, wild turkey and other game were very plentiful. After getting established and making some improvements, Abraham Sensibaugh replaced the little cabin with a substantial hewed log house, which was quite up to the standard of the times in size, furnishings and general convenience. Thereafter he devoted his time and energies to the clearing and cul- tivation of his land, and lived there until his death in 1865. In Fay- ette County, Pennsylvania, August 14, 1831, Abraham Sensibaugh married Sarah Rhodes, who was born in that county November 19, 1800. She survived her husband a number of years. The seven children who were reared were named Otho, Anne, Josiah Kennedy, Elizabeth, Ira, Rebecca Everella, and Eugenius M.
The first school which Eugenius M. Sensibaugh attended was conducted in a log cabin, and he recalls many of the interesting features of this little temple of learning. The benches were made of slabs, with wooden pins for legs, and there was no desk in front nor was there a support at the back. A broad board, supported by pins driven into the wall and set at a slant, provided desk room for writing to the older pupils. In spite of the inferiority of equipment, such schools turned out many very capable men and women, and Mr. Sensibaugh feels that his education was sufficient for all his needs.
Another feature of his early life was assisting his father to clear up the land and to do the work of actual farming. Subsequently he succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead, and from one sea-
775
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
son to the next has cultivated and tended that land steadily for almost half a century. When he married he started housekeeping in the log house built by his father, and it was there that all his chil- dren were born. He and his wife spent twenty-three years in that old home, and he then replaced it with the commodious frame house which still stands there and which is furnished with all comforts and conveniences.
On October 1, 1874, Mr. Sensibaugh married Christina Gault, who was born in Medina County, Ohio, June 27, 1848. Her father, Jacob Gault, who was born in Pennsylvania July 29, 1805, was one of the early settlers in Medina County. Ohio, and from there he brought his family to Indiana about 1861, and after a brief residence near Kendallville moved to Kosciusko County, purchasing a farm near Mentone, where he spent his last years. Mr. and Mrs. Sensi- baugh have reared four daughters: Mary B., Sarah Winnie, Clara Belle and Cora Blanche. The daughter Mary is the wife of Lewis C. Stuckman and they have a son named Loyal Ward. Sarah W. is the wife of Willard MeKibbin and has two children, Esther and Carl Eugene. Clara is the wife of Charles Gibson. The family are all members of the Progressive Brethren Church at Gravelton.
ISAAC S. WISLER. A career of steadfast industry has had its usual and merited reward in the case of Isaac Samuel Wisler, one of the most highly respected and substantial farmer citizens of Union Township. He has lived so effectively as to gain prosperity and contentment, and he represents some of the sterling family stock that came to Elkhart County early enough to bear an important share in its development and early improvement.
His birth occurred in Locke Township of Elkhart County, June 23, 1869. His father Jacob H. Wisler was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, October 17, 1833. and the grandfather John Wisler was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1800, a son of Christian and Susan ( Holderman ) Wisler, both of whom spent all their lives in Pennsylvania and were of German ancestry. When a young man John Wisler moved from Pennsylvania to Columbiana County, Ohio, and secured a tract of Government land, which he cleared up and cultivated until 1849. In that year, accompanied by his wife and nine children, he made the journey to Elkhart County. Elkhart County had no railroads at that time, and as was customary the family made the trip with a pair of horses and a wagon, their house- hold goods being shipped by canal as far as Fort Wayne. Arriving in this county John Wisler secured a tract of timbered land three miles north of the present City of Nappanee, being the southwest
776
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
quarter of section 7 of Union Township, and he at once set to work and cleared a place in the woods to make room for the log house' which constituted the first home of the Wislers in Indiana. Union Township was not far advanced in settlement and development at that time, and many of the same conditions prevailed which the first pioneers had to experience. Here again John Wisler undertook the work of development, labored long and faithfully to clear his land, and afterwards, having acquired a sufficiency for all his needs, he lived quietly until his death in 1890 in his ninetieth year. John Wis- ler married Sophia Stauffer, a daughter of Henry and Mary Stauf- fer, both of whom were natives of Westmoreland County, Pennsyl- vania, and were early settlers of Columbiana County, Ohio. Sophia Stauffer was born in 1806 and died in 1876. Both she and her husband were members of the Mennonite Church, and John Wisler was an early Whig in politics, voting for William Henry Harrison for President, later becoming a republican at the birth of that party and continuing a steadfast adherent of its principles until his death. He cast his last presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison in 1888. The family of John Wisler and wife comprised ten children named Mary A., Henry, Isaac, Jacob, Jonas, Sarah, Anthony, John S., Alpheus and Cornelius.
Jacob H. Wisler was about sixteen years of age when the family moved to Elkhart County. His education had been acquired in the district schools of Mahoning County, Ohio, and he had also devel- oped his strength by application to the duties of the home farm. In Elkhart County he took an active share in clearing up the land, and after his marriage he located in Locke, where together with his brother Jonas he operated a flour mill. Later he returned to the old homestead in Union Township, and spent most of his life in that section. He died November 21, 1908. On May 13, 1858, Jacob Wisler married Anna Troxell, who was an early settler of Wayne County, Ohio. Mrs. Anna Wisler died April 27, 1866, leaving two sons, William H. and Lewis. Lewis Wisler married Ida Miller and now lives in Los Angeles, California. William H., now de- ceased, married Mary Martin, who has two sons Homer and Har- ley. the former a railroad engineer and living in Hammond, Indiana, while Harley is a farmer in Marshall County, Indiana.
In 1868 Jacob Wisler married for his second wife Sarah Kilmer, who was born in Ashland County, Ohio, a daughter of Isaac and Anna Kilmer. Isaac Kilmer was born in Juniata County, Pennsyl- vania, moved from there to Ashland County, Ohio, and still later settled in Elkhart County, Indiana, where he died in 1883 at the age of sixty-nine. He and his wife were members of the Mennonite
777
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Church, and she died in 1892 at the age of eighty-three. Mrs. Jacob Wisler died December 16, 1912. She raised two children: Isaac Samuel and Annie, who is the wife of Alvin Housom and lives in Baugo Township. Harvey F. died aged seven years. Another member of the family of Jacob Wisler and wife was Edith Weise, who entered their household at the age of three and lived there until her marriage to Mervin Peiffer.
Isaac Samuel Wisler grew up in Southwestern Elkhart County and gained a practical education in the district schools. He can hardly remember a time when he did not take some share in the duties of the home farm, and in that way he prepared himself par- ticularly for the vocation which he has followed so successfully. Eventually he succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead, which comprises 150 acres. While general farming has been the rule with him, for a number of years he has made a specialty of the rais- ing of peppermint, and he distils his crop himself. He was the first man in this county to raise peppermint. His is one of the fine coun- try homes in that section of Elkhart County. Some years ago he- erected a commodious brick house, in modern style, and has also. improved the barns and the general condition of the farm so that it. bears favorable comparison to any found in that locality.
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.