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 40
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Mr. Wisler follows the republican party in politics. His wife is an active member of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church. On March 18, 1903, he married Miss Sevilla Roose, who was born in Elkhart County, a daughter of Silas and Harriet ( Fleckenger); Roose. Mr. and Mrs. Wisler have seven children : Lloyd, Roose, Carl, Nella Ellen, Jesse Edward, Glade and Earl.
Silas Roose, father of Mrs. Wisler, was born on a farm about six miles south of Columbiana, Ohio, April 17, 1842, a son of Fred- erick Roose, Jr., and a grandson of Frederick Roose, Sr. Frederick Jr., was a farmer, and subsequently moved from his place near Co- lumbiana to a farm in Mahoning County near Berlin, where he died in 1849. He married Margaret Culp, who was left a widow with a large family. In 1856 she came to Elkhart County, locating in Harrison Township. Her son John had preceded her the year be- fore, had bought land, and had built a house to serve as the home of his mother. She lived there until her death at the age of sev- enty-five.
Silas Roose was fourteen years old when he came to Indiana with his mother, and after he reached manhood he found occupation in taking contracts to clear land until the war.
On March 5, 1862, he enlisted in Company K of the Ninth In- diana Volunteer Infantry, and reenlisted in the same company and
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regiment in the fall of 1863. Except for three furloughs which he was granted, and during which he made visits home, he was with his regiment in all its campaigns and battles. He fought at Shiloh, Corinth, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain and in the various engagements leading up to the fall and capture of Atlanta. At Resaca he was wounded, and was disabled for service thirty days, after which he rejoined the regiment in Tennessee and participated in the culminating battles for the possession of the Mis- sissippi Valley at Franklin and Nashville. After Lee's surrender his regiment went to Texas and was in service there until Septem- ber, 1865. After his honorable discharge and return home he lo- cated on some land he had bought in Union Township. This was a tract of thirty acres, with six acres cleared and a log house. It was there he began housekeeping, and in a few years had all but five acres cleared and had built a substantial frame house. About 1873 he sold that place, was a renter for the next eight years, then bought forty acres in Olive Township, and a year later sold and bought forty acres in Locke Township, which was his home for eight years. He then bought seventy-seven acres in Bango Town- ship, and when he sold that he bought a home at Wakarusa. He was there only a year when he purchased eighty acres in Locke Township, which continued to be his home and center of activities for eight years, and he then sold and bought eight acres of land at Wakarusa and lived there and did some small farming for six years. He then bought the home he now occupies located on South Elkhart Street, 11/2 blocks south of Waterford Street. He has a comfortable home well furnished, and is taking life at ease. On December 9, 1866, Silas Roose married Harriet Fleckenger who was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, a daughter of Jesse and Annie (Altman) Fleckenger.
JACOB MORE is one of the oldest residents in the vicinity of Nap- panee, where he is now enjoying a well earned retirement. About sixty years ago the More family established their home on a tract of wild land in the northern part of Kosciusko County. a few miles from Jacob More's present home. Jacob More in addition to culti- vating that homestead for many years, also established a sawmill there in the early 'Gos, and operated it for twenty-two years. His business activities brought him a competency, and in addition he has also served the public well, having been elected a justice of the peace and having filled that office for fourteen years.
He was born on a farm in Salt Creek Township in Holmes County, Ohio, March 6, 1836. His father William S. More was
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born close to the line of Westmoreland and Somerset counties, Penn- sylvania, in 1801. The grandfather was a native of Ireland of Scotch ancestry, and in the early days became a settler in Western Pennsylvania. William S. More grew up on the Pennsylvania farm, learned the trade of shoemaker, and from there moved to Holmes County, Ohio, where he bought eighty acres of timbered land, which he occupied and cultivated until 1856. He was a shoemaker long before the establishment of shoe factories in America, did all the work by hand, and frequently journeyed from one home to another in pioneer days, fashioning the boots and shoes for individual fam- ilies out of domestic leather. In 1856 he came West with his family to Indiana, making the entire journey by overland route with wagons and teams. In Kosciusko County he secured a tract of tim- bered land in Jefferson Township, and the only improvements were a small clearing of about three acres and a log cabin. This log cabin served as the habitation for the More family several years and was then replaced by a frame house, in which William S. More lived until his death in 1884. He married Annie Snyder, who was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Her father, George Sny- der, of German ancestry, moved from Pennsylvania to Holmes County, Ohio, where he was an early settler, and he married Mar- garet Miller. George Snyder died at the age of eighty-five and his wife at seventy-nine, their last years having been spent on a farm in Holmes County, Ohio. Mrs. William S. More died at the age of seventy-seven. Her eight children were: Susannah, Margaret, George, Eliza, Peter, Jacob, William A. and Nancy Ann.
It was on the old home of his parents in Holmes County, Ohio, that Jacob More grew to maturity, and during the first twenty years of his life acquired not only a practical training in farm work but also a good education in such schools as existed in that time and place. In 1856 he made the journey to Indiana with his parents, and his rugged strength was an important factor in clearing up the timbered land in Kosciusko County. Later he succeeded to the ownership of the homestead, and continued its improvements and in many ways added to its value, not only by the erection of com- modious and substantial buildings, but also by raising the standards of productivity and increasing the fertility of the soil.
His home was on the old farm until 1902, when he left his son in charge, and then moved to Nappanee, where he has since lived re- tired. Mr. and Mrs. More are members of the First Brethren Church at Nappanee.
In October, 1860, he married for his first wife Elizabeth Mull, who was born in Scott Township, Kosciusko County, in May, 1840.
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Her parents, George and Catherine (Hepler) Mull, were born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and were early settlers in Scott Township of Kosciusko County. Mrs. Moore died in 1889. In 1895 he married for his present wife Mrs. Elizabeth Rush Doty. She was born in Ohio in November, 1835. Her father Jacob Rush was a native of Pennyslvania and her grandfather Peter Rush was born in Germany and came to America when a young man, settling in Pennsylvania, and subsequently removing to Ohio and from there to Elkhart County, Indiana, in 1838, spending his last years in Jack- son Township. Jacob Rush, who married Christina Leopold, a na- tive of Ohio and left an orphan at an early age, brought his family to Indiana in 1837, making the journey by wagon and team. That was many years before the first railroads came into Indiana, and the greater part of Elkhart County was a wilderness. The Rush family settled in Jackson Township, where Jacob entered 160 acres of tim- bered land. In a small clearing he erected a log cabin, and his family took possession of that humble home before it had either doors or windows. All the country round was as wild as wild could be, and the pioneer secured all the game and provisions for his family by shooting the deer and turkey that roamed through the woods. The log cabin had a mud and stick chimney built up at one end, and as there were no stoves the housemother did all her cooking by the open fireplace until a clay oven could be constructed in the yard by the doorway. Mrs. Jacob Rush was proficient in carding and spin- ning, and Mrs. More herself learned those arts. Her father raised considerable quantities of flax, and it was broken, spun and woven in the house. All members of the household were dressed in home- spun, the linen woven from the flax serving for the summer cloth- ing, while the clip from the sheep raised on the homestead furnished woolen goods for winter. Jacob Rush cleared up the greater part of his land, and occupied the old Jackson County homestead until 1892, when he sold out and moved to St. Joseph County, buying land near North Liberty. His wife died there at the age of sixty- three, and he died at the age of sixty-five, his death resulting from a runaway accident. Mrs. More was one of eight children, as fol- lows: Geo, Peter, Eliza, Catherine, Mary, Elizabeth, Jacob and Roseann.
At the age of twenty-seven Mrs. More married for her first hus- band Alonzo Doty, who was born in New Jersey, went first to Ohio and afterwards to Indiana, and settled at Milford in Kosciusko County, where he died. Mrs. More's children by her first marriage were Alonzo, Rosa, Matilda and Elmer. Her son Alonzo married Cora Huffman and their eleven children are named Lula, Harry,
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Ollie, Ray, Dwight, Pearl, Bessie, George, Bernice, Dorothy and Henry. The daughter Rosa is now deceased. The daughter Ma- tilda married Harry Trip. Elmer married Martha Miller, and has three children named Irma Bernice, Ollie and Mary.
Mr. More by his first marriage had three living children: John F., Hannah M. and Mary Ann. John F. married Katie Killian, and their two children are Harvey and Annie. Hannah M. married William Clous and has two children named Lillie and Floyd. Mary Ann is the wife of Edward Renchberg.
JANCY S. SLABAUGH, M. D. A physician whose ability has brought him rapidly a substantial patronage and whose position in the profession is well assured is Dr. Jancy S. Slabaugh of Nappanee. Doctor Slabaugh has been a resident of Nappanee since 1909 and is a man who has earned every step of advancement since he left country schools.
He was born on a farm in Harrison Township of Miami County, Indiana, September 24, 1874. His father was Samuel Slabaugh, a native of Holmes County, Ohio. The grandfather John Slabaugh was born in Germany, and he and his sister were the only members of the family to come to America. He had received his education in Germany, and on coming to America he lived a time in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and then went to Holmes County, Ohio, where he followed farming. Grandfather Slabaugh married Su- sanna Nisly. She was born at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. August 2, 1816, a daughter of Christian and Sarah (Miller) Nisly. By the death of her husband she was left a widow with several children, and with them she moved to Indiana, locating in LaGrange County, but some years later going out to Iowa, where she spent her last days with a daughter.
Samuel Slabaugh, father of Doctor Slabaugh, was fourteen years of age when he went with his widowed mother to Indiana, and he lived in LaGrange County until he was twenty-one. His next loca- tion was in Howard County, and a short time later he moved to Harrison Township in Miami County, where he bought a farm which he still owns and occupies. He married Lydia Schrock. She was born in Holmes County, Ohio, a daughter of Jacob and Eliza- beth ( Hochstetter) Schrock. An extensive genealogy of the Hoch- stetter family has been published and can be found in many libraries. Jacob Schrock and wife were both born in Pennsylvania, whence they moved to Holmes County. Ohio, and spent their days there. Samuel Slabaugh and wife reared eight children named Emma, John, William, Jancy S., Niles, Clara, Albert and Lida.
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Doctor Slaubaugh grew up on a farm, attended country schools, and he also had the advantages of the North Grove High School. At the age of eighteen he taught his first school in Jasper County, Indiana. It was by work as a teacher that he earned the money necessary to prepare himself for the medical profession. While teaching he also attended the State Normal School at Terre Haute, from which he was graduated, and he also earned the degree A. B. at Indiana State University. For three years he was superintendent of the high school at Flora.
On giving up school work Doctor Slabaugh entered the Hering Medical College of Homeopathy at Chicago, where he was gradu- ated in the class of 1909. Soon after graduating he located at Nap- panee, and he now attends a large clientage both in the town and for many miles around. Doctor Slabaugh is a member of the Elk- hart County Medical Society, the Indiana Institute of Homeopathy and the American Institute of Homeopathy.
On July 10, 1900, he married Miss Delilah Mast. She was born in Miami County, Indiana, a daughter of M. D. and Barbara (Schrock) Mast. The doctor and wife have a son named Lotus Mast. Doctor and Mrs. Slabaugh are active members of the Men- nonite Church.
NOAH A. LEHMAN. For nearly thirty years one of the best known auctioneers in Elkhart County has been Noah A. Lehman of Nappanee. Mr. Lehman is also the leading furniture dealer and undertaker of Nappanee, and his career has been an exceedingly busy one and one characterized by honorable and straightforward integrity in all his relations.
Though most of his life has been spent in Elkhart County he was born in Sullivan Township of Livingston County, Illinois, Jan- uary 23, 1869. He represents some of that sturdy German lineage that established homes in the eastern states back in colonial times.
His great-grandfather John Lehman, so far as known, was a na- tive of Maryland, from which state he moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and from there in 1826 went to Columbiana County, Ohio, making the journey with wagons and teams, in the absence of either canals or railroads. Settling in the wilderness, he secured a tract of timbered land about two miles south and east of the Vil- lage of Columbiana, made a farm, and that was his home until his death at the age of seventy-five. John Lehman married Gertrude Hoover, who survived her husband and died at the home of her son Christian two miles north of Columbiana. Her eleven children were: Daniel, Elizabeth Barbara, John, Susan, Samuel, Nancy, Jacob, David, Christian, Martha and Mary.
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Jacob Lehman, grandfather of Noah, was born in Maryland in 1810, and was sixteen years old when he accompanied the family to Ohio. After his marriage in that county he bought eighty acres of land, with only a few acres cleared and a set of log buildings, and there his good wife went through all the hardships of pioneer- ing, cooking by the open fire and carding, spinning and weaving the cloth for the garments needed to clothe the household. Jacob Lehman's labor was productive in clearing up a farm, but in 1848 he sold his first place and bought another in Beaver Township, five miles north of Columbiana, where he had his home until his death at the age of sixty-five. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Yoder, who was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Brunner) Yoder, both of German ances- try. Mary Yoder Lehman died at the age of forty-four, leaving the following children : Peter G., Nancy. John, Elizabeth, David, Jacob, Joseph and Benjamin, twins, Isaac, Eli, Mary, Leah, Martha and Lydia, all of whom reached maturity.
Peter Lehman, father of Noah, and now a retired resident of Elkhart County, was born on a farm two miles south of Columbiana Village in Ohio October 2, 1836. He was reared and educated in Mahoning County, and lived with his father until 1858. In that year he came to Elkhart County, where he followed his trade as carpenter until 1862. He then rented land in the county for a few years, after which he bought a home in Liberty Township of St. Joseph County and was an active farmer there until 1868. In that year he moved to Sullivan Township, Livingston County. Illinois, and acquired eighty acres of prairie land about half of which was improved. His home was in Illinois about five years, after which he sold and returned to Elkhart County and acquired ninety acres two miles south of Wakarusa. Eight years later he sold that prop- erty and bought fifty acres in Middlebury Township 41/2 miles north- east of Goshen, but in 1906 moved to Wakarusa and bought the home where he has since lived. On November 23, 1862, Peter Lch- man married Lydia Ann Good, who was born in Beaver Township of Mahoning County, Ohio, half a mile from Lewistown October 1. 1844. Her father. Benaville Good, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1812 of German ancestry, grew up in his native county, went to Mahoning County, Ohio, and followed his trade as carpenter there until 1849. Then accompanied by his family he made the overland journey to Elkhart County, shipping his goods by canal as far as Fort Wayne. His location here was in Union Township, and of his land only twelve acres was cleared and his first home was a log cabin. Thereafter he gave his time to clearing
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and improving his land until his death at the age of fifty-six. Bena- ville Good married Margaret Reed, who was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, a daughter of William and Christina ( Wenger) Reed. It is thought that William Reed was born in the North of Ireland and from his Virginia home he moved to Mahoning County, Ohio, and still later to Elkhart County, locating in Union Township which was his home until his death at the age of seventy-five. Wil- liam Reed's wife was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, of early German ancestry, and she died at the age of sixty-six. Mrs. Bena- ville Good died at the age of seventy-three, having reared ten chil- dren, whose names were Israel, Lydia, Isaiah, Elizabeth, Sarah, Elijah, Frances, Jacob, Mary and Margaret.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lehman had a large household of thirteen children. Their names are, David, Sarah, Isaac, Noah, Elizabeth, Amos, Susie, Peter, Reuben, Rhoda, Alpheus, Luella and Harrison. Some years ago Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lehman celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, and their guests were eleven of these children with their respective families.
Noah A. Lehman attended the public schools of Elkhart County and grew to vigorous manhood on the farm. He early manifested an inclination for commercial lines and at the age of seventeen did his first work as an auctioneer. He has a high degree of natural proficiency for that work and for fully thirty years was one of the most reliable auctioneers in this section of Indiana. His excellent judgment regarding values extends not only to the usual material merchandise but also to livestock and farm machinery and he has been able to please not only the seller but the customer, and has cried sales all over Elkhart and adjoining counties.
In 1889 Mr. Lehman also became clerk in a hardware store, con- tinued a clerk until 1892 and then engaged in the furniture business at Nappanee, and is now one of the oldest merchants of that little city. He is also engaged in undertaking lines, and is a graduate of Clark's school of embalming at Chicago. He has been connected with the undertaking business here for twenty-one years, has every modern equipment for service including a motor hearse and is the only member of the profession here.
In 1893 Mr. Lehman married Anna Garber. She was born in Clinton Township of Elkhart County, a daughter of Abraham and Fanny (Martin) Garber, natives of Ohio who came as early settlers to Elkhart County. Mr. and Mrs. Lehman have three children : Bernice, Josephine and Stanley.
JOHN D. GEISELMAN. It is now on an attractive farm homestead in Locke Township that John D. Geiselman and wife reside, but
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he was formerly a resident of Nappanee, where he still owns a home and his activities as a painter, decorator and artist, have made him well known over a large section of Indiana.
He has the distinction of being the first white male child born in the Village of Bremen, Marshall County, Indiana, while his older sister Eliza, who died at the age of seventeen, was the first birth in that village. Mr. Geiselman was born October 7, 1852. The family was established in Indiana during pioneer times. His grand- father Michael Geiselman, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1798 of German parents, early learned the trade of blacksmith, and on completing his apprenticeship moved to Canton, Ohio, and for some years owned and operated a farm three miles southeast of that Ohio city. From there he came to Indiana and was one of the first to locate in Marshall County, buying a tract of land on Harris Prairie. After improving the land he sold out and bought another place three miles north of Bremen, where he established a black- smith shop and combined blacksmithing with farming. Still later he sold that and bought land bordering on Kountz Lake, where he lived until late in life. He finally went to the home of his son 31/2 miles southeast of Bremen, where he died in 1880. Michael Geiselman married Eliza Hufford, who was born in Pennsylvania and died on Harris Prairie in Marshall County, Indiana. Her husband married a second time. However, she was the mother of his four sons and a daughter, whose names were Melinda, Josiah, Walter, James D. and Harvey.
Josiah Geiselman, father of John D., was born in Canton, Stark County, Ohio, in 1826, and was still quite young when his parents removed to Marshall County, Indiana. That was long before the days of railroads and the journey was accomplished with wagons and teams and they arrived in a country still unclaimed from the wilderness, where a great deal of land could be bought direct from the Government at $1.25 per acre. Josiah Geiselman also served an apprenticeship at the blacksmith trade with Bertram Lushbaugh. His first regular location was on the present site of Bremen, where he built the first house and the first blacksmith shop. This shop he continued to operate until 1862, when he sold out and bought an interest in a sawmill five miles northwest of Bremen. Two years later he sold it and purchased 104 acres of timbered land 31/2 miles southeast of Bremen. His home was there until 1887, and in that time he improved about seventy acres. He next rented his farm, and bought the place at Bremen, but after two years removed to Culver. was there four years, and spent the rest of his life at Ply- mouth where he died in 1905 at the age of seventy-nine. The
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maiden name of his wife was Mary Ringle, who was born in Ohio in 1828, a daughter of John and Diantha (Emmons) Ringle, her mother being a daughter of Lord Emmons of England. Mrs. Josiah Geiselman died in January, 1914, at the age of eighty-six. The six children she reared were Eliza, John D., Emeline, Nathan, Edward and Jacob.
John D. Geiselman spent his early life in the various locations occupied by his father, and at the age of sixteen followed the ex- ample of his father and grandfather and learned a useful trade, but instead of blacksmithing became a painter and decorator. For this he has something more than the instinct and talent of a good artisan. He has a natural ability for painting, and as a pastime has produced some landscape views and some still life pictures of roses which have been pronounced very admirable and have gained him no little reputation as an artist. As a journeyman he followed his trade in various places until 1902, when he located in Locke Township of Elkhart County, and in 1912 moved to Nappanee, buy- ing a city lot and building a commodious residence in modern style. This he and his family occupied until 1914, when he rented it and returned to the country, locating in section 22 of Locke Township, where he enjoys the comforts and the duties of farming and garden- ing on a small scale, and still pursues his regular profession.
His first wife was Janet Martin, now deceased. On July 15, 1892, he married Mrs. Amanda (Loney) Pitman, who was born in Locke Township. Her grandfather, Richard Loney, was a native of Ohio and of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and became an extensive farmer in Knox County, Ohio, making a reputation as a raiser of fine horses. That was a time when Ohio had no railroads and he drove his horses to market by the roads leading to the East. Later he sold his farm in Knox County and moved to Missouri, where he spent his last days. His wife's name was Kilpatrick, who was also of Scotch and Irish ancestry. Robinson Loney, father of Mrs. Geiselman, was born in Knox County, Ohio, in 1832, married in that state, but in 1853 set out by wagon and team for Indiana, bring- ing with him his wife and two children. He located in that year in Locke Township, where he bought the northwest quarter of section 27 and there lived for some years almost isolated from close neigh- bors, and had all the experiences common to pioneers. His home was in the midst of the woods, and he built the'log house in which Mrs. Geiselman was born. In 1864 Robinson Loney joined the 164th Indiana Infantry, and was with that regiment in its marches and campaigns until honorably discharged. By much hard work and self denial he improved the greater part of his land in Locke
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