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 44
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He was a native of Ohio and was born on a farm February 14. 1858. His grandfather Henry Martin was born May 15, 1774, married Anna Souder, and they spent their last days in Ohio. Abra- ham Martin, father of Jacob E., was born April 1, 1816, and in 1872 he removed from Ohio, where he had long followed farming, to Illinois, and bought a farm near Cerro Gordo, where he lived until his death. Abraham Martin married Martha Lidigh, who was born June 5, 1814, and spent her last days on the old farm near Cerro Gordo, Illinois. She reared a family of nine children.
The late Jacob E. Martin grew up on an Ohio farm, attended the public schools of his native county and completed his education in the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. For two years he was a successful teacher in Illinois. Later he moved to Elkhart and for three years followed his trade as a painter and paper hanger. He then engaged in business on his own account, and was also for a time bookkeeper at the Newman Planing Mill. In a public way he is best remembered for his service as assessor. He served as deputy assessor several times, and later succeeded to the office which he filled with admirable efficiency for four years. His later years were spent in the insurance business.
On March 25. 1883. he married Miss R. Lloyd. She was born in Warren County, Pennsylvania, a granddaughter of Erasmus Lloyd, who was of Welsh ancestry and a farmer and spent his last days in Elkhart County. His wife was a Virginia woman and
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she died in Pennsylvania. Joshua Lloyd, father of Mrs. Martin, was born in Ohio in 1836, grew up on a farm, and in 1862 enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry, with which he went to the front and served until captured during the battle of the wilderness. He was confined at the notorious prison of Andersonville, and died while there largely as a result of ex- posure and cruelty. Joshua Lloyd married Marilla Alcorn, who was born in Warren County, Pennsylvania, January 29, 1840, and is still living, making her home with her daughter. She reared two children, one of them Mrs. Martin, who was born in 1859, and the other Melissa Jane, wife of Oliver Bender. Marilla Alcorn's father was William Thomas Alcorn, who was born in Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania, daughter of John Alcorn, who spent his last years as a farmer near Titusville, Pennsylvania. William T. Alcorn moved from ยท Pennsylvania to Elkhart County in 1867, buying a farm on the Bris- tol Road in Concord Township, and spending the rest of his days there. The maiden name of his wife was Elizabeth Henderson, and she was born near Enterprise, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Richard and Violet (Hunter) Henderson, both of whom were of Scotch ancestry.
HARRY S. CHESTER. The passing of Harry S. Chester at his home in Elkhart, Indiana, in March, 1906, was a distinct loss to the community, and he was mourned by innumerable people in the town and county. He was a man, self-made in the best acceptance of the term, and his accomplishments were many. He began life in a humble manner, and while he never attained to fame, yet he gained much prominence in those communities where he was known, and he won the love and esteem of all who knew him as he really was. He was a man of kindly and generous instincts, the friend of the poor and no man sought his aid in vain. His passing was a distinct loss to his community.
Harry S. Chester was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, on January 24, 1862, and he died on March 14, 1906. He was the son of John Benton and Elizabeth (Ellis) Chester. The father, who was born in Liverpool, England, in 1824, died in 1902, and the mother, a native of London, England, born in 1831, died in 1892. They were married in London, and they came to Elkhart County in 1880, where the father engaged in business as a cigar manu- facturer. They were the parents of seven children.
Harry S. Chester had his early education in the public schools of Westfield, Massachusetts. With the removal of the family to Elkhart, Indiana, in 1880, young Chester accompanied them, and
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with his father worked in the cigar manufacturing business for some little time. In 1886 Mr. Chester was appointed to fill out an unex- pired term in the office of city clerk of Elkhart, and at the next elec- tion he was chosen to fill the office. He served well and faithfully during a term of two years, at the expiration of which he was elected to the office of county clerk. His election to that office came in the year 1890, and he served four years. In 1892 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held in Chicago, when Grover Cleveland was nominated for the presidency, and he was in many ways active in local politics. During the years of his service in local offices Mr. Chester was utilizing his spare hours to excellent advantage, and in 1894 he appeared before the state examiners and successfully passed the legal examinations, his admission to the bar following promptly. From then until 1898 Mr. Chester was engaged in the practice of law, and in that year he became interested in the work of organizing the Order of Modern Samaritans, a fraternal order that reached a place of prominence in fraternal circles. For some years he devoted himself to the work of organizing throughout the country, and in 1904 he gave up his connection with the order and identified himself with the granite and monument business. He was carrying on that business at the time of his death.
Mr. Chester was more than usually prominent in fraternalism and he was a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of the Maccabees, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Independent Order of Red Men and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He was a general favorite in all these orders, and held many high offices in each of them during the years of his connection with them.
Mr. Chester was a man of decided literary bent and gave much time to the study of literature. He was a poet of some talent, much of his work appearing in Chicago newspapers and magazines, and in 1900 he published a small volume of poems of about 100 pages, entitled "When the Light Goes Out." He left a collection of about 100 unpublished sonnets and other poems, which it is presumable will be brought out at some future time, for the benefit of those who knew and loved his work.
On December 28, 1892, Mr. Chester married Jennie R. Ryder, who survives him. She was born in Plymouth, Indiana, and had her education in the schools of that town. She was graduated from the local high school in the class of 1885, after which she engaged in teaching in Walkerton, St. Joseph County, Indiana, up to the time of her marriage. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Chester has resumed her profession and is now teaching in the primary
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schools of Elkhart, where she is held in high esteem. Two sons, John and Robert, were born to them. Mrs. Chester, it should be said, is a daughter of Bernard E. and Catherine (Rogers) Ryder. The father was born in Ireland in 1839 and died in Elkhart in 1910. The mother was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, born there in 1839, and she died here in 1900. She was the daughter of John Benson Rogers and Elizabeth (Benson) Rogers, natives of London, Eng- land, and Virginia, respectively.
GEORGE A. SMITH. One of the oldest living residents of Cleve- land Township is George A. Smith, who has been identified with the substantial agricultural activities of that section for much more than half a century. Mr. Smith is now past four-score years, is quite hale and vigorous, is a man of kindly temper, highly honored and respected by his neighbors, and is properly represented in any mention of the old settlers.
He is a native of Stark County, Ohio, having been born near New Berlin in that county, October 5, 1832. His father, John Smith, was born in Alsace, France, in 1800, grew up there, and in 1828, accompanied by his wife and one child, came to America. The little family embarked on a sailing vessel which was then almost the only type of vessel which navigated the ocean, and spent twenty- six days on the ocean, a longer time than was taken by the historic Mayflower in its early voyage to New England. The vessel landed its passengers at New York City, and the Smith family came on west by way of the Hudson River and the Erie Canal which had opened to traffic only a few years before, as far as Buffalo, there embarking on a sailing vessel for Cleveland. From Cleveland, which was then a very small city, they went by wagon and team as far as Canton, Ohio. They were the type of hardy and thrifty German people, and were quite able to make their own way in the New World, in spite a lack of knowledge of the language and customs. After living for about two years in Canton, John Smith bought thirteen acres of land near New Berlin. The only improvement on the place was a log cabin. This was the first shelter of the family, and as the land could not be cultivated to support the household, the father eked out his slender income by working for his neighbors, receiving only three shillings a day. He continued to live on that farm until 1837. In that year he made another journey to a still newer country, Elkhart County. The entire distance from North- eastern Ohio where they had previously lived to Elkhart County was covered by wagon and team. That was many years before rail- roads were constructed in Northern Indiana, and there were no
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canals or other means of transportation. John Smith at that time had a wife and five children. Locating in Cleveland Township, which he still found raw and sparsely settled, he acquired a tract of eighty acres of timbered land, paying only five dollars an acre. Here again there arose the familiar log cabin of the early settler, and from that as a center he gradually worked out around clearing up the land and putting the soil into cultivation. He was one of the substantial early pioneers of Elkhart County, and lived here until his death, at the age of seventy-seven. John Smith married Anna Hassig, who was also born in Alsace. Her death occurred in 1892, at the age of eighty-seven. The six children whom she reared were John, Margaret, Catherine, George A., Anna and Christian.
George A. Smith was only five years of age when brought to Elkhart County. He has a keen recollection of many pioneer circumstances and experiences. He attended some of the old fashioned public schools, taught largely on the subscription plan, and he himself taught school and thereby earned the money which enabled him to complete his education in the Union Seminary in Union County, Pennsylvania.
In 1854 he went out to what was then the frontier, Mahaska County, Iowa, and taught school for several terms. On returning East he again went to Pennsylvania and was a teacher and alter- nately a student in that state until 1858. Again he went to Iowa and was again employed as a teacher in that state.
After these various shifts and wanderings he settled down to a permanent residence in Cleveland Township of Elkhart County. It was in 1862 that Mr. Smith bought the farm which he still owns and occupies. At that time its chief improvements consisted of a small plant house and a small barn. From his own hands and under his supervision have since grown up a number of noteworthy improvements. There is a commodious brick house, a very comfort- able home which has served him and his children, there is a large frame barn, a silo attests his progressive methods of agriculture, and other improvements show how thoroughly his farm has been tilled and cultivated.
In November, 1862, Mr. Smith married Susan Eyer. She was born in Union County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Eyer, who were natives of Lancaster County in that state. Mrs. Smith died in 1883, leaving four children: Albert, Wesley. Anna and Clara. Mr. Smith married for his second wife Miss Mary Kelly, who died in 1913. Her only son is also deceased.
JACOB B. MILLER of Locke Township has reached the seventy- fifth milestone on life's journey. With courage and faith he has
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met and solved the problems of existence, has made his years count for usefulness and honor in the community, and is one of the oldest citizens of Elkhart County.
He was born in Darke County, Ohio, July 12, 1841, and was brought to Elkhart County when still a boy. Including himself, six generations of the family have lived in' America. The ancestry goes back to Phillip Miller, who was born in Germany. A son of Phillip was David Miller, who was married in Maryland to Abigail Morgan, and from Maryland they moved to the wilderness of Kentucky. Being opposed to the institution of slavery, they lived in that state only a few years, and then went to what is now Montgomery County, Ohio, locating near Dayton. David Miller was well equipped to cope with the difficulties of a pioneer exist- ence, and he acquired and improved a good farm. He and his wife reared Michael, Jacob, Lydia, Esther, Katie, Betsey, Susan and Nancy. All the families were members of the Church of the Brethren and that religious faith still characterizes the numerous descendants.
Jacob Miller, grandfather of Jacob B., was born in Kentucky about 1795 and was ten years of age when his parents moved to Montgomery County, where he was reared and educated. He became a successful farmer, and acquired a considerable estate before his death, in 1861. Jacob Miller married Polly Michael, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1800, a daughter of Jacob and Mary ( Mayer) Michael, natives of Pennsylvania, from which state they moved to Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1807, when the now rich and populous valley of the Miami and Mad rivers was a howling wilderness. Polly Michael Miller died in 1849. Her children were David C., Michael, John, Mary, Sally, Emanuel, Henry, Hettie, Susan and Martin.
David C. Miller, father of Jacob B., was the founder of this branch of the Miller family in Elkhart County. He was born near Dayton in Montgomery County, Ohio, June 8. 1817. His early life was spent on a farm, and by making the best of his opportuni- ties he acquired sufficient education for all his needs. His home was in Darke County. Ohio, until 1850, when he started with wagons and teams, accompanied by his family, and arrived in Union Township of Elkhart County. Here he paid five dollars an acre for one hundred sixty acres, and the only improvements were a log cabin and a small clearing. The cabin was covered with clap- boards rived by hand, the one door was hung on wooden hinges, and only one window, that being a half sash, let in the light. Like others of his family, David C. Miller was very industrious, and on
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his first farm did considerable clearing and had erected a set of frame buildings before he sold. He next bought forty acres in the same township, and lived there until after the death of his first wife. At the age of seventy-seven he married again and he passed away honored and respected at the age of eighty-three. In 1838, at the age of twenty-one, he married Rachel Bigler, who was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in which county her parents, David and Nancy (Graybill) Bigler, were also born. From Wash- ington County the Bigler family moved to Darke County, Ohio, where her parents died at a good old age. David C. Miller and wife reared nine daughters and one son: Nancy, Jacob B., Mary, Han- nah, Susan, Sarah, Julia, Rachel, Lavina and Melinda. David C. Miller was a democrat, and the confidence of his fellow citizens in his judgment and integrity was shown by the fact that they elected him to several local offices. He and his wife were active members of the Church of the Brethren.
Nine years of age when the family came to Elkhart County, Jacob B. Miller had in the meantime gained some schooling in Darke County, Ohio, and he also attended school here, being reared in the meantime to habits of industry and strict moral principles. His early experience enabled him to take charge of his father's farm on becoming of age, but later he bought a tract of land in Kos- ciusko County. On taking possession he lived in a plank house, kept his stock in a log stable, and did his first cultivation on the few acres that were cleared. He rapidly extended the area of cultiva- tion, but after a time returned to his father's place, which he rented and managed for three years. For the past forty years Mr. Miller has had his home in Locke Township, where in 1876 he bought 100 acres. This is one of the high class farms of the township. Under his management has been erected a commodious frame building, a large barn and other houses, and everything about the place indicates thrifty and thorough management. His home is heated by furnace and has many of the city comforts combined with the attractions of country life.
On November 18, 1866, nearly fifty years ago, Mr. Miller married Esther Swihart. Theirs has been the happy privilege of living together for almost half a century, and children and grand- children and a great host of friends anticipate for them the pleasures of a golden wedding anniversary. Mrs. Miller was born in Seneca County, Ohio, August 24, 1844. Her father Samuel Swihart was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, a son of Peter Swihart, who was of German ancestry. Samuel Swihart moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and in 1847 brought his family from Seneca Vol. II-27
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County to Indiana, locating in Tippecanoe Township of Kosciusko County. There he bought land in the midst of the heavy timber, and before his death had cleared away the woods and had made a valuable homestead. He died at the age of seventy-one. Samuel Swihart married Fannie Baker, whose father, Daniel Baker, had removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio and spent his remaining years is Tuscarawus County. Mrs. Miller's mother died at the age of sixty-seven.
While Mr. and Mrs. Miller are beginning to realize the infirmi- ties of age, they still enjoy life and live happily, surrounded by their children and grandchildren. The names of the children who have grown up in their household are Samuel, David J., Daniel J., Rachel, William and Charles E. Samuel, who is a farmer, married Nettie Ryder, and their four children are Esther, Emma, Jacob J. and Bertha. David J., who lives at Rockford, Washington, married Lydia Weise, and has six children, Ralph, Edna, Wayne, Hilda, Inez and Carl Wilson. Daniel J., who is a farmer in Locke Township, has six children by his marriage to Clara Niblock, named Manford, Leola, Loring, Irma, Russell and Loyal Daniel. The daughter Rachel is the wife of Frank McDonnel, a farmer three miles from Milford in Kosciusko County, and their three children are Grant, Carl and John. The son William was a student in the University of Chicago and graduated in law from the University of Wisconsin and is now a successful young attorney at Gary, Indiana ; by his marriage to Clara Asmus his two children are Norman and Grace. Charles married Nellie Stark, and has two children named Golbert and Mildred. Both Mr. and Mrs. Miller were reared in the Church of the Brethren, and are very devoted to their home church and its activities and have reared all their children in the same denomination. Mr. Miller is an active demo- crat, and has performed his share of civic responsibilities as a school director and supervisor.
WILLIAM FROST MANNING. One of the last survivors of the band of pioneer settlers in Elkhart County was the late William Frost Manning. A brief sketch of his career introduces a number of old family names which should be made a matter of record in any history of Elkhart County.
Born at Piqua, Miami County, Ohio, March 20, 1828, William Frost Manning was a son of Elias Manning. He was still a boy when his father came to Elkhart County, and they made the entire journey across the country long before railroads were built, and founded a home in what was virtually a wilderness. William Frost
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Manning reached his majority about the time the wonderful news came from the Far West of the discovery of gold in California. In 1849 he set out for the Eldorado, going by the Isthmus of Panama. He remained in the Far West two or three years, and on returning to the states bought a farm in Osolo Township of Elkhart County. There he lived in a log house and it required a number of years of steady industry to clear away the timber and put his land into cultivation. He was not only a practical and progressive farmer, but was noted as an early mechanic, and was one of the most skillful fabricators in iron and steel in the early days of the county.
William Frost Manning died at Elkhart in February, 1908, when past fourscore years of age.
On October 3. 1869, he married Martha Cleveland. She was born in Cleveland Township of Elkhart County May 6, 1842. Her father, Harden Cleveland, Jr., was born in New York State, and it was the grandfather Harden Cleveland, Sr., who came west to Indiana and became a pioneer in Elkhart County. The Clevelands came all the way from the East with wagon and teams, and the senior Cleveland bought land in Osolo Township and also in Con- cord Township, and his industry and good management enabled him to live comfortably and to assist all his children to attain homes. Mrs. Manning's father acquired a tract of land in Cleveland Town- ship, which he afterwards sold, and bought eighty acres near the City of Elkhart, a portion of which was covered with heavy tim- ber. He also sold that and bought land in Concord Township, but later disposed of his interests in this county and moved to Michigan, living five years at Buchanan, and finally established his home in Wisconsin at Davis Corners, fourteen miles from Kilbourn City, where he died at the age of seventy-three. Harden Cleveland, Jr., married Emily Ayers, who was born in Ohio, a daughter of Asa and Rachel ( Bolton) Ayers, both of whom were natives of Massachu- setts. The Ayers family also came early to Elkhart County and located in Cleveland Township, but later moved into the State of Michigan. Emily Ayers Cleveland died at St. Joseph, Michigan. Mrs. Manning was one of three daughters, the other two being Julia and Viola.
Mrs. Manning reared three children. Ebenezer married Mary Davenport. Elizabeth married Mr. L. G. Bydle, and has a son named Lucius G. Harlow S. married Maud Rush .and their three sons are named Wilbert, Richard and Arden.
ETIIAN L. ARNOLD. Definite and worthy achievement in his chosen profession has given to Mr. Arnold secure prestige as one of
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the representative members of the bar of Elkhart County and he has maintained his residence in the City of Elkhart since he was a boy of about eight years. He is a member of the law firm of Hughes & Arnold, which controls a large and important practice extending into the various courts of the state, including the Supreme Court, and aside from his professional activities Mr. Arnold is known as a liberal and public-spirited citizen who takes special interest in all that concerns the welfare of his home city.
Ethan L. Arnold was born on a farm in Cass County, Michigan, on the 18th of January, 1875, and is a scion of sterling pioneer families of that section of the Wolverine State. His parents, Alvin F. and Sarah ( Keene) Arnold, likewise were born in Cass County, where the respective families were founded in the early period of Michigan statehood. Alvin F. Arnold was born on the 16th of October, 1841, and passed the closing period of his life in the City of Elkhart, Indiana, where he died on the 6th of December, 1911, a well known and influential citizen who had here been prominent in connection with business affairs and who stood exponent of the highest integrity and usefulness. His widow, who was born January 16, 1843, still resides in Elkhart, and of their children two are liv- ing-Leon J. and Ethan L.
Alvin F. Arnold was reared under the conditions and influences of the pioneer days in the history of Cass County, Michigan, where he early began to lend his aid in the reclamation and other work of the home farm and where he availed himself of the advantages of the rural schools of the day. In his youth he learned the carpen- ter's trade, he had become well established in the work of the same when he subordinated all personal interests to go forth in defense of the Union at the time when the Civil war was precipitated on the nation. In 1861 he enlisted in Company G, First Michigan Lancers, his term of enlistment being for three years or "during the war." He lived up to the full tension of the great conflict between the North and the South and with his gallant command par- ticipated in many important battles, besides innumerable minor en- gagements, his service continuing until the close of the war, when he duly received his honorable discharge.
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