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 54
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C. R. Garman had such education as the public schools of his home community afforded, and he lived at home until his marriage on December 24, 1800, when he was just twenty-one years old. Anna J. Boomershine, the daughter of Peter, who died at the age of sixty-three years, June, 1913, and Mary A. ( Miller ) Boomer- shine, became his wife, and two children have been born to them; Donald B., now a student in high school, and Florence, attending the grade schools of Millersburg.
When Mr. Garman married and assumed the responsibilities of a home, he launched out into the painting and paper hanging business in Millersburg, and he has always had good success in
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that enterprise. In June, 1915, he was appointed postmaster of Millersburg, and has since handled that office in addition to his other business. He is one of the popular and prominent men of his town, and is now serving his second year as clerk of the town board. His politics are those of a democrat, and he takes a worthy interest in all the affairs of the town and county. In fraternal circles he has membership in the Knights of Pythias, Lodge No. 328, of Millersburg, the Woodmen of the World and the Loyal Order of Moose, and in all of them he has a host of true friends. The family is active in the work of the Church of the Brethren, and have membership in that body.
CRAWFORD E. SELNER. A well known Elkhart citizen who was at one time connected with the municipal police force and has also carried on a business as a contractor and builder, Crawford E. Selner represents some family lines that have taken an active part in the development of various sections of Indiana including Elk- hart County.
He was born in Kokomo, Indiana, January 8, 1862. His father, Peter Selner, was born in England, March 8. 1825, and while living in the old country served an apprenticeship at the tanner's trade. During his young manhood he emigrated to America and after a residence in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, moved to Tiffin, Ohio, where he lived until 1856 and then came to Kokomo, Indiana, which was then a small town. In 1862 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Eightieth Ohio Infantry and went South to battle for the perpetuity of the Union. During the siege of Charleston, South Carolina, he was disabled, and after his honorable discharge returned to Ohio and lived in Tiffin until 1866. In that year he came to Indiana and engaged in farming in St. Joseph County. In 1860 construction began on the Grand Rapids and Indiana Rail- road, and he was connected with the construction of that important railway system for two years. In 1871 he bought a farm in Madi- son Township of St. Joseph County, and has lived there continu- ously to the present time. Though now ninety-one years of age, he is still vigorous both in mind and body, and his wife is also still liv- ing. On May 12, 1915. this venerable couple celebrated their sixti- eth wedding anniversary and had the congratulations of their children and grandchildren and a large group of friends. The mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Miller, who was born near Allentown, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1835. Her father, Samuel Miller, moved to Tiffin, Ohio, where he was an early settler. Peter Selner and wife reared seven children: Catherine, Crawford E., Jacob, Mary Isura, Byron, Magdalena and Hattie.
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Crawford E. Selner spent his early life chiefly on his father's farm in St. Joseph County. Besides the wholesome atmosphere of the country he had the advantages of the local schools, and on arriving at the age of eighteen apprenticed himself to learn the carpenter's trade. He mastered that vocation and became a finished workman at the end of three years, and then moved to Elkhart, where he at once embarked in business as a journeyman workman for three years, and has since followed the business of contractor and builder. He built the Conn Horn Factory, the largest in the world.
On November 28, 1889, Mr. Selner married Lydia C. Slabaugh. She was born at Ravenna, Ohio. Her father, John Slabaugh, was a native of Ohio, and his parents came from Pennsylvania and were early settlers in Ohio. Mrs. Selner's father enlisted, February 6, 1865, in Company H of the 184th Infantry, and was in service until after the close of the war. He received his honorage discharge, September 20, 1865. Soon after the war he came to Elkhart County, buying a farm in Locke Township, on which he lived for a number of years, and subsequently sold out and homesteaded a tract of government land in Michigan. Having proved up his claim, he sold out to advantage, again lived in Indiana for a time, but spent his last days in Ohio. John Slabaugh married Eliza Bum- barger, who was born near Akron, Ohio, and who died in March, 1914. She reared four children named Sarah A., Lydia C., Alvah and Renie, the last two being now deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Selner, though they have no children of their own, have an adopted daughter, Gladys, who is the orphan daughter of Mr. Selner's sister. Mrs. Selner is an active member of the Frank Baldwin Circle and of the Hickory Street Evangelical Church. Mr. Selner's service as a member of the Elkhart Police Force was during 1897-98-99, and also during the years 1909-10.
ABRAHAM BAUER. Some men have the commercial instinct apparently inbred. One of these is Abraham Bauer of Wakarusa. It is said that he was hardly out of short trousers before he began trading. A keen sense of values, good judgment, reliability and absolute integrity have been the qualifications that have brought him a generous share of success in the world. Throughout this section of Indiana Mr. Bauer is known as a merchant, an auctioneer and a man of varied affairs. A complete recital of his interesting career would almost fill a book. Some outline of his work and his family relationships has a specially appropriate place in a history of Elkhart County.
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His birth occurred on a farm in Olive Township, of Elkhart County, in 1870. His father, Christian Bauer, was born in Ger- many, and when a young man crossed the ocean on a sailing vessel and finally became an early settler in Elkhart County. He bought a tract of land in Section Fourteen of Olive Township, it being the south half of the northwest quarter. The land was covered with a dense growth of timber, and it was necessary to cut away a number of trees in order to make a clearing for the log cabin. He had a large fund of energy and industry, and soon had the clearing and cultivation of his land well under way. Among other improvements he set out an orchard. Later a road was constructed on the section line between Sections 14 and 15. His own house had been erected near the center of the section, and after the building of the road he put up another set of buildings close by the high- way. Year after year improvements were added, including a frame barn, and in 1883 the erection of a substantial brick house. In that old home he continued to reside until his death in December, 1802. Christian Bauer had the genius of the trader, and his son undoubtedly inherited some of those qualities. Christian Bauer in the early days, before the advent of railroads, bought cattle and hogs in Indiana, and a number of times he drove his cattle and swine across the mountains to the eastern markets. He also col- lected a number of domestic turkeys and one fall drove the entire lot to Philadelphia.
Christian Baner married Elizabeth Ramer, who represented one of the very old and prominent families of Elkhart County. She was born in Ohio, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Reed) Ramer. Jacob Ramer came to Elkhart County in pioneer times and entered the southeast quarter of Section 19, in Harrison Township. His first work was the building of a log cabin, after which he undertook the clearing of the land. That was at a time when a large part of Harrison County was still under government ownership and he bought at a dollar and a quarter per acre. Game was abundant, and the Ramer family supplied its table with the meat of deer, turkeys and other animals. Mr. Ramer subsequently sold his first land and bought the northeast quarter of section 24. in Olive Township, which he improved with a substantial set of log buildings, and put most of his land in cultivation. His log house was subsequently improved by the addition of a frame structure, and he also erected a frame barn. His last years were spent among his children, and his death came at the age of seventy-two. His widow survived him and died when ninety-one years of age. There were seven children in the Ramer family: Samuel. David,
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Elizabeth, Nancy, John, Barbara and Noah. David and Noah went to the front during the Civil war, and Noah lost his life while in the Union army. Mrs. Christian Bauer died in 1902. She reared eleven children : Sarah, Catherine, Samuel, Julia, Jacob, Michael, David, Abraham, Peter, Elmer and Dora.
It was in the home of good substantial virtues that Abraham Bauer was reared. Of schooling he received the usual amount bestowed upon boys of his time and age, but he early showed an inclination for commercial adventure, and when still in his teens he hired out his services at monthly wages. His father received all the money he earned, though in the winter seasons the boy was allowed his time, free to choose a term of school or work as he pleased. The first three dollars he ever accumulated as a result of this early industry he employed to buy a buck sheep. What he did with that sheep and some of his later adventures in the realm of trade will prove interesting in this sketch. He traded the sheep for an old white mare. His father would not allow him to bring the mare home, and the boy then went back to its original owner and tried to get the deal cancelled. The former owner refused to accept the mare, and consequently kept both the sheep and horse.
About this time Abraham's brother David, who was working out at monthly wages, became tired of his place and asked Abraham to complete his contract. The deal they agreed upon was that Abra- ham should receive a harness and cart, which David had purchased from Abraham Weaver. Needing a horse his Grandfather Ramer told him to buy one and he would stand security. For $20 he bought a colt. At that time he was working for Mr. John Schrock, who helped break the colt. This animal was subsequently traded for a sorrel horse, with $6 additional, and the sorrel horse in turn he sold for $130. In the meantime he had traded his cart for a buggy, and that he traded for a new vehicle, paying $60 to boot, and using another $60 to purchase a three-year-old colt. Thus he was beginning to accumulate considerable livestock and property. Other trades followed in succession, until finally he possessed a handsome dapple gray horse. This he traded to Mr. Minick, the hardware merchant of Goshen, for a trotting mare. His joy over the posses- sion of a fast horse was short lived. The mare proved vicious and before he had reached home she had kicked herself clear of the buggy and almost torn the harness to pieces. Lawyer Davis of Goshen, whom he consulted in this emergency, informed him that he could recover $40 from Mr. Minick or secure a reversal of the trade. Mr. Minick paid the $40 and, keeping the mare, Mr. Bauer
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soon had her trained out of her bad tricks, and finally traded her to the proprietors of the Belgium Spring Brook Stock Farm for three colts, which were subsequently used in a trade for a span of fine dapple grays.
Such were some of the incidents in his early career as a trader. It must be remembered that all of this occurred before he had reached his majority. In fact, in 1889, when he was only nineteen, Jacob Ehret, the assessor, placed a value of $500 on his personal property. In that year he embarked in a new business, with John Moyer as partner. They bought the timber on three acres of land in Oliver Township, cut the trees, and what was not available for lumber worked into cord wood and stove wood. Each cleared about a hundred dollars on this transaction. The following winter they bought twenty acres of timber on the Metzler home- stead, but Mr. Bauer soon bought his partner's interest, hired some men to do the cutting, and made $250 on that transaction. Next, with his brother-in-law, John Pletcher, he bought the timber on forty acres, on the Miller farm in Concord Township, and this was also a profitable venture, netting him about seven hundred and fifty dollars.
For nearly a quarter of a century Mr. Bauer's commercial inter- ests have identified him with Wakarusa. In 1892 he entered the service of Henry Fidler in selling vehicles and bicycles on com- mission. Two weeks later his terms of employment were changed from a commission basis to a salary of $60 a month. In November of that year Mr. Fidler moved to Nappanee, forming a partner- ship with Mr. Rickerd and engaging in general merchandising. For three days Abraham Bauer was a clerk in their establishment, but then resigned and found work on the coal dock in Elkhart. An attack of pneumonia broke off this employment, and he spent the entire winter recovering from the illness. The following spring he traded for a farm of thirty-five acres in Baugo Township, and applied himself industriously to its cultivation until 1894. He then rented his land, returned to Wakarusa, and was with W. T. Fidler, the dealer in vehicles and organs. In 1895 he traded his farm in Baugo Township for a stock of boots and shoes, and this he soon sold for cash. He was in the employ of Mr. Fidler until 1896, then with Daniel Wenger and J. H. Louck bought the Fidler establishment, giving a new firm to Wakarusa, known as Bauer, Wenger & Company. About a year later he and Mr. Louck bought out Mr. Wenger, and the firm continued as Bauer & Louck, until Mr. Bauer sold to his partner, in 1897, though for a year following he remained with the establishment as an employe. As a partner
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with John C. Rummel he bought the stock of the old concern, but in 1900 he sold his interest and became a traveling salesman for the Deering Harvester Company, for six months.
In 1901 Mr. Bauer engaged in business for himself, handling vehicles, harness and other supplies. In 1906 his brother, Elmer, became associated with him. They conducted a delivery business until 1914, and in the meantime they had added a livery and had established a garage and an automobile agency. In 1914 their interests were divided, Elmer retaining the store and the carriage and wagon department, while Abraham took the livery and auto- mobile business.
It is one of his many distinctions that Abraham Bauer was the first man in Elkhart County to sell automobiles locally. It is doubtful if any one since has surpassed his record as a salesman. In a single day he sold seven cars and in one year his sales totalled fifty.
Many people in diverse sections of Elkhart County and other surrounding counties know Mr. Bauer best as an auctioneer. His first experience in that line occurred when he was thirteen years old. It was entirely impromptu, but the incident indicates his genius as a salesman. A sale had just been closed, but before the crowd dispersed a grindstone was discovered, and the boy mounted the block and quickly sold the stone. Later, at the Gary Howe sale, he was called upon to sell two shoats. His first real sale as an auctioneer came in 1894, when Henry J. Culp called upon him to cry a sale for his son-in-law, Milton Abel. Ever since that time for more than twenty years his services as an auctioneer have been almost constantly in demand. Mr. Bauer has been constantly a student of commercial values, credits and particularly of values of cattle and stock. He not only knows his business, but has some of the graceful accomplishments that make salesmanship an art. He can tell a story and keep his audience in good humor all the time he is making his auditors attend strictly to business.
The first presidential vote Abraham Bauer cast was for Ben- jamin Harrison, and he has always been a staunch supporter of the republican party. In 1892 he married Elizabeth Sherman, who was born in Harrison Township, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Sherman.
ELMER BAUER is one of the vigorous and enterprising younger business men of Elkhart County and has been identified with merchandising at Wakarusa for the past ten years.
He is a brother of Abraham Bauer, the well known business
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man of that city, a sketch of whose career contains further refer- ence to the parents, Christian and Elizabeth ( Ramer) Bauer.
Born on a farm in Olive Township, Elmer Bauer acquired, partly through his own efforts and partly through the advantages of the home, an ample training for a worthy part in business affairs and good citizenship. He attended the district schools, was also a student at the Mennonite College, in Elkhart, and in 1907 com- pleted a course in the South Bend Business College. At the age of twenty-one he had begun his business career at Elkhart, in the employ of the Noyes carriage factory. In 1902 he became asso- ciated with his brother, Abraham, in merchandising at Wakarusa, and in 1906 they became partners in an extensive business, in- cluding a general merchandise store, a warehouse and sales agency for carriages and wagons and other departments. They conducted this under the name Bauer Brothers until 1914, when their interests were divided, and since then Elmer Bauer has been sole proprietor of the store and the carriage and implement department.
In May, 1910, he married Myrtle Freed. Mrs. Bauer was born in Locke Township, a daughter of Darrus and Anna Freed. Mr. and Mrs. Bauer are members of the Christian Church and politically he is a republican.
AMASA H. STEVENSON. The Stevenson family was planted in the wilds of Elkhart County more than eighty years ago. Its members have witnessed every phase of development since the years when this county was a wilderness of dense forest and open prairie. Amasa H. Stevenson, who represents the third generation in the county, has for many years been an active business man of Elkhart.
He was born in Concord Township of Elkhart County, Novem- ber 8, 1860. His grandparents were William and Elizabeth (Stuts- man) Stevenson. William Stevenson was a native of Edinburg, Scotland, and when only a child was brought to America by his parents, where he grew up and learned the trade of millwright, and as an early settler in that part of Ohio, near the city of Dayton, he owned and operated a sawmill. He lived there until 1832, and then accompanied by his family and with wagon and team as con- veyance he came into the wilderness of Northern Indiana and located near Rock Run Creek, near the present site of Bristol. All of Northern Indiana was then a wilderness, and every species of wild game abounded in the woods and on the prairies. In 1836 the family moved to Concord Township, locating two miles south of Dunlap, where they remained until 1839, then spent a few Vol. 11-33
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months in the village of Elkhart, after that lived on a place east of the city until 1844, and William Stevenson then bought a tract of land in the heavily timbered country, five miles south of Elk- hart. He began clearing this up and was still busily engaged when the discovery of gold in California turned his energy to a new direction. In 1850 he joined a company of gold seekers and went out to California, across the plains and over the mountains, at a time when the route was beset with countless dangers, including hostile bands of Indians. He reached California safely, and was quite successful as a gold seeker. Somewhat later he wrote back to his family that he was going to start home in a few weeks. That was the last heard of him and it was reported that he died in a hospital in San Francisco. His widow, Elizabeth (Stutsman ) Stevenson, survived him many years and died on October 30, 1880. Her children, who grew up, were Rachel K., Daniel S., Marian, Catherine, Homer, Ann Eliza, Georgia, Elizabeth and Sarah.
Daniel S. Stevenson, father of Amasa H., was born in Ran- dolph Township, of Montgomery County, Ohio, December 12, 1830, and was only two years of age when brought to Elkhart County. He grew up amid pioneer scenes and Indian boys were his playmates. He attended school when only one schoolhouse provided educational facilities for the young people of the City of Elkhart. It was a small frame building, located at the corner of Second and Jefferson streets, and he also attended the Methodist Episcopal Church, when it was the only place of worship, and it, too, was located on Second Street. He found pleasure and recrea- tion in the heavy woods, which completely covered all the site of the city south of Franklin Street. After his father went out to California he was left the care of the family, and later succeeded to the ownership of the old farm, which he occupied until 1873. It was while residing on this farm that he united with the Evangeli- cal Church, and remained a faithful member until his death. On February 17, 1853, he married Susana Miller, and there were born to them: Milton L., Amasa H. and Cora Ella. In 1873 he came into Elkhart and soon afterward engaged in the real estate and insurance business. In this business his son, Amasa, subsequently became associated with him. Daniel Stevenson was in business in Elkhart until his death on January 18, 1912.
Amasa H. Stevenson was reared in Elkhart, gained his education in the public schools, and when quite young began his business experience as clerk in different stores, and afterwards became asso- ciated with his father in the real estate and insurance business, which he still continues.
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Mr. Stevenson married Florence Cook, who was born in Car- roll County, Indiana, daughter of John A. and Olive (Adams) Cook.
SIMON P. CULP. This branch of the Culp family has been identified with Elkhart County nearly sixty-five years. Simon P. Culp has not only prospered as a tiller of the soil, but as an ener- getic business man, and in 1907 he erected a brick block at Waka- rusa, the best business structure in the town.
He was born June 14, 1861, on the farm he now owns and occupies in Harrison Township. He is descended from one of four brothers, who came to America about 1720. Three of these brothers were preachers in the Mennonite Church. His great- grandfather, Michael Culp, was born in Virginia and moved with his family to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and thence to Mahon- ing County, Ohio, where he spent his last days. Henry Culp, father of Simon, was born in Virginia, and subsequently became a pioneer in Beaver Township, of Mahoning County, Ohio, where he improved a farm, and where he passed away at the age of eighty-two years. He married Elizabeth Clapper, who lived to be eighty-five years of age.
Anthony Culp, the father, was born in Beaver Township, of Mahoning County, Ohio, August 19, 1914. He was reared and married there, and in 1852 drove across the country to Indiana, and bought the 150 acres of land now comprised in the farm of his son, Simon. For several years the Culps lived in a log cabin, and it was in such a home that Simon P. Culp first saw the light of day. Anthony Culp was an ardent whig, and later a republican, and he and his wife took a prominent part in establishing Men- nonite worship near their home. He died August 20, 1892. His wife, whose maiden name was Susanna H. Bixler, who was born December 25, 1821, and died May 27, 1900, reared eleven children, most of whom grew up and established homes of their own.
Simon P. Culp had a common school education in Harrison Township, and at the same time derived a practical training from his experience in farm work. At the age of twenty-one, starting out with one horse as his capital, he became a renter on his father's farm, worked out by the month and had a brief experience in Kansas. Later he and his brother, Anthony, with the assistance of their father, bought 160 acres of land, and by the hardest kind of work and much self denial repaid their father his loan and had the land all clear in two years' time. For many years Mr. Culp has cultivated the old homestead, which he owns, and has brought
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its improvements up to the best standards of Elkhart County. While successful in business he has not neglected his social and religious duties, and is a trustee of the Mennonite Church and has been active in its Sunday School.
May 10, 1891, Mr. Culp married Miss Marelda Parsel. She was born in St. Joseph County, Indiana, February 22, 1868, a daughter of John and Mary (Tintzman) Parsel. To their marriage were born three children : Claude C., Chloe M. and Mary P.
WARREN G. HILL. The distinguishing quality of Warren G. Hill's residence at Elkhart has been his activity as a merchant for fully forty years. He brought to merchandising those solid quali- ties of integrity, efficiency and sterling honor which have always characterized the careers of the great merchant princes, and, with growing experience and natural ability he has sold goods to an increasing multitude of customers for more than half the length of the average lifetime.
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