USA > Indiana > Newton County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume II > Part 23
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume II > Part 23
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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
He is so thoroughly American that perhaps only his closest friends know that Mr. Mitten is a native of England. He was born in Sussex, England, August 7, 1857, a son of George and Jane (Luck) Mitten. They were also natives of Sussex and emigrated to America in 1875, settling in Newton County. Both are now living in Chicago, and on September 9, 1915, they cele- brated their sixty-first wedding anniversary, and in spite of their advanced years, the father being ninety and the mother eighty-six, they were able to enjoy the event which was observed with many appropriate tributes to the old couple on the part of both children and relatives and their many friends.
Until he was seventeen years of age William E. Mitten lived in his native County of Sussex, gained an education in the Brighton Grammar School, and then with his brother, George, who now lives at Wadena in Benton County, Indiana, set out in the fall of 1874 for America. They came direct to Goodland, and arrived in that village with only $1.10 between them. They soon com- mended themselves to several farmers in the community by their earnest working capacity, and William E. Mitten did his first
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labor as a farm hand for George Hardy. Not long after- wards he was able to start out farming for himself, and followed that vocation twelve or fifteen years. In 1800 he entered the service of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railway as an agent and operator, was assigned to duty at various points, and on November 9, 1893, took up his post as station agent at Goodland. Under all conditions and emergencies, he has remained faithfully at his post and looked after the increasing business of the local station since that time.
On September 6, 1882, Mr. Mitten married .Miss Emma N. Stevens, daughter of Abner T. and Rosalie (Bovee) Stevens, both of whom were early settlers of Benton County, Indiana, and were natives of New York and Canada respectively. A family of seven children have left the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mitten. Nora Isabelle died at the age of eighteen. Edward L., who lives in Danville, Illinois, married Mary Erb. Clarence E. also lives in Dan- ville. Ethel M. is the wife of Charles Wilson and lives in Benton County. Harold F. lives in Chicago. William E., Jr., and E. Hope are still young and at home.
In politics Mr. Mitten is a republican, though in local af- fairs he keeps an independent mind and supports the man he deems best fitted for the office at stake. His own work as a citizen has exemplified a splendid public spirit. For many years Mr. Mitten has been a member of the School Board of Goodland, Indiana, and is now president of that body. He has been secre- tary of the Goodland Cemetery since it was taken over by the first association, and was one of the most earnest advocates of local waterworks plant. He served on building committees for the Presbyterian Church, for the Masonic Building, for the school- house, and at the present time is a member and secretary of the Library Board. He is past master of Goodland Lodge No. 445, Free and Accepted Masons, a member of the Royal Arch Chapter at Goodland, is past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, also of Good- land, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Realty Association. He and his wife are members of the Pres- byterian Church, and he is an elder in that body.
JOSEPHI M. CHIZUM. Practically every successful career is actu- ated by an earnest purpose and an energy of action sufficient to carry out definite plans of accomplishment. As a result of such policies Joseph M. Chizum has made himself one of the leading farmers and stock raisers and business men of Newton County. Since an early age he lias been self-reliant and dependent, and he owes his success chiefly to the plans which have originated in his own mind and to the energy with which he has carried them out.
He is a native son of Newton County and was born June 16, 1864. His parents were Joseph W. and Mary Jane (Hanger) Chizum, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Virginia.
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MRS. J. W. CHIZUM
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Grandfather Chizum was a pioneer settler in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, locating on a farm near Stockwell in 1840. 1Ie was a successful farmer and spent the rest of his days in that community. He was a faitliful Methodist and became identified with the republi- can party upon its organization. Joseph W. Chizum was fifth in a family of six children, and in 1856 he brought his little family to Newton County. Newton County was then a wilderness and thus he bore a worthy part in its pioncer activities. Ilis first home was on a forty-acre tract of land which he bought in Section 31 of Beaver Township. In that one community he lived until his death in 1892. Those were years of strenuous work coupled with sound business sense, and as a result he left an estate of eight hundred acres. He was a devout Methodist and of his family of six children three are still living.
The fifth in order of birth among these children, Joseph M. Chizum has spent the best years of his life in Newton County. He received a good education, beginning in the district schools, and graduating in 1885 from the Northern Indiana Normal at Val- paraiso. After his college career he spent three years in the grain business at Morocco, but has since devoted his best energies, his time and his enthusiasm to farming and stock breeding. Mr. Chizum owns a splendid estate of two hundred and twenty acres near Morocco, and altogether his ownership extends to seven hundred of the fertile acres of Newton County. As a stock raiser his repu- tation is based upon the breeding and raising of Percheron horses, Durham cattle and other first class livestock. He resides in the Town of Morocco.
Mr. Chizum is a director of the Farmers Bank at Morocco and . has identified himself with other enterprises for the good of the county. He has served as county commissioner, and is prominent in Masonry in Morocco, being both a York and Scottish Rite mem- ber, (Indianapolis) and having attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, Castle Hall No. 492. Mr. Chizum is unmarried and though without do- mestic cares and responsibilities has a large and varied business to absorb all his energies. His estate is known as The Maple Grove Farm.
FRANK J. RETTERATII. While Mr. Retterath has spent less than half of his years in Newton County, he was a member of a family of one of the first settlers in this county, and during the last fifteen or sixteen years has become widely known as a successful farın manager, business man and citizen of Goodland, where he is now serving as postmaster.
His parents were Peter and Clara (Weishaar) Retterath, both of whom were born in Germany. The father emigrated to America in 1848 and the mother in 1849. They both settled in Butler County, and were married there in IS51. Ten years later they removed to Vol. II-13
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Newton County, settling in Iroquois Township in 1861, where the father was one of the pioneer farmers and stock raisers. After a residence there of ten years, in 1871 the family moved to Tippe- canoe County, and Peter and Clara Retterath kept their home in that county the rest of their lives. The father died January 9, 1899, and the mother on October 18, 1883, both being laid to rest in the North Union Cemetery in Tippecanoe County. Peter Retterath was a democrat in politics, and was one of the charter members of Good- land Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was an excellent representative of the progressive farmer of his generation. In addition to Frank J. Retterath three of his sons and two daugh- ters are living: George J., a farmer at Colusa, California; Peter, a farmer of. Lafayette, Indiana; Henry H., who is engaged in the grain and stock business at Williams, California, and all are married ; Clara is the wife of Henry T. Griggs, a farmer of Goodland; and Anna is the widow of William Porterfield and lives at Ukiah, Cali- fornia, where she is county superintendent of schools, and she has been a teacher for forty-eight years.
Frank J. Retterath was born March 10, 1860, in Glendale, Butler County, Ohio, and was only an infant when his parents moved to Iroquois Township in Newton County. His first conscious recollections are associated with this county, but he spent his youth and grew to manhood on the family homestead in Tippecanoe County.
On February 18, 1885, Mr. Retterath married Maggie E. Lewis, daughter of Robert E. and Elizabeth R. (Brosius) Lewis, of Tippe- canoe County, though they were natives of Ohio, having been born . near Hamilton and were of Irish and German descent. The only child born to Mr. and Mrs. Retterath was Zoro G., who died at the age of three years.
Following his marriage Mr. Retterath was a farmer in Carroll County for five years, then spent a year and a half in California, returned to Tippecanoe County for four years, but in the fall of 1899 took up his permanent home in Newton County, locating in Grant Township just at the edge of the Town of Goodland. Since then his main activities have been as a farmer, and he conducts the Pine Grove Farm of 100 acres just northwest of Goodland, Ile has made a great success of his operations on this farm, and has a reputation of doing well in every undertaking.
On March 10, 1914. he was appointed postmaster of Goodland, and has been on duty in the office since April Ist of that year. He also owns some stock in the State Trust & Savings Bank and in the Newton County Building & Loan Association. He is a believer in fraternalism, and is affiliated with the lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Delphi. with the Masonic Lodge at Good- land, and is a past chancellor of Goodland Lodge of the Knights of Pythias.
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ADELBERT G. JAKWAY. As a quiet, energetic, conservative citi- zen Adelbert G. Jakway has exercised no little influence in the busi- ness life of Newton County for the past forty years. He recently retired from the grain business at Goodland, and a few years ago ill health obliged him to give up his active work as a local banker. His name stands for all that is substantial and honorable in the business life of this community.
Having reached the age of three score and ten, Mr. Jakway is well justified in taking life somewhat leisurely. He was born August & is it Wet Ita, Vermont, and is of old Yankee stock on both sides. llis parents were George A. and Julia A. (Cook) Jakway, natives of the Green Mountain State. Mr. Jakway was reared in Vermont, attended school there, and possesses many of the rugged characteristics of the typical Vermonter. He followed farming and lumbering while he lived in his native state, but in March, 1875, he came to Indiana and settled on a farm two miles west of Goodland in Grant Township. That was his home until 1884 when he moved out to Dakota Territory and settled in Hand County and lived in that new and undeveloped district in the North- west for eleven years. His affairs continued to prosper while there, and on returning to Goodland he engaged in the grain business as senior member of the firm of Jakway & Murray. From this he retired in 1914. Mr. Jakway was also one of the organizers of the State Trust & Savings Bank of. Goodland and was its first president. but resigned the office on account of ill health. Among other interests he owns considerable farm land in Cass County, Indiana. These accumulations have been the direct result of his steady indus- try and thrifty management and he has an ample competence for all future needs.
In 1874 he married Mary E. Hulett, a daughter of Philander E. Hulett, of New York State. The one child of this union, Bernice A., is now Mrs. Fay E. Burgess, and they live in Grant Township. Mr. Jakway married for his second wife Susan A. Hulett, a sister of his first wife. There are two children by this union : Marian A., wife of Raymond Hall, their home being in Chicago; and Hope E., who lives at home.
In politics Mr. Jakway is a democrat. He served as a member of the local school board from 1900 10 1903 and is a past master of Goodland Lodge No. 445, Free and Accepted Masons. He also belongs to the Royal Arch Chapter at Goodland.
WILLIAM J. STEWART. A successful business and public spirited citizen, William J. Stewart has been identified by residence with Goodland for over thirty years. He began his career as a worker for others, and by industry and ability became master of his own circumstances, and now for many years has handled some extensive interests, in farming and farm lands, and in local business enter- prises at Goodland.
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For fully forty-five years the family has been identified with Jasper and Newton counties. Ilis parents, Joseph and Mary (Johnson) Stewart, were both born in Ohio and came to Jasper County in 1870, and from Jasper moved to Goodland in Newton County in 1883. . Joseph Stewart was a man of very effective indns- try and followed the quiet pursuits of the farmer until his retire- ment, when he moved into Goodland, and died there November 27, 1903. In politics he was a republican without any political aspira- tions, and was a member of the Masonic Lodge at Remington. He and his wife became the parents of twelve children, and the three now living in Jasper and Newton counties are all at Goodland, namely: Catherine, wife of Charles Griffen; William J .; and Joseph L.
William J. Stewart was born October 19, 1869, while his parents were residing at Chillicothe, Missouri. However, when he was about twelve months old they returned east and settled in Jasper County, and practically all of his own lifetime has been spent either in Jasper or Newton counties. He was about fourteen when the family moved to Goodland. He made good use of all the educational opportunities presented to him, and before reaching his majority was able to do a man's full share of work on a farm. Farming, however, has been only one of his varied activities. For fifteen years he man- aged the Goodland tile factory. For the last fifteen years or more he has operated the Stewart ice plant. Mr. Stewart owns a fine tract of 240 acres of land adjoining the Town of Goodland, and gives his active supervision to its cultivation and management. He also has some town property, and his prosperity is the more creditable for the fact that it was won entirely by his individual efforts. He also has stock in the State & Trust Bank at Goodland.
In 1885 he married Miss Ada M. Hoover, daughter of John and Harriet (Smith) Hoover. Mr. Stewart has given much of his time and attention to local affairs at Goodland. For six years he was treasurer of the school board, and for the past eight years has been president of the town board and in many ways has advanced the standards of municipal service and improvements. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Goodland.
YOUNG D. DEARDURFF. One of the oldest and most honored family names in Newton County is that of Deardurff. Mr. Young - D. Deardurff, who was named in honor of his two grandfathers, has found both a congenial and profitable pursuit in farming enter- prise and for the past twenty years has been successfully identified with that industry in Washington Township. In that time he and his good wife have surrounded themselves with all the things neces- sary to make life attractive in the country. They have a fine home, with a good complement of other buildings, and their farm means not only a comfortable living but a wholesome place in which to
MR. AND MRS. YOUNG D. DEARDURFF
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rear their children and to indulge their taste for hospitality and neighborliness.
Mr. Deardurff is a son of John S. and Rachel A. (Thompson) Deardurff. His father was born in Indiana and the grandfather Deardurff was born in Pennsylvania and brought his family in 1842 to Newton County. That was one of the earliest years in the settlement of this section of Northwest Indiana. Grandfather Deardurff located on a farm where Morocco lies in Newton County, and in 1886 he removed to Kentland, which was his home for twenty years until his death. He had ten children.
The father of Young D. Deardurff was eightcen years of age when the war broke out and he volunteered his services for the defense of the Union. His first enlistment was for three months and he afterwards re-enlisted and was with the army of the Ten- nessee and afterwards with the troops commanded by the famous General Sherman during the Atlanta campaign on the march to the sea. He was a fine soldier, always on duty, and left the army with an honorable discharge and record which his descendants will always cherish. After he returned to Newton County he engaged in farming. In 1865 he married, and after his marriage bought land and prosecuted farming in Beaver Township until 1894. In that year he removed to Morocco for two years, then locating on a farm in Washington Township, and that was his home until his death in 1904. His wife passed away in 1912. The father was an active member of the United Brethren Church, belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic, to the Masonic Order and in politics was a republican. He was a successful farmer and a model and upright citizen.
Young D. Deardurff was the second in a family of six sons all of whom are living. His education was acquired in Newton County, and up to the age of twenty-one he worked at home and was thus trained to a career which he has followed so successfully since his marriage.
On January 3, 1896, at Morocco, he married Miss Gertrude Mar- tin. Her mother's people were among the pioneers of Newton County. Mrs. Deardurff was educated in the common schools, and for six years prior to her marriage was a successful and popular teacher in Newton County. She was born in Newton County May 10, 1873, the eldest of six children, four sons and two danghters, born to William H. and Mary (Ash) Martin. All the children are living at the present time: Mrs. Deardurff ; Adell, wife of Joseph Thornton of Chicago and they have four children ; Austin is also a resident of Chicago and is married ; William is next ; Ralph is a resi- dent of North Dakota, is an agriculturist, is married and has three children; and Orpheus is a resident of Newton County. Mr. Mar- tin, the father, was a native of Virginia and an agriculturist, and it was about the year 1838 that he came to Indiana. He was a soldier in the Civil war and after his term of service he came to Newton
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County. He was a Mason. He died in LaFayette, Indiana, in 1905. Mrs. Martin was a native of Indiana and died 1893. Mrs. Dear- durff is an active member of the Baptist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Deardurff have two sons: Lloyd, who is now in the third year of the Morocco High School, and Raymond, in the fourth year of the Morocco High School. Mr. and Mrs. Deardurff will give their sons the benefit of good education, fitting them for practical life.
After his marriage Mr. Deardurff began farming, and eventually bought 277 acres of land in Washington Township. That land he has made productive and valuable in every sense of the term, and has not only gained a good living from it for his family, but has raised it to the best standards of improvement and productivity among similar farms in this county.
At the same time Mr. Deardurff has willingly given his time and energies to the benefit of his fellow citizens. He has twice served as a member of the advisory board of Washington Township and is still on that board. In 1910 he was elected one of the county com- missioners, and during his service of three years constantly studied the needs of the county at large and made himself a valuable advisor and an earnest exponent of the welfare of the county. He is in politics a republican. Ile is affiliated with the Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America of Morocco, Indiana.
HUGH MURRAY. Now serving as town treasurer of Goodland, Hugh Murray has been more or less continuously identified with Newton County for the past forty-five years. Men who know him in a business way have the utmost confidence in his integrity and reliability. He has shown much energy in everything he under- takes and has built up a very profitable business as a grain dealer and elevator man at Goodland.
Though much of his life has been spent in this section of the Middle West, Hugh Murray was born in Pictou County of Nova Scotia, September 8, 1845, a son of John and Christina (McLeod) Murray. His father was a native of Highland, Scotland, near Inverness, and his mother of Nova Scotia. In that province of Canada Hugh Murray spent his childhood and youth, attended the schools in the winter and employed his energies in varied capacities until he was eighteen. In October, 1863, he came to the United States and located in LaSalle County, Illinois, where for several years he had no trouble in placing his services as a farm hand. From there he came to Grant Township in Newton County in 1870 and lived there about twelve years. In 1882 Mr. Murray went to South Dakota, engaged in the elevator business, and for a time was in the same line of enterprise at Chicago. In 1896 he returned to Good- land and established the elevator company which is now known as H. Murray & Company, grain elevator.
Mr. Murray married Mrs. Mary A. (Wilsey) Green, who was born in the State of New York, and was sixteen years of age when
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she became a resident of Indiana. She received the benefits of a good educational training, and was a teacher in the Newton County schools. Her parents are deceased. Her first marriage was to H. H. Green, and they had one daughter, Daisy, who is married. Mrs. Murray is a devout member of the Presbyterian Church at Goodland, and she has always been interested in the Sunday school work of her church.
In politics Mr. Murray is independent, a voter for the best man regardless of party ties, and is now serving his second term and third year as town treasurer of Goodland. Mr. Murray is a quiet and efficient business man, and has never been disposed to seek public position, nor to concern himself greatly with affairs which were not his own. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with Goodland Lodge No. 445, Free and Accepted Masons.
JOHN G. KINNEMAN, M. D. It is through his work and service as a physician and surgeon that Doctor Kinneman is chiefly known to the people of Goodland and Newton counties. During the past eighteen years he has enjoyed an exceptionally large practice in this community, and while he has had little ambition to excel except in his chosen sphere of work, he has naturally been brought more or less to active relations with business and civic affairs in his home town of Goodland.
It is a fact in which Doctor Kinneman takes some degree of pride that both he and his wife, their respective parents, and all their children, were born in Indiana. The Kinnemans were among the older families of Virginia, where they settled about 1680, coming originally from Germany, where the name was spelled Kuhnymann. It has been found that practically all the Kinnemans now found in America trace their descent from one ancestor.
Doctor Kinneman is a native of Cass County, Indiana, and his people were among the very early pioneers in that section. His parents were William B. and Lucy N. (Short) Kinneman, who were also natives of Cass County. William B. Kinneman was born May 5, 1832, in Clinton Township of that county, and died February 18, 1914, his body being laid to rest at Mexico, Indiana. His parents were Thomas and Elizabeth (Bennet) Kinneman, who came from Central Ohio to Cass County during the decade of the '20s. Thomas was one of the pioneers in the rural district of Cass County, and William B. Kinneman also followed farming as his vocation. In other branches of the Kinneman family are found a number of physicians. It was on the old Cass County homestead that Doctor Kinneman grew to manhood. While at home he attended the local schools, and through his own efforts managed to acquire a liberal education. At different times he was a student in the Central Normal at Danville, Indiana, in the American Normal at Logans- port and in the Marion Normal. Like many men who have made a
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success of the profession he was a teacher for a number of years. He taught three years in Cass County and three years in Miami County, and for three years was superintendent of schools at Bur- nettsville, in White County. From the Medical College of Indiana at Indianapolis, Doctor Kinneman graduated M. D. with the class of 1898. He at once came to Goodland and opened his office and during the first year of practice his income was $351. He had come to Goodland $700 in debt on account of the expenses of his educa- tion, but in two or three years he was well established in the con- fidence and patronage of the public, and has been very successful from the financial standpoint.
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