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 3
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 3
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Mr. and Mrs. Perkins have two children of their own. Stella, wife of Jay W. Stockton of Rensselaer; and Ethel C., who is now deputy clerk under her father. Mrs. Perkins died February 19, 1909. In 1889 they took into their home a small boy, whose adopted name is Samuel G. Perkins and he is still a member of the Perkins household.
FRANCIS MARION PARKER. It is now nearly seventy years since the Parker family became identified with Jasper County. They were pioneers in the true sense of the word. When a consideration is had of the effective forces which brought about the county of the present time, a large share of credit must be given to such families as the Parkers. They were here in the log cabin stage of develop-
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ment. There were few roads when they came, and they helped to make highways, develop cultivated tracts of land, build better homes, establish schools and churches, and in every way they used their influence to promote what is good and uplifting in a com- munity.
Bunyan Parker, who was the leader of this family into the wilderness of Jasper County, arrived during the late fall of the year 1847 and settled in'Gillam Township. With him came his wife and five sons and four daughters. One son had died in infancy in Ohio. Bunyan Parker and wife were both natives of Penn- sylvania, were substantial farming people, and had come from the vicinity of Urbana, Ohio, to Indiana. Bunyan Parker was born February 21, 1796, and about 1825 he married Mary Haines, who was born July 27, 1805. When still a boy Bunyan Parker enlisted and served as a soldier in the War of 1812.
After spending one winter in Gillam Township the family moved in the spring of 1848 to Barkley Township, where Bunyan Parker spent. the rest of his days until his death on October 22, 1875. He and his family had accomplished the journey from Ohio to Jasper County by horses and wagons. He had always lived in a wooded country, and like many of the early settlers he could not believe that the prairie land was equal in fertility and other advantages to that which was covered by a heavy forest growth. Therefore on 1 settling in Barkley Township he located in the midst of the woods, and cleared off many acres to convert it into a farm. He was a typical pioneer, hard working and thrifty. He had an inherent horror of debt, and what he could not buy he usually did without. Honest to the cent, as was the usual case of most of the early settlers, he commanded universal respect. He was an ideal neigh- bor and was helpful in every form of individual distress in the community. Of his children only one is now living. One of the sons, Henry Jackson, served in the Union Army during the Civil war and was fatally wounded at Chickamauga. He was in Com- pany A of the 87th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
Francis Marion Parker, of Rensselaer, the only serviving child of the late Bunyan Parker and wife, has spent his active career as a prosperous farmer, and has a range of recollection and experience in Jasper County such as is possessed by few living citizens. He was born in Ohio October 20, 1843, and was only four years of age when the family moved to Jasper County. His boyhood days were spent in an intermittent attendance at such public schools as were kept up in this county during the decade of the '50s, but he developed his capacity for hard work by helping to grub, clear, plant and har- vest. At the age of twenty-one he started out for himself as a farm hand, but after about a year he returned home owing to the advanced age of his father, and assumed most of the responsibili- ties about the old homestead.
He continued in that way until he was twenty-five, and then on
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November 23, 1868, he married Mahala J. Walker. She was born September 20, 1841, daughter of Samuel Walker. Soon after his marriage Mr. Parker began farming on his own responsibility. That has been his steady vocation down to the present time, though his prosperity and the fruits of many years of well directed labor have enabled him to take life somewhat leisurely. He now owns 413 acres of Jasper County lands, divided into two separate farms. In 1893 Mr. Parker moved to the northern suburbs of Rensselaer, and has since lived there, enjoying the comforts and conveniences of town life and at the same time supervising his farming interests.
Mrs. Parker died December 14, 1913. She was a member of the Christian Church. To their marriage were born five children: Laura, who died in infancy; Korah A., who died April 11, 1906, married Miss Bessie Makeever and had two children; Oren F., a. merchant at Rensselaer; Clara E. is the widow of John Andrus, who died November 29, 1912, and their only son John Francis died March 14. 1913; and Wayne Dee died February 27, 1906, when still a young man and while pursuing his studies preparatory to a pro- fessional career. Mr. Parker is a member of the Christian Church and in politics is stanchly aligned with the prohibition cause.
RENSSELAER'S CATHOLIC HISTORY. In order to afford an appropriate sketch of Catholic institutions in and about Rensselaer liberal use will be made of an article which appeared in the Indiana Catholic and Record of April 30, 1915. While there are a large number of Catholics in and around Rensselaer and St. Augustine's Church and Parish is one of the most flourishing among all the churches of Jasper County, the Catholic people of Indiana think of Rensselaer chiefly for its associations with St. Joseph's College, which was established many year ago by Bishop Dwenger. His purpose was to build up an ideal preparatory seminary for the training of boys for the priesthood, and consequently none but Catholic students have been received in the school. This institu- tion from its beginning has been under the direction of the Fathers of the Precious Blood. Around the college building are beautiful grounds and campus, comprising a large body of land, and there is now a notable group of college buildings, including the college proper, dormitories, chapel, etc.
While the present St. Augustine's parish dates from about 1887. Rensselaer was the center of Catholic activities from a much earlier time. About 1867 Bishop Luers of Fort Wayne organized St. Joseph's Catholic Church as an adjunct of St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum and Manual Labor School. The orphan asylum was con- ducted until 1887, when the orphans were removed to Lafayette and to Fort Wayne. About nine hundred acres of land were ac- quired for the asylum and manual labor school. These grounds were situated about a mile from the county seat, and a number of
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buildings and other improvements were made, including the original church building.
In July, 1882, Rev. Mathias Zumbuelte began to build the pres- ent brick church at Rensselaer, 37x80 fect at a cost of about five thousand dollars. It was completed and dedicated January 18, 1885. At that time the number of souls in the parish was about one hundred fifty. A portion of the present church grounds, six lots, had been bought by Bishop Luers' The first resident pastor was Reverend George L. Willard.
In October, 1888, the bishop gave the Society of the Precious Blood charge of St. Augustine's congregation at Rensselaer. The first of these fathers appointed pastor was Rev. Anthony Dick, C. PP. S., who remained as pastor until July, 1891. After him came Father Stanislaus Neiberg C. PP. S. While he was pastor the church had many improvements, including new windows, new altars, a beautiful chandelier, and the debt of six hundred dollars was discharged. Father Neiberg was also a professor in St. Joseph's College. From September, 1895, until February, 1897, the pastor was Rev. Francis Schalk, C. PP. S. He was succeeded by Rev. Father Bernard Dickmann, C. PP. S., who on account of illness went South. After him came Rev. Edward Jakob, C. PP. S., who remained until June, 1899. Rev. Charles Notheis, C. PP. S., was local pastor for three months, from June to September, 1899. Rev. Thomas Meyer, C. PP. S., was pastor of St. Augustine's until September, 1909. During his pastorate a two story brick schoolhouse was built, being dedicated in August, 1903, by Bishop Alerding. It was opened in September of the same year with about sixty-seven children, and under charge of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. In July, 1905, six lots adjoining the church property were bought for $3,500. The Sisters' residence is on one of these lots. The church grounds now com- prise an entire block.
Since September, 1909, the pastor of St. Augustine's has been Rev. Christian Daniel, C. PP. S. Father Daniel has done much constructive work at Rensselaer, and has kept up the cordial relation- ship which has always existed between the Catholics and non- Catholics of this community. In 1910 the parochial residence was completed, and in the same year a new furnace was installed in the church. In 1912 the school was fitted with new desks, and a number of other improvements have been effected about the church and school property. There are about eighty children enrolled in the school taught by five Sisters of the Precious Blood Order.
St. Joseph's College is one of the institutions of which the people of Jasper County are particularly proud. It has educated many young men now distinctive among the leading clergy and laity of the country. In 1889 Bishop Dwenger of Fort Wayne offered Father Henry Drees, C. PP. S., then Provincial of the Society of the Precious Blood, a tract of land on the edge of the
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Big Slough swamps a mile south of Rensselaer on condition that he and his associates would found an institution dedicated per- petually to the training of Catholic youth. Father Henry accepted the offer little thinking that with his word would go many a year of hard toil and expenditure by the Society of the Precious Blood of several hundred thousands of well earned dollars before the quarter century mark of its existence would be passed. Articles of incorporation of St. Joseph's College were filed in the office of the state auditor in the spring of 1889. Stone was secured from a nearby quarry and brick burned on the grounds, and the carly stages of this arduous undertaking were entrusted to Father Anthony Dick, C. PP. S., already mentioned as the first pastor of St. Augustine's Parish. The cornerstone of the main building was laid in 1891. Bishop Dwenger, who in the meantime had passed to his reward, did not even see this much of the venture carried into effect. The south wing of the main building was completed during the summer of 1891 by Father Augustine Seifert, C. PP. S., and the institution was opened to fifty-four classical students in the fall of the same year. The needs of the college rapidly outgrew the quarters, and the new north wing was added in 1893, providing space for a large chapel room, an auditorium and a drill room for the military company. The Faculty Building, then known as the Minim Building, was built during the spring and summer of 1897, and opened to classes of junior students in the fall of that year. At that time the total enrollment was one hundred two.
In the summer of 1899 Rev. Augustine Seifert was called away to reorganize the Seminary of the Precious Blood Society and Father Benedict Boebner, C. PP. S., who had previously been an instructor in English and Latin at St. Joseph's and an energetic director of many public activities of the student body, was named president in his stead. During his administration many improve- ments were made in the college campus, parks and surroundings. Father Augustine returned to the institution as its president in the fall of 1902. The year 1904 saw the erection of a spacious gym- nasium to afford the proper space and arrangements for gymnastics, entertainments, rhetoricals and music. The opening of this build- ing in the spring of 1905 was the signal for another large increase in the student body, which during the year reached 200.
In 1907 a large infirmary building, known as Dwenger Hall, was added to the group.
The construction of a beautiful college chapel was undertaken during the years 1898-99. This church is one of the largest and finest devoted exclusively to the student body and other inmates of the institution among the Catholic colleges in the state. During 1911-12 a power plant, electric light plant, waterworks system'and underground heating and wiring installation were completed.
In the spring of 1913 Father Augustine after many years of successful and incessant labor resigned as president and was suc-
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ceeded in the office by Rev. Huge Lear, C. PP. S., who has been a member of the faculty since 1899.
Soon after he took charge some extensive alterations were be- gun in the gymnasium building. The work was nearly completed when the building was destroyed by fire from an unknown cause in the spring of 1914. The Society of the Precious Blood promptly came forward with the funds necessary for rebuilding, and at a cost of over $120,000 a building nearly twice the size of the one destroyed was opened for use at the beginning of the academic year in 1915. Two gymnasium rooms have been provided, one in- tended for basketball and other indoor games, So feet long by 50 feet wide; and the other intended for permanent fixtures, 40 feet long and 42 feet wide. There are locker rooms and other facilities to accommodate 400 students.
The college auditorium accommodates 800 persons. There is a library with a capacity for 40,000 volumes, a large reading room for both students and professors, play rooms, club rooms, and laboratory facilities to accommodate sixty students working simultaneously. The far-sightedness of the founders of the institution left it with nearly eighty acres of campus, laid out in gardens, parks, ball grounds, tennis courts, tracks, shady nooks and walks. Thousands of trees have been planted on these grounds by the students themselves. A concrete lined pool affords the means for the healthful sports of swimming and skating.
Great as has been the usefulness and influence of St. Joseph's College in the past, it is destined to effect and vitalize the lives of many thousands of Catholic young men who will take their places among the coming generations.
WILLIAM PERRY BAKER. One of the pioneer personalities who gave the strength. of their character and their industry to the up- building of Jasper County was the late William Perry Baker and the record of his life runs like a thread of honor and integrity through the greater part of Jasper County's history since the time of early settlement. It was not in the conspicuous and abnormal events of the world that he figured, but in the commonplace routine of duty, in the fulfillment of his obligations as a man and citizen, and he deserves an enduring place in this historical record.
It was on Christmas Day, 1913, that William Perry Baker went to his final reward. He was born on a farm near Bucyrus in Craw- ford County, Ohio, August 14, 1838, and had therefore completed three-quarters of a century of life. His parents were Benajah and Mary (Houk) Baker, and of their nine children only one is still left. In 1852 the family moved from Ohio to Jasper County, Indiana. This county was then sparsely settled, only a comparatively few farms had been broken out from the woods and the prairies, and all life and customs were still on a primitive basis. The Baker family were not rich when they came to Jasper County and their ¥
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first location was on the farm now owned by Granville Moody. Sev- eral years later the father acquired land of his own, and in the more than sixty years since their advent the name has always stood for solid attainments.
Since he was fourteen years of age until his death William Perry Baker was a resident of Jasper County. On May 2, 1856, he mar- ried Maria Rees. He was an exceptionally hard working and in- dustrious man. Both he and his wife lived exemplary lives and through their frugality accumulated considerable property. . Mr. Baker was one of the old-fashioned characters now fast passing away. With only a limited schooling, he possessed an unusual fund of good practical sense. His marked characteristics were his love of home, his industry and economy, and his rigid and unswerving honesty and his unblemished character as a man and citizen.
Mr. Baker was born May 29, 1844, in Barkley Township of Jasper County, a member of one of the first pioneer families. Her parents were Major John and Eliza G. (Hogue) Rees, who found a home in Barkley Township along with or soon after the coming of the very first settlers. Mrs. Baker grew to womanhood in Jasper County, became one of the early teachers, and was her hus- band's valuable aid in many of his business transactions. She died October 9, 1914. She was a Presbyterian by early training, but in later life with her husband joined the Methodist Church.
The Rees family was of a mingled Scotch and Welsh ancestry, and in the various generations back as far as record goes there was a minister of the Presbyterian faith in almost regular succession. Eliza G. Hogue, the mother of Mrs. Baker, was of a family that settled in Virginia, probably near Richmond, in colonial days, and she herself was a native of that state. The Hogues became extensive planters and slave owners. Rev. Mr. Hogne, the grandfather of Mrs. Rees, left to each of his children, among other property, two slaves. For forty years or more he had charge of one church in old Virginia.
To Mr. and Mrs. Baker were born two children. The son, Law- rence W., is now a resident in the West. Vivian, the daughter, married Clement Taylor Boicourt, and is now living at Rensselaer, Indiana. She is the mother of three children: Loren Edward, Hill- man Eugene and Frances Leona. Mrs. Boicourt is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Clement T. Boicourt was a native of White County, Indiana, born near Wolcott July 15, 1874. He grew to manhood there and received a practical education, having been a graduate of the Wolcott High School. He later entered a dry goods store and continued as a salesman for some time, and it was while engaged as a clerk that he hecame acquainted with Miss Vivian Baker, to whom he was married on the 3rd of February, 1903. He then engaged in the dry goods business in Wolcott, thus continuing from 1903 to 1914, and closing out the business only on account of ill health. Soon after the death
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of his father-in-law, William P. Baker, he moved to Rensselaer with his family, and resided there until his death, May 4, 1915. Mr. Boicourt was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he joined when but ten years of age, and continued as a faithful member. He was a gentleman of the strictest integrity and honor, and was held in the highest esteem by all who knew him, and his friends and acquaintances were many. At his death he left a father, E. J. Boicourt, and a step-mother at Wolcott, also a brother at Beach Wood, Indiana, 'and his widow and three children.
FRANK FOLTZ. There has been a marked tendency in recent years for men to leave the professions and the strenuous walks of commercial endeavor and engage in the "back to the land" move- ment. This has been the experience of Frank Foltz, who for many years was actively engaged in the practice of law at Rensselaer, but who is now entirely out of the profession and gives the full scope of his energies to the management of several farms in Jas- per County. Mr. Foltz may be said to be a farmer to the manner born, and in giving up his profession in favor of agriculture is merely responding to the call of his first love.
Frank Foltz was born July 20, 1859, his birth place being half a mile south of Romney, near LaFayette in Tippecanoe County. His parents were Cyrus and Mary A. (Rogers) Foltz, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Indiana. Cyrus Foltz was a farmer in Tippecanoe County, moved from there into White County in 1868, lived on a farm south of Wolcott until the spring of 1870, and then moved to Oxford in Benton County, where he engaged in the meat market business. He died at Oxford in 1885.
Frank Foltz was about eleven years old when the family re- moved to Oxford, and in that village most of his early associations were formed, and under the direction of his father he learned the butcher trade. It was there too that he received the greater part of his scholastic training. While his education has been self acquired in the greater part, it has not been necessarily limited below the standards of liberal accomplishment. For the training which he has found of most value in life Mr. Folz gives credit to B. F. Johnson, ex-state statistician, and to Judge Simon P. Thompson. His practical career began in 1876, when seventeen years old, as a Benton County farmer. His father bought eighty-three acres three miles north of Oxford as the testing ground for his son's apprentice- . ship at agriculture, and it should be noted that this land is still part of Mr. Foltz's extensive land holdings. He was engaged in farming there until 1881, and then came to Jasper County to be- ' come manager of Judge S. P. Thompson's ranch near what is now Parr. A year later he returned to Oxford, and for several years continued as a farmer in the summer season and taught school dur- ing the winter term. Mr. Fohz took up the study of law in the winter of 1884-85 under the direction of Judge S. P .. Thompson.
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His father died in April, 1885, and in March, 1886, he came with his mother to Rensselaer, where he carned his living as an employe in the office of Judge Thompson and at the same time carried on his legal studies. Admitted to the bar in the spring of 1886, he did his first practice before the courts of the justices of the peace and in the employ of Judge Thompson. When Judge Thompson was elevated to the bench in 1896, Mr. Foltz, Charles G. Spitler and Harry R. Kurrie entered into a partnership under the firm name of Foltz, Spitler & Kurrie. From this firm Mr. Kurrie retired in 1904 and as Foltz and Spitler it continued until January, 1910, when it was dissolved by mutual consent. Mr. Foltz was in an individual practice until July, 1911, at which date he leased his office and spent the next two years in closing up all his engagements and affairs as a lawyer. The last important act in his career as a member of the bar came in 1913 when he sold his law library and law fixtures. Since then he has given his undivided attention to his extensive farming interests. His holdings as a farmer comprise 692 acres of land, divided among four farms, three of which are in Jasper and one in Benton County. Needless to say he is one of the practical and most successful managers of the resources of the soil in Jasper County.
Mr. Foltz is a republican, but has never sought and would never accept a public office. On October 20, 1886, he married Miss Eva Kolb, daughter of Dr. Jonathan Kolb, who was an old time medical practitioner at Oxford, Indiana, until his death. Mrs. Foltz died September 1, 1910. On May 21, 1911, Mr. Foltz married Miss Blanche Hoyes, daughter of George W. and Hester A. (Nowles) Hoyes.
WILLIAM MEYERS. The late William Meyers was one of the fine substantial and prosperous citizens of Jasper County. He was of German birth and parentage, had all the thrifty virtues of the fatherland and made a most admirable American citizen. He established his home in Jasper County on March 11, 1872, and be- fore his death his name was associated with the ownership of the most extensive and valuable tract of farming land in the county.
Born in Hanover, Germany, July 5, 1817, he was christened John Friedrich William Meyers, but after coming to America was known simply as William Meyers. Reared and educated in his native country, when twenty-eight, in order to escape the compul- sory military duty imposed on all able bodied male citizens, he left the land of his birth and after a six weeks voyage on board a sail- ing vessel landed at New York City in 1845. He came directly on to Ohio, and for a time was employed as a farm hand near the city of Cincinnati on the banks of the Ohio river, near the town of California. While living there he met and married Mary Dinkle- man. With the encouragement and cooperation of a loyal and industrious wife he went on a farm as a renter, and had already
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made a considerable advance toward an independent competence when he moved in March, 1872, to Jasper County. Here he invested in land in Walker Township, and in that locality was for the greater part of his remaining years one of the most progressive farmers and stock raisers. . By economy and industry he acquired some eight hundred acres of land-and this to a degree that is exceptional- ' represented entirely the work of his own hands and his intelligent management. William Meyers had come to America without knowledge of language or customs of the New World. He learned to speak and read English by attending a kindergarten class in a Protestant Sunday School. He became an American in every sense of the word, was a law abiding, patriotic citizen, and could ever be depended upon to bear his share towards responsibilities which rest upon a community as a whole and which must be borne by individual citizens. At first he was a democrat, but in 1856 on the birth of the republican party cast his vote for General John C. Fremont, and from that time forward was loyal to the Grand Old Party. William Meyers died in 1899, being then past eighty years of age. His wife had passed away October 2, 1891. Of their nine children six grew to maturity, and four are still living.
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