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 9
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 9
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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
Walter E. Johnston married Miss Ora Cline, daughter of S. E. and Mary Cline of Arrowsmith, Illinois. Their two children, both at home in Remington, are Francis E. and Janet J. Mrs. Johnston is a member of the Remington Library Board.
ELIEZER W. SAGE. Well may this sterling and honored citizen of Jasper County consider himself fortunate in being the owner of one of the fine farms of Newton Township, where he holds pres- tige as one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of the county and where he has maintained his home since 1890. His well improved homestead comprises 180 acres of most pro- ductive land, and in addition to this place he is the owner of a valuable farm of 160 acres in Paulding County, Ohio, and a fine landed estate of 632 acres in the State of Minnesota,-conditions that significantly vouch for the success that has attended his efforts as a progressive agriculturist and stock-raiser.
A scion of a pioneer family of Illinois, Mr. Sage was born in Will County, that state, on the 28th of April. 1849. He is one of a family of fourteen children, of whom seven are now living. He bears the full patronymic of his honored father, Eliezer W. Sage, Sr., and the maiden name of his mother was Mary Willard, both parents having been born in the State of New York. His father,
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whose entire active career was devoted to the basic industry of agriculture, was a brother of the late Russell Sage, the noted New York capitalist and financier. Eliezer W. Sage, Sr., removed from the old Empire State to Will County, Illinois, in 1832, and he settled in the veritable wilderness, where Indians were more in evi- dence than white men. In that county he reclaimed and improved an excellent pioneer farm and became a prominent and influential citizen of his commuity, both he and his wife passing the residue of their lives in Will County and each attaining to venerable age.
Eliezer W. Sage, Jr., the immediate subject of this review, was reared to sturdy discipline of the home farm and his early cdu- cational advantages were those afforded in the public schools of his native county, including a high-school course. When the Civil war was precipitated upon the nation his youthful patriotism and loyalty were roused to responsive protest, and on the 23d of December, 1863, about four months prior to his fifteenth birthday anniversary, he tendered his services in defense to the Union, by enlisting in Com- pany D, Seventy-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Prior to this he had enlisted in Company E, One Hundredth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but through the influence of his father he was transferred to the regiment first mentioned. Mr. Sage gained his initial exper- ience in practical conflict of war by his participation in the siege of Vicksburg, and for several months after the capture of that city he was there retained in provost service. With his command he joined Sherman's army in time to take part in the siege and battle of Atlanta, and later his regiment was sent back to Nashville, Tennessee, to aid in checking the advance of the Confederate forces under General Hood. In this connection he participated in the engagements at Columbia, Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, after which he went South with his command and took part in the ยท engagement of Spanish Fort, at Mobile, Alabama. The regiment then proceeded to Montgomery, that state, and on to Meridian, Mississippi, where it was disbanded. As Mr. Sage's term of enlist- ment had not expired he was transferred to and became a member of Company I, Thirty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and there- after he was stationed with this command at Vicksburg until he re- ceived his honorable discharge, on the 7th of December, 1865. Owing to his extreme youth the military service of Mr. Sage was as a member of the regimental band, and he had the distinction of being one of the youngest drummer boys in the Union ranks, the while he stands today as probably the youngest veteran of the Civil War to be found in Jasper County. In the battle of Franklin he received a gunshot wound through the left wrist, but fortunately no bones were broken and he was soon found giving his active attention once more to his duties as a drummer boy. His record was one that shall ever reflect credit and honor upon his name and he vitalizes his interest in his old comrades through his active and appreciative affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic. In politics Mr."
I. ALEXANDER L. GEIZELMAN ( Deceased ).
2. MRS. ALEXANDER L. GEIZELMAN.
3. WILLIAM J. AYRES.
4. MRS. WILLIAM J. AYRES.
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Sage has never strayed from the path marking strict allegiance to the cause of the republican party, though he has not been imbued with any desire for public office or the turbulance of practical politics.
After the close of the war Mr. Sage, a youthful veteran who had won well merited honors, returned to Will County, Illinois, where he resumed his active association with agricultural pursuits. There, in 1869, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Alletta Buell, and she passed to the life eternal in 1872, after having become the mother of six children, George (deceased), Alta, Roy, Clarence, Cora and Helen.
In 1873 Mr. Sage wedded Miss Sarah Butts, who has continued his devoted companion and helpmeet during the long intervening period of more than forty years. Of their five children Ethel and Eliezer are deceased, and those surviving are Esther, Russell and Kermit.
In 1890 Mr. Sage established his residence in Jasper County, where he has since continued his active and successful endeavors as one of the resourceful and representative farmers of the county.
ALEXANDER L. GEIZELMAN. The late Alexander L. Geizelman was born in the vicinity of Hanover, Pennsylvania, January 25, 1850, and he died February 3, 1911, in Pensacola, Florida, where he had gone in search of health. A resident of Kentland for twenty- five years, he was a prosperous and successful farmer of the com- munity, and he left to his family, aside from the heritage of a good name, a nice farming property in the county that had so long been his home.
Mr. Geizelman was the son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Kohler) Geizelman, both natives of Pennsylvania, of German ancestry, and they later became residents of Woodsborro, Frederick County, Maryland, where they spent their last days. They were the parents of three sons. Alexander Geizelman was reared and educated mainly in Maryland. He had a common school training and he was still a young boy when he began to work for his brother on his farm. When he was twenty-two years old he came West, settling in Newton County, Indiana, and there engaging in farming and stockraising on his own responsibility. Indeed, that was his life work, and from then on he devoted himself almost exclusively to that enterprise. He married on September 30, 1873, and with his young wife settled on one of the farms of his wife's father, who was a large property owner in Newton County at that time. After about three years later they took up their residence with Mr. Sell, his wife's father, and they continued to make their home there as long as Mr. Sell lived. His wife, who was Emma R. Sell, the daughter of John A. and Elizabeth (Wise) Sell, bore him five children. Four of them died in infancy, and their one living child is Jennie, who was married to William J. Ayres at Kentland on December 26, 1899.
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Mr. Ayres was born in Pennsylvania, attended the schools of Phil- adelphia and graduated in law and finance at the University of Penn- sylvania. He was admitted to the bar of his native state, and at the present time is an honored member of the Newton County bar. He has also spent years as a practical miner, being versed in mineralogy and gcology, and his field of operation has been both the East and the West. He is a republican in his political affilia- tions and is a member of the Newton County Bar Association.
Mr. Geizelman was a successful farmer, and aside from the operation of his own fine place of 260 acres, he successfully and ably managed the farm properties belonging to Mr. Sell, concerning whom it is fitting that further mention be made at this point.
John A. Sell came to Newton County from Ohio in 1868. His birthplace was in Adams County, Pennsylvania, and the date of his birth, May 15, 1812. He died here on January 14, 1886. His first wife was Lydia Sell, who died, leaving five children. On Au- gust 13, 1848, Mr. Sell married Elizabeth Wise, and four daughters were born to them. Up to the year 1836 Mr. Sell made his home in Pennsylvania, his native state, but in that year he located in Canton, Stark County, Ohio, coming thence to Newton County, Indiana, in 1868, as has been stated above. He was a staunch repub- lican all his later days, and a member of the German Reformed Church. He spent his life in successful farming in Newton County and is now buried by the side of his wife in River Cemetery. He was the owner of about 700 acres of fine farming lands when he died, as well as certain other properties in the county.
Mr. Geizelman was a republican in politics, but never sought office. He was a member of the German Lutheran Church and of the Knights of Pythias of Kentland, Indiana.
DANIEL SWANEY MAKEEVER. Success consists in a steady betterment of one's material condition and an increase of one's ability to render service to others. Measured by this standard, one of the exceptionally successful men of Jasper County is Daniel Swaney Makeever, known not only through his extensive land holdings and farming interests, but also through his business and official rela- tions with the county. He is now one of the county commissioners. All his life has been spent in Jasper County, and his career has been one of steady rise to independence and prosperity.
Born on the farm where he now resides in Newton Township January 6, 1869, he bears the same name as his father, and was one of three children. His older brother, David C. Makeever, died in middle life, and his family has since removed from Jasper County. The only sister, Mary Elizabeth, married Felix W. Lester, and now lives in the State of Nebraska.
Daniel Swaney Makeever grew up on the old homestead in Newton Township, gained his first training in the local schools and then entered the Rensselaer High School. Two months before
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his graduation his father died, and that event caused him to as- summe at once the various responsibilities of life. During the sum- mer of 1887 he took a business course at the Eastman's Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York, but his career of substantial industry has always been identified with farming.
On September 27, 1892, he married Miss Emeline Randle, daughter of James T. Randle. They are the parents of one daughter, Ruth C.
An active republican of Jasper County, Mr. Makeever in 1912 was elected a member of the Board of County Commissioners, and is still giving much of his time and attention to the duties of that office. As a farmer lie own 560 acres in his home place, and altogether has about sixteen hundred acres in Jasper County. He has shown a great deal of business judgment and enterprise in all his dealings, and his business record is given further testi- monial through his relations as a director with the First National and the Trust Banks at Rensselaer, and he is a stockholder in banks at Mount Ayr and Wheatfield. Mr. and Mrs. Makeever are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
CHRISTIAN HENSLER. In looking back over the half century that has elapsed since he first settled in Jasper County, Indiana, Christian Hensler can recall much that belongs to the progressive history of the state. He has seen the settlement of hardy pioneers, the clearing and developing of land, the building of comfortable farm houses, the founding of churches and schools that assured edu- cation for the children, and the introduction of marvelous agricul- tural machinery that has lessened the farmer's toil while adding to the volume of his products. Mr. Hensler can recall much more that is interesting for he is the oldest surviving settler of Carpenter Township.
Christian Hensler was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, March 12, 1835, and is one of the two surviving children in a family of eight born to his parents, Christian and Mary M. Rosina Hensler. They were natives of Wittenberg, Germany, where they grew to mature years and married and remained in Germany until after the birth of four of their children. The father learned the fuller's trade and after coming to the United States lie found work for a time in that line in Ohio. About 1844, about the time that James K. Polk was elected president of the United States, he removed with his family to Indiana and located in Owen County. After the death of his wife there, Christian Hensler, Sr., moved to Wabash County but later came to Jasper County and made his home with his son Christian until his death.
In his boyhood Christian Hensler had few of the advantages that now are given to youth as a birthright. He was only fourteen years of age when he left home to make his own way in the world, without a dollar of capital and that he succeeded so well is proof
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that there was stability in his character and that he was not only industrious but honest and self respecting. For several years he worked in different places, usually on farms, and in 1856 found himself in Hardin County, Iowa. There he labored as a farmer until 1859, when he returned to Indiana and began operating farm land in Benton County, situated six miles south and one mile east of Remington and continued there until 1865, when he moved to Remington and in the following year became a general farmer in Carpenter Township, in which section he has lived ever since. Re- membering that he started out alone without any capital it is a remarkable fact that through his perseverance and industry alone he should have been able to accumulate so large a body of valuable land as 1,600 acres, 600 of which he yet retains, having generously given 1,000 acres to his children. The possession of this land repre- sented much self denial and many years of hard work.
In 1858 Christian Hensler was united in marriage with Miss Mary M. Wiggins, and they have had the following children: Kath- erine, who is now deceased; George, who is a farmer; Charles, who is a resident of Remington and a farmer in Jordan Town- ship; Jacob A., who is a merchant at Remington; Clarissa, who is the wife of Carey Mitchell, a resident of Carpenter Township; Rosa, who is the wife of Emil Alberding, a resident of Carpenter Township; and two who died in infancy.
Mr. Hensler is a republican in politics but aside from local positions he has continuously declined political office. He has always been foremost in working for the benefit of farmers, advocat- ing the value of good roads and the following of improved methods and for years served as president of the annual agricultural fair held at Remington. He came to Jasper County at a time when the whole country in this region was but sparsely settled and his good citizenship has been such that he has been a factor in the growth and development of the county. He has survived many of those who were his early neighbors but he is widely known and his circle of friends and well wishers is large. He has been per- mitted to live to see his children all happily settled in life and has contributed to the same and has the satisfaction of knowing that they are among the most estimable and useful people of Carpenter Township.
JACOB A. HENSLER. On other pages of this publication appears a review of the career and family record of Christian Hensler, father of him whose name introduces this paragraph, and thus it is not necessary to repeat the data in the present connection, though it may incidentally be noted that Christian Hensler was num- bered among the early settlers at Remington, Jasper County, that he was born in Ohio, and that his wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Wiggins, was born in Pennsylvania, five of their eight children still surviving.
Nous Jerome Biddle
JH Biddle
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Jacob, A. Hensler, who is now one of the enterprising and representative merchants of Remington, where he is engaged in the grocery and meat-market business, was born in this village on the 15th of November, 1865, and he was six months old when his parents removed to their farm, four miles north and one and one- half miles West of Remington. He was reared to adult age under the sturdy discipline of the home farm, in connection with the operations of which he early found ample demands upon his fime and attention, though never denied his share of youthful recreation. As a boy he was employed in herding cattle through- out the country surrounding his home, and though his educational advantages were limited he gained sufficient fundamental training to enable him to develop the broader education that is to be had only through association with the practical duties and responsibil- ities of a workaday world.
Mr. Hensler remained at the parental home until he had at- tained to the age of twenty-eight years, and shortly afterward took unto himself a wife and made ready, with his devoted young wife, to initiate an independent career. On the 17th of January, 1895, he wedded Miss Anna B. Ford, and he then engaged in farming and stock-growing on the well improved farm which he still owns, the same comprising 135 acres and being eligibly situated in Carpenter Township, four and one-half miles northeast of Reming- ton. As a successful and industrious agriculturist and stock-grower Mr. Hensler there continued operations until the autumn of 1912, when he removed with his family to his native village of Reming- ton, where he is now successfully established in the grocery and meat market business, with a well equipped establishment that commands a substantial and representative trade, the scope and character of the patronage indicating the confidence and esteem in which Mr. Hensler is held in the community. He has won success through close application and good business judgment, has man- ifested loyal interest in public affairs of a local order, has neglected none of the duties of citizenship, is a staunch supporter of the cause of the republican party, but has had no aspiration for official preferment of any description. Mr. Hensler is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Masonic fraternity and the Loyal Order of Moose. He and his wife have two children: Lowell F. and Thelma. .
JEROME H. BIDDLE. This honored and representative citizen of the Village of Remington, Jasper County, has been a resident of this section of the state for forty-five years, and the homestead farm on which he resided until his removal to Remington, in 1912, is situated in Benton' County, adjacent to the line between that and Jasper counties and only 21/2 miles distant from Remington. It has been the privilege and pleasure of Mr. Biddle to render loyal aid in the civic and material development and progress of this
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part of Indiana, where he has long been known and honored as a man of broad mental ken, mature judgment and sterling integrity, as well as a citizen of indefatigable energy and pronounced pro- gressiveness and public spirit. He has shown both initiative and constructive ability in connection with business, industrial and civic affairs and thus has represented a strong and benignant force in the community, his residence in the Hoosier State having covered half a century and it having been his distinction to serve as a youthful and loyal soldier of the Union during a portion of the Civil war. He is a scion of a family that has been one of no little prominence and distinction in American annals since the early colonial era of our national history, and, representatives of the name have held posi- tions of high public trust. The representative Biddle family of Pennsylvania is of collateral kinship to that of which the subject of this review is a member, and readers of American history will recall the influential part that was played in connection with the nation's fiscal affairs by Hon. Nicholas Biddle, at the time of the administration of President Jackson. Various states of the Union have been honored by the character and services of members of this family, and the genealogical record in general is one in which any scion may well take pride. The original American progenitors of the Biddle family came from England to the colonies of the New World in 1634, and of its representatives in Indiana undoubtedly the most distinguished figure is the late Judge Horace P. Biddle, who served many years on the bench in Cass County and later on that of the Supreme Court of the State. He was a man of eminent intellectuality, accumulated one of the largest and best private libra- ries in the state, and passed the closing years of his long and useful life on his idyllic little homestead, known as Biddle's Island, in the Wabash River, and virtually a part of the City of Logansport. He whose name initiates this article is the only representative of his or earlier generations of the family who has ever lived in Jasper County, and when he established his home in this section of the state, Remington, now a most modern, vigorous and attractive little town, was little more than a hamlet, with no sidewalks and with little else to distinguish it from a rural "four corners" community. He himself has played a meritorious part in the development and upbuilding of the village and surrounding districts, and few citizens are more widely known, none held in greater esteem than this sterling pioneer of the middle pioneer era.
Mr. Biddle was born in Fleming County, Kentucky, on the 29th of November, 1845, and is one of the seven children of Stephen P and Elizabeth (Shockey) Biddle. After the death of his first wife, who was a native of Kentucky, Stephen P. Biddle married Eveline Ross, and of the children of this union two attained to adult age .. The second wife died in the prime of womanhood and later Mr. Biddle married Catherine Duvall, who bore him one child.
Stephen P. Biddle likewise was born in Fleming County, Ken-
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tucky, and was a son of Stephen Biddle, who was a native of New Jersey, whence he removed to Maryland, in which latter state he maintained his home until his removal to Kentucky, where he became a pioneer settler in Fleming County and where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. In the climacteric period leading up to the Civil war Stephen P. Biddle was unalterably opposed to any action looking to the dismemberment of the Union and when the war was precipitated he was one of those loyal Kentuckians whose efforts made possible the keeping of the Bluegrass State in the Union, though it will be recalled that great power and influence were exerted to bring about its secession. As he lived in a com- munity in which Confederate sympathizers and supporters were much in preponderance he found his surroundings anything but agreeable at the time of the war, and to save annoyance and humiliation to himself and other members of his family he removed to Illinois, in which state he continued his residence until his death, his third wife dying a number of years before him.
Jerome H. Biddle was reared to adult age on the homestead farm of his father, in Fleming County, Kentucky, and such were the conditions and exigencies of time and place that his early educa- tional advantages were somewhat limited, though adequate to form the foundation on which he has since upbuilt the stable superstruc- ture of broad and comprehensive knowledge which he has gained through well ordered reading and other self-application, as well as through association with men and affairs. He is a man of alert mentality and has at all times kept in touch with current events, the questions and issues of the hour, and is well fortified in his convictions and opinions, the courage of which he has never lacked, though he failed to manifest the slightest intellectual bigotry or intolerance. It may be said also that he has read with circumspec- tion and appreciation much of the best in classical and general English literature, and that he continues to find unalloyed pleasure and satisfaction in his communion with his large and select private library.
Mr. Biddle was not yet sixteen years of age at the inception of the Civil war and before he had attained to the age of seventeen years he contrived to realize his ambition, prompted by youthful loyalty and patriotism, and to tender his services in defense of the cause of the Union. On the 20th of July, 1862, he enlisted in Com- pany K, Seventh Kentucky Cavalry, and with this gallant command his first engagement with the enemy was at Big Hill, Kentucky. Somewhat later he took part in a spirited engagement at Richmond, that state, at which place he was captured and paroled. He took part in three battles, was made corporal of his company, and his period of active military service covered four months. His enlist- ment took place when he was but sixteen years old and his father refused to permit him to re-enlist after the expiration of his original term of service.
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