USA > Indiana > Kosciusko County > A standard history of Kosciusko County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development. A chronicle of the people with family lineage and memoirs, Volume II > Part 12
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WILLIAM R. HALL is a prosperous farmer of Prairie Township, and owns land which, a part of it at least, has been in the possession of the Hall family through three generations.
He is a grandson of Samuel and Catherine (Anglin) Hall, who were natives of Virginia and of English and Irish ancestry. They were married in 1822 and in the fall of 1834 Samuel Hall left Virginia and settled with his family in Plain Township of Kosciusko County. There he experienced many of the trials and hardships of the real pioneer, and had Indians as his neighbors. As soon as this was legally possible in 1835 he entered land, including 320 acres, which under his management and by the joint labors of himself and sons came into a high state of cultivation. He filled many public offices, being justice of the peace and was also an associate judge and for one term state senator. He died in 1857, at the age of fifty-five, and his widow passed away in 1882, at the advanced age of eighty- three. In their family of eight children the next to the youngest was Joel Hall, who was born October 18, 1839, in Prairie Township, and spent a long and useful life there as a farmer. Joel Hall mar- ried Mary Roberts, and they were the parents of the following children : Alma, wife of Amos Beyer; Eva, wife of Rev. Frank Beyers; Phoda, widow of Eugene Coleman; William R .; and Cyrus, who is president of the People's Bank of Leesburg.
William R. Hall was born on the old homestead in Prairie Town- ship, November 13, 1878, and from early youth to the present time has identified his energies and activities with farming. He now owns two well arranged and valuable places, one of 200 acres and another of 160 acres, all in Prairie Township. He is successfully engaged in the breeding of Poland China hogs and other good livestock. He is also interested in a manufacturing company at Warsaw.
Mr. Hall married Mary Gilliam, daughter of William W. Gilliam. She was reared on the old Gilliam farm northeast of Warsaw in Wayne Township. They have one son, Robert, born June 25, 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are members of the United Brethren Church, and in polities he is a democrat. Mr. Hall is now a resident of Warsaw, but looks after his farming interests.
DAVID JEFFRIES, of Franklin Township, has had an enviable and useful and altogether happy life. In his time he has been a very hard worker, and that is a characteristic of the entire family. He has produced fifty or more crops from his fields, and if the livestock he has raised were assembled it would it would be sufficient to feed a large army for several days at least. Mr. Jeffries has done his duty as he went along, has kept a good home, kept his obligations to his fellow men, has reared a family of noble sons and daughters, and at the age of seventy not only has his own children around him but grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Mr. Jeffries' farm is two and three-quarters miles south of Men- tone. This is the old Jeffries homestead, comprising 313 acres, and it was there he was born July 25, 1848, son of Pierce and Mary (Shrack) Jeffries. His father was born in Pennsylvania, April 8,
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1818, and his mother on May 9, 1818. Pierce Jeffries died January 7, 1893, and his wife January 18, 1892, both having lived nearly seventy-five years. They grew up in Ohio and after their marriage in that state came to Indiana and located in Kosciusko County. Pierce Jeffries paid four hundred dollars for 160 acres of land. He prospected over Kosciusko County on horseback, and brought his family to the country in a covered wagon. The last 21/2 miles of his journey he had to cut a road through the trees and brush. All his land was covered with a heavy growth of timber and the clearing away of that obstacle to cultivation constituted several years of his early toil. A space even had to be cleared among the woods to erect his first log cabin. Pierce Jeffries was a brick layer by trade. Some time after coming to Kosciusko County he was given the opportunity of a job as a brick layer at Warsaw. That was the first piece of brick construction in the city and he was paid 621/2 cents a day for his skill and labor. Warsaw was fourteen miles from his home, and as long as the work lasted he set out from home very early Monday morning, walked to Warsaw, stayed there during the week, and then walked home Saturday night in order to spend the Sunday with his family. Late in life he sold his old homestead to his son David, lived in Sevastopol until after the death of his wife, and his own last years were spent at Mentone. He had increased his original 160 acres until he had 280 acres. Pierce Jeffries was a Baptist, and the church of that denomination in his community had many evidences of his liberality and interests. He was also a republican voter. A man of education, he taught some of the early schools of Franklin Township. Of the six children of Pierce Jeffries, David is the only survivor. The others were: Margaret, horn November 10, 1841; Martha A., born January 1, 1843; Amos, born May 2, 1844; Ruth, born March 13, 1855; and Andrew, born April 29, 1860. All of them grew up and married.
David Jeffries was reared on the old farm, attended the common schools, and on January 10, 1868, at the age of twenty, married Miss Catherine Engle. She was born in Ohio, May 31, 1849, and was brought to Kosciusko County when eight years old. Her parents located in Franklin Township, where she grew up.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Jeffries lived on the old home- stead, and built a log house on an eighty acres of that farm. They finally bought the old place and are now living on the spot where Mr. Jeffries was born. Mr. Jeffries has done much in the breeding and raising of good livestock, and his farm is now the home of some big type Poland China hogs. He and his wife are members of the Baptist Church of Sevastopol and in politics he votes as a republican.
Mr. and Mrs. Jeffries had nine children : Emma, wife of William Smith ; Rosa, wife of Lemuel Woods; Sarah, wife of David Jenkins ; Mary, who married Nathan Dawson; Oliver, who married Della Green ; Isaac, who married Goldie MeIntire. The other children are deceased. All of them were given good school advantages. Mr. and Mrs. Jeffries have forty-five grandchildren and thirteen great-grand- children.
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JOHN C. RITCHISON represents the agricultural activities of Kos- ciusko County, and is doing an extensive business as a producer of crops and livestock on a fine farm of 200 acres in Tippecanoe Towu- ship, on rural route No. 1 out of Leesburg.
Mr. Ritchison has spent most of his life in this country. He was born in Greene County, Ohio, December 17, 1868, son of Milo A. and Mary (Weade) Ritchison. His mother was a native of Sparta Township of Noble County, Indiana, while his father was an Ohio man by birth. Milo Ritchison was a soldier in the Civil war, going out with an Ohio regiment and serving until peace came to the country. After the war he married in Noble County, Indiana, lived for several years near Wolf Lake, then went back to Greene County, Ohio, but soon bought a farm near Albion in Noble County, Indiana. In 1881 the Ritchison family came to Tippecanoe Township of Kosciusko County, and the father then bought the 200 acres of land where his son now resides. Milo Ritchison died here March 29, 1893. Both parents were members of the Christian Church.
John C. Ritchison, only son of his parents, was fifteen years old when he came to his present home. He was educated chiefly in the common schools of Noble County. From youth up he has become familiar by experience and training with the handling of the farm that he now owns and has made it the center of a most useful and profitable career. In 1900 he married Miss Emma Scarlett, who was born near Benton, Indiana, and was educated in the schools of New Paris, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Ritchison have one daughter, Erma B., a graduate of the common schools and now the wife of Howard Brockman of North Webster. Mrs. Ritchison is a member of the Evangelical Church at New Paris. In politics Mr. Ritchison is a republican, as was his father.
LEWIS E. SHROYER. To a profession and calling that is now exalted above all others Lewis E. Shroyer has given his best energies and study for over a quarter of a century. He was born on a farm, and while he made his independent start with modest capital he has built up and accumulated one of the valuable places of Plain Town- ship. The Shroyer home is 61/2 miles northeast of Warsaw.
Mr. Shroyer was born in Plain Township, October 27, 1867, a son of Daniel and Matilda (Huffman) Shroyer, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Indiana. Daniel Shroyer came to Indiana with his parents, George and Sarah Shroyer, who first settled in Elkhart County. George Shroyer died in Kosciusko County in 1880. Daniel married in Kosciusko County, and lived here to rear his family. He and his wife were very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, but he was also liberal in his support of all church causes. In politics he was a democrat. Daniel Shroyer and wife had eight children, four of whom are living: William, of Plain Township, Lewis E., Luella, wife of Frank S. Wilcox, on the old Shroyer home- stead in Plain Township; and Charles, a graduate of the pharmacy department of Purdue University and now in the drug business at
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Warsaw. The four deceased children were Sarah E., Hiram H., John and one that died in infancy.
Lewis E. Shroyer grew up on the old farm and after his schooling remained at home to the age of twenty-three. On January 8, 1890, he married Lillie Mackenson, daughter of Andrew Mackenson and granddaughter of John Mackenson, who was one of the honored pioneers of Kosciusko County.
After his marriage Mr. and Mrs. Shroyer lived on the old home- stead for several years, but in 1894 established a home of his own by the purchase of forty acres. This has grown by subsequent additions until it now comprises a fine and well arranged farm of 120 acres, devoted to the staple crops of this region and to good grades of livestock.
Mr. and Mrs. Shroyer have one son and three grandchildren. The son, Carl L., was born October 8, 1891, and is now a telegraph operator with the Missouri Pacific Railway. Carl married Julia Robert, who died leaving three children, Robert, Lyman and Lillian.
Mrs. Shroyer is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Shroyer has long maintained active relations with the Masonic Order and has gone both the York and Scottish routes, with membership in Warsaw Lodge No. 73, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Royal Arch Chapter, the Council, Royal and Select Masters, the Knight Templar Commandery at Warsaw, and the Fort Wayne Consistory of the Scottish Rite. He is also a member of the Eagles at Warsaw. Mr. Shroyer is a republican and is now serving as a member of the Township Advisory Board.
FREDERICK D. IRVINE is a hardware merchant and well known citizen of Syracuse and has spent most of his life in Kosciusko County, where his family is an old and prominent one.
He was born in Prairie Township, September 1, 1879, a son of Joseph A. and Rachel (McCleary) Irvine, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Prairie Township. The grandfather, James Irvine, came from Pennsylvania to Kosciusko County many years ago and located on a tract of land in Prairie Township. On that farm Joseph A. Irvine grew to maturity, had a district school education and was also trained for teaching in the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio. Many of the older residents remember gratefully his services as a teacher in different schools of the county. After his marriage he farmed a short time, also teaching in the winter, and finally locating at Leesburg engaged in the drug and general merchandise business. With Frank Bortz and Joseph Hall he organized the People's Bank of Leesburg, and was its first cashier. He continued active in this bank until he retired. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, being a past grand of the latter order. In politics he votes as a democrat. There are three sons in the family, Frederick D. being the youngest. Garrett W., the oldest, was at one time associ- ated with his father in business in Leesburg, later served as deputy
Thebe Jaques.
F. M. Jaques
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auditor of Kosciusko County, for a time was with Strouse Brothers and is now at Detroit, Michigan, connected with the Union Trust Company. Howard L., the other son, is in business at Elkhart with the Sinclair Oil Company.
Frederick D. Irvine was five years old when the family moved to Leesburg, and he grew up there, graduating from high school and for three years was a student in the Indiana Medical College. He entered the drug business at Leesburg, and for eleven years was also connected with the Standard Oil Company. January 1, 1916, he moved to Syracuse and has since succeeded in building up a large business as a hardware merchant.
In 1904 Mr. Irvine married Ilah M. Brown, a native of Leesburg and a daughter of A. H. Brown. She and Mr. Irvine were schoolmates at Leesburg. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mr. Irvine is affiliated with the Masonie Order and in politics is a republican.
FRANCIS M. JAQUES. A well rounded and complete life has been that of Francis M. Jaques of Silver Lake. He was one of the youngest volunteer soldiers of the Union army during the Civil war. That constituted his first great experience in what has been otherwise an uneventful career. More than half a century has passed since he returned a youthful veteran from the army. In that time he has been a farmer, merchant, homesteader in Kansas for a time, and for thirty years was identified with the business affairs of Silver Lake, retiring about a dozen years ago to the management of his exten- sive farming interests in that locality.
Though most of his life has been spent in this county, where his people were early settlers, Mr. Jaques was born in Elkhart County, four miles north of Goshen, March 8, 1846, a son of John Morris and Mary (Cox) Jaques. His grandfather, John Moses Jaques, was a native of France and on coming to the United States lived in New York City and state for a time, and later moved to Ohio. John Morris Jaques was born in Ohio and married there Mary Cox, a native of Virginia. Soon afterwards he located in Elkhart County and during the '40s moved to Kosciusko County, near North Webster. John M. Jaques was a California forty-niner and spent two years on the gold coast. Otherwise he lived on his farm in Indiana, and spent a useful and uneventful life. For fourteen months he was a soldier in the Civil war. He began voting as a whig and later was a stanch republican. He and his wife were zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had eight children, two of whom died young. Those to grow up were Mary J., Oliver P., Ziprah E., Susan E. and Francis M. The only other one now living is Susan, widow of Reuben James and a resident of Kansas.
Francis M. Jaques was three years old when his parents moved to Tippecanoe Township of Kosciusko County. He worked at home and improved his mind in the local schools until he was a little past his sixteenth birthday. Then, on June 9, 1862, he enlisted in Com- pany F of the Twelfth Indiana Infantry. His service was for three Vol. II-7
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years and eight days. He was practically in every skirmish in which his regiment engaged, and though twice slightly wounded was never absent from the line of duty more than two or three days on that account. He began his service with his regiment in Kentucky, fighting at the battle of Richmond, was at Vicksburg, Jackson, and later in those campaigns which are made vivid in American history by the battles of Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Nickajack Creek, and the siege of Atlanta, where he was on the battle line July 20, 21, 22 and 28, 1864. He was also at Jonesboro, was with the army of Sherman on the march to Savannah, fought at Griswoldville and Columbia in the march up through the Carolinas, and participated in those final battles at Bentonville and Raleigh. His regiment was almost under constant fire during the 100 days' advance upon Atlanta. In 1863 Mr. Jaques was promoted to corporal and held that rank at the time of his dis- charge. He was with Sherman's army at the Grand Review in Wash- ington and his company and Company A of the Twelfth Indiana formed the first that led the review.
The three years after the war Mr. Jaques spent at Warsaw. He was engaged in the teaming business. He had been at home five months, returning from the army in June, when on November 27, 1865, he married Miss Phebe E. McClure. She was a daughter of Elias and Mary A. McClure. Elias McClure was an extensive land owner, and to Mrs. Phebe Jaques a large portion of the farm now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jaques came by inheritance. In 1871 Mr. Jaques moved out to Kansas and entered a quarter section of land, but remained there only two years. Coming back to Kosciusko County in 1873 he engaged in grain dealing at Silver Lake, in partnership with his brother-in-law A. T. S. Kist of Warsaw. In 1874 he bought the grocery stock of James O'Connell, but sold it the next year, and in 1876 entered the general merchandise business at Silver Lake. In 1882 he moved his stock of goods to Packerton, but was there only eighteen months. In 1884 he set up as a mer- chant at Burket, but sold that stock after six months. He was also a lumber dealer, a mill operator, a hardware merchant, and finally resumed general merchandising at Silver Lake. Reviewing his busi- ness record in brief Mr. Jaques was an independent merchant for twenty-eight years and sold goods as a clerk six years, and with the ex- ception of two years at Packerton and Burket his entire business life has been spent in Silver Lake. He finally retired from commercial pursuits in 1906, and has since found abundant opportunity for the exercise of all his energies in the management of a fine farm of 436 acres in Seward and Lake townships. He is also a stockholder in the Commercial State Bank of Silver Lake.
Mr. Jaques is deservedly proud of his four children. The oldest, Dr. Schuyler C., is now a prominent physician and surgeon in New York City. Flora Mary is the wife of J. C. Cavender, a prominent banker of Hobart, Indiana. E. McClure is an attorney practicing law at New York City. Anna is the wife of Leroy W. Caldwell, of Clay Township. All the children were born in Kosciusko County.
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Mr. Jaques and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is one of the church trustees. He is affiliated with and is past chancellor of Lake View Lodge No. 164, Knights of Pythias, and has sat in the Grand Lodge. Politically he has been a stanch and undeviating republican from the time of the Civil war. In many ways he has been active in the party and during the '70s he served as deputy sheriff under his brother, Oliver P. Jaques.
JAMES A. FAWLEY. By his successful management James A. Fawley is regarded as one of the ablest farmers of Kosciusko County. He started with nothing, and from the position of a renter has im- proved his condition until he is now proprietor of one of the fine rural homesteads in the vicinity of Warsaw.
His birth occurred in Kosciusko County April 18, 1860. His parents were Joseph and Maria (Guysinger) Fawley, both natives of Ohio, whence they came when young to Indiana and were married in this state and afterwards settled on a farm in Kosciusko County. The grandfather of Mr. Fawley was Jacob Fawley, a native of Penn- sylvania, whence he moved to Ohio, later to Indiana, and was one of the early settlers in Kosciusko County, where he owned a place of eighty acres. Joseph Fawley, the father, was also one of the hard working and honored citizens of this section, and at his death left an estate of ninety-two and a half acres of land. He and his wife were the parents of fourteen children, and the cight still living are: Delilah Rowe and Salome E. Ilarmon of Michawaka; Ella Burwell of Atwood, Charles Fawley of Michigan ; James A., Perry, Edward and William Fawley, all farmers of this county. Mary J. Stoner of Claypool died in July, 1918, the others in childhood. The parents were active members of the Baptist Church and in politics the father was a democrat. He gave patriotic service to his country during the period of the Civil war, being for three months a member of the Thirty-third Indiana Infantry.
James A. Fawley grew up in the country, received his education in the common schools and from first to last his experiences have been those of a progressive farmer. For seventeen years he rented land, worked hard and denied himself many luxuries in order to get a start. He finally was in a position to buy one hundred and twenty acres, and that is the nucleus of his present fine homestead. He added after- wards twenty-six and a half acres and still later a piece of forty acres.
In 1885 Mr. Fawley married Gertrude D. Huffer, who was also born in Kosciusko County, a daughter of Rudolph Huffer, one of the early settlers. To this marriage were born two children: Albion R. and Chloe Pearl. On April 28, 1895, the wife of Mr. Fawley died, leaving him the care of these two small children. The following seven years were full of many discouragements and misfortunes. He himself suffered a very severe case of typhoid fever, but through this all he was very fortunate in securing the services of a good house- keeper, Mrs. Rebecca Hood, the bereft wife of John Hood, formerly of Pennsylvania. She was as good a mother to the children as a housekeeper to the home.
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In 1902 Mr. Fawley married Elizabeth Beber, daughter of Peter Beber of Kosciusko County. The seventeen years previous to her marriage she had made her home with Owen S. Gaskill, a highly respected and successful dealer in lumber and farming of Burkett.
Mr. Fawley was very anxious that his children obtain at least a practicable education and always took much interest in their studies. He was partially appeased in this when in 1904 both graduated from the common schools and again in 1907 when both started teaching school.
Albion R. taught two terms, then entered and graduated from a business college at Fort Wayne before his marriage to Myrtle L. Likens, of Fort Wayne in 1911. He is at present (1918) general manager of a store for the Woolworth Company at Richmond, Indiana.
Chloe Pearl taught five terms of school before her marriage to Heaven Cook in 1912. They live on their own farm of one hundred and fifty-seven acres in Kosciusko County.
Mr. Fawley is always very active in church work, serving as Sun- day School superintendent at Palestine and Cook's Chapel for more than fifteen years almost continuously, and was township president of the Sunday School for several years. He is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, and fraternally he is affiliated with the Woodmen of America, is a member of the Detective Association, and in politics is a prohibitionist. As a farmer he has done much con- structive work on his place in the way of improvements and in working out a satisfactory scheme for intensive cultivation. He raises large crops of grain, and does mixed farming, keeping a number of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs.
AMBER D. SANDS is owner of one of the good farms of Seward Township, a half mile north of Yellow Creek Lake. But he is most widely known throughout this section of the county as a practical thresherman, and has been in that business for many years. He is president of the County Threshers' Association, and also a member of the Indiana Brotherhood of Threshers.
Mr. Sands was born in Seward Township, two miles west and half a mile south of Silver Lake, May 27, 1869, son of Isaac N. and Amanda M. (Troutman) Sands. His great-grandfather Sands was a native of Ireland. Isaac N. Sands was born twelve miles south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His wife was born three miles from Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio. Samuel Sands, the grandfather, moved to Wayne County, Ohio, and Isaac grew up and married there. He was a millwright by trade, and his occupation brought him to Indiana, where he engaged in the milling and farming business. He first settled near Silver Lake, sold his property there, and bought the farm now owned by his son Amber D. His wife was an active mem- ber of the Lutheran Church, and in politics he was a democrat. There were four children, three of whom are still living: Amber D .: A. V. Sands, a farmer in Northeastern Michigan ; and Winnie, wife of S. N. Rickel, of Northeastern Michigan.
A. D. Sands grew up in Kosciusko County and was educated in the
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