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 17
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Mr. Baugher is a democrat in politics and is affiliated with Mil- ford Lodge No. 178 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He lost his wife March 20, 1896, after a married life of only five years. One child is still living, Zepha. She had a district school education and on February 22, 1911, married Clinton Cox. Mr. and Mrs. Cox have one child, Dallas, born March 15, 1916.
DAVID LEWELLEN is one of the oldest residents of Kosciusko County and was here when everything was in a pioneer condition. He has witnessed the events and changes of seventy years in this locality and is one of the few men still surviving who cast a vote for Abraham Lincoln.
Mr. Lewellen was born in Stark County, Ohio, July 4, 1838, a son
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of William and Mary (Fore) Lewellen, the former a native of the vicinity of Philadelphia and the latter of Ohio. They married in Ohio and in 1844 brought their family to Kosciusko County and located in Tippecanoe Township. David Lewellen grew up in the old home in Tippecanoe Township, and his advantages in the way of education was confined to only a few days in the district schools. After his father's death he lived with his mother and later engaged in farming for himself. He has lived on his present home farm for thirty-four years. It comprises ninety-four acres in Turkey Creek Township and he also owns forty acres in another place. His success has been due to a combination of general farming and stock raising.
Mr. Lewellen married Lizzie Ritten, daughter of David Ritten. Their children are William, Daniel, Sallie, Aquilla, Etta and Simeon. Though Mr. Lewellen cast a vote in war times for Abraham Lincoln he has as a rule been a democrat.
SAMUEL KELLEY. Though one of the newer residents of Franklin Township, Samuel Kelley has been a welcome addition to the local citizenship, since he is a man of enterprise as a farmer and is owner of one of the best places in the northern part of the township. His home is in section 14, two miles south and a mile west of Mentone.
This branch of the Kelley family was identified with the pioneer settlement of Grant County, Indiana. The history of Grant County records that a Samuel Kelley located in Green Township as early as 1846, and when the township was organized a year or so later the first election was held in Samuel Kelley's home. It was in Green Town- ship that Mr. Samuel Kelley was born May 5, 1864, a son of James and Susanna (McClain) Kelley. His father was a native of Henry County, Indiana, and his mother of Ohio. James Kelley was taken to Grant County when a boy, and grew up and married there. After his marriage he settled in Green Township and he and his wife spent the rest of their days there. Both were very active members of the Church of Christ, which he served as trustee, and as a republican he was honored with election as trustee of Green Township two terms. James Kelley and wife had eleven children: Elizabeth. deceased wife of David Thearlkill; John C., who lives at Swayzee; William H., of Greentown, Indiana; Abraham L., of Howard County; Mary A., wife of Stephen Martin ; Samuel ; Adelia, wife of Eph Allen; Maria, wife of Frank Downs ; James, a farmer in Fulton County ; David, a farmer in Van Buren Township of Grant County; and Cora, wife of George Horine.
Samuel Kelley grew up in his parents' home in Grant County, was educated in the district schools and lived at home until grown. While working a farm he also bought and operated for six years a tile mill, and manufactured great quantities of tile used in draining the fields of his community.
November 21, 1889, he married Rosa B. Morris. She was born in Carroll County, Missouri. January 25, 1870, but spent her girl- hood largely in Miami and Grant counties of this state. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kelley lived nine years in Green Township of
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Grant County, and in 1898 came to Kosciusko County. Their first home, for four years, was in Warsaw, later they moved to the Pal- estine community, and from there came to their present farm. The prosperity represented in their land and its improvements is almost entirely the result of their work, thrift and careful management since they were married.
Mr. and Mrs. Kelley had eight children : Belle B., a graduate of the Warsaw High School, for three terms a teacher and now wife of D. W. Henderson, of Atwood; Dale, who graduated from high school and from Muncie College with the degree A. B., was a successful teacher for four years, but when the war broke out with Germany he enrolled in an officer's training camp and is now serving with a commission as second lieutenant in France ; Carol, a graduate of high school, was also a teacher three terms, and is now the wife of Francis McSherry, and lives in Seward Township; Vere, a graduate of high school, is a practical farmer at home, and on August 24, 1918, mar- ried Miss Vera Blue, daughter of A. W. Blue; the other three chil- dren still living, all at home are Blond, Blanche and Beulah L. The family are members and take an active part in the Church of Christ at Mentone. Mr. Kelley is an elder and trustee of the church. He is a republican, but has never sought nor held public office.
WILLIAM M. HARTZELL. It is the life of real performance and of quiet and effective work in all circumstances that offers the least ma- terial for description, and yet no life means more to the community in which it has been lived.
This is true of the career of William M. Hartzell, one of the lead- ing farmers of Scott Township, who is now concluding his first term as trustee of that township, an office conferred upon him by the confidence of his fellow citizens, and which he has completely justified by his administration.
Mr. Hartzell was born in Etna Township of this county February 15, 1869, a son of John and Belinda (Messimore) Hartzell. His parents were both born in Ohio and were married in Kosciusko County. They lived on a farm, and John Hartzell was also a carpenter. They were members of the Christian Church and in politics he was a re- publican.
William M. Hartzell started his career as a wage earner and worker in the world at the age of thirteen. After that he was privi- leged to attend the local schools only two and a half months each year until he was eighteen. He got his start by working at monthly wages, and at the age of twenty-eight was able to boast the ownership of forty acres of land.
In the meantime, in January, 1887, he married Ida Jones, who was born in Marshall County, Indiana, but was reared in Kosciusko County. After their marriage they lived on their first farm of forty acres for nine years, and then bought their present place of 105 acres in Scott Township. Mrs. Hartzell is a member of the Christian Church. He is a democrat in politics and was elected on that ticket trustee of Scott Township. His present term expires Jannary 1, 1919,
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and he is now the party nominee for a second term, which he com- pletely deserves.
SILAS DUNCAN. One of the best known citizens of Scott Township is Silas Duncan, who for many years has lived in Kosciusko County and is still vigorously and diligently attending to his duties as a farmer and stock raiser on his place four and three-quarter miles southeast of Nappanee.
Mr. Duncan was born in Putnam County, Missouri, June 7, 1855, a son of Silas and Isabelle (Cook) Duncan. He was the youngest of four children and his birth occurred after his father's death. He has a sister still living, Lucinda, widow of James Stackhouse of Bour- bon, Indiana.
In April, 1863, Mrs. Silas Duncan, the widowed mother, came to Kosciusko County with her children and settled in Scott Township, where she lived until her death. She had married John M. Miller in Missouri, and they traveled overland from that state to Indiana in a wagon. The father of Silas Duncan, Sr., was an Englishman and his wife was an Irish woman. During the journey from Missouri to Indiana John M. Miller and family stayed all night with a farmer, and the next morning they were unable to find the proper change to settle the bill and it was agreed that Mr. Miller would leave the money with a merchant in the next town five miles away. On reaching that town Mr. Miller made the necessary inquiry and left the sum pre- scribed. The transaction was witnessed by a half drunken man, who came up to Mr. Miller and invited him to drink. Mr. Miller at first refused, but on being told by the bibulous individual that his father had often admonished him whenever he met an honest man to treat him, Mr. Miller conceded a point and accepted the treat. Mr. and Mrs. Miller had one daughter. Anna B., wife of William H. Clinger, of Warsaw.
Silas Duncan, Jr., was only eight years of age when he came with his mother to Scott Township. He lived at home until he was sixteen and then started out for himself, having some knowledge of farming and a fair district school education. On June 19, 1881. he married Mary A. Harlan, who was born in Prairie Township of this county August 24, 1854, daughter of William and Eliza (Boggess) Harlan. She was reared in Van Buren Township and attended the district schools there. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Duncan settled on her mother's farm and lived there for some years and then moved to Plain Township, and from there in 1906 came to their present place of fifty acres in Scott Township. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan are members of the Church of God and in politics he is a republican. Their chil- dren are: Morris, who is married and lives in Van Buren Township; William H., whose home is west of Warsaw; Charles L., deceased ; Nora I .. wife of William Cain of Scott Township; Maude, wife of James McCubbin of Leesburg; and Caroline, unmarried and at home.
Mrs. Duncan is, as already noted, a daughter of William and Eliza Harlan. Her great-grandfather, George Harlan, was a native of Vir- ginia, moved in pioneer times to Kentucky. and in 1806 left that state
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and went to Ohio, and died near Dayton. He had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, James, Samuel, John M., George, Wil- liam, Elijah, Jacob, Elizabeth. Sarah, Nancy and Mary Jane.
Samuel Harlan, grandfather of Mrs. Duncan, was born January 11, 1800, and died December 22, 1842. On coming to Indiana he first settled in Wayne County and afterwards in Henry County. His sec- ond wife was Eliza Adney, and they had five children.
William Harlan, father of Mrs. Duncan, was born in Henry County, Indiana, and in 1852 married Eliza Boggess. By that mar- riage there were four children : Jerome; Mary, Mrs. Duncan; Soph- ronia, wife of John Estep; and George. Mrs. Duncan's mother died in 1859 and her father then married Caroline Raker, who bore him four children.
EDSON B. SARBER. For the past twelve years the county superin- tendent of schools in Kosciusko County has been Edson B. Sarber. Mr. Sarber has given nearly all his active lifetime to educational work, though for a considerable period he was trustee of his home township and looked after its educational interests more in a business and finan- cial way than as an instructor. In his work as a schoolman, particu- larly in furnishing wholesome instruction to the younger generation concerning the activities and character of the pioneers who developed this county, Mr. Sarber has many fruitful lessons in his own family history. He represents one of the oldest names of Kosciusko County, and his grandfather and father before him were very useful and influential citizens here in the early times.
Abraham Sarber, his grandfather, was especially identified with the pioneer annals. He married Louisa Hendren, and after their mar- riage they lived for two years in Franklin County, Ohio, sold their farm there and moved to Putnam County, Ohio, and settled in the midst of a wilderness where their nearest white neighbors were ten miles away. In that isolated community they lived and worked for six years. Abraham Sarber acquired several tracts of land in Putnam County, and on one of these he founded the town of Kalida. In 1836 he sold his interests in Ohio and moved to Iroquois County, Illinois.
From Illinois in the fall of 1840 Abraham Sarber brought his family to Kosciusko County, Indiana. Thenceforward for a period of full three quarters of a century the name has been one of wide reach- ing influence in this locality. In 1841 Abraham Sarber built a saw mill at Palestine, and in 1843 he added a grist mill to his plant. In 1843 his mill sawed the lumber for the first frame court house built in Kosciusko County. His were the first mills of any importance in the southern part of the county. In the fall of 1843 Abraham Sarber sold his milling plant and bought a farm in the north part of Harrison Township, where he lived until the death of his wife in 1863. He then bought a farm near Atwood, and lived in the Town of Atwood until his death. For his second wife he married Miss Eliza Crane, of Ham- ilton County, Ohio. The only son of this union was David, who became a newspaper man in California. The eight children of Abra- ham and Louisa Sarber were: William, Adam, Melissa, Amanda,
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Mary, Thomas B., Dorothy and John, the first four having been born in Ohio and the last three in Kosciusko County, Indiana.
Thomas B. Sarber, father of the county superintendent of schools, was born in Harrison Township of Kosciusko County, October 4, 1842. He was reared on a farm, acquired an education in the local schools and also attended school in Warsaw in 1858-59. On May 24, 1863, he married Miss Martha A. Timmons, daughter of William and Catherine (Dunnuck) Timmons. The Timmons family settled in Wayne Town- ship of Kosciusko County in 1845. After his marriage Thomas B. Sarber lived in Allen County, Indiana, one year, then returned to Harrison Township of Kosciusko County, and in 1866 bought his farm in Seward Township. The land which he acquired there was an unbroken wilderness. As his father had done before him, he under- took a pioneer task in its clearing and development. His first home there was an old log cabin that had been standing a number of years, and in 1868 he replaced that rude habitation with a comfortable resi- dence, and in the course of time that became one of the best improved and most valuable farms in Seward Township. Thomas B. Sarber has figured in politics to a considerable extent, though as a democrat he was usually on the minority side. In 1884 he was an unsuccessful candidate for sheriff, but ran a hundred votes ahead of the state ticket. He has been a member of democratie committees and attended a number of conventions. He was a passenger on the first train of cars that passed through Seward Township. In the Spring of 1882 he built the first store in Burkett, Indiana. Thomas B. Sarber and wife became the parents of three children: Edson B .; Louisa C., deceased; and Andrew E. Andrew was for several years a teacher.
Edson B. Sarber, who may well be proud of the sturdy stock from which he is descended, was born on a farm in Allen County, Indiana, March 11, 1864. As already stated, his parents after their marriage lived about a year in Allen County, but then returned to Kosciusko County. Edson B. Sarber grew up on the old homestead of his father in Kosciusko County, acquired a primary education in the neighboring schools, and for a time attended the two-room school building at Sevastopol. When only sixteen years of age he taught his first term of school, in a school house located two miles from home. For ten years his work as an educator was confined to the country schools, and for eight years he was principal of the cshools at Burkett, the little village where his father had built the first store. In the meantime he had been bending his efforts toward gaining a broader and more liberal education. He spent several summer terms in the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, paying his own way from his own earnings as a teacher. He pursued an elective course, and is broadly educated without having acquired a college degree.
On September 16, 1883, Mr. Sarber married Miss Olive A. Rickel, daughter of George W. and Mary Rickel. Her parents are substan- tial farming people living near the Village of Sevastopol.
After having taught for a number of years Mr. Sarber in Novem- ber, 1900, was elected trustee of Seward Township, and was therefore
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obliged during his term of office to give up his work as a teacher. As the township trustees employ the teachers it would hardly have been ethical for himself as trustee to have employed himself as teacher. He continued in the office of trustee until June, 1903, when he re- signed to assume his duties as superintendent of schools for the entire county, an office to which he had been elected a short time before. By re-election he has been kept in the office of county superintendent to the present time, and it can be said to the credit of his administration that the schools have never shown greater progress during any one ten year period than under the direction of Mr. Sarber.
JAMES P. FOGLE has spent most of his life in Kosciusko County and his birth occurred in a house that stood on the interurban corner in Warsaw, June 30, 1860. Mr. Fogle is a baker by trade, was in the baking and confectionery business for many years, but about ten years ago retired to a farm and is making a notable success as a farmer and stock raiser in Plain Township.
Mr. Fogle is a son of Jacob J. and Christina (Perkey) Fogle. His parents were both born in Stark County, Ohio, his father at the City of Canton. Both the Fogle and Perkey families have long been iden- tified with Kosciusko County, the mother coming here with her parents at the age of fourteen. Jacob J. Fogle came here in 1855, locating at Warsaw, where he followed his trade as a brass molder. He was also a farmer and general laborer. He was affiliated with Kosciusko Lodge No. 62, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, serving as Noble Grand and as chief patriarch of the Encampment. The mother died in 1902. They had three children: James P., Nancy, who died at the age of three years, and John D., who lives at Bourbon, Indiana.
James P. Fogle grew up at Warsaw and attended the public schools there. When fourteen years old he began learning the baker's trade, and after following it for a time established a shop of his own at Bourbon, Indiana, but lost everything in a fire. After that he became a real journeyman, traveling over the country and spending a short time in Florida. Returning to Warsaw he opened a bakery and confectionery store and was steadily in business there for thirty years.
In 1891 Mr. Fogle married Ida May Fletcher, of South Whitley. She was born in Whitley County, Indiana, and was educated in the common schools. Some years ago Mr. Fogle bought 115 acres in Plain Township, and he and his wife moved to the land and have occupied it as their home since 1907. Mrs. Fogle is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She is a past grand of Salome Lodge No. 27, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a past president of the Women's Relief Corps of Warsaw, and was secretary of the For- eign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church for seven years. Mr. Fogle is past patriarch of the Encampment and for twelve years was trustee of his lodge. In politics he votes as a republican.
JAMES Cox is one of the high class and enterprising citizens of Franklin Township, has a good farm two miles south and half a mile
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west of Mentone, and has been hard at work at farming with scarcely a break for more than forty years.
He was born near Laketon in Wabash County, September 30, 1857, son of John and Sarah (Fogerty) Cox. His mother was a native of New Jersey. Both came in early days to Wabash County, were mar- ried there, and from that county John Cox enlisted and served all through the Civil war in Company I of the Forty-Seventh Indiana Infantry. He was present in many battles, saw much hardship, but was never wounded. After the war he returned to Wabash County, also lived for a time in Marshall County, for some years was a resi- dent of Franklin Township of this county, and finally moved to a place east of Warsaw, where he died at the age of fifty-seven. He and his wife were good, honest, Christian people and had a host of friends. He was affiliated as a charter member with the Odd Fellows Lodge at Sevastopol, serving as Noble Grand, and was also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and a republican voter. Of the ten children, seven are still living: James; Jennie, wife of Charles Bash, of Mishawaka ; Lucinda. widow of Melvin Summe: John, of Warsaw : Robert. of South Dakota; Dell, of Goshen, Indiana; and Elza of Warsaw.
Mr. James Cox has spent most of his life in Kosciusko County. After getting his education in the district schools he lived at home until he was twenty-one, and then for several vears worked out as a farm hand. In 1879 he married Miss Eva Hall. They began house- keeping on a farm in Franklin Township, and gradually progressed toward independence and prosperity. Mrs. Cox died in April, 1910, the mother of two children, one of whom died in infancy. The other, Delta M., was born October 6, 1881, is a graduate of the common schools, and is now the widow of Dr. S. J. Snodgrass. Doctor Snod- grass practiced medicine at Burkett, Indiana, for twenty-nine years. Mrs. Snodgrass has two children. David J .. born in April. 1909. and Esther K .. born in October. 1913. In 1912 Mr. Cox married for his present wife Laura E. Rockhill Brinslev, widow of Arthur Brinsley. Mrs. Cox is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Mentone. Mr. Cox has always manifested a commendable interest in the welfare of his community and has been quite active in the republican party.
. JOHN W. ANGLIN. The fruits and experiences of the life of John W. Anglin have been gathered in Kosciusko County, where since early manhood he has been an active farmer, and has made his efforts count in the direction of a steadily increasing prosperity, liberally dispensed in the rearing and training of his family and in effective all around good citizenship.
Mr. Anglin, whose farm is in Prairie Township, ten miles north- west of Warsaw, was born in Scott Township of this county, August 12, 1857, a son of Adrian and Rachel (Biggs) Anglin, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Indiana. The Anglins were among the pioneers of Kosciusko County and have lived here seventy-five or eighty years. His parents were married in Kosciusko County and spent the rest of their days on a farm in Scott Township. They were
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members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Adrian Anglin was an independent republican in politics. Of their children six are still living: Adeline, wife of John McCann ; John W .; William and Grant, both residents of Nappanee, Indiana; Mary, wife of William Smith, of Nappanee; and Abbie, wife of Ed Martin.
John W. Anglin grew up on his father's farm and was educated in the district schools. At the age of twenty he started out to make his own way in the world, and not long afterward he married Miss Elva Cleveland. To this marriage were born four children: Emil, a painter living at South Bend ; Nellie, wife of Wake Wilt; Clara, wife of Charles Lynch; and Milo, who is now in war service. These chil- dren were all small when their mother died, and Mr. Anglin was left with the responsibilities of the farm and their care. He later married Mary Light, and they have five children: Ethel, of Leesburg; Fred, who married Nellie Roberts; Edith, Wilber, and Ida, born June 15, 1907. The children were all given good educational advantages and have been well prepared for their respective duties in life. Mr. Anglin is an active member of the Church of God in Scott Township. He is a republican in politics, and is the only member of the Anglin family in the county to vote that ticket. The farm which he diligently super- vises and manages has 100 acres, and makes a splendid home for him- self and family.
JEFFERSON GARBER, the present postmaster of North Webster, has long been identified with commercial affairs here and in other parts of the state, and is that type of man whose energy means something in the constructive administration of the community's affairs.
Mr. Garber represents one of the old and well known families of Kosciusko County. He was born in Tippecanoe Township, December 22, 1863, son of Samuel and Polly (White) Garber. His father was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, in 1830 and died in Kosciusko County on his farm in 1888. The parents were married in Kosciusko County and were industrious and worthy farming people of that com- munity the rest of their lives. They were members of the Christian Church at North Webster and Mrs. Samuel Garber was very active in its membership. They had eleven children.
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