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 32
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JEHU BEER is proprietor of one of the profitable and interesting in- dustries of Milford, being a manufacturer of circus supplies. He is a man who has made his own opportunities in the world and has pro- moted himself by his determination and efforts to a commendable place in his home community.
Mr. Beer was born in Richland County, Ohio, November 25, 1871, son of Hans and Ursula (Lantz) Beer. The parents were both born in Switzerland, his father January 1, 1835, and his mother on the same date. They grew up and married in their native country and in 1867 brought their family to America, first locating in Richland County, Ohio. Hans Beer was a cooper by trade. In 1873 he removed to West Virginia, living there until 1897, when he came to Kosciusko County and had his home in Milford until his death in 1917. He and his wife were members of the New Apostolic Christian Church. They had a family of five sons and five daughters, eight of whom are still living : Elizabeth, wife of John Fuhrer; Mary, wife of Godfrey Witchey ; Jon- athan, of Milford; David, of Mansfield, Ohio; John; Christian, a farmer in Jackson Township of Elkhart County ; Emma, still at home ; Elsworth, a farmer in Jackson Township of Elkhart County; and Jehu.
Mr. Jehu Beer received most of his schooling in Ohio and it was largely through his own efforts that he acquired a good practical edu- cation. He learned by experience and study the profession of station- ary engineer, and holds a state license in Ohio. After a number of years of varied experience elsewhere he came to Milford and in the spring of 1910 established a manufacturing plant for the making of circus supplies. This business he has brought to successful proportions. Mr. Beer is a republican and a member of the New Apostolic Christian Church.
JEROME H. LONES. It is truly the individual and exceptional case when a man can point to nearly a third of a century of continuous serv- ice for one organization or in one position. That is one of the distine- tions of Mr. Lones' citizenship in Warsaw, where ever since August
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30, 1883, he has been local agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany. To a great many people in Warsaw Mr. Lones is the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company, having served as its representative so long that to think of the Pennsylvania Company is also to think of its genial and energetic agent. Furthermore, Mr. Lones has been very closely and actively identified with the material progress and development of the city, and is one of the most highly esteemed as he is one of the best known men of Warsaw.
The lesson of his career should not be lost as an example to young men who have to take up the responsibilities of life with little train- ing and with no influence to advance them. He was born on a farm in Crawford County, Ohio. August 20, 1853, the eldest of three chil- dren of Harrison and Celia (Benson) Lones. When he was eighteen months old his parents moved out to Iowa by way of Cincinnati and the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, but owing to the continued ill health of his mother they remained only a short time and returned to Ohio, taking up residence in Wyandotte County. There the father died in 1859, and for a number of years thereafter the members of the little household suffered many hardships and privations In the meantime Jerome H. Lones managed to attend the local public schools and gained the rudiments of an education. At the age of sixteen he left home, and spent several months as a corn husker near Watseka. Illinois, but in the ensuing spring returned home and looked after the opera- tion of the old homestead during the next season. However. he could not content himself with the narrow horizon of an Ohio farm, and it was through a better education that he could see the vista of greater opportunities opening before him. By economy and hard work he managed to pay his way for three years in the Northern Ohio College at Ada, where he showed special proficiency and gained honors in mathematics. While in college his mother died. and not long after- wards he had to determine his future location. There were two forces that appealed to him, either to gain a place as a bank cashier with its consequent possibilities, or to engage in railroad service. Before he could make a beginning in either career, he needed business training, and consequently taught school and with the earnings of that work and with some money which he borrowed paid his way through the long course at the Iron City Business College. Then there was an- other season at home, when he dug ditches and husked corn, and finally he was able to attempt the realization of his dreams. He went to Fort Wayne, made application for employment with the Pennsylvania Company, but he was promptly refused owing to his lack of knowledge of telegraphy. Undoubtedly one of the qualities which have enabled him to succeed was a persistency in the face of discouragement. Turned back at one point, he applied for another line of work, and finally went on the road as a freight brakeman. After thirteen months he was given employment in the freight office as a clerk, and was pro- moted to assistant cashier. Then, having demonstrated his capabilities and his reliability, he came to Warsaw in 1883 as station agent. This position he has held ever since with credit to himself and satisfaction to his company, and while nominally his duties have been the same,
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the responsibilities have grown with the growth and development of the city and its importance as a traffic center.
Unlike many men in the railroad service who are content to isolate themselves from the community which they serve and become merely a cog in the rontine of the corporation which employs them, Mr. Lones has from the first identified himself with local citizenship. For years he has contributed from his means and his experience to the aid of all worthy enterprises undertaken in Warsaw. He was one of the or- ganizers of the modern Commercial Club. He also helped in the or- ganization and is one of the principal stockholders and vice president of the Indiana Loan and Trust Company. In politics he has always been identified with the republican party. Fraternally he is a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Knight Templar, and also a member of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. For his helpmate through life he was fortunate in the selection of Miss Jennie Logan, of Fort Wayne, whom he married in 1878.
DAVID BARR. Thirty-five years of continuous residence on one farm in Washington Township gives Mr. David Barr the characteris- ties of a man of settled purpose and permanent possessions and activi- ties, and he is in faet one of the men upon whom some of the larger responsibilities of agrienltural production in this part of Kosciusko County have devolved.
He was born at Warsaw January 23, 1871, son of Isaac N. and Hester D. (Baker) Barr. Both parents were natives of Ohio but were brought to Kosciusko County in youth and after their marriage set- tled in the City of Warsaw. Isaac Barr was a successful teacher and taught in the public schools of Warsaw until his death. He died when his son David was eighteen months old. The mother, an active mem- ber of the Christian Church, died in 1880. They had four children : Ollie, formerly a teacher and now wife of William Botkins; Dora, a graduate of the Tri-State Normal Sehool at Angola and now for a number of years a teacher of fourth grade in Warsaw; Melvin, of Warsaw; and David.
Mr. David Barr was reared partly in Warsaw and partly on a farm and received his education in the country and city public schools. After reaching manhood he engaged in farming, and thirty-five years ago came to his present place in Washington Township. Mr. Barr has combined crop raising with good livestock and for a number of years specialized in the famous O. I. C. hogs. He is active in agricultural affairs and is treasurer of the Oak Grove Grange in Washington Town- ship. He is a demoerat and is affiliated with the Loyal Order of Moose and the Fraternal Order of Eagles at Warsaw.
RUDOLPH HUFFER, SR. When Rudolph Huffer died at his home in Harrison Township September 29, 1911, there could be only affection and esteem for the memory of a man who had lived so long and so use- fully in Kosciusko County. He was one of the early settlers and his life was a link between the earliest pioneers and the present generation. While there were few abnormal and conspienous events in his life, he
Vol. II-17
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deserves the full complement of praise for the manner in which he went abont performing his duties and obligations and his quiet courage and persistency in the face of many obstacles which he overcame in his youth. This is a family that has properly won a place among the lead- ing households in Kosciusko County. Nearly all the children of the late Rudolph Huffer now have substantial homes and places of honor in their respective communities in Kosciusko County, and one of the widely known citizens in the county now is a son, Jacob D. Huffer, the present sheriff.
The late Rudolph Huffer, Sr., was a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His father, Daniel Hoffer, as the family name was then spelled, was horn in Germany and came to America when a small boy, hecame a farmer, and finally moved to Fairfield County, Ohio, where he died. Rudolph Huffer, who was born February 6, 1832, was a very small boy when he went with his parents to Ohio and when he was about nine years of age his father died. In consequence from that time forward his life was one of no little hardship and adversity. He gained a home and food hy employment a's a chore boy, but his edu- cational opportunities were exceedingly limited. He had the inheri- tance of a sturdy nature, developed good habits, and throughout his life was a man of the most honorable principles and character. In that period of his life when most boys are in school he was industri- onsly learning the blacksmith's trade, and in 1849, at the age of seven- teen, came with a married sister, Mrs. Mary East, to Kosciusko County. Kosciusko County was then only a little way removed from the wilder- ness conditions which the first pioneers had found here. The first winter he spent in working at his trade in Clunett, and he then re- moved to Warsaw. For a number of years he followed his trade in that city, and it is said that he built the first cast spindle wagon ever manu- factured in this county.
In a few years he was esteemed for his excellent craftsmanship and his reliability, and was in a position where he was justified in estab- lishing a home of his own. Then, in 1855, he married Miss Sarah Stamets (sometimes spelled Stamate). He continued working at his trade in Warsaw for several years, but finally sold his shop and closed out other local interests and invested in a farm in Prairie Township, two and one half miles northwest of Warsaw. That was his home for nine years. He next bought and moved to a farm in Monroe Town- ship, and still later to Harrison Township, in which community he spent the remainder of his days.
The late Mr. Huffer should be remembered as a man gifted with an unusual degree of good, sound, practical sense, and for this reason if for no other he was naturally a leader in any community in which he made his home. In politics he adopted for himself the principles and policies of the republican party at the time of its organization, and ex- emplified the best qualities of good citizenship. His most important official service was as trustee of Harrison Township. He was industri- ous, thorough in everything he did, and this quality, combined with good management, enabled him to accumulate a sufficient competency.
While a member of no religious denomination, he believed in Chris-
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tianity and for a number of years his services were much esteemed in the position of trustee of the Christian Church.
He and his wife became the parents of eleven children, all of whom they reared to maturity, and they thus founded a sturdy generation whose descendants will look back and honor these Kosciusko County pioneers for years to come. All the children married and had fami- lies, and nine of them are still living. A brief record of the family is as follows: Jacob D .; Horton C., who is now serving as deputy sheriff at Warsaw and married Jennie Haines; Sarah C., wife of Charles Vandermark, a farmer of Harrison Township; Gertrude, wife of James Fawley. a Harrison Township farmer; Sherman, a farmer in Monroe Township, who married a Miss Smith, now deceased ; Charles D., who is a farmer in Franklin Township and married Effie Blue ; Lawrence, who died in September, 1907, married Ida Tucker; Joseph E., a farmer in Harrison Township, married Lillie Boggs; Mary J., now Mrs. Tilden Milburn, of Harrison Township ; Edmund R., of Har- rison Township, married Nora Stickler; and Pearl C., Mrs. Rowland Anglin of Wayne Township. To the mother of this family enough praise cannot be given. She bore her part with uncomplaining cheer- fulness in the time of adversity, helped to provide a living for her rapidly increasing household, and in the early days wove cloth and made clothing for the entire family. Her house was invariably neat and clean, and she was one of the model old fashioned housewives of whom so much has been written in history and fiction. At one time her parents came to live in the Huffer home, and though their presence increased the burdens upon her own shoulders, she bore that as everything else with a sense of devotion to duty which could be re- garded with nothing short of admiration. She was an active member of the Christian Church, and in that faith she died July 27, 1915.
The oldest son and representative of the family of the late Ru- dolph Huffer is Jacob D. Huffer, the present sheriff of Kosciusko County. He was born June 1, 1856, in Warsaw, but his early experi- ence and associations were centered around the old homestead in Har- rison Township. He attended the common schools there, and the pub- lic schools in Warsaw, and afterward for nineteen consecutive years he taught two terms of school each year. After that he was long asso- ciated with his brother Horton C. in the livery business at Warsaw. He has well merited the confidence and trust of the people of Kosciusko County who in 1914 elected him sheriff, and to that office he is now giving all his time and attention.
In politics Mr. Huffer is a republican, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias. On May 5, 1895, he married Miss Maggie A. Sel- lers. They both have membership in the Christian Church.
LUCIUS C. WANN. While there is hardly anyone in the city of Warsaw not acquainted with the genial postmaster, it is worth while to record briefly some of the main features of his career, which for many years has been identified with Kosciusko Coutny. He is, in fact, a native son, and it was fully sixty years ago that the name first be- came identified with this section of Indiana, then comparatively a
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wilderness, though the pioneers had been making some advance since the period of first settlement.
It was in Franklin Township of Kosciusko County that Lucius C. Wann was born February 3, 1861. His father, Amos Wann, was born in Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania Dutch stock, was reared there, but in 1856 came to Indiana. He was a man of considerable mechanical en- terprise, and started a steam sawmill in Franklin Township which served to work up some of the splendid forest material in that vicin- ity and furnished lumber for the construction of many of the early homes and other buildings. Subsequently he moved to Marshall County, and was engaged in merchandising at Tippecanoetown. There he passed away in 1876. Amos E. Wann married Sophia Shu- man. She subsequently married for her second husband Simeon Blue, and she died at Warsaw in 1912.
While he was born in Kosciusko County, Lucius C. Wann spent most of his early youth up to manhood in Marshall County. He at- tended the primary schools of Tippecanoetown, and for two years was a student in the old' Methodist Episcopal College at Fort Wayne. Be- fore gaining the altitude of man's estate Mr. Wann engaged in mer- chandising in Tippecanoetown, and continued there until 1881, after . which he moved his enterprise to Claypool. Selling out his interests there, Mr. Wann in 1886 came to Warsaw, and that city has now been his home for over thirty years. His first work was traveling on the road and handling teas and coffees, but a few years later he became a merchant in chinaware, and continuously for eighteen years he was in that line of business. On May 4, 1914, Mr. Wann received appoint- ment as postmaster at Warsaw, and since then has given a very close attention to the details of that office and has already instituted some changes and improvements to increase the efficiency of the local postal service. He was reappointed postmaster on the 4th of September, 1918.
In many ways his influence has helped to make the modern War- saw. He was one of the organizers and since organization has been a director of the Warsaw Chamber of Commerce. He has served as chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee, and in Ma- sonry is affiliated with the Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter, Knight Templar Commandery and the Eastern Star, and has served as wor- shipfnl master of the lodge, and as eminent commander of Warsaw Commandery No. 10.
On May 1, 1884, he married Miss Retta M. Burket, daughter of Dr. Benjamin Burket of Warsaw. The three sons of their marriage are: Louis, Harry V. and Frank B. Mr. Wann and family are active mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is a trustee, and is also a member and secretary of the Building Committee which at this writing has in charge the erection of the new Methodist Church at Warsaw.
BENJAMIN BURKET, M. D. In recalling the older physicians of Kosciusko County some particular attention should be paid to the memory of the late Dr. Benjamin Burket, who devoted many years to
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the unselfish service of his profession in this county, and who died at Warsaw in advanced years.
He was born in Wayne County. Indiana, in 1829, a son of Nathaniel Burket, who married a Miss Kessler. His parents were members of the Dunkard Church, and were substantial farming people. In their home near Hagertown. Doctor Burket was reared and educated, and he did not take up a professional career until he had passed the age of thirty- five. In the meantime he had been identified with farming, and also became a skillful carpenter.
About 1858 Doctor Burket moved to Kosciusko County and was first known in this county as an industrious carpenter. About 1865 he began reading medicine at home, and subsequenty gave it a more sys- tematic attention under the direction of Dr. Calvin W. Burket, a nephew, who was then engaged in practice at Warsaw. During the winter of 1866-67 he took his first course of lectures in the medical de- partment of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and subse- quently attended the Indiana Medical College of Indianapolis. where he was regularly graduated. Doctor Burket for many years practiced his profession in different towns, including Knox, Bourbon. Leesburg and Warsaw, and it was in Warsaw that he spent his last days.
He was an esteemed member of the Kosciusko County Medical So- ciety, was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. and his church was the Methodist. He married Catherine Holman. There were two children by that union : Retta is now the wife of Mr. L. C. Wann of Warsaw. Charles Edwin, the only son, is now a practicing dentist at Spokane, Washington.
JACOB C. MCLAUGHLIN. It would not be possible to name a bet- ter known citizen at Milford than Jacob C. Mclaughlin, a veteran business man, lawyer and former public official, whose citizenship and relations with that community run back practically seventy years and actively for more than half a century.
Mr. MeLaughlin was born in Pennsylvania November 21, 1843, a son of Martin H. and Priscilla ( Edmunson) MeLaughlin. His grand- father fought as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Martin H. Mc- Laughlin was reared and educated in Pennsylvania and had a liberal training and at one time was a teacher. He married in his native state, and on March 29, 1848, he and his family arrived in Kosciusko County. They established their home on the north bank of Turkey Creek, near Milford, and in a short time Martin MeLaughlin was busily identified with local and pioneer affairs. He was a school teacher, also helped survey some of the first ditches in the county, and was a man of in- fluence in the whig and republican parties. He died February 18, 1869, and his wife on May 25, 1860. They had eleven children, five of whom are still living: Emma, wife of George Stuckman. and she is now eighty-three years of age; Mary is the wife of Jerre Stephenson, a former sheriff of Kosciusko County; Jacob C .; George W., of Elk- hart County; and Catherine, wife of Tom Boulton, of Warsaw, Indiana.
Jacob C. McLaughlin was a child a little past four years of age
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when his parents came to Kosciusko County. He grew up near Mil- ford, and attended school in an old frame building. His vacations were spent on the home farm and his early experiences gave him a good substantial training for the long career he has had. On December 26, 1864, when a little past twenty years of age, he enlisted in Com- pany I of the Twenty-ninth Indiana Infantry, and saw some of the con- cluding service of the great rebellion. He was mustered out June 26, 1865.
The war over, he returned to Kosciusko County and for a year owned a half interest in a harness shop at Milford. He then bought a half interest in a boot and shoe store and gave his attention to that business for fifteen months. Later he took up fire insurance, and is one of the oldest insurance agents in Kosciusko County, still handling the business for one or two companies at Milford. He has always been interested in politics, and served eight years as justice of the peace, and as alternate delegate to republican national convention in 1912. By private study and practical experience Mr. MeLaughlin qualified himself for the legal profession, and was admitted to the bar of both Elkhart and Kosciusko counties. He has practiced law for many years at Milford, and still handles his practice and is busied with many private investments. He owns the MeLaughlin Block, which was erected in 1902, and has two other business rooms at Milford.
November 2, 1871, he married Sara A. Potter. By a previous mar- riage she is the mother of Dr. J. E. Potter, of Milford, who was reared and educated in the home of Mr. and Mrs. McLaughlin. They have one daughter, Maude L., a graduate of the Milford High School and of the Chicago Musical College. She also attended Northwestern Uni- versity two summers. She is well known in Milford as teacher of music and English in the high school. Mrs. MeLaughlin and her daughter are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Fraternally he is a past noble grand of Milford Lodge No. 478, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, has sat in the Grand Lodge, and is now adjutant and past commander of the Grand Army Post. In polities he is a republican.
HOMER LONGFELLOW. The present generation of Kosciusko County citizens needs no introduction to Homer Longfellow, who at the time this publication is being prepared is worthily and competently filling the position of prosecuting attorney. His large circle of friends speak admiringly of his qualifications as a lawyer, his trustworthiness in all responsibilities, and the vigorous manner in which he has handled the affairs of his office.
A native of Indiana, he was born in Noble County March 3, 1873, a son of David S. and Sarah E. Longfellow. His father was a farmer and settled in Noble County in 1853, spending most of his life there and passing away in 1904.
It was on the old farm in Noble County that Homer Longfellow spent his youth, with an environment such as many successful profes- sional men have had and from which he derived strength of body and vigor of mind. Up to the age of seventeen he attended district schools.
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He worked hard to gain an education, and first pursued his higher studies in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, where he re- mained one year, then was out of school a year and taught, following which he returned to the Ohio Wesleyan and was graduated A. B. in the class of 1898. The next four or five years were spent in educa- tional work. He was superintendent of the Bethel Township schools in Clark County, Ohio, and principal of the township high school until he resigned to take up the study of law
Admitted to the bar in Kosciusko County in 1905, Mr. Longfellow began practice at South Bend, but was there only a short time be- fore he located in Pierceton. Pierceton was his home from January 1, 1906, to January 1, 1915, and at the latter date he came to Warsaw to fill the office of prosecuting attorney, to which he had been elected in 1914.
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