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 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
The family was established here by William Strieby, grandfather of Floyd. William was born in Pennsylvania March 23, 1811, a son of John and Maria (Richel) Strieby, also natives of Pennsylvania. In the same year that William was born his parents moved to Tusca- rawas County, Ohio, and he grew up there and married. His father died in Tuscarawas County in 1841 and his mother in 1839.
December 28, 1830, in Tuscarawas County. William Strieby mar- ried Elizabeth Stiffler, who was born in Bedford County, Pennsyl- vania, March 17, 1814, and was only three weeks old when her parents moved to Stark County, Ohio. Her father, Conrad Stiffler, was born in Huntington County, Pennsylvania, in 1792, and her mother, Rachel (Fitters) Stiffler, was born in the same connty in 1789. Several of the Stiffler children were early settlers in Kosciusko County.
The migration which brought the Strieby family into Kosciusko
.
670
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
County occurred in July, 1836. The removal was made with two yoke of oxen, a covered wagon, and besides household goods they brought with them two cows and two yearling heifers. William Strieby bought eighty acres of land in Van Buren Township, but in the following April sold and acquired the 160 acres in section 29 of Turkey Creek Township in which locality he had his home the rest of his life. The trials and adversities which beset the pioneers can be told from the experiences of William Strieby. He paid ten dollars for the first barrel of salt he used in this county. His round log cabin was burned down soon after it was completed, and in order to re-establish himself he made the journey back to Ohio on foot to secure money for the purchase of his place in Turkey Creek Town- ship. One of the main sources of dependence for provisions was the venison which could be had in abundance. He frequently hunted deer and sold the meat for three cents a pound. At times the family lived on a diet of potatoes, venison and pumpkins. William Striehy bought corn and paid sixty cents a bushel for the first lot and seventy- five cents for the next quantity. He had a wife who was equal to every emergency and without her encouragement and assistance the family would doubtless have returned to Ohio. She helped to clear many an acre of land, cutting all the small timber and even accom- panied her husband in hunting deer. As a result of hardships and prevalent fever and ague the family became so discouraged in the fall of 1837 that they determined to return to Ohio. A purchaser was found for their cows but in a day or so Mrs. Strieby decided it would be better for them all if they remained. She was an expert in all the housewifely accomplishments of her time, spinning and weaving wool and yarn and flax and making all the clothing used in the home. She frequently dug up ginseng and lady slipper roots, for which there was an active commercial demand, and at one time she sold a quantity for forty-six dollars. The first wheat harvest was hauled with ox teams to Michigan City in 1840 and sold for two and a half cents a bushel. Large quantities of butter were produced on the farm and it sold for about twelve and a half cents a pound. Mrs. Strieby once carried twenty-five or thirty pounds of butter to Milford, a distance of eight miles.
For all these early disadvantages Mr. and Mrs. William Strieby were greatly prospered in the course of years, and besides their home farm of about 240 acres they gave their children land and money and saw them all well established. On December 28, 1880, William Strieby and wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary and thongh it was one of the coldest days of the winter, nearly fourscore people gathered to do them honor. Before they died they could count nearly sixty grandchildren, and over thirty great-grandchildren. Their children born in Tuscarawas County were Henry, Anna, and Andrew, while those natives of Kosciusko County were William, Joel, Elizabeth, John, Conrad, Sarah, Alfred, Minerva and Barbara.
John B. Strieby, father of Floyd, was born in Turkey Creek Township February 23, 1844, and was one of the sons of the family who served in the Union army. He enlisted in 1864 in Company G
671
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
of the 38th Indiana Infantry, joining his regiment in Goldsboro, North Carolina. He was on detail service between Chattanooga and Atlanta, around Nashville, and received his honorable discharge July 15, 1865. After the war he engaged in farming, and acquired over a hundred acres of land in section 28 of Turkey Creek Township. He was an active member of the United Brethren church, and in politics a re- publican. John B. Strieby married on October 14, 1866, Delilah Cable. She was born in Turkey Creek Township, June 19, 1847, daughter of Cornelius and Margaret ( Mock) Cable. John B. Strieby and wife had four children: Ida, born November 9, 1867, wife of Richard Guy, a former trustee of Turkey Creek Township; Alfaretta. born September 15, 1869, wife of David Clayton, of Turkey Creek Township; Floyd; and John Franklin. born Angust 4, 1877, who farms the old homestead.
Mr. Floyd Strieby was born in Turkey Creek Township, October 10, 1871. He has spent all his life in the locality of his birth, was educated in the local schools, and the cultivation of the land has claimed the largest share of his energies since early manhood. He owns sixty acres and is a general farmer and stock raiser.
In 1894 he married Miss Stella Whitehead, danghter of J. A. and Martha (Blanchard) Whitehead. She was reared and educated in Turkey Creek Township. They have two children. Marie, a graduate of the common school and the Syracuse Iligh School. was a college student three years and taught school several years. She is living at home. George, a graduate of the common schools. is also at home. Mrs. Strieby is a member of the Radical United Brethren Church. In politics he is a republican. He was first appointed and served one year as township trustee and was then elected for the regn'ar term of four years. Mr. Strieby has done much to maintain the best standards of the township schools and has proved honest. competent and efficient in every responsibility whether official or of a private nature.
RUSSELL H. BUTLER was born August 7, 1876, at Plymouth, Mar- shall County, Indiana. Three years later his father, Harris E. Butler. disposed of his business interests and entered the ministry, which calling he faithfully followed for forty years over various fields of labor scattered throughout the northern half of Indiana. familiarly known to members of the United Brethren Church as St. Joseph Con- ference. From place to place the family was shifted that the father might labor for the betterment of mankind. Although the years were filled with privations and disappointments, the father's faith never wavered and every trial only served to strengthen his determination for greater service. It was this spirit of service he instilled in the members of his family.
In the fall of 1897 the family moved from Albion, Indiana, to War- saw. Since then Russell II. Butler has been a resident of this county. Ile was edneated in the common schools of Westfield. Ful- ton, Logansport, Galveston and Dayton, Indiana. His high school education was completed in Albion in 1896. The following year he Vol. II-19
1
672
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
pursued a literary course in North Manchester College; 1901-02 were spent in Northwestern University.
When President Mckinley issued his call for volunteers for the Spanish-American war, Russell H. Butler, who was away from home. responded to the call and enlisted June 27, 1898, at Plymouth, in Company M, 157th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Col. George M. Studebaker, and was sent into training at Port Tampa, Florida. On his return from the service he enlisted as a sergeant in Company H .. Indiana National Guard, June 20, 1900. The family points with pride to its record as defenders of home, country and liberty.
The great-great-grandfather, Uriah Butler, was a soldier in the American revolution. The grandfather, Alfred Austin Butler, served in the Mexican war of 1846, also during the Civil war. The father. Rev. H. E. Butler, was one of Indiana's youngest soldiers in the Civil war, where he spent the better part of three years of his young life. His uncle, Richard Butler, served in the Philippine Islands during the Spanish-American struggle.
The mother of Russell Butler was Rebecca Uncapher Butler. daughter of Israel and Margaret Uncapher. The Uncaphers came from Saxony, Germany, in colonial days and settled in Virginia on the Lord Fairfax estate at an annual rental of two pounds, fifteen shillings and six pence. They were neighbors of George Washington. One member of the family, Dr. Ahigal Uncapher, was twice elected to Congress from Maryland.
May 12, 1902, R. H. Butler married Elizabeth Vindora Foreman. the youngest of a family of six girls born to Daniel and Malinda Foremen of Goshen. Indiana. She was educated in the common and high school at Goshen. When she was but a mere child her father died and before completing high' school the death of her mother left her an orphan. To this union was born one child. Wilbur Foreman Butler, March 11, 1903, a graduate of the common schools and a mem- her of the high school. The family are all members of the Presbyte- rian Church and prominently identified with the church's activities. Mr. Butler has served as a teacher and superintendent for several years in the Sunday school. Under his leadership the school increased to over five hundred in membership. He is a true blue republican in politics and has taken much interest in his party in recent years. He defeated five of his opponents in the first primary election, involv- ing county candidates ever held in Kosciusko County. May 7. 1918, and was elected to the office of county clerk November 5, 1918, by an overwhelming majority. Nearly nine years of his life were spent in the employ of the postal department of the government. He resigned this position to engage in business for himself. In 1908 he established The W. F. Butler Company and did an extensive business, through catalogue, with more than 10,000 schools throughout the states and the island possessions. When the United States entered the World's war the business was suspended.
REV. N. D. SHACKELFORD. A pioneer Methodist minister of North- ern Indiana, well remembered by many citizens of Kosciusko County,
673
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
the late Rev. Mr. Shackelford prosecuted his unselfish labors in- the hearts and better natures of his fellow men and was the type of man whose memory endures because of the thousand acts of kind- ness and of love which he performed as he went through the world.
A native of Ohio, he was born in Fayette County October 22, 1826." He was' reared on a farm and educated in district schools. At the age of nineteen he came with his parents to Wabash County, Indiana, and soon afterwards was converted to Christianity and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. He early decided to dedi- cate his life to the cause of the Master, and having become an ex- horter was ordained to the ministry in 1853 and admitted to the North Indiana Conference. For forty years he was engaged in active ministerial work, and with the exception of three years spent in the Southern Illinois Conference his labors were confined to North- ern Indiana. As is the custom of Methodist ministers, he. moved from station to station, and there are many communities which have grateful remembrance of his work and influence. He became widely known for his piety and his exalted character.
In 1891 Rev. Mr. Shackelford retired from active ministerial work, but the habits of four decades had become a part of his nature and he never wholly gave up preaching.
On May 2, 1854, he married Mary J. Wilson. She was his help- mate in word and deed and his chief adviser for nearly half a cen- tury.
While the late Mr. Shackelford did not acquire wealth in the ma- terial sense of the word, he enjoyed the riches of esteem, and passed away happy in his religious faith. His death occurred at Warsaw February 7, 1900. Mrs. Shackelford was born in Ross County, Ohio, October 14, 1832, a daughter of Philip and Sarah (Holiday) Wilson. Her death occurred December 7, 1911.
TIFFIN J. SHACKELFORD, M. D. The spirit of service in Rev. N. D. Shackelford was continued and represented in Kosciusko County many years by his son, the late Dr. Tiffin J. Shackelford, who prae- ticed medicine there over thirty years.
He was born February 12, 1855, while his parents were living in Clinton County, Indiana. He gained his early education in several different localities. He graduated from the Logansport High School, and in 1879, after some preliminary study, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore and was graduated M. D. in 1882. He served as interne in the Maryland Woman's Hospital and for one year was resident physician of that institution. In the fall of 1883 he became-a resident of Warsaw. - His standing as a physician and man was the very highest, until his death more than thirty years later. He was always a student of his profession, tak- ing post-graduate courses in New York, Chicago and Baltimore. He was active in those civic, educational and commercial affairs that are most familiar in the city of Warsaw. He served on the County Board of Health for years and as secretary of the City Health Board for several years. He was president and secretary of the County. Medi-
674
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
cal Society several times, and in 1914 was president of the Thirteenth District Medical Society. He was identified with the Indiana State Medical Association, the American Medical Association, was a Knight of Pythias and past eminent commander of Warsaw Commandery No. 10 of the Knight Templar Masons. He was a director of the Lake City Bank, and at his death was first vice president. In many In- diana households a much prized volume is that entitled "Indiana Writers of Poems and Prose," published in 1902. In this volume, among selections by John Hay, Whitcomb Riley, Charles Major, Lew Wallace and many other noted Indiana authors, there is a poem from the pen of Doctor Shackelford.
June 5, 1902, he married Mrs. Emma Irland, a daughter of John Grabner, a Kosciusko County citizen whose career is briefly referred to in following sketch.
Dr. T. J. Shackelford died November 17, 1915, among his friends of many years' service at Warsaw, Ind. He was busy ministering to the sick up to within a few hours of his death and was stricken while on a duty of his profession. He prized his many friendships and never betrayed the trust of his patrons, all of whom honored him with their confidence.
JOHN GRABNER. For fully half a century, and until his death at the age of fourscore and ten, John Grabner was one of the best known and most valuable citizens of Warsaw.
He was born in Germany November 24, 1827, and was a small boy when brought to America. He came over on a sailing vessel and his youth and early manhood were spent in and around Mans- field, Ohio. He eventually entered the railroad service and for eigh- teen years had charge of a locomotive either as fireman or engineer.
On moving to Warsaw, Indiana, in 1865, he became a hardware merchant on a small scale. That business continued as part of his enterprises the rest of his life. It hecame the oldest hardware store under one proprietorship in Kosciusko County. John Grabner was steadily prospered, having that within him which supplemented his untiring industry and enabled him to succeed in all his affairs. He was for many years interested in agriculture, becoming the owner of more than 600 acres in Kosciusko County. Early in the history of the Lake City Bank he became a stockholder, and during his later years was president of that institution.
Though reared in the Roman Catholic religion his spiritual views changed, and for nearly half a century he was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally he was a Mason and a Knight Templar. Politically he was a republican.
C. LEROY LEONARD has for many years played an important role in the business affairs of Silver Lake and surrounding community. He is proprietor of the Leonard Supply Company of that town, and is also one of the prominent stock men of Kosciusko County.
Mr. Leonard was born in Miami County, Indiana, March 6, 1863, a son of Thomas and Mary (Love) Leonard. His father was born in
675
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
Henry County, Indiana, and when he was a boy his parents settled at Mexico in Miami County. C. Leroy Leonard spent his boyhood days on a farm not far from Macy, Indiana, and attended the dis- trict schools during the winter terms. At the age of nineteen he came to Silver Lake and in April, 1884, at the age of twenty-one, married Clara Bilger, of that town. She was born in Ohio and came to Kos- ciusko County when a small girl. Mr. Leonard for a number of years was employed by his father-in-law, John Bilger, in the hardware busi- ness. During seven years in the store he learned the business in every detail and then for twelve years was a traveling salesman, represent- ing agricultural and harvesting machinery. He also had an inter- est in a business of his own, but sold that and took up farming and stock business, and later established his present supply house. Mr. Leonard is widely known among the Shorthorn cattle men of the state. He is a member and director in the Fort Wayne District Shorthorn Breeders' Association and president of the Kosciusko County Short- horn Breeders' Association. He also has some fancy hogs of the big type Poland China breed, his drove of fifty being headed by Murphy's Wonder, one of the finest males of that breed in the country. Mr. Leonard owns 256 acres of land, divided into two farms, one of them known as the Lakewood Farm and the other the Wildare Farm.
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard have two daughters: Lela is a graduate of high school and is the wife of Myron E. Murphy, who is acting man- ager of the Lakewood Farm and owns half the stock interests there. The second daughter, Mina, who graduated from the Silver Lake High School, married Charles Raber, office manager of the Leonard Supply Company.
Mr. Leonard is a republican and for four years was trustee of Lake Township. He is a member of the Masonic blue lodge at War- saw, also the Royal Arch Chapter, Council and Commandery branches of the lodge. His wife and daughters are active members of the Eng- lish Lutheran Church, and he is one of the financial supporters of the church. The appellation of which Mr. Leonard is most proud is busi- ness man and farmer and the success which he is meeting in business and farming and pure bred stock raising is of great delight to him.
SARAH ROXANA CHAPLIN WINCE. Life is a strenuous affair in these modern times, even in Kosciusko Connty. It is a restful in- spiration therefore to review a career of such a woman as Mrs. Winee, who has had her full share of the buffets of fortune both good and ill, and yet has passed the age of fourscore with equanimity undis- turbed and with a perfect faith in both the present and the ultimate things. Her home for over eighty years has been in Kosciusko County, and her life in many ways reflects the history of its economic, social and spiritual development.
Mrs. Wince was born February 10, 1838, in a little log cabin on the banks of Eel River near Collamer in Whitley County, Indiana. She was the elder daughter of Stedman Atherton Chaplin and Sarah McQuigg. Her father was born at Baltimore, Windsor County, Ver- mont, June 2, 1809, and was the oldest son of James Chaplin and Sal-
1
676
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
lie Whitney, both of English ancestry .. James Chaplin was a son of David Chaplin. The latter's great-grandfather, whose name was prob- ably also David, came from England about 1690 accompanied by a brother and settled in Massachusetts, probably near Boston, and later in Lunenberg, Worcester County. James Chaplin was born in Lunen- berg, July 6, 1778. There were four sons and four daughters in the family of James: Chaplin, three of the sons becoming ministers. Jo- seph .Chaplin, the great-uncle of James, served through the Revolu- tionary war, and one of his brothers in the War of 1812. James Chaplin and Sally Whitney were married about 1808. Sally Whit- ney's father, John Whitney, was a soldier in the Revolution and served until its close. « He again entered his country's service and was sta- tioned on the Oconee River a few miles below Milledgeville, Georgia, from 1793 until 1800. He died April 20, 1800. . Mrs. Wince's mother Sarah McQuigg was born at Spencer, Tioga County, New York, April 2, 1802. Her first American ancestor was John McQuigg, who was born in May, 1706, and died November 29, 1794, in Litchfield, New Hampshire, and was buried at Bedford. He came to America from the north of Ireland in 1740, escaping from a British press gang on the way by jumping from one hogshead into another. He had eight sons, John, Jr., being born on the way over. Four of these sons served in the Revolutionary war, Daniel, Jolın and David and one whose name is not known. One of them died in the old Sugarhouse prison in New York City. John McQuigg, Sr.'s wife was Mildred Lawson, also a native of the north of Ireland and of Scotch ancestry.
John McQuigg, Jr. was twice married. His first wife was Mollie Gilmore, by whom he had one child, John M. McQuigg. His sec- ond wife was Sarah Coburn, by whom he had eleven children, five sons and six daughters. John, Jr., served in Captain Philip Put- nam's company in the regiment commanded by Colonel Nahum Bald- win of Amherst, New Hampshire, and Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Hutchins of Concord. The regiment was raised in the latter part of September, 1776, to re-enforce the army in the State of New York. Whether the other brothers who fought in the War of the Revolu- tion were in the same regiment is not known. John McQuigg, Jr., was one of the pioneers of New York, having gone into the Valley of the Susquehanna by way of Otsego Lake, following the old Indian trail to Owego.
His oldest son, John M. McQuigg, born October 19, 1771, in New Hampshire, died August 18, 1812, at Spencer, Tioga County, New York. He married Lucy Lee, daughter of Henry Lee. Henry Lee was a soldier in the Revolution, came home on a furlough, was stricken with the smallpox and died, his wife dying of the same disease. He left three small girls, John M. McQuigg and Lucy Lee were mar- ried by a minister named Spaulding. The young couple were in- vited to a wedding, and after the first pair had been securely tied and had taken their seats, John and Lucy were married, no one be- ing in the secret but the minister. They were the grandparents of Mrs. Wince. Nine children were born to them, the fourth among
677
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
whom was Sarah, who married Stedman A. Chaplin. Lucy McQuigg, after the death of her first husband, married a Revolutionary sol- dier named Michael Burge, who afterwards became a Methodist min- ister. In that war he was captured by the British and the story is told how he amused himself by picking the graybacks from his clothes, confining them in a quill, and blowing them on to any luckless British officer who came near.
Stedman Chaplin and Sarah McQuigg were married September 24, 1834, in Lawrence County, Tennessee. They remained in Ten- nessee about two years after their marriage, and then came by way of boat and schooner wagon to Whitley County, Indiana, reaching there just after New Year's. 1836. Their first child, Byron Engle- hert, was born April 2, 1836. The farm they entered was not far from Collamer and was a lovely place in springtime, being a perfect garden of flowers. The Indians were numerous and quite a party of them, hideously painted stayed one night at the Chaplin home, sleeping on the floor. Stedman Chaplin's father, James Chaplin, had settled on Eel River in 1835. Both the Chaplin families moved to Kosciusko County in the fall of 1838, settling on adjoining farms about two miles south of where Pierceton now stands. Mrs. Wince's second brother Virgil Maro was born in the new home April 24, 1840; her sister Henrietta Susan was born June 7, 1842; and her brother John Willard was born August 18, 1846. Byron died No- vember 11, 1858; John, October 15, 1858; Virgil, July 16. 1891 ; Henrietta still living, married William Clover, March 12, 1868. He died May 13, 1903. Mrs. Clover has four children, all living.
Roxana Chaplin had that type of mind and heart which absorbs abundantly of the great life around her, whether that life is the woods and the wilderness conditions of her youth, or the life of crowded cities. The joys and sorrows of the home, the beauty of nature, the incidents of school and church, were woven into her very being and transmuted there into that patience, kindliness, charity and poetic fervor which have become her habitual expression and the means by which she has accomplished so many worthy and good things in her community. She was an eager student of poetry when a girl and for years she has written both poetry and prose, and all her writing has been inspired by a purpose to elevate and do good. As a girl she attended the common schools of Washington Township, and for part of one term was in school at Warsaw, and part of another term at Wolf Lake in Noble County. However, a large part of her educa- tion was acquired at home under the wise tuition of her father, who was a man of splendid education, a teacher and a minister of the Gospel. Mrs. Wince taught school for many years, has gardened and raised small fruits on a small scale, has marketed both vegetables and fruit in the Town of Pierceton, and this brief statement would account for the external facts of her life. Ilowever, the people that know her best care least for these external circumstances, and love her for those deep and intimate attributes which are not capable of description. She has always been a prohibitionist and wrote the first article on prohibition ever published in Kosciusko County. She was
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.