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 37
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actively identified with the Good Templars in some of those early crusades to overthrow saloons, and has been a member of the Good Templars since the first organization was started at Pierceton. She and her family have always had deep religious experiences, and Mrs. Wince for many years has been identified with the Age to Come Ad- ventists.
On March 13, 1867, at the home of her father in Washington Town- ship she was married to Mr. John L. Wince, a minister and farmer, son of Philip and Martha (Scott) Wince. His father was of Ger- man ancestry and his mother was of mingled Scotch, English and Welsh. The Wince family emigrated from Virginia to Ohio when John L., the first child, was a baby. The trip was made in cold No- vember weather by means of a sehooner wagon, and the baby cried all the way. From Ohio they moved to Whitley County, Indiana, but not until J. L. Wince had grown to manhood. He was one of ten children. Mr. and Mrs. Wince were one in their faith, their tastes, their aspirations. He too was a writer of verse, and some of his poems were greatly admired and widely copied. He also wrote extensively in prose, and was for many years the pastor of five dif- ferent churches, and being a man of spotless character, he is still held in fond memory by all who knew him. Mrs. Wince had only one child, a son, born in March, 1872, who died five weeks later, but, has brought up two. One, Frances Adella Lenwell, motherless, taken when she was ten years of age, and who grew up to become a beloved and lovely woman.
Miss Lenwell married Christopher Beason for her first husband, by whom she had two sons. She lived with him until her sons were young lads of ten and five years of age, when he became insane and was taken to Longeliff Asylum, where he ultimately died. Mrs. Bea- son's second husband is a Mr. Cyrus Musselman, still living near Sidney.
A short time after taking Adella Lenwell, Mrs. Wince took Mrs. Henrietta Clover's youngest son, 21/2 years old, who had unfor- tunately been injured by a fall that made it necessary to isolate him from all other children, the fall having brought on epilepsy. He is still with Mrs. Wince, was never cured, is now in his forty-fifth year. Mrs. Wince has mothered nearly a dozen other children at va- rious periods, and has taken into her heart and watched over with tender interest, many, many more. She is "Auntie" to all the chil- dren everywhere.
NOBLE HEADLEE is proprietor of the Twin Elm Farm of Monroe Township. A farm is known by its products just as a factory is, and the distinguished quality of the productiveness of the Twin Elm Farm is a fine herd of Jersey cattle and O I C hogs. Mr. Headlee, its proprietor, is a widely experienced and thoroughly competent agriculturist, and knows how to get the best out of any given acreage or farm plant. His place consists of eighty acres located 31/4 miles southeast of Pierceton in section 1 of Monroe Township.
Mr. Headlee has an interesting family history. He was born in
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Bureau County, Illinois, August 5, 1850, son of Jehu and Diantha (Pratt) Headlee. His great-grandfather, John Headlee, was a Hol- lander and on coming to the United States settled in North Caro- lina in 1776, while the Revolutionary war was in progress. He mar- ried in that state and spent there the rest of his days. His son, John Headlee, grandfather of Noble, married in North Carolina Elizabeth Long. They then moved to Pennsylvania, lived on a farm, and sub- sequently moved to what is now Morrow County, Ohio, and were pioneers of that location. After another period of residence in Bel- mont County, Ohio, the family moved out to Bureau County, Illinois, about 1828. That is one of the earliest years in the annals of what is now one of the richest and most progressive farming communities of Northern Illinois. John Headlee died in that county.
Jehu Headlee was reared in Ohio and Illinois, married in the lat- ter state, and finally moved to Iowa, where he died. He was active as a member and elder of the Disciples Church and in polities was a republican. He and his wife had six children, only two of whom are now living, Hattie and Noble. Hattie is the wife of Capt. T. P. Gray, a clerk in the pension department at Washington, District of Co- lumbia.
Noble Headlee was reared partly in Illinois and partly in Iowa, gaining his education in the common schools. He lived with his father to the age of twenty-one and after that made his own way in the world.
January 1, 1888, he married Susan Leedy, who was born in Rich- land County, Ohio, April 4, 1853, daughter of David S. and Mary (Tenley) Leedy. When she was a child her parents moved to Whitley County, Indiana, where she grew up and was educated in the public schools. From this locality Mrs. Headlee went to Illinois and was married there. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Headlee, three now living: Eva M., who is the wife of L. C. Faulkner and lives on the Headlee farm, their child, E. M. Faulkner, being the only grandchild of Mr. and Mrs. Headlee. Harvey Headlee is now with the Aviation Corps of the United States army. Alle D. is a grad- uate of the common schools and wife of E. S. Lancaster, living in Michigan. The family are members of the Disciples Church and Mr. Headlee votes his politics independently.
WILLIAM POLK. In the death of William Polk, which occurred at his home farm in Wayne Township of Kosciusko County on Feb- ruary 21, 1915, a large community in this section of Indiana lost an honored citizen and a tried and true friend and supporter of all that was good in the affairs of human life. He had been for thirty-five years a resident of Kosciusko County.
A native of Pennsylvania, William Polk was born January 25, 1834, a son of John Polk. He was four years of age when his par- ents moved to Monroeville, Indiana, and they were among the early settlers in that section of Allen County. On the old homestead there William Polk grew up, gained an education in the district schools, and started his independent career as a buyer and seller of lumber
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and horses. He sold a great quantity of ties for the equipment of the Pennsylvania Railroad. His later years were spent in the quiet routine of farming.
In 1855 William Polk married Mary S. Van Buskirk. She was born in Ohio September 2, 1837, and died January 14, 1915, just five weeks before the death of her husband. Almost ten years before their death they celebrated the fiftieth anniversary, their golden wed- ding day.
In 1880 William Polk moved to Kosciusko County, Indiana, and located on the farm where he spent the rest of his life. He and his wife were the parents of five sons: John H., James L., Marcellus D., Franklin P. and George W. These are all still living. John H. and James L. operates the old homestead in Wayne Township. Marcellus D. and Franklin P. reside at Fairmount, Indiana. George W. lives in Warsaw.
There was nothing out of the ordinary in connection with the life of the late William Polk. He was honest, industrious, paid his just debts, commanded the respect of his fellow men and worthily filled the niche in life to which he was allotted. He was first a Presby- terian, but in later years was affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pleasant Valley. It is such men as William Polk who make up the bone and sinew of any community, state or nation.
George W. Polk, youngest son of the late William Polk, has for several years been one of the successful business men at the county seat. He was born at Monroeville in Allen County, Indiana, February 2, 1878, and has lived in Kosciusko County since he was two years . of age. As a boy he attended district schools and spent one term in the Normal School at Warsaw. Though he received a teacher's license he never taught a term of school. Though all his early experiences were associated with the farm, farming did not appeal to him as a permanent vocation, and since early youth he has been identified with some line of active enterprise. For a short time he was in the livery business at Pierceton. Then for a few years he was connected with S. B. Whittenberger, who had stores both at Claypool and Warsaw. In 1902 Mr. Polk established a buggy and harness store in Warsaw, starting on a very modest scale. He is the proprietor of a garage and is the distributing agent for the Buick, Miller and Ford cars and is also engaged in buying and selling live stock. Anything he undertakes he carries through with a purpose and energy that brings results.
Mr. Polk married Neul J. Huffer. They are the parents of two children: Lawrence and Norman. Mr. Polk is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Travelers Protective Association.
M. LAFAYETTE VAN DORN is one of the intelligent and progressive farmers of Seward Township, and is a native of this county. Suc- cess has come to him as a reward of long continued and well directed effort. He did not begin life with a fortune and was content with
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lis inheritance of honesty and the qualities of thrift and industry which are after all more to be desired than money.
His family record might well be used as a text for sermons on the value of righteons and simple living. They have been in this country for a number of generations and every generation shows strong men and strong women, nearly all of them blessed with great physical strength and many attained ripe age. Mr. Van Dorn's great- grandfather, named William Van Dorn, was a native of New Jersey, and lived to be ninety years old. His grandfather was also named William, was a native of New Jersey, and lived to be eighty-nine years old.
Myron B. Van Dorn, father of M. Lafayette Van Dorn, was born in Ohio and lived to be almost eighty-eight. He was the eighth child in a family of twelve, named in order of age as follows: William, who was born in New Jersey ; Polly; Lizzie; Patty; Sallie; Nathaniel, who is now living in his ninety-ninth year at Stromsburg, Nebraska ; Nicholas; Myron B .; Philo : Melissa ; Nelson and Freedom.
Myron B. Van Dorn married in Ohio Elizabeth Teel, also a native of that state. Shortly after their marriage they came to Indiana, seeking a new home, with most of their possessions on a wagon and with a single cow following behind. They were thirteen days in making the journey. Their first home was near Sevastopol, where Myron B. Van Dorn leased forty acres and began the work of elcar- ing. He was a man of great physical vigor and had a reputation in the early days as a champion rail splitter, and many feats of great physical strength are remembered by his children and others. There was great need for such strength in pioneer times when the principal industry was clearing farms, making rails, and building log cabins. He was always a hand in great demand at the log rollings, then so common. On one of these occasions he was appointed captain on one side while a champion wrestler of the neighborhood was captain of the other side. The captains divided the hands by choice, alternately. A yoke of oxen was given to the wrestler and his men to aid them in their work. Myron Van Dorn and his men worked without a team. The clearing was divided and the contest began. When it was fin- ished the honors were all with the Van Dorn team. The other cap- tain was not satisfied with this defcat and consequently challenged his rival to wrestle. Myron Van Dorn was loth to do this, but after a continued banter for some time accepted the challenge and again won. At another time his brother Philo Van Dorn was a hand in a log rolling where four men were trying to lift a log, two men at each end. Two had succeeded in raising their end, but the other two were unable to lift theirs from the ground. Philo then ordered the men to step aside, and he alone picked up the end and carried it to the log heap quite easily. The few old settlers who are alive and who were acquainted with him will recall many other facts to substantiate his remarkable strength.
Myron B. Van Dorn never had any school privileges, all his in- struction having been gathered in one short term. When he had grown to young manhood he became a member of a singing school,
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and at that time was unable to read. Singing with the class, he soon committed the songs to memory. He immediately began to associate the spelling of the words of the songs with the spelling of other words, and in this manner his knowledge in reading broadened until he became quite proficient. He was also a good Bible student and well versed in its doctrines. In oral arithmetic he stood above the average, and frequently aided his children in developing mathe- matical problems in their carly school work. He often said to his son Lafayette that he knew what it meant to be uneducated, and was determined to do all he could to give his children appropriate advantages. Even at that time the terms of the public schools were very short, and though Myron Van Dorn had no more money than the other settlers in a time when currency was seldom seen, he was not satisfied with the short terms of the public schools and he wil- lingly co-operated with his neighbors to hire a teacher for a few months' term in addition to the regular term afforded by taxation. He was willing to go to any reasonable sacrifice in order to attain his high ideals of giving his children a worthy preparation for life. No one appreciates these sacrifices and the value of them more than Mr. Lafayette Van Dorn.
After several years on his first farm above noted Myron Van Dorn moved to where the Village of Burket now is and bought land now included in the Isaac Hire farm. That land he also cleared up. sold, and then bought fifty acres near Burket, where he had his home until his death. This land was also in its virgin state, with an abun- dance of prime beech, sugar, ash, oak, poplar and walnut timber. He cleared a small spot, built a log cabin, moved in and immediately be- gan vigorously swinging the axe to clear away the rest of the woods. Timber at that time was of little value, and there was seldom a mar- ket for it at any price. Mr. Lafayette Van Dorn recalls his father selling eight large walnut trees for $7. At another time he traded for ten bushels of corn one large walnut tree, about five feet in diam- eter at the stump. It made five logs, each twelve feet long, up to the first limb. Afterwards the tree was found to be curley, making a wood especially prized in fine cabinet work. Such a tree today would be worth a small fortune. Much of this fine timber was made into rails and the farm was fenced into fields containing about four acres each. All the timber not needed for such purposes or for fuel and which could not be sold was piled into heaps and burned. In this way he proceeded until the farm was all cleared and in a state of good cultivation. Mr. and Mrs. Van Dorn were members of the same church. In pioneer times the building in which they met to worship consisted of a school house over six miles distant. Later on the mem- bers of this congregation and people of the vicinity erected a country church building, known as the Christian Church at Sycamore, this building received its name from a large sycamore tree that stood near. Mr. and Mrs. Van Dorn retained their membership with this congre- gation until death.
M. Lafayette Van Dorn was born at his father's home in Kos- ciusko County April 20, 1852. He was one of six children, four of
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whom are still living. The two deceased were named Marion and James. The four living are: M. Lafayette; Hiram M., living near Burket; Margaret D., wife of Leonadus H. Alexander, of the Burket community ; and Noah L., whose home is also near Burket.
M. Lafayette Van Dorn has many interesting memories of his own boyhood and recollections that indicate many of the hardships his parents endured. He has seen his father grate corn for meal for bread, flail his wheat by hand, and he was an expert at cradling grain. His mother would take the wool that came from the sheep, wash and pick it, and after it was carded into rolls, spin it into yarn and color it, and when woven into cloth she would cut and make it into clothing for the family, doing all the work by hand in the old fashioned ways, using only shears, needle and thread to do all the sewing. She would bake bread in a cast, perhaps the word cast-iron would be better, oven by raking some of the live coals to the front of the rude old fire- place, then put the oven on this bed of coals and cover the lid with other coals.
Mr. Van Dorn recalls how his father would take the mother and himself and his brother Hiram in a cart drawn by a yoke of oxen and drive six miles to his grandfather Teels, his father walking all the way to drive the oxen. The team would then be left at the Teel home and father and mother would walk a mile through the woods to church. At other times they would make the entire journey on foot and the boys would be carried alternately on their fathers shoulders. Myron Van Dorn was a member of the Christian Church and very strict in the observance of his religious responsibilities. In politics he was a democrat.
M. Lafayette Van Dorn grew up in Seward Township, and started to school when about eight years old. He remembers many inci- dents of that first term. It was taught in an old log school house situated in a dense woods just a few rods north of the present graded and high school building in Burket. The roads to this old school- house consisted principally of footpaths through the forest. At that time and for several years afterwards the Van Dorn family used tallow candles and lard lamps for light. Mr. Van Dorn himself used such lights and sometimes studied his lessons and read by the light furnished from the rude old fireplace. Despite the ineagerness of these early advantages he qualified and became a very competent teacher, a profession he followed for about twenty years, and taught in a number of district schools and also in the schools of Burket Vil- lage.
In growing to manhood he shared many of the pioneer hard- ships with his parents, especially on the last farm of fifty acres which his father bought. This farm he helped to clear and improved until he left the parental home, at which time he was near twenty-four years old. During the last few years of his life he has not been so actively engaged in farm work as formerly.
When the Town of Burket was laid out he bought two lots, on which he built a house and moved into it. At first much of his time when he was not teaching was occupied in the stores at this place
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and he at one time spent abont four months in Chicago. Later ou the court appointed him trustee of the George Miller estate, consist- ing of 169 acres, which he superintended until the old gentleman's death, after which he settled up the estate. Mr. Van Dorn then bought a farm, and in connection with the management of this farm he and his wife operated the People's Mutual Telephone Company's Ex- change at Burket, also collected rent for the same, using one room of their home for the office. This work they continued for over twelve years, until the death of the wife. A few months after her death Mr. Van Dorn discontinued the work of this office and it was moved from his home. Since that time he has been living alone and direct- ing his attention to his home and farm.
July 4, 1875, Mr. Van Dorn married Maggie Everly. She was born in this county and was educated in the common schools. When she was only fourteen years old she taught her first term of school and continued that work for some years. Mr. and Mrs. Van Dorn lived on a farm and cultivated it during the summer and during the winter he did his work as a teacher. Two children were born to their marriage. Ollie is the wife of Emmett Benton, who is a railway employe living at Elkhart, Indiana; Effie, the second daughter, now deceased, married Robert Eaton. Mr. Van Dorn lost his good wife and companion by death May 15, 1914. She was a devout member of the Christian Church.
Mr. Van Dorn owns a farm of ninety acres and is also a stock- holder in the elevator at Burket. He is affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men and the Modern Woodmen of America and in pol- ities is a democrat. He served two terms as justice of the peace. He is a member of the Christian Church.
HON. JESSE E. ESCHBACH. Here is a name that bespeaks a large relationship and many prominent associations with affairs in Kos- ciusko County during the past sixty years. Members of the family have been loyal soldiers and loyal citizens in whatever position duty has called them, and there is no name entitled to greater respect in Kosciusko County.
The late Aaron F. Eschbach, who died October 28, 1913, was a well known merchant in Warsaw for thirty years, and prior to that had been a farmer. He was born at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, Jan- uary 19, 1838, a son of Tobias and Catherine Eschbach. When a boy he came to Indiana with his parents, who first located in Huntington, and from there the family in 1857 moved to Kosciusko County and established their home on a farm south of Warsaw. Aaron F. Esch- bach went out to Kosciusko County to give his service to the Union dur- ing the latter months of the Civil war. He was enrolled in Company G of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment of Indiana In- fantry on February 11, 1864, and received his honorable discharge August 29, 1865, several months after the close of actual hostilities. At the time of his muster out he was a sergeant. He married Sarah A. Knox, and they are the parents of six children, four of whom are still living.
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Jesse E. Eschbach who for a number of years has been one of the leading members of the Warsaw bar and has made a notable record in public life, particularly as a legislator, was born at Warsaw July 23, 1876, a son of Aaron F. and Sarah A. (Knox) Eschbach. His boyhood was spent in his native city, and in 1892 he graduated from the Warsaw High School, completed a literary course in Otterbein University in 1896, and for a number of years before taking up his legal career was a successful teacher. He was superintendent of the Silver Lake High School four years, and altogether a teacher in Kos- ciusko County for six years. Mr. Eschbach graduated from North- western Law School at Chicago in 1903, and in April, 1907, began active practice at Warsaw. He has since built up a splendid private practice, though much of his time has been required by his duties as a legislator.
Mr. Eschbach served as a member of the Sixty-fifth, Sixty-sixth, Sixty-seventh, Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth General assemblies and was a member of the Special Session in September, 1908. He was republican leader in the House of Representatives during the Sixty- seventh, Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth assemblies. He was chairman of the committee of labor in the Sixty-fifth Assembly and a member of the ways and means committee in the Sixty-sixth, Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth assemblies. One fact which indicates his popularity and hold upon the confidence of his fellow citizens is that in 1906 he was the only republican elected on his ticket during the democratic land- slide of that year. His name is also associated with much beneficial legislation. He was anthor of the drainage law of the State of In- diana, which was passed in 1907, and was also author of a number of acts for the protection of the inmates of the state institutions. He also brought about changes in laws providing for the qualifications of teachers in the public schools and the regulations for the common and high school system of the state. Mr. Eschbach is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
JOSEPH SCHOONOVER BAKER, who among other distinctions is an honored survivor of the Civil war, in which he fought as a Union soldier, has been a prominent resident of Kosciusko County for many years and is well known over this and other counties in the real estate business.
He was born in llaneock County, Ohio, September 8, 1838, son of Isaac and Rebecca (Schoonover) Baker, the former a native of Rockingham County, Virginia, and the latter of Fairfield County, Ohio. His father was of German ancestry and his mother of Holland. Isaac Baker was a farmer, an old-line whig in politics and a member of the Methodist Church.
Mr. Baker lived on a farm until he was eighteen years old, and in the meantime acquired a common school education. He was still in the flush of young manhood when in October, 1861, he enlisted in Company E of the Twelfth Indiana Infantry as a private. After his military service he became a commercial traveling salesman and
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