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 9
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ALBERT SARBER. One of the oldest residents of Franklin Town- ship is Albert Sarber, who has lived in that locality more than three-quarters of a century, and as a child knew it when the tim- ber was uncut, when the swamps were undrained, and when nearly every home was a log cabin. Every railroad in the county has been built within his recollection, and the journey which he can now make from his home farm to Warsaw by interurban in a few min- utes, required almost a day of hard traveling over rough roads when he was a young man. His own share and contribution to the development and improvements has been considerable, and he has always been looked upon as one of the sturdy American citizens of his locality.
Mr. Sarber, whose home farm is a half-mile west and a quarter- mile south of Mentone, was born in Putnam County, Ohio. January 3, 1841, a son of George and Lydia (Andreck) Sarber. He comes of an old Pennsylvania German family, his great-grandfather, John Sarber, being a native of Germany. His grandparents were Adam and Catherine (Euslen) Sarber, both natives of Pennsylvania, where they married, and in 1814 went into the western wilderness to Frank- lin County, Ohio. They lived there until about 1824, then moved to
Albert Farber amela Cinn Sarler
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Putnam County, where they did their work as pioneers, and when old age came upon them they moved to Kosciusko County, where both of them died. Adam Sarber had a family of twelve children.
Third among them was George Sarber, father of Albert. George Sarber was born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1810. He married in Ohio Lydia Andreck, and in 1841 they came to Kos- ciusko County and bought 171 acres of uncleared land in Franklin Township. Their cabin was erected in the midst of the green woods, and years of hard work on the part of George Sarber brought much of his land under cultivation. He was a quiet, unassuming man, but active in church, and he and his wife were both members of the Methodist society at Mentone. He was a democrat in politics. In their family were three children: Catherine, now deceased, who married John Morgan; Hiram, who married Mary E. Lee, and is also deceased; and Albert, the only survivor.
Albert Sarber was a small infant when brought to Kosciusko County. As strength came to him he helped on the farm and at- tended the little subscription school near home. On reaching his majority his father divided between him and Hiram the old home- stead, and they bought their sister's share. His brother Hiram had three children, and at his death Albert bought out their interests and thus practically became owner of the old farm.
In August, 1861, Albert Sarber married Margaret Nellans. She was the mother of four children, two of whom are still living: Ma- randa H., wife of Abram Whetstone, and Mary M. The mother of these children died in 1872, and on September 27. 1874, Mr. Sar- ber married Amelia A. Garrison. She was born in Whitley County, Indiana, August 17, 1855, and came to Kosciusko County when a young lady. To this marriage were also born four children, and two are living: Macy, who married Bertha Smith, and has two chil- dren, and Ora, wife of William Boman, of Mentone. Mr. and Mrs. Sarber are very active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a democrat in politics, but has never sought official honors.
GEORGE G. Cook has given the years of an active life, thirty or more, to the business of farming and stock dealing, and his present home is a valuable body of land in section 36 of Franklin Township, five miles south of Mentone.
He was born in the same section of Franklin Township, January 16, 1866, a son of Alexander and Mary (Davidson) Cook. His par- ents were both born in Scotland and in the same locality. His father was born June 12, 1827, and in 1852 came to the United States. Landing in New York City, he went on to Ashland County, Ohio, where he went to work as a stone mason, a trade he had learned in Scotland. He worked in that line for several years in Ohio and then engaged in the saw mill business. After coming to the United States he earned money sufficient to bring over his widowed mother and other members of the family, and on the same boat that transported them to America there came Mary Davidson, from the same Scotch neighborhood, and not long after her arrival she and Alexander Cook
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were married. Then for several years he continued in the saw mill business in Ohio, and about 1863 brought his mill to Kosciusko County and set up the machinery in Franklin Township, where he sawed up vast quantities of timber and continued the operation of the mill until 1898. After coming to Indiana he went back to Ohio for the purpose of casting his vote at the second election of Abraham Lincoln in 1864. He was a sturdy and steadfast supporter of the republican party. He and his wife were members of the Christian Church and gave liberal support to all public and religious move- ments in their community. In their family were seven children, one of whom died in infancy, and the others were Alexander J., William A., Mary B., who married Clem Jones; Ida H., now deceased ; Maggie J., also deceased, and George G.
George G. Cook has spent practically all his life in Franklin Township, and as he grew up here was educated in the common schools. In January, 1889, he married Miss Mary Thompson, who was also born in this locality. They had five children, and the three now living are: Grace J., a graduate of the common schools and a former student in the high school, which she attended nearly four years, now the wife of Oren C. Craig; Merle, a graduate of the common schools and high school, unmarried and living at home; and Willis, who graduated from the Akron High School and is now serving with the rank of corporal in the United States Army.
Mr. Cook is affiliated with Akron Lodge of Masons and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Warsaw. He is a repub- lican and has been quite active in the party. His farm comprises 100 acres, and this valuable estate represents his individual efforts and management, with the exception of about a thousand dollars which was his primary capital. Mr. Cook is also one of the directors of the Exchange Bank of Akron.
WILLIAM E. DAVIS has been continuously identified with the mer- cantile and civic affairs of the village of Burkett for over thirty years, almost in fact since the village was founded, and anyone who knows Burkett also knows William E. Davis. For the past eight years he has served as postmaster, handling those duties besides supervising his store.
Mr. Davis was born in Union County, Indiana, Angust 25, 1858, a son of Edmund and Elizabeth (Krauss) Davis. His father was born in England, while his mother was a native of Germany. Both came to the United States when young people, were married at Cincinnati, Ohio, and then moved to a farm in Union County, In- diana. They lived in Putnam County, Ohio, during their last years. They had only two children, William E. and Mary E. The latter is the wife of S. C. Arnold, of Ottawa, Ohio.
William E. Davis spent a portion of his youth on his father's farm in Union County. He also attended school there and completed his education in the high school at Ottawa, Ohio. After graduation from high school he taught for five years and left that vocation to identify himself with the Town of Burket in 1884. About two years
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later he built the building, 44 by 130 feet, which he has occupied by a large and varied stock of general merchandise and which has been one of the principal trading centers of this community for thirty years. Mr. Davis began with limited capital and has made individual service and hard work his principal asset in life.
He takes justifiable pride in the fine family of children who have grown up in his home. March 19, 1879, he married Ada J. Parker. She was born at Kalida, Ohio. Their children are six in number. The oldest, Edmund P., a graduate of high school and of Indiana University, from which he received the degree Master of Arts, also has a degree from Clark University, and for nine years was head of the Department of Mathematics in the State College of Pennsylvania. Recently his services have been acquired as professor of mathematics by the Pratt Institute at Brooklyn, New York. The second son, George E., who graduated A. B. from Indiana State University, has also been a successful teacher, and was head of the Science Depart- ment of the Mishawaka, Indiana, High School until he accepted a position in government service as a draftsman at Philadelphia, handling the plans for concrete ship construction. Guido W., a high school graduate, became identified in August, 1918, with the aero- plane department of the Packard Motor Works. The daughter, Mary, is the wife of H. E. Rancevan. Lena married H. J. McGinley. Ethel is the wife of Glen Hatfield.
Mr. Davis and family are active members of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. He has been a member of the official board and for four years was president of the Kosciusko County Sunday School Association. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men, and the Modern Woodmen of America. Politically his associations have connected him with the democratic party since he attained voting age.
JOSEPH E. FOREMAN has been one of the busy and enterprising factors in the citizenship of Seward Township for a number of years. His fundamental interests are as a farmer, but he is also secretary and treasurer of the Burket Equity Union Elevator. This is a busi- ness that furnishes the medium to many farmers and grain raisers around Burket for the adequate storage and marketing of their crops. The elevator company has as its officers and directors the following well known local citizens: George M. Alexander, president ; A. D. Sands, vice president ; Joseph E. Forman, secretary and treas- urer; W. A. Hoffman and J. A. Bechtol, directors; and Albert H. Parker, manager.
Mr. Foreman was born two miles east of Burket in Seward Township, August 10, 1876. He is a son of Robert and Mary (Stumpff) Foreman, both of whom were natives of Snyder County, Pennsylvania. The grandfather, Elias Foreman, also a native of Pennsylvania, was the son of a native of Germany, who on coming to the United States located in Pennsylvania. Robert Foreman, who was born October 30, 1844, grew up in Snyder County, Pennsylvania, married at Three Rivers, Michigan, February 29, 1872, and soon
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afterward he and his wife came to Kosciusko County and for two years rented a farm two and a half miles east of Burket. They then bought their own place of eighty acres and were thrifty farmers and good citizens of that locality the rest of their lives. Robert Foreman died February 12, 1911, and his wife February 15, 1918. They were devout members of the Lutheran Church and among its leading sup- porters. Robert Foreman voted as a republican and had a record as a soldier of the Civil War, having been with Company H of the One Hundred and Eighty-Fourth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He and his wife had two children, Joseph E. and Sarah E. Sarah mar- ried for her first husband Albert Pumley and later became the wife of Jacob Hatfield. She was the mother of three children.
Joseph E. Foreman grew up on his father's farm and acquired a liberal education. After utilizing all that the district schools could give him he attended the Tri-State Normal School at Angola, and with that preparation entered actively into educational work, a pro- fession he followed for twelve years.
June 10, 1905, Mr. Foreman married Eliza J. Roberts. Mrs. Foreman was born in Kosciusko County and was educated in district and select schools, and her record as a teacher covered terms through nineteen years. Mr. and Mrs. Foreman are active supporters of the Church of the Living God. Mr. Foreman is a member of the National Horse Thief Detective Association. In March, 1918, he and his wife moved to the Village of Burkett. He owns and supervises the opera- tion of a farm of 120 acres, and also owns a half interest in another place of 100 acres.
CLEM A. JONES has been a factor in the community around Bur- ket and in Franklin Township for a number of years. From the farm and farm management his interests have extended to local banks and other business concerns, and he is one of the influential and rep- resentative citizens of that community. His farm is in Franklin Township, three miles southwest of Burket.
He was born in Seward Township of this county, February 4, 1867, a son of John and Nancy (Hire) Jones. He grew up as a boy on a farm two and a half miles southwest of Burkett, this old place being situated on the Angling road. The summer months he em- ployed working on the farm and usually attended school in winter. He was at home until past twenty-one, then married Mary Cook, daughter of Alexander Cook. one of the early and prominent pio- neers of Franklin Township. Mrs. Jones was born in Ohio and was educated in the common schools.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Jones rented his father's farm five miles west of Warsaw fourteen years, and then moved to the place where they now live and where they have eighty acres under cultivation and in a high state of improvement. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have two children: Golda, a graduate of the common schools, is the wife of Russell Ring. Ivan, who farms a mile south and two miles east of Burkett, married Roxie Kuhn. Mrs. Jones is a member of the United Brethren Church. In politics he is a democrat, but is satis-
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fied to cast his vote, and has no desire for local office. He lives very busily, looking after his live stock and crops, and is also a stockholder in the Bank of Seward and is one of the directors, and is a stock- holder in the Equity Union Elevator at Burket.
ULYSSES B. HOWARD is one of the business men of constructive mold and special energy who are giving life and vitality to affairs at Burket. He is a business man, though he could be justly classified as a farmer, and it is to agriculture that he devotes most of his time. He is also one of the local bankers, and for many years was a railway man. He comes of a good old Indiana family, but his prosperity has been almost entirely the result of his efforts and well directed energies.
Mr. Howard was born in Whitley County, Indiana, April 11, 1862, son of Daniel and Margaret (Blaine) Howard. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of Ohio. His mother was brought to Indiana when two years old and his father came here when about twenty-two. Daniel Howard learned the trade of black- smith, and in 1862 enlisted in Company B of the Seventy-Fourth In- diana Infantry. He served until the end of the war, was a private, and a large part of the time was assigned to duty as a regimental blacksmith. After the war he returned to Whitley County, and in 1883 moved to Kosciusko County, and was the honest village black- smith in Burket until his death in 1912. His wife passed away in 1908. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he was a republican and member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In their family were eight children, all of whom are still living. It is noteworthy that Daniel Howard, who died at a good old age, was the first break in the circle of thirteen children, the sons and daugh- ters of his father. The eight children of Daniel Howard are: Ulysses B .; Cora, wife of Frank Vancuren ; Dora, wife of S. R. Bunch; Cur- tis, who lives in Northern Indiana; Milo, a farmer in Seward Town- ship; Stella, wife of Oscar Johnson; James, a farmer in Seward Township ; Raymond, of Burket.
U. B. Howard lived in Whitley County until he was twenty years of age, and while there gained his education in the district schools. Even prior to that he had worked at monthly wages and he early learned how to rely upon himself. December 29, 1887, at the age of twenty-five, he married Miss Edith Meyer, member of an old and well known family of Kosciusko County. She is a daughter of Aaron and Susanna H. (Dreisbach) Meyer. Her father was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and her mother was a native of the same state. Her mother was brought to Kosciusko County when a girl of twelve and her father came here at the age of twenty-one. In 1854 they settled in Kosciusko County. Mrs. Howard was, reared in Sew- ard Township.
After their marriage they began housekeeping at Hammond, In- diana, and soon afterwards moved to Chicago, where Mr. Howard went to work as a depot employe of one of the railroads. He was in the service of one company for thirteen years, and that service was characterized by diligence and complete faithfulness to all the inter-
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ests of the corporation. It was with what he had earned and saved while in the city that he returned to Kosciusko County and bought his original farm of seventy-three and a third acres. In 1915 he acquired still more land, so that his present place, located a half-mile north of Burket, contains 116 2-3 acres. This is the farm and the home which reflects in large degree the substantial work of Mr. How- ard. He is also one of the directors of the Bank of Seward and in poli- tics is a republican.
He and his wife have three sons. Cecil, a graduate of the Burket and Warsaw High Schools, is a graduate civil engineer from Purdue University, being now connected with the Smith Construction Com- pany at Detroit. Claude is also a high school graduate, and Homer, the youngest son, is now proprietor of the principal garage at Burket. Mrs. Howard is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
J. WARREN COLEMAN. The county has had no more energetic and better citizen during the past forty years than J. Warren Coleman of Warsaw. Far and wide over this section of the state he is known as a capable insurance man, and has been the principal factor in making the Ohio Farmers Insurance Company one of the most im- portant conservators against fire losses in Kosciusko County. Out- side of his private business his name is closely associated with the organized welfare and progress movement in Warsaw.
While not himself a native of Kosciusko County, he belongs to a family which may justly be considered among Indiana's pioneers. His grandfather, Daniel Coleman, settled in Allen County, this state, at a period when wild Indians were more plentiful than white men. In the course of years he acquired extensive holdings in real estate and was very intimately identified with the early history of the county of which Fort Wayne is the metropolis. His son Augus- tus, father of J. Warren, spent his youth and early manhood after the manner of pioneer boys in northwest Indiana, and married Sarah M. Whittaker. In the fall of 1861 he offered his services in defense of the Union and was enrolled in the Forty-Fourth Indiana Volun- teer Infantry. His service was brief. On April 4, 1862, he died from exposure while suffering from an attack of the black measles. Two of his four children are still living. His widow afterwards married Robert Anderson and had two children by that union.
J. Warren Coleman spent his early life on a farm in Allen County, and while thus engaged he enjoyed such advantages as the local district schools were able to bestow. In 1869, when rising to man- hood, he went to Logansport and for five years was employed in a lumber yard there, and that was the basis of his business experience. Afterwards, with his brother Louis F., he operated the old home- stead for one year, and the two then bought a fruit farm on Tippe- canoe Lake in Kosciusko County.
From the scenes of country life Mr. Coleman in 1878 moved to Warsaw and engaged in the general insurance business. This has been his line for the past thirty-eight years, and he is probably the oldest man in the business in this section of Indiana. After twelve
Jw. Coleman
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
years he became general agent for the Ohio Farmers Insurance Company, and has now held that post and looked after local business for the company for a quarter of a century. In the meantime he has placed and adjusted millions of dollars of insurance.
In many ways the wise counsel and material aid of Mr. Coleman have been utilized for the good of the community. For fifteen years he was a member of the city Board of Education, twelve years of that time serving as president of the body, and under his adminis- tration there was a wise provision for the local schools and in many directions a distinct advance and improvement. To no one organiza- tion does the county seat owc more for its present prosperity than the Warsaw Chamber of Commerce, and it should be noted that Mr. Coleman was one of the leading spirits in its organization, was a. liberal contributor to its campaigns, and has always been a.director since it was established. It was largely his idea and his active leader- ship that brought about the construction of the present splendid home for the Knights of Pythias at Warsaw. He is a member of both the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men, and in politics is a republican.
On October 22, 1874, Mr. Coleman married Miss Mary Aman. They became the parents of two children: Eugene A. and Mabel C. The daughter is the wife of Cyrus Hall, a banker of Leesburg, In- diana.
The son, Eugene A., was born August 16, 1876, and acquired his education in the public schools of Warsaw, at Notre Dame Univer- sity and in Otterbein College. Just prior to graduation from the latter institution, which however, subsequently awarded him his diploma, war with Spain was declared and he left school to become a member of Company H, One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana In- fantry. At Matanzas, Cuba, he was employed as clerical aide to General Sanger. After the war was over he joined his father in the insurance business. When life was at its brightest, possessed of loyal friends, with wife and child, a beautiful new home, with every incentive to live, he was stricken by disease and died in 1910. His wife before her marriage was Miss Flora Hall, and their only child was named Eugenia. Eugene A Coleman, whose brief but pro- ductive career should long be cherished, was identified with the United Brethren Church, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
FRED A. MCSHERRY is a native of Kosciusko County, and for over thirty years has applied his energies to the business of farming and stock raising, and is easily one of the most substantial business men and citizens of Seward Township. His farm home is on Rural Route No. 4 out of Claypool, three and a half miles west and a mile and three-quarters north of that town. Mr. McSherry's interests are not alone identified with the farm, since his operations as a stock buyer and feeder have brought him high standing among the stock men of this section of the state, and he is one of the leading shippers out of Burket.
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Mr. MeSherry was born on the farm where he now resides August 28, 1867, and is the only surviving child of Frederick and Elizabeth (Wilks) MeSherry. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother of Pennsylvania. His father was brought to Kosciusko County when three years old and grew up here. The mother came to Indiana when a young woman, and she and her husband were married in this county. They spent their lives here as practical and successful farmers. They were devout members of the United Brethren Church and Frederick McSherry was a republican in politics. He and his son owned 458 acres in Seward Township, and that estate is the basis of the son's enterprise as a farmer and stockman today. There were five ehil- dren in the family, but four of them died while young.
Fred A. MeSherry, after getting his education in the local schools, became his father's assistant on the farm, and gradually from year to year assumed more of its responsibilities, and since the death of his parents has been its owner and proprietor. He buys stock in car- load lots and practically all the resources of his farm are turned toward the raising of meat for the market.
Mr. MeSherry married Dora Tucker, a native of this county, who was educated in the schools of Burket. To their union were born eleven children. ten of whom are still living: Lillie, wife of Robert Chinworth of Warsaw; Clancy, a graduate of Burket High School, who is married and lives on the home farm in Seward Town- ship; Charles, a graduate of the Burket High School, and now a soldier in the United States Army; Fay, a graduate of the Burket High School and a teacher; Mary, John and Edith, all high school students ; Catherine, who is in the seventh grade of the public schools ; Dorothy; Paul, deceased; and Wilbur. In political faith Mr. Mc- Sherry is a republican.
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