USA > Indiana > White County > A standard history of White County Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. II > Part 22
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has contributed to the substantial development of productive resources, has increased the moral forces of social life, and has always stood for those things that are honest and of good report, the chronicles of such a family become a vital part of local history. Such was the part taken by the Godlove family in White County, which has been its home for over half a century ,and as farmers, upholders of religion and morality, and all around good citizens they have many useful and honorable associations with this locality.
It was the late Perry Godlove who established the name and the family fortunes in this county. He was born in Green County, Ohio, June 4, 1832, being one of the nine children whose parents were Abraham and Hannah (Bumgardner) Godlove. These parents were both natives of Virginia, and during the infancy of Perry they moved on from Ohio to Delaware County, Indiana, which was then a wilderness infested with Indians and wild beasts, and they were among the pioneers who developed that rich and beautiful country into a landscape of smiling farms and villages. Abraham Godlove died there in 1859, his wife having passed away in 1855.
Much after the manner of other boys in pioneer communities, Perry Godlove grew to manhood in Delaware County, attended common schools and perfected his training for the actualities of life. This training was more practical than bookish, and he spent day after day in grubbing, clearing and assisting in the general work of the home farm. On May 26, 1855, he married Margaret H. Shafer, who was born at East German- town in Wayne County, Indiana, April 8, 1838, and died January 22, 1905. She was a daughter of John and Elizabeth Shafer, both of them natives of Pennsylvania. Perry Godlove and wife became the parents of four sons and four daughters, enumerated as follows: Flora E., Mrs. Hiram Beshoar of Burnettsville ; Emma J., Mrs. M. K. Reiff of Burnetts- ville; Albert, a resident of Idaville; Ida L., living at Monticello; Henry M., of Idaville; John Emery and Frank, both of whom live a mile and a half southwest of Idaville; and Eva L., Mrs. W. A. Bryan of Monticello.
Having previously purchased a large tract of land near Idaville, Perry Godlove brought his family to Jackson Township in the spring of 1864, and was a resident in that section until his death forty-five years later on August 6, 1909. He was a farmer most of his life, spending the last fifteen years in retirement at Idaville. He was a man of more than ordinary force of character and because of his many sterling qualities was highly regarded as a neighbor. He was honest and industrious, tem- perate in all his actions, rearing his children in the fashion of sobriety and industry, and his entire career was a living exemplification of the golden rule. After coming to White County, in October, 1864, he enlisted
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in Company B of the One Hundred and Forty-Second Indiana Infantry, and served until his honorable discharge in July, 1865. Both he and his wife were active members of the Church of God at Idaville, and he was one of its most faithful attendants, served as an elder several years, and almost continuously acted as superintendent of the Sunday School. When the congregation erected its new church in 1908, he was the largest contributor. His business operations as a farmer had met with deserved success, and at the time of his death he owned five hundred and sixty acres, two hundred and forty acres lying in Jefferson Township, Carroll County, and three hundred and twenty in Jefferson township, White County.
As a worthy tribute to this fine old pioneer a few words are quoted from the Idaville Observer of August 13, 1909. "Uncle Perry, as he was called, was one of the most substantial and highly respected men of this community. His quiet, unassuming manner added dignity to an honest and upright character; while prudent and careful in business he was always generous in his support of any deserving enterprises as well as ready to lend a helping hand to the young man just getting a start or to an older man overtaken by misfortune. His death is indeed a loss to the community in general."
John E. Godlove, one of the several sons of the late Perry Godlove, has not only shared in the general prosperity of this family in general, but through his own efforts has contributed to the substantial acquisitions which are represented in the country about Idaville. He was born Jan- uary 22, 1872, at the old homestead, was reared and educated in White county, and has since been a substantial farmer. Both he and his wife are members of the Church of God at Idaville. He was married February 26, 1895, to Miss Grace Johnsonbaugh, a daughter of Ira and Angeline Johnsonbaugh of Idaville. To this union have been born three children : Gladys, Dale and Velma.
Another one of the sons, who lives near John and is likewise an enterprising and prospering farmer of Jackson Township, is Frank God- love, who was born August 22, 1873. He was married in Jackson Town- ship November 27, 1899, to Miss Lola M. Shull, a daughter of John W. and Margaret Shull, a family of early settlers in White County. He is a republican, and his wife is a member of the Church of God at Idaville.
ALBERT GODLOVE. The oldest son of the late Perry Godlove, whose career as a pioneer and whose family relationship have been described in previous paragraphs, is Albert Godlove, one of the leading farmers of Jackson Township, and well known all over White County through his former service as county assessor.
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Albert Godlove was born in Jackson township, White County, Sep- tember 17, 1864, only a few months after the family established a home in that section. He grew up on the old homestead, and benefited by attendance at the public schools as a youth, while his practical training came from actual experience in the work of the home farm. He has been a farmer all his career, but was called from the duties of active super- vision over his farming interests in 1900 to the office of county assessor. Mr. Godlove and family lived at Monticello for five years, while he was in office, but since then he has returned to the farm and in 1912 moved to Idaville, and now has one of the comfortable homes in that village. Besides his holdings in White county, his prosperity is measured by the ownership of individual tracts of seventy, one hundred and sixty, forty and one hundred and sixty acres situated in Cass and Carroll counties, Indiana, and in Livingston County, Illinois, a total of four hundred and thirty acres. As a practical agriculturist Mr. Godlove's record deserves no comment. He has had a long experience in operating farm lands and is an excellent judge of real estate values, and this experience has made him successful as a real estate dealer, a business to which he now gives his principal attention.
As to politics he is a republican, and is a member of the Church of God at Idaville. On March 30, 1887, he married Miss Mary E. Timmons, a native of White county, Indiana, born March 11, 1866, the fourth in a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters, born to John Green and Ruth (Price) Timmons. Seven of the number are yet living, namely: Josephine, the wife of Perry Patton and a resident of Ida- ville ; Nancy E., wife of Hamilton Sidenbender, of Monticello, Indiana ; Southy, a resident of Idaville, a dealer in poultry and who married Minnie Jones ; Mrs. Godlove; Harvey E., a resident of Chicago, where he is engaged in the real estate business and as a newspaper reporter, and who is also married; Cora B., wife of James Million, a farmer of White County ; and Rosella, wife of Homer Bowman, of Carroll County, Indi- ana. Mr. Timmons, the father, was born in Green County, Ohio, was an agriculturist and grain buyer, and became very successful in his business. He was but a young boy when he came to White County, and in time he became the owner of as much as 2,200 acres of land here. He also served as a member of the Indiana legislature for two terms, first as a representative of the counties of White and Pulaski, and the second term represented Benton, White and Newton counties. He affili- ated with the democratic party, and both he and his wife were members of the Church of God. He is yet living, but Mrs. Timmons, who was a native of White County, died when her daughter, Mrs. Godlove, was but ten years of age. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Godlove have been
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born three children, Harry T., Clayton G. and Dulcie F. Harry T. God- love, a resident of Flora, Indiana, operates a garage. He received a good, practical education in the Idaville and Monticello schools, is a republican in his political views, affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and his wife is a member of the Church of God. He married Miss Lilly M. Foster, and they have three children, Albert H., Arlene and Tyrus Wendell. Clayton G. God- love, also a resident of Flora, is engaged in the real estate business and the overseeing of his father's farms. He also received his educational training in the Monticello and Idaville schools. He married Miss Mary Baker, and they have one daughter, Katharine. Dulcie F. Godlove resides with her parents in Idaville. She has been well educated, a grad- uate of the Idaville schools and also of the Woman's College at Jackson- ville, Illinois, in the domestic science department of the class of 1915.
CHARLES MILTON MERTZ. Any community that has had the citizenship and thrift activity of the old Pennsylvania "Dutch" has reason to con- gratulate itself on its good fortune, since there has never been a class of better homemakers and citizens than the people familiarly referred to under this classification. The Mertz family and their connections repre- sent this old stock in White County. The Mertz family have lived in White County for more than half a century, and has been specially iden- tified with the community about Burnettsville.
The founder of this family was the late Daniel A. Mertz, who was born at Union County, Pennsylvania, July 31, 1836, a son of Philip and Lydia (Showers) Mertz, who were also natives of Pennsylvania. Philip Mertz died in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, April 25, 1883, aged seventy- seven years, three months, nineteen days. His wife died there April 18, 1882, at the age of sixty-nine. Philip Mertz always lived in Pennsyl- vania, but extended his investments out to White County, Indiana, where he bought three eighties of land in Jackson Township in section 24, and gave part of it to his son Daniel A., who by hard work and economy eventually acquired the entire tract.
Daniel A. Mertz was reared on a farm until eighteen years of age, and was then apprenticed to learn the carriage and wagon maker's trade. He served three years as an apprentice, and for about twelve years conducted a shop of his own. On December 24, 1863, he married Miss Sarah Sieber, one of the thirteen children born to John and Mary (Sausman) Sieber. She was born in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, De- cember 4, 1835, and was married December 4, 1863, on her birthday. To Daniel and Sarah Mertz were born five children: Edward S., who now lives with his mother; John M., deceased; David Franklin, who
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became a prominent educator, was a graduate of the University of Mich- igan, served a principal of the high schools at Mount Clemens and Ypsi- lanti, Michigan, and died at the age of thirty-one years while attending as a post-graduate student, Columbia University; William Morris, who is a successful attorney living in Detroit, married Lois Ferguson, and his three children as Virginia and William Morris and David Franklin, twins, the latter of whom died at the age of two weeks; and Charles Milton.
Daniel A. Mertz came to Jackson Township in White County in 1864, locating on the farm where he lived the greater part of his years. For the first three years he worked at his trade in the old settlement known as "Git-Away" meanwhile overseeing his farm, and then gave his landed property his personal supervision until he retired about twenty-one years ago. He owned one hundred and twenty acres with excellent improve- ments, and before his death had a total holding of two hundred and sixty acres. He was one of the successful men of Jackson township. In politics he was a dyed in the wool republican, but displayed no eagerness to hold office. For forty years he was a deacon in the Brethren Church and very active in religious matters. He was a hard worker, conservative, even-tempered, and in that respect somewhat different from other mem- bers of the Mertz family, and was cool in judgment, never jumping at conclusions. He was one of the leaders in building the Dunkards Church at Burnettsville, in 1889. He also served for several years as a member of the school board in that town. Though his education was that acquired from common schools, he was throughout life a reader and well posted on affairs. The death of this good citizen occurred August 21, 1909, and he was laid to rest in Davis cemetery. His widow is still living.
Charles Milton Mertz was born in White County May 29, 1873, and grew up on the old farm near Burnettsville. His common school educa- tion was supplemented by one year of commercial training in the Mount Morris College at Mount Morris, Illinois, but after his marriage he took up farming and has made that his regular business. That he has been successful is indicated by his ownership of three hundred and eighty acres of land, most of which is situated close in to the village of Burnetts- ville, and is a high grade farm, notable for its productions in both grain and stock. Mr. Mertz also owns property in town. He is in comfortable circumstances, uses an automobile for pleasure and in the performance of his business duties, and is one of the leading men of affairs in his community. He is a stockholder and director in the State Bank of Bur- nettsville and in the Burnettsville Elevator Company, and is a trustee of Davis cemetery. For the past five years he has been a deacon in the Brethren Church. He classifies himself as a stand-pat republican, and
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while his influence has often been exercised for public improvements, he has never stood in line for an office.
Charles M. Mertz married Miss Bessie Newcomer, a daughter of Melcher and Mary (Hammer) Newcomer of Mount Morris, Illinois. They are the parents of two daughters: Ruth and Sarah, and also have an adopted son, Harold, who is now nineteen years of age and is a student in Purdue University, Lafayette. The daughter Ruth is a grad- uate of the class of 1915 in the Idaville schools, and Sarah is a student in the fourth grade.
An older representative of this well known White County family is George W. Mertz, a brother of the late Daniel A. Mertz, and one of the ten children of Philip and Lydia Mertz. Those children were: Susan, who married Joseph Amick and died in White County May 13, 1870; Daniel A., whose career has already been sketched; Emma J., who is living in California, the widow of Hiram Smith; Peter H., who died March 20, 1909, married for his first wife Sarah Sieber, a cousin of his "brother Daniel's wife, while his second wife was Kate Farris and his third Amanda Mertz, a cousin; Edward, who was killed in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; Mary, who is now living at Omaha, Nebraska, married Isaac Reiff, who died in October, 1875, and her second husband was Joel Weaver, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1914; George W .; Philip D., who lives on the old home farm in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, and by his marriage to Susan Mudderspaugh has twelve children, all living; Sarah, who died in infancy; and Adaline, who married Walter T. Rupert and lives in Dunkirk, New York.
George W. Mertz was born in Pennsylvania, September 23, 1846, and has lived in White County since the spring of 1873. He has been a farmer all his active career. In 1875 he married Amanda York, daughter of John and Sarah York, very early settlers of White County, who are mentioned elsewhere. To this union were born six children : Clark E., who lives in Burnettsville, married Gertrude Alexander, and of their five children the three living are Roy, Walter and Robert; Minnie M., who now lives at Wolcott, Indiana, first married Arthur S. Galbreath, had three children by him, the first Arthur S., dying, and the two living being Ethel J. and Cloyd, and her present husband is August Bustler ; Guy W., who lives in Dallas, Texas, married Lavina Hunt, and has two children, Lucile and George B .; Elmer L. lives at home with his father ; Jacob C., is also at home ; and John R. is an electrical engineer at Newark, New Jersey.
George W. Mertz is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred twenty acres lying adjacent to the village of Burnettsville on the north. He is
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a republican, and a member of the German Baptist Brethren Church, while his wife is a member of the regular Baptist denomination.
JAMES EDWARD SITES. Though James Edward Sites died when in the prime of manhood, as a farmer he left considerable property, and in every relation his reputation was unassailable and according to the highest standards of integrity. Mrs. Sites and her children now reside in Jackson township on their fine farm, which Mr. Sites had bought a short time before his death.
James Edward Sites was born in Grant County, West Virginia, October 10, 1867, a son of Sampson G. and Catherine (Simons) Sites. The family is of German extraction. Mr. Sites remained at home and received his early education in country schools, and at the age of twenty- one moved out to Illinois, spent a year there, went back home, and once more took up his residence in Iroquois County, Illinois.
It was in Illinois that he married Miss Christina Wieland on October 11, 1899. She was a daughter of Michael and Rosanna (Weidner)" Wieland, the family having come from Weilenberg, Germany, in 1883, and locating in Iroquois County, Illinois. Both Mrs. Sites' parents are now deceased, her father having died September 11, 1886, and her mother on June 28, 1913. Her father is buried in Illinois and her mother in Pine Creek Cemetery in White County. Of the seven Wieland chil- dren four are living : Christina ; Mrs. Catherine Hall; Mrs. Anna Lewarn and William M.
Mr. and Mrs. Sites became the parents of four children: Laura Elizabeth, born February 12, 1901; Edith Marie, born October 13, 1902; James William, born March 9, 1904; and Joseph Russell, born August 23, 1905, and died July 17, 1906.
James Edward Sites died July 23, 1906. Mrs. Sites and her children moved to their present farm of one hundred eighteen acres in Jackson Township in 1907, this property having been acquired before his death. Mrs. Sites now rents her farm, and has ample means to rear and educate her children. Mr. Sites was a republican and was a member of the Dunkards Church at Pike Creek, as is also his wife and the children are members of the Burnetts' Creek Church. He was a great lover of home and delighted to entertain his friends. At the time of his death one of the local publications fittingly commemorated his memory, and an excerpt is here given as follows:
"The deceased brother united with the German Baptist Church at the age of nineteen years, in Grant County, West Virginia. After com- ing to Indiana he transferred his membership to the Pike Creek congre-
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John.E. Mitchell.
Lydia A Mitchell.
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gation of White County. Ever since his union with the church he had endeavored to live a consistent Christian life.
"When we look over the place where this beloved brother lived and see the oncoming harvest which he planted but will never be permitted to reap, we are sad, but our sadness is in a measure diverted when we survey the good seeds of life that he has sown, and we have the blessed assurance that he is now reaping an abundant harvest in the world beyond this vale of tears.
"Today while we consign his body to mortal earth whence it came, we know that his spirit is not there, but has taken its flight to God who gave it-with Him to dwell in a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens, where sorrow and tears never come.
"Funeral services were held in the Pike Creek Church at three o'clock Wednesday afternoon, Rev. Heater, of Burnettsville, conducting the same, assisted by Rev. David Dilling. Interment in the Pike Creek cemetery."
JOHN E. MITCHELL. Now the owner of the fine farm of 320 acres in section 33 of West Point Township, John E. Mitchell is a man who experienced numerous hardships and discouragements in early life, and it would be hard to find an individual who is more deserving of credit for lifting himself above the limitations of a responsible and cheerless youth. Early thrown upon his own resources, with his only advantage a somewhat limited education of the district school kind, he applied himself so earnestly and ambitiously to the securing of a competence that he was able to rise step by step to a position of independence, and today is numbered among the substantial men of his locality.
An Irishman by birth, John E. Mitchell was born in County Cavan, September 4, 1848, a son of John and Christina (Flack) Mitchell, who, though natives of Ireland, were of Scotch-Irish descent. The parents came to the United States in 1864, locating in Tippecanoe County, where both of them died, and are now at rest in Wheeler's Cemetery, eighteen miles southwest of Lafayette. Nine children were born to their union, five of them living: Archibald, now deceased; Maggie, de- ceased ; Esther, wife of G. H. Geary of Talbot, Indiana; John E .; In- gram; Mary, deceased; Samuel, who lives north of Battle Ground ; Robert, deceased; and Jennie, wife of William Fenters, living north of Morocco. The father of these children was a strong republican in poli- tics, and the family were strict Presbyterians in the old country, but affiliated with the Methodist Church in Indiana. John Mitchell, Sr., was a farmer and stock raiser, and reared all his children to good Chris- tian lives.
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John E. Mitchell until he was twenty-one spent his early boyhood in the home of David Meharry. His education came partly from the schools of Ireland and he also attended a time in Indiana, and was about fifteen when he accompanied his sister Esther to the United States and they landed in Tippecanoe County on the 23d of June, 1863.
In March, 1875, Mr. Mitchell married Miss Lydia N. Carpenter, a daughter of Oliver and Isabella (Orr) Carpenter, who were Canadian people. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell take great pride in their family of chil- dren, which they have carefully reared, and provided with excellent advantages. One of the ten born to them died unnamed, and the others are: Lettie, wife of Ed Slater; Oliver; Elmer, Jesse and Stella, all deceased; Ethel; Robert; Roland; and Esther Marie.
Mrs. Mitchell passed away April 30, 1909, and thus the children lost a devoted mother and Mr. Mitchell his companion of twenty-four years, and she had been a great factor in encouraging him to success. She was laid to rest in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery at Chalmers. She was born in Canada July 26, 1858, and at the age of ten years came to this country with her parents, who located in the northwestern part of Warren County, Indiana. This part of the state was quite on the fron- tiers at that time. She was the oldest of ten children. Her mother and the other nine children are still living. She was converted when thir- teen years old and at once united with the Methodist Episcopal Church and lived a consistent Christian life until the end came. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell began house-keeping in Benton County, near the Town of Talbot, where they lived six years. They then moved to Warren County, where they lived five years and then moved to Nebraska in the year 1887, where she and her husband with a large family of children endured the privations of a newly settled country in an effort to make a home. In 1895, on account of the severe drouth of the two previous years, they became discouraged and moved back to Benton County, Indiana, where they lived for several years, and finally purchased a beautiful home on Grand Prairie in White County, seven miles west of Chalmers, where she resided until her death. She was the mother of ten children.
Mrs. Mitchell was an affectionate wife and a loving mother, never tiring in her efforts to administer to the wants and necessities of her family. The family had recently moved into a beautiful new house, but she left this home for one not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
In 1902 Mr. Mitchell moved his family to White County and for three years lived on the Montgomery farm, and then bought his present place. His operations include general farming and the raising of graded stock, including some very fine Poland-China hogs. He is a republican,
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