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 44
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following year found him engaged at Warfel School. In 1907 he com- pleted two years' effective service as principal of the high school at Burnettsville, and then, after a course in the School of Oratory in Pitts- burgh, as previously noted, he assumed the chair of oratory in Findlay College of Findlay, Ohio. Save for this one exception all of his work as a teacher has been done in his native county, and after his return from the Buckeye State he held for five years the position of principal of the high school at Wolcott. He then, in August, 1913, assumed his present executive and pedagogic post, that of superintendent of the high school at Chalmers, where his work has been of the highest effi- ciency and where a corps of eight teachers are under his supervision. The class of 1916 in the Chalmers High School numbers eight persons, and the school is known for its admirably developed system and for its high efficiency.
Professor Downey has given eighteen years of most effective and creditable service as a teacher, and from the age of six years there has been an interim of only one year that has not found him actively identified with school work either as a student or an instructor,-a record that finds few parallels in the case of men of the same relative age as himself.
Taking a loyal and broad-minded interest in those things that touch the general welfare of his native county, state and nation, Mr. Downey accords staunch allegiance to the democratic party, as a member of which he cast his first presidential vote in support of the candidacy of Hon. William Jennings Bryan. He is not a radical or intolerant political partisan, however, and subordinates all other interests to the work and demands of his profession. He is affiliated with the Knights of the Mac- cabees, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America, and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Presby- terian Church at Monticello. In his native Township of Liberty he is the owner of a well improved farm of ninety acres, and he also owns residence property at Monticello, the county seat.
Professor Downey and his gracious wife have broadened their ken by indulgence in travel in various parts of the United States, and they have derived both pleasure and profit from their activities along this line. They are known as folk of high intellectuality and the gracious culture that makes for refinement, consideration and kindly tolerance, so that it is but natural that they are held in unqualified esteem in White County and that their circle of friends is limited only by that of their acquaintances. Thus it is a matter of definite consistency and satisfaction to be able to accord to them this tribute in the history of the professor's native county.
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On the 1st of June, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Downey to Miss Daisy M. Plunkett, who was born in New Ross, Montgomery County, Indiana, on the 7th of December, 1876, and whose early educa- tional advantages included those of the public schools of Crawfordsville, where she graduated with honors in 1895. Thereafter she was for four years a' student in the University of Indiana, from which she was gradu- ated in 1899 with the highest honors of her department and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The following six years she taught Latin and English in the high school at Brownstown, Indiana. In 1905 she returned to Indiana University to do post-graduate work and assist in the Latin department from which she received the degree of Master of Arts in 1906. Mrs. Downey also gave special attention to the study of art, Greek and philology. In the autumn of 1906 she went to Wolcott, In- diana, where she taught Latin, English and art for seven years. Since 1913 she has been principal of the schools of Chalmers, where she holds ยท prestige as one of those versatile and resourceful teachers who are like poets, "born not made." She proves a most efficient coadjutor to her husband and their harmony of ideals and interests is most gratifying to contemplate. Mrs. Downey holds membership in the Christian Church, is specially active as member of the Parents-Teachers Associa- tion and is affiliated with the Society of the Daughters of the G. A. R., and Pythian Sisters.
Mrs. Downey is the youngest of three children born to Abram and Margaret (Mackay) Plunkett.
Her father, Abram Plunkett, was born in Maysville, Putnam County, Indiana, in 1839. He was a farmer boy with few advantages but man- aged to attend the Ladoga Academy later where he studied Latin and Greek preparatory to the ministry.
In 1861 he answered his country's call and enlisted in Company E of the Seventy-second Indiana Regiment, where he remained till the close of the war, during which time he participated in seventeen pitched battles and many skirmishes, chief of which was Lookout Mountain, Chicka- mauga, and Missionary Ridge. During these trying years the Bible was his closest companion, for during his term of enlistment he read it through three times.
From the close of the war he devoted the remainder of his life to preaching the gospel as he saw it as a minister of the Christian Church. In all of those years he never wrote a sermon nor preached the same one twice in succession.
In those days the lot of a preacher was not always an easy one. No road was ever too long, nor the weather too bad for him to go to his services, or preach a funeral. He never turned the needy away from his door empty-handed, nor was he ever without a place to preach. Vol. II-26
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When Mrs. Downey was a baby her own mother died and was buried near Vevay, Switzerland County, Indiana. Afterward her father mar- ried Mrs. Louisa E. Martin, a cousin of Senator La Follette of Wis- consin, and he lived in Crawfordsville till his death in 1911. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Crawfordsville, Indiana.
HIRAM J. KLEPINGER. Business foresight, an inclination for his vocation, appreciation of its many advantages and belief in his own ability to succeed placed Hiram J. Klepinger among the foremost and most substantial agriculturists in Prairie Township. Coming here in 1870, through his unaided industry he secured ample means, permitting his retirement to Brookston in 1907 and his consigning to younger hands the tasks that made up the sum of his activities for thirty-seven years. He is now the owner of a pleasant home and is considered one of the financially strong residents of Brookston.
Mr. Klepinger was born September 16, 1841, in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and is a son of Jacob and Mary (Campbell) Klepinger. His father was born in Ohio, of German descent, in 1803, and about the year 1833 or 1834 came to White County, Indiana, with Aaron Yarnall, they being the two farthest out of Lafayette for a number of years. Mr. Klepinger took up eighty acres of land from the Government, on section 32, range 4, Prairie Township, and during his early life on that property he had many experiences with the Indians, which he de- lighted to relate in after years. After two or three years on this pioneer tract, he removed to Tippecanoe County and there the remainder of his life was passed, his death occurring March 22, 1865, when he was past sixty-two years of age. Mr. Klepinger married Mary Campbell, a native of Xenia, Ohio, of English descent, and they became the parents of eleven children, of whom seven are living, Hiram J. being the seventh in order of birth and the only one now living in White County.
The public schools of Tippecanoe County furnished Hiram J. Klepin- ger with his education, and it was but natural that he should adopt the vocation of farming as his life work when he entered upon his career. During the Civil war he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred Thirty-fifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for four and one-half months, and has always maintained his interest in his old army comrades, being at this time a member of Champion Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Brookston. Mr. Klepinger was married November 25, 1868, in Tippecanoe County, to Miss Irilla Col- vert, of that county, and one son has been born to this union : Velda C., a resident of Tippecanoe County, who married Nancy Hodgin and has one son, Robert V. After the death of his first wife Mr. Klepinger was
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again married, being united with Eliza J. Schoonover, a daughter of John and Eliza (Potter) Schoonover, early settlers of Tippecanoe County. Mrs. Klepinger is a native of Tippecanoe County, born July 9, 1880, and was the fourth in a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters, seven of whom are living, and two are residents of White County. She was educated in the common schools. Mr. and Mrs. Klepin- ger have two children : Emory D., living three miles southwest of Brooks- ton on a farm, who married Lora Kantz, and has two daughters, Mar- jorie E. and Mary M .; and Estella M., who resides with her parents at Brookston.
Hiram J. Klepinger came to Prairie Township in 1870, and here engaged in agricultural operations, which continued to occupy his atten- tion to his retirement in 1907. He is still the owner of 11734 acres of valuable land, in addition to which he has town property at Brookston, where he owns his own home. In political matters he is a republican, although inclined to be independent in local elections, where he en- deavors to support the man he deems best fitted for the office. With Mrs. Klepinger he attends the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is an active and liberal supporter, and in former years was a member of the board of trustees of Old Prairie Church. He has done his full share in promoting the material prosperity of his township and county, is a man of most upright character and correct life, and in the com- munity where he has lived so long is greatly respected and regarded as one of its most useful and exemplary members.
JOHN C. VANATTA. Fully three-fourths of a century ago North- western Indiana gained its first representative of the Vanatta family, which was founded in America in the colonial era of our national his- tory and which is of the fine old Holland Dutch stock that was so con- spicuous and influential in the early development and upbuilding of the states of New York and New Jersey. He whose name initiates this paragraph is a scion of a family whose name has been most prominently and worthily linked with the history of White County, Indiana, and with all of consistency may it be said that he has fully upheld the high standards and honors of the name which he bears, White County having owed an appreciable part of its civic and material development and progress to representatives of this well-known family. Mr. Vanatta is recognized as one of the leading exponents of the land reclamation ac- tivities in this section of his native state, and his service in the developing of swamp and other waste lands has been extensive in scope and be- nignant in character, his operations having been not only in Indiana but also in Illinois, the while he has gained high reputation in this im- portant domain of practical engineering.
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John Crothers Vanatta was born in the Town of London, Hancock County, Indiana, and the date of his nativity was February 19, 1857. He was the second in order of birth in a family of two sons and two daughters, and the other two surviving children are Joseph and Martha. Joseph Vanatta, who was educated in what is now known as Valparaiso University, is engaged in the fire insurance business at Earl Park, Benton County, Indiana, the maiden name of his wife having been Mellie Taylor. Martha, the surviving daughter, is the wife of William O. Wilson, of Green City, Missouri, where her husband is a representa- tive merchant and an official of the Presbyterian Church, and they have two children.
John C. Vanatta is a son of Peter R. and Margaret Agnes (Crothers) Vanatta, the former of whom was born at Hagerstown, Salem County, New Jersey, in the year 1811, and the latter of whom was born in Clark County, Ohio, in 1820. Peter R. Vanatta was reared to adult age in his native state, and that he was afforded the best of educational ad- vantages is indicated by the fact that he was graduated in College of New Jersey, now commonly known as Princeton University, when that great institution was under the executive direction of the distinguished President McCosh. Peter R. Vanatta likewise completed a course in the theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church, at Princeton, and was ordained as a clergyman of that church. He served for forty years, and with signal zeal and ability, as a colporteur of the American Bible Society. In 1841 he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Newark, Licking County, Ohio, where he was thus in service two years. In 1843 he came to Indiana and assumed the pastorate of the old-school Presbyterian Church at Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, which now thriv- ing city was then a mere village. The church of which he there became pastor has maintained continuous organization to the present day and is now known as the First Presbyterian Church. In connection with his earnest labors as pastor of this pioneer church Mr. Vanatta amplified the scope of his benignant influence by conducting a select school on Ninth Street Hill of Lafayette, where he gave freely of his fine scholastic ability in preparing young men for college. In the climacteric period leading up to the Civil war he was one of the most implacable adver- saries of the institution of human slavery and gave effective service in support of the cause of abolition. He was one of those who became affiliated with the republican party at the time of its organization and was a great admirer of the martyred President Lincoln. He ever stood an exponent of righteousness and deep Christian faith, and his influence was a veritable benediction resting upon all who came within its com- pass. Mr. Vanatta held pastoral charges at various points in Northern
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
and Central Indiana, became associated also with agricultural activities, and was a resident of Lafayette at the time of his death, which occurred on the 20th of August, 1886. His paternal grandfather was a native of Holland and became the founder of the family in America, where each succeeding generation has given distinct evidence of the sturdy Dutch traits of character.
In Ohio was solemnized the marriage of Rev. Peter R. Vannatta to Miss Margaret Agnes Crothers, who was born in Clark County, that state, in 1820, as has been previously stated in this context. She sur- vived her honored husband by more than a decade and was summoned to the life eternal on the 19th of April, 1898, secure in the affectionate regard of all who had come within the sphere of her gentle and gracious influence. Her remains rest beside those of her husband in beautiful Greenbush Cemetery, at Lafayette. Her parents came to Ohio from Kentucky and her ancestors were numbered among the sterling pioneers of the fine bluegrass section of Kentucky.
John C. Vanatta, the immediate subject of this review, was but an infant at the time of his parents' removal from Hancock County, In- diana, to Fountain County, and one of his vivid memories of his child- hood is that pertaining to his dignified ownership of a prize calf which he led a distance of twenty-four miles to exhibit the animal at the Tippe- canoe County Fair, held at Lafayette. This was a momentous occasion for the lad, who was not five years old at the time. He was amply compensated for his childish ambition when his calf captured a prize of three dollars, the calf having been a Devon heifer that represented much in the childish life of the boy.
Mr. Vanatta continued to attend the public schools of the day until he had attained to the age of fifteen years, when he obtained a position as messenger boy in the service of the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany, at Lafayette, where he served under the administration of the company's agent, H. E. Doolittle, a man who was well known through Northern and Central Indiana. After serving two years in the capacity mentioned Mr. Vanatta, at the age of seventeen years, entered the scien- tific department of Purdue University, where he became the only mem- ber of his class, of four persons, to complete the full scientific course. He was graduated in the year 1878 and duly received the degree of Bachelor of Science. His course included thorough training in civil engineering, and it is a distinct satisfaction to him at the present time to know that his alma mater, Purdue University, has gained recognition for having today the best course of electrical engineering to be offered by any college or university in the West.
Mr. Vanatta's mature life has been given largely to the developing
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
of waste lands from the swamps and quagmires, and it is doubtful if any other one man in Northern Indiana has achieved so large and im- portant a work in the reclamation of land as has he. He has carried to successful completion many large and important reclamation projects of this order in Indiana and Illinois, and in Iroquois County of the latter State he has completed three extensive contracts. The autumn of 1915 finds him vigorously engaged in the carrying forward of a $70,000 reclamation contract near Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, and in all of his operations as a contractor he has brought to bear his thorough scientific knowledge and his practical skill in directing work of inestima- ble value as touching industrial development and progress.
Mr. Vanatta is one of the most extensive landholders in White County, Indiana. where he has a valuable estate of 1,800 acres, in Prairie, Round Grove and Big Creek townships. In connection with the improving and general activities of his extensive farm properties Mr. Vanatta has proved himself one of the most alert, vigorous and progressive repre- sentatives of the agricultural and stock-growing industries in this sec- tion of the Hoosier State, and his large and worthy success has been achieved entirely through his own ability and well directed endeavors.
In politics Mr. Vanatta is a veritable stalwart in the camp of the republican party, and he cast his first presidential vote in support of James A. Garfield. Since that time he has given similar support to each sucessive presidential candidate presented by his party, and he has taken a specially lively interest in political affairs, in connection with which he is well fortified in his opinions. In 1914 he was chair- man of the republican county convention of White County, and his service at the time will not soon be forgotten by the other delegates to the convention, for his impress was distinct and independent and he exemplified effectively the courage of his convictions.
Mr. Vanatta was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian Church, and has never wavered in his fealty to the same, the while he has continued deeply appreciative of the long and zealous service rendered by his hon- ored father as a member of the Presbyterian clergy. He himself has been active and influential in church affairs and his wife also is a devoted adherent of the church. In 1903 Mr. Vanatta had the distinction of being elected a delegate or commissioner to the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States and attended its meeting, held in the City of Los Angeles, California. He maintains his home in the Village of Brookston, where he owns a most attractive residence property, and where he and his family are prominent figures in the rep- resentative social life of the community. In this village he is affiliated with Castle Hall Lodge, No. 288, Knights of Pythias.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
On the 5th of August, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Vanatta to Miss Mary M. Kassabaum, and they became the parents of two sons and two daughters, and the younger of the two sons was Paul, who died at the age of one year. John C. Vanatta, Jr., was graduated in the Brookston Iligh School and thereafter completed a thorough course in civil engineering at Purdue University, in which he was gradu- ated as a member of the class of 1912 and with the degree of Civil Engineer. Ile is affiliated with the Sigma Chi college fraternity and also with the Triangle, whose membership is composed of students of and graduates in civil engineering. He remains at the parental home, is village treasurer of Brookston, and has charge of the funds which are to be utilized in the erection and equipment of a Carnegie Public Library in this village. He is a loyal young advocate of the principles of the republican party and is affiliated with the local lodge of the Masonic fraternity. Miss Gertrude V. Vanatta was graduated in the Brookston High School and also in the celebrated conservatory of music at Oberlin College. She is a successful and popular teacher of music in Brookston, is an active member of the Presbyterian Church and is a popular factor in the leading social activities of her native county. Miss Agnes C. Vanatta has completed the curriculum of the Brookston High School and has proved a successful teacher in the public schools of White County, she having spent the summer of 1915 in travel through various Eastern states.
Mrs. Vanatta was born in Will County, Illinois, on the 1st of April, 1868, and is a daughter of Henry and Mary (Getting) Kassabaum. She was reared in Benton County, Indiana, and acquired her education in the public schools at Kentland and Goodland, this state, after which she was a popular and successful teacher in the schools of Newton County. Mrs. Vanatta is treasurer of the Ladies' Aid Society of the Presbyterian Church of Brookston, and is a woman whose gracious personality has endeared her to all with whom she has come in contact. Mr. and Mrs. Vanatta have a beautiful homestead, lying continguous to the corporate limits of Brookston on the south, and this attractive home is known for its generous hospitality and as a center of much of the social activity of the community. Mr. Vanatta and his family are specially zealous in connection with the work of the Presbyterian Church, and he is one of its influential lay members, as has already been intimated. He is treas- urer of the home-missionary committee of the Logansport Presbytery, and also treasurer of the Presbyterian Synod of the State of Indiana.
Mr. Vanatta is known as one of the substantial capitalists and influ- ential citizens of White County, and he became, in 1894, the organizer of what is now known as the Brookston Bank. He became cashier of
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the institution and has continued his service in this capacity since it was reorganized, as a state bank, in 1896.
As indicative of the marked appreciation in the valuation of land in the southwestern part of White County, it may be stated that in 1889-90 Mr. Vanatta purchased 1,760 acres of such land for $16,000, and that at the close of the year 1915 this same property would readily sell at approximately $200 an acre. Mr. Vanatta takes deep and abiding inter- est in all that tends to foster the social, moral, educational and material well-being of his home county and state and is essentially one of the honored and representative citizens of White County.
JOSEPH H. KIOUS. Prominent among the leading agriculturists and extensive property owners of White County, is found Joseph H. Kious, who is carrying on operations in Prairie and other townships and resides at Brookston, where he is president of the Farmers Bank and also inter- ested in various other ventures of a business and financial character. Mr. Kious has reside in this community all of his life, having been born December 12, 1846, in section 15, range 4, Prairie Township, a son of John and Harriet (Pritchard) Kious.
Adam Kious, the grandfather of Joseph H. Kious, was of German parentage, and was born in Pennsylvania, where he was married to Margaret Hyde. There their son, John, was born December 3, 1803, and when he was three years of age the family moved to Madison County, Ohio, where he received a college education and grew to manhood. He early began investing and speculating in land, and although on several occasions he nearly lost his all, he eventually accumulated large holdings and at one time was the owner of 10,000 acres of land in the vicinity of Mount Sterling, Ohio. In the year 1843, with two wagons and consid- erable cattle, he came West as far as Dayton. It had been his intention to come on at that time to White County, but the lack of feed here kept him from coming until the following year. For two years he rented land, and then purchased a tract in Prairie Township, and through industry, perseverance and good management accumulated what was a fortune for that time, although crop failures and plunging had almost bankrupted him. He was progressive and enterprising in all things, was the first man to raise 1,000 acres of corn in White County, and lived to be one of the foremost men of his day in his community. Himself a college graduate and a close and careful student, he was a great friend of education and did much to secure advantages in this line in his town- ship. He donated the land and most of the logs for the Hickory Ridge School, the first schoolhouse in his neighborhood, and also gave the land for the first school at Brookston. Mr. Kious was a kind-hearted man and
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