USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana > Part 38
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Essentially a man of affairs, and especially business affairs, Mr. Sage has never aspired to political activity, being content merely to vote for the man he thinks best qualified for office, regardless of poli-
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tics. Fraternally he is a member of the Royal Arcanum, and formerly was connected with the Chosen Friends Society.
Mr. Sage married, first, in 1842, Miss Juno A. Adams, by whom there is one son living, Charles S. By his second marriage, in 1859. with Eliza J. Adams, he has a son and a daughter, Frank A., who is assistant cashier in the First State Bank, and Jennie G., who is the wife of D. H. Hotchkin, in the real estate and loan business in Elkhart.
LEVI E. PIPPENGER.
Levi F. Pippenger, who is engaged in general farming in Locke township, where he owns and operates eighty acres of land, was born in Union township, Elkhart county, February 3, 1865. His paternal grandfather, Jolin L'ippenger, was a native of Pennsylvania and was married in Montgomery county, Ohio, June 17, 1821, to Mary Cripe. also a native of the Keystone state. They came to Elkhart county in 1829 and settled on what was then called Elkhart prairie, now a part of Elkhart township, their home being two miles south of the present site of Goshen. There the grandfather took up land from the government and improved a farm upon which he remained until 1838, when he removed to the farm upon which Joseph L. Pippenger now resides, trading the land on Elkhart prairie for three hundred and twenty acres all in one body. There John Pippenger continued to reside until his death. which occurred in his seventy-eighth year. and through a long period he was numbered with the progressive farmers of the county. doing not a little to promote its agricultural development. His assistance also proved beneficial along other lines, as he assisted in the pioneer upbuilding of this part of the state. His wife died in Union township, when about seventy years of age. Their sons and daughters were: Daniel, Emanuel, Elizabeth, John, Magda- lene, Susan, Christian, Mary, Catharina, Rebecca and Joseph. Of these only three are now living: Emanuel, Catharina and Joseph, al- though nine of the number reached adult age.
Joseph 1. Pippenger, the youngest of the family, was born De- cember 12, 1839, on the farm on section 21. Union township, where he now lives. When a boy he pursued his studies in one of the pioneer log schoolhouses common at that day and also assisted in the ardiions task of clearing and improving a new farm. He remained with his parents until their death and then continued in charge of the old home- stead.
Ile was married April 13. 1862, to Miss Polly Ann Skinner, who was born in Noble county, Indiana, December 2, 1833, a daughter of Ephraim and Mary ( Black) Skinner, in whose family of nine chil- tren she was the second. She was reared in Noble county, Indiana --- where she was born-and since her marriage has resided upon but one farm. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Pippenger: Levi ;
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Emanuel, deceased: William, who was born September 13. 1867, and is at home: Edward. born February 8, 1870; Mary, wife of John Hartsaugh, of Union township: DeLoom, of Iowa, born November 17. 1874; Milo, who was born August 2, 1877, and is a mail clerk on the Lake Shore railroad, living at Goshen, Indiana; Amos, born March 21. 1881; Lizzie, who was born December 18. 1883. and is the wife of David Stouder, of Union township; and Clayton, who was born March 11, 1889. All were born in Union township.
Joseph Pippenger is now the owner of seventy-eight and a half acres of good land and at one time owned much more. He has been retired, however, for the past eight years, leaving the active work of the farm to others. He has resided upon this place for sixty-five years and everything about the farm is endeared to him through the asso- ciations of his boyhood and his manhood. He belongs to the German Baptist or Dunkard church, has taken an active part in its work and contributes generously to its support. In politics a Democrat, he has served as trustee of Union township for about six years.
Levi Pippenger was a public school student in his youth and when not occupied with the duties of the schoolroom gave his attention to the farm work. assisting his father until twenty-one years of age. He has always carried on agricultural pursuits and has spent his entire life in U'nion and Locke townships. He now owns eighty acres of land in the litter and the well tilled fields are the visible evidence of his careful supervision and practical methods.
In 1883 Mr. Pippenger was married to Miss Mary Alice Neff. a daughter of Samuel C. and Lydia (Stouder ) Neff, who were early set- tlers of this county. They lived for a year in Union township and then removed to the farm in Locke township which they now occupy. Four children have been born to them: Jesse, Eva, Morris and Chloe.
Mr. Pippenger, since attaining his majority, has taken an active interest in political questions and is regarded as an active worker in the local ranks of the Democratic party. He was elected trustee of Locke township in 1904 and is now serving in that capacity. He is a member of the German Baptist church and his interest in the mate- rial. social, intellectual and moral progress in the community finds tangible proof in his efforts for advancement along those lines.
MRS. ELIZABETH TROUP.
It has been well said that the destiny of a nation lies in the keep- ing of the mothers, and the part they play in the best life and highest welfare of any community is, if not the most conspicuous, certainly the most important. As a woman whose character has left a perma- nent record in her worthy children and whose life work is not less deserving of mention than the representatives of the sterner sex. a
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biography of Mrs. Elizabeth Troup has a most fitting place in this history.
A native daughter of Elkhart county, where she was born No- vember 1, 1843, she was the oldest child in the family of John and Joanna (Lindenman) Weybright, whose lives have been sketched in the personal history of William Weybright, elsewhere in this work.
Mrs. Troup was born on the famous Elkhart prairie, at a time when all the surroundings were in their primitive state, and she was reared during the days when the country was just emerging from its pioneer state into the later epoch of blossoming prosperity and fruit age. It has accordingly been her privilege to witness nearly all the phenomena of development and progress by which the county has been entirely transformed during the past half century, with its railroads. telegraph and telephone lines, its cities and all other marks of twen- tieth century civilization. Her girlhood was passed during the period when log cabin schools were still found in the county, and she at- tended the old school which stood on the site of the " Big Church." and her first school teacher was Israel Wyland. Primitive indeed were the schoolhouses of that day as compared with the beautiful structures where the youth of this day learn the first lessons of life. Among other pioneer experiences she has spun wool into yarn, and she has in her possession three of the old-time coverlets which were woven in the year 1800. These souvenirs grow more valuable and precious with cach succeeding year, and should always be preserved in the family as relics of a past time wonderfully different from this present age.
August 23. 1862, Miss Weybright was united in marriage with Peter Troup, and of the four sons and three daughters born of this happy union four are still living: Mary E. is the wife of Samuel Ilisey, a farmer of Kosciusko county, and has two children, Roy and Wilma Charley IL., a carpenter and joiner living in Goshen, mar- ried Miss Ella Cripe and has five children : Merrill, Fannie, Ray. Mabel, and Elsie. Myrtle is the wife of Mpheus Neff. a farmer of Jackson township. Milo, who was born May 12, 1879, was reared as a practical farmer and is now successfully engaged in the conduct of his mother's place. He married Miss Emma Fuller and they have one daughter Ardis Bernice. He is a Democrat and he and his wife are members of the German Baptist church.
Peter Treup, in whose death the county lost one of its most use- ful citizens, was born in Canada near Buffalo, New York, May 1.4. 1812, and at the age of eleven years came to Elkhart county, where he was reared to manhood. Industrious and honorable in all his trans- actions, he gained a large degree of success in material affairs and at the same time won the high esteem of all who knew him. He and his wife were liberal contributors in the building of the German Bap- tist " Big Church," and they could always be counted on for help in any canse which meant the advancement of religion and morality.
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Mr. Troup in politics advocated the principles of the Democratic party. without desiring to hold any office, although he was an effective worker in the cause of good roads. His remains rest in the Baintertown com etery, and his loving family have erected there a beautiful stone in his memory Following is the obituary published at the time of his death : " In the Solomon's Creek congregation. Elkhart county, Indiana, November 25, 1900 Brother Peter Troup, aged 18 years, 6 months and i days. The subject of this was born in Welland county, Can ada, and moved to Elkhart county, Indiana, in his youth. He gren up among us to manhood, married a daughter of Brother John Wey- bright, united with the church in 1863, and remained an honorable member to his death. Brother Peter suffered long, but bore all with Christian patience. He called for the elders some time before he died. and was anointed in the name of the Lord. He leaves a wife (a sister ) and six children, two brothers, one sister and other relatives to mourn the loss of a loved one. His family will miss him. Funeral services conducted by Elders D. Shively and D. Younce. Deceased was a brother to Brother Henry Troup, of lowa, a minister."
Mrs. Troup, at home among her friends and children, can well rejoice in the happiness that life has brought her. Having performed her part well, she deserves all the blessings which have been bestowed upon her. It has been said that the happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history, but in this brief genealogical record, pre served in permanent form in the history of the county, her children will find ever renewed pleasure in reading the events of her peaceful and quiet life, filled with good deeds and rich in the inthiences which come from character and true womanhood.
HENRY F. FRAZIER.
Henry F. Frazier, an architect of Nappanee, was born in Stark county. Ohio, January 8, 1849. His father died when he was but two years of age so that he learned nothing concerning the ancestral his tory in the paternal line. His mother, Mrs. Hannah Frazier, was born in Burlington county, New Jersey, and there spent her girlhood days in the home of her father. Samuel Frazier, of that state.
Henry F. Frazier is the only child of his mother's first marriage. He was about three years of age when he came with his grandfather, Samuel Frazier, to Elkhart county, Indiana, and with him he remained until twenty-one years of age. His preliminary education was acquired in the common schools and he afterward studied in the State Normal School at Terre Haute, lidiana, gaining a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of various branches of learning, so that he was enabled to gain a teacher's certificate and enter upon educational work as an in- structor when nineteen years of age. He taught altogether for twenty years, of which five years were spent in the public schools of Nap-
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panee-from 1882 until 1887. Mr. Frazier also worked at the car- penter's trade in early life, serving a regular apprenticeship and fol- lowing that calling during the periods of vacation. In the meantime he took up the study of architecture and has devoted his time and energies to that profession for about fourteen years. He has planned most of the good homes of capitalists of Nappanee and also many fine structures in the towns of Bremen, Goshen and other places. Churches. schoolhouses and residences stand as monuments to his skill in this direction, and for fourteen years his attention has been successfully given to architectural designing.
August 8, 1882, occurred the marriage of Mr. Frazier and Miss Elizabeth Mast, a daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth ( Gingerich ) Mast. They now have five children-three sons and two daughters : Clarence E., who studied under his father, now occupies a good position as chief draughtsman in an architect's office in Chicago: Dinah has suc- cessfully followed teaching for three years: Lois and Ralph are attend- ing school; and Horace completes the family.
Mr. Frazier votes with the Democracy, but while keeping well informed on the questions and issues of the day has no time nor inclina- tion for public office. He has been a resident of Elkhart county since three years of age and is interested in its welfare, rejoices in its progress and co-operates in many measures for its advancement and improve- ment. Hle has a wide acquaintance in the locality where he has so long resided and he is to-day classed with the leading citizens of Nappanee.
JOHN HI. BAKER.
John H. Baker, es-United States district judge of Indiana, prom- inent at the bench und bar of Indiana for nearly half a century, and now living retired in his pleasant home in Goshen, was born in Mon- Hoe county, New York, February 28, 1832. In his long life of more than three score and ten years he has again and again proved his right to the distinguished honors which have been bestowed upon him, and in his age his character has the breadth and richness which are the fruit of varied and eventful experience in affairs of the workl.
When still an infant his parents removed to the present county of Fulton, Ohio, which was then on the frontier, and as he grew up he assisted his father on the farm amid pioneer scenes. Educated in the primitive schools of the time and during only a few winter terms, he himself later became a school teacher and thus saved the money which enabled him, at the age of twenty-one, to take a course of two years study in the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio. When this literary preparation was completed he began the study of law at Adrian, Michigan, and. passing a satisfactory examination before the supreme court of Michigan, was admitted to the bar in 1857.
In the same year he located in Goshen and took up the practice
John H. Baker
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of his chosen profession, and. soon gaining a good clientage, has never lacked both the emoluments and honors of the dignified and accom- plished jurist. During the troublous times of slavery he unhesitat- ingly cast his lot with the new-born Republican party, and in 1862 was nominated and elected a member of the state senate. As was and is the case with nearly every attorney, he held a notary public's commission. and, by the skillful and overdrawn construction of the Democratic majority in the senate, a notary public was declared the incumbent of a lucrative office, therefore constitutionally ineligible to a seat in the senate, whereupon he was expelled from the body. After this brief legislative experience he returned to Goshen and resumed his practice with such ability that he soon became recognized as one of the ablest lawyers of northern Indiana.
In 1872 he was the aspirant for nomination to Congress from the thirteenth congressional district, but after a long contest in the nominating convention was defeated by a combination of the other three candidates. At the succeeding campaign, however, he was nom- inated by his party and after an exciting campaign was elected and saved the district by a very narrow margin from the Democratic tidal wave that swept the state in 1874. In 1876 he was renominated by acclamation and elected by a handsome majority of over two thou- sand, and again in 1878, nominated by acclamation, was elected by an increased majority. His record in Congress was an honor to him- self and constituency. and his abilities and earnest efforts placed him on a plane with the most eminent statesmen in the house. When he retired he was the ranking Republican member on the appropriations committee, and had also performed important service on other com- mittees. His high sense of integrity and right and his positive person- ality and strength made their impress not only upon his colleagues lut upon the legislation of the period. He had earned the respect and esteem of the people of Indiana, and might have continued in his place in the house indefinitely, but at the close of his third term he declined another nomination and returned to Goshen to devote his energies to the needs of his large legal chentage.
When James \. Garfield became president he urged upon Mr. Baker the acceptance of the position of second assistant postmaster general. an office for which the latter was peculiarly well fitted be- cause of his experience while in Congress in investigating the " Star Route " contracts. But in this case. as in subsequent proffers of high and honorable positions, he resolutely refused to resign his practice except for some office in direct line with his profession. In 1892 Judge Wood was promoted to the United States circuit bench from the United States district court, and to succeed Judge Wood in the district judgeship President Harrison appointed Mr. Baker, who was thus honored absolutely without solicitation on his part or that of his friends. When he assumed the duties of the office on March 20, 1802.
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there came to this federal court an ideal jurist, thoroughly versed in the law and precedent, a man of broadest reading and culture, and possessed of a lofty conception of the duties of the court. He served with distinction as district judge until 1002, when he retired under the age privilege of the law, and has since been enjoying the wide esteem and fellowship of his friends and associates in Goshen.
Judge Baker was married in early manhood to Miss Harriet E. DeFrees, a daughter of J. H. DeFrees, of Goshen. Their one son, Judge Francis F. Baker, is now United States circuit judge. Mr. Baker and his wife are members of the Methodist church in Goshen.
DANIEL H. FISHER.
Emerson has said that the history of a country is best told in the lives of its people and this statement holds equally true of a town or community. Public progress is due to the citizens who recognize possibilities and utilize opportunities and to this class belongs Daniel H. Fisher, well known as an enterprising young man of Jackson town- ship and the village of New Paris. The attractiveness of this locality as a place of residence is well indicated by the fact that many of the native sons remain here after attaining majority and when seeking their positions in the business world. Mr. Fisher was born in Jackson township, May 15, 1870, his parents being Harry and Matilda ( Rye- straw ) Fisher. The father was born in the province of Friesland, Holland. in the year 1811, and passed away in 1887. He acquired a good common school education and was a fisherman in his native land. He was married while in Ilolland and about 1853 he set sail from Amsterdam for England, and there he re-embarked at Liverpool, upon a sailing vessel bound for the United States. The anchor was at last dropped in the harbor of New York and he came at once to Elkhart county to make a home for his family. He had little capital and his early life here was fraught with some hardships and difficulties. Just as the party were leaving the train the mother fell and broke her arm, which added to their troubles. Mr. Fisher began as a laborer, scorn- ing no employment that would yield him an honest living, but as time went on he prospered and when his capital had become sufficient he purchased a small tract of land which was unimproved. The only building upon the place was a log cabin, but with characteristic energy he began making a home for his family and placing his fields under cultivation. He added to the farm until he became the owner of eighty acres of very productive land in Jackson township. He was a sup- porter of Democratic principles and he and his wife were advocates of the Mennonite faith, holding membership in the church in Union township. They aided in the erection of the house of worship and contributed generously of their means in support of the church. Mrs. Fisher was a native of Friesland, born in 1833, and she is yet living
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on the old homestead where she has now resided for many long years, while the county has emerged from pioneer conditions and taken its place with the leading counties of this great commonwealth. In their family were eleven children, ten sons and a daughter. of whom Daniel Il. is the tenth in order of birth. With the exception of one son they are all living and are residents of Elkhart county.
Daniel [[. Fisher was reared in the county of his nativity, remain- ing with his parents until he had attained his majority. His educa- tion was acquired in the public schools and in the summer normal schools and he began the profession of teaching in New Mexico when twenty-one years of age. He had no capital at that time, but nature had endowed him with a good mind and he also possessed a resolute will and laudable ambition. As he had brothers in the southwest he concluded that he would also try his fortune in that part of the coun- try and borrowed money to pay the expense of the railroad trip to that point. In the winter of 1891 he started for Eddy county, New Mexico, and after filing a claim to some land he entered upon the work of teaching, which he followed in the same place for seven years, prov- ing a capable instructor, who imparted clearly and concisely to others the knowledge that he had acquired. He won popularity as a teacher and citizen of the southwest, but in 1898 he returned to his home, making the journey by way of Galveston around Key West to New York, and then after spending several days in the eastern metropolis proceeded to Washington, where he also remained for a few days, visiting many points of interest in the capital. While he was in the southwest he made a trip to Old Mexico, and saw many points of his- toric and modern interest there.
In the spring of 1898 Mr. Fisher again reached Elkhart county and soon afterward established a farm implement business in New Paris. \ short time later his brother Martin joined him in the enter- prise and they extended the value of their operations by adding a stock of hardware, lumber, lime, cement, coal and building materials. The firm under the style of Fisher Brothers is now doing a large business, which will amount annually to about thirty thousand dollars. They have prospered by reason of their commercial integrity and earnest desire to please their patrons, combined with an enterprise that brooks no obstacles which can be overcome by perseverance. They have the entire confidence of the community and justly merit the success which is attending them.
Daniel H. Fisher was married August 20, 1902. to Miss Winifred Whitten, and they have an interesting little son, Harry W. Mrs. Fisher is a native of Elkhart county, born October 29, 1874, and is a daughter of William Whitten. She spent her girlhood days here and after attending the common schools continued her studies in the Milford high school, from which she was graduated. She was also a student in the Tri-State Normal and became ore of the school teach-
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ers of this section of the state, following the profession in Kosciusko and Elkhart counties. She has also been a student of instrumental music and she is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Fisher belongs to the Mennonite church, but is a teacher in the Meth- odist Sunday school, and has also been similarly connected with Men- nonite Sunday school. He is a Prohibitionist in his political senti- ments, and takes a strong stand in favor of temperance, doing every- thing in his power to promote the cause. He and his wife are most estimable people and the circle of their friends is almost co-extensive with the circle of their acquaintance.
D. M. WEYBRIGHT.
D. M. Weybright, one of the best known citizens of Elkhart county, represents some of the most substantial factors which have entered into the growth and permanent progress of this county. In fact, a complete history of Elkhart county could not be written without prominent reference to the part which has been played by the Wey- bright family, from the earliest pioneer years up to the present. Mate- rial upbuilding, industrial activity, civic and social welfare, and the cause of religion and morality, have each in due proportion received from this family those impulses of power and influence which have resulted in advancement along the right lines and upward toward the highest ideals of civilization.
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