USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana > Part 43
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Mr. Weybright of this review was reared in Elkhart county and the first school which he ever attended was held in a little log building sixteen by twenty-four feet. The desk was formed of a board resting upon wooden pins driven into the wall and the old-fashioned goose- quill pen was largely used. He attended school during the winter months and in the summer months he worked upon the farm, giving his father the benefit of his services until he had attained his majority.
Mr. Weybright wedded Miss Susanna Geyer in 1873. She was boin and reared in Elkhart county and has been a devoted and faithful helpmate to her husband. Both her parents are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Weybright began their domestic life on a farm of eighty acres, on which they are yet living. He first rented this property but soon after his father gave him the land, to which he has since added until he now has a valuable form of one hundred and sixty acres in Jackson township, supplied with modern equipments and conveniences and all the necessary buildings for the shelter of grain and stock. Ile has in his possession two of the old parchment deeds which were executed by President Martin Van Buren and bear the date of August 10, 1837.
To Mr. and Mrs. Weybright have been born four children, two sons and two daughters, and the family circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of death. Dora A .. the eldest, is the wife of John Stout, a farmer and minister of the German Baptist church, living in Jack- son township. They have a little daughter. Ruth. John Orba is an agriculturist of Jackson township and was recently elected to the office of deacon in his church. He has been married twice, first wedding Miss Mand Berry, by whom he had a son. James William. His pres- ent wife bore the maiden name of Bertha Culler. Charlie F. is em- ployed in the house of Allbaugh Brothers, Dover & Company, on Frank- lin street. Chicago. Nina Edith is the youngest and attends the home school. Mr. and Mrs. Weybright are both members of the German Baptist church. taking an active interest in the church and Sunday school and he is now serving as one of the trustees of the church at Syracuse, Indiana. Both are representatives of old pioneer families here and they have spent their entire lives in the county, where they are widely and favorably known, having a very extensive circle of friends.
HARRY M. SANDERS.
Entering upon his career of business activity less than ten years «go, Mr. Harry M. Sanders has in the meantime displayed such execu- tive ability and thorough comprehension of modern business affairs that he stands in the front rank of Elkhart county's men of success and enterprise. In the history of Elkhart county industries is found some ·letailed mention of the extensive manufacturing plant known as the Sanders & Egbert Company. wholesale manufacturers of hardwood
HARRY M. SANDERS
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
lumber at Goshen. Mr. Sanders is a director and stockholder in this concern, having been identified with its management since it was or- ganized under the present name, and is also connected with several other companies at Goshen which would at once be named as repre- sentative of their class of business activity.
A son of Daniel A. and Frances MI. ( Miltenberger ) Sanders, the father being president of the Sanders & Egbert Company, Mr. Harry M. Sanders was born in the city of Goshen, January 17, 1875. When he had completed his education in the Goshen schools and at Eastman's Business College in Poughkeepsie. New York, the door of business opportunity being open to him he at once entered and has sought success in the field of industrial enterprise. He has confined most of his attention to the lumber trade and manufacturing. He became a member of the firm of Lesh. Sanders, Egbert and Company, and since 1808 has been connected with the Sanders and Egbert Company. He is also secretary and a director in the Sanders, Hay and Neidig Com- pany, is a director of the State Bank of Goshen, and assistant secre- tary of the Elkhart County Loan and Trust Company. These inter- ests connect him with the foremost financial and manufacturing enter- prises of the county, making him, at the close of his third decade of life, a factor of power and influence in directing the business current of the county. Mr. Sanders also owns and operates a valuable farm in this county.
June 16. 1897. Mr. Sanders married Miss Annie Louise Heckert. of York, Pennsylvania, a daughter of D. Phillip and Annie Heckert. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders have a happy little family of three children, whose names are Annie Virginia, Daniel Heckert and Mary Christine. One of the prominent Masons of the state, Mr. Sanders has active affil- iation with Goshen Commandery No. 50. K. T., and as a thirty-second degree Mason is a member of the Indianapolis Consistory and belongs to Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at the same place. Like so many young men of the twentieth century, Mr. Sanders directs his political action along the lines of independent judgment rather than by partisanship, although in national politics he has always voted the Republican ticket. Socially prominent, Mr. Sanders and wife are among the best known and most highly esteemed young people of Goshen.
A. B. YODER.
A. B. Yoder, junior member of the well known and prosperous hardware and furniture firm of Yoder Brothers at Wakarusa, is pos- sessed of like enterprise and business ability with that which has made the name of Yoder conspicuous in business and civic affairs in this county. Geniality and courtesy form a very valuable stock-in-trade for one who enters a mercantile career, and it is to these qualities that Mr. Yoder ascribes much of his success, although they alone would
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not have been enough had he not also used perseverance and boundless industry in getting started.
Mr. Yoder, who was born in Olive township, this county. March 2. 1870, and who has been identified with the county by practically a lifelong residence, was the seventh child in the family of Henry and Elizabeth ( Bixler ) Yoder. Educated in the common schools and the Wakarusa high school, he spent all of the first twenty-one years of his life in this county, and in 1891 went to Whiteside county, Illinois, where he spent two years in farming and one year as a postoffice em- ploye. In the fall of 1893 he returned to Wakarusa, and since then has been identified, in increasing prominence, with the business affairs of this thriving town. Accepting a place in the general store of Adam Domer at wages of twelve dollars a month, by integrity and diligence he was not long in advancing to a position of independent effort. Mr. Yoder is one of the men of present-day prosperous circumstances who at the beginning of their careers found it worth their while to accept any work which would afford an honest livelihood, relying upon in- ‹lividual ability and hard work and experience to raise them from lower to higher places of responsibility. After remaining with Mr. Domer until 1895 he purchased an interest in the store of the Yoder Brothers, going in debt for the major part of his stock, but in the subsequent ten years he has not only lifted every incumbrance of financial nature but has extended and broadened the scope of the business until the firm of Yoder Brothers is one of the foremost of its kind in Elkhart county.
Mr. Yoder married Miss Clara ' Ehret. September 18. 1895. and one daughter and one infant son have beeen born to them, the daughter being Joy Oma, who is in the first grade of school. Mrs. Yoder was born in Olive township, this county, January 7. 1871. a daughter of Jacob F. and Mary ( Morris) Ebret. who are still living. being pioneer settlers in this county. The Morris family is noted elsewhere in this work as having been identified prominently with early Elkhartian his- tory, the first election following the organization of Olive township being held at the Morris home and the ballot box being the sugar bowl in daily use at that home. Mrs. Yoder was educated in the public schools of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Yoder have a pretty cottage home on Hanover street, and their hospitality and social worth make them prominent factors in the social life and activities of the town. They are members of the Mennonite church, he being a trustee and steward in the Wakarusa society. He is also one of the strongest supporters of the Prohibition party in this part of the county, and his position on matters affecting the civic and moral welfare of his community is well known to all.
JOHN RIDDLE.
For the past ten years numbered among the substantial and suc- cessful agriculturists and public-spirited citizens of Elkhart county, Mr.
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John Riddle, of Olive township. has been a valuable addition to the civic life and material activities of this county and belongs to that class which will be most prominently mentioned in connection with the his- tory of the county during these first years of the twentieth century.
Born in Knox county, Ohio, on Christmas day, 1856, he was the seventh of his parents' ten children, four sons and six daughters. Those yet living are: Lydia, formerly a teacher, now the wife of John W. Miller, a retired resident of Chicago Junction, Ohio; AArchibald, mar- ried and a farmer of Huron county, Ohio: Sybil, wife of Fremont Miller, a farmer of Seneca county, Ohio: Philander, who is a farmer and lives with his family in Huron county, Ohio; John, next in order; Lunetta, wife of George Hatch, a farmer of Ohio: William, who is married and is a farmer in Huron county.
The parents were John and Amanda ( Thornton) Riddle. The father, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Ohio at an early enough date to be classed as a pioneer, and, being a well educated man, taught school for a number of years in Richland and Knox counties. Successful in business affairs, he was the owner of two hundred acres of Ohio land at the time of his death, which occurred in Ohio when he was about sixty-four years old. His political affiliations were first with the Whig party and later with the Republican, and he and his wife were close communion Baptists. The mother, who was born in New York state, became a resident of Ohio at the age of twelve and spent the rest of her life there, both she and her husband being interred in Huron county.
The first eight years of Mr. Riddle's life were spent at his birthplace in Knox county, and from that time until he took up his residence in Indiana he lived in Huron county. A common school education, with one term in the schools of Attica, Ohio, sufficed for literary preparation. and his practical efficiency and common sense have supplied all the re- maining requisites for a successful career. Without cash capital he he- gan at the age of twenty-one as a renter on his father's estate, and con- tinning in that relation until he was twenty-six years old, he progressed steadily by industry and strict attention to business and put himself in line for continual advancement.
October 7, 1883, Mr. Riddle married Miss Sarah A. Fink, a daughter of Peter and Mary (Clouse) Fink, she being one of their nine children, all of whom are living. Mrs. Riddle was born in Elk- hart county. December 18, 1856, and after completing the work of the common schools received her teacher's certificate when sixteen years old. She also tock instruction in the Valparaiso Normal and began teaching in Locke township. Her successful record as teacher covers thirteen terms in Indiana and two terms in Seneca county and one in Huron county, Ohio. Her pleasing personality and genial manner, combined with her ability, have made her successful both in educational work and as a homemaker.
In the winter of 1895 Mr. and Mrs. Riddle located on the old Fink
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homestead in section 2, Olive township, which property, after renting four years, they purchased. They have remodeled the old home into one of the comfortable and pretty country residences of the township. and all the surroundings betoken the enterprising management and ef- ficiency of the owners. The farm has one hundred and ten acres, and commodious barns and other buildings afford all the conveniences and shelter for stocks and crops. Mr. Riddle likes good stock and keeps some excellent grades on his place, favoring the Poland China hog and the heavy draft horses.
Mr. Riddle is one of the firm supporters of Republicanism in his part of the county, having stood for those principles since casting his first vote for Garfield. In religion he adheres to the faith which his good parents practiced, and in social relations and all the varied ways in which individuals mingle with each other he and his wife have en- joved the constant esteem and regard of all friends and acquaintances.
ALBERT CHRISTIAN YODER. A.B., M.D.
Albert Christian Yoder. M.D., physician and surgeon. with a good general practice at Goshen which he has built up within the three or four years of his residence in this city, was born on a farm over in LaGrange county, November 11, 1867. He comes of a substantial family that has been established in northern Indiana since the pioneer epoch. His grandfather. Christian C. Yoder, who married a Miss Herschbarger. was a native of Pennsylvania and of German parentage. as was also his wife. In the early days they traveled across the country by wagon and made settlement in LaGrange county, Indiana, whence they later moved to McPherson county. Kansas, where both died.
Noah C. Yoder, the father of Dr. Yoder, was also born in La- Grange county. He died at the age of fifty-three, on February 26. 1807, having been born January 14. 1844. He married Anna Mary Margaret Lambright, who was born in Germany, September 10, 1845. but who was brought to America by her father, Peter Lambright. when she was three or four weeks okl. Her father settled at first in Holmes county. Ohio, later came to LaGrange county, Indiana, where he died. Dr. Yoder's parents were married in LaGrange county, March 22, 1866. llis mother still resides on the old homestead. being sixty years old. They had four children, of whom Albert C. is the oklest.
Amid the rural surroundings of LaGrange county as it was thirty years ago Dr. Yoder grew to manhood, alternating his youthful activity Between the farm and the country school. One would naturally infer that the Doctor was a bright student, since at the age of sixteen he was awarded a teacher's certificate, and thereafter for several years he instructed the youth of a country school, following that occupation altogether for five years. One intervening year he attended the La- Grange high school. In the spring of 1890 he entered the Indiana
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State Normal School at Terre Haute, where he completed the four years' course and was graduated in 1893. During the six succeeding years he was principal of the high school at Vincennes, Indiana. During this time, however, he was on leave of absence for the purpose of at- tending the University of Indiana, where he was graduated in 1890 with the degree of A. B. In the same year he entered Rush Medical College in Chicago and took the sophomore year's work, after which he taught his last year in the high school of Vincennes, closing in the spring of 1901. In the following July he re-entered Rush Medical. and October 2. 1002, graduated with the degree of M. D. September 26, 1902, he located at Goshen, and in the brief period since then has gained a very satisfactory practice in this city and adjacent country. He stands high among his fellow practitioners, being secretary of the Elkhart County Medical Society, and has membership in the Indiana State Medical and the American Medical associations.
Dr. Yoder affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America, and in religion is a member of the Methodist church. He was married on Christmas day of 1894 to Miss Flora Marie Brookie. and the two children born to them are Dwight Brookie and Albertine Marie.
ALBERT MUTSCHLER.
Albert Mutschler, treasurer of the Coppes. Zook & Mutschler Company at Nappanee, is an able representative of the enterprise and business progressiveness which have been at the foundation of that city's substantial and rapid growth within the last decade. His com- paratively brief career in connection with business life has been char- acterized by the alertness and executive force which are essential to present-day success, and have brought him into a prominent position among the men of affairs in this county.
Mr. Mutschler, who is the third child in the family of George and Sarah ( Froelich ) Mutschler. whose biography appears on other pages of this work, was born in the town of Millersburg, this county. Sep- tember 30, 1871. and was reared to manhood in his native town. Re- ceiving his elementary education in the common schools of Millers- burg he later attended the State Normal at Terre Haute and began his business career with his father at Millersburg. He later was a clerk in Stutz and Donaldson's general store, and then was a clerk in the office of his father's manufacturing plant in Goshen. He came to Nappanee as manager of the Nappanee Furniture Company in 1894. and held that position until the Coppes. Zook & Mutschler Company was organized in 1902, at which time he was chosen to his present office of treasurer of this latter company. His further business interests are in the flour mills, and sawmill and the furniture plant, all of Nap- panee, enterprises which furnish, altogether, employment to about three
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hundred men. As toll in a more specific article on other pages, the Coppes, Zook & Mutschler Company is one of the leading industrial establishments in the county, increasing the resources of the county and affording employment to many men, and Mr. Mutschler's connec- tion with this concern, as with his other affairs, has given him a large field for the exploitation of his energies and business acumen.
Mr. Mutschler is a Democrat in politics, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and is a member and trustee of the Meth- odist Episcopal church and a leading worker in the Sunday school. Having resided in the county all his life, he is naturally deeply inter- ested in its welfare, and his public-spirited citizenship has been mani- fested on many occasions.
Hle married, June 10. 1807. Miss Elizabeth Ulery, who is the daughter of John D. and Mary ( Whitehead ) Ulery. Three children have been born of their marriage, Mary. LaMar and Carlyle.
GEORGE W. HAY.
Few men are more widely or more favorably known in the enter- prising city of Goshen than George W. Hay, the buyer for the Sanders & Egbert Company. For a number of years he has been an important factor in business circles, and his popularity is well deserved, as in him are embraced many characteristics which go to constitute valuable citi- zenship. As a member of this long established and well known firm he has done much to build up one of the leading industries of the city. and contributes in large measure to the progress and success of every movement which has for its object the general good.
George W. Hay is a native son of Elkhart county. Indiana. his birth occurring on the 9th of January, 1860, a son of Joseph and Hat- tie ( Erbaughi) Hay, both natives of Montgomery county, Ohio. In 1859 they took up their abode on a farm in Elkhart county, and there the father spent his remaining days, passing away January 4. 1890. He was of Pennsylvania German descent. His widow is still living. Their son, George W., the second in their family of four children, two sons and two daughters, was early inured to the duties of farm life, and dur- ing his boyhood days attended the county schools and also the city schools of Goshen. After attaining mature years he engaged in the occupation to which he had been reared, and followed agricultural pur- suits until 1892, when he engaged in buying timber, and at the organi- zation of the Sanders & Egbert Company he became a member of the firm, and is now their well known and efficient buyer. Throughout his entire business career he has been interested in farming, and he still owns the old homestead, a valuable tract of eighty acres located two miles west of Goshen.
In 1887 Mr. Hay was united in marriage to Ellen Miltenberger, a daughter of William and Elizabeth Miltenberger, and they have two
Des, W. Hay.
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sons, Clover and George W., Jr. Mr. Hay is a life-long Republican, and for a number of years has taken an active part in political matters. His life has been one of industry and perseverance, and the systematic and honorable methods which he has followed have won him the sup- port and confidence of many.
AMOS C. LEHMAN.
.\ representative of those important mercantile interests which form an integral part of the material prosperity and resources of the town of Wakarusa, Mr. A. C. Lehman is a young business man who. a native of another state, has in recent years transferred his energy and ability to the excellent field of commercial enterprise presented by Wakarnsa, and here has built up one of the foremost mercantile establishinents to be found in western Elkhart county. The "Busy Store" is a first-class emporium which attracts the best class of cus- tomers from the town and surrounding country, and in its genial pro- prietor, up-to-date methods of conducting such a store, and the uniform excellence of the goods offered for sale the public has expressed its satisfaction and appreciation by affording a large share of its trade.
Mr. Lehman was born in Livingston county, Illinois, March 26, 1873, being the sixth in the large family of seventeen children, nine sons and eight daughters, born to Peter Y. and Lydia A. (Good ) Lehman. Thirteen of the children are living. as follows: David G., who is married and is a well known auctioneer residing at Goshen : Sarah, wife of Samuel L. Blough, a farmer of Marshall county; Isaac G., who is married and is engaged in the manufacture of medicine at Elkhart: Noah .A., married, and in the furniture and undertaking busi- ness at Nappanee: Lizzie, wife of Harrison Miller, a farmer of Con- cord township: Amos C .: Susie, a resident of Goshen: Peter G., for the past six years a resident of San Francisco, where he is a barber : Reuben, a salesman at Nappanee: Rhoda, of Goshen: Alpheus, in his brother's store in Wakarusa: Luella, and Harrison, at home.
The father, who was born in Ohio, is a minister and bishop of the Mennonite church, and one of the prominent citizens of this county. where he has resided since 1873. He is a man of broad mind, of noble and unselfish ideals, interested from a practical standpoint in the human- izing influences which make mankind better, and has given much of his time and effort toward promoting the cause of temperance. His wife, a native of this state. is still living.
Being but a child when the family came to Elkhart county, Mr. Vinos C. Lehman was reared to manhood in this county, receiving his education in the common schools, and at the age of nineteen became a clerk in a store at Wakarnsa. He possessed seven dollars and a half at the beginning, and his salary was six dollars a month and board. His employer was William Manrer, the general merchant, to whose
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wise directions and kindly consideration Mr. Lehman attributes much of his subsequent success. Ile remained with this merchant five years, his salary having been advanced several times in the meanwhile, and in 180; he engaged in merchandising on his own account at South Bend. After seven months' successful experience there he returned to Wakarusa and went into the buggy and bicycle business, which he continued two years. At the conclusion of that period he purchased the interests of William Yarian, of the firm of Freed and Varian, general merchants, and in January, 1904, bought the entire control of the business. Since then he has conducted one of the best stores in town, carrying a full line of dry goods, clothing, shoes, men's furnish- ings, notions, groceries, and, having long since acquired the full con- fidence of the trading public, has extended his business so that the annual sales will now foot up to forty thousand dollars a year. Such an extensive trade makes it possible for him to change his stock entirely in the course of a short time, and thus his customers are certain of getting fresh and modern lines of goods at his establishment, which is well named "The Busy Store." Another business aphorism which he thoroughly believes in and practices is "Goods well bought are half sold," and to the application of this principle of judicious wholesale buying he attributes much of his large trade. He now employs six persons in the store, which of itself speaks much for the extent of his concern. Although a man of native modesty, as to matters concern- ing his personal success, it must afford him as well as his friends much gratification to contrast his present situation with his lot in 1892, when he began as a clerk at six dollars a month, and such steady and sub- stantial progress could only result from the integrity of character and persistent industry and strict attention to business.
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