USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana > Part 46
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TOBIAS HARTMAN.
The name Hartman has become almost synonymous with the his- tory of commercial progress and industrial development in Nappanee for the firm of Hartman Brothers has been a moving spirit along many lines of business and the upbuilding of progress. Tobias Hartman as a member of this firm needs no special introduction to the readers of Elkhart county's history. He was born in Ashland county, Ohio. Sep- tember ;. 1842, and is the third in order of birth in a family of nine children, whose parents were Adam and Elizabeth Hartman and who are mentioned on another page of this work in connection with the his- tory of Jacob Hartman. When about five and a half years of age Tobias Hartman was brought by his parents to Elkhart county and spent his boyhood days in Harrison and Union townships in a manner similar to that of most farmer lads of the period. He acquired his education in one of the old-time log schoolhouses such as were a familiar feature of the landscape in every frontier settlement. He worked with his father in the fields during the periods of vacation, gaining practical knowledge of agricultural pursuits, and when he started out in life on his own ac-
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count he secured employment as a farm hand. thus working up to the time of his marriage.
It was on the 14th of February, 1864. that Mr. Hartman was united in wedlock to Miss Elizabeth Brundage, who was born in Canada April 10, 1842, and is a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Gayman ) Brundage. She was reared in the country of her nativity and came to Elkhart county in 1862, when a young lady of twenty years. Mr. and Mrs. Hartman have become the parents of four children : Daniel, who carries on agri- cultural pursuits in Union township : Mary Ann. the wife of H. L. Sny- der. of Weiser, Idaho: Sarah, the wife of Frank Walters, of Nappanee ; and Henry, who is conducting a grain elevator at Nappanee.
Mr. Hartman, entertaining strong views on the temperance ques- tion, is giving his political allegiance to the Prohibition party. Local improvement and national progress are causes both dear to him, and in matters of citizenship he manifests a public-spirited interest. He is pre- eminently a business man, alert and enterprising. and has wielded a wide influence in commercial and industrial cireles. He is also a factor in agricultural life, for he is the owner of two farms, one in Wabash county, Indiana, and another in Union township. With his brothers. Jacob and John. he was also interested in a furniture manufacturing business conducted under the name of the Nappanee Furniture Factory. having been one of the directors and trustees of the company for several years. Whatever he undertakes he carries forward to successful com- pletion, knowing that a desired result in business can be obtained through persistency of purpose and guided by common sense and supplemented by unabating energy.
J. . 1. COOK.
J. A. Cook, of Elkhart, is the only representative of a family which has been conspicuously associated with the history of Elkhart county from the earliest pioneer times to the present. Elsewhere in this work are narrated many faets about the various individuals of the Cook family, and without some reference to them no history of the county could be written.
It is with Mr. Cook's grandfather. James Cook, that the annals of this county have first to deal. Of English descent and a native of Maryland, he came to Elkhart county in 1830, little more than a year after the tide of immigration had touched the county, and from that time until his death at the age of sixty-three years he was prominently identified with the development of the county. He was a pioneer mer- chant and dealer in lands and real estate, his influence and actions being felt in many quarters of the county.
.A year or so subsequent to the arrival of this pioneer there also eame to this county, from Ross county, Ohio, where he was born in 1826, a boy of seven years, John Cook hy name, a son of the pioneer, and himself also a pioneer. Spending the remaining years of his boy-
J. A. COOK
MARTHA COOK
JOHN COOK
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hood in this county, educated at White Pigeon, Michigan, he became identified with the commercial affairs of both Goshen and Elkhart as a general merchant, later entered the First National Bank of Elkhart as cashier and some time later became vice-president, was also inter- ested in paper manufacturing, and altogether was one of the foremost business men of the county up to the time of his death at the good old age of seventy-five years. Having lived in the county nearly seventy years and having been identified with nearly every phase of its busi- ness growth and development, his death was naturally felt as a loss to the entire county.
Mr. Cook's mother, who died in the fifty-fourth year of her life. likewise belonged to a family which deserves prominent mention in the records of this county. Her maiden name was Martha Winder, a native of Ross county, Ohio, and her father, John Winder, was one of the early settlers of Goshen and was one of the first men to conduct a store in that town.
Mr. J. A. Cook, who was the elder of two sons of his parents and the only one living, was born at Goshen, July 23. 1849, and has spent practically all his life within the limits of Elkhart county. He received his educational advantages in Goshen, at Yonkers, New York, and in Hillsdale College, Michigan. Entering the employ of the First Na- tional Bank of Elkhart in the capacity of errand boy, he was succes- sively promoted to clerk, to bookkeeper, was cashier for a time, and since 1901 has held the office of vice-president, the First National being one of the oldest and most substantial financial institutions of the county. His entire attention is given to the duties of this office and to the management of his father's estate.
Mr. Cook married. in 1884. Etta Barger, who was born in this county, a daughter of William Barger. By their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cook have become the parents of two children, Martha and John, but the daughter was taken from them by death on April 1. 1904. when nineteen years old, just at the entrance upon a bright and beautiful womanhood.
Having spent all his life in this county, Mr. Cook is very much interested in all that concerns the general welfare and lends his influ- ence to every movement for the betterment of city and county. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in politics is a stanch Republican.
SAMUEL D. COPPES.
Samuel D. Coppes, president of the Farmers and Traders Bank and prominently connected with many other financial. commercial and industrial interests of Nappanee, at the beginning of his career had no other capital than the inherent powers of his own character. His his- tory is inspiring and exemplary of what the poor young AAmerican may
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accomplish with the talents that are given him by nature and with the opportunities that surround him in this republic.
Born in Medina county, Ohio, March 22, 1842, Mr. Coppes belongs to a family of German descent which has resided some generations in this country and which has always been noted for the solid worth and integrity of its members, though not. until this generation, distinguished for acquisition in material affairs. The grandfather, Rev. Samuel Coppes, who was also a physician by profession and followed the occu- pation of farining, was born in Philadelphia and came to Elkhart county in 1848. As a missionary of the Mennonite church he made many trips from Indiana to Ohio, and was one of the founders of the Mennonite church west of Goshen, and an elder and deacon in the same. He died in Medina county, Ohio, when about seventy years old.
Jacob Coppes was the father of Sammuel 1). Coppes. He, a native of Pennsylvania, moved to Medina county. Ohio, where he married Sarah Fravel, also a native of Pennsylvania, Berks county, and they came in 1848 to Elkhart county and located on a farm in Harrison town- ship west of Goshen. He had lost his farm in Ohio and during the first years in this county was a renter, finally buying the farm in Locke town- ship where he lived until his death, at the age of sixty-four. He and his wife had ten children, three of whom died in childhood, and those that grew up were named as follows: The oldest son, Daniel, was killed in the war of the rebellion while serving in Company K, Thirtieth Indiana Infantry, as lieutenant, having been promoted to that rank from a pri- vate ; Samuel D). is the next in the family; Eliza and Saloma are both «leceased: Lucinda is the wife of John C. Mellinger, of Chicago; John D.'s biography will be found on another page : Frank is president of the Coppes, Zook and Mutschler Company of Nappanee.
Mr. Samuel D. Coppes, who was the third child and second son. was five years old when he came to Elkhart county. Reared on his father's farm. with limited school advantages procured in the district schools, at an early age he began to contribute his part toward the sup- port of the family. Along in the fifties the neighbors quite often saw him hauling a load of wood to Goshen, for one of his first occupations was chopping and selling stove wood in the Goshen market, and when not busied at this he performed farm duties and any other labors that afforded a means of honest support to himself and the family. He lived at home until he was twenty-two years old, and lent material assistance toward giving his younger brother and sister a start in life.
Ile continued to farm in this county until 1860. in which year he went to Missouri and remained four years. Returning to this county in 1873. he bought a farm in Locke township for four thousand dollars. giving his note at six per cent interest in payment. Industry and good management enabled him to clear off all incumbrances on this place within eight years, and from that time forward his material interests have increased at a substantial rate. Selling the farm and moving to
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Nappanee, he entered the firm known as Mellinger and Coppes Brothers. lumber and box manufacturers. On the withdrawal of J. C. Mellinger the firm became simply Coppes Brothers, and about 1890 Mr. S. D. Coppes withdrew and in the following year bought the bank of Bechtel and Son, which was then, as it has since been, known as the Farmers and Traders Bank, one of the solid and conservative financial institutions of this county. Mr. Coppes is the owner of four excellent farms, one of them being conducted by his son Frank. He built, in 1801, the well known Coppes Hotel in Nappanee, which holds a front rank among the public houses of this county. Its first cost was twenty thousand dollars. Mr. Coppes was also the prime mover in the building of the fine opera house in Nappanee, was interested in the flouring mills, and was one of the principal promoters of the water works and electric light plant which are among the improvements that have placed Nappanee, in civic enter- prise and development, alongside the hest cities of northern Indiana. Public-spirited as he is, and deeply interested in every matter that con- cerns the welfare of his city and county, Mr. Coppes has never seen fit to aspire for public office and has accomplished most for the community in the capacity of a private citizen. He has been a lifelong Republican.
March 12. 1864. Mr. Coppes married Miss Elizabeth Berlin, who was born in Ohio, a daughter of John D. Berlin. Nine children have been born of their marriage: Minnie is deceased, as is also Jesse. the fourth child, who died at the age of two years; Harvey is mentioned at length on other pages: Frank, as already mentioned. is a farmer: Clara is the wife of J. W. Rosbrugh, in the boot and shoe and men's furnishing goods business at Nappanee ; Della is the wife of Charles Mutschler, of the Coppes. Zook & Mutschler Company; Lillian is the wife of Dr. Charles Inks. a practicing physician of Nappanee : Myrtle is the wife of Harley Rickert, of Nappanee: Fred is assistant cashier of the Farmers and Traders Bank.
HARVEY E. COPPES.
Harvey E. Coppes, who was born in Elkhart county, November 20, 1869, is the second child of Sammel D. and Elizabeth ( Berlin) Coppes. the history of whose interesting lives has been narrated elsewhere. Com- ing of a family whose members through all the generations have been stanch and true to the highest principles of moral conduct and business integrity, and the son of a father whose influence and activity have for many years been felt in business and civic affairs of southwestern Elk- hart county, it is but natural to expect in Mr. H. E. Coppes the same pre-eminent ability and executive force, and a brief review of his career shows this confidence to be well founded.
Educated in the common schools of this county, where he has lived all his life. he entered upon his business career as a bookkeeper with the firm of Coppes Brothers, manufacturers, later was head book- keeper for Coppes Brothers and Zook, and, having advanced in busi-
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ness experience and already proved his mettle as a man of affairs, in 1891 he and his father bought of Mr. Henry Bechtel the Farmers and Traders Bank. Two years later he was made cashier of this institution, and has held this position to the present time. This is a private bank. with splendid resources of about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. and its reputation for soundness and stability has never been assailed. Although intimately connected with the conduct of this institution and devoting most of his time thereto, Mr. Coppes has also identified himself very prominently with many other enterprises in Nappanee. Ile was one of the organizers and promoters in the erection of the splendid opera house in Nappanee and is a director in the company which con- trols the same. Ile is a director in the Home Loan Association, is city treasurer of Nappanee, and served as town clerk two years. \ stanch Republican in politics, he has interested himself in party affairs as well as in those things that concern the entire public life of his community. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and his life has been well balanced. each interest, whether of business, civic or social nature, re- ceiving its proper share of attention.
Mr. Coppes married, in September, 1894, Miss Nellie L. Rosbrugh, who is a daughter of Enos and Nancy ( Parker) Rosbrugh. Mr. Coppes and wife have one son, Ward R.
DR. J. C. FLEMING.
Dr. J. C. Fleming, physician and surgeon of Elkhart, in which city he was born December 2. 1873, has made the best of the opportunities which have crowded into his life and at an carly age has reached a prominent place in his professional career. Dr. Fleming is a modern practitioner, thoroughly trained in the systems which comprise the pres- ent-day sciences of medicine and surgery, and equipped with all the skill and ability which spell success in the profession. Having enjoyed the highest advantages in preparation, he has in actual practice demon- strated his talent for real accomplishment in his high vocation.
Dr. Fleming is a son of M. F. Fleming, a native of Rome, Mich- igan. who now resides in Elkhart and is an engineer on the Lake Shore Railroad, being one of the oklest and most trusted employes of that road. The mother, who is also living, was before her marriage Rosetta Smallwood, born in this county and of one of the pioneer families.
Dr. Fleming, who is the older of his parents' two sons, obtained his preliminary education in the Elkhart public schools, from which he was graduated in 1891. and soon thereafter entered the medical depart- ment of Northwestern University, at Chicago, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1895. He enjoyed the exceptional honor and advantage of being chosen a resident physician at the Cook County Hospital. Chicago, a position which he filled during 1895-96. In Janu-
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ary. 1897. he located in Elkhart and since that date has been caring for a profitable and increasing practice in this city.
Dr. Fleming has membership with the Elkhart County Medical Society. the Indiana State Medical Society, the Tri-State Medical Asso- ciation, and the American Medical Association. Fraternally he affil- iates with the Royal Arcanum and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Clark Hospital in Elkhart, and is owner of the well known Fleming Block in this city, Nos. 115-117 Marion street, an office block which he erected in 1902. He enjoys an excellent practice in sur- gery, of which he makes a specialty.
Dr. Fleming married. in October, 1896, Miss Nellie M. Eby, daugh- ter of the Rev. I. W. and Elizabeth Eby. They have one son, Mil- lard, who is five years oldl.
JOHN M. BRUMBAUGH.
John M. Brumbaugh, whose career as a man of affairs and varied interests presents some points of unusual prominence from a biographical standpoint, was born on a farm in Kosciusko county, Indiana, June 16, 1849. He is a son of William and Catherine ( Miller ) Brumbaugh, who were married in 1844. and the father died August 21. 1856, and the mother, in California, June 16, 1900. The father was born May 23. 1819, and the mother December 6, 1825. They were the parents of two sons and three daughters, but one of the sons, Henry C., died in California. September 22, 1885. The daughters are Mary E .. Annie E. and Emma.
Mr. Brumbaugh spent the first sixteen years of his life in his native county, living there after his father's death until his mother sold the farm and with her children moved out to Marion. Marion county. Kansas. Mr. Brumbaugh spent twenty-seven years of his life in Kan- sas, and was identified quite prominently with the official life of the state. He was a clerk in the Kansas state treasurer's office at Topeka two years. He lived five years at Concordia and during that time served two years as Kansas state fish commissioner. During his residence in the Sunflower state he was known as one of the stanch and steadfast Republicans, unshaken in his allegiance by the populistic movement which swept into its ranks so many members of both of the old parties. In 1891 Mr. Brumbaugh met the noted Mary E. Lease in joint debate on the topics of land. finance and transportation, and also took prom- inent part in many other phases of the campaigns of those years, ap- pearing frequently in joint discussions with Populist orators. In this connection he established a reputation as a debater and fluent speaker and showed himself a master of many of the important problems of the day. Mr. Brumbaugh is a well educated man, although the common schools furnished his early advantages, his native intelligence and prac-
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tical study of every-day affairs supplying many deficiencies which are often observed even in college graduates. He taught school for ten years of his career. Mr. Brumbaugh took up his residence in Elkhart on April 22, 1892, and has lived there ever since. For three years he was engaged in farming in Osolo township, and also filled out an unexpired tern: as trustee of that township. Well versed in economic subjects and in political affairs, it was but natural that he should turn his attention to the law. He pursued his studies as opportunity offered and was admitted to the bar of this county in 1898. He was appointed justice of the peace in 1899. and still holds that office.
Mr. Brumbaugh married. in 1879, Miss Lora M. Johnson, a daugh- ter of Guy C. Johnson, deceased. She died February 22, 1900, leaving two daughters, Frances E. and Kathleen, who are both members of the Presbyterian church and very popular members of society. In Novem- ber. 1904. Mr. Brumbaugh married for his present wife, Marie Engle. Fraternally Mr. Brumbaugh affiliates with the Modern Samaritans of the World.
HON. JAMES S. DODGE.
James S. Dodge, circuit judge of the thirty-fourth judicial distriet of Indiana, having been elevated to the bench by the votes of the people at the November election of 1904, has spent most of his life within the limits of Elkhart county, where native ability and intense applica- tion to duty and rugged honesty have raised him to a place of com- manding influence among his fellow citizens.
Born in Morrow county, Ohio, August 24. 1846, at the age of three years he accompanied his parents to this county. A year later, in 1850. he was deprived of the tender care of his mother, who before her marriage was Mellissa Shaw, a native of Pennsylvania, and in 1856 death took away also his father. Charles Dodge, who was a native of New York state. Thus left an orphan when ten years old, he returned to his mother's people in Ohio, and during the remainder of his boy- hood remained with relatives, working on a farm and attending the common schools. The quiet course of early youth was broken by the Civil war, and unable to withstand the promptings of his patriotie spirit when the armies of Lee were beginning their great campaign into the north, in June, 1863, he enlisted as a private in Company M. Third Ohio Cavalry, for three years' service or till the close of the war. He joined his regiment at Chattanooga, September 17, on the day before General Bragg attacked Rosecrans at Chickamauga, and, finding him- self in the midst of all the stress of war but without the drill or prac- tical knowledge of the soldier's life, thereafter, beginning with his par- ticipation in the battle of the 18th of September, he gave continuous and faithful service to the cause as a member of the gallant Third Ohio Cavalry until the close of the war. Among the subsequent bat- tles in which he participated with his regiment were those of Mission-
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ary Ridge, Rocky-faced Ridge, Snake Creek Gap, Big Shanty, Kenne- saw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, and the battles around Atlanta. When the latter place was lost to the Confederacy the victorious brigade of which the Third Ohio was a part was ordered to follow Hood back to Nashville, where it took part in the decisive battle of December 15-16, 1864, at which the Federals under Thomas defeated the Confederates who were making a last stand under Hood. The Third Ohio was em- ployed in the pursuit of the scattered southern forces, taking part in Wilson's raid to Selma, thence to Columbus and Macon, Georgia, and at the latter place the regiments forming the brigade were disbanded in July. 1865, and at Nashville the men were given their honorable dis- charge. Mr. Dodge participated in the raid and liberation of Union prisoners at Andersonville, and also in the pursuit and capture of Jef- ferson Davis. He did not escape the dangers of war altogether, and saw his full share of hardships. At Chickamauga he received a sabre wound. and while in the rear of Atlanta a yet more severe wound, but his youth and rugged constitution caused him to suffer only a brief disability from these wounds. At Farmington. Tennessee, a horse was shot from under him, but he at once jumped upon a riderless Confederate steed and kept up with his regiment. Enlisting as a priv- ate, he became an orderly sergeant toward the close of his martial career.
In September. 1865, returning to Elkhart, at which time he was still under ago. Mr. Dodge attended the city high school one term, and. having obtained a teacher's license in November, for the two follow- ing winters taught school in Penn township. St. Joseph county. In the early part of 1866 he began the study of medicine under the direc- tion of the late R. J. Haggerty, of Elkhart. By alternate attendance at and teaching school for three years, his ambition reached its first goal on March 31, 1869, when he graduated from the medical depart- ment of the University of Michigan. At once entering upon his pro- fessional career in Elkhart, he was known as a very successful medical practitioner there up to 1884, in which year, having previously carried his studies into a new field, he was admitted to the bar. He soon rose to prominence in this new profession and also in the realm of political activity. In 1892 he received the Republican nomination for congress, but in that year of Democratic landslides all over the country he also suffered defeat. Subsequently proposed as a proper nominee for gor- ernor, geographical location played against him in the convention and he failed of the nomination. In 1904 his party placed his name on the ticket for the office of judge of the thirty-fourth judicial district, and he was elected November 8. A man of earnest convictions, of broad learning, with the dignity and aplomb which preclude bias or petti- ness from his character, Judge Dodge holds the confidence of the people to an unusual degree and has already justified the wisdom of his choice
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to a position on the bench. An eloquent and logical speaker. he has also participated effectively in numerous campaigns.
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