USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana > Part 57
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Millersburg is the birthplace of Mr. Sol Miller. Born on May 8,
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1874, he was the third in a family of five children, two sons and three daughters, whose parents were Andrew U. and Charity J. ( Showalter ) Miller. All the children are living at the present time, as follows : Harry D., a graduate of the University of Indiana and formerly prin- cipal and superintendent of the public schools of Cromwell, Millers- burg and Topeka, is now a student in the theological department of the University of Chicago, being a member of the class of 1906. lle is a young man of ripe scholarship and broad ability in his chosen fields of work. He married Miss Addie Piper, of Noble county, and they have one son, George. Leila Ada. the second child, who received ex- cellent educational advantages and a three years' course in music, is the wife of John W. Smith, who is connected with the W. B. Burford Stationery Company at Indianapolis, the head of the firm being state printer. Luann, the next daughter, was educated in the Ligonier schools, is the wife of Ross .A. Skinner, who was formerly associated with her brother Sol in merchandising at Syracuse. Jessie P., the youngest, is at home with her parents in Noble county.
Andrew U. Miller, the father, who was born in Ohio and is now one of the prominent citizens of Noble county, has spent his active career in farming and milling, he and his brother operating a grist mill for many years. His father Solomon, the pioneer founder of Mil- lersburg already mentioned, was probably a native of Tennessee, and, coming to Elkhart county at an early date, became owner of much of the land where Millersburg now stands. He participated in the Black Hawk war, and among the earlier members of the family were several who served in the Revolutionary war. AAndrew Miller also served his country during the Civil war, enlisting, at the age of six- teen, in 1862, and serving altogether three years and one month. He was a member of Company I, Seventy-fourth Indiana Infantry, which was assigned to the western department of the Federal army, and his service was under the noted leaders, Sherman and Thomas, and he was with the former on the march to the sea. Mrs. Charity Miller, the mother, was born in the beautiful Shenandoah valley of Virginia, in Rockingham county, but, coming to Indiana when a little girl, has spent practically all her life in this state.
Reared in his home county, Mr. Sol Miller, after completing the course in the common schools and a three years' course in the Ligonier high school, then entered the educational ranks and taught school three years in Noble county. During the four years' term of his father as county treasurer of Noble county, in 1897-1900, he served as deputy treasurer. In 1902 he was appointed deputy treasurer of LaGrange county. at the same time serving as deputy county auditor, and. held these positions until 1903. After being connected with the banking house of Sol Mier and Company at Ligonier for some months he and his brother-in-law. on August 1. 1903. entered into a partnership for conducting a general store at Syracuse, Kosciusko county. This enter-
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prise was disposed of in March, 1905, and since then, up to the date of this writing. Mr. Miller has been manager of a hardware store owned by his father-in-law in Wakarusa.
August 9, 1904, Mr. Miller married Miss Georgiana Leone Ketring, daughter of Silas L. Ketring, the banker of Syracuse. Mrs. Miller was born April 12, 1882, in Kosciusko county, was educated in the Syracuse high school and the Tri-State Normal at Angola, and for one year taught school in Porter county. She is a bright, resourceful and talented little woman, has studied music and is a member of the Shakespearian Club at Syracuse. Her father, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, March 14, 1845. is a successful business man who has attained prominence by perse- vering effort and reliance on his own strength and ability from youth up. He studied at the business college at Notre Dame, Indiana, and began his career as a salesman in a general store at Milford, this state, being sixteen years old when he began this connection with mercantile life. He has since reached many higher rungs on the ladder of success. He began merchandising on his own account at Syracuse in 1870, and continued in business for thirty years, from a modest start increasing the scope and value of his enterprise until he had become a man of means and large influence in his home town. In 1900 hie engaged in the banking business in Syracuse, founding the Bank of Syracuse with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. His wife, who was born in Kosciusko county June 22, 1853, was a daughter of Thomas Kirby and Hester A. ( Baneford ) War- ner, her mother being still alive at the age of eighty-three years. Mrs. Ketring, of excellent Pennsylvania Dutch stock, was reared and educated in her native county and became one of the successful teachers in that and Elkhart counties. Mrs. Miller has four sisters: Adah is the wife of J. H. Miller, postmaster at Syracuse, and has a little daughter aged seven, Frances Helen. DeEarle, who was a student in the Goshen high school and the school of oratory at Northwestern University, is the wife of O. W. Roberts, a resident of Enid, Oklahoma, and a commercial sales- man for Marshall Field and Company of Chicago. Jessie is her father's assistant in the bank at Syracuse. Blanche has her diploma from the common schools and is now a student in the high school. and has also taken both vocal and instrumental music.
Mr. Miller is a stanch Republican, having cast his first vote for Mc- Kinley, and fraternally is affiliated with the Masons and the B. P. O. E. Lodge No. 451 at Ligonier. Mrs. Miller is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
MAJOR JAMES D. BRADEN.
Major James D. Braden, who was born in Hardin county, Ohio. April 27. 1839, has lived in Elkhart county for over fifty years and has been prominently identified throughout his active career with this county and the city of Elkhart in particular. He. as was also his father, is a most capable blacksmith, and these two have carried on
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the trade in this county for fully sixty years. Major Braden is also entitled to distinction as one of the young men who went from this county during the Civil war and by gallant conduct won promotion from the ranks to a regimental office.
Major Braden's father, Robert D. Braden, who was born in Ohio in 1810, came to Elkhart in 1844. He conducted a very successful business as blacksmith in Elkhart from 1844 until about 1885, being in that pursuit for a longer continuous period than any other man in the county. He did the blacksmith work on one of the early grist mills of Elkhart as also on many public buildings. It is worth noting in this history of the county that his old sign is still hanging in front of the shop where his son carries on the trade and where it has swung in the breezes of over sixty winters and summers-an item of anti- quarian interest which might provoke many memories in the breasts of the old-timers of. Elkhart. The father was past ninety years old when he was called from his earthly activity. He was a son of a native Irishman. Jane ( Walace) Braden, the mother of Major Braden, was born in Ohio and died when about forty years old, having been the mother of four children.
Major Braden, who is the second child, was about five years old when he came to this county, Elkhart being only a small village at the time. He grew up in this city, got his education in the common schools, and as soon as he was large enough he began learning the trade which his father was following so successfully. His peaceful career as a black- smith was interrupted by the outbreak of the rebellion in 1861, and, entering the army in that year, he continued in the service of the country four years and seven months, until receiving an honorable discharge at the end of the war. He enlisted as a private in Company C, Ninth In- (liana Infantry, for three months' service, and later re-enlisted in the same company and regiment ; was promoted to first lieutenant in 1861 and to captain of Company C in 1862, and in 1864 was made major of his regiment, which position he held till the end of the war. He participated in many of the most famous battles of the war, among others being Shiloh, Stone River, Chickamauga, Perryville, the Atlanta campaign with Sherman, and battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee. He was wounded at Stone River, and still carries the minie ball in his body.
The war over he returned to Elkhart, but for the subsequent ten years followed his trade in southern Kansas and in Kansas City, and also did some farming. Ile then returned to Elkhart and has since con- ducted a thriving business at his father's old stand. Besides his honora- ble and successful career in industrial affairs, Major Braden has identi- fied himself with many phases of social and public life. He is a member of Elmer Post No. 37, G. A. R., and has been commander of the same for five years at different times. He is a member of the Loyal Legion, the military organization which includes in its membership the officers of the Civil war. He also affiliates with the Masonic order in Elkhart. A
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lifelong Republican, he has served as a member of the police board of Elkhart six years, for two and a half years was superintendent of police, and in general has taken an active interest in every movement pertaining to the welfare of his city and county.
Major Braden married, in 1867, Miss Almeda Bowen, and they are the parents of six children, namely, Harry M., Edith, Jessie, Katie, Grace and Charles.
JACOB EBY.
Jacob Eby, much of whose useful career was passed in northern Indiana. where he is remembered among the early settlers, was a man of advanced thought and progressive action, and for that reason left his impress upon the life and affairs of his community, wherever any of his years were spent. The early progenitors of the Ebys came from the little republic of Switzerland and were Catholics. A well defined tradition was that there were five brothers, all of whom were of that faith but one, who was a Mennonite, which sect was greatly persecuted in Switzerland as in other countries of Europe. Many Mennonites. on this account, found refuge in the wilds of Pennsylvania, and among them was the founder of the present branch of Ebys. The immediate progenitor was David Eby, who was born in Canada, whither his par- ents had migrated, settling near Berlin in the province of Ontario.
Jacob Eby was born in Canada, October 18, 1815, and owing to the primitive condition of the country received only the rudiments of a common school education, doing his studying by the light of an old- fashioned fireplace. By natural aptitude a mechanic, he became very skillful in the trades of blacksmith, carpenter and mason. He was also an ardent Nimrod, and his methodical disposition led him to keep account of the game that fell before his trusty rifle, a summary of which account shows forty-six deer, seven wolves, two bears, and one hundred foxes shot and trapped. Many incidents are told in his family con- cerning his hunting prowess. On one occasion, as he was going to the woods to split posts, he saw a full-grown wolf asleep in a fallen treetop, and, hurling his ax, by a fair and well aimed stroke, killed the animal.
Jacob Eby married Polly Bingaman, a daughter of John and Han- nah (Berkey ) Bingaman. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania, and was killed by a falling tree while clearing up a hundred acres of land. Mr. and Mrs. Eby had eight children, namely: Enoch, Simon, who died at the age of twenty-one. Seth, Cyrus. Jacob. John, Joseph and Noah.
After his marriage, which occurred April 7, 1840, Mr. Eby settled seven miles north of his father's homestead, on a two-hundred-acre tract of wild land, for which he paid seven hundred and fifty dollars. and there he resided until 1860, in which year he came to St. Joseph county. Here he bought two hundred and eighty acres, eighty of which
Yeah obyd family
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was already cleared, and he set himself to its improvement and con- tinued to add to it by purchase until he was at one time owner of seven hundred acres, being one of the largest landholders in the county. Be- fore his death, however, he had distributed all of this except two hun- (red and eighty acres among his children. He and his wife were devout members of the Mennonite church, and he assisted in the erection and support of other churches besides his own, especially the Baptist and the Catholic churches in Mishawaka. Before his death he saw all his children nicely located as prosperous farmers and honest and indus- trious citizens. After coming to this country Jacob Eby gave his polit- ical support to the Republican party.
NOAH EBY.
Noah Eby, of Olive township, now one of the most prosperous and enterprising agriculturists of his neighborhood, began his career at the bottom of the ladder and has risen from one round to another by the exercise of the qualities of diligence, thrift and keen foresight, which, when coupled with experience, bring success in every vocation of life.
Mr. Eby, who was born in St. Joseph county, Indiana, March 4, 1863, is the youngest of the eight sons of his father Jacob, whose life is sketched above. Reared in his native county until past his majority, with his education acquired in the common schools, and also as a sttt- (lent in the Northern Indiana Normal at Valparaiso, he has spent all his active career as a practical farmer and stockman and has attained success by continued application of his energies to this occupation. His first venture in business, although he now remembers it in a humorous aspect, was a failure of considerable magnitude to him just then. He had saved one hundred and fifty dollars from his earnings on his father's farm, and he was persuaded to invest this, along with his father and a brother, in a high-grade cow, which cost one hundred and thirty dollars, and the transportation of the animal from Canada took twenty dollars more. This valuable live stock was duly received, was admired by the purchaser, and carefully tended for a while, and then lay down and died without repaying a cent of the original investment.
Mr. Eby then began as a renter, and soon after, as another prepa- ration for a successful career, got married. September 21, 1886, he wedded Miss Laura Moon. Four sons have been born to them, the eldest of whom, Willis, graduated from the public schools in 1904 and is now in the high school. His father intends to place this son in Notre Dame University and give him the very best of training for his life career. The boy is musically inclined, and has studied the violin. Irvin, the second son, is in the sixth grade and has also taken music. Ellis B. is in the third grade, and the youngest of the family is Charles V. Mrs. Eby was born in St. Joseph county, Indiana, August 5, 1867,
.
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a daughter of Solomon and Charlotte ( Hollingshead ) Moon. There were seven children in the Moon family, and Mrs. Eby has a brother and a sister living: Annis, wife of John Parett. a farmer of St. Joseph county ; and George, who is married and living in St. Joseph county. Mrs. Eby lost her father when she was four years old, but her mother is still living. both parents being members of the Methodist church. She was educated in the common schools.
When Mr. and Mrs. Eby began their wedded life it was as renters in St. Joseph county, but after continuing that way three years they bought eighty acres of their present farmstead. There was a very indifferent barn on the place. and the only house was of logs, and so loosely constructed that severe weather was a time of much discomfort. These facts concerning their early state of fortune are given only that the reader may appreciate how thoroughly they have taken advantage of opportunities and how capably they have managed their affairs, with the result that they are now considered among the well-to-do people of their neighborhood. They paid three thousand dollars for their first eighty acres, and went in debt for part of it, but now in the year 1905 they possess a fine estate of one hundred and sixty acres, half of which lies in Olive township and half in St. Joseph county. In 1890 they remodeled the barn into a fine farm structure forty by eighty-four feet in ground dimensions, with eighteen foot posts, and stone basement. In 1893 they also rebuilt their dwelling and now have a pretty cottage home, cosy and comfortable. Mr. Eby has excellent grades of stock. and is a progressive and business-like farmer.
Formerly a Republican. Mr. Eby has of recent years given his support to the Democracy, as embodying the elements of political phi- losophy and practice which most appeal to his judgment and reason. In 1900 he was elected trustee of Olive township, and during his trustee- ship he erected the beautiful brick schoolhouse known as Olive Center. This is one of the superior country schools of the county. It contains two rooms, and two years of advanced studies are taught. The cause of education has always found in Mr. Eby a strong friend and advocate, and his work in this direction has resulted in much good in his com- munity. While trustee he also caused the construction of seven stone and brick arches and several bridges. besides keeping up the roads in his township. He did all this and still left the township finances in splendid condition at the close of his term.
HENRY BECHTEL.
The qualities of German-American citizenship have long proved the most valuable and beneficial in the upbuilding of the country and in all the departments of American civic life which are mnost essential to the integrity and permanence of state and nation. Their industry has trans- formed wildernesses into paradises, their business acumen has built up
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great industries, their broad intelligence has always supported the public- school system, and their public spirit and patriotism have never failed whether in the arts of peace or those of war. For fifty years a resident of Elkhart county, a practical and successful farmer, a veteran still left in the ranks of those who defended the Union, a strong advocate of schools both as a private citizen and in official capacity, and a forceful and ener- gizing personality in all the relations of life, Mr. Henry Bechtel, the well known citizen of Harrison township, has played a part in the history of the county which deserves more than casnal attention to his career.
A native of Blair county, Pennsylvania, where he was born April 6, 1847. he was the third of eight children, equally divided between sons and daughters, whose parents were Daniel and Sarah ( Neterer ) Bechtel. The grandfather came from Germany, settling in Pennsylvania, where the family long held its residence. Of the three sons and two daughters still living. Henry is the eldest, the others being: Jeremiah, the banker of Wakarusa : Sarah, wife of Martin McDonnel, on the old Bechtel home- stead in Harrison township: Amanda, wife of Wilson Slabaugh, a farmer in Kosciusko county ; David, in real estate business at Goshen.
When the son Henry was eight years old his father brought the family to Elkhart county, and on section 36 of Harrison township, mn that year, 1855, the Bechtels became acquainted with primitive condi- tions of existence as dwellers in a cabin built of round logs. Henry, young and impressionable as he was at the time, well recalls this home and remembers how the first night was passed in it without a door to protect them from the outside elements. The father first bought eighty acres, but by subsequent additions brought his estate up to six hundred and sixty acres, all located in Harrison township.
The first schoolhouse that Mr. Henry Bechtel attended was of logs, having slab seats, and all the other primitive equipments which have been so minutely described in the general history portion of this work. He used to write with a goosequill pen, and can therefore appreciate fully the changes that have come about in education in the past fifty years. A boy in his teens, but with the courage and patriotism of full manhood, when the Civil war was raging he could not remain at home, but, enlisting from his home township in Company D. Thirty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, went away to serve his country in this veteran regiment. His enlistment took place January 31, 1865. His colonel was August G. Tassel and his first lieutenant Gabriel Cooper. Mr. Bechtel was made a corporal. He joined the regiment at Columbia. Tennessee, and as a portion of the Army of the Cumberland his regiment soon afterward took part in the terrible battle of Franklin, followed up by the two days' conflict at Nashville which resulted in the complete defeat of Hood's forces and the disorganization of the rebel army in the west. The regi- ment was at Johnsonville. Tennessee, when the news of Lee's surrender came, aud five days later their joy was saddened by the tidings of Lin- coln's assassmation. The Thirty-fifth Indiana was a part of the federal
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forces which were sent to Texas to conclude the war and hold that state in subjection. The regiment went by way of the Mississippi and the gulf, many hardships being encountered and many lives lost before their destination was reached. and after forty days spent in that state the order for mustering out was given. Mr. Bechtel received his final discharge May 10, 1865, and then returned home and remained there until his ma- jority. He had saved the money which was given him for his soldier services, and this was the capital on which he started in life.
Mr. Bechtel's marriage to Miss Mary M. Otto occurred in 1868, and of this union six children were born, three sons and three daughters. Alice May, the only one not living at the present writing, was educated in the common schools and became the wife of John Schank, of Harrison township. Charles, who owns and conducts a sales stable at South Bend, received a common school and business education and for a while was employed in his father's bank at Nappanee; he married Miss Alva Har- rington and has a son. Sarah Janetta is the wife of Charles Ulery, lealer in coal, lime and cement at Goshen. Nora is the wife of Ora Love. a farmer at Concord, Indiana, and they have four living children. Daniel, a farmer in Harrison township, is married and has one little son. John is engaged in the hardware business at Los Angeles, California. The mother of these children was taken away by death in May, 1888. She was a member of the Evangelical church, and a woman of many lovable characteristics both at home and in her community.
December 19, 1801, Mr. Bechtel married Miss Amanda J. Nus- baum, who was born in Elkhart county and was educated in the common schools. Her parents, Peter and Barbara ( Moyer) Nusbaum, are resi- dents of Elkhart. By his second wife Mr. Bechtel has one son, Harry P., in the first grade at school.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Bechtel cast his first vote for Grant. and the public affairs and political interests of his township. county and state have always elicited his attention. By the choice of his fellow citizens he became trustee of Harrison township in 1904. As the incum- bent of this important office, one in which the interests of more people are bound up and vitally concerned than is true of any other local office, he has the supervision of the ten brick schools in the township, besides the care of bridges and other local improvements. No better friend of education could have been selected in this township, and he has already proved the wisdom of his choice. It is his aim to pay the highest wages consistent with circumstances, his ten teachers receiving from $2.24 to $2.90 a day for their services. The schools are furnished with good libraries, all kinds of apparatus, and such equipment in the way of furni- ture and comforts as, could he have had them when he was a schoolboy. would have seemed a sublimation of luxury.
Mr. Bechtel owns a fine farinstead of two hundred and fifty-six acres in Harrison township, and also a hundred acres in Concord town-
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ship, besides city property in Nappanee. Itis home estate is situated in section 21. Mrs. Bechtel is a member of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ.
JOHN W. IRWIN.
In the death of John W. Irwin in 1898. Elkhart county, and the city of Goshen in particular, lost from the ranks of the living one of its most honored and useful citizens, a man who by a life of absolute integrity, of high ability as a financier and business manager, and of nobility and breadth of character such as are notable in any commun- ity, won a secure place in the esteem and affection of all who ever knew him or in any way were affected by his life work and influence. Mr. Irwin held the premier rank in the financial history of Elkhart county, and his long identification with banking makes his name one of the first to be considered in writing a history of the county.
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