USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana > Part 65
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
GEORGE W. WEHMEYER.
George W. Wehmeyer, lumber dealer and contractor and builder at Goshen, has been identified with the life and activities of Elkhart county practically all his life, having been born on his father's farm in Harrison township, January 16, 1864, and having lived in the county ever since except during the years 1884 and 1885 when he was en -. gaged in contracting and building at Girard, Crawford county, Kansas.
His father was Frederick Wehmeyer, a native of Prussia, Ger- many, who came to America and married in Philadelphia and then came to Elkhart county in 1859. locating on a farm in Harrison township. He died in Jefferson township in 1880, in his sixty-fifth year. His wife. Catherine Henning before her marriage, who was born in Phila- delphia of German parentage, died at the age of seventy-three. They were parents of eleven children, ten of whom are living.
Mr. Wehmeyer, who is the tenth child and third son, passed his childhood and youth on an Elkhart county farm and attended the dis- trict schools. After following farming as an independent vocation for some time, he took up the carpenter's trade, serving his time as an ap- prentice and then working as a journeyman. In 1897 he went into the contracting and building business on his own account, and in 1899 increased the scope of his industrial interests by establishing a lumber yard. He keeps from five to fifteen men in his employ, and has ac- quired an enviable reputation in the building circles of the county. There are numerous monuments of his enterprise in Goshen. He was the builder of the beautiful new high school in 1904, which ranks among the finest structures of its kind in the state and is one of the most ornate examples of public architecture in the city. A number of fine residences and business buiklings have also been erected by him.
Mr. Wehmeyer affiliates with the Knights of Pythias and the Im- proved Order of Red Men, in politics is a Democrat, and for a long time has been one of the most active workers in the Lutheran church, being one of the deacons and trustees.
HAINES EGBERT.
The qualifications which insure success in business are manifest in the career of Haines Egbert, who is a representative of one of the lead- ing industries of Goshen. Ile assisted in the organization of the San- ders & Egbert Company, which is of value not only to the stockholders but to the entire community. for it furnishes employment to many workmen and contributes to the commercial activity of the city, and it has been the extensive dealings of this company that has made the name of hardwood synonymous with that of Goshen, as the city has for years borne the reputation of being the greatest hardwood distribut- ing point in the United States.
A native of Milford, Indiana, born November 5. 1863. Mr. Eg-
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bert is of Holland descent. His paternal grandfather was John W. Egbert, and his father also bore the name of John W. Egbert, the lat- ter having been a native of Orange county, New York, but during his lexhood days removed with his parents to Milford. Indiana. Hle was a soldier in the Mexican war and a '4ger to California, but finally re- turned to Milford and in 1865 came to Goshen, where the remainder of his life was spent, his life's labors being ended in death when he had reached the age of sixty-nine years. During the greater part of his business career he followed milling, as proprietor of a saw and grist mill, but in 1870 was elected sheriff of Elkhart county and re- elected in 1872, discharging the duties of that office in a faithful and conscientious manner. His political affiliations were with the Democ- racy, and fraternally he was a member of the Masonic order. His widow, who bore the maiden name of Theresa White, was born in Orange county, Vermont. in 1828, and is still living. They were the parents of three children: John W., a resident of Goshen ; Haines, whose name introduces this review : and Minnie, deceased.
Haines Egbert is indebted to the public schools of Goshen for the educational privileges which he received in his youth. After attaining to years of maturity, in 1881. he entered the employ of John H. Lesh & Company, with whom he remained until 1884. when he went to Chi- cago and began work for the Haydon Brothers Lumber Company as a traveling buyer. Resigning that position in 1889. he returned and again entered the employ of John H. Lesh & Company, as general su- perintendent of their works at East Chicago, Illinois. In 1890 he went south and formed the partnership of Reeves, Egbert & Company at LaGrange. Arkansas, but two years later. in 1892, the firm was dis- solved and Mr. Egbert once more returned to his old home in Goshen, where he purchased an interest in the firm then known as Lesh, Penrod & Company. Upon the retirement of Mr. Penrod Mr. Egbert was elected secretary of the company, and at the organization of the San- ders & Egbert Company he was made the vice-president and secretary. Since the age of seventeen he has been interested in the lumber busi- ness, perfecting himself in every branch, and for many years he has been connected with this well known firm. He has charge of the sales of the company, and has been an extensive traveler, never losing an op- portunity to further the interests of his company or Goshen. He is also one of the directors of the Elkhart County Loan & Trust Com- pany. and a director in the City National Bank.
In 1892 Mr. Egbert was united in marriage to Miss Alice Kreider. a daughter of Martin Kreider, and they have had two children : Lill- ian and John K., but the last named is deceased. In his fraternal re- lations Mr. Egbert has attained the thirty-second degree in Masonry and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. Politically he is iden- tified with the Democracy, and for three years was a member of the
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school board, the cause of education ever finding in him a warm and helpful friend. He is an honored member of the Presbyterian church. in which he is serving as a trustee.
WILLIAM H. ANDERSON.
William H. Anderson, occupying the position of postmaster at Elkhart, is a native of Lyons, Iowa, and a son of Robert and Letitia (Stewart) Anderson, both of whom came to this country from Bel- fast, Ireland, in the early fifties. They had lived for several years in that city, although both were natives of England. Robert Anderson was born in England but was of Scotch ancestry. His wife was born in Coventry, England, and belonged to one of the fine families of that country. Her father, John Stewart, was a prominent official of Eng- land, and her maternal uncle, Dr. Anderson, was distinguished as phy- sician to Queen Victoria. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were married in Belfast. They were first residents of New York City and subsequently established their home in Lyons, Iowa, where the father died during the infancy of his son William. Mrs. Anderson survived her hus- band and died in Elkhart, November 28, 1903.
Mr. Anderson of this review is entirely a self-made man and has attained his present prominence in the business world through un- tiring effort. through study and enterprise. After the father's death the mother returned to New York City and later became a resident of Michigan, whence she removed to Elkhart. At the age of eleven years William Anderson left school and began learning the printer's trade in Elkhart. He worked on the Democratic Umon, subsequently on the Observer and later entered the employ of A. P. Kent in the Reviews . office. His close application and fidelity during these years made him a thorough printer, and leaving the case he took up reporting and edi- torial work on the Review, displaying excellent ability and becoming Elkhart correspondent for a number of metropolitan dailies in Chi- cago, Saint Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and New York. He was very successful in originating special stories and news features and gained continuous promotion in journalistic circles.
During all these years Mr. Anderson devoted his leisure hours to acquiring a better education on private tutelage. For more than a year he walked a mile each night to the home of a teacher who assisted him in his studies, and even under greater disadvantages he pursued his studies in Latin. He also began reading law and was admitted to the bar in Elkhart in 1894. He then entered upon the practice of his chosen profession which he continued successfully until appointed post- master on the 14th of March, 1898. He has since been re-appointed, so that he is now serving for his second term. The business of the office is constantly growing, gaining nineteen thousand dollars in gross receipts in 1902. The office has a first-class record for the small amount
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
of expenditure compared with the amount of business transacted in those offices of the first class. A larger volume of business is done here than in offices of other cities of similar population on account of the large number of prominent industries here which handle a big mail and send out tons of advertising matter.
Mr. Anderson has for years been a prominent Republican, untir- ing in his efforts in behalf of the party. He was secretary of the Mc- Kinley Club in 1896 and has rendered valuable service in campaign times, being widely recognized as a leading political worker in the Re- publican party. He served for one term as a member of the board of city commissioners. He was formerly vice-president of the Century Club, a local organization among the business men of Elkhart, and is now one of its directors. He is also an Odd Fellow and he is a mem- ber of the Elkhart Lecture Association. A man of unswerving integ- rity, he has gained and retained the confidence and respect of his fel- lowmen and is distinctively one of the leading citizens of Elkhart. with whose interests he has now long been identified.
GEORGE R. HARPER.
George R. Harper, a successful young lawyer who has well estab- lished himself in practice at Goshen during the past seven or eight years. was born at Syracuse, Indiana, March 4. 1873. the date of Grant's sec- ond inauguration as president.
Mr. Harper is a son of Charles A. and Mary K. ( Hattel) Harper. prominent and respected citizens of Goshen. The father was born in Leesburg, Kosciusko county, Indiana, and the mother at Chambers- burg. Pennsylvania. William G. Harper, the paternal grandfather. who was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. spent his early life in Athens, Ohio, and married Emily Sargeant, whose father. Erastus Sargeant. was a prominent physician of Lee. Massachusetts, and was also a soklier in the Revolutionary war. The maternal grandfather was Jacob Hattel. who, born in Alsace Lorraine. Germany, came to America in 1825 at the age of four years, and for thirty years was one of the leading citi- zens of Goshen during its formative history. Charles .\. Harper and wife were married in the city of Goshen in 1868, and with the excep- tion of a brief residence at Syracuse, this state, have spent their entire married life here in this city. where they still reside. The father for many years was a shoedealer, and is now in the wool and grain busi- ness, having had a prosperous business career. He is a Republican, a member of the Methodist church, and. having served two and a half years in the rebellion as a member of Company D. Twelfth Indiana Cavalry, is one of the active and innich esteemed members of Howell Post No. 90, G. A. R., at Goshen. There are but two living children. the daughter Katherine and George R.
Mr. George R. Harper grew up to manhood in the city of
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Goshen, and attended the public schools, having been graduated from the high school with the class of 1891. Ile became a law student in the office of Wilson and Davis, and was admitted to the bar in 1895. In 1804 he entered the University of Michigan, where he was graduated from the law department in 1898, since which time he has been in active practice at Goshen. He served as deputy prosecuting attorney from the fall of 1900 to the fall of 1903, and also as United States com- missioner, through appointment by Judge John H. Baker, from Sep- tember 4. 1901, to the fall of 1903, when he resigned. In connection with his law practice he does considerable real estate and insurance business. Mr. Harper's law office is located over The State Bank at 116 North Main street.
Mr. Harper is a Republican in politics, and fraternally is a Master Mason and a member of the Phi Gamma Delta College fraternity. He is secretary of the Masonic lodge. In 1900 he was vice president of the Elkhart County Bar Association. His church connection is with the Methodist denomination. September 21, 1904, he married Miss Ilma Harrington, of Oskaloosa, Iowa.
JOHN HUGHES.
John Hughes, a contractor and dredger of Nappanee, whose exten- sive business interests mark him as a man of unabating energy and enter- prise, was born in Ireland, August 12, 1850, and when about four years of age was brought to America by his parents who located near Cincin- nati, Ohio. There he was reared until he reached the age of eighteen years, when the family came to Indiana, settling in Marshall county, be- tween Plymouth and Bremen. He continued under the parental roof until he had attained his majority, when he started out in life on his own account, following any pursuit that would yield to him an honest living. He worked by the day or the month as opportunity offered. following farm labor or other employment. Ile was married when between twenty- two and twenty-three years of age, and this giving added impetus for further effort he began contracting. In this department he was first em- ployed in digging small ditches among the farms, and he followed that line until 1886, when he turned his attention to dredging. His first con- tract was accorded him in St. Joseph county, Indiana, under the state law, and his next contract was from Elkhart county. All his work has been done under the state law. and one of the large contracts awarded him was the army ditch in Kosciusko county, which he completed in 1900. His largest contract up to the present time, 1905, was the Turkey creek ditch in Kosciusko and Elkhart counties. Many other important con- tracts, however, have been given him, so that his life has been one of unceasing activity and his labor has found a just reward in the excellent income which he now annually enjoys. At the present writing he has a contract amounting to forty thousand dollars. He owns machinery to
John Hughes
MRS. JOHN HUGHES
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JOHN HUGHES' STEAM DREDGE MADE BY HIMSELF
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
the value of twenty thousand dollars -- machinery which is modern and effective, and he also employs many men, giving work to a number during the winter season in the building of the Burling mill ditch. In addition to his business interests along this line, Mr. Hughes owns two farms. ag- gregating one hundred and twenty acres of rich land, and that property adds a considerable fund to his yearly income.
In 1871 was celebrated the marriage of John Hughes and Miss De- lila Kizer, and to them were born nine children, of whom eight are yet living: Dollie, the wife of A. Ipe, also a contractor and dredger ; Alice. the wife of John McMann, a farmer; Annie, the wife of Peter Yoder, who is assisting her father and makes his home in Nappanee: Mae, Hattie, Maude, William H. and Peter J., all of whom are at home.
Mr. Hughes has a wide and favorable acquaintance in the northern part of Indiana, having been identified with many movements and meas- tires for the improvement in the field of progress in this section of the state. He and his wife hold membership in the. Methodist Episcopal church and some of their children are also identified with this denomina- tion, while one is a member of the Evangelical church. In Nappanee his worth as a citizen is widely acknowledged. He has contributed to its material improvement through the erection of a brick block in 1900, and he has also built some dwelling houses in the town. His investments in real estate have been judiciously made and have been an indication of his keen business discernment and marked enterprise. Starting in life as a common laborer he is to-day acknowledged as one of the representative and prominent business men of Elkhart county, owing his position and success entirely to his activity and well directed energy.
CHARLES E. SILVERS.
Charles E. Silvers, who is chief of police in the city of Elkhart and in that capacity as well as for his sterling worth honored through- out the city, began life on his own responsibility when a mere boy, without capital and without friends, worked at hard physical labor to secure a start, and by integrity and inborn grit won both friends and influence and a position of great responsibility in his city. \ self- made man, he has deserved his success, and a résumé of his life corrobo- rates every praise that is bestowed upon him.
He was born in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, September 29, 1867. When he was twelve years old he lost his father, George W. Silvers, who died at the age of thirty-eight. and the mother. Susan ( Schriver) Silvers, married again, and she is still living. From the time of his father's death Mr. Silvers has depended on his own exer- tions. He had a limited common school education, and at the age of fifteen left his native state and went to Ohio. Almost penniless, he went to work on a farm near Sidney, and for eight years was a farm hand. at small pay and with much labor. He then arrived in Elkhart
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county and for the first four months worked in a brick yard in Baugo township at one dollar a day and board. Coming to Elkhart, he was employed as a hod carrier, then became a helper in the blacksmith shops of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, and in 1893 was given a position on the police force of Elkhart. On the organization of the Metropolitan police system. he became a driver of the hook and ladder wagon in the fire department; two years later was made assis- tant superintendent of the water company, and continued as such until he was appointed superintendent of police on December 3. 1899. He has maintained the police organization at a high state of discipline and efficiency, and to him is due no small share of the credit for the excel- lence of the Elkhart police department.
Mr. Silvers affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Modern Samaritans of the World, and the Firemen's Be- nevolent Association and is a member of the Century Club of Elkhart. He was married. October 7, 1895, to Miss Ora Storner. They have two children: Vera I. and Thelma C. In politics Mr. Silvers is an active supporter of the principles of the Republican party.
PORTER TURNER, M. D.
Porter Turner, M. D., who has attained prestige as a physician and surgeon of Elkhart, was born on a farm in Osolo township, this county, July 5. 1852, and his entire life has been spent in this county, nearly twenty years of it having been devoted to the profession which he early chose for a career. Dr. Turner is a son of Lyman and Tamar ( Wilkinson ) Turner, who, natives of New York and Ohio respectively, took up their residence in Elkhart county in 1849, and from that date until his death. in 1889. the father was a successful farmer in Osolo township. His widow still survives.
Dr. Turner began his life on a farm and amid healthful rural sur- roundings, but since early youth Elkhart city has been his permanent home. He received a liberal literary education in the city schools, and he took up the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. . 1. L. Fisher. Entering Hahnemann Medical College at Chicago, he grad- nated and received the degree of M. D. in 1886, and, opening his office in Elkhart the same year, has since been engaged in a very active and successful practice. He is well known and popular among the fratern- ity, being a member of the Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan Homeopathic Medical Society and the Indiana Homeopathic Medical Society. He is supreme medical examiner for the supreme congress of the Modern Samaritans of the World, also having fraternal affilia- tions with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. He is honored as the originator of the well known Clark Hospital in Elkhart, and was medical director of the institution five
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years. Public-spirited in every way and deeply interested in the wel- fare of his city, he was elected to the office of mayor of Elkhart in 1898, and remained the incumlent of that office four years.
Dr. Turner married, in 1872. Miss Charlotte Titus, of Elkhart. and they have five children: Willie F .. Nellie, Minnie. Lillian and Carrie.
DAVID K. BUZZARD, D. V. S.
.A successful representative of the modern profession of veterinary surgery, a science which has been brought to a high state of perfection within the past quarter of a century. Dr. Buzzard. of Harrison town- ship. has become one of the most useful members of his community. and in the cure and prevention of disease and the saving of life in domestic animals his services have more than once proved invaluable to his neighbors. In the course of a dozen years he has built up a prac- tice that takes in all the surrounding country and over into St. Joseph county, and by skill and thoroughness in his work has demonstrated that the veterinary surgeon is one of the most useful adjuncts to mod- ern agriculture.
Born in Elkhart county, December 20, 1863, and identified with the county by life-long residence. Dr. Buzzard is one of the best known men of the southwestern quarter of the county. He was the second in a family of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, born to Jacob C. and Elizabeth ( Kreider) Buzzard, and he has the following brothers still living: Alpha, who is married and is a farmer at Free- port, Illinois : John, married, who is a prosperous farmer and dairyman in Harrison township, and also feeds horses for the market: Joseph. who is a member of the class of 1906 at Purdue University, where he is studying mechanical engineering: and Rufus, who resides in Harri- son township.
The father, who was born in Medina county, Ohio, in 1838, and who died in this county in 1879. was a successful farmer. . At the age of nine coming to Elkhart county, which was then a very new country, and where he gained most of his education and later taught school. he began his agricultural career on an eighty-acre timber farmi which his father had given him and by industry and successful management he accumulated a large property before his death. having. in addition to his landed possessions, some four thousand dollars at interest. He was first a Whig and then a Republican, and the five years before his death he was a minister of the Mennonite church, of which he had al- ways been a devout member. His wife, who was born in Medina county, Ohio, about the same year as her husband. is still living, at the age of sixty-seven years.
Dr. Buzzard spent the first twenty-four years of his life on the home farm, being educated in the common schools of his district. Early disclosing a bent for veterinary surgery, circumstances over
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which he had no control made it impossible to prepare for the profession while a youth, but when his opportunity came he grasped it at once and made such excellent use of it that his advancement came rapidly. He entered the Veterinary College of Detroit in 1892, followed up the work of the curriculum with conspicuous results, and was graduated with the class of 1894, passing the examinations with the highest grade percentage and winning the gold medal for highest efficiency. Arriv- ing home after his graduation with only five dollars in cash capital, he at once began his career of usefulness, and his success in actual prac- tice has been as marked as that while a student. In the summer of 1895 he established himself in Nappanee but a year later returned to his home township. He has recently erected on his premises in Harri- son township a model barn to serve as an operating room, hospital or office for his animal patients. It is thirty-four by sixty feet in ground dimensions, with eighteen foot posts, hip root, and concrete floors. Box stalls with iron gratings are provided for the stock, and the entire building was planned with a view to perfection in veterinary practice. and most of the work on the structure was done by Dr. Buzzard him- self. He has a complete equipment for his practice and his reputation is causing ever-increasing demands to be made on his services. His professional library, of which he makes constant use in order to keep abreast of the times and in continuous progress, contains the standard works, such as Möller on operative surgery, Williams on theory and practice. Dunn and Greswell on materia medica, Friedberger and Froh- ner on pathology and therapeutics for domestic animals, and Cadiot's principles of surgery, etc.
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