USA > Indiana > Miami County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 6
USA > Indiana > Howard County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 6
USA > Indiana > Cass County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 6
USA > Indiana > Tipton County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
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country by his parents in their emigration hither. He received a good edu- cation both in German and French. To afford him a broader field of action than was possible in the old country was indeed one of the objects for which his parents came to to this land of opportunity.
The first location the family made in America was upon a farm in Butler county, Ohio, where they went to work with a will and encouragement and hope. The senior Wendling passed the remainder of his life there, which he closed when seventy-two years of age. His wife Margaret, to whom he was united by his second marriage and who was the mother of the subject of this sketch, passed to the other world in the same county, at the vener- able age of eighty-two years. She became the mother of three children: Michael, whose name heads this sketch; and Christian and Catharine, both still residing in Butler county, Ohio.
Mr. Michael Wendling remained with his parents until of age. In obtaining his education in the English schools of this country the children were inclined to laugh at his droll attempts to master the English language, and he became disgusted, left school and educated himself, even far more rapidly than the average of children at school, and he familiarized himself with our language until he could speak it fluently, besides mastering several other branches of learning.
Commencing life with little or no capital, he has ever since made his own way in the world, accumulating a handsome competence, and has at the same time ever maintained the highest integrity. He is a man of good judgment. In 1863 he emigrated to Indiana, locating on section 34, Wash- ington township, Cass county, and has ever since made that place his home. He has improved it scientifically and made it indeed a home of comfort. He first selected a tract of land apparently without much promise. A small clearing had been made upon it by a man named Robert Ballou. He brought with him from Ohio a quantity of drain tile, which is now so uni- versally used by the farming community throughout the northern states; but at that time it was a new thing to the people here, who looked upon the innovation with curiosity and skepticism.
January 10, 1854, Mr. Wendling was united in marriage with Miss Mary M. Schmitt, a daughter of George and Barbara (Mochel) Schmitt, also natives of France. Mrs. Wendling was born July 5, 1830, in France, received a good education, and, in 1848, came to America alone and settled
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in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Wendling have had seven chil- dren, all of whom are living, excepting one: John H., the eldest, born August 28, 1855, married Emeline Martin and resides in Cass county; George W., born January 4, 1857, married Mamie Leach Cooper and is a civil engineer in Tennessee; Christian F., born October 8, 1858, married Laura B. Walker, and lives upon a fine farm in Tipton township, this county; William D., born August 5, 1860, married Malinda C. Toney, and is a farmer of Tipton township, Cass county; Charles S., born September 5, 1864, is engaged in agricultural pursuits on the home farm; Jacob B., born October 14, 1867, graduated as a civil engineer at the head of his class at the Danville (Indiana) College, but by exposure he brought on a fatal illness, which terminated his life at the age of twenty-one years; he had gone to Tennessee at the age of nineteen years. He was an unusually intelligent young man. Eli F., born April 14, 1871, married Dora Ruth. He is the youngest of the family and is a resident of Tipton township, this county.
In his political views Mr. Wendling is a Democrat; in his fraternal rela- tions he has been a member of the Odd Fellows order; and, in respect to religion, both himself and wife are consistent and influential members of the Lutheran church.
O RSON DURAND, the present mayor of Peru and a well known citizen of Miami county, dates his coming to this place in 1842. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, December 25, 1837. His father, Samuel Durand, was a native of New England, descending from an early family of Connecticut, in which state he was born. The family is of French origin. It is related that three brothers named Durand emigrated from France to America, from whom all bearing that name in this country have descended. The Durand family still traces living representatives across the sea to France, the land of its forefathers. It has ever been noted for longevity, many of its representa- tives having attained to a remarkable old age. Recent investigations in the ancestral line have resulted in a remarkable discovery, explained by the fol- lowing account published in the Peru Sentinel of January 31, 1898:
"The oldest living being on earth to-day is Marie Durand, who is a great grand ancestor of Mayor Orson Durand, of this city. She is a native of France, in which country she still resides, at the age of one hundred and 4
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thirty years, and not by any means a wreck of humanity, but a fairly upright figure with only a trace of extreme old age in the mouth, drawn down a little to one side, with few wrinkles, but impaired vision and hardly any hair.
"The Durand connection of this country, which is quite extensive and well advanced in years, became interested some years ago in tracing up the genealogy of the family, and as a result of investigation discovered this remarkable progenitor. A representative of the St. Louis Sunday Post- Dispatch visited the more than centennarian at her home at Auberive, and after seeing and conversing with her as well as he could, the aged lady being a little deaf, he was convinced that his mission was partly satisfied. He was directed to the abode of this venerable woman by the waiter at the hotel, and after visiting the lady called on the mayor of the city to obtain the address of a former mayor, an aged man over seventy, for a certificate of the extraordinary longevity, which is as follows:
" PARIS, Jan. 4, 1898.
" At the request of Monsieur, the representative of the Sunday Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, I, Jean Baptiste Bachasson, formerly maire of the municipality of Auberive, in the arondisse- ment of Langress, in the department of Haute Marne, certify to the best of my knowledge and belief that the charbonniere Marie Durand is more than one hundred and thirty years of age. She was born, according to the records in the mairie, in September, 1760; and I myself recollect the centenary of her wedding day, in January, 1885. She is well known in the arondissement, and I have known her ever since I came here forty-six years ago.
" JEAN BAPTISTE BACHASSON, " Ancien Maire Auberive.
"The representative took a photograph of the old lady, which is pub- lished with an account of his visit.
" Another member of this family, Louise Durand, died at her home at Egg Harbor, Connecticut, at the advanced age of one hundred and three years. She left over a million dollars in legacies to relatives, and bequests to fisherman and other poor people of the place. Mayor Durand is proud of the staying qualities of his ancestors and expects to reach the century mark himself. "
Samuel Durand emigrated from his native state, Connecticut, to the state of New York, where he married Sarah Barner, a native of Schoharie county, that state. He removed thence to Ohio and in 1841 came to Peru, on a tour of investigation, and decided to locate here. The following year he returned to Ohio and brought out his family, and he and his wife passed
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the remainder of their lives here, which were useful and happy. The wife and mother passed away in the year 1868, and the husband and father in 1872.
Orson Durand is one of the six children born in the family of his parents, -three sons and three daughters. The eldest, Sylvester, is a resident of Min- nesota; Orson is the next in order of birth; Orange is also a resident of Min- nesota; Minerva is the wife of John H. Hinsey, of St. Louis, Missouri; Hat- tie is the wife of Samuel Reynolds, of Minnesota; and Dessa is Mrs. G. M. Webb, of St. Louis. Samuel Durand was twice married, and by his first wife had several children, of whom two daughters are living and are resi- dents of Schoharie county, New York.
Mr. Orson Durand was about five years of age when he came with his parents to Peru, and here he grew to mature years, passing a number of years in the occupation of farming in the township of Peru; but he finally located permanently in the city, that his children might have the advantages of the public schools. Since his location in the city he has been for eight years street commissioner, and for an equal length of time was deputy sheriff of Miami county. In his political creed he is a Democrat, and he is an hon- ored member of the orders of Odd Fellowsand Elks, and also of the National Union; socially he is highly esteemed, and his administration of the city government is popular.
His wife, before marriage Elizabeth Davis, is a native of Peru and a daughter of Jonathan Davis. Mr. and Mrs. Durand have four children, viz: Adele, widow of Clarence Holt, of New York city; Maud, the second daugh- ter is a well known actress; and Dessa and Edna are at home.
D R. WILLIAM H. BUCK .- Whenever we begin contemplating the career of a physician, the first and most important thoughts which spontane- ously present themselves in our mind are derived from the great value of the knowledge which is in the possession of the well trained practitioner of the healing art, and the intense desire he must have, especially if he be at all philanthropic, that all the people should be well acquainted with the laws of health, so as to be able to take care of themselves; and for a very small remuneration, too, he is willing to instruct them. Especially are we
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reminded of these things, as well as of the highest qualifications of a physi- cian, when we contemplate the character of our subject.
In order to give a systematic biographical outline of Dr. Buck's career, we may state first that he was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of May, 1840, being the fourteenth and youngest child in his father's family, but only the seventh child of his mother, who was his father's second wife. When we consider the uniformity of the death rate in nearly all large families, it seems indeed a remarkable fact that all the fourteen children above referred to grew up to years of maturity.
Peter Buck. the father of these children, was born in Muncy, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1789. His parents were "Low Dutch," or Hollanders. His mother, whose maiden name was Rhode-Armor, was of an old prominent family of that name in Holland. Mrs. Louisa Buck, the Doctor's mother, was the daughter of John and Mary (Knott) Holmes, born in the town of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, in 1799. Her parents were of Quaker ancestry. Thomas Holmes, an early American ancestor, was a sur- veyor who came from England with William Penn and made the original survey of the city of " Brotherly Love".
A descendant of the latter, John Holmes, was a young man in the "days of '76," and he served for a time in a company of local or state militia, whose duty it was to run down and suppress the "refugees," that is, the Tories, who infested the section of the country in the vicinity of Philadel- phia. About 1804 he removed with his family from New Jersey into what is now Sullivan county, Pennsylvania, then a dense wilderness terrorized by savage animals. A few years later Peter Buck purchased a tract of land upon which was a " clearing," a few miles away, and there, with the help of his boys, he both cleared the land for a large farm and operated a sawmill, which he had built on a small stream passing through the tract; but hard work and great exposure brought "old age" prematurely upon him and he died at the age of sixty-six years. Soon after his death his widow removed with the younger members of the family to De Kalb county, Illinois, where two of the older sons had previously settled; and here William H., then nearly fourteen years of age, in company with a brother five years his senior, rented a farm, which they cultivated for five years, thus affording a home for themselves and their invalid mother, who had been disabled by an injury received on the railroad while removing to Illinois.
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After five years of unprofitable farming, the subject of this sketch decided to avail himself of better facilities for obtaining an education. Accordingly, for the next three years he pursued a course of study and also taught school, alternating with manual labor, mostly in farming. His study embraced a commercial course at Duff's Merchants' College at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. On approaching the age of twenty-two years, he entered Todd's Seminary at Woodstock, Illinois, and pursued his studies there from April, 1862, to June, 1865, first as a student, then as a student and teacher and lastly as a teacher only.
Deciding to become a physician, he began the study of medicine, during the above period, under the instructions of Dr. James Northrup, of Wood- stock. After leaving the seminary he continued his medical studies for eighteen months under the preceptorship of Dr. W. H. Misick, of Marengo, Illinois, except that during the winter of 1865-66 he was a student at the Hahne- mann Medical College at Chicago. Six months later he opened an office in the hamlet of Richmond, Illinois, where he secured a fine practice, although his location there, which he made by the advice of friends, he considered unwise. The following year he returned to Woodstock to take the practice of Dr. I. H. Lewis, and this he considered a permanent location, and by this time also he was married.
In the winter of 1869-70, in order to fulfill a desire long entertained, he went to New York city and entered the New York Homeopathic College, where he graduated on March 1, 1870.
Returning to Woodstock, he continued in active practice there until August, 1889, breaking down his health, however, by hard work and much exposure. He then sold his practice and good will to Dr. J. W. Primm. After recuperating for more than a year he removed with his family to Chi- cago to resume the practice of medicine, and this he continued, with success, till the fall of 1895, when he again sold out in order to remove to Kokomo, Indiana, and take the field vacated by Dr. Baker. Although at this writing he has been here less than three years, he has long since gained a lucrative practice, having the confidence and patronage of many of the best citizens both in the city and in the country surrounding.
While in Illinois he was a member of the Illinois State Homeopathic Medical Society and the Chicago Homeopathic Medical Society. He is now a member of the Indiana State Medical Society.
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Dr. Buck is a strong temperance man and a Republican. On two occasions, however, he voted the national Prohibition ticket. From these facts the reader will properly infer that in local affairs the Doctor always votes against any franchises to the liquor traffic. He has never had any ambition for public office, and accordingly he has never held an important office above that of township trustee, which by successive elections he has held for twelve years.
On October 24, 1866, Dr. Buck was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Ellsworth, who for three years had been a student and teacher in Todd's Seminary. She was the only daughter of Philander and Eliza Ellsworth, early pioneers of McHenry county, Illinois, who removed from Yates county, New York, in 1843. Her father died when she was a child, leaving a widow with four small children on an unimproved prairie farm. Her mother, Eliza (Scofield) Ellsworth, was a descendant of Puritan ancestry, who "enjoyed the full benefits of the old Connecticut ' blue laws,' under which they ' lived and moved and had their being '" for many years. Mrs. Buck has therefore inherited a tendency for, and been trained in, the most essential principles of strict piety. Endeavoring to be consistent, these principles have of course permeated her practical life. She, as well as the Doctor himself, is a faith- ful member of the Congregational church.
They have had three children. One son, Charley, died in his eighth year; another son, Ralph by name, died at the age of six months. The daughter, Ada M., is now in her twenty-first year.
F FRANK W. YAGER .- In the pioneer days of northern Indiana the Yager family became identified with its history, and at an early period of our American history representatives of the name located in the Old Dominion. Industry, energy, honesty and fidelity,-these are some of the most marked characteristics of the Yagers, and the elemental strength of character in the subject of this review shows that these qualities are predominant in his nature. His life has been well spent in devotion to all public and private duties, and his history is an open scroll inviting the closest scrutiny.
Born in Madison county, Virginia, on the 16th of October, 1822, he is a son of Labern and Sarah (Carpenter) Yager. The paternal grandparents
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were John and Margaret (Wilhite). Yager, and the former was a native of Germany, whence he sailed for the new world, thinking to better his financial condition in this country, where greater opportunities are offered to ambition than in the older countries of Europe. Locating in Virginia, he there fol- lowed farming throughout the remainder of his days. He married Margaret, daughter of George Wilhite, also a native of Germany and the only repre- sentative of his family to come to America. His two brothers remained in the fatherland and were never married. They died in that country and left considerable wealth. Margaret Wilhite was born in Virginia, and died in Kentucky, whither she removed after her marriage.
Labern Yager, the father of our subject, was three times married, and after his second marriage he removed from Virginia to Kentucky, in 1836, carrying on farming in the latter state. He managed his plantation with the aid of slave labor and was a very prominent and influential citizen of the com- munity. In his church relationship he was a Methodist, and in his political faith was a Democrat, but though he took a deep interest in political affairs and was well informed on the issues of the day he never sought or desired office. His death occurred at his Kentucky home in 1871. His first wife, the mother of our subject, died in 1827, in the faith of the Lutheran church, of which she was a member. They were the parents of five children: Jane, wife of J. Avinger; William H., a resident of Kentucky; Franklin W. ; John W., also of Kentucky; and Sarah, wife of J. Sayres, of Illinois. After the death of his first wife Mr. Yager married Malinda Johnson, and they had four children, as follows: James M., deceased; Elizabeth, wife of R. Davis; Champ C., of Kansas; and Joseph, of Indiana. The mother of this family died in 1838, and for his third wife Mr. Yager chose Mrs. Frances Price, a widow, who died in 1895. Their children are Frances, deceased, and Elijah, Eli and Thomas, all of whom reside in Kentucky.
To the schools conducted on the old subscription plan Frank W. Yager is indebted for the educational privileges which he received. He grew to manhood in Kentucky, being reared upon his father's farm, where he early became familiar with all the duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. In 1850 he removed from Kentucky to Johnson county, Indiana, where he oper- ated rented land for seven years, when, in 1860, he came to Howard county and purchased a tract of farming land, also fifteen town lots in the village of Fairfield. There he erected substantial residences, one of which is still his
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home, and for seven years he conducted a hotel in connection with the man- agement of his farming interests. Since that time he has devoted his energies entirely to the farm, and excellent success has crowned his labors. His land is under a high state of cultivation and is improved with substantial and com- modious buildings which stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise.
In 1846, while residing in Kentucky, Mr. Yager married Miss Harriet Kelly, who belonged to an honored and influential family of that state, her father being Captain Samuel Kelly. Five children were born of this union: Jane, wife of A. Rhodes; Daily S., a farmer of Howard county, Indiana; Albert F., also an agriculturist; Brilla B., deceased; and Jessie H., who died at the age of fourteen years. Mrs. Yager is a member of the Baptist church and has been to her husband an able companion and helpmeet on the journey of life. In politics he is a Democrat but has never been an aspirant for office. His business interests have always claimed his time and attention, and through his careful management, sound judgment and unflagging industry he has overcome many obstacles and steadily worked his way upward until prosperity has crowned his labors with a fitting reward.
A LBERT B. KIRKPATRICK, ex-Mayor of Kokomo, Indiana, dates his birth in Hendricks county, this state, March 17, 1855. His parents, William and Sarah (Walker) Kirkpatrick, were natives, respectively, of Indi- ana and North Carolina and had a family of five children, of whom Albert B. is the only living representative. William Kirkpatrick was a farmer, carried on his agricultural pursuits in Rush, Hendricks and Howard counties, and in the two counties last named served for fifteen or sixteen years as a justice of the peace. He died in 1874, at the age of forty-nine years, and his wife sur- vived him until 1890, when she died, in her sixty-sixth year. Both were devoted members of the Christian church, in which for years he was a deacon.
The paternal grandfather of ex-Mayor Kirkpatrick was John Kirkpatrick. He was a native of Tennessee and of Scotch descent. From Tennessee he came to Indiana in an early period of the history of this state, and settled in Rush county, where he was engaged in farming and where he died at the age of forty years. He was the father of three sons and one daughter. John Walker, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was born in North Carolina.
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He was a farmer and Christian minister. The latter part of his life was passed in Indiana and he died in Hendricks county, at the age of seventy-two years, his death resulting from an accident he sustained.
Albert B. Kirkpatrick was two years old at the time he was brought by his parents to Howard county, their settlement being on a farm, and on the farm his boyhood days were passed up to the time he was sixteen, when the family removed to Kokomo. His education, begun in the public schools, was continued in Howard College and Butler University and was completed in the Indiana Law School, he being a graduate of Butler University with the class of 1878, and of the law school with the class of 1880. In the mean- time, before entering Butler, he taught school one year, and after completing his course in the law school he traveled for some time in the interest of the Home Fire Insurance Company. On severing his connection with this com- pany he located in Kokomo and engaged in the practice of law, and in con- nection with his law practice he was for two years, from 1882 to 1884, one of the editors of the Kokomo Gazette. In 1886 he was elected prosecuting attorney for the thirty-sixth judicial circuit, comprising Howard and Tipton counties, and served a term of two years. At the expiration of this term he was appointed deputy prosecuting attorney for Howard county; in 1890 he was reappointed, and served until 1892, making six years in all. In 1894 he was honored by his fellow-citizens with election to the highest executive office in the town for a term of four years, and as mayor performed most excellent service. He still conducts his law practice.
Mr. Kirkpatrick was united in marriage, December 12, 1883, to Miss Susie Bradley, daughter of L. J. and Martha Bradley.
Politically he is an ardent Republican, always active and influential in advancing the interests of his party, and the honors it has conferred upon him have been fittingly bestowed. Both he and his wife are members of the Christian church, in which he officiates as elder.
AMES T. DYAR. - For a third of a century James T. Dyar has resided J on the farm in Taylor township, Howard county, which he now owns and cultivates. He was born in Virginia, January 30, 1824, his parents being William and Matilda (Thurman) Dyar, both of whom were natives of the
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Old Dominion, and were probably of English descent. The father was a farmer by occupation and followed that pursuit as a means of livelihood throughout his business career. He was a public-spirited and influential cit- izen and held the office of justice of the peace and other minor positions. In politics he was a Democrat, and he and his wife were members of the Methodist church. His death occurred at the age of fifty-three years, and Mrs. Dyar, surviving him for some time, passed away in 1866, at the age of sixty-seven years. She was a daughter of James Thurman, a West Virginia farmer and a man of sterling worth, who realizing the value of education provided his children with good school privileges, and several of them became successful teachers. Mr. and Mrs. Thurman died in Virginia, and their children removed to various parts of the country. To Mr. and Mrs. Dyar were born six children: Evaline, who died in childhood; Mary, wife of Dr. Coe; Elizabeth and Roena, both deceased; Dr. E. C., who died in Kentucky, at the age of twenty-eight years; and J. T., of this review.
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