USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 57
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 57
USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 57
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 57
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In 1869 the Doctor opened a drug store in Berlin, Jackson county, Ohio, and conducted the business profitably for some ten years. In the meantime he had given much time and study to medicine and disease, and had prac- ticed to a limited extent in his immediate community. In 1881 he entered the Miami Medical College, at Cincinnati, Ohio, taking a three-years course,
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on the completion of which, in the spring of 1884, he was granted a diploma and the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Returning to Berlin, he resumed his practice, and continued to reside in that town until 1895, when he became a citizen of Richmond. Like many of the physicians of the present day, he carries on a general practice in families, but has made a special study of one department of medicine, being particularly skilled in the treatment of kidney diseases.
In 1868 Dr. Henry married Miss Jennie Ratliff, of Berlin, Ohio, and they have two children, namely: Lucius Norton, who is a graduate of Miami Medical College, and for the past seven years has been successfully engaged in practice in Ripley, Illinois; and Clyde W., who is a telegraph operator in the employ of the Western Union Company, at Richmond. The Doctor is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the Knight Templar degrees in the York rite, and in the Scottish rite has attained the thirty-second degree, S. P. R. S. He formerly held member- ship in Trowel Lodge, No. 132, F. & A. M., at Jackson, Ohio. He is also connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
JOHN E. WOLFE.
One of the native sons of Boston township, Wayne county, Indiana, is John E. Wolfe, a partner in the firm which owns and operates the Elkhorn Roller Mill, of this township. He was born May 30, 1843, his parents being William and Mary (Burton) Wolfe, who were natives of Rockingham county, Virginia. They came to this state in 1830 and settled in Boston township, upon a farm one mile to the east of Elkhorn Mill. The father was a cooper by trade, and made a good living for himself and family by working in that line and by cultivating his farm. He was a member of the Friends' church at Orange, and was a quiet, peace-loving man, esteemed by all who enjoyed his acquaintance. He lived to the ripe age of seventy-seven years, his death occurring in 1884. His wife, Mary, passed to the better land some years before, in 1871, when in her sixty-sixth year. Of their eleven children the following-named are living in 1898: Mary, Mrs. A. F. Godwin, of Knox, Indiana; David, who owns part of the old homestead; Sarah, widow of L. H. Stigleman, of Richmond; Caroline, Mrs. Edgar Scarce, of Richmond; John E .; Ann, Mrs. J. P. Feasel, of this township; and Elijah, of South Whitley, Indiana. Jane, the eldest of the family, married William Watson, in 1858, removed to Whitley county, Indiana, and died in October, 1898, aged sixty-eight years. Linnie, who died in 1865, at twenty-seven years of age, was the wife of L. D. Burton. Willie died at the age of eight years; and Susanna at the age of two years.
John E. Wolfe remained on the home farm until he was eighteen years of
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age, when he commenced serving an apprenticeship to the miller's trade, with Clayton, Brown and Bishop Addington, who owned the Elkhorn Mill at that time. This mill site has been occupied continuously since 1810, and the present building, the fourth, was erected in 1860. Since it came into the possession of Mr. Wolfe he has had it reconstructed thoroughly three times, as he is determined to keep it modern and as well equipped for work as any of its size and style in the state. The complete roller process is used and the best modern machinery to be obtained is a part of the equipment. The mill has a capacity of fifty barrels of flour per day, and Richmond and the neighboring small towns consume the entire output, and have done so for many years. Mr. Wolfe purchased a one-third interest in the mill in 1871, and for two years ran it in partnership with Messrs. Brown and Elmore. Then the present partnership was formed between Mr. Wolfe and Clement WV. Ferguson, and the business relationship has continued harmoniously and uninterruptedly for a quarter of a century. Mr. Ferguson being vice-presi- dent of the First National Bank of Richmond, Indiana, and necessarily engaged in general banking business, it falls to the share of Mr. Wolfe to look after the actual operation of the mill. He thoroughly understands the least as well as the greatest points in the milling business and has made a grand success of the enterprise, keeping the products of the mill up to the highest possible standard. He received but fifty dollars a year for the three years of his apprenticeship, but he soon proved his worth and ability and has prospered.
In 1863 Mr. Wolfe enlisted in the Union army and served for six months in the quartermaster's department, under General Hooker, in Alabama .. Returning home he re-enlisted, becoming a member of Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-third Infantry, serving in Tennessee and Alabama until the fall of 1864, when he was granted an honorable discharge, and resumed the ordinary routine of life in the old mill, where he completed his apprentice- ship. In 1866 he went to Greencastle, Indiana, and for one year had charge of a mill owned by W. D. Allen. During the years 1868 and 1869 he was employed by Barnet & Whiteside, millers, in Camden, Preble county, Ohio, and then went to Osage City, Missouri, in the milling and grain business, where he remained for three years. Then, returning home, he entered upon his successful connection with the Elkhorn Mill. He also owns a farm of forty acres in this township, and is well-to-do. He is fond of hunting, is a member of the Richmond Gun Club, and has numerous fine trophies of the chase. An active Republican, he has been of service to his party and has attended various conventions of the same. In the Society of Friends he is a valued worker, attends the Orange preparatory meeting and the Whitewater monthly meeting, the annual meeting of the church, etc. For twenty years
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he has been the teacher of one class in the Sunday-school and for a quarter of a century he has been specially interested in the work of the school.
In 1870 Mr. Wolfe married Miss Mary A. Patterson, of Camden, Ohio, but she died ten years later, leaving one daughter, Maud, wife of Herbert Rosencrans, of Greensburg, Indiana. Mrs. Rosencrans is quite an artist, and is a lady of social and literary attainments. January 22, 1880, Mr. Wolfe married Miss Mary E. Jenkinson, of Richmond. They are the parents of two children, Clement W., a student in the Richmond high school, and Grace, also attending the Richmond schools.
ISHAM SEDGWICK.
For a score of years Isham Sedgwick has been an honored citizen of Richmond, Indiana. He has won a reputation in business circles and in various fraternal and benevolent lines of work which is more than local, and in politics and all progressive movements he takes deep and commendable interest. In short, whatever tends to elevate and improve the condition of his fellow men, physically, mentally or morally, is certain to receive his ear- nest support and influence.
The paternal grandfather of our sketch, Richard Sedgwick, was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1774, and in 1806 he emigrated to the United States. He was one of the first settlers in Wayne county, his home being on Elkhorn creek, in what is now Boston township, until 1808, when he was married, and immediately thereafter he removed to a farm of three hundred acres, three miles south of Boston, in what is now known as Harrison township, Union county. In his native land he was a shepherd and farmer, but after he came to America he followed agriculture exclusively. For the day in which he flourished he was very successful and enterprising. He made a specialty of raising fine stock and imported the first short-horn bull ever brought into this part of the country. A fine mechanic, he built the first fanning-mill that was ever constructed, the fore-runner of the threshing-machine, and his inventive genius found other outlets, as well. The fanning-mill mentioned was almost entirely of wood, cogs and wheels being wooden, and the "riddles" were made of raw-hide or tow-string. In 1808, as before men- tioned, he was married, the second white man married within the present limits of Wayne county. His bride was Sarah, a daughter of Charles Hunt. She was born in North Carolina and in 1805 accompanied the other mem- bers of the parental family to John's creek, Abington township, Wayne county. Her father was a farmer and gunsmith, and so was her brother, John Hunt. The latter was an expert in his line, and could do wonderful feats as a blacksmith. One thing which he sometimes did, to the amazement of beholders, was to weld a piece of broken steel, cold, so no trace of the break
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was apparent. This secret was a discovery of his own, and he never revealed his method to any one. A number of people are living to-day who testify to the veracity of the story above given, as they saw the work done, and among these are James and George Smith, John Sedgwick, David Hale and Jacob Fender. The Indians, with whom the Hunts were always on the best of terms, would travel for many miles to have their tools made and repaired by these pioneer blacksmiths.
To Richard Sedgwick and wife two sons and four daughters were born, named as follows: Charles; Frances, Mrs. Allen, and afterward Beard; Mrs. Agnes Druley, of Boston township; Mrs. Mary Smith; John; and Martha, wife of William Davenport. Charles, who was an operator of saw and grist mills during his active life, died at the age of four-score years, in Oregon, in 1888. Frances and Mrs. Mary Smith have also passed away, and Martha, the youngest, is now in her seventy-eighth year.
Jonn Sedgwick, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born on the old homestead three miles south of Boston (now in Union county), August 18, 1819. He dwelt at home until 1843, when he was married and removed to a far.n on the Elkhorn, this place having been originally entered and settled upon in 1804 by Lazarus Whitehead. After living on this home- stead for thirty-eight years Mr. Sedgwick took up his residence in Richmond, and is still living here, respected by all who know him. He rents out a good farm of two hundred and seventy-five acres, in Randolph county, and owns that property, but some years ago disposed of his old homestead. Four years he served as a township trustee, and politically he has been a Whig and Republican. A strong believer in Universalism, he was one of the char- ter members of that church in Wayne county. His wife Margaret, who was a daughter of Jacob Smelser, died in 1889. Her father was a native of Maryland and accompanied his parents to Kentucky and in 1824 came to this county, settling upon a farm in Boston township. Of the four children born to John and Margaret Sedgwick, Isham is the eldest, and the others are Richard; Anna, wife of James Beeson, a dealer in wire fence and a resident of Richmond; and India, who died in childhood.
Isham Sedgwick was born on a farm situated on the bank of Elkhorn creek, about five and a half miles south of Richmond, March 12, 1846. As a little lad he was very ambitious and made remarkable progress in his studies, while at the same time he was not neglectful toward any of the duties which were assigned to him on the farm. When he was eighteen years old, in the winter of 1864-65, he taught school in this, his home, county, and in 1868 he was graduated in Earlham College, which institution conferred upon him the degree of Master of Science in 1879. For two years after his graduation he taught school, and in 1870 he settled upon a farm in
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Randolph county, and carried on the place for eight years. He was very successful as a farmer and made a specialty of breeding short-horn cattle. Though he came to Richmond in 1878 and has since made his home here, he did not dispose of his farm and live stock interests until 1897.
In 1878 Mr. Sedgwick invented a machine for manufacturing woven- wire fencing, being granted a patent the same year, and then erecting a factory in Richmond. For eighteen years he continued to manufacture the fencing, doing business under the firm name of Sedgwick Brothers, and at the end of that period he sold the patent and plant. In 1893 he became interested in operating coffee plantations in Nicaragua, Central America, and during the three succeeding years he organized four companies. The Indiana Coffee Company, of which he is president, has a capital stock of fifty thou- sand dollars and was organized in 1894. The Jumaiqui Coffee Company, founded the same year and capitalized at a similar amount, has Mr. Sedg- wick as president, and now its property comprises two hundred thousand trees and all the essentials necessary to the culture and care of the plant. In 1895 the Esmeralda Coffee Company, with a capital stock of forty thousand dollars, was founded, with our subject as secretary; and this com- pany controls the output from eighty thousand trees. Lastly, in 1895, the Jilgueros Coffee Company, having eighty thousand trees and capitalized at thirty thousand dollars, he being secretary of the same, was organized. All of these concerns are in successful operation, with a most flattering outlook for the future. In 1897 Mr. Sedgwick turned his attention to the invention of a horseless motor wagon, peculiar in the fact that the motive power is applied to all of the wheels, and different in general construction from all other vehicles of the type. The patent for his device was allowed at Wash- ington, September 21, 1898. Last year he also invented a multiple wind engine, a very ingenious piece of machinery, with great possibilities in many directions. He was one of the original stockholders in the American Tin- Plate Company, at Elwood, and in the Richmond Natural Gas Company, aiding materially in starting both enterprises. Thus briefly have been out- lined some of the numerous enterprises in which he has taken a more or less important part, and no special commentary is required as to his ability and versatile talents, as they are well known and acknowledged.
Active in the Republican party, he accomplished much for its success in the campaign of 1896, as he made twenty-six effective speeches. The monetary question was profoundly discussed by him, and he spoke from his own personal experience, owing to the fact that his business relations had brought him into intimate acquaintance with the disastrous state of affairs in a "free-silver" country, Nicaragua. A member of the Patriotic Order Sons of America, he was the national vice-president of the organization for one
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year. In 1896 he was president of the Indiana division of the Travelers' Protective Association. For seven years, beginning in 1884, he was the leader in the Richmond temperance movement and held a meeting every Sunday during that period.
On the 22d of September, 1870, Mr. Sedgwick married Miss Viola J. Beeson, of this town. Their two daughters are Anna Alice, who is at home, and Bertha L., now one of the head nurses in the Maryland General Hos- pital in Baltimore. Anna A. is an artist, and in addition to having executed some very fine paintings has been especially successful at wood-carving, in which she is an acknowledged master.
BERNARD A. KENNEPOHL.
Bernard A. Kennepohl, a member of the city council of Richmond, was born March 17, 1848, at Muennigbueren, a village in the kingdom of Hanover, Germany. His parents were Herman J. and Helena M. A. (Lulman) Ken- nepohl, the former a farmer by occupation. Between the ages of six and fourteen years the subject of this sketch attended the parochial school. At the latter age he was confirmed in the Catholic church, to which he has since adhered. He then went to Holland and worked on a dairy farm near Delft, his salary being twenty-five dollars for six months, or twenty-six dollars if he gave good satisfaction. At the end of the half year he received the twenty- six dollars, which was indeed well earned. He then obtained employment with another dairy farmer near Leihen, at the same wages, and at the end of a year had saved more money than many a young man who made a dollar per day. His parents had given him clothing sufficient to last him for a year or two when he left home, and none of his money had been squandered on useless things. The following spring he returned to his first employer, work- ing for a year for eighty-five dollars, and on the expiration of that period entered the service of another farmer in the same neighborhood, receiving eighty-six dollars for a summer's work. In the fall of 1865 he returned home, spending the winter with his parents. There were four children in the fam- ily, each having his special work to perform at nights; and when Mr. Kenne- pohl's father asked him what he intended doing through the winter he replied that he would like to attend night school. Accordingly his father made the necessary arrangements, and through the winter of 1865-6 he spent the eve- nings in study.
In the spring of 1866 Mr. Kennepohl started for America, sailing from Bremen and landing at Castle Garden, May 18, 1866, after six weeks and five days spent upon the water. He went direct to Cincinnati, where he had a brother and sister living, G. B. Kennepohl being proprietor of the Brookville House, at the corner of Front and Central avenues. The brother employed
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our subject as bar-tender, at a salary of twenty-five dollars per month, which then seemed to him a munificent salary, In 1869 he was stricken with typhoid fever and was ill for seventeen weeks. He began to work when able 'to labor for only half a day. Not regaining his strength his physician advised him to secure out-door work, and after driving a milk-wagon for a time he drove a carriage for J. L. Haven and later for Joseph Selow Aven- dale. Eventually he began working in the grocery and saloon of J. H. Walking, and on the 18th of October, 1872, arrived in Richmond to accept a position in the grocery of Anton Averbeck, a brother-in-law of Mr. Walking. On the 4th of May, 1873, he became driver of a milk-wagon for J. H. Ber- heide, and in December, 1876, he established a saloon on South Sixth street. The following year he bought out Jim Shaw, who was carrying on business in an old shanty that was supplanted by the handsome block now owned by Kelly & Hudgeson. In 1891 he erected a one-story building on West First street and Richmond avenue. This district was then out in a cornfield, but within five years there was a population of over twenty-five hundred on the west side. In 1896 the people of that district made opposition to the saloon, and under the Moore law it was declared that the seventh ward was a resi- dence district and therefore the saloon must be moved. Mr. Kennepohl then established his place of business at No. 307 North D street. He has owned altogether nine saloons in Richmond, having on two different occa- sions two at a time. He has been very successful in his business ventures and has accumulated a handsome capital.
On the Ist of July, 1873, Mr. Kennepohl married Miss Emilie J. A. Ber- heide, eldest daughter of J. H. Berheide, and to them have been born twelve children, nine of whom are yet living. Three of the sons served in the Spanish-American war: John A., who enlisted in Company K, First Missouri Infantry, April 28, 1898, and was mustered in May 13, 1898; and George W. and Harry B., who were in Company K, Third Tennessee Infantry, enlisting May 13, 1898. All joined the service as privates, but when discharged John and Harry were corporals and George was an artificer.
In politics Mr. Kennepohl has always been a Democrat and believes in a government of the people, for the people and by the people. In 1890 he was elected to represent the first ward in the city council of Richmond, and by re-election filled that office until 1896. He afterward removed to the seventh ward, was again elected councilman in 1898, and if he finishes his present term will have held the office altogether for ten years. He belongs to the order of Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Mannerchor, and has belonged to a number of political societies. He has always taken a very active part in political affairs here, and is one of the recognized leaders of the Democracy. He has traveled extensively in
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the United States, visiting the various leading cities of the Union, and in 1881 he returned to the Fatherland, renewing his acquaintance with the scenes and friends of his youth. He also visited the more prominent cities there and the principal places of interest, went to the exposition in Hanover and there saw the first ice machine ever constructed, it being there used in the manufacture of ice. He spent about three months abroad, leaving Rich- mond on the 9th of June and returning on the Ist of September, 1881. The trip across the water consumed twelve days, and from the time he sailed from Bremen on the return trip until reaching Baltimore it was fourteen days. Such in brief is the life history of one who, coming to America empty-handed, has steadily worked his way upward to a position of affluence.
GEORGE M. HEIM.
The subject of this sketch is an honored veteran of the civil war and a man who has for a number of years held a representative place among the contractors in stone work in Union county, Brownsville being his place of residence.
Mr. Heim is of German birth and his early training was secured in the Fatherland, He was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, June 13, 1829, and made his home in his native land until his emigration to America, in 1853. He had served an apprenticeship of four years at the trade of stone-cutter, and after landing in the United States came to Indiana, in the fall of 1853, and began work at his trade. Soon he began taking contracts, and ere long built up an extensive business. He has contracted for and built no less than fourteen stone bridges in Union county, and his work has also extended into Fayette county. At times he has had in his employ from thirty to forty men. In addition to his stone work, he was also for a time extensively engaged in the manufacture of brick, having his kilns in Brownsville. Recently, how- ever, he has done but little in this line.
Mr. Heim served three years in the army of Germany, and during the civil war he entered the Union army as chief bugler in the Fifteenth Indiana Battery. When only eight years old he had shown a marked talent for music, became proficient on several instruments, -flute, clarinet, etc., -and his mu- sical ability was well known to Colonel Fritz Arneke, whom Governor Morton secured to organize the battery. It was through the influence of Colonel Arneke that Mr. Heim, when he enlisted, was made chief bugler. He shared the fortunes of his command, often being in the thickest of the fight, by his music cheering and inspiring the boys in blue. On one occasion, at the siege of Knoxville, he had a horse killed under him. At another time his horse was wounded. Politically Mr. Heim is an ardent Republican. He is a member of Duvall Post, G. A. R.
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Mr. Heim is married and has a large family. Mrs. Heim's maiden name was Appolona Bockmeyer, she, too, being a native of Wurtemberg, Germany. They have thirteen children living and lost one at the age of three years.
JAMES C. ROSE.
This popular county official of Union county is one of the native sons of this section of the state, his birth having taken place in Union township, October 27, 1857. From the date of his earliest recollections he has been identified with the upbuilding and prosperity of this locality, in genuine interest and in more substantial ways. He stands high in the councils of the Republican party of this district and has been an energetic, efficient worker in its behalf. For five years he officiated as clerk in his own township and in 1896 he was elected county treasurer. In this responsible position he made a fine record for general efficiency, fidelity and promptness in the dis- charge of his manifold duties and was the choice of his party again upon the expiration of his term in 1898.
The paternal grandfather of our subject, John B. Rose, was a native of New Jersey, who, coming to this state, passed his last years in Harmony township, this county. He lived to attain a ripe old age, as he was almost ninety at the time of his death, in 1890. He owned a valuable farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Harmony township and enjoy the respect and con- fidence of all his neighbors and acquaintances. Of his three sons and four daughters two sons and two daughters are now living. His son Abraham, father of our subject, settled in Union township soon after his marriage to Miss Martha Sutton and for over a score of years was a general merchant in Billingsville, this county, continuing engaged in business there from 1856 or 1857 until his death, in March, 1878. For several years he was one of the trustees of Union township, and was still serving as such at the time of his death. He was a stalwart Republican and used his influence in the support of his party principles and nominees. His widow is still living, her home being in Liberty, and one of the members of her household is her aged father, Ander- son Sutton, formerly of Ohio and for years a prosperous farmer. She was the mother of four sons and four daughters, James C. being the eldest. Hattie died in girlhood; Annie is the wife of Albert Bias, of Center township; Abraham, Clyde and John are mechanics; Laura is the wife of Charles La- throp and Sallie is at home.
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