USA > Indiana > Adams County > Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : Containing portraits of all the Presidents of the United States from Washington to Cleveland, with accompanying biographies of each : a condensed history of the state of Indiana : portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Adams and Wells counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families, and a concise history of the counties and their cities and villages, pt. 1 > Part 56
USA > Indiana > Wells County > Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : Containing portraits of all the Presidents of the United States from Washington to Cleveland, with accompanying biographies of each : a condensed history of the state of Indiana : portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Adams and Wells counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families, and a concise history of the counties and their cities and villages, pt. 1 > Part 56
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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
OIIN A. WALSER, M. D., engaged in the practice of medieine at Buena Vista, was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, October 3, 1852, a son of Rannals Walser, who was born in Dearborn County, Indiana, but is now a resident of Nottingham Town-
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ship, Wells County, Indiana. John A., the subject of this sketch, was reared on his father's farm, and received his edneation in the com- mon school and the high school at Bluffton, Wells County. He was united in marriage February 14, 1875, to Miss Harriet A. Eek- rate, who was born in Hartford Township, Adams County, Indiana, February 14, 1856, her father, David Eekrate, being a prominent farmer of Hartford Township. Four children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Walser, as follows-Oliver P., Ernest D., Eva M. and Alta P. Dr. Walser began the study of med- ieine under the preceptorship of Dr. J. B. Fitzpatrick, with whom he read two and a half years. He then attended the medieal department of the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the winter of 1879-'80, graduating from that institution in 1881. After his graduation he located at Buena Vista, Adams County, and engaged in the practice of medicine, and is still engaged in the practice of his ehosen profession at this place, where he has established a good prac- tiee, and gained the confidence and respect of all who know him. Both Mr. and Mrs. Walser are members of the Christian church at Buena Vista.
M ORTON M. HERR, a prominent eiti- zen of Wabash Township, where he is engaged in farming, is a native of Lancaster County, Pensylvania, born June 20, 1835, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Miller) Herr, who were natives of Pennsyl- vania, and of German descent, their fore- fathers immigrating to America before the war of the Revolution. The parents of our subject removed to Clarke County, Ohio, in 1848, where the father died in April, 1879, aged seventy-three years. He was a farmer
by occupation. The mother is still living in Clarke County, aged sixty-three years. They were reared in the Lutheran faith, but united with the Menonnites, and later with the Brethren in Christ church, of which the mother is still a member. Morton M. Herr, whose name heads this sketch, grew to man- hood in Clarke County, Ohio, receiving but limited educational advantages, but by private study and close observation he has acquired a good practical edneation. Ile left home at the age of eighteen years,and served an apprentice- ship of three years at the earpenter's trade, after which he learned coach making, which he followed until April 13, 1861, when he en- listed in Company D, Third Ohio Infantry, this being the first company raised in Springfield, Ohio, after the three months eall. He was Sergeant of his company, and served until June 30, 1863, when he received an honor- able discharge. He was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, and participated in the engagements at Rich Mountain, Green- brier, Perryville and Stone River, and at the last mentioned battle was twice wounded, receiving a gun-shot wound in the leg, and a sealp wound which has left a sear. He was also on Streight's raid, and was there thrown from his horse, disloeating his shoulder. He contracted rheumatisin during the early part of the war. While on Streight's raid he was taken prisoner near Rome, Georgia, being a prisoner about four weeks, and was at Libby and Belle Isle, and subsequently sent to parole camp at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio. After receiving his discharge he returned to his home in Clarke County, Ohio, remaining one year, when he went to Dayton and began working at his trade. He was married at Dayton, March 21, 1866, to Mary 1. Shage, a native of Dayton, Ohio, born July 22, 1848, her parents, Joseph A. and Eleanor (Livingsberger) Shage, being natives of Penn-
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sylvania, the father born in Lancaster County, September 15, 1818, and the mother in Adams County, September 14, 1527. They were of German origin, their ancestors immigrating from Germany before the Revolu- tionary war. Mrs. Herr's great-grandfather and his brother were soldiers in that war. Her parents removed to Montgomery County, Ohio, where her father died in February, 1862. ller mother is still living, being a resident of Greenfield, Darke County, Ohio, and is a member of the Lutheran church. The father was a prominent leather merehant at, Dayton, Ohio, for several years, being engaged in that business at the time of his death. He was also a Lutheran in his relig- jons views. He had a family of five children, one son and four daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Herr are the parents of two children-Charles J., born September 24, 1870, and Ella Nora, born January 13, 1873, the former attending the high school at Greenville, Ohio. Mr. Herr resided at Dayton until April, 1872, when he removed to Darke County, and engaged in farming until the fall of 1880. Ile then located in Hamilton County, Indi- ana, where he was engaged in clerking in a grocery for a short time, when he purchased his employer's stock, and carried on the busi- ness until April 5, 1882, when he sold out and returned to Greenville, Ohio. In 1883 he came to Adams County, arriving here in Angust, when he purchased the farm where he has since been engaged in agricultural pursuits, his farm consisting of 100 acres of well-improved land. In polities Mr. Ilerr is a Demoerat, easting his first presidential vote for Stephen A. Douglass, Ile has held several local offices since coming to Wabash Township, and was elected to hiis present office, township trustee, in the spring of 1886. lle takes an active interest in the cause of education, and is giving his children good
educational advantages. Ile is a comrade of John P. Porter Post, No. 83, G. A. R., at Geneva.
AZRA REBER, one of the active and en- terprising farmers of Kirkland Town- ship, residing on seetion 24, was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, and when four years of age was brought by his parents, Henry and Nancy Reber, to Adams County, Indiana. Ile grew to manhood on a farm, and still resides on the old family homestead in Kirkland Township. lle received a fair common-school education by attending the schools of his neighborhood. December 25, 1878, he was married to Miss Mary E. Statter, a native of Allen County, Ohio, the date of her birth being December 27, 1859. They are the parents of three children-Marion, born September 11, 1880; Naney E., born November 4, 1882, and Armeda, born No- vember 11, 1885. Mr. Reber is the owner of 119 aeres of valuable land, and in connec- tion with his general farming is engaged in raising stock. llenry Reber, the father of our subject, was a native of Hanover, Ger- many, born August 20, 1817, a son of llenry Reber, Sr. The latter was also a native of Germany, where he was reared and married, and there followed farming until 1830, when he came to America with his son Henry, then a lad of thirteen years. They settled in Fairfield, and when he had earned sufficient money, the father, Henry, Sr., sent for his family whom he had left in Germany. They bought a farm in Fairfield County, where he and his wife died. Their family consisted of seven children, four sons and three daughters. Henry Reber, Jr., was reared on his father's farm, and was educated both in English and German. He left home at the age of eighteen
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years, and learned the broom-maker's trade which he followed in connection with farm- ing until his death. He was married Angust 20, 1840, to Nancy Bibler, who was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, February 22, 1822, and of the five children born to this union only two are now living -- Eli, and Ezra, the subjeet of this sketch. Ilenry Reber settled with his family on section 25, Kirkland Town- ship, Adams County, Indiana, in 1857, where he resided until his death. He was an active and public-spirited citizen, and was always interested in any enterprise for the advance- ment of his township or county. In polities he was a Democrat. Ile and his wife were members of the Baptist church until her death, after which he united with the Ger- man Reformed church, of which he was a member till his death, which ocenrred May 18, 1886.
ILLIAM JACKSON MYERS, a member of the woolen manufae- turing firm of Myers Brothers, at Deeatur, Indiana, was born near Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, May 21, 1839, a son of Christopher Frederick and Christina (Hlavieh) Myers, natives of Stuttgart, Ger- many, who eame to the United States in 1830 and located in Laneaster County, l'enn- sylvania, and in 1835 moved to Wayne County, Ohio. From there, in 1850, they came to Adams County, Indiana, and settled on a farm in Washington Township, where the father died January 20, 1860, aged sixty- nine years. The mother died at the home of her son David November 26, 1879, aged seventy years. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They had a family of ten children, six of whom are living, all in Adams County. William J. [ Carroll County, Ohio, born in 1842, daughter
Myers was eleven years of age when his par- ents moved to Adams County, and from that time until sixteen he attended the district sehools. In 1857 he entered the Indiana State University at Bloomington, where he remained two years. During the winter of 1860-'61 he taught the district school at Pleasant Mills, Adams County, and in the summer of 1861 taught a select school at Deeatur. In the fall of 1861 he was em- ployed as principal of the Decatur schools, filling that position until 1863, when he attended the Vermillion Institute at Ilayes- ville one year, and in the fall of 1864 entered the Washington and Jefferson College at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, in the junior year, and graduated in the class of 1866. Ile was then employed two years as principal of the high school at Steubenville, Ohio, and in 1868 assumed the principalship of the schools at Cadiz, Ohio, a position he held fourteen years. In 1872 he was elected to the chair of agriculture in his alma mater, which he deelined. In 1874 the degree of A: M. was conferred on him by the faenlty of Franklin College, Ohio, and in 1875 the honorary degree of Ph. D., by the same in- stitution. In 1882, having resigned his position as superintendent of the schools at Cadiz, on account of ill-health, he came to Deeatur and became associated with his broth- ers, David L. and James M., the firm name being Myers Brothers, proprietors of the De- catur Woolen Mills. Being a stockholder in the Deeatur National Bank, he was in 1883 elceted a director. In politics Mr. Myers was formerly a Republican, but now affiliates with the Prohibition party. In 1886 he was the nominee of the Prohibition party for State Senator, to represent Adams, Jay and Blackford counties. July 9, 1867, Mr. Myers was married to Jennie Hunter, a native of
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of George and Rosanna ( Harkless) Hunter, the former of Irish and the latter of German parentage. Her parents moved to Adams County, Indiana, when she was eight years of age, and in 1863 moved to Ashland County, Ohio. She attended the common and high schools of Decatur, and in the spring of 1863 entered Vermillion College at Ilayes- ville, Ohio, which she attended three years. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have had six children, but four of whom are living-George IInnter, Anna, Wilhelmina and Mary. One chikl died in infancy unnamed, and Emma died July 13, 1876, aged seven months. Mr. and Mrs Myers are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a local minister.
EORGE W. RAY, deceased, who was one of the early settlers of Adams Com- ty, was born in the State of Maryland, January 28, 1813, a son of Jonathan Ray. llis father was born in 1792, and was a sol- dier in the war of 1812. Ile died in Allen County, Ohio, in 1878. George W., our subject, left his native State with his parents at an early age, going with them to Tuseara- was County, Ohio, where he grew to man- hood. He was married in Tusearawas County, to Eleanor Williams, a native of that county, the date of her birth being Septem- ber 5, 1813. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ray, four sons and three dangh- ters. Mr. Ray followed broom-making until 1848, when he came to Adams County, Indi- ana, and engaged in farming on section 5, Monroe Township, where he resided until the fall of 1858. He then removed with his family to Ottawa County, Ohio, where he died November 28, 1860. Mrs. Ray returned to Adams County in 1861, and is now making
her home in Decatur. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, Mr. Ray having been a member of the same denomi- nation.
AMITHI G. RALSTON, M. D., was born in Lawrence County, Ohio, October 2, 1847. His father, James Ralston, was a native of West Union, Adams County, Ohio, and his mother, Mary Ann (Grubb) Ralston, of Lawrence County, same State. They were married in Lawrence County, and the father engaged in the mercantile business with his unele, just across the line in Ken- tueky. Ile was a molder by trade. He died in Greenup, Greenup Connty, Kentucky, about 1850. The mother died in Ohio in 1863. They had nine children, five boys and four girls, our subjeet being the eighth child. The mother remarried and came with her family to Adams County, leaving Smith G. and William, an elder brother, working out at whatever they could find to do, until the breaking out of the civil war. They enlisted, October 25, 1861, in Company A, Forty- seventh Indiana Infantry, and in 1863 re-en- listed as veterans, serving until the elose of the war. Onr subject participated in many of the famous battles. Ile was wounded at Brown's Plantation, August 11, 1862, by a gunshot in the shoulder, where the ball still remains. Ile now draws a pension. Ile was taken prisoner at the battle of Champion Ilills, near Vicksburg, during the siege, after which he was paroled and sent North. Ile was afterward exchanged, and rejoined his regiment. He served as color-bearer of the First Division, Thirteenth Army Corps, two years, and has the flag of that corps still in his possession. IIe was in the Red River ex- pedition under General Banks. Ile held his
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position as color-bearer until his discharge. The brothers then returned to AAdams County, and the doctor attended school one year, then became a student with W. II. Vance, at New Corydon, Indiana. He then took a course at the Michigan State University, at Aun Arbor, during the winter of 1866-'67, then engaged in practice one year. After attending a course of medical lectures at the Ohio Medi- cal College, Cincinnati, he returned to New Corydon, and in the spring of 1572 settled in Geneva, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession. He has a good practice, and keeps pace with all the improvements in his profession. The doctor is a bachelor.
OHN KETCHAM, deceased, a pioneer of Jefferson Township, was born in New Jersey October 18, 1792. Ile was a son of Abraham Ketcham, who was also a native of New Jersey, of German deseent. Abra- ham Ketcham was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and in 1812 moved to Wash- ington, Pennsylvania, and thence in 1813 to Columbiana County, Ohio, where he died aged eighty-eight years. John Ketcham ae- companied his parents to Ohio, and was there married about 1820 to Margaret Me- Mannus, a native of Washington County, Pennsylvania, born in 1796. In October, 1844, they moved to Jefferson Township, Adams County, Indiana, where Mrs. Keteham died about 1868, and Mr. Keteham Septem- ber 15, 1850. They were members of the Baptist church, and esteemed members of the community. They had a family of five chil- dren, three sons and two daughters. Their son William was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, September 13, 1826, and from the age of eighteen years has lived in Adams
County. He was married October 7, 1552, to Elizabeth Woodruff, who was born in Holmes County, Ohio, March 30, 1828. They have had five children, two of whom are living-Marion and Mary E. Mr. Ketcham is in politics a Democrat. Ile is serving his twenty-fourth year as assessor, and has also served as trustee and clerk of his township. Ile and his wife are members of the Chris- tian church.
FREDERICK W. BEINEKE, farmer, section 3, Kirkland Township, also owns a saw-mill which is situated at Kirklaud station. He was born in Preble Township, this county, December 22, 1843, and was educated in the German and com- mon schools of his father's district. llis parents were William E. and Sophia E. (Peck) Beineke. The father was born in Prussia in 1814, and came to America in 1841, settling in Preble Township. Soon after reaching here he entered forty acres of land from the Goverment, on section 22, and is still the owner of that land. Ile has added 120 acres, making a total of 160 acres. Ile was married in 1842, and commenced keeping house upon his new farm, and has lived there ever since, only moving out of the old house into the new. They lived in their log house several years, then built the present frame house, where the father still lives. There were three children in the family-Frederick, William H., who is living with his father, and Lusetta, wife of Peter Reppert, living in Preble Township. Fred- erick W. was married November 18, 1869, to Miss Sophia Elizabeth Fruchte, who was born September 20, 1845, in Preble Town- ship, daughter of Everhart and Elizabeth (Vorvermark) Fruchte, both of whom were
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born in Germany. The father died in 1877, and the mother is still living on the old home farm. The mother was born in P'rus- sia in 1810, and came to America when a girl, with her parents, who settled in Preble Township. Mr. and Mrs. Beineke have two children-Elizabeth S., born March 3, 1871, and William, born March 24, 1878.
ANDREW DAUGHERTY, farmer, owns 120 acres of land on sections 8 and 16, Root Township. Ile was born July 29, 1805, in Monongalia County, West Virginia, and when five years of age removed with his parents to Fairfield County, Ohio. When he was thirty-one years old he came to this county and entered forty acres of land from the Government, and has sinee added eighty acres. He entered this land in Sep- tember, 1836, then returned to Fairfield County and remained until May, 1839, when he brought his wife and three children to his new home. Three children have also been born in Adams County. Hle built a one- story log cabin, 18x20, covered it with elap- boards that he himself prepared, and made a floor that was part puncheon and part boards. The first assessor that visited him after he came here asked how much his cabin cost. Having built it himself, he answered, "$1.50," which was the actual cost. Mr. Daugherty was married in Columbus, August 23, 1832, to Miss Jane Montgomery, who was born in Fairfield County, June 25, 1810. She died in this county, Mareh 18, 1882, leaving six children-Leonard L., born June 28, 1834, lives in Chautauqua County, Kansas; Ilester A., born March 29, 1836, wife of William Eagee, living in Madison Township, Allen County; Oliver S., born January 14, 1838, was a soldier in the late war, being a member
of the Eleventh Indiana Zouaves. Ile lost his health while in the service, and died at Indianapolis in March, 1878, leaving a wife and four children. Alvin W., born August 21, 1839, in Root Township, lives in Madison Township, Allen County; he also lost his health in the army, but is still living; Angeline, born in April, 1841, in Root Township, is the wife of John Shookman, and lives at Fort Wayne; Andrew B., born June 28, 1847, lives in Monroe Township, this county. September 6, 1883, Mr. Daugherty was married to Miss Rachel Compton, who was born in St. Mary's, Ohio, January 18, 1832, where she lived until she was eight years of age, when her parents removed to Fort Wayne, and lived there ten years. They afterward removed to Tama Conn- ty, Iowa, where the parents died. Mrs. Daugherty then returned to Fort Wayne, and lived with her sister until her marriage. ller father was born in Charleston, South Carolina, March 22, 1793, and when a child was brought by his parents to Dayton, Ohio, where he was reared and married. He died January 17, 1564, and is buried in Marshall- town, Iowa. The mother was born in Knox- ville, Tennessee, July 10, 1794, and was brought when a child to Dayton, Ohio, where she was reared. Mr. Daugherty's father, Andrew Dangherty, was born in Delaware, in 1773, where he was reared to manhood. When twenty-one years of age he removed to Monongalia County, West Vir- ginia, where he was married to Mary Furby. IIe died in Fairfield County, Ohio, March 17, 1856. The mother, Mary (Furby) Daugherty, was born in Kent County, Dela- ware, in 1778, and died in October, 1834, at Fairfield, Ohio. Both parents are buried in Fairfield County, Ohio. The father was a remarkable peacemaker, and could settle quarrels and disputes when no one else could.
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