USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 23
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 23
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 23
USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 23
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 23
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 23
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 23
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Politically, Mr. Lyman was a loyal Republican, and prior to the civil war was a strong abolitionist. He had long held membership in the Presby- terian church, and had officiated as deacon. His wife, whose death, March
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14, 1898, was a deeply deplored event in this city, was likewise a faithful member of the same church, and was loved by a large circle of friends. She was a Miss Clarissa H. Lewis in her girlhood, and it was on the 20th of Jan- uary, 1863, that her destinies were united with those of Mr. Lyman in mar- riage. She was a daughter of William and Mary (Bell) Lewis, and to her marriage three children were born, namely: Ora Edwin, who died at the age of fourteen years; Mary Emma, whose death occurred when she was an infant of some three months; and Harry Baldwin, who married Theresa Schele, by whom he had one son, George Edwin. The wife of Mr. Lyman's youth was a Miss Anna Cook, to whom he was married November 19, 1857. She was a daughter of Gregory and Mary (Potter) Cook, and was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church. She died August 4, 1861. The beau- tiful residence of Mr. Lyman was erected by him about two years ago, and is considered one of the most attractive homes in this city of lovely homes. Mr. Lyman died November 8, 1898, and his loss is deeply felt in the business and social circles of the city which had so long been his home, and which he had honored and enriched by his ability and his exemplary life. His son, Harry B. Lyman, was born September 24, 1868, and is now heir to his father's estate, and the business will be continued by him. This business consists of both the coal and lime enterprise and the stock farm. In politics he is a Republican, and he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Wood- men of the World, and the Lafayette Club.
FREDERIC L. ROENBAUGH.
One of the enterprising agriculturists of Pulaski county is Frederic Lin- coln Roenbaugh, who within the past few years has amassed a competence by strict attention to business, economy and prudence in the management of his affairs.
A son of Frederick and Cynthia (Carson) Roenbaugh, our subject was born October 28, 1860, in Newcomerstown, Tuscarawas county, Ohio. His father, who was born about 1810, was a boatman on the Ohio canal for many years, a part of the time being the owner of a boat. He had learned the shoemaker's trade in his early manhood, and followed that occupation during the winter season, thereby making a good livelihood for his family. He died September 21, 1860, when about fifty years of age, respected by all who knew him, and his widow survived until March, 1877.
The boyhood of our subject was spent quietly in his native state, but after the death of his mother the orphan was obliged to start out upon the struggle of life in earnest. In August, 1877, he came to Pulaski county, and from that time until he arrived at his majority he made his home with his
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uncle, Stephen Ginther, becoming a practical farmer. For two years he operated the Smith farm of forty acres, after which he carried on the old Christ farm in Harrison township for some three years. Later he took charge of the Charles E. Jackson farm for five years, and in the spring of 1899 he removed to his present place. This farm, known as the Venard homestead, is situated on section 29, Harrison township, and is well improved and fertile.
Mr. Roenbaugh is a member of the Knights of Pythias. In his political standing, he is a stalwart Republican, devoted to the welfare of his party, though not a politican in the usual acceptation. He was united in marriage to Miss Martha Borders, on Christmas day, 1890, and they have a pleasant, happy home.
AMOS S. COLBORN.
The subject of this sketch is a native of Canada, born near Gault, on the 18th of November, 1844, a son of Benjamin Q. and Mary (Rosenburg) Colborn. His father was born in New York state in 1813, and accompanied his parents to Canada, where he was married and remained until 1850; by trade he was a lumber dealer, carpenter and contractor. His wife, a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1820. The ancestry on his father's side were Scotch, and on his mother's probably German. Benjamin Colborn had nine children, of whom our subject was the fifth in order of birth. Rebecca, the eldest of the children, was born in Canada, in 1836, and died there at the age of seven years ; Susanna, born in 1838, died in Caledonia, Michigan, in 1894; Nancy, born in 1840, is now the widow of I. Stauffer and resides at Petoskey, Michigan ; John W. was born in 1842 and resides at Caledonia, Michigan ; Amos S. was the next ; Abraham R. was born in 1846 and is a wholesale lumber merchant at Michigan City, Indiana; Catherine was born in 1848 and is the wife of Theron Pelton, foreman in a paper mill at Water- vliet, Michigan ; Mary A., born in Kent county, Michigan, in 1856, died at the age of four years ; and Isaac, born in 1860, is a lumber dealer at Good- land, Newton county, Indiana.
In 1850 the parental home of our subject was transferred to Kent county, Michigan, where he was educated and grew to manhood. His first six years having been passed at his birth-place, he began attending school in Canada ; but ere much progress had been made in the educational line he accompanied his parents to a point near Grand Rapids, Michigan, and com- pleted his education in the schools of that state. His parents located upon a farm and his father's life was ended there, in the business of farming and lumbering. The country was heavily timbered at that time and every farm had upon it sufficient " saw timber " to afford profitable employment for the
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men in the winter season. The father also followed his trade as a carpenter and contractor when opportunity offered. He was killed in 1873, by being thrown from a load of hay. The mother is still living, in Caledonia, Kent county, Michigan.
Mr. Colborn when a youth attended school until fourteen years of age, when he began work at the carpenter's trade, continuing in that business until March 8, 1862; then he enlisted as a private in Company H, Sixteenth United States Infantry, joining his regiment at the front, it being already in the field. His first rendezvous was at Columbus, Ohio, where he received the necessary preliminary schooling at Camp Thomas. In April he was sent to Cincinnati, thence down the river, reaching Pittsburg Landing a few days after the terrible battle at that place. He marched across the the country and joined his regiment at Corinth, Mississippi, and became a part of the command of General Buell; but his principal commanders were General Rosecrans, in the Army of the Cumberland, and General Sherman, on the Atlanta campaign. He participated in many of the hard-fought bat- tles of the civil war, among which may be mentioned Stone river, Chicka- mauga, Kenesaw mountain, Peach Tree creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro and the severe skirmishes incident to the great Atlanta campaign. Two of the bat- tles named are memorable in turn as being the scene where Garfield distin- guished himself as an able general and where McPherson fell. Mr. Colborn escaped miraculously, having had, like thousands of others in those crucial times, some " close calls." The discipline in the regular army is much more severe than in the volunteer service, and the drilling and schooling of the soldiers is correspondingly better. But while the discipline is rigid, the rights of the private solders are not ignored, as they often are under volunteer com- manders. While encamped upon Lookout mountain, March 8, 1865, rolled around in the never ending cycle of time, and he received his discharge promptly on the date of the expiration of his term of service. While no vete- ran of the civil war regrets his service there, all look back to that as the one object which disarranged the whole plan of future life. Three or four years were taken from the student life of those desiring to complete an education; the apprentice to a mechanical trade felt that he was too old to complete it; likewise the professional aspirant felt that the days for activity were upon him, and he must make time count.
Returning from the war, our subject did not re-enter school, but at once launched out upon life's duties. He purchased an interest in a sawmill and operated that successfully for three years. Then he sold and invested his money in eighty acres of land in Byron, Kent county, Michigan, and the suc- ceeding eighteen years were spent in improving and cultivating that farm. He made substantial improvements, erected a ten-room brick house, a modern
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bank barn and other necessary buildings. Finally he rented the farm for a term of three years, and at the expiration of the lease sold the property and came to Oxford, in 1888. March 15th of that year he engaged in lumbering, and for six years was in partnership with his brother, Abraham R. Our sub- ject, Amos S., was then out of business for a short time, having sold his inter - est, but in 1895 purchased his brother's interest, and later going to Goodland, as before stated. In the spring of 1898 he formed a partnership with Mr. W. B. Fulton.
Mr. Colborn was married December 31, 1868, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Miss Sarah A. Frost, daughter of William and Ann (Hutchings) Frost, descendants of English ancestors. Mrs. Colborn was born in New York, August 5, 1845, and came west with her parents, who located on a farm in Kent county, Michigan. A son and a daughter have been born to bless this union, the eldest of whom is Miss Mary, who was born in Kent county, March 5, 1874, and who is still an inmate of her parents' home. John A., also born in Kent county, Michigan, June 8, 1879, has passed his life thus far in school; he is a graduate of the Oxford high school, and has attended a school of a higher order one year at Greencastle, this state. He is now entered upon his second course of lectures in the Indiana Medical College, at Indianapolis, having begun the first course in September, 1897. During vacation he is employed in a drug store in Oxford, continuing and perfecting his chemical studies.
The subject of our sketch is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has held various official positions. He is also a prominent and active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, holding his membership in R. J. Templeton Post, No. 35, Department of Indiana. His political affiliations have always been with the Republicans, though he is not aggress- ive in politics, having neither sought nor held public office.
JACOB STANTON ALBAUGH.
The subject of this sketch has been identified with the business inter- ests of Oxford since 1862. In the thirty-six years of his residence here he has been a prominent factor in the town.
He was born at Bowling Green (now Osage), Jefferson county, Ohio, on the 15th of April, 1836, and remained in his native town until his depart- ure for Benton county, Indiana. His education was limited to attendance at the district school during winter seasons until he reached the age of seventeen years. He then became an apprentice in his father's wagon shop, and attended night schools for three years during his apprenticeship.
In 1862 he came to Lafayette, en route to Benton county, that being
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then the terminus of the railroad. He took "foot and walker's " line from Lafayette to Oxford, a farmer hauling his worldly possessions for two dol- lars. After looking around for a time he purchased a quarter section of land, but sold it the same year. He located in Oxford and worked at his trade until 1865, when he enlisted as a member of Company K, One Hun- dred and Forty-seventh Indiana Infantry, for one year. After a short stay at Indianapolis for drill and equipment, the regiment was hurried on to Harper's Ferry, thence to Charleston, Stephens' Station and up the Shen- andoah valley to Winchester, finally returning to Harper's Ferry, where it was mustered out, in August, 1865. Though not in any general engage- ments it was constantly beset with wandering guerrilla bands and was in fre- quent skirmishes. The marches were very active and exhausting, yet the services and duties were as essential to the cause as though engaged in con- tinuous battle. The territory had to be protected and defended from guer- rilla warfare and the purloining of the people's stock during the dying ago- nies of the Confederacy.
Returning to Oxford after the war, Mr. Albaugh re-engaged in the wagon business, operating a shop on an extensive scale, until 1888, when he sold out his stock and leased the shop and machinery to W. C. Parker. Mr. Albaugh then conducted a meat market near the " square " for five years, or until 1892, when his place was burned out. He then rebuilt his shop and occupied it for three years, when he remodeled the building and leased it to a dry-goods merchant, who still occupies it. This is a desirable business property,-a two-story brick, twenty by seventy feet. With the advent of the cheaper grades of wagons the manufacture of vehicles became unprofitable, and the old shop has been torn down and the business discontinued.
In addition to his varied business interests Mr. Albaugh has also served in several official capacities: was city marshal of Oxford from 1888 to 1892, served a term on the school board, and nine years as township trustee of Oak Grove township, in which Oxford is situated; and he is at the present time president of the Oxford town board. He has been a working member of the Democratic party all his life, and has figured conspicuously in local politics. In recent years his sympathies are with the " free-silver" element of the Democratic party.
June 2, 1858, Mr. Albaugh was united in marriage with Miss Elsie, daughter of John and Sarah (Cooper) Travis, natives of Ohio and of Scotch- Irish ancestry. The father died at Nekomis, Illinois, and the mother at Knoxville, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Albaugh have had one son and six daugh- ters. The two eldest children were born at Bowling Green, Ohio, and the others in Oxford, Indiana. Ella is now the wife of S. Burt Parker, who
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runs a meat market in Chicago; Emma is the wife of C. A. Scott, a retired farmer in Oxford; May married W. A. Cosson, a farmer and stock-dealer near Atkinson Station, in this county; Etta is the wife of John D. Stingle, a prosperous farmer and stock-dealer at Pine Village, in Warren county; John W., the only son, died at the age of eighteen years, a bright and promising young man whose untimely death was a severe blow to the sorrowing fam- ily; and Belle and Harriet are still at the parental home.
Mr. Albaugh has spent five years' time and not a little money in accu- mulating a stock of domesticated wild animals. His place is quite a museum of curiosities, where strangers are pleasantly entertained and enlightened. A herd of fourteen deer, in all stages of development, from the beautiful spotted fawns to the antlered and ferocious-looking buck. The first stock of these were shipped from Indian Territory, later acquisitions coming from northern Wisconsin. The three squirrels, though not so rare, are very "cute " and interesting pets; while the raccoon, crow and a pair of foxes have lost none of their cunning by being domesticated. On the premises there is also a fish pond, covering over an acre of land and stocked with all kinds of fish common to this country.
Mr. Albaugh is fairly well-to-do and takes great pleasure with his pets and in entertaining his many callers and curiosity seekers. Besides a val- uable home property, he has a piece of land near town, some improved real estate in Oxford, and the store building previously referred to. He receives a small pension from the government by reason of disabilities incurred in the army.
For fifteen years he has been actively identified with the Odd Fellows order, having attained the encampment degree and held the principal offices in the subordinate lodge and encampment. He is also a member of the grand lodge of Indiana, and for some years has served as district deputy grand master. He also is a member of the order of Knights of Maccabees. In the Grand Army of the Republic he is one of the charter members of the local post. The family is identified with the Presbyterian church, though Mr. Albaugh has never been connected with any religious organization.
The family genealogy of our subject is as follows: Mr. Albaugh is the eldest of the eight children of Reuben and Sarah (Ryder) Albaugh. His father, who was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, but spent his life chiefly as a wagon and carriage maker at Osage, that state, was born in 1810 and died in 1893; and his father, William Albaugh, who was a native of southeastern Pennsyl- vania, died at Osage, Ohio, in 1878, at the age of eighty years. George Ryder, maternal grandfather, was of German antecedents. The children of Reuben and Sarah (Ryder) Albaugh were named as follows: Jacob S., whose name introduces this sketch; Sarah, born in 1838, died at Toronto, Ohio,
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aged fifty-eight; Elizabeth, born in 1840, is the wife of D. L. Maple and resides on a farmi near Hammondville, Ohio; Isaac, born in 1842, died in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1893; Maggie born in 1844, married C. Eddy, a foreman in a pipe factory at Toronto, Ohio; George, born in 1846, is a mechanic in the employ of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company and is a resident of Cleveland; Jane is the widow of David Eddy and resides at Toronto, Ohio; and Levi, who was born about 1850, is a farmer residing in Oxford, Indiana.
Our subject is a jolly, whole-souled man who enjoys a joke and is ever ready to return the " fire." He is now engaged in dispensing "coolness" to suffering humanity in the way of delivering ice to his numerous customers about town.
JOHN H. STORK.
The venerable gentleman whose name heads this sketch has been a res- ident of Lafayette for a period of forty-five years and now lives retired at No. 513 South Fourth street. He is of German birth and possesses the sterling characteristics peculiar to his countrymen. Of his life we make the following brief record:
John H. Stork was born in Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, northeast of the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main, July 20, 1827, a son of John and Anna Eliza- beth (Dieffenbach) Stork, both natives of that country. In their family were three children: John H .; Anna Barbara, widow of Henry Dieffenbach; and Johannas. John Stork, the father, was a farmer in Germany, where he lived until 1864, the year of his emigration to America. Arriving in this country, he located at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where he was variously employed and where he spent the rest of his life and died, his death occurring in 1878, at about the age of seventy-five years. His wife's death occurred four years previous to his. They were members of the Lutheran church.
John Stork's father, also named John, died at the time of the Russian army's entrance into France, of an epidemic then prevailing, he being in middle life at the time of death and leaving a family of three sons. By oc- cupation he was a farmer and weaver. The maternal grandfather of our subject was Nicholas Dieffenbach. He lived to the ripe old age of eighty years and died in Germany. He was a cavalryman and gunner in the war in the Netherlands, but his life work was that of farming. His family com- prised one son and two daughters.
John H. Stork, the immediate subject of this review, was reared on a farm in his native land, having the benefit of eight years' schooling. He learned the tailor's trade, and followed that and helped his father on the
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farm in Germany. In 1851 he came to America, and after a short residence in New York moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he followed his trade a year and half. In 1854 he came to Lafayette, Indiana, and here he worked at his trade until 1890, since which time he has been retired. Among his em- ployers during the long period he worked here were Messrs. Shively, Jackson, Niermann and others. As soon as he was able, in 1859, he secured a little home for himself and family, that year building one room of his present house, in order to save paying rent, and from time to time as he prospered he added to the original structure until his comfortable home was built. From time to time he also invested in land. In 1865 he bought eighty acres in Round Grove township, White county, later bought an adjoining tract of one hundred and thirty-eight and one-half acres, and still later purchased one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the others, thus making a fine farm of three hundred and seventy-eight and one-half acres. Besides, he owns a number of valuable lots in Lafayette.
In July, 1852, Mr. Stork married Miss Annie Mary Vogt, daughter of Joseph and Eva (Kuntz) Vogt, and for nearly half a century have he and his devoted wife lived happily together. To them were born two children, Katie and John Joseph. The daughter is now the wife of William Flete- meyer, of Lafayette, and has three daughters and two sons,-Minnie, Anna, Henry, John Joseph and an infant. John Joseph Stork finished his educa- tion in the Lafayette Business College and was for several years a clerk in the dry-goods business. He died in 1896, at the age of thirty nine years, leaving a widow, Alice C. (Booth) Stork, formerly of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and one daughter, Vera Elizabeth Mary.
In religious faith the subject of our sketch is a Lutheran, while his- wife is a Catholic. Fraternally he is identified with the Odd Fellows, and politically is what is termed an independent. Formerly he affiliated with the Republican party. He has never sought or held office.
CHARLES M. SNYDER.
This gentleman, an attorney and counselor at law at Fowler, is a native of Pine township, Benton county, Indiana, born October 11, 1866, a son of William and Mary J. (Kenton) Snyder, both natives of Indiana. His father was born in Tippecanoe county. Both are living, the father a hardware merchant in Fowler; he was a soldier in the civil war. They had eight children, of whom four are living.
Mr. Snyder, our subject, the second in age of the above children, was educated in the city schools of Fowler, finishing the prescribed course in the high school. He studied law in the office of Judge U. Z. Wiley, and was
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admitted to practice in 1889. On Judge Wiley's election to the appellate- court bench, Mr. Snyder succeeded to his business and occupies the same office. In connection with his legal work he also does a fine business in abstracting and insurance. He is a young man of bright intellect, apparently well fitted for the legal profession, and has been successful in practice.
In his political views he is a Republican. He is a member of Benton Lodge, No. 521, F. & A. M.
He was married November 7, 1893, to Miss Margaret Van Natta, a native of Tippecanoe county, this state, on the " battle ground, " and a daughter of William S. and Harriet (Sheetz) Van Natta. Her father is a prominent stock- raiser in Benton county and a man well known as a wealthy and influential citizen. Mrs. Snyder was educated at Purdue University, of which she is a graduate.
SAMUEL K. NOLIN.
The subject of this biographical review is one of the solid, stable busi- ness men of Benton county. His experience has been varied, and he has achieved his present position in the financial world principally through his own unaided efforts.
He accompanied his parents to Benton county, Indiana, in childhood, and here he received his elementary education and passed his youthful years. Then, in 1849, he went to Iroquois county, Illinois, where forty- three years of his life were spent in agricultural pursuits. He located in Stockland township, of that county, securing four hundred acres of govern- ment land, which he improved largely by his own labor. Endowed with a robust constitution and indomitable energy, he soon transformed the trackless prairie into fertile farming land, the pioneer log cabin giving place to a handsome modern residence, and each year found him more prosperous than the preceding one.
As success crowned his efforts he continued to add other broad fields and to increase his stock interests, this latter being one of his principal elements of success. He raised for the market all kinds of domestic animals, and the sale of these was largely the source of his success, since it was his purpose to feed to his own stock most of the products of his farm. As success crowned his efforts his farm boundaries were also extended until his possessions aggregated eight hundred and forty acres in Stockland town- ship, and also a valuable farm of one hundred and sixty-six acres in Prairie Green township, same county.
But notwithstanding his phenomenal success and long residence in Illi- nois, the people of Benton county claim Mr. Nolin as their own. His early
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