USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Biographical memoirs of Blackford County, Ind. : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography embellished with portraits of many well known residents of Blackford County, Indiana > Part 56
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Mr. Bonham is a married man and the father of one child, Lillie Margarie, whose birth occurred on the 29th of January, 1899. The maiden name of Mrs. Bonham was Leota McGreath, daughter of John P. and Sarah (Bales) McGeath, and the ceremony with united her to her husband was sol- emnized on the 29th day of December, 1897. She also belongs to the Methodist church and is alive to all the good work done by the congregation worshipping in Hartford City.
She acted as deputy county recorder under D. J. Hummer from 1893 to 1897.
RALPH B. REASONER.
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Ralph Bernard Reasoner, assistant super- intendent of the Fort Wayne Gas Company, is the son of Jacob M. and Emma ( Will- man) Reasoner and a native of Blackford county, Indiana, born July 19, 1876, in Hart- ford City. After obtaining a preliminary education in the public schools of the city, which he attended during his youth and early manhood, he became a student of Purdue
University, LaFayette, where he pursued the higher branches for a period of three years. At the end of that time be discontinued his studies and entered the employ of the Fort Wayne Gas Company as feld superintend- ent, the duties of which position he dis- charged until promoted to timekeeper in June, 1896.
Mr. Reasoner continued in the latter ca- pacity until 1899, in March of which year he became assistant superintendent of the company and has successfully discharged the functions incident thereto to the present time. He was married, November 24, 1898, to Miss Cora Crannell, the issue of which union is one child, a daughter, Helen, whose birth occurred on the 21st day of September, 1899.
On March 3, 1899, Mr. Reasoner became a member of Lodge No. 50, K. O. T. M., and for some years bas been identified with the Presbyterian church, to which religious body his wife also belongs. Mr. Reasoner belongs to one of the oldest and most influ- ential families of Blackford county and the name has been inseparably connected with the growth and development of the country froni a very early day. His life has been in harmony with the high standard of man- hood sustained by his ancestors, and his repu- tation as an upright, progressive and in- telligent citizen has won for him a prominent place in the esteem of the people of both city and county. He is a gentleman of more than ordinary mental capacity, fitted natural- ly for business and scholarly pursuits, hav- ing, as already noted, been successful in the former as manager and general overseer of a large and important enterprise.
He is careful and correct in judgment upon practical affairs and exerts a marked in- fluence in whatever association he may join.
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His long connection with the company by which he is now employed shows him to possess business ability of a high order, and the management of its large interests dem- onstrates carefully laid plans and superior executive force. Socially his standing in Hartford City has long been assured; he is widely respected as a courteous, kind hearted, generous man, of perfect integrity and true moral worth, and his influence bas ever been exerted for that which tends to the general good and the advancement of a high order of citizenship.
MOSES H. ROBBINS.
Moses Hamlin Robbins, superintendent of the Peoples Gas Company, was born Oc- tober 5, 1846, in the town of Abbington, Wayne county, Indiana, and is the son of J. C. and Sarah (Fender) Robbins. When quite young he was taken by his parents to Ohio where his youthful years were passed and in the district schools of that state he received his preliminary educa .. on.
Mr. Robbins remained under the parental roof until attaining his majority and in Jan- uary, 1863, responded to the country's call for volunteers by enlisting in Company G, Eighth Ohio Cavalry, with which he served for some time in Virginia. He took part in a number of campaigns and battles, including Hunter's raid, the two days' fight at Lynch- burg, the engagements at Liberty, Bulls Gap and Beverly, besides a number of skir- mishes, in all of which his record was that of a brave and gallant defender of the na- tion's honor. In one battle he received a slight wound in the shoulder, the ball pass- ing the entire length of his coat sleeve and
making a hole through every wrinkle of the cloth.
After his discharge Mr. Robbins returned to Ohio and became a student of the Union City high school, where he pursued his studies for some time, and later entered the employ of a machinist in which capacity he continued for a period of about one year. Finding mechanics not to his liking, he abandoned the same and for some time there. after worked in a telegraph office mider Thomas Fletcher, train dispatcher at Union City. Later he took the road for Charles Gardner and subsequently was engaged for two years engaged in railroad work with headquarters at Union City.
Severing his connection with the road, Mr. Robbins next engaged in the mercantile business in Union City, where for a period of two years he carried on the grocery busi- ness in which his success was financially en- couraging. Disposing of his store in the above place, he went to Kendallville, Indiana, and opened a gents' furnishing store, in addi- tion to which he also carried a stock of boots and shoes, devoting to these lines of mer- chandising seven years. At the end of that time he embarked in business in Hartford City manufacturing and handling brick and tile, and was thus engaged from 1882 till 1892. The meantime, 1891, Mr. Robbins accepted a position with the Peoples Gas Company of Hartford City, the duties of which he discharged in connection with his mercantile interests, but in 1896 he disposed of his business and has since devoted his en- tire attention to the company with which he is identified. He holds the responsible posi- tion of superintendent of the company, in addition to which the secretaryship is also in his immediate charge. His management has been characterized by ability of a high order
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and the success of the enterprise is largely due to his wisdom and foresight.
Mr. Robbins was married, on the 13th day of October, 1867, to Miss Sarah M. Stewart, daughter of Marsh Stewart, of Randolph county, Indiana, a union blessed with the birth of the following children : Clara, wife of Joseph Bowman : Charles E. ; Mabel, wife of Lora Brown; Grace V., mar- ried Howard Collans; Archie S. and Nettie.
The Peoples Gas Company, of which Mr. Robbins is now the leading spirit, has a his- tory dating from 1939, at which time it was organized with the ollowing members : Za- doc Williams, S. S. Carroll, Philip Covault, William Spence, Fred M. Campbell and B. M. Boyd. The officers at this time are : J. P. Willman, president; Clark Stewart, vice-president; J. A. Newbauer, treasurer, and M. H. Robbins, secretary and superin- tendent. Additional to the above, J. H. Rhoades, Frank Fordney and George P. Ayres are also directors in the company.
As a business man Mr. Robbins occu- pies a commendable standing in Hartford City and as manager of the above trust his record has been highly creditable to himself and satisfactory to the company. As a cit- izen he is highly regarded, being public spir- ited, and his name is invariably connected with any and all enterprises having for their object the advancement of Hartford City's business interests. He is an affable gentle- man. easily approachable. and has a large circle. of friends in this and other places where he has resided.
NORMAN J. WOOD.
The subject of this sketch, the present deputy county clerk, is the son of John G. and Jane (Bugh) Wood and was born in
Blackford county, fabiana. on the 25th day of April, 1872. In the public schools, which he attended quite regularly during the years of his minority, he obtained a good practical education, and at the age of twenty left the parental roof and engaged in the pursuits of agriculture, which he followed with fair suc- cess until 1894. In the fall of that year Mr. Wood became deputy county treasurer under his father and continued to discharge the duties of the position until the latter part of 1806, when he took charge of his father's grocery business in this city, conducting the same for a period of two years.
Severing his connection with merchan- clising, Mr. Wood was appointed deputy county clerk of Blackford county, the duties of which position be has discharged in an eminently satisfactory manner since Aff- gust, 1897. Mr. Wood is well fitted for the responsible place with which he has been entrusted. As is well known, the office re- quires a clear brain, sound judgment and clerical ability of a high order, all of which he possesses in a marked degree, as is evi- denced by the excellent recores he has kept and the efficiency and dispatch with which une routine business has been transacted. He enjoys the confidence of his superiors and also of the court, is kind and obliging to all having business with the office, and among the officials and clerks in the court house none is more popular or stands higher in the estimation of the people. His faith- fulness and efficiency in subordinate capaci- ties, together with a wide acquaintance throughout the county, have given rise to the prediction that the future awaits him with a still more responsible and remunera- tive position, the direct gift of the people.
Mr. Wood's paternal ancestors were among the early settlers of Pennsylvania,
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and his mother's family lived for a great many years in the state of Virginia; both families are of English origin.
LEVI WINKLEBLECK.
Levi Wirklebleck, minister of the Ger- man Baptist or Dunkard church, and manu- facturer of and dealer in hardwood lumber and timber, the head of the firm of Winkle- bleck & Waters, of Hartford City, Indiana, is one of the most prominent and influential men of this section of the state. The firm of which he is a member employs about fif- teen men and teams and has about five thou- sand dollars invested in the business, which amounts to about fifteen thousand dollars per year. J. makes a specialty of railroad material, such as ties, bridge timber and timber for tracks. While most of the busi- ness of the firm consists of buying and pre- paring for consumption timber standing in the woods, yet it buys logs to a considerable extent. It pays out for material not less than ten thousand dollars per year, and about five thousand dollars for labor. The com- pany's mill has a capacity of ten thousand feet per day, and the work done is wholly to order. White oak and burr oak are the most valuable varieties of timber in this sec- tion of the state and of course are the varie- ties most in use.
Mr. Winklebleck has been identified with this line of work nearly all of his life, be- ginning when but a small boy. He per- formed various kinds of work in the woods up to his removal to Indiana in 1881, when he settled in Hartford City to oversee men for his brother, who was a contractor. In about one year he took a contract with the 27
Pan Handle Railway Company to cut ties for the trestles between Hartford City and Marion, buying the ties to the number of five thousand per month, continuing at this work about ten years, there being material for the ties along the line of the road. For him this was a most prosperous period, but he was unable to continue in this line of work, so took hold of that in which he has since been engaged. He erected the present mill in 1893, and in 1898 admitted Charles Waters to partnership, the firm name then becoming Winklebleck & Waters, as it still remains.
Mr. Winklebleck was born in Darke county, Ohio, and there spent his boyhood days, at least until he was twelve years of age. He then, as has been intimated above, went to work among tie and timber men and became the support of his widowed mother, his father having died when he was four years of age. After he removed to Hartford City his mother lived with him for some years, but is now living at Logansport, at the age of eighty-two. Mr. Winklebleck was married, when twenty years of age, to Miss Catherine O. Waters, a daughter of Lawrence and Eve Waters, of Hartford City. Miss Waters was born in Blackford county. Her father was a Frenchman, by trade a blacksmith, of Muncie, Indiana, and died about eight years ago, at the age of ninety-five. He left his home in Canada in order to avoid becoming a Catholic priest. In the later years of his life he united with the German Baj st church, of which he re- mained a member to the last. He was one of the oldest residents of this part of Indi- ana, was a well known character and is re- membered by most of the inhabitants of the county. His son, Charles, is the youngest of the family.
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Winkle- bleck, all of them but Edna living, are as follows: Blanche, Mmeda, Edna, Margaret, Ilellen and Samuel H. To all of their chil- dren they have given or are giving the ad- vantages of a high-school education.
Mr. Winklebleck is a Prohibitionist and, as was stated at the beginning; a minister of the Dunkard church. The manner of his becoming so is worthy of special note. For many years he had led a somewhat reckless life, being frequently under the influence of , liquor. At length his good common sense so asserted itself that he saw clearly the ne- cessity for a change if his life was not to be- come a complete wreck and failure. He be- gan earnestly to search the Scriptures and soon decided to join the church teaching the doctrines which corresponded most nearly with his own views. Ilis resolve was quite a sudden one, as leaving a saloon he drove ten miles to Eaton, Indiana, and joined the church near that place at the end of hisjour- ney. At once he became active in the work of the church and interested other friends to unite with him in organizing the church at Ilartford City, of which he was the first mem- ber. Meetings were held and soon a church society organized, Mr. Winklebleck being chosen minister. This event took place about eighteen months after his conversion, the society having been organized about nine months before. Ever since that time he has continued as minister. His work has re- sulted in the organization of another church, the one at Hartford City having forty-seven members and that at Bethel Center, Que and a half miles to the west, having sixty-eight. Nearly all of the members of the two churches have united therewith as a result of the home agitation. Each society has a church building of its own and each is out
of debt. Mr. Winklebleck is presiding elder of both churches and there are four young ministers who have grown up in the church and give promise of usefulness. He at- tends both the district and annual confer- ences and has been a delegate to the general conference at such times as the ch h has been represented therein. Mr. Winklebleck is a shining example of what a man can make of himself with ability, correct princi- ple and the right spirit, and he is one of the most highly respected of the citizens of the county in which he resides.
H. C. MOUNT.
Henry Clay Mount was born in New York City August 26, 1867. He lived in that city with his parents until he reached the age of fourteen, when be left home to see what the world had in store for him. Naturally a bright and intelligent boy, lie had no trouble, seemingly, in securing a po- sition as page in the national house of rep- resentatives, at Washington, an employment congenial, and in which he soon became a gen- cral favorite with the members. Sper ling two years in this employment, during the forty-seventh and forty-eighth congressional sessions, 1881-82-83, he left the national capital and drifted back to his native city, different classes of employment occupying his time for several years. 'He was in the government appraisers' office for some time, and later with Grattan & Jennings, railroad contractors, for whom he superintended the building of the New York, Lake Erie & Western depot at Port Jery's, the junction point of three states, New York, Pennsyl- vania and New Jersey. This class of em-
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THIE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ployment was to his liking and he remained one year with the railroad contractors, his services generally iving entire satisfaction to his employers. Opportunity offering to secure a more re camerative position with T. E. Crimmins, he accepted and remained with the last named party during the con- struction of the Third avenue cable road in New York city, this occupying considerable time. He resigned upon the completion of the road and took a position with Milkan Brothers, contractors and builders, of New York city, as superintendent of construction, and 1892 was assigned to the building of the Moreland tin plate works at Gas City, Indiana, in ugurating almost the inception of the tin plate industry in the United States. Acquitting himself creditably of this important piece of work in February, 1893, he resigned from his position with the contracting firm and having become favora- bly impressed with Indiana, he decided to embark in the real estate business in Gas City. This portion of the Hoosier state was then in a genuine boom, and especially in the real estate business was there much of promise held forth to the young man seek- ing an opening for his abilities. Mr. Mount launched into trade with characteristic en- ergy, acquired control of numerous valuable pieces of property, and had his business in full swing and fairly in a way to net him good returns for his labors, when there came a revolution in the conditions, due to the ap- proaching of the financial troubles of 1893. Business of all kinds became demoralized as a result of the financial stringency and Mr. Mount suffered in common with the others. So complete was the collapse in his case that he allowed matters to go by the board and decided to turn his attention to other chan- nels. Ohio was producing a great deal of
Trenton rock oil, and the developments had begun to creep over into Indiana. Mount thought well of the production of pe- troleum as a business pursuit, as others were seemingly making unusual success of it, greater than was to be bad in ordinary com- mercial enterprise, and he decided to em- bark in it. His first experiences were any- thing but encouraging and were the means of causing the balance to fall on the wrong side of the ledger. But after a period of dry-hole drilling he got into the right place, and from that time forward success in the oil field seemed to mark his pathway at cach advancing step. Once his luck had turned, however, good fortune seemed to come hi- way continuously. The Nottingham pool in Nottingham township, Wells county, was the scene of his first exploit in the produc- tion of the oleaginous fluid that lights the world. His introduction into this business was marked by the drilling of seven dry holes in the Nottingham pool, not a very enc. ag- ing beginning for a young man, and practi- cally a novice in the business. Being pos- sessed of that great American characteris- tic known as "grit," he stuck to the busi- ness and fortune soon began to smile on his efforts, for after his repeated failures he finally drilled! in a three-hundred barrel well on the Nottingham pool, and this within a short distance of the dusters which marked his first failures. The three-hundred-barrel well seemed to be the turning point in his experience as an oil man, and the second well started at four hundred barrels daily, while the third was good for three hundred and fifty barrels, and the fourth was a real gusher, its initial production being one thou- sand barrels for the first twenty-four hours. With his star in the ascendancy he made quite extensive developments in the Not-
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
tingham pool, drilling some fourteen wells, I ter securing control started at the rate of which yiekled him a nice daily production two hundred barrels a day, two others made good round figures as an initial production, and he had started the fourth well when he sold out to a Cleveland man for the snug sum of fifteen thousand dollars, not having been in possession of the property a great while. But in the time he had had posses- sion of the lease he had taken out something like ten thousand dollars worth of off ; hence it might be said he made very close to twenty-five thousand dollars by this deal. The income from the Lancaster property, as well as the money derived from the sale, were at once reinvested in the Twibell prop- erty, in the same district, consisting of six producing wells and one hundred and fifty acres, a promising piece of territory and only partially developed. Three wells have al- ready been drilled on this property. the first starting at forty barrels, the second at thhty barrels and the third at one hundred and twenty barrels, materially adding to the daily output as well as to the value of the property as producing territory. Mr. Mount retains and is still operating this piece of territory, which promises to yield him a fortune in a short time at the renii- nerative price now obtained for the Indiana product. The Nottingham township hold- ings were disposed of by Mr. Mount in 1898, at a handsome profit, and he is now devoting his entire attention to the Chester township production. when settled and suring him an income of considerable extent. Very fair success also attended ti e drilling of three wells on a farm in Harrison township, Blackford coun- ty, while Mr. Mount was looking for new fields to conquer. To him belongs the credit of opening and developing what is known as Pouless pool, embracing a number of large- sized farins and being located south from the town of Warren, ludian: Drilling two wells in this pool, both o chich were more than average producers, he sold out his hold- ings to Fishburn & Cloury, of Chicago, for nine thousand five hundred dollars, being practically this amount ahead of the deal in opening the new pool. He also has the dis- tinction of opening the Alexandria pool, in Madison county, known as the gas district. Ilere he drilled five wells in the limits of the town, and four of them were good producers, the average production being one hundred barrels daily. In this locality he had some four hundred acres under lease, and would have operated on an extensive scale had not the state authorities shut off all operations under an old law governing the gas develop- ment of the state. This ended his opera- tions at Alexandria, and probably lost for him a very good thing in the line of produc- tion. From Warren he returned to the Chester township pool, in Wells county, be- lieving that spot offered good inducements for an active man. Casting about for an Thus we find that within the period of a very few years he has taken a place among the foremost producers of oil in the state of Indiana, giving to the development that cour- age which enables him to go ahead and drill in spots where even a more experienced man would hesitate to take the chances, but the results have in almost every case proved the opportunity, he secured and purchased the Lancaster property of six wells and three hundred and twenty acres for twenty-five hundred dollars, and it looked like a good thing at that figure. In purchasing this piece of property Mr. Mount's judgment was very good, for the first well he drilled in af-
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THE BIOGRAPJECAL RECORD.
value of his theories regarding the location ! nia. Subsequently three brothers of the of oil deposits, and now his advice is often name moved to Ohio, locating in Miami county, where numerous descendants still re- side. The Doctor was born in the above county and state August 17, 1847, and is the son of Isaiah J. and Nancy ( Russell) Covault, who with their children became residents of Bluffton, Indiana, in the winter of 1849. sought on questions regarding the prospect- ive value of oil properties which is in any doubt. Mr. Mount's career in the Indiana field, with the exception of the reverses met with at the very outset, has been a most suc- cessful one in the production of oil and the handling of real estate. Keen business sa- gacity, pluck, and a desire to forge ahead have made him today one of the most sub- stantial and best posted men and operators in the Indiana field, even though he may lack a few of the years which rest upon the heads of the men who have been longer in the busi- ness and who may have had their trials and tribulations in Pennsylvania before embark- ing in business in the western field.
Mr. Mount's success is a striking exam- ple of what perseverance and indomitable energy can accomplish in an oil field like that of Indiana. He is what may well be called a self-made man, and all his success has been the result his own effort unaided by any- thing othe: than his brain power, business acumen ari energy. Located in a pleasant home in Muncie, he is regarded as one of the most popular operators in Indiana, not only with the producing fraternity, but with all classes of people with whom he comes in contact. Mr. Mount was married in De- cember, 1889, to Miss Catharine W. Mar- ple, of New York city, and to them one child, now aged ten years, has come to bless their home.
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