Biographical memoirs of Wells County, Indiana : embracing a comprehensive compendium of local biography, memoirs of representative men and women of the county whose works of merit have made their names imperishable, and special articles by Hugh Dougherty [et al.], Part 26

Author: Dougherty, Hugh
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Logansport, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 732


USA > Indiana > Wells County > Biographical memoirs of Wells County, Indiana : embracing a comprehensive compendium of local biography, memoirs of representative men and women of the county whose works of merit have made their names imperishable, and special articles by Hugh Dougherty [et al.] > Part 26


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Ohio; Charles lives in Steuben county, In- diana ; Joseph follows agricultural pursuits in the county of Dekalb, and Elizabeth, who married John Hess, lives in Noble county.


Jacob Frederick Krehl, the third in or- der of birth, was reared on the home farm in Dekalb county and there received those lessons of industry, economy and thrift which exercised such a controlling influence upon his subsequent life and conduct. He worked hard during the spring, summer and early autumn and during the winter seasons attended the country school, in which he acquired a fair knowledge of the branches which constituted the course. After remaining with his parents until his twenty-second year he left home and went to the town of Girard, Trumbull county, Ohio, where he engaged with a tanner to learn the art of making leather. From the start his services proved valuable to his em- ployer and the eight dollars per week paid him was at that time considered very liberal wages for an inexperienced hand. On be- coming more proficient his weekly pay was raised to twelve dollars, including board, and after remaining six years and demon- strating his ability as an industrious and skillful workman he was given a third in- terest in the business. The firm of Krehl, Houser & Co., of which the subject was the company partner, lasted four years, during which time it earned much more than a local reputation by reason of the superior quality of the different kinds of leather pro- duced and put upon the market. At the ex- piration of the above period Mr. Krehl sold out his interest in the tannery and coming to Bluffton, Indiana, began dealing in hides and leather, within a short time establish- ing quite a flourishing business, which con- tinued to grow in magnitude with each re-


curring year. By close application and hon- orable dealing he laid the foundation of an ample fortune and became one of the enter- prising, wide awake and thoroughly up-to- date tradesmen in a city long noted for the progressive spirit of its business men. After continuing the hide and leather trade with success and financial profit until 1897, Mr. Krehl disposed of his stock and from that time to the present has devoted his atten- tion largely to dealing in real estate.


Mr. Krehl was happily married on the IIth of October, 1877, to Miss Maggie Er- ler, daughter of John M. and Elizabeth (Engler) Erler, whose birth occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 19, 1855. Mrs. Krehl's father was a native of See- felden, Germany, and the mother was born and reared in Frauhenfeld, Switzerland. They came to the United States in 1853, settling first in New York, thence a little later moved to Philadelphia and from that city, in July, 1855, came to Wells county, Indiana, purchasing a home in Bluffton. By occupation Mr. Erler was a tailor up to 1860, when he opened a grocery in Bluff- ton, in which business he continued until 1888, when he had accumulated a compe- tence by industry and good management. Mrs. Erler died at Bluffton in 1892, aged nearly sixty-nine years, leaving one daugh- ter, Mrs. Krehl, who was the only child born to her parents' marriage. Mr. Erler is still living at a ripe old age and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him. Mr. and Mrs. Krehl have one child, Lillian, born April 23, 1879. The 29th day of Oc- tober, 1901, she became the wife of Eman- uel E. Moseman, a jeweler of Bluffton and a well known resident of Wells county, where he was born and raised.


Since engaging in the real estate busi-


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ness Mr. Krehl has made a number of suc- cessful deals in Wells county and elsewhere, meeting with gratifying financial results in this as in his former undertaking. His judg- ment is clear and seldom at fault, his discrim- ination keen and alert and his business trans- actions have always been characterized by honorable methods and fair dealing. He manifests great interest in the growth and prosperity of his adopted city, encourages all enterprises having for their object the building up of the community and is also a warm friend and liberal patron of move- ments for the social and moral advancement of his fellow man. His long residence in Wells county has won him a wide and var- ied acquaintance and it is eminently proper to state that he is among the best known and most highly respected German-Ameri- can citizens in this section of the state. In 1893 he built his present beautiful home at No. 211 West Cherry street, where he enter- tains his many friends with a generous old- fashioned hospitality which is greatly ap- preciated by all who share it. He is known as an intelligent, substantial citizen, belong- ing to the class that always builds up a com- munity and gives it character and stability from a moral point of view. Mr. Krehl represented his ward three times in the city council and proved an able, judicious and painstaking legislator, doing all within his power to promote the interests of the munici- pality, at the same time exercising due caution in the matter of public expenditures. In his religious views he subscribes to the Lutheran creed, his wife being a member of the Baptist church. Mrs. Krehl is a worthy helpmate of a worthy husband and deserves much credit for her faithfulness and sym- pathy in the management of the household


and the execution of its multiplied duties and responsibilities. Both are popular with a large circle of friends and acquaintances and to say that they are among the city's most estimable people is to state a fact pat- ent to everybody within the range of their acquaintance. It means much to have the good will of the entire community and few can boast of this mark of universal esteem. Honorable and straightforward conduct in every relation of life is the sure passport to such standing and these with other equally praiseworthy qualities have been among the more pronounced characteristics distinguish- ing this excellent couple. They have lived well, made the world better by their pres- ence and the future, both in this life and in the life beyond the veil, has nothing which need cause them a moment of anxiety or fear.


ROBERT M. ENGLE.


It is an axiom .demonstrated by all hu- man experience that industry is the key of prosperity. Success comes not to the man who idly waits for fortune's smiles, but to the faithful toiler who works with cheerful celerity and sleepless vigilance and takes ad- vantage of every circumstance calculated to advance his interests. Such a man is Rob- ert M. Engle, a well known and highly re- spected citizen of Nottingham township who within a comparatively few years has worked his way from an humble station in life to a proud position among the leading farmers of his community, besides winning for himself a name which all who know him hold in the highest esteem. Mr. Engle is a native of Wells county, Indiana, and has


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spent all his life within its borders. He was born September 7, 1864, in the town- ship of Nottingham, and is a son of Isaac and Ann (Hopkins) Engle, who were among the substantial residents of this part of the county. When a mere lad he was taught the necessity of honest toil as the only legitimate means of obtaining a live- lihood, consequently he grew up to the full stature of manhood imbued with the idea that idleness, if not a crime, is, to say the least, anything but honorable. When old enough to work to advantage he took his place by the side of his father in the fields and nobly did his part in running the farm and supporting the family. The district school in the neighborhood afforded him the means of acquiring a good practical ed- ucation and he attended the same of winter seasons until his twentieth year, making the most of every opportunity to add to his in- tellectual discipline. He remained at home as his father's assistant several years after reaching manhood's estate and it was not until his twenty-eighth year that he severed home ties and set up a domestic establish- ment of his own. Meantime, on the 13th of March, 1886, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Rosetta McClain, of Nottingham township, daughter of William and Emma (Fisher) McClain, and from that time until 1892 continued to live at home, getting little more than a living for himself and wife from his labor. In return for his filial devotion his father, in the latter year, assisted Robert to buy a farm of eighty acres, contributing one thousand dollars to- wards the purchase price, a sum which the son had much more than earned while man- aging the homestead and looking after his parents' interests. Only a part of the place


was in cultivation when the subject took possession, but he has since cleared and otherwise improved the land until all but ten acres is susceptible to tillage. Mr. En- gle is a man of industrious habits and the result of his systematic labors is apparent in the fine condition to which he has brought his farm within the last ten years. He has put in many rods of tiling, to the great im- provement of the soil, built fine fences, be- sides erecting a comfortable dwelling to re- place the house destroyed by fire shortly after he moved to the farm. By reason of the discovery of oil in this part of the coun- ty and the subsequent development of the industry, Mr. Engle's place has greatly in- creased in value, there being five wells on his land, from which he receives an income of over six hundred dollars per year. At the present time he does little on the farm besides superintending the work, now de- voting the greater part of his attention to pumping oil, which business he has fol- lowed more or less during the six years past. He also takes pride in the raising of fine live stock, a department of husbandry which has assumed considerable magnitude in Wells county and which promises to be- come more important with each succeeding year.


The family of Mr. and Mrs. Engle orig- inally consisted of four children, whose names are Howard, Esther, Edna and Har- vey, the first two deceased. In his politi- cal views Mr. Engle votes with the Repub- lican party and during campaign years takes an active interest in working for its success. He is identified with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to the lodge meeting at the village of Petro- leum. The qualities which have made Mr.


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Engle one of the successful farmers and stock-raisers of his township have also brought him the good will and esteem of his fellow citizens, for his career from the be- ginning has been one of well directed en- ergy, strong determination and honorable dealing. Endowed by nature with good mental powers and possessing the energy to direct his faculties into proper channels, he has become a man of resourceful capac- ity as the able management of his private affairs and rapid advancement in material things abundantly demonstrates. Socially he is a most agreeable gentleman, always genial and pleasant in manner, a loyal friend, an excellent neighbor and as a citi- zen ranking with the best of his compeers. He has never been misled by political as- pirations to the neglect of his business inter- ests and has no ambition to gratify in the way of public distinction, wishing only to be known and recognized as a common man in the domain of private citizenship.


AMOS SCHWOB.


Amos Schwob was born in Germany, March 22, 1859. He is a son of John Schwob, a native of Germany, born about 1835, and Mary (Miller) Schwob, also a native of Germany, in which country they were married. They settled and lived there for a time, John working at the shoemaker's trade. When he emigrated to this country they were thirty-seven days out from Ham- burg, Germany, to New York, where he landed in 1861, with his family and without money. He managed to get enough from some one to pay their way to Columbus,


Ohio, where John began to work at his trade, and Mary, by the week, to earn money to repay that which he had borrowed to pay their way to that place. They re- mained in Columbus, Ohio, awhile, when they moved to a town in Fairfield county, Ohio. Here Mr. Schwob worked at his trade until about 1865, when they came to Huntington county, Indiana. He then rented Daniel Burman's farm and began farming, the owner of the land living at the time in Ohio. Mr. Schwob had met him while there, and in this way he became a resident of Huntington county. He trav- eled from Ohio to his destination in Indiana by wagon, arriving here during war times. After arriving in Huntington county he worked at his trade, also farming, which he continued more or less until about 1877. He then bought three acres of land, three miles north of Warren, Indiana, and built a log house on it. After owning that for about five years, he sold it, and bought for- ty-eight acres of the old Alexander Morgan farm in Huntington county. Later on he added twenty acres adjoining, and is now living on this farm. Mary having died about 1889, Mr. Schwob married Adeline Heenen- berger. To his marriage twelve children have been born, six of whom are yet alive: Amos; Mary, who is the wife of William J. Ellerman, a farmer of Huntington county, Indiana; John, deceased; Rosina is the wife of Augustus Ballhoffer, and they reside in Grant county, Indiana ; an infant, deceased ; Katherine, the wife of Leopold Ruef, a resi- dent of Huntington county ; Willie, de- ceased; Agnes, burned to death in child- hood; Charlie, deceased; Henry, a resident of Huntington county, Indiana; Luella is the wife of Harry Posey, and they are resi-


RESIDENCE OF AMOS SCHWOB.


- -.


AMOS SCHWOB'S FIRST RESIDENCE.


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dents of Marion, Indiana, and an in- fant, deceased. When John Schwob start- ed life he had nothing and after coming to Indiana he had much sickness in his family, ague and other diseases incident to a new country.


Amos Schwob was nine years old before he could speak English. Soon after coming to Huntington county, his mother decided that her son should have some schooling. She accordingly made him ready and pro- ceeded to take him to school herself, he cry- ing all the time on the way. At that time three months was the longest and only term taught in the common school during the year. Amos had to learn to speak English, and it was three years before he made much headway in his mastery of the common branches taught in the schools. He attended his last term of school when he was sixteen years old. Being the oldest in the family of children, he did not get more than two months schooling in each year during the time of his attendance in the district school. He is now a fair scholar, having picked up a great deal of scholastic knowledge since his school days, and speaks both the German and English languages fluently. Amos re- mained at home until he was eighteen years old, at which time his father told him he did need him any longer at home and that he might work out. The subject then engaged himself to Kale Wylie for nine months' work, but while he was gone to make his contract his father rented thirty acres more land for a corn crop and he found upon his return that his father had made arrange- ment to keep him home, consequently he had to break the contract for work which he had already made. In the new arrange- ment which he made with his father, the lat-


ter was to give him a team of horses and a set of harness and a wagon if the son would remain at home until he was twenty-one years of age. January 1, 1880, Amos was married, being at that time a few months under twenty-one years old. He got the team promised by his father, and took, instead of a wagon, a buggy and harness. He still has one of the horses received from his father, which is now more than twenty-five years old. His wife, before her marriage, was Ella Wharton, born July 29, 1862, in Montgomery county, Ohio. She is a daugh- ter of Mark and Minerva (Dyke) Wharton, natives of Ohio, and she was born in Mont- gomery county, that state. They came to Huntington county, Indiana, about the year 1870, and both of them are still living in Warren, Indiana. 'Mark Wharton has de- voted his life to farming. He is the father of three children, Charlie, a resident of Gas City, Indiana, is a minister in the Church of Christ; Florence, the wife of Peter Lines, a resident of Huntington county, Indiana, and Ella, wife of Amos Schwob.


After their marriage, Amos Schwob and his wife went over to the Wabash river and rented the "Holt" place, a farm of one hun- dred and eighty acres. All they had was a team and the clothes which they wore. In the fall of 1879 Amos and his brother-in- law, William J. Ellerman, had rented this place and put in a wheat crop. He was not thinking of marriage at that time, but see- ing a good chance to start in life, he and Ella Wharton decided to consummate their union at once. While they were very poor, yet they were contented with their lot, and especially with themselves. They remained on this farm for three years, when he rented a farm from John Roach, but after putting


14


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out a wheat crop on the farm, he sold his interest. He then traded his buggy and set of double harness which his father had given him, for a first payment on the purchase of forty acres of land and moved onto that. After remaining on this land for one sum- mer he sold his forty acres for the reason that he could not, as he had intended, buy after awhile an adjoining forty-acre tract. It was so situated, however, that it could not be sold. For that reason he did not desire to keep his tract; added to this was the fact that he was making four hundred dollars in the deal, which of itself was no small incen- tive. He then moved on to the farm owned by his father-in-law, an eighty-acre tract, and was there for two years. He then bought eighty acres in Wells county, Indi- ana, where he now lives.


In the fall of 1886, when he purchased this farm, Mr. Schwob assumed an indebt- edness of fourteen hundred dollars. At that time there was only a garden patch cleared on the land and the improvements in the way of building consisted of a log cabin only. He has since then cleared, fenced and im- proved it in every way, and he has now six- ty-five acres under a good state of cultiva- tion, having twenty-six hundred rods of til- ing on the eighty acres. Neither he nor his wife have ever had a dollar given to them. He now owns one hundred and twenty acres of land in one body which, with the exception of his woodland, is all under a fine state of cultivation. He says that he has worked night and day for seven years, but thinks if it had not been for the chicken pro- duction he could not have bought a postal card. After the oil boom came on, he was a pumper for eight years. His farm is in the oil territory and his income from that


source will average probably fifty dollars per month. During the last one or two years he has engaged in the breeding of shorthorn cattle; he had previously bred Poland China hogs, but at present he has a variety of the latter stock, including Duroc, Poland China and Chester White breeds. He also has a house and lot in War- ren, Indiana, and eighteen acres of land ad- joining the town site. He has devoted his entire life to the vocation of farming, yet, as he says, he could make a boot. The sub- ject of the present sketch is the father of three children: Artie E., born April I, 1884, at home with parents, will take up high school work in Warren, Indiana; Ar- vie E., born April 19, 1889, and Eva E., born June 3, 1897. Both himself and wife are members of the Disciples church. Gen- erally speaking, he has been a Democrat in politics, warming up some and doing active work for his party during campaigns. Both his boys are in school and have done well in their school work, standing well in their respective grades. His youngest son will enter the eighth grade next year.


In the personage of Amos Schwob we find the best type of the German American yeomanry and American citizenship, posses- sing in his make-up all the attributes of per- tinacious industry, patience and thrifty hab- its which characterize his German ancestry. He has risen from a condition of penury, through which his father struggled, sur- rounded by the adverse circumstances of an ignorance of our language and the serious diseases incident to a new country, to a plane of citizenship and a position in the community in which he lives which does him the highest honor. His labors have been rewarded in the possession of a competency


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and he has pride in the progress of his sons in the schools, which so far surpass his own meager opportunities. His own and his father's success, as portrayed in the present sketch, afford a striking illustration of the rewards that await, not only the industrious and worthy emigrant from a foreign shore, but every citizen in our favored land.


ABRAHAM SPEHEGER.


Some begin their business career most auspiciously, others with every obstacle, including poverty, to be overcome. It often happens that the former lags in the race for success, while the latter forges ahead, each successive year bringing a newer and grander success. Of the latter class Abraham Spehe- ger, of Nottingham township, Wells coun- ty, Indiana, the subject of this sketch, fur- nished a splendid example. Born in a for- eign land, living there until he was twelve years old, then coming to America and working for his parents until he was twen- ty-one without compensation, having little knowledge of the English language until he was twenty, it could hardly be expected that such a youth would accomplish as much by the time he was fifty as the youth who began life's battle under circumstances more favorable. That he has is amply at- tested by a brief sketch of the life of the gentleman to whom reference is above made.


Abraham Speheger was born in Berne, Switzerland, August 4, 1842, the son of John and Fannie (Burkholder) Spehe- ger, both natives of Switzerland. With his


family, John Speheger emigrated to Amer- ica in 1854, locating in Wayne county, Ohio. He was by trade a carpenter and fol- lowed that calling most of his life. In 1862 he and his family moved to Adams county, Indiana, and there the remainder of his life and that of his wife was spent. They were the parents of five children, viz: Anna, wife of Samuel Riff, resides in Adams county ; John, a resident of Lancaster town- ship, Wells county; Fannie, deceased; Mary, deceased; Abraham, the subject, who will hereafter be referred to more particu- larly.


Abraham went to school a number of years in his native land and after coming to America attended school here about three years. But the mysteries of the English language seemed unfathomable to him. His native tongue was spoken in the family and his busy life forbade him the privilege of learning English from playmates. He was twenty years of age before he could under- stand much of what was said to him and còn- siderably older before he could make people understand him in the language of the United States. Thus handicapped, at the age of twenty-one, without a dollar in his pocket and a very meager supply of cloth- ing, he faced the world to win for himself a fortune and a home. His first employer was Christian Welty, for whom he began to work on the farm by the year, in Wayne county, Ohio, and he worked for him seven years. He then hired to Henry Otis and


was in his employ eight years. It was while he was working for him that he ac- quired the greater part of his knowledge of the popular language in America. They were educated people and one of his objects in hiring to them was to improve himself


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in English. During this time he had given 1


more than half of his earnings to his par- ents to help them along. Nevertheless, in 1869 he had saved five hundred dollars and was the owner of a horse and buggy worth three hundred dollars. While working in Wayne county he became acquainted with a young lady, Miss Rebecca Fritz. Her parents were Jacob and Eliza (Coulter) Fritz, natives of Pennsylvania but of Ger- man, Irish and Scotch ancestry. When they moved to Ashland county, Indiana, Abraham was neither happy nor contented in Wayne. The result was inevitable. Re- becca's bright eyes were the guiding stars to him and he, too, was soon in Ashland county. They were married March 17, 1871, the date (St. Patrick's day) doubtless being fixed out of deference to the Irish in the bride's composition. She was born in Pennsylvania, April 14, 1850.


Soon after marriage the young couple returned to Wayne county, where Abraham rented eighty acres of land, which he culti- vated for two years with the success that is invariably the reward of industry. He next rented one hundred and sixty acres which offered a much better opportunity both as to terms and extent. After remain- ing on this place three years he moved to another of one hundred and thirty acres, on which he remained five years. During all this time his savings were steadily in- creasing and he was approaching nearer the desired goal, i. e., a well improved, well cul- tivated farm of his own. In 1881 he moved to Indiana, bringing with him about eigh- teen hundred dollars, every one of them having been earned by his own hard labor. For twenty-five hundred dollars he pur- chased one hundred acres of land in Harri-




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