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 35

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 35


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MRS A. T. STUDABAKER.


A. T. STUDABAKER.


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WELLS COUNTY, INDIANA.


stands. At the time his parents located in Darke county the county was very wild and Indians and beasts of the forest were plenty. There were two classes of Indians, hostile and friendly. William at this time was very weakly. Some of the friendly Indians, visit- ing his father, saw the condition of the then small boy, and, believing they could restore him to health, stole him away while his par- ents were in the clearing at work, he having been left in the care of a little girl, his cousin Nancy Miller, who afterwards be- came the wife of Orrin Perrin, and now lives near Murray, Wells county, Indiana. The little girl ran to the clearing to give the alarm to the parents and the father, on receiving the news, asked what kind of an Indian he was. The little girl gave a de- scription of the Indian, and the father re- marked, "He is a friendly Indian; he will bring him back." They continued coming and bringing him back alınost every day for about a year. During this time William be- came very much attached to them, and when they would come and go away without him, he would cry after them, and up to the day of his death he would say nothing against the friendly Indians, but would remark that he believed the medical treatment he received from them was the means of prolonging his life. A few years later he moved with his parents to a farm near Greenville, Ohio, where he remained until he was twenty-one years of age. He was then married to Sarah A. Thompson, in the month of March, 1828. After his marriage he located on a farm near Greenville, the one now known as the county farm. He lived on this farm eleven years, and in the year 1839 moved to Wells county, Indiana, locating on the farm now owned by Lewis Markley. He remained


on this farm about six years, and then moved across the river on his farm where he re- mained up to the time of his death. He was a man of wonderful constitution, and with that constitution he made a success of all his undertaking's in life. In moving to Wells county in an early day, he with his com- panion had to endure many hardships con- nected with a pioneer life. No roads exist- ed, only as they were "blazed" out through the woods, the dwelling place of the Indians and wild beasts, no bridges as we now have, and when the settlers came to a swollen stream, they would plunge into it, sometimes the horses being compelled to swim and the water running into the wagon-bed. Mr. Studabaker cleared up the farm that Lewis Markley now lives on, also most of the farm on which he lived when he died. While clearing up his farm he was compelled to go to Greenville for a greater part of his pro- visions, and part of the time he went into Ohio to mill. His nearest milling point at the time was Huntington, Indiana, he some- times going to mill on horseback and some- times going down the Wabash in a canoe. A few years later a mill was built at Bluffton, and one time Mr. Studabaker, in company with John Markley, went to mill at the latter place in a canoe, at which time he came near being drowned. After their grinding was done they started home, and in coming out of the mill-race by some mishap they were drawn out into the swift current of the river and in spite of their utmost efforts were car- ried over the dam. In going over Markley leaped out, caught to the edge of the dam and saved himself. Mr. Studabaker went over with the canoe and was taken under the water by the suck of the dam. But being a good swimmer, and having presence of


18


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mind, after making several efforts to swim, but being beaten back by the force of the current, he dived to the bottom, swam down the river a few rods, came to the surface and started for the shore, being rescued by Benjamin Nutter.


Mr. Studabaker accumulated property quite rapidly, at one time owning upwards of two thousand acres in the upper valley of the Wabash. He was a man of much public spirit and always took a leading part in all public improvements. Sincere in all his convictions, he was a man of rare Christian character, a consistent member of the Chris- tian church, in the full faith and fellowship of which he died in 1881. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, Mariah, A. T., Mary A., Ben, John, David, William T., Louisa and J. M., who were twins, and George W.


As soon as A. T. Studabaker had ma- tured sufficiently to be of use on his father's farm he was constantly employed in the labor thereof. During the winter months when little could be done outside of caring for the stock, he attended the district school and laid the foundation for a good education. Later he took a course in the schools of Bluffton, then turned his attention to teach- ing. He was in the educational work three terms in Wells county. He remained on the farm with his father, assisting in caring for the family, until he was twenty-three years of age.


On the 6th day of March, 1853, A. T. Studabaker was united in marriage to Miss Louisa DeWitte, a lady of good education and fine attainments. Her family came west from New York in 1839 and settled on the old Adam Hall place. Her father was a man of energy and industry, who in his time had


done much hard work. At his marriage, A. T. Studabaker, the subject hereof, was worth a few hundred dollars. With this he erected a comfortable home on his present farm, in June, 1853. It was then in the midst of the woods. It took time, labor and money to carve a productive farm out of the primeval forest, but each was expended ungrudgingly by the owner, with the result that at this time no more comfortable home or desir- able farm may be found for miles around. He is the owner of two hundred and eight acres of the productive bottom lands of that region. Like his father and grandfather before him, he has engaged in the raising, purchase and sale of live stock. Early in life he was schooled in the art of estimating the weight and value of animals at a glance. In this line his knowledge is such and his ex- perience so valued that his judgment is al- most infallible on these points. He is ac- corded the credit of having bought more stock than any other man in Wells county, and of course such purchases were profitable.


To. Mr. and Mrs. Studabaker have been born eleven children, nine of whom are still living. Harriette is the wife of Marion French; Lewis and Henry both died in in- fancy; William L. is married and lives at Elwood; Mary J. is the wife of Joseph Car- ter, a resident of Grant county ; Noah is en- gaged in the purchase of grain at Van Buren; Abby and Ida are twins, the former of whom is the wife of W. A. Bowman, the latter the wife of Charles Helms; John is married, the father of a family and lives in Harrison township; Lillie is the wife of L. L. Baumgartner and Minnie M. is the wife of Ed. Huffman, who lives on the old home place with Mrs. Huffman's parents.


In politics Mr. Studabaker was at one


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time a Democrat, but espoused the cause of Greenbackism when that political doctrine first began to command public attention. Since then he has become a most profound Prohibitionist. Single-handed and alone he has fought for years the battles of the Prohibition party in Harrison township. At each successive election the ballots of the township are counted and one solitary Prohi- bition ticket is always found in the box. Everybody knows that it was voted by A. T. Studabaker. It never increases, it never diminishes, but it is always there. The other voters of the township look for it as con- fidently at the next election as they do that that event will come around. He has been honored by his party with the nomination for representative from Wells county, has also been placed upon the ticket as a candi- date for treasurer of the county and when placed on the county ticket has shown him- self better than his party by the larger vote which he received. When gravel roads were being built in Indiana he became a contrac- tor and built some twenty miles in Wells county and several in Grant county. Mr. and Mrs. Studabaker are both church mem- bers and have been since 1858, for years at- tending what is known as the Six-mile Christian church.


Few men in Wells county are better known than Mr. Studabaker. His business is such as to bring him in contact with a large number of people all over the county. For a man so set in his purposes, firm in his convictions, extreme in his likes and dis- likes, he is a man with many warm friends. He is honest, truthful and manly, qualities always admired by people whose good opinion is worth having. As a neighbor he is generous, as a citizen he is public spirited,


as a father he is indulgent, and as a husband he is loyal and true. While his neighbors indulge in some amusement, at his expense, in so tenaciously adhering to Prohibition principles, all accord him the credit of sin- cerity. They may question his judgment- his course shows that he has the courage of his convictions.


CHARLES E. DYSON.


There are few men, no matter how many their millions may be, who have not a very distinct recollection of the first one hundred dollars they ever earned and saved. While the making of it may have been accompanied by many unpleasant feelings of weariness, exposure and sufferings of various kinds, the consciousness of being in possession of that first little "dot" of wealth is replete with pleasant memories. The subject of this sketch, Charles E. Dyson, has many rea- sons to well remember the first two hundred dollars he made and saved. It was dug out of the earth, perhaps hundreds of feet below the surface, "down in the coal mines." It represented the savings of three years of the most unremitting toil.


Charles E. Dyson, of Nottingham town- ship, Wells county, was born December 13, 1862, in Hocking county, Ohio. His par- ents were George and Melissa (Milton) Dyson, a sketch of whose lives will be found in another part of this volume under the heading George Dyson. In Hocking county the youth of Charles E. Dyson was spent. He had little opportunity of acquiring an education, but improved such opportunity as came his way, attending the public schools


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during the winter months until he was sev- enteen. From his earliest years he was brought up to know and appreciate the value and necessity of industry. He quickly learned that every dollar that came into his possession represented as much muscular exertion, so much sweat and labor, and he was not long in understanding the need of saving his money when he got it. These were lessons of as much value, perhaps more than those he might have learned in the school room.


About the time that Mr. Dyson attained his majority` his parents moved to Wells . county, Indiana, locating in Nottingham township. When he was only twenty years of age the subject entered the mines as a miner, having previously been in the mines of Hocking county, Ohio, and dug coal for a period of three years. The first two hundred dollars he ever possessed he saved out of these three years' earnings. With this amount in his pocket he came to Wells county, rented ground and began farming. The first favorable opportunity that offered he invested his two hundred dol- lars in an eighty-acre tract of land, going in debt for the remainder of the purchase price. The tract was partly woods and part- ly swamp. He knew the hard work that was necessary to convert it into a farm, but it was hard work that he was accustomed to and in this hard work he would be blessed with God's sunshine and plenty of pure air to breathe. It had this much the advantage of his work in the mines. He dug ditches, built fences and chopped down trees upon this place until he has now clear and under cultivation sixty-five acres. He has erected comfortable but not expensive buildings upon the place and otherwise improved it. It


is by no means a model farm, but it is a well-cultivated, productive and valuable one. December 17, 1894, Charles E. Dyson was united in marriage to Miss Ida M. Neher, a native of Wells county, born August 8, 1878. (For a sketch of the life of her par- ents the reader is respectfully referred to another part of this volume under the head- ing Samuel Neher.) With that prudence which characterized him from youth, Mr. Dyson had his home on his own farm pre- pared for the reception of his young wife. This was their home until March, 1902, when, at the solicitation of Mrs. Dyson's father, they moved onto his place and have taken charge of the work thereon.


In April, 1900, Charles E. Dyson and Samuel I. Neher entered into a partnership in the business of drilling oil wells. The latter had had about six months' experience in manipulating a drilling machine before they undertook the work. They invested in a string of tools and have been actively en- gaged in the business of drilling oil wells ever since. A year later they took in as equal partners J. P. Lockwood and W. B. Kirk- wood and purchased another string of tools. Meanwhile they decided to do some leasing of oil property on their own behalf. They secured leases on the farms of the following persons : Henry Johns, Katherine Kimble, C. E. Dyson and Cynthia Bowers, making in all two hundred and forty-nine acres. After they had drilled four wells and were completing the fifth they sold out to Almy A. Thomas, of New York, for sixteen thous- and dollars. It was a spot cash deal. Since then they have been working for the pur- chasers, drilling wells on the property the lease to which they sold.


Charles E. Dyson is the owner of a well-


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improved farm of eighty acres, to which, however, he devotes little attention, his well- drilling operations occupying most of his attention. He rents the place to different parties by fields. Nevertheless he breeds and feeds considerable stock, giving the prefer- ence to Polled Angus cattle and a general class of hogs. He is the owner of not less than five thousand dollars' worth of personal property and his entire estate would foot up several times that much. Beginning with nothing but the labor of his hands, muscles with which to toil and a mind with which to plan, within a period of less than twenty years he has accomplished all this; it is needless to say that it took no common or or- dinary man to do it. He has applied well the gifts which nature has given him and supplemented them with many acquired vir- tues.


In politics Mr. Dyson has always been a Democrat, passive and moderate generally, but somewhat aggressive and insistent dur- ing the heat of political campaigns. He seeks no political preferment for himself but, with his customary unselfishness, is ever on the lookout for the welfare of his friends who take more kindly to politics than he does. He and his good wife are the parents of three intelligent, healthy children,, viz: Iva L., Virgil V. and Ethel R., constituting a most happy and agreeable family. Mr. Dyson is certainly most fortunate in his domestic relations. In this as in most other instances fate has smiled kindly upon him. However, fate generally smiles upon the worthy and no one who knows him doubts that Mr. Charles E. Dyson is deserving of all the good luck that has come his way. In all respects he deserves the confidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens.


HENRY E. JOHNS.


Youth and inexperience rarely count the cost. If they did there would be far more sour-visaged old maids and ill natured, pet- ulant old bachelors than there are. Perhaps it is a wise provision of nature that youth is so unreasonably impulsive in matters mat- rimonial. Cupid's darts have little more ef- fect than pin pricks on persons of mature years. It is the youth of both sexes who rush into marital ties where even angels, without stomachs to fill or raiment to wear, might fear the tightening of the noose. A Chicago judge some time ago decided that twenty-five dollars was sufficient capital for a young couple to begin matrimonial life on. Some have begun on hundreds of thousands more and found neither contentment nor happiness. The subject of this sketch. Henry E. Johns, had a comfortable start in life when he united his destiny with Miss Clara King. He was the owner of a team of horses and one hundred dollars. Miss Clara was even better provided to keep the wolf from the family door, she being the owner of eight hundred dollars. Money is not always essential to happiness in affairs of the heart, but there is a great deal of un- happiness in this life for the want of it.


Henry E. Johns was born July 5, 1870, in Harrison township, Wells county, Indi- ana. He was a son of John S. Johns, a native of Ohio, the latter being the son of Fleming and Rebecca Johns, natives of Vir- ginia. Fleming Johns and his wife moved to Ohio, where they resided a number of years and where their son, John S., was born. When the latter was a small child his parents moved to Harrison township, Wells county, where John S. grew to manhood.


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He was twice married. His first wife was Trissa Haughton and to that union nine children were born, five of whom are still living. Trissa, the mother, died in 1882 and John S. emigrated soon after to Arkansas. At the time he was the owner of one hun- dred and twenty acres of land in Wells coun- ty. The following are the children: Le- nora; Alonzo; Josephine, deceased; Roswell married Emma Shoemaker, a resident of Nottingham township; Henry E., the sub- ject of this sketch, who will be more partic- ularly referred to hereafter; Mary, de- ceased ; Cora; Ellen, deceased; Mason, de- ceased. To the second marriage of John S. Johns only one child was born, a little daugh- ter, Trissa.


In the public schools of Wells and Adams counties Henry E. Johns received his educa- tion. He was nineteen years of age when he attended his last term of the public school. Two years previous to that, however, he had been working by the month when school was not in session. He was in the employ of dif- ferent persons for a number of years, among them, Peter Weastbrood, Peter Beler and Andrew Lynn. He worked by the day, month or job, upon the farm, as best suited his employer. He was in the employ of one man four years in succession. In this way he employed his time, steadily accumu- lating a little money, until he was twenty- four years of age, at which time he got mar- ried. At that time he had his team and one hundred dollars and the provident little wo- man he took for his wife, Miss Clara King, was the owner of eight hundred dollars. They were married September 17, 1893, she being then in her twentieth year. She was born April 8, 1874, in Nottingham township.


The parents of Clara (King) Johns were


Adam and Elizabeth King, both early set- tlers of Wells county. In 1889 Adam passed to his eternal rest, but his wife is still living, a resident of Petroleum. To them twelve children were born, eight of whom are liv- ing, viz: Minerva married Sylvanius Shep- herd; Sarah married Henry Kirkwood; George married Julia Gale; Etta married Milton Dean; Frank married Lizzie Ships ; Adam married Louisa Blair; Almira is the wife of Joseph Elson; Clara is the wife of Henry E. Johns, the subject of this sketch.


The young couple began housekeeping on the C. W. Shoemaker farm, where they remained four years. In the meantime, an opportunity offering. Mr. Johns purchased sixty-one acres of land in Nottingham town- ship, which now constitutes the family home. For this he paid sixteen hundred and thirty dollars, of which amount he incurred an in- debtedness of five hundred dollars. This place he has since fenced, ditched and cul- tivated and it is upon it the family now make their home. It has five producing oil wells, the royalty from which amounts to about one hundred and fifty dollars per month, and there are four more locations on the place. He has two teams working in the oil field, but it is to his farm that his chief at- tention is devoted. It is his purpose to add to the size of his farm as opportunity offers, he feeling that he needs more room for the raising of crops and the feeding of stock. His personal property will very easily foot up two thousand dollars.


To Mr. and Mrs. Henry E. Johns two children have been born, viz: Raymond, born March 3, 1895 ; Freddie, born April 2, 1898. Mrs. Johns is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church at Reiffsburg, is in- terested in church work and contributes lib-


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erally to the cause of religion and charity. While pretending to no political ability, power or influence, Mr. Johns is always sufficiently interested in the success of his party to take a hand in the campaign and do a little essential work on election day. He is a Democrat, earnest and sincere, but he has never sought or solicited any politi- cal preferment whatever. All he does is for what he believes to be the best interests of the country and the community in which he lives. He is most happy in domestic rela- tions, deriving his chief joy from the so- ciety of his family.


JOHN LEE.


This well known educator and farmer of Jackson township, Wells county, Indi- ana, was born here May 18, 1852, a son of Jonathan R. and Susannah (Banter) Lee. Jonathan R. Lee was born in Ohio in I822 and was a son of William Lee, a native of Virginia and one of Ohio's early pioneers. Susannah Banter was a native of Virginia and was born in 1820, a daughter of Abra- ham and Elizabeth (Bates) Banter, who settled in Indiana in the pioneer days. Jon- athan R. Lee also came to Indiana with his parents and here Susannah Banter was in the employ of William Lee, father of Jona- than R. Thus it came about that her many domestic virtues attracted the attention of Jonathan R. and led to their marriage. They went to housekeeping and farming in Delaware county, later came to Wells county and for a short time lived on what is known now as the William Perdue farm, from which they moved to the farm on which


Susannah died and on which Jonathan yet lives, at the age of eighty years, his daugh- ter, Margaret Elkins, keeping house for him.


To Jonathan R. and Susannah (Ban- ter) Lee were born eight children, namely : William, a resident of Jackson township; Elizabeth, wife of S. H. Palmer, also of Jackson township; Mrs. Margaret Elkin, now a widow; Mrs. Lucy J. Capper, who resides in White county, Indiana; John, of whom more will be mentioned ; George W., a resident of Dillman, Wells county ; Sarah A., wife of Dr. Morris, of Mount Zion, and Mary C., married to George M. McFar- land and residing one-half mile west of Dillman.


John Lee, of this biography, attended district school No. 9, of Jackson township, Wells county, where he received an excel- lent preparatory education, and then, when about twenty-one years of age, attended the graded school at Montpelier, Blackford county, Indiana, one term ; he then returned to Wells county and attended for one term the graded school at Bluffton, after which he taught a while and then, for two terms, attended the normal school in the same town, S. S. Roth and A. E. Helm being his instructors. After graduating from this institution he taught several terms during the winter seasons and continued his farm work during the summers.


Although Mr. Lee had worked for his father for his board and clothes until he was probably twenty-five years of age, he had saved about five hundred dollars from his earnings and had secured a good team by the time he had decided to marry. This ceremony took place April 6, 1878, to Miss Montrie C. Kilander, who was born De-


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cember 19, 1857, and is a daughter of Perry and Sarah J. Kilander, of whom a bio- graphical sketch will be found elsewhere in this volume. After his marriage, Mr. Lee and wife lived for two years on the farm at present occupied by William Lee, a brother, on which farm John Lee did con- siderable clearing. At the end of the year he moved to the farm on which he now lives and which comprised fifty acres, deep in the forest. This land he cleared up and added to until he owned seventy-five acres in one body, all of which is now cleared, is finely improved and under a high state of culti- vation. Mr. Lee has kept adding to his possessions until he now owns two hundred and fifty-five acres in various parts of Jack- son township, all of which land he has earned by his own personal exertions and commendable industry and good manage- ment. Besides his land, Mr. Lee owns six flowing oil wells, from which he realizes about fifty dollars per month, the assess- ment on his personal property being about four thousand dollars. Beside conducting general farming, Mr. Lee pays considerable attention to live stock. He breeds short- horn and Jersey cattle, Poland China and Duroc hogs and formerly raised large num- bers of sheep.


To Mr. and Mrs. John Lee have been born two children, namely : Charles M., Feb- ruary 20, 1879, and Perry A., September 16, 1883. Charles M. was educated in the district school and at the Marion normal school and is now assisting his father on the farm, and Perry A. is also at home. Charles M. receives one-quarter of the grain raised on the farm in compensation for his services and Perry A. is furnished with a horse and buggy to use at his own




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