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 44

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 44


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county, Indiana. At this time Isaac Engle, father of William, was a child of some eight years. The family resided in Indiana only about six years, when they again moved, this time locating in Warren county, Ohio. About the time he attained his majority, Isaac Engle was united in marriage to Miss Anna Hopkins, a native of Jay county, In- diana, and daughter of Hezekiah Hopkins. They went to Randolph county, Indiana, and, after a residence there of two years, moved to Wells county, where they pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land in the woods. A log cabin was their first home and the clearing and cultivation of the land was their life-work. Here they con- tinued to reside up to the time of their deaths. Mrs. Engle died March 7, 1891, and her husband survived her some five years, dying September 20, 1896. They were the parents of thirteen children, seven of whom are liv- ing. The dead are Prudence, Emma, Han- nah, Charles, Amanda and Richard; the liv- ing, William L., R. M., James A., Martha A., Daniel, Joseph C. and Arthur.


William L. Engle attended the public schools of his native township until he was twenty years of age. He then took a course at the normal school at Bluffton and later at- tended school at Valparaiso. Having laid a good foundation by procuring a good liberal education, he sought and readily procured a license to engage in the profession of teach-


ing. The next four years he spent in the schoolrooms of the township of his birth, engaged as an instructor. In this calling he was eminently successful, but soon found that the compensation was by no means com- mensurate with the care, labor and responsi- bility required.


On September 28, 1883, William L.


Engle was united in marriage to Mary A. Hilton, also a native of Nottingham town- ship and daughter of Daniel Hilton. Im- mediately thereafter he purchased one hun- dred and sixty acres of choice land, much of it cleared, and some of it under cultivation. Upon this he erected a comfortable home, a commodious barn and substantial outbuild- ings and began to devote himself to the call- ing of a husbandman and breeder of fine stock. Prospecting for oil about this time becoming fashionable, Mr. Engle was not long in catching the fever, in which he was abundantly favored by fortune. Well after well was sunk upon his premises, until at this time he has eight splendid producers and is now making arrangements for drilling a number of others. His income from this source was such as to justify him in getting out of the stock business, and he now breeds Shropshire sheep exclusively, his oil inter- ests not admitting of his doing more. In the fall of 1891 he invested in a fine flock of thoroughbred Shropshire sheep and it is his purpose to engage quite extensively in the breeding of these animals, already having met with much success. Within a short time he hopes to be able to supply any reasonable demand which may be made upon him for choice specimens of these animals. To this business, as to every other in which he has engaged, Mr. Engle has given much patient study and there is little doubt that he will be as successful in this as he has been in each of the others.


February 9, 1896, Mr. Engle married his second wife, Effie J. Judy, a native of Adams county, Indiana. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Church of Christ, in which Mr. Engle is and has been for four years an elder. In politics he has always been a Re-


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publican, but is especially zealous on behalf of his party during political campaigns. His career is ample evidence that, despite all we hear about trusts, there are still many avenues to fame and fortune open to the poor, but ambitious, persevering and worthy youths of the land.


G. B. SCHOTT.


The story of the life of men who from the smallest and most insignificant begin- ning have accomplished much in the way of accumulating property and rearing in com- fort, even in luxury, large families, is al- ways encouraging to others beginning at the bottom round of the ladder of life with little more than good health and a deter- mined purpose out of which to carve suc- cess. Such a life story is that of G. B. Schott, of Domestic, Indiana.


Born in Logan county, Ohio, on the 12th day of April, 1841, of German parentage, the greater part of his busy life has been spent within a few hundred miles of his birth place. His parents were both natives of Byron, Germany, the father, George Schott, emigrating to America when he was seventeen years of age. He was by trade a baker and worked at the business five years in the city of New York, where he landed. The maiden name of the mother of the sub- ject of this sketch was Margaretta Bowman, and she came to New York with her parents when quite young. Being from the same place in the Fatherland, the young people were not long in becoming acquainted and they were not long acquainted until they de- termined upon a closer and more sacred re-


lationship. After an industrious residence of five years in America, George felt that he had accumulated enough to justify him in taking the important step in life. He was married in New York city and immediately determining to anticipate the advice of Horace Greeley to "go west and grow up with the country ;" he did so, settling in Lo- gan county, Ohio. He there engaged in farming, prospering year after year, and in addition being blessed by the birth of a number of robust, healthy and vigorous sons. About the year 1844 he moved his family to Lorain county, Ohio, where he resided until his death, at the ripe age of eighty-four years, September 1, 1902. His good wife, Margaretta, continued to bless her family with motherly care and af- fection until 1861, when she bade farewell to earth and was gathered to her fathers.


George and Margaretta Schott were the parents of four children, all of whom are living : G. B., the subject ; Peter, a resident of Wells county, Indiana; John B., who has lived for many years in Missouri, and Henry F., whose residence is in Lorain county, Ohio.


During the years of his boyhood G. B. Schott attended the district schools of Lorain county. He became very proficient in all the common school branches then taught, continuing in the task of acquiring an education until he was twenty years of age. The next year all his time was devoted to work on his father's farm, when he en- tered the employ of Dr. Underhill, of La- grange, Ohio, taking entire charge and hav- ing full and unrestricted control of the Doc- tor's farm. At this time the war of the Rebellion was in progress in all its fury, and few youths with spirit enough to be worthy


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of mention could content themselves at home, away from the scene of active hostili- ties. In the fall of 1862 G. B. Schott en- listed in Company D, Huffman's Batallion, which afterwards became the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment Ohio Volun- teers. He saw much active service during the two years and nine months of his soldier- ing, continuing in the ranks until mustered out at the close of the Rebellion.


The life of the average soldier is not particularly favorable to the accumulation of money. On returning from the front to his home in Ohio, G. B. Schott found him- self worse off financially than he was some three years before. Possessed of health and vigorous constitution, despite the exposure of his life at the front, he turned his atten- tion to the first labor that offered itself. It was the season of the year when sheep were to be sheared and good wages were to be made by any one who could deftly and skill- fully handle the clippers. While the season lasted the ex-soldier occupied his time in re- lieving sheep of their winter fleeces and when nothing more was to be done in that line he found himself in possession of a lit- tle ready money. With this he moved to Wells county, Indiana, settled in the woods, built a small log cabin and began the clear- ing of the fine, productive farm upon which he now lives.


December 1, 1865, Mr. Schott was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Keller, a native of Medina county, Ohio, and daugh -. ter of Daniel Keller, who had emigrated to America from Wittenburg, Germany. To his humble cabin in the woods Mr. Schott brought his blushing bride soon after their marriage. The market value of all their worldly possessions could then be covered


by a very few dollars, one horse being the sum and substance of their entire live stock. The furniture of their home was of the rudest and most primitive character. To il- lustrate : the bed upon which he slept was constructed of poles, fastened to the logs in one corner of the cabin. Upon these a straw tick was placed, which, with the usual cover- ing, formed a couch that would not be en- tirely to the fancy of many young people of the present day. Yet, it is safe to say, Mr. and Mrs. Schott now look back upon those days of unremitting toil and nights of re- freshing repose and hail them as the happiest of their lives. About half an acre, which he planted in potatoes, was all he had cleared on his own place the first year, but he rented and cultivated land on the farm of a neigh- bor, Thomas Williams. This he continued to do for two years, by which time he had enough of tillable land on his own place to occupy his time and attention. About this time his brother Peter, who was a carpenter and quite handy with edge tools of all kinds, came to live with the young couple. He was possessed of a little ready money which did much to relieve the pinching poverty, and with two men in the woods, where only one had toiled before, the tract of land soon began to take on all the appearance of a pro- ductive, well-kept farm. At this time pro- visions of all kind were inordinately high. A fair quality of flour brought fifteen dol- lars a barrel and other articles were in pro- portion. It need not therefore shock the reader to learn that what constituted the staff of life for most people in poor or mod- ern circumstances was nothing more nor less than good, old-fashioned, home-made corn bread. This, with genuine maple syrup, made in abundance by nearly every


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family in the locality, formed the basis of quite palatable and enjoyable meals.


About this time the almost criminal waste of the finest timber, thousands of feet of splendid logs being rolled together in heaps and consumed by fire to get them out of the way, induced the Schott brothers to invest in and operate a saw-mill. This they did about 1869 and continued in the busi- ness of manufacturing lumber until a few years ago. During the years they were in business they turned out from their mill millions of feet of hickory, ash and black walnut lumber, for which they always found a most ready sale.


At the present time G. B. Schott is the owner of two hundred and forty acres of as fine land as can be found in the state. Eighty acres of this is the old home place on which he first settled, the other one hun- dred and sixty having been purchased since. Upon this land are eleven producing and productive oil wells, which -alone make a very comfortable income for their owner. Back in 1883 a splendid home with modern conveniences was erected on the farm and in 1890 Mr. Schott built a large barn that is a model of convenience. This was neces- sary to accommodate the pure bred stock of cattle, hogs and sheep, in the rearing of which he is engaged.


Mr. and Mrs. Schott are the parents of three children. Henry C., Sarah and Lillie. Sarah has been a teacher in the public schools for a number of years and Lillie is the wife of Dr. Runnels, of Montpelier, Indiana. The latter are the parents of one child. a promising little daughter, named Grace. Mr. and Mrs. Schott are both mem- .bers of the New Light church, and are active and zealous in all Christian work. Mr.


Schott is a member of John P. Porter Post, G. A. R., of Geneva, is a firm believer in the principles of the Republican party and always votes the way he believes. This year he was elected a delegate to the state conven- tion of his party and on two occasions here- tofore was honored with the nomination for county commissioner from his district. But Wells county is too well supplied with Democratic voters to permit many Republi- cans to feast at the official crib, so Mr. Schott, as he expected, was defeated each time. There are, without doubt, many men in this country who have accomplished more during the span of their business career than has Mr. Schott, but certainly there are not many who, with such limited resources as he had at his command in the beginning, have excelled or even equalled him.


JOHN M. BECK.


John M. Beck was born in Westmoreland county. Pennsylvania. May 17. 1839. His father, Mathias Beck, was a native of Wur- temberg. Germany, and the son of a furrier. He had received only a common German edu- cation. as his father was unable to give him the advantage of the higher training. Being a cripple, he was not compelled to serve in tlie army, as was his more able bodied as- sociates, and was thus nurtured in a less hardy but purer atmosphere. He was married to Miss Rosanna Haley, and in order to secure a better home sold his possessions and came to America in 1830, settling in Westmore- land county. Pennsylvania, where he pur- chased a small farm. He remained in Pennsylvania eight years and then came to


hurs. J. h. Beck


John ett Breeta


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WELLS COUNTY, INDIANA.


Indiana, settling at Fort Wayne. About 184I he came to Wells county and bought two hundred and forty acres of land in the woods where he built one of the finest houses in this part of Wells county. This home, which was then considered little less than a mansion, was a large hewed-log house of three rooms below and one above. Mr. Beck was a man of energy and was among those to encourage improvements, lending his aid to all movements for the benefit of his com- munity. He was a Democrat and a member of the German Lutheran church. He was the father of eight children, four of whom grew to maturity. John M .; and Anna M. wife of Henry Foreman, at one time a furrier of Adams county, but now a retired farmer, are the only ones living.


John M. Beck came with his parents to Wells county when he was two and one- half years old and has since spent his entire life in this section. He received a common education in the country schools and spent his hours out of school working for his father, whom he assisted until he was twenty-seven years old. In Decem- ber, 1866, he married Miss Mary Mil- ler, whose parents came from Stark county, Ohio, and established a home of his own. This lady died in 1874 and the follow- ing year he married Miss Melissa J. Bennet, of Washington county, Iowa. She was ed- ucated in the Washington Academy, had been a teacher in Iowa and also in Wells county. Mr. Beck worked his father's farm for some years and two years later bought the old homestead, containing one hundred and forty acres, in the northeast part of Wells county. Being a careful manager and a progressive farmer, he has made money, being now considered one of the successful


farmers and stock raisers of the community. By his first wife he was the father of four children, viz : William M., who married Miss M. N. Snarr, is a farmer in Jefferson town- ship; Charles M., who married Miss Anna Bowers, is engaged in the hardware business at Fort Wayne; Rosa E. is the wife of Fred Tracy, of St. Joseph county, and Mary L. is the wife of M. E. Spencer, of Ossian. The present Mrs. Beck is the mother of two children, viz: Nora C. is the wife of Prof. I. C. Hamilton, a graduate of the State Uni- versity at Bloomington and a student of the Chicago University, both having taught in the Wells county schools; Ira D. W., who is assisting his father on the farm.


The subject of this sketch was formerly a member of the Democratic party and in his younger days he was an active worker in its ranks, though he now holds warm sympathy for the principles of the Prohi- bition movement, which he supports with his ballot. He is one of the most progressive and influential farmers in Jefferson town- ship and is known far and wide as an honest, upright, honorable citizen.


WILLIAM DUNWIDDIE.


Few of the men who joined the army during the Civil war and remained out any length of time returned very much improved financially. The precarious existence of a soldier, with the chance staring him in the face of having even that existence cut short at any moment, is not calculated to develop principles of either prudence or economy. Who that is daily facing death in various forms cares to lay away money that, per-


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chance, strangers may have the pleasure of spending? Hence the soldier spent while he had it to spend and was just as happy when "broke" as when he had abundance. A few there were, however, who held to a firm hope of being able to live another day and at another time when the devastation of war would no longer ravage the land. They practiced the virtues of peace amidst the dis- solution of war, and while most of their comrades returned poor indeed, they had oftentimes more than enough to supply im- mediate necessities. William Dunwiddie, of Nottingham township, Wells county, In- diana, the subject of this sketch, was such a soldier. He spent much as the others did, but he managed to save enough to enable him to purchase forty acres of land on his return from the front.


William Dunwiddie was born in Warren county, Ohio, December 29, 1842. His pa- ternal grandparents were John and Ruth (Betts) Dunwiddie, the former born in Delaware in 1781 and the latter in New Jer- sey in 1785. His father was Peter Dun- widdie, a native of Greene county, Ohio, born April 5, 1816. His wife, the mother of the subject, was Eunice Haines, a native of Warren county, born September 20, 1817. They were married September 1, 1836, and continued to reside in the county of their nativity until 1855, when they moved with their family to Wells county, Indiana. He was a minister of the gospel, but was much as those to whom he administered spiritual and religious consolation, having little more than enough to provide material sustenance for themselves. Thus he was obliged to oc- cupy his time during the week on the farm, preaching at least twice each Sunday. To them eleven children were born, viz: John


H., born September 12, 1837, died May 26, 1843; Hannah G., born August 1, 1839, de- ceased; Brook C., born August 24, 1841, died November 5, 1872; William, the sub- ject, who will hereafter be referred to more particularly; Matilda, born October 25, 1844, deceased; John, born April 25, 1846, deceased; Jacob, born September 23, 1847, deceased; Harrison B., born June 16, 1849, a resident of Reiffsburg; Mary E., born August 5, 1853, deceased; David, born March 25, 1855, died in infancy ; Susan B., born November 23, 1857, wife of Sylvester Pontius ; Brooks C. served four years during the war in Company E, Fortieth Indiana Regiment; John served two years in the same company and regiment, and William was out three years, three months and five days during the same eventful period. John Dunwiddie, their paternal grandfather, served in the United States army during the war of 1812. The parents of these children are both dead.


/


William Dunwiddie received his educa- tion partly in Warren county, Ohio, and partly in Benton county, Indiana, whither he had gone and where he resided a number of years previous to the Civil war. When but nineteen years of age, in the early part of the war, in Oxford, Benton county, Indiana, he enlisted in Company C, Ninety-ninth In- diana Volunteer Infantry. Few regiments participated in more of the important battles of the war than did the Ninety-ninth In- diana. With his regiment, the subject fol- lowed the flag in the following engagements : Vicksburg, Jackson, Mississippi, Mission Ridge, the Knoxville campaign, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, July 22 and 28, Jonesboro, Love- joy Station, Fort McAllister, Savannah, Co-


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lumbia, Goldsboro and Raleigh. On the march to the sea William Dunwiddie was one of those detailed to do the foraging for the other members of the company. Food had to be gotten and it was at times so dif- ficult to provide that his ingenuity was often taxed to the utmost to find the supply of live stock, grain and provisions which the owners had hidden away. He was always so successful that his admiring comrades gave him a number of pet names which were neither euphonious nor pretty and which it is unnecessary to mention here. During the entire term of his service he was not off duty more than three weeks and that was on ac- count of sickness. At the close of the war the regiment went to Washington City, where they took part in the grand review and where they were mustered out. The old flag they bore through many a battle was so torn and rent by shot and shell and soiled by the blood of its brave defenders that a new one was procurred in Washington on which was emblazoned a list of the battles in which the regiment took part, but when · brought out it elicited no enthusiasm what- ever, the boys preferring the old tattered banner they had followed so long and so faithfully. It was brought out amid the cheers of its defenders and it and the regi- ment formed a very conspicuous portion of that historic parade. During its time of service the regiment traveled thirty-three hundred and ninety-eight miles, which does not include the steps taken by the subject in his foraging expeditions. All this was ac- complished on foot except a few hundred miles by rail and transport.


For two years after William Dunwiddie's return from the war he worked for his father, receiving as compensation only his


board and clothes. With what little he was able to save during the days of his soldier- ing he bought forty acres of land, the same on which his brother-in-law, Mark Watson, now resides. For a year he worked in a saw-mill in western Indiana, then returned to Wells county and began clearing his land. The last hundred dollars he owed on the place he paid out of his earnings in the saw-mill. September 3, 1868, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Watson, a native of Adams county, Indiana, born February 19, 1846. Her parents were John and Margaret Watson, natives of England and early settlers of Adams county, but both are now deceased. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Watson, viz: Saralı, de- ceased; Wesley died in the army during the Civil war; Mary J., wife of William Dun- widdie, the subject ; Joseph, now a resident of Adams county ; Phoebe C., wife of S. W. Skeels, now resides in Michigan; Ruth, wife of William Heaston, of Geneva.


At the time of the marriage, a log cabin and fifteen acres cleared were all the im- provements that had been made on the forty acres which Mr. Dunwiddie owned. How- ever, they took up their abode in the log cabin and cultivated and improved the place for one year, when they rented the Josephus Marlin farm in Adams county. They remained there only one year, when they returned to Wells county, bought the west eighty acres of the old homestead, and proceeded to build a house thereon. In the meantime he had sold the first forty acres he had purchased, to his brother-in-law, Mark Watson, who is yet the owner and occupant thereof. On the new tract he had purchased he was obliged to incur an indebtedness of sixteen hundred dollars. At the time it


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was bought the only improvements there were on the place was fifteen acres cleared. It is now all cleared but thirty acres, well ditched, fenced and provided with lasting and substantial improvements. He has purchased another eighty acres immediately adjoining, which gives him one hundred and sixty acres of fine farming land in one com- pact body. On this land are six producing oil wells, from which he now realizes about eighteen dollars per month, though there was a time when much more was realized on the output.


To Mr. and Mrs. William Dunwiddie five children have been born, viz : Clara E., born in Adams county, January 24, 1871, wife of Jacob Bierrie; P. W., born in Wells county, September 27, 1873, married Hattie Brown, has one son, Harry, and resides in Adams county ; Margaret J., born in Wells county July 30, 1876, married Lawrence Watson and they are residents of Notting- ham township; Ruth E., born in Wells coun- ty, August 8, 1879, resides with her parents ; Benjamin H., born in Wells county, Janu- ary 27, 1882, is at home with his parents. Each have received a good common school education. Clara is a graduate of the Geneva high school and taught a number of terms, until compelled by failing health to cease.


Mr. Dunwiddie has unlimited faith in the American hog. He believes that if properly handled it will pay more debts for its owner than any other animal. He as- serts that its capabilities for swelling a bank account are unrivaled and devotes his entire time to farming and stock raising. With Poland China hogs, shorthorn cattle and a general class of sheep, his farm is constantly well stocked. All but two and a half years of his married life have been spent upon his




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