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 56
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Hugh D. Studabaker received his early educational discipline in the public schools of Bluffton, being graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1886, no- table as having been the largest class ever graduated in the high school, its member- ship numbering thirty-six, while the super- intendent at the time was Professor Phile- mon A. Allen, who is still an honored resi- dent of Bluffton. Mr. Studabaker was sev- enteen years old at the time of his gradu-
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ation, and during his school days he con- tinued to reside on the home farm, near Bluffton, while from the age of eleven years until that of nineteen he incidentally con- ducted a milk business, supplying a repre- sentative line of patrons in the city. After the death of his father he went to the city of Chicago, where he was engaged in the basket business from December 1, 1889, until the Ist of the following June, being associated in this enterprise with his cousin, William Studabaker, and his brother James M. He then returned to Bluffton, and in November, 1890, he here associated himself with Wil- liam A. Lipkey, under the firm name of Lip- key & Studabaker, and established himself in the meat market business, from which he withdrew in November, 1892, and became a stockholder in the North Furniture Com- pany, of Bluffton, simultaneously becoming actively identified with its operations in the manufacture of furniture. The enterprise, owing to the financial panic, was forced into the hands of a receiver in the latter part of the following year, entailing a loss of about two thousand dollars to Mr. Studabaker, while the other stockholders met with simi- lar relative losses. Thereafter the subject was again associated with Mr. Lipkey in the meat market business until March, 1895, when he turned his attention to the timber business, in which he became associated with Israel T. Allen, under the firm name of Allen & Studabaker. The firm furnished the timber utilized in the Indiana oil fields and continued until the depreciation in the prices of the local oil product, in 1896, when the venture proved no longer profitable, Indi- ana oil at that time being sold at as low a figure as forty cents a barrel. In the fall of 1896 Mr. Studabaker entered into partner-
ship with Forrest Cummins and engaged in the insurance business, under the firm name of Cummins & Studabaker, and he was thus placed until the summer of 1897. At the fall election of 1898 Mr. Studabaker was de- feated by Clem Hatfield for the office of county clerk, his opponent receiving a ma- jority of only two votes, and this result be- ing accomplished by extraordinary political exigencies, involved in general dissatisfac- tion with the long continued power of the Democratic party in Wells county and through popular clamor for an investigation of the county records. On the Ist of Febru- ary, 1899, Mr. Studabaker engaged in the grocery business in the Bennett store, on Market street, but in August of the same year he was forced out of business by a fire which practically destroyed his entire stock of goods. In November following he again engaged in the meat market business with his former partner, Mr. Lipkey, and this as- sociation continued until December, 1900, when Mr. Lipkey's interests were purchased by the subject's brother, George W., and the latter continued to be actively identified with this enterprise until the 4th of August, 1902, when he withdrew from the firm.
In the meanwhile, on the 18th of the pre- ceding January, Mr. Studabaker was re- nominated for county clerk, as candidate on the Democratic ticket, securing a plur- ality of one hundred and thirty votes in the nominating convention, while at the Novem- ber election he received a gratifying majori- ty over the Republican candidate, Samuel P. Roush, his plurality being one hundred and ninety votes. From this fact it will be seen that the political status of the county had again become practically normal and that the popular disaffection had been overcome. .
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Mr. Studabaker entered upon the active dis- charge of the duties of his office on the Ist of January, 1902, and it is certain that his administration will be a careful and pains- taking one and one that will meet with popu- lar endorsement. Mr. Studabaker has ever been a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party and has taken an active in- terest in local affairs of a public nature. Fraternally he is identified with the National Union, an insurance organization, is also a member of the Baptist church, while his wife holds membership with the Methodist Episcopal church.
In the city of Bluffton, on the 4th of Au- gust, 1891, at the residence of Henry Thomas, on East Cherry street, Rev. J. H. Jackson, pastor of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, solemnized the marriage of Mr. Studabaker to Miss Mary Rebecca Cook, who was named in honor of Mrs. John Studabaker, a par- ticular friend of her parents. She was born in Bluffton on the 3Ist of March, 1870, be- ing a daughter of John Henry Louis and Eliza (Deaver) Cook, the former of whom was born on the 22d of February, 1817, while his death occurred in Bluffton, on the 2d of January, 1879. His wife, who was born at Deavertown, Ohio, on the Ist of June, 1833, still survives and makes her home with her daughter, the wife of the subject.
Mr. Cook was born in the town of Rin- teln, province of Hessen, Prussia, his father being a government prosecutor and a man of influence and prominence. The son was educated in the University of Leipsic, and was a silk merchant in the fatherland prior to coming to America, in 1850, being there- after engaged in mercantile business during the balance of his active life. Of his chil- 28
dren three sons and two daughters are still living, namely : Dr. Luzern H., who is en- gaged in the practice of his profession in Bluffton ; Henry Douglass, who is a grocer in Bluffton; Arthur L., who is engaged in the furniture business in the city of Chicago; Bertha, who is the wife of Prof. William A. Wirt, of the Bluffton public schools, and Mary R., the wife of the subject. Mr. and Mrs. Studabaker have three children, namely : Alden Koch, who was born July 31, 1892, at the old Studabaker homestead, in Lancaster township, near Bluffton; Mildred Eleanor, who was born in the same home, on the Ist of February, 1894, and Hugh Dougherty, Jr., who was born at the northeast corner of Miller and Williams streets, Bluffton, on the 19th of September, 1896.
JOHN HENRY DURR.
The business of cultivating the soil is looked upon as a calling that may be en- braced by any one, and it is currently be- lieved that no amount of brains, intelligence or skill is necessary to be a successful farmer -he need only to put the seed in the ground and nature does the rest. These views are en- tertained by people who have no conception of either the labor required or the experience and intelligence necessary to conduct the affairs of a farm successfully. Their view of the farmer is well expressed by the author of "The Man with the Hoe" in the poem of that title. Those who have followed agri- culture as their life vocation know better, and those who, in their youth, got their first lesson in industry in the woods, the clearing and the field are better posted. To be suc-
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cessful on the farm a man must have more industry, as much intelligence and at the very least an equal amount of experience as is re- quired of men in other walks of life.
There are few counties in Indiana pos- sessed of better or more successful farmers than Wells county. The townships of Jeff- erson, Lancaster and Harrison are particu- larly well supplied with this class of farm- ers. Prominent among those of Lancaster township was John Henry Durr, deceased, who for more than fifty years lived in the same locality. He saw the region gradually change from wood and swamp to fertile fields and green pastures, and contributed his full share in time, labor and means, to- ward bringing about the important change.
John Henry Durr was born in Lancaster township, Wells county, Indiana, February 18, 1851, and was a son of Jacob and Mildred Durr, who were among the early pioneers of Wells county. Upon the farm where he was born John Henry Durr spent the first twenty- six years of his life. Aside from the few brief months each year devoted to school. his en- tire time was occupied in the labor of the farm with his father. His education was about the same as that of other boys of that time and locality. The few months spent in the school room each winter sufficed to give him an education that subserves every pur- pose. All of the common school branches were thoroughly mastered by him and with these as the key to the vast storehouse of learning, during his leisure hours he ab- sorbed an amount of information possessed by few persons in his position.
On July 28, 1877, he was united in mar- riage to Miss Angeline Bowman, daughter of Gideon and Alvina Bowman, of Adams county, Indiana, and to this union were born
five children, four of whom are living. Minnie and Carley (twins) were born Au- gust 20, 1878, the latter dying November I, 1880; Nettie, born February II, 1880; Olie, born May 23, 1882; John Willard, born August 22, 1885. The wife and mother, Angeline Bowman Durr, died May 26, 1890, at the early age of thirty-three years.
At the time of his marriage John H. Durr and his brother Ed were each pre- sented with eighty acres of woodland by their father. Anticipating his marriage, John selected a nice building site on his tract, cleared it and erected a comfortable home to which to take his bride. Settling down to the realities of pioneer life, he be- gan clearing and improving his land with the result that within a very few years he had a well improved farm. In 1881 he pur- chased an additional forty acres from his sister, Mrs. Patterson. It also was woods, but having now acquired taste for the sub- jugation of the forest, Mr. Durr lost no time in reducing it also to fertility and produc- tiveness. He owned, at the time of his death, one hundred and twenty acres of as fine land as Indiana could boast of, ninety- five acres of which were cleared, drained and fenced by his own hand and constitutes a farm, whose superior, acre for acre, cannot be found in Wells county.
Politically Mr. Durr was a Democrat, well posted in the principles of his party and always firm in the advocacy thereof. He took a deep interest in the work of each cam- paign and always did much, personally and with his means, to advance the interests of the ticket. He was a genial, kind, good natured gentlemen, who loved his friends and never lost an opportunity of doing a kind turn even to a stranger. His death,
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which occurred December 8, 1902, was mourned by his many friends, and was looked upon as the loss of one from their midst, whose life had been an example of all that was good and noble.
JOHN E. STURGIS.
The gentlemen to a brief review of whose life and characteristics the reader's attention is herewith directed is among the foremost business men of Bluffton and has by his enterprise and progressive methods contributed in a material way to the indus- trial and commercial advancement of the city and county. He has in the course of an honorable career been most successful in the business affairs with which he has been identified, and is well deserving of mention in a book of this character.
John E. Sturgis is a native of Ohio, hav- ing first seen the light of day in Wayne county, that state, on the 22d day of May, 1844. His father, Thomas Sturgis, was born near Lough Neagh, county Armagh, Ireland, December 25, 1802, and was a son of Rev. William and Elizabeth (Gratz) Sturgis. In 1812 William Sturgis and fami- ly emigrated to America. landing at New York city on the 25th day of June of that year. Shortly afterwards they removed to Pennsylvania and settled at Shippensburg, where the father died soon afterward, leav- ing a widow and eight small children to mourn his loss. Thomas Sturgis, the father of the subject, when about eighteen years of age, began learning the hatter's trade, which he completed and followed for a number of years. He was married in Pennsylvania,
August 5, 1826, to Elizabeth Brasier, who was born at Chambersburg, that state, and was a daughter of Rev. Jacob Brasier, a United Brethren minister. In 1834 Thomas Sturgis and family moved to Dalton, Ohio, where he followed his trade until 1853, in which year he moved to Wells county, Indiana, and purchased a partially improved farm in Lancaster township. On this place he settled and was there engaged in farming until his death, which occurred March 24, 1882. His demise was preceded but a short time by that of his wife, hers occurring on February 5, 1882, after a happy wedded life of over fifty-five years. They left ten chil- dren, fifty-one grandchildren and five great- grandchildren. Both had lived long and useful Christian lives and were among the highly respected citizens of the county. Mr. Sturgis was a man of strong convictions and took great interest in the political issues of the day. He was a firm believer in the principles of the Democratic party and cast his first presidential ballot for Andrew Jackson in 1824. In 1840, during the ex- citing contest between Van Buren and Har- rison, rather than lose his vote, as was threatened, he, with his brother Joseph, walked twenty-five miles to New Philadel- phia the evening before the election, secured their papers and returned home the next morning prepared for business at the polls. He was the father of eleven children, of whom one died in infancy, the others all growing to maturity. They were all well educated and became useful and respected members of society. Of the ten children who gained their majority, brief mention is made as follows: Charlotte, deceased, was the wife of W. T. White, of Bluffton ; Wil- liam is a resident of Missouri; Joseph re-
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sides on the old homestead in Dalton, Wayne county, Ohio; Elizabeth is the wife of John Whitaker and resides in Wells county ; Elmer Y. is a resident of Bluffton; Lemuel D. also resides in Wells county ; Catherine is the wife of Jonathan Markley and lives in this county ; Thomas J. is a suc- cessful dentist of Bluffton; John E. is the subject of this review and Mary is the wife of Andrew Shoemaker, of Geneva, Adams county, Indiana.
John E. Sturgis came to Wells county with his parents, being at the time but nine years old, and has practically made this his home ever since. In 1861, when the somber cloud of war hung over the country and the President called for volunteers to assist in the suppression of the rebellion, young Sturgis, though but a little past seventeen years of age, was among the first to tender his services to his country, enlisting in Octo- ber, 1861, in Company H, Forty-seventh Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, un- der Capt. S. J. Keller, of Bluffton, and Col. James R. Slack, of Huntington. This company was organized at Huntington and immediately went to Indianapolis, where, in December, 1861, it was sworn into ser- vice and soon afterward went to the front. They were first sent to Camp Wickliff, Kentucky, and their first engagement of any note was at Island No. 10, on the Mis- souri river. Mr. Sturgis had a part in all the engagements in which his regiment par- ticipated, and was neither sick, wounded nor taken prisoner, being always ready for duty. They who are familiar with the his- tory of the Rebellion know what the Forty- seventh Indiana went through and can see readily that young Sturgis performed his full share in the defense of his country's flag
in her hour of peril. He was fearless and brave and served gallantly until the close of the struggle, receiving an honorable dis- charge in December, 1865.
Upon quitting the army Mr. Sturgis re- turned to Wells county and in the following spring he entered the Eastman Business Col- lege, at Chicago, where he pursued the regu- lar course, after which he again returned to Bluffton. In 1867 he went to Mendon, Mer- cer county, Ohio, and, in company with Dr. Daniel B. Roether, engaged in the drug busi- ness. In October of the same year he re- turned to Bluffton and was married, the lady of his choice being Miss Emeline E. Sander- son, who was born at Carlisle, Ohio, June 25, 1847, the daughter of Lemuel and Lu- cinda (Kinert) Sanderson. In 1868 Mr. Sturgis disposed of his drug business at Mendon, Ohio, and removed to Bluffton, where he engaged as clerk in the drug store of Stockton & Johnson, with whom he re- mained until 1872, in which year he opened up a drug store on his own account in Bluffton, conducting this successfully un- til 1886, at which time he was elected to the position of treasurer of Wells county. Dis- posing of his business, he took charge of the office, the duties of which he faithfully and efficiently performed for four years. At the close of his term of office, Mr. Sturgis again established himself in the drug business, in which he has since continued. He also served as city treasurer of Bluffton from 1877 to 1885, filling this position also with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents. In his political views Mr. Sturgis is a staunch Democrat and takes an active interest in the success of his party. In matters religious he and his wife sub- scribe to the Presbyterian faith, to the sup-
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port of which he contributes liberally of his means and in the local congregation of which he is one of the trustees. He is also a worthy member of Lodge No. 147, I. O. O. F., Bluffton.
To Mr. and Mrs. Sturgis have been born three children, Nina L., Estella E. and Ruby. Nina is unmarried and still makes her home under the parental roof; Estella is the wife of M. A. Stout, a prominent business man of Bluffton, and Ruby married Dr. Homer Robinson, one of Bluffton's most skilled and successful dentists. The Sturgis family was established in Wells county many years ago and has always been looked upon as one of the most enterprising and respected families in the county. The members of the family may look back with just pride to their ancestors, knowing that thus far no member of the family has been connected with any dishonorable transaction by which the family 'scutcheon might be marred.
JOHN MCAFEE.
This native-born and respected farmer of Rock Creek township, Wells county, Indi- ana, was born January 6, 1854, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Lesh) McAfee, of whom mention of greater length will be found on other pages of this volume. He was educated in the district school of his neighborhood, which he attended until about seventeen years of age, and then began work- ing on a farm by the month, the father ab- sorbing whatever compensation was granted to the son. At the age of twenty-one years, John McAfee was presented with a horse, as a capital with which to begin his business
career in life, and, as the sequel will show, he did not misapply this small means toward advancing his future progress. In 1875 he took a third interest in a saw-mill with his father and George Riley, but after a few months the father and son bought out the interest of Mr. Riley in this mill and for some time ran it on their mutual account. John, Jacob and Peter McAfee then bought the mill and conducted it for thirteen years, buying and cutting their timber, taking such contracts for custom sawing as they could secure, and disposing of their own outfit at a very fair profit. The father and son John each owned a one-hundred-and-sixty-acre tract of wooded land, valued at five thousand dollars per tract; but John was rather im- provident at that time and gave his obliga- tions for his investment, all of which he promptly met as they fell due.
John McAfee next moved upon his pres- ent farm in section 17,Rock Creek township, on rural route No. 3 from Bluffton, the greater part being then in the forest, but this portion he has since cleared up and improved and added to it until he owned four hundred and twenty acres. He later disposed of eighty acres, so that he now owns a trifle less than three hundred and forty acres, which is valued at twenty-seven thou- sand dollars. He deals largely in hogs, but is also a farmer who looks well to what pays him best, and figures on about two thousand dollars net profit per an- num from his farm produce, most of which he invests in additional land. He is a scien- tific agriculturist and keeps himself well posted by reading the best farming journals. He also is quite regular in his attendance at farmers' institutes and is a good listener, but not an orator. He has never wandered far
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from the spot where he was born and now lives within a mile of his birth place, of which he in fact owns a part.
March 31, 1877, John McAfee was united in marriage with Miss Isabella Light, who was born in Jackson township, Wells county, November 12, 1856, and is a daugh- ter of Isaac WV. and Phebe ( Pouless) Light. The father was called away, however, and the mother became the wife of George Spraks. The marriage of John McAfee to Isabella Light has been crowned with four children, viz: Lillie, born August 25, 1878, who is now the wife of Charles W. Decker, a farmer in Rock Creek township; Earnest, born March 28, 1882, still unmarried ; Win- nie, born August 21, 1885, is assisting in caring for the household; John, born June 12, 1887, is attending the district school.
Mr. and Mrs. McAfee are members of St. Paul Lutheran church of Rock Creek township, of which Mr. McAfee is a deacon. He has always been a liberal supporter of this church financially, and on its being re- built contributed very freely to the building fund. In his political views he is in sympa- thy with the Democratic party, but has never felt any ambition as to filling public office. Mr. and Mrs. McAfee are both very pleasant and affable, and their advice upon farming and many other subjects is freely sought by their neighbors, far and near, as it can be implicitly relied upon as being honest and sincere.
Samuel McAfee, the father of the gen- tleman whose name opens this record, and who now has his residence in Liberty town- ship, Wells county, was one of the patriots who gallantly went to the front during the dire need of the nation for defenders at the time of the Civil war. August 20, 1862, he
enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and First Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Cap- tain Wilson, and took part, among others, in the following named serious engagements : Perrysville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Chattanooga ; he was also all through the Atlanta campaign and at the siege and fall of that fated city ; was at the battle of Peach Tree Creek, Georgia; Bentonville, North Carolina; was present at the surrender of the rebel general, Johnston, and was honor- ably discharged at the close of the war at Louisville, Kentucky.
Elizabeth (Lesh) McAfee was a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, was married to Samuel McAfee in 1851, and died at her home in Rock Creek township in September, 1894, truly honored by all who knew her.
J. H. HOLCOMB, M. D.
This eminent and still rising young phy- sician and surgeon of Rock Creek township, Wells county, Indiana, is a native of Yadkin county, North Carolina, and was born on the banks of the Yadkin river, September 2, 1867, a son of John D. and Sarah A. Hol- comb. The Holcomb family originated in Ireland and toward the close of the sixteenth century several of its members came to America and settled in North Carolina and from one of these colonists Dr. Holcomb, of this sketch, is a lineal descendant. The em- bryo physician passed his young days amid the hills and dales of the northwestern part of the Old North state in assisting his father on the homestead during the summer months and in attending school during the winter when the weather was too inclement for
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farm work. At the age of sixteen he was graduated from the common school and next attended the high school for two years. After his graduation from the latter he taught school for two years, and then entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Maryland, took a full course as a student of medicine, and was graduated from that famous institution in the spring of 1892. He commenced the ac- tive practice of his profession in his native state, where he met with flattering success, his abilities being at once recognized, and ยท continued to retain his patrons until he sought what he considered to be a broader and more remunerative field in Wells county, Indina, coming hither in 1894. On reaching Wells county, Dr. Holcomb selected Barber's Mill as his place of residence and practice, and in the latter has met with a success that in some respects may be termed phenomenal. He has not only been most fortunate in his treatment of his numerous patients, but through his affability and genial disposition has drawn to himself a host of sincere per- sonal friends.
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