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 62
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EZEKIEL ROE.
It is generally considered by those in the habit of superficial thinking that the history of so called great men only is worthy of preservation and that little merit exists among the masses to call forth the praises of the historian or the cheers and appreciation of mankind. A greater mistake was never made.
Nc man is great in all things and very few are great in many things. Many by a lucky stroke achieve lasting fame, who before that had no reputation beyond the limits of their communities. It is not a history of the lucky stroke that is of the most benefit to humanity, but the long study and effort which made the lucky stroke possible. That which serves as a guide for the success of others is the preliminary work, the method, and it is that which should be praised and commended by the historian. Among those in this county whose success was achieved along steady lines of action is the subject of this memoir.
Ezekiel Roe, one of the oldest and most prominent settlers of Jefferson township, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, May 3, 1823, his parents being Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Funk) Roe. The grandfather of the subject was a native of Ireland. The father and mother of the
subject were both born in Pennsylvania, and there grew to maturity. Eventually they were married and walked to Indiana, where they lived for several years. Final- ly becoming tired of frontier life, they re- turned to Fayette county, Ohio, and took up their residence.
It was on this farm in Randolph county, Indiana, that the subject, Ezekiel Roe, was reared. The scenes of rural life be- came familiar to him and it is small won- der that he followed the life to which he had been born. His education was re- ceived in the subscription school, which was held in an old log building, to- tally devoid of even the semblance of com- fort. The seats were benches hewed from logs, unplaned and minus the backs; each student took care of his books, which con- sisted of a slate, spelling book and arith- metic, by placing them on the bench be- side him during the day and at night piling them up on the common desk around the wall. This common desk, or rather shelf, for it was no more than a shelf held to the wall by large pegs, was known to the students by the dignified name of "writer's bench," and, armed with a quill pen and a copy book, each scholar laboriously fash- ioned the letters as the teacher dictated each day. £ Despite such disadvantages, young Ezekiel stored his brain with much useful knowledge, which served him well in after years. He worked on the farm until he was of age, and then was hired by his father for a year at seven dollars per month. After working for his father for a year, he began to hire himself out to other farmers, receiving as a compensa- tion for his labors the paltry sum of seven and nine dollars per month. Even with so small a salary, he was able to lay
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aside some money and in time invested his earnings in an eighty-acre tract of land, which he entered in Union township, Wells county, Indiana, and which is now owned by John A. Walker.
On the 4th of July, 1852, Mr. Roe was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Puterbaugh, a daughter of Jacob and Re- becca Puterbaugh, of Elkhart county, Indiana. Mrs. Roe was born in Elkhart county, her parents having moved from Darke county, Ohio, at an early date. The father died in Elkhart county and the mother and young daughter were left to face the world alone. The mother did not long survive her husband and at the age of six years Catherine was left an orphan. She was then taken by an older brother, who reared her. Her opportunities being limited, she was forced to neglect her edu- cation and at a tender age, just when other girls were being anxiously cared for by fond mothers, she went out into the world to make her way. This she did by working by the week, receiving but seventy-five cents per week, and was able even with so meager a compensation to eventually save thirty-two dollars by the time she was married. Shortly after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Roe moved to a farm in the woods of Union township, where the young husband set to work to clear enough ground to enable him to make a living. In 1859, after he had suc- ceeded in clearing his land until it was in good condition for cultivation, he sold his farm and bought one hundred and sixty acres of uncleared land one-half mile north of Ossian. This land he improved and here he reared his family until, one by one, the birds left the nest, and now only the parents are left in the old home. Eight
children, seven of whom are living, were born to them: Addison died at the age of eighteen years; Andrew is a farmer in Jefferson township; Mary is the wife of J. S. Krewson; Maggie is the wife of Allison Bowman; Arthur F. is a farmer of Jefferson township; Anna is the wife of Joel Hunter; Ama is the wife of D. C. Gorrell, and Hampton is a merchant of Ossian, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Roe are members of the German Baptist church and are active in church work. His entire life has been spent in active work and politics has for many years opened an avenue for this activity. The Democratic party has always profited by the subject's political efforts and he is counted by the party as one of its most faithful followers. Mr. and Mrs. Roe are among the best citizens of Jefferson township, where they have resided most of their lives. They are a worthy couple, and no fitter compliment can be paid them than that given by their neighbors, who join in bestowing upon them their highest praise.
NICHOLAS W. SHORTS.
One of the respected of the younger generations of Jefferson township is Nicholas W. Shorts, the present township trustee, who was born in Lucas county, Ohio, May 19, 1855, and is a son of Hu- bert and Mary M. (Luther) Shorts. The father was born in Metz, Alsace, France, but to avoid service in the army of Louis Napoleon he turned his eyes toward the republic of America, coming hither in 1843.
Hubert Shorts was a pianomaker by
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trade and had worked as a journeyman for four years prior to coming to America, but on arriving in this country engaged in farming. On the breaking out of the war with Mexico, Mr. Shorts enlisted in the Fifteenth Regiment, United States Vol- unteers, and served under Gen. Zachary Taylor until the war closed, when he was honorably discharged, with a pension of twenty-four dollars per month on account of disabilities sustained. He then settled in Ohio and learned the stonecutter's trade. He was married at Clyde, San- dusky county, Ohio, his bride being a na- tive of that state, but of French parent- age. In politics Hubert Shorts was a Democrat and in religion was a Catholic and in this faith he was called away at the age of sixty-five. Hubert Shorts and wife were blessed with ten children, of whom two died in infancy. The survivors all live in Ohio with the exception of Nicholas W. and a sister who has resi- dence in Allen county.
Nicholas W. Shorts was educated in the schools of his native village and be- gan his business, life in a general country store, whence he went into a slack barrel factory, in which he worked until he was twenty years of age. He then, in 1875, came to Indiana and lived in Allen county until 1886, when he came to Wells county to make his home. He was married in Allen county, April 26, 1877, to Miss Mary A. Kreigh, daughter of Samuel Kreigh, a pioneer and now residing at Walkerville, Michigan. She was born in Jefferson township, Wells county. Being in but in- different circumstances at the date of his marriage, Mr. Shorts went to work in a saw-mill and succeeded in accumulating a
little money, and was then appointed a mail-carrier on a star route, which position he held for three years. When he settled in Wells county he began farming, but subsequently sold his farm in Jefferson township and, in November, 1901, pur- chased his present farm of eighty-five acres, one and a half miles northeast of Ossian. Here he has since conducted gen- eral farming and has devoted considerable attention also to stock raising, in which he has been very successful, and his farm is one of the most productive, according to its size in the township. He has improved it with all modern conveniences and it pre- sents an attractive appearance to the pass- er-by or the welcomed guest, yet its chief interest lies in the products reaped from its well tilled fields. To Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas W. Shorts have been born six children, of whom one died in infancy, the survivors being Zulu, wife of D. B. Davidson, who lives in Jefferson town- ship, Earl, Fern, Hilma and Mary.
Mr. and Mrs. Shorts are members of the Elhanan Presbyterian church, in which he is an elder. Fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias and politically he is a Democrat. He was elected trustee of Jefferson township in 1900 and has since filled the position with great credit to him- self and to the entire satisfaction of the community. Jefferson township has thir- teen school houses, with eighteen teach- ers, six being in the township graded school at Ossian. All the houses are brick, one being erected by Mr. Shorts in district No. I, at a cost of three thousand dollars and includes all modern conven- iences. He is giving special attention to the betterment of the roads, the township
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now having twenty-one miles graveled and turned over to the county and five miles in process of construction.
Mr. Shorts is a quiet, unassuming gentleman, but is public spirited, and ever ready to aid with his means all improve- ments conducive to the comfort and wel- fare of his fellow citizens, by whom he and family are held in the utmost esteem.
JOHN D. DETTMER.
There is nothing that interests one more than to observe how different men begin and continue the duties of life. Hesitation marks the beginning of some and every obstacle which they encounter seems to them insurmountable. Others begin boldly, but after a time some defect in execution stamps them as unfit for the task to which they have set themselves. Others, again, commence with a steady grasp of the situation and show by their subsequent accomplishments that they have mastered the problem of life; to this latter class always comes success, and they are the men who leave behind them good names and large properties honorably won in life's battles.
Of the old citizens and residents of Jefferson township, Wells county, Indiana, none are more respected than John D. Dettmer, who was born to John D. and Sophia (Bachman) Dettmer, in Germany, August 15, 1823. The Dettmer family were farmers in their native land and their son was given a thorough training in farm work before he came to America. He at- tended the common schools of his mother
country until he was fourteen years old, having succeeded in that time in obtain- ing a fair education, and at this age he be- gan to work out by the year, receiving six dollars per year and his clothes. Later his wages were increased to eight dollars and he continued to work in this way until his salary amounted to eighteen dollars per year. `When he was twenty-eight years old he concluded to come to Ameri- ca and try his fortune in the new land. He reached New York in September, 1851, and soon obtained employment on a dairy farm. He stayed on this farm for five months, receiving twenty dollars per month as a remuneration for his labors. Later he left the dairy farm and again found employment as a farm hand in New York at nineteen dollars per month, working for such wages for fifteen years. In March, 1855, he married Miss Mary Englehart, who was also born in Ger- many and came to America in 1852. After his marriage he worked by the month and saved a considerable amount of his wages. In 1867 he came to Wells county, after having saved fourteen hundred dollars, which he immediately converted into farm land where he now lives, part of which was then in the woods. He cleared and im- proved his property, adding to it until he owned two hundred and twenty acres of fine farm land, all of which he made him- self. Of this he now has one hundred and four acres in the home farm, three miles northwest of Ossian; the remainder he gave to his son, John E. Dettmer, who now has a very desirable farm. Four girls and one son were born to him and his wife : Mary, wife of Leonard Springer ; Anna, wife of Charles Larman; Julia, de-
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ceased; Maggie, wife of Andy Springer, and John E., the only son, who was born in Orange county, New York, married Ida Maky and has eight children.
St. Mark's German Lutheran church of Allen county enrolls the Dettmer family among its members and more faithful workers she can not boast. Mr. Dettmer has been trustee and elder and discharged his duties honorably and to the entire satis- faction of the congregation. His political allegiance has always been given to the Republican party, which has been much benefited by his ardent work. With him politics comes second only to religion and he can always be found actively engaged in political work when his party is in need of his assistance. He is known as an hon- est, genial citizen with whom it is a pleas- ure to have business dealings, and he is held in the highest respect by the residents of Jefferson township.
JOHN NIRITER.
When the eyes of a child open here on earth for the first time, it would require a very potent spirit of prophecy to predict where, upon the face of the earth, it will be when the time comes for it to close its eyes in death. The subject of this sketch, John Niriter, was born in Hesse, Germany, September 21, 1827. At that time nearly every one of his ancestors for perhaps twenty generations had been born, lived and died in that country and there seemed little doubt, at that time, that the life of the infant would be spent very much as had been spent the lives of
nearly all of his predecessors. But fate had a far less monotonous career in store for him, which began to develop when the lad was but seven years old.
The parents of John Niriter were George and Elizabeth (Pepler) Niriter. Nine years of the life of George Niriter had been spent as a soldier, fighting the battles of people in whom he had little if any interest. The latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nine- teenth century were fertile and prolific of wars. It includes the period of our own Revolution, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, our second encounter with England and numerous other minor events of sanguinary strife. During the fifty years included in this period the world seemed to think of nothing but war and bloodshed. Rulers appeared to think that men were made for no other purpose than to bleed and die in the settlement of trivial grievances of state. It was the misfortune of George Niriter, the father of the subject, to live during this period and to be obliged to take part in much of the strife. Part of the time of his military life was spent in the ranks of the legions who fought under Napoleon. During the peace which followed the decisive battle of Waterloo, he returned to his home with purpose of marrying and settling down to domestic happiness. He married Elizabeth Pepler, went to housekeeping and reared a family. But the spirit of adventure that had been bred within him during the wars could not be suppressed though he fought against it valiantly. He finally decided to move his family, which then consisted of a wife and five children, to America and seek his fortune in the new republic. Ac-
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cordingly, in 1834, they crossed the ocean and without much delay penetrated into the middle of the wilderness, locating in Allen county, Indiana, near Ft. Wayne. There was very little in the place then to in- dicate that it would ever be a city. John Niriter, although but seven years old at the time, well remembers that the town then consisted of three stores, a few mean looking dwellings, a log jail and a small court house that, judging from its appear- ance, few would accuse of being a temple of justice. At that time the Wabash & Erie canal was in course of construction and most of the early settlers availed themselves of the opportunity of making a little ready money by working on the canal. George Niriter had a wife and seven children to support, hence, although an ex-soldier of Napoleon, he was not above wielding a shovel and pick in the interest of the inmates of his home. He continued in the work, making fair wages, until he had saved enough to purchase forty acres of land nine miles south of Ft. Wayne. On it he built a cabin in which to live and had partially cleared it when he got an oppor- tunity of selling out, which he did, and with the proceeds bought one hundred and sixty acres of land farther out. This he cleared, improved and occupied until his death. He and his wife were the parents of six children, only one of whom was born in America. Of these only three, Jonathan, Hartman and John, now sur- vive, the latter the only one who resides in Wells county.
John Niriter was a small boy when his father located in Fort Wayne. He had never attended a school in his native land, and Indiana had not at that time acquired
a reputation as an educational center. Oc- casionally a term of school was held at Ft. Wayne, but the diffident and backward children of George Niriter did not get over their timidity at the strangeness of the new country until they had moved away from the little town. Hence the education of the children was limited, but they were apt and intelligent and made up in observation, experience and com- mon sense what was denied them in book learning.
When John Niriter was twelve years old he was taken by Hartman Smith, a farmer of Wells county and a friend of the Niriter family. He remained in the fam- ily of Mr. Smith until he was twenty-one years of age when, as a part of his wages, he was given forty acres of land situated in Jefferson township, which now consti- tutes a part of his present farm. On this tract only four acres were then cleared, but it has been added to until the farm now comprises one hundred two and a half acres and is as well improved as any tract of land in the vicinity.
In 1857, when he was thirty years of age, John Niriter was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Rapp. She lived only long enough to present him with two chil- dren, both of whom are still living, mar- ried and enjoying domestic happiness of their own. They are Rosa, wife of Walter Clark, and Charles, who married Lizzie Keigh. The second wife of Mr. Niriter was Miss Ellen Ferguson, daugh- ter of Thomas Ferguson, and they were united in marriage October 20, 1870. She was born in Jefferson township, March 23, 1840. Her father had settled on that farm in 1838, coming from Canada, though a
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native of Scotland. He was married at Ft. Wayne to Jennette Youie, a native of Glasgow, Scotland. Two children have also been born to this marriage of the sub- ject : Andrew J., who married Miss Mar- garet Woodside and resides on the old farm, and his two children, Florence and an infant; and Jeanette, a student of elo- cution in Ft. Wayne.
In politics John Niriter is a Democrat and, while a believer in the Democratic doctrine of "a tariff for revenue only," he is by no means one of those who take part in politics "for revenue only." The only public office he ever filled was that of road supervisor for two terms, and even that was not sought but thrust upon him. In religion he and wife are Presbyterians, be- longing to the church at Elhanan, and liberally contributing to the support of that denomination. In Jefferson township the greater part of the life of John Niriter has been spent and there the people know him as an honest, upright citizen, a man whose word is never questioned. Here he is spending his declining years in ease and comfort, having accumulated enough to keep him far above want. As to the land of his nativity, he knows little and cares less. Every interest that he has is centered here in America and no doubt when his final summons comes it will find him here and ready.
FREDERICK RAPP.
Reared in the earlier days, when schools were few and an uncleared farm stared the settler in the face, it is little
wonder that the majority of our pioneers liad little time for school or books. But after the woodland had been converted in- to fields of waving grain and the little fam- ily had grown away from the grinding hardships of early life, then it was that the father set himself assiduously to work to rectify the neglect of his boyhood and in most cases he succeeded beyond his ex- pectations. Frederick Rapp was born to Frederick and Rosanna Rapp in Wurtem- berg, Germany, August 21, 1839. The Rapp family came to America and settled in Erie county, New York, where the father bought forty acres of land. Later he sold this and in 1853 brought his wife and children to Jefferson township, where he took one hundred acres of land in sec- tion I, which was partially cleared. He and his family lived on this farm until the death of the parents. Mr. Rapp was a quiet, unassuming man, who had a good education in German and believed that each man could take care of his own busi- ness better than could his neighbor. Act- ing on this principle, he won many friends, whom he was able to assist with his ad- vice. Eight children were the fruits of this union, four of whom are now living.
Frederick Rapp was reared in Ger- many, in New York and in Indiana. At an early age he helped clear their farm and later to cultivate it. His attendance at school was irregular, owing to the neces- sity of his being at work in the fields, his early education being thus much neglect- ed. He remained beneath his father's roof until after he was twenty-one, having farmed the place for a few years. Miss Sarah Stites became his wife January 22. 1869. She was born to Peter and Chris-
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tena (Hickler) Stites in Summit county, Ohio, March 12, 1844, and came with her parents to Wells county when she was a young girl. Four children blessed their union, namely : Effie A., Edna A., deceased, Jennie I., and Maud Pearl, deceased. Both Effie and Jennie were given the best ad- vantages of the county schools and are liv- ing at home. Sometime after his marriage Mr. Rapp purchased eighty acres and es- tablished a home where he has since re- sided. He and wife and family are mem- bers of Bethlehem Evangelical church, the father being a trustee of the church, while the daughter, Miss Jennie, is the present organist, which position she has held for several years. In politics Mr. Rapp is a Republican, though before the war he voted with the Democratic party. The family are well and favorably known in this part of Wells county and have the highest esteem of their acquaintances and neighbors.
LUDWIG MYERS.
To the ranks of the noble and useful belongs the subject of this sketch, Ludwig Myers. Reared on the frontier, without the advantages of a fine education, he has come to the front, not with the blare of the trumpets of fame, but with the milder tones of genuine nobility. Ludwig Myers, one of the old residents of Jefferson town- ship, Wells county, Indiana, is a son of Christian V. and Elizabeth (Leibrandt) Myers and was born in Seneca county, Ohio, April 13, 1836. He is of sturdy Ger- man descent, both parents having been born in the old country. Christian Myers
was reared in Germany and came to America after he had reached manhood. He had a thorough knowledge of German and Latin, having been educated for the ministry, but he had no heart in his call- ing and later learned the cooper's trade, at which he worked until 1830, when he came to America. He first brought his wife and little family to Ohio and settled in Seneca county on a small farm, where he lived until 1838, when he came to Wells county, Indiana, and entered land from the government. This land lies in section 6, range 13, and at the time of his entering it it was covered with timber. The neigh- bors were few and lived miles away and the family lived a lonely life in their new home. He cleared his land with the aid of his boys, who were left to do most of the work, while their father worked at his trade. By hard work the family managed to get on in the world and as time passed really came to love the isolation of their life. The children had excellent home training and the family grew to be one of affluence. The father was a member of the Albright Evangelical church. To Christian and Elizabeth Myers were born seven children, only one of whom, Ludwig, lives in Wells county.
Ludwig Myers was reared on his father's farm and attended the subscrip- tion schools, thus getting a limited, but practical education. He was given all the advantages which the limitations of the country would permit and made the best of his means. Although his knowledge of books was not very extensive, he was thoroughly versed in the ways of farm life and knew just how to clear the land and make rails. At this he was an expert,
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