Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 103

Author: Rolland Lewis Whitson
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 103

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Returning to Grant county a veteran soldier, he was not content to rest upon his laurels as a soldier. He rigged up a team, rented some land and began farming for himself. He continued as a renter for four years, and in the meantime, in 1868, married Miss Martha A. Creviston, daughter of Daniel and Sarah Ann Creviston, a family which was identified with pioneer history in Grant county, and of whom extended mention is made on other pages of this work. Daniel Vol. II-44

Digitized by Google

1356

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

Creviston moved to Grant county from Darke county, Ohio. Soon after his marriage Mr. Dicken and wife combined their funds and bought a portion of the land, which now comprises the home farm. By industry and thrifty management they improved and developed the place every year, and soon were on the high road to prosperity. Some years after the first purchase he bought another eighty acres of land, subsequently bought eighty acres more and in 1907 bought fifty-five acres.

It is interesting to review the possessions of Mr, Dicken at the present time. His home farm is located on Huntington Pike in Wash- ington township in section nine. The home place comprises one hundred and twenty-six acres, and he is also owner of three other farms. One is a place of fifty-five acres, the last purchase, located in section ten. He also owns eighty acres, half situated in section two and half in section three, which was entered by his father, Richard H. Dicken, in 1848. The third farm comprises eighty-eight acres of land in section three, bringing up his aggregate acreage to three hundred and forty. He has some timberland on these places, but it is all fenced and in blue grass pastures. Otherwise the land is all in cultivation. With the exception of fifty-five acres place, there are good orchards on all the farms, and all the places with the same exceptions have excellent improvements, good buildings and fences.

Mr. Dicken is an agriculturist who believes in conserving the resources of the soil, and his land is really better now than when he first obtained it. On his home farm he has a beautiful residence of nine rooms, which he built in the fall of 1870. He has also erected a good barn, a sheep house, a smoke house, chicken houses and owns his own gas plant and power house. He heats the house with natural gas from the well, situated on his own place, and altogether on the two eighty acre farms he has six other gas wells. From some of the wells he sells a considerable quantity of oil. One eighty acre farm is rented, and most of the rest he farms on shares. To show what Grant county farms will produce, the following statistics of his share of the crops from the rest of the land are appended. In 1912 he had sixteen hundred bushels of wheat, twenty-five tons of hay, three thousand bushels of corn, twenty-four hundred bushels of oats, all of which he fed to his stock, and which represents a most gratifying farm of industrial wealth. Mr. Dicken has two hundred and fourteen head of stock on his farm, cattle, horses, sheep and hogs. He has one hundred and fourteen head of hogs of the Chester breed, eight Percheron horses, twenty-five head of Polled Angus cattle, and seventy-one head of sheep and lamb.

The three children of Mr. Dicken and wife are: Burr W., a farmer in Wabash county ; Mrs. Cora D. White, who lives on a farm three and a half miles east of the home place; and Mrs. Maud B. Morehead, whose residence is two miles east of the home farm. Mr. Dicken has six grandchildren. In politics he is a Republican, having always sup- ported that party from the time he cast his first vote during the war, and is a member of General Sherman's Post, G. A. R., at Marion. His religious affiliation is with the Christian church.

CLINTON CRETSINGER. Residing on a property which has been in the possession of the family for three generations, Clinton Cretsinger has spent his entire career within the limits of Washington township, where he is known as an able and energetic agriculturist. Mr. Cretsinger was born January 12, 1879, on the old family homestead, one mile west of his present place, in Washington township, Grant county, Indiana, and is a son of Holmes and Sarah (Martin) Cretsinger.

Digitized by Google

1357

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

The paternal grandparents of Clinton Cretsinger were John and Mary Magdalena Cretsinger, of German descent, but natives of Vir- ginia. Among their children was David Cretsinger, who was born in Virginia and as a lad was taken to Licking county, Ohio. There he worked for some years and succeeded in accumulating a tidy sum of money, only to see it swept away in the crash that accompanied the failure of A. J. Smith's bank. In 1849 he joined the rush to Cali- fornia, in search of gold, and after four years returned to Ohio with enough money to purchase an eighty-acre farm. In 1857 he brought his family to Grant county, Indiana, and first settled on a farm on Hummel Creek, but soon sold this and bought the Henry Prickett place of eighty acres. On this he resided until his death, February 10, 1910, at eighty- eight years of age, the last years of his life having been spent with his son, Holmes, to whom he had sold forty acres of his land. He was suc- cessful in accumulating 1,500 acres of land, in addition to a large amount of money, and was one of his community's well known men. He married Nancy Wheeler, a native of Licking county, Ohio, born in 1828, and she died in August, 1896, having been the mother of three children, namely: Holmes, the father of Clinton; Mrs. Mary Ellen Goff, who resides in Grant county; and David, Jr., who resides at Marion, where he is proprietor of a horse sales barn and the owner of a large amount of property.

Holmes Cretsinger was born July 6, 1853, in Licking county, Ohio, and attended district school No. 4 in Washington township, Grant county, Indiana, whence he had been brought as a lad of six years. He con- tinued his studies for three months of each winter until reaching the age of twenty years, and when he was twenty-one years old commenced assisting his father, his salary being $200 a year for five years. At the time of his marriage he rented a tract of 240 acres, and following this was engaged in agricultural operations on rented land for a long period, but eventually, by inheritance and purchase, secured land of his own. He is still engaged in active pursuits, and although more than sixty years of age is able to take care of his own farm and do his own plowing and harvesting, and has upwards of 400 acres. He has been successful in both farming and stock raising operations, and has improved his property with handsome structures of modern design and substantial character, in which are to be found all of the most modern conveniences. Mr. Cretsinger was married May 28, 1878, to Sarah Jane Martin, daughter of Philip Martin, of Wabash county, Indiana, and seven children have been born to them: Clinton; Frank, who died at the age of nine years; Ross, living in section 3, Washington township, a farmer; Florabel, who married Mr. Pritchett and lives in Wabash county, Indiana; Floyd, who resides on the old homestead farm; Cleo, who is now Mrs. Steuber, of Grant county; and Minnie, who died at the age of three years. Mr. Cretsinger is a Republican, and his wife and children are members of the Christian church.

Clinton Cretsinger secured his education in district school No. 4, and remained under the parental roof until becoming of age, at which time he rented his present farm, a tract of 200 acres in section 17, Washington township. Having been reared to habits of industry and thrift, he carefully saved his earnings, and in 1905 was able to pur- chase this land, of which he has since been the owner. These habits of perseverance and economy have assisted Mr. Cretsinger greatly in his ventures. He has all but forty acres of his land under cultivation, and · has improved his property with substantial buildings, including a modern eight-room residence, erected in 1907. In 1912 he raised 1,600 bushels of corn and 1,000 bushels of oats, and cut forty tons of hay,

Digitized by Google

1358

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

in addition to selling sixty hogs. He now has seventy-four hogs, among them ten brood sows; has thirteen horses and colts, principally Belgians; thirteen cattle, and a drove of seventeen sheep, each producing about seven pounds of wool annually. A man of progressive ideas and meth- ods, he has adopted modern machinery in his work, and the running water in his house and barns is pumped by a gasoline engine, which also grinds feed, operates the washing machine, and does much other work on the farm. Mr. Cretsinger has always been known as a man of strict integrity and high business principles, and is esteemed by the large circle of acquaintances which he has gathered about him during his long residence here.

In 1900 Mr. Cretsinger was married to Miss Dora Renbarger, who died in 1903. In 1905 he married Miss Cora Pritchett, daughter of Roy Pritchett, deceased, and step-daughter of Samuel Calloway, of Grant county. In his political views Mr. Cretsinger is a Republican, but has been too busily engaged in his agricultural operations to take other than a good citizen's interest in public matters. He enjoys the privileges of membership in Marion Lodge No. 96, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Neptune Lodge No. 1 of the Masonic order. With his family, he attends the First Christian Church.

JOHN HAMAKER. An exceptional degree of success has come to John Hamaker, as an enterprising farmer of Washington township. He is a man of broad general information, one of the leaders in thought and action in his locality, takes an earnest interest in public affairs of township and county, and during a residence of fifty-eight years in Grant county has exemplified many of the best and most admirable traits of character and attributes of citizenship.

The Hamaker farm is one which tends to increase one's confidence in the stability and substantial character of American agriculture. It is located on rural delivery route No. 8, in section fifteen of Washing- ton township, and comprises one hundred and eighty acres of land. Thirty acres of this is in timber, and one hundred and fifty acres in pasture and general crop lands. Mr. Hamaker gives most of his atten- tion to general farming and grain production. He is noted for raising fine crops, and in recent seasons has had some fine yields of grain. In 1912 twenty acres of wheat produced five hundred bushels, and thirty- five acres of corn land yielded two thousand bushels. However, he states that the corn crop in 1912 was better than ordinary. He keeps about twenty-five head of cattle, and sufficient horses to work the farm. During 1912 he fed sixty head of swine, and believes and practices mixed husbandry, so that none of the fertility of the soil is lost, and practically all the produce taken away from the farm is in the form of cattle and hogs. The up-to-date character of the place is evidenced by the three houses on the estate, two of which are tenant residences and the home place is a fine residence of eleven rooms and was built by Mr. Hamaker's father in 1893. In front of the home are pleasant lawns, with shade trees, and there is a big well-painted barn to care for the stock and the grain crops.

John Hamaker was born August 29, 1855, in Washington town- ship, on the old farm then occupied by his grandfather. Grandfather John Hamaker was a shoemaker by trade, a native of Pennsylvania, and of Pennsylvania German stock, and came to Grant county early in the decade of the forties as one of the early settlers. The father of the Washington township farmer was Jefferson Hamaker, who moved to the farm now occupied by his son John in 1856. The latter can recall when his father blazed trees through the forest in order that the

Digitized by Google

MR. AND MRS. JOHN R. ANDERSON AND FAMILY AT THEIR RESIDENCE Z

Digitized by

Google

1359

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

children might find their way to school, and this fact indicates that Washington township even as late.as the Civil war times had not pro- gressed very far beyond the conditions at the beginning of settlement. Jefferson Hamaker bought in 1856 eighty acres of land in section thir- teen, and then took up his residence there. He increased his land until he owned, at his death, 400 acres. When the Civil war came on he enlisted in the Federal Army, and served in many battles in the middle west. He was a participant in the great battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, which were among the bloodiest and most fiercely contested engagements of the entire war. Jefferson Hamaker was a man of great physical strength and large build, and his character was such as to command the confidence and respect of his entire community. He was born in 1833, and died March 6, 1901. Jefferson Hamaker married Martha Woolman, of one of the pioneer Grant county fami- lies. Her father was Samuel Woolman, a native of New York State and of English descent, who settled north of Marion in the early days. He was by trade a cabinet maker, an exceptionally skilled workman, and his services were in great demand among the early settlers. Mrs. Jefferson Hamaker died October 1, 1905. Her children were: John; Mrs. Elizabeth Coulbertson; George, a resident of North Marion; and Mrs. Ida York of Seattle, Washington.

John Hamaker as a boy was educated in the district schools, in the old Center schoolhouse, and first attended a log school and later one built of frame. Until he was twenty-four years of age he lived at home with his father, and then for two years rented the farm of his Grandfather Woolman. At the age of twenty-six he went back to the home place, and in 1899 bought eight acres seven miles west of his' present farm. In 1906 he bought the interests of his mother in the homestead, adding that portion to his own inheritance, and in the fall of 1908 increased his acreage to the present extent by buying sixty acres.

In 1879 Mr. Hamaker married Margaret Ludlum, daughter of William Ludlum, who was born in the state of Ohio. Four children have been born to their union, namely: Burr, at home; Frank, who is employed in a factory at North Marion; Mrs. Millie Hix, who resides near Marion; and Mark, who died at the age of fourteen years. Mr. Hamaker in politics has followed the new trend of thought and opin- ion, especially strong in Indiana, and is now allied with the Progres- sive party. In church affairs he worships with the Radical United Brethren. He has made a more than ordinary success, and one evi- dence of it, showing his progressive ideas, is the possession of an auto- mobile, which he has owned for four years. On his farm he has ten gas wells, and has used gas as fuel and light, supplied from wells on his own farm, for the past twenty years, so that he is still an important beneficiary of the great gas resources which were once so abundant in Grant and other counties.

JOHN RUSSELL ANDERSON is another of the well-to-do men of these parts who has witnessed the growth of a fine farm from a dense forest. In the thirty years of his residence here great have been the changes that have come to pass, and the transformation of his home into a fruitful and productive series of fields is not the least of them, although this land was practically cleared when he bought the farm. His place, consisting of one hundred and seventy-three acres, all under cultivation with the exception of twenty-five acres of timber, is lying in Sections 27, 38 and 34.

John Russell Anderson was born June 17, 1857, on the farm home of his parents in Van Buren township, and he is the son of Isaac and

Digitized by Google

1360

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

Eliza (Camblin) Anderson, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respec- tively. The father migrated to Grant county in 1837, settling on a farm in this township, and here he and his good wife reared a family of eleven children-seven girls and four boys. Brief mention is made of them here as follows: Samuel Wiley is deceased; he died near Jonesboro, on his way home from the war in 1863, after having finished out his second period of enlistment; Mrs. Margaret E. Baldwin is also deceased ; Mrs. Celeste M. Kilander, of Markel, in Huntington county, is the wife of Dr. Wm. J. Kilander; Mrs. Mary Loundenback is de- ceased; Enoch E. is a resident of Van Buren county; Mrs. Nancy E. Young lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Mrs. Lucy J. Ray lives in Sims, Indiana; John Russell, of this review; William F. lives on the old home place in Section 28; Mrs. Alice A. Barnes is a resident of Grant county, and Mrs. Effie C. Harvey lives on the old homestead.

Mr. Anderson attended the old Anderson school, so called, now known as District No. 7, and he lived at home until 1883, when he was twenty-six years of age. At that time he married and received from his father-in-law a wedding gift of forty acres of land across the road from his present farm. He also bought ten acres about the same time and built the home. In 1906 he bought ninety acres adjoining his first property and he also owns thirty-three acres of the old home farm. In addition to his farming activities, Mr. Anderson carries on a considerable business in live stock trading, and is known for one of the successful men of the township. In 1905 he erected a fine ten-room home on his place, built upon the most modern lines, and embracing nearly every phase of convenience to be found in city homes. A hand- some lawn lends a metropolitan appearance and all the buildings to be found on the place are of the finest order, well kept and wholly in keeping with the general atmosphere of the place. In 1912 Mr. Anderson took from his acres 1,750 bushels of corn, 1,500 bushels of oats and about forty or fifty tons of hay. He raises something like sixty head of hogs annually, keeps twelve horses and colts, chiefly Nor- mans and Belgians, and has three cows on the place.

On December 24, 1882, Mr. Anderson was married to Sarah J., the daughter of Thomas B. and Margaret Doyle, one of the finest families of the community, and a sketch of the father appears elsewhere in this work. Four children have been born to them: Cecil N. is the wife of Charles Boller, of Van Buren township; they have two children, Har- riet Kathleen and Evelyn Maxine. Russell is a farmer of Van Buren township. He married Olivia May Welsh and has one child, Austin Russell. Lucile and Celeste live at home.

Mr. Anderson is a Prohibitionist in his political faith, and does what he can to promote the cause of his party. He is a member of the Christian church, as are also the members of his family. He has given service of a worthy order to his community as superintendent of thir- teen and a half miles of pike road in Van Buren township, and in many other ways has demonstrated the high quality of his civic pride and his citizenship.

JACOB STREIB. The history of the Streib family has been so inti- mately associated with that of Grant county that a record of one is almost identical with that of the other. From earliest pioneer times, when this section of Indiana was all one vast forest and wild animals menaced the lives of the settlers, members of the family have been identified with the interests of the locality, and many of the name are now making their homes in Washington and other townships, where they occupy honorable positions in life. The late Jacob Streib be- longed to this old and respected family and for many years was known

Digitized by Google

1361

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

as one of the leading agriculturists of Washington township. He was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, June 17, 1831, and was a son of Jacob and Susannah (Klingenpiel) Streib.

John Streib, the grandfather of Jacob Streib, was born in France and reared in Germany, and early entered the great army of Napoleon I, which he accompanied on the march to Russia. In the retreat from Moscow he was taken prisoner and nearly lost his life, but managed to effect his escape and shortly thereafter emigrated to America, locat- ing in Virginia. There for some years he followed his trade of miller. In 1839 Jacob Streib came to the Mississinewa country, the trip being made with two horses and wagons over roads that were little more than Indian trails, and the family of Daniel Shaffer accompanying them. Seventeen houses at that time comprised the present city of Marion, which stood in the midst of a vast forest. The hardy pioneers cut a road through the forest to a point two and one-half miles northeast of Conner's Mill, and, finding the wolves fierce and numerous, there erected a pen for their ten sheep, and managed to frighten the wild animals away by the occasional firing of firearms.

John Hendricks was the Streib's nearest neighbor, although other pioneers came that fall, including Benjamin Marks and his family. Jacob Lyons helped to build the round-log, one-room house which was the home of the Streib family for a number of years, and James Thomp- son, having lost his wife by death, boarded for two years with the fam- ily. Jimmie and Bennie Price came to this section during the follow- ing fall and settled three miles farther north, and David Conner opened a trading post at Conner's Mill, which was operated by Jacob Sprecher, and which was an old corn cracker, but of great help to the early set- tlers. This mill was later improved.

Jacob Streib, the father of Jacob of this review, was born in Rock- ingham county, Virginia, was there married, and came with the fam- ily to Grant county. He improved a tract of 160 acres of land, on which he resided for some thirty years and then disposed of his inter- ests and moved to the city of Marion, where he conducted a grocery for a long period. He died in his ninety-seventh year. He and his wife were the parents of two sons and four daughters, as follows: Sarah, who married Christian Buhl, a wealthy brewer of Richmond, Indiana; Catherine, who married Thomas O'Hara, also of Richmond; Sophia, who married Edward Guinin, a musician during the Mexican War and leader of the first band in Marion; George, who served as a soldier in the American army during the Mexican War: Susan, who became the wife of William Ross, and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Jacob.

Jacob Streib was reared on the old home place, and on reaching his majority came into possession of 120 acres, on which he engaged in the cattle business. He at first confined his operations to buying cat- tle and selling it to western feeders. subsequently built the first stock scales in this vicinity, and during the Civil War accumulated money by dealing with the government. In one season he bought over 3,000 hogs, to be slaughtered in Marion, and his reputation grew constantly. He wisely invested his profits in land, and at one time owned 815 acres in Grant township, 515 acres of this being developed into one of the best stock farms in the county. In later years he gave each of his sons a farm, retaining 250 acres for himself, and in 1890 retired from active life and moved to Marion, where his death occurred August 11, 1904. An honorable, straightforward man of business, his word was considered as good as his bond, and as a citizen he was known as one who ever had the interests of his community at heart. His extensive

Digitized by Google

1362

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

connection with large business dealings made him widely known, and his death was mourned by many warm friends.

On December 27, 1853, Mr. Streib was married to Caroline Bow- ers, whom he met in Richmond, Indiana, and she died July 23, 1899, having been the mother of six children: James Monroe, John Thomas, George W., Franklin and William H. The second oldest, Sarah Ellen, died as a small girl.

GEORGE W. STREIB, JR. Washington township can boast of no more progressive and enterprising farmer than George W. Streib, Jr., whose extensive operations on sections 7 and 8, where he owns 185 acres of land, have given him prestige among the men who are advancing Grant county's agricultural interests. A member of one of the old pioneer families of this county, Mr. Streib is a native of Washington township, having been born on his father's homestead, May 17, 1865, and is a son of Jacob and Caroline (Bowers) Streib.

The Streib family was founded in America by John Streib, the great-grandfather of George W., Jr., a native of France, who was reared in Germany, and a soldier in the great army of Napoleon I. After being captured and nearly losing his life in the retreat from Moscow, Mr. Streib emigrated to America, settling first in Rocking- ham county, Virginia. Jacob Streib, the grandfather of George W. Streib, was born, reared and married in Virginia, from whence he went to Ohio, and came in early pioneer times to Wayne county, Indiana, and then to Grant county, in the Mississinewa country. He experi- enced all the trials and hardships of pioneer existence, cleared a farm of 160 acres, on which he carried on operations for more than thirty years, and then moved to the city of Marion, where he was engaged in the grocery business until his death, which occurred at the age of ninety-seven years. He married Susannah Klingenpiel, and they be- came the parents of six children, as follows: Sarah, who married Christian Buhl, a wealthy brewer of Richmond, Indiana; Catherine, who married Thomas O'Hara, also of Richmond; Sophia, who became the wife of Edward Guinin, a musician in the American army during the Mexican War and later the organizer and leader of the first band in Marion; George, who fought as a soldier during the Mexican War; Susan, who became the wife of William Ross, and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorada ; and Jacob.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 103

Author: Rolland Lewis Whitson Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Rolland Lewis Whitson
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1034