Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 83

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

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 83

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With two streams as outlets, drainage has always been possible and the ditching machine has been used on the farm frequently. He does not invest in a ditching machine, but the Irishman and his spade are no longer the method-he hires the man who owns the machine. Mr. Winger never sells hay or grain, but feeds everything grown on the farm and cattle and hogs have both been "mortgage lifters" with him. While he had a "nest egg" from his father, he has always added acreage as he could buy it, and three hundred and thirty-five acres in the immediate community is a good showing. However, his land is not all in one tract, there will be places for his sons about him, and when he retires from active life he will not move to town, but will perhaps build a home near Cart Creek church and still have oversight of the farm. Mr. Winger had one tenant ten years until the latter had saved enough to purchase a small farm for himself. His sons will in time be his tenants.

Mr. Winger was among the early Hereford cattle breeders to con- duct an auction at his farm, and his offering attracted many buyers. While this Pipe creek-Cart creek soil becomes mud when mixed with water, cement has been used until the feeding and care of stock has been reduced to the minimum of labor, and all livestock is under shelter. A catalpa grove of a thousand trees serves as a windbrake, and it is an excellent rendezvous for hogs-they are not troubled with flies. Mr. Winger escaped hog cholera for many years, until 1913, when he lost nearly his entire herd. Recently he has sought advice from the farm agent, saying he regards this innovation as an excellent thing-up-to- date ideas suggested to farmers who may not read the agricultural press. While all these conveniences at the Winger farm are the result of labor, Mr. Winger believes in taking advantage of opportunities, and he welcomed the farm agent as a forward movement in agriculture. As a member of the Advisory Board of Pleasant Township Mr. Winger was one of the prime movers in the building of the new grade and High School Building at Sweetser. Has been a director of the Farmers State Bank at Sweetser since its first organization, January 3, 1913, which has been a great innovation for the community and very success- ful from a financial standpoint.

DANIEL O. WINGER. Martin Wenger, of South Bend, in his "His- tory of the Wenger Family" says their home in Europe was the Palitin- ate, Germany, but through tradition it is learned that they originally came from Switzerland. In the region in which they were located a peak exists, bearing the family name known as the Wengern Alp.

About the middle of the eighteenth century they began immigrat- ing to the United States. In the United States they first settled in Lan- caster and Franklin counties, Pennsylvania, and then with a roving spirit began migrating to various parts of the United States. The branch of the family to which the subject of this sketch belongs left Pennsyl- vania and settled in Roanoke county, Virginia. Virginia being a slave state without many educational facilities, the Wengers in that region became careless in preserving their family name of Wenger and most of them under the sway of popular dialect substituted an "i" in place of the "e" thus changing the name to Winger. In a similar way from time to time various changes have been made such as Wingard or Win- gert.

Joseph Winger, son of Martin and Elizabeth Frantz Winger, was born in Roanoke county, Virginia, April 23, 1825. He came to Indiana in the spring of 1847. He first went to Elkhart county but later he came to Grant county and there he hired to work on the farm of Shad-

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rach Lawson for seven dollars a month. In the autumn he returned to Virginia and remained there until the autumn of 1849. While there he married Mary M. Dermond of Roanoke county and then accompanied by his wife, father, mother, brothers, and sisters, he again returned to Indiana. He settled upon a tract of land known as the "Woods' Land" upon which he lived six years. He then moved on a farm in Pleasant township, section 18. On January 8, 1856, the wife and mother passed away leaving three children : John M., born June 16, 1850; Sarah E., born June 28, 1852 and died June 21, 1884; Madison D., born August 27, 1855, and died August 11, 1870.

He then married Elizabeth Showalter, a native of Preble county, Ohio. From this union issued eight children : Samuel E., born Febru- ary 12, 1858, and died January 20, 1860; Daniel O., born February 28, 1860; Orlando C., born February 26, 1862; Joseph P., born June 30, 1864; Abigail A., born August 29, 1867 and died June 28, 1906; Ida . F., born February 3, 1870; Mahlon D. S., born October 2, 1877; and one which died in infancy.

Although Joseph Winger came into a wilderness with practically no resources, he came out a man of fortune. He proved himself to be a man successful in business and he wielded an influence throughout the community in which he lived that caused people to seek his advice. He had a limited education yet he had natural ability which enabled him to keep abreast of the times and accumulate enough of a fortune to give each of his children a fine start in life after his death which occurred April 6, 1895. His widow occupied part of the old homestead and survived him eighteen years, but at the age of seventy-six years, two months and twenty-six days, on May 3, 1913, she quietly passed to her home beyond. A magnificent monument has been reared to the memory of the departed ones in the Vernon Cemetery, which is the family burial ground. This cemetery is referred to in the chapter. "The Church of the Brethren," writter by Professor Otho Winger, son of John M. Winger. Most of Joseph Winger's family affiliated themselves with the Church of the Brethren and have their place of worship at Cart Creek, which is situated on a part of the old family homestead.

Daniel O. Winger by birthright was a Democrat, but since that party stood for licensing the liquor traffic, he left it believing that to license a traffic that debauched his fellow-man was a sin and upon this theory he became an uncompromising Prohibitionist and votes the ticket. He was active in the wet and dry campaign in Richland township and at every opportunity uses his influence to advance not only temperance, but all forms of morality, intelligence and religion in his community. He represents a family which has always borne an honorable part in the history of the extensive community lying both in Grant and Wabash counties.

Daniel O. Winger was born in Pleasant township, Grant county, Indiana, and he lived in this township until he was twenty-three years of age. He was married October 27, 1883, to Ida Victoria Bechtel, daughter of Samuel and Julia York Bechtel and grand-daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Stapleton Bechtel. Her grandfather bought the Miller farm (see chapter on Pleasant Township in history), from the "Joaquin Miller" family. (See chapter on the Miama Reserve.) Mrs. Winger's ancestry came from Pennsylvania and Ohio, and finally located in Pleasant township, the historic township of Grant county, and occu- pied by land that will always be associated with thoughts of the "Poet of the Sierras." Her grand-parents on her mother's side were Alfred Y. and Sarah Ann York, residents of the same township.

The children born to Daniel O. and Ida Victoria (Bechtel) Winger

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are: Nellie Grace, wife of Oscar Fleming, born August 15, 1884; Alma Francis, wife of Guy Wood, born September 16, 1886; Joseph Homer, born November 29, 1888; Clement Alfred, born August 1, 1891, married to Hallie Smith; and Roger Daniel, born February 16, 1896. Clement has made a study of salesmanship, bidding for patronage as an auctioneer, and has been successful in his experience. All live on farms except Roger, who is following teaching as a life profession and is a minister in the Church of the Brethren. There is one grandchild, Myron Wood, son of Alma Francis. The Winger family has always been characterized by good citizenship in Grant county.

REVEREND DAVID E. MYERS, present Chaplain of the National Mili- tary Home near Marion, Indiana, has held this post for twenty-one years, during which time he has won many friends outside as well as inside of the institution. He himself is a veteran of the Civil War, and has had many years of experience in ministering to men, for he entered the service of his church at the age of twenty and he is now over seventy years of age.

David E. Myers was born on the twenty-third of January, 1840, eight miles southwest of Dayton, Ohio. His father was Benjamin Myers, and his mother was Katherine (Hoover) Myers. His father was a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, and his mother was born near Hagerstown, Maryland. His father lived to be eighty-six, and his mother seventy-five years of age and both of them lived near Dayton, Ohio until they died. Thirteen children were born to Benjamin and Katherine Myers, David E. Myers being the eighth in order of birth.

The district schools near Dayton, and the common schools of Dayton furnished Mr. Myers with his early education. He counts as valuable one year of private study under Dr. Kephart. He entered Otterbein University near Columbus, Ohio, in 1862 and remained there until he was called to fill a vacancy in the ministry of the United Brethren Church. He had become a member of this church, of which he is still a member, about four years previous to this time. He also became a member of the Miami Conference of this church in 1862, is still a member of it and regularly attends its annual meetings. At the age of twenty-three he became identified with the Ohio National Guard and helped to recruit and organize a battalion of eight companies for the Union. By this organization he was appointed acting Chaplain. They were soon called to the front where he served for one year in the ranks of the Union Soldiers. He was mustered out at the close of the war at Columbus, Ohio, and returned to his home near Dayton.

After the war he pursued his theological studies, and in 1867 was ordained as an elder in the United Brethren Church. He served for a number of years in this ministry in Ohio, and it was in 1880 that he came to Marion, Indiana. For several years he was in charge of minis- terial work in the counties of Wabash, Grant and Howard, and for two years had charge of the church in Union City, Indiana. During this time he made many acquaintances and friends throughout this whole section.

It was in 1893 on the first of September, that he was appointed Chaplain of the National Military Home near Marion. He has served in this office ever since that time.

For thirty years he has been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has filled many of the offices of the General Shunk Post No. 23 of the Department of Indiana at Marion.

On the third of September, 1865, Mr. Myers was married to Malinda Emaline Tribbey, a daughter of George Tribbey of Clinton county,

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Ohio. Six children were born of this union, two of whom are dead. Those living are as follows: George E. Myers of Indianapolis, Indiana; Paul P. Myers, of Grinnell, Iowa; T. A. Myers of Chicago; and Luella B. Myers, who makes her home with her father. Mrs. Myers died on the 17th of June, 1905.

Mr. Myers has had quite a variety of experiences. in the ministry, as a Pastor of a Circuit consisting of several churches; as Pastor of the City church; Presiding Elder or Superintendent of a Conference dis- trict; and as Chaplain in the employment of the National Government.

Chaplain Myers speaks of his work at the Military Home with evident enjoyment and seems thoroughly appreciative of the splendid treatment given the disabled veterans by the National Government. That which he seems to have enjoyed most however was the period of his life when he travelled Circuit.

ALBERT L. FEIGHNER. While Electra-Lea farm in Washington town- ship is one of the best known farmsteads in Grant county-interurban transportation from the door and modern in all its appointments-the Feighner family residing there are not strangers, the present occupant being the third of the Feighners to live there. Albert L. Feighner is the only son of Adam J. and Martha (White) Feighner, and the homestead has been in the Feighner family by purchase and inheritance since acquired by his great-grandfather, John Adam Feighner, in 1854 from John King, who entered the land on March 15, 1837, and connected with the abstract of title held by Mr. Feighner is the original land patent granted by President Martin Van Buren.

Electra-Lea was the first farm home in Grant county to be lighted by electricity, the current being supplied from the M. B. & E. trolley line passing the house. Mr. Feighner is a machinist and mechanic enough to handle the current, shifting the wires and attaching power himself, and the silo and mows are filled with power, invisible and yet unfailing, and there is "no night there" in the sense of thick dark- ness. The barn at Electra-Lea has switch boards the same as the house, and milking early or late is no hardship, there being a drop light in each stall, and when the wind does not blow the water is supplied in the tanks from the same subtle agency-the electric current. Mr. Feighner is prepared to do all his own grinding, and when feed is necessary he has only to "touch the button." Electric current is used in "buzzing" wood, and the problem of power is well solved at Electra- Lea.

When the lighting system was installed it was extended to the home of Adam J. Feighner, and the two farm homes lacked nothing in the way of modern conveniences possible to any family in town. There were gas and oil there much longer than in some farm houses, and nothing would have tempted either family to quit the country. For years there has been a private telephone connection, and each house is connected with the Marion exchange, and with the daily mail the world was at their door-why leave the country? While A. L. Feigh- ner is the third Feighner to own this land, there was no electricity and therefore no Electra-Lea prior to his living there. He has been inter- ested in perpetuating some family lore, and since his grandfather, John Adam Feighner, came from Germany a translation was neces- sary in order to understand an old covenant or contract made by some of his ancestors and which had always been treasured by him. This covenant bears date of January 1, 1787, and was entered into by John "Faegner" of Lehigh township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, with John Moyer, of Whitehall township, and it was duly witnessed

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"ELECTRA-LEA FARM" WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP

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MR. AND MRS. A. L. FEIGHNER

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that Mr. Moyer agreed to teach Mr. Faegner the weaver's trade in two years, for which he was to receive two pairs of wool socks, one suit of underclothes, a silk muffler, one broadcloth overcoat at three dollars per yard, a cap and two wool over shirts. In return Mr. Faegner was to be a dutiful servant, not to do anything wrong to his master-be per- fectly honest in business toward his master, and not to go to any amuse- ment or entertainments unless permitted by his master. He was to live a consistent, upright life, etc., and both signed the original agree- ment written in the German. This ancient document shows the evolu- tion of the family name now written Feighner.

The family of John Adam Feighner came direct from Pennsylvania and knew the hardships incident to pioneer life in Indiana. There were five sons and five daughters in the family: Jacob, Animary, Harriet, John, Elizabeth, Adam J. (father of Albert L.), William, Sarah, Julia and Daniel, but only Daniel, living in Montana, and Julia, living in Ohio, survive Adam J. Feighner, who died at the family homestead, which he had acquired by purchasing all the shares, February 20, 1910. At the age of 73 years, 3 months and 10 days, Mrs. Feighner, with a niece, Miss Fanny White, continues to reside there. Mrs. Feighner was one of nine children in a Madison county family, her sisters being Sarah, Elizabeth and Rachel, and her brothers, Hiram, Henry, Samuel, John and Mace White. Some of them afterward lived in Grant county. . Mrs. Feighner has always been a woman interested in those about her, and while her husband lived they had a large circle of friends, who still show every courtesy to her. She preferred living on at the old home- stead where she had always been so busy and acquired a competency. She was a woman who enjoyed the daily newspapers, and she kept in touch with the whole world until she became an invalid a few months ago.

Albert L. Feighner married Miss Laura E. Lobdell, January 16, 1889, and for twenty-five years they have worked together, and their pleasant surroundings bespeak their industry. Mrs. Feighner is one of five children born to Aaron T. and Catherine (McDaniel) Lobdell, of Washington. (See Golden Wedding list in history.) A sister, Mrs .. Emma Bradford, and a brother, Francis M. Lobdell, are deceased, and Mrs. Josephine Creviston (see H. C. Creviston) and John T. Lobdell are well known residents of this community. Two daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Feighner: Georgia Olive, wife of Claude R. Maple, and Edith Violet, wife of Clarence D. Erlewine. They also have one granddaughter, Wilma Catherine Maple, and they have lost one grand- son, Raymond Feighner Erlewine. When Electra-Lea changes owner- ship again, even though by inheritance, it will go out of the Feighner family name, as there is no son to perpetuate it. "Faegner" in Ger- man became Feighner in English, and since A. L. Feighner is still a young man the name will not soon be forgotten in the annals of the community.

While Mr. and Mrs. Feighner were educated in the common schools, their daughters had high school advantages, the interurban car passing their door, and there is no advantage in town not available to the fam- ily at Electra-Lea. While the Feighner automobile is seen on Marion streets in summer, the family use the electric cars for lectures, sermons or the theater in the evening. They can see the car from their window in time to hail it at the Feighner stop in front of the house, and many matches are burned at that point-a light always a safe signal in the darkness. Electra-Lea has all modern equipments, and it is never necessary to call a machinist to adjust slight difficulties. While the old log house, weatherboarded up and down, still stands in the group

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of farm buildings and does service on butchering day and for storage, and while John Adam Feighner, who built it, operated a tannery and supplied many shoemakers with leather in pioneer days, at the same time clearing the land, dairy farming has been the source of income there recently.

A. L. Feighner was among the first Grant county farmers to install the telephone, and nothing is ever offered on the market that is not sold before it is brought to town. The silo at Electra-Lea has long ago paid for itself, and there is a manure saving plant not equaled any- where else in Grant county. The manure spreader comes into a shed surrounding a shaft where all roughness reaches the cattle, and it is there loaded from both the horse and dairy barns, and there is no waste, as all fertility reaches the field with out rain falling on it. Mr. and Mrs. Feighner both understand the requirements of the successful farmer, and they make the most of their opportunities-convenience to market-and nothing is wasted at Electra-Lea. Mr. Feighner is con- servative. He is a member of the township council, and is always alert to the interests of the community. They are members of the First Christian church, and are as frequently in their pew as if they lived in town. When Adam J. Feighner lived he was recognized as a man of his word, and the son has the same high moral conception of things. While he is proud of his father's citizenship, he has pride also in his war record, Company K, Fortieth Indiana Private Infantry. He received his discharge at Nashville in 1865, when all the soldiers returned to their homes and every day pursuits. Two of his neighbors, G. W. Coon and Henry Callentine, were with him in the army, and they survive him. Their friendship continued to the end.

While Electra-Lea is modern, the Feighners know the meaning of "early and late" as spoken by the pioneers, and they are entitled to the comforts and luxuries of twentieth century civilization.

JOHN A. JONES. The cultivation of the soil has been the life long vocation of John A. Jones, who has a good farmstead in section seven- teen of Fairmount township, and gets his daily mail over the rural route number sixteen from Jonesboro. It is now more than eighty years since the Jones family found their home in the wilderness of Grant county, their settlement having occurred only about a year after the organization of the county. The family has thus been well known through three generations, is well distributed in different sections of the county, and most of its members have been adherents of the Quaker faith.

The great-grandfather of John A. Jones was Louis Jones. Grand- father Jonathan Jones was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, about 1806. The fathers for several generations have been Quakers. He grew up on a farm and married Dorcas, a daughter of Hazel Hush, also of Randolph county. Jonathan Jones and wife continued to live in North Carolina, until most of their children were born. Then in the year 1832, as a family they all moved north to Indiana. Teams and wagons brought their little party across the mountains and over the intervening distance separating the ridge of the Alleganies, from the great central states of the middle west. Arriving in Grant county, Jonathan Jones took up government land in Liberty township. With his ax he chopped down trees, cleared a small place for his log cabin and a garden, and later extended his area of cultivated ground, until he had a nice little farm. He continued to live there until his death a few years before the Civil war. He was then fifty-two years of age. One brother, Joseph Jones, also came north to Grant county, and died

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in Fairmount township before the war, leaving a widow but no children. Dorcas Jones, after the death of her husband, married Mr. Asa Peacock, who died on the old Jones homestead. His widow later went to Kansas, where she died about 1877, at the age of ninety years.

Jonathan Jones was the father of five sons and three daughters. Milford, Van Buren and Jonathan, were brave soldiers of the Civil war in an Indiana regiment. Two of them died on the battlefield, giving up their lives for the flag, and one was sacrificed while a prisoner at Andersonville. The other children were: Thomas, mentioned below; Lewis, who married Mary Kirk, and died on his farm in Liberty town- ship, where his widow still lives with her only son Milford; Louisa, married Elijah Stanfield, and died in Missouri, leaving one son, also now deceased; Elinor, married Lindley Arnett, lived and died in Liberty township, and left eight sons and one daughter. Nancy mar- ried Henry Baldwin, who died in Oklahoma two years ago, and she yet lives there, in advanced age, and was the mother of one son and three daughters.

Thomas Jones, the father of J. A. Jones was born in North Caro- lina, November 19, 1830, and died in Liberty township of Grant county, December 29, 1875. He was just two years old when the family accom- plished its migration north to Grant county. In Liberty township he spent his childhood days. In 1862 he enlisted in the forty-second regi- ment of Indiana volunteers, but not many months later was taken ill as a result of exposure during the campaign, in which he participated, and was finally furloughed home and later discharged. He was never after- wards a strong man physically, and died about ten years after the war. He married Maria Miller. She was born in Clinton county, Ohio, Jan- uary 19, 1830, and is now past eighty-three years of age, one of Grant county's octogeniarians. She came to Liberty township in Grant county with her parents, William and Margaret (Chapson) Miller. Elizabeth Chapson, mother of Margaret Chapson died in Liberty township at the remarkable age of one hundred and ten years, eleven months and ten days, and is buried in Oak Ridge cemetery. William Miller and wife settled on a farm in Liberty township, and spent the rest of their lives there. His death occurred when he was about seventy-six years of age, and she lived to be four-score. They were members of the Wesleyan Methodist faith. Mrs. Jones at her venerable age, is now feeble, but retained her interest in life, and is devoted to the Oak Ridge church of which both she and her husband were members. Her children are mentioned as follows: Sarah F., the oldest, died when seven years old, from accidental burning; Della, died in infancy; the next is Mr. J. A. Jones; George lives on his father's old farm in Liberty township, and married Jane Elliott, a daughter of William Elliott, and has two children, Blanche and Thomas.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 83

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

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