USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana. Historical and biographical > Part 66
USA > Indiana > White County > Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana. Historical and biographical > Part 66
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JOHN KRUGER, County Sheriff, is a native of Mecklinburg, Ger- many, born February 19, 1849. He is one of eight children, six yet living, born to Frederick and Jane Kruger, who emigrated to America in 1854. After a voyage of six weeks and three days, they arrived in New York City on the 4th of July, and from this point they went to near Buffalo, N. Y., and engaged in farming. Having acquaintances in Pu- laski County, Ind., the family removed to this place in 1856, settled in Salem Township, engaged actively in farming and stock-raising, and there both parents yet reside. John Kruger was reared to manhood chiefly in Pulaski County. He attended the public schools and assisted his parents on the farm in youth, and at the age of twenty-five years married Miss Sophia Miller, daughter of Christian Miller, of Cass Township. Mr. Kruger engaged in agricultural pursuits in Salem Township until 1880, when he was chosen by the Greenback party as their candidate for Sher- iff of Pulaski County. He was elected, with a majority of 304 votes, and served two years with excellent satisfaction to all parties. In 1882, he was re-nominated by his party for this position, and was also nomi-
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nated for the same office by the Democratic party. His majority at this election was 1,076 votes, and his term of office will not expire until August, 1885. Mr. Kruger is one of the popular and wide-awake citi- zens of the county. He is a member of the Blue Lodge in Masonry, and he and wife are the parents of four children-Frank, John, Charley and William. Besides property in Winamac, Mr. Kruger owns a farm of 340 acres in Salem Township.
J. C. NYE was born in Wyandot County, Ohio, June 19, 1850, and is a son of Cyrus and Harriet (Lowry) Nye, who were natives respect- ively of Fairfield and Marion Counties, Ohio, and the parents of four children. They came to Indiana in the fall of 1852, and settled in Southern Monroe Township, in Pulaski County, and engaged in farming. The parents moved from the old place to Winamac in 1878, and here the senior Mr. Nye is engaged in the lumber trade. J. C. Nye has made Pulaski County his home since the time he was two years old. He received a good, practical education in youth, taught public school and assisted his father on the farm until 1870, when he began the study of law. For two years, he applied his energies to the study of this profes- sion, and March 4, 1872, was admitted to practice in the Circuit Courts. In 1874, he engaged exclusively in the prosecution of the law in Winamac, and December 19, 1879, was admitted to the Supreme Court. Mr. Nye is among the successful lawyers of Pulaski County, and is doing a first-class business. In politics he is a Republican. His marriage with Miss Lou J. Agnew, daughter of Joseph B. Agnew, Sr., was celebrated October 7, 1874, and to their union have been born two children-Lola and Jay.
H. E. PATTISON, M. D., was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Feb- ruary 4, 1843. His parents, David and Olive (Mitchell) Pattison, were natives respectively of New York and Massachusetts, were of Scotch- English descent, and the parents of four children, of whom a son and daughter are yet living. David Pattison, a farmer, is now residing with his second wife, in Knox County, Ohio, his first wife, the mother of our subject, having died in August, 1881. Dr. Pattison was reared on his father's farm, received a good school and academic education, and in 1860 began the study of medicine at Mount Vernon in the office of Dr. Will- iam Hayes. While yet a student, he enlisted in the summer of 1862, in Company F, One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and immediately went to the front, assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, first under Buell, and afterward under Rosecrans. He fought as a pri- vate in the battles of Perryville and Stone River, and in several skir- mishes, and in the summer of 1863 was transferred to the medical de- partment. In 1864 he was made Assistant Surgeon, and put in charge of a field hospital; in September, 1864, his term of enlistment expired ;
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the winter of the same year he attended medical lectures at Ann Arbor ; the following winter he attended the medical department of Wooster University at Cleveland, graduating in March, 1866. The following two years, he practiced his profession at Mount Liberty, Ohio, and the next two at Hopedale. In 1870, he came to Star City, this county, where he practiced until 1875, and then came to Winamac, where he has ever since been engaged in active practice. The Doctor is a Republican, a Free- mason and an Odd Fellow. In 1867, he married Miss Columbia Hayes, daughter of his preceptor, and to this marriage have been born three children-Harry H., Frank H. (deceased) and William D.
JOHN PEARSON (deceased), one of the earliest settlers of Pulaski County, was born in Ohio about 1813, and was a farmer. He married Edna Farmer, and in 1838 came to where Winamac now stands, and en- gaged in his vocation. He soon became prominent in the affairs of this young county, and for upward of twenty years filled the offices of County Clerk, Auditor and Recorder, and was very popular with the Indians, as well as the white settlers. His wife died about 1847, the mother of seven children, of whom two only survive-Martha, now Mrs. Dr. Alexander Thomas, of La Fontaine, Ind., and Shubel. Mr. Pearson next married Mrs. Lydia Chapin, who is yet living at Rochester, Ind., the mother of one son-John. In 1851, Mr. Pearson went overland to California, where he was engaged in mining until his death in 1853. Shubel Pear- son, the only one of this family now living in Pulaski County, was born in Winamac March 1, 1845. He received a good common school educa- tion, and after his return from the war of the rebellion, in 1865, he established here a grocery house and ice cream parlor, which have proved a successful enterprise. He has filled various offices of public trust with credit to himself, and to the full satisfaction of the community. In the fall of 1866, he was appointed Postmaster at Winamac, and held the position until 1870, and during this time he was also Deputy Revenue Collector. In 1875, he was elected Town Clerk, which office he filled six years. In July, 1879, he received the appointment as agent for the Adams Express Co. at this point, and he still fills that position. He was married September 15, 1870, to Ura Burson, and to this union has been born one daughter-Belle. Mr. Pearson is a Democrat, and since 1866 has been active Odd Fellow. He has passed all the chairs, and is also a member of the Royal Arcanum. He and wife both belong to the Christian Church.
HENRY P. ROWAN (deceased). There is no name more familiar to the old settlers of Pulaski County than that of Henry P. Rowan, who was born in Kentucky May 24, 1820. At the age of nine years, his parents, Daniel and Nancy (Peters) Rowan, removed him to Vermillion County, Ind., where he was reared to manhood. His father dying the 39
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year of their removal to the Hoosier State, he went to live with Hon. Edward Hannigan, and when Mr. Hannigan was made Receiver in the land office at Winamac, came with him to Pulaski County, and it ever af- terward was his home. He engaged in merchandising, and September 17, 1843, married Matitia Gardner, who bore him four children, only one, Lewis S., now living. The mother died December 17, 1850, and October 23, 1851, he married Mary Magee, and to their union was born one son, William O. Mr. Rowan was one of the first settlers of Pulaski County, and on his arrival he found Winamac a town of about forty in- habitants. He became one of the first merchants of the place, and his energetic disposition made him a leading citizen for years. Among the positions of honor and trust to which he was elevated was that of County Treasurer, in which capacity he served creditably eight years. He started life's battle poor, but his excellent business qualifications, com- bined with integrity of character, enabled him to secure a comfortable fortune. His death by consumption occurred February 18, 1870, and his remains were interred in their last resting place in the village ceme- tery. His widow, Mrs. Mary (Magee) Rowan, was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, March 17, 1825. She, with her parents, came to. Lo- gansport, Ind., in 1840, and nine years after this removed to Monticello, where she was married to Mr. Rowan.
JOHN SHILL, Treasurer of Pulaski County, was reared in Rich- land County, Ohio, and his employment through life has been principally farming. He is one of six children, all yet living, born to the marriage of Landaline Shill and Theresa Hummel, both natives of Baden, Ger- many, where they were married, and where their two eldest children were born. They emigrated to the United States in about the year 1830 ; settled in Richland County, Ohio, where Mr. Shill died in 1872, and where his widow is yet living. John Shill was born April 22, 1839; r received his education from the common schools, and was married. April 27, 1864, to Margaret Rondy. Their union has been fruitful in the birth of a large family of children, eight of whom are still living. These chil- dren were born and named as follows : John J. (deceased), Anna, Martha, Rosa, Clara, Elizabeth, Alexine, Joseph, John, and Catherine (deceased). In 1864, Mr. Shill came west to Indiana to look up a suitable location for the produce business. Medarysville, Pulaski County, suiting him, he located there, and engaged in that occupation for three years. He then turned his attention to farming and stock-raising in White Post Township, and yet owns his farm of 180 acres there. Mr. Shill and family are members of the Roman Catholic Church, while he is a Democrat in poli- tics. In 1878, he was elected Sheriff of the county ; served two years, and in 1882 was elected to his present position.
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JACOB SHOUP, President of the Old Settlers' Association of Pu- laski County, was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, November 24, 1822, and is one of the few remaining of the pioneers of Pulaski County. Through almost half a century of self-denial and hard work, he has accu- mulated a competence, and is now enjoying the fruits of his labors, living retired in Winamac. John and Nancy (Smurr) Shoup, parents of Jacob Shoup, were natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and of German descent chiefly, with a slight mixture of English blood on the maternal side. Their union was blessed with ten children, six of whom yet survive. The family, so far back as can be traced, have been a race of husbandmen, and such was the occupation of John Shoup. This man and family, late in the autumn of 1839, immigrated into Indiana, and that winter stopped in Logansport and entered land in Fulton County, just across the line from Pulaski County. Here Mr. Shoup died in 1851, followed by the death of his widow in Stark County in 1852. John Shoup was a man well known in Eastern Pulaski and Fulton Counties, having held the office of County Commissioner a number of years in the latter. While a resident of Pickaway County, Ohio, he was honored to an election to the Legislature of that State, also serving as County Sher- iff. He was quite skillful in the use of the rifle, and was a great lover of hunting, having no superior in the whole neighborhood where he resided. Jacob Shoup, like his father, has made farming his vocation through life. In 1842, he married Miss Elizabeth Davidson, and in January, 1843, moved to Tippecanoe Township, Pulaski County, and taking one hundred and twenty acres of land there and as much more adjoining it in the other county, all in a state of nature, has made it one of the finest farms in either county. He and family moved to Winamac the fall of 1882, and are there living a quiet and retired life. To him and wife have been born seven children ; Lewis C., deceased ; Josephine, deceased ; Emma, who died the wife of Jacob Kleckner; Laura; Anna, now Mrs. Frank S. Durr; Mary, deceased ; and Jane, now Mrs. John Austis. Mr. Shoup is a Democrat, and has been a very active worker in the interests of that party. He has served the county as Commissioner more terms than any other one man, and, although old in years, he is yet wide awake, and one of the county's most useful and valuable citizens.
JOHN STEIS is a native of Bavaria, Germany, was born Decem- ber 11, 1822, and is the next eldest child in a family of six children, five yet living, born to Henry and Elizabeth (Conrad) Steis, both of whom died in the old country, aged respectively seventy-six and sixty- four years. John Steis was reared a farmer, and in March, 1849, mar- ried Mary Rothermel, and together they emigrated to the United States in 1850. They took a sailing vessel at Havre-de-Grace, arrived in New
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York after being on the ocean thirty-two days, and from the last named city went to Toledo. They there took the canal to Logansport, Ind., and then moved their goods by teams to Pulaski County, where they had acquaintances living. Mr. Steis purchased eighty acres of woodland near Monterey, paying for the same $250. He grubbed a clearing sufficiently large in which to erect a cabin into which he moved, and the improve- ments he made on the place in two years enabled him to sell it for $800, in gold. He then bought 160 acres of unimproved land, for which he paid $1,000, selling it ten years later for $4,000. In 1870, he purchased eighty-two acres adjoining Winamac, and since 1879 he has operated the grain elevator entirely on his own responsibility. He is a hard working, shrewd business man, and one of Winamac's progressive citizens. He cast his first vote with the Democrat party, and is yet one of its support- ers. He and wife are adherents of the Catholic Church, and the parents of the following named children-Mary, now Mrs. Frank Vurpillat ; Joseph, Recorder of Pulaski County ; Elizabeth, a sister in the Convent at Notre Dame ; Samantha, now Mrs. Henry Routson ; Matilda and Henry.
JOSEPH M. STEIS, County Recorder, is a native of Tippecanoe Township, this county, and was born February 16, 1854. He is a son of John Steis, a grain merchant of Winamac. Joseph M. Steis was reared to manhood in Pulaski County, and it has been his home chiefly through life. He received a good common school education in youth, finishing at a Roman Catholic school in Logansport. For two years, he was employed as clerk in Winamac, then entered the employ of J. P. Barnett, station agent. He remained in Mr. Barnett's employ three years, and the last year learned telegraphy. In June, 1872, being then only eighteen years old, he was made night operator at Winamac, and he retained this position four years and eight months. He was then sent to Washington Heights, Ill., and made day operator for the two roads cross- ing at that place. Wishing to be in business nearer home, he resigned his position at the end of a year and a half and became a clerk in the store of Keller, Bouslog & Co., of Winamac. In 1880, he was the Democratic nominee for the office of County Recorder, and the same fall was duly elected. He served as Deputy County Recorder for two months after leaving the employ of Keller, Bouslog & Co., and May 25, 1881, took full charge of the office. Mr. Steis was married November 28, 1876, to Miss Mary Behm, of Tiffin, Ohio, and to their union have been born three children-Albenia, born November 3, 1877 ; Albert, January 14, 1879, and John, May 8, 1880. The parents are members of the Roman Catholic Church of Winamac.
GEORGE P. TERRY, deceased, was one of the first to bear the hardships and inconveniences of a pioneer's life in Pulaski County. He
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was a native of the State of New York; was born July 26, 1810; was reared on the farm of his parents, and during his youthful days received a good business education. Shortly after leaving the home of his parents, he found employment in the ship yard of a neighboring town, but soon abandoned this to learn the stone-cutter's trade. He emigrated to Cass County, Ind., at a very early day, and from there made his settlement in Pulaski County in 1838, a period in the county's history when but a very few white settlers were within its borders. He engaged in farming in what is now Monroe Township, and in 1841 was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Jenkins, who was born in Miami County, Ohio, October 9, 1812, and who came with her parents to Pulaski County. Ind., in 1840. Three children have been born to their marriage-Huldah (Mrs. W. W. Agnew, of Winamac) ; Thompson (a resident of Columbus, Tex.) and Horace, a farmer of Pulaski County. Mr. Terry was quite prominent in the early affairs of the county, and was the first Sheriff, having been appointed until one could be elected. Besides this, he held various other positions of trust, and, at the time of his death, which occurred March 25, 1848, he was serving as Justice of the Peace. His widow yet sur- vives him, and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Huldah Agnew, in Winamac.
DR. F. B. THOMAS, a native of Baltimore, Md., and one of the earliest settlers of Winamac, was born March 10, 1820, and in 1834 emi- grated West with his parentst to Fayette County, Ind. Under the tuition of his father, he read medicine, and in 1845 located in Winamac for the practice of his profession, in partnership with a brother. For thirty-five years, Dr. Thomas has been an active practitioner of the county, and in this time has become acquainted withal most every family in the county. In 1853, he was elected to represent the counties of Pulaski and Jasper in the Indiana State Legislature, but never allowed his name to be used in connection with any other office. In 1861, he raised Company H, was elected their Captain, and was mustered into the service with the Forty- sixth Indiana Volunteers. At Riddle's Point, on the Mississippi River, he was compelled to leave the service on account of rheumatism. He re- turned home, became editor of the Winamac Democrat, having also acted as editor before going out in the service, and for a period of twenty-six years has been the life of that paper. He is the only person in Wina- mac, except one man, who has resided here since his first location.
W. H. THOMPSON, M. D., a representative man of his profession in Pulaski County, began at the foot of the ladder of life, but climbed step by step, through every adverse circumstance, until he reached the top-most rung, which placed him among the prominent physicians of Northern Indiana. His parents, Paynter and Sarah (Cary) Thompson,
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were natives of Delaware, and came to Cass County, this State, in 1843, and there engaged in farming until 1872, when they moved to Royal Centre, where Mr. Thompson is now in the mercantile trade. In 1874, Mrs. Thompson died. In 1882, Mr. Thompson married his present wife, Mrs. Sarah Hollenbeck, of Pulaski County. Dr. W. H. Thompson was born in Cass County, Ind., May 29, 1844, and is the third in a family of six children, five of whom are yet living. In 1860, he entered the seminary at Logansport, and in 1866 began the study of medicine with Dr. James Thomas, of Royal Centre, and in the winter of 1868 attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago. In 1869, he entered the medical college at Detroit, from which he graduated June 29, 1870. He then came to Winamac, and engaged in practice, in which he has been very successful. At the time of his location here, he was about $1,000 in debt for books, schooling, etc., and in addition to this, was embarrassed by having to pay his father $200 per year from the time he was sixteen until his majority. He has also been compelled to pay upward of $15,- 000 surety forfeited by friends; yet, in spite of all this, he has, through his extensive practice, secured for himself a comfortable home. The Doc- tor was married August 24, 1870, to Miss Nackey C. Cotner, who bore him three children, who all died in infancy. The mother died July 4, 1873. December 24, 1874, the Doctor married Miss Mollie E. Fruchey, who was born in Putnam County, Ohio, June 7, 1849. To this union have been born three children-Harry J. (deceased), William H. and Eugene L. The Doctor is a Mason, and an Odd Fellow, and votes with the Democratic party.
G. W. THOMPSON, M. D., brother of Dr. W. H. Thomspon, was born in Cass County, Ind., April 27, 1849. He began life for himself at the age of sixteen, paying his parents $200 per annum for his time until twenty-one. He commenced the study of medicine in 1869, under Dr. Thomas of Royal Centre, but finished under his brother W. H. The fall of 1872, he entered Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis, attended two terms and graduated February 28, 1873. He then entered into partnership with his brother in Winamac, and has been in successful practice ever since. March 3, 1881, he received the ad eundem degree from the re-organized Indiana Medical College known as Butler Univer- sity; the winter of 1881-82, he attended Rush Medical College, Chicago, graduating February 22, 1882. The doctor began life as a poor boy, but through devotion to his practice has accumulated valuable property. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., the Royal Arcanum, the I. O. O. F. and of the Christian Church. He was married, July 24, 1873, to Miss Nancy, daughter of J. B. Agnew, Sr. He has served two terms as County Coroner, and in the fall of 1882 was re-elected to the same office.
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He makes surgery and diseases of the eye and ear a specialty, and for the past ten years has had the amost exclusive patronage of the county in these particular cases.
J. D. VURPILLAT is a native of Upper Canada, born April 23, 1843. His parents, Joseph and Magdalene Vurpillat, were natives of France, and had born to them a family of nine children, only seven of whom are now living. The family emigrated from Canada to the United States in 1850, and settled in Tippecanoe Township, Pulaski County, Ind., where the father began working at his trade (carpentering) and farming. In 1860, they removed to Logansport, where the mother died in March, 1862, and the spring of 1864, Mr. Vurpillat and family re- turned to Pulaski County. The fall of that year, he went south to work at his trade for the Government, and the succeeding winter, died at John- sonville, Tenn. J. D. Vurpillat received a good seminary education, and the greater part of his life has been passed in Pulaski County. When quite a young man, he became a merchant of Winamac, first in partnership with L. Hoffman, in the hardware and grocery trade, but since January, 1872, he has conducted this business entirely alone. With commendable energy and enterprise he erected his fine brick busi- ness block on the corner of Main and Monticello streets in 1882, and this is one of the finest buildings in the county. It is a three story structure, 46x90 feet, in the upper story of which is Vurpillat Hall, while the second floor is devoted to offices. On the first floor in the cor- ner front is situated the Citizens' Bank of Winamac, while Mr. Vurpil- lat's large stock of hardware and groceries extends clear around the bank and fronts on both streets. The owner is a Democrat and a member of the Roman Catholic Church. In August, 1866, he was united in mar- riage with Miss Mary Caley, and to them have been born five children- Francis J., Aaron P., Charley A., Annie E. and Magdalene.
SIMON WEYAND was born in Cass County, Ind., May 9, 1839, and is one of the six children living, in a family of eight, born to Daniel and Eliza (Beckley) Weyand, natives of Pennsylvania, and born respect- ively May 11, 1807, and May 19, 1811. Daniel Weyand learned the trade of a hatter; at his majority, he went to Marion County, Ohio, en- gaged in farming and was there married, June 29, 1830. In 1836, he located in Cass County, Ind., then an almost unpopulated district, entered Government land, and was one of the earliest settlers of northwestern Indiana. He and wife are yet living in Boone Township, adjoining the southern line of this county, and Mr. Weyand has been in what is now Pulaski County when it did not contain a single white inhabitant. Simon Weyand received in his youth a good common school and academ- ical education. In 1862, he went to Oregon and was for four years en-
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gaged in teaching and clerking. In 1866, he went to California and was there also employed a year in teaching. The fall of 1867, he returned and entered the law office of Hon. D. P. Baldwin, of Logansport. The spring of 1869, he came to Winamac and engaged in law practice, and in 1878, was elected Prosecuting Attorney, serving until 1880. In 1876, in partnership with T. W. Thomas, he began compiling abstracts, and in 1880, withdrew from the practice of law and has since devoted himself entirely to the abstract business, and has now the only complete set of abstract books in the county. He is a Democrat and a member of the Masonic fraternity. He was married, March 15, 1871, to Miss Emily Guss, who was born in Pulaski County May 15, 1848, and to this union have been born two children-Marshall (deceased) and Dora.
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