USA > Indiana > Lake County > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of history 1834-1904 > Part 42
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
to Lake county, Indiana, where Mrs. Suprise died when about eighty-three years of age. They were the parents of four sons and three daughters, who are now living.
Henry Suprise. the third child of the family, was only six months old when brought to Lake county, Indiana. His educational privileges were extremely meager, for he began to work as soon as old enough and as- sisted his father in the arduous task of developing a new farm and continu- ing its cultivation. He became familiar with every department of farm labor and continued to aid his father on the old homestead until he had attained his majority and afterward cared for his father until the latter's death.
In 1855 occurred the marriage of Henry Suprise and Miss Elizabeth Hill, a daughter of James and Mary ( Skinner) Hill. She was born in Decatur county. Indiana, near Greensburg, July 12. 1841. The young couple began their domestic life in Cedar Creek township, where Mr. Suprise en- gaged in general farming, and he has since followed that pursuit. In the winter he buys and sells cattle, and he is widely recognized as one of the most successful farmers in the county and one of the most extensive land- owners, his realty possessions now aggregating about one thousand acres. He worked hard and persistently in the early years of his married life, and as his financial resources increased he made judicious investment in property until to-day he is one of the leading land-holders of this portion of the state He also owns stock in the Lowell National Bank at Lowell. and is one of its directors, and to a greater or less extent he has engaged in loan- ing money in Lake county.
To Mr. and Mrs. Suprise have been born three children who are yet living: Jasper, Albert and William, all residents of Lake county. They also lost one child. Since the organization of the Republican party Mr. Suprise has given to it a stalwart and unfaltering support, where matters of state and national interest are involved, but at local elections he votes in- dependently, giving his ballot for men and measures rather than for party. In matters of citizenship he is public-spirited and progressive, and his pa- triotism stands as an unquestioned fact in his career. He has, therefore, co-operated in many movements for the general good and has been particu- larly active in the agricultural development and progress of northwestern Indiana.
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
MRS. SARAH E. NICHOLS.
The ladies of our state and nation play a most conspicuous part in the affairs of home and community, although "the happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history," their lives and influence being among the "silent forces" which effect great works without display or heralding abroad. Among the worthy, noble and esteemed women of Lowell is to be numbered Mrs. Sarah E. Nichols, who has lived in this county a number of years and has made her influence felt through her family and in whatever relation she has touched the society about her.
Mrs. Nichols was born in Barnston Corner, Lower Canada. February 24, 1845, being the third of four children, one son and three daughters, born to Hiram and Elvira (Sprague) Wheeler. Her two sisters are still living, Matilda, a widow, being a resident of Arkansas City, Kansas, and Laura the wife of Alexander McNay, of Lowell, Indiana. Her father was born in Canada about 1818, and followed the occupation of farming. Mrs. Nichols' mother was also a native of Canada, and her death occurred when the former was about seven years old.
Mrs. Nichols being left an orphan was reared by her grandmother until she was fourteen years old, and her education was received in the common schools. March 29, 1862, she married Horatio J. Nichols, in this county. They became the parents of ten children, four sons and six daughters, and six of them are still living: Laura was educated in the Lowell schools and still resides in this town: she wedded Sigel Hayden, and has two children : Harry S., in the second year of high school, and Harold J., in the sixth year of Lowell schools. Wheeler J., a stock buyer and farmer at Lowell, married Miss Cora Davis and has three children, Dilwyn and Ruth and Ruby, twins; his wife was educated in the Crown Point high school and was a successful Lake county teacher ; he is the owner of a nice farm in this county and also of real estate in Lowell, and in politics is a Republican. Sadie Nichols is a successful teacher. and has studied music. Pearl, who graduated from the Lowell high school in 1896 and has shown considerable ability as an artist in crayons, is now the wife of Emil Ruge, who was engaged in the mercantile business at Lowell. Calhoun, one of the popular young Repub- ยท licans of Lowell, married Miss Lona Flynn, who is a daughter of an ex-
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soldier of the Civil war and who spent three years in the high school at Rensselaer, Indiana ; they have two children, Halbert and Vilmer. Huron, the youngest, is a bright pupil in the eighth grade of the Lowell schools. Mrs. Nichols' deceased children have the following record: Edna, who died in 1894, was the wife of William Bruce and had two children, Carrie and Bertie. Albert, who was killed by lightning in June, 1896, had by his wife. Amma Pinkerton. now a resident of Lowell, four children, Fern, Guy. Beulah and Bertie. Jessie. deceased wife of Bert Holshaw, passed away February 1. 1897, she being a well educated and most lovable young woman. The boy Fay is in the third grade.
Horatio J. Nichols was a native of Lake county, born January 4. 1841. and his death occurred September 12. 1898. He was reared and educated in this county, and being trained on his father's farm he early took to farm- ing pursuits, and he followed that occupation and dealing in stock for his carecr. Hle lost his father when he was young, and he remamed with his mother and was her mainstay and principal support for many years. He was a student in a log-cabin school, and his early life in Lake county was spent among pioneer conditions. He and his wife began their married life without much capital, and their success was due to their happy combination of energy and good management. The first land he bought was forty acres in Cedar Creek township, and he went in debt for part of it, but their dili- gence soon paid off all the incumbrance, and after selling it they bought land in Cedar Creek and West Creek townships, and at his death he was the possessor of over four hundred acres of land, an estate which is still held by the family entire. It was in 1887 that they erected their pretty residence in the western part of Lowell, on Commercial avenue, and it still retains its reputation as a home of genuine hospitality and good cheer.
Mr. Nichols was an ardent supporter of the Republican party. and his first presidential vote was cast for Abe Lincoln, and he continued to up- hold the party doctrines and candidates from that time till his death. He was a man of generous nature, offering his philanthropy to those in need ; and being a man of the strictest honor and integrity, his word was always considered as good as his bond. In his death the community lost a most worthy citizen, and his family lost their best friend, for he was a lover of home and fireside and found his chief delight when among his family. .
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
In 1895 he and his wife made an extended trip to the east. to Boston, and on the return visiting Mrs. Nichols' old home in Canada. His remains rest in the Lowell cemetery, and a beautiful monument stands sacred to his memory. Mrs. Nichols resides in her pleasant Lowell home, surrounded by children and friends, and her family record forms a most important addi- tion to this history and genealogy of Lake county.
JOHN G. ROBINSON.
The Sage of Concord, Emerson, has said "there is no history: only biography." and in the detailed life sketches that appear in this work will be found the most authentic facts concerning the life and growth of Lake county as a social. industrial and political organization of the state of In- diana. The life of Mr. Robinson, of West Creek township, for long one of the foremost citizens and representative men, adds additional facts to the completeness of this work, for most of his active career has been passed in this county.
He was born in the old Bay state of Massachusetts, April 12, 1846, a son of John G. and Adeline ( Thayer) Robinson. There were six children, four sons and two daughters, in the family, and he is the second oldest of the five now living, the others being as follows: Sumner T., now residing in Sac City, Iowa, was formerly a farmer and later a minister of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, and during the Civil war was a member of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry, as part of the Army of the Potomac, and during a skirmish was shot through the shoulder. Ellen, who was a successful teacher in Porter county for a number of years, is now the widow of Anthony Smith and resides in Valparaiso. Emily, who also taught for some years, is the wife of Lemmon Cain, a farmer of Porter county. William is an agri- culturist of St. Joseph county, Indiana.
Mr. Robinson's father was also a native of Massachusetts, had a com- mon school education, and followed the vocations of shoemaking and farm- ing. For three years he followed the Union flag as a member of Com- pany H, Twentieth Indiana Infantry, and at the terrible battle of the Wilder- ness, on May 12. 1864, gave up his life for his country. Of the one hun- dred and one men of his company who went into that memorable engage- ment, only four came out unscathed, the dead and wounded being piled up
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
five tiers deep. He had been an ardent Republican and an admirer of Lin- coln He had come to Porter county, Indiana, in 1854, and purchased land on which he made his home until going to the war. His wife was also born in Massachusetts, and the Robinsons and Thayers were both of English origin.
Mr. Robinson was eighteen years old when his father died, and he lost his mother also when he was a boy. Even while his father was away in defense of the flag the care and responsibility of the home devolved in great measure upon him, so that he has been serious-minded and practical from an early age. He has made farming his life vocation, and his early educa- tien was obtained in the common schools. He is of the constantly decreasing number who can look back to a log-cabin school as the scene of schoolboy days. Over in Porter county he daily for several months in the year attended a school held in a sixteen by sixteen foot, round-log building, with roof of shakes, and furnished inside and out in the most primitive pioneer plainness. Ray's arithmetic and the elementary spelling book formed his intellectual pabulum, and from these facts it may be understood how far education has advanced since the youth of Mr. Robinson.
On Christmas day of the year 1869 Mr. Robinson married Miss Sarah J. Evans, who became the mother of seven children, four sons and three daughters, five of whom are living: James W., a farmer residing east of Crown Point in Center township, was educated in the common schools and by his marriage to Miss Laura Kobelin had two children. John L. Hannon and Victor William. John Melvin, who was educated in the common schools and is a prosperous farmer in West Creek township, married Miss Ella Surprise. Kittie is the wife of William Futhey, who is a practical farmer and also managed the construction of the water-works systems in Wisconsin. Illinois and Indiana. Frank Evans, now of Lowell, was edi- cated in the common schools, a graduate of the township high school in the class of 1900. took the teacher's course at the Valparaiso normal, and was a successful teacher in West Creek township for four years; he wedded Miss Ina Klein, daughter of John Klein. Louisa, the youngest of the fam- ily, completed the eleventh grade in the high school, graduating from com- mon school in 1899, taught for two years, part of the time in Kankakee county, Illinois, took her second term in the Valparaiso normal, and is now
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teaching in her home district. The daughter Nellie died at two years of age, and Charlie died when one year old.
Mrs. Robinson was born in Miami county, Ohio. December 29, 1848, being the fourth of seven children, two sons and five daughters, born to James and Mary ( Wait ) Evans. She has a brother and a sister still living ; Robert Evans, who has been employed in the Chicago city postoffice for the past eight years, and was a teacher in Lake county eight years, finished his education at Valparaiso, and is a married man ; her sister Mary is the wife of Oscar Kitchell, a mechanic residing in Englewood, Chicago, and she taught successfully in Porter and Lake counties. James Evans, her father, was a native of Ohio, of Welsh origin. He was a farmer, and about 1849 settled in LaPorte county. He was a Democrat in politics, and he and his wife were members of the Baptist church. He died in West Creek town- ship of this county September 21. 1877, and his wife in Porter county August II, 1886. Mrs. Robinson's great-grandfather Wait was a hero in the Rev- olutionary war, and her grandmother's name was Goble. Mrs. Robinson has spent most of her life in Porter and Lake counties, and her education was received in the common schools.
For the first five years of their wedded life Mr. and Mrs. Robinson resided in Porter county, and then came to Cedar Creek township, Lake county, which was their home for thirteen years, and in 1888 they took up their residence in West Creek township. They have friends throughout the county, and are universally esteemed for their worth and upright lives. Mr. Robinson is a Republican, having cast his first vote for General Grant. He and his good wife were formerly members of the Baptist church denomina- tion, but now belong to the Christian church at Lowell, and contribute to all worthy benevolences according to their means.
JOHN SPRY.
John Spry, of West Creek township, is a progressive and prosperous farmer of this part of the county, and during the years of his residence has commended himself to his fellow citizens by his capable industry and integ- rity of character. As a tiller of the soil he is one of the solid and substantial units from which the strength of the nation is formed, and he is the more 29
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highly esteemed as a citizen and a man because he has gained his own suc- cess in the world, being both a self-educated and a self-made man.
Mr. Spry is a native of the old blue-grass state of Kentucky, and was born .August 7, 1846, being the seventh in order of birth of the nine children, four sons and five daughters, born to John and Melvina ( Kimbrell) Spry. He has two brothers living. Enoch, a farmer at Momence, Illinois, and Green, a farmer of old Kentucky, both these brothers being older than Mr. John Spry. The father of the family was born in South Carolina in 1807 and died about 1856, when John was ten years old. He was by occupation a farmer, and adhered to the Democratic party. His wife was born in Ken- tucky about 1811. and died in 1865. Both were members of the Methodist church.
Mr. John Spry was reared in his native state, and he is one of the men yet living who passed their school days in the now out-of-date log-cabin schoolhouse. The one he attended was about twenty by forty feet in size, was heated by a fireplace, and had one long window in the end. And the text-books were Webster's speller and McGuffey's well known readers, grammar and geography. He has also used the goosequill pen. and seen it fashioned out by the master's hand. When he entered upon his career of independent activity at the age of eighteen his material capital consisted of a horse, a cow and one bed, but he had plenty of energy and determination, which are, after all, the principal factors in acquiring success, as he has ex- perienced it.
On October 27. 1864. he married Miss Catharine White, and eight chil- dren were born of this union, seven of them now living: Bessie is the wife of James Little. a prosperous Lake county farmer whose history appears elsewhere in this work: Sadie is the wife of Don Cadwell, a barber of Crown Point; Mollie is the wife of Emil Larrison. a farmer of West Creek town- ship; William C., a farmer of Cedar Creek township, is married and has two children: Solomon is a farmer of West Creek township and is married ; Clarence. of West Creek township. is a farmer and married: Earnie is at home with his parents. Mrs. Spry was born in Clarke county, Kentucky, in 1847, and six of her children were born in that state.
About the year 1879 Mr. Spry brought his family to Kankakee county. Illinois, and followed farming there as a renter for six years, after which
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he located in West Creek township, this county, and continued tenant farm- ing for some years. He was prosperous and a good manager of his affairs, and in 1894 he purchased one hundred and forty-nine acres in West Creek township. At the present writing he lives on and farms his nice estate of eighty acres, and he has surrounded himself with many of the comforts of life, besides doing his full duty by his children and seeing them all well started in the world. He is a Republican and has supported the principles of his party since casting his first vote. He and his wife are members of the Christian church, and are generous of their means and efforts in ad- vancing any worthy cause.
A. B. CHIPMAN.
The enterprising agriculturist is the factor who plays the most con- spicuous part in the records of a state or nation, and really furnishes the groundwork upon which all other classes of citizens stand. West Creek township of Lake county has long been noted for the excellence of its soil and the worth of its farm lands when properly cultivated, and one might travel all through the township and not find a farmstead which he could more easily pronounce a model in all respects than that owned by Mr. A. B. Chip- man. He is not an old resident of Lake county, but makes up in enterprise and public-spirited interest in local affairs what he lacks in length of citizen- ship, so that he and his worthy family hold high rank in the esteem of their friends and associates.
Mr. Chipman was born in Kankakee county, Illinois. November 20, 1867. being a son of Ansel B. and Laura ( Sanger) Chipman, six of whose children are still living. His father was a native of Canada and of English descent. He was born about 1820, and died when sixty-eight years old. having spent his active life in farming pursuits. He left Canada when a young man and came to the United States, where he was married. He owned a farm in Yellowhead township, Kankakee county, and he passed away in that township. In politics he was a stanch Republican. His wife was born in the state of Ohio, and is still living at the age of seventy-one years, bearing the weight of years with singular brightness. She makes her home with her children, whose homes. are always open with filial love to receive her.
Mr. A. B. Chipman made the beginning of his active career with very
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
little capital. He received a common school education, but is in the main a self-educated and self-trained man. From his own early experience it has become his ambition to give his own children as good an education as is possible.
He made his home with his parents until he was twenty-one years old. and on December 29. 1888, he was married to Miss Laura E. Kelsey. Of this happy marriage there are three children, one son and two daughters : Mildred has received her diploma for completing the eighth grade of school and has taken instrumental music: Edith has also completed the eighth grade and has taken musical instruction; and Albert, the son, has reached the fifth grade of school. The children are very bright in their studies, and their parents may be very proud of their auspicious start in life. Mrs. Chip- man is a native of Kankakee county, Illinois, and was born October 27, 1864. She was educated in the public schools and was a teacher in Illinois for one term. She also had an excellent training in music and taught that art for some time.
Mr. and Mrs. Chipman began their married life as reuters in Kankakee county, where they remained some four or five years. Mrs. Chipman had forty acres in her own right. and they afterward purchased eighty acres. They continued with increasing success in Kankakee county for four years. In 1900 they purchased the beautiful farm known as the A. Brannon estate, from William Brannon, located just two miles from the prosperous town of Lowell, and the farm is convenient to business, markets and the schools. The farm contains two hundred and forty acres of as fine land as there is in West Creek township. The cosy and comfortable residence and the convenient outbuildings are also among the best to be found in the town- ship. The land is fairly well tiled, and this work of improvement is still progressing, Mr. Chipman having placed about ten thousand tiles during 1903 and 1904. Mr. Chipman is a stanch Republican, and cast his first vote for Benjamin Harrison. He has been selected as a delegate from his town- ship to represent his party.
F. RICHARD SCHAAF, SR.
Whether the elements of success in life are innate attributes of the individual, or whether they are quickened by a process of circumstantial de-
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velopment. it is impossible to clearly determine. Yet the study of a suc- cessful life is none the less profitable by reason of the existence of this un- certainty, and in the majority of cases it is found that exceptional ability. amounting to genius, perhaps, was the real secret of the pre-eminence which many envied. Thus it appears to the student of human nature who seeks to trace the history of the rise of F. Richard Schaaf, Sr., a typical German- American of the best class.
Mr. Schaaf was born in Saxony. Germany, on the 26th of March, 1857. and is a son of Ferdinand and Catherine Schaaf, who were also natives of the same country. The son was reared in that land and pursued his educa- tion in the public schools of Germany. He also attended college there and was educated for the army in order to enter military service as a veterinary surgeon with the rank of lieutenant. He volunteered to enter the army and by reason of this he was honorably discharged after two years six months. It was his desire to come to America, and for that reason he secured his release from the army.
Mr. Schaaf was but fourteen years of age when left an orphan by the death of his parents, and when about twenty years of age he was married in the fatherland. He came to America about 1880 and the same year located in Chicago, where he became an employe in the tool department of the Electric Construction Company. He was a representative of that house for five years, at the end of which time he rented the American House. which was located at the corner of Twenty-second street and Archer avenue. This he conducted until 1889, when he came to Whiting and built the Berry Lake hotel. He continued as its manager and proprietor until 1893, when he sold out and removed to Robertsdale, where he established a grocery store. Later he turned his attention to the insurance business, and he now represents the Queen of America, the Hamburg, Bremen, the Norwich Union. the Hanover and the Scottish Union & National insurance companies; alsc is notary public. His policies represent a large amount of insurance each year, and his business has grown to profitable proportions. In his political allegiance Mr. Schaaf is a Democrat, and has been a member of the Ham- mond city council since 1894, covering a period of ten consecutive years. He has been very active as a representative of this body, has taken a deep interest in the city's welfare, has exercised his official prerogatives for the
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general progress and improvement and has done much in this way for the upbuilding of the city. He has been particularly active in locating school- houses, in opening and improving streets and he advocated the opening of Wolf river for harbor purposes; and located Lake Front Park in Roberts- dale, Hammond. He is a strong believer in this harbor measure, and if it is carried into effect it will undoubtedly prove of great value in community interests. Mr. Schaaf is also deputy assessor of North township.
In 1877 occurred the marriage of F. Richard Schaaf and Miss Catherine Schlueter, a native of Germany, and they have become the parents of seven children, namely: F. Richard, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume, being well known in business circles in Whiting: Clara; George; Elizabeth ; Catherine : Martha ; and Edward. Socially Mr. Schaaf is connected with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Waldeck Lodge No. 674, F. & A. M .. of Chicago. He is likewise a member of Moltke Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Ham- mond. A public-spirited citizen, his efforts in behalf of Lake county have been far-reaching and beneficial. He is one of the best known men of his locality, having resided here since the establishment of the towns of Whit- ing and Robertsdale. Recognizing the possibilities of these places he has contributed to general progress and improvement, and no man is more loyal to the best interests of this portion of the state. In his business career, too, he has made for himself an enviable name, and his life history shows what can be accomplished by determined effort and strong purpose.
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