USA > Indiana > Lake County > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of history 1834-1904 > Part 46
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Mr. William T. Dickinson was reared to the life of farming. After completing the work of the common schools he took a literary course at Valparaiso College, and also taught a year in West Creek township. His first purchase of land was eighty-six acres at his present place, which he has since increased to ninety-four acres. He keeps his farm in fine condition, and has a very comfortable residence and all necessary improvements.
October 3, 1881. he was married to Miss Lida Miller, and three sons were born to them, one of them now being deceased. Thomas A. is a boy who has shown unusual talent in school work and made remarkable advance- ment. He completed the common school course of study on April 29. 1898. when he was twelve years old. then took three years' high school work in the Lake Prairie high school, and in 1902 graduated from the Lowell high school, at the age of sixteen. He entered Purdue University as a student. but after two months was compelled to forego his further education for the
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present on account of failing health. The younger son, Charles E., gradu- ated from the common schools May 9, 1901, and is now a student in the Lowell high school. The parents may be very proud of what these youthis have accomplished in their preparation for life's duties, for they have shown capacity and industry which will at some day rank them among the suc- cessful men of the world.
Mrs. Dickinson was born in Kankakee county, Illinois, April 10, 1863, and was reared in that county and in Iroquois county. Her parents were Uriah and Catharine (Jones) Miller, and of the four children in the fam- ily, Mrs. Dickinson has two brothers living: john A., who is a general merchant at Pittwood, Illinois, and Charles U., a resident of Lowell, Indiana.
Mr. Dickinson and his wife spent the first two years of their married life on his father's farm in Cedar Creek township, and he then located on his present place. He had to begin in the world without capital, and it has been through industry, careful economy and wise management that he and his wife have made for themselves a comfortable home and pleasant surround- ings. Mr. Dickinson has supported the Republican party since his first vote went for Blaine, and he has at various times been selected as a delegate to county and district conventions of his party. He has fraternal relations with the Masonic lodge No. 378, at Lowell, and with Camp No. 5500 of the Modern Woodmen at the same place. Both he and his wife are members of the Christian church at Lowell.
FRANK B. PLUMMER.
Frank B. Plummer comes from one of the best known and most prom- inent families identified with the business and agricultural industries of Lake county. He has spent practically all his active career in this county, and in connection with farming, and has been prosperous in material affairs and a leading and influential spirit in civic and social matters.
He was born in this county January 16, 1857, and is the eldest of three children born to Abiel and Kate ( Baughman) Plummer, a detailed history of the father being given place on other pages of this volume. He has one brother living, Edwin, who is a resident of Chicago and employed in the Masonic Temple.
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Mr. Plumnier passed his early years in Lake county, and in addition to the course at the common schools he attended the high school at Fisher- ville. New Hampshire. . All his active career has been spent as a farmer and stockman, and with the exception of two years in Kansas his work has been confined to this county. When he made his start in Kansas he had very little capital. and his own intelligent management and industry have been the principal factors in bringing him success.
In September. 1881, he was married to Miss Lizzie Alexander, and of this happy marriage two daughters have been born. Blanche, the elder. is in the eighth grade of school and has also taken music : Beulah will graduate with the class of 1905 from the Lowell high school. Mrs. Plummer was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, in September, 1867, and was reared and educated in her native state. Her mother is still living in Pennsylvania. but her father is deceased. She has been a true and worthy helpmate of her husband, and is a lady of many social attractions and gracious and kind- hearted at home and abroad.
After his marriage Mr. Plummer located in Lake county and began farming. He now has charge of about a section of fine land in West Creek township, and in 1896 he erected a beautiful country residence on the estate. He gives especial attention to the raising of stock, and has some fine regis- tered Galloway cattle and Poland China hogs. He has voted for Republican principles and candidates since the time of Garfield. He and his wife are adherents of the Lake Prairie Presbyterian church, and stand high in the social circles of the township.
ABIEL G. PLUMMER.
Abiel G. Plummer has been a citizen of Lake county since the years 1852, for over half a century, and he thus belongs to the pioneer class of the citizens of the county and state. It was a matter of great pleasure to his many friends throughout the county that he was able recently to celebrate his eightieth birthday, and he has lived this long life so usefully and worthily that he is venerated and held in the highest esteem by all who know him.
He is a native of New England, and was born in the state of New Hampshire, May 24. 1824. He is of true colonial stock, and it is related that the earliest progenitor of the Plummer family was Francis Plummer, who
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
came from England in the year 1633. only thirteen years after the advent of the Pilgrim Fathers upon the shores of New England. Abiel G. is the only son and the second of the five children born to Ephraim and Lucy (Gerrishi) Plummer. His sisters are all living. Mary, the oldest, is the widow of Henry Dodge, a former agriculturist at Webster. New Hampshire, and she has three daughters living : Priscilla, the widow of Luther Gage, is a resident of Pen- nicoke. New Hampshire. Helen is also a resident of Pennicoke : and Frances, widow of Albert Reed, lives in Jersey City.
Ephraim Plummer. the father of this long-lived family of children. was born in Boscawen, New Hampshire, August 29. 1793, and died July 20. 1872. his birth having occurred six years before the death of George Washington. He was a farmer and received a meager education. His home was near that of the celebrated Daniel Webster. He espoused the cause of the Whig party until it was merged with the stronger Republican organization, which he supported until his death. Both he and his wife were members of the Congregational society of which the Rev. Dr. Wood was pastor for half a century. His wife was also a native of the same part of New Hampshire as her husband, and at her death on March 29. 1879. she was seventy-five years and six months old.
Mr. Abiel G. Plummer was reared in his native state and had only a common school education, which was much supplemented and rounded off by the subsequent practical experience of life. He had early become ac- quainted with farming in all its phases, and when he reached his majority he began on his own account with only his energy and industry as his capital. When he was twenty-four years old he concluded to come west and lay the foundation of his substantial career, and he made the journey to Niles, Michi- gan. partly by rail, partly through the Erie canal and partly by the lakes. His first wages in Michigan were a dollar a day for hard manual labor, and while he was getting started he was always willing to do any work that would afford him an honest living. In 1852 he came to locate permanently in West Creek township. Lake county. In the preceding year he had bargained for three quarter sections of land in this township, and this was the land upon which he worked and wrought so as to bring him his present easy circum- stances.
Mr. Plummer has some old parchment deeds which are valuable sou-
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venirs in his household and interesting relics of the past. One was executed April 1, 1843, and signed by President Tyler, another was signed by President Polk and executed December 1, 1848, and of the same date and signature are two others. There are only a few of these documents in the county, and they are therefore the more precious as heirlooms and antiquities.
When Mir. Plommer came to this township Lowell contained but two houses. and there was not a railroad in the entire county, now so crossed and recrossed by great trunk lines. His first home was a little plank house, and in the early days he has seen as many as fifteen deer at one time on his premises. The old Indian trail led across his land, and wolves were still plentiful. He has thus witnessed all the great development that has trans- formed this country so wondrously in the past half century. He used to drive into the city of Chicago when the stockyards were located on the Lake shore. One of his greatest pioneer accomplishments in this county was the breaking of three hundred and twenty acres of virgin prairie with ox teams.
June 5, 1855, he was united in marriage with Miss Kate Baughman, and three sons were born to them, Frank and Edwin living at the present time, and elsewhere in these pages will be found the personal history of Mr. Frank Plummer, who manages the old homestead. Mrs. Plummer was born in New Philadelphia, Ohio, June 9, 1832, being one of the ten children, five sons and five daughters, born to Jacob and Sallie ( Ritter) Baughman. She has a sister and three brothers still living : Barbara, who is the widow of Edward Knisely, of Lowell; John, who is a carpenter and joiner by occupation and a resident of Arlington. Washington; Jacob, a retired farmer of Lowell; and Jay D., who is a farmer at Jackson, Minnesota. Jacob Baughman, Mrs. Plummer's father, was born in Pennsylvania of old Pennsylvania German stock, on February 9, 1798. and died October 4. 1853, in Lake Prairie, this county. He was a farmer by occupation. His wife was born in Pennsyl- vania, April 30, 1799, and died in West Creek township of this county. She was a member of the Evangelical church. Mrs. Plummer was reared in Ohio until she was seventeen years old, and received her education in that state. She came with her parents to Porter county, Indiana, in 1849. She is a kind-hearted and genial lady, and in many ways has smoothed out the rough places where family and friends were treading. She and her husband have together traveled life's journey for forty-nine years, and it is the hope
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of all their numerous friends that they will the next year celebrate their golden wedding.
Mr. and Mrs. Plummer began their wedded life in West Creek town- ship and continued in the pursuits of agriculture there for many years. In 1901 they moved into the town of Lowell, and there live a retired and peace- ful life. Mr. Plummer owns about seven hundred acres of land in West Creek township, and his career of industry and honest dealing has brought him comfortable circumstances. He is a stanch Republican, and began casting his ballot for president when the Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor, ran for the office. He has voted for all the Republican nominees from Lincoln down, and has served as a delegate to the county convention. Mrs. Plummer is a member of the Evangelical church.
JOHN E. LOVE.
John E. Love, cashier of the State National Bank at Lowell, has also been identified with farming interests, with educational work and with hay and grain dealing in this place, and is a successful business man of marked enterprise and energy, whose ready recognition of opportunity has been one of the salient features in his successful career. He was born in Detroit, Michi- gan. April 16. 1854, and is a son of Samuel and Ellen J. (Mundall) Love, both of whom were natives of Belfast, Ireland. The father was reared in the place of his birth and became a weaver. In 1852, however, attracted by the business possibilities of the new world, he crossed the Atlantic to America and located at Washington Island, Wisconsin. He came to Lake county in 1870, and his last days were spent in Leroy, Indiana, where he died in 1902, when about seventy-one years of age. his birth having occurred in 1831. His widow still survives him and now resides in Leroy. Winfield township.
John E. Love was the second child and eldest son in their family of eight children. He was born in April, 1854, and in 1854 his parents removed to Washington Island, Wisconsin, where he was reared, pursuing his education in the public schools. He remained at home until twenty-four years of age. and at the age of nineteen years he began teaching school, which profession he followed through the winter months, while in the summer seasons he assisted his father in the work of the home farm. In 1870 he came to Lake county, Indiana, and here engaged in farming and in teaching school for
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about ten years. In 1880 he built a hay barn and elevator at Creston, Lake county, which he still operates. In 1893, however, he removed to Lowell and was engaged in dealing in hay alone in this place until 1900, when he ad- mitted A. S. Hull to a partnership under the firm style of Love & Hull, a relation that is still maintained. The firm does an excellent business, making large purchases and sales and their enterprise has become a profitable one. In February, 1903, Mr. Love was elected cashier of the State National Bank and is thus actively connected with financial interests of the county. He also has valuable real estate in Lake county. Indiana, and Fayette and Clayton counties. Iowa. His business interests and his property holdings are the visi- ble evidence of his life of thrift and industry.
On the 19th of June, 1878. Mr. Love was united in marriage to Miss Martha E. Jones, a daughter of Perry and Mary (Gilson) Jones, who were early settlers of Lake county, prominent and influential here. Mrs. Love was born in Cedar Creek township. February 22. 1862. attended the public schools of the county, and also continued her studies in a private school at Crown Point under the management of Miss Martha Knight. Five daugh- ters have been born of this marriage, but the eldest. Rosa, is now deceased. The others are: Mollie, Ina, Grace. Mabel, Bessie May and Alice Edith.
In his political views Mr. Love is an earnest Republican, keeping well informed on the questions and issues of the day and giving unfaltering sup- port to the principles of the party. He served as township trustee from 1895 until 1900 in Cedar Creek township. He is also well known in Masonic circles, belonging to Colfax Lodge No. 378. F. & A. M., of which he has been secretary for twenty years. He is likewise a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 300, at Lowell, Indiana, of which he is one of the trustees, and he holds membership relation with the Independent Order of Foresters of America. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has filled various offices. His nature is kindly, his temperament jovial and genial, and his manner courteous. He has steadily advanced in those walks of life demanding intellectuality, business ability and fidelity, and to-day hie commands the respect and esteem of all of those with whom he has been associated in business or social relations.
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ALEXANDER E. AYERS.
Alexander E. AAyers is a recent addition to the already fine personnel of Lake county citizens, and his energetic character and successful prosecu- tion of his business affairs make him a valued factor in the material and civic progress and prosperity of the county. He has been in the county for the past three years, and is already well known throughout the township of West Creek.
Ile was born in Shelby county, Ohio, December 15, 1847, and is the seventli of eight children, four sons and four daughters, born to Alexander H. and Julia ( House) Ayers. He has two brothers still living. Michael, now a resident of Lake county, was a soldier for four years in the Civil war, was under fire for one hundred days during the Atlanta campaign under Sherman. then was on the march to the sea, was wounded at Stone River. December 31, 1862, being struck in the hips: at Marietta. Georgia, was struck on the head by a piece of shell, and received his honorable discharge at Louisville, July 17, 1865. Samuel is a retired farmer of Heyworth, Illinois, and is a man of family.
The father of this family was born in Butler county, Ohio, December 12, 1812, and died December 20, 1885. He was reared and educated in his native county, and throughout life was a great reader and profound thinker. He was an active Whig and later an equally ardent Republican, and cast his votes for the candidates of the party from Fremont until his death. He came out to Woodford county, Illinois, in 1865, and lived there the greater part of his remaining years. He was a Universalist in religion, and his wife was inclined to the Methodist faith. The ancestry of the Ayers family is traced to the French. Julia Ayers, the mother of Mr. Ayers, was born in Butler county, Ohio, September 15, 1810, and died in 1897, December 21, being then eighty-seven years of age.
Mr. Alexander E. Ayers accompanied his parents to Woodford county. Illinois, in 1865. He is in the main a self-educated man. He lived with and took care of his parents for many years. He has been married twice. His first wife died without issue, and on February 25, 1885, he married Miss Alice V. DeBolt, who became the mother of eight children, six of whom are still living : Arthur H., who has reached the eighth grade in his school work : J. Emerson, who is a bright lad in the eighth grade of school, with an especial
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fondness for mathematics and history: N. Guy, who has received his diploma from the eighth grade: Ava Ray: H. Bernard, who is in the fifth grade: and Frank Leslie, the baby of the family. Mrs. Ayers was born in Woodford county, Illinois. October 5. 1860. and is the oldest of the three children and the only daughter born to John and Eliza J. (Drake) DeBolt. One brother is living. John M., a successful grain merchant at El Paso, Illinois. Her father was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1830, and died July 28, 1898. at the age of sixty-eight. He was a farmer and went from Pennsylvania to Virginia, where he was reared. In 1857 he located and pur- chased land in Woodford county. Illinois, near El Paso. He was a strenuous Jackson Democrat in politics, and was a man of broad intelligence and ability. He was a member of the Christian church at the time of his death. His wife was a strong Methodist, and she was a bright and intelligent lady. Mrs. Ayers is a lover of the choicest literature, and she finds books to be her best companions. She is an ardent Methodist. and joined a class of one hundred and twenty-one under Rev. Milsap.
Mr. Ayers owned fifty acres of excellent land in Woodford county, and resided there until March 1. 1902, when he purchased and removed to his fine estate of bottom land in West Creek township, consisting of four hundred and fifty-five acres, on which he has already placed many valuable improve- ments and which in time will be one of the model farms of the county. He is very much interested in stock-raising, and keeps some fine grades on his place. He is a Republican in politics, and has supported the candidates since casting his first vote for General Grant. He holds in the highest respect the tenets of Christianity, and for himself has tried to guide his path according to the golden rule. During their short residence he and his wife have gained the confidence and high regard of all with whom they have become asso- ciated in Lake county, and are people of the best personal worth and char- acter.
HON. WILLIAM H. RIFENBURG.
Hon. William H. Rifenburg, so prominent in the ranks of the citizens of Hobart, was born in the town of Summit. Schoharie county, New York, October 22. 1834. His grandfather, Henry Rifenburg, was born in Columbia county, New York, near Poughkeepsie, and was a farmer and a contractor by occupation, having assisted in the building of the Erie canal. His father.
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also named Henry, was born along the Hudson, and was the son of an emi- grant from Holland. the family being a sturdy New York Dutch stock. Aaron Rifenburg, the father of our Hobart citizen, was a native of Schoharie county, and was reared and educated there and became a farmer. He passed away at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. His wife was Mary Banks, and she died when about forty-five years of age. Her father, William Banks. was a native of the same portion of New York state as the other members of the family, and was of Holland Dutch descent. Aaron Rifenburg and wife had seven children, and all reached adult age except one.
Hon. William H. Rifenburg, the eldest of the family, was reared in New York, received his education in the common schools, and at the age of twenty went west to Allegan county. Michigan, where he spent one year. He came to Lake county in 1856, among the early settlers, and for a while clerked in a store. He bought a farm in Hobart township, and was engaged in farm- ing until the Civil war. In 1861 he enlisted in Company E of the famous old Ninth Indiana Infantry, and served as a private and second sergeant. At the battle of Shiloh he was wounded in the shoulder, and in the following August received his honorable discharge. On returning to Hobart he embarked in the mercantile business, and from then until 1892 was concerned in various enterprises. In the latter year he began contracting. and did some important work in that line. In 1897 he was elected to the state legislature from Lake county. and his Republican constituents returned him for two years, his record at the state capital being in every way creditable. He served as trustee of his township for two years, 1864-65, and held the office of justice of the peace from 1864 to 1868. He is a charter member and was the first commander of Hobart Post No. 411, G. A. R. During his legislative career he was chair- man of the prison committee north, and it was largely due to his influence that the Michigan City penitentiary was rebuilt, the contract system of prison labor abolished, and the indeterminate sentence law passed. He is also recog- nized as the father of the present gravel road system of Indiana.
In 1859 Mr. Rifenburg married Rebecca Stearns, and of this marriage there is one daughter. Mary. now the wife of John J. Wood. In 1866 Mr. Rifenburg was married to Anna Howe, by whom there are no children living. and in 1869 he married Miss Sabrina Sawyer. They have three living chil- ren : Grace, the wife of Joseph H. Conroy, whose history is given on another
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page : Maude, the wife of Elmer Armet, an official at the Michigan City prison ; and Ruth, single.
Mr. Rifenburg affiliates with the M. L. MeClellan Lodge No. 357. of the Masonie Order, at Hobart, and is a member and a trustee of the Unitarian church.
EDGAR HAYDEN.
Edgar Hayden, after long years of active connection with agricultural interests, is now living a retired life in Lowell and belongs to a family of prominence in the county-a family that has taken a very active and helpful part in the work of public progress and improvement. He was born in West Creek township. October 16, 1840, and in a family of thirteen children is the eleventh in order of birth. His parents are Nehemiah and Harriet ( Kitchell) Hayden, and the family history is given in connection with the sketch of Joseph Hayden on another page of this volume.
No event of special importance occurred to vary the routine of farm life for Mr. Hayden in his youth. In his boyhood he pursued his education in a log schoolhouse, which had a puncheon floor and was seated with slab benches. He attended through the winter months, and when spring came he assisted in the work of plowing and planting in the fields, continuing their cultivation until after crops were harvested in the late autumn. He started out to earn his own living when a mere boy, working by the month as a farm hand, and thus he was employed until 1861, when he was married and began farming on his own account. He secured as a companion and helpmate for life's journey Miss Rachel Knisely, a sister of the wives of Jacob and Lewis Hayden. She was born in New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county, Ohio. February 16, 1841, and is the third in a family of five daughters.
The young couple began their domestic life in Yellowhead township, Kankakee county, Illinois, just across the state line that divides Illinois and Indiana. His barn, however, was located in Lake county, while the house stood in Kankakee county. Mr. Ilayden was there engaged in farming for a quarter of a century, and during that period he transformed his land into very arable and productive fields, making his property one of value and also of attractive appearance. When twenty-five years had passed he put aside farm labor and took up his abode in Lowell. He at one time had two hundred and sixty acres of land, but has since sold one hundred aeres, and he now
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