History of Cass County Indiana : From its earliest settlement to the present time with biographical sketches and reference to biographies previously compiled, Volume II, Part 25

Author: Powell, Jehu Z., 1848-1918, ed; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago (Ill.), pub
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 662


USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County Indiana : From its earliest settlement to the present time with biographical sketches and reference to biographies previously compiled, Volume II > Part 25


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Michael E. Fansler was born in Logansport, Indiana, July 4, 1883, and has never known any other home than this city. He received his preliminary educational training in the public schools, and in 1901 entered Notre Dame University, from which noted institution he was graduated in 1905, receiving the degree of LL. B. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Logansport, where he now has a large and representative clientele. In 1906, Mr. Fansler formed a professional partnership with George C. Custer, with whom he con- tinued four years, Mr. Custer being prosecuting attorney during this time and Mr. Fansler assisting him in the prosecution of criminal cases. In 1910 Mr. Fansler succeeded Mr. Custer in that office, and this was followed by his re-election in 1912. During these two terms, Mr. Fansler has demonstrated his ability as a lawyer and his entire fitness for public office. He holds the duties of his office in high regard, and has brought to his work the enthusiasm and conscientious attention to detail that made him so successful in his private practice. He has inher- ited much of his father's oratorical ability, has a wide and comprehensive knowledge of law and jurisprudence, and during his career has been connected with many notable criminal trials. In his political views he is a Democrat and he has at all times been a stanch adherent of the principles and candidates of his party. Mr. Fansler's religious views are those of the Catholic church.


On June 30, 1909, Mr. Fansler was married to Katherine Hall, formerly of Peru, Indiana.


ABRAHAM L. JONES. To the realty dealers of this section, Cass county owes much for its growth and development during the past sev- eral decades. Those who are expert in land values, who have the peculiar ability necessary to encourage settlement from outside communities, and whose activities serve to promote the erection of structures which add to the commercial and industrial prestige of their community, form the medium through which Cass county, and notably the city of Logans-


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port, have gained their present high place as centers of all lines of business activity. Among this class of citizens stands Abraham L. Jones, of Logansport, who in comparatively a short space of time has risen from a humble farmer's youth, working for a meagre stipend, to the position where his operations involve several hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Mr. Jones is a native son of Indiana, born in Madison county, August 24, 1864. When six years of age he came to Cass county with his parents, Richard T. and Drusilla (Nighbarger) Jones, who located on a farm in Clay township. During the next four years Richard T. Jones was engaged in operating a rented farm, but then moved across the line into Fulton county, there purchased land and continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his life. He died in 1900, and on the same day that he was laid to rest his widow passed away. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom four sons and five daughters survive, and of these three reside in Cass county.


Abraham L. Jones resided with his parents until his eighteenth year, in the meantime attending the district schools and assisting his father in the work of the home farm. The spring before his eighteenth birth- day, he secured employment on a neighboring farm, and until twenty- five years of age was thus engaged, then turning his attention to rail- roading, as a fireman in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad. . Fourteen months later he began braking on a freight train ou the Vandalia road, in the service of which he continued for nearly one year, and then started to work at the carpenter's trade, which he had picked up in his youth. During this time, Mr. Jones had saved his earnings industriously and thriftily, and when an opportunity presented itself he invested in several Logansport building lots, on which he erected houses. This was his introduction into the real estate business, and as time passed he continued to follow the same system, building up an excellent business from a humble nucleus. Financial depression came on, however, property values declined, and Mr. Jones retired from the real estate field for a time to engage in the grocery and meat market business, a venture which occupied his attention for a year or more. He then again returned to the real estate field, conditions having become more settled, and he now does a business that averages approximately $200,000 annually. Men there may be who have risen as rapidly in the business world as Mr. Jones, but none has done so more steadily or surely through legitimate means and the medium of their own efforts. While he has always been ready to grasp any opportunity that presents itself, he has also respected the rights of others, and has not taken a questionable advantage of his associates or business competitors. In political matters he is a Republican, but his inclinations have led him to support the more progressive branch of the party. His religious faith is that of the Christian Science church.


On June 29, 1890, Mr. Jones was married to Miss Ida J. Kinnaman, daughter of Nathan K. Kinnaman, and they have two daughters, Fay and Margery.


GEORGE B. FORGY, investment banker and broker of Logansport, Indiana, was born at New Carlisle, Ohio, on September 13, 1851, and


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is the son of John A. and Polly (Brown) Forgy. He has been a resi- dent of Cass county since he was a child of three years, and his identi- fication with Logansport dates back to the year 1879, in which year he established himself in his present business. His success has been one worthy of the name, consistent with the energy and enterprise which he has invested in his operations, and he is well known and esteemed most highly in all circles in Logansport, whether of a business or a social nature.


The father of Mr. Forgy, John A. Forgy, was also born near New Carlisle, Ohio, and there he was reared and in young manhood married Mary Brown, who died leaving three children. He then married his second wife, who was a sister of his deceased wife, and she bore him one son, George B., of this brief review. She, too, was called by death, and in later years he married Catherine Forgy, the widow of a cousin, and she accompanied him to Cass county, Indiana, in 1853, and settled on a farm in Miami township. Mr. Forgy subsequently laid out the town of New Waverly, and he was identified with various activities dur- ing his life. He farmed, but did not confine his attention to that work. He was for a time engaged in the merchandise business at Waverly, operated a saw mill for a season and sold lumber, being generally known for one of the most inveterate traders, withal one of the most suc- cessful, that lived in Cass county in his time. He was a prominent mem- ber of the Presbyterian church, and a fine, manly character, regarded as one of the most congenial and approachable men in the county. He manifested the most unbounded faith in his fellow man, and was always found ready and willing to aid with counsel and more substantial aid in the form of finances, any worthy cause that was brought to his attention. This trait redounded to his great financial disadvantage in his later years, and he died a comparatively poor man, as far as this world's goods is regarded, but rich in the love and gratitude of the many who had occasion to know his generous kindly heart and his open-handed benefactions.


George B. Forgy, the only child of his second marriage, came with his parents to Cass county when he was a small child. He was reared at New Waverly, the town which his father virtually made, and received in that place a common school education. When he was about eighteen years old he started out for himself, and his first work was that of a fruit tree salesman for John Wampler, an old Dunkard nurseryman of the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio. His next venture was as a clerk in a dry goods store at Peru, Indiana, and soon after was placed in charge of the collections in four states for the Howe Sewing Machine Company, the headquarters of which large concern was then located in Peru. He was associated thus for something like five years, when, in company with E. W. Shirk, he organized the Tipton County Bank, the two being equal owners in the firm. They continued at Tipton for three years, and in 1879 Mr. Forgy came to Logansport and established him- self in his present business, that of an investment banker and broker. He has continued successfully up to the present time, and is rightly regarded as one of the solid and substantial financial men of the city and county. Mr. Forgy is a Mason and his political affiliations are with


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the Republican party, but he is not especially active in the interests of the party, being more attentive to his own affairs than any others.


In 1876 Mr. Forgy was united in marriage with Miss Alice O. Crowell, of Peru, and one son has been born to them-Ben C., who is now engaged in operating a farm in Boone township, Cass county. Both Mr. and Mrs. Forgy attend the Presbyterian church, but neither of them are members of that or any religious organization.


SILAS MCDOWELL was one of the well known farmers of Cass county, and as such is deserving of more than passing mention. He was born in the state of Ohio, Starke county, on September 8, 1840, a son of John A. McDowell who came to America in the later '50's and farmed on the Michigan road in Clay township until his death. Silas McDowell was favored with but little education in his youth, and his whole life was one of hard and unremitting toil. He was yet in his teens when he came to Cass county with his parents, and being the eldest of seven children, all of whom grew to maturity, much of the burden of the work of the old farm fell upon his young shoulders. He made his home with his parents until he married, after which for about two years he rented and operated land belonging to his father. When he was sufficiently prosperous to warrant the venture, he purchased eighty acres of unimproved land in Noble township, on which he cansed to be erected a small five-room house. In this he settled with his little family and began the strenuous work of cleaning up his potential farm. As his means increased from year to year, he finally added an additional eighty acres in Noble township and then seventy-five acres in Clay town- ship, which gradually brought him generous returns. Beyond the fact of his hard work and clean, wholesome life, his life was as that of the average man, and his career uneventful. His industry and his splendid practical business sense made it possible for him to accumulate a con- siderable property, a fact which enabled him to extend material aid to each of his children when they started out in life for themselves.


A Republican in politics, he was in no sense a politician or a seeker for official preferment at any time, his life being all too busy in the care and maintenance of his family and his property. It is doubtful if he possessed a stronger characteristic than that of his rugged honesty and his intense distaste of anything that savored of trickery. He was a generous man and contributed liberally of his means to the support of all worthy objects that came to his notice, and was a valued member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, to which he gave generously all his life.


Mr. McDowell married Catherine Dritt and eight children were born to them, as follows: Andrew, who was accidentally killed at the age of twenty-three; Horace B., who married Martha Wadkins and lives at Akron, Indiana; Willard N., married Lucy Sweeney and now lives in Logansport; Jennie E., the wife of Theodore Sharp, of near Saginaw, Michigan; Minnie E., who married Warren J. Butler, present sheriff of Cass county ; Harry D., appropriate mention of whom follows this sketch; Charles E., who married Cecil Powers and resides in Logansport; and Sarah, who died in infancy. Mr. McDowell died on March 26, 1896, and his widow survived him until September 4, 1906.


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HARRY D. McDOWELL was born on his father's farm in Noble town- ship, on the 14th of December, 1870, and there was reared. He is the son of Silas McDowell and Catherine Dritt, his wife, and is one of the eight children of these parents. Further mention is unnecessary with regard to the family, as a full sketch is dedicated to the father just preceding this.


The district schools of his native township supplied the early educa- tion of Harry D. McDowell, after which he took a thorough course at Hall's Business College. Between the years of 1895 and 1908 the young man farmed on his own responsibility, occupying a part of his father's generous estate, but in 1908, having purchased the James Reed hardware and implement store in Logansport, in association with his brother, Charles E., he gave up his farming, and moved to the city, where he has since made his home. Charles E. McDowell had moved to Logansport some time prior to this and established himself in the meat market business, Harry D. being his partner in the venture, which proved a successful one. The two brothers have continued in partner- ship up to the present time, and are now the owners of a considerable valuable land, a meat market and a hardware and implement business, and are reckoned among the capable and prosperous business men of Logansport.


Harry D. McDowell was married on April 29, 1896, to Miss Sarah J. Dalzell and to their union seven children have been born, named as follows: Frederick, Blanche, Doris, Gladys, Harry, George and John. Mr. McDowell is a Republican in his political adherence, and his wife is a member of the Presbyterian church.


CARLTON A. PRICE, well known in Logansport and surrounding dis- trict in the monument business, was born in White county, Indiana, on January 26, 1873, and is the son of William H. and Mahala (Shull) Price, and a grandson of Aaron and Mary (Hancock) Price. The fam- ily is one of Scotch-Irish ancestry, which made its early advent into this country in Colonial days.


Aaron Price and his wife came to what is now Logansport in 1827. At that time but one log cabin marked the site of the future city, and the surrounding country was in a state of wildness such as to make true courage one's most valuable asset in attempting to establish a home in the region. Mr. Price located on a tract of land near Lockport in Carroll county, later moving to the vicinity of Idaville, where he lived retired until his death in 1882. He was a great hunter, and enjoyed to the utmost the pursuit of the wild game that inhabited the country in his early days in Indiana. He worked on the old canal at times, but the best years of his life were spent in farming, in which he experienced much of success and prosperity. Seven children came to their home, and of that number William H. Price was the fourth born.


William H. Price was reared on his father's farm and has always followed the business in which he was there trained. In 1894 he moved to near Camden, in Carroll county, and three years later moved to North Dakota, where he now resides. He and his wife became the par- ents of ten children, seven of whom are yet living.


Carlton A. Price is the third born child and the second oldest liv-


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ing child of his parents. He passed his youthful days on the old home place and as a boy attended the neighboring district school, in common with the other youths of his community. He was just past his majority when he set out for himself and began an independent farming career, but in 1902 he gave up that plan and came to Logansport, where he set about learning the trade of a granite cutter. He liked the work, became a skillful workman, and in five years from the time he identified him- self with the business as an apprentice, he bought the marble shop of Henry L. Fonst, and has since been successfully engaged in the monu- ment business in Logansport. His business relations and activities are not confined alone to this city, but reach out to other cities and towns in the county and adjoining states, in which he is coming to be well known in his line of enterprise.


Mr. Price is a Democrat, independent in his views, and holds mem- bership in the Woodmen of the World. On November 12, 1902, he was united in marriage with Eva McManus of Washington township, and they are the parents of two children,-Forrest and Kathleen.


WILLIAM S. RICHARDSON was born in Logansport, Cass county, Indiana, on April 25, 1838. When he was one year old his parents moved to what is now a part of the city of Logansport, and here he lived con- tinuously from that time, covering a period of seventy-five years. In those years he lived an active and helpful life in the community, and conducted a business in carpentering from early manhood until recent years, when he retired from the cares of active industrial life.


The early opportunities of Mr. Richardson for the securing of an adequate education were extremely limited, and such learning as he possesses was acquired in the practical school of experience. He learned the carpenter trade under the instruction of his father, who was also engaged in that trade during his life-time, and on December 1, 1861, was sworn into the United States service as a member of Company B, of the Forty-sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was made quartermaster sergeant early in his military service and upon the resignation of the quartermaster was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. With his regiment he participated in all the engagements and movements of his command, the detailed history of which is to be found in the article devoted to the Forty-sixth Regiment in other pages of this work, and he was discharged from the service on September 11, 1865.


After the close of the war, Mr. Richardson returned to Logansport and there resumed the work of his trade, and in that work he con- tinued steadily until in more recent years, when he gradually withdrew from business life and was afterwards practically retired from the building industry and the cares of business life.


On August 17, 1865, when he was home from the war on a furlongh, the young lieutenant was united in marriage with Susan Flory, the daughter of Emmanuel Flory, an old settler of the county. She was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, in March, 1840. They be- came the parents of one child,.who died in infancy.


Mr. Richardson was made a Master Mason on December 11, 1865, and was also a member of the G. A. R. He was a member of the Broad- way Methodist Episcopal church, as is also his wife, and for thirty- five years he sung in the Methodist choir, as well as being a member of


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the G. A. R. quartet for some years. The death of this honored old citizen occurred on the 12th of February, 1913.


FRANKLIN HENRY WIPPERMAN was born on December 15, 1861, at Angels Camp, Calaveras county, California, and is the son of Henry and Matilda (Ossenbeck) Wipperman, both German people. Henry Wipperman was born in Germany on February 23, 1832, and came to America when but a few months old in company with his parents. They settled in Indiana in September, 1837, making Clinton township their home, and there Henry Wipperman received the meager training afforded by the log-cabin schools of that primitive period. In 1852 he went to California, prior to which time he had learned the car- penter's trade, and he remained in California until 1866, when he returned to Cass county and there remained until his death, which took place on February 7, 1904. He was a man who enjoyed the confi- dence and esteem of his fellow citizens at all times, and at one time in the eighties he held the office of county commissioner. He married Matilda Ossenbeck on February 14, 1861. She was born in Cass county, the daughter of German born parents, her birth occurring on Septem- ber 21, 1837, on the farm which remained her home during her young life. While yet in her teens she went to California in the expectation of bettering her health, and there she completed her education in Stockton, where she met and married her husband. She returned to Indiana with her husband in 1866, and in July of the following year death claimed her.


Franklin Henry Wipperman was the eldest of the two children born to these parents, his brother dying at the age of two months, shortly following the death of their young mother. The common schools of his native community afforded Franklin Wipperman his early edu- cation, and in 1885 he was graduated from the Logansport high school. He passed his early days on the home farm in Washington township, in Cass county, and continued there until he was about twenty-nine years of age, or until December 1, 1890, when he removed to the city of Logansport and engaged in the abstract business, buying a part interest in the old John F. Dodd's office and later becoming full owner. In 1902 Mr. Wipperman was induced to become secretary and treas- urer, in the new Logansport Loan & Trust Company, just organized at that time, and he has remained in that office up to the present writing.


Mr. Wipperman has devoted himself assiduously to business and has given no attention to public affairs of an official nature and has never been an office holder. He was reared a Democrat, but broke away from the party in the famous money campaign of 1896, since which time he has voted for Republican candidates for president until 1912, when he was drawn into the Progressive party. In local affairs, his sup- port is given to the individual whom he regards as being best fitted to the office, it being his firm opinion that party prejudices have no place in local governments.


On June 18, 1890, Mr. Wipperman was united in marriage with Clara M. Bazin, daughter of Josiah and Matilda Bazin, of Logansport, Indiana. Mr. Bazin was an old time and faithful employe of the Penn-


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sylvania Railroad until he was pensioned by that road, and came to Logansport from Griggsville, Illinois, in 1872. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wipperman : Frederic Bazin, born January 6, 1892, and Walter Kendall, born January 21, 1898. The elder son is a graduate of Cornell University and Walter Kendall has recently completed the local high school course, both being yet pursuing their education in the higher branches.


Mr. Wipperman is a member of the Apollo Lodge, Knights of Pythias, since 1886, and of the Uniform Rank of the same order since 1888. He was a member of Ebenezer Lutheran church in Clinton town- ship since he was fifteen years old until the year 1888, when he trans- ferred his membership to St. Luke's Lutheran church in Logansport, and he has held various official positions in the church and synod of this denomination in the years that he has been associated with it as a member.


JOSEPH ENSMINGER CRAIN was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, January 2, 1844, and is one of the five sons and three daughters born to James Harvey and Elizabeth (Ensminger) Crain, of which family three sons and two daughters are living today.


James H. Crain was born at Lebanon, Ohio, on August 27, 1809, and when ten years of age moved with the family to Montgomery county, Indiana, and was there reared on the home farm. He received a com- mon school education, after which he learned the carpenter's trade, thereafter following that business for something like fifteen years after he became of age. His father, Elihu Crain, was a brick mason by trade, ‘ and he it was who built the first brick building in the city of Cincin- nati. James H. Crain with his wife and two children came to Cass county, Indiana, in 1845, and located on a farm in Washington town- ship, three miles south of Logansport. He followed farming during the remainder of his life and died on February 22, 1897. Although a man of but limited schooling, he was exceptionally well informed. He realized the importance of an education and lost no opportunity to sup- ply his early lack in that respect. By a course of self-imposed study and systematic reading, he acquired an excellent practical education and was known as one of the best informed men of his day in Cass county. In his religious views Mr. Crain was a Baptist, and was one of the charter members of the Second Baptist church in Logansport. His wife was born at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, February 28, 1822, and died on September 9, 1902. She was reared a Presbyterian and later in life embraced the Baptist faith.


Joseph E. Crain has never considered any place but Cass county as his home. He was brought up on the old home farm in Washington township, educated in the district schools and under the tutelage of his father, who looked to the education of his children in the common school branches and industrial pursuits. His real start in life was probably at the time when he enlisted in the Civil war. Three times did he endeavor to enter the service before he was finally accepted, being once rejected for being under age, and once owing to rheumatic trou- bles from which he suffered. On January 28, 1865, he was enrolled as a member of Company F, One Hundred and Fifty-first Indiana Volun-




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