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 52
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Since becoming a resident of Logansport, Mr. Rutenber has become identified with its commercial success, and has taken a leading part in the industrial activities of the city.
On October 3, 1900, Mr. Rutenber was married to Miss Edna L. Rolley, of Morris, Illinois, and they are the parents of three children : Garnet M., Ellwood R. and Bradley A. Rutenber. Mr. and Mrs. Ruten- ber are members of the Broadway Methodist Episcopal church.
FRANK DAY. It is sometimes interesting to note the aptitude with which men untrained in a specific line of enterprise will turn their attentions thereto and evolve a brilliant success from conditions that the more experienced man would regard as offering only defeat to the novice. Frank Day, a telling example of this fact, operates one of the finest farms on the Marion and Delph pike, which is owned by his mother, and in its management has proven himself to be a farmer of no mean ability. He was not reared to farm life, but turned his attention to that work after the death of his father, and his success has been of a particularly high order, such as to place him in the front rank with the able agricultural men of the district.
Born on September 10, 1884, in Logansport, Indiana, Mr. Day is the son of Nicholas and Catherine (Keel) Day. The father came from Germany, his native land, when a young man, and his parents never left that country, but ended their days in the region where they were born and bred. Settling in Logansport, Mr. Day engaged in the saloon and
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barber shop business, and in the latter enterprise he was sufficiently prosperous to make possible his investment in farming property in Jackson township, the property which his son now operates so success- fully. While the senior Day began in Logansport a poor man, dependent upon his daily earnings, he had reached a comfortable state of independ- ence before he passed to his reward, and with a goodly accumulation of this world's goods, was known for one of the successful men of the city. He died in July, 1909, and is buried in Logansport.
The schools of Logansport contributed to . Frank Day such education as he received, and when his father died, soon after engaging in farming activities, Mr. Day took up the management of the farm which had become the family home, and has since continued in that work, with a degree of success that has already been intimated in an opening para- graph. Mr. Day has gone into the work in a whole-souled and energetic manner, and has been quick to see and appropriate new ideas in the matter of up-to-date and scientific farming.
In 1906 Mr. Day was united in marriage with Miss Frances Emery, the daughter of George and Mary (Davidson) Emery. Three children have been born to them, as follows: Walter, Josephine and Mary Cath- erine. Mr. and Mrs. Day are members of St. Joseph's Catholic church in Logansport, and Mr. Day is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. The family is one that has the most excellent stand- ing in social and other circles of the community, and their roster of friends is coincident with that of their acquaintances.
DR. J. FRANK CORNELL. The duties of a physician in the small town and its outlying districts are seldom anything short of the most ardu- ous, and entail upon the part of the practitioner a generous fund of sympathy, courage and energy, as well as their indispensable fellow, skill.
Dr. Cornell is a native son of Cass county, born in Deer Creek town- ship on February 9, 1870, and is a son of Benjamin D. and Sarah (Bun- nell) Cornell. Benjamin Cornell was born in Butler county, Ohio, and he came to Cass county in 1847. He was one of the old time school teachers, and it is possible that Dr. Cornell drew something of his aptitude for his present educational work from the fact of his father having been interested in the same work years gone by. The senior Cornell was one of the old time school masters, and like others of his day and age, he interspersed his teaching seasons with other seasons devoted to the tilling of the soil, in both of which branches of activity he enjoyed a success commensurate with the most prosperous of his day. He died in 1907 and the wife and mother passed away in 1901.
J. Frank Cornell attended the district schools of District No. 1, so called, and then attended the Normal school at Logansport for a time, after which he spent a term and a half at Valparaiso, Indiana. He later attended and graduated in scientific course in the Marion Normal at Marion, Indiana, and was graduated from the medical department of the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1902. Dr. Cornell established himself for practice in Galveston, where he has been actively engaged since 1902, and where he has experienced a pleasing degree of success in his chosen field of activity. His work in the educational field has been
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all that could be desired, and has borne fruit in the school system of the county that amply justified the choice of the people, as he was twice elected county superintendent of schools and serving as a member of school board of Galveston, of which he is acting secretary.
Dr. Cornell was united in marriage in 1900 to Miss Lena Williams, the daughter of George and Hannah J. Williams. They have three children : Sarah E., George B. and Wendell. The two first named are attending school in Galveston.
Beyond his membership in the Knights of Pythias, Dr. Cornell has no fraternal affiliations. He has never outgrown his fondness for farm life. and now, in the days of his professional activity, he still finds time to look after a fine farm of one hundred acres of which he is the owner in Deer Creek township, and which thrives most abundantly under his direction. The Doctor and his wife are prominent socially, and num- ber as their stanch friends all with whom they have acquaintance in and about the township.
WILLIAM R. DARLAND, a native son of Cass county, Indiana, wherein he has always lived and carried on his various business affairs, was born on the 15th day of June. 1863, and is the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Clark) Darland. Of these worthy parents, for many years prominent among the best citizenship of Cass county, it is eminently fitting that more than mere cursory mention be made, but a dearth of information regarding them and their lives makes expansion impossible at this juncture. It may be said, however, that Samuel Darland was born in Ohio, in the year 1825. In his young manhood he moved to Indiana from his home state, and settled in Clinton county, his removal to Cass county taking place in 1854. Here he had purchased land from the government as early as 1849 anticipating his later residence in the county, and in 1854 the family moved to this new and untried district, cleared a bit of space in the heart of the woods and built a log cabin home. The land he settled on then came to be with the passing years, and because of his untiring labors upon it, a valuable and fruitful spot, which maintained him and his family comfortably all his life. He had the true pioneer instinct, and was a leader in every project calculated to redound to the good of his community. Ever a public-spirited and aggressive character, he helped to lay out the township roads, organize the school districts and to build proper schoolhouses in his township, so that his whole life was fraught with good and permanent works in the best interests of his adopted county. He died in the year 1880, December 22d, having given a quarter of a century of his life to Cass county in his capacity of citizen. in which capacity the highest qualities of his nature were brought to bear upon the growth and development of his community and the county. He was the father of five children : Martha A., David. John A .. William R .. of this review, and Albert.
William R. Darland attended the district schools of his community as a boy and spent his summers in the work of the farm, in which he gained much proficiency under the able instruction of his energetic father. He remained at home until he reached the age of twenty-one, when he married and established a home of his own. He gave his time and attention at first to farming and enjoyed a pleasing success, but
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he did not continue to confine himself to that industry. In later years he took up the tile industry, and today he is the sole proprietor of the Darland Tile Factory, the only plant of its kind in the county. The plant is complete in all its details and has a capacity sufficient to meet the demands of the farming interests of the community. Mr. Darland owns and continues to operate his very attractive and fertile little farm of sixty acres, where his home is maintained, and which is located a mile from the home of his boyhood.
Mr. Darland has been twice married. His first wife was Clare Wine- garden, who died, leaving two children, Frank and Elizabeth. The former married an Ohio girl and lives at Struthers, Ohio. They became the parents of three children : Frances, Lco and Clara. Elizabe'h became the wife of George Shedron and they have three children also : Robert, Bond and Milford. The second wife of Mr. Darland was Jennie Kant- ner, and five children have been born to them: Willard A., Edward B., Albert A., Alta L., and Orene, deceased.
The family attend the Methodist Episcopal church, and are among the most highly esteemed people of Lincoln, where they have made their home for so many years.
WILLIAM R. HYATT. To have been prominently identified with the carrying on of the development of any given section of the country is an honor to which any might aspire with credit, and to have a hand in the bringing about of a high standard of prosperity in one's own com- munity is an achievement indeed, and one that marks a man among his fellows, wherever found. William R. Hyatt has been an indefatigable worker in Jackson township, where he has carried on farming operations for a number of years, and a fair and honest share of the credit for the growth and development of the town is his meed.
William R. Hyatt was born in Decatur county, Indiana, on November 2, 1872, and he is the son of William Henry and Mary J. (Jackson) Hyatt. The father came from Ripley county, Indiana, and located in Irvin township, Howard county, just across the line, there establishing a home. He married in early life, and a goodly family of nine children were reared under the care of himself and his wife. Eight of that number are yet living, and .the names of the children are as follows: Flora, who married a Mr. Caldwell; Ora, deceased; Robert, a resident of Jackson; Newton, living in Galveston; William R., of this review ; Mrs. Maud Hauser; Lola Leona, the wife of a Mr. Nutter; Gertrude. who married Walter Stout, a farmer near Connersville, Indiana; and Mrs. Pearl Harrison.
William R. Hyatt was reared on the home farm, and his training was much on the order of the youth of his community, consisting of the usual district school advantages, and an excellent home training. His schooling came to him in the seasons when farm work was not flourishing, and did not permit of any great regularity. He was twenty-two years old when he left home and established an independent domicile, following his marriage on August 5. 1904, to Miss Mary Mc- Williams, the daughter of James and Martha (Logan) Mc Williams. One child has been born to them, Clarence Clermont Hyatt.
Mr. Hyatt has acquired a fine farm of his own of one hundred and
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sixty acres near the town of Lincoln, and is accounted one of the finan- cially independent men of the community wherein he resides. He has carried on his own farming operations with the same vigor and vim that characterized his long connection with his father's home place. and his farm shows all the evidences of thrift and capitalized energy.
Socially, Mr. Hyatt and his family are prominent and popular, and they are members of the United Brethren church of Galveston, Indiana. Mr. Hyatt is fraternally identified by his relations with the Masonic order, Lodge No. 244 of Galveston, and of Amity Lodge No. 362, Knights of Pythias of Galveston.
GEORGE W. BURKET. Some fifty years or more ago, thousands of men and boys marched away from comfortable homes and loved ones to offer up their lives on the altar of patriotism. Some dyed that altar with their life blood and never returned; others came back, but have borne through the succeeding years the indelible imprint made by a soldier's hardships. Those who did return found hard conditions awaiting them. After years of strenuous endeavor, when each minute might be their last, when a nation's life hung upon their bravery and endurance, it was extremely difficult for them to resume the ordinary occupations of life, to take up the prosaic duties of peace, and again to settle down in the rut of every-day existence. Yet thousands did this very thing, and developed into magnificent men, sound of principle, possessed of high moral courage as well as physical, and with the valuable discipline that army training gives have rounded out useful lives and have fought the battles of peace in the same courageous manner that marked their strug- gles during the dark days of the War of the Rebellion. Cass county sent its full quota of volunteers to the front in 1861, and among these was George W. Burket, who served for more than four years in the Union ranks and who has spent many years in farming on the Walton road, where he is the owner of 120 acres of land. Mr. Burket is a native of Cass county, having been born on a farm in Jefferson township, November 28, 1841, a son of James and Barbara (Small) Burket. His grandfather, Solomon Burket, was one of the pioneer settlers of Cass county, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits for a long period, as was also James Burket, who had come to Jefferson township as a lad.
George W. Burket was educated in the district schools, and divided his boyhood days between securing his education and assisting his father in the duties of the home farm. At the outbreak of the Civil war, with other patriotic and adventurous youths of his neighborhood, he enlisted in the Fifteenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Company G, under Cool. D. D. Wagner. With this organization he served three years and twenty-five days, then re-enlisting in the Sixteenth Regiment, Indiana Mounted Volunteer Infantry, but after seven months was trans- ferred to the Thirteenth Indiana Volunteer Cavalry, with which he completed his military career, being honorably discharged after a service covering four years and twenty-eight days. He was a brave and gallant soldier, earning the admiration of his comrades and the respect of his officers, and participated in numerous hard-fought engagements. On his return to civil life, he engaged in agricultural pursuits and one year later moved to Deer Creek township, where he has since accumulated a
MR. & MRS.GEORGE W.BURKET
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farm of 120 acres, located on the Walton road. Here he is still engaged in general farming and stock raising, having met with a full measure of success in all his operations. His land is well improved and furnished with good buildings, and he is known as a good practical farmer and an excellent judge of cattle and horses. Essentially a farmer, he has not cared for public life, but has not been indifferent to the duties of citizen- ship, and every call made upon him in behalf of public-spirited move- ments has met with a prompt and hearty response. He is a valued comrade of Dan Pratt Post, Grand Army of the Republic, in which he has many friends.
Mr. Burket was married first to Elizabeth Boucher, who died with- out issue. His second marriage was to Margaret M. Bowlan. They have no children.
CHARLES DAGGETT. Forty years have elapsed since Charles Daggett came with his parents from their old home in Ohio, where the Dag- getts had long been established, and settled in Cass county with them, and his home has been here located ever since. They were worthy and ambitious people, and the labor they expended in the cultivation of a farm in their community brought forth abundant fruit and prospered them beyond the lot of the average farming family. To their son they unconsciously bequeathed the same spirit of progress and the will to accomplish that was theirs, and he has experienced in his own life a degree of success most pleasing to behold.
Charles Daggett was born on September 27, 1857, and is the son of Freeman and Carolina (Fickel) Daggett, who migrated to Indiana from Ohio in 1872. Charles Daggett was then fifteen years of age, and he was the third child in a family of seven born to his parents, the others being Daniel, Ladoska, Clinton, Anna, Hattie and George, the two last named being now deceased.
As a youth in his new home Charles Daggett attended the Rode- baugh school, in which he finished what must be called his education. Up to the time when he reached the age of twenty-one years, he gave the greater part of his time to the performance of the regular duties of the farm. He then rented the old home place and continued to operate it on his own initiative and responsibility, giving something like three years to the work, after which he came to his present place, known throughout these parts as the old Samuel Parks farm. Here he has carried on a thriving business in farming and stock raising, and is. ranked among the leading operators of the district. His success has been one well worthy of the name, and entirely justified by his activities and energies as applied to the care and conduct of his place. It is a well improved and well kept place, reflecting on every side the character and calibre of the owner and operator, and Mr. Daggett may be justly proud of his success in his chosen field of activity.
Mr. Daggett has been twice married. His first wife was Callie Fickel, and in 1884 he married Lillie Chadwell, the daughter of Wil- liam and Fannie (Layhue) Chadwell. The ceremony took place on the 29th day of December in that year, and to them have been born four children : Gertrude, first born, is the wife of Irvin Kern; Freeman, the second born of the five is deceased; Laura married Clyde Babb and they
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have two children, Hilda and Robert; Clarence, the youngest of the family, was born on the farm on February 5, 1892.
Mr. Daggett is a Democrat in his politics, and though an admirable citizen, is not especially active in the work of his party. He has always upheld his share in the burden of civic responsibility in the community, and realizes full well the duties of citizenship.
LAWRENCE L. MCDONALD. As manager of the Indiana Lumber Company at Galveston, Indiana, Lawrence L. McDonald occupies a position of prominence in his community, of which he has been a resident for twenty-four years. He began with the Indiana Lumber Company in his early manhood, and has worked his way from a humble position with the company to his present advanced place. Mr. McDonald was born on the 6th day of April, 1876, in Darke county, Ohio, near Green- ville, and is the son of Aaron and Sevilla (Geeting) McDonald.
Aaron McDonald was born in Darke county, in the vicinity of Green- ville, and there he was reared and passed his life until he came to In- diana in 1879, bringing his family with him. He took up his residence in Howard county on a farm, and he and his wife still make their home on that place, which is one of the finest in the county. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. McDonald, named as follows: Joseph, Law- rence, the subject of this review ; Charles, now deceased ; Essie, Lahmau, Anna, Ira, Edith, Earl, and Mark.
The common schools of Clay township afforded such education as Lawrence L. McDonald received, his attendance being at the Macedonia school, and during his vacations he worked on the farm at home. He continued with his parents until he was twenty-one years old, and then started out for himself, determined upon an independent career. He at first worked on a farm by the month, receiving a monthly wage of eighteen dollars, and for a time he was engaged in carpenter work, which he thought of learning. He gave up the work, however, to take a position with the Indiana Lumber Company. He began in a humble way. but he advanced rapidly, and soon had worked himself up to the position of manager, which he still retains. He is a stockholder in the company as well as its manager.
On June 18, 1907, Mr. McDonald married Miss Minnie Persinger, and they have one child, Frank McDonald.
Mr. McDonald is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias, and he and his wife are members of the United Brethren church.
EVERETT R. GORE. A genuine talent for the agricultural industry is one that may not be despised in summing up the various qualities that go to make for valuable and useful citizenship, and especially is this true in Cass county where the fairest wealth of the district lies in her bountiful farming lands. Those men who have applied themselves to the work of developing the splendid natural resources of the county and converting it into the wonderfully productive region it is today have done as much for their country as have those in higher places and wielding a wider influence. They have done what they could, and of none is more required. Everett R. Gore is one who has amply earned
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the distinction of coming into this class of men by his achievement in the farming line, and he is today the owner of one of the fine show places of his community, though it may be said that when he married and began life independently he established himself on a rented farm. Ile has been devoted to the work of the farm all his life, and is a practi- cal, far-sighted and successful farmer.
Everett R. Gore was born in Shelby county Jannary 15, 1860, and he is the son of James Wesley and Martha (Bradley) Gorc. The father came from Virginia, his native state, to Wayne county, Indiana, and later removed to Cass county, where he passed the remainder of his life. He devoted his years to farming and was fairly successful in the work, and was one who was prominent in his community all his days. To him and his wife three children were born, namely: Mary J., who married a Mr. Grusmeyer; Willard, living in Lincoln; and Everett R., whose name heads this necessarily brief review.
Everett R. Gore came up through boyhood years as an attendant upon the schools of Shelby and during his vacation seasons worked on the home farm. He later applied himself to the trade of a carpenter for some time, but the work was not entirely congenial to him, and when he married in 1891 he reverted to farming and farm life once more, for which he had a natural talent and a gennine liking, the qualities, undeniably, that have made him successful in his enterprise. Being withont capital, Mr. Gore rented a place from his father-in-law, which he operated until he had prospered sufficiently to purchase one of his own. Mr. Gore married Jennie Countryman, the daughter of Isaiah and Sarah (Crull) Countryman, and three children have been born to them: Ina, the eldest, being a student in the local high school, and Elma and Pansy attending grade school.
The family are members of the Baptist church, and assume their just share of the duties and responsibilities attendant upon the work of that body. They are popular in their home community and number their friends in generous measure. Mr. Gore is a man who lives quietly, taking no undue interest in affairs of a political nature, but giving his support to the Democratic party. Though he has considerable influence among his fellows, he is not one who has ever been an office seeker.
DICK ALFORD ZEHRING is the son of an old and honored Indiana fam- ily, and a most interesting history attaches to the name. In this connec- tion it is impossible to more than briefly cite a few facts relating to the ancestry of the subject, lack of space making a detailed statement impos- sible. Mr. Zehring was born on the 12th day of November, 1873, and is the son of William I. and Lydia (McIlwain) Zehring. Beginning with the first of the name of whom a record has been established, Christian Zehring, the great-great-grandfather of the subject, was born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, of Dutch origin as the name and the location would indicate. IIe was the son of a pioneer farmer and blacksmith of that county. He married Mary Rauch, who was like himself a native of Lebanon county, and there he continued to live, fol- lowing the calling of a blacksmith, in which trade he had been trained by his worthy parent. Christian and Mary Zehring reared a goodly family of twelve children, named as follows: Henry, John, Catherine.
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Christian, Philip, William, Bernard, David, Peter, Susan, Mary and Martha. Three others died in infancy. He moved to Ohio in the year 1818, and settled in Warren county where he became the owner of a fine farm and there passed his remaining days, living to reach the age of seventy. He was a man of splendid character, and was a power for good in his community to the day of his death. Of his family, William, born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, engaged in agriculture in Dau- phin county, that state, and was thus occupied for some little time. He married Elizabeth Garst, and soon after that event, in 1818, moved to Ohio and settled on fifty acres of land in Butler county, near the town of Middletown. He passed his remaining days in Ohio, and was one of the well known men of his time. His children were John, William, Christian, Lydia and Barbara. He died in September, 1872, and his widow survived him until 1885.
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