USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of DeKalb County, Indiana : together with sketches of its cities, villages and towns and biographies of representative citizens : Also a condensed history of Indiana > Part 80
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Prentiss Gill, harness-maker, Waterloo, Ind., was born in Summit County, Ohio, Dec. 29, 1839, a son of Thomas and Sarah (Sapp) Gill, his father a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of Maryland. They were among the early settlers of Summit County, locating a little before Akron was laid out. Prentiss was reared and educated in his native county, and
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when thirteen years of age began working at the harness-mak- er's trade, serving an apprenticeship of four years. In April, 1861, he enlisted in the Nineteenth Ohio Infantry (three months service) and was the first volunteer enrolled from Cuyahoga Falls. He served four months, participating in all the engage- ments under General McClellan. He was mustered out, and eleven days later enlisted in Company D, Fifteenth United States Infantry, Second Division (General McCook) Army of the Cumberland; afterward First Division, Fourteenth Army Corps. He participated in the battles of Chattanooga, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, and Jonesboro, Ga. He was mustered out as Ser- geant at Atlanta in 1864 and returned home, but soon after enlisted in Company -, One Hundred and Ninety-seventh Ohio Infantry, and served a year. In July, 1865, he came to Indiana and began working at his trade in Kendallville, Noble Co. Remained there a few years, and then moved to Water- loo, where he now has a good trade. He was married Dec. 25, 1865, to Nancy Yant, to died in Waterloo in 1881, leaving three children-Kate, Jessie and Lloyd. In 1883 Mr. Gill mar- ried Mary Warren. He is a member of Waterloo Post, No 52, G. A. R.
Samuel Goodwin, one of the old settlers and representative citizens of Union Township, was born in Center County, Pa., in October, 1816, the second son of seven children of David and Catherine (Zimmerman) Goodwin, natives of Pennsylvania. In 1822 his parents moved to Wayne County, Ohio, and subse- quently to Ashland County, where the father died and where Samuel grew to manhood. He was married in 1843 to Eliza- beth Good, and settled in Ashland County, Ohio, where they lived till 1854, when they moved to De Kalb County, Ind., and settled on the farm where he now lives. At that time it was a tract of heavily timbered land, but by hard work and perse- verance he has cleared and reduced it to an advanced state of cultivation. He owns 115 acres of choice land, and his resi- dence and farm buildings are large and comfortable. Although his early years were full of toil and hardship, he has accumu- lated a good property, and his latter years can be spent in comparative ease, free from care and labor, with a consciousness that his life has not been lived in vain. His wife died in 1865, leaving five children-Mary E., now the wife of Alfred Keck;
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Leander S. married Rebecca Hively; Joseph W. married Olivia M. Brown; Lucy, now Mrs. Stephen George; Alice, now Mrs. William Atwood. Mr. Goodwin subsequently mar- ried Mrs. Mary J. (Prosser) Brubaker, and to them have been born three children-Ina, married, Frank Parnell and William F. Mrs. Goodwin has three daughters by her former marriage -Jennie, wife of Philemon Goodwin ; Catherine, wife of Oscar Zimmerman ; and Emma, wife of John Lilling. Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin are members of the United Brethren church, and take an active part in the promotion of all objects of a religious or charitable nature.
George W. Gordon, Postmaster, Auburn, Ind., was born near Republic, Seneca Co., Ohio, Dec. 7, 1834. In 1841, when he was seven years of age, he came to Indiana with his mother and stepfather, Lydia and George Ensley, and was reared in Butler Township, De Kalb County. He received a good education, attending, the district and select schools, and afterward the Methodist College at Fort Wayne. He assisted his stepfather to clear and cultivate his farms, and endured all the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life, remaining on the farm, and teaching school during winter months, till the breaking out of the Rebellion. Sept. 25, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, Forty-fourth Indiana Infantry, as a private, but was promoted to Orderly Sergeant. He participated in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, siege of Corinth. While on duty during the siege of Corinth he was taken sick with typhus fever and rheu- matism and was sent to the United States Hospital at Keokuk, Iowa, where he remained under treatment from July till De- cember, returning to his regiment on the battle-field at Stone River. He participated in all the further engagements of his regiment, including battles of Chickamauga and Mission Ridge. After the latter battle his regiment was detailed to provost duty at Chattanooga, and remained there till the end of their term of service. He was mustered out at Chattanooga, Tenn., Nov. 22, 1864, serving three years and nearly three months, and re- turned to Indiana. Soon after he went to Fort Wayne and engaged in the art of photography, remaining there one year. He then returned to the old home in Butler Township and engaged in farming till 1871, when on account of failing health, the result of army life, he located in Auburn and opened a studio which he carried on till January, 1882, when he was ap-
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pointed, by President Arthur, Postmaster of Auburn. In poli- tics Mr. Gordon is a Republican. In 1856 and 1857-'8 he served as Clerk of Butler Township, and in 1870 was nominated County Auditor, but was defeated by seventy-five votes, the county going Democratic. He was married Nov. 22, 1856, to Mary C., daughter of Charles F. Crouse. They have one daughter-Minnie M. Mr. Gordon is a member of Mentor Lodge, No. 591, I. O. O. F., and De Long Post, No. 67, G. A. R. He is Past Grand of his lodge, and is Deputy Grand Master of the 467th District of Indiana. He is Commander of his post. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Hiram Griswold, bridge contractor and builder, of Auburn, Ind., was born in Litchfield County, Conn., April 4, 1827. He went with his parents when a child to Stark County, Ohio, and later to Massillon. In 1844 he began clerking for Freeman Mc- Millan, wholesale dealer in dry goods and groceries, Massillon, re- maining with him four years. In 1848 he went to Toledo, Ohio, and for three seasons followed boating, and from there to Day- ton, where he followed the same business till 1853. In the sum- mer of 1854 he came to Indiana and was associated with his father, Willis Griswold, in a saw-mill; which subsequently was burned. They then bought the old - Mills, which they car- ried on several years. He was then variously employed, being for some time Marshal of Auburn and Deputy Sheriff several terms, serving under S. W. Ralston, Jeremiah Plumb and John McMillan. In 1861 he began bridge building, and has since built the greater part of the bridges in De Kalb, Whitley and Steuben counties. He was married in December, 1849, to Mary Copsly, of Dayton, Ohio. She died in June, 1869, leav- ing three children-Grant, Alfred and Lilly, wife of Charles McDonald, son of J. B. McDonald, of Whitley County.
Daniel Grogg, one of the early settlers of Union Township, was born in Stark County, Ohio, Aug. 13, 1818, a son of Solo- mon and Mary (Snyder) Grogg, natives of Northampton County, Pa., who emigrated to Stark County in an early day. The father died in Ohio, and the mother afterward came to De Kalb County, Ind., with her children, and died here at the age of ninety-five years. Daniel Grogg was reared on a farm, receiving a common-school education. In May, 1849, he moved to De Kalb County, Ind., and settled on the farm where he still
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lives, at that time a tract of wild land. He first bought 120 acres, and to this has added till he now owns 380 acres. His residence is a large, two-story brick building, and his farm buildings are among the best in the township. He has made a specialty of wheat, but has also paid considerable attention to stock-raising. He was married in Ohio, in 1843, to Elizabeth Hutz, and to them have been born five sons-John, Abraham, George, Peter and Franklin. Their only daughter died in young ladyhood. Mr. and Mrs. Grogg are members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Grogg is one of the representative farmers of Union Township, and has acquired his property by his good judgment and strict attention to his business.
Jacob Grogg, retired farmer, is a native of Ohio, born in Can- ton, Stark County, Feb. 14, 1814, a son of Solomon and Mary (Snyder) Grogg. When twenty-one years of age he began to learn the miller's trade in Rufner Mills, near Canton. In 1840 he took charge of the Roop Mills at Pekin, and remained one year. The next ten years he took charge of the Hostetter and Roop mills, and in 1851 came to Indiana and prospected in De Kalb County where he had two brothers, Peter and Daniel. He purchased land in what is now Keyser Township, and in the spring of 1852 moved his family to the wilds of De Kalb County. He cleared and cultivated his farm, residing on it till the fall of 1869, when he moved to Auburn, although he still owns it. He has never aspired to official honors, but has at different times been elected to positions of trust and responsibility. In November, 1837, he was married to Sarah Becher, of Canton, Ohio. They have had five children, but two of whom are liv- ing-Julia Ann, wife of Isaac W. Bard, of Dayton, Ohio, and Melinda, widow of Frank N. Barclay. Solomon died at Ruf- ner Mills, Ohio, July 3, 1845, aged three years; Adam died December, 1865, aged twenty-eight years; and Sadie, Feb. 1I, 1876, aged twenty-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Grogg are members of the Lutheran church.
John Frederick Groscop is a native of Germany, born June 12, 1821. His youth was spent on a farm in his native country, re- ceiving a common-school education. When he was twenty-one years of age he enlisted in the regular army and served seven years. At the expiration of his term of service he returned home, and soon after married Christina Crennion. In 1852 he started for the United States with his wife and three children.
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His wife and one child died on shipboard and he arrived in New York with his two children, without friends and with very little money. He went to Buffalo and remained one win- ter, and in 1853 came to Indiana and found employment on the railroad in De Kalb County. From his earnings he saved enough to pay for sixty-five acres of land, and to this has since added till he now owns 100 acres. When he bought his land it was mostly heavily timbered, but he went bravely to work and soon had sufficient cleared to plant a crop. He has been indus- trius and frugal, and now has one of the finest farms in the township. He has a new two story brick house, and a new barn 40 x 50 feet in size. His other farm buildings are large and convenient. Mr. Groscop was married a second time to Mary Myers, a native of Germany, cousin of his first wife. He has a family of nine children-William, Charles, Frank and Frederick (twins), Harmon, John, Caroline (wife of Charles Rees), Emma and Sophia. Mr. Groscop and his wife are mem- bers of the German Reformed church. When Mr. Groscop was married the second time he had but fifty cents, and the first hay he bought he paid for with $3 of his wife's money.
Isaac Hague, a pioneer of De Kalb County, Ind., was born in Holmes County, Ohio, June 29, 1837, a son of Aaron and Ruth (Culbertson) Hague. He came when a child to De Kalb County with his parents, who settled in Concord Township September, 1838. When he was sixteen years of age he was apprenticed to Isaac Brandt, of Auburn, to learn the shoe- maker's trade. After serving four years he went to Newville, where he worked at his trade and attended and taught school, remaining there six years. In 1860 he located in Waterloo and worked at his trade. In 1869 he was appointed Postmaster of Waterloo. In 1874 he was elected, on the Republican ticket, Auditor of De Kalb County, and resigned the position of Post- master and moved to Auburn. After his term of office expired, in the spring of 1879, he became associated with Charles Rant in the boot and shoe business in Auburn, but in February, 1883, sold his interest in the business. Mr. Hague was married to Miss Julia, daughter of J. B. Hoover, of Waterloo. They have two children-Stella M. and Charles E. He is a demitted member of Waterloo Lodge, No. 307, F. & A. M. He and his wife are members of the Disciples church.
Ezra D. Hartman, attorney at law, Auburn, was born in
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Lehigh County, Pa., May 16, 1841, a son of Abraham and Cath- erine Hartman, also natives of that State, his father of German, and his mother of English descent. Abraham Hartman was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1847 he moved to De Kalb County, Ind., and settled on a farm three miles northeast of Auburn, where he lived several years and subse- quently moved northwest of Auburn, where he died in the spring of 1873, aged sixty-three years. He was an energetic, progressive citizen, and was especially active in all matters of interest to the church. His wife is still living on the homestead with one of her sons, in the seventieth year of her age. Ezra D. Hartman received a good education attending the district school and the Auburn High School. He began teaching when but seventeen years of age and taught several years, at- tending school in the meantime as he had opportunity and means. While teaching he borrowed some law books of Judge Mott and read during his leisure hours under his direction. He afterward entered the office of J. B. Morrison, and re- mained with him till September, 1861, when he went to Ann Arbor, Mich., and entered the law department of the Michigan University, remaining there six months. Returning to Auburn he continued his studies and in June, 1862, was admitted to the bar. The following August he enlisted and helped to raise a company and on its organization was elected and appointed its Second Lieutenant ; in less than two months he was promoted to First Lieutenant, and two months later to Captain, having served in that capacity the greater part of the time from the start. He participated in the operations of the army in Ken- tucky and Tennessee and later in the siege of Vicksburg and the capture of Jackson, Miss. While in the army he contracted disease, especially of the eyes, which disabled him for active service, and in the spring of 1864, having received an honora- ble discharge, he went to Cleveland, Ohio, for treatment and re- mained till July, 1866, attending in the meantime lectures at the law school from which he graduated in the spring, his previous knowledge of the law enabling him to pass the examination with very little reading. In July, 1866, he located in Waterloo, Ind., and began his practice. In the Republican Convention of that year he received the nomination for Representative in the State Legislature. His opponent was Hon. Freeman Kelly. Mr. Hartman entered at once into the campaign,
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speaking at every available point in the county, and though the county was very close politically, was elected and served with credit. In the spring of 1867 he again began to practice in Waterloo, and the following fall was elected Prosecuting Attor- ney for the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, composing the counties of De Kalb, Steuben, Lagrange, Noble, Elkhart, and Kosciusko, and served three years. In the meantime he had formed a part- nership with J. L. Morland, and the firm of Hartman & Morland continued till the winter of 1871, when Mr. Hartman moved to South Bend, engaging in practice there. In 1873 he re- turned to De Kalb County and located in Auburn, forming a partnership with J. E. Rose. In September, 1881, this firm was dissolved and Mr. Hartman has since practiced alone. He is a popular and successful lawyer and has many friends both in and out of the profession. He is an eloquent speaker and although not a bitter partisan freely gives his services to the cause of the Republican party. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was the first Com- mander of the Post at Auburn. He is a member of the Presby- terian church, and has served as Trustee and Elder since 1873. He was married Oct. 15, 1868, to Mary, daughter of Levi Cun- ningham, a prominent citizen of Bryan, Ohio. They have three children-Mabel, born May 16, 1870; Walter C., born Feb. II, 1873, and Hubert Ezra, born Oct. 27, 1884.
Dewitt Clinton Headley was born in Concord Township, De Kalb County, Oct. 25, 1839, a son of Samuel and Rebecca (Woodcock) Headley. When fifteen years of age he began to take care of himself by working at the mason's trade and for farmers. His father was a merchant, and he assisted him in the store occasionally. In 1859 he went to California and teamed across the Sierra Nevada Mountains from Sacramento to Virginia City till December, 1863, when he returned to Newville and worked on a farm till March, 1864. Then he en- listed in Company H, Eighty-eighth Indiana Infantry, and served till August, 1865, when he was discharged at Indianapo- lis. He participated in all the engagements of Sherman's army after Buzzard's Roost. After his discharge he returned to Newville, and soon after went to Marshalltown, Iowa, return- ing to De Kalb County in 1868. The summer of 1869 he spent in Iowa, and then was associated with Joseph Rainier in the livery business till the fall of 1871. In the fall of 1872 he
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became associated with John Greenamyer in the boot and shoe business in Butler, and in December, 1873, they moved their stock to North Benton, Steuben Co., remaining there till June, 1874, when, his partner having previously retired from the firm, he moved his stock to Auburn, and the following Septem- ber sold it. From 1875 till 1881 he was variously employed, and then was appointed by Joseph Rainier assistant Postmaster, holding the position till Jan. 16, 1882, and since then has been associated with Mr. Rainier in carrying on the City Meat Mar- ket, the firm name being Rainier & Headley. April 10, 1873, Mr. Headley was married to Corlanthia R., daughter of John H. Parks, of Marshall County, Ind. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Headley is a member of De Kalb Lodge, No. 214, F. & A. M.
Solomon R. Heberling, dealer in agricultural implements, sew- ing-machines and musical instruments, Auburn, Ind., was born near Somerset, Perry Co., Ohio, Feb. 7, 1838, the third son of Jacob and Susannah (Wymer) Heberling. His mother died when he was about eight years old, and his father soon after moved his family to Fremont, Ohio, where he was reared on a farm, attending school only five months in his life. He assisted his father till nearly twenty-two years of age, when, in the fall of 1859, he left home and with eight others went to Tennessee as agents for Dr. Gunn's medical work. They divided the ter- ritory, and he and three others commenced work in Obion County. The John Brown trouble at Harper's Ferry had just taken place, and there was a strong prejudice in the South against Northerners, and when about to deliver the books they had sold in Jacksonville, one man raised a mob and demanded their departure. Their gentlemanly bearing won them many friends, and after some excitement they were allowed to remain three weeks, and during that time many who were bitterly op- posed to them, became their warmest friends. Their party dis- banded, and with one associate he returned to Indiana, arriving at Evansville, March 1, 1860. While traveling through Ken- tucky, they paid their expenses by selling fluid lamps. Finding no territory in Indiana, they went to Missouri, but here met with the same opposition as in Tennessee, and, not wishing to pass through the same trouble, returned to Indiana penniless. He worked a month on a farm near Evansville, and then engaged in book canvassing in Vanderburg and Posey counties
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY. 881
and in three months sold between $1,700 and $1,800 worth of books, receiving half as his commission. In August he went to Vernon, Ind., where he was taken with typhoid fever and was sick ten months. He had but $100 left, when he started for his father's house, and all but $15 of this was taken from his pockets while on the way. He was taken with a congestive chill on the boat and was unable to proceed. Finally he reached his uncle's at Lima and remained there three weeks, arriving at home Jan. 21, 1861. Oct. 21, 1861, he enlisted in Company I, Sev- enty-second Ohio Infantry, for three years, but was discharged July, 1862, on account of disability. He participated in the battle of Shiloh. He returned to Fremont, and after his recov- ery bought a farm and remained on it till 1871, when he began traveling for J. I. Case & Co., of Racine, and was in their em- ploy till November, 1883, having charge of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. He was then employed by the Snyder Wagon Company till March, 1884, when he became established in his present business in Auburn. Mr. Heberling was married Dec. 4, 1881, to Mrs. Sophronia Alderman, of Van Wert County, Ohio. He is a member of the City Council of Auburn. He is a prominent Odd Fellow, a member of Helena Lodge, No. 592, and Thompson Encampment, No. - , Helena, Ohio. He is also member of De Long Post, No. 67, G. A. R.
John C. Henry, banker and wholesale dealer in notions and drugs, Auburn, came to De Kalb County, Ind., Nov. 28, 1862, and settled in Fairfield Township. He engaged in farming till August, 1864. He removed to Steuben County and engaged in farming until about 1871 when he removed to the town of Hudson (same county), Ind., and engaged in mer- cantile business until 1877. He removed to Auburn and en- gaged in the wholesale notion business, and in August, 1882, added to it the drug business and in February, 1882, he, with Nicholas Ensley, Jacob Walborn, Guy Plumb and Albert Rob- bins, instituted the Farmers' Bank of Auburn. He has been Treasurer of Auburn High School for two years, and is the incumbent of that office at the present writing. Mr. Henry is a native of Ohio; was born in Millersburg, Holmes County, Jan. I, 1841. His father, Samuel S. Henry, died when he was about the age of twelve years. He remained with his mother, Jane C. (Allcook), until about the age of sixteen when, in the spring of 1856, he, thinking Ohio a poor place for a poor boy to get a
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start, went to try his fortune in the land of gold-California, where he remained until the fall of 1860, when he returned to his home in Millersburg, Ohio. Not having an opportunity, he received only a limited education, but by natural ability and energy he has acquired a good business education. Nov. 28, 1861, he married Marian Baughman, of Millersburg, Ohio, by whom he has two children-Helen Louisa and Harry Cook. He is a Mason and a member of De Kalb Lodge, No. 214; was * formerly a member and one of the founders of Hiawatha Lodge, No. 528, Hudson, Ind., and was Master of the same as long as he remained a citizen of the place.
Chester P. Hodge, the second son of the Rev. James Hodge and Keturah (Ransom), his wife, was born Dec. 16, 1834, in Leroysville, Bradford Co., Pa. Many of his ancestors on both sides were old settlers of Orange County, N. Y. Among them were the Colemans, Moffatts, Lamoreux, Tuttles and Daven- ports. In an old history of Orange County lists are given of those who held any office between 1760 and '65, and of those who in June, 1775, signed the pledge to support the Col- onial Congress. Among these are the names of three of Mr. Hodge's great-grandfathers-Isaac Hodge, Thomas Lamoreux and Jeremiah Coleman. The fourth, Capt. Samuel Ransom, of the Continental Army, fell at the head of his company, July 3, 1778, one of the victims of the massacre of Wyoming. On the monument erected to commemorate the massacre his name heads the list. His son, George Palmer, grandfather of Mr. C. P. Hodge, who had enlisted in his father's company two years before, when fourteen years old, helped to bury the dead, among whom was his own father. He afterward served in the army until peace was declared. He married for his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Lamoreux and Keturah (Tuttle) his wife. March 25, 1830, the Rev. James Hodge, youngest son of William and Sarah (Coleman) Hodge, married a second wife, Keturah Ransom. He had a good mind, unusual refinement and an excellent command of lan- guage. His earnest piety and pure life commended to all the holy Gospel in which he believed, which he preached from the pulpit and whose principles were his constant guide. Those who knew him chiefly in the pulpit remembered always the wonderful sweetness of his voice in singing and his " gift in prayer." His wife was a fitting helpmeet for her husband; a
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