History of Dearborn County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 98

Author: Archibald Shaw
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1123

USA > Indiana > Dearborn County > History of Dearborn County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 98

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The grandparents of Sarah (Ash) Marlowe came from England before the French and Indian War and settled near Hagerstown, Maryland. Her grandfather was a soldier under General Washington and was one of the few survivors of the defeat of General Braddock, at Fort Duquesne. There was a number of the Ash family serving in the Colonial army during the Revolution- ary War, among whom was one with the rank of general. A few of them figured as scouts and had many interesting experiences.

There were seven children born to Levi Marlowe and his wife : John W. is a practicing physician at Marshall, Illinois; Elliott is chief clerk in the rail- way mail service out of Indianapolis on the Peoria & Eastern railway; Will-

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iam, the father of Ernest O., and David, Mary Ellen, Albion and Frank are deceased.

Clara (Mozingo) Marlowe was born on January 24, 1862. the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Robinson (Pemberton) Mozingo, both natives of Kentucky. The former was born in Bourbon county, December 18, 1809, and died March 11, 1888, and the latter was born in Lincoln county. October 27, 1817, and died on February 9, 1894. They were married in their native state anl came to Indiana in the early pioneer days, settling in Decatur county when that country was practically all forest. They located near where the city of Greensburg now is and at one time owned a large tract of land of that county. There were fifteen children in. their family, those living being Mary Riley, Elizabeth Clemons, Nancy Tremain, Etna Beagle and Clara Marlowe.

Ernest O. Marlowe was born on a farm and when a small child his par- ents moved to Greensburg, where his early boyhood was passed. He attended the public schools of that city for a number of years. His parents moved to Muncie, Indiana, where he attended high school, and in 1904 he came to Lawrenceburg. Two years later he went into the employ of the Big Four railroad as a telegraph operator and on May 1, 1908, he began his work as a distributor of the United States mail, which position he still holds.

On October 12, 1911, Ernest O. Marlowe was married to Caroline. Christina Kord, daughter of John and Mary (Hoerger) Kord, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Elbert Winfield Marlowe, born on August 26, 1912. Mrs. Marlowe is a worthy wife for the subject of this sketch, being a woman of refinement and culture, giving every indication of her excellent early training and the assistance given her in character building.

Mr. and Mrs. Marlowe are members of the Church of Christ, Lawrence- burg, in the work of which both are keenly interested. Mr. Marlowe is church clerk, secretary-treasurer and deacon and fills a place in the church orchestra. His fraternal affiliation he holds in the Knights of Pythias through the local organization, Dearborn Lodge No. 49, which lodge he has served as chancel- lor commander. He is a member of the grand lodge of Indiana and is one of the youngest past chancellors in the state of Indiana.

Mrs. Marlowe was born in Wayne township, Marion county, this state, on land which is now a part of the site of the city of Indianapolis, October 15, 1885, and in that city her parents still reside. The father was born at Portsmouth, Ohio, October 2, 1861, and the mother at Louisville, Kentucky, July 2, 1864. To this union were born eight children: John F., Caroline Christina, Elizabeth, Frieda, Marguerite, and three children who died in infancy. John K'ord, Mrs. Marlowe's father, was a son of Frederick and Car-

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oline (Schultz) Kord. Frederick Kord was born on December 21, 1821, and his wife on February 11, 1822, both born in Schwerin-Mecklenberg, Germany. They married in that province, in 1853 or 1854, and came to this country in 1864. They were among the early settlers in the western portion of the state of Ohio and from there moved to Indianapolis, where he died August 11, 1890, at the age of sixty-eight years, and her death occurred seven years later, Janu- ary 24, 1897, at the age of sixty-five. There were four children to their union : Frederick Jr., Anna Scherrer, Lena Schmidt and John C.

Mrs. Marlowe's mother was a daughter of Christopher and Christina (Eckert) Hoerger, both natives of Baden, Germany, he being born on Febru- ary 8, 1833, and she on October 6, 1833. They came to America in their early life, married at Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1853, and settled in Kentucky. Their lives, however, closed in Indianapolis, he dying on October 16, 1908, and she on October 31, 1898. To their union were born nine children; Julia Lange, Samuel Hoerger, Louis Hoerger, Lulie Off, Mary (mother of Mrs. Marlowe) and Elizabeth Schoenemann, deceased, and three children who died young.

Mr. Marlowe is keenly interested in all that concerns the well-being of his community and gladly renders assistance to any cause having as its object the betterment of any phase of community life. Perhaps no higher eulogy can be passed than the simple statement that his name has never been coupled with anything disreputable and that there has never been the shadow of a stain upon his reputation for integrity and unswerving honesty. He is a consis- tent man in all he undertakes and his career in all the relations of life is abso- lutely without pretense.

HENRY CLAY WHEELER.

One of the older citizens of Dillsboro, Dearborn county. Indiana, is Henry Clay Wheeler, descended from one of the old families of this county, and a man who has had many interesting experiences in his time.

Henry Clay Wheeler was born in Sparta township, Dearborn county. June 8, 1841, son of Piercy and Ann ( Holliday) Wheeler. Piercy Wheeler was born in Tennessee in 1811, and there secured such education as the schools near his home at that time afforded. When a young man. in the early part of the nineteenth century. he journeyed to the fort at the falls of the Ohio, where the city of Louisville, Kentucky. is now located. and there remained for a short time. From there he came to this county and secured

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a tract of government land in Sparta township. This tract contained eighty acres, all covered with virgin forest, and he in due time had it all cleared and in an excellent state of cultivation. He lived on that farm for. fifty years and there his entire family was born and reared.

Piercy Wheeler was a man of strong personality, naturally a leader of men, and he had the reputation of being the first Republican ever elected in Sparta township. At the birth of that party he had espoused its principles and was one of its strongest advocates. When the Mexican War com- menced he organized an independent company, and was elected its captain. The company, however, was not accepted, Indiana's quota being full. He also got together a band of men from this section who started out on the perilous journey across the continent into California in search of gold. He and his friends started on the journey in 1852 and with few mishaps reached their destination and were quite successful in their quest for the yellow metal.

Ann Holliday, mother of Henry Clay Wheeler, was born in Genesee Falls, New York, and when a small child her parents decided to emigrate westward and embarked on the waters of the Ohio on a lumber raft. They in due time reached Aurora, where they landed and near where they made their home for the balance of their lives. Her father was Cortland Holliday, born and raised in the vicinity of Genesee Falls, New York. To Piercy Wheeler and Ann Holliday, his wife, were born the following children : James, William, Charles, Henry, Sarah, Piercy, John and Cortes H.

James, the eldest, enlisted in Company A, Seventh Regiment Indiana Infantry, and at the commencement of the Civil War, and died in a hospital at Cumberland, Maryland, in 1862. He was a school teacher for many years and had two children, William and Anna. Anna is Mrs. Schur- man, of Ripley county, and has two sons, Cortes and Ernest. Cortes also lives in Ripley county and is the father of one son, while Ernest lives in Dearborn county and is also the father of one son. William gave his life to the nation when a young man. He was wounded at the battle of Mine Run, Virginia, during the Civil War and died as a result of his injury one month later. Charles married Alice Bell and had two sons, John and Edward. Charles was a member of the Missouri militia during the Civil War. The next child in order of birth is Henry, the immediate subject of this sketch, and then follows Sarah, who married Piercy Phillips and resides at Pratt, Kansas. She is the mother of a large family. John Wheeler married Anna Peck and lived at Johnson City, Missouri, where he was a very successful

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physician. In addition to his professional duties he also speculated in land and was well known and highly respected in his community. He had one son, Harry, who is now a druggist of Lawton, Oklahoma. Piercy, the sixth son of this family, married Maggie Beatty, by whom he had two chil- dren, Mamie and Flora.

Cortes H. Wheeler, youngest son of Piercy and Anna Wheeler, was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, August 28, 1849. He was graduated at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 1, 1875. He located at Port Townsend, Washington, as temporary acting assistant surgeon, United States Marine hospital (contract), for eighteen months. Thence to St. Paul's Island, in the Behring sea, for fourteen months; then to China and Japan, for six months; then in San Francisco, California, as temporary acting assistant surgeon in the United States marine hospital, for twelve months; then to Portland, Oregon, where he is now located in private practice, after serving the city of Portland for about ten years as health officer.

Piercy Wheeler, father of Henry Clay Wheeler, was a son of Samuel Wheeler, who was born in North Carolina and when a young man journeyed into Tennessee, where he was numbered among the pioneer residents of that state.

Henry Clay Wheeler received his early education in the schools of this county, and when older took more advanced work at Moores Hill College. When the Civil War broke out he answered the first call for volunteers and served for three and one-half years as a non-commissioned officer. He was in twenty-two of the larger battles of the war, among them being Gettys- burg, where he received a serious wound. He was sent to Philadelphia, to the Satterlee hospital, and after improving was sent from there to the hos- pital for Confederate prisoners, at Chester, Pennsylvania, where he acted as ward master. When fully recovered he entered service again, rejoining his regiment at Culpeper, Virginia, and shortly afterward was engaged in the Battle of the Wilderness. A short time later, at the battle of North Anna River (Virginia), he was again seriously wounded, and this time was sent to Campbell hospital, at Washington, D. C. He was mustered out of service at Indianapolis on October 26, 1864.

After the close of the war he became engaged in the saw-mill and lumber business, operating in six of the central and southern states. He remained in this business for thirty-five years, and in 1893 suffered a loss by fire. At that time he had four steamboats plying up and down the Mis- sissippi and Ohio rivers and he also suffered the loss of these, two by fire

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and the remaining two sank. Following this series of misfortunes, he came to Dillsboro, where he has since made his home.

Henry Clay Wheeler was married on August 7, 1862, to Elizabeth Pierson, a daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Perlee) Pierson, who was born in the state of Ohio and was brought to Dearborn county by her parents while still a small child. Abraham Pierson was born on the Atlantic ocean, while his parents were en route from their home in England to the United States. They settled first in Delaware, where they remained but a short time and then came on to this county and state, where they secured government land which they farmed for a great many years. Abraham was one of the leading men of his section, and a fine man in every particular. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church and did much to further the cause of that society here during the early days of the county.

To Henry Clay and Elizabeth (Pierson) Wheeler were born four children, namely : Sarah Glendora, Dean Ellsworth, Walter P. and Maggie Pearl. Sarah Glendora became the wife of E. B. Thomas and resides in Rushville, this state. She has one daughter, Dorothy, now attending Depauw University, at Greencastle, this state. Dean Ellsworth married Nora Hay- don, of Kentucky, and they live at Frankfort, that state. There are no children to that union.

Walter P. Wheeler married Elvina Wilson, of this county, who died on March 25. 1914. Walter P. received his education at Dillsboro and when a young man went to Cincinnati and started out in life for himself. His first ventures were as laundry agent and street car conductor, and his next move was to return to Dillsboro, where he opened up a restaurant and confectionery business, the first in the town. He operated that for two years and then converted his business into a variety store and since 1911 has fol- lowed that line. Walter P. Wheeler is a supporter of the Republican party, although taking no special interest in political questions. He is a most active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, serving that society as steward and chorister of both church and Sunday school. Mr. Wheeler is a man of pronounced musical ability and is especially interested in the devel- opment of the musical talent of his home town. He has four children. Dorothy Ray. Dorrance Elmer, Benjamin Thomas and Esther Hope. all of school age except the last.

Maggie Pearl. the youngest child of Henry Clay Wheeler, is the wife of Dr. E. F. Van Osdol. of Warsaw, Indiana. There is one son to this union. Cortes Dean Van Osdol. Mrs. Van Osdol is a most charming and accom-

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plished woman, giving special pleasure to her friends by virtue of her talent for elocution.

Henry Clay Wheeler has lived a life full of activity and accomplishment, and now in the eventime of life, when he has retired from the more active duties, he has a mind well stocked with rich and varied experiences, the recounting of which gives pleasure to friend and stranger alike.

HERMAN BERNER.

The following brief sketch gives a few salient points in the career of a plain, honest man of affairs, who by industry and frugality has already achieved a competency and won for himself an enviable reputation among the best citizens of his community.

Herman Berner was born in Switzerland county, Indiana, on July 9, 1866, a son of Fred and Louisa (Berkemeyer) Berner, both natives of Wehringdorf, Osnabruck, Germany. Fred immigrated to the United States when a young man, settling in Switzerland county. There he purchased a. farm of eighty acres, where he passed the remainder of his life, meeting his death by drowning when in middle age. Louisa, his wife, came to this coun- try with her parents in 1848, when eighteen years old, and was married one year later. She was a daughter of Frank and Malissa (Berkemeyer) Berke- meyer, who settled in Switzerland county and there passed the remaining years of their lives. There were six children in the Berkemeyer family, two having died in early infancy. The others are Louisa, Ernest, Charles and Malissa.

The paternal grandparents were Herman Berner and his wife, Eliza- beth, both natives of Wehringdorf, Osnabruck, Germany, who came to the United States and in the early history of this section settled in Ripley county, where they lived to a ripe old age. There were six children in their family, three of them died when young. Those who grew to maturity are Fred, Henry and William.

Herman Berner received his education in the common schools of Switzerland county, also attending school at Cincinnati, and after his school days were over he went to Illinois, where for three years he hired out to farm work. He then came back to Indiana, settling at Friendship, where for twelve years he worked on a farm and conducted a huckster business part of

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the time. In 1900 he came to Clay township and purchased the old Perlee farm containing one hundred and eleven acres, for which he paid fourteen hundred and fifty dollars. On this homestead he has continued since to make his home, and carries on general farming as practiced in this section of the country. Mr. Berner follows twentieth century methods in conducting the business of his homestead, and his land and buildings attest the fact that he is thorough in his work.

Herman Berner was married on August 12, 1896, to Sophia Louisa Vinup, daughter of Henry and Mary (Oatman) Vinup, the former of whom is a native of Germany who came to this country when a young man. He located in Ohio county, where he first purchased ten acres of ground. This he put into an excellent state of cultivation, got it paid for and then added to his original holdings from time to time until at the time of his death he owned a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He passed away on August 25, 1903. Mrs. Vinup died on April 18. 1911. There were eight children in their family, namely: Henry. Carrie, William, John, Annie, George, Sophia (Mrs. Berner) and Lucinda. Mrs. Berner was born in Ohio county on February 5, 1875, and received her education in the schools near her home. To Mr. and Mrs. Berner have been born two children, Jessie and Irene, both of whom are attending school.

Mr. and Mrs. Berner both take considerable interest in church work, he being a charter member of the Trinity Lutheran church and one of its past trustees. Mr. Berner has given his support to the Democratic party ever since attaining his majority. He is a pleasant man of sincere purposes and honest convictions, honest and upright in all his dealings with his fellow men.

MAJOR JAMES ELMER LARIMER.

Major James Elmer Larimer, United States gauger, who lives at 222 East High street, Lawrenceburg, Indiana, was born near Middlebury, Elk- hart, Indiana, July 19, 1840, the son of James and Asenath (Cornwell) Larimer, the former of whom was a native of Bremen, Fairfield county. Ohio, and the latter of Rome, New York.

James Larimer, Sr., who was born in 1807, accompanied three brothers and a brother-in-law and a neighbor to Middlebury, Elkhart county, Indiana. about 1833, and there purchased land and engaged in farming, which he

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continued until his death in 1847. In that year he was accidentally killed when thrown by a horse. His wife lived more than a half century longer, passing away at the age of eighty-nine, in 1896. They were "old school" Presbyterians, and very strict and devout in their living. He was of Scotch- Irish stock and his wife's ancestors were English. In his generation he was known to be the best chopper, the hardest fighter and the most generous man in the neighborhood. Of their five children, two are deceased, John having been killed in the Civil War, and Amos D., who was lost at sea when his schooner foundered. The living children are, Anderson Wright, who lives in San Francisco, California, with his noble wife and two sons, James and Elmer; Nancy E., who lives in California, has been twice married and has two daughters, and James Elmer, the subject of this sketch.

Major Larimer's paternal grandfather, Isaac Larimer, who lived in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, during the early part of his married life, moved to Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1800, where he died at a ripe old age. He was a farmer by occupation and of farmer and pioneer stock since 1730 in America. He had a family of nine children, two of whom. John and Robert, served in the War of 1812. John was the eldest child and Robert was the third born. The other children were Moses, Wright, Isaac. James. Mrs. Betsy Everett, Mrs. Sallie Haggerty and Mrs. Cynthia Work. Major Larimer's maternal grandfather, a native of New York state, remained loyal to his country during the War of 1812, although he was imprisoned in Canada. After the War of 1812 they came West to Ohio and settled in Athens county, where they reared a family of five children, Asenath, Joshua, John, Goldsmith and Lucinda Eggleston.

James E. Larimer lived in Elkhart county, Indiana, until eight years old when, after the death of his father, he was taken to be reared by a preacher living in Michigan. After two and one-half years, he ran away from the preacher and returned home. Soon afterwards, the mother, who had sold her equity in the little farm left her by her husband, returned to her old home in Ohio, and then, with a brother and four nephews, made the trip overland to California in 1850. She kept a boarding house near the mines, later removed to San Francisco and conducted a bakery, and still later sold her property and went to live at Santa Monica, California, where she died in 1896.

James Elmer Larimer drifted back to Ohio to the home of his ancestors, where, fortunately, Samuel Smiley, a genial and warm-hearted blacksmith, taught him the trade. He remained with him for three years, Major

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Larimer remembers Mr. Smiley as an exceptionally fine boss. After working for him for some time, he came to Indiana and conducted a horse-shoeing shop in Goshen for three months, when the approaching war spoiled his business. He returned to Bremen, Ohio, and had just taken employment under Mr. Smiley for another year, when a dispatch which was handed him said they were raising a company at Lancaster. Without a word he put the iron back in the fire, went around to the cistern and washed, changed his clothes, caught the train for Lancaster and enlisted on April 16, 1861, in Company A, First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for three months' service, being the first boy in his township to enlist in the first company Ohio sent to the war. He was never away from the front until the war ended. He was at once sent to the east across the Alleghany mountains to help defend the city of Washington.

After a small engagement at Vienna, James Larimer was in the first battle of Bull Run, five days after the period of his enlistment had expired. On his way home he re-enlisted for three years with Company A, Seven- teenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served the entire three years, when he re-enlisted as a veteran in the same company and regiment in 1864. He first enlisted as a private, later was made sergeant and "orderly," and still later was commissioned first lieutenant, commanding four companies of the Twenty-third Missouri Volunteer Infantry. This position gave him, by courtesy, the rank of major, which title is sometimes given him, though he is indifferent to rank. He lived in his town over twenty years before anyone knew he was an officer. He served on the brigade staff and was provost marshal. His regiment was a great marching regiment, having marched during the war eight thousand miles. Its battles were Wild Cat, Stone's River, Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, the Atlanta campaign, in which the regiment was eighty-four days out of the hundred under fire; Jonesboro, Bentonville and innumerable skirmishes that were en- gagements with no recorded name.

A single incident in the soldier boy's life may be worth preserving. Camping a mile from Duck river, he saw a rebel line of works and a battery on the other side. About ten o'clock that night on call, he volunteered to go on a "dangerous but important" duty. He went down to the river, crawled down the wreckage of a burned railroad bridge and built a raft of boards around the pier to the wreckage on the other side. He then crawled ashore, about opposite the "line of works." He crawled up the dump, heard nothing crawled up along the foot of the railroad dump until he thought he was

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and then stood up on the railroad. The rear guard of the enemy saw him rise against the dim moonlight and went panic struck. They went over a pile of boards and up the road like a drove of stampeded cattle. Every moment after he struck the river that boy expected to be fired on, but he did not quit until he was able to report to Gen. St. Clair Morton, and he to General Rosecrans, that Bragg had abandoned the Duck river line. The world spreads the great general's fame, but never knows that to get the information on which he can make his dispositions, some modest boy must put his life up to be shot at, alone and in the dark, and many a one never gets back.

After the war Major Larimer returned to Indiana, married and operated a blacksmith shop at Guilford for three years. Appointed United States gauger by President Grant in 1869, he has served continuously, barring the two Cleveland administrations. In point of service he is now the oldest gauger with the widest experience in the United States. He had held this position despite the opposition of political enemies, not only in other parties, but in his own as well. Not everything has been smooth sailing. Major Larimer has unfortunately made enemies as well as friends. A bibulous editor did not know that his bitter sarcasm not only did not crush, but brought to notice and distinction an obscure and modest man. "The selfish and ambitious boss did not know that he was a fool to kick a sleeping dog." The major was always easy to counsel with, but hard to drive .. He was the only gauger in his district who ever found a fraud, and he found and broke up six. In one of these he was twice offered ten thousand dollars if he would not report, but remained loyal to his obligation as an officer of the United States.

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History of Dearborn County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 98

Author: Archibald Shaw Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1123

Author: Archibald Shaw
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1123