USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families > Part 35
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Edwin L. Fosdick, who for a number of years has occupied a respon- sible position with the Eckhart Carriage Company of Auburn, is a native of this city, where he was born on May 1, 1856. He is the son of Edward W. and Helen G. (Totten ) Fosdick. Edwin W. Fosdick was born on July 12, 1822, in Knox county, Ohio, and was the son of Thomas Updike and Rachel (Armstrong) Fosdick. The history of the Fosdick family has been traced back to Welsh ancestry, members of the family having emigrated to America near the middle of the seventeenth century. They intermarried here with the Havens family, some of whom provided one of the first churches on Long Island. The first of the family to come to DeKalb county, Indiana, was Orville Fosdick, oldest brother of Edward W., who entered govern- ment land in Wilmington township in an early day. Shortly afterwards, in 1844, the other members of the family came here and located two miles south of Butler, and that remained the permanent family home as long as the old folks lived. Edward W. Fosdick was a young man when he came to this locality and lived on the home place in Wilmington township until
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after his marriage, which occurred about 1850, when he was united to Helen G. Totten, daughter of Joseph P. and Betsy ( Barnes) Totten. She and her parents had lived on a farm adjoining the Fosdick farm. She died on May 21, 1856, and Mr. Fosdick afterwards married Ruanna Brandon, a daughter of Peter Brandon. She lived only about a year after her marriage, dying in April, 1860, and in 1878 Mr. Fosdick married Elizabeth H. Fetterhoff, who now reesides on the old farm in Butler township. Edward W. Fos- dick studied law at the University of Michigan, and practiced his profession at Butler. In 1854 he was elected treasurer of DeKalb county and in 1855 moved to Auburn in order to be close to his office and during his term of two years the country was flooded with wild-cat currency. After the completion of his term as treasurer Mr. Fosdick returned to Butler and during the rest of his active years he devoted himself to the practice of law. In 1869 he was elected state senator and served one term. He died on March 9, 1899. at the age of seventy-seven years.
The subject of this sketch, whose birth occurred but three weeks before the death of his mother, was reared in the home at Butler and after complet- ing his public school education, he became a student in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, after which he matriculated in the medical department of the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1879. He then located in Kewanna, Fulton county, Indiana, where for two years he engaged in the drug business under the firm name of Fosdick & Ralston. He then returned to Butler and from 1882 to 1895 was en- gaged in the drug business there, in which he met with very good success. For a time thereafter he was on the road as a traveling salesman and also for a period had charge of the United States and Pacific Express Com- panies' offices at Butler. He also gave some attention to the practice of law, or rather to the business left by his father, but eventually he sold the law library and came to Auburn, with which city he has since been identi- fied. He is now head bookkeeper in the office of the Eckhart Carriage Company and is performing his duties to the entire satisfaction of his em- plovers, whose interests he makes his own.
In 1881 Mr. Fosdick was married to Josephine McCarter, then a resi- dent of Kewanna, Indiana, and the daughter of Alexander and Mary L. (Richey) McCarter. Fraternally, Mr. Fosdick is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has attained to the degree of the Royal Arch. He and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the prosperity of which they are deeply interested. Mr. Fos-
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dick enjoys an extensive acquaintance in his locality and none can boast of more devoted friends than he, for in him are combined those characteristics which gain and foster friendships that endure through all times and all vicis- situdes of fortune.
ISAAC MYERS ZENT.
The biographies of enterprising men, especially of good men, are in- structive as guides and incentives to others. The examples they furnish of patient purpose and steadfast integrity strongly illustrate what is in the power of each to accomplish. Some men belong to no exclusive class in life; apparently insurmountable obstacles have in many instances awakened their faculties and served as a stimulus to carry them to ultimate renown. The gentleman whose life history is herewith outlined is a man who has lived to good purpose and achieved a splendid success. By a straightforward and commendable course he has made his way to a respectable position in the busi- ness world, winning the hearty admiration of the people of his county and earning a reputation as an enterprising, progressive man of affairs which the public has not been slow to recognize and appreciate.
Isaac Myers Zent was born near Massillon, Stark county, Ohio, on No- vember 19, 1859, and is the son of Jeremiah and Mary C. (Armstrong) Zent. Jeremiah Zent was a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Hage) Zent. Samuel Zent was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, December 7, 1790, and died March 2, 1855; the latter's wife, Elizabeth Hage, was born July 25, 1792, in the same county, and died August 31, 1874. Samuel Zent was the son of Jacob and Susanna Zent, the former having been born January 30, 1763, and died October 25, 1845, his wife's birth occurring April 30, 1765, and her death on March 13, 1841.
Jeremiah Zent, who was a farmer, moved, in 1850, to Vandalia, Illinois, where he bought a large tract of land and there carried on agricultural opera- tions during the rest of his active life. He was public spirited and took an influential and unselfish interest in the upbuilding and welfare of his com- munity. He was a man of definite convictions on the great questions of the day and, though living in a hotbed of secession, he openly espoused the cause of the Union and during the Civil war he proved such a friend to soldiers and soldiers' families that the Grand Army of the Republic afterwards made him an honorary member of that society, though he had seen no military service. He died in 1901 and his widow still resides in Vandalia.
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I. M. ZENT
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Isaac M. Zent lived at Vandalia until he was seventeen years old and received a good practical education in the public schools. He then left home and started out in life on his own account, his first effort being to learn the trade of a telegrapher. Entering the employ of the Wabash railroad, he was assigned to different stations on that system and in June, 1882, was ap- pointed agent at the Auburn station. His services were here so faithfully performed that he was retained in the position for twenty-eight years, through several changes of administration and after the Wabash company sold the road to the Vandalia Railroad Company-in fact, up to the time he was appointed postmaster of Auburn, his commission to the office being April 15, 1910. In the latter position he exhibited the same careful attention to the performance of his duties as characterized him when in the employ of a cor- poration, and his relations with his superiors and the patrons of the office have been mutually satisfactory and pleasant.
In the business and commercial life of the community Mr. Zent has long been an active and prominent figure. He was one of the organizers of the Citizens National Bank, of Auburn, and is now the largest individual stockholder of this institution, of which he has been a director ever since its organization. He also assisted in the organization of the Savings Loan and Trust Company and was one of its first directors, but he later sold his hold- ings in that company to Monte L. Green. He is the only local stockholder, and is a member of the board of directors of the Indiana Fuel and Light Company, the company that furnishes gas to Auburn. Of the Auburn Com- mercial Club Mr. Zent has been a member since its organization and a direc- tor for many years, while in many other ways he has exerted a wholesome and appreciated interest in the advancement of the business interests of Au- burn and DeKalb county. Physically, built on the Abe Lincoln or Joe Can- non style, Mr. Zent is, like them, a man of strong convictions and earnest pur- pose, optimistic in his views of life, and affable and agreeable in his rela- tions with his fellow men. These qualities have combined to gain for him a marked degree of popularity in the community in which so many of his active years have been spent.
Politically, Mr. Zent has, for many years, been an active and influential member of the Republican party and in local political circles he is a promi- nent figure, having for a number of years served as treasurer of the county committee. Fraternally, Mr. Zent is a Mason, having attained to the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite, and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine, and the Auburn lodge, Knights of Pythias, having been a charter member
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of the last-named organization, being a popular member of these several fraternities.
On July 25, 1885, Mr. Zent married Laura E. Ensley, who was born and spent her entire life at Auburn. Her parents, George and Lydia (Noel) Ensley, were among the pioneer residents of Auburn, the family being for many years prominent and influential in the affairs of the community. Mrs. Zent was called to the higher life on October 5, 1910. All in all, Mr. Zent is a worthy representative of the sturdy, intelligent and progressive class that gives stability to the body politic and character to the community, being broad- minded, with wide views of men and affairs, and a true type of the enterpris- ing American of today.
ANDREW JACKSON RALSTON.
The family of which the subject of this review is a creditable repre- sentative has been known in DeKalb county since the pioneer epoch and. without invidious comparison, it can with propriety be said that no other name is better known or more highly esteemed in this locality. Honored and respected by all, there is today no man in the county who occupies a more enviable position in the regard of his fellows than Andrew J. Ralston, not alone because of the splendid material success which he has achieved, but also by reason of the splendid life which he has lived in this community. He was born at Plymouth, Richland county, Ohio, on September 9, 1841, and is the son of Samuel W. and Eliza J. (Brink) Ralston. The subject's paternal grandparents were Robert and Jane (Woodburn) Ralston, of whom and their ten children the remarkable fact is recorded that their average age was eighty-four years, the youngest having been over seventy-two years old at the time of his death. These children were named Robert, Jr., James, Mrs. Jane Hall, Mrs. Margaret Hall, Mrs. Mary Gribben, Alexander, Samuel W., Mrs. Maria Dixon, David and Mrs. Julia Bodley. In 1814 Robert and Jane Ralston moved, with their family, from Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, to Richland county, Ohio (now Ashland county). There Samuel W. Ralston, who had been born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, on De- cember 12, 1807, began to learn the trade of a carpenter, which he followed with considerable success for a quarter of a century. In December, 1842, he brought his family to Auburn, Indiana, arriving here on the 12th of De- cember and being the eighth family to locate in this city. He here fol- lowed his trade of carpenter, in which he became quite prominent. In 1843
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he took the contract for the completion of the first courthouse, a two-story frame building, thirty-five by fifty feet in size, and the frame work of which had been put up by the first contractor, Joseph Heit, who then relinquished his contract. Mr. Ralston completed the contract in 1843. In 1846 he was elected sheriff of DeKalb county, serving two years, and was then elected county treasurer for a like period. In 1856 he was again elected to the office of sheriff and was re-elected in 1858. In 1861 he engaged in the mer- cantile business, in which he was successful and which commanded his at- tention until about five years prior to his death, when he retired from busi- ness and spent the remainder of his days quietly at his home, a large and substantial brick building, which he had erected at the corner of Tenth and Main streets and which is still standing in good condition. There his death occurred on March 6, 1891, and his widow died there in August, 1893. Mrs. Ralston, whose maiden name was Eliza J. Brink, and whom he married in 1834, was a native of Plymouth, Ohio. She was a faithful member of the Presbyterian church, of which her husband was a regular attendant. They were the parents of four children, namely: Helen M. died in November, 1855, at the age of about twenty years ; Emily A., who died on January 20, 1903, was the wife of W. H. Dills, of Auburn; Andrew J .; George C. is engaged in the hotel business at Sulphur Springs, Arkansas.
Andrew J. Ralston was reared in Auburn, securing a fair education in the public schools, and in young manhood was variously employed, usually in drygoods stores and other mercantile houses. He served as deputy sheriff under his father and in a like capacity under Sheriff J. N. Miller. From 1869 to 1873 he served as deputy county treasurer under Treasurer F. D. Ryan, and then for about seven years he was successfully engaged in buy- ing and shipping grain. In 1882 Mr. Ralston went into the grocery business, to which he devoted his attention until 1896, when he disposed of that busi- ness and has since mainly occupied himself in looking after his farming interests. He owns one farm of one hundred and seven acres east of Auburn and an undivided half interest in one hundred and sixty acres nine miles south of Auburn.
For many years Mr. Ralston took an active part in public affairs and was a prominent and influential figure in the councils and conventions of the Democratic party, but of late years he has somewhat retired from active par- ticipation in these things, though his interest in current affairs has not in the least abated. For six years Mr. Ralston has rendered appreciated ser- vice as historian for the Old Settlers' Association, in the proceedings of which he has long been deeply interested. As a storehouse of facts and
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traditions regarding the early history of DeKalb county he is an authority, and his utterances on these things are entitled to credence, for to him belongs the distinction of being the oldest citizen of Auburn in point of years of continuous residence, and he has taken considerable pride in collating much interesting and valuable local history which otherwise might have been lost to future generations.
On February 25, 1864, Mr. Ralston was married to Hadessa J. George, who was born in what is now Ashland county, Ohio, the daughter of James Currie George and Priscilla (Reynolds) George. Mr. George was born in Ashland county, and his parents, who were natives of Pennsylvania, were of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Priscilla Reynolds was born in Delaware and in her childhood she was brought to Ohio by her parents, James and Mary (Mc- Clellan) Reynolds. Mrs. Ralston was but a babe in arms when, in Novem- ber, 1842, the family came to Auburn, her father having bought a half sec- tion of land a mile east of that city some time previously. When they moved here he brought the price of the land in silver in his wagon. He had a brother here, with whom he stayed a short time, and the money was put and safely kept under a puncheon floor, there being no banks here at that time. On the tract of land referred to the George family made their permanent home, Mr. George carrying on farming operations there during the rest of his active life. He became prominent in the early life of that locality and served in several township offices, always to the entire satisfaction of his fellow citizens. His death occurred in 1849, at the early age of thirty-six years, leaving a wife and two daughters, Mary Ann and Hadessa. The widow lived to be eighty-seven years old, her death occurring in August, 1903.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ralston have been born three children, as follows : George M., born in October, 1865, is connected with the Commercial Bank at Ft. Wayne and is secretary for the well known real estate and banking firm of Strauss Brothers, which does an annual business of more than two million dollars. At Ft. Wayne, he married Nettie Ernest, a resident of Auburn, and they have two children, Roger Jackson and Hubert Russell; Alzein Aileen, whose death occurred on March 30, 1903, was the wife of Harry K. Scott, of Angola, Indiana: Helen S. is the wife of Monte L. Green, a banker at Garrett, this county, and they have a daughter, Alzien Louise. Mrs. Ral- ston is a member of the Presbyterian church and is also well known in club and literary circles of Auburn. She is one of the three active members of the Ladies' Literary Club of this city who were charter members when the club was organized in April, 1882, it being the oldest woman's club in northern
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Indiana and next to the oldest in the state. She is a woman of kindly man- ner and is deservedly popular in the circles in which she moves. Mr. Ralston has through the years performed his full duty as a citizen, standing as a man among men, and today he enjoys to an eminent degree the confidence and good will of all who know him.
HENRY E. ALTENBURG.
The life history of him whose name heads this biographical memoir is closely identified with the history of DeKalb county, Indiana, which was long his home. He began his career in this locality in the pioneer epoch and throughout the years which later came and went he was closely allied with its interests and upbuilding. He was of a high type of progressive citizen and his life was one of untiring activity. The cause of humanity never had a truer friend than Mr. Altenburg, who long since passed to the higher life. In all the relations of life-family, church, society and business-he dis- played that consistent Christian spirit, that natural worth, that endeared him alike to all classes. His integrity and fidelity were manifested in every re- lation of life, and the example of such a life is always an inspiration to others. In dealing with mankind, his word was his bond; deceit never entered into any transactions he had with his fellow men. His plain, rug- ged honesty, his open-hearted manner, undisguised and unaffected, is to his descendants a sweet and lasting memory.
Henry E. Altenburg, who was an honored early pioneer of DeKalb county, was born near Sandusky, Ohio, on April 23, 1838, and died at his home in Auburn in February, 1889. He was a son of Daniel and Sarah (Latson) Altenburg. Daniel Altenburg was a native of the Mohawk valley, near Buffalo, New York, and eventually moved from that locality to San- dusky, Ohio, where they lived two years. When Henry E. was a baby of about two months, the family came to DeKalb county, Indiana, following blazed trails through the interminable forests which then covered the country, no roads or bridges having been built as yet. The first bridge over Cedar Creek, between Waterloo and Uniontown, was then being erected, and they were compelled to ford that stream, which was so deep that the cows, which were tied beside the wagon, were compelled to swim. Before reaching Auburn they became lost in the deep snow one night and called loudly for help.
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They were heard by Isaac B. Smith, a farmer, who came to their rescue with a lantern and guided them to his home. They were then between Waterloo and Uniontown and it took them all the following day to get to Auburn. Upon reaching this locality, Daniel Altenburg entered a quarter section of government land two and a half miles east of Auburn, the tract being located in the midst of a dense forest, from which the only road to the little settlement at Auburn was a narrow and winding trail. Here they estab- lished their permanent home and, amid the pioneer conditions of that day. they started to clear the land, build a home and plant the soil. Here Daniel and Sarah Altenburg reared their family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, namely: Daniel L., Mary Jane, Henry E., Harriet E., David Cosper, Isaac L., Sylvia A., William J. and Frank F. Politically, Daniel Altenburg was a stanch Republican and was a strong supporter of the Union cause during the war of the Rebellion, and, though too old himself to enlist, he sent four sons to the front to fight for the preservation of the nation. He was an honored and respected citizen of his community and for many years served as justice of the peace. In young manhood he lost an arm from the effects of a tree falling on it and from this wound he suffered during all the remainder of his life, the pain frequently being intense, but he bore his suffer- ings with patience and Christian fortitude. He was public spirited to a notable degree and it is related of him that, having bought the old court house, which had been moved from its original site to make way for the new brick building, he gave the old building to be burned in celebration of a Union victory during the war. Daniel Altenburg's first wife, the mother of the children before mentioned, died in 1863, and he afterwards married Susanna Seibert, whose first husband had been killed in the war. She now resides northwest of Auburn, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. About 1870 Mr. Altenburg moved into Auburn, where he spent his remaining days, dying in January, 1887.
Henry E. Altenburg was reared on the paternal farmstead, east of Auburn, living there until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he enlisted in Company G, Nineteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was in constant and active service for eighteen months, taking part in the first battle of Bull Run and the other great battles in which the Army of the Potomac participated up to the time he received his honorable discharge. In the fall of 1864 Mr. Altenburg again enlisted, this time in the First Indiana Battery of Heavy Artillery, with which he saw service along the Mississippi river and at the battle of Mobile Bay. He received his final discharge from the
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service in November, 1865. His two brothers, Daniel and Isaac, were in the service with him during his second enlistment.
On January 27, 1864, while at home between his two enlistments, Mr. Altenburg was married to Sarah C. Bodine. She was born near Plymouth, Ohio, and came to DeKalb county in 1861 with her mother, Elizabeth E. (Chamberlain) Bodine, her father, John Bodine, having died in August, 1860. Elizabeth Chamberlain was born in Cayuga county, New York, and was there married, her husband also being a native of that county. They moved to Plymouth, Ohio, where he engaged in farming, and later ran a shoe store. After his death, his widow and her six children came to Auburn, where she resided until all of her children were married.
After the war Henry E. Altenburg made his home in Auburn, where he took up the vocation of a carpenter, becoming a contractor and erecting a number of houses, some of which are still standing. In 1876 Mr. Altenburg became a railway postal clerk, which employment he followed for nearly twelve years, when he resigned and moved to Kendall, Hamilton county, Kansas, where he engaged in the feed business. He remained there a little over two years, when the extreme and long-continued drought caused a wide- spread failure of crops, entailing upon him a loss of all his capital. He then brought his family back to Auburn, and during the following winter he was taken sick, his death occurring in February, 1889.
To Henry E. and Sarah C. Altenburg were born four children, as fol- lows: Harry Q., who lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is connected with the Burroughs Adding Machine Company ; Clara E. is the wife of John Zimmer- man, of Auburn, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work; Eugene C. is advertising manager for the Zimmerman Manufacturing Company ; Jolin D. is a successful dentist at Findlay, Ohio.
Religiously, Mr. Altenburg was an earnest, faithful and consistent mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the prosperity of which he was deeply interested. Fraternally, he was for many years an appreciative mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In his domestic relations, Henry Altenburg was a faithful husband and a kind father, affectionate in his home relations, while in the community he was a conscientious man and a good citizen in the broadest sense of the term. Quiet and unostentatious and seeking the sequestered ways of life rather than its tumult and strife, he ever attended strictly to his own affairs and made better all who came within range of his influence.
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