USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100
Dr. Darby has been a life-long supporter of the Republican party and
405
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
has been active in its support. In 1900 he was elected to the state Senate and served during the sessions of 1901 to 1903, with credit to himself and honor to his district. He is a member of the Church of Christ, and for many years was an active worker in the Sunday school. Fraternally, he is a member of Waterloo Lodge No. 307. Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Knights of Honor. Personally, Dr. Darby is genial and approachable, possessing those qualities which win friends, and he has been scrupulously conscientious in all that he has said and done. He was always deeply imbued with the courage of his convictions and his relations with his fellow men have ever been such as to win and retain their confidence and esteem.
JACOB B. CASEBEER, M. D.
The biographies of the representative men of a country, either of a past or present generation, bring to light many hidden treasures of mind, character and courage, well calculated to arouse the pride of their descendants and of the community, and it is a source of regret that the people are not more familiar with the personal history of such men. DeKalb county, Indiana, has been the home and scene of labor of many men who have not only led lives which should serve as a lesson and an inspiration to those who follow them on to the stage of life's activities, but who have also been of commend- able service in important avenues of usefulness. The well remembered phy- sician whose name forms the caption of this brief memoir was one of the useful workers in the world's work, a man of well rounded character, sincere, devoted and loyal, so that there are many salient points which render con- sonant a tribute to his memory in this compilation. Standing as he did for many years at the head of one of the most important and exacting of pro- fessions, his labors were long directed for the physical amelioration of the people of his community with such gratifying results. Personally, Doctor Casebeer was affable and popular with all classes and stood ready at all times to encourage and aid all laudable measures and enterprises for the general good. By a life consistent in motive and because of his many fine qualities of head and heart he earned the sincere regard of a vast acquaint- ance, and his success in his chosen field of endeavor bespoke for him the pos- session of superior attributes. Yet he was a plain, unassuming gentleman and straightforward in all his relations with his fellow men.
Jacob B. Casebeer was born in Holmes county, Ohio, on April 11. 1839.
406
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
and was the seventh in order of birth of thirteen children born to David and Rebecca (Kenstrick) Casebeer, who were natives, respectively, of Pennsyl- vania and Virginia, and farmers by occupation. On the paternal side the family is of German descent. The parents of David, John and Nancy (Best) Casebeer, moved from Pennsylvania to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, when he was a child, and there the greater portion of his after-life was passed. He was married to Rebecca Kenstrick on October 26, 1826, their union resulting in the birth of thirteen children, namely: Susanna, Enos L., David W., Re- becca M., Elizabeth N., Margaret C., Eliza E., Howard M., Jacob B., Sarah' A., Martha J., John and Joshua. David Casebeer was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a man of exemplary character. His wife was the daughter of John and Sarah ( Hivner) Kenstrick and she, too, was an earnest member of the Methodist church. The death of this worthy couple occurred respectively on February 25, 1885, and July 18, 1873.
Jacob B. Casebeer was indebted to the common schools for the limited education which he received, his scholastic training being practically com- pleted when, the summer after he was fourteen years of age, he was granted the privilege of attending a select school two months before harvest and two months after, and to do this he was obliged to walk two and a half miles each way. In the winter of 1853-4 he engaged to teach a school which for some years had been noted for the unruly conduct of the larger scholars, but, by his firmness and tact, he succeeded in mastering the situation and was retained in the school for four years, after which he taught in other localities three years longer. During this period he had pursued private studies and had received some opportunities for studying in advanced classes, thus be- coming a well educated man, largely through his own efforts. In 1860 he went to Hardin county, Kentucky, and, after working as a traveling sales- man for a time, was employed as principal of a graded school, and at the close of the regular term he took charge of a select school. Before the term of school was completed he was, on account of his well-known Union senti -. ments, threatened with personal violence and requested to leave the country, but he courageously completed his contract, when he returned to Northern territory. The following season he taught school at Middletown, Ohio, and the following year was principal of the schools at Fredericksburg, Wayne county, that state. During this latter period he engaged in reading medicine in the office of Dr. James Martin, of Fredericksburg, and in the fall of 1863 he entered the medical department of the University of Michigan, where he remained until the following March. The next June, having passed a rigid
407
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
examination before the Ohio board of medical examiners, he was commis- sioned a surgeon in the Union army and assigned to the Dennison Hospital, near Cincinnati, where he was given charge of one division of the hospital. Soon after he was promoted to the charge of that division of United States army hospitals, remaining there until February. 1865, when he was commis- sioned assistant surgeon of the One Hundred and Third Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He immediately joined his regiment, then in North Carolina, and remained with it until it was mustered out of service, June 27. 1865. He then returned to the office of Doctor Martin, where he resumed his studies and assisted the Doctor until fall, when he entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, where he was graduated, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, on March 1, 1866. He immediately came to Auburn, Indiana, and entered upon the practice of his profession, which continued practically without interruption up to the time of his death, which occurred on July 10, 1909. In the winter of 1873-4 he went to New York City and took post-graduate courses in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the New York Medical College and the Bellevue Hospital Medical College. He was, at different times, associated in the practice with Doctors Kesslar, Spooner, Littlefield and Matheny, and on July 14. 1879, he and Dr. Matheny purchased a drug store, which they continued to conduct successfully for a number of years. ยท Doctor Casebeer gained a high reputation as an able phy- sician and skilled surgeon, being called frequently to distant points, while he acted as surgeon for the Detroit, Eel River & Illinois Railroad, and was medi- cal examiner for a number of life insurance societies. He was earnestly de- voted to his profession and enthusiastic in its practice. He was a close student, and kept abreast of the constant advances being made in the sciences of medicine and surgery, owning a large and up-to-date library and taking the leading medical periodicals. He was a forceful writer on professional subjects and several of his papers, read before the American Medical Asso- ciation, were widely copied by the leading journals in this country and favorably commented upon. He was a member of the DeKalb County Medi- cal Society and the Northeastern Indiana Medical Society, having served as president of the last-named body.
Politically, Doctor Casebeer was an ardent supporter of the Republican party, being a man of strong and positive convictions on all questions of work of temperance reform. Religiously, he was for many years an active public policy. On the temperance question he was especially positive in his opposition to the traffic and was active and influential for many years in the
408
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
and earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church and long served as a member of the official board. In local affairs he was interested in everything that affected the welfare of the people and at the time of his death was serving as county health officer. He had also, for many years, served as pension examiner.
Doctor Casebeer was twice married, first on February 5, 1863, to Har- riet G. Smith, of Fredericksburg, Ohio, the daughter of Eli B. and Fannie Smith. She died on January 28, 1869, leaving a daughter, Fannie B., who was born on November 27, 1865. The latter became the wife of Bernard Gunn, and her death occurred at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the spring of 1902. On June 4, 1872, the Doctor married Sarah E. Nycum, of Ft. Wayne, the daughter of William and Margaret (Carr) Nycum. She was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and at the age of two years was taken to Iowa by her parents, coming to Ft. Wayne when she was four years old, living there until her marriage to Doctor Casebeer. To them was born a daughter, Hattie E., born April 11. 1873, who is now the wife of E. C. Alten- burg, of Auburn.
Although Doctor Casebeer's life was a busy one, his professional duties making heavy demands upon his time, he never shrank from his duties as a citizen and his obligations to his church, his neighbors and his friends. Al- ways calm and dignified, never demonstrative, his life was, nevertheless, a persistent plea, more by precept and example than by written or spoken word, for the purity and grandeur of right principles and the beauty and elevation of wholesome character. To him home life was a sacred trust, friendship was inviolable and nothing could swerve him from the path of rectitude and honor.
PRICE DONNER WEST.
Among the well known citizens of northern Indiana who have finished their labors and gone to their reward, the name of Price Donner West, who was one of the prominent business men and highly esteemed citizens of Auburn, is deserving of special notice. He was one of those sterling citizens whose labors and self-sacrifice made possible the advanced state of civiliza- tion and enlightenment for which this section of the Hoosier state has long been noted. He was a benefactor in the truest sense of the term. His career was fraught with inestimable blessings to the world, for he was a man who did not believe in living to himself alone, but desired to help those whom
Price D. West and family
409
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
fortune favored less on the highway of life, consequently his memory will long be revered by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in DeKalb county or wherever he was known.
Price Donner West, son of Fisher Curtis West, was born in Perry township, Allen county, Indiana, December 27, 1861. When about eight years old he went with his parents to Port Mitchell, Noble county, Indiana, where the family lived for three years. At the end of that time the family returned to the old home in Allen county. Price, when a boy, attended the district schools. Thirsting for knowledge and assisted in his ambition by his mother, who was an educated woman, young West entered the Methodist Episcopal College, then located in Fort Wayne. He was graduated from this, his mother's alma mater, in 1880. He entered DePauw University, and, largely through his own labor during summer vacations, paid his own way through that institution, from which he took his diploma in 1885. At this time his mind turned to the law and he entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor to prepare himself for the practice of his chosen profession. He was graduated from that institution, and, in 1889, he was admitted as a member to the bar of DeKalb county, Indiana. In 1892 he formed a partnership with Judge Hartman. After the dissolution of this partnership Mr. West was alone for awhile practicing law and lending money. From this grew his desire to go into a banking business, and early in 1900 he formed a partnership with Charles M. Brown, and the law firm of Brown & West continued to lend money, and in 1903 organized the Savings, Loan and Trust Company. On the Ist of January, 1908. Mr. West bought the interests of Mr. Brown and the partnership was dissolved. Mr. West was president of the Savings, Loan and Trust Company from its organization until his death. At all times Mr. West's business transactions, both in his law practice and in his trust company, were marked by the strictest integrity. In 1901 Mr. West's health failed and he was obliged to seek a change of climate to recuperate. He spent several months in Florida at St. Petersburg. He returned home much improved. As a boy at home he worked beyond his strength, and during his vacation months in his college years he was up from early dawn until late at night running a threshing machine and doing such other farm work as would enable him to pay his way through college the following school year. His ambition always exceeded his bodily strength. Although Mr. West was the son of a rich farmer he lived and worked as a poor boy. always. His mother died in 1889, and, although a large part of the farm was her own, Price derived
410
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
no benefit from it, allowing his father to retain and use it as he had in the mother's lifetime.
The elder Mr. West was a man of sound business ability and his advice and judgment were eagerly sought and accepted by the son, who always gave his father his entire confidence. The father, being a stockholder and director of the Savings, Loan and Trust Company, was in a position to give his son the benefit of his many years of experience, which he did. At the time of his death, Price D. West was known far and wide, and his trust company was one of the most popular and flourishing institutions of the kind in this section of the country. He was known as the "poor man's friend." Those struggling for a foothold in the world never asked him in vain for help, and those in trouble seeking his advice were received by him with the utmost sincerity and went away satisfied that his advice was right.
Mr. West as a lawyer stood high. He was admitted as a member of the bar of the supreme court of Indiana April 2, 1909. On the same date he was admitted to practice in the circuit court of the United States. In October of 1908 he organized the Garrett Savings, Loan and Trust Com- pany in the neighboring town of Garrett. He was president of that institu- tion until within a few months of his passing away, when he sold all of his interests therein. He was president also of the Auburn Creamery Company and of the County Association of Insurance Agents. His father being old and blind, Price took the management of his father's large farm in Allen county upon his own shoulders. He seldom took any recreation except to go to the farm for a few days' tramp through the fields and woods, every foot of which was dear to him.
He was married December 27, 1895, to Mrs. Mary C. Barnes. Two sons came of this marriage, Fisher C. West, Jr., and Price Donner West, Jr. The mother of these children died March 10, 1905. On June 19, 1906, Mr. West was married to Nanne Peterson, daughter of Henry C. Peterson, of Albion, Indiana. She and the two sons, Fisher, aged ten years, and Donner, almost nine years of age, are living at the home in Auburn.
Although of a retiring disposition, this man was kind and obliging to all whom he met in a business or a social way, and no favor was too much trouble for him to grant. Being a man of many sorrows, he had sympathy for the sorrowing, and aided them in many ways. His life was not an easy one, but one filled with trials that usually beset the man who makes his own way. He loved his work and found great happiness in it. During the past
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
seven years he had seemed to be growing steadily stronger, so that his pass- ing was a shock to every one, as well as a great grief.
He was a valued member of the Scottish Rite at Fort Wayne, and of all the Masonic orders at Auburn. A year before his death he was worthy patron of the Order of the Eastern Star, and also a member of the Knights of Pythias. He was also prominent as a member of the Commercial Club of Auburn. He was public-spirited, being intensely interested in the wel- fare of the community in which he lived. His Christian faith was exempli- fied by the many good deeds of his daily life. Being a most profound Bible scholar, he implanted a love for Bible stories in his two sons. The prepara- tion that Christ made for his ministry was the last lesson he taught his sons. He said: "Get an education to enable you to do something in life. Get ready to do, then do it." In his home life he was ideal. His every thought was for his wife and two children. It was his most earnest wish that he might live to see Fisher and Donner started in life for themselves. He was summoned by the death angel while sitting at his desk on the evening of July 5, 1913. His passing was the same as that of two of his mother's family. In the passing of this great and good man went the last of a family of eight children. He died as the Wheelers die, of apoplexy. Sincerity was the keynote of the character of this true friend, loyal citizen and superior business man. In every instance he was true to himself and his God. leaving nothing undone to gratify every wish of those nearest and dearest to him, making his home a paradise filled with the flowers of love.
Henry Clay Peterson, father of Mrs. Price D. West, was born in St. Mary's township, Adams county, Indiana, October 10. 1842. In September of 1856 Mr. Peterson, with his father's family, moved to Iowa, but in October of the following year the family returned to .Adams county. Mr. Peterson was educated in the common schools of Adams county and in the high school of Warsaw, Indiana. He was a classmate of Vice-President Marshall. In the Civil war he was a corporal of Henry Banta's Company I, Eighty-ninth Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was mus- tered into service August 14. 1862. He was taken prisoner at Mumfordville. Kentucky, in the fall of 1862, and was paroled and came home with his company for a short time. He was exchanged at the time his regiment was returned, the regiment then being on post duty in Tennessee the greater part of the winter. He with his regiment was then in the Missouri campaign, the expedition up the Red river with General_Banks, and Thomas's campaign at the battle of Nashville. He with his regiment participated in the capture
412
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely at Mobile. In short, he was with the regiment from the time it was mustered into the service until it was mus- tered out. Toward the latter part of the campaign he was chief clerk at Major-General A. J. Smith's headquarters in the field.
After his return from the army he taught school and read law with Judge Bobo of the Adams circuit court. He was admitted to practice law at the bar in the Adams circuit court at the September term of 1876. At the October election of 1866, he was elected county surveyor of Adams county and served in that office one term, he being the only man of his party ever elected to an office in Adams county. Mr. Peterson moved to Auburn in 1870 and resided here until 1889, when he moved to Kansas, and later in the same year moved to Albion, where he has resided since. While living in this city he served three terms, or six years, as prosecuting attorney. He was a man who was decided in his opinions and free to express them, but you knew where he stood. He was courageous, fearless and honest; of the strictest integrity and a friend in whom you could confide. He never played false, as do so many would-be friends. He always took an active interest in the affairs of life, had a wide acquaintance and was one of the most influential men of his county. He was sixty-three years of age.
Mr. Peterson was first married to Sarah E. Blossom, of Decatur, Indi- ana, February 7. 1867. Her death occurred at Auburn, May 22, 1874. He was again joined in marriage to Amy E. McConnehey at Auburn, May 23. 1876. Mr. Peterson practiced law for a short time in Decatur, after his office as surveyor expired. He was the father of four children: Jessie A. Peterson ; Blanche, wife of J. D. Hoffman, deceased; Jamie, deceased, and Mrs. West, the oldest.
GEORGE O. DENISON.
It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an emi- nently active and busy life and who has attained a position of relative dis- tinction in the community with which his interests are allied. But biography finds its most perfect justification, nevertheless, in the tracing and recording of such a life history. It is, then, with a full appreciation of all that is demanded and of the painstaking scrutiny that must be accorded each statement, and yet with a feeling of satisfaction, that the writer essays the task of touching briefly upon the details of such a record as has been that of the honored subject whose life now comes under review.
413
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
George O. Denison is a native of Richland county, Ohio, where he was born on August 17, 1845. the son of George D. and Salome E. ( Fenner ) Denison. He is of the ninth generation of the family in this country, the emigrant ancestor, William Denison, having come from England some time during the early colonial period, settling at Roxbury, Massachusetts. The family originated in Scotland where the name was spelled Danielstown. The subject of this sketch was reared on his father's farm to the age of seven years, when the family moved to Wood county, Ohio, where they resided about eighteen years, the home being located south of Toledo. In addition to his farm there the father also owned a tract of land southeast of Waterloo, Indi- ana, in Grant township, DeKalb county, and in 1866 he came there with the intention of improving and selling it, George and his brother Felix being left to run the farm in Ohio. However, after living here for a time the parents found their Indiana home more to their liking than the Ohio place, conse- quently they sold the latter and their sons came to their Hoosier home, where they made their permanent residence. The subject of this sketch had always given his attention to agricultural pursuits, but in 1880 he engaged in the ice business, having constructed an artificial lake on his farm for that purpose, and he soon had an extensive business, furnishing all the ice to the town of Waterloo, Auburn and Garrett. His brother, Levi, was associated with him in this business until about 1898, when they split the business, Levi taking the trade at Garrett, and George continuing at Waterloo. He has carried on this business until the present time, and in this as well as in farming has achieved definite success.
In public affairs Mr. Denison has been prominent for a number of years. In 1890 he was elected trustee of Grant township, holding the office for five years, and in 1898 he was elected clerk of the circuit court, assuming the duties of his office in October, 1900. ' In addition to the regular four years' term for which he was elected, by legislative action his term was extended to the end of the year 1904, after which he served as deputy clerk for a time, or until his election as mayor of Auburn. He discharged the duties of this office for four years and then resumed his previous position as deputy clerk, in which capacity he has served most of the time since, his continuous service in this position being due to his intimate knowledge of the official records and the business connected with the office of county clerk. This is also noteworthy owing to the fact that as a Republican he served under Democratic clerks. In March, 1913, after the destruction by fire of many of the county's books of record. Mr. Denison was appointed and commissioned in conjunction with Mr.
414
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
Austin to restore the destroyed records, and is now engaged in this responsi- ble work, for which he is probably better qualified than any man in the county.
In 1873 Mr. Denison was married to Joanna Bowman, who was born and reared near Auburn, the daughter of Joseph and Ida (Borst) Bowman. Her parents were early settlers of DeKalb county, having come here from Canton, Ohio, at a period prior to the advent of railroads here, making their permanent location about two miles west of Auburn, where Mrs. Denison lived until her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Denison have been born the following children : Nettie is the wife of Willis J. Eberly, of Waterloo, and they have three children, Fred, Helen and David: Daisy is the wife of Clyde Fee and lives on a farm east of Waterloo, and they have five children, Hubert, Georgia, Kenneth, and twins, Alene and Irene; Vay is the wife of Verne Grosscop, and lives in Auburn, and they have two children, Catherine and Dorothy : George Bradford, the only son, is now running the farm and ice business for his father. He married Agnes Brown, and they have two children.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.