USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families > Part 45
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To Mr. and Mrs. Montavon have been born two daughters and a son, namely: Hazel is the wife of John C. Duncan, Jr., lives in Waterloo and they have one daughter, Cyril; Mabel and Waldo are both at home.
Politically, Mr. Montavon is an ardent advocate of the Republican party, and in 1902 and 1903 he was elected a member of the Waterloo town council, being president of the board in 1903. In the fall of 1910 he was elected justice of the peace and is now discharging the duties of that office to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 221, and has been through all the chairs, being now a member of the grand lodge of Indiana. He is also a member of Lodge No. 307, Free and Accepted Masons, at Waterloo, and is a member of the grand lodge in that order. He has been chief of the Waterloo fire department for seven years. He is regarded by all as upright and honest in all his business relations and he has the confidence and respect of a wide circle of acquaintances and friends throughout the county.
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OLIVER H. WIDNEY.
The respect which should always be accorded the brave sons of the North who left homes and the peaceful pursuits of civil life to give their services, and their lives if need be, to preserve the integrity of the American Union is certainly due the gentleman to a brief review of whose life the following lines are devoted. He proved his love and loyalty to the gov- ernment on the long and tiresome marches in all kinds of situations, exposed to summer's withering heat and winter's freezing cold, on the lonely picket line, a target for the missile of the unseen foe, on the tented field and amid the flame and smoke of battle, where the rattle of the musketry, mingled with the terrible concussion of the bursting shell and the deep diapason of the cannon's roar, made up the sublime but awful chorus of death. To the heroes of 1861-5 the country is under a debt of gratitude which it can never repay, and future generations will commemorate their achievements in fitting eulogy and tell of their heroic deeds in story and in song. Among the hon- ored veterans of the Civil war and respected citizens of DeKalb county, Indi- ana, none occupies a higher place in popular esteem than the gentleman whose name appears above, and who, now retired from active business affairs, is living quietly at Auburn, secure in the confidence and respect of all who know him.
Oliver H. Widney was born near Newville, DeKalb county, Indiana, on the 12th of November, 1841, and is a son of John P. Widney, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. When the subject was about two years old the family moved to what is now known as the H. M. Widney fruit farm, near St. Joe, this county, and in 1851 they moved to Auburn, the sub- ject's father having been elected county clerk. In the fall of 1856 the family returned to the farm, where Mr. Widney grew to manhood. He had re- ceived his preliminary education in the public schools, supplementing this by four terms' attendance at the Newville Academy, with the intention of taking up the study of law. However, the outbreak of the war of the Re- bellion interrupted his plans, and on August 7, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company H, Eighty-eighth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which command was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland. The regiment first went to Camp Allen, at Fort Wayne, thence to Camp Morton, at Indianap- olis. When the Confederate General Bragg inade his advance on Louisville, the Eighty-eighth Regiment was sent to that city to assist in its defense. The command took part in the Buell-Bragg campaign, and, in October. 1862,
OLIVER H. WIDNEY
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was in the battle of Perrysville. After that battle, Mr. Widney was taken with chronic diarrhoea and was confined in a hospital at Danville, Kentucky. When partially recovered he and a number of other convalescent soldiers paid all their cash in order to get to Lebanon, where they rejoined their regiment. Going with the command to Tyree Springs, they crossed the river from Nashville just before the battle of Murphreesboro. There Mr. Widney became so ill from his sickness that he became unconscious and was left by his comrades, who were then maneuvering against the enemy. After awhile the warm sun revived him in a measure and for hours he wandered aim- lessly about, unconscious of his actions. Eventually he was found and taken into the city of Nashville, where he lay on the sidewalk until evening, when he was taken into the court house. After the battle a comrade, Dyer Mat- thews, and others returned to where they had left Mr. Widney for the pur- pose of burying him, expecting to find him dead. Afterwards they joked him as being unreliable, because he ran away from his own funeral. At Nashville, Mr. Widney was discharged on account of physical disability. However, he was too ill and weak to make the trip home alone and his father went to Nashville after him, it requiring five days to get him home, his condition was so precarious. After recuperating his health, Mr. Widney returned to his studies at the Newville Academy, but he could not remain at home while his country needed his services, and. on July 18, 1863, he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Eighteenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which rendezvoused at Indianapolis. On September 16th they started for Cumberland Gap, which lies at the intersection of the states of Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. There, after a short time, the govern- ment ceased issuing rations and the soldiers had to forage for their sub- sistence, only one ration being issued to them up to the following February. The country had been foraged by both Northern and Southern armies until the residents of the locality were subsisting on parched corn, and it was under such conditions that the army was expected to feed itself. During that period they took Bull's Gap and fought the battle of Walker's Ford. After Bull's Gap, they were compelled to retreat to Cumberland Gap, and when the siege of Knoxville was raised they were at Tazewell, thirteen miles from Cumberland. The Confederates sought to escape and the One Hundred and Eighteenth Regiment fought them at Walker's Ford to prevent their escape and were successful in holding the ford. The regiment then returned to Tazewell and there Mr. Widney was taken sick and went to a church, where a hospital had been established, and he was made hospital steward.
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His term of enlistment having expired, he then returned to Indianapolis. where he was discharged, and he then returned home. At the time of his discharge he held the rank of second sergeant, to which he was appointed on December 16, 1863. After his return home he and two other men tried to recruit a new company, in which effort they were not successful, but the war was then about over.
Mr. Widney, now that the grim specter of war had fled, settled down to peaceful pursuits, giving his attention to agricultural labors. He cleared up and improved a good farm, about two and a half miles north of St. Joe, and lived there until 1877, when he traded that tract for the old homestead on which his father had settled in 1843 and a part of which he himself had helped to clear. He lived on and operated this farm until about 1885, when he moved to St. Joe, being compelled to give up active labor on account of the effects of his army hardships and illness. In 1882 Mr. Whitney was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, and in 1884 he was re-elected, serving until 1887. During his term of office some of the most important public improvements were inaugurated and carried to successful completion, including about four hundred drainage ditches, which were estab- lished or re-established. These ditches not only brought a lot of the best land of the county into cultivation, but also contributed to the banishment of malaria from this section.
In March, 1890, Mr. Widney and his son, H. Mervin, moved to Albion and engaged in the lumber business, but in the following fall Mr. Widney sold his interests to his son and returned to St. Joe, where he lived until 1895. In that year he moved to Auburn in order to care for his father, who died at the subject's home about a year later. After the death of his father, Mr. Widney returned to St. Joe, and there, in 1900, he built the opera house, a splendid building and a much-needed enterprise. Here also he and his son and son-in-law, C. F. Kagey, and H. M. Widney established a lumber yard and a hardware store.
Mr. Widney was admitted to the practice of pension law in all the de- partments at Washington concerning pensions, back pay, etc., during the early nineties, and he was highly successful in this line of effort, as can be attested to by thousands of pensioners, and expert examiners giving him a record as good as any in the United States. While engaged in that line of work, Mr. Widney traveled extensively.
Among his old comrades Mr. Widney is held in the highest regard, and five different times he was elected colonel of the DeKalb County Veterans'
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Association. He was also twice elected colonel of the Eighty-eighth Regi- ment Association, being the present commander of that organization, and served it one term as adjutant. He was also president of the Old Settlers' Association two terms.
On November 3. 1864, Mr. Widney married Emily F. Maxwell, who was born in Wayne county, Ohio, the daughter of John and Mary (Thomas) Maxwell, who came to this county in 1854, when she was but a little girl, locating in Concord township. Her father was a carpenter and contractor on the Wabash canal, and it was while she was a student in the Newville Acad- emy that Mr. Widney formed her acquaintance. Her death occurred on April 29, 1909, and on January 1, 1910, Mr. Widney married Mrs. Lucy A. Griswold, a native of Steuben county, Indiana, and a daughter of Myron and Lovisa (Dirlam) Tuttle, of Pleasant Lake. Mr. Widney is the father of two children, a son, H. Mervin Widney, and a daughter, Mrs. Lenore WV. Kagey.
Mervin Widney, who was born on March 24, 1865, married Hattie Davis, of Newville, the daughter of Samuel S. Davis and wife, and they have two children, B. Von Dale and Doris. Mervin Widney was a partner with his father in the lumber business, but is best known as an apple grower. being a widely-recognized authority on horticulture. In 1895 he set out his first orchard, comprising about a thousand trees, to which he is constantly adding, so that now he is the owner of about two thousand five hundred trees. That he has been eminently successful in this line of effort is evi- denced by the fact that at the State Apple Show, held at Indianapolis in the fall of 1912, he won twenty-six prizes out of a possible forty-one. also taking seven second prizes and five thirds, taking more prizes altogether than any other exhibitor. He raises Grimes's Golden, Starke, Banana, Bald- win, Rambo, Wolfe River, Wealthy, Fall Water and York Imperial varieties, and in the handling of the fruit, which is carefully graded, every attention is paid to the protection of the fruit, much of which is wrapped individually. Mr. Widney also raises large quantities of strawberries and canteloupes. He received the basis of his horticultural knowledge at the Purdue Agricul- tural Experiment Station, though years of experience have taught him many of the most valuable secrets in the planting, growing and care of fruit. For the past five years he has been connected with the Purdue lecture course and has lectured in nearly every section of the state, being very successful in awakening an interest in horticultural matters and talking in an interesting and instructive manner on the subject.
468
DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
ISAAC GROGG.
There are individuals in nearly every community who, by reason of pronounced ability and force of character, rise above the heads of the masses and command the unbounded esteem of their fellow men. Characterized by perseverance and a directing spirit, two virtues that never fail, such men always make their presence felt and the vigor of their strong personalities- serves as a stimulus and incentive to the young and rising generation. To the energetic and enterprising class the subject of this review very properly belongs. Having never been seized with the roaming desires that have led many of DeKalb county's young men to other fields of endeavor and other states, where they have sought their fortunes, Mr. Grogg has devoted his life to industries at home and has succeeded remarkably well, as may be seen by a study of his life history.
Isaac Grogg, who has an enviable standing as a progressive business man and public-spirited citizen, and who as proprietor of the Auburn Novelty Company, has been a potential factor in advancing the industrial interests of Auburn, was born on July 4, 1860, in Keyser township, two miles west of Auburn, the son of Adam and Emily L. (King) Grogg. Adam Grogg, who- was born in Stark county, Ohio, in 1840, was a son of Jacob and Sarah (Becker) Grogg. Jacob Grogg was born on February 14, 1814, at Canton, Stark county, Ohio, the son of Solomon and Mary (Snyder) Grogg. About the time he attained his majority he learned the miller's trade and in 1840 he took charge of a mill at Pekin, Ohio, and later took charge of the Hos- tetter and Roof Mills, with which he remained connected until 1851. In the latter year he bought the farm west of Auburn and in the following year moved his family to the wilds of DeKalb county. He had married in 1837 Sarah Becker, of Canton, Ohio, and she bravely bore with him the hardships and privations of pioneer life. Though Jacob Grogg never aspired to public office he was elected by his fellow citizens to several positions of trust and responsibility, in all of which he acquitted himself with credit. On this De- Kalb county farm Adam Grogg was reared to maturity and married Emily L. King, who was born in Maryland and was a daughter of John and Catherine King. She came to this county in an early day with her parents, who settled a mile and one-half west of Auburn in Union township. Adam Grogg died on December 24, 1866, at the age of twenty-six years, at which time the subject of this sketch was a boy of but six years of age. The latter was taken into the home of his grandfather, and his mother afterwards, in
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1871, became the wife of Daniel Lower, living in Noble county about thirty years, or until Mr. Lower's death, and she afterwards became the wife of Daniel Thomas, spending her last years at Corunna. Isaac Grogg remained with his grandparents until he was nineteen years old, and then went to. Dayton, Ohio, where he learned the car finisher's trade. In 1885 he re- turned to Auburn and for a number of years was employed with the Zimmer- man Manufacturing Company plant, being foreman of their mechanical de- partment for quite a while. While with the Zimmerman Company Mr. Grogg drifted into the windmill and tank business, and from 1885 until 1900 devoted his attention to that work, being part of the time connected with the Zimmerman Company and about two years with the Monitor Manufacturing Company. After the latter company quit business Mr. Grogg established a small plant for himself, calling it the Auburn Novelty Works and here did cabinet work and manufactured souvenirs and novelties of wood. In this enterprise he was successful beyond his expectations and established more than a local reputation. He was also interested in the manufacture of pat- terns, and while so employed made patterns for a concrete block machine for Messrs. Brost and Grosscup. His business grew so rapidly and he soon required larger quarters and decided to build a concrete block building for his shop. There being no block manufacturer in this locality he de- cided to make his own blocks, and his sons, delighted with the idea, urged him to buy a second-hand block machine that was then for sale. Buying this machine they commenced to make their own blocks and were soon turning them out at a rate of one hundred and fifty a day. Using first class ma- terial and care in the making, these blocks turned out by them were of such a high quality that a demand was soon created for the blocks among their neighbors, to whom they sold them. The demand grew so rapidly that in a short time the new enterprise entirely superseded in extent the wood and pattern work. By the next fall they needed more help and more ma- chinery, which they installed. Always striving for a better way to do things, Mr. Grogg exercised his inventive genius and devised a continuous mixer for mixing the concrete by machinery, which was economically pro- pelled by a gas engine, and this improved machinery is now being manu- factured by a company at Kendallville, Indiana. Mr. Grogg also designed an automatic scraper and finisher for a block making machine, which he sold to the Ideal Concrete Machinery Company, of South Bend. Another invention of his was a reinforcing device for placing and stretching the rein- forcing irons in concrete fence posts, and also a vaporizing system of steam-
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ing and curing concrete products. Mr. Grogg also designed an automa- tic brick tamper that is to be manufactured by the Ideal Company on a large scale. Mr. Grogg has manufactured many products besides the concrete blocks, including concrete moldings, columns, pedestals, etc., and has dis- covered a method of making them alniost white and much smoother in grain than ordinary blocks, being much more like marble and presenting a very pleasing and attractive appearance. Quality has been the watchword in the building up of this business, and on this basis does Mr. Grogg base all repre- sentations as to his work. Indeed, so well established is the reputation of the Grogg factory that when one local concern projected the building of a four-story factory building, and Mr. Grogg was too busy at that time to supply the blocks needed for the building, the company refused to get them else- where, but suspended their building operations until the next spring. This in itself is certainly a remarkable tribute to the quality of the Grogg product. The business grew to such proportion that the first plant established near the center of Auburn became entirely inadequate for the purpose and now Mr. Grogg has a plant at the north end of Auburn, where he has plenty of room for expansion and abundant shipping facilities, being close by the interur- ban road. His goods are delivered by auto trucks to local parties and in every way modern and up-to-date methods are employed in the operation of the business. Always a hard worker, Mr. Grogg has the satisfaction of realizing that his work has not been unproductive of results and that he has been a prominent factor in the splendid business growth of this locality. He follows up-to-date business methods in his affairs and pays his help by time instead of by the piece, thus insuring a high quality of work rather than quantity. He is exact and reliable in all his business dealings and has gained a splendid reputation among his business colleagues.
In 1887 Mr. Grogg married Catherine C. Otto, who was born and rear- ed in Auburn, she and Mr. Grogg being acquainted from early childhood. She is a daughter of Captain John and Catherine (Reehling) Otto, who are mentioned elsewhere in this work. To Mr. and Mrs. Grogg have been born the following children: Earl J., Harold O., Russell I., Emily K., Hubert, Roger, Frank, who is good-naturedly called "Buster" by his associates, and Helen and Paul. Several of the sons are interested with their father in the manufacturing business, and are alert in their efforts to advance the enter- prise in every way possible. They subscribe for all the technical periodi- cals touching on their business and are well versed in every phase of con- crete manufacture. Keenly alive to every avenue of information they are fre-
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quent visitors to the great cement shows at Chicago and elsewhere, and are numbered among the enterprising and energetic young men of Auburn. Per- sonally, Isaac Grogg, though a very busy man, always finds time to greet his friends cordially and to take an intelligent interest in the public affairs of the community. He gives his support unreservedly to every movement for the material, moral, intellectual or social advancement of Auburn and is well de- serving of the high place which he now holds in public esteem.
FRANK A. HOFF.
There is no positive rule for achieving success, and yet in the life of the successful man there are always lessons which might well be followed. The man who gains prosperity is he who can see and utilize the opportunity that comes in his path. The essential conditions of human life are ever the same ; the surroundings of individuals differ but slightly, and when one man passes another on the highway of life to reach the goal of prosperity before others who perhaps started out before hin, it is because he has the power to use advantages which probably encompass the whole human race. Today among the prominent citizens and successful business man of Auburn stands Frank A. Hoff. The qualities of keen discrimination, sound judgment and execu- tive ability enter very largely into his makeup and have been contributing ele- ments to the material success which has come to him.
Frank A. Hoff, of Auburn, Indiana, to whom belongs the distinction of having been in business continuously longer than anyone else here, was born in Aix-la-Chappelle, or Aachen, Germany, on September II. 1855. His early education was secured in his native land and in 1874. at the age of eighteen years, he came to America, over which he traveled extensively for four years, having located at Fort Wayne, at Philadelphia in 1876, and at St. Louis in 1877. In 1878 he came to Auburn and engaged in the grocery busi- ness, with which he has been identified continuously since, with constant and increasing success. He has a well established trade. his splendidly stocked store being located on Seventh street running through to Eighth street, and being recognized as one of the principal business houses of this city. His eminent business qualities, sterling integrity and genial manner have gained for him the confidence and friendship of all who have dealings with him and no man in the community stands higher in the general esteem than he.
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In 1878, after locating in Auburn, Mr. Hoff married Mary J. Neireter, who was born and reared at Fort Wayne, Indiana. To them have been born the following children: Minnie K .; M. Jeannette; Emma E. is the wife of Frank Darling, of Fort Wayne, and they have two children, Robert Hoff and Jewell Jeannette; John P., who is a resident of Auburn, and who is sheriff of DeKalb county, married Lottie Wolford, and they have one daugh- ter, Mary Josephine : Clara J .; Carl W, and Marie J. Mr. Hoff and the members of his family are all identified with the Catholic church and in the social life of the community they are prominent figures, being highly esteemed for their genuine worth.
JOHN LEONARD DAVIS.
The spirit of a pure, noble and earnest life burned in the mortal tene- ment of the late John L. Davis, than whom no citizen of DeKalb county attained to higher distinction in connection with the material and civic de- velopment of this favored section of the state of Indiana, while none wielded a wider or more beneficent influence in connection with the promotion of pub- lic enterprises and utilities which conserved such development and progress. His life was one of fullness and completeness, one of vigor and inflexible integ- rity. He accomplished great things for the general good and was not denied a due individual reward in the matter of temporal affluence. A man of rugged strength of character, of finest moral fiber, and one who realized a magnificent measure of useful accomplishment, his name is deeply engraved on the pages of the history of his county, so that such a publication as the one at hand must needs enter a tribute of honor and appreciation to his memory if any measure of consistency and symmetry is to be claimed for the same. He was universally recognized as a splendid citizen, of lofty character, sturdy integrity and unswerving honesty. During the period of his early years here he shared fully the trials and difficulties of those trying times. He was one of the sturdy figures upon which the burdens of the community fell, and he struggled devotedly with others in bringing about the resultant evolution of development. Hand and heart and purse were always open to the necessities of his neighbors, and the record of those years is one of tireless and unselfish devotion. To write the history of Mr. Davis would be to write a book and in the limited space of a biographical memoir one can but touch upon the more salient facts in the long, useful and somewhat remarkable career of this
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