USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families > Part 49
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elected sheriff in 1909, since which time he has continued alone under the name of the Thomas Baking Company. Twenty-five years' experience has given him a thorough understanding of every detail of his business and he now has a plant up to date in every respect and the largest in the eastern part of Indiana north of Fort Wayne. He not only supplies the local trade, but also ships large quantities of bread to other towns in this section, his products being in large demand wherever a discriminating taste is consulted. In the fall of 1912 Mr. Thomas and Harry C. Henry bought an island of fifteen acres at Hamilton lake, and there they have established a strictly modern summer resort which in an admirable location has already attracted the at- tention of those seeking a pleasant place in which to spend the summer months. Messrs. Thomas and Henry have erected a thirty-room hotel known as the Island Inn and elegantly located at the most conspicuous and favorable loca- tion on the island, furnished with furniture equal to the most desirable home, has electric lights, running water, a large veranda, out-of-doors sleeping rooms, a spacious dining room, ice cream parlor, pavilion, experienced cooks, tennis grounds, boats, swings, tables, sanitary drinking fountains and lava- tories and all other features which are characteristic of the most up-to-date resorts of this kind. Cottages are also being erected nearby and broad roads and a two-hundred-foot bridge has been made to connect with the mainland, other features being added which have enhanced the natural advantages sup- plied by nature. The bathing beach is one of the finest in Indiana and alto- gether Island Park is destined to become one of the notable pleasure resorts of northern Indiana. These gentlemen deserve great credit for the enter- prise which they have exhibited in the establishment and completion of this ideal haven of rest.
Mr. Thomas is a Democrat in his political views and has for many years been active in the local organization of his party, being an influential factor in its campaigns. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Maccabees, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and other organizations, in all of which he has taken an intelligent interest.
In March, 1887, Mr. Thomas was united in marriage with Frenchie . Stonebraker, a daughter of George and Mary ( Myers) Stonebraker, her birth having occurred at MeClure. Ohio, where she was reared and where she lived until a year or two before her marriage, when she came to Auburn. She lost her mother by death early in life and her father married two years later Rosaline Galmore. He moved to Auburn and there became a foreman
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in the Church furniture factory, but is now farming four miles east of Au- burn, where he owns a splendid tract of land. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas has been born a son, Winfred, who first saw the light of day on September 22, 1894. Mr. Thomas is a man of sterling qualities and has made his success in business by being honest, strictly square in all his dealings, his upright prin- ciples and genial disposition not only winning and retaining numerons cus- tomers, but hosts of friends as well.
JOHN WIMER.
To write the personal record of men who have raised themselves from humble circumstances to positions of comparative affluence and responsibil- ity in a community is no ordinary pleasure. Self-made men, men who have achieved success by reason of their personal qualities and left the impress of their individuality upon the business and growth of the locality of their residence and affect for good such institutions as are embraced within the sphere of their usefulness, unwittingly, perhaps, build monuments more en- during than marble obelisk or granite shaft. To such we have the unques- tioned right to say belongs the gentleman whose name appears above and who is well known throughout DeKalb county.
John Wimer was born April 14, 1858. six miles east of Auburn, In- diana, and is the son of Jacob and Elizabeth ( Dolder) Wimer. Elizabeth Dolder was a native of Switzerland, where she became the wife of Jacob Saltsman, with whom she came to the United States, locating in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, then coming to DeKalb county, Indiana. The land there was densely covered with the primeval forest growth and they, like many others of their neighbors, burned the timber and hauled the ashes to Auburn, where they exchanged them for groceries. These trips were made with a yoke of cows as motive power. They succeeded in clearing the land there and made it their home until the death of Mr. Saltsman. They had become the par- ents of three children, Elizabeth, Mary and Jacob. Mrs. Saltsman after- wards became the wife of Jacob Wimer. He was of Pennsylvania-Dutch descent and it is believed he came from Stark county, Ohio. He, too, had been married hefore and had lived near Huntertown in the carly fifties. before there were any railroads in that locality. After his second marriage Jacob Wimer located east of Auburn, where the subject of this sketch was born. Subsequently the family moved to the Rudy Sowers place, six miles
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northeast of Auburn, and there Jacob Wimer died when his son John was about two and a half years old. The mother then moved her family to Waterloo, where the subject of this sketch lived until he was nineteen years old. He was employed at various occupations, including tending mason and farming, and at the age mentioned he began farming for himself on the farm where he was born. Here he was married and farmed for two years. He afterwards moved to Langlade county, Wisconsin, and took up a home- stead, but after spending one winter there he sold the place and located near Hudson, St. Croix county, Wisconsin, where, with a partner, he became a fisherman. However, less than three months later a big raft of logs de- stroyed their nets and put them out of business. Owing partly to lack of experience, business training and money, Mr. Wimer had not up to this time been able to accumulate anything in a material way, his only property being a small house and lot in Frogtown at Waterloo, Indiana, worth probably one hundred dollars, and after meeting with the reverses to Wisconsin he found himself without household goods, with but a few dollars in his pocket, and with a wife and three children, far from their old home. However, he was not made of the stuff that easily gives up and, having showed himself willing to work, the county recorder of deeds rented him a farm and "staked" hin in its operation until he could get on his feet. For four years he farmed and teamed, and from his landlord learned lessons of business methods and thrift which served him well in his later efforts. In March, 1888, Mr. Wimer re- turned to Waterloo, Indiana, bought a farm of eighty acres near Moore's Station, and also bought farm stock and tools, as well as a stock of seed pota- toes. The purchase price of the farm was two thousand five hundred dollars, of which he paid one hundred and thirty-five dollars down. His first effort was in the raising of potatoes, he being the first in this section to engage in that line extensively, but he was eminently successful from the beginning and really was the pioneer in this now important branch of farming here. He and George Noirot raised the first extensive onion crop here, and in this also they showed the way to others, onions and potatoes now being two of the most important of the DeKalb county crops. The farm which Mr. Wimer bought had twenty-five acres cleared, and he cleared fifty acres more of it, put in twenty thousand tile and had the place entirely paid for in ten years. He has been successful to a notable degree in his operations, and in 1908, after living on their farm for twenty years, he moved to Auburn. In that year he and his son-in-law, Herman Brown, began shipping potatoes and onions, and the following year they bought the Vandalia elevator, and have
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since been engaged very extensively in the shipping of grain, as well as pota- toes and onions. In 1912 they shipped ninety carloads of potatoes and about fifty-five cars of onions, while they have shipped as many as fifty-five thou- sand bushels of potatoes in a season. Through his business connections, Mr. Wimer has become very well known throughout DeKalb and Steuben coun- ties and everywhere he is held in the highest esteem.
On December 28, 1878, Mr. Wimer was married to Alice Coates, the daughter of Alanson G. and Sarah (Smurr) Coates, she having been born and reared near Artic, Troy township, this county. For a wedding trip they took a sled ride to Waterloo behind a yoke of oxen, which was none the less enjoyed if it was slow. It was in sharp contrast to the automobile which Mr. Wimer now uses in going to and from his farm. To Mr. and Mrs. Wimer have been born six children, namely: Ray, who died May 6, 1908, at the age of nineteen years; Marguerite, who is the wife of Herman Brown, who is referred to elsewhere in this work; Arthur LeRoy, who is engaged in the operation of an irrigated farm of eighty acres at Pingree, Idaho; he married Etha Stonebraker and they have two daugh- ters, Geraldine and Alice; Bertha is the wife of John Souder, who operates a farm about six miles south of Auburn, and they have three children, Esther, Ruth and Willis; Carl, who lives at home, is employed at the McIn- tyre Company; Howard is a student in the Auburn high school. Religiously, Mr. Wimer is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the prosperity of which he is deeply interested. Though a very busy man, he does not per- mit his private interests to interfere with his performance of his duties as a citizen and he gives his support to every movement having for its object the advancement of the highest and best interests of the community. Because of his high character and good business qualities, he enjoys the confidence and regard of all who know him.
SAMUEL L. GOODWIN.
The careers of such men as Samuel L. Goodwin may not necessarily be such as to gain them a wide reputation or the admiring plaudits of men, but they are nevertheless influential and deserving of a place in their locality's history, because they have been true to whatever trusts have been reposed in them, and have shown such attributes of character as entitled them to the regard of all and have been useful in their respective spheres of action. Mr.
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Goodwin seems to have won and retained the universal esteem of all with whom he has come into contact as a result of his industrious and upright career, being well known throughout DeKalb county.
Samuel L. Goodwin was born in Waterloo, DeKalb county, Indiana, on August 6, 1879, and is a son of Leander Goodwin, who is represented in a personal sketch elsewhere in this work. The subject was reared under the paternal roof, securing his education in the public schools of that locality and when about nineteen years old he learned telegraphy. He then became operator for the Lake Shore railroad between Toledo and Detroit, remaining with that company about three years. In 1902 he and J. A. Miller entered into a partnership in the coal and lumber business at Waterloo, remaining associated together about five years. Mr. Goodwin then went into the lum- ber business in partnership with his brother at Waterloo under the firm name of the Goodwin Lumber Company, which business was carried on about two years. Then for a short time Mr. Goodwin engaged in the brokerage busi- ness at Fort Wayne, but his partner left without notice, taking with him the firm's funds, and it. of course, crippled Mr. Goodwin financially. However, he was not made of the metal that easily gives up and at once turned his at- tention to other pursuits. In July, 1910, Mr. Goodwin engaged in the poul- try and produce business at Waterloo and in this line he has achieved a splendid success, being now in good financial circumstances and numbered among the substantial, enterprising and progressive business men of his town.
In July, 1903, Mr. Goodwin was married to Margie C. Campbell, who was born in Waterloo, Indiana, the daughter of J. D. and Ellen ( Bachelor) Campbell. Ellen Bachelor was born about nine miles northwest of Angola, and is the daughter of Amos and Susanna Bachelor, who came from Ohio to Steuben county and in 1869 moved to Waterloo. After living there six years they moved back to Steuben county. J. D. Campbell was born three miles northwest of Waterloo, and is a son of Abel and Jane ( Taylor ) Camp- bell, who came from Stark county, Ohio. in 1844, and settled where Mr. Campbell was born. They there bought land for one dollar and a quarter per acre. Here were Indians frequently to be seen and in other ways the land was in its virgin state of wildness. When J. D. Campbell was sixteen years old he came to Waterloo and a year later began work in a drug store and was employed in the drug business in Waterloo until about 1903, a period of thirty-eight years. He was in business for himself from 1876 on and maintained his home at Waterloo. He was a member of the town board two
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terms and was town treasurer four or five terms. To Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin have been born three children: Wayne, now nine years old; Marjorie June, two years old, and a son, Carroll, who died in 1910, aged about two years. In 1910 Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin adopted a boy named Reginald, who was born northwest of Milwaukee and was found by Mr. Goodwin through an adver- tisement in the Delincator, and they are giving to this boy the same careful attention and loving kindness that they bestow upon their own children. Personally, Mr. Goodwin is a man whom everybody likes, genial, optimistic. honorable in all his dealings with his fellow men, and is always ready to do his part in the support of the interests of his locality. He has not had things entirely his own way since entering life's battle on his own account, but he has overcome all obstacles and is now on the highway to success. Because of his earnest character and honest effort he has earned and retains the con- fidence and good will of all who know him.
HERMAN L. BROWN.
The life history of him whose name heads this sketch is closely identi- fied with the history of DeKalb county, Indiana. His life has been one of untiring activity, and has been crowned with a degree of success attained by those only who devote themselves indefatigably to the work before them. He is a high type of business man and none more than he deserves a fitting recognition among the men whose genius and abilities have achieved results that are most enviable and commendable.
Herman 1 .. Brown, one of the successful business men and public-spirited citizens of Anburn, DeKalb county, was born in Concord township, this county, on June 12, 1876, and is a son of Samuel, Jr., and Sidney Jane (Servison ) Brown. Samuel, Jr., was a son of Samuel C. and Experience Brown, while his wife was descended on the maternal side from the Jackson family, so prominent in American history, of which President Andrew Jack- son was a member. The subject's parents were natives of Morrow county. Ohio, where the family was very numerous, and the various members of which stood high in the civic, social and business life of the community. In that county Samuel Brown was reared to manhood, and at the inception of the Civil war he recruited a company of soldiers of which he was com- missioned captain, but on his way to the front he was taken sick and, because
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of continued physical disability, he received an honorable discharge from the service. In 1865 he and his wife came to DeKalb county, Indiana, locating in Concord township, where they established their permanent home, and where Samuel Brown died on March 1, 1879. He left three children: Calvin H., now auditor of Allen county, Indiana; Willis B., who is in the wholesale buggy business at Waterloo, Iowa; and Herman L., the subject of this sketch, who was but three years of age at the time of his father's death. The mother of these children, who subsequently became the wife of Samuel Cul- bertson, died on November 17, 1911.
The subject of this sketch was reared on the paternal farmstead until seventeen years of age, receiving his elementary education in the common schools and during the vacation periods assisting with the cultivation of the farm. He attended Adrian College, at Adrian, Michigan, which he left in 1894 and began teaching school in DeKalb county. He followed this occu- pation a number of years, the last three of which were as professor of mathe- matics in the Auburn high school. He was naturally well qualified for the profession of teaching and was very successful in this line of work. In 1908 at the close of the school year, he engaged in the farm produce business in partnership with his father-in-law, John Wimer, at Auburn, in which they met with splendid success and a year later they bought the Vandalia elevator, running the two concerns. They are eminently successful in these lines, their largest success being attained in the shipping of onions and potatoes. of which they have handled enormous quantities. Their field covers about eight counties and their operations are constantly increasing in scope and im- portance.
Mr. Brown is a man of impressive personality, broad intelligence, and has the characteristics which beget esteem, confidence and friendship. His integrity is of the most insistent and unswerving type and no shadow rests upon his career as an active business man and sterling citizen.
In 1899 Herman L. Brown was married to Marguerite Wimer, daughter of John Wimer and wife, who are represented elsewhere in this work. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born three children: Bernard W., Donald B., and Kathryne Lucile. Fraternally, Mr. Brown belongs to the Knights of Pythias and, with his wife, to the Pythian Sisters. They are also members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which they take an earnest interest and to the support of which they contribute liberally. They move in the best social circles of the city and are deservedly popular among their acquaintances.
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DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
JOHN C. FEAGI.ER.
It is a good sign when a county like DeKalb can boast of so many of her enterprising farmers and business men who are native sons, for it indicates that here are to be found all the opportunities necessary to insure success in the material affairs of life and that her native sons, unlike so many from various sections, have found it to their advantage to remain at home. They have been wise in doing this, for nature has offered the husbandman unusual advantages here and seldom fails to reward the honest worker with gratifying results, and when the tillers of the soil are prosperous all lines of business flourish.
John C. Feagler was born in Richland township, DeKalb county, Indiana, on the 16th of February, 1840, and is a son of Joshua and Frances (Clemer) Feagler. Joshua Feagler was born on March 23, 1814, at Hagerstown, Maryland, and was the son of John and Elizabeth (Cullers) Feagle. These parents, when their son Joshua was but four years old, settled in the wilds of Ohio, about twelve miles west of Dayton, and there the lad was reared to manhood. In 1834 Joshua Feagler married Frances Clemer, who was born in Virginia in 1812, being the daughter of John Clemer. Joshua Feagler and his brother-in-law, Jacob Wyrick, came west in the spring of 1836, ex- pecting to enter land in Wabash county, Indiana. They came down the Wabash and Erie canal to Ft. Wayne, where they stopped over night, and were induced by Wesley Parke to come to DeKalb county. Here they each entered one hundred and sixty acres of land, about three miles northwest of Auburn, and then returned to their Ohio homes. In the following autumn they moved their families here, arriving here on the last day of September. Mr. Wyrick had built a cabin, in which both families lived until Mr. Feagler had built his home. Here Mr. Feagler resolutely applied himself to the im- provement of his financial condition, and under the circumstances then exist- ing it may be certain that he found but little time for relaxation or recreation. For a time he was compelled to work for others. Their nearest neighbor was two and a half miles south and the only roads were Indian trails, the dusky red men being frequently seen here for five or six years after the new settlers had established their homes here. There Joshua Feagler spent the rest of his days, dying at the age of sixty years. He was survived a number of years by his widow, who died on March 4, 1897, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. Until 1856 Mr. Feagler voted the Democratic ticket, but from that time on he was an ardent supporter of the Republican party.
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John C. Feagler remained on the home farm until he was twenty-two years of age, having received a good practical education in the public schools of his home neighborhood. He then learned the carpenter's trade and after his marriage, in 1869, he located at Feagler's Corners, where for two years he worked at his trade. He then engaged in farming for a year south of Auburn, but again returned to the carpenter trade at Feagler's Corners. On May 6, 1874. he moved to Auburn and engaged in carpentering and con- tracting, which occupied his attention until 1890, when he inherited one-sixth of three hundred and twenty acres. Later he bought, in addition, a third of the tract. thus making him possessor of one hundred and sixty acres, to which he later added thirty-one acres. Applying himself persistently and inde- fatigably to the operation of this farm, he met with well deserved success and as he was prospered from time to time he added other land to his original tract, being at this time the owner of five hundred and sixty-eight and a half acres of as good land as can be found in this locality. Mr. Feagler is de- servedly proud of the fact that, aside from what came to him by inheritance, he has gained all this by his own efforts and sound management. When asked how he accounted for his success, he replied, "The whole family pulls together ; my wife is a good helper, and the two boys, too." Mr. Feagler follows general farming, and, by properly rotating his crops and the judicious use of commercial fertilizer, he has so maintained the fertility of the soil as to keep up the average yield of the farm to a degree not generally found. His land is well tiled and in the handling of it Mr. Feagler shows that he thoroughly understands his work. For instance, he refuses to plow the soil when it is wet, and in many other ways he shows that he has given thought- ful and intelligent attention to the details of farming which often escape the attention of otherwise intelligent agriculturists.
On January 23. 1869. John C. Feagler was married to Mary Ann Shull, who was born in what was then Butler township, now a part of Keyser township, about four miles south of Auburn. She is the daughter of Jacob and Susanna ( Cooper ) Shull, natives of Stark county, Ohio. Jacob Shull was a son of Henry Shull, who was born in 1782 in Schuylkill county, Penn- sylvania. The latter was the son of John Peter Shull, who was born in the Black Forest, Germany, on April 7, 1738. He came to America about 1750, settling in Schuylkill county, where he followed the trade of a millwright Henry Shull moved to Stark county, Ohio, in 1806 and there entered a sec- tion of land, and also established and operated a saw mill. His family name was originally and up to that time spelled Scholl, but when he entered his land
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the clerk spelled the name Shull, in which form it has been used ever since. Mr. Shull also ran a tavern there for many years. His farm, located eight miles east of Canton, is still in the family. Susanna Cooper, who became the wife of Jacob Shull, was born in Stark county, Ohio, on April 10, 1823, her marriage to Jacob Shull occurring in 1841. Immediately afterwards they came to DeKalb county, Indiana, where Mr. Shull had been in 1835 and entered cight eighties of land for his father. The following year he had been here and cleared some land near Butler, the bulk of the land entered being southwest of Auburn on the old Ft. Wayne road. When, in 1841, he brought his wife here they located on a portion of this land, where Mrs. Feagler was born and reared. To Mr. and Mrs. Feagler have been born five children, of whom two are deceased, namely: An infant son, who died on January 23, 1871, when but two days oldl. Wilson, born July 13, 1872, graduated from the Auburn high school in 1891. He was a member of Com- pany K, Third Regiment Indiana National Guard, and in 1898, during the Spanish-A American war, he belonged to Company K. One Hundred and Fifty- seventh Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under the command of Colonel Studebaker. In 1900 he and his brother Lester made a trip to Europe, visit- ing England. Scotland, France, Germany and Holland, and spending some time at the world's fair at Paris. On April 2, 1001, he went to California. and then on to the Hawaiian islands. There he at first worked on a sugar plantation, but is now a sub-inspector in the United States civil service, in- specting the dredging of Pearl harbor and later the erection of government buildings. Lillie May, born August 30, 1875, died on December 18. 1878. Lester, born February 10. 1879, graduated from the Auburn high school in . 1895, and, as related above, traveled with his brother in Europe. On January 3. 1900, he enlisted in Company K. Third Regiment Indiana National Guard, in which he was promoted from time to time until, on March 18, 1909, he was commissioned captain for three years. At the end of that period he did not ask for a re-commission. He is now engaged in farming with his father. Clara, born March 29. 1886, graduated in 1904 from the Aubum high school. and on November 5, 1906, became the wife of Frank M. Brandon.
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