USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families > Part 74
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In the family of Emanuel and Harriet Shoemaker there were three
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children. Henry Douglas, born August 27, 1858, in his boyhood attended the Valparaiso Normal and returned to assist his father at home. He mar- ried Mahala Bachtel in April, 1892, and they now reside with their son, Russell, born November 15, 1895, in the old homestead. May Shoemaker Dilla, born October 21, 1860, early began her career as a teacher, which she continued after graduating from the Methodist Episcopal College of Fort Wayne, Indiana, in June, 1882. She was married in the fall of 1883, and when her daughters were far enough advanced she removed with them to Ann Arbor, Michigan. The elder, Harriette May, born June 12, 1886, re- ceived the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1908 and the Master of Arts degree in 1909 from the University of Michigan. The younger. Geraldine Princess, born December 21, 1890, secured the Bachelor of Arts degree from that institution in 1911. The former obtained the degree of Doctor of Philos- ophy from Columbia University, New York City, 1912, and has occupied the chair of history and political science in Wheaton College near Boston, and Lake Erie College near Cleveland. The latter studied in the Ann Arbor Conservatory of Music, and after her return home from college she was assistant principal in the Waterloo high school. She is now an instructor in Ward-Belmont College, Nashville, Tennessee, where she is continuing the study of piano.
Scott Sherman, the third child, born May 24, 1862, married Elizabeth Brand in December, 1892. They resided in the home built for them by his father south of the old home on the Shoemaker farm, until his death, which occurred June 10, 1898. Two daughters had been born to this union, Rheua May, born April 1, 1894, who is a student at Western College for Women at Oxford, Ohio, near Cincinnati, and Maude Scott, horn October 3, 1896, who attends Glendale College for Girls, also near Cincinnati.
Throughout his life Emanuel R. Shoemaker was an extremely active man, often working far beyond his strength. On Tuesday, June 16, 1903. he was suddenly seized with hemorrhage of the stomach, which was followed by more severe attacks. These left him in such a weakened condition that recovery was impossible. Early in the morning of September 13, 1903, he passed away. The funeral occurred at his residence September 16th, on the forty-sixth anniversary of his marriage, and interment took place in the Wat- erloo cemetery. His love of progress and improvement, his broad and liberal religious views, his freedom in political matters, and his honesty, ambition and industry made him a leader whose influence will be felt for many years.
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. EDMOND J. WYATT.
The gentleman whose career is briefly sketched in the following lines is one of the established residents of Auburn and his life has been such as to gain the confidence and good will of the people of his community and to make him well and favorably known throughout the county of which he has been so long an honored citizen. In the highest sense of the term, he is a self- made man and as such has met with success in material things such as few at- tain and made a record which may be studied with profit by the young men of the rising generation.
Ed Wyatt, as the subject of this sketch is popularly known, is a native of DeKalb county, Indiana, having been born in Jackson township, on April 26, 1862, and is a son of John and Sarah Jane (Robe) Wyatt. John Wyatt, the son of Nathan and Mary Wyatt, was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, April 4, 1811, and came to DeKalb county, Indiana, in 1836. He died July 28, 1906, at his home in DeKalb county, aged ninety-three years three months and twenty-four days. He was married April 1, 1834, in Medina county, Ohio, to Eva Kitchen, who died February 12, 1839. Their only child, Rachel, was born sixteen months after they came to this county and died at the age of fourteen years. On September 12, 1839, Mr. Wyatt married Sarah Jane Robe, a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, born on October 31, 1820, and who died January 27. 1888, aged sixty-seven years two months and twenty-six days. It was in the fall of 1836 that Mr. Wyatt came to Jackson township to seek a location for a future home. Here, travel- ing through the dense woods, which were full of a thick growth of wild pea vines, prickly ash, etc., the knees of his pants wore out and his hide too, but he bound up his knees and struggled on. He selected government land in sec- tion 34, then returned for his family, bringing them here the fall of 1837. The deed for this land was signed by President Andrew Jackson. In the spring of 1837 John Wyatt's father had come from his Ohio home and so many of the family and relatives accompanied him that the people there called it the exodus of the tribe of Wyatt. Nathan Wyatt also settled in section 34 in Jackson township, and for the last forty years of his life was a member of the Methodist Protestant church, the greater part of the time a class leader and he was a power for good in the new settlement. John Wyatt was taken sick soon after reaching his new home, and he hired his brother-in- law, A. Squiers, to cut logs to make the house, built it with a puncheon floor and an outside chimney of clay and straw. The following spring he added
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a hearth made of mud. They were in comfortable and better circumstances than some of their neighbors. About the holidays, winter set in. He had nothing of any kind to winter the seven cattle he had brought with him. The poor animals would roam around the house and moan so pitifully at night that he would cover his head to keep out the sound, but he bought some corn meal and a barrel of salt (price nine dollars), and that, with browsing tree tops, brought the cattle out all right in the spring. Of the season of 1838 he wrote: "We ran out of provisions. I managed to get a bushel of corn and going nine miles to mill by a zigzag road through the woods, could not get my grist until the next day and then not, because I would not buy a jug of whiskey. I traveled that road four times and finally, to keep from starving at home, gave money to fill that jug, got my grist and finished my well and got good water." He gave twelve dollars for a barrel of flour, six- teen dollars a hundred for pork; drove far and near to get corn, found some west of Fort Wayne three years old and musty and covered with litters of rats. It was all he could get and it cost him one dollar a bushel. Roads were only a few trails cut through forest and dense underbrush, and much stuff was hauled ip the St. Joe in boats and he had many narrow escapes from tipping over and losing the cargoes. John Wyatt owned and lived on the same land for seventy years, a record never equaled in DeKalb county.
Edmond Wyatt was reared on the parental farmstead in Jackson town- ship and completed his educational training in the high school at Spencer- ville. Reared as he was to the life of a farmer, he pursued this vocation after reaching his majority and became the owner of forty acres of good land in Jackson township. In 1891 he sold this tract and bought eighty acres in Newville township, to the cultivation of which he devoted his attention until 1902, in February of which year he sold his farm and moved to Auburn. In January, 1903, Mr. Wyatt engaged in the coal business in this city, to which he has since devoted his attention and in which he has been rewarded with very creditable success. He carries a complete line of hard and soft coal and coke and is prompt and reliable in his deliveries to the trade. A man of good business judgment and the strictest integrity, he has won and retains to a notable degree the confidence of the people and, because of his sterling quali- ties and genial manner, he is popular in the circles in which he moves.
On March 8, 1885. Mr. Wyatt was married to Jane Mckinley, who was born in 1862 in Ashland county, Ohio, being brought the same year to DeKalb county, Indiana, by her parents, William and Sarah (Romine) Mc- Kinley, the former of whom was a second cousin of President Mckinley.
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Her parents were residents of Jackson township, this county, for many years, but in later life removed to Butler township, where they spent their last days. Mr. Mckinley was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, on January 22, 1820, and his death occurred on February 6, 1896, at the age of seventy- six years. He was a good neighbor, kind and considerate to all and was gen- erous in his aid to others. His first wife, Mary Shinneman, became the mother of four children, and his second wife, to whom he was married on January 9, 1851, was born in Putnam county, Ohio, on September 11, 1830, and died on April 21, 1900. She became the mother of twelve children, of whom eight are living.
To Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt have been born three children: Franklin Dale, born December 30, 1885, married May Milliman, and they have three children, Violet Marie, Charles Cecil and Harry Richard; Ica May, born May 4, 1887, is the wife of Fordyce Newton, of Auburn; Myrtle, born December 20, 1889, is at home with her parents. Since May, 1911, Fordyce Newton has been a partner with Mr. Wyatt in the coal business, although his per- sonal attention is given to his own trade as a machinist. Fraternally, Mr. Wyatt is a member of the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Wyatt has always been enterprising and public spirited and ready at all times to lend his influence to measures and movements having for their object the welfare of his fellowmen. His character has always been above reproach, his word as sacred as his bond and all who know him speak in high praise of his sterling qualities of manhood and citizenship. He has lived wisely and his friends, who are legion, unite in the earnest prayer that he may be spared many years to bless the world.
SILAS NODINE.
Agriculture has been the true source of man's dominion on earth since the primal existence of labor and been the pivotal industry that has controlled, for the most part, all the fields of action to which his intelligence and energy have been devoted. Among this sturdy element of DeKalb county whose labors have profited alike themselves and the community in which they live is the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch, and in view of the consistent life record lived by the subject since coming to this section of the country, it is particularly fitting that the following short record of his career be incorporated in a book of this nature.
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Silas Nodine, one of the successful farmers and progressive citizens of Wilmington township, was born in Connecticut on November 19, 1848, and is the son of Hiram and Rebecca (Miller) Nodine, both of whom also were natives of the Nutmeg state. The family ancestral history is traced back through a number of generations to England and thence back to France, where the family originated. The subject's great-grandfather was Elias Nodine, who married a lady of nobility, and to whom was born a son, John, who married Laura Pearce on October 23, 1825. Among their children was Hiram Nodine, the subject's father, who was born near Sharon, Litchfield county, Connecticut, on April 7. 1827. John Nodine, the subject's grand- father, came from Sharon, Connecticut, in 1846, and located in Union, now Grant township, DeKalb county, Indiana, entering a tract of land in section 12, which he cleared and where he built a hoine, spending the rest of his days there. In addition to the cultivation of the soil, he also did considerable surveying and was an important factor in the early life of the community. While helping his brother, Joseph, survey, he took cold, from the effects of which he died." The brother, Joseph, referred to, was county surveyor during' the fifties. Hiram Nodine, who was reared in Connecticut; was married of January 31, 1848, to Rebecca Miller, whose birth occurred in Connecticut on August 20, 1826, and to them were born four children, Silas, born November 19, 1848; Laura, born May 26, 1850, and Benjamin and Jolin,' twins,'who were born on December 2, 1851. The mother of these last named children died at their birth. Hiram Nodine was a blaster in the iron minies near his home, in which he did all the blasting until 1848, when he and his family' came to DeKalb county, locating on the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 12, Grant township, near his father. The long journey from the New England state to Indiana 'was made through the lake and thence by canal to Fort Wayne and by stage to Waterloo. There Hiram Nodine followed farming, buying more land as he was prospered until event- ually he owned two hundred acres. He was a man of good intellectual attain- ments and during his early days he taught school two winters. After the' death of his first wife Hiram Nodine returned to Connecticut, where he. worked one summer in the mines and then returned to Waterloo, where, on' November 21, 1853, he married Mary Nodine, the daughter of Benjamin and Julana Nodine. She was born in New York state and came here with her parents in 1844, locating on the southwest quarter of section 12. Later her parents sold their farm and moved to Branch county, Michigan, where they. lived a number of years and then bought a farm east of Fremont in the south-
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west corner of Clear Lake township, Steuben county, Indiana, where they spent the balance of their lives. To Hiram Nodine's second marriage were born the following children: Albert, born October 5, 1854, died at the Sol- diers' Home at Marion, Indiana, on January 15, 1906; Ann Melissa, born September 27, 1856, died on July 29, 1869; Emeline, born June 30, 1858, is the wife of A. C. Jackson, and they live in Michigan; William Jefferson, born April 10, 1860, who is represented elsewhere in this work; Mary Marilla, born December 12, 1861, died on October 31. 1868, from the effects of falling from a tree top that had been cut down: Ophelia, born August 21. 1863, died on September 12, 1873 ; George, born April 25, 1865, is a manu- facturer of cement work at Waterloo; Charles, born June 13, 1867, lives on a farm near Waterloo in Smithfield township; Orasmus, born January 24, 1869, lives in California ; Dora, born January 19, 1870, is the wife of John Shaw, and lives in Oklahoma; Amos, born January 2, 1873, lives in Water- loo; Richard, born August 31, 1874, died January 31, 1875; Henry, born November 30, 1875, is employed in W. J. Nodine's mills at Waterloo: Chloe, born June 6, 1877, died on May 2, 1892. The father of these children died on October II, 1902, and his second wife passed away on January 30, 1885. Hiram Nodine was a man of strong character and strict integrity of word and action, and during his long residence in this locality he always com- manded the fullest measure of popular esteem because of his upright life and splendid industry.
Silas Nodine, the immediate subject of this sketch, received his education in the common schools of DeKalb county, and was reared to the life of a farmer, a pursuit which he has never forsaken, having early determined that to the husbandman there was afforded an independence and a guarantee of success which is offered by no other vocation. In this decision he showed good judgment, for he has been to a gratifying degree successful in his agri- cultural efforts, and has become the owner of two hundred and forty acres of most desirable land in Wilmington township, to the cultivation of which he gives his undivided attention. He carries on a general line of farming and also gives some attention to the breeding and raising of live stock, in both of which he exercises sound. judgment and wise discrimination, and among his fellow agriculturists he is considered an up-to-date and enterpris- ing farmer. His place is well improved in every respect, being kept in good repair and in all regards he exhibits a modern and progressive disposition, adopting new methods where their superiority over old methods has been
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demonstrated, the result being that he has obtained the maximum of results from his efforts.
In 1883 Mr. Nodine was married to Emma Knavel, the daughter of George and Susana ( Myers) Knavel, who were early settlers of DeKalb county, having come here from Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Nodine have been born the following children: John B., Walter, Andrew J., Willis R., Henry D., Goldie Marie and Silas H.
Politically, Mr. Nodine has been a life-long supporter of the Republi- can party and aside from the office of supervisor, which he held for a number of years, he has never held public office of any nature, preferring to devote his time and attention to his private business affairs. In all public affairs Mr. Nodine takes a deep interest. He unquestionably possesses the qualities which typify the gentleman and because of his upright life he has won and retains the friendship and respect of all who know him.
MILES J. WELLER.
Individual enterprise, which is justly the boast of the American people. is strikingly exhibited in the career of the gentleman whose name forms the introduction of this sketch, for the well improved and well cultivated farm and splendid home which he has accumulated by his own efforts would indi- cate that he has let no obstacle thwart him. He has been a very active man in the development of his community, and the part which he has taken in its growth entitles him to a place in his county's history.
Miles J. Weller was born September 26, 1861, on the old home place in Butler township, DeKalb county, Indiana, the son of Joseph and Caroline (Johnson) Weller. The father was born October 23, 1828, in Rockingham county, Virginia, and the mother was born in Champaign county, Ohio, on April 23, 1832. When but a baby, Joseph Weller was taken by his parents to Clark county, Ohio, where he was reared and was there married. In 1860 he and his wife came to DeKalb county, Indiana, and settled on a farm in sec- tion 19, Butler township. To them were born two children, Mrs. Mary E. Hogue, who lives in Noble county, Indiana, and the subject. Joseph Weller was a life-long farmer and in their old age he and his wife were tenderly cared for by the subject and his sister. The father died on August 30, 1912, and the mother on June 12, 1912. Joseph Weller was a Democrat in politics.
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.. ".A very good education was secured by the subject in the common schools of the county, he rounding out his studies with a two years' course in the Auburn high school. He was thus equipped to take up the work of teaching, which he engaged in for about eight years, in the district schools of Keyser and Butler townships. However, pedagogical work proving too confining he was compelled to relinquish his duties as an educator and turn to agricul- ture. As a tiller of the soil he has gained a reputation second to none, and his one-hundred-and-six-acre farm, with its comfortable home and 'substan- tial farm buildings, is a monument to his thoroughness and intelligence in ap- plying modern methods to his work.
Miles J. Weller has been twice married, first to Emma Houser, on Janti- ary 21, 1883, the daughter of David and Salome Houser, natives of Pennsyl- vania. To this'union were born three children : Mrs. Artie Pfund; who lives in Butler township; Frank lives on' a farm in Butler township; Ralph is de- ceased. The second wife of Mr. Weller, whom he married in 1891, was Effie Hartung, the daughter of Lewis and Kathren (Karton) Hartung. The two grandchildren in whom the subject takes great pride are Leona and Floyd. Politically, Mr. Weller is independent, voting for the men whom he con- siders best qualified for the offices regardless of their political views.
FREDERICK GINDER.
The life history of Frederick Ginder, one of the well known and highly esteemed venerable veterans now living in honorable retirement in Wilming- ton township, shows what industry, good habits and staunch citizenship will accomplish in the battle of acquiring property and rearing children to lead steady and 'respectable lives. His life has been one replete with duty well and conscientiously performed in all its relations. He has not been a man to shrink from his duty, however irksome or dangerous, whether in the role of private citizen or on the field of battle, and it is such traits that win in life's affairs. He has come down to us from the pioneer period and has noted the wondrous transformation from that time to this, playing well his part in the drama of civilization. He has been an advocate of wholesome living and cleanliness in politics as well, and has ever been outspoken in his antipathy to wrong doings, whether by the humble citizen or by the incumbent of in- fluential offices.
Frederick Ginder was born in Ashland county, Ohio, on the 25th day of
FRFORRICK CINDER AND FAMIL.V
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April, 1843, and is a son of Jacob and Margaret ( Miller ) Ginder, both of whom were natives of Germany. The subject's grandfather, Jacob Ginder, also a native of the fatherland, came to the United States when his son, Jacob, was but eleven years old and settled in Ashland county, Ohio, where they re- mained until the family came to DeKalb county, Indiana, in 1854, and here the subject's father lived until his death, following farming, in which he met with a fair degree of success. To him and his wife were born the following children: Katherine, P. D., two who died in infancy, Eva, Mary, George, Matilda, Sarah, Louis and the subject.
Frederick Ginder received his education in the common schools of Ohio and Indiana, and was reared to the life of a farmer, a vocation which he has never forsaken and in which he has met with a very gratifying degree of suc- cess. He was also engaged for thirty years in the sawmill business, being a good judge of timber and an expert in this line, and in this as in his farming operations he has been prospered. He is the owner of two hundred acres of splendid land in Wilmington township and has been guided by up-to-date ideas in the management of his farm, the condition of the building, fences and fields indicating him to be a man of good judgment and wise discrim- ination in the management of his estate. .
In 1861 at the outbreak of the Southern rebellion, Mr. Ginder enlisted as a private in Company F. Forty-fourth Regiment Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, under the command of Colonel Reed, and the regiment, being as- signed to the Army of the Cumberland, was plunged into the midst of the struggle at the outstart. Mr. Ginder took part in many of the most hotly contested battles of that great struggle, including the sanguinary conflicts at Fort Donelson, Shiloh. Corinth, Stone River, Mission Ridge, Perrysville- and Chickamauga, than which there were no more important battles fought in the middle west section of the Southern territory. Mr. Ginder served three years and two months valiantly and courageously and was mustered out at Chattanooga, Tennessee, in December, 1864, with a military record of which he is justifiably proud.
Mr. Ginder has been twice married, first in 1865 to Emily McDaniel, the daughter of David and Nancy (Gunsenhauser ) McDaniel, both of whom were members of old families of DeKalb county. To this union were born the following children: Jacob Sherman, John Philip, Maggie, deceased, Bryan and Hiram, twins, David O., Nora, George and Fred, deceased. After the death of his first wife Mr. Ginder married Elizabeth Hollinger. the (48)
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widow of George Hollinger. Politically, Mr. Ginder gives his support to the Prohibition party, believing that the liquor question is the most important issue before the American people, and he is standing firmly for his convictions on this subject. His religious connection is with the United Brethren church, in the success of which he is deeply interested and to the support of which he contributes. All worthy enterprises for the general advancement of the community find in him an earnest advocate and liberal patron, and he has always given his influence and aid to every progressive measure for the good of his fellow men. He is in every respect an upright, energetic man, keenly alive to every interest which affects the growth and development of his com- munity and has every reason to be proud of his success and of the prominent place he holds in the public esteem.
FOREST A. HIXSON.
Among the men of influence in DeKalb county, who have the interest of their locality at heart and who have led consistent lives, thereby gaining definite success along their chosen lines, is Forest A. Hixson, a successful farmer of Butler township, having there a valuable and highly productive farm, which he manages with the care and discretion that stamps him as a twentieth-century agriculturist of the highest order.
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