USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families > Part 90
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Washington Betz was reared on the home farm and followed agricul- tural work all his life. He moved to the present homestead in Smithfield township, DeKalb county, in 1877, his first purchase here comprising seventy acres, to which he added forty-five acres comprising the old Schiffli farm, and later bought twenty-five acres of Lew Collins and in the spring of 1910, bought forty acres more of the Parnell heirs, thus making a total of one hun- dred and eighty acres of land. He made many permanent and substantial improvements on this land, among the first being the removal of the buildings close to the road. He cleared the land, which was most of it in its original state of wildness and made of it a very productive and valuable estate. He lived on the farm which he thus improved for thirty-six years, or up to the time of his death, which occurred on May 30. 1913. The day before his death he deeded forty acres of his land to his son, Clyde, leaving an estate of one hundred and forty acres. Mr. Betz was progressive and enterprising in his methods, keeping up with the most advanced ideas relating to agriculture, and for many years his farm was considered one of the most valuable in this section of the county.
On April 13. 1869, Mr. Betz married Mary Musser, daughter of Jolin and Sarah Ann ( Hammer). Musser. Mr. Musser was a native of Stark
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county, Ohio, and came to Franklin township. DeKalb county, Indiana, in 1851, the journey being made by wagon, together with thirteen other families. They settled first on a farm of forty acres in Franklin township, where they remained until 1860, when, selling that farm, they moved in the spring of the following year to another farm of eighty-five acres in the same township, which Mr. Musser bought later. During 1860 he bought forty acres of gov- ernment land, for which he paid the regulation price of one dollar and a quarter per acre, to which he later added nine acres. He then bought seventy acres, subsequently eighty more and still later another eighty. The forty
acres which he bought from the government he had sold prior to this time and the other purchases mentioned above were made during the years 1861 and 1869. In 1893 Mr. Musser moved to Hamilton, Indiana, where he built a large and handsome residence and in 1899 he married his second wife, whose maiden name was Alice Harger. His death occurred on April 21. 1900. His wife was a native of Stark county, Ohio, and was but nine months old when she was brought to Franklin township, DeKalb county, where her death oc- curred at Hamilton in 1894. To them were born five children: Mary (Mrs. Betz) ; Emanuel, deceased; William, Amanda and Edwin. An uncle of Mrs. Betz, Sanmel Musser, enlisted during the war of 1861 for three months' service at Taylor's Corners, Indiana, and at the end of his first period he re-enlisted for three years, dying a short time afterward in an army hos- pital in Tennessee. To Mr. and Mrs. Betz were born ten children, as follows : Anna is the wife of William Kline. a farmer living about one and one-half miles from Fairfield Center, and they have one child, Lester; Eugene died at the age of twenty-nine years, his death being the result of an accident in the Great Western Railroad yards in Chicago: Bertha is the wife of Chester Barker, a farmer near Springport, Jackson county, Michigan, and they have one child, Clyde: Alice is the wife of Ezra Brand, a farmer near Fairfield Center, and they have five children: Frank, deceased, Ethel, John, Howard and George; Ida, who is unmarried, remains at home with her mother, as does Mary; George, after attending the common schools of Franklin town- ship, was graduated in the Ashley high school in 1902, and then took the teachers' course in the Angola Normal School, where he graduated in 1903. The following year he took special teacher's work in the State Normal School at Terre Haute, and in 1905 went west on an extended vacation. He re- turned to the Terre Haute Normal in 1907, and on the 2nd day of July of the latter year he was married to Lurah Armstrong. On July 2, 1907, he left for the Philippine islands, where he taught school for the government. He
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remained there four years and after a visit home in July, 1911, returned to his work, where he is employed as superintendent of the schools in Tarlack province, in the Philippines. His wife, who also is well educated, teaches with him; Blanche, who is unmarried and remains at home with her mother, is a successful school teacher at Ashley; John, who is a successful farmer at Springport, Michigan, married Lena Kuckuck, and they have one child, Howard; Clyde, who lives on the homestead farm, married Fay Teeters on June 3. 1913, the daughter of Orpheus and Ada L. (Osborn) Teeters, living at Angola, Indiana. Clyde was educated in the common schools and high school at Ashley, and then took teacher's training at Winona Lake, Indiana, in 1910. He taught three years in three different schools in Smithfield town- ship and in the spring of 1913 he took up farming on the old home place.
Politically, Mr. Betz was a lifelong Democrat and, though taking an active interest in the success of his party, he never aspired to political offices of any nature. His religious faith was in harmony with the creed of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was a faithful member and to the support of which he contributed of his means. His business career was not only a successful one, but an honorable one as well, and the most envious could not grudge him his success, for it was gained by the most straightfor- ward methods. Hard work and good management proved the basis of his prosperity and made him a man of affluence. He leaves behind him a meni- ory worthy to be cherished and revered and his name should be enrolled among the representative men who have been valued citizens of the county. Domestic in his tastes, his greatest pleasure was in the family circle, while among his fellows his companionable and genial nature commended him to their attention and he was well liked throughout the community where he had resided for so many years, and where he had ever exerted his influence for the welfare of his fellow men.
ADEN D. BRUNSON.
One of the substantial and thrifty citizens of the vicinity of St. Joe, DeKalb county, Indiana, is Aden D. Brunson. He has persevered in the pur- suit of a persistent purpose and gained a satisfactory reward. His life is exemplary in many respects, and he has ever supported those interests which have for their object the welfare of the community and the benefit of his neighbors and friends.
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Aden D. Brunson was born in Allen county, Indiana, on September 6, 1850, and is a son of Nathan and Hannah (Holladay) Brunson, the former a native of New York state and the latter of Vermont. Nathan Brunson left his native state in 1836 for Indiana, his journey being by the way of the Ohio river to Cincinnati and then to Dearborn county, from which locality he came overland by ox team to Fort Wayne. He was a resident of Allen county until 1881 when he came to DeKalb county, where he afterwards re- sided. He followed farming during all his active years with a fair degree of success and when he and his wife passed to the higher life they left behind them the record of well spent lives and an influence for good in the com- munity. They were the parents of ten children, Allen, Jane, Thomas, Reuben, Aden, Ella, Vincent C., Cassie, Sidney and Susan.
Aden Brunson attended first the common schools of Allen county, sup- plementing this training by attendance at the Methodist College at Fort Wayne. He then was a student in the Bryant & Stratton Business College at Buffalo, New York, after which he learned the business of telegraphy, in which he was employed at Buffalo for a time; then for twenty-years he was on the road as a traveling salesman for Chicago houses, after which he went to Springfield, Illinois, moving from there to Fort Wayne, and thence to Newville, DeKalb county, eventually locating on the splendid farm of eighty-five acres in Wilmington and Concord townships, where he now resides. To the cultivation of this tract of land Mr. Brunson has given intelligent direction and his efforts have been rewarded with a degree of success com- mensurate therewith. He combines farming and stock raising, believing that in this way can the farmer secure the best results from his land, and in all his efforts he has been guided by sound business principles which, combined with his indefatigable efforts and thrifty habits, have made him fairly inde- pendent in the way of material wealth.
Aden D. Brunson was married on September 30, 1876, to Alice V. Michaels, the daughter of Oliver P. and Mary A. ( Steward) Michaels. Mr. Michaels, who was a native of Maryland, moved from that state to Ohio, where he followed the carpenter business during all his active years. He is now deceased. He was a nephew of Thomas Jefferson, being the son of Deborah Jefferson, sister of the President. His wife, who is also deceased, was born in Virginia. To Mr. and Mrs. Michaels were born ten children, namely : Jane, William, Nathaniel, Ellen, Addison, Fannie, all of whom are deceased; Mrs. Brunson, Melissa, Warren and Lucretia, the last named also being deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Brunson have been born four children,
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namely: Ada, the wife of C. C. Bassett, of St. Joe; Ross, an engineer on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; Sterling, a farmer in Wilmington township, this county, and Thomas, who remains at home with his parents.
Politically, Mr. Brunson has been a life-long Republican and is the present assessor of his township, performing the duties of this office to the entire satisfaction of his fellow citizens. He has ever taken more than a passing interest in the things that have had for their object the material in- provement of his community and county, and because of his business suc- cess and his genuine personal worth he enjoys the fullest measure of con- fidence and good will on the part of his fellow citizens.
DOUGLAS KELLEY.
A review of the life of the honored subject of this memoir must of necessity be brief and general in its character. To enter fully into the inter- esting details of the career of the late Douglas Kelley, touching the struggles of his early manhood and the successes of his later years, would far transcend the limits of this article. He filled a large place in the ranks of the active, energetic and public-spirited citizens of his day and generation, and the memories which attach to his name and character form no inconsiderable chapter in the history of his native county, where he did his work and achieved his success.
Douglas Kelley was born in section 35. Smithfield township, Dekalb county. Indiana, on November 12, 1862, and his untimely death occurred on June 24, 1899, at the early age of thirty-six years, his death being caused by being struck by a limb dislodged by a falling tree, his death ensuing in a few- hours after the accident. Douglas Kelley was the son of James D. and Amy Kelley. James D. Kelley was an early settler in Smithfield township, having come here on horseback from Findlay, Ohio, in an early day. He and his brother, Freeman Kelley, had walked to California, where they engaged in gold mining, with the proceeds of which they were enabled to buy farms in the southeast part of Smithfield township. He and his brother had married sisters at Findlay and brought their wives to this county on horseback. Douglas Kelley was reared on his father's farm and received his education in the common schools and in the high school at Waterloo. At the age of nineteen years he was, because of the death of his father, compelled to take
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upon himself the support of his widowed mother and three sisters, and faithfully and courageously did he fulfill his trust. His mother was born in Hancock county, Ohio, her marriage to Mr. Kelley occurring in 1855. Her husband died on January 15, 1862, and from that time on she devoted her efforts to the rearing of her large family, all of whom she saw grow to honorable and respected manhood and womanhood. She survived her hus- band many years, her death occurring on August 25, 1900.
On March 13, 1892, Douglas Kelley was married to Isabella Walker, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Walker, and to this union were born three children, namely : Marvin, who died at the age of seven months; Walker J., who was born in 1893, and who now lives with his mother, and Amy M., who was born on September 2, 1897, and died on November 2, 1900, at the age of three years. Douglas Kelley spent practically his entire life on the old family homestead east of Waterloo and was numbered among the earnest, progressive, industrious and successful agriculturists of his community. He was a man of vigorous physique and active in his methods and because of his public spirit and progressive attitude in all matters affecting the com- munity, he had won and retained to a marked degree the confidence and respect of all who knew him, and his death was considered a distinct loss to the community which had been honored by his citizenship.
CHRISTIAN CURIE.
The subject of this sketch has seen more than the alloted number of years, and has during the most part of that time engaged in active work on his farm, which has well repaid him and has been to him the source of much pleasure. He has always found ,much pleasure in farming and the cultivation of crops and caring for stock, and has found that they are as profitable in a monetary way as any occupation could well be expected to be. In his life he has also gained for himself many friends, who have been at- tracted by his worth and capabilities.
Christian Curie, who is numbered among the leading farmers of Spencer township, DeKalb county, Indiana, was born in the state of Ohio, on Novem- ber 9, 1842, and is the son of Nicholas and Barbara ( Klopfenstein) Curie, both of whom were natives of France. Nicholas Curie made the overland trip from Syracuse, New York, to Wayne county, Ohio, of which he was one
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of the pioneer settlers, and there the family met with misfortune by the death of the mother of typhoid fever, four of the subject's aunts also dying of the same disease at that time and all within twenty days. At that time there were no cemeteries in that part of the country and the bodies were all in- terred on a part of a farm which was set apart for that purpose. There was no doctor in that county then, and no lumber to make coffins with, so they split out plank and fastened them together with wooden pins. Only one man had any tools, he living about fifteen miles away, so they took the split plank to his place and there made the coffin. To Nicholas and Barbara Curie were born the following children: Mrs. Barbara Crupt, deceased; Nicholas, who lives in Ohio: Peter and Jacob, deceased; Christian, the immediate subject of this sketch ; John, deceased : Mrs. Lida Worth, deceased, and Joseph, who lives in Ohio.
The subject of this sketch received his education in the common schools, and in 1865 came to the Hoosier state, with which he has been identified con- tinuously since. For several years he was engaged in teaching school in Allen county and then moved on to the fine farm of one hundred acres in Spencer township, DeKalb county, which he now occupies. On this farm was located the first school established in DeKalb county, the teacher of which was Rev. Alton, who was paid by the patrons of the school helping him to cut the timber and clear a part of his land. Mr. Curie's farm is well improved in every way and the soil is maintained at the highest point of fertility due to the careful management of Mr. Curie, who rotates the crops properly and otherwise conserves the original resources of the land as far as possible. He raises a general line of crops and also gives attention to stock raising, in both of which lines he has met with most pronounced success. He is now num- bered among the substantial men of his community.
Christian Curie was married on March 29. 1861, to Katherine Royer, the daughter of Gabriel and Annie ( Conrad) Royer, natives of Pennsyl- vania. To this union were born the following children: William, of St. Joe : Mrs. Laura Whaley, who lives in Kansas; Mrs. Amanda Klopfenstein, of Grabill, Allen county, Indiana : Mrs. Emma Skilling, of Baltimore, Mary- land; Mrs. Orline Koch, of St. Joe: Morris, of St. Joe, who was a member of Company K, One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Regiment Indiana National Guard; Frank, of St. Joe; Mrs. Maude Beanns of Spencerville, this county ; Mrs. Annie Henderson, who lives in Michigan; Grover, who lives in St. Joe and who, for four years, was in the United States navy, being assigned to the battle ship "Iowa," where he acquired a reputation as the best marksman.
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having secured first prize for first enlistment men. He handled heavy ordnance, including twelve-inch guns.
Politically, Mr. Curie is a stanch Democrat and in his church relations is a member of the Brethren church. He is a man of fine personal qualities. genial disposition and enjoys the confidence of all who know him.
NICHOLAS DIETZEN.
Among the leading farmers and stock raisers of Smithfield township is the gentleman whose name appears above. He also holds worthy prestige as a citizen and is a creditable representative of that large and eminently respectable class of people who by deeds rather than words give stability to the body politic and by their influence honor the communities in which they reside.
Nicholas Dietzen, whose fine farm in Smithfield township reflects credit upon its owner, was born on September 28, 1863, in Lorain county, Ohio, and is the son of Nicholas, Sr., and Mary ( Behr) Dietzen, both of whom were foreign-born, the father a native of Prussia and the mother born in Dutch Bremen, Germany. The subject's father was about twenty-three years of age when he emigrated to the United States, prior to which time he had been for three years a soldier in the German army. After his arrival in America he located at Cleveland, where he remained until his marriage to Mary Behr, who had come to this country with her parents some time before. After their marriage they moved to Lorain county, Ohio, where their son, the sub- ject of this sketch, was born, and when the latter was about six months old they moved to Henry county, Ohio, locating about ten miles south of Napoleon, where they remained until the father's death, which occurred about 1897. On the Henry county farm the subject of this sketch was reared to manhood and received his education in the public schools of that district. From the age of twenty-one years he rented his father's place, to the cultiva- tion of which he devoted his attention, and after his father's death he bought out the interests of the other heirs in the home farm, thus becoming the owner of fifty acres of land. In February. 1903, he sold that place and, coming to DeKalb county, Indiana, bought one hundred and fifteen and three-quarters acres on the line between Franklin and Smithfield townships, to the cultiva- tion of which he has devoted his attention continuously since with the most
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pronounced results. He has made many permanent and substantial improve- ments on this farm, including the erection of a substantial bank barn and a neat and attractive residence, and in other ways has developed the farm ac- cording to up-to-date methods and ideas. He is an industrious, energetic and progressive farmer, giving his attention to general agriculture rather than to any special line and, by dint of persevering industry and indomitable energy, he has accomplished very definite results, his farm being today num- bered among the best in the northern part of the county.
On October 7, 1894, Mr. Dietzen was married to Selina Schortgen, who was born in Luxemberg, Germany, on July 10, 1871, and who in 1886, at the age of fifteen years, came to the United States with her mother, Margaret Schortgen, the father, Charles Schortgen. having come to this country about two months before. His death occurred in Henry county, Ohio, in 1895, and his widow now makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Deitzen. To the latter have been born four children, Leo, Mildred, Irene and Helen, the latter hav- ing lost her life by an explosion of kerosene oil in August, 1913.
Religiously, Mr. Dietzen and the members of his family belong to St. Michael's Catholic church, one of the strongest organizations of this denom- ination in the county, and they take a commendable interest in the prosperity of the mother church. In every respect they are desirable citizens and have ever given their support to every enterprise looking to the advancement of the best interests of the community, and because of their sterling qualities of character, their close attention to their home affairs and their personal qual- ities, they enjoy a large acquaintance and many warm friendships in their community.
SIMON ROHM, JR.
In the death of the honored subject of this memoir, on May 30, 1880. at his home in Smithfield township. there passed away another member of that group of distinctively representative agriculturists who were the lead- ers in farming circles in DeKalb county. He was born on December 3, 1825. in Rhineburg, Rontz Witer, Germany, and was the son of Simon Rohm, Sr .. who was born on September 27, 1785, and died on April 3. 1857. Simon Rohm. Sr., was a soldier for nine years in the Napoleonic wars, and was married in the old country to Mary Ann Miller, who was born on January 15, 1800, and who died on September 25, 1855, aged fifty-five years and eight months. Simon Rohm, Sr., was considered well-to-do in his native
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land, owning fifteen acres of land and two cows, but he sold all he had and brought his wife and children, Fred, Elizabeth, Simon, Valentine and Caro- line, to America, their other children having died in Germany. Although considered well-to-do, he spent all he had in making the trip to America and was five dollars in debt on his arrival here. They were fifty-seven days on the ocean, the trip being made in the old slow-going sailing vessels. In 1833 the family located in Holmes county, Ohio, where were born other children, William B., Henry C., Joseph E. and Christian. In 1845 the family moved to western Indiana, where the father had leased land for nine years. Simon, the subject of this sketch, being the largest and most robust son at home, and his father being too old to farm alone, the son refused to stay and farm the place because of the worthless character of the soil, consequently they packed up their effects and came to DeKalb county, locating on a farm two and one- half miles southwest of Waterloo, known as the Joseph Stahl place. They there established a permanent home and there the parents spent their remain- ing days. Of their children, Fred married Susannah Easterly in Holmes county, Ohio, moved to Knox county, that state, in 1843, and in 1847 to DeKalb county, living about two miles west of Waterloo until his death ; Elizabeth became the wife of Baltzer Stahl, moved to DeKalb county in 1857. and lived three miles southwest of Waterloo until her death : Valentine lived in DeKalb county from 1845 until his death, on August 19, 1905, at the age of seventy-seven years; Caroline became the wife of Dr. J. W. Lyttle, and lived quite a while at Sedan, later at Auburn, where the Doctor had a large practice. In 1862 they moved to Knoxville, Iowa, where she now resides ; William B. was a wagon-maker, but now operates a farm west of Waterloo. He first married Lucinda Morr, and for his second wife, Phoebe Townley; Henry C. married Mary A. Lutz, and farmed two miles west of Waterloo until advanced in years, when he moved to Waterloo and resided there until his death, which occurred on February 27, 1908; Joseph E., who came to Indiana with his parents, married Mary Ann Dunn in 1864, and farmed in Smithfield township until his death, which occurred on May II, 1902; Christian Rohm married Susan Miser for his first wife, and afterward married Mrs. Anna Mary Campbell. He lives at Auburn.
Simon Rohm, Jr., was married on July 16, 1849, to Mary Harsh, a native of Carroll county, Ohio, where she was born on September 30, 1830, the daughter of Solomon and Rachel (Seibert) Harsh. Her parents were born in Pennsylvania, subsequently moving to Stark county, Ohio, thence to Carroll county, where they lived during the remainder of their lives. Mrs.
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Rohm lived there until eighteen years of age, then came with her sister, Rebecca, the wife of Jacob Hildt, to DeKalb county, living with them until her marriage to Mr. Rohm. At the time of their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Rohm possessed nothing except good health and a good axe which Mr. Rohm knew well how to use. He first rented a place in Smithfield township and also worked for others until he got a start, and then three years after mar- riage he bought eighty acres of land, largely on credit, but continued work for others by the day, clearing his land at night by moonlight and did not move on it until he had it paid for. .. By rigid economy he and his wife saved their money and made it a practice not to count their savings until a pay- ment on their land was due, when to their gratification they found they had about a dollar more than was needed. Mr. Rohm lived on that farm until 1879, Mrs. Rohm giving him material assistance in the clearing of the land and in the work in the fields, and at night she spun and wove and made clothes for the family, cooking by the pioneer fireplace, and in other ways materially assisting him. In 1879 Mr. Rohm traded for the old John Hussel- man place in the southwestern part of Grant township, where he spent the rest of his life and where two of his children still reside. He was a good manager and traded farms, in which way he made money, at the time of his death owning over two hundred acres of land, all of which was well im- proved. His death occurred on May 30, 1880, and he was considered at that time one of the best citizens of his community. His widow still lives on the home farm and enjoys the respect of all who know her. To them were born thirteen children, five of whom died in childhood. while the rest are still living, as follows: John is a resident of Franklin township; Lydia is the wife of John Hamman. who is represented elsewhere in this work; Henry is in Oregon: Mary is the wife of Henry Hamman, and lives in Branch county, Michigan ; Amos lives at home with his mother : Lucinda is the wife of Francis Duesler, and lives east of Waterloo; Simon R. lives on a farm across the road from his mother in Grant township and Ezra lives northeast of his mother on the adjoining farm. Mr. and Mrs. Rohm are entitled not only to credit for the material success which they attained, but for rearing to honorable manhood and womanhood these children, who have occupied respected places in their various communities and who are each achieving definite success in life. Mr. Rohm was a man of stern character, but was always ready to lend his assistance to any movement for the upbuilding of his community, giving his support to every moral question. He early had the sagacity and prescience to discern the eminence which the future had in store
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