History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 123

Author: Reifel, August J
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1648

USA > Indiana > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 123

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Mr. Wagner is an industrious farmer, and if his past record and his present habits are to be accepted as an indication of future attainment, is cer- tain to become in time one of the wealthiest and most influential farmers of Franklin county.

HENRY BROCKMAN.

Practical industry, wisely and vigorously applied, never fails to bring success. It carries a man onward and upward, brings out his individual character and acts as a powerful stimulant to the efforts of others. The great- est results in life are often obtained by simple means and the exercise of the ordinary qualities of common sense and perseverance. The everyday life, with its cares, necessities and duties, affords ample opportunity for acquiring ex- perience of the most valuable kind, and its best beaten paths provide a true worker with abundant scope for the exercise of his best efforts and for ample self-improvement. Henry Brockman, a farmer of Ray township, Franklin county, Indiana, has performed each day's duty with a spirit born of a strong heart, the spirit which never falters when there is work to do. Mr. Brock- man, therefore, has succeeded in a rather large degree.

Henry Brockman was born October 13, 1854, in Ray township, Frank- lin county, the son of J. F. and Catherine (Kunnen) Brockman, the former born in 1818 in Hanover, Germany, and the latter also a native of Germany.

The paternal grandfather of Henry Brockman was Bernard Brockman, who brought his family to America about the year 1836. They first settled at Cincinnati, Ohio, where they remained a short time. He had been a farmer in Germany and followed this vocation after coming to America. Bernard Brockman was a devout member of the Catholic church.

J. F. Brockman, the father of Henry, was a shepherd in his younger days in Germany., He was a lad of eighteen when his father came to Amer- ica. For a time he was in the drayage business in Cincinnati, but later came to Ray township, Franklin county, Indiana, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, where he lived until his death, February 19, 1883. His

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wife died in May, 1879. They were the parents of three children: Henry, the subject of this sketch; Herman, deceased, and John.

Henry Brockman was educated in the common schools and at St. Xavier's College. After leaving college he returned to the farm and helped his father on the farm until he was married. Mr. Brockman married, first, Elizabeth Ferkinghoff, the daughter of Theodore Ferkinghoff, a farmer of Franklin county, to which union one son, William, was born. Upon the death of his first wife Mr. Brockman married, secondly, Catherine Fehrman, and lives near Antwerp, in Paulding county, Ohio. Mr. Brockman's second wife died in 1883, and he married again, the third wife being Anna Wahmann, the daughter of Joseph Wahmann, a farmer of Ray township. To this third union seven children have been born: Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Anthony (deceased), Carrie, Martin and Rosa. Of these children, Mary married Joseph Hirt, of Ray township, and has one daughter, Anna May; Joseph, who lives in Greene county, Ohio, married Helena Struewing and has one daughter, Henrietta. The remainder of the children are still single and at home.

Mr. Brockman owns one hundred and sixty acres of land and does gen- eral farming. He recently built a fine large barn and has a splendid house.

Mr. and Mrs. Brockman are highly respected citizens of Ray township and Mr. Brockman is in every sense a progressive farmer, active in public affairs and interested in all good works.

AUGUST JOSEPH HACKMAN.

No one questions but that August Joseph Hackman, the well-known Oldenburg banker, has given to Franklin county more than he has taken away, since he has offered all in his power toward the advancement of the community interests. A strong, virile man, those influences which make for the deterioration of the civic standards find in him a foeman worthy of their steel, and he is ever foremost among those who seek the betterment of local conditions.

August Joseph Hackman came into this world in Franklin county, Ray township, on December 17, 1886, the son of August Anthony and Agnes (Flodder) Hackman, the former being born in Ray township on November 9, 1858, and to whom were born four other children, Stella Kleona, Cora and Florence. Stella married John Burdick and lives in Cincinnati. Kleona, who married Paul A. Munchel, makes her home in Oldenburg, Franklin county.

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Cora, who also lives in Oldenburg, married Peter S. Kellerman. Florence died in infancy. The mother of these children died December 3, 1903.

August Anthony Hackman, the well-known banker of Batesville, father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Oldenburg, this county, November 9, 1857, a son of Anthony and Mary (Brokamp) Hackman, the former of whom was a native of Oldenburg, Germany, and the latter of whom was born at Cincinnati, the daughter of John Henry Brokamp, who came from Ger- many and located in the Oldenburg settlement in this county at an early period in the settlement of that place. Anthony Hackman came to America before he had reached his majority and located at Oldenburg, in this county, where he engaged in merchandising in a small way. This business grew to include many lines, among them that of buying and selling of live stock, which he drove to Cincinnati long before railways were built in Indiana, and he became one of the most active and prosperous merchants of his day in this section of the state and a man of large and beneficent influence in his community. Anthony Hackman died about 1870 and his widow is still liv- ing, her place of residence being Minster, Ohio. She married, secondly, Herman Rulman, who formerly owned a mill at Laurel, this county, but who is now deceased. To Anthony and Mary (Brokamp) Hackman were born five children : A. A., Joseph, H. G. and two who died in infancy.

It was in Oldenburg, this county, that August Anthony Hackman grew to manhood. He was educated in the public schools of that town and imbibed his father's spirit for merchandising, following in the footsteps of the elder Hackman, and for thirty years was the proprietor of a general store at Olden- burg, being reckoned as among the most prominent business men of the coun- ty. In 1909 Mr. Hackman moved to Batesville, Indiana, where he had an interest in the Batesville Bank, of which he now is president. In addition to his banking interests at Batesville, Mr. Hackman is a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Oldenburg, of which his son, A. J. Hack- man, is the cashier. Mr. Hackman is a devout member of the Catholic church and is a member of the Knights of Columbus and of the Catholic Knights of America.

August Anthony Hackman has been twice married. His first wife, men- tioned above, was the sister of Frank Flodder, a history of whose family is contained in the biographical sketch of the latter, presented elsewhere in this volume. The children of this union are mentioned above, among them being August Joseph, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Hackman died in 1903, and in June, 1909, Mr. Hackman married, secondly, Mrs. Catherine Baumer, the widow of John Baumer, who was born in Cincinnati, a daughter of Joseph

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and Sophia Koelker, natives of Germany, the former of whom was a well- known tailor in the Queen City.

With a praiseworthy ambition, August Joseph Hackman attended Notre Dame University for three years, from 1900 to 1903. He not only was dili- gent in his studies, but held a place on the football squad in the position of guard, although he was not on the regular team. After leaving school he went to Brookville, Franklin county, where he worked in a grocery store for two years, after which he went to Batesville, where he was employed four years as assistant cashier in his father's bank. Six years ago Mr. Hack- man was transferred to Oldenburg to fill the position of cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, of which his father is a director, and in which the subject also holds stock. Mr. Hackman owns his own home in Oldenburg, one of the pleasantest places in the town.

On May 12, 1909, Mr. Hackman led to the altar Mary F. Lamfing, the daughter of August Lamfing, a farmer near Oldenburg, and to this union two children have been born, Arnold A. and Stella Agnes.

Mr. Hackman is a devout adherent of the Catholic church and his life is guided by the precepts of this church as interpreted by his conscience. As bank cashier Mr. Hackman is the right man in the right place, his intrinsic trustworthiness being beyond question, enabling him to command the com- plete confidence of those with whom he comes in contact. Sincerely anxious for the advancement of those around him, Mr. Hackman's unselfish motives have gained him a host of friends, and he is reckoned among the leading young men of the county, being a factor in the development of the commun- ity in which he has cast his lot that promises to carry more and more weight with the coming years.

WILLIAM S. KALER.

The incredible hardships and privations endured by the soldiers in our Civil War stagger description and arouse the fullest measure of our gratitude. A soldier who did his utmost to preserve the Union is William S. Kaler, now a prominent citizen of Franklin county. While marching at the head of his regiment at the foot of Lookout Mountain, April 17, 1864, Mr. Kaler's left ankle was thrown partially out of joint. Despite this painful injury he con- tinued to march, with the result that the ankle has never been put in place to this day. This is an example of what was undergone by those brave men.

Born in Rush county, Indiana, on August 16, 1835, Mr. Kaler is the son of Jacob M. B. and Catharine (Deal) Kaler, who were respectively native to

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Virginia and Floyd county, Indiana. Jacob Kaler was a carpenter who located in New Albany, Indiana, but after a sometime residence there moved to Rush county in 1834, where he spent the major part of his life. Toward the latter part of his life he began the study of medicine in private, going alone to Center Point, Iowa, to practice. After being there about three years he died, in 1854.

The paternal grandparents lived in the Blue Ridge section of Virginia, and, it is thought, died there. The maternal grandparents were natives of Germany, the husband, Jacob Deal, coming to America just before the out- break of the Revolutionary War, in which he served for seven years, until its close. At the age of forty he married, very probably in Kentucky, and to him and his wife were born eleven children. For many years he lived near New Albany, Indiana, where he became a prosperous farmer, dying at the advanced age of one hundred and eight years.

Obtaining his youthful education in the public schools of Andersonville, William Kaler then learned the trade of the shoe maker under the teaching of Charles Harris, of Andersonville, and made shoe making his business until about 1899, with the exception of the time spent in service during the Civil War. On February 18, 1864, Mr. Kaler enlisted in Company K, of the One Hundred Twenty-third Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry and served faith- fully until being mustered out, at Lexington, North Carolina, on August 25, 1865. In 1877 Mr. Kaler built his comfortable home on a small tract of land which he owns, located just north of Andersonville. After discontinuing his shoe-making business, Mr. Kaler established his present fire insurance busi- ness, in which he represents the Home Insurance Company of New York, the Fidelity Phoenix Insurance Company of New York, the German American Insurance Company of New York and the Sterling Insurance Company of In- dianapolis, and has built up a lucrative and extensive business.

On March 10, 1864, Mr. Kaler married Nora L. Busby, and to this union were born four children: Walter A., who learned the trades of printer and blacksmith, and is now on a homestead in Florida; Fred M. was drowned May 17, 1894; F. Wilson is a minister in the Christian church and also is editor of the Andersonville Herald; Mrs. Grace K. Miller resides in Posey township.

Mr. Kaler and his family are members of the Christian church. He takes an active part in politics and was appointed postmaster of Andersonville for four years under President Harrison, and for six years he has been a justice of the peace of Posey township. His old regiment still retains its organization, of which Mr. Kaler has been secretary-treasurer for twenty-

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five years, the members of the regiment holding a reunion every year. Mr. Kaler is a member of Thomas G. Hall Post No. 304, of the Grand Army of the Republic and is the oldest member of Andersonville Lodge, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, which he joined September 29, 1858, and of which he was master for three years and secretary for twenty-four years. He and his wife, in 1894, became charter members of the Order of the Eastern Star in Andersonville. During Mr. Kaler's busy life he has gained a great number of devoted friends, who have at all times found him true to any trust reposed in him and therefore worthy of implicit confidence. With a keen business acu- men, tempered by a warm-hearted sympathy, Mr. Kaler measures up to all those standards which proclaim him a man among men.

GEORGE W. SHAFER.

Fortunate, indeed, is the family in this county which can trace its an- cestry back as many as five generations. The Shafer family, worthily rep- resented in this connection by George W. Shafer, has preserved the family record complete for no less than five generations. Most of the members of the family have been farmers since locating in Franklin county and George W. Shafer has devoted his entire life thus far to the pursuit of agriculture. In order to keep the family record clear in the mind of the reader, the his- torian will begin with the first member of the family concerning whom de- finite data is known.

Frank Shafer was the great-great-grandfather of George W., with whom this narrative is directly concerned. Frank Shafer was born before the middle of the eighteenth century and married Anna Elizabeth Kiehl. She was born April 27, 1740, and was a daughter of Jacob Kiehl, and was mar- ried to Frank Shafer, March 17, 1758. The children of Frank and Anna Elizabeth (Kiehl) Shafer were: John Daniel, born November 3, 1760; Jacob, born August 7, 1762; William, born June 28, 1764; Hannah, born June 28, 1766; John, born September 28, 1768; Anna, born March 20, 1771 ; Peter, born May 17, 1773; Elizabeth, born August 9, 1775; George, born December 9, 1777; Catherine, born July 6, 1780; and Peter, born October 26, 1782. Of this large family of children, John Daniel became the pro- genitor of George W. Shafer. To John Daniel and his wife, Mary Magda- lena Shafer, were born seven children, Daniel, John, Peter, George, Michael, Mary and Catherine,

Daniel Shafer, the grandfather of George W. Shafer, was born Novem- ber 6, 1787, and was married August 29, 1809, to Eve Burget, his wife being

MR. AND MRS. GEORGE W. SHAFER.

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born November 30, 1792. Nine children were born to Daniel and Eve (Burget) Shafer: John, born April 20, 1811; Sally S., born November 26, 1812; Henry, born December 13, 1813; Mary, born April 11, 1815; Cath- erine, born March 13, 1817; Elizabeth, born January 13, 1820; Daniel W. A., born June 13, 1826; Eliza Jane, born August 20, 1829; and James M., born January 29, 1834. Daniel Shafer was a very active worker in the Meth- odist church and a soldier in the War of 1812.

John Shafer, the first-born of Daniel and Eve Shafer, was the father of George W., whose history is here recorded. John Shafer was born in Butler county, Ohio, and married Mary Clendenning, a daughter of John Clendenning, of Franklin county. John Shafer was born in Butler county, Ohio, but came to Franklin county, Indiana, with his parents at the age of two years and early in life learned the cooper's trade. Most of his active career, however, was devoted to farming. Following his marriage, in Franklin county, he located on the farm which is now owned by his son, George W., and became one of the most prosperous farmers in the county, at one time owning two hundred and eighty-seven acres of land. He died in 1884 and his widow survived him until 1893. Nine children were born to John and Mary (Clendenning) Shafer: Margaret, Daniel, Mary E., John P., James F., Henry J., George W., Charles M. and Sarah J. Of this large family of children only two are now living, Daniel and George W. Daniel is a farmer of Howard county and now lives at Kokomo. He owns three hundred and twenty acres of land near that city. Daniel married Catherine Lovett and has five children, William, Cora, John Chester, Clyde (deceased), and Omar.

Three of the sons of John Shafer performed able service in the Civil War, James, Daniel and Henry. Henry died at Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1898. James died at the front with typhoid fever ; while Daniel, as has just been mentioned, is living at Kokomo. Daniel was in the service three years and a half and was at one time taken prisoner and confined in Libby prison. He carries in his body to this day a bullet which he received while in the service.

George W. Shafer, with whom this narrative now concludes, was born on the farm where he is now living, in Springfield township, February 23, 1850. He was educated in the district schools of his home neighborhood and from his earliest boyhood worked on his father's farm. After his mar- riage he located on the old homestead and now owns one hundred and four acres of what is known as the Shafer homestead. He has applied himself

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industriously to the various phases of successful, modern farming and has had the satisfaction of seeing his efforts productive of good results.

Mr. Shafer was married October 13, 1881, to Mary Kinney, a daughter of Martin and Margaret (Glesson) Kinney, and to this union three children have been born: Pearl, born August 9, 1882, died January 28, 1901 ; Win- nie, born June 22, 1888, and Lyle, born August 9, 1903. Winnie is a grad- uate of Miami University and is now teaching at Milford, Ohio. Lyle is living with his parents and now attending the public schools.

Mr. Shafer and his family are earnest members of the Methodist church, to the various beneficences of which they give proper attention. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and his wife holds mem- bership in the Daughters of Rebekah, both being actively interested in the affairs of these allied ritualistic societies.

JOHN C. HUERMANN.

To have served as commissioner of Franklin county and to have had an official part in the erection of the splendid new court house at Brookville is an exceptional honor. John C. Huermann, as one of the three commissioners of Franklin county during the past four years, enjoyed that honor. Mr. Huermann performed his official duties as a member of the board of county commissioners to the entire satisfaction of the citizens of his county.

John C. Huermann was born July 28,. 1855, in Oldenburg, Franklin county, Indiana, the son of Conrad H. and Mary (Brackmann) Huermann, the former of whom was born in Germany on April 21, 1804, and died June 20, 1874. Conrad Huermann was married three times, his last wife being the mother of the subject of this review. Mary Brackman was a daughter of Joseph Brackman, a native of Germany, who never came to America. By her marriage with Conrad H. Huermann she had seven children: Rosa, Elizabeth, John C., Mary, Anna, Martina and Johanna, all of whom are liv- ing. The mother of these children died in 1895.

In his native land Conrad Huermann was a locksmith, but after coming to America he became a blacksmith, which vocation he followed all his life. He landed first at Baltimore upon arriving in the United States, and from there went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he secured employment as tool sharp- ener for the contractor of a tunnel gang. Later he came to Oldenburg, In- diana, where he operated a blacksmith shop for ten years, but finally engaged in the hotel and saloon business in Oldenburg. He also owned one hundred

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and twenty acres of land in Ray township, and was prominent among the citizens of his day and generation in this section of the county.

Conrad Huermann's first wife was Gertrude Fuss, a native of Germany, and to this union three children were born: Elizabeth, Catherine and Con- rad, Jr., deceased. All of these children were born in Germany, and there their mother died and is buried. For his second wife Conrad Huermann married Mrs. Catherine Baidleman, the widow of Henry Baidleman, and to this union one child was born, Veronica.

John C. Huermann was educated in the public schools of his home neighborhood at Oldenburg. He was married on February 3, 1904, to Anna Luebbers, the daughter of John and Wilhelmina (Wilke) Luebbers, the for- mer of whom was born in Holland, May 24, 1843, and is now living at Cin- cinnati, Ohio, and the latter of whom was born August 15, 1857, in Germany, and died June 10, 1902. John Luebbers and wife were the parents of two children : Harry, deceased, and Anna, the wife of Mr. Huermann.

Mr. Huermann is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Ray township, but he and his wife reside in Oldenburg, in the house formerly owned by his father. They are devout members of the Catholic church, and Mr. Huermann is a member of the Knights of Columbus and of the Knights of St. John. Mr. Huermann served as county commissioner of Franklin county from 1908 until 1914, during which time the county court house was being built. Mr. Huermann is known throughout the county for his integrity, for his pleasing personality and for the welcome that is always accorded to his friends when they visit his home.

BERT COFFEY.

A member of the medical fraternity who fully realizes the importance of his mission to suffering humanity is Doctor Bert Coffey, of Andersonville, this county, who has gained many of those deep pleasures which come into the physician's life and has also endured the trials which are inevitable to those who follow his profession.

Doctor Coffey was born at Catawba, Clark county, Ohio, July 1, 1871, on the same farm where his father, George Coffey, was born, and where his grandfather, William Coffey, was born. Doctor Coffey is one of three chil- dren. His sister, Mrs. Mary Wingate, resides in Clarke county, Ohio, and the brother, Kemp, is on the old homestead.

Doctor Coffey's great-grandfather, Joseph Coffey, was native to Penn-

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sylvania and settled in the Territory of Ohio in 1799. George Coffey and his wife still live in Catawba, Ohio. When the Civil War broke out George Coffey enlisted in the Third Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, on the IIth of June, 1861. He saw much active service, as he served in the Army of the Cumberland, took part in the battle of Perryville, which occurred in October, 1862, and in the battle of Murfreesboro, on the last day of 1862 and the first two days of 1863. When Colonel Streight made his raid, George Coffey was captured and imprisoned at Belle Isle, where he remained until he was ex- changed, and he received an honorable discharge June 21, 1864.

Doctor Coffey attended the common schools of his locality and then attended the high school of Catawaba, from which he was graduated in 1889, after which he studied one year in the Ohio Normal University, and then took a two-year course in the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio. He entered with the intention of preparing for the ministry, but found that his abilities inclined more toward the study of medicine, so he began the prepara- tion for his present-day profession. He was graduated June 4, 1895, from the Eclectic Medical Institute, of Cincinnati. Professor William E. Bloyer, who held the chair of anatomy in the medical college, was the same teacher who first taught Doctor Coffey when he entered the public schools as a child.

At the beginning of his practice, in 1895, Doctor Coffey practiced at 427 Yorke street. Cincinnati, but in less than two months after his gradua- tion he located in Laurel, this county, where his practice grew steadily for seven years. He left Laurel in December of 1901 and for two years prac- ticed in Andrews, Huntington county, Indiana; then, on January 9, 1904, he returned to this county and has practiced at Andersonville ever since. Doctor Coffey has not allowed his education to become useless, as he keeps himself well informed by reading up-to-date journals of medicine and cur- rent events, as well as by constant reference to his handsome and complete library. Doctor Coffey is deputy coroner of Franklin county, and was pen- sion examiner for four years. He is also a member of the Indiana Medical Association and the National Eclectic Medical Association.

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History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 123

Author: Reifel, August J Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1648

Author: Reifel, August J
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1648