History of Hancock county, Indiana; its people, industries and institutions, Part 104

Author: Richman, George J
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Indianapolis, Federal publishing co., inc.
Number of Pages: 1272

USA > Indiana > Hancock County > History of Hancock county, Indiana; its people, industries and institutions > Part 104

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Jesse P. Cook was educated in the public schools of Vernon township, Hancock county, and worked on his father's farm during the years of his minority. Later he bought a farm of two hundred acres near his father's farm, in Vernon township, which he still owns and operates through renters. In 1890, he and his brother. James M. Cook, together with J. H. Hlaskell. formed a partnership and engaged in the hardware business in Fortville, under the firm name of Haskell & Cook Brothers. J. H4. Haskell, the senior member of the firm, died in 1007. when the other partners assumed his in- terest in the store and continued the business under the firm name of Cook Brothers. When Cook Brothers became sole proprietors of this store, the goods carried in stock invoiced only about two thousand dollars; they now

HANCOCK COUNTY, INDILY.A.

carry a stock of about fourteen thousand dollars and are doing an extensive business in all lines of the hardware and building material trade.

The year after Cook Brothers became sole proprietors of this store, they suffered the loss of the building and contents by fire, but they immediately rebuilt a larger and more modern structure-the one the firm at present oc- cupies. They also own the State Bank building in Fortville, and were mainly instrumental in the organization and establishment of this bank. When the panic of 1893 affected the business of this bank, as it did many others in the state, the Cook Brothers took charge of the bank and enabled the institution to pull safely through the financial difficulties. This institution is now called the Fortville State Bank, and Jesse P. Cook is one of the principal stock- holders and vice-president of the bank. In addition to their other business interests. Cook Brothers were extensively engaged. from 1886 to 1906, in the buying and shipment of live stock from this point. Mr. Cook also owns the garage building and was one of the original stockholders of the Fortville canning factory, and still holds an interest in this establishment.

Jesse P. Cook was married. October, 1876. to Elnora Rains, who died in 1900. lle married again. in 1902, to Elmora Bills, and to this union the following children were born: Sarah, Jesse W .. Daymon and Chester. Mr. Cook is a member of the Christian church.

MARSHALL NICHOLAS HITTLE

Marshall Nicholas Hittle, one of the prominent and successful citizens of Hancock county, was born on July 21. 1863. in Jackson township, the son of William H. H. Hittle and Ann ( Smith ) Hittle.

William 11. 11. little was born in Rush county and was the son of Nich- olas and Susan ( Morgan ) Ilittle. The name is of German origin and was originally spelled Huttle. William 11. H. Hittle grew to manhood in Rush county and while yet a young man be and his father came to the edge of Jackson township to work on a "desdening" and while here he met Ann Smith, whom he married two years later. After marriage he and his wife lived in Jackson township until his health failed and they removed to the farm of his father, where he died on February 18. 1868.

Ann ( Smith ) Hlittle was born on the Smith homestead in Jackson town- ship on March 10, 1840, being the daughter of Samuel and Parthena ( Roland , Smith, the former of whom was a native of the state of New York and the latter was born in Rhode Island about 1800. Samuel Smith and wife were

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pioneers of Rush county. About the year 1833 they put all their belongings on a sled and started for Jackson township, where Mr. Smith entered land on the north edge of the township. At that time the territory was one way wil derness and not a stick of timber had been out from his claim. Here he cleared a space and built a rude log cabin and began the development of the farm that has been the home of some of the family since that time. Never has the farm been in other than the Smith name. Mr. Smith increased his hollings until he owned three hundred and twenty acres. Ann Smith was the seventh of ten children and always lived at home until her marriage to William 11. 11 little.

To William Il. 11. Hittle and wife were born two children : Marshall Nicholas and Edwin Owen, who died at the age of ten months. Some years after the death of William H. H. Hlittle, Mrs Hittle was married to Nimrod Lacy, a native of West Virginia, and the son of Adam and Sarah Lacy. Mr. Lacy came to Hancock county about 1800 and engaged in farming in Jackson township. It was here that Ann Lacy died on March 15. 1912.

While Marshall Nicholas Hittle was a boy he spent a part of his life in West Virginia, yet the greater part of it was spent in Jackson township. at- tending district school and at Spiceland Academy. In 1880 he went to Kan- sas and engaged in farming for two years in Pratt county and was then six years in the city of Pratt. Hle later came back to Indiana and taught school and engaged in farming for a number of years. His home farm, where he now lives, is on section 5. Jackson township. Mr. Hittle was nominated by the Republican party and elected in November, 1914. as trustee of his town- ship. he being the only Republican trustee elected in the county at that time.

In 1887 Marshall Nicholas Hittle was united in marriage to Anna Reece. a native of Hancock county and a daughter of Charles and Martha ( Harvey ) Reece. Charles Reece was born near Cleveland, the son of John and Guliaelma ( Dennis ) Reece. John Reece came from North Carolina and was a pioneer settler near Cleveland. The Dennis family came from near Stranghn. Charles Reece farmed in Jackson township until 1885 and then went to Kan- sas, where he died in 1880. His wife. Martha Reece, was born near Moores- ville. Morgan county, and was the daughter of David Harvey, whose wife was a Hadley. The Hadleys were Quakers from North Carolina. David Harvey entered his land from the government in Morgan county. Charles Reece met Martha Harvey while they were attending school. She is still living in Kansas. Charles Reece and wife were the parents of nine children all but one are living, three are living in Indiana, but Mrs. Hittle is the only one living in Hancock county.

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Mr. and Mrs. Hittle have one son and one daughter : Horace E., who. on March 22, 1916, married Adeline Class, of Jennings county, Indiana, and they live on the Hittle farm, and Ethel R. Horace is a graduate of the high school at Wilkinson and Ethel is in the junior year of the same school.

Mr. Hittle is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He and his family are members of the Nameless Creek Christian church and Mr. Hittle has been the superintendent of the Sunday school for many years.

WILLIS LEARY.

Willis Leary was born on February 15. 1846, in Mohawk. Hancock county, Indiana. His father was Thomas J. Leary. Thomas J. Leary was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was married twice. His first wife was Rebecca Price, who was born in Maryland and who was the daughter of Willis F. Price, who later moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. The children by this wife were: John. Parry, Willis and Jane. The second wife was Marjorie Johnson, of Wayne county, Indiana, who was the daughter of Peter Johnson. who was born in South Carolina. The children by his second wife were: Sarah, Thomas B .. James and Louisa D., who is deceased. John Leary, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Maryland and after his marriage moved to Franklin county, Indiana, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Blooming Grove township. Thomas J. Leary. the father of the subject of this sketch, was a man who took great interest in politics. He made many trips to Cincinnati after he located near Greenfield, Indiana, and he drove large herds of stock to market. He died on March 5. 1889. and his second wife died on September 17, 1907.

Willis Leary was educated in the common schools and went to school in an old log school house and sat on split benches with peg legs. He was a farmer all his life. He was twice married, and his second wife was Polly Chanler, who was the daughter of Daniel Chanler, a general carpenter. She was the widow of T. T. Barrett. The first wife of Willis Leary was Mar- garet .\. Ready, who was the daughter of Jeremiah Ready, a blacksmith of this county. Jeremiah Ready was for two years a soldier in the Civil War. Air. Leary had one child by his first wife. Oliver, who married Viola Curry, had one child, whose name was Avery. Mr. Leary is a member of the Masonic lodge. Mrs. Polly (Chanler) Leary had one child by her first husband. Vernon Barrett, who died at the age of seven years Mrs. Leary's first hus-

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band was a well-known farmer and stock buyer. Both of Mrs. Leary's par- ents are dead. Her father, Daniel Chanler, was a carpenter of Owen county, Kentucky, where he died and his wife died there also. Mrs. Leary had three brothers and four sisters, of whom five are now living.

HENRY ORTEL.

Henry Ortel, one of the leading agriculturists and representative citizens of this county, was born on April 15, 1851, in Sugar Creek township, Han- cock county, Indiana, and is the son of Frederick and Louisa (Deerburg ) Ortel, both natives of Germany. Frederick Ortel was born in 1809 and was the son of Charles Ortel, also a native of Germany. His marriage to Louisa Deerburg was solemnized in his native land and the two immigrated to Amer- ica after the birth of their second born, Christian. That was in 1843. The voyage required seven weeks and was spent aboard a sailing vessel from which they disembarked at New York. The journey to this county was made by boat to Cincinnati, Ohio, and thence by wagon overland to their destination. Forty acres of virgin soil was purchased, tider the homestead law, in the east half of the northeast quarter of section 18, in Sugar Grove township, and here they established a permanent home. The first buildings were of logs which were later replaced by buildings also of logs but hewn. After many years of hardship as a pioneer. Frederick Ortel died in 1891 at the advanced age of eighty-two years. His wife survived him about ten years, dying in 1901. They were the parents of ten children whose names follow: Christian, who served in Company D, of the Seventy-ninth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and lost his life in the battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Louisa, Frederick, deceased ; Henry, Christina, deceased ; Anton, Chris F. William, August. Benjamin and Charles. The parents of these children were members of the German Lutheran church, and in politics the father was a stanch Democrat.

Henry Ortel was reared and educated in Sugar Creek township. Hancock county, Indiana, his first teacher being Rev. J. G. Kunz, of the German school. He assisted his father with the work on the home place until twenty-one years of age, and for the following ten years became an assistant on the neighbor- ing farms. On April 16. 1882. Ilenry Ortel and Christina A. M. Breir were united in marriage and to them have been born these children : Louis, married Mary Schweir and they are the parents of one child. Olga; Edward, John.

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George and Julius. Another child, their first born, died at birth. Christina A. M. ( Breir ) Ortel was a native of Sugar Creek township. Hancock county. Indiana, and a daughter of William and Christina ( Rosener) Breir, who were the parents of ten children: William, Charles, Christina, deceased; Dena. deceased ; Henry, deceased : Henry, Mary, Emma. Annie and Benjamin. Christina A. M. ( Breir ) Ortel was born on January 27. 1860, and after many years of loving and faithful service passed away on August 11. 1915. She was a member of the German Lutheran church, as was also her husband who has served twice as church trustee.

Subsequent to his marriage Henry Ortel rented land and thus continued for sixteen years, since when he has farmed for himself. In the fall of 1897 he purchased ninety acres of land in the northwest quarter of section 17, known as the old McNamee homestead, for which he paid the sum of $66.66 per acre. Two years later he added twenty-six acres on the south, for which he paid the sum of $50 per acre. This place has been the permanent home of the family and is improved with fine buildings and a beautiful grove. One hundred and thirteen acres have been added to the previous purchase of one hundred and sixteen acres, and for this last property, which lies in the north half. of section 7, and was known as the Knoop farm, he paid $135 per acre. The principal profits are procured from the raising of grain and hogs, although about ten head of cattle and four head of horses are continually kept on the place. In his political relations, Henry Ortel is a stanch member of the Democratic party and shows great interest in all elections.

JOHN BURKHART.

John Burkhart. a native of Marion county. Indiana, was born near the city of Indianapolis, October 14. 1864, the son of John and Josephine ( Bar- nard ) Burkhart. John Burkhart, the father of John Burkhart. Jr., was born in Davidson county, North Carolina, in 1833, and died in 1906 on the home farin of the subject of this sketch. He was the son of John Burkhart, the first. who was a native of Germany, where he spent his young manhood on a farm. He later learned the cooper's trade, at which he worked for some years. He came to America with a party of young friends, on a sailing vessel. the trip requiring six weeks. He landed in New York and located in Pennsylvania. near Philadelphia. He remained there for some years and was married, after which he removed to Davidson county, North Carolina, where he engaged in

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farming and was most successful. He owned over four hundred acres of land which was well developed and improved. There he died in 1847.

It was on the okl homestead in North Carolina that John Burkhart, the second, was born and grew to manhood. At the age of twenty-one he and a party of five friends came to Indiana in the spring of 1854. Here he worked on the farm of Reuben Barnard, in Sugar Creek township, for a year or so. Here he was married to Charlotte Josephine Barnard, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Barnard. AAfter his marriage he rented a farm in Marion county where he remained for two years, after which he removed to Butler county. Ohio, where he remained for five years, after which he came back to Indiana. locating in Shelby county and bought a farm in Moral township. This he made his home until 1905. at which time Mrs. Burkhart died. A short time later he made a trip to North Carolina and on his return to Indiana he made his home with his son, John Burkhart, in Sugar Creek township. He lived here but a few months when he died at the home of his son. To John Burkhart and wife were born seven children, five boys and two girls: John, the subject of this sketch ; Charles, Unice, deceased, the wife of C. E. Crum: Adrin, Ernest. Edna, wife of J. E. Barcus, of Indianapolis, and Jessie.

John Burkhart was two years of age when his parents went to Butler county, Ohio, and at the age of seven years moved with his parents to Moral township, Shelby county, where he grew to young manhood. There he attended the home schools and later the Danville Normal after which he taught school in his home township for eight months. After completing his term of school he engaged in farming on a rented farm in the township. He contin- ued to farm in the neighborhood for some five years.

On March 16, 1898, John Burkhart was married to Maggie B. Murnan. who was born in Sugar Creek township on January 11, 1881. She was the daughter of George and Matilda ( Hutchinson ) Murnan, both of whom were pioneers in the locality. Her grandfather, Jacob Murnan, entered the land on which is now situated the Crown Point cemetery and of which John Burk- hart is at present the secretary. George Murman was a prosperous farmer and died near where he was born in the township. His death occurred in 1905. his wife surviving him four years.

George and Matilda Murnan were the parents of eight children, only four of whom lived to the age of maturity : Amanda, deceased, the wife of E. (). Brandenburg: Jane, the wife of J. C. Brandenburg: Maggie B., the wife of John Burkhart, and Mollie, the wife of Fritz Rogers.

After his marriage. John Burkhart farmed in Shelby county for three years after which he located in Sugar Creek township and two years later

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bought one hundred and fifteen acres of land, known as the Kaspari farm. Five years later he bought forty acres of the Murnan homestead adjoining the land belonging to Mrs. Burkhart. Mr. and Mrs. Burkhart now own two hun- dred and forty acres of well improved and well cultivated land. John Burk- hart and wife are the parents of two children: Matilda Josephine, who was born on March 25, 1899. and John Barnard Burkhart, born on July 19. 1915.

John Burkhart owes much of his prosperity to his success in the raising of corn and hogs. He usually cultivates sixty to seventy acres of corn on the home place, which yields on the average fifty bushels to the acre. He also raises about fifty acres of small grain. He generally markets one hundred and fifty head of hogs and ten head of cattle each year, he also has on hand about twenty head of fine Herefords and twelve head of Belgian draft horses, besides many good sheep.

Mr. Burkhart attends the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a supporter, and to which his wife and daughter belong. Mr. Burkhart is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Knights of Pythias, Red Men and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and a past sachem of the Red Men. Politically, Mr. Burkhart is a Democrat and served as trustee of his township from 1908 to 1914. He is well known and highly respected, being a man of high ideals and excellent judgment.

DAVID H. BAITY.

David H. Baity was born in North Carolina, in 1842, the son of Isom and Nancy (Ploman) Baity, who were both of the North Carolina state. His paternal grandparents were David and Nancy Baity, who were also natives of North Carolina and lived on a farm. His maternal grandparents, Plomans, were also North Carolinians ; these ancestors all lived and died in that state.

Isom Baity was reared on a farm in North Carolina and obtained such edu- cation as was afforded by the schools of his neighborhood. He had a family of thirteen children. Of these there were three of his sons in the Confed- erate army and one in the Union army, during the Civil War. Those in the Confederate army were William D .. Henry W. and Alexander. David H was in the Union army. All lived through the war and for some years after. Henry H. left the Confederate service and came through the lines and got to Greenfield, where he lived until his death. Alexander was for eighteen

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months a prisoner in Point Lookout and he was furnished money and pro- visions by the family of David H. Baity, his brother, on the Union side.

David H. Baity was reared and educated in North Carolina and lived on a farm until he was eighteen years of age. Then he came to Hancock county. Indiana, to live with an uncle who had come to this state some years previous. After coming here David H. Baity attended school for some time. In Feb- ruary. 1865. he enlisted as a soldier in the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under the last call for volunteers in the Civil War. He served in Company F. of that regiment, until the close of the war, about seven months, and was mustered out at Harper's Ferry, Vir- ginia. After his discharge from the army he came to Hancock county and engaged in the business of farming. He bought a small farm in Green town- ship and increased his land possessions from time to time until he accumulated a large body of land, comprising two hundred and twenty-nine acres, Part of this land was government land originally entered by his uncle. Mr. Baity has built a good comfortable residence, erected barns and farm buildings and has his farm well improved. He is engaged in general farming and is making a success at it.

David H. Baity was married in 1870, to Rachel L. Wilson, of Green township. One child of this union, Charles C., died at the age of three years. Orville E., the only living child. is employed in the "New York" store, at Indianapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Baity are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Baity is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, and also a member of Post No. 228, Grand Army of the Republic, at Fortsville.

W. F. THOMAS.

William F. Thomas, son of D. J. and Mary Jane ( Paxton) Thomas, was born in Hancock county, Indiana. in 1861. His father was a native of North Carolina and came with his parents to Indiana in early life. The grandfather located with his family in Vernon township. Hancock county, where he entered forty acres of land, and soon after entered another eighty, and engaged in farming. Here they had their home, and here the elder Thomas and his wife both died.

D. J. Thomas lived and labored on this farm in his early years, and did his full share of the arduous work of clearing the land of the heavy growth of timber and getting the land in condition for cultivation. His education was (68)

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limited, not only because of the limited school advantages of those early times but chiefly because of the necessity of work on the farm. He lived on the farm his entire life, except about two years when he was a resident of Fortville. He had at one time two hundred acres of land, one hundred and twenty acres of this was the original entry made by his father. His wife was a Dunkard and they had eight children.

William F. Thomas was educated in the schools of Vernon township and has always followed the vocation of a farmer. He owns forty acres on which he built his residence and other buildings, and farms this and another forty acres which he rents from his mother. He was married in February. 1886, to Callie Sewell. To this union the following children were born : Avery C., Millie Elsie, Bertha Bell, Roy Albert, Carl and Ora B.

CHARLES H. ROESENER.

Charles H. Roesener, a life-long resident of Sugar Creek township, born about two and one-half miles west of New Palestine, March 15, 1851, is a son of William L. and Christina ( Brademeier ) Roesener. William L. Roes- ener was born in Frilee. Germany, March 12. 1813. and died at his home in Sugar Creek township. April 2. 1888. at the age of seventy-five years. His boyhood days were spent on a farm and as his father died when he was a small boy he grew to manhood under the watchful care of a wise mother. When twenty-four years of age he was united in marriage with Christina Brade- meier, a native of that same place, born on April 3. 1817. Immediately after their marriage, in 1837. they started for America, the voyage consuming six weeks. They landed at Baltimore, journeyed overland to the Ohio river, thence by boat to Cincinnati and from there overland to Hancock county, where others of their locality had preceded them.

After reaching Hancock county, William L. Roesener bought eighty acres of land from Louis Richman, who a short time previous had entered it from the government. This land was the west half of the northeast quarter of section 18. Sugar Creek township, and was practically all virgin timber. Two or three acres only had been cleared and a small cabin and barn erected. In this crude little home the ambitious young couple started housekeeping and during the years which followed, passed through all the hardships and priva- tions common to the lot of pioneers in a new land. William L. Roesener succeeded in clearing sixty acres of his land and erected a comfortable three-

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room frame house as well as good barns and other buiklings and had his land partially drained. At the time of his death he owned one hundred and twenty acres in all, forty acres being in the northwest quarter of section 8. Ile departed this life on April 2, 1888, following his wife, who passed away on February 12, 1887. Both William L. Roesener and wife were faithful mem- bers of the German Lutheran church and after becoming a citizen of this country he became an carnest advocate of the principles of the Democratic party. They were the parents of the following children : William. Christina, Louisa, Christian, Mary, Charles Henry, Anton, Frederick and Emma.

Charles Henry Roesener was born on the old farm, where he spent his youth, and attended the German school and the old McNamee district school, after which he assisted his father with the work of the home farm. On November 14, 1875, when twenty-four years of age, he was united in mar- riage with Mary Kuntz, who was born on April 27. 1853. a daughter of the Rev. J. G. and Helen (Aldman ) Kuntz. Mary lived but six years after her marriage, passing away in August of 1881. She had borne four children : William. George, Emma and Henry W., the two first named passing away in infancy. Two years after her death, on September 13. 1883. Mr. Roesener was married to Mary Roesener, who was born in Sugar Creek township on October 1. 1859, a daughter of Anton and Engel (Ostermeier) Roesener. both of whom were born in Germany, the former in April. 1827, and the latter, July 20, 1834. Anton Roesener died on October 13, 1859, and his widow married Anton Roesener, now deceased. while she still resides in Sugar Creek township. By her first marriage. Mrs. Roesener became the mother of two children, Anton and Mary, the latter now Mrs. C. H. Roesener, wife of the immediate subject of this sketch. By her second marriage there were six children : Christina, who died in infancy; Charlie, Louisa, Annie, Emma and Bertha, who passed away in childhood, while the others still survive.

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History of Hancock county, Indiana; its people, industries and institutions, Part 104

Author: Richman, George J Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Indianapolis, Federal publishing co., inc. Number of Pages: 1272

Author: Richman, George J
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Indianapolis, Federal publishing co., inc.
Number of Pages: 1272