USA > Indiana > Huntington County > History of Huntington County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 38
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wife. Their years of economy and thrift are now being well repaid, and as one evidence of this they built in 1912 a modern brick residence, which is one of the best farm homes in Jackson township, and has all the modern facilities of heating, running water, and conveniences and comforts both upstairs and down.
Mr. and Mrs. Thorne are active members and workers in the Zion United Brethren church of Jackson township. He has long been in- terested in this religious society, has served as superintendent of the Sunday school, and as a trustee of the church. As to politics he affiliates with the prohibition cause, but outside of allowing his name to go on the party ticket, as candidate for county commissioner, he has par- ticipated very little in practical politics.
WILLIAM THORN. The residence of William Thorn in Huntington county during a period of fifty-five years has been characterized by steady industry, quiet but public spirited citizenship, and has been ac- companied by many of the rewards which are paid to the Indiana farmer. Mr. Thorn is proprietor of the "Hilly Pasture Dairy Farm" five miles northeast of Huntington in Jackson township. This farm is a beautiful as well as a productive estate and is located alongside the Fort Wayne and Huntington Gravel Road. It represents the efforts of Mr. Thorn as the farmer and business man, and there are few better or more valuable places of its size anywhere in the county.
William Thorn was born in Wayne county, Ohio, June 25, 1840, a son of Jacob and Mary (Coy) Thorn. The parents were both natives of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, but their respective families moved out to Wayne county, Ohio, and located on land in the same neighbor- hood. Thus Jacob and Mary Thorn grew up together, and their child- hood acquaintance ripened into matrimony. They spent all their lives in Wayne county, Ohio, and were substantial farming people.
The first eighteen years of his life, William Thorn lived in Wayne county, Ohio, with his parents, and in the meantime was given practical, though hardly a liberal education. In the fall of 1858 he came to Jack- son township of Huntington county, and for several years, found employ- ment as a farm hand among his friends and neighbors. In the fall of 1862 occurred his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Flack. For a few years after their marriage, he made a living and gained much experience and also acquired a little capital by renting land. Finally he and his wife had accumulated enough to invest in twenty acres, and he finally traded that for his present homestead of eighty acres. In every undertaking he has been progressive, and has proved himself one of the most capable farmers and dairymen in his section of the county.
Mr. and Mrs. Thorn have four sons: Rev. Charles Thorn is a local minister of the United Brethren church and is now a farmer in Clear Creek township; Frank Thorn died when twenty-nine years of age, a young man of great promise, who had prepared for a career and was a graduate of Purdue University; A. M. Thorn is a farmer near Auburn, Indiana, and married Mary Newell; Ora Thorn married Nettie Dawson,
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and lives in Canada. The mother of these sons died December 5, 1904. On November 28, 1906, Mr. Thorn married Rebecca J. Howey, who was born in Jackson township of DeKalb county, Indiana, April 24, 1853, a daughter of Peter Kester. The Kester family was likewise from West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, but Mrs. Thorn was reared in DeKalb county, Indiana, and was educated in that locality. Her first husband was John Howey, and by that marriage were born four children as fol- lows: Daisy M., wife of Aurelius Thorn; Corma, who married Blanche Powell; Josephine, unmarried, and Flossie, who married Frank Rice. The family are members of the United Brethren church at Zion, and Mr. Thorn is one of the trustees of the organization. In politics he is a prohibitionist, and does what he can to advance the cause of that party in the community and the nation.
THEODORE P. JOHNSON. Some men seem destined by nature to suc- ceed; no matter what obstacles appear in their path they are able to overcome them, if for no other reason than that of a persistent determin- ation. Many of the best citizens of Huntington county were handicapped in their earlier years, and their success has been acquired after many battles with hardship and they have well merited their success in the world. A citizen of this type is Mr. Theo. P. Johnson, of Jackson township, the proprietor of the Green Valley Stock Farm. Mr. Johnson has lived in Huntington county, a comparatively short time, but is an old resident of the state, and since moving to Huntington has closely identi- fied himself with the industrial and civic affairs of this community. The Green Valley Stock Farm comprises one hundred and thirty acres in sections 29 and 32 and is located six miles northeast of Huntington. Besides his main farm, Mr. Johnson also owns one hundred and sixty acres in section 20 of the same township. All this land and its improve- ments represent a very substantial degree of prosperity, and it has all been won since Mr. Johnson started out a young man with practically no fortune or influential friends behind him.
Theo. P. Johnson was born in Benton county, Indiana, September 24, 1862, a son of Samuel B. and Sarah (Reed) Johnson. Both parents were born in Ohio, came to Indiana about 1835, and were pioneers in Fountain county, where the father continued his trade as a cooper, until 1859. He then moved onto a large tract of land in Benton county, and spent ten years in clearing and developing that estate. After that he had a farm of his own, and made it his home until 1895, when he moved to Remington in Jasper county, and had his home there until his death. His wife had already passed away. There were nine children and the four living at the present time are: Orlando E. Johnson, of Union township; Mary M., wife of N. M. Gehris of Warren county, Indiana ; Robert P. Johnson, of Jackson township ; and Theo. P.
Mr. Theo. P. Johnson was educated in the common schools of Warren and Benton county, but it was only in the winter season that he attended school at all regularly, and the open months of the year were spent in , performing the duties of the home farm. At the age of sixteen he began
andrew Paul.
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working for himself, and at the time he was twenty-one his chief capital was represented by a horse and a buggy. At the age of eighteen he had felt the necessity of a better education, and then continued work during the summer but went to school in winter until he was twenty. His independent career began when hè rented a farm of forty acres. He proved his ability to take care of land on his own account, and after the first venture rented eighty acres and then one hundred and twenty acres, and finally was given charge of three hundred and twenty acres owned by Ex-Senator Goodwin in Warren county. In the management of that place he displayed peculiar success, and laid the basis for his permanent prosperity while there. In 1898 Mr. Johnson made his first purchase of land, comprising eighty acres in Benton county. The pur- chase price was $4,400, and he paid $1,000 down on that property. In 1900 he organized a rural telephone system, which was the first introduc- tion of the telephone into the country districts in that section, and he pushed the enterprise with a great deal of vigor, and it proved a very profitable undertaking and made him a good deal of money. Mr. Johnson operated that telephone line for twelve years and finally sold out and moved to Huntington county in 1911.
Very early in his career. Mr. Johnson took an important step toward independence by his marriage to Angeline Kochel of Warren county. To their marriage have been born six children: Daisy, wife of A. W. Tim- mons of Benton county ;. Edgar M., who graduated from the Purdue University with the class of 1907 and is now a druggist in Fowler, Indiana; Loda, wife of James Hughes of Jackson township; Lida, a graduate of the common schools and living at home; Ashley, who is six- teen years of age; and Artie, still in the district schools.
The family have membership in the Central Christian church. In politics Mr. Johnson is a republican, but has given little attention to party politics. As a farmer he is a breeder of thoroughbred Duroc hogs and fine shorthorn cattle. During his residence in Warren county he was elected as a republican to the office of assessor of Prairie township, and served two terms. Later he was elected township trustee of the same township and filled that office four years. As a young man Mr. Johnson worked in the fields of ex-Governor J. Frank Hanley, and in 1907, when Mr. Hanley was Governor of Indiana, he appointed Mr. Johnson one of the trustees of the Indiana Boys School at Plainfield. Mr. Johnson gave one term of service in that position.
ANDREW PAUL. Huntington county is especially rich in the type of farming men she has attracted and held to herself in the past half cen- tury, in many instances her sons having followed in the steps of their fathers and taken up their residence on the places where they were born, there to carry on to completion the splendid work begun by the previous generation. It is to such men as these that this county is most deeply in- debted, for they have at all times the best interests of their community at heart, and strive to develop their town along the most approved lines in progressive agriculture. One of these men is Andrew Paul, who was born
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on the farm on which he now lives, on October 31, 1864. His fine farm in Lancaster township is located five miles distant from Huntington on the Salamonie pike, and it reflects in its present day aspect the energy of its original owner, together with the aggressiveness and progressive- ness of its present owner and occupant.
Andrew Paul is the son of Henry and Nancy (Snowberger) Paul, natives of the Keystone state, who married in that state and came through to Indiana with a four horse wagon that contained all their worldly goods. They struck the state which was to represent their future home in June, 1850, and after some little prospecting about the head of the house chose the place that has since been the family seat in Lancaster township. Here the father built a small one room cabin, and this was the shelter of the little household while he began to get the place . in shape for a small crop, and until he was able to build a more suitable one some time later. The home that he built to take the place of that early cabin home is still standing, in excellent condition, and is the home of the subject today.
The father died on February 1, 1901, the mother following him on July 26, 1904. Ten children blessed their home, and of that number Andrew Paul is the youngest living child. The eldest and youngest born are both deceased.
Andrew Paul was reared on this farm and when he was of suit .. able school age he attended the local schools. He first attended what was known as the Paul School, in Lancaster township, located on the corner of the old farm, and so called by reason of its location. He was only a student in the winter months, however, for from his earliest boyhood his services were required in the home place, even in those unusual seasons when the school term held over to summer. From the home farm young Paul went to work for other farmers of the com- munity, and in time he felt able to make a land purchase on his own responsibility. The result was that he and one of his brothers bought one hundred and sixty acres in Rock Creek township, and in 1904 he sold his interest to his brother. When the father passed away in 1904. Mr. Paul assumed charge of the home place and he still is the proprietor of the old home farm, of which he owns eighty acres.
Mr. Paul has demonstrated his native talent as a farming man in no uncertain terms, and in addition to general farming he carries on a stock breeding business that is doing much to elevate the standard of stock among the farming men of the township.
A life long Republican, Mr. Paul is one of the active men in political work in the town, as well as in the county, and has been a delegate to republican county conventions on various occasions. His citizenship is of high order, and has gained him a position of some importance among his fellow men, who recognize in him the qualities that make for the inevitable betterment of social and industrial conditions in the community where he is active. He is actively interested in the Majenica Telephone Company as a stockholder, and is associated with other enterprises of a public utility nature. Mr. Paul is unmarried.
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JACOB W. JOHN. During his administration as treasurer of Hunt- ington county Jacob W. John became known to practically every citizen of the county. Mr. John has been one of the sterling farmers, business men and citizens of this county since his boyhood, and his family and personal record is one of much interest.
Jacob W. John was born in Wayne county, Indiana, December 18, 1843, a son of David M. and Susanna (Overholster) Jolın. So far as can be ascertained the family originated in Wales. The first of the name to emigrate to America was Nicholas John who came to this country about the year 1648, and settled in Pennsylvania, in York county. He had at least one son, whose name was Thomas, who was born in Pennsylvania, about 1683. He grew to manhood and was married in that state, and in his family were four sons, and perhaps others. His death occurred about the year 1758, when about seventy-five years of age. This Thomas John had four sons as already stated, named, William, Griffith, John and Eleazer. John John was born in the state of Pennsylvania in 1753, and lived there until he was sixty-five years of age, when he moved to the state of Virginia. He was twice married, and altogether had eleven children. His death occurred in 1825, at the age of seventy-two. The name of his sons by his first wife were: John, Thomas, David and Wil- liam. Those by the second wife were: James, Griffith, and Eleazer.
David A. John, third son of John John, and grandfather of the Hunt- ington county citizen first named, was born in Dauphin county, Pennsyl- vania, March 29, 1788. Harrisburg, now a thriving city, and the capital of the state, at that time had but one dry goods store, kept in a hewed log cabin. David A. John grew to manhood in Pennsylvania, and learned the wagon and carriage making trade. In 1811, at the age of twenty-three he was united in marriage with Mary Mishler, who at that time was eighteen years old. Soon after their marriage they moved out to Stark county, Ohio, and then to Tuscarawas county, in the same state, where David John entered one hundred and sixty acres of land. Soon afterwards he volunteered his services in defense of his country in the war of 1812. He went out with the troops under General Bell, and returned with the rank of lieutenant. He continued to farm for a number of years in Tuscawaras county, and in 1829, moved to the western side of the state, in Montgomery county. From there he moved in 1837 to Wayne county, Indiana, locating near Hagerstown. In 1855, he reached Huntington county, and in 1866 moved to Wabash county this state, where he died in 1867 at the age of eighty-nine. His wife died in 1843 at the age of fifty-one years, eleven months and one day.
David M. John, father of Jacob W., was born in Ohio, October 20, 1821. He lived there until manhood, and then married Susanna Overhol- ster. In 1853 David M. Jolın located near Roanoke on a farm in Hunting- ton county. He improved his land and continued to live there as one of the prosperous citizens until his death on March 26, 1861. His widow in 1866 married Stephen C. Ulrey of Kosciusko county, Indiana. David M. John and wife had eight children. Of these Lewis, Catherine and David died in infancy, and the others are still living as follows: Oliver,
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of Roanoke ; Jacob W .; Sarah J., who married and had several children ; Thomas J., a prosperous farmer in Wabash county ; Calvin N., a farmer in Kosciusko county.
Jacob W. John was nine years old when the family moved to Hunt- ington county, and he completed his education in the common schools of Jackson township. About the time he reached manhood the war for the preservation of the Union had been in progress for a year or more, and on March 1, 1864, he went out as a soldier in Company E of the Forty- Seventh Indiana Regiment. His career as a soldier continued until the close of the war. Twice before he was accepted as a soldier he had of- fered his services, but was rejected. Mr. John now has membership with his old comrades in William McGinnis Post No. 167, of the G. A. R., and has served as its commander and is now its adjutant.
On April 29, 1866, Mr. John married Amanda Zent of Jackson town- ship. She was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, and was eight years old when her parents brought her to Huntington county, where she grew to womanhood. She became the mother, of four children, three of whom are now living: William H., who is foreman of the railroad round house at Terre Haute; Frank H., who is a stenographer and bookkeeper at Safford, Arizona; Cora M., who died at the age of twenty years, on June 20, 1892; and Ariadne, wife of Ora Geedy of Huntington. The mother of these children died August 25, 1893. Mr. John married the second time Miss Eva Bell. Mrs. John is a refined and cultured woman and has presided over his home with much efficiency.
Mr. John is one of the stockholders in the Roanoke State Bank. During his long residence in Huntington county he has acquired many important interests and his position as a business man and citizen has always been above question. The confidence reposed in him was well indicated by his election some years ago as treasurer of Huntington county, and he filled that office two terms. He served in the capacity of justice of the peace from 1884 to 1888, and since leaving the office of treasurer has again filled the same office. In politics Mr. John is a stanch republican. He and his family worship in the United Brethren church, at Roanoke, he being president of the board of trustees. He is vice grand of the Little River Lodge, No. 273, I. O. O. F., and has also passed the various chairs in the Tribe of Ben Hur.
SAMUEL M. HALEY. Mr. Haley is a Huntington farmer resident of forty-five years' standing. Any community is fortunate in the possession of such estimable members of society as Samuel M. Haley. It is in farm- ing that he has won his greatest success as a business man, but has al- ways at the same time enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his civic community, and is a man whose services and character have not been without value to the social welfare. While he has never attained great wealth, Mr. Haley has prospered in a quiet fashion, has provided a good home for himself and his children, and has upheld those responsibilities of citizenship which fall on every independent and right thinking man. He is the proprietor of what is known as the Fast Homestead, located two miles north and one mile west of Roanoke.
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Samuel M. Haley was born in Holmes county, Ohio, April 5, 1840, a son of James and Catherine (Matthews) Haley. The mother was a native of Pennsylvania, and the father of Holmes county, Ohio. In 1856 the parents came to Indiana and settled in Deer Creek township near Huntington county, where they remained until death came to them at a good old age. In their household were fourteen children; nine of whom by two marriages are living at the present writing, mentioned as fol- lows: S. M. Haley; Richard; Lauretta, wife of Frederick Upham ; Leonard, who lives in Canada; Elmira, wife of Silas Jackson ; James, of Wayne county, Ohio; Edward, deputy sheriff of Huntington county ; Clement, who lives in South Dakota; Katherine, wife of Sam Christian of Fort Wayne.
Samuel M. Haley was twenty-seven years old when he came with the rest of the family to Huntington county. In the meantime back in Ohio he had acquired the substantial rudiments of an education, and had been well trained in the arts of farming and had demonstrated his ability to win his way without any help beyond his own resources. After a few years of work and industry in Huntington county, he was married in March, 1874, to Miss Cordelia Fast. She was born in Jackson township, a daughter of Francis J. and Catherine Fast. The Fast family has long been well known in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Haley are the par- ents of four children, as follows : Royal, who is a graduate of the Roanoke high school, and married Dessie Purviance, and their home is at Auburn, Indiana ; Rilla, a graduate of the Roanoke high school, and the wife of Harry Wasmuth of Andrews, Indiana ; Bethel, who is a high school grad- uate, is bookkeeper for the Electric Light Company at Fort Wayne ; Don, who married Fern Feightner, is a clerk for the A. Wasmuth & Sons Com- pany at Roanoke.
Mr. Haley is affiliated with Little River Lodge No. 275, of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows at Roanoke. In politics he gives his sup- port to the Democratic party, but has never sought nor held any polit- ical office.
EDWARD F. HAINES. The farming and business community of Jack- son township has one of its strongest and ablest men of affairs in Ed- ward F. Haines, who is proprietor of the Beaver Dam farm in that town- ship. Mr. Haines has had much success a's a stock raiser and general farmer, and at the same time has interested himself in several of the con- cerns which are central points in the business activity of his locality.
Edward F. Haines was born in Jackson township on a farm, December 11, 1868. His parents were Abraham and Malinda (Longsdorf) Haines. Both parents came from Ohio, and were still young when their respective parents moved into Jackson township of Huntington county, where they grew up and were married. They lived in Huntington county until 1896, when they moved to Elkhart, where the father died and the mother still lives. There were six children, four of whom are yet liv- ing as follows: Edward F .; William; Clarence; Minnie, the wife of Mr. Baker of Elkhart.
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It was on the old farm in Jackson township that Edward F. Haines was reared, and his schooling was supplied by the local schools, and sub- sequently a course in the Classical Seminary at Roanoke. Farming has been his vocation since the close of school days, and he has been well prospered in that vocation. He lived at home until his marriage in August, 1891, to Laura A. Christian. Mrs. Haines is a daughter of Sam- uel Christian, who came from Montgomery, Ohio, and was one of the pioneers and best known citizens of Huntington county. Mrs. Haines was born on the farm where she and her husband now reside. Her edu- cation was supplied by the district schools. Mr. and Mrs. Haines have four children: Roy, a graduate of the Roanoke high school; Clark, a student in the Roanoke high school; and Gladys and Mamie. The fam- ily worship in the United Brethren church at Mount Pleasant, and frater- nally Mr. Haines is affiliated with the Huntington Lodge No. 93, of the Knights of Pythias. As an active Democrat he consented to allow his name to go on the ticket of the party for the office of county treasurer.
The Beaver Dam farm is one of the best country estates in Hunting- ton county. It comprises one hundred and twenty acres of land, situ- ated three miles west of Roanoke on the Roanoke and Christian Gravel Roads. Mr. Haines gives much of his attention to the raising of thor- oughbred stock, and has some excellent specimens of cattle and hogs on his farm. Beyond his immediate farm, his interest extends to the hold- ing of stock in the State Bank of Roanoke, and he is also a stock holder and for some time was manager of the Roanoke Creamery Company.
HENRY DINIUS. It is doubtful if any other name has been identified with the ownership of more land in Huntington county than that of Dinius. Henry Dinius has passed the venerable age of eighty years, and for almost a lifetime has been a resident of Huntington county. He him- self has been one of the large owners of country real estate in this county, and now lives in comfort and plenty on a good farm in Jackson township.
Henry Dinius was born in Stark county, Ohio, April 14, 1833, a son of John Dinius, who in turn was a son of Peter Dinius, who was born in November, 1765, in Germany, and came to the United States, finding a home in Pennsylvania, where he married a Miss Pretz. He lived in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, until the spring of 1812, when he emigrated to Stark county, Ohio, which was his home until his death. He was the father of John, George, Peter, Samuel, Henry, Rebecca, Bar- bara. John Dinius grew up in Stark county, Ohio, and when eighteen years of age married Rebecca Koch. After that they continued to live in Stark county, until the spring of 1848. In the meantime in the spring . of 1846, John Dinius had made his first trip to Huntington county, In- diana, where he purchased a tract of new land, and in 1847 again came to this county and extended his ownership of Huntington county soil. In the spring of 1848 he brought his family to the county, and located on a farm including the land upon which his son, Henry, now lives. Altogether, John Dinius acquired the ownership of fourteen hundred and forty acres in this county, and was one of the most extensive and substan-
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