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 4
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Russell S. Galbreath was born in Whitley county, Indiana, December 1, 1887. His parents are Martin L. and Ellen (Puterbaugh) Galbreath, his father being a native of Kosciusko county, Indiana. Martin L. Gal- breath has long been one of the prominent men of Whitley county, spending his early career as a farmer and stockman, and later his in- terests and activities extending to banking. On the organization of the Farmers Trust Company at Columbia City, Indiana, he was made man-
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ager, and still holds that position. There his farming interests are like- wise extensive.
Dr. Russell S. Galbreath spent his boyhood in Whitley county, and most of his education was obtained from the Columbia City high schools, where he was graduated in 1907. He soon afterward entered the medical department of the Northwestern University of Chicago, where ". com- pleted the prescribed course, and was graduated M. D. with the class of 1911. Already he had selected his place for practice and at once opened his office in Huntington. The doctor was soon established on a prosperous basis, and now has about all the practice he can attend to. His medical library and equipment of instruments and other facilities for practice will compare with those of many older physicians.
During the first year of his residence in Huntington county, Dr. Galbreath served as deputy coroner, under Dr. Wilking. In November, 1912, he was elected coroner of Huntington county, for the regular term of one year. He was also the first medical inspector of school children, but resigned the office to accept that of coroner, in which he has proved a capable official. Among other professional relations he has membership in the Huntington County Medical Society, and the State Medical Society. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of the Maccabces, the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and is medical examiner for all these well known fraternities. On the democratic side he takes an active part in political affairs, and in every way is a most genial gentleman. He is a member of the Presbyterian church. Dr. Galbreath in 1910 married Miss Flossie Bcezley. They are the parents of one son, Robert.
HENRY W. HOCH. The Huntington Brewing Company, of which Mr. Hoch is president and treasurer, operates a plant in the city of Huntington which for thirty years or more has been one of the sub- stantial institutions of both city and county. Under the present manage- ment the business has been kept up to the very highest standards, its product is regarded as unexcelled among Indiana breweries, and is widely distributed over a large territory. The brewery, which under successive managements and changes, is now known as the Huntington Brewing Company's Plant was established in 1870 by Jacob Boos, and was managed by Mr. Boos very successfully until 1890. His successor was Carl Lang, who continued the business and made a number of improve- ments. In 1901 Mr. Lang disposed of his interests to the Huntington Brewing Company. The Huntington Brewing Company was incor- porated in 1901, with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. It was at that time that Mr. Hoch became president and treasurer, and has since continued in active direction of the company's local affairs. The brewery is a large structure, in which is installed the latest improved machinery and facilities for the manufacture of high class malt products. The capacity is eighteen thousand barrels a year. A large share of this
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product goes to supply the local trade, but much is shipped to neighbor- ing towns and villages throughout this section of Indiana.
Henry W. Hoch is a master of his business, and knows it in every detail from the technical processes to the business end. He is a native of the state of Wisconsin, born in the city of Waukesha, July 23, 1859. His parents, William and Martha (Wiggs) Hoch, were both born in Germany, and came to the United States when very young. Henry W. Hoch was educated first in the public schools, later in the State Uni- versity of Wisconsin at Madison, and subsequently took a commercial course in a school at Minneapolis. His regular business career began as a bookkeeper and he served under several different firms. In Chicago he was employed in a wholesale grocery house, and from there went to Marquette, Michigan, where he established a plant for the bottling of soft drinks, and also did business for a local brewing company. His mastery of the brewing business and his general ability gradually enlarged his interests, and for more than ten years he has been at the head of one of Huntington's important establishments.
Mr. Hoch married Miss Ida Thoney, a daughter of John Thoney, an old resident of Marquette, Michigan. They are the parents of three children : Edna M., who is a graduate in music from St. Mary's, Notre - Dame; Arthur R., a graduate of the Huntington high school and now a student in his father's alma mater, the State University of Wisconsin ; and Mildred L., a student in St. Mary's parochial school at Huntington. Mr. Hoch and family are communicants of the Catholic faith.
Mr. Hoch is a democrat and was alderman in Marquette, Michigan. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, being a trustee in both organizations and is also a member of the Loyal Order of Moose.
THOMAS J. SICKAFOOSE. If success in the world is measured by the attainments of sufficient of the world's goods to satisfy all the needs of a family, and by service in all the posts to which public responsibility calls, then Thomas J. Sickafoose is properly regarded as one of Hunting- ton county's successful men. Forty-five years ago when he married he had nothing except ability of his hands, and a first-class reputation for honesty and industry. Since then he has acquired a fine homestead, has provided liberally for himself and family, and is one of the most substantial citizens in Clear Creek township. Previous to that he had given loyal service to his country as a soldier of the Union army, and in his subsequent career he has served as township assessor, as justice of the peace and as notary public.
Thomas J. Sickafoose was born in Washington township of Whitley county, Indiana, February 17, 1844, a son of Michael and Elizabeth (Becher) Sickafoose. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, and the mother of Ohio. Michael Sickafoose was taken to Stark county, Ohio, when two years of age, and grew up there and was married. The family moved to Indiana, about 1842, locating in Whitley county, where the parents spent the rest of their lives. The father was the owner of
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254 acres of land, and by hard work acquired considerable prosperity. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church. There were eleven children in the family, two of whom are living at this time. The brother of Thomas Sickafoose is Andrew J., a substantial farmer of Whitley county.
Thomas J. Sickafoose spent his early years on a farm in Whitley county. His education was such as was afforded by the common schools, during his youth, and during the five years of his school age he had the privilege of attending the school about three months each year. However, he managed to acquire a substantial training, and has always been a man interested in affairs, and has done a great deal of reading.
He was about seventeen years old when the war broke out. On September 22, 1862, he enlisted in Company E of the Fifty-fourth Indiana Infantry. This regiment was in the Fourth Army Corps. He went to Indianapolis with his command in December, 1862, going first to Memphis, Tennessee. In the following year he participated in the cam- paigns and series of engagements which led up to the siege and capture of Vicksburg. At Chickasaw Bluff he was twice wounded. He was in the battle of Arkansas Post, while among the troops under the command of General Grant, and was in many fights, and finally was present at the surrender of Vicksburg in July, 1863. After fourteen months of active service, he received his honorable discharge and returned home on January 1, 1864. Mr. Sickafoose had a brother, John, who enlisted in the Fifth Indiana Battery of Columbia City, Indiana, in 1861. His battery was in the Army of the Cumberland and served till July, 1864. He was shot through the hips by a sharpshooter and died July 17, 1864.
After several years spent in Whitley county, and in getting his first experiences as a farmer and business man, Mr. Sickafoose was married in January 28, 1868, to Mary J. Kimmel of Whitley county. Mrs. Sickafoose was born in the state of Illinois, May 3, 1844. When three years of age was taken by her people to Stark county, Ohio, where she grew to womanhood, and she also spent three years in Virginia. She received her education in the district schools, and in 1863,. her family moved to Whitley county.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sickafoose started out on a rented farm and were very poor for several years. By hard work and close economy, they managed to have a little more at the end of the year than they had at the beginning, and prosperity finally began to come in larger measure. Mr. Sickafoose in those early years was em- ployed in a sawmill and at the carpenter's trade. The basis of his present success may be said to have been established about 1878, when he bought twenty acres of land. He has gone on increasing his property until he now owns one hundred and sixty acres, comprising one of the best farms in Clear Creek township. Mr. and Mrs. Sickafoose are the parents of two children: Minor L., born November 7, 1868, married Emma Summers, and is a farmer and operates a threshing outfit; Eva M., born August 4, 1873, is the wife of M. O. Sprinkle, a resident of Clear Creek township. The family are members of the United Brethren
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church at Goblesville, and Mr. Sickafoose is corresponding secretary of the Young People's Endeavor Society. In politics he is an old-line republican, and has voted for that party since he came out of the army.
JOHN F. MAURER, JR. One of the admirably improved landed estates that lend to the attractions and industrial prestige of Huntington county is the fine Greenwood Stock & Poultry Farm, of which the progressive and enterprising proprietor is Mr. Maurer-a citizen of distinctive loy- alty and public spirit and one who stands representative of the best element in the community life. He is a substantial and prominent ex- ponent of the live-stock and poultry industries in this part of the state and is well entitled to consideration in this history. His splendid farm is most eligibly situated, as it is but three miles distant from the county court house, in the city of Huntington, and is located on the well im- proved Mount Etna turnpike road, recognized as one of the model thoroughfares of this section of the state.
Mr. Maurer takes a due measure of pride and satisfaction in revert- ing to the fine old Hoosier State as the place of his nativity, and here he has found ample opportunity for the achieving of definite independence and prosperity. He was born in Wabash county, Indiana, on the 13th of October, 1863, and is a son of John F. and Mary E. (Clupper) Maurer, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania and both of staunch German lineage. The parents of the subject of this review were young at the time when the respective families were founded in Indiana, and their marriage was solemnized in Wabash county, this state, where they still maintain their home, sterling and honored citizens who are well known throughout the county that has long been their home and in which John F. Maurer, Sr., who is now living virtually retired, is a substantial and influential citizen. Of the four children, John F., Jr., of this sketch, is the eldest; George G. is a prosperous farmer in Wabash county, as is also William L .; and Charles C. is now a resident of Port- land, Oregon.
He whose name introduces this article was reared on the old home- stead farm of his parents, in Wabash county, and he continued to attend the district schools until he was sixteen years of age, the foundation thus laid having proved an adequate basis for the substantial superstructure of broad information and mature judgment that represent his intellectu- ality at the present time. He continued to assist his father in the work and management of the home farm until he was twenty-four years of age, but soon after attaining to his legal majority he had initiated inde- pendent operations in connection with the important line of industry under the influence of which he had been reared. For several years he farmed on rented land in his native county and finally he became the owner of eighty acres of land in Miami county. Industry and energy brought their rewards, and increasing prosperity attended the well ordered endeavors of Mr. Maurer. He finally disposed of his property in Miami county, and on the 13th of October, 1904, he came to Hunting- ton county, where he purchased his present fine farm, which comprises
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120 acres and which was formerly owned by Francis B. Fulton. He has made many improvements on the place, especially in equipping the same with the most modern facilities requisite in connection with the raising of high-grade live stock, to which branch of farm industry he gives special attention, as does he also the raising of fine poultry. He is one of the leading exponents of these important lines of enterprise in Huntington county and as a man and a progressive and public-spirited citizen he has inviolable place in popular confidence and esteem.
The basic principles of the Republican party have always received the stanch support of Mr. Maurer, and while he has not been imbued with any aspiration for official preferment he is distinctively broad- minded and progressive in his civic attitude. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church in the Greenwood neighborhood and in the same he is specially active in the work of the Sunday school, of which he is serving as treasurer at the time of this writing, in 1913.
In connection with the activities of his farm it may be stated that Mr. Maurer has been specially prominent and successful in the breed- ing of registered Chester White swine, and on the place he has at all times specimens of the highest grade. He finds ready demand for his hogs on the part of other breeders, and has conducted a number of public sales of his fine stock in this line. He has been likewise success- ful in the breeding of fine poultry and is one of the leading exponents of this line of enterprise in his home county, raising Barred Plymouths and Buff Orpingtons.
On March 22, 1888, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Maurer to Miss Mary E. McClain, who was born and reared in Miami county, this state, and who is the gracious and popular chatelaine of their attractive and hospitable home. They have three children, all of whom remain at the parental home. Clara and Hazel are graduates of the graded schools, and Floyd, the only son, was born June 9, 1902, and is now in the fifth grade of the public schools. The pretty home of Mr. Maurer is known as "The Greenwood Stock and Poultry Farm."
DENNIS SUMMERS. After years of earnest and fruitful endeavor Mr. Summers is now living virtually retired in the pleasant little village of Goblesville and is known and honored as one of the sterling citizens of Huntington county, which has represented his home since his boyhood days and in which he was long and successfully identified with the great basic industry of agriculture. He is a member of one of the worthy pioneer families of this county, within whose borders his parents estab- lished their residence more than sixty years ago, and he has witnessed and assisted in the development of the industrial resources of the county, the while he has stood exponent of loyal and progressive citizenship, with his course so ordered as to win and retain to him the confidence and high regard of all who know him.
Dennis Summers was born in Knox township, Columbiana county, Ohio, on the 4th of May, 1844, and is a son of James and Susana (White-
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leather) Summers. In the paternal line the genealogy is traced back to stanch Switzerland origin and the mother is of Hessian parentage. The progenitors of the American branch of the Summers family came from Germany about the time of the war of the Revolution. James Sum- mers was a son of Andrew Summers and the maiden name of his mother was Sentz. Andrew Summers was a son of Peter and Ella (Estey) Summers, the family name having been long and worthily identified with the annals of American progress. On the 15th of November, 1851, James Summers arrived with his family in Huntington county, whither he came from the old home in Ohio. He first occupied a little stone house that stood on the site of the present Knights of Pythias Home, and in the spring of 1852 he removed to a tract of land which he had purchased in Clear Creek township. There he devoted himself earnestly and indefatigably to the development of his farm and there he continued to reside until his death, which occurred on the 26th of February, 1863. His widow survived him by more than forty years and remained on the old homestead until she too was summoned to the life eternal, on the 12th of February, 1909. She attained to venerable age and was one of the oldest and best loved pioneer women of the county at the time of her demise. Of the ten children only three are living, and of these Dennis, of this review, is the eldest; Sarah is the wife of Reuben Hoops and they reside in the state of California, their home being at Marion, San Bernardino county; and Diana resides in the city of Muncie, Indiana.
Dennis Summers was a lad of six years at the time of the family removal from Ohio to Huntington county, and here he was reared to maturity under the sturdy discipline of the home farm, the while he duly availed himself of the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period. He had full appreciation of the independence and opportunities offered in connection with agricultural pursuits, and to the same he paid continuous and effective allegiance during the course of a long and active career. He became the owner of one of the finely im- proved farms of Clear Creek township, and this valuable estate of 50 acres he continued to retain in his possession until February, 1913, when he disposed of the property on favorable terms, his years of close and able application having gained to him a substantial competency, so that the gracious evening of his life is assured of prosperity and most pleas- ing environments, now that he has retired from the active labors that long engrossed his time and attention. He is the owner of valuable real- estate in the city of Huntington, judicial center of the county, and also in the village of Goblesville, where his holdings include his attractive residence property. Mr. Summers has contributed a generous quota to the industrial and civic progress and upbuilding of the county in which he has resided from his childhood, and he has been significantly liberal and public-spirited in his attitude. For fully twenty years he served as supervisor of Clear Creek township, and his long incumbency of this important office was fruitful in the promotion of the best interests of his township, besides being indicative of the unqualified confidence and
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esteem in which he is held in the community. For eight years he was superintendent of the Columbia City pike road, one of the finest gravel roads traversing Huntington county. In politics Mr. Summers has been a stalwart advocate of the basic principles of the republican party, to which he still pays allegiance, as a member of its progressive wing. He is affiliated with West Point Lodge, No. 688, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in their pleasant home in the village of Goblesville he and his wife find satisfaction in extending cordial welcome to their wide circle of friends.
On the 26th of June, 1864, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sum- mers to Miss Sevillah Hinline, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, October 1, 1842, her parents having come to Indiana in the following year and having established their residence in Huntington county, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Summers be- came the parents of eleven children, and of the number six are living, a brief record concerning them being given in conclusion of this review : Carrie is the wife of Charles Swank, a farmer of Clear Creek township; Emma is the wife of Minor Sickafoose; Della is the wife of Asa Goble; Amanda is the wife of Ora Goble; Laura is the wife of Christopher Grupe and they reside in the city of Buffalo, New York; and Ivy is the wife of Albert Kaylor, a resident of Clear Creek township.
JOHN M. MCCOMBS. About forty years ago Mr. McCombs first be- came identified with Huntington county as a teacher in one of its district schools. He did excellent work as a teacher, and there are many men and women now in active life who speak kindly of his influence and his work as a teacher in relation to their own young careers. For a long time M .:. McCombs has been identified with agricultural interests, and now has a good country home in section twenty-one of Clear Creek township.
John M. McCombs was born in Boone township of Cass county, Indi- ana, December 29, 1852, a son of John and Alice (Garrett) McCombs. His father was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1812, and died January 12, 1864 .. His wife was born in South Carolina in 1822 and died in January, 1889. She came to Indiana with her parents when she was ten years of age, and was thus among the early settlers. John McCombs, the father, came to Indiana in 1835 with three brothers, and they are among the early settlers in Cass county. The maternal grandfather Garrett put up the first grist mill at Logansport, and his name is men- tioned in the history of that county as the pioneer miller of Logans- port. John McCombs and wife were married in Cass county, and their lives were spent as prosperous and substantial farmers, their home being on the west side of Royal Center. There the elder John McCombs lived from 1836 until his death in 1864. A man of practical affairs, he was also devoted to his church, and was a useful member of the community during its early development. There were fourteen children in the family, and ten are living at the present time, namely: Henry, of Cass county ; Malinda, wife of James Fry, of Royal Center; Martha, wife of Vol. II-3
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R. V. Jones, of Boone township in Cass county ; Mary, wife of Isaac L. Washburn of Star City; Naomi, wife of Thomas Simmons, a retired farmer; Lucinda, wife of Leonard Cast, of Phoenix, Arizona; Melissa, wife of Charles Wells of Kansas; Catherine, wife of Allen Reichart; and George B. McCombs, of Pulaski county, Indiana. John M. Mc- Combs was reared on the old farm adjoining Royal Center, in Cass county. Such education as he obtained during his boyhood was given at the public schools of Royal Center, and his preparation for work as a teacher was finished in the Logansport Normal School. His first school was taught when he was sixteen years of age. After that he was actively identified with the work of education for fourteen terms, in Cass, Carroll and Huntington counties.
On March 30, 1873, Mr. McCombs married Anna E. Steele, of Hunt- ington county. Her parents, William and Nancy L. Steele, were sub- stantial farmers in Clear Creek township, where Mrs. McCombs was reared. Her education after leaving the public schools was completed in the Roanoke Seminary, and she taught country schools in Hunting- ton county, and for a time was a teacher in the city schools of Peru. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. McCombs the following have been born : Belle, a graduate of the Clear Creek high school, and now the wife of William Shriner; William, who graduated from the Clear Creek high school and is now one of the teachers in the Huntington county public schools; Fred, who graduated from the Clear Creek high school, taught for a time and is now a painter and paper hanger and decorator at Houston, Texas; Albert, a graduate of the Clear Creek high school is a farmer in that township; Lona is the wife of Charles M. Craig of Clear Creek township.
The McCombs family are members of the Christian and Methodist churches, and in politics both Mr. McCombs and his sons are adherents of the Prohibition cause. In section twenty-one he is the owner of twenty-seven and a half acres of land, and after a long career of sub- stantial industry is devoting his time to the quiet pursuits and the methodical management of this small but valuable farm estate. In all his relations he has borne a reputation for honesty and honorable dealings, and his name is one of the most respected in his locality.
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