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 42
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Since his term with the infirmary came to a close he has been employed in the operation of his farm. His place contains eighty acres and is situated in section 21, a quarter of a mile west of Rock Center and ten miles southeast of Huntington. As a general farmer and stock raiser he has prospered, and as an honest, upright man, an obliging neighbor, he is well known and respected in his locality.
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PHILIP E. MONROE, D. D. S. Dr. Monroe has been identified with the little city of Markle for the past ten years. He cstablished himself as a dentist in the community and is not only a successful man in his profession, but a citizen who cooperates with every movement for the public welfare, and is a live wire in the community.
Philip E. Monroe was born at Richmond Dale, in Ross county, Ohio, November 7, 1876, a son of John Monroe and Sarah (Wishon) Monroe. When he was six years of age, his parents moved to Wells county, Indi- ana, and he grew up on a farm in that county. While Dr. Monroe recalls his early youth in association with much hard work, and also the pleasures of country life, he was given a fairly liberal education, and what was not given him in that line he supplied by his own efforts. He attended the public schools of Wells county, and in the class of 1898 graduated from the Bluffton high school. After that he taught school for two years, and with the proceeds from that work entered in the fall of 1900 the Dental Department of the Ohio Medical University, at Columbus, where he was graduated D. D. S. in 1903. After his gradua- tion Dr. Monroe selected Markle as his place of practice, and has since established himself securely with a reputation as a high-class dental surgeon with a large practice.
On February 7, 1900, Dr. Monroe married Nora Chalfant, a daughter of James Chalfant. They are the parents of one daughter, Bernice, born October 18, 1900. Dr. Monroe has membership in the Indiana State Dental Society; he and his family worship in the Methodist Episcopal church at Markle, and he takes a prominent part in fraternal affairs. He has taken both the lower and cryptic degrees of York Rite Masonry, his affiliations being with Markle Lodge, No. 453, A. F. & A. M .; with Huntington Chapter, No. 27, R. A. M., and with Council No. 51, R. & S. M., at Huntington. He is now master of the Markle Bluc Lodge. Besides his Masonic degrees, he has membership in Markle Lodge, No. 423, of the Knights of Pythias, which he has served as past chancellor and member of the Grand Lodge, and also with Lodge No. 805 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Huntington, and Camp No. 8138 of the Modern Woodmen of America, being clerk of his camp. In politics he is a democrat, but has taken little part in public life.
JAMES SUMMERS. The present trustee of Rock Creek township, James Summers represents a family which have long been identified with this section of Huntington county, and as land owners and citizens have always stood high in the community. Mr. Summers is proprietor of the Wabash Valley Stock Farm, a beautiful and valuable country estate comprising four hundred and seventy acres of land, situated three miles west of Markle and seven miles east of Huntington.
Mr. Summers was born in Union township of this county, January 13, 1865, a son of Golvin and Sarah J. (Trusler) Summers. His father was born in Wayne county, Indiana, and his mother in Fayette county, their marriage having been celebrated in the latter county. They came to Huntington county in December, 1864, locating in Union township.
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The parents after their marriage were people in very ordinary circum- stances, and for some time they lived in a log cabin with only one roon, and the barest of furnishings and the material necessities. They both possessed qualifications of hard workers, were thrifty and economical and as the father was a man of strict probity and had no bad habits, he gradually began to get ahead in the world, and his accumulations con- tinued until at one time he was the owner of as much as one thousand acres of land. He is still a resident of Rock Creek township, and has long been one of the most honored citizens in that locality. His wife died in 1909. Their family of nine children are mentioned briefly as follows: Lewis E. Summers; Simon, a farmer who has a local reputa- tion for the raising of hogs in Rock Creek township; Jasper, whose home is in Rock Creek township; Anna, wife of David Funderburgh, of Hunt- ington township; Emma, wife of Charles Young of Wabash county ; Golvin, Jr., of Union township; James Omer, a prosperous farmer of Rock Creek; Kate, wife of John Bowman of Rock Creek.
James Summers was reared on a farm in Rock Creek township, received his education in the district schools, and finally qualified him- self for work as a teacher. That vocation he followed in the school- rooms in this county for fifteen years, but eventually all his time and energies were directed to farming and he now owns not only one of the conspicuous farmsteads of Huntington county, but conducts his busi- ness in a way that is both profitable and adds to the substantial resources of this county.
Mr. Summers married Lottie J. Bailey, a daughter of George H. Bailey of Union township. Their three children are: Myrl A., a gradu- ate of the Rock Creek high school in the class of 1913: Elva D., who is in high school; and Erwin R., attending grade schools. Mr. Summers is a democrat in politics, and his election to the office of trustee indi- cates the general esteem which is paid to him as a man and citizen.
DAVID B. GARBER. In the commercial, intellectual and religious activities of the community at Markle and vicinity, Mr. Garber has filled several important offices, and has made himself a very useful factor in promoting and upholding these affairs in his vicinity. To the business community, he is perhaps best known as Cashier of the Farmers and Traders Bank at Markle. Mr. Garber is a college-trained gentleman, is a minister in the Brethren church, has been an educator, and has the best talents which enable him to play an important part in more than one field.
David B. Garber was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, March 28, 1865, a son of C. M. Garber and Mary (Miller) Garber. The parents were both natives of Rockingham county, Virginia, and when their son David was six months of age, they returned to their old home in Vir- ginia, and thus it was that Mr. Garber grew up in Rockingham county. He completed his education in the Bridgewater College, where he took the English course, and was graduated with his Bachelor's degree. Previous to his college work, he had taught school in Rockingham county,
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and after leaving college he went to Carroll county, Maryland, and taught there for four years. While he was successful in the field of education, it was his ambition to prepare himself for the commercial life, and in 1892 he spent one year at Valparaiso University, where he gave special attention to shorthand and typewriting. When he was ready to use this knowledge, he located in Marion, Indiana, and for four years was private seeretary to Congressman George W. Steele. In 1897, Mr. Garber moved to a farm, and along with the cultivation of the soil, also had charge of Church of the Brethren in his neighborhood. In 1906 Mr. Garber located in Huntington county, in Rock Creek township, which is his present home. For the past seven years Mr. Garber has been pastor in charge of the Brethren Church at Markle, and is trustee and treasurer and a member of the executive board of the North Manchester College. For some time he was seeretary-treasurer of the Majenica Telephone Company, and is now president of that publie utility.
In September, 1893, oeeurred the marriage of Mr. Garber with Miss Della Tinkle, of Grant county. "She was born and reared in Washington township of Grant eounty, and possesses a common sehool education. To their marriage have been born four children: Charles, aged seven- teen, who is a student in the Markle high school; Cora, aged fourteen and attending the public schools of Markle; Ora, aged eleven years; and Mary, aged ten. All the children are in sehool. Mr. Garber is a member and pastor of the Church of the Brethren, in polities is a Prohibitionist, and has done much to promote the eause of temperanee in his community.
JAMES K. CLINE. It is to the pioneer stoek of Huntington county that James K. Cline belongs, his family was established on the banks of Rock Creek more than seventy years ago. Mr. Cline is hinself a native of the county, and his individual career has been a somewhat interesting record of performance. Probably few men now living in the county have eleared up more land, or brought more of the fertile soil of Hunt- ington eounty under tillage than James K. Cline. There is hardly a more difficult work which man undertakes than the elearing off of the heavy forest and the inauguration of the era of the plow on new land. Mr. Cline has done more than one man's share in this labor, and for this reason no one will deny him his just elaim to all the prosperity which has come in his later years.
James K. Cline was born on a farm in Rock Creek township, Septem- ber 7, 1848. His parents were James and Anna (Shively) Cline. They came from Stark county, Ohio, to Huntington county in 1839. The journey was made with ox-teams and they drove over roads that were little more than trails, spent the nights camping in the open air, or lodged in some wayside eabin. James Cline, the father, was not only an early settler of Huntington county, but was one of the early millers, and had the distinction of being the first to operate the Markle Grist Mill. He had learned the trade of miller in Ohio. The history of some of the early mills about Markle involves frequent mention of the name of James Cline. His home was near Rock Creek Center. James
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Cline was born December 8, 1813, and his wife on June 4, 1816. The record of their children is as follows: Sarah Cline, born June 7, 1837; George W. Cline, born December 30, 1838; and Henry H. Cline, born June 12, 1841; Christina, born March 18, 1843; Susanna, born August 18, 1845 ; James K., born September 7, 1848 ; Melissa, born December 26, 1851; Joseph, born May 22, 1857. The only ones now living are George W. Cline and James K. Cline. The senior James Cline was one of the founders and early supporters of the Dunkard church in Huntington county, and his son George has for many years been prominent in the same denomination, and is one of the deacons of the society.
James K. Cline has seldom gone outside of Huntington county. Here he has found an ample scope for his energies, and has pursued the quiet vocations of farming, nearly all his life. With an education supplied by the district schools in Rock Creek township, during the winter months, he trained his muscles on the farm in the summer, and thus continued until he was about eighteen years old. After that his father gave him steady work until he was twenty-one. Having reached his majority, he made his first independent venture, going in debt for a farm and paying nine per cent interest on his obligation. Some years later he sold out, and had some money to show for his work. His second enterprise was the purchase of ninety acres, most of it in the timber, and he, undertook and successfully carried out the heavy task of clearing it off and putting it in cultivation. Having made a farmstead out of the land he sold it at a profit, and then bought another tract, this time ninety-four acres, and practically all covered with heavy woods. He got possession of the land on April 1st, and in the same season cleared twenty-five acres and put it in corn. Besides attending to his crops, he built a fence on two sides of a field of forty acres. That performance indicates better than anything else the quality of enterprise and energy which were character- istie of Mr. Cline. In this manner he has bought and improved and sold several farms in Huntington county, and has never been afraid to go in debt, and assume obligations to be met in the future. At the same time men have never failed to extend to James K. Cline an ample credit, since they recognize his integrity of purpose, and his splendid energy in carrying out all he undertakes. At the present time Mr. Cline owns a splendid farm of one hundred and thirty acres, most of which is in Union township. For a number of years he has had his home in Markle, and is now living largely retired.
In 1871, occurred his first marriage when Emma C. Randall became his wife. She was born in Rock Creek township, was educated in the public schools, and for a time was a teacher. She died November 22, 1879, and of her three children, the only one now living is Elsie, the wife of R. C. McDuffey. Mrs. McDuffey has two children, as follows: Paul, a graduate of the high school, and now assistant cashier in the Farmers and Traders Bank at Markle; Ruth, who is a graduate of the Markle high school and lives at home. For his second wife, Mr. Cline married Mary (Zink) Haffeley. By her previous marriage she had four Haffeley children : Charley (deceased), Clarence, Harry and Hattie, the daugh-
11B Spencer
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ter becoming the wife of Mr. Reed. Mr. Cline is one of the leading mem- bers in the Church of the Brethren, and in politics is a Democrat, but has seldom been a partisan.
HERBERT B. SPENCER. The Spencer family since its establishment in Huntington county more than seventy years ago has enjoyed a prominence due not only to its pioneer settlement, but also to the use- ful and exceptional service of its members in the professions and in civic and business affairs. The late Maurice L. Spencer was for many years regarded as the peer of any lawyer in the Huntington county bar, and his son Herbert B. Spencer has also been a lawyer in the county since his university career and many of the important cases tried in the local courts have known him as counsel on one side or the other.
Herbert B. Spencer was born February 18, 1879, at Huntington City, a son of Maurice L. and Blanche M. Brookover Spencer. The family is of English extraction and of Quaker stock, settling in Penn- sylvania in 1689, and later moving to Hartford county, Maryland. The early ancestors participated as soldiers on the American side during the Revolutionary war, and Herbert B. Spencer on that account has membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. In 1837 one branch of the family moved to Wayne county, Indiana, the center of the Quaker settlement in this state, and in 1844 grandfather Spencer established his home in the wilderness of Huntington county. Maurice L. Spencer was born in Wayne county March 6, 1843, grew up in Huntington county, and practiced law with success and distinction in the bar from 1878 until his death on June 25, 1907. During his early manhood he served as a soldier of the Civil war, and was at one time superintendent of schools at Huntington. He was long prominent in republican politics. The late Mr. Spencer acquired ownership of large tracts of land in Clear Creek township, and some of that land is still owned by his heirs. Maurice L. Spencer first married Almira Best, whose people had settled in Clear Creek township of Huntington county in 1838. She died October 15, 1873, without children. On March 5, 1878, he married Blanche M. Brookover, a daughter of George W. Brookover, an early and wealthy pioneer of Warren township. To this union were born three children: Herbert B .; Edith M. Malott, whose husband is at present district attorney of the Moro Province in the Philippine Islands; and William P. who is a Clear Creek town- ship farmer.
Herbert B. Spencer after finishing his education in the local public schools entered the Indiana State University, and for several years was engaged in business. During the Spanish-American war he was second lieutenant of Company K in the One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Regiment of Volunteers. Following his military experience he entered the law department of the University of Indianapolis, and since graduating and his admission to the bar has been in active prac- tice at Huntington, with an office at 200 N. Jefferson street. He enjoys
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a large clientele, and is a member of the Huntington County and State Bar associations, and is the owner of a large amount of farm land in Huntington county. Though a Republican in politics, he has never sought any political preferment. Mr. Spencer affiliates with Lodge No. 54, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Lima, Ohio Lodge No. 370 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in the same city, and is past chancellor of the local lodge No. 93 of the Knights of Pythias and also belongs to the Improved Order of Red Men. His church home is the Presbyterian.
On March 21, 1898, Mr. Spencer married Miss Chloe B. Lininger, a native of Huntington county and the daughter of Joseph C. Lininger, a retired resident. They are the parents of three children : Herbert D., Mary V. and Elizabeth.
GEORGE W. CLINE. One of the citizens of Huntington county who began their career in log-cabin homes, labored with courage and industry to develop a wilderness of forest into a broad landscape of farms, and have subsequently reaped the rewards of such diligence in ample material prosperity, is George W. Cline, of Rock Creek township. Mr. Cline is one of the few remaining pioneers of Huntington county. His recollec- tion goes back to the decade of the forties, and few men have a greater interest in or better appreciation of old-time conditions than this hon- ored citizen and former county commissioner. The Cline family for more than seventy years has been very prominent in the welfare and upbuild- ing of Huntington county, and George W. Cline has been one of its ablest representatives.
His birth occurred in Preble county, Ohio, January 1, 1839, New Year's day, but in the same year he was brought to Huntington county. His father was the fine old pioneer settler and miller, James Cline, who was born in Virginia. James Cline married Anna Shively, who was a native of Stark county. They were married in Preble county, and during the year 1839 came to Indiana and located in Rock Creek township. Their trip to Indiana was made in the regular pioneer style, with wagons drawn by ox teams, and there was a large family party, consisting of seven men, all of them brothers-in-law, with their respective families. All of them located in Huntington county, and James Cline found a location one mile north and a half mile east of Rock Creek Center, on a farm now owned by Sam DeHaven. The other brothers- in-law were: Daniel Shively, who located at Andrews; Jacob Shively, of Rock Creek township; Samuel Wolf, of Rockford township; Gideon Lautis, of Rock Creek; John Detrow, of Union township, and Henry Wintrode, of Andrews.
James Cline was a miller by trade, having acquired that art before he left Ohio. It was as a miller that he performed his most important service in the little community of Rock Creek township, and operated the first grist mill established in that vicinity. That was a very interest- ing institution and is well remembered by Mr. George W. Cline, who has given some facts concerning it which will be of interest in this publica-
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tion. The old mill stood near Markle, on the banks of Rock Creek, near where that stream empties into the Wabash River. The power was first used to turn a sawmill, but in the following year machinery for grinding was installed, and after that it supplied the neighborhood with its cornmeal and flour. James Cline was the first to take charge of the machinery when it became a grist mill. Its equipment was of a very rude sort, as compared with our modern roller mills. For the grinding there was one run of burrs. The feature which is specially recalled by Mr. Cline is the volting reel, by which the wheat, corn or buckwheat, after passing through the stones, was separated so that the edible portion of the grain went in one direction and the bran and chaff in another. This volting reel was placed at such an angle that it moved along at just the speed to sift the flour into a large shed, while the bran found its way to the other end of the reel and was thrown off. In the same con- nection Mr. Cline recalls some of the old clay ovens, which played a prominent part in household economics in pioneer times. All the bread was baked in such an oven, and this cooking was carried on out of doors. Enough bread was baked at one time to last the family all week. Mr. Cline recalls the taste of that bread, and says it was superior to any- thing he has eaten since.
James Cline lived in Rock Creek township for many years, and on his first farm until after the war in 1865, when he transferred his loca- tion to another place in the same township. There he had his home until his death, and the second farm is now owned by James Gossert. James Cline had four sons and four daughters, and the only ones now living are James K. and George W.
Mr. George W. Cline grew up in the midst of the woods, and in his early boyhood, when not employed at work or in school, he found many opportunities for play and instructive diversion about the old mill, which has been described in fishing and other sports along Rock Creek and the Wabash River, and there are many boys who might well envy him this opportunity of pleasure back in the forties. Prominent in his recollec- tion is the old log school house which he attended. He also has distinct remembrance of his teacher, Thomas O'Thy, an Irishman and a very competent scholar and teacher. However, he had to endure the persecu- tions practiced by the boy scholars of that time. At Christmas the boys locked the teacher out of the building, in order to make him treat, and on his continued refusal to accede to their demands, they took him to the river and ducked him. In one sense the demand of the scholars was very moderate, since they asked that the treat consist of turnips, since candy was a very scarce article at that time. The Irishman accepted the treatment with the best grace possible, but brought suit against the boys and their parents, and the late Hon. James R. Slack, who was judge at the time, fined the boys a dollar each and cost, and that ended the matter, after which the schoolmaster went on and finished his term. Mr. Cline was one of the pupils in the school at the time of that occur- rence, and continued to attend one of the old-fashioned schools such as are described in pioneer history until he was about eighteen years old.
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He then started out for himself, buying his time from his father, and found work on farms, and by close economy had some capital when he reached his majority. Several years were spent in renting, and in his first year as a renter he bought a team and planted ten acres to corn, which he sold for $100. Finally he took a lease on a farm in Lancaster township, cleared up a large part of the land, and by raising hogs and other stock made a good deal of money, which was the basis of his sub- sequent substantial fortune. Later he continued as a renter in Salamonie, and about 1866 made his first independent purchase of eighty acres in Rock Creek township. He assumed some obligations with that land, and finally paid them all and owned it clear. After living there for five years, he sold and bought one hundred and four acres in the same township, and continued a resident there for fifteen years. Since then his story of effort has been one consecutive progress to greater prosperity, and there are few men in the whole section of the county who have exercised better business judgment in their investments and have prosecuted their enterprises with better average of success than George W. Cline.
Mr. Cline married Julia Randall. She became the mother of three children, one of whom died in childhood, and the other two arc: Jesse D. Cline, the farmer, who lives on a place at the edge of Markle; Anna M., the wife of Jack Vachon. The mother of these children died in . June, 1889. In 1893 Mr. Cline married the widow of Joseph Shively, but she has since met death by an unfortunate accident.
Mr. Cline is one of the leading members of the Dunkard church in this county, and his father was practically a founder of that denomina- tion in Huntington county. Both father and son have served as deacons in the church from its earliest years. In politics Mr. Cline has always supported the Democratic party, and on that ticket was elected a member of the board of county commissioners. His administration was a credit to his party and an honor to himself. While building up an excellent competence for himself, Mr. Cline has always been liberal in assisting his children to homes and independence for themselves.
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