USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 2
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In politics Mr. Kreutzer has ever given unswerving allegiance to the Democratic party, and it is needless to say that he views with com- placency the ascendancy of the same in national affairs since the election of November, 1912. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church, in which they hold membership in the parish of St. Charles church, with liberality and zeal in the support of parochial and diocesan activities.
On the 18th of June, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kreutzer to Miss Rosa Ebah, of Steubenville, Ohio. She was born in
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Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, and of their thirteen children all are living except one, Henry Leo, who was the eighth in order of birth and who died at the age of seven months. The surviving children are : Jacob A., Katherine R., Francis M., John B., Carl B., Marguerite, Anna Marie, Clement J., Victor E., Mark G., Robert and Mary Elizabeth. Jacob A. is a dentist of Peru; Katherine is attending Nurses' Training School in South Bend ; Francis M., married Emma Rothermal, and is with Julius Falk of Peru; John B. is in the jewelry business; Carl B. is with the Wabash R. R .; Marguerite is a nun of St. Mary of the Woods; and Anna Marie and the remainder of the children are at home.
WILLIAM L. PHILLEBAUM. A veteran of the Civil war, one of Miami's soldiers in the great conflict, William Phillebaum has spent about seventy years of his lifetime, except the period while he was in the war, in this county, and as a soldier, a citizen, a farmer, and industrious worker is held in high esteem by all his community.
The birthplace of William Phillebaum was Montgomery county, Ohio, where he was born January 30, 1838. His parents were Samuel and Sophia (Meyers) Phillebaum. His mother's father was Abraham Meyers. In 1843, when William was five years old, the parents left Ohio, and with Miami county as their destination drove overland through the woods, and along the primitive highways, a greater part of which were little more than trails, and spent several days in a journey which may now be accom- plished by train in a few hours. An object of terror to the child William was an Indian, and while the family were making the journey, and also after they settled in Miami county, there were seen a number of the red men who had not yet retired from this state.
One interesting fact concerning the early settlement, especially along the pike through Erie township, is called to attention by Mr. Phillebaum. The pike, although at that time it deserved no name better than trail, and was in fact an old Indian trail was a principal thoroughfare through Erie township during the early settlement, and the settlers on either side would lay out their farms, in conformity with the course of the road, fencing up to its line. Thus the old road was established in its present sinuous and crooked course, and all the subsequent efforts of modern road making and surveying had never eliminated all the angles which it makes in the length of a few miles.
Samuel Phillebaum, the father, located on one hundred and sixty acres of land in Erie township, and his son William occupies land adjoin- ing that old homestead. The first building was a hewed log cabin, and it is still standing on the old farm, although after it ceased to be a habi- tation, its timbers were taken apart and they were moved and set up in a new location. The father occupied that home from 1843 until 1865. The old log house stood in the midst of the woods when first erected, and only a small proportion of all the surrounding country had been cleared and opened to cultivation. In these woods were many deer, wild turkeys and wolves, and William Phillebaum is one of the men still living in Miami county who have a keen recollection of those primitive days, when animals now seen hardly anywhere except in menageries were familiar sights in almost any part of the county. The father lived in the old log house until his death.
William Phillebaum staid on the old homestead with his family, until he was thirty-four years of age. As a boy he had attended such local schools as were then provided in Erie township, and had only a limited education, which he has supplemented in later life by study and practical observation. The schools were open for only about sixty days in the ycar. William Phillebaum gained a hardy experience working in the
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woods while a boy, and he also worked for wages, among the surrounding farmers, getting five dollars a month for some time, and later receiving twelve dollars a month for his labor. His military experience began in 1862. He enlisted in that year in the Sixteenth Indiana Infantry, and was with that regiment during a greater part of its varied campaigns. At the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, he was wounded in the right knee, still having the bullet, and taken prisoner. Later he went through the siege of Vicksburg, and was with the Banks Expedition up Red River, and in that unfruitful campaign he was taken prisoner. As a prisoner he was sent to Texas, and was confined in the old prison at Tyler, Texas. He spent about four months as a prisoner among the Confederates, includ- ing the time going and coming. His regiment did a great deal of guard duty, and it was for that reason in many skirmishcs. While Mr. Phille- baum was in prison, he was of course unable to tell what his regiment was doing, but without exception he participated in practically every campaign and movement of his command. His regiment was in seventy- two battles and skirmishes during the war, and Mr. Phillebaum was in most of these excepting those that occurred while he was a prisoner. Among the battles in which he participated were those of Richmond, Ky., siege of Vicksburg, Arkansas Post, Jackson and Banks' expedition up the Red River. He was mustered out of service at New Orleans, and got his final discharge at Indianapolis. This was in 1865 at the end of the war.
He then returned to the home of his parents in Miami county, and as he had little inclination for farming he took up carpenter work. After marrying and establishing a home of his own he bought his present farm of thirty-seven acres from his father. This is one of the very well im- proved places of the county, and Mr. Phillebaum has crected all the buildings, and practically every improvement is the result of his labor and management. While a man who has enjoyed his fair share of pros- perity, he has also interested himself in behalf of local matters, and served as supervisor, and as pike superintendent in his township. For a number of years he was active in the Grand Army post, but resigned on account of the long distance he had to travel in order to attend the meet- ings. He is a member of the United Brethren church and Mrs. Phille- baum of the Christian church.
Mr. Phillebaum was first married in 1872 to Mary Ann Cox, a daugh- ter of Levi Cox. By this marriage there were three children. Bertha died at the age of nine years; Elmer is married and Alva is single, and both live in North Dakota. The former has resided at Cando for fifteen years and is a teacher of the Chiropractic doctrine. The latter is a resi- dent of Sarles, where he is serving as marshal. He is by trade a car- penter. The mother of these children died many years ago, and Mr. Phillebaum married for his present wife Elizabeth Rinker (a daughter of Henry and Sallie (Hickel) Rinker. There have been no children by the second marriage.
Mrs. Phillebaum is a native of Miami county, Indiana, born March 12, 1848, and reared and educated in this county and the west part of Indiana. She went to Boston, Massachusetts, and entered "The Bos- ton City Hospital Training School for Nurses" was graduated January 27, 1884, and spent fifteen years of her life in Boston in her profession and two years at Fort Wayne. She and her husband in their youth received their education in a log school house with slab benches and desks and the school was a subscription one. Some of the early text books were Ray's Arithmetic, McGuffey's Readers, "Western Adventures of Indian Fighters" and the New Testament. The early amusements were log rollings, quilting bees and dances. Mr. Phillebaum has seen plenty
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of deer and wolves in Miami county. He was one of the trustees in the building of the beautiful brick church in Erie township and he has always been a member of the United Brethren church and a worker in the Sun- day school.
EBENEZER P. LOVELAND. If "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches," and if a purposeful life conforming to high ideals impresses one's personality upon the society in which he lives, to its lasting betterment, then Ebenezer P. Loveland achieved life's best ambition and transmitted to his children an heritage which justifies them in their pride of ancestry.
Mr. Loveland was born at West Rutland, Vermont, November 25, 1817, the youngest son of Col. Joseph and Beulah (Pratt) Loveland. He was ten years old when his parents moved to Granville, Ohio, where he had school advantages until his sixteenth year, but at this time his father died and thus he was thrown on his own resources. For several years he was engaged in teaching school, pursuing in the meantime his literary studies, these being in the direction of law, for which he had natural inclination, and later he continued his studies at Richmond, Indiana. From Richmond he removed to Anderson, Indiana, where he finished his preparation for the practice of law, and in 1840 -came to Miami county, making the journey on foot from Anderson to Peru. He entered the practice of his profession at Peru, and there continued in the practice for fifteen years, during a portion of which time he was in partnership with the late Nathan O. Ross. His learning and ability early attracted a large clientage. Resourcefulness and persistence were among his strong qualities, and these, together with his power as an orator, in which he was not excelled by any of his contemporaries, insured and maintained his position as one of the leaders of the bar, in Miami and neighboring counties.
One, perhaps the dominant, element in Mr. Loveland's character was his intense patriotism. Until the line of cleavage between the Whig and Democratic parties became obscured and at last obliterated by the then threatening cloud of disunion, his affiliations were with the former; but when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the passage of the Nebraska and Fugitive Slave bills, and the doctrine of popular sovereignty in the territories, brought the Republican party into being, he became at once one of its earliest adherents. At that time, and until 1856, the Miami County Sentinel, founded in 1848, was the only pro- nounced party organ in the county. It was edited by John A. Graham, a pro-slavery Democrat of striking ability, and advocated the cause of that party. The duty of establishing a local organ that would voice their sentiments became apparent to the Union men of the county, and in 1856 Mr. Loveland, in response to that sentiment, purchased the Peru Weekly News, "a family paper" devoted to the news of the day, politics, science, mechanics, agriculture and education, and began the publication of the Peru Republican under the motto borrowed from the peroration of Webster's reply to Hayne: "Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable." From the onset the paper was prosperous. It received, from the beginning, the loyal sup- port of the Republicans of the county, and particularly of those active in party councils, who realized the crisis through which the country was passing. From this time until 1862, Mr. Loveland, assisted in both the editorial and mechanical work by his oldest son, Henry Clay Love- land, then a boy in his 'teens, continued the publication of the paper with such success that from 1861 to 1863 it enjoyed a monopoly of the field, the Miami County Sentinel having discontinued publication dur-
EBENEZER P. LOVELAND
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ing that period. Early in 1862, however, the paper was leased, and later sold, the son, Henry Clay Loveland, then in his eighteenth year, having enlisted as lieutenant in the Fourteenth Indiana Battery, and died in the service in June of that year. From 1863 to 1867, Mr. E. P. Loveland was engaged as assistant paymaster of the Indiana Legion, with headquarters at Indianapolis, and at the time the Demoeratie mem- bers of the legislature resigned their seats, in order to prevent the rati- fieation of the Fifteenth amendment to the Federal constitution, was the Republiean candidate for the legislature. He was defeated, however, but by a small majority. Mr. Loveland was always interested in the internal improvements of the county, and was largely instrumental in bringing about the present turn-pike system and equally was interested in all movements having for their objeet the best interests of Peru. While editor of the Republican he persistently urged upon the eitizens the propriety of not only improving and keeping in repair the streets of the eity, but also of beautifying their own premises; and at times, at his own expense, purchased and distributed trees and shrubs in furtheranee of that objeet. He early took a stand in support of temper- anee reform in Indiana, having been a total abstainer sinee he signed the Washington pledge when a boy in Vermont, and became an active member of the Sons of Temperanee, in 1851 being made a delegate to. the Grand Division of that organization for his state, which met at Indianapolis. While in attendance at this meeting he was ehosen a delegate to and later attended the National Division, which convened at Richmond, Virginia, in the summer of 1852. In 1853 he was elected viee-president of the Cineinnati, Peru & Chieago Railroad that was then being built between Laporte and Peru. He was aetive in his endeavors to seeure the location of the Howe. Sewing Machine Works and other factories in Peru, and it was while within the building of the Howe factory, warning those trying to save the company's property of imminent danger, apparent from without, February 10, 1871, that he met a violent death by being erushed beneath the burning building. This lamentable event east a shade of deepest gloom over the entire eity and county, for his death was not only looked upon as a publie calamity, but also as a personal loss to those with whom he had eome in contaet in social and business relations. Publie appreciation of his qualities as a man and eitizen found expression from the pulpit and in the press, that "The world is better for his having lived in it." His wife, with whom he had ever maintained the tenderest relations, never survived the shoek, but died on April 12th of that year. Mr. Loveland continued an ardent supporter of the Republican party until his death, believing in its principles and always opposing everything that seemed like dishonesty. He was reared in the Presbyterian faith and was a constant member of that religious body all of his life. On October 12, 1842, Mr. Loveland was married to Miss Jane Hood, a daughter of Robert Hood of Fort Wayne, and nieee of William N. Hood, the founder of Peru, at whose home she was visiting when she met her future husband. Seven children were born to them: Henry C., who beeame a lieutenant in the Fourteenth Indiana Battery in the Civil war, and died at Bethel, Tennessee, shortly after the battle of Shiloh ; Celia, who became the wife of Abram C. Faling, of Kalamazoo, Miehi- gan, and there died a widow, leaving three children now grown; Aliee, who became the wife and later the widow of Lewis Morrill, and died at Peru, on January 17, 1907; Clara, the only surviving daughter of the family, who was married to Dr. B. R. Graham and became the mother of a son and daughter, both living; Hood P., a sueeessful lawyer, who sinee 1906 has been postmaster of Peru; Robert J., also a lawyer, and Irene ; the last named having died in infancy.
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HOOD PRATT LOVELAND. Much has been said and written about "self-made men"-men who in youth begin their preparations for an active business career amid humble surroundings and confronted by adverse conditions, yet who, by their energy and determination, sur- mount all obstacles and rise to positions of prominence among their fel- low-men. The success of such men is not always to be measured by their bank accounts, for, as a rule, the ambitious boy has a higher ideal than the mere accumulation of wealth. He wants to win the regard of those with whom he comes in contact; to leave the impress of his character and labors behind him after his life's work is done; to be remembered as an upright man, a good citizen, and a useful member of society.
Hood'P. Loveland is essentially a self-made man. He is a native of Miami county, having been born in the city of Peru on August 21, 1853, a son of E. P. Loveland, mentioned above. His parents died when he was about seventeen years of age and the children were imme- diately scattered. Hood was taken out of school and went to Kalamna- zoo, Michigan, where he found a home with his eldest sister, Mrs. Celia L. Faling. He remained with her but a few months, however, his desire for an education taking him to Marshall, Michigan, where he attended school, earning his board and tuition by his own efforts. From Marshall he went to Aurora, Illinois, where he began the study of law in the office of N. F. Nichols. Subsequently he read with the firm of Wheaton, Smith & McDole. About this time he came into a small inheritance from his father's estate, which enabled him to attend law school at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in 1875, when twenty-two years of age, he graduated as a member of the class of that year in the law department of the University of Michigan.
Returning then to Peru, he formed a partnership with Hon. Nott N. Antrim for the practice of law. This partnership was soon after- ward dissolved and Mr. Loveland went to Converse, where he opened a law office and practiced for two or three years. Here he learned the lesson that all young attorneys must sooner or later learn-that there is no royal road to success. His earnings were meager and a publishing company extending to him an attractive offer, he abandoned the law for a time and undertook the work of writing several county histories in the State of Illinois, as well as biographical works of the States of Georgia and Texas. He continued in that line of work for six years. during part of that time having general charge of the business of the F. A. Battey Publishing Company. Early in 1888 he resigned his posi- tion with this company to enter into partnership with his brother, Robert J. Loveland, for the practice of law at Peru. This partnership lasted for eighteen years, or until the subject of this sketch was appointed postmaster at Peru in 1906, in which position he continued for more than eight years.
Politically Mr. Loveland has always been a Republican. He has frequently been called upon to serve his party as a delegate in county, district and state conventions. As a member of committees on resolu- tions in such conventions he has always stood for affirmative doctrines and declarations in favor of temperance and against the liquor traffic. In 1904 he was a delegate from the Eleventh Congressional district to the Republican national convention that nominated Theodore Roosevelt for the presidency, but he did not follow Mr. Roosevelt in the great division of the Republican party in 1912, standing in that campaign as a supporter of President Taft and the "regular" wing of the party. In 1904 A. L. Lawshe, one of the founders of the Converse Journal and a warm personal friend of Mr. Loveland, was auditor of the Philippine Islands. He advised Mr. Loveland that a judge of the Court of First
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Instance-a tribunal corresponding to the Indiana circuit courts-was to be appointed for the Philippines and suggested that he become an applicant for the place. Assured that the appointment would be made solely upon merit, Mr. Loveland proceeded upon that hypothesis, without depending the least upon a "political pull." He was unanimously indorsed by the justices of the Indiana Supreme and Appellate Courts, the judges of the United States Circuit Court and Court of Appeals, the Miami county bench and bar, and a number of prominent attorneys and business men throughout the state. In the letter of recommendation from the Supreme Court the justices said: "Mr. Loveland is a citizen of the highest character-a learned lawyer, one of the leading attorneys of our state, fifty-one years of age, of robust health, of thirty years active and successful practice of his profession-an all round good citizen, and in our judgment his appointment to the office he seeks would be wise and eminently useful to the public service in the Islands."
But with all the indorsements and the assurance that the appointment would be made solely upon merit, politics crept in and the office went to a Fort Wayne man. Mr. Loveland was disappointed, as the office was in line with his life work and one for which he was eminently well qualified, both by training and experience. In 1906 he was appointed postmaster at Peru and held the position until the spring of 1914, As postmaster he introduced a number of reforms in the office and improved the service through his careful observance of the things needed to secure better results. Always courteous and accommodating, he was popular with the patrons of the postoffice and frequent expressions of regret were heard when it was learned that he was to be succeeded by another man.
On September 18, 1896, Mr. Loveland married Miss Margaret Gal- breath, of Peru, and this union has been blessed with four children ---- Pratt Robert, Helen Margaret, Ailine Jane and Ebenezer Clay. Mr. and Mrs. Loveland are members of the First Presbyterian church and he was one of the trustees that built the present magnificent edifice at the corner of Main and Cass streets, in the city of Peru.
ROBERT J. LOVELAND. As an active and influential member of the Miami county bar for upwards of thirty-three years, Robert J. Loveland, senior member of the firm of Loveland & Sollitt, wields an influence in Peru that only men of unusual strength of character and power can exercise in a community of this size. He was born January 17, 1858, and is the youngest son of Ebenezer P. and Jane (Hood) Loveland.
He was reared in his native city of Peru, and here attended the public schools until his thirteenth year, at which time occurred the death of his father and mother. In 1873, after a year spent upon a farm in Wisconsin, he entered Central College Academy of Franklin county, Ohio, and was graduated from that institution four years later, succeeding which he entered Wabash College. He continued a student there until 1879, and then returned to Peru and began the study of law in the office of Shirk & Mitchell, thus continuing until the spring of 1881. Prior to this time, Mr. Loveland taught two terms of school in Ohio and one in Indiana, and in 1880 was admitted to the bar, but did not engage in the practice of his profession until the ensuing year, when on April 4, 1881, he formed a partnership with Ethan T. Reasoner, which association continued until 1884, when it was dissolved. Mr. Loveland then becoming a partner of Mr. R. P. Effinger. This partner- ship continued until January, 1888, after which for a number of years his brother Hood P. Loveland was associated with him in practice, which partnership ceased at the time of the latter's appointment to the office
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of postmaster at Peru in March, 1906. The present firm of Loveland & Sollitt was formed in 1911, and this has proven a harmonious and . mutually advantageous association, which in the volume and character of its business, and its ability in handling the same, has rank among the strongest legal firms of northern Indiana.
Mr. Loveland is a Republican of the stalwart variety, and from 1890 to 1894 served Miami and Howard counties as joint state senator. During the four years of his service in that office the legislature was overwhelmingly Democratic, and but slight opportunity was afforded Republicans to do effective service for the state until, in the session of 1893, Abel Ewing, a Democrat and former deputy warden of the prison ' south, who had vainly endeavored to induce the responsible leaders of his own party to correct flagrant abuses in the prison system of the state, put his case into the hands of Mr. Loveland, with the result that Mr. Loveland, in the senate and Mr. Lindemuth, of Richmond, Indiana, Republican leader in the house, concurrently presented charges against the prison management. These charges were followed by an investiga- tion by the prison committees of the senate and house occupying three weeks, participated in by Mr. Lindemuth and Mr. Loveland, with the result that, while the committee divided on party lines on their report, the abuses in the then system of prison discipline were made so manifest that a bill was introduced by the majority members of the committee and passed through both bodies under suspension of the rules and was promptly signed by the governor, that effected radical reformns in prison management that were the beginning of the general system of prison reform that was made effective in the state by the legislatures that suc- ceeded in 1895 and subsequent years.
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