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 3
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On August 18, 1898, Mr. Loveland was united in marriage with Miss Maude Ellis, who, like Mr. Loveland, is a member of the Presby- terian church. She is a native of Laconia, New Hampshire, where she was born February 28, 1878. The children of this union are Robert P., born September 22, 1900; Joseph W. born March 60, 1902; Elizabeth, born November 20, 1903; Henry Clay, born March 14, 1905; Harriett, born February 24, 1907, and John Ellis, born July 3, 1909.
Through their mother these children trace their lineage to a dis- tinguished Revolutionary ancestry-Joshua Ellis, their great-great- grand-father, having been a member of the company that marched from Keene, New Hampshire, on the alarm to Boston, where he was severely wounded in the battle of Bunker Hill, on June 17, 1775; and Timothy D. Ellis, the father of Joshua, having served as a sergeant and later as a lieutenant in the French and Indian wars, in the expeditions against Crown Point and Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia. In 1777 he was major of the Sixth Regiment of New Hampshire militia; marched with his regiment to Ticonderoga in May of that year; was appointed major of Nichols' regiment, under Starke, and commanded his battalion at Ben- nington; and rose to colonel of the Sixth Regiment on February 24, 1783.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Loveland are descended from ancestors who came to America from England in 1635; the one from Robert Loveland who lost his life at sea while crossing as supercargo, with his wife and two sons; and the other, in one line, from Samuel Morse who sailed in the Increase from England April 15, 1635, and in the direct Ellis line from Richard Ellis, who was one of the original proprietors of Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1642.
GUSTAVE ADOLPH GERMANN. Probably in no line of enterprise more than in that of building and contracting do the conditions of success
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depend more completely upon a solid ability, an experience in the varied branches of a technical calling and a thorough knowledge of men and materials. By sheer force of native ability has Mr. Germann, who is now one of the most successful contractors of Peru, risen to his place in the business circles of Miami county. When he was twenty-one years of age he possessed hardly a dollar of his own, but he was equipped with a thorough knowledge of his chosen trade and a determination to succeed. Through patient application and industry he has in the subse- quent years worked his way to a commanding position among the busi- less leaders of Peru.
The Germann family, which is one quite widely distributed in this country, being especially well represented in Ohio, traces its ancestry to the Protestant branch of the noble Hessian, now Prussian, von Ger- mann family. Gustave Adolph Germann was born in Van Wert county, Ohio, on July 4, 1860. He is one of the seven surviving children in a family of five boys and five girls, whose parents were George Peter and Mary Elizabeth (Hofmann) Germann, both of whom were natives of Hessen-Homburg, now Rhenish Prussia, where they were married. In 1843, the spring following their marriage, the parents left their native land for America, and spent forty-five days in the tedious voyage by sailing vessel from the European to the American shores. Partly by railroad and partly by canal they journeyed west to Canal Dover in Tus- carawas county, Ohio, where they had relatives. After a short time they drove on to Van Wert county, where a brother, Carl Philip Germann, lived. In Van Wert county, then covered with virgin forest, he began his career as a pioneer farmer, an occupation in which he continued there until March, 1877, at which date he came on to Miami county, Indiana. He bought a garden spot adjoining the corporate limits of Peru, and was there engaged in raising vegetables for the Peru market. While living there Mrs. Germann passed away on August 4, 1878. Soon afterwards her husband sold out the truck farm and went to Crown Point, where he had a married daughter living, and he died at that place on August 12, 1901, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. Both parents were devout mem- bers of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and they reared their children in the same faith. Two of the sons became ministers of this denomina- tion, one of them being located at Utica, New York, and one at Decatur, Illinois, both of them having attained high rank in their calling.
Adolph Germann spent his boyhood days working on the home farm in Van Wert county, where he lived until he was nearly grown. While he had a comfortable home and never felt the pinch of poverty nor lacked the real essentials of life, he was from an early age dependent upon his own resources for advancement, and soon after passing through the dis- trict schools and getting such experience as he could on the home farm, he and a brother drove from Ohio to Miami county by horse and wagon, in March, 1877, and in the same summer did work as gardeners. In the fall of 1878 Mr. Germann began serving a three years' apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade with Jacob Theobald, one of the honored old citizens of Peru. When he had completed his apprenticeship he accepted employ- ment with Mr. Theobald and continued in that way until the fall of 1892. It was in this way, by wage earnings and the steady processes of industry and thrift that he laid the basis for his independent career. In 1892 he established a business for himself as a carpenter and contractor, having Mr. Ernest A. Kessler as his partner for the first two years. Since then he has been in business alone. Mr. Germann in his work has established a reputation as a man who stands behind every bit of his work, is financially responsible, and gives the highest class of service to every contract for construction.
Vol. II-2
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Mr. Germann is a Democrat in politics, and at the present time is a member of the township advisory board. He was married September 11, 1884, to Miss Mary F. Miller, a daughter of Jacob F. Miller, who is one of the old time merchants of Peru. Two sons have been born of this mar- riage, and seldom have two sons brought greater comfort or pride to their parents than these, who have already at almost the beginning of their career attained distinction and positions in life such as are awarded only to those possessing high talents and capabilities of the highest kind.
Albert F. O. Germann, the oldest of the brothers, was born February 18, 1886. He received the major portion of his common school education at St. John's Lutheran school, and was graduated from the Peru high school with the class of 1904. He secured a place in the Bunker Hill school in Peru township in the same year, as a teacher, and he served as township principal and high school teacher at Reserve in Butler town- ship, in 1905. In the alternate periods between school work he attended Indiana University at Bloomington until he succeeded in being gradu- ated "with high distinction," from the state university in 1909, with the degree of A. B. In that year he acted as teaching fellow in chemistry at the University of Indiana, and in 1910 was awarded the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. In the fall of 1909 he was appointed assistant in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, and while at Madi- son pursued special studies that in 1910 won for him the degree of Master of Science. From the fall of 1910 to 1912 his time was spent in travel abroad and in study along special lines at the Universities of Geneva and Berlin, and his ability as a student and scholar of research was recognized by the University of Geneva in conferring upon him the degree of Doctor of Physical Sciences. Since returning from his studies abroad he has become instructor in chemistry in Adelbert College of Western Reserve University at Cleveland, Ohio. He is a member of the Indiana Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the honorary scholarship fraternity, Sigma Xi, the honorary scientific research fraternity, the American Chemical Society and other organizations.
Frank E. E. Germann, the second son of Mr. and Mrs. Germann, was born on December 6, 1887. He was also a student in the local parochial schools and was graduated from the high school in 1906. For two years, following in about the same course pursued by his brother, he engaged in teaching school and then entered the University of Indiana, where he was graduated with distinction in the spring of 1911, being the recipient of the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in physics. During the summer term of 1910 he attended the University of Wisconsin, and in 1911 joined his brother abroad, taking up special studies at' the Universities of Berlin in Germany, and Neuchâtel, Geneva, and Lausanne, in Switzerland. In 1912 he received an appointment as assistant in the laboratories of theoret- ical chemistry at the University of Geneva, an unusual honor for an Ameri- can, and there he has already successfully completed the examinations leading to the degree of Doctor of Physical Sciences. His special re- searches have been on the vapor pressures and critical constants of liquid oxygen, the synthesis of pure nitrosyl chloride, and the micro-analysis of the rare gases. At Indiana University he was honored by election to Phi Beta Kappa, as well as to membership in numerous local organiza- tions.
JOHN TOMEY. In a historical and biographical work of the nature of this publication, a more or less extended mention of the late John Tomey is properly entered as being of significant interest and importance, the record of his life being one that is worthy of perpetuation in this history. He was one of the native sons of Miami county, and he was one who never
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swerved in his loyalty thereto, here finding ample scope for productive effort in connection with the agricultural industry and other lines of business enterprise. His entire life was passed within the borders of Miami county, and from the year 1907 until his death on June 15, 1913, he made his home in the city of Peru, where he was engaged in the team- ing, storage and coal business, besides which he gave a general supervi- sion to his fine homestead farm in Jefferson township. His father , a man of distinct individuality, alert mentality and sterling character, was one of the honored pioneers of the county, where his name is yet held in pleas- ing memory by all who came within the sphere of his kindly and genial influence.
John Tomey was born on the old homestead farm of his father, in Peru township, this county, and the date of his birth was November 27, 1861. He was the last of a family of four children, of whom Bridget and Mary died when young, and Ellen became the wife of one Jeremiah Ginney and passed the closing years of her life in Peru, her one surviv- ing child being a son named John. Matthew Tomey was the father of the late John Tomey, the principal subject of this family memoir, and he was born and reared in County Cork, Ireland, where he grew to manhood under the discipline of the farm and where the family record was like that of the immortal Lincoln, "the short and simple annals of the poor.' He received the most meager of educational advantages, but with exceptional mental vitality and alertness he made good to a very marked degree this handicap of youth, so that he became a man of broad vision, well estab- lished opinions, and independent sentiments. In. 1856, at the age of thirty years, he severed the ties that bound him to the fair old Emerald Isle and set forth to seek his fortunes in America, where he felt assured of receiving due rewards for the efforts he might put forth. Equipped with ambition and self reliance, but with possibilities limited at that time to such vocations as called only for physical labor, he turned his atten- tion to such work as he could obtain, and it may be said to his credit that to the end of his mortal life, crowned with definite success, never did he abate his appreciation of the dignity and honor of honest toil. He placed true valuations upon men and had contempt only for the idler and the parasite. He remained for a brief interval in the city of New Orleans, where he found employment as a dock hand, and from the old Crescent city he soon made his way to Cincinnati, where he gained his initial experi- ence in connection with railroad work. At that time, in 1857, the Wabash and the old Indianapolis, Pittsburg & Cincinnati Railroads were in proc- ess of construction through Indiana, and he secured employment in con- nection with that work, finally assuming a contract for the building of one mile of the Wabash line. It was under such conditions that he arrived in Miami county in 1857, and his judgment was shown by the investment of his earnings in forty acres of land in the northern part of Peru township-a tract with virtually no improvements, but one that offered a nucleus from which he evolved final independence and sub- stantial prosperity. While identified with railroad work he came into possession of a horse, which he had taken as security for a debt, and in the spring of 1860 he located on his embryonic farm, where he made use of his horse to good effect, in the preliminary reclamation and cultivating of the place. In the winter of the same year was solemnized his marriage to Miss Anna Kavanaugh, who like himself, was a native of the Emerald Isle, and the two bravely faced the labors and problems that confronted them in wrestling sustenance and gradual profit from the little pioneer farm. The devoted wife and mother passed to the life eternal in 1867, and Mr. Tomey ever remained true to her memory, the while he made many sacrifices in order to give his children the best possible advantages and
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opportunities, without counting it self-abnegation or sacrifice. He re- ceived his reward for it in later years, for his children gave to him the deepest filial solicitude and in his declining years surrounded him with devotion and tender care. This sturdy pioneer lived a life of earnest and unremitting industry, surmounting obstables that must have dis- couraged one of less courage and determination, and by his very strength of purpose he finally made his way to the goal of substantial prosperity, his little farm of forty acres having been expanded to a valuable landed estate of three hundred and eighty-five acres, in Peru and Richland town- ships. When his wife died the eldest of their children was but six years of age, and he proved to the motherless little ones both a father and a mother, with the tenderness that is exemplified only in a strong and noble nature. He was a man of tenacious opinions, but was in no sense radical or intolerant, and his insistent optimism and generosity gained to him the friendship of those with whom he had come in contact in the various rela- tions of life. His integrity was inflexible and his abiding Christian faith was shown in deeds as well as in words, with naught of assumption or bigotry. His word was as good as gold, and he had the implicit confidence of every person with whom he had dealings or other associations. He did not assume to suggest or regulate the views or conduct of others, but he was not vacillating in purpose or in opinions. For instance, his attitude in the matter of indulgence in spirituous liquors was summed up with characteristic categorical maxims touching upon the matter of temper- ance. In this connection his initial tenet of approval was for the man who could take a drink, and by force of character, refuse to take a second; his second choice was for the man, who to be on the side of safety, would of his own volition, wholly abstain from the use of liquor; and his third choice was the man who deemed it necessary to protect himself by taking the pledge. Mr. Tomey was a stalwart in the camp of the Democratic party and in the domain of public affairs he had a reason for the faith which he possessed, the while he was liberal and loyal in the support of measures and enterprises advanced for the general good of the commu- nity. Both he and his wife were most earnest and devout communicants of the Catholic church, and in all of the relations of life he demanded the approval of conscience for his every sentiment and action, a man true to the teachings of the great mother church of Christendom, in the faith of which he carefully reared his children and to such good effect that in later years they did not repart therefrom. This sterling pioneer, a valiant soldier in the militant army of the world's workers, passed from the stage of mortal life on the 15th of January, 1891, at the venerable age of seventy-one years, and his name and memory will not soon be forgotten in the county that so long represented his home, and in which he accounted well to himself and the world.
His son, the late John Tomey, who seven years ago sold the major part of his father's homestead, remained with the latter on the farm until the close of the father's life, and under most genial and mutually sympa- thetic relations the two were associated in its work and management for many years, the son gradually relieving the father of the heavier labors and responsibilities, with a full appreciation of the character and honest achievement of his honored sire, whose memory he continued to revere to the end of his days as that of a pure and noble man of the most intrinsic worth of character.
John Tomey gained his early educational training in the parochial and public schools, and as a citizen and business man he all his days well upheld the prestige of the honored namc he bore. On the 28th day of Scp- tember, 1886, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Ellen McMahon, and two daughters were born to them, both dying in infancy. Mrs. Tomey
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passed to her long home on the 8th day of March, 1901. The "son and hus- band found the old home with broken ties and sad memories, with the result that about eighteen months after the death of his wife he removed to the city of Peru, there engaging in business. Up to the time of his death he was successfully engaged in a joint teaming, storage and coal business, besides which he continued to give a general supervision to his fine farm.
In politics John Tomey was a stanch Democrat, and though he had no desire at any time for the honors or emoluments of political office, he ever manifested a deep interest in public affairs, especially those of a local order, and was always one who might be counted upon as a sup- porter of civic and material enterprises tending to foster the best interests of his home city and his native county. The county lost in him a citizen of the highest order, and one whose life left an indelible impress for good upon the communities wherein he had lived all his days. He was a zealous communicant of the Catholic church. Mr. Tomey was married the second time on May 3, 1905, when Miss Nellie Quinn, a daughter of John and Ellen (Moriarty) Quinn, of Kokomo, Indiana, became his wife. She survives her husband.
SANFORD ELIAS ALTMAN. In the life and career of Sanford Elias Altman is found a typical American success. Without the comforts and without the influences of a home, his boyhood was spent in a varied struggle against the typical adversities which beset a friendless youth. He finally perfected himself at the carpenter's trade, became a building contractor, spent more than forty years in that business in Miami county, and now for half a dozen years or more has been enjoying the fruits of a well spent life in his attractive farm homestead near Peru.
Sanford Elias Altman was born in the city of Columbus, Ohio, Novem- ber 12, 1844. He is now the only surviving child of Elias and Elizabeth (Nichelson) Altman. Elias Altman, the father, was a soldier in the war against Mexico, during the forties, and died about 1849, only a year or so after his return. His widow again married, but the boyhood days of San- ford E. Altman were passed among strangers, and such homes as he found were only temporary and were accorded him more because of the value of his services than that of affection or family relations. He at- tained a very limited amount of schooling, and such as he did acquire was the fruit of the old fashioned subscription schools which were still main- tained during his boyhood. When six months were still lacking from his twenty-first birthday, he began his independent career as a worker at the carpenter trade. He had not progressed very far in this occupation before he found how essential the principles of mathematics were to any progressive success in the trade. He therefore set himself vigorously to mastering all details of measurement and geometry and other branches of mathematics as giving practical use in the builder's trade. When he had mastered these difficulties, he set himself up as an independent con- tractor. During the forty-three years that he was in business in this line, he built numerous houses in Peru and many farm buildings in the county, and his work was always characterized by a thoroughness which kept him constantly employed. Since 1908 he has confined his attention to farming. Mr. Altman owns fifty-three and three quarters acres of land in Peru township, and he has improved and made this one of the fine farms of the locality.
In politics Mr. Altman is a Democrat, but has never aspired to politi- cal office. He was married November 28, 1867, to Anna M. Eagle, and to this marriage eight children have been born: Clara L., deceased ; Emma, E., deceased; Charles, who died in infancy ; William H., a farmer in Erie
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township ; Ida S., now the wife of Omer O. Butt, of Peru township ; George M., a farmer of Erie township; Anna M., who married Samuel Tillett, and is now deceased; and Harry E., a resident of Indianapolis.
WILLIAM GALEN BOONE. Many of the pioneer families and their descendants have passed entirely out of Miami county, and as a matter of fact only comparatively few direct descendants are left to carry the name and enjoy the heritage of their pioneer forefathers. For that reason special distinction belongs to the few men and women who represent in the second or third generation the name of one who came to this county during the decade of the thirties and whose activities and influence during life were such as to distinguish him among the men of mark in his time.
William G. Boone of Peru township is one such man, and he himself is one of the older native sons of Miami county, and the days of his child- hood were passed before a single railroad line had been completed through the county. William G. Boone was born near the site of his present home in Peru township, adjoining the city of Peru, September 21, 1844. His father, and the founder of the family name and fortunes in this vicinity was Jacob W. Boone, who was born in Ohio and was a blacksmith by trade. In Montgomery county, Ohio, he had married Christiana Rohrer, and in the decade of the thirties, le and his wife and two children came to Miami county. The elder Boone established in the village of Peru a black- smith shop, and was one of the early workers in iron and the implements of the time, in this city. It is interesting to recall that some of his early customers were Indians, who brought to lim their tomahawks which he made himself, and other implements to be sharpened and repaired. Jacob ·W. Boone subsequently preemptioned 200 acres of land from the govern- inent about two miles east of where Broadway is now located in Peru, and on that land on the outskirts of the village and somewhat up the Wabash valley and in the vicinity of the canal, he built a shop and catered to the wants of his customers, using his spare time for the clear- ing of the woods and bringing the land under cultivation. He spent his last years as a farmer in that locality. He and his wife were the parents of three children: Mary, who married Martin Myers, and is now de- ceased; John, who is married and lives near Loree, in this county ; and William G. The father died about 1846, and his widow passed away September, 1890.
William G. Boone spent the first twelve years of his life in Peru town- ship, but his mother then married Mr. Martin Myers, and the family. moved to Wayne county. During his boyhood William G. Boone had only a common school education in the limited schools of that time, but sub- sequently made up for the deficiencies of his early education by entering Hanover College, from which he was graduated in 1875. After leaving college he engaged in teaching school for a number of years, for one term being a teacher in the high school at Richmond, Indiana. Failing health finally compelled him to give up this profession, and since 1881 he has. resided on his farm of sixty acres adjoining Peru. Besides this property, Mr. Boone is owner of some real estate in the city of Peru.
On December 29, 1881, he married Miss Romanzo M. Tillett, oldest of the children of William Tillett, concerning whom a brief sketch will be found on other pages of this work. Mrs. Boone died in March, 1903. Mr. Boone in politics is a Democrat, and a member of the Masonic Order Lodge No. 5 of Cambridge City, Iowa, and he and his wife were mem- bers respectively of the Presbyterian and Baptist churches.
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