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 30
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To return to the subject of Mr. Isler's family, it may be said that his marriage took place in 1890, when Jessie, the daughter of James Lawrence, became his wife. Her mother as Marguerite (Taylor) Law- rence, and the family was well known in Miami county for many years. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Isler. Zella, the eldest, was born on January 7, 1892, and is married to Calvin Shropshire ; they have one child, Ruth, and the family make their home in Deer Creek township on her father's farm where Mrs. Shropshire was raised. Glen Isler was born on March 10, 1894, and he shares the parental home as yet. Gladys, born February 7, 1897, attends the Bunker Hill high school ; and Raymond, the youngest, born August 2, 1902, also attends school.
Mr. Isler takes an active interest in the affairs of the county and of his own community, and is now superintendent of the pikes of Miami county, a position which he is admirably fitted to fill. He has served on a number of other appointive positions as well, one of them being two years service on the Board of Reviews, by appointment of Judge Tillett.
The churchly relations of Mr. Isler are with the Methodist Episcopal church of Bunker Hill, although he was christened in the Lutheran faith and early trained in the doctrine of that denomination. The absence of any Lutheran body in this locality precludes the possibility of his affiliating with his own faith, but he gives his unfailing support to the Methodist organization of this community. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Castle Hall No. 299, as well as of the Masonic order in Bunker Hill and the Redmen and the Pythian Sisters of Bunker Hill.
WILLIAM SIMS began life in Miami county as a farm hand, under the most untoward circumstances, and dependent solely upon his native thrift and energy to establish him in life. His success has been worthy of a man better equipped than he, and has grown out of his fine and abundant energy,-his willingness to put forth every effort in the work in hand, and his splendid integrity and wholesome character. His first farm was a forty acre one, and he has since come to be the owner of
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
as much as 474 acres, out of which he gave generous gifts to each of his children, and he still retains a fine place of 160 acres for his own use.
William Sims was born on August 30, 1833, in Maryland. He is the son of Francis and Sarah (Kirk) Sims, and the grandson of Wil- liam Sims, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and who died in the service of the Continental army. The mother of Mr. Sims died in the forties, and she is buried at West Liberty, Virginia. He is one of three sons,-the others, Robert and John, having both served in the Union army during the Civil war.
When William Sims was twenty-one years old he came to Miami county, and two years later he married and set up an establishment of his own. He was without capital and with a limited education, and the first work he found in Miami county was as a farm hand, at which he worked for several years. The country was rough and uncleared, and the work of grubbing out roots and stumps was one that gave steady employment to many men in those days. Mr. Sims continued with that work until he finally decided that it would be more profitable to him to perform that work for himself as a land owner than as a day laborer, but the state of his finances did not permit him to become independent in just that way at that time. After a few years of hard work in Miami county, he went to Helena, Montana, where he applied himself diligently to prospecting in the gold fields, and his labors were rewarded with some success. So much so that after four years he returned to Miami county with his family and bought himself a farm. His first place was graced with a log cabin, which he later, in more prosperous times, replaced with a frame house, of small, but definite proportions. He later bought the John Brandon farm and there he made many im- provements, bringing it up to a fine state of cultivation and making a modern and commodious home on the place. He lived there for about thirty years, and reared a fine family while he was adding prosperity to prosperity in his farming operations. An acreage of 400 acres finally came to be his, which he divided up into parcels of 40 acres and gave each of his children a home, retaining 160 acres for his own use. He came to Bunker Hill on May 12, 1911, and bought his present home in this community which is one of the most modern and comfortable ones to be found here, and with an ideal location.
Mr. Sims was married in 1856 to Miss Salome (Studebaker) Sims, the daughter of William Studebaker, and one of a family of four sons and two daughters, all of whom, with the exception of Mrs. Sims, died in immature years. William Studebaker, who was once a resident of Cass county, died in Clay township, Miami county. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sims; John, born in 1857; Philena, who married Joseph Glassburn, and became the mother of seven children; she is now deceased ; Nancy, who married Alfred Glassburn; Josephine, who died in infancy; Charles, who married Myrtle Bertram; Annette, the wife of Gus Tumblin; Tilton, who married Emma Sutton; and George, who is unmarried, and is identified with railroad work. All are filling places of usefulness in their various committees, and are a distinct credit to the parents who reared them.
Mr. Sims and his family have long been affiliated with the Baptist church, in which they have taken praiseworthy parts in the work of the various departments of the church, and Mr. Sims is a member of the Masonic order, Bunker Hill Lodge. He stands well in the community wherein he was long known and where he has recently come to be established in Bunker Hill, and is one of the honored and honorable men of the county.
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Frank Isler received only such educational advantages as were com- mon to the country youth of his time and locality, and he married at the age of twenty-five, soon thereafter renting a farm in Deer Creek town- ship. He lived there for two years, and then, convinced of the desir- ability and productiveness of the place, purchased it. It was a small place, only twenty acres going to make up its breadth at the time, but Mr. Isler soon added ten acres, later taking on another tract of sixty acres, and some four years later adding another ten acres to his hold- ings, until he had an acreage of one hundred acres at his command. The first purchase had a log house upon it, and there they lived for twelve years, but in 1904 he built a fine two story house for the accommodation of his growing family. He also built a capacious barn, 36x70 feet, and has made many another improvement in the place. Six hundred rods of tiling drain the place to a nicety, and five hundred rods of ungraceful and ineffectual rail fencing were replaced with modern wire fencing. The family continued there until November, 1911, when they moved to Bunker Hill. There they bought a lot in a desirable location and built their present comfortable and capacious home. It has nine rooms in all and is regarded as the most modern home in Bunker Hill, boasting as it does, electric lights, furnace heat, perfect water supply, capacious cement basement, etc., and the family derive much comfort from all these conveniences, many of which were not available to them in their days upon the old place in Pipe Creek township.
To return to the subject of Mr. Isler's family, it may be said that his marriage took place in 1890, when Jessie, the daughter of James Lawrence, became his wife. Her mother as Marguerite (Taylor) Law- rence, and the family was well known in Miami county for many years. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Isler. Zella, the eldest, was born on January 7, 1892, and is married to Calvin Shropshire; they have one child, Ruth, and the family make their home in Deer Creek township on her father's farm where Mrs. Shropshire was raised. Glen Isler was born on March 10, 1894, and he shares the parental home as yet. Gladys, born February 7, 1897, attends the Bunker Hill high school; and Raymond, the youngest, born August 2, 1902, also attends school.
Mr. Isler takes an active interest in the affairs of the county and of his own community, and is now superintendent of the pikes of Miami county, a position which he is admirably fitted to fill. He has served on a number of other appointive positions as well, one of them being two years service on the Board of Reviews, by appointment of Judge Tillett.
The churchly relations of Mr. Isler are with the Methodist Episcopal church of Bunker Hill, although he was christened in the Lutheran faith and early trained in the doctrine of that denomination. The absence of any Lutheran body in this locality precludes the possibility of his affiliating with his own faith, but he gives his unfailing support to the Methodist organization of this community. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Castle Hall No. 299, as well as of the Masonic order in Bunker Hill and the Redmen and the Pythian Sisters of Bunker Hill.
WILLIAM SIMS began life in Miami county as a farm hand, under the most untoward circumstances, and dependent solely upon his native thrift and energy to establish him in life. His success has been worthy of a man better equipped than he, and has grown out of his fine and abundant energy,-his willingness to put forth every effort in the work in hand, and his splendid integrity and wholesome character. His first farm was a forty acre one, and he has since come to be the owner of
639
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
as much as 474 acres, out of which he gave generous gifts to each of his children, and he still retains a fine place of 160 acres for his own use.
William Sims was born on August 30, 1833, in Maryland. He is the son of Francis and Sarah (Kirk) Sims, and the grandson of Wil- liam Sims, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and who died in the service of the Continental army. The mother of Mr. Sims died in the forties, and she is buried at West Liberty, Virginia. He is one of three sons,-the others, Robert and John, having both served in the Union army during the Civil war.
When William Sims was twenty-one years old he came to Miami county, and two years later he married and set up an establishment of his own. He was without capital and with a limited education, and the first work he found in Miami county was as a farm hand, at which he worked for several years. The country was rough and uncleared, and the work of grubbing out roots and stumps was one that gave steady employment to many men in those days. Mr. Sims continued with that work until he finally decided that it would be more profitable to him to perform that work for himself as a land owner than as a day laborer, but the state of his finances did not permit him to become independent in just that way at that time. After a few years of hard work in Miami county, he went to Helena, Montana, where he applied himself diligently to prospecting in the gold fields, and his labors were rewarded with some success. So much so that after four years he returned to Miami county with his family and bought himself a farm. His first place was graced with a log cabin, which he later, in more prosperous times, replaced with a frame house, of small, but definite proportions. He later bought the John Brandon farm and there he made inany im- provements, bringing it up to a fine state of cultivation and making a modern and commodious home on the place. He lived there for about thirty years, and reared a fine family while he was adding prosperity to prosperity in his farming operations. An acreage of 400 acres finally came to be his, which he divided up into parcels of 40 acres and gave each of his children a home, retaining 160 acres for his own use. He came to Bunker Hill on May 12, 1911, and bought his present home in this community which is one of the most modern and comfortable ones to be found here, and with an ideal location.
Mr. Sims was married in 1856 to Miss Salome (Studebaker) Sims, the daughter of William Studebaker, and one of a family of four sons and two daughters, all of whom, with the exception of Mrs. Sims, died in immature years. William Studebaker, who was once a resident of Cass county, died in Clay township, Miami county. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sims; John, born in 1857; Philena, who married Joseph Glassburn, and became the mother of seven children; she is now deceased; Nancy, who married Alfred Glassburn ; Josephine, who died in infancy; Charles, who married Myrtle Bertram; Annette, the wife of Gus Tumblin; Tilton, who married Emma Sutton; and George, who is unmarried, and is identified with railroad work. All are filling places of usefulness in their various committees, and are a distinct credit to the parents who reared them.
Mr. Sims and his family have long been affiliated with the Baptist church, in which they have taken praiseworthy parts in the work of the various departments of the church, and Mr. Sims is a member of the Masonic order, Bunker Hill Lodge. He stands well in the community wherein he was long known and where he has recently come to be established in Bunker Hill, and is one of the honored and honorable men of the county.
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
WILLIAM F. CROUDER. All his life William F. Crouder has been identified with this section of the state, and he has given the best years of his existence to the farming business, in which he was born and bred. When his father died he became possessed of the fine old place that had been the home of the parents for many a year, and he has here con- tinued in prosperity and well-being, improving the place in many ways and bringing it up to a high standard of cultivation. He is recognized for one of the most successful and enterprising farming men in the county and has amply earned that distinction by reason of his accom- plishments in the agricultural world.
Born in Wayne county, Indiana, on May 20, 1841, William F. Crouder is the son of Jacob and Marguerite (Dubler) Crouder. They were people of German birth, who came to America while still very young in years, and married in Cincinnati. They settled first in Ham- ilton county, Coal Range township, Ohio, and the young husband worked for a time as a blacksmith in Dayton, later buying land in Coal Range township, where he lived with his little family for some twelve years. He then moved to Montgomery county, Ohio, where he also bought land, and for fifteen years he lived there, moving thence to Miami county, Indiana. The family were still in an unsettled state, and they moved back to Indiana, settling in Miami county in Pipe Creek township, and there the father ended his days, death claiming him on April 23, 1891. The wife and mother died on April 12, 1865.
Mr. Crouder came to Miami county March 14, 1866, from Hamilton county, Ohio, where he had lived for some two years after his father's marriage. He started in on the home farm of his father, who was a widower at that time, and he remained there with his family, finally com- ing into possession of the place when his parent passed away. In the pass- ing years he has made many improvements on the old home place, among the more salient features being a fine new house and barn, and a fine well. The latter he built as, a concession to health conditions, which at the time assumed a menacing condition, and many deaths in the town- ship were said to have been the result of impure water in use. The well that Mr. Crouder sunk on his place is one that will forever preclude all further possibilities of troubles from the old typhus enemy, and many of his neighbors avail themselves of its sparkling waters.
Other and varied improvements have been brought to pass, and to- day the Crouder place, which a few years ago was a dense forest for the most part, stands clean and bare, its fertile soils lie ready and waiting for the plow of the husbandman. While he was yet the owner he saw the passing of the rail fence era, and the entire farm is today fenced with wire, under the most approved conditions, while two thousand rods of ditching and tiling were put in place before Mr. Crouder sold the old home place in 1904. Mr. Crouder, it may be said, is further dis- tinguished as being the first man in this district to sell land for one hun- dred dollars per acre, but that was the price he asked and received for his farm.
Mr. Crouder has been twice married. His first wife was Magdelene Hook, and he married her in, Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1863. Four sons were born to them, as follows: Edward C., born February 28, 1865; John F., born on the 9th day of July, 1867; Charles Oren, born July 23, 1869 and Emanuel, born on the 12th day of October, 1872. The wife and mother died on August 30, 1874, and in the following year Mr. Crouder married Mary Kinsley. Four sons were born of this union also : William Albert was born November 20, 1876; Jacob H., on February 16, 1880; Clifford G., on September 9, 1881, and Louis on October 1, 1878. Mrs. Crouder was a daughter of Frederick and Mary (Snyder)
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FAMILY GROUP OF MR. AND MRS. BEECHER HERRELL
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Kinsley, both of them German born, but who met and married in Miami county.
Mr. Crouder and his wife are faithful members of the Evangelical church, and he is a member of the Board of Trustees. He has served his township as committeeman on numerous occasions, and in past days has on many occasions served as public administrator by appoint- ment. He and his family have long enjoyed the favor and friendship of the best citizenship of their community, and have been undeniably deserving of the same.
BEECHER HERRELL. Representing one of the oldest and most honored names of Deer Creek township, Beecher Herrell has for more than thirty years probably done more than any one else to uphold the business activities of the little village of Miami, and is a citizen of integrity and worthy principles as to need no introduction to many hundreds of the residents in this part of Miami county. As a merchant he has always been straightforward in his dealings and has made his business a real service to the community.
Beecher Herrell was born in Deer Creek township, May 1, 1861, a son of James and grandson of William Herrell. The maiden name of his mother was Levina Barker, a daughter of Austin Barker. The Herrell family is one of the oldest in the settlement and development of Deer Creek township, and the name is associated with various dis- tinctions and services in the progress of this locality from the pioneer epoch down to the present time.
In 1884 Mr. Beecher Herrell married Miss Maude I. Tubbs a daugh- ter of William and Anna (Haite) Tubbs. Her father, who is still living, was one of the early settlers of Miami county. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Herrell there have been born five daughters, named as follows: Zella, born in 1886; Lola, born in 1888; Madge, and Elsie, twins, born in 1890; and Georgia born in 1894. Zella became the wife of Harvey Waters, Lola married Walter Wilson, and Madge is the wife of Manford Shaffer. Mr. Herrell is affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men, Tribe No. 267, located at Miami, being one of its charter members. His church is the Methodist.
At the age of twenty, having been reared and educated in this part of the county, Mr. Herrell in 1881 established himself in the merchandise business at Miami, and with growing success and increasing facilities has continued as a merchant at that village ever since. His store was burned on December 6, 1890, but he soon had started again on a better basis than ever. For the past twenty-five years he has been postmaster of this village, and since 1904 has been ticket agent for the Interurban Line. He is held in high esteem among his many neighbors and friends in this township. Mrs. Herrell's father was a soldier in the Civil war.
NEWTON HOOVER. A pioneer of pioneers in Miami county is Newton Hoover, who has made his home in these parts since 1850 or thereabouts. He has in the passing years been a witness to many phases of the devel- opment and onward progress of the county, and has taken an active part in those activities. A veteran of the Civil war, he is honored among his fellows, and as a successful and enterprising man of affairs, he has ever had an enviable position in Bunker Hill and the surrounding commu- nity. At one time he was prominent as a sheep raiser and he has also been prominently known as a breeder of fine stock. He is still active and busy with the work of his fine home place, but is not so engrossed in the business of advancing his fortunes as he has been in past years. An honest and honorable man and a citizen of the highest order, his rank
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and standing in his community is of the highest and much of honor attaches to his record in the county.
Newton Hoover was born in Miami county, Ohio, on March 27, 1842, and is the son of Harry and Becky (Spencer) Hoover. The mother died in 1868, and the father married a second time, his second wife being Catherine Potter, who was born on January 7, 1837, and who died November 23, 1905. Two children,-Grace and Frank,-were born of this latter union.
In 1850 Mr. Hcover came to Miami county, bringing his family with him, and they settled in the vicinity of Leonda, which village he, to- gether with John Potter, laid out and platted. Mr. Hoover was a farmer, and he also engaged in the pump business in Leonda, making a fair success of his work. He was a public-spirited man, active and energetic, and in good standing with his neighbors at all times. He made his home in Leonda as long as he lived after settling there.
When Newton Hoover married, August 24, 1862, he and his young wife set up housekeeping in a log cabin that boasted of but one room. They settled in Pipe Creek township, and their early years were lean ones, characterized by many of the hardships peculiar to those primitive days. Mr. Hoover recalls today that he assisted his wife to make a rag carpet to cover their cabin floor and lend an air of comfort to the severity of the sparsely furnished place, and in many another similar feat did the young pioneers help to brighten their workaday lives in the wilder- ness,-for it was in very truth a wilderness when they settled in Clay township in those early days. He applied himself heroically to the her- culean task, and with a yoke of oxen spent many a day of toil in up- rooting stumps from the soil to which they held so tenaciously.
In 1862 Mr. Hoover entered the army as a member of Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Indiana Volunteers. All his relatives had already gone to the war, but he disliked to leave his young wife alone and defenseless, and so put off for a time. But he felt that he must answer his country's call, despite his home duties, and he accordingly left his wife with his home people and joined the boys in blue. The young wife with true wifely courage, gave her attention to the upkeep of the fields, helping such harvest hands as they were able to procure, and enduring stoically all the hardship that inevitably fell to the lot of the stay-at-homes in those trying and unhappy times. After a year's service in the army Mr. Hoover returned home and resumed his farm work. He bought more land, and in addition to what he owned, he made it a point to rent a goodly acreage as well. Thirty years of his life were spent on one farm, and there he engaged extensively in sheep raising in company with his life-long friend, Dan Duckwall. He enjoyed a nice success in that enterprise, as well as in the breeding of fancy stock, in which he gained something of a reputation in these parts. In recent years Mr. Hoover has disposed of a number of pieces of farming prop- erty, but he still has a generous acreage in and about the county.
It is greatly to the credit of Mr. Hoover as a man and as a husband that he does not assume all the responsibility and glory of the most worthy success that has come to him in his active business career, but is willing to bestow a proper appreciation upon the labors of his fruitful wife. Mrs. Hoover, as well as being a devoted wife and mother, has been of the most material assistance to him in the accumulation of his exten- sive properties, and has aided him by her advice and counsel in all his business enterprises. It has been mainly through the continuous. and unremitting toil on the part of both that they have advanced so far in the scale of prosperity and achieved the very worthy success that is
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theirs, and no element of chance or luck has ever entered into their fortunes.
Mr. Hoover was married, August 24, 1862, to Miss Lydia Delawter, who was born in Preble county, Ohio, on the 18th day of April, 1843, the daughter of people who settled in Cass county midway between Peru and Logansport, in the pioneer days of those communities. Mrs. Hoover is a woman who received the most meager educational advantages, attending school three months in the winter for a few years, in the log cabin school house peculiar to those pioneer days. Three daughters and two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hoover, concerning whom brief mention is made at this point : Mary R., the first born, married Jacob Butcher, who died in March, 1905, and she has since made her home with her aged parents, and is a source of much comfort to them in their declining years; Judson E., married Eliza Weaver, who died in 1912, leaving children, Russel N., Verse A. and Dewey H .; Laura R. is mar- ried to A. J. Van Dorn, and their children are named Alta M., who married Omar Hockman and who has one child,-Jackson; Carrie HI., married to Orlando North, and has one child,-Robert North; and Georgia A., married to Clyde, a brother of Orlando North. The fourth child of Mr. and Mrs. Hoover is Effie, married to Harley Poff, and they have one child,-Helen ; Harvey N. Hoover married Pearl Bigger.
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