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 6
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The younger generation of citizens in Miami county have little con- ception of the environments and the economic and social conditions in
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Gro. 6. Miller
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which such a citizen as Elias Butt spent his youth. He participated in all the hard work of clearing the woods, grubbing out the stumps and brush, and in sewing, planting and harvesting the crops according to the primi- tive.methods and with the crude machinery which were then employed. Amid such conditions it is not strange that his early education was lim- ited, but his common practical sense has enabled him to accumulate over fifteen hundred acres of land, considerable property in Peru, and wealth in other forms sufficient for him to be reckoned one of the most substan- tial men of Miami county.
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When such a man has so much to show. in the way of material accom- plishments it is a feature which seems to crown his career when he accords as does Mr. Butt, much of the credit for this success to his wife and the companion of most of his years. Mrs. Butt has been his counselor and trusted adviser for more than half a century and their married life is one of the most interesting facts of brief biography. Mr. Butt was mar- ried August 26, 1860, to Mary Ann Waltz, and their eight children were named as follows: Douglas M., Emma Jane, William A., Jennie Annie, now deceased ; Mary Belle, Omar O., and Dora May and Cora May, twins. All but one of these children are living and all married and residing on their own home places in the immediate neighborhood.
Mr. Butt is a Democrat in politics, but his life has been too busy for him to devote any of his time to party politics, beyond casting his vote and giving his influence for good local government. He has contributed largely from his means in the support of all laudable public enterprise, regardless of whether it affected him personally or not. A member of no church organization, he has helped to build and improve many ; a man of limited education, he always aids educational movements; a man inde- pendent, he has liberally provided for his children, and has extended material to those less fortunate than himself. More than this could not be spoken of any resident of Miami county, and such citizenship is of itself a splendid contribution to the welfare of Miami county.
GEORGE C. MILLER. The loyalty of Mr. Miller to the fine old Hoosier commonwealth is of the strongest type, and this attitude is fully justi- fied, for he is a native of the state and a representative of one of its sterling pioneer families, and has here found ample opportunity for the attainment of large and worthy success along normal lines of busi- ness enterprise. He has been a resident of Peru, the judicial center of Miami county, for more than half a century and has long been num- bered among its leading merchants and most liberal and public-spirited citizens. He is still active in business affairs, in which his associations are most gratifying, as he claims as his valued coadjutors in the con- ducting of a large and well equipped general store his three sons, who are well upholding the high prestige of the family name both in the field of local business enterprise and as progressive citizens of sterling character.
At Logansport, Cass county, Indiana, George C. Miller was born on the 2d of January, 1845, and he thus became a slightly belated New Year's arrival in the family home. He is a son of John L. and Mary (Long) Miller, the former of whom was a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Delaware. John L. Miller was one of the pioneer merchants and influential citizens of Logansport, and had much to do with its early development and upbuilding, the embryonic city having been even at that time an important industrial and commercial center, with effective transportation facilities afforded by the old canal, the service of which was of important order before the construction of railroad lines. He was an alert and enterprising man of affairs and this is measureably
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indicated by the fact that he manufactured and placed in operation the first wool-carding machines in Cass county. He died about the year 1849, and his devoted wife survived him by about fifteen years, during which she nobly cared for and reared her two sons, the only daughter having died in infancy. E. L. Miller, the elder of the sons, is likewise one of the honored citizens of Peru and his sketch appears elsewhere in this volume.
George C. Miller was about four years of age at the time of his father's death and was about eighteen years old when his mother passed away. As a boy he came to Peru, where he lived in turn in the homes of Moses Mercer and David Charter, the while he was afforded the advantages of the common schools, including the high school. In 1860 he became a per- manent resident of Peru, where he continued to attend school about one year, and in 1862 he assumed the position of clerk in the store of Elbert H. Shirk, one of the pioneer merchants of the town. He gained valuable experience and a thorough knowledge of the details of the mercantile busi- ness, and in 1867 he was given the active management of the store, as Mr. Shirk virtually retired from the personal supervision of the business at that time. In the meanwhile Wilson W. Killgore, who had been engaged in the hardware business, formed a partnership with Mr. Shirk under the firm name of Killgore & Shirk, and the two establishments were united, the scope of the enterprise thus including both dry goods and hardware. In 1873 Mr. Miller acquired a third interest in the business, whereupon the firm name was changed to Killgore, Shirk & Co. About 1880 Mr. Shirk purchased the interest of Mr. Killgore and transferred the same to his son, Milton Shirk, this change being attended with the altering of the firm name to Shirk & Miller. Upon the death of E. H. Shirk, in 1887, the busi- ness was continued by Milton Shirk, the son, and by Mr. Miller, the estate of the deceased member of the firm being still represented. Under these conditions the large and prosperous enterprise was conducted until 1902, when Mr. Miller sold his interest and retired from the firm. In the follow- ing year he became associated with his three elder sons in the establishing of a large and finely appointed general department store, at 71-73 South Broadway, and here the firm of George C. Miller & Sons has built up a most substantial and prosperous business, the success of which has been signally fostered by the high reputation long maintained by the father in connection with business activities in Miami county. The establishment is one of the foremost in Peru and draws its trade from the fine section of country normally tributary to the thriving little city. Mr. Miller is the owner of over 500 acres of the finest farming land in Miami county, over which graze fine Jersey cattle. He gives a great deal of attention to his stock and is very successful as a stockman and farmer.
Though giving the closest attention to his business affairs during the long years of a most earnest and effective career, Mr. Miller has not hedged himself in with purely personal interests, but has shown himself broad-minded and loyal as a citizen-one ever ready to do his part in the furtherance of measures and enterprises projected for the general good of the community. In politics he accords a staunch allegiance to the Republican party, and while he has not been imbued with ambition for public office he was given significant evidence of popular confidence and esteem when, in 1898, he was elected representative of the Howard and Miami district in the state senate. He proved a most zealous and faithful member of the deliberative body of the state legislature, and gave most effective service during both sessions of the same during his term, having been chairman of two committees of the senate and a mem- ber of the important finance committee. He is affiliated with the Masonic
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fraternity and both he and his wife are representative members of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Peru.
In the year 1870, on March 15th, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Miller to Miss Ella Leebrick, of Wayne county, this state, and they have four sons, all of whom are associated with their father in business. Their names are here entered in respective order of birth: Harry L., Charles W., Elbert S. and George C.
JOHN B. WILSON. As the pages of this history of Miami county prove, the actual development and permanent settlement within the present county boundaries began only with the decade of the thirties. A little more than eighty years has therefore passed since the first rude settle- ments were planted, the first clearings made, and civilized life began in this region. The career of Mr. John B. Wilson of Peru township, bears a noteworthy relation to this time, since he lived out almost the complete span of his seventy-eight years within the limits of this county. He lacked but a year of having been a native of Miami county. When he was brought here a year old the Indians were still inhabitating this region, and the county had been organized only a short while. In the different periods of his individual life occurred every noteworthy improvement and event that deserved telling in a history of Miami county.
John B. Wilson was a native of Pendleton county, Virginia, where he was born October 25, 1835. His parents, George and Magdalena (Hiner) Wilson, in 1836 came west from Virginia, in company with two other families, those of William Wilson and John Hiner. They drove through with three teams, one a five-horse team and the other two two-horse teams, these horses drawing old-fashioned covered wagons in the true pioneer style. The party consisted of eighteen persons. After a journey of six weeks, they reached Miami county. These three families bought what was known as "canal land" in the eastern part of Peru township, on "Seven-Mile Prairie." They built cabins there, and experienced all the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life. The older generation passed the remainder of their lives in this vicinity and their descendants have become scattered, some of them being still residents in Miami county, and others having found homes and prosperity in other sections of the country.
George Wilson, the father, was a man of superior education for the time, and in Virginia had taught school. After coming to Miami county he soon became identified prominently with the public life of the county and was recognized as a man whose judgment and influence were very valuable to the success of any public undertakings. He served in vari- ous local positions of honor and trust, and when the court house preced- ing the present magnificent building was built, George Wilson was one of the county commissioners. In politics he was a Democrat and a Metho- dist in religion. He and his wife were the parents of five sons and five daughters, a fine family of whom only one son and two daughters now live. George Wilson died in 1869, and his wife many years afterwards.
John B. Wilson was brought by his parents when one year of age to Miami county, and here he grew up amid the pioneer conditions. His educational opportunities were exceedingly limited, since nearly twenty years had passed before Indiana as a state had anything resembling a free public school system. At one time he had to walk five miles over the prairie and through the woods in order to reach the subscription school supported by the people of his community. He remained at home until twenty-seven years of age, and on December 11, 1862, married Miss Mary J. Phillebaum, a daughter of Samuel and Sophia (Myers) Phille- baum, who came from Ohio to Miami county, Indiana, in 1844.
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After his marriage Mr. Wilson began farming on his own account, and this has been his regular occupation throughout life, although he has also for different lengths of time attended to other affairs. For six years he operated a flour mill on the Eel river in Jefferson township, and for one year was employed in the woolen mill at Peru. He became the owner of nearly three hundred acres of fine agricultural land in Peru and Erie townships, and was known as one of the county's best farmers.
He and his wife had eight children, namely: Alice, now Mrs. Elmer E. Bell of Peru; Dora, widow of Michael Dice; Samuel, a resi- dent of Cass county ; Voris, a farmer of Erie township; Earl, who is a farmer at Peru township; Ellen W., now Mrs. Ralph Otiker; and John and Jennie, both deceased. Mrs. Wilson is a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, born January 13, 1843, and she was but a child when she came to Miami county. She was educated in the common schools and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Peru, Indiana. She is living at the homestead. Mr. Wilson was a Democrat in poli- tics, but in no measure had he ever been a strict party man or one who sought office. He more frequently voted for the man regardless of party affiliations, and his life was passed in hard work, so that he never aspired to political preferment for himself. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows from 1868. Mr. Wilson passed to the life beyond May 31, 1913, and commemorating the death of this honored pioneer of Miami county the following lines appeared in a local periodical :
"John B. Wilson died at his home one mile east of the city limits Saturday morning at 11:45 o'clock, after an illness of over a year from an ulcerated stomach. He was a well known and prosperous farmer and a pioneer of Miami county, having lived here for the past seventy- five years. He was seventy-seven years, seven months and six days of age at the time of his death.
"He is survived by a host of relatives and friends who mourn his departure. He leaves a widow, Mary, three sons, Vogue Wilson of Erie township, Sam Wilson of Lewisburg and Earl Wilson, who resides at the home place, three daugliters, Mrs. Elmer E. Bell, Mrs. Dora Dice of Peru and Mrs. Ralph Otiker of east of Peru and two sisters, Mrs. Cynthia Andrews of Peru and Mrs. Catharine Ewing of Elber- ton, Washington. Besides these he is survived by sixteen grandchil- dren and eight great-grandchildren.
"The funeral services were held at the Wilson residence Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock, with Rev. Dr. T. M. Guild, pastor of the Methodist church, officiating. The I. O. O. F. lodge was in charge of the burial ceremonies. Interment was in Mount Hope cemetery."
PETER DINGMAN. For seventy-three years Peter Dingman has lived in Miami county and practically all the time has been spent on the farm which he now occupies in Erie township. He was brought to this county a child, grew up in the pioneer conditions which existed during the forties and fifties, and throughout his active career fol- lowed the peaceful vocation of agriculture, and has enjoyed a success much above the ordinary. He reared a fine household of children, who for their part are now honored men and women, several of them with families of their own. Having provided well for his children Mr. Dingman is now living retired from active pursuits, and enjoys the fruits of his well spent earlier years.
Peter Dingman was born July 22, 1839, in Allen county, Indiana, a son of Abraham and Martha E. (Rice) Dingman. The other chil-
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dren in the family were named, Mary, Martha, Sarah Jane, Elizabeth, Samuel, Eunice, Rachel and Julia. Rachel and Julia are now the only ones living.
In October, 1840, the family moved to Miami county from Allen county. That was many years before the first railroad was constructed and the only method of transportation in use were the highways, which were little more than blazed trails through the woods, and the old Wabash & Erie Canal, which led from Fort Wayne down the Wabash Valley through Miami county. It was along the canal that the family made its migration from Allen county. The father was a very suc- cessful man, owned a good farm in Allen county, and traded for the land which he occupied in Erie township of Miami county. On the homestead which the family occupied on first coming to Miami county, Mr. Dingman still resides. Only about six acres of the land had been cleared when the Dingmans arrived, and their first home was a rough log cabin which they put up in this clearing after they reached the county .. Primitive though it was that cabin was of about the type of home possessed by the majority of Miami county settlers at the time, and it continued to shelter the family for some years. The earliest recollections of Peter Dingman are of the great native woods that almost completely hemmed in the home place, and for a number of years after they settled here wild game was plentiful among the trees, and the Indians occasionally visited the Dingman homestead. In a little log schoolhouse, reached by a path through the woods, Peter Dingman acquired all the schooling he ever had, and the school in that log cabin was kept up for only about sixty days in the year, and was supported by subscriptions taken among the patrons. Much of his time was taken up during his youth by work on the home farm, since there was a great deal of hard labor to be done in clearing and grubbing and planting. For this reason his school days were prolonged much beyond the usual period, and he attended school at intervals up until he was twenty-five years old. He even went to school one winter after he was married.
The senior Dingman later bought a farm in Peru township, and moved his home to that place, where he remained until his death. After his marriage Mr. Dingman continued to work the original home- stead and has lived there all the rest of his career. There were orig- inally more than thirteen hundred acres in the farm. Most of the improvements in buildings were constructed by the father, and Peter Dingman has built the house in which he now has his comfortable home.
On November 13, 1877, Mr. Dingman married Mary E. Spangler, a daughter of John and Margaret C. (Gettlebauer) Spangler. The six children born to their marriage are: Samuel, unmarried; Alice, who married Mack Bailey, and has one child, Vernice; Emma, who married David Kitsmiller; Clara, Clarence, and Florence, who are unmarried and live at home. The daughters Emma, Clara and Florence have all taken musical instruction. Mr. Dingman is a Democrat in politics, and has always been a public spirited citizen. Mrs. Peter Dingman is a typical pioneer mother, as she and her husband have both witnessed the wonderful development of Northern Indiana. She is a native of Pipe Creek township, Miami county, born November 28, 1849, and a daugh- ter of John and Margaret C. (Gettlebauer) Spangler. She was reared and educated in Miami county. She and her husband received the most primitive of educations in the log schoolhouse where the pupils sat on slab or board benches, and the desk was a broad board fas- tened at the wall of the building. Some of the text books they used
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were Smith's Arithmetic, Webster's Elementary Spelling Books and McGuffey's Readers, and they used the goose or turkey quill pen, made by the teacher, and their copy books were foolscap paper sewed together. This schoolhouse was heated by a mammoth box stove. This was the character of the pioneer schools, where now in 1913 the pupils have all the modern equipments for their education. Mr. Dingman has seen plenty of deer and wolves in this locality and they have seen the North American Indian in his savage state. Mrs. Dingman as a pioneer mother can relate of the time when she took the wool from the sheep's back, carded it, spun and wove it into cloth, as well as spun and wove linen from flax. She is a lady of remarkable memory and can relate many reminiscences of the primitive period of Indiana, when she was a little maiden of eight summers. She has been an able factor in the building of their house and rearing a family of honorable children. The sport of ye olden days was log rolling, and at evening a big supper and a "frolic" (as the pleasure was called). She has attended many of the "quilting bees" and "wool pickings" which are unknown to the younger generations. Her religious training was of the Meth- odist faith. Mr. and Mrs. Dingman have many relics of the past- an old rifle made for his father in 1835, and Mrs. Dingman has linen table cloths, over a century old, they having been brought from Ger- many by her parents. They also have one of the old parchment deeds, which was executed under the administration of President Andrew Jackson and bears the date of June 8, 1833, which is a valuable heir- loom in the home and county. The estate of Mr. and Mrs. Dingman comprises over 200 acres of rich Wabash bottom land and is known as "Glendale Grange," situated near the Northern Indiana Interurban Railroad.
RICHARD B. RUNYAN AND BRITTON L. RUNYAN. In the sturdy proc-, esses by which the original wilderness of Miami county was converted to a comfortable abiding place for humanity, no family was earlier on the scene or contributed more important parts as industrious and law- abiding and upright people than the Runyan family, in its various branches. The name has been identified with this county for seventy years or more and in some of the collateral branches its history goes back to the very foundation of the county.
Richard B. Runyan, who himself was one of the early settlers of the county, was born at Trenton, New Jersey, October 16, 1824, a son of Lewis and Mary (Britton) Runyan. His mother was 'a sister of R. L. Britton, one of the original proprietors of Peru when first plat- ted. R. L. Britton was prominently identified with the early devel- opment of the city, and with others laid the foundation for its later prosperity. He died May 26, 1850, at the age of sixty years. His father had been a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and the Brit- ton family, as also the Runyans, belonged to the best American stock.
The late Richard B. Runyan grew to manhood in the state of his birth, where he secured a practical education, and in 1844 at the age of twenty and through the influence of his uncle Mr. Britton, started west and finally arrived in Miami county. Peru was at that time a small village, and he was here in time to participate in much of its development and enterprise. In subsequent years he moved to a farm just outside the city limits on the northwest and by industry and good management accumulated a comfortable competency in land and city property. From the beginning of his residence here, he took an active interest in public affairs, and in all that promoted the good of the com- munity. His popularity as a citizen, and the confidence reposed in
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him throughout the community were evidenced by his election to the office of county auditor in 1878, and his reelection four years later. He made a record as a competent and painstaking official, and gave splendid service during the eight years which he held the county auditor's position.
In November, 1853, Richard B. Runyan married Maria McGregor, who was born May 1, 1834, and was the first white child born at Miamis- port, an historic old village which is now included within the city lim- its of Peru. John McGregor, the father of Mrs. Runyan, was a noted character in the early annals of Miami county. He had the distinction of settling in what is now the corporate limits of Peru in February, 1827, and history gives him fame as the first permanent resident. Sub- sequently he was proprietor of an old tavern in this locality. His death occurred August 26, 1835. Richard B. Runyan and wife were members of the Episcopal church. After more than fifty years of res- idence in this city he passed away on November 26, 1899, and his wife had preceded him on March 28, 1892. The late Mr. Runyan had laid out an addition to the town of Peru and a street in this city bears his name. During his earlier career he had started for California, but while on the way and in Texas became stranded for lack of money, and had to teach a term of school in order to secure the necessary finan- cial means to continue his journey.
Britton L. Runyan, the only son of the late Richard S. Runyan and wife, was named for his great-uncle, Richard L. Britton, whose name and place as one of the pioneers have already been noted. Britton L. Runyan was born August 18, 1862, on the Runyan farm adjoining Peru, and was reared to manhood on the old place and has always made his home there or in the city of Peru. His early education was acquired in the local public schools, and when eighteen years of age in 1880 he became deputy county auditor under his father. He con- tinued in that service throughout the remainder of his father's term, a period of six years. After leaving the office in the courthouse he returned to the farm and continued in its active management until 1899. At that date he again moved into Peru, where he has since lived though devoting most of his attention to farming. Mr. Runyan is the owner of one hundred and fifty acres of land adjoining the city of Peru, and also has extensive investments in town property.
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