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 7
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A Democrat in politics, Mr. Runyan in 1906 was elected a member of the new county council, and served in that capacity for four years. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On October 24, 1886, he married Miss Anna J. Elvin, a daughter of Fran- cis H. and Helen E. (Brodrick) Elvin. The parents of Mrs. Runyan came to Peru from Madison in this state in 1870. Mr. Elvin, who was of English parentage, was a machinist by trade, and followed that occu- pation for a number of years in Peru. During the Civil war he had been connected with the Postal service for the Federal Government. Mr. Elvin died August 9, 1909, and his wife on December 26, 1876. The two daughters born to Mr. and Mrs. Runyan are named Enid K. and Marjorie M. The family worship at the Episcopal Church.
JOHN HINER AND JOHN MILLER HINER. Among the notable Miami county families none has been more conspicuous as representing the best virtues of manhood and social character than has the Hiner fam- ily during the three generations of their residence in this county. The Hiners came to this vicinity almost at the pioneer beginning of Miami county, did their share of the hard work involved in the clearing of the forest, and the laying of the substantial foundation of civilization.
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To an unusual degree material success has been their lot, and the bear- ers of the name have also stood in important relations with the civic affairs of this community.
John Hiner, whose death occurred in 1880, came to Miami county with his parents, and the family settled north of Peru in Peru town- ship in the year 1836. John Hiner, Sr., the father, was a blacksmith by trade, and his native state was Virginia. He came west with his wife and family of five sons and two daughters, driving overland across the bents of country which separated the east from the middle west, at a time when the only means of transportation over this vast area was the water route of the slow and tedious progress of the ox-drawn wagons. Setting up his shop at his homestead north of Peru, the Senior Hiner made his place a favorite rendezevous for the early set- tlers throughout this section of the county. That old blacksmith shop deserves lasting remembrance among the centers where people were wont to gather together in the early days of Miami county.
The late John Hiner grew up in the atmosphere of these pioneer conditions, and as a boy knew the meaning of hard toil and the diffi- culties involved in creating a home in a new wilderness region. The schools of his time were exceedingly meagre in equipment and advan- tages, and he had practically no education, except such as he acquired at home and by his own efforts. He was a young man when the glow- ing reports came from the newly discovered gold fields of the Pacific slope. Under the influence of that exciting period he mortgaged his interest in the farm left by his father, and with the proceeds of this money went to New York, where he took a ship to the Isthmus of Pan- ama, crossing that strait partly by river. and partly by pack train, and on the other side took a boat up to San Francisco. In the Eldorado regions he was employed for a time in transporting supplies to and from the mines, and later became an actual participant in the placer mining on the Sacramento river. During his residence in California, he succeeded in acquiring enough money to cancel the mortgage which he had placed on the old home, and brought back a considerable quan- tity of gold in addition to that sum. Though he did not find fame and fortune on the gold coast, he was greeted on his return as one of the more successful of the California forty-niners and his successful start in the west enabled him to prosecute his ventures in his old home county with renewed energy and prosperity.
Returning home he took up farming and stock raising, and suc- ceeded beyond the average. He became the owner of nearly six hun- dred acres near his home town, and had various other property. John Hiner married Harriet Miller, who also represented a pioneer family of Miami county. They became the parents of five children, three of whom are now living. The late John Hiner was particularly noted in his community for his remarkable industry, and was considered one of the hardest working men among all his contemporaries. With this in- dustry he also combined another characteristic, that of kindly hospitality, which was a feature of his old home, and which made it a place of happy good cheer to all who came within the door. As already mentioned he was a Virginian by birth, and to a large degree transferred to his Miami county home many of the characteristics familiarly associated with the old southern hospitality. In his business relations his word was every- where recognized as good as his bond. His death, occurring when he was only fifty-seven years of age, was widely regretted throughout this county.
John Miller Hiner is a native of Peru township, born on the old homestead north of Peru, March 5, 1860. As a boy he became familiar
I. M. Mindencon
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with all the operations of the farm, and attained his education in the public schools. The oldest son in the family, at his father's death, it devolved upon him to take charge of the estate, and in this way he was fully occupied for a number of years. When about thirty-two years of age he left the farm and entered the employ of the Wabash Rail- road and for eight years was a passenger conductor, with a run through this city. In 1905, having resigned from the train service, he devoted his attention to farming, although he has always had his residence in the city during these years. Mr. Hiner is the owner of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres near Peru, this land having been entered from the government by his maternal grandfather, John W. Miller. In pol- itics Mr. Hiner is a Democrat, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite and a Knights Templar York Rite Mason.
On June 10, 1896, he married Caroline E. Zern, a daughter of Jesse S. Zern. Their two children are Harriet C. and Zern M. The family are members of the Presbyterian church.
FRANK M. STUTESMAN. Among the notable Miami county families none has been more conspicuous in business affairs nor has borne the responsibility of citizenship with greater dignity and social service than have the Stutesmans during the seventy years of their residence in this county. One of the oldest, as well as one of the largest mercantile estab- lishments in the city of Peru, is now directed by the above named mem- ber of the family, who has been actively connected with merchandising in this city for more than forty years. The late James M. Stutesman, his father, was a real business leader in this city during the middle period of the last century, and probably no one among his contempo- raries has been more successful as a builder of business and a stronger executive in affairs than that worthy merchant and citizen. In consid- ering the names of families or individuals which have been most inti- mately associated with the growth and development of the city of Peru since its early days, there is none that will justify examination better than Stutesman.
Frank M. Stutesman, who has been named above as the chief repre- sentative of the family at Peru in the present generation, was born in this city on December 14, 1854. The family history goes back to Ger- inany, where his great-great-grandfather, David Stutesman, was born, and from whence at an early date he came to the United States and located in New Netherlands. From there he moved to Pennsylvania and in 1808 to Montgomery county, Ohio, where his death occurred in 1820.
This founder of the Stutesman family in America was a weaver by trade. In the next generation is Nathaniel Stutesman,. grandfather of the Peru merchant, born at Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1785. Leaving there with his father he located at Brownsville, in the historic region of southwestern Pennsylvania, where he married Miss Sarah Flynn, and in 1808 moved to Montgomery county, Ohio. He was a life-long farmer and during the early sixties followed his children to Miami county, where he died at Peru about 1880, at the advanced age of ninety-five years. His wife, of English parentage, was a native of Maryland, and died in Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1839. Nathaniel Stutesman, born in 1785, was a commissioned officer in the war of 1812.
James Madison Stutesman, the father, was born near Dayton, Ohio, August 4, 1819, and was in his nineteenth year when he died. His early education comprised three months attendance in an old log school house back in Ohio. The family through most of its generations has been identified with the mechanical trade, with farming, or with business.
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James M. Stutesman learned the saddler's trade. With his brother Jonathan, who was a painter, he came to Miami county in September, 1842. The brothers were on their way to St. Louis with the intention of making that their home, but during his brief stay in Peru, James M. Stutesman found this community greatly in need of a saddler, and the opportunity thus presented caused him to locate here, his brother Jonathan remaining with him. Later, other brothers, David and Daniel, the former a farmer and the latter a wagon-maker, came to this county, these brothers thus contributing their material to the mechanical activi- ties of this vicinity. James M. Statesman was probably the first saddler in Peru, and was also among the first to bring stoves, both heating and cooking, to Peru for sale. In 1859 he engaged in the hardware business and was actively connected with this line of trade until 1882, at which time he sold out and retired from the active affairs of life. During his earlier career he was an old-line Whig, later a Republican, but was never active in party affairs nor an aspirant for public office, though always a loyal citizen and giving his support to many enterprises and movements which had more bearing upon the welfare of his home com- munity than many of the more conspicuous political agitations. His church was the Presbyterian. James M. Stutesman was married at Vincennes, Indiana, March 30, 1845, to Miss Elizabeth Shields, who was born at Vincennes August 23, 1823, of Scotch-Irish parentage, and whose death occurred at Peru several years ago. Mr. Stutesman after marriage brought his wife by stage to Lafayette and then to Peru on the first packet. The first boat run on the canal was called a line boat, with a speed of three miles. A new line of passenger packets was put on at a speed of six miles, and Mr. Stutesman brought his bride over this line on the first boat run at this speed. The six children of their marriage were as follows: Mary, who died in childhood; Harriet, who married John S. Hale, and who died in 1897; Edwin, who died in 1854; Frank M .; Clara E., the wife of W. V. Spinning ; and James Flynn, who is now a resident of Washington, D. C.
In the death of James M. Stutesman on February 21, 1908, Miami county lost one of its foremost pioneers. He was a man of perfect physical development, with equal gist of mentality, and one whose keen judgment and sense of justice was such that it was often remarked that he would have lent dignity and highest service as a member of the judiciary. His mental faculties at the time of his death were as bright as many years before, and he preserved his wonderful vigor to the end.
Frank M. Stutesman, now one of the oldest merchants, in point of continuous service in Peru, was reared in this city, received his educa- tion in the public schools until his fifteenth year and then after a few weeks as clerk for his father, entered the store of his brother-in-law, John S. Hale, as a clerk. That was in September, 1870, and for forty- three consecutive years he has been identified with the same establish- ment. Mr. Hale died in 1882, and from that time until 1897 Mr. Stutes- man and his sister, Mrs. Hale, continued the business together. In the latter year Mr. Stutesman became sole owner and proprietor. Then in 1912 occurred a reorganization of the business and it was incorporated under the present title of John S. Hale Company. Mr. Stutesman is president, Margaret A. Wood is secretary, and John E. Groth is treas- urer. This store has a history of its own among the mercantile establish- ments of Peru, and was organized in 1867 by John S. Hale. For more than forty-five years it has stood as one of the substantial enterprises of this state, and through this time its dealings and methods have all reflected the fine integrity and business characters of several of the most eminent among Miami county merchants.
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Mr. Stutesman is a Republican in politics, and is keenly interested in good government both national and local, but has never been a politician. In his avocations, Mr. Stutesman has long been an ardent student of the past, particularly the antiquities of his home county, and there is probably no better informed citizen in Miami county in Indian history than Frank M. Stutesman. He took an active part in the organization of a county historical society, and has always given his encouragement to study and investigation of local annals. He has the first flag of the stars and stripes that ever floated in Miami county, an account of which is given on other pages. Mr. Stutesman is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Peru, being a charter member of that organization. He was married March 8, 1883, to Miss Ada Dodds at Logansport. Their three children are John Hale; Alice M. and Frank M., Jr.
JOHN H. HELM, M. D. Among the group of men who must be accounted the leaders of the medical profession during the last half of the nineteenth century in Indiana, the late Dr. John H. Helm was fore- most in ability and standing. Few American families have been rep- resented longer or more continuously in the profession of medicine than that of Helm. The father of the late Dr. Helin was a physician dur- ing the early half of the preceding century, Dr. John H. Helm filled up the period between the late forties until nearly the close of the century, and since then Dr. Charles J. Helm has continued the work of his father, and is one of the most honored and successful of Miami county 's physicians.
The founder of the Helm family in America was Sir Meredith Helm who came from England in the early colonial days and settled in Balti- more. The grandfather of the late Dr. Helm of Peru is one of his descendants, and lived during his early life before the war of the Revolution in the Lower Shenandoah Valley. He fought as an Amer- ican patriot in that great struggle. One of his children was Dr. John Cowan Helm who was born in Southern Virginia on the Upper James river, November 7, 1800. Later the family moved further west into Wash- ington county, Tennessee. He received his education at. Washington College, studied medicine and became a successful practitioner.
In 1835 he moved to Preble county, Ohio, and from there in 1844 came to Miami county, Indiana, where he was one of the early physicians. In Miami county, however, he gave most of his attention to the milling business and erected one of the early flour mills at Peru. He also built a mill at Peoria in this county, and built up and continued for a number of years extensive business affairs in that locality. He was a man of remarkable energy and business ability, and also possessed thoroughly trained talents for his profession, so that in both his professional and his business career he acquired a large success. He was married in 1821 to Amy Hampton, a daughter of Major John Hampton, who had served under General Jackson in the war of 1812, and was a brother of the first Wade Hampton and great-uncle to General Wade. Hampton, the famous Confederate general. Mrs. Helm died in 1865, and their chil- dren were John Hampton, Henry Thomas and David Bedford.
The late Dr. John Hamilton Helin was born at Elizabethtown, Car- ter county, Tennessee, April 23, 1826, and acquired most of his early education through private instruction. The custom still prevailed when he was young of preparing for medical or other professional careers by means of a preceptor, and according to this system, he studied medicine under two of the leading doctors of Eaton, Ohio. Subsequently he entered the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, where he was graduated
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1
in 1847, and began practice at Eaton in partnership with one of his 1 preceptors. He was under General Wool in one of the expeditions sent to Mexico during the war with that country, and in 1848 he began a three 'years' trip in course of which he visited California and many countries in north Central and South America.
After returning home Dr. Helm resumed practice at Eaton, Ohio, where he remained until 1860 at which date he came to Peru and established an office in this city. Besides the large practice which was a tribute to his ability as a physician, he received various honors in the organized activities of medicine. He served as president of the Indiana State Medical Society, in 1876, was also president of the Miami County Medical Society, and took a very active part in organizing and for many years was president of the Peru Board of Health. Through many years he was a more or less regular contributor to medical literature, and was also a charming speaker and fluent writer on both professional and general topics. He attended in 1871 the first meeting of the American Medical Association in California, and at that time was made an honorary member of the California Medical Society. Along with a successful practice he acquired and managed throughout many years large farming interests in both this county and elsewhere.
During many years of citizenship in Peru, the late Dr. Helm was noted for his varied philanthrophy, although he was never a conspic- uous giver nor one who sought any current fame from his work of benevolence. He was one of the active members of the Peru Catholic church, and was liberal in all his contributions to his home church and to charitable works of all kinds.
In 1851 Dr. John H. Helm married Miss Mary Henkle, a daughter of Reverend Andrew Henkle, and she lived about a year after their mar- riage. In 1854 Dr. Helm married Miss Margaret Ridenour of Preble county, Ohio. The long and useful life of the late Dr. John H. Helm came to an end at Cincinnati on April 30, 1899.
CHARLES J. HELM, M. D. Representing the third generation which has been identified with medical practice in Miami county, and a son of the late Dr. John H. Helm, Charles J. Helm has been for twenty- five years an active member of the profession and on all sides is recog- nized as one of the ablest members of the fraternity in Miami county.
Charles Helm was born in the city of Peru, January 18, 1863. Dur- ing his youth his health was delicate and he was educated largely in his own home. Subsequently he was for a year a student in a preparatory school, St. Lawrence, in Montreal, Canada, and from there was sent to Georgetown University at Georgetown, D. C. He pursued classical studies in that institution, and was graduated A. B. in 1883. He next entered the medical department of Harvard University, where he was graduated M. D. in 1887. Locating at Peru, he began his practice in this city, and soon acquired a position of influence and was noted as one of the most popular of the younger medical profession in the city. In 1890 he went abroad and spent a year in post-graduate study at St. Bartholomew's hospital in London, and after his return took a course
in the New York Polyclinic. This additional study gave him distinct advantage in local practice, but from the very beginning he had never been content with any one stage of his attainments in medicine. In 1897 he again went abroad, accompanied this time by his wife, and after a varied tour through the historic and picturesque in European countries, he attended lectures and clinics in many of the best known centers of medical and surgical knowledge, and also took a second course at St. Bartholomews in London. This was followed on his arrival
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in New York by another course of lectures, and when he reached Peru in 1898, he was possessed of a training and technical equipment to follow his profession. Dr. Helm is connected with a number of the medical societies, and for a number of years has been consulting sur- geon at the Wabash hospital in Peru.
Dr. Charles J. Helm married Miss Frances A. Carter. Their first child died at the age of five months, and the two children now living are Carter James and Frances Amelia.
MICHAEL F. LONG. One of the young men in commercial affairs of Peru, Mr. Long is proprietor of a splendid boot and shoe establishment, which during its existence has maintained a reputation for the excel- lence of its goods and has a high class patronage that has continued dealing in this store year after year. Mr. Long has spent nearly all his life in Peru, represents an honored family in this city, and through his own career has done much to increase the business facilities of the city.
He was born in Peru June 14, 1877, one of five surviving children in a family of eight, born to the marriage of Jeremiah and Bridget (Murphy) Long. The father, who was born in county Cork, Ireland, was about fourteen years of age and an orphan boy when he immi- grated to the United States. From this early age he was dependent upon his own resources, and like many others of his race won an admir- able success and position in life. After a short stay in New York, he came west and located at Bedford, Indiana, where he was employed for some time in the stone quarries. When the Wabash Railroad was being built through Indiana, he came to Peru and became identified with the service of that transportation company. He continued an employe of the Wabash for a period of forty-five years, and the com- pany had no more loyal, nor more efficient service than Jeremiah Long. He was a man of limited education, but because of his genial disposi- tion had friends wherever he was known. His chief characteristics were his continued loyalty to the road in whose service he had worked for so long, and also his devotion to his family. In politics he was a Democrat, and he and his family were communicants of the Catholic faith. Jeremiah Long died February 27, 1901, and his widow still survives. With the exception of a short period during which his home was in Indianapolis, Michael F. Long has been a resident of Peru all his life. He attained his education in the parochial and also the public schools of the city, and when about seventeen years old began his busi- ness career as a clerk in the old mercantile house of John S. Hale. For about eighteen months he was also in the employ of Julius Falk. This experience enabled him to take the next higher degrees in commercial life, and for five years he was a commercial salesman on the road, representing St. Louis and Chicago shoe houses. Leaving the road in January 1905, he established himself in business at Peru as a mem- ber of the retail shoe firm of Long & Moore. In 1910 they established another store at Kokomo, but at the end of a year their partnership was dissolved at which time Mr. Moore retained the ownership of the Kokomo store, and Mr. Long remained in charge of the store at Peru. As sole proprietor of this business he has since been actively engaged in building up its trade and establishing a reliable and well satisfied patronage.
On August 16, 1904, he married Miss Gertrude Dowling, of Logans- port. They are the parents of two daughters, Mary Veronica and Mar- garet Cecelia. Mr. Long is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 365 and of the Knights of Columbus.
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G. LEE MILLER. Familiarly and uniformly known as Lee Miller, he whose name initiates this review has been a resident of the city of Peru, judicial center of Miami county, since a boy, and he is one of the widely known and distinctively popular citizens of this section of his native state. He was one of the gallant and youthful patriots repre- senting Indiana in the Union service in the Civil war, and in the "pip- ing times of peace" he has shown the same loyalty and trustworthiness which he significantly manifested when he went forth to lend his aid in defense of the nation's integrity. In Miami county it may consist- ently be said that his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances, and he is living virtually retired in his pleasant home in the city of Peru, though he continued to accord a general and sys- tematic supervision to his farming and other property interests.
At Wabash, Indiana, the capital of the county of the same name, George Lee Miller was born on the 10th of February, 1848; and he is one of the two survivors of the four children of George B. and Mary (Russell) Miller, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Kentucky. George B. Miller was a boy at the time of his parents' immigration from the old Keystone state to Ohio, and the family home was established in Preble county, that state, where he was reared to adult age and received a common-school education. It is also to be presumed that in that state he learned the trade of plasterer, to which he devoted his attention for a number of years. In the early '40s he made a trip through the intermediate west and finally located at Wabash, Indiana, where he engaged in the work of his trade. His marriage was solemnized at Peru, his wife's parents having been num- bered among the sterling pioneers of Miami county, and after this important event in his career he continued to maintain his residence at Wabash until about 1857, when he came with his family to Peru, where he continued in the work of his trade and where he finally became otherwise identified with business interests. He was a man of sterling character and was held in high esteem in this communty, which contin- ued to represent his home until his death, on the 17th of May, 1909, at the patriarchal age of nearly ninety-two years, as he was born in October, 1817. His cherished and devoted wife, who gained the affec- tionate regard of all who were within the compass of her gentle and kindly influence, was born in June, 1821, and thus she was nearly ninety years of age when summoned to the life eternal, on the 11th of January, 1911, both she and her husband having been earnest and con- sistent members of the Presbyterian church.
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