History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 106

Author: Ford, Ira, 1848- ed
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 618

USA > Indiana > LaGrange County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 106
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 106
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 106
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 106

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

County, New York, and a soldier of the Civil war, in which he saw service as a member of the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth Volunteer Regiment. Through earlier ancestors she was eligible to mem- bership in the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion.

Harvey Morley spent his boyhood days in a small village. He had good influences at home, but aside from the privilege of attending a district school in Ashland Township, Newaygo County, now Grant Postoffice, Michigan, the source of higher aspirations and larger benefits had to come from himself and his own efforts. At the age of fourteen years and four months he left home and went to Grand Rapids, Michigan. For a time he worked in the mailing rooms and carried morning papers for the Grand Rapids Herald. The editor of the Herald was William Alden Smith, now United States senator from Michigan. He also ran an elevator during the noon hour and from seven to eleven in the evening was elevator oper- ator in the Hermitage Hotel. The manager of that hotel, John Moran, loaned him the money to attend the Grand Rapids Business College and obligingly waited for the last installment for several years. Thus young Morley was getting in touch with life, and particularly his early connection with the Grand Rapids Herald had a permanent influence on all his subsequent plans and endeavors.

In 1892 he went to Wayland, New York, the home of his ancestors, and lived with an uncle. working for his board. The winter of 1892-93 found him in San Francisco, working as office boy for his brother. He also spent a short time in the mailing room of the San Francisco Examiner. This was William Randolph Hearst's original news- paper. He also spent several months on the "Mid- way" at the California Midwinter Exposition, work- ing with William N. Selig, then a magician, now the millionaire motion picture manufacturer. After a few months on the coast he was back at Grant, Michigan, but was soon on the road again, this time going to Fort Worth, Texas, where he sold tailor made clothing. Continuing his explorations of the Southwest, he reached the City of Mexico, and worked for a time on El Financiero Mexicana and the Mexican Herald. Mr. Morley went to Chicago in 1895, made a tour with his brother, demonstrating the then new X-ray machine, and after it burned, with the great Chicago Coliseum, where it was on exhibition, he returned to Mich- igan, worked on a farm at Bailey, and soon after- ward became an employee of the Newaygo County Democrat at Newaygo. In October, 1898, he estab- lished the Independent at Grant, and conducted that and other Michigan newspapers for about ten years. He sold the Grant Independent in Decem- ber, 1908, and then bought the Angola Herald.

The Angola Herald, established in January, 1876, has enjoyed a larger circulation, influence and greater prestige both as a newspaper and business proposition, it is generally conceded, during the eleven years under his ownership than at any other time in its history. As a newspaper man Mr. Morley has owned at various times, frequently two at a time, the Grant Independent, the Grant Herald, (consolidated with the Independent), the White Cloud Eagle and some years later the Star at White Cloud, which he sold for consolidation with the Eagle and the Newaygo County Democrat, these papers all in Michigan, and in Indiana the Albany Chronicle and the Ashley Times.

While at Grant, Michigan, Mr. Morley was in the insurance business, and soon after coming to Angola he resumed his relations with general in- surance. In September, 1919, he brought about

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the incorporation of the Farmers & Merchants Insurance Agency, with more than thirty of An- gola's business men as officers and stockholders. The Agency now has the business of several for- mer agencies consolidated, and is one of the most progressive concerns of its kind in Northeast Indiana.

Mr. Morley did some effective work as a civilian during the late war. He was chairman of the Steuben County War Chest, county chairman of the Four-Minute Men, county chairman of the Speakers Bureau in Liberty Loans, member of the executive committee of the Red Cross for Steuben County, member of the County Council of Defense, and in 1919 he succeeded Fred Snyder as county chairman of the War Savings Stamp Committee of Steuben County.

Mr. Morley is a sound democrat in his political views and affiliations, and is present democratic county chairman. He recalls with a good deal of satisfaction that the Village of Grant and the Township of Ashland, where he lived in Michigan, though normally republican two to one, gave him, as a democrat, good majorities several times for the offices of clerk and treasurer. In fraternal mat- ters Mr. Morley confesses himself a "good 'jiner' but a poor lodge man." He is a member of the Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Pythias, Modern Wood -. men of America and Red Men. Since its organiza- tion in 1914 he has been president of the Angola Rotary Club. Mrs. Morley and children are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

December 24, 1900, at Newaygo, Michigan, Mr. Morley married Edna Bonner Cox, daughter of Nichols and Eliza (Hartshorn) Cox, the latter a native of Findlay, Ohio. Her father came to America from England when a mere boy. Mrs. Morley was a teacher in the public schools of Newaygo County prior to her marriage. They have three children, Bayne Alvord, born April 24. 1003, Fred Warren, born June 14. 1906, and Esther Eliza, born March 20, 1911. The two older children are natives of Grant, Michigan, and the daughter, of Angola.

OSCAR H. TAYLOR. His long and active life Os- car H. Taylor has spent altogether in northeastern Indiana, where he has rendered service as a teacher and farmer, and for many years as a pri- vate banker at the Village of Hamilton.

Mr. Taylor was born in Franklin Township of DeKalb County, January 20, 1853, a son of John and Sarah A. (McEnterfer) Taylor. His parents were both natives of Stark County, Ohio, his fa- ther born in 1826 and his mother in 1832. John Taylor arrived in DeKalb County, Indiana, in 1846, with his parents, Jolin and Elizabeth Taylor. The Taylor family bought 160 acres of wild land in Franklin Township, and in 1847 moved their home to this farm. The grandmother, Elizabeth Taylor. died there in 1863, and two years later John Tavlor, Sr., went to eastern Iowa and later to Carroll County in the same state, where he died at the venerable age of eighty-seven. John Taylor, Jr., was twenty years old when he came to In- diana, and some years later he acquired eighty acres of the old homestead and also bought the in- terests of the other heirs in the remaining eighty. His individual labors largely contributed to the clearing of the land and he lived there, seeing his efforts prosper, until his death in 1902. His widow passed away in 1908. He was a republican without political aspirations, and his wife was a member of the United Brethren Church. Their children were: Oscar H .; Ellen, wife of John T. Wilcox,

of Edgerton, Ohio; and Ida M., wife of Ii. K. Leas, of Waterloo, Indiana.

Oscar H. Taylor spent his early life on the old homestead in Franklin Township. Partly by his own efforts he secured a good education, attend- ing public and select schools, and later he entered the old Valparaiso Normal in the second year of its existence. He spent nearly three years in the normal, which is now the great Valparaiso Univer- sity. He qualified as a teacher at the age of six- teen, and his first term was taught in the same school where he himself had been a pupil. Alto- gether he taught for eleven years, and in only four districts. He was also interested in farming, and in 1882 bought the Boyer farm in DeKalb County of 236 acres. He still owns that fine place, though for the past fifteen years his energies have been chiefly devoted to banking.

Mr. Taylor in 1905 bought the private bank of Oliver P. Learned at Hamilton. It is now known as the Hamilton Bank, but Mr. Taylor is its sole owner, his three sons having also been interested with him in its management.

Mr. Taylor is a republican, and during his resi- dence in DeKalb County he filled the office of trustee of Franklin Township four years. He is a member of the Grange and his wife is a Methodist.

April 25, 1878, he married Miss Libbie Leas, a native of Steuben County and a daughter of John and Susan Leas. Her parents were early settlers in Steuben County, where her mother died in 1881 and her father in 1000. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have three sons. John Leas, the oldest, was educated in the public schools of Franklin Township, De- Kalb County, and at Valparaiso University, taking the full course in the department of business and commerce. He married Blanche Jacobs and has two sons, named Oscar A. and Willis H. Benna B. Taylor, who was educated similarly to his brother, married Edna M. Oberlin. They had one son, Harry P., who was killed in April, 1918, when five and a half years old. The third son, Russell H., graduated from the Hamilton High School and completed his educational training at Valparaiso University, and was a bookkeeper in his father's bank for about two years, when he joined the army and saw eight months of service in the ord- nance department.

PERRY A. LONG. Some broad acres well cultivated constitute a fund of real prosperity in these modern times. One of the enviable men in this position in Noble County is Perry A. Long, who has the good fortune to live on a farm in Noble Township where he was born. This is situated in section 28, and dur- ing his own lifetime he has contributed much to its improvement and development as a high class twen- tieth century farm.

Mr. Long was born there August 9, 1867, son of Uriah and Lucinda (Zumbrun) Long, the former a native of Knox County and the latter of Montgom- ery County, Ohio. The Zumbrun and Long fam- ilies moved from Ohio to Whitley County, Indiana, where Uriah and Lucinda grew up and were mar- ried. They then came to Noble County and settled in the midst of the woods in section 36 of Noble Township. Uriah was one of the industrious pioneers and in the course of years had the timber cleared away, the low ground ditched, and most of his acreage under thorough cultivation. Hc and his wife were members of the Church of the Breth- ren, and in politics he followed the republican party. There were nine children, the following of whom are still living: Jacob, of Fort Wayne; Perry A .; Julia, wife of Josiah Hazen; William, of Hillsdale

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County, Michigan; and Sarah, wife of Judson Swi- hart, of Goshen, Indiana.

Perry A. Long as a boy attended district school, and learned in a practical manner the management of the tarm, which he now owns. He completed his education in the college at Mount Morris, Illinois, and then returning home went to work on the farm.

August 19, 1892, he married Elnora Humbarger. She was born in Whitley County, Indiana. Since their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Long have lived at their present farm of eighty acres. He is also a stockholder in the Wolf Lake State Bank, is a re- publican, and with his family attends the Church of the Brethren.

He and his wife have six children: Herbert T., a graduate of the common schools, is married and lives in Whitley County; Elma, who finished her education in North Manchester College, lives at home; Domer, a graduate of the common schools ; Martha, a high school graduate; and Hazel and Orville, both students of the common schools.

JOSEPH J. CARPENTER. The years 1917 and 1918 gave another red, white and blue flag to our coun- try, and it is worthy to hang beside the Star Spangled Banner, for its service stars represent the spirit of this generation and the eagerness of our young men to offer their lives that liberty might continue. Proud indeed are the parents whose loyal young sons, utterly regardless of self, responded promptly to the call of their country and entered the service to fight during the struggle between democracy and autocracy. The Carpenter family of Steuben County sent three sons as volunteers in the great war, now ended, and their bravery is recorded on the pages of their country's history. These sons, Clair I., William B. and John W., are a credit to their parents, Joseph J. and Nellie J. (Barr) Carpenter, and Steuben County, as well as to the country which gave them birth.

Joseph J. Carpenter, their father, has been a resident of Steuben County, Indiana, since 1882, but he was born in Defiance County, Ohio, December 3, 1854, a son of John Carpenter, a grandson of Thomas Carpenter and a great-grandson of John Carpenter, the last named being a native of Vir- ginia and the hero of an adventure with the In- dians, the "Huns" of the American settlers of early days. While looking for his two horses wandering at will in the woods, John Carpenter was surprised by a band of Indians, who captured him and took him for a distance of 150 miles into the wilderness, across the Ohio River. While still several days' journey from the Indian village where it was pro- posed to offer him as a sacrifice, John Carpenter managed to escape, taking with him his two horses and the leather strap with which his hands had been bound the latter still being cherished as a valued heirloom of the Carpenter family. Making his way back through the dense forests, Mr. Car- penter reached the Ohio River just one-half mile from the point where the Indians had crossed with him a few days before, a somewhat remarkable feat, which showed that his knowledge of woodcraft was considerable. He was one of the nioneers of Mari- etta, Ohio, and it is supposed that his son, Thomas, born there in a rail pen, was the first white boy to come into the world on the north banks of the Ohio River. John Carpenter, the son of Thomas Carpenter and father of Joseph J. Carpenter, was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, and his wife, Sarah (Casey) Carpenter, was born in Jefferson County of the same state. After marriage they located in Defiance County, Ohio, and engaged in farming, and there he died in 1892 and she in 1904.

Their children were as follows: William, xHannah, Poe, Ellen, John, Donia, Joseph J. and Sujan.

Following his marriage in 1882 Joseph J. Car- penter came to Steuben County, and for nine years thereafter he conducted a livery business at Pleas- ant Lake, but then sold it and in 1891 went back to Ohio. In the spring of 1897 he returned to Steuben County, and until February, 1908, was en- gaged in farming in Salem Township, but then sold his farm and went to Michigan, which state con- tinued his home until December, 1909, when he moved to Virginia and made that his home for two years. Once more he made the change to Steuben County, and here he has since remained, being oc- cupied with cultivating his forty-acre farm in Steu- ben Township, in section 22. Mr. and Mrs. Car- penter have the following children: Claude L., Nina M. Clair I., William B. and John W. Mr. Carpenter is well known as a Mason and belongs to the local lodge of his order.

Clair I. Carpenter enlisted in the Canadian army as a No. I machine gunner, Fifty-Second Battalion, at Winnepeg, Canada, April 2, 1918, and sailed for England, landing at Liverpool. He was trained at Seaford, and took the six months' training for sniping and machine gun operation in four months, being sent to France July 10, 1918, with the rank of corporal. He went immediately into the line, and over the top on the morning of July 13, being in line service continuously until October 3, when he was wounded and gassed, with seventeen shrapnel wounds and burned with mustard gas, all at the same time, in the siege of Cambrai. The shell that wounded. him killed five of his crew. Clair I. Car- penter is a well built, extremely intelligent young man, and has an enviable record as a soldier. In spite of his bravery, it is difficult to get him to talk about his achievements, but once his modesty is overcome he can relate his experiences very en- tertainingly, showing a grasp of conditions that is remarkable. He has some curious trophies taken from a German soldier whom he took prisoner. On December 2, 1918, he left the hospital, and he re- ceived his final discharge February 28, 1919.

William B. Carpenter enlisted in the Ninth Bal- loon Squadron, October 16, 1917, following which he was trained for two months at Fort Omaha, Nebraska, and four months at Newport News, Vir- ginia, sailing from that port for France June 29, 1918, and arriving at Bordeaux, France, July 12, 1918. He had about three months' service at St. Mihiel and Argonne. Prior to his enlistment he was in Company B, Indiana National Guard, In- fantry Division, and saw service on the Mexican border in 1916.

John W. Carpenter enlisted November 27, 1917, in the Aerial Squadron, following which he was trained for six months at the aviation field at San Antonio, Texas, and then transferred to the One Hundred and Fourth Engineers' Train. Upon his arrival in France he was put in a hospital for a few weeks, but is now a member of Company H, Fourth Engineers' Train, Fourth Division, Army of Occu- pation.

CARL S. WILLARD, assistant cashier of the La- Grange State Bank, is a lawyer by profession, and has been closely identified with the professional, pub- lic and business affairs of this county for a number of years.

He was born at Pleasant Lake, Steuben County, Indiana, February 15, 1877, son of Ransom J. and Susan (Horner) Willard, the former a native of New York State and the latter of Hancock County, Ohio. Ransom Willard came to Indiana when two

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years old, and his wife came in early girlliood. After their marriage they settled near Hudson, Indiana, and two years later went to hansas and on their return to Indiana settled at Pleasant Lake, where Ransom Willard was a builder and contractor. He also operated a chair factory at Pleasant Lake. He is still living at Ontario in LaGrange County. He saw eighteen months of active service as a Union soldier during the Civil war in the Seventy-Fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He has served as commander of his Grand Army Post and is a repub- lican. He and his wife had three children : Ulysses, a graduate of high school and business college, now a bookkeeper for the State Bank of Lima, Indiana; Carl S: and Lloyd E., agent for the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad at Nottawa, Michigan.

Carl S. Willard was seven years old when his par- ents moved to Ontario in LaGrange County, and he received his early training in public schools and later attended the LaGrange High School. For two years he was manager of the Home Telephone Company, and from 1911 to 1915 was County Auditor of La- Grange County. In the meantime he had diligently pursued the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1915. He was associated with Sidney K. Gamard until the latter's death in November, 1916. After that he continued an individual practice until July 1, 1917, when he accepted his present post of responsibility as assistant cashier of the LaGrange State Bank.

In 1900 Mr. Willard married May E. Scott, who is a graduate of the Lima High School and for three terms was a popular teacher. They have five chil- dren : Ransom A., C. Dey, Joseph J., S. Louise and Pyllis M. The family are members of the Presby- terian Church. Mr. Willard is affiliated with Merid- ian Sun Lodge No. 76, Free and Accepted Masons, and is its present master and has filled that post for three years. He is also a Chapter and Council Mason and is past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias Lodge. In politics his affiliations are repub- lican.

DAVID M. LATTA. Members of the Latta family have been prominently identified with LaGrange County since pioneer days. A fine farm developed by them in the pioneer times is now owned and occupied by David M. Latta, located in Clay Town- ship.

On this farm David M. Latta was born November 28, 1856. His grandparents were Ephraim and Diantha (McFadden) Latta, both natives of Penn- sylvania. They migrated from Westmoreland Coun- ty of that state about the year 1826 and located in Wayne County, Ohio. There he founded the town which he called Lattasburg, and their children there grew to manhood and womanhood. Their nine chil- dren were named William, Ephraim, David, Silas, John, Polly, Sarah, Mary and Tabor.

Silas Latta, father of David, was born in West- moreland County, Pennsylvania, April 25, 1821, and it was when he was about five years of age that his parents migrated to Wayne County, Ohio. He grew to manhood there. In 1841 he was married to Sarah Franks, and in 1845, after a short sojourn in Ash- land County, Ohio, they migrated to Clay Township, LaGrange County, Indiana. While living in a little log hut the first township election was held in their house, and in 1846 a few of the neighbors hired a teacher and a summer school was held in the barn on the place where they resided. December 9, 1847, they purchased title to their first actual home, the place of Levi Knott, which has remained in the fam- ily ever since. Silas Latta was a man of sterling worth to the public and held many prominent posi-

tions of trust and held an unexpired commission from Governor Ashbel P. Willard at the time of his death, March 2, 1860. His wife, Sarah Franks, was born October 9, 1821, in Bullrush Township, Hardy County, Virginia, and died May 12, 1906, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-four years, seven months and three days. She was the sixth of twelve children. The first was born May 20, 1810; and the last one to pass away died May 21, 1910. Thus it will be seen the children lived 100 years and one day from the birth of the first to the death of the last. Her father, Isaac Franks, was born in Hampton County, Vir- ginia, March 12, 1785, and died in his ninety-sixth year in DeKalb County, Indiana. Sarah (Harris) Franks, her mother, was born in Hardy County, Virginia, May 9, 1791, and died in her ninety-fifth year in LaGrange County, Indiana. Grandfather Franks was a veteran in the War of 1812. The Lattas annually hold a reunion in various parts of this and other states, with a membership of about 300. Mr. and Mrs. Silas Latta were among the founders of the Bethel Church of the Methodist Protestant denomination. Silas Latta and wife had eight children. Ephraim, the oldest, enlisted August 12, 1863, in the Seventh Indiana Cavalry, in Com- pany H, served until mustered out at Austin, Texas, February 18, 1866, and died May 23, 1901 ; Isaac died December 22, 1913; Mary A. is the wife of Orlando Slack; Hannah is the wife of William Chrystler; John F. died April 12, 1912: William S. and David M. are both living; and Sarah Jane died May 6, 1912, the wife of Eugene Chrystler.

David M. Latta grew up on the home farm, at- tended the district schools, and for over forty years has been successfully farming the old homestead in Clay Township. He owns 115 acres, located in sec- tion 15, and for several years has divided the man- agement of the farm with his son, who lives in a separate home nearby the old place.

March 27, 1889, Mr. Latta married Catherine A. Koontz, daughter of Harrison and Minerva Koontz. Their only child is Silas Harrison Latta, associated with his father in the management of the farm. Silas Harrison is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Shipshewana. He married Verna May Snyder, and they have two children, Catherine E. and Merna Ruth. Mr. David Latta and wife also reared from the age of two and a half years Nellie Harding.

ROBERT G. RENNER, a resident of Northeastern Indiana for over three quarters of a century, was a Union soldier in the Civil war, and two of his sturdy grandsons "went over the top" in the recent great World war. Mr. Renner has been a prom- inent citizen of the Hamilton community for many years, and is widely known as one of the pioneer prohibition advocates, having joined the party and having been closely affiliated with the cause for over thirty-five years, working in the interests of temperance when its advocates were subjected to a great deal of ridicule and violent opposition.

Mr. Renner was born at Lewisburg, Union County, Pennsylvania, July 25, 1839. a son of John and Julia (Bowersox) Renner. His father was born in Pennsylvania in 1803 and his mother in Germany in 1809. They were married in Penn- sylvania and in 1843 came to Steuben County, In- diana, and settled in Otsego Township, in section 31. John Renner bought forty acres of land there, and with the exception of two years spent in De- Kalb County he lived on the farm until his death in 1889. His wife died at the home of her son in Hamilton in 1892. John Renner was a democrat and a member of the Lutheran Church. They had

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six children : James W., deceased; David H .; Robert G .; Margaret J., deceased; John P., ot Angola; and Roseana.

Robert G. Renner was four years old when brought to the woods of Steuben County, and he grew up in a rather pioneer community, attending such district schools as were available and learning the lessons of industry on the home farm. He left home to join the Union army in October, 1862, enlisting in Company B of the Twenty-Ninth In- diana Infantry. He was in service until July 31, 1863. About a year after his release from the army he married, and six months later he took his bride to a farm in sections 29 and 30 in Otsego Township. He owned 105 acres there and improved it with good buildings and cultivated crops for twenty years or more. In 1882 he moved to the village of Hamilton in order to give his children better edu- cational facilities. Since then he has owned much land in and adjoining that village, and still has six acres surrounding his home and nine acres just out- side the village.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 106

Author: Ford, Ira, 1848- ed Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 618

Author: Ford, Ira, 1848- ed
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 618