History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 109

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 109
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 109
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 109
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 109

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).

ALVA J. KIMMEL, M. D. The esteem for Dr. Alva J. Kimmel at Hudson is easily understood, being based upon more than three decades of careful, efficient and skillful , work as a physician. He has been more than a professional man, has been a kindly neighbor and sympathizing friend to the community, and has earned many rewards besides those expressed in material terms.

Doctor Kimmel was born at Fostoria, Seneca County, Ohio, June 9, 1857, a son of Michael and Rebecca (Longnecker) Kimmel, and grandson on the paternal side of Jacob M. and Elizabeth ( Mow- ery) Kimmel, and on the maternal side of Michael and Catherine (Fisher) Longnecker.

Rebecca Longnecker was born in Seneca County, Ohio. Michael Kimmel was a native of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, grew up there and when about eight moved to Wayne County, Ohio, and some ten years later to Seneca County. He was a soldier in the Civil war, having enlisted in the spring of 1862 in Company K of the One Hundred and First Ohio Infantry. He served a little less than a year, being discharged on account of disability caused by typhoid fever. In 1870 he brought his family to Milford Township of LaGrange County, Indiana, bought a farm and lived in that township until his death in 1883. His widow is still living. The old farm in LaGrange County is now owned by Doctor Kimmel. This farm contains 100 acres, and Doctor Kimmel proposes to make it his home when he retires from the burden of professional life. Doctor Kimmel was the oldest in a family of seven children, the others being Harriett Catherine, deceased : Cecelia Ann, who died in her infancy; Emma J .; Noah E .; Mary Anna, deceased; and Charles W.

Alva J. Kimmel was thirteen years old when he

came to Indiana. In the meantime he had attended schools at Fostoria, Ohio, and he took his medical work in the Miami Medical College, now the Med- ical Department of the University of Cincinnati. He was graduated with the M. D. degree in 1886, and in the same ycar located at Hudson, where all his work as a professional man has been done. His practice has extended all over the community sur- rounding Hudson. Ever since the Wabash Railroad was built at that point he has been consulting and local physician and surgeon for the railroad and for a quarter of a century has served as health officer of Hudson.

Doctor Kimmel married Sarah Luella Cox, a daughter of Andrew and Barbara Ann Cox. They had two children, Vesta Bell, wife of William I. Lower, and Arthur A., who met his death by drown- ing at the age of seventeen.

Doctor Kimmel is affiliated with the Steuben County Medical Society and the Indiana and Amer- ican Medical associations, and is a charter member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias at Hudson.

SAMUEL M. EASH, M. D. LaGrange County and particularly the community around Shipshewana has a great deal of respect for and confidence in the abilities and experience of Dr. Samuel M. Eash as a physician and surgeon. He has practiced medicine at Shipshewana for nearly thirty years and in that time has made himself a factor for real influence and service in the community.

He was born in Newbury Township, LaGrange County, March 9, 1864, a son of Levi and Mary (Yoder) Eash. He is a grandson of John and Elizabeth (Harshberger) Eash, both natives of Somerset County, Pennsylvania. John Eash was a Pennsylvania farmer, in 1845 moved with his fam- ily to Holmes County, Ohio, and after farming there until 1859 made his home in Newbury Town- ship of LaGrange County. He lived in that town- ship until his death. His children were ten in num- ber, named Carolina, Susan, Mary, Dora, Elizabeth, Levi, Jacob N., Joseph N., John M. and Isaac N. The only one now living is Isaac.

Levi Eash, father of Doctor Eash, was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, December 13, 1839. His wife, Mary Yoder, was born in Holmes County, Ohio, a daughter of Yost and Nancy (Hostetler) Yoder. They were married in Holmes County and they came to LaGrange County at the same time as John Eash and family. Levi Eash spent a long and active career as a farmer. He was the first member of the Mennonite Church to hold an office in LaGrange County, filling the position of assessor of Newbury Township six years. In March, 1882, he moved to the LaGrange County Farm as its superintendent, and was with that institution until his death on December 12, 1883. His widow sur- vived him until July, 1916. They had a family of seven children : Amanda, wife of Christian S. Eash ; Nancy, who is the wife of Simon C. Yoder and lives in Oregon; Catherine, deceased wife of Sam- uel T. Kauffman; Susan, who married Abner Yoder and lives in Oregon; Samuel M .; Mary Jane, who is the wife of Levi D. Yoder and lives in Oregon ; and Lewis Franklin, present deputy sheriff of St. Joseph County, Indiana.

Dr. Samuel M. Eash received his first instruction in the Davis schoolhouse in Newbury Township and later attended the LaGrange High School. When only a boy he made up his mind to become a physician, and with a steady purpose toward that end he acquired the means for his education by teaching school for five years. In 1888 he graduated from the Medical Department of Wooster

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

University at Cleveland, Ohio, and did his first practice, at Shore in Newbury Township. The winter of 1889-90 he spent at Topeka, Indiana, and since February, 1890, has carried the burdens of a successful physician at Shipshewana. He is a member of the County Medical Society and the In- diana State Medical Association, is affiliated with the Lodge of Odd Fellows at Shipshewana and the Masonic Lodge at LaGrange.

November 24, 1889, Doctor Eash married Amanda Schrock, a daughter of Jesse and Susan (Luke) Schrock. They have two children, Irma and Charles S. Charles was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry on August 1I, 1918, later was trans- ferred to the field artillery, and was in active train- ing with that branch of the army at the time of the signing of the armistice. Since the war he has continued his studies in the Indiana State University at Bloomington.

ALBERT EVERITT. While the life experiences of Albert Everitt have not covered a great deal of ter- ritory, his life has been no less useful and pur- poseful. He is one of the successful farmers of Otsego Township, a man of high standing in his community, is a member of a good family himself and has some bright and promising children grow- ing up to share in the work of the world.

Mr. Everitt was born on the farm which he now owns September 14, 1874, a son of Elias and Mar- garet (Teegardin) Everitt. He is a grandson of Jacob D. and Betsy (Bush) Everitt. Jacob D. Everitt was born February 27, 1807, and died May 30, 1852, and his wife, Betsy, was born February 12, 1806, and died December 16, 1868 .. They were mar- ried in Erie County, New York, December 30, 1828, and settled in Trumbull County, Ohio. Elias and Margaret Everitt were natives of Ohio. They were married February 14, 1861, and about 1864 came to Steuben County and settled in the woods of Otsego Township, clearing up land until they had a large farm of 230 acres. Elias Everitt was twelve years old when his father died in Allen County, Ohio, and he made the best possible use of his individual re- sources and opportunities. He died June 29, 1902, at the age of sixty-four. The mother lost her life in I911 in a railroad accident at Hamilton, Indiana, at the age of sixty-five. Her parents were Aaron and Katie Ann (Thorpe) Teegardin, who were numbered among the pioneers of Otsego Township. Aaron Teegardin died in 1895 and his wife in 1898. Elias Everitt was a democrat in politics and a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He and his wife had six children: Frank, deceased; Walter, who owns part of the old homestead; Jasper; Charles, deceased ; Albert ; and Nina, deceased.

Albert Everitt grew up on the home farm and secured his education in the nearby country schools. He owns 112 acres of the homestead and has done much to improve and increase its facilities as a good farm. He built a grain and hog house and has shown a great deal of intelligence in managing his business as a farmer. He is a democrat and a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

November 10, 1897, Mr. Everitt married Miss Leona Degaugh. She was born in Wexford County. Michigan, July 20, 1881, a daughter of Frank and Clara (Mabie) Degaugh, who later became resi- dents of Richland Township, Steuben County. The four children of Mr. and Mrs. Everett are: Arden, born May 28, 1899; Paul, born August 8, 1905; Orpheus, born May 15, 19II; and Evclyn, born January 3, 1917.

ARTHUR WELLINGTON STONER, a farmer of Bloom- field Township, LaGrange County, spent twenty

years as a homesteader and farm developer in the State of Minnesota, but was born and reared in LaGrange County and represents some pioneer names in the history of the county.

He was born in Bloomfield Township in 1860, a son of John and Maria (Martin) Stoner, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of New Jersey. His maternal grandfather, Daniel Martin, came from New Jersey to Indiana at a very early date and acquired a tract of raw land in Johnson Township, on the banks of the lake always afterward known as Martin Lake. He cleared and improved a farm, and both he and his wife died there. John Stoner came to LaGrange County when a young man. He was a local Methodist minister, was a farmer and also active in local affairs. He served at one time as a trustee of Clay Township. He and his wife had two children: Arthur W. and Andrew Elmer. The latter died in 1881.

Arthur Wellington Stoner grew up on his father's farm and had good educational opportunities. He left the LaGrange High School six months before graduating on account of an affliction of the eyes. Afterward he followed farming in the county un- til 1891, when he went out to Pipestone County, Minnesota, and acquired 160 acres. He located there in 1892 and went through all the processes of developing new land in a new community and laid the basis of his prosperity while in the North- west. He improved his farm with good buildings, lived there twenty years, and as a citizen was chair- man of the School Board and a justice of the peace in his township.

Mr. Stoner sold his Minnesota farm and on November 20, 1912, returned to LaGrange. In the previous August he had bought the farm he now owns in Bloomfield Township, comprising eighty acres. He is still active as a farmer.

In 1903 Mr. Stoner married Miss Anna Belle Dewater. She was born near Fawn River, Mich- igan, a daughter of Roswell Dewater and Pheba A. (Upson) Dewater, early settlers of Johnson Township, LaGrange County. Mr. and Mrs. Stoner have two children : Thelma Marie and Doris Audra. Both are still at home. The family are members of the Methodist Church.

EDWARD MILLIS, a venerable LaGrange citizen, has spent more than three quarters of a century in this county, and the record impressed on his early memory pertains to affairs of the decades of the forties and fifties.

He was born in Talbot County, Maryland, Feb- ruary 6, 1831, son of Levin and Ruth (Leonard) Millis. His parents were also natives of Maryland. Their three children were Margaret Ann, Edward and Ann Catherine. By his first wife Levin Millis had five children, named John Wesley, Elizabeth, Levin, Lydia Ann, and Sarah Esther.

In 1837, when Edward Millis, was six years old, the family moved to Wayne County, Indiana, and two years later settled in Springfield Township of LaGrange County, where Levin Millis lived on a farm until his death on August 2, 1840. His wife died March 0, 1874.

Edward Millis had only the advantages of the schools near home and those were of a pioneer type. He learned the duties of farming and found in that his chief vocation. March 28, 1855, he mar- ried Eleanor M. Griffin. She was born in Niagara County, New York, July 6, 1835, daughter of Rob- ert and Mary (Pollman) Griffin. Her parents were both natives of England, her father coming to this country in 1829 and her mother in 1834. The Grif- fin family settled in LaGrange County in 1841, and the following year moved to Steuben County, where

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

Mr. Griffin died the same year. His widow passed away in 1856. Edward Millis in 1856 bought a farm in Clay Township of LaGrange County, sold it after four and a half years and returned to Spring- field Township, where he acquired seventy acres. By subsequent additions he became owner of 210 acres in sections 23 and 24. In 1879 he left the farm and went to LaGrange for the purpose of giving his children better school advantages. In 1882 he moved back to the farm, but in 1886 bought property in LaGrange and was a resident of that city until the death of his wife in 1896. Then for a time he made his home partly in town and partly in the country and on May 12, 1897, he married Mrs. Catherine Ryan, widow of Robert Ryan. They then lived on the Ryan farm for seventeen years, until Mrs. Millis passed away in 1914. Since then Mr. Millis has returned to LaGrange and has ac- quired other property in the county seat. He is a republican and a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church.

The children by his first marriage were five in number, the oldest dying in infancy. Emma E. died at the age of three years. Frank E. Millis was born November 20, 1860, graduated from the La- Grange High School in 1881, from DePauw Uni- versity in 1887, and spent one year as an instructor in DePauw. He then completed his studies in Johns Hopkins University and in 1893 was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy degree by Cornell Uni- versity. He became a well known educator and for several years he was also connected with the Astronomical Department of the Federal Govern- ment. He died August 1, 1903. In 1891 he mar- ried Mary Lockwood, a native of Petersburg, Mich- igan, where she was born December 8, 1862. Frank E. Millis and wife had five children: Louise, who died February 6, 1919, at the age of twenty-six, the wife of Guy Duncan and the mother of two children, Jean and Mary; Edward, born July 28, 1894, who served as a first lieutenant on the Mex- ican border and went overseas early in 1917 and served in France until 1919; Rowland, born Au- gust 21, 1896, who became a second lieutenant and was in about the same service as his brother; Har- old, born Octoher 7, 1900, died at the age of seven years; and Frances, born February 5, 1904.

Marion M. Millis, the fourth of Mr. Millis' fam- ily, was born September 14, 1862. She is the wi- dow of Charles H. Gravit, of a family elsewhere referred to in this publication. Lois M. Millis was born May 3, 1864, and on December 22, 1886, be- came the wife of Wilbur Main. They now live at Auburn and have two children: Hazel, born April 16, 1888, wife of Nathan Hord and the moth- er of two children, Mildred, born September 24, 1909, and Emile, born May 19, 1913; and Frank, born April 9, 1894, married Irene Crager.

RALPH OUSTERHOUT is the present county clerk of Steuben County. He was called to his duties at the court house in Angola as a result of the elec- tion of 1916, and for many years has been identi- fied with the progressive farming section of Salem and Jackson townships.

He was born in Salem Township October 4, 1857, a son of John N. and Sarah (Haines) Ousterhout. His father was born in Richland County, Ohio, in October, 1825, and his father died the same year. In 1843 he and his brother James came to Steuben County and bought 160 acres in Salem Township. In the spring of 1851 John N. Ousterhout moved to Iowa, bought a farm and worked at his trade as a carpenter. His first wife, Nancy Hammond, died in Iowa, leaving two children, Sarah A., who married John Slick and now lives in Michigan, and

Samuel E., of Elkhart, Indiana. John N. Ouster- hout returned to Steuben County in 1853, and after selling his land in Salem Township engaged in saw- milling. He sold his mill in 1857, then bought land in Salem Township, and in 1859 bought the farm where he spent the rest of his busy carcer, in sec- tion 34 of Jackson Township. He improved this land from the wilderness condition.

This farm, now owned by Ralph Ousterhout, has a building upon it which is one of the interesting relics`of pioneer days. The white wood compris- ing the frame timbers was originally in what was known as the Block Church, built by the Metho- dists in section 3 of Jackson Township and used by that denomination and the Presbyterians many years as a house of worship. John N. Ousterhout bought the building in 1860 and remodeled it as his own home. John N. Ousterhout was elected jus- tice of the peace of Jackson Township in 1860 and later was again elected and served three terms in that office. He was a first lieutenant in a local militia company known as the Flint Legion during the Civil war. In politics he was an active repub- lican.

His second wife, Sarah Haines, was born in Penn- sylvania in 1829, daughter of Thomas Haines, who came to Steuben County in 1843. She was the mother of six children: Viola, wife of Adelbert R. Wood, of Salem Township; Ralph; Cora, wife of Loren W. Clay, of Angola; Sarah V., wife of W. Scott, of Pontiac, Michigan; Lillie M., wife of William Morrison, of Salem Township; and Alta, who is unmarried and lives with her brother Ralph. John N. Ousterhout died January 5, 1901, and his wife on January 8, 1902. He was affiliated with the Masonic Order, being at one time master of the lodge at Salem and afterward a member of Flint Lodge.

Ralph Ousterhout grew up on the home farm in Jackson Township, attended the public schools, and now owns the old homestead of 160 acres, and also fifty acres in Salem Township. He is a successful farmer, and it was his record as a good business man and capable citizen that caused the people of Steuben County to repose their confidence in him when they elected him county clerk in 1916. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge at Flint, the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias at Salem, and the Lodge of Moose at An- gola. He attends and supports the Congregational Church at Angola. Mr. Ousterhout is unmarried.

AMRO AVERY. Good and desirable mental quali- ties are not the only inheritances which are handed down from father to son, for very often the sec- ond generation shows a decided inclination for the calling of the first, and adopting it achieves com- mendable success. In no line of activity is this more clearly marked than in that of farming, for here this love of the soil comes down through many years, and survives the entrance into other work, bring- ing men back into the rural regions after years spent in the more congested communities. It is fortunate that this is true, especially at this critical period in the world's history when as never before there is such a crying need of food. The men of America are responding patriotically in this direc- tion as they have in all others, and the rich farm- ing lands of Indiana, as. of those of the other states of the Union, are bringing forth banner crops under the capable and experienced direction of some of the best agriculturalists of the country. One of these representative citizens of the northcast- ern part of the state is Amro Avery of Steuben Township, Steuben County, born in this township

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August 1, 1857, a son of that estimable man, the late Jesse Whitcomb Avery.

No history of this region would be complete with- out extended mention of Jesse Whitcomb Avery and his wife, Eliza (Shumaker) Avery. Jesse Whit- comb Avery was born at Big Island, Marion County, Ohio, February 18, 1833, and died at his home in Otsego Township, Steuben County, Indiana, April 28, 1912, aged seventy-nine years, two months and ten days. He was the only son of John H. and Maria (Whitcomb) Avery, and the only child to survive, the other one, a daughter, dying in infancy. When a little child he was brought to Otsego Town- ship by his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Sarah (Fall) Avery, who arrived in this neighborhood in the fall of 1836. He had the misfortune to lose his mother when he was two years old and his father when he was but five. The Avery family was of English descent, and was established in this country many years ago. His grandfather, on the maternal side, Major Benjamin Whitcomb, was a resident of the American Colonies prior to the Revolutionary war, in which he served with distinction, and be- cause of those services Jesse Whitcomb Avery was entitled to a life pension from the Government, but never received it.

The paternal grandfather of Jesse Whitcomb Avery was Samuel Avery, and after his demise his widow, Mrs. Sarah (Fall) Avery, came to Marion County, Ohio, from Maine, bringing her son, John Hutcherson, and her three daughters, Amanda, Dolly and Sarah, and in 1836 the little party came still further west to Steuben County, Indiana, Mrs. Avery's little grandson, Jesse W., then being one of its members. After her arrival in Steuben County Mrs. Avery was married to George Quick, and they had two sons, Avery and Henry. She was a sister of the mother of Aaron Taylor, an- other representative man of Steuben County. Of the daughters of Samuel and Sarah (Fall) Avery, Amanda Avery was married to Alexander Britton, and they had two daughters, Betsy and Emily; Sarah Avery was married to John K. Van Fleet, and they had eight children, Joshua, Samuel, John, Elizabeth, Anna, Ruth, Malvina and Thomas; and Dolly Avery was married to David Chard, and they had the fol- lowing children: George, Sarah, Susan, Amanda, Lydia and Rhoda.

The father of Jesse Whitcomb Avery, John Hutcherson Avery, after the death of his first wife, Maria (Whitcomb) Avery, when she was only twenty-five years of age, from dropsy superinduced by child birth, married her sister Louisa, and when he passed away in 1840, of spasmodic colic at his home in Marion County, Ohio, she inherited his money, his son receiving as his share an outlawed quitclaim deed to real estate in Dearborn Township, Kennebec County, Maine, and the west half of section 18, township 36 north range 14 east, Steuben County, Indiana.

On February 19, 1854, Jesse Whitcomb Avery was married to Eliza Shumaker, born in Hardy County, West Virginia, December 5, 1833, died November 19, 1915, aged eighty-one years, eleven months and fourteen days, at which time she was the only sur- vivor of the nine children born to her parents, Michael and Elizabeth (Myers) Shumaker. These children were as follows: Lydia, who married John Baker ; Sarah, who married first John Mills and second Henry Secoir; John, who married Amanda Chard; Katie; Rosana; Amanda, who married Aaron Taylor; George, who married Katherine Lininger and later Mary Bland; Eliza, who married Jesse W. Avery; and Betsy, who married Henry Secoir after the death of his first wife, her sister Sarah. As will be seen by these records the Avery

and Shumaker families intermarried in several in- stances. Michael Shumaker, father of Mrs. Avery, had a brother, John Shumaker, and he had five children, namely: Margaret, Rachael, John, James and Harvey. His sister, Mrs. Mary (Shumaker) McClain, had two children, George and Dorcas. Mrs. Elizabeth (Myers) Shumaker, mother of Mrs. Avery, died in Steuben County, Indiana, in 1863.

The Shumaker family moved from West Vir- ginia to Licking County, Ohio, and then in 1845 started for the Rock River in Illinois, but Mr. Shu- maker was taken ill when the little party reached Steuben County and died a few days later in a little log schoolhouse in which refuge had been taken. This cabin was on the farm now owned by Frank Jackson, but then the property of Peter Rus- sell. With the death of the father the Shumaker family abandoned their project of reaching Illinois, and located in Steuben County. For many years all the children had to work hard, the daughters performing many tasks usually left for the men of the family, but they seemed to flourish under their labors, and grew up strong and healthy. Mrs. Avery was noted for her strength, endurance and the rapidity with which she would drop corn, being able to keep up with the horse, a somewhat unusual accomplishment. She dug ginseng and other roots for medicinal purposes, picked berries and of course was an expert in all household tasks. While thus making herself so useful, she did not neglect her mental development, but whenever the opportunity offered would walk 21/2 miles to school held in a log cabin, and oftentimes in the evening would walk back in order to participate in the spelling matches held in those days, at which she was many times the champion.

She and Jesse Whitcomb Avery were schoolmates, were born in the same year, and were sweethearts from childhood. They began their married life on the farm his father had entered from the Govern- ment many years before, and lived on it until he died, a period of nearly sixty years. On it their seven children were born and reared to useful ma- turity. These children were as follows: Edward, Amro, Seth S., Mary, who is deceased, Emma, Lida and Jesse Whitcomb, who is also deceased. Very domestic in her tastes, Mrs. Avery was wrapped up in her husband, her children and her home, never leaving the latter during the last nine years of her life, although her children and grandchildren en- deavored to make her an honored inmate of their several family circles. She possessed numerous desirable womanly qualities, being cheerful, good natured, charitable, just and forgiving and never showing, and probably but seldom feeling, anger. . Her life was a beautiful one, and she exemplified in it the highest of Christian characteristics. Her husband was a fitting mate for her and he, too, set an example his descendants can do no better than to emulate. Although left an orphan at so tender an age and thus bereft of a father's watch- ful care, he grew up possessed of the highest ideals, and shaped his life according to them. In the train- ing of his children he insisted upon the importance of education and character building, and practiced honesty, sobriety and fair dealing as well as taught these virtues. For forty-seven years he was an honored member of the order of Odd Fellows, be- longing to the lodge at Angola, and when he died this fraternity had charge of the funeral services, of which C. W. McCord was the officiating clergy- man. He was laid to rest in Circle Hill Cemetery, and when in 1915 his aged wife went to join him in the better land, her remains were placed by his side in the same "City of the Dead." It is a very interesting fact that these family records are com-

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 109

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