History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 11

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 11
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 11
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 11
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 11

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).

John H. Hoffman grew up on his father's farm in DeKalb County and had a common school educa- tion. At the age of sixteen he left home and school to enlist in the Forty-Fourth Indiana Infantry. He was in the army nearly a year. He was wounded at the battle of Shiloh in 1862, and that closed his actual service. Toward the close of the war he re- enlisted, but was never called to the front. After the war Mr. Hoffman attended school and for sev- eral years was a teacher. He removed to Ligonier in 1868 and from 1869 to 1873 was a teacher in

local schools. Since 1872 Mr. Hoffman has been perhaps chiefly known as a factor in mercantile affairs at Ligonier through the book, stationery and office supply business. He became sole proprietor of his store in 1873, and two generations of patrons have bought their books and stationery from him.

He is also one of the directors of the Farmers and Merchants Trust Company of Ligonier and is vice president and director of the Ligonier Refrig- erator factory. He owns a farm and gives much of his time to its management.

Mr. Hoffman married Miss Mary C. Eldred. She was born in Stark County, Ohio, and when a girl came to Huntington County, Indiana, and in 1865 to Ligonier. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman have no chil- dren. Mrs. Hoffman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has long been affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, with Post No. 125. He is a past grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and has sat in the Grand Lodges of both orders. Mr. Hoffman gave eight years to the man- agement of the Ligonier postoffice, serving under Harrison and Mckinley. He has also served as town clerk and treasurer of Ligonier. He was elected a member of the Legislature in 1916 and re- elected in 1918. This is the only case in Noble County in which a representative to the Legislature has been elected for two successive terms.

L. WALLACE WIBLE is a prosperous farmer of Noble County, his place being two miles south and three quarters of a mile west of Kendallville in Allen Township.

In this township he was born December 7, 1880. a son of C. L. and Verda (Halferty) Wible. The Wibles are an old established family in Noble County. C. L. Wible was born in Allen Township May 26, 1852, son of John and Lucinda (Varner) Wible. John Wible was a Pennsylvanian, came to Indiana after his marriage and located in Allen Township in 1850, living there the rest of his life. C. L. Wible grew up in this township, after his marriage located on a farm, and lived and died there. He and his wife were members of the Eng- lish Lutheran Church and he was one of the church officials. He was a republican. C. L. Wible and wife left two sons, L. Wallace and Roy E. The latter is a graduate of the common schools and is now living in Colorado, where he is a ranger in the employ of the United States Government. He mar- ried Bessie Stout.

L. Wallace Wible grew up on the home farm in Allen Township, attended the district schools, and has steadily pursued the vocation to which he was trained as a boy. A number of years ago he bought the old farm of eighty acres, and devotes it to vegetables and onions, and livestock.

In 1902 he married Miss Minnie Rimmel, daugh- ter of A. J. Rimmel. She was reared in Jefferson Township of Noble County. They have one son, Orville, born April 23, 1904, and now a student in the common schools. Mr. Wible is a republican.

WILLIAM P. GRANNIS, present trustee of Orange Township, Noble County, and a farmer of that locality, has been a resident of Noble County most of his active life and his own career and that of the family are closely identified with many points of interest in the history of Northeast Indiana.

Mr. Grannis' home is 51/2 miles northwest of Ken- dallville and 31/2 miles southeast of Wolcottville. On the farm where he now resides he was born May IO, 1854. He is a son of Otis P. and Hannah (Creigh) Grannis. Creigh Lake, four miles north

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

of Kendallville, on the east side of the old Plant Road, was named for his maternal grandfather, Samuel Creigh, who located on the south side of that body of water in 1844.

The Grannis family is of Scotch ancestry. To go back to the time of its earliest settlement in this country requires a leap over nearly three centuries. In 1644 Edward Grannis came from Scotland and settled at Southaven in Connecticut. Edward Grannis was born in 1630. The second generation was represented by John Grannis, born in 1674, the third by Enos Grannis, born in 1720, the fourth by Enos Grannis, Jr., born in 1754, the fifth by Palmer Grannis, born in 1787; the sixth by Otis P. Grannis, born March 2, 1825; while William P. Grannis is of the seventh generation in America.

Palmer Grannis was born in Connecticut, was married there, took his family to Ohio and in the fall of 1834 moved to LaGrange County, Indiana. As one of the pioneers he entered land a few miles south of Lima, a farm now known as the Hoglund farm, between LaGrange and Howe. At that time the four adjoining counties were still called La- Grange, with Lima as the county seat. In 1836 the family moved to the Lima Mills, one mile west of Lima, where Palmer Grannis built a mill and oper- ated it until his death. He was the father of the following children: Orin M., Isaac P., Otis P., John W., Margaret, and Eliza.

Otis P. Grannis was born in Portage County, Ohio, March 2, 1825, and in 1831 moved with his parents to Geauga County in that state and was nine years of age when he came with them to La- Grange County. At the old Lima Mills he learned the miller's trade and followed it for nearly twenty- five years, working at Mongo, then called Union Mills, Fawn River, Michigan, Jamestown, Rome City, the Minot Mill, Kendallville and the Tamarack. For ten years Indians were his associates, and he became fluent in their language, and was presented with a bow and some arrows by one of the chiefs of the Pottawatomies. In 1846 he went to Con- necticut and lived with his uncle, Alva Merriman, at New Milford, for about a year. On returning to Indiana in 1847 he bought the land where his son William P. now lives. At Sturgis, Michigan, Sep- tember 27, 1849, he married Hannah Creigh, and they began housekeeping at Jamestown in Steuben County, but in the spring of 1850 returned to his farm in Orange Township of Noble County. The next fall they went back to Jamestown and in the spring of 1852 went to Rome City, where Otis P. Grannis fitted up the burrs for the flouring mill and ground the first grain in the Rome City Mills, conducting it for eighteen months, until he re- turned to the farm. In 1856 he bought a farm, sawmill and flouring mill just across the county line in LaGrange County, at the Tamarack. It was there that William Grannis learned the miller's trade, and he did the grinding for 'a number of years. The day following Buchanan's election in 1856 Otis P. Grannis moved there and was business manager of the two mills for twenty-four years. In the fall of 1880 he sold out the mill, the pond was drained, and thus ended one of the landmarks in that part of the country. In 1895 he moved to Wolcottville, where his wife died in 1899, and lie continued to live there until September, 1902. His last days were spent at the home of his son, Wil- liam P., on the old farm in Orange Township, where he died May 12, 1903. He and his wife had three children : William P., Charles O., of Wol- cottville, and Frank C., of Howard City, Michigan.

While he played a very important part as a miller Otis P. Grannis should be remembered for his effective and sterling citizenship. He gave efficient

aid to the movement which vigorously suppressed the organized desperadoes who by their thieving and murdering terrified the early settlers. He was secretary of the first organized regulators at the Tamarack and helped make some of the important arrests. Among the outlaws whom he helped to bring to justice were Malcolm Burnam, Miles C. Payne and Gregory McDougal. He was present at the hanging of McDougal at Diamond Lake in Noble County, January 26, 1858. He was Payne's guard at Ligonier and persuaded him to make a full con- fession, which practically put an end to the activi- ties of "black legs."

He was also an active stock dealer for twenty- five years and for many years shipped more stock than any other dealer on the Lake Shore Railroad between Chicago and Buffalo.

William P. Grannis, the son of this honored pioneer, has been a resident of Noble County con- tinuously since 1884. On December 6, 1883 he married Miss Ella Wert. She was born in DeKalb County, Indiana, in July, 1859. They have one daughter, Vera L., born February 27, 1900, now attending the Rome City High School.

Mr. Grannis is a republican, has served as presi- dent of the advisory board, and on April 1, 1918, was appointed trustee of Orange Township. In that township he owns and cultivates a fine farm of eighty acres.

DEWITT CLINTON SALISBURY for many years has .. been one of the chief factors in promoting business .. affairs at Orland. He is president of the bank and head of the Creamery Company, and is still inter- ested in farming, a vocation he followed for many years.

Mr. Salisbury, who was born March 15, 1857, represents two of the very old and prominent fam- ilies of Steuben County. His father, Chester D. Salisbury, who came to Steuben County in 1836, was born in Jefferson County, New York, in 1817, a son of Edgar and Susanna (Gore) Salisbury, na- tives of Vermont. Hezekiah, father of Edgar, was at one time owner of the land on which is situated the City of Brattleboro, Vermont. Edgar Salisbury was a soldier in the War of 1812. Chester D. Salis- bury was only eight years old when his father died. That put the widowed mother and the young chil- dren largely on their own responsibilities. At the age of eleven Chester went into cedar swamps to as- sist in making rails. He had no opportunity to attend school until after he reached manhood. He learned the trade of tanner, but in 1836 left his master and came to Indiana. He reached this state with only half a shilling or twelve and a half cents. His first location was in Jamestown Township, where he burned lime two years. He then opened up and improved the farm in the locality known as Nevada, but after four years moved to Millgrove Township, and settled on land that he gradually improved until he had over 200 acres, said to con- stitute at one time one of the best farms in the county. He married in 1838 Julia Collins, daughter of Barton and Anna Collins. Her parents were the first settlers in Jamestown Township.

Dewitt Clinton Salisbury was one of a family of six children, and he grew up on his father's home- stead in Millgrove Township. He attended the dis- trict schools, also the Orland Academy, and during his mature career he acquired 117 acres of the old homestead of 180 acres, and was prosperonsly en- gaged in farming there until he sold his place sev- eral years ago. Mr. Salisbury has been a resident of Orland since 1910. He is one of the directors of the Citizens State Bank and has been its president

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

for about seven years. He is secretary of the Mill- grove Creamery Company and owns a forty-acre farm a half mile south of Orland.

He is active in republican politics, and for the past four years served as trustee of Millgrove Town- ship. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge at Orland and of the Congregational Church. August 8, 1878, he married Ella Reed, daughter of William Reed, of LaGrange County.

J. L. HENRY has long sustained a reputation as one of the energetic and substantial business men of Northeastern Indiana, was for many years a mer- chant at Avilla, and is known in every community of Noble County by the service he rendered as county auditor. He is now secretary and treasurer of the Farmers and Merchants Trust Company of Ligonier.

He was born in Wood County, West Virginia, July 27, 1861. His father, Gabriel S. Henry, was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, November 5, 1831, and married Sophia Mckenzie, who was born in the same state August 4, 1831. In November, 1865, he and his family came to Noble County, Indiana, and settled in Allen Township. They lived there until 1892. Both Gabriel Henry and his wife are now deceased. Their children were: Martha J., wife of Henry Gettle; Margaret C., who died March 14, 1900; Elizabeth, wife of A. C. Shambaugh; John L., of Ligionier; Robert A., of Kendallville, In- diana ; Ida B., wife of H. L. Ashew, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; and William F., now deceased.

John L. Henry was about four years old when his parents came to Noble County, and he grew up in Allen Township, acquiring a good education in the public schools. He graduated from the schools of Kendallville, and in 1880 became associated with his father in the furniture business at. Avilla. While there he was appointed and served as postmaster and since early manhood has been one of the influ- ential members of the republican party in Noble County. He was elected on that ticket as county anditor, and showed that he was deserving of the honor by the marked success of his administration in the office during four years. Upon the organiza- tion of the Farmers and Merchants Trust Company of Ligonier Mr. Henry was elected secretary. On January 12, 1909, he was also elected. treasurer to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Weir, since which time he has filled the position of secretary- treasurer of the Trust Company and is one of the efficient members of that corporation.

'December 24, 1882, he married Emma G. Haines, a daughter of Robert S. and Permelia (Banm) Haines. Mrs. Henry was born August 31, 1863, in Avilla. To their marriage were born two children, Perma, who died at the age of four and a half years, and Marjorie A. Mr. Henry is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

CHARLES N. CLINE was educated for the medical profession, but has found himself in a more con- genial sphere as a business man. He is member of the firm Cline Brothers, lumber merchants at Kendallville.

Mr. Cline was born at Hartford City, Indiana, January 29, 1875, son of William W. Cline, who was born in Blackford County, Indiana, in October, 1837, and a grandson of Michael Cline. William W. Cline grew up in Hartford City, learned a trade and fol- lowed it until about 1872. In that year he opened a factory for the manufacture of drain tile, and

was the first man in his section of Indiana to intro- duce the clay drain tile. He finally gave up man- ufacturing and went on a farm, and is still living on his farm near Hartford City, though retired from its responsibilities. His wife, who died in 1889, was Harriet A. Chaffee. They had eight children, two of whom died in infancy. Orlo L., a graduate of De Pauw University, is a successful attorney at Marion, Indiana; Lora is the wife of Finley Geiger, and she lives on the old homestead with her father ; Albert B. is a resident of Bluffton, Indiana; Lillie, a graduate of De Pauw University, is the wife of John E. Higdon, a graduate from the same school and now an actuary in an insurance department in Chicago; Charles N .; and Edith, a graduate of De Pauw University, is the wife of Harlan H. York, professor of biology in Brown University at Provi- dence, Rhode Island.

Charles N. Cline grew up on his father's farm. He is a graduate of the Hartford City High School, and took his medical degree from Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis. He was also a student at Purdue University two years. Instead of practicing medicine he removed to Bluffton in 1892 and became associated with his brother, A. B. Cline, in the lumber business. In February, 1904, he came to Kendallville, and has since been manager and pro- prietor of the plant of Cline Brothers in this city.

Mr. Cline married Miss Edna Hutchinson. She is a graduate of the Hartford City High School and was a teacher before her marriage. They have two daughters : Gertrude and Lucile, both attending the public schools at Kendallville. Mr. and Mrs. Cline are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a trustee and on the Official Board. He is an Odd Fellow, a republican voter, and is a stockholder in the Noble Truck Corporation.

JOHN A. BONTRAGER. One of the distinctive features of LaGrange County is that a number of its most substantial and successful farmers are native sons of this region, who have given to it a lifetime of effort, and are rewarded by a gratifying prosperity which is well merited, because it has come through hard work and careful saving. The Bontrager family is a large one in this county, and many of its members, born and bred within the confines of LaGrange, have found congenial em- ployment on their fertile farms in the several town- ships. One of them is John A. Bontrager of New- bury Township. He was born in this same town- ship October 5, 1856, a son of Amos Bontrager, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this work.

Growing up on his father's homestead, John Bontrager was early taught to make himself use- ful, as well as the fundamentals of a common school education, and as his attention was thus directed to farming it is not remarkable that he chose it for his life work. In 1879 he bought eighty acres of land covered with timber, to which he has added until he owns 100 acres of land, all of which is under cultivation, and here he carries on general farming and stockraising, specializing in pure bred Hereford cattle. His comfortable residence and large barns are built with lumber cut from the farm. In re- ligions views Mr. Bontrager is an Amish Menno- nite.

In 1880 John Bontrager was married to Sarah Harshbarger, a daughter of Abram Harshbarger, who now resides in Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Bon- trager have had the following children born to them : Holly J., who lives at Shipshewana, In . diana; Todd, who lives at LaGrange, married Kate Hostetter, and has no children; Sadie, who died at the age of four months. All of the work of

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

clearing off the farm devolved upon Mr. Bon- trager, but he managed to do it, and also to en- gage in the additional task of putting in his crops as he made ready the land. No one who has not done this kind of work has any idea of how hard it is, nor how discouraging, but there does come a time when things begin to count, and from then on the way is clear. No matter, however, how hard Mr. Bontrager might have worked had he not have been willing to save and known how to invest his money so as to make it work for him he would not be today as well-to-do as he is. It takes brains as well as hard work to gather together any of this world's goods, as Mr. Bontrager and a number of other LaGrange County men have proven. The young people growing up about them will do well to follow their example, and not only live within their means but out of every dollar earned put by a little for investment so that when old age comes they will have something to show for their life work.

FREDERICK A. EMERSON, representing one of the oldest families of Steuben County, is essentially a business man, and had a wide and varied experience in business affairs for many years. He is now serv- ing his second term as postmaster of Angola.

His grandfather, Avery Emerson, Sr., who was born in New Hampshire, September 22, 1788, re- moved in early manhood to Auburn, New York, where he married Sophronia Allen, who was born in Massachusetts in February, 1799. The Emerson family moved to Richland County, Ohio, in 1820, and in June, 1836, again became pioneers, when they located in Steuben County, Indiana. Avery Emer- son's place of settlement was in section 22 of Salem Township, on what was known as the "Indian fields." Remains of Indian corn cultivation could still be seen. They were among the three or four families who first located in that township, and Avery Emerson served as the first justice of the peace, and in that capacity officiated at the first wedding in the township. From 1841 to 1849 he held the office of probate judge. He sold his farm in 1867 and moved to Angola, and later went to Kendallville, where he died the following October. His wife passed away March 17, 1877. In many other ways Avery Emerson, Sr., was one of the men who made early history in Steuben County. He was a whig and later a republican. He and his wife had ten children.

Avery Emerson, Jr., father of Frederick A., was born in Richland County, Ohio, in 1827, and was nine years old when brought to Steuben County, where he spent practically all his life. He married Elizabeth S. Parsell, daughter of Moses S. Parsell, who arrived in Steuben County in 1838. Avery Emerson and wife had nine children, seven sons and two daughters. He owned a large farm in Salem Township, and to that gave the best years of his active manhood.

Frederick A. Emerson was born on the old home- stead in Salem Township, December 20, 1865. While growing up there he attended the district schools, later took a business course in the Tri-State Normal, and had his first business experience as a merchant at Kendallville. In 1893 he returned to Angola, and clerked for Summerlot and Smith, grocers, for four years was with John W. Snyder, in the hardware business, and continued one year in the same store for Charles A. Bachelor. For two years he was a member of the Angola Granite Company, the firm being Emerson, Kinney & Slade. Selling his in- terests there he traveled two years as a salesman for E. Bement Sons, of Lansing, Michigan, dealers

in stoves and implements. He was then with the Germer Stove Company, and represented that firm eleven years.

Mr. Emerson was first appointed postmaster at Angola by President Wilson, February II, 1914, and was reappointed September 6, 1918. Politically he is a good democrat and fraternally is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Angola, and with the Elks Lodge at Ligonier. He and his family attend worship in the Congregational Church.

May 9, 1893, Mr. Emerson married Miss Ina L. Craig, of Angola, daughter of Andrew and Mary Craig. Her widowed mother is now living with Mr. and Mrs. Emerson. The latter have good reason to be proud of their three young sons, two of whom were soldiers in the great war. The youngest, Lawrence Douglas, born December 11, 1905, is now in the Angola High School. The oldest is Kenton Craig, born December 4, 1895. He is a graduate of the Angola High School, the Tri-State Normal College and took the engineering course there. He enlisted and was mustered into the army service September 4, 1917, at Fort Crook, Nebraska, as a member of Motor Truck Company No. 315. He was transferred to Fort Benjamin Harrison in Novem- ber, 1917, and left for overseas duty December 31, 1917. During practically all the war, beginning early in 1918, he was in active duty in France as a traffic engineer, and was still in the service in August, 1919. The second son, John Thomas, born September 11, 1897, also graduated from the high school and the Tri-State Normal College, and first went into the army in the Hospital Corps of the National Guard. He was on the Mexican border during part of the year 1917, having been mustered in in January of that year. He was called back into active service August 4, 1917, was first located at South Bend and later at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and from there transferred to Hattiesburg, Missis- sippi. He was in the officers training school at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, and was graduated and commissioned second lieutenant October 29, 1918. He was then sent to Camp Jackson, South Carolina, where he remained until after the signing of the armistice and his muster out.

MELVIN L. WERKER, one of the leading business men of Kimmell, has had experience both as a prac- tical farmer and as a merchant, and is one of the busy young men of his community whose services are most frequently sought in any community enter- prise.

He was born in Sparta Township of Noble Coun- ty, August 23, 1878, a son of Y. and Clara (Schla- bach) Werker. His father was born in Germany, July 4, 1847, and his mother in Ohio, November 6, 1856. The father came to America with his par- ents at the age of four years, the family first locat- ing in Ohio, and later both the Werkers and Schla- bachs moved to Noble County, Indiana, where the parents married. They located on a farm in Sparta Township, but the father is now living retired in Cromwell. He is a democrat in politics. Melvin L. Werker is one of a family of seven sons: Charles, a farmer in Sparta Township; William, a farmer in Iowa; Melvin L .; Wallace, a farmer in Sparta Township; John, who has farming interests in Mon- tana; Orlo, a Sparta Township farmer; and Harvey.

Melvin L. Werker grew up on the home place in Sparta Township, was educated in the local schools, and lived at home with his father to the age of twenty-one.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 11

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