History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 111

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 111
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 111
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 111
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 111

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).

December 29, 1914, he married Hildegard Heiner. They have one son, William Henry, born October 8, 1917. Mr. Elsner is affiliated with Meridian Sun Lodge No. 76, Free and Accepted Masons., La- Grange Chapter No. 102, Royal Arch Masons, Ken- dallville Council, Royal and Select Masters, and also with the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is republican.

ANDREW ROBE WYATT, M. D. Since September, 1888, Doctor Wyatt has practiced as a physician and surgeon in the City of LaGrange. He is one of the best known professional men in LaGrange County, and while devoted to the strict routine of his professional duties his interests have been iden- tified with everything affecting the welfare and progress of his community.

Doctor Wyatt was born in DeKalb County, Indi- ana, a son of John and Sarah Jane (Robe) Wyatt. His father was born in Maryland April 4, 1811, and his mother in Indiana October 31, 1820. John Wyatt when a boy went to Ohio, and later with his parents, Nathan Wyatt and wife, moved to De- Kalb County, Indiana, where Nathan and wife spent their last years. John Wyatt entered land in 1836 in DeKalb County, and lived there until his death seventy years later, on July 28, 1906. His wife passed away January 28, 1888. He was a strong and ardent republican in politics, and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Prot- estant Church. His wife had two brothers, James Theodore and John Robe, both ministers of the Gospel with the Methodist Church. The former preached the first sermon ever. preached at Kala- mazoo, Michigan, and the latter was a minister near Indianapolis. Another brother, William Robe, was murdered by the Knights of the Golden Circle dur- ing Civil war times. Still another brother, An- drew Robe, went to Texas and when the war came on served as a surgeon with the Confederate army.

Dr. Andrew Robe Wyatt grew up on the old homestead and had a public school education, at- tended the Spencerville High School, taught school for several years, and was graduated from the In- diana Medical College in 1882. He practiced at Spencerville with Doctor Hull for a few months, for a year and a half lived at Cedarville in Allen County, and for five years practiced at Rome City. For twenty-eight years Doctor Wyatt had his offices in the Lazarus Rose Building at LaGrange and finally moved just across the hall from his former quarters. Doctor Wyatt was a medical representa- tive on the local board during the World war and examined about 1,700 volunteers and drafted men in the county. He is a member of the LaGrange County Medical Society, the Northern Tri-State Society, the State and American Medical asso- ciations. He is a Royal Arch Mason, member

Albert Priston Mary Jane Preston

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of the Knight Templar Commandery at Kendall- ville, and he and his wife are active members of the Methodist Church and the doctor is now and has been for twenty-five years a member of the board of trustees.

March 16. 1882, he married Ella Snyder, a native of DeKalb County and a daughter of Lewis and Malinda (Dickerhoof) Snyder. Doctor and Mrs. . Wyatt have one child, Grace Pauline, widow of G. C. Nichols.

Doctor Wyatt has always been an ardent repub- lican in politics. He was formerly a member of the LaGrange School Board with Judge Ferrell and Judge James Drake. He has been a member of the Library Board since it was organized and one of the men chiefly responsible for that institution. For several years he also served as county and town health officer.

Doctor Wyatt gave a great deal of attention to operative surgery and performed many very diffi- cult and critical abdominal operations with a high percentage of success. He had the distinction of performing the first abdominal operation ever per- formed by a local physician in LaGrange County.

GUNTHER C. NICHOLS. In a lifetime measured by few years Gunther C. Nichols possessed the activi- ties, the kindly thought and charitable action of which there is no adequate human measure and which can only deserve and merit grateful memory of the generation which he served.

Mr. Nichols was born on English Prairie in Greenfield Township, LaGrange County, March 21, 1876, son of Charles G. and Ella ( Burnell) Nichols. Of his parents and other members of the family sufficient is said on other pages. Gunther C. Nich- ols was graduated from the Lima High School and was also a graduate of the University of Illinois. His career was largely made up of banking experi- ence. After coming home from university he en- tered the State Bank of Lima, now Howe, an in- stitution owned by him and his brothers. Upon the organization of the LaGrange State Bank in Octo- ber, 1903, he was elected cashier and performed the duties of that office until his death on May 26, 1917.

In November, 1906, he married Grace Pauline Wyatt, a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Andrew R. Wyatt of LaGrange. To their marriage was born one daughter, Margaret-Ellen Nichols. Mrs. Nich- ols was born at Cedarville in Allen County, Indi- ana, but has spent most of her life in LaGrange. She is a graduate of the LaGrange High School and of the Western Seminary for Women at Ox- ford, Ohio. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church and Mr. Nichols was one of its most active supporters and a trustee of the congregation. He was a member and treasurer of the town school board, and was in his third consecutive term at the time of his death. He was also treasurer of his Lodge of Knights of Pythias, was treasurer of the Masonic Chapter, was a member of the Eastern Star, was secretary and treasurer of the LaGrange Creamery and Ice Company, and was treasurer of the Corn School Week, a local institution in which he took great pride and which he did much to make successful.

. Mr. Nichols was a beautiful example of the un- selfish and public spirited citizen. Modest and un- assuming in his personal demeanor, he found means of entering into the lives of other people and the community in a spirit of helpfulness that was per- haps inadequately appreciated until his death brought a vivid realization of the value he repre- sented to the community. He was the type of man who said little and did much. He was thoughtful,

considerate, generous and his career, though brief, was the expression of a continuous purpose of high mindedness.

ALBERT PRESTON. Ever since he came out of the Union army after the Civil war Mr. Preston has devoted his time and energy to farming and live- stock raising. For more than forty-five years he has been a resident of LaGrange County, and still lives on his farm near LaGrange, though practically retired from its responsibilities.

The people of Northeast Indiana have reason to appreciate the sterling patriotism of the Preston family. For generations they have been men of deeds and solid industry, but have been equally valiant fighters in times of national need. Albert Preston was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, May 25, 1840, a son of James Preston, whose mother was a McClean, a descendant of the McCleans who made the first survey, later known as the Mason and Dixie line. James Preston was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, December 9, 1809. He brought his family to Indiana in 1853 and died in LaGrange County about 1890. His first wife was Mrs. Mary A. (Matthews) Preston, who was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, April 1, 1816. They were the parents of twelve children, several of whom died in infancy or early childhood. Those to reach mature years were: John M., who was a Union soldier two and a half years and is now deceased; Mary, deceased; Seymour, who served , for four years in the Civil war and is still living; Albert whose record as a soldier will be noted below; Samuel, who was in the war one year and is now deceased; James McClean, who was for four years a Union soldier, rose to the rank of colonel and was a member of the staff of General Gross and later became prominent as a pioneer in Ne- braska; Amanda and Nancy, both still living.

James Preston married for his second wife Mrs. Eliza (Matthews) Gould. By her first husband she had a son, Henry Gould, who was a Union soldier two and a half years. Thomas Preston, a son of James Preston by his second marriage, is still living.

While on the subject of the military record of the family it will be interesting to note the descend- ants of James Preston who took part in the recent World war. Their names are: Cecil Preston, Kenneth Blodgett, Harry Preston and Maynard Preston.

Albert Preston came to Indiana with his father in 1853, and had an active part in the work of the home farm in Bloomfield Township until 1859. In the meantime he attended the common schools. In 1859 he began an apprenticeship in the carpenter's trade with John Q. Reed of LaGrange. For sev- eral summers he worked as a carpenter and con- tinued schooling in the winter. He was just about twenty-one years of age when the Civil war broke ont. A few months later he put down his tools and in Angust, 1861, enlisted in Company G, of the Thirtieth Indiana Infantry. He was mustered into service September 24th and was with his regiment in some of the sternest fighting of the war in the Mississippi Valley. He was in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Stone River, Chattanooga, and early in the campaigns through Northern Georgia was wounded at Rocky Face, May 9, 1864. On account of this wound he was detailed as a commissary sergeant at General Gross' brigade headquarters and re- mained on that duty until mustered out at Indian- apolis September 29, 1864. Thus for three continu- ous years he assisted in the mighty task of preserv- ing the Union.

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On December 14, 1864, a few weeks after leaving the army, he married Miss Mary J. Moor. She was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, July 15, 1842, only child of Andrew B. and Jane L. (Thomas) Moor. Her father was also a native of Trumbull County, while her mother was born in Wales.

Mr. Preston brought his family to his present farm in Bloomfield Township in 1871. He has been . a sheep feeder for thirty years, and until he retired from farming about nine years ago he operated on the average about 150 acres. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Preston had five children. Effie M., widow of David Canine, taught school for many years and she and her only son, Albert Preston Canine, reside at Crawfordsville, Indiana. Francis A. Preston, formerly a traveling salesman who now lives in Cleveland, Ohio, married Frances Allison, of Indianapolis, and their two children are Eliza- beth and Judith. Alice L. Preston is the wife of Dr. William Cook, of South Bend, and is the mother of two daughters, Mary and Lois Josephine. Mary Isabelle Preston died September 30, 1877, aged three. The fifth of the children is Lois, widow of John H. Mckibben, and she has two children, Eloise and Frank Preston.

THOMAS S. WICKWIRE has been a lawyer, banker, business man, farmer and identified with so much of importance in the affairs of Angola and Steuben County that the present generation at least need no introduction to his name and career. The Wick- wires are in fact a prominent old-time family of Steuben County. His father was a big man of affairs in his day and the son has done much to broaden and increase the associations with the name.

Mr. Wickwire was born in the Benjamin Brown Building on North Main Street, at the corner of the Public square, in Angola, January 30, 1854, and is a son of George W. and Rebecca (Hanna) Wickwire. His father married for his first wife Loretta Lem- mon. "George W. Wickwire arrived in Indiana and joined the pioneer community of Steuben County in 1835. His first place of settlement was three and a half miles east of Angola, where he secured a tract of Government land. As his fortune increased he invested in other land until at the time of his death he owned about 3,000 acres. He did a large busi- ness buying and selling land, chiefly on his own ac- count. His first wife died while on the farm east of Angola, the mother of three children, Laura, George R. and Loretta A. George W. Wickwire then married Rebecca Hanna, who was a native of Ohio. By that union there were seven children : Catherine, Thomas S., Lydia Josephine, Charles W., Garry N., Nellie Maud, and Wilma W. George W. Wickwire, who was born in New York State in 1815, became a whig in political affiliation, later a republican, and prior to the Civil war was a strong anti-slavery man. He was a charter member of Angola Lodge of Masons and also a charter mem- ber of the Royal Arch Chapter and one of its first officers.

Thomas S. Wickwire received his early education in the public schools of Angola, including high school, and took up the study of law in a local office. Three years later he entered DePauw Uni- versity at Greencastle, Indiana, and graduated in the law course in 1892. A member of the bar since 1890, he practiced in Ashley as well as Angola, but has found many important business interests competing for his time as a lawyer. He served about twenty years as deputy prosecuting attorney. Mr. Wick- wire owns a fine farm of 16034 acres in section 17 of Pleasant Township, and he has made that a model place in the agricultural environment of

Steuben County. His own residence at Angola is probably the finest house in the city. It is con- structed of cobblestone. He also owns store build- ings at Ashley and a cottage on the banks of Crooked Lake.

Mr. Wickwire has long been one of the leading republicans of Steuben County. He served as a member of the State Senate through the three ses- sions of 1905, 1907 and 1908. He was anthor of the bill to preserve the lakes of Indiana from drain- age. He also secured the passage of a law abolish- ing all bucket shops in Indiana. Mr. Wickwire was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1908.

In Masonry he is affiliated with the York Rite at Angola and with the Scottish Rite Consistory at Indianapolis, is a Mystic Shriner, a member of the Knights of Pythias at Angola, and is a past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Mr. Wickwire organized the Angola Bank, which was later reorganized as the Angola Bank and Trust Company. He also founded the Ashley Bank and was its president, and the Ashley Building and Land Company, of which he was also president.

December 16, 1877, Mr. Wickwire married Miss Lizzie Craig, of Steuben County. She died in 1879. After her death Mr. Wickwire left Steuben County and spent two years in the Northwest. During that time he helped build the Northern Pacific Rail- road, and was also employed in the removal of the Indians from the Little Missouri River and Yellow- stone River. He also spent some time in California before his return to Steuben County. In 1884 he married Miss Martha Meese, of Van Wert, Ohio.

ALFRED A. WADE, SR. A resident of La Grange County over fifty years, Alfred A. Wade, Sr., is widely known not only for his activities as a busi- ness man and citizen, but also for the notable record made by his children in various professions and pursuits. From the standpoint of continuous work and service, Mr. Wade is one of the oldest mer- chants in the county.

He was born in Yorkshire, at Leeds, England, August II, 1849, a son of Richard and Sarah (Wil- liamson) Wade. His father was born in York- shire July 3, 1823, and his mother in Leeds, where she died when a young woman. The grandfather was John Wade, who spent his life in England, but three of his brothers, Richard, Robert and Thomas Wade, came to the United States and were pioneers of Northern Indiana about 1832. Richard Wade, father of the La Grange County merchant, after the death of his wife brought his family to America, lived at Palmyra, New York, for one year, and then came West to White Pigeon, Michigan, where he had his home for six years, and in 1865 located at Mongo, Indiana, where he engaged in the tailor- ing business. In 1886 he moved to Lima, where he died May 19, 1892.

Alfred A. Wade, Sr., spent a considerable portion of his early boyhood at White Pigeon, Michigan, where he attended public school. He was fifteen years of age when he came to Indiana, and for a short period he was a student in the Orland Semi- nary. He began his experience as a merchant in 1873 with the firm of Wade & Hawk. In 1882 hè bought out his partner, and continued the business until August 17, 1885, when he removed to Lima and has been a merchant there continuously for nearly thirty-five years. Mr. Wade is a charter member of Howe Lodge No. 698, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and has been secretary of the lodge since it was organized. He also became a charter member of Lima Lodge No. 142, Knights of

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Pythias, when it was organized in 1886, and for over twenty years has been its master of finance. He and his family are all members of the Episcopal Church.

On September 8, 1874, Mr. Wade married Emily Eleva Chase. She died January 15, 1884, the mother of three children : Richard L., who died in infancy ; Frank C., a physician at Howe, Indiana; and Alfred A. Jr., also a physician practicing at Howe.

March 19, 1885, Mr. Wade married Miss Sarah Eliza Hawk, daughter of Christopher Louis and Sarah J. (Wyckoff) Hawk, of a prominent and widely known family in Northeast Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Wade became the parents of four children.

Roscoe H., the oldest, was born April 14, 1886, was educated in the Howe Military School, gradu- ating in 1906, and in 1909 graduated in the law de- partment of the Indiana State University. He spent nine years as collection and sales manager of the Rumely manufacturing business of LaPorte, Indiana, and is now in the New Business Depart- ment of the Continental Guarantee Corporation of New York City. He married Birdella Dagg, of Kansas City.

Sarah Elizabeth Wade, who was born September 3, 1888, is a graduate of the Howe High School, took music and art courses in the Thomas Normal Training School of Detroit, Michigan, and for one year taught at Eaton, Indiana, three years in the Howe High School and one year at Rome City. She is now the wife of Leroy Edwin Zuck and they have three sons named Edwin Wade, Paul Daniel and John Alfred.

Roderic Paul Wade, born January 4, 1891, is a graduate of the Howe Military School and finished his work at Harvard University in 1913. For five years he was an instructor in the Howe Military School, and in June, 1918, joined the aviation branch of the American army, sailed on July 31st, landed in England August 15th, and on August 24th was sent to Scotland, where he was assigned duties until the armistice. December 1, 1918, he sailed for home, reaching this country on the 11th, and was discharged December 28th and reached home the 30th. On January 19th, 1919, he went to work as correspondent for the Guaranty Banking Corpora- tion of Chicago, and now has charge of the Depart- ment of Discounts.

Anna E. Wade, youngest of the children, was born May 19, 1893, and is a graduate of the Howe High School and of the University of Indiana with the class of 1914. She taught one year at Sturgis, Michigan, three years in the Howe High School, and the last year was principal. Since June, 1918, she has had charge of the department of restricted funds, and has been staff assistant to the Comp- troller at the Red Cross headquarters in Washing- ton.

ALFRED A. WADE, M. D. Since he began practice at Howe in 1909 in partnership with his brother, Dr. F. C. Wade, Alfred A. Wade, Jr., has accepted and utilized the larger opportunities presented to a man of first class ability in his profession.

He was born at Mongo, Indiana, February 9. 1883, son of Alfred A. and Emily Eleva (Chase) Wade. When he was three years old his parents moved to Howe, where he attended both the public schools and the Howe Military School, of which he is a graduate with the class of 1903. In the fall of 1905 he entered the Detroit College of Medicine, gradu- ating in 1009. He has since taken post-graduate work in Harvard University and Boston. In 1900 be formed his present partnership as Drs. Wade & Wade.

Doctor Wade is a republican, is affiliated with Vol. II-26

the Masonic Lodge at Howe, the Scottish Rite bodies at Fort Wayne and the Mystic Shrine, and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America at Howe. August 31, 19II, he married Miss Zelta Venita Beecher, a daughter of Dr. Arthur C. Beecher of LaGrange. They have three children: Ainsworth Carlton, born June 25, 1912; Frank Chase II, born August 28, 1914; and Alice Vivian, born August 7, 1916.

HEWLITT DAVIS. In the substantial development of LaGrange County since 1837 no one family has taken a more active or useful part than that of Hezekiah Davis, and in Hewlitt Davis, president of the Farmers State Bank at Shipshewana, is found a worthy representative of this sturdy old stock.

Hewlitt Davis was born in Newbury Township, LaGrange County, Indiana, July 2, 1871, in which township his grandparents, Amos and Susannah (L'eh) Davis, had settled on land secured from the government in 1837. While Grandfather Davis de- veloped and improved his land, he was recognized as a leader among his pioneer neighbors because of his superior education and upright character, and they put him in authority as a judge of court. It is recorded of him that he was one of the found- ers of the Presbyterian Church here, was a strong advocate of temperance and one of the pronounced abolitionists of his day. His death was occasioned by a fall. His widow survived into advanced age. They had ten children, namely: Mahala, Nancy, Asenath, Elizabeth, Sarah, Margaret, Mary, Heze- kiah, Joseph L. and James.

Hezekiah Davis, father of Hewlitt Davis, was born in 1825 in Fairfield County, Ohio, and was twelve years old when he accompanied his parents to LaGrange County, Indiana, where he spent his entire subsequent life. He became a man of im- portance, not only because of business capacity, but on account of his sterling traits of character, which led him to use his wealth in furthering many worthy enterprises, and, when bearing the responsibilities of public office, to labor conscientiously for the pub- lic welfare. His first farm was secured in New- bury Township in 1851, to which he added until at the time of his death, in 1891, he owned 1,400 acres and was an extensive feeder of stock. He was the founder of the town of Shipshewana in 1888, and in 1889 he organized a private bank and continued its president until his death. For twenty years he was a county commissioner and was presi- dent of the board at the time the courthouse was built, and it was largely due to his business capacity that the county was not unduly taxed. In the early days when religious bodies desired to meet the only available places would be in the houses of the mem- bers or in the small building provided as school- houses. This condition made such an appeal to Hezekiah Davis that he not only built two churches, mainly at his own expense, but insured the salary of a preacher for the first year. He had been reared a Presbyterian but in later life became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1851 Hezekiah Davis was united in marriage to Sarah R. Reynolds, who was born in 1832 in St. Joseph County, Michigan, the first white child. Her father, Samuel Reynolds, located in that conn- tv with his family in 1831, but later removed to In- diana and settled first in Newbury and afterward in Springfield Township, where he and his wife died in 1877. The Reynolds children were as follows: John, Charles, Samuel, Frank, Sarah, Lottie and Mary Jane, the last named becoming the wife of Joseph L. Davis, brother of Hezekiah Davis. To Hezekiah Davis and his wife seven children were

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born, namely: Emma, Samuel G., Eugene, Niles, Warren H., Leonora G. and Hewlitt. The princi- ples of the republican party found a strong advo- cate in Hezekiah Davis.

Hewlitt Davis attended the public schools and after completing the high school course at Le- Grange he entered a business college at Toledo, Ohio, where he completed a commercial course. He then became associated, in 1893, with his moth- er in the conduct of a private bank, he being cash- ier and his mother president, which relationship continued until Mr. Davis organized the Farmers' State Bank in October, 1907, of which he has been president ever since.

On June 1, 1911, Mr. Davis was united in mar- riage to Miss Carrie L. Rogers, who is a daughter of Thomas and Sarah Rogers, respected residents of Shipshewana, and they have two children: Sarah R. and Herbert R. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mr. Davis owns 800 acres of fine land in Newbury Town- ship, on which general farming and stockraising is , carried on. In his political identification he is a republican and proud of his American citizenship.

SIDNEY SLABAUGH, representing one of the old and substantial families of Noble County, has acquired a good home in the agricultural district of Perry Township, and is one of the leading men of influence and action in that locality. His home is in section 15, a mile and a half north of Ligonier.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 111

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