History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 119

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 119
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 119
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 119
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 119

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).

Benjamin Franklin Swihart was nine years of age when his parents moved to LaGrange County. He acquired his education in this county and St. Joseph County and attended the LaGrange Collegiate In- stitute. During the past forty-five years he has been a factor in farming and developing the old place. In 1877 he bought eighty acres of the old homestead and built a modern home. The barn on the farm when bought by his father was moved to this eighty acres before this date and has been added to. This barn was built by Mr. Upson, the original home- steader of the land, where the new buildings were built by Daniel Swihart. The original homesteader of the land where Benjamin Franklin Swihart now lives was Mr. Cary. Mr. Swihart bought eighty-one acres lying just across the road north of his original eighty and now owns 141 acres devoted to general farming. He served as a member of the Township Advisory Board. In 1874 he was united in marriage to Miss Amy E. Kinney, who was born in Lima Township, LaGrange County, April 9, 1852, dangh- ter of J. Calvin Kinney, one of the early settlers there. Mr. and Mrs. Swihart have the following children : Gerald E., a graduate of the Lima Com- missioned High School, a graduate of Parsons Busi- ness College at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and is married and lives at Sturgis, Michigan, having acted as ex- press agent at that place for the past nine years, is a public spirited man and is serving his fifth term as city clerk. Sarah T. is a graduate of the Lima Com- missioned High School, also a graduate of the In- diana State Normal at Terre Haute, later graduated from Indiana State University and taught English in the State Normal for five years, and is now living in Chicago, the wife of John N. Bowen. Daniel, a graduate of the common schools, lived in Montana for ten years and now in the garage business in Sturgis, Michigan. John K., a graduate of the Lima Commissioned High School, a graduate from the law department of the University of Michigan in his twenty-second year, has been in active practice, since that time and is now a resident of Aberdeen,

South Dakota. Lucy L., a graduate of the Lima Commissioned High School took the teacher's course in the Tri State Normal of Angola, was a teacher for several years and is now the wife of Charles Anderson, a prosperous farmer of Greenfield Town- ship. W. Ruth, youngest, also a graduate of the Lima Commissioned High School, took the teacher's course in the Tri State Normal at Angola, and mar- ried Irvin E. King, one of the progressive and in- fluential men of the community and cashier of the Mongo State Bank.

ELI ZENO HAWK is one of a family of millers who have been conspicuous in the industrial affairs of LaGrange County for many years.

Mr. Hawk was born in DeKalb County, April 24, 1868, and in August of the year of his birth his par- ents moved to Mongo, where he has lived now for over half a century. He had a public school educa- tion at Mongo, and as a boy began working in his father's mill and also under his brother William, when the latter was manager. In 1904 he and his brother John bought the mill at Mongo, a business that has since been conducted under the firm name of Hawk Brothers. Mr. Hawk was also one of the organizers and is a director of the Mongo State Bank. He is a republican in politics.

In June, 1906, he married Miss Lula Sisson, daugh- ter of John and Martha Sisson, of a family noted elsewhere. Mr. and Mrs. Hawk have one child, Wilbur E., born March 12, 1914.

JOHN L. HAWK, the senior member of Hawk Brothers, millers, at Mongo, was born in DeKalb County, December 20, 1864, and was a small child when brought to Mongo. He was one of the first class to complete the work of the eighth grade in the local schools. For a time he was in a mercantile concern at Mongo, and also worked in the grist mill under his brother William. In 1904 he and his brother Eli bought the Mongo mills. He also as- sisted in organizing the Mongo State Bank and is one of the stockholders. He is a republican and is a charter member of the Mongo Lodge, Knights of Pythias, which was institutcd February 24, 1891.

May 19, 1908, he married Miss Moore, of Marion, Indiana. They have no children of their own, but adopted Charles E. Allen at the age of five months. This boy was born January 2, 1912, a grandson of Charles Allen, who at one time was engaged in the drug business in LaGrange.

Christopher L. Hawk, father of the Hawk Broth- ers, was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, in March, 1821, a son of Christopher J. and Ellen (Crawford) Hawk. The mother died in 1823 and in 1825 Chris- topher Hawk, Sr., married Lena Bopp. In 1831 the family came to America, and after three years in Holmes County moved to Hancock County, Ohio, and in 1858 settled in DeKalb County, Indiana. In 1868 they established their home at Mongo, where the family have been prominent residents for over half a century. Christopher Hawk, Sr., died at Mongo, March 10, 1882, at the age of ninety-two years, four months and five days. His wife died November 27, 1888, aged eighty-four.

Christopher L. Hawk married Miss Sarah Wycoff on June 3, 1847. She was a daughter of Casper B. and Catherine (Johnson) Wycoff, natives of New Jersey. Christopher L. Hawk and wife were active members of the Baptist Church. He began the mill- ing business at the age of eighteen, and worked at wages of $6 a month. Until he was twenty-four years of age he gave all his earnings to his parents. At his marriage he had a capital of only $60. About 1850 he bought eighty acres of land, and sold this farm in Ohio in 1858 for $2,300. On coming to

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Indiana he bought a flouring mill in DeKalb County on the St. Joseph River, and some ten years later the saw and grist mill property at the Village of Mongo, where he conducted a very successful busi- ness for a number of years. Christopher L. Hawk died in 1907 and his wife on November 25, 1915, at the age of ninety-two. They were the parents of nine children : . George W., born April 23, 1848, and died November 3, 1854; William C., born March 9, 1850; Charles Franklin, born January 18, 1852; Han- nah Catherine, born June 23, 1855, and died Novem- ber 5, 1855; John L., born December 20, 1864; Eli Zeno, born April 24, 1868; Mary E., born July 24, 1856, wife of O. G. Long, of Sturgis, Michigan; Anna S., born November 12, 1858, widow of Charles E. Dickinson, of White Pigeon, Michigan; and Sarah E., born March 26, 1862, wife of Alfred A. Wade, of Howe, Indiana.

Christopher Hawk, Sr., by his second marriage had the following children: Hannah, Fredericka, George, Samuel, Pauline, William, Amelia, Mary and Susan.

LYNN E. COLLINS is a grandson of that splendid pioneer of Jamestown Township, Barton Collins, whose record figures prominently in every history of that portion of Steuben County, and the out- standing facts of which are contained in other pages of this work. Barton Collins came to Steuben County in 1835, and died in January, 1849. His widow became prominent among the pioneer women and lived until July 15, 1882. She was the mother of a large family of children, and her descendants are now widely scattered.

One of her sons was Charles H. Collins, who was born in Jamestown Township, April 10, 1839. He grew up on the home farm, received his education in the district schools and the Northeast Indiana Institute at Orland. His mature years were devoted to farming. He bought seventy-two of the acres now contained in the farm of his son Lynn. In early life he was a merchant for several years at Jamestown, and after turning his attention to the farm was successful in that line. He was one of the early breeders of Merino sheep in Steuben County. He was a democrat without any desire to hold office. He died in 1896, and his widow survived him until 1916. They were married at the village of Jamestown. Her maiden name was Lucy Carroll, and she was of the same ancestry as the famous Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. Lucy Carroll was born in New Hampshire in 1842. She was the mother of six children, named Lynn, Florence, Alice, Alfred, Walter and Benjamin Franklin.

Lynn E. Collins was born in the village of James- town, April 2, 1872, and from the age of six years lived on the farm which he owns today. He attended the public schools and after the death of his father remained at home with his mother. In the mean- time the farm had been increased by other pur- chases to 225 acres. Upon the division of the estate Lynn Collins secured his present farm, and has im- proved it with good house and barn and other build- ings, and does much in the line of livestock. Mr. Collins is a democrat and for six years was trustee of his township. He is a member of the Methodist Church.

March II, 1896, he married Mary B. Tubbs, daugh- ter of Ira and Lucinda Tubbs. Her parents lived for a number of years in Steuben County, and later went to Branch County, Michigan, where her father died in 1909. Her mother died in Steuben County in 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have four children : Dorothy Fay, born March 8, 1907; Pauline May,

born November 10, 1909; June Esther, born June 21, 1910; and Paul, born March 14, 1915.

CHARLES E. SEARS. The Sears family came to LaGrange County more than three-quarters of a century ago. At that time the great Isaac Sears was about thirteen years old. As a family they exemplified many of the pioneer virtues of thrift, good citizenship and industry, and Isaac Sears had these virtues to an unusually high degree, and in the course of a long lifetime became the largest land owner and one of the most widely known stock raisers and feeders in Northeastern Indiana. Many of the abilities of his honored father are possessed by Charles E. Sears, whose home is in Bloomfield Township, and who has been especially prominent for many years as a sheep feeder.

Charles E. Sears was born in Springfield Town- ship, August 24, 1855. His father, Isaac Sears, was born in Onondaga County, New York, November 7, 1828, a son of Eleazer and Sarah Sears, the former a native of Saratoga County and the latter of Onon- daga County, New York. In 1841 the Sears family came to LaGrange County, locating on Brushy Prairie in Springfield Township, where Eleazer and his wife spent their last years. Both are now at rest in the Brushy Prairie Cemetery. Isaac Sears had a common school education and lived at home until his marriage on February 13, 1853, to Miss Laurinda Tuttle. Her parents, Lemon and Diadamie Tuttle, were natives of Ohio and spent their last days in LaGrange County. Isaac Sears after his marriage moved to a farm of 236 acres in Springfield Town- ship, land that he had previously bought. Eventually this farm under his ownership was increased to 436 acres. On May 10, 1874, his first wife died and on February II, 1875, he was married in Onondago County, New York, to Sarah Vanalstine, daughter of James and Sarah Vanalstine, natives of that state, where both of them died. In October, 1880, Isaac Sears moved from his farm in Springfield Township to a place in Bloomfield near the city of LaGrange. The farm he owned there, improved with a fine brick building, is the present home of his son Charles. Isaac Sears died December 24, 1902. He left an estate of about 2,000 acres, the largest amount of land owned by any individual at that time in La- Grange County. All of this property except 100 acres and $400 in money had been accumulated by his own efforts and industry. For years he fed live stock on a large scale and was one of the prin- cipal shippers to outside markets. Isaac Sears and his first wife had two sons, Charles E. and David A., the later now deceased.

Charles E. Sears acquired a public school educa- tion, supplemented by a period in the Orland Acad- emy. As a young man he bought eighty acres in Bloomfield Township and began farming there. He has enlarged his possessions until today he owns 1,110 acres, including the old homestead in Spring- field Township where he spent the years of his youth. Mr. Sears has been one of the men whose enterprise has made LaGrange County a great feed- ing ground for sheep. He was one of the organ- izers of the LaGrange State Bank and has been a director since the bank opened for business. He is also a director and president of the Home Grain Company of LaGrange. Besides sheep feeding he has handled a large amount of beef cattle on his lands for several years.

Politically, Mr. Sears is a republican, and for sev- eral years was a member of the county council. He and his wife are active in the Methodist Church at LaGrange.

December 22, 1875, Mr. Sears married Miss Mar-

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garet Adalina Vesey. She was born at Butler in DeKalb County, May 3, 1858. She was formerly a teacher in LaGrange County and has always taken a deep interest in educational and other local affairs. She is a member of the Womans Club at LaGrange, and is an active worker in the Ladies' Aid of the Methodist Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Sears have five children. Rena, who was born in Bloomfield Township, November I, 1877, is a graduate of the LaGrange High School, was a student of the Tri-State College at Angola, and was a teacher before her marriage to Charles A. Yotter, a well known citizen of Angola mentioned elsewhere. Helen V., born August 11, 1879, in Bloomfield Township, is also a graduate of the La- Grange High School and is the wife of Lewis Price, a Bloomfield Township farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Price have five children, named Sears, Irene, Lois, Cather- ine and Margaret. Homer I. Sears was born July 10, 1886, and died December 30, 1888. Audra Mar- garet was born April 23, 1895, is a graduate of the LaGrange High School, has attended Northwestern University and is the wife of Frank J. Bollman and the mother of a daughter, Dorothy Jean. Olive L., the youngest of the family, was born May 16, 1896, and was educated in the LaGrange High School and Northwestern University and is now at home. Mr. and Mrs. Sears also took into their home when in his first year of high school Harold P. Arends, who was born December 15, 1892. He graduated from the LaGrange High School in the same class with Audra and Olive Sears in June, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Sears were preparing to enter him at Purdue University, but while assisting in the grain threshing he was accidentally killed September 5, 1913.

Mrs. Sears is a daughter of Horace J. Vesey. Mr. Vesey was born in Vermont, October 19, 1834, and is still living at LaGrange, probably being the most ac- tive man for his years in the entire county. He is a son of William and Adeline (Copland) Vesey, both natives of Vermont. In 1834 William Vesey and wife moved to Geauga County, Ohio, and in 1835 he bought a tract of land in Elkhart County, Indiana. In 1836 his five children, accompanied by an uncle, went out to occupy the Elkhart County land, but he was detained in Ohio by the illness of his wife, who died there. He then joined his chil- dren in Elkhart County and lived there until his death in 1873. Horace J. Vesey when eighteen years of age paid $150 to his father for his time until he reached his majority. In 1853, at the age of nine- teen, he began attending school at Ontario, and worked at various occupations to pay his expenses. He took up a trade and for nearly forty years trav- eled extensively through Canada and seventeen of the states. In 1858 he traded land in Filmore Coun- ty, Minnesota, which he had bought in 1851, for 120 acres in Milford Township of LaGrange County. He increased this property to 302 acres and im- proved it with excellent buildings. In his time he was one of the successful sheep feeders of La- Grange County. On August 6, 1857, Mr. Vesey married Helen Smith. She was born December 14, 1839, daughter of Joseph H. and Margaret (Robin- son) Smith, both natives of New York State, whence they removed to Michigan at an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Vesey had four children, Mrs. Sears being the oldest. The next in age, Lottie E., is the deceased wife of George Mckibben, who is still living at LaGrange. Mrs. Lydia C. Love is a resi- dent of Kansas City, and Sylvester T. is a well known farmer and sheep feeder of LaGrange County, Milford Township. Horace J. Vesey has had membership in the Masonic Order many years. His wife died February 22, 1909. He is the owner of property at LaGrange and also has some holdings

in Florida, where for several years he has spent his winters. Mr. Vesey is a republican in politics.

GROVE H. DUDLEY. The farm where Grove H. Dudley was born September 10, 1838, is the place where he looks out today over well cultivated fields, improved buildings, and along fine highways. It is a rare and interesting experience for a man to have a recollection of one locality for three-quarters of a century. Mr. Dudley has practically always lived there, and his name is associated with the earliest pioneer things in Steuben County as well as with the recent dramatic events of the twentieth century.

His homestead farm is in Millgrove Township. His parents were Stephen M. and Lucy S. (Dudley) Dudley, who at one time lived in Vermont, later in New York State and from there came to Steuben County in the pioneer year 1836 and settled in Mill- grove Township. They entered 160 acres of land, and of that quarter section Grove H. Dudley still owns 120 acres. Stephen Dudley built a good double log house, and that was his home when he died in 1841, at the age of thirty-eight. He had hardly begun the work of improvement on his land when death overtook him in his labors. His widow survived until 1863, when she was fifty-four years of age. They had five children: Myrad, who died in Cali- fornia; Jonathan W., who went over the plains to California in 1852 and spent the rest of his life in that state; George S., who is now eighty-five years of age and a resident of Seattle, Washington; Lucinda, who died in California; and Grove H., the youngest of the family.

Mr. Dudley as a boy attended some of the pioneer schools of his neighborhood. He was also educated at Orland and in the Northeast Indiana Institute, and was a teacher both before and after the war. Among many other things he is honored for his service as a Union soldier. He enlisted in 1862 in Company B of the 100th Indiana Infantry, and was in active service until the close of hostilities. He was in all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, was with Sherman on the march to the sea, went north through the Carolinas, was at Columbia when that city was burned, and was near Raleigh when John- ston's armies surrendered. He took part in the Grand Review at Washington after the war. After returning to Steuben County and marrying he taught school for two years, and in the meantime had bought the old homestead of 160 acres. He sub- sequently sold forty acres of this and later bought an adjoining forty acres, so that his present farm is the same area as the original homestead. He has improved this with good buildings and for half a century has devoted it to general farming and stock raising. Mr. Dudley also served as township as- sessor, is a stanch republican and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. His wife is a member of the Congregational Church and the family attend worship with her.

April 10, 1866, more than half a century ago, Mr. Dudley married Miss Mary A. Closson. She was born in Delaware County, Ohio, February 19, 1842, a daughter of George W. and Bertha (Thornton) Closson. Her father was born in the same county January 8, 1816, and her mother in 1819. George W. Closson brought his family to Steuben County in 1852, settling in a log cabin home which he had prepared on land in Steuben Township. He sub- sequently acquired a large amount of land in the county and was one of its most successful farmers.

Mr. and Mrs. Dudley became the parents of eight children: George, the oldest, died in 1882, at the age of sixteen, and Schuyler M., the second, died in 1868, when four and a half months old. Bertha L. is the wife of W. S. Barber and has one child.

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Emma M. was married to C. B. Ora of Steuben County. S. Maynard, who lives at Pontiac, Michi- gan, by his marriage to Nellie Wilder had one son, Harold, and his present wife is Esther Roy, and they have a son, named Roy. Addie L. is the wife of William Barrows and has a son, Maxon Dudley. Cleo, who died in 1910, was the wife of William Gay and left two children, Frances and Georgia. Hazel Bernice, who died in 1910, was the wife of Roscoe White.

Mrs. Dudley was carefully educated, attending the Northeast Indiana Institute and private school at Angola, finishing in Hillsdale College, and was one of the successful teachers of half a century ago. She began teaching when only fifteen years old, and continued the work for nine years.

JAMES SHERLOCK LARIMER. The Larimer family settled in LaGrange County more than half a century ago, and James Sherlock Larimer grew up here and has long been a factor in the farming community of Greenfield Township. He was born in Perry County, Ohio, October 29, 1859. His parents were James Tobias and Nancy (Sherlock) Larimer and his grandfather was James Tobias Larimer, Sr., who spent his last years in Fairfield County, Ohio. His wife was Diana Larimer, and she lived to the age of ninety-three. James T. Larimer, Jr., was born in Fairfield County in 1828, was married in Perry County, Ohio, and in 1866 came to LaGrange Coun- ty with his wife and three children, Flora, James and John. Nancy Sherlock was born in Perry County, Ohio, in 1825, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Sherlock, spent their last years there. On coming to LaGrange County the Larimer family settled on what was known as the Amos Davis farm near Greenfield Mills, and they bought this place in 1867. The father died there in 1877 and his wife in December, 1886.

James Sherlock Larimer grew up on the home farm and was educated in the public schools and the Orland Academy. He bought out the interests of the other heirs in the old homestead and has in- creased its possessions to 378 acres from which in the spring of 1919 he sold to his son Charles about eighty-five acres. Mr. Larimer has been an exten- sive hog and cattle feeder. He is independent in politics and is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge, Chapter and Knights Templar Commandery. He and his wife are members of the United Brethren Church.

January 20, 1887, he married Miss Anna R. Fen- nell, of LaGrange County, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Fennell. They had seven children. Lola is the wife of Alvin Woods and has two children, Doris and Myron. Flora died in December, 1915, the wife of Oscar Hathaway. Charles Fremont is a farmer and has one child, Hilda. Weldon J., who rents his father's farm, responded to the draft on August 5, 1918, went in training and served for more than six months, coming out as a first class private. He married Marie Hackett. Cyril, the fifth child, is also a farmer and is married and has a daughter, Millicent Maxine. The two younger children are Elsie and Russell.

HOWARD L. PARKER. For a great many years the name Parker has been identified with the mercantile enterprise of Orland. The present Parker business is owned by Howard L. Parker, son of a former proprietor, and his own active connection therewith covers a period of a quarter of a century.

Mr. Parker was born in Orland, August 17, 1874, a son of John G. and Elmira J. (Luce) Parker. His father was born in New Hampshire in Decem- ber, 1838. Elmira J. Luce was born in Branch

County, Michigan, in 1850, and is a daughter of Cyrus Luce, one of the most widely known citizens of Michigan, and at one time governor of that state. John G. Parker came to Steuben County with his parents, was well educated, was a teacher in early life, and at one time worked on a farm for Chas. L. Luce. Soon after the war he engaged in business at Orland with his brother, James B. Parker, and later bought out his partner and continued the busi- ness alone until his son became associated with him. This veteran merchant was active almost to the very end and passed away March 10, 1907. Besides his store he owned at one time 240 acres known as the John Roberts farm, and used it for feeding cattle on a large scale. In early life he was a democrat and later a republican, and though active in politics was never an aspirant for office. He was a member of the Congregational Church. John G. Parker and wife had four children: Howard L .; Grace, wife of Frederick J. Werner, of Orland; Bernice, wife of Harry E. Craddock, of Missoula, Montana; and Florence, wife of Robert Sanderson, Jr., of Port- land, Oregon.

Howard L. Parker acquired his education in the public schools of Orland, including high school, and also attended the Hillsdale College in Michigan. In 1894, at the age of twenty, he took his place in his father's store as a clerk and soon became a partner. When his father died he and his mother continued the store under their joint ownership, and at her death on June 1, 1917, Mr. Parker became sole pro- prietor. He carried a generous stock of goods and his long experience enables him to satisfy all the most exacting demands of his local patronage. The stock is handled in a solid two-story brick and cement building 50x80 feet, and Mr. Parker is half owner of the building.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 119

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