History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 123

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 123
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 123
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 123
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 123

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Washington, D. C .; Fred I., who is connected with the Central Rubber and Supply Company at Indian- apolis; Raymond E., of Angola, Indiana, and part owner of the Steuben Republican; Edward D., also interested in the Steuben Republican; Dora E., wife of R. G. Dilts, of Angola; Frank B., engaged in the automobile business in Denver, Colorado; Jo- sephine, who lives in Washington, D. C., employed in the War Risk Insurance Bureau; and William H., a resident of Indianapolis. These children all received good educations and have been reared to honorable manhood and womanhood, a credit alike to their community and an honor to their parents.

HERBERT CLYDE WILLIS, printer and stationer. editor and owner of the Waterloo Press, is in point of continuous service the oldest newspaper man in DeKalb County. He is also the present representa- tive from DeKalb County in the Indiana Legisla- ture.

Mr. Willis was born at Waterloo December 15, 1871, son of Frank W. and Josephine (Dickinson) Willis. His maternal grandfather the late Timothy R. Dickinson was a member of the Indiana Senate during the Civil war, and besides his legislative duties he was also drafting officer for DeKalb County. The Frank W. Willis was a Union soldier during the Civil war, and also sat as a member of the House of Representatives in the General As- sembly in 1895. Thus the public record of the fam- ily is well established.

The Waterloo Press is one of the oldest repub- lican papers in the state, having been established in 1859 by an uncle of Herbert C. Willis its present editor and owner. For many years the late Frank W. Willis was editor and owner of the Press which for sixty years has been in the nature of a family institution in the Willis family.

Herbert C. Willis grew up at Waterloo,'secured a practical education in the grammar and high schools, and in the summer of 1884 at the age of thirteen began learning the printing trade. A year before graduating from the Waterloo High School Mr. Willis and one other person did all the job work and all the mechanical work of publishing the Press. He learned the printing trade under old time conditions, and early became a valuable assistant to his father. In 1891 after finishing his high school course he made a tour of the southwest. He then resumed employment with his father. In February, 1896, the plant was totally destroyed by fire. Her- bert C. Willis then joined his modest savings and capital with his father and became a partner in the ownership of the Press. Father and son continued the publication until the death of Frank W. Willis in 1913. Then Herbert C. Willis bought and be- came sole owner of the plant, and for many years has conducted his own editorial page of the Press. He also operates a high class printing establish- ment for catalog and general stationery printing and has developed a business covering many coun- ties hesides DeKalb.

Mr. Willis as a boy became interested in military affairs and at the age of eighteen was a charter member of Company I, Third Regiment, Indiana Legion, subsequently a part of the Indiana National Guard. He served six years. After being out a year he enlisted in the Indiana National Guard and became sergeant major on Col. S. A. Bowman's battalion staff. He was on duty at the Hammond riot in 1894. He enlisted his paper and all his per- sonal influence in behalf of the late war, and in August, 1917, was appointed government appeal agent in DeKalb County. He served in that ca- pacity throughout the conscription of the army for the war with Germany.

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

During the campaigns of 1914 and 1916 Mr. Wil- lis was chairman of the Republican Central Com- mittee for DeKalb County. In 1916 he spent seven weeks at Indianapolis as chairman of the public- ity bureau under the direction of State Chairman Will H. Hays. He was nominated for representa- tive in the 1918 primaries after a contest, and in November was elected by a majority of 348 over his opponent, who in 1916 had been elected to the legislature by a majority of 480.

Mr. Willis was one of the organizers of the Wa- terloo High School Alumni Association. He is now serving his second term as school trustee at Waterloo. Since boyhood Mr. Willis has been a member of the Presbyterian Church and has served it as elder and superintendent of the Sunday school. He is affiliated with Lodge No. 221 of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and Lodge No. 307 of the Masons.

June 24, 1896, he married Miss Martha L. Gon- ser. She was born April 6, 1872, on a farm near Auburn, daughter of Moses and Louisa (Wright) Gonser. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania, came to DeKalb County in pioneer times, and not long after the birth of Mrs. Willis he sold his farm west of Auburn to the county and located along the county line in the southern part of Steuben County. He was county commissioner of Steuben. Louisa Wright was a native of New York State and was brought to DeKalb County when a girl. Her father had a general store in Fairfield Town- ship in the early days, did much business with the Indians, and conducted an "ashery" for the man- ufacture of potash from wood ashes. Mrs. Willis is a graduate of the Tri-State Normal at Angola, was teacher in the district schools, graduated in 1893 from Earlham College at Richmond, and for two years was principal of the high school at Wa- terloo. During that time she began her acquain- tance with Mr. Willis, though their families had been close friends in an earlier generation. Mrs. Willis served as secretary of the Waterloo Public Library Board for the three years during the or- ganization and building of that institution. She

carried the county contest work in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union for several years and is at present county chairman of the Franchise League. Her sympathies have ever been thrown deeply in the home and public work for progress and loyalty. Mr. and Mrs. Willis have two chil- dren : Louise, born September 7, 1897, and Herbert G., born November 21, 1904. The daughter is a graduate of the same school as her father, during 1918-19 was assistant principal of the high school at St. Joe, Indiana, and is now in her fourth year at Earlham College. The son Herbert is a junior in the high school.

JOHN H. RUBLEY owns and occupies a farm in Jamestown Township that has been in the Rubley family for over half a century. 'His personal man- agement reflects the sturdy characteristics of his first ancestors, who were among the pioneer home- makers in Steuben County.

Mr. Rubley was born in Jamestown Township March 10, 1869, a son of John and Mary Ann (Frick) Rubley. His mother was born in Canton, Ohio, in 1841, a daughter of Henry and Christina (Smith) Frick. She died December 2, 1917. John Rubley was a son of John J. and Margaret (Snyder) Rubley, both natives of Switzerland. Several of their children were born in-that country, and they then came to America, first locating in Richland County, Ohio, and in 1848 moving into the woods and prairies of Jamestown Township. They located at Nevada Mills, and after a few years moved to the

east bank of Lake Pleasant, where John J. Rubley spent the rest of his life. His children were: Susan, who married Benjamin Nettleman; Elizabeth, who became the wife of Frank Nettleman; and John, David and J. J.

John Rubley acquired a district school education in Jamestown Township, and when a young man began farming the place now owned by his son. He had eighty acres, and during his lifetime cleared up and put in cultivation about sixty acres and erected all the substantial buildings. He and his wife had two children, John H. and Elizabeth.

John H. Rubley supplemented the advantages of the district schools of his native township by a course in the Tri-State Normal College at Angola. He began farming with his father when a young man, and after the death of his mother he bought the homestead and has been quietly and efficiently increasing and developing his enterprise, particu- larly as a stock raiser. He is a breeder of Short- horn cattle.

June 17, 1916, he married Edith Sultz, a daughter of Jacob and Estella (Pothoof) Sultz. They have one daughter, Mary Elizabeth.

WILLIAM A. BARROWS in recent years has become a prominent factor in the Orland community, own- ing and operating a splendid farm near that vil- lage and acting as manager for two of the leading organizations of producing farmers in that locality.

Mr. Barrows was born in Greenfield Township of LaGrange County, Indiana, November 1I, 1871, son of John and Marinda (Gillmore) Barrows. Some of the history of his parents and other mem- bers of the family is found on other pages of this work.

William A. Barrows grew up on the homestead in LaGrange County, and lived there until he was thirty-three years of age. He acquired most of his education in the grammar and high schools of Or- land. It was in 1905 that he bought thirty-six and two-thirds acres in Millgrove Township, and he subsequently bouglit a quarter section, all of which constitutes a model farm with model improvements, lying just north of the village of Orland. He does a big business handling live stock, especially hogs.

He is manager of the Orland Shippers Associa- tion and the Farmers Supply Company, and is also a member of the Farm Loan Association. In poli- tics he is a democrat, and Mrs. Barrows is a mem- ber of the Congregational Church.

In 1894 he married Miss Addie L. Dudley, a daughter of Grove H. and Mary (Closson) Dudley. A sketch of her father appears on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Barrows had two children, Rex, who was born September 24, 1910, and died September 16, 1911, and Maxon Dudley, born March 19, 1916.

ORLEY CLEVELAND. During the thirty odd years of his mature life spent in Jamestown Township Orley Cleveland has been successfully engaged in farming, is a veteran thresherman, and in addition to his constructive part in the agricultural welfare of the community has always maintained a reputation as a man of integrity, public spirit and prompt to respond to movements affecting the life and welfare of the community at large.

Mr. Cleveland was born in Jamestown Township, May 7, 1867, a son of William and Mary C. (Hunter) Cleveland. His mother was born in Sandusky County, Ohio, a daughter of John A. and Eliza (Rathbun) Hunter. John A. Hunter was a native of Indiana, and when a small child his parents, Robert and Abigail (England) Hunter, moved to Ohio. He married Eliza Rathbun in 1847 and in 1863 came to Steuben County, Indiana, where he

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

developed a farm and gave particular attention to stock raising, having some of the finest horses in the county. William Cleveland was born in San- dusky County, Ohio, March 3, 1842, a son of Clark and Eliza (Grover) Cleveland. His parents were farmers of Sandusky County. Their children were Moses, Sally, William, Thomas, Jemima, Mary and Elizabeth.

William Cleveland was married October 2, 1863, and the same year moved from Ohio to Jamestown Township in Steuben County. He bought eighty acres of land in section 18, put up all the buildings and made other improvements, and lived there until his death in 1910. He and his wife had four chil- dren : Ward C., Orley, Bell (who became the wife of Orson Dickinson) and Clifford.

Orley Cleveland attended the Collins School in Jamestown Township, and from early manhood has busied himself with farming and the operation of threshing outfits. He has used practically all the threshing machinery in vogue during the last thirty or forty years. He is a good business man, has a thorough knowledge of machinery, and has fur- nished a valuable service to the grain growers in Steuben County. About 1900 he and his brother, Ward, bought the place where he now lives in sec- tion 20. Mr. Cleveland has put up all the buildings there and has a well improved farm. When he bought it only ten acres had been cleared, but the entire tract is now under cultivation. He keeps a number of good livestock. Mr. Cleveland is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge at Orland.

December 23, 1907, he married Imo Alta Shipe, a daughter of Isaiah and Anna (Lock) Shipe. They have three children : William L., born December 30, 1910; Orley M., born May 6, 1913; and Marcelia, born December 30, 1914.

GEORGE TIMMIS, one of the county commission- ers of LaGrange County, is a veteran retail meat dealer of LaGrange, having been in business con- tinuously for over thirty years. Many boys and girls who used to come to his shop to buy meat for their parents are now sending their own chil- dren to his market.

Mr. Timmis, who throughout his business career has been one of the diligently public spirited citi- zens of the community, was born in Van Buren Township of LaGrange County, July 3. 1864, a son of William and Harriet (Timmis) Timmis. His father was a native of England. His parents were married at Buffalo, New York, and on coming to LaGrange County settled in Van Buren Township and lived on a farm for nearly half a century. His father died at White Pigeon, Michigan, and his mother died in Van Buren Township in 1872. Their children were Henry, now deceased, William, Rich- ard, Frank, John, George, Hannah and Harriet.

George Timmis grew up on a farm, attended local public schools and was in the high school at White Pigeon. Beginning in 1880 he lived for four years in Texas. He returned to LaGrange in 1885 and on May 19. 1886, engaged in the meat business with William Mininger. After a brief time he and his brother William established a shop under the name Timmis Brothers, and that was the title under which they did business until 1916, at which time the part- nership was dissolved and Mr. George Timmis has since been alone.

Mr. Timmis has always vigorously supported the policies of the republican party. He served as a member of the town council eleven years and while in that body he and Mr. Platt were the men chiefly instrumental in promoting the movement for paved streets and a sewer system. Mr. Timmis was elected

county commissioner in 1916 and re-elected in 1918. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees at LaGrange, and his wife is a member of the Methodist Church, the family attending that church with her.

January 13, 1891, Mr. Timmis married Miss Amelia C. Haberstroh of LaGrange. They have two children: Hilda, the daughter, was born De- cember 4, 1892, is a graduate of the LaGrange High School and attended the Tri-State College at An- gola and the Western College for Women at Oxford, Ohio. She is now engaged in mission work in New York City. Vernon V., the son, was born February 27, 1895, is also a graduate of the LaGrange High School, and for several years has been in business with his father. Vernon Timmis was the first young man to enlist from LaGrange in the World war. He volunteered April 4, 1917, and became a private in the One Hundred and Fiftieth Field Artillery with the Forty-Second or Rainhow Division. With that famous organization he went overseas in November, 1917, and came into the zone of action on February 28, 1918. He was on almost constant duty at the front until the signing of the armistice more than eight months later. With the Rainbow Division he reached the Rhine on December 15, 1918, at Bad Neuenahr, and left Germany April 10, 1919. He landed in the United States April 27, 1919, and was honorably discharged on the 10th of May. At his discharge he held the rank of stable sergeant. June 27, 1917, Vernon Timmis married Iva Sunday of Rome City, Indiana.

DANE D. SECRIST, who has an honorable discharge from the army after serving during a part of 1918, is cashier of the Farmers' State Bank at Topeka and member of an old and well known family of Northeast Indiana.

He was born in Sparta Township of Noble County February 9, 1884, a son of Lewis and Esther (Hooper) Secrist. His father was born in 1850 near North Webster, Indiana, and his mother in Adams County, this state, in 1860. Lewis Secrist was one of the first business men at Cromwell, In- diana, but later became a farmer and died in 1910. The mother is still living, a member of the United Brethren Church at Indian Village, in Noble County. Lewis Secrist was a republican. There were three children in the family: Dane D., Keith K., who is a graduate of the Cromwell High School, and is an American soldier with the Army of Occupation in Germany; and Paul H., who is a graduate of the Cromwell High School.

Dane D. Secrist grew up at Cromwell, graduated from the high school there, and before he went into the army was assistant cashier of the Cromwell Bank. Upon his enlistment in the service he was assigned to the Quartermaster's Corps but later was transferred to the artillery. He served with the rank of second lieutenant, and received his honorable discharge December 13, 1918. Soon after his return home he was elected cashier of the Farmers' State Bank of Topeka.

Mr. Secrist, who is umarried, is affiliated with Cromwell Lodge No. 705, Free and Accepted Ma- sons, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. Politically he is a republican.

SAMUEL WEIR, former county treasurer and a prominent banker of LaGrange, is member of a family that did its part as pioneers and in all sub- sequent stages and epochs of progress and develop- ment in this section of Northeast Indiana.

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

He was born on the old Weir homestead April 16, 1859. He spent his early life in the country, having a common school education, and was a suc- cessful practical farmer before he became identi- fied with the county treasurer's office. He acquired 105 acres of the old homestead and has increased this to 185 acres. This fine farm lies in Springfield and Bloomfield townships and is now occupied by his son Lester.

Samuel Weir since January 1, 1919, has been assistant secretary of the LaGrange County Trust Company. He was elected county treasurer in 1908 and filled that office to the satisfaction of all con- cerned for two terms. He is a republican, has been a member of the township advisory board of Bloomfield Township, and is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.

In 1881 Mr. Weir married Miss Louise B. Brown, a daughter of Ira W. and Julia P. Brown. Her fa- ther was one of the Brown brothers who were long prominent as constructive factors and business men in the upbuilding of LaGrange. Mr. and Mrs. Weir have two children. The son, Lester, mentioned above married Cleopatra Price and has two chil- dren, Robert Norman and Lester Samuel. The daughter Hazel L. lives at home with her parents and assists in The LaGrange County Trust Com- pany.

Samuel Weir is a son of Norman Weir who was born in New York State November 17, 1818, son of Samuel Weir, a native of Scoharie County, New York. Samuel Weir the elder died in New York State, and his widow Sarah Weir came to LaGrange County in 1837. Norman Weir was at that time nineteen years of age, the other children of his widowed mother being Elijah, Nancy and Hepsie. The mother of Norman Weir bought the land where Lewis Weir now lives, comprising 120 acres. Nor- man. Weir died on that farm in August, 1896, hav- ing in the meantime increased his holdings to nearly 400 acres. He was accounted one of the leading farmers of LaGrange County. His widow is now living at LaGrange, with her daughter Mrs. Ger- trude Gage. Norman Weir was a republican in politics and his brother Elijah was at one time a member of the legislature.

May 4, 1851, Norman Weir married Miss Ange- line Scidmore. She was born in Steuben County, New York, May 15, 1827, a daughter of Solomon and Ruhamah (Bowels) Scidmore. Her father was a native of Saratoga County, New York, and her mother of Hagerstown, Maryland. Mr. and Mrs. Scidmore were married in New York and in 1835 they were among the pioneer settlers of Bloom- field Township, LaGrange County, their' home be- ing at the present site of Plato, where they took up a homestead of 160 acres. This land was after- wards acquired by their son, a former sheriff of LaGrange County. Solomon Scidmore died in 1859 and his wife in 1863.

Norman Weir and wife had six children : Charles who died in 1880 at the age of twenty-eight; Mary who died in 1885 aged thirty; Samuel; Tremont, a farmer at Plato, Indiana; Lewis, who occupies the old Weir homestead; and Gertrude, wife of George Gage, present county recorder of LaGrange County.

FRANK ASHLEY. The birthplace of Frank Ashley is Springfield Township, LaGrange County, on the farm he occupies today. He was born May 18, 1853. The increasing strength and skill of his boy- hood days were directed to cultivating some of these fields, and for sixty-six years or more he has remained there and has become a man of substance as a farmer and a citizen whose public spirit is widely known and appreciated. When he was six

months old his mother, Helen Elizabeth (Jefferds) Ashley, died. She was a native of Connecticut. His father, Robert Ashley, was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, June 19, 1809. His parents were married in the east in 1840, and located on the farm in Springfield Township. Robert Ashley, how- ever, had been in the West several times before that. He first came to LaGrange County in 1833, when all Northern Indiana was virtually a wilderness. He had traveled west by river and lake as far as Detroit, and came across the country to LaGrange County on foot. It was in 1837 that he bought from the Government the land which his son Frank now owns. This was a tract of eighty acres, cov- ered with timber, and when he brought his wife there he settled in the midst of the woods and put up a log house as their first home. Later he built most of the buildings which are standing today. He was a tinner by trade and also had a practical knowl- edge of the gunsmith's trade. In early days he planted an acre and a half to grapes, and was one of the pioneer vineyardists and wine makers of La- Grange County. He died on the old homestead. His second wife was Mrs. Mary Douglas Long, formerly of Ohio.

Frank Ashley was the youngest of five children, and he remembers only two of them, Charles and Ralph. Charles, the third in age, died in 1868. The two oldest were Eugene and Ralph. Ralph was born in 1843, and died in 1905. A daughter, Senitt, died in 1854, and Asenith died when young. Frank Ash- ley was educated in the local schools, and as a farm- er he has diversified his industry by breeding spotted Poland hogs.

In 1880 he married Miss Adelia A. Clark. She was born in Canada, her family name being Brown, but she was reared as the adopted daughter of Wil- liam Clark. Mrs. Ashley was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. After thirty-seven years of married life and after her children were grown to maturity she died August 14, 1917. Nettie, their oldest child, is the wife of Claud Preston, of Brushy Prairie; Charles lives in Akron, Ohio; Rob- ert has heen away from home and his movements have not been known to the family for the past few years; Richard lives on the home farm, is a farmer, and for a number of years has been a thresherman; and the youngest, Helen, is the wife of J. L. Lovel, of LaGrange County.

As a treasured family heirloom Mr. Ashley pos- sesses a set of knives and forks that have been handed down from generation to generation from the original Ashley ancestor who came from Eng- land to America several hundred years ago.

HERMAN HASKINS is prosecuting attorney for the circuit composed of Elkhart and LaGrange coun- ties, and his reputation as a lawyer and public offi- cial is well known over all the northern counties of the state. Mr. Haskins has distinguished himself as a young man of force, courage, and thorough ability both as a lawyer and man of affairs.

He was born at Mongo December 26, 1880. Con- cerning his family and his parents Albert and Amy (Huss) Haskins, more is said on other pages of this publication. Herman Haskins was educated in the grammar and high schools of LaGrange, grad- uating from high school in 1901. He took his law course in the State University, completing it in 1905. The following two years he practiced with Otis L. Ballou and since 1907 has handled an in- dividual practice. He was appointed deputy prose- cuting attorney in 1911 and has also served several years as county attorney. He was elected prose- cuting attorney for the district of Elkhart and La- Grange counties in 1916. He began his official du-

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

ties in 1918 and was reelected for a second term in 1918. During the period of the war Mr. Haskins was chairman of the four-minute men of LaGrange County, and was also a member of the legal ad- visory board and chief clerk of the local exemption board. These duties imposed many burdens upon him in addition to the regular routine of his pro- fession and his office as prosecutor.

Mr. Haskins is a member of the LaGrange County Bar Association, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Masons and Elks, and in politics is a re- publican, having been secretary of the republican county central committee in 1914. October 21, 1913, Mr. . Haskins married Miss Bessie C. Mckinley, daughter of Thomas Franklin and Flora (Custer) Mckinley of Mongo. They have one son Gerald, born August 13, 1915.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 123

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