History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 124

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 124
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 124
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 124
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 124

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).

WALTER FRANK GRAVITT is one of the young and hustling farmers of Springfield Township, and has the enterprise and all the varied qualifications that make the successful agriculturist. His life has been almost entirely spent on the old Millis home- stead where he was born December 29, 1887. That is one of the fine farms of LaGrange County, and for several years it has been operated by Mr. Gra- vitt.

He is a son of Charles Henry and Marian (Mil- lis) Gravitt. His mother who is still living was born on the Millis homestead September 14, 1863, a daughter of Edward and Eleanor M. (Griffin) Millis. Concerning this well known old family of the county more information will be found on other pages. Charles Gravitt was born in Cayuga County, New York, in October, 1857, and came to LaGrange County about 1879. He worked a couple of years, spending one year with Samuel Newnam. On De- cember 25. 1882, he married and then rented the farm of Edward Millis. Later he bought eighty- seven acres, forty acres in Springfield Township and forty-seven acres in Steuben County. He lived there three years and sold out and returned to the Millis farm, which he occupied and managed until his death on April 23, 1909. Mrs. Charles Gravitt is now living at LaGrange. They were the parents of four children : Jessie, wife of the present county surveyor of LaGrange County and the mother of Wayland, Gaylord, Paul and Emily Spears; Walter Frank; Ralph who married Blanche Stayner; and Roscoe, unmarried.

Walter Frank Gravitt as a boy attended the com- mon schools and the Springheld Township High School, and steadily since early manhood has been a farmer. The Millis place which he rents contains 210 acres, and under his management is devoted to general crops and livestock. Mr. Gravitt is a republican, is a member of the Ancient Order of Gleaners and with his wife is a regular attendant at the East Springfield Methodist Church.

March 1I, 1908, Mr. Gravitt married Mary Ann Coney. She was born in Springfield Township April 25, 1885, a daughter of Robert and Mary Ann ( Rasler) Coney. Her mother was born in Noble County, Indiana, March 15, 1848, a daughter of George and Margaret (Neff) Rasler. Robert Coney was born in Lincolnshire, England, November 15, 1841, and was seventeen years of age when he and his parents left England on April 9, 1858, and six weeks later arrived in St. Joseph County, Michigan. Robert Coney was a son of John and Susanna (Pant) Coney. In the spring of 1868 Robert came to La- Grange County and in the fall of the same year his parents joined him and settled on eighty acres bought from Valentine Fry. The father of Robert Coney died there in 1874 at the age of sixty and the mother in December, 1885, aged sixty-nine. Of

their large family of thirteen children five died in England. The six to come to the United States were Rohert, Ann, William, Fannie, Rebecca and John. Two others were born in this country, Henry at Constantine, Michigan, and Mary at Men- don, Michigan. All are living except Rebecca who became the wife of Henry Neff and died in 1913.

Robert Coney after coming to LaGrange County lived in Milford Township until 1877 when he moved to Springfield Township and bought forty acres. After eight years he went back to Milford, buying thirty acres in that township. The last eleven years of his life he spent in Springfield among his children. He and his wife were married January 10, 1868. by Squire Hoff. Mrs. Coney died July 9, 1804. Their children were George, John, Aaron and Susanna, twins, both deceased, William, Margaret, Mary Ann, and Melissa, deceased.

Mr. and Mrs. Gravitt have three children : Flor- ence, born June 29, 1910: Charles, born June 25, 1912; and Frank, born February 22, 1915.

TORIAS C. ESCH, who still lives on his fine farm on the northwest quarter of section 9 in Eden Township, has had a career notable not because he has held conspicuous offices in the government, but for the self-denial, sacrificing efforts, toil and stead- fast fidelity with which he has pursued his private affairs and as a result of which he has provided well for his family.

He was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, August 11, 1847, and has passed the age of three score and ten. He is a son of Christian and Su- sanna (Sees) Esch. His father was born in Somer- set County January 8, 1820, 'a son of Jacob and Martha (Layman) Esch. Jacob Esch was born in Germany in 1797 and came to the United States early in the ninteenth century, locating in Pennsyl- vania, where he spent the rest of his life. His chil- dren were named Rachel, Christian, Isaac and Mary. Christian Esch lived out his life in Pennsylvania, where he died March 16, 1854, his widow surviving until 1863. They had five children: Daniel, who died February 10, 1906; Martha, widow of David Dishong ; William C. of Middlehury, Indiana ; Mary, widow of Christ Bandley; Tobias C.

Tobias C. Esch was only five years old when his father died. The family were in poor circumstances and for ten years he lived in the home of John Petersheime. working at tasks suited to his strength and age and attending district schools in winter. In 1864 he went out to Iowa with Mr. Petersheime and remained there on a farm for four summers. Returning East he located in Elkhart County where he married Saloma Garber. She was born in Holmes County, Ohio, October 5, 1848.

Mr. Esch has been a man of great enterprise, and has handled successfully nearly every undertak- ing with which he has been connected. One of his early ventures in Northeast Indiana was the pur- chase of a saw mill, the purchase price being $2,800. After a year of operation the plant was burned, leaving him $2,400 in debt. He started in again, and for twenty years cut into merchantable lumher much of the hard wood products of the forests of Northeast Indiana. He also bought a farm of ninety acres and lived there until he came to his present place in 1898. Mr. Esch has 160 acres in his home farm and has improved it in many ways. At one time he owned 540 acres and sold this fine property for $46,000.

Mr. Esch is the father of fifteen children, eleven of whom are still living: Daniel, Jonathan, Mary, Fannie, Elizabeth, John H., Noah, Tobias, William, Samuel and Gertrude. The son John married Ida Beachey and has eight children. Mr. Esch and

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family are members of the Amish Mennonite Church and he was a leader in the church singing for fifty years.

JOHN SMITH, who passed from earth's shining circle, July 24, 1919, at the advanced age of ninety- five years, was born near Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, October 24, 1823. He was a son of David and Elizabeth (Hurd) Smith, being the third son in a family of two daughters and eight sons. In the spring of 1825 the parents moved to Marion, Ohio, where the family lived until the fall of 1833, when they came to LaGrange County, Indiana, be- ing one of the pioneer families of this community.

Mr. Smith was reared on the home farm, receiv- ing only such an education as the common schools of his time afforded. He made good, as the modern saying is, as a farmer and after his father's death purchased the homestead and made it one of the substantial farms of the county. He was as early as the seventies and eighties, noted more especially hereabouts because of his success as a stock grow- er and breeder. Politically, Mr. Smith was at first a whig, and later supported the republican party the remainder of his days. In his religious faith he was a member of the Baptist Church, and for many years one of its staunch supporters.

Concerning his domestic relations let it be said that he was united in marriage in 1854, to Romilda Parker, and to them was born a daughter Annabelle, now Mrs. Stephen McKee. Mrs. Smith died in 1860, and on January 23, 1862, Mr. Smith married Miss Serena Craig, who was born November 19, 1827, in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. She died in 1900. Of this union two children were born, Mary Jane and Charles C., the daughter dying in early childhood. Besides his son and daughter Mr. Smith left surviving him, four grandchildren, J. Russell Smith, Margaret and Katharine Smith and Mildred McKee, and two great-grandchildren.

After a long and well spent life as an agricul- turist, he of whom the brief memoir is written, just as the autumn leaves were turning to amber and gold, and when he had almost reached the ninety- sixth milestone, passed on to other scenes in a land in which he had so long believed as a true and obedient Christian.

ROSCOE L. COGGESHALL is well known in the busi- ness community of LaGrange County as salesman for the Mt. Pisgah P. of I. Mercantile Association at Stroh.

Mr. Coggeshall was born in Randolph County, Indiana, July 6, 1889, son of A. T. and Emma (Hoover) Coggeshall. His parents reside at Carlos, Indiana. Roscoe grew up on a farm in his native county and graduated from the district schools in 1904. Since then he has had a busy career, being employed in a grain elevator at Carlos three years, for two years in the elevator at Modoc, Indiana, and then for three years was associated with Roy B. Ford in the general mercantile business at Stroh. On January 1, 1919, Mr. Coggeshall was placed in charge of the store of the Mt. Pisgah Mercantile Association, one of the oldest organizations of its kind in the Middle West.

Mr. Coggeshall married Lola 'Hutchens in 1911. She was born in Randolph County, Indiana, in 1890. They have three children, Marvin, Rhuie and Venus. Mr. Coggeshall is affiliated with Philo Lodge No. 672, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is Past Master, and in politics is a republican.

EUGENE GOODSELL, now enjoying the comforts of a good home in Ashley, has achieved the dignity of three score and ten years, and most of those years

have been spent in LaGrange County. He is a native son of this county and his people were among the very earliest pioneers and homemakers in Milford Township.

Mr. Goodsell was born in that township August 19, 1849. He is a son of Mynott and Ellen (Dyer) Goodsell. Mynott Goodsell, who was born at Litch- field, Connecticut, was the only son of Stiles and Lucinda (Bostwick) Goodsell. Soon after his birth his parents moved to Pennsylvania, and in 1832 they started for the West, arriving in Lima, Indiana, October 26th. Stiles Goodsell was the second per- manent settler in Milford Township, and he and his family lived in a rude log house for several years. Wild game supplied the meat for the table, and for groceries and other supplies he went to Toledo, a trip with ox teams requiring twenty-one days. After the canal was completed supplies were obtained from Fort Wayne. Stiles Goodsell died February 22, 1850. Mynott Goodsell as a youth had taken charge of the home farm, and was noted for his ability as an axman and in other frontier virtues. When only a boy he cleared off ten acres of timber-land in twenty- six days He was also fond of hunting and fishing. As a hunter the feat is credited to him of killing three deer at one shot. On March 3, 1840 he married Ellen Dyer, who came to LaGrange County in 1833. They had seven children : Marshall, Josephine, Mills, Eugene, Ida, Augusta and Frederick. Of these only Marshall and Eugene are now living. Their mother died August 24, 1856. On November 22, 1857, Mynott Goodsell married Nancy Johnson. She was born in Ohio February 15, 1840, a daughter of John and Eliza Johnson. To the second marriage were born five children: Jennie, Ella, George, Imogene and Theodore M.

Mynott Goodsell acquired 450 acres of land and was a prosperous stock farmer. He was a man of great influence in his community, always worked for temperance, was a democrat in politics and for six- teen years held the offices of trustee and justice of the peace. He died in 1882.

Eugene Goodsell grew up on the home farm and supplemented his advantages in the country schools by attending the LaGrange County Collegiate Insti- tute and the Orland Academy, also the Kendallville High School. As a young man he took up farming as his definite vocation and in 1876 bought ninety- seven acres in Springfield Township. He added to this until he had 120 acres, and he still owns his farm in Springfield Township. For two years he was also engaged in the mercantile business at Mount Pisgah during the '8os, and for five years was man- ager of the Mount Pisgah Mercantile Association. He also spent some time in the South in the states of Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He then resumed his place on the farm and in 1017 turned over its management to his son Clifford and moved to Ashley.

Mr. Goodsell was one of the organizers of the Farmers State Bank of Stroh and has been a director since the bank opened for business. He is a democrat, but makes no pretensions to public of- fice. He is affiliated with Lodge No. 672 of the Masons and also with the Knights of Pythias at Mongo.

Tuly 3. 1873, Mr. Goodsell married Miss Emma Hall. She was born in Springfield Township October 2, 1854. a daughter of Rufus and Clarissa (Bell- knan) Hall. Her parents were both natives of New York State. her father born in 1808 and her mother in 1810. They came west by canal and lake, and on Lake Erie their boat was overtaken by a storm and they were two weeks in crossing. It was the last trip that boat made. On coming to LaGrange County the Halls bought eighty acres and later forty acres, and

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at the time of his death Rufus Hall had his 120 acres in the condition of a highly improved and efficient farm. He was a democrat in early life and later a republican, and for twenty years held the office of justice of the peace. In the Hall family were four children : Lucius, deceased; Harvey, who served with the rank of captain in the Civil war and died from the effects of wounds; Lydia, deceased; and Enima, Mrs. Goodsell.

Mr. and Mrs. Goodsell have two sons. Fred, the older, was educated in the public schools, in St. Mary's Institute at Dayton, Ohio, and also the Tri- State College at Angola. His first experience was farming and later he spent about two years at Kala- mazoo employed by the Electric Light Company, and then became manager of the Indiana & Southern Michigan Telephone Company at Ashley. After six years he moved to Fort Wayne and engaged in the garage business four years, and on returning to Ash- ley established a garage which is now the most pop- ular enterprise of its kind in that locality. Another experience of his younger life was two years in dredge work employed by the Harding Brothers. In 1897 Fred Goodsell married Anna Joyce of Vin- cennes, Indiana. They have a daughter, Alleen E., who completed her education in the Ashley High School.

Clifford H. Goodsell, the second son, had a public school education and for seventeen years was en- gaged in dredge work, beginning as a common laborer but finally promoted to dredge manager. In 1917 he returned to LaGrange County and is now renting his father's farm. February 28, 1915, Clifford Goodsell married Miss Clara Forst, a daughter of Andrew and Mary (Fry) Forst, of Milford Town- ship. They have a son, Andrew Eugene.

TASSO K. SMITH, though now a resident of the State of Washington, is a member of one of the old and prominent families of LaGrange County where he resided until 1919.

His father was James Smith. James Smith was born in Clark County, Ohio, June 16, 1820, son of David and Elizabeth (Hurd) Smith, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Maryland. The Hurd and Smith families settled in Clark County. Ohio, during the War of 1812. The Smiths are of Irish and the Hurds of German ancestry. David Smith was a soldier in the War of 1812 under Gen- eral Harrison. In 1833 David Smith brought his family to Indiana and bought 360 acres of land in Lima Township of LaGrange County. He lived there until his death and was not only a successful farmer but a very progressive minded citizen. He worked heart and soul for the abolition movement before the Civil war. He was one of the first county com- missioners and he was an advocate and practitioner of temperance and frugality.

James Smith was thirteen years old when brought to LaGrange County. He finished his education in Lima Township and bought eighty acres of land there, subsequently buying another eighty. On Apr.l 4, 1849, he married Miss Sarah Burnell. She was born in England, where her mother Eleanor Burnell died. Her father came to Indiana in 1830 and died at Lex- ington, now Brighton, in Greenfield Township. James Smith and wife in 1863 moved to Greenfield Township and bought 13472 acres. He served as county commissioner for eighteen years and for one term was assessor, and also filled the office of repre- sentative in the Legislature. He and his wife had ten children : Jewison, David T., Frank M., Burnell S., deceased ; James C., Tasso K., Clyde H., deceased ; Nellie B., Maggie E., and Joseph. Several of these children are mentioned on other pages of this pub- lication.

Tasso K. Smith was born in Greenfield Township May 5, 1860, and grew up on the old homestead, acquiring a common school education. In early man- hood he moved to Kansas, lived in that state four years, following the business of livery and farming and later went to Seattle, Washington, where he spent some time as a contractor. In 1891 he returned to LaGrange County and in 1895 bought 120 acres in Springfield Township. He increased this farm by sixty-five acres more and lived there in prosperous circumstances until 1919 when he removed to Wash- ington, where he now resides. For a number of ycars he was a breeder of Percheron horses, and · some of his stock won prizes at fairs and exhibitions.

Mr. Smith is a republican and served as assessor of Springfield Township. He was also a member of the local Grange, the Glcaners and the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Mongo. In 1884 he married Miss Carrie C. Keyes. She was born at Orland in Steuben County in 1865, a daughter of Hiram, a Civil war veteran and Mary (Newton) Keyes, early settlers of Steuben County, who subsequently lived at Mongo, where her father died about 1911 at the age of eighty-two and where her widowed mother is still living at the age of seventy-eight. In the Keyes family were seven children: Jessie, deceased, New- ton, Carrie C., Matie, Susan, Harvey and a son that died in infancy.

Tasso K. Smith and wife had three sons. Lloyd, the oldest, born August 20, 1885, in Greenfield Town- ship, had a public school education, finishing in the Springfield Township high school and also attended the Tri-State College. Though a farmer he has also been interested in the county history business for a short time. For two years he rented land in Spring- field Township, then bought sixty-five acres which he improved with good buildings and sold this in 1915, and in 1917 bought the old homestead of 120 acres. He sold this farm in 1919.

Don Smith, the youngest of the three sons, was born at Seattle, Washington, November 3, 1891, but grew up in Springfield Township and is a graduate of the Springfield Township High School and the LaGrange High School. He was a teacher in North Dakota, worked in a grain elevator in that state, and for about three years was a farmer in LaGrange County. In 1916 he married Miss Edna Greenawalt, daughter of Samuel Greenawalt. They have one daughter Mona Jean.

Carl T. Smith was born in Kansas November 26, 1886, and was five years of age when his parents returned to LaGrange County. He gained a liberal education, graduating from the eighth grade in the common schools, the Springfield Township. High School, the LaGrange High School, and in 1915 com- pleted his course in DePauw University at Green- castle. He was a successful teacher in the public schools of Springfield Township. He had been fol- lowing the business of solicitor for county histories for several years when America entered the war with Germany. May 12, 1917, he enlisted, joined the training camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and was commissioned second lieutenant of Field Artillery, August 15, 1917. Shortly after being commissioned he was sent to Camp Shelby at Hattiesburg, Mis- sissippi. There he was assigned to Battery F, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Field Artillery of the Thirty-eighth Division. He served continuously with that regiment until it was mustered out in January, 1919. On December 22, 1917, he was promoted to first lieutenant. In the fall of 1918 he was sent over- seas to France, was returned to America receiving his honorable discharge early in 1919. He then re- sumed his former work and is now a salesman for the Lewis Publishing Company of Chicago. March 9, 1918, Mr. Smith married Miss Mae Parker of

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

Mississippi and they have one son Carl, Jr. Mr. Smith is a republican and a member of the Masonic Order.

ABRAHAM M. JACOBS is one of the successful men of Noble County. With a wide range of culture and education acquired both in this country and abroad, he was well fitted for the duties and responsibilities of mature years and has acquired positions in busi- ness affairs which are not only a reflection of his personal ability, but also the judgment of people in his integrity and high character.

Mr. Jacobs is president of the Noble County Bank, an institution with thirty years of successful history to its credit. He is also president of the Kendall- ville Trust & Savings Company and president of the Merchants and Farmers Bank at Avilla and of the Farmers Bank at South Milford and he is a director in the Auburn State Bank of Auburn, Indiana. These are all well known financial institutions in this section of Northeast Indiana and all of them were promoted through his initiative and co-operation. He is also a member of the firm of J. Keller & Company, founded by his father, Moses Jacobs, owners of a large department store in Kendallville. He is also the president of the Specialty Display Case Company of Kendallville, manufacturers of show cases and is one of the founders and treasurer of the Kendall- ville Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of cot- ton gloves and mittens with branches at South Bend and LaGrange, Indiana.

Mr. Jacobs was born at Kendallville February 8, 1864, son of Moses Jacobs, one of the pioneers of Noble County. At the age of eight years A. M. Jacobs, who had up to that time lived in Kendallville. went with his parents to Europe and he remained there to the age of eighteen, acquiring a thoroughly liberal education at the Gymnasium in Darmstadt, Germany, and benefiting by travel and residence abroad. He specialized in music while in Germany and returned a pianist of brilliant attainments, pos- sessing the natural and rare gift of improvisation which has frequently been designated by the master pianists as a lost art. On returning to the United States he took a course in the Bryant and Stratton Business College at Chicago from which he gradu- ated, and immediately afterwards began his active career at Kendallville, with the firm J. Keller & Company. He was later cashier in the Keller & Kann Bank, was promoted to larger responsibilities, and when the Noble County Bank was organized in 1889, he became its first cashier. For about twenty- five years he held that position, and since then has been its president. October 23, 1889, he married Miss Nannette Keller, daughter of Jacob Keller, one of the founders of J. Keller & Company and first presi- dent of the Noble County Bank. She was born in Kendallville July 11, 1867. They have two children. Rosalie M. is a graduate of Milwaukee Downer Col- lege and is the wife of L. S. Levy, vice president of the Specialty Display Case Company of Kendallville. The only son Milton Keller is a graduate of the Kendallville High School and the University of Michigan, and is now with the Radio Intelligence Corps in the United States Army.

Mr. Jacobs is affiliated with Lodge No. 276 F. & A. M., and has been its treasurer for over thirty years and is a member of the Kendallville Rotary and Golf clubs. He is a democrat in politics. He has served as a member of the city council of Ken- dallville for several terms and has at all times taken the keenest and most active interest in the civic affairs of his home city. He is president of the board of governors of the Lakeside Hospital and vice president of the Kendallville Public Library. His World war activities were characterized by untiring

devotion to the interests of our nation. He served as county chairman for Noble County during the First, Second and Fifth Liberty Loan campaigns in each of which his county went brilliantly "over the top." He was also a director of sales for Noble County for the United States Certificates of Indebt- edness campaign. He was also chairman of the Ken- dallville War Chest Fund, an organization of citizens from every walk of life who contributed nearly $30,000 to a fund out of which every demand upon Kendallville for war relief purposes of every nature was promptly met.

A. M. Jacobs is constantly endeavoring to demon- strate the principle that a good and loyal citizen must unselfishly give many hours of his valuable time to the solution of all problems that make for the uplift and development of the community in which he lives and that a man can not be called successful unless he is willing to do this.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 124

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