History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 128

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 128
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 128
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 128
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 128

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).

Frank P. Sanders was reared in Auburn, attended common schools there and at Wolcottville, and as a boy became associated with his father in business. He was made a partner under the name S. P. San- ders & Son, and after his father's death in 1885 he took over the personal management of the busi- ness. About that time he became associated with his father-in-law, Hon. John J. Gillette, though the business was still continued under the Sanders name.

The hardware implement and automobile busi- ness is still carried on under the firm name of F. P. Sanders & Sons, Harry and Russell being the active members.

Mr. Sanders married for his first wife Ida Ben- der of Akron, Ohio. She died in 1880, the mother of one son, Harry A. In 1884 Mr. Sanders mar- ried Grace L. Gillette. They have a son, Russell G., a graduate of Wabash College. Mr. Sanders also has two grandchildren. His wife is a member of the Baptist Church and he is affiliated with the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery of Masonry, and is Past Master of Ionic Lodge No. 380, Free and Accepted Masons. Politically he acts as a republican.

EUGENE O. FISHER. It would be appropriate to refer to Eugene O. Fisher as a champion farmer of LaGrange County. His products have served to make LaGrange County known all over the country and even abroad. His field crops have been ex- hibited in county fairs, in exhibitions at large cities and in some of the world's fairs, and scores of premiums and other awards have spoken convinc- ingly of the quality of LaGrange County agricul- tural production and of his individual ability and success in co-operating with nature's forces.

Mr. Fisher, whose farming interests are in Clay Township, was born in Eden Township of LaGrange County, June 27, 1860, a son of William T. and Catherine (Nelson) Fisher. His father was born in Brown County, Ohio, in 1834. His mother was born in Eden Township of LaGrange County in 1839. daughter of Anthony Nelson, one of the first settlers in this part of Northeast Indiana. Anthony

Nelson, when all this country was an unkempt land- scape of forest and prairie, blazed a trail from Elkhart Prairie to Emma Lake, which he named North Lake. Anthony Nelson married Sophia Sum- mey. who came to LaGrange County in 1828 Anthony Nelson and wife lived for many years on the line between Eden and Clear Spring townships in LaGrange County, and both of them died in that locality.

William T. Fisher came to LaGrange County as a child with his father, Thomas Fisher, who located in Eden Township. The wife of Thomas Fisher died there in 1844 and he afterwards went to Arkansas and spent his last years. The children of Thomas and his first wife were: William, James, Van, John, Moses and Isaac. By a second mar- riage he had children named Joseph, George. Frances, Kansas, Evaline and Adaline. William T. Fisher grew up in Eden Township and had a public school education and spent his active life as a farmer. He owned the farm north of Walnut Cor- ners in Clear Spring Township, but for about three years lived retired in LaGrange, where he died in August, 1910. His widow is still living at La- Grange at the age of eighty. William T. Fisher was very active in republican politics and he and his wife members of the United Brethren' Church. Their children were three in number: Eugene, Bertha, deceased, and Orpha, wife of Allen Lepiard, a son of the LaGrange County pioneer, Robert Lepiard.

Eugene O. Fisher grew up on his father's farm in Clear Spring Township, and was educated in the schools of Sycamore and Walnut Corners. One of his teachers was Ira Ford. He also attended the LaGrange High School. For over thirty years he has been successfully identified with farming. and the scene of his operations is in Clay Town- ship. For five different years Mr. Fisher's agri- cultural display was awarded premiums at the Indiana State Fair. He sent an exhibit of wheat, oats, timothy seed and tobacco, and maple syrup to the San Francisco Exposition in 1914. Alto- gether he had nineteen entries in that great fair. and was awarded twenty-one prizes. An exhibit of grains made by him at the International Stock Show in Chicago was awarded a premium for the best display. Many prizes have come to him on his farm products in LaGrange County fairs and corn school shows.

Mr. Fisher is a republican in politics but has been too busy with his farming to take an interest in politics as an office seeker. On March 4. 1885, he married Miss Clara Ford. She was born in Bloom- field Township of LaGrange County, a daughter of John R. and Louise (Price) Ford. Her parent> settled in Clay Township in 1856 and later moved across the road to Bloomfield Township, where her father lived until his death on July 16, 1893, and her mother passed away March 28, 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher are the parents of four children and have a number of grandchildren. Their chil- dren in order of birth are: Percy, Lyle, Dale and Roy Fern. Percy is the wife of Chauncey Hughes of Chicago and has two children, Evelyn and Cath- erine. Lyle, who lives at Eagle Grove, Iowa, mar- ried Gertrude Larson and their family consists of Jeanette, Dorothy and Robert. Dale is a resident of Steele, North Dakota, unmarried, and was drafted and served as a soldier in Camp Custer five months. The military hero of the family is the youngest son Roy Fern. In December, 1917. he enlisted at South Bend as a private, and received his training in this country at Camp Benjamin Harrison, Jefferson Barracks, Camp Custer and at Fort Worth, Texas. From Long Island he was

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sent overseas to France in June, 1918, and remained abroad until his return to this country on June 27, 1919. He was a private in the 14Ist Infantry, with the famous Thirty-Sixth Division. The record of that division is one of the most brilliant of all the units composing the American Expeditionary Forces. He was ready for practically every duty call with the 14Ist Infantry, was in several phases of the battle of the Meuse, was at Belleau Wood, Chateau Thierry and the Argonne Forest. He was over the top three times in one day, and several prisoners were captured by him, and he was an expert at picking off snipers. Though never wounded he was gassed.

FRANK G. GILBERT, banker and one of the most widely known citizens of Pleasant Lake, was born in that town March 15, 1871, son of David S. and Millie (Grant) Gilbert.

His father was born in Lorain County, Ohio, in 1827, and his mother was a native of Urbana, Ohio. David S. Gilbert came to Steuben County with his parents and in 1849 at the age of twenty-two went overland to California. On returning to Steuben County he settled on Pleasant Lake, having a farm adjoining that body of water. He had much to do with the development of the town, laying out two additions, while his son Frank has also made an- other addition to the town. David S. Gilbert served as township trustee several times, also held the of- fice of Justice of the Peace, and was an active re- publican, a member of the Masonic order and a Baptist. He died in 1891 and his widow in 1913. Their two children were Frank G. and Grace, the latter the wife of Clyde Jackson.

Frank G. Gilbert attended public schools in Pleas- ant Lake, also the Tri-State College, and mixed in with his commercial pursuits has had considerable experience in farming. At Angola he spent one year as bookkeeper with the Steuben County Bank now the Steuben County State Bank. He was in the railway mail service four years, also did cler- ical work for the Lake Shore and Michigan South- ern at Pleasant Lake and for eight years was assis- tant cashier of the First National Bank of Angola. In 1914 he became one of the organizers of the First State Bank of Pleasant Lake and since that day has held the office of cashier. He also owns a farm in Steuben Township.

Mr. Gilbert is a republican, a member of the Royal Arch Chapter of Masons at Angola, and is active in the Baptist Church, being superintendent of the Sunday School at Pleasant Lake.

In 1899 he married Miss Iva Diller, daughter of John and Lucy Diller of Steuben County. They have one daughter Ruth, born in September, 1900, graduated from the Pleasant Lake High School in 1918, and is now a student in the Tri-State College.

WILLIAM H. SHORT, M. D. in addition to his pro- fessional prominence is president of the LaGrange State Bank. He was born in Eden Township of LaGrange County.

His father Thomas Short was born in Pennsyl- vania, April 8, 1820, son of James and Frances (Gil- bert) Short, natives of Ireland. The family moved to Ohio when Thomas Short was a boy and the father died there. In 1841 Thomas Short came on foot to Indiana and bought eighty acres of wild land in Eden Township. He made a permanent settlement there the same year and on January 13. 1842, married Margaret Larimer. She died Sep- tember 28, 1877, the mother of eleven children. In 1880 Thomas Short married Mrs. Mary Murray. He was a democrat in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian Church.

Doctor Short grew up on his father's farm, at- tended the Collegiate Institute at Ontario two years, spent one year in college at Adrian, Michigan, and read medicine with Doctor Larimer, his uncle. He attended his first course of lectures at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the winter of 1866-67, and finished his course in 1869. For half a century he has been å member of his profession in LaGrange and for a number of years practiced with his brother Dr. John L. Short.

Doctor Short was one of the organizers of the LaGrange State Bank in 1903, and has been presi- dent of the institution from the beginning.

WILLIAM WATTERS, who made an honorable rec- ord as a soldier in the Union army during the Civil war, has been a resident of LaGrange County for over half a century, and is one of the prominent farmers and a former county treasurer. His home is in Clear Spring Township.

He was born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, No- vember 20, 1839, and paid his first visit to Indiana in 1859. He returned to Pennsylvania, and from that state enlisted for service in the Union army. He was all through the war and yet never had a sick day all the time. During 1866 he was engaged in railroading, and then came to LaGrange County. On February 18, 1886, he married Miss Catherine Yoder. They settled in Clear Spring Township, and since 1881 Mr. Watters has lived on his present farm, comprising 223 acres. Beginning with small means, successive years brought him abundant pros- perity and also a high place of achievement in his community. He was elected and served five years as assessor of Clear Spring Township, and as county treasurer he served from 1902 to December 31, 1906. While county treasurer he lived at the county seat, but with that exception has lived on his farm. He is a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank at To- peka.

Mr. and Mrs. Watters have four living.children: Samuel, trustee of Clear Spring Township; Myron F., a graduate of the common schools and a farmer ; Albert, now a farmer, is a graduate of high school and the Tri-State College at Angola; and Nora, un- married. Mr. Watters is a charter member of the Lodge of Odd Fellows at Topeka, a member of the Grand Army Post, and a republican.

JOHN R. DOLL has spent his career chiefly as an agriculturist, has had experience as a farmer in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, and for a number of years has had a pleasant home and fine farm of 128 acres in Spencer Township of DeKalb County.

Mr. Doll was born at East Greenville in Stark County, Ohio, June 18, 1864, a son of Ignatius and Catherine (Rudy) Doll. His father was born in Stark County and his mother in Pennsylvania. The grandfather, Joseph Doll, was for many years a justice of the peace in Stark County. Joseph Doll married Polly Kitt, who has the distinction of being the first white child born in Stark County, Ohio. Her father, Jacob Kitt, settled in that part of Eastern Ohio in 1805. Mr. Doll's mother, Catherine Rudy, was reared from early girlhood in Stark County, and after she and her husband married they settled on a farm and in 1867 moved to Canton, the county seat, where she is still living. Ignatius Doll died at Canton. Both parents were active members of the Lutheran Church, and Ignatius was a republican. There were five children, four still living: George W., of Massillon, Ohio; Charles W., of Gibson, Colorado; John R .; and Jennie M., wife of Charles Hammer, of Canton, Ohio.

John R. Doll from the age of three years lived at Canton, Ohio, until 1882, and acquired his education

WILLIAM WATTERS

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in the public schools there. On leaving Ohio he fol- lowed farming in Kent County, Michigan, until 1894, and in that year located at Spencerville, In- diana.

December 24, 1895, Mr. Doll married Vienna Shil- ling, daughter of Solomon and Esther (Bliler) Shilling. This is one of the old and prominent names of DeKalb County. Mrs. Doll was born on the old Shilling homestead in Spencer Township and educated in the common schools. Mr. and Mrs. Doll have three children: Esther K., George R. and Alice J. These children have received good school advantages, Alice being still a student in high school. The family are members of the Luth- eran Church and Mr. Doll has been a liberal sup- porter of the church and its allied causes. He is a democrat in politics and is a stockholder in the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Spencerville.

CHARLES F. HOLSINGER of Wolcottville has been one of the busiest farmers in that section of North- east Indiana for many years, and yet has found time to cultivate and exercise many interests outside of his money earning business. He has given due time to the best interests of his community, is active socially, is proud of his home and family and thoroughly believes that he lives in the garden spot of America. He is a great lover of the lakes of Northern Indiana, and has a summer cottage at Rome City, convenient to the sporting haunts of the region. Mr. Holsinger is widely known as a trap shooter and fisherman.

He was born in Noble County, February 17, 1853, son of John and Mary A. (Stroman) Holsinger. His father was born in Stark County, Ohio, Jan- uary 9, 1817, and died July 21, 1885, after a very suc- cessful career in Northeast Indiana, though he came here a poor man. Charles F. Holsinger received his education in the common schools, attended the Wol- cottville High School, and lived at home to the age of twenty-one. During the years 1871-72-73 he taught school in Noble County. He then rented his father's farm in Orange Township for two years, having his brother as a partner. In 1876 he bought a farm in Johnson Township of LaGrange County and lived on it until 1883. In that year he returned to the old homestead and in 1885 upon his father's death acquired 230 acres of the old farm. For over thirty years that was the scene of his activ- ities as a farmer he made the place pay by his progressive management. Mr. Holsinger for many years was a breeder of Holstein cattle and his stock won many premiums at the fairs of Northern Indiana and Ohio. On December 12, 1918, he moved to his town home in Wolcottville and has sold his farm to his sons.

November 20, 1873, Mr. Holsinger married Eliz- abeth A. Garmire. To this union four children were born: Jesse G., Ray C., Grace Barbara, and Fred W. The mother of these children died May 29, 1889. September 28, 1890, Mr. Holsinger married Mary Lenora Myers, who was born September I, 1865, a daughter of Benjamin F., and Savilla (Myers) Myers. Her father was born in Noble County, Indiana, September 19, 1843, and her mother in Ohio. Mrs. Holsinger was educated in the common schools and in the Methodist College at Fort Wayne, Indiana. She is the mother of three children, Rhua May, Niel F., and Waldo F., the last named being deceased.

Mrs. Holsinger is an active member of the Evan- gelical Church and its Sunday School. Mr. Hol- singer is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife are members of the Rebekahs. He is also affiliated with Rome City Lodge of the Knights of Pythias and his wife is active in the Pythian Sisters, of which she is past

chief and member of the Grand Lodge. In politics Mr. Holsinger has been a stalwart republican and has served as delegate to both the county and state convention and as a member of the County Central Committee.

JESSE G. HOLSINGER, son of Charles F. Holsinger and Elizabeth A. Garmire, was born November &, 1876. He attended the public schools of Orange Township, completed the course in the Southwest- ern School of Telegraphy at St. Louis, Missouri, and was afterward employed as train dispatcher for the Wabash Railroad at Montpelier, Ohio, for twelve years. He married Orra M. Marshall, of Rome City, Indiana, November 25, 1897. Orra M. Marshall was born September 6, 1877: One son was born of this union in August, 1898, but died in infancy. A daugh- ter, Elizabeth J., was born March 23, 1902.

Ray C. Holsinger was born July 28, 1881. He was educated in the Orange Township public schools, completed the commercial course at Angola, Indiana, and attended college at Marion, Indiana. He has been employed on the Wabash Railway since March, 1902, as agent at various stations, last five years having been located at Aetna, Indiana, where muni- tions for the allied countries were manufactured. He married Elsie Henning, of Hudson, Indiana, on November 9, 1903. To this union one daughter was born, Frances Lenore, on April 29, 1908. She died in infancy. There are also two sons, Richard, born March 20, 1912, and Carl, November 12, 1913. Elsie Henning Holsinger was born at Hudson, Indiana, January 5, 1882, and educated in public schools in Hudson, Indiana, and also attended college at An- gola, Indiana. She is a member of the United Breth- ren Church and has also been taking an active part in Red Cross work and various charitable institu- tions while at Aetna, Indiana.

Grace Barbara Holsinger, third child of Charles F. Holsinger, was born at Rome City, Indiana, No- vember 4, 1884. After graduating from the Rome City High School she took a special course in the To- ledo (Ohio) Manual Training High School, and later graduated from the Thomas Normal Training School of Detroit, Michigan, and then took additional work in domestic science and home economics in the Uni- versity of Chicago. She taught at the Clarkston (Mississippi) Academy and at the Asheville (North Carolina) Normal and Collegiate School for Girls. On November 9, 1909, she married Harry G. Hedden, then of Chicago, Illinois, son of the late Stephen Douglas Hedden, of Kendallville and Fort Wayne, Indiana. The husband was born in Delaware County, Ohio, November 23, 1882. Left motherless in in- fancy, he lived with the late Mr. and Mrs. John Finch until about twelve years old. Then he went to live with his father, who had married again and located in Kendallville, Indiana. He attended the Kendallville High School and also the Drake Uni- versity Academy and College of Liberal Arts, Des Moines, Iowa. He is now an advertising writer (with Conner Advertising Agency) in Denver, Colo- rado. Virginia Lenore Hedden, first child of this couple, was born in Denver, Colorado, August 8, 1913. She died in infancy. Barbara Eudora Hedden was born February 15, 1917, also in Denver, Colo- rado. Robert Ray Hedden was born at Denver, Colorado, July 19, 1919.

Fred W. Holsinger, son of Charles F. Holsinger, was born at Rome City, Indiana, May 28, 1889. He attended the Orange Township public schools. After completing the high school course at Rome City he attended college at the Ohio Northern University at Ada, Ohio. He has been employed for the last nine

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years in the railway mail service on the New York Central Lines. He married on February 19, 19II, Eva Grace Ressler. She was born at Brimfield, In- diana, July 18, 1885, and educated in Orange Town- ship public schools and attended college at the Val- paraiso University at Valparaiso, Indiana. She taught school in the Rome City public school for eight years. To this couple one son was born, Max Frederic Holsinger, born March 21, 1915. They re- side at Kendallville, Indiana.

Rhua May Holsinger was born November 1, 1892. She was educated in the Orange Township public schools and graduated from the Rome City, Indiana, High School. On September 25, 1913, she mar- ried Ernest Dale Osborn, of Brimfield, Indiana. They were married by Rev. John W. Miller at Al- bion, Indiana. Ernest Dale Osborn was born at Wawaka, Indiana, May 16, 1892, graduated from the Rome City High School and is now employed at Detroit, Michigan, in the manufacture of automo- biles. To this couple one son and one daughter were born. Ernest Holsinger Osborn was born April 21, 1914. Their daughter, Roberta Lenore Osborn, was born March 10, 1916.

Neil F. Holsinger was born at Rome City, In- diana, May 27, 1894. He was educated in the Orange Township public schools and graduated from the Rome City Commissioned High School. He was married to Georgia E. Brown, of Fort Wayne, In- diana, January 13, 1916, by Rev. J. H. Reese. Georgia E. Brown was born at Payne, Ohio, Jan- uary 10, 1898. She was also educated in the public schools. To this union one daughter and one son were born. Mary Frances Holsinger, their daughter, was born December 23, 1917, and Donald Harry Holsinger, their son, was born June 23, 1919. They reside at Rome City, Indiana, but for the last five years have been actively engaged in farming.

SCHUYLER COLFAX SPERO. Loyalty to home land is taken pretty much for granted, and a more dis- criminating test as to the claims a certain district has upon the affections of men is a continued in- terest on their part after they have cast their lot with other communities. A former resident of La- Grange County whose experience has made him al- most a cosmopolitan, and who retains a sincere and loving interest in Northeast Indiana is Schuyler Colfax Spero, for many years an active newspaper man and for a quarter of a century a resident of the Pacific Coast.

Mr. Spero was born in Springfield Township, La- Grange County, September 28, 1870, son of John and Louisa J. (Curtis) Spero, the former a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Monroe County, New York. Both families are widely known in Northeast Indiana. In the paternal line Mr. Spero represents old Pennsylvania stock, possibly of Holland origin, while through his mother he is of New England ancestry. The first schools he attended were the White Eagle and Appleman- burg district schools. Later he was a student in the grammar and high schools of Kendallville, and also for two terms benefited by attendance at the Teachers' Normal and by a course in a business col- lege. He was a teacher in both LaGrange and Noble counties. For several years he was a clerk with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company at Kendallville and at Byron, Ohio. He then took up agency work, and traveled through several portions of Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. Through the in- fluence of a friend he accepted an offer to take up newspaper work in San Jose, California, and thus in the fall of 1893 severed his associations with Northeast Indiana. In 1897 he joined the forces of

the Morning Call at San Francisco and was with that paper for thirteen years. Beginning with 19II he spent more than two years with the Los Angeles Times, then for five years was on the Oakland Tribune, and at present is connected with the San Francisco Daily Bulletin. His duties as a news- paper man have given him a broad knowledge of personal contact with California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. He made an excursion to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona and an article concerning same appeared in the Santa Fe Railway Employees' Magazine. He is gifted with a ready pen, and fre- quently has pleased his old friends back home by the contribution of a poem or article for Indiana papers. His memory of and interest in the good old country of Northeast Indiana improves with age. He is an untiring worker in whatever he does, and his boyhood industry enabled him to acquire a good education and has stood by him in all the successive tests of his progress.

Mr. Spero is a republican without radical partisan- ship, and is more particularly interested in all the sound principles of Americanism. He joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1891, is still in good standing in that order, and before leaving Ken- dallville reached the position of high priest of the Encampment. In religion his essential faith is com- prehended in the Golden Rule and the gospel of Good Cheer.

At Salinas, California, September 16, 1896, Mr. Spero married Anna F. Kalfus, daughter of Dr. Henry and Elizabeth (Birkhead) Kalfus of Louis- ville, Kentucky. Her ancestry includes some of the old time and prominent families of Virginia. Her parental grandfather was Henry F. Kalfus, Sr., who married Matilda Harrison, sister of Dr. Burr Harri- son and daughter of Cuthbert Harrison of Bards- town. The Harrisons and Henry Kalfus, Sr., served many terms in the Kentucky Legislature. Mrs. Spero's mother was an only daughter of Dr. Joseph F. Birkhead. Mrs. Spero graduated from some of the best schools of her native state and soon after her father's death she, her mother and brother, went to California. She was one of the first suffragists south of the Mason and Dixon line. She was a member of the faculty of the Louisville Girls' High School and one of the organizers of its Alumnae Association, also one of the founders of the Cas- talian Literary Club of Frankfort, which still exists under another name. She has done much club work as member and president and was a delegate to the Biennial Federation of Clubs at a Denver meeting. She published and edited Report, a society and lit- erary journal in San Jose, California, for five years She has always been a student. She graduated from the University of California in 1912 with her two children, majoring in law. The children were both admitted to the bar, but the son died soon after- ward. The daughter, Italia de Jarnette, is the wife of Dr. W. W. Hollingsworth, professor of political science in Washington University, at St. Louis. Mrs. Spero devotes much time to study and writing and has published stories and poems.

HON. EDWARD R. MAY graduated at Yale College in 1838, and although one of the youngest of his class, he had acquired a reputation which gave promise of future distinction. After leaving col- lege, he was for two years engaged in teaching school in the East. Having at the same time, en- tered upon the study of law, he was in due time admitted to the New London County bar, in Con- necticut. Influenced by the hope of benefit to his health, he removed to Angola, Steuben County, In- diana, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. By

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skill in his profession, and by heartily identifying himself with the public interests, sustaining and promoting the cause of education, of temperance, and the institutions of religion, he rapidly acquired position and influence. He was a member of our State Legislature. He was also a member of the State Constitutional Convention. He went from Angola to California in the year 1852, and returned the same year, when his forecasting mind fixed upon St. Paul, Minnesota, as a point of command- ing importance in the future Northwest. He had hardly located there when, August 2, 1852, after only a few hours illness he died of cholera.

LITTLETON M. SNIFF, college president. Born in Hocking County, Ohio, November 30, 1849. Son of Isaiah and Elizabeth Moore. A. B. Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio. A. M. 1881. Married to El- vira M. Vandervort of Waldron, Michigan, August 25, 1872.

President Tri-State College, Angola, Indiana, 1885, until present time. Prohibitionist in politics. Member Christian (Disciples ) Church. Odd Fellow. Home, Angola, Indiana. (Copied from "Who's Who," 1918-1919.)

WILL H. MCEWEN, editor and proprietor of the Albion Democrat, is a native of Noble County, In- diana, born on a farm in the Township of Jeffer- son, December 26, 1865. His parents, Hannibal F. and Minerva (Bowman) McEwen, were brought to Noble County in their childhood, the former dying when Will H. was a lad ten years of age. Deprived of a father's counsel and care, young McEwen was reared by his mother, who instilled into his youth- ful mind many valuable lessons, which have had a decided influence in moulding and directing the subsequent course of his life. After completing the common school course, he entered the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, from the penmanship department of which he was graduated in 1884, and the following winter was employed as instructor in all kinds of writing and fine pen work. Animated by a desire to increase his scholastic knowledge with the object in view of preparing himself for the teacher's profession, he spent the next year in the above mentioned institution, and the following autumn began his pedagogical labors in Noble County. Mr. McEwen alternated teaching with attending the Valparaiso School and the State Normal School at Terre Haute, and while a student made rapid and substantial progress, becoming one of the most thorough and competent teachers in the County of Noble. Not caring to devote his life to educational work, he discontinued teaching in 1888 and turned his attention to merchandising, purchas- ing a stock of groceries in Albion and continuing in that line of trade for a limited period only. Dis- posing of his business, he next opened an insurance office at the county seat, and to this he devoted his time and attention until 1894, when he was appointed postmaster at Albion by President Cleveland.

Mr. McEwen entered upon the discharge of his duties in the spring of that year and served until May I, 1898, proving a most faithful, efficient and popular

official. In January, 1897, he entered into partner- ship with Henry C. Pressler, and purchased of O. H. Downey the Noble County Democrat, of which he assumed editorial management, his associate looking after the business interests of the plant. Under the joint control of Pressler and McEwen, the Democrat continued to make periodical visits until May 1, 1898, at which time the latter purchased his partner's interest and became sole proprietor. He soon changed the name to the Albion Democrat, and supplying the office with new material, greatly improved the paper in its mechanical make-up and the quality of its literary matter, making it not only the recognized official organ of the local democracy, but also one of the brightest and most newsy sheets published in the northern part of the state. Since taking charge of the Democrat, Mr. McEwen has demonstrated decided ability as a newspaper inan, both as a clear, keen, incisive writer and business manager. The circulation has continually increased, liberal advertising patronage has been secured, and with many new and approved appliances, the paper visits its numerous patrons, a model of typographic art and an exponent of orthodox democracy of the Jefferson school. Editorially it lost nothing when compared with the majority of local papers pub- lished in the state, and in the hands of the present proprietor it certainly will continue what it has been in the past-a clean, dignified model family news- paper, filled with the latest general news and all the interesting local happenings of Noble County.

Mr. McEwen has a laudable ambition to make the Democrat worthy of popular favor, and to this end he spares no reasonable efforts to procure for its columns the best reading matter obtainable. While democratic in its political aspect, it is also designed to vibrate with the public pulse and to be a reflex of the current thought of the age. With a large and increasing circulation and a lucrative advertising patronage, the Democrat, under the editorship of Mr. McEwen, is destined to play an important part in the political affairs of Noble County.

Mr. McEwen was married December 25, 1889, to Florence B. Franks, for some years one of Noble County's most popular and efficient teachers, and daughter of Abram and Maria Franks, the marriage ceremony taking place at her parents' home in Elk- hart Township.

For two years Mr. McEwen served as town clerk of Albion, and discharged the duties of the position in an able and praiseworthy manner. He is a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias Lodge in Albion, and of the United Brethren Church. With the exception of a few months in Chicago, he has spent his life within the geographic limits of Noble County, and for the past thirty-two years has been an honored citizen of Albion. To the best of his ability he has aided the progress and advancement of the city, faithfully performing his duties of citizenship, and discharging with commendable fidelity every trust reposed in him by his fellowmen. His position in the esteem and friendship of the community has been long assured, and he does honor to the county, which is proud to claim him as a native son, and in which his life work thus far has been accomplished.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 128

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