History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 24

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 24
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 24
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 24
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 24

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).

pital at Santa Fe, New Mexico, for eighty-four days. Like most men who have really done brave things, he is modest in telling of them. On one oc- casion he undertook the dangerous task of crossing the Columbia River on thin ice in order to carry a telegram to a family announcing the death of a soldier son in the barracks at Vancouver, being the only man to volunteer for this hazardous mission. He succeeded in crossing the cracking ice on Nor- wegian snow shoes, but had to remain at his des- tination for a week on account of the breaking ice, and then returned by means of a row boat.

Mr. Grogg owns a well tilled farm with excep- tional improvements. His residence is of cement blocks, with sanitary plumbing and a heat, light and water system and with separate apartments for himself and for his tenant and family, the latter being Guy Myers, who married Gladys Grogg, a relative. They make Mr. Grogg exceedingly com- fortable and he passes the most of his time at Progressive Farm. By careful plan he has the barn basement adapted to the care of livestock, having ample room and crib capacity, with a stor- age tank for water in the bank driveway, gravity forcing the water in a constant stream by the open- ing of a valve. When the wind pump fails, there is a gasoline engine to use in emergency, hence water is plentiful at all times, which is one of the greatest desideratums in successful agricultural in- dustries.

Mr. Grogg's interest in public affairs is that of a well informed, public-spirited citizen. In national matters he is a zealous republican in his political views, but in local campaigns, when some specific issue is at stake, he allows himself to follow his own good judgment and consider the man rather than the party.

SETH S. AVERY. Every community has several families which are regarded as most representative of its best characteristics, generally because of the lives of the founders of them, who by setting up high standards have so shaped the morality of the neighborhood. Steuben and Otsego townships claim the Avery family as belonging to this class and to them, and no one living here disputes the fact that Jesse Whitcomb Avery and his beloved wife, Eliza (Shumaker) Avery, exerted a powerful influence for good in this part of Steuben County. They were quiet, unostentatious people, who by the very simplicity and sincerity of their lives impressed their assoicates with their goodness and natural wisdom, and they so brought up their children that the present generation are being trained in the same admirable manner.

Seth S. Avery, the third born in their family, is one of the substantial men of his community, and is numbered among the reliable farmers and business men of Otsego Township. He was born in this township, July 28, 1859. A man of unusual intel- lectual development, Mr. Avery realized the im- portance of placing in definite form some record of the several old families from which he sprung, and in 1905, while both his parents were in full possession of their faculties, he led them to talk of their ancestors, setting down all the facts as he learned them. These facts he has embodied in a very interesting pamphlet from which the fol- lowing has been gleaned.

The Avery family is of English descent, and documents in the family prove that it was located in the American Colonies many years ago. The first of the Averys of whom there is definite men- tion is Samuel Avery, who died in Dearborn Town- ship, Kennebec County, Maine, where he had been married to Sarah Fall, and where their four children

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

were born. These children were as follows: John Hutcherson, of whom mention is made below; Amanda, who married Alexander Britton, and they had two daughters, Betsy and Emily; Dolly, who married David Chard, and they had the following children : George, Sarah, Susan, Amanda, Lydia and Rhoda; and Sarah, who married John K. Van Fleet, and they had the following children: Joshua, Samuel, John, Elizabeth, Anna, Ruth, Mal- vina and Thomas. Mrs. Sarah (Fall) Avery was a woman of strong character, and after the death of her husband she sought better opportunities for her children, first in Marion County, Ohio, and later in Steuben County, Indiana, arriving in the latter during the fall of 1836. Not long after she had located in Otsego Township she was married to George Quick, and they had two sons, Avery and Henry. Mrs. Avery was a sister of the mother of Aaron Taylor, another of Steuben County's prominent men.

John H. Avery, a son of Samuel and Sarah (Fall) Avery, was married first to Maria Whit- comb, and after her death, at the age of twenty-five years from dropsy, caused by the birth of her second child, Maria, who died at birth, he was married to his sister-in-law, Louisa Whitcomb. In addition to the infant daughter who did not sur- vive, John H. Avery had by his first marriage a son, Jesse Whitcomb, and he was the father of Seth S. Avery, and was born February 18, 1833, at Big Island, Marion County, Ohio.

The Whitcomb family is another old established one of this country, Major Benjamin Whitcomb having served his country during the American Revolution, and as he was the father of Maria (Whitcomb) Avery, and consequently the grand- father on the maternal side of Jesse Whitcomb Avery, he was entitled to a life pension from the government. In fact his papers were placed in order and had it not been for the outbreak of the Civil war, and its long continuance, he would have doubtless received it. As it was this still remains an unpaid claim.

Jesse Whitcomb Avery lost his father in 1840, and as his stepmother received all the money left by him Mr. Avery only had as his portion an out- lawed quit claim deed to real estate which had belonged to his paternal grandfather, Samuel Avery, and the west half of section 18, township 36, north, range 14, east, Steuben County, Indiana. Although he was early bereft of a father's protection, his grandmother looked after little Jesse Whitcomb Avery until a guardian was appointed, and through the latter, Elder Miner, an excellent home was secured for the lad with James Johnson, grand- father of Mrs. Mina (Johnson) Sutherland, of Otsego Township.

On February 19, 1854, Jesse Whitcomb Avery was united in marriage with Eliza Shumaker, and they located on the farm his father had entered from the government many years before, and which constituted practically his only inheritance. Here they resided for nearly sixty years, and on this farm all of their children were born and reared, they being as follows: Edward, Amro, Seth S., Mary, who is deceased, Emma, Lida and Jesse Whitcomb, who is also deceased. Mr. Avery and his wife were born in the same year, and they went to school together. Their tastes were similar, and they both held in the highest reverence truth, honor and upright living. Such a couple could not help but diffuse a highly moral atmosphere that was felt by all who came within the family circle. Children brought up in such a home could not help but develop into desirable citizens, for these parents did not simply teach the various virtues, they prac- ticed them, and never by word or deed lowered

themselves in the estimation of their children or neighbors. Jesse Whitcomb Avery preceded his wife into the other world, but they lie side by side in the beautiful cemetery of Circle Hill. He died at his home in Otsego Township April 28, 1912, aged seventy-nine years, two months and ten days, and she died November 19, 1915, aged eighty-one years, eleven months and fourteen days. Having been for forty-seven years active in the Odd Fellows Lodge of Angola, his fraternity was in charge of the funeral services. He was a brunette, with brown eyes and straight black hair and had a Roman nose. His height was five feet, seven inches, and his weight was about 145 pounds. He died of hardening of the arteries. No man of Steuben County ever commanded more respect, and he was recognized as the epitome of honesty, sobriety and fair dealing.

His wife, Eliza (Shumaker) Avery, was equally notable and is remembered with tender affection by many outside her own family who are indebted to her for innumerable acts of kindness. She was born in Hardy County, West Virginia, December 5, 1833, and when she died she was the only survivor of the nine children born to her parents, Michael and Elizabeth (Myers) Shumaker. These children were as follows: Lydia, who became Mrs. John Raker: Sarah. who became first the wife of John Mills and later of Henry Secoir; John, who mar- ried Amanda Chard, mentioned in the records of the Avery family; Katie; Rosana; Amanda, who became the wife of Aaron Taylor, also mentioned in the Avery records; George, who became the husband of Katherine Lininger, was married first to Mary Bland; Eliza, who became Mrs. Avery; and Betsy, who became the wife of Henry Secoir, men- tioned above.

A brother of Michael Shumaker, John Shumaker married and had five children, namely: Margaret, Rachael, John, James and Harvey. A sister of these two brothers, Mrs. Mary (Shumaker) McClain, had two children, George and Dorcas.

The Shumaker family, finding the confines of the old home in West Virginia too small for the young life growing up in it, set forth across the country, stopping for a time in Licking County, Ohio, which they left in 1845 intending to go to the Rock River region in Illinois. However, by the time they reached Steuben County the good father was so ill that they were forced to stay in a little log cabin schoolhouse which stood on the present farm of Frank Jackson, but then on the old Peter Russell Farm in Steuben Township. Here Michael Shumaker died a few days after his arrival, but his widow survived him many years, finally passing away in Steuben County in 1863. With his death the plans of his family were changed, and it was decided that they remain in Steuben County. They were poor and they worked hard, the girls going into the fields and woods and wresting a living from nature. Eliza Shumaker became noted · for her skill in dropping corn, being able to keep up with the horse drawing the marker, something all men did not accomplish, and she also dug for ginseng and other roots which were used for medicinal purposes. She also performed all of the arduous household tasks of her day, many of which are scarcely known to the present generation, and developed into one of the finest women God ever made. Sweet of disposition, her sunny temperament never allowed her to show temper, if she ever even felt it. Under the most discouraging circumstances she could always detect the silver lining, and she did not possess a single selfish thought. With her her home and family came first, but she had such a superabundance of Christian charity and kindly

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

affection that she was a beneficent presence in her community, and children and grandchildren rose up to call her blessed. During the last nine years of her life she could not be induced to leave her home, although no one would have been more welcome in the families of her children, and her thoughts, freed from domestic burdens, dwelt on beautiful subjects, showing that had she been spared some of the hardships which fell to her lot she would no doubt have developed artistic or literary talents of no mean order. Indeed there is no doubt but that her son Seth S. Avery inherits his undoubtedly clever ideas and literary tastes from his mother. When she was a girl educational opportunities were not many, and the schools were wide apart, but this undaunted young soul would walk two and one-half miles each way to school, and then in the evening repeat the walk in order to participate in the old-fashioned spelling matches, many of which she won, for she was a speller hard to "down." In her younger years she is described as being a blonde, with grey eyes and brown curly hair. In height she was five feet, four inches, and weighed about the same as her husband, 145 pounds. Her death was caused by valvular trouble of the heart.

Seth S. Avery first attended the public schools of Otsego Township, but his parents realizing that this son possessed unusual attainments sent him to the Angola High School, from which he was grad- uated in 1880. Mr. Avery then began teaching school during the winter season and attended Hills- dale College in the spring and fall for two years. Then he turned all of his attention to his educa- tional work and was one of the popular instructors of the young in Steuben County until .1892. He then began selling fencing for the Peerless Fence Company, and is still its representative in this locality. He is a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity of his alma mater.

Mr. Avery and his sister, Mrs. Swift, live together, as he never married, and her late husband, Carl Swift, is deceased. Mrs. Lida Swift was born January 10, 1867, and she superintends the operation of the farm. Jesse Whitcomb Avery and his wife have passed from this life, but the weight of their upright and honorable lives remains, and their effect upon their contemporaries is going to be felt to the third and fourth generation.

J. BURTON LEMMON is member of an old and prominent family of Steuben County, and the family has an interesting military record. Mr. Lemmon himself fought as a Union soldier in the Civil war, had a son with the colors in the World war, while his grandfather was in the War of 1812 and his own father was a captain of militia in the early days.

Mr. Lemmon was born in Sandusky County, Ohio, in Green Creek Township, March 22, 1838, a son of Morris and Lucinda (Rathburn) Lemmon. His father was born in New York State in 1813 and his mother in the same state in 1820. Their settle- ment in Steuben County dates from 1843. The land they located on is now owned by Martin Lem- mon in Otsego Township, comprising sixty-two and a half acres. Morris Lemmon increased his hold- ings here until he had 210 acres. Morris Lemmon was accompanied on his migration to Indiana by his father, John Lemmon, whose wife, a member of the Tuttle family, died in Sandusky County, Ohio. John Lemmon died in 1847. His four children were Morris, David, Laura and Mrs. Luretta Wick- wire. Mr. Lemmon did not live long after coming to Steuben County, passing away in 1845. His widow survived until 1868. Their four children

were J. Burton, David Riley, Chaplin Brace and Henry Clay, the last two now deceased. The widowed mother married for her second husband David Lemmon, a brother of her first husband, and by that union had four children, Lavina, Mor- ris A., Mildred and Saxton B. Morris Lemmon was a whig in politics and liberal in his religious views.

J. Burton Lemmon grew up on the homestead farm, acquired such educational advantages as were available, and from youth upward has been a factor in the farming affairs of Steuben County. On August 7, 1862, at Angola, he enlisted in Company H of the Seventy-fourth Indiana Infantry, and was in the army until honorably discharged June 14, 1865. He was in the battles of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Jonesboro and many of the skir- mishes in the Atlanta campaign. He was taken prisoner in Georgia in 1864 and for six months was confined at Andersonville. Mr. Lemmon has been a stanch republican in his political views.

November 20, 1867, he married Miss Celestia Car- ter, a native of Steuben County and daughter of Samuel Carter. She died November 22, 1879, the mother of three children, Mildred, Zoa and Frank. October 20, 1883, Mr. Lemmon married Miss Ma- linda Fee. She was born on the farm where she and her husband now reside in Otsego Township February 28, 1866, and is a daughter of Richard and Zilla (Avery) Fee. Her parents came from Ohio and settled in Otsego Township in 1856, and the farm now occupied by Mr. Lemmon and wife has been in the ownership of the Fee family for over sixty years. Mrs. Lemmon's mother died in 1916, at the age of eigthy-three, while Mr. Fee passed away in January, 1870. There were six children in the Fee family: Maria, Almina, Dwight, Clarinda, Horace G. and Malinda.

Mr. and Mrs. Lemmon have three children: Ruth is the wife of Melvin Updyke and the mother of two children, Mildred and Keith. Err married Edna Musser, and their children are Harvey Bur- ton, Gertrude, Richard Wier, Isabel and Dwight. Riley Avery, the youngest child, married Edith Rettabaugh and has a daughter, Reva. Riley A. was the soldier representative of the family in the World war, going into the army in August, 1918, and serving at Camp Sherman.

JOHN W. PALMER began life about the same place that many young men of the present day have to begin, with hardly better circumstances and with no better prospects, and his success is measured in the ownership of the Palmer Stock Farm, comprising 385 acres in York Township, one mile west and one mile north of Albion in Noble County. All of this he has made by his hard work and good judgment, and when taken in connection with his high standing as a citizen there are few who would deny that it is a complete measure of success and achievement.

Mr. Palmer was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, September 15, 1854, son of Henry and Hannah (Peffer) Palmer. His father was born in West- moreland County, Pennsylvania, August 30, 1828. His mother was born in Tuscarawas County, March 3. 1835. They were married on January II, 1852, and five years later, in 1857, arrived in Noble County, Indiana. Henry Palmer was one of the well-to-do and well thought of men of his generation, and before his death owned a farm of 185 acres in Noble County. He died January 8, 1894, and his wife passed away December 3, 1914. He was a republican in politics. Of the five children only two are now

J. W. PALMER AND WIFE AND SON C. C. PALMER FAMILY GROUP

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

living, John W. and Saloma. The latter is the widow of J. G. Steele and lives in York Township.

John W. Palmer was between three and four years old when brought to Noble County, and he has spent practically all his life within its limits. As a boy he attended the district schools, and learned farming under the eye and direction of his father. On November 15, 1881, he married Miss Alice Flanagan. Mrs. Palmer was born in Allen County, Indiana, February 27, 1858, daughter of John and Alice ( Murphy) Flanagan. She spent her early girlhood near Ligonier, and had a district school education.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Palmer moved to the old Palmer homestead, and in 1882 he bought eighty acres of this farm and has since kept his possessions growing and expanding until he now has a well proportioned farm of 385 acres, and has built the comfortable house and the barns and other stock buildings. For a number of years he was a breeder of Shorthorn cattle. Mr. Palmer is a stockholder in the Farmers Bank at Albion. He is an active republican, has served as committeeman and as dele- gate to state conventions, and for four years was trustee of York Township.

Mr. and Mrs. Palmer had two children: Carlos C. and Mabel. Carlos is a graduate of the Albion High School and the Fort Wayne Business College, spent one year at Purdue University and is now field man representing the Iowa Homestead and lives at Des Moines, Iowa. He married Addie Kitt and has two children, John and Jane. The daughter Mabel graduated from the Albion High School and married Carl R. Cobbs. She died in July, 1914. She became the mother of one child, Kenneth P. Cobbs.

JOHN WAGNER has been a resident of DeKalb County for over half a century, spent many industri- ous years as a farmer, and is now enjoying his well merited comfort and retirement on his home place in Franklin Township.

He was born in Germany October 8, 1842, a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Jacobs) Wagner. His parents on coming to America spent a short time in Ohio and then settled in Indiana, north of Water- loo, and their last years were spent in Franklin Township. They were buried at Hamilton, Indiana. Both were active members of the Reformed Church, and the father voted as a democrat.

John Wagner is the only one of eight children still living. He was twelve years old when he came to this country and received most of his education in the common schools of Germany. He began earning his own living as a youth in DeKalb County and has pursued a straightforward and industrious career.

In 1869 he married Catherine Anthony, who was born in Stark County, Ohio, and was educated in the district schools there. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Wagner settled on a farm in DeKalb County, and their home life was uninterrupted until her death more than thirty years later, in 1901. Mr. Wagner still lives on the home farm of eighty acres.

There were seven children, six of whom are still living : Sarilla, wife of John Timbleson; Lewis; Minnie E., wife of William Sanders, of Fort Wayne; Charles; Clarence, who married Lottie Walter and has five children, named Homer, Frank, Bessie, John and Dorothy, and Vernie, wife of Glenn Moughler, of Wilmington Township. Mr. Wagner is a demo- crat in politics and has served as a member of the Township Advisory Board of Franklin Township.

MILO THOMPSON has played a varied and useful part in the affairs of Steuben County, is a lawyer

by profession, has been a farmer, is present trustee of Millgrove Township, and is one of the best known and influential citizens of Orland.

He was born in Gilead Township of Branch County, Michigan, January 8, 1862, a son of Melvin and Orsena P. (Brown) Thompson, both natives of New York State. His grandfather, James Thompson, brought his family from New York to Southern Michigan and settled in Branch County in the early days. Melvin Thompson after reaching. manhood moved over the state line from Branch County to Millgrove Township in 1867, and spent the rest of his life in that township as a farmer. He died in 1907. Milo Thompson has a younger sister, Della, wife of Moses Latta.

Mr. Milo Thompson grew up on his father's farm in Millgrove Township, attended the district schools there and later the public schools at Orland. One of his early experiences was teaching, a vocation he followed for three terms. After that he was a farmer in Millgrove township and in 1896 left the farm and engaged in the practice of law at Bron- son in his native Michigan county. He remained there five years and in 1901 returned to the farm in Millgrove. His home has been at Orland since 1909, and he is the man consulted by most of the people in that community in matters of law and he has developed a good practice. Mr. Thompson was elected trustee of Millgrove Township in 1908 and served a term of six years, until 1914. Then after an interim of four years he was again elected trustee in 1918. Besides the duties of that office he is clerk of the Village of Orland. Mr. Thomp- son is unmarried, is a member of the Masonic Lodge, Star Lodge No. 225, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Orland.

ALFRED HANTZ has been a resident farmer of Steuben County forty-five years, and since 1890 his farm operations have been conducted on a place across the township line between Scott and York townships. He is enjoying a well-earned prosperity, is a man of substantial character, and his work and activities have commended him to a large group of fellow citizens.

He was born in Williams County, Ohio, December 20, 1852, a son of Jesse and Mary Ann (Gorman) Hantz. His father was born in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. His mother was the daughter of Abraham Gorman. Jesse Hantz was a Williams County farmer, but in the spring of 1865 moved to Scott Township, Steuben County, and spent the rest of his life there. He was the owner of 240 acres. He and his wife were members of the German Reformed Church. He had a family of six children : Sarah, who married Joshua Metz;

Alfred; Jane, wife of Nicholas Bontrigger ; George; Eli; and Anna, who died in childhood.

Alfred Hantz attended the public schools of Scott Township and learned his business as a farmer while on his father's home. He remained at home until the age of twenty-five.

In 1871 he married Maria Lahman, who died in August, 1874. Her only child, Martha, is wife of Sherman Goodrich. They had a large family of eight children, named William, Gertrude, Maude, Jessie, Ford, Edith, Herman and Martha.

March 21, 1875, Mr. Hantz married Mary A. Kaufman, daughter of Joseph and Anna Kaufman. He and his wife had eight children: Jesse, James, Fred, Anna, Charles, Ella, Robert and Irvin. The son Jesse was drowned July 4, 1898. James died at the age of fourteen. Fred married Ethel Hemry, and they have five children, Clarence, Orville, Dorothy, Cecil and Clinton. Anna is the wife of Nelson Barron and the mother of two children,

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

Mildred Mary and Roscoe A. Charles married Ethel Krantz, and they have a son, Robert. Irvin married Olie Teegardin and has two children, Earl W. and Lois Mary.

Mr. Alfred Hantz in 1873 moved to a farm in the south part of Scott Township and lived there until 1890. In that year he removed to his present place, where he has 175 acres, ninety-five acres being in York Township and eighty acres in Scott Township. His house is in York Township while his barn is across the road in Scott Township. Mr. Hantz does general farming and stock raising, has remodeled the house and put up many sub- stantial buildings.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 24

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