History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 40

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 40
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 40
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 40
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 40

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).

OLIVER M. GRAMLING is the prosperous owner of a 135-acre farm in Jackson Township of DeKalb County, has made most of his prosperity through his own efforts, and is one of the leading citizens of that community. He is a stock man and a breeder of high grade Durham cattle.

Mr. Gramling, whose home is a mile and a half southwest of Auburn, was born in Smithfield Town- ship of DeKalb County May 12, 1864, a son of Peter and Lavinia (Meyers) Gramling. His father was born in Stark County, Ohio, in 1848, and his mother . in York County, Pennsylvania, in 1842. They were married in Ohio and then came to Indiana and set- tled in Smithfield Township and spent the rest of their lives there. They were active members of the Barkers Chapel of the Methodist Church, and Peter Gramling was a republican. He served as postmas- ter at Summit, Indiana. In the family were eight children: Mary, wife of Thomas Lacy; Oliver M .; Isaac S., a railroad man living at York, Pennsyl- vania; Eleva, wife of Thad W. Thomas; Lottie, wife of J. I. Farley, head salesman of the Auburn Automobile Company; W. H., a farmer at Summit, Indiana; Carrie, wife of William Zurbrugg; and Richard A., of Cleveland, Ohio.

Oliver M. Gramling and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church at Auburn. He is a re- publican in politics. He married Miss Helen I. Shaffer, who was born in Union Township of De- Kalb County and is a graduate of the Auburn High School. They have three children: Lester S., born March 1, 1901, a student in the Auburn High School; Frances L., born September 30, 1906; and Oliver H., born December II, 1907.

Daniel Wereit d.P.

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

DANIEL W. WEITZ, who was through the Civil war as a Union soldier, has for half a century been an honored resident of Williams and DeKalb coun- ties, for more than fifty years being a farmer in Troy Township of the latter county. His home is a half mile west of Arctic.

Mr. Weitz, who is also a justice of the peace, was born in Portage County, Ohio, June 7, 1840, son of Adam and Elizabeth (Yeager) Weitz. His father was born at Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, in February, 1810, while the mother was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. They were married Septem- ber 17, 1839, at Franklin Mills in Portage County by B. F. Hopkins. They lived in Portage County for several years, and in 1846 became pioneers in Williams County, Ohio, where they spent the rest of their lives at Edgerton. Adam Weitz was reared a Catholic but later became a prominent member of the Methodist Church and founded the Weitz Methodist Episcopal Church in Williams County. He also took up democratic affiliation in politics but in 1856 joined the newly established republican party. He held several township offices. He and his wife had a family of eleven children, nine of whom are still living: Daniel W .; John A., de- ceased; Harriet; Lucina and Lavina, twins; Joseph ; Charles W .; Thomas T .; George A .; Francis E. and William A., deceased.

Daniel W. Weitz grew up on a farm in Williams County and acquired most of his education in school district No. 3 and in high school at Williams Cen- ter. He also made liberal use of his opportunities to study outside of school, and became a very suc- cessful teacher, a vocation he followed for about twenty years. Most of his teaching he did after the war. In 1861 he enlisted in Company H of the Third Ohio Cavalry, and was with that com- mand until the close of hostilities, being mustered out with the rank of first sergeant. . Though he was never wounded nor taken prisoner he was con- fined to a hospital by illness for six months.

After the war he returned to Williams County and on October 11, 1868, married Mary E. Bower- sox. She was born in St. Joe Township of Wil- liams County, being the first white girl born in that township. She was a sister of Judge C. A. Bowersox of Bryan, Ohio. In 1869, soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Weitz removed to Troy Township of DeKalb County, and have had their home there for over fifty years. He owns a farm of 130 acres. He was also the first president of the First National Bank of Butler, serving for three years, then became the vice president and is now a stockholder of that bank. Mrs. Weitz died Sep- tember 9, 1902. Of their five children three are still living: Nellie, who is a graduate of the high school at Edgerton, Ohio, and Tri-State College at Angola, is the wife of Joseph R. Wiley; Floy, who is a young woman of brilliant intellect and has spent twelve years as a teacher in Troy Township, is unmarried and lives at home with her father; Charles H. is a graduate of the Butler High School and Purdue University, with a degree in civil en- gineering, and is now in business at Salt Lake City.

Mr. Weitz is affiliated with Forest Lodge of Ma- sons at Butler, is a member of Meade Post No. 144 of the Grand Army of the Republic, and a re- publican in politics. He voted for Abraham Lincoln under a pine tree in 1864. He was then in Georgia in war service. He has served as a justice of the peace for about thirty years. During a residence in Edgerton, Ohio, he served as a member of the City Council and as City Solicitor.

J. P. Cox. Steuben County furnishes not a few examples of men who have spent many years in

business, trades and professions, and who for the settled years of their careers made a choice of farm- ing and country life. One of them is J. P. Cox, who, however, was born and reared on a farm in Salem Township, and after spending two decades at the painter's trade bought back a portion of the property on which he spent his boyhood and is now success- fully engaged in raising corn and hogs and other crops.

Mr. Cox was born in Salem Township April 17, 1866, a son of Eli D. and Margaret (Eckerd) Cox and a grandson of Jacob and Ann (Denman) Cox. His grandparents were natives of Pennsylvania, moving from that state to Ohio. Jacob Cox was a Wayne County farmer, and died there in 1881. His children were Eli D., Susan Ann, who married Se- bastian Eckerd, Andrew, Rebecca, who married Wes- ley Harper, Samuel, Alpheus and Freeman.

Eli D. Cox was born in Sugar Creek Township of Wayne County, Ohio, in 1825. He married Mar- garet Eckerd in 1852. She was born in Germany in 1830, and her father, John Eckerd, came to Amer- ica with his family about the same year. In 1858, six years after his marriage, Eli D. Cox came to In- diana and located in section 32 of Salem Township, Steuben County. The eighty acres he bought at that time had two or three log buildings, but otherwise the work of clearing and cultivation had hardly begun. The subsequent condition of the farm rep- resented many years of hard labor on his part, and in the course of time he had a well won prosperity. In 1871 he built a large barn and in 1873 a fine resi- dence, and continued actively engaged in farming there until 1893. After that he lived retired in Hudson until his death on May 3, 1901. His widow survived him until January 26, 1913, being eighty- three years of age at the time of her death. Their children were: Mary Ellen, who died in childhood; Jennie, who married Jacob Clinesmith; William Franklin; Susannah, who married Rudolphus Fred- erick; Cora Etta, wife of George Clinesmith; J. P .; H. B .; J. F., who died in childhood, and O. W. Cox.

J. P. Cox acquired his early education in the Pleasant Ridge School House. At the age of twenty- one he left the farm, where he had put in several years of work and gained a general knowledge of farming, to learn the painter's trade. He followed it actively for twenty years, nine years of the time being spent in Chicago. He gave up his vocation in 1905, and then bought a farm west of Kendallville, Indiana, living there a year. In 1905 also he bought his present place of eighty acres. The buildings on his farm are good ones and represent his work and investment since he became proprietor here. He is engaged in general farming, and keeps some excellent stock, and for the past five years has been rather extensively engaged in buying and shipping live- stock. At the present time Mr. Cox is manager of the Farmers Cooperative Shipping Association at Helmer.

On October 29, 1899, he married Miss Alma Hen- ney, daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Shellenber- ger) Henney. They have three children: Harold J., born January 12, 1902; Derl E., born January 31, 1904; and Hilda B., born September 2, 1909.

Jacob Henney, father of Mrs. Cox, was born in Holmes County, Ohio, July 24, 1823, and in early manhood settled in DeKalb County, Indiana, on wild land, and developed a good farm. He died March 7, 1906. He married Catherine Shellenberger November 17, 1853, and their children, ten in num- ber, were: Amanda, James, David, Catherine, Albert, Jennie, Edward, Emma, Alma and Susie. James, Catherine and Albert are deceased.

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

LESLIE H. GREEN represents one of the capable younger generation of Steuben County farmers, a young man who has met the test of manhood and has proved worthy of the robe of citizenship and the responsibilities descended upon him from his father.

Mr. Green, who operates the old Green homestead in Pleasant Township, was born in Scott Township of Steuben County, May 22, 1890, a son of the late Elmer A. Green, whose life record forms the title of a sketch on another page of this publication.

Mr. Green attended public schools in Scott and Pleasant townships and in March, 1912, at the age of twenty-two, began his serious career as a farmer. He has always lived on the old homestead and since his father's death in 1916 has had the active manage- ment of the farm of 146 acres owned by the widowed mother and her sons. He has nearly ten years of practical experience behind him, and that, supplemented with some sound native ability and a constant spirit of progress and study, fortifies him among the best farmers of Steuben County.

Mr. Green married Grace Riggleman, a daughter of George and Orda (Reed) Riggleman. They have three children, Donald C., Dale and Marvin E.

ORIS D. CANNON is well known'to the community of South Milford and all who sojourn within its limits as proprietor of the Hotel Cannon. He has been a successful business man, farmer and public official in that part of LaGrange County for many years.

He was born in Wayne Township of Noble County, July 25, 1876, a son of William and Mary (Fink) Cannon. His mother was also a native of Wayne Township, and after their marriage they settled in Milford Township of LaGrange County, where they still live. William Cannon is affiliated with the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Red Men, and is a democrat in politics. There were three children: Oris D .; Cora, unmarried and living at home; and Curtis, of Milford Town- ship.

O. D. Cannon grew up on a farm in Wayne Township of Noble County. When he was two years old he was taken into the home of his grand- father, who gave him a good education in the dis- trict schools and also supplied him with the advan- tages of the Tri-State College at Angola. After his grandfather's death he continued to live with his grandmother, and after his own marriage he pro- vided a home for her.

September 5, 1901, Mr. Cannon married Maude Bartlett, who was born in Milford Township and was educated in the Milford schools. For a year after his marriage Mr. Cannon conducted a livery business in South Milford and then followed farm- ing, was clerk in a hardware house and did other things. He owns 120 acres of land in Milford Township. He bought the hotel at South Milford, and took its active management in 1918.

Mr. and Mrs. Cannon have one son, Paul F., born November 16, 1908, and now attending the schools of South Milford. Mr. Cannon is a past noble grand of South Milford Lodge No. 610 of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, is past chief patriarch of the Encampment, and Mrs. Cannon is a member of the Rebekahs. She is active in church work as a Methodist and for a number of years has been a teacher in the Sunday School. Politically he is a member of the democratic party and is the present assessor of Milford Township.

ELIAS KLINE is one of the large land owners and successful farmers and stock men of Spencer Town- ship, DeKalb County. His home is two and three-

quarters of a mile northwest of Spencerville. Mr. Kline has 160 acres of land and has his farm well improved and stocked with good grades of cattle, horses and hogs.

He was born in Stark County, Ohio, December 24, 1848, a son of Henry and Maria (Rudy) Kline. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania, were married in Ohio, and in the spring of 1866 came to Indiana and settled in Spencer Township. In 1870 they located on the farm where they spent the rest of their lives.

Elias Kline acquired his education in Stark County, Ohio, and was about twenty-two years old when he came to Indiana. In politics he has always been a republican.

January 1, 1900, Mr. Kline married Mary V. Cail- let. She was born in France June 19, 1866, a daugh- ter of John H. and Anna (Rich) Caillet. Her father died in the old country in 1871. Her mother brought her four children to the United States in 1874, landing at New York in February and going from there to Canton, Ohio .. She later married John Shontz. Of her eight children four died in France and the four now living are August, Frank, Mary and Justin.

Mr. and Mrs. Kline have one son, Vernon E., born April 3, 1902, now in the third year of high school.

FRED H. GREEN. Doubtless as many and as im- portant a volume of business and civic interests at Ligonier revolve around the family name Green as are associated with any other one group of local citizens. The Green family during their long resi- dence in Noble County has been active as business men, farmers and bankers, and many of the impor- tant public offices have also been held by them.

Fred H. Green, of this family, is perhaps best known as the president of the Farmers and Mer- chants Trust Company of Ligonier, the office which he has held since the organization of that institution. This bank was organized in 1906. He was born in Ligioner, Indiana, June 18, 1862, the oldest son of Henry and Magdalena (Kaul) Green. His parents were both natives of Germany, and his father came to the United States at the age of sixteen, his mother at nineteen. When his father, Henry Green, first came to this country he came to Massillon, Ohio, and stayed with his uncle, who at that time owned a farm near that city and who later came to Noble County, Indiana, and bought a farm west of the City of Ligonier. After staying with his uncle at Massillon for a short period he then went to Cairo, Illinois, and later became a Mississippi River steam- boatman, running from Cairo down the river to New Orleans. He then went to Washington, D. C., and was employed as a foreman in a packing house, which business he had taken up while in Germany. After staying there a short time he then went to Jefferson City, Missouri, and engaged in a meat busi- ness for himself and while there, in the year 1861, he was married to Miss Magdalena Kaul. During the Civil war he furnished meat for both the Northern and Southern armies. Being in communication with his uncle, who insisted on his coming to Indiana, he did so and while here made his first purchase of 100 acres of heavily wooded land west of town and later moved from Jefferson City, Missouri, to the Town of Ligonier and spent one year on the farm. He then engaged in business in Ligonier, and his first associate was Fred Mackley, and they together ran a meat market and bought live stock and were widely known throughout this section of the coun- try. He conducted an active business until his death, which accurred in 1900. He was also among

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the leading men of affairs in Noble County, Indiana. Politically he was a democrat, a member of the Masonic and the Odd Fellows lodges, and he and his wife were active Lutherans. Henry Green was survived by three sons, all of whom were born here and well known and prominent business men of Ligonier, Indiana, named Frederick H., John H. and Harry, who are at present connected with the Farmers and Merchants Trust Company, and are in the real estate business in the partnership of Green Brothers and Oldfather, which firm deals exclusively in high grade farms and are buyers of timber as well as other commodities. The Green Brothers still operate large farms and deal exten- sively in the stock business.

Fred H. Green spent his boyhood days in Ligonier and attended public school until he was twelve years old. He early became associated with his father in business, and later on his two other brothers en- tered the business of his father and the firm became known as H. Green and Sons, and was widely known throughout this section of the country, as they were among the heaviest dealers in live stock as well as timber and other business pursuits. The extensive property interests of the Green family are still con- ducted under the name of H. Green and Sons. On February 17, 1898, Fred H. Green married Hattie B. Hays, a daughter of W. D. and Harriett E. Hays. W. D. Hays was widely known in this section of the country and was a man who held many offices of trust. Hattie B. Hays was born on a farm which is now known as the Willow Spring Farm, where she spent her early childhood days, and later on she attended the high school at Ligonier and finished her education with a college course at Oberlin, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Green were the parents of four chil- dren. William H., the oldest, is a graduate of the Ligonier High School and of the University of Wis- consin, and is now managing the Willow Spring Dairy Farm one-half mile northeast of Ligonier,

on which his mother was born. Frederick H., the second child, died in infancy. George E., the third son, is also a graduate of the Ligonier High School, as well as the University of Wisconsin, and served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Magdalena, the only daughter, is the youngest of the family.

The Green family are active members in the United Brethren Church, of which Mr. Green is one of the trustees. He is a past noble grand in the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows and is also a member of the Knights of Maccabees, and in politics is a democrat. He has been prominent politically in Ligonier, was elected on the City Council at the age of twenty-six, served two consecutive terms as mayor, has been a member of the County Council, and also served as a member of the Ligonier School Board. While he was mayor of the city the present city water works were built. He was also president of the Library Board when the Ligonier Public Library was erected.

The Green Brothers were the chief organizers of the Farmers and Merchants Trust Company, and through their efforts this bank was organized and at the time of its organization the stockholders were about seventy in number. The institution has thrived from the very beginning and has been one of great benefit to this community in more ways than one from a banking standpoint. The Green Brothers have always taken an active interest in the general interest of the city and community and could always be relied upon when any move was put forth for any purpose.

CLAIR W. WISNER. By long experience Clair W. Wisner has developed a high degree of skill as a merchant, and for a number of years has offered a splendid service as a dealer in hardware at the town of Metz. He knows what the people of that com- munity need and want, and is unceasing in his ef- forts to provide the best goods at the fairest prices.

Mr. Wisner, who represents an old and substantial family in Steuben County, was born in Richland Township, September 21, 1879, a son of Steven Wisner. He attended the public schools of Richland and for one year was a student in the Angola Tri- State College. As a young man he started clerking in a hardware store in Metz, and for fifteen years worked for others, mastering the business, and ac- cumulating the capital and credit which he used to buy out the store in January, 1907. Since then he has greatly expanded the store and service and in 1908 built the substantial building in which his stock of general hardware is now housed.

Mr. Wisner married for his first wife Mattie Allman and had one child, Heyman. Mrs. Wisner died in August, 1917, and in December, 1918, he married Hazel Mote. Mr. Wisner is a member of the Church of Christ and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias.

IRA B. YOUNG, who has been one of the most useful professional men to the farmers and stock raisers of LaGrange County, in his work as a veterinary surgeon handles his large practice and lives on his farm at Stroh.

He was born in Johnson Township of LaGrange County, August 6," 1867, son of Emanuel and Mary (Teeter) Young. His father was born in England March 20, 1842, and was two years old when his parents came to America in 1844. The family lived in New York State a time, then moved to Ohio and from there to LaGrange County, Indiana. Emanuel Young is now living in Johnson Township. He is a member of the Evangelical church and a repub- lican in politics. His family consisted of twelve children, nine of whom are still living: Anna, wife of Thomas Fields, of Johnson Township; Dr. Ira B .; Laura E., wife of Fred Talbert, of Albion, Indiana; Clara E., wife of Clayton Healey, of Johnson Township; Nancy A., wife of Walter Howard, of Newbury Township; Orville J., of Noble County; David H., of Milford Township; Celestia B., wife of Herbert Himes, of Clay Town- ship; and Preston E., of Johnson Township.

Ira B. Young grew up on the old farm in John- son Township, attended the common schools, was a student for two years in the Wolcottville High School, also attended the Tri-State College at An- gola, and is a graduate of the Business College at Lexington, Kentucky. For a number of years he spent his time alternating between teaching and farming, and in 1903 he graduated from the School of Veterinary Medicine at Grand Rapids, Michigan, with the degree D. V. S., also attended the Toronto 'Veterinary College of Toronto, Canada, and has given much of his time to his veterinary practice. He is a stockholder in the Wildman State Bank at Wolcottville.

Dr. Young married for his first wife Mary A. Kimmel. She is deceased, and of her four chil- dren only one is living, Ethel, wife of Reverend Mr. Summers, a Lutheran minister. Dr. Young mar- ried for his second wife Bertha A. Schermerhorn, daughter of Aaron and Maria Schermerhorn. She attended high school three years and was a teacher four years. They have five children: Ruth, a graduate of the Wolcottville High School, who also continued her education in the Tri-State Nor-

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mal College and is now a teacher; Nellie I., a high school student; Dena M., Dorothy M. and Bion A. Dr. Young is affiliated with Philo Lodge No. 672 of the Masons and is a charter member of his lodge.

HARRY D. MILLER. Many of the best regulated farms of LaGrange County may be found in Clay Township, and one of these belongs to Harry D. Miller, a worthy member of one of the old families of this section of Indiana. The family history will be found in this work. Mr. Miller was born in Clay Township, March 15, 1875, and is a son of Daniel J. Miller.

Harry D. Miller attended the public schols in Clay Township and grew to manhood on the home farm in Newbury Township, where he continued in school for a time and then accepted a clerical position in the New York Central Railroad offices, where he remained three years. Mr. Miller had come of farming stock however, and agricultural surroundings and interests began to be more attrac- tive than outside work, and this led him back to the farm, where he has remained contented and pros- perous ever since. In 1907 he bought a farm of eighty acres, later adding twenty acres, making 100, acres in all, situated in Clay Township, and carries on general farming and stockraising, working along modern lines and assisted by the best of improved farm machinery. In the spring of 1909 Mr. Miller and his wife bought eighty acres of the old Wiler home- stead in Newbury Township, on which she was born.

December 25, 1901, Mr. Miller was united in mar- riage to Miss Edith Wiler, who was born on her father's farm January 12, 1880, and is a daughter of William and Martha (Freed) Wiler, who came to LaGrange County from Ohio, settled in New- bury Township and lived on the same farm for fifty-two years. The parents of Mrs. Miller are deceased, the father surviving the mother and pass- ing away February 10, 1918, when aged seventy years. Mrs. Miller has one sister, Bessie, who is the wife of Mahlon Weaver. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have an interesting family of four children, namely: Freeda, who was born December 26, 1903, is a graduate from the eighth grade in the public schools; Lucile, who was born June 8, 1909; Pauline, who was born July 6, 1911; and Katherine, who was born October 17, 1915. The family belongs to the Mennonite Church. In politics republican, Mr. Miller was township assessor four years.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 40

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