History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 44

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 44
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 44
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 44
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 44

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).

Lewis Howey, only child of his father, was about two years old when his father died, and he lived with his mother in Concord Townshp to the age of twelve. He then took employment with a neigh- boring farmer, and was with him steadily for twelve years. He received very little wages and at the age of twenty-one had no capital. He earned his first capital by hauling logs, an occupation he fol- lowed about five years. He then bought twenty acres of land and married Dorcas Brown and began farm- ing. He lived there eight years and then moved to the place where he now lives and subsequently bought the seventy acres.

Mr. Howey's wife died in 1903. She was the mother of two daughters: Jennetta, a graduate of the common schools and wife of Jesse Provines, and they live on the Howey farm; and Gladys, wife of Charles Carper, and she lives in Garrett. Mrs. Howey was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church at Concord.

Mr. Howey is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at St. Joe, Indiana, and is a trustee of the Ancient Order of Gleaners. He was the first man elected on the republican ticket to the office

of trustee of Jackson Township. This township is normally democratic by about seventy, and he was elected by a majority of four votes.

CHESTER C. KLINK. There is a growing disposi- tion in the minds of liberal men to judge people not by their possessions but by what they do and the value of their work and position in any community. Applied to Chester C. Klink of Salem Township in Steuben County this scale of appraisal brings out the fact that he is in the words of one of his neighbors "a corking good farmer," has made good his stew- ardship of one of the older homesteads of Steuben County, is a man whose judgment is civic and com- munity affairs is respected, and his is one of the most interesting families in Salem Township.

Mr. Klink was born on the Klink homestead in section 12 of Salem Township, December 16, 1879. This homestead was once the property of his grand- father, Christian Klink. Christian Klink was a na- tive of Germany, served over five years in the Napoleonic wars in Europe, and on coming to America landed at Baltimore, where he worked to pay his passage money. Afterward he settled in Ohio, and in 1848 came as one of the pioneers to Steuben County, Indiana. He acquired at that time a tract of land including the present farm of his grandson. He lived to see much of this land in cultivation, the log cabin replaced by a frame house, and the esteem with which he was regarded was proportionate to his material achievements.

His son, Eli Klink, was born in Ohio in 1844 and was a small child when brought to Steuben County. He became a successful farmer and in 1878 built a fine fourteen-room brick house on the old home- stead. He died at Angola in 1909. He married Syrena Deller, who was born in Steuben County in 1850 and is still living. Eli Klink and wife had six children, Chester C. being fourth in age.

Chester C. Klink acquired his education in the public school of District No. I of Salem Township known as the Klink School, and from there entered the Angola Tri-State Normal College, taking the literary course two years and then graduating in the commercial course. As a young man he farmed in section 14 of Salem Township a year and a half, and then returned to the old Klink home and for a number of years has carried on his affairs in a systematic and efficient manner which spells success in farming and stock raising. He is well known as a breeder of blooded Shorthorn cattle, having a herd of about thirty of these fine animals and is also a breeder of spotted Poland China hogs.

Mr. and Mrs. Klink are members of the Trinity Reformed Church. June 6, 1900, he married Mabel S. Lacey, daughter of Robert A. Lacey, member of a well-known family of Steuben County. They are the proud parents of six fine looking and sturdy children, named in order of age, Robert E., Vinson C., Wayne E., Thelma S., Wilbur M. and Wesley W.

JOSEPH R. SNYDER has spent practically all the years of his life in LaGrange County, and has ordered his career along the pleasant and not un- profitable lines of agriculture and the building trade. For many years he was associated with his brothers under the name Snyder Brothers as general contractors and builders, and his father was also a skillful carpenter. Mr. Snyder lives on a good farm a mile north and a mile west of Wolcottville in Johnson Township.

He was born in Bloomfield Township of La- Grange County, October 14, 1862, a son of Wil- liam J. and Julia A. (Hilderbrand) Snyder. His

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parents were both natives of Pennsylvania, and their respective families moved from that state to Ohio, where William and Julia were married. Immediately after their marriage they located on a farm in Bloomfield Township of LaGrange County, where they spent the rest of their days. They were very active members of St. John's Lutheran Church, and William Snyder did much of the carpenter work in the construction of the church edifice. As a contractor and carpenter he worked at his trade until hindered by the in- firmities of old age. In politics he was a republi- can. He and his wife had a large family of twelve children, seven of whom are still living: Mrs. Addie Philipson; Louisa, wife of George Can- field; John J., of Mongo, Indiana; Catherine, wife of Joseph Johnson, of Auburn; Joseph R .; Bloom- field, of Elkhart, Indiana; and May, wife of Wil- liam Seaman.

Joseph R. Snyder grew up on his father's farm in Bloomfield Township and had a common school education. At the age of sixteen he began earn- ing his own living, and worked by the day and month until he married. He learned the carpen- ter and joiner's trade under his father, and in as- sociation with his brothers was a contractor and carpenter for fourteen years.

January 22, 1885, Mr. Snyder married Jennie Holsinger. She was born in Johnson Township March II, 1866, daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Fleck) Holsinger, the former a native of Stark and the latter of Seneca County, Ohio. Their re- spective families moved to Indiana, where Mrs. Snyder's parents were married and then settled in Johnson Township, where her father entered land direct from the Government, and as a pioneer cleared up and put under cultivation a large tract. He is remembered as one of the stalwart early set- tlers, very charitable and helpful to his neighbors and to the unfortunate, and an active member of St. John's Lutheran Church.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Snyder lo- cated at LaGrange, but a year later moved to John- son Township, where he continued the work of his trade. He has occupied his present farm since February, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have one daughter, Izetta, wife of Clarence Cook, living in Elkhart. Their one grandson, George W. K., is a graduate of the Elkhart High School and is a talented young musician. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder are members of the Lutheran Church, he is a past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has sat in the Grand Lodge, and in politics is a republican. His home farm comprises fifty-five acres.

GEORGE E. CLARK. One of the recent comers to Northeast Indiana, George E. Clark became a farm renter after his marriage, made thrift and economy the keynote of his domestic and business career for several years, and did not become a permanent land owner until he moved to DeKalb County. He owns one of the good farms in Butler Township, lo- cated in section 20.

He was born in Van Wert County, Ohio, Decem- ber 28, 1874, a son of Charles W. and Lucinda (Bear) Clark, both natives of Ohio, his father be- ing a native of Knox County. After their mar- riage they settled at Middlepoint, Ohio, where the father was a farmer, and he lived there until he met an accidental death while handling a team. He served as a Union soldier in the Civil war and was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and was affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife died in Van Wert in 1918. They had nine children: A daughter born September 24,

1869, and died in infancy; John H., born Septem- ber 14, 1870; Charles A., born February 29, 1872; Mary C., born June 10, 1873; George E., born De- cember 28, 1874; Sarah A., born January 6, 1877, and is now deceased; a daughter born January 8, 1879, and died in infancy; Willis E., born March 14, 1880; and Ethel, born April 25, 1883.

George E. Clark grew up on his father's farm in Ohio and had a district school education. He lived at home to the age of twenty-five. In November, 1899, he married Elva O. Fawcett. She was born in Van Wert County, Ohio, December 30, 1877. Her father, Levi Fawcett, died in 1916, at the age of eighty-three, and her mother, whose maiden name was Ellen Burr, is still living. In the Fawcett fam- ily were thirteen children, namely: Emma J., de- ceased; Albert, of Toledo, Ohio; Iza, wife of R. H. Somerset, living near Middlepoint; John, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; David, of Van Wert; Robert who lives southeast of Middlepoint; William, living in Ohio; Alma, wife of John Parnett, of Van Wert County and now deceased; Luella, wife of Noah Ashbaugh; Elva, Mrs. Clark; Frank; Charles O., deceased; and Nellie, wife of Thomas Lynch, of Fort Wayne.

After his marriage Mr. Clark settled on a farm in Van Wert County, and was a renter until he removed to DeKalb County in 1915. At that time he bought 127 acres constituting his present farm in Butler Township. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have five children: Mildred I., born October 10, 1900; Velma R., born October 9, 1902; Neoma L., born October 23, 1904; Francis W., born May 2, 1907; and Clif- ford, born June 4, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Clark are members of the Friends Church near Van Wert; Ohio. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Middlepoint, Ohio, and in pol- itics is a republican.

DANIEL STOMM. The best way to identify Daniel Stomm with the citizenship of DeKalb County is to say that he is proprietor of Vistawald in Fair- field Township. He was born May 20, 1862, and is now the senior in the house of Stomm in the United States. He looks both backward and forward over two generations of the family in DeKalb County.

The house of Stomm was first established in this country when his uncle, Daniel Stomm, whose name he bears, accompanied by a sister, Margaret Stomm, located in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1851. They were soon followed by the rest of the family from Baden, Germany. In 1854 George Henry Stomm and his family arrived in DeKalb County, after living for a short time in both Pennsylvania and Ohio. The son Daniel, who was a blacksmith in Pittsburg, died there unmarried, but the daughter Margaret came on with the family to the new home in In- diana. When George M. Stomm and wife, Mar- garet (Holtzworth) Stomm, crossed the Atlantic to join their son and daughter in America they were accompanied by four children, Henry, Elizabeth, Barbara and Catherine.

Henry, who was the father of Daniel, the present head of the Stomm family, was born in Germany March 24, 1833, and had just attained to manhood when he came to DeKalb County. He had learned the weaver's trade in Germany, but agriculture has been the forte of the Stomm family in this coun- try. The naturalization papers of Henry Stomm are now a matter of record in the DeKalb County court house. Today the history of all that genera- tion of the Stomm family has been written on the tombstone in the DeKalb-Steuben County Line Ceme- tery in Steuben County. The Stomm family name was identified with the German Reformed Church,

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and in politics the family vote always went to demo- cratic candidates.

Henry Stomm married Anna Maria Gettz on Jan- uary 9, 1856. She had come with her parents, Wil- liam and Eliza (Hosler) Gettz, from Pennsylvania. Two of her sisters, Sarah and Susannah Putt, who married brothers, are living at Garrett, Indiana. The seven living children born to Henry and Anna Maria Stomm are: Daniel, Elizabeth, Moses, William, Mary, Nora and Clara. Three others deceased were Sarah, Amanda and Cora. The mother died October I, 1882, and Henry Stomm married Catherine Bickle, who helped rear his younger children.

On January 1, 1886, Daniel, who, it will be noted, was born about eight years after the family came to DeKalb County, married Nancy Elizabeth Urey. She became the mother of two sons. Voyde G. and Roy C. She died January 3, 1891. On October 10, 1894, Mr. Stomm married Mary M. Borger, of Owen County, Indiana. She is a daughter of Joseph and Emma (Hostetler) Borger, whose eight children were: George M., Costa M., William F., Mary M., Ida A., Esther, Martin J. and Jacob E. An older set of children than these were seven half brothers and sisters bearing the name Borger: Rachel, Ben- jamin, Levi, David, Elizabeth, Catherine and Sarah.

The three children born to Daniel and Mary M. Stomm are Ralph B., Ruth O. and Emma M. The two older sons, Voyde and Roy, were reared in the same household. Voyde married September 28, 1917, Iva High, and they have one child, Lois M. Roy married, May 31, 1914, Mary Benjamin, and their son, Austin Leroy, and the father, Roy, are both now deceased. The son Ralph B. married Theresa M. Hanes December 2, 1917. They have one son, Robert G. Ruth O. was married January 1, 1919, to Hubert Boyd. Lois May and Robert Gerald Stomm are the two representatives of the fifth generation of the Stomm family in DeKalb County.

Since 1887 Daniel Stomm has lived in his present home in Fairfield and today Vistawald is one of the most picturesque and attractive farmsteads in the entire county. The hill top building site is high and dry, and the home buildings are well set in orchard and small fruit groves. Strawberry culture is a specialty. Spraying and other necessary work is done in season in order to secure high class fruit. A small apiary is maintained with the double purpose of honey on the dinner table and the better poleni- zation of fruit. There is a stucco house with full basement story, modern heating, electric lighting and water system, the water being forced into the house by hydraulic ram from a spring that supplies suffi- cient water for all domestic purposes and for the live stock as well. Winter or summer there is no water to pump and a stream down the hillside from the fountain, encased in cement, has a continuous and bounteous supply.

There is the second basement barn, one having been destroyed by lightning in a storm in which six other barns were burned in the same neighborhood. The silo hack of the barn was one of the first built in DeKalb County.

Vistawald is a scene of thrift and contentment and of work in which all members of the family par- ticipate. The farmstead is hills and dales and adapted to diversified farming and fruit, live stock and agriculture. There are yet some unfinished plans, the World war delaying some of them, but the traveler will go a long way before he finds a more attractive spot than Vistawald.

PAUL W. SANDERS. Some of the most successful of the Steuben County agriculturalists are those

who have returned to the soil after having been engaged in other lines of industry. One of those belonging to this class is Paul W. Sanders of Pleasant Township. He was born in Pleasant Township July 21, 1886, a son of William Henry Sanders and grandson of Samuel Sanders. William Henry Sanders was born December 26, 1847, and died December 20, 1917. He attended the schools of Auburn and Waterloo, Indiana, and his first business experience was obtained in the hardware line at Wolcotville and Hudson, Indiana. About thirty-two years ago he sold his hardware business and moved on a farm in the vicinity of Angola, occupying himself with conducting it until the fall of 1915, when he retired and, locating at Angola, lived there until his death two years later. In 1872 William Henry Sanders was married to Loretta Wickwire, a daughter of George W. and Loretta (Lemmon) Wickwire, and they had the following children: Guy, who married Jennie Smiley and has two children, Mark C. and Hugh G., and Paul W., whose name heads this review. Mr. Sanders belonged to the Christian Church and his wife has been a member of this same denomination for forty- three years. He was a man of sterling characteris- tics and one who stood high in the estimation of his fellow citizens.

Paul W. Sanders attended the public schools of Pleasant Township, the Angola High School and the Tri-State College of Angola, and was graduated from the latter institution with the degree of Bachelor of Science. After completing his col- legiate course he spent two years as clerk and cashier of the McHenry Millhouse Roofing Company, but then decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, and returned to the old homestead, where until I911 he was engaged in conducting his an- cestral acres. He then bought his present farm of ninety acres in Pleasant Township, and here is profitably carrying on general farming.

On October 5, 1910, Mr. Sanders was united in marriage with Dessie Crain, a daughter of Hiram and Mary E. (Parsell) Crain. Mr. and Mrs. San- ders have two children, Loretta C., who was born November 20, 1911, and Mary, who was born Janu- ary 3, 1914. The Church of Christ holds Mr. San- ders' membership. Fraternally he is prominent as a Mason and Knight of Pythias. Mrs. Sanders is a graduate of the Angola High School, and she also attended the Tri-State College at Angola and for three years after completing her educational train- ing was engaged in teaching school. She is a mem- ber of the Christian Church. Like her husband she is interested in fraternal matters and belongs to the Eastern Star, the Rebekahs and Pythian Sisters.

Hiram Crain, father of Mrs. Sanders, was born in Pleasant Township, March 27, 1859, a son of Abra- ham D. and Harriet (Perry) Crain. Hiram Crain alternated attendance in the public schools of his native township with work on his father's farm, and grew up useful and sturdy. After he attained his majority he began working by the month for farm- ers in order to secure sufficient money to put him through high school, recognizing the benefits of education and training, and after he had taken the courses offered by the Angola High School he was engaged in teaching school for eight years during the winter months, while in the summer time he further improved his own mind. In 1884 he was married to Mary E. Parsell, a daughter of Thomas B. Parsell, and they became the parents of the fol- lowing children: Dessie, who is Mrs. Paul W. Sanders, and Thomas A., who died at the age of fourteen years. After his marriage Mr. Crain went to live on the farm where he was born, and there

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spent three years, but in 1887 he moved to a farm in Pleasant Township, two and one-half miles north- west of Angola, and there he died August 14, 1918. Mrs. Crain moved to Angola in March, 1919, where she proposes to reside permanently. Mr. Crain was a member of the Odd Fellows and Modern Wood- men of America, and Mrs. Crain belongs to the Rebekahs. Both the Sanders and Crain families are numbered among the most representative of the best type of people in this part of Indiana, and the members of the families have more than borne their part in the development of this important section of the state and the upholding of high moral standards.

B. FRANK DEAL. From almost the earliest period of settlement in LaGrange County the Deal family has had a part in the work of improvement and development. One of the representatives of this old and honored family is B. Frank Deal, whose home is in the Mt. Pisgah community of Milford Township. His farm is in section 3, eight miles east and three miles south of LaGrange.

He was born in Springfield Township of the same county April 21, 1855, a son of Harrison and Ellen (Jones) Deal. His father who was born in Marion County, Ohio, April 20, 1828, and died June 7, 1897, was an old time thresherman, a busi- ness in which he engaged between the ages of six- teen and twenty-four. He had lived in LaGrange County from 1835, the family being pioneers in section 23 of Springfield Township. January 5, 1851, Harrison Deal married Ellen Jones, who was born in LaGrange County June 9, 1832, and died March 3, 1904. After his marriage Harrison Deal lived on his farm of eighty acres in section 23 of Springfield Township until his death. He bought another 120 acres and had 200 acres highly developed as a farm and owned another tract of 120 acres in Milford Township. He was a gen- eral farmer and stock raiser, a republican in poli- tics, honored with several minor offices, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He had a family of four sons and two daughters : B. Frank; William H., of Milford Township; Lewis E .; Charles, deceased; Carrie, wife of Ed Hess; and Jennie M., wife of Isaac Troyer.

B. Frank Deal grew up on his father's farm on Brushy Prairie in Springfield Township. Besides the advantages of the district schools he attended a college at Ontario, Indiana, and had a license to teach. For over forty years he has been a farmer and his home place comprises eighty acres, im- proved with a fine modern home, which was erected by him and his son in 1914. He is a breeder of Jersey cattle. He also for fourteen years worked at his trade of cabinet making in Kendallville.

December 27, 1876, Mr. Deal married Jennie Goodsell. She was born in Milford Township Sept- ember 7, 1858, a daughter of Mynott and Nancy (Johnson) Goodsell. Her father was born at Litch- field Connecticut, May 29, 1817, and was twice married, having thirteen children by his two wives, six by his marriage to Nancy Johnson, who was born in Ohio February 15, 1840. Mrs. Deal was the oldest of her mother's children. The chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Deal are five in number, four of whom are still living: Alvah C., a graduate of the South Milford High School, married Eska Gaskell and lives in Blaine County, Montana; Mer- tie A., wife of Ray Kingsley, of Springfield Town- ship; Guy attended the Kendallville High School and is a. graduate of the Fort Wayne Business College, was tariff clerk at Kendallville for the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad ten years, mar- ried Beulah Cording, of Kendallville, and is a mem- ber of Kendallville Lodge No. 176, Free and Ac-

cepted Masons, and is past noble grand of Lodge No. 316 of the Odd Fellows and past chief patri- arch of the Encampment; Harry M. is the de- ceased son; and Imo, born November 16, 1886, is the wife of Claude Potts, of Milford Township. Mr. and Mrs. Deal also have five grandchildren: Thola Kingsley, Leon Kingsley, Leonard Kingsley, Marion Potts and Joe M. Deal.

Mr. Deal is a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Kendallville. and is past chief patriarch of the Encampment. In politics he is a republican.

CHRISTIAN J. STAHLY, who has had a wide ex- perience as a farmer and business man, has for several years capably managed the old Stahly home- stead in Newbury Township of LaGrange County.

The Stahly family presents one of the most in- teresting family records in Northeast Indiana. It is reviewed at length with its different members and family connections on other pages. Christian J. Stahly was born in the house where he still lives October 8, 1871, being a son of John C. Stahly. He is also a brother of Daniel J. Stahly of the same township.

Mr. Stahly attended district schools and as a young man worked as a farmer. In 1891, at the age of twenty, he married Anna Hostetler, a daughter of Moses M. and Mary Ann ( Mehl) Hos- tetler.

After his marriage Mr. Stahly applied himself with great diligence to the business of farming in Newbury Township until 1909. He and his fam- ily then went to Texas, where he had three years' experience as a farmer in the Lone Star State. He returned in 1912, spending one year at Wabash, In- diana, four years at Goshen, and since the fall of 1915 has occupied the old Stahly homestead in New- bury Township. He owns 150 acres in section 30, and along with general farming and stock raising makes something of a specialty of growing wheat. Mr. Stahly and family are members of the Chris- tian Church at Goshen. He and his wife have five children : Duane A., horn August 26, 1892, mar- ried Sibyl Stoner and lives at Kansas City, Mis- souri; Elizabeth A., born April 15, 1896; Mary A., born August 5, 1898; William J., born July 22, 1900; and Winifred M., born March 2, 1908.

J. BRUCE PESSELL. It is always pleasant and profit- able to contemplate the career of a man who has made a success of life and won the honor and re- spect of his fellow citizens. Such is the record of the well-known citizen whose name forms the cap- tion of this sketch, than whom a more whole-souled or popular man it would be difficult to find in the community where he has his home.

J. Bruce Pessell, postmaster at Butler, Indiana, was born at Quincy, Michigan, on August 17, 1882, and is the son of Henry D. and Susanna E. (Wat- kins ) Pessell, the latter of whom was born at Hali- fax, Nova Scotia. Henry D. Pessell was born in Devonshire, England, and at the age of fifteen years came to the United States, locating at Quincy, Mich- igan, where he grew to manhood. He was a farmer by vocation and was successful in his business af- fairs. Under President Cleveland's administration he was appointed postmaster of Quincy, serving one term of four years. In 1903 he was fatally stricken by lightning and his widow died in 1908. They were active members of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Pes- sell was greatly interested in Freemasonry, having taken all the degrees of the York Rite and those of the Scottish Rite up to and including the thirty- second degree. He was eminent commander of the

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 44

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