History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 57

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 57
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 57
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 57
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 57

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 C. WOLFE is the proprietor of the Wolcott- ville Elevator Company, and is one of the most pushing and enterprising business men of LaGrange County. He and his brothers have all achieved busi- ness success and prominence, though they grew up next door to poverty and early had to assume seri- our responsibilities and become workers for their daily bread.

Frank C. Wolfe was born at Scott in LaGrange County, April 29, 1884, a son of Christian and Rose (Schwartz) Wolfe. His parents lived on their farm near Scott about eight years, and then went to St. Joseph, Michigan. Later Christian Wolfe returned to LaGrange County, Indiana, and rented a large farm, but lived there only six months, when he was killed by lightning while plowing in the field. That left his widow with a family of young children. With the aid of her sons she managed to keep the rented farm going for about eight years, then moved to another rented place near Brighton, and finally she bought 135 acres in St. Joseph County, Mich- igan, where she is still living with her two unmar- ried daughters. She is active in the Evangelical Church, as was her husband, and he was a repub- lican. The family comprised seven children : C. G. Wolfe, proprietor of the elevator at North Liberty, Indiana; F. C. Wolfe; W. F. Wolfe, owner of an elevator at Athens, Michigan ; E. P. Wolfe, a farmer near Kalamazoo, Michigan; E. A. Wolfe, proprietor of the elevator at Shipshewana, Indiana; and Rose and Lucy, both of whom live with their mother.

Frank C. Wolfe grew up on the farm in LaGrange County, had a district school education, and was with his mother until the age of twenty-one. He worked out by the month, later rented a farm, and in February, 1911, married Bessie Seybert. She was also born near Scott in LaGrange County and had the benefit of a grammar and high school education.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe rented for three years and in the winter of 1914 moved to Wolcottville and bought the elevator on the tracks of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad. He knew

the elevator business, since he had spent two years as an employe of an elevator at Howe, Indiana. In May, 1915, the elevator was burned by lightning, but in the same year was rebuilt more substantially and with greater capacity than ever. About that time Mr. Wolfe bought out his brother's share and formed the partnership of Wolfe & Pierce. They own and operate both the elevators in Wolcottville, one on the Grand Rapids & Indiana and the other on the Wabash road.

Mr. Wolfe and wife have two children: Pearl E., born September 20, 1913, and Vivian, born October II, 1915. The family are members of the Evangel- ical Church and Mr. Wolfe is one of the trustees and church secretary. Politically he is a repub- lican.

ELMER J. COWAN. Two of the family names most prominently identified with Otsego Township in Steuben County are Cowan and Swift, both having been represented in the person of the late Elmer J. Cowan, long a prominent farmer and land owner, who spent his last days at Angola, where Mrs. Cowan, member of a pioneer family of DeKalb County, is still living.

The grandfather of the late Elmer J. Cowan was John Cowan, who came from Ireland to New York, and afterward became an early settler at Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he spent his last days. His wife, Lucretia Cowan, also died at Ann Arbor.

John Cowan, Jr., was born in New York State, grew up in Southern Michigan, and from there came to Steuben County and settled in Otsego Town- ship, where he died on his farm November 10, 1875. John Cowan, Jr., married Delphena Swift. She was also a native of New York State, and a daughter of George W. Swift, one of the pioneers of Steuben County.

George W. Swift was born in Massachusetts in May, 1804, a son of Ephraim Swift, who died while a soldier in the War of 1812. George W. Swift at the age of fourteen went to live with an uncle in Broome County, New York, and in 1826 married Lucretia Gates, who was born in that county in 1807. They came with their family to Steuben County and settled in Otsego Township in the early year of 1836. George W. Swift was one of the honored and trusted men of that locality, served as township trustee and in other positions, and was a deacon in the Baptist Church. He died after a life of great usefulness in 1868. Their children were: Edward, Oscar, Alice Delphena, Adolphua, David K., Susan L., and Josephine. The old Swift homestead at Otsego Township is now owned by Mrs. Edna Dole, a great-granddaughter of George Swift, while the Cowan homestead is owned by Maud Sheffer, a granddaughter of John Cowan, Sr., both Mrs. Dole and Mrs. Sheffer heing daugh- ters of the late Elmer J. Cowan. Mrs. Delphena Swift Cowan died at Angola August 4, 1906. John Cowan, Jr., was a democrat and a Baptist, while his wife was a member of the Christian Church. Their children were: Elmer, Edward, Josephine, Lucretia and George.

Elmer J. Cowan, who was born in Otsego Town- ship October 31, 1855, grew up on the home farm and received most of his education under Dr. Theo- dore Wood. He subsequently acquired the old Cowan place of 180 acres, also the Swift farm of 180 acres, and his wife, Mrs. Cowan, owned 180 acres adjoning the Cowan farm. Thus they were among the largest land owners and farmers in Ot- sego Township. Elmer J. Cowan was an independent democrat in politics, and he and his wife were mem- bers of the Methodist Church, though Mrs. Cowan is now a member of the Christian Church. In 1904

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they moved to Angola, where Mr. Cowan passed away November 4, 1916. He and his wife owned the home now the property of Doctor Frazer, while Mrs. Cowan lives on West Maumee Street.

December 31, 1878, Mr. Cowan married Miss Fannie Latson. She was born in DeKalb County, Indiana, December 23, 1855, a daughter of James and Charlotte (Rowley) Latson. Her parents came from New York State to DeKalb County and set- tled at Auburn, where her mother died August 14, 1898. Her father died in Angola November 20, 1906. Mrs. Cowan was one of nine children: Wil- liam, Emma, Helen, Hattie, Sadie, Frank and Fannie, twins; Joel and Alda.

Mr. and Mrs. Cowan had two daughters, Edna and Maud. Edna is the wife of Earl Dole, of An- gola, and she has a son, Earl, Jr., born September 2, 1917. Mand is the wife of Waldo Sheffer and they have an adopted son, Harold, born February 21, 1915.

GEORGE W. FAHL has been a leading farmer and business man of Noble County for the past fifteen years, and has spent practically all his life in North- ern Indiana. His present home is a mile west of Ligonier in Perry Township.

Mr. Fahl was born in Elkhart County, Indiana, March 19, 1859, son of Tobias and Susan (Orch- ard) Fahl. His mother was born in Preble County, Ohio, and came to Indiana with her parents. His father was born in Canada, a son of Andrew Fahl. Tobias Fahl died March 10, 1863, when his son George W. was only four years old. There are four children living: Andrew, of Goshen; Solo- mon, of Perry Township; George W .; and Louisa, wife of John Price.

George W. Fahl grew up in Elkhart County, and his education was limited to the district schools until he was ten years old. Since that age he has been making his own way in the world, and in the light of early handicaps and adverse circumstances his progress has been distinctly creditable. As a boy he worked as a farm hand at $7 a month. For six years he was with S. F. Evans, and under him learned how to buy stock.

On March 20, 1881, he married Susan E. Hire. She was born in Elkhart County and grew up in the same township as her husband. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Fahl settled on a farm in Elkhart County, but in 1904 removed to Perry Town- ship of Noble County. In addition to farming his eighty acres Mr. Fahl is one of the largest stock- holders and a director in the Farmers Mutual Fire & Cyclone Insurance Company of Elkhart, and so- licits business for this company in Noble County.

He and his wife have two children: June M., born in June, 1882, is the wife of O. V. Borger, and before her marriage was a successful teacher. Zelda is the wife of Ed Tyler. Mr. Fahl and fam- ily are members of the United Brethren Church, and he is a republican in politics.

LUCIUS F. CRAIN. There is something specially gratifying in having the privilege of living on prop- erty which has been in the family for a number of years. Such possession differentiates the owner from those others who are here today and gone tomorrow and gives him a standing in his com- munity as a stable man and one who has honorable and substantial ancestors behind him. Such a citi- zen of Steuben County, Indiana, is Lucius F. Crain of Steuben Township. He was born on his present farm in section 36, November 6, 1873, a son of James Madison Crain.

James Madison Crain was born in Madison County, New York, in 1830, a son of Lucius Crain, a

native of Connecticut, who was taken in boyhood to the State of New York by his parents. Lucius Crain was married in New York State to Paulina Frink, and in 1837 he started for Indiana with his family, locating on land which was a portion of section 36. Steuben Township, Steuben County. On this he erected a log cabin, and cleared off about five acres of land, but in 1838, on account of sick- ness, he decided to return to his native state until the county was more thickly populated. He there- fore went by team to Toledo, Ohio, and thence by boat back to his old home. Two years later his father-in-law, Selah Frink, who had become a resident of Otsego Township, Steuben County, sent him word that it was now safe for him to return, and the little party once more located in Steuben Township, where Lucius Crain died in 1849. There were five children in his family. Of them one was James Madison Crain, father of Lucius F. Crain. After his father's death James Madison Crain took charge of the homestead, and became its owner. He was married to Margaret J. Renner, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of John P. Renner. They became the parents of the following children: Arvilla, Lucius and Wilson. James Madison Crain died in 1896, having become a very prosperous farmer and representative citizen.

Lucius F. Crain attended the Marshall School of District No. 7, Steuben Township, and from boyhood was taught to make himself useful, those early lessons of thrift and industry standing him in good stead in after years. When he was old enough he began farming the homestead, and he and his brother, Wilson, succeeded to the family property in landed estate and have always con- ducted it together. They are very prosperous in their work, and are engaged in general farming and the breeding of Shorthorn cattle. Their build- ings are modern, sanitary and convenient, and everything about the property is kept in fine condi- tion. Lucius Crain lives in Otsego Township and Wilson in Steuben Township, the farms running along the township line and aggregating 276 acres.

In 1005 Lucius F. Crain was married to Rosa May Musser, a daughter of William and Catherine Musser. There are no children of this marriage. Both Mr. and Mrs. Crain are very popular in their neighborhood, and delight in entertaining their many friends at their beautiful rural home.

STERLING J. STRICKLAND has been a factor in busi- ness affairs in Wolcottville in the lumber business for a number of years and is manager of the Isbell- Strickland Company. This is now an extensive retail lumber business, with yards at twelve different points over Northern Indiana, but the original yard was established at Wolcottville, and Mr. Strickland has helped the business grow and expand to its present large proportions.

He was born three miles south of LaGrange Au- gust 28, 1876. a son of James and Mary (Ams- baugh) Strickland, both natives of Ohio. They were married after coming to Indiana and then located on a farm three miles south of LaGrange. James Strickland was killed by a horse in 1881, when his son, Sterling, was only five years old. After that he lived with his mother, and then went to the home of an uncle two and a half miles northwest of Wolcottville. After the death of his uncle he went out to work by the month, and in the meantime ac- quired a more or less substantial education in the district schools. On August 25, 1901, Mr. Strick- land married Carrie Gordon. She was born in John- son Township of LaGrange County, four miles north of Wolcottville, and had a common school education.

At the time of his marriage Mr. Strickland had

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abont $600 in capital, and he farmed as a renter for three years. Then moving to Wolcottville, he ran a dray two years, and since then has been in the lumber business. After three years, having acquired a thorough knowledge of the technical details of lumbering, he was made manager of the company and a stockholder. The business is incorporated with H. I. Isbell, president; C. B. Isbell, vice presi- dent; E. E. Isbell, secretary and treasurer; and S. J. Strickland, manager.

Mr. Strickland has two children, Alice and Leon K., the former in high school and the latter in grammar school. Mr. and Mrs. Strickland are active members of the Evangelical Church and he is treasurer, and both are members of the Rebekah Lodge, of which Mrs. Strickland is a past grand, and he is affiliated with Lodge 484 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is past grand. He is a republican and is at present a member of the town- ship advisory board.

F. E. RHODES is president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Spencerville, and has long been identified with that community as a practical farmer, and owns part of the noted Rhodes homestead, which has been in the possession of this family continu- ously since earliest pioneer times.

Mr. Rhodes was born on the farm which he owns a mile and a quarter northeast of Spencerville, Jan- mary 12, 1868. He is a son of Milus and Elizabeth (Beams) Rhodes. His father was born on the same farm February 22, 1838, and died January 16, 1918, at the age of eighty years. The pioneer was grand- father Daniel Rhodes, who came from Ohio and was numbered among the very earliest settlers in Concord Township of DeKalb County. He en- tered 160 acres of land, and that farm has never been in any other ownership except the Rhodes fam- ily and the Government. Daniel Rhodes was a democrat. His children were Daniel, Newton, Milus, Nancy, Mary, Matilda, Sarah, Alice, Manda and Minerva.

Milus Rhodes had a common school education in pioneer days and after his marriage lived on the home farm the rest of his life. He was an active member of the Lutheran Church and a democrat in politics and also belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He had two sons, Ray- mond R., of Spencerville, and F. E. Rhodes.

F. E. Rhodes is a well educated man. As a boy on the farm he attended district schools, also had a high school course and finished his education in" the college at Valparaiso. For fourteen terms he was a teacher. May 18, 1893, Mr. Rhodes married Amanda Rhodes, who was born in Noble County, Indiana, in 1867. Her family was not related to that of her husband. She was educated in the district schools.

For two years after his marriage Mr. Rhodes lived at New Paris, Indiana, where he conducted a grocery and bakery. Returning to DeKalb County, he taught for a time at St. Joe and then took up farming. He owns 230 acres, including 110 acres of the old homestead. His brother has 120 acres of the Rhodes farm.

Mr. Rhodes has one son, M. E. Rhodes, a grad- uate of high school, and who married Verne Jolly. They are members of the Lutheran Church and he is one of the most liberal supporters and a deacon. Though an active democrat he has never held any office.

The Farmers and Merchants Bank of Spencer- ville has the following officials: F. E. Rhodes, president; L. B. Fisher, vice president ; C. G. Recten- wald, cashier; W. A. Bierbower, Albert H. Peters, F. E. Rhodes, Adam Shilling, W. P. Stewart, L. B.

Fisher, John Beninghoof and Reuben Remm, direc- tors. Mr. Rhodes is also secretary and treasurer of the Township Shipping Association.

WILLIAM W. LONEY. The present generation has no conception of what the pioneers of Steuben endured before the wild land and timber tracts were put into suitable condition for raising crops. Not only did the great forest trees have to be felled and the prairie sod broken, but as transportation facilities were so poor it was difficult to secure what the persons of today consider the bare necessi- ties of life. Markets were far distant and mills when found were crude affairs. It was no unusual thing for farmers to carry their grain across their saddle in bags for miles to the nearest mill and then wait two days for their turn at the little horse-power mill, the stones for which had been brought from some far-distant city. The earliest settlers came up with Indians, but none of them continued hostile after the Government opened the lands for entry. The pioneers cleared off their land, put in crops and gradually developed their farms until today it would be difficult to find more valuable properties in this part of the country than those in Northeastern Indiana. One of the families asso- ciated with the early history of this section is that bearing the name of Loney, and a highly esteemed member of this family is William W. Loney, a farmer of Pleasant Township.

William W. Loney was born in Pleasant Town- ship, Steuben County, Indiana, August 3, 1859, a son of Hugh and Mary (Freligh) Loney. In young manhood Hugh Loney came to Steuben County, locating in Pleasant Township, where he secured a tract of wild land, and for a number of years was engaged in clearing and cultivating it. He was engaged in this township in farming the rest of his life, dying in August, 1916. He and his wife had the following children: Charlotte, who is de- ceased; Charles; Mary, who died in childhood; William W .; Harriet; Samuel; Joseph; Hugh, and Effie.

Growing to manhood in a pleasant home, care- fully guided by watchful parents, William W. Loney acquired a practical knowledge of farming and the fundamentals of an education, attending during the winter months the district schools. Becoming a farmer on his own account, Mr. Loney rented land for fifteen years, and then bought sixty-six acres of land in Scott Township on which he had been living as a tenant, and remained there until the fall of 1917, when he moved to his present farm of forty acres in Pleasant Township, which he owns in addi- tion to his former farm in Scott Township, and here he is carrying on general farming.

William W. Loney was married to Florence Bolin, a daughter of James and Sarah (Coleman) Bolin, and they have one son, Ralph W., who married Florence Ganoy, and they have a son, Homer D. Mr. Loney belongs to the'Odd Fellows. He is one of the highly esteemed men of his township, and is recognized as being strictly scrupulous in all his transactions and one whose word is as good as another man's bond.

RUFUS A. LANTZ. A well known and highly re- spected citizen of LaGrange County, who is success- fully carrying on farming and stock raising in Clay Township, is Rufus A. Lantz, who bought his present well improved farm in 1913. Mr. Lantz was born in Noble County, Indiana, January 25, 1870.

The parents of Mr. Lantz were David and Nancy (Wenger) Lantz, the latter of whom survives and lives at Topeka, Indiana. She was born in La- Grange County, Indiana, in 1852, and is a dangh-

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ter of Joseph and Leah (Hartzler) Wenger, who were pioneers in Indiana. They stopped for a time in Elkhart County, but later moved to LaGrange County and located permanently in Clear Spring Township, where Mr. Wenger died in 1891. His widow survived until 1917, passing away at the ven- erable age of ninety-two years. They were fine people in every sense of the word, kind, charitable, industrious and thrifty. David Lantz, father of Rufus A., was born in Ohio in 1844 and accom- panied his parents to Noble County, Indiana, in his childhood. He owned a farm in Noble County, from which he moved to Topeka, in 1893, and his death oc- curred in that city in 1894. In his early political life he was a democrat, but later became a republican. Both he and his wife belonged to the Mennonite faith. They had a family of six children born to them, as follows: Rufus A .; Salina, widow of Solo- mon Kurtz; Jesse, Joseph, Vernon and Blanche.

During boyhood and youth Rufus A. Lantz resided in Noble County, where he received a good com- mon school education. He then embarked in the restaurant business and conducted a first class res- taurant at LaGrange for two years, removing then to East Chicago, in Lake County, where he contin- ued in the same business for seven years, going then to Crown Point, Indiana, where he operated a restaurant for two years, making eleven years in all in that line of business. During this time Mr. Lantz met many people of public note and formed a very wide acquaintance. He came to Newbury Town- ship, LaGrange County, after retiring from the restaurant business, but later sold the forty acres he had purchased, and in 1913 came to Clay Township and bought eighty acres, which constitutes his pres- ent farm. This is valuable, well improved land and Mr. Lantz is making his agricultural industries profitable.

In 1895 Mr. Lantz was married to Miss Sarah Prough, a daughter of Harvey C. and Margaret (Hoffman) Prough, the latter of whom is deceased, Mr. Prough making his home with his daughter, Mrs. Franklin Lupold. The grandfather of Mrs. Lantz, John Prough, was known as "Coon" Prough because of his many hunting exploits in very early days in this section. Mr. and Mrs. Lantz are mem- bers of the Congregational Church at Shipshewana, Indiana. Mr. Lantz is a zealous republican and an earnest citizen, but he never desired any political office.

ALBERT H. PETERS. One of the most influential business men and farmers of Jackson Township in DeKalb County is Albert H. Peters, who has spent his life in this county and has been known from early manhood as a capable worker and industrious and substantial citizen.

His parents, Ernest and Rickey (Gael) Peters, came from Germany to America in 1872 and settled in DeKalb County. They were the parents of six children : Albert H .; Charles; Fred, deceased; Sarah, wife of John Dannenberg; Edward; and Freda, wife of William Habig, of Fort Wayne.

Albert H. Peters was born in DeKalb County February 3, 1875, was educated in the district schools of Jackson Township, and began life as a farm laborer. At the age of twenty-one he was elected constable of Jackson Township, and held that office for eight years.

April 11, 1900, he married Della Kester, a daugh- ter of Joseph and Mary (Shilling) Kester. They have one child, June B., born June 19, 1912. Mr. Peters owns a fine farm of ninety acres. He is also one of the directors of the Farmers and Merchants State Bank at Spencerville, having been on the board since the organization of the bank. He is

a member of the Lutheran Evangelical Church. Mrs. Peters died May 24, 1918.

ELMER A. GREEN. The ordinary, everyday men, engaged in the vocations which bring daily bread, are the true representatives of the nation's citizen- ship. Such a man is the normal type, and to it the community looks for support. The great men of their age do achieve distinction, but after all their success depends upon the support given them by the rank and file, just as no general ever won a battle unless his soldiers were behind him. As it is in military life, so is it in those tactics which have to do with the operation of business activities. The people of the country and of the whole world are beginning to realize this and to accord to their citizens, past and present, the credit due to those who were content to pursue the ordinary tenor of their way and do their full duty in the walk of life to which the capabilities called them. One of these men, whose straightforward and honorable life points the way in which others should walk, was the late Elmer A. Green, for many years a prosperous agriculturalist of Pleasant Township, Steuben County, Indiana.

Elmer A. Green was born in Pleasant Township, Steuben County, February 28, 1864, a son of Marvin Green, and grandson of John Green and his wife, Louisa (Culver) Green. There were two children born to John Green and his first wife. namely: George and Marvin, and then she died June 27, 1835, and he was later married second to Diantha Olin. The children of his second marriage were as follows : Francis, who served as a soldier during the Civil war, died at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Henry, Amos, Martha, Eliza, Emory and Allen. In 1836 John Green located in Jamestown Township, Steuben County, Indiana, where he entered land in section 36, moving his family thereon in September, 1837. Here he died February 7, 1865. Until the organization of the republican party, whose prin- ciples coincided with his own views, John Green was a whig, but from 1856 voted the straight re- publican ticket. The Baptist faith had in him an earnest supporter, and he belonged to the local church of that denomination.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 57

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