History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 63

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 63
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 63
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 63
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 63

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).

Sheridan Hughes was born in LaGrange in 1867. He grew up in LaGrange, had a high school educa- tion, and after his marriage he became a farmer on the old Wallace homestead.

SHIRLEY R. TEEGARDIN. In Indiana, Ohio, and in the colonial records of Pennsylvania the name Tee- gardin frequently appears. They are a sturdy, long- lived and vigorous stock. Many of them were pioneers as the western wilderness was shorn away and gave place to homes and feats of civilization. They have been especially prominent in Steuben County, where several of its representatives still live.

Early in the last century William Teegardin lived in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He was a prosperous farmer there but saw that he could not provide sufficiently for the wants of his numer- ous family among the hills and restricted valleys of Western Pennsylvania. He accordingly went to Western Ohio, and in Allen County, bought land when it was cheap, sufficient to give each of his children 160 acres. All of these quarter sections constituted one body of land. The thirteen children of William Teegardin and wife were named Mar- garet, John, Joseph, Katie, Henry, Susan, Daniel, Aaron, Huda, Abraham, Peter, Elizabeth and Susan. Of these Joseph Teegardin a native of Westmore- land County, Pennsylvania, married Hannah Krans. He was married and reared his family in Allen County. Ohio. His children were: Abraham, Wil- liam, Josiah, Anna, Elisha, Michael and David and Laura, twins, both of whom died when about fifteen years old. Of the children of William Teegardin, Aaron and Daniel and the children of Joseph, came to Steuben County, Indiana, during the latter '60s. The children of Joseph that came to this county were Josiah, Abraham and Elisha.

Josiah Teegardin was born in Allen County, Ohio, January 3, 1839. In 1869, with other members of

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the family, he settled in Otsego Township of Steu- ben County and bought land of an owner who had acquired it direct from the Government. While prospecting for this land he made two trips to Steuben County on horseback before permanently settling. The land was covered with timber and consisted of 160 acres in section 24. Before the energies of his life were spent he had cleared up and put under cultivation most of this tract, and gave it the buildings which are still standing. Josiah Teegardin was a cabinet maker by trade, and he did work at his trade. He was very pros- perous and thrifty and in the course of time had 400 acres. He died December 26, 1912. On Oc- tober 17, 1861, Josiah Teegardin married Nancy E. Harmon, who was born in Putnam County, Ohio, July 7, 1844, a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Vandamarch) Harmon. Josiah Teegardin and wife had six children: Dorilas L., who married Sarah A. Baker; Melinda R., who became the wife of William Imhoof; Lovila A., wife of Calvin Beard; Lerotus V., who married Katie Wright; Shirley R., and Ethel B., wife of Clarence Barber.

Shirley R. Teegardin, who represents the fourth generation of the family as recorded above, was born on the farm where he now resides in section 24 of Otsego Township, November 18, 1883. He acquired a public school education and has always lived on the home place and farmed. He now owns 200 acres, and is one of the leading crop and live- stock raisers in Steuben Township. He and family are members of the Methodist Church.

September 5, 1906, he married Nellie C. Morley, daughter of Robert and Eugenia Morley. They are the parents of six children: Preston M., Aubrey G., Carroll F., Ruth I., Orville D. and Helen L. Aubrey and Carroll are both deceased.

MONROE REED has lived in Noble County nearly all his life, having been brought here as a child by his parents. He grew up in Sparta Township, and in the locality known as Indian Village his father at one time conducted an important local industry as a tanner. Monroe Reed has given the mature years of his life to farming. He started with little or no capital, and with the unselfish co-operation of his wife has planned and toiled and contrived to win a comfortable prosperity, now represented by their good farm in the northeast quarter of section 17 of Washington Township.

Mr. Reed was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, February 21, 1860, a son of Martin and Margaret (Duley) Reed. His parents were also natives of Ohio, and on coming to Indiana settled in Noble County, in Sparta Township, near Indian Village. His father, in addition to operating a tanyard also owned a small farm. He continued the business of tanner until he retired, and finally moved to the vicinity of North Webster, where he died. He was an active member of the United Brethren Church and a republican in politics. The children still living are: George; Letitia, wife of John Hahn; Eliza, wife of Dan Garber; Monroe, Jonathan, Grant and Norman.

Monroe Reed grew up in Noble County and at- tended the common schools until he was about six- teen years old, when he started out to make his own way in the world, and his chief employment since that time has been farming.

He married Miss Sarah Griesinger, who was born in Noble County. She was one of four children: Christian, who married Susie Stump; Sarah C .; Fannie, wife of Jacob Stricker; and Susie M., wife of D. C. Brown.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Reed rented land, and as renters they gradually acquired the

experience and the capital which brought them the ownership of their present home in the northeast quarter of section 17, known as the old Griesinger farm.

Mr. and Mrs. Reed have two children: Elsie M., wife of Vincent Prescott, and their one child, Charles M. Prescott, was born June 27, 1914. Cora E., the second daughter, is the wife of James Kile, and their one child is Elsie M. Kile. Mr. Reed is a republican in politics.

ADAM TRITCH is a man of interesting experiences and achievements, owner of a fine farm in Salem Township, and has made his prosperity and ren- dered a valuable service to the country by buying up, improving and selling many different parcels of real estate in this part of Northeast Indiana.

Mr. Tritch was born in Ohio April 7, 1857, a son of Frederick and Margaret (Troutman) Tritch. His parents were both natives of Germany, where they were married. Frederick Tritch came to the United States about 1853, and after two years of employ- ment in New York he saved money with which he sent for his family. Later they settled in Ohio, in Wayne County, lived in Medina County and in 1861 moved to Allen County, Indiana. In August, 1864, they established their home in Steuben County, lo- cating south of Lime Kiln Lake, on a tract of forty acres. This land was cleared up by Frederick Tritch, who afterward acquired another place of eighty acres. His first home in Steuben County was a log house and he built a log barn, and prosperity came to him over the route of hard labor and much self denial. He died in 1881, when about fifty-six years of age. His widow died in 1888, aged sixty-two. He was a democratic voter and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Frederick Tritch and wife had the following children: Margaret, born December 31, 1849, in Germany; George, born Jan- uary 14, 1852, also in Germany; Adam, born April 7, 1857; John, born Otcober 17, 1858; Frederick, born June 4, 1862; William, born November 27, 1863; besides Jacob, Mary and Lydia, who died in infancy.

Adam Tritch was seven years old when brought to Steuben County. He acquired his education here in the public schools, and largely from experience trained and qualified himself for his career as a farmer and business man. The first land he bought, after renting for some time, was twenty acres in section 28 of Salem Township. Then followed a number of transactions, selling one place and buy- ing another. His second deal was the purchase of sixty acres of the old farm. Then he rented for some years, bought forty acres, then sold and bought a place of eighty acres west of Helmer known as the Chris Shade farm, where he lived five years, next bought 120 acres north of his present home, and on selling this in 1917 bought the thirty acres where he now resides. He gives his time to gen- eral farming and stock raising and is an extensive buyer of poultry. He sells farm fertilizers and is now to a large extent retired from the strenuous duties of the fields. He is a large stockholder in the State Bank of Hudson, Indiana. In politics he is a democrat.

October 30, 1880, Mr. Tritch married Mary Shade. She was born in Salem Township January 20, 1861, a daughter of Richard and Sarah (Chasey) Shade, who were Steuben County settlers of about the year 1857. They lived in Salem Township, where her father died February, 1879, at the age of forty-six. Her mother passed away in 1904, at the age of seventy-one. The children in the Shade family were: Marion, Emma, Berlin, Mary, Clara, Adaline, Rich- ard, Alice, Jennie and Monroe.

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Mr. and Mrs. Tritch besides their material pos- sessions have seen their labors rewarded by a large family of children growing up around them and later by the presence of a number of grandchildren. Maude, their oldest child, is the wife of George Erwin and has two children, Clair and Ruth. Hat- tie is the wife of Arthur Hoyer, and their family consists of Glyda, Paul and Merrie Anne. The third child, Jessie, died in infancy. Edna died when eighteen years old. Orville Ray married Viola Weber and has three children, Iylene, Dorothy and Helen. Daisy is the wife of Marlton D. Shumaker and has three children, Velma, Robert and John Burdette. Carl married Blanche Wood and has one child, Orlo. The youngest of the family is Eshu, who married Ethel Mane and has a daughter, Vir- ginia.

EMERY E. SPADE is a native of Steuben County, has spent most of his life here as a successful ag- riculturist, and his work as a business man, his relations as a citizen and in all other respects have brought him a wealth of community esteem, which he enjoys as a resident of Jamestown Township.

He was born in Millgrove Township, March 29, 1884, son of Cyrus W. and Sarah E. (Henry) Spade. His father was born at Springfield, Ohio, January 22, 1842, and his wife in Pennsylvania in 1857, and died in 1889, in. Sunbury, Pennsylvania. They were married in Ohio and in 1877 came to Steuben County, settling on a farm of 133 acres in Millgrove Township. Cyrus W. Spade died on that farm June 5, 1917. In 1862 Cyrus enlisted at Cleveland, Ohio, in an independent company of picked men known as Barber's Sharpshooters, chosen as expert marksmen. They were a part of the Army of the Cumberland and marched with Sherman to the sea. His wife died while visiting in Pennsylvania Nov- ember 8, 1899. She was a daughter of John Mason and Mary Henry, the former born in 1800 and died in 1855, and the latter born in Sunbury, Pennsyl- vania, April 10, 1824, and died February 12, 1853.

Cyrus W. Spade is remembered as one of the capable farm improvers of Steuben County, and in every way a citizen of good judgment and thorough integrity. He was a republican, and he and his wife were members of the Evangelical Church. Their children were Oscar E., Neenan, Cora, Lottie, Fred A., Homer, Emery E. and Emma J., twins, and Eddie and Chippie, both deceased.

Emery E. Spade grew up on the old homestead, attended school in district No. 2 of Millgrove Town- ship, and in 1902, at the age of eighteen, married Gertrude Ella Rice. After their marriage they rented a farm for two years in Ovid Township of Branch County, Michigan, then lived on a farm in Steuben County, in Millgrove Township, for one year, had a farm near Coldwater, Michigan, for three years, and on returning to Steuben County rented Mr. Spade's father's farm for eight years. In March, 1918, Mr. Spade bought his present place in Jamestown Township. It comprises 120 acres of well improved land, known as the old Oscar Mal- lory farm. Mr. Spade is young, enthusiastic, and has the experience and ability to make him success- ful in his chosen vocation.

He is a republican in politics, and he and his wife attend the Evangelical Church at East Gilead, Michi- gan. They became the parents of five children, Fabian, Clyde, Irene and two that died in infancy. Clyde is also deceased. Fabian is now a sophomore in the Fremont High School and Irene is in the seventh grade of the public school.

JACOB B. MYERS is an active farmer in Steuben Township near Pleasant Lake, who was recruited to

Northeast Indiana from Western Ohio, where the Myers family has lived since pioneer times.

Mr. Myers was born near Napoleon, the county seat of Henry County, Ohio, August 14, 1868, a son of John W. and Martha (Jennings) Myers. His parents were both born in Seneca County, his father July 15, 1833, and his mother February 15, 1833. The parental grandparents were Jacob and Rachel (Scott) Myers, who went to Tiffin, Ohio, from Pennsylvania, and were among the earliest settlers in that now thriving little city. Jacob Myers spent many years on his farm in Seneca County, and died when about sixty-three years of age. His widow afterward lived with her son John W. in Henry County. John W. Myers when twenty-six years of age bought a farm in Henry County, Ohio, and spent his active life there until after the death of his wife in 1905, and since then he has lived among his children. He is now in his eighty-seventh year, and makes his home with his son Jacob in Steuben County. He is a republican, is an active member and for many years a minister of the United Breth- ren Church, and in his time has preached hundreds of funerals and married scores of couples. John W. Myers and wife had a family of nine children : Henry, Jacob B., Albert, deceased, Irvin E., Myrta, Cora, Sherman, Della and Franklin, deceased.

Jacob B. Myers grew up on the old homestead of his father, attended public schools, and there being a number of children younger than he and demand- ing all that his parents by hard work could give them, he went to work when little more than a boy and has been self-supporting and independent of any aid outside of his own resources and character and industry. While a young man in Ohio he bought a small twenty-acre farm in Henry County, but later sold that and moved to Indiana, and in 1892 came to Steuben County. He rented a farm for seven years, and then bought his present place of eighty acres in Steuben Township, a mile and a half from Pleasant Lake and six miles from Angola. He has experienced many ups and downs as a farmer, but by hard work has acquired a good home, has effected many improvements and is enjoying the prosperity of these modern times on the farm. Mr. Myers is a republican, a member of the Ancient Order of Gleaners, and is active in the . United Brethren Church.

He married Miss Phoebe Warner. She was born in Seneca County, Ohio, January 15, 1864, a daughter of George W. and Armina (Hollepeter) Warner. Her parents moved from Seneca to Henry County, Ohio, where Mrs. Myers' mother died July 13, 1915. She was born near Fostoria, Ohio, November 6, 1846. Mrs. Myers' father was born December 12, 1838, in Seneca County, and is still living.

Mr. and Mrs. Myers have four children: Coy Ray, who married Isabel Clossen, daughter of Car- men and Jennie Clossen, of Steuben Township, and has two children, Ellen and Ned; Clyde, who mar- ried Jessie Delong, and has two children, Wanda and Wilma; Clifford, who married Jessie Deetz; and Violet, who married Paul Swift, of Angola, and has a son, Kermit.

The son Clifford Myers served four years in the State militia, spent one year on the Mexican border, and early in the war with Germany went to Camp Shelby and was sent overseas to France, spending about three months abroad. He served as a private and was given his honorable discharge in January, 1919. He is an example of the young soldier who has made good after resuming his status as a civilian. He is employed in the automobile factory at Auburn, Indiana, and has twice been promoted since going to

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work there. ' All of the sons of Jacob B. Myers served four-year terms in the militia.

ALBERT CASE, whose farm home is in Springfield Township, is a son of one of the very early set- tlers of LaGrange County, and the family name has been honored and respected here for about eighty years.

Albert Case was born in Milford Township June 10, 1852, and it was in that locality that his father, Andrew Perry Case, made his early settlement. The father was born in New York state in 1813 and came to Milford Township when a young man. He built the first frame house in the township, and a part of that old building is still standing. He also entered 180 acres of land, 120 acres in Mil- ford and 60 acres in Johnson Township. He lived on the land in Milford Township. In the early days he hauled in his wheat to Fort Wayne, and went through all the difficulties and hardships of pioneering. He was a democrat in politics. He lived on his homestead until his death in 1893. He had married in Milford Township Elsie Hill, who was born in 1823 and died at the age of eighty- two. Their nine children were: Philemon, Ran- dall Perry, Celia, Albert, Billings B., Alice, Ella, Artensis and Isadore.

Albert Case grew up on the home farm and had a public school education. He started out with little capital but considerable experience, and for several years rented land in Milford Township. Except for one year in Noble County he has spent all his life in LaGrange County. In 1906 he moved to Springfield Township, and was a renter there until 1917, when he bought forty acres of the old McKinsey farm. He is a democrat in politics.

Mr. Case married Mary Adaline Bolley in 1876. She was born in Ohio, a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Dorrer) Bolley. Her mother is still living at the age of eighty-two. Mr. and Mrs. Case have eight children: Myrtle, the oldest, is the wife of Henry Misner, and their children are Eva, wife of Thomas Arthur, Maynard, Bernice, wife of Henry Anderson, and Helen. Florence, the second child, became the wife of Rollo Spear- man, a son of Solomon Spearman. Dana Perry married Gertrude Huber and has a daughter, Elsie Mary. Dora is the wife of Guy Vandrew. Gladys was married to Clyde High, and her two children are Gwendolin and Albert. The three youngest children are Charles at home, Clela Bell, wife of Clyde Garlets, and Lan, at home.

DANIEL HANNA, who gave four years of his youth to the service of his country as a member of the gallant Forty-Eighth Ohio Infantry, has for many years been a leading farmer in Salem Township of Steuben County, and though his name has never appeared in connection with political office or affairs his life has been one long round of duty well per- formed, and is deserving of all the credit that be- longs to a career now more than three-quarters of a century in length.

Mr. Hanna was born in Williams County, Ohio, October 4, 1842, a son of Hezekiah and Mary (Bour- man) Hanna, Hezekiah Hanna, son of James and Sophia Hanna, was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, February 26, 1817. He died in Defiance County, Ohio, December 13, 1874. He was one of a family of twelve children. Mary Hanna, daughter of Henry and Susanna Borman, was born in Columbus, Ohio, July 14, 1816, and died in Wood County, Ohio, April II, 1892. She was one of a family of five children. The Hanna family had established its home in Williams County in 1841, moving from Fairfield County. At that time there was only one

track or road across the black swamp of North- western Ohio, and the Hanna family could make only five miles in one day. They crossed the river at Tuttle's store in Defiance County. At that time Defiance included Williams County. Hezekiah Hanna secured forty acres, later traded for forty acres in Defiance County, three miles northeast of Ney, and built a log house and underwent all the privations of pioneer times. It happened that sev- eral times the family were without bread for six weeks. Hezekiah Hanna died in Defiance County and his wife in Wood County. Their children were : Mary; Daniel; Caroline, wife of Orrin Foster ; Orlando, who lives near Angola; and John, de- ceased. The mother of these children by a previous marriage had a daughter, Rhoda Jane Rose, now deceased, who was the wife of George Strawser.

Daniel Hanna grew up in Prairie Creek Town- ship of Defiance County, and at the age of eighteen removed to Napoleon in Henry County. He lived there with his half sister, Mrs. Higbee, but in the following year, on October 22, 1861, enlisted in Company F of the Forty-Eighth Ohio Infantry. He was not mustered out until May 10, 1866, and was with his company and regiment every day and never absent from the line of duty. The arduous service of the Forty-Eighth Ohio has been frequently re- counted in history, and Mr. Hanna's individual rec- ord is that of the regiment. He was in the follow- ing great battles of the war: Shiloh, in 1862; Siege of Corinth, May 18, 1862; Holly Springs, July I, 1862; Chickasaw Bluff, December 31, 1862; Ar- kansas Post, January II, 1863; Port Gibson, May 1, 1863; Champion Hill, one of the early engagements in the Vicksburg campaign, May 16, 1863; Black River Bridge, May 17, 1863; siege and capture of Vicksburg, May 19 to July 4, 1863; siege and cap- ture of Jackson, July 10 to July 16, 1863, following which the regiment participated in the Banks ex- pedition at Red River and participated in the battle of Sabine Cross Roads, April 8, 1864; was at the siege and capture of Fort Blakeley, Alabama, April 2 to April 9, 1865.

After the war Mr. Hanna returned to Defiance County and bought thirty acres of land. In 1876 he moved to Paulding County, Ohio, and owned and operated ninety-two acres for seven years. He came to Steuben County in 1884, thirty-five years ago, and at that time acquired eighty acres in Salem Town- ship. In that locality he has been greatly prospered, and today owns 175 acres of good land, with all the improvements of a modern farm. His place is known as the Rolling Valley Farm and is the home of some fine Jersey cattle.

While a loyal republican, Mr. Hanna has never sought public office. He is a thorough American patriot, and with vivid memories of his own service in the Civil war he has never lost an opportunity to impress upon the youth of modern times the obligations of loyalty, and his lessons were not for- gotten by his own children when America was called into the list to fight the tyranny of German im- perialism. Mr. Hanna for a number of years was a member of the United Brethren Church.

May 28, 1866, he married Vesta Gorrell. She was born in Holmes County, Ohio, November 18, 1844, a daughter of William and Martha Gorrell, who were early settlers of Holmes County and about 1853 moved to Defiance County, where her father died, February 14, 1899, at the age of ninety- five, and her mother passed away in Bryan, Ohio, September 21, 1913, aged ninety years, three months and ten days. Mrs. Hanna's parents were married in Holmes County, March 4, 1841.

Alvah, the oldest of Mr. Hanna's children, died April 4. 1912, at the age of forty-eight. He mar-

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ried Sarah Morrison, and the grandchildren by this son were Vesta T., Royal Gale, Venus, Dewey, Worth and Edna. Two of these grandsons were still with the Expeditionary Forces in Germany in the early summer of 1919. Royal Gale was a mem- ber of Company B of the Twelfth Machine Gun Bat- talion of the Fourth Division, while Dewey is a corporal in the One Hundred and Sixty-Sixth In- fantry in Company A.

Curtis Hanna, the second son, married Mary Mor- rison and had seven children : Orville, Orpha, Luella, Alta, Harrison, Harmon and Amy. Martin, the third child, married Elma Smith, of Toledo, and has a son, Walter. The fourth of the family is Martha, still at home. Jesse Ray was born March 15, 1885, and died December 13, 1886, aged one year and nine months.

Vesta, a daughter of Alvah Hanna and grand- daughter of Daniel Hanna, married Everett Allen and has three children, named Marjorie, Jessie and Lloyd Maxwell.

JOHN WALTER GRIFFITH. For nearly seventy years there has been frequent occasion to refer to the name Griffith as that representing one of the most prominent families of Otsego Township in Stenhen County. Many of the enviable qualities of the family are exemplified by John Walter Griffith, a son of the pioneer who came here and made settle- ment in the woods.

John Walter Griffith was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, July 24, 1849, and was about eight weeks old when his parents 'moved to Indiana, first locating in DeKalb County. He is a son of John and Jemima (Gossage) Griffith. His father was born in November, 1813, and his mother on April 21, 1813, both natives of Tuscarawas County. They were married in 1839.

On coming to Indiana John Griffith, Sr., entered 160 acres in Franklin Township of DeKalb County. In 1857 he became associated with his brother Lewis in business at Hamilton, and three years later he moved to a farm of 227 acres in Otsego Township. However, death came to him in Sep- tember, 1860, and interfered with his ambitious plans he had for developing his farm. His widow sur- vived him and died on the old homestead December 22, 1884. They were the parents of nine children : Susan, who became the wife of Jeremiah Kepler; Lewis, who entered the Union army in 1861 with the Forty-Fourth Indiana Infantry and served over four years, receiving a captain's commission at the battle of Chickamauga; Nancy, who became the wife of Hiram Oberlin; Leman, who was wounded at Chickamauga, went home on a furlough, having lain on the battlefield without his wound being dressed for eleven days, rejoined Sherman in time to march to the sea, and died immediately after the war, in 1865; Lydia, who married George Carpen- ter; Frank, who also served as a soldier and after- ward lived on the home farm in Otsego Township; Cathrine, who died at the age of thirteen; John W .; and Sarah, who died in infancy.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 63

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