History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 69

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 69
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 69
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 69
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 69

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).

Fred Komp acquired his early education in the public schools of Milford Township, attended for one year the Tri-State Normal College at Angola, and then took up the role of teacher. For ten years he was connected with the schools of Salem Town- ship and four years were given to educational work

in DeKalb County. During vacation seasons he did some work as a carpenter. On May 10, 1903, Mr. Komp married Pearl Bodley, daughter of Jesse and Nellie (Wolf) Bodley. After their marriage they lived for four years at Helmer and in 1907 Mr. Komp bought his present farm of eighty-eight acres in section 4 of Salem Township. Along with general farming and stock raising he has reconstructed prac- tically all the buildings and added other facilities. Besides farming Mr. Komp writes fire insurance, representing one of the prominent companies of New York. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.

They have three children: Kenneth B., born June 29, 1906; Alfred Robert, born August 25, 1909; and Harold E., born November 9, 1912.

MILES CURTIS MCCURDY has spent all his life in Northeast Indiana, has had a wide range of ex- perience both as a business man and agriculturist and is now living in prosperity on a good farm in Swan Township of Noble County.

He was born in Allen County, Indiana, April I, 1862, son of William and Elizabeth (Freeman) McCurdy. His father was a native of Allen County, Indiana, and his mother of Miami County, Ohio, he having come to Allen County when young and married there. Miles Curtis McCurdy was the only child of his parents. He was only three weeks old when his mother died, and he grew up in the home of his grandmother McCurdy, who sent him to a country school. He remained with his grandparents until he was twenty-one.

August 13, 1888, Mr. McCurdy married Miss Nora Gump. She was born in Allen County, Indiana, April 9, 1865, daughter of Jerry and Sarah (Shultz) Gump. Her father was born in Miami County, Ohio, May 7, 1830, and her mother in Pennsylvania March 22, 1833. They were married in Ohio in 1854, established a home in Allen County, Indiana, and Mrs. McCurdy's mother has lived there con- tinuously for over sixty years. Of the ten children in the Gump family two died in infancy and the six still living are: Mina, widow of William Finney; Anna E., widow of Albert Pepple; Albert, who lives in Allen County and married Jennie Brown; Villa, wife of Alva Disler ; Nora C .; and Jesse, who married Mary Shively. Mrs. McCurdy was reared on the old home farm and was educated in the dis- trict schools.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McCurdy moved to Fort Wayne and lived there three years, during which time he was an employe of the Nickel Plate Railway. He then moved to Laotto, where for eighteen years he conducted a successful livery and hotel business, and he still owns property in that village. They have lived on their good farm in Swan Township and own eighty-nine well culti- vated and improved acres.

Mr. and Mrs. McCurdy have five children: Vada is a graduate of the common schools and the wife of John Knisley. Floyd lives at Garrett, Indiana, and married Hazel Stoner. Jesse is a graduate of the common schools and married Edith Bilger: Troas is a high school graduate and wife of Law- rence Slaughter. Thelma is a graduate of the com- mon and high schools and married Kenneth Erick- son, and they live on the home farm. Mrs. McCurdy is a member of the Church of the Brethren, and one of her brothers is a minister of that faith. Mr. McCurdy is a republican in politics.

PERCY B. CORNELL is one of the highly thought of citizens of Butler Township, DeKalb County, has lived there all his life and has achieved prosperity as a farmer, and is still active in the cultivation and

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management of his place five and a half miles south of Auburn.

He represents an old and honored family of DeKalb County. His grandfather, William Cornell, was born in Carroll County, Maryland, January 14, 1813, a son of Smith and Mary Cornell. He grew up and married in his native state, and in 1850 brought his wife and five children to Indiana, mak- ing the journey overland with wagons. He bought eighty acres in Butler Township, and afterward acquired more land and developed a good farm, on which he lived until his death, February 16, 1882. It is said that he brought with him to Indiana only $300.00 in money besides his team, wagon and house- hold goods. He was a member of the Lutheran Church. Two of his sons served as Union soldiers.

William H. H. Cornell, father of Percy B., was born in Maryland in 1840 and grew up from the age of ten years on his father's place in Butler Township. In 1861 he enlisted in Company K of the Forty-Fourth Indiana Infantry, and participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, Stone River and other campaigns. He was out three years and received an honorable discharge. After the war he began farming and in 1870 married Eliza Timberlain, a daughter of Isaac Timberlain of But- ler Township. He was a republican and served as assessor of Butler Township six years. He was also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Methodist Church. There were four chil- dren in the family: Percy B .; Jesse O., who is a farmer four miles west of Garrett; Charles, a farmer in Michigan; and Pearl I., who died at the age of sixteen.

Percy B. Carroll was born in Butler Township, May 12, 1871, was reared on his father's farm and had a common school education. At the age of nineteen he left home and went to Williams County, Ohio, where he worked in a basket factory seven months and on a farm six months. After returning to DeKalb County he married, March 10, 1894, Sarah C. Schopf. She was reared in Keyser Town- ship of DeKalb County. After their marriage they took up their residence at their present location, be- ginning with fifty acres and since then Mr. Cornell has added eighty acres. He devotes his time to general farming and stock raising. He is a member and chief of the Ancient Order of Gleaners, has been active in the Grange and is a republican in politics. He has served as a trustee of the Method- ist Episcopal Church. He and his wife have four children : Ethel M., born June 9, 1895; Esther, born October 1, 1896; Ernest, born April 18, 1898, and Myrtle, born July 7, 1905. All the children were educated in the common schools and are still at home.

FOREST E. FIELD, a lawyer by profession and for- merly a teacher in Noble County, has been prominent in affairs at Kendallville for a number of years. He is a former mayor of the city, an ex-representative in the Legislature, and is now recorder of Noble County.

. His birth occurred on a farm south of Kendall- ville December 1I, 1860. His parents were Aaron and Nancy Field, the former a native of New York and the latter of New York State. They married in Ohio and were early settlers of Noble County. Of their eight children four are still living: Frank, of Kendallville; Alice, who is also married; Maude, wife of Harry Throckmorton; and Forest E.

Forest E. Field spent his early life on a farm. While there he attended common schools and later had normal training and also work in the Indiana University. He began teaching in the district schools, for a time was connected with the public schools of

Kendallville, and for twelve years was principal of a school at Racine, Wisconsin. Mr. Field studied law in the Chicago Law School, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1900. After two years of steady practice he lost his health, and was in the West some time recuperating. After returning to Kendallville he resumed practice, served a time as mayor, and in 1913 was a member of the State Leg- islature. He took his present office as county re- corder in January, 1918.

Mr. Field married Miss Ginevra Johnston, who was born at Decatur, Indiana, April 8, 1861, and was educated in the public schools. They have one child, Ralph E. Field, who graduated from the Univer- sity of Cincinnati and spent three years in the University of Chicago. He served as second lieu- tenant in the Engineer Corps with the armies in France. Lieutenant Field married Dorothy Llew- ellyn, a graduate of the University of Chicago, and during the absence of her husband served as private secretary to the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company in Chicago. Mr. Field and wife are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is affiliated with Kendallville Lodge of Elks.

WALLACE A. BELDEN. A life of successful effort and broad influence came to a close with the death of Wallace A. Belden on May 23, 1917, Mr. Belden had lived more than half a century in Springfield Township, and his life was significant not only through his farming and stock raising activities but as a broad minded and public spirited citizen.

He was born in Syracuse, New York, Novem- ber 10, 1840, a son of Merritt and Mary A. (Schuy- ler) Belden, both natives of New York. Mary A. Schuyler was born April 14, 1811, and died on the Belden homestead in 1895, at the advanced age of eighty-four. Merritt Belden died March 16, 1871. The family had come to Springfield Township in 1860, and the parents spent the rest of their days there. Wallace Belden was the youngest of their seven children. After reaching mature years he bought eighty acres from Seth Wallace and con- tinued to acquire land until he owned 440 acres, and for fully half a century gave his time and labors to farming. He sold 120 acres from his first purchase, so that he owned 320 acres at the time of his death. He made his farm the scene of extensive sheep feeding and sheep raising activ- ities, and was one of the leading men in the sheep industry of LaGrange County. He put up many buildings and improvements that still stand as a monument to his enterprise. The home is lighted by acetylene lights and has every modern conveni- ence.

From 1911 to 1914 Mr. Belden served as a mem- ber of the Board of County Commissioners, and was affiliated with LaGrange Lodge of Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at South Milford. He was a director in the La- Grange State Bank and the Mongo State Bank, and for a number of years was a director of the Farmers Rescue Insurance Company of LaGrange County.

May 26, 1886, he married Miss Carrie Jerome, who was born in New York State in 1845 and died in June, 1919. Mr. and Mrs. Belden had no chil- dren of their own, but they reared in their home Miss Clara Roy, and she was a faithful daughter to them for twenty-eight years. Miss Roy inher- ited from Mr. and Mrs. Belden the homestead of eighty acres, which she still occupies.

AUSTIN M. PARSELL. The scope of Mr. Parsell's influence has not been confined to the farm where

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he resides and which he capably manages in Jackson Township of Steuben County. He is one of the best known citizens of the county, especially through his service a few years ago as sheriff. He has been active in public affairs and politics, and is a worthy representative of a family that has been represented in Steuben County for over eighty years.

His father was the late Abijah D. Parsell, who was born in New Jersey in 1827, a son of Moses Parsell, born in 1797. The Parsell family have a number of representatives in Steuben County, ac- counting for the frequent references made to the name at different points in these pages. Moses Parsell brought his family to Steuben County in 1838, settling in Jackson Township. Abijah D. Par- sell grew up there, and in 1851 bought a farm in section 35. He was also in business at Angola for several years, and died at the county seat in 1882. He married in 1851, Jane T. Alcott, who was born in Ohio in 1829. Abijah D. Parsell and wife had seven children, and the three to reach mature years were Austin M., Ichabod S. and Michael A.

Austin M. Parsell was born on the old homestead in Jackson Township where he is still living No- vember 1, 1855. As a boy he attended school in Salem and Jackson Township, graduated from the Angola High School, and has made farming his principal vocation, and chiefly on the old home place, which he has owned a number of years. His farm is eighty acres in extent and is situated in section 35.

January 30, 1878, Mr. Parsell married Adaline M. Weicht, a daughter of Frederick and Susan Weicht, of a well known family in Salem Township. Mr. and Mrs. Parsell had five children: Leona E., wife of Frank D. Hughes; Archie, who died when three months old; Abijah D., who married Eula Golden ; Louis F., who married Audra Doudt and has two daughters, Dorothea and Lois; and Inez T., who died in young womanhood.

Mr. Parsell is affiliated with Salem Lodge No. 639 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His record of public service covers more than twenty years. From 1895 to 1900 he was assessor of Jack- son Township and from 1900 to 1905 was township trustee. His service as sheriff was rendered to the county from January I, 1909, to 1913.

SAMUEL B. NEFF came to LaGrange County when a youth, dependent upon his labor as a farm hand for a time, and gradually has worked himself into the possession of a good farm a mile north and a half mile east of Topeka, in section 30 of Clear Spring Township.

He was born in Franklin County, near Chambers- burg, Pennsylvania, June 5, 1869, a son of Samuel I. and Lottie (Rinehart) Neff. His parents were born and reared in the same locality, and they came to Indiana in 1889, locating in LaGrange County and later moved near Kendallville, in Noble County, where Samuel Neff is still engaged in farming at the age of seventy-five. He is a member of the United Brethren Church and a republican. There were five children in the family: Samuel B .; Anna, wife of Archie Crofoot; Minnie, wife of John Pifer, of Kendallville; Roberta, wife of Warren W. Man- chester, of Detroit; and Zora, who is the wife of Fletcher Sackett, of Noble County.

Samuel B. Neff grew up on his father's farm in Pennsylvania to the age of seventeen. He had a common school education and at the age of eighteen came to Indiana and worked as a farm hand by the month for one year in LaGrange County. He then went to farming with his father and left home when he married Lettie Schermerhorn, daughter of James Schermerhorn. Mrs. Neff died in 1896, the mother

of one daughter, Lettie E. The latter is a gradute of the Topeka High School and is the wife of Irwin Thompson, a son of Robert L. Thompson. After the death of his first wife Mr. Neff married Lucy Schermerhorn, her sister. Mr. Neff's son-in-law and daughter are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is a liberal supporter of that de- nomination. He is a past noble grand of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and has been a member of the Grand Lodge, while politically he is a republican. Besides his farm he is interested in the State Bank of Topeka as a stockholder.

JOSEPH W. HEITZ when a boy was thrown largely on his own responsibilities and went through the various stages of farm hand, renter, tenant, and gradually became an independent farm owner. To- day he owns a fine farm in Butler Township of DeKalb County, situated four miles south of Gar- rett.

On that farm he was born September 26, 1856, a son of Joseph and Rebecca (Prince) Heitz. His father was a native of Germany and as a boy came to the United States with a brother who died in Virginia. He established a home in Champaign County, Ohio, in 1830, settling near Millerstown, where he married. On moving to Indiana he bought 160 acres in sections 22 and 28 of Butler Township, DeKalb County, , and remained an agriculturist and respected citizen of that locality until his death. He and his wife were active members in the Luth- eran Church and in politics he was a democrat. In Germany he had learned the trade of jeweler. There were eleven children in the family, and those to reach mature years were: Elizabeth, wife of George Reber, of Butler Township; John, deceased; Lavina, widow of John Wiant; Ada, who lives at Auburn; Joseph; David and Ambrose, both of Butler Town- ship.

Joseph Heitz had only the advantages of the dis- trict schools. He was fourteen when his father died, and after that he assumed increasing respon- sibilities on the home farm and also worked out for others.

Mr. Heitz married Sabina Ober. She was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, October 29, 1860, and her father and mother were natives of the same lo- cality. In 1866 the Ober family moved to DeKalb County, Indiana, and Mr. and Mrs. Heitz were married March 18, 1886.

After their marriage they moved to Butler Cen- ter, rented several farms, and later bought their present property, which comprises 270 acres. Mr. Heitz for a number of years has been a breeder of Poland China hogs and Durham cattle. He is a democrat in politics.

To his marriage were born four children: Andrey, who finished her education in the Tri-State Col- lege; Arthur, unmarried and at home; Walter, a resident of Butler Township, married Bernice Ray, and they have one child, Margaret J .; and Gladys, who finished her education in high school, is the wife of Francis Parker and resides in Fort Wayne. They have one child, Eleanora Mary.

ALEXANDER PROVINES, a member of a family that has been in DeKalb County for over sixty-five years, has for half a century been a farmer in Jackson Township, and along with the duties imposed by a large and growing family has played a worthy and public spirited part in the uphnilding and progress of the community.

Mr. Provines was born in Ashland County, Ohio, July 18, 1845, a son of Alexander and Dorcas (Adams) Provines. His father was a native of

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

Washington County, Pennsylvania, and his mother of Wayne County, Ohio. They were married in Ohio, lived on a farm in Ashland County for sev- eral years, and Alexander, Sr., in addition to culti- vating the soil also followed the trade of carpenter and contractor. In April, 1853, he located in section 9 of Jackson Township, DeKalb County, and lived there until his death at a good old age, in August, 1898. The mother passed away in March, 1897. She was a member of the Lutheran Church. In politics he was a republican. They were the parents of seven children: John A., deceased; James, of Jack- son Township; Alexander; Lucian, who died in 1897; Robert, of Oklahoma; Jane, wife of James H. Farber, of Jackson Township; Mary, who is un- married and lives at Auburn.

Mr. Alexander Provines has lived in Jackson Township since he was four years old. He made good use of his advantages in the local schools and for ten winters was a teacher. He married Saman- tha Knight, of Concord Township. She died Octo- ber 3, 1911, the mother of eight children, named as follows: Harris G., who is a graduate of the common schools and of the University of Chicago and has a teacher's license in Chicago and Okla- homa; Effie, wife of Samuel Morr, of Fairfield Township; Lola, wife of B. W. Carper, of Jackson Township; Mary, wife of Claude Moore and a grad- uate of the Auburn High School; Roy, of Jackson Township; Dorcas, who is a high school graduate and the wife of O. D. Sherer; Emma, who is de- ceased; and Edna, wife of E. M. Gifford and a graduate of the Auburn High School, the State Normal, was superintendent of schools at Warren, Indiana, three years and now lives in Indiana Harbor. As a farmer Mr. Provines is owner and still man- ages the cultivation of 173.7 acres in Jackson Town- ship. He has filled several local offices, is a re- publican in politics, and is one of the trustees of Auburn Lodge No. 191 of the Knights of Pythias.

CLYDE HUGH SMITH. Into a life of barely fifty years Clyde Hugh Smith compressed a great amount of business activity, and one that radiated many influences of usefulness and benefit to his con- munity in Lima Township of LaGrange County.

He was a son of James Smith, and of a family referred to in several places in this publication. The farm where he was born in Lima Township February 11, 1862, he owned at the time of his death on January 16, 1912. But he was living in Howe. He had an education in the township schools, the LaGrange County Normal and the In- diana State Normal at Terre Haute, but left that institution before graduating on account of his father's impaired health. He then lived on the farm, giving supervision to the farm management and also taught school for nine or ten winters. After his marriage he took charge or rented what was known as the Gunther Farm in Greenfield township. His father had before this lived there and rented the same farm for several years. He later returned to his farm in Lima Township, and for one year was in the grain husiness at Leonidas, Michigan. He then resumed his home on the farm in Greenfield Township, and for two years before his death lived retired at Howe. At his death he owned 400 acres of land. He was thoroughly pro- gressive, and was one of the first that introduced Jersey cattle into his neighborhood on English Prairie, and was also an extensive sheep feeder. Politically he was a stanch republican, active in public affairs, and a member of the Brethren Church.

August 27, 1891, he married Miss Mary C. Damer.

She was born in Michigan in 1868, a daughter of William Damer, whose career is described below. Mrs. Smith became the mother of two children, the first, a son, dying in infancy. The daughter lives at home and is a student in the Western College for Women at Oxford, Ohio.

William Damer, father of Mrs. Smith, was born in Ohio February 23, 1847, son of John Y. and Mary Catherine (Stillenbaer) Damer, both natives of Germany. The latter was born in 1803. John Y. Damer had six years of enforced military service in Germany, and in order to escape further duty as a soldier he ran away from the Father- land when about twenty-six years of age, became a stoway on an ocean vessel, was discovered and had to work his passage across. He had on a sailor's uniform when he landed in America, and soon afterward he found his way to Myersdale, Pennsylvania. Probably while in Pennsylvania he married his first wife, Elizabeth Baker, and when he went to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, he had a daughter, Elizabeth. In Tuscarawas County he married Mary Catherine Stillenbaer, and in 1849 they moved to Owen County, Indiana, where he bought school land. The first winter he and his family lived in an old log house without windows, and in the following spring he built a house on his own land, and was diligently engaged in its cultiva- tion and made it his home until his death in 1871. His widow remained in that community until her death in 1901. They had nine children: Levi, Mary, Jacob, John, Daniel, William, Noah, Samuel and Catherine. Those still living are Daniel, Wil- liam and Samuel.

William Damer was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, grew up in Owen County, Indiana, and at the age of eighteen started out to make his own way in the world. He came to the vicinity of Brighton in 1866, and worked on farms in that community for several years. In 1871 he bought twenty acres in Greenfield Township, made his home there for a time, and later owned different farms, all in La- Grange County except one which he owned near Hastings, Michigan, but which he never occupied as a home. Mr. Damer continued farming until he retired to Howe in 1910, and is still living there. Politically his support has always been given to the prohibition party and he was once a candidate for county treasurer on that ticket. He is a mem- ber of the Dunkard Church. In 1868 Mr. Damer married Miss Caroline Mohler, who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of William Mohler. They had four children: Mary Catherine; Samuel Elza, born in 1871 and died in 1897; Clarence Allen; and Ida Adella.

LEWIS M. MUNDY is proprietor of a large farm in Jackson Township, part of which was formerly owned by his father, Lewis Mundy, one of the early settlers in Steuben County. The Mundy family has always maintained the traditions of good American citizenship, honest industry and integrity in all of their relations, and those characteristics have been emphasized in the personal record of Lewis M. Mundy and his children.

Mr. Mundy was born on the farm where he now resides in section 28 of Jackson Township, Novem- ber 25, 1864. He was the child of his father's third marriage. Lewis Mundy, Sr., was born in New Jersey in 1813, a son of David and Sarah Mundy. He came to Steuben county in 1852, settling in sec- tion 28, on eighty acres of land, and in course of time had a fine farm with a commodious residence built in 1877 and still in use. He was an abolition- ist and a republican in politics. Lewis Mundy mar-

JONAS TWICHELL

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ried in 1839 Sallie Stevenson, who died in 1849. Both their sons, Jasper and Alanson, were soldiers in the Union army. In 1850 Lewis Mundy married Mrs. Mercy B. (King) Purce. She died in 1863, the mother of two children, Otis and Julia. For his third wife he married Mrs. Mary (Doudt) Bolin, who was born in Seneca County, Ohio, in December, 1834. She was the mother of three sons by her first marriage to Levi Bolin, who died in Steuben County. Lewis Mundy and his third wife had three children, Lewis M., Hattie and Nellie.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 69

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