History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 90

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 90
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 90
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 90
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 90

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William Miller grew up on his father's farm on English Prairie, attended the district schools, and lived on the home place until he was twenty-seven years of age. His farming activities have always been productive in the northern part of LaGrange County, and about 1886 he moved to his present place, a little east of Howe, where he has ninety- nine well cultivated acres. He has improved and added to the house, and has all the comforts that go with modern high class farms.

Mr. Miller has served as assessor of Greenfield Township. In 1879 he married Miss Mary Burn- side, a native of LaGrange County and a daughter of Alexander Burnside. Their only child is Lil- lian, widow of Sidney Ganiard, a former state senator.

ELISAH KEEFER has been a business man at Mongo over forty years. Everyone in Springfield Town- ship, and in fact most people of LaGrange County, know or know of him in his character as a reliable merchant and good citizen. For thirty-three years he presided over the local postoffice as postmaster, and in that time he was delegated with the responsi- bility of establishing the first free delivery service out of Mongo, and he held the office through the Cleveland administrations and until the first elec- tion of Wilson to the presidency.

Mr. Keefer came to Indiana when he was about

twenty-two years of age. He was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, March 30, 1852, a son of Peter and Caroline (Baer) Kecfer. His parents were also natives of Somerset County, where his father spent all his life. Peter Keefer was a Union soldier, serving in Company K of the One Hundred and Seventy-First Pennsylvania Infantry until he was discharged by reason of sickness. From the exposure and hardships of his service he died in August, 1865. He was the father of eight children, the oldest, Simon, dying in infancy. Several of these children still live in Somerset County, Pennsyl- vania, including the second, Diana, who is Mrs. Theodore Engle. Elisah is third in age. Sarah Ellen died in 1875 as Mrs. Zenas Holliday. Herman is still in Somerset County, Elizabeth died unmarried in 1876, and Alice died in 1863. Aden, the youngest, lost his life by being accidentally shot while hunting. He was living in Pennsylvania.

Elisah Keefer acquired a good education in the public schools of Pennsylvania and also the Myers- dale Normal. For one term he taught in his native county and then worked on farms there until 1874. On coming to Indiana he entered the employ of Mr. Peter Garlets, three miles east of Mongo. He was on the Garlets farm until 1882, when he moved to Mongo and bought a half interest in a drug store with Joseph Fair. That store occupied the same building and at the same location as the present Gay meat market. After a partnership of one year Mr. Keefer retired and has since engaged in the general merchandise business and has never had a partnership for forty years, though his son is now actively associated with him in the business. On becoming a general merchant Mr. Keefer moved to a frame building then on the site of the present Mongo hardware store, and in 1886 came to his present location on the corner. He has prospered in business affairs, built a modern home in Mongo in 1919, and also owns sixty acres of farm land in Greenfield Township. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Mongo.

In 1875 Mr. Keefer married Miss Mary A. Gar- lets. She was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, a daughter of Peter Garlets. Of the Garlets family nothing further need be said here, since complete representation of the honored family is made on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Keefer had three chil- dren, Clinton and Grace both dying in infancy, and Alpharus M., who is with his father in the store.

JOHN B. ALLMAN. The present generation of peo- ple in Steuben County need no introduction to the personality and career of John B. Allman. He is widely known as a former Circuit Court clerk of the county, spent over thirty years as a practical farmer, and in every relationship has measured up to the qualifications of a real man and a public- spirited citizen.

Mr. Allman was born in Williams County, Ohio, November 23, 1856. Several generations of his fam- ily have been identified with the westward march of civilization. His great-grandfather, Ebenezer All- man, moved to Stark County, Ohio, in 1810 and was one of the first to develop that section of the Ohio wilderness. His grandfather, James Allman, who was born in Washington County in Southwestern Pennsylvania in 1806, grew up in Stark County, mar- ried in 1829 Margaret Anspaugh, and in 1842 moved to Williams County, Ohio, where he in turn became a pioneer. James Allman died in 1846, survived many years by his widow, who was born in 1810. James Allman and wife had seven children, Barna- bas, Haman C., John, Jacob, Catherine, Magdeline

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and Agnes. The sons made worthy records as sol- diers in the Civil war, and Haman died of wounds received in battle.

Barnabas Allman, father of John B., was born in Stark County, Ohio, March 20, 1833, was nine years old when he went to Williams County, and in 1856 he married Ellen Barcalow. She was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1833, a danghter of John and Martha Barcalow. In April, 1864, Barnabas Allman moved to Steuben County, settling in section 5 of Richland Township, and became a prosperous farmer and land owner in that county. He began on a rented farm half a mile sonth of Metz, and at the time of his death owned 100 acres. He was a carpenter by trade and he filled the office of justice of the peace for about twenty years in Richland Township. He and his wife were active members of the Methodist Church, and in politics he was a republican. Barnabas Allman died December 26, 1888, and his widow in 1902. Their children were John B .; Edith M., wife of Ford Norris, living at Toledo, Ohio; Haman C .; Martha J., now deceased, whose first husband was Clarence Gilbert and whose second husband was Clair Wisner; James; and Mar- garet, who married B. Goodale.

John B. Allman from the age of eight years at- tended district schools in Richland Township, and had his full share of work in the fields as a boy. December 17, 1881, he married Evelyn Barron, daughter of Elmus L. and Roxanna Barron. Her father was born in 1823 and came to Indiana with his parents, Fayette and Arvilla Barron, at an early date. For many years Elmus. Barron made his residence at Metz, was a farmer, a gunsmith by trade, and was a noted hunter in the early days. It is said that he had over 500 deer to his credit as a marksman. His wife's parents moved to Steuben County in 1843.

The spring following his marriage Mr. Allman be- gan farming a mile and a half south of Metz, and he was in that one locality giving diligent attention to his business as an agriculturist until October, 1907. At that date he sold his farm and moved to Angola, and served for four years, from January I, 1908, to January I, 1912, as clerk of the Circuit Court. On leaving office he returned to Metz, and in March, 1917, bought and moved to his present farm, where he owns 100 acres of well improved land with good buildings in section 8 of Richland Township.

Prior to his service as Clerk of Circuit Court Mr. Allman was for about five years trustee of Richland Township, and has justified every public honor be- stowed upon him. He and his wife are active mem- bers of the Christian Church at Metz.

They have had four children. Elsie M. is the wife of W. P. Faulhaver, a farmer in Williams County, Ohio. Roxie E. is a graduate of the Angola Tri- State College in the business department, took part of her literary course there, and is now the wife of T. P. Charles and the mother of two children. Flora E. and John B. Heyman B. also graduated from the Angola Tri-State College, took further work in the Indiana State University and Purdue University, and married Ethel Chard. They have a daughter, Martha E. The youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Allman was Carl, who died young.

ROY B. FORD has built up an extensive business as a general merchant at Stroh, has been interested in a number of business and civic affairs in that community, and is a former postmaster of the vil- lage.

Mr. Ford was born in Ingham County, Michigan, September 3, 1874, a son of Oscar D. and Frances

C. (Eaton) Ford. His father , was a native of Chautauqua County, New York, but spent his boy- hood at Albion, Michigan, where he attended the common schools. He was married in Ingham County, Michigan, where his wife was born, and later he worked his way through Rush Medical Col- lege of Chicago, graduating in 1895. For a number of years he practiced medicine at Leslie, Michigan, and in 1888 moved to South Milford, Indiana, where he had professional and business interests until he died. Dr. Ford was a charter member of the Ma- sonic Lodge and its first master, and is also a mem- ber of the Royal Arch Chapter and in politics a republican. Of his four children two are living, Dorman E., an employe of the Rock Island Rail- road, and Roy B.

Roy B. Ford first attended school at Leslie, Mich- igan, and is a graduate of the South Milford School. After leaving school he became associated with his father in business at Sonth Milford, and when his father died he took over the store and conducted it until 1900, when he moved his business to Stroh, and is now proprietor of a mercantile service that covers a large part of LaGrange County. He is also a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank of Stroh, and for eight years was postmaster, the postoffice being kept in his store.

August 24, 1899, he married Miss Ella Geiser of LaGrange County. She is a graduate of the Wol- cottville High School and for several years before her marriage was a teacher. Mr. and Mrs. Ford have two children, Rudyard G., a student in the Morgan Park Military Academy at Chicago, and Marjorie F., a graduate of the common schools. Mr. Ford is a charter member of Philo Lodge No. 672, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a mem- ber of the Council and Chapter at Kendallville. Politically he is a republican.

W LLIAM E. HECKENLIVELY, a prominent lawyer of the Steuben County bar, was born in that county December 6, 1861, son of Henry and Mary A. (Kirk) Heckenlively, the former a native of Colum- biana County, Ohio, where he was born January 20. 1841, while the mother was born in Delaware County, Ohio, December 2, 1840 Henry Hecken- lively went to Williams County, Ohio, about 1850 with his parents, George and Elizabeth Hecken- lively. The grandfather was a farmer and broom corn raiser and manufacturer of brooms. Henry Heckenlively became a farmer and veterinary sur- geon and in 1907 removed to Colorado, where he is still living. The mother died in York Township of Steuben County in 1898. There were four children, William E .; Bell and Emma, both deceased; and Curtis G., of Gary, Indiana.

William E. Heckenlively grew up on the home farm in York Township, acquired his education in the district schools and the Angola High School, and graduated in 1890 from Hillsdale College in Michigan. In the meantime for a number of years he had been teaching school, beginning in 1877, when he was only seventeen years old. He taught in the country districts of Steuben County, later went West and was principal of high schools in Wyoming and Utah for several years, and at one time was superintendent of the Pleasant Lake High School in Steuben County.

He began the study of law in 1889, in the office of Best & Bratton, at Angola, Indiana, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1895. He practiced alone until 1911, and since then has been a member of the firm of Bratton & Heckenlively. He carries on a very successful business and he also owns a ranch of 480 acres in Colorado. He served three years as prosecuting attorney, is a republican, member of the

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Knights of Pythias, and is affiliated with the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and Knight Templar of Masonry and the Scottish Rite Consistory at Fort Wayne. He and his family consisting of his wife, son and daughter, are all members of the Congrega- tional Church.

November 27, 1900, he married Mary E. Main, of Wood County, Ohio. Their older child, Joan, born December 2, 1902, is a junior in the Angola High School. Harold M., born March 26, 1905, finished his first year in high school in 1919.

IRA ROYAL APPLEMAN, who for years has been connected with the agricultural industry of Spring- field Township, LaGrange County, is a member of an old and prominent American family long set- tled in Indiana. Two of Mr. Appleman's sons were officers in the World war.

He was horn on the Appleman homestead in Springfield Township June 22, 1860, a son of John H. and Sarah J. (Doe) Appleman. John H. Apple- · man was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1815, a son of Jacob and Jane ( Harris) Appleman. Jacob Appleman was a tailor by trade and was the father of eight sons and five daughters. When John H. was a small boy his father moved to Wayne County, Ohio, where Jacob died soon afterward. About 1827 John H. and his mother went to Richland County, Ohio, and he lived with an uncle, William Pool, until he was twenty-one years of age. On September 20, 1836, John H. Appleman married Miss Mary A. Doe, who was born at Stillwater, New York, May 20, 1818, a daughter of William and Anna (Hilton) Doe, the former a native of Bangor, Maine, and the latter of New York. John H. Appleman by his wife Mary had six children, two of whom reached ma- ture years, Squire H. and John Wesley. Squire married Viola Ryan, a daughter of Robert Ryan, a pioneer of LaGrange County, and he and his wife now live at Angola. John W. married Lottie Gil- bert and now lives at LaGrange. October II, 1849, Mrs. Mary Appleman died, and on January 7, 1851, John H. Appleman married Sarah J. Doe, a half- sister of his first wife and daughter of William and Elizabeth (Amsbaugh) Doe. John H. Apple- man by his second marriage also had six children : William E., a resident of Michigan; Albert G., deceased; Ira Royal; Charles M., deceased; Julia E., a resident of LaGrange; and Elmer S., who lives in Honolulu.

John H. Appleman came to Springfield Town- ship, LaGrange County, in 1840. All the money he had, sixty dollars, he paid on a tract of eighty acres of wild land. By persistent energy he made a good farm, and in the height of his prosperity owned seven hundred acres. In 1875 he moved to Clay Township, a mile south of LaGrange, where he had a complete, well improved farm of ninety acres and lived there until his death in 1897. He was a republican, a prominent member of the regu- lators of LaGrange County, and is well remem- bered for his good citizenship as well as his busi- ness enterprise.

Ira Royal Appleman grew up on his father's home- stead and had a public school education. At the age of sixteen he moved to Clay Township, near LaGrange, and while living on his father's farm there attended high school, taking the full four years' course. On October 21, 1886, he married Miss Jennie L. Oliver.

Mrs. Appleman was born at Paw Paw, Michigan, December 1, 1865, a daughter of Robert and Mary Jane (Cone) Oliver, the former a native of Can- ada and the latter of Fort Oswego, New York, on the banks of Lake Ontario. Mary Jane Cone was

born October 23, 1845, a daughter of John and Lovina (Baen) Cone, the former a native of Os- wego County, New York, and the latter of Ver- mont. John Cone after his marriage settled in Oswego and died there in 1864. His widow after- ward removed to Paw Paw, Michigan, and finally came to LaGrange, where she died in September, 1889, at the age of eighty-three. The Cone children were Alpheus, Carlton, Edwin, Chester, Charles Oscar, Edgar, Frances Eugenia, Mary Jane, Lucretta Charlotte, and Sarah. All the sons of the family were soldiers in the Civil war.

Robert Oliver, father of Mrs. Appleman, when a young man went to Michigan and was married February 22, 1865. He died in Michigan leaving two children, Jennie Lovina and Charles, who died in infancy. December 23, 1880, his widow, Mrs. Oliver, became the wife of Henry Bowen Dangler, a native of Ohio. His brother was inventor of the gasoline stove, known as the Dangler stove. The Danglers moved to Goshen, Indiana, two years later to LaGrange, where they resided ten years, and then returned to Goshen, where Mr. Dangler died in 1916, at the age of seventy-nine. Mrs. Ap- pleman was educated in the public schools, attended the LaGrange High School, also the Normal School at LaGrange, and was a teacher for several terms before her marriage.

Mr. and Mrs. Appleman with the exception of four years in Clay Township, where he worked his father's farm, have spent all their married lives on their place of eighty acres in Springfield Town- ship. This is a good farm, and Mr. Appleman has always raised much good stock. He is a repub- lican, and he and his wife are Methodists, though she was reared in the Presbyterian Church.

The oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Appleman is Ira Royal, Jr., born December 30, 1887. He was educated in the Springfield Township schools, in- cluding the township high school, is a graduate of the LaGrange High School and the Tri-State Col- lege at Angola, received the degree B. A., and has a prominent record as an educator. He was for- merly principal of the high schools at Colesburg and Bridgewater, Iowa, also at Mount Ayr, In- diana, was principal at Kadoka, South Dakota, and finally superintendent of schools at White, South Dakota. On June 26, 1918, he enlisted and sailed for France, spending about three months in the University of Glasgow, Scotland, for special train- ing. He was a member of Company C of the 309th Engineer Corps, 84th Division. He received his honorable discharge August 19, 1919. He was for three years a member of the State Militia.

Oliver Kenneth Appleman, the second son, was born March 24, 1890, attended public schools, the Springfield Township High School, and is a grad- uate of the LaGrange High School. In 1915 he 'received the degree Bachelor of Pedagogy from the Tri-State College, and is also an educator by training and profession. He was principal at Metz, Indiana, of the Orland High School, and in the meantime had become a member of the Indiana National Guard. From June to December, 1916, he was with the National Guard forces on the Mexi- can border. August 5, 1917, he began training, was sent to Fort Benjamin Harrison, later to Camp Shelby at Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and from Camp Mills, New York, was sent overseas in October, 1918. He landed at Liverpool, and soon afterward embarked for France. He returned to the United States in December, 1918. He was commissioned second lieutenant and later promoted to first lieutenant, and after his honorable discharge he re-enlisted in January, 1919, at Fort Benjamin Har- rison and was sent to Camp Taylor, Kentucky, and

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given special training in the School of Fire. He has since been assigned special duty in the army to establish at the Federal prison, Leavenworth, Kansas, a school for men who can neither read nor write.

John Harold, the third of Mr. Appleman's sons, was born April 8, 1894, was a graduate of the Springfield Township High School, and of the Goshen High School in 1914. He died January 25, 1916, just at the entrance to a promising manhood.

Henry Keith Appleman was born August IO, 1897, and since completing the work of the eighth grade schools in his native township has pursued farming and is now renting his father's place. Jennie Irene, the only daughter of the family, was born August 12, 1904, and is now in the first year of the Springfield Township High School.

Mr. Appleman has always taken a prominent part in local politics. For about twenty years he has been a member of the Election Board and also served as township committeeman. For nearly fourteen years he has been a director of the Farm- ers Rescue Insurance Company of LaGrange County.

WALTER FAIR. Representing an old and well known family of LaGrange County, Walter Fair spends his busy days as a farmer in Greenfield Township, and for thirty years was known over a large part of the county as the owner and operator of a threshing outfit, which he ran every season.

Mr. Fair was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, January II, 1860, but has lived in LaGrange County since early boyhood. His parents were Noah and Jane Ellen (Group) Fair, the former a native of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio. The paternal grandparents were Christopher and Rachel Fair, who moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio in early days. Christopher died in Ohio and his widow afterward came to LaGrange County and lived in Greenfield Township, and died at the home of her son Noah west of Mongo. Noah Fair and family came to Indiana in 1866, buying ninety acres in Bloomfield Township, where he lived until his death in 1914, at the age of eighty-two. His wife passed away in 1876, at the early age of thirty-seven. Their nine children included Walter, Truman, Emma, Catherine, Annie and Lottie and three others that died young, George, Deliah and Sarah.

Walter Fair grew up on the home farm in Bloom- field Township and had a public school education. He was in the threshing business for thirty years, up to 1913. In that period he operated all the different types of threshing machines, including the old horse power outfit down to the modern sepa- rator with wind stacker and almost completely automatic. During those years he and his brother Truman also owned in partnership a farm of eighty. acres in Bloomfield Township. He still has that property, but for twenty-nine years has lived in Greenfield Township and rented the Allen Green farm of sixty acres. Mr. Fair is a democrat in politics.

November 24, 1889, he married Margaret Funk. She was born in LaGrange County, a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Funk, who came to Indiana in 1865 from Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and settled in Clay Township. Mrs. Fair's parents are deceased. To their marriage were born six children, named Carl, Grace, Ross, Hazel, Basil and Lissie. The son Carl was in the draft for the World war and went to Camp Taylor at Louisville March 29, 1918. Later he was taken ill and after six months in the hospital was sent home in November, 1918.

DAVID W. ALDRICH. A citizen whose influence for good has been proved on numberless occasions, a prosperous and high grade farmer, David W. Al- drich has played a useful and valuable part in the citizenship of Richland Township of Steuben Coun- ty. While he has lived in that county the greater part of his life, Mr. Aldrich represents the pioneer family of Aldrich in DeKalb County. The very first settler in Troy Township of that county was an Aldrich, and David W. Aldrich is descended from one of the family who came very shortly afterward.

The Aldrichs were sturdy New Englanders. Simeon Aldrich, grandfather of David W., was a native of Vermont and married in that state Emile McClure, also a native there. Following their marriage they penetrated the western wilderness as far as Medina County, Ohio, and a few years later, in 1836, joined the pioneer Aldrich settlement in Troy Township of DeKalb County. Simeon Aldrich had the real spirit of the pioneer, and after many years of quiet routine in Indiana he joined the Cali- fornia Argonauts of 1849, making the trip overland and afterward going West again, taking in Idaho in his tour. Simeon Aldrich and wife had the follow- ing children : Emily, John Henry, Timothy, Simeon, Jr., Abigail, Lucy Ann, Lucinda and Jonas.

John Henry Aldrich was born in Medina County, Ohio, in 1834 and died in 1908. He married Olive Wright, a native of New York State, daughter of Alexander and Orpha (Cook) Wright. John Henry Aldrich was an infant when brought to DeKalb County. He began farming as a youth in Troy Township, and in 1868 traded his farm there for one in Richland Township of Steuben County, in section 30. He owned 327 acres in Richland Township and also had 120 acres in Otsego Township. In 1883 he removed to Butler and engaged in the buying and shipping of livestock for about ten years, after which he returned to his Richland Township farm, and the last two years of his life he lived in Hamil- ton. He was a member of the Methodist Church at Hamilton. His four children were: David W .; Simeon F., who married Louise Hicks and is now deceased; Charles E., who married Etta Dirrim; and Hiram H., who married Bonnie Snook.

David W. Aldrich, who was born in Troy Town- ship of DeKalb County, November 27, 1859, was reared and educated in Steuben County in Otsego and Richland townships, and as a young man en- tered upon the business of farming at the place where he now resides. In 1883 he married Harriet Hanes, daughter of Charles and Mary Hanes. After a year, in 1884, Mr. Aldrich bought forty acres in Otsego Township, and that was his home for fifteen years. During that time he added thirty- five acres to his farm. In 1900 he returned to the old homestead in section 30 of Richland Township. This farm is located in the center of the old Jack- man settlement, which was the first permanent set- tlement in Richland Township. Mr. Aldrich owns 1747/2 acres in sections 30 and 31, his home being in the former section. He built a commodious house, in which he and his family reside, and rebuilt the barn.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 90

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