History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 91

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 91
USA > Indiana > Noble County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 91
USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 91
USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II > Part 91

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).

Not all his time has been given to farming. As a young man he taught seven terms of school, has served one term as township assessor, served four years as trustee of Richmond Township, and at the present time is a justice of the peace. He and four of his sons are affiliated with the Knights of Pythias.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich are: Harry, a physician at Fairmont, Indiana, who married Cora Dally; Fred H., who married Mary Shaefer and has three children, named John Wayne, Robert and

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Harry; Mary, wife of Irvin Kiess and mother of twin daughters, Irene and Ilene; Simeon F., who married Margaret Rose and has a son, Wayne Erwin; Dean D., who served in Battery B of the One Hundred and Thirty-Seventh Field Artillery during the World War; Olive L., a teacher in the Hamilton High School; Wilmet, a teacher in the home school in Richland Township; and Howard, a student in the Hamilton High School.

CLYDE PERKINS. A great deal of business enter- prise has been supplied by members of the Perkins family in Milford Township. The present genera- tion is represented by four Perkins brothers, own- ers of the Stroh Grain Company at Stroh, and indi- vidually successful farmers. One of them is Clyde Perkins, whose home is in section 23 of Milford Township.

On this farm he was born July 24, 1876, a son of Samuel and Emma (Mains) Perkins. His father was born in Pennsylvania August 24, 1838, a son of Jacob and Sarah (Phelps) Perkins. Jacob Per- kins came to LaGrange County about 1830, settling in Milford township, and was the third permanent resident of that locality. He entered land from the Government, and in a clearing in the midst of the woods built his double log house. He was killed in the Wert sawmill. He was a whig and republican. Samuel Perkins grew up on the home farm, and after his marriage located in Wayne Township of Noble County, but six years later traded his property there for the farm now owned by his son Clyde. He was a republican, and his wife was a member of the Methodist Church. They had five sons, Jada D., a well known farmer and business man of La- Grange County ; Miles E., who died when two years of age; Samuel M., a farmer a mile west of Stroh; Clyde; and Roy, who is cashier of the Bank of Stroh.

Clyde Perkins grew up on his father's farm and finished his education in the Tri-State Normal Col- lege at Angola. April 5, 1905, he married Grace Skelly. She was born in Steuben County and is a graduate of the common schools. They have four children, Dorothy, Donald, Mildred and Ralph. Mr. Perkins is a republican. For eight and a half terms he taught school in Milford Township, and since then has been applying his efforts successfully to farming and stockraising. He is a breeder of regis- tered Percheron horses, having about seventeen head of horses, with a stallion sired by Carnot. He also handles Shorthorn cattle, his herd being headed by Gloster Lad, a pure Scotch bull. Mr. Perkins is also a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank of Stroh.

CHARLES FREDERICK SUNTHIMER. The enthralling story of hardihood and resourcefulness in the finding and maintaining of a home on the American fron- tiers is now largely of the past, but the pioneering spirit lives yet and is exercised in other directions. It requires something of this spirit for a young man of today to push his business bark into the com- mercial sea, and it demands a large amount of fore- sight and good judgment to guide its course. One of the younger business men of Shipshewana, who is successfully dealing with the many problems a large mercantile trade offers, is Charles Frederick Sunthimer, who is sole proprietor of a business.

Charles Frederick Sunthimer was born in New- bury Township, LaGrange County, Indiana, April 14, 1896, and is a son of Joseph E. and Ida M. (Stutzman) Sunthimer. Joseph E. Sunthimer was born in Newbury Township, November 8, 1864, a son of Frederick and Rachel (Miller) Sunthimer. Frederick Sunthimer lost his mother when very

young and his father, Adam Sunthimer, died in Holmes County, Ohio, supposedly a victim of a murderer. Frederick was adopted by a family that brought him to LaGrange County and reared him. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits all his life in Newbury Township, where he married and where he died April 14, 1900. He was the father of six children, namely: . Mary, Joseph E., Rachel, An- drew, Amanda and Edward.

Joseph E. Sunthimer grew to manhood in New- bury Township, attended the public schools and later the normal school at LaGrange, after which he taught school for about five years and was very well thought of in that vocation, making friends who later became steady patrons when, in 1891, he established himself in the mercantile business at Shipshewana, after two years in the village of Pashan in Newbury Township. He was a man of sterling integrity and fine business capacity. He suffered twice by fire, losing stock and buildings, after which he put up the present substantial store structure. He owned at the time of death, October 12, 1916, a store at Topeka, Indiana, and one at Milford, and also a farm in the county. He was a republican in his political views, as his father had been late in life, but neither of them ever were willing to accept any political honors.

On July 13, 1884, Joseph E. Sunthimer was mar- ried to Ida M. Stutzman, who was born in Elkhart County, Indiana, December 20, 1866, a daughter of- Abraham and Elizabeth (Kauffman) Stutzman, both of whom were born in 1841, he in Elkhart, Indiana, and she in Wayne County, Ohio. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Sunthimer, Michael Stutz- man and wife, moved from Pennsylvania to Elk- hart and died there. The following children were born to Joseph E. Sunthimer and his wife, Elva B., who attended the high school at Shipshewana, is the wife of Dr. Walter Samuel, of Zanesville, Ohio, and they have two children, James and Paul; Edith M., who is a graduate of the high school, is the wife of Thomas Staley, living in New Mexico, and they have two children, Rachel and Dorothy: Ira, who is a high school graduate, married Mabel Frederick, and they have one child, Barbara Elizabeth; Clara, who was graduated from the Shipshewana High School, is the wife of Carson Wise; Maud, who is also a high school graduate, is the wife of Roy Kauffman; Alta, also a high school graduate, who is the wife of Samuel Hoover, and they have one daughter, Mary Elizabeth; Marie, who was grad- uated from the Shipshewana High School, is asso- ciated with Charles Frederick, next older than her- self, and their mother in the ownership of the store; Rachel, who is the wife of Dallas Rogers, is also a high school graduate; and Joseph, Josephine and Leroy, all at home. This is an intellectual family, almost all of them being college or university grad- uates, some of them being teachers, and gifted with social talents as well.

Charles Frederick Sunthimer was graduated from the Shipshewana High School in 1914 and taught one term of school. After his father's death he took charge of the business and continued until he en- tered military service in the World war, March 29, 1918. He was sent to Camp Taylor, Kentucky, for training, was promoted to corporal and later trans- ferred to the regimental band and served as a musi- cian until his honorable discharge December 6, 1918, when he returned home and resumed the duties of civil life.

On May 9, 1919, Mr. Sunthimer was united in marriage to Miss Florence Weaver, who was born at Goshen, Indiana, July 6, 1899, and is a daughter of Jesse and Margaret Weaver, highly esteemed resi- dents of Goshen. Mr. Sunthimer was reared in the

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Methodist Church, and his paternal grandmother was a daughter of Rev. Joseph Miller, who was a minister in the Amish Church.

JOHN L. MINCH has for many years been a mem- ber of the business and agricultural community around Howe. For a number of years he was in the windmill business, both selling and installing windmills. He now owns and occupies a farm in Lima Township, and has the management and direc- tion of a large acreage devoted to general farming and live stock.

Mr. Minch was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, April 8, 1864, a son of Lewis and Catherine (Rephan) Minch, his father a native of Germany and his mother born either in Pennsylvania or Ohio. The paternal grandparents spent all their lives in Germany. The maternal grandparents lived and died in Ohio. Lewis Minch in addition to serving an apprenticeship at the tanner's trade in Germany acquired a good education in academic lines and music. In 1860 he came to this country and fol- lowed his trade in Ohio, afterwards moved to Wis- consin and owned a tannery at Spring Green in Sauk County, but subsequently returned to Ohio, and hoth he and his wife died at Lisbon in that state.

John L. Minch was the only child of his parents. He attended country schools in Stark County, Ohio, also at White Pigeon, Michigan, and for six years he was in the employ of other men in installing windmills around the Village of Howe. He then engaged in the business for himself at Howe, but in 1910 came to his present farm near that village, where he owns forty acres and operates 300 acres.

In 1887 he married Miss Dora Cook, a native of Ohio and a daughter of, Milton Cook. They have a family of six children, all of whom are giving good accounts of themselves. Elsie is Mrs. Corwin Dickerson, of Ionia, Michigan; Ethel is a graduate of a business college at South Bend and the wife of Walter Haybarger at Howe; Earl is a teacher at Decatur, Indiana; Eason lives at home; Emanda is a graduate of the Elkhart Busi- ness College and is connected with the creamery at LaGrange; Electa is an employe of the post- office at Howe. All of these children are graduates of the Howe High School. Earl also took a course in the Kalamazoo Business College. The family are Presbyterians, and Mr. Minch is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Howe.

ROBERT CHARD, a well known resident of Steuben County, now living, at Angola, was born in Otsego Township March 23, 1851.

He is a son of Thomas and Nancy (Robinson) Chard, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. They were early settlers in Steu- ben County, their first home being on eighty acres in Otsego Township. Thomas Chard died in 1873 and his wife in 1892. He was a democrat, and they were members of the Methodist Church. Their children were Robert, Mary, Nancy, William and Ella,

Robert Chard grew up on the home farm in Otsego Township and after the death of his father took charge of its management. Later he bought 120 acres in the same Township, sold that and bought 200 acres in Scott Township, where his son Emmet now lives, and after many years of productive effort he retired in 1909 and owns one of the beautiful homes of Angola. He is a republican and served in the office of trustee of Scott Township. He and his wife are Methodists.

In 1879 he married Dorcas Thompson. She was

born in Richland County, Ohio, June 11, 1857, a daughter of Samuel and Eliza (Young) Thompson. Her parents settled in Scott Township April 16, 1870, their first home being eighty acres, and later they bought a farm in Otsego Township. They sold that and returned to Scott Township and acquired eighty acres near the first place of their settlement. Mrs. Chard's father died in 1881. There were five children in the Thompson family, named Margaret, H. Franklin, John, Dorcas and Thomas Benton.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Chard had four children: Leo Clarence, who died at the age of eleven months; Emmet B., on the homestead farm; Carl C., who died when two years old; and Ethel, who is the wife of Heyman B. Allman and has a daughter, Martha Ellen.

OTTO H. SWANTUSCH, M. D., who in a brief time has acquired a large following as a physician and surgeon at Angola, has accepted all the opportunities afforded the progressive young doctor to make the most of his profession and. his service to the world. He has had a varied experience in different locali- ties and came to Angola well qualified for mature and skillful work.

He was born at Mankato, Minnesota, December 5, 1883, a son of Fred and Augusta (Henning) Swantusch. His father was born in Germany and his mother in Alsace-Lorraine. They were mar- ried in Germany, and on coming to America located in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1872 and in 1880 went to Minnesota. In 1890 the family located at Garrett, Indiana, where Fred Swantusch lived until his death in 1917. His wife died there in 1897. Though many of his years were given to farming, he was a cab- inet maker by trade and for many years was em- ployed in that capacity in the shops of the Balti- more & Ohio Railroad, and the last two years of his life he was a pensioner of the Railroad Com- pany. He was a republican in politics and a mem- ber of the Lutheran Church. He and his wife had twelve children, Doctor Swantusch being the young- est. The others still living are: Frank, of Butler, Indiana, an electrician; Henry, a machinist and electrician at Three Rivers, Michigan; Emma, of Richmond, Indiana; Lena, wife of Rev. Otto Schumm, of Brownstown, Indiana. There is also a half brother, Fred Brandt, living at Cleveland, Ohio.

Doctor Swantusch received his early education in the public schools of Minnesota, graduated from the high school at Garrett, Indiana, and took his medi- cal course in the Fort Wayne College of Medicine, the medical department of Indiana University. He graduated in 1905, and had an interneship in the St. Joseph Hospital at Fort Wayne, and locum ten- ens at Ravenna, Michigan. He practiced at Metz in Steuben County four years, and then for three months was in partnership with Doctor Shoemaker .at Butler, Indiana. Returning to Metz at the end of that time, Doctor Swantusch enlisted June 26, 1917, in the Medical Reserve Corps of the National Army, receiving a commission as first lieutenant. He was on duty at Fort Benjamin Harrison until receiving his honorable discharge May 1, 1918. Doc- tor Swantusch took up his duties as a regular prac- titioner at Angola on November 26, 1917. He is a member of the County, State and Northern Tri- State societies and the American Medical Associa- tion, is a republican, and is affiliated with the Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Masons. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church.

August 3, 1905, Doctor 'Swantusch married Miss Mabel Berry, of Fort Wayne.

O. H. Swantusch M. Q

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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST INDIANA

WILLARD C. DEWIRE, though a native of Kansas, has been identified with the farming interests of Richland Township in Steuben County since a young man, and in association with his son carries on a very extensive and prosperous business in feeding and shipping livestock. Mr. Dewire makes his home at Edon, Ohio, his son living on the farm, and to- gether they co-operate in a business that has grown up year by year under the constant supervision of Mr. Dewire.

He was born in Allen County, Kansas, June 5, 1869, son of Monterville D. and Lizzie (Harris) De- wire. His parents were both born in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Monterville was only nine years old when his father died. Lizzie Harris was well educated and was an instructor in a girls' seminary at California, Pennsylvania. Monterville Dewire before going into the army spelled his name Dwyer. On the army rolls it was written Dewire and the family has continued that orthography ever since. Monterville Dewire was a member of Com- pany A of the One Hundred and Tenth Pennsyl- vania Infantry, and was with every engagement of his regiment and was in the war three years and seven months. Later he moved to Missouri, spent one years in that state, and for sixteen years lived as a farmer in Allen County, Kansas. ' On returning East he located in Williams County, Ohio, living at Edon four years. In 1886 he bought a 160-acre farm in section 29 of Richland Township, Steuben Conn- ty, added twenty acres to that, but about 1911 re- turned to Edon, where he is still living. His wife died in 1901. They were the parents of five chil- dren : Milton, a physician and a graduate of Rush Medical College of Chicago, now practicing at Sharon, Wisconsin; Willard C .; Elgy, a farmer in Williams County, Ohio; Lula, wife of Harvey Om- stead, of Otsego Township, Steuben County; and Lela, wife of Leo Morley.

Willard C. Dewire acquired his early education in the schools of Allen County, Kansas, and was about seventeen years old when his father located in Sten- ben County. Soon afterward he began farming in Richland Township, and in 1895 bought seventy acres included in his present landed possessions. He increased his holdings until he has 180 acres in sec- tions 32 and 33, while he and his son Montie own another farm of 173 acres. They use this land for general farming purposes, and pasture and feed a large amount of livestock every year. The son took first premium on a carload of fat lambs at the Buf- falo Fat Stock Show, and their long experience and study enable them to make the most out of any given condition affecting the growing and fattening of stock for the market. Their building improve- ments on the farm are of the very best.

In 1913 Mr. Dewire moved to Edon, leaving his son on the farm. Mr. Dewire married Myrtie Robi- nett, daughter of Thomas Robinett, and member of a well-known family of Steuben County, elsewhere noted. Their only child is their son Montie, who married Ethel Ingram and has two children, Myra and Marie. Mr. Dewire is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, being a charter member of Edon Lodge No. 644. His son has a technical as well as practical training for his business as a farmer and stock feeder, having taken two short courses in agriculture and stock husbandry at the Wisconsin State University and one short course at Purdue University.

CHARLES E. HARTZLER is proprietor of the Pine View Dairy Farm in Eden Township, located a half mile west of Topeka. He is a practical dairyman, thorough and efficient in the management of his

herd of choice cattle and an all around good busi- ness man.

Mr. Hartzler was born in Eden Township of LaGrange County, July 9, 1870, a son of D. W. and Anna (Greenawalt) Hartzler, the former a na- tive of Pennsylvania and the latter of Fairfield County, Ohio. They were married in Indiana and then located on a farm in Eden Township, where they lived until advanced years and spent their last days in Topeka. They were members of the Menno- nite Church, and D. W. Hartzler was active head of the Sunday school for many years. He died in January, 1918, having survived his wife only a few weeks. She passed away December 26, 1917. They had seven children: Elizabeth, unmarried; Ephraim E., and William W., both of Clear Spring Township; Celestia B., unmarried; Charles E .; Alice I., widow of N. M. Lantz; and E. Blanche, wife of Charles Miller.

Charles E. Hartzler lived at home and attended the district schools to the age of twenty-one. The Pine View Dairy Farm, of which he is proprietor, comprises eighty-four acres of good land, and he also has other business relations. He is LaGrange County agent for the Hinman Milking Machine, is a director of the Farmers State Bank of Topeka and is director for Eden Township of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company of LaGrange County. He and his family are members of the Mennonite Church.

In 1897 he married Salina Hartzler, a native of Noble County, Indiana, and they are the parents of three children: Lillian, who is a graduate of the Topeka High School and of Goshen College, normal department, and has taught for one year; Lucile, a graduate of high school and of the Fort Wayne Business College; and Lois.

JOHN WILLIAM LAWRENCE. An old and honored family of DeKalb County bears the name of Law- rence, and for many years it has belonged to Rich- land Township, in the development of which it has borne a useful part. A representative member of this old family is John William Lawrence, who was born on the old Lawrence homestead in Richland Township, September 13, 1856.

The earliest American record of this branch of the Lawrence family leads back to John R. Law- rence, of English extraction, who lived in the vil- lage, now the city, of Germantown, Pennsylvania. Six of his sixteen children, George, David, John, Emily, Hannah and Mary, came to DeKalb County, Indiana. They found here the Symonds family, who had previously lived in New York and Ohio, and had been the seventh family to locate in An- burn, a hamlet then so small that Perry Symonds is said to have asked its location when standing in its midst. David Lawrence, of the above family, married Mary C. Symonds, a daughter of James and Mary (Camp) Symonds, November 30, 1848, and two days later they settled on the old homestead farm in Richland Township. Their first round log house has disappeared, but the second and third houses built by David Lawrence are standing today. Mr. Lawrence acquired the wild land by contracting to work one year for it, but the prevailing ague that caused much sickness in malarial districts in those early days attacked him and he was obliged to work six months longer in order to complete his contract. He helped build the first and only water-power saw- mill at Auburn, on Cedar Creek, and helped cut out the road from Auburn to the northwest. He utilized the strength of oxen in farming and hauled his sur- plus farm products to Fort Wayne. Three children were born to David Lawrence and his wife, namely: one who died in infancy; John William; and Emily

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E., who is the wife of J. S. Graham. Mary Edna Graham, married John L. Harding, and they are the tenants on the old homestead farm. The Hard- ing children are: Ralph G., Roy L., Mark E. and Philip W. Ralph G. married Pearl Roland, and they have two children, Edna Eunice and Roland G., these two children being in the fifth generation. Roy L. Harding, who was one of the members of the early medical units to go to France in the World war, has given a good account of himself. Mark Harding married Irene Parker, also of an old DeKalb County family. William L. Graham mar- ried Vesta Texter, and their children are William, Robert, Kenneth and John. They had a son, Rich- ard, who met an accidental death. Maud Graham is the wife of Junius R. Latson, and they have two children: Wilma and Margaret. Mary Charlotte Graham is the wife of Fred Krichbaum, and they have three children: Dorothy, Elizabeth and Mary Fredericka.

On December 17, 1885, John William Lawrence was united in marriage to Alfaretta Sheffer, who was born October 28, 1866, in Jackson Township, DeKalb County, one of a family of seven children born to John and Martha (McClellan) Sheffer, the others being: Emma A .; James W., who married Cora Chaney, has two children, Heber W. and Martha Naomi; Mary Monellie, who is the wife of J. W. Garnette, and they have four children, Allie, Lloyd, Lucile and Kathleen; Nye C., who married Irma Huff ; and Milton and Curtis, who died in childhood. The Sheffer family is of German descent and had lived in Pennsylvania and Ohio before coming to Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence have no children of their own but Miss Bernice Harding stands in that relation to them in affection. They have always lived in the brick veneer frame house built by the father of Mr. Lawrence in 1884. It is equipped with modern conveniences of every kind and is not only a home of comfort but one of beauty also.

The mother of Mr. Lawrence was a charter mem- ber of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Auburn and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence have their membership there. Mr. Lawrence is not active in politics but formerly his father was elected a trustee of the township on the republican ticket. While they have never desired to change their place of residence, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence have recognized the fact that there are many other parts of the country worth seeing and together they have trav- eled quite extensively as sightseers. The family military record is one worth preserving in connec- tion with other family history. The Lawrences were represented in the Revolutionary war as well as the War of 1812, and in the Civil war these uncles of Mr. Lawrence took part: John Lawrence and John, Rudolph, James, Albertus and Charles Sy- monds. The uncles of Mrs. Lawrence who were soldiers in the Civil war were William Sheffer and John, Harvey and Alexander McClellan. In the World war the name of Roy L. Harding appears as one of its heroes. For a peaceful, law-abiding family from generation to generation this is a suffi- cient record of loyalty and patriotism.

PRICE BROTHERS is the business title of two very enterprising farmers and land owners of LaGrange County, Harry W. and. Fred E. Price. They have been associated in farming and related business enterprises for a quarter of a century, and for a number of years have been regarded as the most extensive sheep feeders and raisers in the entire county.

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History of Northeast Indiana : LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Volume II, Part 91

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