USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume 2 > Part 12
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
Mr. Hegel was married in 1900 to Miss Myrtle Stair, the daughter of Adam Stair and his wife, both now deceased. They long maintained a residence in the vicinity of North Manchester, and were among the most highly esteemed people of their community. The father was a veteran of the Civil war.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hegel. Ralph is eight years of age, Arthur is five, and Bernice is now two years old.
The Hegel family have an excellent standing in all circles of the township, and take a foremost part in the leading social activities of the community. They are highly regarded for their many excellent traits, and have a wide circle of friends in Lagro township.
THOMAS WELLMAN KING, who was for many years a resident of Wabash, Indiana, and among its most prominent citizens in busi- ness, financial and public affairs, was a native of Ohio, his birth occur- ring in Summit county, October 16, 1836. He was the third in order of birth of the children born to Peter and Elizabeth (Moyer) King, the former born in York county, Pennsylvania and the latter in Westmoreland county, that state. His father, a miller by trade, came with his family to Wabash county in 1842 and purchased farm land three miles from the village of Wabash, but later disposed of that tract and established a home in the village. For years he was engaged in a general line of business and by hard and conscientious work accumu- lated a competency, at the same time winning the esteem and respect of all with whom he came in contact through his many sterling traits of character. In 1894, Mr. King passed away, having been preceded one year by the mother, and both are now at rest in the cemetery in Wabash. They were among the first to settle here and it is to such earnest, industrious and God-fearing people that the county owes its present standing among the leaders in the great state of Indiana. In 1842, they came to Wabash county, Indiana, Thomas W. King being then sixty-seven years old.
When but fifteen years of age, Thomas Wellman King embarked upon a career of his own, having received a more or less educational training in the public schools. He was content to start at the bottom, accepting an humble position as a clerk in a dry goods store, but he was not destined to remain among the ranks of the mediocre, for, after thoroughly assimilating the details of the business, he formed a part- nership with his father and upon the latter's retirement assumed full charge of the business, which assumed large proportions under his bril-
Digitized by Google
.
..
Digitized by
. Thomas Hellman . Kina
Digitized by
Digitized by Google
Digitized by
Charles Thurman King
Digitized by
Digitized by
567
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
liant and well-directed management. Subsequently, Mr. King became interested in a string of grain elevators, and was also the head of a large hardware house, the latter being continued with much success for a period of fifteen years. For years Mr. King was vice-president and a director of the Wabash National Bank, and his standing in the financial world was evidenced by the confidence placed in him by his associates, who in all matters of importance trusted him implicitly for guidance and leadership. When he passed away, December 14, 1912, his county lost a man whose place in the business world it was extremely hard to fill; his family a kind husband and indulgent father, and his hosts of friends a loyal and lovable companion whom they had always found ready to aid them in times of trouble or distress.
On October 22, 1857, Mr. King was married to Miss Jane D. Stitt, daughter of Archibald and Katherine (Simpson) Stitt, the former born in County Down, Ireland, in 1802, and the latter in Pennsylvania in 1811, and married in the mother's birthplace in 1827. In 1833 Mr. Stitt came to Wabash county, Indiana, and secured the contract for building the Wabash & Erie Canal from Lagro to Lafayette, and com- pleted that immense work in 1840. In 1835 he returned to Pennsyl- vania for his family and brought them to Wabash county, establishing a home at Lagro, but on completing his work on the canal returned to Pennsylvania. He later acquired government land in Rich Valley, and this he cleared and improved, developing a handsome and valuable farm, but in August, 1850, when elected treasurer of Wabash county, came here with his family, and continued to make this his home until his death in 1867. He was followed to his grave by the mother in 1892, and both were buried in the Wabash Cemetery.
To Mr. and Mrs. King there were born three children, as follows: a daughter who died unnamed in infancy; Harry S., born May 8, 1860; and Charles Sherman, born September 14, 1865, a graduate of Yale University. Mrs. King, who survives her husband and makes her home in Wabash, is still hale and hearty although she has reached the age of seventy-seven years. She is widely known in Wabash, and is respected and esteemed by the whole community and warmly beloved by a wide circle of appreciative friends.
CHARLES S. KING. During his all too brief career in Wabash county, the late Charles Sherman King was one of the forceful characters, and his attainments and services are the proper subjects for another short chapter in the annals of the King family and contribute further dis- tinctions to the name in Wabash county. Born in the city of Wabash on September 14, 1865, he was a son of Thomas Wellman King and a grand- son of Peter King, biographies of both of whom are found elsewhere in this publication. Charles S. King was graduated from the high school of Wabash with the class of 1882, and prepared for college at Crawfords- ville, Indiana, and at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In 1885 he entered Yale University, in the regular classical course, and was graduated A. B. June, 1889. With this literary foundation, he took up the study of law
Digitized by Google
. . .. :
Digitized by Google
& King
Digitized by
Digitized by
569
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
duty or an obligation. He had a thought for every one associated with him. His love for his father and his mother was the all-absorbing love that considered their every wish and interest. His was a peaceful going away and his loved ones could feel glad that he was spared great suffering. Everywhere kind friends are sorrowing over the loss of a good man from the city. Such men are needed, such men are an honor to their fellowmen and such quiet influence for good leaves a lasting impression. Honest, industrious, progressive, interested in every enterprise that advanced the cause of right living, was the ambition of his life."
Mr. Harry S. King married Miss Emma E. Rohrbacher, oldest daughter of Charles Frederick and Elizabeth Rohrbacher of Wabash. Her father was born in Germany, came to America when fifteen years of age, and died at Mount Carmel, Illinois, in 1882. Mr. King and wife were married May 28, 1890, and their two children are: Harriet and Thomas F.
NEIL LUMAREE. The appointment of Neil Lumaree to the office of postmaster of Wabash, in April, 1914, was based on merit and full qualifications for that office. No selection could have been more pop- ular among the people in general, and as the appointee of the present national administration, Mr. Lumaree enters his office with the con- fidence of the community and with a prestige established by many years of business relations with Wabash.
The name Lumaree has had a business prestige in Wabash for more than fifty years. In the early days it was identified with farming, with the old industry of pork packing which at one time flourished in Wabash valley, and with various undertakings and commercial affairs. Three generations of the family have lived actively in Wabash county, and the name is still prominent in business and civic affairs.
The first of the family to come to Wabash county was David W. Lumaree, who came from West Point, New York, to Wabash county during the forties. He was born in the vicinity of West Point, and was a son of James C. L'Amoreaux, of French descent, who for fifteen years served as commissary sergeant at West Point. He retained the orig- inal spelling of the name, as did also one of his sons, Cornelius Van Allen L'Amoreaux, who also came to Wabash county, Indiana, but the father of Neil Lumaree, when a young man, changed his name to the American form, Lumaree. James Lumaree in 1852 came west to Wabash county and died here in 1880 at the age of ninety-two years. One of six children, none of whom are now living, David W. Lumaree was a man of education, and his enterprise was instrumental in open- ing up some new avenues of activities in this county. He had been preceded to Wabash county by his brother John B. Lumaree, who was one of the real pioneers in this region. The latter had settled on a farm some six miles west of the present city of Wabash, and there both broth- ers joined in farming, but later moved into town and established a large general mercantile store. They also owned a grain elevator, and
Digitized by „Google
570
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
were among the extensive dealers in grain in their day. Farmers all up and down the Wabash Valley brought their harvest into Wabash and delivered their grain at the Lumaree elevator. The handling of produce in general was a feature of their business and the Lumaree brothers operated the plant at which they bought and packed hogs and shipped barrels of pork in large quantities to New York. David W. Lumaree lived in Wabash county until the close of his life. In Decem- ber, 1853, he married Mary A. Brady, and they became the parents of nine children, namely : Cornelius; Jessie, deceased; Myrtle, deceased; John; Ella, Mrs. Charles Bradley; Minerva, deceased; James; and twins who died in infancy unnamed.
David W. Lumaree was in active business in Wabash for a great num- ber of years, was precise and methodical, scrupulously honest and just, and a man highly respected for his upright life. His death occurred in December, 1899. His wife died September 11, 1913, aged eighty-three years, having passed away in the house to which she came as a bride sixty years ago. She was one of the venerable pioneer women of Wabash county.
Cornelius Lumaree, or "Neil" as he is almost universally known in Wabash county, was born in the city of Wabash, September 28, 1854. The public schools of the city as they existed during the decade of the sixties furnished him the foundation of a substantial education, and while still a boy he found employment as a clerk in a grocery store. His later activities led him into banking, and then into insurance. For fifteen years Mr. Lumaree was assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Wabash. For seventeen years past he has devoted his atten- tion to general insurance, loans and real estate, with office at 19 W. Market street.
Mr. Lumaree has for a number of years been one of the influential democrats of Wabash county, though he has never sought any impor- tant office, and has been a worker for good government rather than a politician. He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity. On May 16, 1889, occurred his marriage to Miss Lida LeRoy of Utah. They are the parents of three children: Leroy, Phoebe and Cornelia.
JACOB RISH. In writing, either briefly or otherwise, of the men who gave the best years of their lives to the development of Wabash county, mention must inevitably he made of certain men of foreign birth who performed well their parts in the great civilizing process that went on unchecked in this district for many years in the middle part of the last century. Among them Jacob Rish has his own definite and even promi- nent niche, for he was one who took up the burden of life in a new and untried land with all the zest and ardor of a native born son of the state. He was born in Nassau, Bavaria, Germany, in 1828, and was there reared, educated and married, the lady of his choice being Miss Mary Wenzel. Until the year 1849, Mr. Rish and his wife continued in their native land, carrying on farming operations, with more or less success, and it is assumed that it was less rather than more, else they
Digitized by Google
571
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
should have failed to grow sufficiently dissatisfied with the Fatherland as to wish to become citizens of another country. However, that may be, the fact remains that the year 1849 found them crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, prepared to brave whatever might come of viscissi- tudes and 'misfortune if they might but find them a home and independ- ence here. They were three months in making the journey, and arriv- ing on American soil they came to Warsaw, Indiana, via the Pennsyl- vania Lines, and from that point walked across the country to Wabash, making their way alone through dense and uncomfortable swamps, and fighting off wild animals that threatened them by day and night. Their destination reached, Mr. Rish found some work on the farm of one Michael Kunse, two miles north of Wabash. He had little or no means when he came here, and such material wealth as he and his faithful wife acquired in later years came only through unremitting toil, econ- omy and much self-denial. With their savings they gradually bought property, established a home, and here they passed the remainder of their days. Here were born to them eleven children, nine of whom reached years of maturity, and they are here named: Jacob; Julia, since deceased; William A .; Philip; John; Frederick; Nellie; Charles and Edward.
A notable circumstance in the life of Mr. Rish, as indicative of something of the independence of the man in his mental habits, is with all propriety mentioned here. He was born and reared stanchly in the Roman Catholic faith. After settling here he became a member of the Masonic fraternity, and after so doing was informed that he must either relinquish Masonry or lose his standing with the church of his birth. It appeared to the reasoning of Mr. Rish that any religion that felt itself justified in condemning Masonry, the beauties of which he had come to realize and to appreciate, was, of itself, but a weak reed upon which to depend for his eternal salvation, and after much inward de- bating of the subject, he resolved to retain his membership in the Masonic order at any cost to his churchly standing. The result was excommuni- cation, but he continued an ardent Mason and a lover of its ritual and teachings all his days, and his life was ever a power for good in his community.
Of foreign nativity, Mr. Rish was a man who was thoroughly Ameri- can in his citizenship. He was hard-working, industrious, honest to the penny, as the saying goes, and was moral and upright in his every trans- action and in all the relations of life. He was one who had the un- qualified respect and esteem of all who knew him, and his death, which occurred in 1893, was truly mourned. His widow survived him until June 15, 1911.
William A. Rish, second son of his parents, was born on November 10, 1861, in Wabash county, and he has always made this his home. He was educated in the Wabash public schools and while finishing his training there he aided in his own support by carrying wood up to offices and at other odd jobs of equal attractiveness. He showed his mettle in those early days, and demonstrated that he was the true son
Digitized by Google
572
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
of his father. He was fifteen years old when he began to work out as a farm hand, his first year in that work netting him a monthly wage of $8. His second year earnings were $18 a month, with a cash bonus of $50 for having proved himself an extra capable and willing "hand." His third year at farm work saw him raised to the dignity of $22 a month for his services, and in 1879 he began the draying business in Wabash. In this enterprise Mr. Rish has continued up to the present time, through a period covering thirty-four years, and his success has been one of which he may well be proud.
Mr. Rish is a democrat in politics, though not especially active in the party ranks, and like his father, he is a member of the A. F. & A. M.
On November 15, 1882, Mr. Rish was married to Miss Josephine Spencer, who died on January 9, 1892, leaving six children : Arthur, Ethel, Sherman, Omar, LeMoyne, now deceased, and Hilbert. On April 16, 1906, Mr. Rish was married a second time, Mary Holderbaum be- coming his wife. They were married at Port Clinton, Ohio, of which place she was a native resident, and they have one son, Roland Rish.
The family are highly esteemed in Wabash, and have a leading place in the social and other activities of the community.
CHARLES RISH. Among the present day wide awake, young, busi- ness men of Wabash, Indiana, Charles Rish is recognized as one of the self-made men of this class.
Mr. Rish since boyhood has been associated with B. Walter & Com- pany, Table Slide Manufacturers. His advancement with this concern has been the reward of conscientious effort and constant attention to the business interests of the company. Mr. Rish has risen from an obscure position in the factory, as a boy, to the Vice-Presidency and Factory Manager of the corporation.
Mr. Rish is a native son of Wabash, born here on the 26th of March, 1872. His early education was obtained in the public schools, and this city has always been his home. At the age of fourteen years, he started to make his own way in the world, his first employment being with the H. C. Underwood Mfg. Company. A year or so later an opening was offered him in the plant of B. Walter & Company, and he has been associated with this Company since that time. He is a director of the Citizens Savings & Trust Company, and also has financial in- terests in several of the prominent business concerns of Wabash.
Politically Mr. Rish has long been an independent voter, confin- ing his interest at the polls to matters of public import rather than to the business of furthering political supremacy of any designated party. His interest in the civic welfare of the city has been praiseworthy, and he has borne his full share in the burdens of communal and civic responsibility. He is identified fraternally with the A. F. & A. M. and with the B. P. O. E., in both of which he is highly esteemed by his brothers.
On August 5, 1895, Mr. Rish was married to Miss Lucy Hanselman, and they have three children, Louise, Howard and Josephine. Mr. and
Digitized by Google
1
Charbu Rista
Digitized by Google
574
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
early life was passed among strangers. It is but a small wonder, then, that he was given but the most limited schooling advantages, but his own natural thrift enabled him to acquire a working knowledge of the com- mon branches, so that he was by no means an illiterate man. He early drifted to Toledo, Ohio, and there he found employment with farming men in the vicinity. It was there that he married Julia Ann Huff, and they became the parents of thirteen children, but six of whom are now living. Mr. Parks followed farming all his life. He first bought a small farm in Lucas county, Ohio, and there he lived until the latter fifties, when he came to Wabash, Indiana, and here rented a farm near Urbana. In that vicinity he passed the remainder of his life, and he died there in 1880. Mrs. Parks survived until August, 1909, when she passed away at the age of eighty-four years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Parks had been members of the United Brethren church, and were people who lived lives of usefulness in their community and were known to be individuals of genuine and unquestioned worth. Mr. Parks was honest and upright in his character, temperate in his habits, and he won and held the esteem of all with whom he came in contact in his walk in life. His wife likewise shared in the many excellent traits that characterized him, and she left indelible impress upon the better activities and interest of her community.
The living children of Courtney Parks and his wife are Benjamin F., a resident of Wabash; Rosella, who married Jacob Rish and lives in Wabash; Charles E., residing in Wabash, as do also George W. and Moses W .; Samuel D. is in the regular army of the United States. All are married, but Samuel D. is now divorced. Benjamin F., it should be said married Mrs. Lane and they now reside in Wabash. Charles E. married Myrtle Gowdy, and they have one daughter; George W. married Lottie Houston and they have one son; Moses married Esther C. Hale and has one daughter.
Moses W. Park was born on his father's farm in Wabash county on May 7, 1875, and he was four years old when his father died. After that event the family moved into Wabash, in which city Moses Parks was reared and educated, the public schools supplying such education as he gained.
When about sixteen years old Mr. Parks launched out for himself as a "hand" in a sawmill, and he later learned the butcher business with a good deal of thoroughness. Later on he began working for L. A. Dawes in the transfer business, and he continued to be thus engaged for a number of years, at which time he and his brother, Charles E., bought the transfer business from Mr. Dawes, which they have since operated jointly, and with a good deal of success. They are among the successful and enterprising business men of the city today and owe their prosperity solely to their thrift and industry.
Mr. Parks is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose, but has no other fraternal associations. His politics are those of an independent voter, and his interest in local affairs of that nature are those of a good citizen only with no thought of self or personal benefit of any sort.
Digitized by Google
1
575
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
On March 18, 1896, Mr. Parks married Miss Esther C. Hale. As has been previously noted, she is the daughter of John B. Hale, who was one of the heaviest stockholders in the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany. To Mr. and Mrs. Parks one daughter has been born, Edythe Therell Parks.
MARTIN STEPHAN, who is prominent among the farming people of Lagro township as the owner and operator of a farm of ninety- five acres of land situated on the east and west sides of the Rock Spring pike, has here been resident since 1895, when he left the family home in Dallas township, Huntington county, Indiana, and settled on a place of his own. He is a son of Henry and Catherine (Vogt) Stephan, old residents of Huntington county, Indiana, both of whom were natives of Germany and came to the United States as chil- dren, locating with their families in Ohio, in the vicinity of Canal Dover. The father of Mrs. Stephan died in Ohio, but the others came to Indiana, and the Stephans located in Dallas, Huntington county, about a mile from the Wabash county line, and there the old people died.
Henry Stephan and his wife settled in Dallas township at a time when the most primitive conditions prevailed. Mr. Stephan was the first to introduce an axe on the place that became his home, and in the years that he spent there, much hard work was put forth in the matter of evolving a home of some sort from the wildness of the forest. In later years his son, Henry, father of the subject, joined him there, to- gether with a brother, and after acquainting himself with the possi- bilities of the new country, returned to Ohio for his family. They made the trip via the canal as far as the locks and thence on foot through the wilderness. Night caught the little party without shelter, and in the hours of darkness they huddled together for warmth, the mother wrapping parts of her clothing about the children in her efforts to add to their comfort. A flask of whiskey was the only remaining sustenance the fall of darkness found them in possession of, and they passed the night in more or less discomfort, not knowing in the least just where they were. To their chagrin, they found in the morning that they had camped for the night on the edge of their new home, and a few mo- ments' walk brought them to the shelter of the family home.
Henry Stephan had eighty acres of land in the beginning, but he added to it a forty in the course of his years there, so that when he died he was the owner of one hundred and twenty acres, all finely im- proved and in excellent cropping condition. He died there when his son, Martin, of this review, was a lad of fifteen years, and his widow survived him until 1907, when she died at the advanced age of eighty years. They were the parents of seven children: John, Mary, Martin, William, George, Emanuel, and Caroline. The second and fourth named are deceased.
Martin Stephan grew to manhood on the Dallas township farm and attended at intermittent periods the log school in the district. He re-
Digitized by Google
576
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
mained on the home place with his mother until he married, when Sarah Hunselman, daughter of the late Conrad Hunselman, became his wife. To them have been born a goodly family of nine children, here named as follows: Charles; Edward, married to May Laudick; Flor- ence and Flora, twins, the latter being the wife of John Hansel; Mar- garet is the wife of Charles Pohr and has children Eugene E. and Deloras; Lewis; Ida and Eva, another pair of twins; and Dora, the wife of Lloyd Foulke.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.