USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume 2 > Part 20
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Dr. Stewart grew up on a farm, attended district school, spent two years in the LaFontaine high school and completed his literary education with two years in the Northern Indiana Normal school at Valparaiso. At the age of twenty he taught his first term of school, and with the proceeds of those earnings went west and preempted a tract of land in South Dakota. That homestead he has owned ever since and it is not only a valuable farm, but a memorial to his early enterprise. It was largely from his work as school teacher that he derived the funds which enabled him to pursue his studies in medicine. His first studies were carried on under the direction of Dr. W. A. Dunn of Wabash. Sub- sequently in 1886 he entered the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago where he was graduated in 1889, with his degree of doctor of medicine. For a few months in the same year he remained in Chicago, pursuing post-graduate studies in the Chicago Homeopathic College, but before the close of 1889 had established his office in Wabash, and has since enjoyed a large general practice in the city and vicinity. He has membership in the-Indiana Institute of Homeopathy and the American Institute of Homeopathy.
Dr. Stewart is a council degree Mason and a Knight of Pythias. In politics a republican, he was the unsuccessful nominee of his party in 1912 for congress. On February 27, 1889, occurred his marriage to Miss Nora Gillen, youngest daughter of Dr. Henry H. Gillen, of Wabash.
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MR. AND MRS. JOHN GROSHON
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The two children born to their union are Lawrence Gillen and Bruce, the latter of whom died at the age of five years.
JOHN GROSHON. Paw Paw township is the home of this honored old soldier and resident of Wabash county for seventy years. John Groshon came into the serious responsibilities of life without capital, with little education, but with capable hands and an ambitious spirit, and from working at wages as a farm hand went on from one advantage to another, provided liberally for his family, and now has a well ordered and sub- stantial prosperity. His homestead comprises sixty acres of land, and that has been his place of residence since 1876. Among his children he has divided a large amount of land in Michigan.
John Groshon, who is one of the oldest living native sons of Wabash county, was born December 12, 1844, near Lafontaine, this county, the son of Ferdinand and Mary (Wentling) Groshon. His father was a native of Switzerland, was reared a farmer, and when twenty years of age accompanied his parents to the United States. The father of Ferdi- nand Groshon died in Ohio, where he located, and Ferdinand then mar- ried Mary Wentling. She was born in Pennsylvania, went with her parents to Ohio, and they afterwards moved to Wabash county and died there. Soon after their marriage Ferdinand Groshon and wife came to Wabash county, and took up their home on a rented place near Lafontaine, taking the contract to clear the land for such crops as they could raise. In the meantime Mrs. Groshon's father had bought land half a mile south of the place where John Groshon now lives, and gave his daughter eighty acres, and Ferdinand Groshon subsequently bought another eighty acres from Mr. Wentling and paid for it by labor. That gave him one hundred and sixty acres, and he subse- quently sold sixty acres to his brother-in-law, Abe Flora. Mr. Flora came out from Ohio after the death of Mrs. Ferdinand Groshon and Mrs. Flora looked after the family of Ferdinand in addition to the duties of her own household. Ferdinand Groshon died on the old farm at the age of fifty. His first wife had died when her son John was four years of age. The second wife was Eliza Groshon, and though of the same name they were not related. She died about three years before her husband. Ferdinand Groshon was a typical pioneer, hard working, thrifty, and though he came to Wabash county poor, had cleared up be- fore his death about half of his estate, and was in substantial circum- stances for his day. John Groshon has a half-brother, Florian, who now lives in Los Angeles, California.
It was on the place near Lafontaine, then called Ashland, where his father and mother first made settlement, that John Groshon was born. When he was a year and a half old they moved to Paw Paw township, and his earliest recollections were of the old log house, which was the family abode. When his father died John Groshon was fifteen years old, and at that early age had to begin to look out for himself. Most of his schooling was attendance at a log schoolhouse, but the abundance of work at home kept him from his books so that he seldom had many days
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of continuous schooling in all his life. After the death of his father he worked out for wages among different farmers in the county, and at his last place, George Beck's near Wabash, remained two years and was paid ten dollars a month. Though his wages were meager, his thrift enabled him to save up about seventy-five dollars before he went to the war.
In July, 1862, Mr. Groshon responded to the call of his country, and enlisted in Company A of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Infantry. His serv- ice was largely in the western armies through the campaigns in Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas, and among many engagements he was present at Chickamauga, was with Sherman on his march to the sea, and con- tinued until the close of the great struggle between the North and South. His honorable discharge was received at Indianapolis in June, 1865. Returning to Wabash county, Mr. Groshon continued to work out for different farmers until his marriage.
On January 16, 1868, John Groshon and Margaret Rudy were united in marriage. Mrs. Groshon died in 1904. She was the mother of four children. Charles, who lives on a farm in Michigan, married Laura Richardson, and their children are Virrel, Eugene, Roy, Vaine, Arthur, Laura, Dessie and Lilly, twins. Emma is unmarried and is a stenog- rapher in Chicago. Minnie is now Mrs. Lewis Gokey of Michigan, and her first husband was John Kittsmiller, now deceased, and her two chil- dren are Ruth and Mabel Kittsmiller. Earl, who also lives in Michigan, married Chloe Clevenger, and their three children are Meredith, Paul and Robert.
In November, 1910, Mr. Groshon married Emma Long, widow of Samuel Long and daughter of Eli and Hannah (Applegate) Swank. Both her parents are living, both more than eighty years of age, and their home is at Speicherville in Wabash county. Mrs. Groshon was born in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, and came out to Indiana after the death of her first husband, Henry Derr, who was killed in a coal mine. Her two children by Mr. Derr are: Alec Derr, who lived with Mr. John Groshon; and William Derr, who is connected with the Wabash Plain- dealer, and by his marriage to Edna Miller, has one child, Harold. After his first marriage, Mr. Groshon, in the absence of capital sufficient to buy a place of his own, worked as a renter for eight years, and then bought his present farm, paying sixteen dollars an acre for it. Its original owner was Amos Gipe. All the land was then in the woods, there were no buildings, and confronted with the heavy task of making a home Mr. Groshon set himself manfully to the work and his record has been one of steadily increasing prosperity for forty years. The Groshon farm has improvements which class it well to the front among similar estates in Paw Paw township, and Mr. Groshon has made all these by his own labor and good management. His home is a large eight-room frame house. With the fruits of his prosperity some years ago Mr. Groshon bought four hundred and forty acres in Benzie county, Michigan, and his children now occupy and manage that farm. Mr. Groshon is one of the esteemed surviving members of the Grand Army of the Republic,
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with affiliation at Roann. A democrat in politics, he is independent fre- quently, and votes for the best man. He is one of the active members of the Christian church of Half Acre in Paw Paw township, and is treasurer of the organization.
WARREN MASON. For many years the agricultural interests of Wabash county were worthily represented in Lagro township by the late Warren Mason. Mr. Mason's career contained no thrilling or dramatic experiences, yet his life was a useful and helpful one, for he lived through the period of Wabash county's development from a prac- tical wilderness to a center of agricultural, commercial and industrial activity, and did his full share in promoting the progress and advance- ment of his section. Mr. Mason was a native of Fayette county, Indiana, born April 11, 1823, a son of Horatio and Amelia (Perrin) Mason, who were born in Herkimer county, New York, and Berkshire county, Massa- chusetts, respectively. The family is descended from Sampson Mason, a Baptist, who was a dragoon in the army of Oliver Cromwell, and who founded the family in America during Colonial days. He came to this country in 1650 and settled at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, there married Mary Butterworth, and had thirteen children, and their descendants became prominent in various avenues of activity, and in the making of American history.
Alonzo Mason, a son of Horatio Mason, came to Wabash county in 1851. He married Elizabeth Green, and they became the parents of five children, all being now deceased. Some of the grandchildren of Alonzo Mason are now living in Wabash county. Alonzo Mason was a member of the Christian church, and was a well-known republican of his day, serving the county as commissioner and in other ways becoming influen- tial in his community. Warren Mason, son of Horatio Mason, and brother of Alonzo Mason, was a man grown when he came to Wabash county, in 1853, and had married September 11, 1845, Mary Handley. They located in Lagro township, on an adjoining tract of land to that of Alonzo. Warren Mason and his wife here experienced much of the hard work and many of the privations incident to those pioneer days. Both worked hard and were among the substantial people of their locality in after years as the result of their industry and good manage- ment. As has been said before, there was nothing remarkable in the life of Warren Mason. He became known as an industrious man, a free supporter of all that looked to the good and advancement of the com- munity, he contributed liberally to the support of all laudable public enterprises, and was an advanced farmer along stock, buildings and scientific farming lines. He became conspicuous as a breeder and ex- hibitor of Short Horn cattle, and was usually successful with his stock in prize contests. Perhaps his most marked characteristics were his rugged honesty, his straightforward actions and the general high esteem with which he was regarded by his neighbors and associates. He served as president of the New Holland Turnpike Company and as president of the Wabash County Agricultural Society from 1881 to 1882. Mr.
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Mason's death occurred August 29, 1893, and his widow passed away August 18, 1900. They were the parents of seven children, of whom but two grew to maturity : Oliver H., who is a resident of La Fontaine; and Oren W.
OREN W. MASON, who is now living a somewhat retired life at South Wabash, after many years passed in agricultural pursuits, was born on the old homestead place in Lagro township, Wabash county, Indiana, September 26, 1865, and as a boy attended the neighboring district schools. He assisted his father in working the farm during all of his school period, adopted agricultural pursuits as his field of labor on attaining his majority, and is still the owner of the family property, a tract of 160 acres. It was here that he made his home until 1900, when by reason of failing health he moved to South Wabash, which has since been his home. He has been successful in his business affairs because of good management and foresight, and is numbered among the substantial citizens of his community, where he bears an excellent reputation for honesty and reliability. On March 21, 1894, Mr. Mason was married to Miss Nellie Pyle, daughter of Burr B. and Elizabeth (McNamee) Pyle, who were among the early settlers of Wabash county. To this union there have been born two children: Walter G., born January 14, 1895; and Mary E., born March 10, 1899. Mr. Mason is a republican in his political views, and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
HENRY I. BOWMAN. In a community like Wabash county it is pos- sible to obtain a fair estimate of a man's accomplishments from the appearance and condition of the property which has been developed under his proprietorship. Measured by this standard, Henry I. Bowman is easily in the front rank of the county's agricultural citizens, and to the traveler along the Minich Pike in Paw Paw township the Bowman farm stands out impressively as one of more than ordinary importance and value. Mr. Bowman owns altogether one hundred and ninety-six and a half acres in that township. It is divided into two adjoining tracts. His home place has one hundred fifty-five and a half acres, and to the south is a smaller farm of forty acres. All this land lies on the west side of the road, and about ten miles northwest of Wabash and three miles east of Roann.
Henry I. Bowman was born on his father's farm adjoining his pres- ent place on December 14, 1860. Isaac and Hannah (Neff) Bowman, his father and mother, were both natives of Franklin county, Virginia, were married there, and had one child born in that state. In 1852 they accomplished the long journey from the east side of the mountains to Indiana. The father had been a farmer and tobacco planter in Virginia, and on coming to Wabash county confronted the pioneer conditions and settled in the midst of the woods in Paw Paw township. He was here only a few years after the Indians had disappeared, and was one of the men whose labors contributed to the substantial development of this
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MR. AND MRS. HENRY I. BOWMAN AND FAMILY, AND THEIR HOME, PAW PAW TOWNSHIP
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section. His first home was a log house, and by hard work he extended his fields and gained a good home. His first purchase was of eighty acres, he afterwards added forty more, and eventually the old log buildings were replaced with modern houses and barns and other equipment. His first house was burned. On that farm the mother passed away in March, 1900, and the father spent the next seven years at his own place and with his son Henry, and died at the latter's home. The seven children of the family were: Benjamin, of Roann; Mary, deceased, who was the wife of John Foultz; George W. of Logansport; Henry I .; John M., deceased; Charles, deceased ; Jesse, of Oklahoma.
It was on the old homestead that Henry I. Bowman spent the years of his childhood and early youth, and while his muscles were being sharp- ened by application to the plow and the axe and other implements of farm husbandry, his mind was developed by attendance at the district schools. He lived at home until after he was grown, and for several years was engaged in the buggy and wagon and implement business at Roann, and later conducted a livery stable there. Finally returning to his father's place, he managed it for the elder Bowman, and in 1900 bought his present farm from the Benjamin Neff estate. Mr. Bowman has resided here since 1903, and has effected many important improve- ments. Among these are noticeable the large nine-room frame house, with all the comforts of a city home, a barn, and practically all the older buildings have been replaced by new since he came. Mr. Bowman plants a large acreage in staple crops each year, and feeds practically all his grain to his own stock.
On November 11, 1891, Mr. Bowman married Laura Carver, daughter of Amos and Hester (Rosewalt) Carver. The mother died when Mrs. Bowman was a girl and her father now lives in California. The Carver children were three in number, as follows: Emanuel, of California; Mrs. Laura Bowman and Wilmer, who lives in British Columbia. Mr. Bowman and wife have four children: Hubert, Vera, Beulah and Millard.
In his political attitude Mr. Bowman stands for the prohibition prin- ciples, but usually tries to vote for the best man for the office. He is a deacon in the Brethren church at Roann. His successful career is the result of his own industry and ambition, since he made his own way and got his start in life without any help, and received nothing by inheritance until after the death of his father, when his share of the estate was sixteen hundred dollars.
GEORGE POSTON MILLER. One of the honored veterans of the Civil war and a retired farmer, residing in his fine large frame house a mile and a half north of Wabash on the Laketon road in Noble township, and also the owner of two hundred and one acres in Lagro township, George Poston Miller is a product of the old-fashioned log school house, and of the environment which were familiar in the days of the stage coach, and the hoop-skirt. In spite of the deficiencies of his early education, George P. Miller turned out to be an industrious, hard-working, and public
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spirited citizen, of the type which has proved the back-bone and mainstay of the country, and has long been regarded as one of the most substantial men of his community.
George P. Miller has lived in Wabash county since 1857. He was born in Rush county, Indiana, September 21, 1843, so that he has already passed the psalmist's span of life, three score and ten. He is a son of Christian and Elizabeth (Whitehill) Miller. Christian Miller was born in Virginia, a son of John Miller, who came from Germany, was a planter and slave holder in old Virginia, later moved to Ohio, and finally to Rush County, Indiana, where he died. Christian Miller grew up in Virginia, and inherited a few slaves, which he set free when he left the state. He was married in Ohio, and Elizabeth Whitehill represented an old and prominent family of that state. From Ohio they moved to Rush county, and later to Wabash county, locating two and a half miles west of LaFontaine in Liberty township. At one time Christian Miller owned four hundred and forty acres in one piece. What he acquired was the product of his own labors, and he was a worthy citizen and kind father. All his property was divided among his children, and both he and his wife died in Wabash county. He had cleared up many acres of his land, and the early home in which George P. Miller spent some of his youthful years was a log house. In the latter's expressive phrase, "one could throw a dog through the cracks between the logs." It had a mud and stick chimney, and very little iron entered into its construction and all the furnishings were of that primitive simplicity which is described in the pages of this history devoted to early pioneer times. Christian Miller and wife had eight children, as follows: Joseph, of Wabash; William H. of Waltz township; Tobias H., of LaFontaine; George P .; Laura, the widow of E. Howard; Philip, of Liberty township; James A., who died at the age of twenty-five; and John, who died when twenty-four years of age. The sons, George P. and Tobias H., were both soldiers in the Civil war, the former a member of the Eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The first two children were born in the Buckeye State, and the others in Indiana.
George P. Miller was fourteen years old when the family left Rush county, and he attended school in that locality, going to what was known as the old Joe Winship log schoolhouse. He remembers how plentiful game was in the country in which his boyhood was passed. After he came to Wabash county, he attended a school conducted in the old Baptist church, which was a log building. He participated in many of the pranks which were characteristic of the old-time school life. One time he and his brothers and several other pupils, owing to the fact that the teacher refused to treat the scholars, secured a rail from a neighboring fence, put the teacher astride, and railroaded him to a pond, where they cut a hole in the ice, and were on the point of ducking the schoolmaster in the water, but the latter finally agreed to sign a paper stating that he would stand treat, and they accordingly let him off. During the first winter in Wabash county, Mr. Miller attended a school in which there were eighteen boys older than himself, and as he and his brother made little progress in
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their studies and apparently attended school more for the fun than for their mental good, their father took them out and put them to the heavy work of clearing land, which soon cured them of their truancy, and in one week's time they were glad to return to school more submissive and tractable. Another incident of early school times is related by Mr. Miller. One day his brother William directed "Coon" Sailor to open the school door, and when that was done, William rode his old sorrel mare directly into the school room, much to the consternation of the younger pupils, and after remaining a few minutes rode the horse out- doors. In such diversions his early years were spent, and he lived on the farm and assisted in its work until he was twenty-one years of age. However, in the meantime he had made a record as a soldier, of which his descendants will always be proud. On December 25, Christmas Day of 1863, he enlisted in the one hundred and twenty-sixth regiment of Indiana, and was out for two years. He was in the great campaigns, which closed the war in the middle west, participating at Franklin and Knoxville, Tennessee, and during the entire campaign of thirty-two days never changed his clothes. Outside of that campaign most of his service was in fort garrison duty, and in guarding railroads and other points.
After his return home, Mr. Miller was married in 1867 to Henrietta Howard, whose father William Howard was an early settler of Wabash county, coming from Rush county. Mrs. Miller died, leaving three chil- dren as follows: Della, now Mrs. John LaSelle; Anna, Mrs. William Mower; and Elizabeth, wife of Warren Hammond.
Thirty-seven years ago, Mr. Miller married Sarah Gochenour, daugh- ter of Abe and Rebecca (Caldwell) Gochenour. Her father was a sawmill man and came to this state from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Miller was one of nine children, as follows: John, deceased; William; Mary Jane, deceased; Joseph, deceased; Martha; Margaret, deceased; Mrs. Miller; Laura; and Charles-all of whom were born in Indiana. Mr. Miller by his second marriage had ten children, namely: Rose, Mrs. Pratt; Ross, who added to the military record of the family by serving in Company D of the One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Regiment, during the Spanish-American War; Mayme, who died at the age of twenty years; Minden; Daisy, a trained nurse; Benjamin H .; Lawrence; Landis; Eldora; and one that died in infancy.
Mr. Miller early in his independent career bought forty acres of land near LaFontaine, and was also engaged with his brother William in the operation of a tile factory. After selling that forty acres, he moved to Noble township, and his father-in-law, William Howard, having given the three daughters of his first marriage forty acres each, Mr. Miller bought that land, and later added another forty, all of which he subsequently sold for the price of one hundred dollars an acre. It was the first land under his ownership which reached so high a valuation, but that same land is now worth two hundred dollars an acre. Mr. Miller subsequently bought one hundred and eighty acres at Speicher, where he remained about six years. In the meantime he had bought the land already men- tioned in Lagro township, but upon which he never has lived, his son
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Minden residing on that farm. Mr. Miller moved to his present fine residence in 1906. It is located on a two and a half acre track of land about one and one-half miles north of Wabash, on the Laketon Pike, in Noble township. Mr. Miller is an honored member of the Grand Army Post, and is a member of the Wabash County Detective Association, a republican in politics, and a communicant of the Evangelical church.
CHARLES D. REED. When the first settlers came to Wabash county they found none of the present-day developments which seem so essen- tial a part of modern civilization. All the land was wild, some in prairie, other parts covered with timber, and a portion under water. It was a mighty task to turn the virgin sod, fell the mighty forest trees, and drain the swamps which were not only useless but bred various diseases, and yet these old-time pioneers proved equal to overcoming the obstacles which lay in their paths. While all did not live to see their hopes materialize, they laid a sound foundation upon which the present remarkable struc- ture of civilization has been built, and to them is due a great credit and honor which should be paid by all subsequent generations. It is to one of the oldest pioneer families of Wabash county that Charles D. Reed belongs. Mr. Reed himself when a boy was old enough to realize the primitive environment of pioneer times, and has himself played with the red men who at one time were the sole proprietors of Wabash county. Mr. Reed is moreover a man who has made his own fortune in the world, and, while now one of the most prominent men of Lagro township, can look back to a time when he had nothing except the industry of his hands and the intelligence of his mind to direct him and supply the necessi- ties of life. Mr. Reed owns a fine estate of one hundred and forty-six acres in two different farms in Lagro township near Urbana. He is also a director of the Farmers State Bank at Urbana.
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