History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume 2, Part 30

Author: Clarkson W. Weesner
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 619

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STARBUCK. No history of Wabash county and its representative citizens would be complete were not mention made of B. F. Starbuck, affectionately known to his many friends as "Uncle Frank" Starbuck. He is a native of Indiana, having been born in Wayne

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MR. AND MRS. B. F. STARBUCK

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county, about nine miles north of Richmond, December 6, 1846, and is a son of Andrew R. and Avis (Gardner) Starbuck, natives of North Carolina.

Not long after their marriage the parents of Mr. Starbuck left their native Old North state, and drove overland in a wagon to Indiana, first settling in Wayne county, where they resided until 1847. In that year they again took their horses and drove through to Wabash county, set- tling on a farm in Waltz township, about four miles west of Somerset, which had not yet been entered from the Government, although later, when it was possible, it was secured by the father. About ten of the 160 acres had been cleared, and on this had been erected a small log cabin, which was the family home until some years later, when it was replaced by a more commodious and comfortable frame house. About the close of the Civil war Mr. Starbuck removed to Somerset in order that his children might receive better educational advantages, and during the two years that he made his home there served as assessor. He then returned to the Waltz township farm, where he and the mother continued to spend the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of eleven children, and two of their sons, James D. and Milton H., served as Union soldiers during the Civil War, as members of Company A, Eighty-ninth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

The early education of B. F. Starbuck was secured in the district schools of Waltz township, this being supplemented by two terms in the village schools of Somerset. He had early learned the lessons of energy and industry, and a large part of his boyhood had been passed in assist- ing his father and brothers to clear the heavy timber from the home farm, to harvest the crops and to help in making the numerous improve- ments which were put on the land from time to time. It was but natural that he should adopt agricultural pursuits as his field of operations, and when he had completed his schooling at Someset he returned to the home place. There he made his home until 1893, when he removed to Somerset, where he opened a hotel and restaurant, and four years later, in 1897, sold out and was appointed postmaster. He has ever been energetic, per- severing and industrious, and these qualities have enabled him to triumph over all the difficulties that have been found in his path. His main business enterprise is flour and feed, and is the only one in Somerset engaged in that vocation. He also owns the building that contains the postoffice and the feed store. In public affairs he has been prominent. From 1885 until 1888 he served his township as trustee, and in 1897, as above stated, was appointed postmaster at Somerset by President Wil- liam Mckinley, assuming the office on May 10, 1897. This position he has filled to the present time, to the entire satisfaction of the people of his community. Mr. Starbuck has ever supported the republican party, and is known as one of the reliable stand-bys of this part of the county. His religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has served as a member of the board of trustees.

Mr. Starbuck was married at Somerset, Indiana, December 12, 1867, to Miss Mary Shoop. Her father passed away when she was very young.

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Her mother, Elizabeth Shoop, later married Ezra Hawkins, and both are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Starbuck have no children.

JOSEPH HAUPERT. Although agricultural conditions and methods have changed materially during the past half a century, in which dis- coveries and inventions have played such an important part in advancing the prosperity of such fertile farming communities as Wabash county, the need for energy, perseverance and well-directed effort still prevails, and the farmer who rises above his fellows is he who displays these char- acteristics in the greatest degree. Among the men of this county who are proving their ability as tillers of the soil and showing their worth as representatives of honored families, Joseph Haupert takes a prominent place. At this time he is the owner of a well-cultivated farm of 100 acres, on the east side of the Laketon road, eight and one-quarter miles north of Wabash, in Paw Paw township, a property which he has brought under a high state of cultivation through intelligent treatment and scientifie methods. Mr. Haupert was born on the old family homestead in Wabash county, in a log house, February 19, 1869, and is a son of Frederick and Barbara (Nunemacher) Haupert.

Frederick Haupert was born in Germany, where his father died, and when sixteen years of age he came to the United States alone, his mother later coming to America, and she passed away in Ohio. He had received a good education in the schols of the Fatherland, and had shown himself especially clever at figures, but received no instruction in English until he was past twenty-one years of age, when he paid his own way. Prior to the advent of the railroads in Wabash county he left his home in Tus- carawas county, Ohio, and came to the new locality, and was married here to Barbara Nunemacher. At this time he purchased eighty acres of land in the woods, for which he went into debt, lacking the purchase price of $300. They began their married life in the one-room log house, located in the midst of great growths of valuable poplar, walnut and other timber, the worth of which at that time, however, was not sus- pected. Game was plentiful in the woods, and the first year Mr. Haupert had his corn crop totally destroyed by the hordes of squirrels which in- fested this section. He kept steadily adding to his land from time to time and was the owner of five eighty-acre farms at one period, but when he died had only three farms, as he had disposed of 170 acres in Lagro township and forty acres in Paw Paw township. He was a self-made man in every respect. A great reader and man of superior intelligence, he was frequently called upon for advice, and settled many disputes among his neighbors. He was a faithful member of the German Lutheran church, and was always a stanch supporter of religious movements, assisting to build all three churches at Urbana. In his political views he was inde- pendent, exercising his right of franchise in voting for the man he deemed best fitted for the office, irrespective of party lines. He contributed ma- terially to the upbuilding of his community and put up the second log house, which is still standing and occupied by his widow, who has en- larged, weather-boarded and plastered it and it is now one of the most

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substantial in the county. Mr. Haupert was within three months of being eighty-five years old at the time of his death, July 18, 1911, and his death was mourned by a wide circle of friends.

Mrs. Haupert, the widow of Frederick Haupert, has been a resident of Wabash county for more than sixty years, and is one of its best known and most highly esteemed women. She was born in Wittenberg, Ger- many, November 26, 1832, and is a daughter of Christofer and Mary (Singlinger) Nunemacher. Her father, a stone mason in Germany, was engaged in making house and barn foundations and wells, and also was the owner of a few fields in his native land. In 1847 the family emigrated to the United States, the journey consuming some seventy-five days on the ocean in a sailing vessel. Just as the party were about to board the ship, one of the women found that she had lost her money which had been tied up in a handkerchief and which she had left in a store. She declared that her brothers, who lived in Pennsylvania, would repay any- one who would lend her the money to come to America and Christofer Nunemacher advanced the means, but on arrival in Erie, Pennsylvania, the brothers refused to pay and after three weeks the little party moved on. From Pennsylvania they went to Ohio, where they remained for a little more than a year, and while residing here a son, George, enlisted for service in the war with Mexico, in which he subsequently met his death. Christofer Nunemacher was given seventy-five dollars and 80 acres of land by the Government and came to Wabash county, Indiana, where he had German friends, although he was given only eighty acres, this now being the farm adjoining the one belonging to George Haupert in Paw Paw township. This later proved a good farm, although at that time it was all covered with woods. Wild game was to be found in great quantities, and it was no unusual experience for Mr. Nunemacher to arise in the morning and find tracks where the deer had slept in front of his cabin during the night. Frequently the children, in going to school or after the cows, would become lost in the woods. Christofer Nune- macher and his wife were earnest, hard-working, God-fearing people, and when they died were mourned by the entire community.

Mrs. Frederick Haupert was a girl of sixteen years when the family came to Wabash county. She had received a good education in her native Germany, where the schools at that time were greatly superior to those found in the United States, but in this country did not attend school. At first the wilderness of the Hoosier state oppressed her, and she longed for the Fatherland, or for Ohio, but finally became reconciled to her life in the new country, and eventually grew to love her adopted community. Upon coming to Wabash county she began working among the families of the section, first with a Jewish family named Harrif, at Wabash, by whom she was kindly treated, later with Dunkard families of Lagro township, named Blocker and Rennicker, and later with Phil Albers, now deceased, who resided at Wabash. Here she was treated as one of the family, and was given a salary of $1.00 per week, having formerly worked for seventy-five cents per week. Often she worked in the field, with the old-fashioned scythe and other hand tools, and her

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money was always sent home to her father. She was within one day of being nineteen years of age when she was married by a justice of the peace, at the home of Mr. Albers, to Frederick Haupert, and they at once began their married life in the woods of Paw Paw township. The pioneers of that day had to be satisfied with but few comforts, outside of the absolute necessities. Mrs. Haupert did not know of the luxury of a spring wagon or buggy, or of any of the conveniences, although all of these things have since come to her. An old hand-made flat-iron, which belonged to her mother and which is an illustration of the crude tools of that day, is greatly prized by her. She was strong, able and willing, and a great help to her husband, and with him reared a family which is a credit to her and to the community. Mrs. Haupert still resides on the old homestead, of which she owns eighty acres, the land having been recently divided, her son George Haupert receiving eighty acres on the east and Charles eighty acres on the west, on the Laketon road. Although eighty-two years of age Mrs. Haupert is still alert, active and keenly interested in all that goes on about her. Her life has been an exceedingly full one and she has been blessed with advanced years, in which she has fully and nobly done her part in the wonderful changes which have made Wabash county one of the garden spots of the great state of Indiana. Frederick and Barbara Haupert were the parents of the following chil- dren : Jacob, who is deceased; Mary ; Philimina, who is deceased; Mary ; Fred; Elizabeth; George, who is living with his mother; Peter; Philip, who is deceased; Joseph, of this review; Charles H. and Rose.

Joseph Haupert was reared on the old homestead, his education being secured in the Half-acre school, to get to which he was frequently com- pelled to struggle through great fields of swamp land. He was large for his age, and when still a lad began to do his full share of work on the farm, performing a man's task when he was but fourteen. He was mar- ried in 1904 and continued under the parental roof for one year there- after, then purchasing eighty acres of land in Waltz township. There he resided but five months, however, when he disposed of his property and came to the farm on which he now resides, the old Downey place. He has remodeled the residence, erected wire fences and made many hun- dreds of dollars of other improvements, and now has one of the handsome and valuable properties of Paw Paw township. He devotes his atten- tion to general farming and to the raising of cattle and hogs, and has been very successful in his ventures. Known as a man of the strictest integ- rity, he has the confidence and respect of his business associates, and while he has not been an office seeker he has always been considered a good and progressive citizen, ever ready to assist movements for his com- munity's benefit.

In June, 1904, Mr. Haupert was married to Miss Helena Catherine Wendel, daughter of Christian and Mary (Mattern) Wendel, well-known farming people of Paw Paw township, both of whom are now deceased. Mrs. Haupert's brother, Edward, is a resident of Pleasant township. They have two children, Mary Josephine, born August 28, 1905, and Myron Wendel, born August 1, 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Haupert are. con-

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sistent members of the German Lutheran church, and have numerous friends in its congregation and in social circles of the township. In his political views he is independent, voting for the man rather than the party.

ERHART WEBER. Few of the residents of Paw Paw township have resided in this part of the county longer than has Erhart Weber, sixty- four of whose seventy years have been passed here. Coming to this sec- tion when primitive conditions still remained, when the deer and wild turkey were to be found in abundance, when the log cabin was the main style of architecture, and when the beautiful country of today was still in the making, he has grown up with the county, has helped to foster its growth, and with its prosperity has himself prospered. Today he is the owner of 352 acres of land, secured through his own exertions, and is one of the highly esteemed men of his community, honored alike because of the great development through which he has passed, and for his many sterling traits of character.

Mr. Weber is a native of Ohio, born in Wayne county, January 15, 1844, in the town of Milbrook. His parents were John and Julia (Grosengene) Weber, the former a native of Switzerland, and the latter of France, and both of whom migrated to the United States as young people. John Weber was a shoemaker by trade, having learned that vocation in his native land, and for some time conducted a small shop at Milbrook, Ohio. He was married in Wayne county, and about the year 1850, with his wife and three children, a balky mare and a one- horse wagon, came to Indiana and located in Wabash. He had no capital, but was industrious and ambitious and soon secured employment with Mr. Coontz, at the brickyard, where he worked during his first summer in this state. Following this he rented a farm which now forms a part of the property of his son, a tract of eighty acres which was owned by Peter Mount, son of the old banker and large land owner, and which was managed by James McClure. Through his enterprise and energy, thrift and economy, he was able to secure enough capital to pay part of $800 purchase price for 160 acres of land up the Eel river, in what is now Pleasant township, although at that time it had not as yet been divided. The land was all in the woods, wild animals abounded and all the privations of pioneer settlement were to be suffered, but Mr. Weber and his family set cheerfully to work to make a home. The mother, however, died here and the father sold the land to his youngest son, Frank, and moved to Manchester. There he was married again, and three years later passed away. Mr. Weber was a self-made man in every sense of the word. With no advantages, either of an educational or financial nature, he entered a new country, among strangers, and fought his way steadfastly upward to a position of importance in his community and financial independence. Among his neighbors he was known as a man of integrity in business and loyalty in friendships, and his support was ever given to worthy causes. He gave each of his children eighty acres of land, all of which, with their help, he had secured and put under

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cultivation. John and Julia Weber were the parents of the following chil- dren : Erhart; John; Henry; Ellen, who is the wife of James Guimip; and Frank, all now living.

Erhart Weber was a lad of six years when he accompanied his par- ents from the Ohio homestead to the new region of Indiana, and his youth was spent amid pioneer surroundings. He well remembers the turkeys, deer and wild animals which still made their home in the woods, and also has a distinct recollection of the ague with which the early settlers were afflicted almost without exception. The log schoolhouse on Eel river furnished him with his educational training, and like other boys of his generation and locality when he was not applying himself to gaining a knowledge of the "Three R's" he was helping his father in the work of the homestead farm. He early decided upon his career as an agriculturist, and worked at home until his marriage, in 1868, when he secured eighty acres from his father and embarked in operations on his own account. This tract was located in the woods, but Mr. Weber had had experience already in clearing property, and it was not long before he had it under cultivation and with a good home and other buildings. He applied himself industriously to his labors, and as the years passed improved his land, added to his stock, erected new build- ings and purchased new equipment, and continued to steadily buy more acres. His residence farm at this time consists of 160 acres, in Paw Paw township, in addition to which he has forty acres across the road and eighty acres east, also in Paw Paw township, and northeast of Roann, and seventy-eight acres near North Manchester, in Chester town- ship. Although he is now seventy years of age he still continues his gen- eral farming operations with as much success as that which characterized his ventures in his youth when hard work was a necessity. Few men stand higher in the esteem of their fellow-citizens, and few have a better right to the term of self-made man. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church. Politically a democrat, Mr. Weber has stanchly sup- ported his party, but has not cared to offer himself as a candidate for public office.

Mr. Weber was married in 1868, to Miss Mary Ann Ogden, who died leaving two children: George, who married Dora Dillery, resides at Manchester, and has one daughter,-Pauline; and Myron, who resides on his father's forty-acre farm, in addition to which he owns eighty acres of his own, and who married Orpha Hainey. Erhart Weber mar- ried for his second wife Rilla Hale, who died February 27, 1910, and to this union there is one child: Edith, who married Charles Pottenger and has one child, Carmen. Mr. and Mrs. Pottenger reside in Paw Paw township.

FRED GRETZINGER. One of the prosperous and progressive farming men in Lagro township is found in the person of Fred Gretzinger, who has spent practically his entire life thus far in this vicinity. . His suc- cess has placed him among the foremost men of the community, and he is a leader in citizenship, in industry and in all those sturdy virtues

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MR. AND MRS. FRED GRETZINGER AND FAMILY

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that make for the development and onward progress of a town, state or a nation. The ancestry of Mr. Gretzinger, who is of sound German lineage, has no doubt had much to do with the matter of his personal prosperity, for he has from his German parents those solid attributes of character that are usually found to enter into a success of that nature of his. The farm of which Mr. Gretzinger is the owner is one of 120 acres, eighty acres of it being on the east side of the road, or range line, and the remaining forty on the west side.

Fred Gretzinger was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, on June 29, 1850, and he is a son of George and Christina (Baush) Gretzinger. The father was born at Wittenberg, Saxony, as was also the mother, and both came to the United States young in years, the latter with her parents and the former in company with two boys of his own neighborhood. The voyage of the Baush family was one never forgotten by any mem- ber of the little company, for it was one unique and altogether horrible in its aspect. The ship encountered many misfortunes on the way across, and as a result of a series of accidents the crew found itself with- out a competent mariner on board, and, without daily accurate reckon- ings, the ship lost its way and was a year on the waters. Provisions ran out finally, and they were driven to desperate measures. As a last resort it was decided to sacrifice one member of the surviving company to sup- ply food for the others, and when lots were drawn the unfortunate num- ber fell to a young woman. The company out of sympathy for the victim deferred the sacrifice as long as possible, and when it seemed that there was no escape for her a sail was sighted on the distant horizon, and soon all were rescued by a friendly vessel. The harrowing experiences of this journey remained with Mrs. Gretzinger to her last moments, though she was but a child when she made the trip across the ocean.

The emigrants, including the Baush family and young Gretzinger and his friends, settled in Ohio when they arrived in America, and there George Gretzinger lived for several years. He was a shoemaker by trade and he worked at the bench for years, until failing eyesight compelled him to turn his attention to other work. Mr. Gretzinger met and mar- ried Miss Baush in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and there five of their children were born. They moved to Indiana, making the trip with team and wagon, in the year 1850, and the time consumed in making the journey was from the latter part of July to the middle of October, by which time they reached Huntington, Indiana. They settled in Dallas township, a mile east of the Wabash county line, and there they applied themselves to the business of making a comfortable, or at least a livable, home out of a wilderness such as all settlers in Indiana found in that day. There they experienced all the hardships that primitive farmers can ever know, and performed their full share toward settling up the community where they made their home. They came to be prominent people in the township, and were leaders in thought and action for years. Both lived to the age of seventy-five years, and they died in the same year, she in the spring and he in the autumn following. Mr. Gret- zinger had been twice married. By his first wife he had two children, Vel. II .- 17

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Eliza and Elizabeth, the latter deceased. The children of his second marriage were Mary, George, deceased; Fred, of this review; Catherine, and John and Jacob, both deceased.

Fred Gretzinger was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, on June 29, 1850, and he was only a few weeks old when the family moved into Indi- ana. He grew up in Dallas township, Huntington county, Indiana, and went to the log school that was located in the district, there learning the rudiments of the common branches in a somewhat indifferent fashion. The father had a forty acre farm, and that was the extent of his property for years, for it was not until after his sons had reached manhood that he added to it from time to time. Fred worked on the home place, and from his father, who was a hard worker and a successful farmer at the same time, he learned a good many things about farming that he has put to use in these later years, though it is equally true that he has learned something about successful farming that his father never sus- pected in his day, for Mr. Gretzinger is one who has a progressive spirit, and he is ever on the alert for a new "wrinkle" in farming methods.

Fred Gretzinger was twenty-seven years old when he married Mary Schenkel on March 17, 1877. She was a daughter of Adam and Margaret (Christman) Schenkel, both of the parents being natives of Germany, who came to the United States very young, the mother being but sixteen years of age then. They located in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, as did also the parents of Mr. Gretzinger, on their arrival on these shores, and later came to Dallas township, Huntington county, where they settled on a primitive farm, and there ended their days after a life of hard work, attended by a fair degree of prosperity. They had seven children : John, Catherine, Mary, wife of Mr. Gretzinger; Adam, Peter, Sarah and Eliza- beth. Mrs. Gretzinger attended the German school that was established in Dallas township, and had a fair training there as a child and while in her early teens. After her marriage to Mr. Gretzinger they settled on the farm of the elder Gretzinger for three years, after which they bought forty acres in Wabash county. This they sold in 1893 and bought eighty acres of their present place in Lagro township, making the purchase of William Kauffman. Mr. Gretzinger lost no time in remodeling the house and fitting up the place until it was in a more habitable state than when it came into his possession, and he has since introduced many improvements on the place, such as tiling the low portions of the land, fencing and building suitable barns, etc. Today he has one of the valu- able and highly productive places in the township, and he takes his place among the foremost men of the community.

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History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume 2, Part 30

Author: Clarkson W. Weesner Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Number of Pages: 619

Author: Clarkson W. Weesner
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 619