USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume 2 > Part 41
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Rev. Carpenter was married in Fulton, Ohio, to Miss Mary E. Funk. To their union were born seven children, one of whom died in infancy and the others are mentioned as follows: Willard H., a hardware mer- chant at Wabash; Mary Inez, wife of George F. Blue, of Kansas City, Missouri; Errett L., associated with his older brother in business at Wabash; Arthur B., a photographer in Wabash; Rhea E., wife of Pro- fessor George W. Hoke, of Miami University of Oxford, Ohio; and Frank E., an attorney at Cleveland, Ohio.
DAVID BRANDT SHELLER, who came to North Manchester in 1851, and whose memory is still green in the hearts and minds of all who knew him, was a native of the state of Pennsylvania, born at Green- castle, on June 16, 1813. John and Mary Sheller were his parents, and both of them passed their entire lives in the east.
The boyhood of David B. Sheller was spent in Pennsylvania, at- tending the district schools and in learning the trade of a cooper, and when he was yet young in years he moved to Salem, Montgomery county, Ohio. There he met and married Nancy J. Venus, their marriage taking place in November, 1838. She was born on September 15, 1821, and died in North Manchester, May 8, 1893. They became the parents of the following children : Mary Ann, born April 24, 1841, who married Marsh. H. Parks; Isabelle, born July 7, 1844, who became Mrs. Henry Holder- man; James Harvey, born June 7, 1842; Catherine, born December 7, 1846, now living in North Manchester; John, born July 13, 1848, now of Huntington, Indiana; Daniel, born April 8, 1856, a resident of North Manchester; and Horace B., born March 7, 1858, also of North Man- chester
In 1851 Mr. and Mrs. Sheller came to Wabash county with their family which consisted then of four children. For two years thereafter they lived at Liberty Mills, and there the father devoted himself to his trade as a cooper. When the family removed to North Manchester in 1853 he there engaged in the same business, continuing in it with a good measure of success to the end of his days.
Though he started out in life a poor boy, he reached a place in life where he came to be regarded as a highly successful man, and it is not too much to say that he gained that distinction solely through his own unaided efforts. By reason of his long and distinctly honorable career he was highly regarded and esteemed by all who knew him, and when he died on February 11, 1858, he was sincerely mourned in the community where he had long resided. His widow survived him until May 8, 1893, and she reared her children to honorable and useful lives,
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standing toward them in the relation of father as well as mother, for they were still young when the father passed out.
Daniel Sheller, son of David B., who has watched the city of North Manchester grow from a mere cluster of small dwellings into the second largest and most important city of Wabash county, is a native of this locality, born here on April 8, 1856, as in indicated in a preceding para- graph relative to his parents. It will not be necessary to make further mention of those worthy people, but the life and business career of their son will be touched upon in connection with the sketch of the parents.
When David Brandt Sheller passed away in 1858 it devolved upon the young mother to rear her children alone, and it is but a natural consequence, considering the circumstances, that they did not receive the most extensive and comprehensive educations. Daniel Sheller spent his boyhood days helping his mother in whatever manner he found possible, and while yet young in years he hired out to Jacob Karns, receiving for his services the daily wage of 25 cents. Ofttimes, after a long and hard day's work, Mr. Sheller and his younger brother, Horace, would saw cordwood and stack it in a wood house for fifty cents a cord, and in various other ways did he become familiar with the toil that the boy of the present day seldom meets with.
On December 20, 1877, there took place one of the most important events of Mr. Sheller's life-his marriage to Miss Mary Salome Bone- witz, the daughter of Esli Bonewitz. Their union has proved an unus- ually happy one, and four children have been born to them, as follows: Ernest, now of Toledo, and a veteran of the Spanish-American war, member of Company D, One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Indiana Volun- teers, Colonel George M. Studebaker in command; May, who married H. I. Hayes, and has two children, Veva and Eileen; Otto, of North Manchester, and Foster F., now attending high school.
For about seven years after his marriage Mr. Sheller was in the employ of J. M. Jennings, the proprietor of a grocery store, and there he learned the details of that business. For three years after that he was employed by Grossnicker Brothers, and on February 22, 1888, he bought out the concern and embarked in the grocery and bakery business on his own account. Mr. Sheller may be designated as the only man in North Manchester today who has for twenty-six consecutive years been engaged successfully in one line of business, and this unusual circumstance and condition may readily be attributed to the hard work that Mr. Sheller has brought to bear upon his task, and his ceaseless efforts to build up a successful and representative business establishment in his line. His ambition has been a worthy one, and the success that has marked his efforts is equally so.
Politically, Mr. Sheller is a republican, and for ten years he contin- uously held the office of town treasurer. He has also manifested an active interest in church work, and as a member of the Methodist church of this city was for eight years treasurer of the church organization. A good citizen at all times, he has been active and forceful in any movement
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launched for the betterment and development of the community, and since the organization of the Fair Association he has been a member and stockholder of that body, one of the developing influences of the town and county, as none will deny.
Mr. Sheller has enjoyed a long and prosperous career in business and he is now looking ahead to the time when he may safely lay aside his business cares, leaving them in the hands of his sons. His home life is ideal and happy, and it is there that he finds his greatest pleasure. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Odd Fellows, but has no other fraternal or social connections that can detract him from his own fireside.
RICHARD T. ADAMS. The late Richard T. Adams, for many years prominently identified with the agricultural interests of Wabash county, was a native of Indiana, born at Mishawaka on June 12, 1849. He was a son of John and Lydia Adams, both of whom died when he was very young, and as a young child he was taken into the home of Rankin Hoover, of Chester township. That was his home from the age of five years until he began to do for himself. Like other farmer boys of the day, he attended the district schools, and notwithstanding their very limited facilities for imparting education, the boy acquired a very fair common- school training as a foundation for later study.
Reared in the atmosphere of farm life, he had no other ambition than to farm and farm successfully, so that his vocation was always that of the agriculturist. He acquired his first farm in 1886-a fine place of eighty acres in Chester township, and from time to time added to it as his means permitted. He improved the place in many ways, and as a result of hard work and conscientious attention to business he prospered with the pass- ing years. When he passed on, he left a snug accumulation that would have kept him in comfort and idleness for many years had he been spared and had he been content to live in idleness.
On June 31, 1871, Mr. Adams was married to Miss Lida Hanley, daughter of Thomas Hanley, now deceased, of Chester township. She survives her husband and her residence is in North Manchester.
Mr. Adams was a man who always had a healthy interest in public affairs. He was a stanch advocate of advanced methods in the public schools, and the improvement of the roads of the county was one of his pet hobbies. He was always to be found active and alert when any move- ment was launched for the general good of his community, and the upbuilding of its best interests of whatever order. For years he was a member of the Board of Drainage Commissioners and did excellent work for the city and county in that office. He and his wife both had mem- bership in the Christian church and were active in the work of that denomination, as Mrs. Adams is to the present day. Socially Mr. Adams was identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Knights of the Maccabees, and he was an enthusiastic supporter of both societies.
On October 29, 1912, Mr. Adams passed away, and with his death ยท Vol. II -- 23
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Wabash county lost one of her pioneers and a good man. He was buried in Fairview Cemetery, near North Manchester.
MARION F. ADAMS. Marion F. Adams, secretary of the Union Trust Company of North Manchester, and one of the prominent men of the city, is a native son of Wabash county, born on the old Adams homestead in Chester township, on September 18, 1872. He attended the public schools, this training being followed by a normal course at Terre Haute, and after that he taught school for four years. Still later he was grad- uated from the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois, in 1899, after which he returned to Manchester and engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business. This he followed until the organization of the Union Trust Company, when he was elected secretary of the new concern.
The Union Trust Company, the only concern of its kind in North Manchester, was organized on June 10, 1913, the following well-known men being at its head : Dr. David Ginther, president; M. F. Adams, sec- retary ; A. A. Ulrey, 1st vice president ; J. M. Curtner, 2nd vice presi- dent; and George D. Garber, cashier. The capital stock of the concern is $40,000, with a surplus of $10,000, and they conduct a trust, as well as a banking business. The organization in its every detail is complete, and with its conservative management and splendid official personnel, it is a credit to the city.
Mr. Adams is socially prominent in North Manchester as a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He was married in June, 1910, to Miss Iva E. Snideman, a daughter of David Snideman, of North Manchester.
ISAAC E. GINGERICK. It is now more than thirty years since Mr. Gingerick took up the practice of law at North Manchester, and his serv- ices as an attorney have been so constantly in evidence in connection with a large number of individual plans, and also in important cases affecting the community in general that his standing as a lawyer is of the very best. Mr. Gingerick has spent practically all his life within the bounds of Wabash county, was reared on a farm, and has had a broad and com- prehensive experience of life and has enjoyed many of the better distinc- tions which come to the successful lawyer and the public spirited citizen.
Isaac E. Gingerick was born near Xenia, Ohio, January 10, 1851, and in the following May after his birth his parents, John P. and Barbara A. (Shearer) Gingerick, left Ohio and located in Wabash county. The family at that time consisted of three children. Their home was estab- lished at Liberty Mills, where John P. Gingerick, who was a practical miller by trade, operated the local mills up to January, 1861. The next home of the family was at Laketon, where Mr. Gingerick conducted the mill for about two years. This was followed by six months of employ- ment again at Liberty Mills, and he then became miller at Collamer, in Whitley county. The elder Mr. Gingerick for some time had been affected by an illness which interfered a great deal with the prosecution of his
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duties, and finally accepted the advice of his physician to seek outdoor employment away from the dust of milling operations. That caused the family to move to a farm and both parents lived in the country, and the father was a substantial farmer until death.
The father died in January and the mother in July of the year 1886, and both were laid to rest in the cemetery at Pleasant Grove. To their marriage were born these children : William S., who died in 1864; Mary, who died in 1908; Isaac; John F .; Austin D .; Charles F .; and Flora A., who died in 1879.
The boyhood days of Isaac E. Gingerick were spent in assisting his father in the mill and on the farm, and the education supplied him was of the quality and quantity afforded in the district schools of that time. At twenty-one he became independent and while earning his living by teach- ing school and in other lines of work he was eagerly accepting every op- portunity to study law, which he had determined upon as his ultimate vo- cation. Finally he was qualified for practice, was admitted to the bar and got his first case and earned his first fee in 1880. In August of the same year he opened his office in North Manchester, and his name on the roll of local attorneys has been continuous ever since.
In political views Mr. Gingerick is a republican of the Lincoln type, and has been somewhat active in public affairs, serving several terms as city attorney, and also as a member of the school board. He is a popular man socially, and is well known in local Masonic circles, having affiliations with the Blue Lodge at North Manchester.
On June 27, 1882, Mr. Gingerick was united in marriage with Miss Lelia E. Stewart, a daughter of Louis M. Stewart. To their marriage have been born two children: Kent S, is chief draftsman with a manu- facturing concern in Illinois; and Marjorie is a graduate of the Indiana State University, and is now teaching school.
LON D. FLEMING. A member of the real estate firm of Isenbarger and Fleming, at North Manchester, Lon D. Fleming has for many years been prominent in the law, and in that profession has found those inter- ests and rewards most satisfying to his ambition. In his active work as an attorney Mr. Fleming has enjoyed a reputation for the careful handling of suits, diligent and reliable transactions of all counsel and office practice, and has been trusted in many complicated cases of litiga- tion and is known as both a good and able lawyer.
Lon D. Fleming was born in the state of Ohio, September 21, 1855. His parents were Josiah and Rosanna (Lynn) Fleming. He was quite young when the family moved to Indiana, where he grew to manhood, and had an education afforded by the common and high schools. The ambition to become a lawyer was not formed until after a considerable experience in other lines of activities, and he showed an ability that would have gained him promotion in a different direction had he so willed it. As a boy he became interested in telegraphy, learned how to handle a key in an expert fashion, and on getting his first position as a dispatcher had the distinction for awhile of being the youngest telegraph operator
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in the United States. He was not only a youth in the profession, but was able to send a message accurately over the wires as rapidly as almost any telegrapher in the country. After considerable experience at this work he moved to Ligonier, Indiana, and for a time had the management of his father's hotel. In the meantime he had determined to study law, and make its practice his life's work. Since his admission to the bar he has devoted himself steadily and successfully to the profession.
As a democrat in politics, Mr. Fleming has shown much interest in public affairs and served two terms as prosecuting attorney of Noble county. In that office he established a record of speedy conviction of criminals. Many men who willfully violated the criminal statutes of the state of Indiana are at present paying for their crimes through the efforts of Mr. Fleming to establish peace and order. He later went to New York City, where he practiced law and was editor of several legal publications. In 1903, owing to the death of his only son, and the conse- quent illness of his wife, he returned to Indiana, and took up his resi- dence in North Manchester. Here he became interested in the real estate business, and the firm of Isenbarger and Fleming since 1905 has been the largest of its kind in the county. Through their office they afford a medium for accurate knowledge of land and values to many hundreds of investors located in Indiana and Illinois, and other parts of the country, and they do business on a broader scale than any other real estate man in this section.
In 1883 Mr. Fleming married Miss Lucy Schwartz of Greenville, Ohio. Their only son and child was Reno, now deceased. Although his home has been in Wabash county a comparatively short time only, Mr. Fleming's life has been spent in the service of Indiana, and he bears the respect and esteem of all who know him. He at one time was offered the position of legal adviser to Governor Marshall of Indiana, but refused that honor. Many positions of special responsibility and trust have been tendered to him, unsolicited, but Mr. Fleming cares little for public honors, preferring to confine his attention to private interests and the work of his profession.
JOHN ISENBARGER. This is a name that has many familiar associa- tions not only to the people in and about North Manchester, where Mr. Isenbarger has his home and is prominent as a real estate man, but also in different sections of the state. Mr. Isenbarger was twice candidate for the office of state treasurer on the Democratic ticket, and the second time was defeated by a very narrow margin of votes. He is also a mem- ber of the Indiana State Board of Agriculture. In many ways he has identified himself prominently with the business and civic affairs of this county.
John Isenbarger is a native of Indiana, and was born in Kosciusko county, August 7, 1868, a son of John and Catherine (Shoemaker) Isen- barger. His father was twice married, and by his union with Susan Shaefer had the following children : William, of Manchester; George, of Kosciusko county; Martha, the deceased wife of Aaron Arnold; and
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Lucinda, who died young. The children of John Isenbarger by Cath- erine Shoemaker, were Noah; Ella; John; Eli; Waity; and Samuel, who died in infancy. The father died February 23, 1890, and his wife passed away August 12, 1886. David Shoemaker, father of Catherine Shoe maker, was greatly interested in church work, and as a Dunkard, or old German Baptist, organized practically all of the churches of that denom- ination in Wabash county.
John Isenbarger, Jr., has the usual training of a farmer boy. While still on a farm and earning monthly wages, he saw the promise of larger things in business, and after perceiving his opportunities was not slow in making the best of them. He attended district school, and helped his father until about eighteen years old, when he began for himself. His first winter away from home was spent in clearing twelve acres of tim- berland for a neighbor, and any one at all familiar with this kind of toil will recognize that he could not have selected a harder means of begin- ning the foundation for his individual prosperity. Three years later he became a partner with Noah Butterbauch in the hog business. Mr. Isen- barger in 1891 came to Wabash county, locating at North Manchester. For a time his work was as a farm hand at different places in that vicinity. Then for two years he operated a dairy farm, the owner of which was Gilford Miller. He had already become aware of the unusual opportunities presented by the real estate business, and from dairyman opened an office at North Manchester, and began dealing in real estate on a broad basis. Mr. Isenbarger has not confined his operations to affording a medium for the trades and transfers of the local supply and demands, but has enlarged the range of his operations so that he has made land in this part of the state familiar to investors all over western Indiana and in the state of Illinois. By this broadening of the market he has done more perhaps than any other one individual to bring land values in the vicinity of North Manchester up to the high average of first-class farm lands in the middle west. In 1905 Mr. Lon Fleming was admitted to partnership, and together they have prosecuted a very successful and extensive business.
Mr. Isenbarger for many years has taken an active interest in public affairs. As already stated, he has twice been the nominee of his party for the office of state treasurer, being defeated in 1905 by thirteen thousand votes, and in 1909 by only two hundred and seventy votes. It is his inten- tion to make the race again, and if past performances are a criterion his success is practically assured. Mr. Isenbarger was also one of the organ- izers of the Indiana State Bank at North Manchester, and was the prime factor of the organization of the Commercial Club. To his influence and work was due.in large measure the location of the Dunkard College at North Manchester. Aside from his active connection with business, Mr. Isenbarger has found time to cultivate the social side of life, and is identified with the Masonic Lodge, the Knights of Pythias, and the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks.
On March 24, 1894, was solemnized his marriage with Cora Shanafelt. Her father, John Shanafelt, was one of Wabash county's pioneers, and
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for years resided near North Manchester. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Isenbarger were born the following children : Paul, secretary of the North Manchester Milling Company; Bland, in high school, and Law- rence.
DAVID GINTHER, M. D. For more than forty years Dr. Ginther has quietly performed his round of professional services and duties at North Manchester and vicinity, and is not only one of the oldest but one of the most highly esteemed practitioners in Wabash county. A physician can- not live and practice his calling for so many years in one locality, without possessing a faithful character, and a certain high ability and skill in his profession, and no one would deny Dr. Ginther the possession of the best qualifications of the faithful and efficient physician. Dr. Ginther is also well known for his relations with business affairs in that community.
A native of Wabash county, born on a farm in Waltz township, Dr. Ginther's parents were Benjamin and Anna Marie (Keller) Ginther, both of whom were natives of Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and were among the pioneers of Wabash county. In 1847 they located at the county seat, then a small village deriving its principal importance from its location on the old Wabash and Erie canal, and also from the possession of the county government offices. For a time after their arrival the Ginther family lived in a sheep stable owned by Col. Hugh Hanna, who laid out the first plat of the city, and whose name has always been esteemed as the founder of this thriving commercial center. Later Benjamin Ginther, having found time to erect a log cabin about eight miles southwest of Wabash, moved his family to that place. There his activities were those of a general farmer and stock raiser, until illness rendered further work impossible. Having acquired some property near the south tollgate on the canal at Wabash, he moved there and up to 1870 acted as gateman. In that year the family residence was moved to North Manchester, and there he had his home until overtaken by death in 1885. His wife survived him until 1888, and both now rest in the cemetery at North Manchester. To their marriage, which occurred about 1838, the follow- ing children were born: Henry, Catherine, Anna, Benjamin Jr., Eva, and David.
Dr. David Ginther was born May 27, 1848. His career has been one in which self-reliance and individual initiative have played a more impor- tant part than any fortune that comes from inheritance, or as the result of chance or circumstance. Until he was thirteen years old he lived at home, getting some education in the district schools, and assisting his father. He then started out for himself, and after working for a farmer in the neighborhood found a job in a sawmill. In this way he earned his own living, and when about seventeen years old, in 1865, took up the study of medicine, with an older brother at Hagerstown, Indiana, where he remained until 1871. In the meantime he had attended lectures in the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati. In June, 1871, Dr. Ginther came to North Manchester, walking to that village from Wabash, and such were his financial circumstances that during his first six months of
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