USA > Indiana > Whitley County > History of Whitley County, Indiana > Part 63
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taste. Mr. and Mrs. Magley are the par- ents of five children : Ida Velona, who died in infancy; Della, who died at thirty ; Wil- liam, the leading photographer of Columbia City ; Delpha, deceased at twenty-one ; Merl, who owns an adjoining farm, married Clara Brumbaugh and they have four children, Kenneth, Hilda, Madge and Wonetta. Al- though not an aspirant for public office, Mr. Magley has always taken a deep interest in the welfare of his community. His first presidential vote was cast for Stephen A. Douglas. since which time he has supported the Republican party. The entire family are members of the German Baptist church, in which they work earnestly and effectively for its welfare and growth.
DORSEY JAGGER.
Dorsey Jagger, trustee of Thorncreek township and an enterprising and well-to-do farmer, was born October 25, 1860, in Lima, Allen county, Ohio, and is a son of Elias and Mariah (Conkleman) Jagger. His father, who was born in Licking county, Ohio, is now, at the age of eighty-nine years, living a quiet and peaceful life in Alger, Ohio, his companion having died in 1894. This union was blessed with the birth of eleven chil- dren: Willie and Clarissa, deceased; Al- meda, who resides in Ada, Ohio; Clearmor, a resident of Benton county, Indiana ; Win- field, of Oklahoma; Sarah, who resides in California : Tobias, in Michigan; Jennie : Mrs. Paling, of Alger, Ohio; Taylor J., de- ceased, who was a minister in Ohio; Eliza, «leceased ; and Dorsey.
Dorsey Jagger received his education in the public schools, from which he graduated at the age of seventeen, and with the excep- tion of three years which were spent in Lima, Ohio, he remained on the farm with his father until he became of age. It was his desire and intention to become a teacher, but owing to the failure of eyesight he was compelled to discontinue close study and consequently bought a farm in White county, Indiana, where he remained until 1902, when he removed to his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres six miles northeast of Columbia City. He also owns twenty acres in Smith township. Mr. Jag- ger occupies a conspicuous place among the leading and influential farmers of his com- munity. He is at present trustee of Thorn- creek township and discharges his duties to the entire satisfaction of the community.
At the age of twenty Mr. Jagger chose a life companion in the person of Miss Deli- lah Crawford, a daughter of Samuel and Anna (Clapper) Crawford. and to this union were born fourteen children : Carrie Maud. the wife of Tom Cogger, a teacher in White county; Viola May, wife of Harry Rey- nolds, of this county; Lizzie, a teacher in Thorncreek: Charles; Nellie Eva; Grover E .; Lena C .; Jennie B .; Hazel ; Cecil Ray ; Mabel Agnes ; John Dewey ; Frederick Earl, and Henry Lawrence. Mr. Jagger and his wife are members of the Methodist church. Mr. Jagger lends his support to the Demo- cratic party and at all times takes a deep in- terest in the political and social interests of the community. The entire family occupies a prominent place in the circle in which they move and are well liked by all.
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DANIEL PRESSLER.
ident of Columbia City. The father retired from active business many years ago and lived in Columbia City until his death in 1884 in his eightieth year.
Among the stream of emigrants pour- ing into northeastern Indiana in 1846 were a man and wife and several small children, Daniel Pressler was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, October 23, 1838, and was one of the small lads who peeped out of the wagon in that October day, when his par- ents first crossed the line into Indiana. As he grew up he helped in the hard task of clearing up the new farin and remained until his work was interrupted by the clash of arms that preluded the Civil war. August 12, 1862, he enlisted at Columbia City in Company K. Eighty-eighth Regiment, Indi- ana Volunteer Infantry, and served with this command until his discharge June 15. I865. He was in the battles of Perryville, Kentucky, Stone River, Ten- nessee, and many skirmishes. Much of his service was in the hospital and in connection with the commissary. After returning home he resumed farming in Thorncreek township, but in 1868 con- cluded to try his fortunes in Kansas. Not liking the prospects there he returned after all loaded in one of the "schooner" wagons so common in those days of rude transporta- tion. The driver of the outfit was John Pressler, then a young man seeking his for- tune in a contest with the western wilder- ness. A native of Pennsylvania he had em- igrated to Fairfield county, Ohio, where lie met and married Marialı Egolph, who proved a good and loyal wife until her death in 1855. It was the 10th of October that the little caravan arrived in Whitley county and shortly thereafter the head of the house- hold bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Thorncreek township. It was wild and woody and many a weary blow and hard day's work were necessary to whip it into shape for cultivation. It was eventually clear- ed and grubbed out, however, as the result of that energy for which the pioneers were noted and this place is now one of the thrifty farms of Whitley county. By his first marriage John Pressler had thirteen .one year's residence and bought the forty children : The first died in infancy, un- acres of land on which he has since resided. It was all in woods when it came into his possession, but he has cleared and cultivated it in such a way as to make a valuable piece of property as well as a good home. Mr. Pressler is a Democrat and has served as road supervisor and constable of Thorn- creek township. February 10, 1861, le mar- ried Margaret A. Charles, a native of Rich- land county, Ohio, whose parents, Alexander F. and Elizabeth (McCune) Charles, came to Whitley county in the same year that wit- nessed the advent of the Presslers. Mrs. named; Valentine, John and Rachel, de- ceased : Henry C., a resident of Albion, In- diana : Daniel; Adam, of Rockford, Illinois ; Mariah, wife of Henry Buss, of Noble county ; Sarah, wife of Samuel Forker, of Noble county ; Joseph, resident of Whitley county : David, of Albion ; Lydia, deceased ; an infant, who died unnamed. By a second marriage with Lydia Humbarger, John Pressler had three children: Emanuel, in Tipton county, Indiana ; Manda, the second, resides in Fort Wayne, and William is a res-
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Pressler's brother and sisters were Jane, Mary and Frank Charles. Mr. and Mrs. Pressler have had nine children : Albert and Willie died in infancy; Franklin, deceased in childhood; Korah, who remains with his parents : Nora, the wife of John W. Wolf, of Noble township, and has three children, Ray, Lesco and Hobert ; Cameron, married Frances Bolsby and resides in Etna town- ship; Arthur and Guy, at home; and Grace, deceased in childhood. Mr. Pressler is a member of English post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Etna.
SIMON J. PEABODY.
Honored alike by rich and poor, old and young, the lofty and the lowly, and fully deserving the universal esteem in which he is held, S. J. Peabody, of Columbia City, who has for more than a generation of hu- man life been one of the leading business men in this part of the state, ranks among Whitley county's most useful, most worthy and most representative citizens. And as- suredly not the least agreeable or valuable feature of his life story is the fact that he has been the architect of his own fortunes, and has built them up, in all their elements, without favoring circumstances or help from any outside source. It is greatly to his credit and runs like a veritable thread of gold through his record that he has during all the active years of his life been most en- ergetic and public spirited in the matter of public improvements and advancement for the locality of his home, and ever earnest and wisely diligent in promoting the wel- fare. personal and general, of his fellowmen.
Mr. Peabody is a native of this state and was born in Noble county on Septem- ber 29, 1851. He is a son of John,L. and Hannalı (Ayers) Peabody, natives of Pompton, New Jersey. The father grew to manhood in his native place and there learned his trade as a machinist, serving an apprenticeship of seven years and becoming very expert in making surveyors' and other mathematical instruments. He also became a practical surveyor, and this made him a man of great usefulness in the new country to which his desire and his destiny led him, enabling him to do his own surveying there and render a similar service to his neigh- bors at a time when acquirements such as his were rare in the region. He was mar- ried in New York to Miss Hannah Ayers, like himself a native of Pompton, New Jer- sey, and a daughter of Enos and Jane (De- bow) Ayers, the father of English and the mother of German ancestry, but the families of both long domesticated in New Jersey, their American progenitors having been pio- neers in the state. About 1819 the Ayers family moved to Huron county, Ohio. The country was heavily timbered and to clear it required the united and arduous efforts of every available force. Perseverance over- came every obstacle and in time the wild land was transformed into an excellent farm, on which Mr. Ayers lived until his death, soon after which event the widow and family returned to their old home in New Jersey.
After his marriage John L. Peabody lived in the city of New York until 1841. when he took up his residence in Huron county, Ohio. Two years later he removed his family and effects to Noble county, In- diana, where he was one of the early set-
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S. I Pea body
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tlers and where he engaged in farming until the fall of 1851. He then changed his base of operations to Arcola, Allen county, and his occupation to that of lumber merchant, although still farming to some extent, car- rying on the two industries together until his death on September 13, 1865, when he- was at the age of fifty-three years. His. widow still survives at the age of eighty- seven years. Of their eleven children only two are living, Simon J., of Columbia City, and J. B., of North Manchester, in this state.
Simon J. Peabody was reared to habits of useful industry in the household and busi- ness of his father and obtained his educa- tion in the public schools near his home. At the age of fifteen he began the battle of life for himself, armed only with the capi- tal nature had given him, a clear head, a strong physique, an unyielding determina- tion and a ready will for any useful em- ployment that might present itself. He had acquired a considerable knowledge of the work of sawing lumber in his father's mill and the first position he held for himself was as engineer and head sawyer in a sawmill. Saving his earnings, he was in an unusually short period able to start a business of his own, which he did by establishing a shingle factory at Arcola in 1869, he being then but eighteen years of age. He continued his operations in that establishment two years and in 1871 moved to Taylor, Whit- ley county, where he erected a sawmill. After about ten years he took up his resi- dence at Columbia City and gave his atten- tion wholly to the lumber trade in a com- prehensive and general way. His success has been great from the start, for he has
conducted his business with a high order of capacity involving great foresight, energy and breadth of view, and has made every circumstance minister to his advantage. His mill in Columbia City is running continu- ously the year round and furnishes employ- ment to a large number of men. Mr. Pea- body is connected also with a large sawmill at Lafontaine, another at Denver and one at Rochester, Indiana. All these are vigor- ously managed and kept at their full ca- pacity all the time. To measure the extent and volume of their benefaction to man- kind it would be necessary to estimate the homes they have made comfortable and happy, the domestic shrines they have warmed and brightened, the hearts of par- ents they have rendered light and cheerful, the faces of childhood they have wreathed in beaming smiles and the intellectual and moral forces they have evoked and put in motion. But even then the sum of their good would be left to conjecture, as no cal- culation could compass it all for statement in cold figures.
Mr. Peabody has prospered almost phe- nomenally and is one of the most substantial men in the county. He was at one time a stockholder in the Michigna Peninsular Car Company, of Detroit, but some few years ago withdrew from that industry. He owns considerable real estate of value in the city and county, among his possessions being the celebrated Wilkeswood stock farm. com- prising nine hundred acres of first-rate land. He was formerly the owner of the renowned stallion Wilkeswood, which he purchased in Kentucky in 1886 and sold in 1893 for the sum of $10,000. By the operation of his farm and the liberal policy pursued he has
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done much to elevate the standard of live stock, especially horses, in this part of the state. In fact, it may be truthfully said of him that he has touched nothing that he has not improved.
In 1906 Mr. Peabody converted his Co- lumbia City enterprises, consisting of a planing mill, a pine lumber trade and a sawmill, into a stock company, taking in as shareholders some of his oldest employes and thus admitting them to an interest in the business they had helped to build up., In addition to the mills and lumber yards al- ready mentioned, this gentleman of great business grasp and comprehensiveness is connected with others. He is president of the Peabody Lumber Company at Lafon- taine, which operates a large mill there, and is interested in mills at Denver and Roches- ter in association with W. F. Kinsley. He is also vice-president of the Columbia City National Bank and of the Provident Trust Company, of the same place, and president of the Whitley County Telephone Company. On his farm he raises fine grades of cattle and hogs.
At present he exercises only a super- vision over his many interests, leaving their active management and the trying work in- cident thereto to those of his old and trusted employes who have become stockholders in the corporation, in which, however, he still holds the controlling interest. He has been a good friend to all his working men, help- ing them to homes on easy terms and taking their interests under consideration along with his own during the whole of his busi- ness career. His business is one of the most extensive in northern Indiana and its profits are commensurate with its magnitude: yet
Mr. Peabody is one of those rare men who in making money has outgrown the love of it, seeing in it only the means of helping to lighten the burdens and augment the hap- piness of his kind. His private benevolence is extensive but unostentatious and his sup- port of public improvements is generous, ac- tive and immediate when he approves of them.
But the busy life here briefly chronicled has not been without the lighter tints to re- lieve its somber hue. The golden thread of sentiment has run brightly through its woof and twice has its subject bowed gracefully beneath the flowery yoke of Eros. Mr. Pea- body was first married on May 22, 1875, being united then with Miss Hannah B. Swift, a native of Marion, Massachusetts, and a lineal descendant of Peregrine White, the first white child born in this country after the arrival of the Mayflower at Plym- outh Rock. Of this marriage one child was born, a daughter named Genevieve, who died on February 20, 1879, the mother pass- ing away a few days later. On October 9, 1882, the father married as his second wife Miss Mary E. Tobey, a native of Lagrange, Indiana, and a daughter of Rev. Reuben Tobey, of that city, who was for more than a quarter of a century a member of the Northern Indiana Conference of the Methi- odist Episcopal church. He is now de- ceased.
Mr. Peabody's unvarying business policy through life has been to meet all financial obligations at the hour of their maturity ; his demeanor toward his employes has been to recognize merit by promotion at the proper time. In his citizenship he has been and is elevated and elevating; and in all the
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relations of life he has given to the commu- nity in which he lives an example that is worthy of all emulation and a service that is beyond price.
HENRY W. MILLER.
The gentleman whose name heads this sketch is a native of Clark county, Ohio, where his birth occurred June 24, 1849, being the son of Peter and Sarah (Snyder) Miller, both parents of German lineage. Mr. Miller's paternal grandparents, Adam and Mary Miller, came to America from Ger- many in an early day and settled in York county, Pennsylvania, where they reared their family and spent the remainder of their lives. In his native country Adam learned the trades of linen weaving and tailoring, and followed the latter after becoming a cit- izen of the United States, and for a number of years ran a shop in Pennsylvania, where he earned wide repute as a skillful workman. His wife belonged to an old and wealthy aristocratic family in the land of her birth, but for marrying beneath her social status she was disinherited and after coming to America lost all trace of her relations in the Fatherland. She bore her husband seven children, lived an honorable life as a wife and mother and died at an advanced age a number of years ago in Pennsylvania. Pe- ter Miller was reared and educated in the above state and when a young man learned the cooper's trade, which he followed for a few years in his home county, after which he spent considerable time working as a journeyman in various towns in Pennsyl-
vania, finally making his way to Dayton, Ohio, where he worked at his chosen calling until 1859, when he purchased a farm near the city of Springfield and turned his atten- tion to the cultivation of the soil. After remaining there until 1864 he disposed of his land and moving to Whitley county, bought a farm of two hundred and seven- teen acres in Thorncreek township, which was partially improved and which has been in possession of the family ever since, being owned at this time by his son, whose name appears at the head of this article. In the course of a few years Mr. Miller cleared and reduced the greater part of this land to cul- tivation. He soon took high rank as an industrious, frugal farmer and practical business man, introducing a series of sub- stantial improvements which made his place one of the best and most desirable rural homes in the township. The present resi- dence, erected in 1872, was one of the most pretentious homes in the county. He was one of the first men in his neighborhood to demonstrate the efficiency and value of sys- tematic drainage, his initial efforts in re- claiming waste land consisting of a large number of ditches, into which were placed long covered wooden troughs and barrels and then filled to the original level. In due time this wooden material decayed, but not until the purposes of the drainage were achieved and a goodly number of acres orig- inally covered with water and deemed use- less for tillage reclaimed and rendered ex- ceedingly productive and valuable for farm- ing. Mr. Miller's career was a practical ex- emplification of well applied industry and he lived long enough to enjoy the results of persevering toil and systematic management,
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dying in 1887, his wife preceding him to ful dairy business. Mr. Miller's career in the other world by seven years. They were seventy-five and seventy, respectively. They were members of the Lutheran church, lived consistent Christian lives and were much esteemed by the large circle of neighbors and friends with whom they were wont to associate. The following are the names of their five children: Cornelius, who died at about sixty-six, leaving three children, one of his sons, William. being prominent in. railroad circles, and holding at this time the position of traveling auditor with one of the important railway lines centering in the city of Detroit : John A., who died at twenty- one ; Mary, who is the wife of William Mil- ler, a farmer of Richland township, Whit- ley county ; Samuel, a retired farmer and ex- soldier, who died in December, 1906, in Co- lumbia City, aged sixty-two, and Henry W.
The early life of Henry W. Miller, de- void of striking event, was spent amid the stirring scenes of the farm and as soon as old enough his services were demanded in the fields, where in due time he learned the lessons of industry and thrift, which lie at the foundation of his subsequent career of usefulness as an enterprising and progressive tiller of the soil. In the public schools, which he attended from two to three months of the year, he obtained a practical knowl- edge of the common branches and later rent- ed his father's farm, which he continued to cultivate for a share of the proceeds for a pe- riod of five years, when he purchased one hundred and seventeen acres of the home- stead. This he cultivated in connection with the home farm and in the meantime began dealing quite extensively in live stock, in ad- dition to which he also conducted a success-
all of his undertakings has been eminently satisfactory, being at this time one of the leading agriculturists and stockmen of Whit- ley county, owning a splendid farm of four hundred and sixty-two acres, including the homestead, of which three hundred and fifty are in cultivation, his buildings of all kinds being modern, commodious and convenient and comparing favorably with the finest im- provements of the kind, not only in the county, but in the northern part of the state. He gives personal attention to his extensive agricultural interests, and in all that consti- tutes a typical American farmer of the times he is easily the peer of any of his fellow citi- zens similarly engaged, being a careful stu- dent of agricultural science, familiar with the latest improvements in implements and machinery, and by proper fertilizing and ju- dicious rotation, his success has been com- mensurate with the intelligence and judg- ment displayed in the management of his estate, while his abundant harvests and lib- eral income have made him independent and won for him a conspicuous place among the financially solid and well-to-do men of the county.
Mr. Miller was married in September, 1875, to Miss Mary Spears, of Whitley county, who died within a few days after presenting him with twin children, Charles H. and Mary Jane, the former now engaged in business in Columbia City, the latter the wife of Frank Lusk, of Quincy, Michigan. October 28, 1878, Mr. Miller was married to Miss Elizabeth Zellers, also of this county, the union being blessed with seven children : Alma R., wife of Ralph Coli, of Columbus Grove, Ohio; Orb L., deceased ;
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Edward W .; Della C .; Dora: Ruth, de- ceased ; Josie. Mr. Miller has always mani- fested a keen interest in public matters and as a pronounced Democrat of the Jefferson- ian school has rendered valuable service to his party, in recognition of which he was elected in 1892 as county commissioner, serving three years. The Methodist Episco- pal church holds his religious creed and for a number of years he has been a faithful member of the same and a liberal contributor to its various lines of work, his wife be- longing to the congregation with which he is identified and, like him, zealous in the discharge of her duties as an humble and devout disciple of the Nazarene.
CHARLES W. HIVELY.
This name has long been familiar in Whitley county by reason of the fact that the founder of the family was among the early settlers and left numerous descendants. John Hively, who was a native of Licking county, Ohio, came to Indiana in what the pioneer historians call an "early day" and entered one hundred and sixty acres of gov- ernment land in Thorncreek township and lived on the same until his death, which oc- curred at the early age of thirty-three. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel Gradless, a soldier of the war of 1812 and one of the first settlers of Whitley county. By this union there was born five children : Irvin, who died during the war, while a sol- dier of the Union army ; Henry Clay, a resi- dent of Kansas; Charles W .; Matthew H., of Fort Wayne, and Noah, also a resident
of Thorncreek township. After her hus- band's death Mrs. Hively married Peter Shriner, one of the county's early settlers, by whom she had four children : Mary, widow of Aaron Bair, a resident of Thorncreek township; John, of Columbia City ; Lucinda, deceased wife of Andrew Garty, and Sarah Elizabeth, who died in childhood. The par- ents were members of the Methodist Epis- copal church. Charles W. Hively, third child of his mother's first marriage, was born November 15, 1846, and lived with his step-father until he became of age. Re- ceiving forty acres of his father's original homestead he lived on and farmed the same until 1876, when he bought the ninety acres which constitutes his present farm and has been his home during the intervening years. November 6, 1868, he married Clara, daugh- ter of Abraham Pence, who died after bear- ing him four children: Webster, a farmer, of Thorncreek township: Cora E., wife of Albert Ansbaugh, of Smith township; Leo- mar died at seven years and one who died in infancy. Mr. Hively's second marriage was to Della, daughter of John and Elizabeth ( Pence) Vanouten, a religious and accom- plished woman, who proved a very congenial companion to her husband. She was for twenty years a licensed preacher of the United Bretliren church and with the assist- ance of Mr. Ilively did much evangelistic work. She died March 26, 1902. She served as pastor of various churches includ- ing her home church. Her evangelistic work, assisted by her husband, covered much of St. Joseph conference with satis- factory success. She is remembered as a fluent and able pulpit speaker which, sup- ported by deep religious faith and personal
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