USA > Indiana > History of the Church of the Brethren in Indiana > Part 35
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DAVID R. RICHARDS
Born in Pennsylvania in 1840, Bro. Richards came to Indiana when quite young. His father was a Methodist preacher. David united with the Brethren in 1872. In 1881 he was called to preach and was ordained in 1893 in the Beech Grove church. He had charge there for seventeen years. He was a supporter of Sunday schools and was active in mission work in Southern Indiana.
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Biographical Sketches
HERBERT F. RICHARDS
Brother Richards was born in Preble County, Ohio, September 21, 1883, to Lewis and Polly Jane Miller Richards. He was baptized in 1896 and married Mary Eby on December 25, 1904. They have two sons and two daughters.
He attended Bethany Seminary two periods : 1908-1I, he took the Training Course and, 1916-19, he took the Seminary Course. Between these periods he completed his college work at Winona State Normal (Minnesota) and Manchester College. He took one summer at the University of Chicago. He was called to the ministry in 1908 and to the eldership in 1914.
He has held pastorates since 1912, those in Indiana being South Bend First Church, 1934-43 and Manchester, 1946 to date. Other pastorates included Winona, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois (part-time pastor, part-time Professor of Homiletics, Bethany) ; Wiley, Colorado; McPherson, Kansas ; and Lanark, Illinois.
Brother Richards served on the Standing Committee once and has been chairman of the General Ministerial Board, Northern Indiana Ministerial Board, and the Central Regional Council. He was a mem- ber of the Brethren Service Committee from 1940 to 1945 and was a representative of the northern part of the state in the State Council of Churches, 1942-43.
Brother Richards has gained many friends through his kindly, un-
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assuming manner and his conscientious devotion to duty. He is an ex- ceptionally able preacher combining deep spiritual insight with aptness of illustrations and a delightful sense of humor.
JACOB RIFE
Born in Wayne County in 1826, Bro. Rife was of German de- scent. His father died when he was three. He grew up amid pioneer hardships. In 1846 he married Esther Stanley and they labored to- gether for over fifty years. They had born to them seven children.
In 1851 they united with the church; in 1852 he was called to preach the Word; and in 1869 he was ordained to the eldership. He was a very able minister and had wide acquaintance and influence. He preached over nine hundred funerals. For thirty years he averaged above three thousand miles of travel in his ministerial work. He held district responsibilities and was on the Standing Committee several times. For thirty years he was the shepherd of the Four Mile congre- gation. He always responded to a call for service, wherever he could help someone. He had a beautiful child-like faith and lived a saintly life.
He passed away in 1903. In his last hours he expressed to his family his triumphant faith. His wife lived till 1915.
ABRAHAM RINEHART
Elder Rinehart was born in Ohio in 1823 and moved to Cass County in 1847. Here he united with the Upper Deer Creek church in 1861. He was called to the ministry in 1863 and to the elder- ship in 1870. For ten years he was elder here but moved to Pipe Creek in 1881, where he lived the remainder of his life. He did a lot of mission work in the western part of the state.
His wife was Elizabeth Toney, sister of Elder William S. Toney. Her good parents in Ohio lived together seventy-eight years, dying at one hundred four and one hundred three, respectively.
Bro. Rinehart died in 1916, a little past ninety-three. His wife passed away in 1906.
MAHLON AND MARY RINEHART
Mary Elizabeth Hay was born November 4, 1900, to Frank E. Hay and wife, at Anderson. They soon moved to Hagerstown where she united with the church at thirteen. She attended the Hagerstown schools and Manchester College. On June 8, 1921, she was married to Mahlon Rinehart. She has served as Chorister, teacher, Supt. of the Children's Department and is now Director of Children's Work in the district, Southern Indiana.
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Mahlon and Mary Rinehart
Mahlon Rinehart was born on September 8, 1892, in Henry County. He united with the church at Hagerstown in 1917. He has always resided in this congregation. He has served his Sunday School as teacher and was superintendent for thirteen consecutive years; trus- tee of his church for twenty-one years; Sec .- Treas. of the Endowment Fund since 1928; member of the ministerial board since 1932; deacon since 1931 and District Treasurer for Southern Indiana since 1945. He has been a mail-carrier for many years and lives in Hagerstown.
They are the parents of three fine girls: Helen, Esther, and Dorothy. Helen teaches in New Castle, Esther is in nurses' training and Dorothy is at Manchester College.
ROOSE
To John and Mary Ann Roose were born two sons who were to become ministers of the Gospel.
Hiram Roose was born in Stark County, Ohio, September 20, 1854. When quite small he came with his parents to Elkhart County, Indiana, where he grew to manhood. He was married to Mary Eliza- beth Wise in January, 1881. To them were born three sons and a daughter. He had some Normal Training at Goshen and Valparaiso, Indiana, and taught school for a number of years in addition to being a farmer. He was called to the ministry in 1884 in the Yellow Creek church, and in 1898 was ordained to the eldership. He exercised in the free ministry in that congregation until the later years of his life he moved to West Goshen. He was elder in charge of his home congre- gation for many years. He passed away in November, 1932.
Eli Roose, younger brother of Hiram, was born in Elkhart County, Indiana, January 23, 1857. Besides the common schools he had some Normal training at Goshen. He taught school 18 years in Indi-
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ana and in Harvey County, Kansas. He was a farmer along with his work as a teacher. On December 25, 1881, he and Ellen Culp, of Wakarusa, were married. They raised a family of three sons and two daughters, the youngest daughter, Nina, was married to Allen Weldy, a very prominent layman in Northern Indiana. Brother Roose was called to the ministry in the Yellow Creek church in September, 1887, and ordained as elder in the Berrien Church (now Buchanan), Michigan in 1896. He served in the ministry in the Yellow Creek church 14 years; at Union Center, 18 years; at the Laporte church five years, at the Buchanan church three years; at Blissville church, three years; and at Michigan City church five years. He always had a desire to found a church from its beginning. He had this privilege in Michigan City. He was the first pastor located by the Northern Indi- ana Mission Board, being located at Buchanan in 1895. He served as District Writing Clerk twice and his brother Hiram served four times. He represented his district on Standing Committee in 1910. He was elder in charge of several churches of the district at various times. He died March 22, 1932, his funeral being the first held in the new Michigan City church. Sister Roose still survives.
ELDER JOHN W. ROOT
Elder John W. Root of the Fairview Church, Southern Indiana, was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana February 18, 1875. His par- ents were Aaron and Salome Swartz Root who had come to Indiana from Darke and Allen counties, Ohio. At the age of thirteen he came into the church. In 1906 he was elected to the ministry and made an elder in 1919. He married Lulu Ulrey, daughter of Solomon Ulrey of near Pyrmont. Sister Root passed away November 3, 1950. She was
Elder John W. Root and Wife
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a very faithful wife and companion, and helped her husband and local church loyally. She was of a pleasant, peace-loving disposition. Brother Root served as minister and elder in the Fairview Church for 39 years and gave his time freely to this good work. He held twenty revival meetings and conducted many funerals. He and his good wife were present together at many meetings and were very helpful to the local church. They presented the pews to the Fairview church and after her death Brother Root made possible from her estate substantial dona- tions to many church enterprises-among them the Pyrmont Church (this church secured the old home of Sister Root), Camp Alexander Mack, and Manchester College. Brother Root served his people as a free minister and conducted his farming enterprise with good success. He was often a delegate to Annual Conference and served the Southern district of Indiana for twenty years on its Mission Board,
GEORGE PHILIP ROTHENBERGER
George Philip Rothenberger was born in Germany about the opening of the nineteenth century. He was brought up in the Lutheran faith but was dissatisfied with the coldness of the State Church and moved to Zurich, Switzerland. He first joined the German Re- form church and later, another body that had been started by a man named Froelich. He became a noted preacher here, opposing in- fant baptism, civil oaths and military service. In 1838 he began to ad- vocate trine immersion. The next year Elder Henry Kurtz returned to Germany from America for a visit. He came to Switzerland and did some preaching. Several requested baptism, among them being G. P. Rothenberger. This caused the man Froelich to become his bitter enemy. He was persecuted very severely and had his faith tried in many ways. During these years he and Henry Kurtz kept up a corre- spondence. In 1845 he came to America, settling first in Car- roll County, Indiana, and in 1851, in Kosciusko County. Here he be- came the leading worker in the organization and work of the Tippe- canoe (now North Webster) church. He was its presiding bishop at the time of his death, October 30, 1881. His son Daniel succeeded him as bishop and remained in charge until his death. Another son, Jacob, became a minister in the Progressive Brethren Church at Lapaz, Indi- ana.
J. G. ROYER
J. G. Royer, well-known figure in the Brotherhood a few years ago, gave twelve years of his ministry to Indiana. Born in Pennsyl- vania in 1838, he married Elizabeth Reiff in 1861. Ten years later they moved to Burnettsville. In 1872 he was called to preach and nine years later to the eldership. He was a teacher at Burnettsville and su-
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J. G. Royer
perintendent of schools at Monticello. In 1884 he went to Mount Morris College as president, a position he filled for twenty years.
RUPEL
This name is familiar in the Pine Creek church in Northern In- diana. David Rupel was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, in 18IT. His parents Jacob and Anna, had come from Germany. In 1830 David came to St. Joseph county. In 1836 he married Sarah Melling. To them were born six children. In 1852 they united with the church, being baptized by Elder Jacob Miller. He was called to the ministry the next year. There was no house of worship as yet. So he built a house with large double doors so that it could be used for church services. He donated the land for a church, later on. When services were held in this house, he would announce at the close of meeting for all to drive over to his house for lunch and it was not uncommon for from 50 to 75 teams of horses to be fed and lunch for from 100 to 200 to be supplied. In 1856 he was ordained and given the oversight of the congregation. For thirty-four years he was the faithful bishop. During this time Pine Creek grew to be the largest congregation in Northern Indiana. He died January 24, 1894.
A M. Rupel, a son of David Rupel, was called to the ministry in 1875 and was ordained in 1898. He died in 1914. Another son, D. W. Rupel wa's a deacon in the Pine Creek church for many years. His son, C. F. Rupel, was elected to the ministry in 1898. His wife is a daugh- ter of Elder Daniel Whitmer. They lived in the State of Washington for a number of years, but now live in Pasadena, California. One of his sons, Paul, was a missionary in Africa for a term of years. An- other son, Claude, is the principal of the Hillcrest School at Jos, Africa.
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A daughter of Elder David Rupel was the wife of Elder D. H. Weaver, who served the church in the ministry for many years. He died at Raisin City, California, in 1915.
Another daughter was married to Jonathan M. Cripe in 1876. After serving the church as a deacon for a short time, he was called to the ministry in the Roann church, Indiana, in 1901. He was ordained to the eldership in 1905 in the Oak grove church. Their eld- est daughter, Una, became the wife of Elder Lafayette Steele. Another daughter, Winnie, spent more than 20 years as a missionary in China, dying on the field in 1934. A son, Charles C., has been a minister for forty-five years, thirty-three of these years being spent in pastoral work. He is now located at Milford, Indiana. Jonathan Cripe died in 1907, near North Liberty, Indiana.
Lois M. Rupel was born near Walkerton, St. Joseph Co. Ind. in 1916. She graduated from High School and attended Manchester Col- lege. She taught school for eight years, then gave a year of volunteer service in a mental hospital at Crownsville, Md. Later, she spent three years in Relief and Rehabilitation work in Holland and Austria. Has been active in the local Sunday School and C.B.Y.F. She is now em- ployed at Elgin in the Audio-visual Education department.
Lura (Shetler) Schrock was born at Goshen in 1911 and for some years was an active member of the Mennonite Church. She married Titus Schrock in 1940 and united with the Church of the Brethren at New Paris in 1942. She is the mother of four children. She has been music director at evangelistic and other gatherings for 15 years. She is now district music director and directs singspirations in various parts of the district.
SCHWALM
Indiana has had all the Schwalm ministers in the Brotherhood. There were three in number, a father and two sons.
Harrison M. Schwalm was a native of Eastern Pennsylvania and of German descent. He was born November 18, 1855, the son of Sam- uel and Elizabeth Schwalm. He had never heard a sermon by the Brethren nor one preached in English until he came to Indiana in 1875. He had only a little elementary schooling and was a farmer all his life. He united with the church in 1878. In the spring of 1882 he was called to the ministry, and ordained to the eldership in 1900. He spent all his ministerial labors in the Baugo church, and was its presiding elder from 1901 to 1922. On June 4, 1876 he was married to Mar- garet Spohn, of St. Joseph County, Indiana. They were the parents of eight children, two of the sons, Harvey and Vernon becoming ministers, and the youngest daughter, Gertrude, married a minister, G. W. Phillips. All of the children and their companions have been
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members of the Church of the Brethren. Brother Schwalm preached many funerals and officiated at numerous weddings; he was elder in charge of the Osceola church, also, for many years. He passed to his reward November 4, 1922.
Harvey Schwalm was born in St. Joseph County, Indiana, Jan- uary 22, 1882. He grew to manhood on the homestead and was bap- tized into the church in 1903. He and Susie Miller were married Jan- uary 20, 1906, and became parents of one son, Merle Lamer. He, like his father, was always a farmer. He was elected to the deacon's office in 1908, and two years later was called to the ministry, being ordained to the eldership January 1, 1918. All his ministerial labors were in the Yellow Creek church. He was elder in charge, and the only minister in the congregation at the time of his death, August 18, 1922, dying of typhoid fever.
Kermit Eby, grandson of Harrison Schwalm, is also a minister, and is now a Professor in the University of Chicago.
V. F. SCHWALM
Vernon Franklin Schwalm is the fifth of eight children of Elder and Mrs. H. M. Schwalm. He was born near Wakarusa, Indiana, on April 10, 1887. After attending Manchester Academy and College he received his A. B. degree from that institution in 1913. He received his M. A. degree from the University of Chicago in 1916 also his Ph. D., in 1926. His post-graduate work was done in the field of history. He also took additional training at Bethany Biblical Seminary and at Co- lumbia University.
Bro. Schwalm began his teaching career in the public schools near his home. Later he taught in the Academy at Manchester College, be- ing appointed professor of history in 1913. In 1917 the deanship of the College was added to his work as teacher. He continued in this posi- tion until 1927 when he was called to the presidency of McPherson Col- lege, McPherson, Kansas. After fourteen years of service there he was called to the same position in his Alma Mater. He has now completed his tenth year as President of Manchester College.
October 17, 1914, Bro. Schwalm was united in marriage to Florence Studebaker of Muncie. They have one daughter, Edith Elizabeth, born March 26, 1920-Mrs. Robert Kimmel. The Schwalm's have three grand-daughters, Judy Ruth, Peggy Ann and Jean-who reside four blocks from their grandparents.
Bro. Schwalm was called to the ministry in 1908 by the Baugo Church. From his college days he has been active in the work of the church as preacher, committeeman and church officer on all levels of work from the local congregation to Annual Conference. He was a member of the General Education Board of the Church from 1926 to
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V. F. Schwalm
1947, and for several years its president. He is a member of the Gen- eral Brotherhood Board, its vice-chairman, a member of its executive committee, also its Brethren Service Commission. He was moderator of Annual Conference in 1938, the meeting place being Lawrence, Kan- sas.
For more than thirty years Bro. Schwalm has given a goodly portion of his Sundays to preaching in the churches, along with many other speaking engagements such as teachers institutes, commence- ments, service clubs and the like. He has lectured at all of our colleges. In the fall of 1950 he delivered the E. B. Hoff Lectures at Bethany Biblical Seminary, which were the substance of his biography of Otho Winger, due to come from the press soon.
Both McPherson and Manchester Colleges have prospered under his leadership. He has done outstanding work as an administrator in at least three respects.
I. He has erected four beautiful, durable buildings, a men's dorm- itory on each campus, a physical education plant at McPherson and the Otho Winger Memorial Arts Building at Manchester.
2. He has kept the pressure on both faculty and students toward higher standards of scholarship. Part of this pressure has been his own personal example along with administrative encouragement and help to faculty members in research and graduate study.
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3. Last and most important is the religious emphasis. Nobody who has worked near him has ever had reason to doubt his aggressive and loyal churchmanship. Underlying his active church loyalty, is a keen spiritual sensitivity. He does not allow the pressure of adminis- trative duties to crowd out the reading of the Bible as well as many of the best current religious books.
Very large credit should go to President Schwalm that McPherson and Manchester Colleges have continued to prosper and serve under two of the major calamities of modern times, the depression of the late twenties and early thirties and the Second World War with its continu- ing aftermath.
Mrs. Orville Sherman, daughter of Bro. and Sister Abe Neff was born in Elkhart Co. Ind., in 1915. She united with the church at New Paris at the age of 10, serving the home church in various capacities and directing the music at evangelistic services in neighboring con- gregations. She worked at the Relief Center at New Windsor while her husband was in Italy and accompanied him and served in Venezuela. (For Orville Sherman see page 480. )
RUSSELL A. SHERMAN
Russell A. Sherman, son of Edwin A. and Mary ( Haynes) Sher- man, and a great grandson of one of the first deacons at Cedar Lake, was born in DeKalb County, Indiana, October- 1I, 1899. At the age of fourteen he was baptized by John H. Urey, and four years later, while still in High School he was elected to the ministry.
Always interested in education, Brother Sherman enrolled in Manchester College from which in 1926 he received the Bachelor's de- gree. Later he was granted the M. S. in Education by Indiana Univer- sity and the degree of Master of Arts in Theology by Winona Lake School of Theology, having done nearly two years of correspondence work from Bethany Biblical Seminary. He also has graduate credit from Arizona State Teachers College.
Since 1918 his preaching and teaching careers have been almost parallel. Twenty-five of his twenty-eight years of teaching have been in DeKalb County. Over twenty years of his pastoral work have been spent in the same county : two years at Cedar Creek, seven at Cedar Lake, and twelve years at Pleasant Chapel. Two years were spent in full-time ministry at Springfield, Illinois, 1926-28; and two years at Phoenix, Arizona, 1944-46. Varying periods of part-time service were spent at New Salem, Bethel, Auburn and Syracuse, all in Northern In- diana. Special services were rendered under the General Mission Board and District Mission Boards : at the Church of the Brethren In- dustral School, Greer, Va. 1928-29; at Circleville, Southern Ohio, and at Andrews, Middle Indiana.
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Russell A. Sherman and Wife
Brother Sherman was ordained to the eldership in 1927, and has been presiding elder over a number of congregations at varying times. His interests have extended beyond the local church. He has repre- sented his district on Standing Committee four times; served as trus- tee of Manchester College three years; was reading clerk of District Meeting four years; and moderator of District Conference in 1949 at which time he was elected to the Mission-Ministerial Board. He has also served on the Historical Committee.
May 31, 1924 Brother Sherman was united in marriage with Lydia Marie Wirt of Virden, Illinois. They have two children, Lura, who is the wife of a young minister at New Paris, Raymond Hoover ; and a son, Marvin, who is a student at Manchester College. Brother Sherman is an excellent teacher, a clear thinker, and a forceful speaker, as well as a wise administrator. He is a leader in the district.
SHIVELY
The father of one branch of the Shively family in Indiana was Elder George Shively. He came from Virginia to Stark County, Ohio, in an early day. Here he was called to the ministry and became both active and well known in the church. When his children began moving to Indiana, in the forties, he too came and settled in the eastern part of
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St. Joseph County. He spent his last days in the Camp Creek congre- gation with his son, David.
Brother George Shively had six sons : Jacob, David, George, Joel, John and Daniel. The first two and the fourth were ministers in the Church of the Brethren. Of Jacob, a more extended account will fol- low. David was called to the ministry in the Yellow River congrega- tion. He was one of the promoters of Salem College. He was the first elder in the Camp Creek church and was succeeded by his son, George. The latter died in 1899 at Nappanee. He was followed by J. W. Shively, a distant relative. Joel Shively came to Indiana in 1854. He was called to the ministry in 1857. He died at South Bend, Indiana, March 6, 1898. He was the father of Hon. B. F. Shively, the late United States senator from Indiana.
Jacob B. Shively will, for several reasons, receive considerable at- tention in this sketch. He was born in Stark County, Ohio, July 23, 1820. He was united in marriage to Anna Bortz, July 4, 1841. To them were born twelve children. In 1864 they had the great sorrow of losing, in one week, seven of their loved ones of scarlet fever.
Jacob came to Marshall County in 1845. He was elected to the ininistry in 1851, at the time the congregation was organized by James Tracy, Henry Neff and John Leatherman. He was soon ordained and placed in charge of the church. With great energy and zeal he went forth on his mission. No sacrifice was too great for him to make for the good of others. He would go through snow and rain, ford swollen streams and endure every other privation known to pioneer preachers.
He was a man of large vision and breadth of view. He was the chief promoter of Salem College, the first college owned by the Church of the Brethren. Had his brethren stood by him, it would have been a success. But when deserted by them, he and a few others had the heavy burden to shoulder. This cost him his home, but without his complain- ing. He moved into the Union congregation and later became the first elder of the Salem church, when that was organized. He was tender- hearted, generous and unselfish, ever willing to give to the needy the things of this life as well as spiritual food and counsel. His service of love for the church and for the cause of Christian education should not soon be forgotten. He died January 15, 1899. His faithful wife sur- vived him a few years.
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