USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of the Maumee River basin, Allen County, Indiana > Part 14
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185
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
H. F. WILLIAM BERNING.
The subject of this sketch is the present able and popular incum- bent of the office of trustee of Madison township, Allen county, and he has the further distinction in the connection of having been the first Republican to be elected to this position in the township within a period of forty years. He has been a resident of Allen county since 1901, and is one of the progressive farmers and representative citizens of the township mentioned. He is the owner of a well improved lot of a half acre, in section 19, and he has gained a strong hold upon the confidence and regard of the community, as is evident from the official preferment which has come to him.
Mr. Berning is a native of the old Hoosier commonwealth, and a representative of one of its honored pioneer families. He was born on a farm in Adams county, Indiana, on the 7th of November, 1865, and is a son of Henry and Louisa (Ahrens) Berning, of whose eight chil- dren all are living. Both parents were born in Germany, but came to America with their respective families when young, and the father of our subject settled in Adams county, Indiana, in an early day, and became one of the prosperous farmers and substantial and honored citizens of that section. Both he and his wife are now living in Ad- ams county. The subject of this review was reared to the sturdy dis- cipline of the farm, and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the excellent public schools of his native county. He con- tinued to be associated in the work and management of the home farm until 1885, when he initiated his independent career by engaging in farming and tilemaking in said county, where he continued operations up to the time of his removal to Allen county, in 1901. He is one of the stalwart Republicans of Madison township, and takes an active part in the party work here, while in 1904 he was made the candidate
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
of his party for the office of trustee, to which he was elected by a gratifying majority, for a term of four years. He is proving the right man in the right place, and his services can not fail to redound to the good of the township which he thus represents. Both he and his wife are valued members of the German Lutheran church.
On the 7th of November, 1889, Mr. Berning was united in mar- riage to Miss Caroline Wistfeldt, who was born and reared in Adams county, this state, being a daughter of Frederick and Louisa (Netcher) Wistfeldt, who were born in Germany, the father becoming one of the substantial farmers of Adams county. Mrs. Berning was sum- moned into eternal rest on the 9th of December, 1897, and is survived by one child, Caroline. On the 13th of May, 1894, Mr. Berning wedded Miss Louisa Witte, who was born in Adams county, being a daughter of William and Dora T. Witte, natives of Germany. Four children have been born of this union, Rudolph, Edwin, Oscar and Albert.
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187
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
HERMAN L. LOMONT.
The subject of this review is a native of Allen county and has here maintained his home from the time of his birth to the present, while he is one of the popular young business men of Monroeville, where he is senior member of the firm of Lomont & Reynolds, dealers in fine wines, liquors and cigars. He has been identified with business affairs in this part of the country for several years past, and by his reliability and honorable methods has gained popular confidence.
Herman L. Lomont was born on the homestead farm, in Jeffer- son township, Allen county, Indiana, on the 15th of February, 1872, and is a son of Francis and Cecilia (Peters) Lomont, both of whom were born and reared in France, while both came to America in 1850, while their marriage was solemnized in the following year. Soon afterward they located on a farm in Allen county, and here the father became a prosperous and highly respected citizen, continuing to be identified with agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in September, 1891, while his devoted wife survived him by several years, being summoned to the life eternal in December, 1902. They became the parents of ten children, of whom five are living, and the subject of this sketch was the ninth in order of birth. Herman L. Lomont passd his boyhood days on the home farm, and he early be- came familiar with the duties involved in its cultivation, while his educational discipline was secured in the public schools of his native township. After leaving school he continued to assist in the work and management of the home farm until he had attained to the age of nine- teen years, when he entered upon an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, becoming a skilled artisan in the line and continuing to devote his attention to the trade for a period of thirteen years. He then pur- chased a half interest in the business in which he is now engaged,
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
and he and his partner conduct a well regulated establishment and secure the best class of trade in their line of enterprise. Mr. Lomont takes a loyal interest in local affairs of a public nature, and while he has never been an aspirant for official preferment, he has accorded a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party, in whose cause he has been an active worker.
On the 3d of February, 1891, Mr. Lomont was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Rose, who was born in Jefferson township, this county, on the 4th of March, 1872, being a daughter of Morris and Elizabeth (Snyder) Rose, well known and honored residents of this part of the county, where her father has long been engaged in farm- ing. Mr. and Mrs. Lomont have three children, Lottie Pearl, Harry M. and Morris L.
189
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
FRANK J. EICK.
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America is essentially a cosmopolitan nation, having drawn from the four corners of the earth in making up her social fabric, while to her hospitable shores have come men of sterling character and deter- mined spirit, who have worked their own way to positions of inde- pendence, becoming valuable citizens and standing loyal to the insti- tutions of the great republic. Such an one is the subject of this re- view, who is one of the prosperous farmers and honored citizens of Jackson township.
Frank Joseph Eick was born in the picturesque old city of Utrecht, Holland, on the 16th of November, 1828, and is a son of Frederick and Wilhelmina (Kohne) Eick, both of whom were born and reared in Reklinhausen, Westphalia, Germany, said province at that time hav- ing been an integral portion of Prussia. After their marriage they removed to Utrecht, Holland, in which city the father of our subject was employed as foreman in a cabinet shop, having been a skilled ar- tisan in his line. Shortly after locating there, however, war broke out between Holland and Belgium, and the Holland government gave orders to foreigners to either take up arms in defense of the country or else leave said country. The mother of our subject urged that the family return to Germany, and this course was followed, Frank J. being at the time but two years old. The little family had hardly crossed the line between Holland and Germany before peace was de- clared, and it was a source of frequent regret to Frederick Eick that he did not remain in Holland and cast in his lot there. He returned to his old home in Westphalia, where seven sons and two daughters were added to the family circle, our subject having been the eldest of the children and the only one born in Holland. Three of the chil- dren died in Germany. Frank J. came to America in 1851, and the parents, in company with their four other sons and one daughter,
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joined him here in 1855. The parents passed the remainder of their lives in the state of Ohio, and of the children three, two boys and one girl, are living at the present time.
The subject of this review secured his early educational training in the excellent schools of his native land, and at the age of fifteen years he began an apprenticeship at the cabinet maker's trade in his father's shop. After completing his apprenticeship he traveled about as a journeyman at his trade, and at the age of nineteen years he became a member of the Seventh Pioneer Corps, a well known military or- ganization. In 1851, at the age of twenty-three years, Mr. Eick came to the United States, believing that better opportunities were here afforded for the attaining of independence through personal effort. He settled in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he secured employ- ment in the line of his trade. In 1855 he was there married to Mrs. (Huntelmus) Kuhne, and they became the parents of four children, of whom Frederick, the eldest, died at the age of two years and five months; Frank is a resident of Fort Wayne and has served for the past eight years as head deputy sheriff of his county. The two other children were girls, who died in early childhood, while the wife and mother passed to the life eternal in 1864. In January, 1865, Mr. Eick married Mrs. - -, whose maiden name was Winkler, and of this union have been born nine children, two sons and seven daugh- ters. Only two of the children are living, Sophia, who is the wife of Barney Papenbrock, and Alvina, who is the wife of Peter Ross- wurm.
Mr. Eick removed from Cincinnati to Allen county, Indiana, in April, 1881, and purchased his present fine farm, in Jackson township, the same comprising forty acres. The land was practically unreclaimed from the forest when he purchased the same, and he has developed it into one of the fertile and profitable farms of the township, while he has made good improvements in the way of buildings. He and his devoted wife have a pleasant home and are enjoying the due rewards. of their former labors. Both are communicants of the Catholic church, and in politics Mr. Eick is a stalwart Democrat of the Jack- sonian type. He came to this country at the time when the Know- nothing party was in power to a considerable degree, and at that time he was led to espouse the cause of the Democracy, of whose prin-
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
ciples and policies he has ever since remained an advocate, while his loyalty to the country of his adoption is of the most appreciative and insistent type. His political affiliation was determined when, on April 4, 1854, at Louisville, Kentucky, he viewed the riots, in which a large three-story tenement house was destroyed, he being stationed at a fine vantage point in the cathedral. He is a man of fine mental gifts, and his life has been one of rectitude and honor, so that he has held the esteem of his fellow men in all places and under all conditions. He is one of the valued citizens of Jackson township, and is well entitled to representation in the pages of this work.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
WILLIAM A. HAMILTON.
More than seventy years have elapsed since the parents of the sub- ject of this review took up their abode in the midst of the virgin forests of Aboit township, where he has passed his entire life, and where he now has a finely improved farm, in section 17. He is to be thus considered as one of the pioneer citizens of the county and a rep- resentative of one of its old and honored families, so that the pro- priety of according him a place of due distinction in this compilation is manifest.
Mr. Hamilton was born on the pioneer farmstead in Aboit town- ship, this county, on the Ist of December, 1835, and there is no doubt that in the diminutive but cheerful little log cabin home his advent caused rejoicing that chill winter day. He is a son of William and Joannah (VanHoozen) Hamilton, both of whom were born and reared in the vicinity of the city of Syracuse, New York, while both repre- sented families long identified with the annals of American history, the ancestry in the paternal line being traced to the Scotch deriva- tion, and that in the maternal line to the sturdy Holland Dutch stock. The parents of our subject set out for what was then considered the far west, the state of Indiana, in the year 1834, making the trip by way of the Erie canal and Lake Erie to Toledo and coming up the Maumee river in a pirogue, or dugout canoe, propelled by poles. Mr. Hamilton had previously filed entry on a tract of government land in section 17, Aboit township, adjoining the present farm of his son William, subject of this sketch, and he came to his destination by driving through the woods to his new farm, which was covered with a heavy growth of timber, while no roads had as yet been con- structed. He erected a log cabin of the type common to the locality and period, the same having a clapboard and pole roof and puncheon floor, all the fittings of the home being made by hand. Indians and
193
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
wild animals still roamed through the dim forest aisles and in the vicinity of the new home of the sturdy pioneers were to be found but two neighbors, each residing a number of miles distant. Mr. Ham- ilton set to himself the task of reclaiming his land, burning fine tim- ber that would have been of great market value today, and looking upon the same as an incubus rather than a benefit. He effected the clearing of one hundred acres and developed a good farm, while he added to his holdings in the township until he had four hundred acres. He continued to occupy a log cabin for twenty years, and then, about 1852, erected a frame house. The building is still standing, and is on the farm now owned by George Brinsley, of Fort Wayne. William Hamilton continued to reside on his homestead during the remainder of his life, doing his part in forwarding the development and progress of the country and having the unalloyed respect and confidence of those who knew him. He was summoned to his reward in 1875, at the age of sixty-three years, while his loved and devoted wife, who had been his companion and helpmeet for forty-two years, preceded him into eternal rest by only one week, so that "in death they were not divided." He was a Whig in politics until the organization of the Republican party, when he identified himself with the latter, whose cause he ever afterward supported. He served as township trustee several years, and was also called upon to serve in other local offices. Of the six children three attained to maturity, namely: Mary, who is the wife of A. M. Darolins, of Morocco, Newton county, this state; Jane Agnes, who is the wife of A. M. Daro, of Montpelier, this state, and William A., who is the immediate subject of this sketch.
William A. Hamilton was reared on the old homestead farm and early became inured to the work connected with its development and cultivation. At the age of twenty-one years he was married, and thereafter continued to be associated with his father for seven years. His father then gave him eighty acres of land, nearly all of which was unreclaimed, and he still retains this place, while he has added to his estate until it now comprises two hundred acres of as fine land as is to be found in this part of the county. He cleared eighty acres of his own land and also assisted in the reclamation of much of his father's land. His original residence was a log house, the logs being hewed, and his present commodious frame residence was erected
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
about twenty-two years ago, while eight years since he built a fine barn, forty by one hundred feet in dimensions. The barn which had previously stood on the same site was destroyed by fire, entailing a loss of fifteen hundred dollars, aside from insurance, as the building was well filled with grain, machinery, implements, etc. Mr. Ham- ilton is recognized as one of the substantial farmers and loyal citizens of his native county, where it is his just desert and good fortune to command the uniform esteem of the community. Though never ac- tive in political affairs, he is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Democratic party.
In the year 1856 Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage to Miss Barbara Scott, daughter of John and Nancy (Kite) Scott, early set- tlers of Aboit township. Detailed mention is made of these sterling pioneers in the sketch of the life of their son William, appearing on other pages of this work, so that it is not necessary to re-enter the data at this point. We enter the following brief record concerning the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton: John Archibald, of Fort Wayne; Anna is the wife of Charles Crawford, of Hutchin- son, Kansas ; George is engaged in farming near Pratt, Kansas; Alice is the wife of John Kelsey, a farmer of Oklahoma; Frank and Wilson remain at the parental home; Lillian is the wife of Lewis Shannon, of Hutchinson, Kansas; Henry maintains his home in Fort Wayne, and is a locomotive engineer in the employ of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad; Hugh died December 7, 1900, at the age of twenty-three years, having met his death as the result of an accident, shooting himself while participating in a rifle contest ; James died at the age of twenty-three years, on the 3Ist of December, 1903, of consumption. He served two years in the Philippines, having been a member of one of the early regiments sent there; Hugh also enlisted for service at the time of the Spanish-American war, and was in camp with his command, but was never called into active service.
195
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
WILLIAM SCOTT.
The honored father of this representative farmer of Aboit town- ship was one of the early settlers of said township, where he lived up to the full tension of pioneer life and contributed his quota to the founding and upbuilding of the substantial civic and industrial pros- perity which now indicates this favored section of the old Hoosier state. The subject of this review resides on a portion of the old home- stead farm, and this has been his home from the time of his birth to the present, while he is one of the successful and influential farmers and citizens of his township.
Mr. Scott was born on the farm on a portion of which he now lives, on the 3Ist of July, 1846, the old homestead lying seven miles west of the court house, in the city of Fort Wayne. He is a son of John and Nancy (Kite) Scott, the former of whom was born in Penn- sylvania, and the latter in Virgina, while their marriage was solem- nized near Newark, Ohio, whither the respective families removed when Mr. and Mrs. Scott were children. The mother of John Scott died when he was a child, and he and his sister were thereafter reared in the home of a relative, on whose farm he continued to be em- ployed until he had attained to the age of thirty-one years-this being three years after his marriage. In 1839 he came with his wife from Ohio to Allen county, Indiana, driving through to Logansport with team and wagon and remaining there for a time before coming to Allen county, in the same year. "Here he continued his residence nearly five years before buying land. He was accompanied to the county by his brother-in-law, Archibald Kite, who was then a bache- lor, and the last twenty-five years of Mr. Kite's life were passed in the home of Mr. Scott, with whom he had been so closely associated in the pioneer days. Mr. Kite lived to attain the patriarchal age of ninety-three years, and was undoubtedly the oldest
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
man in Allen county at the time of his death, in May, 1903. Upon coming to this county Messrs. Scott and Kite rented a little log cabin near the old canal, said struc- ture having been erected as a horse stable, and having no floor, while the door was screened only by a quilt, which was slight protection against prowling Indians or wolves or other wild animals. Mr. Scott secured employment cutting wood, while he also worked for the Rock- hill brothers, on their farm, while he found a source of revenue in hunting wild game, including deer, bear, turkeys, etc., while he often exchanged saddles of venison for needed groceries. Five years after his arrival in the county Mr. Scott purchased eighty acres of canal land, in Aboit township, the entire tract being covered with a heavy growth of native timber. He paid one dollar and a quarter an acre for the land, and his was the first clearing made in the neighborhood, save for that previously made by James M. Cartright, a bachelor, who had made a small clearing and erected a little cabin on an adjoin- ing piece of land. In 1844 Mr. Scott began the work of reclaiming his farm to cultivation, and on the place he erected a substantial cabin of hewed logs, the domicile having only one room and being twenty by twenty-four feet in dimensions. The building was equipped with a clapboard roof, a sawed ash floor and a brick chimney, and was thus one of the best houses in the locality, its superiority being due to the fact that Mr. Scott had no little facility in the use of tools and could thus supplement the attractions of his necessarily primitive home. Within the period of the Civil war he made an addition to the house, and in 1871 another addition was made, making the residence one of spacious order. In this old homestead he continued to reside during the remainder of his life, and in the same his two maiden daughters, Amelia and Nancy, now have their home. Mr. Scott was prospered in his efforts and soon added an adjoining eighty acres to his farm, while later he purchased the eighty acres now owned and occupied by his son William, subject of this sketch, the consideration being thirty-five hundred dollars. He continued to add to his landed estate until he had four hundred and twenty acres, all in one body, save for one tract of eighty acres. He cleared about eighty-five acres and made a valuable farm, making improvements of substantial or- der, including the erection of the present barns, about 1858. Mr.
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
Kite, in the meanwhile, returned to Ohio, where he remained until well advanced in years, when he came again to Allen county, where he passed the remainder of his life, as has already been intimated. Mr. Scott was successful in his farming operations, and also devoted no little attention to the raising of live stock. His integrity was a dominating characteristic of his nature, and his word was as good as any bond that was ever executed. He held the high esteem of all who knew him, and was a prominent figure in local affairs, having held various offices of trust, including that of township trustee. He was a Democrat in his political proclivities. He died in September, 1894, in his eighty-fifth year, and his wife was of the same age at the time of her death, two years previously, having been his senior by two years. Of the nine children, eight attained years of maturity and survived the parents, while since that time one son, George A., a bachelor, has passed away, being fifty-seven years of age at the time of his death. Of the seven surviving children we record that Bar- bara is the wife of William A. Hamilton, of Aboit township, who is individually mentioned in this work; Susanna is the wife of David Grove, a farmer of the same township; Sarah is the wife of Hamilton Moffatt, of the same township; Matilda is the wife of Harry Snyder, of this township; William is the immediate subject of this sketch, and Amelia and Nancy reside in the old homestead. The father con- tinued to hold his property in his own name until death, when he made a proper division by will.
William Scott was reared on the old home farm and received a good common-school education, while he continued to reside in the parental home until the time of his marriage, on the 14th of Novem- ber, 1872, to Miss Sarah E. Stouder, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1850, being a daughter of Simeon W. and Ann (Gil- more) Stouder, who came to Allen county in 1854 and settled in Aboit township, where Mr. Stouder secured one hundred and twenty acres of canal land, which he reclaimed and otherwise improved. He died in his seventy-first year, and his first wife died at the age of forty-seven. He later married Matilda Todd, who survived him by several years. Mr. Scott is a Democrat in politics.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JONATHAN HART.
When it is stated in a preliminary way that the subject of this re- view has been a resident of Allen county for more than half a century and that he came here with his parents when a lad of twelve years, it becomes evident that we have to treat incidentally with a repre- sentative of one of the pioneer families of this favored section of the Hoosier state, while in an individual sense we may refer to Mr. Hart as being one of the prominent farmers and influential citizens of Mon- roe township, where he is the owner of one of the finest rural estates in this section of the county.
Mr. Hart claims the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, having been born in Ashland county, Ohio, on the 17th of April, 1837, and being a son of George and Sarah Hart, both of whom were na- tives of the state of Pennsylvania and of German lineage, the respective families having been founded in the Key- stone commonwealth in the colonial epoch of our national history. The parents became pioneers of Ashland county, Ohio, where they remained until 1849, in April of which year they arrived in Allen county, Indiana, where they passed the remainder of their lives. The father secured a considerable tract of heavily timbered land in Monroe township, reclaiming much of the same to cultivation and becoming one of the well known and highly honored citizens of this part of the county, where he lived and labored to goodly ends until he was summoned from the scene of life's endeavors. He was a stanch Democrat in his political proclivities, and both he and his wife were zealous and consistent members of the Lutheran church. They be- came the parents of ten children, of whom five are living at the time of this writing, in 1905.
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