USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of the Maumee River basin, Allen County, Indiana > Part 33
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In politics Mr. Fortmeyer is a stanch supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and he takes a lively interest in public affairs of a local nature, though he has never sought the honors or emoluments of political office of any description. Both he and his wife are members of the German Lutheran church.
In the year 1891 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Fortmeyer to Miss Anna Kuehnert, daughter of August and Augustina Kuehnert, of Fort Wayne, and of this union have been born two fine sons, August and Otto.
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CHRISTIAN PRANGE.
Numbered among the successful, progressive and honored farm- ers of Washington township is Mr. Prange, who resides on the old homestead which was purchased by his father more than half a century ago. The subject is a native son of Allen county and here his entire life thus far has been passed, while it is largely due to his own efforts that he has attained independence and unequivocal pros- perity, while those who have known him from his childhood days accord to him a full measure of confidence and esteem,-the best evidence that his life has been one of integrity and usefulness.
Mr. Prange was born on his present farmstead, on the 14th of June, 1869, and is the youngest of the six children of Charles and Sophia (Brinkman) Prange, both of whom were born in Germany, whence they came to America when young. The father of the sub- ject was sixteen years of age at the time of his arrival in the United States, and he soon came to Allen county, where he was for a time employed in running a canal boat and then turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, eventually purchasing the farm now owned by the subject, and here continuing to reside until his death, which occurred in 1897, while his cherished and devoted wife was sum- moned into eternal rest in 1904. Both were consistent members of the German Lutheran church, and in politics Mr. Prange was a stanch Democrat. He was a man of inflexible integrity of char- acter, was sincere, earnest and honest in all the relations of life; was a hard worker from his youth up and ever merited the high esteem in which he was held in the community which represented his home during so many years.
Christian Prange, to whom this sketch is dedicated, passed his boyhood days on the old homestead, in whose work he early began to assist in a material way, while he duly availed himself of the ad-
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vantages afforded in the public schools of the locality. After leaving school he continued to be associated in the work and man- agement of the home farm, and eventually became the owner of the same, purchasing the interests of the other heirs. He has eighty acres of most arable land, and about forty-five acres are maintained under a high state of cultivation, yielding excellent returns for the labors expended. Mr. Prange gives his attention to diversified agri- culture, and for several years he was engaged in the dairy business, keeping an average herd of about twenty milch cows and building up an excellent trade in supplying milk to the citizens of Fort Wayne. He was most successful in this department of his enterprise, but found it finally expedient to abandon the same, and he has since de- voted his attention to general farming and to the raising of stock of excellent grade. He has made many excellent improvements on his farm, and the same gives unmistakable evidence of the ability and enterprise of its owner. In politics Mr. Prange gives his al- legiance to the Democratic party, but he has never sought or de- sired official preferment. His religious views are those of the Ger- man Lutheran church, in whose faith he was reared.
In the year 1898 Mr. Prange was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Prange, who likewise was born and reared in Allen county, being a daughter of Hervey Prange.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
THEOBALD HOFER.
In the subject of this sketch we have one of the sturdy and loyal citizens whom the great empire of Germany has contributed to the county of Allen, and here he has attained no small measure of success in connection with industrial enterprises, having been identified with farming operations and being at the present the man- ager of the Bank Block in the city of Fort Wayne.
Mr. Hofer was born in the most picturesque section of the Ger- man empire, the place of his nativity being the Rheinpfalz, where he was ushered into the world on the 10th of August, 1856, being a son of George and Mary E. Hofer, representatives of sterling Ger- man ancestry. The subject of this sketch received his early educa- tion in his native land, where he remained until he had attained the age of twenty-seven years, when he came to America with his par- ents, who located in Fort Wayne, where he was reared to maturity. In 1882 Mr. Hofer came to Allen county, where he has since main- tained his home and where he has gained independence and pros- perity through his own well directed efforts, in the meanwhile prov- ing himself worthy of the confidence and esteem which are so uniformly reposed in him. During the first four years of his resi- dence in this county he had charge of a stock farm in Aboit town- ship, the same being the property of S. Bash & Company, of Fort Wayne, and upon retiring from this position he assumed his present duties in charge of the Bank Block, one of the large and important business buildings of the city, the same being located at the corner of Main and Court streets in the city of Fort Wayne. His residence property, comprising six acres, with a nice dwelling, is located in Washington township, one and one-half miles distant from the court house.
In politics Mr. Hofer maintains an independent attitude, sup-
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porting the men and measures which meet his approval, and his religious views are indicated in the fact that both he and his wife are members of the Reformed church.
The subject has been twice married. In 1884 he was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Schug, daughter of Frederick Schug, who was at the time a resident of Fort Wayne. Mrs. Hofer was summoned into eternal rest in 1903 and the subject later wedded his present wife, whose maiden name was Rosa Haupert. Five chil- dren were born of the first marriage and all are living, their names being here entered in the order of their birth: Hulda, William, Adolph, Amelia and Esther.
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MILO BEARD.
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It is with distinctive gratification that we enter in this work a tribute to the venerable and honored citizen whose name appears above and who has been a resident of Allen county for two score of years, while he is one of the representative farmers and influential citizens of Wayne township.
Mr. Beard claims the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, having been born in Youngstown, Mahoning county, Ohio, on the 14th of October, 1825, and being a son of John and Rachel (Duncan) Beard, the former of whom was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and the latter in Washington county, that state, while their marriage was solemnized in Mahoning county, Ohio, in which section of the state Mr. Beard was one of the earliest settlers, having there taken up his residence about 1790, many years before Ohio was admitted to the Union, while he thus found himself one of the first of the valiant couriers of civilization to settle west of the Al- leghany mountains. He took up wild land and developed a farm in the midst of the wilderness, residing on this place several years and then removing to a point about twenty miles farther west, where he continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred about 1833, his devoted wife surviving him by a number of years. His father, who likewise bore the name of John, also became one of the pioneers in the same section of Ohio, and he erected the first mill in that locality, the same having been situated on Mill creek falls and having been known as Beard's mill, while it drew its patronage from a wide rádius of country, the widely scattered settlers having recourse to the mill in having their necessary grinding done. The father and son operated this mill for several years, and it long stood as a landmark in Mahoning county, but was swept away by a cloudburst, in 1843, while at a
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later date a new mill was erected on its site. Both father and son were stalwart Democrats in their political proclivities and both com- manded respect and confidence by reason of their sterling attributes of character and their usefulness as members of the army of the world's workers.
Milo Beard, the immediate subject of this sketch, was an only child, and was reared under the scenes and labors of the pioneer epoch in Ohio, where he grew to manhood, strong in mind and body, though his educational advantages were perforce limited, as schools were few and of primitive type, while he was early compelled to depend largely upon his own resources, as he was but a lad at the time of his father's death. He has been identified with the noble industry of husbandry from his youth to the present, and through the same has gained independence and definite success, while he con- tinued to reside in Mahoning county, Ohio, until 1865, when he came to Allen county, Indiana, and purchased one hundred and forty acres of land, lying in Wayne and Aboit townships, the farm having been partially reclaimed at the time when he purchased the property. This homestead has ever since been his place of abode and the farm is now conceded to be one of the best in this locality, being under a high state of cultivation and having excellent buildings and other permanent improvements, all of which were made under the direction and through the efforts of our subject, whose energy and progressive methods have thus been given a permanent memorial. The farm is devoted to diversified agriculture and to the raising of an excellent grade of live stock, and everything about the place indi- cates thrift and prosperity. In politics Mr. Beard has insistently clung to the faith of his father and grandfather, and is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party as represented in the teachings of Jefferson and Jackson. He has never been a seeker of office but has never failed to do his part in supporting public enter- prises and undertakings tending to enhance the general welfare. He has long been affiliated with Summit City Lodge, No. 170, Free and Accepted Masons.
Mr. Beard has been thrice married. In 1847 he wedded Miss Mary Osborne, who was born and reared in Trumbull county, Ohio, having been a daughter of William and Sarah (Jordon) Osborne,
29
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worthy pioneers of that locality. Mrs. Beard died in October, 1851, leaving one son, John M., who is now a prominent druggist of Spencerville, Ohio. In 1853 Mr. Beard was united in marriage to Miss Rachel Osborne Lynn, daughter of Conrad and Mary (Osborne) Lynn, of Mahoning county, Ohio, whither they removed from Virginia. The subject's second wife was summoned into eternal rest on the 3d of July, 1861, and is survived by her only child, Andrew Wallace, who has always remained with his father and been associated with him in his farming enterprise. In 1865 was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Beard to Miss Julia Ann Crouse, of Mahoning county, Ohio, and she remained his devoted companion for a quarter of a century, having passed away on the 16th of June, 1890, no children having been born of this union.
Andrew Wallace Beard, the younger son of the subject, was born in Mahoning county, Ohio, on the 8th of January, 1856, and has been intimately associated with his father in his business affairs, while at the present time he has the management of the fine home- stead farm. He is a Democrat in politics and as a citizen is held in high regard in the community in which he has so long made his home. In May, 1880, he was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Aiken, who was born and reared in this county, being a daughter of John and Martha Aiken, who came to this section from Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1863, settling in Lafayette township, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew W. Beard have two children, John C., who is in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in Fort Wayne, and Mary R., who remains at the parental home.
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
JACOB GRAHAM.
As a member of one of the honored pioneer families of Wayne county and as one who was long one of the representative farmers of Wayne township, where he is now living retired, it is incumbent that special mention be made of Mr. Graham. He is a native of this county, where he was born on the 26th of February, 1835, and here he has continued to make his home during the long intervening years. He is a son of David Graham, who was born in Greenville, Greene county, Tennessee, which place was likewise the spot in which was born his devoted wife, whose maiden name was Rachel Sands, and in their native county was solemnized their marriage. There the father of the subject continued to be identified with farm- ing until 1820, when he came to Wayne county, Indiana, making the journey with a team and being accompanied by his wife, who bravely stood ready to face the fortunes which might be theirs in the pioneer district. Mr. Graham took up eighty acres of wild land, the same being covered with a dense growth of timber, and on this place he erected a log cabin and therein established his Lares and Penates. He then set to himself the task of reclaiming the land to cultivation, laboring early and late and continuing to reside here for several years, after which he removed to Preble county, Ohio, where he continued to reside until his death, at the venerable age of eighty- two years, while his cherished wife was eighty years old at the time of her demise. Mr. Graham was a great hunter in the early days, and with his trusty gun largely supplied the family larder, as game of all kinds was then plentiful. He was a man of strong personality and inflexible integrity, commanding the confidence and regard of all who knew him, and while he never sought office he served for a time as supervisor of Wayne township, having been a stanch Democrat in his political proclivities. He was a son of Charles
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Graham, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, in which he par- ticipated in the battle of New Orleans, and the latter's father likewise bore the name of Charles and was a brother of the Graham who was the vice-presidential candidate at the time General Scott was the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. The Gra- hams are of stanch Scottish ancestry, and there were three families of the name who came to America as founders of the various branches, one of the families settling in North Carolina, another in New York state and the third in Pennsylvania, the subject of this review being descended from the branch first mentioned. The original orthography of the name was Grimas, later the form Graeme appeared and finally the present spelling was adopted. The father of the subject was a lifelong member of the United Brethren church, and the mother held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. In their family were eight children, of whom several are still living; Amanda, who became the wife of William P. Curlin, is deceased; Jacob, subject of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Ann is the widow of George Hodge and resides in Richmond, Indiana; James F. is likewise a resident of Richmond, being a retired farmer, while it may be noted that he served three years as a member of the Fifth Ohio Cavalry during the Civil war; Hannah is the wife of Fuller Edsal, of Richmond, this state; Joseph is a prominent in- surance agent in the same city ; Ellen is the wife of George Jones, of that city, where her husband was long engaged in contracting and building, being now retired; and William was a resident of Rich- mond at the time of his death.
The subject grew up under the sturdy discipline of the home farm, early becoming inured to hard work, while his educational advantages were such as were afforded in the primitive log school houses, said schools being principally maintained on the subscription plan. He was able to attend even such schools only six months in toto, and his farther training was secured under the direction of that wisest of headmasters, experience. Mr. Graham accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio, and remained associated with the work of the home farm until he had attained his legal majority, while at the age of twenty-seven years he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Ford, who was born and reared in Preble county,
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Ohio, where their wedding occurred. At this juncture we may con- sistently incorporate a brief record concerning their children: Mar- garet is the wife of Emery S. Druley, of Wayne township; Annie, who was the wife of John Lloyd, of Richmond, Indiana, is de- ceased; Grant is engaged as an electrician in the city of Fort Wayne; Charles remains at the parental home and is associated in the man- agement of the farm; James is a successful farmer of Wayne town- ship; Maude is the wife of Elgin Smith, of the same township; William is a prosperous market gardener of this township; and Vera, the wife of John Beard, of Fort Wayne. All of the children have received excellent educational advantages, and all of the daughters have been successful and popular teachers in the public schools of their home county. The great loss and bereavement of Mr. Graham's life came on the 3d of July, 1904, when his cherished and devoted wife was summoned into eternal rest, after a married life of forty-seven years' duration, while she was sixty-two years of age at the time of her demise.
Shortly after his marriage Mr. Graham left his wife in West- ville, Ohio, and started on the long and perilous overland trip to Colorado, in the year 1859. In March of that year, in company with another man, he went from St. Louis up the Missouri river to St. Joseph, from which point he secured passage to Denver, Colorado, on one of the wagon trains starting forth from that well known out- fitting point. More than six weeks was consumed in making the trip, a distance of more than seven hundred miles, and along the route were found only a few widely separated settlers, in Kansas and Nebraska, while no settlers were found after leaving Marysville, Kansas, while the conditions of the untrammeled western wilds were such as have so often been described in historic publications and reminiscent articles touching the pioneer era in that section of our great national domain. Wild game of all sorts was in evidence, and on the journey Mr. Graham had the privilege of seeing a gigantic herd of buffaloes. The great beasts were seen approaching and covered a distance of about fifteen miles each hour, while so great was the number that three hours elapsed before the herd had passed. Mr. Graham visited various sections of Colorado, where he devoted his attention to prospecting and hunting wild game. At the time of his
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arrival the present city of Denver contained only seven cabins. He was engaged in prospecting and mining in the state for four years, returning to his home in December, 1863. He forthwith showed his patriotism by tendering his services in defense of the Union, en- listing as a private in Company G, Thirty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and he went to the front with his regiment, which was assigned to the western department, Fourteenth Army Corps, taking part in numerous battles, including those of Franklin and Nash- ville and the last battle of the great conflict, while he was never wounded or taken prisoner. He received his honorable discharge in 1865, and then returned to Indiana and located in Wayne county, near the city of Richmond, where for the ensuing twenty years he operated a large farm. In 1887 Mr. Graham came to Allen county and settled in Wayne township, purchasing ten acres of land and erecting on the same his present comfortable and attractive residence, while he is also the owner of another tract of twenty acres. He raises small fruits on his land, and as a grower of strawberries has attained a high reputation, and aside from the supervision of his fruit business he is now living retired, having accumulated a competency since coming to the county, as is evident when we revert to the fact that at the time of his arrival here his cash capital was summed up in the amount of twenty-five cents. In a fraternal way he is identified with Sion S. Bass Post, Grand Army of the Republic, in the city of Fort Wayne, while he is a valued member of the United Brethren church at Prairie Grove, Wayne township, his wife likewise having been a devoted member of the same religious body. In his political proclivities Mr. Graham is a stanch Democrat. He has won prosperity through well directed effort, and his course has been such as to retain to him the loyal esteem of his fellow men.
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
JOHN A. MILLER.
An able and popular representative of the great basic art of agri- culture in Allen county is Mr. Miller, who is one of the prominent farmers of Wayne township, his fine homestead being located in section 20. He is a native of the Hoosier state, having been born in Dekalb county, on the 18th of December, 1847, and being a son of John F. and Julia A. (Coffman) Miller, both coming of stanch German ancestry. The father was born on a sailing vessel on the Atlantic ocean, on the 28th of August, 1805, his parents being at the time en route for America. His father, Michael Miller, settled with his family in the city of Philadelphia, whence he later re- moved to Ohio and finally came to Indiana, becoming a pioneer of Noble county, where both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives. John F. Miller was reared to young manhood in Marion county, Ohio, where his marriage was solemnized. In 1836 he came to Dekalb county, Indiana, where he secured a tract of wild and heavily timbered land, being one of the pioneers of that section and there reclaiming a good farm, while to him was accorded the un- qualified confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens there, as well as in all other communities in which he was known. He disposed of his property in Dekalb county in 1850, in which year he came to Allen county, where he repeated his pioneer experiences, becoming the owner of a tract of three hundred and ten acres, in Wayne town- ship, and reclaiming a large portion of the same to cultivation. No roads had been constructed in the locality at the time when he here took up his abode, and on his land only slight improvements had been made, including a small frame house which was the family home for a number of years. Mr. Miller became one of the suc- cessful, influential and highly esteemed farmers and citizens of the county and continued to reside on his homestead during the few remaining years of his life, his death occurring on the 18th of
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February, 1859. His devoted wife survived him by many years, being summoned to the life eternal on the 7th of January, 1893, at the venerable age of eighty-three years. Both were zealous and valued members of the United Brethren church, and in politics the father was originally a Whig, though he lived to witness the birth of the Republican party and to espouse its cause. Concerning their nine children we enter the following brief record: Nancy became the wife of Frank Mason, and both are deceased; Mary is the wife of Peter Gundy, a successful farmer of Huntington county, Indiana; Eliza- beth, a maiden lady, resides in the home of the subject of this review ; Israel, an engineer by vocation, resides in Los Angeles, California; Sarah, who married Henry Flutter, is deceased; Lucretia is the wife of Philip Rapp, a farmer of Wayne township; John A. is the sub- ject of this sketch; Cornelius is a resident of Fort Wayne, where he is engaged as an engineer ; and William H., a locomotive engineer, resides in Milan, Sullivan county, Missouri.
John A. Miller was a child of three years at the time of the family removal to Allen county, and he was reared to manhood on the old homestead farm, in whose work he early began to assist to the extent of his powers, while his educational advantages were those afforded in the local schools of the intermediate pioneer days. It is interesting to record that he has never left the old farm, of which he and his maiden sister are now the owners, while both have here resided ever since the year 1850, witnessing the great trans- formation which has been wrought in this section and being num- bered among the honored pioneer citizens of Wayne township, while their circle of friends is limited only by that of their acquaintances. They own seventy-eight acres of the parental homestead, and the place is under a high state of cultivation and improved with good buildings. The farm is devoted to diversified agriculture and to the raising of high-grade live stock, while on the farm is to be found an excellent variety of fruits. In politics Mr. Miller is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, but he has never sought or desired office, though taking a deep interest in local affairs and always standing ready to aid in the forwarding of measures and enterprises for the general good. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his sister retains the faith in which
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