USA > Indiana > Memorial record of northeastern Indiana > Part 42
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF
pense by the company, and boat-houses and pleasure grounds have been constructed, which are largely patronized by the citizens of Fort Wayne during the summer months for outings.
In May, 1891, Charles L. Centlivre re- tired from active business life and volun- tarily turned his interests over to his sons, Louis A. and Charles F., who, with their brother-in-law, John B. Ruess, recently in- corporated the Centlivre Brewing Company with a capital stock of $300,000. The stock is equally divided among the three, and and the company is officered as follows: Louis C. Centlivre, president; John Ruess, secretary; and Charles F. Centlivre, treas- urer. They exercise close and critical super- vision over all the departments of the bus- iness, with the result that the original high standard of excellence shall be rigidly main- tained. The establishment is widely recog- nized as a most prominent factor of Fort Wayne's industrial supremacy.
S AMUEL M. BAIRD, Postmaster at Roann, is a native of Coshocton county, Ohio, born December 5, 1861. His parents, Montgomery and Mary J. (Morford) Baird, were natives respectively of Westmoreland county, Penn- sylvania, and Maryland, and had ten chil- dren, -eight sons and two daughters, of whom seven are living, -John H., Jacob, Albert, Byron, Samuel M., James and Belle. Montgomery Baird was by trade a carriage and wagon maker. He emigrated to Ohio some time in the '30s and resided at West Carlisle the remainder of his life, dying in May, 1893, at the age of sixty-seven years, a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he was an Elder for a time; and he
also held other offices. His wife, surviving him, is now living at Columbus, Ohio, also a member of the same church. Mr. Baird's paternal grandfather, William Baird, was a native of Pennsylvania, of Scotch descent and a farmer, was twice married and died at an advanced age. Mr. Baird's mother's father, William Morford, a native of Mary- land, became an early settler of Ohio, locat- ing in Coshocton county while the Indians were still there; was engaged against the red savages under General Wayne, and was also a soldier in the Mexican war. In his business habits he was a very accurate man, careful in his conversation, exacting in his expectations and a pious Methodist. He died at the age of seventy-one years.
Mr. Baird, our direct subject, was reared in his native county, receiving his schooling there; and was employed in the shop with his father until he began teaching school, which profession he followed eighteen months. He then moved to Huntington, Indiana, where he engaged in the business of butchering and marketing nieat for a year. In 1885 he came to Roann and opened a meat market, and in connection with that business he also bought stock for eight years. He was appointed Postmaster in the summer of 1893, and took charge of the office September 1 following.
He was married September 9, 1885, to Miss Mary C. Early, a daughter of Jacob and --- (Wagerman) Early, and they have three children, -- Lora, Paul and Ruth. Mr. and Mrs. Baird are members of the Church of the Brethren. He is a Master Mason and a member of the order of Odd Fellows, and in his political principles is a Democrat. He has a good home in Roann, in which community he is well known as an exemplary citizen.
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NORTHEASTERN INDIANA.
J AMES B HARPER, one of the able members of the bar of Indiana, is a son of John and Eliza (Byall) Harper. He was born in Aboit township, Allen county, Indiana, near the present family homestead, November 21, 1848.
His father was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, November 17, 1817, and when he was still a child his parents re- moved from the old Keystone State to Wayne county, Ohio, where he remained until 1848, assisting in the early development of that county. In the Buckeye State was consum- mated his marriage with Eliza Byall, daugh- ter of James Byall, one of the early pioneers of the Western Reserve. In 1848 John Harper removed with his family to Allen county, Indiana, where he purchased a tract of land, erected a cabin in the forest and developed by long years of unwearied indus- try a fine farm. Here, with the exception of a few months prior to his death, when he resided in Fort Wayne, he passed the re- mainder of his life. He was one of the prominent citizens of the county and on different occasions held the office of Town- ship Trustee and other positions. His de- mise occurred December 31, 1890, at which time he had attained the venerable age of seventy-three years. His widow is still liv- ing, at the age of seventy-three, a resident of Fort Wayne. They were the parents of eight children, three sons and five daughters, five of whom still survive, and one of the number, B. F. Harper, is the young and successful attorney of Fort Wayne, having prepared for his profession in the office of our subject.
James B. Harper, whose name intro- duces this biographical review, claims de- scent from no distinctive nationality, among his ancestors being found the blood of sev-
eral European races. He passed the days of his childhood and early youth upon his fa- ther's farm in this county, rendering his share of assistance in clearing and cultivat- ing it. He acquired a rudimentary educa- tion in the public schools of the neigh- borhood, his first experience in that line being in the primitive log schoolhouse. Early in life he was attracted to the legal profession and resolved to fit himself for the bar. This decision once made, with char- acteristic zeal, he allowed no obstacles to interfere, but prosecuted his purpose unre- mittingly to a successful outcome. Like many others, he taught school to aid in securing the necessary funds for a college course, which he took to the full extent of the means and opportunities at his com- mand. He was for two years a student in the seminary at Roanoke, Huntington county, then an institution of great worth, and for a more extended period he attended the Methodist Episcopal College of Fort Wayne. After reading law in the intervals of attending and teaching schools, he com- pleted a course of two years in the law de- partment of the Indiana State University and graduated as a member of the class of 1875. The honor of delivering the class valedictory was accorded him.
Thus equipped, immediately after grad- uation, Mr. Harper entered upon the prac- tice of his profession in Fort Wayne, form- ing a partnership with David W. Baird, under the firm name of Harper & Baird, which relation was soon dissolved, and in 1878 he associated himself with Colonel R. S. Robertson, under the firm name of Rob- ertson & Harper. This firm existed until 1885, since which time our subject has con- tinued in practice alone, securing a good clientage, which is constantly increasing.
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He is a representative citizen of Fort Wayne, and is recognized as a lawyer of high professional attainments. Careful and conscientious in the service rendered his clients, his success in general practice is due not only to his ability and adaptation to his chosen profession but also to a careful in- vestigation and preparation of his cases. He ranks high as an advocate, presenting his cases in a clear and convincing manner, and in language happily chosen.
Mr. Harper exercises his franchise in support of the Republican party and its principles and has frequently taken an active part in advocating its cause before the people, where he has rendered it most effect- ive service.
In 1894 Mr. Harper was the Republican candidate for Judge of the Superior Court, and while the entire ticket was defeated the majority of the Democratic ticket was re- duced from 4,500, the former plurality of that party, to an average less than 1,000, in the county.
In his fraternal relations, Mr. Harper is prominently identified with the Masonic order, having advanced to the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite and being a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, He is also a member of the Lambda Chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity of the Indiana Unviersity.
The marriage of our subject was solem- nized in Fort Wayne on the 27th of January, 1887, when he was united to Miss Mary E. Rowan, daughter of Dr. Benjamin C. Rowan, deceased, one of the old and dis- tinguished physicians of Fort Wayne. They have two daughters, namely: Helen and Virginia. Mrs. Harper's father was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1818, and was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. In early youth he removed with his family
to Piqua, Ohio, and on reaching manhood he qualified himself for the medical profes- sion. He then removed to Fort Wayne, where he continued in practice until his death. He was surgeon of the Eleventh Indiana Battery. During the campaign against Corinth, Mississippi, he was taken very ill, and returning home lived only three weeks, his death occurring July 1, 1862, when forty-four years of age. Dr. Rowan was one of a family of six children. A brother, Stephen C. Rowan, now deceased, was Vice Admiral of the United States Navy, and served his country with great dis- tinction in the war of the Rebellion. Mrs. Harper's mother, Barbara (Lotz) Rowan, still survives. She is a daughter of Hon. Henry Lotz, a pioneer of Fort Wayne, who at an early day was Mayor of that city for two terms.
OBERT OGDEN .- Everywhere in our land are found men who have worked their own way from lowly and humble beginnings to places of leadership in the commerce, the great pro- ductive industries and the management of the veins and arteries of the material enter- prise, traffic and exchanges of the country. It is one of the glories of our nation that this is so. ' It should be to the youth of the country the strongest incentive and en- couragement that it is so. Prominent, and in some respects exceptional, among the self-made and representative business men of the city of Fort Wayne is the subject of this sketch-a man honored for his sterling integrity of purpose, his ability and success as a business man, and his accomplishments during the long period of a busy life.
Our subject stands at the head of one of
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the important industries of this city, con- ducting an extensive plumbing business from his headquarters at No. 26, East Ber- ry street. It may consistently be said of Mr. Ogden that his vocation has come as a natural heritage, since his grandfather, his father and three of his brothers have been engaged in this line of enterprise. Mr. Ogden has passed the psalmist's allotted span of three-score years and ten, but still retains unimpaired his mental and physical vigor, and gives to his business the same personal supervision and discriminating direction that he did in the earlier years of his business career.
By birth a native of Great Britain, Robert Ogden was born in the vicinity of the city of Manchester, England, on the 9th of January, 1825, being the son of John and Hallis (Hartley) Ogden, both of whom were natives of England, their birth having been near Manchester. They became the parents of seven children-six sons and one daugh- ter, of whom two sons still survive, one son having died in infancy. The father entered into eternal rest in 1868, at the venerable age of seventy-one years, the mother's death having occurred in her thirty-sixth year.
When our subject was only nine years of age he began his association with active business affairs, being then employed in his father's plumbing shop, and it is a significant fact that from that early age he has consecu- tively devoted his time and attention to the plumbing business, either as a workman or as a manager or proprietor. All the dis- tinctive educational discipline he ever received was that secured by attending night schools while in his father's employ, but his has been an alert mentality, and in the school of business and by practical associa- tion with the affairs of life he has rounded
out his intellectual attainments and is a man of broad information. When he had at- tained the age of twenty-four years, Mr. Ogden instituted operations upon his own responsibility by engaging in business at Manchester. His reading and investigation, however, had resulted in bringing to him a thorough conviction that in America, with her free institutions and greater priviliges for personal effort, were offered better ad- vantages for advancement in business than in the land of his nativity. Accordingly, at the end of the first year, he disposed of his shop and business near Manchester and emigrated to the United States, arriving here in the year 1858. He came directly to Fort Wayne and remained here for a period of about ten months, being employed in doing odd jobs at his trade. Thereafter he was for two years located at St. Louis, Missouri, and from that city he went to Dayton, Ohio, where he engaged in busi- ness for himself. His establishment and scale of operations on the start were modest, as his capital was limited, but he soon worked his way up until he was owner of one of the leading plumbing concerns in that city, retaining in his employ as many as thirty-five operatives. His exceptional me- chanical ability and thorough familiarity with the details of his business proved, as con- joined with his correct methods, his pro- gressive spirit and his unswerving integrity, sufficient to gain him the confidence and esteem of the public and a consequent sup- porting patronage of representative order. His business career in Dayton covered a period of eleven years, and was terminated by his failure in business-this result having been entailed by reason of his having been compelled to pay the sum of $19,000, which represented security which he had assumed
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by endorsing notes for a friend. This un- fortunate disaster completely broke him up in business and he then returned to Fort Wayne and courageously and unflinchingly set to work to recoup his vanished fortune, resuming work as a common laborer at his trade. For a time he had charge of the plumbing works of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad.
In 1870 Mr. Ogden was again enabled to open a shop for himself, and he has since carried on a very successful business in Fort Wayne. His plumbing establishment rep- resents one of the important features of the industrial resources of this city, and his suc- cess has been as pronounced as it is well merited. Our subject is the inventor and patentee of a superior and improved gas burner for heating purposes, and the device is one whose introduction has been attended by marked success, being unequaled for efficiency, durability and economy by any burner upon the market. His thoroughly equipped establishment affords employment to no less than fifteen skilled workmen.
In his political relations Mr. Ogden renders a stanch allegiance to the Republi- can party, having a very intelligent compre- hension of the topics and questions of the day, and being able to give a reason for the faith that is within him. Fraternally he is prominently identified with the Masonic order, in which he is advanced to the sixteenth degree of the Scottish Rite, and is a K. T., and also a member of the Sons of St. George.
Our subject has been thrice married, his union to his present companion, nec Agnes H. Fowles, was consummated on the 3d of July, 1888. Mrs. Ogden's father, John Fowles, was one of the early settlers and influential citizens of Fort Wayne.
3 OHN F. DEPOY is recognized as one of the substantial farmers of his vi- cinity, his farm being located on sec- tion 14, in Union township, Whitley county, Indiana; and he is also a leading citizen as well as substantial farmer.
Mr. Depoy is of remote German descent, his paternal ancestor of one generation hav- ing emigrated from Germany to this country at an early day and settling in the Old Dominion. There both his paternal grandparents, John and Maria (Ohlstock) Depoy, were born and for many years made their home. Their son Nicholas, the father of our subject, was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1799. In 1813 the family moved out to what was then called the Western Reserve, and made permanent settlement in Ross county, Ohio, where Nicholas grew up and was mar- ried to Miss Esther Fernough, a native of Ohio. Her parents were natives of Hesse, Germany, and her father was a Hessian sol- dier in the Revolution. After the close of the war he made settlement in Ross county, Ohio, where he passed the residue of his life and died. His wife was before her marriage Miss Christina Clover. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. - Nicholas Depoy located in Fayette county, Ohio, where they made their home until 1845, the date of their re- moval to Whitley county, Indiana. Arrived here, they settled on section 2, Union town- ship, in the midst of the forest. His first wife died in 1824 and for his second wife he married Henrietta Taylor, who has long since passed away. He died in 1865. The first union resulted in the birth of three chil- dren, two of whom are living, -John F. and Mrs. Christina Smith, who is a widow and has three children, her husband having been killed in the Civil war. Of the children by his second wife, four are living, namely:
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Samuel, who has been married twice and has four children by each wife, his pres- ent companion being Rachel, formerly Harshbarger; Frances, wife of John Van Meter, has one child; Nicholas S., who married Harriet. Snyder, has five chil- dren; and Reedy, wife of Daniel Lantz, has four children. The father of this family was an active member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, and took a leading part in local politics, affiliating with the Republican party. Having thus briefly reviewed the family history of John F. Depoy, we now come to the facts in regard to his own life.
John F. Depoy was born in Fayette county, Ohio, December 21, 1821, and there grew to manhood, receiving his education in the subscription schools of his native coun- ty. He remained on the home farm until he attained his majority, when he started out in life to do for himself. After his mar- riage, which important event in his life oc- curred in 1845, he came to the township in which he now lives, and in 1849 he settled on his present farm, then covered with a primitive forest. In a log cabin they began housekeeping, the furnishings of which were indeed meager,-at least they would be con- sidered so by the young people . of to-day. Mrs. Depoy had a chair which she had her- Mr. Depoy has given his children the benefit of good educational advantages, and two of them have been engaged in teaching. The family are identified with the Lutheran Church, in which he is an active member and is now serving as Trustee. His political affiliations are with the Republican party. He has always taken a deep interest in public affairs, especially those of a local nature, and has served his township one term as Con- stable and for thirteen years as Assessor. self earned when a girl, and she says that her bureau was nothing more than a board against the wall. But they had loving hearts and energetic hands, and they went to work not thinking of their privations and hardships. Sometimes their only food was strong bacon and corn bread. As the years passed by their honest toil was rewarded with success. In 1875 they built their pres- ent comfortable residence and moved out of the log house. Mr. Depoy now has 110 He is a member of the Cemetery Asso- acres of land, seventy of which are cleared . ciation, and is a Trustee of the same. For 20
and under cultivation, he himself having cleared the land.
Mr. Depoy was married January 23, 1845, to Delilah Bainter, a native of Fayette county, Ohio, born March 24, 1820, daugh- ter of George and Elizabeth (Howard) Bainter. Her father was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1795, and her mother in Virginia in 1793, and for many years they were resi- dents of Fayette county, Ohio, where he died. The widowed mother subsequently moved to Whitley county, Indiana, where her death occurred. They were the parents of six children, all of whom reached maturi- ty, Mrs. Depoy being the only one now liv- ing. The father was a soldier in the war of 1812 and one son served in the Civil war, and also as a soldier participated in the Kan- sas border troubles. The mother was a member of the Presbyterian Church. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Depoy are as follows : Jeanette, wife of J. M. Harrison, Mayor of Columbia City, Indiana; Esther E., widow of Albert M. Douglas, and has two children; Louisa Frances; Reuben Joseph, who married Miss Ida Aker and they reside in Muncie, Indiana; and Augusta L., wife of Zachary Snoak, and living in this township.
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years he has been connected with the F. & A. M., and maintains his membership in the order at Columbia City.
ELIZABETH (HOWARD) BAINTER. - Mr. Bainter, her grandfather, was born in Penn- sylvania, of German descent, and when grown up married Susan Stuckey, also of German ancestry, and in course of time had seven children. He emigrated to Fayette county, in Ohio, in 1811, traveling by land, and settled in the forests, where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. They were believers in Christ, and their house was a place of worship, the church edifice not being convenient. Adam How- ard was born in Rockingham county, Vir- ginia, and married Catherine Baumgardner, of the same county, and had eight children. Emigrating to Ross county, Ohio, in 1810, these parents, also of German descent, spent the rest of their days. Mr. Howard was for five years a soldier in the Revolu- tionary war, was a cabinet-maker by trade and an extensive farmer by occupation, and wealthy. In religion Mr. and Mrs. Howard were German Lutherans, and their house was a place of worship, on account of church edifices being so few. They departed this life respectively at the ages of ninety-five and eighty-two.
LIJAH DEPEW .- By virtue of his long residence in this vicinity and as one of its stanch and worthy citizens, Elijah DePew is deserving of biographical mention in this volume. His location is on a farm in section 34, Union township, Whitley county. Before proceeding to a sketch of his life, however, we wish to refer briefly to his ancestry.
Mr. DePew has in his veins the blood of three nationalities-French, Irish and Ger- man. His father, Levi DePew, was born in New Jersey, a son of Thomas DePew, a native of France. His mother, nce Rachel Walker, also a native of New Jersey, was a daughter of Jacob Walker, an Irishman. Jacob Walker was a soldier in the British army during the Revolutionary war. He married a German woman, as also did Thomas DePew, and thus both the grand- mothers of our subject were German. In New Jersey Levi and Rachel DePew were married, and in the year 1800 they removed to Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and set- tled on a tract of wild land, where they made a farm and on which they lived until 1845. That year they removed to Madison township, Luzerne county, same State, and there passed the closing years of their lives, her death occurring in 1857 and his in 1868. They were the parents of fifteen children, only three of whom are now living-Isaac, Israel and Elijah, the subject of our sketch being the youngest of the three.
Elijah DePew was born May 10, 1818, in Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, Penn- sylvania, and was reared on his father's farm at that place. The Scranton cemetery now covers a portion of the old DePew homestead there. In the common schools he received his education, and at the early age of seventeen began teaching. For thir- teen years he taught school during the win -- ter months and in the summer worked on the home farm. October 10, 1849, he started west, accompanied by his family, he having married some years before, and upon their arrival in Indiana they took up their abode on section 13, Columbia town- ship, Whitley county, the farm upon which Mrs. Hurd now lives. It was
Alljanett. M.
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then all wild land. He cleared a por- tion of it and resided there until 1855, when he went to Columbia City and engaged in work at the carpenter's trade, remaining thus occupied until 1859. That year he settled on his present farm, and here he has since lived and prospered. He has divided his holdings with his children, retaining 120 acres for himself, eighty of which are under cultivation. At the time he settled here, this land was all unimproved, and it is due to his efforts that it now presents the fine appearance it does. Indeed, he has prob- ably cleared up more land in this section of the township than any other man in it, and he has not only cleared the land but he has also done much in the way of making im- provements in other ways. He mastered the trades of carpenter, millwright and wagonmaker, and has worked at all of them. During his early life here he frequently worked away from home all day and at night he spent hours in the clearing of his own land. Many of the best residences in this vicinity are of his building.
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