Memorial record of northeastern Indiana, Part 66

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 932

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William H. Reed was born in Sandusky county, Ohio, on the 28th of April, 1863. Amid the manifold duties and free, out-of- door life of the farm our subject passed the days of his boyhood, securing such educa- tional advantages as were afforded by the district schools in the vicinity of his home, and early manifesting that sturdy independ- ence and self-reliance which have ever been dominating characteristics of his life. He was enabled to effectively supplement his rudimentary education, and at the age of nineteen years he began operations on his

own responsibility by engaging as a school teacher. He had a definite object in view, and from this he was not to be swerved by circumstances. He saved the money which he earned by his pedagogic labors and with this he paid his tuition in the Ohio Normal University, at Ada, Ohio, matriculating in the law department with the senior class of 1886 and graduating as a member of the class of the succeeding year. Previous to this he had devoted his evenings and other leisure time to the reading of law and had passed one summer in the office of Garver & Garver, in Fremont, Ohio.

After his graduation in the law depart- ment of the university Mr. Reed came to Decatur on a visit, and he was so pleased with the city and the surrounding country that he decided to remain here and engage in the practice of his profession. After he had been a resident of Decatur for six months he made application and was admit- ted to the bar of the State, his examination being conducted before the court of the Twenty-sixth Judicial Circuit. He then en- tered into an association with John Schugar for the conducting of a law and abstract business, Mr. Schugar attending to matters in the abstract department and our subject de- voting his attention to the legal business. The firm name of Schugar & Reed was re- tained until 1892, when Mr. D. E. Smith was admitted to partnership, whereupon the title of the firm was changed to Schugar, Reed & Smith. The firm is doing an excel- lent business and a representative clientage is retained, our object having gained recog- nition as a lawyer of distinctive ability and one entirely worthy of public confidence and esteem.

In his political belief and adherency Mr. Reed is stanchly arrayed in the support of

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the Democratic party and its principles. At a special election held in 1891 he was elected Mayor of Decatur, to fill the unex- pired term made vacant by the death of Mayor B. H. Dent, and the fact that our subject was thus elected to the chief munici- pal office after having been a resident of the city for only three years, stands in marked evidence of his personal popularity and of the regard in which he is held by the local public. He is a man of inflexible principle, and during his first term as Mayor the city council stood a tie on their vote as to whether or not the liquor license should be raised from one hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars. Upon our subject, by virtue of his office, devolved the duty of casting the decisive vote, and he used this privilege in favor of the raising of the license, believing that he was but doing his duty in taking this course. At the time he did this he felt certain that his chances for re-elec- tion to the office of Mayor would be reduced to a minimum, but he did not hesitate to follow out the lines of his conviction. It has been his policy never to sacrifice prin- ciple for any matter of personal expediency. He also cast the deciding vote which gave his city the first electric-light plant. That his course was approved by the electors of the city is shown in the fact that, when chosen by his party as a candidate to suc- ceed himself, he was victorious at the polls, being elected for a term of two years. While he was serving this term the State Legislature passed an enactment to make the vote of the State uniform and to make the terms of office for the city officers of Indi- ana extend over four years. On account of this enactment our subject's term of office did not expire until September, 1894, and he served consecutively for three years and

seven months as Mayor of Decatur. His administration was one in which the public interests were conserved in every possible way. economy considered without resorting to ill-advised parsimony, and material pros- perity advanced through all normal chan- nels. Mr. Reed was urged to become a candidate for re-election, but declined the honor, in order that he might devote his undivided time and attention to his law practice.

In his fraternal relations he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, being a mem- ber of Kekionga Lodge, No. 65, of which he is Past Chancellor.

On the 4th of April, 1889, Mr. Reed was united in marriage to Miss Violet M. Smitley, daughter of Enos C. and Martha (Sweet) Smitley, of Allen county, Indiana, and representative of prominent pioneer families of the State. Two children have been the offspring of this union: Brice, born March 1, 1890, died April 13, 1892; and Wade, who was born August 20, 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Reed are members of the Presbyterian Church.

S AMUEL W. HAVENS, farmer, section 13, Jackson township, Kos- ciusko county, is a prominent and extensive farmer. He is a son of Clayton Havens, a native of New Jersey, whose birth occurred in 1801. His early life was passed in the State of his nativity on a farm. When a young man he accom- panied his father, Samuel Havens, to Ohio, and on a farm fifteen miles west of Dayton they settled. The Havens are of Quaker descent. In Preble county, Ohio, Clayton Havens was married to Miss Mary, daughter of Francis Reinard, a soldier of the Revolu-

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tion, who later served against the Indians in the Northwest Territory. He lived to the advanced age of ninety-six years, dying in Ohio. His daughter, the wife of Mr. Havens, was born in 1800.

The father of our subject, after his mar- riage, lived for a while on a part of his father's farm, and subsequently removed to Darke county, Ohio, where he died in 1838. Mrs. Havens later came to the home of her son, Samuel W., where she departed this life April 14, 1867. To them were born seven children, all of whom grew to maturity and five are now living: Joseph; Francis, deceased; Hannah, deceased; Samuel W., Clayton, John and Mary. The family is justly noted for patriotism and love of coun- try. All the sons served in the Civil war, and three of the four were badly wounded.

The subject of this sketch was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, October 30, 1830. His boyhood was passed upon his father's farm till he was seventeen years old, when he went to Lexington, Ohio, and began learning the blacksmith trade, which he ac- complished. In 1852 he went to Richmond, Indiana, where he secured employment at his trade and worked for a year. He was now twenty-three years of age, was in vig- orous health and strength and felt able to tempt fortune amid the "golden sands " of California, about which, at that time, in In- diana and elsewhere, floated stories of the fabulous gold finds on that far-away coast.

With Mr. Havens to decide was to act, and in 1853 he started on the journey by steamer from New York, and was a passen- ger aboard the Georgia when she was wreck- ed, in February, 1854. Arriving at his des- tination he secured employment in a brick- yard at first for a few months, and later he secured work at his trade for several months

in Redwood City. He next went to Klam- ath county, where he established himself in a shop of his own at the forks of the Sal- mon river, carrying it on profitably until 1858, earning money enough to buy his present farm, for which he paid $4, 500, all in gold, upon his return in 1858. He had been gone five years; had seen much and endured privations and hardships with- out number, but had made it pay. A saving of $900 a year in those days from the efforts of a pair of hands was no inconsiderable thing.

After buying his land he immediately settled upon it and went to work. The war coming on he realized that it was his duty to go to the defense of his country's flag, which had been fired upon and trailed in the dust, and in October, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Forty-fourth Indiana Volun- teers, and was mustered in as private. La- ter he was appointed Sergeant by Captain Cuppy, and subsequently he was promoted to the rank of Quartermaster Sergeant by the influence of Colonel Aldrich. After en- listinent the regiment was stationed for a time at Henderson, Kentucky, and when the wave of war rolled that way with the silent, fighting Grant in command, there was no dearth of fighting and marching. He par- ticipated in the battles of Fort Donelson, both days' fight at Shiloh, Corinth, Crab Orchard, Stone River, Chickamauga and Chattanooga. At the last named place the regiment was assigned to guard duty, which it performed until mustered out.

In the first day's fight of the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, he received a painful wound in the left hip, a musket ball striking him in front, passing through and out be- hind. This incapacitated him for duty and he was given a furlough for sixty days,

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which he spent at home; but he returned to his regiment and resumed his duties with a wound that did not heal for more than four months afterward. His record as a soldier is above criticism. In the discharge of duty he was always prompt and efficient, shrink- ing from no danger, courting no favors and always maintaining the dignity of a true patriot in the discharge of a sacred trust. From the service of his country he was hon- orably mustered out in 1865. Returning to his home he again put his hands to the plow, resuming the peaceful vocation of farming, which he had left four years before when the country called to arms.

He was united in marriage, February 10, 1867, with Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Liggett, of Highland county, Ohio, in which county Mrs. Havens' birth occurred, July 12, 1844. Seven children were born to this union, six of whom are living: Alexander married Catherine Col- lett and has two children; Annabel, wife of Charles Johnson, has one child; Violetta, wife of Frank Buzzard, has two children; Celesta, wife of Harry Mentzer, no children; William H. and Icel May. Mrs. Havens departed this life July 9, 1885. Mr. Havens was again married February 12, 1890, Miss Emma Bennett, a native of Adrian, Michi- gan, becoming his wife. She is a daughter of G. W. Bennett, now of Warsaw, and was born September 4, 1847.

Mr. Havens is one of the progressive men of Kosciusko county. What he does, he does thoroughly well. His farm com- prises 240 acres, 160 of which is cleared and in an excellent state of cultivation. In 1879 he erected his commodious residence, which, together with his comfortable outbuildings, is an ornament to one of the well improved places of the township. He is well informed 31

upon current affairs and takes an active in- terest in national and State legislation. In his politics he is a Republican, and is unam- bitious to possess office, having refused to accede to the wishes of his friends in that particular. He is a courteous, affable gen- tleman, and popular. Considering his years and the many trying experiences of his life, he is well preserved, retaining yet much of the vigor of his early manhood.

a ILLIAM SCOTT ALLEN, M.D., deceased .- To write the history of a pioneer medical man re- quires research into a phase of human character seldom developed in any save those who, as practitioners, lead the van of settlement into a new country, and this not without reason. The conditions of a new country do not always agree with people from an old settled locality. and from causes peculiar to a new, unsettled land rise up various types of diseases with which the best educated physicians of fifty years ago were unfamiliar. To combat these and so far as possible allay suffering with the limited and often inadequate rem- edies at hand is the severest trial to which a humane physician can be subjected. Then the sparsity of settlement, the misera- ble roads and the difficulty of replenishing a depleted if not a used-up stock of drugs, were all, even if taken singly, things quite sufficient to distract the physician who, in some measure at least, holds the life or death of his patients in his hands. The influence of one's calling in life and his environments have largely to do with the formation of character, and from these it may be believed sprang those marked traits of character so

MEMORIAL RECORD OF

beaunially blembaf in the Me of the highly respectedl and much loved Dr. William Scott .Som

He Was Born 6 Harrison county, Ohio, March 3 pey llis rudimentary educa tion was both imperfect and limited, owing to the madequate facilities of the schools of that day. However, with the means at hand and by dint of solid application to study under indifferent and poorly informed instructors, he succeeded in fitting himself to pass the examination of entrance into a Pennsylvania college, at which he gradu- ated. His literary education complete, he immediately matriculated in the Cleveland Medical College, at which he graduated in 1850. Establishing himself in practice in Wayne county, Ohio, he rapidly grew into popularity and favor, extending his practice many miles from his base in all directions. In this locality for nearly a quarter of a cen- tury he labored with untiring zeal and fidel- ity in the discharge of professional duty. His reputation extended far beyond the boundaries of his practice, and not in- frequently he was called in commeil far beyond his own field of practice. In 1873 he located in Auburn. He was now fifty- one years of age and had seen twenty-three years of active practice: yet he entered upon the establishment of a practice in a new place with an energy and enthusiasm be- longing to younger years.

In this he was successful, and gradually In- business outgrew his physical ability to Cote for it, but not until old age and failing Wealth compelled did he relinquish his vores, - and then not all of them, for certain calls of old friends for professional care he vonhl not ignore, and to these he responded as long as able to get about. Possessing mi attractiv . presente and a gentleness as

soothing as that of a woman, the confidence of the afflicted went out to him much as the love of a parent goes out to a child. So wonderfully sympathetic was he that the sick quickly realized in him a devoted friend whose soothing touch and cheering words of encouragement revived their departing hopes, dispelling the gloom and ushering in a new hope for life which ofttimes more quickly turned the tide toward recovery than medicine. Dr. Allen's equipment, ac- quired and natural, for the general practice of medicine was of a high order. That which he acquired he had the ability to ap- ply; and the gifts which he received from nature seemed instinctively to guide his hand and direct his thoughts to the best applica- tion of both. While his practice was always large he never attempted to lessen it by neglecting the calls of the unfortunate poor, but to all alike he ministered with equal care, the size of the fee or the time of pay- ment never receiving a thought in his gen- crous, kindly heart.

The Doctor was a Christian. The teaching of the lowly Nazarene was the source of his inspiration and strength in worldly doings. Ilis conversion occurred when he was only fourteen years of age and he immediately attached himself to the Presbyterian Church; and at twenty he was made an Elder. He was practical in his Christianity, as in everything else. ITis test for all things was truth and justice, as be- tween right and wrong he never compro- mised or temporized. The standards of his life were exalted ones, and his measure- ments of men and things precise and exact- ing. Withal he was the kindest of men and liberal to a fault. To cause others pain was a greater pain to himself; and to give of his means to the needy was to himself a bless-

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ing greater than was oftentimes expressed by the recipient of his liberality.

In 1847 he was married to his devoted and surviving wife, Margaret, daughter of Oliver J. Carson, of Ontario, Canada, and sister of the late Judge Carson, a distin- guished old settler of Fort Wayne. For nearly half a century they traveled life's journey together. A model domestic life was theirs. Affinity here proclaimed its best results, combining "two lives with but a single thought; two hearts that beat as one." Mrs. Allen possesses those sterling qualities of womanhood which so admirably adapt themselves to the exigencies of every case. To harmonize when harmony is lacking is the almost unconscious work of her winsome nature. Of the qualities of her husband she largely partook, and in all his labors she proved a helpmeet, lightening his cares and sharing alike his joys and his sorrows.

ON. GEORGE V. KELL is num- bered among the native sons of Allen county, his birth having here oceurred on the 3d of February, 1846. He is the second in a family of three children, whose parents were Jacob and Cath- erine (Wymer) Kell. The father was a na- tive of Germany, born in 1818, and a son of George Kell, who with his family emigrated to the New World in the '20s. Locating in Stark county, Ohio, he was numbered among its pioneer settlers, and there on the frontier Jacob Kell was reared to manhood. Having arrived at years of maturity he then married Miss Wymer, who was a native of Pennsyl- vania, and in 1842 he brought his family to Allen county, locating on section 16, Perry township. He walked all the distance from

Stark county, Ohio, to Wells county, Indi- ana, and entered a tract of land in Wells county, which he subsequently sold. He then purchased 160 acres of unimproved land, on which stood a small log cabin. With characteristic energy he began to clear and develop his farm, and acre after acre was placed under the plow and made to yield to him a good tribute in return for the care and labor he bestowed upon it. Thus he accumulated a comfortable competence, and was enabled to supply his family with all the necessaries and some of the luxuries of life. To the parents of our subject were born three children: Solomon, of Perry township; George V., of this review; and Ellen, wife of Theron Hatch, of Eel River township. The mother of this family having been called to her final rest, Mr. Kell was again married, his second union being with Catherine Fon- ner, of Adams county, Indiana. To them were born six children, four of whom are still living, namely: Mary, wife of Frank Pulver; Emma, wife of Ellis Dunton; May, wife of John Enerick; and Frederick. Mr. Kell has held the office of Township Trustee for four years, and is a gentleman of sterling worth and the highest respectability. In politics he is a Democrat, and his church re- lationship is with the German Lutherans, being a liberal supporter of that denomina- tion and an advocate of all interests calcu- lated to promote the welfare of his adopted State.

Mr. Kell, whose name introduces this review, was reared on the old home farm, and educated in the Perry Center Seminary, an institution which stands on his father's farm, and was supported by Mr. Kell and his neighbors. The son remained at home until he had reached the age of seven- teen years, and then began teaching school,

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which profession he followed for three winters.

On the 2d of October, 1867, was cele- brated his marriage to Miss Alice Hatch, a daughter of N. V. Hatch, one of Allen coun- ty's honored pioneers. The wedding trip of the young couple consisted of a twenty-two days' trip by team to Taylor county, Iowa, where Mr. Kell engaged in farming for six years. He then returned to Indiana and purchased his present farm in Eel River township, Allen county, where he has since engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock- raising, making a specialty of the breeding of fine trotting horses, having from twenty- five to thirty head of Hambletonian stock upon his place. He has a fine farm of 240 acres under a very high state of cultivation, and is progressive in his methods, practical and enterprising.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Kell has been blessed with eight children, namely: Ger- trude; Louie A., a teacher of Allen county; Jesse E. ; Beatrice; Robert; Frank; Dollie; and Walter.

In his political views, Mr. Kell is a Democrat, and during his residence in Iowa served as Township Clerk. On his return to his native State he was elected Justice of the Peace, serving for four years, and in 1894 he was elected to the Fifty-ninth Gen- eral Assembly of Indiana on the Democratic ticket, where he served as a member of the committees on insurance, reformatories and several others of importauce. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Association, has served in the capacity of secretary for eleven years, and is a member of the Michigan State Detective Association, of which he was vice-president at one time. He and his family are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and

he is one of the leading and influential citi- zens of his native county, public-spirited and faithful alike to the duties of public and private life.

J AMES E. ROSE, attorney at law, Auburn, Indiana, is a gentleman whose prominence at the bar is justly measured by the success he has won as an advocate. He was born December 22, 1832, the place of his birth being Mecca, Trumbull county, Ohio. He is a son of John and Sarah (Coats) Rose, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of New York; the ancestry of his mother tracing to England, and his father to Scot- land.

When less than four years of age the parents of our subject left their comfortable Ohio home for the purpose of establishing themselves in a new home in the unsettled and undeveloped region of northeastern In- diana. The family consisted of six chil- dren, -four sons and two daughters, -and of the former James E. was next to the youngest. To break away from the com- forts of civilization with its attendant advan- tages and pleasures to seek out a new home in a new country surrounded by perils, with the consciousness of hardships to be borne and privations to be endured, requires no inconsiderable amount of courage and self- reliance. John and Sarah Rose possessed the metal of true pioneers, and once their " hands to the plow " their course deviated not to the right or to the left but went straight to the goal of their ambitions.

They were thirty-one days in performing the journey to Indiana, arriving in what is now Stafford township, De Kalb county, on

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the third day of October, 1836. De Kalb county was then a wilderness almost un- broken. They had been preceded by a few resolute men and women who had literally forced their way into almost impenetrable forests of a county the boundary lines of which contained less than twenty acres of improved land! To contrast the conditions of that decade with the present is not with- out its lessons and interest; and whosoever will do so must become convinced that the material which makes pioneers is somewhat lacking in the people of this day and gener- ation. It was amid the environments of those primeval conditions that the boyhood of James E. Rose opened. His playground was a labyrinth of stately trees and tangled vines. His first school was by the fire- place in his father's cabin home, his devoted mother being his preceptress. Such were his advantages for obtaining an education, and yet from these home instructions he was fitted to teach a common school when sixteen years old. For the four following years he worked at home from spring to autumn and taught school during the winter . months, establishing a reputation that re- flected credit upon his mother teacher as an instructor and upon himself as well as a dili- gent and observant student. Yearning for an education of wider scope and greater thoroughness than the schools of the county afforded, he arranged to enter the prepara- tory department of the Michigan Wesleyan University at Leoni. Here for the first time were presented to him the aids for facilitating study and the more rapid ac- quirement of knowledge. Bringing into use the energies of a young and buoyant nature he applied himself to study so enthusiastic- ally that at the expiration of a year he was qualified to enter upon the scientific course,

which he vigorously pursued until May, 1858, with the exception of a brief period devoted to teaching to earn funds to defray his expenses. At the University he remained until the close of the junior year when oc- curred the important event of his marriage to Miss Mary J. Moss, of Leoni, Michigan.

His incentive now was to become estab- lished, and he set about laying the founda- tion for a career. Returning to his old home in De Kalb county he resumed the laborious work of the farm, which went on uninterrupted until October, 1862. His nat- ural bent was toward a professional career, and his hope for the future attainment of this end cheered and encouraged him in his efforts. Securing the principalship of the Auburn schools he assiduously applied him- self to the duties of the position for a time, when there opened to him an opportunity to enter the law office of James B. Morrison, Esq. This was the realization of his wishes. The law was to his taste. His reserve force of application to the accomplishment of a purpose was concentrated upon mastering the problems of Blackstone. His progress was rapid, and in December, 1863, he opened a law office in Butler, this county, having Hon. E. W. Fosdick for a partner. Their business for a time was not large, and combining practice with study his legal acumen was advanced and kept in pace with the business of the office which in a short time assumed profitable proportions. Upon the withdrawl of Mr. Fosdick from the firm, Mr. Rose successfully continued, gradually increasing his practice. In October, 1872, it became necessary, owing to the nature of his practice and the character of his client- age, to remove his office to the county seat.

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Memorial record of northeastern Indiana, Part 66

Author: Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 932

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 932