Memorial record of northeastern Indiana, Part 78

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

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Bank at Auburn, and he was elected cash- ier. This responsible position Mr. Robbins efficiently filled until October, 1894, when the bank was incorporated under the laws of the State, and he was elected its president. Under his able management the bank has had a prosperous career and is decidedly popular, being rightly considered one of the soundest banking institutions in the State. For thirteen years Mr. Robbins has given his best efforts and all his time to directing its affairs, and he has accomplished results that prove him to be a financier of more than average ability. Socially he is a mem- ber of Monitor Lodge, No. 591, I. O. O. F., and of the Grand Lodge of Indiana.

His marriage to Annie B., daughter of Russel Bumpus, of Auburn, was consum- mated January 5, 1865. Three children were born in the family of Mr. Robbins and his estimable wife : Albert C , Edward, and one, their first born, who died in infancy. He is a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a generous supporter of every good work. Mrs. Robbins was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, December 8, 1843, died in Auburn May 1, 1891. Hers was a Christian character of rare excellence. She came in closer sympathy with more people and probably exercised a more lasting in- fluence for good upon the minds and hearts of those who knew her than any other per- son in the county. Said the Auburn Dis- patch: "She projected into the commu- nity a force that will be felt long after those who knew and loved her have passed away. This will be her best enduring monument. She was first in charity, first in love and first in the hearts of our people. : * No difficulties were there she could not sur- mount. Though naturally a timid woman, she possessed true courage at the supreme

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moment. She had the courage which presses thoughtful brows against the prison bars of progress through lingering days and weary nights. She always looked at the bright side of things and saw a divine purpose, even in sorrow; for sorrow has a place in the divine plan; else why the thorn beneath the rose?"

Mrs. Robbins was a charter member and active worker in the W. C. T. U., and was also a charter member of Crescent Lodge of the Daughters of Rebekah.

Q HARLES ECKHART .- Auburn, Indiana, is a little town which is fortunate in the number of its en- terprising business men; and a fair representative of this class is found in the subject of our sketch, Mr. Charles Eckhart, who has been engaged in the carriage busi- ness here for more than twenty years.

He dates his birth in Germantown, Penn- sylvania, February 24, 1841, his parents being John and Charlotte (Fraelick) Eck- hart, natives of Germany. It was about 1830 that John Eckhart emigrated to this country and located in Germantown. There he followed his trade, that of weaver, the rest of his life, and died early in the 'Sos, at about the age of sixty years. His wife died in 1866, at the age of fifty-four years. They had nine children, eight sons and one daughter, four of whom died in infancy. Charles was their third born.

From a very early age Mr. Eckhart be- came self-supporting. Between his eighth and his sixteenth year he was employed in a woolen factory, and after that learned the trade of carriage-maker, under the guidance of Andrew Steer, of Hilltown, Pennsyl- vania. Thus he had little time for securing

an education other than that obtained in the dear school of experience. In this way, however, and by close observation and home study, he has gained as broad a knowledge as is possessed by the average business man.

When the great Civil war was precipi- tated upon the country he was in business for himself at Hilltown. Farmers, mer- chants and professional men all around him were enlisting for the service, and he too was anxious to enter the ranks and go out in protection of the old flag. Accordingly he disposed of his stock at public sale, and September 6, 1861, enlisted as a member of Company A, One Hundred and Fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. May 6, 1863, he was discharged on account of physical disability, but in February, 1865, having sufficiently recovered, he re-enlisted, this time as a member of the Two Hundred and Thirteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served until the close of the war, par- ticipating in numerous engagements.

The war over, Mr. Eckhart returned to his native State and resumed work at his trade. In the fall of 1866 he came out to Indiana, but went back to Pennsylvania the next year, and in company with David R. Moyer, engaged in business in Montgomery county. At the end of a year this partner- ship was dissolved, and Mr. Eckhart con- tinued in business there alone until 1874, when he returned to Indiana and took up his abode in Auburn. From that time to the present his career has been a remarkably successful one. He began business here one a small scale, the first six months working in his dwelling. Then he put up a shop 18 x 24 feet in dimensions, two stories, and from time to time has since made necessary additions until he

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has doubled its original size. In 1888 he and others formed a stock company with a capital of $20,000, which company operated successfully until November 1, 1894, when it was dissolved, Mr. Eckhart and his son Frank E. becoming copartners in the estab- lishment. They have since conducted the same with renewed vim and deserved suc- cess.

At the time Mr. Eckhart came to Indiana, in 1866, as already stated, he was married to Miss Barbara Ashleman, daughter of John U. Ashleman, one of the first settlers of De Kalb county. Their union has been blessed in the birth of four children, three sons and a daughter, namely: Frank E., above re- ferred to as in partnership with his father; Annie, wife of George Shugers, Coldwater, Michigan; and Morris and William, at home.

The only fraternal organization with which Mr. Eckhart is connected is the A. O. U. W.

ILES T. ABBEY .- Back to the old New England States must we turn in tracing the lineage of the subject of this review, and still further in determining the origin of the line as of sturdy old English stock. That section which was the cradle of so much of our national history became the home of his an- cestors in the early Colonial days, and the records extant tell of representatives of the family having been loyal to the nation in the crucial periods when grim-visaged war reared its horrid front, and bespeak the ac- tivity of honest and industrious men and noble women who also honored the country in the "piping time of peace." Our sub- ject has passed the greater portion of his long and useful life in northeastern Indiana,

and with this section of the Union his par- ents became identified in the early pioneer epoch, thus rendering the incorporation of this resume all the more consistent. Mr. Abbey has for the past two decades been conspicuously connected with the De Kalb Bank, at Waterloo, Indiana, and is still the incumbent as cashier of the institution, be- ing recognized as one of the influential citi- zens of the community and as a man of in- flexible integrity and scrupulous honor.

A native of the State of Ohio, Mr. Abbey was born in Clyde, Sandusky county, on the 24th of November, 1827, the son of Alanson and Lucy (Daggett) Abbey. In the agnatic line both great-grandparents of our sub- ject were born in England, while his grand- father, Jerry Abbey, was a native of Massa- chusetts, whence he went forth as a mem- ber of the Continental army and valiantly supported the colonies in the war for inde- dendence. Alanson Abbey, the father of Giles T., was a native of Genesee county, New York, where he was born in the year 1797. He inherited the patriotic spirit of his father and was an active participant in the war of 1812, when the United States again came into conflict with the mother country. As early as the year 1819 he emigrated from his eastern home to the wilds of the Ohio frontier, locating at Clyde, Sandusky county, where he secured a tract of land and developed a farm where erst- while the redoubtable savage had alone dis- puted dominion with the beasts of the field. He resided on this pioneer farm until 1838, which year represents the date of his advent in Steuben county, Indiana. He was a man of marked individuality and actuated by the stanchest principles, and thus became a force in the communities where he lived. . He lived to attain a venerable age, his death

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occurring in 1879, at which time he was eighty-four years of age. He was twice married, and his first wife, nce Lucy Dag- gett, was born in the State of New York, in the year 1803, being the daughter of Jacob Daggett. She died in 1840, having become the mother of ten children, six of whom lived to attain mature years.

Giles T. Abbey received his preliminary education in the district schools of his na- tive place, and one of his first teachers was the grandmother of the renowned General J. B. McPherson, the latter having been a playmate of our subject in his youthful days. The district "schools continued in session only three months in each year, and when not thus engaged in pursuit of knowledge our subject lent assistance in the cultivation of the pioneer farm, becoming familiar with the details of such life and gaining a dis- tinctive appreciation of the value and dig- nity of the art of husbandry, which is the basis of our national prosperity. At that period select schools were also maintained in certain localities, and one of these our subject was enabled to attend for one term of three months' duration.

In the year 1838 Mr. Abbey accompanied his parents upon their removal to Indiana, and he had so profited by the educational opportunities which had been afforded him that he became eligible for pedagogic hon- ors, and soon he turned his attention to teaching school during the winter months, devoting the interim to work in what was known as Long's tannery. He was thus oc- cupied for the period of five years and had been so frugal and economical as to have saved sufficient money to enable hini to ef- fect the purchase of a farm. Thus he gained a start in life, and he had that tact and that indomitable industry which led him

to make every means conserve a certain end, so that his prosperity came in consecutive stages. He was engaged in agricultural operations for four years, after which he as- sociated himself with Dennis Dean in the milling industry, operating a flouring and saw mill at Mongo, La Grange county. At the expiration of one year he purchased his partner's interest in the enterprise and con- tinued the same successfully for two years, after which he sold his mill to M. Myers and returned to his farm, to whose cultivation he devoted his attention during the succeed- ing three years.

In the year 1864 Mr. Abbey took up his abode in Waterloo and has continued his residence here during all the long years that have since intervened, having been in- timately concerned with the business inter- ests of the place and having been one of the foremost promoters of its prosperity and substantial development. He was engaged in the livery business here for one year, was for two years agent of the Star Flour Mills, and thereafter served for six years as ticket and freight agent for the Fort Wayne & Jackson Railroad, having been the com- pany's first representative at this point. Since the Centennial year, 1876, Mr. Abbey has been identified with the De Kalb Bank, and as its cashier has proved himself a discriminating financier and has gained a popularity throughout the entire county, being held in the highest confidence and esteem by the people of the community and having by his able and conscientious man- agement of the affairs of the bank secured to it a representative support and a stand- ing as one of the solid monetary institutions of the State. In his political relations Mr. Abbey exercises his franchise in the support of the men and measures of the Republican

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party, but he has never sought public pre- Ierment, realizing that his sphere of highest usefulness lay outside of official life. Fra- ternally he has long been identified with the Masonic order.

Mr. Abbey has been married three times. His first marriage was to Martha A. Long, a native of Ohio, and daughter of James and Martha Long, who were among the early pioneers of Steuben county, Indiana. Mrs. Abbey died, leaving two daughters : Ella J., wife of W. H. Hollister, of Goshen, Indiana; and Carrie J., wife of John B. Parsell, of Angola, Indiana. His second marriage was to Martha L. Davis, a native of New York State. By this marriage were born a daughter and a son : Edith L., wife of Albert Theis, of Memphis, Tennessee; and Earl G., who resides on a farm near Waterloo, De Kalb county, Indiana. His present wife was Sophronia McEntarfer, a native of Ohio.

Among those who have lived for many years in the community and have won and merited the regard of their fellow citizens, Giles T. Abbey must be accorded a promi- nent position.

EANDER ERASTUS MADDOX, M. D., a retired physician of Montpelier, Indiana, and an es- teemed citizen, is a worthy repre- sentative of a family that has been con- nected with Indiana since pioneer days. He is numbered among the native sons of Wells county, his birth having occurred in Chester township, on the 1 1th of May, 1851. His great-grandfather, Frederick Maddox, was a native of England and the founder of the family in America. He located in the Old Dominion in Colonial days and reared

five sons-Michael, John, David, Gabriel ' and Wesley.

Michael Maddox was the grandfather of our subject and was born in Virginia, Feb- ruary 26, 1773. He died in Harrison town- ship, Blackford county, Indiana, September 10, 1845. He had located there in the early days of the community, when the land was covered with a heavy growth of timber and when the work of progress and civiliza- tion seemed scarcely begun. He was twice married, his first union being with Mary Fraley, by whom he had the following chil- dren, namely: Margaret, Frederick, Nathan, John, Daniel, Elizabeth, Samuel, Silas, Michael and Rebecca. For his second wife, Michael Maddox wedded, in Ohio, Frances Jones, a native of Virginia, born May 4, 1790. Her death occurred in Rich- ardson county, Nebraska, December 6, 1871. Their children were as follows: Mary Mann, born July 13, 1817, became the wife of Charles Mays, a farmer of Kansas; Joseph Collins, born August 20, 1819, died July 20, 1887; he married Laura Porter and resided in Montpelier, where to them were born Elias K., Sophia, Nancy Jane, John Calhoun, Jo- seph Collins, Rebecca, Frank and Sarah P. Wesley H., father of the Doctor, is the next younger. William McKendra, born August 15, 1823, wedded Mary Miller, and is living near Fall City, Nebraska, where he follows farming. Their family numbers one son and five daughters. Wilson Meek, born August 5, 1825, is a merchant of Fall City, Nebraska, who married Margaret Miller and has two sons and six daughters. James Jackson, born March 17, 1827, is a merchant of Hartford City, Indiana. By his marriage to Sophia Miller he has six sons and one daughter. Eliza Jane, born August 9, 1829, is the wife of William Campbell, and with

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their family they reside on a farm in Nebras- ka. Sarah Prudence, born March 20, 1831, is the wife of Martin Rhine, deceased. She makes her home in Fall City, Nebraska, and has three sons and two daughters.

The Doctor's father, Wesley Harvey Maddox, was born in Highland county, Ohio, September 2, 1821, and lived there until the spring of 1839, when with his parents he came to Indiana. He lived on a farm in Harrison township, Blackford coun- ty, until 1845, when he removed to Wells county, and is still living there, in Chester township. He married Eliza Ann Grove, daughter of Thomas and Ann (Wilson) Grove. Her father was a native of Penn- sylvania, and in the spring of 1837 located in Wells county, Indiana, where he died forty years later, at the age of sixty-six. His wife passed away in 1867, at the age of fifty- three years. Their children were Mrs. Mad- dox, Samantha, Catherine, George Wash- ington, Andrew Jackson, Joseph, Thomas Mclaughlin, Joshua, Susana, Lewis and Francis Marion. The maternal great-grand- father of the Doctor, George Grove, was a native of Germany, and crossing the Atlantic to America took up his residence in Penn- sylvania, where he married. Subsequently, he removed with his family to Ohio and later to Indiana, where his death occurred. His children were George, Joseph, Thomas and Lewis.

Mrs. Maddox, mother of the Doctor, was born March 11, 1826, in Fairfield coun- ty, Ohio, and on the 8th of November, 1849, her marriage was celebrated. She carefully reared a family of several children, and on the 9th of May, 1874, passed away, in Wells county, Indiana. Her children were Lean- der Erastus; Frances Ann, who was born March 24, 1853, and was married in April,

1871, to George W. Leach, a farmer of Chester township, Wells county, who died September 28, 1872, leaving one child, Stel- la; Joseph Collins Grove, born February 25, 1855, was married in June, 1879, to Elizabeth Ophelia Dawson, and is now farming in Wells county; they lost two chil- dren and have three living, -Hugh, Chella and a baby boy; Thomas Grove, born Janu- ary 25, 1857, died March 21, 1857; Will- iam McKendra, born March 1, 1858, mar- ried Loretta Alice Twibell and is engaged in the dairy business near Montpelier; their children are Harry and Foster. Sarah El- len, born March 6, 1861, was married in 1882, to Amaziah Shields, a farmer of Wells county, and their children are Claude and Olive; Laura Belle, born January 17, 1868, married John Markley, of Bluffton, and they have one son, Howard; and the fifth son, Wesley, was born July 17, 1863, in Wells county.

Thus from sterling ancestry is Dr. Mad- dox descended, -- people of genuine worth and responsibility. No event of especial importance occurred during his childhood and youth, which were passed on the old home farm in Chester township, where with the family he went through the experiences of frontier life. In conning his lessons in the district schools and working in the fields his early years were spent. He also pursued his studies in a select school for a time, and at the age of eighteen began teaching, which profession he followed altogether for four years At length he determined to engage in the practice of medicine. He read medi- cine for two years and then entered Liber College in Jay county, where he pursued his studies for two years. In 1871 he continued his studies with Dr. Doster, of Poneto, and in 1873 entered the medical department of

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the Michigan State University of Ann Arbor, at which institution he was graduated on the last Wednesday of March, 1875. Being thus fitted by thorough preparation for his chosen calling, he opened an office in Vera Cruz, Wells county, where he remained un- til 1881, when he removed to Keystone. There he engaged in practice until March, 1887, and also carried on the drug business, purchasing the store of Mr. Shull, of Mont- pelier, which he conducted from 1887 until February, 1893. His health then failing, he laid aside business pursuits and has since lived retired.

The Doctor is a man of excellent busi- ness and executive ability, and has been in- terested in various enterprises which have largely promoted the material welfare of the city. He was one of the organizers of the Northern Indiana Oil Company, but after eighteen months sold his interest in that con- cern. He was also at one time a stock- holder in the Salamonie Gas & Mining Com- pany. He is now interested in the business of L. A. Centlivre & Company, oil producers, and also operates independently in oil. He owns 140 acres of land in the county which is leased to the Ohio Oil Company, also eighty acres in Wells county. He gave ten lots to the Chicago Truck & Steel Casting Company on the erection of its plant here, and owns considerable valuable real estate in the Maddox addition to Montpelier and other parts of the city.

On the 20th of August, 1872, Mr. Mad- dox was united in marriage with Miss Mary Emily Newman, who was born December 25, 1850, and is a daughter of John and Lydia Newman. They now have two chil- dren: Myrtie, born April 30, 1874; and Minnie Catharine, born December 29, 1876.

Socially, the Doctor is connected with

Bluffton Lodge, No. 145, A. F. & A. M .; Montpelier Lodge, No. 188, K. of P .; and Kama Division, No. 77, Uniformed Rank. In politics he is a Republican, and as every true American citizen should do he feels an interest in the growth and success of his party, yet has never sought or desired polit- ical preferment. The family attends the Methodist Church. The Maddox household is noted for its hospitality and its members occupy an enviable position in social circles. The Doctor is regarded as one of the most prominent citizens of Montpelier, and his career has gained him the confidence and high esteem of many friends. He is a capable business man, enterprising and en- ergetic, who has worked his way steadily upward to a position of affluence. He has hosts of warm personal friends and is mak- ing more each year by the urbanity of his kindly nature and the strict fairness and honesty of his business methods.

J OSEPH EMERY STULTS, who is engaged in the practice of medicine in Fort Wayne, was born in Whitley county, Indiana, December 20, 1856. This State has a rich heritage in her native sons, many of whom have attained positions of prominence. Belonging to this class is the Doctor, who has already won an envi- able position in the ranks of the medical fra- ternity. When he had reached the required age he entered the common schools of Hunt- ington, completed the regular course and afterward spent a year and a half in pur- suing the studies of the classical course in the seminary at Roanoke, under Professor Long. At length he determined to take up the study of medicine and make its practice his life work. To this end, in August,

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1884, he entered the office of Dr. Lyon, and subsequently pursued his studies under the direction of Dr. Yingling for six months.

At the age of eighteen Dr. Stults began teaching school, having charge of a school in Lancaster township, Huntington county, Indiana, known as the Bussard school. For three years he followed this profession and during part of the time read medicine. In September, 1884, he entered the Fort Wayne Medical College, at which he was graduated in March, 1886, with the degree of M. D. He immediately began practice in this city, having since carried on an office at 96 Wells street. To establish a business where there are already a number of prac- ticing physicians, is no easy task, but as time passed his skill and ability were demon- strated by successful practice and his pat- ronage consequently increased.

On the Ist of December, 1891, in Fort Wayne, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Stults and Miss Minnie Catherine Heiden- reich, a daughter of Joseph and Catherine (Hulm) Heidenreich. The lady was born in this city, March 16, 1865, and like her husband has many warm friends who hold her in high regard. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In his political views, the Doctor is a Republican, and socially is connected with Fort Wayne Lodge, No. 16, K. of P.

ILLIAM R. HUNT is a represent- ive farmer residing on section 7, Liberty township, Wabash coun- ty, Indiana. He is also a repre- sentative of the "boys in blue" and for three years served his country faithfully in defense of the Union, and to this day bears the marks of that awful conflict. He is a

native of Rush county, Indiana, born Sep- tember 29, 1837. His father, Harrison W. Hunt, located in Rush county about 1821. He is supposed to be a native of Franklin county, Indiana, while his father, the grand- father of our subject, emigrated from New Jersey to Kentucky, thence to Franklin county, Indiana, and in 1821 to Rush coun- ty. Harrison W. Hunt grew to manhood there and married Diana Lewis, a native of Kentucky, who is still living, in her eighty- third year. They were the parents of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, all of whom grew to maturity and nine of the number yet living.

The subject of this sketch was the fourth child and the fourth son of Harrison W. and Diana Hunt, and spent his boyhood days and youth in his native county, where as soon as age would permit he commenced assist- ing in the labors of the farm. His school life was limited, his education being received in the pioneer schools of Noble township, Rush county, where the family resided. He remained at home until the age of twenty years, when he engaged with a neighbor in farm work and continued to be thus em- ployed by the month until 1859, at which time there was great excitement throughout the country in regard to the discovery of gold at Pike's Peak. In company with sev- eral others, with an ox team, he crossed the plains to Pike's Peak and Denver, but re- mained there but a short time and returned the same year and in the same way to Omaha, Nebraska, and thence to Rush coun- ty, Indiana, where he again engaged in farm work.

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Memorial record of northeastern Indiana, Part 78

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