USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
781
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
ordinary ambition. He is a member of the Tippecanoe County, Indiana State and American Medical Associations and has been especially honored by ap- pointment as a member of the city board of health. Doctor Whalen is a member of the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias, being past chancellor of the latter lodge. Politically the Doctor affiliates with the Re- publican party, and his religious views find expression as a member of St. Mary's Catholic church.
In 1891 Doctor Whalen married Helen Clark, a niece of William Cullim, who died in 1893 without issue. In 1902 he married Barbara Kienby, a native of Tippecanoe county, born November 12, 1880. By this union there has been one child, Bertha Rose, born November 9. 1906. Mrs. Whalen's ancestors, originally from Germany, were early settlers of Tippe- canoe county, and her father is a veteran of the Civil war.
CHARLES BERGQUIST.
Charles Bergquist belongs to that class of men who win in life's battles by sheer force of personality and determination, rather than by the influence of friends or caprice of fortune, and in whatever he has undertaken he has shown himself to be a man of ability and honor, faithful to whatever trust that has been reposed in him, and as the postmaster and merchant at South Raub, Randolph township, Tippecanoe county, he plays an important role in that community. His birth occurred on June 5, 1860, in Kalmar Lane. Sweden, a country that has sent so many valuable citizens to America. He is the son of Jonas Frederick and Emma Louisa (Nelson) Bergquist, both natives of Sweden, in which country they lived and died. Jonas Bergquist was a blacksmith by trade and a very skilled workman. They were people of industry and integrity, and to them three children were born. of whom Charles is the only one now living. He received a good education in the schools of his native country. His father having died in 1865 and his mother in 1870. Charles went to live with an uncle, Alexander Nelson, with whom he remained for a period of nine years. He also lived with another man for one year. Having heard of the wonderful republic across the sea. Charles determined to try his fortunes in America, to which country he came in 1880. He had an uncle in Lafayette and one in Tipton county, Indiana. He came to the former place, and first worked for a farmer in Randolph township, later worked for Robert Sample, of Lafayette, in the car works
782
PAST AND PRESENT
for several years, also worked in the Pullman car shops one year. Then he went to Henry county, Illinois, and worked on a railroad during the summer, then worked on a farm for two years, after which he returned to the car shops in Lafayette. Being faithful to his duties and economical, he was enabled during those years to lay by enough money to begin life for himself.
Mr. Bergquist was married in 1878 to Amanda Gustafson, a native of Sweden and a woman in every way worthy to be the helpmeet of an enter- prising man like Mr. Bergquist. They have become the parents of six chil- dren, namely : Florence, Roy, deceased; Ruth, Alice, Frank and Harold.
In October, 1899, Mr. Bergquist located at South Raub, where he has since resided. He purchased the store owned by William A. Ward, and he has managed the same successfully, building up an extensive trade with the surrounding community. He was appointed postmaster, and the two em- ployments keep him busy. He handles large quantities of eggs and butter and carries a well-selected stock of goods. He is truly a self-made man, and the success that has attended his efforts shows him to be a good manager. He is a Republican in politics and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. His reputation is that of an honest man who attends carefully to his own business affairs.
JOHN WILLIAM CANN.
No man who has lived near Stockwell, Tippecanoe county, in recent years stamped his personality upon the community in a more indelible min- ner than did John William Cann, who, after a long life of unusual industry and honor, passed into the silent land amid the sorrowing multitude that had long known and loved him, for they realized that his place could never be filled. He was born October 4, 1834, near Wheeling, West Virginia, the son of Philip and Elizabeth (Hass) Cann, natives of West Virginia who came early to Concord, Indiana, where they labored to establish a home in the undeveloped region and where the father died; after this event Mrs. Cann went to Illinois, later to Kansas, in which state she died in 1897. They were the parents of seven children, named in order of birth as follows: Margaret, Mary, John William, Peter, Robert, Christopher and Thomas. The Hass family originated in Virginia, in which state they were prominent in the early days, having owned large plantations and many slaves. and. like most of the inhabitants of the Old Dominion state in ante-bellum days,
783
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
were noted for their unstinted hospitality. Finally members of this family came to Indiana where they soon became identified with the new conditions here and became well-to-do.
The early education of John W. Cann was obtained in the common schools. It was necessary for him to look after the wants of his mother and other members of the family, which he did like a dutiful son until his marriage, on October 3, 1864, to Rachael Mildred DeHart. She was born in Wea township on the old Allen DeHart farm, January 21, 1847, the daughter of Allen and Maria (Holliday) DeHart, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Indiana. Allen DeHart came with his parents, Adam and Mary (Howard) DeHart, to Wea township, Tippecanoe county, in 1825, when this section was wild and mostly uncultivated. Allen DeHart was born February 25, 1825. In that year his parents, who were Virginians, left that state for Ohio, where they remained for a short time before coming on to Indiana. They reared a family and spent the remainder of their lives in Tippecanoe county, having been pioneers in the section where they settled, and they had for neighbors the Indians, who were then peaceable. Allen DeHart was twice married, first to Maria Holliday, which union resulted in the birth of only one child, Rachel Mildred, who became the wife of the gentleman whose name heads this review. Mr. DeHart's second marriage was with Emeline Williams, a native of Ohio, and one child was born to this union, Lewis Milton DeHart, now a retired farmer living in Lafayette, In- diana. He first married Zua Alima Hall, a native of Tippecanoe county, by whom he had one child, Myrtle Olive; his second marriage was with Mary Edwards, no children having been born to the latter union.
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Cann were the parents of three children, namely : Edward Curtis, who farms on the old home place in Wea township; he married Zelma Williams. Mary Ellen married James C. Davis, of near Thorntown, Indiana, and became the mother of one child, Edna Ethel, who married Carl Hedges, of Hendricks county, Indiana. Morton Colfax Cann is a traveling salesman for the Smith Manufacturing Company of Chicago, and lives in Lafayette, Indiana ; he married Grace L. Shoemaker.
After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. John W. Cann settled in section 36. Wea township, Tippecanoe county, where Mrs. Cann now lives on ninety- eight acres. When they settled this place it was all wild and covered with timber, but Mr. Cann was a hard worker and set about clearing the same, finally developing an excellent farm and establishing a good home in which he took a great delight and where he spent the major part of his time, having been a good husband and a kind father. Although he was very active in
784
PAST AND PRESENT
local political affairs, being a stanch Republican, he never sought public office. He was a member of the Christian church, with which Mrs. Cann is also identified. He took much interest in the affairs of the local congregation with which he affiliated. This good man was called to his rest April 5, 1903, leaving behind him a comfortable home and competence for his family, every member of which is well and favorably known in this locality, main- taining the high standard of character and citizenship which he exemplified.
JOHN STEVENS BUSH.
The subject of this sketch, who is now living in retirement at his com- fortable home in Dayton, has had a long and honorable career and is now enjoying the closing years of his life in pleasant retrospection of the years which have held for him so many varied elements of life. Mr. Bush comes of honorable ancestry and this sketch would be incomplete if mention were not made of those from whom he has inherited those sterling qualities of character which have characterized hin.
The subject's paternal grandparents were William and Elizabeth (Stevens) Bush. The latter's mother was Abigail Stevens, who died De- cember 25. 1839, at the age of eighty-nine years and eight days, and her body lies in the old Bush cemetery at Dayton. The Bush family is of English descent. William Bush was born and reared in southern New York, but in the early twenties he came to Indiana by the water route, going down the Allegheny river to the Ohio, thence to the mouth of the Whitewater and up to Connersville. Here they remained a year, during which period he erected a mill. In the fall of 1824 they again started westward and located at what is now Dayton, Tippecanoe county. Here William Bush entered and later bought fifteen hundred acres of land. In 1827 he divided a por- tion of this land into town lots, to which he gave the name of Fairfield. However, there being another town of the same name in Indiana, he found it impossible to secure a postoffice here under that name and in 1830 it was changed to Marquis, and subsequently to that of Dayton, under which name it has since been known.
At the first election, held probably in the spring of 1825. William Bush was elected justice of the peace, in which office he served a number of years. After deciding on his new location, Mr. Bush at once entered on the task of clearing the land for cultivation, and he built a comfortable log cabin on the
JOHN S. BUSH
785
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
brow of the hill overlooking Wild Cat valley. This was the family home for a number of years, and on this site is now located the Bush family cemetery where lie his remains, together with those of his wife and mother- in-law, Abigail Stevens. William Bush later built a frame house, the one now occupied as a residence by Mr. Newhard. This home became the stop- ping place for the circuit-riding preachers of that day, who there found a hospitable welcome. It is related of William Bush that, while he gave the preachers a hearty welcome and furnished them horse feed, he always in- sisted that they should groom and feed their own steeds. His wife was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church and he was a liberal supporter of the same. He was a member of the Masonic lodge at La- fayette, and in politics was a stanch Whig. His death occurred June 1, 1854, and his wife died February II, 1846, at the age of sixty-two years. This honored couple were the parents of the following children: John, Eliza (who became the wife of Thomas J. Toole), Ezra (father of the immediate subject of this sketch), William, Jared, David, Luther and Orlando.
Ezra Bush was born in New York state and came to Indiana with his parents. He remained under the parental roof until his marriage, after which he ran the old tavern until the death of his wife. They had become the parents of one son, who was named Hickory in honor of the fact that he was born on the day that Andrew Jackson defeated the British at New Orleans. Hickory is now deceased. For a time after the death of his wife, Mr. Bush traveled extensively, and then he settled on a farm south of Day- ton, where he remained for a number of years. He then went to Lafay- ette where he engaged in the monument business up to the time of his death, which occurred in October, 1870. He was a member of the Masonic order and retained a faithful connection with the Presbyterian church in his later life. In politics he was a Republican. Mr. Bush first married Sarah A. Bayless, a native of Hamilton, Ohio, of which union John S. Bush is the only living child. In 1847 Mr. Bush married Martha McGeorge, and to them were born two children, namely: Mary, the wife of Robert John, now ceccased, and she now resides at Houston, Texas; and Martha M., deceased.
John Stevens Bush was born at Dayton on the 13th of September, 1839, and was here reared and educated. He remained with his parents until the outbreak of hostilities between the North and the South, when, in August, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, Seventy-second Regiment Indiana Vol- unteer Infantry. His command was assigned to the famous Wilder Brigade, Army of the Cumberland, and with that command the subject saw some arduous service. Much of the time he was employed in chasing Morgan's
(50)
786
PAST AND PRESENT
guerrilla command, and in this service he contracted ill health, which finally put him on the inactive list and he was subsequently honorably discharged at Bowling Green, Kentucky. He at once returned to his home at Dayton and subsequently entirely regained his health. Going to Iroquois county, Illinois, he engaged in farming and stock raising with fair success until 1892, when he went into the drug business at Sheldon, Illinois, in which he was engaged until 1900. In that year he removed to Culver, Indiana, and engaged in the hotel business until 1908. Having accumulated a fair amount of means and feeling the weight of years, he decided to retire from active business life and return to his old home in Dayton, where he is now living.
While living in Illinois, Mr. Bush married Sarah B. Speck, whose death occurred in 1902, and subsequently he wedded Mrs. Lydia Wilson, nee Burkhalter. By her former marriage, Mrs. Bush had a daughter Mabel, who hecame the wife of William Ruger. They live in Dayton and are the par- ents of a daughter, Florence Louise.
In matters political Mr. Bush is loyal to the Republican party and he takes a keen interest in the trend of public events. In 1885 Mr. Bush was made a Mason in Sheldon Lodge, No. 609, at Sheldon, Illinois, but subse- quently dimitted to the lodge at Culver, Indiana, where he now holds mem- bership. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, having his name on the roster of the post at Culver. Though now practically re- tired from life's active duties, Mr. Bush takes a deep interest in all that goes on about him and renders a hearty support to those things which are for the highest interests of the community. He possesses a genial personality and has a large circle of friends.
JOSEPHINE M. MITCHELL, M. D.
The woman in medicine, once such a novelty as to excite wondering, has long since ceased to challenge extraordinary attention. It was found that she was especially adapted to the healing art, being a nurse by nature and full of sympathy so essential to success in the sick room. While fully equal to the requirements of every department, there were certain branches of medicine where a special call seemed to be made for female supervision. In diseases of women and children, in all hospitals devoted to these specialties, the woman physician was peculiarly at home. Thus it has come to pass that women physicians are now to be found everywhere in Europe and the United States, and also among thie heathen as medical missionaries Some of
787
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
them have risen to great eminence, both as specialists and general prac- titioners. They are received on equal footing with men in the great univer- sities, are welcomed in the most refined homes and often include in their clientele the brightest and best men and women of our progressive con- munities.
In Dr. Josephine M. Mitchell Lafayette possesses a fine sample of the highly educated and fully equipped woman physician, equal to every emergency and prepared by study and practice to treat the most difficult cases. She is a native of New York and daughter of William H. Miner, for many years a merchant in that state. He removed to Wisconsin and later to Ohio, where Doctor Mitchell was married to John B. Mitchell, for many years superintendent of bridges and buildings of the Wabash railroad and later in the same capacity on the Big Four. After his death, in 1894, she took up the study of medicine. A preparatory course in science at Purdue University was followed by the regular medical course in the University of Michigan, from which she was graduated in 1901. During her senior year in this university she was on the staff of the professor of gynecology and obstetrics. After graduation she took the state examination of Indiana and Illinois, after which she spent a year as house physician in the Hospital for Women and Children at Detroit. She then went abroad for a year, doing post-graduate work in London and Vienna, returning to Lafayette in 1903 to take up the practice of medicine.
Doctor Mitchell stands well in her profession and is an honored mem- ber of the various societies devoted to physicians and their work. Included in these are the Tippecanoe County, Indiana State and American Medical Associations, besides such social and fraternity organizations as the Alpha Epsilon Iota sorority and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is a member of the Presbyterian church and is connected with some of the charity institutions, also a member of the executive board of the Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis.
DANIEL B. FRETZ.
The Lafayette family of this name is of German origin. Daniel Fretz, who was born in Pennsylvania, had a son named Enos, who was born at the parental home in Lehigh county and married Sophia Brunner, of Alsace- Lorraine. Both father and son came to Tippecanoe county in 1853 and lo- cated in Perry township, where they spent the remainder of their days.
788
PAST AND PRESENT
Enos Fretz, who was an only child, learned the shoemaker's trade and fol- lowed it as an occupation for twenty-seven years, during which time he gave instructions to nine apprentices for terms of two years each. When he came here alone in 1852 to look up a location, he bought eighty acres of timber, a half-mile south of Pettit, and next year his parents joined him. He pur- chased the Bains saw and grist mills, which he ran for over thirty years, while farming at the same time. He was an active worker in the German Reformed church and became quite prominent as a citizen and business man . in his community. He died in 1889. at the age of seventy-seven years. and his wife passed away in 1886, aged sixty-eight. When they came to Tippe- canoe county there were eight children in the family. Elizabeth. the eldest, married T. F. Reis, of Mulberry, Indiana; Encs, the third child, died in No- vember. 1908, at Mulberry, while in the marble and monument business ; he married Sallie Moyer; William, the fourth child, married Pauline Roth and is a farmer one-half mile east of Monitor, Indiana: Sophia is the widow of Presley Baker, of Perry township; Henry, who married Lulu Frey, is a sawmill owner in Mellott. Fountain county, Indiana; Charles, who married Kittie Karn, is a wealthy and up-to-date farmer and stock dealer. owning three large farms; Mary is the wife of James Rothenberger, of Mulberry ; Philip. the youngest child, and the only one born in Tippecanoe county. mar- ried Retta Harlen, and runs a sawmill and lives in Virginia.
Daniel B. Fretz, second in age of his father's nine children, was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1839, and was about fourteen years old when his parents settled in this section. He remained at home until twenty-two years old, spent three years in Indianapolis, working two years in the Etna mill and one year in the Capital flour mill. Immediately after coming to Tippecanoe county he began working with his father in the mill, and was consequently well up in the business by the time he reached his majority. In 1864 he was married at Indianapolis to Amanda Brown, of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, who died in 1866, leaving one child named Sarah, now the wife of John Myer, of West Lafayette, with two children, Carlton and Aldine. In 1867 Mr. Fretz married Almina Roth, of Clinton county. Indiana, who died August 12, 1895, without issue. January 28, 1896, Mr. Fretz married Mary E. Etter, of Perry township, a daughter of John H. and Susan (Leinger) Etter, of Franklin county, Pennsylvania. who came to Tippecanoe county in 1865. By his last marriage, Mr. Fretz has three children, Solomon, Maude and Theodore. After his first marriage he ran the Pyrmont mill for two years and also managed his father's mill for the same length of time. February 22, 1870, he located at Monitor, in
789
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
Perry township, and bought the mills owned by Daggert, Potter & Martin. In 1871 he fitted up one of these as a gristmill and converted the others into a sawmill in 1885. Mr. Fretz has always done some farming on the side and now owns a place of fifty-nine acres, which he cultivates. He belongs to the English Lutheran church and helped build the one at Pettit. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at Monitor. Mrs. Fretz is a breeder of White Leghorns and Light Brahma chickens and has a fine lot of this class of high-grade poultry. In 1892 Mr. Fretz built a fine home, which has gas and all the modern improvements.
WILLIAM WERDEN SMITH.
Autobiography.
William Werden Smith, the subject of this sketch, was born seven miles west of Springfield, Clark county, Ohio, on July 7, 1835. His great-grand- father. Hezekiah Smith, was born in Wales; came to America and settled in New Jersey in the year 1740. His grandfather, Peter Smith, was born in New Jersey, February 6, 1753, was educated at Princeton and was married to Catherine Stout December 23, 1776, and resided in Philadelphia several years. He wrote that in the winter 1777 he inoculated one hundred and thirty persons for smallpox. This was before vaccination was practiced. In the year 1790 he moved to Georgia. Believing slavery to be wrong, he always advocated the freedom of the slave and the education of the colored race. In 1787 congress passed an ordinance organizing the Northwest territory, lying north of the Ohio river and including what is now the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. In this ordinance slavery or involuntary servitude was forever prohibited from any part of this territory. Grandfather decided to move his family to free territory and in the year 1794 he. with five or six other families, arranged to move to the Northwest territory. the country through which they passed being a wilderness. The only roads they had to guide them were the Indian trails blazed through the wilderness. Be- fore starting they organized by electing Grandfather captain. They used pack horses, on which everything they had was carried. Grandfather's fam- ily consisted of nine children, two of these, the youngest, being twins. Father Abraham Smith, being six years old, remembered a great many incidents of this journey. Grandmother rode a large horse and led another horse on which the twins were placed, each in a basket, especially prepared, being
790
PAST AND PRESENT
fastened together and placed on the horse, one on each side, so that they balanced. In these baskets were good pillows, so that it made a comfortable way of riding. They made a rule of going into camp on Friday evening, always trying to camp on some stream of water, and not breaking camp until Monday morning. This gave them a chance to do their washing, and Sunday was strictly a day of rest and for religious worship. They crossed the Ohio river and located at Columbia, five or six miles above the present site of Cincinnati. The fort was located where Cincinnati now stands, and Willian Henry Harrison, then a young man, had charge of the fort. During the years of residence on a farm near Cincinnati Grandfather practiced medicine and spent the time in preaching, the records of the old Baptist church showing that he was ordained pastor of the Duck Creek church in 1801. In 1805 Grandfather moved to what was then known as the Miami country, and located on Donnel's creek, about seven miles west of the present city of Springfield, Ohio. But few others had preceded him to the Mad river country. Here he and his sons located on three half-sections of land, and a part of this in after years became the home of my father, Abraham Smith. Here on this farm was born our family of nine children, I being the youngest. Grandfather spent nearly all his later years in life in preaching, traveling on horseback. In two or three different years he traveled as far east as the state of New York, attending yearly meetings, which were similar to our camp meetings. Father, having sold his farm, in September, 1845, with two good horses and a covered wagon, started for the West, in fact, for the far West, which meant Illinois. Our line of travel was the old National Road, built by the United States government. It was completed as far west as Springfield. Ohio, but from there on through Indiana to Terre Haute the roadway was cleared through the heavy timber one hundred feet wide, bridges and culverts were built, Washington street, Indianapolis, being a part of this road. About this time the road was turned over by the government to the states through which it passed. The first place of note, and dreaded by all movers, was what was known as the Black Swamp, which lay about half way between Indianapolis and the Ohio state line, and was about thirty miles through. The next place was Indianapolis, which was a straggling town with but little trade and a poor farming country surrounding it, and was noted only as the capital of the state. The next place we came to was Terre Haute. It and Lafayette were two of the best towns in Indiana on account of the river navigation and the Wabash-Erie canal, which extended from Toledo, Ohio. to Evansville, Indiana. Father located in Lawrence county, Illinois, and bought an improved farm about twenty miles west of Vincennes. Deer and wild
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.