USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 45
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February 15, 1865, Mr. Harshman married Mary E. Beard, who was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, September 30, 1843. Eleven years later he left Ohio for Indiana, as stated above, and most of his active life and all his business career has been spent in this state. Mr. and Mrs. Harshman have had four children, namely: Francis, who was born August 6, 1866, died in 1881 ; Clara, born April 3, 1869, is the wife of Korah Ryder; War- ren was born August 20, 1872, and Anna, who is the wife of T. W. Pear-
ISAIAH HARSHMAN
MRS. ISAIAH HARSHMAN
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son, of Ohio, was born July 7, 1875. In politics, Mr. Harshman is a Repub- lican, though he has never sought office or mingled among the politicians. He draws a pension of seventeen dollars a month as a recognition of his honorable services to the government during the Civil war, and mingles with his old comrades as a member of John A. Logan Post, No. 3, Grand Army of the Republic. He has done his duty as he saw it in all the relations of life and in retirement has the respect of both those who have known him long and the "rising generation" which is just coming on the stage of action.
JAMES MADISON GAY.
There was little in the outlook to indicate what Tippecanoe county would look like in the twentieth century, when the first member of the Gay family showed up on the prairie. It was nearly eighty years ago and it would have taken the gift of prophecy to foretell what wonderful changes would take place before another hundred years rolled by. One Jacob Gay, the founder of this family, which has since become numerous and influential, came in 1834 and bought. three hundred acres of Wayne township land, only partly improved. Among his children was a son named Samuel, who helped tu clear the land and in time became an extensive landowner on his own account. When he died, in 1902, he owned some seven hundred acres of land and was able to provide well for those dependent upon him. October II, 1834, he married Eliza, daughter of William and Nancy Reed, of Ross county, Ohio, by whom he had seven children: John W., Emeline, Josephine, Seymour, James Madison, Sanford and Samuel.
James Madison Gay, the fifth of this family, was born December 27, 1852, on the old homestead, established by his father over seventy years ago. He knew what it meant to clear an Indiana farm of the early days, as he worked long and hard assisting his father in the tasks that were never done. While it was hard work, with its eternal grubbing, ditching, digging and chopping, it had to be done if a first-class farm was to be established, and the habits of industry thus acquired, with the accompanying lessons of econ- omy, were well worth all they cost. The goal in sight, of course, and the reward held up as an incentive, was the hope of one day owning a home and a farm of his own, when work would be lighter and profits greater. Mr. Gay lived to realize this ambition, as he now owns one hundred and eight acres of
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well improved land. He has the satisfaction of knowing that he himself is largely responsible for the place, as he put up all the buildings and did all the improving, until he now has one of the best farms in Wayne township.
January 21, 1874, Mr. Gay married Nina Grieve, a native of Scotland, by whom he has had three children : Mabel, Walter (deceased) and Arthur. Mrs. Gay is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Gay is a Republican in politics, though he is no politician and never sought or held office. He is just a plain, every-day farmer, though an unusually good one, and has been content to attend to his business, leaving it to others to bother about govern- mental affairs. He is one of the most popular members of the old Gay family, has the respect of all his neighbors and is a model citizen in every respect.
JEREMIAH M. DEIBERT.
The history of the loyal sons and representative citizens of Tippecanoe county would not be complete should the name that heads this review be omitted. When the fierce fire of rebellion was raging through the Southland, threatening to destroy the Union, he responded with patriotic fervor to the call for volunteers and subsequently proved his loyalty to the government he loved so well. During a useful life in the community where he now lives in honorable retirement he labored diligently and honestly and at all times has enjoyed the respect and confidence of those who know him. He has been loyal to the public welfare and has done what he could to benefit the commu- nity and advance its welfare.
Jeremiah M. Deibert, who, as his name indicates, is of German ancestry. was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, on the 5th day of September. 1841. and is a son of John and Lydia (Moyer) Deibert. his mother being of Eng- lish descent. The subject's paternal great-grandfather. Michael Deibert, was born in Germany and was an early settler of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania. To John and Lydia Deibert were born the following children: Jonathan. who now lives at Wiseport, Pennsylvania ; Polly, who married a Mr. Peters and resides at Allentown, Pennsylvania; Abbie married a Mr. Shidy and lives at North Whitehall, Pennsylvania : Simon, a twin brother of the subject of this sketch, lives at the Soldiers' Home, near Lafayette, having served his country during the Civil war as a member of Company G, Tenth Regi- ment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. John Deibert died in 1861, at the age of
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seventy-one years, and his wife passed away in 1879, at the age of seventy- nine years.
Jeremiah M. Deibert was reared under the parental roof and received a good common school education. At the age of sixteen years he entered the old Wiseport Academy, which he attended two terms. He then apprenticed himself to learn the wood-working trade in his brother's carriage shop, where he remained for two and a half years. He then worked as a journeyman in shops at Reading and Allentown, until the outbreak of the Civil war, when. in September, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Seventy- sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in which he was appointed a corporal. This command was first assigned to the Army of the Potomac. but was later sent to the Department of the Gulf. The subject experienced much arduous service, principally in the vicinity of Charleston, South Carolina, and during six weeks of the time he was in the hospital on account of an attack of malarial fever. At the close of his period of enlistment, in 1863, he was honorably discharged at Philadelphia and at once returned to his home. He resumed work at his trade, at which he continued until 1865, when he came to Dayton, Indiana, and entered the employ of M. A. Lentz, who was operating a large carriage shop. The subject remained with Mr. Lentz until the latter went out of business in 1878. At that time the former employees of the Lentz factory formed a company to carry on the business, under the firm style of the Dayton Carriage Company. The following year Mr. Deibert became president and manager of the company and continued as such until 1897. when the company was dissolved. Since then Mr. Deibert has lived prac- tically a retired life. He erected a splendid brick residence on Main street and lived there until 1894, when he traded that property for the beautiful home which he now occupies and which is generally considered one of the finest homes in Dayton.
In politics Mr. Deibert has rendered a stanch allegiance to the Repub- lican party and has at all times taken a keen interest in matters political. though he has never sought public office. Because of his military service. he is a member of Elliott Post, No. 160, Grand Army of the Republic, at Dayton.' In this post he served as adjutant for fifteen years and also served as post commander, having filled all the chairs. He is, with his wife, a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church and is a trustee of the same.
On March 16, 1869, Mr. Deibert married Louisa R. Burkhalter, a sis- ter of William H. Burkhalter, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Deibert enjoy the friendship of all who know them and their beautiful home is the center of a large social circle. They delight in the companionship of their friends and are highly esteemed by all who know them.
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MARTIN L. FISHER.
One of the most practical if not the most useful of the manifold branch- es of agriculture taught in Indiana's great university at Lafayette is that devoted to the growth and utilization of the field crops. It embraces all the grains and teaches how to best handle soils so as to get the best yields. The theory of the formation of soils and their characterization is also a highly interesting feature of the work. Farm management, including the choosing, equipping and operating of farms, is also taught according to the latest discoveries in this department of applied science.
It is impossible to do justice to Professor Fisher's achievements at Pur- due in the brief space allotted to his biography in this volume, but a few details will show the manner of the man and serve as an introductory for a better acquaintance. The Fishers, though originally an Ohio family, became domiciled in northeastern Indiana about the conclusion of the Civil war period. Samuel Fisher left Fairfield county in the Buckeye state in 1866, drove through in a wagon over roads hardly adapted for automobile riding and finally pulled up in the Indiana county of Wells, where he located. He had married Margaret Jane Crawford in his native state and by this union there were two sons, of whom Frank W., the eldest, is a farmer and dairy- man and resides at Bluffton, Indiana.
Martin L. Fisher, the second son, was born in Wells county, Indiana, October 24, 1871, and his opportunities and environment were similar to those of millions of other boys, but he was of the metal to take better ad- vantage of them than many others. After attending the district schools for some years he entered the Central Normal College at Danville, Indiana, went through the commercial department and then matriculated at Purdue Univer- sity for a course in the agricultural department. This proved to be the step on which hinged the life work, which has been of such use to the state as well as so reflective of credit upon his alma mater. After diligent application and close attention to his studies for the required period, he obtained his degree in 1903, was shortly thereafter given a position and the institution has ever since had the full benefit of all his mental and physical energies. His special work has had to do with the growth and improvement of the cereal crops, and while especially intended for Indiana, all the other states have received the benefits through the bulletins, interchange of literature and close connecting links that characterize the methods of the various agricultural colleges. In addition to his regular duties, Professor Fisher has charge of
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part of the experimental field work relating to crop investigations, methods of rotation, quality, nature and value of forage crops and tests of all varieties of plants. It is proof of the interest aroused by Professor Fisher and the gen- eral attention of students attracted by his labors that the department with which he is connected has doubled in attendance during the last six years. He is indeed a natural-born teacher, having the genius not only for acquiring but imparting knowledge. Before coming to Purdue he had a valuable pre- liminary training as instructor in the public schools of Wells county, where he taught three years in the country and six years at Bluffton, where he was principal in one of the buildings devoted to the grades. In addition to this he conducted summer normals and has since done much work at teachers' and farmers' institutes. An invaluable contribution to agricultural education was made by Professor Fisher in the preparation of a bulletin in 1904 on "Agriculture in the Public Schools," which has enjoyed a wide cir- culation and greatly stimulated the demand for the establishment of this addition to the country curriculum. In collaboration with Professor Cotton, he has prepared a book to be used as a text for the teaching of agriculture in the public schools, and he is the author of various bulletins treating of kindred themes and extensively circulated throughout the state.
Professor Fisher is a member of the American Breeders' Association, the Society of Agronomy, the Nature Study Society, National Educational Association and the Indiana Academy of Science. His fraternal relations are confined to membership in the Order of Ben Hur and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Personally, Professor Fisher possesses an affable disposition, genial manners and address that wins friends. He is an inde- fatigable student and an ideal teacher and much enamored of his great mis- sion as instructor in Indiana's notable university.
May 26, 1894. Professor Fisher married Miss Mary Ella, daughter of Zaccheus and Martha (Baker) Fishbaugh, by whom he has three children; Beatrice Louise, Frances Elizabeth, and Barbara Catharine. The family at- tend services at the Methodist Episcopal church.
JAMES TROOP.
With the establishment of the experiment station in 1888. a new era began at Purdue University. With its inception a great advance was made possible in horticultural science and the kindred branch of entomology, which is the department of zoology devoted to insects. Up to that time little or
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nothing had been done in Indiana to place orchard interests and truck farm- ing on a scientific basis. They had been allowed to drift along after the bad old methods of early days, being conducted in the haphazard, happy-go- lucky manner characteristic of crude agriculture. The advent of James Troop to take charge of these vitally important sciences was the beginning of a movement which in twenty-five years has revolutionized conditions in the state and resulted in improvements that have added greatly to the value of gardening, trucking and fruit growing. It would take a large volume to describe the detailed work and give comparative statements of the steady advance over old conditions and little more can be attempted here than a tribute in the abstract to the man to whom Indiana has owed so much for the betterment of one of its most important industries. The name of Troop has indeed become a household word among horticulturists. Mention of some features of his work has frequently been made in the press and he is quoted as an authority on his specialties all over the Union, but only those who have followed his career closely are able to do justice to his achieve- ments. The family is of New York originally. Andrew Troop was a farmer who married Orila Wilson, and died a few years later leaving his widow with three children, Myron, Andrew and James. The latter, who was born in Wyoming county, New York, March 14, 1853, was seven years old when his father died .. After that bereavement, the mother and sons removed to Clinton county, Michigan, where James secured a home with one of the neighboring farmers and remained there at work alternating with school attendance until he reached his majority. He then entered the Mich- igan State Agricultural College, devoted several years to mastering the rudiments of agricultural knowledge and received his degree in 1878. The two years following were devoted to teaching and another year to the duties of superintendent of schools, after which he returned to college as an as- sistant instructor, taking the master's degree in 1882. His calling to Purdue afforded the coveted opportunity for the opening of a career and he proved the right man for the place. At first he was made an instructor in horti- culture and entomology, but within a year he was elevated to a full pro- fessorship in charge of this important and at that time new department in the curriculum of Purdue. After the establishment of the national experi- ment stations in 1888. Professor Troop' was given charge of horticulture and entomology and was the first man to take up this branch of science at the university. There was rapid development and an enlargement which has grown steadily until Professor Troop's field of labor is conterminous with the state. In 1907, Prof. C. G. Woodbury was appointed assistant horticulturist and in 1908 J. G. Boyle was appointed instructor of horti-
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culture. The experiment work has been pushed rapidly, but with due re- gard to thoroughness, since it was first inaugurated in 1888, and during the last two years several lines of co-operative experiments have been estab- lished in different parts of the state, having especial bearing upon the in- terests of the orchardist and truck farmer. Those engaged in these lines of productive industry find Purdue the mother of invention, as well as the co- adjuster, but only those who have followed Professor Troop's work closely are able to estimate what it has been worth to those who cultivate the soil for profit.
Professor Troop is as attractive on the social side as he is in the world of science. Broad in his sympathies, of generous disposition, pleasing and kind in his manner. he proves a delightful companion to stranger as well as friend. If genius be correctly defined as an infinite capacity for taking pains, this popular professor has the quality in high degree. He is deterred by no labor, discouraged by no difficulty and his quick perception, re-enforced by a highly trained mind, is equal to the solution of nice problems that are calculated to deter the less ambitious. He keeps in touch with all move- ments and associations having a bearing upon his special line of work. Thus we find him an honored member of the American Pomological So- ciety, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Ameri- can Association of Economic Entomologists, the Entomological Society of America and the American Breeders' Association. His fraternal relations include membership in Tippecanoe Lodge, No. 55, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Star City Encampment, No. 153, of the same society. He has also long been connected with Lafayette Lodge. No. 123, Free and Accepted Masons, Chapter No. 3 of the Royal Arch Masons, Tippecanoe Council, No. 68, Royal and Select Masters, and Lafayette Commandery, No. 3, Knights Templar, of which he is past commander.
December 30, 1884, Professor Troop was married to Cora Louise. daughter of Seth N. and Catherine Chamberlin, of Livonia, New York. Miss Helen Louise Troop, the only child, has graduated from the high school and is doing work in the university.
WILLIAM C. LATTA.
All branches of agriculture have been much benefitted by Purdue, but in no way have the farmers been more helped than by the impetus given to institute work. Farmers' institutes or the primary schools of agriculture
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are of comparatively modern origin. Now they are common in many sections and it is difficult to overestimate the good they have done in bring- ing farmers together to compare notes, read papers, discuss practical phases of farm work, getting acquainted socially and cultivating the spirit of com- radeship. It is now proposed to tell something about the man who, from the vantage point of a Purdue professorship, has done his full share to stimulate and make effective this branch of agricultural education in Indiana. William C. Latta was born in LaPorte county, Indiana, March 9, 1850, and all of his adult activities have been expended within the limits of his native state. His parents, Robert S. and Mary (Tumbleson) Latta, were Ohioans, and the former, while owning a farm, devoted much of his time to church work as an itinerant Methodist Episcopal preacher. William C., who was the oldest of seven children, attended the public schools in Noble county, and at the age of twenty-one entered the Holbrook Normal at Lebanon, Ohio. From there he went to Michigan, worked one summer in a planing-mill, taught schocl the following winter and in 1874 became a pupil in the Mich- igan State Agricultural College, near Lansing. He completed the course with graduation in 1877, taught a winter term of school, spent one year on a Michigan farm, taught another session and then returned to college for post- graduate work. In 1882 he obtained the degree of Master of Science, and then came to Purdue as instructor in agriculture. In 1883 he was made pro- fessor of agriculture and has ever since held this position. It was in 1889 that Professor Latta entered upon his special work, in a field to which he was especially adapted and whose cultivation promised the best results as a stepping- stone to improved agriculture and improved agriculturists. He began organiz- ing farmers' institutes, in pursuance of which he has visited every county in the state and spoken in every county seat, in some of them several times. As might be expected, he confronted some active opposition and a great deal of ignorance and misapprehension. Professor Latta's task was of the pioneer variety, building from the ground up, and he occupied no bed of roses. Only a man of indomitable perseverance, of exhaustless patience and genuine enthus- iasm for his undertaking would have been able to surmount the difficulties. Eventually he brought order out of chaos, inspired farmers with some of his own spirit and established a network of institutes all over the state, which have been doing much good and give promise of greater usefulness in the future. The experimental work had been beguin by Prof. Charles I. Ingersoll, but Pro- fessor Latta took it up and carried it on for some years before entering upon the institute work. To this indefatigable worker and advanced educator we owe many of the earlier bulletins relating to crops, methods of cultivation,
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rotation and soil fertilization. When Professor Skinner was made dean in 1906, Professor Latta was relieved of administrative duties in the school of agriculture and given more time for the farmers' institute work. Alto- gether his twenty-seven years at Purdue have been of inestimable value to Indiana agriculturists, and the name of Latta deserves to be enshrined in the hearts of all who love and appreciate the value of man's noblest pursuit.
Aside from his exacting duties at the university, Professor Latta has managed to keep in touch with various movements of an educational and reformatory nature. He is a member of the National Educational Associa- tion, the Society for Promoting Industrial Education, American Associa- tion of Farmers' Institute Workers, besides the city charity organization and Civic League. For many years he has been a member of the Masonic order, and he was, for some time, master of the local (Purdue) grange of Patrons of Husbandry.
July 10, 1879, Professor Latta was married to Alta E., daughter of Amos F. and Eunice E. Wood, of Mason, Michigan. The four children are Bertha. Robert W., Pauline and Mary. Three of them have graduated from the high school and two from Purdue, one is taking the university course and Mary is in high school. The family worship at Trinity Metho- dist Episcopal church.
GEORGE IRVING CHRISTIE.
The "corn specials" sent out from Purdue University for the instruction of farmers have become famous. Their object is to distribute literature, especially the station bulletins, to stir up interest in improved methods of agriculture and meet farmers face to face for heart to heart talks on the subjects of most importance to them. Among the special objects held in view by the progressive faculty of Lafayette's great university is instruction in the selection of seed corn so as to produce the best results. But in the lectures from the trains, in the school houses, or wherever gatherings of farmers are held, plain, practical talks are given on all common features of farming, with a view to helping the tillers of the soil to obtain better re- sults by adopting better methods. Some surprise will be felt on learning that the moving spirit of all this work of Purdue, the initiator of the new plans to reach the farmers. the organizer of the devices that has so caught the public imagination, is a young man scarcely thirty years old. He is, however, learned for his age, a veritable dynamo of energy and an equip-
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ment for teaching scientific agriculture that is seldom secured by a lifetime of work. A few biographical particulars about such a man must needs be found very acceptable and interesting to the readers of this volume. Though originally Scotch, the Christies seem to have become domiciled in Canada by emigration at an early period in the history of the dominion. We hear of David Christie as a farmer and horse importer in Ontario, at a period antedating the American Civil war. He married Mary Anne House, by whom he had a family of eight children, and among them a son who was destined to earn fame as one of the able faculty of Purdue.
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