USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 64
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ceeded as a farmer. He never aspired for public office, although he is an active Democrat. He is a member of the St. Lawrence Catholic church at Lafayette, Indiana. Their family consisted of six children, namely: John, who married Mary Alberts, is a farmer in Perry township; Dora is the wife of Charles Batta, of West Point, Indiana; Edward, of this review; Ben- jamin, a farmer in White county, Indiana, married Lena Batta; Margaret married Oliver Rusk, of Lafayette; Elizabeth is single and living at home.
Edward Hubertz received a fairly good education in the home schools, and remained under the parental roof-tree until he was twenty-four years old. On February 20, 1906, he married Catherine Batta, a native of Perry township, this county, the daughter of Nicholas and Celia (Youst) Batta, the former a native of Germany. Celia Youst also came from the Father- land, having been born near Berlin. The father came to America in 1840 when seventeen years of age, accompanied by his parents who settled in Perry township and died there. In their family were twelve children, name- ly: Julia, William, Charles, George, John, Catherine, Mary, Magdaline, Bernard, Anthony, Rosie and Margaret. Nicholas Batta died September II, 1904. He followed farming for the most part for a livelihood, his farm having been located in Shelby township. His widow still lives there. Two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hubertz, Margaret J., born December II, 1907, and Lauretta Cecelia, born October 8, 1909.
After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Hubertz went to White county, In- diana, locating in Round Grove township, where they remained for two years and then came to Perry township, Tippecanoe county, locating near Heath where they have since remained, living on the Lesley place ever since. Mr. Hubertz has devoted his life to farming with gratifying results. He carries on general farming, and also handles some good stock. He has become well known in this locality. In politics he is a Democrat, active in local affairs and he is now, as already stated, faithfully serving as township assessor. He is a member of the St. Lawrence Catholic church, and he is regarded as one of the leading young farmers of the township.
ANDREW J. DOWNS.
The family of this name comes from an early pioneer of Ross county, Ohio, and the name was familiar in that section during the formative period of the state. William Downs, a son of the first settler, was born in Ross county, was engaged in farming all his life and ended his days in his native
Andrew Flowers
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place. He had fifteen children, a third of them daughters, and all lived to maturity. His son William married Rachael Green, born near Wheeling, Virginia, and with her he came to Indiana, in 1843, locating in Tippecanoe county. He met with fair success as a farmer for those days, and when the final summons came was the owner of one hundred and fifty acres of land. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his politics were first Whig and then Republican. Of his fifteen children seven lived to maturity. Ann is the widow of Edward Edmonds, of Dundee, Il- linois; Sarah is dead. Allie, the widow of C. C. Moore, of Pond Grove, Warren county, Indiana; Eliza, the wife of John Robinson, Lincoln, Ne- braska; Catherine is the widow of J. W. Jamison, of Lafayette.
Andrew J. Downs, one of the survivors of this family, was born in Ross county, Ohio, September 2, 1835. He was about eight years old when his parents settled in Tippecanoe county, and as he grew up he helped on the farm after the manner of pioneer boys. In due time he became a farmer on his own account and has followed this occupation all his life, the only interruption being four years spent in the livery business at Lafayette. In 1857, Mr. Downs married Mary F. Tuttle, a native of Fountain county, In- diana, by whom he had eight children: Byron P. Downs, born in 1859, of Rensselaer, Indiana : Rachael, born in 1861, at home: William, of Lafayette, born in 1863, was in the Spanish-American war; Harry M., of Wea town- ship, born September, 1865; Edward L., of Lafayette, born in 1867; and Clark B., of the Panhandle, Texas, born in 1870. The mother died February 27, 1900, and Mr. Downs was married September II, 1901, to Sarah, daugh- ter of Isaiah and Elizabeth Wharton, born March 20, 1859. The parents were natives of Ohio. Mrs. Downs was educated in the public schools of Greencastle, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Downs are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Battle Ground. He is past master of Battle Ground Lodge, No. 313, Free and Accepted Masons. His first presidential vote was cast for John C. Fremont, in 1856, and he has been a consistent Republican ever since. He owns seventy-two and a half acres of land in section 3, of Tippecanoe township, manages his own farm and stands well with his neighbors. As a member of the pioneer families, he shares the credit due those who rescued Tippecanoe county from the wilderness, changed forests into farms, and started this section on its way to the highly developed agri- cultural region observable on all sides. It took a hard battle to do this, theirs was much suffering and privation, much sickness and death; but amidst it all the Downs family bravely bore their parts and deserve recognition among the "nation builders," as counties are formed of townships, states of counties and the union of states.
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NOAH JUSTICE.
This is the name of a quiet and unobtrusive farmer who lives in Tippe- canoe township on a highly improved farm, attends strictly to business, treats everybody right, asks no favors out of order and altogether makes a good citizen. He is the type of a class who own much of the best land in Indiana and by good management have made it highly productive. It is to them we owe the celebrity of the state in agriculture, and their descendants give promise of improving on their fathers as the result of the scientific training now in easy reach of all at Purdue University. The older generation, how- ever, will always be entitled to much credit for what they have done as they had to bear the burden when farming was not so easy as now. The Justice family have long been identified with the development of Tippe- canoe county. George K. Justice, now deceased, is well remembered by the older generation as a well-to-do farmer and all-around citizen. He married Martha Young, now deceased, by whom he had a number of children, of whom only four are living. Flora, the oldest, is the wife of Samuel Moore. of Ft. Morgan, Colorado; Rhoda married Freedon Clark, and George K. resides in Tippecanoe township.
Noah Justice, the other survivor, was born in Tippecanoe township, Tippecanoe county, November 2, 1864. As he grew up he learned all about farm work, but had little chance to go to school and consequently was a little short on book-learning when he reached his majority. This defect, however, he made up in after life by reading and observation, going to the best of schools-the Academy of Experience-and taking note of things as they actually happened. Such men are usually the best informed on the sub- jects which it is the most useful for them to know. He has made a success of his business, as any one can see who visits his pretty farm of one hundred acres in Tippecanoe township. Everything is in apple-pie order, the farming implements, the residence, the stock well stabled, the fences and outbuildings kept in repair. Besides his home place, Mr. Justice owns forty-one acres in partnership. He has also paid a good deal of attention to livestock and one can always find fat hogs, sleek horses, lowing herds and other animals around, always of the best breeds.
Mr. Justice married Anna Hurst, member of one of the old families of the county, and by this union there were six children, Rosela E., James E., Grace E., Flora, George and Noah. Mr. Justice is a member of the
MR. AND MRS. JAMES HURST
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Home Insurance Lodge, and carries a life policy in the same. In politics he is a Republican, though never a seeker of office and has long been respected as one of the thrifty and well-to-do citizens of Tippecanoe township.
JAMES HURST.
The founder of the Hurst family in America was an Irish immigrant who married a French woman and was among the early settlers of Indiana. His son, Thomas A., born near Madisonville, Indiana, in 1822, went with his family to Fulton county in 1844. He located on new land and farmed until his death in 1868. Of his thirteen children, all grew to maturity, and six are still living. Four of the sons served most creditably as soldiers for the Union during the trying days of the Civil war .. After the close of the war two sons enlisted in the regular army, their names being Allen and Wil- liam, both now deceased. John A. was in an Illinois regiment. Stephen A. and Thomas J. were members of Company A, Twenty-sixth Indiana Regi- ment. James Hurst, the other Union soldier, was born in Fulton county, Indiana, February 26, 1847. When still a mere boy he enlisted, in Feb- ruary, 1864, in Company E, Eighty-seventh Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he saw much hard service before the final muster-out. He was with Sherman in his celebrated campaign from Chattanooga to At- lanta, took part in the siege and fall of that stronghold, went on the famous "march to the sea" and witnessed the surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina. Mr. Hurst is justly proud of his record as one of the defenders of his country, and receives an honorable pension of thirty dollars a month in recognition of his services. After leaving the army he returned to Fulton county, but soon removed to Tippecanoe which has ever since been the scene of his activities.
In 1867 Mr. Hurst married Nancy Freel, who was born in Tippecanoe county, December 28, 1846, and has spent all her life in her native neighbor- hood. Her father, Charles Freel, was a Union soldier in Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and reached the rank of corporal. His son Charles was a member of Company D, For- tieth Indiana Regiment, and thus it will be seen that the Hurst family have an unusually creditable military record on both sides of the house. Mr. and Mrs. Hurst have had ten children, six living and four deceased; Fannie, the eldest, is the wife of James Bounty, of Lafayette; Anna married Noah Jus-
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tice, Jr .; Charles and George are residents of Lafayette; Pearl is the wife of Ford Holsimer, of this county, and Ward is a farmer in Tippecanoe town- ship. The family are members of the United Brethren church of Battle Ground, and Mr. Hurst belongs to John A. Logan Post, No. 3. Grand Army of the Republic, at Lafayette. In politics he is a Democrat, but not an office seeker and in no sense of the word a politician. He has always been devoted to farming, likes his calling and has done well at the business, though it involved much hard work. He is a good citizen and good neighbor, with the result that he has many friends and is generally esteemed.
JOHN B. SWISHER.
The founders of the Indiana branch of the Swisher family were orig- inally Pennsylvanians, but joined the western tide of emigration during the earlier half of the nineteenth century. Samuel Swisher when a young man emigrated to Ohio and located in Champaign county, where he met Philadel- phia Dickey, patriotically named after the city of her birth. They were married and not a great while after crossed the line into Indiana, where they found a home in 1842, in a county seat. Here they occupied a farm, made their living in the manner customary in those early days and finally com- pleted the period of existence allotted to them in the unobtrusive way char- acteristic of tillers of the soil. The father died August 12, 1877, and his wife May 18, 1900, at Monon, White county. Their children were Levi, a Union soldier; Nathan, who was killed at Kingston, North Carolina, during the Civil war; John B., Lydia, Harriet, Perry and Ida.
John B. Swisher, third in tht above list. was born on his father's farm. in Jasper county, Indiana, January 7, 1850. He remained under the parental roof until he was fourteen years old, and at this tender age went forth to fight the battles of life with a firm, resolute heart and determination to win. Hiring by the month as a farm hand, he held to this hard job until he could do better, and in time was able to improve his fortunes. He came to Tippe- canoe county, in October, 1866, and has remained a resident ever since. May 2, 1878, he married Emma F., daughter of Stephen A. and Mary W. (Daw- son) Hurst. The father was born near Martinsville, Indiana, December 28, 1834, and his wife in Tippecanoe county. October 28. 1839. They had children, Emma, Harry, Orry, Mary J. Mrs. Swisher was born March 8, 1859, on the old homestead known as the Dawson farm, it being one of the
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TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
noted places of that part of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Swisher have one child, Fred C., born October 1, 1879. He was married to Hazel Hoover on March 4, 1909, and they live at Battle Ground. Mrs. Swisher is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church and of Rebekah Lodge, No. 368, in which she has passed all the chairs and represented the order in the grand lodge. Mr. Swisher is a member of Battle Ground Lodge, No. 6590, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and Tecumseh Encampment, No. 292. He is also a member of Rebekah Lodge, No. 368, has passed all the chairs in subordinate and encampment and represented both in the grand lodge. In politics he is a Republican, being the first of his family to vote that ticket. He and his wife own eighty-five acres of land in Tippecanoe township, which he cultivates with success, and he is also manager and one of the directors of the Battle Ground Telephone Company. He was injured some time ago by the falling of a tree, but his general health remains good. He is re- garded as one of the best citizens in his township and has the esteem of all.
WILLIAM A. AMSTUTZ.
Reared to the sturdy discipline of the homestead farm, during all the succeeding years of his life William A. Amstutz has not wavered in his al- legiance to the great basic art of agriculture. To the public schools he is indebted for the early education privileges which were his, and he duly avail- ed himself of the same, while he has effectively broadened his knowledge through active association with men and affairs in practical business life which has placed him well in the front rank of citizens of Perry township, Tippecanoe county. His birth occurred in Adams county, Indiana, January 8, 1869, the son of Jacob, who was born near Bluffton, Ohio. The latter married Barbara Staffon, a native of Germany. ' She came to America in 1854 when eleven years of age and located in Adams county, Indiana, where she married Jacob Amstutz, who grew to maturity in his native community in Ohio and came to Adams county, Indiana, when a young man. He pur- chased eighty acres of wild land, which he cleared and improved. In 1876 he left that locality and came to Tippecanoe county, locating in Perry town- ship, where he got forty acres in section 16, later adding another forty. On this place there stood an old log house and a stable built after the same fash- ion, but these gave way in time as he prospered to more modern and com- modious buildings and the place was put under excellent improvements, hav-
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ing built his home in 1888 and his barn in 1891. He was a first-class farmer and prospered. His death occurred in March, 1908; his widow still lives on the place. She is a member of the Mennonite church, as was also her husband. Their happy home was blessed by the birth of eight children, five of whom are living at this writing, namely: Emma, who has remained single, is a member of the home circle; William A., of this review; Sarah married Raymond Watkins, of Perry-township; Mary married David Sutter of Perry township; Henry married Anna Spitznagle, and he is farming in Wea township.
William A. Amstutz was reared in the faith of the Mennonites-in fact, he attended a school under the auspices of this denomination. He assisted with the work on the home place until his marriage, December 31, 1891, to Caroline Wise, who was born in Perry township, the daughter of Joseph Wise, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. William A. Amstutz, as follows: Edith, Earl, Matilda, Everett and Luella. Mrs. Amstutz died January 4, 1909.
After his marriage, Mr. Amstutz lived in Mulberry, Indiana, for one year and then worked his father's place for one year. Then he purchased ninety-five acres where he now lives in Perry township, it being a well im- proved and highly productive place. On it stands an excellent and com- fortable home, erected in 1906, and a good barn, built in 1903-in fact, all the up-to-date improvements one sees on this place now were made by Mr. Amstutz. He carries on general farming, paying especial attention to the raising of wheat, oats, corn and hay. He takes a great deal of interest in livestock and some excellent breeds are always to be found on his farm, such as shorthorn cattle, draft horses and Poland-China hogs. He has operated a corn shredder for a number of years.
Mr. Amstutz can claim all the honor accorded him for what he has ac- complished, for he started in life with nothing, but he is now one of the sub- stantial men of his community, as a result of his close application to duty and his persistency. He and his wife are members of the Mennonite church.
SAMUEL BUCK.
This venerable citizen of Perry township is one of the honored and in- teresting pioneers of Tippecanoe county, and he has been a very active man in the development of this locality, having witnessed the wonderful growth
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of the country from its wild woods and rude huts to one of the most fertile and thriving sections of the state. Samuel Buck was born in Perry town- ship, this county, March 8, 1834, the son of Joseph Buck, who was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, September 13, 1799. The father of the latter was John Christopher Buck, a native of the old Keystone state, whose an- cestors were of German origin. Joseph Buck was seventeen years old when his father went to Butler county, Ohio, and there married Catherine Widner. They remained in that state until 1829 and then came to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and settled in section 17, Perry township, where he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land which he had entered the year previous. Here he developed a good farm by dint of hard toil and lived on the same until his death, in September, 1865. He was a rugged and honest man, high- ly esteemed, a member of the United Brethren church and a Democrat. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, namely: Daniel, Samuel, Elizabeth, Eliza, Susan, Sarah, John and Elias. Two of them are now liv- ing, Samuel, of this review, and Sarah, widow of John Singerly, of Fairfiel:1 township. The wife of Joseph Buck passed to her rest in 1846.
The education of Samuel Buck was obtained in the rude log cabins of the early days, equipped with puncheon seats and greased paper for window panes ; his schooling was limited. He worked on the home place helping clear and ditch the same during his boyhood. He was first married in July, 1864. to Ellen Smither, who died in 1870, after becoming the mother of the following children: John, who has remained single, is living with his father; Rufina Alice is deceased. The second marriage of Sam- uel Buck was solemnized on June 10, 1875, to Elizabeth Belcoma, widow of Jacob Belcoma, a native of Holland, who died in 1870. Elizabeth Palmer was born in 1849 at Mecklenburg, Germany. By her second husband, the subject, she became the mother of two children, the first, an infant son, dying unnamed; Minnie, the second child, is still a member of the family circle. By her first marriage to Mr. Belcoma, Mrs. Buck had two children, namely : William Belcoma, who lives at Battle Ground, Indiana, and Mary the wife of Daniel Gushwa, of Fairfield township.
Mr. Buck has devoted his life to the tilling of the soil and now in the evening of his life he finds himself surrounded by plenty as the result of his earlier years of toil. He has a neat little place and a good home. He has long been a Democrat, but has never aspired to public office, preferring to lead a quiet home life and devote his attention to his farming. He is a member of the United Brethren church. Useless to say that he is well known throughout the county and has hosts of warm friends here, for his life has been honorable in every respect.
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PAST AND PRESENT
CHARLES H. CLEAVER.
The Cleaver family were originally from Maryland. We first hear of Ann Cleaver, a widow and nine children, six boys and three girls. The oldest child, Mahlon, came to Indiana in 1827, locating in Perry township, Tippecanoe county, on the north fork of Wild Cat creek, where he erected a saw-mill and operated the same for years. In 1828 the mother and the balance of the children joined him, settling in the same vicinity where the older son and brother had located, and this was known for years as the Cleaver settlement. The brothers were named as follows: Mahlon, Charles, Sewell, Chalkley, Isaac and Joseph, and the sisters bore these names, Lydia, Annaretta and Louisa. Isaac and Joseph died when they were young men in the prime of life, neither having ever been married. Charles married a lady by the name of Madden, of Baltimore, Maryland; she was the mother of C. O. Cleaver, who is now seventy-four years old and acting as police magistrate of Milford, Illinois. Sewell Cleaver married a Miss Davis, of Lafayette, Indiana. Chalkley married a Miss Larry, of Perry township, this county. Annaretta married John McCurdy, who settled on the middle fork of Wild Cat creek where he built and operated a saw-mill, near where Moni- tor is now located in Perry township. He later moved to Delphi. Carroll county, Indiana, where he engaged in the mercantile business, and where he lost his first wife by death. Several years afterwards he married his first wife's sister, Lydia, with whom he lived until his death. Louisa, the young- est sister, married David Cleaver and with him emigrated to Illinois and settled near Milford, Iroquois county, where they engaged in farming and stock raising and where they both died. . Mahlon Cleaver never married. He died at the age of seventy-six years, being the last one of that branch of the family tree to answer the "last roll-call." He took, educated and cared for C. O. Cleaver after the death of the latter's parents. Of the second generation of the Cleaver family there are but four left, namely: William F. Cleaver, of Burlington, Indiana; Rev. Isaac S. Cleaver, of Elkhart, In- diana. They are sons of Sewell and Martha Cleaver. Mrs. Louisa Cleaver. of Lafayette, is the daughter of Chalkley and Nancy Cleaver. Charles Oscar Cleaver, of Milford, Illinois, is the son of Charles and Ann Cleaver. All the ancestors of this family from the paternal grandmother down are buried in the old family burying ground on the old homestead, near the site of the saw-mill operated in the long-ago by Mahlon Cleaver in Perry township, Tippecanoe county.
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TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
Charles H. Cleaver, whose name introduces this review, was born in Perry township, Tippecanoe county, July 31, 1876, the son of Mahlon and Mary Eliza Cleaver, the former a native of Perry township, the latter of the state of Ohio. Mahlon Cleaver, father of the subject, was the son of Chalkley Cleaver, who married Nancy Larry Chalkley. Chalkley Cleaver came to Tippecanoe county in 1828 and settled in Perry township, where he got wild land which he cleared and on which he made a home and where he died. He and his wife were the parents of three sons and one daughter. Mahlon Cleaver had only a limited education in the home schools. He lived at home and finally purchased the home place, and died there July 31, 1884, his wife having preceded him to the grave in June, 1883. He was always a farmer and a Republican in politics. To them eleven children were born, namely: Electa married A. E. Rickert, of Stanley, Wisconsin; Alice is single and living in Lafayette, Indiana; Elby married Stella Buck; they are both deceased; Edward married May Cockrell, and he is living on a farm in Huntington county, Indiana; Blanche died in infancy; Mordecai and Howard; the former is deceased, and the latter is a farmer in Washington township; he married Flora Spidle; Charles H., subject of this review; Jesse married Bertha Healey and is living in Perry township; Nellie married Claude Lesley, deceased, but she is living in Lafayette.
Charles H. Cleaver had little chance to attend school. He worked among strangers until he was twenty-one years old. His marriage occurred December 28, 1896, when he espoused Fannie V. Newhouser, of Clinton county, Indiana, the daughter of Peter and Mary Ehrsman, both natives of Germany. They first came to Adams and later to Clinton county, Indiana, where they engaged in farming; both are now deceased.
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