USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 73
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tion. In 1901 the Seemens & Halske Company was purchased by the electric trust, and Mr. Duncan with Marshall F. Holmes and George L. Cragg formed the Duncan Electric Manufacturing Company.
Records show that it is, indeed, rare that an inventor has any marked busi- ness or executive ability, but Mr. Duncan seems to be one of the exceptions to this rule. From the time he reached manhood he has been in positions where he had the direction and control of others, always proving his ability to direct men in a manner that the greatest results would be accomplished. The rapid growth of the present establishment shows his caliber as a business man, which is second to none. Naturally he is a very busy man, but the superb system he employs in all his affairs makes his work easy, and he accomplishes a great amount as the sum total of a day's activity. At the same time he keeps abreast of modern thought by diligent study along lines of invention, and keeps up his own work of invention, now having over two hundred patents for inventions in the field of electricity. His name has become far-famed to electrical workers and he is turning his talents to good account and will doubtless rank very high among the world's beneficiaries.
WILLIAM D. BYERS.
No man in Jackson township, Tippecanoe county, is deserving of more credit for what he has accomplished than William D. Byers, who has devoted his busy life to farming, having maintained his home here all his life, where he has prospered and has done much for the upbuilding of the community at large, and as a result of his honorable record, his public spirit and his genial manners, he has won a position of honor and trust in this county which will be permanent. His birth occurred in New York city on March 6, 1854, and he was less than one year old when the family came to Tippecanoe county. He was educated here in the common schools, first attending the Locust Grove school and later the Center school; also for a few terms he studied at the town schools of Odell in that township, where he passed what is now known as the eighth grade. He is the son of Joseph and Isabelle (Strong) Byers, the former born in Ireland, January 1, 1833, where he remained until twenty-two years old. His parents died in Ireland. On February 24, 1855, while yet a resident of the Emerald Isle, he married Isabelle Strong. They immediately started for the United States and stopped in New York city, where Mr. Byers secured employment as clerk in a dry goods store, where he remained
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for one year, and in the spring of 1856 he and his wife came to Indiana, hav- ing since resided in Tippecanoe county. Mr. Byers, having been thrifty, accu- mulated much land, now owning a fine farm of three hundred acres. He has now reached the age of seventy-six years, but he has not been able to do much work for several years. He resides in Lafayette in the winter time and on his farm during the summer, with his son, William D. of this review. The wife of Joseph Byers passed away in June, 1905, and is sleeping the sleep of the just in Wheeler cemetery, Jackson township. To Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Byers two children were born, William D. and Mary J., the latter dying in July, 1907, and was buried beside her mother in Wheeler cemetery. She was the wife of Harrison B. Wallace and the mother of two daughters, Elsie and Lauretta.
Joseph Byers was the youngest in order of birth in a family of seven children, all of whom grew to maturity except the only daughter, who died in early childhood. Thomas Byers, an older brother of Joseph's, also came to the United States. He is living in Lafayette; the balance of the family remained in Ireland.
William D. Byers spent his early days on the farm with his parents, assist- ing with the various duties about the place. On December 24, 1878, he was married in Tippecanoe county to Elizabeth Ward, a native of this county and the daughter of Archibald and Elizabeth Ward, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Southern parentage. having been born in Louisiana. They were married in Indiana, where they reared their children, the mother dying when Mrs. Byers was young, and she was buried at Attica. Her husband survived but a few years, when he, too, crossed "over the river," and is buried at Bethel, Fountain county, Indiana. They were the parents of three children, Mrs. Byers being the second in order of birth. Mary and Margaret were the other children, the last named being the only one now living; she is the wife of William Mitchell, living in Montgomery county. Mary died in the West and is buried in Washington. Mrs. William D. Byers passed to her rest on March 21, 1895, when thirty-eight years of age, and she is buried in Wheeler cemetery. To Mr. Byers and his first wife four children were born, three boys and one girl, only two of whom are now living, namely: Willa Edna, born October 23. 1882, died December 19, 1900; Clifford Ward, born July 29. 1884, is living at home and farming with his father; Orrin J .. born April 23. 1890, is attending high school in Lafayette; William Roy, born April 23, 1893, died May 26, 1902.
On June 30, 1900, Mr. Byers married Ella Wilson, a native of Jackson township, this county, the daughter of Stephen and Anna ( Menaugh) Wilson,
(77)
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both natives of Indiana, and they still reside on a farm in Jackson township. They are the parents of five children, all now living, Mrs. Byers being the second in order of birth.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Byers belongs to the Knights of Pythias, Lodge No. 228, at New Richmond, Indiana. He has always been a Repub- lican, having long taken an active part in local affairs, being a stanch sup- porter of the temperance question and the county local option law. He has never aspired to office holding, although he has been many times solicited by his friends and neighbors to serve them in various capacities, for he has un- questioned ability that would enable him to make a splendid public servant, but he prefers to devote his attention to his farm, which is one of the best improved in the township and one of the most valuable. He is a modern, up-to-date farmer and is also a good judge of livestock, no small part of his annual income being derived from this source. However, in the spring of 1909 he took time from his affairs to assist in circulating a local option petition for the election in Tippecanoe county. He and his family are members of the Metho- dist Episcopal church at Odell, this county. Mr. Byers takes a great deal of interest in church affairs, having served as steward and on the board of trustees for many years past, holding these offices at this time. All his family are very attentive to church duties, and are liberal contributors to the support of the same.
Mr. Byers is deserving of much credit for the honorable and successful life he has led, and he stands today as a leader in his township, a man of sterling character and sound judgment whom it is a pleasure to know, and no family in the county stands higher than that bearing his name.
DAVID SLIPHER.
No history of Tippecanoe county. Indiana, would be complete if a chronicle giving in detail the interesting career of David Slipher and his family should be omitted, for he belonged to that class of sterling pioneers to whom the present generaton owes its prosperity, Mr. Slipher having performed well his part in the clearing and development of this locality, reclaiming it from the dense wilderness infested with wild beasts and wilder men to what it is today -one of the choicest districts in one of the greatest commonwealths of the bright constellation of Union stars. He was indeed a grand old man who won the confidence and esteem of all who knew him, performing with a free
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good will whatever fell to his hands, and then, placing implicit faith in the Good Shepherd, who never yet has led one of his flock astray, he followed Him into the Silent Land, leaving behind him a goodly competence for his family, also that which they should prize still more highly-a good name.
David Slipher, who spent the latter part of his life as a retired farmer, was born in Butler county, Ohio, April 28, 1814, the son of Stephen Slipher, born in old Virginia, in July, 1779. David's mother was known in her maid- enhood as Elizabeth Flenner, a native of Maryland, born there in 1780, and after a long and beautiful life, passed to her rest, June 8, 1856, leaving five children, thirty-nine grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. Stephen Slipher came to Clinton county, Indiana, in 1828 and entered land in section 8, Ross township, the present site of Madison, the patent for which land becom- ing the property of David, his son. It bore the signature of President Andrew Jackson. These papers are now in the possession of Mrs. Martha E. Brand, of Lafayette. It was in 1851 that Stephen Slipher came to Tippecanoe county, his death occurring in Madison township, April 7, 1868, at the home of his son, David, and he sleeps the sleep that knows no waking, in Fair Haven cemetery.
David Slipher first came to Clinton county, Indiana, in 1831, and his final settlement was made there in 1842 on the land entered by his father in 1828. His oldest brother, Daniel, came to Clinton county in 1830 and lived there until his death, in February, 1878, at the age of seventy-six years, having been born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1802. Martin Baum, an uncle of Daniel and David, had the distinction of building the first brick house in Cin- cinnati. He was a land agent and an Indian trader. The paternal great- grandfather of David Slipher came from Germany and settled in Virginia in the colonial days. From the Fatherland also came David's maternal great- grandfather. He settled in Maryland, near Hagerstown. David's maternal grandfather, Rudolph Flenner, died in Butler county, Ohio, as did also his · wife, Magdalena, her death occurring on December 30, 1818, at the age of seventy-four.
Descendants of Stephen Slipher delight to tell of the pioneer days when that heroic old "first settler" left his boyhood home in Ohio and came overland to Indiana, accompanied by his family, in the coldest winter ever experienced in Indiana, that of 1832-1833. It required two ox teams to haul their house- hold plunder, the father hauling one load, then returning to Butler county. The family moved into a newly constructed log house, having neither floor nor doors, upon their arrival in Clinton county. The rude hut was without chim- ney or fire-place, there being a number of cobble-stones piled in one end of the cabin on which to cook a meal and to warm by. This was a difficult thing
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to do, owing to the very rigid weather that prevailed, the winter having come on too soon to permit the building of a chimney or the daubing of the cracks between the logs, but finally this family built the first brick chimney ever seen in the county. The winter of 1842 to 1843 was also one of the worst in the history of this section of the middle West. It was then that David Slipher drove from Butler county, Ohio, to Clinton county, Indiana, in a "jumper," trading his good horse for a poor one, receiving sixty dollars "to boot." He purchased a buggy with the money and drove to his new home in the vehicle, fording the swollen streams with great difficulty and danger.
David Slipher was the first man to carry the "Gunter's chain" in the sur- veying of Clinton county, with Isaac D. Armstrong, who surveyed the land his father entered in 1828. David's first log house cost thirty dollars to build and roof, and his first baby, Elizabeth, was rocked in a sap-trough. He had two hundred dollars when he came to his new home, and was considered very well fixed compared to his neighbors. But while the people of those times were poor there were no paupers, for all were hard workers, and Mr. Slipher often declared that the first year spent in the new country was the happiest of his life, declaring that the freedom and good will existing among his neigh- bors, the willingness to assist each other in all difficulties being enough to bring tears to the eyes and joy to the heart, for all were considered on an equality, there being no aristocracy of wealth, no jealousy or covetousness.
Mr. Slipher told many interesting tales of those days, among which was the hunting in the winter of 1838, when a deep snow fell, then a sleet, forming a crust. Mr. Slipher was one of a band of hunters who caught deer by the scores, for the animals would break through the crust of snow, thus permitting the dogs to capture them, the crust being sufficient to hold the dogs up. A sled load of deer skins were procured during one hunt. Stephen Slipher, who was a very far-seeing man for those times, entered one thousand, four hun- dred and forty acres of land, a one-fourth section for each of his children, as follows: Daniel; Mary, married D. C. Clark and died in 1862; Isaac, father of Mrs. Rev. E. R. Johnson; Phillip, father of Mrs. Amanda Mattox; Emily, wife of Simeon Bryan; David and Mrs. Susanna Earhart; Elizabeth and Stephen died in infancy. The father of these children died in 1868, at the age of eighty-nine years, having been preceded to the grave by his wife in 1856.
On March 1, 1838. David Slipher married Mary Scott, daughter of Samuel and Abigail ( Mills) Scott. She was born in Lehigh county, Pennsyl- ania, May 14. 1809, and was reared to womanhood in Butler county, Ohio; where she was taken by her parents when eight months of age. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania, but moved to Grant county, Wisconsin, where
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he died in 1845, when about seventy-five years old. Mrs. Slipher's mother was born in Virginia, and she died in Butler county, Ohio, at the age of seventy years.
To Mr. and Mrs. David Slipher nine children were born; all lived to maturity, namely : Elizabeth married David Bolyard; Martha E. married the late John W. Brand (deceased). Mrs. Brand lives in a cozy and neatly kept home at No. 1444 South street with her daughter, Mrs. Kosta Slayback, but she still retains her farm near Dayton, this county. Mary E., who became the wife of Monroe Moyer, died in Perry township, Tippecanoe county, Febru- ary 21, 1872, and she is buried in Fair Haven cemetery. Louisa M., the wife of William Peter, lives in Madison township; Isaac N. married Jane Jones, and they are living in Missouri; Stephen was born August 11, 1846, married Mary Ohl, and died December 2, 1866; David C. married Hannah App; S. Emeline is the wife of Franklin Burkhalter, living in Clinton county ; William Irving married Ella J. Frankenfield; he is a merchant in Clinton county.
David Slipher was a very progressive farmer for his day, and in connec- tion with his extensive farming interests, in 1862 he purchased the first steam threshing-machine in Tippecanoe county. He moved it from farm to farm by ox teams. The death of this useful and influential man occurred in March, 1906, having lived to be nearly ninety-two years old. For many years prior to his death he was an ardent temperance man, advocating strict abstinence. He was a stanch Methodist. He was a man of sterling qualities and strong convictions and was universally loved, as was also his faithful life companion, "Aunt Polly," as she was familiarly known, who also reached the remarkable age of ninety-one years.
David Slipher was elected county commissioner and held the office for a period of nine years. He served also as township trustee and justice of the peace, performing his duties in a most conscientious and able manner.
Mrs. Martha E. Brand, before referred to in this sketch, is the widow of the late Rev. J. W. Brand, a man greatly beloved by all who knew him and who was a power for good during the course of his very noble career, his death having occurred June 12, 1886. He was born in Butler county, Ohio, and he came to Tippecanoe county when eight years of age. It was in 1861 that he was united in marriage with Martha E. Slipher. They lived in Thorn- town, Indiana, for fourteen years, later made their home in Lafayette for sev- eral years, also lived two years in Dayton. While in Thorntown, Mr. Brand united with the Methodist Episcopal church and in 1880 he was licensed as an evangelistic worker, after which time he was engaged in various places as an evangelist. His untimely death, occurring when he was forty-seven years
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old, was keenly felt by all who knew him. He left a devoted wife, son and daughter, an aged mother and one brother, besides hosts of loyal friends, to mourn their untimely and irreparable loss.
Mrs. Brand is a woman of gracious personality, of high intellectual attainments, and she was the source of a great deal of help and inspiration to her talented husband. She is affable, of pleasing address, refined and kind- hearted, always ready to assist others-a true Christian lady who numbers her friends only by the limits of her acquaintance.
A WOODEN RAILROAD.
The following interesting reminiscence has heen contributed by one familiar with the facts, but was received too late to be inserted in its proper place in the first volume of this work.
In about 1855-56 a wooden railroad was built in Tippecanoe county. Starting at West Lafayette, the road ran alongside the highway leading by the water tank, thence to the "Two-mile" saw mill, and on out the old plank road to what is now known as Klondike. Here the road went in a northerly direction around the burying ground, then turned up towards Mr. Harvey's place, and stopped. The original intention had been to run the road to Oxford, but it was completed only to the Four-mile brickyard. The idea was originated by the late Henry L. Ellsworth, who thought to haul lumber to Oxford and then load up with corn for the return trip. Mules were used as the motive power, and the rails were of wood, four by four inches in size, the material being sawed out at the Ellsworth sawmill, four miles from Lafayette. It is stated that Thomas Murdock, at the age of thirteen years, was employed in the grading of the road, receiving eight dollars a month as wages. The road was operated intermittently for about a year, and then passed into disuse.
OTTO F. HUNZIKER
was born in Zurich, Switzerland. December 25, 1873. His parents were Dr. Karl Otto and Louise ( Pupekofer) Hunziker. Dr. Karl Otto Hunziker died in 1908. He was professor of history and pedagogy at the University
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of Zurich, and was recognized as one of the foremost educators of his time in that country.
O. F. Hunziker was fond of the dairy cow and her product from his childhood up, and devoted much of the leisure time of his earlier years to work on dairy farms. He graduated from the Agricultural College. Strick- hof, near Zurich, in 1892, and spent the succeeding year on a dairy in French Switzerland. In the spring of 1893 he came to the United States, where he worked on a dairy farm in Attleboro, Massachusetts, for nearly two years. He then took a business course in the Bryant & Stratton Business College at Providence, Rhode Island, from which college he graduated in 1896. From 1896 to 1898 he held positions in bookkeeping with several commercial houses in Providence, Rhode Island.
Mr. Hunziker entered Cornell University in 1898 and graduated from · that institution in 1900, specializing in dairying. He received the degree of Master in the Science of Agriculture at Cornell in 1901. He was dairy bac- teriologist of the New York Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station and assistant in pathological bacteriology in the New York State Veterinary Col- lege in 1902. In the fall of 1902 he took the position of milk expert with the Scranton Condensed Milk Company at Ellicottville. New York. He was with this company in the capacity of milk expert, division foreman, factory superintendent, bacteriologist and chemist, respectively, until his call from Purdue in 1905. His position at Purdue is that of professor of dairy hus- bandry and chief of the dairy department. Professor Hunziker was married in 1905 to Florence Belle Burne, of Ellicottville, New York. Children. Thelma Belle. Florence Louise and Karl Otto. The subject is a member of the State Dairy Association, the Official Dairy Instructors' Association, In- diana Academy of Science, the Cornell Chapter of the Sigma Xi, and of the Gamma Alpha Societies.
BOUND TO PLEASE Heckman Bindery™ THE
FEB.65
N. MANCHESTER INDIANA
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