USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > Pictorial and biographical memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, Indiana, together with biographies of many prominent men of northern Indiana and of the whole state, both living and dead > Part 32
USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > Pictorial and biographical memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, Indiana, together with biographies of many prominent men of northern Indiana and of the whole state, both living and dead > Part 32
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farm and has been a tiller of the soil and a carpenter for six years. The parents are members of the New School Lutheran Church and the father is now classed among the honored old settlers of Elkhart county. The mother was called from life on June 14, 1892, having been a worthy Christian all her life. Edson Showal- ter was married February 6, 1888, to Miss Orpha, daughter of Silas and Margaret (Dally) Shoup. By her he has two children: Leo R. and Noble L. Edson Sho- walter owns, in company with his brother, William R., 148 acres of land, is indus- trions, honorable and pushing and a man highly esteemed in the community in which he resides. William R. was born on his grandfather's farm in Rockingham county, Va., January 9, 1855, and was an infant two months old when brought by his parents to Indiana. In his youth he was considered one of the best scholars in his district. October 1, 1884, he was married to Frances, daughter of John and Cath- erine (Jacoba) Wert, and to them fonr children have been born: Earl S., Clayton W., Irwin E. and Edna I. Like his brother he is a public-spirited man, honest, industrious and successful, and politically is a Democrat. His wife is one of the following family of children: Emeline, Mary J., Caroline, Catherine, Adeline, Leah, Josiah, Jeremiah, Lucinda, John, David, Frances, William and Cyrus. Our subject has been master of Middlebury Grange for two years. The Showalters are a religious people and have always been associated with the Lutheran Church.
ABEL E. WORK. A short time prior to the great American Revolution the Work family tree took root in American soil. At that time the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Samuel Work, came from County Antrim, Ireland, to take up his abode upon a new soil and in a foreign land. He was of Scotch-Irish birth, and was married on the Isle of Erin to Jane Dunn, who bore him the following children: Aaron, Robert, Samuel, Elizabeth, Margaret and Jane, all natives of America, to which country Mr. Work brought his young bride soon after their marriage. At the opening of the Revolutionary war they were residing on a farm near Philadelphia, Penn., and from here Samuel Work at once enlisted in the patriot army, serving until the struggle ended. Later he disposed of his property in Pennsylvania and after several moves finally found himself in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1812, where he lived only until 1817, when death finished his earthly career. He was a Presbyterian in his religious views. His son Aaron, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Chester county, Penn., and as his father was identified with the agricultural growth of the section in which they resided, his early life was much the same as that of other boys of his age and generation-he was a farmer's boy purely and simply, doing his part of the necessary work about his rural home. Iu time he took for himself a wife in the person of Millicent, daughter of Abel and Bridget (McMurtny) Everett, the former of whom also participated in the war of the Revo- lution, and was in the battle of Monmouth, where he saw Gen. Washington and his staff ride through a wheat field. A family of eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Work: Abel E., Samnel, William, James, Martha, Jane, Mary and Eliza- beth, all of whom were born in Fairfield county, Ohio. Mr. Work passed a useful life on his well-tilled farm in Fairfield county, and at the ripe old age of eighty years was called to his fathers, his wife living to be four years older. He was a man of lofty character, possessed exceptionally sound and practical views on all subjects, and for sixteen years of his life much of his time was devoted to adjusting his neigh- bors' difficulties as justice of the peace. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, in which church his wife was also a member. Abel E. Work, the immediate snb- ject of this biography, was born on the 29th of June, 1815, received a common- school education and learned the blacksmith's trade. They started out to fight life's battles well equipped morally, mentally and physically for the active duties of life, and endowed by nature with that splendid courage and resistless energy which has been so important a factor in the advancement of western civilization. He removed to Middlebury township, Elkhart Co., Ind., in 1842, and for thirty-six years worked faithfully at his trade of blacksmith. He also purchased land and earnestly tilled
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the soil, and by the exercise of his admirable mental faculties he has now a fine farm of 105 acres. On the 15th of September, 1836, he was married to Miss Cynthia Larimer, who was born March 22, 1814, a daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Larimer. The children that in time gathered about the board of Mr. and Mrs. Work are as follows: Aaron, born May 26, 1837; Isaac L., born December 16, 1838; John W., born January 11, 1841; Samuel, born February 26, 1843; James, born February 15, 1845; William C., born June 19, 1847; Robert W., born June 20, 1849, and Abel E., born September 13, 1851. Mr. Work is a stanch Democrat politically, and during the lamentable Civil war was a loyal Union man. Two of his sons were in the service: Isaac L., who became a member of Company I, Seventy-fourth Regi- ment, Indiana Volunteer Infautry, in which he enlisted in August, 1862, at Goshen, Ind .; John W., enlisting the same day in the same company and regiment. They were in one battle, were very much exposed to the inclement weather during the hard marching, which resulted in lung disease, from which both died, and are buried in the cemetery at Galatin, Tenn. Three sons are members of learned pro- fessions: Abel E., graduated from the Theological Seminary at Cincinnati, Ohio, and is now a Presbyterian minister in South Dakota; Samuel A., gradnated from the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Harbor, and is now a practicing physician at Vandalia, Mich .; James A., graduated from the same insti- tution, and is now practicing his profession in Elkhart, Ind. Mr. Work has twenty- nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild. His first wife, and the mother of his children, died May 23, 1883, and on June 16, 1885, Mrs. Barbara A. (Biddle) Keysor, a widow with two children (Leander S. and Albert A.), became bis wife. Mr. Work's life has been usefully and profitably spent, and he is well posted on the current issues of the day, is wide awake to the interests of his sec- tion, and is a man of unblemished reputation. ' His second wife is a daughter of George Biddle, a member of an old Virginia family. Isaac Larimer, his first wife's father, was the son of Robert Larimer, a Scotch-Irishman, who, upon coming to this country, was shipwrecked on the coast of Pennsylvania, and although he had paid his passage to this country, was sold by the captain of the rescning vessel, and was compelled to pay his passage again. Robert Larimer became a farmer of Juniata county, Penn., but in the latter part of the last century went to Fairfield county, Ohio, of which section he was one of the pioneers. Isaac Larimer, his son, was married to Elizabeth Wood, daughter of Moses Wood, and by her became the father of the following children: Robert, John, James, Moses, Isaac, Wright, Sarah, Eliza- beth, Phoebe and Cynthia. Isaac Larimer was a soldier in the War of 1812, in which struggle his sons, Robert and John, also participated. Robert and his father were in Hull's inglorious surrender. He was a substantial farmer, and died at about the age of fifty years, in Fairfield county, Ohio. He was a gunsmith by trade, and he and his wife became the parents of eleven children; Jacob, Mary, John, Valentia, Frederick, Levi, Barbara A. and Elizabeth are still living.
VERY REV. WILLIAM CORBY, C. S. C. Father Corby was born in Detroit, Mich., in 1833. His father, Daniel Corby, was born in King's county, Ireland, in 1798, and came to the New World a young, unmarried man. In Montreal, Canada, he wedded Miss Stapleton, a lady of rare beauty and numerous Christian virtues. She was noted in a special manner for her charity to the poor and infirm. Father William Corby was the fifth child of a large family. In early life he attended the public or district schools, open a few months each year, and when these schools were not in session, the father secured for his children the services of a private tutor. When not occupied with his studies William attended to various humble occupa- tions under the direction of a good father who was a man of iron will, frugal in habits, a total abstinance man for more than forty years; thrifty and possessed of a liberal store of this world's goods. Mr. Corby determined to give his sons the best facilities for acquiring an education and with that object in view he sent William to the college of Notre Dame, Ind., where he arrived during the scholastic year 1852-3.
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When he arrived at Notre Dame he had no intention of joining the Order of the Holy Cross, but, captivated by the place, the people and the good work being done he determined, with God's help, to devote his life and energy to advancing the cause of Christian education. At once he joined the small band directed by the venerable Father Sorin, then laying the foundations of a great university in the forests of In- dians. Father Corby devoted every hour, even his vacations, to study. He never returned home to his father's house until he went as a newly ordained priest, to cele- brate his first Mass in his old parish church surrounded by relatives and friends of his boyhood. The solemnity of the occasion caused the good old father of the young priest to shed tears of joy, and made him feel like a young man again.
Philosophy was Father Corby's favorite study, and this science he taught with success in his alma mater several years. At various terms he was prefect of the students, prefect of the study room, prefect of discipline and director of the manual labor school. While holding the latter position he attended, Sundays, St. Patrick's Church, South Bend. At the breaking out of the war he volunteered his services to the famous Irish Brigade of New York. He was appointed their chaplain in 1862, and for three years he was with them in all the principal battles fought by the Army of the Potomac, under MacClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant. Father Corby has now ready for press a book which gives a full account of his thrilling experiences during those stormy years. After his return from the war in 1865, he was for a few months in charge of St. Patrick's congregation, South Bend. He paid the debt on the church, finished and furnished a parochial residence and was the first Catholic pastor that ever resided in that city. Father Sorin and the chapter of the Order of the Holy Cross, determined to utilize Father Corby's rare executive ability by electing him, in 1865, vice-president of the University of Notre Dame, with Rev. P .. Dillon as president. The old members of the faculty used to say the two made a "strong team." With great energy the old college of 1842-53 was soon changed into the noble building destroyed by fire in 1879. Before the students were ont of the house at the close of the year, June, 1865, the main building and the wings were unroofed and later all the inside partitions and floors were taken out, leaving nothing except some outer walls. When the students returned the follow- ing September they found an imposing edifice 185x85 feet and six stories high, ready for class work, although in an unfinished condition. That year there was an entrance of over 500 students, not including the boys from the manual labor school or seminary. The following year Father Corby was elected president with Father Augustus Lemonnier as vice-president. There was a debt on the institution of $97,- 000 and au unfinished building to be completed. In less than five years this debt was paid and $80,000 besidee expended on improvements. One of the first acts of Father Corby's administration was to remove to old Exhibition Hall to s more suitable site and enlarge the play ground from two acres to twenty-five acres, 88 they are st present. He founded the Notre Dame Scholastic, then called the Scho- lastic Year. The first number was published September 7, 1877, good Father Gillespie acting as editor. He engaged several persons to draw up a general plan for all the college grounds, according to which future buildings should be erected. Two plans were particularly good, one by the Rev. James Dillon, C. S. C., and the other by Rev. J. C. Carrier, C. S. C., were submitted to the council. After discussing the merits of each, Father Dillon's plan, modified by Father Carrier's idea, was adopted. It is on this plan that all the principal buildings have since been erected. During Father Corby's administration the law department was established and the scientific department commenced under the direction of Rev. J. C. Carrier, one of the ablest scientists of our day. Steps were also taken to found a medical depart- ment, with Rev. Louis Neron as dean. In 1868 a General Chapter of the Order of the Holy Cross held in Rome elected Father Corby provincial for the United States in place of Very Rev. Father Sorin, elected superior general of the order through- out the world. This office Father Corby held with that of president of Notre
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Dame until 1872, when another general chapter elected him to establish a branch institution at Watertown, Wis. After founding the College of the Sacred Heart, now in a flourishing condition under the presidency of Father O'Keefe, C. S. C., and building one of the largest churches in that State, he was, in 1877, re-elected president of Notre Dame, and shortly after provincial for the second time. Much energy was now in demand. Father Corby began his work by naming Rev. Thomas E. Walsh vice-president and director of studies, and Rev. Christopher Kelly prefect of discipline. Everyone worked hard and the college affaire brightened up for a while, until April 23, 1879, when the grand old college, with many other buildings, was reduced to ashes. The loss was more than a quarter of a million dollars, not counting priceless treasurers of art and science. No time could be lost, so all the students and faculty were called to the church, about the only building left stand- ing, and there Father Corby, with old-time war courage, made a bold, inspiring speech, telling all to return the following September, that classes would be resumed in a new building far superior to the one then in ashes. Then he sent the students to their homes and rushed to Chicago to engage architects. Men and teams were put to work before the fire was entirely extinguished. It took ninety men and thirty teams several weeks to remove the debrie, dig up the old foundations, "not a stone of which was left upon a stone." Finally Mr. Edbrook, the famous Chicago architect, now inspecting architect for the United States Gov- ernment, arrived with plans for the new college and in ninety days after the corner- stone was laid, the class rooms were thrown open on the first Tuesday of September, 1879; thus the promise made by Father Corby on the day of the fire was literally fulfilled. For the construction of the new building seven brick yards were bought up and 350 mechanics and laboring men were employed. Students flocked to Notre Dame from all parts of the country, and the university commenced a new era of prosperity. Father Corby continued in the presidency until 1881, when his services were again demanded at Watertown, Wis. The debt on the lately established branch house having increased, he was obliged to return and help put the establishment on a better footing. With considerable vigor he nearly wiped out a debt of $22, 000. and built a fine new parochial residence. In 1885 he was for the third time called to till the office of provincial, which he held until August, 1892, when the General Chapter of the order re-elected him provincial superior of the United States and first assistant general for the entire world. Father Corby's natural disposition is mild, but with his military experience and his subsequent experience in administra- tion, he cultivated, as duty demanded, the quality of firmness. This added to his genial disposition, makes him a general favorite. He is one of the most charitable and kind-hearted of men, sincere in his friendships and devotedly attached to the society of which he is a member. He never forgets a kindness and never stoops to resent an injury. Assisted as he is by cheerful, intelligent and willing confreres, who all love him, his work gives satisfaction to everyone. As may be seen from the above sketch, he is an intelligent organizer and possesses more than ordinary executive ability.
REV. BENJAMIN SCHROCK. This gentleman comes of a good old family of German extraction, that was highly honored and respected in the "Keystone State." It is a true observation that "There is no royal road to fortune," and this just statement is fully verified by a study of the lives of the pioneer farmers of Indiana. When such a man as Benjamin Schrock starts out as he did, with no pecuniary help and with no fortune except good health, robust strength, and yet succeeds in securing a fine property and that degree of competence which allows him to retire from business and live in comfort, it can be realized that the old saying has not outgrown its lease of life. The paternal grandfather of Benjamin Schrock came from Zwei- brucken, Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, in 1780 to America in search of a for- tune, settling in Huntington county, Penn. At that time he was the father of three children: Jacob, Barbars and Catherine, but his wife bore him three sons and
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one daughter after their settlement in this country: Andrew, John, David and Elizabeth. Mr. Schrock's expectations of realizing a fortune in this country were not realized, and he had a hard struggle for many years to keep the wolf from the door. He attained the advanced age of four-score years, a member of the Mennonite Church, dying at the home of his son, John Schrock, in Holmes connty, Ohio, where his wife also spent her declining years. John Schrock, their son, was a prodnet of Pennsylvania, his birth occurring May 6, 1779, and about 1815, in the early days of Ohio he went to that State and carved out a home for himself and family in the wilderness. Hordes of Indians roamed over the country at that time, and although their lives and property were at various times threatened, they escaped better than the majority of early settlers and continued to prosper in spite of adverse circum- stances. He became a substantial farmer of the section in which he settled, and gave each of his children a good start in life. He was honorable and upright in character, kind and considerate in his family, a faithful friend, an accommodating neighbor, and on February 16, 1858, died as he had lived, an earnest Christian, having attained to the age of sixty-eight years nine months and ten days. His wife was born February 11, 1797, and bore her husband the following children: Elizabeth, Benjamin, Abraham, Barbara, Magdalena and Susannah. Benjamin Schrock, a member of this family, was born February 22, 1819, but owing to his father's straitened circumstances he was compelled to labor industriously on the farm during the summer months, and his chances for obtaining an education were only snch as could be obtained while attending school irregularly during the winter seasons. He was married in Holmes county, Ohio, to Miss Mary Stntzman, daughter of Jonas and Magdalena (Garber) Stutzman, soon after which, as he was a young man of pushing energy and ambition, the chances of the West became a temptation that could not be resisted, and he determined to make a home for himself on a portion of the Indian Reserve. He settled on an uncleared farm in Miami county, Ind., but at the end of thirteen years settled three miles north of Goshen, on Pine Creek, then in Clinton township, Elkhart county, and six years later, or in 1878. he took up his abode on his present fine farm of 200 acres in Middlebury township. He has always been an industrious, hard-working man, and has earned his present fine prop- erty by the sweat of his brow. His liberal views, unquestioned honesty and rugged common sense have given him an influence far beyond that possessed by many more pretentious and prominent men. He has lived a quiet life, looking after the posses- sions which a life of industry has secured him, and is in the enjoyment of a comfort- able, refined and pleasant home. He has been the architect of his own fortnnes, and success has been won through hardships and severe toil. For thirty-eight years he was a bishop of the Amish Church, but for the past forty years he has been a minister of that denomination, and a member of the church for fifty years. He is a believer in good schools, and has ever been liberal in the use of his means, and has never been guilty of turning one from his door who was really in need of his aid. He has always supported the principles of Democracy. His union with Miss Stutz- man has resulted in the birth of eleven children: Abraham is a farmer and black- smith of Clinton township, Elkhart county, was married to Miss Sarah Miller, by whom he has four children; Jacob B. is a farmer of Kosciusko county, Ind., is married to Matilda Ricks, and is the father of four children; John, a farmer of Fillmore county, Neb., is married to Anna Garber, and has three children; Annie, Elizabeth and Susannah are at home; Benjamin F. is a farmer of Middlebury town- ship, is married to Alice Miller, and has two children; Daniel is also a farmer of this township, is married to Anna M. Yoder; Absalom is a carpenter of Anderson, Ind., and is married to Etta Miller; Mary M., who is a school teacher in Nebraska, and William, who is a farmer of Fillmore county, Neb., is married to Hannah Yoder, by whom he has seven children.
JOHN WALMER, Middlebury, Elkhart Co., Ind. The philosophy of success in life is an interesting study. In whatever pursuit individual effort is directed, it
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should be entered with a theoretical knowledge acquired at the proper schools, followed by a practical application, to prepare one to successfully assume responsibil- ities that follow. In choosing & pursuit in life, taste, mental gifts, opportunity and disposition of labor should be considered, as every young man, who has any ambition to become a respectable and useful citizen, desires to succeed therein. A narrative of success in life affords a lesson from which others can profit. On his father's farm in Lebanon county, Penn., there was born on the 26th of September, 1817, a boy who grew up tosturdy manbood, ambitious to excel in the pursuit of his choice, and this boy was John Walmer. As he grew to manhood he became thoroughly con- versant with pretty much all kinde of farm labor and evinced a fondness for agricult- ural pursuits which he has carried with him through life. He received few oppor- tunities for the acquirement of an education, but through his own persistency learned to read in the German Testament and the Psalter, but acquired no knowledge of arithmetic or English except what he obtained in later years by mixing unreservedly with his fellows and in conducting the business affairs of life. He only learned to count after he had attained man's estate, by splitting rails by the hundred-a rough but most thorough school. The first work which he did for himself was at clearing land and mauling rails, and in & still-house, but the June following his marriage, which occurred February 11, 1844, and was to Miss Magdalena Hoff, he and his young wife removed to Wayne county, Ind., through the Black Swamp of Ohio, and settled one mile south of his present farm, which at first consisted of eighty acres. He labored hard to clear this land and in time added eighty acres more, which he tilled with great diligence during the summer months. His spare moments during the winters were devoted to the making of brooms; in fact, he gladly turned his hand to any employment that offered remuneration. Since 1864 he has resided on his present farm and is now the owner of 286 acres of good farming land, & water saw-mill and two good lots in Elkhart, on one of which is erected & store and on the other a frame residence and stable. Mr. Walmer has been a very strong man physically, with an iron constitution, or he could never have borne the hard labor he has undergone. It would be difficult to speak too strongly of the useful- ness of his life, for he has used his talents wisely and well, and in his active life he has found time to embellish his mind with a fund of general wisdom. To Mr. and Mrs. Walmer the following children have been born: Amanda E., born February 2, 1845, married Aaron Work, township trustee, who resides in Elkhart. They have three children: Lnetta, George and John, the eldest of whom, Luetta, married William Barger, a box manufacturer, by whom she has one child, Everet, a great- grand-daughter of Mr. Walmer. The latter's second child and only son, John F., was born July 2, 1850, remains with his father and ie a practical farmer. The mother of these children died August 11, 1887, at the age of sixty-eight years. Mr. Walmer has an adopted daughter, Idella J. Poorbaugh, who has lived in the family since she was eight years of age. She is a member of the German Reformed Church, of which Mr. Walmer is also a member, although his wife was & Lutheran. Politically he is a Democrat. He comes of an old Pennsylvania family, members of which have been residents of the " Keystone State." George Walmer, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a blacksmith by trade and owned a small farm of forty- five acres. He was married in Pennsylvania to Miss Sarah Fisher and to them were born six children: Joseph George, John, Lydia, Catherine and Elizabeth. The mother died when her son, John, was a small boy, and the father afterward espoused Catherine Shney, nee Miller, who died April 7, 1877, at the age of ninety years, after having borne Mr. Walmer three children: Mariah, Mattie and Benjamin. Mr. Walmer settled on a farm in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1836, on which he spent the remainder of his days, dying at the age of sixty-eight years, February 10, 1856. He was in comfortable circumstances and was a man of unblemished reputation. The wife of John Walmer was a daughter of George and Catherine (Hess) Hoff, the former of whom was a blacksmith and a substantial farmer. They became the par-
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