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 44

Author:
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed Brothers
Number of Pages: 786

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 44
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 44

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MEMOIRS OF INDIANA.

moth establishment gives employment to abont 1,500 men. Besides their South Bend works they have a factory and repository at Nos. 203, 204, 205 and 206 Michi- gan avenne, Chicago, where they enploy a battery of boilers of 1,000-horse power, an engine of 100-horse power, a 45-arc light dynamo, and 125 incandescent lighta. In consequence of the eminent success achieved by the brothers, a personal mention will not be out of place. They are men who exercise cool and deliberate judgment, tempered with sterling sense, and are industrious and keenly observant. They have the faculty while making the rounds of the works to take in the full scope and intent of everything over which their eyes have range. They are forward and liberal in giving aid to public enterprises, and in the support of churches, charities and other agencies for good. Many of the most attractive buildings in the city have been erected by them. Their sales are made in every State and Territory of the Union as well as in many foreign countries, and the company has 1,500 agencies and a large force of traveling men. The officers are Clem Studebaker, president, who has held the office since its organization as a stock concern in 1868; J. M. Studebaker, vice-president; R. E. Studebaker, second vice-president and treasurer (in charge of the Chicago house), and George M. Studebaker, secretary. Clem Stude. baker has filled many positions of trust, usefulness and honor, public and private, and has for many years been a member of the New York book concern of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, to the general conference of which church he has twice been a lay delegate. He has twice been a delegate in national Republican conven- tions. He was a United States commissioner for Indiana to the Paris Exposition; to the New Orleans Exposition, and is now president of the Indiana Board of World's Fair Managers. He has been president of the Carriage Builders' National Associa- tion and a member of that body since its organization, and was one of the ten delegates appointed by President Harrison to represent the United States in the Pan-American Congress at Washington during the winter of 1889-90. He is also a member of the board of trustees in De Pauw University of Indiana, and a member of the board of managers of Chautauqua. When it is further remembered that he gives constant oversight and direction to the home office of the Studebaker Bros. Manufacturing Co. of South Bend, and to the general affairs of the company, it will be seen that he furnishes another illustration of the fact that the men who are busiest in the conduct of their private affairs. are those who can best be depended upon to find leisure for important work claiming the attention of the patriot and philanthropist.

WILLIAM N. SCHINDLER is the principal owner of the St. Joseph Mills, is a thorough master of his calling and is in every respect one of the substantial citizens of Mishawaka. He was born in Buffalo, N. Y., May 20, 1857, his father being Andrew Schindler (see sketch of John J. Schindler). He received an excellent edu- cation in his youth, first attending the common schools, then St. Frances Seminary near Milwaukee, Wis. When about fifteen years of age he came to Mishawaka, and when about nineteen years of age he began learning the miller's trade under his uncles, Kuhn Bros., who built the St. Joseph Mills, in 1861. On July 5, 1883. he embarked in the milling business with his brother John J., becoming the joint owners of the St. Joseph Mills, since which time they have greatly improved it by putting in the improved roller process as well as other valuable machinery. By industry and attention to business this firm prospered, and although they began with a heavy indebtedness, this has been paid off and they are now doing a business which is in every way satisfactory to them and their numerous patrons. The mill has a fine water power, being so situated that it has au eight-foot fall, which renders it one of the best mill properties in northern Indiana, and in the hands of its ener- getic manager it will develop to its fullest extent. January 8, 1889, Mr. Schindler took for his wife Miss Marie A. ŒEchtering, daughter of Clement ŒEchtering, of Hanover, Germany, she being a sister of Rev. Father J. H. (Echtering, of Ft. Wayne, Ind. Mr. Schindler has always been a Republican up to the Harrison ad-

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ministration, when for several conscientious reasons he went over to the Democratic party. He has always been a devout member of the Catholic Church. He is secre- tary of the building committee of the new St. Joseph Catholic Church and handles all the funds and makes all disbursements. The church has been in process of erection for the past two years and will cost $36,000 exclusive of the windows and furniture. The whole cost will amount to about $50,000, and will, when finished, be the finest building of the kind in the northern part of the State. This structure will be a credit to the building committee and to the Catholic people of Mishawaka. Its appearance is most tasteful and picturesque and a fine tower rising gracefully to

a grand height is well proportioned and presents a beautiful appearance. Mr. Schind. ler is one of the most wide-awake, enterprising and successful business men of St. Joseph county, and throughout a long business career his good name has never been assailed. Mr. Schindler, besides being interested in the St. Joseph Milling Company, of which he is president and treasurer, is also interested in several other enterprises throughout the State which are all bringing him handsome returns. He is well liked by all people who have the pleasure of making his acquaintance, either socially or in business, and is held in high esteem by his fellow-citizens.

CHRISTIAN STAHLY. Among the honored and wealthy pioneers of Union township, Elkhart county, Ind., is Christian Stahly, who resides one-half mile north of Nap- panee. His many years of hard labor have been rewarded with abundant means and he is now in the enjoyment of a comfortable income. He was one of four brothers and one sister, all of whom were born in Germany, sons of Henry and Barbara (Sumner) Stahly, the former of whom was also born in Germany in 1750, or about that time. He was a farmer by occupation and followed this calling up to the day of his death, which occurred in his native land in 1825. He was a man of means, a member of the Amish Church, and a man of strict integrity of character. He was married twice, his first wife bearing him one child, Magdaline. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born in Wiseburg, in Germany, in 1770, and died in Indi- ana at the home of her son, having, after the death of the husband and father, cared for her five children and one step-child. She left Kaiserslautern, Germany, for this country in the month of August, 1835, landed at New York City, but removed soon after to Stark county, Ohio, where they remained during the winter, then took up their residence in Wayne county, of the same State. All the mem- bers of this family: John, Catherine, Henry and Jacob, were weavers and worked at this trade in Ohio; Christian was a farmer. John, the eldest son, came from Ger- many about 1830, which was about five years before the rest of the family turned their footsteps thither. The subject of this sketch was born in July, 1820, in Ger- many, and iu 1835 moved with his mother, three brothers and one sister to America. On February 3, 1842, he was married to Fanny Hansauer in Wayne county, Ohio, and the same year moved to Elkart county, Ind. He entered eighty acres of land for himself and & like amount for his brother, Jacob, in Elkhart county, all of which was located on Section 31, and here he set energetically to work to improve his land and lay by means for a rainy day. His wife was a daughter of Peter and Mariah (Keck) Hansauer, native Germans who came to this country in an early day (1817) and were among the pioneers of Wayne county, Ohio. There the father was called from life in 1857, but the mother paid the last debt of nature at the home of the subject of this sketch in Elkhart county, Ind., in 1866, having become the mother of ten chil- dren, nine of whom are living: Moses. Peter, Jacob, Martin, Christian, Matty, Mary, Fany and Anna. Mrs. Stahly was born in Ohio, August 27, 1822, and she and her husband, Christian Stahly, who is one of the oldest pioneers of his section, are residing on the farm of 187 acres on which they first settled and which is one of the oldest farms in the township. Their children are as follows: Peter, born October 30, 1842; Barbara, horn February 22, 1844; Jacob, born July 3, 1845 and died June 3, 1867; John, born September 23, 1846; Anna M., born December 7, 1847, and died November 7, 1855; Moses, born July 27, 1849; Magdaline, born

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November 10, 1851; Solomon, born July 17, 1853; Catherine, born November 16, 1854, and died April 20, 1861; Levi, born February 3, 1856, and died April 28, 1858; and Samnel, born February 29, 1858. When Mr. Stahly settled in this county it was a wilderness, and in a few years all the members of this family had arrived in Elkhart connty, where, like the thrifty Germans that they were, they set about securing means with which to keep the wolf from the door, and eventually became well-to-do citizens. On his land Christian Stahly built him a little log cabin, but while this was in process of erection had to live in his wagon-a period of about three weeks. He came by ox team to this county and although the journey was slow and tedious and their future uncertain, they were hopeful for the future, for they were in the enjoyment of good health and possessed unbounded energy-attributes which go far toward accomplishing a desired object. During their first winter's residence some progress was made in clearing the land immediately about their cabin home, and the family was supplied with meat by Mr. Stahly's trusty rifle. During his early struggles with adversity he worked out by the day for some time, and although this was a slow way of accumulating means, it was much better than remaining idle. In time his efforts were prospered. As a farmer he has been decidedly successful and is in every respect a self-made man, for he began with little means and is now in good circumstances. He became the owner of a large amount of real estate, the most of which he has given to his children, reserving for himself only a sufficient amount to keep him in comfort the remainder of his days. Politically he supports the Republican party and to every enterprise tending to benefit the section in which he resides he gives substantial aid. His son, Peter, married Eliza- beth Smoker and is living on a farm near Stutgart, Ark. He has the following chil- dren: Barbara, Manasses, Jessie, Adam and Fanny living, and Mattie and Chauncey decessed. Barbara was married to Daniel Metzler and has the following children: John, Jonas, Lizzie, Mary, David, Jessie, Fannie, Daniel, who died, and Anna. Daniel Metzler died in 1878. Barbara then married Johnas Stineman in 1885. Jacob Stahly died at the age of twenty-one years; John was married to Elizabeth Johns, is residing in La Grange county, Ind., and is the father of nine children: Daniel, Christian, Samuel, John, Mary, Fannie, Elizabeth, Levi and Catherine. Moses, the next child of Mr. Stahly, is living in Reno county, Kan., is married to Mary Nisely and has these children: Mattie, Emeline, Fannie, Abraham, Bessie, Alice and Ezra. Magdaline married Yostel Yoder, lives in Koeciusko county on a farm and has eight children: Israel, Fannie, Christian, Elizabeth, Moses, Levi, Rudolph, Mahala, living, and Jonas and an infant deceased. Solomon married Sarah Nisley and has five children living: Amanda, Andy (died), Saloma, Samuel (died), Daniel, Jessie and Enos. Samuel married Minny Ward and has one child, Fern. Henry, the brother of Christian Stahly, came to this county in 1846 and settled on the land on which Nappanee now stands. Like his brother he was a substantial citizen and the name of Stahly will long be honored throughout Elkhart county.

PETER H. STAHLY is a prominent farmer living about one mile north of Nappanee, in Locke township, Elkhart Co., Ind., and is a son of one of the very early pio- neers, Henry Stahly, who is still living on the old homestead just north of Nap- panee. Henry Stahly was born in Germany in 1809, and is a brother of Christian Stahly, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. He came to this country in early life, and after residing for some time in Ohio, became a resident of Elkhart county, Ind., in 1846. He was married in Germany to Magdaline (Ehresman) Johnson, a widow with one child, John, and with them he came to this country, and settled first in Stark county, Ohio, afterward in Wayne county, and finally in Elkhart county, Ind. His first tract of land comprised eighty acres north of Nappanee, but he afterward became the owner of the land on which Nappanee now stands, and tilled that soil successfully for many years. He and his wife (who died in 1879) were members of the Amish Mennonite Church, and in that faith reared their children, whose names are here given: Barbara, who married John Ringenberg, and is now

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deceased; Mary, who is now the widow of T. J. Yoder, and is a resident of Indi- ana; Christian H., who is living east of Nappanee; Magdaline, who married Andrew Bliley, is deceased; Henry H., lives east of Nappanee; Peter H., the subject of this sketch, who is living one mile north of Nappanee; Simon, who is also living north of Nappanee, and Daniel, who still makes his home with his father. Mr. and Mrs. Stahly also reared her son by her first marriage, John Johnson. Peter H. Stahly, the sixth child of Henry Stahly, was born November 24, 1847, in Elk- hart county, and was reared on the farm on which the town of Nappanee, Ind., now stands. He obtained his education in the district schools near his home, dur- ing the winter months, and like all farmer's boys, assisted on the farm during the summer, after he had attained an age where his services would be valuable. At the age of twenty-one years he started to do for himself, and for three years worked in the saw-mill belonging to John King, and in 1873 began tilling the soil on rented land on Elkhart Prairie. In 1875 he bought the farm where he now lives, and the following year took up his residence thereon, and this land he has tilled with suc- cess ever since. His farm consists of 120 acres, and the most of it has been cleared through his own efforts. He has a commodious and handsome residence, a good barn for his grain and stock, good granaries and outbuildings of all descriptions. He does a general line of farming, and is quite extensively engaged in raising horses and cattle, which he has found to be a profitable source of revenue. Like his father before him he is a member of the Amish Mennonite Church, and is also interested in church and school matters, as well as all other enterprises of an ele- vating and worthy nature. He is considered by all to be one of the most public- spirited of men, and is regarded as one of the first citizens of his section. He supports the principles of the Republican party, but has not been an aspirant for public preferment. He was first married in 1872, to Catherine Yoder, who was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1846, a daughter of Joseph Yoder and his wife, Mariah (Farnwald) Yoder. She was reared in Ohio, and was one of a family of ten children: Emanuel, born September 11, 1834; Joseph, born January 26, 1840; Henry, born September 15, 1844; Solomon, born December 11, 1851, died young; Joseph, died in Tennessee during the war; Anna, born May 27, 1836; Barbara, December 10, 1837; Mariah, born August 28, 1842; Catherine, born August 29, 1846; Fannie, born February 5, 1849, and Susan, born July 24, 1854. Mr. Stahly was called from life June 16, 1877, having become the mother of two children: Frank, who was born August 18, 1873, and now assists his father on the farm, and Ida, who was born February 15, 1875. The mother of these children was a mem- ber of the Amish Mennonite Church the most of her life, was an earnest Christian, a kind and careful mother, a devoted wife and a faithful friend. In 1878 Mr. Stahly married Fannie, the sister of his first wife, her birth having occurred in Wayne county, Ohio, February 5, 1849. Joseph and Mariah Yoder were from Pennsylvania, bnt of German descent, and after leaving their native State, they first settled in Ohio, and were married in Wayneconnty, where the father was called from life in 1886, and where his widow is still residing. Mr. Stahly's present wife is also a member of the church, and in that faith they will endeavor to rear their chil- dren, who are as follows: Cora, born October 1, 1881; Nora, born August 22, 1883; Ervin, born September 12, 1885, and Iva, born August 11, 1888. Mr. Stahly, at the present time, has one of the finest farms in the county, if not in northern Indi- ana, a result of earnest toil, persistent effort and sound judgment. Joseph Yoder and Marish Farmwald were married in Ohio, November 5, 1833, the latter being a daughter of John and Anna (Wagler) Farnwald, both of whom were born in Ger- many, were married in the old country, and in 1818 came to America and became residents of Wayne county, Ohio, where they reared a family, tilled the soil, and later moved to Iowa, when it was a new country, and there spent the remainder of their days. Their children were as follows: John, Adam, David, Magdaline, Bar- bara, Elizabeth, Catherine, Mariah and Fannie, the last two being the only members

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of the family living. Joseph Yoder was born in 1801, in Summit connty, Penn., of Solomon and Barbara (Miller) Yoder. The latter conple, moving with their family to Wayne county, Ohio, and after a residence of about thirty years, came to Elk- hart county, and were here called from life, he at the advanced age of ninety-one years, ten months and twenty-seven days, and she at the age of eighty-four years, ten months and two days. . To them eight children were born: Yost, Joseph, Peter, Adam, Susan, Lesh, Elizabeth and Rachel.

HENRY D. HIGGINS, Mishawaka, Ind. Our subject is one of the old settlers of Mishawaka, who was born on a farm in Onondaga county, N. Y., March 15, 1822. His father, William Higgins, was born in New Haven, Conn., and descended from one of three brothers who came to America in old colonial days, from England, and settled in Connecticut, one of the three selecting Massachusetts as his location, and the other the State of Maine. Darius Higgins, grandfather of our subject, was a painter by trade, and passed all of his life in New Haven. His son, William, was taken to the State of New York by one of his uncles, was there reared, but received very limited schooling. He learned the trade of wagon making, and also was prac- tically taught farming. He married Hannah Willard, a widow, who had been a Miss Avery, of Onondago county, N. Y., and they were the parents of six children, as follows: Perleyette, Delphins, Henry D., Lucy, Phoebe and Maria. Mr. Higgins owned a small farm in Onondago connty, and here passed all of his life, having served his country in the War of 1812. Politically he was a Democrat at the time of his death, which occurred at the age of seventy-four years, but he had formerly been an old line Whig. He was an honorable, industrious man, much respected. Henry D. Higgins, son of the above, and our subject, received a common school education and learned the trade of carpenter. He went to Oswego county, N. Y., and there married Nancy Barnes, daughter of Charles and Susan (Spofford) Barnes. Charles Barnes was a farmer, owning his land, and passed all of his days upon his farm, living to the age of sixty-nine years. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. His family consisted of the following children: Sophia, Ann and Everett. Two weeks after marriage, in 1846, Mr. Higgins moved to Mishawaka and engaged in the painting business, doing all branches of it, as houses, signs, carriages, etc. He then opened up in the jewelry business, and was one of the first in this line in Mishawaka, 80 continning for many years, until failing health forced him to retire from active life. For fifteen years he drove a jewelry wagon throughout the county and sold jewelry, clocks, etc. Socially, Mr. Higgins is a member of L. O. O. F. Mrs. Higgins was a member of the Methodist Church, but her death occurred in 1892. To Mr. and Mrs. Higgins were born three children, Sarah; Charles, who died at the age of twenty-three years; and Susie. Mr. Higgins has always been a respected and industrione citizen, and has accumulated a substantial property. He owns his residence and also land in Charlevoix county, Mich. He has always attended strictly to his own business, and by thrift and industry has made his property. His daughters are happily married and settled, Sarah marrying Joseph De Lovinger, a jeweler, has three children and resides in Mishawaka, and Susie married Martin V. Beiger, president of the Mishawaka Woolen Manufacturing Company. Mr. Higgins is a stanch Republican, was a strong anti-slavery man, and a Union man during the late war. He has been shown great confidence in his lodge, having held the offices of uoble grand, secretary and treasurer, besides holding the minor offices. He is a temperance man also, and is a member of the organization of Sons of Temperance.

JOHN C. MELLINGER, who is one of the substantial citizens of Elkhart county, Ind., belongs to that army of intelligent, persevering, courageous people, who have gone forth from the State of their birth to build up new industrial empires in vari- ous portions of the West. Although of American parentage, he is of English and German descent, and has inherited the dogged perseverance of the former, and the energy, thrift and integrity of the latter race of people, attributes which were the stepping-stones to the prosperity which he now enjoys, and which have been the

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means of placing many a struggling young man in an independent financial position. Mr. Mellinger is, as was his father, Melchor Mellinger, a product of Mahoning county, Ohio, where he was born in 1849, and his boyhood was spent in the usual style of his day, his summers being devoted to assisting his father on the home farm and his winters to attending a few months' term of school. Melchor Mellinger's advent into this world was in the year 1805, and in Mahoning county he was reared and educated and became familiar with farming in his boyhood days. He later learned carpentering, which he followed in connection with tilling the soil the greater portion of his life. In early life he married Elizabeth Culp, and by her became the father of a large family of children, eight in number living, althongh ten were born to them: Mary, who died at about the age of fifty-five years, was first married to Tobias Yoder and secondly to Joseph Bixler, becoming the mother of one child by Yoder, and three children by Bixler, her second husband (her child, Malinda Yoder, was a wife and mother in her thirteenth year,. was married to John Bixler, her marriage taking place at the age of twelve years, which is an occurrence never before known in the United States); Henry C., & lumberman of West Virginia, is married and is the father of six children; Jacob, a farmer of Mahoning county, Ohio, has a family of nine children; Samuel C. is a lumber merchant, and conducts a saw and planing-mill at Leetonis, Columbiana Co., Ohio, having four children of which two are dead; Elizabeth is now the Widow Stafford, and is residing in Mahon- ing county with her two living children, two others having died; Daniel is a lumber and planing-mill man of Salem, Ohio, and is the father of four children; Melchor died in infancy; Magdaline also died young; John C. is a well-known resident of Nappanee, Ind., and Noah, who resides two miles from Nappanee, in Locke township, is a farmer, and has s wife and four children living and one dead. He has been a resident of Elkhart county since 1888, and from the first has occupied a high position in the estimation of the people throughout that section. Elizabeth (Culp) Mellinger, the mother of the above mentioned children, was a native of Mahoning county, born in 1810, and died in her native county in 1889, an earnest member of the Mennonite Church, as was her husband, who died in 1888, at which time he left s comfortable fortune, as well as an unblemished name, as a heritage to his children. The pater- nal grandfather, who also bore the name of Melchor, was among the early pioneers of Mahoning county, Ohio, where he followed the honorable, useful and independ- ent life of the farmer, and reared a family of eleven children, all of whom married and reared families of their own, but seven of them are now deceased. There were seven boys and four girls in this family and their descendants are scattered through- ont many of the States of the Union. The maternal grandparents, Henry and Elizabeth (Klepper) Culp, were from Virginia, and Mr. Culp came of sturdy German stock. He was a farmer and lived to be eighty years of age, dying in the sixties. Although John C. Mellinger was denied the privilege of a liberal education, he applied himself in a sufficiently earnest manner to his books, when opportunity offered, and at the age of twenty years, when he started to make his own way in the world, he was well fitted to fight the battle of life successfully. The occupation of carpentering occupied his attention until 1873, when, in company with B. F. Myers, he left his native county and came to Elkhart county, Ind., and in the village of Nappanee started a saw-mill, which was the first erected in the neighborhood. In the spring of 1875 he purchased Mr. Myer's interest in the establishment which he continued alone for one year following. At this time J. B. and Frank Coppes, became his associates in business, and the firm became known as J. C. Mellinger & Co., and continued as such until 1879, when Samnel Coppes entered the firm. In 1882 Mr. Mellinger disposed of his interest in this establishment, after which he began devoting his attention to dealing in grain, but finding it not sufficiently profitable, discontinned it at the end of one year. In 1885 he identified himself with the Farmers' & Traders' Bank, in which he has been one of the tellers since that time. In this, as in every other position he has filled, he has shown himself to be a man

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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 44

Author: Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed Brothers Number of Pages: 786

Author:
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed Brothers
Number of Pages: 786