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 78

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 78
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 78

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MEMOIRS OF INDIANA.

held four years. He bas conducted his mercantile business with remarkable suc- cess, has a large patronage and is highly regarded in the mercantile circles of the county. In 1889 he was elected to the position of township trustee on the Democrat ticket and ran considerably ahead of his ticket. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Lakeville Lodge, No. 353, and is a well-posted man on the general topics of the day. In 1871 he was married to Miss Ellen Hardy, a daughter of John and Sarah Hardy, who came to this section in an early day from Pennsylvania, and settled in Lakeville. They reared & family of ten children: Mary, Amanda, Avilla, Matilda, Ellen, Amelia, Fernando, Albert, Edward and Nettie. Mrs. Nickels was born December 25, 1847, in Union township. this county, and her union with Mr. Nickels has resulted in the birth of eight children, five of whom are living: War- ren, born in 1872 and died at the age of two and a half years; Carrie M., born in 1873, September 16; Willard, born in 1875 and died at the age of two and a half years; Marshall was born August 20, 1877; Omar was born February 24, 1879; Ethel was born February 14, 1881, and died October 15, 1888; Clarence was born May 6, 1884, and Oren was born March 30, 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Nickels are mem- bera of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which Mrs. Nickele has been con- nected since she was fourteen years of age. Mr. Nickels is decidedly public spir- ited, is interested in educational work and expects to give his children good advan- tages.

HON. JOHN H. LESH. There is an obscurity in the game of life that, to the ro- bust mind, is always attractive. The important uncertainty of the final outcome, its value to all, serves as an incentive to great deeds. To push forward and win the battle is the one common impulse and ambition of humanity. But in this vast concourse of struggling warriors, the number who achieve success is compar- atively small, and in the majority of instances is confined to those who by reason of family inheritance or extended learning, have a far better start than their fel- lows. Without these qualifications success is rarely attained, but when it ie the fortunate being is invariably the possessor of an indomitable will, untiring energy and an unusual amount of native shrewdness and ability. Such a man is John H. Lesh, the subject of this sketch. A native of Ohio, his birth occurred in Mont- gomery county, March 19, 1846, being a son of Joseph and Margaret Lesh, the mother's maiden name being Leslie. The family moved to Wabash county, Ind., in 1850, and there both parents died. The father was a farmer, conservative in all his dealings, honest in every sense of the word, wise and brave and distinguished among his fellow-men. He died November 14, 1891, preceded by his wife in March, 1866. Of the five children born to them all are living save the eldest. John H. Lesh was reared to hard work on the home farm, and when twenty years of age was told by his father that, inasmuch as he was unable to give him a start in financial matters, he could then start for himself and not remain at home until twenty-one. Up to this time his schooling was so limited that he could barely read and do a little figuring; but subsequent events rendered it absolutely neces- sary that he should be better qualified in this respect, and he accordingly applied himself, with the result that through his own efforts he has acquired a practical knowledge of the common branches of education. For seven years after starting out for himself he found employment as a day and monthly laborer, and during this time had accumulated a team of horses, some household goods, and what was both

more interesting and important, a wife and two children. The year 1873 was the important epoch in the financial career of Mr. Lesh. Prior to this time he had worked as hard at farming and kindred employments as was possible for & man to work, and after seven years he was but little better off than when he started. This was discouraging in the extreme. He concluded to try lumbering as a means of bettering his condition. Investing a few dollars which be had saved in some live timber, he cut the trees down, carted the logs to a neighboring saw-mill. con- verted the logs into boards, and when this lumber was sold be found his original

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investment had been multiplied by seven. Moving at once to North Manchester, he turned his entire attention to the lumber trade, aud so successful were his efforts that four years later an inventory disclosed that be bad accumulated $15,000. This was a great deal of money, but untiring energy, shrewd management and close at- tention to business had brought him a just reward. North Manchester then prov- ing too limited a field for his labors, he established a lumber office in Chicago; bnt desiring to live at Goshen, a place he had always admired, he moved his family to this place in order to get better railroad transportation to where his business was located. Goshen has ever since been his home. After two years' profitable trans- action in lumber at Chicago he closed out, and invested his capital, amounting to about $20,000, in a like business at Goshen. Evidently Mr. Lesh was particularly adapted to all the intricscies of the lumber trade, for from the very beginning he has been successful. The business of John H. Lesh & Co., of Goshen, was estab- lished by Mr. Lesh, and he was always the manager and chief mover of the firm. Through bis efforts the business as John H. Lesh & Co. was successful for nine years. By him the firm was dissolved. Mr. Lesh is president of the firm of Lesh, Sanders & Egbert Co., Goshen, having a capital and surplus of $125,000 and doing au average annual business of $400,000; is president of Lesh, Prouty & Abbott Company, capital and surplus $110,000, of East Chicago, dealers in black walnut lumber, doing a yearly business of $300,000, and is president of the Rock River Stock Farm, having a capital of $15,000. He is the owner of considerable real estate in different places-one tract near Goshen being as finely an improved piece of land as there is in the State. He owns sixteen acres of Chicago suburban prop- erty which has s market value of $30,000; about 1,255 acres of southern lands and beside is s director in the City National Bank, of Goshen. He owns, at Goshen, the handsomest and most costly residence in Elkhart county. Mr. Lesh originally bad as good a constitution as mortal man usually possesses, but the immense amount of hard work he has gone through with has unquestionably impaired his health, al- though not to any serions extent. Remembering the time when he was a boy, strug- gling with the adversities of life, he has been the most liberal of employers and has ever extended a helping hand to the worthy. Perhaps no man in Goshen possesses more friends than John H. Lesh. Unsolicited on his part he received the Repub- lican nomination for mayor of Goshen by acclamation in 1890, and after serving one term positively declined a renomination. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., K. of P. and Masonic fraternities.

JOHN STEWART. When s citizen of worth and character has departed from this life, it is meet that those who survive him should keep in mind his life work, and should hold up to the knowledge and emulation of the young his virtues and the characteristics which distinguished him and made him worthy of the esteem of his neighbors. We, therefore, present to our readers a narrative of the life of the rep- resentative pioneer whose name we have just given. This highly esteemed and eminently useful member of society was a native of the Keystone State, born in Dauphin county, January 13, 1807. There he grew to manhood and learned the weaver's trade, which was his principal occupation during his early years at Harris- burg, although he lived with his parents on a farm. Later in life he purchased a farm, but continued to devote most of his attention to his trade. He was married in March, 1832, to Miss Margaret Rudy, who was born May 20, 1811, and five chil- dren were the fruits of this union, viz. : Margaret, married and resides in Nebraska; Samuel; John; David; and Matilda, married, resides in Nebraska. The three sons served in the Civil war. In 1850 Mr. Stewart emigrated to Indiana and settled in Cleveland township, Elkhart county, ou the farm where his son John now resides, in June of that year. He became the owner of 150 acres of land and was s man universally respected. He and Mrs. Stewart were members of the Evangelical Church, and his death, which occurred on January 7, 1880, was the occasion of uni- versal sorrow, for all felt the loss to be sustained by the departure of such a man.

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MEMOIRS OF INDIANA.

His wife survived him until July 20, 1882. Their son, David Stewart, was born in Dauphin county, Penn., March 1, 1842, and when he was about eight years of age he came with his parents to Indiana, where he finished his growth and received a good, practical education in the district school. In 1866 he was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Thomas, a native of Ohio, born February 22, 1843, and the dangh- ter of John and - (Mathias) Thomas, natives of the Buckeye State also. Her parents settled in Elkhart conuty in 1865, and here the father died, but the mother passed the closing scenes of her life in Michigan. To Mr. and Mrs. Stewart were given the following children: Albertus, married Eleanor Peabody and resides in Elkhart; Alvertus, twin of Albertus, is at home; Ida M. and Melvin Mearl. Mr. Stewart has about one hundred and thirty-five acres of land, about ten acres in timber, and is engaged in general farming and stockraising. In February, 1865, he enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Fifty-second Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, and served until cessation of hostilities. His two older brothers were also in the army and he could not leave home until their return. He was discharged at Charleston, W. Va., August 30, 1865. In politics he is a stanch adherent of Repub- lican principles.

JOHN MOORE, M. D., has been a close student of bis profession and in bis mission of "healing the sick " bis generous treatment of his patients, his liberality and kind- ness of heart, have won for him not the respect alone, but the earnest regard of the large clientele which he bas gathered around him. The family physician, he becomes also in scores of cases the family adviser in matters of business and affairs other than of a professional nature. He was born in Holmes county, Ohio, August 3, 1836, the fifth of nine children born to John G. and Margery (Miller) Moore, the former of whom was born in the Isle of Erin, August 8, 1808, a son of Gabriel Moore, who came to this country in 1813 and settled in Holmes county, Obio, where he died at au early day, being abont sixty-five years of age. His widow attained the advanced age of ninety years. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. John G. was one of their five children, the other membere of the family being William, who died unmarried, Mary A., Eliza and Jane. Mary A. married William Kelley and reared a family at Fostoria, Ohio. Eliza married J. M. De Havan snd Jane married Hiram Walgamot of Holmes county, Ohio. John G. Moore was about five years old at the time of his parents' settlement in Ohio and there he grew up on a farm and obtained his education in the district schools of the rural districts. He afterward followed the occupation of teaching for some time, but npon starting out to make his own way in the world, he took up the occupation to which he had been reared -that of farming. In early manhood he was married in Holmes connty, his wife having been born in Westmoreland county, Penn., in 1807, a daughter of Robert and Martha (Hewey) Miller, who were also Pennsylvani ans. The Millers removed to Holmes county during its very early history, and on a farm in that section they resided until their respective deaths, the grandfather being called from life when quite young and the grandmother when quite advanced in years. Their children were Margaret. Nancy, Isaac, Matthew, Robert and Martha. Isaac is the only member of this family that is living at the present time, his home being still in Holmes county, Ohio. After his marriage John G. Moore continued to reside in Ohio until the death of his wife in 1851, she having borne him nine children. one child dying at the age of four years. The other members of the family are: Robert, who is a prominent physician of Lakeville, Ind .; Lucinda, who married Andrew Martin and died leaving three sons-John, James and Gilbert (John is a resident of Sterling, Ill .; James is a resident of St. Louis, Mo., and Gilbert resides in Dixon, Ill.); William, the next child of John G. Moore, died when four years old; Martha J. married Joseph Karnes, resides at Dixon, Ill., and is the mother of three sons-Louis, Emanuel and Francis, and lost oue daughter, Emma, who died in June, 1892; John. the subject of this sketch, comes next in order of birth; Margaret married Erral Uhl, died in Kansas in 1870, leaving two sons-Will-

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iam and Emra, the former of whom is a physician of Gardner, Kan., and the latter a dentist; Allen is a practicing physician of Marshall connty, Ind., where he has resided for seventeen years. He graduated from the Fort Wayne Medical College, is a member of the Indiana Medical Association and has practiced that profession for twenty years. He was married to Sarah Ratenson of St. Joseph county. Politically he is a Prohibitionist and socially is a member of the A. F. & A. M. Eliza, the next child, died at the age of nineteen years and Emma, the youngest of the family, married George Kelley and lives in Dixon, Ill. She has one daughter, Mattie. In 1865 John G. Moore became & resident of Harris township, St. Joseph Co., Ind., and after residing on a farm there for three years he moved to South Bend, where he died in June, 1883. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a man who took great interest in church work, was public spirited to a degree, and politically was a Democrat. After the death of his first wife he married a Mrs. Lisle, who is also dead. The early life of Dr. John Moore was spent in Holmes county, Ohio, but after coming to this county he spent two terms in teaching school, after which he took up the study of medicine under the instruction of his brother Robert, becoming soon titted to enter college, which he did st Cleveland, Ohio, in 1860, from which he graduated. In 1861 he established himself at Lakeville, Ind., and since that time has been one of the active practitioners of that section. He is a member of the State Medical Association of South Bend, the St. Joseph County Medical Association and socially is a Knight Templar in the A. F. & A. M. lodge of Lakeville, of which he is W. M. and is still holding the position, and politically the Doctor ie a Democrat. He has taken much interest in all enterprises of & public character and is considered one of the most substantial and useful citizens of his section. The Doctor was first married on June 18, 1862, to Miss Harriet A. Johnson, a daughter of A. P. Johnson of South Bend. She was born July 19, 1842, and died in 1866, at the age of twenty- four years, at which time she was a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Doctor's second union took place December 31, 1867, Ellen, danghter of Jonathan and Eliza Cunningham, becoming his wife. Mr. Cunningham was killed by falling on the ice at Walkerton, Ind., but the mother is still living on a farm in Union township. Dr. Moore is the owner of an excellent farm of ninety acres south of Lakevilleand also owns some fine residence property on South Main street, South Bend, and some in Walkerton. He has always stood high in the estimation of his fellows and has numerous warm personal friends who not only prize his friendship, but also value his services ss a physician. His wife is an active member of the W. C. T. U., is a woman of much intelligence and good judgment and is an enthusiastic worker in the Sunday school.

E. D. FAIR. Prominent in agricultural and social circles of Green township, St. Joseph Co., Ind., is E. D. Fair, whose birth occurred in Somerset county, Penn., December 9, 1827, his parente being Jacob and Eva (Deal) Fair, who became the parents of the following children: Clara, E. D., Elizabeth, Lavina, Margaret, Joel J., Lesh and Susannah. The father of these children was born in Somerset county, Penn., his father, Christopher Fair, having been born in Germany and during his early life came to this country, but eventually became & resident of Harris county, Ohio, to which region he removed in a two-horse wagon and where he purchased forty acres of land, at which time no improvements had been made thereon. He was extremely fond of the chase, and was an expert rifleman, many deer, bear and other wild animals falling victims to his skill while he was clearing his land. After the death of his wife his children found homes among kind neighbors, and eventually Mr. Fair married again, Elizabeth Davis becoming his wife and bearing him one child, whom they named Angeline. E. D. Fair, the immediate subject of this sketch, was reared in the then wilds of Ohio, and in the old-time log cabin, furnished with slab seats and other primitive furniture, he succeeded in obtaining a common school education. He attended school only during the winter, each term lasting about three months, but, notwithstanding these drawbacks, he made fair progress in his studies.

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On March 9, 1851, he was united in marriage to Miss Susanna Barnett, and on Sep- tember 23, 1859, arrived in South Bend, Ind., and for three years thereafter resided on a rented farm on Turkey Creek Road. In 1863 he purchased 100 acres of the farm on which he now makes his home, at which time it was heavily covered with timber, and not a tree had been felled thereon. He erected a board house in which he lived contentedly until his circumstances were such as to permit him building a better habitation. He was always averse to holding office, and although at one time elected to the office of justice of the peace, he emphatically refused to serve, much preferring to devote his time and attention to his farming interests, and as a conse- quence has been remarkably successful, being now the owner of 580 acres of fine farming land, well cultivated and improved. Although he was reared a Democrat he has always supported the men and measures of the Republican party since the Civil war. His wife is of German-English descent, and has borne him the following chil- dren: Harvey D. (deceased), Elizabeth A., Leander, Cyrus (deceased), Alvilda A., Thomas M., John B., Rosa A. and Cora A. Thomas M. is in a clothing store, Eliz- abeth married a gentleman engaged in the hardware businese, and Rosa and Alvilda married farmers. Although Mr. Fair follows the teachings of the Golden Rule, supports worthy enterprises and believes in justice and right, he is not a member of any church. He is one of the substantial citizens of the county and has numerous friends.

HON. HENRY D. WILSON, the oldest living member of the bar of Elkhart county now in active practice, and one of the ablest attorneys of northern Indiana, is a native of Champaign county, Ohio, born October 3, 1829. Thomas H. Wilson, a native of Pennsylvania, was his father. The grandfather came to the United States prior to the war for American independence. A farmer by occupation, Thomas H. Wilson immigrated westward early in the present century, settling first in Ohio, where he resided until 1836, when he again moved West, and this time found a home in southwestern Noble county, Ind. Being a man of more than ordinary intelligence, he was made one of the associate judges of the court, and afterward he was twice elected to the State Legislature. While living in Ohio he selected Mary Neal as his life helpmate, and of the eight children born to them six are yet living. Mr. Wil- son died February 7, 1876, his widow yet surviving him at the advanced age of ninety years. Henry D. Wilson obtained from the pioneer subscription schools his early book learning, but later attended the Ontario Collegiate Institute, the State University at Bloomington, and Wabash College at Crawfordsville, graduating from the regular course of the last named institution in 1854. Having fitted himself for teaching, he followed that occupation for five years. From 1854 to 1857 be was principal of the Female Seminary and the County Seminary, situated at Salem, Ind., but resigned this position to accept the principalship of the Cascade Academy, at Cascade, Iowa. Ill health, caused by overwork, compelled his retirement after three years' service there, and, having previously read law, he returned to Indiana, and June 25, 1860, he entered into partnership with Hon. A. Y. Hooper, and embarked in legal practice at Columbia City, continuiug in partnership and by himself at this place until November, 1864. He then removed to Goshen, where he has ever since been in active practice, both alone and associated with some of the ablest law- vers of Goshen. At the present time he is the senior member of the firm of Wilson, Davis & Wilson, composed of himself. Hon. W. J. Davis and his son Harry C. Wil- son. A close observer of persons and events, of dignified presence. an excellent judge of law, a close student and an eloquent and ready debater, Mr. Wilson has for years been recognized as one of the foremost members of the legal fraternity in northern Indiana. In 1868 Mr. Wilson was elected the first mayor of the city of Goshen, declining a re-election. Upon urgent solicitation, in 1890, he allowed his name to be presented to the voters as the Republican nominee for Congress from the Thir- teenth District, but the tidal wave against his party, caused mainly by the recent enactment of the misunderstood tariff law, encompassed his defeat together with

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hundreds of other Republican candidates. April 26, 1855, occurred his marriage with Miss Annjeannette Trumbull, at Fort Wayne, Ind., the day following her grad- uation at college, and their children are: Viola A., wife of F. W. Nichols, principal of the Springer School of Chicago; Louise M., wife of C. G. Beers, a business man of Chicago; Harry C., lawyer at Goshen; Clara J., wife of F. W. Wood, sgent of the Chicago Varnish Company, with headquarters in New York City; Lawrence H., agent of the Standard Oil Company at Racine, Wis., and Weldon N., deceased. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are members of the Presbyterian Church, in which Mr. Wilson has been an elder for thirty-six years.

JOHN W. IRWIN. Of the early settlers of northern Indiana who left homes of comfort in the East to brave the perils and hardships of pioneer life in the grest West, who felled the forests and laid the foundations of plenty which the present generation now enjoy, but few are remaining. Occasionally one of these old frontiersmen is met with who has survived the storms and ravages of time, but his silvery locks and his faltering footsteps tell ns that ere long he will "pass within that tent whose curtain never outward swings." In no way can the present gener- ation honor so well these old heroes of the early times as by imitating their virtues, and preserving inviolate the lessons guaranteed unto us in the civil, religious and educational institutions, founded and fostered by their wisdom and self sacrifice. Among the first to seek homes within the borders of what now constitutes Elkhart county, was the Irwin family. The pioneer was Alexander Irwin, a soldier of the War of 1812, and a son of Isaac Irwin of Franklin county, who was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and one of the defenders of the colonies in their struggle for independence. The advent of the Irwins in this country was probably about the year 1750, and settling in Franklin county, they afterward removed to Allegheny county, Penn, and resided there many years. It was here Alexander Irwin wedded Elizabeth McConnell, who bore him a family of children, and after her death married Mrs. Elizabeth (Wycoff) Daily, mother of the subject of this sketch. In 1832 he

immigrated with his family to northern Indiana, and settled on Elkhart Prairie in the "Goshen settlement," the only other one then in Elkhart county being the "Elkhart settlement." Three years later he succumbed to an attack of malarial fever prev- alent in those days, coupled with treatment of bleeding, purging and heroic doses of calomel prescribed by the pioneer doctors. Of the five children born to his second marriage, three sons now reside in Goshen. John W. Irwin, one of these, is the immediate subject of this sketch. He was born September 24, 1822, and, like the majority of the Irwins was reared on a farm. The indifferent subscription schools of pioneer days furnished his early education which was later supplemented with about two years' sttendance at the State University in Bloomington. Begin- ing the study of law, when yet a boy, under the tutelage of Judge Chamberlain and others, he attended lectures at the law department of the university at Bloomington, and in 1849 located at Goshen to begin the practice of his profession, or, as he termed it, "to begin the starving process." Goshen has ever since been his home, and for years he confined his occupation to probate and ex parte practice. In 1856 he, together with W. A. Thomas, Gen. Milo S. Hascall, Edward Metcalf, Charles Murray, Thomas G. Harris, Judge Joseph Mather and others, organized the Republican party in Elkhart county from the disaffected ranks of the Democrats, and from the defunct Whig and Fres Soil parties. In 1860, as a Republican, he was elected to the office of county treasurer, and later was re-elected, serving two terms. In 1854 he became associated with Hon. Robert Lowrey in the legal practice, but prior to this time had served two years as deputy county clerk for Owen Cotfin, a year and a half having exclusive charge. At the expiration of his term ss treasurer he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue; but during this time (1865) formed a partnership with Gen. Milo S. Hascall, in the purchase of the business and good will of the Salem Bank at Goshen, from John Cook; and this partnership continued uninterruptedly twenty-five years, lacking a few months.

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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 78

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

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