USA > Indiana > Kosciusko County > Progressive men and women of Kosciusko County, Indiana : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography > Part 48
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Baptist church in the township and remaine ! faithful to its teaching, until sammene! from the church militant to the church triumphant. His was a useful life. fraught with great good to humanity, and his death, which occurred in the year 1855. was greatly deployed in the community. His wife, and an earnest and pious communicant of the and a woman of sterling worth, survived until 1882, when she too was called to the other life.
proved, and continued to reside upon the same until 1848, the land meanwhile in- creasing greatly in value with the growth and development of the country. Imbued Of the twelve children born to Samue! and Elizabeth Miller, but three are living at the present time, namely: Aaron, David and Margaret. Aaron married Rebekah Miller and is now a retired farmer, living Colpetzer, lives in this township, where her husband is engaged in agricultural pursuits. The following are the name of the deceased with the belief that northern Indiana of- fered better opportunities for agriculture than his adopted state, and learning that land in any of a half-dozen counties could be obtained at reasonable prices. Mr. Miller, , in Colorado: Margaret, the wife of Henry in the spring of 1848, disposed of his farm in Ohio, and, moving to the county of Kos- ciusko, Indiana, purchased two hundred and . forty acres in Jackson township, the greater ' members of the family: John. Susan. part of the place being as nature had made . Henry, Mary, Catherine, Sarah, Elizabeth. it. This land he cleared and improved and : Anna and Samuel.
later bought a three-hundred-and-twenty- David Miller, born May 27. 1841. in Montgomery county, Ohio, was seven years old when his parents moved to the new home in Indiana. Reared on the home farm. where since 1848 his life has been spent, his early experiences, like those of the majority of country lads, were a round of honest toi !. devoid of any striking incident. With strong arms and ready will, he bore his par: in clearing the place and of winter servis attended the district school not far from the home, obtaining by close application. the best education which the means at hand af- forded. After his father's death he con- tinued to live at home and when twenty- one years of age took charge of the farm, to acre tract, having realized sufficient money from the sale of his Ohio farm to pay cash for every foot of land thus far purchased in Kosciusko county, with a goodly balance left. He was a man of great energy and industry and in time became one of the most prosperous farmers of Jackson township, also one of its most enterprising and highly respected citizens. With his own hands he cleared and fitted for cultivation seventy-five acres of land, besides making many valuable improvements on his place in the way of building fences, bringing the farm to a state of tillage unsurpassed by that of any other place in the township of Jackson. He was one of the original members of the German which he brought a bride in 1866 in the per-
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son of Miss Rebekah Frantz, daughter of Christian E. and Mary ( Heckman ) Frantz. Ilis marriage, which was solemnized Feb- ruary 8, of the above year, has been blessed with five children, the following of whom are living : Ellis, born June 2, 1868, mar- ried Anna Metzger and lives in Wabash county, this state: Minerva, who was born July 13. 1873. is the wife of Perry Heeter, oi Jackson township; Mary E., born Au- gust 14, 1870, lives at home, as does Laura, who first saw the light of day on the 17th day of June. 1882.
As already stated. Mr. Miller took charge of the homestead on attaining his majority and since that time the place bas come into his possession. As a farmer he has few equals and no superiors, and his home is conceded to be one of the best and ' tractive to the eye. By reason of a serious most desirable in a township where beauti- ' illness in 1895, which left his bodily power. iul and attractive places are the rule. In : considerably weakened, he now does little 1
1887 the substantial hewed-log building which his father had erected and which served the family for so many years as a dwelling was replaced by the present hand- some and commodious two-story brick edi- fice, twenty-eight by thirty-six feet in area, containing eleven rooms, erected at a cost of over twenty-five hundred dollars. In the year 1877 he built a large barn, which with its contents was destroyed in 1883, entail- ing considerable loss. Later he put up the splendid barn which now graces the farm, a building seventy-six by forty feet in size, with basement stables and all necessary con- veniences, being one of the largest and most valuable structures of the kind in the town- ship of Jackson.
For a number of years past. in addition to general farming, Mr. Miller has given considerable attention to live stock, in the
raising and handling of which it erece - has been most encouraging. When a young man, scarcely twenty-one years ofl. he bought and sold horses, making considerable money, and today it is doubtful if there is a better judge of horseflesh or a more judi- cious buyer in this part of Indiana. While dealing quite extensively in horses, he also devotes considerable attention to cattle, hogy and sheep, making a specialty of the finer breeds, from the sale of which he realizes every year a large part of his income. In the management of his farm Mr. Miller ex- ercises great care and believing that agri- culture, when compared with other voca- tions, is one of the truly dignified as well as useful callings, takes great pride in his work and spares no pains to make his place at-
beside managing his affairs, renting the larger portion of his land and confining his attention to his stock interests and the gen- eral oversight of the farm.
Politically Mr. Miller votes the Repub- lican ticket, but does not take a very active interest in the questions upon which the two great parties are divided. Since his thirty- first year, he has been connected with the German Baptist church and at the pres- ent time is a trustee of the organization wor- shipping in Jackson township: the other members of the family also belong to this church and are considered among its most carnest and pious communicants.
Too much cannot be said of Mr. Miller as a neighbor and citizen. None stand higher than he in public esteem; all who know him respect him for his enterprise and honesty of purpose and, as far as known, his
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integrity has been maintained inviolate and erine Green, by whom he had fifteen chi! no one has ever called in question his good { dren: Joseph, Washington, George, Pieis- name. A good man, always striving by
amt, Millie, Catherine, John. Nathan, Sam- word and deed to make the world better, and ; uel, James, Maria, Rebecca, Wesley and two by his wholesome moral influences exerting a silent but potent power in the community -such has been and is the reputation of David Miller.
ALLEN BYBEE.
Previous to the Civil war it was a com- mon occurrence to meet in the North fam- ilies which had formerly lived in the South and had owned slaves. Upon questioning them it was discovered in almost all in- stances that they had left the South to get away from the influence of the institution of slavery. It was thought that the influ- ence of slavery upon children would be bad. and so hundreds of families left the slave states for the free states, where their chil- dren could be free from the contaminating effects. That was the reason which influ- enced the ancestors of the subject of this sketch to leave the South and settle in the North. About four generations ago Sher- rod Bybee left England, his native country. and emigrated to America, settling in Fiu- vanna county, Virginia, it being said. also, that two of his brothers settled there with him. He married there a lady of excellent family and to them were born four children : John, William, Elizabeth and Sherrod, Jr. John was reared upon his father's planta- tion and the little negroes were his daily companions. He was given excellent ad- vantages and received a good education and upon reaching manhood married Miss Cath-
1 others. John, the father, while he was a slaveholder, became convinced as to the wrong of that institution, whereupon he liberated all he had and started for the free states. He came with his family by wagon to Fayette county. Ohio, in 1823, and there purchased a tract of land and began to clear the same. He was a man of excellent qual- ities, and had served in the war of 1812. He had previously had considerable experi- ence in dealing in live stock and in trading generally, and he thereupon began to buy large herds of hogs and horses and drive them across the country to the markets .i the East. His judgment was excellent and. he soon became wealthy. He went into the packing business and put down immense quantities of pork in barrels and shipped the same down the rivers to New Orleans. He just one large cargo thus sent down, which. caused him to curtail his enterprise in the field. Connected with this enterprise, he he- came involved in a duel with his commi- sion man and the death of the latter had much to do with his stopping that branch of his trade. . After that event he took what he had left and came to Indiana, locating in Franklin township, this county. in 1835. He entered a quarter-section in section 7. and began to clear off the timber and ti! the soil. There he lived until his death, in 1868, at the age of seventy five years. Washington Bybee grew up on his father's farm in Fayette county, Ohio, and received a limited school education, but full experi- ence in the rearing and shipment of stock as the methods then existed. He married
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in that state, and, with the assistance of his stinets of his ancestry against slavery, he father, got a start and bought a farm. In , was in full sympathy with the efforts of Mr. company with his uncle, he bought and mar- keted stock in the Eastern markets, particu- larly in Richmond, Virginia. By the time he was ready to come to Indiana he had ac- cumulated about eighteen hundred dollars. a sum sufficient to give him an excellent start in this state. He arrived here in 1841 and bought a tract of land and went to work to develop it. He traded and trafficked and made money aside from his farm, and later bought and shipped stock after the country
Lincoln to crush the Rebellion, and slavery at the same time if necessary to save the Union. He and his brother Levi enlisted? in Company F. Seventy-fourth Indiana In- iantry, were mustered in at Fort Wayne and sent to the field at once. They were as- signed to the Army of the Cumberland and saw active and bloody service from that time forward. They fought at Perryville. Chickamauga ( where Levi gave up his life for his country in the thickest of the battle). had grown out of its first wildness. He , Chattanooga, Mission Ridge, Lookout accumulated during his active life by honor- able business methods all told probably thirty thousand dollars, a large sum and a great accomplishment for that day. He was a man of high qualities, fine abilities and perfect integrity, and was respected by all who knew him. His prominence and ree- ognized high character and sound business ideas caused his fellow citizens to bring him ont for the office of county commissioner in 1880-81, and he was elected. He served so well that he was re-elected and it was during his second term that death overtook him. Allen, his son, filled the unexpired portion of his term. His children were Jacob, Allen, Mary. Levi,, Lucinda, Cath- erine and Reedy. Those still living are Allen, Mary. Lucinda and Reedy.
Mountain, all the battles of the Atlanta cam- paign for one hundred and five days, thence with Sherman in his famous march to the sea. They then marched up through the Carolinas, fighting in numerous skirmishss and pitched battles, in all of which the si's. jest acquitted himself with distinguished gallentry, thence at the close of the war up to Washington, where, in sight of the leaders of the army and the government, the last grand parade was held. down Pennsyi- vania avenue in their ragged uniforms that were pierced with bullets and with daunting flags that had been tattered by the shots of the desperate rebels. There Mr. Bybee was mustered out and sent home to receive the plaudits and hosannas of a grateful people. He passed through the war unscathed and now draws a pension of eight dollars per month. At the close of the war he resume i farming and stock raising, particularly the latter, and continued the same with great saccess until 1803. since which time he has not been so active. His children are : Hollis C .. born in 1859. married Eunice Bitte and lives in Mentone: Mary, born in 1803.
Allen Bybee was reared on his father's iarm and received a fair education, being also taught the perplexing duties of farm- ing and stock raising. At the earliest age he was taught the art of expert ste ck man- agement. He met and married Miss Nancy A. Grant, a distant relative of Gen. U. S. Grant, and four years later the Rebellion broke out in all its fury. True to the in- ' wedded N. N. Lattimer, a hardware mer-
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client, and is deceased: Cora, who is an William Genbarger, soll of your t. Saman ( Shaffer) lesbarger, was born in Clark county, Ohio, October 25, 1845, and is of Virginia descent. his grandfather. rust, born in 1800, married Lorin D. Andr- warmg, who is president of the Farmers' Bank of Mentone : Addison L., born in 1875. married Bessie Wertenberger and lives in Henry isenbarger, having emigrated from Franklin township; one that died in in- the Old Dominion to the Buckeye state in fancy. In 1893 Mr. Bybee's wife died, and ( 1833, and made settlement in Clark cotta- he married Mrs. Martha Herendeen, daugh } ty. Henry benbarger was a prof father. ter of Thomas Ball. Mr. Bybee now owns and its children had try to all in the sty- part of the family, all of these children. there were six, viz: Join The i. George. Samuel. Lydia and Sarah. four hundred and sixty-five acres of lane and is in excellent financial condition. He i assistant cashier in the Farmers' Bank ana owns a block of its stock. He is a stanch Republican and has ever been one of
John Isenbarger early went out & work in order to earn something to all in the sty- the strongest factors for advancement in the port of the family and when he had retche . county. He is a splendid example of the , his majority found himself nearly restituere clean and reputable American citizen. Mrs. even of clothing. When twenty-the you'd Bybee is vice-president and treasurer of the pain, however, he beggar th alatt at thathe's. Willing Workers society of the Methodist Episcopal church and is an active and of. ; ficient worker. In her youth she received a good education and prior to her marriage was a teacher in the public schools of Kosci- uso county. Two events in the military carver of Mr. Bybee are ineffaceably fixed upon his memory, the surrender of the rebel army under General Lee, April 9, 1865, and the assassination of President Lincoln, five davy later. At that time the subject was at Holly Springs, about twelve miles from Raleigh, North Carolina.
WILLIAM ISENBARGER.
One great exemplification of the fact at wealth attends upon industry and that comfort is a close follower in the wake of drift is shown in the life career of the stir- set of this sketch.
and when he had accumulated ino madre! and inity dollars in good and other com the started for food from Clark comedy, Oh. . for jar county, Indiana, whence he went . De Wayne in order to enter della 1825. While on the road the weight of His casa began to fatigue him, and be hande ; it over to & stranger on horseback to carry for hi .. . People in those days, it will be seen, con. . trust each other. Arrived at Fort Wayne. he entered one hundred and sixty acres ...
in. Clark county, Ohio, until 184t. sken 's married Susanna Shaffer Hee theted : live on rented land until 1850. when he cate in . wagon from Clark county, Online a Kis ciusko county, Indiana, and was a week . : the journey, arriving ab at sudsammier, atk. was thus favored with peopatt as weathe on his trip through the dense forests. Ih farm comprised eighty acres tant a mile west of Rose Hill, to which we tater adde. until he owned one hundred and fous acres.
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COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY.
To Mr. Isenbarger's marriage to Susan- nothing but his household furniture. es- na Shaffer, his first wife, there were born enty-five dollars in money and a team. Mr .. Ienbarger, however, possessed about eight- een hundred dollars and this Mr. I-enbarger invested in one hundred acres of wild kan !. improved it with a house and barn and other proper and necessary buildings and deve- oped one of the best fammi of its size :. Lake township, which is now Was pleasant home. seven children, viz: Amanda, wife of Aaron Arnold, of Elkhart county: William, the subject of this sketch : George, who married Elizabeth Kemper and is a resident of Lake township. Kosciusko county: Malinda, who died when three years old : three others die ! in infancy. Mrs. Susanna Isenbarger died March 5. 1864. and Mr. Isenbarger mar- ried Mrs. Catherine Shoemaker, who died August 12, 1886. His own death occurred February 21, 1890, he being deeply mourned by his family, and as a pioneer and useful citizen by all his neighbors and friends, near and far. To the second marriage there were born six children, namely: Noah. John. Ellen. Samuel ( deceased ). Eli and Waity.
William Isenbarger, the subject proper of this sketch, secured a good common- school education and assisted on the home farm until twenty-one years old. then worked out by the month awhile and after- ward rented a farm. He married. Septem- ber 2. 1869. Miss Mary Ulrich, daughter of Stephen R. and Mary ( Swihart ) Ulrich and born August 9, 1852. This union has been blessed with three children, viz: Charles, who was born . October 25. 1870. finished his common-school education in 1884. and then attended Manchester College several terms. He married Miss Laura Pettacord, a native of Kosciusko county, and is now secretary of a lumber company in Palouse Valley, state of Washington: Jerome, born August 16, 1879, graduated from the common schools in 1891, taught school three years and is now attending the State Normal : Cora E., born April 13. 1887. died in 1890.
Mr. Isenbarger is not a political partis ... . but has strong Democratic pr elivities. Since I871 he and his family save la .. members of the conservative branch of the vierman Baptist church, whose teaching . they conscientiousiy follow and to the man- tenance of which they liberaly contribute from their means. The family is recognize ! as among the well-to-do and useful resident. of Lake township and their residence bien for so many years has identified them in. its progress, which has indeed been mes; marvelous within the past half century.
AMOS THEODORE MOLLENHOUR
The farmer is not the valy necessary factor in a community. His presence is. . course, important, but so is that of the mi- ler. because people must eat, although would be far cheaper if they did not has to do so. The miller has been necesar. since the first settlement, and at first the ii. mills were run by water power and in ve; short time. When steam came into use the results were the same, but a great de. quicker. They continued to get quicker :.
At his marriage Mr. Isenbarger had time passed, down to the present day.
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used to be said of the old saw-mills that were run by water power and were what were called up-and-down mills, that they went up one day and down the next, but this was a slander on the famous old milis of our grandfathers. The mill of the subject. it is scarcely necessary to add, is somewhat swifter than the old ones. And the times are swifter and the people are swifter, but we probably do not enjoy ourselves any bet- ter than our grandparents did.
Amos T. Mollenhour was born in Frank- lin township. Kosciusko county, January 12. 1863, and is yet a comparatively young man. His parents were William and Eliz- atbeth (Harpman) Mollenhour. The father was a native of Ohio and came to this coun- ty after he was married. The Harpmans were natives of the Keystone state, and came to Hancock county, Ohio, at an early day. Both families moved from Ohio to Franklin township, this county, and there the parents of subject were married. To this marriage eight sons were born: John, who was born in 1848 and married Miss Melcina Dore- meyer. lived in Sevastopol, but is now de- cared : Isaac, born in 1850. married Miss Ana Delena and lives in Mentone, where he is the head sawyer for Eli Turnbull ; Will. iam H., born in 1852, married Miss Maggie Blue and resides in Missouri ; Minor 1 .. born in 1854. is unmarried and lives in Ohio: Edward C .. born in 1856. married Miss Anna B. Ely and lives in Mentone: Lyman 1 ... born in 1858, married Mary Morgan and resides in Harrison township; Amos T .. born in 1863 : Hiram A., born in 1865, mar- ned Miss Nettie Thompson and resides in Franklin township. William Mollenhour was a farmer and a millwright, owned a
grist-mill and a saw-mill and made a com- fortable fortime. He was prominent in the community where he resides and at his death, in about 1865, he left a name above reproach.
Amos T. Molenhour was reared in Franklin township. and learned the milling business of his father. He is the present proprietor of the slating and saw mill : Mentone, which affords him a comfortable income and is one of the most important in- dustries of that busy town. He had asso- ciated with him until recently a Mir. Moon. bat in August, 19of, he bought his partner's interest and is now the sole owner of the property. Mr. Mollenhour received in his youth a limited education, but this he has since largely remedied. In March, 1835. he wedded Miss Mary A. Rawkston, the daughter of Kiley Rawlston, and by her Mes six children: Delbert Ca. born in Decom ber. 1887: Artic, deceased: Delcie died in. infancy; Lodema, born in 1802: Willi .... K., born in October, 1894, and a boy that died unnamed at the age of two weeks. I .. politics Mr. Mollenhour is a Republican and of late years has taken a lively part in loc . and state politics. He served as councilman for one term and during that time impor :- ant improvements were made in the streets. sidewalks, etc. He has represented his party in county conventions several times and was once elected constable of Franklin township. but he being the only Republican elected on the ticket he did not qualify for the ofice. lie and his wife are members of the Baptist church of Mentone, while fraternally he be- longs to Camp No. 6311. Modern Woodmen of America, at Mentone. He is a clean and reliable business man, has the highest re-
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spect of all who know him and in all his and when a small boy came with My father business affairs governs his actions by the to Ohio, and was there brought up in the principles of the Nazarene.
GEORGE MICHAELS.
The great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a native of Germany. When a young man he came to America and settle.I in Pennsylvania, and there the grandfather . and father of subject were born. They were farmers by occupation and were industrious and upright people. Peter Michaels, the grandfather, moved from Pennsylvania to Carroll county, Ohio, in the year 1802, the same year that that portion of the country was admitted to the Union. At that time the state was practically a wilderness and the Indians were there in large numbers. and were still fierce from their participation in the Revolution on the side of the British. Mr. Michaels bought a tract of land in the woods of that county and began to clear off the timber. More than once when they first went there they were in imminent peril from the savages, and for protection retreated into the deep woods and hid until the danger was past. They were not only pioneers, but frontiersmen as well, and were on the front of the advancing line of civilization which steadily drove back the Indians. Wild ani- mals, such as bears, deer, wolves, foxes, pan- thers, etc., were frequently met with, and no little danger was encountered from some of them, particularly in the nighttime. Peter Michaels, with the assistance of his family. cleared up that farm and there he passed the balance of his life. His son John, the father of subject, was born in the Keystone state.
woods among the Indians and the wild animals. He became quite a hunter, Iaint the most of his time was spent on the farm in felling the big trees, burning the brush, dig- ging out the stumps and tilling the soil among the stumps that dotted the place. His education was hardly worthy of refer- ence, the little he had being received at the subscription schools held in the off round- log school house. with its "cat and clay" chimney, its clapboard roof and to pands- con door, floor and benches. There were also the greased-paper windows. m 1832 John Michaels sought the hand of Mio An- na Shroyer in marriage, was accepted, and they were wedded. To this marriage there were born thirteen children, as Shows: John, Lydia A. George (the subject). Adam, Julia A., Peter, Elizabeth, Rachel. Jane, Noah, Amanda, Cornelia and Sarz ... ile bought eighty acres in the woods, cheare. ' and improved the same and lived there un- til 1802. when he sold out and came to Kon- ciusko county and bought eighty aères near Sydney, Jackson township, where he re- sided until his death, in 1875: his widow survived him until 1900. They were pion- cers and most excellent people.
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