USA > Indiana > Adams County > Standard history of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : An authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume II > Part 16
USA > Indiana > Wells County > Standard history of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : An authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume II > Part 16
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Upon his return to this seetion, Mr. Templin decided to resume agri- cultural operations and soon purchased his present farm which he has developed into one of the best properties in the county. He has made many improvements and these inchide the erection of the substantial and attractive farm buildings and the introduction in them of many com- forts and modern conveniences. He devotes his attention to general farming.
Mr. Templin was married January 28, 1893, to Miss Olive Settle, who was born in Nottingham Township, Wells County, Indiana, Deeem- ber 6, 1873, and was edneated in the local schools and the high school at Montpelier. She is a daughter of Winfield S. and Elizabeth ( Albert- son) Settle. The father of Mrs. Templin died in March. 1903. Her mother resides in Nottingham Township, near Phoenix, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Templin have two children, a son and daughter, Lawrence E. and Helen. The former is a graduate of the Petroleum High School and
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attended normal schools at Muneie and Angola and is one of the success- ful and popular teachers at Petroleum. He married Mary Pontius, who is a daughter of John Pontins, a well known resident of Adams County, Indiana. They have one child, Virginia Nell, who was born October 1, 1917. Aliss Helen is also a graduate of the high school at Petroleum. Mr. Templin and his family belong to the United Brethren Church at Petroleum and take active part in its various agencies for good. Mr. Templin is a staneh republican in polities because he believes thoroughly in its principles.
ANDREW B. WILLIAMS has been a resident of Wells County thirty years, and has been substantially identified with the farming and agri- cultural enterprise of this county ever since. His home is a well situ- ated and admirably improved little farm on Rural Route No. 2 from Keystone in Chester Township.
Mr. Williams was born in Blackford County, Indiana, March 17, 1866, a son of Andrew B. and Polly (Bugh) Williams, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Blaekford County, Indiana, where they married after he came out of Ohio. Their home was on a farm in Black- ford County, and they were parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters: Andrew B .; Henry, deceased ; Joseph and Oliver of Mont- pelier: Jennie, wife of Seott Swartz; Lydia, wife of George Bru- haker; Sarah, wife of Lewis G. Lancaster; Mary, wife of Charles MeGeath : James and Emma, both deceased.
Andrew B. Williams was reared on a farm, was educated in district schools in his native county and lived at home until his father died. For his first wife Mr. Williams married Esther Shields, daughter of William Shields. She died childless, and for his second wife he married Elizabeth Cook, widow of J. Cook. Mrs. Williams is a native of Wells County. and daughter of John J. Twibell, was educated here in the com- mon schools, and was the mother of one child, now deceased. She is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Montpelier. Mr. Williams is a republican voter.
RALPH C. THOMAS, a soldier of the Spanish-American war, is super- intendent of the Elm Grove Cemetery, of Bluffton. The cemetery asso- ciation was incorporated in 1902, and in 1905 Mr. Thomas entered upon his duties as superintendent. It is largely due to his good management and efficient care that this has become one of the finest burial places of the dead in the entire county.
Mr. Thomas was born at Bluffton in Harrison Township of Wells County July 4, 1879, a son of William E. and Jennie (Cole) Thomas. His father was born in Wayne County, Ohio, in 1853, and the mother was born July 12, 1855. William E. Thomas accompanied his parents to Wells County, Indiana. about 1856. His father Eli Thomas located on a farm three-quarters of a mile southeast of Murray and was a well known citizen in that community for many years, being prominent in the democratic party and served as trustee of Laneaster Township. William E. Thomas grew up on the old home farm and in early life lie taught school in Wells County. After his marriage he located at Traves- ville and eondueted a general store for three years. In 1877 he moved to Bluffton and established the Star Bakery, an institution still enjoying a flourishing existenee and still conducted under the old name. He con- tinued giving his personal attention to this business until his death in 1884. William E. Thomas was a man of quiet and unassuming disposi- tion, sought none of the conspicnous honors of polities or of public life, but had the faculty of binding to himself scores of close and intimate
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friends. His only fraternity was the Knights of Honor of which he was a charter member. He and his wife had five children: Maude, deceased, who married J. S. Grames; Ralph C .; Effie, wife of II. R. Curtner, of Marion, Indiana ; Gertrude, wife of Harry Steele, of Seattle, Washington; and Cora, wife of Alfred Schmuch, of Kendallville, Indiana.
Ralph C. Thomas was over five years of age when his father died, and he and his oldest sister Mande were then taken into the family of George DeLong of Lancaster Township. Mr. DeLong was a real father to him and Mr. Thomas, who is a man who never forgets a kindness, has always shown the greatest of gratitude to the memory of this good old Wells County citizen. Mr. DeLong was born in Ohio and came to Wells County as a pioneer in 1842, settling northeast of Bluffton where he entered 160 acres of land. He was an old soldier, having enlisted in Company A Thirty-fourth Indiana Infantry with Captain Swain, and was with his regiment through most of its service. At the battle of Champion Hill during the Vicksburg campaign he was wounded. Mr. DeLong was an active republican and passed away November 7, 1899.
Ralph C. Thomas acquired his principal early education in the old Toll Gate School. Ile learned the lessons of loyalty from the lips of his adopted father, and at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war enlisted in Company E, 160th Indiana Infantry. He was in service one year, and the regiment was part of the expeditionary forces to the island of Cuba, where it remained three months. After the war Mr. Thomas returned to farm life, and in the fall of 1899 married Miss Ethel L. Masterson, danghter of Henry and Rebecca (Kunkel) Masterson. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have six children : Howard E., Dorothy, Mary and Martha, twins, Catherine and Ruth. Howard was graduated from the high school of Bluffton with the elass of 1917. Mr. Thomas is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church while his wife belongs to the Christian denomination. He has filled all the offices except that of worshipful master in Bluffton Lodge No. 145, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He has been active in eounty polities as a republican even before he was twenty-one years of age, and has done much to keep up and maintain the party organization.
MANDEVILLE W. MCCLAIN, M. D. One of the leading medical prae- titioners and able surgeons of Wells County is Dr. Mandeville W. McClain. who has a satisfactory practice at Vera Cruz, where he is one of the prominent and public spirited citizens. Doctor MeClain was born in Nottingham Township, Wells County, Indiana, November 16, 1871, and is a son of Robert and Caroline ( Kelly ) McClain.
Robert McClain came of Scotch ancestry and was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1848. He accompanied his parents when they moved to Wells County, Indiana, and grew to the age of fifteen years on the home farm in Nottingham Township. Although far too young to be subjected to the dangers and hardships of a soldier's life, he enlisted in 1863 in Company A, Forty-seventh Indiana Infantry, under Captain MeGlanghter, and did a man's service until the war closed. He returned then to Wells County and soon afterward was married to Miss Caroline Kelly, whose father, Edward Kelly, was a man of unusual ability.
Edward Kelly was born in the City of Dublin, Ireland, and in hoy- hood come to the United States with an unele. He was bound out to learn a trade but managed to secure so thorough a knowledge of law, studying by himself, that he gained admission to the bar and went into practice in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio. Later he moved to Warren,
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Ohio, where he married and there engaged for a time in the mercantile business, but failing health caused him to sell his interests there and he came then with his family to Wells County and was a farmer here until his death. He was a member of the Roman Catholic Church.
Robert McClain later moved to a farm near Fiat, in Jay County, Indiana, on which he remained for a number of years engaged in agri- cultural pursuits, and then retired to the Village of Pennville. He and wife reared a family of six children. as follows: Emma, who is a grad- uate of the Pennville High School, is the wife of H. R. Rosenkrans, of Red Key, Indiana ; Robert R., who is a graduate of the Pennville schools and also a graduate in the art of telegraphy, is now a farmer near Fiat, Indiana ; L. H., who is a farmer in Jay County, and Mandeville, who resides at Vera Cruz, two being deceased.
Through boyhood Mandeville W. MeClain attended the country schools and assisted on the home farm. He early decided upon his future professional career and heut every energy to secure adequate medical training, and after attending the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, was graduated from that institution in 1896 with his coveted degree, having previously completed a medical course at Marion, Indiana. Since then. as a progressive practitioner he has attended varions scientific schools of his profession and taken post graduate courses, and was grad- nated from the Chicago Polyelinie School of Medicine, where he had taken special courses. It is doubtful if Doctor McClain will ever feel that he knows all there is to learn in his noble science for he recognizes the mighty progress it is making almost daily, but he is a close student and understands how to apply new methods in practice and to make use of the marvelous discoveries that scientific investigation has brought to light, and his patients profit thereby.
Doctor McClain came to Vera Cruz on May 12, 1897, from his first professional field at Bluffton, and through medical knowledge and sur- gical skill, has built up a fine practice. He belongs to Bluffton Lodge No. 145, Free and Accepted Masons, and to the Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks, No. 796. He is a member of the Wells County, Indiana State and American Medical societies.
In polities, like his father before him, he is a democrat and as a good citizen is interested in all local matters that concern the health and wellbeing of the general public. He is the owner of the fine trotter, Alacer B., with a record of 2:141% and trial mile of 2:10, and has refused numerous fancy prices for the animal.
Doctor McClain was married November, 1900, to Miss Blanche B. North, who was born in Vera Cruz and was a teacher here and also in the high school of Bluffton for a number of years.
SAMUEL WARNER. It is to be noted that among the prosperous agri- culturists of Wells County, there are many whose names are associated with prominent financial interests. These connections are desirable and tend to lend stability to the banking institutions, particularly in a fertile agricultural country, where the bank's representative forms a connecting link between the institution and the farmers, who form the greater number of depositors. One of these farmer-bankers is Samuel Warner, who in addition to being the owner of a handsome property, is vice president and a director of the Bank of Petroleum.
Mr. Warner was born on a farm in Nottingham Township, Wells County, Indiana, February 28, 1852, and is a son of Jacob and Sarah (Gehrett) Warner. His parents, natives of Pickaway County, Ohio, grew up, were educated, and married in that community, and there they resided for several years. The father, however, was desirous of seeking
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another location where his prospects for success would be brighter, and accordingly made several trips on foot to Wells County, Indiana, look- ing over the territory. Finally he decided upon a farm in Nottingham Township, and here he brought his wife, they making their way through the woods and bringing their small household effects. Through in- dustry, energy and perseverance they succeeded in making a home and cultivating a property and here rounded out their long and honorable lives in the pursuits of farming. They were faithful members of the German Baptist Church and held a place in the esteem and confidence of their fellow-townspeople. Mr. Warner serving for some years as supervisor and trustee of his township. Of their children, the following survive: George L., ex-county commissioner of Wells County ; Jona- than, a resident of Arizona; Samuel, of this notice; Jacob, whose home is in Chicago; Henry, a resident of Nottingham Township; Eva, the wife of George King, of Petroleum, Indiana, and Andrew, who makes his home in Florida.
Samuel Warner was educated in the district schools of Nottingham Township, and, reared to the vocation of farming, has never followed any other line of work. Through good management, attention to busi- ness and plenty of energetic work, he has succeeded in the accumulation of a good property and the development of a valuable and productive farm and is today justly accounted one of the substantial men of his locality and one whose success has been gained only through the utiliza- tion of natural abilities and legitimate means. At the organization of the Bank of Petroleum, he became a director in that institution, and today also holds the position of vice president, in which capacity he has had a share in promoting its welfare and directing it to success. Po- litically, he is a democrat. He has been somewhat prominent in civic affairs, and for six years was a member of the Wells County Council.
Mr. Warner was married in December, 1876, to Miss Louisa Keller, who was born in Ohio and there reared and educated. When a young woman she was brought by her parents to Nottingham Township, where she met and married Mr. Warner. They are the parents of the follow- ing children : Doctor Elmer, a graduate of the State Normal School, taught school for several years and then took up the study of medicine, receiving his degree in 1917; Miss Nettie, who is single and makes her home with her parents: Albert, who is married and a worker in the oil fields of Oklahoma ; Henry A., at home with his father; and Stella, the wife of R. L. Bond, of Hamilton, Illinois.
LEO H. MARQUART is the leading merchant of Murray, the oldest vil- lage in Wells County. The settlement was also known as Lancaster and sometimes called New Lancaster. The first settlers there located at the beginning of the decade of the '30s, and the village was laid out in October, 1839. The town is pleasantly situated on the north bank of the Wabash River and doubtless would have become an important city but for the rivalry of Bluffton and the fact that the railroads passed it by.
Mr. Marquart was born at the Village of Murray October 25, 1894. and is a son of W. H. and Jennie ( Harnish) Marquart. The father is now engaged in the grocery business at Bluffton. W. H. Marquart came to Wells County from Adams County. while the mother was born in Bluffton. They have two sons, Walter and Leo H.
Leo H. Marquart grew up and received a good education, and for a young man only twenty-three years of age has made a commendable record in business affairs. He conducts a first class general store at Murray and keeps a full line of merchandise including dry goods. shoes, groceries, hardware, drugs, and automobile supplies. He is a good busi-
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ness man, very industrious, accommodating and has the complete con- fidence of all the people in that district of the county.
Mr. Marquart votes as a republican, is a member of the Reformed Church and is affiliated with Lodge No. 92 of the Knights of Pythias at Bluffton.
October 7, 1915, he married Miss Tessie Wilcoxson, daughter of L. E. and Mary Wilcoxson of Wells County. Her father is still living and her mother is now deceased. Mrs. Marquart has a sister Bessie, wife of Ernest Landis of Huntington, Indiana, and a brother Donald, un- married. Mr. and Mrs. Marquart have one child, Mary Jane, born in 1916.
JAMES S. LOCKWOOD. A substantial farmer and highly respected and well known citizen of Wells County, Indiana, is James S. Lockwood, who was born not far from Keystone, Indiana, June 24, 1865. His parents were James Edwin and Frances (Blackledge) Lockwood, natives of Ohio. Of their children the following are living : James S., J. P., Austin and Charles, the deceased being Vora and Wesley.
James S. Lockwood was reared on the home farm and attended the country schools. He remained at home until his marriage, which took place in Wells County, to Miss Ida M. Hiestand, who was a native of Jay County, Indiana, in which state she was educated. They have had five children, the three living being as follows: Flossie, who is the wife of Edgar H. Barrington, a farmer : Zarpha, who is the wife of Floyd Shoe- maker ; and Lewis M. All the children have had good school advantages.
After his marriage James S. Lockwood farmed his father-in-law's place for two years and then moved on a place near Petroleum where he bought forty acres, later added twenty acres and still later buying forty acres more, still further dealings being in the purchase and sale of other tracts. He now has a fine farm of 151 acres, all of which he has ac- quired through his industry and good management.
Mr. Lockwood has long been an active Christian worker and has a preacher's license in the Methodist Episcopal Church and officiates as a local preacher. In polities he is a republican.
James Edwin Lockwood, father of James S. Lockwood, is a retired farmer living in Nottingham Township, Wells County. He was born in Champaign County, Ohio, April 12, 1842, a son of Alonzo and Eliza (Stanley) Lockwood. His father was a native of Maine and his mother of Pennsylvania and their people came to Champaign County, Ohio. The parents of Mr. Lockwood came to Indiana and located in Wells County and in February, 1846, bought land in Nottingham Township. It was then in the woods and from this wilderness Alonzo Lockwood carved out a farm. He and wife were members of the Methodist Episco- pal Church. They had nine children and those living in 1917 are: George A., James Edwin, Stanley, Alonzo, Charles and Ann, who is the widow of Lum Clevinger.
James Edwin Lockwood was four years old when he was brought to Wells County and as he grew in strength he gave his father assist- anee in clearing the pioneer farm and remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age.
Mr. Lockwood was married July 31, 1863, to Frances A. Blackledge, who was born on her father's farm in Nottingham Township, May 3, 1845, a daughter of Joseph and Susan (Christman) Blackledge, natives of Ohio. Her paternal grandfather was one of the first three settlers in this township and he died here, but Mrs. Lockwood's parents subse- quently moved to Nebraska, where her father died. Mr. and Mrs. Loek- wood have the following children: James S., who is a farmer in Nott-
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ingham Township; Joseph P., who is a farmer also in Nottingham Town- ship; Arthur, who lives at Uniondale; Elias, who lives in Nottingham Township; Luella S., who is the wife of Samuel Neher, of this township; and the youngest son is Charles.
Mr. Lockwood and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is a member of the board of trustees. In politics he has always been a republican. He owns eighty acres of well improved land, his business always having been farming. He has some alditional in- terests, however, and is a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank at Keystone, Indiana. The Lockwood family has always been one of the sturdy, upright families of this section, law abiding people who have worked in the cause of education and religion.
CHARLES T. EVERSOLE. Many of the best farmers in Wells County are located in Lancaster Township, where local pride is shown as is evidenced in substantial and attractive buildings, and where richly cultivated fields prove their owners to be industrious. One of these well tilled farms belongs to Charles T. Eversole, one of the township's most respected citizens.
Charles T. Eversole was born in Wells County, Indiana, April 14, 1855. His parents were Jacob and Susannah A. ( Miller) Eversole. Ilis father was born in Lancaster Township, Fairfield County, Ohio, October 14, 1824, and died February 24, 1906. His mother was born in Windsor Township, York County, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1826, and died April 15, 1871. They came to Indiana in November, 1854, traveling in pioneer fashion, and settled on a tract of eighty acres in Lancaster Township, not far from Bluffton. Later they sold that and then moved into Rock Creek Township and bought eighty aeres there and that con- tinned the home of Mr. Eversole's parents as long as they lived. They had the following children : William H., Mary Ellen, deceased, Jacob M., Clara, Charles T., Wilson S., Laura S., deceased, Louise, Frank P., Zena Jefferson, Sarah Catherine, Laura, deceased. They were all care- fully reared and were taught from childhood the value of industry and the principles of right living.
Charles T. Eversole attended the district schools in boyhood and grew up on his father's farm and has made farming his main business in life. Years of experience have taught him the most profitable methods and he is progressive enough to make use of good machinery and to keep thoroughly abreast of the times in modern agricultural development. Mr. Eversole owns forty acres, on which he carries on general farming and raises some stock. He has everything very comfortable for himself and family, having put up new buildings since he purchased the place, which was already cleared, on March 1, 1905.
MIr. Eversole was married November 21, 1879, to Miss Anna M. Myers, who is a daughter of Jacob and Martha Myers. Mrs. Eversole had the following brothers and sisters: Simeon, Joseph, Orrin, Ben,ja- min. James, William, Martha, deceased, Elizabeth, deceased, Lucy, and Louise and Sarah, deceased.
To Mr. and Mrs. Eversole the following children have been born : Leroy, who married Emma Otto, of Hammond, Indiana ; Zepha May, at home; Pearl, who is the wife of Fred Houtz, a farmer in Lancaster Township; and Susan Martha, and Frances Hazel, both of whom live at home. Mr. Eversole and his son vote with the democratic party. They are both sound, reliable, upright men and good citizens, but neither have been seekers for politieal office. Mr. Eversole belongs to Lodge No. 259, Knights of Pythias, at Uniondale, Indiana.
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AMOS W. SAWYER is a native of Wells County and is now usefully and successfully employed as a practical farmer in Nottingham Town- ship. His home is on rural route No. 7 out of Bluffton. Mr. Sawyer has improved and developed his eighty acres and besides raising the staple crops in this state is handling some first class livestock. He has always borne the reputation of being a hard working man in his business and a publie spirited eitizeu in connection with every local movement for improvement and betterment. His farm is in section 16 of Nottingham Township.
Mr. Sawyer was born in a log cabin in Nottingham Township Sep- tember 5, 1862, a son of John A. and Malinda ( Warner) Sawyer. The father was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, May 16, 1833, and lived to the venerable age of eighty-four years. His death occurred January 10, 1918. His first wife, Malinda Warner, was born in Ohio and died in 1866. By their marriage there were three children: Amos W .; George W., of Grand Rapids, Minnesota; and Malinda, who was never married and is living at home. The Sawyer family came to Wells County in 1857, and for many years John A. Sawyer was a practical and in- dustrious farmer, and has always been identified with the Evangelical Church. He married for his second wife Lucinda Shoemaker. The chil- dren of that marriage were: William H., deceased; Elizabeth E., who married W. H. Leist ; Mary E., wife of Milt Zoll ; Andrew J., who lives in Nottingham Township ; Clara A., wife of L. E. Deam of Bluffton ; Cora A., wife of Charles E. Taylor of Copemish, Michigan; Jennie L., wife of Oscar Thompson of Harrison Township, Wells County : Effie M., wife of John Van Emon, living near Murray; Susan, wife of Homer Crosbie of Bluffton ; and two others that died in infancy.
Amos W. Sawyer spent his early life on the old homestead in Not- tingham Township. Besides the advantages afforded by the district schools he attended the County Normal and also Fort Wayne College. His higher education was acquired in the intervals of his work as a teacher. Mr. Sawyer made a notable record as an educator and has to his credit seventeen terms of school taught, all of them in Nottingham Township. Since leaving the schoolroom he has made farming his regu- lar vocation.
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