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 18
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 18
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In 1912 Mrs. Daniel purchased her present attractive home on North Second Street. It is a large, fourteen-room house, occupying a full half block, built in colonial style, and modernized into a most conveniently arranged dwelling, with a fine landscape lawn, on which are beautiful shade trees and shrubbery, and a well planned tennis court for pleasure seekers.
Mrs. Daniel has two children, Harry R. and Grayce B. Harry R. Daniel, a graduate of Hamline University, and of the Emerson School of Oratory, in Boston, Massachusetts, has been national secretary of the American Society of Thrift, which has been, and is being, adopted by many of the colleges and universities of the country. He possesses high mental attainments, and is well known in literary circles as a man of talent and ability.
Grayce B. Daniel was educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University, in Delaware, Ohio, and is a woman of many accomplishments. She married Chalmers C. Shafer, a prominent harness manufacturer of Decatur, and they have three children : Gretchen, Frederick, and Daniel.
JOHN BELL. Two occupations, those of farming and merchandising. are occupying the energies and abilities of John Bell, one of the well known residents of the Poneto community of Wells County, and in both vocations he has met with success. When properly conducted in a farm- ing community, the general store is not only a necessary and much appreciated commercial adjunct but also the medium through which the proprietor can add to his income through a knowledge of values and produce and his close connection with the tillers of the soil. Mr. Bell is one of the self-made men of his community, and the not inconsiderable
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success which has rewarded him has been fairly and honorably won without outside assistance.
Mr. Bell was born on a farm in Chester Township, Wells County, Indiana, March 12, 1854, and is a son of James and Evaline (Bentley) Bell, the former a native of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio. The family has been represented in Wells County since November, 1842, and for the greater part its members have been agriculturists, although business and the professions have also had its members in their ranks. James Bell was an agriculturist and a man of some note in his community, serving several times as trustee of Chester Township and as commissioner of Wells County. A stanch democrat, he took an active interest in polities and was considered one of the strong men of his party in his locality. He belonged to the Christian Church, in the faith of which he died, as did also Mrs. Bell, who passed away in 1869. Of their ten children, three are living: John; Lydia, the widow of John Wood ; and Mrs. Mary J. Campbell, also a widow.
John Bell was reared on the home farm, and given his education in the public schools, and when sixteen years of age began to work on his own account. Since that age, when he and his brother took charge of the home place, he has followed agricultural work, and at the present time is the owner of a fertile little tract of forty acres, where he carries on general farming in its various departments. He has his farm well improved with modern buildings and equipment of the model and sub- stantial kind, and the successful results that have attended his efforts would seem to indicate that he is well versed in the methods of agri- cultural work. For several years past Mr. Bell has also conducted a general store at the little community known as Bellville, in the Poneto locality, and carries a full line of goods to supply the needs of the agri- cultural community in which he is centered. He enjoys a good trade and also has the reputation of being a straightforward business man of integrity. Politically, Mr. Bell is a Democrat and has been somewhat active in public affairs, having served as assessor of his township for six years, and as deputy for four years, and justice of the peace for six years. He is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, at Key- stone; and is prominent in Odd Fellowship, belonging to Mount Zion Lodge No. 648, of which he is past grand, and the encampment and can- ton at Bluffton.
Mr. Bell was married in 1875 to Miss Melissa West, who was born in Chester Township, Wells County, daughter of Hiram and Mary (Walker) West. To this union there were born three children, of whom one survives: Sherman, born May 12, 1881, a graduate of the public schools and his father's assistant on the home farm, married Nora Shadle, and they have one daughter, Opal, born in 1903, a graduate of the common schools. Sherman Bell is one of the well known young farm- ers of Chester Township, who has a wide circle of friends. He is a member of Bluffton Lodge No. 92, Knights of Pythias, Uniform Rank, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Bluffton.
JOHN WAGONER, who for a number of years has lived retired with a comfortable property both in farm and city real estate, is one of the oldest native sons of Adams County, and is member of a family that invaded this country in the early '40s and had to clear away the timber and the brush before they could establish their humble log cabin home.
His maternal ancestors for generations unnumbered were French people. lived and died in that country, and his grandfather also spent his life in France. John Wagoner is a son of the late Nicholas Wag- oner. Nicholas was born in France July 28. 1830, a son of John N.
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Wagoner, who died when his son was a small child. A little later the widowed mother brought her children, three sons and a daughter by a previous marriage, and Nicholas, to America, sailing from a French port and after weeks on the ocean landing in New York City. From there they went to Lancaster, Ohio, where she bought forty acres of land, and in 1843 the family came to Adams County, Indiana, and located in Washington Township. Here they acquired eighty acres in the midst of the woods, built a log house, had an open fireplace for heating and cooking, and a log barn for the shelter of their stock. Near the house they dug a well, and it was operated with a "sweep" and an old oaken bucket. The grandmother with the aid of her sons cleared up this land and there she spent her last years, passing away at the age of eighty- two. She was an active member of the Catholic Church. Her four chil- dren grew up and married and all of them spent lives of labor and achievement and left large families.
Nicholas Wagoner was about thirteen years old when he came to Adams County, and had but limited educational advantages, attending school back in Ohio for the most part. He had the practice and the experience that made him a capable farmer when he undertook to sup- port a family of his own, and at a comparatively early age, January 20, 1848, he married Miss Mary Everhart. She was born in Harrison County, Ohio, November 20, 1831, a daughter of John Everhart, who was of German stock. When Mary Everhart was a small child the fam- ily came to Adams County and located on a tract of new land in Mon- roe Township. John Everhart steadily cleared away some of the forest and lived there until his death when past fifty. He married a Miss Hendricks, who survived him, and died when quite an old woman. They were members of the Protestant religion, and in practically all the gen- erations the Wagoners and Everharts have supplied democratic voters.
In the spring following his marriage Nicholas Wagoner settled on a farm in section 9 of Monroe Township. This eighty acres was com- pletely wild and unimproved and was given to Mrs. Wagoner by her father. After the manner of pioneers they began their task of making a home and lived in the greatest simplicity for a number of years. The good housewife while at work was often interrupted by the coming of wild animals into her dooryard. The first log cabin was 18 by 22 feet with puncheon floor and clapboard roof. That was followed by a double hewed log house, and in June, 1865, they completed a substantial frame residence, where they spent their later years in comfort. Nicholas Wag- oner was a very successful farmer and business man, and his industry brought him eventually about 500 acres. As his children left home at marriage, he gave each of them forty aeres or $500 in cash, and event- ually he had decreased his estate until it contained 160 acres. For many years he kept his original log barn as a landmark on the farm, but in 1883 had erected a barn which at the time was regarded as the finest in the entire township. His good wife died about 1897. She was a very active worker of the United Brethren Church. Nicholas Wagoner died July 5, 1912, at the advanced age of eighty-two. He had been a regular party worker and voter as a democrat for many years, but exercised his influence in behalf of his friends rather than himself as a candidate for office. He and his wife became the parents of six sons and four daughters, two of whom died in infancy and one at the age of sixteen. The others all grew up and married and had families and three sons and three daughters are still living. The names of those who reached maturity were John, Samuel S., Mary J .. Ira, Eli, Arminda B., and Ettie.
It was in the old log cabin home of his father in Monroe Township
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that John Wagoner was born March 15, 1849. He grew up on the home farm, was educated in the common schools, and was with his parents until nineteen years of age. On August 20, 1868, he married Miss Sarah J. Hughes, who was born in Darke County, Ohio, June 26, 1848, a daugh- ter of Lorenzo and Electa ( Wentworth) IInghes. The Hughes family came to Adams County in 1861 and her parents spent the rest of their days in Monrce Township. Sarah Hughes was one of a family of ten children. Her father was a very useful man in the community in addi- tion to elearing up the land and making a home for his family, and was a lay preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. John Wagoner was for many years active in the United Brethren Church, and afterwards joined the Evangelical Church at Decatur. She died March 3, 1917.
After his marriage Mr. Wagoner located on a farm in section 4 of Monroe Township, comprising the traet of forty aeres given him by his father. The land was covered with heavy timber, and after getting inneh of it in cultivation he began increasing his holdings until he had a well developed farm of 120 acres. Ile followed general farming and stoek raising, and was looked upon as one of the men of influence in that eom- munity as long as he lived there. For eight years he was township supervisor.
Mr. and Mrs. Wagoner had six children named William W., Albert C., Lewis Edward, Benjamin F., David W. and Hosea C., the last dying at the age of three years. William W. died in the prime of life and left no children. He was superintendent of the Indiana and Grand Rapids Railroad. Albert C. is agent for the Niekel Plate Railway at MeComb, Ohio, and by his marriage to Miss MeDaniel of Spencerville, Ohio, has a son Guy. Lewis E. is an operator for the Niekel Plate Railway at Continental, Ohio, and has two sons and two daughters, Robert, Don, Mildred and Lotos. The son Benjamin F. resides at Denver, Colorado, and is married but has no children. David W. is a plumber at Deeatur, married an Ohio girl and has one child, Billie. Mr. Wagoner and his sons are all demoerats. While he has not been active in farming for a number of years, he still owns forty acres of farm land in the county, and has considerable real estate investments in Deeatur.
JOHN E. SHADLE. Among the families that have lived in Wells County for seventy years or more one of the best known in Chester Township is that which hears the name Shadle, and whose members have taken a more or less prominent part in the settlement, development and well being of this community. The family had already done a large share of pioneer work before John E. Shadle was born. Mr. Shadle's individual activities have been carried on in the same loeality where his parents settled in pioneer times, and he is now proprietor of a pro- duetive and well managed farm in Chester Township on Rural Route No. 1 out of Keystone.
Only. a quarter of a mile north of his present home Mr. Shadle was born September 10, 1865. He is a son of the venerable Philip and Mar- garet (Donnelly) Shadle. Philip Shadle is a remarkable instance of longevity, and despite his hardships and experiences as a pioneer in Wells County is still living at the venerable age of ninety-two. He was born in Lebanon County. Pennsylvania, April 14, 1825, son of Philip and Mary (MeGlade) Shadle. His father was a native of Center County, Pennsylvania, while Mary MeGlade was two years old when her parents eame from Ireland. The grandparents married in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, and for twenty-five years made their home in Lebanon County. In 1836 they removed to Wayne County, Ohio, a
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sear later to Ilolmes County, and in the fall of 1847 traded the Ohio farm for 110 acres of wild land in Wells County, Indiana. Philip Shadle, Sr., was a carpenter by trade and hewed out the logs for his home in Wells County and made the first substantial house of the kind in Chester Township. Ilis wife died in Wells County in January, 1855, and he passed away in 1874.
The venerable Philip Shadle was reared and educated in Ohio, and in Wayne County that state married August 7, 1845, Miss Margaret Donnelly, a native of Pennsylvania and daughter of John and Fannie (Singer) Donnelly, also natives of Pennsylvania. The Donnelly fam- ily moved from Pennsylvania to Wayne County, Ohio, about 1835 and in 1850 went to Holmes County, Ohio. Philip Shadle brought his fam- ily to Wells County the year after his father's settlement, and located on a tract of sixty-five acres of the old homestead. He looked after the farm while his father followed his trade as a carpenter, and being a man of great strength and industry he cleared up with the assistance of his children fully 150 aeres of the virgin land of Chester Township. He became owner of a fine farm and he kept in close touch with its operations until advanced years. His good wife was born January 14, 1829, and their companionship was one of remarkable length, being ter- minated after more than seventy years by her death on January 21, 1917. For years they were faithful members and active workers in the United Presbyterian Church. Philip Shadle was a man of affairs in his township and county, was township trustee six years, and as a republican at one time was chairman of the Republican Committee in his home township. He and his wife had a large family of fifteen chil- dren, and six sons and two daughters are still living : William A., James N., Lucetta, wife of John Godfrey; Reason, Samuel, John, Eli and Ada, wife of Frank Stair.
Mr. John E. Shadle grew up on the old homestead a quarter of a mile from his present home, attended the common schools, and was a factor in clearing the land and cultivating the helds on his father's place until he was twenty-five years of age. He then married Miss Rilla A. Perry, daughter of Walter Perry. Mrs. Shadle is also a native of Chester Township. After their marriage they began house- keeping on the farm of eighty-eight acres, where they still live, and from that point Mr. Shadle has developed his notably successful indus- try as a general farmer and stock man. He has been a breeder and raiser of some of the best stock in the township, and handles Hampshire sheep, Duroc hogs, Shorthorn cattle, and has always been up to date and progressive in every line of activity. Politically he votes as a republican. Mr. and Mrs. Shadle have one son, Pasco E., born August 29, 1892. This son married Nellie Graves, and is now the father of two children, Wayne and Lena, grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Shadle.
WILLIAM H. DITZLER has been prominently identified with the lum- ber industry for a number of years and is now active in the firm of the Ditzler Hardwood Company at Bluffton. He grew up in the atmos- phere of lumber milling, his father having been at one time operator of the largest saw mill in Wells County. William H. Ditzler was born in Lancaster Township of Wells County March 5, 1880, a son of George C. and Laura E. (Teeple) Ditzler.
George C. Ditzler, who now lives with his wife at Markle, Indiana, was born in Crawford County, Ohio, a son of George and Catherine (Sauerbaugh) Ditzler, natives of Pennsylvania. In 1864 the Ditzler family came to Wells County, settling in Rock Creek Township on the Wabash River. George C. Ditzler grew up on that farm and when a
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young man bought a saw mill at Murray. He sold that in 1882 and took a large contract to furnish material for the building of the old Chicago & Atlantic, now the Erie Railroad, then in progress of con- struction through Wells County. To supply this material George C. Ditzler built a mill at Uniondale, and for several years it was the chief sawmill of Wells County, with an annual capacity of over 2,000,000 feet of lumber.
George C. Ditzler was the pioneer of Uniondale, his mill being the principal industry of the village, and his home was the first one com- pleted there. All the first houses were built from lumber cut in his mill. His second son, Charles F., was the first child born at Uniondale, on December 5, 1882. There was one other son, Ray L., who is now in the produce business at Markle, Indiana, and also interested in branch houses at Roanoke and Huntington. Ray Ditzler married Fern Rairick. A daughter of George C. Ditzler, Eva M., is the wife of Floyd E. Thomas, a miller at Markle, Indiana. Charles F. Ditzler, above referred to, is a farmer in Huntington County, Indiana, and married Bessie Nicholson.
George C. Ditzler married Laura Teeple on February 6, 1879. She was born in Butler County, Iowa, in 1857, and her father, Samuel Teeple, entered the Union army at the outbreak of the Civil war and died while still in service.
William H. Ditzler spent his first few years at Murray and Union- dale, but from the age of six was reared on the old farm in Rock Creek Township. He attended the Sugar Grove school house, and afterwards had one term of instruction in the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. For a year and a half he was a student in Wittenberg College at Springfield, Ohio. Mr. Ditzler had three terms of experience as a teacher in Wells and Allen counties.
On April 28, 1901, he married Miss Ivy Lesh, daughter of George W. and Christina (Logan) Lesh. Her father was a native of Wells County and her mother was born on the old Logan homestead in Rock Creek Township. Mrs. Ditzler also attended the Sugar Grove school in Rock Creek Township.
After his marriage Mr. Ditzler moved to his father's farm in Rock Creek Township, and was there two and a half years, and in July, 1903, eame to Bluffton and for nine months was employed in the Cline Chair & Sawmill Company. He then went to southern Indiana and at Albany was in the sawmill business three years, and for the next five years con- dneted a sawmill and Inmberyard at Akron, Indiana. Selling his inter- ests there, he bought a farm in Huntington County a half mile north of Markle, where his brother Charles now lives, but a year later returned to Bluffton and bought the sawmill which he still owns and operates. He is an extensive manufacturer of hardwood lumber and has one of the thriving industries of the kind in Wells County.
Mr. and Mrs. Ditzler have four children: Jennie M., born January 27, 1904; George W., born October 21, 1907: Laura C., born August 4. 1911; and Helen M., born March 12, 1913. The daughter, Jennie, is now in the first year of the local high school. Mr. Ditzler and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Bluffton and he is one of the official board. Politically he is a demoerat. Among other business interests he has stock in the Warren Hardwood Company. In 1916 Mr. Ditzler bought what is known as the Studabaker Grove ad- jacent to the corporation limits of Bluffton on the northwest, and here he has erected a modern residence, making his home at that place.
FRANK HESHER. Among the good farms of Wells County one that deserves notice on account of its improvements and superior manage-
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ment and is also representative of the industry and effective work of a very capable citizen is that of Frank Hesher on Rural Route No. 2 out of Bluffton in Harrison Township.
Mr. Hesher was born on a farm in Harrison Township April 25, 1882, and is a son of Adam and Elizabeth (Ratliff) Hesher. His parents are still living in Harrison Township, and his father was at one time superintendent of the Wells County Infirmary.
Frank Hesher grew up on a farm in Harrison and Lancaster Town- ships and was educated in the common schools. At the age of nineteen he struck out for himself, working at monthly wages at the infirmary and with other farmers for about nine years.
On January 12, 1904, he married Miss Ida Biberstein. She was born in Harrison Township, daughter of Emanuel Biberstein, and acquired her education in the common schools.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hesher hired out their services to a farmer at monthly wages. The next year they improved their con- dition somewhat by renting a farm in the township, and after five years of industry and economy were able to acquire their present home of ninety-six acres six miles southeast of Bluffton near the old county in- firmary. Thus all their prosperity is due to their united labors and good management, and today Mr. Hesher is regarded as one of the most successful men in the county in the handling of livestock. He is a breeder of the spotted Poland hogs, of Holstein cattle and Percheron horses. At a number of fairs and exhibitions his poultry has taken first premiums. Instead of shipping his stock to market Mr. Hesher every year holds a sale when his livestock is eagerly picked up by other stock men.
Mr. and Mrs. Hesher have a family of four children named Edna, Glen, Mary and Nora. In politics he is a democrat, but has never held office and has been content to do his part as a citizen by supporting such movements as commend themselves to his confidence and judg- ment.
FRANKLIN P. MCGEATH. Away back in 1841 the MeGeath family came to Indiana and ever since this family has been esteemed here for it has been identified largely with the upbuilding, the improvement and the sound citizenship of Wells County. The family is of Scotch-Irish extraction but came to Indiana from Virginia. One of the well known and worthy representatives of the family is Franklin P. MeGeath, who is a general farmer and stockraiser in Chester Township.
Franklin P. MeGeath was born in Chester Township, Wells County, August 20, 1851. His parents were James H. and Elizabeth (Foreman) MeGeath, natives of Virginia, who came to Indiana in 1841 when young people, and were married in Henry County, Indiana. They settled 31% miles west and a half mile south of the farm on which Franklin P. McGeath now lives. Their first home was a rude log structure, roofed over with tree branches, a regular pioneer abode, but the time came when Mr. MeGeath was able to build a large and comfortable house, and there he and wife spent their last years. They were industrious, thrifty people and more than that, they were kind and neighborly and in all the country round were held in high regard. They were among the earnest aud active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In polities James H. MeGeath was a democrat and probably served in local offices for he was a man of good judgment as well as sterling character. Of his fourteen children those surviving are: Thomas J., who is a farmer in Chester Township : Elizabeth, who is the wife of William Bentley, of Oklahoma; and Franklin P.
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Franklin P. McGeath remained at home and helped his father until he was eighteen years old and as opportunity offered, attended the dis- triet schools. In his youth when boys desired money of their own to spend, their hard-working fathers were very apt to recommend them to earn it. At that time there were fewer chances for boys to work outside the home, perhaps, than at present, but Franklin knew that money was paid for some of the wild growths in field and forest and many an hour he spent searching the fields for ginseng and the forest for ash and prickley ash bark. These commodities he sold to drug stores in Mont- pelier. With sneh creditable ideas of thrift, when Mr. MeGeath started ont for himself at the age of eighteen, he soon found self-supporting work and for the next six years continued to work for farmers and others by the month. When he had a free capital of $200 he married and rented land for a short time but soon bought forty acres and later bought another forty, and then sold his eighty acres to advantage and bought just across the road from his other land. He retains 120 acres for hint- self but has been generous with his children and in late years has assisted them in getting homes of their own. Mr. McGeath has been a very successful farmer and has given much attention to growing high grade stock. In addition to his agricultural interests, he is a stock- holder in the Poneto Elevator Company and in the Farmers Bank.
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