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 38
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 38
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Mr. Neuenschwander married. November 19, 1888, Maggie Bisehoff, and they have five children living, namely: Grover W .. Fannie O., Homer E., Martin J., and Orilla M. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Neuen- schwander are members of the St. John's Reformed Church at Vera ('rnz, Indiana. Politieally Mr. Neuenschwander is one of the prom- inent and influential democrats of the county, and is interested in
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everything pertaining to its welfare. He is now serving as treasurer of the French Township Insurance Company.
NATHAN EHRMANN. One of the foremost agrieulturists of Kirkland Township, Nathan Ehrmann is numbered among the successful farmers of Adams County who thoroughly understand the vocation which they are following, and are carrying it on with profit and pleasure. A native of Switzerland, where his parents, Philip and Elizabeth (Schaad) Ehrmann, spent their entire lives, he was born March 17, 1841.
Having as a youth determined to seek his fortune in the New World, Nathan Ehrmann arrived in the United States April 24, 1856. Making his way directly to Indiana, he lived on a rented farm in Adams County for a year, and afterwards worked by the month in different capacities, both on the stage and the eanal. In August, 1870, Mr. Ehrmann pur- chased eighty acres of land in Kirkland Township, and met with such good success in his operations that he has been enabled to buy at dif- ferent times other tracts of nearby land, and is now the owner of a choice farm of 300 acres. A systematic, practical and progressive agri- eulturist, Mr. Ehrmann is carrying on general farming with excellent results, year by year adding to his wealth, and materially aiding in the advancement of the community's prosperity.
The maiden name of the wife of Mr. Ehrmann was Elizabeth Fuhr- man. She was born in Adams County, a daughter of John and Eliza- beth Fuhrman, who emigrated from Germany to America in 1849, set- tling in Adams County, where Mrs. Ehrmann was reared and educated, as were her brothers and sisters, namely : John; Henry ; Margaret, Chris- topher, deceased ; Katherina; Sophia; and Minnie. Mr. and Mrs. Ehr- mann are the parents of seven children, as follows: Charles, who mar- ried Lisetta Boknecht; Anthony married Esther Wilma; Ferdinand married Amelia Hempel, of Fort Wayne, and they have four children, Frieda, Mary, Clara, and Walter; William married Sena Leimanstahle, and they have three children, Edna, Floyd, and Robert; George, at home; Katherine, wife of William Hempel, has one child, Elizabeth ; and Annie, at home. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Ehrmann are members of the German Lutheran Church, to which their parents also belonged. Politically he invariably supports the principles of the republican party by voice and by vote.
August 17, 1861, Mr. Ehrmann enlisted as a private in the First Michigan Cavalry, serving two years and eleven months. He was in many battles among which were Winchester, Fredericksburg, Antietam, second Bull Run, and Gettysburg, the latter being his last battle.
ALBERT HUSER, of Preble, is actively associated with the mereantile interests of Adams County, and as proprietor of the Preble Elevator is an extensive buyer and seller of grain. A native of Indiana, he was born, January 16, 1859, in Adams County, a son of the late George Huser.
Born and bred in Elsass, Germany. George Huser immigrated, in 1846, to the United States, loeating first in Pennsylvania. In 1852, fol- lowing the mareh of civilization westward, he came to Indiana, and hav- ing settled in Preble Township, Adams County, he there followed his trade of shoemaker for many years. Ile was held in high respeet as a man of honest worth, and his death, December 31. 1891, was considered a loss to the community in which he had so long lived. He married, in 1848, in Warren County, Pennsylvania, and his widow survived him many years, passing away in March, 1913. They were the parents of eight children, George, Louis, Mary, Albert, Anna, Louise, Matilda, and Vol. II-17
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Clara. They were faithful members of the German Lutheran Church, and reared their family in the same faith. The father was a democrat in politics.
Completing his early studies in the public school, Albert Huser worked on the home farm until attaining his majority. He then be- came interested in the lumber business, having a saw mill in Preble Township, and also operating a threshing machine in that neighborhood. Moving to the Village of Preble in 1885, Mr. Huser purchased a saw mill, and managed both plants successfully until the Preble saw mill burned. Going then to Fort Wayne, Indiana, he was there engaged in the lumber business from 1894 until 1900, when he sold out. The ensning three years, he was associated with the Adams County Lumber Company, and later ran a stationary engine, being in the employ, at Fort Wayne, of the Indiana Road Machinery Company. On May 1, 1908, Mr. Huser returned to Preble, and purchased the grain elevator, which he has since conducted on strictly business methods, it being known far and wide as the Preble Elevator Company.
Mr. Huser married, October 31, 1882, Louise Buuck. She was born in Adams County, a daughter of Detrich and Mary Buuek, who reared a large family, namely: Sophia; Louise; Fred; Mary, deceased; Anna; August; Henry, deceased; Otto Adolph; Charles; and Paul. Mr. and Mrs. Huser have three children, Paulina, Clara, and Martin. Paulina is a professional nurse, and is now with the Red Cross, in San Antonio, Texas. Clara is single. Martin, also single, is a wholesale tobacco dealer in Lima. Ohio. In his politics Mr. Huser votes for the man, not the party. Religiously, following in the footsteps of his ancestors, he is a member of the German Lutheran Church, to which his wife and children also belong.
JAMES C. HARKLESS. The farm home in Root Township where James C. Ilarkless resides is appreciated and valued the more by him because of the fact that on that land he was born, and as a boy he witnessed and helped in converting it from a portion of the original and primeval wilderness into land that would respond to the efforts of the plow.
On this farm he was born February 4, 1879, a son of Benjamin P. and Rebecea J. (Mumma) Harkless. His father was a native of Indiana and his mother of Pennsylvania. The father died after a long and honor- able career in Adams County on August 19, 1910. The mother is still living, with home in Decatur.
James C. Harkless spent the years from 1890 until he was well past his majority in assisting his father to elear off the land. He swung the axe and cut down the trees, rolled the logs together in piles, burned the brush, and made himself a helpful factor in every one of the operations by which the land was brought into its present high degree of cultiva- tion. Many days he hauled logs to Decatur, where they were delivered to a loeal sawmill. He also did that back-breaking work which has a special distinetion as one of the early vocations of Abraham Lincoln -splitting rails. He split rails by the thousands and helped make many of the old-fashioned rail fences which are now rapidly going out as a feature of fence improvement around Adams County farms.
Some years ago Mr. Harkless bought the sixty acres from his father's estate and he also owns forty aeres in Union Township of Adams County. Both farms are eleared and well improved. A part of the original log house where his father lived in early times still remains among the buildings of the home farm. Mr. Harkless has two sisters, Nettie, wife of Ross Harden, Union Township, and Mary, wife of Ed Ahr, of Root Township.
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Mr. Harkless as a boy also attended the district schools of Root Town- ship, but the work of the farm was at least equally important to the in- struction he received from books. Mrs. Harkless' brothers and sisters are: Annie, wife of Louis Woodward, of Root Township; Simon, who married Katie Beltz, of Union Township; Edward, Frances and Edith, all unmarried.
May 12, 1907, Mr. James C. Harkless married Alvina Bucher, daugh- ter of John and Minnie Bucher. Mr. and Mrs. Harkless have four children : J. Frank, born in 1907; Fay, born in 1910; Bennie, born in 1911; and Jimmie, born in 1917. Mr. Harkless is an independent voter and is a member of the United Brethren Church.
BENJ. F. BUTLER is a native son of Root Township, has lived in Adams County practically all his life, has prospered through his efforts as a farmer and land owner, and is still capable of doing a full day's work and has no intention just now of going on the retired list.
Mr. Butler was born in Root Township March 27, 1862, son of Jesse and Catherine (Earhart) Butler. His father was born in Wayne County, Indiana, and his mother in Pennsylvania. At the time of their marriage they settled on a farm in Wayne County, Indiana, and later went to what was comparatively a frontier district, buying Government land in Page County, Iowa. They lived there as pioneers and farmers five years and then traded their farm, household goods, farm implements and stock for a home in Adams County, Indiana. They secured 200 acres of land, known as the old Reynolds farm. Only part of the acreage had been cleared and put under cultivation, and the rest of that heavy work was accomplished by Jesse Butler and still later by his son Benj. Jesse Butler was a man of decided popularity and prom- inence in Adams County for a long period of years. He always con- sidered himself a farmer, though in later years he dealt extensively in livestock. He and his wife were active Methodists and he held nearly all the church offices. The children were Mary, Edna, Albert, Benj. F., William, John, Samuel, Harry, Melvin J. All are living except John and those living reside in Adams County except Albert, whose home is in Fort Wayne.
Benj. F. Butler had the average education of an Adams County farm boy, developed his strength by contact with the plow and other imple- ments of farm industry, and has been in the ranks of productive farmers in this county now for over thirty-five years. On his present farm he located in October, 1902. He sold his portion of the old homestead com- prising ninety-five acres. His present farm contains some of the best soil in the county, and is improved with an excellent group of buildings. Mr. Butler is a republican in casting his vote, is a member and has been an active official of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with Decatur Tent No. 95 of the Order of the Maccabees.
On May 7, 1881, he married Miss Della Williams, daughter of Jesse and Alice ( Ruckman) Williams. Her father was a pioneer of Adams County, locating in Root Township in 1847. He was born in Westmore- land County, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1832, and was only fifteen years of age when his parents moved to Adams County, Indiana. IIis father died in Wisconsin in 1872. On March 29, 1857, Jesse Williams married Alice Ruckman, who was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, June 16, 1838, daughter of Watson and Hannah (Rowler) Ruckman. After their marriage Jesse Williams and wife began housekeeping at Monmouth, and had a very limited equipment of goods and they earned all their subse- quent prosperity by hard work and thrifty living. Both were active members of the Methodist Church and Mr. Williams was a republican.
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They had six children: Watson E., who died in 1871 at the age of fourteen : William W., born February 1, 1862; Della B., born August 14, 1865; Loretta A., born May 18, 1868; Mary E., who married Victor V. Reed and died in 1880 at the age of twenty years, eleven months, nine- teen days : Jessie Dallas, born July 20, 1874.
Mr. and Mrs. Butler have every reason to be proud and satisfied with the fine family of boys and girls who have grown up in their home. These children are: Earl, who married May Spuehler and lives at Decatur; Harvey, who married Amelia Winters of Washington Township; Dessie, who became the wife of William Evans of Root Township ; Vena, the only one deceased ; Herbert, who married Franees Russell of Root Township ; Kenneth, Brice and Nile, all unmarried. Mr. and Mrs. Butler also have half a dozen grandchildren. Their son Earl has a daughter, Martha E .; Dessie Evans has two children, Richard and Juanita; Harvey has two, Harold and Hubert ; and Herbert is the father of one son, Russell.
WILLIAM C. GALLMEIER. Since the woods were first eleared away and the swamps drained in Adams County a number of people respond- ing to the name Gallmeier have borne a creditable share of these mate- rial burdens and also taken part in the enlightened citizenship of the community.
One of the best known of the present generation is Mr. William C. Gallmeier, a practical farmer in Root Township. Mr. Gallmeier was born in Preble Township of this county May 20, 1868, a son of Conrad and Wilhelmina Gallmeier. His parents came from Germany in 1845 and were among the real pioneers of Preble Township in Adams County. The father bought eighty acres from the Government, cleared and improved it, and as a result of his remarkable industry and ability to work long and hard, combined with good management, he became one of the successful men of the county. In 1871 he bought another tract of ninety acres in Root Township, and during his lifetime he partly cleared and improved that. This is the land which now constitutes the farm of William C. Gallmeier.
William C. Gallmeier was one of six children, the others being Louise, Frederick, Charles, August and Sophia. Mr. William C. Gallmeier grew up in Adams County, was educated in the common schools and on November 24, 1898, married Miss Lisetta Berning, daughter of Henry and Sophia Berning. Four children have been born to their marriage, Flora, Linda, Alvira and Paul, all of whom are students in the publie school. Mrs. Gallmeier's parents also came from Germany and made their early home in Allen County, Indiana.
William C. Gallmeier located on his share of the old homestead at the time of his marriage, and about the same time he also bought sixty- five acres from August Schrader, thus giving him a very complete and rather extensive farm of 156 acres. Much of this has been in cultivation for many successive seasons, but about forty acres are kept in a fine grove of native timber. IFere he does general farming and stoek raising, and has buildings and other improvements well suited for successful handling of his business.
Mr. Gallmeier is on the advisory board of his township, is a democrat in politics and is an active member of the Lutheran Church. His wife and her people have also been Lutherans for generations back.
FREDERICK A. KOHLER. Born in French Township, October 8, 1865, on the farm he now owns and occupies, Frederick A. Kohler comes of substantial pioneer stock, and having selected for his life work the inde- pendent occupation to which he was reared has been a prominent factor
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in developing the natural resources of this part of Adams County, ren- dering it one of the best and most prosperous agricultural regions of Northern Indiana, its rich soil, and its grazing lands, well adapting it to either general farming or stock raising.
His father, the late Abraham Kohler, was born, May 6, 1823, in Canton Berne, Switzerland, where he lived and labored for many years. Immigrating to the United States in 1859, he made his way directly to Wayne County, Ohio, where he soon found remunerative employment. Subsequently, looking for a good place to invest his earnings, he came to Adams County, Indiana, and having purchased land in French Town- ship began the improvement of a farm. Successful in his undertakings, he was here a resident until his death, March 6, 1888. ITis wife, whose maiden name was Anna Rudy, was born, March 2, 1826, in Canton Sehaffhausen, Switzerland, and as a girl eame with her parents to Wayne County, Ohio, where she lived until her marriage. She survived her husband a few years, dying at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Steffen. Four children blessed their union, as follows: Alfred, engaged in farm- ing in French Township: Frederick A .. of this brief sketch ; Magdalena, wife of Toba Steffen; and Anna, who married Fred Bear, died in early womanhood.
Brought up in French Township, Frederick A. Kohler was educated in the country schools, and has spent his entire life on his home farm, in section 15. It contains eighty aeres of good land, well improved, lib- erally supplied with the best machinery for carrying on his work : and, with its substantial buildings, is among the best estates in the community, reflecting credit on his wise management, good judgment, and ability.
Mr. Kohler married, in 1897, Mary Mosure. She was born in Switzer- land. March 24, 1870, and came with her parents to Wells County, Indi- ana, in 1879, locating in Harrison Township. Mr. and Mrs. Kohler have no children. Mrs. Kohler is a member of the German Reformed Church at Vera Cruz. Politieally Mr. Kohler is a firm advocate of the principles of the republican party, and has served acceptably as supervisor. Fra- ternally he is a member of Linn Grove Lodge No. 683, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Kohler are genial and agreeable people, and enjoy to the utmost the esteem and confidence of a large cirele of friends and acquaintances.
FRED DUBACH is one of the live and enterprising farmers of Hart- ford Township, Adams County. He is proprietor of a productive farm, practically all of which represents his individual lahors and strivings, is looked upon as one of the substantial men of his. community, and both in his private affairs and in his relations to his fellow citizens has lived a life admirable in every respect. The Dnbach farm lies in section 15 of Hartford Township, a half mile west and a mile and a quarter south of Linn Grove.
Like a large number of the substantial citizens of this section of Indi- ana Mr. Dubach is a native of Switzerland, where he was born October 25, 1868. His parents, John and Rosina (Galle) Dubach spent their years in their native land until 1882, when with their children they came to the United States and located near Domestic in Nottingham Town- ship of Wells County, Indiana. His father was one of the honored and respected citizens of that locality until his death in 1908, and the wid- owed mother still ocenpies the old farm. There were twelve children in the family, eleven of whom are still living: Rosetta, living in Wells County ; John, of Wells County ; Fred : Eliza, wife of Benjamin Spehe- ger, of Harrison Township, Wells County : Charles, of Nottingham Town- ship; Rosa, wife of John Speheger, of Wells County: Lena, widow of
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Amos Stucky, of French Township, Adams County : Emma, wife of John Ilirely, of Craigsville, Indiana; Eli, who is married and occupies the home farm; David, unmarried and still at home; and Daniel, who was killed in the Kingsland wreck of September 21, 1910.
Fred Dubach was fourteen years of age when he accompanied his parents from the old country to Wells County, Indiana. Much of his education was acquired in his native land and in his native tongue. In Wells County he went to work for his father, and spent many a day in the woods and the fields clearing and cultivating. That was the routine of his life until he was twenty-two and after that for a couple of years worked out by the month.
Mr. Dubach married Aldine Gerber, who was born in French Town- ship of Adams County March 2, 1870, daughter of Christ Gerber, one of the prominent Swiss colonists of that county. After his marriage Mr. Dubach settled on a farm in French Township, was in that locality ten years, and then removed to his present place in Hartford Township. The Dubach farm comprises 100 acres, and everything about it indicates the thrift and enterprise of the owner. He has raised bountiful crops, and keeps some good grades of livestock of all kinds.
Mr. and Mrs. Dubach have four children: Calvin, Edna, Roy and Elmer, all still at home. The family are members of the German Reformed Church at Vera Cruz, Indiana. Mr. Dubach is a democrat, and besides his farm is a stockholder in the Linn Grove Farmers Bank.
DAVID RUNYON. Bringing to his chosen calling not only habits of industry and thrift, but pronounced skill and excellent business ability, David Runyon, of French Township, stands in the front rank among the substantial farmers of Adams County, his farm comparing favorably in its appointments with any in the locality, showing conclusively that he understands his work, and uses good judgment in the management of his property. Coming from pioneer ancestry, he was born, May 2, 1841, in Champaign County, Ohio.
John Runyon, his father, was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, and there grew to manhood. After his marriage with Mary Price, one of his school companions, he migrated to Champaign County, Ohio, mak- ing an overland journey with teams, taking with him his wife, and all of their household goods. Coming from there to Indiana in October, 1841, he entered eighty acres of land in Adams County, near Linn Grove. Making an opening in the forest, he erected a log cabin, and immedi- ately began the arduous task of redeeming a farm from the wilderness. Industrious and energetic, he succeeded well in his efforts, and on the farm which he improved, both he and his wife spent their remaining days. He was a democrat in politics, and active in religious circles, having been a local preacher in the Baptist Church. Of the nine chil- dren born to him and his wife, two are living, as follows: John W., of Linn Grove; and David, with whom this sketch is chiefly concerned.
But six months old when brought by his parents to Adams County David Runyon acquired his early education in Hartford Township, attending a subscription school a part of the time. As soon as old enough to wield an ax, he began to assist his father in cutting off the timber from the homestead, and while yet young gained a practical knowledge of agriculture as carried on in those days. Leaving home at the age of twenty-one years, he made a good living for awhile by leasing land. and clearing it. Having accumulated quite a sum of money, Mr. Runyon bought land in French Township, and as a general farmer has been very successful, his farm of 200 aeres, with its broad and cultivated fields, covered in the harvest season with waving grain, replacing the
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original immense traet of woodland. Since his boyhood days, Mr. Run- von has been an expert in the use of rifle and gun, having killed his first buek when but thirteen years old. He has hunted not only in all parts of Indiana, but in the Northwest and the South, having as his eompan- ions in the sport many hunters of note, including among others Levi Mock.
On October 27, 1861, Mr. Runyon married Ada French, who was born in New York, and came to French Township with her father, George French. She died in 1904. Eight children blessed their union, namely : Talford, of Hailford Township; Onan, born August 30, 1865, died June 8, 1876; Emma D., born January 4, 1868. living at home, is an aceom- plished musician, and an experienced nurse; Elmer, born September 19, 1870, a farmer in French Township, married Bertha Peal; Ellen, born October 13, 1875, married Samuel Hall, of Hailford Township; Elroy C., who formerly taught in an academy at Troy, Illinois, and is now teaching in Adams County, Indiana, married Kate Newsbaum; Forest, born August 11, 1880, married Mahala Rohn. and is now engaged in farming in Canada; and Cora M., born July 14, 1886, wife of Clinton Parnell, of Portland, Indiana. A stanch democrat in politics, Mr. Run- yon takes an active and intelligent interest in local and national affairs, and has served for ten years as assessor of French Township.
WILLIAM ADLER settled on his present farm there in the fall of 1882 and since then has bought two other small farms, one of twenty and the other of thirty acres. The twenty-acre traet is situated in section 25 and the thirty aeres in section 36. He has done well not only in culti- vating and improving this farm property, but is father of a family that does him credit and altogether the Adlers are people mueh above the average in edneation, general intelligence and in their usefulness to themselves and their community.
Mr. Adler was born in Baden, Germany, October 13, 1853, son of Frederick J. and Mary B. (Ebner) Adler. His mother died in 1864 when he was eleven years of age, and his father passed away in 1887. Both died in Germany, where they spent all their lives. They have three children living: William, John and Mary, the latter Mrs. Bauman, of Toledo, Ohio.
Mr. William Adler married Christina Valentine, daughter of Jacob Valentine, of Germany. The children born to their marriage are briefly noted as follows: Lonisa, born September 14, 1882: Lena, horn June 16, 1884; Frederick, born November 5, 1886, has two children, Glenn and Les- ter: Carl, horn November 10, 1888; Amelia, born January 20, 1891; Louis, born March 1, 1893; William, born May 5, 1895; and David E., born January 24, 1898, formerly a student in the Indiana State Univer- sity at Bloomington, now in Texas drilling for officer in Eighth Regi- ment, National army. Mr. and Mrs. Adler were married October 5, 1881.
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