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 42
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 42
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John A. Martin, representing the second generation of the family in Adams County, was born in Hartford Township April 30, 1849. He grew up on his father's farm, had a common school education, and from the time he was eighteen was self supporting. After his marriage he settled down on a farm and engaged in raising erops and stock until January, 1881, when he moved to Geneva and entered the mercantile business with W. W. Roberts as a partner. This partnership was con- tinued until the death of John A. Martin on August 28, 1885. February 17, 1874, he married Elizabeth Baker who was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, Angust 4, 1848. Her father Abraham S. Baker later became a pioneer settler in Harrison Township of Wells County, Indiana. John and Elizabeth Martin had four children: Effie, wife of Frank Filer of Geneva; Luther; Minnie, deceased ; and Josephus, of Geneva.
Luther Martin was born on the same farm where he now lives in Hartford Township January 8, 1877. He was abont eight years old when his father died and his early experiences were those of the average farmer boy. He lived also in the village of Geneva and attended school there, and had some experience clerking in a store for six years. For six years he was connected with the hardware and implement business at Geneva and then returned to the old farm, where he has lived now for many years prosperously and diligently and where he owns thirty- five and a half acres of land. Included in his agricultural operations are eighty acres. Mr. Martin is a republican voter and as a citizen all who know him have come to esteem his good judgment and his broad and liberal way of regarding questions and problems.
In 1898 Mr. Martin married Fannie Austin, a native of Randolph County, Indiana. They are the parents of five children: Margaret E., a graduate of the Geneva High School and still living at home; Josephine, who attends the Hartford Township High School; Lucile, a public school student; Luther L., and Florence.
ISAAC J. BOWMAN of French Township is a representative of the self-made men, having achieved success in life through his untiring energy, diligence, and close application to his business affairs. A son
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of Gideon Bowman. he was born in French Township, Adams County, Indiana. January 25. 1847.
A native of Pennsylvania, Gideon Bowman wended his way west- ward to Indiana when young, settling in Adams County. He subse- quently hought 120 aeres of land in French Township, and with true pioneer courage began the improvement of a homestead. Laboring day in and out, he cleared the farm on which he and his wife spent their remaining days. Ile married Alice Suthine, a native of France, and they reared a family of six children, as follows: Isaac J. of this sketch ; Angeline, deceased, was the wife of Henry J. Derr; A. M., living east of Decatur, Indiana; Elizabeth, wife of Dr. E. P. Davenport of Craig- ville, Indiana : Lauretta, wife of Frank Randall of Lancaster Town- ship, Wells County ; and Nettie, widow of Charles Shaffer.
Spending his early life in French Township, Isaac J. Bowman was educated in the district schools, and on the home farm, where he lived until twenty-one years old, acquired a varied and practical experience in the science of agriculture. Ambitious and enterprising, he then he- gan the struggle of life for himself by buying forty-four acres of land in French Township, and running in debt for a part of the purchase price. But, with the resolute spirit of sturdy manhood, Mr. Bowman set to work with a determination to succeed, and ere many years had slipped by he had not only cleared his farm of indebtedness, but had added to its original acreage by purchase, and now has a finely im- proved estate of 245 acres, on which he is carrying on general farming and stock raising after the latest approved methods.
Mr. Bowman has been twice married. He married first Anna Houck. She died in early womanhood, leaving one son, Van Bowman, a farmer in Monroe Township. Mr. Bowman married for his second wife Maryette Urick, and to them four children have been born, namely : Josephine, wife of Art Baumgartner of Decatur, Indiana; Mary, living at home; Harvey, also living with his parents; and one child died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman are valued members of the Zion Church and generous contributors towards its support. Politically Mr. Bowman is an active and useful member of the democratic party, and though not an aspirant for official favors has served as township super- visor.
J. II. REIFF. Whether as a farmer, merchant or practical all around citizen, probably no individual has done more or worked harder for progress and upbuilding at Geneva and in that vicinity than J. H. Reiff. Mr. Reiff now has a good farm in Hartford Township, getting his mail. over Rural Route No. 1 out of Geneva.
IIe is a native of Wells County, horn in Nottingham Township, August 30, 1860, son of Jerome B. and Mary (Soners) Reiff. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of West Virginia. They were married in Wells County, Indiana, and then settled down on a farm in Nottingham Township. Jerome Reiff was a shoemaker by trade, and for a number of years he spent the daylight hours in the fields and at night made shoes and boots by the light of a tallow candle. About 1865 he moved into Bluffton, and was a general shoe- maker and manufacturer in that city until about 1880, when he traded his shop for a farm in Liberty Township of Wells County, and moving there enjoyed the quiet of a rural atmosphere until his death. Ile and his wife had eight children, six of whom are still living: Sarah, wife of Jesse Sunier of Bluffton; George, of Wells County. owner of the old homestead; J. H. Reiff; Emma, wife of John Bannings; Lewis of Fort Wayne, Indiana ; Mollie, widow of IIiram J. Keiser.
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J. H. Reiff grew up in Bluffton and in Liberty Township and after his marriage and after he left home he bought eighty acres of land where he now lives in Ilartford Township. While farming has been his occupation the greater part of his life he was also in business for a year at Domestic. Indiana, and after selling out went to Wayne County and at Dublin conducted a shoe business a year and from there moved to Geneva, where he established a general store and conducted it for seventeen years, during which time he acquired the acquaintance and the good will of a large part of the citizens in this part of Adams County. He finally sold his mercantile interests and returned to his farm in Hartford Township, where he now owns 120 aeres, devoted to high class farming and livestock. He is a breeder of good grades of Duroc hogs, of full-blooded Poll Durham cattle, and has one of the thriftiest and best managed farms in his township.
Mr. Reiff has always taken a commendable interest in local affairs and was formerly a member of the school board of Geneva, and was as- signed the task of superintending the construction of the new school- house there, a duty which he discharged with commendable faithfulness and in a way to secure the best results. Mr. Reiff is a democrat and is a member of the Christian Church at Lynn Grove.
He married Mary Alberson, a native of Adams County, Indiana, and they have three sons: Roy, who married Catherine Butler, is a graduate of the Geneva IIigh School and the Fort Wayne Business College, and is now living in Detroit, Michigan, manager of the Fruit Dispatch ; Worley, graduate of the Geneva High School and Purdue University, is manager of Myer Brothers Store at Fort Wayne; Ken- neth, a graduate of the Petroleum High School and the Muncie Normal, is a teacher and at home with his father.
JOHN C. HOUK. A busy and successful career has been that of John C. Houk, for many years a resident and active agriculturist in Root Township, hut since September 2, 1908, enjoying the comforts of a good town home at 403 North Seventh Street in Decatur. While he has given over the heavy responsibilities of farming, Mr. Honk is still active in business as a hay dealer and has been a hay merchant widely known throughout this section of Indiana for a quarter of a century. He dealt in hay for a number of years while living on the farm in Root Township. For the past fourteen years he has been a member of the National Association of Hay Dealers and has attended eight con- ventions of that organization held in some of the larger cities of the country.
Probably nothing has given Mr. Houk so much pleasure and satis- faction as the realization of a long standing ambition to become the absolute and sole owner of his father's old homestead of 236 acres in Root Township. Much of this land was cleared up by his ancestors, is endeared to him and the family by many associations, and Mr. Houk deserves and expects to go back to the farm and there spend his declin- ing years. A part of the land came to the family by direct Government title, the patent being signed by President Van Buren over seventy years ago. It was entered by Honk's maternal grandfather, Samuel Mock, who rode all the way from Ilancoek County. Ohio, to this then wilderness section, and entered eight quarter sections, for each of his four sons and four daughters.
John C. Honk was born in Root Township May 30. 1859, was reared and educated in that township, and early in life took up the business of tilling the soil, which he followed actively until he removed to Deeatur.
Mr. Houk is of old Pennsylvania ancestry. His great-grandparents
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were Philip and Catherine Houk, both natives of Pennsylvania, where they spent all their lives. His grandfather, Samuel Houk, was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, in 1775, and died in Lebanon County, that state, in 1830 at the age of fifty-five. He married Catherine Sprecher, who was born in Dauphin County in 1781 and died in Stark County, Ohio, in 1867, at the age of eighty-six. Both she and her hus- band were devout members of the German Lutheran Church. They went from Pennsylvania to Stark County, Ohio, in early days and saw much of the toil and privation of pioneers.
Benjamin Houk, father of John C., was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, May 28, 1821, and was fourteen years of age when his mother removed to Stark County, Ohio, where he grew up and where he finished his early education. In that county on November 29, 1849, he married Miss Sarah Mock. She was born in Stark County near Massillon, June 1, 1825. Her grandfather, Peter Mock, was a native of Germany and died in Maryland. Her father, Samuel Mock, previously mentioned, was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, June 7, 1787, and moved to Stark County. Ohio, as a pioneer in 1819. He spent most of his life in that section of Ohio. He died in Stark County, Ohio, February 10, 1871, when nearly eighty-four years of age. The maiden name of his wife was Rachel S. Geisaman, a native of Cumberland County, Mary- land, and she died at the age of seventy-three. Samuel Mock and wife were exemplary Christians and active members of the United Brethren Church
After their marriage Benjamin Houk and wife located on their farm in Adams County, where he had located in 1843. This land was in section 5 of Root Township, and his first work on arriving there was to build a log cabin and hire a man to cut away the timber from ten acres. The old log house was subsequently replaced by a hewn log structure, and in the course of time many comforts and conveniences came. Benjamin Houk was well rewarded for this pioneer enterprise and acquired an extensive property of 340 acres. He died at the old homestead March 4, 1888, and his wife passed away on September 6, 1898. Both were leading members of the Lutheran Church and did much to support and upbuild the church and promote every other worthy canse in their community. Benjamin Houk began voting as a whig and afterwards followed the fortunes of the republican party. He and his wife had four children, three of whom are still living. Martha Alice, the first born, died in' early infancy. Addison N., horn August 22, 1857, has been a farmer and is now living at Fort Wayne; he married Jane Youse and has two daughters, Bertha M. and Frances. Bertha is married and has two sons, D. Houk and John A. John C. of this sketch is next in order of birth. The youngest. Ida Belle, born April 15, 1863. married William Youse, a farmer in Madison Township of Allen County, Indiana. Their children are: Oscar: Eva, who mar- ried Lawrence Hartsel and has a son, Warren ; Mabel Y., wife of Ralph Friedline : and Georgia.
John C. Houk married in Madison Township of Allen County Miss Mary Ridenour. She was born in that township and locality February 12, 1868, was reared and educated in the common schools, and is a mem. ber of an old family of Allen County, daughter of Marens and Nancy J. (Wallace) Ridenour. Her father was born in the Shenandoah Val- ley of Virginia in 1827. and when a young man walked clear across the country afoot to Illinois. At Raridon in that state he met and married Nancy Jane Wallace,, who was born in Southern Illinois in 1836. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Charles Ahr, on January 1, 1915, lacking only twenty-eight days of her eightieth hirth-
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day. Mr. and Mrs. Ridenour soon after their marriage moved to sec- tion 16, Madison Township, Allen County, Indiana, where the former was engaged in farming until his death in 1902. lle was a Methodist before the war and later was an ardent believer in Universalism. His wife was a Lutheran.
Mr. and Mrs. Houk have long been active members of the Lutheran Church and for many years he served as superintendent of the Sunday school in Root Township and was also deacon and elder and member of the Board of Council of the church. In May, 1914, he was sent as a delegate from the Northern Indiana Synod to the General Synod, at Atchison, Kansas. Politically Mr. Houk is a republican.
A brief record of the children who have been born to him and his wife and have grown up in their home follows. The oldest, Benjamin F., died at the age of nineteen while a student in the Decatur High School. Erma M .. born January 13, 1896, was educated in the Decatur Iligh School, taught schools three terms, and on June 16, 1917, became the wife of Floyd W. Lewton of Root Township, and Mr. Lewton is now a practical farmer. Mrs. Lewton is a very capable musician and has done much teaching of that art. The next child of Mr. and Mrs. Honk is N. Thelma, who was born August 22, 1899. and married Elmer Gilliom. February 21, 1918. She is a graduate of the Deeatur High School, has been a student in the Normal at Angola and has also done some teaching in the rural schools. Mr. and Mrs. IFouk are foster parents of Vernon C. Inston, who was born October 15, 1912.
LOUIS CONRAD. Thoroughly skilled in all matters pertaining to the enltivation of the soil, Lonis Conrad, of Kirkland Township is numbered among the active and successful agrieulturists of Adams County, his well-appointed farm giving substantial evidence of the care and ability with which it is managed. A son of Jacob and Appolonia (Heil) Con- rad, he was born. May 16, 1864, in Germany, where he spent his boy- hood days. His father was a life-long resident of the fatherland, but his mother. who came to Indiana two years after the death of her husband, died here in 1898. Her daughter, Marv, who came to Indi- ana with her brother Louis, in 1881, died in 1909.
Brought up and educated in Germany, Louis Conrad determining to seek his fortune in America, eame with his sister Mary to the United States in the fall of 1881, arriving in Decatur, Indiana. on Thanks- giving Day, the great national holiday. Following in the footsteps of so many of his thrifty countrymen, he turned his attention to agriculture, and soon after his marriage, in the spring of 1897. settled on the farm he now owns and ocenpies. By means of industrious and intelligent labor, Mr. Conrad has sinee cleared and improved a portion of his land, and having placed it under a good state of tillage, is carrying on general farming and stock-raising in a satisfactory manner.
In May, 1897, Mr. Conrad was united in marriage with Sophia Kretzmann, a native of Adams County. Her parents. Frederick and Lizetta Kretzmann, eame from Germany to Indiana in pioneer days. Settling in Adams County, they continued residents of the place as long as they lived. Mr. Kretzmann dying in May, 1891, and Mrs. Kretz- mann in Mareh, 1915. They were the parents of seven children. as follows : Mina, widow of Henry Ilildebrand; Mary, wife of William Bracht: Martha. wife of M. Rappert: Susan. wife of II. Blomker; William married C. Beiser : Lewis married C. Schovry : and Mrs. Con- rad. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad are the parents of three children, namely : Susan, born in 1900; Walter, born in 1905; and Martha, born in 1907.
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There is one child living by Mr. Conrad's first marriage, namely, John, and one child died young. In polities Mr. Conrad is identified with the democratie party. Religiously both Mr. and Mrs. Conrad are members of the Reformed Church at Magley, Indiana, of which he has been a trustee for many years.
ANDREW J. FRENCH. Among the older families of Adams County, those who have been here since pioneer times and developed the country in its material aspects, have built homes, have aided community growth and development, one of the best known is represented by Mr. Andrew J. French, a practical farmer who lives one mile south of Linn Grove.
He was born in French Township, Adams County, November 15, 1866, a son of William and Sarah ( Johns) French, and a grandson of that Joseph French for whom this township was named. Joseph French was the first man to locate permanently in the township, and he became a natural leader in the community affairs. William French was born in Dearborn County, Indiana, February 16, 1823, and was twelve years of age when in 1835 the family settled in Adams County. There he grew to manhood, and in Wells County he married Sarah Johns. She was born in Virginia, October 26, 1828, and was ten years of age when in 1838 her parents moved from Virginia to Wells County, Indiana, locating about a mile west of Newville. There her father entered land from the Government, and in the midst of the heavy woods built a log cabin home. He lived there the rest of his life, dying in 1870, and had seen his efforts rewarded by extensive elearings and the development of a good farm. There were seven children in the Johns family, all of whom are now deceased but Mrs. William French. Her sister, Sarah Frances, married George Sheldon. Mary married William Mayo. Virginia became the wife of Andrew Linn. Char- lotte's first husband was Lou Sheldon and her second husband, George Sinomison. John S. married Trissie Horton. James never married. Mrs. William French is a member of the First Baptist Church at Bluffton, and at the organization of that church her parents were char- ter members.
After their marriage William French and wife settled on a farm in Hartford Township and some years later moved to Arkansas, where he died one year later. Mrs. French then returned to Hartford Town- ship and has lived there for thirty-four years. She is the mother of five children : Charlotte, wife of William Miller of Muncie, Indiana; Joseph, deceased ; Melissa, unmarried and now a teacher in the Linn Grove schools; J. D. French, a teacher in the Petroleum schools of Wells County ; and Andrew J.
Andrew J. French grew up in Hartford. Township and received his education at Linn Grove. At the age of seventeen he gave up his books and studies to busy himself with farming, and for some years he was also engaged in the operation of a sawmill. His activities are now confined to the operation of a good forty-aere farm, where he is handling the staple erops of this section and raises considerable stock. Mr. French is a past noble grand of Linn Grove Lodge No. 683 of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and in polities is a democrat.
ERNEST ISCH is engaged in his pleasant and remunerative occupa- tion on one of the best and most attractive farms of French Township, his farm being under a good state of tillage, with improvements of a substantial character, all hearing visible evidence of the thrift and busi- ness ability of the owner. He was born in 1871, in Illinois, of Swiss ancestry.
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His father, the late Jacob Isch, was born and educated in Switzer- land, and there married a Swiss lassie, Mary Shaller. Soon after that event, he came with his wife to the United States, the land of hope and promise. Poor in pocket, but industrious and ambitious, he began life in his adopted country in Illinois. He subsequently bought 120 acres of land in the vicinity of Peoria, Illinois, and lived there a few years. Disposing of that land, he came with his family to Adams County, Indi- ana, and having purchased 500 acres of land in French Township con- tinued his agricultural labors with good results, living on his farm dur- ing the remainder of his life. To him and his wife six children were born, as follows: Alfred, who is farming in French Township; Ernest, of whom we write; Fred, living on the parental homestead; Lizzie; Joe R., a farmer in French Township; and John of Bluffton. These chil- dren are extensive landholders, having title to 960 acres of good land, among other pieces of land owning the whole of section 12, French Township.
Brought up in Illinois, Ernest Isch obtained a practical education in the public schools, and while yet a boy was initiated into the mys- teries of agriculture. Coming with the family to French Township, he has since continued in the calling to which he was reared, and for which he is well adapted by training and experience. Mr. Isch has 280 acres of land, and in its management is meeting with exceptionally good re- sults, his farm being well improved, and amply supplied with all the accessories of a first-class estate, the farm buildings being substantial, and the house furnished with all modern conveniences. In addition to carrying on general farming, Mr. Isch has built up a large and profit- able business in the buying and feeding of hogs for the market, and also as a buyer and shipper of horses.
Mr. Isch married Alice Meiss, and they have a family consisting of nine children, namely: Sophia, Ella, Bertha, Joseph, Clara, Elmer, Amelia, Harold, and Dorothy. Politically Mr. Isch is a republican, and religiously both he and his wife are members of the Christian Apostolic Church in Harrison Township, Wells County.
BURT MANGOLD, D. D. S. The dental surgeons of Adams County are represented perhaps by as fine a body of men as can be gathered anywhere in the profession in the country. They have taken the exhaustive course which has reduced the care, preservation and restora- tion of teeth, and the treatment of the various disorders attendant upon them, to an exact science. Among those who have built up a large practice and firmly established themselves in the confidence of the people of the community is Burt Mangold, D. D. S., who since 1905 has been successfully engaged in the practice of his profession at Decatur.
Doctor Mangold is a product of Decatur, having been born in that city August 18, 1883, a son of Noah and Rachael (Weldy) Mangold. His maternal grandfather, Daniel Weldy, was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, and at an early date came with his wife to Adams County, Indi- ana, locating on a farm in Kirkland Township, where they passed the remaining years of their lives. Mrs. Weldy died many years ago, but Mr. Weldy survived until September 15, 1915, having attained the remarkable age of ninety-two years. He was a democrat in politics, was prominent in his community, and at one time served in the capacity of county commissioner. Fraternally, he was connected with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. Noah Mangold was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, April 22, 1853, and as a lad of ten years came to Adams County, Indiana, with his parents, Abraham Mangold and wife. The family made a settlement in Preble Township, where, on a farm the
DAVID L. REYNOLDS
DAVID L. REYNOLDS RESIDENCE
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grandparents passed the remainder of their lives, dying when past eighty years of age. They were members of the German Reformed Church, and Mr. Mangold, who was well known and influential in his community, was justiee of the peace during a long period. After their marriage, Noah Mangold and his wife located at Decatur, where Mr. Mangold engaged in the butter and egg business. Subsequently he was in the hardware business, then became a dealer in horses, was for four years county auditor of Adams County, and then became proprietor of a raeket store. For the past six years he has represented the National Mill Supply Company of Fort Wayne, but makes his headquarters and home at Decatur. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mangold are well and favor- ably known here and have numerous friends who have been attracted to them by their many excelleneies of heart and mind. Mr. Man- gold is a democrat and has been quite active in local politics. Mrs. Mangold belongs to the Christian Church. They are the parents of the following children: Burt; Arthur, a member of the firm of Mangold & Baker, grocers of Decatur, is married and has a daughter, Helen; Ireta, who died at the age of six years; and Glen, a graduate of the Decatur High School, class of 1914, is cashier of the Fisher-Harris Grocery.
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