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 43
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 43
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
Burt Mangold grew up at Deeatur, where he attended the gram- mar and high schools, and, having early made his choice of profession, was graduated from the Indiana Dental College, Indianapolis, in 1905, before he was twenty-two years of age. Returning at once to Decatur, he began his practice, and now has a large and representative practice. He is a most excellent practitioner, skilled, conscientious and progressive, and from the very first has prospered. He has gained the full con- fidence of the people, not only as a professional man, but as a good citizen. Keeping fully abreast of his profession, he belongs to the Indi- ana State Dental Association, and the Northern Indiana Dental Society, and also holds membership in the National Preparedness League, a charitable organization, as a member of which he does dental work for the needy soldiers without charge. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ameri- can Yeomen, the Knights of Maecabees, the Tribe of Ben Hur and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a democrat, but his pro- fession has demanded his time and he has found no leisure for par- ticipation in politics. In all progressive movements he has taken a creditable part and his good eitizenship has never been doubted. Doc- tor Mangold and his wife are members of the Christian Church, in which he is serving as a member of the board of trustees and financial secretary.
Doctor Mangold was married at Monroe, Adams County, to Miss Nora Andrews, who was born in Washington Township, Adams County, June 11, 1887. She grew up and was educated there and later at Marion, and prior to her marriage was a teacher for several years. Doctor and Mrs. Mangold have no children.
DAVID L. REYNOLDS has been a practical man in real estate affairs ever since attaining his majority. He has been connected with some of the largest deals not only in Wells County but in various other seetions of Northern Indiana. His headquarters for a number of years have been at Bluffton. Mr. Reynolds is also thoroughly a farmer, and owns and operates some fine property in his home county, in Liberty Township.
Mr. Reynolds was born at Amboy in Miami County, Indiana, in 1866, a son of Louis and Susannah Reynolds. His father, who was born in Wayne County, Indiana, December 22, 1843, removed to Miami County in 1851, came to manhood there and married, and that county
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was his home until 1879. In that year he located six miles south of Marion near Bethel, and for a number of years was engaged in the manufacture of tile. On retiring from that business he looked after his farm near Weaver. His death had as its immediate cause a wound which he received while defending his country during the Civil war. In the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, on August 30, 1862, he was wounded in the left lung and he carried the bullet to his dying day. He possessed remarkable vigor, and withstood the ravages of his wound for fifty-five years. He died in 1917. His military service was given as a member of Company F of the Sixteenth Indiana Infantry. His chil- dren are: D. L. Reynolds of Bluffton; Vestal of Marion; and Delia, Edith and Goldie.
D. L. Reynolds grew up on a farm, had a common school education, and at the age of twenty-one located in Converse, where he had his first experience as a real estate man. That work he has continued with growing ability and experience ever since. On coming to Wells County he located on a farm near Ossian and later bought a place in Liberty Township near the Smoky River Church. There he has 160 acres of some of the best land in the county, and is making it produce some of the erops which keep Wells County well to the front in the matter of agricultural production. He also has some other valuable pieces of land in Wells County. As a real estate man he conducts an office in the MeFarren Block in Bluffton. He deals in general real estate, loans money, and is one of the most reliable men in his line in the county. Politically he is a republican and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
HOWARD W. THOMPSON. During a residence in Washington Town- ship of Adams County more than thirty years, Howard W. Thompson proved his usefulness and capability as a practical farmer and a citizen who could be depended upon in every one of life's relationships. While he came to this county after the Civil war and when much of the pioneer work had been done, his own part was not without many of the experi- ences and hardships of the earlier settlers. He and his wife lived at first in the midst of the brush and woods, and their joint labors enabled them to make a home and gradually acquire the prosperity which was their portion in his later years and which Mrs. Thompson now enjoys in her comfortable surroundings at Decatur.
Mr. Thompson was born in Carroll County, Ohio, February 4, 1837, a son of Gabriel D. and Elizabeth Thompson. His grandfather was Zachariah Thompson. Both were natives of the eastern states, and Gabriel was born in Hartford County, Maryland, and his wife in Otsego, New York. They married in New York and became pioneers of Carroll County, where Zachariah Thompson and wife also spent their last years. Gabriel Thompson married Elizabeth Allen and they then settled down as farmers in Carroll County, where she died at the age of sixty-two. They were very strict and faithful members of the Disciples Church. Gabriel Thompson married a second wife and both lived in Carroll County. His first wife died in August, 1868, and her eight children were named Gilbert, Lydia A., Antoinette, Howard W., Harvey L., Bathsheba, Sarah A. and Joseph W.
IToward W. Thompson grew up in his native county, had a common school education, and at the age of sixteen began learning the black- smith's trade, an occupation he followed about five years, though the greater part of his life was spent as a farmer. On April 9, 1865, in Carroll County he married Miss Catherine Kirby. She was born in that county March 21, 1844, daughter of Ephraim and Elizabeth (Bear)
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Kirby, both natives of Pennsylvania, and of old Pennsylvania stock. The Kirby family were early settlers in Carroll County, and Ephraim and his wife spent all the years of their married life on one farm and in one house. In this home after more than forty years of companion- ship they passed away, he at the age of eighty-two and she at seventy- mine. They were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Ephraim Kirby was a very positive democrat in his political con- vietions and did much to maintain the party organization in his local- ity. They had eleven children, three of whom died young, and eight grew up and married. Mrs. Thompson has three living brothers: Van Buren, Capt. Walter and Jacob J., all of whom are married and have children. Capt. Walter Kirby made a splendid record as a soldier of the Union, being captain of a company in the Eightieth Ohio Infantry.
In the spring of 1868 Mr. Thompson brought his wife and their only child to Adams County and from that time forward was a resident of Washington Township. He aequired 100 acres of wild land in section 34, and for several years they lived in a log cabin, surrounded with brush which gradually gave way to cultivated fields, and the improvements were all in place, erops had been gathered regularly every season for many years, and the farm was a valuable property when Mr. Thompson was called away by death on May 21, 1901, at the age of sixty-five. He was a democrat in his political faith and a member of the Christian Church. In every sense he was a progressive man in his community and had the complete esteem and confidence of his neighbors and friends. Eighteen months after his death Mrs. Thompson removed to Decatur, and now enjoys the comforts of a beautiful home at 333 North First Street. One of her daughters lives with her and both are faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson: Elizabeth, born May 2, 1867, now the wife of James Hendricks, mention of whom is made on other pages. Frances E., born January 13, 1869, was a successful teacher for ten years and is now employed as a stenographer in Canada. Cranston A .. born September 17, 1871, is a railway con- ductor living at Aurora, Nebraska, and has a son, Donald. Maude M., born June 27, 1879, is the wife of William Dorwin, a mail carrier at Deeatur, and they have three children, M. Catherine, aged twelve; Dean, aged ten ; and Helen, aged eight, all of them in school. Ephraim Kirby Thompson, the youngest ehild, was born December 25, 1881, and is now a railroad operator at Van Wert, Ohio. He is married and his two children are Frances, aged nine, and Richard, aged seven.
WILLIAM A. LOWER, since the opening of the People's Loan & Trust Company of Deeatur on January 1, 1915, has held the post of secretary and director. He is thus actively identified with what is now one of the principal financial concerns of Adams County. A more complete account of this company, which was founded under the trust laws of Indiana, is written on other pages of this publication.
Mr. Lower was formerly postmaster of Decatur, being appointed by President Taft on June 13, 1910. He held that office and administered its affairs most capably and to the satisfaction of all concerned four years. Before retiring from the postoffice he was in the general insur- anee business, representing several life insurance companies and his bank now has an insurance department and his experience enables him to give this branch of the company valuable support.
In 1889 MIr. Lower was appointed assistant state superintendent of publie instruction under Frank L. Jones. IIe was a prominent edu- eator before entering business life, having taught school in the county
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for nine years, four years in the schools of Decatur as principal of a ward school and five years in the country district.
Mr. Lower acquired a liberal education but largely through his own efforts and earnings, attending school in the intervals of his teaching. Ile was a student in the Deeatur High School in the Tri-State Normal at Angola, and a graduate of the Indianapolis Business University.
Mr. Lower was born in Adams County January 26, 1872, and grew np on his father's farm. He is a son of Joseph S. and Rebecca (Con- gleton) Lower, both natives of Ohio, his father having been born in Tuscarawas County. Both came to Adams County with their parents when young people and were married in Union Township, where they spent their active lives as farmers. The father died on the old farm in December, 1915. He was a son of Rev. William and Catherine (Mumma) Lower, both natives of Pennsylvania, where they were mar- ried. In pioneer times they came to Adams County and established a home on new land in Union Township, where both died when quite old. Rev. William Lower was a United Brethren preacher and as a pioneer carried the gospel all over this section of the country, riding horseback for the most part. He was a greatly beloved character in the early days, not only among his own church people but among all classes. In polities he was a democrat, though later generations of the family have followed the fortunes of the republican party.
The mother of William A. Lower came with her parents to Adams County when she was quite young, and the family settled in Root Town- ship, where her father cleared up a tract of land and made a good home. Both her parents died here. They were members of the United Brethren Church.
Since the death of Joseph S. Lower in 1915, his widow has lived in Decatur and is vigorous and well at the age of seventy-three. She is active as a member of the United Brethren Church. Her husband was very prominent in the republican party, served as a member of the township and city committees, and several times consented to become a candidate on the minority party ticket. Mr. William A. Lower has a sister, Nora, wife of H. F. Linn, a general contractor and a member of the city council of Decatur. Mr. and Mrs. Linn have three children, Joseph S., William S. and Lawrence. There is also a brother, Homer D., who conducts a 5 and 10 cent store at Warren, Indiana. He married Ada Archbold, and has three children, Helen, Joseph S. and Francis.
William A. Lower married in Decatur Dora L. Peterson, who was born in Decatur and finished her education in the State Normal School at Terre Haute and for several years was a successful teacher before her marriage. Mrs. Lower is member of a prominent old family of Adams County and a sister of Mrs. John II. Heller. Mr. Lower is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and a member of the Grand Lodge of Knights of Pythias of Indiana.
WILLIAM H. SETTLE. One of the foremost farmers and stoek breed- ers of Wells County, William II. Settle, proprietor of the Phoenix Stoek Farm, Nottingham Township, has acquired far more than state- wide fame as a breeder of fancy stock, his Chester White hogs, which he has shown in several states, having invariably been named as prize win- ners in every contest. A son of Winfred S. and Elizabeth ( Aberson) Settle, he was born on the parental homestead, March 17, 1872, being the first-born son of the household.
As a boy and youth, William H. Settle attended the winter terms of the district school, working during seed time and harvest on the home farm. Beginning life for himself at the age of twenty years, he worked
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in the oil fields for six years, being at the same time interested to some extent in farming. Retiring from that industry, Mr. Settle was for a time engaged in the livery business at Montpelier, Indiana. Locating then in Nottingham Township, about half a mile south of Phoenix, he has since been prosperously engaged in the management of his present estate, the Phoenix Stoek Farm, which consists of 100 acres of choice land. In addition to general farming, Mr. Settle is greatly interested in the breeding and raising of stock, in 1898 having embarked in that branch of agriculture as a breeder of pure-blooded Chester White hogs. Beginning on a modest scale, he has each year enlarged his opera- tions, his sales of that breed of hogs for 1917 averaging higher than that of any other breeder in the state, if not in the entire country. Mr. Settle has at the head of his magnificent herd Petroleum Grant, No. 37115, who has won the grand championship six times, his dam being Bloom I, the grand champion sow, which has never yet been de- feated. Mr. Settle has exhibited his hogs in seven states, and has won more prizes in the last two years than any other breeder of fancy hogs in the United States. In the state contest for Indiana boys and girls, Mr. Settle's sons won first and second prizes, his second son, Huber showing his pig in class won over all the old breeders of the state, winning the silver cup.
Mr. Settle married, April 2, 1893, Eva J. Lockwood. She was born and reared in Nottingham Township, a daughter of Stanley and Maggie Loekwood. Seven children have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Settle, three of whom died in infancy, and four are living, namely : Iva L., who completed her studies in Indianapolis, and subsequently taught music, is now the wife of Homer Gehrett; Arthur Me., a grad- nate of the Fort Wayne Business College, is now in the Oklahoma oil fields; Hubert, an eighth grade pupil in the public schools; and Earl, a schoolboy. Mr. Settle is one of the stockholders of the State Bank of Keystone, Indiana. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Settle are both active members of the United Brethren Church at Phoenix, and for thirteen years Mr. Settle was superintendent of its Sunday school, the school having been organized by his father many years ago. Fraternally Mr. Settle is a member of Petroleum Lodge No. 721, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
FRED E. KOLTER. Energetic, industrious, and thrifty, Fred E. Kol- ter of Magley is meeting with satisfactory success as a general mer- chant, and holds high rank among the prosperous business men of his community, being esteemed and respected as a man of integrity and worth. A native of Adams County, he was born, July 12, 1885, in Preble Township, a son of Cane and Mary Kolter, neither of whom are now living.
Born in Germany, Cane Kolter came to the United States when young, and being industrious worked at anything he could find to do. Prudent in his expenditures, and wise in his savings, he accumulated some money, and after his marriage rented a farm in Preble Township. A few years later, having previously learned the mason's trade, he engaged in business as a stone mason and plasterer, selling off his live- stock and agricultural implements in order to capitalize his new ven- ture. He was very successful in his undertakings, and continued in business until his death, ten years later, in 1913. To him and his wife, who was a native of this country, seven children were born, namely : Edward; Anna: John. deceased; Adolph ; Ralph ; Freda ; and Fred E.
Fred E. Kolter acquired his education in his native township, at- tending the parochial and public schools. In 1914, in partnership with
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his brother, Edward, he embarked in the mercantile business at Magley, and as a general merchant met with encouraging success from the start. Buying his brother's interest in the store in 1915, Mr. Kolter has since conducted the business alone. An industrious, hard-working and capa- ble young man, attending strictly to his own affairs, Mr. Kolter has built up a very prosperous trade in his neighborhood, being popular with young and old, and having the confidence of the entire com- munity. He buys, and exchanges merchandise, for farm produce, al- ways paying the highest market prices, and in the delivery of goods uses a motor truck.
Mr. Kolter married, June 22, 1909, Hulda Frnahte. She was born in Preble Township, a daughter of Ilenry and Caroline Frauhte, who reared four other children, Albert, Manda, Franklin, and Arthur. Mr. and Mrs. Kolter are members of the German Reformed Church, as were their parents. In politics Mr. Kolter is a steadfast adherent of the democratic party. Fraternally he is a member of Tocsin Lodge No. 1458, Modern Woodmen of America.
JOSEPH V. PEASE. For many years actively engaged in the prose- ention of a calling upon which not only our nation, but upon which the world largely depends, Joseph V. Pease has met with deserved suc- cess in his undertakings, and holds a position of importance among the leading farmers of Kirkland Township. He was born, August 27, 1866, in Adams County, Indiana, a son of Elijah Pease, and grandson of Adam and Barbara (Winters) Pease, natives of New Jersey.
Elijah Pease, through whose veins flowed pure Indian blood, was born, Angust 1, 1836, in Ohio, from whence he migrated to Indiana. After his marriage, in 1861, he settled in Adams County, on section 33. He bought a tract of heavily timbered land, and having cleared an opening in the forest built the customary log cabin, in which he and his bride began housekeeping, and in which all of their children were born. He labored with true pioneer grit and courage, and in due course of time had a well improved and well equipped farm. He mar- ried Mary V. Walter, who was born, in 1841, in Berne, Switzerland, and as a child came to America with her parents, John Adam and Mary Anna (Jacqueimai) Walter. To her and her husband six children have been born, namely : Alva, deceased; John A .; Mary Lillian and Joseph V., twins; Cecil, deceased; and Dora. Both parents are living, and are in comparatively good health for people of their age.
Leaving school at the age of twelve years to assist his father on the farm, Joseph V. Pease gained agricultural knowledge and experience that has been of the utmost value to him in his life work. Soon after his marriage he located in French Township, Adams County, where for two years he had charge of the farm of his father-in-law, Samuel Hocker. Returning to Kirkland Township, he managed the parental homestead for three years, being quite successful in his operations. In 1901 Mr. Pease bought, in section 33, Kirkland Township, the eighty- acre farm which he recently sold at an advantage, and has since pur- chased a farm in Adams County, and another in Wells County, one containing eighty acres, and the other seventy-seven acres. In the management of his farms he is meeting with gratifying results, his land being fertile, and well adapted to the production of the cereals common to this part of the state. He has eighty acres in his home.
The maiden name of the wife of Mr. Pease was Mary V. Hocker. She was born in French Township, Adams County, Indiana. a danghter of Samnel Hocker, who owns and occupies a farm of eighty acres in French Township, where he is now living. Mr. Hocker married Rachel
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Cline, who spent her entire life in Indiana, dying on the home farm in 1895. She was the mother of two children, Lueinda, and Mrs. Pease. Five children have brightened the union of Mr. and Mrs. Pease, namely : Carl H., born April 21, 1896: Walter E., born January 5, 1898; Lester R., born July 1, 1900: Luzerne E., born July 4, 1903; and Paul M., born May 4, 1913. Politically a prohibitionist, Mr. Pease is actively interested in the work of his party. Religiously he and wife are mem- bers of the Christian Union Church, in which he has held important offices. He is a publie-spirited, loyal citizen, and has served ably as trustee of Kirkland Township, filling the office for four years.
DANIEL J. C. SCHERRY of Kirkland Township is actively and pros- perously associated with the development and advancement of the agri- cultural interests of Adams County, of which he is a native, his birth having occurred Mareh 8, 1875, in Preble Township.
His father, Christian Scherry, Jr., was born in Germany, but at the age of eleven weeks was brought by his parents to the United States. He grew to manhood in Adams County, Indiana, and having located in Preble Township purchased ninety acres of land that was still in its virginal wildness, and having cleared a space erected a log cabin for himself and his young wife. With true pioneer courage, he began the improvement of a homestead, and as a farmer met with gratifying re- sults. At the age of twenty-six years he married Susan Bryner, who was born in Pennsylvania on August 20, 1856, and was then a bright and capable girl of sixteen years. Seven children blessed their union, namely : Anna ; Daniel J. C .: Henry ; Edward; John; Otto, pastor of the Reformed Church at Garrett, Indiana, near Fort Wayne; and Charles.
Daniel J. C. Scherry married, September 4, 1900, Lydia Reppert, a daughter of Jacob and Minnie (Peck) Reppert. She was born in Preble Township, Adams County, which was likewise the birthplace of her sister, Annie, and of her two brothers, Albert, and Oswald, now deceased. Politically Mr. Scherry is a stanch supporter of the princi- ples of the democratic party.
GEORGE MARTIN. The proprietor of a well-kept and well-managed estate in Adams County, George Martin is a member of the agricultural community of Kirkland Township, and during the thirty-five and more years that he has resided in this locality has been an important factor in developing and advancing its highest interests. A native of Ohio, he was horn, March 27, 1859, in Ottawa County, of German aneestry.
His parents, Christ and Christina (Schafhauser) Martin, were born, bred, and married in Baden, Germany. In 1854, soon after the birth of their first child, Rachel, they immigrated to this country, locating in Ottawa County, Ohio, where they spent their remaining days. The father died in 1868, and the mother in 1878. Both were buried in the Lutheran Cemetery, in Sandusky, Ohio. They reared three children, namely: Rachel, deceased: George, of this sketch; and Robert, dc- ceased.
Completing his early studies in the common schools, George Martin, as soon as old enough to wield an axe or hoe, began his career as a farmer. Desirous of enlarging his operations, he made his way to Adams County, Indiana, and on March 1, 1882, assumed possession of eighty acres of his present farm in Kirkland Township. By diligent and persistent labor, Mr. Martin cleared and improved his land, and subse- quently invested his savings in another eighty-acre tract of land, which, after cultivating for a quarter of a century, he sold at an advantage.
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Mr. Martin then purchased, in 1903, ninety-five acres of good land in Washington Township, and three years later, in 1906, bought another eighty acres in Kirkland Township. The greater portion of these farms, Mr. Martin has cleared and improved, his property now ranking among the most valuable and attractive in the place.
Mr. Martin married Lena B. Benedict, a danghter of Christian and Christiana Benedict, who were born in Germany, and on coming to this country settled in Ottawa County, Ohio, where her father is still living, and where the death of her mother occurred June 27, 1909. She has one brother, Lewis Benedict. Six children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Martin, namely : Cora Christina, wife of Frank Yager of Wells County, Indiana; Frank Oscar, who married Sarah Arnold, has ten children, Mabel Maria, Ruth, Bryce, Harold, Ralph, Margaret, Charles, Robert, Roy and Helen; William Benjamin married Ada Johnson, and they have three children, Francilla, Glenn and Marcia ; George Earl married Lucy Amspangh of Kirkland Township and they have three children, Mildred, Virgil, and Lucille; Ina Mary, wife of Edwin Miller, has four children, Magdaline, Louise, Virginia, and Ruth; and Harry Victor, single. Mr. Martin is a public-spirited citizen, ever mindful of the interests of his community, and as a stanch democrat in politics does his duty at the polls.
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