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 50
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 50
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"Resolved. that out of respect for our deecased brother, the Adams County Circuit Court this dav adjonrn, and that the members of this har attend his funeral in a body and that a copy of these resolutions be ordered spread of record on the order book of the Adams Cireuit Court and that a memorial page he dedieated and set apart to his memory."
John Henry Lenhart married Tillie Stevens. She was born in Union Township, Adams County, in 1851, and was educated in the local sehools. Her death oeenrred in June, 1907, at the age of fifty-six. She and her husband were both very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church and he served as superintendent of the Sunday school for many vears. Their children were: E. Burt ; Millie F., wife of David N. Rice, living in Kansas; Norman G., who is a graduate of Taylor University of Upland,
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Indiana, now lives near Graylin, Colorado, unmarried, and is a prom- inent Mason, being affiliated with both the York and Scottish Rites, at- taining the thirty-second degree in the latter branch; James Lawson, who died July 2, 1899, when about seventeen years of age after having completed the first year in high school and after having exhibited much musical talent; and Nettie, who died at about four years of age, and two sons who died in infancy.
E. Burt Lenhart was born at Peterson in Adams County October 1, 1871, and grew up and received his early education at his native town. He also attended the Decatur High School and the Tri-State Normal at Angola. For several years he worked as head sawyer in the Steele & Lenhart Mills at Peterson. His home has been at Decatur since the fall of 1893, and for six years he was deputy county clerk to his father. Then for a few years he was in the real estate business and in 1903 became one of the organizers of the Decatur Abstract & Loan Company and has since been a director and secretary.
In 1896 Mr. Lenhart was admitted to the bar and has since been in active practice, being a member of the firm Hooper & Lenhart. He is active in Masonry, the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is past chancellor, district deputy and past repre- sentative to the Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, is past noble grand of the Odd Fellows, is a charter member and was first counsel of the local camp of the Modern Woodmen of America and with his wife is a member of the Pythian Sisters. They are active Methodists and at pres- ent writing Mr. Lenhart is serving as superintendent of the Sunday school, a post which his father held before him for a number of years.
Mr. Lenhart married at Decatur Miss Martha Ellen Johnson. She was born in Adams County in 1873. They are the parents of three chil- dren, Velma O., Orval M., aged twenty, and Alice May, who is a student in high school. Velma O. was well educated in the local high school and Valparaiso University and for several years a teacher before she married Charles Bowman. They are now living on a farm in Adams County near Bobo and have one child, Kenneth E.
PAUL GRANVILLE HOOPER was admitted to the Adams County Bar in 1879. For many years he has conducted a large civil practice in the local courts, and is also identified with the abstract and loan business. He is president of the Decatur Abstract & Loan Company, which was incorporated in 1903. Mr. Hooper brought to this business a thorough and wide experience both as a lawyer and business man and the firm does a large share of the abstract work and the placing of loans through- out the country. They own a complete set of abstracts of the county.
Mr. Hooper was born in Adams County, Indiana, November 24, 1858. He grew up on a farm, attended public schools at Monmouth and Deeatur and when only fifteen years of age began teaching in a country district. He taught school in the winter time and during the summer read law with his half-brother and old friend of the late Judge James R. Bobo. who for many years was a premier of the county bar. Mr. Hooper was admitted to the bar in 1879 and during the same year became one of the proprietors and editors of the Adams County Union. He tried his first law case before Judge James R. Bobo and has kept his practice largely restricted to civil work. Upon entering the practice he formed a partnership with John T. France and in 1881 became associated with D. D. Heller, the firm of Heller & Hooper making one of the strongest legal combinations in the county for a number of years.
Mr. Hooper comes of old Maryland stock. His grandfather Jacob Hooper was born in Wales and came with two brothers to the American
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colonies as early as 1760. One of these brothers, William Hooper, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Jacob Hooper located in Maryland and fought for several years for independence during the Revo- lution. He was wounded at the battle of Stony Point. After his mar- riage he located near Baltimore at Jones Falls, where he conducted a farm. He also had the contract for constructing the first railroad in the United States, now part of the Baltimore & Ohio System. This was a crude piece of railroading, the rails being wooden stringers with strap iron on the upper surface. The cars were small and were drawn by horses. Late in life Jacob Hooper moved to Fairfield County, Ohio, and died there at the age of ninety-five.
Ezekiel Hooper, father of the Decatur lawyer and business man, was born in Maryland in 1790 and grew up on a farm. He served as a soldier in the War of 1812. When Adams County, Indiana, was still part of the jurisdiction of Allen County, Ezekiel Hooper arrived in the wilderness in 1834 and made extensive purchases of land from the Gov- ernment. He acquired 160 acres in section 7, a like amount in sections 8 and 9, 80 acres in section 10, 40 acres in section 14, 160 acres in section 17, and 40 acres in section 18, all in Root Township. He was one of the first dozen settlers in that part of Adams Connty and he witnessed the growth and development and had a large part therein from the very beginning of the work of clearing away the woods nntil Adams County was well settled and the first railroad had penetrated and brought the county into connection with the world. He took an active part in organizing the county in 1836, and in 1842 was elected and commissioned one of the associate judges of the Common Pleas Court of the county. In polities he was a loyal whig, and joined the republican party when it was organized in the '50s. He was a very active member and contribu- tor of his resources to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Ezekiel looper was three times married. Ifis first wife, a Miss Swazey, was the mother of a large family of children. His second wife was a Mrs. Ames, who died a few years after her marriage in Adams County. For his third wife he married in 1857 in Adams County Mrs. Almira H. (Gorsline) Boho. She was a native of Ohio and married for her first husband Town- shend Bobo, who died in Lake County, Indiana, in 1853. One of the children of this marriage was the late Judge James R. Bobo. Town- shend Bobo died during a cholera epidemic in Indiana. Ezekiel Hooper and his third wife spent their remaining years on their farm in Root Township, where he died in the spring of 1871. She passed away in 1898 at the age of eighty-three. They were very active in behalf of all church causes and Ezekiel Hooper is credited with having erected the first frame church in Adams County. This church was built for the Methodist people at Monmonth in 1853. Ezekiel Bobo also served as a school commissioner for seven years from 1851 to 1858, and one of the important functions of the board while he was a member was selling and deeding the school lands of the county.
Paul G. Hooper was the only child of his father's third marriage. He himself married at Hoagland in Allen County, Indiana, December 25, 1879, Miss Charity E. Harrod. She was born and reared in Allen County, and was educated at the Methodist Episcopal College at Fort Wayne. Her parents were Morgan and Samantha (Beem) Harrod. Mr. and Mrs. Hooper are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men and with other local organizations.
JONATHAN D. NIDLINGER is an Adams County citizen equally at home in town or county, and is a high class representative of the strictly
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business farmer. Mr. Nidlinger is prominent in some of the state and larger organizations representing livestock men, and all these associa- tions indicate the success he has made sinee he began farming in Union Township thirty-five years ago. Ilis farm in that locality is widely known as the Clover Leaf Farm.
Mr. Nidlinger is a native of Adams County, born in Root Town- ship March 27, 1861, a son of Nathan and Jane ( Walters) Nidlinger. His parents were both natives of Pennsylvania. His father came to Adams County, Indiana, in 1845, while the Walters family arrived here in 1846. Both names are therefore identified with the pioneer life of this section. Nathan Nidlinger and wife were married in 1847 and at once started building a home in Root Township, where they spent their industrious and worthy lives. The mother was an active mem- ber of the United Brethren Church. Nathan Nidlinger was a democrat and often concerned himself with the snecess of his party and with the good government of his community. He died in 1892 and his wife in 1890, both passing away in the month of January. They had seven children : George W., born October 19, 1848, deceased; Sarah J., born February 2, 1850, wife of Charles II. Baker; Mary J., born May 16, 1852, died in infancy; Rachel A., born November 4, 1854, wife of La- fayette Baker: Elizabeth, born October 22, 1859, wife of John Stults; Jonathan D .; and Elijah H., born December 23, 1864, whose present home is at Winona Lake, Indiana.
Jonathan D. Nidlinger grew up at his father's home in Root Town- ship. His edueation was a product of the district sehools, and he re- mained a part of his father's home until he was twenty-one. On Decem- ber 15, 1881, he married Miss Louisa J. Kline. About the time of his marriage Mr. Nidlinger moved to the farm in Union Township; where he is still living, and that one locality has been the scene of his laborious activities ever since. Clover Leaf Farm now comprises 135 acres, well cultivated, highly improved, and noted especially as the home of fine livestock.
Through his snecess with livestock Mr. Nidlinger has been honored with a number of offices in organizations of livestock men. He has served as secretary of the Indiana Swine Breeders Association, as presi- dent of the National Duroc Association of Dayton, president of the Great Northern Indiana Fair Association. Away from the farm he is active in business life at Decatur, and is one of the charter organizers of the People's Loan & Trust Company of that city and one of its directors. Mr. Nidlinger was elected and served four years three months as trustee of Union Township. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Decatnr.
In the family are five children: Elva M., a graduate of the eom- mon schools, formerly a teacher and now the wife of Jacob C. Barkley : William E., who since leaving school has taken up farming in Union Township ; Irene J., a graduate of the common schools and now living at Fort Wayne, Indiana; Ruth, who finished her school work at Bryan, Ohio, and is now the wife of John A. Cline of Bryan Ohio; and Hugh V., who has finished his education and is still at home
MRS. ANNA AMSTUTZ is member of one of the families longest identi- fied with Monroe Township of Adams County, and she still lives in that township, where her own life has been one of service to her chil- dren, to her neighbors, and to every responsibility connected with home making.
Mrs. Amstutz was born in Monroe Township September 24, 1870, a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Mazeline) Schwartz. Her grand-
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parents, Peter and Theresa Schwartz, and her maternal grandparents, John and Anna Mazeline, all came from France in early days, and were among the pioneers of Adams County.
Miss Schwartz, after growing up and getting her education in the public schools, was married in March, 1896, to Samuel Habegger, a son of Jacob and Katie Habegger. Mr. Habegger was one of the successful young farmers of Adams County and in 1904 he bought a place of thirty-three acres, but soon afterwards sold it and he died July 20, 1905. He was the father of five children: Elizabeth, born March 4, 1897; Jacob, born August 11, 1898; Menno, born March 13, 1900; David, born May 25, 1902; and Samuel, born August 17, 1904. On October 21, 1906, Mrs. Habegger married Peter Inniger, a son of Abra- ham Inniger. Mr. Inniger, who died April 19, 1907, was also a farmer and shortly before his death had bought a place of forty aeres, which he left well tilled and well improved to his wife. After his death one son was born, Elmer, born July 19, 1907. On September 24, 1916, Mrs. Inniger married Isaac Amstutz, who died August 31, 1917. By a former marriage he was the father of three children: Rachel, born May 19, 1900; Barbara, born June 1, 1902; and Jacob, born October 4, 1904. Mrs. Amstutz' children were all educated in the parochial schools and all the family are active members of the Amish Christian Church.
PETER A. HABEGGER. Devoting his time and energies to the occupa- tion to which he was born and bred, Peter A. Habegger, a prosperous and progressive farmer of Monroe Township, is an excellent representa- tive of the industrious and energetic men, who, though born in a for- eign land, have been prominently identified with the development and promotion of the agricultural interests of Adams County, his well kept and carefully managed farm bearing testimony to his industry and thrift. He was born, October 12, 1871, in Canton de Berne, Switzer- land, which was also the birthplace of his father, Abraham M. Habegger.
His paternal grandparents, Peter and Elizabeth Habegger, crossed the ocean many years after their marriage, and with their family set- tled in Adams County, Indiana. Buying land in Monroe Township, they spent their remaining years on the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. Habegger of this sketch. Peter Habegger's death occurred January 1, 1901, and his wife's a few months earlier, on October 7, 1900.
Coming from Switzerland with his family to Indiana, Abraham M. Habegger secured title to eighty acres of wild land in Adams County and began its improvement. Clearing an opening in the forest, he erected the customary log cabin, and like his pioneer neighbors lived for a time on the products of the soil and the wild game then so abundant. He subsequently purchased twenty acres of adjacent land, and by dint of diligent toil cleared, ditched and tiled about forty acres of his farm, and replaced the log cabin with a substantial frame house, and erected good barns, and made many other improvements of value. He married, in Switzerland, Lena Moser, a daughter of Johannes and Lydia Moser. Ten children were born to them, as follows: Samuel; Jacob; Peter A .; Mary, deceased : Elizabeth, deceased; Abraham ; Eli; Dina ; Robert ; and Menno.
Reared to agricultural pursuits, Peter A. Habegger naturally adopted farming as his vocation, and his success as a tiller of the soil shows that he made no mistake. In October, 1905, he settled on his farm of eighty acres in Monroe Township, and during the years that he has occupied it has greatly improved the property, having entirely reno- vated the buildings, putting up new ones where necessary, and having
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placed the land in good yielding condition. The log barn erected by his grandfather is still standing, and on account of its construction is not only a curiosity, but a landmark.
Mr. Habegger married, November 11, 1894, Anna Neuen- schwander. Her father, Jaeoh Neuenschwander, a native of Iowa, became owner of several farms in Indiana, having bought and sold at an advantage, and is now living on a farm of eighty acres in Monroe Township, Adams County, being one of the prosperous and well-to-do agriculturists of his community. Ile married Elizabeth Stauffer, who was born in Adams County, and to them eleven children were born, Mrs. Habegger having ten brothers and sisters, as follows: Adam; Lavina; Eli, deceased; Emanuel; David; Theresa; Caroline; Alien ; Rosina ; and Lydia, the five last named being deceased. Having accumulated a competency, Mr. and Mrs. Neuenschwander are now living retired from active pursuits, having a pleasant home in Berne.
Nine children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Habegger, namely: Andrew, born November 1, 1895, married Calista Reusser of Adams County ; Martin, deceased, was born June 2, 1897; Clinton, born February 11, 1899; Erlina, born November 23, 1900; Sylvan, born May 6, 1903; Edna, born August 23, 1904; Arley, born May 31, 1908: Milo, born January 17, 1910; and Marcella, born February 5, 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Habegger, true to the faith in which they were brought up, are members of the Mennonite Church.
VICTOR GRABER is one of the progressive agriculturists of Monroe Township, Adams County, where he has lived for over twenty years. He located on his present farm of forty acres of good land in December, 1895. One of the features of his farm is a log cabin, which formerly sheltered the occupants of the place, and it is now standing as an in- teresting relie among the larger and better equipped buildings.
Mr. Graber was born in Allen County, Indiana, July 25, 1872, and grew up and received his education in the common schools there. His grandfather, Peter Graber, was a native of France, and died March 13, 1879. Victor Graber is a son of Peter and Katie (DeLagrange) Graber. His mother is still living and resides on a farm of 120 acres in Michigan.
Victor Graber married Elizabeth Schwartz, who was born in Allen County, Indiana, April 1, 1877, daughter of Christian and Barbara (Smoker) Schwartz. She, too, grew up and received her early educa- tion in Allen County. Her father was a native of France, and died in August, 1906. Her mother was a native of Holmes County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Graber have the following children : Peter A., born February 18, 1898; Barbara, born September 14, 1899; Victor C., born November 26, 1901; Levi, born March 23, 1903; Manas, born September 1, 1906; David V., born March 29, 1910.
Mrs. Graber's brothers and sisters are Mary, Rosa, Dena and Sarah. She has one half sister living, Barbara, and half brother, Jacob. Mr. Graber and family are active members of the Amish Christian Church.
OSCAR STEINER. A worthy representative of the agricultural inter- ests of Adams County, Oscar Steiner is profitably engaged in general farming in Monroe Township, his estate of eighty acres being well improved and amply supplied with the machinery best adapted for car- rying on his labors after the most approved modern methods. A son of Samuel Steiner, he was born May 29, 1880, in Berne, Monroe Township, Adams County, and has spent his entire life in this section of the state.
Samuel Steiner was born in Berne, Switzerland, February 28, 1853,
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and six months later was brought by his parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Steiner, to Indiana, where he has since resided, his home at the present time being in the Village of Berne, Adams County. A farmer by occu- pation, he was for several years prosperously engaged in agricultural pursuits, his farm of eighty acres lying about two miles south of the one now occupied by his son Oscar. Disposing of that, he bought the eighty-acre farm on which the son now lives, and in its improvement spent a vast amount of time and labor, having done all of the tiling, ditching and fencing required to place it in a tillable condition. He married Mary Sprunger, who was born in Monroe Township, Adams County, July 4, 1856, a daughter of Christian and Mary Anna Sprunger.
Educated in the public schools of Monroe Township, Oscar Steiner acquired a practical knowledge of agriculture under his father's wise instruction, and since assuming possession of the farm which his father cleared from its primitive wildness has managed it with much ability, the land responding readily to his care, and each season yielding abun- dant crops.
Mr. Steiner married, May. 2, 1905, Manda Baumgartner, whose parents Ephraim and Magdalene Baumgartner are both dead, the death of the mother having occurred January 18, 1909, and that of the father January 1, 1911. They were for many years members of the farming community, owning and operating sixty acres of land, which they sold in 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Steiner have five children, namely : Carlton C., born May 19, 1906; Perl Luther, born December 13, 1907; Luella, born January 19, 1910; Emmett, born August 8, 1911; and Clarence, born September 8, 1914. Both Mr. and Mrs. Steiner are members of the Mennonite Church, to which their parents also belonged.
JOHN SCHURGER. There are many examples that give force to the old truth about the value of concentrated effort along one special line. One of them is furnished by the career of Mr. John Schurger of Decatur, who is credited with having made the first abstract of title in Adams County and has been constantly engaged in that as his chief line of business since October 5, 1875. There have been many abstractors in the county at different times, but none of them has been so long at the work and has had a more complete familiarity with all the land records of the county as Mr. Schurger.
It was in 1875 that he made the first abstract for the Equitable Loan Association of New York City. In 1874 he had been elected to the office of county recorder, beginning his official duties September 5, 1875. He filled that office with credit and efficiency for two terms, altogether a period of eight years. Mr. Schurger has always enjoyed the high esteem of his fellow citizens not only for his business success but for the interest he has shown in local affairs. One time he was run for the office of county commissioner against his own will, and his defeat was entirely due to the fact that he made absolutely no effort to get elected. Politic- ally he has always been a democrat. On leaving the office of county recorder he was admitted to the bar in October 1883, and while one of the oldest member of the Adams County bar, his work has been less in the field of the law than in real estate and abstracts. For eight years he practiced as a partner with Mr. W. H. Reed, another prominent attorney of the county. During that time, however, he did most of his work as an abstractor and in the loan and real estate business. More and more his time has been concentrated upon this certain field. After leaving practice with Mr. Reed he became a partner with David E. Smith, and their partnership was terminated about three years ago when Mr. Smith was elected to the office of judge of the Adams County
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Circuit Court. Mr. Schurger now gives his exclusive attention to abstracting. His authoritative knowledge and the integrity of his char- acter have brought him many times to discharge duties of delicate adjustment and trust, and he has managed numerous difficult probate cases and has been nominally a probate officer in the county for many years.
Mr. John Schurger was born in Seneca County, Ohio, March 11. 1838, and though now in his eightieth year is still active and works as regularly as many men half his age. Mr. Sehurger's career has been rather remarkable, in one respect for the fact that he secured only about forty days of schooling in an English school, though he attended a Ger- man school for a brief time. What he is and what he has done is entirely due to his earnest efforts and his willingness to assume responsibilities in advance of his years. When he was a young man he cleared up more than 150 acres of wild land in Ohio and Indiana. He has split many thousands of rails for 50 cents a hundred and has cut cordwood for 25 cents a cord.
His parents were George A. and Margaret (Rapp) Schurger. His father was born in France in 1796, but was taken as an infant by his parents to Bavaria, Germany, where he grew up. In 1828 he came to the United States. He had married a few months before starting on this eventful voyage, and the ship was ninety-three days in crossing the ocean. His young wife died with the birth of her first child and both of them were buried under the waters of the ocean. Bereft of his family George A. Schurger came on to Seneca County, Ohio. By trade he was an expert stone mason and fresco artist but at that time there was no demand for an artisan of that class and he secured a small tract of forty acres in Liberty Township of Seneca County, developed it as a farm, and before his death had twenty acres in cultivation. In Seneca County he married Margaret Rapp, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1803. She had come to America in 1832 and to Seneca County, Ohio, with her sister Magdalena and her brother George. She was the youngest of her brothers and sisters. George A. Schurger died in Seneca County June 5, 1852. He left his widow with four daughters and two sons, all of them young, and with only the homestead improved with a log house and a barn for their support. The widowed mother did her part, keep- ing the children together, but could not have accomplished the task with- out the aid of her oldest son, John, who was fourteen years old when his father died. Already for a year he had taken a man's part on the little farm, and he cannot remember a time when he did not have a large assignment of duties so that it was not strange that he had no opportunity to obtain an education. Mr. Schurger, however, made up for his early deficiencies by study and close observation, and has acquired more knowledge than many men who had better advantages in early life. His brother George served as a soldier in the Union army, and about the close of the war was discharged from a hospital, but was a long time in recovering his health. For a time he followed work as a telegraph operator, and finally removed to Virginia where he became well-to-do and where his last years were spent.
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