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 53
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 53
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Henry Winnes and wife had a large family of children, Miss Annie E. being the oldest. Harry is a furniture merchant at Reedley. California, is married but has no children. Henrietta is the wife of Hugh Miller of Anderson, Indiana, and their children are Harold, Mildred, Gretchen and Barbara. Nellie is a graduate of the Decatur High School and is now teaching in the city schools. Fred is unmarried and is a blacksmith in California. William resides in Decatur and by his marriage to Nina Reed of Decatur has two daughters, Anna E. and Ruth. Jessie, the youngest of the family, was born in Decatur, as were most of the other children, and for several years has been clerk in the Winnes Shoe Store.
Miss Annie E. Winnes was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was a small child when her parents brought her to Decatur, where she grew up and received her education in the local schools. In 1883 she he- gan elerking for her father, and mastered all the fundamental princi- ples of the business, so that she was well qualified to manage the store after her father's death. Miss Winnes is a member of the Evangelical Church, though her mother and most of the children are Baptists.
JOHN BERNARD HOLTHOUSE was a citizen who established a reputa- tion second to none in point of business success and integrity of char- acter in Adams County. For many years he was a well known and popular druggist, the oldest man in the profession in point of years and
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experience. He was very popular with everyone who knew him and was regarded in the highest esteem by all and greatly admired for his manly and high ideals. For years he had been a leading figure about the city and on account of his safe and sound judgment his advice was sought on all sides. It was characteristic of him that he followed the light of his own counsels, and while never taking advantage of anyone succeeded in building up a considerable fortune and at the time of his death was one of the largest holders of real estate in the city. But with all his wealth he had always an open hand for the poor and needy, and donated liberally and delighted in seeing others not so fortunate as himself made happy.
John B. Holthouse was born February 27, 1855, on a farm two miles west of Decatur in Adams County. He lacked a month of celebrating his sixty-first birthday. His death followed a long and painful illness and occurred at his home on Third Street in Decatur, January 23, 1916. Mr. Holthouse belongs to pioneer stock in Adams County. Ilis father Bernard Holthouse arrived in Adams County in 1837, and was one of the three or four pioneer Catholic settlers in the county, and one of the original members of St. Mary's Church, with which the Holthouse family have for many years been identified and to which John B. Holt- house during his life was one of the most liberal contributors. Bernard Holthouse was a native of Hanover, Germany, and came to Adams County about a year after his arrival in this country. He died in Wash- ington Township in 1871.
John B. Holthouse was educated in the district schools, and while his advantages in that direction were somewhat limited he had that intel- lectual curiosity which makes a man a student all his life and hardly a day of his life but he added something to his acquisition of learning and gained the reputation of being a man of mature wisdom.
At the age of sixteen he went to Decatur and began clerking in the drug store of Doctor Dorwin, one of Adams County's best known early physicians. He set himself with enthusiasm to the task of learning the drug business, and mastered it and made it a profession. When Doctor Dorwin died Mr. Holthouse was in a position to succeed him in business, and he conducted the old store for many years with different partners. Later he owned and had other drug stores and at the time of his death there was still a Holthouse Drug Company, though he had had no active connection with it for several years. He was a man of many and varied business interests, and everything he touched seemed to prosper. At Bluffington he started and developed a cement business, which after a few years he sold out at a large profit. He added several store buildings to Decatur, and put up one of the largest and best livery barns in the county on North Second Street. He owned a fine home on North Third Street, and at different times acquired several farm properties both in Ohio and Indiana. At the time of his death he owned a place of 240 acres a mile north of Monroe in Adams County. In politics Mr. Holt- house was a democrat, and was active in his church and also in the Knights of Columbus and at the time of his death was deputy grand knight of the order.
The position he occupied so long in Decatur and the esteem in which he was held is well reflected in an editorial which appeared in the Daily Democrat at the time of his death. "The death of John B. Holthouse removes from this community a man who has been conspicuous in the banking and business life here for many years. ( He was director and vice president of the First National Bank of Decatur.) Ile was in- dustrions, careful and successful. Ile watched public officials, studied the workings of the local governmental machinery and had the courage, ability and took the time to advise and assist when and where he could.
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Ile accumulated much of this world's goods and while it may not have been generally known was one of the most liberal and charitable men of the city, giving to every worthy cause and always without blare of trumpet, his donation being usually sent in a blank envelope. He met death with the same fearlessness that he met life, realizing for several weeks that he would have time only to arrange his affairs before the sum- mons would come, yet he did not complain and quietly and carefully pre- pared. There was much in his life to be admired and his death is mourned by many besides his near relatives. It is a fitting tribute that business in Decatur cease during the last services for this good citizen."
In 1880 Mr. Holthouse married Miss Mary S. Gast of Louisville, Ken- tucky. She died in Decatur December 21, 1896. She was the mother of eight children, five of whom are still living: Louis, proprietor of the Ilolthouse Garage at Decatur, married and father of one son and two daughters; Clarence of Fort Wayne, who is married and has three daughters; May, wife of Robert MeMahan of Chicago; Felix, who is a farmer east of Decatur and is married; Catherine, who took the veil in 1915 and is now known as Sister Mary Grace of the Order of St. Agnes, a teacher at Victoria, Kansas. On June 15, 1898, at Decator Mr. Holt- house married Miss Mary T. Renland, who was born in Sauk County, Wisconsin, forty-eight years ago. She had lived in Decatur for two years before her marriage.
Mrs. Holthouse is of German ancestry. Her father, John Reuland, was born in Luxemberg, Germany, and when twelve years of age was brought to the United States by his parents who located as pioneers in Sauk County, Wisconsin, where they spent the rest of their years and where John grew to manhood and became a farmer. John Rneland married Barbara Liken, who was born in the city of Chicago when that metropolis was chiefly a small rural village surrounding Fort Dearborn. When she was very young her family removed to Southern Wisconsin and her parents spent the rest of their active lives as farmers in Sauk County. John Reuland and wife were Sank County farmers and he died at the age of seventy and his wife at forty-five. They were very active members of the Catholic Church.
Mrs. Holthouse besides rearing and looking after her large family has done much work in St. Mary's Church, is a member of the Red Cross Society and is active in St. Vincent de Paul Society. She became the mother of eight children, and the six still living are Jessie. John, Mar- garet, Hugh, Helen and Robert, the last now four years of age. Jessie was educated in the local parochial schools and St. Mary's College at Notre Dame. John is now a student in St. Joseph College at Rensselaer, Indiana. The other children except Robert are students in the parochial schools.
WILLIAM T. WAGGONER is the fortunate owner of one of the well cul- tivated and valuable farms of Monroe Township. Adams County, land that has responded to his efforts as an agriculturist for nearly forty years. His own and his family name are possessed of many interesting and prominent associations in Adams County, and the Waggoners have not given all their time to looking after their selfish interests and have considered it a duty to do what they could and what seemed a just share of that work which is for the common good and the general benefit of the community.
Mr. Waggoner was born at Lexington, Richland County, Ohio, March 12, 1857, son of Henry R. and Sarah ( Lizar) Waggoner. Henry Wag- goner was a native of Pennsylvania, and from 1855 to 1865 lived with his family in Richland County, Ohio. Ile was a cabinet maker and also a
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wagon maker, and on coming to Indiana he settled in Blue Creek Town- ship of Adams County, obtaining forty aeres in the midst of the heavy woods. Some of this he cleared and improved, putting up a log house and a log barn, and the former structure is still standing. However, he was not so much of a farmer as he was a mechanic, and after coming to Adams County he worked most of the year at his trade in the Shackley Wheel Company at Decatur, and remained with the firm until the plant was destroyed by an explosion in 1871. The following three years he was employed by Alexander Harper in Wiltshire, and after that conducted a wagon shop on his farm in Blue Creek Township until 1893. In that year he removed to Berne and lived a retired life. His wife died March 10, 1898, and his remaining years he spent in the homes of his children. He died widely honored and esteemed on September 16, 1905. He was a republican voter and a member of the Christian Church.
Henry Waggoner married for his first wife Elizabeth Frankenberger of Seneca County, Pennsylvania. She left three children, Elry H., John J. and Elizabeth R. Sarah Lizar, his second wife, was the daughter of John Lizar, one of the ablest hunters and most skillful trappers known among the early settlers of Northeastern Indiana. He was thoroughly acquainted with frontier conditions in this part of the United States, and in the early days he hauled grain to the water mill at St. Mary. As a hunter he followed his game over land that is now included on the farm of his grandson, William T. Waggoner. Henry Waggoner and his wife, Sarah, had children named Alma C., William T., Charles, Anna B., Allen G., Mary W. and Frank P. Frank was the only one born after the parents moved to Adams County, the others claiming Pennsylvania or Ohio as their birthplaces.
William T. Waggoner was about eight years of age when the family moved across the state line into Adams County, and his early years were spent chiefly on the farm in Blue Creek Township. His education was that supplied by the common schools of the time. As a boy he learned wagon making in his father's shop, but his most profitable years have been devoted to farming. In 1879 after his marriage he located on the place that he now owns in Monroe Township. His wife had thirty acres from her father's estate and on January 12, 1882, bought sixty acres from Jacob Shroll. These ninety acres have been developed into a model farm, improved with substantial buildings, and with a system of management which laeks nothing in effectiveness and in all that is necessary for profit- able farming in Northeastern Indiana. Mr. Waggoner has done much with livestock, including Shorthorn cattle. Berkshire hogs and Shrop- shire sheep.
The only important interruption to his continued work as a farmer was four years from 1889 to 1893. during Harrison's administration, when he served as postmaster of the Village of Berne. He left the farm to take that office, handled it in a most ereditable manner, and left it to go back to his erops and livestock in Monroe Township. He has also served as supervisor of the township for four years. He is a republican in polities. a member of the Christian Church, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Berne.
On December 27, 1877, Mr. Waggoner married Miss Julia A. Hed- dington, daughter of Laban and Sarah (Daniels) Heddington. Her parents were both natives of Mount Vernon, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Wag- goner have no children. Mrs. Waggoner has had brothers and sisters named Samuel, Lhamon. George. Isabelle. Minerva and Arminda. Ar- minda married Daniel A. Miller of Adams County and Minerva became the wife of Joseph Murphy of this county. Mrs. Waggoner's parents
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were natives of Knox County, Ohio, and her father died in May, 1871, and her mother in October, 1897.
DANIEL MAZELIN. Some of the best cultivated farms and some of the most interest families are found in the community around Berne in Adams County. One of these families is that represented by Mr. Daniel Mazelin, whose home is in Monroe Township on Rural Route No. 4 ont of Berne.
He belongs to that hardy and virile stoek that have had so much to do with the development of this section of Adams County from a pioneer wilderness. He was born at Berne May 15, 1863, son of Frank and Barbara (Schwartz) Mazelin. Frank Mazelin was born in France De- cember 15, 1837, and was brought to America at the age of two and a half years. The mother was born in France May 7, 1840, and came to this country in 1853. After their marriage they located on eighty acres of land in Monroe Township, in section 20, and the elearing and improv- ing of this farm, together with the rearing of a large family of children, constitute the best memorials to the worthy lives of the parents. There are eight living children : Daniel, Mary, Peter F., David F., Anna, Katie, Elizabeth and John F. Peter is a stonemason by trade and John is a shoemaker at Berne.
Daniel Mazelin came to manhood with a good equipment of knowledge gained in schools, religious instruction at the hands of his parents and the church, and with the diseipline and energy of the well trained farm hoy. He has lived on his present farm of eighty acres sinee 1892. The land had been bought by his father in 1881 and its elearing and develop- ment was largely left to Daniel and his brother John, who bought the farm in 1904. Mr. Mazelin's land is of a high grade of soil and it has exeellent building equipment. Mr. Mazelin is noted among his fellows in that seetion of Adams County for his industry and the methodical way in which he handles every department of his business.
On December 10, 1891, he married Katie Lengaeher, daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Schwartz) Lengaeher. Jacob Lengacher was born in Switzerland November 19, 1834, and his wife was born in Ohio August 15, 1843. On coming to Indiana they settled on eighty aeres of land in Allen County. Both the parents of Mrs. Mazelin are now deceased, her mother having passed away May 17, 1913. Besides Mrs. Mazelin the other children in the Lengaeher family are John J., Daniel J., Anna, Joseph, Margaret, Christ, Mary and Jaeob. The Lengachers were all members of the Amish Church and Mr. Mazelin and family belong to the Amish Christian Church in Monroe Township.
Much of the inspiration that has direeted the energies of Mr. Mazelin in his farm has come from the presence of a numerous household of lively children, some of whom are now grown and others still in sehool. The family consists of eleven children, named as follows: Margaret, who was born February 6, 1893. and is now the wife of Samuel Nussbaum of Adams County ; Jacob, born October 26, 1894, is now at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, under guard for refusing to perform military service in any way or form as it is against his religious belief as Christ forbids revenge ; David. born March 10, 1898 : Peter, born September 14, 1899, and died aged two years and three months: John, born February 27, 1901; Barbara, horn Fch- ruary 23, 1903; Noah, born April 10, 1905; Benjamin, horn May 16, 1907; Martha, born April 3, 1909; Leona, born August 27, 1911; and Amos, born November 20, 1914, and died May 27, 1915.
M. F. PARRISH, M. D. An active and well-known physician of Mon- roe, M. F. Parrish, M. D., has an extensive practice, and through his skill has won for himself a prominent and honorable name in the medieal
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circles of Adams County. A son of Abner Parrish, he was born, March 15, 1873, in Adams County, Indiana, coming from substantial ancestry on both sides of the house.
Born in Ohio, Abner Parrish came to Adams County, Indiana, as a young man. Soon after the breaking out of the Civil war, he enlisted in the Eighty-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and, according to the well-authenticated reports of his fellow-comrades, many of whom are still living, he was one of the bravest soldiers of his regiment. Hardy, as well as courageous, he came out of the army with a fine record for health and endurance, having spent not one day in the hospital. After the close of the conflict, he settled on eighty acres of land in Adams County, and the log cabin in which he and his wife began life together is still standing, being now used as a stable. He died in Decatur in August, 1910. His wife, whose maiden name was Ellen Bollinger, was born in Adams County, where she spent her entire life, dying March 22, 1873, seven days after the birth of her son, M. F. She left two children, namely : Florence, and M. F. Florence married Lewis Miller, has four children, Harry, a sol- dier in the United States National Army; Herman, with the Aviation Corps, in Texas : Emma ; and Clarence.
Completing his early studies in the common and graded schools of Adams County, M. F. Parrish attended a more advanced school in Le- banon, Ohio, after which he entered the Indiana University, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D., in April, 1897, receiving his diploma on the ninth day of that month. On April 22, 1897, Doctor Par- rish began the practice of his profession. The country roundabout was then rough, and the roads at times almost impassable, and his visits, many of them, were necessarily made on horseback. He made rapid strides in his profession from the start, and deserves credit for the posi- tion he has won, not only as a successful physician, but as a respected and esteemed citizen. The doctor is also actively interested in the agricultural affairs of Adams County, owning a well cultivated farm of eighty-five acres in Washington Township, a short distance from Monroe.
On April 18, 1897, Doctor Parrish married Minnie Reed, a native of Fremont, Ohio. Her parents, George and Katherine (Gnepper) Reed, who are still residents of Ohio, reared three children, Clarence, Mary and Minnie. The Doctor and Mrs. Parrish have no children of their own, but they have an adopted daughter, Mary, now ten years old. The Doctor is a man of excellent financial and executive ability, and is now the owner and manager of the Monroe Telephone system, which, operating through six townships, controls 400 telephones. He also served for a few years as president of the Monroe State Bank.
EMIL FLUCKIGER. A man of integrity and worth, energetic and capable, Emil Fluekiger of Monroe Township occupies an excellent posi- tion among the prosperous agrieulturists of Adams County, his large and well improved farm, with its fine residence and substantial outbuildings being one of the most attractive in the vicinity, and reflecting credit on his good judgment and ability. A native of Switzerland, he was born February 12, 1871. His father, John Fluekiger, spent his entire life in Switzerland, dying April 7, 1898. IFis widow, whose maiden name was Marianna Neuschwander, came to Adams County, Indiana, in 1905; and was here a resident until her death, November 8, 1917. She was a faithful member of the Mennonite Church, and her body lies buried in the Mennonite Cemetery, at Berne.
Edneated in his native land, Emil Fluckiger remained beneath the parental roof until twenty years old. Being impressed with the glowing reports of agricultural life in the United States, he then immigrated to Indiana, locating in Monroe Township, November 1, 1891. He worked
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by the month as a farm hand for a short time, becoming used to the American methods, and in 1902 had aceumulated a sufficient sum of money to warrant him in buying eighty acres of his present property. Working with a will, Mr. Fluekiger subsequently bought 120 acres of adjoining land, and now has a fine farm of 200 aeres, which, with its im- provements, constitutes one of the most beautiful and desirable estates in the community.
Mr. Fluckiger married Caroline Lehman, who was born January 8, 1871, in Switzerland, where her parents, Abraham and Marianna (Neu- kum) Lehman, were life-long residents. Mrs. Fluckiger has two brothers, Karl and David, and four sisters, Emma, Leah, Paulina, and Matilda. Into the pleasant household of Mr. and Mrs. Fluckiger ten children have made their advent, namely: Samuel, born July 9, 1895; Karl, born January 9, 1897; Elmer, born January 16, 1898; Kliffert, born June 26, 1899; Olga, born February 14, 1901; Tillman, born April 25, 1903; Albert, horn March 10. 1905; Senaid, born June 20, 1907; Minda, born October 26, 1909; and Elda, born July 28, 1912. Mr. Fluckiger, who has his registry papers from Switzerland, was naturalized in Indiana, and is a true and loyal citizen. Religiously he and his family belong to the Mennonite Church.
CLARK J. LUTZ. The Adams County Bar has for many years looked upon Clark J. Lutz as one of its dominating personalities and an attorney with few peers in this eireuit.
His active experienee as a lawyer covers more than thirty years and he has indeed lived a busy life, since when a mere boy he was active as a merchant. He was admitted to the bar in 1885, having studied law two years with the firm of France & Merryman. In passing it is not inap- propriate to refer to the late Mr. Franee as one of the very ablest lawyers who ever graced the profession in northeastern Indiana. Mr. Merryman is still in active practice at Decatur and is a former judge of the Circuit beneh.
There is interest in recalling Mr. Lutz's maiden efforts as a lawyer. He was employed to look after the interests of one of the contesting parties at a trial in Blue Creek Township before a justice of the peace. The litigants were Warner Kelsey and Frank Steele. Kelsey had brought suit against Steele on a elaim for real estate. Mr. Lutz was Kelsey's lawyer and the case was tried before a jury who found for the plaintiff, and thus gave Mr. Lutz his earliest triumphs and laurels in the law. For his fee he received ten eords of wood, worth probably twenty dollars at that time.
Mr. Lutz recalls all the incidents and details of that first trial with perhaps greater elearness than of many vastly more important eases which he has subsequently had a part in. Another early ease that gave him considerable reputation was one which he carried to the Supreme Court of the state. The title of this case was Route vs. Ninde. This time he was on the defense. After carrying the matter for his client up to the Supreme Court he got a reversal of an earlier decision. He thus early appeared before the State Supreme Court in 1886 when a young lawyer of about twenty-three. In 1890, Mr. Lutz was appointed deputy prosecuting attorney of Adams County. From 1900 to 1915 he was county attorney. Through all the years he has had his share of practice and has probably won a large majority of his eases. He was admitted to practice in the Federal District Court in 1903 and in 1908 admitted to the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Lutz was born at Williamsport in Allen County, Indiana, March 14, 1862, and seeured his early education in local schools, and later for a
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time was a student in the Decator High School. At the age of sixteen he engaged in the drug and mercantile business at Williamsport with his brother, the late Jacob S. Lutz, who has been deceased now for many years. The business was conducted under the name Lutz Brothers. On October 8, 1882, Mr. Lutz came to Decatur primarily for the purpose of attending high school, and in 1883 went into the real estate business with J. F. France. This firm was dissolved in 1884 and at that time he took up his studies of law with the firm of France & Merryman. He began active practice in January, 1886. Mr. Lutz has accumulated one of the finest law libraries in the county and besides all the standard authorities he keeps a complete line of the Indiana and Ohio state reports, the latter especially to help him in his practice which extends to Ohio. Mr. Lutz is of German ancestry and until the present generation the name was usually spelled Luts. His great-grandfather came from Germany and located in Laneaster County, Pennsylvania, where he married and where he spent the rest of his years. His son Jacob, grandfather of the Decatur lawyer, was born in Pennsylvania toward the close of the eighteenth century, married there and in early times removed to Stark County, Ohio, where he did farming in a new and unsettled district and where he and his wife spent their last years.
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