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 57
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 57
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Henry Eiting grew up in Washington Township and acquired most of his education by study and observation rather than by any degree of regularity in attendance at the local schools. For a great many years he has been one of the active supporters of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Decatur. When the present handsome edifice was crected he helped haul the brick and stone used in its construction. Then in 1875 he and Catherine Meyer were the first couple to be married in the new church. Mrs. Eiting was born in Washington Township in the log house that stood on her father's farm on August 7, 1857. She grew up and was educated there. Her parents were Barney and Elizabeth (Kristeamp) Meyer. Her father was a native of Germany, came in young manhood to America, and met Miss Kristcamp in Washington Township of Adams
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County, where she was born. After their marriage they cleared up a tract of raw land and made a good home, on which they spent the rest of their days. The mother of Mrs. Eiting died in 1863 at the age of twenty-five. Her father married a second time, but had no children by the second wife. By the first marriage were the following children : Barney ; Mary, wife of George Mesbaum who lives in Fort Wayne and has two sons and one daughter; Mrs. Eiting; Elizabeth, wife of Henry IIoevel, a farmer in Allen County, and of their five sons and five daugh- ters all are living and four are married; Christina, who is the mother of two sons and two daughters by her marriage to William Hoevel, who was accidentally killed on the Pennsylvania Railway near his home while driving across the track with a team and wagon.
Mr. and Mrs. Eiting are the parents of six children. The oldest, Christina, died when eleven years of age. The second died unnamed. Frances, now deceased, married Edward Gase, a restaurant proprietor at Decatur, and her death occurred April 10, 1911, when twenty-nine years of age at the birth of her first child, Frances M. Benjamin C. Eiting was born March 14, 1879, was educated in the parochial schools and now occupies and manages part of his father's farm and is one of the thrifty and intelligent agriculturists of Adams County. He married Elizabeth Miller, daughter of Andrew Miller of Washington Township. Their children are named Bernard, Catherine, Margaret, Robert and Mary G., three of whom are already of school age and attending school. The two younger children of Mr. and Mrs. Eiting are Clara E. and Mary C., both of whom have been educated in the parochial schools and are still at home. All the children were confirmed in St. Mary's Catholic Church at Decatur and all are working members of the church. Mr. Eiting is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus. He was city council- man for two years and is now member of the county council. He was precinct committeeman for eighteen years. He is a democrat.
PETER BRAUN. A stimulating example of farm enterprise in Adams County is that furnished by Peter Braun, whose well improved acres are situated in Washington Township. Mr. Braun has the sturdy energy and the thrift of the old German stock, and has made his farming pay better profits than many men similarly circumstanced. The buildings on his land show the type of farmer which he is. For the care of his grain and livestock he has one of the largest barns in Washington Town- ship, 60 by 50 feet. This barn was erected in 1901. Near it are a number of other buildings, including corn cribs, granaries, wagon and tool sheds. Mr. Braun handles the better grades of live stock and gets his chief revenue from his stock sales. Ile and his family reside in a comfortable and roomy house of nine rooms, and it has been their home for twenty years, practically all the children having grown up under one roof.
Mr. Braun was born in Germany August 15, 1865, but has lived in America since he was six years of age. His parents, John and Margaret (Mang) Braun, were of a Catholic German family. In 1871 their six children, George, Mary, John, Peter. John second of the name, and Margaret with the parents took passage on a boat which brought them over the ocean to the United States, and the family soon located on a farm close to the city of Canton in Stark County, Ohio. In 1881 they moved to Adams County, Indiana, buying a farm in Washington Town- ship. This old homestead was the home of John Braun and wife the rest of their years, and they died within six months of each other in 1910. both being more than seventy years of age. They were lifelong men- bers of the Catholic Church. John Braun was a democrat. All their children are still living, all married and have families of their own.
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The fourth in age, Peter Braun, grew up in Ohio and in Indiana, attended public schools near Canton, and as a boy of sixteen when the family came to Adams County was ready to assume many labors and responsibilities in connection with the improvement of his father's place. He continued to live at home with his father until he was twenty-nine.
On May 7, 1894, in Washington Township he married Miss Rosa Lichtle. She was born in Seneca County, Ohio, August 6, 1871, and in 1882 came with her parents to a farm in Washington Township. She is a daughter of Nicholas and Margaret (Brickner) Lichtle, both natives of Ohio and of German ancestry. Her parents were married in Seneca County, and some of their children were born there and some in Adams County. Mrs. Braun's father died in 1902 at the age of fifty-five. Her widowed mother, now past seventy, makes her home with her children. The Lichtle family also were Catholics. Two of their children are now deceased and the rest are all married.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Braun are ten in number, the oldest being twenty-one years of age. They all still constitute an unbroken circle at home, and their names in order of birth are: Nicholas, Martin, Mamie, Bernard, Daniel, Agnes, Herbert, Albert, Herman and Florence. The four younger children are still in school. All are members of St. Mary's Catholic Church. Mr. Braun is a democrat. but has found his life a busy one in looking after his farm and providing for his growing family of children and has seldom participated in practical politics.
JOSEPH RUMSCHLAG. Adams County is essentially an agricultural community and is noted no less for the excellence of its farms than for the publie spirit and enterprise of the agriculturists who till them. One of these successful farmers, a resident of the county for over thirty years and a man who started as a renter, is Joseph Rumschlag, owner of one of the best improved places in Washington Township.
Mr. Rumschlag has not been unacquainted with poverty and hard- ship during portions of his career, but has steadily worked ahead with a good goal in view and has not only gained prosperity for himself but has provided a home and comforts for a splendid family of young people, some of whom are still around him.
He was born near Tiffin in Seneca County, Ohio, November 19, 1856, son of Bernard and Margaret ( Osterheld) Rumschlag. His father was born in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, in 1825, and when a small child was left an orphan. At the age of nine he accompanied a cousin across the waters of the Atlantic to Seneca County, Ohio. There he grew up, was trained to a life of industry and good principles and in that county he married Miss Osterheld. She too was a native of Ger- many, horn in Bavaria in 1833. At the age of two and a half years she came with her parents to Seneca County. Ohio. Her father and mother, Henry and Christine Osterheld, cleared up a home in the wilderness of Seneca County and lived there until their death when in middle years. They were hard working people, and all devout members of the Catholic Church.
Barnard Rumschlag after his marriage bought the farm of his wife's father, and he lived there until his death in 1897. Amid the scenes of her childhood and mature womanhood where her children were born and reared, Mrs. Barnard Rumschlag is still living and celebrated her eighty-fourth birthday in the spring of 1917. She has been a life-long member of the Catholic Church. Her husband was a democrat. They had a large family of children, comprising seven sons and five daughters, and all but one of them grew up, ten of them married. Those now living are Joseph, Nichol, George, Jacob, Barnard, Jr., Andy, Rosie, Katie. all married except Katie.
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Joseph Rumsehlag called no other place his home except his father's farm in Seneca County until he was twenty-four years of age. He had grown up there in a country community and had attended the local sehools. On October 26, 1880, at Tiffin, Ohio, he married Miss Rosie T. Bucher. She was born in Huron County, Ohio, January 3, 1861, and had a parochial school education. Her parents, Jellis and Sophia (Kramer) Bucher, were natives of Baden, Germany, and of Catholic ancestry. They were brought to the United States when children by their respective families, and the older people spent the rest of their years in Ohio. Mrs. Rumschlag's parents were married at Peru in Huron County, and the Catholic priest who performed the ceremony, Father Eberhart, by a rather unusual coincidence had also married her parents. Mr. Bucher is still living and was ninety-one years of age on October 21, 1917, and still retains possession of most of his faculties. His wife died ten years ago.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Rumsehlag continued to live on a farm in Seneca County until 1884, and then on October 9th they loaded some of their few possessions into a wagon, and with teams made the journey to Adams County, Indiana. They first located on a rented farm three miles south of Decatur on Mud Pike. They lived there as renters six years, worked hard and gradually accumulated a small sur- plus, which they then used to buy eighty acres of heavily timbered land in section 26 of Washington Township. Mr. Rumschlag had to go in debt for most of the purchase price, but he proved equal to the re- sponsibilities thus assumed. With his own hands he cleared away the woods bit by bit, and in the course of time one field after another came into cultivation and responded to his efforts as a farmer. The land eost him $1,200 and in 1900 he sold it for $6,400. In the meantime he had made a good living and something more from the farm. His next purchase was 160 acres in section 11 of Washington Township, and that was his home until January, 1918, when he moved to Decatur and retired. All except a few acres of his farm are thoroughly well improved, and in 1916 he erected one of the fine barns of the country side. 36x68 feet. with ample facilities for stock and grain.
While Mr. Rumschlag has always been a very busy man and has had unusual family responsibilities, he has consented on different occasions to perform the duties of publie office in his home township. He is a democrat, his family are all active members of St. Mary's Catholic Church at Decatur and most of his sons are members of the Knights of Columbus.
Mr. and Mrs. Rumsehlag became the parents of fifteen children, two of them died in infancy. One of the older sons, Charles, died in Adams County, January 27. 1913. He married Clara Kertenhries and she and her son Robert now live in Decatur. Clara, the oldest of the living chil- dren, is the wife of Barney Wertzburger. a barber at Decatur, and their children consist of Charles. Raymond, Francis, Richard and Mary, the three oldest now attending parochial sehools. Edward is a farmer in Washington Township and by his marriage to Agnes Omlor has two children. Ilnbert and Rosie Mary. Louis is also one of the sturdy agri- culturists of Washington Township. Ile married Clara Heimann and their family consists of Naomi, Margaret and Alfred. Allie is the wife of August Langrich, a Washington Township farmer, and they have two sons and four daughters. Anna married John Heimann of Washing- ton Township and is the mother of Ambrose and Lawrence. Rosie he. came the wife of Frank Losher, and they live on a farm in Washington Township and have two daughters, Ilelen and Dorothy. Agnes is the wife of Joseph Gahrs, living on a farm in Washington Township. Joseph Beets
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is unmarried and is a farmer on the home farm. The son, Albert, is now a soldier in the National army and is stationed with the Headquar- ters Troop of the Thirty-eighth Division of the army at Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The three younger children at home are named Matilda, Christina and Bernard.
JACOB RAWLEY is member of one of the oldest and best known fami- lies of Adams County. His own part of life has been that of a sturdy, independent and enterprising farmer and stockman. His home is in section 24 of Washington Township, where he has a place of eighty acres thoroughly cultivated, with substantial farm buildings, and many of the best improvements on his farm are the direct result of his own labor and ingenuity. Mr. Rawley is thoroughly progressive in his oper- ations. A number of years ago he built one of the best barns in the township, 70 by 70 feet with basement, and with facilities and space for a large number of stock and many bushels of grain and other seeds. Mr. Rawley has more than a local reputation as a breeder of Belgian horses. He has handled that grade of stock for the past fifteen years and has owned some of the best stallions of the breed in Adams County. Two well known horses formerly owned by him were Brook and Smart. He is now owner of a registered thoroughbred stallion named Qeuenton, which weighs 2,200 pounds and would probably rank with any horse of its type and breed in this section of Indiana.
Mr. Rawley has lived on his farm in Washington Township since 1882. He was born in Wabash Township of Adams County October 23. 1847, and he grew up and received his education here. He was one of a large family of children born to Tilmon and Elizabeth (Harshbarger) Rawley. Tilmon Rawley was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, in October, 1812, and his father was a native of England. His mother was of German stock. In 1840 the Rawley family moved to Wabash Town- ship of Adams County, but two years later returned to Clarke County, Ohio, where for several years Tilmon was engaged in merchandising. He finally returned to his farm in Wabash Township, and he lived there until his death when about sixty years of age. The Rawleys were mem- bers of the Dunkard Church, and the father of Tilmon Rawley having grown up in Virginia came to hate the institution of slavery and was a stanch abolitionist. As a party man he was first a whig and afterwards a republican. Tilmon Rawley married in Clarke County, Ohio, Eliza- beth Harshbarger, a native of that state. She was of German parentage. To their marriage were born eight children, six sons and two daughters. Tilmon Rawley for a time after his marriage farmed rented land and also engaged in merchandising, he accumulating over S00 acres of land, which he divided among his children before his death. He died at the age of sixty-three and his wife at sixty-four. Tilmon Rawley made his success in a very humble start. He had practically nothing when he went to Clarke County, Ohio, but in course of time developed a large farm and was a man of many resources. He and his wife were good Christian people, having been born in the Dunkard faith. Tilmon Raw- ley was a republican in polities.
In 1870 Mr. Jacob Rawley married Miss Rhoda Coverdale, member of an old and substantial family of Adams County. She was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, in 1853, and was three years of age when her parents Dr. Lemuel N. and Mary A. (Shaver) Coverdale moved to Allen County, Indiana. Her parents were also natives of Muskingum County, Ohio, and their eight daughters and three sons were all born in that section. Doctor Coverdale was widely known as a medical prae- titioner in Northeastern Indiana, and for a number of years practiced
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at Monmouth in Adams County. He finally retired to the farm now occupied by Mr. Jacob Rawley, and he died there when past seventy-five years of age. One of his sons is Jonas S. Coverdale, a prominent physi- eian at Decatur.
After his marriage Mr. Jacob Rawley lived on his father's farm in Wabash Township and subsequently secured a farm in Blue Creek Township. While there his good wife passed away in 1878 in the prime of life. She was the mother of two children. Nelson Tilmon, the older, was born in 1876 and died in 1898. Mary S., the only surviving child, was born in 1878 in Blue Creek Township and was educated in Wash- ington Township. She is the wife of Mr. E. T. Jones, who was born in Van Wert County, Ohio, forty-seven years ago, was well educated and for a number of years was a successful teacher. He is now active man- ager of the Rawley farm in Washington Township. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have one daughter, Rhoda Matilda, born December 27, 1903, and now a student in the eighth grade of the public schools. All the family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pleasant Mills, Mr. Jacob Rawley is a republican.
JACOB OMILOR. The substantial evidences of two generations of work by the Omlor family are found on the farm owned by Jacob Omlor in section 22 of Washington Township. This land when his father took it was little more than a swamp. The father made it available for cultiva- tion by extensive clearing and surface drainage. Mr. Jacob Omlor has carried out the same program, though according to modern ideas and practices, and it is difficult to believe that his 120-acre farm, well tilled and cultivated, and productive of all the staple erops, was once not so many years ago practically worthless from the point of view of agri- culture.
All the land is now growing crops except about seven acres, and in addition to the prodnetiveness of the fields substantial farm buildings contribute a large item of value.
Jacob Omlor has lived on this one farm for fifty years. His home has been in Adams County since he was six months old. He was born in Seneca County, Ohio, January 1, 1861, and later in the same year his parents came to Adams County, Indiana. He is a son of Nicholas and Catherine (Showe) Omlor. Both parents were born in Bavaria, Ger- many, were of the rural class, and gave allegiance to the prevailing religion in that country, Catholicism. Both the Shone and Omlor fami- lies came to the United States in the days of sailing vessels, and both families settled in Seneca County, Ohio, where they remained until 1861, when the families, including grandparents and children, moved to Adams County and bought the old Jacob Yager farm in St. Mary's Township. A year or so later the grandparents Omlor and Shome SCHOEN moved to Decatur and all of them died in this county. Nicholas Omlor and wife after living in Decatur about four years moved to section 22 of Washington Township. There he acquired at a small price a tract of swampy land. He went to work clearing away the brush, opening up surface ditches to remove the water which had formerly stood on the land for the larger part of the year, and kept steadily at his task of improvement, replacing the old log buildings with more substantial ones, and he continued to provide a living for his family and a modest com- petence for himself until 1877, when he turned the land over to his son Jacob and moved to Decatur. The parents lived at Decatur from 1877 until they died. The mother passed away in 1896 at the age of fifty-five and the father in September, 1914, when a few months past his eighty- second birthday. Both were contributing members to the first Catholic
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Church organized in Decatur and they helped erect the present fine church home of St. Mary's congregation. Jacob Omlor was one of a family of six children, three of whom are still living. He grew up on the home farm, assisted in its cultivation during the summer months, and was educated in the local schools. For forty years he has lived on the farm as its independent manager and owner, and has expended a vast amount of labor and not a little capital in carrying on the program of improvement. The old surface ditches have been changed to tile drainage, and it is now one of the best drained farms in the township, and that means that it is one of the best improved from every point of view.
In Washington Township Mr. Omlor married Mary Hains, daughter of Simeon and Gertrude (Miggenberg) Hains Her father was born in Bavaria and her mother in Westphalia, Germany, and their respective families came to this country about 1860, being some sixty days in cross- ing the ocean by sailing vessel. One of the boats on which they came was tossed about by storm until all its sails were lost except one. From New York after several years of residence the family came on to Ohio and finally located in Adams County. Simeon Hains and wife were married in this county, and their respective parents died here. Simeon Hains before his marriage was a stage driver between Fort Wayne, Indi- ana, and Celina, Ohio, for several years. After his marriage he located in Washington Township, where he spent an active life as a farmer and died at the age of sixty-five. Ilis first wife and the mother of Mrs. Omlor died at the age of thirty-seven, when in the prime of life. He afterwards married a second time and had one child by that union. By the first marriage there were seven children, six of whom are still living, and five of them are married and have children.
Mr. and Mrs. Omlor may well take pride among other accomplish- ments of the fine family that have grown up and are growing up in their home. Gertrude, the oldest, is the wife of Clem Colehin, a farmer in Washington Township, and they have two children, Frederick and Rob- ert. Agnes is the wife of Edward Bumschlag, living on the Lumschlag farm. Their children are named Hubert and Rose M. Edward, the third child. is still unmarried, is about twenty-five years of age and assists his father in the management of the home farm. Lawrence. the next in age, is a soldier in the National Army and now stationed at Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The younger children, all at home, are Elnora, Margaret, Celista, Harmon, Hubert and Frances. Harmon aged fifteen, Hubert aged thirteen, and Frances aged ten are still attending school. Mr. and Mrs. Omlor have instilled in their children the best principles, and have carefully educated them both in the parochial and public schools. All the family are active members of St. Mary's Catholic Church. Mr. Omlor is a member of the Knights of Columbus. He has long been a figure in the democratic party of Adams County, and for the past twelve years has served the party on some local committee.
MARTIN LAUGHLIN since February, 1911, has been superintendent of the County Infirmary of Adams County. Probably no office in the county requires greater care in the selection of its incumbent than the head of the infirmary, as the superintendent must be a practical farmer, a good business man, and capable of handling a group of perplexing problems and cares and anxieties such as come to no other public official.
Mr. Laughlin has shown himself to be the man for the place and has justified the expectations of all who looked upon his appointment with approval. He succeeded Mr. Jacob L. Graber as superintendent. The County Poor Farm or Infirmary has been in its present location in
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Washington Township in section 13 since 1875, when the county bought ahout 200 acres of land a half mile southeast of Deeatur. The present farm comprises 270 aeres. All but ten aeres is well improved and is kept in a high state of cultivation. The farm is practically self sustain- ing. It represents a large investment, having numerous substantial buildings, including a large roomy home for the accommodation of about seventy people. There are also grain and stoek barns. Adams County does not have an exeessively large number of dependent people, and the average number the year around is about thirty-five.
Mr. Laughlin came to the superintendeney of the infirmary from his own farm in Jefferson Township, where for many years he had success- fully operated his place of eighty aeres and where he had lived for over half a century. He had been honored with publie offiee before his pres- ent one and for five years was township trustee and a member of the Board of County Commissioners seven years just before accepting his appointment as infirmary superintendent.
Mr. Laughlin was born in Union County, Indiana, November 9, 1854. He was a small boy when his parents removed to Adams County and he grew up at the old homestead in Jefferson Township. He is a son of James and Mary (Joyee) Laughlin, both natives of County Mayo, Ire- land, and of old Irish Catholie stoek. Immediately after they married in the old country they set out by sailing vessel and after a voyage of six weeks landed in New York, going west to Cincinnati, where James Laughlin found work as a railroad hand. Some sixty-seven years later he moved to Liberty in Union County, Indiana, and followed similar work there until he brought the family to Jefferson Township of Adams County. Here his resources enabled him to buy a traet of uncleared land, and in the course of time he had it eleared np and comprising a good farm. He was an honored and substantial eitizen of the county and died here in 1912 at the age of seventy-two. He had survived his wife, who died at the age of seventy-four. They were lifelong Catholies and he was a demoerat.
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