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 59
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 59
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Herman W. Sellemeyer had a good training during his early years for the serious responsibilities of life. He attended school in Preble Township and developed his strength and muscle by much experience on the home farm.
On April 17, 1884, at the age of twenty-five, he married Miss Sevilla Kohler. Mrs. Sellemeyer died September 16, 1917, after they had been happily married for thirty-three years. She was the mother of six chil- dren. and three are still living, Emma, a graduate of the common schools, wife of Rev. N. E. Vitz and mother of three children : Robert, Dorothea and Richard; and Matilda, who is a teacher in the Decatur graded schools ; and Agnes, a graduate of the Decatur High School and the In- diana State University and now a teacher in high school in Kirkland Township. Mr. and Mrs. Sellemeyer also reared a foster daughter, Hulda Bauer, who entered their home when only eighteen months old.
Mr. Sellemeyer is a member of the German Reformed Church and has served as deacon for twenty years. In polities he is an influential mem- ber of the democratic party. The farm which his industry has made and paid for comprises seventy-two acres of well cultivated land. He has always lived a quiet and unassuming life, but one that has been pro- ductive of much good to his community. His housekeeper now is his foster daughter, Hulda, who after graduating from the Decatur High School taught four years in Preble Township.
JONATHAN RUMPLE is proprietor of the Mulberry Stock Farm, one of the places of particular interest and value in Jefferson Township of Adams County. It is located in section 17 of that township and on Rural Route No. 3 out of Berne. Mr. Rumple comes of a family of farmers and stock men, and he has made his success largely by specializ- ing and by developing his native talents and faculties as a judge of live- stock, and all the operations connected with stock farming.
Mr. Rumple was born in Jefferson Township April 13, 1883, a son of John H. and Louisa (Kelley) Rumple. His parents were also natives of Jefferson Township, and spent their active careers as farmers and Vol. II-26
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good citizens. His father acquired a large amount of land in the town- ship. He was an active democrat. Of the six children five are still living : D. A. Rumple of Jefferson Township; Cora E., wife of J. H. Yehr of Bluffton; Jonathan; Alta MI., wife of J. L. Buryer; Cleo, un- married and living at home.
Jonathan Rumple was educated in the district schools and since early youth has manifested special ability in handling stock. Besides direct- ing the operations of Mulberry Stock Farm, he is an extensive dealer in hogs and cattle and his farm comprises 160 acres, and in many re- spects its condition and improvements rank it as one of the best farms in the county. In 1916 he erected a modern home, and it is modern in every sense of the word, and might without disparagement be placed side by side with the best of city homes. Mr. Rumple has installed all the conveniences usually found in cities, including an individual electric light plant, a hot and cold running water bath facilities, and it is such a home as to satisfy the ambitions of himself and wife and in which they may be well satisfied to rear their children.
June 30, 1904, Mr. Rumple married Miss Sarah A. Booher, daughter of I. D. and Mary C. (Heinz) Booher. Mrs. Rumple was reared and educated in Jefferson Township. They have three children, Henry I., born April 14, 1908; V. Ruth, born April 19, 1911; and Robert J., born October 14, 1917.
Isaac D. Booher, father of Mrs. Rumple, was born at Dayton, Ohio, October 23, 1841, son of Daniel and Anna (Clark) Booher. He spent his early life on a farm, and after his marriage to Catherine Heinz, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, February 4, 1841, he continued farming in Montgomery County, Ohio, until 1874, when he removed to Jefferson Township of Adams County. He and his wife had eight chil- dren, Mrs. Rumple being next to the youngest. Mr. Booher is still living in Jefferson Township.
GEORGE G. KOONS. The quality of the business establishments in a community may be taken as a pretty fair index of the class of people who patronize them, for merchants quickly learn what their customers want and select their stocks accordingly. Ossian, Indiana, is situated in the center of a prosperous farming community and merchandising is carried on here very extensively. When some of the first class busi- ness houses carry stocks that would be creditable to a large city, it is apparent that their class of patrons demands it. Such a one is the grocery house owned and conducted by George G. Koons, one of the native sons and representative men of Ossian.
George G. Koons was born May 10, 1885, and is a son of Philip and Elizabeth (Porter) Koons, who have been highly respected residents of Wells County, Indiana, for many years. Philip Koons was born in Pennsylvania, April 13, 1839, and came to Indiana in the spring of 1853. In the same year he entered into the sawmill business six miles from Fort Wayne, and operated there until 1867, when he took charge of a sawmill near Ossian and conducted it until 1872. Ile has been re- tired from active business for many years but remains interested in all that goes on in the community and is often called on to give his opinion on public matters. He is a member of Ossian Lodge No. 297, Free and Accepted Masons, and in that organization and among his fellow citizens generally is very highly esteemed. He married Elizabeth Porter, who also survives. She was born in Ohio, October 13, 1846, and was brought to Indiana October 13, 1856, and was married to Philip Koons on June 18. 1868. They have the following children: Edith, who is the wife of R. A. IIatfield ; Sadie, who is the wife of J. F. Gorrell; Dalbert, who
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married Hattie Spears; James, who married Blanche Henderson; and George G.
George G. Koons obtained his education in the public schools of Ossian and afterward had business experience in clerical capacities. On August 1, 1909, Mr. Koons embarked in a grocery business of his own at Ossian, and has been successful from the beginning. His fine class of goods, their freshness and wholesomeness, soon attracted the patronage he desired and in a number of ways he has quietly expanded until he now carries a full stock of staples and luxuries. His methods of business are honest and upright and his manner courteous and obliging.
Mr. Koons was married May 6, 1906, to Miss Edna Hannah, who is a daughter of James and Lucinda (Swaim) Swaim. Mr. and Mrs. Koons have four children: Claud, aged seven; Ralph, who died at the age of two; Elizabeth, two years old; George, aged four months. Mr. and Mrs. Koons are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally he is identified with Ossian Lodge No. 297, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and Ossian Lodge No. 343, Knights of Pythias. Po- litically he is a republican, and personally he is popular with his fellow citizens because of his many sterling traits of character and a pleasant, genial temperament that makes him companionable.
FRANKLIN SNYDER is one of the oldest residents of Adams County, has passed the age of fourscore, and for fully three-quarters of a century has been a resident of this county. He is also honored and respected as a surviving veteran of the great war which freed the slaves and made this a united country. Mr. Snyder's home is a well improved little farm of forty-four acres in section 32 of Jefferson Township. ITis daily mail delivery is on Route No. 2 from Geneva.
Mr. Snyder was born in Champaign County, Ohio, August 16, 1834, a son of Jesse and Mary (Huffman) Snyder. ITis father and mother were both natives of Virginia, where they grew up and married and then moved to Champaign County, Ohio, locating north of Urbana. Here the father, a blacksmith, built a shop and rendered service to the farmers of a large community. In 1840 he sold out his interests in Champaign County, Ohio, and came to Adams County, Indiana, which was then virtually a wilderness. In 1843 he located at New Corydon, Indiana, in Jay County, where he set up a shop and gave the services of his trade to the community for a long period of years. Both parents died at New Corydon. His father was a republican.
Franklin Snyder was eight years old when his father moved to New Corydon and there he attended the common schools and his early ex- periences were as a farm hoy.
August 16, 1862. he enlisted in Company E of the Eighty-ninth In- diana Infantry, and was mustered in at Wabash, Indiana, and from that time to the close of hostilities was with his regiment in all the campaigns, marches and battles and rendered faithful duty as a soldier. IIe is a member of Grand Army Post No. 83 and was formerly officer of the day of the post at New Corydon. Mr. Snyder votes the republican ticket.
He married Sarah E. Fogle, who died in May, 1917. Their only surviving child is James Snyder, until recently clerk in the postoffice at Portland, Indiana, but now with his father on the farm. Mr. Franklin Snyder has five grandchildren.
A. G. KRANER is an Adams County citizen who has seen a great deal of life, both in the Middle West and in the Far West when the Far West spelled Indiana, excitement and danger. Mr. Kraner has come to sue- cess through his own efforts and may properly take pride in all that
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he has achieved in building up his financial independence. He now has one of the fine farms in Jefferson Township, located in section 32.
He was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, May 11, 1841, a son of Jacob and Susan (Taylor) Kraner. His father was born in Virginia and his mother in New Jersey and they married in Fairfield County, Ohio, where they continued to live until the death of Jacob Kraner. They had only two children, Jacob and A. G., the former now deceased. The widowed mother finally came to Adams County, Indiana, and spent her last years here. She was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
A. G. Kraner came to Adams County, Indiana, when about twenty- seven years of age. In early manhood he had been attracted to the field of adventure opened up by the discovery of the mines of the Far Northwest in what is now the State of Idaho, and was one of the pioneers of that territory in 1863. He remained in that district about seven years, was connected with various lines of undertakings and business, and while there gained the nucleus of the capital which he has prudently managed and developed to a financial competence since his return to Indiana. On returning to Indiana he bought his present farm of 160 acres, and has lived here ever since. Mr. Kraner's land is in the region of oil development in Northeastern Indiana, and he personally supervised the sinking of twenty wells.
Besides his fine farm he is a stockholder and formerly a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Geneva. Mr. Kraner married Miss Rose Fravel. They have four children: Charles, on the police force at Kokomo, Indiana : Homer, living in California; Ed, of Geneva ; and Irene, wife of Dick Myers, living in California. Mr. Kraner also has four grandchildren. In politics he is a republican.
GRANT G. OWENS. A man of sterling worth and pronounced ability, Grant G. Owens for the last dozen years has been closely identified with the agricultural business interests of Adams County. He is an Indiana man, was reared and trained on an Indiana farm, and has done much to enhance the prodnetiveness of the farms of Washington Township, where he owns one of the good places. His home is five miles south- west of Decatur.
Mr. Owens was born in Benton County, Indiana, January 7, 1872, son of George and Abigail (Sargent) Owens. His father died in 1875 when Grant was only three years old. The mother, who was born in Warren County, Indiana, married a second time and died in Benton County in 1905. She was the mother of four children by her first mar- riage: Emma, wife of Ilenry Coats; Sherman of Elkhart, Indiana; Grant G. ; and Lottie, wife of William Detrick of Lafayette, Indiana.
Grant G. Owens grew up on a farm in Benton County, had a public school education, and also spent one year in the college at Valparaiso. After leaving school he began farming, and that has been his steady vocation now for a quarter of a century.
February 7, 1897, he married Miss Gertrude H. Campbell. She was horn in Benton County December 1, 1879, and grew up there and at- tended the local schools. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Owens located on a farm in Benton County, but in the spring of 1907 came to Adams County, Indiana, where they bought 119 acres in section 19. Washington Township. This property has undergone many improve- ments since they took charge and it is a home of prosperity and of a family of high minded people.
Mr. and Mrs. Owens have four children: Russell, born July 4, 1898, a graduate of the common schools and still at home; Forest, born in 1900, is also a graduate of the common schools; and Harold, born in 1910, and Mildred, born in 1911, who are still in school. The family
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are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mr. Owens is one of the church trustees. He is also a member and assistant seere- tary of the Adams County Horse Thief Association. In politics he is a republican and has served as precinct chairman.
WILLIAM MOESCHBERGER. The best years of his life Mr. Moeschher- ger has devoted to the business of farming and the results of his efforts stand out conspicuously to the visitor in Washington Township. The Moeschberger home is in section 23, a fine productive farm of 100 acres. One of its conspicuous improvements is a barn 35 by 70 feet. Mr. Moesch- berger is very successful in handling hogs, and has a special building devoted to them, 20 by 50 feet. Other farm buildings comprise granaries and poultry houses and he has one of the comfortable and substantial homes of that community.
Mr. Moeschberger has owned this farm since 1910 and has not only kept its prodnetive capacity up to a high standard but has added many improvements and facilities. He went to Washington Township from Monroe Township, where he had his home for six years. For many years Mr. Moeschberger lived in French Township of Adams County, where he was born January 21, 1865, and was reared and received his educa- tion there.
His parents were John and Margaret (Saurer) Moeschberger, both natives of Canton Berne, Switzerland, and of families that were long identified with the German Reform Church. They were brought when children by their respective parents to the United States. The mode of crossing the ocean was a sailing vessel, and it required fully sixty days to make the voyage. The Moeschberger and Saurer families first settled in Wayne County, Ohio, and subsequently moved to Vera Cruz in Adams County, Indiana, locating there in the midst of the woods. The Moesch- bergers established their home in French Township, while the Sanrers lived just over the line in Wells County. These families brought some exeellent qualities of good character and industry into their respective neighborhoods, and the grandparents lived out their years of usefulness, and all of them were quite old when they died. In polities these families supplied democratie voters as a rule.
After John and Margaret Moeschberger married they located on a farm in French Township, where the former by his industry cleared up a considerable traet of land and enjoyed prosperity sufficient to provide good homes for their children. He died there in March, 1884, in his seventy-first year and the mother passed away in September, 1894, when nearly seventy-five years of age. Both had been prominent from the beginning in St. Luke's German Reformed Church. William Moesch- berger was one of the younger in a family of six sons and five daughters. Three of his brothers and one sister are still living, all married, and nearly all the children grew to maturity and established homes of their own.
Mr. William Meeschberger married in Wabash Township of Adams County Miss Bertha Swarz. She was reared and educated in that town- ship, and was born August 30, 1871. She is a sister of County Commis- sioner Robert Swarz and a daughter of Carl and Magdalena (Garher) Swarz, both natives of Canton Berne. They also came when children to the United States, and from Wayne County, Ohio, the respective fami- lies moved to Wabash Township of Adams County. They were pioneer settlers here and had come through the woods with wagons and ox teams. The older members of the Swarz family were progressive farmers and were active in the Reformed Church. Carl Swarz and wife after their marriage spent their active years on a farm in Wabash Township, where
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he died when past sixty-five years of age. Mrs. Moeschberger's mother died in March, 1917, at the age of seventy-five.
Mr. and Mrs. Moeschberger have an interesting family of children : Laura, who graduated from the fort Wayne Business College in 1917; Orilla ; Frank, aged twenty, and now taking an active part in the man- agement of the home farm: Carl, aged seventeen, who has recently com- pleted the course of the public schools: Edgar, twelve years old and a schoolboy ; and Helen, six years old. The parents have taken much pains to give their children the best advantages both at home and in school. The family are members of the Reformed Church in Decatur and Mr. Moeschberger is a democrat in politics.
THEO A. BEERBOWER has lived most of his life in Adams County. Farming has absorbed his energies and has given him the substantial prosperity he now enjoys. He has long lived and been a factor in the affairs of Jefferson Township, his home being in section 16 on Rural Route No. 2 out of Geneva.
Mr. Beerbower was born in Whitley County, Indiana, October 15, 1865, son of Moses and Cynthia (IIubbard) Beerbower, the former a native of Wayne County, Ohio, and the latter of Indiana. The Hub- bards were early settlers in Huntington County, Indiana. Moses Beer- hower and wife had seven children, four of whom are still living, two dying in infancy and one in manhood. The survivors are: Louis, of Lib- erty Township, Wells County ; John M., a retired farmer of Warren, Indiana ; Theo A., and Frederick G., who is a farmer living in Missouri.
Theo A. Beerbower spent the first five years of his life in Whitley and Huntington counties and then for five years his parents lived in Wells County. In 1875 the family came to Adams County, and this has been his home for over forty years. He grew to manhood here, and acquired such advantages as the common schools could offer.
Theo A. Beerbower married Cinda Heimbarger, daughter of George and Louise (Lawrence) Heimbarger, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Ohio. Her parents married in Ohio and in the fall of 1865 settled in Adams County, Indiana, where the rest of their days were spent. Mrs. Beerbower grew up on a farm in Jefferson Township and was prepared for the responsibilities of married life by an education in the district schools and by thorough home training. After their mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Beerbower lived on a farm in Wabash Township two years, and then bought their present place in the midst of the woods. Most of the woods have disappeared today, and out of them has emerged a home of comfort and one that represents independence and all the good things that toil and good management can effect. The Beerbower home comprises eighty acres. It is conducted as a general farming and stock raising proposition, and Mr. Beerbower is one of the men who are breeding the big type of Poland China hogs. Politically he is a demo- erat and he and his wife are active members of the Evangelical Associa- tion at Mount Carmel. He is active both in the church and Sunday school. Mr. and Mrs. Beerhower have four children: Blanche, a grad- uate of the common schools and still at home ; Russell, Lloyd and Gladys. Gladys is still a school girl.
JOHN J. IIOFSTETTER. A farm that has been made to respond to the intelligent cultivation of one owner through a long period of years is that owned by John J. Hofstetter in section 17 of Wabash Township, Adams County. It is one of the fine country homes and farms of the county, and has been made to contribute an important share to the vol- ume of crops for which this section of Northeastern Indiana is famous.
COUNTRY RESIDENCE OF JOHN F. SNOW, JANUARY, 1918
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Mr. Hofstetter represents the sterling element of the Swiss people who have done so much in the development of Adams County. He was born in Switzerland December 4, 1865, son of John and Fannie ( Hirshy) Hofstetter. His parents came to America in 1871 when he was six years old, first locating in IIarrison Township of Wells County and later moving to French Township of Adams County. The mother is still living a mile southwest of Craigsville in Wells County. The father was an active churchman and followed farming all his life. There were eight children, four still living: John J .; Fred, a farmer near Peoria, Illinois; Christ, living at Decatur, Indiana; and Rosa, wife of Joel Neuenschwander, whose home is near Tocsin.
John J. Hofstetter grew up on the old farm in Adams County, had a district school education, and was a factor in the household and assisted his parents until he was past twenty-one. On November 23, 1889, he married Miss Rosa Mettler, who was born in Wabash Township of Adams County June 1, 1868, daughter of David and Catherine (Nussbaum) Mettler. Her parents were natives of Switzerland, came to this country single, and were married in Adams County. They lived for many years on a farm in Wabash Township, where the mother died, and the father passed away at Berne. Mr. and Mrs. Hofstetter had eleven children, three of whom, Sylva, Ernestina and Agnes, are deceased. Those still living are: Otto, Hugo, Walter, Lillie, David, Ernest, Franklin and Lnella.
The family are active members of the Reform Church and Mr. Hof- stetter is one of the elders. Politically he is a democrat. The farm which has been his home for so many years comprises a quarter section lacking a half acre in section 17 of Wabash Township, and he also owns fifty acres in Mercer County, Ohio. Mr. Hofstetter raises the staple erops and also keeps good grades of stock.
JOHN FLETCHER SNOW was born in Portland, Jay County, Indiana, the date of his birth being June 17, 1854. In the spring of 1860, he removed with his parents, Dr. Barton B. Snow and Rebecca H. Snow, to their new home in the southern part of Adams County, near the banks of the Wabash River, to a farm upon which the Village of Ceylon was subsequently platted. In his youth John F. Snow attended the short terms of district school, while in session, and worked on the farm and in the lumber mills then operated by his father. Edneational advantages then were very limited throughout the country distriet. However, his parents were readers of several useful periodicals which, in a way, stimulated a desire for knowledge. The Christian Advocate and the Cincinnati Enquirer were as eagerly expected at the Snow home, in their time, as were the events of the regularly accepted holi- days.
At the age of eighteen he entered Ridgeville College as a student. The death of his parents greatly interfered with his plans for securing an education, and it was not until ten years later that he received his Bachelor of Science degree. By hard work and diligent application he secured a license to teach in the public schools. At the conclusion of his third term as a teacher he took an outing of a few months, in a tour of some of the cities and the country east of the Alleghanies. This verdant youth as an educator had much to learn. On his return trip, a part of which was down the Ohio River, he visited several points of historic interest. This brief vacation gave him a glimpse at a part of the world beyond the Hoosier State, and was well worth more to him than several normal terms of school. At the death of his parents a family of four minor children were left to be cared for and educated. For five years he hired a housekeeper and kept the children together.
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They all became well educated and subsequently found employment as teachers in the best schools in eastern Indiana.
In 1882, Mr. Snow was chosen as principal of the Geneva graded schools, and in 1883 was elected county superintendent of the public schools of Adams County, Indiana. He successfully served in this capacity for a number of years, within which time he took an active part in educational meetings, and was a member of the Indiana State Teachers' Association, and served for the year 1892 as president of the Indiana County Superintendents' Association. In 1897, as a student, he entered the law office of France and Merryman, in Decatur. This firm had an extensive law practice which gave the law student an oppor- tunity to see the practical side of the law business. After elose applica- tion for a time, to the study of the law, he opened a law office for himself, and connected with it a real estate business, which he is still successfully operating, at Decatur.
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