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 61
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 61
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Mr. Thornhill's home is two and a half miles east of Geneva. He has lived in Adams County since boyhood. He was born in Rappa- hannock County, Virginia, June 3, 1869, son of C. G. and Harriet H. (Hawkins) Thornhill. His parents were both natives of Virginia and represented old southern stock. In 1879 they came West, first locating in Darke County, Ohio, and six years later moving across the state line into Adams County, Indiana. Both parents spent the rest of their days here on a farm. They were members of the United Brethren Church at Sugar Grove, and the father was very active in its work. Of the five children three are still living, Daniel W., who remained in Vir- ginia, Walter L., and Nora, wife of F. G. Beerbower of Columbia, Missouri.
Walter L. Thornhill has lived in Adams County since he was six- teen years of age. He was well educated in the common schools of Vir- ginia, Ohio and Indiana, also attended the Marion Normal School and Taylor University at Upland, Indiana. This gave him a liberal educa- tion and opened up many opportunities and resources which might otherwise have been withheld from him. After his marriage he and his wife began as renters in Wabash Township and only gradually ac- quired the independence which they now enjoy. Mr. Thornhill has a good farm of ninety-five acres, and it represents the labor and the self- sacrifices of him and his wife through many years. Mr. Thornhill is a general farmer and is also widely known as a specialist in the raising of spotted Poland China hogs. He has a number of these fine animals, the herd being headed by "Thornhill's Pride."
In February, 1896, he married Miss Emma J. Armstrong of Wahash Township, where she was born and educated in the local schools. Mr. and Mrs. Thornhill have five children : Opal, a graduate of the common schools and now employed in the electric works at Fort Wayne: Eliza- beth, who graduated from the Geneva High School in 1918; William .J., a graduate of the common schools; Izora, who is educated in the high school and also in music; and Charles T., who is a student in the Geneva High School. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Thornhill is affiliated with Geneva Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is an active democrat. Besides his other service he was for six years a trustee of Wabash Township, and gave a most careful administration of matters entrusted to him especially looking after the schools.
T. J. MCKEAN, M. D. The only physician at Linn Grove, Doctor McKean has been a very busy practitioner, and his days and hours are almost filled with the work and services demanded of him in a profes- sional capacity, so that he has little time or leisure for any other claims. He is one of the leading medical men of Adams County.
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Dr. McKean was born in Washington Township of Adams County April 8, 1873, a son of John W. and Lydia (Stalter) MeKean, the for- mer a native of Harrison County and the latter of Allen County, Ohio. They married and lived for a number of years in Allen County before coming to Adams County, Indiana. In this county John W. MeKean spent many years as an industrious and practical farmer, but finally re- tired and moved to Decatur. His wife having died, he went to live with his son at Linn Grove, and while there married a second time and he and his wife now live in Bluffton. There were ten children by the first mar- riage, seven of whom are still living. One of the sons is George E. Mc- Kean, former county surveyor of Adams County.
Dr. T. J. MeKean spent his early life on a farm southwest of De- eatur, and in his early years he aspired to some service and position not bounded by the horizon of the fields in which he worked. He attended the common schools, also the Monroe High School, and subsequently entered the Marion Normal School. For about six years he was one of the teachers of the county and largely through that profession paid his way through medical college. Doctor McKean entered the Indiana Medieal College of Indianapolis in 1901 and graduated M. D. April 19, 1905. The following eighteen months he practiced at Monroe, but in September, 1906, moved to Linn Grove. He is a member in good standing of the Wells County and the State Medieal Societies. Doctor McKean was for two years president of the Bank of Linn Grove, is still one of its stockholders, and among other property interests he owns considerable land in the county. He is a demoerat in polities, is a mem- ber of the Evangelical Church at Linn Grove, is past grand of Linn Grove Lodge No. 683, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. a member of the Encampment at Geneva, and is affiliated with the Modern Wood- men of America. Doctor McKean married Clara B. Yake of Adams County. They have one son, German Ferdinand, now attending the public schools of Linn Grove.
ANDREW GOTTSCHALK. Without doubt Andrew Gottschalk is one of the most widely known men of Adams County. His business and personal interests have been identified with the town of Berne almost from its establishment, and through his business and participation in business affairs he has been one of the constructive forces in the growth and development of that community. Mr. Gottschalk is a former county treasurer, and viewed from whatever angle his life presents many achievements which reflect honor upon the name.
While he is himself a native of Indiana, he belongs to a long line of German ancestors of the Kingdom of Wuertemberg. A professor in a Pennsylvania college as a result of much research has established the fact that this branch of the Gottschalks has a continuons history in Wuertemberg for fully a thousand years. Mr. Gottschalk's grandfather Andrew was a tiller of the soil and spent all his life in Wuertemberg. The family were Lutherans. The grandfather had six children, three sons and three daughters. All of them came to the United States.
The oldest was Jacob Gottschalk, who was born October 15, 1808. His first wife died in Germany, leaving two children, Barbara and Mary, the former now deceased, and the latter the widow of John Shig- ley, living at Berne. For his second wife Jacob Gottschalk married Christina Fox, who was also born in Wuertemberg. Their oldest child, George, was born in that country. In 1845 Jacob Gottschalk and his little family consisting of his wife, their one child and his two older children. set sail from Havre, France, and after ninety-three days on the ocean landed in New York City. They first located in Montgomery
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County, Ohio, where three other children were born. The oldest of these, Sarah, is now a widow, Mrs. Betzner, living in Miami County, Indiana. Michael is a resident of Wells County, Indiana, and has a family. John died after his marriage in Fulton County, Indiana, and left sons and daughters.
Towards the close of the decade of the '40s the Gottschalk family came over the rough roads and through the woods into Wells County, Indiana, locating on a farm in Nottingham Township, where the indus- try of Jacob Gottschalk cleared up about eighty acres. He lived there as an industrious and competent farmer until his death on January 26, 1877. His wife died in 1855. He was a democrat and both were active members of the Evangelical Association. Several other children were born to them after they moved to Wells County. Mathias is now a farmer in Miami County and is married and has a family. Jacob, Jr., died in childhood in Wells County. The next in age is Andrew. Fred R. lived for many years on the old homestead in Wells County, where he died January 26, 1907, just thirty years to the day after his father's death. He was then forty-nine years of age and left a family of chil- dren. Noah, the youngest child, still lives on a part of the old home- stead in Wells County and is married and has a family.
Mr. Andrew Gottschalk was born on a farm in Nottingham Town- ship of Wells County, November 13, 1850. He was only five years old when his mother died. His father afterwards married Mrs. Elizabeth Walters Shepherd. She was a native of Germany and by her first mar- riage had two sons and by her marriage to Jacob Gottschalk was the mother of five. One of these second children, Amanda, now makes her home with Mr. Andrew Gottschalk.
Andrew Gottschalk grew up on his father's farm, was educated in the district and private schools of his native county and his first occupa- tion away from the farm was teaching in his home township. He fol- lowed that occupation for about two years. Besides the local schools he attended a normal school at Bluffton.
On May 7, 1872, Mr. Gottschalk moved to Linn Grove in Adams County, and there went to work as a druggist. A few months later he formed a partnership with Mr. Peter Hoffman under the name of Hoff- man & Gottschalk. Mr. Hoffman took the business at Linn Grove, while in November, 1872, Mr. Gottschalk came to Berne, which was then just an incipient village, possessing only two general stores and a blacksmith shop and saloon. The railroad had passed through this section of Adams County in the summer of 1871. Their pioneer drug enterprise was established in a small building east of the railroad, where the office of the Berne Lumber Company was later established. Mr. Gottschalk be- gan selling drugs from that site on November 12, 1872. On July 1, 1874, they moved the stock into a new building, and in September, 1907, the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Gottschalk becoming sole proprietor of the store at Berne. In 1912 he supplanted his old business house by the erection of a fine block 22 by 80 feet, two stories and basement, hut on the same lot which he has occupied since July, 1874. Here he is proprietor of one of the hest equipped and stocked stores of its kind in Adams County. Mr. Gottschalk is a licensed pharmacist, having re- ceived his certificate as a result of many years' practical experience. All of his early contemporaries in business at Berne have since died or retired, and he is now the oldest business man in the town and has one of the oldest stores in the county. As a business man he has been very popular as well as successful and has made his store a center of the social life of the community. Mr. Gottschalk is a director of the Bank of Berne.
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Early in life he became a local leader in the democratic party. From 1877 to 1883 he was postmaster of Berne, and from 1880 to 1882 was local justice of the peace. He was a member of the Democratic Central Committee of the county from 1882 to 1884, and in the latter year was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention at Indianapolis. In 1884 Indiana was one of the two states that decided Mr. Cleveland's election, and Mr. Gottschalk thus had more than local prominence in the election of the first democratie president from the time of the Civil war. He was also on the county ticket the same year, and was elected treasurer, moving to Decatur in September, 1885, to assume the duties of that office. He was re-elected in 1886 and served two terms. Among other offices he has been trustee of Monroe Township, for many years was notary public and has been especially influential among the English speaking people of the southern half of Adams County. It is said that his services have been in demand more than those of anyone else in ad- vising people in matters of business transactions, in the drawing up of wills and the settling up of estates.
On May 9, 1875, in Shelby County, Ohio, Mr. Gottschalk married Miss Laura Sheets. She was born in Texas January 22, 1852, daughter of Philip and Cornelia (Monger) Sheets, both natives of Germany. At the time of her birth her father was a regular soldier in the United States Army, stationed near San Antonio, Texas, guarding the frontier against Indian troubles. When the War of the Rebellion broke out in 1861 he was at San Antonio, and was offered the privilege of remaining with the Confederate forces or going north. He chose the northern side, and going to Shelby County, Ohio, enlisted with an Ohio regiment and was all through the Civil war. He died in Shelby County October 1, 1882, and his widow passed away in 1889 at the home of her daughter in Berne. Mrs. Gottschalk's mother was a Catholic. Mrs. Gottschalk was a devoted wife and mother and was the type of woman whose pres- ence is greatly missed in any community. She died at Berne January 11, 1910. Mr. Gottschalk has long been prominent in the Evangelical Asso- ciation, has been an official member of his church, class leader and superintendent of the Sunday school, and otherwise interested in every moral and religious influence in his home community.
Mr. and Mrs. Gottschalk had five children. The second, Oliver E., died May 15, 1883, when about four and a half years of age. The oldest, Cora B., is a graduate of the State Normal School at Terre Haute, was a successful teacher in her home county for several years, also taught at Anderson, and is now the wife of Hon. Benjamin F. Welty. Mr. Welty is a graduate of the Law School of Michigan University and is now a special attorney at Lima. Ohio, and congressman from the Fourth Ohio District. Mr. and Mrs. Welty have one daughter, Gene G. Thur- man A. Gottschalk, the oldest son, was educated in the Berne High School, in an institution of higher education at Naperville, Illinois, and also in Indiana University. He lives near Berne and by his marriage to Nellie Simison has two children, John R. and Elizabeth L., hoth now in school. Wilda M. is a graduate of the Blaker School of Indianapolis and is now the wife of E. K. Shally of Berne. They have two children, Marcelle G. and Andrew D. The youngest of the children is True Pal- mer. who graduated from the Berne High School in 1912, later from Heidelberg College at Tiffin, Ohio, and had entered upon a successful career as a teacher when he resigned to enlist in the National Army. He is now in the Medical Corps of the Nineteenth Field Artillery, lo- cated at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas.
Mr. Andrew Gottschalk is a past chancellor of Berne Lodge of Knights of Pythias, and represented his district in the Grand Lodge at
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Indianapolis in 1900. He is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias.
ALBERT F. ADAMS is one of the progressive, loyal, public spirited and successful citizens whose lives largely have been spent in the agricul- tural enterprise of Jefferson Township, Adams County. The Adams farm is in section 16 of that township.
Mr. Adams was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, August 31, 1849, a son of Levi and Catherine (Wiserock) Adams, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Germany. They married in Columbiana County, Ohio, and some years later moved to Jay County, Indiana, locat- ing on a farm where they spent the rest of their days. Of the seven children, five are still living : Ann, wife of William Shull; William, who lives in Jay City ; Albert F .; Martha ; James of Bryant, Indiana.
Albert F. Adams spent his boyhood chiefly in Jay County, Indiana. He lived at home until 1877, when he married Barbara Ryan, who was born in Jefferson Township of Adams County February 13, 1857, and grew up on the farm which her son now owns. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have one child, Charles F., who married Mary E. Deholt.
The family are members and active supporters of the Methodist Church in their community, and Mr. Albert Adams has been a contribut- ing and sustaining member of the congregation.
Mr. Adams in his own right owns 160 acres of land, while his wife has forty acres. He is a stockholder in the Farmers and Merchants bank at Geneva, the People's Bank at Berne, in the People's Loan and Trust Company at Decatur, and thus he is not only a landholder, but has good financial connections all over the county. He is also interested in the Adams County Fair and is a member of the Township Advisory Board. Politically Mr. Adams is a republican.
EARL K. SHALLEY is postmaster of the Village of Berne, having re- ceived his appointment from President Wilson June 2, 1916. He has spent most of his life in that community and was formerly active in business affairs.
Berne has one of the larger postoffices of Adams County. The postoffice was first established there in 1872, was made a money order office in July, 1883, and has been the center for several diverging routes of rural service since 1903. One of the earlier postmasters was Andrew Gottschalk, father-in-law of Mr. Shalley, the present postmaster. Mr. Shalley has two very capable assistants in J. M. Rose and Ruth Bockman. The four rural carriers from the office are V. Schidler, D. J. Springer, S. F. Lehman and L. E. Neaderhouser. These carriers cover a total distance of 115 miles and all of them use Ford cars. They were the first rural carriers in the county to take up this modern method of country road travel and they have found automobiles very efficient in doing the work and these four men now perform the service formerly done by five carriers and in less time. The predecessor of Mr. Shalley in the office of postmaster was Mrs. Anna Egler, who served a term of four years. The Berne postoffice handles a much larger volume of mail than the population of the village would indicate. This is due to the fact that many of the activities of the Mennonite Church are concen- trated here, and thirteen papers are published and begin their journeys through the Berne postoffice. With a normal rate of increase it is expected that Berne will have a second class office early in 1920.
Earl K. Shalley was born at Bluffton, Indiana, April 10, 1884, and was a small child when his parents removed to Berne, where he was reared and educated and where he finished the course of the local high
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school. In early manhood he engaged in business as secretary of the Rapid Remedy Company of Berne, manufacturers of stock remedies. By profession Mr. Shalley is a photographer and in that line is regarded as a specialist, one of the best known men in the art in Indiana. He learned photography at Berne and won medals and honorable mention for some of his specialty work in photography. Five years before giving up the profession he was elected secretary of the Indiana State Pho- tographers' Association and was also prominent in the National Associa- tion for some years.
He is a son of D. L. and Carrie ( Krakner) Shalley. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania German ancestry. Some of the family in colonial times located on an island in Chesapeake Bay known to this day as Shalley Island. D. L. Shalley when a young man moved to Wells County, Indiana, where he met and married Miss Krakner, who is a native of Michigan and of French ancestry. D. L. Shalley learned the milling trade in Bluffton and after moving to Berne had charge of the old Iloosier Mills until they were burned many years ago. The out- put of the old Hoosier Mills was of exceptionally fine quality, and the flour and other products were ground through stone burrs. After leav- ing the milling trade he was a baker at Berne for some years, and finally removed to Pandora, Ohio, where he engaged in the restaurant busi- ness. He and his wife are still living there and still enjoy the best of health. They are members of the Reformed Church and in politics he is a democrat. Earl K. Shalley is the oldest of three children, the other two being Harry and Opal. Harry is associated with his father at Pan- dora, Ohio, and by his marriage to Rossetta Rumple has two children, Sherman and Alma. Opal, who was reared and educated at Berne, is the wife of Henry B. Egley of Fort Wayne. Their two children, Mar- jorie and Gannett, are both in school.
Mr. Earl Shalley married at Berne Miss Wilda Gottschalk, daughter of Andrew Gottschalk, one of the most prominent men of Adams County, elsewhere referred to. Mrs. Shalley was born at Berne in 1885, is a graduate of the local high school, and took a special course in the Blaker Kindergarten School at Indianapolis, after which for some years she was a snecessful and popular teacher, having charge of a private school at Berne and later was one of the teachers in Fort Wayne. Mr. and Mrs. Shalley have two children, Marcella G. and Andrew D., the former a pupil in the public schools. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shalley are active in the Evangelical Association. They are young people known as leaders in the town both socially and in public affairs. Mr. Shalley is an active democrat, and is a past grand chancellor of Berne Lodge No. 398, Knights of Pythias.
ELI A. LUGINBILL. One of the factors in the business prosperity of the flourishing town of Berne is Mr. Luginbill, now manager, secretary and treasurer of the Berne Grain & Hay Company. This has been his chief business connection for the past eight or nine years, and prior to that he was an active and energetic clerk and merchant in the hardware lines. IIe has combined energy with good judgment and has been largely responsible for the success and prosperity of his present company.
This business was incorporated in 1901. and the head of the company is now D. C. Springer, president. With the rapid growth and develop- ment of the business at Berne a similar enterprise has been established at Geneva in Adams County, which is run and operated by the same board of directors. At Berne the company has ample facilities for the storage and marketing of many carloads of grain every year, and much of the field produce raised in and around this town finds its outlet to
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market through this company. They also handle large quantities of field seed, hay, straw, flour, salt, coal, and other kindred supplies.
Mr. Luginbill was elected secretary and treasurer of the company on May 15. 1909. During the preceding fourteen years he had been asso- ciated with the Bumgardner Brothers & Company, hardware merchants at Berne. He started with that firm in 1895, and finally disposed of his interests a short time before taking over his present responsibilities. Mr. Lnginbill has been a resident of Berne since 1891 and represents one of the pioneer families of that old Swiss and Mennonite community. However, he was born in Iliekory County, Missouri, December 20, 1868, during a brief residence of his parents in that section.
Mr. Luginbill married at Berne Ella G. Neuenschwander. She was born at Berne, daughter of Christian A. Neuenschwander. This family also have had a prominent part in the various businesses and civic activi- ties of Berne, and further mention of them will be found on other pages. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Luginbill : Paul, Anna, Arthur and Carl, all now attending the local schools. Politically Mr. Lnginbill is independent.
PHILIP SCHUG. No name in Adams County represents more of the substantial attributes of the honorable and fair dealing spirit in busi- ness than that of Schug. At the Town of Berne for more than twenty- two years Philip Schug has been in general insurance business and has built up a clientele that makes his agency one of the most important in this section of the state. The business is now conducted as Philip Schug & Son. Their offiees are in the People's State Bank Building. Philip Sehng entered the insurance field at Berne in 1896 for fifteen years pre- vions to this being engaged in several other businesses in the city and has kept his business growing every successive year. He handles all classes of insurance, both life and fire, indemnity, bonding, tornado, and other lines of risk, and represents some of the oldest standard insur- ance companies. His office writes about $150,000 worth of life insurance every year, and the other departments are correspondingly prosperous.
Philip Schug has spent most of his life in Adams County but was born in Tusearawas County, Ohio, May 31, 1861. He was two years of age when his parents, Carl and Catherine (Rausch) Schug came to Adams County and settled in French Township. His parents were born in one of the Rhine provinces of Germany and were German Reform people. Carl Schug eame to this country when a young man with his brothers, while his wife was brought over by her parents. She was exceptionally well edneated for a young woman in her time in Germany, and her family were of the higher class being closely related to titled nobility. Both families made the trip in the sailing vessels which crossed the Atlantic in early days and six or seven weeks was consumed in such a voyage. The families located in Tusearawas County, Ohio, where Carl Schug and wife met and later were married. While they lived in that county the following children were born : William, Henry. Charles. Julius and Philip. In the month of April, 1863, they arrived in French Township of Adams County where Carl Schug aequired 160 aeres of land. He was an industrious and skillful farmer and had many improvements under way before his death, which occurred March 8, 1867, at the age of forty years. His widow survived him many years and passed away December 24, 1902, being laid to rest on Christmas Day. They were always members of the German Reform Church and the father was a demoerat in politics. Of their family six sons and one daughter are still living, all of them married, and all residents of Adams County except the daughter who lives in Missouri.
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