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 71
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 71
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Mr. Clarence E. Bell married at La Fontaine, Indiana, Jessie Miller. She was born abont seven years after her husband and was reared and educated in her native county. They have one son, William Howard, now seven years of age and beginning his work in the local schools. Mr. and Mrs. Bell are very active members of the Baptist Church at Decatur and he is one of the church deacons. Politically he is a repub-
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liean, and as a citizen has always shown a high sense of duty to his home town and has found means of helping forward every laudable enterprise. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Lodge of Masons at La Fontaine, where he is a past master of the lodge, is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter at Decatur, of the Council and Commandery at Wabash, and belongs to the Fort Wayne Consistory of Scottish Rite and Mizpah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also affiliated with Kekionga Lodge No. 65 of the Knights of Pythias.
LEVI L. BAUMGARTNER has been one of the useful men of Adams County for many years. He is a civil engineer by profession, has filled the office of county surveyor at different times, and has been much in publie life as a teacher, publie official and vigorous performer in every task which he undertakes.
He is now filling out an unexpired term as city engineer of Decatur, having been appointed as successor to Orval Harruff on January 1, 1917, and by appointment begins a term of three years as deputy surveyor of Adams County on January 1, 1918. In 1904 Mr. Baumgartner was elected county surveyor of Adams County and filled that office con- secutively for four years. He was regarded as one of the most com- petent men in that position the county has ever had. In 1908 he be- came deputy county clerk under Clerk Ferdinand Bleeke and was in that office with Mr. Bleeke four years. Mr. Bleeke is one of the proprietors of the Fair Store of Decatur. On leaving public office Mr. Baumgartner was engaged in the fire insurance business until he took his present office.
He was born in French Township, Adams County, October 16, 1863, and spent the first twenty-one years of his life in his native locality. He attended the local schools there and also the Angola Normal School. He became a successful teacher and for twelve years was identified with the work of the schoolroom. At the time of his election to the office of county surveyor he was living in Hartford Township of Adams County.
Mr. Baumgartner's grandfather, John Baumgartner, Sr., was a na- tive of Canton Berne, Switzerland, and after his marriage came to the United States. The sailing vessel which brought him across the ocean was sixty-five days in landing him at New York City. From there he came on to Putnam County, Ohio, lived there for some years and in the late '40s established his home in French Township of Adams County, where he cleared up a portion of the wilderness and became a very sub- stantial farmer. Late in life he retired to Berne and died there when quite old. He and his wife were members of the Mennonite Church. In polities he was a democrat.
John J. Baumgartner, Jr., father of the city engineer of Decatur, was born in Putnam County, Ohio, in 1844, and was a small boy when the family came to French Township. He married Rosanna Horn, who was born in Stark County, Ohio, where her parents were substantial farmers and where they died. Her parents were members of the Ger- man Reformed Church. She was a member of quite a large family. As a young woman Rosanna Horn came to French Township to visit relatives and while here met and married John J. Baumgartner. She is still living at the age of seventy-three at Linn Grove. John J. Baumgartner died about 1905, when past sixty. He was an active member of the Evangelical Church, as is his widow, and in politics was a strong republican. Levi L. Baumgartner was the oldest in a family of six sons and four daughters. Those still living besides himself are, Edward, Daniel, Charles, Emma, Mary and Ida, all married except Ida.
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In Wells County, Indiana, Levi Baumgartner married Lilla Studa- baker. She was born in that county in August, 1866, and was edu- rated in the publie schools. Her parents were Abraham and Louisa (De Witt) Studabaker. the former a native of Ohio and the latter of New York. They came as young people to Wells County, were mar- ried there, and lived out their useful and honorable eareers as sub- stantial farmers. They died when about eighty years of age.
Mr. and Mrs. Baumgartner are the parents of four children. Bessie was educated in the Decatur High School and is now the wife of Benja- min Welker of Delaware, Ohio, and has two children, James and Bettie. The son of Clyde after graduating from the local high school studied veterinary surgery in a college at Chicago, and was estab- lished in a growing practice at Areola in Allen County, Indiana, until he enlisted as a private in the National Army and later was assigned to work as a veterinary surgeon with the rank of second lieutenant. At this writing he is at Fort Taylor, Kentucky. The third ehild. Pearl, is a graduate of the eommon schools and makes her home with her sis- ter in Delaware, Ohio. where she is employed in a elerieal position. The youngest of the family, John A., is a graduate of the common schools and is now employed as a jeweler in Deeatur. Mr. and Mrs. Baumgartner are active members of the Evangelieal Chureh. He is serving the church as trustee and exhorter, and for a number of years has been superintendent of the Sunday school. Fraternally he is af- filiated with the Masonie Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter, and is filling one of the offiees of his lodge.
WILLIAM KREMERS. With the progress of the world's war and the greatly inereased demand for sugar abroad, the manufacture of that necessity of life has assumed greater importance than ever; and the special sugar-beet product has taken on sueh vigorous life as to make its substantial future as assurance. The branch of the Holland-St. Louis Sugar Company at Decatur is now one of the largest factories of the kind in the country. Its superintendent is William Kremers, who, soon after graduating from college in the summer of 1899, be- came identified with the Holland (Michigan) plant, of which the De- eatur manufactory is a branch which has outgrown its mother. After working three years in the laboratory Mr. Kremers enjoyed a practical training in all the departments of the factory, and when the manage- ment determined to found a branch at Deeatur instinetively turned to him as the logieal selection for a superintendent of construction and afterward of manufacture. The final outeome of the Decatur venture has already been described in the historical chapter which treats of that city.
Mr. Kremers was born near Holland, Michigan, in 1878; educated in the city schools of that place and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1898. His father and four brothers also graduated from the State University, and the former, Dr. Henry Kremers, was one of the founders of the first sugar-beet factory at Holland. His brothers have all adopted professional eareers. Outside of the duties which fall upon him as superintendent and general manager of the Deeatur manufac- tory, Mr. Kremers has the average responsibilities of the typical Ameri- can eitizen. He is an active member of the Knights of Pythias and is also identified with the Decatur Rotary Club. His wife (nee Sarah Borgman) is also a native of Holland, and a graduate of its high school. They are the parents of Margaret-Alice and Amy-Adriana. both of whom are attending sehool at Decatur. Mr. and Mrs. Kremers are both members of the Presbyterian Church and the entire family attend its services.
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JOHN FRUECHTE. Prominent among the native born citizens of Adams County who as tillers of the soil have accumulated a compe- teney and are living retired from active business cares is John Fruechte, who was for many years profitably engaged in general farming in Preble Township on the farm occupied by his son Edward, but is now living in Fort Wayne. Ile was born in Preble Township, June 6, 1856, a son of Eberhardt Fruechte.
A native of Germany, Eberhardt Fruechte immigrated to the United States as a young man, locating in Indiana. Beginning life for himself as a farmer, he first bought forty acres of wooded land, and in the log cabin which he erected began housekeeping. He labored indus- triously, and subsequently bought adjacent land in Preble Township, where he continued a resident until his death, in the summer of 1872. His log cabin stood upon the present site of the church of that locality. He married in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Elizabeth Vodermark, a native of Germany, and to them seven children were born, as follows: Mary, deceased ; William ; Sophia; Lisetta, deceased ; Louis; Henry; and John. The mother survived her husband, dying September 15, 1897.
The youngest child of the parental household, John Frnechte, ac- quired a practical knowledge of agriculture when young, and subse- quently purchased from his father's estate the farm on which he began life for himself. It contains 178 acres of rich and fertile land, and is being ably managed by his son Edward, an energetic and successful agriculturist.
Mr. Fruechte married Elizabeth Butcher, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Butcher. She was born in Root Township, Adams County, where her parents located on coming to this country from their native place, Switzerland. She has two brothers, Christ Butcher and John Butcher. Seven children have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Fruechte namely : Martha, deceased; John, deceased ; Edward, living on the home farm, married Lena Reppert, a daughter of Chris and Mary Reppert, and they have one child, Walter, born in 1913; Johanna; Adele; Ernst ; and Mildred. Politically Mr. Fruechte is identified with the democratic party. Religiously he and his family belong to the Reformed Church.
EDWARD H. JOHNSON. When the lands of Northeastern Indiana and Northwestern Ohio were all new, presenting an unbroken tangle of forest and swamp and wilderness, and when the opportunity to secure land and homes was open to all, a family group that established them- selves here both in Adams County, Indiana, and across the state line in Van Wert County, Ohio, were the Johnsons, who have been numer- ously and prominently represented in this locality for more than four- score years.
Perhaps the oldest living representative of the family is Edward II. Johnson, who for a number of years has been associated in business with his son Richard Bert, and both occupy one of the fine country homes of Washington Township in Adams County, located in section 10. Ed- ward II. Johnson was born just over the Ohio line in Van Wert County December 23, 1836. Ile has the distinction of having been the first white child born in Harrison Township of that county.
A few weeks before his birth, in October, 1836, his father, Abel Johnson, had settled in that township on a tract of land he had en- tered from the Government in the preceding June. His Government entry contained 140 acres, and the following year he entered another farm of eighty aeres in Adams County, Indiana. He cut the first trees from this land and erected the first log cabin built in a wide stretch of
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country. He had been assisted in securing this land and making his start as a pioneer by his father, Joel Johnson, who came ahout the same time and also constructed a log cabin home. Van Wert County was organized in 1836 and the Town of Van Wert laid out. Thus the Johnsons were associated with the very beginning of civilization in this region, and if there were any hardships and vicissitudes, good and bad fortunes which they did not experience, the fact has been left un- recorded. Nearly all the meat they had on the table in those early days was supplied by wild game and utmost simplicity was the rule from one year's end to the next. In 1854 Joel Johnson went still further west to Iowa. and died in that state in Polk County in 1856, at the age of fifty-seven. His wife had died in Ohio many years previously. Abel Johnson lived and died on the old farm in Van Wert County, hav- ing lived there nearly half a century. His death occurred in 1883, at the age of seventy-two. Ile was born in Harrison County, Ohio, grew up and married there Mary Heath, also a native of the same county. Her parents came from Maryland and died in Harrison County. Abel Johnson and wife had one child born in Harrison County, Nancy. Then they moved to Van Wert County in 1836 and the first of their children born there has already been noted. In Van Wert County their home was a log cabin for over a dozen years, and all the meals were cooked by the open fireplace. Of these log cabin days Mr. Edward H. Johnson has many interesting memories and as he tells the story the existence was not altogether one of hardship and depriva- tion, and undoubtedly the people of that time had happiness and many joys as well as hardships. His parents exemplified the teachings of prac- tical Christianity in their daily lives though they belonged to no church and acknowledged no special creed. Of the four children Edward H. Johnson is the only one now living. Two of his brothers, John and Leonard, were soldiers in an Ohio regiment, went with Sherman to the sea, returned from the war unhurt and were married, but are both now deceased.
Edward H. Johnson married in his native township and county Susan Alexander, who was born in Harrison County, Ohio, in 1841, and died in Van Wert County May 11, 1879, at the age of thirty-seven. She was an active member of the United Brethren Church. For the past sixteen years Edward H. Johnson has lived with his son Richard B. ou the farm in sec- tion 10 of Washington Township in Adams County.
One of the most interesting distinctions attaching to men in Adams County agricultural affairs is that belonging to the Johnsons, father and son. who are known as the leading potato raisers of the entire county. There is no phase of this industry with which they are not familiar by practical experience. They have handled the tuber under all conditions of climate and market, have had a product of 20 bushels to the acre and at other times 300 bushels have rolled out from the soil at the end of the season's harvest. The vicissitudes of price have heen as extreme as the amount of production, and from 30 cents a bushel they have sold their crop as high as $2.00 a bushel. The Johnson farm in Washington Township is thoroughly well improved and drained, and has a group of excellent building improvements.
Edward H. Johnson had three children. His older son, George, served in the Spanish-American and Philippine wars, and is now in the Philippine Islands. His daughter Geneva died at the age of thirty-one, the wife of James ITarmon, her first husband having been John Mar- quart. She left one daughter, Elsie, and one son by her first marriage, Roy Marquart.
Richard Bert Johnson was born in Van Wert County, Ohio, January
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26. 1871. Ile grew up and received his education there but has lived in Adams County since he was twelve years old. He has been very sue- cessful as a farmer and is one of the substantial men of the county. His finishing education was obtained in the Decatur High School.
In Adams County he married Miss Viola Merriss, who was born in Van Wert County April 7, 1875, and grew up and was educated in that locality. Mr. and Mrs. Richard B. Johnson have had a family of eight children. Ellery, who was educated in the local schools, is now in the Signal Corps of the United States Army, a promising young soldier located at Camp Shelby at Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Benjamin, who is already embarked in business life as an employee of a firm at Fort Wayne; Rosa, aged eigliteen, now learning the millinery trade with Mrs. Burge of Decatur; Emma, aged fifteen, in the first year of the high sehool at Decatur; Forest Burton, born August 13, 1906, now in the sixth grade of the public schools; John William, born May 27, 1909. in the third grade: Agnes G., who was born in 1912; and Richard W., who is the baby of the family.
REV. DAVID SCHWARTZ has since April 5, 1885, been the minister in charge of the Amish Christian Church in Monroe Township of Adams County. A numerous community has come to look upon him as a com- fort in time of trouble, an npholder of the faith in darkness and in light, and one who has steadily pursued his course with undeviating firmness and has furnished inspiration and guidance at all times. Rev. Mr. Schwartz is a devout Christian, a man who commands respect by reason of his uprightness and integrity, is thoroughly well educated and a model figure in both home life and his community.
Rev. David Schwartz and his adherents were highly blessed inasmuch that the Lord gave him to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ undefiled, and accordingly the church through him has reformed, and he rebuilt her upon the first ground and corner stone Jesus Christ.
First : He restored the trne teaching of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, of which knowledge the Mennonites and the Amish are entirely destitute.
Second : He restored the "Lord's Communion" in its true sense for a true reconsideration of the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. Which communion previously was practiced in a very idolatrons way.
Third : He again taught to observe the spiritual "Passover" which the Amish and the Mennonites teach in a very abominable sense.
Fourth : He restored the distinctive teaching of the Law of Moses and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is entirely hidden to the Amish and the Mennonites.
Fifth : He re-established "Shonning" the excommunicated upon its first foundation. Not only to shun them in eating but also in their daily association, company and conversation.
Sixth : Through him was again restored Charity among the brethren inasmuch that they all heartily care for one another, both spiritually and bodily, for they heartily love one another.
He also taught that we should in no-wise take an oath, because it is a mortal sin. Matt. 5.34.35. James 5.12.
He has also, according to the teaching of Jesus Christ, forbidden all vengeance and resistance, viz., to not carry on a law suit nor to take part in any magisterial service nor to take part in warfare in any way or form (Matt. 5.39.40. Rom. 12.19), but that we shall honestly give unto the magistrates their dues. Luke 20.25. Rom. 13.6.
Seventh : He has eradieated from the church all works of the law of
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Moses, and perceived that Jesus Christ is the end of the law of Moses. Rom. 10.4.
Eighth: He has eradicated from the church all laws, command- ments, formalities and old customs devised of men and perceived that they are of the works of Satan and not of God.
Ninth : He has preached a pure, undefiled Gospel and hath thus again purified the House and Camp of Jesus Christ of all false services pre- tended to be divine, to the honor of the Lord. The Lord be praised forever. From thence he and his people carried the Cross of Jesus Christ, which rendered unto them great honor in the sight of God. But this cross is not a white cloth with a red cross on it, as is generally believed by the people of the present time.
To say that those who carry the red cross on a white cloth are cleansed and designated by the blood of Jesus Christ is a fabricated thing of the Harlot of Babylon and not the teaching of Jesus Christ. But the true "Mark" of the cross of Jesus Christ is scorn and persecu- tion for his name's sake, with which his disciples are designated. And whosoever does not receive this "Mark" of the cross has no share with Jesus Christ. But whosoever received this "Mark" of the cross has the assurance of everlasting life. Matt. 5.11.12. 2 Tim. 3.12. 1 Peter 2.20. 3.14.
In such manner was this church rebuilt upon the corner stone of Jesus Christ. Therefore she designates herself after her master's name, "Christian Church," but as a rule people name her "Amish Church" named after Jacob Amman, hence she bears the name "Amish Christian Church."
Conclusion : When this church was founded at the time of the Apostles she was named "Catholic," that is to say pure orthodox.
From about 1530 A. D. to 1700 this church was named Mennonite Church after Menno Simons.
From 1700 A. D. to 1894 she was named " Amish Mennonite Church." And from 1894 until this time she was named " Amish Christian Church."
Through the grace of God this is the remaining bride of Jesus Christ, the which sojourned unto the present time.
While his work as a minister has been so successful, Rev. David Schwartz has proved an equally capable farmer and has developed one of the good farms of Monroe Township, where he lives surrounded with his sturdy sons and daughters.
He was born in Adams County October 12, 1862, a son of Joseph and Emily (Mazelin) Schwartz. His father was a native of France and his mother of the United States. His parents many years ago located on 160 acres of wild land in Monroe Township, and they cleared and improved that property. The parents are still living and reside in Michigan with their son Daniel A. The old farm was some years ago divided and sold, eighty acres going to Eli Bear, forty acres to Joseph's son Peter A. and another forty to Chris A. Schwartz.
Rev. David Schwartz married March 15, 1883, Anna Stury, a daughter of John and Anna Stury. Mrs. Schwartz's brothers and sis- ters are Peter, Rudolph, Albert, Susanna. Mrs. Schwartz was born in Switzerland and came to the United States with her parents when she was a small child. Her mother died November 1, 1871, and is buried in Allen County, Indiana, and her father passed away November 11. 1906, and was laid to rest in Adams County. Rev. David Schwartz has broth- ers named Joseph A., Peter, Jacob and Daniel, and two sisters, Rosanna and Emilia.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz with dates of birth are as follows: Noah D., born April 29, 1884; Joseph D., March 11, 1886;
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Susanna D., June 23, 1888; Rosina D., April 4, 1890; John D., August 16, 1891 ; Peter D., January 18, 1894; David D., October 6, 1895; Daniel D., April 26, 1898; Jacob D., October 3, 1900; and Martha D., Decem- ber 10, 1902. The four younger children are all unmarried. Noah married for his first wife Emma Mazelin and for his second wife Cath- erine Nusbaum, but has no children by either wife. Joseph married Lydia Mazelin and has one child, Agnes. Susanna is the wife of Jaeob L. Liechty and has four children, Esther, David, Anna and Lorina. Rosina married Jacob H. Habegger, and their family of four consists of Selma, Martha, Metta and Joel. The son John married Louise Schoenherr. Peter married Elizabeth Nusbaum and has one son, Gerhart.
FRED REPPERT, JR. Of the citizens of Adams County who have more than a local reputation it is doubtful if any one is more widely known, especially among livestock men all over America, than Fred Rep- pert, Jr. Fred Reppert, Jr., is a genius as an auctioneer. It is a busi- ness which he inherited from his father, and he has developed his talents to a degree that makes him a master of his profession and art. For a number of years Mr. Reppert has found his time and energies engaged almost exclusively in the selling of high class livestock. It has not been uncommon for him to officiate at sales involving the disposing of property worth tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in the sale of high class individual animals he holds the record of ane- tioneers in America
His father, Fred Reppert, Sr., became widely known all over the state of Indiana as an auctioneer, and the boy took up the profession at the early age of seventeen. Fred, Jr., had gone about with his father at sales and as a boy acquired a elose technical knowledge of values and of points of good livestock. The first sale at which he presided as a public auctioneer occurred near his old home at Vera Cruz in French Township of Adams County. His father had been engaged to handle a general farm sale and being unavoidably kept away, the son took his place. He was not long in winning the confidence and sympathy of his audience. and in the judgment of many he did the work fully as well as his father could have done. At the age of twenty he came to Decatur, and from that time forward sold livestock of all kinds, but gradually began filling the highly specialized position of auctioneer of thorough- bred stock. A number of years ago he was called upon by Mr. J. B. Nidlinger of Adams County to handle the sale of a drove of thorough- bred Red Duroe Hogs. One of these hogs he succeeded in selling for more than thirteen hundred dollars, and that sale gave him a reputa- tion. Later he was called to Pawnee, Illinois, to sell a hog of similar breed for N. A. Baxter. Under his skillful management this hog brought the price of $5,025, establishing a world record for that breed. Mr. Reppert has also sold cattle for the highest prices on record. A single cow brought $10,000, he sold a bull for $31,000 and he sold a Belgian stallion for $47,500. He has sold herds of cattle and other livestock all over the United States. In May, 1917, he handled a sale for Mr. MeCray of Kenton, Indiana, selling seventy-five head of cattle at an average price of $1,750 a head. Recently in one afternoon he disposed of more than three hundred city lots for the Decatur Commercial Club. These brought an aggregate of more than sixty-one thousand dollars, and the profits, amounting to about forty thousand dollars, were turned over to a local commercial enterprise. It would not be difficult to compile a long list of the many extraordinary sales handled by Mr. Reppert. Ile has given his services in every state in the Union, in every province of Canada and even in Old Mexico.
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