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 76
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 76
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Mr. Myers is a man of wide and long experience. He was a promi- nent edneator for many years, has been a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was also in business at Deeatur as a manufacturer, and has lived an exemplary life in every respect.
He was born near Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, May 21, 1839, a son of Christopher Frederick and Christina (Havieh) Myers. His par- ents were both natives of the same town of Wuertemberg, Germany, where the father was born in 1803 and the mother in 1809. They were of old German Lutheran stock. After their marriage one son was born to them in the old country, Frederiek. In the summer of 1828 they set out for the New World, leaving port at Havre. Franee, taking passage on a sailing vessel, and sixty days later landing in Philadelphia. They moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where for a time Fred- erick Myers followed his trade as a shoemaker at Millport. Four years later he moved to Wayne County. Ohio, and bought a farm. He elcared and cultivated this in connection with his regular trade. In 1850 he
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came to Decatur, Indiana, huying land near that town, and here he lived as a farmer until his death on January 20, 1860. His wife died November 26, 1879, at the age of seventy. After coming to this country they joined the Methodist Church and lived and died in that faith. Frederick Myers together with Thomas Fisher and James Crabbs were the leading spirits in construeting the first church of the Methodist denomination at the corner of First and Jackson streets in Decatur. That old pioneer church build- ing is still standing, though no longer used for a house of worship, a few years ago having been fitted up as a local theater. It was supplanted by the new church erected in 1882. This church stands at the corner of Fifth and Monroe streets. In the family of Frederick Myers and wife were nine sons and one daughter, all of whom grew up but one, three dying about the time they reached maturity. The first born in the United States was Godfrey, who when the war with Mexico came on en- listed and marched with the army of General Scott from Vera Cruz to Mexico City and was soon afterwards granted his honorable discharge. He suffered greatly from the inroads of disease while in the army, and died in the fall of 1848, soon after his return home. For his services in the war he was granted a land warrant of 160 acres in Wells County, In- diana. This was transferred to his parents at the time of his death. His parents also bought another adjacent warrant from another soldier, and they came to Indiana for the purpose of locating this land. While on their way they stopped at Decatur, and the father decided to buy land near that city, selling his places in Wells County. Of the children only two are now living, William J. and James. The latter is a resident of Shawnee, Oklahoma, and has a family of three sons and one daughter.
William J. Myers was about eleven years old when the family came to Adams County and his education begun in Ohio was eon- tinued here in the district and select schools. In 1857 he entered the Indiana State University at Bloomington, and was a student there for two years into his sophomore year. During the winter of 1860-61 he taught the district school at Pleasant Mills in Adams County and in the summer of 1861 taught a select school at Decatur. In the fall of that year he was employed as principal of the Decatur schools and was in that office until 1863. He then entered Vermilion Institute at Hayes- ville, Ohio, and a year later entered Washington and Jefferson Col- lege at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. He was graduated in the class of 1866. He was a very industrious student, and displayed that breadth of mind while in college which has always marked him whether as a business man or student. The title of his thesis at the time of his graduation from Washington and Jefferson was "The Masses," and it was largely on the strength of this able article that he was awarded the principalship of the high school at Steubenville, Ohio. He remained there two years when in 1868 he became superintendent of the public schools at Cadiz, Ohio, where he remained fourteen years. Various honors of a scholastic nature came to him. In 1872 he was elected to the Chair of Agriculture in his alma mater, but declined that office. In 1874 Franklin College in Ohio conferred upon him the degree Master of Arts, and in 1875 gave him the honorary degree Doctor of Philosophy. While at Cadiz he served as one of the county school examiners and was a trustee of Franklin College.
Ill health compelled him to give up his school work and in 1882 he returned to Decatur and became associated with his brothers David L. and James M. under the name Myers Brothers in the manufacture of woolen goods. The Decatur Woolen Mills was continued with a fair degree of prosperity for about six years. About that time the local
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mills suffered from the heavy competition due to the operation of various "shoddy" mills throughout the country, and as Mr. Myers would not consent to a lowering of the standards of his production he finally sold his interests and left the business altogether. Since then he has taught school, has been a wholesale coal merchant, has dealt in insurance, and has been busied with his engagements as a preacher. In 1884 Mr. Myers bought his present home at 234 North Fifth Street, and he and his good wife have lived there continuously for thirty-four years.
He preached his first sermon fifty years ago in Steubenville, Ohio. While at Cadiz, Ohio, he was appointed to a vacancy as presiding elder. He has carried some heavy responsibilities of church work, both as a lay preacher and as one who is extremely interested in the welfare of the church in every department. For many years he has been elder of the church in Decatur, was superintendent of the Sunday school, and for over thirty years was teacher of the Men's Bible class. In politics Mr. Myers began voting as a republican, hut eventually shifted to the prohibition party. He was nominated by that party in 1886 for state senator.
July 9, 1867, in Ashland County, Ohio, William Myers married Miss Eliza Jane Hunter, who was born in Carroll County, Ohio, May 31, 1842, daughter of George and Rosanna (Harkless) Hunter. She was eight years old when her parents came to Adams County, Indiana, and in 1863 the family moved to Ashland County, Ohio. Mrs. Myers was educated partly in the schools of Decatur and in the spring of 1863 entered Vermilion Institute at Hayesville, where she attended three years. She was reared a Presbyterian, but since her marriage has been an active Methodist and has closely co-operated with her husband in the various departments of church and Sunday school work. Six children were born to their marriage, two of whom died young, one in infancy, and Emma at the age of seven months.
Of the four living children the oldest is Rev. George Hunter Myers, who was born in 1870. He attended DePauw University at Greencastle, also the university at Syracuse, New York, and completed his theological training in the seminary at Boston. While yet a student he was ordained at Richmond, Indiana, and supplied many pulpits. Since graduation he has become one of the leading ministers in the Northern Indiana Confer- ence. He is now engaged in special work, requiring travel all over the country. for endowment fund purposes. At Decatur he married Lila Shrock, a native of that city, a graduate of the high school and a teacher for some years. They have two daughters, Ruth and Mar- garet, both talented musicians and students in DePauw University.
The second child of William J. Myers and wife is Anna, now wife of Robert Harding, who is purchasing agent with the General Elec- trie Company at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Wilhelmina, the second daugh- ter, married Rollo C. Pifer, who is prominent in Young Men's Chris- tian Association work with headquarters at St. Louis, and is now sta- tioned with the army Young Men's Christian Association at Fort Sill. Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Pifer have three children: Anna H., Isa- bel R. and Alice M. Mary, the youngest of the family was educated at Decatur and married Emery J. Wilson, a graduate of Princeton University. Mr. Wilson is a consulting engineer, living in Cleveland, Ohio. They have one child, Mary Jane.
JOIIN S. PETERSON. One of the leading insurance men of Decatur, John S. Peterson, proprietor of the Decatur Underwriting Company, is widely known as a man of sterling worth and integrity, and as a
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most loyal and public-spirited citizen his influence and assistance are always sought in behalf of undertakings for the publie good and the advancement of the best interests of the community. A native of Adams County, he was born in Decatur, which was likewise the birth- place of his father, Robert S. Peterson. He comes of pioneer stock, his grandparents, John W. and Margaret Peterson, having been among the earlier settlers of Adams County, coming to this state from Ohio.
Born in 1845, Robert S. Peterson grew to manhood on the par- ental homestead in Saint Marys Township. On February 12, 1864, he enlisted in Company G, Thirteenth Indiana Cavalry, and being commissioned second lieutenant of his company served in that capacity until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge from the service at the close of the conflict. Returning to Decatur, he began the study of law under the tutelage of Judge David Studabaker. In 1868 he was admitted to the bar, and for nearly forty years there- after was actively engaged in the practice of his profession in Decatur, retiring in 1904, seven years prior to his death, which occurred March 16, 1911. An active member of the republican party, he was influen- tial in the ranks and served as a candidate for circuit judge of the county and as a congressman from the twenty-sixth district, but his territory having been a demoeratie stronghold, he was defeated at the polls. He was a Presbyterian in religion, and a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity.
The maiden name of the wife of Robert S. Peterson was Fannie C. Kunkle. She was born in Monmouth, Root Township, Adams County, Indiana, in 1849. and is now living in Decatur.
Soon after his graduation from the Decatur High School, John S. Peterson embarked in the insurance business, and for more than twenty years was successfully employed in that line. Being made assistant post- master during President Roosevelt's administration, Mr. Peterson served faithfully and acceptably in that position for four years, from July 1, 1906, until July 1, 1910, Maynard A. Frisinger having at that time been postmaster. After leaving the postoffice, Mr. Peterson organ- ized in 1910 the Decatur Underwriting Company, of which he became secretary. In the meantime, changes in the personnel of the company have taken place, and since 1915 Mr. Peterson has been sole propri- etor of the extensive business built up by the underwriters with whom he was associated. He carries on a general insurance business, spe- cializing with the Indiana Life Insurance of Indianapolis.
Mr. Peterson married, in Adams County, Indiana, Olive Hale, who was born in Decatur, in 1873, a daughter of John D. and Caroline (Holmes) IIale, and to them three children have been born, namely : Robert H., J. Dwight and Lois L. Robert H. Peterson, the oldest child, born October 21, 1894, was graduated from the Decatur High School, and subsequently attended the Indiana State University for four years. Leaving college, he returned to Decatur and helped organize Company A, Fourth Indiana Infantry, of which he was commissioned first licu- tenant. He was first sent with his eommand to Fort Harrison, Indian- apolis, and from there to Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Lieu- tenant Peterson was later transferred to Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth United States Field Artillery, with which he is now associated. J. Dwight Peterson, born in April, 1897, was graduated from the Decatur High School with the class of 1914, and is now a. junior at the Indiana State University. Both he and his brother are members of the Sigma Phi Fraternity, and of the College Editorial Fraternity. Lois L. Peterson, born April 2, 1905, is an eighth grade pupil in the public school.
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Fraternally Mr. Peterson is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of the Knights of Pythias; and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Politically he is a stanch republican. Religiously he and his family are members of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church.
OTTO L. KIRSCH. A prominent and successful representative of the lumber trade of Northeastern Indiana, Otto L. Kirsch, a well-known resident of Deeatur, is actively identified with one of the foremost business firms of Adams County, being secretary and treasurer of the Kirsch & Reppert Lumber Company. He was born August 25, 1883, in Bellmont, Wabash County, Illinois, of German ancestry. His fa- ther, Mathias Kirsch, of whom a brief sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, was born in Germany, and at the age of four years in 1860, eame with his father, Christopher Kirsch, to this country. He was a man of eminent ability, and is still actively identified with the ad- vaneement of the lumber interests of the great Middle West.
Having completed his early education in the public schools, Otto L. Kirseh spent four years in the Michigan woods, where he thor- oughly mastered every detail of the lumber business, becoming fa- miliar with every operation that converted the standing tree of the forest into the marketable building material of the lumber yards. Thus well qualified for business, he became secretary of the firm of Kirsch, Sellemeyer & Sons Company, which was incorporated in 1912, with Mathias Kirsch as president; H. H. Sellemeyer vice president ; and Mr. Kirsch, of this notice, as secretary. A change in the firm was made in the fall of 1917, Mathias Kirsch continuing as president, with Mr. Reppert vice president, and Otto L. Kirsch as secretary and treasurer.
This business is one of the longest established of the kind in Adams County, having been started about thirty years ago by Mathias Kirsch and Erastus Fritzinger, who, at the end of two years sold out to Selle- mever & Company, who managed it until 1907, when another change was made, Otto L. Kirsch becoming secretary of the new firm. In addition to dealing in dressed lumber of all kinds, the firm has a large trade in a variety of building materials and in coal.
Mr. Kirsch married, at Fort Wayne. Indiana, Elma Seeley, who was born, in 1888, in Fort Wayne, and was there bred and educated. Her father Henry Seeley, a native of Germany, eame to this country with his parents in childhood, and has since lived in Fort Wayne. As a young man he was there for several years the manager of a candy factory. and later engaged in business as a grocer. His wife, whose maiden name was Maria Boerger, was horn in Germany, and when a young girl came with her parents to Indiana and obtained her eduea- tion in the schools of Fort Wayne. Both Mr. and Mrs. Seeley are mem- bers of the German Reformed Church. Mr. and Mrs. Kirsch have one child, Helen Kirsch, horn December 20. 1910. Mr. Kirsch is a demo- erat in polities, and both he and his wife, true to the religious faith in which they were reared, are members of the German Reformed Church.
SETH D. BEAVERS. With thirty years of continuous experience as a physician and surgeon, Doctor Beavers is one of the oldest members of the medical profession in Adams County. He began practice in May, 1887, and since then his field of effort has covered practically all of Adams County.
Doctor Beavers is a graduate of Rush Medical College of Chicago, securing his diploma in February, 1886. He has been a close student of medieine for many years, and in 1903 took work in the Post-Grad-
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uate Medical School of Chicago and in 1909 attended the New York Polyclinic. After graduating from Rush Medical College he had his preliminary experience at Toesin in Wells County, but soon came to Decatur, where he has built up a large and successful general practice. Ile is a member of many medieal organizations, including the State, the Tri-State, the Mississippi Valley and the County Medical societies, and the Erie Railway Medical Society. He has filled all the chairs in the county society.
By accident of birth Doctor Beavers is a native of the Shenan- doah Valley of Virginia, where he was born during a temporary resi- dence of his parents on August 21, 1860. At the age of three years his parents returned to Hoeking County, Ohio, and a few years later moved to Adams County, Indiana, where most of his youth was spent. Ile attended the public schools. spent two years in the Normal School at Valparaiso, Indiana, and was a teacher two years before entering the study of medicine.
Through the paternal line he is descended from old Irish stock and on the mother's side elaims Holland-Dutch ancestry. ITis grandfa- ther, John Beavers, was born on the high seas in 1787 while his par- ents were immigrating to America. These parents settled in Virginia and spent the rest of their lives there. John Beavers grew up and learned the trades of cabinet making and coopering and also followed farming. He married a Miss Updike, of an old Virginia family. In 1858 he moved to Ohio, locating near the old Rock House in Fairfield County, where the remainder of his useful and honorable career was spent. He lived to be ninety-six years of age, surviving his wife fif- teen years. They were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. John Beavers was accounted a wealthy man in Virginia, had a large estate and owned many slaves. Before the Civil war and when the agitation against slavery was at its height he freed his slaves, and on account of the bitterness thus engendered sought a home in the free country north of the Ohio River. He had six sons and daugh- ters, all of whom grew up in Virginia, all married and had families of their own, and most of them died in Ohio.
Samuel D. Beavers, father of Doctor Beavers, was born in Virginia and was a young man when he moved to Ohio. He married Miss Lydia Weldy, who was born in Hoeking County, Ohio, of Holland ancestry. Her parents spent all their lives on a farm in the Hocking Valley of Ohio, having moved there from the state of Pennsylvania. There was a large family of the Weldys and some of them later moved to Adams County, Indiana, where they were well known farmers. After the birth of two children in Ohio Samuel D. Beavers went back to Virginia for the purpose of settling up his father's estate. It was during this tempo- rary residence that Doctor Beavers was born. The later children were born in Adams County. Altogether Samuel D. Beavers and wife had twelve children. Their home was in Kirkland Township, and orig- inally was set up in the midst of the forest, comprising a log cabin. Samuel Beavers and his children gradually cleared up the land and made it a fine farm. Samuel Beavers was a democrat and the family were all active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, though later he joined the Brethren in Christ and was leader for many years.
Doctor Beavers married in Adams County Catherine Welfey, a native of this county. She died in the prime of life, the mother of one son, Benjamin. Benjamin received his early education at Wabash, In- diana, and later graduated from the Harvard University Medical School and is now a student in the Boston City Hospital. He is unmarried. For his second wife Doctor Beavers married Ida M. Andrews, also a
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native of Adams County. She is a graduate of the Decatur High School and for several years before her marriage taught in Allen County, Indiana. They have two sons, William, aged twenty-three, and Wayne, aged seventeen. William graduated from the Decatur High School, attended the Ohio Northern University at Ada and took the engineer- ing course in Purdue University at Lafayette. The son Wayne is member of the class of 1918 of the Decatur High School. Doctor Beavers and family are members of the Presbyterian Church.
JOHN W. BOSSE was commissioned postmaster of Decatur June 14, 1914, and his administration has been one of the most businesslike in the history of the office. The Decatur postoffice is a second class office, and it requires a small staff of men to handle the various departments of its business. The present assistant postmaster reappointed by Mr. Bosse is Mr. Hocker, who had been assistant for the four years before Mr. Bosse came into office. There are four clerks, G. W. Everett, money order clerk; Edward W. Macy. general delivery clerk: George Flanders, mailing clerk; and one other not yet appointed. The four city carriers are O. P. Mills, W. R. Dorwin, Harvey D. Rice and Neill Butler. The substitute carrier and man who handles the parcel post is Omer Butler. From Decatur radiate ten rural routes, each averag- ing thirty miles, and some of these routes have been in existence for fourteen years. The two oldest rural carriers are Henry A. Fuhrman and William H. Engle. Mr. Bosse succeeded William A. Lower as postmaster, Mr. Lower being one of the officials of the People's Loan & Trust Company.
Mr. Bosse has been an active figure in democratie polities in Allen County for a number of years, and has served as secretary and chair- man of the County Democratie Committee. He is a native of the county, born at Decatur, October 5, 1858. He was educated in the city schools and at the age of eighteen began teaching. About the same time he went to work in the drug store of Dorwin & Holthouse and made so much of his opportunities while there that he was finally given a license as a pharmacist through practical experience and apprentice- ship. He remained with the firm of Dorwin & Holthouse until 1882, when he sold his interests, and with Doctor Dorwin and Mr. Holt- house organized the Marshall Medicine Company, for the manufacture of proprietary remedies. Later Mr. Bosse bought the entire business and developed it with such energy that the Marshall remedies are now sold over a large part of the Union. Mr. Bosse continued actively at the head of this business for twenty years, and is still its principal owner, though since entering the postoffice his son has been manager.
Mr. Bosse is a son of the late Herman Bosse, who was one of the pioneer residents of Decatur, where he lived from 1849 until his death. Herman Bosse was born in Hanover, Germany, February 15, 1817, grew up there, learned the carpenter's trade and in 1843 married at his native village Margaret Holthonse. In 1844 they left their native land, and after a voyage on a sailing vessel of eight weeks landed in Baltimore and continued on westward by canal, river and railroad to Cincinnati. Herman Bosse found employment at his trade in that city, but in 1849, when cholera became an epidemie in Cincinnati, he and his family fled from its ravishings and traveled by canal to Fort Wayne. Indiana, and thence crossed the country to Decatur. Mrs. Her- man Bosse's brother Bernard Holthouse had already established a home in Decatur. On moving to Decatur Herman Bosse engaged in the contracting and building business, which he followed actively for many years. He was also a local merchant for several years and in
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1881 he took a contract to grade a section of the Chicago & Atlantie Railway. As a result of his many activities he acquired a modest competence and spent his last years in leisure. He died in 1900, at the age of eighty-three, and his wife passed away at the venerable age of ninety-six. Both were life-long members of the Catholic Church and were active and unceasing in their devotion to St. Mary's Parish at Decatur. Herman Bosse and wife had four children, Catherine, Frank, Mary and John William.
In 1894 John William Bosse married at Decatur Miss Catherine Durkin, who was born in Clinton County, Ohio, about fifty years ago, and came to Adams County with her parents when a young girl. She is a member of the well known Durkin family elsewhere mentioned in this publication. Mr. and Mrs. Bosse have long been working members of St. Mary's Catholic Church. Mr. Bosse is a fourth degree Knight of Columbus. He and his wife have three children : Leona, a graduate of the parochial schools, is now head bookkeeper of the Waring Glove Company of Decatur; Jerome is now in his second year in the Decatur High School, and Edmund graduated from the parochial schools in 1917.
WILLIAM W. BRIGGS is the present postmaster of Geneva, and is an old resident of that town, formerly one of its leading merchants.
He was born in Hancock County, Ohio, in February, 1864, a son of William H. H. and Catherine ( Harmel) Briggs. His parents were natives of Ohio and further particulars concerning the family will be found on other pages. However, it should be stated that the father moved to Geneva, Indiana, in 1872, and followed here his trade as a carpenter and contractor until his death. Their children were: An- drew G. Briggs, of Geneva ; Albertus T., of LaPorte, Indiana, a Meth- odist preacher and a graduate of the Fort Wayne Methodist College and of De Pauw University; William W .; Ella, wife of J. R. Roda- baugh, of Montana; C. J., of Sidney, Ohio; and John E., of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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