The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River, Vol. I, Part 72

Author: Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs. The story of the townships of Allen County
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : R.O. Law Co.
Number of Pages: 760


USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River, Vol. I > Part 72


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The first road was built by consent of the county commissioners in 1841. Every man being his own surveyor in locating the road past his own acres, this amateur engineering resulted in a rather devious road line, but five years later, in 1846, A. B. Todd was elected township road supervisor, and through his agency the high- way line was corrected by a new survey, conducted by County Surveyor Black. This road is known as the "Van Wert," leading to the continuation of that one hewn through in a fortnight by the sturdy pioneers of Jefferson township, which is also a "Van Wert" road. The road was the beginning, in Madison township, of a system of roads which for condition and completeness is now scarce- ly equaled anywhere in the county, including Wayne and Adams townships.


The first mill in Madison was built in 1849, by Samuel Davis, prominent in the establishment of Massillon village. The township afforded no water power, its one small stream, Flat Rock creek, being inadequate both in fall and volume, with a tendency to run dry in midsummer. So, the mill was operated by steam, and although originally a sawmill, a "run of burs" for grinding both corn and wheat was added for the greater convenience of the farmers. The first postoffice was established in the same year, at the house of John Shaffer, son of Jabez Shaffer. He was succeeded by Joseph Snyder and then by A. B. Todd, who held the office until its removal to Monroe township in 1856. During this seven years, the mail used to be carried first from Van Wert, Ohio, to Root postoffice (Middletown), and from there back to Massillon, a trip somewhat resembling that around Robin Hood's barn.


Whether Adam Robinson platted Massillon or Samuel Davis was "proprietor" of the town, is immaterial, since the day of the little village was short, and only marked a transition epoch in the township history. The villages of Centerville and Monroeville were platted at about the same time, at points on the Pennsylvania railroad, and while of these two only Monroeville really developed, it drew the trade of the surrounding territory and the hopes of Massillon drooped accordingly. Wilson and Brown had opened a store, the first in the township, at Massillon in 1851, when the outlook for the little village was bright, but the stock was soon sold out to a purchaser who removed it to Monroe township. Dr. A. Engle, who came the same year, was a fixture for life, however. He made a home close to Massillon, and for more than twenty years was able single-handed to care for all the sick of this happy, healthy township, which took him to its heart as one of its own family.


In the year 1851 Adam Emenhiser came to Madison township, locating on a tract, purchased from Joseph K. Edgerton, in the


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southwestern part. He was followed in 1852 and 1853 by his sons Joseph and Stephen, who purchased contiguous tracts from Humph- rey Middleton and Joseph McIntosh, respectively. Ten years later, in 1862, Joseph Emenhiser added to his land, by purchase from Allen Hamilton of Fort Wayne, the land upon which Mr. Browning had spent his brief experience in Madison. In the year 1872, Stephen Emenhiser platted the village of Hoagland upon land be- longing to himself, adjacent to the right of way of the Grand Rapids and Indiana railroad. Joseph Harrod, at the same time gave to the railroad a plot of ground for the depot, stipulating that the new town should be called "Harrodsburg." The gift was accepted, but the agreement was not carried out, the name of Hoagland being substituted, in honor of Pliny Hoagland, of Fort Wayne, who was a director of the railroad. An addition on the north side of the original plat was made in 1877 by Allen DeVilbiss. Two streets extend east and west, Main, which is a well paved and shaded residence street, and English named in honor of the first postmaster, James English. The north and south streets are num- bered, beginning at the railroad grounds, on the west of the depot.


The first merchant of the new village was Samuel Steadman, and the building he occupied was the first one built for mercantile purposes. It stands on First street facing the depot, and is still a solid structure, in use as a bakery and restaurant by Silas Miller, who has with him as assistant, James Robinson, son of John L. Robinson and grandson of 'Squire Adam Robinson. On English street is a general store once owned by John L. Robinson, which is now known as "Smitley's" and carries every variety of merchan- dise known in Indiana. "Merriam and Son" of thirty years ago, are replaced by M. Luttman, who dispenses a neat stock of dry goods and groceries, while another general store is conducted by A. C. Crawford and Company, on First street. Frank Ottenwiler is the village blacksmith, succeeding H. McWherter, who was the first in Hoagland. The little church which the Baptists used amiably to loan to the other denominational groups while homeless, is now in the hands of an English Lutheran congregation, while the Methodists have a very pretty modern church edifice on Main street -these two being the only churches now in the village. Instead of the Houser brothers' sawmill, the sawmill of today is operated by the Hoagland Lumber Company. The brick and tile industry estab- lished by D. L. Small is now in the hands of Hartzell and Company. Deering and McCormick have agencies in Hoagland, near the bank and the postoffice. A tidy barber shop faces the depot, also, while a neatly conducted meat market owned by G. E. Morton is managed by Mr. Brown, a descendant of the first storekeeper at Massillon. The Hoagland State Bank is a well established institu- tion with a capital stock of $25,000, its president, John S. Youse, having succeeded Dr. J. L. Smith, who was its first president. Hoagland has its own local telephone exchange with rural lines running out. The postoffice serves one R. F. D. route, and the two- room township school house Number Nine is located at the west end of the village.


The remainder-which is by no means a remnant-of the busi- ness of Hoagland is controlled under various heads, by Koeneman and Company, who operate a storage and sales garage, an extensive


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commission house, a depot of farm machinery, a large elevator, and the only hall that Hoagland has for hire.


The population of Hoagland in 1890 was scarcely one hundred persons; in 1900 it had attained about one hundred and fifty ; now, in 1917, it may safely claim three hundred inhabitants, among whom are many representatives of the old settlers of the township. John Chapman, who married a daughter of Isaac Harrod of Marion township, is still living, at an advanced age, with his daughter on the pretty Main street. Dr. J. L. Smith, who, originally from New Jersey, came to Hoagland in 1875 from Ohio, married the daughter of Joseph Emenhiser, and has been for over forty years the leading physician of the township, and as widely acquainted as any earlier pioneer in it. However, the whole of Allen county knows Dr. Smith, and not alone professionally, for he was County Auditor from 1903 to 1907. Both of his sons are physicians, the younger about to enter the medical service in the army, and the elder already thoroughly established in association with his father in local and country practice. The Drs. Smith, with Dr. C. M. Buck, and Dr. Cordell, V. S., constitute the professional roster of Hoagland.


Descendants of early settlers are evident factors in Madison township still, though some families have become only memories there. George Eagy's son, John Eagy, died only a few years ago and one daughter, who married John Patrick, the son of David, died some years previous to her brother. Lucinda Eagy, who be- came Mrs. John Edwards, jr., and Rebecca Eagy, who married the son of Charles Peckham, have both resided in Monroeville for many years. The last of Andrew Meek's family of three daughters, Hetty, who married first, Sprague and afterward Houck, died about 1902. The Jabez Shaffer family, still represented in the township, have material for pride in their ancestry in this country, for while their first American progenitor, an emigrant before the Revolution, was so strongly convinced of the divine right of kings to rule, that he disowned his own son Andrew because the latter cast in his lot with the colonists and fought for American freedom under command of our own General Wayne. This patriotic son of the Revolution was the father of Jabez Shaffer, of Madison township-a most honor- able inheritance for his posterity.


A large influx of German Lutheran families within the last forty years has changed the social atmosphere of the township con- siderably, one effect being seen in the township schools, which have a smaller enrollment now than was noted thirty years ago, on account of the establishment of the parochial school in section 17, which practically all the juvenile Lutheran population attend. The public school report for the year 1915-1916 shows a total enumera- tion of four hundred and eight children, of whom fewer than half are enrolled in the public schools. The condition of the schools otherwise is good, however, under the present administration. In June, 1916, there were twelve pupils graduated from the eighth grades. The school year of one hundred and sixty days main- tained an attendance of one hundred and fifty-four daily. With nine teachers employed, the total of salaries paid for that year was $4,372.80; and the other expenses, exclusive of the cost of transfers, was $1,194.00, the per capita cost amounting to $27.91. Madison township school buildings are estimated at $20,000 in


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value, with libraries aggregating 2,363 volumes. A high school was formerly maintained at Hoagland, but the institution of "commis- sioned" high schools made its continuance inadvisable.


Monroe Township


Monroe township, occupying the extreme southeast part of Allen county, shares with the contiguous territory in Madison and the lower half of Jackson, the general characteristics of soil and original forest conditions. Like Madison, its first settlers were Carroll county (Ohio) families, who came in the fall of 1839 and established themselves on section thirty-two, near the site of East Liberty. Three men, William and James Black and Joseph Rabbit, were joined in the same year by Lawrence Umbaugh and his son-in- law, Jacob Drake, on the same section. Peter Schlemmer, from Germany, settled on section twenty-one about the same time, and Noah Clem, a native of Virginia, but temporary resident of Champaign county, Ohio, purchased land in the southeastern quarter of section thirty-three, where, with the assistance of his neighbors, he built a cabin ready for the reception of his family in the spring of 1840. The year 1840 brought Moses Ratledge and his two sons, William and Moses, Elijah Reddinghouse and John Friedline. Elijah Reddinghouse removed to the far west after im- proving. his land. Hugh Anderson and Samuel Clem came in January and February of 1841, and the same season John Stephen- son settled in section four, while James Savage and Peter Barnhart located near the site of Monroeville. Mr. Savage went to Fort Wayne, after a few years.


Within a very few years the settlement had more than doubled its original settlers of the first three years, and the names of Asa Dillon, Eli Bauserman, Thomas Jones, Thomas Meek, brother of Andrew, and numerous others belong to this period. The first township election, held in April, 1841, at the house of William Rat- ledge, registered thirteen voters. Peter Schlemmer was one of the number, and his vote was challenged on account of doubt as to his naturalization. He made proof, however, which was fortunate, since the election was a tie, and Mr. Schlemmer's vote decided the contest between Noah Clem and William Black, the two candidates for Justice, Mr. Clem being elected. Justice Clem performed his first wedding ceremony the following year when the daughter of Asa Dillon was married to Eli Bauserman. Mrs. Schlemmer's death, in 1843, was the first in the settlement, and her burial place on the home farm became the last resting place of other early settlers of Monroe.


The settlers in Monroe were obliged to go as far as the Rudisill mill on the St. Joseph, or to Wines' mill on the Maumee, for the grinding of their corn-when they had any to grind. During the first years, the abundantly fertile soil was often covered deep with a wild vine of great tenacity, which made plowing almost impossible, and corn had sometimes to be planted by hand, pushing the vines aside for each hill-a slow and very laborious process, but yielding good returns. Before even this means of producing grain was at hand, the rifle of the huntsman was responsible for the major part of the settlers' living. Is it possible for the nineteenth century to


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realize that "shorts" or "middlings" made into cakes was once a holiday delicacy in wealthy Allen county ? Yet it was so, and an expensive one at that. Money was so scarce that it was almost unknown in the forests of the southern townships. It was nec- essary to find some variety of produce to carry to Fort Wayne to exchange for the grain foods that were imperatively needed. The forests themselves were so dense at that time that transporting tim- ber was impossible, even if timber had possessed any market value when the market was so glutted with it. The next best thing was to reduce the timber to ashes, extract the salts, by means of water, into lye, boil the lye down to "black salts" and carry it to Fort Wayne, where a barrel of it was exchanged for a small load of "middlings" or corn meal. Notwithstanding the lightness of the load, the trails were so nearly impassable that it took a double team of horses to make the trip, which frequently occupied a full week.


Hugh Anderson and John Friedline were neighbors, in the southwestern part of the township, and usually made this trip together, uniting their teams to secure motive power enough to overcome the difficulties of travel. "Uncle Hughie" Anderson, as he came to be called by his familiars, was a man of giant stature and strength, and his four or five sons were cast in the same mold as their father. These men, strong as engines, and capable in like degree, were wont to offer their services, when not engaged in their own work, at the moderate wage of twenty-five cents a day, "and dinner." Yet even when their help was sorely needed, money was so scarce that the offer frequently went begging. Once in a while money for postage was lacking, and that was tragic! In 1844, Hugh Anderson and his sons put up a horse-power mill for grinding corn or other grain. Its capacity was not great, but its conveni- ence to the settlers in Monroe was incalculable at the time, and it was cordially welcomed and patronized for a number of years, until Charles Muldoon built his mill on the St. Mary's. John Friedline's sons, John D. and Emanuel, have grown up from infancy in Monroe township, and both remember their childish experiences as the children of pioneers. Mrs. John D. Friedline, daughter of John Lare, though born in Ohio, came with her parents in 1846, when she was but one year old, and her very earliest recollections are of picking up chips in the clearings, a task which even toddlers were trained to do, as chips interfered very seriously with the cultivation of the land. She says, too, that picking up chips was the bane of pioneer children's existence, and even the bonfires they were permitted to have with the chip piles, grew too common- place to be an amusement. Her father brought his family to Monroe before there was a roof to shelter them, and indeed, the . woods were so dense that they scarcely needed shelter, until a spot was cleared large enough to build a cabin on. He literally had to dig himself out to the open. The Friedline boys both went to the first log cabin school house, built on section thirty-two, and taught by Elizabeth Bradley the first year. Emanuel Friedline, the elder of the brothers, is still a stalwart, well-kept man, in spite of the fact that he has lived in Monroe township longer than any person now living, his record being seventy-seven years' residence within a circle of a mile and a half, the home farm at one side of the circle, and Monroeville, his present home, on the opposite. Mrs.


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Emanuel Friedline was Mary Crabill, the daughter of David Crabill, sr. The Crabill and Clem families were both from Virginia and are connected. Noah Clem was one of the strong characters of the settlement, and the family stamp is still clear in his descendants. Mrs. Mary (Ridenour) Clem was also a native of Shenandoah county, Virginia. John D. Stephenson came to Monroe in the fall of 1840, built his cabin and sowed four acres of wheat, after which he went back for the winter, returning in 1841 with his bride, Mary Dornan, by wagon. They were eight miles from a neighbor on the west and one mile on the east. Sandusky Indians still swarmed the woods, hunting by night, but they were friendly and did not trouble the settlers. The Stephensons' house was on the "Sugar" Ridge road which was the only road in the township then approach- ing Fort Wayne from that direction, and it became a favorite stop- ping place for travelers before the railroad was built, so that the tavern business predominated with them for a period. They kept a hotel, and the place was a station on the stage line. As many as a hundred wagons have camped there at once in the old days when colonies were moving westward to newly opened lands. Mr. Stephenson left an estate of nearly nine hundred acres of land.


Samuel Wass and Samuel Grahame were other early settlers in Monroe. The Wass family was closely related with the George Eagy family of Madison township, and the daughters of both families used to visit each other in the face of many difficulties and some danger, to which pioneer maidens became inured. The Wass cabin was a very primitive affair, windowless in summer, as all the air possible was needed at night for ventilation. On one occasion one of the Eagy girls carried a pet lamb with her, and spending the day with her cousin, lingered so late that she was afraid to take the lamb home with her, lest she should be followed by wolves. The lamb had to be kept in the Wass cabin that night, and the fear of wolves was well founded, for the beasts howled around them all night, making it necessary to keep the wooden shutters closed and barred. Yet the wolves were cowardly, after all. Mrs. Peckham (Rebecca Eagy), who now lives in Monroeville, a still beautiful woman at eighty years, relates that in her father's absence, in the pioneer days in the forest, her mother used to blow a long blast on her husband's brass trumpet,-a musical instrument upon which he really could play,-and the threatening wolves would flee in terror at the sound. The Wass sisters are both residents of Monroe- ville, one being Mrs. Mundorff and the other the wife of John D. Alleger. Mrs. Edwards (Lucinda Eagy) also lives in Monroeville with her son.


Samuel Grahame is remembered quite vividly by those who knew him, which was almost everybody. He was the embodiment of jollity and good nature, with the ability to extract fun from every aspect of life, and the faculty of making everybody his friend. His first log house in the woods was built so far "over the line" that it was discovered after a while to be on somebody's else ground entirely. Nothing daunted, Mr. Grahame saw the humor of the situation and built another and much better one, going deep into his land to make sure of its staying at home, trudging through the forest to Fort Wayne to read his land title clear before he did so, however. The new house, where his family of six grew up, was


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a hewn-log structure of black walnut and oak timbers. It was his home for fifty-five years, at the end of which he built himself a new mansion, and gave the old one away. It was taken apart and removed to Jackson township, where it was again set up, clapboard- ed and plastered, roofed and all, and is as solid a homestead as ever.


The first religious service in Monroe township was conducted at the house of John Friedline, by Rev. Mr. Exline, of the Lutheran church (English) in 1845. A church was built very soon after in the same clearing as the little school house, and both on the land of Joseph Rabbit. The church, though of logs, was a large one for the time and stood near the school.


The village of East Liberty was laid out in 1848 by John Burger on his own land on section twenty-nine. It was the first village of the township and promised well. Martin Kemp started a store, so called, though the chief article in stock was liquor. "Stores" of this undesirable nature were attempted in every new village, but like this one, they were not always permanent. The Kemp grog shop soon departed, and Judge Reynolds and James Patterson opened a general store that gave general satisfaction both in their hands and those of their successors, David Studebaker and Peter Whipky. A postoffice was secured for the village in 1851, but the following year, anticipating the railroad, the village of Monroeville had been platted, and as it had the further advantage of a more central location, East Liberty ceased to grow. The postoffice was removed to the home of John Friedline, where it remained during his life. Nothing remains of the village, but the United Brethren church and township schoolhouse No. 3 stand close to the site. This denomination held its first organization meeting in Samuel Clem's barn, with seven members. The first log church mentioned was erected by the Methodists and United Brethren in partnership, and used by both congregations until 1873, when the latter body built their new "Bethlehem" church. About 1880, the Methodists increased in numbers so that they were able to build a new church also, about a half mile north of East Liberty. It is known as "Shiloh" M. E. church.


Monroeville was platted in 1851 by Jacob and John Barnhart, sons of Peter Barnhart. Merely a mail station on the Pittsburgh railroad for ten years, the trade and manufacturing activity aroused by the civil war brought Monroeville to its feet, and since then there has been a steady and substantial growth in the town. McGovern and Pool made additions to the original plat in 1865, and in 1866 a third was made by Alpheus Swift. The famous industry of the day was the manufacture of barrel staves and headings for the oil refineries, then in their most spectacular stage in the Pennsyl- vania oil fields. The first stave factory at Monroeville was opened in 1864, by John Rout, with George Webster and James Weiler. Another was built in 1865 by Hemphill and Ashworth, succeeded in 1866 by M. E. Argo. Rallya and Robertson established a third stave factory in 1865, which continued until 1874. A large flour- ing mill built in 1865, by C. H. Schick, became the property succes- sively of Alpheus Swift, Dague Brothers and Shank, and at last was burned down in 1889 while owned by D. S. Redelsheimer. The Empire Stave company, P. S. O'Rourke, president, Alexander Wil-


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liamson, secretary and treasurer, and Jacob Sweany, superintend- ent, built, 1867, a very complete and extensive stave factory, which ran successfully for eight years, when it too, was burned, while owned by Heller and Dague. Nearly all of these factories had branches at Decatur, Indiana, Benton, Ohio, and at Dixon, on the state line. Stave manufacture continued for many years a chief industry, a factory being built as late as 1875 by A. F. Beugnot, and Daniel Monahan, which afterward passed to J. B. Worden and then to Redelsheimer and Company, who operated it as long as the woods furnished the necessary material. A pump works was built by T. A. Long, and carriage and wagon making was begun by Sears and Scherer, in the later seventies, but both of these ventures sus- pended.


In the main, Monroeville has been from the start a township town. Very few "fowls of the air" have lodged in the village branches, and the outsiders who have located there have been fine additions to the native and pioneer element of society. The busi- ness and professional directory still numbers a large proportion of the charter names of the town, which was incorporated in 1866, as a glance over it will show.


The medical profession is represented by Drs. S. E. Mentzer, D. E. Kauffman, H. E. Steinman and W. A. Connolly, the latter now retired, and living with his sister, Miss Margaret Connolly, in a charming modern home, after their long and arduous lives spent, since 1868, in the service of Monroeville. Miss Margaret was a public school teacher there for several years, and Dr. Connolly was secretary of the board of school trustees for a long term. There is also one veterinary surgeon, C. L. Meyer, and one dentist, M. A. Smith. The legal fraternity consists of two attorneys, H. C. Crabill and John DeLong. There are three general stores, kept by Edwards Brothers, sons of Mrs. Lucinda Eagy Edwards, Krick and Sons and Fry and Gailey ; two drug stores, the People's and W. O. Sweaney, the latter gentleman being now' a member of the school board; two hardware establishments, the Monroeville Hardware company, and the Clem Hardware company. A large department store is conducted by Heinefeldt and Neimeyer brothers. Groceries and meats exclusively are dispensed by Crane and Savico, and F. E. Kline. Roofing and furnaces are built by Shifferly brothers. There are two shoemakers and dealers, C. J. Breman and Daniel Miller; three livery and feed stables, R. F. David, R. E. Elliott and M. Mentzer; one furniture and funeral-directing firm, Painter brothers; one harness shop, D. Murfield; one ice cream and ice company, A. S. Robinson and Sons; one milliner, Mrs. Metsker; three garages, Leuenberger's, Conrad's and McMillen and Son; two blacksmiths, D. W. Mercer and C. A. Brown; one broom factory, H. H. Burchnell; one photo studio, G. M. Burchnell; one ball bat and heading factory, D. C. Purman; one lumber yard, the Monroe- ville Lumber and Supply company ; one Granite and Marble works, H. Seymour Jones, the son of Thomas Jones, and a member of the board of school trustees; two cigar factories, three barber shops, two restaurants and bakeries, one picture theatre, and the original Central Hotel, kept now by Frank Maxheimer. J. Rossworm runs a cement works; and H. White is a hay and grain buyer. There is hardly a public convenience missing. Monroeville has its local




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