USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Volume I > Part 53
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resided in that county until November, 1839, when they removed to Fort Wayne, where the mother died. Mr. Babcock was married in 1846 in Hicksville, Ohio. He first settled in DeKalb county, where one child was born. They subsequently removed to Fort Wayne, where he followed the occupation of a carpenter. There were born to them while in Fort Wayne, one child which died with the cholera. He after- ward moved back to DeKalb county, and engaged in the mercantile business. To them were born these children: Nancy Augusta, Harriet, Stephen Sylvester, William Henry, Augustus Sheldon; all but William and Harriet are living. Mrs. Babcock died near the year 1872. The father is at present living in Lima, Ohio, at the age of sixty-six years. After a successful business career he lost nearly all his property through the failure of banks with which he did business. To Mr. and Mrs. Houser were born four children: an infant daughter (deceased), Laura Alice, George Lewis (deceased), and Leola Franceska. Laura Alice was married to James Votrie, by whom she has one child: Jessie Law- rence. Leola Franceska was married to Warren Smitley, and they have one child: Irma Lisle. Mr. and Mrs. Houser are members of the Catholic church St. Rose of Lima. Mr. Houser has been a very suc- cessful business man and has made for himself a comfortable and com- modious home. He is a democrat in politics and a worthy and respected citizen of the county.
MARION TOWNSHIP.
The rich land within the present limits of Marion township was reached easily in the earliest days, by coming down the St. Mary's river, or by the Wayne trace, and later the Winchester road was the route of those who came " from Willshire down." The first genuine settler was Philo Whitcomb, who occupied forty acres in 1830. Pre- vious to this time a Mr. Douglas rented land owned by Hugh Barnett, of Fort Wayne, and occupied it during 1825. He was succeeded as a tenant by Elisha Harris, who for his shrewdness was known as " Yankee" Harris. He is remembered as the planter of the first orchard in 1830. Mr. Whitcomb proved to be an invaluable citizen, energetic and indus- trious, and was a leader in his day. . He was the first postmaster at Root postoffice, established in 1831, and built the first frame house in 1839. He died in 1842. Heretofore the only road was the trace cut by Gen. Wayne, but in 1830 the Piqua state road was surveyed by Benjamin Lytle, and made in the primitive way, the trees being permitted to lie on either side, to dam up the water which fell, and as the region was marshy, the line of the road was mainly used as a guide through the adjacent dryer ground until it was improved in 1850. On this road, in section 5, Mrs. Mezena Merriman settled with her family in 1830, her husband having died at the Adams county settlement. With the help of her sons she succeeded as well as the sturdier pioneers. In 1833
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several new-comers arrived. One, Jesse Heaton, sr., a native of Con- necticut, had served in the war of 1812, and had come to Dearborn county in 1818. He lived for many years on section 27. Henry Snider, who settled on the west side of the St. Mary's, was known as " Hunting Henry," but in spite of that cognomen, was an industrious and enterprising man. Michael Spitler, from Preble county, Ohio, settled on section 35, but died in 1834, from exposure while hunting deer. Samuel and Moses Beckner and George Hopple were other 1833 settlers, but were not permanent In 1834 Jared Morton, of Virginia, entered land, and added to his possessions until he had 217 acres of bottom land on the St. Mary's, but he died in 1836, leaving a wife and son George A., whose children own the old farm. Thomas Thompson, an Englishman, came from near Baltimore, about 1834, and entered 100 acres near the Piqua road. The next year he rode horse-back to Piqua, and married Elizabeth Speiser, who returned with him by the same con- veyance. His father and four others of the children of the latter were in this settlement, and the descendants of that family are now prominent citizens.
August 4, 1834, John Herber and wife Margaret and family, settled near the Nine Mile house, having just come from Germany. He died in 1867 and his wife in 1876, and only one child survives, John Herber, who was born in Hesse, Germany, in 1820. At the same time came John Hake, hereafter noticed, and the four Sorg brothers, and all made a settlement in the neighborhood now known as Hessen Cassel and its 'vicinity. A later settler here was John Felger, in 1836. Christopher Lipes and family came in 1834. His son, D. D., after living in the town- ship over half a century, now resides in Fort Wayne. In 1836, Aden Brunson, who was a tenant in Wayne township from 1833 to 1836, came here, and began the clearing of a fine farm of 132 acres. In 1836 there settled Nelson McLain, a native of Muskingum county, Ohio. He assisted in organizing the township, and was a member of the board at the first election, when only nine votes were polled in the township. He followed surveying for several years, and was for seven years postmaster at Middletown. In 1840 he was elected justice of the peace, and in 1845 was appointed county commissioner. On the resignation of George Johnston he was appointed probate judge by the governor, and to this position was elected in 1850. In 1855 he was appointed swamp land commissioner, and in 1859 he served as a member of the state house of representatives. In the fall of 1838, Joseph Small, of Maine, who had been a sailor for fifteen years, then a pioneer near Cincinnati and Cleveland, settled here and became one of the well-to-do people. After 1836 the settlement was more rapid. Jacob Fry and family came in 1839. Notable among those who came prior to 1840 were Henry Drage, Joseph C. Wells, Isaac Harrod, Joseph Hall, William Ward, and Daniel Whitaker. George Doctor, now a leading farmer, settled in 1840. Soon after the arrival of the Thompson family, the father died, the first loss by death in the settlement, and this was soon followed
Dr. O' Connor
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by the decease of Martha Thompson and Jane Merriman. Old settlers remember, however, that there had been a death within the township pre- vious to this. In the winter of 1827, William McConnaughey, who had been working at Fort Wayne, undertook to go to Ohio on foot. On the next day the Indians brought in word that a man was frozen to death on the road, and the crowd that went out found McConnaughey's body stiff in death. He was buried in the northwest part of section 35. In 1843 the first marriage among the settlers occurred, Elizabeth, the daughter of Philo Whitcomb, to William Cain. On the Piqua road in 1832, there was established a store in a log building south of the site of Hessen Cassel, by Hiram Mooney. In 1839 Miller & King opened a store at the site of the Nine Mile house, and prospered. They also conducted the primitive tavern which had been established by John Karn in 1837. This was subsequently sold to John Trentman, who rented to John Holmes, and the latter built the Nine Mile house in 1850, which is still open to the public. Root postoffice was established in 1831, and Philo Whitcomb distributed the mail for four years, when he was succeeded by Judge McLain. The office appertained to the residence of the post- master until removed to Middletown by Hiram Barber. The stage coach first made its appearance in 1851. In 1840, a saw-mill, to which was added buhrs for grinding grain, was built by John Depler, at the site of Williamsport. It was subsequently purchased by Charles Muldoon, who built a good grist-mill and conducted it until 1868 or 1869, when it was burned down, and was succeeded by a mill on the other side of the river, built by Morris Cody. For four years the dam has been out and the mill unused. In the year that milling begun here, the citizens cut a road from the mill to the Ohio line, through Massillon. Before the railroad era there was as much expected in the way of development of towns, from the opening of plank roads, as is now anticipated as a result of the laying of the iron railway. In 1850 it was decided to make the Piqua road a plank road and a stage route, and a saw-mill was put up on the land of Louis Lopshire for the manufacture of the needed lumber. He at once prepared for the founding of a town here, and in April, 1851, the town of Middletown was duly platted. William Moody opened a grocery and Benoni McLain a dry goods store, and all the traders and mechanics necessary to a town appeared, but in a few years the railroad came and passed by Middletown, and only a few cabins remain as relics. Its nearest successor is Williamsport, laid out in 1874, on section 29, by William Essig, the proprietor of the site. It is a quiet village, pictur- esquely situated on the St. Mary's river. Near by a saw-mill is con- ducted by James Garden, and two general stores are in operation, owned by John Brown and Mrs. McCormick. Many years ago a plat was made of a town that was expected to flourish under the name of Jericho, in this township. The projectors were Benjamin Nickerson and David Hoover. The village never developed.
In 1837, Mrs. Parker taught the first school in the township, in a log cabin, on the land later occupied by John Small's brick yard. She had 28
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enjoyed the advantages of a fine education in New York, and opened, in the wilderness, a school of real excellence.
In the winter of 1840, Judge McLain converted the front room of his house into a school-room, and about a dozen scholars came to him for instruction. His school, too, was of a superior order, and like its predecessor, was a subscription school.
The first school-house was erected in the fall of 1841, near the pres- ent site of Middletown. Nelson Parker was employed as teacher, and the school was kept up by private subscription during four winter seasons.
In 1845, a hewn-log school-house was erected on the farm of Judge McLain, and was the initiatory step in the system of free schools. For its maintenance, the trustees appropriated the congressional funds belong- ing to the township, and the residents contributed a sufficient amount to- make up all deficiencies. The first teacher was William W. Smith, who received $25 for three months' service. The school had pupils from all over the township, and was held in a log cabin erected by private sub- scription, on the Piqua road opposite the old Wells house. His father, Thomas Smith, came to Indiana in 1837. The first district school-house was erected in 1853, under the supervision of Judge Vaughn, then trus- tee of the township.
John Hake (deceased), was one of the pioneers of the upper Maumee valley, and his history is typical of those of the noble forerunners of the present civilization. Born in Prussia in 1807, he emigrated in 1832, and after reaching New York worked in a sugar factory for four years. He then removed to Fort Wayne and began working on the canal. He purchased the land upon which his widow now resides in 1834, and then visited his two brothers at New Orleans, returning soon afterward to clear his farm. He was married in 1837 to Gertrude Neireiter. Her parents, George and Elizabeth Neireiter, had a family of six children. They emigrated to America in April, 1834, and from Detroit came to Fort Wayne with teams, arrriving July 18, 1834, and settled in Marion township. They came in company with the Sorgs and Harbers. . They are both now deceased, and the children living are: Gertrude, Caspar; Henry, John, John Allen and Hartman. Mr. and Mrs. Hake began house-keeping in a rude log cabin chinked with clay, at a place so re- mote from water that the mother frequently had to carry it from the Small farm, three mile's away, through the dense woods, finding her path by a blaze. Their toil and hardship was of a degree difficult to comprehend at this day, but they were rewarded by the development of one of the finest farms of the township, and they were blessed with twelve children. Nine of these are living: John, Peter, Catherine, Frank, Jacob, Mary, Henry, George, Gertrude, and are married and live in the township except two, who reside in Illinois. Mr. Hake lived to see his family in comfortable circumstances, and died May 7, 1888, after an illness of four months. He was a member of the Catholic church, and a worthy and respected citizen. His widow survives, strong and healthy at the age of seventy-one years.
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Henry Hake, son of the above, resides upon the homestead, his mother making her home with him, in the commodious brick dwelling which was erected in 1874, at a cost of $3,000. He was born in 1854, and was married in June, 1881, to Gertrude Kleber, whose parents were residents of Marion township. They have four children, John Joseph, Mary K., George Otto, and Mary Clara. He owns a valuable farm of 120 acres, and is one of the leading citizens of the township. He and wife are members of St. Joseph Catholic church.
Jacob Hake, son of the pioneers, was born December, IS50. He lived with his parents until about twenty-three years of age, when he began a three years' apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade. Since then he has devoted himself to agriculture. He was married Novem- ber 9, 1876, to Catherine Kallmeyer, whose parents were of Allen county, formerly of Adams county. They have six children, John Thomas, Catherine Mary, Regina, Clemens Romanius, Henry Barney, George Edward and Clara Gertrude. Mr. Hake owns a valuable farm of 120 acres adjacent to the old Wayne trace. He and wife are mem- bers of St. Joseph Catholic church. .
George Hake, the youngest son of John and Gertrude, was born April 21, 1859. After working with his parents until his twenty-fifth year he was given by them the farm of 120 acres now owned by him, forty of which is under cultivation. He was married in November, 1884, to Elizabeth Wyss, of this township, and they have a comfortable home place, with commodious frame residence and a large bank barn. They have adopted a daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Hake are members of St. Joseph Catholic church.
Charles W. Berning, a prominent farmer of Marion township, was born in that township, November 30, 1850. He is the son of those worthy pioneers, Henry Christoph and Wilhelmina (Strangeman) Bern- ing. They were married in Germany, their native land, and farmed there until they immigrated. The parents, with the oldest child, Henry, the only one born in Germany, started for America May 3, 1837; and after a perilous voyage of eleven weeks, landed. Proceeding to Toledo he secured a pirogue, and loading into it the goods and the women of the party, the men walked along the shore, while the owners of the craft poled it up the Maumee to Fort Wayne. On September 15, they settled on the feeder dam on the St. Joseph. Renting a farm, he lived there four years, and then left on account of the unhealthiness of the place, and bought 120 acres in Marion township, upon which ten acres were partially cleared and a log cabin erected. He cleared about ninety acres, and on this farm raised a family of nine children, of whom there are now living: Henry, Lisetta, Ferdinand, Charles W. and Wilhelmina. Henry and Ferdinand are residents of Adams county; Lisetta is the wife of Ferdinand Mayland, of Seward, Neb., and Wilhelmina resides with Charles W. The father died in 1882, and the mother in 1870. Upon the death of his father Charles W. came into possession of the farm, and he now lives in the handsome brick residence which was erected in
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1877, at a cost of $2,500. He was married in 1880 to Sophia Schopp- man, and they have four children : Louise, Ottilia, Charles D. and Fred- erick. Mr. Berning and family are members of St. John's Lutheran church in Adams county.
The history of the Harrod family in America dates back as far as the middle of the 17th century. Five brothers then emigrated from England, and settled in North and South Carolina. From this original stock has grown a family that is now represented in nearly every state and territory. Little is known of these five brothers, but their descendants became famous as associates of Daniel Boone in the settle- ment of Kentucky. James and Thomas having come from North Carolina, in 1774, began the first permanent settlement, and the first log house in Kentucky was built by James Harrod. His brother Thomas was killed by the Indians while plowing in his fields. James, as was his usual custom, started on a hunting expedition in the fall of the year, and being never heard of afterward it is supposed suffered the fate of his brother. Samuel, a brother of these, was a soldier in General Wayne's expedition against the Indians at Kekionga. His hatred for the red inen knew no limit, as two of his brothers had fallen victims to their merciless cruelty. At one time being sent out as a scout in company with an orderly to find the exact location of the Indians, after travel- ing some distance in the direction of what is known as the Penn house, he discovered an Indian seated on a log; drawing aim, Samuel told the orderly that he had come 500 miles to shoot one Indian and that his opportunity had come. The orderly remonstrated, but to no purpose; the shot was fired and the Indian rolled off the log a corpse. To their dismay the whole camp began pursuit, and then began a race for life, but the two men succeeded in reaching the fort in safety. Samuel was brought before General Wayne, but his narration of his natural feelings toward the savages mitigated his punishment to the receipt of a canteen of whisky. Levi Harrod, another brother, left North Carolina about the beginning of the revolutionary war and settled in Pennsylvania. He was the grandfather of the family of Harrods of Allen county. There were in his family six sons : Michael, John, Levi, William, Samuel, James, all of whom raised large families and were very successful in life. William, the only one of this family who came to Indiana, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and a farmer by' occupation. He was born in Greene county, Penn., but removed with his father's family to Ohio in 1809, and remained there forty years. He was married while in Pennsylvania, to Rhoda Pipes, by whom he had seven sons and seven daughters, ten of whom are living: Delilah, Elinor, Isaac, Eli, Rachel, Elizabeth, Melinda, William, Joseph, Morgan, Mills, John, Mary, Eunice. Delilah, now about eighty-one years old, is the widow of John Le Fevre, of Knox county, Ohio, by whom she had seven children. Elinor is the widow of Isaac Dillon, of Knox county, Ohio. Isaac Harrod, the oldest son of the family, was married in Ohio, to Susan Todd, and came to Indiana in 1838, and settled in section 24, Marion
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township, in the forest. He was a typical pioneer, hardy, industrious, and a great hunter, having killed more deer than any other man in the township. He had eight daughters, of whom three survive, Rhoda, Emily and Eunice. He died April 29, 1886. Eli Harrod settled on section 27, about 1844. He bought 40 acres of land and laid it out in town lots, founding what was once the flourishing village of Middletown, only a remnant of which remains. He was married to Lucinda Harrod, of Hamilton county, Ohio, and had fourteen children, ten of whom are living. Rachel died in infancy, Elizabeth died at the age of twenty-two years. Melinda was married to Benjamin Sweet, of Licking county, Ohio, removed to Marion township, and has had six children: William, Charles, Martha, Warren, Winfield Scott, Louisa. William and Charles enlisted at the breaking out of the rebellion, in the Eighty-eighth Indiana regiment. Charles served until the close of the war and was wounded. William was discharged on account of disabilities. Warren is a merchant of Fort Wayne; Winfield Scott is a manufacturer of brick and tile at Monroeville; Louisa died in youth; Martha is married to E. C. Smitley. William died at about eighteen years of age. Joseph Harrod came to Allen county in 1850. He was married in Knox county to Anna Ulery. Morgan Harrod came to Indiana when about eighteen years of age, in 1844. Here the people of his township elected him to the office of assessor which he held for six years, after which he was clerk for three years. In 1863 he was elected trustee and served twelve consecutive years. He was married to Belinda, daughter of Cornelius and Elizabeth Beam, and they have eleven children. Theron was married to Nellie Gardner, and resides in Michigan. Marion studied at the Methodist Episcopal college and the conservatory of music, and is engaged in musical merchandise. Charity, a teacher, married Paul Hooper, of Decatur, Ind. Clay was a student of the Methodist Episco- pal college, graduated in penmanship from the normal school at Valparaiso, and is engaged in teaching. Mills was married to Mary Lipes, and resides at Williamsport; John studied at the Methodist Episcopal college, is a graduate of the Eclectic Medical college of Cincinnati, and is practicing at Payne, Ohio; Morse was married to Jessie Lipes, and resides in Marion township; Sherman, Clark, Delilah E., and Dessie B., are at home with their parents; all but the last' have been students at the Methodist Episcopal college. Mills Harrod graduated at the college at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and was given a professorship there some time; after about twelve years as a teacher, he entered the ministry of the Christian church and was for a number of years engaged in pastoral work. He is now the business manager of the publishing house of his church, located at Dayton, Ohio. He has had four children, two of whom are dead. He was in the service during the rebellion, with the rank of lieutenant. John Harrod re- moved in 1849, to Marion township. At the breaking out of the rebellion he enlisted in Company E, Thirtieth Indiana regiment, and served with the army of the Cumberland at the battles of Murfrees-
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boro, Franklin, Nashville, Chattanooga and for 100 days was on the skirmish line between Chattanooga and Atlanta. He served four years and three months without a scar, but during Sheridan's expedition in Texas he was taken with rheumatism and six months after he returned home he died. Mary came to this county in 1849, and subsequently married Eli Todd, of Madison township. Eunice is a resident of Ohio.
No family living at present in Allen county can trace its American ancestry further than the Smalls of Marion township. They are among the descendants of five brothers, Joseph, Joshua, Purington, John, sr., . and Taylor, who were passengers on the Mayflower, which landed at Plymouth Rock, November 9, 1620. Joseph Small, jr., the ancestor of the Smalls of Allen county, was the first child born in Old Borden, in 1778. He became a sailor, and followed the seas for thirteen years. He and wife were natives of Maine, and remained there until 1817, when they determined to emigrate to a point four miles above Cincinnati. With seven children-Louis, Maria, Mary, Delilah, Catharine, Eme- line and Joseph, they traveled by team until they arrived at the river, and there embarked in a boat of their own construction. After about four years they moved to Cleveland, and Joseph Small purchased a farm in the western reserve. He was for a number of years engaged in surveying the government lands in that part of the state, and was occupied in making brick and such articles as could not be purchased at the supply stores. In 1838, with his family, he cut his way through to Allen county, and settled on section 23. Mr. Small, with the help of his sons, helped to cut the first roads in the township. The wife of this pioneer was Margaret Duncan, whose father was a Scotchman. He was pressed into the British service soon after emigrating to this coun- try, but deserted and went to the mountains of Maine, where he was married and lived and died. Mr. and Mrs. Small raised a family of thirteen children, all but two of whom lived to maturity. Louis, the oldest of the family, died about 1840, leaving a large family, some of whom are living in Michigan and some in Iowa. Maria was married to Lorenzo Holly, and they died in Michigan. Mary Small was married to Riley Hance. She spent her last years at Hoagland, and died in 1886. Fidelia first married Silas Terry, then William Coverdale, and lived and died in Indiana. Catharine Small married Miles Banker, and lived for some time in New Haven. Joseph Small died at the age of twenty-five. Robert Small, one of the oldest settlers of Marion town- ship, was born June 25, 1819, near Cincinnati. He was married Octo- bør 2, 1841, to Almira Whitcomb, a second cousin of Gov. Whitcomb. Her parents were natives of Greene county, N. Y. They had eleven children, as follows: Elizabeth Whitcomb, born in 1817, was the first . bride in the township, in 1843. Her husband, William Cain, died from injuries received from a team he was driving. She is still living in Denver, Col., at seventy-one years of age. Lucinda Whitcomb was married to John Small. Lewis Whitcomb was married in 1844 to Mar- garet Ann Meach, and had four children. Orin Whitcomb married
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