Allen County, Indiana - The whole text, 1905 (part 12 of 12)

Christian Baade gave his attention to the reclamation and improvement of the old homestead farm, and in course of time he came into sole ownership of the property, purchasing the interests of the other heirs. He has added to the area of the original property until he now has a fine farm of eighty-eight acres, most eligibly and attractively located, since the property lies contiguous to the city limits of Fort Wayne on the south. Mr. Baade has given his attention to diversified farming, has been indefatigable in his in- dustry and has achieved a success worthy the name, so that he is now able to live practically retired from active labor and to enjoy the dignified repose and comfort to which his long years of service amply entitle him. He has been a valued factor in connection with local affairs of a public nature and has ever been ready to lend his aid and influence in the furthering of enterprises or undertakings for the general good of the community. He served twelve years as supervisor of Wayne township and has been incumbent of minor offices of local trust, while in politics he has ever been found a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor. Mr. Baade has been identified with the Lutheran church in Fort Wayne for the past forty-four years, all of the German families previously mentioned in this sketch having been numbered among the organizers or early members of the church there. For the long period of twenty-eight years our subject served as deacon of Emanuel German Lutheran church, in Fort Wayne, and he remains one of its venerated and prominent members, while his wife has also been a loyal and devoted worker in the church.

On the 2d of March, 1854, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Baade to Miss Sophia Kammeyer, who was born in Germany, being a daughter of Frederick and Wilhelmina Kammeyer, who likewise came to Allen county in 1844 and settled in the same locality as did the Baade family. Mr. Kammeyer died fourteen days after his arrival in this county, and subsequently his widow married Henry Korte, who has likewise been a member of the German colony of 1844 in Wayne township. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Baade, who celebrated their golden wedding in March, 1904, we enter the following brief record: Henry C. is engaged in the grocery business in Fort Wayne; Frederick C. is a prosperous and representative farmer of Wayne township; Martin C. is an employee in the wholesale drygoods house of the George Dewald Company, in Fort Wayne; Louisa is the wife of William Kayser, of Fort Wayne; Sophia remains at the parental home; and Martha is the wife of August C. Horstmeyer, of the same city. Mr. and Mrs. Baade have nine grandchildren.

Henry Getz

The old Buckeye state figures as the birthplace of this wellknown farmer and representative citizen of Wayne township, and he comes of stanch German ancestry. Mr. Getz was born at Salem, Mahoning county, Ohio, on the 3d of February, 1856, and is a son of Charles and Augusta (Weber) Getz, both of whom were born in Baden, Germany, where they were reared and educated and where their marriage was solemnized. About 1848 they severed the ties which bound them to the fatherland and set forth to make for themselves and their children a home in America. They settled in Mahoning county, Ohio, and there Mr. Getz was employed in the coal mines for a time, while eventually he purchased farm property, reclaiming a considerable portion of the same from the virgin forest and eventually becoming one of the prosperous and influential farmers of his section. He continued to reside on his homestead until death's inexorable summons came to him, in November, 1901, when he passed away in the fullness of years and honors, his life having been one of constant application and marked by inflexible integrity of purpose. His widow still resides on the old homestead, which is endeared to her by the memories of the past. Mr. Getz was held in high esteem by all who knew him and he served his township as trustee and also held other offices of minor order, taking much interest in local affairs of a public nature, while his political allegiance was given to the Democratic party, and his religious faith that of the Catholic church, of which his widow is likewise a devoted communicant. Of their nine children we make brief record as follows: Angeline resides in Salem, Ohio; Henry is the immediate subject of this sketch; Charles W. is a resident of Wayne township, Allen county, Indiana, where he is engaged in farming and in the manufacture of brick; Joseph is a cigar manufacturer in the city of Fort Wayne; Annie resides in Salem, Ohio; Augustus remains with his mother on the old homestead; Francis resides in Youngstown, Ohio; Frank is engaged in the agricultural implement business in Salem, Ohio; and Flora resides in the same place.

Henry Getz, the immediate subject of this review, in common with his brothers and sisters, received such educational advantages as were afforded in the public schools in his native township, while he continued to assist in the work and management of the home farm until he had attained his legal majority, after which he was otherwise employed in his native county for one year, at the expiration of which, on Christmas day of the year 1879, he came to Allen county, Indiana, where he secured work by the month, while for seven years he was foreman for Julius Voetter, and in charge of the cultivation of a landed estate of eleven hundred acres. During the ensuing six years he was engaged in farming on land which he leased, in Wayne township, and he then purchased three hundred and forty-six acres of fine land, in Wayne and Aboit townships, while in later years he purchased more land and also sold off a number of acres. His homestead farm now comprises three hundred and twenty-six acres and is one of the well-improved and valuable places of the county. Mr. Getz also owns one hundred and sixty acres in Reynolds county, Missouri, and valuable property in the city of Fort Wayne, where he has a house and lot on Main street and another on Pearl street, while he also owns a number of vacant city lots. The distinctive prosperity which is his indicates how effectively he has labored, and he has gained a high reputation as a man of signal integrity and marked administrative and business ability, commanding the high regard of the people among whom he has labored to such goodly ends. On his fine homestead farm he gives his attention to diversified agriculture and to the raising of high-grade live stock, including horses, cattle, sheep and swine, while he is known as one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens of his township and county. Aside from the interests to which reference has already been made, Mr. Getz is also a stockholder in the Marion Zinc Company, in Kentucky, and in the

German-American National Bank of Fort Wayne. In politics he is arrayed as a stanch advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, and while he has always taken a deep and helpful interest in township and county affairs he has never been animated with aught of ambition for official preferment. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Roman Catholic church in the city of Fort Wayne. Mr. Getz has been in the most significant sense the architect of his own fortunes, and while he has directed his efforts with that discrimination and energy whose natural sequence is marked success, he has also been animated by a high sense of his stewardship as a man among men and has so ordered his course as to hold at all times the respect and good will of those with whom he has come in contact.

On the 16th of February, 1882, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Getz to Mrs. Elise Voetter, widow of Frederick Voetter and a daughter of Christian and Wilhelmina (Kreise) Knorr, both of whom were born and reared in the kingdom of Wittenberg, Germany, where the father was a man of prominence and influence in his community. He died in 1899, while his first wife, mother of Mrs. Getz, passed away in 1865. Mr. Knorr consummated a second marriage, wedding Elezina Tinchman, of Stuttgart, Germany, who survives him. Four children were born of the first marriage and three of the second, a brief record concerning them being as follows: Elise is the wife of the subject; Carl is an architect by profession and remains in Wittenberg, Germany; Hugo, who served as a lieutenant in the army of Holland, is now living retired in Baldwin, Java, having had a military experience of fourteen years' duration; Wilhelmina is the wife of Frederick Steinle, who is a prosperous nurseryman in Germany; Robert is a member of the. faculty of an art academy in Stuttgart, Germany; Frederick, who was a civil engineer by profession, was sent by the German government to South Africa and while there waiting for the steamer upon which to make the return trip home he was stricken with fever, which resulted in his death; Bertha is the wife of Adolph Gloeckline, who is a sign manufacturer of Heidelberg, Germany. Each of the children was accorded excellent educational advantages and the family was one of prominence in the social life of the community. Mrs. Getz continued to make her home in Germany until 1872, when she came to America, having been a resident of Fort Wayne at the time of her marriage to Mr. Getz. Mr. and Mrs. Getz have no children.

Charles W. Fairfield

Practical industry wisely and vigorously applied never fails of success. It carries a man onward and upward, brings out his individual character and acts as a powerful stimulus to the efforts of others. The greatest results in life are often attained by simple means and the exercise of the ordinary qualities of common sense and perseverance. The every-day life, with its cares, necessities and duties, affords ample opportunities for acquiring experience of the best kind and its most beaten paths provide a true worker with abundant scope for effort and self-improvement. Among the wellknown and successful men of Wayne township, Allen county, Indiana, is he whose name heads this article.

Charles W. Fairfield was born on the 6th of June, 1842, in a frame house which then stood in the country but is now on Broadway, in Fort Wayne. His father, Charles Fairfield, was born in Kennebunkport, Maine, February 14, 1809, the son of Captain William Fairfield, a sea captain of Kennebunkport, who was one of General Washington's aides-de-camp during the war of the Revolution. When Charles Fairfield was fifteen years of age he went to sea and continued that career for thirteen years, part of the time being in command of a vessel: He came to Indiana in 1835 and on December 4, 1837, he was married to Miss Sarah A. Browning, who was born near Marietta, Ohio, January 18, 1815, the daughter of Bazalia Browning, a native of New Jersey. They had four sons and three daughters, namely: George N., who, as a soldier in the Union army during the Civil war, died near Vicksburg in 1863; Olive A., Charles W., Mary F., Edward B., Williard A., and Frances, deceased.

early day. During the Idaho gold excitement of 1864 he joined a party of thirty-five who made the trip there with ox teams, six months being required to make the journey. They opened up the first road from North Platte Bridge, Nebraska, to Virginia City, four hundred miles through the center of the Sioux country. Two years later Mr. Fairchild returned to Allen county, but a year later returned to the western mining regions. He located at Laramie, Wyoming, where for some time he was engaged on a contract on the Union Pacific Railroad. In the fall of 1868 he returned to Allen county, Indiana, and took up the vocation of farming, to which he has since applied himself, with fairly successful results. His present farm, which comprises one hundred and seventy-six acres of fine cultivable land, is located about four miles southwest of Fort Wayne. It is a well-improved property, the general appearance of the place indicating the owner to be a man of good taste and sound judgment.

On the 22d of November, 1865, Mr. Fairfield was united in marriage to Miss Emma Toothill, who was born in Pennsylvania on March 26, 1842, the daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Smith) Toothill, and to them have been born five children, namely: Hattie M., who is the wife of Morton Trick, a farmer of Pleasant township, this county; George M., a successful dentist at San Antonio, Texas; Edward C., of Fort Wayne; Oliver P., who conducts the home farm for his father, and Ida M., who resides at home. In politics Mr. Fairfield renders a stanch support to the Republican party, while his religious affiliation is with the First Baptist church of Fort Wayne, of which he is a deacon. His fraternal relations are with Harmony Lodge, No. 109, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with Sion S. Bass Post, Grand Army of the Republic, the last mentioned affiliation being particularly consistent in view of the fact that promptly upon the outbreak of the great Southern rebellion, Mr. Fairfield, on April 19, 1861, enlisted in Company E, Ninth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to General Morris's brigade of the Eleventh Corps, Army of the Potomac, in the West Virginia campaign of which army the subject took an active and effective part. He has taken the same in- terest in his country's welfare during years of peace that characterized him in the hour of his country's greatest need and he has won a reputation as a straightforward and public-spirited citizen. He is widely known in his community and is well liked by all who know him.

Cornelius Yant

A life of signal industry and honor has been that of this venerable pioneer and substantial farmer of Aboit township, where he has long maintained his home, the family of which he is a member having come to Allen county nearly sixty years ago and having taken up their residence in the primitive wilds of Aboit township and on the farm which is now owned and occupied by the subject of this sketch.

Mr. Yant is a native of the old Buckeye state of the Union, having been born in Stark county, Ohio, on a farm two and onehalf miles distant from the city of Canton, on the 29th of November, 1829, and being a son of Frederick and Rachel (Baer) Yant, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania, of stanch German ancestry. In 1848 the family left the old home in Ohio and came to Allen county, Indiana, making the journey overland with team and wagon and arriving at their destination in October. They located on the land now owned by our subject, in Aboit township, where the father secured a tract of eighty acres of government land, all of which was covered with the native timber, of heavy growth. His deed, issued by the government, called for one hundred and sixty acres of land, and a number of years passed before the records were so changed as to correspond with the conditions and indicate his ownership of only the eighty acres. In the spring of 1849 the first house was erected on the place, the same being of hewed logs, while the roof was of clapboards held in position by weight poles. This original dwelling is still standing and is in an excellent state of preservation, being an integral portion of the present residence of Mr. Yant. On the old homestead farm the honored parents passed the remainder of their lives and on the place their mortal remains were laid to rest, as were also those of their daughters. The sacred spot is duly marked by memorial tablets. The father of our subject died about eight years after coming to Allen county.

Cornelius Yant, the immediate subject of this review, secured his early educational training in the common schools of his native county, having been about nineteen years of age at the time of the family removal from Ohio to Indiana. He lent his aid in reclaiming the home farm, on which he remained employed until he had attained the age of twenty-three years, when he entered upon an apprenticeship to learn the blacksmith's trade, his instructor in the sturdy art being Joseph Harter, who still resides in Fort Wayne, venerable in years and honored as a pioneer of the county. During the period of his apprenticeship Mr. Yant received in compensation his board and the sum of three and one-half dollars a month. He thereafter worked two years as a journeyman at his trade, and after the death of his father he assumed charge 'of the home farm, upon which he erected a blacksmith shop, so that he was able to continue the active work of his trade and still supervise and assist in the work of the farm, fifty acres of which were cleared under his direction. His shop still stands and is in use to a greater or less extent, for our subject has borne lightly the passing years and is still able to wield his blacksmithing tools with vigorous force, while he has been long and widely known as a skilled artisan in this line of industry. He has the major portion of his farm under effective cultivation, and while he has continued to work at his trade during the long intervening years he has found it possible to also attend to the greater portion of his farm work, having been compelled to hire but little help in the connection. He worked almost day and night for many years, and it is gratifying to note that he has not been denied the due reward of independence and prosperity. He is still hale and hearty and gives his time and attention principally to the supervision of his farm, which is one of the attractive homesteads of Aboit township, while he has ever held the unqualified confidence and regard of the people of the community which has represented his home during the major portion of his long and useful life. He came into full possession of the homestead by purchasing the interests of the other heirs, and he has made good improvements on the place, while he has shown much discrimination and good judgment in carrying on all departments of his farming enterprise. In politics Mr. Yant has ever been found stanchly arrayed as a supporter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, and while he has never been a seeker of office he has served several times as road supervisor, while for a period of about five years he had the superintendency of the gravel roads in his township.

At the age of twenty-eight years Mr. Yant was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Hickox, of this county, and they have six children, all of whom are well placed in life, their names, in order of birth, being as follows: Viola Frances, Sarah Ellen, Abbie Belle, Minnie Eveline, Frederick Jackson and Marion Edward Franklin.

John Shaffer

A scion of one of the old and honored families of Allen county, within whose confines he has passed practically his entire life, the subject of this review is one of the venerable members of the bar of the county and has long been numbered among its influential men of affairs, while to him is accorded the unequivocal confidence of the people of the county with whose civic and material advancement he has been prominently identified. He resides on his fine rural estate, in Springfield township, and as a citizen and as a pioneer is peculiarly entitled to representation in this historical compilation.

Mr. Shaffer is a native of the Buckeye state and a representative of a family whose name has long been identified with the annals of American history, the original progenitors having come from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, in the colonial era. From the old Keystone state members of the family went forth to grapple with the wilderness in the newer commonwealth of Ohio and later that of Indiana. Mr. Shaffer was born in Stark county, Ohio, in 1828, and is a son of Henry and Mary Shaffer, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania. The father was engaged in farming in Stark county, Ohio, until 1837, when, in company with his wife and their five childrenW - Mary, Elizabeth, Susan, John and Daniel, - he came to Fort Wayne, arriving on the Ist of March and finding here a little hamlet of about two hundred population. They settled on a farm owned by the Rockhill family, within the present city limits of Fort Wayne. There were as many Indians as there were white settlers in the community, and the stitrounding country was practically an untrammeled forest wilderness. Of the children who thus came with their parents to Allen county the subject of this sketch is now the only survivor, and two children were born in Fort Wayne, - Sturgis O., who resides in Marion, Indiana; and Burkey, who sacrificed his life on the altar of his country, in the war of the Rebellion, having been killed in the battle of Shiloh. The father of our subject finally removed to Springfield township, where he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits, reclaiming his land from the virgin forest, until he was summoned from the scene of life's endeavors, in 1862, at the age of sixty-three years. He was a man of forceful individuality and sterling integrity and wielded marked influence in the pioneer community. His devoted wife survived him by many years, passing away at the age of eighty years. They were reared in the faith of the Dunkard church and ever clung to this simple and noble belief, while they were numbered among the organizers of the first Dunkard church in Springfield township, in 1853.

John Shaffer, to whom this review is dedicated, was in his _ninth year at the time of the family removal from Ohio to Fort Wayne, and he retains a vivid recollection of the conditions and environments of that early day, while of those whom he knew in his boyhood he recalls only a few who are still living in the county, - four or five at the utmost. He had as playmates in his boyhood days a number of Indian children, a band of two hundred or more of the aborigines having had their tepees across the river from his home, while they were peaceable and neighborly. It was alleged that a man named Lee was murdered by these Indians, but this was never proven and is a matter of much doubt in an historical sense. In 1837 Fort Wayne had a population of about three hundred persons, and a small brick school house stood near the site of the present county jail, while the site of the present New Aveline hotel was an open meadow. Alexander Hamilton and the firm of Evans & Campert were then the principal merchants of the little town and trading post. With the exception of the years 1847-8 Mr. Shaffer has lived continuously in Allen county from the time of the family advent within its borders, so many years ago. His educational advantages were limited to those afforded in the primitive schools of the pioneer era, but through personal application and association with men and affairs he has fully overcome whatever of handicap may have been his in his boyhood and youth. He remained with his parents and assisted in the work and management of the home farm until after he had attained to his legal majority, and thereafter was actively and successfully engaged in farming on his own account. In Springfield township he still owns a well improved and valuable landed estate and he gives his personal supervision to the property.

Following out a manifestly natural predilection, Mr. Shaffer took up the study of law, having as his preceptors the firm of Worden & Morris, then one of the most prominent at the bar of the county, the junior member being the late and honored Judge John Morris. He was duly admitted to the bar in 1870, and he devoted considerable attention to the active work of his profession in Allen and adjoining counties, for a number of years, attaining no little prestige and finding his services in requisition both as an attorney and counselor, while he still gives more or less time to his profession. He has been a progressive, straightforward and successful man of affairs, and is well and favorably known to the people of Allen county, where he has a host of loyal friends. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with the former of which he identified himself in 1861. He is an active and zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, with which he united in 1852, and his wife likewise is a devoted member of the same.

In the year 1848 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Shaffer to Miss Angeline Gerrara, who was born and reared in Allen county, having been a daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Gerrara, honored pioneers of this section of the state. Of this union were born five children, namely: Sarah (deceased), Elizabeth, Rachel, William and Jane (deceased). Mrs. Angeline Shaffer died and subsequently our subject consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Celinda Simonds, of Youngstown, Ohio, who remains as his devoted companion and helpmeet.

This venerable and honored physician of Allen county has the distinction of being the oldest active member of his profession in said county, where he has lived and labored for many years, ministering to those in affliction, showing a most self-abnegating spirit and ever standing ready to sacrifice personal comfort in order that he might carry forward his humane mission. He is engaged in practice in Maysville, Springfield township, where he has maintained his home for many years, while it is unnecessary to say that he is held in affectionate regard in the community and stands as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of this section of the state. In the connection it is interesting to recall the names of some of the Doctor's earlier contemporaries in practice, for on the list we find such well-known names as the following: Dr. Elbridge Whelock, of Huntertown; Dr. Lincoln and Dr. Woodcock, of Antwerp, Ohio; Dr. Rakestraw, of Hicksville, Ohio; Dr. Stephen Morris, of Allen county, a brother of the honored Judge John Morris; Dr. Jonas Emanuel, of Spencerville; and Dr. Milton, of Leo, Allen county.

Dr. Cosgrove is a native of the old Buckeye state, having been born in 1827, on a farm near New Carlisle, Clark county. His birthplace, located on the shores of Mad river, is near that of the celebrated Indian chieftain, Tecumseh, and the ground is historic in more senses than one. The Doctor is a son of Joseph and Mary (Green) Cosgrove, both scions of sterling old colonial stock in New England, and the mother a lineal descendant in the seventh generation from Samuel Green, one of two English emigrants of the name who settled in Connecticut in 1648. Joseph Green, the maternal grandfather of the Doctor, was a resident of beautiful old Morris county, New Jersey, and rendered valiant service as a yeoman soldier in the Continental line during the war of the

Revolution, going forth to aid in the attainment of independence when but a lad of sixteen years. His father, who likewise bore the name of Joseph, was a true patriot, and he furnished much of the lumber that was used in the building of the barracks for Washington's army at Trenton, New Jersey. The maiden name of the wife of Joseph Green (2d) was Frazer, and her father was commissary general with General Washington's forces.

In the agnatic line the ancestry of Dr. Cosgrove is traced back to stanch old Irish derivation, and his grandfather, William Cosgrove, lived and died at Hanover Neck, New Jersey, while it may be noted that the latter's brother Joseph was a member of a New York regiment in the war of 1812. The father of our subject was engaged in farming in Clark county, Ohio, at the time of his death, which occurred when the Doctor was a lad of about ten years. Under these conditions the widowed mother returned with her children to her old home in New Jersey, and in the home of his maternal grandfather, at Hanover, that state, the Doctor was reared to maturity, there remaining until the death of his honored grandsire, in 1843, at the age of eighty years. Shortly after the death of his grandfather Dr. Cosgrove came to Indiana and took up his residence in Newville, Dekalb county, where he took up the study of medicine under the able preceptorship of Dr. John Tattan, a distinguished pioneer physician of that locality. Our subject has previously secured excellent preliminary training in an academic sense and thus was able to prosecute his technical reading with appreciative devotion and success, preparing himself for matriculation in the Ohio Medical College, in Cincinnati, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1850, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Previously to this, however, it had been the distinction of Dr. Cosgrove to add to the patriotic laurels of the line which he represents, for he went forth as a soldier in the Mexican war, while in an initial way it may be stated that he is one of very few veterans of both that war and that of the Rebellion now living in Indiana. In 1847 he enlisted in the Fourth Ohio Volunteers, under Colonel Charles Brough, and with his command served first under General Taylor and later under General Scott, taking part in a number of battles and skirmishes. His brother George G. was a member of the same company and regiment and had previously served in the Second Kentucky Regiment, under Colonel McKee, while the lieutenant of his company, Theodore O'Hara, was the author of the beautiful and well-known poem, "The Bivouac of the Dead." Henry S. Cosgrove, another brother of the Doctor, served in the same war, as a member of Colonel Stephenson's mounted regiment from the state of New York, and his regiment was stationed in California during his term of service. Horatio G. Cosgrove, the youngest brother of our subject, raised a company in Ohio at the time of the Civil war and served as its captain during the great internecine struggle which perpetuated the Union.

Dr. Cosgrove established himself in practice in Maysville, Allen county, in 1850, more than half a century ago, and here he was engaged in active professional labor at the time of the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion. Early in the war Dr. Cosgrove gave evidence of his ardent loyalty and patriotism, having assisted in raising two companies of volunteers, - one for the Thirtieth and the other for the Eighty-eighth Indiana regiments, while he also rendered material aid in raising the Twenty-third Indiana Battery, of which he was chosen captain, serving in this office in the various engagements in which his command was involved. He took part in the siege of Fort Donelson, under General Grant, and in the memorable battle of Shiloh was with his battery in Hurlburt's division, on the left wing of the army. At four o'clock in the afternoon of the first day's fighting the Doctor was wounded, a musket ball passing through his left forearm. Such was the disability entailed as the sequel of this wound that he was incapacitated for further service at the front, and in September, 1862, he received his honorable discharge.

After the close of his service in defense of the Union, Dr. Cosgrove returned to Maysville, where he was engaged in practice until 1864, when he started forth on the long and perilous overland trip to California, making the journey across the plains with a team and as a member of a considerable emigrant party, finally reaching his destination in San Francisco. From the Golden Gate city he shortly afterward embarked on a steamer and started for

South America, crossing to the Atlantic by way of the Nicaraugua route and finally continuing his voyage to New York city, whence he returned to Allen county, arriving at his home in 1866. Since that time he has been actively and successfully engaged in the practice of his profession, with residence and headquarters in Maysville. He is widely known throughout the county and his practice is of a representative character, while he is held in high regard as the nestor of his profession in this section of the state. He is a valued member of the Allen County Medical Society and also the State Medical Society, while his advice and counsel are often sought by his professional confreres, especially those of the younger generation, who thus manifest their appreciation of his - ability and his ripe experience in his exacting profession.

At Newville, Indiana, in the year 1849, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Cosgrove to Miss Malinda Phelps, who remained by his side, a cherished and devoted companion, for more than half a century; she was summoned into eternal rest in 1903, at the age of seventy-one years, and her memory rests as a benediction upon all who came within the sphere of her gracious influence. She was a daughter of Aurana and Abigail (Bagley) Phelps, both of whom were born in the state of Vermont. After Mr. Phelps' death his widow consummated a second marriage, becoming the wife of Thomas Taylor, who was one of the very early settlers of what is now the city of Fort Wayne and whose daughter Laura, by a prior marriage, was married in the old fort, in 1814, to Major Suttenfield; while another daughter became the wife of the late Judge Samuel Hanna, one of Allen county's most distinguished and honored pioneers, while still another daughter became the wife of Esquire DuBois, likewise a prominent and influential citizen of Fort Wayne in the early days. Abigail (Bagley) Phelps Taylor was living in Lower Sandusky, Ohio, at the time when, in the war of 1812, the British and Indians laid siege to the fort there, the place being gallantly defended by Colonel Graham. Dr. and Mrs. Cosgrove became the parents of eight children of whom the following are living: Franklin K., who was formerly sheriff of Allen county; Harvey S.; Joseph D.; Frederick H., who is deputy

Dr. Cosgrove is a man of gracious presence and is imbued with that sympathy and humanitarian spirit which ever makes for warm and inviolate friendships, while during the long years of his earnest and faithful service in his noble profession he has made for himself a place in the hearts of those to whom he has ministered, having served in a professional way both children and children's children, over so long a term of years have his labors here been extended.

In a retrospective way we may note that Dr. Cosgrove's sister Maria became the wife of Captain Solomon Catterlin, a well known steamboat officer on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and one who for a long time was in command of General Grant's headquarters boat during the Rebellion. While on one of his trips on the Ohio he was intercepted by the famous Confederate guerilla, General Morgan, who forced him to land the Confederate band on the Indiana side of the river, this initiating Morgan's famous raid through Indiana and Ohio. The venerable subject of this sketch accords interesting data in regard to the naming of his home town of Maysville, which received its title in honor of Captain Ezra May, who served under Commodores Chauncey and McDonough on Lake Erie during the war of 1812, and whose vessel, the "Oneida," was captured by the British, who sunk the boat, the crew being lost in the disaster, with the exception of the captain and one other man. Captain May was captured and finally made his escape from the British prison, while eventually he settled in Springfield township, Allen county, where he passed the remainder of his life. His daughter Matilda married William Letcher, an uncle of General James A. Garfield, and the Garfield family were frequent visitors at the Letcher home, in Maysville.