Huntington County, Indiana - The whole text, 1914 (part 12 of 15)

Mr. John Kenower founded what was called the Rural Home Institute on State street in Huntington about the year 1870. For that time it was a splendid school and continued its good work for several years. Many from the country attended this institution of learning, and among them was Mr. Summers, who took advantage of his spare time between terms of teaching in order to better qualify himself for his own work in the schoolroom. In 1874 he attended the National Normal College at Lebanon, Ohio. This was a training school for teachers, and was then as now liberally patronized by nearly all the state.

On October 14, 1875, Mr. Summers and Miss Charity Hoover were united in marriage. In March, 1876, they moved to a farm in Rock Creek township. Four children were born to their marriage, two sons and two daughters. Mr. Summers continued teaching for several years after his marriage, but in 1882 abandoned that vocation in order to devote his entire time to agriculture. In 1890 came his first election to a prominent public position, when he was chosen county commissioner for the middle district of Huntington county and was re-elected in 1892.

Mrs. Summers after a few days' illness died August 10, 1902, survived by her husband and three children. The oldest child had preceded her in death. On May 14, 1904, Mr. Summers and Mrs. Mary E. Bechtol were united in marriage and they: now live on one of the best farms in Rock Creek county, equipped with all the modern improvements found on an up-to-date farm. Both are stockholders in the Farmers Trust Company Bank of Huntington. The Farmers Trust Company opened its doors for business July 22,1911. The founding of the bank was chiefly due to the enterprise of Mr. A. C. Fast, who is now president. Mr. Summers took an active part in promoting this new enterprise and worked tirelessly until all the stock was placed and everything arranged for - starting the business successfully. The stockholders, who are among the representative citizens of Huntington county, chose him vice president and a member of the Board of Directors, and also a member of the finance committee, and he has been closely identified with the company from the beginning.

Bengamin F. Lyons. In Rock Creek township is located Spring Branch Stock Farm, one of the best situated and most valuable country estates of Huntington county. Its proprietor is Benjamin F. Lyons, who has been identified with agricultural efforts in that vicinity since reaching manhood. His farm comprises one hundred and eighty acres, located in sections 14 and 15, three miles southwest of Markle and ten miles southeast of Huntington. Mr. Lyons carries on general farming operations, but makes a specialty of the breeding and raising of Aberdeen Angus cattle.

Benjamin F. Lyons was born in Fayette county, Indiana, October 14, 1857, a son of James W. and Sarah (Munger) Lyons. The parents were likewise natives of Fayette county, and the father was born there in 1836, grew up and married, and in 1865 settled in Huntington county, in Rock Creek township. He first located half a mile east of Browns Corners, where he owned eighty acres of land. Selling that, he bought forty acres southeast. of Browns Corners, and in turn sold that place and bought the one hundred and eighty acres in sections 14 and 15, comprising the homestead now operated by his son Benjamin. There the father lived until his death in October, 1912. He was a veteran of the Civil war. The mother passed away in 1904. They had only two children, and the daughter was Mary, who died in March, 1912, the wife of James F ison.

Benjamin F. Lyons was eight years old when the family came to Rock Creek township, was a student in the district schools, and the home farm gave him all the work that he could attend to, and gradually its chief responsibilities devolved upon his shoulders, and he is now the owner of the old homestead. l

In September, 1881, Mr. Lyons married Miss Sarah E. Crevison, a daughter of Joseph J. Crevison. She was born and reared in Rock Creek township, this county. Their one son is Ora A. Lyons, born September 4, 1883, a graduate of the district schools, and now associated with his father in the management of the Spring Branch Stock Farm. The son married Clara Van Meter of Rock Creek township, and their two children are Earl, aged three, and Eldon, aged one year. The father and son are active members of the Star of Hope Lodge, No. 464, I. O. O. F., and both are past noble grand and members of the Grand Lodge. Their wives are members of Rebekah Lodge and have passed all the chairs in the Rebekahs. Mrs. B. F. Lyons is a member of the Grand Lodge. Mr. Lyons is a member of the Encampment and is a past chief patriarch. In politics he is a Democrat. Outside of these activities he aspires to no public prominence or notoriety and his success has consisted in the fact that he has applied himself quietly and industriously to his work, and has been content to do those duties which lay nearest to him and evade none of the important responsibilities of citizenship or of family life.

Wituam B. Cusrance. One of the best known citizens of Rock Creek township is William B. Custance, a prominent farmer in that vicinity and who for several years was superintendent of the county infirmary. Mr. Custance represents one of the old families of Huntington county, has spent practically all his life here, and by a quiet citizenship and a thorough honor in all his business relations has gained a high position in his community.

William B. Custance was born in Rock Creek township, February 27, 1855, a son of James B. and Huldah A. (Barnes) Custance. His father was a native of England, at the age of eighteen came to the United States, locating in the state of New York, and afterwards moved to Huntington county, Indiana. In this county he married Huldah A. Barnes, whose parents were among the very early settlers in this part of the state. They became the parents of three children, and William B. is now the only one living.

His youth was spent on a farm in Rock Creek, two miles north of where he now lives; his early environment was similar to that which surrounded most boys in this part of Indiana. "He early learned by practical experience the duties on a farm, and went to school each winter, until he had completed the limited curriculum of a country school. Later he was a student in the Roanoke Classical Seminary. The death of a sister terminated his school career and since then he has applied himself industriously to his chosen vocation as a farmer.

On July 16, 1874, Mr. Custance married Clara A. Davis, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, and came to Huntington county when a girl, receiving her education in the common schools. Mr. and Mrs. Custance have two children: Dessie I., a graduate of the common schools and the wife of C. P. Baker of Rock Creek township, and Orla B., a graduate of the common schools and the Huntington Business University, and now an insurance agent at Warren, Indiana, who married Lena Schultz. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mr. Custance affiliates with Star of Hope Lodge, No. 464, I. O. O. F., being a past noble grand and member of the Grand Lodge. In polities he is an active Republican and has been one of the local leaders of his party in this part of Huntington county. In 1898 he was appointed superintendent of the Huntington county infirmary, and during the three and a half years he held that office he distinguished himself by an exceedingly capable administration of the institution.

Since his term with the infirmary came to a close he has been employed in the operation of his farm. His place contains eighty acres and is situated in section 21, a quarter of a mile west of Rock Center and ten miles southeast of Huntington. As a general farmer and stock raiser he has prospered, and as an honest, upright man, an obliging neighbor, he is well known and respected in his locality.

Panie E. Monro, D. D. S. Dr. Monroe has been identified with the little city of Markle for the past ten years. He established himself as a dentist in the community and is not only a successful man in his profession, but a citizen who codperates with every movement for the public welfare, and is a live wire in the community.

Philip E. Monroe was born at Richmond Dale, in Ross county, Ohio, November 7, 1876, a son of John Monroe and Sarah (Wishon) Monroe. When he was six years of age, his parents moved to Wells county, Indiana, and he grew up on a farm in that county. While Dr. Monroe recalls his early youth in association with much hard work, and also the pleasures of country life, he was given a fairly liberal education, and what was not given him in that line he supplied by his own efforts. He attended the public schools of Wells county, and in the class of 1898 graduated from the Bluffton high school. After that he taught school for two years, and with the proceeds from that work entered in the fall of 1900 the Dental Department of the Ohio Medical University, at Columbus, where he was graduated D. D. S. in 1903. After his graduation Dr. Monroe selected Markle as his place of practice, and has since established himself securely with a reputation as a high-class dental surgeon with a large practice.

On February 7, 1900, Dr. Monroe married Nora Chalfant, a daughter of James Chalfant. They are the parents of one daughter, Bernice, born October 18, 1900. Dr. Monroe has membership in the Indiana State Dental Society; he and his family worship in the Methodist Episcopal church at Markle, and he takes a prominent part in fraternal affairs. He has taken both the lower and cryptic degrees of York Rite Masonry, his affiliations being with Markle Lodge, No. 453, A. F. & A. M.; with Huntington Chapter, No. 27, R. A. M., and with Council No. 51, R. & S. M., at Huntington. He is now master of the Markle Blue Lodge. Besides his Masonic degrees, he has membership in Markle Lodge, No. 423, of the Knights of Pythias, which he has served as past chancellor and member of the Grand Lodge, and also with Lodge No. 805 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Huntington, and Camp No. 8138 of the Modern Woodmen of America, being clerk of his camp. In politics he is a democrat, but has taken little part in public life.

James SUMMERS. The present trustee of Rock Creek township, James Summers represents a family which have long been identified with this section of Huntington county, and as land owners and citizens have always stood high in the community. Mr. Summers is proprietor of the Wabash Valley Stock Farm, a beautiful and valuable country estate comprising four hundred and seventy acres of land, situated three miles west of Markle and seven miles east of Huntington.

Mr. Summers was born in Union township of this county, January 13, 1865, a son of Golvin and Sarah J. (Trusler) Summers. His father was born in Wayne county, Indiana, and his mother in Fayette county, their marriage having been celebrated in the latter county. They came to Huntington county in December, 1864, locating in Union township.

The parents after their marriage were people in very ordinary circumstances, and for some time they lived in a log cabin with only one room, and the barest of furnishings and the material necessities. They both possessed qualifications of hard workers, were thrifty and economical and as the father was a man of strict probity and had no bad habits, he eradually began to get ahead in the world, and his accumulations continued until at one time he was the owner of as much as one thousand acres of land. He is still a resident of Rock Creek township, and has long been one of the most honored citizens in that locality. His wife died in 1909. Their family of nine children are mentioned briefly as follows: Lewis E. Summers; Simon, a farmer who has a local reputation for the raising of hogs in Rock Creek township ; Jasper, whose home is in Rock Creek township; Anna, wife of David Funderburgh, of Huntington township; Emma, wife of Charles Young of Wabash county ; Goivin, Jr., of Union township; James Omer, a prosperous farmer of Rock Creek; Kate, wife of John Bowman of Rock Creek. j

James Summers was reared on a farm in Rock Creek township, received his education in the district schools, and finally qualified himself for work as a teacher. That vocation he followed in the schoolrooms in this county for fifteen years, but eventually all his time and energies were directed to farming and he now owns not only one of the conspicuous farmsteads of Huntington county, 'but conducts his business in a way that is both profitable and adds to the substantial resources of this county.

Mr. Summers married Lottie J. Bailey, a daughter of George H. Bailey of Union township. Their three children are: Myrl A., a graduate of the Rock Creek high school in the class of 1913: Elva D., who is in high school; and Erwin R., attending grade schools. Mr. Summers is a democrat in politics, and his election to the office of trustee indicates the general esteem which is paid to him as a man and citizen.

Davin B. GARBER. In the commercial, intellectual and religious activities of the community at Markle and vicinity, Mr. @arber has filled several important offices, and has made himself a very useful factor in promoting and upholding these affairs in his vicinity. To the business community, he is perhaps best known as Cashier of the Farmers and Traders Bank at Markle. Mr. Garber is a college-trained gentleman, is a minister in the Brethren church, has been an educator, and has the best talents which enable him to play an important part in more than one field.

David B. Garber was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, March 28, 1865, a son of ©. M. Garber and Mary (Miller) Garber. The parents were both natives of Rockingham county, Virginia, and when their son David was six months of age, they returned to their old home in Virginia, and thus it was that Mr. Garber grew up in Rockingham county. He completed his education in the Bridgewater College, where he took the English course, and was graduated with his Bachelor's degree. Previous to his college work, he had taught school in Rockingham county, and after leaving college he went to Carroll county, Maryland, and taught there for four years. While he was successful in the field of education, it was his ambition to prepare himself for the commercial life, and in 1892 he spent one year at Valparaiso University, where he gave special attention to shorthand and typewriting. When he was ready to use this knowledge, he located in Marion, Indiana, and for four years was private secretary to Congressman George W. Steele. In 1897, Mr. Garber moved to a farm, and along with the cultivation of the soil, also had charge of Church of the Brethren in his neighborhood. In 1906 Mr. Garber located in Huntington county, in Rock Creek township, which is his present home. For the past seven years Mr. Garber has been pastor in charge of the Brethren Church at Markle, and is trustee and treasurer and a member of the executive board of the North Manchester College. For some time he was secretary-treasurer of the Majenica Telephone Company, and is now president of that public utility.

In September, 1893, occurred the marriage of Mr. Garber with Miss Della Tinkle, of Grant county. She was born and reared in Washington township of Grant county, and possesses a common school education. To their marriage have been born four children: Charles, aged seventeen, who is a student in the Markle high school; Cora, aged fourteen and attending the public schools of Markle; Ora, aged eleven years; and Mary, aged ten. All the children are in school. Mr. Garber is a member and pastor of the Church of the Brethren, in politics is a Prohibitionist, and has done much to promote the cause of temperance in his community.

James K. CLINE. It is to the pioneer stock of Huntington county that James K. Cline belongs, his family was established on the banks of Rock Creek more than seventy years ago. Mr. Cline is himself a native of the county, and his individual career has been a somewhat interesting record of performance. Probably few men now living in the county have cleared up more land, or brought more of the fertile soil of Huntington county under tillage than James K. Cline. There is hardly a more difficult work which man undertakes than the clearing oif of the heavy forest and the inauguration of the era of the plow on new land. Mr. Cline has done more than one man's share in this labor, and for this reason no one will deny him his just claim to all the prosperity which has come in his later years.

James K. Cline was born on a farm in Rock Creek township, September 7, 1848. His parents were James and Anna (Shively) Cline. They came from Stark county, Ohio, to Huntington county in 1839. The journey was made with ox-teams and they drove over roads that were little more than trails, spent the nights camping in the open air, or lodged in some wayside cabin. James Cline, the father, was not only an early settler of Huntington county, but was one of the early millers, and had the distinction of being the first to operate the Markle Grist Mill. He had learned the trade of miller in Ohio. The history of some of the early mills about Markle involves frequent mention of the name of James Cline. His home was near Rock Creek Center. James

Cline was born December 8, 1813, and his wife on June 4, 1816. The record of their children is aS follows: Sarah Cline, born June 7, 1837; George W. Cline, born December 30, 1838; and Henry H. Cline, born June 12, 1841; Christina, born March 18, 1843; Susanna, born August 18, 1845; James K., born September 7, 1848; Melissa, born December 26, 1851; Joseph, born May 22, 1857. The only ones now living are George W. Cline and James K. Cline. The senior James Cline was one of the founders and early supporters of the Dunkard church in Huntington county, and his son George has for many years been prominent in the same denomination, and is one of the deacons of the society.

James K. Cline has seldom gone outside of Huntington county, Here he has found an ample scope for his energies, and has pursued the quiet vocations of farming, nearly all his life. With an education supplied by the district schools in Rock Creek township, during the winter months, he trained his muscles on the farm in the summer, and thus continued until he was aboùt eighteen years old. After that his father gave him steady work until he was twenty-one. Having reached his majority, he made his first independent venture, going in debt for a farm and paying nine per cent interest on his obligation. Some years later he sold out, and had some money to show for his work. His second enterprise was the purchase of ninety acres, most of it in the timber, and he undertook and successfully carried out the heavy task of clearing it off and putting it in cultivation. Having made a farmstead out of the land he sold it at a profit, and then bought another tract, this time ninety-four acres, and practically all covered with heavy woods. He got possession of the land on April 1st, and in the same season cleared twenty-five acres and put it in corn. Besides attending to his crops, he built a fence on two sides of a field of forty acres. That performance indicates better than anything else the quality of enterprise and energy which were characteristic of Mr. Cline. In this manner he has bought and improved and sold several farms in Huntington county, and has never been afraid to go in debt, and assume obligations to be met in the future. At the same time men have never failed to extend to James K. Cline an ample credit, since they recognize his integrity of purpose, and his splendid energy in carrying out all he undertakes. At the present time Mr. Cline owns a splendid farm of one hundred and thirty acres, most of which is in Union township. For a number of years he has had his home in Markle, and is now living largely retired.

In 1871, occurred his first marriage when Emma C. Randall became his wife. She was born in Rock Creek township, was educated in the public schools, and for a time was a teacher. She died November 22, 1879, and of her three children, the only one now living is Elsie, the wife of R. C. MeDuffey. Mrs. McDuffey has two children, as follows: Paul, a graduate of the high school, and now assistant cashier in the Farmers and Traders Bank at Markle; Ruth, who is a graduate of the Markle high school and lives at home. For his second wife, Mr.°Cline married Mary (Zink) Haffeley. By her previous marriage she had four Haffeley children: Charley (deceased), Clarence, Harry and Hattie, the daughf i ne ae A i : =: i A i ee ter becoming the wife of Mr. Reed. -Mr. Cliné is one of the leading members in the Church of the Brethren, and in polities is a Democrat, but has seldom been a partisan.

Hersert B. Spencer. The Spencer family since its establishment in Huntington county more than seventy years ago has enjoyed a prominence due not only to its pioneer settlement, but also to the useful and exceptional service of its members in the professions and in civic and business affairs. The late Maurice L. Spencer was for many years regarded as the peer of any lawyer in the Huntington county bar, and his son Herbert B. Spencer has also been a lawyer in the county since his university career and many of the important cases tried in the local courts have known him as counsel on one side or the other.

Herbert B. Spencer was born February 18, 1879, at Huntington City, a son of Maurice L. and Blanche M. Brookover Spencer. The family is of English extraction and of Quaker stock, settling in Pennsylvania in 1689, and later moving to Hartford county, Maryland. The early ancestors participated as soldiers on the American side during the Revolutionary war, and Herbert B. Spencer on that account has membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. In 1837 one branch of the family moved to Wayne county, Indiana, the center of the Quaker settlement in this state, and in 1844 grandfather Spencer established his home in the wilderness of Huntington county. Maurice L. Spencer was born in Wayne. county March 6, 1843, grew up in Huntington county, and practiced law with success and distinction in the bar from 1878 until his death on June 25, 1907. During his early manhood he served as a soldier of the Civil war, and was at one time superintendent of schools at Huntington. He was long prominent in republican politics. The late Mr. Spencer acquired ownership of large tracts of land in Clear Creek township, and some of that land is still owned by his heirs. Maurice L. Spencer first married Almira Best, whose people had settled in Clear Creek township of Huntington county in 1838. She died October 15, 1873, without children. On March 5, 1878, he married Blanche M. Brookover, a daughter of. George W. Brookover, an early and wealthy pioneer of Warren township. To this union were born three children: Herbert B.; Edith M. Malott, whose husband is at present district attorney of the Moro Province in the Philippine Islands; and William P. who is a Clear Creek township farmer.

Herbert B. Spencer after finishing his education in the local public schools entered the Indiana State University, and for several years was engaged in business. During the Spanish-American war he was second lieutenant of Company K in the One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Regiment of Volunteers. Following his military experience he entered the law department of the University of Indianapolis, and since graduating and his admission to the bar has been in active practice at Huntington, with an office at 200 N. Jefferson street. He enjoys a large clientele, and is a member of the Huntington County and State Bar associations, and is the*owner of a large amount of farm land in Huntington county. Though a Republican in politics, he has never sought any political preferment. Mr. Spencer affiliates with Lodge No. 54, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Lima, Ohio Lodge No. 370 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in the same city, and is past chancellor of the local lodge No. 93 of the Knights of Pythias and also belongs to the Improved Order of Red Men. His church home is the Presbyterian. :

On March 21, 1898, Mr. Spencer married Miss Chloe B. Lininger, a native of Huntington county and the daughter of Joseph C. Lininger, a retired resident. They are the parents of three children: Herbert D., Mary V. and Elizabeth.

GrorGe W. CLINE. One of the citizens of Huntington county who began their career in log-cabin homes, labored with courage and industry to develop a wilderness of forest into a broad landscape of farms, and have subsequently reaped the rewards of such diligence in ample material prosperity, is George W. Cline, of Rock Creek township. Mr. Cline is one of the few remaining pioneers of Huntington county. His recollection goes back to the decade of the forties, and few men have a greater interest in or better appreciation of old-time conditions than this honored citizen and former county commissioner. The Cline family for more than seventy years has been very prominent in the welfare and upbuilding of Huntington county, and George W. Cline has been one of its ablest representatives.

His birth occurred in Preble county, Ohio, January 1, 1839, New Year's day, but in the same year he was brought to Huntington county. His father was the fine old pioneer settler and miller, James Cline, who was born in Virginia. James Cline married Anna Shively, who was a native of Stark county. They were married in Preble county, and during the year 1839 came to Indiana and located in Rock Creek. township. Their trip to Indiana was made in the regular pioneer style, with wagons drawn by ox teams, and there was a large family party, consisting of seven men, all of them brothers-in-law, with their respective families. All of them located in Huntington county, and James Cline found a location one mile north and a half mile east of Rock Creek Center, on a farm now owned by Sam DeHaven. The other brothersin-law were: Daniel Shively, who located at Andrews; Jacob Shively, of Rock Creek township; Samuel Wolf, of Rockford township; Gideon Lautis, of Rock Creek; John Detrow, of Union township, and Henry Wintrode, of Andrews.

James Cline was a miller by trade, having acquired that art before he left Ohio. It was as a miller that he performed his most important service in the little community of Rock Creek township, and operated the first grist mill established in that vicinity. That was a very interesting institution and is well remembered by Mr. George W. Cline, who has given some facts concerning it which will be of interest in this publica- tion. The old mill stood near Markle, on the banks of Rock Creek, near where that stream empties into the Wabash River. The power was first used to turn a sawmill, but in the following year machinery for grinding was installed, and after that it supplied the neighborhood with its cornmeal and flour. James Cline was the first to take charge of the machinery when it became a grist mill. Its equipment was of a very rude sort, as compared with our modern roller mills. For the erinding there was one run of burrs. The feature which is specially recalled by Mr. Cline is the volting reel, by which the wheat, corn or buckwheat, after passing through the stones, was separated so that the edible portion of the grain went in one direction and the bran and chaff in another. This volting reel was placed at such an angle that it moved along at just the speed to sift the flour into a large shed, while the bran found its way to the other end of the reel and was thrown off. In the same connection Mr. Cline recalls some of the old clay ovens, which played a prominent part in household economics in pioneer times. All the bread was baked in such an oven, and this cooking was carried on out of doors. Enough bread was baked at one time to last the family all week. Mr. Cline recalls the taste of that bread, and says it was superior to anything he has eaten since.

James Cline lived in Rock Creek township for many years, and on his first farm until after the war in 1865, when he transferred his location to another place in the same township. There he had his home until his death, and the second farm is now owned by James Gossert. James Cline had four sons and four daughters, and the only ones now living are James K. and George W.

Mr. George W. Cline grew up in the midst of the woods, and in his early boyhood, when not employed at work or in school, he found many opportunities for play and instructive diversion about the old mill, which has been described in fishing and other sports along Rock Creek and the Wabash River, and there are many boys who might well envy him this opportunity of pleasure back in the forties. Prominent in his recollection is the old log school house which he attended. He also has distinct remembrance of his teacher, Thomas O'Thy, an Irishman and a very competent scholar and teacher. However, he had to endure the persecutions practiced by the boy scholars of that time. At Christmas the boys locked the teacher out of the building, in order to make him treat, and on his continued refusal to accede to their demands, they took him to the river and ducked him. In one sense the demand of the scholars was very moderate, since they asked that the treat consist of turnips, since candy was a very scarce article at that time. The Irishman accepted the treatment with the best grace possible, but brought suit against the boys and their parents, and the late Hon. James R. Slack, who was judge at the time, fined the boys a dollar each and cost, and that ended the matter, after which the schoolmaster went on and finished his term. Mr. Cline was one of the pupils in the school at the time of that occurrence, and continued to attend one of the old-fashioned schools such as are described in pioneer history until he was about eighteen years old.

He then started out for himself, buying his time from his father, and found work on farms, close economy had some capital when he reached his majority. Several years were spent in renting, and in his first year as a renter he bought a team and planted ten acres to corn, which he sold for $100. Finally he took a lease on a farm in Lancaster township, cleared up a large part of the land, and by raising hogs and other stock made a good deal of money, which was the basis of his subsequent substantial fortune. Later he continued as a renter in Salamonie, and about 1866 made his first independent purchase of eighty acres in Rock Creek township. He assumed some obligations with that land, and finally paid them all and owned it clear. After living there for five years, he sold and bought one hundred and four acres in the same township, and continued a resident there for fifteen years. Since then his story of effort has been one consecutive progress to greater prosperity, and there are few men in the whole section of the county who have exercised better business judgment in their investments and have prosecuted their enterprises with better average of success than George W. Cline. i

Mr. Cline married Julia Randall. She became the mother of three children, one of whom died in childhood, and the other two are: Jesse D. Cline, the farmer, who lives on a place at the edge of Markle; Anna M., the wife of Jack Vachon. The mother of these children died in June, 1889. In 1893 Mr. Cline married the widow of Joseph Shively, but she has since met death by an unfortunate accident.

Mr. Cline is one of the leading members of the Dunkard church in this county, and his father was practically a founder of that denomination in Huntington county. Both father and son have served as deacons in the church from its earliest years. In politics Mr. Cline has always supported the Democratic party, and on that ticket was elected a member of the board of county commissioners. His administration was a credit to his party and an honor to himself. While building up an excellent competence for himself, Mr. Cline has always been liberal in assisting his children to homes and independence for themselves.

ABRAHAM May. There is much inspiration here of Abraham May for younger men. At the present time he is probably more closely associated with business affairs at Markle than any other one individual. In every sense of the word he is a successful man, yet in his youth he had all the handicaps which could possibly be set to clog the efforts of a man except physical incapacity.

Born in Union township of Huntington county, August 27, 1854, a son of M. 8. and Catherine (Davis) May, when he was three years of age he lost his father, and in the following year lost his mother. An orphan he was taken into the home of the maternal grandfather, A. A. Davis, and as soon as he was old enough had to hustle for his own living. During the winters he was permitted to go to school, but all the open months of the year were spent in such duties as his strength could perform, and in that way he earned his clothes and keep. In that way he continued and arrived at his majority without any visible accumulation . of capital. About that time his only sister died, and he assumed the debt for her funeral expenses, and his affection for his parents and his sister led him to devote a portion of his early earnings to pay for a suitable monument over their graves. In eighteen months' time after reaching his majority he had satisfied all these debts, and had four hundred dollars besides. With that capital he parent a small farm, but owing to a defective title lost the whole investment. That was a backset, which would have discouraged many a man of less determined character. Undaunted, he took employment with the Wilkerson Lumber Company as general manager, was with that firm four years at Markle, and when the firm sold out he went as timber buyer for F. F. Fee four years in Markle and one year in Ohio. With this experience, which gave him a thorough knowledge of the lumber trade, Mr. May then engaged in business with W. H. Bassett as partner for two years. He next bought a two-thirds share of the business at Uniondale in Wells county, in the Ditzler sawmill. The plant was moved to Markle, and was conducted under the firm name of Ditzler & May Lumber Company. George C. Ditzler, Mr. May and E. E. Youse were the constitutent members of the firm. It was operated as a flourishing business for seven years, at the end of which time Mr. Ditzler retired, and it continued under the title of May & Youse Lumber Company, and that firm is still in existence, and a very prosperous concern.

In the meantime Mr. May's interests had broadened out and he had become connected with several other important enterprises. In 1911 with Mr. Ditzler he bought the Briant mill at Huntington. That is a growing concern, and is successfully operated by the Ditzler-May Lumber Company. Mr. May is also interested in the Markle Stone and Lime Company, his connection with this concern dating back to 1908. He and six others were the incorporators of the concern, of which Mr. May is president and S. Lesh, secretary. The directors are: A. May, S. Lesh, Frank J. Harvey, J. J. Harvey, E. E. Youse, D. Lesh, Dan W. Lesh, U. S. Lesh, Eben Lesh, and A. J. Slaine. The business is a paying institution, and some of the best known men in this part of the county are behind it.

Mr. May married Miss Laura C. Hill, a daughter of Henry and Nancy (Richards) Hill. Mrs. May was born in Fairfield, Ohio, and when a girl came with her parents to Rock Creek. township in Huntington county. To their marriage has been born one daughter, Lillie May, who is now Mrs. E. E. Youse. Mr. and Mrs. Youse have two children: Harry D. Youse, a student in the Markle high school; and Hildreth M., also in the public schools of Markle.

Mr. May is a member and one of the trustees of the Methodist church of Markle, and is one of the leading Methodists of Huntington county, having served as a lay delegate in the Baltimore General Council in 1908. Fraternally he has membership in the Markle Lodge No. 423 of the Knights of Pythias, in which he is a past chancellor. In politics a republican, he has done much to promote party success. Mr. May is

James B. DumBauLp. When Mr. Dumbauld married and started a home of his own, he had saved as a result of careful economy and hard work through several years the sum of five hundred dollars. This was invested in a small piece of land, and as succeeding years added to his responsibility as the head of a family, his diligence and management also increased his material resources, and he eventually acquired a fine farm in Union township. Mr. Dumbauld still owns that farm, but for the past ten years has been identified with the business community of Markle, where he is proprietor of a first-class livery establishment.

Perry county, Ohio, is the birthplace of James B. Dumbauld, where he was born May 10, 1857, a son of Samuel and Salome (Wymer,) Dumbauld. When he was five months old his parents came to Union township in Huntington county, and thus practically all his life has been spent in this part of Indiana. As soon as he was old enough he was sent to district schools during the winter term, and developed his muscles on the home farm in the summer season. That was the manner. of his life until he was fifteen, and in the meantime when eleven years old he had lost his father. This threw a heavy responsibility upon the mother and her children, and he lived at the home and managed to farm for her until he was of age. Among his early experiences, and efforts to get a start, he was employed at monthly wages by his brother, Warren, eighteen months, and saved practically all his money.

In October, 1880, Mr. Dumbauld married Miss Malinda Brubaker, a daughter of John and Nancy Brubaker of Rock Creek township. When she was a small child she lost both her parents, and was reared as an orphan, and managed to get an education in the district schools of Rock Creek. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Dumbauld continued as renters for a couple of years, but in the meantime he had invested his five hundred dollars of capital in forty acres of land. They took possession of that place after two years, and with that as a nucleus began the task of building up a fortune. Mr. Dumbauld gradually added to his estate until he is now owner of one hundred and twenty acres of land in section 28 of Union township, located on the Prairie Gravel Road. This farm is one of the best in that neighborhood, and is situated six and a half miles from Huntington and four and a half miles from Markle. The entire place represents the many years of labor and selfdenial of himself and his good wife. On November 17, 1903, Mr. Dumbauld bought a livery barn in Markle, and in December of the same year moved his family to the city.

Mr. and Mrs. Dumbauld have five living children: Minnie, who is unmarried and lives with her father; Charles, who married Katie Miller, and has two children; Salome, a graduate of the Markle high school, and a clerk in the store of W. P. Bender; Ernest, attending high school; and Fern, also in high school. The family worship in the Lutheran church at Markle, and Mr. Dumbauld is affiliated with Markle Lodge No. 423 of the Knights of Pythias. For some years he has been one of the local leaders in the Democratic party, and has directed his interests both to county politics and to municipal affairs.

Omer SUMMERS. One of the highly esteemed citizens and prosperous agriculturists of Rock Creek township is Omer Summers, proprietor of the West Fairview Farm, where he resides, and the White Gables Farm, a tract adjoining consisting of 180 acres. Mr. Summers has devoted his entire career to the tilling of the soil, and has won success as a farmer through steady application and earnest effort. He has the distinction of being a native son of Huntington county, having been born in Union township, on a farm, April 13, 1868, and is a son of Golven and Sarah (Tressler) Summers.

The seventh child of his parents, Omer Summers was reared on the old home place and was trained to agricultural pursuits in the summer months while attending the district schools in the winters. He completed the common school course, and in 1887, at the age of nineteen years, took and passed an examination for the position of teacher. Upon receiving his certificate he began to teach in the schools of Huntington township, but after orie year found that the confinement of the schoolroom did not agree with him, and accordingly he returned to farming on his father's land. On August 16, 1890, Mr. Summers was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Armstrong, who was born in Huntington county, Indiana, daughter of Fred P. and Angeline Armstrong, of Union township. She was reared in that township and received a good common school education, which was supplemented by attendance at Roanoke Classical College. After his marriage Mr. Summers settled on a farm of 100 acres, located in Rock Creek township, and there continued to carry on operations for five years, and then, in the fall of the year 1896 moved to West Fairview Farm, which has continued to be his home. Mr. Summers is accounted one of the progressive and enterprising farmers of his community, and has always been known as a breeder of high grade stock, making a specialty of Angus cattle. He uses modern methods and appliances in his work, gets good results from his land by reason of intelligent cultivation of the soil, and takes a pride in making his property one of the finest in the township. He has been very active in the farmers' institutes, has served during the past eight years as president of the Huntington County Farmers' Institute, and, with other prominent agriculturists, was active in securing the short course in 1910. With his family he attends the Baptist church, and during the past thirteen years has served a deacon of the White church. Mr. Summers is a democrat politically and has served in county, congressional and state conventions, and on one occasion was his party's candidate for representative of his district, but met with defeat because of political conditions at the time. Mr. Summers has one of the finest country residences in the county. This home, built in 1911, of quartered oak all taken from the farm, has sixteen rooms and is fitted with every modern convenience.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Summers: C. W., a graduate of the Rock Creek High school, was a student at Valparaiso, and the Marion Normal College, married Opal Meyer, a daughter of Charles W. Meyer; and Muriel A., a graduate of the Rock Creek High

Samurt W. Rarick. The proprietor of the Cloverdale Farm, in Rock Creek township, is a man so well known in Huntington county as to require no introduction. A successful farmer, he combines the practical experience of the old time agriculturist with the knowledge and science of the twentieth century, and in every way has been a progressive worker for the improvement of country life conditions and the increase of soil production in his part of the state. Mr. Rarick is prominent in civic and several movements of a public nature, and is devoted to the work of his church.

Samuel W. Rarick was born in Perry county, Ohio, October 7, 1852, a son of John and Anna M. (Cupp) Rarick. The parents were likewise natives of Perry county, Ohio, where they were reared, educated and married. In the fall of 1864 they brought their little family ta Huntington county, Indiana, locating on the Wild Cat Reserve, near the forks of Rock Creek. That was the vicinity in which they spent the rest of their lives, and the father passed away in 1910 and the mother in 1890. Of their eight children four are still living: S. W. Rarick; Theophilus Rarick; Sarah, wife of Emmet Cheesam, of Markle, and John H. Rarick, also of Markle. _

Samuel W. Rarick was between twelve and thirteen years of age when the family came to Huntington, Indiana. He had previously attended school in Ohio, and after coming to Rock Creek township had opportunities in an educational way to only a very limited extent. He remained at home with his father, and with his grandfather for several years, and at the time of his marriage in 1875 he had only a horse and saddle in property or capital. His wife, who thus began with him in the career of making a home and winning a comfortable competence, was Cornelia Taggart. She was born in Perry county, Ohio, and she likewise received somewhat, limited educational advantages. After the death of his grandfather, Mr. Rarick bought two-thirds of the farm of one hundred and seventy-three acres which had comprised the old homestead, and has since been steadily prosperous and improving his farm. He has a comfortable brick house which was erected in 1896, and a large frame barn was built in 1911. Mr. Rarick is an active worker in the Farmers' Institute. He has taken courses in agriculture at the Purdue University, and when his striking success as a producer of crops and manager of farming resources was referred to, he credited most of his success in that line to the help he has had from the university and from the fund of experience and knowledge which his ready mind has been -able to draw from in associations with other farmers and by the reading of books and pamphlets and by regular attendance at lectures. However, Mr. Rarick is no "'book farmer,'' and he constantly tests every new theory by the rule of practical efficiency. Mr. Rarick is the original alfalfa grower in this part of Huntington county, and has made the cultivation of this typically western crop very profitable in his farm

Mr. and Mrs. Rarick have one living child, Dr. J. E. Rarick, a practicing physician at Wolcottville, Indiana. He was born on the old farm in Rock Creek township, was educated in the Markle public schools and the high school, graduated from the former at the age of thirteen and the latter at seventeen, studied at Heidelberg College, at Tiffin, Ohio, for two and a half years, and from there entered Fort Wayne Medical College, where he was graduated M. D. Dr. Rarick married Mabel Webb of Chicago.

Mr. Rarick takes much part in civic and fraternal affairs. He affillates with Markle Lodge, No. 423, of the Knights of Pythias, and is a past chancellor and member of the Grand Lodge. He took probably the leading part of the organization of the Sparks Cemetery Association, which is incorporated under the laws of Indiana, and fifteen hundred dollars has been raised to endow the association and enable it to keep up its grounds. Mr. Rarick is president of the association, Will Wilt is vice president, and Elmer Levell is secretary and treasurer. Mr. Rarick is also a stockholder in the Majenica Telephone Company. In politics he is a prohibitionist.

For the past thirty-two years Mr. Rarick has been one of the most infiuential members of the Emanuel Church in Rock Creek township of Wells county, and has served in the capacity of deacon and elder, and is secretary of the joint consistory of the Emanuels at Bluffton He has contributed liberally both of time and money to the church. Mr. Raricx is known as a man of mature judgment, and when he once embarks upon any enterprise other people have confidence in the success of that undertaking, largely owing to his individual efficiency and their knowledge that he never goes into anything without a determination to carry it out in a satisfactory manner.

Cuarues H. Rupie. Among the progressive farming men who have added to the wealth of Huntington county and made worthy names for ` themselves in the carrying on of the projects to which they were devoted, Charles H. Rudig is reckoned among the foremost. He has long been a resident of Warren township, and his fine place there is widely known as Hill View Farm, lying three-quarters of a mile south of Bippus. It is a farm of one hundred acres, which though not a large farm, is ample to his needs and is sufficiently extensive to require his whole attention in its management. Mr. Rudig was born in Dallas township, this county, on June 13, 1868, and is a son of Jacob P. Rudig, Jr., and his wife, Elizabeth (Biehl) Rudig.

Jacob Rudig, Jr., was born in Stark county, Ohio, as was also his wife. They came to Huntington county, Indiana, while young, even prior to their marriage, that event having been solemnized in Dallas township on May 7, 1867. They made their home in Dallas township - until 1901, in which year they came to Andrews, and there they passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Rudig were the parents of five children. Charles

H., the subject of this review, is the eldest of the family. William E., the second born, is a resident of Dallas township; Matilda is the wife of George Hanselman of Dallas; Malinda is unmarried and lives in Andrews; Martha is the wife of Charles A. Spencer and resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Charles H. Rudig had his training in like manner with that of the boys of his time, and the farm added much to his practical education. He attended the country schools up to the age of eighteen, and as a boy was confirmed in the German Evangelical church, of which his parents were members. He was twenty-six years of age when he married Lena Burkart of Chester township, their marriage taking place on November 2, 1893. She was a native daughter of Wabash county and was there reared and educated, coming in young womanhood to Huntington county. To them one child has been born, Inez M., who was born on September 13, 1906.

Mr. and Mrs. Rudig have a place in their community of which they are in every way worthy. They have lived industrious and energetic lives, and their worldly fortunes have advanced in pleasing measure since they were united in marriage, for at that time all Mr. Rudig's possessions were comprised in a hundred dollars in cash and a horse and buggy. Today he has one of the fine and productive farms in the township and is making steady progress in material advancement. He and his wife are members of .the German Evangelical church of Bippus, and have a share in the general activities of the church and congregation.

A democrat in his politics, Mr. Rudig has always been constant to the interests of the party, along general lines, though he has not permitted party interests to interfere with his activities in local politics. In 1908 he was elected assessor of Warren township, an office which he still holds. Mr. Rudig has always been popular with the citizens of his community, and has taken a worthy part in the political and business activities of the town where he has so long resided.

Maruras SCHILLING. Any mention of agricultural enterprise in Warren township would be incomplete without reference to Mathias Schilling, proprietor of the Beaver Dam Farm, located on the northwest quarter of section 33 in that township. Mr. Schilling's homestead is one mile west and one mile south of Bippus. It comprises one hundred acres of highly improved land, well arranged and developed for purposes of general farming and stock raising. In addition to this Mr. Schilling owns eighty acres in Chester township of Wabash county, a mile west and half a mile south of Bippus.

It was on this old farm in Wabash county that Mr. Schilling was born October 25, 1862. He is a son of John and Catherine (Wagner) Schilling, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father came to America alone when a young man, and later married a widow. They became the parents of three children: Susan, now deceased; Louise, widow of John Stuart, and her home is in Chicago; and Mathias.

grew up to manhood. As a boy he had opportunities to attend the publie schools during the winter time, but his services were for the greater part of the year required on the farm. In that way he spent the early years of boyhood, but at the age of eleven, consequent upon the death of his father, had to assume important responsibilities in managing the farm, and eventually practically managed the entire estate in the interest of his mother and brothers and sisters. When he was eighteen years old he bought forty acres adjoining the original home, and that made the eighty acres which comprise his present place in Wabash county.

On November 19, 1890, Mr. Schilling married Ida Leonhardt. She was the daughter of Emery Leonhardt and was reared in Warren township. To their marriage have been born eight children, as follows: Mabel, a graduate of the common schools and unmarried; Howard J., a graduate of the common and the high schools; Clarence; Hattie, a graduate of the common schools and now a student in the high school; Ervin, Martha, Emery, Palma, all at home and quite young.

The family are members of the Evangelical church of Bippus. Mr. Schilling is a class leader, a trustee, has served twelve years as superintendent of the Stinday school, and is one of the most active and liberal supporters of the church organization. Besides his farm, he is the owner of a house and lot in the village of Bippus. He was one of the original stockholders in the Bippus State Bank. In polities Mr. Schilling is a republican. In agricultural activities he has made a special reputation as a breeder of first class stock. It has been his experience that farming on high class and high priced Indiana soil pays best in connection with the very finest of live stock and by the use of the best methods . and the best of tools and all facilities. Practicing these rules, he has been more than ordinarily successful. Of his stock mention should be made of his Duroc hogs, Holstein cattle and shorthorn cattle, and all his stock is of the very best and headed by some thoroughbreds.

Martin L. Vickery: Another of Indiana's native sons who have contributed in generous measure to the agricultural advancement of the state, and more particularly of the community wherein they have lived, may be mentioned Martin L. Vickery, a representative citizen of Warren township and the prosperous proprietor of Brackenridge Farm, adjoining the village of Bracken and about three miles north of Bippus. Here he has labored for about fifteen years and his activities have been well rewarded in the material things of life.

Martin L. Vickery was born in Henry county, Indiana, in October, 1857, and he is the son of Isaiah and Mary W. (Fletcher) Vickery. They, too, were natives of the Hoosier state, the father born in Rush and the mother in Henry county. Isaiah Vickery was the son of Martin Vickery, a man of North Carolina birth and ancestry, who came to Indiana in young life and settled in Henry county, where he passed the remainder of his life. He met and married his wife in Henry county, after which they came to live in Huntington county, and later moved to Wabash county, where they ended their days. To Isaiah and Mary

Martin L. Vickery was reared on Henry and Wabash county farms and had his educational training, which was none too extensive, in the common schools of his home communities and in the Spiceland Academy. He was by nature a' farming man and he had no desire to do other than to follow in the footsteps of his forbears in the choosing of an enterprise. His success has been worthy of him, indeed, and he is today reckoned among the foremost and substantial agricultural men of the township and county.

children, and the mother died in 1905. She was a lifelong member of the Quaker church, having been a birthright member, as is also Mr. Vickery. In 1911 Mr. Vickery married Lillian D. Saylors, the widow of Anderson Saylors, of Wabash county.

Mr. Vickery is fraternally identified with the Odd Fellows, having membership in Lodge No. 640, and he is a Democrat as to politics. He served four years as assessor of Warren township, and has demonstrated his citizenship as the incumbent of other offices of more or less import in the community. He was appointed administrator of the Mary A. Brockover estate, consisting of five hundred acres of land in Warren township, of which he has complete control. In business circles he is known as a stockholder in the Bippus State Bank, and he is identified in the town as one of the successful and prosperous men of the township. The family have many sincere and warm friends in and about the town, and the sons and daughters of Mr. Vickery are taking their places among the useful and progressive citizenship of the county.

Henry ALTMAN. Among those men who constitute the pioneer citizenship of Warren township none is more deserving of mention than is Henry Altman, who has been a resident of the community since 1839, coming here with his parents as an infant one year of age. His entire life has been devoted to agricultural activities in this community and he is the owner of a fine farm of eighty acres of land just a mile north of the town of Bippus. His life has been a quiet and eventful one, and a brief account of it, with some slight mention of his parents and their part in the early life of the community is eminently fitting in a work of the character and purpose of this one.

Henry Altman was born on July 25, 1838, in Stark county, Ohio, and is the son of John and Mahala (Cooper) Altman, both of whom were natives of Stark county, and there were reared, there educated and there wedded. John Altman was a son of Henry Altman, who with his wife came to America direct from Ireland.

' John Altman came to Indiana from Stark county, Ohio, in September of 1839, and located in Warren township, of Huntington county. His was the fifth family to settle in the township, then in a totally undeveloped and uninviting state of wilderness, and he settled in Section 14. In the spring of that year Mr. Altman had come out alone. cleared a spot for a cabin and built thereon a small log' house, to which in September following he brought his little family. Here he spent the remainder of his life, and to the day of his death he was busy with the Herculean task of reclaiming that bit of wilderness, which in time came to be a productive and comfortable farm.

Mr. Altman is a leading citizen of the community, even as his son is now. He was long trustee of the township, and for seventeen years he served in the office of justice of the peace. He was the father of sixteen children, of which number eight are living at this writing.

just a year before the family migration to Huntington county. He was reared in the community that has since been his home, and attended school when he might, though it may be said that the advantages he received as an American boy were exceedingly slight and wholly inadequate to the capacity and demands of the mind of the alert and aggressive youth. Mr. Altman married Elizabeth Krider, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, in August, 1849, and they became the parents of a large family, numbering nineteen children. Eleven of the number survive at this time (1914) and are named as follows: John, Harvey, George, Daniel, David, Henry, Betty, Mahala, Barbara, Jane and Orpha.

Twenty-five grandchildren delight the advancing years of these fine old people, and they may well be said to have added much to the life of their community in the lives of their children and their grandchildren, as well as in their own upstanding and worthy careers.

Mr. and Mrs. Altman are members pf the German Baptist church, and have long been devout Christian workers therein. They are quiet and simple people, who have lived near to nature and who have won and retained through long years the esteem and kindly regard of all who came within the sphere of their influence.

Mr. Altman owns today the farm he acquired as a youth of twentytwo' years, and he has passed his life upon it since then. When he first came to Huntington county the record is that there were but two frame buildings in the county. One of them, an old ''tavern,'' stood near where the library now is located, Dr. Tate's buildings being the others.

In his farming activities Mr. Altman has for a good many years been devoted to the care and nurture of bees, and now has forty-one stands of them. It is a subject on which he is well informed, for he has made of it a close and careful study during the sixty years of his farming operations, and it is said that some of the finest honey ever produced in the state has come from his apiary.

Marvin O. GIBLER. The farm of Marvin O. Gibler in Warren township is undeniably one of the fine places of the community, and is a credit to its proprietor and owner as well as to the town. Walnut Ridge Farm, as it is very properly called, is one of the productive and well kept places hereabouts, and it is known for its productions in fine Jersey- Duroc hogs and Holstein cattle, to both of which Mr. Gibler has devoted.

a good bit of attention in recent years. Mr. Gibler's place is located in Sections 8, 9 and 10 of Warren township, and lies two miles north of the town of Bippus and ten miles northwest of Huntington, so that he is provided with a ready market at his hand: at all times.

Clear Creek township, Huntington county, was the birthplace of Marvin O. Gibler, and his natal day was March 31, 1873. He is a son of Elias and Delilah (Shanks) Gibler, the father and mother also having been born in Clear Creek township. The family is one that was for a good many generations located in Pennsylvania, and the paternal grandsire of Mr. Gibler of this review came to Indiana from his native state in young manhood, continuing as a resident of Clear Creek township until two years prior to his passing, dying in South Whitely, Indiana. His wife lived to the age of ninety.

Elias Gibler had one son, - Marvin O. of this review, and he was reared in Clear Creek township on what was known as the old Alex Gibler farm. He attended the common schools of the community as a boy, and when he quitted his studies there he turned his whole attention to farming. He was married at the early age of nineteen years, Sarah Rose being united in marriage with him on October 15, 1892. She was a native of Warren township and a daughter of William and Rebecca Rose, and was reared in the community of her birth, there attending the schools that were provided. For a time after their marriage they lived in Clear Creek township, coming to Warren township in 1902 and here purchasing the Thomas Bolinger farm. Mr. Gibler has made many improvements in the place since it came into his possession, building a fine barn in 1911 and remodeling the house in 1912, so that it is now one of the comfortable and commodious farm dwellings in the township.

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gibler. Mabel is a . graduate of the Bippus high school and is now living at home. Walter is attending the Bippus high school, and Lucile is yet a student in the graded schools of the town. The family are members of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and Mr. Gibler is a Republican, though not an active worker in the field of politics. He is a man of many excellent traits of character and has a splendid standing with his fellow men.

Marrnuias S. Myers. Closely identified with the agricultural interests of Huntington county, Matthias S. Myers is profitably engaged in general farming in Jefferson township. Mr. Myers is widely known as proprietor of the Avondale Farm, which with its improvements, its excellent management, and its regularity of production stands as one of the best examples of that agricultural district.

A native of Ohio, Matthias S. Myers was born July 24, 1841, in Fairfield county, coming on both sides of the house from thrifty German ancestry. His father, Michael Myers, was born and reared in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where his parents settled on coming from Germany to America. In 1834 he migrated with his family to Fairfield county, Ohio, where he bought land, and was afterwards diligently employed in tilling the soil until his death. He married, in Bucks county,

Pennsylvania, Rachel Kratz, who was born if that county, and died on the home farm in Fairfield county, Ohio. Eleven children were born of their marriage, six of whom were living in 1914, as follows: Emeline ; Erwin C.; Matthias S.; Hannah, wife of John Hansberger; John and Albert.

Brought up on the parental farm, Matthias S. Myers attended the district school throughout the days of his boyhood and youth. Having good mental ability he was given excellent educational advantages, fitting himself for a teacher. In 1862 he came to Jefferson township in Huntington county, and for two terms taught successfully there, beginning in 1866. When ready to settle permanently in life, Mr. Myers purchased his present farm of sixty acres, which is advantageously located in the northeast quarter of Section 23, Jefferson township, being one mile north and two miles west, of Warren on the Lewis gravel road.

Mr. Myers married January 23, 1868, Elsie Corey. Her father, Stephen Corey, a native of New York state, was married in Rush county, Indiana, to Mary Downard, who was born in Kentucky, and in 1838 they located in Grant county, Indiana, where their daughter Elsie was educated. Mrs. Elsie Myers died in 1884, while yet in the prime of life, leaving three children, namely: Lewis J. of Huntington; Lelah Elsie, formerly a school teacher, and now the wife of Henry Schwob of Clear Creek township; and Arthur C., also a school teacher, of Jefferson township, who married Mary Shideler.

Mr. Myers married for his second wife, December 24, 1885, America M. Everett, who was born in Hancock county, Indiana, and educated in the Greenfield schools and the Indiana Central Normal College at Danville. She subsequently taught school in Hancock county for seven years and in Huntington county for three years, having been eminently successful as a teacher. Her father was Harmon Everett, who was a first cousin to Edward Everett and related to Edward Everett Hale and Helen Keller. Harmon Everett's father came to Indiana in the early thirties, locating in South Bend, and, a carpenter and contractor by trade, constructed the first bridge across the St. Joseph river at South Bend. He afterwards moved to Hancock county, Indiana, where he died at the age of eighty-five years.

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Myers, namely: Nellie Kate, the oldest, who was graduated from the Warren high school and has completed a course of study at the Indiana State Normal School, is teaching in the Christman school, Jefferson township; E. Everett, a graduate of the Warren high school and formerly principal of the Union Township high school, is now a student in the Indiana State Normal School; Irma Gladys, who was graduated from the Warren high school, is now teaching in the graded schools of Clear Creek township.

Mr. and Mrs. Myers are faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Warren, in which he has served as class leader for over forty years. Fraternally M. Myers is a member and past grand of Salamonia Lodge No. 392, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; a member of the

Grand Lodge, and has attended the Sovereign Grand Lodge; is a member and past chief patriarch òf Warren Encampment No. 265, at Warren, Indiana, and has represented that Encampment at the Grand Encampment. Both Mr. and Mrs. Myers are members of the Rebekah Lodge at Warren. An active worker in the Republican ranks, Mr. Myers takes an intelligent interest in local and county politics, and has served as a delegate to various county conventions. Mr. and Mrs. Myers are held in the highest regard as neighbors, friends and citizens throughout the community in which they reside, their many sterling traits of character and correct moral principles winning the respect of all.

Joun H. SELL. The sturdy German stock has many representatives in Huntington county, and John H. Sell is in the second generation of a German family, though he himself is American born and a native of the township and county in which he now has his home. Mr. Sell is a farmer, but has accumulated much property and business interests through his effective management and is proprietor of the Erie Fairview Farm, comprising one hundred and twenty acres in section twenty-eight, and adjoining the town of Bippus on the west.

Mr. Sell was born on that farm, April 14, 1870, a son of Felix and Caroline (Brodbeck) Sell. His father died in 1909, but his mother is still living. His father was a native of Germany, and his mother of Pennsylvania, both being of German stock. The father came to the United States with his parents when two years old, and the family were among the early settlers in Huntington county. Of eight children in the family seven are still hving, mentioned as follows: Mary, wife of Frank Rickard; Emma, wife of Fred Spath; John H.; Ida, wife of John Voght; Clara, wife of Jacob Urschel; George, a farmer in Wabash county; Teresa, wife of Philip Schenkel.

Mr. John H. Sell grew up on the old farm in Warren township, was reared in a home of substantial comfort, though with no luxury, and went through the usual discipline of farmer boys in that vicinity, attending school during the winter, and assisting in the plowing and planting and other farm work during the summer months.

In 1893 Mr. Sell married Miss Sarah Eberhart, who was born in Wabash county, and like her husband received a common school education. After their marriage Mr. Sell was employed in a sawmill at Bippus, and then engaged in farming on his present place. He and his wife have become the parents of six children, mentioned briefly as follows: Lulu M., born September 14, 1894, and a graduate of the common schools; William E., born August 4, 1896, a graduate of the grade schools and of Bippus high school; Iva I., born February 4, 1898, now a student in high school; Harmon L., born August 11, 1900; Edward A., born February 29, 1904; Woodrow W., born July 15, 1913.

l As the name of his last child would indicate, Mr. Sell is a loyal Democrat, and an enthusiastic admirer of the now incumbent president of the United States. He has served in the office of deputy assessor in Warren township, in 1910 was elected a member of the township advisory board, and in 1914 was appointed trustee of Warren township. Mr. Sell is a director in the Bippus State Bank, and as a general farmer and stock raiser carries on a flourishing industry on his land. He and his family are members of the German Evangelical church at Bippus, and he is one of its deacons.

Jacos WETTERS is one of the farmers of Huntington county, and one whose success has been won entirely as the result of his own well directed efforts. He had very little capital when he started in life at the age of twenty-one, and his subsequent accumulations has placed him among the substantial citizens of Warren township. Mr. Wetters is owner of one of the fine farms in that township, known as the Pine Grove Farm, consisting of eighty acres and located three miles east of Bippus and six and a half miles northwest of Huntington, in section twenty-four. It is a splendidly improved farm, but Mr. Wetters also has one hundred and thirty-five acres situated in Clear Creek township. Nearly all this farm property represents his individual accumulation, since he and his wife started out more than forty years ago.

Mr. Wetters belongs to one of the older families of Huntington county. He was himself born in Wayne county, Ohio, February 5, 1842, a son of Jacob and Kingold (Howenstine) Wetters. Both parents were natives of Germany, where they were married and came to America and after some time spent in Ohio moved to Huntington county, Indiana, in the year 1842, soon after the birth of their son Jacob. They located in Warren township, and stayed there until their death. The father, who was a member of the Lutheran church, was a quiet man in his relations with the community but possessed a reputation for honesty and integrity, and was one of the original Republican voters in this township. There were seven children and six are now living, as follows: Maria, widow of Jacob Kettering, of Huntington; Jacob; William, a farmer of Warren township; Lizzie, wife of Peter Michel of Warren township; Henry of Bippus; Anna, wife of Christ Walters of Wabash county.

Jacob Wetters was reared in Warren township, and his education was supplied by the district schools of the character which could be found in this county fifty and sixty years ago. His home was with his father until he was twenty-one years of age, and as already stated he began on practically nothing.

In 1869 he married Charlotte A. Rice of Wayne county, Ohio. Mr. Wetters and wife have two living children: William F. Wetters of Clear Creek township; and John Wetters of the same township.

The family worship at the Lutheran church at Funk. In politics he is a republican, and has taken considerable part in township and county affairs.

Grorce D. ELLIS is numbered among those who in recent years have contributed to the agricultural growth, development and importance in Huntington county, and at this time is cultivating a handsome property in Rock Creek township. He has spent his entire life in this community and his activities have not'alone placed him among the substantial farmers of the county, but have been carried on in such a straightforward manner as to gain the respect and esteem of those with whom he has been brought into contact. Mr. Ellis was born in Lancaster township, Huntington county, Indiana, April 18, 1874, and is a son of Clinton C. and Mary E. (McGovney) Ellis. l

Clinton C. Ellis was born in Adams county, Ohio, and came to Huntington county, Indiana, in young manhood. He became the proprietor of a drug business at Mount Etna, and was also the owner of a handsome farm in Lancaster township. He was a man of industry and energy, and accumulated a competency through honorable dealing. Mr. Ellis passed away February 19, 1910, while the mother still survives and makes her home in Majenica. They were the parents of six children, of whom five survive: Belle, who is the wife of J. ©. Kitch, of Huntington, Indiana; William L., a resident of Lancaster township ; J. F., also of Lancaster township; Ella, who is deceased; George D.; and Jesse, of Huntington.

George D. Ellis was born on the old family farm in Lancaster township, and was there reared to manhood, his education being secured during the winter terms in the district schools, which he attended until reaching the age of eighteen years. He continued at home as his father's assistant until he was twenty-three years of age, and at that time, September 4, 1897, was married to Miss Sarah E. Fist, who was born and reared in Lancaster township and educated in the public schools and the Huntington high school. After their marriage they moved to Rock Creek township and settled on the farm on which they now reside, a tract of 160 acres of excellent land which has been brought to a high state of cultivation. To be recognized as a useful and constructive citizen of a community in these modern days of intelligent competition means something, and that a citizen is so brought forward is usually 'disclosed by investigation to mean that he possesses abilities and qualifications of a high order. Mr. Ellis is known as a progressive and energetic citizen, who has the welfare of his community at heart, and as a business man whose dealings have ever been of a strictly legitimate character. He has shown much interest in stockraising, and in this line has won a full measure of prosperity.

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ellis, namely: Edna, a graduate of the common schools and now a student in the Rock Creek Center High school; Walter, twelve years of age, and Martin, eight years old, the latter two attending the graded schools. The members of the family attend the Methodist Episcopal church at Majenica, Mr. Ellis being a member of the board of trustees thereof. He is a democrat in his political views, but has not cared to enter public life, preferring to devote his entire time and attention to his agricultural activities. Diligent and persevering in all his labors, he has brought himself to a high place in the community in which he has made his home for so long, and is entitled to the respect and esteem in which he is universally held.

CuHarLes W. Meyer. That Huntington county has been prominent in agriculture during recent years is due not to the labors of one man or group of men, but to the aggregate endeavor of many. Among those who have been leaders in this work and have pushed forward the wheels of progress is Charles W. Meyer, a representative agriculturist and highly esteemed citizen of Rock Creek township, who is the owner of 173 acres of land and is proud of the fact that he has accumulated all of it through the force of his own well-directed efforts. He has been a resident of his present community since 1901, and during this time has identified himself with every movement calculated to benefit his community, the welfare of which he has ever held at heart. Mr. Meyer was born in Tipton county, Indiana, on February 28, 1864, and is a son of Charles F. and Margaret (Wygant) Meyer.

Charles F. Meyer was born in Germany and as a young man emigrated to the United States, believing that in this country could be found greater opportunities for success. Here he met and married Margaret Wygant, who had come to the United States in young womanhood, and they began housekeeping in Tipton county where Mr. Meyer continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits until the time of his death in 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer were the parents of seven children, of whom six are living: Henry, who is the owner of a farm in Laneaster township; John, living at Tipton, Indiana; Matilda, who is the wife of Joseph Glass, of Elwood, Indiana; Charles W.; Emma, who is the wife of William Wymer, of Tipton county, Indiana; and William, also of Tipton county.

Charles W. Meyer was born in the family homestead in Tipton county, and grew up a farmer, his boyhood being passed much in the same manner as that of other farmers' sons of his day and vicinity. The long summer months were spent in the tasks pertaining to the operation of the home farm, and during the short winter terms the lad attended the district schools, this latter training being later supplemented by attendance at the high school. He remained under the parental roof until he was twenty-three years of age, at which time he began agricultural operations on his own account. He was married in 1890 to Miss Emma Schall, who was born and reared in Tipton county and educated in the common schools. In 1901 Mr. Meyer sold his farm in Tipton county and came to Huntington county, purchasing his present property of 173 acres, section 18, Rock Creek township. This he has brought up to a high state of cultivation and has improved it with numerous buildings, including the handsome country residence, built by Mr. Meyer in 1909 and finished in quarter sawed oak. He is a general farmer and is known to be progressive, enterprising and industrious, and, although a quiet, unassuming man, exerts a distinct influence for good in his community. In polities he is a democrat, but public life has held out no attractions to him, and he has been content to devote his energies to the successful tilling of his land. Fraternally, he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Warren, Indiana, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Huntington. His religious belief is that of the Lutheran church, and Mrs. Meyer is a Methodist.

Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have one daughter, Opal Ruth, a graduate of the public schools and now the wife of Clive W. Summers, who is assisting his father-in-law in the cultivation of the farm.

Davin CuAamness. After a long and honorable career spent in agricultural pursuits, David Chamness is spending his declining years at his comfortable home, located one-half mile south of the city of Andrews, in Dallas township. He is a veteran of the great Civil war, and whether in war or in peace he has always shown himself an upright, loyal and useful citizen. He was born in Wayne county, Indiana, March 14, 1841, and is a son of William and Mahalia (Heaston) Chamness. His mother, a sister of Israel H. Heaston, of Huntington, Indiana, was born in Ohio, but came to Indiana as a child with her parents and grew to womanhood in Wayne county, where she met and married Mr. Chamness. Mr. Chamness was a native of North Carolina, and after his marriage removed to Wayne county, where he met an accidental death, following which she was married to Benjamin Kauffman, the father of J. H. Kauffman, of Andrews, Indiana.

David Chamness was reared by: his stepfather and secured his education in the public school. He was brought up a farmer, and during the Civil war became a soldier in the Union army, enlisting July 4, 1863, in Company F, One Hundred and Eighteenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, from Wabash county, which organization saw active service in several hard-fought engagements. At the expiration of his term of service, Mr. Chamness received his honorable discharge and returned to his native county, where he again engaged in tilling the soil. He.has been married three times, his first two wives living but a short time after their marriage. On December 29, 1866, he married Susan Jones, who was born in Randolph county, Indiana, in 1845, and removed with her parents to Wells county in December, 1846, the family settling on a farm in Chester township. There Mrs. Chamness received her education in the public schools and resided at home until her marriage. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Chamness, of whom eight are living at this time: Alma, who became the wife of Tobias McClintock; Catherine, who is the wife of John P. Shutt, of Lancaster township, this county; John, who married Mrs. Stech; Cary, who married Ella Lantz; William, who married Mary Gehris; Mahalia, who is the wife of Charles Losson ; James, who married Zelda Poulson, and resides in Wells county; and Mary E., who is the wife-of George Miller, of Dallas township.

Mr. Chamness made the occupation to which he was reared his life work, and through his diligence, energy and perseverance gradually worked his way upward to prosperity. At this time he is living somewhat retired from active life, although he still owns a small farm south of Andrews. He has ever been known as a man of the utmost integrity and probity, and is held in high esteem by those who have come in contact with him. In political matters he is a republican, but he has not been an office seeker, preferring the peaceful occupation of the agriculturist to the hazardous activities of public life. He still enjoys meeting his old comrades of the army and is a valued member of Andrews Post, No. 116, Grand Army of the Republic. With his wife and children he is a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

SIMON SUMMERS. Just as there are specialists in medicine, in the law, and in business and industry, so likewise does farming lend itself to specialization and many of the most successful men have devoted themselves to some one particular branch of their vocation. It is as a specialist in the raising of fine hogs that Simon Summers is deserving of special space in a history of Huntington county. Mr. Summers has done almost equally as well as a sheep breeder and in the way of general farming has a standing among his neighbors that the Pleasant Valley Stock Farm, in Rock Creek township, is especially well known for its Poland-China hogs. Pleasant Valley farm comprises one hundred acres of land, is located in section 3 of Rock Creek township, two and a half miles west of Markle, and on the rural free delivery route No. 4 out of Huntington. It was in the summer of 1879 that Mr. Summers bought his first brood sow. From a small beginning and as a man at that time in somewhat narrow circumstances, Mr. Summers has gradually widened his scope of operations and prospered, always keeping the finest of stock and of registered pedigree. At the present time he is one of the oldest breeders of hogs in the state and has bred and sold more hogs of his own than any other Indiana citizen. Many years ago he bought a small nucleus of four pigs, and except for the necessary introduction of new blood he has raised practically all his own stock and on his own farm. Mr. Summers -has held twenty-six public sales at his farm, and at this writing is preparing for the twenty-seventh annual sale. In 1908 he extended his operations by bringing in a flock of pureblooded Shropshire sheep, having several imported ewes and two fine Shropshire rams, all bred in England. It should also be mentioned that Mr. Summers takes much interest in chicken raising and has some fancy fowl on his farm. Many of his animals have been exhibited at fairs and other stock shows, and from 1879 down to the present time he has usually been an exhibitor.

Simon Summers was born in Fayette county, Indiana, August 31, 1853, a son of Golvin and Sarah J. (Trusler) Summers. His mother is now deceased and his father, who is living in Rock Creek township, has had a long and prosperous career as a farmer in Huntington county. He and his wife started out in very modest circumstances, and eventually came to be numbered among the largest owners of land in the county. There were nine children and further details concerning this well known family will be found in the sketch of James Summers elsewhere in this work.

Simon Summers was twelve years old when the family located on a farm in Union township of Huntington county, and he was reared there and in Rock Creek township, receiving his education in the district school. He continued at home and worked for his father until he was with Cora B. Lawrence. When they started out they had a very small capital and went in debt forsthe first forty acres which they purchased in Rock Creek township. Their united enterprise soon enabled them to pay off all their obligations and afterwards they added sixty acres more and as the years have gone by no family in Rock Creek township has enjoyed more of the comforts of life and the rewards. of business efforts than that of Simon Summers. Mr. and Mrs. Summers are the parents of two daughters: Leona, who was educated in the common schools and is the wife of David R. Gizer, of Wells county, and they have four children. Ethel K. is the wife of William Zimmerlee, who lives on the farm with Mr. Summers, and they are the parents of two children. i

Mr. Summers has membership by virtue of his extensive operations as a stockman, in the American Shropshire Association, which has a total membership in this country of about six thousand sheep raisers. He is also a memìber of the Sheep Breeders and Wool Growers Association of Indiana. Mr. Summers is thoroughly posted as a raiser and breeder of hogs and sheep, and has acted in the capacity of judge of various affairs. Politically he is a democrat, but outside of his farming interests and his ready support of all movements for the welfare of his home locality he is not afflicted with any aspirations for public position.

Grorce I. Roperrs. Lying in the midst of the great oil fields of Indiana, in sections 33 and 34, Jefferson township, one mile south and five miles west of Warren, Huntington county, and two and one-half miles south of Van Buren, Grant county, is found the finely cultivated farming property belonging to George I. Roberts, a substantial citizen. Mr. Roberts belongs to a family which has resided in Huntington county since 1849, and has himself been a resident here for sixty years, having been an eye-witness to and a participant in the wonderful changes which have made this one of the most prosperous sections of the state. He has devoted his life to tilling the soil and through conscientious and well-applied effort has become one of the representative farmers of the county.

Mr. Roberts was born February 24, 1854, in Jefferson township, Huntington county, and is a son of Samuel and Mariah (Wiley) Roberts, who came to this county from Darke county, Ohio, about 1849, and located in section 23, Jefferson township, there settling in the midst of the timber. The original family home was a primitive log cabin, but this was later replaced by a brick residence, which is still standing on the old homestead. Samuel Roberts was a plain, unassuming man, an industrious worker who elected to concentrate his energies upon the tilling of his land and the making of a home, caring little for the struggles of the political arena or the activities of public life, save as they affected his immediate community. He led a peaceful, useful and uneventful life, but won and retained the confidence of his community through his industry, integrity and loyalty to friendships. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, as follows: Wiliam W., Sarah L., Nancy, George I., Linzy, Aurilla and Jasper, 'of whom Nancy is now deceased.