Wabash County, Indiana - The whole text, 1914 (part 5 of 16)

Jacob A. Shultz is a son of George and Catherine (Karns) Shultz, early residents of Lagro township. Catherine Karns who was born in Switzerland, came to the United States with her parents, who located in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where she married George Shultz. The latter came to the United States from Germany, with his parents, Peter Shultz and wife, who also settled in Tuscarawas county, Ohio. George and Catherine, following their marriage, moved to Indiana, and the Shultz family came at the same time. They all located in Lagro township of Wabash county, and the Karns family came and settled there soon after¬ wards. George Shultz bought a tract of land from the government, paying a dollar and a quarter per acre. That tract in itself indicates the early settlement in this vicinity, and a traveler in those days could drive for miles through the woods and across the swamps, and seldom see a cabin or a clearing. The land office was at Fort Wayne, and George Shultz went there to make his entry and pay his land office fee. Fort Wayne itself was then in the woods, and most of the houses of this section of Indiana were of logs. There were few, if any, good roads in this part of the state, and the swamps made it necessary for the settlers to follow devious routes in order to reach market. About 1870 George and Catherine Shultz moved to Paw Paw township, where he died about six years later at the age of fifty -five. Catherine Shultz died in Paw Paw township on the old farm about 1888. George Shultz at the time of his death owned several valuable farms, one of five hundred and twenty acres in Lagro township, one of one hundred and sixty acres in Noble township, and one hundred and twenty-eight acres in Paw Paw township. He was a self-made man in the fullest sense of the term, coming here without any means and dying a comparatively wealthy man. He and his wife were the parents of eleven children, the first dying in infancy, and the others mentioned as follows: Elizabeth, deceased; Catherine; Peter, who went west and was not again heard of; Sophia, deceased; Jacob A.; Mary; Philomena, deceased; Sarah, deceased; George, deceased; Fred, deceased.

Jacob A. Shultz was born on the Shultz farm in Lagro township, land which his father had taken up from the government, grew up in that locality, attended the public schools at Urbana, about two months each winter, and as soon as his strength permitted he was given all he could do in the varied duties of the farm, and also did his share of the clearing and improving. When he was a boy of about thirteen, the family moved to Paw Paw township, and he lived at home until after his marriage. In the fall following that event he bought one hundred and thirty acres, and began farming for himself. His father-in-law, Asa Kanower, owned thirty acres adjoining, and Mr. Shultz later bought that place giving him a full quarter section of land. His steady industry gradually wrought many changes in the land, it was thoroughly culti¬ vated, the low places were tiled, and the farm came to be esteemed as one of the most productive in the township. General farming has been the line chiefly followed by Mr. Shultz, and after he had spent about twenty-six years on his original homestead, he decided to retire and let his sons work the land on shares. Therefore he bought his present place of seventy-six acres at Urbana, on the west side of the Manchester Pike, remodeled the house until it has become a large modern residence, and has since lived there in comfort, busied only with the supervision of his varied interests.

In the spring of 1881, Jacob A. Shultz was married to Mary L. Kanower, a daughter of Asa and Jemima Kanower. Her father is now deceased. To their marriage have been born four children, as follows: Homer F., who married Lucy Helkema, a native of Holland, and they reside in Noble township, and have one child, Nada; Clarence F., who manages his father's farm; Naomi and Nondus, twins. Naomi is Mrs. Charles Kefaber, a resident of Chester township, and they have two children, Ruth and Kenneth; Nondus is Mrs. Ezra Pretorius, and they live on a farm in Lagro township, and have one child, Josephine. Like his father before him, Jacob A. Schultz is a strong democrat. Although his father for his time was quite prosperous and gave his children all a start in the world, Jacob A. has made a fine success outside of what his father was able to give him. It is such men as Mr. Shultz who have made Wabash county what it is today.

Samuel Amber. Steady industry, when combined with honorable methods, invariably results in the establishment of a high record in the business world, and in no line is this more true than in that pertain¬ ing to the furnishing of food stuffs. Samuel Amber is well known in this connection, being the proprietor of a general store and bakery at Urbana, where he also conducts one of the most popular hostelries in this section, the Hotel Central. He has spent his entire life within the limits of Wabash county, and by reason of his industry, perseverance and integrity has risen to a high place in the esteem of those who have come into contact with him in a business way. Mr. Amber was born November 8, 1859, on the old homestead farm located one-half mile west of Urbana, Indiana, and is a son of Robert and Parmelia (Freeman) Amber.

Mr. Amber's parents came to Indiana when still young people and were married in this state and settled down to farming, a vocation which Mr. Amber followed all of his life. He was a man of excellent education, possessed great reasoning power, and was noted for his remarkable memory. His success as a self-made business man caused him to be called upon frequently to settle up the affairs of others, and for many years he served as a justice of the peace. He died in 1898.

Mrs. Amber, who survives her husband, is now one of the oldest women of her township. In an entertaining and instructive manner she recalls numerous incidents and experiences of pioneer life in Indiana, when only the strong, courageous and self-reliant were able to cope with con¬ ditions as they were found. At the time of her arrival deer, wolves, small game and bear were found, Indians still roamed the forests, neigh¬ bors were far apart and homes, schools and churches were of the most primitive kind. Travel was by horseback or wagon, it being many years before the steam horse worked its way into the fastnesses of the wilder¬ ness; telephones were still a thing of the distant future, the hand plow and cradle were still in use, and the many amusements of today were represented by an occasional visit to the home of a far-distant friend. Mrs. Amber has lived through a remarkable period of transformation, and has been granted the privilege of witnessing the most phenomenal period of her state's development. In spite of advanced years she is alert and active, in possession of her faculties, and takes a keen interest in all that goes on about her. She has been the mother of twelve children, of whom the following are living : Maggie, who is the wife of Lawrence Thompson ; Margarey, who is now Mrs. Charles Stewart ; Samuel, of this review ; Emanuel ; Matilda, who is the wife of Grant Long ; and Mary.

Samuel Amber was about three years of age when the family moved to a farm two miles west of Urbana, and there he attended the district school until reaching the eighth grade. In the meantime he assisted his father in the work of the home farm, and after completing his education remained with the elder man until he purchased a property of his own, this being a tract of forty acres near the home place. Upon selling this, some time later, he invested in sixty acres of land three miles west of Urbana, and this continued to be his home for ten years, when he sold it and bought forty acres two miles west and one-half mile south of Urbana, where he also remained for ten years. During all this time Mr. Amber had followed general farming, using modern methods and making his land pay him handsomely for the work he expended upon it. He also made a specialty of Poland-China hogs, and for twenty years was a leading exhibitor at the various state and county fairs, where his animals took many prizes. In 1910 Mr. Amber disposed of his agricultural interests and came to Urbana, and in that same year took over the Hotel Central from his son, Jesse, who has since been engaged in farming. At that time he also erected the building for his store and bakery, the latter being the first exclusive bakery at this point. From this establishment Mr. Amber supplies various merchants all over this part of the county, and in addition has a large family trade, the excellence of the bread, pies, cakes and delicacies having gained a wide¬ spread reputation. Although Mr. Amber has devoted a large amount of his time and attention to this store, it is his frequent remark that the real head of the business is his daughter, Miss May me Amber, whose ready smile, courteous manner and constant desire to please have gained numerous friends for the store while making her personally very popular. She has made a close study of every detail of the business, which she has constantly at her finger-tips, and her father never hesitates to consult her judgment, which experience has shown him is of the best. To Mrs. Amber must be given the credit for much of the success of the hotel. The tired and hungry traveler, with digestion ruined by ordinary hotel cooking, sits down to one of her famous chicken dinners, country style, with expectation, and arises therefrom with a smile of complete satisfac¬ tion. Commercial men have been known to alter their routes completely in order that they may make Urbana and the Hotel Central at least once a trip. There can be no happier connection than that which exists between members of a family and in which all are possessed of the ability to do their share. It is because of this that the Ambers are so well known in this part of the county, where the name has ever stood for upright living and honorable dealing.

In December, 1880, Mr. Amber was married to Miss Carrie Gurtner, who was bora north of Wabash, Indiana, and whose parents came from Switzerland. , To this union there have been born the following children : Daisy, deceased, who married Ben Hiner and had two children, Vera and Oma; Jesse, who married Lucy Brannan, and has two children, Muriel and Kenneth; Mayme, who is her father's capable assistant in the bakery; Hazel, who married Prof. Paul Stone, a well-known educator in the Urbana High school, and has one son, Robert, and an infant daughter, Josephine; and Velma and Virginia, who reside at home with their parents. Mr. Amber is essentially a home man, and is never as happy as when in the midst of his family, yet he is not indifferent to the pleasures of companionship among his fellows, and is a popular member of Banner Tent No. 70, Knights of the Maccabees, at Urbana. His political belief coincides with that of the republican party, but he has never been an office seeker, and his interest in public matters is con¬ fined to that of any good citizen who has the welfare of his community at heart.

Mark Stratton. No one man was a larger factor for good in the making of Wabash County, than Mark Stratton. All his mental force and physical vigor were devoted to upbuilding and establishing a high Christian and educational standard in his county ; and toward the build¬ ing of good churches, school houses, bridges and roads. As an ordained minister of the gospel, as School Director and County Commissioner, he served his friends and neighbors with all his heart. He delighted in educated children, sleek stock, and clean fields. He believed in beau¬ tiful homes, gardens and orchards, and worked always toward making his farm an example of what he considered all country homes should be. He was never too busy with harvesting and garnering outstanding crops to include in his day's work mowing a lawn or hauling woods dirt to fertilize* a flower bed. He never gave an order for fruit trees for his orchards, that did not include bulbs, vines and bushes for his dooryard. Unfailingly he lived in his daily life, with scrupulous exactitude, each tenet and precept he preached to others. His word was his bond, and no man can point out an instance in which he ever broke it.

His lineage as traced by himself for me, is as follows: "All Strattons are descended from ancient titled British families, one Duke Robert Stratton having been a famous warrior during the reign of William and Mary of Orange. Burke's Peerage gives eight different families in England and Foster's eleven. Each of these has its crest and all Amer¬ ican Strattons are descended from one of these lines. The Earl of Northbrook of Stratton House, Hampshire, is the present head of our branch of the family. The crest is a warrior's shield bearing three shells, each of which stands for a crusade to the Holy City, and a perch¬ ing falcon, wrhich is a bird of prey, the motto, 'surgere tento,' we strive to conquer; this indicates that the heads of the family were warriors, but the heads of all British families of rank were fighters in those days. I was named for an ancestor Mark Stratton, who came from England in early day and settled on Stratton Island, which was later corrupted to Staten Island; afterward he moved to northern New Jersey. He mar¬ ried a woman named Ann Hancock, traditions of whose wonderful beauty were constantly repeated in my childhood. She also had two .sisters who were considered equally as lovely. They were always spoken of as 'the beautiful Hancock sisters.' Said Stratton had three sons, named Daniel, David and Thomas. Daniel, your great-grandfather, settled in Vernon Township, Sussex County, northern New Jersey, about fifty miles west of New York. He was a New Jersey coastguard from Sussex County during the Revolution. It was he, who about the year 1758 made from black walnut lumber the dove-tailed chest he bequeathed to your grandfather, who gave it to me, and which I have given to you. He always proudly referred to it as having been made, 'without a hammer or nail. '

''In the early history of the country, your great-grandfather's brothers, David and Thomas settled in Beaver Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, wrhere both reared large families. Thomas was a sol¬ dier during the Revolutionary War and was on a Pennsylvania pension list. Your great-grandfather, Daniel, had three sons, John, David and Joseph, who later settled respectively in Richland, Huron and Wayne Counties, Ohio. The youngest, Joseph, was born in 1788; he was mar¬ ried and lived for a time in Sussex County, Vernon Township, north New Jersey, where I was born. Afterward he moved to Canaan Town¬ ship, Wayne County, where he reared a family of twelve children. He died in 1836. He was a schoolmaster in winter and a carpenter in sum¬ mer. He used especial care in the drilling of his own children. One of his daughters was a poet of some local fame, and another twice in her life before a committee performed the wonderful mental feat of repeating the entire Bible from memory." Mark Stratton could do the same with the exception of the Book of Generations. He always said he considered learning this a "waste of grey matter." One instance of his Biblical knowledge will perhaps be recalled by Dr. Charles Little, who was present. At a meeting of the Presbyterian Synod of Wabash, the Moderator was delivering a sermon before an audience of ministers from .all parts of the country. My father was present. During his discourse the Moderator, who was an elderly man, started a Biblical quotation and his memory failed. He appealed to his audience to give him the chapter and verse that he might make the quotation correctly. No one spoke. "Brethren,' ' said the Moderator, "This is worse on you than it is on me. Once I knew ; I am now an old man and my memory is treacherous. I can be excused; but most of you are young men ; you should know; Can none of you help me?" No one answered. "Then," said the Moderator, "I appeal to the audience. Is there a man in this church who can direct met"

In telling me of the occurrence afterward, my father said, "I could have told him the instant he asked, but it was not my place to speak when he made his appeal to the ministers of his own denomination. When they failed and he called on the audience, I waited what I con¬ sidered a reasonable and modest time on the others, and then I said: "You will find the lines in Isaiah, first chapter and seventeenth verse." "Thank you!" said the Moderator, and finished his discourse. After the services Dr. Little came to me and said the Moderator desired to meet me, and I have just come from dining with him at the Tremont. We had a glorious time. ' 9

His face was radiant. I was so proud and so pleased, with the thoughtlessness of a school girl, I threw my arms around his neck and cried: "Oh, Father, you were the smartest man there!" Instantly all the light went from his face, he put me from him and turned away saying: "Child! Child! If I have produced any such impression, I have told my story very badly. ' ' Then I would have given anything to have recalled my hasty words, for I had spoiled his joy in his great day.

He was born a student, eagerly reading every good book to which he had access and never forgetting a fact or date which he wished to retain in memory. His first work from home was undertaken to buy books which he read by the light of hickory knots burned on the hearth¬ stone. All his life he found time to spend several hours a day with a book, always reading while other men lounged or slept at the noon hour, and in the evening. He was a man of fine physique and perfect health, his physical vigor being such that at the age of seventy-eight he could read ordinary newspaper print by the hour without glasses. Standing beside his body in his last sleep one of his children remarked that the greatest pity of his death was that all he knew should perish with him.

He was born in Sussex County, Vernon Township, north New Jersey, September twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred twelve, and at an early age moved from there to Wayne County, Ohio, settling north of Wooster. There he met and married Mary Shellenbarger, who was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, March eleventh, eighteen hundred sixteen. Their wedding took place on Christmas Day, eighteen hundred thirty-five. In eighteen hundred thirty-eight they moved to Kosciusko County on the northern boundary of Wabash, purchasing two hundred and forty acres in what was known as the Eel River section. In eighteen hundred fortyeight they sold this land and moved to Lagro Township, Wabash County, where they purchased two hundred and forty acres from Daniel Sayer. There they built a commodious country home and lived for twenty-six years in as full joy as is ever had on land. To them were born twelve children of whom seven are still living.

Mark Stratton joined the Methodist Episcopal Church at the age of fifteen, and became an ordained minister in eighteen hundred fiftyseven. After a week of hard work in the fields he would ride from five to twenty miles on Sunday to preach at some settlement not having a minister. He also found time to hold and to give his best efforts to such offices as County Trustee and Commissioner; refusing, however, to allow his name to be used for any office that would require his absence from home. He said it was the duty of any man who had fathered twelve children to remain at home and do his best to rear them prop¬ erly; then if any strayed in later life, he need not feel that it was his fault.

He gave enough land from a cross roads corner of his farm for the site of a combined church and schoolhouse, and a cemetery ; and assisted with material and labor in building. This church he named "Hopewell," after the home of his British ancestors, the same name having been used by settlements of his kinsmen in New Jersey and Virginia, In this church, as Sunday School Superintendent, as Steward, Trustee and Ordained Minister, he worked with all his mind and heart for the upbuilding of his chosen home. Later, as the community grew and prospered, a brick school house was built on a diagonal corner on the land of Christian Hipp, and then a commodious brick church was erected on the Stratton land, where the cemetery was enlarged, surveyed and laid off in regularly platted lots. This was an innovation, as up to that time the dead had been laid in rows with small effort to keep families together.

Mrs. Stratton was a devoted wife and mother, a fine housekeeper and a famous cook. She delighted in having a crowd of friends around her and heaping her table with choice food. She was an earnest church worker, generous with those less prosperous than she; and a neighbor who never failed to answer a call for assistance in times of sickness or trouble, often riding long distances at night through snow and rain, to help comfort those in distress. She had a joyous heart; she met her world with a serene and smiling face. Her own troubles she kept be¬ tween closed lips, and told them only in her closet. Always, with stout heart she stood shoulder to shoulder with her husband, and helped his every effort to live the life he deemed suitable for a strong, manly man. In September of eighteen hundred seventy-four, they moved to Wabash, where Mrs. Stratton lived only a few months. Part of the family have resided there ever since. She died February third, eighteen hundred seventy-five, from the results of nursing several of her children through typhoid fever, contracted by one of her sons studying law in a distant city.

log cabins, where food was cooked over open fires ; to steam heated resi¬ dences with the modern conveniences of gas and electricity. Surrounded by many of these comforts in his latest days he loved to talk of pioneer experiences.

One early day incident that my father often recalled always amused me very much. The Wabash Railway was in the course of construction; word had been sent out that at a certain hour the first passenger train would be run over the line, not many miles from our home. Father took his gun and crossed the woods to where the line ran closest to us, east of LaGro. On the way he met an old hunter he knew, who spent his life in the woods. This man had been for months on a hunting trip in the wilds of Michigan and had not heard of the railway. Father invited him to accompany him to see the first train. 4 'After we had waited perhaps an hour, there came a curious, rumbling, humming sound ; this grew and swelled in volume; the big black engine came tearing down the track; the headlight was glaring in the sun. We wTere sitting on the embankment; but as the train neared us, old Joe leaped to his feet and started to run, but I cried to him to wait and see the train, so he stopped and stood while it roared and thundered past. As it vanished,

His own sketch of some early incidents strongly impressed upon his memory, and written out for a former Wabash County history cannot fail to be of interest.

"When I came to the region, Eel River Valley was almost an utter wilderness. I traveled through portions of it east of Manchester for fourteen miles without seeing a solitary cabin or a single shelter; the wild and trackless forest being wholly unbroken. Turkeys and deer and 0 black and gray wolves and bears were very plenty. Rattlesnakes had been exceedingly abundant in dens among the rocks in the bluffs of the rivers and creeks. One den was near Rattlesnake Springs, half a mile above the town of LaGro, in the bluff on the north side of the river and the canal. There was one also on the Salaraonie River (near Dora) in South LaGro. Michael Minnick, the first settler (perhaps) when he drove into that neighborhood with his wife and children, and wagons containing his household goods, with some other men in company, under¬ took to fix a camp for themselves, but they found the rattlesnakes so numerous that they moved forward again. Trying once more to make a camping place, they still found the rattlesnakes in possession, and this time they began warfare of human against reptile life, and resolutely killed eighteen; sleeping finally in their wagons, instead of making, as had been their custom, a resting place upon the surface of Mother Earth. West of LaGro, w'here the canal bends round the points of rocks, John Russell, who was and is one of the earliest pioneers of LaGro Town¬ ship, and who worked for years upon the canal during its construction, says that in blasting the bluff there during the winter they came upon an immense den of rattlesnakes, and that they loaded them, stiffened and benumbed with the severe cold as they then were, with the rock and dirt, and dumped them 'by cart-loads' into the embankment of the canal.' 9 (In Pennsylvania, at one time, where there was an entrance and a place of exit for an incredible number of these fearful and venom¬ ous monsters, the people built a huge fence around the mouth of the den, thus enabling the settlers both to confine and destroy the hideous creatures. See also the account of the "rattlesnakes' den," in the bluffs of Rush Creek, near New Holland, in South LaGro.) Mr. Stratton says further : "I never was a hunter ; I never shot at a deer but once in my life, killing that, however, instantly. I once chased a young fawn for a long time, catching it at last when nearly worried down. I came upon the little creature suddenly, when it started up nimbly and I after it. It ran in circles, and I followed in pursuit, when at last it sprang against a log, stumbled and fell. Before the frightened fawn could recover, I seized and held it fast.

"One morning early, I left my cabin north of Manchester, in com¬ pany with Joseph Noftsker and John Shellenbarger, my wife's oldest brother, to show them the country. We passed on through the forest, some three and one-half miles, to the place where now stands the Butterbaugh Schoolhouse, then however, all heavy woods being on the Wabash and Kosciusko County line. While standing and viewing the forest, we heard a rustling, and looking in that direction saw four bears, an old she-bear and three cubs, or young bears (as large as middling¬ sized hogs), passing along in a course which would bring them within a short distance of where we were standing, but southward from the spot at which we were. They came on until they were perhaps fifty yards away ; we had no gun, and might well enough have left the group unmo¬ lested, on the principle of 'Laissez faire,' 'you let us alone, we let you alone.' But not so; we sprang toward the bears, yelling with all our might; suddenly the old mother-bear turned her face toward us and squatting upon her haunches and throwing up her fore paws, she sat thus, with her mouth open; as much as to say, 'Come on if you dare/ Her cubs meanwhile 'treed' instantly, all climbing the same tree; this done, the old bear trotted off as fast as she could waddle. Well, we wished to kill the bears, so, leaving the other two men to watch the game, I went, mostly ' on the run, ' to Samuel Bussard 's, who lived about a mile distant, for a gun and for more help. I found Mr. Bussard, as also Samuel Hammond, a neighbor, there, the latter on horseback, and they were greatly elated by my story. Mr. Bussard snatched his gun, ready loaded, and his ammunition. Mr. Hammond giving me his horse because I had become exhausted by running, started with his neighbor, and together they hurried, running like scampering school boys, skipping and bound¬ ing over logs as they went, eager to reach the spot. The two who had been watching the bears said the old one had come back once to find and rescue her cubs, but had been frightened off again. Our plan was to shoot and cripple one of the young fellows in the tree, and having brought him down, to pinch and tease him to make him squeal, and thus cause the mother to come to his relief, so as to get her, too, within range and reach of the gun. That part of the plan, however, did not succeed. Mr. Bussard took the first shot, because he was the owner of the gun ; Noftsker shot the second time, because he wished to be able te tell his neighbors when he got back to Ohio, that he had killed a bear; and Hammond drew trigger the third and last time, and every shot killed a, bear. Mr. Bussard's shot killed one of the cubs dead, dead, dead; it did not even struggle or move a particle after it struck the ground. Noftsker, taking the rifle, drew up, and he, too, made a sure shot, and his game fell lifeless to the earth. Hammond took a slow and cautious aim, and drawing trigger, down came the third also, and he, too, was dead. None of them made any noise, and we saw no more of the old bear. The hides of the young cubs were quickly stripped from the dead bodies, and the carcasses were left to rot upon the ground, or for the poor old mother to drag away, and we went on and finished looking at the land.

"When I came first from Ohio to look for land in Indiana in the winter of 1838 (January), I traveled during the trip on foot seven hundred miles; starting from Wayne County, Ohio, north of Wooster, I came on through Central and Northwestern Ohio to Perrysburg, on the Maumee River, above Toledo, Ohio ; thence to Fort Wayne and Hunt¬ ington, and westward, selecting finally the land which I afterwards entered. Returning to Fort Wayne, I passed on to St. Mary's and on¬ ward through Western Ohio to Twin Creek, below Dayton; thence to* Lewisburg and so to Piqua and Wapakoneta and Fort Findlay, and thence home to Wayne County, Ohio. The jaunt took something over a month, being performed on foot of course, since (as the Irishman said) that was decidedly the 'natest and chapest' way of getting about."

Gene Stratton-Porter. It will always be a matter of pride in this community that on one of Wabash county's farms was born an author whose works have justified her position as one of the most popular American writers of the present generation.

A daughter of Mark Stratton, whose career Mrs. Porter has made a subject for one of the most interesting biographies in this publication, Gene Stratton was born on her father's homestead in this county, and received her education under private instruction. At Wabash on April 22, 1886, she married Charles Darwin Porter, who was educated in Savannah College, and was a son of Dr. John Pomeroy and Elizabeth (Darwin) Porter, his father having been a surgeon in the United States army. Mr. and Mrs. Porter have one child, Jeannette Porter, who was. educated at Knickerbocker Hall in Indianapolis and Washington Col¬ lege, D. C.

Mrs. Porter has for many years divided her time between her chosen work as author and illustrator. For two years she was editor of the Camera department of "Recreation," for two years was on the natural history staff of "Outing," and for four years was specialist in natural history photography on "Photographic Times Annual Almanac." She is a charter member of the National Geographic Society, is vice-presi¬ dent of the Women's branch of the Chicago Press Club, member of the Society of Western Authors, of the Audubon Society and of other organizations.

It was her work as a writer and illustrator of nature bopks that first brought Mrs. Porter into prominence. She wrote and illustrated five books of this character: The Song of the Cardinal, 1902; What I Have Done With Birds, 1907 ; Birds of the Bible, 1909 ; Music of the Wild, 1910; and Moths of the Limberlost. Of these, the Song of the Cardinal has undoubtedly proved the best selling nature book in the United States.

To a much wider range of readers Mrs. Porter is known through her five novels*. Freckles, 1904; A Girl of the Limberlost, 1909; At the Foot of the Rainbow, 1908 ; the Harvester, 1911 ; and Laddie. Of all these, The Song of the Cardinal, Freckles, A Girl of the Limberlost, the Harvester, At the Foot of the Rainbow and Laddie are published in London and sold in every English-speaking nation. The Song of the Cardinal is published in French ; The Harvester has been translated and published in German and Swedish, and several of the nature novels are being translated into Arabic for use in an effort to introduce Ameri¬ can methods of nature study into colleges of the Orient. A Girl of the Limberlost is to be used in the Woman's College at Jerusalem and in similar institutions in Egypt.

That few names among modern American authors is so well known and widely appreciated as that of Gene Stratton-Porter is best indicated by the fact that more than two million copies of her various books have been sold during the past five years. Her latest novel, Laddie, had a sale of more than three hundred thousand copies in six months, and no other novel ever published had so large a distribution in the same length of time. While most of her books have an intimate local color, Mrs. Porter has evidently drawn more deeply from her personal experience and environment in the waiting of Laddie than in any previous work. This book is thought to be a history of Mrs. Porter's childhood and the home conditions under which she wras reared. Much of it is of course fiction, and most of the characters are neighborhood types to be found in any Indiana locality of that period. But the portraits of her father and mother are known to be drawn from life, while the description of " little sister," corresponds with Mrs. Porter's childhood and no doubt the early training she received in this home accounts for her later development.

O. J. Cripe. In searching for men of vigorous and forcible character who have taken an important and prominent part in the affairs of life, the biographer is not expected to deal only with martial heroes, with statesmen and with figures in the national lime-light, for in the world of science and arts, in the professions, in the activities of commerce and trade and in the field of finance of the present day are found men of action, capable and earnest, whose talents, enterprise and energy com¬ mand the respect of their fellow men and whose lives are worthy examples and objects of emulation. That the life of such a person should have its public record is peculiarly proper, because a knowledge of men whose substantial fame rests upon their attainments, character and success, must of a necessity exert a wholesome influence on the rising generation of the American people. In this connection it is appropriate to review in this volume the salient points in the career of O. J. Cripe, owner and cashier of the Urbana Bank and a man who has impressed his abilities upon the business life of his adopted place.

Mr. Cripe was born October 1, 1868, at Sacramento, California, and is a son of Tobias and Anna (Hullinger) Cripe. The paternal grand¬ father, R. Cripe, was one of the early Dunkards to come from Preble county, Ohio, as a pioneer to St. Joseph county, Indiana, subsequently built the first log house at South Bend, and farmed and operated a saw¬ mill up to the time of his death. Tobias Cripe grew up in St. Joseph county, and in 1849, when twelve years of age, accompanied his father and the other members of the family on a trip by ox-teams overland to Oregon. There they resided in a log cabin until it was destroyed by fire, when they lost in the flames the old German family Bible, which had contained all of the early family records. Later all returned to St. Joseph county, Indiana, and here he remained and married Anna Hullinger. In 1863, Mr. Cripe and his wife, together with his brothers and their families, formed a wagon train and again went to the far West. For seven years Mr. Cripe was located at Sacramento and Stockton, California, and there was engaged in driving a twelve-horse team over the mountains, in the carrying of freight prior to the advent of the railroads. In this manner he secured a capital of $1,800 within three months ' time, and then, re¬ turning to the East over the old " Crockett' ' Union Pacific Railroad, again located with his family in St. Joseph county. There Mr. Cripe was engaged in farming until March 6, 1884. In 1887 he again heard the qall of the West and went to Los Angeles, California, but after a short stay returned to Carroll county, Indiana, and there retired from activities some twenty years ago at the time of his first wife's death. He still sur¬ vives and is one of the honored old residents of Flora, Carroll county, Indiana. His second wife was a widow, Mrs. Hannah McDonald, and after her death he married another widow, Mrs. Catherine Brower, who is also deceased. There were no children to his second and third unions, but by his first marriage he was the father of five children : David S., a general merchant of Mount Morris, Illinois; Oliver J., of this review; Edward, engaged in the farm implement business at Camden, Indiana; Brent, who makes his home on the old farm in Carroll county; and Francis, who married George Southerd, and is a resident of the Do¬ minion of Canada.

Oliver J. Cripe was a child of two years of age when the family returned from the West, and he spent the next fourteen years of his life in St. Joseph county, where he was educated in the grammar and high schools and also took a course in Hall's Business College, at Logansport. Succeeding this, he purchased a property in Carroll county, which he farmed for some ten years with a fair measure of success, and then, selling his land, went to Flora, Indiana, and during the next five years was practically retired from active life. However, it was while there that he received his introduction to financial affairs at the First National Bank, and in 1908 he brought his family to Urbana, Wabash county, and ogened the Bank of Urbana, the first institution of its kind to do business here. The venture succeeded from the start, and in 1910 the present structure wras erected. Mr. Cripe has continued to act in the capacity of cashier, while Miss Ethel Cripe is assistant cashier. In the advancement of the commercial and industrial interests of Urbana, Mr. Cripe has been very active. He is interested in the hardware busi¬ ness now conducted here by Fox & Bectol, and was the founder of Urbana 's first lumber yard, the Urbana Lumber Company, dealers in all kinds of building material, coal and cement, Grant Forest being manager of this business. In 1913, Mr. Cripe erected the Grain Elevator at Speiker, of which John Coburn is manager.

Mr. Cripe was married in 1892, to Miss Ellen Harter, daughter of John and Sarah Eikenberry Harter, of Carroll county, Indiana. Three daughters have been born to this union : Ethel, a graduate of the Urbana High school and now a student at Manchester College, who acts in the capacity of assistant cashier in her father's bank; Iona, who is a graduate of the high school and also a student in Manchester College; and Eva, who is still attending high school. Mr. Cripe Ts career has been one of consistent and well-merited advancement, and his success has been self-gained. He occupies a position of prominence in his adopted com¬ munity, the interests of which he has brought to the forefront by his activities.

L. M. Props. One of the flourishing industries of the village of Lagro, Indiana, which adds materially to its importance as a center of business and manufacturing activity, is the Lagro Milling Company, the proprietor of which, L. M. Props, is known as one of the substantial men connected with commercial lines here. He has been a resident of Lagro for only six years, yet during this period of time has impressed himself favorably upon the people of this locality, and his energy, his good business judgment and his straightforward methods of doing busi¬ ness have won him the support and confidence of those with whom he has been brought in contact.

Mr. Props was born in Grant county, Indiana, in September, 1863, and is a son of James M. and Elizabeth (Harter) Props, both born and reared in that county. The grandparents both died when James M. Props was a lad, and he was taken into the home of his uncle, Joseph Gravens, who reared him to manhood and gave him a good public school education. At the outbreak of the Civil war, he enlisted for service in an Indiana regiment of volunteers and continued in the Union army until the close of the struggle, his wife having in the meantime lived with his uncle. Upon his return to the pursuits of peace, he again took up farming, locating on a property northwest of Sweetser. He was suc¬ cessful in his operations because of his hard and industrious toil and his indomitable perseverance, and in 1908, feeling that he had accumu¬ lated enough of this world's goods, retired from active pursuits, and since that time he and his wife have lived quietly at Sweetser, where they have a comfortable home. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Props, namely: Lemuel M., of this review; Ella, who married Garrison Smith; Cecelia, unmarried; Joseph M. ; Laura, who became the wife of John Veach; and Harley, all of these residents of Grant county with the exception of Lemuel M.

Lemuel M. Props received his early education in the public schools of Pleasant township, Grant county, in the meantime assisting his father during the summer months in the development of the homestead. He remained under the parental roof until reaching the age of twentytwo years, when he engaged in farming on his own account and was engaged therein for two years. At the end of that period he started a sawmill, business, and in connection therewith operated a threshing ma¬ chine, and carried on these lines of activity until coming to Lagro in 1908. Here he purchased the mill from Isaac Furgeson, which is now known as the Lagro Milling Company, and in which is manufactured the famous "0. K." brand of flour, known all over this section for its purity and excellence. The capacity of the mill is 50 barrels daily, and the product meets with a constant demand. In addition to this busi¬ ness, Mr. Props sells engines and farming machinery, and in partner¬ ship with his son is operating a threshing machine outfit. Each of his ventures has proved successful, and his standing in the commercial world is accordingly high.

In 1886, Mr. Props was married to Miss Dora L. Bechtel, a daughter of the late Samuel Bechtel, and to this union there have been born five children : Earl, who married Maude Baumgardner ; Carl, who married Gladys Duffey, and has one child, Mary E.; Mevel; Colene; and Anna. Mr. Props is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his political connection is with the democratic party.

James E. Jack. It will soon be fourscore years since the Jack family was established in Wabash county. Andrew Jackson was then president of the United States. The old Wabash and Erie canal had not yet been built down the valley. The few pioneers who had come had been able to make little impression on the wilderness, and only here and there above the dense woods rose the smoke of a settler's cabin. Here three generations of -the family have done their work and done it well, and those of the living dwell in the shadow of contentment, pros¬ perity and honor - qualities that are invariably associated with the name. With appropriate reference to the older generations, this sketch concerns the career of James E. Jack, one of the best known citizens of Paw Paw township. He is the owner and proprietor of two hundred and twenty-five acres in that township in two adjoining farms, located on the east side of the Minich Pike, about five and a half miles northwest of Wabash.

family in Wabash county. He was born in Westmoreland county, Penn¬ sylvania, in 1794, and when three years of age was taken by his parents from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, and not long afterwards to Ohio, where his father settled in Adams county along the Ohio river, sixty miles above Cincinnati. James Jack was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was sta¬ tioned at Sandusky, Detroit, and other points around the Great Lakes. After his marriage he moved to Greensburg in Decatur county, Indiana, in 1826, and in 1836 moved to Wabash county. There his long and worthy career came to a close in 1879 when eighty-four years of age. On June 11, 1818, James Jack married Elizabeth Donaldson. Their children were Thomas, Eliza Jane, John, Mary, Nancy, Andrew, James, William, Sarah. James Jack on coming to Wabash county bought land from an original settler, comprising two hundred eighty-five acres, and also entered direct from the government a quarter section of one hundred and sixty acres. His entire career was devoted to the tilling of the soil, and a great deal of original work in clearing up the land was performed by this splendid pioneer. Though he had merely a common school edu¬ cation of his time, his good sense and strong desire for knowledge made him more than usually well informed and somewhat of a leader in the community. In politics he was first a whig and later a republican, and in religion was a firm Presbyterian, as was his wife, while one of his sons, Andrew Jack, became a minister of that denomination. This minister subsequently went as a missionary to Africa and was stationed at Gaboon on the West Coast. One of the familiar landmarks of this family in Wabash county is the Jack cemetery, situated on the original Jack homestead, and just southwest of the cemetery grandfather Jack built the first brick house in Wabash county, along the south bank of Paw Paw creek, in Section 7, Township 28, Range 6. The first body interred in that cemetery was William Jack, a son of James, buried July 5, 1843. It is hardly needful to state that the entire upper Wabash valley was a wilderness when James Jack settled here, the woods abounded with game which furnished provisions for the family larder, and when it became necessary to get flour he carried his grain many miles to mill. He possessed a great fund of reminiscence concerning the early days, and told many interesting stories to his descendants and friends.

Thomas Jack, a son of grandfather James Jack, and father of James E., was born in Adams county, Ohio, April 19, 1819, the first child of his parents, and was married after coming to Wabash county to Sarah T. Wright. She was born in Virginia December 17, 1827. Thomas Jack was a boy when the family moved to Decatur county, Indiana, and was seventeen on his arrival in Wabash county. His wife had come to Wabash county at the age of thirteen from Virginia, with her parents George and Susan Wright. After their marriage Thomas Jack and wife located on a farm west of where James E. now lives, a place known as the A. F. Watson farm. When Thomas Jack bought it it was in the midst of the woods, and during his many years of residence he employed his labor and his means to clear off many acres and perfected a fine farm. Thomas Jack finally left Wabash county and went out to Minne¬ sota during the early days of that state for the sake of his health, and died there when his son James E. was three years old. His body was returned to Wabash county and now rests in the old Jack cemetery above mentioned. Mrs. Thomas Jack, a venerable woman of eightyseven, is still living on a part of the old homestead. Their three children were: Elizabeth, who died as Mrs. John Moore in 1869; James Edward; and Margaret J., wife of A. P. Watson.

James P. Jack, a son of Thomas and Sarah (Wright) Jack, was bom on his father's farm half a mile west of where he now lives, on the Chippewa Road, April 1, 1854. His birthplace was a log cabin, and perhaps the majority of the citizens born fifty years ago in Wabash county had a log house as the shelter of their infancy. Excepting a few months spent in Minnesota during his father's last illness, his life has been passed within the borders of Wabash county. His schooling was acquired by attendance at a district school in the neighborhood, and at the age of sixteen he left his mother's home to live with his grand¬ father for three years, but at the age of nineteen returned and became the active manager of the home farm and the support of his widowed mother. In that way his early years were spent, and on July 8, 1877, he married Eunice M. Richards, daughter of Josiah and Eunice Rich¬ ards. A full sketch of the Richards family will be found under the name of William A. Richards, a brother of Mrs. Jack.

Following his marriage Mr. and Mrs. Jack moved to the old farm of his grandfather, who died about that time. Six years later he bought his present homestead. His first purchase comprised eighty acres from the Stone heirs. Just twenty acres of that had been cleared, and in per¬ fecting its improvements he had a large amount of pioneer work to per¬ form. Mr. Jack rebuilt all the buildings, and added from time to time other lands until he now has one of the best properties in Paw Paw town¬ ship. His profits have come from general crops and the raising and feed¬ ing of. stock, and among his fellow citizens his judgment is regarded as unusually reliable in all lines of agriculture. He is a republican in politics, but has never allowed his name to be presented as a candidate for any public office.

Mr. and Mrs. Jack are the parents of the following children : Bertha, wife of Harvey Hiner, and they have one child, Verne; Otto, who mar¬ ried Carrie Hiner, and has two children, Miriam and Cecil; Cortha E., wife of 0. G. Walker, and mother of Paul and Dean; Ziria; Glenn E., who married Elizabeth Cox and has a daughter, Marveleen; Zella M.; Joseph; Beth; and June.

David Edward Purviance. Considered either as a merchant or as an earnest and unselfish worker for community good, the career of David E. Purviance has been distinctly successful. His service as trustee of Lagro township has been of a quality that should fix his name in the history of local progress. He is senior member of the general mercan¬ tile firm of Purviance and Bartholomew at Lagro, where his active busi-

David E. Purviance, who is best known in the business community as Ed Purviance, was born in Huntington county, Indiana, on his father's farm three miles north of Warren, October 28, 1868. His par¬ ents were James S. and Annie E. (Miller) Purviance, old residents of Huntington county. From his farm James Purviance moved to the county seat at Huntington, and was engaged in merchandising and the grain trade with his father, Joseph W. Purviance, who came from Ohio and was one of the pioneers of Huntington county. James Purviance also served four years during the war in Company F of the Forty-seventh Regiment of Indiana Infantry. His death occurred at the age of seventy years. After that his widow moved to Auburn, Indiana, where she still resides. Her parents also came to Indiana at an early date from Ohio. James S. and Annie E. Purviance were the parents of the following children : David E.; Fred A., who died at the age of twenty-two; Irene; Dessie, wife of Roy Haley; and Joseph W.

When D. E. Purviance was a child the family moved to Huntington, and his education was supplied by the grammar and high schools of that city. On leaving high school he moved to Andrews, and for several years was employed as a clerk in a general store. It was in Andrews that he acquired his initial experience with newspaper work, having assisted in the establishment of the Signal , a weekly paper, of which he occupied the post of editor for seven years. In the summer of 1900, Mr. Purviance moved to Lagro in Wabash county and bought the in¬ terest of John Leedy in the Leedy Brothers department store. Sub¬ sequently he acquired the interest of S. J. Leedy, and was sole pro¬ prietor for a time, and then took in Mr. Bartholomew, making the firm as above given. Mr. Bartholomew was at one time a clerk for his pres¬ ent partner, and has practically grown up in the present business. Pur¬ viance and Bartholomew have prospered in business, and carry a com¬ plete line of general merchandise. Their store is a popular center of trade, and is located near the electric railway, the rear of the store being directly opposite the station. Thus they occupy a very eligible location, and it is an incident of practically every hour in the business day for people to go through the Purviance store on their way to the station, and the cordial greeting which they receive has no doubt been a con¬ siderable factor in the prosperity of the concern.

On July 30, 1891, Mr. Purviance married Miss Jennie Leedy, a daughter of Samuel J. Leedy, for many years a merchant of Andrews, and whose death occurred in March, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Purviance have one son, Samuel J. He graduated from the local high school, and is now a student in the State University at Bloomington, preparing for the medical profession. Under the name Purviance and Son, he is also in the real estate and insurance business with his father, and they handle many of the transactions in city and farm property in Lagro township.

Lagro has continued to identify himself with local politics. A few years ago county auditor Scott Davis, appointed him to fill the unexpired term of L. S. Connor, township trustee in Lagro, and at the end of nineteen months he was elected to the office on the republican ticket. He went into the office with a majority of two votes. When it is considered that the township is normally democratic by one hundred, his political strength is evidently more than ordinary. As trustee, Mr. Purviance has a somewhat remarkable record. The people expect of a trustee that in the first place he give his attention to the schools of the township, and since Mr. Purviance took office improvements and additions have been effected which place Lagro township in the front ranks of Wabash county localities so far as school facilities are concerned. He erected the large eight-room modern school building at Lagro, which is easily the finest structure of its kind in the township and one of the best in the county. Also the joint township grade school building at Urbana has been built. Besides these two, Lagro township has erected a modern one-room district school, a building which stands as a remarkable con¬ trast to the little log schools to which many of the parents of its scholars went for their daily instruction twenty-five or thirty years ago. In every way Mr. Purviance has looked carefully after the interests of his township, and his record as trustee is exceptionally creditable. Mr. Purviance was one of the organizers of the Citizens State Bank of Lagro, an institution which is described elsewhere in this publication. He is one of the stockholders and a member of the finance committee. Fra¬ ternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order in the Lodge at Lagro, with the Chapter and Council at Andrews, and the Knights Templar Commandery at Wabash. He is also a Scottish rite mason and a mem¬ ber of the Mystic Shrine at Ft. Wayne. Other fraternal associations are with the Elks Lodge at Wabash and the Lodge of Odd Fellows at Lagro.

John Harvey Scott. The first of the Scott family to locate in Indiana was James P., the father of John Harvey Scott, but the family has, in its activities in various ways since it became identified with the Hoosier state, come to represent in numerous ways the spirit and pur¬ pose of the old pioneer settlers of the state, who first settled within its borders in the practically uncivilized days of her existence. Today men of this family are to be found living close to nature and giving freely of their time and talents to the cultivating and development of the nat¬ ural resources of the state, and not the least of these is John Harvey Scott, whose name initiates this brief review.

John Harvey Scott is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Lagro township, Wabash county, and his place is one of the most advantageously situated ones in the county, having its location on the west side of the Lagro and Manchester Pike, on the old Plank road, about three and a half miles north of Lagro. Mr. Scott is a native of Preble county, Ohio, where he was born on June 13, 1844, and he is

The Scotts wTere people of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and in their early American life were seamen, for the most part. James Scott was the son of George, a sailor, as was also his grandfather, and he quit the sea when still a young man, locating in Pennsylvania. He married in that state, an English woman becoming his wife, and together they came across the Allegheny mountains in prairie schooners, the approved mode of traveling in that early day. They made the trip without escort, braving the possible dangers of the journey fearlessly, and deriving much genuine enjoyment from it, despite its untoward features. During much of their trip over the mountains they experienced the phe¬ nomena of living above the clouds, and many times saw rain falling beneath them, while they were in a dry and arid atmosphere. Reach¬ ing Ohio, they settled in Preble county, and there they spent their remaining days.

James Scott wras reared in Preble county and he came to Indiana as a young man. He was first occupied in the construction work on the canal, hauling timber and steel for the locks. His brother, George Scott, also came to Indiana about the same time, and he turned his attention to the business of trading. He amassed quite a fortune in his business relations with the Indians of the district, trading jewelry and such other gew'-gaws as appealed to the credulous red men for their valuable pelts, so that he in time came to be quite wealthy. He learned the lan¬ guage of the various tribes with which he dealt, and was on the most intimate and friendly terms with them through all the years of his dealings with them.

James P. Scott learned much about the Hoosier state in those early years. While he was engaged in his work on the canal he was frequently compelled to make trips through Blackford county, a district that in those early days wras mostly swamp, and most difficult to traverse. It frequently required as much as three days' time to get through 4 'Kill Buck Swamp" as it was called in those days, and he too, in that time, familiarized himself to a fair degree with the Indian tongue. Later he returned to Ohio, not w ell enough pleased with the outlook in Indiana to continue there, and in Ohio, he married Elizabeth Slippey, bought a farm and settled down in Preble county, It was here, no doubt, that the sailor instincts of Mr. Scott began to show themselves, for he found him¬ self impelled by a desire to move about from place to place, despite the admonitions of his sturdy and sensible wife, who admonished him with the even then old saying that "a rolling stone gathers no moss." But Mr. Scott sold his Preble county farm and returned to Indiana, buying two hundred acres in Kosciusko county. At that time the county was wholly unsettled, one might say, and Mr. Scott's nearest neighbor, a Mr. Drake, lived ten miles distant from the Scott farm. Here again did Mr. Scott's ancestry cause him a great deal of uneasiness, for he was one wdio could ill endure the solitude of country life, with his nearest and only neighbor ten miles away, and against the advice of Mr. Drake, who insisted that the country thereabout was bound to settle up in a few years, he sold his place and returned to Ohio. A short time later he joined his brother Charles in Huntington, Indiana, but after looking the country over decided he did not want to buy there and went to Wabash county, where he bought the farm that is now occupied by his. son, John H. For his farm of a hundred and sixty acres he paid a pur¬ chase price of $500, and became the owner of a tract of swamp and timber land, practically worthless in the state it was at that time. A small shack, made of poles, and evidently the rude shelter of hunters m the vicinity, was the only thing on the place that might be called a build¬ ing, and in it they began life in Wabash county.

A little* time passed, and the wanderlust and discontent of which James Scott was so often a victim again seized upon him and he began to suggest a return to Ohio. Right there did the strong will and deter¬ mination of Elizabeth Scott assert itself. She was unwilling to return again to Ohio, without having made good on any of the ventures forth from the Ohio home. "I will go a thousand miles further west,' 7 she said, "but not back to Ohio again, a failure.7 7 Impressed but not convinced, James Scott hesitated a while, and then, still firm in his belief that for¬ tune awaited him in the old home state, he returned alone, expecting that his wife, when she saw he was determined, would follow him back to Ohio. But she was not one of those women who believed it her duty to follow blindly wherever her lord and master dictated, and in that instinct she was prophetic of a later generation, as is everywhere evi¬ dent today in a time wrhen one finds the feminine element ruling in the home as often as the masculine. After several weeks of waitingabout in Ohio, James Scott decided that his wife was a bit more deter¬ mined than he, and he returned to Indiana, fully determined to make the best of his Indiana farm.

That incident proved to be the turning point in his life. Up to that time the roving element had been uppermost in him, but when his wife took her stand for stability and effective wrork in the family, he buried the old desire to wander hither and yon in search of greener fields, and settled down to make a farm out of his swamp and timber land. The first thing he did that was indicative of the change in his spirit was tobuild a homelike log-cabin on the place. In 1861, he decided to build a bam, and w'hen all was in readiness, neighbors for miles about took part in one of the biggest barn-raisings ever held in the county. A company of cavalry riding past and witnessing the "raising,77 wheeled and saluted and announced their intention of coming back to have sup¬ per with the barn-raisers, for they wTell knew what a feast wras in store for the men who had donated their services to the interests of their neighbor. "We'll go dowTn and lick the Rebs,77 they said, "and be back in time for supper.77 They whipped the Rebels, it must be said, but they failed to get back from their task in time for supper.

The new barn was prophetic of better things for James Scott, and it was not long before the recurring seasons saw it filled to overflowing with bumper crops of corn, in a country where hitherto corn had fared but poorly. In the early days hereabouts tiling and ditching was prac¬ tically unthought of, and often the high water did much damage to the young corn crops. Mr. Scott was one of the first to begin ditching. In the early sixties, in a particularly wet season, he produced a bumper crop of corn which he marketed at a dollar a bushel, while the majority of his neighbors experienced a total failure in their crop because of the wet state of their land. They were quick to see that their neighbor was getting the best of them with his advanced ideas, and it was not long before every farm in the community wras being tiled and ditched after the manner in which Mr. Scott had handled his land. The result was that this part of the county became famous for its phenomenal corn crops, and the credit for the achievement was rightly laid at the door of James Scott. So it wras that a life that began without any great promise ended in a most successful and worthy manner, thanks to the determination of a proud woman who recognized the inherent qualities that lay dormant within her chosen mate, and by her decisive and un¬ precedented action called forth those qualities to the undying benefit of his community and his family. James Scott died in Lagro township at his farm home in 1883, and his wife survived him for ten years, their ages being seventy-two and eighty-two years, respectively, at the time of their passing.

To these parents were born six children. Wesley, the eldest, died in the service of the Union army during the Civil war. Mary Jane is also deceased. John Harvey is the subject of this sketch. Harriett is the widow of Samuel Pollet, and makes her home in Indianapolis. Ben¬ jamin and Eliza are both deceased.

John Harvey Scott, or "Harve" Scott, as he is more familiarly called, was a mere child when his parents made their first journey into Indiana. They made the trip with ox-team and wagon, and the father often found it necessary to go in advance of the oxen and cut down the young saplings that barred their progress on their way, so that their progress was necessarily slow. Among the earliest recollections of Mr. Scott as a child in their Indiana home is that of a little pole "shack" or house, and of at one time splitting his toe in an attempt to wield his father's axe. Other similar misfortunes of his boyhood, appearing with more than agreeable frequency, and one might almost say regularity, lead his par¬ ents and others to believe that his birth on June 13th was an ill omen. However, Mr. Scott avers that regarding his life as a whole, he has been more than ordinarily fortunate, and that he is in no wise justified in holding his birthday to have been an unlucky day.

Mr. Scott grew up on the farm there, barring brief periods when the family fortunes took them back to Ohio, and he attended the old log school at the cross roads. This was a primitive affair, indeed, and in the years that have passed since he first learned his A, B, Abs in that little cabin, he has witnessed the building of four separate schools on that spot, as the community grew and demanded better educational facilities for the youth of the township.

to cut five hundred cords of wood for a man in the community known as "Old Christ Speicher," at a price of one dollar a cord. He began his work with a great good will and continued in the same same manner, but his enthusiasm was a little dashed by the fact that after he had cut a hundred cords his employer cut the price. He kept on, though a little discouraged, and when a second cut came, he threw down his axe and went home. For some time the young man had been cherishing a desire to " see the country, 9 9 as so many young men have felt they must, and it is probable that the seafaring instinct of his forefathers was cropping up in another generation. The father, mindful of his own early experience, tried to discourage the idea of his son, citing his own case, and assur¬ ing him, as his wife had done in his own case years before, that nothing was to be gained by wandering about from place to place in search of greater opportunity. But young Scott was determined to at least see California, and it was only the pleadings of his mother that induced him to give up the project and stay at home. The father, grateful for his consent, made him a pleasing proposition and they two worked to¬ gether on the home place, each sharing in the profits, until the son married in 1868. On April 17th of that year, Lucinda Brechner be¬ came his wife. She was a daughter of John Brechner, an old pioneer of the state.

Mr. Scott, after his marriage, built a new house on the home place, just back of the big barn his father had built some years before. Here they began their wedded life, and in later years he moved the house near to the old home. After the death of the mother, John H. Scott and his wife assumed the entire charge of the old farm, buying the in¬ terest of the surviving heirs, and he has here since devoted himself to general farming activities, continued successfully in the work his father began and brought to a state of perfection that insured the family a permanent income and a comfortable home. Like his father, Mr. Scott is an enthusiast on the subject of proper draining and he has put into the place more than 3,700 rods of tile, as well as doing much to promote the interest and enthusiasm of his neighbors and others in the work. He is ably assisted in his work by his son, Charles Scott, who has elected to continue on the home farm with his father, and the two work in a perfect harmony that is conducive to the most successful outcome of every enterprise they enter upon. The Scott farm is one of the best kept in the township, and its buildings measure up to the highest standard of the county, in appearance, general service and up-to-dateness.

Nine children were bom to Mr. and Mrs. Scott. Wesley, is the first bora. Lavina married Dora Burnsworth. Sarah is the wife of James Murphy. Wilson married Iva Loop. Eva is the wife of William Bitner. Emma is Mrs. Thomas Buckley. Flora married Robert Derf. Fannie became the wife of A. Alexander. Charles, the youngest, is his father's assistant, as stated above.

The wife and mother died in 1904 after some years of suffering and continued ill health. The husband and wife had just completed plans to spend a year in the west, when the mother was seized by a sudden illness that ended her days. She was a woman of unusual popularity, and was widely known throughout the county. When she died her pass¬ ing was mourned by many in and about Wabash county who had known and loved her for her many endearing qualities of heart and mind.

Mr. Scott is a democrat in his political affiliations, and has served his township twice as supervisor. He is one who manifests a wholesome interest in the affairs of the town and county, and his position and standing among his fellow men is secure, and in every way worthy of him.

Levi Patterson. Prominent among the earlier merchants of Roann, Paw Paw township, was the late Levi Patterson, a man of ability and integrity, whose influence for good has been felt throughout the com¬ munity in which he so long resided. He was born in Henry county, In¬ diana, January 4, 1842, and died July 14, 1912, in a hospital, at Hunt¬ ington, Indiana. He came of pioneer ancestry, his father, Daniel Pat¬ terson coming to Wayne county from the East in pioneer days, and for awhile taught school in Cambridge City, although he was later engaged in farming in Henry county.

Levi Patterson was reared to farm labor, and received his education in the rural schools of his native county. At the age of eighteen years he enlisted in the Second Indiana Cavalry, and did brave service for his country until the close of the Civil wTar. Subsequently clerking in a store at Wabash, Mr. Patterson became familiar with the details of mercantile pursuits, and later opened a store at Stockdale. Just after the incorporation of Roann as a town, Mr. Patterson established the first mercantile establishment of the new town, and for twenty-one years thereafter carried on a substantial business. Having accumulated a competency, he spent his last days retired from active pursuits, devoting his time to the care of his three farms, which were located in Wabash and Fulton counties. He was a self-made man in the broadest sense of the term, and was decidedly domestic in his tastes, preferring to spend his leisure with his family rather than in lodge or club rooms. He and his wife, who is a woman of great executive and business ability, man¬ aged the Roann Hotel for awhile, making it one of the most popular houses of the kind in the county. Mr. Patterson was a stanch republi¬ can in politics, and while in the store was elected clerk of the County Court, succeeding Mr. Brady, and served ably for one term, but refused a re-election to the same office.

Mr. Patterson was twice married. He married first, in 1869, Harriet Thacher, who died in 1875, leaving two children, namely: Luther, who died at the age of sixteen years ; and Thomas, who is engaged in the asphalt business in Chicago, Illinois.

Mr. Patterson married second, March 2, 1876, Elsbie Shiveley, a daughter of Henry Shiveley. Her father came to Indiana with his family when Mrs. Patterson was eighteen years old, and was for sev¬ eral years engaged in farming near Stockdale. On retiring from agri¬ cultural pursuits, he lived first in Cambridge City, from there moving to decided upon their permanent location, but did not find time to start a building until the fall of the year. In the meantime the household con¬ tinued to live in the big wagon, which had served them in their various removals towards the west. Besides their bed clothes, the two hound dogs and flint-lock gun already mentioned, they had four horses and a good set of carpenter tools. Besides the immediate family, there was a hired man. The land selected by Andrew Frushour was all covered with wood, and the nearest neighbor was about four miles away, near Lagro village. The canal at that time was just being constructed through Wabash county. In this connection one fact deserves mention. The building of a canal, unlike railroad construction, proceeded very slowly, and the force of workmen usually camp in a sort of temporary village along the right of way for several seasons before the work has proceeded so far as to justify their stage of advance. Many of the workmen there¬ fore utilized their farm in cultivating small gardens and farms along the canal route. Andrew Frushour in this saw an opportunity to make some ready money which was then a very scarce commodity in Wabash county. He and his hired man each took a team, and secured contracts to plant corn for the canal builders, and later in the season did the harvesting. This work kept them away from home several days at a time, and the mother and children, of which there were several by this time, were left alone. Though the family had but little money and only a small store of provisions, the abundance of game in the woods prac¬ tically supplied the table with fresh meat, and it was necessary to hunt only an hour or so in order to secure enough game to last a week. At the same time the wolves wrere numerous, and often became so bold that they would chase the dogs into the big wagon, wdiere the family still kept house, and then stood on guard and howled throughout the long dark night. On one occasion the family, while the men folks were away, almost ran out of provisions, and for four days the mother had nothing to offer her children except baked potatoes, however, it was a clean, healthy outdoor life they were all leading, they had keen zest for any plain food, and continued to eat their potatoes with great relish.

After Andrew' Frushour and his hired man had finished harvesting for the canal men, they started the construction of a log house on the eighty acres which he had bought, paying only forty dollars for the land. He designed this habitation as a temporary structure, and with the thought in view' that he would in a few' years probably put up a better residence, he built the log house in such a position, on the side of a sloping hill, that later it would not interfere with the building of a larger and better house on the top of the slope. In building the log house no door wTas constructed at first in the side of the building. One wall rested flush on the ground at the upper side of the hill, while the opposite wall, in order to be made level, rested on high piles, and steps were made and a sort of trap-door was cut in the floor to afford means of egress and entry. The principal timbers for the building were of split logs, all cut and hewed wfith an ax, while the roof was covered writh clapboards, each four feet in length. Nails, and in fact practically all articles of iron were very scarce in Indiana at that time, and in order to secure the clapboards they laid across them long poles, to weight and tie the roof, each end of the poles being fastened with a wooden pin. Somewhat later the house was improved by the construction of a door in the side, and a more homelike appearance was given the rude habitation. In those days the most convenient grist mill was located at Goshen, in Elkhart county, and a good many miles from Lagro town¬ ship. When Andrew Frushour wanted to take some grain to be ground at this mill, he put a tongue in the rear axle and wheels of his wagon, put a box upon the gear, and in that way had a much lighter vehicle for travelling over the rough roads to the mill. Gradually, however, they cleared up the land and got it under cultivation, and since those humble beginnings of seventy-five years ago many hundred rods of tile has been laid, and the eighty acres for which Andrew Frushour gave forty dollars in 1836 would now bring at least one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. On that old homestead both Andrew and Sarah (Spohr) Frushour died, she on June 7, 1853, in her forty-fourth year, and he on May 25, 1873, at the age of seventy-three. They were the parents of ten children who grew to maturity, namely: Mary Virginia; Susan, deceased; Angeline, deceased; Calvin G. ; Eliza Jane, deceased; Edward; Charles ; Francis, deceased ; Andrew C. ; and Theodore, deceased.

Calvin Frushour was six weeks old when the family moved from Randolph to Wabash county in the big wagon. At the old home place just described, and in the midst of an environment which was being rapidly changed as a result of the labors of many pioneers, he grew to manhood, and did his full share in clearing up the land. As the oldest son, from the time he was big enough to wield an ax, much of the rough work of the place fell to him, and he is one of the few survivors among the early citizens of Wabash county who can recollect actually ever sharing in the development of this region. By the time he was old enough to attend school, some eight or ten families had settled in that immediate vicinity, and their children went to school in a little log house about a mile distant by a path cut through the woods and north of the Frushour farm. The house in which school was taught had been abandoned by a settler who came out from Ohio and finally became dis¬ couraged and left the country. It was fitted up with a mud and stick chimney, and light came in through greased paper stuck over openings between the logs. For seats, rough benches were hewn out of logs, and a rough plank was placed on wooden pins driven into the wall to serve as a desk. Probably not a person in that community in that day dreamed that half a century later a comfortable bus, tightly screened against the storm, and with provisions for heat in the cold weather, would drive daily along the hard pike road, collecting the children in the morning and carrying them to school, and then in the evening taking them back to their home.

When Mr. Frushour reached the age of twenty-one, his father told him he was free to do or work as he pleased, but offered him a posi¬ tion at ten dollars a month to remain on the home farm, this offer was accepted, and he continued with his father for fourteen months. In that time practically every cent of his wages was saved, and this thrift gave him his first practical start in the w-orld. About this time Mr. Frushour married Anna Brechner, whose death occurred a few years later, after the birth of twro children, as follows: Lenora, w'ife of James Hippensteel, of Wabash county, and they are the parents of twelve children and several grandchildren; George Wilson, who married Etta Ramey, and they also live in Wabash county, and have eight children.

On April 10, 1864, Mr. Frushour married for his second wife Catha¬ rine-Good. She is the daughter of Peter and Catharine Good. The only child of this marriage is Dellie. She married Professor Noble Harter, wdio at the time was superintendent of the Warsaw, Indiana, public schools. Later they moved to Pasadena, California, where Professor Harter became identified with the city public schools, and he died wdiile at Pasadena, leaving his widow and twin daughters: Mary, who died in 1912, and Catharine. Both these daughters also became teachers and were connected with the schools of Pasadena. Soon after his first mar¬ riage Mr. Frushour moved to his present farm, it was then owned by his father wrho had acquired possession of about twro hundred and forty acres in Lagro township. The only improvement on the land which Calvin Frushour came to occupy was a little log cabin, and about ten acres cleared. Then followed a number of years of hard work, industrious management, and a steady thrift, at the end of wdiich time practically all the farm had been cleared, the old house had been remodeled and made thoroughly comfortable, much tile had been laid in the low places, and the farm was developed until in its improvements and productive¬ ness it ranked second to none in the towTnship. After the death of his father Mr. Frushour bought the interests of the other heirs in the eighty acre farmstead. Besides managing his farm, Mr. Frushour, who in his earlier years was an indefatigable wrorker, spent about fifteen years in the employ of the Wabash railroad, and wTas one of the crew of eleven men who did construction wrork of bridges, stations, and other similar work along the line between Toledo, Ohio, and Danville, Illinois. Mr. Frushour made it a point whenever possible to get home over Sunday during this employment, but in the meantime Mrs. Frushour practically had the actual supervision of the farm alone, and its gradual improve¬ ment, its yearly productive harvest, and the increasing prosperity of the family, were in no small measure due to her judgment and sagacity and untiring efforts. She and her daughter put in many days in the field, and did wrork that wTould be a credit to any man.

After remodeling the old house and living in it for many years, Mr. Frushour in 1910 erected his present substantial eight-room modern frame residence, equipped writh all the conveniences and comforts which the best country homes of Wabash county affords, and where he and his wife expect to spend the rest of their days and enjoy the well wron fruits of earlier years. Besides their three children, there are twenty-three grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. They have also taken in

This generous prosperity, all won as a result of honest toil and good management, has been used in such a way as to add to the total wealth of the community, and not alone for the benefit of his immediate family but in such a way as to make the lives of others easier and richer. Mr. Frushour is a republican in politics, and like his wife is a true Christian. They are members of the Evangelical Association.

The parents of Mrs. Frushour, Peter and Catharine Good, while not coming to Wabash county at so early a date as the Frushours, were still early residents. Both were natives of Virginia, were married in Ohio, and came to Wabash county when Mrs. Frushour, who is about ten years younger than her husband, was a child. Their location was about two miles south of Lagro. When Mrs. Frushour was seven years old her mother died, and her father later married and moved out to Kansas, where the rest of his days were spent. Mrs. Frushour was one of a family of children mentioned as follows: Jacob, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased; Nancy Ann, deceased; Catharine, Mrs. Frushour; William; John, deceased ; Mary, deceased ; and Frank.

F. H. Bloomer, M. D. For thirty years Dr. Bloomer has quietly performed his round of professional services and duties at Lagro and vicinity, and is the oldest physician in point of residence in that locality, being likewise one of the most highly esteemed practitioners of Wabash county. Dr. Bloomer saw service as a soldier of the Union during the Civil war, and is one of the honored veterans, who still survive in Wabash county. After the war he took up the study of medicine, and for more than thirty-five years has lived and practiced his profession in this county.

Born in Fayette county, Ohio, May 6, 1847, Dr. Bloomer is a son of Elijah and Nancy (Hopkins) Bloomer, the former a native of Ken¬ tucky, and the latter of Virginia. The old Hopkins homestead in Vir¬ ginia was included within the battleground in one of the engagements in which Dr. Bloomer fought as a soldier during the war, and the old home was destroyed at that time. Elijah and Nancy Bloomer were married in Ohio, where they spent most of their active years.

Dr. Bloomer grew up in Fayette county, attended the district schools and the grade schools at New Holland, and for three years was a student in the Academy at Bloomingburg. At that time it was his intention to take up the profession of civil engineering. When the war broke out, he was fourteen years of age, but had the advantage of physical proportions above those of his years. However, two years passed before he got his opportunity to go to the front. Laying aside his books in the spring of 1863, he was accepted for service in Company C of the Seventy-Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. With that regiment he went through all the campaigns and battles, in which it was engaged, until the close of the war and then remained in the service until September, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. The Seventy-Third Ohio Regiment, from the spring of 1863 saw a great deal of hard service. Young Bloomer then sixteen years of age, took his share of the hardships without complaining, and was a gallant soldier, always devoted to duty. After the battle of Gettysburg, in which the Seventy-Third took part, in the fall of 1863 he and his command went south to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and fought under Hooker in the "battle above the clouds'' and participated in the four months of continuous fighting against Johnston from Chattanooga to Atlanta. The Seventy-Third was with Sherman from Atlanta to the sea, and thence up through the Carolinas. Dr. Bloomer was one of the twenty-eight thousand Federal troops that left Washington, and in five days reached Bridgeport, Alabama, one of the most rapid movements in the Civil war, and one wrhich could hardly be excelled even at this time. The Seventy-Third Ohio might be said to have been under constant fire during the last two years of the wTar, and yet the young boy soldier was slightly wounded only once or twice, and was writh his regiment from the beginning of his service until the end. Upon his return to Fayette county after the wrar the young veteran began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. C. M. Smith at Bloomingburg. Dr. Smith was a graduate of Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, and later Dr. Bloomer went to the same institution, where he attended lectures and was graduated M. D. wdth the class of 1872. For active practice he moved to Wabash county, locating in La Fontaine, and remained there for six years. Then for about nine years he practiced at Pleasant View in this county. In 1885 Dr. Bloomer moved to Lagro, and has since practiced with that village as his home and center of business. Dr. Bloomer has membership in the Wabash County Medical Society, the State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. Frater¬ nally he is a member of the Masons, and has long been identified with the Grand Army post at Wabash.

On November 17, 1885, occurred his marriage with Eliza McElvane. They are the parents of twTo children : Clarence, wTho is in the railway mail service, having his headquarters and home in Ohio, and who married Metta Freshour ; and Mary, who resides at home.

Charles Frederick Hettmansperger. One of the productive and well-cultivated farming properties of Paw Paw7 township is that owned by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Frederick Hettmansperger, a tract of 130 acres, on the east side of the Chippewa turnpike, about seven and one-half miles northwest of Wabash and two and one-half miles southeast of Roann. Through this farm runs Paw Paw creek, which gives, it splendid irrigation, and its numerous other natural advan¬ tages have been supplemented by Mr. Hettmansperger 's intelligent treatment of the soil, his modern methods of operation and his compre¬ hensive knowledge of the business of farming. He is now sixty-seven years of age, but so thoroughly has he kept himself abreast of the timea and in sympathy with modern w'ays, that he is able to successfully com¬ pete with the younger generation about him, and to realize a full amount of prosperity from the labor wThich he expends upon his land. More than forty years have passed since he located in Wabash county as a farmer on his own account, and during this time he has watched with the eye of a proprietor the growth and development of this section, an advancement to which he has contributed by his labors as an agricul¬ turist and his fidelity as a good citizen.