Wabash County, Indiana - The whole text, 1914 (part 7 of 16)

John L. Hull was born on the home farm in Licking county, Ohio, February 7, 1842. He grew up in that county and as a boy walked back and forth the distance of twro miles to the little log schoolhouse of the district. His school attendance was limited to about five terms, and later a schoolhouse wTas constructed nearer his home. The first temple of learning which he attended was a very crude and primitive affair, fitted up with puncheon seats, supported by wooden pins and the desk wras a broad hewm plank, resting at an incline upon wrooden pins, driven into the wrall and went most of the way around the room. The seats had no backs, and wrhen the scholars wrote they took their place at the desks along the wall. The seats, it is a matter of note, were so placed that the scholars sat facing the wall, writh their backs to the center of the room. That was years before community enterprise had advanced to the point where schools are consolidated and where com¬ fortable wagons gather up the pupils from the different homes, and haul them over pike roads to the central schoolhouse. The pressure of eco¬ nomic necessity w*as such in those days that every boy had to spend most of his time at work on the farm, and schooling wTas only incidental, more like a social accomplishment than an essential part of training.

Mr. Hull's mother died while he wfas still a boy, and after his father's second marriage he left home, being then but five years old. From the age of sixteen years he worked for his own living. About four years later he came to Indiana, and in Cass county hired out to an Irishman who was a stave maker. Under him he learned the trade, and that was his business for many years. The first wdnter he worked in Cass county was characterized by mild weather, so that the ground never froze until the middle of February. The staves wrere therefore hauled to market in mud-boats, and later by snowT sleds. Coming as he did from a hilly country, Mr. Hull found it hard to become accustomed to the level lands of Cass county. While working under the same man, he received fourteen dollars a month and board, which at that time was considered liberal wages. During the following summer he worked on a farm at sixteen dollars a month. In the same fall he began working for himself, and since that time has never been an employee, always doing for himself and relying upon his independent enterprise to ad¬ vance him in the w-orld. His first independent venture was in cutting ties for the railroads which wTere then being constructed through Indiana. At the same time he cut cord wfood, and took other contracts in the woods. He was a vigorous specimen of physical manhood, and could swing an ax every day and return to his labor on the following morning without apparent loss of efficiency. One of his records as a woodman in the early days was the cutting of two hundred and six cords of wood in four months, and during that time helped a man seed twelve acres to corn and cut two hundred shocks of corn. Saving his money carefully, he finally returned to his Ohio home with the intention of entering school and making up for lack of early advantages. But two weeks later found him again in Cass county, where he lived for the following ten years, and spent most of the time in the woods.

In the meantime he had met and wooed successfully the lady of his choice and made preparation to establish a home of his own. He bor¬ rowed fifty dollars to help buy furniture, and as he recalls that early fitting up of a household, it appears that prices were very high for all ordinary commodities. Calico was forty-five cents a yard, cotton was ninety cents a pound, and many other articles in proportion. On November 16, 1865, was solemnized his marriage with Mary Phelps, who was born and reared in Ohio. Her father was Hiram Phelps. Mr. and Mrs. Hull lived in Logansport one winter and then moved to the country, and lived in the Widow Gay's house, having one room upstairs, and using the woodshed for their kitchen.

In the meantime Mr. Hull continued cutting and shipping staves. He had a contract to furnish the firm of Thompson and Myles seventyfive thousand staves. These he shipped down the old canal, which was the chief route of transportation in those days. In the fall of 1870, he bought one hundred and sixty acres of timberland in the German settlement of Lagro township in Wabash county. Messrs. Thompson & Myles advanced him half of the money to pay for this land. Here he set up a somewhat extensive plant, and began operations on a large scale. He put in sawmill machinery, and took a contract to furnish Thompson and Myles one hundred thousand staves. He also did contract work for the railroad company, and was rapidly advancing to success at the same time clearing off his land and selling the lumber products.

About that time came the worst panic in American history, and it came suddenly, on the memorable ' 4 Black Friday,' ' of the year 1873. Mr. Hull had many contracts which were at once countermanded, and he found it practically impossible to collect his outstanding accounts. For some time he managed to stand off his creditors, but in the end, like thousands of others, all his visible property was wiped out, and he was practically bankrupt, although not bankrupt in the official and later meaning of the term, as will appear from subsequent developments. When the clouds began clearing off and he looked around and examined the situation he found that he was worse off than nothing to the extent of thirty-three hundred dollars.

About this time Mr. Hull learned of the existence of a good second¬ hand augur-tile mill for sale, and was offered a free site and the wood to operate it. From his old friend Hank Stephens, he succeeded in borrowing six hundred dollars with no security except his verbal prom¬ ise. With that money he started up the tile factory, and made the first round tile used in this section of the state. He had much difficulty at first in selling this new kind of tile, and had even greater trouble in realizing any money from the output, since, as fast as a kiln of tile was burned and racked up, some one of his creditors would be waiting with a wagon and cart the tile away. He had no protection against such incursions, and the remarkable thing is that he did not become dis¬ couraged by these constant obstacles and set-backs. He had supreme confidence in his ability to win out in the end, and kept at it until he succeeded. The tile factory began operating in July, and he worked day and night, scarcely taking time to eat or sleep. The following year he employed many hands, and soon had about three thousand dollars worth of tile piled up in his yard. Hard luck was still with him, for a rainy season set in and it was impossible to move the tile over the road to market. After Christmas a heavy snow fell, and hiring extra hands to man two teams he soon had all his tile moving. Prior to that time he set up a sawmill, having the engine and car in the center between the two plants, the sawmill at one end and the tile factory at another. Thus he worked both ends from the middle, as it were, and on days when the factory was not turning out tile, the sawmill was cutting lum¬ ber. In spite of his almost incessant attention to business and his steady yearly surplus, it took about seventeen years to wipe out his obligations and put himself square with the world, at the end of which time he was just about where he had stood when the panic first struck him.

Mr. Hull continued in the tile business for nearly thirty years and sawed lumber for thirty-five years. Since the death of his son, who had been associated with him, Mr. Hull has given up both of those lines of manufacture, and devotes all his time to farming his fine place in Lagro township. Beulah Farm was originally owned by Dr. De Puy. When Mr. Hull bought it he paid one hundred dollars down, and put up a simple four-room house, in which he and his wife lived for seven years. That was followed by the erection of his present substantial home. He also improved with other buildings, and has invested much capital, and both time and labor in the making of this one of the fine farmsteads of Lagro township. From his own factory he supplied tile for hundreds of rods of draining, and all his land is under cultivation. When he bought the land about twenty acres of timber stood upon it, and that was cleared and the available stock sawed in his mill. Besides the two tracts of land already mentioned, Mr. Hull owns two hundred and fifteen acres near Indianapolis, and uses that as a stock farm, from which he ships each year considerable number of cattle and hogs.

It will hardly be necessary to state that the chief characteristic of Mr. Hull has been hardworking industry. At one time he moved into Wabash, intending to retire, and live without work. However that soon became so monotonous that at the end of three years he was back on his farm, w'ith the idea firmly fixed in his mind that it was far better to "wear out than to rust out." However, he does not claim to be the only worker at Beulah farm. Mrs. Hull, his wife, has been the best kind of a helpmate, and to her is due a great deal of credit for their united success. Each one can still do a good day 's work on the outside, although of course they do not attempt what they did a few years ago.

Mr. Hull has never entered politics to any extent. He votes the pro¬ hibition ticket, and it is worth while to state that he was a voter for that voi. n - is ticket back in the days when it had very few supporters, and it required some moral courage to support openly such a cause. The subsequent growth of the prohibition movement has been regarded with much pride and satisfaction by Mr. Hull, and it is to such men as he that the chief credit is due for the extension of the temperance wave into all parts of the nation. Mr. and Mrs. Hull are members of the Evangelical Associa¬ tion at Wabash.

Their only son and child was George Dallas Hull, who died in his thirty-sixth year. After working as a bookkeeper for three years, he became an active partner with his father in the tile business, and was a well equipped young business man, whose early death proved a severe bereavement to his parents, and was a distinct loss to the citizenship of the community.

John Ira Willcox. That enterprise and good management are well rewarded in the country life of Wabash county needs no better illustra¬ tion than the career of John I. Willcox, whose fine homestead known as Brooklet Farm, of eighty acres lies in Lagro township, southeast of Urbana. Every improvement and every detail of appearance about this farm indicates prosperity, well ordered and intelligent husbandry, and the thrift and system which make a success of any line of business. Besides the fine Brooklet farm, Mr. Willcox is half-owner in the old Willcox homestead of one hundred and ninety acres, situated in the same township. His career has been one in which self-help has been a prom¬ inent factor and is a matter of encouragement to younger men now starting out in the world. When he was twenty-one he entered into an agreement with his father, by which he had to work for the lattet* at wages of one hundred dollars per year, including board and clothes, and with the additional privilege of cultivating a piece of land in crop for himself and also doing any odd jobs he could find when there was no work at home. He fulfilled his agreement to the letter, and saved every cent of his salary until he was married, when he started out for himself as a renter.

John Ira Willcox is a son of Jonathan and Marcia Russell Willcox. Jonathan Willcox was born in Fayette county, Indiana, a son of Ira, who came from Massachusetts, and who in turn was a son of Daniel Willcox. The Willcox family 's genealogy has been compiled by some of its members in the east, and that record shows that the name was established on the shores of Massachusetts Bay in the early colonial epoch, and at least one ancestor came over in the Mayflower. In the different generations, mem¬ bers of the family have attained prominence in affairs in Massachusetts. Jonathan Willcox grew up in Fayette county, Indiana, and like his father became a farmer. When a young man he moved to Wabash county and married Martha Russell, who was a daughter of John Russell, one of the pioneers of Lagro township. Jonathan Willcox bought eighty acres in the midst of the green woods, and a portion of the canal land at Lagro town¬ ship. By dint of much heavy labor he cleared up this place, increased its limits from time to time, and prospered there as a farmer until his death in 1904 when past seventy years of age. His widow is still living on the old place. Martha Russell Willcox is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, native women residents of Lagro township. She is now seventy-six years of age, and was born and reared within one mile of her present home. Jonathan and wife became the parents of the following children: John Ira, William N. of Lagro township; H. Oscar, of Lagro township; Elizabeth, deceased; and Alice, deceased.

John Ira Willcox was born on the old homestead in Lagro township, July 30, 1860. The house in which he was born was a little log building, containing only one door and two windows, and a portion of that structure is still standing, an interesting landmark at least to the Willcox family. When a boy he went to a school whose furnishings and equipment were of the primitive type, and many a day he spent on benches without backs, and conned the old blue back spelling book and other books of that day and generation in the school world. In the meantime he had gained a practical experience in methods of farming, and as already related was getting ready for an independent career. On February 22, 1887, when twenty-seven years old, Mr. Willcox married Emma Amacher, a daughter of Gottlieb Amacher, and wife, who came from Switzerland and were farming people in Marshall county, Indiana. Emma was bom in Marshall county, and her death occurred in April, 1901. To the marriage of Mr. Willcox and wife were born five children, as follows : Ruth, who married Jacob Harrell, lives in Lagro township, and has one child, Irene; Alva Morton ; Edward ; Claude ; Leatha. The sons are all now active helpers on the home farm.

After his marriage Mr. Willcox rented land for a few years. In 1893 he came to his present place which three years later he was able to buy from its owner, William Welsh. The house and other buildings are attractively located at some distance back from the highway, and there is comfort in abundance for the family, and good cheer for all visitors at the Willcox home. Two small streams running through the farm suggest the name Brooklet Farm, which has been a popular designation of the place for several years, and the name was recorded in the year 1913. Mr. Willcox is a prohibitionist, recruited from the ranks of the republi¬ can party. He and his children are members of the Evangelical Associa¬ tion.

George Pretorius. In the following sketch of a Wabash county family that needs no introduction to proclaim them of the best citizen¬ ship, there appears in every paragraph the spirit of rugged German hardihood and courage of an indomitable faith in personal efficiency when measured against the forces of the wilderness, and a vigor of accomplishment that is an inspiration to later beginners in the struggle of existence.

At Urbana, no man is better known or held in more esteem than George Pretorius, who owns one hundred and twenty-two acres, situated partly in Lagro and partly in Paw Paw township. George is a son of Jacob and Catherine (Schultz) Pretorius, both of whom were natives of

Germany, the former of Bavaria, and the latter of Prussia. Jacob came to the United States at the age of seventeen years in 1836. Catherine Schultz came when twenty years old, with her parents, and located in Tuscarawas county, Ohio. Her father Peter Schultz owned thirteen acres of land in Germany, which was considered a good estate. He sold it, and the proceeds were sufficient to move his family to the United States, pay for one hundred and twenty acres of Tuscarawas land, and also pay a Jew one hundred and twenty-five dollars to get his son George smuggled out of the army and out of the country, George having com¬ pleted only one year of service in the army. Later the Schultz family sold out their land in Tuscarawas county, and came to Lagro township, Wabash county, Indiana, locating on the farm now owned by William Yentis. There both Peter Schultz and wife died.

Jacob Pretorius, as already stated, was seventeen years of age when he left Bavaria. Unable to secure a passport permitting him to leave his native land, by the aid of a teamster he hid himself in a wagon under¬ neath four feet of hay. When the wagon arrived at the boundary line, a guard rammed his sabre into the hay up to the hilt, and almost dis¬ covered the young refugee. After getting into France he walked twentyone days across the country before reaching a port, and embarking for the United States and freedom. While in Germany he had learned the trade of shoemaker, and after landing from the sailing vessel at Castle Garden, he had hardly a cent, but the following day found a job at his trade in a shop on Broadway. The next day when he endeavored to report for work, he lost his direction and wandered seven miles from the shop before a friendly German clerk, who was sweeping off the sidewalk, found out his plight, and taking off his apron kindly showed the raw German his proper destination. After working on Broadway for one year, he was joined at Castle Garden by his father Jacob and his mother, and then they all went west to Tuscarawas county, Ohio. There Jacob bought forty acres, and lived in Tuscarawas county for sixteen years. When twenty-five years of age, he married Miss Schultz and they moved to Indiana and bought eighty acres in Paw Paw township of Wabash county. Jacob and his wife both died on that homestead, she on Decem¬ ber 23, 1896, and he in May, 1897. His last years were spent at the home of his son George. Jacob Pretorius was a prosperous and sub¬ stantial farmer, and acquired about two hundred acres of Wabash land, forty acres of the farm being contained in the present estate of George Pretorius. He was one of the ardent democrats in his locality. Many interesting characteristics might be cited of this old German settler. He was unexcelled as an axman, and was considered an expert on what was called "corner work," and could fashion out with his ax or draw knife, wooden hinges, and other furnishings and equipments used in the early days. He was accordingly often called upon to help construct many of the early log houses of Wabash county. When he first located here he cut down trees to clear a space in which to erect his own cabin. The stumps of these trees sprouted up, and deer often wandered into the clearing to eat off the tender shoots. During the first winter of his settlement he cleared up four acres, ready to plant com, nearly all the trees which measured more than eighteen inches in diameter, being deadened and allowed to stand. After planting the com the squirrels came in such numbers as to constitute a dangerous pest, and he appointed his children Jacob and Kate in the field whose duty it was to alarm the animals with some sort of rattle, but in a short time even this device proved ineffective. Fearing that he would lose all his farm, the pioneer hired Tom and Arch Dunfee at three cents a head to kill the squirrels. These young men killed one hundred and seventy-five in a day and a half. That is an illustration of one of the many things against which the first settlers had to contend, in order to raise crops and support themselves. There were no good roads in the entire county when the Pretorius family settled here, and much of Lagro and Paw Paw township was swampland, and the first settlers usually cut roads through the woods and the higher grounds around these swamps, and that accounts for the zigzag and circuitous highways which at one time wound from place to place in the county.

Jacob Pretorius and wife had the following children: Sophia, now deceased, who was Mrs. Henry Eiler; Catherine, who married Daniel Conrad; Jacob who lives on the old home farm; Mary, Mrs. John Baumbaugh; Josephine, the widow of Gottlieb Smelzley; George; and Caro¬ lina, Mrs. Charles Miller.

George Pretorius was bom on the old homestead in Paw Paw town¬ ship, April 15, 1858. There his birth occurred more than a quarter of a century after the beginning of county government, and he experienced some of the drawbacks and limitations which were characteristic of the pioneer days. He was unable to go to school until he reached the age of nine years, in consequence of the fact that no school building had been erected in that vicinity before that time. He stayed close to home, grew up in the small neighborhood in which he was born, and was never out of Wabash county until after eighteen years old. Then, in 1877, he made a trip to what he regarded as the metropolis, Fort Wayne, and was employed for one season in a brick yard. Returning home he bought a team and began farming on his present place which was then owned by his father and his brother Jacob.

In September, 1880, when he was twenty-two years of age he married Elizabeth Haupert, daughter of Frederick Haupert, a pioneer of Paw Paw township. Mr. and Mrs. Pretorius have eight children as follows: Emma, who is the wife of Homer Haupert, and has one child, Harland ; George, who is a well known stock shipper of Urbana, and who married Lela Rife; Fred, who married Matilda A. Mattern; Joseph; Cora, Mrs. Louis Wolfe ; Edith, a high school student at Lagro ; Florence ; and Lena.

Mr. George Pretorius follows general farming and is noted as a stock shipper. In 1911 he and his son George shipped out of Wabash county, three hundred thousand dollars worth of live stock. A few years ago from his farm he sold six and three-tenths acres for the sum of $1,943.00. This land is now an addition to the town of Urbana, having been plotted and sold as town lots. He has steadily prospered as a farmer since beginning here more than thirty years ago, and under his immediate supervision has cleared thirty acres of the land and has put in more than two thousand rod of tile. Mr. Pretorius is. a stanch republican, and is a trustee of the German Evangelical church.

David Grove Fox. Few of the citizens of Wabash county are more widely or favorably known to the people of this section than is David Grove Fox, a veteran of the great Civil War, through which he served with the utmost bravery, and the owner of forty-five acres of land on both sides of Rock Spring Pike, about two miles east of Lagro, in Lagro township. Mr. Fox was born July 22, 1840, near Washington Court House, Fayette county, Ohio, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Willard) Fox. His life from early boyhood has been one of constant industry and earnest endeavor, and from modest circumstances and obscurity he has become one of the leading agriculturists of his locality and the owner of one of the most desirable locations in Lagro township.

William Fox was born in South Carolina, and as a young man moved to North Carolina and later to Clinton county, Ohio, where he was married to his first wife, a native of Germany wTho had come to the United States as a child of two years. They later went to Fayette county, Ohio, and there Mrs. Fox died without issue. Later Mr. Fox was married to Elizabeth Willard, and in September, 1850, they moved to Grant county, Indiana, and located at Meir, then called Union City, where they passed their remaining years on a farm, the mother dying in 1861, while the father, for many years retired, passed away in 1870, when about ninety years of age. They were the parents of nine children : David Grove ; Hannah ; Daniel, who served as a member of the Second Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil War ; Rachael, who is deceased; Henry; Isaac, who is deceased; George, deceased; Alphonse; and William, deceased.

David Grove Fox was a lad of ten years when the family came to Indiana and he still remembers the trip in the old Virginia ' 4 scoop-bed 7 7 wagon and 4 4 Quaker rocker77 buggy, the little party bringing their household effects and eleven head of horses. The father purchased about twenty acres of land, at twenty-two dollars per acre, and this thfe lad helped to clear, and as the years passed and more acreage was added he assisted in the clearing of some 200 acres of land. During the winter months, while other lads were attending school, he worked in the saw¬ mills, and an educated Virginian who w as staying at the Fox home helped him with his arithmetic, so that he was soon able to tell the various sizes of lumber, although he had not yet learned how to write. In 1862 he offered his services to his country during the struggle between the Union and Secession, and in August of that year became a private in Company I, One Hundred and First Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Capt. George Steele. He continued to serve until June 9, 1865, when he received his honorable discharge after a service characterized at all times by the utmost bravery and faithfulness to duty. While in the army Mr. Fox made the most of his opportunities and learned among other things how to write, so that he not only was able to send messages home of his own but often wrote letters for his comrades. He participated in the battles of Milton ; Chickamauga, where he was wounded ; Missionary Ridge, Atlanta Campaign and Jonesboro, and took part in the various skirmishes of his regiment and did much forage duty. He was finally mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, and received his honorable dis¬ charge at Indianapolis, Indiana, with an excellent record. While home on a furlough of fifteen days, October 25, 1864, he was married to Miss Adeline Parker, daughter of Isaac and Melinda (Wire) Parker. Mr. Parker was in Mr. Fox's company during the Civil War and served through the struggle, being shot through the arm at Chickamauga. He died in 1892, while Mrs. Parker passed away three years later.

After his return from the army Mr. Fox rented land in Grant county, but one year later moved to Wabash county and rented George Todd's farm in Lagro township, on which he lived for twenty-one years, during which time he cleared it, tiled it well, developed it into one of the valuable properties of the township, and moved the house from the canal to a more desirable site. In 1890 he left that farm and bought forty-seven acres on the river. During this time Mr. Fox had hired many hands, and had the reputation of being an excellent farmer. It is thought that Mrs. Fox has given an example of her excellent ability as a cook to about everybody in this part of the county, for an extra place is ever ready for the visitor at their home. Hospitality has ever been one of their chief characteristics, and a meal and a bed, as well as a place for the visitor's horse, are always kept ready. It had always been Mr. Fox's desire to obtain possession of his present farm, the old Badger place, and in 1904 he grasped the opportunity of becoming its owner. Here he has erected new buildings, including a modern residence, com¬ modious barns and substantial outbuildings, and has made improvements of the finest kind. He has up-to-date equipment and the latest manu¬ facture of machinery, and the whole appearance of his property denotes good management and prosperity. A lover of fine horses, he at all times keeps several of the very best in his stable. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fox : Mary Alice, who is the wife of Fred Shaw, of Huntington county and has two children : Grace, the wife of Daniel Young, and Nellie, wife of Julius Rudiek; Charles, of Wabash, who married Flora Roser, and has five children: Cleotis, Dewey, Roy, Crystal and Edith ; and Glenn, formerly a teacher in the high school, and now a member of the retail hardware firm of Fox & Bechtol, at Urbana, married Sylvia Odem, and has one child, Lois. Mr. Fox is well known in fraternal circles being a member of the Subordinate Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Lagro and the Encampment at Wabash. In political matters he is a republican, but he has taken only a good citizen's interest in public matters. He and Mrs. Fox are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are known all over Wabash county, where they have many warm friends.

William A. Elwakd. One of that last surviving members of that little coterie of native sons of Wabash county who date their birth back to the 'thirties is William A. Elward, who was born in a log cabin in Lagro township, Wabash county, more than three quarters of a century ago. All his life has been spent in the confines of the county, and more than the Psalmist's span of years have given him a host of associations and memories that make this locality for him 4 'the fairest spot of the world." For many years Mr. Elward was known as one of the largest grain buyers in the county. In 1912 he retired from active business and has since lived quietly in Wabash, enjoying the fruits of the labors of earlier years and free from the more active cares of life.

William A. Elward was born in Lagro township, Wabash county, Indiana, on September 8, 1838, one of the thirteen children born to his parents, James and Ellen (Driscoll) Elward. Ten daughters and three sons, a typical pioneer family, were reared in the home of the Elwarda in Lagro township, and of these children seven are living today, three of them in Wabash, three in Lagro township and one in Indianapolis. The parents had a varied and interesting career in Indiana, and it is fitting that some mention, more or less extended, be made of them in this connection.

James Elward was a native of Kilkenny, Ireland, and was about midway between his seventeenth and eighteenth birthdays when he decided to come to America. This was about the year 1831, and he took passage on a sailing vessel bound for America within a short time after the idea of immigrating came to him. Landing in New York harbor after a voyage of six weeks, for a year young Elward was employed as a gardner's assistant in the state of New York. The hundred dollars earned in that year was paid to him in a lump sum when he quitted the service of his employer, and with that money in his pocket he determined to visit his home in Ireland. But the call of his native land was not sufficient to hold him there long. Having had a taste of American life, he was soon bound for America's shores again, the second time accompanied by a brother, William, who later died in Vincennes, Indiana. For a time after his return James Elward maintained a resi¬ dence in Pennsylvania, and while there made the acquaintance of Robert English, a contractor, who was later engaged in the construction of the old Wabash and Erie Canal in Indiana. In the year 1833 Mr. Elward, with others, drove ox team wagons loaded with tools and equipment to be used on canal construction work to Lagro, at that time the largest and most promising town in the county of Wabash. For a considerable time thereafter he was engaged in the work of hauling stone for the building of the canal locks, making his home in Lagro. The work on the canal was of necessity suspended during the winter months, so that Mr. Elward decided he could not better occupy his time than in the improving of a farm. This was followed by. the purchase of an eighty of heavily timbered land some two miles north of Lagro, for which he paid a hundred dollars, and in the winter seasons he applied himself to the task of clearing the land or cutting down the standing timber pre- paratory to the actual clearing process. When a spot sufficiently large had been cleared a round-log cabin was put up, and there he lived during the long winter months. During this time he and a neighbor, who lived a mile away and was also engaged in clearing land, would meet on Sundays to grind their axes, and he occasionally saw a wild Indian roaming through the woods, otherwise he seldom saw a human being. A magnificent black walnut forest, generously sprinkled with oak, sugar maple, hickory and beech trees, the equal of which today spell inde¬ pendent wealth for its owner, was ruthlessly cut down, rolled into log heaps and burned, there being no market in those days for such material, and the land in a productive state being worth infinitely more than any quantity of what is today almost priceless timber. About 1833 or 1834 three Driscoll brothers and one sister, Ellen Driscoll, came from county Cork, Ireland, to Indiana, and settled in the woods in the neighborhood of Mr. Elward 's farm. It was thus that James Elward met the attractive young Irish girl who became his wife in 1836. Through the influence of Mr. Elward two of his brothers other than William, previously men¬ tioned, came from Ireland. They were Thomas and Richard Elward. Thomas engaged in business at Memphis, Tennessee, and there he died in later years. Richard, who located in Natchez, Mississippi, was a bookbinder by trade, became prominent in the business and other activ¬ ities of that city, married there, established a home, and later founded the Natchez Free Trader. He was a close friend and neighbor of Jeff Davis, whom he assisted into Congress, and through some instrumen¬ tality he was afterward appointed postmaster of Natchez, during the Polk, Pierce and Buchanan administrations.

James Elward in after years purchased sixty-five acres and cleared one hundred and forty-five acres from a primeval forest, and there he resided until his death in 1890. He was a man inclined to reticence in his manner, a quality peculiarly noticeable in an Irishman, but withal was inclined to be genial and companionable. He was a lover of horses, and was a hard-working man all his days. He was saving and prudent, and he educated his children to the best of his ability. Both he and his wife were Catholics in their religious faith, and in that faith reared their family. A democrat, and while always an interested participant in the discussions of the day, he was never found an aspirant for political preferment or favors of whatever order.

William A. Elward had his early training in the back-woods schools of Wabash county. He knew but little respite from the duties that fell to the lot of the family of a pioneer farmer, and he hoed and grubbed and planted and harvested from season to season as only a country boy can appreciate. He attended the neighboring schools three months during the winter season, and later attended school at Lagro for a time. When a little past eighteen years old he took the prescribed examination for a teacher's certificate, and was given a two-year license as a result of the test. His first term was taught in the vicinity of Urbana, the school being known as the Speicher school, and he later taught the Frushour school in the same neighborhood. In March, 1859, young Elward entered the store of James H. Britton at Lagro. The wages they agreed upon was a hundred dollars a year and his board. The next year he was with W. B. Cubberiy as a clerk, and still later entered the employ of Martin Dedreick, who was a grain buyer and elevator operator, as well as station agent at Lagro. In this connection Mr. Elward gained a thorough insight into the duties of a railroad agent and express agent, and, together with his other duties, he was watchman of the bridge at Lagro. In 1865 his appointment as station agent at Wabash caused him to move to this city, and he held the position for the ensuing twenty-seven and a half years.

It was while thus occupied that he began to give some attention to the grain business as a buyer, and soon, with Captain Samuel Steele, succeeded to the business of William Steele, Jr., and the firm of Steele and Elward, thus organized, continued in the grain buying and elevator business until 1883. During that time Mr. Elward was practically the manager of the enterprise, and in 1884 he, with W. R. Adams, obtained control of the elevator at Lagro. Together they leased the elevator at Rich Valley in 1886, and in 1892 came his retirement from the agency of the Wabash station, the better to devote himself to his private interests. He then bought out Mr. Adams and assumed proprietorship of the three houses. He also bought the plant at Andrews, then Antioch, but held the latter plant only about four years. In 1885 he bought an interest in the elevator at LaFontaine, in which he maintained an interest for more than twenty years. He was also identified with the roller mill enterprise ut LaFontaine. His grain operations, all considered, constituted him the largest individual grain buyer in Wabash county and one of the most successful and prosperous of Wabash county men. In May, 1912, Mr. Elward sold his grain business, and since that time has led a quiet life in the city. He was married on October 14, 1868, to Miss Ella Fougeres. Four daughters were born to them. Deborah is now the wife of L. L. Duret, living in Wabash. Nellie married L. H. Riff el and lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Leah lives at home, and Adelaide is the wife of J. H. Conner, of Elkhart, Indiana. Mrs. Elward passed away on August 7, 1900.

Mr. Elward is a democrat in his politics and has long been active in local political matters. He was county chairman for twelve years, and was at one time a candidate for election to the office of county auditor, but was defeated by the enormous Republican majority of the county. He also at one time headed the democratic ticket as nominee for ma}ror of Wabash, and though democratic politics has seldom controlled in this county, he showed his spirit by consenting to run when he was named on the party ticket. He is at present a member of the Wabash school board, and is giving excellent service to the city in that capacity. His has been a useful and honorable career. Within the lines of normal, but concentrated business activity he has won the prosperity that is most men's ambition, and with admiration for his commercial ability his fellow citizens also commend his fine integrity and valuable citizenship.

Mr. And Mrs. John H. Kneeley

John Henry Kneiley. Among the men of Wabash county who have been the architects of their own fortunes, who have builded on the firm foundations of energy, ambition and persistence, and with the material of honest effort and untiring industry, and whose structure, fully erected, is found worthy in the eyes of their fellow citizens, is John Henry Kneiley, of Paw Paw township. Mr. Kneiley embarked upon his career as a lad of sixteen years, when he left his home to battle with the world on his own account. He was gifted with no advantages, either of an educational or 'financial nature, but bravely went out against strangers, made a place for himself among men, and as the increasing competition of the years came found that he was able to successfully cope with it. Today he is the owner of a valuable farm of 160 acres, located on the east side of the road, about three and one-half miles east of Roann, a tract which in its numerous advantages gives evidence of the ability and thrift of its owner. He owns another tract of 40 acres just south of this farm, making a total of 200 acres. He also farms a 40 acre tract adjoining his land, which belongs to his mother.

Mr. Kneiley was born September 2, 1869, on his father's farm in Lagro township, Wabash county, Indiana, and is a son of George and Mary Ann (Sloop) Kneiley. His father, a native of Germany, learned the trade of cloth weaving in the Fatherland, but as a young man decided that better opportunities awaited him in the United States, and accord¬ ingly, as soon as he was able to save the cost of his passage, emigrated to this country. Here he at once came to Wabash county, a region of which he had received glowing reports, and soon secured employment among the farmers, being on the farm of Sam S. Speicher for some time. Mr. Kneiley was married in this county to Mrs. Mary Ann Moore, who was born in Ohio and came as a girl to Wabash county with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Sloop, who came to this county with a wagon and ox-team and located three miles west of Wabash in a log house. In a short time John Sloop purchased 100 acres of land three miles east of Roann, in Paw Paw township, then all in the woods, and the family located in a small log house which is still standing. Mr. Sloop put the greater part of this property under cultivation, but after the death of his wife sold it and went to live at the home of his son, Adam Sloop, four miles west of Wabash, on the Farr turnpike, and there his death occurred. Mary Ann Sloop was married first to Philip Moore, a widower with children, who passed away in Lagro township, where for some years he had been engaged in agricultural pursuits and owned a productive farm. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Moore : Samuel ; and Rose, who is the wife of Charles Keifer. After the death of her first husband, Mrs. Moore married George Kneiley, and they became the parents of three children: John Henry, of this review; Maggie M., who is single; and Matilda, who is the wife of Arthur Hobson. After Mr. Kneiley 's death, Mrs. Kneiley married John P. Baker, who was for years engaged in successful farming operations in Paw Paw township, on a property adjoining that now owned by John H. Kneiley, and on which he passed away several years ago. Mrs. Baker still survives and resides on that farm, her seventy-fourth birthday having occurred March 21, 1914. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Kneiley lived for a time on the farm that had been owned by Mr. Moore, but subsequently rented a property in Lagro township, on the Rock Spring turnpike. About the time the canal was abandoned they purchased forty acres of land one and onehalf miles southeast of Speicherville, this property being all in the woods. Here Mr. Kneiley put up a two-room residence, walking back and forth from the old home each day while building it, and this became the family home, in which he died in 1875, when still in the prime of life. He was a man of industry, and had cleared up the greater part of his land when called by death. He was never a politician or an office seeker, as he was too busily engaged in making a home for his family, but still found time to take an interest in affairs of his community and to assist good move¬ ments and able men. When he passed away he left a wide circle of friends. Mrs. Baker is widely known as a woman of much ability and goodness of heart, who has witnessed a great change in Wabash county, and who has borne a full share therein.

John Henry Kneiley was born on the farm in which his parents started housekeeping in Lagro township, and there he grew up and attended the district school. He was a strong and industrious lad, and was put to work in the fields when the lads of today are still absorbed with their childish play, and by the time he had reached the age of sixteen years was able to accomplish a man's tasks. At this time he became possessed of the desire to carve out a career of his own, and accordingly left home and began working out on different farms among strangers. He was willing and industrious, cheerful and a capable worker and commanded wages of thirteen dollars a month, which were later raised when his worth became known. Always with the idea of becoming the owner of a property of his own, he saved his money thriftily, and finally was able to purchase ten acres of land, for which he paid $850, considered an exceedingly high price in those days. On September 15, 1892, Mr. Kneiley was married to Miss Mary A. Hipp Ensteel, and they became the parents of one child, Loren L., now a resident of San Francisco, Cali¬ fornia. Mrs. Kneiley died eight years later.

After spending one year on his ten-acre property, Mr. Kneiley went to Wabash, and there for six months was employed by a lumber company. In the fall of the same year he made removal to the farm of Charles Wallace, two and one-half miles west of Wabash, on the Farr turnpike, where he was first an ordinary employe and subsequently was made over¬ seer of the entire property of 428 acres. He remained on that farm for seven years, but after the death of his first wife, which occurred January 27, 1900, he and his son moved to the ten-acre farm. This, however, he sold in the following fall and purchased forty acres of good land just west of it. While on the Wallace farm, he had previously purchased seventy-two acres at a low figure, so that he was now possessed of 112 acres. In the spring after he sold his ten-acre property, Mr. Kneiley was employed by Frank DuPuy, whose farm of 800 acres in Lagro township he operated for two years, and during that time rented out his 112 acres. He then returned to his own farm and conducted it until the spring of 1907, when he sold out and purchased his present property from George Sewell. It is interesting to note that Mr. Kneiley had worked as a hand on this same farm when it had been owned by B. R. Johnson. He has put many dollars into improvements on this land, and it may be truthfully stated that he now has one of the nicest tracts of its size in Wabash county. He has reroofed the many buildings, has laid his 200 acres out into fields of twenty acres each, and has put in over 1,000 rods of fencing, with over six hundred rods of cement posts. He devotes his attention to general farming, feeds a great deal of stock, and does a big business in hogs and cattle, shipping large numbers to the markets. He has always been a firm believer in purchasing the best machinery, and has carefully studied the new methods, inventions and discoveries which are constantly adding to the knowledge of the trained agriculturist. In his business dealings with his fellow men he has proven himself alert, shrewd and farseeing, but has never been willing to take advantage of another's misfortune. In democratic circles of his township he is well known, not as a seeker for personal preferment, but as one who may be relied upon to support the party's best interests and to give his stanch aid to its candidates.

On June 17, 1908, Mr. Kneiley was united in marriage with Miss Pearl Heppensteel, a half-sister of his first wife and daughter of David B. and Maggie E. (Bowers) Heppensteel, both of whom make their home at Urbana. Mr. and Mrs. Kneiley are consistent members of the Evan¬ gelical church.

Marcellus G. Hubbard. Among the men who have contributed to the agricultural prosperity of Wabash county by their intelligent and well-directed operations, Marcellus G. Hubbard is worthy of extended mention. His has been a career of singular activity, and from humble circumstances he has advanced himself to a position of independence and prominence, at the same time contributing to his community's welfare. His present property, a tract of 124 acres in Paw Paw township, on the west side of the road on the Minick pike, about seven miles north of Wabash, has been brought to a high state of productiveness and is an excellent example of what may be accomplished by industry and earnest effort.

Mr. Hubbard has been a lifelong resident of Wabash county, having been born on a farm in Noble township, January 10, 1861, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth Ann (Green) Hubbard. Samuel Hubbard was a native of North Carolina, from whence he went in young manhood to Fayette county, Indiana, and in 1853 came to Wabash county, where he spent the remainder of his life in farming in Noble township. He was married in Fayette county, to Miss Nancy Glidewell, who passed away leaving a large family. Later Mr. Hubbard married Elizabeth Ann Green, and they became the parents of eight children, of whom Mar¬ cellus G. was the third from the youngest. Mr. Hubbard was reared in Noble township, where he secured his education in the district schools, but his parents died when he was about fifteen years of age and he was forced to put aside his books and to begin to shift for himself. During the next three years he devoted himself to whatever occupation presented itself, working on various farms in the vicinity of his hirthplace, and finally entered the employ of Ross Riggen, with whom he remained for seven years. On March 14, 1886, he was married to Miss Rebecca Speelman, daughter of Joseph and Catherine Speelman, of Paw Paw township, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Hubbard rented land for four years after his marriage in Noble township, being for three years on the old homestead farm of 119 acres, and after its sale rented the old Patter¬ son farm, now known as the. old Murphy farm, a tract of 120 acres, for one year. At the end of that time Mr. Hubbard had accumulated enough capital with which to buy sixty acres of his present land from Mr. Carnes, of North Dakota, on which was located a log house and barn, the former having been an old church and for many years a landmark of this locality. The land was all located in the woods, but Mr. Hubbard set himself resolutely to the task of clearing and. developing it, and soon had the property in a productive shape. Later, he added the remainder of his property in two pieces, one of which, consisting of fifty acres, was acquired by his wife from her father's estate. The orig¬ inal primitive structures were replaced by the present modern buildings, including a commodious residence, well-built barn and structures for the shelter of his stock and machinery, and the land is well fenced, drained and tiled. The north farm, which is now occupied by Mr. Hub¬ bard's daughter, Mrs. Haupert, contained a set of buildings at the time of purchase, but these have been somewhat remodeled. In his general farming operations Mr. Hubbard has shown a thorough knowledge of modern methods and the use of power farming machinery. He is a student of his vocation and is ever ready to give a trial to innovations, but has the practicality to depend largely on the old and tried methods. As a business man he has shown himself honorable in his dealings, and his associates have had every reason to depend upon his integrity as well as his good judgment and foresight. Like his fellow agriculturists in this section, he has devoted some attention to the breeding of livestock, in which venture he has also scored a success.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard : Ada, who is the wife of Ross Haupert, a complete review of whose family will be found on another page of this work ; and Fay C., who is residing at home. Politically a democrat, Mr. Hubbard's popularity was shown in 1904 when he was elected trustee of Paw Paw township, an office in which he served continuously until 1909, being then succeeded by Jacob Wag¬ ner. He is one of the few democrats who have been elected to this responsible position in this township, which is strongly republican, and his record in office is one that is well worthy of emulation. His publicspirited citizenship has been shown on numerous occasions when he has supported other earnest and progressive men in bringing about reforms and changes which have placed the township on a more substantial footing. He finds his greatest interests in his farm and his home, but is not unmindful of the pleasures of companionship with his fellows, and has many friends among his fellow members in the local lodge of the Modem Woodmen of America. His religious faith is that of the Christian church, in which he has served for some time as deacon.

G. P. Kidd, M. D. In the village of Roann and vicinity Dr. Kidd has for nearly forty years filled the place of family physician to the families of that locality. That is the most responsible, the most honor¬ able, the most intimate relation man can hold to his fellowman. His has. been a life of service, his name is a household word in a large community, and he has rightly won a prominent place among the citizens of Wabash county.

Born in Richland township, Miami county, Indiana, October 1, 1847,. Dr. Kidd was one of a large family of children born to Edmund J. and Christiana (DeCamp) Kidd. Both his parents were pioneers of northern Indiana. His father, who was bora near Bowling Green in Caroline county, Virginia, in 1793, when twelve years of age was taken across the mountains to Lexington, Kentucky, grew up there, and in early manhood enlisted for service with the Second Kentucky Regiment of Infantry in the war of 1812. He was with the troops under General Harrison in the campaign against the Indians and the British at the Wabash valley r and was on the site of Fort Wayne at that time. While at Lexington he learned the trade and worked as a cotton spinner, but after moving to- Indiana in 1819 took up farming, which was his vocation during the greater part of his active career. In Connersville, Fayette county, In¬ diana, Edmund J. Kidd operated for years a woolen mill and there met and married Christiana DeCamp. She was bora in Addison county, Vermont, in 1803, and came to Indiana by a somewhat different route from that taken by her husband. When she was a young girl of twelve her family moved to New York state, and later she and a brother followed up the course of the Monongahela river to Pittsburg, and thence by boat came down the Ohio to Cincinnati, Ohio, and from there across country to Connersville, Indiana. During his residence at Connersville Edmond J. Kidd served as a captain of the local militia. In 1837 he moved from Fayette county and on the first of October in the same year located in a log cabin home which he had built in Miami county. He was one of the pioneers in that section, and the nearest neighbor during the first months of his residence was two and a half miles away. He died there in 1861, having lived to see Miami county developed, and he bore his own share in the pioneer work. While a hard working farmer, he was also a great reader, kept up on current affairs, and like many other people through¬ out the United States during that time regarded Horace Greely and the New York Tribune as the very oracle of inspired political wisdom. His wife survived him many years and she died at the home of her son, Dr. Kidd, at Roann in 1884. The fourteen children in the family are briefly mentioned as follows : Eliza Ellen, deceased, who married first Peter Mount and after his death, leaving two children, she married Adam Haas, by whom she had one child, Charles S. Haas, and after the death of Mr. Haas, she married Archibald Kennedy; James L.; Meredith H.. now deceased, and at one time an attorney at Wabash; Mary A., de¬ ceased, the former wife of David Todd; Martha J., deceased; Parker, deceased; Elmer E., deceased; Amanda F., who is Mrs. William Wallace, and lives in Florida; Harriet A-., who married F. M. Jeffery, and is deceased; Maria, who is Mrs. Ed. McCammon, a resident of Beaumont, Texas; Sarah J., deceased, who married Thomas C. Miller; Dr. Gideon P. ; Charles, who lives in Peru ; and one that died in infancy.

Dr. Gideon P. Kidd spent his boyhood and early youth on the old farm in Miami county. A district school afforded him the substantial of his early training, and he subsequently attended high school in Wabash and in Peru, and the old academy at Wabash. During several years of his young manhood he divided his time between teaching and farming. He taught school in Miami county in 1867, and again was employed for similar services in 1869. In 1871 Dr. Kidd began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. A. J. Smith at Wabash. The following October he entered the Chicago Medical college, where he was graduated M. D. March 11, 1874. After a brief practice at Kellers Station or Rich Valley, he was married on October 15, 1874, to Mabel F. Dicken, a daughter of Dr. J. L. Dicken, now deceased.

Until April 15, 1875, Dr. Kidd practiced in association with his father-in-law, and at that date established his home at Roann, where he is now in the fortieth year of his active and continuous practice, and has served more than an entire generation in his professional capacity. Dr. Kidd is a member of the Wabash County Medical Society, the State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. During Jthe presidential administration of Cleveland he was a member of the county board of pension examiners. At the present time he is serving as secre¬ tary of the town board of health. While at one time a Democrat, Dr. Kidd is now allied with the progressive party.

Dr. Kidd and wife have the following children : Marie, who married Charles Mooney, of Montgomery, Alabama, and their children are Helen, Margaret, Thomas, Catherine, Marie; Earl E., who died at the age of seven years; Clara, wife of R. H. Guinnup, living at Marion, Indiana, and they have a child, Gordon R. ; Herman Dicken, who married Florence Lang, resides at Hamilton, Ohio, and has a daughter, Marjorie; Mabel, who is a graduate trained nurse; Dr. James G., who graduated in the literary department from the University of Indiana in June, 1911, and from the medical department in 1913, was interne in the City Hospital at Indianapolis and now practicing with his father in Roann. Dr. Kidd was one of the first physicians outside the city of Wabash to employ an automobile in attending his patients, and in his profession as in politics he is a true progressive.

Elliott S. Smith. Among the old families of Wabash county both the Smiths and the Barnharts have long had an influential and useful part in county affairs. Their lives have as a rule been led along the paths of quiet agricultural industry and prosperity, but they also were identified at different times and places with commercial affaire, and in whatever capacity they have appeared they have been good citizens and have done their full share for the enrichment of community life. Elliott S. Smith, known familiarly among his neighbors as "Ell," is the owner with his wife of one hundred and sixty-six acres on the east side of the Mount road, about four miles northeast of Ro&nn, in Paw Paw town¬ ship.

A lifelong resident of Wabash county, Elliott S. Smith was born east of Manchester in Chester township on his father's farm, November 5, 1864. His parents were David and Margaret (Yohe) Smith. David Smith, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, was married at Canton, Ohio, to Margaret Yohe, who had come from Washington county, Pennsylvania. After some years as a farmer near Canton, Ohio, David Smith moved to Wabash county, locating on the old Morphew farm east of Manchester, but subsequently sold that place and moved to the line between Miami and Wabash counties, and his land was located partly in one county and partly in the other. Besides his farm in that locality, David Smith conducted a general store and served as postmaster at Niconza. Fourteen years were spent there, followed by his removal to Roann, where the local elevator was under his proprietorship until sold to Lucas & Shillenger. His farm on the Miami county line had been traded for another place in Paw Paw township of Wabash county, near the home now occupied by Elliott Smith. While he was in the elevator business at Roann his son Barnett managed the farm. David Smith was a business man of much energy and enterprise, and after giving up the elevator engaged in the dry goods trade at North Man¬ chester, as head of the firm of Smith, Sala & Arnold. Subsequently he took over the interest of his partners, and with his son David and sonin-law W. H. Ridgeley continued business under the name D. Smith & Company. That was a popular store under the management of Mr. Smith, and in 1886 he sold it to Helm-Snorf and Watson, and being then an old man lived retired until his death in 1888 at the age of seventy-five. His widow survived him until 1906, and was eighty-four when she answered the last call, dying at the home of her son Elliott.

Of the twelve children of David Smith and wife, nine grew up and are mentioned as follows : Maria, deceased, who wfas the wife of W. H. Ridgeley; Michael, who was a soldier during the war and was killed in the South and lies in the National Cemetery at Chattanooga ; David H., who was also in the war; Susan, who married H. H. Smith, no relative; Barnett; Mary, Mrs. A. G. Ebbinghaus; Melissa, wife of William H. Ward; Elliott S., who was the youngest of those who reached maturity; and Ida, Mrs. A. B. Miller.

Elliott S. Smith grew up in Wabash county, his youth being spent in the different localities where his father had his activities, attended school both at Roann and at North Manchester, graduating from the high school of the latter place. Unlike some of his brothers, Elliott Smith did not take kindly to merchandising, and preferred the work of the farm, which has been his regular vocation for many years.

By his marriage on April 12, 1888, two of the prominent old families of Wabash county were united. Mrs. Smith before her marriage was Edith Barnhart, daughter of the late James H. and Martha Ann (Mount) Barnhart. James Harvey Barnhart, who died on the old Mount farm in Paw Paw township, June 21, 1913, aged nearly sixty-nine years, was bom at the forks of the Wabash river in Huntington county, July 11, 1844. His grandfather Barnhart came with two brothers from Canada just before the Revolutionary war, and at the outbreak of that struggle between the colonies and the mother country the two brothers returned to Canada, but grandfather Barnhart enlisted with the American troops and rose to the rank of captain. It is said that the commission of this patriot, containing the signature of George Washington, is now in the possession of a cousin living in Huntington county. Grandfather Barn¬ hart, whose home was in New York state, had three sons - George, Dave and Christopher; and two daughters. The daughter Anna married Charles Haywood, at whose home her father died in Huntington county, Indiana, and Mrs. Haywood had three sons, Chancy, George and Nahan, and four daughters, Ann, Minerva, Doris and Elizabeth. Of the daughters : Elizabeth, married Benjamin Bowers ; Doris, married Samuel Crandel; Ann, married Mr. Sowers; and Minerva, married Mr. Farrel. Dave Barnhart married and moved to Terre Haute, Indiana; and his brother George, who never married, started down the Ohio river with a load of produce bound for Cincinnati and was never heard of again.

Christopher C. Barnhart, father of James H. Barnhart, was born in Cayuga county, New York, October 10, 1804, and died in Huntington county, Indiana, in October, 1845. He married Eliza Ann Seeley, who was born at Hartland, Niagara county, New York, January 30, 1811, and died at Wabash, Indiana, in October, 1864. They first moved to Michi¬ gan, where were born John, George, Mary and Elizabeth, and in the spring of 1836 moved to Huntington county, Indiana, where James H. Barnhart and another son were born.

At the age of twenty, on November 2, 1864, the late James H. Barn¬ hart enlisted at Indianapolis in Company I of the Forty-Sixth Indiana Infantry, and after a service of nearly a year was discharged at Louis¬ ville, Kentucky, September 4, 1865. Soon after the war, on June 12, 1866, he married Martha Ann Mount. She was bom in Wabash county in 1847, and died November 18, 1909. Her parents were Peter and Eliza Ellen Mount. Peter Mount was bom in New Jersey, April 28, 1810, was married in Miami county, Indiana, to Eliza Ellen Kidd, a sister of Major Kidd and a daughter of Edmond J. and Christina Kidd. Eliza E. Kidd was bora October 23, 1824, at Connersville, Indiana. After his marriage Peter Mount moved to the farm now occupied by Elliott Smith. His father, David Mount, had acquired that place direct from the government as one of the pioneers of Wabash county, and it subsequently became the property of Peter Mount, and has always remained in the family possession. Peter Mount acquired several hundred acres, and cleared up a large part of the forest growth which originally encumbered the soil, erected log buildings, and it was in a log house that Martha, the mother of Mrs. Smith, was bom. Besides this daughter there was one other child, Mary Alice, who was bom in Miami county on the old Kidd farm. Peter Mount died on the present Elliott Smith place in April, 1849, and his widow subsequently returned to the Kidd farm in Miami county, married Adam Haas, and after his death Archibald Kennedy, and she spent the rest of her days in Wabash county. The old Peter Mount homestead subsequently became the prop¬ erty of his daughters, Martha Ann and Mary Alice.

After the marriage of James H. Barnhart and wife in 1866, they lived for a time in Pern, and he was employed in the Blue Front drug store there until 1867. Then moving to Wabash he engaged in the drug business with Mr. Haas and the firm of Barnhart & Haas continued until 1872, when it was dissolved and T. L. Barnhart became proprietor. The store was located on Canal street in Wabash. James H. Barnhart then moved to the old Mount farm, where Mr. and Mrs. Smith now live. Both passed away at that place. James H. Barnhart had for nearly forty years been a member of the Methodist church, and also affiliated with the Roann Grand Army Post.

The thirteen children of the Barnhart family were: Edith, Mrs. Smith ; Fred M. ; Guy S. ; Charles K. ; James H., deceased ; Nellie May, Mrs. 0. D. Steele ; Robert M., deceased ; Homer and Horace, twins, both of whom are deceased ; Hugh W. ; Howard J. ; Ruth Lillian, Mrs. L. R. Burns; and Jessie, who died in infancy.

Mrs. Smith, who was born in Peru, Indiana, received her education in the schools of Wabash. She and Mr. Smith have the following chil¬ dren: Paul, of Fulton county, Indiana, and who married Merle Long; Nettie, who is the wife of H. D. Hartman and has a son Robert Elliott; Mount Yohe, who is called Pete; Martha Margaret.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Smith lived on his father's farm east of Manchester for a time, later spent about six years in Michigan, and on March 16, 1904, took up their residence on the old Barnhart place, where they still live. As a farmer Mr. Smith has made a success along general lines, and also conducts a dairy which is an important element in his prosperity. The family residence is one of the best in Paw Paw township, comprising twelve rooms, and was built by the late Mr. Barn¬ hart. Mr. Smith is a progressive republican, and he and his wife and both families have long been identified with the Methodist Episcopal church.

Philip Keppel. Industriously engaged in the prosecution of a calling upon which our nation is largely dependent, Philip Keppel is meeting with excellent success, owning one hundred and twenty-seven and one-half acres of land in Paw Paw township, about a mile south of Roann, on the east side of the Corey gravel road. A native of Indiana, he was born, August 5, 1863, in Peoria, Miami county.

His father, Philip Keppel, Sr., was born and reared in Germany, where he learned the trade of a harness maker. Immigrating to the United States as a young man, he joined an uncle in Philadelphia, where he followed his trade for a time. He subsequently lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, a few years, and then settled in Peru, Indiana, where he entered the employ of his brother-in-law, Joseph Spath, a cooper, with whom he subse¬ quently worked in Peoria, Indiana, making pork barrels. Starting then in business on his own account, he began the manufacture of pork barrels, which were then in great demand, and continued in business until he had a stack of barrels as high as a house. Retiring from that occupation in 1872, Philip Keppel, Sr., located in Paw Paw township, on land belong¬ ing to his brother-in-law, Mr. Spath, who had previously traded his farm of forty acres in Miami county to Mr. Shirk, of Peru, for the Paw Paw township land, a part of which is now included in Mr. Keppel's farm. At that time the old pike plank road cut through the farm crosswise, the farm being mostly swamp land. Mr. Spath finished clearing the land, and put up a set of log buildings. Philip Keppel, Sr., worked for Mr. Spath, living in a little house near the creek. Prudent and thrifty, he accumulated some money, and later bought forty acres of the farm from the Spath estate, and here spent the remainder of his days, dying June 22, 1909, aged seventy-five years. He married Mary Meyer, who was born in Germany, and came to America with her parents wThen a young girl, being several weeks crossing the ocean in a sailing vessel. She died before he did, her death occurring October 6, 1906. They reared three children, as follows: Eliza, wife of Frank Crist; Philip, the special subject of this sketch; and Joseph, of Paw Paw township, who married Amanda Rosenthal.

Philip Keppel began school in Miami county, and after coming with his parents to Paw Paw township attended the "String-town" school. Remaining with his parents until establishing a home of his own, he assisted his uncle, Mr. Spath, in clearing and improving the farm, helping to put in the first ditches, that being before the days of tile, wooden puncheons, eighteen inches in length, being used to carry off the water. Marrying, Mr. Keppel began housekeeping where his oldest son now lives, renting the land from his father, and from his uncle's widow, Mrs. Spath, finally buying out the heirs of both estates. In 1910 Mr. Keppel built his present fine house of eleven rooms, and has since occu¬ pied it. He follows general farming and stock-raising, finding both pleasure and profit in his work, he and his wife having begun life together without capital, and having by industry and wise management accumu¬ lated considerable property.

Mr. Keppel married, March 10, 1888, Mary C. Huber, a daughter of * George Huber, wrho came to America from Baden, Germany, his birth¬ place, and is now living in Peru, Indiana, a retired shoemaker. He located in Peru in pioneer days, moving from Cincinnati, Ohio, his first home in his adopted country. Peru was a small hamlet, with very few houses, wrhen he settled there, with neither steam or electric cars any¬ where in the state, the old canal being then in use. He had been a resident of that place for fifty-two years when the flood came, the river being then the highest that he has ever seen it. Mr. Huber married Theresa Spath, who died in 1882, and of the twelve children born of their union, but three are living, as follows : Joseph Huber, of Detroit, Michi¬ gan; Mary C., now Mrs. Keppel ; and Edward G. Huber, of Chicago, Illinois. Mrs. Keppel also has a half-sister, Louise, wife of John H. Miller, of Peru, Indiana.

Ten children were bom to Mr. and Mrs. Keppel, namely : Chlome J. ; Nellie; Louise; Hazel; Loretta; Alice; Marie; George; Cecil; and Walter LeMoyne, who died at the age of four months and eight days. Chlome J. Keppel, who lives on the old home farm, has eighty acres of his own, it being the old Jack Anderson farm. He married Clara B. Gearte, and they have one son, Charles Robert Keppel. Nellie, wife of Abraham H. Miller, who lives in Miami county, on the county line, has one son, Gene Keppel Miller. Louise is the wife of Clarence P. Maurer, a stockholder in and the manager of the telephone company at Roann.

Frank S. Clark. Prominent among the native-born citizens of Wabash county who have spent their lives within its precincts, aiding in every possible way its growth and development, whether relating to its agricultural, manufacturing or financial interests, is Frank S. Clark, whose birth occurred on his present farm, in Paw Paw township, July 8, 1853. His farm of one hundred and twenty acres, through which Bachelor creek runs, lies on the east side of the county line road, in the extreme southwestern corner of Paw Paw township, nine miles northwest of Wabash.

His father, Varnham N. Clark, was bom in New York state, and was married in Ohio to Minerva Riddle, who was born and reared in Massa¬ chusetts. Soon after his marriage he started westward in search of fortune, leaving his bride in Ohio. Coming directly to Wabash county, he found work at Wabash, in the cooper shop of Mr. Mercer. He came to Indiana, on foot, with forty dollars in his pocket, and after a short time bought with Mr. Vinton as a partner 80 acres of the farm now owned by his son Frank. Clearing a space in the woods, he erected a log cabin, which was occupied for a brief time, until his wTife joined him, by two hunters, Messrs. Briggs and Parsons, who hunted and looked after the owner's cattle. Mr. Clark was also an expert marksman, but was too busy to hunt, much as he enjoyed it. After his wife came to Indiana, making the trip in one of the first boats used on the canal, Varnham N. Clark moved to his farm, where he erected a cooper's shop, and worked at his trade, the only time that he followed farming to any extent having been from 1861 until 1865. He added to his original tract of land by purchase, until at the time of his death, on December 24, 1880, at the age of sixty-nine years, he had one hundred and sixty acres. He was a man of fine physique, well proportioned and tall, while his father, John Clark, a soldier in the war of 1812, was six feet, four inches, in height, and weighed three hundred pounds. John Clark was one of a family of twelve children, and the father of seven children, five sons and two daughters. Mrs. Varnham N. Clark died in 1900, at an advanced age. Five children were bora of their marriage, as follows : Albert G.

The first child of the parental household born in the new house erected by his father, Frank S. Clark, grew to man's estate on the home farm, acquiring his education in the district school. When a small lad he began working on the farm, at the age of nine years taking his first lessons in plowing. At the age of fourteen years he began learning the cooper's trade with his father, and followed it from time to time until 1878, when he and his father gave up the business. When but eighteen years old Mr. Clark assumed the entire management of the home farm, and for many years was actively and successfully employed in agricul¬ tural pursuits, making somewhat of a specialty of stock raising. For many years he was noted as a breeder of fine sheep, having been one of the first to bring full-blooded Shropshire sheep into Wabash county.

Mr. Clark married, in 1881, Emma Watts, who was born in Wabash county, Indiana, and was the adopted daughter of the late William Watts. Mr. and Mrs. Clark are the parents of six children, namely: Carey V.; Mabel, wife of Peter J. Milan, of Noble township, has one child, Minerva Milan; Thomas R., a teacher by profession, now having charge of the home farm, married Marie Shay ; Harrison ; Richard H. ; and Alice, who is teaching school in Paw Paw township.

A life-long resident of Paw Paw township, Mr. Clark is familiar with the early history of this section of the county, and takes pride in preserving early traditions and facts. He remembers going with his father in an ox team to Wabash for supplies, often cutting the pathway through the dense woods, and he saw the building of the plank road at a later date. When his father located in this township the old "Copick" mill, an ancient landmark, was still standing, although now we see the ruins, only.

John Miller. One of the citizens of Paw Paw township who has risen from the obscurity of youth and absence of fortune into smiling prosperity and a substantial influence and esteem which go hand in hand with hard accomplishment is John Miller, the owner of one hundred and forty acres in his home township, while just across the road in Noble township Mrs. Miller, his wife, possesses eighty acres of the same quality of land.

John Miller is a native of Paw Paw township, and was born three miles north of his present farm on November 18, 1858. His parents, Jacob and Elizabeth (Hegel) Miller, after their marriage in Germany, where both were born, emigrated to the United States, and spent a while in Ohio, living on a little purchase of twelve acres near Dayton, but soon sold out and moved to Wabash county. When they arrived in this vicinity they were in very moderate circumstances, and in subsequent years won their battle with adversity through their characteristic German thrift and their ability to combine their hard work with economical management of their resources. On coming to Wabash county they bought the farm on which their son John was born. The first purchase comprised only eighty acres, but subsequently with growing prosperity, the father added two other eighty-acre tracts. All the homestead was in the midst of the woods when first occupied by the Miller family, and the first habitation occupied by the parents and their children was a little log building. Subsequently that shelter was replaced with a more sub¬ stantial and roomier structure, and in time the improvements and con¬ veniences measured up to the best standard of living conditions in that vicinity. Both parents lived on the homestead in Wabash county the rest of their lives. The father passed away at the age of fifty-six, and the mother was seventy-five when called by death. Their seven children were: Henry; Jacob; Charles; John; Mary, who married Jacob Haupert; Anna, who married David Lower; and Elizabeth, the wife of Charles Carnes. All these children still live in Paw Paw township, except Henry, whose home is in Noble.

John Miller was born in the little log house that has been mentioned, grew up on the old farm, went to a district school in the winter, and employed his boyhood strength in increasing tasks, in wielding an ax to clear the woods from the land and in following the plow and assist¬ ing the family in gaining a living from the land. He remained at home until his marriage, which occurred on December 11, 1884. Mrs. Miller before her marriage was Marilda Hoover, a daughter of William Hoover, who married a Miss Davis. Both her parents are now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been bom a fine family of children, men¬ tioned briefly as follows: Clarence, who married Prudence Downey, and has two children, Carl and Darrell; Bertha, who married Charles Shenkel, and has four children, Gladys, Arthur, Goldie and Raymond; Charles; Clara, the wife of Joseph Garrison, and the mother of one daughter, Mary; John Jr.; Elizabeth, wife of Henry Schultz; Lewis; Lawrence; Francis; Marie; and Milfred. Two of the children, Stella and an infant, are deceased.

When he made his independent start Mr. Miller for a few years con¬ ducted a tile factory. His father then made him a present of forty acres of land, comprising a portion of his present estate, and with that as a nucleus he has built up his present substantial property. All the substantial buildings which are now to be found on the Miller farm are the result of his management and investment, and the buildings are by no means the only improvements which he has instituted. Much of the land has been tiled, all of it has been made more productive by studious care of its fertility, and as a general farmer Mr. Miller stands in the very front ranks of Wabash county agriculturists. Mr. Miller is a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank at Urbana. He and his family worship in the faith of the German Evangelical church, and his politics is democrat.

Robert M. Miller. Noteworthy among the practical and prosperous farmers of Wabash county is Robert M. Miller, whose home farm of thirty acres is located on the south side of Schuler pike, adjoining the Miami county line, and who also owns one hundred and twenty acres of land lying one-half mile south on the county line road, in Wabash county, and another tract of one hundred and twenty acres situated one-half mile further south, on the Miami county side, in Miami county. Mr. Miller is a fine representative of the self-made men of our times, having left home to begin life on his own account with an old, time-worn suit of clothes, and forty dollars in debt, but having since, by close application, untiring energy, and a diligent use of his faculties and opportunities, acquired considerable wealth, his land being well improved and valuable. A son of Elisha Miller, he was born, March 1, 1850, in Union township, Miami county, Indiana, in a log house.

Elisha Miller was born and reared in Botetourt county, Virginia, and as a young man settled in Ohio. Soon after his marriage he came with his young wife to Indiana, making the long journey with teams, the pathway being marked a portion of the way by blazed trees. Buying land in Miami county, he at once assumed possession of the log cabin that stood in an open space, and on the farm which he cleared spent his remaining days, dying at the age of seventy-six years. He married, in Ohio, Sarah Albaugh, a native of that state. She survived him, passing away at the age of eighty-three years. The farm which they owned contained one hundred and twenty-six acres, and it was sold out of the family in 1913. They were the parents of thirteen children, of whom three died in infancy, the others being as follows: John; Robert M. ; Levi; Mary, wife of C. Fisher; William; Allen; Irving; Ida, wife of J. J. Esterbrook ; Martin ; and Mrs. Emma A. Brubecker.

As a boy Robert M. Miller had very few educational advantages, his attendance at the district school being limited to two months each year. Being one of the eldest of a large family of children, he began very early to assist his father, and as soon as old enough worked out by the day or month. Later he rented a farm on shares, and after taking unto himself a wife rented the old Albaugh farm for a year, when it was sold. Moving then to his wife's father's farm, the old Graft estate of one hundred and fifty acres, in Jefferson townshij), Miami county, Mr. Miller rented it for three years. He then made his first purchase of land, buying one hundred and twenty acres on the county line, in Wabash county, paying for it the sum of $500. As his means increased he bought the other farms mentioned above, having now title to two hundred and seventy acres of fine farming land. An old house, and a barn, which was later struck by lightning and burned, stood upon the place which Mr. Miller first purchased, and in addition to erecting all new buildings he cleared the land, placing it in a productive condition. He also staked and fenced it, and put in many hundred rods of tile, and as a general farmer and stock-raiser has met with eminent success.

On February 2, 1875, Air. Miller married Mary Graft, a native of * Miami county. Her father, Abraham Graft, was born in Virginia, and died in Miami county, Indiana, at the venerable age of ninety, years. He married Anna Morningstar, a native of Ohio, and to them six children were born, as follows: George Graft, deceased; David Graft; John Graft, deceased; Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Fike; Lydia, wife of W. M. Turnipseed; and Mary, now Mrs. Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are the parents of nine children, namely: Carrie, wife of Comley Meyers, of Paw Paw township, has three children, Ross, Bruce, and Blanche ; Olive, wife of Jasper Deardorf, has two sons, John and Harold; Mahlon, liv¬ ing on the old home farm, in Paw Paw township, married Minta Keith -r Sadie, wife of Oliver Oswalt, of Miami county, has one child, Truman ; Abraham, living on his father's farm in Miami county, married Nellie Keppel, and they have one child, Eugene E.; Hiel; Cleo; Dow; and Ray. Mr. Miller is a member of the Conservative Order of the German Bap¬ tist Brethren Church, and one of its most active and faithful workers.

Ralph Arnold Schuler. A highly intelligent and prosperous agri¬ culturist of Wabash county, Ralph Arnold Schuler is successfully pur¬ suing his pleasant and independent occupation in Paw Paw township, where he has title to one hundred twenty-two and one-half acres of land. His home farm of eighty acres is situated seven and one-half miles from Wabash, on the south side of the Schuler road, and he owns in addition the old W. G. Ross farm of twenty acres, lying on the north side of the road, and twenty-two and one-half acres near Roann. He was born March 8, 1877, in Pleasant township, Wabash county, his birth occurring on the same farm that his mother's did.

His father, the late Azro Z. Schuler, was a son of Philip and Mary E. (Buck) Schuler, of whom further history may be found on another page of this volume, in connection with the sketch of A. W. Schuler, of Lagro township. Brought up in Wabash county, Azro Z. Schuler acquired his early education in the rural schools, and as a young man worked with his father, who was a contractor and builder. After his marriage he rented the Arnold farm, in Pleasant township, and after managing it three years moved to Roann, where he embarked in the furniture and undertaking business, being in partnership with his fatherin-law, Ralph G. Arnold, in the building now occupied by the firm of Schuler & Schuler. At the end of fifteen years he retired from that line of business, and was afterwards engaged in general farming until his death, November 14, 1906, at the early age of fifty-two years. The maiden name of the wife of Azro Z. Schuler was Sarah A. Arnold. She was born on the Arnold homestead, in Pleasant township, Wabash county, September 5, 1857, a daughter of the late Ralph G. Arnold, of patriotic New England ancestry, her father, and her grandfather, Alvin Arnold, and also her great-grandfather, Jacob Arnold, having been born in Massachusetts. Jacob Arnold, a life-long resident of Western Massa¬ chusetts, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Alvin Arnold was born and reared in the Berkshire hills, and there spent his ninety years of earthly life. He was a farmer by occupation, but also owned a sawmill, which he operated during the spring freshets, and had a large tannery on his farm.

Ralph G. Arnold, maternal grandfather of Mr. Schuler, was born at West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1817, and was there bred and educated, as a boy, having for his playmates David Dudley Field and his brother, Cyrus West Field. After leaving school he worked as a quarryman in the east, and assisted in finishing the stone from which the Girard College building was constructed. He subsequently read medicine, but never received a degree in that science. At the age of twenty-four years, desirous of trying the hazard of new fortune, he started westward, going by lakes as far as possible, and then walking to Wisconsin, wrhere he first found work in a sawmill. The old doctor with whom he had previously studied had advised him to buy land in Chicago, so on his way back toward the east Mr. Arnold secured an option on a small piece of high ground, which might be used to keep sheep, he thought, it being at the junction of what is now Dearborn and thirty-third streets, Chicago, a most valuable piece of land. Mr. Arnold passed it up, and continued his journey on foot to Mexico, Indiana, where he ran a sawmill for Shirk & Cole, of Peru, Indiana, for two years.

Having accumulated some money, Mr. Arnold then bought from Mr. Cole one hundred and sixty acres of land in Pleasant township, Miami county, on which was the highest point of land in the county, it being a hill that had on its top an Indian burial ground. Part of the land had been cleared, and the trees burned off, the remainder being sandy ground. This land, for which he paid $800 in 1853, is now owmed by his daughter, Mrs. Sarah A. (Arnold) Schuler. There were no buildings on the property when Mr. Arnold bought it, and he had to haul the lumber for house and barns from Warsaw, but from the Indian burying ground he got enough limestone to plaster the house. Warsaw was the nearest market and trading point, and in order to get supplies he had to make the trip either on horseback, or with two teams of oxen for each wagon. Mr. Arnold was a man of keen foresight and excellent judgment, and as dealer in land, and a loaner of money, accumulated a handsome property. He was also a veterinary, and in his house kept a complete stock of drugs. He was here when the first railroad in the state was built, and rode to Indianapolis on the old Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago Railroad. The tracks wrere made of 2 by 4 timber, with a sheet iron covering. At the age of fifty years, he left the farm, and for fif¬ teen years was engaged in the furniture and undertaking business at Roann with his son-in-law, Azro Z. Schuler. He subsequently lived re¬ tired from active pursuits until his death, June 16, 1912, at the advanced age of ninety-five years.

Mr. Arnold was one of the six men that laid out the east side of Roann, and he helped solicit stock for the building of the Eel River Railroad. He was a man of much culture, a keen observer, and had a remarkably retentive memory. As a young man he was identified with the democratic party as opposed to the whigs, in 1856 voting for James Buchanan for president. He, however, assisted in the formation of the republican party, and in 1860 cast his presidential ballot in favor of Abraham Lincoln. He was interested in public affairs, and for many years served as school treasurer of Pleasant township, and was also county commissioner, and about the time of the organization of the republican party was a delegate to the state convention.