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JACOB MINNICK, Mishawaka, Ind. The subject of the present biography is one of the prominent old settlers of St. Joseph county, and one of the substantial pioneer farmers of Penn township. He is of good old Pennsylvania Dutch stock. His grandfather, Jacob Minnick, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was a farmer in Bucks county, married a Miss Storm, and became the father or eight children: Jacob, John, Joseph, Samuel, William, Catherine, Polly and Margaret. Jacob Minnick moved to the State of Ohio about 1812, and settled in Stark county while it was still a wilderness. He cleared up a good farm of 160 acres, but after his sons grew up he sold this farm and bought forty acres with a saw-mill, and here passed the remainder of his days. He was a hard-working, honorable, pioneer citizen, and both he and his wife were members of a pioneer church. He was respected by all, and when his death occurred suddenly, at the age of seventy-one years, he was lamented by many. Jacob Minnick, a son of the above and the father of our subject, was born in Bucks county, Penn., and received only a limited common-school education, but could read and write. He learned the trade of tanner, and married in Center county, Penn., Susan Harvey, also of Pennsylvania, of Dutch stock, and to them were born nine children, as follows: John, William, Jacob, Joseph, Betsy, Polly, Catherine, Sarah and Susan. Mr. Minnick removed to Ohio in 1816, and died at the age of forty-two years. He was a member of the Lutheran Church, and an industrious, hard-working, honorable man. Jacob Minnick, his son and our subject, was born in Pennsylvania and was six weeks old when he was brought to Stark county, Ohio, by his parents, and was but twelve years of age when his father died, and he was brought up by his grandfather from the time he was two years of age. His early education was received in the pioneer log cabin schoolhouse, where the door was hung on wooden hinges and the latch was a wooden one, with the string hanging out. His school days were contained in six weeks during youth, but after he was eighteen years of age he went to school two months one winter. Later in life he was quick and accurate at figures, computing interest correctly in his mind and never using the pencil. Those were the days when boys learned to work, and his case was no exception, as at that time there was much work that fell to the share of the boys that now can be done by machinery. He helped to thresh the grain, and rode the horse that trampled it out on the barn floor. He was an inmate of his grandfather's home until he was eighteen years of age, at which time he learned the trade of plasterer. He made a bargain which he soon realized was not a just one, and so refused to fulfill it, receiving for his services twelve shillings with which he bought six yards of muslin for two shirts. He then engaged on the Ohio Canal, as a driver on the tow-path, later going to school for two months, and working that winter for his board. Following this he worked on the farm for Jacob Myers, for several years, and January 30, 1845, married Mary A. Baker, a daughter of Jonathan and Theresa (Adams) Baker. Mrs. Minnick descended from the distinguished Adams family, of New England, and the Bakers were of Pennsylvania stock. Jacob Adams was a second cousin of John Adams, the President of the United States, and he was the grandfather of Mrs. Minnick. He was born in Adams county, Penn., a son of -- Adams, who came from New England at an early day, and settled in Pennsylvania, and from whom Adams county took its name. Jacob Adams was a man of prominence and education, and became a wealthy citizen. To Mr. and Mrs. Minnick were born six children: Louisa M., George W., Amanda M., Ruthannah L., Ellen T. and Laura A. After marriage Mr. Minnick lived for five years in Stark county, Ohio, but in the spring of 1849 came to St. Joseph county, Ind. He made the removal with a span of horses and a farm wagon, being thirteen days on the way, leaving Stark county May 2, and arriving in Mishawaka on the 15th of the same month. One week later he bought eighty acres of his present farm. At this time he was in limited circumstances, having one pair of horses, a wagon and $320 in cash. At that time he had a wife and one child. Forty acres of his land had been chopped over for charcoal, and there was a log cabin on the place. For this land he agreed to pay $1,000, paying $300 down. There were thirty acres of grass on the place and eighteen acres of wheat. By hard work, thrift and economy, Mr. Minnick added to his farm, until he now owns 200 acres with substantial buildings. He has reared a large family, and has given them educational advantages. His daughter, Amanda, was educated at St. Mary's Academy, and taught in Mishawaka and district schools for a period of thirteen years, becoming proficient as well as a veteran in the profession. Ellen attended school at Valparaiso, and taught ten terms in the county. All of the children are now married, and well settled in life. He has made his way by the dint of hard work and honest endeavor, and deserves the esteem which he receives through the county. Politically he is a Republican, having formerly been an old line Whig.

�Pictorial and Biographical Memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties, Indiana
Together with Biographies of Many Prominent Men of Northern Indiana and the Whole State, Both Living and Dead�
Goodspeed Brothers Publishers, Chicago
1893
John Morris Co. Printers and Binders

WILBERT WARD, attorney at law of South Bend, Ind. This gentleman is one who has attained a considerable degree of eminence in the lines of his profession and, although young, has gained an excellent reputation as an advocate and counselor. He is a native of the county in which he resides, his birth occurring April 29, 1861, his parents being George and Jane (Cobb) Ward, both natives of this county also and now residents of Clay township. The paternal grandfather, George Ward, settled in this region about 1837 and resided here until his death, which occurred in the spring of 1885. His son George is a farmer by occupation and is a man who possesses many worthy traits or character. He and his wife became the parents of the following children: Wilbert; Albert; Cora, wife of Richard Hicks; Mertie and Grace. Wilbert Ward grew up in the town of Mishawaka, attending the high school of that place, until he was thirteen years of age when he removed onto a farm with his parents, and although still attending the Mishawaka School he became accustomed to farm work during his vacations. At the early age of seventeen years we find him in a school-house as a pedagogue, at Dutch Island School of Penn township, thence Stover School-house of Clay township, which was in his home district, where his brothers and sisters were among his pupils. In the fall of 1880 he matriculated at De Pauw University, and the succeeding winter taught a term of school in Portage township, after which he returned to De Pauw University and graduated from that institution in June, 1884. The winter of 1884-5 was spent as the principal of the Clayton High School of Hendricks county, but he spent the following summer reading law in the office of Williamson & Daggy, of Greencastle, Ind. The next winter he completed his law course in De Pauw University, but just prior to graduating he went to Anderson, Ind., where he accepted the principalship of the high school, finishing that term and remaining till June, 1888. He immediately located in South Bend, and has built up a professional reputation that places him among the leading members of the St. Joseph county bar. He is discharging the duties of deputy collector of internal revenue, and at the present time is the nominee on the Republican ticket for the office of State representative. He was married in Anderson, Ind., to Alice Chearhart, by whom he has one child, Wilbert. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is one of the board of managers of the St. Joseph County Loan Association and is the efficient attorney for the Workingmen's Loan Association. He has won a wide reputation as an advocate and counselor, and the prospect of future brilliant achievements lies before him in long years of continued usefulness. All that he has attained has been the fruit of self-culture and self development and his remarkable capacity for hard work. His is a fitting career for the emulation of young aspirants for legal honors.

JACOB B. BOWERS, Mishawaka, Ind. The subject of the present sketch is one of the prominent farmers and old-soldier citizens of St. Joseph county. Jacob Bowers, the grandfather of our subject, was of Pennsylvania Dutch stock and served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He married and settled in Stark county, Ohio, entering 160 acres of land, twelve miles north of Canton. He was one of the pioneers, settling as early as 1802 when Stark county was yet a wilderness. He reared a family of whom the following are remembered: John, Jacob, Frederick, Sallie, Elizabeth and Mary. He died in Stark county and was buried in Uniontown Cemetery. Frederick Bowers, son of the above and father of our subject, was born in Bedford county, Penn., went to Stark county with his parents when but eight years of age and received but a limited common-school education. He was reared among the pioneers and married Elizabeth Coxen, and to Mr. and Mrs. Bowers were born five children, as follows: Rachel, Jacob B., William, Henry and Catherine. Rachel died at the age of forty-three years, a married woman, the wife of a soldier, Isaac Shriver, who served three years in the same regiment and company with our subject and died after the War, from the effects of army life. Mr. Bowers had a farm of eighty acres, in Stark county, and died on his farm at the age of eighty-six years. Mrs. Bowers also died on their farm at the age of seventy -six years. He was an invalid the latter portion of his life, but was a man of great integrity of character. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bowers were devout Christians and members of the Reformed Church. Jacob B., son of the above and our subject, was born on his father's farm in Stark county, Ohio, October 29, 1841. He received but a limited education, as the schools of his day in that locality were not very good, and at the age of twelve years he began to work out from home, so continuing for several years, but from sixteen to twenty years he worked on the home farm. Just before he attained his majority, President Lincoln issued his call for 300,000 men, and our subject enlisted at Uniontown, in Stark county, and was mustered in and enrolled at Massillon, Ohio, August 14,1862, to serve three years or during the war and was honorably discharged, by reason of the expiration of his service, at Murfreesboro, Tenn., June 22, 1865. He was held with his regiment until July 5, when the regiment was paid off. On account of meritorious service, he was made a corporal and served from September 18, 1862, in this capacity, acting part of the time as sergeant. His service was in Kentucky, near Covington, and then in Ohio, doing provost duty at Cincinnati during the winter of 1862-3, and then was sent to Nashville, Tenn., where he was made a guard on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. Here he came in frequent contact with some of Generals Forrest's and Wheeler's forces. The regiment had several severe skirmishes with Generals Forrest, Hood and Wheeler. When Hood made his raid on Nashville the engagement lasted more than a week. The Union troops followed him from Franklin to Nashville and his retreat was one continual fight and the regiment was under severe fire every day. Thirty of the companions of our subject were taken prisoners, from the block houses, while guarding the railroad. Mr. Bowers was an active and efficient soldier, was neither wounded nor taken prisoner; was in active duty with the regiment except one month while sick in camp; did not go to war for fame; but in duty to our Government call for troops, in defense of our country and its flag. His brother, William, of the same regiment, died of typhoid fever in the hospital at Cincinnati, in 1863. After his return home, Mr. Bowers married, in Stark county, Leah, the daughter of David and Nancy (Flory) Hoover, and to Mr. and Mrs. Bowers have been born four children: Joseph B., Clemma, Carrie E. and Grace. Mr. Bowers lived in Stark county Until 1879, engaged in farming and in carpenter work. When he came to Indiana he first bought land in Elkhart county and lived there one year, but in 1882 he came to St. Joseph county and settled in Mishawaka, where he followed the business of contracting and carpenter work. He lived five years in the town and then bought the present farm in 1887, consisting in all of 130 acres. By industry and good management he has made a good farm here, has put many improvements on the place and has erected a substantial residence, barns and all of the necessary out-buildings for a modern farm. His children have all been well educated, attending the schools of the town and district, and Clemma also attended the normal school at Valparaiso. She married Edwin Kreps and they reside in Toledo, Ohio. Carrie and Grace are at home. Joseph B. learned the telegraph business in the Lake Shore office, at Mishawaka; has been operator and agent on the Lake Shore & Western Railroad for two years at Tomahawk Lake, Wis. Mr. Bowers is a member of the G. A. R. at Mishawaka, and both he and wife and all the children are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Bowers is an honorable and respected citizen, who did not hesitate about his duty when he was called upon to testify as to his loyalty. David Hoover, the father of Mrs. Bowers, was of Pennsylvania-German stock and was brought by his father, William Hoover, to Stark county, Ohio, when but four years of age. William Hoover was one of the pioneers, settling there about 1811, while the Indians were still living in the vicinity. David Hoover was reared and became acquainted with the hardships of pioneer life, grew up a farmer and married there. He became a well situated man and died on his farm, in 1889, aged eighty-two years. He was the father of seven children: Elias, Moses, Simon, Samuel, Caroline, Leah and Lydia, all born in Stark comity. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hoover were members of the Baptist Church and he was an honorable and upright man. The Bowers family on both sides are descended from good old colonial stock, were soldiers in the Revolutionary war and both pioneers and patriots. Grandfather Coxen, on the maternal side of the Bowers family, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and lived to a good age. Mrs. Coxen lived to the great age of ninety-four years. This is a family that can claim good stock as far back as it can be traced.

WALTER A. FUNK has applied himself with earnestness and determination to the practice of law and has become recognized as a sound and able lawyer, of unquestioned integrity and high character. He is now pursuing the lines of his profession in South Bend, and has built up a clientage which is in every way satisfactory. He was born in Elkhart county, Ind., December 18, 1857, son of William and Catherine (Myers) Funk, who were born in Northampton county, Penn., and Columbiana county, Ohio, respectively. In 1854 they removed from Wayne county, Ohio, to Elkhart county, Ind., and settled six miles west of Goshen, where the father operated a steam saw-mill which was the first in that section of the country. Mr. Funk now resides in Elkhart, where he is well known and highly respected. Walter A. Funk spent the first seventeen years of his life on a farm, and his initiatory educational training was received in the common country schools, but he was sufficiently intelligent to make the most of his opportunities, and at an early age we find him teaching a country school, attending school at Goshen and the Northern Indiana Normal School. He graduated in the scientific course of the latter institution in 1881, after which he accepted a position as principal of the school of Benton for one year, after which he served as principal of the Bristol school a like length of time. In 1884 he entered the office of A. Anderson as a law student, and in 1885 graduated from the law department of the Michigan University of Ann Arbor, and the following year, for the practice of his profession, located in South Bend, where he has built up a large and satisfactory patronage. He practices in all the courts and is remarkably well adapted for his chosen profession, for he is versatile, quick to grasp at ideas and thoroughly understands the intricacies and most delicate points of the law, and has the power to present his ideas in a forcible, concise and clear manner, that is very convincing to judge and jury. He was deputy prosecuting attorney of the county for two years, and at the present time is the attorney for several important corporations. He has taken an active interest in politics and was the Republican candidate for State senator in 1892. He was married April 21, 1892, to Miss Mayme E., daughter of Mrs. Mary Harris, of South Bend, and lives at 705 Colfax avenue.

JACOB WARD, Mishawaka, Ind. Among the substantial farmers and soldier citizens of St. Joseph county our present subject holds a prominent position. George Ward, father of our subject, was of good old Pennsylvania Dutch stock, a native of Maryland, who went to Ohio when a young man and married in Montgomery county, of that State, Catherine Wagner, daughter of Jacob Wagner, a farmer of Montgomery county. To Mr. and Mrs. Ward have been born nine children: Christopher, Daniel, Elizabeth, Simeon, Jacob, Nancy, George, John, who died at the age of eighteen years, and Andrew. Mr. Ward came to St. Joseph county, Ind., between 1839-41 and settled between Mishawaka and South Bend, north of the river. He lived here two years and then settled on the farm now owned by Paul Judy, in Clay township, living here ten years, and partially clearing it up. He then settled one and a half miles northeast, where he bought 110 acres in the woods, cleared it, and made here another good farm, added improvements, made everything first class, and this farm is now owned by Simon and Jacob Ward. His wife died many years before him and Mr. Ward spent his last days among his children, living to be eighty-seven years old and dying in 1885 at the residence of his grandson, Daniel Ward. Mr. Ward was an old farmer of Clay township and when he settled there it was a wilderness where wolves, deer and Indians roamed at will. Mr. Ward was a very industrious man and endured all the vicissitudes of pioneer life. He and wife were members of the Lutheran Church, and he was an honest, upright and peaceable man who never had a lawsuit and was respected by all. Jacob Ward, his son and our subject, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, April 14, 1833, and thinks he was eight years old when he came with his parents to St. Joseph county, Ind. The journey was made with a yoke of white cattle and one horse, hitched to an old-fashioned linchpin wagon. Jacob was brought up among the pioneers and went to school in the old log school-house about three terms, which educational advantages were distributed between the ages of nine and fourteen years. He early began to assist in the clearing of the land, packing brush, etc., and learned the life of a farmer by practical experience and also the trade of cooper. He married, March 11, 1851, at the age of nineteen years, Catherine Replogle, born December 28, 1832, in Goshen, Ind., daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Baker) Replogle. Daniel Replogle was of sterling Pennsylvania Dutch stock and one of the old pioneer settlers of Elkhart county and was the father of eight children: Mary, Warren, Catherine, Levina, George, Noah, Warren and Martha. Mr. Replogle lived to the age of seventy-eight years and died at the farm at Crum's Point, Md. Both himself and wife were members of the United Brethren Church, and he was an honorable, hard-working man. He had two sons in the Civil war: Noah and William; the former served three years in an Indiana regiment and William was killed, after two years' service in an Indiana regiment, in battle on the same day upon which President Lincoln was shot. After marriage Mr. Ward settled in Mishawaka and followed coopering until he enlisted, at which time he was managing a business, having eight men in his employ. In May, 18-, he, with John Quigg, of Mishawaka, entered Company H, One, Hundred and Thirty-eighth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served five months, his principal service being guarding the railroad through the Cumberland Mountains. Mr. Ward was injured by the exposure and was taken sick with pneumonia, was confined to the hospital for a week and has since then been not quite well. He served as nurse in the general hospital in Nashville for about one month, but was honorably discharged with his regiment at Indianapolis and returned to Mishawaka. He then resumed his business of coopering, employing men, but was not able to work himself. In 1870 he bought sixty acres of his present farm and by thrift and economy has added to this until he now owns 130 acres of good land with good improvements. To Mr. and Mrs. Ward have been born five children: Jane, Elizabeth, Daniel, Adelbert and Minnie. Mrs. Ward is a member of the Christian Church of Mishawaka. Politically Mr. Ward is a stanch Republican. He is a public-spirited man, in favor of good schools, is now a member of the school board and has given his children all a good education. Jane married James Van Reper, a farmer of Penn township, and has three children. She was formerly married to John Keisler, deceased, and they have one child, More. Elizabeth married Frank Fiddler, a tinner, of Mishawaka, and has three children: Daniel married Sarah Miller, who is a farmer, living one mile from the old homestead and they have five children; Albert married Minnie Maynard at Toledo, Ohio, and Minnie married William Martin, a farmer on the old homestead, and has one child. Mr. Ward has always stood high as a respected and honored citizen of Penn township, and has seen the county grow from a wilderness to its present flourishing condition. He was always an industrious man, but since the war has been disabled. The family descends from good, old pioneer stock on both sides and may well take an honest pride in the sterling ancestry from which they spring.

VERY REV. EDWARD SORIN, founder of the University of Notre Dame, and one of the most noted of Indiana divines, was born in Ahuille, near Laval, France, in the year 1814. His extended learning and deep piety always attracted to him the different elements of society on which he invariably left a strong impress for good. When twenty-six years old he attached himself to the congregation of the Holy Cross, a society then recently formed at Mans for the education of youth and the preaching of missions to the people. To both these labors Father Sorin devoted his life. At the solicitation of the bishop of Vincennes in 1841, in company with six companions, he came to America for the purpose of establishing a branch society. The year following the bishop of Vincennes gave them a tract of wild land on the banks of the St. Joseph River on condition that a college be built there. This was originally purchased in 1830 from the Government by Father Badin, the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States. The new owners changed the name from St. Mary's to Notre Dame du Lac, since abbreviated to Notre Dame. The trials and adversities under which Father Sorin and his associates labored were incredible. On their wild tract of land they were first only able to build a small house. Gradually clearings were made, land improved, buildings were erected, and God, in the fullness of His heart, showered blessings upon their efforts. Father Sorin was the first president, and to his executive ability and keen foresight was due the success of Notre Dame. From the first he manifested a deep love for his adopted country, notwithstanding his French birth, and was called American even by the Pope, who readily gave the apostolic sanction to his election as superior general of a chapter of a religious order which he was instrumental in establishing in this country in 1872.

The memory of Father Sorin will never fade, so long as life lasts, from the hearts of thousands of youths whose education he has directed and to whose spiritual welfare he so faithfully administered. He is yet living, and although advanced in years is bright and yet capable of much good.

DAVID ROHRER LEEPER. Samuel Leeper, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Washington county, Penn.; but in early life removed with his parents to Starke county, Ohio. While yet a lad, he found his way to Montgomery county, in the same State, where in 1828 he was married to Elizabeth Rohrer. The name Leeper is supposed to be Irish; such is the family tradition, and this is partially substantiated by the fact that the name is found in early Dublin records. The present branch of the family was intermarried with the name Kent, thus showing an admixture of English blood. The Rohrers were Pennsylvanians of German extraction. One of the ancestors, Schauers, on the maternal side, came to America during the Revolution. It is not known when the others in the ancestral lines crossed the ocean, but it must have been at a very early date. The family record is very meager and obscure beyond the third generation from the present subject. The families on both sides were Protestant as far back as the record is known. Samuel Leeper, in company with his father-in-law, Joseph Rohrer, who was quite a conspicuous figure in the early history of this county, first visited the St. Joseph Valley in August, 1829. He was so impressed with the beauty and fertility of the country that early in the following year he removed hither with his family from Montgomery county, Ohio, arriving early in March. Gen. Wayne had built a road part of the distance, but the balance of the way was marked only by Indian trails, there being no bridges or ferry-boats on any of the streams. The hardships and perils encountered on the route furnished subjects which be was prone often to recount in after life. Mr. Leeper first pitched his tent on the left bank of the McCartney Creek, which runs across the westerly quarter of the present city of South Bend. The site was a few rods north of where the Michigan road now crosses that stream. Then a winding Indian trail crossing the creek at this point was the only thoroughfare. It was at that time much trodden by the savage, in all his native paraphernalia of the warpath and the chase. The first habitation was improvised by stretching the wagon cover across a pole supported by two forks stuck in the ground. This sheltering place was supplanted, as soon as quick hands and an eager heart could accomplish it, by a rude round-log cabin duly chinked and daubed. When snugly ensconsed in this structure, upon the puncheon floor, by the spacious log fire in the chimney, he was wont to say that this was the happiest moment of his life. His cherished dream was now realized - he possessed a home, a castle of his own. In this cabin D. R. Leeper first saw the light, January 12, 1832. Before the record of his memory began, his parents removed upon an unbroken thick woods tract near the Sumption Prairie road, about three miles from the few houses skirting the river and known as South Bend. It was a hard locality in which to dig out a living, but the indomitable energy and business sagacity of the father were equal to the task. He had little schooling or chance for schooling during his boyhood, and this fact made him the more anxious that his children should have better advantages in this respect than he had enjoyed. One of the first objects of his solicitude was to awaken among his neighbors an interest in education. The abandoned cabins of the neighborhood were utilized for school purposes. Writing desks in the shape of boards supported by pins in the walls, and backless benches constituted the furniture. Usually oiled paper had to do duty for windows. The first regular schoolhouse of the neighborhood was built on his farm by his neighbors and himself. The structure was somewhat pretentious, being made of logs faced inside and outside. On this farm the mother died in 1842, two children having died shortly before and another soon followed her. A daughter, Mary Greene, and David R. are the only surviving children. The father died in 1886, while on the train returning home from California. On this farm, the subject of whom we are now specially treating resided until he was seventeen years old, meantime enjoying such rude social and educational advantages as the neighborhood afforded, supplemented by several terms of higher schooling under the tutorship of Prof. Wright and Prof. Cogswell, in South Bend. He was attending school at the old seminary building (which in due course of the march of improvement gave way to our present elegant and commodious high school building) when the news of the discovery of gold in California set the civilized world aflame with excitement. The school boy took the fever so violently that he gave his father no peace till he was fitted out for the pilgrimage to the scene of the marvelous discoveries. In company with several of his neighbor boys, with two ox teams and an ample supply of money and necessaries, he set his face thither from South Bend, February 22, 1849, the anniversary of the birth of our immortal George.

Mr. Leeper furnishes the following narrative of the journey: The country was still very new. Often there were intervals of ten to twenty miles between settlers. Accommodations for both man and beast were therefore scarce and hard to get. The roads were unimproved, and the streams scarcely anywhere bridged. To add to our discomforts and inconveniences there had been a "February thaw," general break-up of winter, so that the streams were all booming, and the roads, especially on the mushy prairies, were about as wretched as they well could be. At La Salle,. Ill., we were detained about a week by high water. Half of the town of Peru, a few miles below, was submerged by the floods of the Illinois. When, finally, we were enabled to cross (the Big Vermillion) it was by swimming our oxen, dragging our wagons through the aqueduct of the canal and carrying their contents across on the heelpath. At Burlington, Iowa, we ferried the Mississippi, a distance of seven miles, on a rickety horse-ferry boat, the river being so far out of its banks that this was the nearest distance between the accessible landings on the opposite side. St. Joseph, Mo. was our objective point on the frontier. Here we were to launch directly into the land of the savage, a land then without autonomy and without a name. With the exception of a few houses at a mission not far from the Missouri River and a small group of mud huts at Fort Kearney and at Fort Laramie, we did not see a single habitation of the white man from the time we crossed the Missouri till we reached the Sacramento Valley, a distance by the route we took of more than two thousand miles. We found this frontier metropolis thronged with adventurers like ourselves, who had flocked thither to fit out for the journey across the plains. Many had gone out and many were still coming in. The long scow or flat-boat used for a ferry boat was crowded to its utmost day and night in crossing the eager emigrants over the booming "big muddy."

Our party pushed out upon the plains on the 16th day of May. We were henceforward to depend entirely upon the natural grasses for feed for our teams. Our route from Fort Kearney lay along the Platte River; thence along the north fork and the Sweetwater to the south pass. Here the road branched; one branch leading via Salt Lake, and the other known as Sublette's cut off, leading via Bear River Valley. We took the latter. At the point where the Bear River makes a sharp deflection to the southward to lose itself in the great Salt Lake, not far from where the present city of Ogden stands, a choice of two routes was again offered. We could proceed to Old Fort Hall on the Snake River, where the emigrant to Oregon and the emigrant to California must finally part company, or we might take a new route to the left called the Headpath's cut-off. The latter was chosen. In the course of two or three hundred miles westward, near the so-called City of Rocks, the three roads united. Thence to the Humboldt Meadows there was but one road. Here, instead of going via the Humboldt link, we took the Lassen or Greenhorn's cut-off. This led northward, crossing the great Sierra Nevada Range near the Oregon line, and then turning sharply southwesterly entered the Sacramento Valley near the present village of Vina. We thus unwittingly added several weeks to our journey.

We reached this destination, practically our journey's end, on the 11th day of October, it having been seven months and nineteen days since we set out from home. We were now encamped on the banks of the Sacramento, of whose "glittering sands" we had sung upon leaving home. We were not long in hastening down to gaze upon its crystalline, magic waters. It was a moment of strange, deep, soul�stirring emotions. Was this indeed our journey's end? this the goal which had been the object of so many days, weeks, months of toil, privation, peril? Had some Pythagorian transmigration of soul overcome us? we could scarcely have felt less strange, fanciful, ethereal. The journey had been truly an eventful period in life's brief span; an episode of quaint, varied, impressive scenes, incidents and experiences, which in the ordinary dull, plodding round of life must ever remain stamped in vivid outline on memory's tablet.

Except at a few points we did not see many Indians; and aside from some petty pilferings they gave us little trouble except at our first camp after crossing the Sierra Nevadas, when they stole and butchered six of our best oxen, happening to take one ox from each of the six teams belonging to our traveling party. With this exception we lost not a hoof on the route from any cause. The last day, however, was a most trying one upon the faithful animals. The few last days' travel before reaching the valley were decidedly the worst of the journey as to road and feed. The beasts bore up bravely till we reached the valley. Eight to ten miles were yet to make to camp. The strain was too great. One after another of the oxen dropped in the yoke. We could but let them lie where they fell and reconstruct our teams as best we could, thus worrying our way to camp. We were delighted next morning on observing our abandoned cattle grazing with the others, the coolness of the night having so refreshed them as to enable them to follow upon our trail.

The story of my sojourn in California will be briefly told. We first went to Redding�s Diggings, at the head of the Sacramento Valley. The place did not please us. We started from there to Sacramento City, but the rainy season setting in and certain mishaps overtaking us, we became separated before reaching our destination. I never met my companions afterward. When I reached Sacramento City I was ill, penniless, and alone, having trudged through the rain and slush afoot thirty-six hours without food, and the clothes on my back and a pair of Mackinaw blankets being the sum total of my worldly possessions. My first work in the city was the making of several coffins from rough boards to receive the remains of some dead miners, who in their red shirts and blue overalls were laid out on boards in the rain in the rear of a hotel. From Sacramento I wandered up to near Coloma, where Marshall made the discovery of gold. I remained there and at Hangtown till the next fall, when I went north to the Trinity. I mined on this river and at Weaverville till the succeeding fall. While on the Trinity I was one of a small party that went afoot prospecting, on what has since become known as the Hay Fork. We were the first white men that ever visited the section, and the Diggers gave us a very warm greeting. I had an arrow sent through my leg, and another of the party an arrow into his foot. His was much the severer wound. He never entirely recovered from it, and a few years later the savages completed their work upon him by taking his life. That we were not all massacred was not from any lack of will on the part of the redskins. That fall I joined a party bound to Humboldt Bay with a view to enlist in the State militia, a call having been made for a force to suppress Indian depredations. The colonel was engaged in a contest for the Senate, his competitor being Gen. J. W. Denver, and was so engrossed in the canvass that he did not appear to muster us into the service.

Humboldt Bay is the chief lumbering section of California. It is the central home of the Big Redwoods. The lumbering interest had just begun to be developed. I was among the first to engage in the logging business then, and I continued in this occupation till the 1st of May, 1854, when I sailed on the schooner "Sierra Nevada" for San Francisco. From the latter port on the 16th of the same month, I took the steamer "Brother Jonathan" for San Juan del Sud, thence crossing through Nicaragau via the great lake of that name and the San Juan River to Greytown, where I took the steamer "Star of the West" for New York. The "Brother Jonathan" was afterward lost on the Oregon coast with all on board, and the "Star of the West" was the vessel fired upon by the rebels when she was sent by the Government to relieve Fort Sumter.

After returning home, Mr. Leeper attended school several terms at the Mishawaka Institute, of which Prof. H. Fitzroy Bellows was principal. This schooling, with what he had previously acquired, gave him a pretty fair education in the elementary English branches. His political antecedents were Whig, and when the Republican party was organized he became an ardent follower in its ranks. His zeal found frequent vent through the columns of the newspapers, his vanity in seeing himself in print being first gratified by a letter of his being published in the Indianapolis Journal in 1855. The appearance of that article in print served to render him the inveterate friend of the editorial craft ever since. His most ambitious effort with the pen is entitled "The American Idea," a production of about one hundred and twenty-five pages octavo. Some of his friends, for whose judgment he has much respect, and who have kindly examined the MS., have advised him to publish the work, and G. P. Putnam's Sons have offered to produce it in their series of "Questions of the Day;" but thus far the MS. has lain on the musty shelf, a fate which has betided myriads of performances much more worthy of the printer's art.

In 1864 Mr. Leeper again set his face westward, this time going to Montana Territory, taking two ox teams laden with goods. He remained in the Territory till August, 1868, when he returned, coming by steamer down the Missouri River from Fort Benton to Sioux City. On this trip, when passing through the "Bad Lands," Mr. Leeper had the satisfaction of witnessing for the first time the buffalo in his glory, and also the mortification of seeing a sample of the wanton vandalism which have rendered such grand spectacles things of the by gone forever. The boat was several days steaming through their midst, and their numbers seemed to be millions. While in Montana he was engaged in mining and freighting, making his headquarters chiefly at Virginia City and Helena. At Helena, in 1867, he was nominated as a candidate for member of the Assembly from Lewis and Clark counties. It was a bad year for Republican candidates, there being scarcely one of that ilk elected in the Territory. Though defeated, Mr. Leeper had the satisfaction of knowing that among the delegation of four on his ticket for that office in the county his name was in the lead on the tally sheets.

Ardent a Republican as Mr. Leeper had been, he left the party in 1872, not solely because Horace Greeley then broke with the party, but because of the influences which moved so many to abandon the Republican banner at about that time. He was that year nominated by the Liberals and Democrats by acclamation as a candidate for the Legislature, but declined. In 1874 he was renominated by the same coalition for the same office, accepted, and was elected. The platform on which he was nominated was independent; but having been supported by the Democrats and been opposed by the regular Republican nominee, he from a proper respect for his obligations was impelled to vote with the Democrats when the choice was squarely made as to doing that or voting with the Republicans. He supported Joseph E. McDonald for the United States Senate. In 1876 he was re-elected to the same position; served on the committee of ways and means, and on several important special committees. In 1878 he was elected to the Senate for the counties of St. Joseph and Starke by nearly eight hundred majority. The differences between the Liberals and Democrats, whatever they had been, had now disappeared, and Mr. Leeper was nominated and elected as a Democrat. During his term as senator he served on the committees on finance, on railroads, on education, on public buildings, on banks, on several committees of conference on appropriation bills, and on other important special committees. He fathered the bill for the present game law of the State, and engineered its passage through both houses. He is proud of the support he gave to the bill for the erection of the new State house, and the bill for the erection of additional accommodations for the insane of the State; both of which measures were so much needed, but which from senseless wrangling had been so long neglected. In 1882 Mr. Leeper was strongly urged from various parts of the district to allow the use of his name as candidate for Congress, and was also urged by Joseph E. McDonald, then chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, as well as by many political friends at home, to stand again for the Senate. He declined these proffered honors to accept the nomination for auditor of St. Joseph county. A rather severe financial reverse, because of a defaulting city treasurer, was his chief reason for taking this course. Mainly because of alleged bulldozing in South Bend, the entire Democratic ticket in the county was defeated.

Mr. Leeper then retired from the political arena, amusing himself afterward by an occasional trip to the Pacific coast and elsewhere, and by keeping up his weak�ness for boring ye editors. This spring (1892) the Democrats of the city of South Bend seemed to be in dire straits for a candidate for mayor; it was insisted that Mr. Leeper's was the only name at all available. He was wholly without experience in municipal affairs, and felt a pronounced repugnance toward experimenting in that direction. But influences were brought to bear which he could not well ignore, and late in the afternoon of the convention he gave his consent to run the political gauntlet once more. The most of the ticket on which his name appeared was defeated. He is now mayor by grace of a small margin. But in all of his experience as a candidate - and not all of them are here mentioned - he has this to boast of, he was in every case nominated by acclamation, and in every case received a greater vote than his party's strength.

One quite important feature Mr. Leeper is very reluctant to mention - he never was married.

MRS. SOPHIA KUNTSMAN, Mishawaka, Ind. The subject of this sketch is the widow of Wolfgang Kuntsman, who was born in Byron, Germany, and was the son of John and Catherine Kuntsman. By occupation, John Kuntsman was a farmer and cooper, and they were the parents of Barbara, Christopher, now deceased; John, now deceased; Wolfgang, now deceased; Ferdinand, living; Catherine, now deceased, and Andrew and Susan, living. John Kuntsman came to America with his family and died in St. Joseph county at the residence of his son Christopher at the age of over sixty years. He was a hard working, industrious man and a member of the Lutheran Church. Wolfgang Kuntsman was born January 7, 1828 at Byrm, Germany, received a common-school education, was a machinist and locksmith by trade, and came to America in 1854, when he was twenty-six years old. His father, mother and all his children except Christopher and Barbara came at the same time. Barbara had come two years before and had settled in St. Joseph county, six miles south of South Bend. Wolfgang worked for a time in South Bend, but came to Mishawaka the same year and worked at his trade of machinist for fifteen years. He married, September 9, 1856, Sophia Shafer, who was born June 14, 1854, daughter of Conrad and Sophia (Schrader) Shafer. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shafer were born in Prussia, at Sarenbridge. He was a blacksmith by trade and a farmer of twenty-five acres. Coming to America in 1846, he settled in Union township, St. Joseph county, on a farm of eighty acres and by thrift and energy he added to it until he owned over three hundred acres, becoming very comfortable in his worldly circumstances, leaving his children $3,500 each at his death. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shafer were members of the Lutheran Church, and he had always been an industrious and hard-workingman, who ever did his duty in all the relations of life. He was the father of seven children who grew to maturity, as follows: Conrad, Sophia, Philip, George, Elizabeth, Catherine and Peter. Mr. Shafer passed all the remainder of his life on his farm and died at the age of sixty-six years, in 1872. His children are upright, reliable citizens, and all have married and reared families except Catherine. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kuntsman lived in Mishawaka, where he followed his trade. He first bought 120 acres of land, four miles south of Mishawaka, where he lived one year, but in 1867 he bought the old farm where the family now reside, which then consisted of 192 acres, and by application and economy he was able soon to add to this purchase until he owned, before his death, 286 acres of land. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kuntsman were members of the Lutheran Church. In politics he was a stanch Democrat. He made all his property himself by the exercise of thrift and perseverance, worked hard, made every dollar count and was a straightforward, honorable man. He died at, the early age of forty-nine years, November 7, 1878. He had come to America with no knowledge of the English language and made his way in spite of that great disadvantage. Seven children were born to this excellent man and his good wife, as follows: Catherine, who married John Hollinshead, who is a Missouri farmer, and they have six children; Julia married Christopher Fuch, a farmer of St. Joseph county, and they have six children; Ferdinand died at the age of nineteen years; Sophia married Henry Fickensaher, a farmer of Clay township, St. Joseph county, and has two children; Philip died when nearly thirty years of age; Lizzie married Ludwig Fickensaher, a farmer and school teacher of this county, and has one child; and George is a young man at home, a practical farmer, who manages his mother's farm. The old homestead is still undivided, and Mrs. Kuntsman, aided by her son George, has added 137 acres to the farm. Mr. Kuntsman, before he died had built a commodious and substantial brick residence, a good array of buildings, barns, windmill, etc. This family is one well known and of sterling worth.

JOHN W. ZIGLER is the manager of the Studebaker Bros. Repository, at 212 South Michigan street, South Bend, Ind., and his business experience and ability thoroughly qualify him for this responsible position. His birth occurred in Botetourt county, Va., June 27, 1831, his parents being Michael and Elizabeth (Snyder) Zigler, who were Virginia pioneers, the father being a farmer by occupation and a tanner by trade. He took up his residence within the borders of St. Joseph county, Ind., in 1833, and purchased a tract of land slightly improved in Portage county, on which a little log cabin had been erected, but very few other improvements made. At that time there were no roads to speak of, except a few Indian trails, and on his farm was an Indian burying ground. He and his wife both died on the 28th of March, 1848, there being but a difference of six hours in their deaths. Five of the ten children born to them are living: James, Mary J., Lewis, John W. and George P.; Samuel, Sarah, Charles, William and an infant are deceased. The subject of this sketch was about two years of age when brought to this county, and here, amid the scenes of pioneer life, he was reared. He was seventeen years of age when his parents died but he remained on the home farm until he was twenty, up to which time he attended the common school near his rural home during the winter months. Owing to the poor facilities and the incompetency of teachers, he did not become as proficient as was desirable. He became well versed in the minutiae of farming and swung the grubbing hoe and ax with vigor in his endeavors to clear the home farm. After starting out for himself he was engaged in the manufacture of brick for two summers. In 1852 he became a clerk in the dry goods house of Reynolds & Co., of South Bend, but in 1855 entered the employ of Brownfield & Co., with which firm he remained two years. He then returned to the farm, having married in the meantime; but remained in the rural districts only a short time. He returned to South Bend for the purpose of settling up the Reynolds estate and after this was satisfactorily adjusted, he, in 1860, moved to Rome Prairie in La Porte county, Ind., where he remained until 1882. Since that time he has been in charge of the carriage repository of Studebaker Bros., of South Bend, for the successful incumbency of which position he seems to be naturally fitted. While living in La Porte county he was the trustee of six schools for over eighteen years. He was State elector of the Grange movement, was master of the same organization, was president of the La Porte Agricultural Society for four years, and was nominated for treasurer of that county but respectfully declined the race. He is a Republican, and socially is a member of that meritorious order, the A. F. & A. M. In 1857 he was married to Mrs. Mary A. Reynolds, a daughter of Benjamin Falsom, and to them the following children have been given: Carrie, Minnie, Charles, Benjamin (deceased) and Ada.

EDWARD ALLEN JERNEGAN, Mishawaka, Ind. The subject of this sketch is one of the old soldier citizens of St. Joseph county, Ind., a prominent newspaper man, and for twenty years the editor of the Mishawaka Enterprise. He is of English stock, his very remote ancestors coming with the Danes into England before the time of William the Conqueror, being descendants of Sir Henry Jemingham, as the name was originally spelled. The founders of the family in America came about 1700, settling in Massachusetts, and were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. They were seafaring people, and for generations sea captains, in the old whale voyaging days, living in Nantucket and New Bedford. On both sides the ancestors of our subject lost valuable vessels during the troubles caused by Napoleon's embargo. Leonard Jernegan, grandfather of our subject, was a native of Edgartown, Mass., and was a sea captain. He married a Coffin, a descendant of Sir Isaac Coffin, and they were the parents of three sons who survived: Thomas, father of our subject; Joseph Leonard (one of the early and prominent members of the St. Joseph county bar); and Charles, who became a resident of New York. Capt. Jernegan was for many years a navigator, and was lost at sea in one of his own vessels just as he was entering the harbor of New Bedford. He left considerable property. Thomas Jernegan, son of the above and father of the subject of our sketch, was born in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, February 23, 1816, received an academic education, and early in life learned the printer's trade in New Bedford. He engaged in the mercantile business in Boston, but in 1840 came to South Bend, where his brother, Joseph L., was already located, engaged in the mercantile business, and in 1842 bought the Mishawaka Tocsin, founded by Wilbur F. Story, and afterward edited by Mr. Merrifield. Mr. Jemegan took this paper to South Bend and then moved to La Porte, resided one year, then took it to Michigan City and changed the name of the paper to the Michigan City News. Mr. Jernegan also engaged in the mercantile business, and was postmaster under President Pierce. He also conducted various newspaper enterprises for over a quarter of a century. During the Civil war the office was closed, the editor, foreman and devil all entering the service of the United States. Mr. Jernegan was appointed by President Lincoln, assistant paymaster in the U. S. navy, which position he held for three years. In politics he is a stanch Republican, originally being a free soil Democrat. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jernegan are members of the Episcopal Church. In 1882 Mr. Jernegan received an appointment in the Pension Department at Washington, where he now resides. He married, in Nantucket, Annie M. Clasby, daughter of Capt. Reuben Clasby, an experienced sea captain of that city. To Mr. and Mrs. Jernegan were born two children who died in infancy and five who lived to maturity, as follows: Ellen, Louise C., Edward A., Charlotte C. and Arthur T. The first two were born in South Bend, Edward A. in La Porte and the remainder in Michigan City. Mr. Jernegan, at the age of seventy-seven, is hale and hearty, and attends to all of the duties of life with unabated vigor. He has always been a man of probity of character and well known for his enterprise and energy, and has long been a prominent citizen. Edward A. Jernegan, our subject, was born at La Porte, Ind.; January 27, 1846, and was taken to Michigan City by his parents when but one year old. He received the education of the public school of that city and attended the high school. In 1862, August 16, he enlisted at Michigan City, at the age of sixteen years, in the service of the United States, as a drummer in Company K, Seventy-third Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was honorably discharged March 19, 1863, at Louisville, Ky., in order to take the position of paymaster's clerk under his father, on the United States steamer, "Commodore Barney," in the Atlantic squadron. He was in the battles of Stone River and Perrysville, and also took part in several severe skirmishes. He became dangerously ill, and was in the hospitals at Nashville and Louisville for two months. His naval service was principally on the North Carolina coast and the James River. He resigned from the navy May 1, 1864, and re-enlisted as a private in Company D, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged September 22, 1864. Thus, while still a boy, Mr. Jernegan did good service for his country. He was a soldier, and also served as a minute man during Morgan's raid, in July, 1863, and was made clerk in the provost marshal's office after his discharge until the close of the war. After his service closed as a soldier, Mr. Jernegan became associate editor with his father of the Michigan City Enterprise, where he remained until 1872, when he came to Mishawaka and bought the Mishawaka Enterprise, which he has ably conducted and made a success in every way. Politically be is a Republican, and holds the office of postmaster under President Harrison. He is a member of the G. A. R., and has held the office of commander for two terms. He is also a member of the Mishawaka Masonic, Lodge, No. 130, Mishawaka Chapter, No. 83, Mishawaka Council and South Bend Commandery, No. 13, K. T., and has held the office of high priest of the chapter and minor offices in other bodies. Mr. Jernegan married September 6, 1869, Nannie O. Sherman, daughter of Hon. M. G. and Charlotte (Hartwell) Sherman. Dr. Sherman was a resident of Michigan City, born at Barre, Vt., and descended from the old colonial family of the stock of Roger Sherman. He came to Michigan City about 1856 and founded the car shops. Dr. Sherman was a prominent politician, a noted speaker, and had served in the Indiana Legislature. He entered the army as assistant surgeon of the Ninth Indiana Volunteers, and was promoted rapidly on merit to the successive ranks of regimental, brigade and division surgeon. He died in Michigan City in June, 1890, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. Mrs. Sherman was a daughter of Col. J. K. Hartwell, of the Canadian provincial forces. To Mr. and Mrs. Jernegan have been born four children, three now living: Mason S., born December 6, 1870, at Michigan City, a young man who was liberally educated at Wabash College, and who now is associate editor of the Mishawaka Enterprise; May C., born May 16; 1872, a graduate of the high school; and Ralph H., born August 30, 1877. Mr. Jernegan is a substantial man, owns real estate in Mishawaka, and is well known as a newspaper editor of ability and enterprise. When a mere boy he displayed these manly qualities which have distinguished him since. As a citizen, his character has been above reproach. He is highly regarded by the members of his profession, and for two years was president of the Northern Indiana Editorial Association.

Deb Murray