Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

FRANK W. TEMPLETON. A lumberman and well known citizen of Upland, Mr. Templeton has divided his career between farming on a large scale and the lumber trade, and many years ago established himself securely so far as his material prosperity is concerned. Mr. Templeton belongs to a family of business men, and his own career has conferred additional credit upon the family record in this respect.

The earlier generations of the name were established in Virginia, and were of Scotch origin. Grandfather Isaac Templeton was born in Virginia, but during the decade of the twenties, came to Indiana, and was one of the pioneers who helped clear the wilderness from this state. His first wife died in Virginia, and after her death Isaac Templeton married Miss Jennings. By the second union were three children, two sons and a daughter, and the second son is still living. After the death of his second companion, Isaac Templeton moved out to the state of Iowa, and died at the home of one of his first wife's children at the age of eighty-seven years. By the first marriage there were five sons and five daughters. One of these daughters, Mrs. Bryan, is now living in California. She and a sister, who is also still living went out to the Pacific Coast in the stirring days of ‘49, were among the first women residents of California, and are now regarded as venerable pioneers of that state. One of the daughters, Lucy, died in Benton county, Indiana. The sons by the first marriage of Isaac Templeton were: James, who lives in Illinois and has a family; Jackson, who was colonel of an Indiana regiment from Oxford, Benton county, made a splendid record as a soldier, and died at Oxford leaving two sons and a daughter; Henry, who also served as an officer in the Civil war in an Iowa regiment, was killed in battle, leaving his widow and two sons, one of whom is still living; Leroy; Gyp, who was killed in battle soon after entering service in the regiment commanded by his brother from Oxford, and though a single man when a soldier's death came to him, a sweetheart mourned his loss at home.

Leroy Templeton, father of the Upland business man was born in Warren county, Indiana, November 17, 1834, and is still living, being in his eightieth year. He grew up on a farm, had practically no advantages, but was well trained in the sturdy discipline of country life in those days. In his home community he was married to Miss Mary Jane Patterson, he being nineteen and she sixteen at the time. Four sons, Orin, George, Henry and Wallace, were born to them in Indiana, and then about 1855 they moved out to Fayette county, Iowa, where Leroy Templeton settled on a river and engaged in the milling business until the outbreak of the war. Enlisting from Fayette county in an Iowa regiment, he was given a non-commissioned office, and saw more than three years of active service as a soldier, but went through without wound or other injury, although participating actively in many important engagements. He now receives a small pension for the service which he performed in behalf of the Union nearly half a century ago. When the war was over he returned to Iowa, and in 1865 came back to Indiana, locating in Benton county. Benton county was at that time mostly an unsettled region on the wet prairie lands of the northwestern part of the state. His first location was in the vicinity of Fowler, where he broke out two sections of land, and the city of Fowler now covers a part of that ground. Later he bought a section of land where the village of Swaington is located, and soon increased his acreage by the purchase of three hundred and twenty acres adjoining. Progressive, influential and liberal in every way, Mr. Templeton, took a foremost part in getting a railroad through his section of Indiana, and took and successfully completed the contract for the building of three miles of grade now used by the Big Four Railroad through Benton county. His home was at Swaington seven years, and he then transferred his operations to Fowler, where he erected an elevator and did a large grain business for three years. On selling out he bought six sections of land in Paris Grove township in the same county, paying twenty-seven and a half dollars an acre. Thereafter all his resources were directed to the improvement and cultivation of this land. A dwelling house and farm buildings were erected on each half section and when the property had been well improved it was sold out at a great advance above the original price. His next enterprise was the organization of the Indiana Investment Company, which purchased Beaver Lake, and undertook one of the first extensive projects for drainage in Northwestern Indiana. The company succeeded in draining off five thousand acres of some of the most fertile land in the entire state. When the drainage work was completed, Mr. Templeton bought the interest of other members of the company and applied a large amount of capital and the work of a big force of men in breaking and putting the ground into cultivation. Eighteen hundred acres of it were planted in corn, and the first year that acreage produced ninety thousand bushel, and to consume that vast crop twelve hundred cattle and thirteen head of hogs were turned onto the land, and when ready for market several trainloads of livestock were shipped into the Chicago yards. That was in 1902, and the net proceeds of the venture amounted to a small fortune. In the meantime Mr. Templeton had directed his versatile ability and large resources in another direction. At Indianapolis he established the Nonconformist, a political sheet, which had an existence as an organ of public opinion for two years. Financially the enterprise proved a failure, and Mr. Templeton was finally compelled to abandon it. However, he inspired its columns with a vigor and originality of expression which caused every issue to be widely quoted in the press of the middle west, and no doubt did a great deal to influence economic and political opinion during the two years of its circulation. It is a matter of special interest to note that all the schooling Leroy Templeton ever received was the result of two terms of attendance in Fayette county, Iowa, before he went into the army. His two oldest sons went back and forth to school with him, and they were all fellow students. For the past ten years, Mr. Templeton has been prominent in real estate circles in Indianapolis. Though eighty-four years of age in November, 1913, he is still active in business affairs, has all the charm and interest of a man of action who has accomplished big things in life, and his name is well known all over the state. A number of years ago he was nominated on the Populist ticket for the office of governor. His political affiliations have changed at different times and he has adhered to a number of different political creeds.

In August, 1913, his wife was eighty years of age, and is still possessed of her faculties. They are both members of the Presbyterian church and have been for many years. There were five sons and three daughters, and four sons and one daughter still live. Laura, the only surviving daughter is unmarried and has her home in St. Louis. The son Orin died in 1911, leaving a wife and two children. George lived in Meadville, and has five sons and one daughter; Henry is a resident of Indianapolis, being at the head of the Brown Stain Company, and has three sons and one daughter. Wallace, who is connected with a hardware company in Greenfield, Indiana, has a son and a daughter.

Frank W. Templeton was born in Fayette county, Iowa, May 9, 1850. Most of his youth was spent in Indiana, and he credits the public system of education as the source of his early training. He was with his father and brothers in their stock and farming operations up to July, 1910, when he came to Uplands and established the Templeton Lumber Company. This is a large and important concern, handles large quantities of lumber, coal, cement, lime and all kinds of house building supplies.

Mr. Templeton was married in Lafayette, Indiana, to Miss Frankie Shilling. She was born in Indiana, and educated in Lafayette. They are the parents of the following children: Ray, who was educated in the schools of Benton county, and is now employed as a skilled mechanic on the great dam recently completed across the Mississippi River at Keokuk, is married but has no children. Fred, who is married, but has no children, is a farmer in Marion county, Indiana; and the youngest son, who is married, but also without children, is employed as a machinist with a mining company in Nevada. Mr. Templeton is affiliated with the Masonic Order, and he and his wife are Presbyterians in religions faith.

"BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES INDIANA, A CHRONICLE OF THEIR PEOPLE PAST AND PRESENT WITH FAMILY LINEAGE AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS"; Complied Under the Editorial Supervision of BENJAMIN G. SHINN; vol. II ; THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY; CHICAGO AND NEW YORK; 1914
Submitted by:Peggy Karol and Karen Overholt

CHRISTOPHER SWARTS. Among the progressive agriculturists of Grant county, it will be found that many are turning their attention and devoting their best activities to specializing. The field of berry and small fruit growing, for instance, has attracted a number of the most substantial men of this locality, and prominent among them one who has gained and is gaining a full measure of success from his operations is Christopher Swarts, of section 4, Mill township. Mr. Swarts has built up an excellent business by taking advantage of opportunities as they have presented themselves, and by making a careful and comprehensive study of his business and its best methods.

Mr. Swarts comes of pure German stock. His father, Adam Swarts, was born in the Fatherland, August 14, 1836, was but six years of age when his father died, and as the only child accompanied his mother to the United States in the same year. Embarking on a sailing vessel, Mrs. Elizabeth Swarts and her son finally landed at New York City, and subsequently made their way to Hamilton county, Ohio, settling in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and there Mrs. Swarts was married to a Mr. Surluff. Later she went to live with her son, with whom she continued for many years, and died in Marion county when eighty years of age. She was a woman of many excellencies of mind and heart and was a devout member of the Protestant church.

Adam Swarts grew up in Hamilton county, Ohio, where he was given a common school education and was reared to agricultural pursuits. Upon attaining manhood, he was married to Miss Christina Flinchpaugh, who was born and reared in Hamilton county, her father, Christopher Flinchpaugh, having come to this country in young manhood from Germany. Here he married an American girl and they subsequently settled in Hamilton county, where for a number of years Mr. Flinchpaugh carried on farming. In young manhood he heard the call to preach the Gospel, and accordingly became a pioneer minister of the United Brethren church, experiencing many adventures while riding his circuit on horseback, for his services in this connection during the first year he was presented with a long-barrelled rifle, valued for its excellent shooting qualities, and with this weapon the itinerant preacher was wont to supply his family with game during the early days. For his services during the second year he was given a large silver watch. The latter is now lost to the family, but the rifle still decorates the wall of the old hewed-log cabin which was the original family home in Hamilton county, and which is still in use as an outhouse and meathouse, a more modern residence having been built for the widow and children of the pioneer.

Some years after his marriage, in 1867, Adam Swarts moved from Hamilton county, Ohio, to Marion county, Indiana, later went to Missouri, where he spent two years, and in 1870 came back to Marion county where he purchased fifty-five acres of land. This he sold in 1904 and purchased another tract of eighty acres, in Hamilton county, and still owns it, but lives in Bethel, Marion county, Indiana. His wife, born July 10, 1829, died in February, 1887, at the Marion county, Indiana, home, and in the faith of the United Brethren church, to which Mr. Swarts also belongs. He has been a lifelong Democrat, and while not a politician in the generally accepted use of the term, has been influential in his party. Of his children, Christopher is the second child and son of a family of three sons and five daughters, all living over forty years of age, all married, and all save one with issue.

Christopher Swarts was born near the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, July 6, 1858. He grew up at home and received a good education in the schools of Marion county, Indiana, and in the latter attained his majority. At the age of twenty-eight years, Mr. Swarts came to Fairmount township, Grant county, locating near Galacia Lake, that township, where he made his home until 1910, and in the latter year settled on his present tract of forty-one acres, just beyond the corporation limits of the city of Jonesboro. This land Mr. Swarts farms in a general way, but specializes in strawberries, raspberries, potatoes and small fruits. His strawberries include the Haverland, Baubach, Senator Dunlap, Clyde and Pokenoke varieties; he has also several choice brands of potatoes, and grows one and one-half acres to raspberries. He makes a study of his business, adopts modern ideas and methods, and as a consequence has made his land well adapted to small fruit growing. He has already produced as high as 14,000 quarts of strawberries and 600 bushels of potatoes in a season. The farm is well equipped with modern machinery and appurtenances, and has been improved with substantial barns and a handsome house.

Mr. Swarts was married in Ottawa county, Michigan, to Miss Ida M. Gillett, who was born in that county and educated there. Three children were born to this union: Emory, Maggie and Susanna, all now married, settled down, self-supporting and with children. Mr. Swarts was married to Mrs. Sarah E. Glespie, nee Nottingham, at St. Joseph, Michigan, a review of whose family will be found in the sketch of Clark Nottingham. By her former marriage to Mr. Glespie, of Canada, Mrs. Swarts had five children: Mildred and Inez, who married; Parker and Dolly, single; and Pearly, who is deceased.

EUGENE N. SWARTS. As a farmer and business man Eugene N. Swarts is well known throughout this part of Grant county, and he has lived here all his life. At the incorporation of the village and at the first election of officers he was honored with the position of town treasurer, and his name will always be found on the records of first village officials.

The birth of Eugene H. Swarts occurred in Center township of Grant county on the 1st of November, 1853. His parents were John and Mary (Yount) Swarts, both of whom were natives of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and in that county, married and started out as farmers. During their residence in Bedford county four children were born: Henry, John, James and Franklin. John died in Pennsylvania, and James passed away while the family were coming to Indiana. This migration from Pennsylvania to Indiana occurred in 1847, so that while they were not among the first settlers they were here in time to bear a share of early difficulties and hardships. John Swarts made settlement in Center township, on Monroe Pike, and the eighty acres which he bought had some improvements. In 1876 he sold that land and bought seventy acres in Jefferson township, and that land is still in the family ownership. In June, 1877, John Swarts died on the last named place. His widow survived him many years, living in the homes of her children, and her death occurred in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Solomon Wolf, on the last day of the last century, when more than eighty-three years of age. Both she and her husband were of the faith of the Lutheran church, but later became Protestant Methodists. John Swarts was a Democrat in politics. There were nine children in their family, and besides the two who died before they reached Indiana the youngest child, Williard, died at the age of two years. The remaining five sons and one daughter still living are: Henry, who resides on a farm near the Soldier's Home at Marion, and has living two sons andtwo daughters; Franklin has a farm, in Jefferson township, and has two daughters living; Andrew is a farmer on the old home place, is married, and his wife by a previous marriage has one daughter; Abraham lives on the David Wall farm in Monroe township, and has two sons and two daughters; the next in line is Eugene; Mary E. is the wife of Solomon Wolf, a farmer in Center township, and they are the parents of three sons and five daughters.

Eugene N. Swarts grew to mature years in his native township, went to school there, and his early experiences and training were acquired from practical acquaintance with farm work. In 1876 the family moved to Jefferson township, and in March, 1882, Eugene Swarts located near Upland. The land on which he settled was owned by his wife, which she had acquired in 1881, a year before their marriage. In March, 1882, Mr. Swarts erected a dwelling house thereon, and on the 27th of that month they took up their abode there. The original tract consisted of fifty acres, but about twenty-two and a fourth acres have since been sold, and two and a quarter acres, now owned by Andrew Gage, of this original fifty, now lies within the corporate limits of Upland. Mr. Swarts owns sixty-seven and three-fourths acres of land at the present time. While a large part of the time and energies of Mr. Swarts have been applied to farming, he has also done a considerable amount of business as a teamster in the village since this place began to grow from a cross roads store into a thrifty town. He possesses a genial and happy temperament, is liked by everybody in the community, and has prosecuted all his enterprises with an intelligence which brings ample reward.

At Upland, on the 5th of February, 1882, Mr. Swarts was married to Miss Emma S. Smith, who was born in Fayette county, Ohio, June 20, 1851. Her early life was spent in Mill township of Grant county, where her parents, Charles and Beulah (Haines) Smith, settled in 1852, locating on eighty acres of land in that township, and they spent the remainder of their lives in improving a good home. They died within a week of each other, both being about sixty years of age. Mrs. Swarts, who was a member of the Methodist church and lived up to the high standards of her faith, was a good neighbor and much beloved in the community. She died suddenly on the 3d of May, 1913. There were no children by their marriage. Mr. Swarts for many years was a regular Democratic voter, but is now a Prohibitionist.

GEORGE S. ACKERMAN. Among the most successful dairymen and farmers of Mill township George S. Ackerman has a proper place, and it is consistent with the proprieties that he should be given mention in a historical and biographical work of the nature of this publication. For twenty-five years has Mr. Ackerman carried on his activities on this, his present place, and while he has been successful, his prosperity has come wholly as a result of his thrift and ability, and he is deserving of a deal of credit therefor.

Mr. Ackerman was born in Richardson county, Nebraska, on November 20, 1862, and was a small child when his parents came to Grant county. They were Benjamin G. and Julia (Landry) Ackerman,— natives of Ohio and Madison county, Indiana, respectively. They were married in Nebraska, where they had gone as young people, and in Richardson county the Ackerman brothers had owned a thousand acres of land.

After Benjamin Ackerman came to Indiana he was for a time engaged in the business of heading oil barrels, and he was thus engaged for some years in Madison county, after which he came to Marion and has here since been engaged in the manufacturing and heading of oil barrels, up until five years ago, when he became identified with the coal and wood business. Mr. Ackerman has been faithful to his business interests, and his record of service is that he has never lost a day from business except because of illness since he became of age,—a record that few, if indeed any, men could equal.

Mr. Ackerman is hale and hearty, well preserved and though he is now seventy-five years old, still gives regular attention to business. His wife is sixty-eight years old now and is alert and active for one of her years. She is a Presbyterian, and her husband, though not a member, attends church with her. He is a Democrat, and has always been an admirable citizen.

George S. Ackerman is the eldest of the five children of his parents, four of whom are yet living, and three of whom are married. Mr. Ackerman himself was married in the house he now occupies to Miss Nettie, daughter of Jacob and Almedia (Moore) Leapley. He died but recently at the age of seventy-six years, after long residence in the county, during which time he had been engaged in contracting and farming. His widow now lives in Marion and is in her seventy-third year of life. She and her husband were long prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he was a Republican in politics.

Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman have two daughters, Grace, the first born, is aged thirteen, and Louise is ten years of age. Both are attending the public schools.

The Ackermans have a comfortable and commodious home, and their farm is reckoned among the best in the county. It is worthy of mention that it has reached its high plane of productiveness solely as a result of the thrift and good management of its owner, for when the place came into Mr. Ackerman's hands it was in a sadly run-down and unproductive condition. It required some years of steady endeavor to bring it up to anything like its present state of productiveness, and Mr. Ackerman has made a thorough study of intensive farming in recent years. He has of late given his best attention to dairy farming, however, and the dairy products of his place find a ready market at top-notch prices at all seasons of the year.

A Democrat, Mr. Ackerman takes a lively interest in the political activities of his town and county, and is a man of considerable influence and position in his community.

ROSS CRETSINGER. The record of the Cretsinger family in its older generations has been written elsewhere in this publication. Attention is here called to the vigorous and enterprising young farmer, Ross Cretsinger, who has been identified with Grant county practically all his life, and has made a particular success as a crop raiser and stock grower and now directs the activities of a fine farm located along the rural free delivery route No. 11 out of Marion.

Ross Cretsinger was born on Sunday, October 5, 1884, the third son in the family of Holmes and Sarah Cretsinger, whose careers are sketched elsewhere. His childhood was spent on the farm known as the Old Joe Oates farm on the Lagro road north of the Country Club and now owned by Holmes Cretsinger. His place was under the parental roof and at the side of his father as his assistant farmer until he was twenty- two, and up to the age of about sixteen he attended the No. 4 district school in Washington township. The school which supplied him with early training in the fundamentals was the same which his father had attended in his boyhood. At the age of twenty Ross Cretsinger got his first real start in life when his father gave him a fourth interest in twenty acres of corn. His share of the crop he traded for his first driving horse and during the following two years he was given one- fourth of all the grain raised on the farm.

On July 27, 1908, Mr. Cretsinger married Zona A. Endsley. She was born January 17, 1887, on the William O. Endsley farm near Van Buren, and lived there until her marriage. Her schooling was received in the No. 3 schoolhouse in Van Buren township until she was fourteen years of age, and then left school in order to assist her mother in the care of a large household. She was the oldest child of William O. and Susan Endsley, and has five brothers and one sister, two of whom are married, while the others are still at home. The Endsley home is one of the most attractive in Van Buren township, and its delightful hospitality makes it a favorite resort for the many friends of the family. Mr. Cretsinger and wife have one child, a sturdy young son, Holmes F. Cretsinger, Jr., five years of age and already proving his willingness to assist his mother in her work and the idol of the household.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cretsinger lived on the old home place for two years, and then with his father bought eighty acres of land on the county line in Huntington county. After a year and a half residence there the father and son traded the Huntington county farm for the Frank Mullen farm in Grant county, and that is the seat of Mr. Cretsinger's activities as a farmer and stock man. He has the direction of one hundred and thirty-seven acres, and has lived on that place since the fall of 1912. Some idea of his enterprise as an agriculturist is obtained from the record of his last year's crop of about three thousand bushels of corn, and most of this is fed to his hogs, the big type Poland China.

Mr. Cretsinger when twenty-one years of age joined the Odd Fellows Lodge No. 96, and has been a faithful member of that order ever since. He manifests a helpful interest in every thing connected with the welfare of his rural community, and while his prosperity has already been noteworthy the promise for the future is even greater.

Deb Murray