FRANCIS M. SHIPLEY.
It is a pleasure to meet an old settler - one who came here in the commencement as a boy, when the observation was quickest and the mind being formed - and learn from his lips of the trials which were endured for the sake of the happy homes which now dot the county of Kosciusko. Such a man is the subject of this sketch. All of his earliest impressions were gained in the wooers of the pioneer period and he tells many stories of those times. The pioneers were happy. It is singular how easily a person can adapt himse1f to any surroundings and derive comfort therefrom. And yet it fails to he at all singular when account is taken of the selfish desire to be comfortable. If we have enough to eat and enough to wear and a little ahead and an outlook for some good books, we can manage to worry along and derive considerable satisfaction out of life. So the old settler was happy, as everyone will emphatically tell you. So says the subject of this sketch. He was born in Knox county, Ohio, April 16, 1839, and is a son of Reuben P. and Margaret (Popham) Shipley. The Shipleys came from Maryland where the family had settled many years before. Grandfather Shipley was born in Maryland, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was of English descent, and in early manhood married Miss Rebecca Phillips, to this marriage fourteen children being born. Reuben P., father of the subject, was the oldest of this family. He grew to maturity in Knox county, Ohio, receiving a limited education in the pioneer schools, and married Miss Popham in 1836 in that county. To their marriage eight children were born as follows: Francis M., Mary P., Elias, John W., Sherman, Rebecca J., Worthington and Minerva A. Of these John W., Sherman and Mary P. are deceased. Reuben P. moved to Kosciusko county in the year 1844, where the grandfather Popham had entered a considerable tract of land from the government some five or six years previously. On this land five or six acres were cleared when the Shipleys arrived. The country was very new then, there being wild animals in the woods and the Indians were still here in abundance. The land was covered with dense forests which had to be cleared off before crops could be raised. Great-granc1father Popham possessed some striking characteristics. He had come to America as a British soldier during the war of the Revolution, and when the war ended had concluded to remain here. Grandfather Popham had educated himself for the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was a natural orator, and at his death was credited with having married more couples than any other man of his time. He and his boys cleared up the old farm. The Shipleys secured land in this county, and on the farm of his father Francis M. was reared. He was required to learn the business of farming at an early age and in the winters was sent a considerable distance to the pioneer schools . In 1858 he was united in marriage with Miss Isabella Clark and to this marriage four children were born, as follows: Charles W., born July 30, 1859, married Miss Mary S. Jemison and they now live in Lake township; Ewin E., born March 2, 1861, educated himself well and for many years was a teacher in the common schools of the county ; he married Miss Emma Blood and now resides in Montague county, Texas; Mary A., born December 10, 1863, married J. M. Chambers and lives in Montague county, Texas, her husband being an attorney at law; William P., born January 5, 1865, wedded Miss Mary J. McGrady, and lives on the farm with his father. The first wife of Francis M. Shipley having died, he married Mrs. Philena A. Strode on December 18, 1884, and the issue of this marriage was one daughter, now deceased. Mr. Shipley has led an active life. He was for several years general lumber agent for the Singer Manufacturing Company, and was three years with the Birdsell Manufacturing Company of South Bend. He is the owner of two hundred and fifty- four acres of excellent land and makes a specialty of raising fine stock. He keeps on hand thoroughbred imported French Percheron horses and raises and ships many cattle of the finer grades. He is a keen business man, a fluent talker and a very capable farmer and financier. He is a Democrat, but has not as yet gone wild on the subject of politics, as too many men have. He is broad-gauged, thoroughly reliable, selfmade, able from an intellectual standpoint and would make an excellent executive officer, wherever such qualities are required. Because of the fact that Mr. Shipley's great-grandfather was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, his descendants are now entitled to membership in that greatest of American social orders, the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. The subject and his wife are both fond of travel and sightseeing and have just returned from a long trip to the Pacific coast. However, they are thoroughly satisfied with the old Hoosier state as a place of residence and have no desire to live elsewhere.

Progressive Men and Women of Kosciusko County, Indiana
B. F. Bowen, Publisher
Logansport, Indiana
1902


ORA TUCKER.
There is a great deal in being born under a good eye-one that watches and guards off the error and folly that overtake so many young men. The father and the mother that are able to infuse into their children the spirit of the Spartans - the spirit that can meet any fate and make the most of the world - will see their children grow to years of maturity with excellent habits and splendid principles and see them become exemplary citizens. The subject of this brief notice was fortunate in having so able and clean a father and so sweet a mother. He was taught from the start the duties of life - not ordinary instruction, but the higher duties which all owe to each other and to society. The result has been to give him broad ideas of life and its responsibilities and to fit him for upright and distinguished citizenship. He was born in Franklin township, this county, March 30, 1883, and is consequently very young in citizenship. He was raised upon his father's immense estate, and from his earliest years the sight of large herds of cattle, sheep, hogs and horses was a daily occurrence. Youthful experiences are the strongest, and accordingly the lessons of the farm thus taught to him from infancy found a secure lodgment in his understanding. No young man could have a better equipment for the duties of the farm than he received. There was the sound judgment of his father and there were the large herds and immense fields of growing grain, in addition to all this he was given a good education and in every way fitted for his future successful life upon the farm. Another thing, he selected a splendid woman to share his joys and sorrows, and thus equipped he began the battle of life on his own account. Their marriage occurred October 30, 1900. Mrs. Nora Tucker was born January 25, 1882, and is the daughter of Orvil and Mary (Turner) Sarber. She was reared upon a farm in Marshall county, Indiana, and was well educated in her maidenhood. In March, 1901, this young couple moved upon their farm on section 22, Franklin township, where he is just beginning the task of opening up his farming operations. His success is not to be doubted. He is broad and clearminded, and is a Republican in politics.

Both he and his good wife are prepared for life, with an its beauty and its responsibilities.

Progressive Men and Women of Kosciusko County, Indiana
B. F. Bowen, Publisher
Logansport, Indiana
1902


SIDNEY T. MOORE.
Among the farmers and representative men of Etna township, Kosciusko county, deserving of especial mention is the well known and highly esteemed gentleman whose name initiates this article. Mr. Moore's ancestral history is traceable to Ireland. His grandfather, John Moore, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1762. He emigrated to the United States in 1780, settling in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and there, in 1788, was married to Jane McCunly. To this union were born ten children, three boys and seven girls, all of whom grew to mature years. In 1831 John Moore moved to Ohio and settled in Summit county, where his death occurred in 1842, at the age of eighty years. John Moore, the subject's father, was also a native of the Emerald Isle and in his youth came with his parents to the United States, settling in Summit county, Ohio, where he subsequently met Miss Elizabeth White, who in due time became his wife. The Whites were among the early settlers of the above county and appear to have been substantial and well-to-do people. Grandfather Zeabth White was born in Portage county, Ohio, November 18, 1799. He was married in February, 1823, to Sarah Rodenbaugh, a union which was blessed by the birth of four children, one son and three daughters. He went to California in 1849 and lost his life there by an accident in a mine. He was a quiet, unassuming man, was a good citizen and was well liked by an who knew him. For several years after his marriage John Moore followed agricultural pursuits in the county of Summit, but later, about 1864, migrated to Indiana and located in Marshall county, where he spent the remainder of his days as an humble, industrious husbandman, dying as a good old age. Seven children constituted the family of John and Elizabeth (White) Moore, namely: James, Sarah, Nelson, Sidney, Jane, Ida and William.

The birth of Sidney T. Moore occurred in Summit county, Ohio, on the 19th day of March, 1849. From his youth he became accustomed to the manifold duties of the farm, and of winter seasons he attended the district schools until he obtained a good practical education, the best, in tact, that the times and circumstances could afford. Until his twenty-first year he remained on the home farm, assisting his parents and proving a valuable assistant in running the place and contributing to the support of his parents and the brothers and sisters younger than himself. On attaining his majority he began farming for himself, though still making his home under the parental roof, and it was not until his marriage, at the age of twenty-nine, that he severed the ties that bound him to the family circle. Mr. Moore's marriage was solemnized with Miss Eliza J. Munch, whose parents were natives of Ohio and among the first permanent settlers within the present limits of Franklin township. Subsequently they moved to Marshall county, where the youthful years of Mrs. Moore were spent and in the common schools of which she received a fair English education.

During the six years following his marriage Mr. Moore cultivated his father's place as a renter, but in 1885 moved from Marshall county to a forty-acre farm in Etna township, which was purchased a short time prior to his taking possession. From that time to the present he has made many valuable improvements, besides clearing and fitting the land far tillage, and he now owns one of the best and most highly cultivated farms of its size in the township, it comprising one hundred and two acres. He bestows great care upon his fields and by closely studying the adaptability of the sail to different crops has brought his place up to its greatest producing capacity, never failing to realize abundant returns far the time and labor devoted to his chosen calling.

Mr. Moore was elected in 1900 assessor of Etna township and has filled the office to the present time to the satisfaction of everybody concerned, having still some time to serve. His good judgment in the matter of real estate and sound knowledge of the values of the property fit him to discharge his official functions with correctness and dispatch, and thus far his course has fully justified the people in the wisdom of their choice. He also served one term as constable and as such did his duty in a manner that won the approbation of the people of Tippecanoe township, Marshall county. Mr. Moore's religious views are in harmony with the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which denomination he and wife have been members far a number of years. He has served as superintendent of the Sunday school and as teacher of one of the largest and most important classes therein, and at the present time is class leader in the congregation to which the family belong.

•Mr. Moore is a man of quiet, gentlemanly demeanor, highly esteemed by his neighbors and fellow citizens of the community, and no one occupies a more conspicuous place in the minds and hearts of the people by whom he is known. His private character is above criticism and he has always aimed to keep his name and reputation unspotted. His has been an earnest life, fraught with much that tends to benefit his kind and his career in the humble sphere of private citizenship has added to the character and stability of the community in which he lives.

Seven children have blessed the marriage of Sidney T. and Louisa Moore, namely: Melvin, Ervin, Chester, John, Nora, Laura and Sanford.

Progressive Men and Women of Kosciusko County, Indiana
B. F. Bowen, Publisher
Logansport, Indiana
1902


DAVID MILLER.
The subject of this sketch, who figures as one of the leading farmers and stock men of Kosciusko county, is widely and favorably known and for a period of fifty-four years has maintained his residence on his present farm in Jackson township. Of his life and family history the biographer is pleased to present the following review.

The family of Millers, of which the subject is an honorable representative, was known many years ago in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and the Warners, from whom he is descended maternally, were early settlers of Huntington county, that state. Samuel Miller, father of David, was born in the former county and in young manhood went to Montgomery county, Ohio, where he met and married, about the year 1815, Elizabeth Warner, who with her parents migrated thither from the Keystone state. When Samuel Miller arrived in Ohio he was a well-nigh penniless young man, but, endowed with a generous supply of what the world calls pluck, he was not long in getting a good start, going in debt for a small piece of land which he improved and in due time disposed of at a liberal figure. With the proceeds he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, partly improved, and continued to reside upon the same until 1848, the land meanwhile increasing greatly in value with the growth and development of the country. Imbued with the belief that northern Indiana offered better opportunities for agriculture than his adopted state, and learning that land in any of a half-dozen counties could be obtained at reasonable prices, Mr. Miller, in the spring of 1848, disposed of his farm in Ohio, and, moving to the county of Kosciusko, Indiana, purchased two hundred and forty acres in Jackson township, the greater part of the place being as nature had made it. This land he cleared and improved and later bought a three-hundred and twenty acre tract, having realized sufficient money from the sale of his Ohio farm to pay cash for every foot of land thus far purchased in Kosciusko county, with a goodly balance left. He was a man of great energy and industry and in time became one of the most prosperous farmers of Jackson township, also one of its most enterprising and highly respected citizens. With his own hands he cleared and fitted for cultivation seventy-five acres of land, besides making many valuable improvements on his place in the way of building fences, bringing the farm to a state of tillage unsurpassed by that of any other place in the township of Jackson. He was one of the original members of the German Baptist church in the township and remained faithful to its teachings until summoned from the church militant to the church triumphant. His was a useful life, fraught with great good to humanity, and his death, which occurred in the year 1855, was greatly deplored in the community. His wife, also an earnest and pious communicant of the same religious body to which he belonged, and a woman of sterling worth, survived until 1882, when she too was called to the other life.

Of the twelve children born to Samuel and Elizabeth Miller, but three are living at the present time, namely: Aaron, David and Margaret. Aaron married Rebekah Miller and is now a retired farmer living in Colorado; Margaret, the wife of Henry Colpetzer, lives in this township, where her husband is engaged in agricultural pursuits. The following are the name of the deceased members of the family: John, Susan, Henry, Mary, Catherine, Sarah, Elizabeth, Anna and Samuel.

David Miller, born May 27, 1841, in Montgomery county, Ohio, was seven years old when his parents moved to the new home in Indiana. Reared on the home farm, where since 1848 his life has been spent, his early experiences, like those of the majority of country lads, were a round of honest toil, devoid of any striking incident. With strong arms and ready will he bore his part in clearing the place and of winter seasons attended the district school not far from his home, obtaining by close application, the best education which the means at hand afforded. After his father's death he continued to live at home and when twenty-one years of age took charge of the farm, to which he brought a bride in 1866 in the person of Miss Rebekah Frantz, daughter of Christian E. and Mary (Heckman) Frantz. His marriage, which was solemnized February 8, of the above year, has been blessed with five children, the following of whom are living: Ellis, born June 2, 1868, married Anna Metzger and lives in Wabash county, this state: Minerva, who was born July 13, 1873, is the wife of Perry Heeter, of Jackson township; Mary E., born August 14, 1879, lives at home, as does Laura, who first saw the light of day on the 17th day of June, 1882.

As already stated, Mr. Miller took charge of the homestead on attaining his majority and since that time the place has come into his possession. As a farmer he has few equals and no superiors, and his home is conceded to be one of the best and most desirable in a township where beautiful and attractive places are the rule. In 1887 the substantial hewed-log building which his father had erected and which served the family for so many years as a dwelling was replaced by the present handsome and commodious two-story brick edifice, twenty-eight by thirty-six feet in area, containing eleven rooms, erected at a cost of over twenty-five hundred dollars. In the year 1877 he built a large barn, which with its contents was destroyed in 1883, entailing considerable loss. Later he put up the splendid barn which now graces the farm, a building seventy-six by forty feet in size, with basement stables and all necessary conveniences, being one of the largest and most valuable structures of the kind in the township of Jackson.

For a number of years past, in addition to general farming, Mr. Miller has given considerable attention to live stock, in the raising and handling of which his success has been most encouraging. When a young man, scarcely twenty-one years old, he bought and sold horses, making considerable money, and today it is doubtful if there is a better judge of horseflesh or a more judicious buyer in this part of Indiana. While dealing quite extensively in horses, he also devotes considerable attention to cattle, hogs and sheep, making a specialty of the finer breeds, from the sale of which he realizes every year a large part of his income. In the management of his farm Mr. Miller exercises great care and believing that agriculture, when compared with other locations, is one of the truly dignified as well as useful callings, takes great pride in his work and spares no pains to make his place attractive to the eye. By reason of a serious illness in 1895, which left his bodily powers considerably weakened, he now docs little beside managing his affairs, renting the larger portion of his land and confining his attention to his stock interests and the general oversight of the farm.

Politically Mr. Miller votes the Republican ticket, but docs not take a very active interest in the questions upon which the two great parties are divided. Since his thirty-first year, he has been connected with the German Baptist church and at the present time is a trustee of the organization worshiping in Jackson township: the other members of the family also belong to this church and are considered among its most earnest and pious communicants.

Too much cannot be said of Mr. Miller as a neighbor and citizen. None stand higher than he in public esteem; all who know him respect him for his enterprise and honesty of purpose and, as far as known, his integrity has been maintained inviolate and no one has ever called in question his good name. A good man, always striving by word and deed to make the world better, and by his wholesome moral influences exerting a silent but potent power in the community -such has been and is the reputation of David Miller.

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Progressive Men and Women of Kosciusko County, Indiana
B. F. Bowen, Publisher
Logansport, Indiana
1902


ALLEN BYBEE.
Previous to the Civil war it was a common occurrence to meet in the North families which had formerly lived in the South and had owned slaves, upon questioning them it was discovered in almost all instances that they had left the South to get away from the influence of the institution of slavery. It was thought that the influence of slavery upon children would be bad, and so hundreds or families left the slave states for the free states, where their children could be free from the contaminating effects. That was the reason which influenced the ancestors of the subject of this sketch to leave the South and settle in the North. About four generations ago Sherrod Bybee left England, his native country, and emigrated to America, settling in Fluvanna county, Virginia, it being said, also, that two of his brothers settled there with him. He married there a lady of excellent family and to them were born four children: John, William, Elizabeth and Sherrod, Jr. John was reared upon his father's plantation and the little negroes were his daily companions. He was given excellent advantages and received a good education and upon reaching manhood married Miss Catherine Green, by whom he had fifteen children: Joseph, Washington, George, Pleasant, Millie, Catherine, John, Nathan, Samuel, James, Maria, Rebecca, Wesley and two others. John, the father, while he was a slaveholder, became convinced as to the wrong of that institution, whereupon he liberated all he had and started for the free states. He came with his family by wagon to Fayette county, Ohio, in 1823, and there purchased a tract of land and began to clear the same. He was a man of excellent qualities, and had served in the war of 1812. He had previously had considerable experience in dealing in live stock and in trading generally, and he thereupon began to buy large herds of hogs and horses and drive them across the country to the markets of the East. His judgment was excellent and he soon became wealthy. He went into the packing business and put down immense quantities of pork in barrels and shipped the same down the rivers to New Orleans. He lost one large cargo thus sent down, which caused him to curtail his enterprise in the field. Connected with this enterprise, he became involved in a duel with his commission man and the death of the latter had much to do with his stopping that branch of his trade. After that event he took what he had left and came to Indiana, locating in Franklin township, this county, in 1838. He entered a quarter-section in section 7, and began to clear off the timber and till the soil. There he lived until his death, in 1868, at the age of seventy-five years. Washington Bybee grew up on his father's farm in Fayette county, Ohio, and received a limited school education, but full experience in the rearing and shipment of stock as the methods then existed. He married in that state, and, with the assistance of his father, got a start and bought a farm. In company with his uncle, he bought and marketed stock in the Eastern markets, particularly in Richmond, Virginia. By the time he was ready to come to Indiana he had accumulated about eighteen hundred dollars, a sum sufficient to give him an excellent start in this state. He arrived here in 1841 and bought a tract of land and went to work to develop it. He traded and trafficked and made money aside from his farm, and later bought and shipped stock after the country had grown out of its first wildness. He accumulated during his active life by honorable business methods all told probably thirty thousand dollars, a large sum and a great accomplishment for that day. He was a man of high qualities, fine abilities and perfect integrity, and was respected by all who knew him. His prominence and recognized high character and sound business ideas caused his fellow citizens to bring him out for the office of county commissioner in 1880-81, and he was elected. He served so well that he was re-elected and it was during his second term that death overtook him. Allen, his son, filled the unexpired portion of his term. His children were Jacob, Allen, Mary, Levi, Lucinda, Catherine and Reedy. Those still living are Allen, Mary, Lucinda and Reedy.

Allen Bybee was reared on his father's farm and received a fair education, being also taught the perplexing duties of farming and stock raising. At the earliest age he was taught the art of expert stock management. He met and married Miss Nancy A. Grant, a distant relative of Gen. U. S. Grant, and four years later the Rebellion broke out in all its fury. True to the instincts of his ancestry against slavery, he was in full sympathy with the efforts of Mr. Lincoln to crush the Rebellion, and slavery at the same time if necessary to save the Union. He and his brother Levi enlisted in Company F, Seventy-fourth Indiana Infantry, were mustered in at Fort Wayne and sent to the field at once. They were assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and saw active and bloody service from that time forward. They fought at Perryville, Chickamauga (where Levi gave up his life for his country in the thickest of the battle), Chattanooga, Mission Ridge, Lookout Mountain, all the battles of the Atlanta campaign for one hundred and five days, thence with Sherman in his famous march to the sea. They then marched up through the Carolinas, fighting in numerous skirmishes and pitched battles, in all of which the subject acquitted himself with distinguished gallantry, thence at the close of the war up to Washington, where, in sight of the leaders of the army and the government, the last grand parade was held, down Pennsylvania avenue in their ragged uniforms that were pierced with bullets and with flaunting flags that had been tattered by the shots of the desperate rebels. There Mr. Bybee was mustered out and sent home to receive the plaudits and hosannas of a grateful people. He passed through the war unscathed and now draws a pension of eight dollars per month. At the close of the war he resumed farming and stock raising, particularly the latter, and continued the same with great success until 1893, since which time he has not been so active. His children are: Hollis C., born in 1859, married Eunice Blue and lives in Mentone; Mary, born in 1863, wedded N. N. Lattimer, a hardware merchant, and is deceased: Cora, who is an artist, born in 1860, married Lorin D. Manwaring, who is president of the Farmers' Bank of Memone; Addison L., born in 1875, married Bessie Wertenberger and lives in Franklin township; one that died in infancy. In 1893 Mr. Bybee’s wife died, and he married Mrs. Martha Herendeen, daughter of Thomas Ball. Mr. Bybee now owns four hundred and sixty-five acres of land and is in excellent financial condition. He is assistant cashier in the Farmers' Bank and owns a block of its stock. He is a stanch Republican and has ever been one at the strongest factors for advancement in the county. He is a splendid example of the clean and reputable American citizen. Mrs. Bybee is vice-president and treasurer of the Willing Workers society of the Methodist Episcopal church and is an active and efficient worker. In her youth she received a good education and prior to her marriage was a teacher in the public schools of Kosciusko county. Two events in the military career of Mr. Bybee are ineffaceably fixed upon his memory, the surrender of the rebel army under General Lee, April 9, 1865, and the assassination of President Lincoln, five days later. At that time the subject was at Holly Springs, about twelve miles from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Progressive Men and Women of Kosciusko County, Indiana
B. F. Bowen, Publisher
Logansport, Indiana
1902


WILLIAM ISENBARGER
One great exemplification of the fact that wealth attends upon industry and that comfort is a close follower in the wake of thrift is shown in the life career of the subject of this sketch.

William Isenbarger, son of John and Susan (Shaffer) Isenbarger, was born in Clark county, Ohio, October 25, 1845, and is of Virginia descent, his grandfather, Henry Isenbarger, having emigrated from the Old Dominion to the Buckeye state in 1833, and made settlement in Clark county. Henry Isenbarger was a poor farmer, and his children had early to aid in the support of the family, and of these children there were six, viz.: John, Jacob, George, Samuel, Lydia and Sarah.

John Isenbarger early went out to work in order to earn something to aid in the support of the family and when he had reached his majority found himself nearly destitute even of clothing. When twenty-one years old, however, he began to hoard his money, and when he had accumulated two hundred and forty dollars in gold and silver coin he started on foot from Clark county, Ohio, for Jay county, Indiana, whence he went to Fort Wayne in order to enter land in 1838. While on the road the weight of his cash began to fatigue him, and he handed it over to a stranger on horseback to carry for him. People in those days, it will be seen, could trust each other. Arrived at Fort Wayne, he entered one hundred and sixty acres in Indiana, but continued to live in Clark county, Ohio, until 1841, when he married Susanna Shaffer. He continued to live on rented land until 1850, when he came in a wagon from Clark county, Ohio, to Kosciusko county, Indiana, and was a week on the journey, arriving about midsummer, and was thus favored with propitious weather on his trip through the dense forests. His farm comprised eighty acres half a mile west of Rose Hill, to which he later added until he owned one hundred and four acres.

To Mr. Isenbarger's marriage to Susanna Shaffer, his first wife, there were born seven children, viz.: Amanda, wife of Aaron Arnold, of Elkhart county; William, the subject of this sketch; George, who married Elizabeth Kemper and is a resident of Lake township, Kosciusko county: Malinda, who died when three years old; three others died in infancy. Mrs. Susanna Isenbarger died March 5, 1864, and Mr. Isenbarger married Mrs. Catherine Shoemaker, who died August 12, 1886. His own death occurred February 21, 1890, he being deeply mourned by his fami1y, and as a pioneer and usefu1 citizen by all his neighbors and friends, near and far. To the second marriage there were born six children, namely: Noah. John, Ellen, Samuel (deceased), Eli and Waity.

William Isenbarger, the subject pioneer of this sketch, secured a good common school education and assisted on the home farm until twenty-one years old, then worked out by the month awhi1e and afterward rented a farm. He married, September 2, 1869, Miss Mary Ulrich, daughter of Stephen R. and Mary (Swihart) Ulrich and born August 9, 1852. This union has been blessed with three children, viz.: Charles, who was born Octonber 25, 1870, finished his common-school education in 1884, and then attended Manchester College several terms. He married Miss Laura Pettacord, a native of Kosciusko county, and is now secretary of a lumber company in Palouse Valley, state of Washington; Jerome, born August 10, 1879, graduated from the common schools in 1891, taught school three years and is now attending the State Normal; Cora E., born April 13, 1887, died in 1890.

At his marriage Mr. Isenbarger had nothing but his household furniture, seventy-five dollars in money and a team. Mrs. Isenbarger, however, possessed about eighteen hundred dollars and this Mr. Isenbarger invested in one hundred acres of wild land, improved it with a house and barn and other proper and necessary buildings and developed one of the best farms of its size in Lake township, which is now his p1easant home.

Mr. Isenbarger is not a political partisan, but has strong Democratic proclivities. Since 1871 he and his family have been members of the conservative branch of the German Baptist church, whose teachings they conscientiously follow and to the maintenance of which they liberally contribute from their means. The family is recognized as among the well-to-do and useful residents of Lake township and their residence here for so many years has identified them with its progress, which has indeed been most marvelous within the past half century.

Progressive Men and Women of Kosciusko County, Indiana
B. F. Bowen, Publisher
Logansport, Indiana
1902


AMOS THEODORE MOLLENHOUR.
The farmer is not the only necessary factor in a community. His presence is, of course, important, but so is that of the miller, because people must eat, although it would be far cheaper if they did not have to do so. The miller has been necessary since the first settlement, and at first the old mil1 were run by water power and in very s1ow time. When steam came into use the results were the same but a great deal quicker. They continued to get quicker as time passed, down to the present day. It used to be said of the old saw-mills that were run by water power and were what were called up-and-down mills, that they went up one day and down the next, but this was a slander on the famous old mills of our grandfathers. The mill of the subject, it is scarcely necessary to add, is somewhat swifter than the old ones. And the times are swifter and the people are swifter, but we probably do not enjoy ourselves any better than our grandparents did.

Amos T. Mol1enhour was born in Franklin township, Kosciusko county, January 12, 1863, and is yet a comparatively young man. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Harpman) Mol1enhour. The father was a native of Ohio and came to this county after he was married. The Harpmans were natives of the Keystone state and came to Hancock county, Ohio, at an early day. Both families moved from Ohio to Franklin township, this county, and there the parents of subject were married. To this marriage eight sons were born: John, who was born in 1848 and married Miss Melcina Doremeyer, lived in Sevastopol, but is now deceased; Isaac, born in l850, married Miss Anna De1ena and lives in Mentone, where he is the head sawyer for Eli Turnbul1; William H., born in 1852, married Miss Maggie Blue and resides in Missouri; Minor I., born in 1854, is unmarried and lives in Ohio; Edward C., born in 1856, married Miss Anna B. Ely and lives in Mentone; Lyman L., born in 1858, married Mary Morgan and resides in Harrison township; Amos T., born in 1863; Hiram A. born in 1865, married Miss Nettie Thompson and resides in Franklin township. William Mollenhour was a farmer and a millwright, owned a grist-mill and a saw-mill and made a comfortable fortune. He was prominent in the community where he resides and at his death, in about 1865, he left a name above reproach.

Amos T. Mollenhour was reared in Franklin township, and learned the milling business of his father. He is the present proprietor of the planing and saw-mill at Mentone, which affords him a comfortable income and is one of the most important industries of that busy town. He had associated with him until recently a Mr. Moon, out in August, 1901, he bought his partner's interest and is now the sole owner of the property. Mr. Mollenhour received in his youth a limited education, but this he has since largely remedied. In March, 1885, he wedded Miss Mary A. Rawlston, the daughter of Riley Rawlson, and by her has six children: Delbert C. born in December, 1887; Artie, deceased: Delcie died in infancy; Lodema, born in 1892; William K., born in October, 1894, and a boy that died unnamed at the age of two weeks. In politics Mr. Mollenbour is a Republican and of late years has taken a live1y part in local and state politics. He served as counci1man for one term and during that time important improvements were made in the streets, sidewalks. etc. He has represented his party in county conventions severa1 times and was once elected constable of Franklin township, but he being the only Republican elected on the ticket he did not qualify for the office. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church of Mentone, while fraternally he belongs to Camp No. 6311, Modern Woodman of America, at Mentone. He is a clean and reliable business man, has the highest respect of all who know him and in all his business affairs governs his actions by the principles of the Nazarene.

Progressive Men and Women of Kosciusko County, Indiana
B. F. Bowen, Publisher
Logansport, Indiana
1902


GEORGE MICHAELS.
The great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a native of Germany. When a young man he came to America and settled in Pennsylvania, and there the grandfather and father of subject were born. They were farmers by occupation and were industrious and upright people. Peter Michaels, the grandfather, moved from Pennsylvania to Carroll county, Ohio, in the year 1802, the same year that that portion of the country was admitted to the Union. At that time the state was practically a wilderness and the Indians were there in large numbers, and were still fierce from their participation in the Revolution on the side of the British. Mr. Michaels bought a tract or land in the woods of that county and began to clear off the timber. More than once when they first went there they were in imminent peril from the savages, and for protection retreated into the deep woods and hid until the danger was past. They were not only pioneers, but frontiersmen as well, and were on the front of the advancing line of civilization which steadily drove back the Indians. Wild animals, such as bears, deer, wolves, faxes, panthers, etc., were frequently met with, and no little danger was encountered from some of them, particularly in the nighttime. Peter Michaels, with the assistance of his family, cleared up that farm and there he passed the balance of his life. His son John, the father of subject, was born in the Keystone state, and when a small boy came with his father to Ohio, and was there brought up in the woods among the Indians and the wild animals. He became quite a hunter, but the most of his time was spent on the farm in fel1ing the big trees, burning the brush, digging out the stumps and tilling the soil among the stumps that dotted the place. His education was hardly worthy of reference, the little he had being received at the subscription schools held in the old round log schoo1 house, with its "cat and clay" chimney, its clapboard roof and its puncheon door, floor and benches. There were also the greased-paper windows. In 1832 John Michaels sought the hand of Miss Anna Shroyer in marriage, was accepted, and they were wedded. To this marriage there were born thirteen children, as follows: John, Lydia A., George (the subject), Adam, Julia A., Peter, Elizabeth, Rachel, Jane, Noah, Amanda, Cornelia and Sarah. He bought eighty acres in the woods, cleared and improved the same and lived there until 1862, when he sold out and came to Kosciusko county and bought eighty acres near Sydney, Jackson township, where he resided until his death, in 1875; his widow survived him until 1900. They were pioneers and most excellent people.

George Michae1s was born October 7, 1837, in Carroll county, Ohio, and was reared on a farm in that state, from an early age becoming accustomed to hard work. He received a meager education, but enough to enable him to transact the ordinary duties of life. In 1861 he was united in marriage with Miss Anna Whitmer, a native of Ohio, who presented him with one child, David H., born in 1864. The latter married and resides in Jackson township, his wife being deceased. Mr. Michaels took for his second wife Miss Lavina Speglemyer and has one child was born to this marriage, Delta M., who diec when nine months old. On April 17, 1870, Mr. Michaels married his third wife, Mrs. Martha J. (Wells) Keesey, the widow of Benjamin F. Keesey. No issue resulted from this marriage. Mrs. Michae1s had by her first husband five children: Florence J., Harriet, Mary A., deceased, William A., deceased, and Effie J. On January 13, 1889, Mr. Michaels moved on his present place, which was known as the old Wells farm, and since coming here has built a house, barn, outbuildings, and has cleared twenty acres. In his early life he worked very hard, but the last few years he has taken life easier. He is engaged in raising fine stock, particularly horses, besides the general operations of the farm. He is a Republican and has been supervisor for thirteen years and also served as constable of Jackson township. He has represented the township in county conventions many times, and is a leading politician. He and his wife are members of the United Brethren church, of which he has been steward and trustee.

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Progressive Men and Women of Kosciusko County, Indiana
B. F. Bowen, Publisher
Logansport, Indiana
1902


Deb Murray