George P. Miller has lived in Wabash county since 1857. He was born in Rush county, Indiana, September 21, 1843, so that he has already passed the psalmist's span of life, three score and ten. He is a son of Christian and Elizabeth (Whitehill) Miller. Christian Miller was born in Virginia, a son of John Miller, who came from Germany, was a planter and slave holder in old Virginia, later moved to Ohio, and finally to Rush County, Indiana, where he died. Christian Miller grew up in Virginia, and inherited a few slaves, which he set free when he left the state. He was married in Ohio, and Elizabeth Whitehill represented an old and prominent family of that state. From Ohio they moved to Rush county, and later to Wabash county, locating two and a half miles west of LaFontaine in Liberty township. At one time Christian Miller owned four hundred and forty acres in one piece. What he acquired was the product of his own labors, and he was a worthy citizen and kind father. All his property was divided among his children, and both he and his wife died in Wabash county. He had cleared up many acres of his land, and the early home in which George P. Miller spent some of his youthful years was a log house. In the latter's expressive phrase, "one could throw a dog through the cracks between the logs." It had a mud and stick chimney, and very little iron entered into its construction and all the furnishings were of that primitive simplicity which is described in the pages of this history devoted to early pioneer times. Christian Miller and wife had eight children, as follows: Joseph, of Wabash; William H. of Waltz township; Tobias H., of LaFontaine; George P.; Laura, the widow of E. Howard; Philip, of Liberty township; James A., who died at the age of twenty-five; and John, who died when twenty-four years of age. The sons, George P. and Tobias H., were both soldiers in the Civil war, the former a member of the Eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The first two children were born in the Buckeye State, and the others in Indiana.

George P. Miller was fourteen years old when the family left Rush county, and he attended school in that locality, going to what was known as the old Joe Winship log schoolhouse. He remembers how plentiful game was in the country in which his boyhood was passed. After he came to Wabash county, he attended a school conducted in the old Baptist church, which was a log building. He participated in many of the pranks which were characteristic of the old-time school life. One time he and his brothers and several other pupils, owing to the fact that the teacher refused to treat the scholars, secured a rail from a neighboring fence, put the teacher astride, and railroaded him to a pond, where they cut a hole in the ice, and were on the point of ducking the schoolmaster in the water, but the latter finally agreed to sign a paper stating that he would stand treat, and they accordingly let him off. During the first winter in Wabash county, Mr. Miller attended a school in which there were eighteen boys older than himself, and as he and his brother made little progress in their studies and apparently attended school more for the fun than for their mental good, their father took them out and put them to the heavy work of clearing land, which soon cured them of their truancy, and in one week's time they were glad to return to school more submissive and tractable. Another incident of early school times is related by Mr. Miller. One day his brother William directed "Coon" Sailor to open the school door, and when that was done, William rode his old sorrel mare directly into the school room, much to the consternation of the younger pupils, and after remaining a few minutes rode the horse outdoors. In such diversions his early years were spent, and he lived on the farm and assisted in its work until he was twenty-one years of age. However, in the meantime he had made a record as a soldier, of which his descendants will always be proud. On December 25, Christmas Day of 1863, he enlisted in the one hundred and twenty-sixth regiment of Indiana, and was out for two years. He was in the great campaigns, which closed the war in the middle west, participating at Franklin and Knoxville, Tennessee, and during the entire campaign of thirty-two days never changed his clothes. Outside of that campaign most of his service was in fort garrison duty, and in guarding railroads and other points.

After his return home, Mr. Miller was married in 1867 to Henrietta Howard, whose father William Howard was an early settler of Wabash county, coming from Rush county. Mrs. Miller died, leaving three children as follows: Della, now Mrs. John LaSelle; Anna, Mrs. William Mower; and Elizabeth, wife of Warren Hammond.

Thirty-seven years ago, Mr. Miller married Sarah Gochenour, daughter of Abe and Rebecca (Caldwell) Gochenour. Her father was a sawmill man and came to this state from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Miller was one of nine children, as follows: John, deceased; William; Mary Jane, deceased; Joseph, deceased; Martha; Margaret, deceased; Mrs. Miller; Laura; and Charles -- all of whom were born in Indiana. Mr. Miller by his second marriage had ten children, namely: Rose, Mrs. Pratt; Ross, who added to the military record of the family by serving in Company D of the One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Regiment, during the Spanish-American War; Mayme, who died at the age of twenty years; Minden; Daisy, a trained nurse; Benjamin H.; Lawrence; Landis; Eldora; and one that died in infancy.

Mr. Miller early in his independent career bought forty acres of land near LaFontaine, and was also engaged with his brother William in the operation of a tile factory. After selling that forty acres, he moved to Noble township, and his father-in-law, William Howard, having given the three daughters of his first marriage forty acres each, Mr. Miller bought that land, and later added another forty, all of which he subsequently sold for the price of one hundred dollars an acre. It was the first land under his ownership which reached so high a valuation, but that same land is now worth two hundred dollars an acre. Mr. Miller subsequently bought one hundred and eighty acres at Speicher, where he remained about six years. In the meantime he had bought the land already mentioned in Lagro township, but upon which he never has lived, his son Minden residing on that farm. Mr. Miller moved to his present fine residence in 1906. It is located on a two and a. half acre track of land about one and one-half miles north of Wabash, on the Laketon Pike, in Noble township. Mr. Miller is an honored member of the Grand Army Post, and is a member of the Wabash County Detective Association, a republican in politics, and a communicant of the Evangelical church.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914

His parents were Wiley and Eliza (McVicker) Reed. Eliza McVicker was born in Wabash county, her parents having come from Fayette county, among the first settlers, and she lived here the greater part of her life and died June 4, 1889. Wiley Reed was born February 4, 1833, in Huntington county. That date indicates an early time in the history of his section of Indiana. The Indians were still all along the Wabash river, and only here and there had the sturdy settlers cleared a space in the wilderness and effected a beginning of the improvements which were to transform the entire landscape into a checkerboard of farms and towns and cities. John Reed, father of Wiley, was a splendid type of the old pioneer and lived to a very ripe age, passing away at Bloomington, Illinois, in 1899. When he came to this section of the Wabash valley, he found only here and there a settlement and a lonely cabin in the midst of the green woods. Two other families came with him, and they all located near Hopewell. John Reed had only five dollars in cash when he arrived, and the journey hither was made with a wagon and a two-horse team. Some of the incidents of their early settlement are still preserved in family traditions. It is said that when the family reached their destination their goods were unloaded under a beech tree, whose foliage furnished them their first shelter. The three families cooperated after the fashion of most of the early settlers, and each week by their united labors a log house was constructed, until each family had a home of its own. These were some of the first families to locate in a large section of country, and almost the only people they saw for some months were friendly Indians, who often called at the cabin door, usually begging something to eat, and the relations between the red men and the whites were never strained. Some time later other families moved in and gradually the area of settlement was extended and various improvements introduced. During the first years the woods and fields supplied wild game for provisions, and while there were few luxuries the people lived in a style of substantial comfort that left many happy memories for later days.

Wiley Reed grew up under such circumstances and during the pioneer times of northern Indiana. He was married in Wabash county, and soon afterwards took his little family west, living in Missouri and in Iowa. He bought a small farm, in the latter state, and was living there at the time of the Civil war. Soon after the beginning of the war, the authorities caused the erection of some breastworks within half a mile of his little home, and the prospects were for fighting in that very vicinity, possibly on his own land. Under those circumstances he considered it best to send his family east, and in the following spring he himself returned to Indiana. Arriving in Wabash county, he rented a farm in Lagro township, and continued as a renter until about 1883, when he bought some land. He is still living on his farm near Lincolnville in Lagro township, and although well advanced in years is still hale and hearty and to quote his own words "is still good for his forty bushels of corn a day." Wiley Reed and wife were the parents of eight children, two of whom died in infancy, and the others are: Florence, the widow of Richard Hill; Charles Daniel; Mary, Mrs. Jacob Howard; Joseph; John; Della, widow of William Gillespie.

Charles D. Reed was born in Harrison county, Iowa, December 26, 1858. His earliest recollections group themselves about the Iowa farm, where he was born, but he was still very young when the family returned to Indiana. He remembers how fine the soldiers looked in their blue uniforms and brass buttons, and can also recall how his father brought his little household to the river and accompanied them in a canoe built of a log, to the other side of the stream. That incident was during the family migration from Iowa to Indiana. While growing up in Wabash county, he attended the district schools, and as the oldest son had to help his father with his work, and accordingly had his opportunities cut to the barest fundamentals of education. In the early days his father used to cut the hay with a scythe, while the son Charles had a stick pointed at each end, and with that turned the hay for drying, and it was with such crude implements that much of the early farming was done in Wabash and other sections of Indiana. The practical part of his education was never neglected, since he learned how to shoot wild game; fish in the streams, and from his Indian playmates acquired the art of shooting fish in the water with a bow and arrow. In later years by close observation, by reading of books and current literature, and by association with men, Mr. Reed has more than made up for such knowledge as was neglected in his early training.

In February, 1886, Charles D. Reed married Addie Jeffery, a daughter of William and Tabitha (Jackson) Jeffery. To their happy marriage has been born eight children as follows: Clinton, who lives in Montana, and by his marriage to Lydia Ennis has one child, Dessa; Carrie; Harry, a machinist at Detroit; Jesse; Inez; Ray; Hovey; and Robert.

For many years Mr. Reed rented land, having to depend upon his own energy, and without the fortune of inheritance, so that all he has represents the capable endeavors and management of himself and wife. He and his father spent eighteen years altogether on the old Ed. Busick farm west of Lincolnville, his father having lived there eleven years and the son seven years. After leaving that farm Mr. Reed rented the Joseph Busick place northwest of Wabash for about five years. In the meantime he bad pursued a thrifty and economical course, and on leaving the Joseph Busick farm bought one hundred acres in Huntington county, paying for it three thousand dollars cash. Although he had a nice farm there he and his wife yearned for their old friends in Wabash county, and three years later he sold out and bought his present farm in December, 1901. This comprises one hundred and forty-six acres, two acres having been sold for the right of way for the proposed interurban line. He owns some other land in the same township. Mr. Reed and his sons follow general farming. Each one of his boys remained with him for a number of years, and was given a practical education in the schools, and also a good training for independent careers, each having the ability to ride a horse and to perform some small duties when only six years of age.

Mr. Reed bas been very successful as a business man, and it may be said that he has been in business ever since a small boy. One day he was coming home with one of his father's stray calves, and was met by a man who offered him eight dollars for the young animal. The boy dickered with the purchaser until he was paid twelve dollars, and on reaching home, concluded an agreement with his father by which he paid the latter ten dollars and retained the other two dollars as profit for himself. Thereafter he represented his father as agent in many similar transactions. With the two dollars just mentioned he bought some little pigs, which were in turn traded to his father for a colt, and by a gradual evolution he in time acquired a little capital of his own. However, he occasionally made a mistake, and sold property from the home farm for less than the value placed upon it by his father, and in such cases always had to make up the deficiency.

Mr. Reed is affiliated with the Masonic Order at Lagro, the Modern Woodmen of America at Wabash, and belongs to the Wabash County Detective Association. A republican, he votes usually for the best man. He is one of the official members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Mrs. Reed, his wife, comes also from true pioneer stock in this section of Indiana. Tabitha Jackson, her mother, was two years old when her family left the Carolinas, and established themselves north of the Ohio river. Her father William Jeffery came to Indiana from Wayne county, Ohio, his father having given him eighty acres located in the green and unbroken woods of Grant county. Grant county was at that time a wilderness with its original Indian inhabitants still roaming the woods, and the little Jeffery family had to make a home in a country where practically all conveniences were absent, and where it required constant vigilance and industry to keep the wolf from the door, both literally and figuratively speaking. When the Jefferys reached Grant county their worldly possessions comprised a wagon and two horses, a barrel of flour, a barrel of meal, their personal clothing, with guns and ammunition and a few crude tools. The first home which sheltered them was an old log house that had been constructed for a meeting house. It had no door and to keep out the wind and rain they hung a blanket over the opening. Some old benches were found in the building, and these were pushed together in order to make a bed. Soon afterwards they built a house of hewed logs, and as they had come from comparative comfort and prosperity in their former home, they employed their energies in making the cabin as attractive as possible. Thus, while the wolves howled without, they lived simply but happily within, and had plenty to eat and their circumstances were not altogether unattractive, though offering plenty of hardships. There was usually hanging from a rafter in their home a ham of venison and their table fare, though without luxuries, provided an ample nourishment for all who sat about their board. The mother of the family in such conditions had to make her own baking soda, wove the linen from flax grown on the farm, made flannels; and jeans for clothing, and there was hardly a phase of pioneer life described in the general historical accounts of this region which were not a feature of the Jeffery existence during the early days. The original Jeffery farm was subsequently traded to Mr. Leadbetter for eighty acres, six and a half miles south of Lagro in Wabash county, situated on the Lagro pike. There they established their home when Mrs. Reed was a child of two years and both her parents died there, her mother at the age of seventy-seven, and her father when about eighty years of age. The Jeffery children were as follows: Louis, deceased; Harrison; Thomas; Albert; Leander and Emma, twins, the latter being deceased; Osro; and Addie, Mrs. Charles D. Reed.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914

Mr. Haupert was born on the farm on which he now resides, February 8, 1862, and is a son of Frederick and Barbara (Nunemacher) Haupert. The history of this family is an interesting one, for it has had a direct bearing upon the development of a prosperous county in a great commonwealth, and should prove interesting to those who have spent their lives here. Frederick Haupert, the father of George Haupert, was Dorn in Germany, where the grandfather passed away. The grandmother brought the children to the United States when Frederick Haupert was a lad of sixteen years, and she died in Ohio, the original settlement of the family being made in Tuscarawas county, that state. Frederick Haupert had received a good education in the public schools of his native country, but received no instruction in the English language until he had passed his majority, and then earned the means with which to put himself through school. He grew to sturdy manhood in Tuscarawas county, and prior to the advent of railroads in this section came overland to Wabash county. Here he met and married Barbara Nunemacher, and at this time went into debt for $300 with which to purchase eighty acres of land in the woods of Paw Paw township. The young couple began their married life in a one-room log house, located in the midst of heavy poplar and walnut timber, which was then ruthlessly cut down and burned, although in later years it was to become of great value. The woods was filled with game of all kinds, and the family larder was often replenished by the father, who with his gun could kill plenty of game for the family within the shadow of his cabin. In the first year the squirrels were so numerous that his corn crop was completely destroyed by these little animals and numerous devices were necessary to drive them away. The first tract of eighty acres grew as the years passed and Mr. Haupert's finances increased, and from time to time he added to his acreage until he had five fine farms, of eighty acres each, although at the time of his demise he had but three farms, as he had disposed of one of 170 acres in Lagro township and another of forty acres in Paw Paw township. Mr. Haupert represented the highest type of self-made manhood. He was a constant reader, both in the German and the English, was looked up to by his neighbors, and was frequently called upon to settle their disputes and to clear up estates. For years he was a faithful member of the German Lutheran church, and religious movements in Wabash county found no greater friend, for he assisted to build all three churches at Urbana and constantly contributed to the support of worthy movements. Politically he preferred to be independent, exercising his own good judgment in choosing the candidates whom he believed worthy of office, and his judgment was rarely wrong. After his first log house, he erected a second one, which is now occupied by his widow, who has enlarged, weatherboarded and plastered it, making it one of the most substantial residences in the community. Mr. Haupert was within three months of being eighty-five years of age at the time of his demise, July 18, 1911, and when passed away he was mourned by a wide circle of friends who had come to know and recognize his numerous admirable traits of character.

Mrs. Haupert, who survives her husband, has resided in Wabash county for upwards of sixty years, and there are few who retain in greater degree the esteem and respect of people here. Born November 26, 1832, in Wittenberg, Germany, she is a daughter of Christofer and Mary (Singlinger) Nunemacher, the former of whom was engaged as a stone mason in Germany, where he built wells and foundations for houses and barns, in addition to cultivating a few small fields. In 1847 Mr. NuneŽmacher decided to try his fortune in the United States, and together with his little party boarded a sailing vessel. It was found at this time that one of the women among the emigrants had lost her money which she had tied in a handkerchief and left in a store, and Mr. Nunemacher loaned her the means to make the journey to the United States, with the understanding that the amount should be repaid by the woman's brothers, who lived in Pennsylvania. After a journey of some seventy-five days, in a sailing vessel, the party landed at New York City, from whence they went to Erie, Pennsylvania. Here they remained three weeks, while Mr. Nunemacher vainly tried to recover the money he had advanced, but, finding his quest useless, moved on to Tuscarawas county, Ohio. This was the family home for a little more than a year, and from this point one of the sons, George, enlisted for service in the United States army during the war with Mexico. In that struggle he lost his life, and Mr. Nunemacher was given seventy-five dollars and 160 acres of land by the United States Government, as a pension. Having some German friends in Wabash county, Indiana, he packed up his belongings, gathered his family about him, and traveled overland into the new region. Upon his arrival, however, he was given only eighty acres, this now being the farm in Lagro township which adjoins that belonging to George Haupert. The outlook here was not prepossessing, for the land was covered with a heavy growth of timber so dense it seemed almost impenetrable, but when it had been cleared and cultivated it proved to be an excellent and productive property. Quantities of wild game frequented this timber, and on numerous occasions the family arose in the morning to find tracks where the deer had made their beds during the night only a few steps from the little log cabin door. It was no unusual thing for the children of the family to become lost while going to and from school, or while in rounding up the family's cattle. Christofer Nunemacher and his estimable wife labored hard and earnestly, worshipped their Maker, and brought up a family of children well trained to honest and useful pursuits, and when they died they were widely mourned. Of their eleven children, three grew to maturity: George, who is now deceased; Barbara, who became the wife of Frederick Haupert; and Martha, who is the widow of Peter Grimmer, and lives at Marion, Indiana.

Mrs. Frederick Haupert received a good education in the schools of Germany, where the educational institutions were at that time far in advance of any in the United States, and was a bright intelligent girl of fifteen years of age when the family emigrated to the United States. She still remembered the ocean trip as well as the journey to Ohio, overland, and has a distinct recollection of her homesickness when they entered the bleak and unpromising wilderness of the woodland of Wabash county. It was not long, however, before she grew to love her new surroundings and to work cheerfully among her new acquaintances in this section. After coming to the United States she was given no further educational advantages, but by personal observation, study and reading managed to acquire a broad knowledge of the English language, as well as customs and manners. On first coming to Wabash county she began working out among the families here, being first with a Jewish family named Rariff, residing at Wabash, by whom she was very kindly treated, later with Dunkard families of Largo township, named Blocker and Rennicker, and finally with Phil Albers, now deceased, who was a well-known resident of Wabash. She had started to work at a wage of seventy-five cents per week, but later had shown herself so capable and willing that she was advanced to $1.00 a week, and while with Mr. Albers was treated exactly as a member of the family. She still remembers how, with the other women, she worked in the field, with the old-fashioned scythe and other hand tools, and how she always sent her wages home to her parents. It was while she was living at the home of Mr. Albers, when she lacked one day of being nineteen years of age that she was united in marriage to Frederick Haupert by a justice of the peace. The young couple at once started housekeeping in the little log house in the woods of Paw Paw township, and, like other pioneers of their day and locality, had to be satisfied with but few comforts, aside from the absolute necessities of life. The comfortable spring wagon and buggy of today were at that time represented by a rumbling, creaking cart (when there was a conŽveyance of any kind) and other luxuries were also conspicuous by their absence. Mrs. Haupert, however, has lived to see these luxuries become hers and to share in the good things which invention has brought. An interesting memento of the old days is an old hand-made flatiron, which is now owned by Mrs. Haupert, and which at one time belonged to and was used by her mother. She was strong, able and willing, and was of great assistance to her husband, both in the home and in matters of business. They reared a family which has since proved itself a credit to the community and to the parents, and a number of grandchildren are growing up to perpetuate the name. Mrs. Haupert is eighty-two years of age, but is alert in mind, active in body, and thoroughly alive to all matters of interest that are occurring. She has been granted a long and full life, and she has made it a useful one, and now may look back, contented, over the years which she has shared in assisting to develop one of Indiana's most flourishing communities. She and her husband became the parents of the following children: Jacob, who is deceased; Mary, wife of Valentine Keefaber; Philamina, who is deceased; Fred; Elizabeth; George, of this review; Peter; Philip, who is deceased ; Joseph, a farmer or Paw Paw township; Charles H. and Rose. Mrs. Haupert still resides on a part or the old homestead, which was recently divided, her son George having been given eighty acres on the east, while another, Charles, received eighty acres on the west, the latter on the Laketon road.

George Haupert, to whom we are indebted for the above interesting facts, has never married. He was educated in the half-acre district school, in the vicinity of his birthplace, and has always lived with and looked after his mother. He cultivates her land, as well as his own, and has been successful in his operations, especially in the line of hogs and cattle. A man of progressive and enterprising spirit, he has never been afraid to grasp opportunities as they have presented themselves, and has had the ability to make the most of them. He secures excellent prices for his stock, and has the reputation of being a business man of integrity and ability. Like his father, he believes in voting for the man who is best fitted to serve the people, and his friends are to be found among men of all political creeds. He is proud of his family's record and of its members, and one of his most highly prized possessions is an old leather purse which belonged to his grandfather.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914

John Heinnickel, the immediate subject of this review, was born in Bavaria, Germany, on January 26, 1864, and is a son of George and Catherine (Awet) Heinnickel, both natives of that place. At the time or their removal to America, in 1870, war between France and Germany was imminent, and the family was particularly averse to further participations in hostilities, in view of the fact that three uncles of George Heinnickel's father had lost their lives in a combat with the forces of Napoleon on his march through France to Russia in 1815. The outbreak of war meant that the Heinnickel men must participate and when one of the brothers came to George and suggested that they dispose of their possessions al1d make haste to America, where they might live in some degree of peace, the plan was no sooner broached than the family took action and in a brief time they had sold their farm and all their goods with the exception of clothing and bedding, a Jew or the community striking an excellent bargain because of the desire of his neighbors to sail for America. Two brothers and a. half brother of George Heinnickel accompanied him and his father on their journey, and when they reached these shores Mr. Heinnickel took his little family and came to Hamilton, Ohio, and his first work was done in the harvest fields or the Buckeye state in the year 1870. Mrs. Heinnickel had relatives who resided in the Level Lands south or Logansport, in Cass county, who urged them to go there and settle, and though they did move to Indiana, they located in Miami county, there buying sixty acres, ten miles south of Peru, paying therefor a purchase price of $10 per acre. To his small acreage, Mr. Heinnickel kept on adding from year to year, until he had one hundred and forty acres of land in that vicinity. He devoted a good deal of his time to the work of clearing it up, and getting it in first class shape for cropping, and today the land he bought for $10 an acre or thereabouts, is worth not a penny less than $200 per acre.

Mr. Heinnickel farmed successfully there for a good many years, and gained a reputation among his neighbors for steadfastness and all around stability of character that gave him a prominent place in the community to the end of his days. He met an untimely death on August 27, 1909, being killed by a switch engine just east of Bunker Hill, Indiana, when returning from a visit to his son, John Heinnickel of this review. Though he was seventy-two years of age at the time, his death was regarded as untimely by all, for he was in excellent health and in full possession of his every faculty, still holding his place in the community by virtue of those facts. His widow survives him, and lives on the home place, aged seventy-eight years.

Three children were born to George Hennickel and his wife. John, of this review, is the eldest. Frederick is a resident of Loree, Miami county; and Sophia married Charles Schroeder, and lives on the old home place with the mother.

John Heinnickel was six years of age when the family emigrated to these shores. Child as he was, he remembers the voyage in many of its details, and he relates that they were sixteen days on shipboard, two days of the time being spent at South Hampton, England, where the vessel took on her cargo, and fourteen days being consumed in the actual passage. After the settlement of the family in Miami county, he began attendance at the log school of their community, and this school, despite the lateness of the period, was but little advanced over those that the boys of the previous generation attended, in the matter of modern appointments though it should be said in justice to all, that the general proficiency of the instructors had advanced very materially. At that time, regardless or the distance the boy or girl lived from the school he must attend, he walked to and fro. No wagons called morning and night to collect the youngsters and deliver them at home or school, as in these days, and Mr. Heinnickel is inclined to the opinion that the indulgence to the present generation is of less benefit to them than was the exercise he had in ploughing through the snowdrifts in winter when he attended school as a boy.

Mr. Heinniekel did not continue long at his books, for he had an ambition to strike out for himself, and his thrifty German parents saw no detriment to their son in his desire to quit school, and did not stay his plan to become independent. Since that time Mr. Heinnickel has made his own way in the world, and it win hardly be denied that he has enjoyed more of a success that many a man of better education has experienced. This fact, while it is no argument in favor of scanty education for the country youth, is set forth as an illustration of the homely truth that a man will succeed if he has courage and determination, and applies himself with diligence to whatever task he lays his hand to. What Mr. Heinnickel owns to day he secured as a result of his saving habits and his industry. When he set out to work for himself, he borrowed $13.50 to buy suitable clothing, and it has ever since been characteristic of the man that he took no rest until his debt was paid. In those first months of his independence he often worked for fifty cents a day, and when he married and took upon himself the burden of a family, he was earning only seventy-five cents daily. This fact is highly indicative of the spirit that dominated the man, for he early realized that he would the sooner gain independence and a competency as the head of a family than as a bachelor.

After he permanently left the home farm he went to Urbana and for six years operated the S. S. Speicher farm. It was about then that he had an opportunity to go west. He had always cherished a strong desire to see that country, and when a ticket to Grand Forks, North Dakota, was offered to him for the nominal sum of nine dollars, he accepted the offer and went to that city. He worked through the harvest and threshing season in the Dakotas for thirty-two days, and he found the experience one of great benefit to him in his farming operations later on. Returning to Indiana after the harvest, he went to Wabash and there worked on the Century School building while it was in course of construction, and it was while engaged in this work that he was married on August 7, 1900, to Margaret G. Bohnstedt.

Mr. Heinnickel, having rented his farm to a tenant whose lease did not expire until the following March, spent the months of the interim in various places and occupations, and on March 1, 1901, he took his bride to their own farm home, which he had purchased a little more than a year before from Jennie Odim. Mr. Heinnickel looks back to the day of the purchase as the red-letter day of his life, for on that evening he first called on Miss Bohnstedt, who became his wife some six months later.

The buildings were in first class shape on the farm when he bought it, so that Mr. Heinnickel has put no great expense into that phase of his work, but he has spared no expense in the matter of ditching, tiling and draining. General farming is the field in which he is most active, and poultry, hogs, cattle and horses are bred in greater or less quantities on the place. Mr. Heinnickel was an apt pupil of his father, and he has shown himself to be a farmer of no inconsiderable ability, and he is regarded generally as being one of the representative farming men of the community. His place is an eighty acre farm in Lagro township and is about a mile north and three-quarters of a mile east of Speicher.

Mr. Heinnickel is a voter of the prohibition ticket, and he bas never entered politics as a seeker after office, though he has been appointed superintendent of the road that runs past his place. He is a member of the Evangelical church, as is also his wife.

Mrs. Heinnickel is a daughter of one of the strongest prohibitionists of Wabash county, Gottleib Bohnstedt, who was born in Prussia, and came to the United States in early manhood. He was a stanch advocate of prohibition all his life, and never since he came to this country missed an opportunity at the polls to strike a blow for the cause. He married Elizabeth Swallon, a native of the state of Pennsylvania, and passed his active life in farming, though he retired from the industry some years ago and took up his residence in Urbana, where he died at the age of sixty-four. Mrs. Bohnstedt lives with her daughter, Mrs. Charles Leaf, near North Manchester, this county. Like her husband, she was always proud to wear the white ribbon badge of temperance, and reared her children in the same adherence to a great cause. They were the parents of seven children. Samantha, the eldest, married Sam C. Speicher, of this county. Alfred and Albert are twins. Lydia is the wife of Charles Leaf, above mentioned. Isaac lives in Illinois. Margaret G. married Mr. Heinnickel, of this sketch. Florence is Mrs. William Walter, resident of this county.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Heinnickel are four in number, Anna Marie, Isaac Sylvester, Florence Bernice, and Ruth.

Mrs. Heinnickel is a mother of the older school, if one may use that term in speaking of a woman who adheres to certain old-fashioned methods in the matter of rearing children. She has endeavored to instill into the minds of her offspring the homely virtues that make for the best citizenship and the most effective parenthood, and while she is a firm believer in education, she clings to the substantial things of that phase of the child's existence, laying more stress on the thorough implanting of a knowledge of the Three R's than of the less useful subjects that are taking their place in the early training of the child of today. In other words, she regrets the crowding out of the substantial things of education in favor of the lesser topics, and in this her opinion conŽcurs with that of a good many thinking people of the land.

The Heinnickel family enjoys a splendid standing in their community, and they have a host of good friends in and about the township who know them for their many sterling qualities and value them accordingly.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914

Noah Mutchelknaus was born in Vienna county, Indiana, October 5, 1851, on a farm located about six miles north of Peru. His parents Jacob and Mary (Notter) Mutchelknaus were early residents of Miami county, were born in Germany, both came to the United States when twelve years of age, making the voyage in a sailing vessel which was many weeks between the port of departure and the port of arrival, and they finally settled and were married in Tuscarawas county, Ohio. The father in that county combined the occupations of farming and shoe making, but finally sold out his place and moved to Indiana, buying a small farm in Miami county. During the summer seasons he cultivated his fields, and in the winter and on rainy days and as custom demanded he sat on his cobbler's stool, and made shoes and boots for all the community. His old shoemaker's knee strap often came in handy in preserving order among the children, since one whack over their backs from that instrument usually showed them the error of their ways. Corporal punishment was much more common then than now, but the heart and intention of this old shoemaker were nevertheless kindly. Both parents died in Miami county, the father first. Their children were: Lydia, who died at the age of twelve; Solomon, deceased; Carolina, the widow of Isaac Frantz: Catherine, deceased, wife of George Cunningham; Miss Maria; Mrs. Rosie English, wife of William English; and Noah.

Noah, the youngest child, is the only Hoosier born, all the others having their birth in the Buckeye State. His boyhood was spent on the little farm in Miami county, and one of his experiences as a boy was to attend an old-fashioned subscription school, taught in a log building, the teacher being paid not only by taxes, but also by voluntary contribution from the different families who had children in school. All the children walked back and forth to school, and there was no dependence upon a township wagon to transport them in comfort every night and morning. Between going to school, making himself useful on the farm, and keeping out of reach of his father's knee strap, Noah Mutchelknaus managed to keep pretty busy during his youthful years. When he was about ten years of age, his father died, and three years later, at the age of thirteen he left the home threshold and became one of the world's independent workers. During the following eighteen years, he had varied experience, and by hard work and thrifty management, finally accumulated enough to start him on his present substantial career. He worked on different farms, among strangers by the day, by the month or by the year. His first wages were six dollars a month, and during the last seven years of the eighteen he was employed as a farm manager for Mrs. Catherine Trick, who subsequently became his mother-in-law.

Mr. Mutchelknaus was hardly in his teens when the Civil war broke out, and at Lincoln's last call for volunteers though still under fifteen years of age, he ran away to enlist, making the attempt twice, and each time was foiled in his plans and brought back. The second time he got many miles from home, had passed the examination, and in half an hour would have been enrolled and ready to march to the front. His brother-in-law appeared on the scene and spoiled his intention. Mr. Mutchelknaus has ever since regretted his inability to take part in the great war.

On September 12, 1878, Noah Mutchelknaus married Miss Charlotte R. Trick. As already stated he had managed her mother's farm for a number of years, and continued to direct its cultivation up to 1893, when he bought the place. The buildings which now stand were all built when he took possession, but otherwise he has improved the farm in many ways, by tiling where necessary, by bringing new land into cultivation and conserving the fertility of the soil in every way possible. The house is one of the old landmarks in this part of the county, and the barn was built in 1885. The neighbors had long been in the habit of calling him by the name "Mitchell," and as that question seemed to be fixed in the community, and as Mr. Mutchelknaus, apparently had little to say against it, when the barn was painted he had his name put under the eaves as Noah Mitchell, and by that name he is now known most generally.

Mr. Mutchelknaus has never asked for any office, and has voted for principle rather than party. If more men would vote that way, politics would soon become much cleaner. He and his wife worship in the Christian church, in which he is a deacon and trustee. Their farm is regarded as one of the best in Lagro township, not only in improvement, but in the natural fertility of the soil. Mrs. Mutchelknaus was born near their present residence, a daughter of Jacob F. Trick, who was born in Wuertenberg, Germany. He came to the United States with his parents when he was ten years old, first locating in Ohio, and later moving to Wabash county. His mother was left a widow and Jacob was then bound out to a miller until he was twenty-one years of age. He married Catherine Rupley, who was born near Cumberland, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Henry and Barbara Rupley, who emigrated from Pennsylvania in wagons as far as Ohio, and later to Indiana, locating on a farm adjoining the present Mutchelknaus place. Both the Rupleys died there, and their daughter Catherine, mother of Mrs. Mutchelknaus, married Jacob F. Trick, and lived on the present Mutchelknaus farm. Mr. Trick was survived by his widow who managed the homestead with the aid of Mr. Mutchelknaus for a number of years and finally died there. The four children were: Mrs. Mutchelknaus; Eva, who resides at Wabash; Mary Elizabeth, wife of William Banks of Wabash; and Jacob F., who with his little daughter was killed at the railroad crossing in Urbana.

Mr. Mutchelknaus and wife have only one child, Brief M. This son married Bernie Kitt. He is now his father's active assistant on the farm, and is gradually taking the entire management of the place. It is a question of only a few years until Mr. Mutchelknaus will retire from active farm work, and with his good wife enjoy the fruits of many years of substantial labor and accomplishment.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914

Both the paternal and maternal grandparents of Charles Wasem were born in Germany, and emigrated to the United States, settling in Ohio, where all passed away. The parents of Mr. Wasem were young people when they came to this country, here grew to maturity, and were married. In September, 1864, they came with their family to Wabash county, Indiana, and here located on the farm which is now the home of their son Charles. At that time the property was principally in the heavy woods, and the buildings on the place were constructed of logs, and here the family settled down to establish a home. The land was cleared and put under cultivation, various improvements were made, and during the early seventies the present set of buildings was erected. The father was a good mechanic as well as a farmer, having learned the mason trade in his youth, and by industry and energy accumulated a good property before his death, in October, 1881, when he was fifty-six years of age. The mother passed away in February, 1880, being also fifty-six years old. They were the parents of six children, as follows: Catherine, deceased, who was the wife of William Roudenkrantz; Elizabeth, who married George Bishop; Julia, who became the wife of Val M. Mattern; Charles, of this review; Fred, who is now deceased; and Caroline, deceased, who was the wife of Fred Holstein.

Charles Wasem began his educational training in the public schools of his native state, and was a lad of nine years when he accompanied his parents to Indiana. In his new locality he was given few school advantages, as his assistance was needed in the clearing and cultivation of the homestead, and thus he grew to manhood, the greater part of his education being secured in the schools of hard work and experience. As a young man he and his brother Fred took charge of the home place, and at the time of their father's death they came into possession of the farm, each receiving eighty acres, to which Charles has since added until he now has 165 acres. He has made improvements from time to time as his finances have permitted, and his land is now well tiled, drained and fenced, and is proving very productive under his skilful modern methods. He takes a pride in keeping fully abreast of the times in his calling, and is ever ready to give a trial to innovations, although the practical strain in his nature causes him to rely on the established methods. He has been successful in his ventures because he has kept persistently at whatever he has started out to accomplish, and in his dealings with his fellow men has at all times displayed a high regard for honorable commercial ethics. He is a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank at Urbana, in which Mrs. Wasem and their sons are also interested. In politics, a democrat, he has preferred to devote himself to his farm, and has taken only a good citizen's interest in political matters. He belongs to the German Evangelical church, and is an officer therein. His fraternal connection is with the Knights of the Maccabees, at Urbana.

In February, 1880, Mr. Wasem was married to Miss Caroline Aulenbaugh, who died in 1887, leaving one child: Herman F., who married Selma Fisher and lives on a part of his father's farm. The second marriage of Mr. Wasem occurred August 3, 1890, when he was united with Miss Caroline Rickert, daughter of Fred and Catherine (Engle) Rickert, natives of Germany who were married in Tuscarawas county, Ohio. They moved to Wabash county, Indiana, shortly thereafter and settled in the woods of Chester township, and there they passed the remainder of their lives in clearing and cultivating a farm. The mother passed away May 4, 1907, at the age of seventy-four years, while Mr. Rickert died December 10, 1912, having reached the advanced age of eighty-seven years. They were the parents of nine children, as follows: George; Louisa, deceased, who was the wife of J. C. Schmalezried; Fred; Caroline, the wife of Mr. Wasem; Frank; Mary; Charles; Emma, deceased, who was the wife of Fred Roudenkrantz; and Lydia. Mr. and Mrs. Wasem have had one son: Carl E., who graduated from the Urbana high school in April, 1913, and is now a student at the University of Indiana, Bloomington. Both. Mr. and Mrs. Wasem are highly esteemed throughout the community in which they have resided for so many years, and their friends are as numerous as their acquaintances.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914