KEYSTONE--ITS CHURCHES--STATE
FARMERS BANK--LUTHER TWIBELL,
FOUNDER--NEIGHBORS
SCARCE, WOLVES PLENTIFUL--UNSCIENTIFIC
CROWDING--ARRIVAL
OF FIRST COOK STOVE--PONETO--WORTHING-
TON, FIRST VILLAGE--EARLY
PONETO--THE CHALFANTS AND THE
BANK--FARMERS
STATE BANK--CHURCHES AT AND NEAR PONETO--
ODD FELLOWS AND REBEKAHS--ZANESVILLE--CHURCHES
OF LO-
CALITY--MARKLE,
FORMERLY TRACY--STEPS IN PROGRESS--ITS
STRONG POINTS--THE
FARMERS AND TRADERS BANK--THE MARKLE
JOURNAL--[THE
SCHOOLS]--UNIONDALE--GEORGE
C. DITZLER AND HIS SAWMILL--
HENRY
W. LIPKEY, MERCHANT, POSTMASTER, RAILROAD AGENT--
ALSO, PRESIDENT
OF THE BANK AND VILLAGE-THE PRESENT
UNION-
DALE--TOCSIN--MICHAEL
C. BLUE--SAMUEL KUNKEL,
OWNER OF
ORIGINAL TOWN--GRAIN
BUSINESS AND BANK ESTABLISHED--VERA
CRUZ, A VETERAN VILLAGE--THE
TOWN NOW--THE VITZES, FA-
THER AND SONS--OLD
VILLAGE OF LANCASTER--MURRAY PLATTED--
PETROLEUM--KINGSLAND--[TERRIBLE
RAILROAD ACCIDENT NEAR
KINGSLAND]--ROCKFORD--OTHER
SMALL POPULATION
CENTERS.
Keystone is one of the southern villages of the county, lying a
few miles north of the Blackford line, on both the Lake Eric & Western
Railroad and the line of the Union Traction Company of Indiana. It
is south of the center of Chester Township. Until 1917, or for forty-
five years after it was platted, Keystone depended upon Montpelier,
Blackford County, for its banking accommodations, but its growth
of late has made that arrangement no longer feasible, and the State
Farmers Bank is now one of its active institutions. At Keystone is
also one of the elevators in the chain owned by the Studabaker Grain
& Seed Company (capacity, 15,000 bushels), and it has several well-
stocked and well-managed stores. There are two religious bodies at
Keystone, a modern school and other evidences of pronounced ad-
vancement usually found in typical American communities.431
432 ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES
The Methodist Protestant Church, of which Rev. S. T. Sturgeon
is pastor, was organized in 1883-84, with ten members. Revs. J. C.
McLin and T. F. Ransopher were the first two clergymen to have
charge of the Keystone Society. It was during the incumbency of the
latter, in 1885, that the society erected its first house of worship.
The United Brethren Church, Rev. A. A. Ireland pastor, was or-
ganized in the winter of 1886 with about fifty members. Rev. E.
Balduc was its first settled pastor.
The Friends, or Quakers, also have a society at Keystone, Rev.
Frank Edwards having charge of their organization.
The Ebenezer Baptist Church, the headquarters of which were
east of Keystone, was organized in the late '50s, and its first house
of worship erected in 1875.
Soon after the town was platted in 1872 a schoolhouse was erected,
the one now occupied having been built in 1896. Charles H. Markley
is the principal at present writing (December, 1917).
The State Farmers Bank of Keystone was organized in the summer
of 1917 by the following: Simeon Crosby, president; J. A. Jarrett,
first vice president; Frank Kirkwood, second vice president; Cecil
Lockwood, cashier. In November of that year the capital of the bank
was $25,000; surplus, $2,500; average deposits, $15,000.
Carrying out the prophecy that "the first shall be last," this place
in the sketch of Keystone has been reserved for its founder, Luther
Twibell. He was a Virginian, of Irish ancestry; was reared on a
plantation and late in youth moved to Henry County, Indiana. In
1840, still before he had attained his majority, he accompanied his
parents to Blackford County, traveling thence by team.
Luther Twibell remained with his parents until his marriage, in
his twentieth year, on March 7, 1841. In the following October the
young couple moved into Wells County, and purchased eighty acres of
land, a portion of which was afterward platted as the site of Key-
stone. Young Mrs. Twibell was born in Pennsylvania, of Dutch de-
scent, and it is supposed that the village was named as a tribute to
her and the Keystone State of her nativity.
ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES 433
NEIGHBORS SCARCE, WOLVES PLENTIFUL
When Mr. and Mrs. Luther Twibell first settled in the locality on
their 80-acre homestead, everything was very new. Human neighbors
were scarce, but of wolves there were plenty. Wild game was also
abundant Here the young husband made his clearing and cut the
logs with which he erected his first cabin and necessary farm build-
ings. All the milling was then done at Muncie, and there was no
regular road thither. There were only four teams in what are now
Chester and Harrison townships. It is known that Mr. Twibell was
not fond of hunting and that he spent most of his time industriously
clearing and improving his land. When he and his wife moved to
the site of Keystone their cabin was raised in one day. The occupants
moved in before even a hole was cut for the chimney, and the first
fire was built in the middle of the room.
Upon the arrival of a new family, of course the most pressing act
was to get its members under cover, especially if the weather was cold.
At times those who were fortunate enough to have roofs over their
heads were put to their Wits' end to meet an unexpected influx. But
each helped the other and "crowding" was the watchword. It is re-
lated that to meet such an emergency in the Keystone neighborhood,
upon one occasion three families, comprising twenty-two persons, oc-
cupied a log house 16 by 18 feet. In those days, it was surely im-
possible to allow a scientific and sanitary number of cubic feet of
breathing space for each person, So the Twibell cabin was raised one
day and occupied the next, the centerpiece being the dining table
made by driving stakes in the ground and laying clapboards on top
of them.
An event in the household and entire neighborhood was the arrival
of their first cook stove. It had been purchased by the two sons,
William and David, who had sold the wheat they raised on a piece of
land set apart as the origin of the stove fund. William M. Twibell,
who was born on the old farm, is now in his seventy-first year, an
honored resident of Keystone and probably has never been as proud
as when he and his brother brought that first stove into the neighbor-
hood, earned from the proceeds of their wheat money. The people of
434 ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES
the village and vicinity have always had a tender place in their hearts
for the Twibells, without whom they might not have had a Keystone
at all.Poneto, the village on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad and the
Muncie, Bluffton & Fort Wayne Traction line, is located in the ex-
treme southwest corner of Harrison Township and the southeast corner
of Liberty Township, about seven miles southwest of Bluffton. It has
some 400 inhabitants and is incorporated. In the midst of a pro-
ductive grain country, the large local elevator is controlled not by an
outside corporation, but by a cooperative organization known as the
Farmers Elevator Company. It also has a number of good stores and
two banks.
The village is a creature of the railroad, and was laid out by
Simeon Tappy September 4, 1871. With Dr. H. Doster, he was
chiefly instrumental in the location of the station at this point. Both
raised money for the purpose and paid it out of their own pockets,
and Mr. Tappy also donated land for the depot site. The latter was
finally secured, in successful opposition to Wellsburg, across Rock
Creek, to the north, which is consequently an abandoned point. It
was first named Worthington Crossing, or Worthington, in honor of
the superintendent of the railroad; but as it was afterward found that
a postoffice in Indiana already had that name, it was rechristened
Poneto in 1880.
When the town was platted in 1871 the only building on the
ground was Mr. Tappy's residence and a sawmill owned by Dr. C.
T. Melsheimer, which was afterward moved. The large brick business
block, long so conspicuous, was originally built by John Hardwidge
in 1881 and afterward enlarged. The S. M. King saw, planing and
corn-feed mills were built in 1882-83. During that period Frank
Courtney also brought his saw and planing mills to Poneto.
But the village did not reach a firm footing as a trade center until
it ceased to rely upon Bluffton for its banking accommodations; and
ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES 435
it was the old Chalfant family which came to the rescue in that con-
nection. Chads Chalfant, the grandfather of Abner, had planted the
family in the southwest quarter of section 25, Harrison Township, in
1837, and the succeeding generations had increased the reputation of
the family for thrift, honesty and ability. Reason, the son of Chads,
inherited the estate, then greatly improved and increased in value,
and in 1888 Abner, the son of Reason, succeeded to it. His manage-
ment of the old-time properties also brought him large incomes, and
he decided to give Poneto, in which he also had real estate interests,
one of the prime necessities for its growth, a local bank. That institu-[image]
STREET SCENE, PONETO
tion was organized as the Bank of Poneto. The present officers are:
Abner Chalfant, president; S. C. Sheperd, first vice president F. M.
Buckner, second vice president; Robert Lee, cashier. Mr. Chalfant
has resided in Bluffton since January, 1915.
The Farmers State Bank was founded in March, 1912, with J. W.
Cook as president; W. A. Popejoy, vice president, and Earl French,
cashier. There has been no change in either the presidency or vice
presidency; but Mr. French was cashier for only a few months, when
he was succeeded by George Barrington, who held the position until
July, 1917. Mr. Barrington was then followed in the cashiership by
A. L. Musselman, the present incumbent. Following are the items
436 ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES
indicative of the financial status of the bank in December, 1917: Cap-
ital, $25,000; surplus and undivided profits, $4,000; average deposits,
$110,000.
Poneto has had a number of churches, the First M. E., in charge
of Rev. B. E. Wright, having still a substantial membership. A
frame church building was completed in 1880. Among its earlier
pastors were Revs. J. W. Paschall, Charles Bacon, J. C. McLin, Henry
C. Myers, I. N. Rhodes, Henry Bridge, J. B. Cook and B. S. Holapeter.
The Reifftown M. E. Church, a few miles east of town, is also
an old religious body, its house of worship being dedicated August
8, 1880. The United Brethren Church was organized at Poneto m
1877 and a frame meeting house was built in 1882. The society was
discontinued some time ago. The Baptists, who also have no regular
services, were first organized, locally, in 1880.
The Odd Fellows have the strongest lodge in town, No. 752. It
was organized June 30, 1899, with the following chief elective officers:
L. A. Nutter, N. G.; W. J. Clark, V. G.; H. B. Sark, Secretary. Dur-
ing the twenty years of its lodge life the following have served as
noble grands: L. A. Nutter, W. J. Clark, Hezekiah Doster, Samuel
Henley, R. K. Johnson, F. M. Buckner, G. F. Mowery, H. B. Sark,
W. R. Smith, David Ochsenrider, Daniel Jones, L. C. Nutter, H. A.
Grove, R. F. Gavin, W. L. Schock, Charles Fuller, Karl Lee, John
Hardwidge, O. W. Weinland, James Quick, George Hatfield, William
Singer, D. E. Leist, Charles Mossburg, Hiram Davis, J. H. Ogalsbee,
William Jones, Jr., Adam King, William King, Vincent Barrington,
L. E. Carroll, H. H. Toms, R. B. Kunkel, R. A. Lee and Gay Jones.
Officers now serving: Paul Oman, N. O.; Ray Kimes, V. G.; Karl
Lee, secretary. The lodge now numbers more than 100 members, and
is growing.
The auxiliary of the I. O. O. F., the Order of Rebekahs, is also
organized at Poneto.
A village of over 300 people, Zanesville is cut by the line which
separates Wells from Allen County. Although it has never been
ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES 437
favored with steam railroad communication, for some years it has
been a station on the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Traction
route, and has all the required means of communication. The site of
the town is on a high ridge skirted by Davis Creek. Its older por-
tion was laid out March 4, 1849, by J. and L. Walker. It has a good
school, the first substantial building devoted to that purpose being
erected in 1876.
The people of Zanesville have always endeavored to provide the
best means available for the education of the younger generation.
Neither have they been deficient in churches. The United Brethren
elected the first permanent organization at the schoolhouse in 1855,
and William Haverstock served as their class leader for many years.
Their first church building, a little frame structure, which was erected
In 1857, was afterward used as a carriage factory. A meeting house
combined of wood and brick was built in 1884. The Church of God is
also an old organization. Its members worshipped in the early years
at private houses, the schoolhouse and the United Brethren meeting
house. In 1868 they erected a house of worship. These are the strong-
est religious bodies now active in Zanesville, although the United
Brethren have had a division in their ranks, the offshot being known
as Radicals.
The St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized at
Zanesville in 1860, and endured for some years.
One of the first organizations of the United Brethren in the county
was that known as the Eight Mile District Brethren Church, which
was founded by Rev. J. H. Bowman, of Kansas, in 1833. Their meet-
ing house was about three miles southwest of Zanesville; first pastor,
Rev. W. M. M. Hamilton, and deacons, George A. G. Sonner and
Ezekiel Roe.
Another pioneer in religious work was the Church of the Disciples,
whose house of worship a mile southeast of the village was built in
1853. At a later period the German Baptists organized some two
miles southwest and built a church in 1875.
It is evident that Zanesville is reenforced and buttressed about
by churches, which is largely accounted for by the fact that its found-
ers and many of those who have come after them have been Germans
and German-Americans of a most pronounced religious type. That
same fact may also explain the circumstance that the secret lodges have
never obtained a strong foothold in the village, the time and strength
438 ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES
of its people being largely absorbed by their activities in connection
with the churches and auxiliary societies. There are, however, both
lodges of the Odd Fellows and the Masons, the latter (No. 517) having
been chartered in May, 1875. At one time Zanesville had a newspaper,
the Hoosier Advertiser and Printer, published by J. W. Keplinger.
As a center of trade for a limited area, the village is supplied with a
roller flour mill, of which Charles O. Keplinger is proprietor, and a
bank with a fair average of deposits.
Markle, which is on the border line between Wells and Hunting-
ton counties, is a well-built village of nearly 900 people, but only a
small section of its eastern site lies within the limits of the former.
The original town, known as Tracy, was platted as early as 1836, but
it was still in a state of torpidity in 1850, when Dr. Joseph Scott,
the first physician of the locality, also erected its first permanent
residence.
Although within the succeeding twenty years or so the Curry tan-
nery and a few other small industries were established, it was not
until the narrow-gauge line which developed into the Chicago & Erie
was completed between Huntington and Markle that the latter (still
known as Tracy) was inspired with anything which could be called
energy. Two years afterward, or in the late '70s, the town was in-
corporated as Markle. Soon afterward John Stults erected a saw and
planing mill; other factories followed; a large stone and lime, feed and
hay business was developed; additions were made to the original town,
which expanded over the Wells County line, and Markle became one
of the brisk small villages of Eastern Indiana. The Cincinnati, Bluff-
ton & Chicago line at first added to its transportation advantages;
but, although the latter is now "junk," permanent automobile 'bus
lines have been established between Bluffton and Huntington, with
Markle as the most important intermediate point.
Markle's strong points-and they can be dwelt upon only in a
general way-are that it is the trading and banking center of a solidly
prosperous country district; that it enjoys ready facilities for han-
ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES 439
dling grain and transporting all the natural products of the locality to
the best markets; that its industrial plants include a large modern
flour mill, an up-to-date creamery and a hard-wood manufactory;
that it has an extensive establishment devoted to the handling and
sale of eggs and poultry, including a packing house (its only important
industry in Wells County); and that its churches and schools are sup-
ported as they should be by a thoroughly intelligent community;
to cap and conclude all, that Markle has a newspaper which sets forth
such advantages and others too numerous to mention, in a convincing[image]
BIRD'S EYE VIEW, MARKLE
and enthusiastic manner.
Now, a few pertinent details, and this sketch is done.
The Farmers and Traders was organized as a state bank No-
vember 30, 1903, with James W. Sales as president; Hugh Dougherty,
vice president, and W. S. Smith, cashier. Its capital was $25,000. In
December, 1904, Chester E. Wirt succeeded Mr. Smith as cashier, and
in the following year R. W. Redding became vice president. R. C.
McGuffey was chosen vice president in December, 1909, and D. B.
Garber was named as cashier, to succeed Mr. Wirt, in January, 1913.
Since December of that year Mr. McGuffey has acted as president and
R. H. Fishbaugh as vice president of the hank. Its capital stock re-
440 ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES
mains at $25,000; surplus and undivided profits, $10,000; average de-
posit, $350,000.
The Markle Journal was founded in 1892 by W. W. Rogers. In
1911 it was purchased by D. C. Bichart and L. L. Rogers, and con-
ducted by them under the firm name of Bichart & Rogers until the[image]
BIRD'S EYE VIEW, UNIONDALE
following year, when Mr. Rogers became its sole proprietor. In May,
1917, it was bought by H. F. Symonds, the present owner and editor.
The management of the local schools has been most creditable to
both the boards and the principals, and the substantial two-story brick
building now occupied by the grammar grades and the high school
is ornamental as well as decidedly useful. It was a remodeled struc-
ture completed in 1912 at a cost of $12,400. The principal of the
Union School is J. M. Hughes. About 230 pupils are enrolled, of
whom 93 were high school scholars in November, 1917.
Uniondale, a village of about 250 people, on the Chicago & Erie
and the Cincinnati, Bluffton & Chicago railroads, is three miles west
ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES 441
of Kingsland and nine miles northwest of Bluffton. For many years
it had the distinction of being headquarters of the largest sawmill
in Wells County, built by George C. Ditzler and operated by him for
many years. Mr. Ditzler and Henry W. Lipkey are, in fact, recorded
as the founders of Uniondale.
GEORGE C. DITZLER AND HIS SAWMILL
Mr. Ditzler surveyed and platted the village, in 1882, as a station
on the Chicago & Erie Railroad. He had sold his sawmill at Murray
and as he had just taken a large contract from the old Chicago &
Atlantic for supplying the railroad company with ties, bridge timbers
and other building material, he leased two acres at the southwest cor-
ner of the Gardenour farm and there erected a new mill. He was
soon employing fifty hands and a dozen teams, and before long it
was the largest sawmill in Wells County, having a capacity of 15,000
feet. After its completion in May, 1882, Mr. Ditzler furnished all
the building material required by the railroad for some distance either
side of Uniondale. It afterward became a general merchant mill, as
well as furnishing ties and timbers to several railroads, and turned
out 2,000,000 feat of lumber annually. Mr. Ditzler's residence was
the first one completed at Uniondale, and his mill sawed the lumber
for it, as well as for all the other buildings constructed in the village
while he remained at the head of the business. Uniondale still has
a sawmill of good standing, the proprietor of which is Homer Harsh-
man.
HENRY W. LIPKEY, MERCHANT, POSTMASTER, RAILROAD AGENT
Henry W. Lipkey built and conducted the first store in Uniondale,
and when a postoffice was established January 21, 1886, he was ap-
pointed postmaster. He was also appointed agent for the railroad com-
pany and perhaps held equal honors with Mr. Ditzler as "leading
citizen." Mr. Lipkey opened his store shortly after the village was
platted, and in November, 1883, formed a partnership with William
Newhard. The latter afterward branched out into the grain busi-
ness and built the first warehouse in town.
ALSO PRESIDENT OF THE BANK AND VILLAGE
Mr. Lipkey has continued to develop as a merchant and a citizen
and has invested the proceeds of his large business in various lines.
442 ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES
He is president of the Bank of Uniondale, of which Joshua A. Brickley
is cashier. Messrs. Brickley and J. B. Miller also own and operate the
grain elevator, and George Brickley is a manufacturer of cement
blocks. The foregoing facts give an idea of the character of the local
industries.
The Bank of Uniondale opened for business on December 5, 1908,
with the following officers: H. W. Lipkey, president; P. E. Gilbert,
vice president; J. A. Brickley, cashier. In June, 1917, it was reor-
ganized as a state bank, it having been established as a private con-
cern. At that time it assumed the name of the State Bank of Union-
dale. Its capital stock has been increased from $10,000 to $25,000;
surplus and undivided profits of $2,000; average deposits, $200,000.
The official management of the bank has never been changed.
When it is learned that Mr. Lipkey is also president of the village
board and that Mr. Brickley is clerk, their leadership in the com-
munity must be recognized. Although the town has not yet established
any system of waterworks, it is well lighted, both as to its streets and
residences, through contract with the Wabash Valley Utility Company
which furnishes electricity in any form. Uniondale has a number of
general stores, as well as several of a special character.
The town has a school of good standing, and several churches and
lodges. The oldest religious body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church,
has been without a pastor for some time. The Methodist Episcopal
Church is in charge of Rev. Leroy Huddleston. As to secret and
benevolent societies, the Knights of Pythias and Red Men are the
strongest of the local bodies.
Tocsin is a modest rural settlement of some 200 residents about
five miles cast of Kingsland and nine miles northeast of Bluffton on
the Chicago & Erie line. It has a few stores, but nothing in the way
of industries. The surrounding country, however, is naturally rich
and actually productive, and, as the farmers are a thrifty class, for
nearly ten years they have been accommodated with a bank at Tocsin.
The townspeople, with their stores, are also favored in that direction.
When Tocsin was platted in 1882 by Michael C. Blue, it was
simply a station on the old Chicago & Atlantic Railroad. He has
ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES 443
made the place his home ever since, and his energy, honesty and abil-
ities have carried him several times into the halls of the State Legis-
lature. He surveyed the village gave it its name, made a large ad-
dition to the original site on the west and his homestead is near the
town site. To the local historian, therefore, the earlier years which he
spent in the neighborhood are the most interesting, and the details cov-
ering them are reproduced from an account written thirty years ago.
It says: "Michael C. Blue was born in Miami County, Ohio, April 16,
1836, son of Uriah and Rachel (Moore) Blue, who were among the
earliest settlers of the Miami Valley. In March, 1840, Uriah Blue
emigrated to this county with his family, and settled upon the north-
west quarter of section 15, Lancaster Township. He entered this land
in 1836. The patent is now in Mr. Blue's possession and bears the
signature of President Van Buren. They had four children who
they came to the county--Mary Lucinda, Michael C. and James.
Their household goods were transported with teams, and a few cows
were driven through. No improvements had been made upon the
land, and the family pitched their tent beside a great log. During
the night a violent snowstorm came up, which almost covered both
tent and wagons. Wolves howled on every side, and their snapping
teeth, added to their dismal howls, drove the dog inside. Their first
introduction to Wells County was anything but pleasant. Word was
received by the neighbors who lived down the river that a new family
had arrived, and in three or four days a number of them put in an
appearance. They helped cut the logs, raise and cover the new cabin,
and made the family as comfortable as possible. All were strangers,
and Mr. Blue does not remember any of their names, as he was then
only four years old. There was not a mouthful of feed for the cattle
and during the spring they became very poor and a part of them
perished before the snow was gone. To add to their vexations, the
horses strayed away and returned to Miami County. Uriah went after
them and was fortunate enough to recover them. The father was a
cooper by trade, and was rather an unsuccessful farmer. He finally
cleared forty acres, but his chief delight consisted in hunting. He
was very successful, and the larder was well supplied with wild meats.
Hundreds of deer fell victims to his unerring aim, and the products
of the chase maintained his family almost exclusively. Upon his ar-
rival he had $5 in money, $4 of which was expended for for bushels
of corn. Being the only cooper in the neighborhood, he made all the
barrels, well-buckets and kraut-tubs that were used for miles around.
There were no schools in the neighborhood, and the youth was fifteen
years old before he could read his first spelling-book, which was pur-
444 ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES
chased with money from the sale of wild blackberries. Sallie Bald-
win taught a "select" school at her home, and Michael was one of her
first pupils. He early learned the mysteries of the chase, and he also
became an expert hunter and trapper. In speaking of his schoolboy
costume, Mr. Blue says: 'My pantaloons were made of dressed buck-
skin; vest and cap of fawn skin, tanned with the hair on, while moc-
casins of deer skin ornamented my feet.' His father did not favor
education in any sense, but Michael was delighted with books. He
made barrels until money enough was earned to buy Ray's Third
Arithmetic, and he frequently stole out to the woods, where most of
his problems were mentally solved. At an early day they had neither
lamps nor candles, and Michael would stretch himself on the floor in
front of the fire, and with a pile of shavings, lighting one by one,
pursued his studies. His persistency brought its reward, and when
twenty-five years of age he attended one term at the Murray Academy,
and later he taught at Roanoke College. His proficiency entitled him
to a certificate and he taught school in Jackson Township, Hunting-
ton County, and later eight terms in Wells County. His commission
bears the signature of Governor Oliver P. Morton and Lieutenant
Governor Conrad Baker. Prom the age of twenty-one until his term
of auditor expired, Mr. Blue was kept continuously in office--first, as
constable, then assessor, notary public, surveyor, auditor, etc. He
was elected auditor in 1890, but ill-health caused his retirement from
office at the end of his term. Mr. Blue was afterward elected to the
Legislature and served most creditably for two terms. A story is
told of his exciting canvass when he was a candidate for surveyor,
during his earlier official career, which is too good to pass over. The
office was quite unsolicited by him until very near election day. Then
he would have made no effort had not Joseph Meredith called upon
him at his log cabin, 12 by 14 feet, and pressed the matter upon him.
Mr. Meredith told him that he must make a canvass, as election day
was close at hand. The house was small and all thrown together in one
room, and Michael disliked to ask his guest to step outside while he
changed his clothes. So taking his best suit under his arm he retired
to his cornfield near by, and soon returned completely transformed
into a presentable candidate for public favor. Borrowing a horse
from Iven Richey, he started on the canvass with Meredith. Taking
in Rockford and Bluffton, he returned to his home the same day and
was elected by a handsome majority."
SAMUEL KUNKEL, OWNER OF ORIGINAL TOWN
Samuel Kunkel, the brother-in-law of Michael C. Blue, bought the
original forty-acre tract upon which the latter laid out the village.
ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES 445
Mr. Kunkel erected its first store during the season of 1882, laid in a
stock of merchandise, and was appointed the first postmaster of Tocsin,
holding the office until February, 1887. Wesley Sowers erected the
first residence on the town site, and Dr. Noah Bergman, who had
practiced several years at Berne, Adams County, located at Tocsin
soon after it was platted as its first physician. The first child born in
Tocsin was of the Kunkel family, and it is probable that Doctor Berg-
man was "called in," although it was not the rule with these pioneer
women to have a regular physician to supervise such events.
GRAIN BUSINESS AND BANK ESTABLISHED
Mr. Kunkel founded the first grain business which was established
at Tocsin, and the place has never been without some kind of a ware-
house or elevator since. The present plant is a Studabaker elevator
with a capacity of 18,000 bushels.
The Bank of Tocsin, already briefly noted, was established in 1909,
with T. J. Sowards as president; G. W. Rupright, vice president, and
Frank Garton, cashier. Mr. Sowards still holds the presidency. In
the spring of 1910 Mr. Rupright resigned as vice president and was
succeeded by I. W. Wasson, who holds not only that position, hut is
the active cashier, and has the full management of the affairs of the
bank. Frank Garton, the original cashier died in September, 1913,
and was succeeded by his son, H. S. Garton, who held the position for
a year. The latter's successor was John O. Dailey, the present in-
cumbent. The capital of the Bank of Tocsin is $10,000; surplus and
undivided profits, $1,600; average deposits, $125,000.
There is only one church within the village limits, that which rep-
resents the United Brethren and is in charge of Rev. J. Farmer.
Vera Cruz is a settlement of perhaps 200 people on the Bluffton,
Geneva & Celina Traction line; also located on the Wabash River about
seven miles southeast of the county seat. It was called Newville until
about 1870, when it was incorporated and was originally laid out by
James Higgins and Christian Sowers in September, 1848. It is one
of the oldest villages in the county. Vera Cruz was the site and the
center of quite a number of mills in the '70s and '80s. Its first im-
portant industry was a woolen factory which was started several years
before the former period. Yarn was its principal product. It also
had quite a flour mill, which was operated many years by Isaac North
446 ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES
& Company. At the height of its productiveness it ground both wheat
and corn. A tile factory and brick yard were operated in the village
and a sawmill across the river and to the south.
Its leading industry now is represented by the elevator owned and
operated by the Studabaker Grain and Seed Company, which has a
capacity of 10,000 bushels. It has also a milk condensing plant and
several stores and blacksmith shops. Vera Cruz has a good graded
school, the first house provided for it having been erected in 1888.
The village warn early settled by German Lutherans, and adherents to
that faith are still numerous there and in the neighborhood.
The St. John's Reformed Lutheran Church was organized at Vera
Cruz in 1849, and a regular pastor was engaged five years later.
Within the past forty years the name of Vitz has figured prominently
in the affairs of this old and tried society. Rev. Peter Vitz, one of the
most widely known pastors of that denomination in Indiana, was
in charge from 1877 to 1883, and two of his sons, Revs. J. Otto and
Oswald P. Vita, have also been pastors of the society, the latter at a
comparatively recent date. Rev. William Schroer is now in service.
The Evangelical Association, which has no local minister, was or-
ganized in 1858, was formerly quite strong.
The postoffice of Murray, west of the center of Lancaster Township,
is little more than a memory of the old village of Lancaster (some-
times called New Lancaster), which is considered the pioneer "per-
manent" settlement of Wells County. The Millers came in 1832 and
located in what was called the "Knox clearing," Jacob remaining in
the locality for many years. Mrs. Harvey (afterward Mrs. Sally
Aker) was also one of those who came in the early '30s, before even
Murray was platted, and remained there for fifty or sixty years.
The Town of Murray was platted by Jesse Gerhard in October,
1839, and subsequently W. H. Deam and a Mr. Matthews made ad-
ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES 447
ditions. But although pleasantly situated on the north bank of the
Wabash, it was too near the successful county seat; and no railroad
ever touched it. So that now, virtually all that can be said of Murray
is to be classified as long-past history, and nothing in the making.
Mr. Gerhard built the grist-mill in 1837, the first in the county, and[image]
OIL WELLS AT THEIR BEST
it continued to do business under various proprietors for fifty or sixty
years. A sawmill was built much later. The first school in the town-
ship was opened in the winter of 1838-39 by A. B. Waugh. It was a
log house located on the old Harvey farm. For many years the strong-
est church at Murray was the United Presbyterian, organized in 1846.
The Presbyterian Church Building was dedicated in 1861 and the
Christian in 1865. It should be added, as a matter of general interest,
448 ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES
that James Dailey and Benjamin Brown were appointed as the first
justices of the peace in Lancaster Township in 1841.
Petroleum, in Nottingham Township, was the center of consider-
able oil excitement in the middle and late '90s, with a number of sub-
stantial properties developed. In that movement William A. Kunkel,
of Bluffton, was prominent. For several years he had charge of the
Cudahy interests, which were afterward sold to the Standard Oil Com-
pany, and afterward made profitable investments as an independent
operator. He also became director in a number of corporations en-
gaged in the same line of development. The early promises at Petrol-
eum, however, have not materialized in any large degree, although
the developments have resulted in the founding of a neat little town.
With the failure of the Cincinnati, Bluffton & Chicago Road, also, its
present prospects are not of the brightest. The disposal of that road
also carries with it the collapse of the local elevator. The creamery
is a thing of the past. Petroleum is still the center of a good live stock
and farming section, and possesses several substantial evidences of
growth. It has five stores, a garage and a hank. The president of the
last named is A. R. Williams, and cashier, Henry Schott. The re-
ligious and social elements of the town patronize the United Brethren
Church, and the Odd Fellow Lodge, both of which are well supported.
Kingsland is a station on the Chicago & Erie Railroad and the line
of the Fort Wayne, Bluffton, Muncie & Indiana Traction Company,
about 31/2 miles south of Ossian and 61/2 miles north of Bluffton.
It has two or three general stores and a bank, and is to that extent a
trading and banking center. A Presbyterian Church was organized
at Kingsland in 1886 and a house of worship erected in the following
year. Later, a Methodist Society was founded, and of late years they
have combined into a union church, of which Rev. Garfield Daw is in
charge.
TERRIBLE RAILROAD ACCIDENT NEAR KINGSLAND
Early in the afternoon of September 21, 1910, occurred one of the
most terrible railroad accidents which is to be recorded in Indiana
history. To follow the precision of the coroner's verdict, which
ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES 449
passed upon the responsibility for the deaths of thirty-four victims of
the collision between car 303, a southbound special sent out from Bluff-
ton for the accommodation of those going to the fair, and the north-
bound car (No. 233), the wreck occurred about 12.18 to 12.20 P. M.
at a point 2,300 feet north of the D. rail of the Fort Wayne & Wa-
bash Valley Company's track north of the Chicago & Erie Railroad
tracks at Kingsland." The north-bound was running to Fort Wayne[image]
THE WRECK ON THE CLOVER LEAF ROAD
as a regular train, but 303 failed to enter either of the sidings to give
the right-of-way to the north-bound regular, and its conductor and
motorman were therefore found culpable. Many were badly injured,
besides those who died. Among the well-known residents of Bluffton
who were killed were H. D. Cook, John W. Tribolet, Seymour Robin-
son, William D. Burgan, A. Lloyd Brown, Ralph Walser, Lewis C.
Justus, and William Beer. The cause of the unusual mortality result-
ing from the accident was that the floor of the special south-bound
train was nearly a foot higher than that of the regular car, and there-
fore when they collided they completely telescoped; the floor of No.
450 ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES
303 "sliding over and grinding its way along the floor of Car 233 to
a distance of about twelve feet of the south end of said car," as stated
in the coroner's verdict. Those within the line of this onslaught were
crushed to death generally. Some of the bodies of the dead and in-
jured were taken to a near-by grove until help could arrive and the
wreckage could be cleared from the track. Afterward the dead and
the injured were taken to Fort Wayne, Bluffton and other points
designated by relatives and friends. It was a season of special mourn-
ing for Bluffton, and its schools were closed for a week as a mark of
respect and sympathy for those who had suffered human loss in the
wreck.
The rural hamlet of Rockford, in the southwest corner of Rock
Creek Township, was at one time quite an industrial center. Perhaps
the earliest was the saw and gristmill erected by Rev. Hallet Barber,
a few rods below the bridge, which was the scene of a fatal explosion in
the late '70s. The plant was never rebuilt The postoffice was first
known as Barber's Mills. The Town of Rockford, as it was known,
was platted in September, 1849, by Solomon Johnson and Matthew
Davis. In the '70s and '80s quite a number of factories were estab-
lished in the vicinity of Rockford--the Brown & Ware tile factory in
1872, and a similar plant in 1880, by Braner Brothers, across the creek,
and a sawmill, across the creek east of town in 1875 by Milton Davis.
OTHER SMALL POPULATION CENTERS
Banner, sometimes called Banner City, is a small hamlet about a
mile west of Uniondale on the Chicago & Erie line. It was made a
station of the old Chicago & Atlantic Railroad about 1887.
Craigville, Reiffton, Domestic and still other postoffices or hamlets
strung along various rural delivery routes may also be recalled by old-
timers and those familiar with every section of the county. But it is
quite safe to say that no points of historic interest have been omitted
which should cause severe criticism.