Biographical Sketch of Adalgo Wandel, son of John Washington Wandel and Letitia 
(White) Wandel, found in the Biographies of Adams and Wells County, pgs 493-494.

Contributed by: IJ Morgan <imorgan@mcoe.merced.k12.ca.us>


DEL WANDEL, is a citizen too well known in Wells County to require any extensive 
introduction.  People know him especially through his service as a former clerk 
of the Wells Circuit Court.  At the present time he is proprietor of the Central 
Grocery at Bluffton.

Mr. Wandel was born January 1, 1869, in the State of Illinois, but when a year 
old his parents returned to Bluffton and here practically all his life has been 
spent.  He was given the Christian name of Adalgo, but by that name he would 
hardly be known, since everyone speaks of him as “Dal” Wandel.  He was reared in 
Bluffton and was educated in the grammar and high schools of that city.

Mr. Wandel is a son of J. W. and Littia (White) Wandel.  His grandfather, John 
Wandel was a pioneer citizen of Wells County, a resident of the Village of 
Zanesville, and served as the county treasurer from 1855 to 1859, dying during 
his second term in the office.  J. W. Wandel was a gallant solder of the Union 
army, being a member of Company I of the 22nd Indiana Infantry.  He served all 
through the war and was with Sherman’s army in its march from Atlanta to the 
sea.

Dal Wandel was the only child of his parents.  After leaving public school he 
took up the trade of barber and followed it actively for about twenty  years.  
In the meantime he began operating in the Indiana oil fields, and his judgment 
was sufficient to direct his investments and operations in a highly successful 
degree.  Mr. Wandel has always been a democrat, and only once entered politics 
as a candidate for office.  In the democratic primaries when he was an aspirant 
for the office of clerk of Circuit Court he had four competitors.  His 
popularity enabled him to outdistance all his rivals, and he lacked only twenty-
one votes of having a clear majority of the entire field.  In the general 
election which followed he had no opposition, and his official performance was 
as creditable as his best friends expected it would be.  After leaving that 
office he was given an appointment by the Secretary of State as head of the 
mailing department, a position he filled until December, 1916 when he returned 
to Bluffton and bought the Central Grocery north of the Court House and is now 
doing a flourishing business at that stand.

Mr. Wandel married Nellie M. Clayton, who was educated in the grammar and high 
schools of Bluffton and is a daughter of John Clayton.  They have one daughter, 
Florence, born August 6, 1894.  She graduated from the Bluffton High School and 
spent two years in the State University of Indiana.  Mr. Wandel is affiliated 
with the Improved Order of Red Men, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks 
and the Knights of Pythias, and in the latter organization was captain of the 
Uniform Rank Company.