HARRISON TOWNSHIP
GEORGE BOEHM, ex-trustee of Harrison Township, is a native of Germany,
born December 24, 1826, being one of a family of six children born to
Thomas and Anna Boehm, natives of Germany. His father, who was a
farmer, came to America in 1836 and located on a farm in Huff
Township, where he followed farming until a short time before the war,
when he retired from active work, and lived with his children until his
death in 1864. George was reared on the farm. He received some
education in his native country, but received only three months'
instruction in English. At the age of nineteen he married Mary Pulus,
and located on a part of his father's farm, for which he received a
deed. He followed farming and merchandising at that place until 1850,
when he came to Harrison Township and engaged in the same business
three miles south of Fulda. In 1866 he came to his present location,
where he is doing a good business, and owns considerable property. He
has had ten children, nine of whom are living. During the Rebellion he
served for a time in Company E, Thirty-first Indiana Volunteer
Infantry, in which he enlisted in 1864. He is Democratic in politics,
and has been twice elected to the office of township trustee.
JOSEPH CALLIGNAN, of the firm of Callignan & Schue, proprietors of
the Fulda Star Flouring Mills, is a native of Allegheny County, Penn.,
born February 15, 1844. He is one of a family of eight children born to
the marriage of Peter Callignan and Katharine Daufer, natives of
Germany, but of French descent. His father married in Germany and
followed the stone-cutter's trade until 1835 or 1836, when he came to
the United States and located on a farm in Pennsylvania. In 1854 he
came to Spencer County and bought the farm upon which he has since
resided. He is now advanced in years and has retired from active work.
His wife is still living. Joseph was reared on the farm, receiving a
good English education. He followed farming with his father until 1870,
when he engaged in the distilling business in Fulda, manufacturing
peach and apple brandy. In 1874 he formed the partnership with Mr.
Schue in the milling business. The firm does a thriving local business,
and manufactures a good grade of flour. September 6, 1870, he married
Mary Rupprucht, a native of Spencer County. They have had seven
children. Himself and family are members of the Catholic Church. In
1864 Mr. Callignan enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Forty-sixth
Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving as a private until the close of the
war.
AUGUSTINE FALLEY, Reverend Father of St. Boniface Church at Fulda, is a
native of Lafayette, Ind., born September 2, 1852, being the eldest of
seven children born to James and Susan (Kellogg) Falley, natives
respectively of New York and Indiana. He was reared at home until ten
years of age, when he entered the Racine, Wisconsin, College, where he
remained four years. He. then took a commercial course in the Notre
Dame University at South Bend, Ind. At the age of seventeen he entered
St. Meinrad College, from which he graduated in 1878, and was ordained
to the priesthood in the same year. He then taught in the college for
two years, after which he was placed in charge of St. Boniface Church,
which position he still occupies.
ERNEST E. GENGELBACH, M. D., of St. Meinrad, is a native of Carroll
County, Ky., born December 27, 1856. He is a son of Christian and
Sophia (Martin) Geugelbach, both natives of Saxony. His father, who was
a piano-maker, came to the United States in 1840, and after
considerable traveling through the country settled in Carroll County,
Ky. He left there during the war on account of his Union sympathies and
came to Perry County, Ind., where he now resides upon a farm. Ernest
was reared at home on the farm. At the age of seventeen he entered the
Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso and prepared himself for
teaching. The following year he returned to Perry County and followed
that profession for three years. He then studied medicine with A. J.
Smith, of Tell City, for eighteen months, after which he attended the
Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati. In 1881 he received his
diploma from that institution, and soon after began the practice of his
profession at St. Meinrad, where he is very successful. He is one of
only two Republicans in the village.
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS HERMANNI, M. D., of Fulda, is a native of Germany,
born September 9, 1843, being the second of five children born to the
marriage of William F. Hermanni and a Miss Schlebusch, both natives of
Germany, where the latter died in 1850. The former is still a resident
of that country, and is superintendent of extensive coal mines in
Weilburg, Germany. William A. was reared at home, and received a good
literary education in a college of his native town, Weilburg. During
1858-59 he studied medicine at Giessen, and received a diploma from
that institution in the latter year. He then remained at home with his
father, rather retiring from his studies on account of ill health. In
1868 he came to America and practiced medicine in Pennsylvania until
1876, when he came to his present location. He now controls a fairly
remunerative practice, in which he is very successful. In politics he
is a Republican.
JOHN H. HUFFMAN, born in Hancock County, Ky., in 1812, is a son of
George Huffman, a native of Lancaster, Penn., who settled in what is
now Knox County, this State, in 1804, remaining four years and then
removing to Kentucky. In 1812 he again moved to Indiana Territory, and
settled on land now owned by the subject of this sketch. J. H. Huffman
succeeded to his father's estate in this county, and has always made
Spencer County his home, where he has followed agricultural pursuits
and milling. In 1840 he married Delilah I. Stapleton, a native of
Kentucky, who died in 1857, after bearing a family of nine children,
five yet living. George W., the eldest, died at the battle of Vicksburg
while serving his country in the Forty-ninth Indiana Regiment. Those
living are all located near the old homestead, and are among the
county's best citizens. In 1862 Mr. Huffman wedded Mrs. Elizabeth J.
(Cravens) Harris. In 1878 he was elected commissioner of Spencer County
on the Republican ticket. John Riley Huffman, a son of the above, was
born in Spencer County April 1,1847. He received a fair English
education. He worked in his father's grist and saw-mill, and became
master of his trade. In December, 186-3, he enlisted in Company L,
Thirteenth Indiana Cavalry, serving until mustered out at the close of
the war. Returning home, he followed flat-boating, etc., in connection
with his milling interests until 1880, when he was elected on the
Republican ticket to the office of sheriff of Spencer County. He is now
operating the saw and grist-mill which he bought of his father, and
also conducts a general store. December 5, 1869, he married Rhoda H.
Butler, a native of Spencer County and only child of John H. Butler.
They have five children. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and is
recognized throughout the county as an enterprising business man.
MILTON JACKSON a prominent early settler of Harrison Township is a
native of Ohio, born August 10, 1804. He went with his parents in 1806
to Kentucky and lived in that State until 1815, when he came with them
to Spencer County and located in Carter Township where his mother died
about three years later. His father was married three times thereafter,
and was the father of fifty children. He died in Cass County, Illinois,
about 1846. In 1829 Mr. Jackson located on the farm where he has since
resided. At one time he owned over a thousand acres of land. In 1827 he
married Jane Sumner, a native of Spencer County and a daughter of
Thomas Sumner, one of the first white settlers in the township. To this
union eight children were 'born, only two of whom are living. They are
Vicy (the wife of John Rinnert), and James G. Jackson who was born on
the homestead farm in Spencer County January 16, 1838. He remained at
home until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when in 1861 he enlisted
in Company D, Twenty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry as first
sergeant, serving his country faithfully until the close of the war.
After the battle of Hatchie River he was promoted to first lieutenant,
and at the siege of Atlanta was made captain of his company. He went
with Sherman on his famous "march to the sea" and thence to Washington,
D. C. After his return homo he again went to farming with his father,
where he has since remained. During 1884 he was station agent at
Lincoln City and owns a residence and the depot property in that place.
December 16, 1858, he married Elizabeth Hutchinson, a native of
England. They have five children, John M., Mary J., William M., Charles
M. and Anna L. In politics the captain and his father are stanch
Republicans and are recognized as upright and energetic citizens.
REV. MARTIN MARTY, the present Bishop of Dakota and the former Abbot of
St. Meinrad, came to America in the fall of 1860. He was then from
Einsiedeln. On the 28th of September he took charge of the
philosophical and theological departments of the college. In the
following year he accompanied Bishop de St. Palais, in the capacity of
theologian, to the Third Provincial Council at Cincinnati, and in 1866
assisted at the Second Plenary Council at Baltimore. Soon after
locating at St. Meinrad he was sent to Terre Haute with a view to
establishing a college there, but in 1864 he returned to St. Meinrad.
Father Martin was appointed Prior on the 1st day of May, 1865, by the
Abbot of Einsiedeln. A few years later in company with others he
crossed the ocean for the purpose of visiting the Holy Father and
laying before him the plans for St. Meinrad. He returned in 1870. In
the meantime St. Meinrad had been elevated to the rank of an
independent abbey, and Father Martin Marty was elected the first Abbot.
That was on January 23, 1871. Abbot Martin, who had been laboring in
the Indian Missionary field in Dakota Territory for four years, was
appointed Vicar Apostolic of that region. He was consecrated bishop on
February 2, 1880, by Bishop Chatard, and was at the time forty-five
years of age. He is a man of high ability, a scholar of wide culture
and deep learning, an ecclesiastic of the purest piety, and his genius
gave wide prominence to the Abbey of St. Meinrad, and to the college
and church. His portrait appears elsewhere.
REV. FINTAN MUNDWILER, the present Abbot of St. Meinrad, came to
America from Einsiedeln in 1860, with Rev. Martin Marty, and took
charge of the classical departments of the college. In 1866 he appeared
as Prefect of the college. In September of the same year the
Benedictine Fathers were given charge of seminaries of the diocese of
Vincennes, and Father Fintan's name is among the first professors. In
1871 when Prior Martin was elevated to the rank of Abbot at St.
Meinrad, he chose Father Fintan as Prior. On the 23d of May, 1880, St.
Meinrad received its second Abbot in the person of Rev. Fintan
Mundwiler. The solemn benediction took place on the above date, and was
pronounced by Bishop Chatard. Abbot Fintan was born July 12, 1835, at
Dietikon, Canton Zurich, Switzerland. He was the Prior, and had full
charge of the affairs of the monastery during the absence of Abbot
Martin in Dakota Territory. Abbot Fintan is much beloved by his own,
and all who come in contact with him. He is noted for his learning and
piety, and his correct judgment and quiet, undisturbed mind, never
losing his mental poise. He has done a vast benefit for his abbey,
church and college, and is now engaged in the construction of a
magnificent temple o£ worship, an addition to the abbey. A fine
portrait of Father Mundwiler appears elsewhere in this volume, also a
three-page cut of the abbey and church.
JACOB NEU came with his parents while quite young to Spencer County,
where he was reared on a farm, receiving a limited education, which he
has since improved by his own efforts. After attaining his majority he
followed farming for about ten years. He then was engaged in running a
portable saw-mill until 1875, when he bought the mill which he has
since operated. He does a thriving business, and in addition to his
mill owns considerable farming land. In 1863 he was united in marriage
with Barbara Zarn, a native of Switzerland. To this union twelve
children have been born, six of whom are living. Both himself and wife
are members of the Catholic Church. Mr. Neu was born in Allegheny
County, Penn., March 20, 1841, being one of seven children born to
Jacob and Angela (Festor) Neu, both natives of Germany. They came to
Spencer County in 1842. The former died in 1877, and his wife a year
later.
BERNARD SCHNEIDER, proprietor of Fulda Exchange, hotel and general
store, is a native of Prussia, born January 28, 1823. He is the second
in a family of three children born to the marriage of William Schneider
and Agnes Beckmann, both natives of Prussia, where they passed their
lives. Bernard was reared in his native country on a farm, receiving an
ordinary education. He was a soldier in the Prussian Army from 1846 to
1849. In the latter year he came to the United States, and located at
Cincinnati, and remained until 1856. In that year he came to Fulda, and
bought a farm two miles south of the village. In 1866 he embarked in
his present business, in which he has been quite successful. Besides
the large, three-story brick building in which he conducts his
business, he owns 160 acres of land and considerable other property.
November 27, 1850, he was united in marriage with Mary Greskamp, a
native of Hanover, by whom he is the father of eight children : John
B., Mary, Caroline M., Anna G., Joseph, Theodore H., Franciska and
Katharine G. Himself and family are members of the Catholic Church. His
wife died February 13, 1884. He has been the postmaster at Fulda ever
since 1866.
The STURM FAMILY is one of the most respected and best known families
of Harrison Township. Joseph G. Sturm and his wife, Mary M. Master, are
natives of Bavaria. The former came to the United States in 1838 with
his parents, who located in Baltimore, Md. In 1846 they came to
Dearborn County, Ind., where Joseph G. was married, and followed wagon
and carriage-making, and was postmaster of his town for some time. He
was also a notary public. In 1864 he came to Spencer County and located
on a farm in Harrison Township, where he lived one year. He then
engaged in the general merchandise and wagon-making business at St.
Meinrad, in which he has continued to the present. From 1865 to 1879 he
was postmaster of St. Meinrad, being the first after the post office
was
removed from the abbey. He has been twice elected i commissioner of
Spencer County. His term of office expires in November, 1885. Himself
and family are members of the Catholic Church, and he is one of Spencer
County's most enterprising citizens. The following are the members of
his family: Joseph M., Juliana (a Benedictine sister in Ferdinand,
Dubois Co., Ind.) George M., Alios A., Mary E. (of the same order as
Juliana), Minnie M., Louis H., Paul L., Josephine M., Frank X., William
F. and Magdaline S. (twins). Mr. Sturm was born November 26, 1829, the
eldest of a family of thirteen, of which four are living. His parents
were John M. and Mary A. Sturm. He attended school for three years in
Germany, and received about a year's instruction in English, but he has
acquired a very liberal education by much desultory reading.
GEORGE" M. STURM, son of the above, was born in Dearborn County, Ind.,
June 27, 1856. He came to Spencer County with his parents. He received
a good education in St. Meinrad's College, and taught school in this
and Gibson Counties for five years. In 1878 he began clerking in his
father's store, and in 1882 he entered into partnership with his father
in the business in which he is at present engaged. , In 1884 he was
appointed postmaster. February 14, 1882, he married Theresa
Schunterman, a native of Dubois County, Ind. One child, Louisa Theresa,
has been born to them.
PETER ZARN, proprietor of St. Joseph Hotel at St. Meinrad, is a native
of Switzerland, born September 21, 1834. He is the eldest of seven
children born to Blasi and Rosa (Willi) Zarn, natives of the same
country. His father came to the United States in 1856 and located in
Davenport, Iowa, where he was engaged in farming. He then, in 1858,
removed to Perry County, Ind., and lived with his children until 1860.
From this time until 1873 he resided at Ferdinand, since which he has
lived a retired life at St. Meinrad. His wife died in 1862. Peter was
reared in his native country, receiving a fairly good education. He
came to the United States with his parents, and lived with them in
Iowa, where he was engaged as a bar-tender. After leaving Iowa he
worked at various places in Spencer and Perry Counties, Ind., and at
various vocations. In 1882 he engaged in his present business, in which
he has been quite successful. June 16, 1859, he was united in marriage
with Mary Veste, a native of Switzerland. They have had nine children,
five of whom, Anna A., Kunigunde, Plazidus, Jacob and Christina, are
living. Mr. Zarn and wife are members of the Catholic Church.
JOSEPH ZOGLMANN is a native of Bavaria, born December 17, 1833, being
the eldest of four children born to Leonard and Theresa (Spatt)
Zoglmann, natives of Bavaria, where they passed their lives. The former
died in 1883, and the latter in 1884. Joseph received a good German
education, learned the blacksmith's trade of his father, and followed
it in his native country until 1852. In that year he came to Fulda and
opened the shop where he has since worked. He has been very successful,
and owns a considerable amount of property. February 23, 1854, he
married Kathrina (Lauber) Diebenbach, a native of Bavaria, by whom he
is the father of eight sons and two daughters: John B., Joseph
(deceased), Johanna, Joseph M., Maximillian, Frank N., Henry, Robert
R., Mary and Martin V. Mr. Zoglmann and wife are members of the
Catholic Church. ,