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Genealogy Trails
SPENCER COUNTY, INDIANA
BIOGRAPHIES
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. ,






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