Kenton Ruley Wigger
While the name Wigger has been in the Marion business directory so long that it is a household word in Grant county, and is as familiar to the trade as any landmark about the public square, the original Wigger business house was located in Jonesboro. It was in 1852 that Harman Wigger came with his uncle, Aaron Abel, from Germany, and in 1859 he established the business in Jonesboro that has always been associated with the Wigger family name in Grant County.
When Mr. Wigger concluded to remain in America his parents followed him two years later, and located at Union City, where they ended their days although some of the relatives still live there. When Harman Wigger was prospecting for a location he chose Jonesboro rather than Marion because of the Whiteneck tanyard located there, and William Whiteneck offered special inducements to him. He was a saddler and harness maker, and Mr. Whiteneck wanted a home market for the output of his tannery. Mr. Wigger could have leather at any time and in any quantity, and for twenty-four years he continued the saddle and harness business in Jonesboro, where he accumulated both town and farm property, and where he was married and raised up his family.
One year after coming to Jonesboro Mr. Wigger was united in marriage to Mary Jane Whitson, and one daughter, Mrs. Nora A. W. Tucker, was born to them. Mrs. Wigger did not live long and later he married Sarah Jane Ruley, who became the mother of Kenton Ruley Wigger, named at the beginning of this Wigger family sketch. After the death of his second wife, Mr. Wigger married her sister, Eliza M. Ruley. The daughter, Nora, married Henry Tucker, of Mt. Clemens, Michigan, and on the death of her husband she returned to the home of her father. Kenton R. Wigger married Miriam A. Wallace (see Wallace family) and one daughter, Miriam Louise, was born to them. Harman Wigger married three times and all were Jonesboro women. The first wife is mentioned in th4e Whitson family sketch, and all that remain of the Ruley family from which Kenton Ruley Wigger is descended are Mrs. Margaret Ruley Willman of Jonesboro, and Mrs. Mary Ruley Weddington of Indianapolis.
When Burtney W. Ruley came from Virginia he located on a farm in Mill, and after serving the county as Treasurer (see chapter on Civil Government) he returned from Marion to this farm, where he built a farm home very unusual in that day -a typical Virginia manor in Grant county. This old homestead is now owned by Henry Wise and the house still stands there -back from the road, although built along the old Indianapolis and Ft. Wayne State Road crossing the Mississinewa at Ink's Ford, but finally the roads were placed on section lines and the house was near the center of the farm -and there are people living who still remember it as the Ruley farm, although the Ruley family had retired to Jonesboro (Gas City was not then on the map), and Ruley homestead in town was on the site of the Rothinghouse Drug Store -a well remembered landmark of the town.
Harman Wigger was successful as a harness dealer, and after a few years Marion business men invited him to change his location and open a harness tore in Marion. The Whiteneck tannery served his purpose well, and he regarded Jonesboro as a better town, and along in the sixties there was frequent agitation of changing the location of the county seat -Jonesboro nearer the center of Grant County. Instead of moving to Marion then, Mr. Wigger induced a younger brother, J. H. Wigger, to open such a store in 1864, and he helped him establish a business that, with changed conditions -notably, the building of the Marion and Liberty (Strawtown) Pike, made the Marion store more profitable than the stand in Jonesboro. The Whiteneck tannery burned and finally Harman Wigger removed his family to Marion in 1883, although only a nominal business relation existed between him and his brother, J. H. Wigger. He invested in rental property, and after the death of J. H. Wigger in 1896, the Wigger Buggy and Harness Company of which K. R. Wigger is now the head came into existence. For half a century the name Wigger has been in the Marion business directory.
J. H. Wigger accumulated considerable property and he had a happy family, but Mrs. Josie Swartz and Paul Wigger died soon after the death of their father and a few years later Miss Pauline Wigger died, and upon the death of the wife and mother (Ruth Griffin), the Wigger estate went to relatives. "The earth is a stage," although some of the players have but short time in which to act their parts. J. H. Wigger's time in Grant County was from 1864 to 1896, and his family is now extinct. John Wigger of Washington Township is a brother, and Harman Wigger, who was the first of the family in Grant County, is now the senior Wigger in America. He was born August 31, 1836, in Germany. While J. H. Wigger was the first of "Wigger on the Square," in Marion the Wigger Buggy and Harness Company rounds out the first half century of the Wigger harness trade in Marion.
While Harman Wigger is the senior Wigger in this country, he is also the senior in the Whitson-Ruley family relationship. Changes have come to the Wigger family circle as tot he rest of the world. While Grandmother Wigger lived and frequently visited in Grant county, the German language was spoken in the family, but now German is seldom spoken -the Wigger family thoroughly American, and the younger generation not knowing the German tongue. Mr. Wigger's immediate family circle is his daughter and the family of his son, K. R. Wigger. Mention of the name Wigger suggests the business Harman Wigger established in the county in 1859 -more than half a century ago. When he first handled leather in Jonesboro the demands of the trade were simple and he manufactured everything, and today the Wigger Buggy and Harness Company makes a specialty of hand made harness. A large force of men is employed and Wigger made harness is in great demand among Wigger patrons in Grant county. While the automobile trade is a later feature of the Wigger business and up to date features are everywhere in evidence in the store, the name: 'Wigger Buggy and Harness Company" indicated that the company adheres to the old line -caters to the trade that has always had its headquarters at the Wigger store.
The name Wigger has been advertised as widely as any business or firm name in Grant County, and the future policy is to maintain the excellent business reputation. The Wigger Buggy and Harness Company initiated the plan of sending out wagon loads of buggies for sale among farmers, but more recently its policy is to invite all patrons to the "Wigger on the Square" store where a complete line of luggage articles, trunks, suit cases and valises and all kind of robes and blankets, as well as buggies, carriages, harness and automobiles and accessories are to be found in stock, and a courteous floor service is extended to all. While Mr. Wigger maintains close oversight of his business, he is surrounded with competent salesmen and the Wigger Buggy and Harness Company enjoys splendid patronage.
Source: Centennial History of Grant County, Indiana 1812 to 1912. By the Lewis Publishing Company, 1914. Page 734, 735, 736.