Armstrong Township Biographies

Township Histories & Biographies

Armstrong Township, Vanderburgh County, Indiana
History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana. Brant & Fuller. 1889

History — Biographies

Hon. Leroy Calvert was born February 4, 1819, two miles north of Armstrong. His parents, Patrick Calvert, born in Tennessee in 1784, and Sarah Martin, born in South Carolina in 1783, were married in Tennessee in 1804, and removed to Gibson County in 1811, making their home for five years near Owensville, and then moving to the site of the farm on which Mr. Calvert now lives. The father was a soldier of the war of 1812, under Gen. W. H. Harrison, and was in the famous engagement of Tippecanoe. After the war he resumed agriculture and followed that pursuit until his death, in 1860. The mother died in 1840. Leroy Calvert was the seventh of ten children, of whom he and a younger brother alone survive. His early life was spent in attending the common schools and working on his father's farm, and at the age of twenty-four he was married to Miss Penelope Shelton, January 13, 1843. She was born in Mason County, Ky., September 24, 1821, and was brought to Indiana by her parents, when two years old. They have had seven children, Sarah E., Catherine J., Minerva J., Maria H., Andrew J., Henry T. and Luella F. Three of the daughters are deceased. In religious affiliations Mr. Calvert is a Cumberland Presbyterian, and he is a prominent member of the Masonic, order and K. of P. His political career has been a notable one, and throughout such as to reflect credit upon himself. He was a staunch democrat until 1884, when he voted for St. John for president. Under the old constitution he served as clerk of the board of trustees. In 1848 he was elected justice of the peace, and served for two years, when he resigned to be a candidate for County commissioner, to which office he was elected in 1850. During the erection of the court-house, in 1852, he occupied the responsible position of president of the board. From 1856 he served as Township trustee until his election in 1860 as County treasurer. He was a most popular officer, and was re-elected to a second term. On the expiration of this he returned to his farm, but was chosen by the people of his Township as trustee again, and in 1868 was elected representative in the general assembly. In the session following his election, during the attempt to pass the fifteenth amendment, Mr. Calvert, with fifty-five of his fellow-democratic members, resigned and came back to their homes. A special election was called by Gov. Baker, and Mr. Calvert was re-elected, and returned to the assembly, but the attempt being renewed at a special session, he felt it his duty to resign a second time, and he came home to stay. Upon his affiliation with the prohibition party, he was made their first nominee for congress in the First District, in 1884, and proved to be a strong candidate. In 1888 he was selected as candidate for presidential elector for the First district on the ticket of the prohibition party.

Source:
History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Brant & Fuller, c.1889
Pages 672-673

George Hoefling, Sr., was born in the village of Stettin, Germany, December 26, 1829, and came to this County with his parents when he was eleven years of age. He was the third of nine children of Antony and Theresa (Lamprecht) Hoefling. The father was born April 1, 1803, at Stettin, and the mother, May 8, 1805, in the same country. They were married in Germany, and emigrated to America in 1840, coming direct to Evansville. They lived one year in German Township, and then came to Armstrong, near St. Joseph, where they have resided ever since. The mother died in 1877, at the age of seventy-two, but Antony Hoefling was still living, April, 1888, the oldest man in his Township. George Hoefling, Sr., until he was sixteen, worked on his father's farm, then for ten months was engaged in the livery stable of E. Garnett, at New Orleans, after which he followed steamboating for about seven years. Then he returned to his father's farm, and remained until he was twenty-three when he was married to Christine Behm, September 27, 1853. She was a native of Westphalia. To them were born six children: Mary F., Anna W., George A., Fred A., Catherine C. and Mary A. Mrs. Hoefling died in 1875, at the age of forty-one, and October 12, 1876, he was married to Barbara Drunk, who was born in Bavaria, September 15, 1846. The children of this union were Joseph A., John L., Louisa J., and John W. and Mary T., twins. He was elected Township Trustee in 1878, but soon after resigned. From 1878 to 1880, he held the important position of President of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He is a member of St. Joseph congregation of the Catholic Church, and has held many prominent positions in that organization, and is at present on the committee for the construction of a new Church at St. Joseph.

Source:
History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Brant & Fuller, c.1889
Pages 673-674

Christof Hoffman, one of the leading farmers of Armstrong Township, was born September 15, 1835, in Rhine-Pfalz, Bavaria. Eleven years later his parents came with their family to America, and settled at Evansville. After a year or more there, they removed to Armstrong, and thence to Mount Carmel, Ill., where the father died in 1877, and the mother in 1887. There were eleven children, of whom Christof was the fifth, and five of them are still living. He gained his education in the schools of his native land and afterward in this country, and since attaining manhood, has always pursued the occupation of farming. Politically he has been a republican, honored in the councils of the party, and in the way of social organizations, has been a member of the I.O.O.F. On November 12, 1861, he married Elizabeth Frippon, and they had eight children, five of whom are living. His first wife died in 1876, and in 1882, he was united in marriage with Catherine Kolle, of this Township, and they have had three children born unto them, all of whom are living.

Source:
History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Brant & Fuller, c.1889
Page 674

William Martin was born January 30, 1814, in what was then known as Knox County, now Vanderburgh, near Armstrong. His father was Charles Martin, who was born in 1791 in South Carolina, and came to Indiana territory in 1805. In 1812 he married Frankie Rook, who was born in South Carolina in 1797, and they settled four miles from Armstrong. William Martin is the oldest of thirteen children, three of whom survive. He still resides on the farm, where he has labored since 1833. Mr. Martin was married October 3, 1833, to Miss Nancy Robinson, who was born near Knoxville, Tenn., May 3, 1813, and came with her parents to Indiana in 1815. They are the parents of thirteen children, of whom three died in infancy. There are living: M. D., Charles S., Abner N., James T., Thomas A., Susanna, Jasper, William F., Naomi J. and Joseph L. Mr. Martin is the grandfather of forty-nine children, of whom but seven are deceased. He served his community as constable and trustee for a number of years. Mr. Martin and his entire family are, in religious matters, Regular Baptists, his grandfather having been a minister of that denomination. Mr. Martin is one of the few men who are almost uniformly well and hearty, and by wise and simple living gives promise of added years of activity.

Source:
History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Brant & Fuller, c.1889
Page 674

Hon. John F. Pruitt is the third of eight children born to William and Elizabeth Pruitt, among the earliest pioneers of the County. The father was born December 10, 1806, in Allen County, Ky., and the mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth A. Spain, was born in 1816, near Harper's Ferry, Va. In 1810 William Pruitt came with his parents, Moses and Phoebe (Williams) Pruitt, to settle in the Indiana woods, and in his youth labored as the old settlers did, gaining also the education to be obtained in the log cabin schools of those days. He was County commissioner for nine years, and major of the militia, then necessary for protection from the Indians. He died May 9, 1870, and his widow followed him on the 5th of the next July. That year is sadly memorable in Mr. Pruitt's family. Not only his father and mother, but two of his sisters, died in the four months beginning May 9. The children of William Pruitt were: Mary J., born January 25, 1831; Elizabeth E., born May 7, 1833; John F., subject of this sketch, born May 14, 1835; James C, born July 24, 1837; Joseph A., born August 10, 1840; Julia A., born October 14, 1844; Susan L., born March 20, 1847, and Sarah E., born June 10, 1853. After receiving a common school education, Mr. Pruitt entered the grammar department of the Evansville schools, and at the age of twenty-one began teaching school, and remained in that profession ten years, also farming during the summer. January 16, 1862, he married Sarah E. Calvert, daughter of Leroy and Penelope Calvert, and to them were born four children: Emma L., Catherine J., Leroy E., and Ann R., of whom Emma and Leroy survive. Mrs. Pruitt died June 28, 1874, and on January 2, 1876, he was married to Lydia E. Wilkinson, who died November 5, 1877. His third marriage was to Elizabeth A.. Calvert, April 17, 1879. in politics Mr. Pruitt is an earnest democrat and is an active worker. In 1857 he was elected Township assessor, served two years, and in 1860 was chosen trustee for one term. To this office he was appointed in 1878, to fill a vacancy, and at the expiration of that term, was again elected, serving until 1882, when he was elected representative in the general assembly by the overwhelming majority of 1,085. His distinguished services assured his re-election in 1884, and as chairman of the agricultural committee, and author of several important bills, he filled a responsible position in the assembly. Mr. Pruitt is a prominent member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and belongs to the Master Masons. He is still engaged in farming, with good health and constitution, and gives promise of many more years of usefulness.

Source:
History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Brant & Fuller, c.1889
Pages 674-675

William Reimann was born near Reichenbach, Silesia, November 23, 1831. In 1852 he came with his parents from Germany, and has ever since lived upon the farm near Armstrong, which they settled upon. His father died in 1855, but the mother is still living and makes her home with her son. The parents had five children, three boys and two girls. Four of them are yet living, and are residents of this County. Mr. Reimann was educated in the schools of Silesia, and has a fine knowledge of the German language. Since childhood he has followed agriculture, and has been very successful. He is a member of the German Evangelical Church at Darmstadt, and in politics is a republican.

Source:
History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Brant & Fuller, c.1889
Page 675

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