Lewis Willman

    Lewis Willman, county superintendent of schools, is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Chambersburg, Franklin County, August 18, 1839. His parents were born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, where they were reared and married. On coming to America they landed at Baltimore, Maryland, and soon after settled in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where the father found employment on the Cumberland Valley Railroad. In 1841 the parents removed with their family to Indiana, and after stopping a short time at Hagerstown, Wayne County, finally located in Blackford County. Here the father began farming, but being a wagon-maker by trade, he came to Hartford City and established a wagon manufactory about 1846, he being the first wagon-maker in Hartford City. He continued this trade at Hartford until 1852, when he removed to his farm, and there resided until his death in 1875. He was born December 28, 1805. He came to Blackford County when it was a wilderness, and lived to see it well settled, and dotted with well cultivated farms and prosperous towns and villages. He was twice married, his first wife dying in 1850. He left a widow, who still survives him.

    Lewis Willman, whose name heads this sketch, was reared from his second year in Blackford County, and has always made this county his home. He received his education in the common schools of the county, and at Asbury (now De Pauw) University, at Greencastle, Indiana, after which he engag4ed in teaching school in Hartford City, following that profession a number of years.

    Mr. Willman was united in marriage September 6, 1866, to Miss Martha I. Fulton, a native of Wells County, Indiana, and a daughter of Robert R. Fulton. Her parents were among the early settlers of Wells County. Both are now deceased. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Willman of whom four are living -Fred W., a student at Purdue University; Ernest Floyd, Emma Z. and Wade W. Olga C. and an infant unnamed are deceased.

    In 1868 Mr. Willman was elected county examiner for Blackford County, and when the county superintendent law was enacted he was elected to that office which he has since filled with exception of a term of two years, with honor to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. Mr. Willman taught his first school about the commencement of the late civil war, in Washington Township, Blackford County. His school-house was built of logs, and furnished with old slab benches supported by wooden pins, the writing desks being constructed by driving pins in the wall, and a plank laid across them. This primitive structure was subsequently replaced by a frame building, and in 1880 a substantial brick school-house was erected. Mr. Willman is an active member of the Presbyterian Church in which he was ordained an elder in 1870.

Source: Biographical and Historical Record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1887.