NEGenWeb Project
Resource Center
On-Line Library
 
Portrait or sketch

Border

LANCASTER COUNTY.

675

Mountain, Chattahoochee River, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station and Bentonville, and continued to fill his place in the ranks until discharged by general order. Returning from the bivouac, the trench and the battle-field, he returned once more to his school books, and studies in the High School. Having completed the course he removed to Amherst, Ohio, where he began his business career as clerk in a grocery store until 1867, when he returned home and worked with his father until 1868.
   Twenty years ago, when our subject first came to Lincoln, it was far from being a city, and hardly worthy the name of a village. It was the 17th of November, 1868, when for the first time he sighted the town; it consisted of twenty-eight houses, one of which stood upon the site of the present Journal Building, and was used as a hotel, and also carried the town clock. He now began to work for different persons, and took up a homestead on section 32, West Oak. Precinct, which he speedily improved and built up, and where he continued to reside until 1880, when he sold it and purchased property where he now resides. In this second acquisition the old process had to be repeated, and he set to work to till and cultivate his land.. He has with his own hands built and supplied all the buildings and improvements to be seen upon his farm. Thus in two instances has he taken the wild prairie. tamed and subdued it, brought it to a high state of cultivation, and made it obedient to his labor. Our subject is justly proud of the splendid result which has crowned his efforts in tree culture. The beautiful grove near the house can only be truly appreciated by those who have enjoyed its secluded retreat and cooling shade. Mention must also be made, although but incidentally, of the remarkably fine orchard, which is not one of the least attractions and beauties of his farm.
   Our subject has been called upon at various times to fill different school offices, for which his earlier work and education have rendered him eminently fitted. The office also of Assessor has been filled by him to the general satisfaction of those concerned. Our subject and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal communion, are among its most earnest workers, supporters and advocates, and are held in deservedly high esteem.
   May 14. 1871, our subject was united in marriage with Phebe Ann Sutton, who was born in Appanoose County, Iowa. Aug. 21, 1852, and is the daughter of Schuyler Sutton. There have been born to them eight children, and it has been their joy and privilege to rear all but one of them. Until the year 1870 the father of Mrs. Markle continued to reside in Iowa, when he came to Nebraska, stopping for a time near Lincoln. He afterward made his home near Swan City, where he continued for several years engaged in the occupation of farming. He then went to Kansas, but returned to this vicinity, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1882. While in the army he by some means contracted a bone trouble, which continued to work upon his system and ultimately caused his death. His widow, who still enjoys good health, makes her home with her daughters, Mrs. Carr and Mrs. Markle.
Letter/label/spacer or doddle

Letter/label/spacer or doddleON. JACOB V. WOLFE. After some years spent in a professional life, when he was also a prominent factor of the Democratic party of his State, our subject retired to the quiet pursuits of agriculture in the fall of 1872, having purchased a tract of land in Grant Precinct, this county. He has since been one of the moving spirits in this locality, especially in matters closely allied to the elevation of the people, morally, socially and intellectually. He is a liberal minded and progressive man, warmly interested in educational matters, always earnestly advocating the establishment and maintenance of such institutions as shall give to the rising generation those advantages which will constitute them intelligent and praiseworthy citizens of a great Republic.
   To such men as the subject of this sketch is the great West indebted for its phenomenal growth and development. He is the offspring of a hardy and energetic race of people, noted for their culture and intelligence, his father having been Hon. Benjamin Wolfe, a native of the Old Dominion, and belonging to the F. F. V's. His mother, formerly Miss Isabella Shepherd, was a native of

Border

Border

674

LANCASTER COUNTY.

 

Kentucky, and of French ancestry. The Wolfe family trace their descent to Germany.
   The parents of our subject after marriage located in Sullivan County, Ind., where. the father carried on agriculture, and interested himself in the development of the new State, taking an active part in its political affairs. He represented the people of his county six or seven terms in the State Legislature, and in 1850 was a member of the convention called to revise the Constitution. For a period of fourteen years he was the Clerk of Sullivan County, being among the first to serve in that office.
   After the children of the family had become old enough to leave the primary school the parents of our subject removed to Monroe County, Ind., the seat of the State University, for the purpose of giving their children better educational advantages. They lived there ten years, when they returned to the farm in Sullivan County, where they spent their last days, the father dying about 1868, and the mother in 1884. Their daughter Juliette, the eldest of their nine children, is now the widow of William Hastings, who was killed by the Indians in Kansas, about 1855; Thomas J., a practicing attorney in Sullivan, Ind., and William B., a stockman, also of Sullivan County; Jacob V., our subject, was the second son; Ann is the wife of Dr. S. A. Tilford, of Martinsville, Ind.; Benjamin S. is carrying on an extensive real-estate business in Sullivan; Clater C. died there in the winter of 1885; Albert P. is a practicing physician, of Russellville, Ill.; Solomon T. is engaged as an abstract clerk in Sullivan, Ind. Jacob V. Wolfe was born at Merom, Sullivan Co., Ind., Oct. 7, 1833, where he lived until a lad nine years of age, then removed with his parents to their farm in the southwestern part of that county. At the age of seventeen and when leaving the common school, he entered the State University at Bloomington, from which he was graduated in 1857, receiving the degree of A. B. Thereafter he engaged as teacher of a school for boys in connection with the Glendale Female College, Ohio, and was subsequently made President of the Major Female College at Bloomington, Ill. A year later he returned to Bloomington in his native State, for the purpose of entering upon the study of law. While there he was waited upon by a committee from Gosport, and invited to take charge of the High School in that town. After due deliberation he was prevailed upon to accept, and officiated as Principal of said school for a period of three years, greatly to his credit as an instructor, and with satisfaction to all concerned.
   At the expiration of this contract Mr. Wolfe returned to Bloomington, Ind., and entered the law department of the Indiana State University,. where he studied until the spring of 1862. He began the practice of his profession at Gosport, and six months later was elected, to the State Legislature, and served his term acceptably, and after another course at the university, returned to Gosport, whence, after a brief sojourn, he removed to the town of Spencer, the county seat of Owen County.
   At this place Mr. Wolfe entered upon the practice of law, but was interrupted as before by his election to office, being this time made treasurer of Owen County, the duties of which office he discharged for a period of four years. This terminated his public life in Indiana, as he had determined upon a removal across the Mississippi. The fall of 1871 found him in this county, and, with the exception of three years spent in Lincoln for the purpose of educating his children, He has since been a resident of Grant Precinct. During his sojourn in Lincoln he resumed his law practice, in which he has been uniformly successful. The Democrats of this county chose him as their candidate for the Legislature, but the party being in the minority he was defeated, although running ahead of his ticket.
   The farm of Mr. Wolfe, which is finely located on sections 6 and 7, comprises 160 acres of improved land, in the care and cultivation of which he takes a creditable pride, while never losing sight of those mental acquirements, both for himself and his children, which seem to be the leading idea of his life. The lady who has been the sharer of his home and fortune for the last thirty years was in her girlhood Miss Eliza E. Batterton, and their marriage took place in Glendale, Ohio, Dec. 18, 1857. Mrs. Wolfe was born in Bloomington, Ind., Sept. 20, 1836, and is the daughter of David and Amanda (Tilford) Batterton, natives respectively of Kentucky and Indiana. Both are now deceased,

Border

Prior page
Names Index
Portrait index
Views index
Next page

Border

LANCASTER COUNTY.

 

Border