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INDIANA GENEALOGY EXPRESS
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Welcome to
ELKHART COUNTY,
INDIANA
HISTORY &
GENEALOGY |
BIOGRAPHIES
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#1 - Page 648 |
JOHN ROHRER.
Within the shadow of his fourscore years, over
seventy of which have been spent in this county,
Mr. John Rohrer, of Jackson township, comes very
near to being the oldest resident of Elkhart county,
both from the standpoint of the length of his own
lifetime and years of continuous residence. On
other pages we have already spoken of the prominence
of the Rohrer family as pioneers of Jackson
township, and it is to such devoted men and women as
represent this family that the phenomenal
advancement of the county to a foremost position in
all departments of civilization is due. The
homage paid to pioneers is well deserved, the extent
of their services to mankind can never be
overestimated, and the chronicling of their lives
and deeds is not less important in this history than
the record of the present affairs and activities of
the county.
Born near Dayton, Ohio, Sept. 3, 1826, he is the only living
representative of the eight children, six sons and
two daughters, comprised in the family of John
and Catherine (Razor) Rohrer. His
grandfather was from Germany, and the family is of
Pennsylvania German stock. The father, a farmer and
also dealer in real estate, came at an early day on
a trip to Indiana, seeking a home for his children
and for the passing of his own remaining years.
He entered government land both in Noble and Elkhart
counties, and in 1833 the Rohrer's present
home is part of the old homestead settled over
seventy years ago. At that time a dense growth
of timber covered all this portion of the country,
and before crops could be planted it was the arduous
task of the father and older boys to cut off the
brush and tree and make a small clearing on which
their next year's means of subsistence might be
raised. The father was a man of influence in
his community, and gave his political support to the
Whig and later the Republican party. The
mother, who was born in Pennsylvania, died in this
county, and the remains of both parents rest in
Milford cemetery, where a beautiful monument has
been erected in their sacred memory.
A boy of about six years when he came to this county,
Mr. Rohrer has been continuously a resident
here for seventy-two years. Nearly all his
conditions of life and the pioneer surrounding which
have been described at length in other portions of
this volume, for the purpose of affording this and
future generations a correct knowledge of the past,
are memory pictures in the mind of Mr. Rohrer,
and from his own long experience he culls incidents
and scenes almost exactly similar in general and in
detail. He is numbered among those who
obtained four-fingered cradle during the harvest
days of fifty years ago, he has driven ox teams, and
in fact, with his long train of successive years, he
bridges over the interval between the dim-remembered
past and the glorious twentieth century.
Mr. Rohrer lived at home with his parents until
his marriage. By his wedding with Miss
Catharine A. Unrue ten children were born, six
sons and four daughters, eight of whom are living.
Marion is married and is a carpenter and
joiner at Goshen. Welsey, who is
married, is a painter at New Paris. Rebecca
Ann, a resident of Jackson township, is the
widow of Daniel Peoples. James and
Thomas are twins, the former a resident of New
Paris and a farmer, and the latter a farmer at
Milford; both are married. Emma is the
wife of Melvin Sheline, a farmer and
salesman. John, a practical
farmer having charge of the old homestead and living
with his parents, married Miss Linnie Harper
and has two children, Glenwood and Ruth.
Ira A. is successfully engaged in the tent and
awning business at Boise City, Idaho, and is
married.
Mrs. Rohrer was born in Preble county, Ohio,
Feb. 18, 1827, a daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth
(Hawks) Unrue. She has been a resident of
Elkhart county and Jackson township since she was a
little girl eight years old, so that she too
deserves representation among the oldest pioneers of
the county. She attended log-cabin school,
studied the Elementary speller, the Testament, a
United States history, and with a goosequill pen has
written the copy set by the master. She has
faithfully performed her part of life's duties, has
reared her large family with credit and honor, and
in home and community has made herself beloved by
her sweet and generous character.
When the young couple began their wedded life their
home was in the little house which stands just back
of their beautiful country residence. All
their children were born in that modest little
house. The little dwelling moved away to make
place for a pretentious and modern home tells in a
beautifully graphic manner the story of prosperity
which has marked their career; tells of patient and
persistent effort by which gradually they got ahead
in the world, and besides doing well by their
children, furnishing them a good home, sending them
to school, at the same time they were steadily
increasing their store of world's goods - all this
and more may we read as we look from the
weather-beaten and well worn old place to the ornate
and comfortable residence that has succeeded it.
During her first years of housekeeping Mr. Rohrer
has woven the cloth for many of the garments worn by
the family, and she still possesses as almost sacred
relics her flax wheel, reel and other implements,
although she has sold the loom. Their
beautiful estate comprises one hundred and
ninety-one acres of land in Jackson township, and
their residence was erected in 1876.
Mr. Rohrer was first a Whig and then a
Republican, being an emphatic advocate of the
principles of his party. He and his wife were
among the organizers of the /Evangelical church in
this neighborhood, and years ago they often walked
four miles to attend the Solomon's Creek church.
They contributed generously to the erection of the
Evangelical church in New Paris, and also helped in
the building of the Methodist Church at the same
place, their interest in religious progress and the
moral life of their community causing them to lend
their aid with discrimination or regard for creeds
and sects. |
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