Hiram Teeters superintendent of roads in this
district and one of the best known and most substantial farmers and
landowners of Jay county, proprietor of a well-kept farm in Wabash township,
residing on rural mail route No. 9 out of Portland, is a native son of Jay
county, a member of one of the pioneer families here and has resided in this
county all his life. Mr. Teeters was born on a farm in Noble township on
August 24, 1855, and is a son of John H. and Margaret (Davis) Teeters, both
natives of Ohio, thelatter of whom, born in Preble county, was but a child
when she came to Jay county with her parents in pioneer days. John H.
Teeters was born in Portage county, Ohio, December II, 1828, and was but a
lad when he came to Jay county with his parents, the family settling in
Noble township, where his father had entered a tract of eighty acres from
the Government, this land now being the property of the Leonhard heirs. On
that pioneer farm John H. Teeters grew to manhood. In his twenty-third year,
February 5, 1852, he married Margaret Davis and settled on a farm of forty
acres in Noble township, where he was living when the Civil war broke out.
Despite the family obligations he had incurred he went out with the last
draft levied in this county and was in service about eighteen months. Upon
the completion of his military service he returned home and thereafter was
engaged in working at the carpenter trade, which he had learned in his
boyhood, his sons taking over the work of the farm as they came into
maturity, and as a carpenter and builder he spent the remainder of his
active life, one of the best known men in that community. John H. Teeters
and wife were the parents of nine children, all of whom are living save
James B., the others (besides the subject of this sketch) being Jackson,
David, Edward, Hannah, Leah, Amanda and Margaret.
Reared on the home
farm in Noble township, Hiram Teeters, the third in order of birth of this
family of nine children, received his schooling in the old Premer school
(district No. 2) and from the days of his boyhood was helpful in the labors
of the farm, remaining there until his marriage in his twenty-third year,
after which he began farming for himself on a rented "eighty" in Noble
township. Four years later he bought a half cleared tract of forty acres in
that same township, paying for the same $900, and on that place established
his home and started in to clear the remainder and make a farm out of it.
About a year later he bought an adjoining "forty" and on this place of
eighty acres made his home for about twenty-two years, or until 1905, in
which year he sold that farm and bought his present farm of 160 acres in
Wabash township and on this latter place has since made his home, he and his
family now being very comfortably situated. On May 17, 1916, the dwelling
house on this farm, together with its contents, was destroyed by fire and
Mr. Teeters then erected his present modern and commodious residence. He
also is the owner of property in the city of Portland and since 1917 has
been living practically retired from the active labors of the farm, renting
his fields. His place is well kept and is equipped with an excellent farm
plant. Mr. Teeters is a Republican and has ever given a good citizen's
attention to local public
affairs, at present serving as superintendent
of highways in his road district, the Twelfth.
He is a member of the
Mt. Zion Evangelical church, as was his wife, who died on May 5, 1907. She
was born Sarah A. Houdeshell in Noble township this county, December 23,
1857, and was a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Stauffell) Houdeshell, who
were the parents of seven children, four of whom, David, John, Luanda and
Allie, are still living. It was on July 25, 1878, that Hiram Teeters was
united in marriage to Sarah A. Houdeshell and to that union eleven children
were born, all of whom are living save two, Opal and Arthur, the others
being Dora, Homer, Pearl, Margaret, Orville, Russell, Elmer, Glenn and.
Fred, all of whom are married and who in the aggregate have given Mr.
Teeters nineteen grandchildren, in whom he takes much pride and delight.
Dora Teeters married Alfred Miller, a farmer of Noble township, and has two
children, Madonna and Glenn. Homer Teeters, present surveyor of Jay county
and of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this work, married Lola
Thorton and has three children, Edna, James and Mary. Pearl Teeters married
Leonard Penrod, a farmer of Jackson township, and has had five children,
Mary A., Hiram, Fred, Wanda and Viola, all of whom are living save Fred, who
died on January 13, 1922, at the age of five years. Margaret Teeters married
Jesse Nearon, a farmer of Wabash township, and has three children, Mildred,
Marceil and Eldon. Orville Teeters, a bridge contractor, now living at
Bellefontaine, this county, married Ada Shauver and has three children,
Thelma, Ruth and Noah. Russell Teeters, now farming in Michigan, married
Mamie HUEY and has two children, Pauline and Eugene. Elmer Teeters, who is
now engaged in the mercantile business at Spartansburg, Ind.,married Alma
Arnold. Glenn Teeters, a farmer of Mercer county, Ohio, married Zola Brigner
and has one child, John Hiram, and Fred Teeters, now a merchant at
Bellefontaine, married Susan Hartzell.
SOURCE: Milton T.
Jay, M.D., History of Jay County Indiana, Historical Publishing Co., Indpls.
1922, Vol. II, pp.230-231. Transcribed by Eloine Chesnut