Sage - John W. - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

John W. SAGE.   Among the influential and prominent business men of Rockville is he of whom we write who is now engaged in the real estate and insurance business in the city of Rockville.  His life is one well worthy of emulation and it is with pleasure we present to our readers this record.  Our subject's parents are Alexander and Maria H. Walker Sage, the former of whom was an early settler of Parke County to which he came from Kentucky about 1828.  His birth occurred near Frankfort Kentucky and his boyhood was passed on the farm.  After his marriage he followed the trade of a blacksmith and carried on a farm until coming to Indiana.  On his arrival in this county he located in Howard Township, where he purchased land devoting himself to its improvement until about the year 1846 when he sold the place going to Vigo County. There he became the owner of a farm in Lost Creek Township where he passed his remaining days, his death occurring in 1853.  After surviving him for several years, the wife and mother was called from the shores of time in 1862. Mr. Sage was a Democrat in political principles. Early in life he was a member of the Methodist denomination being ordained a minister in the same and devoting considerable of his time to preaching. John W. Sage was born in Howard Township, Parke County February 9, 1837.  His boyhood days, which were spent on the farm, passed without any unusual event and perhaps the first important change was when he entered the Waveland College at Waveland, Indiana. Upon leaving that institution of learning he engaged in teaching in the schools of Parke County for nearly 3 years. He then entered the mercantile business at Russellville, Putnam County where he was located for a couple of year after which going to Portland Mills Indiana he was there occupied in the same pursuit 1 & 1/2 years.  Next, going to Cincinnati he entered the employ of Williams & Co., dealers in hats, caps, furs and straw goods. After 9 months of faithful service with that firm, desiring to try his luck in the West, Mr. Sage went to Nebraska, first locating in Nebraska City where he engaged for a short time in selling goods and then went into the hotel business.  This was before there was a railroad in that now aggressive and prosperous Western city.  In 1862 he went to Indianapolis and was clerk in a railroad office 2 years.  Embarking in a distinctly different avocation, Mr. Sage entered the employ of Col. Irish as a traveling correspondent. Some time after this in 1858, in the interest of Mr. Irish, Mr. Sage established a paper which he named the Commonwealth which is still in existence at Lincoln, Nebraska, now being published under the name Nebraska State Journal. After some time our subject took charge of the State Register which he edited for a year and a half.  His next move was to Omaha where he took a position on the Omaha Bee and he was there for about one year as traveling correspondent. During the time of the trouble in Nebraska over the location of the capital, our subject reported the proceedings for the press, which letters were copied in papers all over the US.  When he started in the newspaper business he received a salary of only $40 per month, but when he left was commanding $1800 per year.  Returning from the West, Mr. Sage engaged in various businesses for about six months and later clerked in a hardware store some two years and was one year in the insurance business.  He was stationed in Crawfordsville during this time and then became a resident of Rockville. While in Nebraska he was State Agent for Mutual Life Insurance and is now a representative for the following companies: Ohio Farmers; American of Philadelphia and the Fireman's fund of San Francisco.  While in Nebraska City, Miss Sarah E. Owen was united in wedlock with our subject the ceremony taking place February 19, 1869. Mrs. Sage was the daughter of William Owen who had formerly been a resident of Nashville, Tenn. The union of our worthy subject and wife was blessed with four children: Minnie, who is clerking in the Stevenson Dry Goods Co; Mabel a graduate of the HS of Rockville; Maggie and Frank. The loving wife and mother was taken seriously ill June 15, 1892 and died 13 July following.  She was a lady of refinement and culture, one who by her many lovable qualities had won innumerable friends. She was a member of Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Two of her children belong to the Presbyterian Church while one is a member of the Methodist.  Mr. Sage has always taken an active part in local affairs and is a constant worker in the ranks of the Democratic Party. He is justly considered one of the enterprising business men of the place and has made many warm friends in political, social and commercial circles. - kbz