Warfel - Jacob Frank - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

An honored and representative citizen of Montgomery county is, for many years one of our best known and most successful educators, at present editor and publisher of the Ladoga Leader.  He has been distinctively the architect of his own fortunes, has been true and loyal in all the relations of life and stands as a type of that sterling manhood which ever commands respect.  He is a man who would have, no doubt, won his way in any locality where fate might have placed him for he has sound judgment, coupled with great energy and honest tact, together with education and upright principles, all of which make for success wherever and whenever they are rightly applied and persistently followed.  By reason of these principles, he has won and retained a host of friends in whatever community he is known.

Mr. Warfel was born in Marion County, Indiana on May 3, 1857. he is a son of Martin B. and Indiana McClelland Warfel, and is of PA Dutch ancestry on the paternal side. Martin B. Warfel died when our subject was 10 years old and the lad was compelled to hustle for himself.  He soon began to work out at farming, at first for his board and clothes and later for wages.  Continuing thus until he was 19 he then came to Ladoga in 1876 and there attended the Normal School for two years, then became a teacher in the same, in a few branches, although he continued as a teacher and was later given larger duties, remaining there as a teacher continuously many years, giving eminent satisfaction in every respect and finally became president of the school.  Leaving the Normal he went to Indianapolis where he taught a year in the Hadley & Roberts Academy, then went to Frankfort, Ind and became principal of the HS while Prof. RG Boone, a noted educator was superintendent of the schools there. A year later he returned to Ladoga and became superintendent of schools, which position he continued to hold in a manner that reflected much credit upon himself and to the eminent satisfaction of the board and pupils, for a period of 23 years, his long retention being sufficient evident of his popularity.  During that period he taught, during the latter years, the children of some of his former pupils, finally resigning as superintendent in 1908.

His great force of character and ripe scholarship, together with his ability as an organizer enabled him to bring to his work in Ladoga the results of his professional experience with marked effect and it was not long until the schools under his supervision advanced to the high standing of efficiency for which they are now noted.  Many things tending to lessen the teachers' labors and at the same time make them effective were introduced; the course of study throughout modified and improved, the latest and most approval appliances purchased and everything in keeping with modern educational progress, tested and where practical retained.  Continuous application through a period of more than a 1/4 of a century gave him a clear and comprehensive insight into the philosophy of education and the largest wisdom as to methods of attainment of ends, while his steady growth in public favor wherever he has labored and his popularity with teachers and pupils have won for him educational standing that is state wide and eminently deserving.

On Dec 1, 1890, Mr. Warfel bought the Ladoga Leader, which he had managed for a period of 18 years during the period that he was connected with the schools here, and since resigning from the schools has devoted his entire attention to this popular and rapidly growing paper, which equals any of its type in this part of the country.  It is all that could be desired from a mechanical standpoint, has become a valuable advertising medium and prints the latest and best news of the day and its editorials carry weight in promoting the general affairs of the community which it served.  For a period of 11 years while engaged in school work, Mr. Warfel was instructor in teachers' institutes in Indiana, in which he was regarded as a most potent factor, being thus engaged during the summers, instructing the teachers of 42 counties.  He received a life teacher's certificate in 1884, which relieved him from all necessity of subsequent examination.  No one in the state is more deserving of such honor.

Fraternally, Mr. Warfel belongs to the Masonic Order and has been master of the Ladoga lodge.  He is a member of the knights Templars at Crawfordsville of which he was Eminent Commander.  He is also active in the Knights of Pythias in which he has instituted two lodges and, as presiding officer, has taken 162 men through the three ranks to full membership.  He is widely known and influential in fraternal circles. Mr. Warfel was married in 1882 to Lizzie Huntington of Ladoga, a lady of talent, education and refinement, a daughter of Hiram S. Huntington and wife, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in these pages.

Five children have graced the union of our subject and wife: George, an electric engineer on the Union Pacific RR at Kearney, NEB is married and has two children, Louise and Minnie; Herbert is in the engineer's office of the Central Union Telephone Co at Columbus, Oh; Nellie is at home with her parents in Ladoga; Louise and Charley died in childhood.  Mr. and Mrs. Warfel are both members of the Presbyterian Church. He has retained his vitality and intellectual vigor to a remarkable degree.  He is a most genial and pleasing gentleman personally. - transcribed by kbz