"History of Northeast Indiana, LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties"
Vol II 1920 by Ira Ford, Orville Stevens, William H. McEwen, William H. McIntosh
p.173
"HENRY GURTNER, an honored veteran of the Civil war, has for half
a century been a factor in the farming and community life of the vicinity
of Hamilton, and is now enjoying a well earned retirement and the comforts
gained by a life of industry. He was born in Crawford county, Ohio, February
14, 1845, a son of Peter and Sarah (Tiernans) Gurtner, the former a native
of Pennsylvania and the latter of Stark County, Ohio. Peter Gurtner died
in Ohio in 1853, when his son Henry was only eight years old. The widow and
her family of three sons and two daughters came to Steuben County in 1855,
and she spent her last days near Hudson.
Henry Gurtner grew up in Jackson Township, had a public school education,
and in 1863, at the age of nineteen, enlisted in Company C of the Twelfth
Indiana Cavalry. He saw some of the hard fighting and scouting service of
the cavalry branch until the close of the war. In 1866 he and his father-in-law,
David Cummings, bought the David Morgan farm of ninety acres, and he lived
there about nine years. Selling his interests, he moved to DeKalb County
and bought eighty acres, and successfully farmed it for about twenty-five
years. He also owned ten acres in DeKalb County near the railway depot at
Hamilton, and he lived on that place for ten years. Since selling it he has
bought a comfortable house and lot in Hamilton village.
Mr. Gurtner has always been a stanch republican and is a member of
Griffith Post No. 648, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. His wife is a Methodist.
In 1866 he married Sarah Cummings. Their five children were named
Adelbert, Minnie, Ella May (wife of Warren Arnold, a merchant at Flint, Indiana),
David, and Harriet Elizabeth.
After the death of his first wife Mr. Gurtner married Joanna Clark.
They had two daughters; Rena and Ina, the latter the wife of Porfessor Forney,
superintendent of the Waterloo schools. For his third wife Mr. Gurtner married
Mrs. Lucretia (Casper) Clark, of Hamilton."
Submitted By: Theresa Ferguson
E-mail: WOATRF@aol.com