FRANK S. CHENOWETH. In Princeton Township, five miles southeast of Wolcott, and on Rural Route No. 11, out of Reynolds, one of the homes which suggest comfort and enterprise and the best standards of Indiana agriculture, is that occupied by Frank S. Chenoweth. Mr. Chenoweth has had a somewhat varied and active career, was in business as a meat dealer for a number of years, has a reputation over White County and elsewhere as a capable auctioneer, but for practically twenty years has devoted his best energies to the development of land, and while providing for his family has also accumulated the honors of good citizenship and the kindly and helpful relations with the community. Fully three generations of the Chenoweth family have been identified with White County. They came when the country was new and shared in the discomforts of pioneer existence and did something to extend the area of cultivation and provisions for homes and institutions in this region. In America the Chenoweths have lived since the years preceding the American Revolution. Two brothers of the name came to this country from England, and from one of these was descended Thomas Chenoweth, grandfather of Frank S. Chenoweth. Thomas Chenoweth was born January 29, 1787, only a few years after the close of the revolution and a short time before the United States had formally been gathered together in one stable federal government under the constitution. He was a son of Richard and Martha Chenoweth. On April 13, 1813, Thomas Chenoweth married Asenath Mounts, who was born January 9, 1797. Of their children the only one to grow up was Ira, three of whose descendants now live in Indiana in the battleground community. For his second wife Thomas Chenoweth married, March 25, 1819, Sarah Steenbergen, who was born March 25, 1801. The two children of this union were: Peter H. S. B. and Charles. The latter has descendants now found in Tippecanoe County. Prior to the year 1848 Thomas Chenoweth and his three sons, Ira, Charles and Peter moved out from Miami County, Ohio, to Big Creek Township in White County, settling on what is now known as the George Wolverton farm. Thomas Chenoweth, though at that time past middle life, was well fitted for the duties of leadership into a new country. He was a big man physically, and had the strong elements of character which well fit in with the pioneer type and with the best ideals of Christian citizenship. In the early days he was known as a whig and later became a republican voter, but it is not known that he ever held office and probably never cared for such distinction. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Peter H. S. B. Chenoweth, one of his sons, was born September 26, 1822, and died December 15, 1860, in the prime of his useful manhood. He was buried in Big Creek Township in the old Carr Cemetery just south of Chalmers, where the remains of his wife also repose. He was married July 13, 1848, the year he came to White County, to Magdalene Schuetz, who was born in Wayne County, Indiana, July 4, 1827, of Pennsylvania Dutch and German descent. Her parents were Anthony and Esther Schuetz. Anthony Schuetz deserves remembrance for the fact that he constructed the old Schuetz Mill, now known as Oakdale, which is said to have been the first mill ever built on the Tippecanoe River. Peter Chenoweth and wife became the parents of three children; Mr. William S., now deceased: Gilbert A., who lives in Colorado; and Frank S. The mother of these children died January 16, 1908. Frank Schuetz Chenoweth was born on what is now known as the old George Wolverton place in Big Creek Township, August 21, 1860. The advantages and circumstances of his youth were similar to those of other farmer boys in White County during the '60s and '70s, and his education came almost entirely from country schools. He has no conscious remembrance of his father, who died a few months after the birth of this son. His father was a whig and republican, a Methodist, and followed the vocation of farming and mason work. On September 26, 1888, Frank S. Chenoweth married Lizzie Hemmer, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, July 1, 1865, the third of nine children, five sons and four daughters, of Peter and Mary Magdalene (Miller) Hemmer. Six of these children are yet living, namely: Theresa, the wife of Thomas Doudicon, and engineer at Danville, Illinois, and they have three children: Katie, the wife of M. A. Lewis, a merchant at Peru, Indiana, and they have six children; Mrs. Chenoweth was the next born; Peter, Jr., a resident of Effingham, Illinois, and superintendent of a canning factory, married Lena Ruppert and has three children; Mamie, wife of Jacob Vogel, a farmer in White County, and they are the parents of seven children; and John, a resident of Fountain, Michigan, married Miss Marie Seymour and has three children. Mr. Hemmer, the father, was born in Bavaria, Germany, January 6, 1832, and came to the United States when nineteen years of age, at that time a poor but industrious lad. In 1874 he came with his family to White County, and this country continued his home until his death, which occurred on the 1st of August, 1898. He was a democrat politically, and both he and his wife were members of the Catholic Church. Both now lie buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery at Reynolds, Indiana. Mrs. Hemmer was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, March 2, 1835, was reared to young womanhood in her native land, and then came to the United States. The vessel on which she took passage was wrecked, and the voyage consumed three months. Mrs. Chenoweth was educated in the parochial schools of her church. She and her husband began their married life poor in pocket but rich in industry and perseverance, and together they have won for themselves a prominent place in the life of their community. Four children were born into their home, Robert E., who lives with his father and mother; Helen M. the wife of Charles Van Voorst of West Point Township; and the mother of one child named Frank William; Paul G., who also lives at home; and Loretta L., deceased. About 1887, the year before his marriage Mr. Chenoweth engaged in the hardware business at Chalmers, and spent three years as a merchant in that village. While there he also bought grain from the William Scott & Company of Indianapolis. His next enterprise was operating a butcher shop for three years, but at the end of that time he hold out and engaged in a similar business at Wolcott, where he remained about a year and a half. It is recalled that he built the first structure on the south side of main Street in Wolcott, now known as the Jackson Meat Market. His original enterprise there was burned out, but he rebuilt and finally sold and came into Princeton Township in 1895, locating in sections 34 and 35, range 5 west, where he since applied himself industriously to farm enterprise. When his shop was burned in Wolcott it practically spelled bankruptcy for him, at least cleaning out all of his visible resources, and had to begin all over again, putting his foot on the first round of the ladder towards prosperity. He has since regained more than he lost and is now the owner of 140 acres of land in Princeton Township. For the past five years he has paid much attention to his work as an auctioneer, and his services are in great demand by all people holding sales. It is said that he probably sold more real estate at auction than any other man in White County. As a farmer he has taken special pride in developing his land from a crude and unprofitable condition until it now stand as one of the representative farmsteads of White County. An important part of the improvement has been the laying of many rods of tile, so that the land is practically now all drained and susceptible of intensive cultivation every season. He may take the more credit for the fact that he has performed most of the labors himself. His individual experience in this work made his services all the more valuable when he held the office of drainage commissioner two years. Though never a seeker for office, Mr. Chenoweth has been quite active in republican politics. He belongs to no secret fraternities, and he and his wife are members of St. Joseph's Church at Reynolds, and give liberally to its support. Besides the raising of crops he pays much attention to blooded Duroc Jersey hogs and in every sense of the word is a progressive farmer and a live and public- spirited citizen.

Back to the White County Biographies Main Page