ANDREW J. UNCAPHER. Many lives have entered into the founda

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ANDREWJ . UNCAPHER. Many lives have entered into the founda-
tion and development of Starke County, and none of them more worthy
to be considered in a history of pioneer personalities than A. J. Un-
capher. Mr. Uncapher was practically the founder and builder of the
prosperous little Village of Grovertown in Oregon Township, and for
upwards of fifty years has been the leading figure in that community.
In a sketch of his activities will be found more of the history of
Grovertown than could be written under any other head.
B'efore the present Pennsylvania Railroad was built through Starke
County, in this then comparatively wild section of Oregon Township
Mark E. Reeveso wned forty acres in the northeast corner of section 27.
Mr. Reeves made a contract to deed the railroad company' a hundred
feet on each side of the right of way on condition that a station and
certain other buildings should be built by the railway company. A
civil engineer named Grover laid out and platted the site, and it was
named Grovertown in his honor. Before the railway company had com-
pleted its buildings it asked of Mr. Reeves a deed to the hundred foot
frontage on either side, but he would only agree to the terms of his
contract to turn over the deed when the railway company completed
its part of the contract. The. company refused this and took down a
partly completed water tank, moved it to another location, and thus
killed the townsite for the time being. The plat still remained, and a
couple of parties had built small stores, but the proposition was not in
a way to substantial success. Grovertown, as it chanced, was exactly
the halfway mark between Fort Wayne and Chicago.
The next chapter in the history of thIs little village begins with the
entrance of Mr. Uncapher on the scene in 1867. He purchased from
Mr. Reeves the entire forty acres, erected a general store, and began
as a merchant and trader to contract for all the live stock, grain and
other produce raised in the neighboring country, and keeping a store
which sold the settlers everything they needed from a threshing machine
to a goose yoke. His store was the real town, and year after year his
prosperity increased. He gathered in the trade from a large scope of
country, and his customers came even from the then struggling village
of Knox. He had bought his first stock of goods in March, 1868, and
some years ago he ere'cted a fine store building on the main corner of
the town and near the railway station. This building is 24 feet wide
220
HISTORY OF STARKE COUNTY 221
with 110 feet depth and 24 feet high. Here he carried an immense
stock of merchandise, fitted for the local trade, and though the subse-
quent building of railroads and the rise in importance of Knox inter-
fered somewhat with his original business,i t has been one of substantial
prosperity down to the present time. Mr. Uncapper also served as post-
master of Grovertown twelve years, and later his son had the office four
years. He was station agent and express agent, and at one time the busi-
nesso f the express office on a 10 per cent basis yielded $5 a day. He also
represented some fire insurance companies, did a large business in that
line, but his chief prosperity has come from his real estate investments.
His surplus from the business at Grovertown was invested in lands,
largely in Oregon Township, and as an investor he has shown almost
infallible judgment. He had been brought up on a farm, knew farming
as an experienced operator, and becamea n expert valuator of practically
every piece of land in Oregon and adjacent townships.
His real estatei nvestments were not confined to Starke County. In1888
he went to Chicago, and in a subdivision of Englewood, then a separate
suburb, bought seven acres, paying $1,600 an acre. He laid out this
subdivision and improved it, and still owns a portion of the tra<:t, which
is now included in the City Qf Chicago and is one of the most closely
built up sections of the city. It has, of course, had a wonderful increase
in value in the past twenty-five years. Mr. Uncapher gave his attention
to this city property until 1892, and theI;I returned and resumed business
at his old stand in Grovertown. His store at Grovertown is now under
the management of i\is son Sidney.
For many years he has continued handling lands in Starke County,
and has not only bought but has added extensive improvements, and has .
done as much perhaps as any other one man to contribute fertile and
productive acres to Starke County. Upwards of three thousand acres in
Oregon Township alone have at one time or other been under his owner-
ship, though at the present time his holdings amount to about two
thousand acres. This includes much of the choicest land to be found in
Oregon Township and he pays taxes of more than two thousand dollars
annually.
For a man whose successi s so undisputed, Mr. Uncapher has had a
really remarkable career, beginning as a poor boy. He had only a few
months education all told, and has relied on hard work, sound judgment
and an adaptability which has causedh im, especially in his earlier years,
never to refuse an opportunity fox: legitimate earnings. At one time he
carried mail by horseback and by buggy over his father's star route
from Plymouth, Indiana, to Logansport, a distance of fifty miles, and
later he also looked after the mail carrying between Grovertown and San
Pierre. While he has been extremely successful in the acquisition of
wealth and prosperity, it has been a fortune well deserved and no one
can justly grudge him a single dollar. He has been the central figure
in all the growth and activities of Grovertown, and while it is not a city,
it is one of the important centers of population and business in Starke
County, and has had a steady prosperity.
222 HISTORY OF STARKE COUNTY
Andrew J. Uncapher belongs to a pioneer family of Starke County.
He was born July 30, 1842, a son of Israel and Margaret (SuIt)
Uncapher. His parents came from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania,
located in Marion County, Ohio, in 1837, and after a residence there of
five years moved out to, the western frontier in Mi~ouri. Later they
returned to Ohio, and in 1853 Israel Uncapher came to Starke County.
He was a man of mechanical turn of mind, had been a miller in Ohio, and
a farmer in Missouri. On moving to Starke County he located in Oregon
Township near Grovertown, and acquired his first eighty acres in
section 23. He entered this land at Winnemac, going on horseback to
make the entry. There he lived as a farmer and a man of industry and
excellent qualities until his death in 1881. For twelve years he served
as justice of the peace.
A. J. Uncapher was eleven years old when his parents came to Starke
County, and while his education was limited to the pioneer schools, he
learned the best lessonso f life in hard work. He lived on the homestead
with his father until reaching his majority, and then started out with
no capital except energy and ambition to succeed. He went west at the
age of twenty-one, but returned not long after and made a liviug by
canvassing for books, then sold sewing machines, and another fact of
interest in his early career was contracting to build a schoolhouse. He
got out the material from the native forest, cutting the trees with his
own hands, and finished the contract, for which he received $501. For one
term he was a teacher. At the same time he raised potatoes on five acres
of ground, and sold the crop in the ground for $250. In the early days
I he was one of the chief buyers and shippers of potatoesf rom Starke
County, sending them east in carload lots, and in this way largely got his
start. From dealing in potatoes he engaged in the general merchandise
business,a nd a general outline of his activities since that time has already
been related.
Early in his business career Mr. Uncapher met and married Mary
E. l\IIcCormick. Their marriage relationship has been one of ideal
happiness, characterized throughout with love and success. Mr.
Uncapher is a man of exemplary morals, his favorite beverage is cold
water, he has never used tobacco, and has devoted himself to business,.
to home and to church. In his career he felt called upon to do some-
thing in the name of religion, and one of his first acts was donating land
for a cemetery, and his little son, Charles, was the first to be buried
therein. Soon afterwards he and his wife were converted and baptized
at a general conference of the United Brethren Church, held at Indian
Village by Elder Fletcher Thomas. Since then he has been very useful
in church work, has served as Sunday school superintendent, as class
leader, delegate to conferences and conventions. He paid more than
half the cost of the United Brethren Church at G~vertown, and it is
said that no deserving person has ever called upon him and gone away
empty-handed. Though always a democrat in voting, Mr. Uncapher has
HISTORY OF STAR.~ECOUNTY 223
. never aspired to office and his chief contribution to the public welfare
has been through his steady influence in the development of his section
of Starke County.
To Mr. and Mrs. Uncapher have been born the following children:
Sidney A.; Dora A.; R~ea P., ,deceased;C uba D., who died at the age
of thirteen; Charles W., who died when one year old; Mary L., who died
at the age of eleven months; Albert J.; and Mark E.
FRANK SLANSKY. One of the substantial citizens of Wayne To,vn-
ship is Frank Slansky, who has a comfortable and well improved home
in section 18. Frank Slansky first came to know Starke County when
a young man, more than thirty years ago, in the capacity of a farm
laborer. For a number of years he worked at his trade in Chicago,
and about sixteen years ago returned to Starke County and has since
enjoyed prosperity as an agriculturist. He is a representative of the
sterling Bohemian people who are so numerously represented in this
section of Starke County, and while establishing a home and rearing his
family has also been a useful factor in community affairs.
Frank Slansky was born at Pilsen, Bohemia, June 15, 1864. Many
generations of the family had lived in the same locality, and his parents
were Frank and Mary (Taylor) Slansky, both of whom died in Bohemia
in the prime of life and when their son Frank was four years of age.
After their death he was reared by his grandmother Mary Taylor, was
educated in the local schools, and at the age of, sixteen left his native
land in 1880 and came to' the United States. He took passage on a
steamer at Hamburg, GeJ;'niany,a nd was fifteen days Oll'.t he ocean until
landing in New York City. He came west to Chicago and then to North
Judson in Starke County, where he was employed on a farm two and
a half years. He then returned to Chicago and found employment as a
laborer and afterwards developed skill as a mechanic in cabinet-making.
He was for many years a capable employe of a piano factory, where he
was one of the most proficient in general wood-working, as a finisher,
framer and joiner. This was his occupation for a number of years,
but in February, 1908, he returned to Starke County and bought sixty
acres of land .in section 18 of Wayne Township... He has since added
twenty acres and now has a well improved farm (}f eighty acres, part of
it in meadow and pasture, and the rest cultivated through the staple
crops of Starke County. He has a comfortable home, substantial barn
and other buildings, and enjoys a well deserved prosperity as a member
of the Starke County agricultural community.
During his residence in Chicago Mr. Slansky married Josie Svoboda.
She was born in the same locality of Bohemia as her husband in the
year 1867, a daughter of Thomas Rind Josie .(Hololova) Svoboda, both
of whom spent all their lives in Bohemia, her father dying at the age
of eighty-five and her mother aged seventy-five; They were both devout
members of the Catholic faith. Mrs.Slansky had known her husband
from childhood, and three yea,rs after his departure ~rom Bohemia she
followed him, taking the same route though landing at Baltimore, and
224 HIS'j'ORY OF STARKE COUNTY
immediately after her arrival in Chicago they were married. They have
now lived together and shared their toil and prosperity and joys and
sorrows for more than thirty years. Mr. and Mrs. Slansky are the
parents of eight children. Bertha is the wife of Henry Kudrna of Chi-
cago, and their children are Lillie, George and Irvin. Louis, who is a
machinist in Chicago, married Polly Roder, and their children ar,e Wil-
liam and Elmer. Jerry, who was born in Chicago, as were the other
children, and received his education in the public schoolst here, while still
a boy began an apprenticeship at the tailor's trade and followed that
occupation until coming to Starke County with his parents in 1908,
since which time he has assisted his father in the management 01 the
farm, and is still unmarried. Emma is the wife of Joseph Burijanek,
lives in North Judson, and is the mother of two sons, George and Ray-
mond. Edward, who is single, recently completed his education in the
public schoolso r Wayne TOWhship,a nd is BIth ome. The three youngest
children, Emil, Ella and William, are a;ll attending the district schools
of Wayne Township. Mr. Slansky and his older sons generally support
the republican ticket in politics.
WILLIAM HANKEY, Starke County had cause to regret the removal
of one of its most substa:ntial and thrifty citizens in the death of William
Hankey on July 21, 1911. Mr. Hankey had spent the greater part of
forty years in Starke County, was a capable mechanic, assisted in the
building and construction of many houses and other structures in this
vicinity, but his chief businessw as as a farmer, and the homesteadw hich
he developed and cared for during his lifetime is now regarded as one
of the best farms in Railroad Township, being situated on section 17, with
San Pierre as postoffice. Mrs. Hankey and 81n umber of her children
are still at the old home and their influence as workers and citizens is one
that may be well continued for many years to come in Starke County.
The late William Hankey was born in Posen, Germany, December
9, 1850, and was therefore in his sixty-first year at the time of his death.
Ris parents were Christopher and Anna (Schmidt) Hankey. His father
was a cabinetmaker in the old country, followed th8lt trade a number or
years and while living in Posen four sons and four daughters were born.
These children were all yet unmarried when the family in 1871 set out
from their native land, and embarked on 81v esSel at Bremen which
landed them after many days of sailing in New York City. From the
eastern seaport they came west to Wanatah in Laporte County, Indiana,
and after coming to this country Christopher Hankey changed his occu-
pation somewhat,c ombining farming with the businesso f carpenter. He
was an expert and finished mechanic and his services were greatly in
demand. A few years after locating at Wanatah the family removed to
North Judson in Starke County, and somewhat later still transferred
their home to Railroad Township, where the father bought eighty acres
of land in section 27. He improved this land from a wilderness condi-
tion, and made that the home of his declining years. He passed away
HISTORY OF STARKE COUNTY 225
February 2, 1902, while his wife died in May, 1893. They were mem-
bers of the Lutheran Church, and in politics the elder Hankey was a
democrat. .
The late William Hankey was the oldest son and the third child of a
family of eight children. He had just r~ached his majority when he
came to America, and in the meantime had secured a good education and
also had served an apprenticeship in the trade of his father. He like-
wise possesseds kill as an artificer in wood and metal, and for a number
of years actively followed the trade of house carpenter. Like his father,
he combined that vocation with practical farming in Railroad Town-
ship, and year after year contrived to prosper and add a little bit to the
sum total of his material resource~. When he died he was possessed
of an estate of more than three hundred acres of fine land and had always
stood as one of the most capable farmers and stock growers in that sec-
tion of Starke -County. His crops were mainly corn, rye and potatoes.
He also raised considerable sto~k, and was an all around good farmer.
In local matters he took much interest, and was a regular voter with the
democratic party and a man whose prosperity had been so well earned
that it gave him the thorough respect and esteem of his entire com-
... munity.
In Railroad Township in 1881 William Hankey married Miss Rose
Dalka. Her birthplace was also Posen, Germany, and her birthday was
Christmas Day of 1859. Her family for generations back were farming
people and her parents were Michael and Anna (Tessloff) Dalka. They
lived in Posen until most of their children were born. Two of the
Dalka children died young, and in 1864 the parents with their children
Michael, John, Charles and Rose emigrated to the United States settling
in Pulaski County; Indiana, where her father bought and improved a
good farm in Cass Township. His death occurred there September 7,
1884, at the age of sixty-four, while his widow survived until June 8,
1.910. Four days later she would have celebrated her eighty-second
birthday. They were of the best type of German people, thrifty, of
sound morals, and made any community better for living th~rein. I They
were of the faith of the Lutheran Church, while in politics Mr. Dalka
was a democrat and held several minor offices.
Mrs. William Hankey becaII;1eth e mother of thirteen children. Two
of these, Theodore and Herman, died in childhood. The eleven stillliv-
ing are: Lena, wife of William Kellerman of North Judson, and the
parents of one daughter Lena; John A., a farmer in Wayne Township
who married Lydia WeinkauI, and has three children, Lloyd, Edna and
Harry; William, who lives at home and is an expert and vigorous young
farmer, having the practical management of his father's fine estatej
I Edward, who lives at home, but who by profession is a moving picture
operator; Henry, a farmer, lives at the old homestead most of the
time; Emil, who is a graduate from the South Bend Business Col-
lege and is associated with his brother Edward in the moving picture
businessj Elvey, at homea nd unmarried; LeonaL . and Anna M., twin
15
226 HISTORY OF STARKE COUNTY
.
daughters who are now about six:teen years of age, and received good
educational advantages in the local schools and are both promising and
attractive young ladies. The family are all confirmed members of the
- Lutheran Church and attend worship at San Pierre, while the sons
are democrats.
AUSTIN.P.D IAL. The Farmers State Bank o,f Knox:, of which Austin
P. Dial was one of the organizers and is now president, is an institution
with a successful record, and has been in existence and efficiently serving
the community for more than twenty years. It was established in
January, 1893, as a private bank known under the title of Farmers Bank.
In January, 1901, the bank took out a state charter and was reorganized
as the Farmers State Bank. The capital of the original institution was
$10,000,b ut since its incorporation under a state charter the capital has
been $25,000,a nd it has a surplus of an equal amount. The total resources
of the bank in March, 1914, at the regular statement, showed over three
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and at that time the bank had ap-
proximately three hundrecd thousand dollars in deposits. Mr. Dial has
been president of the bank since it was incorporated. The first vice
president was H. H. Ellingson. In 1908 he was succeededi n the office
of vice president by J. W. Long, a well-known lumberman of Knox. F. P.
Whitson, now deceased,w as the first cashier and was succeededb y Isaac
Templeton, who resigned, and now lives in the State of Pennsylvania, and
Mr. J. W. Kurtz has held the office of cashier since 1906. The F'armers
State Bank has paid large dividends to its stockholders, and since 1913
it has occupied an ideal banking house on Main Street in Knox:. The
bank has membership in both the State and National Association of
Bankers.
Among the men who have started life at the bottom of the ladder
and have steadily climbed the upward rungs the president of the Farmers
State Bank is dese~ving of particular honor and of all the prosperity
which he has acqui~ed. He has lived in Starke County for sixty years,
and h~s thus been a witness of changes and developments such as a
younger man would find difficult to visualize. His home has been in the
State of Indiana for sixty-two years, and he was born in Holmes County,
Ohio, March 27, 1840. He comeso f German stock, and his parents were
thrifty and hard working, but always people in modest circumstances,a nd
were able to give their son Austin only a home, the usual brief training in
the schools accorded to the boys of Ohio and Indiana prior to the Civil
war, and thus the future banker began life entirely dependent upon his
own energy and ambition. .In 1852 he moved to Allen County, Indiana,
with his parents, and in 1854 to Starke County. Reared in the country,
he was a farmer by training, aud had many struggles before he was well
started on his career of success.M any years ago the people of Knox: knew
him as a professional ox:t eam driver, and he frequently drove an ox:t eam
hauling wood into Knox, and in that way and by ivarious other work
earned enough to supplement his meager income as a farmer.
HISTORY OF STARKE COUNTY 227
Mr. Dial in 1867 was elected county recorder of Starke county, and
filled tbat office for two successivet erms, for four years each term. In
1878 he was elected to the office of county treasurer, and in 1880 re-
elected, serving two terms of two years ~ach in that responsible place.
During his long career he has held a number of other local offices,a nd has
twice held office on the city board. Mr. Dial is a strong democrat, has
been delegate to different conventions, and in 1908 was an alternate
elector from Indiana. Though. best known as a banker Mr. Dial has a
fine farm in Starke County, and it was farming that constituted the basis
of his successful business career. He has lived in one house on South
Main Street for more than forty years, and that is one of the substantial
homes of the county seat.
On December 12, 1913, Mr. Dial and wife celebrated the fiftieth an-
niversary of their marriage. They are one of the oldest couples in Starke
County, and the fine co-operation and ideal relations which have always
subsisted between Mr. Dial and wife have been in no small degree re-
sponsible for their success. Mrs. Dial before her marriage was E'dna
Beatty. She was born in Grant County, Indiana, May 8, 1846, and was
about fourteen or fifteen years of age when her parents moved to Starke
County. She was married in this county at the age of seventeen,a nd she
and Mr. Dial started out with hardly a dollar, and for a number of
years had a hard struggle to support themselves and to provide for the
future. To their marriage were born two children. One of them died
unnamed, and the other, Beatty, died when three years of age.
JAMES C. FLETCHER. In every community are found those whose
character and ability well equip them for leadership in civic affairs
of importance and in the control of business enterprises of broad scope
and importance. In Starke County such a valued citizen is found
in the person of Mr. Fletcher, who is president of the First National
Bank of Knox, and who is likewise president and treasurer of the
Starke County Abstract, Title & Guarantee Company, which, as may
well be understood, exercises most important and beneficent functions
bearing upon the general well-being of the community covered by its
activities. Mr. Fletcher is serving also as state bank examiner for
fourteen counties in Northwestern Indiana, his work in this capacity
involving the periodical examination of the affairs of all banking insti-
tutions in his assigned territory with the exooption of the national
banks.
James C. Fletcher was born in Washington Township, Starke
County, Indiana, on the 20th of December! 1864, and is a son of John
and Clara (Thompson) Fletcher, the former a scion of Irish stock
and the latter a representative of a family of English origin that was
early founded in the State of Virginia. John Fletcher and his wife
were reared and educated in Clermont County, Ohio. There their mar:-
riage was solemnized, and there all of their children were born with
the exception of James C., of this review, who is the youngest of the
number. In 1860 John Fletcher came with his family to Starke County