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| The Robert Schroeder Family |
Here's a little history (ok, a lot of history) on the family who developed our farm:
Robert Schroeder, Sr. was born in Dearborn County, Indiana
on October 27, 1815 to Peter and Nancy Lyons Schroeder. This was one year prior to Indiana being
granted statehood. Peter was born in
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania on November 11, 1786 to Nicholas and ____
Schroeder. Peter’s parents had emigrated
from Prussia in 1785 and settled in Schuylkill County, PA. Nicholas was born in Prussia in 1745 and died
in 1819 in Virginia. He was a Lutheran
minister who moved briefly to Dearborn County, Indiana before returning to
Virginia. They had two children: Peter and John.
Peter Schroeder married Nancy Lyons in Dearborn County,
Indiana in 1812. Nancy’s parents
emigrated from England, first settling in Virginia then moving to Indiana. Peter and Nancy Schroeder had seven
children: Susanna, Robert, Eliza
(Cummins), Peter, Jessee, John, and Joel.
They moved to Rush county in 1820, then to Clinton County in 1831. Eliza (1817-1884) married David Cummins in
Clinton County; they moved to Marshall County in October, 1834. David Cummins was described as one of the
oldest citizens of North Township, having always lived in sight of where he
first located (McDonald, 1881). The
Cummins lived just northeast of the Schroeders, on the first road north of the
Schroeder Farmstead. Jessee Schroeder
moved to Iowa during the early 1830s, but relocated to Marshall County with his
wife, Emily, in 1833, settling along the Michigan Road, but then after 1860
moved to a farm in Polk Township.
Peter Schroeder and Robert Schroeder came to the area that
would become Marshall County first in 1832 for exploration purposes. The two dug ginseng and gathered cranberries
to sell to markets in Logansport and Lafayette (History of Indiana, Marshall
County Edition, Vol. 2, 1890). The two
spent a few months in the area then returned to Clinton County. Robert was so pleased with the area that he
returned in September, 1833, and settled near the location of the farmstead; he
resided in the county for the remainder of his life. When Robert settled in the county there were
only two white families living in the county:
Samuel Taber (his son, Cyrus, was the first white child born in the
county on June, 26, 1833), and Charles Ousterhaut. Both families settled in the spring of 1832
and lived south of Plymouth. Upon
arriving in the county Robert was employed as a superintendent of construction
by contractors opening the Michigan Road through Plymouth and some distance
north and south of the town; he also assisted in constructing the first bridge
across the Yellow River in Plymouth (McDonald, 1881 & 1908). The 1876
Illustrated Atlas states that Robert and Jesse Schroeder (brothers) settled
along the line of the Michigan Road in 1832 and were the only white inhabitants
in the area until 1835 when the remainder of the lands was open for settlement.
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| Siblings, c. 1910, prior to dredging Brush Creek |
In 1834 Robert was joined by the remainder of his father’s
family. Peter located on Michigan Road
lands a three miles north of Plymouth.
This appears to be on Section 9 of Michigan Road lands in North
Township, in the vicinity or partly located on the original Robert Schroeder
Farmstead. The Hoosier Homestead awarded
to the Schroeder Farmstead in 1977 stated that the farm had been in the family
since 1833, indicating a portion of it had been the land on which Robert Sr.
settled when he first came to the county (Farmers Exchange, June 17,
1977). A quit claim suit in 1935 names
Peter Schroeder (first, January 17, 1837) and successive owners of the “south
part of the north half of the northwest fractional quarter of Section 9 of
Michigan Road Lands by Galeman Dexter.
This would appear to be on the east side of Michigan Road, and the south
side of 5B Road, an area where it is reported that Peter and Robert operated a
cooper shop in the mid 1830s (Marshall County Genealogical Society Library
Links, Summer 2011). Peter Schroeder
(Sr.) was present at the organization of the county in 1836, being appointed
one of two first associate judges when the first term of court was organized in
October, 1836 (1876 Illustrated Atlas); he continued in that role until 1843. Peter was also listed in estry papers in 1838,
having found a cow on his property. Nancy Lyons Schroeder died in 1846 and was
buried at Fairmount Cemetery, just north of the farmstead along the Michigan
Road. Peter (Sr.) died on November 15,
1868 and was also buried at Fairmount Cemetery (Marshall County Republican,
Vol. 13, November 26, 1868). Their son
Joel, aged 15 years, 8 months, and 26 days, died on November 20, 1840 and was
also buried at the Fairmount Cemetery.
This would have been one of the earliest interments at the cemetery.
Robert, in conjunction with Mr. Packard, erected the first
sawmill in the county on Pine Creek in what would become Polk Township in 1835,
as well as a log hut in which he resided during that time. Robert Schroeder’s first home was described
as a log cabin that had been built on what was the Frank Martin farm in the
1920s; this is located in the northwest corner of the intersection at Black
Bridges (LaPaz: First 100 years). The saw
mill was abandoned. Robert returned to
central Indiana to marry Catherine Driskill on February 1, 1836 in Tippecanoe
County. Catherine was born on January
28, 1817 to William and Elizabeth Driskill in Clinton County, Ohio. Robert became the North Township Constable in
1837 and held the office of County Commissioner from 1849-1851. In 1840 both Robert and Peter Schroeder are
listed as heads of households in Marshall County. And in 1843 both are listed under a tax
duplicates list for North Township.
Robert and Catherine were the parents of nine children,
three of whom died in infancy. The
children who grew to maturity are John (b. 1838), Caroline (Thompson) (b. 1841),
Mary (b. 1844), Susanna (Byers), Catherine (Trowbridge) (b. 1852), and Robert
Jr. (b. 1860). Two children who bore
their father’s parents’ names, Peter and Nancy, died December 26, 1857 (age 1
year, 7 months, and 11 days) and November 16, 1850 (age 1 year, 8 months, and 8
days) respectively. They are buried next
to each other at the Fairmount Cemetery.
The name of the third child, its’ death and burial location is unknown,
but likely it occurred prior to 1850, and likely it was buried at Fairmount.
In the 1850 census Robert is listed as a farmer and head of
household in North Township. His wife,
Catherine, and children John (12), Caroline (9), Mary, Susana, and Nancy are
also listed. John was called the second
white child born in the county in a news article reporting his death in 1925
(Plymouth Pilot, November 3, 1925); his birth would have been in 1838 and the
article stated that his family had settled near Burns Bridge. Robert, along with his brother John and Mr.
Woodward (also from the area) left for California to mine for gold in 1852;
they returned in 1855. The same year the
Marshall County Agricultural Society was formed “chiefly through the efforts of
Robert Schroeder” and two other men (1876 Illustrated Atlas). In 1857 Robert became a Wesleyan Methodist
minister and in 1858 he was admitted to the Marshall County Bar. He made a lucrative business of drafting
legal documents.
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| The house, as it pretty much looks today too |
The 1860 census lists Robert Schroeder Sr. as the head of
household in North Township. Catherine,
his wife, and children Caroline, Mary, Catherine, Susan, and Robert, Jr. are
also listed. From 1860 to 1868 Robert
Sr. engaged again in the mill and lumber business. The family moved into their new homestead in
1867; it was located on a parcel containing just over 150 acres. In 1870 the family is listed in the North
Township census with children Mary, Catherine, Robert, and grandson Edward who
was Mary’s son (born in 1862) and retained the Schroeder name. Farmhands and maid William Wilkinson, Joshua
Bryan, and Margaret Middleton, also resided with the family. Robert Sr. was elected Justice of the Peace
for North Township in 1874 and held the office for four years. When the Old Settlers’ Society of Marshall
County formed in 1878 he was unanimously elected President, since he was the
oldest resident in the county at that time.
He was also a Notary Public from 1858 into the 1880s.
The 1880 census lists the family with children Mary and
Robert Jr. still residing at home, along with grandson Edward. Jane Wade, a maid, was also living with the
family. In 1880 Robert Sr. ran for the
office of State Representative; he lost by only 331 votes. Robert Sr. was a staunch Republican, having
originally aligned himself with the Whig party then gravitating to the
Republican Party when the Whig party dissolved.
He was also a firm promoter of the Temperance Movement. Robert Sr. drew up a will on November 26,
1886, naming Robert Jr., and Edward, his grandson, at co-executors. The will provided that the entire estate be
left to his wife Catherine in the event of his death, with a stipend of $50
annually to Mary as long as she remained unmarried. In the event that Catherine would die first,
the entire estate was to be divided equally between Robert Jr. and Edward, and
again, provide for the annual stipend to Mary.
Robert Sr. indicated that his other children were remembered by
advancements he had made.
Their daughter Susanna, who had married Jacob Byers and
moved to Iowa, made yearly trips back to the farmstead to visit the
family. She struggled with an illness in
1887 and thought a trip to the comforts of her native home would improve her
health. She instead died at the
Schroeder Homestead on September 12 of that year, with her parents by her
bedside. She was buried at Fairmount
Cemetery.
The mother, Catherine, died on March 14, 1890. The location of her death was not mentioned
in the obituary, but it is assumed she was at the homestead. The obituary complimented Catherine by
stating that the “hospitality of the Schroeder Household is known to almost
every person in the county”. She left
behind her husband, three daughters, two sons, 26 grandchildren, and eight
great grandchildren. Services were held
at the Fairmount United Brethren Church and she was buried at Fairmount
Cemetery. Robert Sr. died at his home on
Tuesday afternoon of August 7, 1894 after being ill for several weeks, only
able to sit in a chair “day and night”.
His funeral service was also held at the Fairmount United Brethren
Church, and he was buried next to his wife.
At the time of his death he was called the oldest settler of Marshall
County. Their tombstone is inscribed
with “first white settler of Marshall County.”
John Schroeder, the eldest son of Robert Sr., married Mary
Abshire (b. 1843) in 1861. They are
listed in the 1870 census for North Township with the following children: Milroy (possibly also known as James) (b.
1862), Mary (b. 1865), Sarah (b. 1867), and William (b. 1869). William was a private with company M, 157th,
IVI, in the Spanish American War; he died in the war. There are two J. Schroeder residences listed
on the 1880 North Township plat map. One
contains 80 acres and is immediately south of the Robert Schroeder Sr. farmstead. The other contains 82 acres and is located
just west of the Michigan Road, west of the Schroeder farmstead; the latter was
owned by Carrie Schroeder in 1908. These
could be John, the son, or John the brother to Robert. Both John (presumably the son) and Robert Sr.
created a mortgage for the property south of the farmstead in 1876; likely the
son built the homestead on that property that appears in the 1880 plat. John, the son, was estranged for his wife for
several years prior to his death in 1925.
He died at the county home at which he had been a resident since 1919;
he was buried at Oakhill Cemetery in Plymouth.
Mary died in 1933 and was also buried at Oakhill.
Robert Sr.’s daughter, Catherine Trowbridge, died in 1928
and was also buried at Oakhill Cemetery.
Edward, the grandson who inherited an equal half of the estate,
constructed a home further east of the homestead in about 1900, on the same
side of the road. Edward died in 1919
and was buried at Oakhill; his wife, also named Carrie, died in 1964. Edward and Carrie’s children were E. Naomi (Stoneburner)
(b. 1901), Olive R. (Dodson) (b. 1904), and Clarice E. (b. 1906).
After Edward’s death the jointly owned property, owned by
his heirs and Robert Jr.’s heirs, was divided.
Edward’s heirs received the easternmost 40 acres of the farmstead and
the south half of the acreage owned west of the railroad. The remainder went to Robert’s heirs. The division of land, included in the
abstract, stated that Robert Jr. and Edward had jointly erected two dwellings
and one barn on the farmstead. A verbal
agreement between the two men resulted in a general division of the land for
farming and a general division of the barn for each to use half. The house occupied by Edward Schroeder was to
be removed from the lands that would be divided to Robert Schroeder Jr.’s
heirs, and to vacate his half of the barn without doing damage to the
barn. If the men jointly erected the
existing barn on the property, it likely was constructed during the 1880s. The second dwelling constructed by the men
mentioned in the abstract may have been a small farmhand quarters on the
property, possibly used by Robert Jr. until his father’s passing when he moved
his family into the homestead.
Robert Schroeder Jr. married Carrie Kleckner (b. 1871) on
February 2, 1888. They took up residence
in the homestead, possibly prior to his parents’ death. They were listed in the 1900 North Township
census with their children: Agnes (b.
1891), Veva (Basset), and Lynda (Thomas).
By 1910 two other children were listed with them: Mildred (Boggs) and Kenneth (b. 1906). Carrie’s brother, Harry and his wife, Maude
Kleckner, and Carrie’s mother, Malinda, were also living with them. They had a number of boarders: Samuel Zile, Otto Dock, Ben Farel, John
Anderson, Herbert Espach, Cliff Sanseman, Frank Whitner, John Williamson,
George Barber, and George Moslander. A
speculative interurban line was being constructed through the Schroeder
farmstead during this time and the census states that at least two of these men
were working on the “electric road”. The
others were denoted with “odd jobs”, possibly farmhands.
Robert Schroeder Jr. died in 1917 and was buried at Oakhill
Cemetery. The same year two of his
daughters, Lynda and Agnes, moved to South Dakota to teach. Lynda met William Thomas in South Dakota and
was married there in 1918. Their only
child, Robert, was born there on July 31, 1920.
The mother, Carrie, died in 1933 and was buried next to her
husband. Their son Kenneth, who remained
a bachelor, became the sole resident of the homestead. Kenneth made improvements to the barn in
1926; his initials “KWS” and “1926” are inscribed in the concrete on the west
wall of the basement. Agnes, who also
remained unmarried, received the homestead from Kenneth in 1938. Kenneth died in 1944 and Agnes died in 1947. Both are buried at Oakhill.
Lynda Thomas’s family moved back to Marshall County on
March 20, 1940 and took up residence in the homestead. William and Lynda Thomas began raising beef cattle
on the farmstead, which they increased to over 200 acres. Their son, Robert “Bob” married Dorothy
Carothers on June 7, 1944, who grew up on the farmstead immediately south of
the Schroeder farmstead (the home fronts the Michigan Road).
