1907 - Lived Here 70 Years - Interesting Life Story of John H. Archer

Article from Mar 24, 1907 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1907, Johnny appleseed, John h. archer

1907 - Lived Here 70 Years - Interesting Life Story of John H. Archer The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sunday, March 24, 1907, Page 1.

1907 - Lived Here 70 Years - (continued)

Article from Mar 24, 1907 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) Obituary, 1907, John h. archer

1907 - Lived Here 70 Years - (continued) The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sunday, March 24, 1907, Page 9.

LIVED HERE 70 YEARS

Interesting Life Story of John H. Archer. Member of Pioneer Family Talks of the Early Days in Allen County.

Mr. John H. Archer yesterday celebrated the seventieth anniversary of his birth, and the announcement of the event was fraught with so much that is interesting in the early history of Fort Wayne that a Journal Gazette representative sought an interview with Mr. Archer, whose acute memory recalls minutely many details of the story of the upbuilding of the city and the development of the country round about.

There are few men in Fort Wayne who have accomplished so much toward the building of the community as has John H. Archer, who, in spite of his three score years and ten is still active in business and alert mentally and physically. Nor are there more than one or two living who have witnessed the stirring events of the better part of a century and remember them all accurately.

“I have helped to clear the wood from eighteen farms. I have reared, or helped to rear, nineteen children, have of my own and fourteen orphans; I have built forty-two houses in the city of Fort Wayne, and have laid out over 400 lots, comprised in several additions to Fort Wayne,” said Mr. Archer, with pardonable pride, and he added, possibly more proudly:

“I am not through yet. I am good for a lot of work still and Fort Wayne will hear more about me if I live and keep my health, which, I am glad to say, is much better than most men of may age enjoy.

Member of Pioneer Family.

Mr. Archer is a member of one of the oldest families of Allen county. His great-grandfather, Judge Benjamin Archer, came here in 1824 from Dayton, O., and invested his small fortune in farm lands in what was then the wilderness north of the village. His immediate ancestors had come from Ireland prior to the revolutionary war. On both sides Mr. Archer is descended from colonial ancestry. The Irish Archers first settled in New Jersey, and then moved to Ohio. The maternal ancestors were the Whitesides, also Ulster Irish, who settled first in Richmond, Va., then moved to Baltimore, and later to Chillicothe, O., then a frontier settlement. The Whitesides came to Fort Wayne shortly before the opening of the canal era.

Mr. Archer’s great-grandmother, “Aunt Betsy” Baltimore; who died at Chillicothe, O., many years ago, was a relative of the Calvert family, the Lords Baltimore, who fi rst settled Maryland. The oldest member of the family now living is Mrs. Dulcinea Hensel, of Connecut, an aunt of Mr. Archer. She is now seventy-seven years of age and recently wrote that she intended to visit Fort Wayne next May.

Helped to Make a City.

Of such sturdy stock was born John H. Archer, on March 23, 1837, on a farm in Washington township, about three miles north of the present city limits. He came to Fort Wayne in 1867, and first worked in a brickyard, then in the boiler shop owned by the late Neil McLachian, whose widow died two weeks ago. He then embarked in the real estate business and for a time was very successful. But afterwards he lost heavily and had to begin over again. He worked undauntedly, however, and he has to his credit the laying out of Beck’s addition. Bed’s sub., Archer’s addition, Archer’s out-lots, Archer’s Brookside addition, and Wiegman’s addition, and as he says, he is not finished. He has also assisted in the establishment of the Archer printing plant, which his sons manage.

“Bloomingdale is different now from what it was when I first knew it,” said Mr. Archer. “The only bridge across the St. Mary’s was at Calhoun street, and it was a toll bridge. There were then two houses in what is now Bloomingdale, and the country was practically a wilderness up to the jail flats. I remember well, between 1842 around our house at night, less than three miles from the town. I remember once having seen bear tracks across the road when I was on my way to school, but I never saw a bear here. My brother, however, once, while riding horseback near where Maysville now stands, came across a black female bear and two cubs.

But deer were very plentiful. The last place I ever saw a drove of deer together was on what is now the Goshen road, about two miles north of the present city limits. The road was just a winding trail through the woods, and I saw a whole drove of deer cross it just ahead of me.

“On July 4, 1843, I came to Fort Wayne and heard General Lewis Cass deliver his speech on the opening of the canal. He spoke in a grove near the present site of Swinney park.

“My Uncle, Alex McKinley, was the carpenter for the City mills, and Stephen Sithens, who died a year or two ago, was the millwright. The walls were raised with old-fashioned pike-poles.

First Steam Boiler.

“I knew all the Hamiltons, the Ewings, Hugh McCulloch, Jesse L. Williams, and all the earlier pioneers. I noticed reading a history some time ago that the Hamiltons brought the first steam boiler to Fort Wayne. That is not true, for my great grand-father brought the first steam boiler here from Dayton, O. He set it up and started a steam saw-mill on what is now the Jacob Rudisill farm, a short distance north of Centlivre’s brewery. The mill burned down and the boiler was then moved to the old still house, owned by Francis Comparet.

“Our family later moved onto what is now the Ridge road and settled on a farm about ten miles from Fort Wayne. I remember the names of every farmer who lived between here and Hicksville in 1845. The first across the river from the old fort, in what is now Lakeside, was a man named Coe. Then there came Jackson, John Klinger, Voors, John Tilberry, Henry Tillberry, Mr. Reed, Goodale (the first to raise watermelon for sale in Allen county); Corey, Naylor, Pattee, the grandfather of Deputy Sheriff Pattee; Donor, a Frenchman; Wilkes Gillette (father of former recorder C. M. Gillette); John Heath, Milton Heath, Stephen Heath (uncles of Stephen Heath); Alvin Hail, Ambrose Miller, Mr. Reynolds, Samuel Archer, my father; Charles Schreiner, Mr. Lake, Andrew Metager, Mr. Driesbach, Mr. Johnson and Mrs. May, the last one being the man after whom Maysville was named. Of all these Ambrose Miller is the only now living. He is both blind and deaf and is cared for by his children.”

Made First Brick.

Mr. Archer’s family made the brick for the first brick buildings erected in Fort Wayne. The first was the Schwieters building, still standing on East Columbia street. Among others were the first brick court house, the Masonic temple where the Bash building now stands on West Columbia street, and the old “post house” on East Columbia street between Calhoun and Clinton.

Mr. Archer remembers the time when an occasional Indian strolled into town and when many half-breeds thronged the streets. “I have often heard of people saying they remember seeing the streets filled with Indians,” he said, “but they were mistaken. The Indians had been taken away before my time, but I remember seeing many half-breeds in the streets. In fact, some of our leading early families are descended from these half-breeds.

Another fact upon which Mr. Archer prides himself is that he is one of the few persons living who ever saw Johnny Appleseed, the famous character of early days. “I remember seeing him at our house often,” he said. “I believe that Mr. George W. Brackenridge, Mr. Hiram Porter, of St. Joe township, and myself are the only living people who ever saw Johnny Appleseed. The late David Comparet also knew him. Johnny Appleseed was buried on what is now the Rudisill farm and the only man now living who attended the funeral is Hiram Porter. Johnny died of typhoid fever in the arms of Jerry Williams.

Mr. and Mrs. Archer are both in good health. Mrs. Archer was born in Pennsylvania sixtynine years ago and has been living in Allen county since her marriage. Mr. Archer was always a staunch republican until last year, when he became an independent voter.

“I will never bind myself to any party again,” he said, “and for the rest of my days I shall vote independently of politics for the best man and policies.”

The Whiteside family, like the Archers, is an old one and has many connections. Mr. Archer is a first cousin of the mother of Walker Whiteside, the famous actor.

[Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Sunday 24 March 1907, pg. 1]

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