Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
John E. Wolfe
One of the native sons of Boston township, Wayne county, Indiana, is John E. Wolfe, a partner in the firm which owns and operates the Elkhorn Roller Mill, of this township. He was born May 30, 1843, his parents being William and Mary (Burton) Wolfe, who were natives of Rockingham county, Virginia. They came to this state in 1830 and settled in Boston township, upon a farm one mile to the east of Elkhorn Mill. The father was a cooper by trade, and made a good living for himself and family by working in that line and by cultivating his farm. He was a member of the Friends' church at Orange, and was a quiet, peace-loving man, esteemed by all who enjoyed his acquaintance. He lived to the ripe age of seventy-seven years, his death occurring in 1884. His wife, Mary, passed to the better land some years before, in 1871, when in her sixty-sixth year. Of their eleven children the following-named are living in 1898: Mary, Mrs. A. F. Godwin, of Knox, Indiana; David, who owns part of the old homestead; Sarah, widow of L. H. Stigleman, of Richmond; Caroline, Mrs. Edgar Scarce, of Richmond; John E.; Ann, Mrs. J. P. Feasel, of this township; and Elijah, of South Whitley, Indiana. Jane, the eldest of the family, married William Watson in 1858, removed to Whitley county, Indiana, and died in October, 1898, aged sixty-eight years. Linnie, who died in 1865, at twenty-seven years of age, was the wife of L. D. Burton. Willie died at the age of eight years; and Susanna at the age of two years.
John E. Wolfe remained on the home farm until he was eighteen years of age, when he commenced serving an apprenticeship to the miller's trade, with Clayton, Brown and Bishop Addington, who owned the Elkhorn Mill at that time. This mill site has been occupied continuously since 1810, and the present building, the fourth, was erected in 1860. Since it came into the possession of Mr. Wolfe he has had it reconstructed thoroughly three times, as he is determined to keep it modern and as well equipped for work as any of its size and style in the state. The complete roller process is used and the best modern machinery to be obtained is a part of the equipment. The mill has a capacity of fifty barrels of flour per day, and Richmond and the neighboring small towns consume the entire output, and have done so for many years. Mr. Wolfe purchased a one-third interest in the mill in 1871, and for two years ran it in partnership with Messrs. Brown and Elmore. Then the present partnership was formed between Mr. Wolfe and Clement W. Ferguson, and the business relationship has continued harmoniously and uninterruptedly for a quarter of a century. Mr. Ferguson being vice-president of the First National Bank of Richmond, Indiana, and necessarily engaged m general banking business, it falls to the share of Mr. Wolfe to look after the actual operation of the mill. He thoroughly understands the least as well as the greatest points in the milling business and has made a grand success of the enterprise, keeping the products of the mill up to the highest possible standard. He received but fifty dollars a year for the three years of his apprenticeship, but he soon proved his worth and ability and has prospered.
In 1863 Mr. Wolfe enlisted in the Union army and served for six months in the quartermaster's department, under General Hooker, in Alabama. Returning home he re-enlisted, becoming a member of Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-third Infantry, serving in Tennessee and Alabama until the fall of 1864, when he was granted an honorable discharge, and resumed the ordinary routine of life in the old mill, where he completed his apprenticeship. In 1866 he went to Greencastle, Indiana, and for one year had charge of a mill owned by W. D. Allen. During the years 1868 and 1869 he was employed by Barnet & Whiteside, millers, in Camden, Preble county, Ohio, and then went to Osage City, Missouri, in the milling and grain business, where he remained for three years. Then, returning home, he entered upon his successful connection with the Elkhorn Mill. He also owns a farm of forty acres in this township, and is well-to-do. He is fond of hunting, is a member of the Richmond Gun Club, and has numerous fine trophies of the chase. An active Republican, he has been of service to his party and has attended various conventions of the same. In the Society of Friends he is a valued worker, attends the Orange preparatory meeting and the Whitewater monthly meeting, the annual meeting of the church, etc. For twenty years he has been the teacher of one class in the Sunday-school and for a quarter of a century he has been specially interested in the work of the school.
In 1870 Mr. Wolfe married Miss Mary A. Patterson, of Camden, Ohio, but she died ten years later, leaving one daughter, Maud, wife of Herbert Rosencrans, of Greensburg, Indiana. Mrs. Rosencrans is quite an artist, and is a lady of social and literary attainments. January 22, 1880, Mr. Wolfe married Miss Mary E. Jenkinson, of Richmond. They are the parents of two children, Clement W., a student in the Richmond high school, and Grace, also attending the Richmond schools.
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899