Biography of Ephraim Shipe, pages 587 / 588 / 589.  History of De Kalb 
County, Indiana.  Inter-State Publishing Company, Chicago, 1885.

Ephriam Shipe, was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., March 31, 1823.  His 
father was born in Lancaster County, Pa., Nov. 5, 1801, and when quite a lad 
moved with his parents to Westmoreland County, where he was married in May, 
1822, to Catharine Deedes.  Both were of German descent. In the fall of 1834, 
when our subject was in his twelfth year, they moved to Holmes County, Ohio.  
His father was in feeble health, and being in limited circumstances he was 
obliged to assist in the maintenance of the family, and had no educational 
advantages.  When twenty-one years of age he commenced life for himself, 
without even a good suit of clothes, his only capital being good health and 
a determined will.  He began to work at the carpenter’s trade for $8 a 
month and worked for the same man four seasons.  In the meantime he 
attended school four and a half months.  In the winter time when not 
otherwise employed he chopped and split rails and cut cord wood.  In the 
fall of 1847 he persuaded his father to move to Indiana, and together they 
located in Noble County.  Feb. 8, 1848, he went to Ft. Wayne and bought 
160 acres of land in Fairfield Township, De Kalb County, for $440, paying 
$110 in cash, and the rest to be paid in three annual installments.  He 
then went to Holmes County to take charge of two contracts he had made 
before leaving Ohio.  The following October, having finished his work and 
paid his hands and for his tools, he started for Indiana.  After making 
the payment on his land and paying the interest he had $2.50 left.  He 
spent a few days with his parents and then proceeded to De Kalb County, 
and began to improve his land.  Nov. 6, his father died leaving a large 
family with no means for their support.  This burden fell on our subject, 
who built a cabin, and Dec 31 moved his mother and nine children into his 
home.  The future indeed was dark, but he was strong and went bravely to 
work.  With the added expenses of his father’s sickness and funeral he was 
unable to pay for his land as soon as he had hoped, but September, 1852, 
saw this accomplishment.  In the fall of 1850 his mother returned to her 
native county, and during the summer his eldest sisters had left.  Thus he 
was without a housekeeper.  Oct 6, 1850, he married Sarah, daughter of John 
Kreighbaum.  His mother took her youngest child, leaving five to his care.  
To Mr. and Mrs. Shipe were born seven children---A son born Dec 12, 1851, 
died, aged two weeks; Ellen, born Sept. 14, 1853, died at the age of four 
weeks; Alma, born Dec. 21, 1854, is the wife of Isaiah Meas; John, born 
march 16, 1856, married Mary Eckhart; David, born July 27, 1857; Leonard, 
born Jan. 23, 1859, married Amanda Heaney; and a son born July 4, 1860, 
died in infancy.  His wife died July 5, 1860.  Jan. 24, 1861, he married 
Elizabeth Krogin, a native of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, born in 1834, a 
daughter of Daniel and Anna (Charlton) Krogin, the former of German and 
the latter of Irish descent.  The mother died at the age of sixty-six 
years, and the father is till living in the eighty-ninth year of his age.  
Mrs. Shipe removed with her brother-in-law, Samuel Teters, to Steuben 
County in her nineteenth year, and worked for her own support till her 
marriage.  To Mr. and Mrs. Shipe have been born six children---Sarah A., 
born Dec. 29, 1861, is the wife of Emra Teal; Ida Jane, born Feb 20, 1863, 
died aged ten years and four months; Catharine I., born Oct. 16, 1864, 
wife of John Norman; Frank, born Oct 1, 1865, died in infancy. Elizabeth, 
born Oct 25, 1867, died aged two years and two months; Mary, born Dec 16, 
1871.  In his finances Mr. Shipe has overcome all difficulties and has 
accumulated sufficient property to maintain him in comfort in his declining 
years.  In 1869 he built a brick kiln on his farm, and in 1872 built the 
first brick house in Fairfield Township.  In January, 1866, he and his wife 
united with the Methodist Episcopal church, and have since been faithful 
to its tenets and earnest workers in the cause of Christianity.  In all 
his business transactions Mr. Shipe has endeavored to be honorable and 
prompt to fill every obligation, and has thus gained an enviable reputation 
among all with whom he has had any deal.  In politics he has been a life-
long Democrat.  Although he has never aspired to official honors, he was 
elected Justice of the Peace in 1860, and served efficiently four years.  
He was drafted into the service of the Union in 1864, but being in poor 
health and having a family of small children, he sent a substitute, giving 
him $825.  Mr. Ship’s experience is a lesson to all young men in limited 
circumstances, as his prosperity is but the result of a life of hard work 
and economy, undaunted by trials, but with determination overriding all 
obstacles, and coming off conqueror at last.

Submitted by:
Arlene Goodwin
Auburn, Indiana
Agoodwin@ctlnet.com