Biography of Jacob B. Casebeer, M. D., pages 405406/407/408.  History 
of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 
1914.



Jacob B. Casebeer, M.D.



	The biographies of the representative men of a county, either of 
a past or present generation, bring to light many hidden treasures of 
mind, character and courage, well calculated to arouse the pride of 
their descendants and of the community, and it is a source of regret 
that the people are not more familiar with the personal history of such 
men.  DeKalb county, Indiana, has been the home and scene of labor of 
many men who have not only led lives which should serve as a lesson and 
an inspiration to those who follow them to the stage of life’s 
activities, but who have also been of commendable service in important 
avenues of usefulness.  The well remembered physician whose name forms 
the caption of this brief memoir was one of the useful workers in the 
world’s work, a man of well rounded character, sincere, devoted and 
loyal, so that there are many salient points which render consonant a 
tribute to his memory in this compilation. Standing as he did for many 
years at the head of one of the most important and exacting of 
professions, his labors were long directed for the physical 
amelioration of the people of his community with such gratifying 
results.  Personally, Doctor Casebeer was affable and popular with all 
classes and stood ready at all times to encourage and aid all laudable 
measures and enterprise for the general good. By a life consistent in 
motive and because of him many fine qualities of head and heart he 
earned the sincere regard of a vast acquaintance, and his success in 
his chosen field of endeavor bespoke for him the possession of superior 
attributes. Yet he was a plain, unassuming gentleman and 
straightforward in all his relations with his fellow men.

	Jacob B. Casebeer was born in Holmes county, Ohio, on April 11, 
1839, and was the seventh in order of birth of thirteen children born 
to David and Rebecca (Kenstrick) Casebeer, who were natives, 
respectively, of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and farmers by occupation.  
On the paternal side the family is of German descent. The parents of 
David, John and Nancy (Best) Casebeer, moved from Pennsylvania to 
Tuscarawas county, Ohio, when he was a child, and there the greater 
portion of his after-life was passed.  He was married to Rebecca 
Kenstrick on October 26, 1826, their union resulting in the birth of 
thirteen children, namely: Susanna, Enos L., David W., Rebecca M., 
Elizabeth N., Margaret C., Eliza E., Howard M., Jacob B., Sarah A., 
Martha J., John and Joshua.  David Casebeer was a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church and a man of exemplary character. His wife 
was the daughter of John and Sarah (Hivner) Kenstrick and she, too, was 
an earnest member of the Methodist church. The death of this worthy 
couple occurred respectively on February 25, 1885, and July 18, 1873.

	Jacob B. Casebeer was indebted to the common school for the 
limited education which he received, his scholastic training being 
practically completed when, the summer after he was fourteen years of 
age, he was granted the privilege of attending a select school two 
months before harvest and two months after, and to do this he was 
obliged to walk two and a half miles each way.  In the winter of 1853-
54 he engaged to teach a school which for some years had been noted for 
the unruly conduct of the larger scholars, but, by his firmness and 
tact, he succeeded in mastering the situation and was retained in the 
school for four years, after which he taught in other localities three 
years longer.  During this period he had pursued private studies and 
had received some opportunities for studying in advanced classes, thus 
becoming a well educated man, largely through is own efforts.  In 1860 
he went to Hardin county, Kentucky, and, after working as a traveling 
salesman for a time, was employed as principal of a graded school, and 
at the close of the regular term he took charge of a select school.  
Before the term of school was completed he was, on account of his well-
known Union sentiments, threatened with personal violence and requested 
to leave the country, but he courageously completed his contract, when 
he returned to Northern territory.  The following season he taught 
school at Middletown, Ohio, and the following year was principal of the 
schools at Fredericksburg, Wayne county, that state.  During this 
latter period he engaged in reading medicine in the office of Dr. James 
Martin, of Fredericksburg, and in the fall of 1863 he entered the 
medical department of the University of Michigan, where he remained 
until the following March.  The next June, having passed a rigid 
examination before the Ohio board of medical examiners, he was 
commissioned a surgeon in the Union army and assigned to the Dennison 
Hospital, near Cincinnati, where he was given charge of one division of 
the hospital.  Soon after he was promoted to the charge of that 
division of United States army hospitals, remaining there until 
February, 1865, when he was commissioned assistant surgeon of the One 
Hundred and Third Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He immediately 
joined his regiment, then in North Carolina, and remained with it until 
it was mustered out of service, June 27, 1865. He then returned to the 
office of Doctor Martin, where he resumed his studies and assisted the 
Doctor until fall, when he entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College, 
New York, where he was graduated, with the degree of Doctor of 
Medicine, on March 1, 1866.  He immediately came to Auburn, Indiana, 
and entered upon the practice of his profession, which continued 
practically without interruption up to the time of his death, which 
occurred on July 10, 1909.  In the winter of 1873-4 he went to New York 
City and took post-graduate courses in the college of Physicians and 
Surgeons, the New York Medical College and the Bellevue Hospital 
Medical College.  He was, at different times, associated in the 
practice with Doctors Kesslar, Spooner, Littlefield and Matheny, and on 
July 14, 1879, he and Dr. Matheny purchased a drug store, which they 
continued to conduct successfully for a number of years. Doctor 
Casebeer gained a high reputation as an able physician and skilled 
surgeon, being called frequently to distant points, while he acted as 
surgeon for the Detroit, Eel River & Illinois Railroad, and was medical 
examiner for a number of life insurance societies.  He was earnestly 
devoted to his profession and enthusiastic in its practice.  He was a 
close student, and kept abreast of the constant advances being made in 
the sciences of medicine and surgery, owning a large and up-to-date 
library and taking the leading medical periodicals.  He was a forceful 
writer on professional subjects and several of his papers, read before 
the American Medical Association, were widely copied by the leading 
journals in this country and favorably commented upon.  He was a member 
of the DeKalb County Medical Society and the Northeastern Indiana 
Medical Society, having served as president of the last-named body.

	Politically, Doctor Casebeer was an ardent supporter of the 
Republican party, being a man of strong and positive convictions on all 
questions of work of temperance reform.  Religiously, he was for many 
years an active public policy. On the temperance question he was 
especially positive in his opposition to the traffic and was active and 
influential for many years in the and earnest member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church and long served as a member of the official board.   
In local affairs he was interested in everything that affected the 
welfare of the people and at the time of his death was serving as 
county health officer.  He had also, for many years, served a pension 
examiner.

	Doctor Casebeer was twice married, first on February 5, 1863, to 
Harriet G. Smith, of Fredericksburg, Ohio, the daughter of Eli B. and 
Fannie Smith.  She died on January 28, 1869, leaving one daughter, 
Fannie B., who was born on November 27, 1865. The latter became the 
wife

of Bernard Gunn, and her death occurred at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 
the spring of 1902. On June 4, 1872, the Doctor married Sarah E. Nycum, 
of Ft. Wayne, the daughter of William and Margaret (Carr) Nycum. She 
was born in Bedford county, Pennyslvania, and at the age of two years 
was taken to Iowa by her parents, coming to Ft. Wayne when she was four 
year old, living there until her marriage to Doctor Casebeer.  To them 
was born a daughter, Hattie E., born April 11, 1873, who is now the 
wife of E.C. Altenburg, of Auburn.

	Although Doctor Casebeer’s life was a busy one, his professional 
duties making heavy demands upon his time, he never shrank from his 
duties as a citizen and his obligations to his church, his neighbors 
and his friends. Always calm and dignified, never demonstrative, his 
life was, nevertheless, a persistent pleas, more by precept and example 
that by written or spoken word, for the purity and grandeur of right 
principles and the beauty and elevation of wholesome character. To him 
home life was a sacred trust, friendship was inviolable and nothing 
could swerve him for the path of rectitude and honor.



Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com