Biography of Charles Eckhart, pages 323/324/325/326/327/328/329/330.  
History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc. 
Indianapolis, 1914.



Charles Eckhart



	The, following sketch tells of a boyhood whose strength was 
developed by overcoming obstacles; of young manhood, when the path to 
future success was only dimly to be seen; of middle life, when the 
earlier days of diligent and sustained effort, tenacity of purpose, 
rugged honesty and thrift began to bear fruit; of the full manhood, 
when the rewards have come, and are being used for the furtherance of 
noble causes.  A simple recital of Mr. Eckhart’s career, without 
attempt at eulogy, may well encourage and inspire others to follow by 
the same road of hard work and honest purpose to the success that may 
be won.

	Charles Eckhart was born February 24, 1841, at Germantown, 
Pennsylvania, and is the son of John and Catherine (Fraley) Eckhart.  
His boyhood was spent at Fisher’s Hollow, now a part of Germantown. 
There, at the age of eight years, he began helping his father spool 
yarn, his father being a weaver.  Of schooling he had only a year and a 
half, and that is schools that were far short of the present standard.  
When he was fifteen years old the family moved into Philadelphia, and 
there he found employment in a woolen mill where they made fancy goods, 
his father being also employed in the same mill.  In the fall of 1857 a 
panic spread over the business world, causing the woolen mill to shut 
down and the lad started out to seek his fortune elsewhere.  He had 
only three dollars in his pocket, and he did not spend that on auto, 
carriage nor railway. He walked.  The first day he covered fifteen 
miles.  He got supper, bed and breakfast at a tavern, and it cost him 
seventy-five cents, one-fourth of his cash capital.  Another day of 
fifteen miles and he came to Hilltown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
where he found a chance at learning his chosen trade, carriage making.  
It was a humble little shop, and he was engaged two weeks on trial.  
After two weeks he made a bargain with his employer to serve two and 
one-half years for board and washing, with three weeks off in harvest 
time, but went to Philadelphia and got a job at four dollars per week 
while be boarded at home.  At the end of four weeks he had sixteen 
dollars, for he had saved every cent. Returning to his employer at 
Hilltown, he asked for a new agreement, for he saw he could not clothe 
himself and meet his obligations at that rate.  The employer would not 
consent to a better arrangement, so the young man left him, first 
paying all his small debts; he never left a place without settling 
every cent he owed.  After a thirteen-mile walk he took the train to 
New York city, where he spent a week vainly looking for work.  From 
there he went to Albany, where he had relatives, but he failed to find 
them.  Returning to New York city, he then went on foot to Trenton, New 
Jersey, seeking work on the way.  From there he went by boat to 
Philadelphia, where his parents were residing, and finally found work 
in a dye house at two dollars per week, working seven days a week.  He 
remained there all winter and the following spring secured a position 
with D. R. Moyer, who had bought the carriage shop at Hilltown. Mr. 
Eckhart was to work for Mr. Moyer one year under Moyer’s instructions.  
After six months he bought release from the original agreement and 
worked by the piece.  He worked often from four in the morning, putting 
in as many as sixteen hours a day.  Six months later Mr. Moyer failed 
in business.  Mr. Eckhart, who was then a boy of only eighteen years, 
had saved a few dollars, and also had some wages due him.  Boy, though 
he was, he bought the stock in trade, giving his personal note for the 
balance.  Being a comparative stranger and without financial backing 
did not destroy his credit, for all knew his industry and he had shown 
that he was honest.  This is evidenced by the fact that he had a credit 
enabling him to go into debt in the amount of eight hundred dollars.

	At the breaking out of the Civil war business became dull in his 
line, and, like thousands of other, Mr. Eckhart enlisted to fight for 
the Union. On September 6, 1861, he joined Company A, One Hundred 
Fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, under Capt. E. L. 
Rogers and Col. W. H. H. Davis.  He was made fourth sergeant at once. 
The time until November was spent at Doylestown and then till March, 
1862, at Washington, D.C., drilling every day but Sunday. In March they 
went as part of McClellan’s army to Alexandria and then by transports 
to Newport News, Virginia, arriving the day after the historic battle 
between the “Monitor” and the 

“Merrimac.”   They helped in the siege of Yorktown and when the rebels 
evacuated that place they took part in the battle of Williamsburg. 
Following the rebels to their final stand at Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines, 
the battle of Fair Oaks was fought May 31 and June 1, 1862. In that 
bloody battle, the One Hundred Fourth Regiment and their brigade lost 
more men than any other regiment or brigade in the battle.  They were 
in the Seven Days retreat, when, late in June, they were driven out of 
their position near Richmond and fell back, fighting all the way for 
seven days.  After reaching Harrison’s Landing they remained about a 
month.  Abandoning that position, the army went on toward Fortress 
Monroe and to the battle of Antietam, but the One Hundred Fourth 
Regiment and their brigade was ordered to Gloucester point and there 
did guard duty till January, 1863. From there they went on an 
expedition down through the Carolinas.  May 20, 1863, Mr. Eckhart was 
discharged on account of physical disability, at Hilton Head, South 
Carolina. At the time of his discharge he ranked as first sergeant.

	In the fall of 1863, Mr. Eckhart went to Morris Island, South 
Carolina, and hired out as a sutler’s clerk, and for a time was in 
business for himself as a sutler.  After eleven months he returned to 
Philadelphia, in September, 1864, visited a relative near Waterloo, 
Indiana, and it was then that he made the acquaintance of the one who 
later became his wife and the mother of his children. In February, 
1865, he enlisted as first sergeant in the Two Hundred Thirteenth 
Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and did guard duty near Washington, in 
Maryland and Virginia, until November 24, 1865, remaining in service 
about six months after the war.  He next entered the Bryant & Stratton 
Business College, at Philadelphia, but, not having enough money to 
carry him through, he left before completing his course, and in the 
spring of 1866 went to work at his trade at Norristown, Pennsylvania.  
In the fall of 1866 he came to Indiana to visit his uncle at Waterloo.  
We may also infer that he made other interesting visits in that 
neighborhood, for he secured a position at this trade in Kendallville, 
and on October 31, 1866, was united in marriage to Barbara Ellen 
Ashelman, who resided near Waterloo. She was a daughter of John U. 
Ashelman, and early pioneer of this county, who is spoken of elsewhere 
in this work.

In the spring of 1867, Mr. Eckhart moved to Auburn, and about the first 
of July was promised a good situation at this trade in Chester county, 
Pennsylvania, to which place he moved at once.  There his first son, 
Frank E., was born on October 9, 1867. Two weeks after the birth of 
their first child the family moved to a place in Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania, where Mr. Eckhart engaged in partnership with D. R. 
Moyer, his old employer. After one year Mr. Moyer withdrew and Mr. 
Eckhart continued in business for himself at that until October, 1874.  
During their residence there, three other children were born; Annie, 
born January 22, 1869; Morris, born March 25, 1871, and William, born 
January 18, 1873.

	In the fall of 1874, business was at a very long ebb all over the 
country.  Mr. Eckhart sold out and moved back to Auburn, at which place 
he has made his home ever since.  For a time he could not find regular 
employment and took any kind of honest work he could find. He was 
virtually obliged to go into business to provide employment. He began 
in a small way, at first in the parlor of his home on East Seventh 
Street, making a few carriages. That house is now the office of the 
Eckhart Carriage Company.  He built a small shop nearby, a structure 
eighteen by twenty-four feet, two stories high, and in that building, 
in March 1875, started what is the Eckhart Carriage Company of today.  
Fortunately for Mr. Eckhart, he had already acquired a thorough and 
practical knowledge of every branch of carriage making except the 
blacksmithing, and he was his own master mechanic. From the time his 
little boys were eight years old, he required them to help as they 
could when not in school.  From the start he always insisted on the 
best of workmanship and strict honesty in his business. Perhaps a 
customer had a vehicle in which a defect of workmanship would develop, 
all unnoticed by the customer; Mr. Eckhart would not wait until the 
customer would see it, if his practiced eye had detected the fault.  He 
would call the customer in and fix the defect free of charge. His goods 
soon established a reputation for being built and sold on honor.  The 
business grew, and on an average of once in two years since then it has 
been necessary to enlarge the plant.  Continued improvements have been 
made it he constructive appliances of the plant, and the buildings are 
arranged with the purpose of handling the work through different stages 
of construction in a systematic and economical manner.  The plant is 
located along the Vandalia railway and has its own private track.  
Their business has grown from the limited start in a private residence 
to one that employes a large number of skilled workmen, with a force of 
traveling salesmen, and has built nearly five thousand vehicles in a 
year.

	About 1902, the carriage company began, in an experimental way, 
to make automobiles, having already at hand most of the needed 
machinery, appliances and the organization two successfully launch such 
a business. After about three years they erected a building near the 
carriage factory, two stories high, sixty feet wide and one hundred 
feet long, using the lower floor for auto making.  By 1906 their 
automobile business was well able to stand alone and required larger 
quarters.  They bought a factory building and grounds along the 
Vandalia tracks in Auburn, and installed their machinery. They 
assembled an organization of skilled workmen and began operation at the 
present location October 1, 1906. They have not advertised extensively, 
but have depended upon the same methods that made their carriage 
factory a success, striving for economic efficiency of system in 
carrying on the various operations, but, above all, insisting on honest 
quality in everything.  Now their business has reached about two 
million dollars a year, and Auburn automobiles are sold in about one-
half of the states of the Union, every car being a good advertisement 
for the factory.

	About 1895 Mr. Eckhart retired from the active management, 
leaving his son, Frank Eckhart, in charge of the carriage factory. The 
sons having had practical experience from early childhood, and each one 
master of at least two trades, they are better fitted for their 
responsibilities than many an older man, whose experience was not so 
thorough and practical in the formative period of life.  They 
understand the practical details of their line of business from top to 
bottom, and have both been of great assistance in building up the 
Eckhart plants of Auburn.  It is a source of great satisfaction to Mr. 
Eckhart that his sons, trained by him for their careers, have developed 
their talents so well, and are so competent, for he knows he need not 
fear for the business with them in charge.  They have managed in a way 
to merit the hearty approval, which he gladly accords them.  Since 
retiring from business Mr. Eckhart has traveled in every state in the 
Union except one, and spends his winters usually in California, but 
occasionally in Florida. Although he is comparatively free from 
business cares and has ample means, he is not an idler, but uses his 
energy, time and money in any cause that is for the general good of 
fellow men.  He has been active in politics, but not with hope of 
pecuniary reward.  He has for full thirty years supported the 
Prohibition party, for the good he can do in promoting the cause of 
temperance.  He has campaigned for the party with his name on the 
ticket as a candidate for any office, having run for the lowest office 
on the ticket up to the highest in the state, for he was the party 
candidate for governor in 1900.  He has campaigned actively, speaking 
all over Indiana, never at the expense of the party, but freely paying 
all his expenses and contributing of his money too help the cause.

	In religious belief he is a member of the Advent Christian church 
(not Seventh-Day Adventist) and has been a tower of strength in the 
denomination.  He has given liberally to the Advent Christian College 
of Aurora, Illinois.  In recognition of his help so freely given, the 
main building of the institution is named Eckhart Hall. Considering 
that he has succeeded so well with such meager schooling as he had, one 
might expect him to esteem schools but lightly, but he does not do so.  
He believes every child is better off with schooling, at least up to 
high school, and higher where a professional life is contemplated.

	In Auburn, Mr. Eckhart has been always ready to help in whatever 
he considers for the general welfare of the community. He is a member 
of the DeKalb county board of charities and corrections, and is also a 
member of the county council.  He contributes liberally to the churches 
of Auburn, and one of his benefactions that Auburn will always remember 
with gratitude is the Eckhart Public Library.  He was member of the 
Auburn public Library board when the library was in an upstairs room 
south of the court house.  Recognizing that it was inadequate, the 
board decided to seek subscriptions and ask Mr. Carnegie to contribute 
liberally.  Mr. Carnegie agreed to contribute twelve thousand five 
hundred dollars, but later Mr. Eckhart agreed to purchase the ground 
where the library is now, present it to the city and build the library.  
Dr. Lida Leasure wrote Mr. Carnegie to the effect, and received from 
Mr. Carnegie a reply saying in part: “Let me congratulate Auburn upon 
having such a citizen as Mr. Eckhart.  I should like to shake him by 
the hand as a fellow worker in a good cause.  Happy man, who can 
console himself through life with the thought that because he lived one 
little spot on earth has been made better than it was before.  I wish 
him long life and happiness.”  A more extended description of the 
library and grounds will be found elsewhere in this work.  It is said, 
by competent authorities that there is probably nowhere to be found a 
finer nor better equipped, library for its size than the Eckhart 
Library of Auburn.  His aim in every stage of construction was to have 
the best of material, design and workmanship, and he spared no expense 
to make it so.

	In 1912, Mr. Eckhart and his son Frank contributed twenty 
thousand dollars each with which to purchase the ground and erect the 
Young Men’s Christian Association building at Auburn.  Since then they 
have each contributed twenty-five hundred dollars additional, and will 
probably have to give as much more, making in all fifty thousand 
dollars for the grounds, buildings and furnishings complete.  An 
organization of Auburn business men was formed to carry forward the 
work, and the building erected at its present location at the southeast 
corner of Fifth and Main streets. A more extended description of the 
building will be found under the appropriate heading.

	Mr. Eckhart’s first wife was called to rest on September 10l 
1903.  In her childhood and youth she was innured to the privations and 
hardships incident to early settlement.  She bore her share of the 
burdens of home life when her husband’s business was in its humble 
beginnings; she was with him as it grew to its later magnitude; but no 
change in fortune ever made any change in her ideal domestic character.  
She loved home and family, and her constant purpose was to make the 
fireside attractive and to bring up her children by precept and example 
to become worthy and useful member of society.  She was a member of the 
Advent Christian church, in whose creed she had full belief and 
confidence.  On October 18, 1904, Mr. Eckhart married Martha A. 
Hoffman, who was born near Carey, Ohio, and is a daughter of Rev. J. H. 
and Margaret Hoffman.  Her father was a Lutheran minister, a graduate 
of Gettysburg College, a good Greek scholar, and preached in both 
German and English.  Although well educated and fitted for the more 
public places of the cities, his earnestly devoted disposition led him 
to do missionary work in out-of-the-way churches and among the poor.  
His daughter, now Mrs. Eckhart, also has the disposition to do good for 
others and seconds her husband in his philanthropies.

	Of Mr. Eckhart’s children, Frank E. Eckhart, who is manager of 
the Eckhart Carriage Company, married Grace Leiter and has three 
children, George, Mary Ellen and Josephine.  He has a beautiful home in 
Auburn, is much like his father in his desire to use his money for good 
causes, and is a member of the Methodist church.  Morris Eckhart, who 
is at the head of the Auburn Auto Company, is a keen, active business 
man, and has one of the finest residences in northeastern Indiana.  He 
married Ada McInterfer, of Waterloo, and has one daughter, Ruth.  
William Eckhart, who is at Los Angeles, California, with the Shugers 
Manufacturing Company, makers of automobile tops, married Nettie 
Willis, daughter of Moses B. Willis of Auburn, Indiana, and they have a 
son, Charles W., and a daughter, Edith.  Annie is the wife of George W. 
Shugers, of Auburn, who is now proprietor of the Shugers Manufacturing 
Company at Los Angeles.  They have no children of their own, but are 
rearing a bright little girl named Clara.





Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com