Biography of John Frantz, pages 609/610/611.  History of DeKalb County, 
Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.



John Frantz



	The subject of this review is a representative framer and stock 
grower of Grant township, DeKalb county, Indiana, and he is known as 
one of the alert, progressive and successful agriculturists of this 
favored section of the Hoosier state.  In his labors he has not 
permitted himself to follow in the rut in a blind, apathetic way, but 
has studied and experimented and thus secured the maximum return from 
his enterprising efforts, while he has so ordered his course at all 
times as to command the confidence and regard of the people of the 
community in which he lives, being a man of honorable business methods 
and advocating whatever tends to promote the public welfare in any way. 
	

	John Frantz is a native of the little republic of Switzerland, 
which has sent so many of her best citizens to America and who has 
contributed so largely to the upbuilding and development of the 
country.  He was born on July 5, 1850, the son of Christian and 
Margaret (Amstutz) Frantz.  When the subject was about four or five 
years old in 1855, the family came to America, locating in what is now 
the northwestern part of Grant township, DeKalb county, Indiana, where 
they bought a farm from the mother’s brother, who had preceded them 
here.  Here the subject’s parents spent the rest of their lives, being 
numbered among the best citizens of the locality, the father dying 
about 1893 and the mother in the spring of 1907. They became the 
parents of eight children, namely: Christian A., who lives with the 
subject; John, the immediate subject of this sketch; Tillie McClellan, 
of Huntington, Indiana; Mrs. May Grogg, the wife of Oliver Grogg, who 
lives west of Auburn; Maggie, now deceased, was the wife of Peter 
Schull; Samuel, Henry and Fred all died in childhood at the same time 
of diphtheria, and the subject of this sketch himself almost died of 
the same disease at that time.

	John Frantz has lived on the home farm in this county ever since 
coming to this county and after the death of his father and mother he 
bought the interests of the other heirs in the estate.   He had 
received a good, practical education in the district schools and 
devoted himself with indefatigable industry to the cultivation of the 
farm so that he has developed it into one of the best  agricultural 
tracts in this section of the county.  In 1885 he married Joanna King, 
who was born in Union township west of Auburn, the daughter of 
Alexander and Caroline (Bowman) King, who were early  settlers in this 
county, They came from Baltimore, Maryland, about 1840, and bought a 
farm west of Auburn where they spent the remainder of their lives and 
where Mrs. Frantz lived until her marriage.  Mr. and Mrs. Frantz are 
the parents of a daughter, Doreas, who received her education in the 
high school Waterloo, and who is a popular member of the social circles 
in which she moves.  Mr. Frantz has a pleasant and attractive house and 
the farm, which is well kept in every respect, is a credit to him.  He 
is a man of marked domestic tastes, his greatest pleasure being found 
in his home and its surroundings, to the improvement of which he 
constantly devotes his attention.  His brother, Christian, who is 
unmarried, also lives with the subject.  John Frantz is regarded as one 
of the most progressive and painstaking agriculturists in his township, 
using rare judgement and foresight, in all his undertakings and seldom 
makes a mistake in this calculations,  He is liberal minded, whole-
souled, kind-hearted and withal a useful and noble man who has justly 
won the praise and respect of all who knew him.



Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com