Biography of Daniel Grogg, pages 612/613/614.   History of DeKalb 
County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.



Daniel Grogg



	The student interested in the history of DeKalb county, Indiana, 
does not have to carry his investigations far into the annals before 
learning that Daniel Grogg was long an active and leading 
representative of its leading agricultural interest and that his labors 
proved a potent force in making this a rich agricultural region.  
Through several decades our subject carried on farming, gradually 
improving his valuable place, and while he prospered in this, he also 
found ample opportunity to assist in the material development of the 
county, and his co-operation was of value for the general good.

	Daniel Grogg, who became one of the earliest settlers of Union 
township, DeKalb county, Indiana, was born in Stark county, Ohio, on 
the 13th day of August, 1818, and was a son of Solomon and Mary 
(Snyder) Grogg, who were born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, but 
who became pioneer residents of Stark county, Ohio, where the father 
died, the mother afterwards coming to DeKalb county with her children 
and living here until her death, which occurred at the advanced age of 
ninety-five years. The Grogg family is of German descent, and there are 
still in possession of members of the family valuable heirlooms, among 
which is a pewter plate one hundred and fifty years old, on which are 
stamped German, French, and English seals; a goose-oil jug of unique 
design and an old spinning wheel used by Mrs. Grogg.  Daniel Grogg was 
reared on a farm and received his education in the common schools of 
his locality.  In May, 1849, he became a resident of DeKalb county, 
settling on a farm in Union township, where he spent the remained of 
his life, the farm being located near the county farm.  Daniel Grogg 
had also bought a farm in the northwestern part of what is now Grant 
township, comprising one hundred and fifty-eight acres, of which he 
paid five hundred dollars and which afterwards became very valuable 
land.  Daniel Grogg married Elizabeth Hultz, and to them were born six 
children: Abe, who lives near him and who is represented elsewhere in 
this work; Peter, who lives on the old homestead east of the county 
farm; George, who died at the age of forty-six years, leaving a wife 
and one daughter, now deceased; Frank, who lives west of Auburn, and 
Emily, also deceased.  Daniel Grogg died at his Union township home on 
March 23, 1887, and his wife died in December, 1888.  Mr. and Mrs. 
Grogg were for many years active and earnest members of the Lutheran 
church, in the prosperity of which they were deeply interested and to 
the support of which they contributed liberally of their means.  Mr. 
Grogg during his lifetime made many permanent and valuable improvements 
on his farm, so that at the time of his death it was numbered among the 
leading agricultural tracts in the county.  Among the improvements was 
a fine two-story brick house, which is still standing.  Mr. Grogg’s 
domestic life was exemplary, for the home was a genial and happy one.  
He was an affectionate and faithful father and his sons have cause to 
honor him and revere his memory.  He was a hospitable man and cordially 
responsive to all social claims and his home was attractive to all whom 
he numbered in his list of friends. The death of such a man, even in 
the rounded fullness of a long life where his work had ceased to be 
more than an example, was a public loss, and not only his intimate 
associates but the people generally of the community felt that his 
passing away was a distinct loss to the community.  He left to his 
family the rich memory of an unstained name and to the locality where 
he lived the record and example of an honorable and well spent life.

	Reverting to Mr. Grogg’s ancestry, it may be stated that his 
mother, whose maiden name was Mary Snyder, was born in Pennsylvania, 
moving to Ohio in a day when there was but few white people in all that 
country, the savage red men being practically the only human beings, 
and they were not very peaceably inclined to the whites.  Her mother’s 
father, Henry Reichelderfer, came to this country from Germany, and it 
is related that he was nearly a year making the trip across the ocean, 
during which everyone on board the ship nearly starved, it being 
necessary to eat the rats that infested the ship in order to deep 
alive.  Henry Reichelderfer was a great hunter and settled in Ohio in 
an early day.  An aunt of Mary Snyder was captured by Indians in Stark 
county and tied to the eaves of the cabin by the little fingers of her 
hands, so that her toes barely touched the ground, and another aunt was 
horribly gashed and criss-crossed, dying from the effects of her 
injuries.  Following these atrocities Captain Brady and his famous band 
of Indian fighters followed the red men and wreaked on them vengeance 
for their misdeeds.



Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com