Biography of Reuben Lockwood, pages 546/547/548/549.  
History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, 
Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.



Few men of DeKalb county were as widely and favorably known 
as the late Reuben Lockwood, of Auburn, Indiana.  He was 
one of the strong and influential citizens whose lives have 
become an essential part of the history of this section of 
the state, and for years his name was synonymous with all 
that constituted honorable and upright manhood. Tireless 
energy, keen perception and honesty of purpose, combined 
with everyday common sense, were among his chief 
characteristics and, while advancing individual success, he 
also largely promoted the moral and material welfare of his 
community.  Reuben Lockwood, who for many years was an 
honored resident of DeKalb county, was born in Jackson 
township, this county, on January 20, 1841, and died at his 
home at Auburn on March 30, 1912.  He was a son of Alonzo 
and Rosamond (Phelps) Lockwood, who were numbered among the 
sturdy pioneers of this section of the country.  Alonzo 
Lockwood, who was a pioneer in  the southern part of DeKalb 
county, was born in 1814 in Vermont, the son of Levi 
Lockwood and wife.  In young manhood he left his native 
state and located in Licking county, Ohio, where he married 
Rosamond Phelps, a native of Granville, that county. In 
1834 he removed to Allen county, Indiana, and two years 
later came to DeKalb county, where Mr. Lockwood entered one 
hundred and sixty acres of land four miles southwest of 
Auburn, and there established their permanent home.  He was 
a poor man when he came to this county, the trip being made 
up the St. Joe river and Cedar creek in a canoe which bore 
all their worldly effects.  However, he was a hard worker, 
and was determined and ambitious to succeed in his new 
home. By dint of the most insistent labor and rigid 
economy, and by the exclusion of every expensive habit, he 
was enabled to buy out other settlers who were discouraged 
and desired to move elsewhere. In this way he was enabled 
to accumulate thirty-six hundred acres of land in different 
places, twelve hundred acres being in one tract adjoining 
his first farm.  About twelve hundred acres were located 
near Paulding, Defiance county, Ohio, and some in Michigan, 
but the greater part of this holdings were in DeKalb 
county. He engaged very extensively in the buying and 
selling of live stock, much of which he also raised on his 
own farms, which he sold at considerable profit, most of 
his transactions being in horses and cattle.  He was 
eminently successful in every transaction in which he 
engaged, his deals being characterized by shrewdness and 
sagacity of a high order, and in 1866 he was enabled to 
retire from business pursuits and removed to Auburn, where 
he spent the remainder of his days. His death occurred on 
July 4, 1886, at the age of seventy-two years, while in 
Defiance county, Ohio, his death being immediately due to a 
fall from a cart. He was survived a number of years by his 
widow, who died in Auburn in 1898. They were the parents of 
seven children, namely:  Cyrus, who died in 1854, at the 
age of nineteen years; Reuben; Celia, who died about 1876, 
at New Elm, Minnesota, was the wife of George Coleman; 
Irvin, who spent his entire life in Richland township, this 
county, died in 1891; Lyman was a farmer and resided in 
Auburn, this county; Philo J., now deceased, lived in 
Washington D. C. He was a noted pension attorney; Eunice is 
the widow of Benjamin Zigler and lives in Auburn; Cornelia, 
the widow of Davis E. Caruth, also lives in Auburn. Reuben 
Lockwood was reared on his father’s farm, in the operation 
of which he took an active part, and in the meantime 
secured his education in the common schools of the 
neighborhood.  On November 22, 1861, he enlisted as a 
private in Company K, Forty-fourth Regiment, Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, with which he went to the front,  but 
the ensuing winter was an unfortunate one for the entire 
command, as all but three or four of the regiment were 
either very ill or in poor health, especially at the time 
of the battle of Shiloh, but in which nearly all took an 
active part despite their poor condition. Mr. Lockwood’s 
health became so precarious that he was mustered out soon 
afterwards because of physical disability. Upon his return 
to peaceable pursuits, Mr. Lockwood became a salesman, 
which vocation he followed in various lines for many years, 
traveling over a large portion of the country. In 1887 he 
helped to organize the Monitor Manufacturing Company, of 
which he was chosen vice-president. They erected a factory 
northeast of Auburn Junction, this county, where they 
engaged extensively in the manufacture of wind mills, 
potato crate, Fargo harrows and also ran a planing mill.  
The business was continued until 1897, when it was 
discontinued. Besides the business interest mentioned, Mr. 
Lockwood owned about six hundred of farm land, located in 
Ohio, Michigan and this county, to which he gave his 
attention and in the operation of which he was very 
successful. In the business affairs of the community he was 
prominent figure and contributed much to the prosperity and 
upbuilding of the community in which he lived. He was a man 
of broad sympathies and good-hearted in his attitude toward 
others, being well liked personally by all who came in 
contact with him.  On December 22, 1892, Mr. Lockwood was 
married to Mrs. Sarah Clarke Carr, of Detroit, whom he met 
in that city while exhibiting the products of his factory. 
Mrs. Carr was born four miles south of Dexter, in Washtenaw 
county, Michigan, and is the daughter of Dr. Henry and Mary 
(Pritchard) Clarke, both of whom were natives of London, 
England. Dr. Henry Clarke was a man of splendid education, 
possessing several diplomas, and spoke fluently seven 
different languages. He and his wife were married in 
London, and they afterwards came to Washtenaw county, 
Michigan, where the Doctor was engaged in the practice of 
his profession until seventy-eight years old. He had very 
early in life taken an interest in the science of anatomy, 
having begun dissecting at the early age of fifteen years. 
He became a surgeon of note and had a large practice all 
over Washtenaw county, where he was commonly known as the 
“old English doctor.” Aristocratic in his manner of life, 
he was nevertheless very kind to the poor and never charged 
for his medical services when the recipient was not able to 
pay. Their daughter Sarah A., was married in 1878 to George 
Washington Carr, of Bellville, Wayne  county, Michigan, and 
two or three years later they moved to Detroit, where Mr. 
Carr was employed as a railroad fireman.  Mr. Carr, who was 
born February 18, 1853, at Pinckney, Michigan, was the son 
of Malcolm and Nancy (Richmond) Carr, and his death 
occurred on March 17, 1888. To Mr. and Mrs. Carr were born 
two children: Lizzie G., who died in infancy, and George 
Freeman, who was born September 20, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. 
Lockwood moved to Auburn in September, 1893, and Mr. 
Lockwood formally adopted his wife’s son, George, who 
dropped his middle name of Freeman, being known now as 
George Carr Lockwood. On April 23, 1910, he married Hulda 
Gessner, of Monroe, Michigan, daughter of Joseph and 
Elizabeth (Weisbeck) Gessner. To them were born a son, 
Reuben G., on January 21, 1911. George C. Lockwood is a 
tester at the Auburn automobile factory. Reuben Lockwood 
was for many years an honored and appreciative member of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, taking an active 
interest in the workings of the order. He was a member of 
the pioneer band which accomplished also much in the early 
development of this section of the state, and as a defender 
of his country in the hour of her trial he proved himself a 
patriot, and because of these characteristics he is 
entitled to specific mention in the annals of DeKalb 
county.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com