Biography of Franklin P. Myers, pages 915/916/917/918. 
History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, 
Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.



The following is the sketch of a plain honest man of 
affairs, who by correct methods and a strict regard for he 
interests of his patrons has made his influence felt in 
DeKalb county and won for himself distinctive prestige in 
the agricultural circles of Smithfield township. He would 
be the last man to sit for romance or become the subject of 
fancy sketches, nevertheless his life presents much that is 
interesting and valuable and may be studied with profit by 
the young, whose careers are yet to be achieved. He is one 
of those whose integrity and strength of character must 
force them into an admirable notoriety which they modesty 
never seek, who command the respect of their contemporaries 
and their posterity and leave the impress of their 
individuality deeply stamped upon the community.  Franklin 
P. Myers is a native of the county in which he lives, 
having been born in Smithfield township on March 9, 1858, 
and is the son of Jacob and Barbara (Snyder) Myers. Jacob 
Myers was born in Germany, the son of Frederick and Barbara 
Myers, who brought their family to this country when Jacob 
was but an infant.  They settled first in Seneca county, 
Ohio, where Jacob was reared to manhood and there he 
married Mollie Talbert, to which union were born six 
children; of these Sydney and Joe are deceased; Henry lives 
in Michigan; Eliza Ann lives near Medon, Michigan; Sarah 
Jane is deceased and Barbara Ellen lives at Burr Oak, 
Michigan. The mother of these children died in Ohio and 
Jacob Myers moved to Wood county, that state, where he 
married Barbara Snyder, who was born in Pennsylvania, of 
Dutch parentage, and who was brought to the state of Ohio 
by her parents.  About 1850, or possibly a little earlier, 
Jacob Myers came to DeKalb county on horseback and bought a 
farm of eight acres located northwest of Hudson in the 
southwestern part of Steuben county, the farm being at that 
time but little improved. Later he brought his family to 
that farm and some time during the fifties he bought a farm 
on one hundred and twelve acres lying three miles south of 
Hudson in Smithfield township,  DeKalb county, to which 
place he moved and subsequently bought other lands in that 
neighborhood until he became the owner of three hundred and 
sixty acres. He  was a diligent worker, knowing no such 
word as idleness, and by his indefatigable efforts brought 
his farm to a fine standard of improvement and cultivation, 
much of the clearing being done by moonlight. He would lay 
the bottom rails of a line of fence during the day in order 
to get the line and would finish the fence by night.  Much 
of his land was bought cheap, and that he sold off the 
timber, using good judgment and wise discrimination in the 
management of his affairs and thus became well-to-do, 
honestly earning the prosperity which he later enjoyed. To 
this union with Barbara Snyder were born the following 
children:  Susan, Franklin P., John, Jesse, Ida, Amos, 
George, Maggie, Amanda, and Lovina, who died in infancy. 
Prior to her marriage to Mr. Myers, the mother of these 
children had been married to a Mr. Hardman. Jacob Myers 
spent the remainder of  his life in Smithfield township, 
where his death occurred about 1883, and he was survived a 
number of years by his widow, whose death occurred in 1894.  
Franklin P. Myers was reared on the home farm, securing his 
education in the schools of the locality and when about 
sixteen years of age moved to a farm which his father had 
bought just east of his first purchase, and there the 
subject lived until his marriage in 1882. He then went to 
farming on eighty acres of land owned by his father in 
Fairfield township, where he remained four years,  at the 
end of which period he came to Smithfield township and 
bought thirty-eight acres of land from his father-in-law, 
to which he subsequently added twenty-six acres adjoining 
in section 19. To the cultivation of this land he has 
devoted himself and has achieved success as the result of 
his close application to his own affairs and sound judgment 
and good common sense exercised in management of the place. 
He has carried on a general line of farming, raising all 
the crops common to this locality and also gave some 
attention to live stock. His pleasant and attractive 
residence, substantial and well-arranged barn, and the 
well-kept condition of the farm indicated him to be a man 
of good taste and who understands the business to which he 
is applying himself.  On November 30, 1882, Mr. Myers 
married Delilah Stofer, who was born in Columbiana county, 
Ohio, on February 12, 1858, the daughter of Eli Stofer, by 
who she was brought to Fairfield township, this county, in 
1865. To Mr. and Mrs. Myers were born three children: Clark 
Wilson, born July 5, 1885; Glenn Lloyd, born September 18, 
1889; Maydie Pearl, born May 7, 1895. On April 2, 1908, 
Clark Myers married Orpha McEndarfer, daughter of Byron 
McEndarfer, and they have a daughter, Iris. On February 18, 
1912, Glenn married Alta Urey, the daughter of John Urey, 
and they live in Fairfield township on the Urey farm; they 
have one son. Wilson Wayne Myers. Mr. Myers has not been 
selfish in his life, but has given a due share of his 
attention to the interests of the community with which he 
has been identified for so many years,  giving his support 
at all times to every movement which has promised to be of 
material benefit to the community. He stands for the 
highest standard of citizenship, and in this he has set a 
worthy example, for this life has been such as to earn the 
commendation of all who know him.  Rev. Eli Stofer, father 
of Mrs. Myers, was born on April 21, 1836, in Columbiana 
county, Ohio, the son of Samuel and Mary Anne (Wolfe) 
Stofer, the father a native of Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, and the mother of Fayette county, that state. 
Eli Stofer was reared on a farm in Columbiana county, Ohio, 
and at the age of twenty, in 1856, was there married to 
Elizabeth Weaver, who was born in Columbiana county, the 
daughter of Isaac and Catherine (Shively) Weaver. Her death 
occurred on January 18, 1914. Isaac Weaver was a native of 
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. In 1864 Mr. Stofer moved 
to DeKalb county, Indiana, settling in Fairfield township, 
and in 1874 moved to the southwest quarter of section 19, 
in Smithfield  township, where he owned fifty-four acres of 
land, practically all he can care for in this later years, 
being now seventy-eight years old. About a year after his 
marriage Mr. Stofer united with the Mennonite church, his 
wife joining that society two years later. Her parents had 
reared her in the Dunkard church and here change to the 
Mennonite church was entirely voluntary on her part. About 
four years after coming to Indiana, he helped organize a 
Mennonite church near his home, and about 1870 he was 
ordained a minister in that denomination, with which he has 
been identified very closely ever since. To Rev. and Mrs. 
Stofer were born seven children: Oliver lives near Garrett 
and has two children by is first wife, Warren and Grace, 
and three by his second marriage, Goldie, Orpha and 
Thurlow.  His second wife died, about 1897; Delilah Stofer 
became the wife of F. P. Myers, the immediate subject of 
this sketch; Amanda J., widow of Jacob Kalb, lives at 
Ashley and has two children, Myrtle and Shirley; Edwin O. 
died at Warsaw, Indiana, in 1907, leaving a widow and two 
children, Ruth and Paul; John, who is employed in the 
railroad shops at El Paso, Texas, married Della 
Spiegelmeier, and they have two children living and one 
dead; Mary Catherine is the wife of William Kessler, who 
lives across in Fairfield township about a mile west of her 
father’s homestead; Ella became the wife of Alva Brand, and 
after his death she married Edward Zerbragg, and they live 
in Ashley. Rev. and Mrs. Stofer have been married fifty-
eight years, and the almost six decades of their union have 
been years of unalloyed happiness, their faces today 
showing the peaceful life they have led, for there is a 
serenity pictured there which is born of a sound faith in 
the Infinite. On the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding, 
their children and children’s children visited them in 
honor of their father and ancestor whose character has been 
such as to reflect honor on the family. They have six 
children living, fourteen grandchildren and ten great-
grandchildren. They are indeed a worthy old couple and this 
volume would be incomplete without this specific reference 
to them.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com