Biography of George W. Park, pages 920/921/922/923.  
History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, 
Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.



The best title one can establish to the high and generous 
esteem of an intelligent community is a protracted and 
honorable residence therein.  George W. park, one of the 
best known and most highly esteemed men of DeKalb county, 
has resided here from early boyhood and his career has been 
a most commendable one in every respect, well deserving of 
perpetuated on the pages of a historical work of the nature 
of the one in hand. Like his sterling father before him, he 
has been a man of well defined purpose and never failed to 
carry to successful completion and enterprise to which he 
addressed himself. Beginning life in a new country and 
under many unfavorable auspices, he has let nothing deter 
him, and before the lapse of many years he had a fine farm 
under cultivation. Knowing that the country was destined to 
take a very high rank in the productive and rich localities 
of the North, he applied himself very closely to this work, 
waiting for the future to bring its rewards, and today he 
is one of the substantial men of the county. George W. Park 
was born December 16, 1849, in a log cabin near Fort Wayne, 
Allen county, Indiana, and is the son of William and 
Barbara (Warner) Park.  William Park was born in Ohio and 
on attaining maturity learned the trade of hatter, 
remaining active in this trade until thirty-five years of 
age. He then came to Indiana, locating within a mile of 
Robinson’s Chapel, near Fort Wayne, where he bought sixty 
acres of land, mostly covered with timber, but which he 
cleared and put into good shape for cultivation. In 1862 he 
sold this place and moved to a farm of sixty acres near 
Corunna, known as the Baker farm, which he operated about 
ten years and then sold to Fred Baker. He opened a grocery 
store in Corunna, which he operated about ten years and was 
very successful in this enterprise. Selling this store to 
George McMullin (now deceased), he then moved to Auburn, 
where he bought residence property and retired from active 
business pursuits, his death occurring there in 1899. 
Barbara Warner was a native of Maryland and was married to 
William Park at Fostoria, Ohio, in 1834, and together they 
came to Indiana. After her husband’s death Mrs. Park made 
her home with Christian Buss on the Buss farm until her 
death, about ten years later, in 1898, Mrs. Buss being her 
daughter. To Mr. and Mrs. Park were born nine children, 
namely:  Three who died in infancy; John, decease; Rachel; 
Sarah J., deceased; Elizabeth, George W., and Mary Ellen. 
Of these, John enlisted at the outbreak of the Civil war in 
1861 at Fort Wayne in the Eleventh Regiment Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry as a volunteer and was in the army under 
General Sheridan.  At the expiration of his three-year 
enlistment, he re-enlisted as a veteran and was killed in a 
battle in Shenandoah valley near the close of the war, 
being buried there; Rachel, who lives at Auburn, was 
married four times, first to Martin Stage, second to Elic 
Timberman, third to John Miller, fourth to John Porter. By 
the first union were born three children, and by the second 
marriage, a son, William; Elizabeth, who became the wife of 

Christian buss, a farmer in Smithfield township, has seven 
children, William H., John H., Isaac H., George H., 
deceased, Jefferson, Belle and Nettie; Mary Ellen became 
the wife of Jacob Thomas, of Auburn, and they have six 
children, Maggie, Orrie, deceased, William, Henry, Harry 
and Wade.  George W. Park received his education in the 
common schools up to twelve years of age and in 1862 came 
to DeKalb county and began working on his father’s farm.  
He worked three years in a grist mill in Auburn, owned by 
Christian Buss and then for a while teamed and hauled logs 
for the old saw mill seven miles south of Ashley. During 
the following year he worked on the Buss farm and for alike 
period ran a peddling wagon out of Tiffin, Ohio, then for a 
year he farmed for Mrs. Britton, at the end of which time 
he went to Dallas, and Fort Worth, Texas, where he spent 
four years.  The year after his marriage, in 1883, Mr. Park 
spent a summer in Auburn and then moved to the Willis farm, 
one and a half miles west of Showers Corners in Smithfield 
township, where he operated eighty acres for about a year, 
at the end of which time he located on his present farm of 
eighty acres, formerly known as the John D. Miller place, 
where he resided until 1911, when he rented the farm to 
this son John and bought property in Ashley, where he now 
lives practically retired from active labor.  His life has 
been an active and busy one, characterized by the faithful 
performance of every duty to which he applied himself. His 
farm work was always characterized by up-to-date methods, 
and among his fellow agriculturists he was held in high 
esteem. On March 29, 1883, Mr. Park was married to Sadie 
Miller, the daughter of John D. and Mary (Kanage) Miller, 
and to them have been born three children: May Belle, who 
became the wife of Harry Green, a blacksmith, lives on a 
ranch in Logan county, Colorado, where they took up one 
hundred and sixty acres of homestead land; they have two 
children, Mildred D. and Thomas P.; John married Nora 
Morrison and is a farmer; they have one child, Keith Arden; 
Inis E. is the widow of Melfred Bowman, a farmer in 
Richland township, and they have one child. Bertha. John D. 
Miller was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, 
where he spent his boyhood days, and at the age of twenty-
one years he moved to Stark county, Ohio. In 1857 he came 
to DeKalb county, Indiana, and bought and eighty-acre farm, 
to which he later added twenty-six acres adjoining. Most of 
the original eighty were covered with timber which he 
cleared and from which he developed a splendid farm.  A 
good barn, residence and other necessary outbuildings makes 
his farm one of the best in the locality. The first 
residence in which he lived after purchasing the farm over 
to his son, Joseph, who is operating the place at the 
present time.  Mr. Miller then moved to Hudson and while 
there in 1900, his wife died. He lived alone for a time and 
then removed to the home farm, making his home with his 
son, Joseph. There he died in 1909.  His wife, who was a 
native of Stark county, Ohio, was united to him in marriage 
in 1852, and came to DeKalb county with him and was a true 
helpmate to him in every sense of the word, assisting him 
materially in the improvement of the farm and the 
advancement of his financial interests. She died in 1900. 
They were the parents of three children, Clara A., who has 
been twice married, first to James A. Krum, second to John 
W. Seward, lives on the latter’s farm near Hudson; Joseph 
K., who married Jennie Cox, is a farmer on the home place 
and has two children, Pearl and Marie.  Politically, Mr. 
Park is a Progressive Republican and for many years has 
taken an active interest in public affairs, though he has 
been to busy a man to give very much time and attention to 
politics. At the present time he is treasurer of the town 
of Ashley, performing his duties to the entire satisfaction 
of his fellows. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights 
of Pythias at Ashley, and has served as a delegate to the 
grand lodge of the state three times, in 1904, 1909 and 
1913. His religious connection is with the Methodist 
church, in which he is a very active worker and assisted 
materially in the erection and dedication of the splendid 
new church at Ashley, being a liberal contributor to the 
building fund. He is president of the board of trustees and 
in many ways is an effective worker in the various interest 
to that society. Although his life has been a busy one, his 
every-day affairs making heavy demands upon his time, Mr. 
Park has never shrank from his duties as a citizen and his 
obligations to his church, his neighbors and his friends.  
Genial and kindly in his intercourse with his fellows, he 
has attained a marked popularity among his acquaintances 
and is numbered among the sterling and representative 
citizens of his community.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com