Past and Present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Illustrated, Vol. II, pp. 1111-1114
B. F. Bowen and Company, Publishers, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1909

JOSEPH WOLF

From the study of the life history of JOSEPH WOLF one may learn valuable lessons. The spirit of self-help is the source of all-genuine worth in the individual and is the means of bringing to man success when he has no advantage of wealth or influence to aid him. It illustrates in no uncertain manner what it is possible to accomplish when perseverance and determination form the keynote to a man's life. Depending upon his won resources, looking for no outside aid or support, MR. WOLF has risen to his present position in the agricultural circles of Tippecanoe County.

JOSEPH WOLF is a native son of Tippecanoe County, having been born on Hogs-Point December 8, 1849, and is a son of PETER and SUSANA (POWELL) WOLF. PETER WOLF was a native of Ohio, born January 4, 1816, and came to Tippecanoe County when in his fourteenth years, landing here on October 6, 1830. His parents were MR. and MRS. PHILIP WOLF, who had sixteen children, only six of whom lived to maturity. PHILIP WOLF was a farmer and was one of the first settlers in Tippecanoe County. PETER WOLF was compelled to earn his own living from early boyhood. For seven years he was employed in a gristmill at the modest wage of three dollars a month and he worked in the harvest field with a reap hook for thirty-seven and a half cents a day. There were no schools here then and he was not given the opportunity to secure much of an education. He was industrious and energetic and his determination to succeed bore fruit, so that eventually he found himself in fairly comfortable circumstances. It is said he was the first man to sell fresh meat in Lafayette. He worked in a slaughterhouse, but frequently sold meat on his own account. He bought veal at one dollar a pound and a half a head and made good money in the retailing of the meat. He paid eleven and a half-dollars for the first cow and calf sold in Lafayette, which was considered a fair price, as cows generally sold for seven to nine dollars. Eventually MR. WOLF turned his attention to farming, to which he applied himself for a while during the summers. He killed much wild game and the subject now has in his possession a rifle eighty-five years old which his father used on his hunting excursions. The subject also owns a pair of hames made by his father. MR. WOLF cleared four acres of land, for which he received a yoke of calves, made rails for three and a half dollars a thousand and cut cordwood for twenty-five cent a cord, cutting more than one thousand cords. There is thus gained some idea of the conditions which confronted this worthy pioneer in his efforts to get ahead financially.

SUSANA (POWELL) WOLF was born in 1825 and her death occurred in 1871, after a painful illness of fifteen years duration. Her parents were of English birth and she was but a child when the family came to Tippecanoe County. PETER WOLF died in 1896. During his last years he had been in sore straits financially, because of the long and painful illness of his wife, which called for constant financial expense, and, in addition, his son PHILIP had a sunstroke, which resulted in total blindness, and in the effort to restore sight to the afflicted man much money was spent. The marriage of PETER and SUSANA WOLF took place in 1847, and they became the parents of ten children, namely: JOSEPH, the subject of this sketch; PHILIP, deceased; one unnamed that died in infancy; JOHN, of Shelby Township, this county; GEORGE, of Wabash Township; ANNA, who married a MR. JARRELL and lives in Shelby Township; on that died in infancy unnamed; CHARLES, of Washington Township; MINNIE, married a MR. BRINGHAM and lives in Washington state; ELLEN married a MR. HEFFNER and lives in Lafayette.

JOSEPH WOLF remained under the parental roof until after he had attained his majority, when he started out for himself. He had attended a few short terms in the subscription schools of the day, but his school education was limited. Being the eldest of the children, he was compelled most of the time to remain at home and assist in the arduous work of clearing the land and putting it in cultivation. His first independent start was as a farm hand, for which he received modest wages. Fifty cents in cash was the sum total of his capital when he left home. He was a faithful and steady worker and was exceedingly frugal of his means, so that as the months went by his cash capital gradually increased. Eventually he was enabled to buy a tract of land in section 16, Shelby Township, for which he paid twenty dollars per acre. When he secured the land, it was practically all in timber. This he cleared off, and tiled and ditched the land, so that it at length became one of the best and most productive tracts of land in that locality. The property is in a fine state of improvement and every detail of the work is under MR. WOLF's personal supervision. Among other improvements, it may be noted that he has on the place twenty-six swinging gates and one hundred and sixty-five rods of ten-inch tile. The outbuildings are all well cared for and in all respects the place is one that its owner may well feel a pride in.

When JOSEPH WOLF was twenty-two years old he was married to EMMA DUMAS, who was a year and four months his junior in age. They kept house for the subject's father for about two years, when they moved to their own property. They became the parents of two children. One child died in infancy and the survivor is ADA MAY, who married WILLARD LAKE; they live at Octagon, Indiana. On the 6th of December, 1876, MR. WOLF married LUCINDA ELLEN TULL, who was born in Tippecanoe County in 1852, the daughter of WILLIAM TULL. The children born to this union are as follows: GEORGE E., who married SADIE SCHWIGLER and resides in Wabash Township, they being the parents of one child; MINNIE is the wife of AUGUST BRAMER, of Wabash Township, and they have three children; PETER A. married JOSIE MAY WIDIMER (should be Widmer?), lives in Shelby Township, and they have one child; EFFIE IOMA, who married GEORGE WETTSCHERECK, of Wabash Township, is the mother of two children; WILLIAM J., at home; CHARLES GROVER, at home; RAYMOND, at home; LUINDA, deceased.

In politics, the subject is a Democrat and has served as supervisor of his township, though he is not in any sense an office seeker. He and his wife are members of the United Brethren church in Wabash Township, in which MR. WOLF takes a very active part. Through the efforts of MR. WOLF mostly, this church was built, and at the time the work was projected there was but five dollars in the treasury, but he pushed the project through to successful outcome. He has always been a liberal supporter of the church and, though not an educated man, he is a close reader and a deep thinker and is generally considered a well-informed man. He is public-spirited and took a prominent part in securing the construction of many of the gravel roads of the community, donating himself a half-mile of road.

When MR. WOLF started out for himself he had nothing but a team and wagon, and a cow and calf, and the death of his first wife left him heavily in debt, but he has paid off every dollar of encumbrance and is now considered a well-to-do man, this situation being gained only through his own efforts. He is a man of many fine personal qualities of character and enjoys the warm regard of all who know him.