Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 364-365.
JOSEPH STAHL.
A native of Bluffton, Wells county, Indiana, Joseph Stahl was born September 4, 1856, and is a son of Jacob and Mary J. (Grove) Stahl, of whom further mention will at once be made, both being now deceased. Jacob Stahl, Sr., a native of Bedford, Pennsylvania, was a son of Abram and Rebecca Stahl, who were also born in the Keystone state. Jacob was but twelve years of age when brought to Wells county, Indiana, by his parents, who settled on a farm in Nottingham township, and on that farm Jacob grew to manhood. He there married Miss Grove, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, and with her parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Grove, came to Wells county, Indiana, when she was but six years of age, about 1839, the family settling in Harrison township. At his marriage Jacob Stahl located in Bluffton, where he followed his trade as a carpenter for eight years, and then came to Liberty township and settled on the farm which his son, Joseph, now owns and occupies, and where he erected one of the first frame houses in the township. This farm had been entered from the government by Abram Stahl, his father, and when Jacob Sr. settled on it it was one stretch of timber land, but Jacob succeeded in clearing it up and in converting it into one of the pleasantest homesteads in the township at that early day. Here he and wife passed the remainder of life, Jacob, who was born March 20, 1825, dying May 20, 1893, and Mary J., who was born May 12, 1835, dying April 9, 1898. They were the parents of two children, Charles and Joseph.
The younger of these two, Joseph Stahl, is the gentleman whose name opens this biography. He was educated preliminarily in the public school of Liberty township, which he attended until he was eighteen years of age, and then passed one term in the Bluffton high school. At the age of nineteen years, Joseph received a portion of his one-third interest in the estate, and at once invested it in a forty-acre tract of land, but continued to make his home with his father, receiving one-third of the products of the farm for his services until his marriages when about twenty-two years old, and of which event farther mention will be made. He then erected a dwelling on his own land, but continued to work for his father until the latter's death; from first to last he worked on the one-third principle for about twenty years. Since the mother's death the property has been equally divided between Joseph and his brother Charles, putting the latter in possession of one hundred and fifty acres, one hundred and twenty of the old home place and thirty-eight acres in Chester township. Mr. Stahl is a general farmer and a breeder of live stock, and one of the most successful agriculturists of his age in the township.
November 28, 1878, Joseph Stahl married Miss Mary Snow, who was born January 24, 1860, and is a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Booth) Snow. To this blissful union have been born two children, namely: Edith, married to Herbert Smith and now living on Joseph Stahl's farm, assisting in its cultivation during the summer seasons and teaching school during the winters; Homer Augustus, the younger of the two, is also a teacher and has his residence on the home place. Further information in relation to the Snow family may be gleaned from the biographical record of George Snow on another page of this volume.
Joseph Stahl, since he has been entitled to the exercise of his franchise, has voted with the Democratic party, and his first official position under the auspices of that organization was as superintendent of gravel roads for two years, having charge of seventy-three linear miles. In 1900 he was elected to the commissionership of the second district of his county. He has never been without ample means, having always been wise enough to add to his possession through his industry and careful management and is today recognized as one of the most substantial and useful citizens of Liberty township. He is always ready to aid financially in promoting such improvements as may be of permanent benefit to his fellow citizens, and there is certainly not a more respected family in Liberty township than that of Joseph Stahl.