Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 318-320.

PETER SCHOTT.

The war of the Rebellion left its impress deep and lasting upon the life of many a youth who, when it broke out, was yet in his teens. The call to arms found tens of thousands only too ready to respond. For the first time in their lives they found themselves no longer restrained by parental control. Rigid military discipline held them in check to some extent, but it did not prevent many from contracting dissolute and profligate habits, of which some have not been able to divest themselves even unto this day. Few, indeed, were as fortunate in this as Peter SCHOTT, now of Domestic, Indiana, who entered the service when only nineteen years of age and who followed the fortunes of war until peace once more reigned throughout the land.

George and Margaretta (Bowman) SCHOTT were the parents of Peter SCHOTT, the subject of this sketch. They were natives of Byron, Germany, but emigrated to America early in life and located in New York city, where they were married. Soon after they moved to Logan county, Ohio, where their children were born and where they continued to reside until they took up their permanent residence in Lorain county. September 20, 1844, the eyes of Peter SCHOTT first looked upon the light of day. At the new home of his parents in Lorain county he grew to manhood, attending the public schools of the locality and acquiring a fair education in all of the common school branches then taught. In December, 1863, he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, and served faithfully until the close of the rebellion. Occasional attacks of inflammatory rheumatism, which come around with recurring frequence as age advances, are the only ill-effects he experiences of the service he rendered his country during the days of her peril, when her destiny was poised, as it were, in a balance.

For the first three years after leaving the United States service Peter SCHOTT occupied himself with the usual labors on the father's farm. Then, in company with his brother George, who had been a soldier in the same regiment, he located on a tract of land in the dense woods of Wells County, each taking eighty of the one hundred and sixty acres comprising the tract. While George attended to the clearing, improving and cultivating of the land, Peter devoted himself to carpentering and building, a calling in which he had become skilled during and after the war, his earnings furnishing the brothers with the means necessary to procure provisions and other supplies. By this arrangement the land was gradually cleared, ditched, fenced and greatly enhanced in value.

October 25, 1868, Peter SCHOTT was united in marriage to Martha Watson, who was born April 25, 1847. She is the daughter of John M. and Eleanor (Winfield) Watson. They are natives of Ohio, but moved to Wells County, Indiana, when their daughter Martha was only a year old settling upon a farm on which their son John now resides. Eleven children were born to John M. and Eleanor Watson, viz: Mary J., William, Lawrence, Mark, Sarah E., Martha Ann, John R., Thomas, George, Amanda, Elizabeth and John. Of these, Mary J., William Sarah E., John R. and Thomas are dead.

At the time of their marriage only about twelve acres of the eighty-acre tract of land which they owned was cleared. A log cabin, eighteen by twenty-four feet, was built, a short distance south of the one owned by his brother George. Here the young people took up their abode and here they experienced all of the trials and hardships, mingled with the joys and happiness that comes into the lives of all youthful pioneers. About this time the brothers began to realize the possibilities for profit there might be in a good saw-mill, well operated. The shameful waste of fine timber, which was daily being consumed by fire in the clearings, first diverted their attention in this direction and soon they interested their brother John in the matter. They pooled their issues with the result that within a short time they were operating a mill of good capacity and realizing their most sanguine expectations as to the matter of profit. Soon afterward Peter and George purchased the interest of John in the mill and continued to operate it until about a year ago, when they suspended operations, though they are still the owners of the machinery. While engaged in operating the mill Peter was obliged to keep hired help on the farm, but in due time the necessity for that was obviated, as his son had grown and was able to conduct the affairs of the farm far more satisfactorily than it ever was done by hired help.

Of the original eighty acres in the farm all is now cleared land with the exception of about ten acres. Upon this tract there are now ten producing oil wells; eight were drilled by Mr. Schott and his sons, so that they control the entire output, from which they realize five hundred dollars per month. At one time the income from them ran upwards of seven hundred dollars per month. With such an income, to say nothing of that which is realized from several other lines of business in which Mr. Schott is engaged, it would appear that he ought to experience but little difficulty in "keeping the wolf from the door."

In 1882 Mr. Schott erected a large and commodious barn upon his farm, which is well adapted to the line of farming in which he is engaged, general stock raising. A splendid home was erected on the farm in 1889, much of the work on both house and barn being done by Mr. Schott himself. He is the father of two children, John, born July 13, 1871, who is married to Sarah Terrell, lives on his father's farm and is directly interested in all the business affairs; Amanda E., who was born May 8, 1875. But two grandchildren, Nattla Lurene and Mildred Inez, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Schott.

Although never aspiring to political preferment, Mr. Schott takes much interest in politics. He is a loyal Republican—one of those who believes in proving his loyalty by his activity when the campaign is on His first vote was cast in 1864, while he was at the front helping to suppress the rebellion. Naturally he is very proud of that vote, for it was given for the great emancipator, Abraham Lincoln. From that time to the present he has never wavered in the faith. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, his post being at Geneva. He has frequently served his party as delegate to various conventions, always considering time and money well spent when it is devoted to Republican success. He and his wife are members of the Christian church and are very popular and highly respected in all religious circles.