Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 99-102.

JOHN STUDABAKER.

It is pleasing indulgence to write the biography of a man who has been so prominently identified with the material activities of the nation as has John STUDABAKER, who stands conspicuously forward as one of the pioneers of Indiana and one whose connection with the growth and substantial upbuilding of the thriving little city of Bluffton has been of such intimate nature and extended over the course of many years. The name of John STUDABAKER, wherever known, passes current as a synonym for all that is upright and honorable. He came from Greenville, Ohio, to Bluffton in the year 1838, and here engaged in the mercantile business. Since that early date he has been a prominent figure in the county and city and for many years had a personal acquaintance with nearly every adult person in the county. Mr. Studabaker is a native of Darke county, Ohio, where he was born on the 15th of August, 1817, being the son of Abraham and Mary (Townsend) STUDABAKER. The conditions of place and period were such as to afford him but limited advantages in the way of securing an education, since in that early day there were but few schools of any importance throughout what is now the great state of Ohio. The old log school house, with its puncheon floor and slab seats, figured as the seat of learning in the locality of his birth, and it may be said that in these rude school houses have been "graduated" some of the best and strongest men of the nation. The boyhood days of the subject were passed upon the parental farmstead, and when a young man he went to Greenville, Ohio, where he engaged as a clerk in the dry goods establishment of Henry Arnold, thus gaining his initial experience in practical business affairs and incidentally laying the foundation for his future success.

Mr. Studabaker came to Wells County a single man, but he realized the truth of the scriptural injunction, that it is not well for man to be alone, and he accordingly returned to Darke county, Ohio, and there, on the 7th day of July, 1839, was united in marriage to Rebecca Angel, daughter of David Angel, one of the leading citizens of that county. With his bride he returned to Bluffton, making his wedding tour on horse back. Of the ten children born to this union only four are now living: Mary Jane, the eldest daughter, was married to Dwight Klinck, in 1863, and to them were born four children. While crossing the Atlantic ocean, in 1875, Mr. Klinck was drowned and in August, 1876, his widow became the wife of Jacob J. Todd, a prominent attorney of Bluffton. By this union two children were born. The third daughter of the subject, Jeanette, became the wife of F. T. Waring and her death occurred in 1874. She left two children, who were entrusted to the care of her youngest sister, Martha, who, in 1875, also married F. T. Waring. The eldest son, David E. Studabaker, is a prominent business man residing in Bluffton. John A., the youngest son, married Edna Angel, of Dayton, Ohio, and has one child.

Upon coming to Bluffton Mr. Studabaker began his mercantile operations in a log cabin north of the public square. At that time the Indians were still largely in evidence and were numbered among his best customers. For many years he transported his stock of goods from Cincinnati by means of wagons, fifteen to twenty days being required to make the round trip. During this time he was agent for the American Fur Company and bought all kinds of furs, having control of the counties of Adams, Jay, Wells and Blackford, and conducting extensive and profitable operations in this line of industry which had so important bearing upon the commercial and material progress of the little pioneer communities. The country increased rapidly in population, and in 1844 Mr. Studabaker found his previously adequate accommodations were not sufficient to meet the exigencies of his business, and he accordingly erected a two-story frame building in which to continue his mercantile enterprise, continuing to utilize these quarters until 1852, when he erected a brick building on the same site where he reared his original cabin.

In 1856 Mr. Studabaker disposed of his dry goods business and instituted banking operations, under the name of the Exchange Bank. In 1863 this institution was merged into the First National Bank, with the subject as president. In 1868 the First National was discontinued, whereupon Mr. Studabaker associated himself with his brother, Peter, and his nephew, Hugh Dougherty, in the organization of the Exchange Bank of John STUDABAKER & Company. This institution is still in operation under the name of The STUDABAKER Bank, and is the leading bank of Wells County, having a distinctive hold upon public favor and confidence.

In connection with his banking business Mr. Studabaker has continued in the grain and produce business on an extensive scale. From time to time he has invested his means in farm land, and today he is the owner of several fine farms, together with a large amount of town property, both improved and unimproved. He has made two or three additions to the city of Bluffton and has given much time and financial encouragement to public improvement. In an early day he was interested with others in the Bluffton and Fort Wayne plank road, and in 1851 was largely concerned with the putting through of the Fort Wayne & Southern Railroad, which was graded through Wells County, but which, by reason of the stringency of the money market, was not completed for a long term of years. In 1869 the project was revived and largely through the energy and well directed efforts of the subject the road was finally completed and put into active operation.

In his political proclivities Mr. Studabaker was originally an advocate of the principles of the Whig party, which cause he supported until the organization of the Republican party, when he identified himself with the latter, continuing his allegiance until the year 1876, when he espoused the principles of the Greenback party, in which connection he was twice on its state ticket, also becoming a candidate for congress. His party being in the minority, he suffered defeat on each occasion. During his entire life he has been an earnest advocate of temperance, and believing that no restriction of practical order could be applied to the doing away of the obnoxious liquor traffic through the medium of the two dominant national parties, he placed himself stanchly in line as a supporter of the Prohibition party, identified himself therewith in 1884 and casting his vote for St. John for President.

In 1843 Mr. Studabaker became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and his daily life has shown that his faith is one of earnestness and sincerity—a faith that makes faithful. In the spread of the gospel he has contributed liberally of his means, and he aided to a conspicuous extent in the erection of the fine edifice of the Methodist church at Bluffton, the ground upon which the church is built being contributed by him. In his younger days he was an active worker in the Sunday school, but within late years he has felt that his advanced age has incapacitated him for activity in that branch of the Lord's work.

Mrs. Studabaker has been for more than half a century a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church. She is also an active worker in the cause of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and is a valuable helpmeet to her husband in his labor of love for humanity in fighting that great curse—the saloon evil.

This review of the life of the honored subject is necessarily general in its character. To enter fully into the interesting details of his life, touching the struggles of his early manhood and successes of later days, would require almost a volume in itself. Enough has been submitted, however, to prove that he is entitled to a place in the front ranks of the brave, determined, energetic and self-made men of Indiana, those who by pluck, enterprise and unswerving honor have wrought from the wilderness a state second to none in the grand constellation comprising the Union, and the name of this patriarchal citizen will be revered in Bluffton for all time to come.