Standard History of Adams & Wells Counties. - 1918
Tyndall & Lesh
Pages 454, 455, 456

Hon. David Studabaker. No one would regard it as a disparagement or criticism of other men to say that Hon. David Studabaker was one of the greatest, most commanding figures in the life and affairs of Adams County whether as a lawyer, banker, or all around citizen. His is one of the names that recurs most frequently in the reminiscenses of the older and later generations, and so far as possible the record of his life should be set forth without diminishment or abbreviation, even though a number of years have elapsed since he quit this mortal presence.

He was born at Fort Recovery, Ohio, August 12, 1827, and died at his home in Decatur May 3, 1904, in his seventy-seventh year. The Studabakers are of Holland ancestry, originally lived in Pennsylvania,, and the Studabakers of Adams County, of Wells County, and the famous manufacturing family of Studebakers of South Bend all trace their descent from a common ancestor several generations back.

The father of David Studabaker was Peter Studabaker, who had moved from his old home at Fort Recovery to Jay County, Indiana, and was the first settler at Portland in that county. In 1833 Peter Studabaker came to the Wabash River in the southern part of Root Township, and was one of the first to take up land at Geneva. He was industriously engaged in the development of his farm on the Wabash, and while thus employed was stricken with typhoid fever and died in 1840. Peter Studabaker married Mary J. Simison, whose family also were prominent pioneers of Adams County.

David Studabaker was seven years of age when his parents removed to Adams County and he grew up in Wabash Township, trained to the duties and occupations of a farmer and as the oldest child though only thirteen years of age when his father died, he assumed many of the responsibilities and burdens of keeping the rest of the family together. He received an education in primary schools which he attended during the winter months, and was a pupil in the first school taught in Wells County. It was a subscription school, the teacher an Irishman, and was held in a primitive log cabin with a puncheon floor, the window being made by leaving out a log from the wall and the space covered over with greased paper. David Studabaker also attended a high school near Greenville, Ohio, one term, and the Jay County Seminary at Portland a year and a half. In the meantime he had qualified and had taught district schools in both Adams and Wells counties. Teaching was more or less a constant occupation with him until the spring of 1851, when he began the study of law in the office of Hon. Jacob M. Haines, at Portland. In June, 1852, he was admitted to the bar at Portland, before Judge Jeremiah Smith. Later in the same month he located at Decatur and began the practice of his profession. It is said that while living with his mother in their home on the Wabash he was greatly encouraged in the pursuit of his law studies by P. N. Collins, as acquaintance and political leader, and by his lifelong friend and neighbor, David McDonald, who subsequently became sheriff of Adams County and served in the State Legislture. Uncle David McDonald, as he was commonly called, was something of a hunter, and while he and young David were in the woods the older man would always insist that the younger make a speech, and thus he greatly encouraged and trained his budding forensic talents.

Mr. Studabaker practiced law at Decatur until 1883, a period of thirty-one years. During that time he was associated a number of years with James R. Bobo and John P. Quinn. Along with his law practice he bagan dealing in real estate at a very early time. He had an important public record, beginning in 1852 with his election as prosecuting attorney for the district of Allen and Adams counties. He filled that office two years and in 1854 was elected to represent Adams County in the lower house of the Legislature and was reelected in 1856. In 1858 the district of Adams, Jay and Wells counties sent him to the State Senate and in 1868 he was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court for the district of Adams, Allen, Huntington and Wells counties. He resigned this office before his term expired.

He proved himself an excellent judge, his knowledge of the law was profound, and his administering of the ends of justice was tempered with moderation and with consideration. The attorneys who practiced in his court found in him a man who was eminently fair and courteous and he filled the office to which he had been chosen with dignity and to his lasting credit.

For many years Judge Studabaker was chiefly a figure in the commercial life and the larger affairs of his section of Indiana. In 1869 he was one of the promoters of the Richmond & Fort Wayne Railroad, was elected one of its directors, and held that position for a long period of years, in fact until his death. In 1871 he became a stockholder in the Adams County Bank, and when it was incorporated in 1874 he was chosen a director and vice president and in 1883 elected prosident. He was also a director of the Bankers National Bank of Chicago, the First Natonal Bank of Marion, Indiana, the Bank of Geneva and the Bank of Berne, and the First National of Fort Wayne and the Bank of Wren, Ohio. In politics he was an active democrat.

On October 26, 1854, David Studabaker married Miss Harriet Evans, whose father, John K. Evans, was a prominent figure in the state's history and had been shortly before the marriage of his daughter to David Studabaker associate judge of the District Court in which Adams County was located. Mrs. David Studabaker died June 7, 1891. In June, 1895, he married Mrs. Jennie Phelps, who survived him. The children of Judge Studabaker, who reached maturity were: Mary, wife of John Niblick of Decatur; Mrs. Lizzie Morrison of Decatur; Hattie; Mrs. W. J. Vesey of Fort Wayne; and David E.

How much the career of Judge Studabaker meant to the people of Adams County was well expressed in the words of an editorial in the Decatur Democrat, quoted herewith: "In the death of Judge David Studabaker a worthy and honored citizen has lived his allotted time and passed to the Great Beyond. During his long life, covering a period of three score years and ten, we look back upon a busy, active and useful career, in which he rose from a self educated boy to a school teacher, then a law student, lawyer, judge, banker and in later years has been as busy and as energetic in the control and management of his many and varied, personal interests. All of these he managed and directed to the last days of his last illness, and he died honored and respected to the highest degree. Such a life is worthy of the ambition that is rife in the mad rush of progress, and its emulation should be a high ideal among the youth who are striving to win laurels in the days and years to come. Judge Studabaker's public and private life is an open book, and upon its pages are written many good deeds of charity and encouragement. Public spirited, kind and observant, his counsel and advice will be severely missed but thanks to the seed that has been sown Judge Studabaker will live for many and many years to come."