Peter Allenbrand, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Peter Allenbrand
PETER ALLENBRAND has been a resident of Porter county, Indiana, for over half a century and is a gentleman who is well known and highly esteemed for his sterling integrity and unfailing honor. He is a native of Canada, and was born near Marshville on the Welland canal, about two miles from the Lake Erie shore, the date of his birth being August 22, 1836. He was the first of the eight children born to his parents, who were Xavier and Margaret (Babion) Allenbrand, and of the number five are now living, all residents of the United States.
Xavier Allenbrand was born in Alsace, Germany, and when he was eighteen years of age he immigrated to America. He had no capital, and his greatest possessions were his health and strength, combined with his sturdy German character. He was educated in the German tongue, and had learned the trade of a cabinet maker. In 1850 he, with his family, came to Porter county, Indiana, where he purchased one hundred and eighty acres of land in Porter township, and there made his home until his death. He soon became a naturalized citizen of the country of his adoption, and embraced the principles and faith of the Democratic party, which he supported all the years of his life. His wife, and the mother of Peter Allenbrand of this review, was also a native of Germany, who came to America as a young girl of thirteen years. Her mother and father settled in Maryland and there passed the remainder of their lives.
When Peter Allenbrand was sixteen years old he began to do the work of a man in the fields, cutting as much grain with the old fashioned cradle as any of his father's men were expected to, and from that time on he took a man's place in the activities of the farm. Many are the changes he has seen brought into effect in the methods of the operation of an average farm. As a boy and man he saw the grain laboriously threshed out in the cylinder box, and he has broken many an acre with an ox team. In those days Valparaiso was but a hamlet, whereas it is now a city of nine thousand inhabitants. Then there was not a railroad in the county, and he has hauled wheat to Michigan City at fifty cents per bushel through the sand roads. In his early days remnants of the Pottawattomie tribe of Indians were in evidence in Porter county, and deer ran wild in what is now paved streets. He went to school in a log cabin structure typical of his day. It was a building about sixteen by twenty-two feet, and the seats were made of slabs with make-shift legs and no backs. The desks were of boards resting on wooden pins driven into the wall. He has seen this type of school give place to the handsome structures which grace our most humble communities. He has lived in the years when some of the greatest inventions of the age came into use, and has seen vast changes that have revolutionized the advance of the nation.
Mr. Allenbrand has been a continuous resident of Porter county for sixty-three years, and is one of the oldest living citizens of the county today.
Mr. Allenbrand married Miss Elizabeth Miller, a native of New York state. She was born about eleven miles from Buffalo on May 4, 1838. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Allenbrand, four sons and six daughters, of which number seven are now living. Marie Antoinette, the wife of Winfield S. Hoffman, a carpenter, lives in Porter township. They have three children, Inez, Clarence and Alta. Emma C. is the widow of Willis Priest, of Valparaiso. She has two daughters, Iva and Mabel. Alice F. is the wife of Henry J. Folsom, a farmer of Pleasant township; they have two children, Florence and Harry. Ulysses is a resident of Canada and is engaged in agriculture. He is married to Ida Trower and they have five children, Lizzie, Roy, Eva, Mary and Lavina. Sarah is the wife of George E. Weiler, a prosperous agriculturist of Porter township. They have three children, Bertha, Guy and Lee. Lizzie is the wife of Charles Reif, also a well-to-do farmer of Porter township. They have five children, Clayton, Hazel, Carroll, Glen and Edith. Wilbert has charge of his father's estate. He was born November 26, 1870, and educated in the schools of Porter county. He is a successful agriculturist, and is married to Vivia O. Philips, the marriage occurring in November, 1894. They have one son, Lynn V., a bright and promising boy. His mother, who is a native of Porter county, was born on June 11, 1871, and is a daughter of William and Rebecca (Loney) Philips. She was educated in the schools of Porter county and finished with a normal course in the University at Valparaiso, and was one of the Porter county teachers for some years. Wilbert Allenbrand is a Republican, and in a fraternal way is a member of the Order of Foresters. He and his wife and son are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
The father, Peter Allenbrand, is a Republican, like his son, and he cast his first vote for John C. Fremont. Since that time he has voted for every Republican candidate for the presidency. At one time Mr. Allenbrand was supervisor of the roads of Porter township, but has not held office beyond that. The Allenbrand estate comprises one hundred and eighty-three acres of fine land in Porter township, one hundred and forty acres of which is owned by Wilbert and forty acres by Peter Allenbrand. The Allenbrands are citizens who have always stood high in the esteem and confidence of the people of Porter county, and it is possible to record the life of the senior representative of the family' as without fault or blemish during the three quarters of a century and more that he has been known to the residents of Porter county.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 652-654
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook