Sherman Grant Walters, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Sherman Grant Walters
Sherman Grant Walters (August 1865 - 16 June 1944) spent all of his life in Porter County. Sherman was the son of John Wesley Walters (1831-1903) and Maria C. Mock (1834-1888); see John's biography on this Porter County GenWeb site. It is possible that he is the 14 year old farm laborer of that name living in Wabash County, Indiana. There are some ties between the family and North Manchester, in Wabash County where there are a number of people with the name Walters; after his marriage, Sherman's nephew Claude would move briefly to North Manchester. On 13 February 1890, in Porter County, Sherman married Kittie Fleming of Valparaiso. She had been born about 1867 and was the daughter of Jacob and Wilda Fleming. Kittie died on 20 June 1892. On 5 April 1893, Sherman married Lela Foltz (23 October 1873 -15 October 1957). Lela was the daughter of Melvin and Marjory Foltz. Lila's mother Margary lived with Sherman's family for many years. In 1900, Sherman was living in Valparaiso working as a machinist in a factory. They appear in the 1910 Porter County Census, but both of their names are badly garbled in the index. In 1920, the family was farming in Boone Township. Sherman was living in Valparaiso in 1930 and in Hebron in 1936. He died at their home 205 Elmhurst, Valparaiso, on 16 June 1944 and is buried in Graceland Cemetery. His wife died in 1957.
Sherman and Lela had four daughters who were all given names starting with the letter "F." (1) Fern Walters (1901 - after 1971) was the oldest. She married Charles Dewey Mockler (13 June 1898 - 24 May 1971) in 1890. Her husband's name is incorrectly reported as "Gockler" in the 1920 census. At that time they were living on Sherman's farm and Charles was working on a farm laborer. In February 1932, Fern and Charles moved from Porter County to Berrien Springs to operate a gas station, but they quickly returned to Valparaiso where Charles, often called Barney, worked as a machinist. They had a daughter, Dorothy Louise Mockler, who married Wallace Younghans. (2) The second child of Sherman and Lela was Fae Walters (1905 - ?). Sometime in the 1920s she married a man named McCalmon and she was living as a widow by 1930 when she was living in Chicago working as a clerk in an office. Fae later married Carl Arthur Wendberg (? - 25 November 1953). He died in Chicago. Fae's third husband's last name was Gedney. (3) Ferrel M. Walters (c 1906 - after 1930). She married a man named Billings sometime in the 1920s and was divorced by 1930. After her divorce Ferrell worked as a hair dresser in Valparaiso. She later moved to LaPorte, Indiana, where she was living at the time of her mother's death. Ferrel married again sometime after 1930; her new husband's name was Fisher. In 1957, Ferrel was living in Chicago. (4) Sherman and Lela's youngest child was Florence Walters (circa 1915 - ?). She graduated from Valparaiso High School in 1932. In August of that year it was revealed that Florence had secretly married Alvin Lahyn of Chesterton, Indiana, on 6 April 1932. Florence was later married to a man named Hildrith. In 1957, she was also living in Chicago. One online family tree lists a "Joy M. Walters" as a fifty daughter; I believe this is an error based on a misreading of the faint 1910 census entry for Fay (Fae).
Bill Walters
112 Riss Drive
Normal, Illinois 61761
Source: Submitted to Porter County GenWeb on February 10, 2009, by Bill Walters, 112 Riss Drive, Normal, Illinois 61761
Page(s) in Source: Not applicable
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