Son of Andrew and Sarah (Spohr) Frushour. Arrived in Wabash County with his parents when he was 6 weeks old.

First married Anna Brechner, whose death occurred a few years later, after the birth of two children: Lenora, wife of James Hippensteel and George Wilson, who married Etta Ramey.

On April 10, 1864 he married his 2nd wife, Catharine Good. They had one child: Dellie who married Professor Noble Harter and moved to Pasadena, CA

(From "History of Wabash County, Indiana" by Clarkson Weesner, pub. 1914, pp 625-629)
CALVIN GANES FRUSHOUR. The name of Calvin G. Frushour is perhaps more widely known among the venerable pioneer citizens of Lagro township than that of any other man of his time, and wherever it is spoken it recalls a character not only notable for the length of his residence, but also for the sterling integrity, the steadfast industry, and the kindly qualities which have made him a distinct influence for good in his community. Mr. Frushour is owner with his daughter, Mrs. N. Harter, of a valuable farm of eighty acres in Lagro township, situated on the south side of the pike, about two and a half miles east of Urbana. He is one of the oldest, if not the oldest man, from point of residence, in this part of Wabash county.

Calvin G. Frushour, or "Cal" as he is familiarly known to his hosts of friends, was born at Winchester, Randolph county, Indiana, February 15, 1836, and has lived in Wabash county practically all his life. However, anyone not acquainted with the date of his birth would readily place it as at least ten years later than as above given. Mr. Frushour, although he has led a busy life, has grown old gracefully, and is one of the youngest old men in the county. He is a son of Andrew and Sarah (Spohr) Frushour. They were born, reared and married in the old commonwealth of Virginia. Soon after their marriage they put their goods in a big wagon, and moved over the mountains, crossing over the Ohio river and settling in the state of that name. This did not long remain their home, and they again packed their belongings into the wagon and moved to Randolph county near the eastern edge of Indiana. Two years later they again determined to make a change.

The "scoop-bed wagon" was again called into service, and with it they pushed on through the wilderness until they reached Wabash county and located in Lagro township about a quarter mile east of the present residence of Calvin G. Frushour. While the family was camping out one night Andrew, the father, heard the dogs barking about a tree, up which was a catamount. Like most men of the time. Andrew Frushour had almost as much skill with his gun as with the plow and the reaping hook, and taking up his trusty old flint-lock, he brought the ' * varmint'? down with a shot between the eyes. As it was a good specimen, and he desired those at the camp to see it, he took up the carcass by the hind legs, placing it over his shoulder and brought the catamount into camp with its nose dragging on the ground. Soon after they reached Lagro township they decided upon their permanent location, but did not find time to start a building until the fall of the year. In the meantime the household continued to live in the big wagon, which had served them in their various removals towards the west. Besides their bed clothes, the two hound dogs and flint-lock gun already mentioned, they had four horses and a good set of carpenter tools. Besides the immediate family, there was a hired man. The land selected by Andrew Frushour was all covered with wood, and the nearest neighbor was about four miles away, near Lagro village.

The canal at that time was just being constructed through Wabash county. In this connection one fact deserves mention. The building of a canal, unlike railroad construction, proceeded very slowly, and the force of workmen usually camp in a sort of temporary village along the right of way for several seasons before the work has proceeded so far as to justify their stage of advance. Many of the workmen therefore utilized their farm in cultivating small gardens and farms along the canal route. Andrew Frushour in this saw an opportunity to make some ready money which was then a very scarce commodity in Wabash county. He and his hired man each took a team, and secured contracts to plant corn for the canal builders, and later in the season did the harvesting. This work kept them away from home several days at a time, and the mother and children, of which there were several by this time, were left alone. Though the family had but little money and only a small store of provisions, the abundance of game in the woods practically supplied the table with fresh meat, and it was necessary to hunt only an hour or so in order to secure enough game to last a week. At the same time the wolves were numerous, and often became so bold that they would chase the dogs into the big wagon, where the family still kept house, and then stood on guard and howled throughout the long dark night. On one occasion the family, while the men folks were away, almost ran out of provisions, and for four days the mother had nothing to offer her children except baked potatoes, however, it was a clean, healthy outdoor life they were all leading, they had keen zest for any plain food, and continued to eat their potatoes with great relish.

After Andrew Frushour and his hired man had finished harvesting for the canal men, they started the construction of a log house on the eighty acres which he had bought, paying only forty dollars for the land. He designed this habitation as a temporary structure, and with the thought in view that he would in a few years probably put up a better residence, he built the log house in such a position, on the side of a sloping hill, that later it would not interfere with the building of a larger and better house on the top of the slope. In building the log house no door was constructed at first in the side of the building. One wall rested flush on the ground at the upper side of the hill, while the opposite wall, in order to be made level, rested on high piles, and steps were made and a sort of trap-door was cut in the floor to afford means of egress and entry. The principal timbers for the building were of split logs, all cut and hewed with an ax, while the roof was covered with clapboards, each four feet in length. Nails, and in fact practically all articles of iron were very scarce in Indiana at that time, and in order to secure the clapboards they laid across them long poles, to weight and tie the roof, each end of the poles being fastened with a wooden pin.

Somewhat later the house was improved by the construction of a door in the side, and a more homelike appearance was given the rude habitation. In those days the most convenient grist mill was located at Goshen, in Elkhart county, and a good many miles from Lagro township. When Andrew Frushour wanted to take some grain to be ground at this mill, he put a tongue in the rear axle and wheels of his wagon, put a box upon the gear, and in that way had a much lighter vehicle for travelling over the rough roads to the mill. Gradually, however, they cleared up the land and got it under cultivation, and since those humble beginnings of seventy-five years ago many hundred rods of tile has been laid, and the eighty acres for which Andrew Frushour gave forty dollars in 1836 would now bring at least one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. On that old homestead both Andrew and Sarah (Spohr) Frushour died, she on June 7, 1853, in her forty-fourth year, and he on May 25, 1873, at the age of seventy-three. They were the parents of ten children who grew to maturity, namely: Mary Virginia; Susan, deceased; Angeline, deceased; Calvin G.; Eliza Jane, deceased: Edward; Charles; Francis, deceased; Andrew C.; and Theodore, deceased.

Calvin Frushour was six weeks old when the family moved from Randolph to Wabash county in the big wagon. At the old home place just described, and in the midst of an environment which was being rapidly changed as a result of the labors of many pioneers, he grew to manhood, and did his full share in clearing up the land. As the oldest son, from the time he was big enough to wield an ax, much of the rough work of the place fell to him, and he is one of the few survivors among the early citizens of Wabash county who can recollect actually ever sharing in the development of this region. By the time he was old enough to attend school, some eight or ten families had settled in that immediate vicinity, and their children went to school in a little log house about a mile distant by a path cut through the woods and north of the Frushour farm. The house in which school was taught had been abandoned by a settler who came out from Ohio and finally became discouraged and left the country. It was fitted up with a mud and stick chimney, and light came in through greased paper stuck over openings between the logs. For seats, rough benches were hewn out of logs, and a rough plank was placed on wooden pins driven into the wall to serve as a desk. Probably not a person in that community in that day dreamed that half a century later a comfortable bus. tightly screened against the storm, and with provisions for heat in the cold weather, would drive daily along the hard pike road, collecting the children in the morning and carrying them to school, and then in the evening taking them back to their home.

When Mr. Frushour reached the age of twenty-one, his father told him he was free to do or work as he pleased, but offered him a position at ten dollars a month to remain on the home farm, this offer was accepted, and he continued with his father for fourteen months. In that time practically every cent of his wages was saved, and this thrift gave him his first practical start in the world. About this time Mr. Frushour married Anna Brechner, whose death occurred a few years later, after the birth of two children, as follows: Lenora, wife of James Hippensteel, of Wabash county, and they are the parents of twelve children and several grandchildren; George Wilson, who married Etta Ramey, and they also live in Wabash county, and have eight children.

On April 10, 1864, Mr. Frushour married for his second wife Catharine Good. She is the daughter of Peter and Catharine Good. The only child of this marriage is Dellie. She married Professor Noble Harter, who at the time was superintendent of the Warsaw, Indiana, public schools. Later they moved to Pasadena, California, where Professor Harter became identified with the city public schools, and he died while at Pasadena, leaving his widow and twin daughters: Mary, who died in 1912, and Catharine. Both these daughters also became teachers and were connected with the schools of Pasadena. Soon after his first marriage Mr. Frushour moved to his present farm, it was then owned by his father who had acquired possession of about two hundred and forty acres in Lagro township. The only improvement on the land which Calvin Frushour came to occupy was a little log cabin, and about ten acres cleared. Then followed a number of years of hard work, industrious management, and a steady thrift, at the end of which time practically all the farm had been cleared, the old house had been remodeled and made thoroughly comfortable, much tile had been laid in the low places, and the farm was developed until in its improvements and productiveness it ranked second to none in the township. After the death of his father Mr. Frushour bought the interests of the other heirs in the eighty acre farmstead. Besides managing his farm, Mr. Frushour, who in his earlier years was an indefatigable worker, spent about fifteen years in the employ of the Wabash railroad, and was one of the crew of eleven men who did construction work of bridges, stations, and other similar work along the line between Toledo, Ohio, and Danville, Illinois. Mr. Frushour made it a point whenever possible to get home over Sunday during this employment, but in the meantime Mrs. Frushour practically had the actual supervision of the farm alone, and its gradual improvement, its yearly productive harvest, and the increasing prosperity of the family, were in no small measure due to her judgment and sagacity and untiring efforts. She and her daughter put in many days in the field, .and did work that would be a credit to any man.

After remodeling the old house and living in it for many years, Mr. Frushour in 1910 erected his present substantial eight-room modern frame residence, equipped with all.the conveniences and comforts which the best country homes of Wabash county affords, and where he and his wife expect to spend the rest of their days and enjoy the well won fruits of earlier years. Besides their three children, there are twenty- three grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. They have also taken in and reared in their home several orphans. In fact, their friends frequently refer to the Frushour farm as the "orphans home".

This generous prosperity, all won as a result of honest toil and good management, has been used in such a way as to add to the total wealth of the community, and not alone for the benefit of his immediate family but in such a way as to make the lives of others easier and richer. Mr. Frushour is a republican in politics, and like his wife is a true Christian. They are members of the Evangelical Association.

The parents of Mrs. Frushour, Peter and Catharine Good, while not coming to Wabash county at so early a date as the Frushours, were still early residents. Both were natives of Virginia, were married in Ohio, and came to Wabash county when Mrs. Frushour, who is about ten years younger than her husband, was a child. Their location was about two miles south of Lagro. When Mrs. Frushour was seven years old her mother died, and her father later married and moved out to Kansas, where the rest of his days were spent. Mrs. Frushour was one of a family of children mentioned as follows: Jacob, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased; Nancy Ann, deceased; Catharine, Mrs. Frushour; William; John, deceased; Mary, deceased; and Frank.