William and Amanda Scholler and Family

I promised you more on the Schollers, and occasionally I keep my promises.

Porter and Lake Counties (Goodspeed/Blanchard), published in 1882, has this to say about William Scholler:

WILLIAM SCHOLLER was born in 1831 in Germany. He is one of seven children born to Charles and Mary Scholler, both natives of Germany. The elder Scholler was in the Franco-German war of 1815. At twenty-five years of age, William Scholler came to the United States. He had served an apprenticeship of three years in Germany at blacksmithing, and worked at the trade three years. He found himself without money on arriving at Dunkirk, and shipped on board a propeller on Lake Erie for a short time. He then went to Chicago and worked at his trade in a factory for about two years, when he went to Crown Point, Ind., and after about six months' employment came to Hobart and established a shop of his own, and has remained ever since. He has now probably the finest blacksmith shop in Lake County, 24 × 60 feet, of brick. He does a general blacksmithing business, building wagons, buggies, plows, shoeing horses, etc. He also owns a farm of 100 acres near Hobart, with first-class buildings. He is a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity. His political opinions have always been strongly Republican. He was married, in 1861, to Amanda Shearer, a native of Indiana. They have eight children living — Alfred, Harrison, George W., Daniel, Carrie, Robert and Emanuel.

The biographer seems to have missed Norma, who shows up at one year of age in the 1880 Census.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

According to the caption on this portrait, we have, from left to right in the back row: Robert, Daniel, George, Harrison and Alfred Scholler; and in the front row, from left to right: Carrie, William, Calvin, Amanda and Norma. No date is given, but since Calvin was born in October 1884 (according to the 1900 Census), if we judge him to be about six years old here, then this photo was probably taken circa 1890.

The earliest I find William Scholler in the census records is in the 1870 Census, when he's living in Hobart, working as a blacksmith. In the 1920 Census, I've found Robert and Calvin Scholler, both blacksmiths, so I suppose those are at least two of the "Scholler Bros." who gave the shop its name.

I see in my notes that in the autumn of 1901 there was some sort of fracas at the Scholler farm involving attempted murder and suicide, and I shall have to look that up next time I'm at the library (which, at the rate I'm going, will probably be a few weeks).

I have a few more Scholler pictures to come, however.