300                     HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY



mon to this locality. As a tiller of the soil, Mr. Scherb has actively
assisted in this notable change, and at the same time has accumulated
a goodly share of this world’s goods, enabling him to live retired at his
pleasant home in Clay City. A native of Clay county, he was born
August 28, 1851, in Posey township, a son of George Scherb.
    George Scherb was born in Germany, November 13, 1838. Left
fatherless when thirteen years old, he worked at various employment for
a number of seasons. Hearing of the wonderful opportunities for
obtaining a living in America, he emigrated from his native land to this
country when a voting man, crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel and
being forty days on the water. After spending a brief time in Ohio he
came to Clay county, locating in Posey township, which was then a
vast wilderness, owned principally by the government. Selecting eighty
acres of canal land, he walked to Vincennes to enter it at the land office
He also purchased a piece of land upon which there was a log cabin, and in
this,their first home in this county,he and his family lived for a number of
years. Neither railways, telegraph or telephone poles then disfigured
the landscape, and but few of the present visible evidences of civilization
existed. Terre Haute was the nearest market-place, Brazil being but a
hamlet, and Bowling Green the county-seat. Deer, turkeys and other
wild game were plentiful, furnishing supplies for the table, and the
mother dressed her whole family in homespun of her own weaving and
manufacture, while the father, with but a rude cobbler’s outfit, made the
shoes. With an energetic spirit and a pioneer’s axe he began clearing
and improving a homestead, and was there successfully employed as a
tiller of the soil until his death, January 1, 1892. His wife, whose maiden
nanie was Anna Margaret Fleschman, was born in Germany in August,
1813, and died December 31, 1907. Her father, Conrad Fleschman,
was born, reared and married in Germany. After the death of his wife
he came with his three children, Anna Margaret, Barbara and George,
to the United States. George settled first in Hendricks county, Indiana,
and later moved to Illinois, locating near Decatur. His father lived with
him in Hendricks county, afterwards making his home with Mr.and
Mrs. Scherb, but dying while visiting his son in Illinois. Seven children
were born of,the union of Mr. and Mrs. George Scheth, namely: John P.,
the special subject of this sketch; George C.; Anna Margaret; Mary E.;
Magdalena; Henry; and John F.
    In the rude log schoolhouse, with its slab benches, which had neither
backs nor desks in front, John Philip Scherb obtained his elementary
education. Reared to habits of industry, honesty and thrift, he began
when a boy to assist in the work of the farm, remaining beneath the
parental roof-tree until twenty-eight years old, in the meantime farming
a part of the time on his own account. Purchasing a tract of land in
1879 in section nineteen, Harrison township, he began housekeeping all
by himself in the frame house which stood upon the place, but, it is need-
less to say, he did not remain a bachelor very long. He labored early
and late, and each year added to the improvements already begun, placing
the land in a fine state of cultivation, rebuilding and enlarging the house
and erecting a large frame barn, his farm becoming one of the best in
its appointments of any in the neighborhood. In 1907, relegating the
care of his farm to his son Henry, Mr. Scherb removed to Clay City,
and is there living retired from business cares, enjoying a well-earned
leisure.