Establishing an Historic Landmark for Ireland rd

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• . farmer and she was the mother of two. Another daughter, Mary Pickett , died of the same cause soon after her father in February of 1846. Her husband, Edwin, went on to become County Commissioner in 1851 . Elizabeth and Samuel Leeper's son, David Rohrer Leeper, continued his grandfather's political aspirations on a larger scale. He was first elected to the Indiana State Legislature and in 1878 was elected State Senator from St . Joseph and Starke Counties . In 1892 he became mayor of South Bend--a post he held until 1894. [9] Mary (May) Rohrer died December 28, 1859. Her obituary in the St . Joseph Valley Register noted her passing as "the last member of the family of one of the earliest settlers of the county. " The family farm stayed in the possession of Charlotte T. Rohrer, (known as "Aunt Hat") the wife of John Rohrer, until her death in 1899 . She was the last person with the Rohrer name to buried in the pioneer burial site. [10] The Miller Family John and Catherine (Wenger) Miller settled on a 157 acre homestead just east of the cemetery site, on the southeast corner of what later became Miami and Ireland Roads . They arrived in the township in 1847 from Ohio where they had lived since 1831 . John was of German extraction. He was born in East Hanover, Lebanon County, Ohio in 1807 . Catherine was born in Pennsylvania in 1813 and was the sister of Elder C. and Martin Wenger, also early pioneers in St . Joseph County. She and John were married in Pennsylvania; they raised ten children--three sons and seven daughters . The Millers were early supporters and members of the first German Baptist Church in St . Joseph County. John remained on the land he homesteaded and improved for farming until his death in 1876 when he was interred in Rohrer Cemetery. Catherine was laid to rest eight years later, leaving the family farm to a son, William C. Miller, who was elected as Centre Township Supervisor in 1866 and was a minister of the German Baptist Church. He later named the property "The Sunny Banks Farm. " Other Millers buried in Rohrer include three year old Margaret (1852) and six year old Alta (1880) . [11] The Lock Family Philip and Jemima (Tipton) Lock were originally from Pennsylvania; both were born there in the 1780 ' s . The couple moved to Ohio in 1818 to establish a farm but as was typical of many Americans of their time, they moved on, and arrived in St . Joseph County in 1844. They purchased land just east of the Michigan Road and began developing a farming operation. Phillip's family on his father's side were English immigrants who first settled in New Jersey. His maternal ancestors were Germans transplanted to Pennsylvania. Both sides are described in