Mary E. "Polly" Drollinger
1838 - 1930 (92 years)
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Name Mary E. "Polly" Drollinger Nickname Polly Birth 24 Jun 1838 Wills Twp, La Porte County, IN 
[1] Gender Female Death 31 Dec 1930 La Porte County, IN - Hostetler, Polly - COUNTY PIONEER DIES AT AGE 92
Mrs. Polly Hostetler Born in Wills Twp., in 1838; Mrs. Polly Hostetler, 92, widow of Joseph Hostetler and a pioneer resident of LaPorte county, passed away this morning at 9 o'clock at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Eva Dawson, 521 Lincoln Way East. Death came to the aged and respected native of the county after a three years' illness of complications.
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Drollinger, Mrs. Hostetler was born in Wills township, LaPorte county January 24, 1838, shortly after the organization of the county, and lived in this vicinity all her life, with the exception of a few winters spent in Florida. She was one of a family of 13 children. She was married at her home in Wills township on September 10, 1854 to Joseph Hostetler, who preceded her in death in 1915. She had resided with her daughter for the last three years. Mrs. Hostetler was a member of the Brethren church of North Libety. Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. Sarah M. Jarrell of Tyner, Mrs. Eva Dawson of LaPorte and Mrs. Mabel Miller of Mill Creek; four sons, Joseph Albert Hostetler of Miami, Fla., John W. and Gabriel A. Hostetler of Mill Creek and David M. Hostetler of New Carlisle, and two brothers, Quinby Drollinger of South Bend and George Drollinger of Mill Creek. Four children preceded her in death, a daughter passing away only four months ago. Funeral services will be held Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Sauktown church, the Rev. M.G. Long, pastor of the LaPorte First Christian church officiating. The body may be viewed at the home of Mrs. Dawson from Thursday afternoon until 10 o'clock Saturday morning. Burial will be in Sauktown cemetery with O.M. Haverstock in charge. Source: The LaPorte Daily Argus December 31, 1930.
Burial La Porte County, IN - Burial: Sauktown Cemetery
La Porte County, Indiana, USA
Inscription: Mother Polly Jan. 24, 1838 Dec. 31, 1930
Person ID I2928 Drollinger Genealogy Last Modified 14 Jul 2021
Father Gabriel Drollinger, b. 13 Jul 1810, Guilford, Orange, NC d. 18 Dec 1887, Wills Twp, La Porte County, IN (Age 77 years) Mother Mary Elizabeth Chapman, b. 7 Oct 1816, Cayuga County, NY d. 17 Oct 1893, Wills Twp, La Porte County, IN (Age 77 years) Family ID F950 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family Joseph "Joe" Hostetler, b. 4 Jan 1829, Somerset County, PA d. 12 Jan 1915, La Porte County, IN (Age 86 years) Marriage 10 Sep 1854 Wills Twp, La Porte County, IN [2] - Indiana Marriage Collection
Name: Polly Drollinger
Spouse Name: Joseph Hostetter
Marriage Date: 10 Sep 1854
Marriage County: Laporte
Source Title 1: Laporte County, Indiana
Source Title 2: Index to Marriage Records Letters D - H Volume II
Source Title 3: W. P. A. Compiled by Indiana Works Progress Admini
Book: R-D
OS Page: 370
Children 1. Mary Ann Hostetler, b. 3 Aug 1855, La Porte County, IN d. 4 Sep 1930, La Porte County, IN (Age 75 years)2. Philip H. Hostetler, b. 12 Dec 1856, La Porte County, IN d. 30 Mar 1859, La Porte County, IN (Age 2 years)+ 3. Joseph Albert Hostetler, b. 30 Nov 1859, La Porte County, IN d. 28 Feb 1946, Miami, Dade, FL (Age 86 years)4. Sarah Matilda Hostetler, b. 30 Nov 1861, La Porte County, IN d. 6 Jan 1958, South Bend, St. Joseph, IN (Age 96 years)5. Martha J. Hostetler, b. 21 Apr 1864, La Porte County, IN d. 26 Feb 1865, La Porte County, IN (Age 0 years)6. Jared Franklin Hostetler, b. 12 Dec 1865, La Porte County, IN d. 21 Mar 1877, La Porte County, IN (Age 11 years)+ 7. John W. Hostetler, b. 25 Jun 1869, La Porte County, IN d. 13 Mar 1936, La Porte, La Porte, IN (Age 66 years)+ 8. Gabriel Andrew Hostetler, b. 29 Aug 1870, La Porte County, IN d. 3 Mar 1946, South Bend, St. Joseph, IN (Age 75 years)9. David Moses Hostetler, b. 13 Mar 1873, La Porte County, IN d. 24 Jan 1970, South Bend, Mishawaka, IN (Age 96 years)10. Eva Augusta Hostetler, b. 25 Dec 1875, La Porte County, IN d. 24 Oct 1973, Flora, Carroll, IN (Age 97 years)11. Mable Amanda Hostetler, b. 4 May 1879, La Porte County, IN d. 23 Aug 1960, La Porte County, IN (Age 81 years)Family ID F953 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 2 Feb 2020
- Hostetler, Polly - COUNTY PIONEER DIES AT AGE 92
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Event Map 
Birth - 24 Jun 1838 - Wills Twp, La Porte County, IN 
Marriage - 10 Sep 1854 - Wills Twp, La Porte County, IN 
Death - 31 Dec 1930 - La Porte County, IN Burial - - La Porte County, IN = Link to Google Earth
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Photos
Headstones 
Sauktown Cemetery
La Porte County, IN
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Notes - Mary's middle name was most likely Elizabeth after her mother. Mary Elizabeth has always been a popular name. Her nickname, Polly is probably in honor of her grandmother, Polly Searls-Chapman. Her nickname of Polly probably also served to reduce confusion in the household so as to not be confused with her mother, Mary.
The lifelong romance of Polly and Joseph began in 1850 when Polly was only 12. Joseph was a hired hand, living with the family and helping Polly's father farm his large acreage. Who was smitten first? Joseph was an "older man" of 21 and Polly was at the age when young girls often have crushes on boys in their daily lives. Joseph may have been infatuated with the young Polly in spite of her two older sisters being nearer his age. Literature is full of fanciful tales of young men waiting for an enchanting young miss to grow to adulthood and living happily ever after. Polly and Joseph evidently lived this story for they married when Polly was only 16 and were together over 61 years before Joseph's death separated them in 1915. In full-page photographs they gaze serenely at the camera, looking wise and content.
Polly was the first of Gabriel and Mary's 13 children to marry and in less than a year she made them grandparents. It would be interesting to know how Mary felt about being a grandmother at 39, especially since she had a four month old baby as well as two other children under five. Mother and daughter bore children the next year also. One suspects that grandmother was not too involved with her first grandchildren!
Polly set up housekeeping in an eighteen by eighteen log cabin which sufficed until they built a large home that eventually accommodated their 11 children. Polly and Joseph both came from large families of 13 and 11 children respectively, so perhaps it is not surprising that they had a large brood of their own. Joseph had come to LaPorte County with his parents as a 14 year old, all ready experienced in the heavy chores of farming in the well-timbered lands of the Midwest. He worked for his father before he hired out to Gabriel Drollinger, earning eleven dollars a month. He lived frugally, for by 1853 he was able to purchase the farm to which he brought his bride in 1854. Perhaps his frugality and industry can be traced to his upbringing in the Church of the Brethren; his father and paternal grandfather were ministers in that church.
At the request of his mother Joseph was appointed administrator of his father's estate in 1860. He was not the oldest and his two surviving brothers lived in LaPorte County, also, so presumably Joseph was the most responsible of her children. Court records indicate that at least one of his brothers-in-law, Samuel Wiltfong, was insolvent. That may be why the heirs quickly sold their shares of inherited land to Joseph. Or maybe Joseph was already planning to buy up nearby land as it became available. Joseph's purchase of those first 180 acres started what became essentially a family compound of Hostetlers and Drollingers in sections 22-28 and 33-35 of Wills Township. Landownership maps in successive county atlases graphically illustrate the acquisitions and dispositions of land as the children married and settled near their parents, grandparents, and cousins. Today this corner of the county pays homage to these families with a huge barn with the imposing logo "Hostetlers 1907" on one farm.
Joseph was listed in a Mill Creek directory with 1,795 acres and assessed value of personal property $570 in 1902. Eight years later Joseph and Polly lived with their son David in St. Joseph County where Joseph died in 1915. Strangely, no probate records have been located through the available filmed records for St. Joseph County. This is another case where onsite research must be initiated to write the final chapter. Another chapter yet to be written is where Polly lived in the 15 years of her widowhood. She has not been found in the 1920 census, but at age 92 she lived in an active four generation household composed of her divorced daughter Eva, her widowed daughter Mary, Mary's son, wife, and children, and Eva's daughter and son-in-law. Polly's great-grandchildren were only 6 and 18 months old and since Polly died in December 1930, they probably do not remember her. But no doubt there are family stories about their interaction as there are in families fortunate enough to have four or even five generations alive simultaneously and living close together.
Joseph and Polly are buried in the familiar territory of the Sauktown Cemetery with many of their children arrayed around the family marker and the senior Hostetlers nearby. Sauktown Cemetery may have been carved out of Hostetler property although there seems to be no deed to confirm that. As late as 1921 the 18 acre cemetery is surrounded by Hostetler land. The two largest monuments in the cemetery are for the Drollingers and the Hostetlers. Surrounded by countless graves they stand sentinel on opposite sides of the cemetery with an intervening oval of low-lying land punctuated by a flag pole.
Kay Germain Ingalls 2003
- Mary's middle name was most likely Elizabeth after her mother. Mary Elizabeth has always been a popular name. Her nickname, Polly is probably in honor of her grandmother, Polly Searls-Chapman. Her nickname of Polly probably also served to reduce confusion in the household so as to not be confused with her mother, Mary.
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Sources