1500 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO dining room, are among the features most praised by the hundreds of patrons who have been in the habit of spending a good part of the summer there. For his hotel Mr. Day has his own gardens, cows and chickens, and everything is supplied fresh for the table. Mr. Day married Miss May. Belle Millen of Norwalk, Ohio. Their one child Mildred is the wife of Bernard McCann of Put-in-Bay, and they have a son William Bernard McCann. As a democrat Mr. Day has long been prominent in local affairs. For eight or ten years he served on the town council and was mayor one term until on account of the urgency of his private business affairs he refused to serve again. He was also a member of the school board ten or twelve years, and is now chairman of the Park Board and street commission. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Day gives much credit for his success in the world to his capable wife and both of them are active in supervising the Bay View Hotel. For a great many years Mr. Day has spent his winters regularly on the island, but during one winter season he was inside steward in one of the large hotels at Hot Springs, Arkansas. J. H. HUNTLEY, M. D. With years of practice and with an almost unequalled variety of experience, Doctor Huntley of Lima has attained that position where he is regarded as foremost among the general surgeons of Ohio, and as an orthopedist has few peers in the country. It has been well said that the value of a human life is measured by the benefits it has conferred on the social community and the extent of its contributions to the advancement of the human race. Doctor Huntley's career is a story of personal ambition and an overwhelming desire to convert his individual experience into a permanent gain for humanity. He was born in Hardin County, Ohio, April 11, 1851. His father, Joseph Huntley, was a farmer, and about 1853 removed to Allen County. Largely as a result of a neglect which in his own mature career he has endeavored to repair in the cases of hundreds of others, Doctor Huntley became a cripple in childhood. For more than ten years he was able to go around only by crutches. His own deformity was cured only after the fourth surgical operation. The class of surgery which attempts to relieve and correct deformities in the lower extremities and feet is called orthopedy. Thus it was as a result of his individual suffering and experiences that Doctor Huntley has found his chief life work and success as an orthopedist. The ambition for a surgical career came to him when a child. The story is told that when he was twelve years of age he crawled up and looked through a window from which point he could command a view of the operating table on which the late Dr. S. A. Baxter amputated the leg of a Mr.' Shockey, an old resident of Allen County. The great men of history have often been those who have had one overmastering passion or fixed idea. Doctor Huntley carried the boyhood ambition to become a surgeon through all difficulties and adversities. He did not proceed smoothly and without obstacles into a medical career. As a boy he worked in a saddlery and harness shop. He learned the trade and followed it as a means of self support three years. He also taught school. These occupations were only stepping stones by which he endeavored to realize his main ambition. From what he had, earned by his own exertions he final entered the medical department of the University of Michigan. No student ever wor harder to master the varied opportunit presented by a great medical school. He spent one year at Ann Arbor, and then transferred his student career to the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati, where he was graduated in 1878. His first office was at West Newton in Allen County. From there he removed to Alger in his native Hardin County. He was continuously a student during those years, and in 1890, after another course, graduated from the Starling Medical College at Columbus. Doctor Huntley again and again pursued post-graduate courses, and has attended the great clinics and hospitals of Chicago, New York City, Boston, New Orleans and elsewhere. In 1895 he located at Lima and from that city his fame as a surgeon has gone far abroad. For the past ten years he has devoted himself exclusively to surgery, though in earlier years he practiced both medicine and surgery. He has handled many cases described as general surgery, but more and more his reputation has come to rest upon his skill as an orthopedist. He has performed some very difficult operations in abdominal surgery. In orthopedic surgery many of his cases have HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1501 attracted wide attention by members of the surgical fraternity all over the world. No surgeon has shown a rarer skill nor a greater adaptability of method to individual cases in the treatment of club feet and similar deformities than Doctor Huntley. He has performed more successful operations for the deformity known as club-foot than any other surgeon known in Northwest Ohio. His cases have been widely reported in medical journals, and he himself has contributed the results of his experience and observation to the medical and surgical press. A few years ago the International Journal of Surgery published his article on "Some Special Forms of Orthopedic Surgery" in which he describes with much particularity the methods of his individual treatment for club-foot, knock-knees and bow-legs. He is a prominent member of the Allen County Medical Society, the Northwestern Ohio Medical Society, the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. For a number of years he has been an instructor in the Lima Training School for Nurses, from the time it was founded. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason. Doctor Huntley had the misfortune to lose a leg in an automobile accident in 1909, but strangely enough some of his greatest work as a surgeon has been done since that accident, and he is even now at the height of his success and is one of the busiest men of Lima. Doctor Huntley was married in 1885 to Mary E. McClung, daughter of Hutchinson McClung. Mrs. Huntley was a woman, of rare beauty in both face and character. She was devoted to her home and family and was widely beloved in the City of Lima. Her death occurred May 7, 1916, and that has been the most grievous blow from which Doctor Huntley has ever suffered. Doctor Huntley has one daughter, Grace Darling. She graduated from the literary department of Lima College in 1904 with the degree Bachelor of Literature, and then entered the Emerson School of Oratory at Boston. She was then a student in the Leland C. Powers School of Oratory for three years. when graduated. She has the characteristics of her father of doing well whatever she undertakes and has applied herself with remarkable energy and patience to the mastery of various forms of the dramatic art. As a young girl she made a reputation as a reader, and after her graduation from the school at Boston she took up a stage career and continued in it successfully until her mother's death. Since then she has lived quietly at home with her father at Lima. S. W. DOWNING is superintendent of the United States Fish Hatchery at Put-in-Bay. Of all the many employes of the Federal Government connected with the fish industry it is doubtful if any man has a more widely varied and successful experience than Mr. Downing. He is an expert in practically every phase of fish propagation, and he has worked on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as around the Great Lakes. Nearly forty years of his life have been spent in this work. He was born at Townsend in Sandusky County, Ohio, May 10, 1849, a son of Ambrose Milton Downing. His father in the early days of the last century owned a small farm in New York State. At that time in our national history the money currency was not standardized as it is now. Many articles were current as a medium of exchange, and perhaps none more so than whiskey. It is therefore not strange that when Ambrose Downing sold his farm in New York State he received as payment six barrels of whiskey. After selling out he came with his family and with his household goods, and with the six barrels of whiskey, to Ohio, transporting the entire lot with an ox team. He located as a pioneer in Sandusky County, but later lived for a time in Henry County, though his remaining days were spent in Ottawa County. He was the father of five sons, three of whom were valiant defenders of the Union during the Civil war. S. W. Downing was the youngest of the family. While his brothers were away at war, and while his father was practically an invalid, he and an older brother did all the work required for the support of the household. Then the older brother married, and when only sixteen or seventeen the youngest son had the entire responsibilities connected with the care of his parents. Up to the age of eighteen he remained at home, and during that time had attended schools two or three months each winter. He then worked out at monthly wages on farms, and from his earnings paid for a term or two of school at Milan. With these advantages he qualified for teaching, and for fourteen winters put in his time in that vocation. During. the summer seasons he could earn more at fishing or farm work than he could at teaching. 1502 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO His experience in the fish industry began in 1877, when he was appointed field foreman for collecting eggs at North Bass Island. He was then employed for the United States Fish Hatchery at Northville, Michigan. On January 1, 1894, he was appointed fish culturist at the United States Fish Hatchery in Put-inBay. While his time for the greater part has since been spent at Put-in-Bay in the employ of the Federal Government, he has also been called to work in various other fields. For one season he was foreman at Green Lake, Maine. On July 5, 1895, he was appointed foreman at Alpena, Michigan, and remained there five years. In the meantime the Government sent him to the Atlantic coast where he broadened his experience by handling mackerel, lobster, tautog and other marine fish. In 1898 he was sent out to the Pacific coast on Chinook salmon work along the Little White Salmon River in the State of Washington. While there he built a hatchery and one year later another of the same capacity, and although his experience in salmon fishing was comparatively brief, the hatchery was pronounced the best on the entire coast at the time. On June 20, 1899, Mr. Downing was transferred from Alpena and appointed superintendent of the Clackamas, Oregon, plant. In 1900 Mr. Downing was again returned to Put-in-Bay as superintendent for the Federal Government of the hatchery at that point. The Put-in-Bay hatchery was established in 1890, with J. J. Stranhan of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, as the first superintendent. For a time Mr. Downing was employed at the Put-in-Bay plant after its establishment, working as collector and watchman. Mr. Stranhan remained as superintendent until succeeded by Mr. Downing in 1900. The United States Hatchery at Put-in-Bay was built primarily for whitefish. The hatch now includes also pike perch, known as gray pickerel or wall-eyed pike, and also some lake herring. The total of the annual hatch is 300,000,000. This is one of the important supply points around the Great Lakes for eggs, and all in excess of the capacity of the Put-inBay Hatchery are sent to other stations. During the several years the take of eggs has totaled more than 1,000,000,000. In 1875 Mr. Downing married Miss Ida Fox of North Bass Island, a daughter of George Fox of Put-in-Bay. Mr. and Mrs. Downing have a fine family of sons and daughters. Guy F. is in the storage business at Lansing, Michigan ; Roy M. is deputy collec tor of customs at Sandusky ; Ivan H. is undertaker at Alpena, Michigan ; Zoe is wife of Roland Schielle, who is a consul electrical engineer at Cleveland ; Russell superintendent of the Minnesota State F. Hatchery at St. Paul ; Rex is head bookkeep for the Owosso Beet Sugar Company at L sing, Michigan. Mr. Downing is a Mason and an active publican. For a number of years while on North Bass Island he served as trustee an a justice of the peace, but since then has not been active in local politics. NICHOLAS FOX. Many of the improvements and much of the business industry of Put-in-Bay have had a close association with the name of Nicholas Fox for the better part of a half century. Mr. Nicholas Fox is now senior member of the firm of Nicholas Fox & Sons, and is living practically retired at Put-in. Bay, the various business interests being carried on under the active management of his sons. A native of Bavaria, Germany, Nicholas Fox emigrated to America in 1863, and live for a time on South Bass Island. While there he was employed in the fishing industry by Lawrence Miller. He soon progressed so fa as to buy out his employer, and he was on of the operators of a fishing equipment in and around Put-in-Bay. Later in order to have constant employment throughout the year he bought a vineyard and combined the two occu- pations. About 1879 Nicholas Fox gave up the fishing industry altogether, and applied himself exclusively to the growing of gra until 1886. In that year he leased from Lemuel Brown a dock which had been erected by Brown but which for several years had not been maintained in good repair and was hardly available for first class service. It was nothing more than a pier of pilings. The purpose of Mr. Fox in purchasing this dock was to erect a building for the sale of refreshments and also secure facilities so that he might realize a better price for his vineyard products. After leasing the dock for some years he bought it in 1890 and since then for a period of more than a quarter of a century it has been under the ownership and management of members of the Fox family. Many improvements have been added and it has been practically rebuilt throughout, now constituting a fine wharf. Nicholas Fox and sons also carry on an extensive business in the handling of coal, feed and HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1503 building materials. The Fox dock is now used by the following steamship lines, D. C., C. and B., and Ashley and Dustin. Since 1910 Mr. Nicholas Fox has lived practically retired. In September, 1869, he married Mina Buddenhagen, daughter of Charles Buddenhagen of Middle Bass Island. Charles Buddenhagen came from Mecklenburg, Germany, when Mrs. Fox was an infant. For several years he worked at Sandusky, but about 1865 moved to Middle Bass Island. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Fox were the parents of the following children: Henry, who was born in August, 1870 ; George A., who married Julia Ingold and has three children, named Maria, Vernor and Anita; Andrew, a successful dentist at Monroeville, Ohio, and the father of a daughter by his marriage to Miss Ashton of Monroeville ; and Louise, still at home. The sons, Henry and George, are now the active partners in the firm of Nicholas Fox & ons. The son Henry married Anna M. Haler, a daughter of Jacob Haller, and has a son Ethan Oliver. Both the brothers, Henry and George, take an active part in local affairs, and are republican voters, while their father is a democrat. Henry Fox served two terms as mayor of Put-in-Bay and is now president of the board of trustees of public affairs. Fraternally he is affiliated with .the Masonic Order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Both Henry and George, during their early youth, were employed in the fishing and other lines of industry about the island, and in 1889 they bought a 106 acre farm on Pelee Island. They were actively engaged in farming this for several years, then leased it, and finally sold out a few years ago. Before buying the farm Henry Fox had worked on the Doller Dock, and was thus familiar with the operation of such a plant when his father secured the Brown Wharf. THOMAS H. JONES. One of the best citizens Allen County ever had was the late Thomas H. Jones. who spent almost half a lifetime as a merchant in that county, was an honored veteran of the Civil war, and at one time was county treasurer. His death occurred August 5. 1914, and marked the passing of one of Lima's oldest and best known citizens. He was born in Wales, February 18, 1835, the son of Josiah Jones and Mary Hughes of Llanbrynmair, North Wales. Part of his education was acquired in his native country, but at the age of fourteen he came to America and located at Gomer in Allen County, Ohio. He attended the common schools there, and as a poor boy had to start out to make his own way in the world. For a time he was employed in the dry goods store of W. W. Williams at Columbus Grove, and was clerking in that store during the early months of the war. He finally resigned his position behind the counter and in 1863 entered the army as a member of Company F in the One Hundred and Eighteenth Ohio Infantry. From that time forward until the close of the war he was in active service much of the time in the commissary department. Following the war Thomas H. Jones returned to Allen County and engaged in business with W. M. Ashton and Brothers, hardware merchants. He continued in the same business and in the same store for thirty-seven years. Later he was a partner with I W. K. Boone. On May 13, 1868, Mr. Jones married Susan Francis, who survives him, and with the competence acquired by her husband through many years of activity is now enjoying the comforts of a good home at 519 West North Street in Lima. Mrs. Jones is a daughter of Ellis and Catherine (Jones) Francis. Both her parents were natives of Wales and came to the United States in 1842, settling soon afterwards as pioneers in Allen County, Ohio. Her father was a substantial farmer. There were eight children in the Francis family, six of whom were born in Wales. The four now living are : Owen Francis, president of a Lima Building and Loan Association ; Mrs. Jones ; Jane Francis, unmarried and living in Chicago ; Kate, wife of William R. Jones, a farmer in Allen County. Mrs. Jones was born in Wales, January 18, 1843. She was nine years of age when she came to the United States. Her life has since been spent in Allen County. Mr. and Mrs. Jones became the parents of five children. Gwen, widow of D. A. Pence, lives with her mother and is a teacher in the Lima High School. Josiah F. Jones is now serving as city treasurer of Lima. M. Myvanwy lives at home and is also a teacher in the high school. Harri 0. Jones is cashier of the Old National Bank at Lima. Ellis E. is a well known Lima business man and by his marriage to Mae Ward, has three children. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church. The late Mr. Jones filled all the chairs in the Odd Fellows Lodge. He was very active in church matters and served as an elder of the local Presbyterian Church for 504 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO fifteen years. In politics he was a republican. He served the city as a member of the school board and was also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was one of the few republicans ever elected to county office in Allen County, and for five years held the post of county treasurer. He is also remembered as a vigorous and interesting writer. He wrote many articles for home papers and also contributed much to papers published in the Welsh language. CHARLES SCHNEIDER. While the rich soil of Middle Bass Island, Lake Erie, Ohio, is favorable to general agriculture, the main and most profitable industry is the growing of grapes which has been brought to perfection. For a half century the people here have grown grapes and made wine and their product is recognized as equal in many ways to some of the finest distillations of foreign lands. Many of the early settlers came here prepared to engage in fishing or farming or to engage in the practical trades in which they had been trained but the larger number of them subsequently became the owners of vineyards and prospered with their neighbors. Among these was Charles Schneider, Sr., who was the father of Charles Schneider, who owns and operates his own vineyard and manages the property of his late father, and is one of the representative citizens of Middle Bass and a useful member of the school board. Charles Schneider, the elder, was born October 18, 1822, in Saxony, Germany, and died in 1893, on Middle Bass Island, to which he had come in 1864. In the spring of 1861 he had come to Sandusky, Ohio, where he followed his trade of shoemaker, learned in Germany, and when he came with his family to Middle Bass it was with the expectation of continuing as a shoemaker. The cultivation of grapes as a business was then in its beginning here and Mr. Schneider was foresighted enough to see that industry would be more profitable than work at his trade. He soon had become the owner of a small tract of land, on which he set out grape vines which developed almost beyond expectation and insured him a fine vineyard. He devoted himself mainly to this industry until the time of his death. His three children survive, two daughters and one son : Louisa and Lena, who live on the old home place, and Charles, his father's namesake. The elder Mr. Schneider was a prominent man in the democratic party in Middle Bass, although he never consented to hold any public office except members on the school board. Charles Schneider remained at home his father and aided in the work of the yard, which can never be neglected and whi during the bearing season, is a very b place. He carries on the grape business ye successfully, having, as mentioned above, t vineyards to manage. He is a democrat politics andofficetimes has served in local offi and on the election and school boards. Mr. Amandaider was married to Miss Amand Runkel, who is a daughter of John F. and Mary (Rehberg) Runkel. They have one son, Charles Schneider, who is a resident of Middle Bass Island. John F. Runkel, father of Mrs. Schneider, was a pioneer on Middle Bass Island. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, but was brought by his parents, when six years old, to the United States and they settled on a farm in Erie County, Ohio, near Sandusky. The death of his mother when he was ten years of age necessitated his leaving home and taking care of himself. He worked for farmers in Erie County until 1869, when he came to Middle Bass Island and for a time worked for others here. In 1871 he was married to Miss Mary Rehberg, who is a daughter of the late William Rehberg and a member of a very prominent family on Middle Bass. After marriage Mr. Runkel bought a tract of land and went into the business of growing grapes and continued the operation of his vineyard until his death, which occurred on January 1, 1900. Mrs. Runkel has since resided with her only daughter, Mrs. Charles Schneider. Mr. Runkel was known all over the island and was very highly esteemed. CHRIS P. ENGEL. When the great Civil war broke out Chris P. Engel was between fourteen and fifteen years of age. He was born at Sandusky December 10, 1846. Like most boys, he was thrilled with the idea of "soldiering" and his patriotism was hot to be denied, even though -he was too young to be accepted as a regular musket bearer. He secured his father's permission to enter the army as a fifer. He had never played the .fife, but he thought he could learn if learning would get him into the ranks. His father reluctantly consented, thinking that the war would last only a short while. Thus Chris P. Engel was taken into the army, with the Seventy-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but instead of serving as a fifer he was made a HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1505 drummer boy. For nearly four long weary years he shared all the experiences and hardships of campaigning in the South. He had a host of interesting experiences, and he also dured the sufferings of prison life in the otorious Andersonville prison in Georgia. He as captured with fifteen others from his company in 1864, and was sent to that notorious stockade and kept there for eight and a half months. Hundreds of brave men died in that prison but young Engel escaped that fate. In February, 1865, when the armies of the North were gradually enveloping the Southern Confederacy and following Sherman's march to the sea, the Confederates moved the prisoners from Andersonville, and during that removal Chris Engel made his escape. On reaching the Federal lines he was furloughed and sent home to recuperate. In April he started to rejoin his command, his regiment being then stationed at Mobile, and he went down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and around the Gulf, and after that continued in service in the South until discharged in August, 1865. It was in the fall following his release from the army that Chris P. Engel gained his first acquaintance with Put-in-Bay. He has been one of the leading grape growers and prominent citizens of that section for more than half a century. His father was Chris Engel, Sr., one of the early settlers at Sandusky. He had a farm near Sandusky, but in 1867 followed his son to Put-in-Bay and bought a vineyard. This vineyard is where Chris P. Engel now lives, and the father built the old home many years ago. Chris Engel, Sr., died in 1896 at the age of eighty-two. His wife died about ten years later, aged eighty-six. The record of their children is : John, who is a printer by trade ; Chris P. ; Louis, who served in the regular United States army for a few years after the war, and died at Put-in-Bay in 1915 ; Charles, also a printer ; Emma, wife of Henry Pfeifer of Cleveland, who at one time was superintendent of the Put-in-Bay Wine Company ; Hugo, living in Put-in-Bay. The veteran soldier, Chris P. Engel, though he was at the time not yet twenty years of age, on coming to Put-in-Bay found work picking grapes in the vineyards. He spent the following winter in Sandusky, but then returned to the island and has remained ever since. His father and family joined him in the spring of 1867. After remaining at home for a few years, he began growing grapes on a rented place. He and his brother Louis kept the first bar in the. old Museum, and they made it a paying proposition. In 1892 Chris Engel came to the home place, where he has since lived, and in addition to the vineyard he has other fruit, including peaches and quinces. Mr. Engel has always been very progressive and alert in all his methods and practices of grape growing. An incident illustrating this occurred many years ago. He learned from some source of the new practice of girdling and thereby introducing new strains on old stock. He was the man who introduced that method on the island, and his fine "Florence" grapes,. grown on some of the older vines, created quite a stir among the vineyardists. Some of his envious rivals surreptiously secured scions from his vines, and they were very much surprised and chagrined when, after all their trouble, their fruit turned out to be only the common Ives variety. By his practice of "girdling" Mr. Engel reaped considerable profit, but eventually the practice became common among all the other growers. In matters of politics he has always been a sterling republican. He has served as road supervisor, and also on the County Central Committee. Mr. Engel married Bina Link, and they have one child, Herbert, who is connected with the Morgan & Wright Rubber Company of Detroit. He married Caroline Lehman. ANDREW SCHIELE. For many years one of the landmarks around Put-in-Bay has been what is known as "Schiele's Castle." This fine old residence was built and occupied in 1871 by the late Andrew Schiele, Sr., who was one of the pioneer business men of Put-inBay and long a successful vineyardist and wine maker. The present. occupant of the old home is Andrew Schiele, Jr., whose home has been on the island for half a century. The Schiele family moved from Toledo to Put-in-Bay in 1865. Andrew, Sr., opened up a refreshment place under a shed roof across from the park on the 4th of July of that year. Thereafter he continued his bar and hotel until 1869, when he sold out. In the meantime he had bought some land which he cleared and planted in grapes and on which he also built " Schiele's Castle." He continued growing grapes and making wine in his wine cellar until his death in 1880 at the age of sixty-two. For a short time during 1506 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO the '70s he again resumed business at Put-inBay, but then sold out. Andrew Schiele, Jr., was born in Toledo in 1862 and was three years of age when his family came to Put-in-Bay. He grew up in this community, attended the local schools, and early began supporting himself by work for others. Afterwards he got into business for himself and in that way continued for about seven years. In the meantime both parents had died, and he bought the old homestead from the other heirs and has since kept it up in the original fine condition and has added many improvements. He now owns twenty acres besides the old home, and that is planted in grapes. The products, of his vineyards are pressed out in his wine cellar, and he makes a very superior grade of wine, a private clientage taking all that he makes. Mr. Schiele has also acquired some valuable property in the Town of Put-in-Bay. The people of the island have long come to trust implicitly in his judgment and ability as a citizen, and they kept him in the office of township trustee for twenty-five years. Politically he is a republican. By his marriage to Margaret Dennis of Sandusky he has one daughter, Miss Elsie Marie. E. B. HOWARD, who is freight agent of the Hocking Valley Railway lines at Toledo, is one of the prominent men in railway circles in this city, and has reached his present position as a result of a steady progression through various grades and responsibilities of service beginning when he was a boy. His father, Franklin Howard, is a veteran railroad man, now living retired in Toledo at the ripe age of seventy-six. Franklin Howard was for twenty-eight years in the ear department of the Wabash Railroad. He married Ida. Bishop, and they were the parents of nine children, five of whom are still living. The third in age among his parents' children, E. B. Howard was born at Sedalia, Missouri, October 27, 1871. His early years were spent in Toledo, where he attended the public schools and Davis Business College. The record of his service as a railway man begins with his employment as a clerk in the car department of the Wabash Railway 'Company. He remained at that work four years; was next employed by the Northern Pacific Railroad at Tacoma, Washington, as a bill clerk from September 9, 1889, to June 18, 1890 ; from July 5, 1890, to 1894 he was rate clerk with the Michigan Central Railway a Detroit ; returning to the Wabash Company, he was clerk in the car department at Detroit from September, 1894, to May, 1896; from May to October, 1896, he was in the service o the Lake Shore Railway, in October went to the Pennsylvania Railway and remained wi that company until February, 1911; and w then appointed chief clerk for the Hocking Valley Railway Company, an office he filled from May to July, 1911. At the latter dat Mr. Howard was appointed freight agent of this railway with headquarters in Toledo, and has very successfully handled the large volume of business that goes through his office. Mr. Howard is a member of the Catholic Church and is a republican in politics. In Detroit January 17, 1900, he married Miss Rose Downey, daughter of Jeremiah Downey of Detroit. Mrs. Howard was educated in the public and parochial schools of Detroit. The two children born to their marriage are bo deceased. CAPT. ELLIOT JAMES DODGE. There is no more interesting personality in and around Put-in-Bay than Captain Dodge, captain of the steamship Tourist and one of the prominent old timers of this lake port. Cap Dodge has had almost a lifetime of service in these waters; first as a fisherman, and wards as a boat captain and owner. known as a rugged, courageous and headed sea-faring man, and one who will undertake anything in the discharge of his and with a generosity of mind and heart to his physical courage. Though most of his life has been spent around the waters of the Great Lakes, he was born in an inland village of Wisconsin, Windsor, twelve miles north of Madison, on February 17, 1854. In 1876 the family removed to Illinois, spent one winter there, and then settled at East Point on South Bass Island, Ohio. They lived there for years, and then bought a place on Middle Bass Island, where Captain Dodge's father died soon afterward. The children were : Ellen M., wife of Leroy Webster of East Point ; Jennie, wife of James H. Crowley of St. Louis, Missouri; Louis C.. a grape. grower on Middle Bass Island; Captain Dodge ; Emma, wife of Louis Edlifsen of Los Angeles, California ; John B., who was practicing medicine at St. John, Michigan, at the time of his death in 1916 ; and Edith, deceased wife of Robert Harris. who lives in Detroit, Michigan. Captain Dodge remained at home with his HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1507 parents until he was sixteen years of age. In e meantime he had secured all the education e was destined to receive from schools, and e then started out to make his own way in e world. He became identified with the fishing industry around the Great Lakes, and hat was his regular occupation for a quarter of a century. In the meantime he had taken up boating, having purchased in 1882 the steamer Ina. This vessel he conducted during the season for about twenty-five years. The Ina was then dismantled and he bought the old yacht Wayward, whose 'Tarter deck he trod as captain for six years. Captain Dodge then built his present handsome boat, the steamer Tourist. This is a stanch craft of forty-three tons net and fifty-four gross tonnage, of steel construction, equipped both for passenger and transport service, and for both summer and winter use. The hull is so constructed that it can 1,- trimmed to lift. the forward end out of the water making it available for ice breaking. In the summer months, as the thousands of tourists who frequent this favorite section Northwest Ohio know, the steamship Tour-14 is the favorite excursion boat between Port Clinton and Put-in-Bay, making the regular run between those places. It is also chartered for special service. As soon as the fruit sea-sun begins, the Tourist is used for transporting many tons of grapes and other products Detroit, Toledo, and other ports. In the fall, when the summer lines are all laid up, Captain Dodge keeps the Tourist going on regular trips to Sandusky, and his boat is the ,only means of shipping to and from the island until the ice closes the lake completely. When the Tourist finally ties up at the dock in late fall or early winter, the island remains practically isolated except for such communication as is established over the ice, until the break up of the ice in the following spring. The first trip of the Tourist in the spring is an event eagerly awaited and attended with almost a general celebration on the island. On its first trip in the spring the Tourist brings to the island a cargo of provisions which serve to relieve the monotony of the island's winter stock. For twenty-five years Captain Dodge has also handled coal and builders' supplies, and keeps two scows for that purpose. He is not only one of the most successful boat owners and managers along the south shore of Lake Erie, but almost a book of incidents might be written describing his service. On this point Captain Dodge is rather noncommittal, as the modesty of his nature demands, and many who know the quiet and vigilant captain superficially are not aware that a special act of Congress granted him the beautiful large gold medal for his act of heroism in taking his boat out from harbor on November 7, 1907, during a terrific gale, and rescuing three men from a capsized small boat. The steamer State of New York was at that time on the rocks near Rattlesnake Island, and several men of its crew had attempted to leave the vessel and get to Put-in-Bay. The boat was overturned and the men were struggling when Captain Dodge and his crew gallantly put out and rescued them. The members of the Tourist crew were each given silver medals by the same act of Congress. Captain Dodge has rescued a great number of people from, watery graves, and considers such an act nothing more than a commonplace performance of duty. As a matter of fact, such performance is only the act that might be expected of so large and generous a heart, and it is said that during the many years of his residence on the island he has bestowed a practical generosity and helpfulness upon anyone in financial straits or needing the sympathy of a strong and resolute character. Captain Dodge married Miss Christine Jardine, of an old French family of Ontario, Canada. Their children are : Mrs. Inez Gertrude Doller of Cleveland ; Wilbur Leo, an engineer at Put-in-Bay ; Mildred Catherine, wife of Bert Millen of Put-in-Bay ; Gordon Archie, who is mate and clerk on the steamship Tourist with his father ; and Vivian, who died when five years of age. Captain Dodge is a loyal republican and is affiliated with the Tribe of Ben Hur. He has served ten years on the city council of Put-in-Bay. In matters of religion he was reared a Methodist. GUSTAV HEINEMANN is one of the old time residents of Put-in-Bay, a successful vineyardist and wine and grape juice manufacturer, and has also added one of the most startling and interesting attractions to the thousands of people who annually visit Put-in-Bay as a summer resort. Mr. Heinemann is proprietor of the Strontia Crystal Cave. Concerning this remarkable natural feature of Put-in-Bay Island the following description is given : " In November, 1897, on the property of Gustav Heinemann, a well was sunk some forty feet deep for water for drinking purposes. Workmen in making 1508 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO the excavation passed closely to a wonderful cave, the earth tumbling in and disclosing to them a stalactical, startling cavern, more like a fairy grotto than anything else—a more appropriate name could not be applied. On exploration it was found that there were several rooms, some large and some small, and an immense stratum of strontia, a solid mass of dazzling mineral extending twenty-two feet below the bottom of the cave. The side walls of the different rooms are of solid strontia and the ceilings are arch shape and hung with prismatically formed crystals emitting prismatic colors fascinatingly splendid with brilliancy and radiance, not unlike that of the clearest cut diamond. " The salts of strontia communicate a vivid crimson color to flame, and are much used, especially the nitrate of strontia in the manufacture of fireworks. It is also used in clarifying beet sugar. The commercial value is about twelve dollars per ton (the weight is much heavier than lead, but two ordinary barrels being required to hold a ton), and this discovery is said to be the first of any importance in the United States." Mr. Gustav Heinemann was born near Freiburg in Baden, Germany, in 1856. He was reared and educated in his native country and in 1880, at the age of twenty-four, arrived in America. For several years he lived on Middle Bass Island, but in 1884 returned to Germany. He was back in America in 1885, and since then has been identified with the country in and about Put-in-Bay. He worked for wages. until 1889, when he rented a farm on the shares. In 1896 he bought a vineyard of over six acres, and has since been engaged in its cultivation. He uses all his own grapes for making wine and grape juice, and during summer seasons buys large quantities of grapes for his plant. Since the discovery of the Crystal Cave in 1897, Mr. Heinemann has developed it as, one of the attractions of Put-in-Bay, and many thousands of excursionists and tourists have visited it annually. Mr. Heinemann has various other business interests, and is one of the principal owners of the Put-in-Bay Resort Company. In 1886 Mr. Heinemann married Miss Fannie Zeller. They are the parents of five children : Hilda is the wife of Emil Schrait of Put-in-Bay ; Amelia still lives at home ; Gertrude is Mrs. Fred Cooper of Cleveland ; Herbert is a successful young attorney at Cleveland ; and Norman still resides at home. The family are members of the Catholic Chur and in politics Mr. Heinemann is a democrat. He has membership on the board of Park trustees at Put-in-Bay. JOHN F. MATHIAS, one of the present board of county commissioners of Lucas County, is a well known contractor and though still a comparatively young man is recognized as one of the forceful business men of Toledo. He was born in Lucas County, Ohio, August 12, 1879. His parents are Michael and Agnes (Colchester) Mathias. His father, a native of Germany, came to America in 1862, first locating in Detroit, from there moving to Defiance County, Ohio, where he followed farming five years, and then came to Lucas County. He bought and lived on a farm near the City of Toledo, and from there removed to another farm eight miles west of Toledo. He remained on the farm seven years, and coming into Toledo engaged in the teaming business. Subsequently he became a contractor and was identified with that line of work until he gave up an active business career. He is now living retired in his eighty year, and his wife is about eighty years age. John F. Mathias was the sixth in a of seven children, all of whom are still He was reared and educated in Lucas County, and as a youth he learned the concrete business. From that he became a contractor in the past few years has built some o substantial bridges of Lucas County. democrat and resides at 1518 Vance Street Toledo. Mr. Mathias was elected county commissioner of Lucas County in 1916, ant gives practically his entire time to the of the office. CAPT. ROBERT SCHIELE. One of the veteran mariners of the Great Lakes, whose has always been at Put-in-Bay, Captain Robert Schiele is now commander of the steamship Shearwater, owned by the United States Government and employed for the collection of eggs for the United States Fish Hatchery at Put-in-Bay. Captain Schiele has spent nearly all his life in and around Put-in-Bay. His family were among the pioneer settlers on that island. Captain Schiele was born in Toledo, December 25, 1857. His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Schiele, were natives of Wuertemburg, Germany, but were married in Toledo. While living in the old country Andrew HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1509 Schiele learned the trade of nail smith, manufacturing nails by the old hand process. When he came to America machinery was already displacing hand methods of making nails and he had no opportunity to follow his trade. Instead he worked at different lines of employment in Toledo, and for a time conducted a saloon there. In 1863 he came to Put-in-Bay and bought nine acres of land then covered with a heavy growth of native timber. He spent many months of hard work in clearing it up, and finally had it planted to a vineyard. In the meantime his family remained in Toledo, but on June 20, 1865, they arrived at Put-in-Bay. The boat that brought them was the Philo Parsons, which had come into unenviable historical prominence as having been employed by the plotters for the liberation of the Confederate prisoners on Johnson's Island. Andrew Schiele converted the grapes grown in his vineyard into wine, and later he opened a hotel, restaurant and saloon in Put-in-Bay. His was the first saloon in the town. His death occurred there in the late '80s. Of his ten children, seven died in infancy, and the three now living are : Robert ; Andrew, who operates a vineyard on the old homestead ; and Edward, who is in the Club House on Middle Bass Island. The first eighteen years of his life Captain Schiele spent at home, and gained his education in local schools. The lake and its activities had a great fascination for him as a boy, and on leaving home he became a sailor under Captain Magel on the Golden Eagle. Later he was on the American Eagle and subsequently on various other boats. In 1882 he was given his papers as a master, and now for a number of years has been captain of the Shearwater, attached to the Government fish hatchery for the collection of eggs. Captain Schiele married Amelia Fiester of Sandusky, though she was born in. Fulton County. They are the parents of two children : Edith, the wife of Otto Herbster, a photographer at Put-in-Bay, and they have a daughter Verda E. Fred Robert, who is employed on the Doller Docks at Put-in-Bay, married Emma Misch and has a son Robert. Captain Schiele has been affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1890. He is a republican in politics and is now serving on the city council. HENRY REHBERG. The history of the Rehberg family on Middle Bass Island, Lake Erie, Ohio, is really the civilized history of the Vol III-12 island itself, for members of this family were among the first to settle here and have ever since been identified with the interests of this section. A worthy representative of this sturdy old family is found in Henry Rehberg, one of the most prominent and substantial residents of Middle Bass. He was born October 4, 1849, in Mecklenburg, Germany, one of the sons of John Rehberg and a brother of the late William Rehberg. John Rehberg emigrated from Germany to the United States in June, 1850, and made his way to the shores of Lake Michigan, establishing himself in what is now South Chicago, Illinois. He was a fisherman in Germany for thirty-six years, but after locating in Illinois followed farming. He then came to Sandusky, Ohio, and for a time lived on cedar Point. In the meantime his son, William Rehberg, had acquired property interests which included part ownership of Middle Bass Island, and among his other' enterprises had determined to start a fishery, and it was in order to give assistance in this undertaking that John Rehberg, about 1859, Came also to this island which, at that time was covered with big timber. William Rehberg, Joseph Miller, George Calwell and Andrew Wehrle were the settlers of the island. About 1863 John Rehberg bought a tract of thirty-six acres from Joseph Miller, his son-in-law, who then owned the western part of the island. He cleared off the timber on a small hill or mound near the shore, selecting the location as a desirable one on which to erect his cabin. In the fall of the year, while digging a pit on his land in which to store his crop of potatoes for the winter, his workmen unearthed human bones and when the mound was thoroughly excavated there were some forty skeletons exposed in an excellent state of preservation and indications were that probably it had been the Indian burial spot of at least two hundred bodies. Mr. Rehberg decided to select another site for his cabin and another, spot, farther from the lake, was cleared and there it was erected, and this homestead has continued in the family ever since, now being the property of Henry Rehberg, whose modern residence stands on the spot formerly occupied by the pioneer cabin. During the fishing season, John Rehberg was fully occupied in that industry every year, but at other times he cleared his land, cut the timber into cord wood, which he sold to the lake boats, and, as his land was prepared, put in the usual crops, including grain. 1510 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Before the land had been cleared, however, another industry thrived. The timber was mainly hickory and walnut,- with sycamore in the swamps. William Rehberg, with characteristic business foresight, had joined with the other island owners in the project of importing pigs from the mainland, turning them into the timber to fatten on the nuts. In the fall the hunting of the pigs provided sport and after the shooting the carcasses would be dressed and the meat of fine flavor would be bought by the boats. Another source of income to the early pioneers was the trade in wild pigeons and ducks which were so numerous that it was said that the former in their flights darkened the sun like clouds, and that it was a common experience for a. man to stand in one spot and shoot twenty or thirty ducks at a time. When the first road was laid out across the island, largely through the enterprise of the Rehbergs, it wound through the woods and at times was almost impassable, but as soon as the timber was cleared off and a little draining was done, this land became dry and was found rich in the chemical properties needful for crop raising of any kind. When John Rehberg first came here there were no horses and but four yoke of oxen in the island. As the land was cleared and the raising of grain was begun the four men purchased a threshing machine and it was generally used over the island. It was in the '60s that the majority of the settlers began to actively engage in the growing of grapes and in this industry John Rehberg was particularly successful and devoted his attention to it as long as he lived afterward. He survived to be eighty-five years of age. In many ways he was a remarkable man. Henry Rehberg was only a boy when the family came to Middle Bass Island. He had but meager educational opportunities before this and at that time there were no schools on the island. The nearest school was at Sandusky and for a time his father did not possess the means to pay the youth's board in the city on the main land, but entered him as a pupil just as soon as he was able to do so. It was no hardship for Henry when, several years later his father decided to keep the youth at home, for he was at an age when study was more of a task than a pleasure, and be gladly took up farm work at home and helped his father through the fishing season very contentedly. When his father died he took over the management of his interests, some of which, like the vineyard, he continued, but many years ago gave up the fishing enterprise. Mr. Rehberg tuned over the management of the place in 1915 to his son-in-law, John Messenburg, being now practically retired, although he- retains the individual operation of his oil rights. In 1891 he leased the oil rights on his place and an oil well was sunk that produced a substantial flow. Later the company was dissolved and the rights reverted to Mr. Rehberg. Henry Rehberg was married to Miss Minnie Kaphagstt, who was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, and died in 1915, on Middle Bass Island. Mr. Rehberg has one daughter, Clara, who is the wife of John Messenburg, of Perkins Township, Erie County, and they have two children, Nellie and John. In politics Mr. Rehberg has always been a democrat and has served with the greatest efficiency in many offices. He has been trustee and supervisor and. for eight years was deputy sheriff and for twenty-five years has been a member of the school board. He is interested in everything that promises to be beneficial to his fellow citizens and is particularly concerned in everything pertaining to the public schools. It was Mr. Rehberg who started the agitation for a special school district on Middle Bass and it was through his efforts that others were interested and the result was that the district was secured. This demonstration of public spirit showed how practical men like Mr. Rehberg may be and how sound are their opinions and unselfish their demands for recognition. Mr. Rehberg belongs to both branches of Odd Fellowship, being a member of Commodore Perry Lodge at Put-in-Bay, and of the Encampment at Port Clinton. B. E. COOK. Since pioneer times New Knoxville has had merchants and active business men of the Cook family. Mr. B. E. Cook is one of the younger generation, and for the past thirteen years has conducted one of the main merchandise establishments of the town. He was born at New Knoxville March 30, 1869, a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Venue-man) Cook. His grandfather Henry Cook was born in Germany, where the name was spelled Kuck. On' emigrating to America he located in the vicinity of New Bremen, Ohio, and later moved to New Knoxville, Ohio, where he bought land from the Government. By the exercise of those thrifty qualities which were inherent in his German ancestry and in HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1511 his own character he became very successful for his day and generation. He died near New Knoxville. Besides farming he was also one of the early manufacturers of sorghum. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Cook was Henry Venneman, who was also a native of Germany and was one of the first merchants at New Knoxville. He opened a stock of goods in one room of his home, gradually expanded, built a store, and at the time of his death had a double store room completely stocked with merchandise for the local demand. Henry Cook, father of B. E. Cook, was born at New Bremen, Ohio, August 6, 1835, and has now passed the age of fourscore, and is still enjoying life. As a youth he learned the trade of carpenter and for a time was employed in building the locks on the Erie Canal. Afterwards he farmed, and finally engaged in the mercantile business at New Knoxville and was active in its management until 1902 when he sold out to his son B. E. Cook. He and his family have been German Reformed people, and politically he is a republican. For thirty years Henry Cook served as postmaster of New Knoxville. His wife, who was born in Ladbergen, Germany, in 1836, died July 3, 1916, at the age of eighty. They were married in Auglaize County. Of six children only two are now living, including B. E. Cook and his sister Elizabeth, wife of L. C. Mahn, an engineer at New Knoxville. Mr. B. E. Cook grew up in New Knoxville and New Bremen, attended the public schools and the high school of the latter town, and also had two terms of. instruction in the Northern Ohio University at Ada. His first experience was as a farm laborer but in 1902 he bought out his father and began merchandising at New Knoxville. He has a very large store, and keeps his stock up to the best standards, and has shown remarkable ability in meeting the demands of the trade and in carrying on a successful business. In 1892 Mr. Cook married Anna Eversman. She was born in Van Buren Township of Shelby County, Ohio. They have no children. Both are active members of the German Reformed Church, in which he is a trustee. He has served as treasurer of New Knoxville and treasurer of the school district, and in politics is a republican. PETER J. CLARK. An ideal country home, both as a place of residence and as a profitable business enterprise, is the Fairview Stockfarm in Napoleon Township of Henry County, whose proprietor is Peter J. Clark. This farm, comprising 200 acres of fine black loam soil on clay subsoil, is situated on section thirty-three of that township. In every detail it reflects the enterprising character of its owner, and is handled in such a way as to produce the highest revenues and at the same time maintain the fertility and increasing value of every acre: Mr. Clark and family occupy a substantial nine-room house, only recently built, and there is a large stock and feed barn 32 by 100 feet, with shed room 20 by 100 feet. 'Everything is provided with the best of equipment for the raising and handling of cattle, hogs and horses. All the farm buildings are painted a buff color. Mr. Clark has more than a local .reputation as a successful raiser of cattle. He ships about three carloads of cattle every year and feeds over 100 head of hogs, and has also raised some for sale. He specializes in Shorthorn cattle. This successful Northwest Ohio farmer was born in Perry County, Ohio, April 20, 1882; and is still a very young man for all his success. He was reared and educated in Monroe Township of Henry County, having come to that locality at the age of twelve years with his parents in 1894. He is a son of William D. and Maggie (Carl) Clark, both of whom were natives of Perry County, Ohio, where they were reared and married. They started there in the country, William D. Clark being a farmer and coal miner. All their children, four sons and four daughters, were born in Perry County not far from New Lexington. On coming to Henry County William D. Clark bought 160 acres of good land in Monroe Township, and has since lived there enjoying the comforts and profits of his good home and extensive equipment. Both parents are still living. In August, 1905, Peter J. Clark married a Henry County girl, Miss Catherine Laughlin. She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, February 13, 1882, and a year later came to Napoleon Township of Henry County with her parents, and grew up on the farm she and her husband now own. Her parents were Joseph and Helen (Kenney) Laughlin. Her father was a native of Ireland and when a young child came to this country with his parents, and afterwards took up contracting in Napoleon, where he married his wife. From here he moved to Cincinnati, but subsequently returned to Henry County and located on a farm in Napoleon 1512 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Township. Later he resumed contracting in the West, where he died. His widow died on the old farm sixteen years ago at the age of fifty-seven. The Laughlin family were all members of the Catholic Church. Mr. and Mrs. Clark and children are communicants of St. Augustine's Church in Napoleon. Mr. Clark is a democrat in politics. They have four children : K. Angeline, aged eight ; M. Geraldine, aged six ; Robert William, aged three, and John J., born November 7, 1916. LYMAN S. GUNK' represents one of the earliest pioneer families of Northwest Ohio. His grandfather established his home in Henry County, in the wilderness along the Maumee River, in the early days of the last century. Few family groups have contributed more of substantial benefit to a community. As a class they have been farmers. The pioneers lived in the woods, supplied their tables with meat from the wild game that abounded, and were .on friendly terms of relationship with the Indians who still claimed this section of Ohio as their hunting ground. What the early generation won from the dominion of the wilderness, subsequent members of the family have improved and continued to enlarge. One of these is Mr. Lyman S. Gunn, who is proprietor of the Hillside Farm in Napoleon Township not far from Oklahoma postoffice. He has resided there continuously since 1903, but the farm was his birthplace, and scene of his early adventures and experiences as a boy and youth. He owns forty acres as his share of the old Edward M. Gunn estate, and has an additional twelve acres not far away. The old. family stock established their homes more than a century ago under the leadership of Charles Gunn near Damascus. Charles Gunn was a typical pioneer, resourceful, courageous and daring, willing to share responsibilities and hardships, and by his justness and probity was never on anything but good terms with his Indian neighbors. In fact his children and those of the Indians played together when this part of Ohio was a wilderness and the woods were filled with game and the rivers with fish. Charles Gunn and his wife died more than eighty years ago within two or three weeks of each other. At that time their son, Edward M. Gunn, father of Lyman, was eleven years of age. Other children of Charles Gunn were Louisa, Minerva, Elliot, and Lucian, all of whom married and had families. They all became farmers except Lucian, who was a lake and elevator engineer. Edward M. Gunn took as his share of the old estate eighty acres, obtaining that from his uncle, Elijah, and after improving this eighty he increased his possessions to 200 acres, and lived in that community until his death in April, 1914. His wife, whose maiden name was Jane Stone, died about four years before him. Further reference to this interesting family will be found on other pages of this publication. Lyman S. Gunn is the oldest of a large family, the other survivors 'being his brother Fred and his sister Mollie, who is the wife of Fred Dodd of Waterville, Ohio. Lyman S. Gunn was born on the farm he now occupies October 17, 1848. He grew up and was well educated and as a youth learned the trade of carpenter and cabinet maker. He became especially skilled in those trades, and for twenty-seven years he lived in the Village of Maumee, where as a carpenter contractor he built a great many houses and barns, especially in the eastern part of Henry County. In 1903 he gave up his town home and returned to the old farm, where he has found ample employment for his energies and is enjoying the comforts which should go with advancing years. Here, in 1914, he erected a splendid bank barn on a foundation 34 by 50 feet. This barn is painted buff with golden brown trimmings and is the center for his agricultural operations, which includes the raising of good crops and high grade stock. He and his family reside in a good eight-room house. Near his birthplace in Henry County Mr. Gunn was married, November 20, 1870, to Miss Elizabeth Jennie Davis. Mrs. Gunn was born in Dorchestershire, England, March 14, 1850, a daughter of George and Charlotte (Hammond) Davis, natives of the same part of England and of old. English ancestry. Other children born in England were William, Henry and Harriet. In 1854 the Davis family set out from Liverpool on the sailing vessel St. John, went to Canada, up the St. Lawrence River by Quebec and Montreal, then across Lake Erie to Cleveland, where they landed June 4, 1854. The Davis family lived for a number of years in Lorain County, Ohio, and then moved to Henry County, first in Ridgeville Township and later in Napoleon. Mr. Davis died on his farm in the latter township in 1888 .at the age of seventy-two, and his widow, who was born in 1818, died two years later. They were members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and he was a republican. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Gunn were HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1513 born children named Aurelius, Hiram Seton, John Henry and Nellie Leona. Aurelius, born March 15, 1872, died unmarried May 24, 1889 ; Hiram Seton, born April 15, 1874, was accidentally drowned while fishing in the Maumee River May 25, 1890. John H., born October 13, 1875, was educated in the schools at Maumee while the family resided there, also in the college at Ada, first was a pharmacist, later a farmer, and now a sales clerk in a hardware store, besides owning a good farm of 100 acres ; by his marriage to Grace B. Van Rensselaer of Lucas County h has two children, Catherine M. and Isabel Van R. Nellie Leona, who was born November 19, 1878, married Eugene L. Bridenbaugh of Lucas County, and they lived in Toledo, where Mr. Bridenbaugh is connected with the Overland Automobile Company; their two sons are John L. and Edward G. Mr. and Mrs. Gunn and family are members of the Presbyterian Church, while politically Mr. Gunn's associations have always been with the republican party. ORA L. HINTON. In the August primaries of 1916, among the worthy nominations made by the democratic party in Auglaize County, was the choice of Ora L. Hinton as candidate for sheriff resulting in his election on November, 1917. Mr. Hinton has long been in the public eye as a capable and competent official, and practically every one realizes that the duties of sheriff will be efficiently executed during his term of incumbency. In the line of official service Mr. Hinton served as captain of the fire department in St. Marys five years, and for three years was on the police force. For a number of years he has owned a pack of bloodhounds and has a large kennel from which he has sold dogs all over the country, and that in itself constitutes an extensive business. He has been instrumental with his dogs in the apprehending of many criminals. Mr. Hinton was born in Mercer County in Liberty Township August 2, 1876, a son of Frank and Isabelle (Howell) Hinton. Grandfather Thomas Hinton was born in Germany, and was an early settler in Mercer County, Ohio. From this county he went out as a soldier in the Union army during the Civil war, and was with his command in all its engagements until the close of .hostilities. Disease contracted while in the army shortened his life and he died soon after his return from the war. Mr. Hinton's maternal grandfather was also an early settler of Auglaize County and a farmer by occupation. Mr. Frank Hinton, who was born in Ross County, has one of the finest farms of Mercer County and his success is the more creditable for the fact that he started out as a poor boy. With the exception of four years given to official responsibilities as an infirmary director he had given the closest attention to his farm work. He is a democrat and is a member of the Friends Church. His wife Isabelle Howell was born in Auglaize County, and died January 8, 1917, aged sixty-six years. They were married in this county. Mr. Hinton still resides on the home farm. Of their eight children five are living : Ora L. ; Thomas Hinton, a painter at Rockford, Ohio; 011ie, wife of Lawrence Siler, of St. Marys ; Pearl, wife of Dillon Smalley, surveyor of Mercer County ; and Bessie, who resides with her brother Ora. Ora L. Hinton had the advantages of the common schools of Mercer County during his early life, and his early experiences were those of the farm. A number of years ago, when the bicycle was at the height of its popularity, Mr. Hinton took up bicycle riding as a profession, and during the five years he followed it he was noted as the best rider in Northwestern Ohio. In October, 1897, he married Lola Hodson, daughter of John Hodson, an Auglaize County farmer. After his marriage Mr. Hinton was employed in the spoke works at St. Marys for five years, and spent a similar period in the spoke factory. He and his wife have had three children : Goldie, aged sixteen ; Donald, aged five ; and Elda, who died when three years of age. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, though his daughter belongs to the German Lutheran. Fraternally he is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and is affiliated with the American Insurance Union. WILLIAM HEITMAN. In every community are a few men whom all admire and respect, not on account of their business ability and worldly success, but because of their personal characteristics. Such a man is William Heitman of Okolona in Henry County. Although he is one of the most successful farmers and merchants in the county men do not speak of him as "one of our big farmers," but as "one of the finest men." He is especially representative of the fine qualities of the German race. His genial disposition and his public 1514 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO spirit as well as his ability and practical common sense, have won him universal esteem, and his is a career that is stimulating to read, since he has made his success since coming to this country from Europe as a poor boy, and has risen from the humble employment of railroad service to independence as a merchant and farmer. He was born in Hanover, Germany, June 20, 1845, and comes of old German stock of that kingdom, a substantial family of Lutheran people. His parents and also his grandparents spent their lives in Hanover. His father, John Heitman, died in 1858 when not yet fifty years of age. He was a shoemaker by trade and had served his full term in the standing army. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Eitzman, who Was born and reared and educated in Hanover and died there about 1883, after her son William had come to America. She was married a second time, though she had no children by her last husband. William Heitman had an older brother Henry, who spent his life in Germany and left a family there. A younger brother, Frederick is a German farmer, a widower, and has three sons and one son-in-law serving in the Imperial armies of Germany. William Heitman spent the first thirteen or fourteen years of his life in the old country, and while there gained a practical education which is afforded German youth. It was partly with an ambition to realize the opportunities presented by America and also to escape the onerous duties of military service and the restrictions of German laws and customs, that he set out for America. He was alone so far as his own family was concerned, and he took passage on the City of Bremen in the harbor of that name and on the second trip 'made by that vessel. The vessel left Germany May 1, and fifteen days later landed its passengers at Baltimore. Two days after that young Heitman stepped from the train of the Wabash Railroad at Okolona in Napoleon Township of Henry County. In another two days he was working for the Wabash Railway Company, and for five years he did the heavy work required of him, and also exercised proper thrift in safeguarding his earnings and making provisions for the future. His first purchase was a tract -of timber land near Deshler, comprising 160 acres. About two years later he traded this for a smaller piece of land near Okolona, and gradually added by subsequent purchases until his farm now comprises 140 acres. In improvements and general attractiveness it is one of the most valuable farms in that part of Henry County. It lies in sections twenty-nine and thirty-one, and presents an attractive feature in the land- scape, not only by its well cultivated and improved fields, but also by the substantial farm buildings. Thus for upwards of half a century Mr. Heitman has been identified with the community around Okolona. In 1885, with the late William Schlesser as a partner, he engaged in merchandising at Okolona. Six years later, on St. Patrick's Day of 1891, their store and the two other business houses of the village were burned. Mr. Heitman immediately rebuilt, on the opposite side of the street, and since then for a period of a quarter of a century has been the leading merchant of the village. He has a large store, 40 by 50 feet. well filled with merchandise of all classes and divided into departments, and with a trade drawn from a territory many miles around. For a number of years he has had his son associated with him in the management of this store. Several years after Mr. Heitman came to this country he married Anna Koenemann. She had been on the same shipload with him in coming to this country, was born and reared in the same neighborhood in Hanover, and they were members of the same church. She too had come to this country alone so far as her immediate family was concerned, and as they had been sweethearts in the old country they subsequently cemented their alliance in marriage and have lived happily together for forty-five years. To this union were born two sons and one daughter. Fred H., born at Okolona, is a well educated young business man, and for the past fourteen years has been postmaster of Okolona, the postoffice being in the store conducted by his father. Fred married Helen Egger, of Henry County, but her parents were from Hanover. Fred Heitman and wife have four children : Laura, a promising young woman who is a member of the class of 1917 in the Napoleon High School ; Luella, William and Julian, who are attending the grade schools. Ida, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Heitman, married Daniel Lowry, an engineer on the Baltimore & Ohio and living at Chicago Junction ; they have a son Lester and a daughter Vernice. Alvin, who is associated with his father and brother in the store, married Carrie Long. All the HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1515 family are members of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, and the father and sons are democrats in politics. CHARLES E. HATCHER. As superintendent of the Henry County Infirmary, Charles E. Hatcher is rendering a public service second to none in the county in the way of benefits to those dependent upon state charity. He has all the qualifications for such a post of responsibility. He was a practical farmer before he took charge of the infirmary in 1911, and his experience in tat line and his good business judgment have enabled him to give a good administration to, the large farm maintained by the county. Both he and his wife are kindly people who consider it a privilege as well as a duty to do all they can for lightening the burdens of those entrusted to their care. The institution has about thirty inmates throughout the year, and there is a large building with forty rooms for the housing of these unfortunate people. Besides a substantial set of farm buildings, the farm itself comprises 236 acres of land, and it is all improved and under cultivation except four acres of native timber. Mr. Hatcher during the past five years has always maintained a high standard in the administration of this department of the county government. His entire life has been spent in Henry County, and he was born in Richfield Township July 12, 1874. He was reared in the country, received a public school education and proved himself very capable as an independent farmer until he was , called to his present post. His father, William Hatcher, is an honored veteran of the great struggle for the integrity of the Union. He was born in Logan County, Ohio, in 1844, was reared in this state, and in the latter part of 1863 enlisted in the Forty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, being mustered in at Columbus. For over two years he was a private in the ranks and acquitted himself creditably in every duty he was called upon to discharge. While he escaped wounds, he suffered so much from exposure and hardship that he lost his hair and beard. After the war he was married in Logan County to Maria Argo, and some years later he moved to Henry County. There in 1881 his wife, and the mother of Charles E., died before her fortieth year. She died at the birth of her seventh child, and nearly all these children were reared and are still living. William Hatcher married for his second wife Adaline Roberts and they now live retired at Weston in Wood County, and this marriage has also produced seven children. William Hatcher has for many years been an active worker in the ranks of the prohibition cause, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In Wood County, Ohio, Charles E. Hatcher married Bertha Brown, who was born in Henry County in 1880, was reared and educated in this county, and is a daughter of Isaac N. Brown, who was also a veteran of the Civil war and died in Henry County. His widow, now past sixty-five, lives at Weston. Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher are the parents of four children : Elzina, who has finished the course of the high school at Napoleon and is still at home ; Oscar, aged fourteen and attending the public schools ; Gladys, eleven years of age and in the grade schools ; and Burdette, who was born January 3, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he has had his membership in the church at Weston for the past twenty years. Politically he is an independent democrat and he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Weston, Ohio. WILLIAM SHAFFER in the course of thirty years has succeeded in building up a business second to none in its line in the Town of Cridersville in Auglaize County. Mr. Shaffer is an undertaker, a furniture dealer, and has used such enterprise and has furnished such reliable service that his trade limits are by no means confined to the country immediately around Cridersville, and he gets custom from as far away as Lima and Wapakoneta. It is noteworthy that every dollar that Mr. Shaffer has earned has been by his own efforts, and he is one of the upstanding and prosperous men of his section. His birth occurred on a farm three miles west of Cridersville, in Allen County, Ohio, July 26, 1865. His parents were Michael and Sarah (Whetstone) Shaffer. His grandfather Henry Shaffer came to Northwestern Ohio in 1836, was a pioneer in Allen County, and developed a farm of forty acres on which he spent his last years. The maternal grandfather Simeon Whetstone was also an early settler in Auglaize County, and was both a farmer and a minister of the Gospel. Michael and Sarah Shaffer were married in Auglaize County on May 28, 1847, Israel Johns performing the ceremony. Michael was born in 1516 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, October 3, 1816, and was twenty years of age when he came to Allen County. He lived out a successful career as a farmer in Allen County, and died there February 10, 1889. His wife was born in Auglaize County in 1827 and died November 19, 1912. They were members of the Christian Church and he was a democrat in politics. Of their thirteen. children, William was the eighth in order of birth and the nine still living are : Simon, a retired farmer at Spencerville, Ohio; John, in the nursery business at Lima; Mrs. Justus Romshe, wife of an Auglaize County farmer, living three miles north of Wapakoneta ; Sallie, wife of J. D. Ritchie, a farmer in Auglaize County ; Amanda, wife of C. F. Bowsher a farmer in Auglaize County ; William ; Elza, a farmer near Spencerville ; George, who is in the business of drilling water wells at Cridersville; Mrs. Jacob Sands, wife of the foreman of the Country Club at Lima, Ohio. Mr. William Shaffer attended school at Hume country schoolhouse, lived on the farm, gained a practical acquaintance with agriculture as a youth, but has always followed some other lines of business. For a time he was in the nursery business and he studied and gained practical experience with the under: taking profession at Sidney, Ohio, at Muncie, Indiana, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Thirty-two years ago in 1884 he engaged in business at Cridersville and from the first has studied and applied his experience not only for the purpose of rendering an expert service but also one careful and satisfactory in every detail. On June 1, 1902, Mr. Shaffer added a stock of furniture and stoves, and he has developed these lines to an important extent. His business was burned out in 1910 and he then restocked his store and also erected a substantial block in which he has his headquarters. In 1890 Mr. Shaffer married Miss Lucinda Mowery, daughter of George and Elizabeth Mowery of Allen County. Her father was a farmer. Mrs. Shaffer died November 12, 1891, and 'her only child is also deceased. In 1895 Mr. Shaffer married Mary Danner, daughter of George Danner, who with his wife was a native of Germany and for many years followed farming in Auglaize County. To this marriage was born one child, Mabel, who is now employed in a store at Lima. The family are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Mr. Shaffer is a democrat and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights 'of Pythias. Among his other business interests he has half ownership of a farm in Allen County. HENRY. LANGE. For more than fifty years one tract of land in Henry County has been owned by and has been developed from a wilderness condition to the greatest productivity by members of the Lange family. Its present possessor is Henry Lange, who for years has been a well known farmer in Napoleon Township, and occupies the old homestead on which he was' born. This farm lies in section 19.. His father acquired the land, which was a part of the canal land tract in 1854. There Henry Lange was born December 25, 1855, his birth being a Christmas gift to his parents. In that one locality he grew to manhood, to work in the fields when a boy, acquired a substantial education in the local schools, and later came to own the old place which he has impressed with his own skillful management. His farm comprises nearly eighty acres, and it is all well improved and productive of the standard crops, together with some good stock. He has also a group of substantial buildings, including a barn 40x80 feet, a granary 22x34 feet, and a well appointed and furnished home 'of eight rooms and basement. His father, Fred Lange, paid 75 cents an acre for the land more than fifty years ago, and the labors of this family have contributed a large share of its present high value. Fred Lange was born in Hanover, Germany, about 1825, and came to this country in the early '50s. For a time he worked at Kelleys Island on Lake Erie, and in the meantime invested in the timbered tract in Henry County, on which he spent the .winter seasons. Besides clearing, he also erected a log cabin, and introduced his bride to that location. He married Mary Schulty, who was born in West Prussia in 1832. She came as a girl to the United States and at Defiance, Ohio, was employed for several years until her marriage. Her parents were Henry and Mary (Snitkey) Schulty, both of whom died in Henry County, and this family is referred to on other pages of this publication. Both the Schultys and Langes were of good German stock and all were members of the Lutheran faith. Mr. Henry Lange chose his wife in Henry County, her maiden name being Freda Kolby. She was born in Hanover, Germany, October 29, 1862, and lost her mother when she was quite young. Her father died only a few HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1517 years ago. In 1885 she set out alone for America, and arriving at Napoleon lived with her sister, Mrs. Henry Arps, until after she was grown. Mr.. and Mrs. Lange are the parents of four sons and two daughters, and they have given them all a good education in both the German and English schools. Mrs. Lange attends the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, while Mr. Lange is a democrat. A rief record of the children is as follows : Emma, still at home ; Mary, who is employed at Toledo ; Harmon, aged eighteen and now living in Nebraska ; Carl, aged sixteen ; Siefried, aged fourteen; and Henry, Jr., aged eleven. Another child, Fred, died when fourteen years of age. HENRY PANNING. One Of the most progressive representatives of the agricultural interests of Henry County, Henry Panning has worked his way to a position of independence and prominence solely through his own efforts. He started in life with only a good constitution and a resolute determination to get to the front, and his successful career as a farmer furnishes a strong incentive to the aspiring element of the rising generation to follow his example. His fine farm is located on section 17 in Napoleon Township with Okolona as his postoffice. He is of German birth and old Lutheran ancestry, and was born in Hanover August 11, 1852, a son of Henry and Mary (Mueller) Panning, also natives of Hanover. His father spent three years in the regular service of the German army, and later became a railway watchman on the line between Hanover and Bremen. He died when a little past middle life, but his widow survived until she was eighty-six years of age. The only children were Henry and his sister Sophia, who married and died in Germany, leaving one daughter. Mr. Panning was reared in Germany, was well educated according to German standards, and after leaving school became clerk in a public house at one of the noted summer resorts in Germany. Three years later he went to Berlin, then spent some time along the River Rhine, and was employed in different parts of the German Empire until 1872. In that year he took passage on the steamer New York and crossed from Bremen to Castle Garden and from there came on to Henry County, Ohio, where he joined his uncle, Henry Stockmann. Mr. Stockmann was one of the early German pioneer residents of Henry County, was a very prosperous farmer, and died without issue, leaving a large estate of improved land. For three years after coming to this country Mr. Panning lived with his uncle in Freedom Township, managing a farm there, and then took possession of the sixty acres given him by his uncle in Napoleon Township. This land he has made the nucleus of his determined efforts and plans and ambitions for the past forty years. Among other improvements he has 'thoroughly drained it all, has placed every acre under cultivation, and has increased it by the purchase of twenty additional acres. The farm had a substantial residence when he took possession, and it has been his home ever since, though with some re-equipment and remodeling. In 1890 he built a substantial barn on a foundation 35x84 feet and has all the conveniences and equipment for high class farming and at the same time has made the property an excellent home. In Freedom Township Mr. Panning married Miss Anna Boeling, who was born March 1, 1850, at Neuenkirchen, Hanover, Germany. When she was twenty-three years of age she came to this country and to Napoleon, Ohio, with her parents, Christian and Hannah Boeling, who for some years lived on the farm now owned by Mr. Panning. Mr. Boeling died before he was sixty, and his widow when about sixty-seven. Both were members of the Lutheran Church and fine, practical, wholesome people. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Panning devoted themselves with steadfast enthusiasm to the work and improvement of their farm and to the rearing of their children. Mrs. Panning was a splendid helpmate, a noble woman, thoroughly practical, a loying mother, and her name will always be revered by her children and descendants. Her death was a great loss to the family when she passed away September 10, 1914. She was a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Napoleon Township, and Mr. Panning and the children all are members there. Henry E., the oldest child, was born in December, 1877, and is now bearing most of the responsibilities of managing his father's farm ; he married Matilda Gerten of Adams Township, Defiance County, who died July 11, 1914, and there is one child surviving, Ida, born July 24, 1913. Mary, the second child, was born March 17, 1879, and is the wife of Fred Bosselman a farmer in Defiance County, their children being Henry, Fred, Josephine and Hildegard. Freda, the youngest child, is the wife of Harmon Schutta, 1518 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO their home being on a farm in Napoleon Township, and they have two sons, Paul and Freddie. Mr. Panning and his son are active democrats, and both take a commendable interest in local affairs. Since the organization of the Napoleon State Bank, six years ago, Mr. Panning has served as one of the directors. GEORGE WADE ROSS. A reputation in the law4that extends beyond the boundaries of a city or county is usually based upon some very solid attainments and unusual success in the profession. A member of the Findlay bar during the greater part of his practice, George Wade Ross is undoubtedly one of the most widely known lawyers in Northwestern Ohio. In the course of his practice he has handled an immense volume of important cases, and is especially home in the civil and corporation branches of his profession. He has distinguished himself by hard work, a conscientious fulfillment of all the responsibilities of a professional man, and has concentrated practically all his efforts upon the law rather than politics. He was born in Milton Township of Wayne County, Ohio, a son of Joseph and Catherine (Peckinpaugh) Ross. He is descended from pure Scotch ancestry. His great-grandfather was the founder of the family in America. Mr. Ross' brother Hiram spent four years in the Union army as a member of the Sixteenth Ohio Infantry. As a boy George Wade Ross attended country schools his father being a farmer, and after a four years course he graduated from Lodi Academy. He then taught in the district schools for a period of two years, and then taught four years in the Creston High School and two years in the Sterling High School. It was while teaching that he applied himself diligently to the study of law for one year under H. B. Woodward, Medina, and for several years later was with James C. Johnson, who in his time was one of the foremost lawyers of Ohio and was senior member of the firm of Johnson & Graves of Seville, Ohio: In 1879 Mr. Ross was admitted to practice by the district court at Medina, Ohio. In 1880, the following year, he married Carrie E. Beardsley, a daughter of Daniel B. and Jane (Hosington) Beardsley. Her father Daniel B. Beardsley was a prominent lawyer and historian, having written the best history of Hancock County ever publishes. After his admission to the bar Mr. Ross practiced for several years at Wooster, and there laid the basis of his widely extended reputation. Seeking astill larger field and nearer his varied interests he removed to Findlay in 1889, and has been one of the bulwarks of the Findlay bar for more than twenty-eight years. For four years he was a partner with his father-in-law, Mr. Beardsley, then for fifteen years was senior member of the firm of Ross & Kinder until W. H. Kinder was elected in 1908 to the bench of the Cire Court, now the Court of Appeals. Since th Mr. Ross has practiced alone, and still h, his quarters in the office building which has occupied for many years. He is general counsel of the Toledo, Fostoria & Findlay Railway Company, assistant counsel of the National Refinery Company, the Continental Sugar Company, The Toledo & Southern Traction Company, the Western Ohio Railway Company, counsel for the Ohio Bank & Savings Company of Findlay and for several other corporations. In 1892 he was elected city solicitor of Findlay and by re-election filled that office four years. Outside of that he has seldom participated in politics, and that office was in line with his profession. He is an active republican: and in 1900 was a candidate for congress. He has been frequently urged to run for offices but has found his true vocation in the profession of his choice. Mr. Ross in the course of his practice has assisted in financing and organizing a number of large concerns and is at present a member of the advisory board and is stockholder in the R. L. Dolling Company, a $3,000,000 corporation handling investment securities with offices formerly at Hamilton, Ohio, and now at Columbus. Mr. Ross is treasurer of the Hancock County Bar Association, is an active member of the Findlay Country Club, of the Royal Arcanum, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and has served as president of the Symposium Literary Society of Findlay. Mrs. Ross was a teacher in the public schools before her marriage. She has continued her interests in educational affairs and especially in philanthropic work in behalf of the poor and friendless. For twenty years she was president of the County Board of Visitors and has probably done more than any single woman in Hancock County in behalf of child welfare. Those who are in a situation to know state that a great many young boys and girls have been reclaimed and have been made respecting citizens HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1519 through her efforts. With others she organized the Friendly Inn, an institution to take care of delinquent boys and girls and keep them from being made inmates of a state institution. Mrs. Ross kept up her active charitable work for many years until poor health intervened, and though that has restricted her activities, her interest and sympathy are as keen as ever. FRED PANNING, proprietor of the Plainview Farm in section 19 of Napoleon Township, has a long and honorable record that identifies him with this section of Northwest Ohio, where he has spent all his life from birth. Though most of his years have been spent in Henry County, he was born across the line in Adams Township of Defiance County on December 8, 1852, only a few months after his parents came from the old country. His early youth to manhood was spent in Adams Township, but in 1886 he bought his present farm of eighty acres in section 19 of Napoleon Township, and has devoted the subsequent thirty years to the improvement and development of this place, which now ranks as one of the model farms of Henry County. Many of its valuable features are the fruits of his own enterprise and labor. One is a large red barn 40x80 feet for his stock and grain, and he and his family enjoy the comforts of a very attractive and convenient nine-room house built of brick and located on a site that commands an entrancing view of the surrounding country. His land is of such character of soil as to produce any of the standard crops of Ohio, and for many years he has exercised his judgment in bringing about the greatest possible yields and at the same time conserving the resources of his land. He has farmed on the rotation principle of crops. At the same time he has kept good grades of live stock. Besides his home place Mr. Panning owns thirty-eight acres adjoining in Defiance County and some years ago he gave an eighty-acre tract to his son, this also being situated in Adams Township of Defiance County. Mr. Panning comes from old and substantial German Lutheran stock, originally Hanover people. His parents, Henry and Mary. (Brunce) Panning, were both born in the year 1820 in Hanover. They were married in Germany, and began their careers there as poor but honest folk. While in Germany their first child Catherine was born in 1844. In 1852 this little family group set sail from Bremen and after a tedious ocean voyage of eight weeks, not without hardships and privations, they landed at New York, and from there came on west until they reached Adams Township of Defiance County. There they located in the wilds and securing eighty acres of land which had perhaps never yielded a crop and certainly had no improvements upon it, they erected the typical log cabin of the early settler and girded themselves to the heavy task of pioneering in the woods. They cleared off the timber, drained the swamps, and there they passed their honored and useful lives. The father died in 1886, and the mother some years later. They were devout Christian people, were charter members of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, and as long as they lived contributed actively of their work and their means to its support, Henry Panning serving for years as one of its officials. Politically he was a democrat. Their daughter Catherine, after coming to this country, married George Freytag, and they became well to do farmers of Napoleon Township and reared a large family. Fred Panning grew up in Napoleon Township and took up as a permanent vocation the work to which he had been reared and trained, farming. He was married in Henry County to Dora Panning, who though of the same name has no close relationship, though her parents, Fred and Catherine Panning, were also natives of Hanover, Germany, and were early settlers of Henry County, where they were among the substantial German Lutheran people of that section. Mrs. Panning was born at the old home of her parents in 1855. She was a devoted wife and mother, gave the best of her character and ability to the training and rearing of her children, and her death on November 9, 1908, was the hardest loss Mr. Panning and his children have had to bear. She was a confirmed Lutheran and was always devoted to her church. Mr. Panning and his family are all members of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church. The children are : Henry, who lives on his farm in Defiance County, married Doretta Gerken of Adams Township, and their three children are Olivine, Doris and Fred. Lenna is a trained nurse living at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Caroline is still unmarried and looks after the household duties for her father. Augusta is the wife of Bernhardt Arps, and they look after the, farm for Mr. Panning, being the parents of one child, Regina, who was born 1520 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO May 4, 1913. The youngest child is Julia, who is now at Milwaukee studying to be a trained nurse. DIETRICH PANNING. A native son of Henry County, a resident still on the farm where he was born in Napoleon Township, Dietrich Panning has long been known as an industrious, painstaking and energetic farmer, a man of progressive ideas, thoroughly alive to the needs of his community and a citizen who has always been ready to perform his duties and responsibilities. His labors have brought him a full measure of success. He has a fine farm, has reared and is rearing a household of children who do him honor, and his name is always spoken with respect in the community where he has spent his life. He was born in section 18 of Napoleon Township, November 27, 1859. His present farm comprises 120 acres, one acre of which has been set aside for cemetery purposes and is known as Breman's cemetery. Mr. Panning has been constructive in his work, and has a fine group of buildings. He built his large red barn, which stands on a foundation 32 by 84 feet, and also has a substantial nine-room house. His parents were Henry C. and Dora (Othmer) Panning, both natives of Hanover, Germany. His father was born about 1822 and his mother in 1834. Both were of Lutheran stock. They came to this country separately in sailing vessels, landing at New York. Henry C. Panning first went to Kelley's Island near Sandusky, worked in the stone quarries there, and finally came to Henry County, where he met and married his wife. They then started to develop their new home in the woods, the land they acquired being the farm now owned by Dietrich Panning. There, being industrious and thrifty, they found their greatest comfort in hard work and in providing a home for their children. Thus in time they had much to be satisfied with, and after their death the old homestead went to their son Dietrich, who has kept up its improvements and members of the third generation of the family are now living upon it. The parents were among the organizers of the Lutheran church in that neighborhood and the father was long one of its officials. Dietrich Panning was one of two sons and seven daughters, all of whom grew up. One daughter died unmarried and another died leaving three children. In his home township Mr. Panning married Miss Amelia Sheele, who was born in Ger many December 20, 1863, and when five years old came to the United States and to Henry County with her parents, Christof Sheele and wife, whose maiden name was Schroeder. They spent their lives as farmers in Henry County, and died when about seventy years of age. Mr. Sheele was a democrat and he and his wife were Lutherans. Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Panning one, Ella, died. at the age of eleven years. Those living are : Ferdinand, age twenty-eight; Emma, Arnold, Emil and Carl. All received good advantages in the local schools, and. Carl is still a student. The family are members of the Lutheran Church, of which Mr. Panning is an official, and he and his older sons are democrats in politics. SCOTT NEELY. One of the best known residents of Allen County is Scott Neely. He has been distinguished by a special genius for ability to render service thoroughly and well in every undertaking. That has naturally kept his talents in demand, and there has never been a time when he has not been able to accept opportunities to keep himself busy and to live profitably and usefully. His family have been identified with Allen County since the early settlement. His grandfather, Thomas Neely, was born Hanover, Germany, and came to the Uni States when a boy, his family locating in Allen County, in Bath Township, prior to 1830. James Neely, father of Scott Neely, was an auctioneer and farmer, and owned a large amount of land in Allen County.. He was an honored soldier of the Civil war, baying Served four years and eight months. He died August 10, 1894. He also did considerable business as a contractor, and was quite prominent in German Township, where he served as trustee and clerk. James Neely married Mary C. Barrick, a daughter of William and Mary Barrick, of German Township. They reared a family of seven children, named Frank, William, Charles, Scott, Alice, Margaret and Ida May. Scott Neely was born in German Township, of Allen County, August 3, 1861. For some time he was associated with his father in contracting work, and in the meantime acquired an education in the public schools. For over twenty years he was a teamster with the American Straw Board Company of Lima. and when the plant of that company was destroyed by fire he was selected out of many applicants as foreman to oversee the work of tearing down the ruins. He has also bought HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1521 and sold horses and for many years has been considered one of the best auctioneers in Allen and adjacent counties. His most successful enterprise in recent years has been the buying of hay and straw on a large scale. He now has an equipment of four hay balers and employs from twenty. to twenty-five men in the work. His business as a hay baler and dealer extends all over Allen County and adjacent sections of Ohio, and he ships to New York, Boston and other eastern markets. In his native township he has a fine farm of 240 acres and has, of course, made the operation of this a source of profit.   Mr. Neely is now treasurer of German Township and for twelve years was a member of the school board. He is a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Allentown, a treasurer of the Epworth League, and for years was treasurer of the Sunday school. Fraternally he is affiliated with Lima Lodge No. 783, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also with the Encampment.   On December 31, 1883, he married Sarah Bruner, daughter of Martin and Sarah Pruner of Auglaize County. At her death on October 30, 1886, Mrs. Neely left two children. The son, Clem, who was born August 17, 1884, is now a partner with his father in the hay business, and is a. member of both the subordinate and encampment degrees of Odd Fellowship ; in 1910 he married Delsie Sears of Ada, Ohio, and their two children are Fanella and Bernice. Neva Etta., the second child, was born September 16, 1887, and was married in June, 1903, to A. T. Whyman, a business man of San Antonio, Texas; their three children are Opal, Ola May and John Ernest.   On January 5, 1897, Mr. Neely married Lydia Cary, a daughter of Henry and Rebecca Cary. Her father was born in Hanover, Germany, and came to America at the age of six years, the family locating in Allen County. Mr. and Mrs. Neely have seven children: Cary May, Cecil Marie, Lester Lloyd, all three of whom are students in the Lima High School; Russell Earl, James Oliver, Harry Clyde and Juanita.   V. O. MOORE, M. D. Since completing his medical education Doctor Moore has been in successful practice at Toledo, covering a period now of almost twenty years. A physician of the highest standing, he is also known for his participation in business and civic affairs and is one of Toledo's bankers.   Doctor Moore was born January 11, 1870, in Morrow County, Ohio, son of Royal and Rachel (Evans) Moore. His father was born in Ohio of English and Irish ancestry, while the mother was of Welsh stock. Royal Moore had a long and successful career, having been a teacher, farmer and stock raiser. He had a gift for business, and everything he did seemed to prosper. Doctor Moore, the younger of his father's two children, had good home advantages when a boy and was also the recipient of a liberal education. He attended the public schools, afterwards the Ohio Wesleyan University, and then the Ohio State University, in which he received the degree of bachelor of science in 1895. He took his medical course in the Starling Medical College. In 1898 he located at Toledo and has been engaged in practice there ever since. His home is at 1107 Starr Avenue and his office is at 1105 Starr Avenue: He is a member of the Lucas County and the Ohio State Medical Society. Doctor Moore is vice president of the People's Savings Bank at Toledo and has financial interests in various other business enterprises. He is prominent in Masonry, has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is master of ceremonies in the Consistory of Toledo. He has served as master of the Blue Lodge, high priest of the chapter and has held chairs in the Commandery of the Knights Templar and in the other branches of the York Rite. He is a member of the Greek letter society Alpha Chapter of Kappa Sigma.   Doctor Moore was married October 13, 1895, in Morrow County, Ohio; to Miss Gertrude B. Bliss. Her father was a successful physician. at Delaware, Ohio. Mrs. Moore, who was one of a family of two children, was educated in the public schools and was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University with the class of 1893.   GEORGE H. DREWES. More than seventy years ago the members of the Drewes family, of German stock, came to Henry County and established themselves in what was still a wilderness. Here for three generations they have lived, prospered, enjoyed to the full community esteem, and have left as monuments to their labors and enterprise many, acres cleared, many buildings erected, and at the same time have performed their duties and upheld their responsibilities as citizens, so that the name is associated with honest work and upright manhood and womanhood.   1522 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO   One of the well known members of this family is now a successful farmer in Napoleon Township. George H. Drewes was born in Henry County August 30, 1870, a son of Henry and Wilhelmina (Freytag) Drewes, both of whom were natives of Hanover, Germany, where they were born in 1844 and 1845 respectively. When children they came with their respective parents to America. Grandfather William Drewes was a tailor, and on coming to the United States located in Henry County, where in connection with his trade he also took up farming. He acquired a large estate of 400 acres or more, and was one of the very prosperous early settlers. His death occurred at the age of seventy-eight in Napoleon Township. His Wife had died there not long after coming to this country. Both were members of the Lutheran Church. George H. Drewes' maternal grandfather, Fred Freytag, came with his family about 1850, and also secured and improved lands in Napoleon Township, where he died when past eighty years. The Freytags were also Lutherans and both families supported democratic principles in politics. Henry Drewes and wife both grew up in this wild timbered country, were married in the county, and eventually by their idustry secured 160 acres, eighty acres in Adams Township of Defiance County and eighty adjoining it in Napoleon Township of Henry County. On that farm Wilhelmina Drewes died in 1880, when in middle life. Her husband married for his second wife Mrs. Sophia (Imbroch) Rohrs, who was born in Henry County of German parentage. Henry Drewes and his second wife a few years ago moved to Ridgeville and are living there retired and in comfort. Both are members of the Lutheran church and he is a democrat.   George H. Drewes was one of five children, three of whom died young. His only brother, William, is now married and a prosperous farmer in Napoleon Township, the father of two sons and a daughter.   Reared and educated in Henry County, George H. Drewes finished his schooling with the district advantages and early applied his labors to making his own way. By thrift and earnest endeavor he was able to make his first purchase of eighty acres in 1898. This purchase was in section thirty-three of Napoleon Township. Later a subsequent purchase of eighty acres gave him a farm of 160 acres, and this is one of the well improved places of that section of the county. He grows all the staple crops including sugar beet, and he hail made that a profitable item of his agricultural efforts, usually raising from fifteen to seventeen tons per acre. In 1899 he erected his large barn, 80 by 40 feet, which constitutes one of the conspicuous improvements along the country highway in that section of the county, and he has another barn 25 by 40 feet besides various outbuildings. He keeps a number of good graded stock.   In Freedom Township of Henry County Mr. Drewes married Sophie Mahnke. She was born in Freedom Township, where her parents had settled on coming from Germany. Her father died in 1903, while her mother is now living with her youngest daughter, Mrs. Ida Panning, and is sixty-seven years of age. This family also are Lutherans, and her father was a democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Drewes are the happy parents of eight children. The three oldest, Arnold, George H. Jr. and Lorena, have all been confirmed in the Lutheran Church at Flatrock, and are attending school. The younger children are Harold, Richard, Edwin, Erna and Luther. Mr. Drewes takes an active interest in local affairs, and is now serving as a member of the school board. Politically he is a democrat.   JOHN J. VOLLMAYER. One of the leading financial institutions of Toledo is the Market Savings Bank Company, which in the past twelve years has had a remarkable record of growth and development and as a savings institution stands in the front rank of such organizations in Northwest Ohio. Active from the very first as one of the organizers, and now the first vice president of the company, John J. Vollmayer has had much to do with the success of this concern, though the active responsibilities of organization and management have from the first devolved upon his son, William G. Vollmayer, who is cashier of the bank, and to whom reference is made on other pages.   For more than forty years John J. Vollmayer has been actively identified with the mercantile, financial and civic life of Toledo. In fact, most of his career has been spent in this city, though he was born in Cleveland. August 14, 1848. He was the oldest of four children, three sons and one daughter, whose parents were Michael and Barbara (Opple) Vollmayer. The latter were both natives of Germany, where they married, and in 1846 emigrated to the United States, first locating at Cleveland, which was their home for two   HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1523   years, and from there they came to Toledo. Michael Vollmayer was a farmer by occupation, and on moving to Toledo he established his home on Detroit Avenue, where he died in 1857. is widow survived until 1894. , Of their children the only two now living are John J. and Rev. Michael Vollmayer, who is now pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church at Massillon, Ohio. The other son, George, died at Toledo in 1896, and the daughter, Mrs. Mary Gluckstein, died at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1895. Rev. Michael Vollmayer, it should be noted, was graduated from Canisius College, a Jesuit institution at Buffalo, New York, was educated for the priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary in Cleveland, and for a number of years has been active as a priest and pastor. All the children except John were born at Toledo.   John J. Vollmayer grew up in Toledo, attended the parochial schools, and first learned the trade of woodworker. His business career began in 1873 as proprietor of a modest retail grocery establishment at the corner continuednd Locust streets. He cmitinued in active business there, serving a greatly increased trade until 1898. In that year he embarked in the wholesale and retail liquor business at 125 Superior Street, and that was his business headquarters for about ten years. He actively assisted his son in organizing the Market Savings Bank Company, and since the institution opened its doors for business, May 2. 1904, he has been the active vice president. Mr. Vollmayer has also acquired much valuable real estate in Toledo and is one of the responsible and substantial business men and public spirited citizens.   He was very active in democratic politics at Toledo and in Lucas County until the campaign of 1896, when he refused to support the party platform and the candidacy of William Jennings Bryan. However, he is still a believer in what he considers real democratic principles, and in 1912 he supported the nominee, Mr. Wilson, for the presidency. In 1877 Mr. Vollmayer was elected a member of the police board from the old Seventh Ward, and in 1879 was elected to represent the same ward in the city council. In 1881 he was again chosen a member of the police force, but was legislated out of the office by the Foster bill. In 1882 he was elected member at large for the four-year long term on the police board. and his services justified his renomination, though he was defeated in the election.   He has identified himself with many re- ligious and fraternal movements. He is a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, of St. Michael's Benevolent Society of the parish, the Bavarian Benevolent Society, the Catholic Knights of America, the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Toledo Commerce Club.   On May 21, 1872, while a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, where he was temporarily engaged in business, Mr. Vollmayer married Miss Emelia C. Becker of Baltimore. To their marriage have been born five children : William G., cashier of the Market Savings Bank Company ; Dr. Robert H., a dentist at Toledo, who is a graduate in the dental department of the University of Michigan ; Florence, Gertrude and Claude, all at home. William G. was born in Baltimore, but the rest of the children are all natives of Toledo.   HENRY THAYER NILES. A man who possessed all the breadth and depth of New England culture was the late Henry Thayer Niles of Toledo. He was known as a scholar, lawyer and educator, and for years commanded one of the highest positions in the Urbana bar and in the ranks of citizenship.. Upon coming to Toledo he formed a partnership with Morrison R. Waite, later chief justice of the United States Supreme Court but Mr. Niles' health failed and his partnership was abandoned.   When he died at his home on Collingwood Avenue in Toledo January 13, 1901, he was seventy-two years of age. He had been born in West Fairlee, Vermont. His early environment was one to stimulate and bring out the best in his mind and character. With the individual endowments of his own mind combined many worthy qualities inherited from his forefathers. It was in the early years of the seventeenth century that the first ancestors of the Niles family landed at Block Island in Connecticut. All the male ancestors of the late Mr. Niles were college graduates, many of them from Princeton and Harvard, and one was a member of the first graduating class from old Harvard. There were also members of the family who took part in the Colonial and Indian and later in the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, Nathaniel Niles, was born at South Kingston. Rhode Island. in 1741, graduated from the Princeton University in 1766, and during the rest of his life was a man of many distinctions. He took up the ministry, and was a splendid pulpit orator and writer. He published several books of sermons. He also wrote a patriotic ode   1524 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO   which was set to music and which was sung by some of the marching companies in the war of the Revolution. For twenty-seven years he was a trustee of Dartmouth College, and while serving in that capacity he prepared the records and other data for the celebrated Dartmouth College case in which Daniel Webster gained enduring fame as an orator and established precedents which are still vital in our political and industrial life. Although he was never admitted to the bar he was elected to a place on the Supreme bench of Vermont, and filled that office as admirably as if he had been a lawyer by profession and training.   The late Henry Thayer Niles was a graduate of Dartmouth College, the institution with which his grandfather had been so prominently identified, and after leaving college he traveled abroad for two years. Returning home, he took the chair of Greek and Latin languages in the college at Urbana, Ohio, and while there studied law and eventually took up its practice. From Urbana he moved to Toledo, and thereafter in his practice he was associated on equal terms of ability and success with the leading members of the bar. At his death his remains were taken to Urbana, Ohio, and are now at rest in the family lot in that city.   Though a New Englander born and bred, he was an unswerving democrat in politics, and always ready to make any reasonable sacrifice to advance the principles of his party. He was not a politician nor a radical partisan. He studied politics and all political and social problems with a breadth of comprehension beyond most men, and as his own convictions were based upon reason, he could afford to take a tolerant view of divergent opinions. He was a citizen such as any community should be proud to possess, and those who knew him intimately had a great admiration for his scholarship, his thorough and well rounded culture, his purity of motive, and the dignity with which he bore himself in all the relations of life. He was a man of retiring disposition, and for this reason was not known intimately by a large circle of acquaintances. Though he possessed some friends who were bound to him by the ties of real and enduring friendship and loyalty, his books were his best and most constant friends and companions, and when not engaged in wok he found his chief pleasure and recreation in the midst of his library. He was not a collector or buyer of books in the ordinary sense of the term, since he bought only those books which he knew or whose contents he desired to master. It was said that he was practically master of every book in his library. He took enjoyment in a wide range of literature. He was familiar with the poets and nearly all the ancient and modern standard authors, and he had read such authors as Homer, Horace, Shakespeare and Burns not only in his college days but kept up his associations with those great minds throughout his life. He was himself able to wield a facile pen, and some of the verse which he wrote at different times possesses more than ordinary merit. One literary distinction in particular should be noted. He translated the Agricola of Tacitus in fewer English words than are found in the original Latin. This capacity for condensation was somewhat characteristic of his style as an English writer, and there was a charm as well as a forceful vigor about his prose writing.   Mr. Niles had a home life that was nothing short of ideal. He had congenial domestic relations, always enjoyed the confidence of his children, and made their joys and sorrows his own. He was survived by his widow, two daughters and one son. The son is Hon. Frank B. Niles of Toledo.   GEORGE ARPS. A man who has accom plished as much as George Arps as a good citi- zen, home provider and straightforward honest gentleman has a just cause for pride. His home is one of the fine farms in section nineteen of Napoleon Township in Henry County, and he is now living with his children and has surrounded himself with everything to make life comfortable and enjoyable.   In business he has been a general farmer and stock raiser, and owns 177 acres of the farm where he was born December 25, 1868. He grew up, receiving his education in the local schools, and has lived on one farm since early youth to the present time. For the past eighteen years he has been owner of the old place and his own contributions to its improvement include a large barn 40 by 90 feet, besides a grain and tool house. His residence is a substantial house of eight rooms and was built thirty-four years ago by his father, Henry Arps. Henry Arps also put the first habitation on the land, a log cabin covered with clapboards and 16 by 28 feet in dimensions. This old building, which is still standing and in a good state of repair, was erected in 1852 and is an interesting landmark.   Henry Arps. who established this branch of the Arps family in Henry County, was born