HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 875 of pride to his children and his children's children. After the war he returned to Napoleon, and for a time was employed in a brick yard. In the meantime he bought eighty acres in section 23 of Freedom Township where the Village of Gerald now stands. That district was all wild and unimproved then and part of the land was swampy in character. In that one community Henry Meyer has lived ever since and has been prospered and frequently honored by his fellow citizens. He is a democrat, held the office of township school director twelve years, spent twenty years in the office of township trustee and one term as supervisor. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Henry County Soldiers' Relief Commission. He is one of the prominent Lutherans and an active worker in St. John's Church. His son Herman M. Meyer was born on the old homestead in Freedom Township at Gerald on September 28, 1872. His father was twice married and his mother's name was Elizabeth Meyer. She was also born in Hanover, Germany. The old farm where Herman Meyer grew to manhood contained a large part of the site of the present Town of Gerald. The Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad also passes between the two eighty-acre tracts which his father acquired. Herman Meyer was the third child and the oldest son of his parents. He received his education in Freedom Township, and since reaching his majority has turned his thrifty energies to farming. For a time he was a tenant, and in 1914. e bought Seventy-five acres of the old homestead and also about twenty acres in section 26. All this land is improved with the exception of ten acres containing some valuable timber. Mr. Meyer has all the facilities for his business as a farmer. His barn is 36 by 58 feet, with an attached shed 42 by 50 feet, and another conspicuous feature of his group of buildings is a fifty-ton Indiana silo. He has been a very successful feeder of high grade livestock, and is one of the thoroughly alert and progressive farmers of his township. He and his family also occupy a modern seven-room house, and he has supplied the household with all the comforts and advantages of twentieth century living. Mr. Meyer married Mary Kahrs of Freedom Township. She was born in Hanover, Germany, November 28, 1878, and in 1888 came to the United States and to Henry County with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Kahrs. Her father is still living in Freedom Township and her mother died there several years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have the following children : Otto W., born May 28, 1898, who has completed his education in the public schools and is now bearing an active part in the management of the home farm; Meta, born in 1901, and has completed the public school course; Mary, aged twelve, and Amelia, aged ten, both in school ; and Laura, now four years of age. The family are members of St. John's Lutheran Church. Mr. Meyer is an active democrat, has served his township as supervisor and is now a member of the school board. WILLIAM H. MEYER. In the person of William H. Meyer is found a sample of that material which has brought Henry County to the forefront in the field of agricultural endeavor. Endowed with more than average ability, backed by shrewd business judgment, he has prospered beyond the ordinary and is easily one of the leading farmers of Freedom Township. He carries on his work on his eighty-acre place in section 14 of that township. He has lived there for the past seven years and has done much in the meantime to give new fertility and productiveness to his land. His fields of corn, wheat and oats all show thriftiness and good cultivation, and he keeps some excellent grades of livestock. Seven acres of his farm is in native timber. His large barn 36 by 70 feet was built in 1909, and he also has a covered feed lot 36 by 48 feet. The farm buildings are painted red, while his seven-room house, built in the center of the farm, is white with green trimmings. Mr. Meyer was born on his present farm January 9, 1880, and was reared and educated in Freedom Township and has made this locality the scene of his best endeavors and accomplishments. He is a son of Fred and Mary (Scheele) Meyer, an old and substantial family elsewhere referred to in this publication. They had six sons and five daughters, all of whom are married except one son and one daughter, and Mr. Meyer was the third son and fourth child. In his home township he married Ida Kruse, who was born in Freedom Township in March, 1884, and was reared and educated here. Her parents are Henry and Sophia (Hogrefe) Kruse, both still living in Freedom Township and representing families that came from 876 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Hanover, Germany. They are members of the Lutheran Church and Mr. Kruse is a democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have had born into their home the following children : Alvin, who died at birth ; Anna, who died at the age of two years, seven months; Albert H., born January 14, 1911; Alma, born June 5, 1914. The family are members of St. John's Lutheran Church and politically. Mr. Meyer is a democrat. THE HENKEL COMPANY. The largest single industry of Fremont is the Henkel Company's plant, manufacturers of high grade cutlery accessories, shears, razors and manicuring goods. On the map of the world Fremont is a very small point. Hundreds of thousands of people who have never been in Fremont and know nothing of its relative size and importance are familiar with the name of the town because it is the home of The Henkel Company, where the Henkel razors; manicure sets and scissors are made. Thus it is that a great industry well managed becomes the source of an enduring fame and reputation for a city. The Henkel Company was established at Fremont in 1906. It was originally incorporated for $10,000, and the officers of the company at the beginning were Dr. George Zimmerman, president ; P. E. Schaaf, vice president ; and Harry Zimmerman, secretary and treasurer. The business began with the manufacture of manicure goods. Many of these implements were designed by this company. The business had a phenomenal growth. In May, 1916, the company was reorganized, at which time George Zimmerman retired and was succeeded in the presidency by P. E. Schaaf, while Harry Zimmerman became vice president and treasurer and Lester Williams, secretary. All the stock of the company is now owned by Messrs. Schaaf and Zimmerman. The company is now incorporated at $300,000. This is the largest manicure goods business in the United States. Another important part of the business is the manufacture of high class scissors. These Henkel scissors are a specialty, and are manufactured by no other cutlery manufacturers in the United States. The Henkel goods, with their trade mark, "Henkel," are shipped all over the world. At onetime the company maintained a staff of twelve traveling salesmen. However, it was soon found that these salesmen sold more goods than the plant could possibly turn out, so it was deemed best to reduce the force and now only three men travel on the road. In 1912 the company began the manufacture of the curved scissors, and they have brought that business to such perfection that no other companies have been able to follow them or compete. Of this type of scissor the Henkel Company is the principal manufacturer in the United States. The Henkel Company began business with only $7,000 in active capital. The growth has been simply remarkable. The business now employs about 400 men, and at the end of 1917 it is assumed that 500 men will be on the pay roll. It is a highly specialized and technical industry and requires the services of expert workmen. Such workmen are a credit to any community and it means a higher class of population, better homes, better institutions, and better living conditions. Recently the company completed a large semi-fireproof building furnishing 16,000 square feet of floor space. Another large concrete building has 30,000 square feet, while the frame building and office covers 35,000 square feet. In another portion of the city is the razor factory, a large three-story building with 12,000 square feet of floor space. At the present time the annual output of the Henkel Company is valued at $1,000,000. P. E. Schaaf, now president of the company, was born April 5, 1877, and is a son of Edward Schaaf. The Schaaf family for generations have been identified with the cutlery trade. This is a highly specialized industry, and it is not unusual to find families following it generation after generation. Edward Schaaf was born at Solingen, Prussia, was brought up in a cutlery plant, and the family have maintained the factory located at Solingen, Prussia, and conducted by Balken and Schaaf, the latter a member of the original Schaaf family noted as cutlery manufacturers, with sales offices at Moscow, Russia, and at Antwerp, Belgium. Edward Schaaf came to the United States in 1883, largely in order to get away from German militarism. He located at Elizabethport, New Jersey, and in a short time was manufacturing cutlery and spent the rest of his life there, where he died in 1897. P. E. Schaaf was also brought up in the cutlery trade, and is now said to be one of the best posted men in the United States in that line. The title of the business in Fremont is derived from one of the organizers of the com- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 877 pany, August Henkel, who came to Fremont but not liking the West remained only a short time. However, his name has been continued through the company's history to the present. P. E. Schaaf married Mae Rooney, whose father was a native of Ireland and came to the United States and served as a soldier in the Union army through the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Schaaf have two children, Robert D. and Mildred, both of whom are in school. Harry Zimmerman, the vice president of the company, was born in Frederick County, Maryland, on a farm, September 11, 1869. The Zimmermans originally had their home in Alsace-Lorraine, and the ancestors immigrated to America in 1740. Harry Zimmerman's early education was obtained in Frederick County, Maryland, later in the schools of Ohio, graduating from Oberlin College in 1893 and from the engineering department of Cornell University in 1895. He took up the manufacturing business, and has given his entire active career to the cutlery trade. He and Mr. Schaaf are comparatively young men of splendid ability, and have worked together in complete harmony in developing this great industry in Northwest Ohio. Mr. Zimmerman married Beulah B. Johnson, of Oberlin, and they have two children, Beulah W. and Harry J. Zimmerman.. HENRY D. MEYER. Probably no one class of people have contributed more to the agricultural development and improvement of Henry County than a large group of Hanoverians who came from Germany, to this section of Ohio about half a century ago. One of the representatives of this sterling stock is Henry D. Meyer, a progressive farmer and public spirited citizen whose home is on section 24 of Freedom Township. He is of the second generation of this worthy class of people, and was born in Freedom Township January 6, 1877, a son of Fred and Mary (Scheele) Meyer. His parents were both natives of Hanover and of German Lutheran affiliations. Fred Meyer came to the United States while our Civil war was in progress, accompanied by his mother, brothers and sisters. All made settlement in Freedom Township, secured land there, and Fred Meyer besides his work as an agriculturist spent seven years of his younger life as fireman on a boat on Lake Erie. Following this experience he married, his wife having come to the United States from Hanover about the same time as he did. Possessed of small means but with an abundance of energy and enthusiasm, they began their labors on the land which he had bought, and in a few years had made a fine farm out of that first eighty acres. This original homestead was located in section 15 of Freedom Township. Fred Meyer and wife gradually extended their holdings until they had added four different tracts of eighty acres each, situated in different parts of the township. Of this 400 acres nearly all is still owned by the Meyer family. Fred Meyer and wife after getting ready to retire bought twenty acres on section 27, and there have enjoyed the comforts of a good home, Fred being seventy-one and his wife sixty-one years of age. Both are members of St. John's Lutheran Church in Freedom Township, were identified early with its organization' and have been among its most active supporters. Fred Meyer is a. democrat, and for a number of years served as' township treasurer. Of their children eleven grew to maturity, six sons and five daughters, all of whom have filled worthy places in the world, and all are living and all married except two. Henry D. Meyer was the 'second child and the oldest son. He grew up in Freedom Township, had the advantages of the local schools, and acquired a knowledge of both the German and English languages. In 1900 he married Miss Minnie Holers, who was born on her father's old farm in Freedom Township March 12, 1879. Her parents are Herman and Catherine (Langenhop) Holers, both natives of Hanover, Germany. They came to this country before they were married, and developed a good farm in Freedom Township. They spent five years in Colorado, and then returned to Henry County, and are, now liv- ing in the fullness of years in Napoleon City. They are Lutherans and Mr. Holers is a democrat. In 1900 Mr. Meyer secured one of the eighty acres formerly owned by his father, and he and his wife in the past fifteen years have converted it into a splendid farm and a beautiful place of residence, this being one of the most attractive features of that country district. Conspicuous among the improvements is a fine modern two-story brick house, with a full basement and with all the modern conveniences. The house contains ten rooms, and both the house and barns are lighted by electricity. Mr. Meyer has a barn that is as thoroughly modern as his house, having been 878 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO built according to the latest plans for such a structure and arranged for utmost efficiency in the handling of grain and stock. They are the parents of four children : Theodore, born in December, 1903 ; Edmond, now nine years old ; Paul, aged five; and Eldor, aged three. The two oldest are now in school. Mr: and Mrs. Meyer are members of St. John's Lutheran Church. While giving close attention to his affairs as a progressive farmer, Mr. Meyer has done his share of community work, and for seven years served as township trustee. He has also been a member of the school board and politically votes the democratic ticket. FRANK A. WESTHOVEN. During the thirty odd years spent on his farm in section 31 of Liberty Township, Frank A. Westhoven has acquired such a material prosperity as would satisfy any man. As a farmer and stock raiser he has developed one of the best farms of Liberty Township, and with eighty acres under his management has year in and year out produced splendid crops of all the staple varieties, and has made his efforts count for something in the way of annual returns. His improvements show the class of farmer he is. In the attractive group of buildings one specially conspicuous is a barn.36 by 68 feet, with a shed attached 30 by 14 feet, besides a number of other buildings used for tools and for grain storage, etc. He and his family occupy a modern ten room house, with all the improvements and conveniences, and in fact it is better than many city homes. It is both lighted and heated by natural gas. It has been his life work to make this farm what it is, and no one could justly say that in doing this he has not been highly successful. Mr. Westhoven was born in Freedom Township of Henry County February 17, 1860. He grew up there and from childhood has been acquainted with hard work and has really earned all his prosperity. His father, Albert Westhoven, was one of ten children and the only one to come to America. A characteristic of this family was a large physique, and Albert was no exception to the rule. He was born in Germany in 1830. The first twenty-seven years of his life he spent in his native country, was reared on a farm, and served the regular time in the German army. At the age of twenty-seven he set out for America. After forty-two days on a sailing vessel he landed in New York, and thence pursued his journey westward to Henry County, Ohio. In Freedom Township he married Miss Lena Konzen. She was three years younger than her husband and had been born in the same general locality of Germany, but had come to America two years previously with her parents, who located in Freedom Township of Henry County. Her parents both died in Freedom Township. After their marriage Albert Westhoven and wife moved to a place in the unimproved portion of Freedom Township, and there their industry enabled them to acquire and improve more than 300 acres of land. After twenty-five years they retired from the active responsibilities of farming and moved to Napoleon, where Albert Westhoven died in August, 1892, when past sixty-two years of age. He was a Catholic by training and a member of the democratic party. His widow is still living in Napoleon and though eighty-three years of age is still in good health. Frank A. Westhoven was married at Napoleon to Miss Mary Kean. She was born in Napoleon in 1862, and received her education in the parochial and public schools. She has been a most devoted wife and mother and has been an important factor in the making of the fine home out in Liberty Township which she and her husband enjoy. The youngest of the children of Anthony and Ann (Young) Kean, and one of the three who were born in America, her parents were both born in Germany and came to this country during the '50s. Her father located in Napoleon, where he was employed by the Wabash Railroad Company until his death in 18.67 at the age of fifty-eight. Mrs. Westhoven's mother died in 1892, when past sixty-nine. Both her parents were devout Catholics. Mrs. Westhoven's unmarried sister Caroline now lives in the Westhoven. home. Mr. and Mrs. Westhoven have the following children : Anthony, who is a resident of Toledo where he is employed by the Overland. Automobile Works, married Miss Edna Lamber and their children are Lucille, Marie and Dorothy. Nellie, like the other children, completed her education in the parochial and public schools, and is still at home. Francis is unmarried and is also employed by the Overland Company at Toledo. Leo is a farmer and carpenter living in Napoleon Township, and by his marriage to Bertha Bodi has two sons, Vincent and Joseph F. Mary has taken the white and black veil and is now a Sister of Notre Dame in the Cleveland Convent. Florence lives at home. Carl is con- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 879 nected with the Overland Motor Company at Toledo, and by his marriage to Frances Stevens of Napoleon has a daughter Beatrice Petra. Lawrence is still in school. Mr. Westhoven and family are active members of St. Augustine's Catholic Church. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and politically is a democrat. WILLIAM GERICKE. A strong and purposeful life was that of the late William Gericke of Ridgeville Township, Henry County. He was a farmer by occupation. He left the impress of his industry on many well cultivated acres in section 32 of that township, where Mrs. Gericke, his widow, still resides. He was also a good type of citizen. He was willing to work with others for the benefit of the community, was always kindly and thoughtful to those less fortunate than himself, and he reared a family to lives of usefulness and honor. He was born in a town in the Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, February 18, 1853, and received practically all his education while living there. His people were substantial Germans of Evangelical Lutheran stock and were farmers. Their names were William and Dora (Prindtnest) Gericke. It was in 1872 when the late William Gericke was nineteen years of age that the entire family set out on their voyage for the New World. The children were, besides the late Mr. Gericke : Louise, Mrs. Christ Nagel, of Adams Township, in Defiance County; Caroline, wife of Fred Kruse of Ridgeville Township ; and Ferdinand, who is a farmer in Marks. Township of Defiance County and has a family of children. After landing at Baltimore the family proceeded westward as far as Sandusky, Ohio, and there went across the Bay to Kelleys Island. On that island William began work in the stone quarries as did his brother' and his father. That was his regular employment for three years. Coming to Henry County he took up the independent activities of his career as a renter and a worker of farm lands on the shares. This was in Ridgeville Township. After a few years of sustained effort in this direction he was able to make his first purchase. This contained eighty acres of almost unimproved land in Adams Township of Defiance County. He went sturdily to work to clear up and develop that farm, and in the course of time had the fields in productive condition and some substantial buildings. In 1901 Mr. Gericke moved to Ridgeville Township. in Henry County, and here bought another place, also of eighty acres in section 33. On that farm he made his home the rest of his life. The farm had a substantial eight-room house and he also rebuilt and enlarged the barn which now stands on a foundation 36 by 80 feet with 18 foot posts. Before his death he had all the buildings in excellent repair, and the land is some of the most fertile and productive found in that section of Henry County. Thus as one of the principal fruits of his industry he had two farms each of eighty acres. Mr. Gericke was an active member and a trustee of St. John's Lutheran Church, and he helped to build the church building and supported the society for many years. He was a democrat. The death of this honored citizen occurred on July 1, 1916, and he was laid to rest on the 4th of July, in the churchyard of St. John's. In 1880 in Ridgeville Township. he married Miss Louisa Schnitke. Mrs. Gericke was born in Toledo, Ohio, May 15, 1859, but when six months of age was brought to Ridgeville Township in Henry County. Her parents were Caspar. and Mary Schnitke, both natives of Hanover, Germany, where they were reared. While they were still single they came across the ocean in 1858 and after landing in New York from a sailing vessel that had been twelve weeks en route they proceeded west to Toledo, where in the following year they married. A year later they moved to Henry County, buying forty acres of land and developing it as a farm. Mr. Schnitke died there at the age of seventy-two and his wife two years later at the same age as her husband. They were members of the Lutheran Church and he was a democrat. Mrs. Gericke was the oldest of their children. The brother Henry is a farmer in Ridgeville Township and is the father of three sons and one daughter. William is living retired at Ridgeville Corners and has a family of children. August is a farmer in Ridgeville Township, and has a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters. Minnie is the wife of William Nagel, a farmer in Ridgeville Township, and they are the parents of two sons. Mr. and Mrs. Gericke had four children. Bertha, now thirty-three years of age, -is the wife of Henry Behrman, a farmer in Ridgeville Township ; they have a daughter named Luella. August, aged thirty-one, now operates the farm of his father in Adams Town- 880 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO ship of Defiance County, and by his marriage to Annie Meyer has. a son Arthur, aged four. Anthony, born April 13, 1898, has received the advantages of the local schools and is now assisting his mother in running the old homestead. He married Anna .Brandt and they have two children, Leo and Alma. Augusta, born June 6, 1903, is still at home. All the family are members of St. John's Lutheran Church and the sons are democratic voters. ELIAS J. LEIST. One of the very fine old farmsteads of Liberty Township in Henry County is that which has been owned and occupied by members of the heist family since they came as pioneers, cleared out the woods, erected a log cabin, and began the primitive cultivation of the soil. That fine farm received the industrious labor of the late Elias J. Leist for a long period of years, and Mrs. heist still owns and occupies it as her home. Elias J. heist was born in Pickaway County near Circleville, Ohio, October 1, 1827, a date which attests the early settlement of the family in Ohio. He lived to be a little more than sixty years of age and died at his home in Liberty. Township October 18, 1887. His father David Leist was born in Pennsylvania in 1800, was an early settler in Pickaway. County, Ohio, and was married in Fairfield County to Elizabeth Neff. She was a native of Fairfield County and of Pennsylvania parentage. David Leist and wife had the following children : Levi, Elias J., Elizabeth, Elmira, Christina, Mary Ann, Susan, Ellen and Caroline. All these children were born. and reared in Pickaway County, and Elias J. heist had been married shortly before the entire family group, comprising three households, set out in covered wagons and made the slow and tedious journey over roads that were scarcely broken out to Henry County. Besides the wagons and teams they drove cattle, and Mrs. heist, then a young bride, walked and drove the cattle the entire last day of the journey. Arriving in the woods, they entered land, put up a log cabin with a ground floor, and clapboard roof, and with a chimney made of mud and sticks. In this humble abode the three families, comprising twelve persons, spent the winter. Every pound of the meat consumed on the table was supplied by the wild game which abounded in the woods outside. That old homestead has ever since remained in the heist name, and comprises nearly 100 acres. Mrs. Elias J. Leist is now its owner. The farm is well improved, and conspicuous among the improvements is a large substantial ten-room brick house, which the late Elias J. heist built forty-two years ago and which is still standing a landmark in the country side and marked by many associations connected with the worthy people who have made it their home. The brick for this building was burned nearby. David Leist and his wife both died on this old farm. David passed away in 1852 at the age of fifty-two. His wife, who was somewhat younger, lived to be eighty-four and passed away in 1886. They were both reared in the United Brethren Church, but Mrs. Leist subsequently became affiliated with the Christian Union Church. Nearly all the voters from this family were democrats. All the children of David Leist and wife grew up and married, and all are now deceased. Elias J. Leist and wife came to Henry County as bride and groom. Here they lived and labored and since his death Mrs. Leist has kept. the property and has had some of her family around her in the old home. Before her marriage Mrs. Leist was Susanna Grauel. She was born in Marion County, Ohio, October 10, 1829, and has now reached the venerable age of eighty-seven. When she was a few months old she was left an orphan. Her parents, John and Elizabeth (Bollingbaught) Grauel, were from Pennsylvania and both died in the prime of life. Mrs. Leist has been devoted to her family, is a devout. Christian, having joined the Christian Union Church about the close of the Civil war, and with children and grandchildren about her has reached a beautiful old age. She became the mother of nine children, all of whom grew up. Jonas, deceased, was living in Liberty Center at the time of his death October 22, 1916, and he married Mary Grinder. Eliphus is a farmer in Liberty Township, and by his marriage to Sarah Estep of Indiana had one child, a son, that died in infancy. Celestia C. was born and reared and educated on the old farm, and is still living there with her mother, being the wife of Samuel B. Snider of Fulton County, who died in Williams County August 2, 1898, leaving the following children : Arthur, who now is in the West ; Charles, a resident of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and by his marriage to Etta Fought, has a son Lewis ; Jonas is married and lives in Wauseon, his wife having been Ethel Badorf, and their one son Charles D. was graduated from high school HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 881 in 1916. Emma L. is the wife of George W. Ellinwood of Henry County, and they have five children, Harry, Fern, Lee, Royal and Isabelle. George Grover lives on a farm in Fulton County, and by his marriage to Lucy Shane has a daughter Catherine. Florence E. is unmarried and lives at home. Edward is a resident north of Liberty Center in Liberty Township, where he has a farm, and by his marriage to Minerva Cross has two children, Clinton D. and .Alfred R. Luella is the wife of Warren Leist of Fulton County, and they have children named Nora, who married H. H. Whitmer and has one child Lawrence; Herbert, who married. Agnes Lylons, and has one child Delmer ; Homer married Zola Biddle and has one child, Lowell; Dorothy, who married Floyd Skeels, has one child, Vera; and Wilmer. Marshall, the youngest child, died after his marriage to Nettie Chroninger, leaving a daughter Erma. WILLIAM E. WILSON. Any one who knows the business history of Fort Recovery during the past quarter of a century recognizes that William E. Wilson has been one of the most prominent and stalwart figures during that time. He has been in the lumber business at Fort Recovery since 1889 and is head of the large business now conducted as W. E. Wilson Lumber Company. His has been a life of experience and well earned achievement. He was born neither poor nor rich, made his own opportunities, and even paid most of his expenses while in school. He was born in Hillsdale County, Michigan, March 28, 1856, a son of William and Rose A. (Mills) Wilson. His father was a native of Virginia and his Mother of Pennsylvania, and after their marriage in the State of Maryland they came west to Monroe, Michigan, later to Hillsdale County, and in that county the mother of William E. Wilson died. The father then came to Ohio and died in this state in 1895. By trade he was a wheelwright, and that occupation he followed all his working years. He was twice married, and managed to provide the necessities for a large family. By his first wife there were five children and six by the second. William E. Wilson has two sisters living: Anna E., wife of H. M. Price of Fort Recovery ; and Lucy A., wife of M. F. Newcomer of Toledo. When four years of age William E. Wilson was brought to Fayette in Fulton County, Ohio. Living there to the age of fifteen, he then went to Michigan, and after some varied experience in that state, chiefly in the lumber industry, he came to Fort Recovery in 1889. Part of his early education was acquired in the village 'schools. He also attended business' college at Adrian, Michigan, and paid all his own expenses . while there, doing chores for his board. On coming to Fort Recovery in 1889 he engaged in the lumber business, and his substantial success is the result of more than a quarter of a century's continuous effort in one line. In 1883 he married Miss Ella E. Williams, who died April 9, 1911.) In May, 1913, Mr. Wilson married Stella Wallingford. His first wife was born in Ohio and his second at Fort Recovery. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are members of the Congregational Church, of which he is a trustee; he belongs to Fort Recovery Lodge No. 539, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is past master ; to Celina Chapter No. 120, Royal Arch Masons; St. Marys Council 81, Royal and Select Masters; Ivanhoe Commandery No. 51, Knights Templar ; Van Wert ; the Scottish Rite Consistory at Toledo and Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Toledo. As to politics Mr. Wilson is a democrat. In addition to looking after his business affairs he has taken more than an ordinary interest in local affairs, especially in behalf of education, and for twelve years has been a member of the school board of Fort Recovery. HARRY ELDRIDGE KING. In thirty-four years of active practice at Toledo, Harry Eldridge King has distinguished himself by ability as a lawyer. His many friends also associate with ability and success in the law an integrity of character and high principles which have been dominating facts whether in his professional or in his private life. In the sense which suggests superior attainments and dignity of position he is one of the real leaders of the Toledo bar. At the same time the community has not infrequently looked to his interest and support for many enterprises and movements that would advance the city. While his own career has been one of determined self help, and has been largely spent in association with Northern men and affairs, Mr. King represents some of the fine old Southern stock of both Virginia and Maryland. He was born near the picturesque mountain Town of Cumberland in Allegany County, Maryland, May 12, 1857, a son of 882 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Capt. Alexander and Lavinia M. (Collins) King. Both his parents were born in Virginia. The paternal grandfather, Col. Alexander King, served, as a member of the Virginia General Assembly in 1802-12. Mr. King's maternal great-grandfather, Benjamin Tomlinson, long enjoyed prominence in the State of Maryland. He was elected to the House of Delegates in 1791, and by subsequent election served in that body during the sessions of 1796-7, 1801, 1804-5, 1807, 1811, 1819 and 1822. Members of the Tomlinson family are frequently mentioned in the early annals of Allegany County. The career of Capt. Alexander King, father of the Toledo lawyer, possessed much that was distinctive. He lived with his father on the. old homestead in Virginia until shortly after reaching his majority, when he removed to Cumberland, Maryland, and for many years was there engaged in merchandising. After retiring he lived quietly on his beautiful plantation about six miles north of Cumberland, near the present Village of Ellerslie. He was a man of lofty character, high ideals, and his rugged business and personal integrity naturally gave him an influence that was far-reaching among the citizens of Allegany County. In 1837 he was elected one of the first trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Cumberland, and thereafter remained a consistent worker in that church the rest of his days. He served as a member of the Board of County Commissioners from 1843 to 1845, and was one of the judges of the Orphans Court from 1856 to 1864. His title of captain came from his service in a local military organization known as the Cumberland Guards, which he commanded. He took that company to aid in the suppression of rioting near Cumberland in 1843, while the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was in course of construction, and while in that post of responsibility and danger showed a courage which made the appellation of captain one of more than nominal honor. At the outbreak of the Civil war, though he lived in a community where sentiment was divided and perhaps largely favored the southern cause, he promptly arrayed himself upon the side of the Union, did all in his power in his own county to keep the state from seceding, and lent his resources and influence liberally to support the old flag. His honorable career came to a close on his Maryland plantation in 1873. The childhood of Harry E. King was spent at Cumberland while the armies of the North and South were struggling to decide the issues of the Civil war. Later he attended the schools at Cumberland, but his regular education was interrupted by the death of his father when the son was only sixteen years of age. This event threw-him upon his own resources, but with the endowment he received. from his sturdy Scotch-Irish ancestors he entered upon his individual struggle without fear and with a steady outlook toward higher things. After the death of his father, during 1874-75 he attended the State Normal School at Millersville, Pennsylvania, was in the Collegiate Institute at Fort Edward, New York, in 1877, and in 1878 attended the Eastman's National Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York. He attended these institutions not as a routine performance, but as a means to an end which he already clearly perceived. While in those schools he laid the foundation for practical and efficient service which has characterized his subsequent career. During 1879-81 he was clerk in a general store at Sulphur Springs, Texas. His early experiences brought him a considerable knowledge of the country and of men and affairs in different sections. With the savings acquired in Texas he took a course in the law department of the University of Michigan. Through all the preceding years he had worked steadily with the law as his ultimate goal and he allowed no obstacle to prove more than a temporary embarrassment to his ambition. He remained in the University of Michigan during 1881-82, and in March, 1882, arrived at Toledo, where he made arrangements to continue his law studies in the office of Swayne, Swayne & Hayes, a partnership that even then had a distinctive place in the Northwest Ohio bar and through its principal members is still continued. He was a student in that office until 1883, and then passed 'the Ohio State bar examination and on February 6th was admitted by the Supreme Court to practice in Ohio. From 1883 until April 1, 1892, Mr. King was associated in practice with the firm of Swayne, Swayne & Hayes. He then formed a partnership with Thomas H. Tracy under the firm name of King & Tracy, and they were together so long, had such a large and profitable practice in all the courts of Northern Ohio, that even now the firm name is recalled as one of the oldest and best in Toledo. The firm besides a large general practice was employed as counsel for a number HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 883 of prominent corporations and business firms. For some years they occupied offices in the Nasby Building, but in the spring of 1908, when their rapidly increasing business led to the admission of two additional members—Charles F. Chapman, Jr., and George D. Welles—offices were furnished and _occupied in the Ohio Building. During the next six years the firm was known as King, Tracy, Chapman & Welles, and there was no stronger firm in Northwest Ohio, and few that enjoyed such an extensive and profitable clientage. On April 1, 1914, Mr. King withdrew from the partnership after twenty-two years of continuous association with Thomas H. Tracy. He then opened offices of his own in the Ohio Building, and has since surrounded himself with a number of young associates and con tinues to direct a large and most satisfying practice. Mr. King's conduct of the case of Anderson vs. Messinger to a successful issue in the Supreme Court of the United States won him much distinction. The case involved title to an entire block .in the central part of Toledo and lasted eight years. Mr. King has exemplified many of the best qualities of the successful attorney. First of all, he is a hard worker, though his diligence is equaled perhaps by a mental keenness and ability at analysis that has served him well in the solution of many intricate legal problems. Most of all is he admired by his fellow attorneys for the scrupulous and conscientious care which he exercises in all his professional relations. It is as a lawyer that he is most widely known, and there are few men who have succeeded so nearly in realizing the dreams and plans of early ambition. Naturally politics has played a small part in his career. However,- he is an active republican, and for five years served as secretary of the Toledo Board of Elections, an office to which he was appointed by Governor Joseph B. Foraker. He resigned as secretary to accept appointment as a regular member of the same board and continued in that work four years. He is in full sympathy with church work and has been identified with many of the leading civic, moral and social organizations of his home city. On June 12, 1883, at Tenafly, New Jersey, Mr. King married Miss Mary Elma Haring. Her father, Dr: J. J. Haring, was a prom:- inent physician and surgeon in his section of New Jersey. Of the four children born to their marriage three are still living. Larry Swayne graduated from Cornell University and is now vice president and general manager of the Come-Packt Furniture Company of Toledo. The daughter, Margaret Haring, died May 8, 1915. James Ernest, though still a young man, gives -every promise of a very brilliant career in journalism. He is a graduate of William College, and is now a member of the editorial staff of the Boston Transcript at Boston, Massachusetts. During September, 1915, when .his superior was absent from his duties on account of illness, young Mr. King directed the editorial management of that old and influential journal for about one week. This speaks highly of his ability as an editorial writer. About three years ago he began with the Boston. Transcript as a reporter, and won promotion from time to time until he now ranks second on the editorial staff. The youngest child, Grace McAllister, is still in the family home at Toledo. A. LINCOLN STRAYER,. While his home is on one of the best improved farms in Washington Township of Henry County, the enterprise by which Mr. Strayer is most widely known over that section of Northwest Ohio is as a road contractor and builder. Through that occupation he has been a factor in making some of the finest improved highways in several of the counties of the state. He is an expert on the subject, and his knowledge is due not only to long and thorough practical experience, but to a careful study of materials, workmanship and all the principles that apply to modern and durable construction. He has handled every phase of the business, from the quarrying of the stone in its original source to the laying of the finished materials and to the construction of bridges, culverts and abutments. Many miles of the best roadways in Henry, Lucas and Wood counties attest his skill and business enterprise. For a number of years he did stone quarrying on an extensive scale, and he still has an interest in a quarry at Sugar Creek, in Wood County. Whatever he does Mr. Strayer does well, and he has succeeded in all his undertakings. As a farmer he owns 280 acres in sections 35 and 25 of Washington Township. To this farm he has given the same intelligent management which he has shown in his business as a road contractor. It is improved with large barns, a good house, and his fields 884 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO grow all the staple crops, and there has never been a year when the farm has not returned a profit. Mr. Strayer is a native of Northwest Ohio, having been born in Providence Township of Lucas County in August, 1866. His father, Henry Strayer, was born in Little York, Pennsylvania, and married in that state Amanda Neice. After the birth of one son, Jacob H., they migrated to Lucas County, and Henry Strayer entered some land in the wilds of Providence Township. In 1862 he moved from the old homestead to Washington Township in Henry County and bought some of the land now owned by his son, Lincoln Strayer. He was a hard working citizen and died in Washington Township February 6, 1879, at the age of fifty-nine years, ten months, twenty-three days. As a voter he cast his ballot to support the republican candidates and principles. His widow survived him many years, passing away in February, 1910, when past eighty years of age. A. Lincoln Strayer was one of a family of six children, of whom three sons and two daughters are still living: He was married in Washington Township to Emma May Forr. She was born and reared in Henry County, but her parents were Pennsylvania people, and are now living in Lucas County. Mr. and Mrs. Strayer are the parents of four children : Emma K ; Abraham L.; Margaret. E., and Marion Irene. Mr. Strayer, like his father, is a republican voter. JACOB BRECHEISEN. One of Henry County's sturdiest citizens, a man of German birth and ancestry, a loyal soldier of the Union .during the American Civil war, was the late Jacob Brecheisen, whose most active years were spent as a farmer and good citizen in Flatrock ToWnship. Mr. Brecheisen was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, March 24, 1843, and was sixty-four years of age when he died at his country home March 23, 1907. His people had all the amiable characteristics of the Wurtembergers and were thrifty and substantial stock. His parents were Philip and Catherine (Weaver) Brecheisen. In 1847, when Jacob was four years of age, the family left Germany on a sailing vessel and after several weeks of voyaging landed in America. They remained in New York City for several years and in 1854 went to Attica, New York, and then a few years later came on to Ohio. Their first Ohio home was near Fos toria, in Seneca County, but in 1861 they established themselves in Henry County. Philip Brecheisen sought out a place in the wilds of Flatrock Township. He was one of the factors in clearing up and developing that section of the county. After many years he had a comfortable home, and he and his wife died there, he at the age of seventy-six and she at sixty-six. Both were members of the Lutheran Church. They were good and progressive people and highly esteemed in their community. Philip Brecheisen had acquired a good German education, and was a man of much natural ability and of sound judgment, his friends and neighbors frequently counseling with him on matters of importance. Jacob Brecheisen was about eighteen years of age when his parents removed to Henry County and he continued with them on the farm, using his labor to .advantage for several years. In 1864, having just passed his twenty-first birthday, he enlisted for service in the Union army in Company G of the One Hundred and Sixty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He made an excellent record as a soldier, was esteemed as a splendid comrade and by his faithfulness gained the confidence and good will of his superior officers. He escaped without wounds, and at the close of the war returned home and took up farming. He was ever afterwards engaged in cultivating the soil in Henry County and made from that occupation enough success to provide for his family. He was a republican, enjoyed the fellowship of his old soldier friends in the Grand Army Post, and was an upright Christian in all his conduct. On June 16, 1872, he was married in Henry County to Rebecca Metzner. Mrs. Brecheisen, who is now living in Holgate, was born near Etna, in Licking County, Ohio, December 24, 1851. When she was ten years of age her parents, George and Elizabeth (Binge-man) Metzner, came to Van Buren Township of Putnam County. Her father was a native of Germany and her mother of Pennsylvania, and they were married in Ohio. Mrs. Brecheisen's mother died when the former was only two years of age. Her father afterwards married Mrs. Eva (Helfrich) Nicholas, whose first husband was deceased. Mr. Metzner settled on a farm in Putnam County, and lived there for a number of years, his death resulting from a quarrel with a neighbor, during which he was struck down with- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 885 out a chance to defend himself. His widow died twenty-five years later. Mrs. Brecheisen from early childhood was accustomed to drudgery and to the heaviest kinds of hard work. She went into the woods and helped clear the land, worked in the fields, and for all those early privations and hardships she now hardly retains a trace of them and is wonderfully preserved both physically and mentally. Mrs. Brecheisen possesses an unusual memory and has many interesting reminiscences of the pioneer life. Since her husband's death she has retired from the farm to a pleasant home in Holgate, where she now lives quietly, surrounded by her good friends and neighbors, and taking her pleasure in this social life and in regular attendance at church. Her son, William H., taught school five years, then engaged as clerk in a hardware store; also spent four years as clerk in a grocery, and is now in the retail meat business at Defiance. By his marriage to Irma Brown of Liberty Center he has three children, grandchildren of Mrs. Brecheisen, named Juanita C., Brown B. and Elward Elsworth. Mrs. Brecheisen's daughter, Clara C., is now housekeeper for an uncle and is unmarried. One other child, Gertrude, died when twelve years of age. Mrs. Brecheisen also had a foster daughter, a niece, Amanda Brech- eisen, who is now married and living in Michigan. J. HENRY VOIGT was the pioneer meat merchant at Holgate in Henry County, lived a sane and upright career in that community, and his death, which occurred at his home on Perry Street in Holgate November 29, 1915, was widely mourned as the loss of a very capable citizen. Mr. Voigt was born in Hanover, Germany, December 11, 1853, and his people for generations had been farmers or sheep raisers, were all active members of the Lutheran Church, and both his parents and grandparents on both sides spent their lives in the old country. The early members of the family and the circumstances which led to the children coming to America are further detailed in the sketch of Fred H. Voigt, brother of the late Mr. Voigt. Mr. Voigt grew up in Germany, had a common school education, and learned the trade of butcher. It will be recalled that his brother, Fred H., visited Germany after his first immigration to America, and when he came back Vol. II-15 to America he was accompanied by his younger brother, Henry. The latter came to America in 1874 and at once located in the Village of Holgate. Reigate was just coining into existence, growing. up around the railroad depot of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which had only recently been built through the county. J. Henry Voigt established the first meat market in the village. He did a very small business at first, but as the village grew and as Holgate more and more became a market center for the surrounding country, his own enterprise prospered and for years he supplied most of the meat consumed in that part of Henry County. Mr. Voigt was an excellent business man, an expert butcher, and his prosperity was only an adequate reward for the service he rendered. He invested his surplus in business and residence property, and he kept actively at work until about ten years before his death, when he retired and had leisure to enjoy life at home and in the quiet commingling with his fellow citizens. His death was the result of pneumonia. Mr. Voigt was a democrat, served for some time as a member of the council of Holgate, and was one of the founders and charter members of St. Johannes Lutheran Church. He was a trustee of that church and was especially active in its affairs during its early history. In Napoleon Township, near Okalona, in 1878 Mr. Voigt married Miss Maria Halback. Mrs. Voigt was born in Nindorf, Hanover, Germany, October 17, 1854. Her people were farmers of Germany, were Lutherans, and her parents were Johann H. and Margareta (Cordes) Halback. Her father died in Germany in 1864, at the age of fifty-four, and her mother died in 1869, aged forty-seven. A brief record of the Halback children is as follows : Henry, a farther of Pleasant Township, Henry County, who has four sons and three daughters ; Minnie, living at Holgate, the widow of Louis Phaler, who died here sixteen years ago, leaving two sons and three daughters. Mrs. Voigt was eighteen years of age when alone she set out from her native land in 1873 and voyaged across the ocean from Bremen to New York City. She came on west to Henry County, and in the neighborhood of Okalona found employment as a domestic. She worked for others until she married and had a home of her own. Mrs. Voigt has five living children. Charles, the oldest, is at home with his mother and has 886 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO the management of his father's retail meat business. He married Flora Zachrich, of Defiance County, and their children, Denelda, Arleta, Mildred and Margaret, are all attending the local schools. Minnie, the second child of Mrs. Voigt, is tile wife of Herman Meyer. Mr. Meyer has the leading department store at Holgate. Their children are Herbert, now deceased; Reneta; Richard ; and Harold. Alvin is a resident of Denver, Colorado, is married but has no children. Clara lives at home with her mother, was for five , years a successful teacher but at the present time is employed in the Meyer department store. Freda is the wife of Herbert Miller, a music instrument salesman and they live in Saginaw, Michigan, and all their three children died very young. Mrs. Voigt and her children are members of the Lutheran Church at Holgate. THEODORE F. BENECKE. The Benecke family has been established in and about the Village of Ridgeville Corners in. Henry County for more than sixty years. Unlike most German settlers of this county they came from Machlaburg instead of Prussia, Germany. Their presence in Henry County has been a real contribution to the growth and welfare of the community. People of fine intelligence, thrift, honesty and upright purpose, they have commanded respect wherever known. It was on the farm he still owns, a part of which makes the home of his retired years in the Village of Ridgeville Corners, that Mr. Benecke was born August 14, 1854, very soon after his parents and the older children made settlement here. Mr. Benecke's home is close to St. Peter's Lutheran Church which he helped organize and of which he has been a consistent member since its establishment twelve years ago. He was confirmed in that faith forty years ago by Rev. Caspar Strauss at St. Paul's Church in Napoleon Township, where the family earlier worshiped.. Theodore Benecke was reared and educated in the community of his birthplace, and found his chief activities on the home farm until ten years ago, when he opened a hardware store in Ridgeville Corners. Two years ago he gave up merchandising and in 1915 moved into his attractive and comfortable eight-room house. In earlier years he was a practical carpenter, and his experience enabled him to plan and build this home, which is modern in all appointments, and has a full basement. The paint is brown, buff and white and gives a very pleasing appearance. His farm contains 150 acres of the fine elm tree soil for which Henry County is noted. A large ditch runs through the center and there is a thorough sub-drainage. The farm house contains fourteen rooms and has been stand-. ing a number of years. The stock and grain barn stands on a foundation 40 by 80 feet, with 20-foot posts, the roof being of slate. At one end is the cow stable, and at the other room for the horses. Other building's are granary, cribs, tool sheds, and all have the uniform slate covering. His father and other members of the family did the original clearing of this land. A Their first home, where Theodore Benecke was born, was a log cabin. The parents had lived only' a brief time in Defiance County after coining to America, and it was on the Henry County homestead they spent their worthy and useful lives. The paternal grandmother, had died in Germany and the grandfather, Henry, Sr., died two years after the family located in Henry County. He was then seventy years old. Henry and Elizabeth (Shultz) Benecke, parents of Theodore, were both born in Machlaburg, Prussia. The father was born in 1820 and died June 24, 1899, at the age of seventy-nine, while his wife was born .in 1817 and died May 29, 1889. All were devout Lutherans. Before emigrating to America the parents had children named Henry, Elizabeth, Anna and Frederick. Frederick died in Germany, and Anna while crossing the ocean, the family having left Hamburg in 1853, and from New York came on to Ohio. The daughter Elizabeth married Theodore Kesler, both now deceased, and their children were Theodore, Emilia, William, Harmon, and Sophia, all married except Theodore. The two children born in America to Henry and Elizabeth Beneke were Theodore and Ferdinand. The latter, a successful farmer in Defiance County, married Anna Mehring, who died July 20, 1915, leaving two children William and Adelbert. The father of these children was a thorough, tailor, trained after the German fashion. After locating in Henry County on the farm he found much employment in working at his J trade for his neighbors, while his wife industriously spun and wove the flax grown on their farm. Politically, after becoming naturalized, he affiliated with the republican party, He was stanchly opposed to the institution of slavery. He and his wife were kindly HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 887 neighbors and possessed that character which is an asset in every community. Theodore Benecke was married in Defiance County November 21, 1877, to Miss Mary Mehring. A sister of John A. Mehring, she was born in Defiance County April 20, 1855, and was reared and received her education there before her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Benecke are the parents of five children. Matilda, born August 27, 1878, married Charles Ruffer, a painter, paper hanger and decorator of Ridgeville Corners, and their children are Veleta, Denelda (deceased), Harvey (deceased), and John. Bertha, born December 11, 1880, is the wife of Albert Funkhouser, and they occupy the old Benecke home farm, and have a little daughter Marguerita now two years old. John Martin, who was born May 15, 1884, died December 15, 1898, from injuries sustained when he was kicked by a horse, Lewella, born May 5, 1890, was fatally burned October 13, 1893. Lydia, a twin sister of Lewella, is a graduate of the local schools and Defiance College, also a graduate from Athens University, and is a successful teacher of domestic science in Indiana, being also well versed in music and art. All the family are members of St. Peter's Lutheran Church. His success in business affairs has naturally made Mr. Benecke a man of high standing in the community. Among places of trust he has filled, he was school director twelve years and treasurer of his township eight years. HENRY HUNER. As a farmer, business man and citizen, Henry Huner's place is one of secure prominence in Henry County. From an early age heavy, responsibility devolved upon him, and having shown himself worthy of trust he has steadily made progress toward. better things, and is quite well able to enjoy life at ease as a result of his earnest and well directed endeavors in earlier years. Like many of the most substantial citizens of that county, he is a native of Hanover, Germany, born at Helsen November 12, 1851. He and his brother Frederick, long associated together in business at Ridgeville Corners, were the only children of John and Margaret (Cordes) Huner, both of whom represented old Lutheran stock of the Fatherland. The father was born in 1818 and the mother in 1821. In 1866 the little family embarked on the steamer Atlantic at Bremen and eighteen days later arrived in New York. From there they came west to Napoleon. They had hardly begun life in the New World when six weeks later the father of the family died on July 1, 1866, leaving his widow and her two young sons to face the world alone. Henry was fifteen years old, strong and vigorous. Both he and his brother worked hard, and he did much to make his mother comfortable in her declining years. It was at his home that she died in 1906 at the age of eighty-six. Both she and her husband had been confirmed in the Lutheran Church in Germany. After his father's death Henry Huner found employment on the railroad for some years. He then bought ninety acres in Ridgeville Township, and set himself to the heavy task of clearing the land and making it the basis for the support of his family. With its excellent buildings and the fertility of its soil, this is now recognized as one of the fine farms of the township. Mr. Huner also bought twenty-five acres from the old Harold W. Rodgers homestead in the same township, and has that completely outfitted with buildings and other improvements. Some years ago Mr. Huner bought the nine-room house in Ridgeville Corners where he and his family reside. He and his brother also erected a brick block 25 by 75 feet in the village, and were associated in merchandising from 1902 until a few years ago, when the business was acquired by Henry and his son, and the son William now conducts it as a grocery. For many years the name Huner has been associated with the highest standards of business integrity and honor in this community. Mr. Huner was married in Freedom Township to Miss Sophia Tietje. She was born in that section of Henry County, a daughter of Henry and Sophia (Olow) Tietje, both natives of Hanover. The Tietje family emigrated to America in 1851. The father acquired a tract of wild land in Freedom Township and eventually made a fine farm of his 165 acres. He died there fourteen years ago at the age of ninety and his widow is still living at the venerable age of ninety-four, yet vigorous and hearty, with her sons Henry in Ridgeville Corners. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tietje were early confirmed in the Lutheran Church and have been stanch pillars in church and community affairs of Henry County. Their only children are Mrs. Miner and her brother Henry. Mr. and Mrs. Huner are the parents of three children. Minnie A. married William 888 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Davis, who lives on and manages Mr. Huner's farm near the village; their children are Dorothy, Allen and Leonard. William F., the only son, is now thirty-three years old, and has for some years been associated with his father in business and now runs the entire establishment; he married Minnie Yungman and has daughters Laura and Helen. Emma, the youngest of the family, is still unmarried and living at home, having been well educated in both the German and English schools. All the family are active members of St. Peter's Lutheran ChUrch of Ridgeville Corners, in which Mr. Huner is an elder. In politics he is a democrat. For fifteen years he was a director of his local school district, and has also served as township trustee and township treasurer. He is widely known in Henry County business circles through his successful record of twelve years as secretary-treasurer of the Defiance and Henry Counties German Mutal Fire Insurance Company. During his administration the company built up its insurance in force to $5,000,000, and since then it has increased to $7,000,000. In his official capacity Mr. Huner paid out $96,000 in claims. A. L. METHEANY. The successful administration of cities involves more and more that type of service only furnished by men of technical training and experience. Lima, as one of the most progressive cities of Northwest Ohio, is especially fortunate in having as director of public service a man with long and thorough training as a civil and construction engineer. A. L. Metheany gained a secure position in his profession long before he accepted his present office. Mr. Metheany represents one of the old and prominent families of Northwest Ohio. He was born at Lima July 21, 1874, a son of Charles A. and Mary L. (Harper) Metheany. His grandfather, Richard R. Metheany, was a native of Highland County, Ohio, and descended from Irish ancestors. From Highland County he moved to Auglaize County, and then to Lima, where he did a large business as a grain merchant and operated an elevator. He and T. K. Jacobs rode all over the country surrounding Lima on horseback for the purpose of raising a fund of $100,000 in order to bring the Pennsylvania Railway to Lima instead of Findlay. The success of their campaign had more to do with making Lima a prosperous and substantial city than any other one factor in early days. Mr. Meth eany's maternal grandfather was Thomas Harper, who came from Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and located in Greene County, Ohio. He was a farmer but amassed a fortune and at one time owned more land than any other citizen of Greene County. Charles A. Metheany was born in Auglaize County in 1837, and died in 1903. For a number of years he was identified with the construction of railway lines. His first work was as a contractor for the Pennsylvania Railway Company. He was also one of the original trustees that built the Lime Water Works. For a number of years before his death he lived retired. Successful in his varied enterprises, he accumulated a large amount of property and was a man of substance and influence. As a republican he took an active part in .his party and locally served as a member of the school board and as trustee of the water works. He was master of his Masonic lodge, and he and his wife were active members of the Baptist Church. They were married at Lima, and Mrs. Charles Metheany was born in Greene County, Ohio, in 1838 and died in 1912. Their four children were: Mary Esther, wife of I. R. Longsworth, a prominent attorney of Lima and had the distinction of serving as mayor of the city when only twenty-nine years of age. Charles Francis Metheany, now living retired at Lima, was for a number of years chief clerk of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway. George H., also of Lima, is general manager of the Lima Telephone Company. A. L. Metheany, the youngest of his parents' children, was graduated from the Lima High School in 1892. He spent three years in Dennison College at Granville, Ohio, and pursued the course in civil engineering. For about two years he was employed in construction work for the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railway, was then on construction work for the Lima & Fort Wayne Electric Line, and for several years was in the maintenance of way department of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway. For two years Mr. Metheany served as assistant city engineer and as city engineer of Lima, and he also developed a large private practice as an engineer and contractor on construction work. Mr. Metheany was made director of public service of Lima in January, 1916. In December, 1911, he married Miss Emma Weller. Her father, Peter W. Weller, was for a number of years superintendent of the Deisell-Wemmer Company at Lima. Mrs. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 889 Metheany was .born in Lima. Mr. Metheany remains a member of the Baptist Church, in which he was reared, while his wife belongs to the German Reformed Church. He is affiliated with the Elks at Lima and the Rotary Club, and is a republican in politics. For four years Mr. Metheany was a member of the board of education. Much of his time outside of office is taken up with the supervision and care of his large property interests. ABEL J. HAWK, a retired mill owner and farmer at Rockford in Mercer County, is a citizen of phenomenal enterprise and industry, and during his active lifetime many undertakings have felt the stimulus of his energy. This energy has been manifested. not alone in business affairs, where he is preeminently successful. He has been equally public spirited and generous of his time and labor in behalf of community welfare, and over a large section of Mercer County, Ohio, and of Adams County, Indiana, the impress of his work and influence is still apparent. Mr. Hawk was born in Adams County, Indiana, near Decatur, August 19, 1857, a son of Adam and Nancy (Johnson) Hawk. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, from which state he moved to the vicinity of Dayton in Montgomery County, Ohio, from there to St. Paris, Ohio, and a little later, in 1833, to Adams County, Indiana. Most of his early youth was spent in Adams County, Indiana, and he attended one of the log schoolhouses kept there in the early days. The teacher of that school was a Mr. Johnson, and Nancy Johnson was a daughter of the teacher. The friendship that began between Adam Hawk and Nancy Johnson in school. days was later cemented by marriage. For a time after his marriage Adam Hawk worked on his father-in-law 's farm and later bought forty acres in that county. Selling that land he moved further south in the county and secured 120 acres. This was covered with woods, and the four years spent there were directed to clearing up and making the land ready for cultivation. He then sold that property and bought other land in St. Mary's Township of Adams County. Adam. Hawk was a very industrious man and by that trait he was able to provide liberally for his family. He was reared in the Lutheran Church but afterwards became a Methodist and was one of the leaders in the church of that denomination and a member of its official board. Politically he was a democrat until the compaign for the election of U. S. Grant, and after that steadily adhered to the republican alliance. Adam Hawk and wife had six children, three of whom are still living: Valentine E., a machinist in Indiana; Sarah I. is the wife of Noah A. Lung, and for many years she was a teacher in the public schools. Abel J. Hawk spent his early life on an Adams County farm in Indiana. His education came from district schools and also from the public schools of Decatur, and he was given a license to teach, though his career from an early age has been devoted to practical affairs rather than to educational or book interests. When he was twenty-one years of age his father died and thenceforward, he had to make his own way in the world. On March 2, 1880, Mr. Hawk married Almira Carter. She was born in St. Mary's Township of Adams County January 13, 1852, a daughter of Ardelius and Hannah (Gulic) Carter. She is a descendant of a noted Vir- ginian, General Carter. Mrs. Hawk was reared on a farm and like her husband attended the common schools of Adams County. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hawk located on a farm 51/2 miles east of Decatur, lived there two years and then bought a farm six miles east of Berne in Adams County. He lived there for nine years. Mr. Hawk bought this land because of its timber, and that was the beginning of his extensive operations as a timber buyer and mill man. He lived on his farm in Adams County from 1887 until he removed to the Town of Berne, which was .his home up till 1902. Mr. Hawk has built and owned several different mills for the manufacture of lumber products, including a hoop factory at Berne and also a large industry of that kind at Fort Recovery. He still owns a large amount of acreage which he originally bought because of its timber. His ownership includes 120 acres in Jefferson Township of Adams County, 500 acres in 'Mercer County, Ohio, 160 acres in Noble Township of Defiance County, Ohio. Since 1904 Mr. Hawk and family have lived in Rockford, Ohio. He is the heaviest stockholder in the Bank of Berne, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Hawk had six children, five of whom are still living : Adrian W., a graduate of Voorhees Business College of Indianapolis, is in the hardware 'business at Atlanta, Indiana; Charles E. is actively associated with his father in business ; Rufus W. is also in 890 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO business with his father; Nora M. is the wife of William Berry ; Edith C. is the wife of Hugo Pierstorff. The family are members of the Bethel Brethren Church of Adams County, Indiana, and both Mr. and Mrs. Hawk were charter members of that church. He helped organize it, was class leader and for many years an official. In politics he is .a republican, and in every community where he has lived has proved an energetic influence for upbuilding and civic betterment. He was a member of the Berne Council and president of the board and he brought out the first petition for the construction of .a pike road in. Adams County. Every public improvement has found in him a steady supporter and his public spirit is not confined to words alone. CAPT. CHARLES M. SIDERS, Still a young man, not yet forty, has used the time and talents allotted him to splendid purpose. He has prospered in business affairs, has recently completed two full terms of service as clerk of courts in Van Wert County, and was long active and prominent in military circles, having attained the rank of captain in the National Guard, and having served with his regiment during the Spanish-American war. He was born in Van Wert June 11, 1879. His people were very early settlers in Southern Ohio. His great-grandfather was a farmer and died in Galia County, Ohio, and came to this state after having served in the Revolutionary war. Joseph Siders, grandfather of Captain Siders, was born in Galia County, was reared there, and when a young man went to Indiana and bought a tract of timbered land in Union Township of Jay County. He improved that land, but in 1876 sold out his possessions there and removed to Van Wert County and lived in the county seat until his death at the age of seventy-five. He married Almira Rhea, who was born in Preble County, Ohio, and is still living at Van Wert at the age of seventy-eight, having reared five children. Her father, Robert Rhea, was an extensive farmer in Jay County, Indiana, and gave to each of his children 200 acres of land. Robert Rhea died in Jay County. Robert Siders, father of Captain Siders, was born on a farm in Union Township of Jay County, Indiana, February 21, 1857, came to Van Wert in 1876 and is still living in that city. He married Eva Tomlinson, who was born in Mercer County, Ohio. Her father, Lewis Tomlinson, was a prominent 'pioneer, a native of Madison County, Ohio, and on going to Mercer County he owned and operated a flour mill on St. Marys River. That was before the days of railroads and people living over a vast extent of country brought their corn and wheat by horseback or other conveyance for long distances to his mill. Mr. Tomlinson operated his mill on St. Marys River several years, and then removed to Van Wert, where he was engaged in the boot and shoe business until he retired. The' maiden name of his wife was Richard Boroff, who was born in Cincinnati and died in Van Wert. Lewis Tomlinson and wife were both active Methodists, reared their families in the same faith, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Siders are regular attendants at that church. Capt. Charles M. Siders was the oldest of five children, the others being Foster, Ethel, Edith and Vernal. While growing up in Van Wert Charles M. Siders attended the public schools, and then. seeking a means of self support he spent two years working in the Eagle Stave Works. His next employment was as clerk in the Boston Store at Van Wert. 'In the meantime he had enlisted in Company D of the Second Regiment Ohio National Guard, and on the breaking out of the Spanish-American war in 1898 he went with his regiment when it was called into service. He was with his comrades in the southern concentration camps until they were mustered out and honorably discharged in 1899. Captain Siders retained his membership in his company and regiment until 1910, and was promoted from the ranks through the different grades until he became captain of his company. After the close of his military service in the field he spent a year. and a half with the Allen Grocery Company as a clerk, and then set up a business in that line of his own. Captain. Siders was one of the prosperous merchants of Van Wert until 1912, when he was elected clerk of courts of the county. He was re-elected in the fall of 1914 and at this writing is closing his second term of efficient handling of the duties of office. In 1909 he married Miss Mary E. Thomas, who was born in York Township of Van Wert County, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Thomas. Mrs. Siders' maternal grandfather, Richard Jarvis, was born in Wales, was reared and married. there, and about 1845 came to. America accompanied by his family. From Cincinnati he removed in HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 891 the spring of 1848 to Van Wert County, and his was one of the first white families in this section. He bought sixty acres of timbered land in York Township from William Belt, and after improving that place and occupying it for several years he sold out and bought 200 acres in Jennings Township. He lived there until his death. At the age of twenty-one Richard Jarvis married Mary Bebb, who was born August 2, 1821. Her cousin George Bebb was a member of the Calvinistic Methodist Episcopal Church and served as a trustee and superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. and Mrs. Siders have two children, Richard and Robert. In politics Captain Siders has always been a loyal democrat and besides his county office has served on the city, council. He is affiliated with Van Wert Lodge No. 130, Knights of Pythias, with Van Wert Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and with Aerie No. 886 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. CHARLES NAGEL. For more than sixty years Mr. Nagel has been a resident of Henry County. He came to America with his family when he was ten years old, and his career has been one of exceptional industry as a farmer and business man. He is now enjoying a retired life in his home at Ridgeville Corners, to which village he removed from Defiance County, where he spent most of his. active. years. He was born in Hanover, Germany, February 20, 1844. His people had lived in that kingdom for generations, and were all of Lutheran stock. In 1854 a large family group set out for America. They were the grandparents, Christian and Mary Nagel, their son, John and his wife Mary Hoeflin, and the sons of the latter couple, Fred, William, John and Christian, twins, Charles and August. The voyage was made on a sailing vessel, commanded, by Captain Heyer, and from Hamburg to New York the trip required nine weeks to the day. They landed at Castle Garden August 1st. They made part of the westward trip as far as Buffalo by rail, and thence by lake boat and canal to Napoleon. From there they struck into the country and over roads rough and partly unbroken they reached Henry County and proceeded to Adams Township of Defiance County. There John Nagel bought eighty acres of heavy tim- ber land and with the aid of his competent sons began the task of clearing. In the absence of better accommodations they all lived in an old ashery that had subsequently been put to use as a hog house. In the meantime they were working on .a more suitable home. This was a log house 24 by 18 feet, with puncheon floor and clapboard roof bound down by poles. Around this cabin the trees grew straight and tall and much of the ground was swampy, furnishing space for game of all sorts. Wild meat supplied the. table for several years. In this home the grandparents died when quite aged. They and all their family. were Lutherans. John Nagel also died there. in 1861 when a little past forty-eight years. He was survived by his widow until 1884, when she was nearly seventy. Besides the sons named above, all of whom married and all are living except William, there were daughters Mary, Dora and Minnie, who died within a few weeks after landing in this country, and Lucinda who married Fred Wendt and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. Thus from tender years Charles Nagel grew up on the old farm in Defiance County, and his youthful strength was contributed to its clearing and cultivation. He became especially expert in swinging the axe, .and could do a man's work before he was of age. He was about seventeen when his father died, and in the following year, 1862, he enlisted and went out to fight for his adopted country with all the loyalty of the native born. He became a member of Company B of the Thirty-seventh Ohio Infantry, under Captain Mowrey. He was first sent into West Virginia, and from there went south to the siege of Vicksburg, where he was in the command of General Logan in the Fifteenth Army Corps. Later he was with General Hayes' division. Through many hard fought campaigns and battles he continued to serve until almost three years had passed. He was then given his honorable discharge at Washington. On returning home the youthful veteran worked by the month for three years, and then made his first purchase preparatory to a career of independent farming. This purchase was eighty acres in section 5 of Adams Township, Defiance County. With this as a nucleus he continued clearing and investing his surplus in additional land until he. owned 280 acres. It is fine soil, and has been made to grow every staple, crop, grains, grass, clover and potatoes. His building improvements were always first class, including a ten-room house and- a large barn 40 by 72 feet. On that 892 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO farm he lived and reared his family, and a few years ago moved to Ridgeville Corners, where he owns a large and pleasant home situated on a half-acre lot on the Ridge road. In Henry County Mr. Nagel married Miss Mary Hinze. She was born in Prussia, Germany, August 6, 1848, and was six years old when she was brought to America by her parents William and Mary (Will) Hinze. Her own brother Reinhardt was a member of the party and also her three half-sisters, children of her mother, Dora, Charlotte and Minnie Dawns. They made the voyage from Hamburg to New York in nine weeks, and corning to Henry County bought land in Ridgeville Township. Here her father, as a result of many years' hard labor, improved a fine farm and died there when nearly eighty years old in 1896. Her mother had died previously at the age of seventy-four. Mrs. Nagel is now the only one living of the family party that came from the old country more than sixty years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Nagel had two children, August and Charlotta. The latter died at the age of five years. August, who was born January 6, 1874, was educated in both the German and English languages, and is now capably managing his father's homestead and other lands besides. By his marriage to Minnie Wendt of Ridgeville Township he is father of children named Arthur, Nettie, Ida and Helen, all of whom are at home and have completed their education in the German and English schools. The son Arthur is now twenty-three and is assisting his father on the farm. Mr. and Mrs. Nagel are active members of St. Catherine's Lutheran Church, and in politics he is a republican. MARION WEAKLEY, of Liberty Center, has now reached that time of life when he is justified in retiring and shifting the responsibilities to younger shoulders. For nearly half a century he was closely identified with farming, merchandising, and other interests, and even yet his vigorous movements and his active mind would hardly betray the fact that he has passed the psalmist's span of life. The most important work of his life has been accomplished in Liberty Township of Henry County, where he has lived for the past fifty years. He was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, August 30, 1842. He grew up there on a farm, had very limited educational advantages and has made his success in the world through his own efforts. In early manhood, in February, 1864, he enlisted from Lancaster, Ohio, in Company K of the Seventeenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was in the First Brigade of the .Third Division and the Fourteenth Army Corps. He continued in service until the close of the war. He escaped without injury, although once he was called upon to halt by the enemy, but decided that he was not the man they wanted and proceeded on his way, being unharmed by the bullets that were fired after him. Soon after the war he moved to Henry County, and has witnessed all the changes and has been a factor in making them here during the past half century. As a farmer he had his share in converting a large acreage of wilderness into fertile farms, and he used his sturdy strength in early years to cope with all the difficult problems of existence in a new country. Mr. Weakley still owns the fine farm, comprising 226 acres, and farming was his sole occupation for a number of years. Later he engaged in the grocery business with Charles Martin, and after about a year, became sole proprietor. His store was the leading place for reliable merchandise at Liberty Center for practically a quarter of a century. At one time his store was burned, and he replaced it with a large building and with his son as partner opened one of the principal stocks of hardware and general merchandise in that part of the county. In August, 1914, on account of his son's failing health, he sold out to Moyer and Eversole. He and his son Wilber then went to Florida, where the son died December 20, 1914, at the age of forty-three. Marion Weakley is a son of Thomas and Mary (Cook) Weakley, who were natives of Pennsylvania but were married in Fairfield County, Ohio, and he took up his career there as a farmer and carpenter. Both died in Fairfield County, the father at the, age of seventy-eight and the mother at sixty-eight. They were members of the Evangelical Church and he was a democrat. Of their family of five sons and three daughters four are still living and all married. Henry County first attracted Mr. Weakley as a place of residence because it was at the time the home of Miss Amanda Alspaugh, and afterwards they were happily married and have traveled life's highway together for about half a century. She was born near Lancaster, Ohio, July 4, 1844, .and was reared and educated there, attending the public HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 893 schools and Pleasantville College in that county. Her parents were Michael and Sarah (Lance) Alspaugh, natives of Pennsylvania, but married in Fairfield County. Sarah Alspaugh died in the early '50s. Mr. Alspaugh then married Mrs. Ann (LeFever) Weakley, and they moved to Liberty Center where she died about 1868, leaving one daughter. Mr. Alspaugh married for his third wife Mary Trail, and both died some years later, she being the mother of three children by a previous marriage. Mr. Alspaugh was a member of the German Reformed Church and a strong democrat, and Mrs. Weakley's mother was a Methodist. Mr. and Mrs. Weakley became the parents of two children. The son Wilber, who died in Florida in 1914 as already noted, married Cora Graffes, and she and her four children, Vera, Josephine, Kenneth and Eleanor, are still living. The second child is Dora M., now the wife of Homer Bowers, and they live on one of Mr. Weakley's farms. Their children are : Flossie, wife of Leonard Teeters and the mother of a daughter, Marian Virginia; Ruth, wife of Floyd Warner, a farmer at Liberty Center;. and Wayne, who lives at home unmarried. Mr. and Mrs. Weakley are active members of the Methodist Church. He has exercised his influence in politics largely through the republican party. His popularity is well indicated by the fact that he was the first republican elected for the office of treasurer in the township, and also served as trustee, and as mayor of the town. He has filled all the chairs in the subordinate lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Liberty Center and is a member of the Encampment at the same place. SAMUEL RIGAL. After devoting many of his younger years to farming pursuits, a business in which he is still interested as a land owner, Samuel Rigal moved to Liberty Center about twenty years ago and has since been one of the central figures in the business affairs of that town. On many occasions his good citizenship has exemplified itself in practical benefit to the community. He comes of an old family of Franklin County, Ohio, where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all lived. His great-grandfather who died before the grandfather reached his majority, came from Pennsylvania and all the older stock were members of the Evangelical Church and whigs in pol itics. Samuel Rigal, grandfather of the Liberty Center merchant, was born either in Pennsylvania or at' Westerville in Franklin County, Ohio. He was a man of much enterprise, as is indicated by the fact that he looked after his farm, managed a sawmill, and was also a merchant at Westerville. At Westerville he married Miss Hay, who represented a family of early settlers in Fairfield County, Ohio. She died at Westerville, survived a few years by her husband, who passed away about 1880 at the age of sixty-five. The only children of Grandfather Samuel Rigal were Joseph and Daniel. Joseph Rigal was born on a farm in Franklin County, Ohio, about 1843, grew up to farming pursuits, and married in that county Miss Catherine Hall, who was born either in Franklin or Fairfield counties, Ohio, about 1845, a daughter of Louis and Catherine (Kuntz) Hall, both of whom spent their lives in that section of Ohio, Mrs. Hall dying when about forty and Mr. Hall when past seventy. The Halls were ;members of the United Brethren .Church. After marriage Joseph Rigal purchased a farm in Liberty Township of Henry County, but sold this and returned to Franklin County and then moved to a farm twelve miles northeast of Columbus. It was on this second place that Samuel Rigal was born December 2, 1860. When he was two years old his parents returned to Henry County and Liberty Township. His older sister, Sarah, was born during the first residence of the parents in Henry County, and she died leaving a son, who is also now deceased. -Another brother of Samuel was Lewis Rigal who was born in Franklin County, Ohio, and died at the age of twenty-one in Henry County. Still another brother is' Reuben D. Rigal, now engaged .in the sawmill business and served as mayor of Liberty Center. Samuel Rigal spent his early life in Liberty Township, where he attended the public schools, and identified himself for a number of years with farming. He still owns three pieces of farming property, comprising altogether about 100 acres, and improved each with a substantial set of farm buildings. These farm lands lie partly in Henry County and partly in Fulton County: In 1896 Mr. Rigal removed to Liberty Center and has made that the stage of his action as a business man ever since. His enterprise has been chiefly directed to sawmilling and the lumber business, and he is also a cement 894 - HISTORY OF NORTH-WEST OHIO contractor, and has a factory for the manufacture of building materials of that class. A few years ago he also purchased a kraut factory. Thus he has added considerably. to the business enterprise of Liberty Center. At the same time he has served as a member of the town council and on the school board. He is a republican in politics, and has been a trustee and elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his wife and son are also members. In Hardin County, Ohio, Mr. Rigal married Miss Joanna Rinehart. She was born in Hancock County, Ohio, about 1856, and was reared at Ada, Ohio, where she completed her education in what is now the Ohio Northern University. Her parents were Valentine and Caroline (Cratz) Rinehart. Her father was born in Tuscarawus County, Ohio, of Pennsylvania parents, and the family subsequently moved to Hancock County, Ohio, where Valentine Rinehart was reared and educated. His wife was of German birth and was brought to the United States when three years of age, her parents Christian and Joanna Cratz settling in Pennsylvania, but spending their last years in Hancock County, Ohio. Christian Cratz had served as a soldier in the Napoleonic wars, and all the family were members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. and Mrs. Rigal occupy one of the attractive homes in Liberty Center located on North Main Street. They have one son, Mark S. born February 9, 1897, has completed his education in the Liberty Center High School and is still at home. JAMES A. ANDERSON. A career of useful and honorable effort, resulting in material success for himself and broad benefits to the community, was that of the late James A. Anderson, who died at his home in Liberty Center of Henry County June 6, 1913. He is survived by Mrs. Anderson and a daughter, and their home in Liberty Center is a place of culture and social attractiveness, and Mrs. Anderson has not only exemplified the best qualities of the home maker, but has also proved a capable business manager. Born in Camden Township of Lorain County September 7, 1859, James A. Anderson was in his fifty-fourth year when taken by death. His parents were William and Harriet (Hardy) Anderson. His father was born at Binghamton, New York, about 1820, and when a young man moved to Lorain County, Ohio. There he met Miss Hardy, who was ten years his junior, and she was a native of Lorain County. After their marriage they started out as farmers and accumulated a large amount of property in Lorain County, but about twenty-five years ago retired to Neapolis in Lucas County and six years later moved to Liberty Center, where the father died October 17, 1904, and the mother on the 8th of April in the same year. They were closely identified for many years with the Christian Church and he was a leader in public affairs and especially prominent in the democratic party. He held several offices in Lorain County. The late James A. Anderson, who was an only son and child spent his early life in Lorain County on his father's farm. While these years were not passed without sturdy and practical discipline in the duties of the farm he managed to gain a liberal education, partly in the public schools and partly in Oberlin College. For some years after his marriage he followed farming and stock buying in Lorain County, but in 1890 moved to Liberty Center, and established an undertaking and furniture business. It was in that line that he prospered and became best known to the people of that section of Henry County. Since his death the business has been continued by Mrs. Anderson. The late Mr. Anderson took a very prominent part in democratic politics. He served as a member of the Board of Education at Liberty Center and it was largely through his efforts that the local school building was erected and the curriculum of the schools was improved, so that about a year before his death the high school was accredited as one of first class. Mr. Anderson was affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Liberty Center, having filled all the local offices in those lodges, and belonged to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Napoleon. In 1880, while a student in Oberlin College he married a classmate, Miss Loretta A. Austin, who also had the fine advantages of that old institution of learning. Mrs. Anderson was born at Henrietta in Lorain County June 2, 1860, and was twenty years old when she married. She was well equipped for the responsibilities of home making and other duties to which her position in society has called her. She was born and reared in Lorain County, a daughter of Lyman and Julia (Higgins) Austin. Her mother's family were among the pioneers of Northern HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 895 Ohio. Her father, Lyman Austin, was bOrn in Massachusetts. Her_ mother was born in Birmingham, Erie County, Ohio, and was about five years younger than Lyman Austin, who was born about 1830. Julia Higgins was the daughter of Moses and Betsey (Mitchell) Higgins. Moses Higgins with two brothers Aaron and Calvin established homes at Birmingham in Erie County when all that section was very new. Moses Higgins built the first sawmill at Birmingham and was a very prosperous business man in that locality, where he died in 1864. His wife Betsey married a second time and lived to be ninety years of age, her death occurring at Springfield, Vermont. While she had no children by her second marriage, she was the mother of fourteen by her union to Mr. Higgins. Of these the mother of Mrs. 'Anderson was the oldest. Of the Higgins children still living there are : Harriet, wife of Fred Lockwood of Boston, Massachusetts; William Higgins, who lives in Springfield, Vermont, a widower with quite a large family ; George, who lives at Rocky Ford, Colorado, and is a widower with two daughters. Mrs. Anderson, as was her husband, has been one of the leaders in the Christian Church at Neapolis, Ohio. She became the mother of two children. William died in early infancy. Pearl Loretta graduated from the high school and pursued higher studies at Monroe, Michigan, and at Defiance College. She was born August 16, 1891, and prior to her marriage was one of the successful and popular teachers in.the public schools .of Liberty. Center, for six years, and is a leader in local society. She is also active in the Christion Church. On May 25, 1916, she married Frank P. Seitz, a native of Wood County, Ohio, and they are the parents of one child, Loretta Pearl, born February 15, 1917. W. HARDY PONTIUS has spent most of his life in Henry County and has been successfully identified with its affairs as a lawyer, business man and public spirited citizen. Most of his time is now given to the contracting business, with a specialty of constructing sewers and similar municipal improvements. The Pontius family came from Pennsylvania. His grandfather Samuel Pontius was born in that state and married there Lydia Shellhammer. From Pennsylvania they removed to Pickaway County, Ohio, where their son Benjamin F., the second child and oldest son, was born November 4, 1841. Six years later the family moved to Seneca County, where Samuel and Lydia spent the rest of their days, he passing away July 4, .1859, at the age of forty-two and his widow surviving until August 9, 1888. She was born March 31, 1815.. They were members of the Christian. Union Church. Benjamin F. Pontius was reared in Ohio, had a common school education, and in early manhood in 1863 enlisted as a soldier in Company B of the One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Ohio Regiment of Infantry and served until the close of the war, participating principally in construction of bridges, etc. On September 6, 1865, he was married in Seneca County to Miss Elizabeth J. Meyers, who was born in Ohio December 26, 1842. After their marriage he farmed his father's homestead until 1872, and they then moved to Harrison Township in Henry County, where Benjamin Pontius bought eighty acres of heavily timbered land. Thereafter his time and energies were devoted to its improvement and cultivation, and among other improvements he constructed a large and substantial barn. After ten years there he moved to what is now South Napoleon, buying twenty acres of land within the corporation . limits, and on that small place he lived and busied himself with the details of its management until his death on October 26, 1908. His widow survived until January 9, 1913. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he took a very active part in democratic politics, though later he became independent in his political belief. William Hardy Pontius was born in Seneca County March 2, 1866, and .was six years of age when his parents moved to their first farm in Henry County. On that farm he grew to manhood, and laid the foundation for .a useful life. After attending the public schools he was graduated from the business college at Fostoria at the age of twenty-one and spent several years as a teacher. Later he entered the Ohio Northern University at Ada, where he completed the law course in 1897 and was admitted to the bar, but practiced only a short time, when he turned his attention to contracting. He also served as police judge and as justice of the peace. For a number of years Mr. Pontius was in partnership with Thomas B. Riegner in the street paving and sewer contracting business. After they dissolved partnership Mr. Pontius continued sewer contracting and has a complete organization for the successful perform- 896 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO ance of contracts of almost any size and has done much work in the various municipalities of Northwest Ohio. A few years ago he built a fine home at 631 South Perry Street. This is a well built house of pressed brick construction, two stories and basement, on a foundation 30 by 36 feet, and is steam heated and has modern conveniences and comforts throughout. Mr. Pontius was married at Napoleon to Miss Ivy B. Cameron, who was born in Hardin County, Ohio, August 29, 1875, but grew up and received her education in Logan County. Her parents were Spencer and Almira (Packer) Cameron, both of whom were natives of Ohio. Her father now spends most of his time on his ranch in Montana. Mrs. Pontius' mother is an invalid and lives with her daughter Celesta Flay, a teacher in the Napoleon public schools. Mrs. Cameron is a member of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Pontius is also a member of that church, together with her children, and Mr. Pontius attends religious worship there. To their union have been born six Children : Margaret Juanita, born July 5, 1902, and a promising young woman who is now attending high school; Dorothy Angeline, born April 14, 1904, now in the sixth grade ; Franklin Spencer, born June 4, 1905 ; Emily C. Fay,. born October 3, 1907 ; William Perry, born March 16, 1909; and Cameron E., born March 18, 1915. CALVIN CHENEY YOUNG. No name in the beautiful little City of Liberty Center commands a more respectful memory than that of the late Calvin Cheney Young. Mr. Young was the founder of this town, said to be the most attractive residential village between Toledo and St. Louis. The village was laid out on his own land, but he did not stand idly by while others were doing the work of making the town. It was through his influence that the Wabash Railway was constructed through that locality, and to induce them to locate there right of way he built at his own expense the station house which for many years was the depot of the village. He also became the first telegraph operator and station agent, and held those positions for twenty years. He was a man of great enterprise, always successful in handling business transactions, and acquired a large amount of property. He owned two large farms, and he improved two of the best residence streets of Liberty Center. Since his death his widow, Mrs. Young, has to make her home at Liberty Center, and has used her ample means on many worthy causes. Her active interest in foreign missions has caused her to maintain a Woman's Mission and a scholarship at Vicarabad in India, and she also built at a cost of $700 a schoolhouse in Corea, and is now raising a fund of $3,000 for a mission house and institute in that same country. Her charity at home has been not less extensive, though not so well known, and she is constantly devising plans for the benefit of public and .educational institutions. Calvin Cheney Young was born in New York State March 31, 1825. His people had lived in that state for several generations, and his parents grew up there and all their children were born in the state. Calvin C. Young had a 'brother Charles, who spent his life in New York State, and of his children William became an attorney, Charles is a real estate man at Rochester, and Phidelia is unmarried and still lives in New York State. Phidelia, a sister of Calvin C. Young, married Ward Woodard, and they spent their last years in Liberty Center, being survived by five daughters, named Minerva, Mary, Amelia., Helen and Martha. Calvin C. Young grew up in New York State, spent many years there, and married his first two wives in that state. By his first marriage there were two sons: Charles and George, both now deceased. George had married before his death, while Charles died just as he was completing his studies for the medical profession. By the second marriage Mr. Young had four sons and four daughters. Of the daughters, Julia died after her marriage, Adelia lives in Washington Township of Henry County, and Lucy lives in Liberty Center and has one son. Of the sons of the second marriage of Calvin C. Young, Jewett is a widower who lives with his son who is in the insurance business at Toledo, Ohio. Ward W. is a merchant at Liberty Center, and has a son Eldon, an attorney. After coming to Ohio Calvin C. Young married Mrs. Sarah A. (Pinney) Geering. Her first husband, J. W. Geering, whom she married in 1878, died in 1880, at the age of forty-seven, in Washington Township of Henry County. He was a native of New York State, and was married to Miss Pinney in Erie, Pennsylvania, where she had been a popular teacher in the city schools for ten years. and four months. Since her first marriage Mrs. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 897 Young has lived in Henry County, where Mr. Young died on March 1, 1911. She occupies the fine ten-room house on Maple Avenue in Liberty Center, and is one of the most beloved women of that community. Mrs. Young was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, November 7, 1840, and though now seventy-six has all the activity and interests of a woman twenty years younger. She grew up in her native town, was liberally educated, and, as already stated, was a teacher until marriage. She is of Scotch and English ancestry. The Pinneys located in Connecticut in Colonial times. Her grandfather, Elijah, was a native of Connecticut and died near Erie, Pennsylvania. He married Mahala Grant, who survived him and died in Connecticut, but she was interred beside her husband at Erie, Pennsylvania. These worthy people were members of the Presbyterian Church, and Elijah Pinney was a democrat. Elijah Orson Pinney, father of Mrs. Young, was born in Connecticut, and was a young man when his parents removed to Pennsylvania. He was married at Erie in that state to Mary Esther Pendleton, a native of Connecticut and of a prominent family. Her great-grandfather was a native of England, came to the United States and settled in Connecticut, and spent the rest of his years there. Ethan Pendleton, father of Mary Esther Pendleton, was born in Connecticut and married a Miss Hinkley. They died in Connecticut when very old. Miss Hinkley was a sister of State Senator Harry Hinkley. Both the Pendletons and Hinkleys were members of the Methodist Church, and the Hinkleys in particular were identified with early Methodism in old Connecticut. After their marriage Elijah Orson Pendleton and wife started to make a home in the wild woods around Erie, Pennsylvania, and in the early days they employed oxen and other primitive means in developing and cultivating their farm. They were successful, and Mr. Pinney acquired three farms and for a number of years conducted a large dairy business. His death occurred when he was nearly eighty-seven years of age. He was driving a milk wagon when the horse ran away, and the injuries sustained in that accident so weakened his vitality that six months later he died of pneumonia. His widow lived on to be nearly ninety-two years of age. They were active members of the Presbyterian Church, and he was a democrat. Mrs. Young is one of the devoted workers of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Liberty Center. She belongs to the Grant Association and the Eastern Star, and from an early age she has been a woman of many resources and the cultivation of many interests have kept her young in spite of the advancing years. JAMES D. MILLER, a retired farmer living at Liberty Center, has had his home in this part of Henry County for twenty-five years. He is a native of Northwest Ohio, and is a splendid type of the self-made man who goes through the world self dependent, self reliant, puffin̊. more than his own weight, and doing good to others as well as himself. Mr. Miller was born in York Township of Fulton County November 27, 1843. He was one of five sons and one daughter, and he grew up in York Township, where after his education and his early training and experiences he bought eighty acres of comparatively new land in section 3. This land he improved and put to use for many seasons as a crop grower and general farmer, and that was his home until he moved to Liberty Center about twenty-five years ago. His father, John S. Miller, was born in Pennsylvania in 1810, and was a very early settler in Fulton County, Ohio, where he died when nearly eighty-eight years of age. By trade he was a cabinet maker, and he made much of the interior furnishings and other wares for the early settlers, whereas now such articles are machine made Wand obtained from factories. John S. Miller married Rebecca Wright. Her father, John Wright, a native of Pennsylvania, after his marriage also settled in Fulton County, Ohio, in York Township. He was also a cabinetmaker and one of the first to render that class of service to the early settlers of Fulton County. Many families in that community had in their homes chairs and spinning wheels made by this expert mechanic. Mr. Wright died in Fulton. County, when about sixty-eight years of age. His widow survived him a few years and was about his age when she died. They were members of the United Brethren Church. Mrs. Rebecca Miller died December 16, 1904, when about eighty-seven years of age. James D. Miller was first married in his native township to Mary Snyder. She was born and reared in Seneca County, Ohio, and was a most capable wife and mother. She was born February 4, 1850, and died at Liberty Center February 24, 1902. In early life 898 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO she had been a member of the United Brethren Church, but subsequently became a Methodist. To their marriage were born three children. George W., born November 20, 1871, died at the age of three years, eight months. John S., born January 8, 1876, owns one of the fine farms near Liberty Center, and by his marriage to Anna Rogers has four children, William J., Clarence, Rogers and Lawrence. Alvada, who was born October 25, 1882, married. Ray Clifton, and she died March 14, 1908. Mr. Miller's present wife, whom he married in Liberty Township, was Mrs.. Cora B. Kerr. Her maiden name was Edgar, and she was born in Liberty Township of Henry County February 6, 1862, was reared and educated there, and is a daughter of Robert and Jane E. (Black) Edgar. Her father, who was born in County Armagh, Ireland, March 19, 1822, came with some of his brothers to the United States and settled in Lucas County, Ohio. There on January 23, 1855, he married Miss Black, and some years later they moved to Henry County, Ohio, and he cleared up seventy acres in section 33 of Liberty Township. On that farm he lived until his death, on January 15, 1877, at the age of fifty-four. His widow survived him until March 15, 1912, when she was about seventy-eight years old. They were members of the United Brethren Church, and he was a republican.. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Kerr were : William H., George S. John H., Mar- garet S., Dora M. and Mrs. S., Her two sisters are now deceased, and her three brothers are still living. Mrs. Miller was first married in Liberty Township on November 17, 1878, to. Robert Kerr. Born in Ireland about 1855, he came at the age of sixteen with a friend, Archie Carr, to America, and after reaching Henry County found employment on a farm. Later his industry and thrift enabled him to buy some land in Richfield Township, but he finally sold that and became a farmer in Liberty Township, purchasing seventy acres of the old Edgar homestead. There he and his wife spent their married years, and he improved the farm with excellent buildings. Mr. Kerr died February 5, 1902. He was a republican and a member of the United Brethren Church. Mrs. Miller by her first marriage had the following children : Jessie M. who was born June 11, 1880, married Albert M., of Toledo, and she died there April 1, 1916; Lena J., born October 26, 1881, is the wife of Rollin Ellerton, a farmer of Liberty Township, and they have two children, Isabel and M. Bonita; Arthur H., born February 12, 1883, lives on his mother's homestead, and by his marriage to Gertrude Ellerton has a daughter Marian Kerr ; Frank Kerr married Alta Wright and lives in Cleveland but has no children. Mr. and Mrs. Miller attend the Methodist Church, and he is a democrat. CHARLES T. GROLL is a member of the firm of Groll Brothers, hardware merchants at Holgate. He represents one of the very old families of Henry County, spent his early life on a farm, and in his business career has shown exceptional resourcefulness and ability. The hardware business of the Groll Brothers is the oldest establishment of its kind at Holgate. It was founded by the retired merchant N. S. Cole about 1876, shortly after Holgate became a town. Mr. Cole continued in 'business for twenty-seven years, and since his retirement several changes have occurred in the firm. The Groll Brothers have a main store 22. by 60' feet, and also two warehouses, each about as large as the store. They handle practically everything in their line required by the trade in this prosperous rural district. They have shelf and heavy hardware, stoves, tinware, farm tools and implements, wagons, buggies, and they expend a great deal of study and care in making their store a medium of service to fill all the demands placed upon it by their patrons. Charles T. Groll first entered the hardware business at Holgate in 1900, being associated with Charles Meyer. Two and a half years later he became sole proprietor, and at that time moved from ,the Walker building to the old Cole hardware building, where he has since been located. For four years he had as a partner A. J. Konzen. His brother David J. Groll then bought the interest of Mr. Konzen, and the firm of Groll Brothers has since prospered and developed their business until it now covers a territory of four townships around Holgate. Charles T. Groil was born on the old Kalida Pike in Pleasant Township 1 ½ miles southwest of Holgate, May 29, 1871. He grew up on a farm, attended the local schools and the Holgate public schools, and was a farmer until he entered the hardware business in 1900. His parents are Christian and Catherine M. (Knipp) 'Groll. Christian Groll was HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 899 born in Hessen, Germany, October 6, 1842. When he was eight years of age he came to America with his parents, St. Johannes and Magdalena (Eggert) Groll. The family spent eight weeks on the sailing vessel which brought them from Germany to America, and they came on directly to Henry County, Ohio. Here they settled on eighty acres of wild land, bought at a price of $1.25 per acre, but several years later the family purchased eighty acres in section 11 of Pleasant Township. There the grandparents developed a good home, and St. Johannes Groll died there in 1885, at the age of sixty-five. His widow lived to the remarkable age of ninety-seven, and was the oldest woman of Henry County at the time of her death and one of the county's oldest residents. Her death occurred at the home of her son Christian at Holgate on August 23, 1916. Both the older and younger members of the family were confirmed members of the Lutheran Church, and in politics the prevailing allegiance has been with the Democratic party. Christian Groll, father of Charles T., grew up in Marion Township, received his education in the local schools, and was married in Flat Rock Township to Miss Knipp. She was born in Henry County October 5, 1845. After their marriage they started housekeeping in Pleasant Township, and eventually succeeded to the old farm of eighty acres and then added another eighty acres, which they brought under cultivation and made it one of the best improved farms of Henry County. They still own the old homestead. The farm home is a very substantial and homelike building, two stories high, containing eleven rooms, with basement,. and with a slate roof. There is also a large barn and a covered barnyard. Christian Groll also has another adjoining place of forty acres, and is the owner of two good properties in the Village of Holgate. Christian Groll and wife are now retired and enjoying the fruits of their arduous labors in earlier years. Both are active in St. John's Lutheran Church at Holgate, and both were confirmed in that faith in Henry County. He has taken considerable interest in democratic party affairs, and for some years served as township treasurer. Charles T. Groll was the oldest of eight children, one of whom died in infancy. The others are : Elizabeth ; Anna; Mary; David J., who is the other member of the firm of Groll Brothers at Holgate, and is married and has three sons and two daughters; Albert, a farmer on the home place, is married and has four children; Edwin lives in Holgate and has a family of two daughters. Charles T. Groll was married in Flat Rock Township to Miss Louise Meyer. She was born in that township September 3, 1873. Her father was Charles Meyer, who married a Miss Long. Both were born in Germany, but were married in Henry County. Charles Meyer was a blacksmith for many years at Napoleon, and both he and his wife died there when about seventy years of age. They were also Lutherans, and in their family were six sons and three daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Groll have two sons. Urban, born February 13, 1898, graduated from the Holgate High School in 1916 and is now pursuing his higher studies in Defiance College. Alvine, born August 8, 1900, is a member of the Holgate High School class of 1917. The family are all members of St. John's Lutheran Church. Mr. Groll, though he has been an exceedingly busy man, has not neglected his public duties and has served as a councilman at Holgate for two terms and for eight years has served as township treasurer, an office he still holds. He also served on the village school board for several years and during his last term served as president of the board. He is a member of the Hardware Association of Ohio. WILLIAM H. PEPER has made his success in business affairs as a lumberman and lumber merchant, and for the past eleven years has had the principal establishment in that line at Holgate. He has a large lumber yard well stocked with all kinds of building materials and also handles coal, coke, cement, and various mill products for the builders' trades. His establishment is on Lee Avenue, and he has his residence in the same part of the town. Mr. Peper is proprietor of a business which was established at Holgate more than thirty years ago by Mr. Laubenthal who was followed by Mr. Mitchell, and the latter by O. R. Line, who was Mr. Peper's immediate predecessor. Mr. Peper has long experience in the lumber trade, and for nine years prior to his removal to Holgate had a retail lumber yard and saw and planing mill at Hamler in Henry County. At Holgate besides dealing in lumber and builder supplies he also operates a planing mill and has a twenty-five horse power plant for running the machinery. Mr. Peper has been a resident of Henry County since 1883. He was born in the King-