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HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 175 Marys, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, retaining their membership with the Zion church at Spencerville. On December 24, 1917, Dr. George S. Place was united in marriage to Mildred Mack, who also was born in this county, daughter of William and Lydia (Fischer) Mack, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Robert, born on September 6, 1919. Doctor and Mrs. Place have a pleasant home at St. Marys and take an interested part in the general social activities of the community. HARRY SHANNON, head of the Shannon Players, a theatrical company widely known throughout the Middle West, is a New Englander by birth, but an Ohioan by choice, and has been a resident of this county since 1913, in which year he settled down at Wapakoneta, to which place he and his family had become greatly attached by reason of repeated professional appearances there. Mr. Shannon was born at Hampstead, N. H., August 8, 1867, and was reared there, receiving his schooling in the local schools. He early became attracted to the theatrical profession, and when little more than a boy made his first professional appearance with a stock company at Boston, With this company he travelled all over the East, gaining a practical experience that later proved of great value when he decided to put a company of his own "on the road." After some years as an actor with stock companies, Mr. Shannon further enlarged his practical experience by becoming engaged as the advance representative of a theatrical company, and after the organization of his OW 11 company made his headquarters at Luddington, Mich., touring the Scuth during the winters and the states of the Middle West during the summers. There he remained for ten years, at the end of which time, in 1913, he located at Wapakoneta, where he and his family are now very comfortably situated, having a pleasant home along the river bank on West Auglaize street. It was in 1892 that Mr. Shannon started in business for himself, and since then the name of the Shannon Players has become a familiar one throughout a wide territory. Before locating at Luddington, Mr. Shannon confined his engagements principally to the towns of the New England states. At present he is confining his summer engagements to Ohio, making week stands in county seat towns, his repertoire of plays including the popular favorites. Mr. Shannon has a well selected company, the Shannon Players now including a troupe of thirty persons, traveling by auto train, this automotive equipment including seven trucks, six trailers and two touring cars. The tent equipment, stage paraphernalia and wardrobe carried by the company are of the best, and the high character of the performances given is attested by the fact that the Shannon Players always are welcomed back for return engagements wherever they have appeared. Harry Li Shannon was united in marriage to Lorene Stoutenburg, and to this 176 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY union two children have been born, a son, Harry Shannon, Jr., who is the assistant manager of the Shannon Players, and who under the careful direction of his father, has made a name for himself on the stage, and a daughter, Hazel Shannon. Mr. Shannon is a Scottish Rite (32̊) Mason and is a member of the Wapakoneta lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. DR. THEODORE A. CAMPBELL, M. D., a veteran of the World war, a lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the United States army, and a well-known practicing physician of this county, with offices at Wapakoneta, where he has been located for the past twenty. five years, sis a native son of Auglaize county and has resided here all his life. Doctor Campbell was born on a farm in Goshen town. ship on January 2, 1875, and is a son of George and Sarah (Chiles) Campbell, the latter of whom was reared on a farm in that same neighborhood, a member of the pioneer Chiles family of that section of the county. George Campbell was a Virginian by birth and was but three years of age when his parents moved from Virginia to Ohio and settled on a farm in the vicinity of Columbus, in Franklin county. There George Campbell grew to manhood, becoming a practical farmer, and before he had reached his majority came to Auglaize county and began farming in Union township. After his marriage there he established his home on a farm in section 35 of that township, along the line between Union and Clay townships, and in time became the owner of a farm of 240 acres, where he spent his last days, his death occurring on May 4, 1885. To him and his wife were born six children, of whom three are still living, Doctor Campbell having a sister, Zelia, and a brother, Guy Campbell. The deceased children of this family were Viola, Elsie and Tyra. Reared on the home farm in Union township, where his mother continued to make her home after her husband's death, Doctor Campbell attended the schools or that neighborhood for a short time and then entered the Wapakoneta schools, and in due time waS graduated from the high school there. He then entered the medical college of the University of Cincinnati, and in 1897, when twenty-two years of age, was graduated from that institution. Upon receiving his diploma, Doctor Campbell returned home and in that same year opened an office for the practice of his profession at Uniopolis. Five months later he closed that office and moved to Wapakoneta, where he ever since has been engaged in practice. During the time of America's participation in the World war, Doctor Campbell offered his services, and on October 1, 1918, was commissioned first lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the army and was sent to the medical detachment at Camp Greenleaf, Georgia. Ten days later he was assigned to the Greenhut Hospital, at Hoboken, for service in the escort detach. ment of the army, and there served until his honorable discharge on HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 177 July 1, 1919, the war then being over. His particular service while in New York was as an evacuation officer, inspector of soldiers at disembarkation hospitals as to their fitness for travel, and as escort it was his duty to supervise their medical treatment until they had reached inland hospitals. Upon the completion of his military service, Doctor Campbell returned home and resumed his practice at Wapakoneta. The Doctor is a Democrat. He is a member of the local post of the American Legion and is also affiliated with the local organizations of the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen, the Woodmen's Circle and the Modern Brotherhood of America. Doctor Campbell has been thrice married. In August, 1895, he was united in marriage to Virgie Williams, who died in February, 1896, and in October, 1897, he married Blanche Jarman. To this union two children were born, Pera and Zenith, the latter of whom is now attending college at Defiance. Miss Zenith Campbell holds what is said to be an absolutely unprecedented record of school attendance, having never been tardy nor absent or missed a recitation in all her school course. Miss Pera Campbell, now a teacher in the Wapakoneta high school, is a graduate of Defiance College and was president of the senior class during her last year there. Mrs. Blanche Campbell died in 1911, and in 1912 Doctor Campbell married Emma Flory. The Campbells have a pleasant home at Wapakoneta and take an interested part in the city's general social activities. CHARLES J. DICKMAN, well-known grocer at St. Marys and for more than ten years recognized as one of the most energetic and progressive business men of that city, is a native son of Auglaize county, a member of one of the real pioneer families of this county, and has resided here most of his life. Mr. Dickman was born on a farm in St. Marys township on October 4, 1877, and is a son of Fred and Dorothy (Haesieker) Dickman, both of whom also were born and reared in this county, members of old families in the New Bremen neighborhood. The late Fred Dickman, an honored veteran of the Civil war, was reared on a farm and when the Civil war broke out enlisted his services in behalf of the cause of the Union and went to the front as a member of the 36th regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which gallant command he served for three years. He came through the ordeal of battle without injury, but on the way home the train in which he was riding was wrecked and he received an injury to one of his legs which crippled him the remainder of his life. Upon the completion of his military service, Fred Dickman returned to the home farm and received from his father a tract of eighty acres of uncleared land in section 29 of St. Marys township, where he established his home and in due time made a good farm out of the place. And there he spent the remainder of his ilfe, one of the useful and influential citizens of that com- (11) 178 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY munity. To him and his wife were born ten children, all of whom are living save Emil, the others (besides the subject of this sketch) being Emma, Henry, William, Mollie, Herbert, Mary, Minnie and Omer. Reared on the home farm in St. Marys township, Charles J, Dickman received his schooling in the old Graybill school (district No. 8) and remained at home until he was eighteen years of age, when he joined his elder brother, Henry Dickman, who had become engaged in business at Elmwood, Neb., and for fifteen months assisted the latter in his general store there. He then returned to Ohio and for nine months thereafter was engaged in driving a dairy wagon at Van Wert, after which he returned to the home farm and resumed his place on the farm, remaining there until his marriage two years later, when he became employed in the Klanke furniture factory at New Bremen. Eight months later he took employment with the Ohio Oil Company, and for seven years thereafter was engaged in the field operations of this concern in this territory, remaining with the oil "game" until 1911, in which year he bought the grocery store at the corner of Spring and Main streets, at St Marys, where he has since been engaged in business, and in which city he since has made his home, he and his family being very comfortably situated there. Mr. Dickman has a peculiarly advantageous location for a grocery store and during the time he has been proprietor of this place has done much to bring the establishment up to the standards required by the modern trade, so that he has very well equipped and thoroughly stocked store and is doing well in business, carrying on in strictly up-to-date fashion. Mr. Dickman is a Republican, and he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. On Christmas Day, 1901, Charles J. Dickman was united in marriage to Mary Kamman, who was born in the neighboring county of Mercer, daughter of August and Catherine (Timmermeister) Kamman, and who was but six years of age when her parents moved to this county and located at New Bremen, where she was reared and where she received her schooling. Mr. and Mrs. Dickman have one child, a son, Sylvanus Dickman, born at St. Marys on September 6, 1903, who is now a student in the Capital University at Columbus, Ohio. HENRY BROCKMAN, a well-known and substantial landowner and retired farmer of the adjoining county of Mercer, now living at New Bremen, where he has made his home for the past five years and more, sis a native son of Auglaize county, and upon his retire- ment from the active labors of the farm was quite content to return to this county to "settle down." Mr. Brockman was born on a pioneer farm in St. Marys township, this county, March 8, 1856, and is a son of Herman and Mary (Barnbroek) Brockman, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a member of one of the pioneer families HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 179 in German township. Herman Brockman was born in Germany and was but a child when he came to this country with his parents, Henry Brockman and wife, the family proceeding on out into Ohio and .'ing in what later came to be organized as Auglaize county, ig here when work on the canal was begun in the late '30s. When eight years of age, Herman Brockman got a "job" on the canal work, driving a horse to a dump car, and his youth was spent pretty largely working in connection with canal activities, as he grew older becoming employed as a boatman, and he continued thus employed until he had earned a sufficient fund to buy a farm, when he began farming, and was thus engaged the rest of his active life. He bought a farm in the southwest corner of St. Marys township, in section 31, and that was his established home until he retired and moved to town, where his last days were spent. To him and his wife were born eight children, six of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Caroline and Regina, and three brothers, Fred and Ben Brockman. Reared on the home farm in St. vs township, Henry Brockman received his schooling in the hborhood school in the adjacent township of German, and from of his boyhood was a valued aid to his father in the labors eloping the farm. After his marriage, his father aided him in the matter of the purchase of a farm of eighty acres over in Marion township, in the adjacent county of Mercer, and he established his home there. This was a practically unimproved farm, but he finally cleared and drained and got up a good set of farm buildings, as his affairs prospered added an adjoining tract of twenty and thus had a good farm of 100 acres. There he made his home, actively engaged in farming, until 1917, when he retired from the farm and moved to New Bremen, where he built a comfortable home, and where he has since resided after a period of thirty-six years on the farm. Mr. Brockman is a Republican and has for many years taken an interested part in local political affairs. For some time during his residence in Mercer county he served as chairman of the Republican central committee of that township and was long looked upon as one of the leaders of that party in that county. He his wife are members of St. Paul's Lutheran church at New Bremen. Henry Brockman married Louise Bertke, also a member of one of the pioneer families of this county, and to that union two children were born, Ida, who married Emil Vornhold, and Benjamin, who married Evelyn Rump, and has one child, a son, Earl. Mrs. Louise Brockman was born in German township and is a daughter of Rudolph and Caroline (Bockelman) Bertke, both natives of Germany, but who were married in this county. Rudolph Bertke was twenty years of age when he came to this country, landing at Baltimore, He presently located at Richmond, Ind., but not long after- 180 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY ward came over here and settled in German township, this county where after his marriage he established his home, becoming the owner of a farm of ninety-two acres in section 6, where he remained actively engaged in farming until his retirement and removal tc New Bremen, where his last days were spent. Rudolph Bertke was twice married. By his first wife, Engel Jergens, he was the father of three children, of whom but one, Henry Bertke, is now living, By his marriage to Caroline Bockelman he had nine children, five of whom are living, Mrs. Brockman having a sister, Ella, and thres brothers, Fred, Edward and Gustave Bertke. FRED A. DECURTINS, architect at Wapakoneta, was born ft the village of Carthagena, in the neighboring county of Mercer, btr he is a representative in the third generation of the DeCurtins family of architects that has created its impress upon Wapakoneta, His grandfather, Frederick DeCurtins, was the architect who designer the first Catholic church erected in Wapakoneta, St. Joseph's firs: edifice. uncle, Andrew DeCurtins, was the architect who designed tne present handsome St. Joseph's church in that city, and he, in the third generation, in the summer of 1922, was the architect who designed the plans which entered into the extensive remodeling of St. Joseph's parish house, an improvement which has done mud to add to the appearance of the valuable church property there, Ir. DeCurtins has not long been a resident of Wapakoneta, but during the time of this residence he has succeeded in creating his irnpres upon the community, for much building has been going on there o: late and his architectural skill has entered into no small part of this Mr. DeCurtins was born at Carthagena on May 19, 1888, and is the son and only child of John R. and Elizabeth (Mestemaker) DeCur. tins, who later became residents of Celina, where the former me. an untimely end in a railway accident in 1898. The late John H DeCurtins was born at Wapakoneta and was a' son of Frederick A DeCurtins, a Swiss architect, who had located there in pioneer days and whose skill as an architect is reflected in some of the old buildings which have withstood the march of modern progress in that city. This Swiss emigrant, Frederick A. DeCurtins, was well trained ir his art in his native Switzerland, and when nineteen years of age came to this country and was for some time thereafter located a: Cincinnati, where he was engaged as an architect and organ builder. later coming up into this part of the state and for a time making his headquarters at Wapakoneta, but later moved over into the western county, where his last days were spent. His son, John R. DeCurtins was born at Wapakoneta and was but a lad when his parents moved over to Carthagena, where he was reared amid the influences of the great church school there, and where, under the capable preceptor. ship of their father, he and his brother were trained in the art of HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 181 architectural design, later making their offices at Celina. John R. DeCurtins made a specialty of church architecture, and his skill along that line is reflected in the numerous handsome church edifices whose spires rise in the villages and towns of Mercer county. Fred A, DeCurtins was but ten years of age when his father met his untimely death in 1898. Upon completing the course in the local church school at Celina, he entered St. Joseph's College, at Rensselaer, Ind., and after a three years' course of instruction there entered the architectural college of Cornell University, and there two years later was granted his degree. Thus equipped and prepared for the profession to which he had devoted himself, he returned to Ohio and was employed in an architect's office at Dayton until 1920, in which year he moved to Wapakoneta and has since been engaged there as a practical architect. On October 14, 1914, Fred A. DeCurtins was united in marriage to Margaret Will, daughter of John and Helen (Fortman) Will, of Celina, and to this union five children have been born, Albert and Arthur (twins) , Ralph, Frederick and Annabel. Mr, and Mrs. DeCurtins are members of St. Joseph's Catholic church, and Mr. DeCurtins is a member of the local council of the Knights of Columbus at Wapakoneta. Among the recent examples of Mr. DeCurtins' architectural skill may be mentioned the striking Barbara Anne Court apartment house at Lima, which he designed. Some others of the products of his general architectural work include the extensive remodeling of the Fred Burden residence, designs for the Dr. Edgar Martin residence, and the residence of R. W. Kuhlman, at New Knoxville, and others of local note. HERBERT C. QUELLHORST, a well-known young business man of St. Marys, proprietor of a well-established confectionery on Spring street, in that city, is a native son of Auglaize county and has lived here all his life. Mr. Quellhorst was born on a farm in St. Marys township on Christmas Day, 1893, and is a son of Florence and Caroline (Finke) Quellhorst, both of whom were born in that same township, members of pioneer families there. Florence Quellhorst, a substantial landowner of St. Marys township, has followed fanning all his life and is the proprietor of an excellent farm of 180 acres. To him and his wife two sons were born, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Elvin Quellhorst. Reared on the home farm in St. Marys township, Herbert C. Quellhorst received his Schooling in the district schooling in that neighborhood, the Huenke school, and remained on the farm with his father until 1915, when he became employed in the power plant of the Western Ohio Electric raiway at St. Marys, where he remained about twenty-two months, at the end of which time he took employment as a motorman on that road, and in this capacity worked for six months. He then became employed in the plant of the Quick Work Company at St. 182 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY Marys and continued thus engaged until in December, 1921, when he bought the confectionery at 216 West Spring street, in that city, and has since been engaged in business there. In addition to a general line of confections, Mr. Quellhorst also has a cigar stand in his place and the establishment is operated along strictly up-to-date lines. Mr. Quellhorst is a member of the local Chamber of Commerce and takes an active and interested part in the deliberations of that influential body. In his political views he is a Democrat, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. On January 6, 1915, Herbert C. Quellhorst was united in marriage to Leah Koebel, who also was born in St. Marys township, daughter of William and Mary (Henning) Koebel, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Dorothy E., born on September 23, 1918, CHARLES W. KOCH, formerly and for years engaged in the saloon business at St. Marys, and now proprietor of a soft drink establishment and delicatessen there, one of the best known men in that city, is a native Buckeye and has been a resident of this state all his life, a resident of Auglaize county most of the time since the days of his boyhood, and of St. Marys for many years. Mr, Koch was born in the village of Bettsville, in Seneca county, January 29, 1873, and is a son of John M. and Mary (Miller) Koch, both of whom were of European birth, the former born in Limbach, Prussia, and the latter in Aunsbach, Bavaria. She was but four years of age when she came to this country with her parents, her family settling in the Fremont neighborhood in this state. The late John M. Koch, a veteran of the Civil war, whose last days were spent at St. Marys, grew to manhood in his native Prussia, learning there the shoemaker's trade, and was twenty-four years of age when he came to this country. He proceeded on out into Ohio and located in the neighborhood of Fremont, where he opened a shoe shop. About a year later the Civil war broke out and he lost little time in enlisting his services in behalf of the cause of the Union, entering the service on June 8, 1861, and going to the front with the 8th regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which gallant command he served until he received his honorable discharge. Though this regiment is said to have suffered more losses than any other Ohio regiment and was in many a hard-fought battle, the fortunes of war favored Mr Koch and he came through without injury. Upon the completion of his military service, Mr. Koch returned to Fremont and not long afterward was married there. He continued to make his home at that place until about 1870, when he moved to Bettsville, where he remained until 1881, when he came with his family to this county and located at Wapakoneta. His wife died there on January 8, 1889, and he continued to make his home there until in 1902, when he moved to St. Marys, and in the home of his son, Charles, spent HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 183 remainder of his life, his death occurring there on June 19, 1910. His body was taken to Wapakoneta for interment. To John M. Koch and wife were born nine children, four of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having three brothers, Albert M., Louis H. and Frank J. Koch. Charles W. Koch was about eight years of age when his parents moved to Wapakoneta, and he completed his schooling in the schools of that city. When little more than a boy he went to Sidney and found employment there, shining shoes and doing such work as a boy of.that age could do, and after awhile became assistant to the bartender in a saloon in that city, thus learning a trade in which he afterward became very proficient. After spending three years at Sidney, he went to Cincinnati, and was there engaged as a bartender for five years, at the end of which time he returned to Auglaize county and located at St. Marys, where he ever since has made his home. For something more than three years after locating at St, Marys, Mr. Koch was employed there as a bartender, and then he formed a partnership with George Collins and for nearly fourteen years was engaged with the latter in the saloon business. This partnership was dissolved in 1913, and Mr. Koch then became engaged in business on his own account, opening a saloon in the room he still occupies in the Diehl block, on West Spring street. When the liquor business was put out of commission following the promulgation of the Eighteenth amendment to the Federal constitution in 1920, Mr. Koch converted his place into a soft drink establishment and delicatessen, and has since continued in business, doing well in his new line. Mr. Koch is a Democrat, and he and his family are members of Holy Rosary Catholic church at St. Marys. He is a member of the local council of the Knights of Columbus, is a charter member of Auglaize Aerie No. 767 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles of that city, and is also affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta. On September 13, 1899, Charles W. Koch was united in marriage to Susie Kinstle, who was born in Clay township, this county, a daughter of Sylvester and Anna (Krabach) Kinstle, and to this union six children have been born, Charles F., Edith E., Louise A., John F., George and James, the two latter of whom are attending the Catholic parochial school, Louise A. and John F. Koch are attending high school, the former a member of the class of 1923, and the latter of the class of 1925. Edith E. Koch was graduated from the St. Marys high school in 1920, and supplemented this by a business course in the Littleford Commercial College at Cincinnati. Following his graduation from the parochial school at St. Marys, Charles F. Koch entered St. Joseph's College at Rensselaer, Ind., and after a four years' course there was graduated. Meantime he had been giving attention to his art studies, and upon leaving St. Joseph's College entered Eden Park 184 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY Art Institute at Cincinnati. After a year there, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts at Chicago, at the same time entering for a night course in the Art Institute, and in 1922 was graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts. He is employed in art work at Chicago and is still pursuing his studies in the Art Institute in that city. GEORGE WASHINGTON MILLER, an honored veteran of the Civil war and a well-known retired farmer of this county, now living at Wapakoneta, where he has resided for the past twenty years, is a native "Buckeye" and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Auglaize county for nearly fifty years. Mr. Miller was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Franklin, in Warren county, this state, in 1844, and is the son and only child of Wesley and Mary (Creager) Miller, members of old families in that neighborhood, Wesley Miller was born in Warren county and was reared to farming, For some time after his marriage he continued to make his home in the Franklin neighborhood, and then bought and moved onto a farm of seventy-five acres in the vicinity of Bellefontaine, in Logan county, Mr. Miller's mother's last days were spent in California, where she died in 1900. Her husband died in 1901. George W. Miller early began "looking out for himself," at the age of ten years beginning to work for neighboring farmers in Warren county, making his home with a contractor, for whom he also worked, and was thus employed when the Civil war broke out. At the age of eighteen he enlisted his services in behalf of the cause of the Union and went to the front as a member of Company A of the 79th regiment, Ohio Volunteer In. fantry, and served with this gallant command until honorably dis- charged at Washington, D. C., in May, 1865, the war then being over, During this period of service he participated in many of the notable engagements of the war, including the battles of Nashville, Stone River, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Resaca and Savannah, and was twice wounded, once in the temple at the battle of Resaca. Upon the completion of his military service, Mr. Miller returned to Warren county and began working as a teamster on public works. He married in the following year and for two years thereafter continued working on public works and then began farming in Warren county, Seven years later he came to Auglaize county with his family and established his home on the old VanHorn farm, south of Wapakoneta, where he remained for twenty-five years, or until 1902, when he and his wife moved to town and have since resided at Wapakoneta, now having a pleasant home at 110 East Pearl street. Mr. Miller is a Republican and for some time during his residence on the farm served as a member of the Duchouquet township school board. He is a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist church. Mrs. Miller also is affiliated with the Woman's Relief Corps and with the Ladies HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 185 of the Maccabees and the Pythian Sisters. It was in 1866, the year following his return from the army, that George W. Miller was united in marriage to Amanda A. Catterlin, daughter of Strawder and Mary (Cruzen) Catterlin, the latter of whom was born in Greene county, this state, daughter of Cornelius and Hannah (Sheeley) Cruzen. There were nine children in the Catterlin family, five sons and four daughters, and of these but two now survive, Mrs. Miller and her brother, John Strawder Catterlin, of St. Marys. The mother of these children died in 1885, and the father in 1905. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller eight children have been born, namely : Anna, wife of William P, Wellington, of Wapakoneta ; Ora, deceased ; Clayton, deceased; Minnie, deceased ; Charles, who is now living in Detroit,Mich.; Barton, who lives on a farm east of Wapakoneta ; Harry, who employed with the Western Ohio Electric Railway Company, and 11ernard, deceased. CHRIST GIESEKE, a well-known and substantial retired farmer landowner, now living at New Bremen, where he has made his for some years past, is a native son of Auglaize county who the most of the active period of his life over in the neighboring of Mercer, but who was quite content to return to this county he found himself in a position to consider his work days over, it very pleasant to settle down here in the "evening time" of his life. Mr. Gieseke was born in German township, this county, January 22, 1858, and is a son of William and Margaret (SchereGieseke, the latter of whom also was born in this state, daughter one of the early settlers over in Mercer county. William ,e was born in Germany and was but a lad of ten or twelve of age when he came to this country with his parents, the coming on out into Ohio and settling in the New Bremen lent, and he grew up in that neighborhood, working as a driver on the canal. After his marriage he cont to make his home in this county until about 1864, when he bought a farm of eighty acres in Mercer county and there established his home. He proved to be a good farmer, and as he improved the place he also gradually added to his holdings until he became the owner of a fine farm of 240 acres and was accounted one of the substantial men of his community. On that farm he made his home until his retirement from active labors, when he returned to New Bremen and there spent the remainder of his life. To him and his wife were born five children, three of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Emma, and a brother, John Gieseke, Christ Gieseke was about six years of age when his parents moved from New Bremen to Mercer county, and he was reared on rm in that county, receiving his schooling in the schools of the neighborhood in which his parents had settled. He remained at 186 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY home until after his marriage, when he established his home on an unimproved tract of eighty acres north of Celina which his father had given him. This was a timber tract, uncleared and undrained, and Mr. Gieseke had his work cut out for him in bringing the place under cultivation, but he got it done in good time, erected a substantial set of farm buildings, and was for years there engaged in farming, making that place his home until his retirement from the farm in 1909 and removal to New Bremen, where he since has resided, Mr. Gieseke sold his farm upon moving to town, but has since then bought another eighty on the county line, a very good place. During the time of his residence in Mercer county, Mr. Gieseke gave proper attention to civic affairs, and for some time served as superintendent of highways in his home township. In his political views he reserves the right to "independence." He and his wife are members of St, Paul's Lutheran church and he is the present president of the church board. Christ Gieseke married Amelia Backhaus, daughter of Fred Backhaus, and to this union eight children have been born, seven of whom are living, Ida, Carl, Edward, Rosa, Theo, Lydia and Emma, all of whom are married save Ida and Emma. Carl Gieseke married Clara Nieter. Edward Gieseke married Emma Clark, and has three children, Edward, Emma and Robert. Rosa Gieseke married John Downey, and has three children, William, Emma and Edward. Theo Gieseke married Lena Brockman, and has one child, Blanche, and Lydia Gieseke married Howard Copp, and has one child, Margaret JOHN LINTZ, an honored veteran of the Civil war and a retired brick mason living at St. Marys, where he has made his home since the days of his boyhood, living in the house his father built there in 1844, has witnessed the growth of that town and the development of this county since pioneer days ; indeed, since the days before Auglaize county was erected, and has many interesting stories to tell of the days that long have gone. He came here about the time of the opening of the canal and took a part in the enthusiastic ceremonies which attended the arrival of the first boat at St. Mary& He did his part as a builder in the days of the "boom" which followed the coming of the canal and in another generation did also his part in the building program which followed the rebuilding of the town following the oil boom in the late '80s and during the '90s. For more than three years he gave his services to his country as a soldier of the Union, during the days of the Civil war. His brother, Adam Lintz, also a soldier of the Union, was taken prisoner by the enemy and by them starved to death in the unspeakable Libby prison, Mr. Lintz at the age of ninety years can look back over this long period of development and tell how much of it was accomplished, He has seen this work done and in the calm retrospect of the present days of his quiet retirement takes satisfaction in the thought that it was Kell done. John Lintz was born in the city of Baltimore, Md., No- until the canal project over in this part of the state gave promise of Springfield did not seem quite so promising to him as they were at hi the days of their youth. Adam Lintz grew up in his native land Dayton, so he presently moved to the latter city and there remained there he and his wife made their home until after two children had horse and wagon started on the long trip to Ohio, locating at Spring- km here. Not long after coming here he married in Baltimore and been born to them. They then decided to come West and with a vember 28, 1832, and is a son of Adam and Dorothy (Beam) Lintz, much building in and about St. Marys and while that work was under way moved with his family to St. Marys and there in 1844 field. Adam Lintz was a plasterer and conditions just then at and then came to America to join an elder brother who had preceded both of whom were born in Germany but had come to this country HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 187 well done. John Lintz was born in the city of Baltimore, Mr., November 28, 1932, and is a son of Adam and Dorothy (Beam) Lintz, both of whom were born in Germany but had come to this country in the days of their youth. Adam Lintz grew up in his native land and then came to America to join an elder brother who had preceded him here. Not long after coming here he married in Baltimore and there he and his wife made their home until after two children had been born to them. They then decided to come West, and with a horse and wagon started on the long trip to Ohio, locating at Springfield. Adam Lintz was a plasterer and conditions just then at Springfield did not seem quite so promising to him as they were at Dayton, so he presently moved to the latter city and there remained until the canal project over in this part of the state gave promise of much building in and about St. Marys and while that work was under way moved with his family to St. Marys and there in 1844 put up a house-the house in which his son John is now living, though the latter long ago had it remodeled along modern lines, making a very comfortable place of it. In that home Adam Lintz and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, useful citizens of the community which they helped to build up. They were the parents of five children, of whom the subject of this sketch alone now survives. John Lintz was but a lad when his parents moved from Dayton to St. Marys and in the little old subscription school which stood along the river bank in the latter town he completed what schooling he got. His father early taught him his branch of the building trades and as a youth and young man he worked alongside his father as a plasterer and was thus engaged at St. Marys when the Civil war broke out. He at once enlisted his services in behalf of the cause of the Union and went out with the company that Capt. Samuel Mott organized at St. Marys—Company C of the 31st Ohio Volunteer Infantry —and with that gallant command served for three years and sixteen days or until his honorable discharge at Atlanta, Ga., in 1864. With this command he participated in several of the important engagements of the war and at the battle of Chickamauga received a severe bullet wound in the leg. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Lintz returned home and resumed his work in association with his father and so continued until his marriage at the age of thirty-eight, when he started out as a contractor in the brickmason line on his own account, a vocation he followed for several years, and then went into the Gordon mill and became a flour miller. He worked fifteen years for Robert Gordon and continued on at the mill for a year after Gordon sold to Gibson, after which he resumed his calling as a brick mason and was so occupied until his retirement when the encroachment of years warned him that he had been working long enough. It was in 1906 that Mr. Lintz retired and since 188 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY then he has been "taking things easy." On May 29, 1869, John Lintz was united in marriage to Dorothy Kappel, who was born on a farm about two miles east of New Bremen in this county, daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Keller) Kappel, and to this union ten children were born, all of whom are living save one, a son, George, who died when a child, the others being Katherine, Elizabeth, Dora, Edith, John, Minnie, Lafayette, Laura and Charles, the last named of whom married Jessie Bates and is now living at Sidney, where he is employed as a machinist. Laura Lintz is employed at the Armstrong dry goods store at St. Marys, Elizabeth Lintz remains at home, the housekeeper ; Edith Lintz is the cashier in the Argonne hotel at Lima, Minnie Lintz is teaching psychology in the Northern Arizona Normal School at Flagstaff, Ariz., and John Lintz is employed in the Limbacher bakery at St. Marys. Katherine, widow of Frank Kennedy, has one child, a daughter, Fay, who married George Ivey, of Tombstone, Ariz., and has two children, Harold and Charles. Dora Lintz married J. E. Limbacher, a baker at St. Marys, and has two children, Fritz and Emil. Lafayette Lintz married Elizabeth Fischer and is now employed as foreman in the shop of the Sidney Tool Company at Sidney. Mr. Lintz and his wife are members of St. Paul's Reformed church at St. Marys and their children have been reared in that faith. AUGUST SCHNELLE, a well-known and substantial farmer and landowner, now living retired at New Bremen, is a "Buckeye" by birth and has been a resident of this state all his life. Mr, Schnelle was born on a farm in VanBuren township, in the neighboring county of Shelby, October 18, 1873, and is a son of Christo- pher and Elizabeth (Ruese) Schnelle, the latter of whom also was born in that county, a member of one of the pioneer families there. The late Christopher Schnelle was a native of Germany and was about seven years of age when he came to this country with his parents, the family proceeding on out into Ohio and settling in Shelby county, where his father entered from the Government a tract of forty acres of land in VanBuren township and there established his home, the Schnelles thus becoming pioneers of that county. It thus was on that pioneer farm in VanBuren township that Christopher Schnelle grew to manhood. After his marriage he established his home on the same place, the holding of which meanwhile had been extended until it included 145 acres, and there continued farming the remainder of his life, one of the useful and influential members of that community. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, three of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Minnie, and a brother, Louis Schnelle. Reared on the old home farm in VanBuren township, in the neighboring county of Shelby, August Schnelle received his schooling in the schools of HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 189 that neighborhood and as a lad was a helpful factor in the labors of improving and developing the farm. He remained on the farm, and after his father's death took over from the other heirs their respective interests in the estate and became owner of the farm of 145 acres, which he continued actively to operate until his retirement in March, 1920, and removal to New Bremen, where he and his wife are now living, very comfortably situated. Though no longer living on the farm, Mr. Schnelle continues to give pretty close supervisory attention to the operation of the same, and still regards himself as an active farmer. He has long given considerable attention to the raising of live stock, with particular attention to the breeding of purebred Belgian horses, purebred (Big Type) Poland-China hogs and is a good grade of Shorthorn cattle, and has done well in his operations along this line. He is a member of the local grange of the Patrons of Husbandry at New Bremen and has served as master of that grange and also as treasurer of the same. In their political views, he and his wife are Democrats, Mr. Schnelle married Rose Brandt, daughter of William and Fredericka (Becker) Brandt, also members of old families in VanBuren township, Shelby county, and he and his wife have a very pleasant home at New Bremen. They are members of St. Paul's Lutheran church at New Bremen and take a proper interest in the affairs of that parish. WILLIAM B. JACK, of Wapakoneta, one of the best known oil producers in this section of Ohio and owner at the present time of no fewer than forty producing wells in Auglaize county, is a native “Buckeye" and has been a resident of this state nearly all his life, a resident of Auglaize county for nearly thirty-five years, he having came here from Pennsylvania about the time of the opening of the oil field hereabout. Mr. Jack was born in Morgan county, Ohio, April 3, 1865, and is a son of John and Levina (Himmel) Jack, both of whom were born in the vicinity of Greensburg, Pa. John Jack became identified with the oil industry not long after the great fields in Pennsylvania had begun to attain their wonderful development and presently began to make a specialty of the "shooting" of oil and gas wells, manufacturing special explosives for that purpose, and continued thus engaged for years, his operations being carried on in the Pennsylvania and eaStern Ohio fields. He and his wife were the parents of thirteen children, of whom eight still are living, the subject of this sketch having six sisters, Mary E., Lola M., Katie B., Edna, Hattie and Daisy, and one brother, Walter F. Jack. When he was but a child, William B. Jack moved from Ohio to Pennsylvania with his parents and his common schooling was completed in the schools of the latter state. He supplemented this with a course in the Chamberlain Institute, Randolph, N. Y., and then became engaged with his father in the oil field, shooting oil wells, and was thus en- 190 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY gaged for about eight years, or until about 1888, after the opening of the oil field in this part of Ohio, when he came here and for a year was engaged in shooting wells in this section of the state. About year later he began drilling on leases secured on his own account, his first well having been a producer in the Hume neighborhood, in the northern part of this county, and he ever since has been engaged as producer here, making his home and headquarters at Wapakoneta. During the years that Mr. Jack has been engaged in this business he has explored practically every "pool" in this section and in that time has brought in some very productive wells. Though it now seems to be recognized that the day of big oil has passed in this field, Mr. Jack finds it profitable to carry on his operations, and now has forty producing wells in the county, pumping his product into the lines of the Buckeye Pipe Line Company, and doing well at it. On July 3, 1884, William B. Jack was united in marriage to Anna J. Wolf daughter of Henry and Catherine Wolf, and to that union four children have been born, Ezra B., Hazel M., Blanche E. and Clementine, all of whom are married save the latter. Ezra B. Jack married Susan Landis and is now engaged in the oil business in Texas. Hazel M. Jack married Ira B. Bair, a farmer of Auglaize county, and has two children, Norman D. and Virginia E., and Blanche E. Jack married S. S. Swink, who is now operating a garage at Spencerville, and has two children, Ruth Anna and Gordon J. Mr. Jack is a Democrat, and his wife and daughters are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. HOWARD W. GIBBS, a veteran of the World war and principal of the Second Ward school at Wapakoneta, one of the best known young educators in this part of the state, was born in Wapakoneta and has lived there all his life. Mr. Gibbs was born on November 23, 1890, and is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Sibert) Gibbs, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a member of one of the real pioneer families here. Thomas Gibbs was born in the vicinity of Mansfield, in Richland county, this state, and was early trained to the carpenter trade. When twenty years of age he came to Auglaize county with his brother and here became engaged as a carpelter. After his marriage he established his home at Wapakoneta and became a building contractor, a vocation he followed successfully the remainder of his life. To him and his wife were born four children, three of whom are living, the subject of this sketch having-sister, Mrs.. Henrietta Hoffman, of Wapakoneta, and a brother, Gaylord Gibbs, also of Wapakoneta. The deceased member of this family was Mrs. Cora Fenton. Reared at Wapakoneta, Howard W. Gibbs received his early schooling there and was graduated from the high school in 1911. He then turned his attention to teaching, his first school being the Otterbein school, and for five years thereafter at.  HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 191 cupied his summers) by attending the summer course at Defiance College, Ile continued as a teacher in the district schools until 1914 hen he was made teacher of the sixth grade in the Williamson school at Wapakoneta. For three years Mr. Gibbs occupied this position and was thus engaged when this country took a hand in the World war, In the spring of the following year, May 27, 1918, Mr. Gibbs entered the service and was assigned to Camp Taylor (Kentucky), where he underwent preliminary training and then was assigned to the medical department of the army and sent to Ft. Oglethorpe for additional training along that line. From this latter point he was sent to Camp Mills preparatory to foreign service and on August 27, 1918, sailed for France, going on detached service, the contingent with which he sailed entering the field of activities in France by way of England. In France Mr. Gibbs was assigned to the medical corps of the 53d Heavy Field Artillery and with this command he served until February 24, 1919, when he sailed for America, arriving on home shores on March 11. He was then ordered to report to Camp Sherman (Chillicothe, Ohio), where on April 4 following he received his honorable discharge and straightway returned to Wapakoneta. During his service in France Mr. Gibbs participated in some pretty strenuous action, having been in the Meuse-Argonne campaign from September 26 to October 4 (1918), and in the Verdun sector from October 25 to November 8. Upon his return to Wapakoneta Mr. Gibbs found promotion awaiting him and in the fall of 1919 he entered upon his new duties as principal of the Second Ward school (East. Side) and he since has been serving as principal of that school, meanwhile pursuing a further course of study at Ohio State University in preparation for advancement in high school work. Mr. Gibbs has eight teachers under his charge at the Second Ward school and nearly three hundred pupils. He is a member of the Ohio State Teachers' Association and has long taken an earnest interest in the deliberations of that body. Mr. Gibbs is a Democrat. He is a Freemason and both he and his wife are members of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. Mrs. Gibbs is a member of the First English Lutheran church and Mr. Gibbs is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1917 Howard W. Gibbs was united in marriage to Ada Schwark who was born in St. Marys township, this county, daughter of Frederick and Margaret (Rohrbacher) Schwark, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a member of one of the old families here. Frederick Schwark was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, but years ago became engaged in farming in St. Marys township, this county. To him and his wife were born five children, those besides Mrs. Gibbs being Raymond, Agnes, Erie and Ethel (deceased) . Mrs. Gibbs was graduated from the St. Marys high school and for eight years thereafter was engaged in 192 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY teaching school, meanwhile completing her own schooling at summer school at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs have a pleasant home at 502 West Benton street and take an active and helpful part in the general social and cultural activities of the community. SIMEON J. HOWELL, a former well-known and substantial farmer and landowner of Auglaize county, who died at his home in Pusheta township nearly a quarter of a century ago, but whose family is still prominently represented here, was a member of one of the real pioneer families of this county and at his passing lefts good memory. Mr. Howell was born on a pioneer farm in the upper part of Pusheta township in 1838 and was a son of the Rev. Jefferson and Martha (Barker) Howell, the latter of whom was a native of the Old Dominion and had come to Ohio with her parents from Virginia in pioneer days. The Rev. Jefferson Howell, who formerly was widely known hereabout as a pioneer minister of the United Brethren church, was of the Samuel Howell family, which had settled on land entered from the Government in section 3 of Pusheta township in 1833, the year following the exodus of the Indians from their former reservation here, and the Howell home was established on lands which long had been held by the clan of old Chief Pusheta. The Rev, Jefferson Howell was a practical farmer, as well as a minister of the gospel, and his son, Simeon, was reared on the farm and trained in the ways of farming. Simeon J. Howell remained with his father on the farm until after his marriage, at the age of nineteen, when he began farming on his own account in that same township, having become the owner of a farm there, in section 7. About four years later, in 1861, he met with an accident while assisting in the opera. tion of a threshing machine, and by this accident suffered the loss of one of his legs. This proved so serious a handicap in his farming operations that he presently left the farm and moved to Wapakoneta, where he became engaged in the farm produce line, with especial attention to butter, eggs and poultry, and was thus engaged for several years, at the end of which time he returned to the farm and supervised operations there until in 1868, when he returned to Wapa• koneta. In 1873 he returned to the farm, where he remained until 1878, when he moved back to Wapakoneta. The lure of the fun proved too strong, however, and a year later he moved back to his place in Pusheta township and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1898. He was a good citizen in all that much abused term implies and had from time to time rendered important public service in his home township. He and his wife were members of the United Brethren church and were for years among the firm supporters of that communion in that neighborhood. It was in the early spring of 1857 that Simeon J. Howell was united in marriage to Mary Renshaw, a member of one of the prominent families of HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 193 Darke county, and she survived him for about seventeen years, her death occurring in 1915. She was born in Ohio and her parents David and Rachel (McDonald) Renshaw, came from Pennsylvania. To Simeon J. and Mary (Renshaw) Howell were born twelve children, of whom all are living save three, and of whom Miss Sarah Howell, for years a well-known teacher in the Wapakoneta city schools, was the first born. Miss Howell was born in December, 1857, and has been a resident of this county all her life, for many years a most valued factor in the development of the county school system, her work in the Wapakoneta schools having endeared her to hundreds of youngsters who have benefited by the influence of her gent1e tutelage. She began teaching at the age of fourteen, her first work along this line having been the direction of a spring and summer school in a rural district down in Shelby county, and she continued to carry on summer school work while taking the course in the then new high school organization at Wapakoneta. She was graduated from the Wapakoneta high school in 1874, when sixteen years of age, and her school work has been continued without interruption ever since. It may be interesting historically to recall that this class of '74 was the fourth class graduated from the Wapakoneta high school, and that there were but four members of the class, Miss Howell’s classmates having been Joseph T. Dickman, now a major general of the United States army (retired), who led the Army of Occupation into Germany following the close of the World war in the fall of 1918; Fannie Fink, who became the wife of Doctor Weir, and Andrew Meyer, who is now living at Sandusky, Ohio. Following her graduation, Miss Howell became a licensed teacher and for three years thereafter taught in the rural schools of the county, or until 1877, when she was assigned to teach the fifth grade in the old Third Ward (Williamson) school at Wapakoneta. Three years later she returned to rural school work and thus continued until 1887, when she was returned to the Wapakoneta schools, her work there presently becoming devoted to the eighth grade. In 1890 she was assigned to high school work and has ever since been thus engaged, the oldest continuing force in the cause of education in this county, and is honored and respected accordingly. Miss Howell is an active member of the Auglaize County Teachers' Association, the Northwestern Ohio Teachers' Association and the Ohio State Teachers' Association, and has for years taken an earnest interest in the liberations of these valuable education bodies. She has been a sincere member of the Methodist Episcopal church since she was sixteen years of age. She resides at 505 West Benton street, in Wapakoneta and is very pleasantly situated, her friends and her books and her school work, together with such church and club work as she is called upon to do, giving her every possible zest in life. (12) 194 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY JOHN CHIESA, leader of the famous Elks band at Wapakoneta, and formerly and for years engaged in the plant of the Wapakoneta Machine Company, now with the Diesel-Weimmer Company, an artist and musician of more than local reputation and a former merchant of Wapakoneta, is of European birth, but an American by choice and inclination, has been a resident of this country since he was nineteen years of age, and of Wapakoneta for more than thirty years. Mr. Chiesa was born in Italy on April 1, 1855, and in that country received his schooling, giving particular attention to the cultivation of his instinctive taste for music and sculptural art, He became a member of the famous Liberati band, and when nineteen years of age came with that musical organization to the United States. During the three years' tour of America undertaken by the band, Mr. Chiesa became so well pleased with the country that he decided to make it his home land, and upon his return to Italy marrried the girl to whom he had plighted his troth, and with his bride returned to the United States. In the meantime his father had been induced to move to this country and had settled with his family Milwaukee, and when Mr. Chiesa returned to American shores he also located in Milwaukee, where he became engaged in the manufacture of art statuettes, for which in those days there was a wide demand in this country. There he remained until his father's death after which he went to Detroit, having been drawn to that city by an attractive offer to play in what then was a widely known band. He remained there two years and then was persuaded by a cousin to take charge of a fruit store which the latter had established at Muncie, Ind. For a year he remained at Muncie, and while thus engaged at that place decided to enter the retail fruit business on his own account. In casting about for a location he was fortunate in turning his attention to Wapakoneta, where he opened a fruit store and for ten years thereafter was engaged in the fruit business in that city. With the gradual but inevitable changes in methods of distribution and sale, this business finally became less profitable than at first, and about twenty years ago Mr. Chiesa disposed of his store and became employed in the extensive machine shop of the Wapakoneta Machine Company, where he long was employed, become one of the veterans of that considerable organization. He never has abated in his love for music and for years has been one of the real leaders in local musical circles, being at present the director of the band of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta, a musical organization of more than forty members which has earned a fine reputation throughout this part of the state. Mr. Chiesa is a member of the Elks lodge and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, retaining his membership in the lodge of that order with which he became affili- HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 195 ated during the time of his residence in Detroit many years ago. He and his family are members of St. Joseph's Catholic church at Wapakoneta and take an interested and helpful part in local parish affairs. Mr. Chiesa has four children, Jennie, Theresa, Nellie and Donata A. all of whom are married and all living at Wapakoneta save Nellie, who married Carl Kohler, proprietor of a cigar and confectionary store at Columbus, Ohio, and is now living in that city. She has one child, a son, Carl Jr. Jennie Chiesa married Herman Brown, now deceased, and has two children, Dorothy and Robert. Theresa Chiesa married Milo Bitler, of the Hauss & Bitler grain elevator organization, and has three children, Elizabeth, John and Frances. Donato A. Chiesa, a veteran of the World war, married Doll Smallwood and is now employed as a clerk in the Piel clothing and dry goods store, on East Auglaize street. H. A. SCHRAGE, formerly and for years a teacher in the schools of this county, one of the best known educators hereabout, and now engaged as a bookkeeper in the office of the Gast Implement Company at New Bremen, as well as serving as clerk of the board of public affairs of that town, is a European by birth, but has been a resident of this country and of New Bremen since the days of his and boyhood. Mr. Schrage was born in the kingdom of Hanover on January 25, 1868, and was but sixteen years of age when he came to this country with his parents, Ferdinand and Mina Schrage, and with them proceeded on out into Ohio and located at New Bremen. Upon his arrival here Mr. Schrage at once entered the New Bremen school with a view to completing his schooling under American conditions and he made an apt student, for the groundwork of his education had been carefully laid before he came here. That was in 1884, just about the time that the late Prof. C. W. Williamson had entered upon his duties as superintendent of the New Bremen schools, and it was under this able preceptorship that Mr. Schrage completed his work there and was graduated from the high school. During the progress of his studies he had been giving thought to the ambition that rose within him to become a teacher in the public schools and upon receiving his diploma he straightway entered the ranks of Auglaize county's excellent teaching staff and for thirty years thereafter was engaged in teaching in the schools of this county, the greater part of this time being connected with the schools of New Bremen, During the years 1912-13 Mr. Schrage served as district superintendent of schools for the townships of Washington and Pusheta, In October, 1917, he entered upon his present service as bookkeeper in the office of the Gast Implement Company at New Bremen, a position which he since has occupied. For years Mr. Schrage has given his thoughtful attention to local civic affairs and is now serving as clerk of the board of public affairs for the town 196 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY of New Bremen. He also served two terms as town clerk and in other ways has rendered service in the public behalf. He is a pad noble grand of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fe• lows at New Bremen and he and his wife are members of St. Paul's Lutheran church. Mr. Schrage is a member of the present board of trustees of the congregation of St. Paul's and has for years give: his earnest attention to the affairs of the church. It was he leite organized the strong Bible class in the Sunday school of this chart and for fourteen years he remained teacher of the same, hundred: during this time receiving the benefit of his thoughtful interpretation and elucidation of the Scriptures. Mr. Schrage married Anne Tellman and has two children, Carl and Marie. The Schrages haves pleasant home at New Bremen and have ever taken an interested and helpful part in the general social activities of the community, JOHN McAVOY, formerly and for years a merchant of St Marys, and who had rendered public service in various official capacities, including service as a member of the city council and a: a justice of the peace, was past eighty years of age at the time of his death in 1916, and it is likely that he had as wide an acquaintance in and about there as any man in the city, for he had made his home there for more than sixty years, and thus had witnessed the growth and development of the town from pioneer days. Mr. McAvoy born in New Jersey in 1832 and was a son of Peter McAvoy and wife, who came to Ohio with their family in the early '50s and settled on a farm on the McKinley road out of St. Marys. Peter k. Avoy was a native of Ireland, born in County Louth, Leinster, and was trained to the trade of weaver, a trade he followed for year after coming to this country, following that oQcupation in New Jersey until he came here, after which he gave his attention to the development of the tract of land he had bought here. John McA7 was twenty-one years of age when he came here about 1853, and fot two years thereafter, or until his parents could get well settled in their new home on the farm, he remained with them, helping to get things going. He then started a lime kiln along the canal at St Marys, and not long afterward opened a grocery store on Spring street, at the site now occupied by the Montague store, and as hit business developed started a fleet of boats on the canal, having three boats thus operating in the Piqua trade and in the Cincinnati trade, and it was not long until he came to be recognized as one of the in• fluential factors in the development of the commercial interests of the town. For thirty-two years Mr. McAvoy carried on his grocer). business at St. Marys, in the meantime developing other interests m the town, and then in 1900 retired from business, the remainder of his life being spent in quiet retirement at the pleasant home he had established there after his marriage, his death occurring in 191E, HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 197 be then being eighty-four years of age. Mr. McAvoy was a Democrat and for years had given his attention to local civic affairs, having served from time to time as a member of the local school board, m a member of the city council and as a justice of the peace in and for St, Marys township. He was an earnest member of the Holy Rosary Catholic church, as is his widow, and took a proper interest in parish affairs. It was in 1895 that John McAvoy was united in marriage to Sarah Riley, who survives him and who is comfortably situated at her pleasant home at 202 North Walnut street. Mr. IcAvoy was twice married. He had no children of his own, but in Wmpitable home reared nine orphans. With his first wife, who it Alice Ennis, he reared four children, three of whom grew to maturity, and he and his second wife reared five children, two of whom are still with their foster mother. Mrs. McAvoy was born on a farm in the vicinity of Celina, in the neighboring county of Mercer, and is a daughter of John and Mary (Allen) Riley, both of whom were born in County Louth, Leinster, Ireland, and who were acquaintances in the old country of Peter McAvoy. Upon coming to this country from Ireland, John Riley located at Rochester, N. Y., where he presently married Mary Allen, who had come from the mighborhood of his old home in Ireland. Not long after their marriage they came to Ohio and settled on a farm which John Riley bought on the Celina road, in Mercer county, and there they spent the remainder of their lives, both dying in 1903 within two months. They were members of the church of the Immaculate Conception at Celina, and their children were reared in the Catholic faith. Mrs. McAvoy has ever taken an earnest interest in parish affairs and is an active member of the women's societies of Holy Rosary parish. PEARL J. LAWLER, head bookkeeper in the office of the Jaspersen in Supply Company of St. Marys and a member of the board of directors of that concern, is a native son of Auglaize county and has lived here all his life. Mr. Lawler was born on a farm in Noble township on November 4, 1885, and is a son of Peter J. and Emma (Rissman) Lawler, the latter of whom, also born in this county, a member of one of the old families here, is still living, now a resident of St. Marys. The late Peter J. Lawler was born in Butler county, this state, and was but a boy when he came to Auglaize county with his parents in the '50s of the past century, the family locating in Noble township, where he grew to manhood and was married. He established himself on a farm and became the owner of an excellent farm of 160 acres, where he made his home until he sold out and retired in 1912, moving to St. Marys, where he spent his last days, his death occurring there on May 27, 1914. His widow married John H. Sondkuhl, a retired farmer of Noble township, and is now living at St. Marys. To Peter J. Lawler and wife four children were born, 198 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY the subject of this sketch having a sister, Mrs. Marie Brady, of Lima, Ohio, and two brothers, Bernard T. Lawler, who also is living at Lima, where he is employed in the office of the Lima Trust Company, and Joseph P. Lawler, also of Lima, a traveling salesman for the Urbana Packing Company. Reared on the home farm in Noble township, Pearl J. Lawler supplemented the schooling he received in the local schools by a course in the Tri-State College at Angola, Ind., and was for four years thereafter engaged in teaching in the district schools of his home township. He then became employed as a bookkeeper in the office of the G.-H.-F. company's mills at St, Marys and continued thus employed for six years, or until 1913, when he entered upon his present connection with the Jaspersen Supply Company of St. Marys, of which concern he is a stockholder and a member of the board of directors, and has ever since been thus en• gaged, one of the active and energetic young business men of that city. On November 16, 1911, Pearl J. Lawler was united in mar• riage to Edith A. Plettner, who also had been a teacher in the schools of this county, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Ned Edward, born on June 26, 1918. Mrs. Lawler was born in St. Marys township and is a daughter of Henry and Mary (Wilkins) Plettner, the latter of whom was born in the neighboring county of Mercer, Henry Plettner was born in the vicinity of Marysville, in Union county, this state, and was but a boy when he came to Auglaiie county with his parents. He married in Mercer county and then established himself on a farm in St. Marys township. To him and his wife two children were born, Mrs. Lawler having had a brother, Edward J. Plettner, who died in 1918. Mrs. Lawler was graduated from the St. Marys high school in 1905 and for five years thereafter was engaged in teaching in the schools of this county, two years in Noble township and three years in St. Marys township. Mr, and Mrs. Lawler are members of the popular Idlewild Club of St. Marys, of which Mr. Lawler is the present secretary, and are members of Zion's Lutheran church. In their political views they are Demo. crats. A. C. SETTLAGE, secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Auglaize Hoist and Body Company of New Bremen, and one of the organizers of that company, a former member of the New Bremen town council, a former school teacher and now president of the local board of education, and in other ways for years actively interested in the general industrial, civic and social affairs of that community, is a native son of Auglaize county, a member of one of the pioneer families here, and has lived here all his life, long recognized as one of the most influential factors in the general life of the community in which he lives. Mr. Settlage was born on a farm in the west central part of Washington township (section 18), along the banks of Center creek, August 3, 1869, and is a son of William and Rebecca HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 199 (Meyer) Settlage, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families here, and whose last days were spent here. William Settlage was a son of Arnold and Elizabeth Settlage, natives of Germany, who had become members of the considerable German settlement that was effected here following the opening of these lands to settlement back in the '30s of the past century and had established their homes here. Arnold Settlage was a trained blacksmith, and for some time after coming here had followed that vocation, but later became a farmer in German township, and as such spent the remainder of his life, a substantial member of the community. A. C, Settlage was reared on the home farm in Washington township, and upon completing the course in the district school there entered the New Bremen high school, and upon completing his high school work secured a license to teach school, and for three years was engaged during the winters as a teacher. He then took a normal nurse in the Tri-State College at Angola, Ind., and upon leaving institution resumed his teaching and was for nine years thereafter thus engaged, his services as a teacher in the schools of German and Washington townships thus having covered a period of twelve years, his summers in the meantime being spent on the farm. Mr. Settlage then moved to New Bremen and there took a position in the Juice of the Klanke Furniture Company, being given charge of the retail furniture and undertaking department of that concern, and was thus connected for eight years, at the end of which time he became one of the organizers of the Auglaize Hoist and Body Company of New Bremen and was elected secretary and treasurer of that company, later being made general manager of the extensive plant created by this concern at New Bremen, and has since been .e in that capacity. This plant, one of the most extensive manufacturing plants in Auglaize county, specializes in steel bodies for automobile trucks and in hoisting appliances for trucks, and has created a wide market for its products. The company's initial enterprise was the manufacture of automobile trucks, but after five years of that form of activity began to confine itself to its present specialty, and in this latter operation has done well. Mr. Settlage is a Demoerat and has ever given a good citizen's attention to civic affairs. For six years he was a member of the New Bremen town council, and is now president of the local board of education, his long service in the schoolroom giving to his services in that connection a special value. He and his wife are members of Zion Reformed Church and he is an elder in the church. Mr. Settlage married Grace Holcroft, and has two children, Dean and Robert Rodney. The Settlages have a pleasant home, and Mr. and Mrs. Settlage take an interested and helpful part in the general social activities of the community of which they have been a part for many years. 200 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY GEORGE A. SHUSTER, surveyor of Auglaize county and a veteran of the World war, with a record of overseas service as an officer of the national army, was born in Cincinnati, but has been a resident of Auglaize county since the days of his boyhood. He was born on July 25, 1892, and is a son of William and Mary Shuster, both of whom also were born in this state, and the latter of whom is now living at New Knoxville, this county. William Shuster was engaged in the wholesale shoe business at Cincinnati. After his death there, his family removed to New Knoxville, and it was in the schools of this village that George A. Shuster received his early schooling, later entering the high school at Spencerville, from which he was graduated in 1910. Following his graduation he was for three years engaged during the winters in teaching school in this county and in the neighboring county of Allen, and in 1913 entered the civil engineering school of Ohio State University, where he remained three years. When this country took a part in the World war in the spring of 1917, Mr. Shuster enlisted his services, and on May 11, 1917, entered the officers' training camp, where on August 15 following he received his commission as a second lieutenant and was sent to Camp Sherman, where he was attached to the 83d Division, and in May, 1918, sailed with this command for overseas service. He was overseas for seventeen months, and during this period saw some pretty strenuous service, this service including his participation in the notable battles of Chateau Thierry, at St. Mihiel and in the Argonne. The later period of his overseas service was rendered with the 4th Division, to which he had been transferred, and to which he was attached when the armistice was signed, in November, 1918. After the armistice and pending orders for his return, Mr, Shuster seized the opportunity to do a bit of extension work in civil engineering in the University of Edinburg, where he remained four and one-half months. He returned to the United States on September 7, 1919, and was discharged with the rank of first lieutenant at Camp Sherman. Upon receiving his discharge from military service, Mr. Shuster re-entered the State University to complete there his unfinished course in civil engineering, and in June, 1920, was gradu• ated from that institution. Upon leaving the university, Mr. Shuster became connected with the Kentucky state inspection bureau and was thus engaged in technical service from July, 1920, to August, 1921. In the meantime, during the memorable campaign of 1920, he has been made the nominee of the Republicans of Auglaize county for the office of county surveyor, and was elected to that office in the November election. On September 5, 1921, he entered upon the duties of this office and has since been serving in that capacity. Mr, Shuster is a Republican, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Knoxville, and a member of the American Legion. He is HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 201 actively affiliated with the American Association of Engineers and is a Scottish Rite (32̊) Mason and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, affiliated with the consistory at Columbus and with the Shrine at Lexington, Ky. He also is a member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta. In the election of November, 1922, Mr. Shuster was re-eleced to the office of county surveyor by a majority of 1,068 votes. HENRY DIERKER, formerly and for many years one of the mostacitve and influential figures in the commercial and industrial life of Auglaize county, a well known merchant and manufacturer of New Bremen, where he died in 1917, left a good memory at his passing and it is but fitting that some slight tribute to that memory be paid here in the definite history of the county to which he had so long contributed his energies. Mr. Dierker was a native "Buckeye," a fact of which he never had ceased to be proud, and all his life was spent in this state. He was born in the city of Piqua on January 18, 1854, and was a son of August and Catherine (Klethfut) Dierker, both of whom were members of pioneer families there and whose last days were spent in that city. They were the parents of five children, one of whom died in infancy and the others, besides the subject of this memorial sketch, being William, Mary and Elizabeth. Reared at Piqua, Henry Dierker early learned the blacksmith trade and followed that until he came up into Auglaize county and located at New Bremen, where he became engaged as a clerk in a dry goods store and where he preesntly married a New Bremen girl, Louise Griewe, and where of George Griewe, a dry goods merchant of that place and proprietor of a grain elevator. After his marriage Mr. Dierker formed a partnership with Mr. Griewe and became engaged in business with the latter under the firm name of Griewe & Dierker, thus entering upon a career of business expansion which in time caused him to be recognized as one of the leaders in the commercial and industrial life of New Bremen. Several years after this partnership was formed Mr. Dierker bought the interest of his father-in-law in the business, this including the dry goods store and the grain elevator, and thereafter carried on the business alone. About twenty years ago in 1902, he erected the handsome commercial block in p which the First National Bank of New Bremen now is located and there carried on his commercial operations until his death, which occurred on January 10, 1917. In addition to his mercantile and grain interests, Mr. Dierker also gave much attention to the industrial development of the town and at the time of his death was president of the Auglaize Furniture Company, a concern of which he formerly and for years had been vice president. He also was president of the Pohrman Machine Company and of the New Bremen Broom Company. He was a Democrat and gave a good citizen's attention 202 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY to local civic affairs, having served from time to time in several public capacities in connection with the town government. His church affiliation was with the Zion Reformed church, of which his widow also is a member, and he had ever given proper attention to church affairs. To Mr. and Mrs. Dierker were born two children, daughters both, Lillian, wife of H. W. Rairdon, and Clara, who married the Rev. Paul Kluge and has one child, a daughter, Margaret. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Dierker has continued to make her home at New Bremen, where she is very comfortably situated. She was born at New Bremen and is one of the six children born to George and Dorothy Griewe, the others being Gustave, Mollie, Emma, Ida and Dora. Both George Griewe and his wife were born in Germany and had come to this country with their respective par• ents in the days of their childhood. George Griewe was not two years of age when his parents came to this country and settled on a farm in the New Bremen neighborhood, where he grew to manhood, later moving to Mercer county. After his marriage he returned to New Bremen and became engaged in the general mercantile business and later in the grain business and became one of the leading business men of the town, where he spent the remainder of his life. DANIEL W. JAY, president of the St. Marys Telephone Com. pany, vice-president of the First National Bank of St. Marys and formerly and for years president of the Jay Grain Company, one of the best known and most influential factors in the general commercial life of the community, has been a resident of St. Marys since the days of his young manhood and has thus been a witness to and a participant in the amazing development that has marked the growth of that city and of the whole community during the past half century. Mr, Jay was born on a farm in the vicinity of West Milton, in Miami county, Ohio, November 16, 1846, and is a son of the Rev. Thomas J, and Sarah J. (Hoover) Jay, both members of pioneer families in that section of Ohio. The Rev. Thomas J. Jay, a minister of the Friends church, also was the owner of a good farm of 140 acres and a prac. tical farmer, a vocation to which he gave his attention until he was seventy years of age, when he retired from the farm and moved tc West Milton, where his last days were spent, his death occurring there in 1890, he then being seventy-six years of age. To him and his wife were born ten children, of whom five are still living, the subject of this sketch having three sisters, Elizabeth, Ella and Emma, and brother, Orlistus Jay, of Redkey, Ind. There was another broil the late Oliver Jay, who died in 1904 and who was associated his brothers, who long operated extensively throughout this section of Ohio and over in Indiana as the Jay Grain Company. Reared or the home farm in the vicinity of West Milton, in Miami county, Daniel HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 203 W. Jay was given the best the local schools had to offer in the way of schooling in those days and then was sent to Earlham College, at Richmond, Ind., where his brothers also completed their schooling. Upon leaving college the brothers became engaged in the manufacture of linseed oil at St. Marys and built up a fine business along that line, continuing thus engaged for thirty years, or until the gradual development of the great linseed mills rendered no longer profitable the operation of local mills. In the meantime they had been branching out in the general grain business, the start in this line having been the purchase of an elevator at Redkey, Ind., in 1888. This was the beginning of the great business later built up by the Jay Grain Company, for the brothers presently incorporated under that name, with Daniel W. Jay as president of the company, and in time were operating as many as nine grain elevators and carrying on their operations not only at St. Marys and Ft. Recovery, in this state, but at Portland, Redkey, Elwood, DeSoto, Mulberry, Royertown and Blaine, Ind., and Gilman, Ill. In the meantime Daniel W. Jay continued to make his home at St. Marys and was developing other interests there, these including the presidency of the St. Marys Telephone Company and the vice-presidency of the First National Bank of St. Marys, so that when the brothers disposed of their interest in the Jay Grain Company in April, 1920, Mr. Jay was able to give his undivided attention to these latter and other collateral interests, and has since been thus engaged, maintaining the active interest in local affairs that has for many years made him one of the acknowledged factors in the promotion of the commercial interests of the town and the community at large, On May 23, 1870, Daniel W. Jay was united in marriage to Belle Hollingsworth, daughter of Edward and Rachel Hollingsworth, of St, Marys, and to this union three children have been born, Charles E., Catherine and Clarence H., all of whom save the latter live at St. Marys and the two latter of whom are married. Catherine Jay married Edsel Quimby and Clarence H. Jay married Bertha Erfert and has three children, Mary, Robert and Ann. Mrs. Belle (Hollingsworth) Jay died in 1910. Clarence H. Jay, who is now living at Columbus and who is regarded as an expert on taxation problems, was born on July 21, 1886, and his schooling was completed at the Culver Military Academy and at the University School of Cleveland. In 1904 he entered the employ of the old Columbus Gas and Fuel Company and later became one of the promoters of the organization of the Ohio Cities Gas Company, and became the auditor of the same. He now is connected with the Pure Oil Company, of which concern he is the controller. Daniel W. Jay is a Republican and has for years been looked upon as one of the leaders of that party in this county, but has not been a seeker after public office. He is a member of the 204 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and has long been a member of the Presbyterian church, he being a member of the present session of that church, an elder for many years. The Jays have a very pleasant home at 333 West Spring street, St. Marys. FRANCIS MARION SWONGUER, of the firm of Heinl & Swonguer, furniture dealers and undertakers at Wapakoneta, was born on a farm in the vicinity of the village of DeGraff, in the neighboring county of Logan, September 4, 1877, and is a son of Marion and Martha (Fuson) Swonguer, the latter a native of Champaign county, who are now living in Bellefontaine. Marion Swonguer is a Pennsylvanian by birth, but has been a resident of Ohio since the days of his boyhood, his parents having moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio many years ago, settling in Logan county, where he grew to manhood, and after his marriage established his home and is now the owner of a well-kept farm of 160 acres. To him and his wife were born seven children, two of whom, Thurman and Lee, are deceased the others (besides the subject of this sketch) being William, Jam George and Forrest. Reared on the home farm in Logan county Francis M. Swonguer received his schooling in the DeGraff school and continued working as a farmer until he was nineteen years of age, when, in 1896, he went to Lima to take employment in an under taking establishment in that city with a view to learning the detail of that business. He remained there about six years, or until 1901, when he became employed as salesman and undertaker in the es lishment of the Philip Nagel Furniture Company, at Wapakone and has since been a resident of that city. For ten years Mr, SSC* guer gave his attention to the undertaking department of this COP? cern and then he formed a partnership with C. J. Heinl in the furni. ture and undertaking business, under the firm name of Heinl I Swonguer, and thus became engaged in business on his own acco This mutually agreeable arrangement and partnership contin until the death of Mr. Heinl, in December, 1920, when the irate of their father was taken over by Mr. Heinl's sons, Leo A, Michael O. Heinl, and the business has been carried on as before, the old firm name being maintained, with Mr. Swonguer still giving his personal attention to the undertaking department of the business Mr. Swonguer is an active member of the Ohio Funeral Directory Association, with which he has been affiliated for years, and has long taken an interested part in the deliberations of that body. He is member of the board of directors of the Peoples National Bank at Wapakoneta, is a Democrat, a member of the local lodges of Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Fraternal of Eagles, of which latter lodge he is a past trustee, and he and wife are members of the Presbyterian church. On December 1901, Francis M. Swonguer was united in marriage to Verna S HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 205 who also was born in Logan county, daughter of David and Mary Shaw, and to this union three children have been born, Herman, Oral and Roland, all of whom are at home. The Swonguers have a very pleasant home and take an interested part in the general social affairs of the city. JOHN WERNSING, one of the well known merchants of Auglaize County, propriet6r of a well equipped dry goods and grocery store at Minister, where he has been engaged in business for more than thirty years and who also formerly and for years was engaged in the grain business there, was born in the city of Cincinnati on January 27, 1855, and is a son of Frederick and Caroline (Boeckerstetter) Wernising whose last days were spent in that city. Both Frederick Wernsingand his wife were natives of Germany who had come to this country with their respective parents in the days of their youth, the two families having located at Cincinnati. Frederick Wernsing was seven years of age when he came to this country and he grew to manhood at Cincinnati, under the direction of his father, Henry Frederick Wernsing, taking up the trade of carriage blacksmith, a vocation he followed to the end of his days. To him and his wife were born thirteen children, but three of whom are now living, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Mary, and a brother, Frank Wernsing, Reared at Cincinnati, John Wernsing received his schooling in the schools of that city and at the age of sixteen began an apprenticeship to the trade of carriage maker, with particular reference to the woodworking side of that trade, and for nineteen years followed that trade in Cincinnati, for nine years of this time serving as foreman of the plant of the Enterprise Carriage Company. In 1890. Mr. Wernsing left the carriage shop and came up here into. Auglaize county and became engaged in business with J. B. Meyer, Jr., succeeding J. B. Meyer, Sr., then the proprietor of a general store, grain elevator and lumber yard at Minster. When two years later, in 1892, Mr. Meyer died Mr. Wernsing became associated with the latter''s son, J. B. Meyer, Jr., in continuing this business, the firm operating under the name of J. B. Meyer & Co., and this arrangement continued until in 1900 when Mr. Wernsing took over the business and for twenty years thereafter continued to carry on the several departments of the business alone. In 1920 he sold the grain elevator to the Farmers Co-operative Company and has since then given his whole attention to his store, in which he carries a well stocked line of dry goods and groceries. Mr. Wernsing is a Democrat. He is a charter member of the local council of the Knights of Columbus at Minister and has served as a member of the board of trustees of that body. John Wernsing married Anna Meyer, of Minster, and he and his wife have three daughters, Stella, Mary and Hilda, the latter of 206 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY whom is a music teacher. Mr. and Mrs. Wernsing are members of St. Augustine's Catholic church at Minster and he has served as a member of the board of trustees of the valuable property held in that parish. He also is a member of the St. Augustine Society and of the St. Boniface Society. Mrs. Wernsing was born at Minster and is a daughter of J. B. and Agnes Meyer, both natives of Germany and the former of whom, formerly Mr. Wernsing's business associate, was for many years one of the best known business men in Minster, doing a large business there in the general goods line, as well as in grain and lumber. The Wernsings have a pleasant home at Minster and have ever given their interested and helpful attention to the general social activities of that community. FERD W. RABE, secretary-treasurer of the Rabe Manufacturing Company of New Bremen, vice-president of the New Bremen Telephone Company, a member of the directorates of the First National Bank and the First City Bank of that city, formerly and for years president of the board of public works, former treasurer of German township and in other ways interested in the civic and commercial activities of the community in which he lives, was born at New Bremen and has lived there all his life. Mr. Rabe was born on December 4, 1875, and is a son of William and Mary (Schowe) Rabe, the latter of whom was born in German township, a member of one of the pioneer families there. William Rabe, president of the Rabe Manufacturing Company of New Bremen, is of European birth and was eighteen years of age when he came to this country with his parents from Germany, the family coming on out into western Ohio and settling in Mercer county. For two years after his arrival in Mercer county William Rabe "worked around" among the farmers of the neighborhood in which his parents had settled and then, when twenty years of age, began working in the Weimeyer warehouse at New Bremen, in which city he ever since has made his home, long ago having come to be recognized as among the leading factors in the industrial life of that thriving little city. Two years after locating at New Bremen William Rabe became engaged with his brother Henry in the hardware business there and about five years later bought his brother's interest in the business and thereafter carried it on alone, continuing thus engaged in the hardware business there until he had rounded out nearly half a century of continuous business activity before he retired. Meantime he had been developing other lines of commercial and industrial activity, some fifteen years before his retirement from the store having bought the old spoke factory at New Bremen. This he converted into a planing mill, which in the years since has developed into the extensive plant of the Rabe Mansfacturing Company, of which he has been president since its organiza- HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 207 tion. He also, some ten years before his retirement from the store, established the linseed oil mill there. All this time, too, he was not neglecting his civic duties, taking his turn of service as a member of the town council and also for some years served as treasurer of the city. Though now living practically retired from the more active duties of the business he has built up, William Rabe continues to keep a pretty close supervisory eye on the operation of the big wood-working plant and the other enterprises with which he is connected and has lost none of his old time directing force. To him and his wife were born eight children, all of whom are living save three, these latter including August Rabe, who upon the organization of the Rabe Manufacturing Company was made general manager of the plant and who died in 1920. The other members of this family, besides the subject of this sketch, are Minnie, who married F. B. Speckman ; Almina, wife of G. A. Kunning ; Ida, wife of Lafayette Kunning, and Lillian, wife of 0. C. Roettger. Ferd W. Rabe received his schooling in the New Bremen schools, supplementing the same by a course in a commercial college at Defiance, and then entered his father's office as bookkeeper. When about three years later (in 1901) the Rabe Manufacturing Company was organized he was made secretary-treasurer of the same, a position he since has retained ; his father became president of the organization and his brother August was made general manager of the plant. During the twenty-two years of this company’s active operations the plant, which was worked over from the mill having become recognized widely as among the very best in that old spoke factory, has been enlarged and its operations extended until now the output has come to be in wide demand, the products of the line. The specialty of the Rabe Manufacturing Company is the manufacture of high grade interior wood work and built-in fixtures for both offices and homes and the increasing demand for these products keeps the mill running at capacity production all the time, about twenty-five persons being employed in the plant. F. W. Rabe is also an active factor in several other enterprises, including the vice-presidency of the New Bremen Telephone Company, a place on the board of directors of both the banks at New Bremen and the secretary treasurership of the Rabe Lumber Company at Minster, and during the time of its saw-milling activities in the South was the secretary treasurer of the Yahlin-Rabe Lumber Company at Jesup, Ga. In December, 1922, he organized the W. Urban Company of New Bremen, a wholesale lumber concern, and is secretary and treasurer of the same. Mr. Rabe is a Democrat and for eight years served as president of the local board of public affairs, and for two terms as township treasurer. He is past chancellor commander of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at New Bremen and is a member of the lodge of 208 -HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta. On September 20, 1901, F. W. Rabe was united in marriage to Laura Garmhausen, daughter of John and Marie (Strausburg) Garmhausen, and to this union two children have been born, Marie and Louise, Mr. and Mrs. Rabe are members of the St. Paul's Lutheran church and have ever taken an interested and helpful part in church work. ORLANDO FREDERICK BENTON, a veteran of the Civil War, one of the best known octogenarians of Auglaize county and a substantial farmer and landowner of Salem township, where he has lived since the days of his boyhood, was born in Ross county, Ohio, January 10, 1841, and is a son of Amos and Sarah (Benton) Benton, who became pioneers of Auglaize county and whose last days were spent here. Amos Benton was born in Connecticut, and after his marriage there came to Ohio and settled in Ross county, where he made his home for some years, at the end of which time he moved up into Franklin county, where he remained for three years, or until 1856, when he came to Auglaize county with his family and settled on a tract of 226 acres of uncleared timber land south of the river in the west part of Salem township, which he had bought, and on that place proceeded to establish a home and make a farm. He cleared ninety-eight acres of this tract and on that place spent his last days, one of the useful pioneers of that part of the county. He and his wife were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch now alone survives, he having had a sister, Cornelia, and two brothers, Horatio and Chester E. Benton. Orlando F. Benton was fifteen years of age when he came to this county with his parents in 1856, and he grew to manhood on the pioneer home farm in Salem township, completing his schooling in the St. Marys high school Upon the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted his services in behalf of the cause of the Union and went to the front with the 118th regi• ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served until his honorable discharge within less than a year on account of physical disability induced by illness. He returned home and following his recuperation was drafted into service and returned to the army as a member of the 78th regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war. While thus serving he was detailed as a guard in the headquarters detachment of the 17th Army Corps, and thus served during the time of Sherman's march to the sea. Upon the completion of his military service, Mr. Benton returned home and resumed his place on the farm, remaining with his father until after his marriage, when he bought the farm on which he is now living, a tract of 163 acres, a bit more than the measured northeast quarter of section 6 of Salem township, and has ever since made his home there, in the many years of his occupancy of this place having developed one of the best improved farms in that HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 209 section of the county. For this place Mr. Benton paid the sum of $1,600, a little less than $10 an acre. Considering the present value of land in Auglaize county, these figures are interesting. The greater part of that land was heavily timbered, and upon Mr. Benton's elders shoulders fell the task of clearing the place and making a farm out of it, but he presently got the job done and has for years had an excellent farm there. Though of late years he naturally has been taking things a good bit easier than during the long years of his acitve farm labor, he continues to make his home on the farm and is very comfortably situated, he and his wife having pretty much everything that is needed to make life comfortable in a farm home. Mrs. Benton, who was Mary Crowe, was born in Virginia and was but a girl when she came to Ohio with her parents, Samuel and Sarah Crowe, the family becoming pioneers of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Benton are Republicans and he has served as a school director is his district. He has for many years been a member of the local grange of the Patrons of Husbandry and has served as secretary and treasurer of the grange. The Bentons have a pleasant home on rural mail route No. 2 out of St. Marys. J. W. EITING, president of the Minster State Bank of Minster, vice-president of the Industrial Equipment Company of Minster, secretary-treasurer of the Minster Machine Company, a member of the board of directors of the Star Beverage Company of that place, secretary-treasurer of the Strenie Tool and Manufacturing Company of New Bremen and of the St. Marys Foundry Company, an active factor in the promotion of the extensive Herkenhoff interests in the western part of this county and for years regarded as one of the "live wires" in the commercial and industrial life of this region, was born at Minster and has lived there all his life. Mr. Eiting is a son of John and Gertrude (Rabe) Eiting, natives of Germany, who were married Minster and whose last days were spent there, the latter dying in 1908. The late John Eiting, who died in 1912, came to this country shortly after attaining his majority and in 1849 located at Minster, a vocation for a time, until he could get settled into business as a tailor, a vocation for which he had been trained in the old country, worked on the canal. After his marriage he became established as a tailor at Minster and continued that line until in the late '70s, when he became engaged in the woolen mill business and was thus engaged until 1894, when he started a dry goods and grocery store at Minster and was thus engaged until his retirement in 1905, his death following seven years later. To him and his wife were born seven children, two of whom-Catherine and Minnie—are deceased, the others (besides the subject of this sketch) being Frank, Elizabeth, Josephine and Caroline. Reared at Minster, J. W. Eiting received his schooling in 210 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY the schools of that place and then became engaged with his father in the mercantile business, remaining connected with the store until his father sold out and retired in 1905, after which he began to give his whole attention to the affairs of the Minster Machine Company, which had been incorporated not long before that by his father-in-law, Frank Herkenhoff, and the latter's sons, Charles and Anton Herkenhoff, and of which he was elected secretary and treasurer, a position which he ever since has held and in the exercise of which he has done much to promote the interests of that concern as well as of its subsidiary connections at New Bremen and St. Marys, long having been regarded as one of the active figures in local industrial circles. Mr. Eiting is a member of the local council of the Knights of Columbus and is also affiliated with the Knights of St. John and with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and he and his wife are members of St. Augustine's Catholic church. J. W. Eiting married Adelia B. Herkenhoff, a daughter of the late Frank Herkenhoff, of Minster, formerly and for many years one of the leaders in the commercial and industrial life of that town and concerning whom further and fitting mention is made elsewhere in this volume, and to this union have been born two children, Marie and Carl F. Mr. Eiting was one of the organizers of the Minster State Bank in 1914 and has been president of that financial institution since then, an influential figure in banking circles in this county. HERMAN S. VAUBEL, of Wapakoneta, former judge of probate for Auglaize county and one of the well known young lawyers in this county, former chairman of the Democratic county central committee and for years one of the influential factors in the junior ranks of that party in this district, was born at Wapakoneta and has resided there all his life. Judge Vaubel was born on February 21, 1889, and is a son of Christian and Margaret (Gumbrecht) Vaubel, the latter of whom was of European birth, born at Hertzegnoria, in the kiingdom of Bavaria, and who was eighteen years of age when she came to this country. The late Christian Vaubel, who for many years was a very well respected citizen of Wapakoneta, was born at Dayton, Ohio, in 1836, and was early trained as a tailor. Upon establishing his home at Wapakoneta he opened a tailor shop there and was thus engaged in that business in that city until his death in the summer of 1892. Herman S. Vaubel was but three years of age when his father died. His mother saw to it that his schooling was not neglected and upon completing the course in St. Joseph's parochial school entered local the high school. Upon leaving high school he took up the study of law under the preceptorship of Judge Layton and the latter's son, Roy E. Layton, and after a year of preparatory study under this direction entered the law school of the University of Michigan and in June, HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 211 1911, was graduated from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, He had been admitted to the bar in the state of Ohio in December prior to his graduation and upon receiving his degree also was admitted to practice in the state of Michigan. Upon leaving the university Mr. Vaubel returned to Wapakoneta and entered the law office of Roy E. Layton. In October of the following year (1912) he and Mr, Layton formed a partnership under the firm name of Layton & Vaubel, a mutually agreeable arrangement which continued until Judge Vaubel's entrance upon the duties of the office of judge of probate for Auglaize county, to which office he was appointed on November 14, 1917, by Governor James M. Cox to fill the vacancy createdd by the resignation of Judge Otto J. Boesel, who had been appointed following the death of Judge James C. Kridler, who died in office, Judge Vaubel was indorsed for this appointment by almost the entire bench and bar of this county, his especial fitness for the office being recognized despite his comparative youth, he at that time having been but twenty-eight years of age. In 1920 he was a candidate re-election, but was defeated in the memorable political overtun of that year. Judge Vaubel has been interested in practical politics from the days of his boyhood and it was not long after his entrance into the practice of law at Wapakoneta until he became recognized as a willing and energetic worker for his party. During the campaign of 1916 he was made chairman of the county Democratic central committee and his work in that year justified fully the highest expectations of his party associates. In the succeeding campaign he was made the party nominee for the office of probate judge and was elected. Upon the completion of his term of service in the probate court in February, 1921, Judge Vauble resumed his practice at Wapakoneta and is now thus engaged, with offices in the Gunther building at the corner of Auglaize and Willippie streets. Judge Vauble is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic church and is affiliated with the local counci1 of the Knights of Columbus and the Loyal Order of Moose. Significant of the impression Judge Vaubel created upon his elders at the time of his entrance into the practice of law and of the degree of confidence reposed in his judgment by his associates, it is interesting to recall that in August following his entrance into practice in 1912 a vacancy occurred in the office of justice of the peace in and for Duchouquet township. The young lawyer was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of this magisterial office and thus Judge Vaubel holds what is believed to be the record as having been the youngest magistrate that ever served in Auglaize county, he then having been but twenty-three years of age. On February 16, 1920, Herman S. Vaubel was united in marriage to Elsie C. Orphal, daughter of Julius and Dora Orphal, of Wapakoneta, and to this union two children have been born, Herman S., Jr., and Dorothy Margaret. 212 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY GEORGE WILLIAM ROLL, former state senator from this district, a former representative in the lower House of the Ohio General Assembly from this district, president of the Auglaize Tile Company of New Knoxville, a former justice of the peace in and for Washington township, president of the Business Men's Club of New Knoxville, an active dealer in real estate, a former teacher in the schools of this county, and for years one of the best known men in the county, is a native son. of Auglaize county and has lived here his life, a continuous resident of the pleasant village in which he was born. Mr. Holl was born at New Knoxville on March 19, 1877, and is a son of George and Elizabeth (Wierwille) Holl, the latter of whom also was born in that village, a member of one of the pioneer families of that part of the county, the Wierwilles having been early settlers here, as is set out elsewhere in this work. The late George Holl was a native of Germany and grew to manhood in his native land, becoming a skilled shoemaker. When past twenty-five years of age he came to this country with one of his brothers, making the trip on a sailing vessel which was fourteen weeks in making the passage. He landed at the port of New York with but 20 cents in his pocket. and lost little time in "working his way" over into Pennsylvania, one of the German-speaking communities of that state having been his objective upon coming to this country. While there he learned of the conditions of settlement then existing over in this section of Ohio and became attracted to the possibilities that awaited the new corner here. With nothing but the knowledge of his trade and an earnest willingness to do his part in the labors of the community, he came to Auglaize county and set up a shoemaker's shop at New Knoxville. Not long afterward he married Elizabeth Wierwille and established his home there. In that village he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1891. His widow survived until 1911. To George Holl and wife were born six children, the subject of this sketch (the first born) having four sisters, Rosa, Rebecca, Elizabeth and Mary, and a brother, Edward Holl. Reared at New Knoxville, George W. Holl received his early schooling in the excellent schools of that village and completed the common school course by attendance for two years and six months in the high school at St. Marys, often walking daily back and forth from his home to St. Marys in order to secure the advantage of the high school course. Having been bereft of his father when he was but fourteen years of age, Mr. Holl—as the elder son—early found devolving upon him the duty of contributing to the support of his widowed mother and the younger children of the family. Upon leaving the high school he secured a license to teach school, and for nine years thereafter was engaged during the winters in teaching in the schools of this county, during that time acquiring a wide and valuable acquaintance HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 213 throughout the county. A portion of his vacation periods was utilized in advancing his schooling by attendance at the Ohio Northern Unersity at Ada, and he meanwhile was developing other interests a view to getting into business, among these interests having been that taken in the affairs of the New Knoxville Hoop Company, of which he was elected secretary. In 1908 he became one of the active promoters in the organization of the Auglaize Tile Company of New Knoxville and was elected president of that flourishing concern, a position he still occupies, one of the best known figures in the industrial life of the community, and the controlling stockholder in the company of which he is the head. In addition to this business, Mr. Holl also has for twenty years been actively engaged the real estate business, with particular reference to farm sales, and is also widely known as an appraiser of real estate, his accurate knowledge of land values giving to his services in this connection a value that is widely appreciated hereabout. As a promoter of local interests in and about his home town, Mr. Holl has for years been regarded as one of the real "live wires" of that community, his activities in this connection having included his promotion of the telephone, electric light and natural gas companies there and his active participation in their affairs. He was one of the organizers of the New Knoxville commercial or business men's club and is the present president of that useful body. Diligent in business, Mr.. Holl has naturally done well in the various enterprises with which he is connected, and in addition to his other holdings has farm lands of considerable value. He has a pleasant home in the village of New Knoxville, and he and his family are very comfortably situated. Mr. Holl is an ardent Democrat and has for many years been looked upon as one of the leaders of that party in this county , Even as a young man, his capacity for public service was recognized by his neighbors when he was elected a member of the local board of education of New Knoxville and he was made secretary of that body. Then the people of Washington township elected him a justice of the peace, and for four years he served in that magisterial capacity. In 1912, following one of the hardest fought preliminary campaigns that was ever carried on in Auglaize county, Mr. Holl received the nomination to the office of representative from this county in the lower House of the General Assembly of the state of Ohio, and was continued in that important representative body by re-election for four years, at the end of which time, in 1916, he was made the nominee of his party as this district's representative in the state Senate and was elected, continuing also to serve in this body for four years, a continuous period of eight years of legislative service, during which he naturally acquired a state-wide acquaintance. During his service in the House, Mr. Holl introduced several 214 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY bills that became laws, one of the most notable of which was his bill requiring state banks to bear the expense incident to their formal examination. During his service in the Senate he was a member of the important finance committee of that body and thus became one of the leaders of the Senate. He was serving in that body during the time of this country's participation in the World war, and when in 1918 the important committee on Americanization was created was made a member of that committee. Upon his retirement from the Senate he was, by special appointment of Governor Davis, retained as a member of that committee, his services in that behalf having been recognized as having special value. Since his retirement from public life, Mr. Ho11 has been devoting his attention closely to his own private affairs, though still keeping in close touch with the general civic situation in the state. On June 17, 1903, George W. Holl was united in marriage to Emily Holtkamp, daughter of William Holtkamp, a member of one of the pioneer families of this county, and to this union have been born five children, Olga, Carl, Margaret, Marian and Grace. Mr. and Mrs. Holl are members of the First Reformed church of New Knoxville and have for years taken a warm interest in the affairs of that influential congregation. For thirty years Mr. Holl has been one of the singers in the choir of that church, and for the past eleven or twelve years has been the choirister. When the extensive rebuilding program adopted by the Reformed church a year ago was put in operation, he was elected a member of the building committee, and has thus done his part in that fine bit of extension work, acting as secretary of the committee. FRANK P. CONNAUGHTON, a veteran of the World war, so solicitor for the city of Wapakoneta and a practicing attorney in that city, member of the law firm of Hoskins, Stout & Connaughton, not of the old established law firms of Auglaize county, was born at Wapakoneta and has been a resident of that city all his life save for the period spent away completing his studies and the time spent a army service during the World war. Mr. Connaughton was non a July 11, 1894, and is a son of J. J. and Lena (Jacobs) Connaughtoa, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a member of one the pioneer families here. The late Hon. J. J. Connaughton, fo 11. recorder of Auglaize county, former representative from this district in the General Assembly of the state of Ohio and for years one of tha county's leading attorneys, with offices at Wapakoneta, where he made his home for years, was born in Butler county, this state, was but a youth of fifteen years when he came to Auglaize counts with his parents, Michael Connaughton and wife, the family settlisi on a farm in section 19 of Moulton township, just west of Glynwool HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 215 There J, J, Connaughton grew to manhood and became qualified as a school teacher, a vocation he followed for several years during the winters, meanwhile continuing farming during the summers, until his election to the office of recorder of Auglaize county. By re-election he served three terms in that office (1888-94) and while thus engaged in the public service occupied his leisure by reading law. Upon leaving the recorder's office Mr. Connaughton was admitted to the bar and not long afterward formed a partnership for practice with C, A. Stueve, a mutually agreeable arrangement that continued until Mr. Connaughton's election as representative from this district in the lower House of the state Legislature. By re-election he served two terms in that important public capacity (1909-13) and upon completion of this term of service resumed his practice at Wapakoneta, having in 1913 effected a partnership with S. A. Hoskins and Lewis Stout, this law firm practicing under the name of Hoskins, Connaughton & Stout, with offices in the Peoples National Bank building, and so continued until his death on August 29, 1919. In 1882 J. J. Connaughton was united in marriage to Lena Jacobs. of this county, daughter of Leopold and Theresa Jacobs, both of whom were of European birth, and to this union were born nine children, five of whom are living. Frank P. Connaughton was reared at Wapakoneta and was graduated from the high school there in 1912. Under the thoughtful preceptorship of his father he was being also grounded in the rudiments of the law and upon leaving high school entered the law school of Ohio Northern University at Ada and in 1917 was graduated from that institution. This was just after this country had taken a hand in the World war and upon leaving the university he, offered his services in behalf of American arms and in that same yeas was sent to the training camp at Camp Sherman (Chillicothe, Ohio), where he remained until he was honorably discharged late in 1918, the war then being over. In the meantime he had been admitted to the bar and upon his return to Wapakoneta in 1919 became engaged in pratice there, succeeding his father a a member of the old law firm with which the latter had been connected, and has since been thus engaged, the firm now being Hoskins, Stout & Connaughton. Mr. Connaughton is a Democrat and has come to be looked upon as one of the leaders among the young men of that party in this county. In 1921 he was elected solicitor for the city of Wapakoneta and entered upon the duties of that office on the following January 1 and is thus still serving in that capacity. On November 25, 1919, Frank P. Cannaughton was united in marriage to Pauline Hoegner, daughter of John G. and Lettie Hoegner, of Wapakoneta, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Charlotte Anne. Mr. and Mrs. Connaughton are members of St. Joseph's Catholic church and Mr. Con- 216 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY naughton is one of the active members of the local council of the Knights of Columbus. He also is affiliated with the local post of the American Legion and with the college fraternity Delta Theta Phi is a member of the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Loyal Order of Moose, in the affairs and deliberations of all of which bodies he takes a warm personal interest. He and his wife have a pleasant home at Wapakoneta and have ever taken an interested and helpful part in the city's general social and cultural activities. CHARLES F. HERKENHOFF, president of the Minster Machine Company, secretary and treasurer of the Star Beverage Company of Minster, and formerly and for years engaged in the mercantile business at that place, was born at Minster and has lived there all his life. Mr. Herkenhoff was born on September 3, 1864, and is a son of Frank and Mary (Gausepohl) Herkenhoff, both of whom also were born at Minster, their respective parents, natives of Germany, having been among the original settlers of that town when the Stallo colony became established there in the early '30s of the past century. The late Frank Herkenhoff was a son of the pioneer baker Herkenhoff, whose products were widely distributed thrroughout the settlement in the days of the pioneers, and who also carried on a cooperage business. From his father, Frank Herkenhoff acquired the cooper's trade, and in due time became the owner of a cooperage of his own at Minster, a business he operated for forty years, the output of his shop being taken over by the Armou packing house at Chicago, this old cooper shop in its day giving employment to forty or fifty men at Minster. Frank Herkenhoff also was actively interested in other local lines, for years president of the old Star Brewing Company, whose "Wooden Shoe" brand of product for many years was widely distributed throughout this section, and also for some time was a member of the board of directors and president of the Citizens Bank of Minster, and an active factor in the operations of the Minster Machine Company, interests that he retained after he had retired from the cooperage business, and thus continued active in business until his death on October 23, 1918, His widow is still living at Minster. They were the parents of eight children, seven of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having five sisters, Josephine, Caroline, Adelia, Frances and Alice, and a brother, Anton L. Herkenhoff, who is associated with him in the operation of the Minster Machine Company, and concerning whom further mention is made elsewhere in this volume, Charles F. Herkenhoff was reared at Minster and his schooling was completed at St. Marys College, Dayton, which he left in 1883. Upon his return from college he became a clerk in the Laufersweiler hard- HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 217 ware store at Minster, and after three years of such service transferred his services to the Schneider store, hardware, groceries and liquors, and two years later bought that establishment and became engaged in business for himself. That was in 1888, and for fifteen years thereafter Mr. Herkenhoff was engaged in the mercantile business, or until 1903, when he sold the store in order to give his attention to the affairs of the Star Brewing Company, of which he was made secretary-treasurer and general manager, a dual position which he still occupies, this concern now being known as the Star Beverage Company, manufacturers of soft drinks, its chief product retaining the old trade name "Wooden Shoe," which in the days of real beer "made Minster famous" throughout a wide trade area here about, In 1901, when the Minster Machine Company was organized, Mr. Herkenhoff was elected president of that concern, of which his brother Anton, is the general manager, and still occupies that position. Mr, Herkenhoff is a Democrat and has rendered public service as a member of the town council and as treasurer of the local school board. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and he and his wife are members of St. Augustine's Catholic church. Charles F. Herkenhoff married Bernardine Meyer, daughter of Bernard Meyer, and to this union six children have been born, all of whom are living save one. Vera, who died at the age of six years, the others being Frank, Wilfred, Agnes, Loretta and Elsie. Agnes Herkenhoff married Frank Pining and has one child, a son, Donald. LEWIS M. BLANK, a well known and veteran member of the excellent teaching staff of the Auglaize county schools and equally well known over the routes he covers as a substitute carrier on the fural mail routes out of Wapakoneta during the summers, is a native son of Auglaize county, a member of one of the pioneer families here, and has resided in this county all his life. Mr. Blank was born on a farm section 29 of Union township, about a mile southeast of the village of Uniopolis, July 23, 1869, and is a son of George A. and Susanna (Noeker) Blank, Pennsylvanians, who had come out here in 1852, shortly following their marriage, as a part of a group of young married couples from their neighborhood in Pennsylvania who had formed an emigrant wagon train and had moved over into western Ohio to take up new lands and establish homes for themselves in what than was little more than a wilderness hereabout. George A. Blank bought a tract of something more than 180 acres in sections 20 and 29 of Union township, in this county, established his home on that place, improved the same, and continued to live there until his retirement in 1886 and removal to the nearby village of Uniopolis, where his last days were spent, his death occurring there in 1912, he then being eighty-four years of age. His wife died in 1907, she having 218 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY been seventy-nine years of age at the time of her death. It was on this pioneer farm in Union township that Lewis M. Blank was born and reared. He completed his schooling in the Uniopolis schools and at the age of nineteen years was licensed to teach school. That was in 1888 that Mr. Blank taught his first school and with but a brief intermission he has been engaged in teaching ever since. His first school was taught in Duchouquet township and during the current school year (1921-22) he taught in the Winegardner school in Pusheta township, his service mainly having been rendered in the rural schools. In his younger years Mr. Blank occupied his summers by working at the carpenter trade, which he had learned as a young man, and for four years he was employed as a carpenter in the works of the Western Ohio Electric Railway, but with that exception he has spent his winters since 1888 in the school room. Of recent years his summers have been occupied in driving substitute on the Furs: mail routes out of Wapakoneta and he thus has acquired an addi. tionally wide acquaintance throughout the district thus covered. It' Mr. Blank's contention that one's schooling is never completed a that education of the individual is thus a continuing process. This he follows in his own practice and by incessant reading and extensive literary research keeps himself fully informed on modern develop. ments in the science of education and along kindred lines, each year being thus able to bring to his school work a freshness of thought that is stimulating not only to himself but to his pupils. In 1917 Lewis Blank was united in marriage to Mrs. Caroline M. (Elsass) Lammers, widow of J. H. Lammers, and he and his wife have a very pleasant home at 208 Court street. Mrs. Blank was born in Clay township, this county, and is a daughter of Jacob and Mary Elsass, well known residents of that township. Mr. and Mrs. Blank are Democrats and attend the St. Paul's Lutheran church. Mr. Blank is a Freemason, a member of the blue lodge of Masons at Waynesfield, of the chapter, Royal Arch Masons, at Wapakoneta, and of the council, Royal and Select Masters, at St. Marys and is affiliated with the El Karan grotto at Lima. FRANK SCHMUECKER, a well known merchant tailor and clothier at Minster, and a former member of the Minster town council, former town and township treasurer and present member of the local school board, has been a resident of Minster since he was five years of age and has thus been a witness to and a participant in the development which has marked that town in the past fifty years. Mr. Schmuecker was born in Covington, Ky., April 11, 1865, and is a son of Frank and Ida (Stratman) Schmuecker, natives of Ger. many, who became residents of Minster a few years later and whose last days were spent there. The late Frank Schmuecker (Sr.) was trained as a a tailor in the old country and remained there until he HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 219 was thirty years of age, when he came to America and located at Covington, Ky., where he followed his trade until 1870, when he came up into this part of Ohio and located at Minster, where in the year following he opened a tailor shop in the building now occupied by his son and was there engaged in business the remainder of his life, hisdeath occurring in 1900. He had been trained as a tailor by his father, whose name also was Frank, a practical tailor in the old country, and at his death was succeeded by his son Frank, who is turn was well trained by him, three generations of Frank Schmueckers thus having been engaged successively in this business, and as the present proprietor of the business has named his son Frank there is a likelihood that the succession may be carried on unbroken, both as to name and to business. Frank Schmuecker (II) and his wife, were the parents of seven children, of whom but two now survives, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Fannie. As will be noted by a comparison of the above dates, Frank Schmuecker (III) was but five years of age when his parents located at Minster in 1870 and he was reared in that town. He supplemented the schooling received in the local schools by a course at St. Marys Institute, at Dayton, and then became associated with his father in the tailoring business at Minster, working for the latter until 1900, when he took over the business and has since been carrying it on. Mr. Schmuecker has a well equipped and well stocked establishment and his place carries with it an air of neatness and efficiency rarely to be observed in tailor shops in towns of like population. In addition to his custom tailoring business Mr. Schmuecker carries a select line of rearly-to-wear men's clothing and is doing well in business. Mr. Schmuecker is a Democrat, and has long given his interested attention to local civic affairs, having served as a member of the town council, as town and township treasurer and is now a member of the local school board. He was one of the organizers of the local council of Knights of Columbus at Minster and was first grand knight of that council. He has attained to the fourth degree in the Knights of Columbus and was one of the organizers of the local body of the of Knights of St. John at Minster, has held all the offices in that body and has served as district adjutant of the Knights of St. John in this state. He also is past president of the St. Boniface Benevolent Society and is a member of the St. Augustine Society and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Mr. Schmuecker married Louise Steinemann, daughter of Charles Steinemann and granddaughter of John H. Steinemann, prominent figures in the development of the commercial and industrial life of Minster, and to this union have been born three children, Marie, Frank (IV) and Emma. The Schmueckers are members of St. Augustine's Catholic church and take an interested part in parish affairs.   220 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   FRED BROCKMAN, one of German township's best known and most progressive farmers and a substantial landowner living on rural mail route No. 1 out of New Bremen, proprietor of an excellent farm there, where he has made his home for the past thirteen or fourteen years, is a native son of Auglaize county and has lived in this county all his life. Mr. Brockman was born on a farm in St. Marys township on September 19, 1867, and is a son of Herman and Mary (Borienbrock) Brockman, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a member of one of the pioneer families of Germany township. Herman Brockman also was born in Germany and was but a child when he came to this country with his parents, Harmon Brockman and wife, the family settling in the New Bremen neighborhood about the time work was begun on the canal back in the late '30s of the past century. Before he was ten years of age, Herman Brockman began working on the canal as the driver of a dump car, and his youth was spent in labors connected with the canal traffic. After his marriage he bought a farm in the southwest corner of St, Marys township and there established his home, remaining there until his retirement and removal to town, where his last days were spent. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, as is set out elsewhere in this work. Of these children six are still living, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Caroline and Regina, and three brothers, Henry, William and Benjamin Brockman. It was on the home farm in St. Marys township that Fred Brockman grew to manhood. He received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and remained at home, aiding in the labors of developing and improvimg the home place of ninety-two acres, until after his marriage, when he bought that place, his father retiring at that time. There he continued to make his home until 1909, when he sold the farm and bought his present place of 120 acres in German township, where he has since resided and where he and his famliy are very comfortably situated. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Brockman has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock, and has done well. He has improved the place greatly since he took possession and has one of the best farm plants in the neighborhood. It was in 1888 that Fred Brockman was united in marriage to Dora Huenke, also a member of one of the pioneer families of the New Bremen neighborhood, daughter of Fred Huenke, and to this union were born five children, Selma, Leona, Dorothy, Forest and Esther, the two latter of whom died in infancy. The mother of these children died in 1905, and Mr. Brockman then married Hannah Peck, daughter of Adolph and Elizabeth Peck. Mr. and Mrs. Brockman are members of the St. Paul's Lutheran church at New Bremen and are Republicans. For years Mr. Brockman has been looked upon as one of the leaders of his party in that part of the county and for   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 221   ten years served as a member of the Republican county central committee. Selma Brockman married Henry Dorsten and has four children, Addison, Robert, Ellsworth and Frederick. Leona Brockman married Theodore Giesekie and has one child, a daughter, Blanche, and Dorothy Brockman married Raymond Kettler and has two children, Lucile and Norman.   JOHN F. FINKE, sexton of Elm Grove and Gethsemane (Catholic) cemeteries at St. Marys, a position he has occupied for more than thirty years and during which time he has brought these cemeteries to a state of park-like beauty exceeded by but few cemeteries in the state of Ohio, is a native son of Auglaize county and has lived here all his life. Mr. Finke was born on a farm in St. Marys township on February 26, 1865, and is a son of Benjamin and Henrietta (Hilgeman) Finke, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families in the New Bremen neighborhood. Benjamin Finke, was the owner of a farm of eighty acres in St. Marys township land ded there in 1875, leaving his widow with four children, all of whom are still living, and two children by a former marriage, both now deceased, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Caroline and Sophia, and a brother, Henry Finke. The Widow Finke married George Koenig and spent the rest of her life on the farm, which later was bought by John F. Finke from the other heirs. John F. Finke was but ten years of age when his father died and he early began to “do for himself," at the age of thirteen years beginning to work as a farm hand in the neighborhood. He received his schooling in the local district school and continued to work as a farm hand until his married in 1889, when he was given his present position as sexton of the Elm Grove and Gethsemane cemeteries, which lie adjacent to each other at the southwestern edge of the city, with the highway between. Elm Grove cemetery has an area of twenty-three acres and Gethsemane (the Catholic cemetery), which was laid out some years after Elm Grove was established, has an area of ten acres. Mr. Finke has charge of both cemeteries and the pride he has taken for years in keeping these beautiful "cities of the dead in proper condition is reflected in the admirable park-like appearance now presented by them. Included in the sexton's parking equipment is a power lawn mower and he keeps employed at all times a force of at least three men and at times double this number. Mr. Finke and his wife are members of St. Paul's Reformed church at St. Marys and he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Maccabees at that place. On October 3, 1889, John F. Finke was united in marriage to Sarah Bodterscher, who was born at Bluffton, in the neighboring county of Allen, daughter of the Rev. Christ and Mary (Gratz) Bodterscher, and to this union five children   222 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   have been born, Amelia, Clara, Anna, Noah and Amanda, in addition to whom Mr. and Mrs. Fink are rearing in their home Arthur Koenig a grandson of Mr. Finke's stepfather and who has been a member of the Finke household since he was twelve years of age and is now coma pleting his schooling in the Bliss Business College at Columbus, Noah Finke, the son of this family and proprietor of the St. Marys marble and granite works, married Carrie Kellermeyer and has two children, Clifford and Annabel. Amelia Finke married Peter Schoeneberger, now proprietor of a bakery at Chicago, and has two children, Mary E and Alma. Miss Clara Finke fitted herself for teaching and is now teaching the fourth grade in the Bunker Hill school at St. Ma Anna Finke married George Loeding and is now living in Chic where Mr. Loeding is engaged as an electrician. Miss Amanda Fi who early fitted herself to become a trained nurse, is now living at Columbus, Ohio, a nurse in the Evangelical Deaconess hospital in that city.   FRANK D. AUSMAN, one of St. Marys well known merchants, proprietor of a well equipped jewelry store in that city and formerly, and for years a member of the local board of education, has been a resident of this county since the days of his childhood. Mr. Ausman was born in Pomeroy, in Meigs county, this state, January 28, 1868, and is a son of Frank and Theresa (Strenger) Ausman, both natives of Germany, who had come to this country with their respective parents in the days of their youth, and who were married in Auglaize county. They later moved to Meigs county, but after awhile returned to Auglaize county and became residents of Wapakoneta, where their last days were spent. The senior Frank Ausman died in 1880 and his widow survived him for more than twenty years, her death occurring in 1903. Frank D. Ausman was reared at Wapakoneta and there received his schooling. He early became employed in the Hartman jewelry store in that city and there became thoroughly trained in "the art and mystery" of the jeweler's craft, and with the conditions relating to local trade in that line, and remained with the Hartmans until 1894, a year or two following hie marriage, when he moved to St. Marys and in the latter city opened a jewelry store and has ever since been a resident of that city, long recognized as one of the leading merchants of the town. For more than twenty-five years Mr. Ausman has been engaged in business at St. Marys and in that time has seen many important changes in local business conditions. He long ago had to move from the store room in which he opened his establishment at St. Marys, growing trade demanding more extensive quarters, and he now has a well equipped and amply stocked establishment at 143 East Spring street, in the very heart of the retail trade district. Mr. Ausman is a Democrat,   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 223   and was for years given his earnest attention to local civic affairs. For seventeen years he served as a member of the board of education at St. Marys, acting during that time as clerk of the board, and in other ways has been helpful in public service. He has prospered business and is a member of the board of directors of the Home Banking Company of St. Marys. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at St. Marys and with the lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta. It was on June 21, 1893, that Frank D. Ausman was united marriage to Mayme Wenk, of Wapakoneta, and to this union two sons have been born, Harold John and Frank Louis, the latter of whom is still in high school. Upon completing the course in the local schools Harold J. Ausman entered upon a course in optometry and is now in charge of the optical department of his father's store, one of the best known young optometrists in this section of the state.   LARRY KOMMINSK, secretary-treasurer of the White Mountain Creamery Company of New Bremen, an alumnus of Ohio State University and a member of the county board of education, is a native son of Auglaize county, and has resided here all his life. Mr. Komminsk was born at Lock 2 (formerly known as New Paris) on the Miami & Erie canal just to the northeast of New Bremen, February 10, 1887, and is a son of John and Mary Louise (Huckriede) Komminsk the latter of whom also was born in German township, a member of one of the pioneer families of Auglaize county. John Komminsk, who is now living retired at New Bremen, was born in Germany and was there early bereft of his parents. As an orphan boy he came to this country and through the kindness of friends secured a home in Cincinnati, where he was trained as a blacksmith and carriage maker, remaining there until he was well established at his trade, when he came up into this part of Ohio and located at Lock 2 (New Paris), which then was promising to become a thriving industrial center but which, with the passing of the canal, abandoned most of its hopes of development. Mr. Komminsk opened a smithy and carriage making shop at Lock 2 and after his marriage established his home there and continued operating along that line until his retirement from business and removal to New Bremen, where he is now living. To him and his wife were born eight children, six of whom are now living, those besides the subject of this sketch being Martha, wife of Fred Thiesing ; Frank, Hilda (widow of William Burke) Carl and Naomi, wife of Arnold Henke. Reared at Lock 2, Harry Komminsk received his primary schooling in the schools of that place and then entered the New Bremen high school, from which he was graduated in 1905. For two years thereafter he taught school in the neighboring county of Shelby and then entered Ohio State Uni-   224 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   versity, from which he was graduated in 1911, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Upon his return from college Mr. Komminsk became employed as a bookkeeper in the office of the White Mountain Creamery Company at New Bremen and in the following year, 1912 having proved himself in this time an efficient adjunct to the business, was elected secretary and treasurer of the company and has since been serving in that important capacity. Mr. Komminsk is a Republican, with "independent" leanings, and is now serving the public as a member of the county board of education. He is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at New Bremen and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta and he and his wife are members of the Reformed church, in which congregation he has served as a deacon. In 1913, the year following the entrance as an officer into the affairs of the White Mountain Creamery Company, Harry Komminsk was united in marriage to Gertrude Huenke, daughter of Louis Huenke, president of that company (further and fitting mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume) and to this union two children have been born, a son and a daughter, Louis and Dorothy. The Komminsks have a very pleasant home at New Bremen and Mr. and Mrs. Komminsk have ever taken an interested and helpful part in the general social activities of the community.   HENRY D. KOEPER, former township treasurer and a well known hardware merchant at St. Marys, where he has made his home for the past thirty years and more, is a native son of Auglaize county and has lived here all his life. Mr. Koeper was born on a farm in German township, this county, in the near vicinity of New Bremen, January 16, 1870, and is a son of Henry and Anna (Siemer) Koeper, both now deceased, the death of the latter occurring on November 22, 1890. She was born on March 9, 1831. The late Henry Koeper, who for years was one of the substantial farmers of the New Bremen neighborhood, was born on March 8, 1826, in Hanover, Germany, and was there trained as a carpenter. Whet he had attained his majority he came to this country and made his way on out into Ohio, settling at New Bremen, where he became engaged at his trade. Some time later he bought a farm in the vicinity of New Bremen, an excellent tract of 140 acres, and having in the meantime married, established his home on that farm and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on July 2, 1913. To him and his wife were born six children, three of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Mary, wife of William Bruggemann, and a brother, Conrad Koeper. Reared on the home farm in German township, Henry D. Koeper received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood, and when ninteen   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 225   years of age became employed in the dry goods store of David Armstrong at St. Marys, where he became familiar with commercial forms and the needs of the local trade and laid the groundwork for the substantial success he later was to achieve when he became engaged in business on his own account. For five years Mr. Koeper remained in the Armstrong store, and then in 1894 he became associated W. R. Dunan and bought a hardware store at St. Marys, a business in which he ever since has been engaged, a period covering now nearly thirty years. In 1913 his partnership with Mr. Dunan was dissolved and he since has been carrying on the business alone, one of the best known and most substantial merchants in the city. In June, 1912, Henry D. Koeper was united in marriage to Ida Hurm, who was born in St. Marys, daughter of Charles and Mary E. (Drum) Hurm, and he and his wife have a very pleasant home at St. Marys. He is a member of the German Reformed church, and his wife is a member of Holy Rosary Catholic church. Mr. Koeper is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta. He is a Democrat and has rendered public service as treasurer of St. Marys township. He has other business interests and is a member of the directorate of the Leader Printing Company.   EDWARD STEINEMANN, president of the local school board at Minster, formerly and for years a member of the Minster town council for years engaged in the grain and mercantile business there, now carrying on in the third generation the business established at that place by his grandfather in pioneer days, and long regarded as one of the most substantial factors in the commercial life of that commnity, the extensive Steinemann interests touching many lines of endeavor thereabout, was born at Minster and has lived there all his life, his activities ever having been directed along commercial lines, Mr. Steinemann was born on February 3, 1869, and is a son of Theodore B. and Mary Elizabeth (Wuendein) Steinemann, the latter of whom also was born at Minster, a member of one of the first families there. The late Theodore B. Steinemann was born on a farm three miles west of Minster on January 1, 1839, and was a son of John H. and Catherine G. (Meyers) Steinemann, who had settled there following their marriage about a year prior to that date, and who became early recognized as among the most useful and influential residents of the Minster community. John H. Steinemann, the pioneer and founder of the family in this county, was a European by birth, born in the old constitutional ducal monarchy of Oldenburg in northern Germany, October 28, 1808, and was well past his majority when in 1832 he came to America and after a sojourn of two or three years at Cincinnati and in the South came up into this part of Ohio (14)   226 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   in 1835, following his marriage to Catherine G. Meyers, and established his home on an uncleared tract of land in the then wilderness three miles west of the Stallo settlement (now Minster), which had been established a year or two before in what then was Mercer county but which in 1848 became a part of the new' county of Auglaize. He cleared that farm and after living there two or three years bought an extensive tract of land just at the west edge of the original plat of Stallo Town (Minster) and there made his permanent home, the rest of his life being spent there. Upon locating on this latter place in 1837 John H. Steinemann erected a brick kiln and established the brick yard which for years thereafter he operated, supplying the brick which entered into the erection of all the old brick houses in Minster and some of which are still standing, interesting relics of the pioneer period of the town's growth. He also developed considerable agricultural interests and at the same time became engaged in mercantile pursuits in connection with the extensive canal trade which meanwhile was being developed at Minster following the opening of the canal in 1845 and in 1850 he erected a brick store building and warehouse for the accommodation of his growing mercantile, grain and general produce and pork-packing interests, and thus early became recognized as one of the most forceful factors in the development of the business interests of that town. In civic affairs he also took an interested and helpful part, for years serving as justice of the peace, and in other ways did what he could to give an impetus to proper development thereabout, and thus continued active in affairs until his death, which occurred on January 15, 1877. His wife had preceded him to the grave about five years, her death having occurred on May 23, 1872. This useful pioneer couple had five children, four sons, John H., Theodora B., Frank J. and Charles, and a daughter, Mary, and the sons carried on the Steinemann interests after their father's death. In the Sutton "Atlas of Auglaize County" (1880) there is carried a full page devoted to a pictorial representation of the Steinemann interests at Minster, a collection of inestimable value to the family today, Particularly interesting in this group of pictures is that setting out the old Steinemann store, grain elevator and packing house and a picture of a canal boat lined up in the canal alongside the Steinemann brick yard awaiting a cargo. How valuable such old pictures become in succeeding generations ! Theodore B. Steinemann, the second born of the children of John H. Steinemann, began to help his father in the latter's business affairs when but twelve years of age and was thereafter a constant and helpful associate of the elder Steinemann until the latter's death, this help being made more effective and practical by reason of a course taken in St. Marys College at Cincinnati after he had attained his majority. In the division of the estate following   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 227   his father's death he became the successor to that part of the business relating to the store and the grain and pork-packing interests and as merchant and grain dealer continued to develop the business to meet the growing community demands and so remained in business the rest of his life. He increased the grain elevator to its present capacity and brought the plant up to modern standards, and in 1912 erected the present commodious store room, 40 by 80, two floors and a basement, in which the Steinemann mercantile business is carried on. In addition to these interests, in 1883, Theodore B. Steinemann, in association with his brother Charles, bought the old Minster brewery, which not long afterward was destroyed by fire and they then erected the present substantial brewery plant, which in 1890 they sold to the Star Brewing Company. He also was a large landowner in this county and had property at Piqua, as well as other substantial interests. He was a Democrat and gave proper attention to civic affairs, for some time serving as township clerk and he also for years hels a commission as a notary public. He and his wife were members of the Catholic church and their children were reared in that faith. His death occurred on February 9, 1922, and he left a good memory at his passing, for he had been helpful in many ways in the community in which his useful life was passed. It was in 1863 that Theodore B. Steinemann was united in marriage to Mary Elizabeth Wuendeln, who survives him, and to this union were born nine children, all of whom are living, the subject of this sketch having five sisters, Rose, Emily, Elenora, Luetta and Cecelia, and three brothers, John, Louis and George Steinemann. Reared at Minster, Edward Steineman received his schooling in the schools of that place and early became associated with his father in the several lines of business carried on by the latter and thus literally "grew up" with the business, to which he succeeded following his father's death and is now carrying on, in the third generation planning developments in the mercantile and grain trade of the business so carefully developed in their prospective generations by his grandfather and by his father and which no doubt will be carried on by his sons in their generation, for the Stienemann interests are substantial and give promise of permanency. Edward Steinemann is a Democrat and for six years served as a member of the town council and now is president of the local school board. He is one of the active members of the Minster Commercial Club, was for some years president of the St. Boniface Benevolent Society and is a member of the Knights of Columbus and of the St. Augustine's Orphans Society. He and his wife are members of St. Augustine's Catholic church and he is the secretary of the board of trustees of the valuable property held in that extensive parish. Mr. Steinemann married Elizabeth Depweg, daughter of C. D. and   228 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   Mary Ann (Kramer) Depweg, and to this union have been born six children, Marie, Eugene, Pauline, Matilda, Richard and Elenora. The Steinemanns have a very pleasant home at Minster and have ever taken an interested part in the general social and cultural affairs of the community.   C. W. TIMMERMEISTER, secretary of the Eastern Auglaize chapter of the American Red Cross and one of the best known men in Auglaize county, a retired merchant of Wapakoneta with numrous outlying interests, including banking and manufacturing, is a native son of Auglaize county, born at Wapakoneta, and has lived here all his life, a period of sixty years, and has thus been a part of the developing commercial life of that city ever since the days when it entered upon a practically reconstructive era forty years and more ago. Mr. Timmermeister was born on January 10, 1862, and is a son of John H. and Caroline (Machetanz) Timmermeister, both natives of Germany, the latter born in Pfaeh, who were married in St. Marys. The late John H. Timmermeister, who for many years was one of the leading merchants of Wapakoneta, was born in the vicinity of Osnabruck, in the then kingdom of Hanover, in northern Germany, April 13, 1831, and was a son of Wilhelm and Clara Timmermeister. In his youth he served an apprenticeship at the tinner's trade and continued working at that trade there until in 1851, he then being in his twenty-first year, when he came to America, arriving at the port of New York in the following September. For about four years he remained in that city, a part of the time working at his trade, and later becoming engaged as a clerk in a mercantile establishment, and then came out here into Ohio to put in his lot with that of some old-country friends at New Bremen. He came attracted at once to the possibilities at Wapakoneta, the county seat, and on July 15, 1855, became engaged there as a clerk in Otto T. Dieker's dry goods store, then one of the leading establishments of the kind in this section of Ohio. He "made good" as a clerk, and not long afterward Mr. Dieker took him into the business as a partner, an arrangement which continued until in the spring of 1859, when Mr. Timmermeister retired from the firm and started business for himself, opening a store in a small frame building which stood on the present site of the handsome Timmermeister building on Auglaize street, which was erected in 1885. In the summer of that same year (1859) Mr. Timmermeister married and definitely established his home at Wapakoneta. He carried on his business successfully, his family meanwhile growing up about him, and in 1881 he took into partnership with him his son, C. W, Timmermeister, the business then being carried on under the firm style of J. H. Timmermeister & Son, and it was under this co-operation that the present Timmermeister building was erected in 1885. The elder   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 229   Timmermeister meanwhile had been developing other interests in the town, particularly his connection with the wheel works, and not long afterward his son-in-law, W. S. Rogers, was admitted to the firm, the business thereafter being carried on under the firm style of Timmermeister & Rogers (the present W. S. Rogers' Sons Company), the elder Timmermeister then retiring from the store and thereafter giving his attention to his other interests, including his connection with the First National Bank, of which he was one of the organizers and a member of the board of directors, and with the Wapakoneta Wheel and Spoke Company, of which he also was one of the organizers, and so continued until his death, which occurred onOctober 29, 1902, he then being in his seventy-second year. It was on August 22, 1859, that John H. Timmermeister was united in marriage to Caroline Machetanz. To this union were born eight children, six of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having four sisters, Bertha, Carrie, Lulu and Emma, and a brother, Carl Timmermeister. Reared at Wapakoneta, C. W. Timmermeister completed the course in the public schools there, and supplemented this by a course in the Miami Business College at Dayton, and when twenty-three years of age was admitted as a partner in his father's commercial establishment at Wapakoneta, as has been set out above. He continued active in this business until his retirement from the store in 1906 in order to give his personal attention to his inherited interest in the affairs of the Wapakoneta Wheel Company, of which he had been elected secretary, and with which concern he remained actively connected until its reorganization in 1910, since which time he has lived semi-retired from active business life, though continuing the various business connections he had acquired during his long and active career. Included among these are his vice-presidency of the St. Marys Woolen Manufacturing Company, his position on the board of directors of the First National Bank of Wapakoneta and on the boards of the Wapakoneta Building and Savings Company and of the Wapakoneta Wheel Company, his vice-presidency of the City Loan and Savings Company and his secretaryship of the Greenlawn Cemetery Association. Mr. Timmermeister is a Democrat, but has a seeker after public office, the only political position he has having been that of city clerk, to which he was elected when he was twenty-one years of age, and which he occupied for four years. In 1917, when under the stress of war activities the local chapters of the American Red Cross were being organized throughout the state, Mr. Timmermeister was elected secretary of the Eastern Auglaize chapter of this beneficent society and has since held that position, having in this capacity done much toward maintaining the successful continuance of the chapter since the close of the war. He also is the secretary and treasurer of the Auglaize County Good   230 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   Roads Federation, and in this capacity has done much to promote the cause of good roads hereabout during the past few years. Mr. Timmermeister is a thirty-second degree Mason, affiliated with the consistory at Dayton, and is a past worshipful master of the local lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, at Wapakoneta. He also is a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine affiliated with Antioch Temple at Dayton, and is a member of Wapakoneta lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and an active Kiwanian. In 1887 C. W. Timmermeister was united in marriage to Tasa Althausen, daughter of Albert Althausen, who in his generation was one of the leading business men of St. Marys, one of the first bankers in the town, as is set out elsewhere in this work, and to this union two children have been born, a son and a daughter, Edwin B. and Lillian, both of whom are married Edwin B. Timmermeister, who is now living at Lima, married Kathleen Corner and has one child, a son, John William. Lillian Timmermeister married Karl Machetanz and is now living at Exeter, Cal. Mr. and Mrs. Timmermeister are members of St. Paul's Evanbelical church and have for years taken an interested part in church affairs Mr. Timmermeister was a member of the building committee of this congregation when the present handsome church edifice was errected and is now serving as treasurer of the congregation.   DITTMOR F. SPEES, treasurer of the city of Wapakoneta proprietor of the Hotel barber shop on Auglaize street in that city, and one of the best known men in this county, is a native son of Auglaize county, a member of one of the real pioneer families here, and has been a resident of this county all his life, with his home at Wapakoneta since the days of his childhood. The Spees family, of which there is a considerable connection hereabout, has been present in this part of Ohio since 1834, in which year Mathias Spees came up here from Ross county and settled on a tract of land which he had entered from the Government two years before (the year in which the Indian reservation lands had been opened to settlesment) in section 18 of Union township, in what then was in Allen county but which became a part of Auglaize county when the latter county, was erected in 1848. That original Spees tract was in the neighborhood of where the village of Uniopolis later came to be laid out and the Spees family has been represented thereabout ever since, Dittmor F. Spees was born on a farm in that neighborhood, in Union township, May 9, 1877, and is a son of Sylvanus and Sarah (Perlett) Spees, both of whom were born in this county, the Perletts also having been among the pioneers of this region. Sylvanus Spees was reared on the old home farm in Union township and continued farming for some years after his marriage, or until about 1882, when he   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 231   moved to Wapakoneta and became engaged there as a stationary engineer in the plant of the Dickman Spoke Works, from which plant he presently went to the plant of the Standard Churn Company and with this concern remained connected for years, or until his removal to Ft. Recovery, in the neighboring county of Mercer, where he is similarly employed. To him and his wife were born eight children, those besides the subject of this sketch (the fourth in order of birth) being as follows : Maude, who married John Bauer, of Wapakoneta, and has three children, Wilbur, Walter and Roy, the first named of whom is married and has one child ; John, also living at Wapakoneta, who married Maude Luckes and has two children, Bernard and Bernardine ; Floyd, also of Wapakoneta, who married Emma Snyder, and has eight children, Erwin, Harry, Margaret, Roy, Helen, Grace, Ralph and Mary Ellen ; William, also of Wapakoneta, who married Margaret Langhorst and has three children, Rowena, James and Ruth, the first named of whom was graduated from the high school with the class of 1922 ; Levi, now living at Lima, who married Lena Wormouth and has one child, a son, Franklin ; Mary, who married Wade Ellis, living at Dayton, and has one child, Randoph; and Robert, of Wapakoneta, who married Jessie Bowersock and has one child, Robert, Jr. Dittmor F. Spees was about five years of age when his parents moved from Union township to Wapakoneta and his schooling was received in the schools of that city, his first teacher in the old Third Ward school building (now the Williamson school) having been Melissa Elliott. Upon leaving school he began to work in the old Buckeye cigar factory, but a year later became engaged at the local plant of the Standard Oil Company, where he remained two years, at the end of which time he entered upon an apprenticeship to the barber's trade in the Daniel Shimmel barber shop at Wapakoneta, where he remained a year, after which he began working as a "journeyman" barber and a year later bought the Shimmel shop. For five years Mr. Spees operated this establishment and then sold his place and took a chair at the Hotel barber shop on Auglaize street, at that time operated by John G. Hoegner, and was thus employed for twelve years, or until 1914, when he bought the shop and has since been operating it himself. Since taking over this barber shop Mr. Spees has made numerous improvements in the way of up-to-date equipment and has one of the leading tonsorial establishments in western Ohio. He carries three chairs in his shop and everything is in ship shape fashion. Mr. Spees is a Democrat and for years has taken an active interest in local political affairs. In 1921 he was elected city treasurer and on January 1, 1922, entered upon the duties of that office, his term of service extending to January 1, 1924. He is an active member of the   232 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   local Chamber of Commerce and of the Kiwanis Club and is a Roysl Arch Mason and a member of the local council, Royal and Select Masters, as well as a member of the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Knights of Maccabees, while he and his wife are members of St. Paul's Evangelical church. On August 30, 1897, Dittmor F. Spees was united in marriage to Leonora Schemmel and he and his wife have a very pleasant home at 11 South Water street. Mrs. Sprees also is a member of one-of the old families of Auglaize county. She was born in Pusheta township and is a daughter of Rudolph and Elizabeth (Fisher) Schemmel. Both the Schemmel and the Fisher families have been represented in Pusheta township since days. Rudolph Schemmel grew up to farming in Pusheta to and was for some time engaged in that township, vocation in that to but later became proprietor of a machine shop at Wapakoneta. HERBERT GARMHAUSEN, president of the Lock 2 Grain Milling Company at Lock 2, formerly known as New Paris, along the canal just northeast of New Bremen, in German township, this county, and manager by direct descent, in the third generation, of the Garmhausen mercantile and milling interests at that point, was born at Lock 2, as was his father, and has lived there all his life active in business since the days of his boyhood. Mr. Garmhausen was born on June 3, 1890, and is a son of Florenz and Cordelia (Hilgeman) Garmhausen, both of whom were born in that same township, members of pioneer families there, and the latter of whom is still living. The late Florenz Garmhausen was a son of John and Mary (Strausburg) Garmhausen, who were married here in 1854 and who were the parents of nine children, those besides Florenz having been Edward, Charles, Benjamin, Otto, Anna, Ida, Laura and Emma, the Garmhausen connection in the present generation thus being a considerable one. John Garmhausen, the pioneer, was a native of Germany, born at Osenburg on April 29, 1832, and was four years of age when, in 1836, his parents, Bernhardt and Anna (Heinfeldt) Garmhausen, came with their family to America and established their home at Cincinnati. It thus was that in Cincinnati John Garmhausen was reared and received his schooling, When eighteen years of age, in 1850, he joined a party of goldseekers and made the toilsome overland trip to California and was for two years engaged delving in the mines in the Sacramento country. Upon his return to Cincinnati, in 1852, he became attracted to the word of development that had taken place in the New Bremen community following the opening of canal traffic in this part of the state a few years before, and he came up here to look around. Attracted by the possibilities of a milling and mercantile site at Lock 2, just north-   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 233   east of New Bremen, and to which at that time was given the name of New Paris, he put up a flour mill there and also opened a general store. Following his marriage a year or two later, he established at home at that place, and as his interests grew erected a large warehouse, to accommodate the accumulated stock stored for the canal traffic, and also put up a saw mill, thus becoming one of the most active and influential figures in the commercial and industrial activities of that community in his day, and the interests he thus created have been kept in the Garmhausen name to this day. In 1892 the Garmhausen store and the old family residence adjacent were destroyed by fire, but more commodious and more substantial structures at once took their place, even as when more than ten years later the mill and grain elevator were destroyed by fire these later were replaced by better and larger buildings. Upon John Garmhausen's retirement from active affairs, his sons continued the management of the mill and mercantile interests, under the firm name of Garmhausen Bros., with Florenz Garmhausen, the elder son, as head of the firm. Florenz Garmhausen had grown up thoroughly familiar with the details of his father's business, in the development of which he had participated since the days of his boyhood, and when after the reconstruction of the mill and grain elevator following the fire which destroyed those buildings in 1904, the Lock 2 Grain and Milling Company was organized, he was elected president of that concern and continued actively in charge of affairs until his death in July, 1912. Florenz Garmhausen and his wife (Cordelia Hilgeman) were the parents of four children, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Helene and Lorma, and a brother, Erwin Garmhausen. Reared at the old home at Lock 2, Herbert Garnhausen was graduated from the New Bremen high school in 1909, and since then has devoted his whole attention to the Garmhausen milling interests. In 1911 he was made the miller, a position he since has held, and following the death of his father in 1912 was elected to succeed the latter as president of the Lock 2 Grain and Milling Company, with general managerial supervision over the affairs of the Garmhausen interests there, this company also having in its control the mercantile interests that were established there by the pioneer John Garmhausen seventy years ago. This pioneer's little old mill, which was one of the most pretentious in this part of the state in that time, had a capacity of about fifty barrels a day. The present mill has a capacity of 125 barrels of flour a day, and the grain elevator has a storage capacity of 50,000 bushels of grain. Herbert Garmhausen married Fannie LaDow, daughter of T. J. LaDow, and he and his wife have a very pleasant home at Lock 2. They are members of St. Peter's Evangelical church at New Bremen and are Republicans. Mr. Garmhausen is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at New Bremen.   234 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   AUGUST F. ISERN, banker and dealer in real estate at New Bremen, clerk of the school board of that city and in other ways interested in the civic and commercial life of the community, is a native son of Auglaize county, and has resided here all his life, Mr. Isern was born on a farm in section 22 of Jackson township on April 8, 1860, and is a son of Fred and Marie Isern, both of whom were of European birth, but whose last days were spent in this county, where they had established their home after their marriage many years ago. Fred Isern was twenty-five years of age when he can to this country, in 1840, and came on out into this part of Ohio and located at New Bremen, where he became engaged as a carpenter. Not long afterward he decided to become a farmer and with that end in view bought a small tract of land south of New Bremen in section 22 of Jackson township and there established his home. As his affairs prospered he added to his holdings, until at the time of his death he was the owner of 200 acres of land and an excellent farm plant. Both the canal and the railroad ran through his land, which was situated about midway between the villages of New Bremen and Minster. To him and his wife were born ten children, eight of whom grew to maturity. Of these latter all are still living save Adolph, those besides the subject of this sketch being Dina, Ernest, Gustina, John, Doretta and Edward. August F. Isern grew up on the home farm and received his schooling in the New Bremen schools. As a young man he elected to remain on the farm and continued there until his marriage at the age of forty-five years, after which he made his home in New Bremen. In the meantime he had acquired possession of the home acres, 178 acres of which he still owns, and upon leaving the farm rented the place out to responsible tenants and has so continued to operate the place. It was in 1905 that Mr, Ism moved to New Bremen. Upon taking up his residence there he became connected with the First National Bank, at the same time giving his attention to the real estate and insurance business, and continued this connection with the bank for seven years. In 1922 he renewed his connection with the First National Bank as a member of the Board of Directors and was elected vice-president of the same. He also became a member of the Board of Directors of the First City Bank of New Bremen, and thus is actively identified with the interests of both of the banks in that city. Mr. Isern is a Democrat, a has long rendered service as a member of the local school board, which he is now the clerk. He and his wife are members of the St Paul's Lutheran Church, and he has served as a deacon in that congregation. August F. Isern has been twice married and by his wife, who was Pauline Lehmkule, is the father of one child, a Homer C. Isern. Mr. Isern's present wife (Annabel Brown)   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 235   for eleven years before her marriage a teacher in the New Bremen schools, Homer C. Isern, who married Beata Klanke, is a veteran of the World war. He served overseas with the 308th Engineers, was in four battles, including the Meuse-Argonne and Chateau Thierry, and was then in the Army of Occupation until his command was relieved from duty and ordered home.   WILLIAM NIENBERG, a veteran merchant at Minster, former clerk and assessor of Jackson township, for many years the president of the Minster Building and Loan Association and in other ways active in the commercial and civil life of that community, long recognized as one of the influential factors in the business relations of his home town, where all his long and useful life has been spent, was born here in the days before the erection of Auglaize county, and thus is a member of one of the real pioneer families of this region, Mr. Nienberg was born in the then pioneer village of Minster on January 17, 1846, that village then having been included within the confines of Mercer county, and is a son of Bernard H. and Marie (Sprehe) Nienberg, both natives of Germany, whose respective families were among the early settlers of the Minster community, originally known as Stallo Town. Bernard H. Nienberg was a well-grown boy when he came to this country with his parents, and when the family settled at Minster he did his part in the up- building of that community and was here when work on the construction of the canal was begun. For a time, as a young man, he was engaged in the labors of clearing and improving the old Koop farm, south of St. Marys, and after his marriage, about the time of the completion of the canal, became engaged in the mercantile business at Minster, the business interests of which place received so decisive an impetus following the inauguration of canal operation in the middle '40s, and he remained actively engaged in business there the remainder of his life. In 1860, in order better to accommodate his gradually increasing trade, he erected the building in which his son, William, is now carrying on his mercantile business, and thus for more than sixty years that building has been occupied as a Nienberg store, a record perhaps without parallel in this county. He also established a bakery, operated in connection with his general store, and was for many years a leader in the commercial life of the town, carrying on until his death in 1889, when his store was taken over by his son, William, who ever since has been located there, Of the six children, two sons and four daughters, born to Bernard H. Nienberg and his wife, the subject of this sketch alone survives, he having had a brother, Joseph, and four sisters, Mary, Anna, Agnes and Bernardine. Reared at Minster, William Nienberg received his schooling there and as a boy became an assistant to his father in the latter's grocery and bakery business there, re-   236 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   mailing with him until after his marriage at the age of twenty - five years, when he started in business for himself, opening a dry goods and millinery store down near the canal. There he continued in business until after his father's death in 1889, when he sold his store in the vicinity of the canal and took over the store his father had been operating in the building erected in 1860, and has since been in business there, a dealer in dry goods, groceries and notions. Mr. Nienberg is a Democrat, with independent leanings, and has for years taken an interested part in local civic affairs, having served the public as township clerk and as township assessor. He is the only survivor of the original organizers of the Minster Building and Loan Association, was for years treasurer of that association, and for the past thirty years has served as president of the same, He and his wife are members of St. Augustine's Catholic church, and he for years was president of the St. Boniface Society, and is nor the secretary of the St. Augustine Society, a position he has occupied for years. It was in 1871 that William Nienberg was united in marriage to Elizabeth Voelker, who also is a member of one of the pioneer families of this county, and to this union were born seven children, five of whom died in infancy or youth, the survivors being the two daughters, Mary and Amelia, the latter of whom married Robert Schmeider and has five children, William, Margaret, Paul, Lawrence and Carl. William Nienberg is one of the real veteran business men of Minster and the history of his life is really a part of the history of the commercial life of that town.   (L TO R) JAMES P. ANDERSON, ROBERT T. ANDERSON, LIEUT. WALTER W. ANDERSON AND MAJOR ROBERT B. SNDERSON ROBERT B. ANDERSON, a veteran of the World war, with major commission—a present major in the Officers' Reserve Corps; former recorder of Auglaize county, secretary of the Auglaize County Law Library and Bar Association, and for years recognized as one of the leading lawyers of this county, is a "Buckeye" by birth and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Wapakoneta since the days of his childhood. Mr. Anderson was born at Troy, Ohio, July 22, 1868, and is a son of P. B. Anderson, who afterward became a resident of Wapakoneta and was for years thereafter a prominent figure in the industrial life of that city, a manufacturer of carriages, having come here in 1880 from Sidney, in which latter city he was for some time engaged in the manufacturing business after leaving Troy. It thus was in Sidney that Robert B. Anderson received his first schooling. He was twelve years of age when his parents moved to Wapakoneta. Upon completing the course in the schools of the latter city he began reading law in the law office of Layton & Stueva (F. C. Layton and C. A. Stueve), and after a course of three y and a half under that preceptorship was admitted to the bar, straigh way thereafter entering upon the practice of his profession at Wa koneta. It was on October 5, 1889, that Mr. Anderson opened   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 237   law office at Wapakoneta, and he ever since has been engaged in practice there. He started in practice alone, but has from time to time been associated in practice with other well-known local lawyers, his present association being a partnership with Otto Boesel, under the firm name of Anderson & Boesel. Until his removal to Lima, J. H, Goeke, former representative in Congress from this district, was a member of this firm. Mr. Anderson is a Democrat and has done his part in rendering public service. In 1899 he was elected to the office of recorder of Auglaize county and by re-election served for six years (1900-1906) in that office. For years he has been regarded by his confreres as one of the "mainstays" of the local bar association, the value of his services as secretary and librarian of the Auglaize County Law Library and Bar Association being appreciated by all. This association maintains an excellent law library just off the court room in the court house, and Mr. Anderson's close personal interest in that behalf has undoubtedly been very effective. From the days of his boyhood Mr. Anderson has been a close student of the law and his private law library is regarded as one of the best “working" libraries hereabout. When the United States took a hand in the World war in 1917, not only did Mr. Anderson give the best that was in him to further the cause of this nation's arms, but his three sons gave also of their best, the father serving as a major in the judge advocate general's department, one of the sons serving in the engineer corps, another in the field artillery, and another in the marine corps. On September 13, 1918, Robert B. Anderson was commissioned major in the judge advocate general's department and was assigned as camp judge advocate at Camp Beauregard (Louisiana), where he served in that capacity until that camp was closed at end of the war, after which he was detailed for service in the office of the judge advocate general at Washington, D. C., and there rendered further service until honorably discharged on November 29, 1919, the highest ranking officer commissioned from Auglaize county. In March, 1920, Major Anderson was appointed and commissioned by the President a major in the Officers' Reserve Corps and is thus now serving in that capacity. Major Anderson's eldest son, James P. Anderson, also is a veteran of the World war, with an overseas record. His service was rendered in the Engineers Railway Corps, and with that command he spent two years in France. The Major's second son, Walter W. Anderson, was commissioned a second lieutenant and his service was rendered in the field artillery, and the third son, Robert T. Anderson, who served in the marine corps, was overseas for a period of one year. It was on May 23, 1894, that Robert B. Anderson was united in marriage to Jennie Wilson, daughter of James and Sara (Trimble) Wilson, of Wapakoneta, and to that union were born the three sons here referred to.   238 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   Mrs. Jennie Anderson died on October 27, 1903, and Mr. Anderson later married Carolyn Prueter, daughter of Frank and Anna G, (Holl) Prueter. Mr. Anderson is a member of the board of directors and attorney for the Wapakoneta Building and Savings Company, He is a member of the Presbyterian church and is affiliated with the local post of the American Legion, is a Scottish Rite (32') Mason, is past chancellor commander of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Wapakoneta, past exalted ruler of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and likewise a member of the local lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose, the local aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the local tent of the Knights of the Maccabees. As noted above, he is a Democrat and has long been looked upon as one of the leaders of that party in this county and district, with an acquaintance throughout the state that gives value to his counsels in the campaigns of that party.   CHARLES ENGEL, a retired liquor dealer and restaurateur and owner of the Engel block on Spring street at St. Marys, one of the best known citizens of that town, is a native "Buckeye" and has been a resident of this state all his life, a resident of St. Marys for nearly half a century. Mr. Engel was born at Dayton, Ohio, March 19, 1853, and is a son of Frank and Christina (Hollman) Engel, both of whom spent their last days at Dayton. The late Frank Engel was of European birth, born in the kingdom of Prussia, and was twenty-eight years of age when he came to this country, locating in New Jersey for some time after his arrival here. In 1847 he came to Ohio and established himself in the drayage and transfer business at Dayton, where he established his home and where he continued engaged in the transfer business until his retirement at the age of sixty-five years. He died there in 1902. To him and his wife were born three children, of whom the subject of this sketch now alone survives, Mr. Engel having had two sisters, Nary and Emma. Reared at Dayton, Charles Engel received his school. ing in that city and was early trained to the vocation of carpenter, a vocation he followed at Dayton until he was about twenty-two years of age, when (in 1875) he began working as a carpenter at St. Marys, where he ever since has made his home, and where he was married a couple of years after locating there. In 1876, the year following his arrival at St. Marys, Mr. Engel opened a retail liquor establishment and restaurant at St. Marys and was engaged in that business for thirty years, or until his retirement in April, 1905. Mr. Engel's business proved successful and he has acquired some valuable property interests in the town, including the Engel block at 113 West Spring street, in which he formerly carried on his business and in the upper rooms of which he and his wife still   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 239   reside, very comfortably situated. He also formerly was a stockholder in the company which erected and maintained the opera house there, adjacent to the Engel block. Mr. and Mrs. Engel are members of the St. Paul's Reformed church and are Democrats. It was on May 24, 1877, about two years after his arrival at St. Marys, that Charles Engle was united in marriage to Bertha Puetz, of St. Marys and to that union one child was born, a son, Frank Engel, whose schooling was completed by a course of two years at Dayton and who is now living at St. Marys, connected with the operations of the paper mill there. Frank Engel married Elsie Fickle and has six children, Catherine Bertha, Amelia, Carl, William, Gertrude and Robert Lee, Mrs. Bertha Engel was born in Germany and was but a child when she came to this country with her parents, William P. And Lizetta. (Mackenbach) Puetz, in 1854, the family coming on out into Ohio and settling at St. Marys, which at that time was coming to be recognized as one of the best canal towns in the state. William Puetz Ins a carpenter by trade and for some time after his arrival at St, Marys followed that vocation, presently becoming a millwright and later opening at St. Marys a furniture and undertaking establishment and in this latter business continued engaged the remainder of his life, his death occurring in December, 1872. To him and his wife were born eleven children, of whom but three now survive, Mrs. Engel having a sister, Amelia, and a brother, John W. Puetz.   ERNEST NAGEL, brick and tile manufacturer and coal dealer of Minster, was born on a farm just northwest of Minster, in Jackson township, this county, September 1, 1897, and is a son of Bernard Anna (Schulte) Nagel, the latter of whom was born in that same township, a member of one of the pioneer families in that part of the county. The late Bernard Nagel and was born in Germany was about five years of age when he came with his parents to this country, the family presently becoming located on a farm just northwest of Minster in this county. There Bernard Nagel grew to manhood and after his marriage established his home in that same neighborhood and there continued farming the remainder of his life, in time becoming the owner of 485 acres of land and thus accounted one of the substantial landowners of the county. He was twice married and by his first wife (Clara Hulinda) was the father six children, five of six whom are still living, William, John, Elizabeth, Anna and Rosa. By his union with Anna Schulte he was the father of five children, those besides the subject of this sketch being Benjamin, Charles, Clarence and Marie. Reared on the home farm in the vicinity of Minster, Ernest Nagel received his schooling in the Minster schools and from the days of his boyhood was helpful in the affairs of the home farm. He remained with his parents until his   240 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   marriage, when he established his home at Minster and not long thereafter bought from Benjamin Steinemann the brick and factory and ice ponds, which had for years been under the Steinemann direction, and has ever since been engaged in operating that plant to which since taking possession he has added a sorghum mill and become a dealer in coal, and is doing well in his business. The Nagel brick plant has a capacity of between 10,000 and 12,000 bricks a day and the tile factory has about the same capacity, while the ice house is of sufficient dimension to store 1,000 tons of ice, formed from the ponds in the old clay pits being of a high grade. Mr. Nagel is energetic and progressive in the manner in which he is developing his industries and is accounted one of the leading young business men of the Minster community. He is a member of the Commercial Club and the Citizens Fire Company, and is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the St. Boniface Benevolent Society, while he and his wife are members of St. Augustine's Catholic church. Mr. Nagel married Mary Westerheide, daughter of Henry Westerheide, and has one child, a daughter, Rita Marie. The Nagels have a pleasant home at Minster. In his political views Mr. Nagel prefers to be classed as an "independent."   HERMAN H. KUHLMAN, veteran merchant and banker of New Knoxville, president of the board of education of that village, for thirty years treasurer of Washington township and in other ways interested in the general civil and commercial life of that community, one of the best known business men in Auglaize is a county European by birth, but has been a resident of this country, and of Auglaize county since he was fifteen years of age, a period of almost fifty years, and has done well his part in the development of the community in which he has made his home ever since he came here as a lad in the days that still were regarded as pioneer days in this county. Mr. Kuhlman was born on December 1, 1857, in the town of Vehrte, in the principality of Osnabruck, occupying the western part of the Prussian province of Hanover and embracing also the duchy of Arensberg-Meppen, ceded to Hanover in 1803, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Ruesse) Kuhlman, the latter of whom there there in 1867. He was fifteen years of age when in 1873 he came to this country with his father, William Kuhlman, the family proceeding immediately on out into Ohio and locating at New Knoxville, in this county, whither Herman's two elder brothers, George and Henry Kuhlman, had preceded them and effected a location some time before. William Kuhlman was a bricklayer by trade and an artisan in woodworking handicraftmanship, a skilled carver of wooden shoes, which latter vocation he followed during the winters when bricklaying was impracticable. Upon establishing his home   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 241   at New Knoxville, he continued these vocations, for at that time there still was a considerable demand thereabout for wooden shoes, and he spent the remainder of his life there, his death occurring in 1893. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, all of whom are living save two sons, William Jr. and Christian, and one daughter, Louise, the subject of this sketch now having one sister, Elizabeth, and two brothers, George and Henry Kuhlman. As all these children grew to maturity and had families of their own, the Kuhlman connection in the present generation is a considerable one. As noted above, Herman H. Kuhlman was not yet sixteen years of age when he came to Auglaize county in 1873. He had received excellent schooling in his native land, and after coming here lost little time in settling down into the manners and customs of the land in which his folks had elected to make their home and which he was quite well content to adopt. His first labor upon coming here as a farm hand, working on a farm in the New Knoxville neighborhood for $60 a year. For five years he continued working in the fields and woods, interspersing this employment during the winters as a clerk in one of the village stores, and then, when twenty-one years of age, was married. After his marriage Mr. Kuhlman took his place in the general store of his mother-in-law, Mrs. C. S. Luterbein, New Knoxville, and not long afterward was made a partner in that enterprise, Upon Mrs. Luterbein's death, in 1893, he took over the interest of his deceased partner in the store and has since continued to operate the same as sole proprietor. In 1881, about three years after Mr. Kuhlman became identified with the operation of this store, Mrs. Luterbein built what is the original section of the building now occupied as the Kuhlman store, and in 1891 an addition was built, constituting the present store building, which covers floor space 40 by 70 feet. The Kuhlman store is a general store, handling pretty much everything in the way of merchandise required in that trade area, including dry goods, notions, house furnishings, boots and shoes and the like, and has a reputation founded upon many years of successful operation. In 1910 Mr. Kuhlman, in association with his eldest son, Henry H. W. Kuhlman, established the Peoples Savings Bank of New Knoxville, with the son as cashier of the bank, and the two have since been carrying on a successful banking business there. This is a private bank, the two Kuhlmans being sole owners, and now shows capital, surplus and undivided profits in excess of $24,000, with deposits aggregating more than $325,000. In the spring of 1922 the present well-equipped and modern two-story brick building occupied by this bank was erected, and the patrons of this bank now have as convenient banking accommodations those of any bank in the county. The senior Kuhlman, head of this bank, is also a member of the Home Banking Company of St. (15)   242 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   Marys. Mr. Kuhlman is an ardent Republican, for years one of the leaders of that party in this part of the county, and since 1892 has been serving the people of Washington township as township treasurer, a period of continuous public service that likely enough is not exceeded by that of any other public official in the county. He also is president of the local board of education at New Knoxville, and in other ways has ever done his part in local civic activities. He and his family are members of the German Reformed church at New Knoxville, and for thirty-five years he has been a teacher in the Sunday school of that church, and for thirty years has been treasurer of the congregation, a record of continuous church service that also likely enough is not exceeded in the county. Herman H. Kuhlman has been twice married. In February, 1879, he was united in marriage to Emma Luterbein, a daughter of Henry Luterbein and wife, and to this union were born nine children, Henry, Alvina, Ida, Meta, Reinhart, Selma, Clara, Arminta and Leroy. The mother of these children died in 1906, and in June, 1909, Mr. Kuhlman married Emma Fennemann, daughter of William H. Fenneman, and to this latter union three children have been born, Mildred, Laurence and Norman. Henry H. W. Kuhlman, the eldest of Mr, Kuhlman’s sons and cashier of the Peoples Savings Bank of New Knoxville, was born on August 21, 1881, and his schooling was completed in the St. Marys high school and at Ohio Northern University at Ada. Like his father, he takes a proper interest in local civic affairs, is now serving as mayor of New Knoxville, and has rendered public service as clerk of the village. On June 6, 1911, he was united in marriage to Olga Finke, of New Bremen, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Robert. Mr. Kuhlman's eldest daughter,. Alvina, married Herman Holl and has two children, Ruth and Marie, Ida Kuhlman married W. H. Wellman. Selma Kuhlman married Julius Eversman, and Reinhart Kuhlman, who is now a teacher in St. Marys high school, married Dorothy Kuhlman and has one child, a daughter, Melba Louise. Prof. Reinhart Kuhlman is a vete the World war with an overseas record and a record of twenty-one months in the army during the time of this country's partiripation in the great war.   LOUIS M. YAHL, a member of the common council of the city of St. Marys and one of the best known merchants of that city, proprietor of a grocery store on East Spring street, where he has been located in business for the past quarter of a century, is a native "Buckeye" and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Auglaize county since the days of his boyhood. Mr. Yahl was born at Marion, Ohio, in 1869, and is a son of Philip and Margaret (Diebold) Yahl, both of European birth, the latter of whom was born in the grand duchy of Baden and was but thirteen years of   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 243   age when she came to this country with her parents, the family locating at Marion, this state. Philip Yahl, an honored veteran of the Civil war, was an Alsatian, born in the then French province of Alsace, and was there reared. He served his term in the French army and while thus engaged served as a soldier in the Crimean war in the middle '50s. Upon the completion of his military service he came to America and proceeded on out into Ohio, locating at Marion, where he was living when the Civil war broke out. He enlisted his services in behalf of the Union cause and went to the front as a member of the 4th regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served for three years, nine months and twenty-one days or until his discharge at the close of the war. During this period of service Mr. Yahl was successively under the command of Generals Hooker, Grant and McClellan and saw much active service, participating in some of the most important engagements of the was, his service culminating in his participation in the Grand Review at Washington following Appomattox. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Yahl returned to Marion and not long afterward was there married to Margaret Diebold. He was working in a saw mill there at that time, but in the early '70s came his family family to Auglaize county and bought a farm of eighty acres in Salem township, north of St. Marys, where he established his home, A few years later, however, he sold that place and bought an "eighty" in Noble township. On this latter place he lived until hif retirement from the farm in 1895, when he and his wife moved to St, Marys, where their last days were spent, his death occurring in 1904 and hers in 1913. They were the parents of four children, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Jennie, who is his assistant in the grocery store, and two brothers, Charles and Frank Yahl. Philip Yahl was an active member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic at St. Marys and he and his wife were members of the Lutheran church, in which faith their children were reared. Louis M. Yahl was but a lad when he came to Auglaize county with his parents from Marion. He received his elementary schooling in the schools of Noble township and then took a course in the normal school at Middle Point, after which for five years he was engaged in teaching school during the winters, continuing his work on the farm during the summers. He then became engaged in the grocery business at St. Marys, and has ever since been thus engaged, twenty-five years in the same location on East Spring street, where he has an admirably equipped and well stocked store. Mr. Yahl is a Democrat, as was his father, and has ever taken an interested part in local civic affairs, at present serving as a member of the city common council from his ward. He is a member of the local lodge of   244 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the American Insurance Union and he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. In 1899, not long after taking up his commercial activities at St. Marys, Louis M. Yahl was united in marriage to Lisa Zeib, of that city, daughter of Philip and Anna Zeib, who had moved from New Bremen to St. Marys, and to this union six children have been born, Vernon, Raymond, Carl, Frederick, Walter and Anna Margaret, all of whom are at home. The Yahls have a pleasant home at 316 Columbia street.   FRANK H. STREINE, vice president and general manager of the Streine Manufacturing Company of New Bremen and president of the New Bremen Tool and Manufacturers' Association, is an European by birth but has been a resident of this country since he was nine years of age and of this county since 1918. Mr Streine was born in Germany in 1878 and in 1887 came to this country with his parents, the family locating at Newport, Ky., where he received his schooling and grew to manhood. He early turned his attention to practical mechanics and after serving an active apprenticeship in a machine shop entered the Ohio Mechanics Institute and there became qualified as a mechanical engineer. After his marriage he located at Ft. Thomas, Ky., but not long afterward was placed in technical charge of the waterworks plant at Newport and was thus engaged for two years (1912-14), at the end of which time he was placed in charge of the plant of the Bricket Machine and Manuf ing Company of Cincinnati, where he remained as general manager of the concern until 1918, when he moved to New Bremen and organized the Streine Manufacturing Company, of which he is the vice president and general manager, and has since made his home there. The Streine Manufacturing Company manufactures shearing machinery and also machinery for the manufacture of corrugated sheet metal roofing and siding, the only concern of this sort in the United States and Canada, all the machinery used in the corrugating process on this continent thus being turned out at New Bremen, the products of the Streine concern thus doing much to add to the name and the fame of that energetic little city over the country. The plant of the Streine company covers 17,000 square feet of floor space and is one of the best equipped and most up-to-date heavy machine shops in northwestern Ohio. Since taking up his residence in New Bremen Mr. Streine has taken an active interest in the general industrial situation there and has done much to promote the business interests of the town. He is president of the New Bremen Tool and Manufacturers Association and is alert to every opportunity to advance the interests of that body. He is affiliated with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and with the   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 245   Travelers Protective Association, is a Freemason and in his political views maintains an "independent" attitude, holding himself free to support the best men at the polls irrespective of party ties. While living at Newport Mr. Streine was united in marriage to Emma C. Berndt, who died leaving four children, Dorothy, Frank, Carol and Elizabeth, Not long after his arrival at New Bremen he married Caroline Berndt. The Streines have a pleasant home at New Bremen and take a proper interest in the general social activities of the community.   ARNOLD YAGGI, a member of the Wapakoneta city council and foreman of the packing department of the extensive plant of the Deisel-Wemmer Company (cigars) at Wapakoneta, is a European by birth, but has been a resident of this country since he was twenty-two years of age. Mr. Yaggi was born at Thun, a picturesque and ancient town of the Republic of Switzerland, in the canton of Berne, seventeen miles southeast of the city of that name (the capital of the country), September 5, 1877, and is a son of Jacob and Mary Anna (Yenny) Yaggi, both of whom also were born in Switzerland. The town of Thun in which Mr. Yaggi was reared, stands on the river Aar, one mile from the Lake of Thun, out of which the river hushes past the town in a stream of crystal clearness. The old castle of the twelfth century, with its corner towers, and the venerable church are the chief buildings. Thun is the starting place for those who visit the Bernese Overland, and is consequently visited by crowds every season, many Americans thus having delightful memories of the picturesque old town. It was in this place that Mr. Yaggi received his schooling and grew to manhood. He finished his three years in the army, a compulsory service on all Swiss young men, and then came to America, arriving at the port of New York on May 1, 1900. His destination was Lima, Ohio, where a married sister was living, and he lost little time in making his way out here. He had been trained to the trade of baker in his home town and upon his arrival at Lima quickly found employment in that vocation the Jacob Rentz bakery. Two years later he found it to his advantage to revise his plan of employment and he entered the employ of the Deisel-Wemmer Company, cigar manufacturers, becoming employed in the packing department of that company's central plant at Lima, where he remained until the summer of 1905, when he made a trip back to his old home in Switzerland, sailing in June and returning in September. Upon his return to Lima he resumed his place in the cigar factory and remained there until March 8, 1907, when he was transferred to the company's plant at Wapakoneta and there promoted to the position of foreman of the packing department, a position which he since has occupied,   246 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   having about twenty persons under his direction, has thus for years been one of the influential factors in the industrial life of the town. Mr. Yaggi is a Democrat and has long taken an interested part in local political affairs, at present representing his ward in the city council, his term of service in that office running from January 1, 1922, to January 1, 1924. He is a member of the local lodges of the Loyal Order of Moose and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles at Wapakoneta and he and his wife are members of St. Mark's Lutheran church, with the council of which congregation he has been connected for the past seven years or more. On February 28, 1911, Arnold Yaggi was united in marriage to Emma Dillman, who was born in this county, daughter of Chris K. and Barbara (Fisher) Dillman. Mr. and Mrs. Yaggi have a very pleasant home at 615 Bellefontaine street.   HERMAN F. BIENZ, cashier of the First National Bank of New Bremen, former clerk of German township and former member of the town council, has been a resident of New Bremen for a little more than twenty years and has been connected with the bank nearly all of that time, starting in as a clerk in this institution when it was known as the old Boesel Bank in the summer of 1903 Mr. Bienz was born at Cincinnati on September 9, 1884, and is a son of John F. and Mary Virginia (Bleichner) Bienz, the latter of whom was born in Newport, Ky., and is now living at New Bremen, The late John F. Bienz was born in Preble county, this state, and when a young man went to Cincinnati and became engaged in the dry goods and men’s furnishings business. He married while there and continued in business in that city until about 1897, when he came up into this part of the state and located at Rockford, in the neighboring county of Mercer, where he became engaged in the grocery business. His last days were spent in Los Angeles, California. He and his wife had five children, four of whom are now living, the subject of this sketch having three sisters, Helen, Marie and Alma, Herman F. Bienz, the third of these children in order of birth was about thirteen years of age when he moved with his parents from Cincinnati to Rockford and his schooling was completed in the schools of this village. When about eighteen years of age he took employment in the office of the New Bremen broom factory and remained there until August 1, 1903, when he transferred his services to the old Boesel Bank at New Bremen, entering the bank as a clerk. Two years later, in 1905, when the bank was nationalized under the name of the First National Bank of New Bremen, he was made assistant cashier of the bank and he continued to serve in that capacity until his election to the position of cashier of the bank in 1920. Mr. Bienz is a Democrat and has served the public in various   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 247   capacities, two terms as clerk of German township and three terms as a member of the town council. He and his wife are members of the Zion Reformed church. It was on February 12, 1913, that Herman F. Bienz was united in marriage to Jennie Wehmeyer, daughter of John and Catherine Wehmeyer, and to this union two sons have been born, J. Stanley and Robert H. Mr. Bienz has long taken an active and interested part in the affairs of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at New Bremen and is a past chancellor commander of the lodge.   H. J. HAGEDORN, a well known merchant at Minster, dealer in drys goods, groceries and notions and one of the leaders of the Commercial Club at that place, was born on a farm in the neighboring county of Mercer on October 7, 1879, and is a son of John and Catherine (Wolste) Hagedorn, both of whom were members of pioneer families in that part of the state. The late John Hagedorn reared as a farmer and for some years after his marriage was engaged in farming in Mercer county. About 1883 he left the farm and moved into the village of Chickasaw, where he became engaged as a hotel and grain man, and was thus engaged the remainder his life, his death occurring about ten years ago. He and his wife were the parents of thirteen children, ten of whom are still living, but of these H. J. Hagedorn is the only one residing in Auglaize county. Hi. J. Hagedorn was about four years of age when hie parents moved from the farm to Chickasaw and he grew to manhood in that village, receiving his schooling in the schools of that place. As a young man he became employed as a clerk in a grocery store at Chickasaw and was thus engaged for about three years, at the end of which time he began working in the saw mill and stave factory there and was thus employed for five years, or until in 1902, when he moved to Minster and became employed in the Herkenhoff store, later transferring his service to the J. B. Meyer store and was thus engaged for eight years, at the end of which time, in 1910, he became established in business on his own account, opening a grocery store at Minster. For about a year Mr. Hagedorn carried only a stock of groceries and then seeing that the opportunity was ripe for an extension of his business he secured larger quarters and put in a general stock of dry goods and notions, in addition to his grocery department, and has since had a very well equipped and amply stocked store and has come to be regarded as one of the leading merchants of the town. Mr. Hagedorn's store cover a floor space 27 by 65 feet, and occupies two floors, the upper story of his place of business being occupied as a storage room for surplus stock, He is an active member of the Commercial Club of Minster and has served as secretary of the same. In his fraternal   248 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   affiliations he is connected with the Knights of Columbus and with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and he and his wife are members of St. Augustine's Catholic church. H. J. Hagedorn married Anna Kuhlman, daughter of Mathias Kuhlman, and he and his wife have a very pleasant home at Minster.   DR. C. E. MECKSTROTH, a practicing physician at New Knoxville and one of the best known of the younger physicians of Auglaixe county, was born just southeast of New Knoxville, in Washington township, January 30, 1885, and is a son of Herman H, and May (Bierbaum) Meckstroth, both of whom were born in that same township, members of pioneer families in that part of the county. The late Herman H. Meckstroth, who far many years was well known throughout this region as a manufacturer of tile, was a son of William Meckstroth, a native of Germany, who had come up into this part of Ohio following his arrival in this country and in 1835 had entered from the Government title to a tract of land in section 30 of what in the next year came to be organized as Washington township to Allen county, and which in 1848 came to be a part of the new county of Auglaize. The town of New Knoxville, less than a mile north of his place of settlement, was not laid out until the next year (l8) four years (1836), after the Indians had left this region, and William Meckstroth thus became one of the real pioneers of the New Knoxville neighborhood, a helpful and influential factor in the creation there of an orderly and forward looking community, so that his memory in ever will be kept green there so long as local records are preserved. Herman H. Meckstroth was born on that pioneer farm and there grew to manhood. In 1868 he established a tile mill on that place just southeast of New Knoxville and continued to operate that plant for thirty-one years, or until 1899, when he sold the plant and moved onto a farm he had bought in the Botkins neighborhood, over the line in Shelby county, where he was engaged in farming until his retirement in 1919 and removal to New Knoxville, where his last days were spent, his death occurring in July, 1922. His wife had preceded him to the grave nearly fifteen years, her death had occurred in 1907. They were the parents of seven children, three of whom are living, the subject of this sketch having two brothers, the Rev. William L. Meckstroth and Dr. Henry L. Meckstroth. The early schooling of Dr. C. E. Meckstroth was received in the New Knoxville schools. He was fourteen years of age when the family moved over into Shelby county, and after further schooling in the Shelby county schools he secured a license to teach school and was for five years thereafter engaged during the winters in teaching in the Shelby county schools. During this time he married. In the meantime also he had been devoting his attention to preparatory studies in medicine, and as an essential to entrance into college   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 249   entered the high school at Wapakoneta and in two years completed the four-year course there and was graduated in 1910. Thus equipped by preparatory study, he then entered Medical Starling Ohio MedCollege at Columbus (now the medical department of the Ohio State University), and in 1914 was graduated from that institution. Upon receiving his diploma, Doctor Meckstroth opened an office for the practice of his profession at Botkins and was there engaged in the practice for ten months, at the end of which time he moved to New Knoxville, where he established his home and has ever since been engaged in practice. The Doctor is a member of the Ohio State Medical Society and of the Auglaize County Medical Society, and also is a fellow of the American Medical Association, in the deliberations of which several bodies he has long taken an earnest interest. Dr. C. E. Meckstroth married Martha Howe, daughter of William and Sophia (Stolte) Howe, of Shelby county, and to this union four children have been born, three sons and a daughter, Paul, Ruth, Leslie and Norman. Doctor and Mrs. Meckstroth are members of the First Reformed church at New Knoxville. They have a pleasant home at New Knoxville and take an interested part in the general social and cultural activities of the community.   WILLIAM B. McMURRAY, founder of the McMurray greenhouses at Wapakoneta and for years one of the leading floriculturists in this part of Ohio, who died at his home in Wapakoneta in the spring of 1912, and whose widow is still carrying on the well established business developed there by him, left a good memory at his passing and it is but fitting that there should be included here in the definite history of the county in which he spent his useful life some modest tribute to that memory. Mr. McMurray was born at Wapakoneta on April 10, 1858, and was a son of Robert and Mary (Tabler) McMurray, both of whom were members of pioneer families here, He was reared at Wapakoneta, receiving his schooling in the schools of that place, and as a young man became employed at the wheel works and presently was made a lumber grader there a position he occupied for about ten years after his marriage, or until about 1888, when he established his green house at Wapakoneta and started the business which soon was to gain him recognition as a floriculturist of no mean skill and discrimination. Starting with one small green house, Mr. McMurray gradually developed the business, as the fame of his flowers spread throughout this section, until the McMurray greenhouses came to be recognized as among the best in northwestern Ohio. The present plant of this commercial conservatory consists of three well equipped and carefully tended green houses, heated by a hot-water system. Mr. McMurray died on May 19, 1912, and since then his widow has been carrying on