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HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 625 pleted and then settled down to the arduous task of developing the farm. Not long afterward Mr. McClintock broke one of his ankles and was for some time laid up, a serious interruption to his plans, but he presently got things under way and in good time the family was well established. Mr. McClintock cleared and improved that place and enlarged his holdings by the purchase of an adjoining tract of something more than 120 acres and there resided until the time of his retirement from the farm and removal to Wapakoneta, where his last days were spent. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, two of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Nancy. The deceased children of this family were John, Andrew, William, Margaret, Mary Elizabeth, Barbara Ann and Sarah Ellen, and the McClintocks of this pioneer family in the present generation form a considerable group. During the time of the Civil war the three elder sons of this family, John, Andrew and William McClintock, served as soldiers of the Union, the latter having been but seventeen years of age when he enlisted. Reared on the pioneer farm on which he was born, the junior Charles McClintock received his schooling in the neighborhood school (old district No. 9) and from the days of his boyhood gave his attention to the affairs of the farm. He married when in his twenty-first year and continued farming until the oil "boom" came on in the latter '80s, when he became interested in the activities attendant on the development of the oil field in this region and moved to Lima, where he resided for seven years, at the end of which time he returned to the farm, bought that part of the old home place on which he is now living, and has since resided there, successfully engaged in farming. In addition to his farm of 107 acres Mr. McClintock owns business property in Lima and has other interests to engage his attention. He and his wife are members of the Lutheran church and are Democrats. He is a member of the local camp of the Woodmen at Wapakoneta. It was on October 18, 1875, that Charles McClintock was united in marriage to Mary Ann Bowsher, also a member of one of the pioneer families of that part of the county, daughter of Oliver and Sarah (Bowers) Bowsher, and to this union have been born five children, Maude, Harley, Ferd, Harry and Lela, all of whom are married. Maude McClintock married W. M. Boyshell and has one child, a son, Donovan. Harry McClintock married Nellie Rafferty and has two children, Charles and Harold. Ferd McClintock married Edna Hay. Harry McClintock married Lida Shively and has two children, Naomi and Virgil, and Lela McClintock married Joshua Winget and has one child, a son, Oliver Mack. The McClintocks have a very pleasant home on rural mail route No. 4 out of Wapakoneta. Since taking possession of this place Mr. McClintock has made numerous substantial improvements on the place and has a well equipped farm plant. Mrs. McClintock's (39) 626 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY father, Oliver Bowsher, was born in Pickaway county, this state, a son of Benjamin Bowsher. He was married in Allen county, his wife having moved there with her parents who came from Stark county. ARTHUR B. MUSSER, D. V. M., a veterinary surgeon at Wapakoneta and one of the best known citizens of this county, is a native son of Auglaize county and has resided here all his life save for a period of some years when he was engaged as a traveling salesman for a Philadelphia house. Doctor Musser was born on a farm in Moulton township, three miles northwest of Wapakoneta, November 25, 1884, and is a son of Frederick A. and Julia Jeanette (Hamilton) Musser, the latter of whom also was born in this county, September 11, 1850, a daughter of David J. and Mary Hamilton, who were among the pioneers of Moulton township, Auglaize county. The late Frederick A. Musser, an honored veteran of the Civil war, was born in the village of Rushville, in Fairfield county, this state, January 17, 1840, and was a son of John Musser, who was born at Elizabethtown, Pa., October 16, 1799, a son of Theobald and Christine (Binkley) Musser, the latter of whom was a daughter of Christopher Binkley, of Hagerstown, Md. Theobald Musser was born in Fredericktown, Md., and was a son of a Swiss immigrant who had come to this country and had settled in Maryland about the year 1750. After his marriage Theobald Musser settled at Elizabethtown, Pa., but a few years later came to Ohio and located in Fairfield county, where he entered a tract of land and where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1847. His widow survived him until 1853. They were the parents of ten children. John Musser, one of these children, was but a babe in arms when his parents came to Ohio Territory in 1801 and he grew to manhood in Fairfield county, where he married and where he remained until the summer of 1852 when he came to Auglaize county, driving through with his family in a covered wagon, and settled on a farm in Moulton township. There by his industry he acquired a farm of 160 acres of excellent land and came to be accounted one of the substantial citizens of that part of the county. He was one of the organizers of the Presbyterian church at Wapakoneta, cutting timber for the same and hauling it to the church site, and ever took a prominent part in community good works. His wife, who was Rachel McCullom, of Perry county, and whom he married in 1826, died on August 20, 1861, and he survived her many years, his death occurring on August 18, 1895, he then being in his ninety -sixth year. John Musser had rendered considerable service in the old Ohio State Militia, in which he served for seven years prior to his coming to this county and in which he had risen from the ranks to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He originally was a stanch Whig and upon the organization of the Republican party became an equally ardent supporter of the principles of that party. Frederick A. Musser, son of this pioneer HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 627 couple, was twelve years of age when he came to this county with his parents in 1852 and he grew to manhood on the home farm in Moulton township, receiving his schooling in the pioneer schools of that neighborhood. Upon leaving school he became engaged as a teacher and was thus engaged during the winters until the breaking out of the Civil war. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted his services in behalf of the cause of the Union and went to the front as a member of Company H, 16th regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he was serving when taken prisoner by the enemy at the battle of Chickasaw Bluffs. For six months thereafter he was held in the Confederate military prisons at Vicksburg and Jackson and then was exchanged and rejoined his regiment, afterward seeing service in Sherman's army and later with Banks on the latter's Red River expedition. Upon the completion of his military service in the fall of 1865 he returned home and resumed his place on the farm and also resumed his teaching, in which latter service he continued engaged for twelve years, at the end of which time he began to devote his whole attention to his growing farming interests in Moulton township, where he had an eighty-acre farm one mile southeast of Buckland, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on April 19, 1916. His widow survived him until November 4, 1921. They were the parents of ten children, of whom but two are now living, Doctor Musser having a brother, Major Robert C. Musser, of the Veterinary Corps of the United States Army, now stationed at Camp Dix. Dr. A. B. Musser's early schooling was obtained in the district school in the neighborhood of his boyhood home in Moulton township and in the schools of the village of Buckland. He then entered Ohio Northern University at Ada and was graduated from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Thus equipped by preparatory study he entered Ohio State University, where he took the veterinary course, and in 1909 was graduated from that institution. He then took a position with the H. K. Mulford Company, of Philadelphia, as a traveling representative of that concern and was thus engaged until 1916, when he returned home and became engaged in the practice of veterinary surgery and medicine in Moulton township, where he remained until his removal in 1919 to Wapakoneta, where he since has been engaged in practice, one of the most widely known veterinary surgeons in this section of the state. On June 29, 1916, Dr. A. B. Musser was united in marriage to Robina Dow, who was born in Scotland, daughter of John and Jean (McKay) Dow, who came from Scotland in 1908, and to this union two children have been born, sons both, A. B., Jr. and John Frederick. Doctor and Mrs. Musser are members of the Presbyterian church at Wapakoneta, the church which the former's grandfather helped to organize. The Doctor is a Republican, a Freemason, and a member of the Wapakoneta lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. 628 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY LOUIS HUENKE, president of the White Mountain Creamery Company of New Bremen and of the White Mountain Dairy Company of Lima, is a native son of Auglaize county and has lived here all his life. Mr. Huenke was born on a farm in the southern part of St. Marys township on December 3, 1854, and is a son of Henry and Louise Huenke, both of whom were born in Germany but who became residents of this county in the days of their youth and whose last days were spent here. Henry Huenke was but a boy when he came to this country and located at New Bremen not long after that village was established in the '30s. He was living there when operations on the canal began and he took a part in the construction both of the canal and of the great reservoir west of St. Marys. For a time after his marriage he conducted a tavern at New Bremen and then became engaged in farming in that neighborhood, afterward moving to a farm in St. Marys township. He began farming as a renter but as his affairs prospered, found himself able after awhile to buy a farm of his own in St. Marys township and he gradually increased his holdings until he became the owner of 300 acres of excellent land and was accounted one of the substantial landowners of the county. His last days were spent on the farm and he was eighty years of age at the time of his death. To him and his wife were born ten children, of whom five are still living, the subject of this sketch having two brothers, William and August Huenke, and two sisters, Mrs. Louise Heil and Mrs. Alice Schmidt. Louis Huenke was reared on the home farm in St. Marys township and received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood. He left school when thirteen years of age and his time thereafter was devoted to aiding his father in the development of the farm, where he continued to work until his marriage at the age of twenty-seven, after which he started farming on his own account on a part of his father's land. In the following year he bought 120 acres of the farm on which he is now living in the immediate neighborhood of New Bremen and there established his home. In addition to his general farming, carried on that place, Mr. Huenke also became engaged in the buying and selling of live stock, both cattle and horses, and not long after establishing his home there began to develop a profitable dairy business, later adding to his farm an adjoining tract of fifty acres. It was in 1885 that Mr. Huenke started in the creamery business, erecting a plant 22 by 24 feet in dimensions, which had a capacity of forty or fifty pounds of butter a day. The business under his thoughtful management expanded as the excellence of his product came to be recognized, until it has grown into the present extensive White Mountain Creamery Company of New Bremen, with Mr. Huenke as president of the same and with four efficient plants in the county with an aggregate capacity of 30,000 pounds of butter a day and buying stations in all convenient sections of this and HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 629 adjacent counties. In 1921 the combined products of this company aggregated no less than 4,250,000 pounds of butter. The company has extensive branches at St. Marys and at Lima and an ice cream plant at the latter place as well as at New Bremen. Each of these several creameries has its own artificial ice plant and all operations are carried on in accordance with the most approved and up-to-date methods. Mr. Huenke is a Republican and for ten years served the public as a member of the town council at New Bremen. He is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias in his home town and of the lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta. In 1882 Louis Huenke was united in marriage to Emma Wulfeck and to this union three children have been born, Clifford, Gertrude and Howard, the latter of whom married Verona Langhorst. Clifford Huenke, vice president and general manager of the White Mountain Creamery Company, married Martha Diecker. Gertrude Huenke married Harry Komminsk and has two children, Paul Louis and Dorothy. HOWARD H. HUENKE, foreman of the extensive plant of the White Mountain Creamery Company at New Bremen and one of the most alert and energetic young men of that city, was born at New Bremen on July 11, 1891, and is a son of Louis and Emma (Wuifeck) Huenke, the former of whom is president of the White Mountain Creamery Company and founder of the extensive establishment he has developed there and concerning whom further and fitting mention is made elsewhere in this volume. Reared at New Bremen, Howard H. Huenke received his early schooling in the excellent schools of that city. From the days of his boyhood he was attracted to the growing business his father had established there as the head of the White Mountain Creamery Company and he early decided to put in his lot with that of the creamery. In order further to qualify himself for what he thus recognized as his life work he entered the agricultural college of Iowa State University at Ames, Iowa, and there took a special course in dairying and butter making, the course in this line at Ames being recognized as perhaps the most thorough and effective of any similar institution in the United States. Thus amply equipped for the work for which he was preparing himself, Mr. Huenke returned to New Bremen and was installed as foreman of the plant of the White Mountain Creamery company there, with special charge of the production end of the establishment. The new equipment installed in the creamery since he took charge and the new methods introduced by him have done much not only to increase production but to improve the quality of the plant's output and he has come to be recognized as one of the ablest young creamery men in the middle West. In 1916 Howard H. Huenke was united in marriage to Verona Langhorst, daughter of Edward Langhorst and also a member of one 630 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY of the pioneer families of Auglaize county, and he and his wife have a very pleasant home at New Bremen. They are members of St. Paul's Lutheran church and take a proper interest in church affairs as well as in the general social activities of the community. Mr. Huenke is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at New Bremen and of the lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta.   ELMER DELNO SNYDER, one of the well known and progressive young farmers and stockmen of Clay township and the proprietor of a well improved farm in the immediate neighborhood of St. Johns, was born in that township on May 23, 1891, and is a son of Enos N. and Ellen (Clark) Snyder, both of whom also were born in that township and who are still living there. Enos N. Snyder was born on February 17, 1861, and is a son of Jacob and Mary A. (Oxley) Snyder, both of whom were born in this county and who after their marriage established their home on a farm in Clay township, where both died just as they were getting a good start, the latter not yet twenty-four years of age at the time of her death and the former just past twenty-four. They left four children, of whom Enos N. Snyder now alone survives. He was but an infant when he was orphaned and he was taken care of by his grandparents until he was seven years of age, after which he was taken into the household of his uncle, Allen Copeland, and there grew to manhood, receiving his schooling in the Dearbaugh school. After he had attained his majority he took up the trade of plastering, a vocation he followed for about twenty years, meanwhile marrying when about thirty years of age. When he began farming he made his home on a farm of forty acres on the Geyer pike, in Clay township, and there lived until 1912, when he moved to his present farm in that same township. Mr. Snyder and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are Republicans. He has rendered public service as a trustee of Clay tOWnship and also has served on the school board, preSident of the same for some time. It was on June 29, 1890, that Enos N. Snyder was united in marriage to Ellen Clark, who also was born in Clay tOWnship, daughter of Samuel and Nancy (Dudgeon) Clark, who were the parents of five children, two of whom are living, Mrs. Snyder having a brother, William Clark. To Enos N. and Ellen (Clark) Snyder five children have been born, three of whom are living, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Leo Snyder, now farming in Shelby county, who married Hazel Dearbaugh and has a son, Ned J., and a sister, Ola, who married William Young, who is employed on the line of the Western Ohio Electric Railway Company, and has two children, Cretoria and Ralph. Reared on the home farm in Clay township, Elmer Delno Snyder received his schooling in the local schools. He married in the month after he had attained his majority   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 631   and then began farming on his own account, renting the farm on which he is now living and was there engaged in farming for two years, at the end of which time he moved to St. Johns and there became engaged in the garage business. Two years later he sold out his establishment there and returned to the farm, which he bought in 1919, and has since made his home there, he and his family being very comfortably situated. Mr. Snyder has a well improved place of ninety-six acres and gives his special attention to the raising of hogs. It was on June 27, 1912, that Elmer Delno Snyder was united in marriage to Hazel Coleman, who also was born in Clay township, daughter of John M. and Catherine (Chambers) Coleman, both members of pioneer families in that township, and to this union three children have been born, namely : Jessalyn, born on May 9, 1917; Johanna, April 21, 1919, and Betty L., March 24, 1921. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at St. Johns and are Republicans.   ROY SHAW, a well known and progressive young farmer of Union township, stock buyer and dealer in all kinds of livestock and proprietor of "Cloverdale Stock Farm" just northeast of Uniopolis, is a member of one of the real pioneer families of this county, the Shaws having been represented here since the year marking the departure of the Indians from this region. Mr. Shaw was born on a farm in Duchouquet township on October 11, 1887, and is a son of John M. and Sarah (Brentlinger) Shaw, who are still living in that township. John M. Shaw was born in that same township and is a son of Marshall Shaw, who was a son of the pioneer, Neal Shaw, who came here with his family from Virginia in 1832 and established his home in the woods in the vicinity of where Cridersville later was laid out. The Shaws have been prominently represented here ever since. John M. Shaw grew up on the home farm in Duchouquet township and after his marriage established his home on a farm in that same township and has ever since been engaged in farming, nOW the owner of a well kept farm of forty-four acres. He and his wife have four sons, the subject of this sketch having three brothers, Lawrence, Harvey and Homer Shaw. Reared on the home farm in Duchouquet township, Roy Shaw received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and remained with his father on the farm, helpful in the operations of the same, until after his marriage in his twenty-second year, when he moved to the farm of 103 acres in Union township, of which he is now the owner. Mr. Shaw is carrying on his farm operations in accordance with modern methods of agriculture and is doing well, feeding out 100 head of hogs and a car load of cattle annually. He is a Democrat and is affiliated with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Uniopolis. It was in July, 1909, that Roy Shaw was united in marriage to Blanche Miller, who was born in Union town-   632 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   ship, daughter of Joseph J. and Martha (Hardin) Miller, both members of pioneer families of that township, as is set out elsewhere in this volume, and to this union three children have been born, Milo Miller, Myron H. and Mildred Chloe. The Shaws have a pleasant home on rural mail route No. 1 out of Uniopolis and are very comfortably situated there.   HERMAN H. HOGE, a well known mill and lumberman of New Knoxville, a former member of the village council and for years recognized as one of the real "live wires" of that flourishing community, is a native son of Auglaize county, a member of one of the pioneer families here, and has resided here all his life, active in business and industrial affairs since the days of his young manhood. Mr. Hoge was born on a farm about two miles east of New Knoxville on September 7, 1869, and is a son of Henry and Henrietta (Wellemeyer) Hoge, who had come to this region with their respective parents from Germany in the days of their youth and were here married. The late Henry Hoge, for many years one of the well known residents of Washington township, was a well grown lad when he came here with his parents back in pioneer days and he worked here as a farm hand until after his marriage, when he bought a farm of fifty-five acres in the woods west of the creek in the southeast quarter of section 21 of Washington township and started in to clear that place and make a farm out of it. He later added to his holdings until he had a well improved farm of seventy-five acres and on that place spent his last days, his death occurring on August 13, 1921, he then being three days past eighty-eight years of age. To him and his wife were born eight children, four of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Anna, and two brothers, Louis and Ernst. Reared on the home farm in Washington township, Herman H. Hoge received his schooling in the local schools and as a young man took up the carpenter trade and became a proficient builder. For twelve years Mr. Hoge was thus engaged and during the latter three years of this period had a building crew of his own, becoming a well recognized contractor in that neighborhood, having established his home at New Knoxville after his marriage when twenty-three years of age. He then, in 1904, bought the plant of the New Knoxville Hoop Company, converted the same into a saw mill and started on his career as a general lumberman. This old plant occupied the site now covered by the plant of the Auglaize Tile Company and he continued in business at that point for some years, or until he bought the tract of land on which his present modern and extensive lumber mill and yards are now located, erected there a new and up-to-date plant and has since been engaged in business at that point, and has done well. Mr. Hoge carries on a general lumber milling business, with particular reference to the demand for timber for heavy construction work, bridge timbers, railroad ties and   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 633   the like, but also does an extensive business in building lumber, crating lumber and similar lighter forms, as well as such custom sawing as is called for in the neighborhood. In connection with this enterprise he also has a well stocked general lumber yard and carries with this a full stock of general building material, thus being in a position to meet all local demands along that line. Mr. Hoge has long been an active factor in the general development of his home town and has rendered considerable public-spirited service in the community. He is a Republican, served for some time as a member of the village council and also served for five years as a member of the village school board. It was on March 9, 1893, that Herman H. Hoge was united in marriage to Mary Oelrich, who was born on May 24, 1871, daughter of Henry and Mary (Peterjohann) Oelrich, and who also is a member of one of the pioneer families of Washington township, and tc this union have been born fourteen children, all of whom are living save three (Oscar, Albert and William, who died in childhood), the others being Laura, Arthur, Gustave, Rebecca, Marcella, Bertha, Esther, Joel, Olga, Ella and Oliver. The Hoges have a very pleasant home at New Knoxville. Mr. and Mrs. Hoge are members of the First Reformed church and have long taken an interested part in the general activities of that flourishing congregation, Mr. Hoge having served for nine years as a member of the board of trustees of the church and also for some time as a director of the church.   GRANVILLE H. CLARK, a former teacher in the schools of this county and one of the well known and substantial farmers and landowners of Auglaize county, proprietor of a well improved farm and a beautiful modern home along the St. Marys-Wapakoneta highway just west of Moulton, his land lying in both Washington and Moulton townships, was born in the latter township and has been resident of this county all his life. Mr. Clark was born on April 26 1862, and is a son of Jesse and Lucy (Rogers) Clark, both of whore were members of pioneer families in Delaware county, this state where they were born and married. Jesse Clark, who was a veterar of the Civil war, was reared to farming in Delaware county and after his marriage in 1847 went to Illinois with the expectation of making his home there. Not satisfied with conditions that far west he re. turned to Ohio in 1849 and settled in this county, entering from the Government a tract of land in the east half of section 28 and the west half of section 27 of Moulton township, where he established his horn( in the then woods and where he was living when the Civil war broke out, proprietor of a developing farm of 138 acres. In October, 1864 Jesse Clark entered the service of the Union army as a private it Company I of the 175th regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with this command was sent to the front where he not long afterward was taken prisoner by the enemy and was confined in Libby prison at   634 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   Richmond, where he remained until finally exchanged, seriously broken in health, and in June, 1865, the war then being over, received his honorable discharge. Upon the completion of his military service Jesse Clark returned home and tried to resume his old operations on the farm, but his horrid experience in the Rebel pen at Richmond had so far undermined his constitution that he not long afterward was compelled to give up and enter the Government hospital at Columbus, where he died, leaving his widow and nine children, those besides the subject of this sketch—the seventh in order of birth—having been Emma, Josephine, Rosa, Alice, Wellington, Worthington, Jesse and Gay. Granville H. Clark was but a lad when his father died. His mother kept the home and family together and he completed his schooling in the neighborhood school—district No. 8, at the cross roads just north of the Clark farm—and as a boy began clerking in the general store at Moulton, continuing thus occupied until his marriage at the age of twenty-one, when he began farming, establishing his home on the place on which he is now living, just west of Moulton, and has ever since resided on that place. For two winters (1892-4) Mr. Clark was engaged as a teacher in the schools of that neighborhood, but otherwise has pretty steadily devoted himself to the affairs of the farm, having gradually increased his land holdings until now he is the owner of a fine farm of 328 acres lying in Washington and Moulton townships, his home being situated in the latter township. In 1911 Mr. Clark erected his present handsome and modern brick residence on that farm, this house being recognized as one of the best finished structures between Wapakoneta and St. Marys. Of late years Mr. Clark has been assisted in the management of the farm by his younger son, Clinton Clark, who is carrying on in accordance with modern methods of agriculture. Mr. Clark is a Republican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local public affairs. During the time of America's participation in the World war he served as chairman of the first Liberty bond "drive" in Moulton township and he also served as treasurer of the Moulton township section of the work of the American Red Cross Society in this county. It was in 1883 that Granville H. Clark was united in marriage to Margaret Miller, who also was born in this county, daughter of Henry and Lena (Rodeheffer) Miller, and to this union two sons have been born, Hugh and Clinton, both of whom adopted chemistry as a profession and after their graduation from the St. Marys high school entered Ohio State University and were graduated from the department of chemistry of that institution, each there receiving his Master degree, after which they entered the University of Pittsburgh and were there granted their Doctor degrees, afterward doing research work in the Mellon Institute. Hugh Clark, the elder of these brothers, now engaged on the chemistry staff of the Aluminum Company of   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 635   America, manufacturers of "Everwear" aluminum, married Alma Boehrig and has two children, Jean and Paul. The younger brother, Clinton Clark, married Norma Herzing and has two children, Clinton and Nancy Louise. Upon completing his scholastic work, Clinton Clark was for seven years engaged in laboratory work for the Government, attached to the department carrying on research in behalf of pure food under the direction of Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, and was thus engaged until his father's failing health required his return home to take over the management of the farm. The Clark home is situated on rural mail route No. 2 out of Wapakoneta.   IRA L. PRICE, one of the well know and substantial farmers and stockmen of Clay township and proprietor of a well improved place just west of the pleasant village of St. Johns, rural mail route No. 1 out of Wapakoneta, was born in that township and has lived there and in the adjoining township of Union all his life. Mr. Price was born on March 19, 1874, and is a son of Benjamin and Eliza J. (Moore) Price, the latter of whom also was born in Clay township, a member of one of the pioneer families of that part of the county, the Moores having been early settlers of the St. Johns neighborhood. Benjamin Price, a veteran of the Civil war and formerly well known as a harness maker at St. Johns, was born at Westminster, in the neighboring county of Allen, and after his service as a soldier of the Union, became a farmer in Auglaize county and after his marriage established his home on a farm in Clay township and there lived until his retirement and removal to St. Johns, where his last days were spent as a harness maker. To him and his wife were born four children, three of whom are living, the subject of this Sketch having two sisters, Jennie M. and Amy A. Reared on the farm in Clay township, Ira L. Price received his schooling in the Lyons district school and from the days of his boyhood has been devoted to farming. He did not marry until past thirty years of age and then he began farming on his own account, buying a tract of twenty acres of land in Clay township, eight acres of which he cleared before he sold the place six months later. He then bought the old Morris farm of seventy acres in Union township and moved onto the same, three years later buying an adjoining "forty" there. In 1910 he moved back to Clay township, buying there a farm of ninety acres, to which a couple of years later he added an adjoining tract of fifty-three acres, this with his 110 acres in Union township giving him 253 acres. In 1915 he sold his Union township farm, but retained his Clay township holdings and early in 1917 bought a tract of seventy acres just east of St. Johns from F. A. Runkle. In 1919 he bought the Alfred Rogers farm of eighty-four acres and thus now has 298 acres, all of which is being farmed under his personal direction. Mr. Price has remodeled the buildings on his present home place   636 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   and has a very well equipped farm plant. In addition to his general farming he gives considerable attention to the raising of live stock, with particular reference to pure bred Hereford cattle, raised for breeding purposes, and also feeds out about 100 hogs a year. Mr. Price has been the sales manager of the Northwestern Ohio Hereford Breeders' Association ever since this association was organized in 1918. This association has attained the reputation of having been the most successful organization of its kind in the United States, in the matter of quality cattle and prices secured at its sales. These sales are held at the fair ground at Wapakoneta annually and in 1920 the sale held there reached a new record for Hereford association sales held in this country. Mr. Price also annually, in June, holds sales of his Herefords and has done much to promote the breeding of Hereford stock hereabout. It was on May 4, 1905, that Ira L. Price was united in marriage to Ethel Brackney, also a member of one of the pioneer families in Clay township, and to this union two children have been born, Ruth Irene, born on September 25, 1914, and one who died in infancy. Mrs. Price, who completed her schooling by attendance for two years at Ohio Northern University at Ada, is a daughter of Reuben and Samantha (Lusk) Brackney, both members of old families in Clay township, as is set out elsewhere. Mr. and Mrs. Price are Republicans and Mr. Price is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (No. 660) at St. Johns.   WILLIAM FREYMAN, a well known and substantial bachelor farmer of Duchouquet township, living on his well kept place just Southeast of Wapakoneta, is a member of one of the real pioneer families of this county, his grandfather, John M. Freyman, a Bavarian, having settled here in 1833, the year following the departure of the Indians from their old reservation lands here. John M. Freyman was born in the kingdom of Bavaria and in 1828 came to this country with his wife and the children that then had been born to them and for awhile thereafter made his home in Pennsylvania. Not long afterward, however, he came over into Ohio and settled in Butler county, where he remained until the Wapakoneta Indian reservation lands here were opened for settlement in 1832, when he came up here and entered from the Government an "eighty" in the southeast quarter of section 33 of Duchouquet township, less than a mile southeast of the village of Wapakoneta, and in the next year brought his family here and established his home on that place, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1863. His widow survived him for six years, her death occurring in 1869. Andrew Freyman, one of the sons of this pioneer couple, and father of the subject of this sketch, was ten years of age when he came with his parents from Bavaria in 1828 and was fifteen years of age when the   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 637   family settled in the Wapakoneta neighborhood in 1833, the year after the Indians had departed for their new lands in the West. On that pioneer farm there in the Quaker Run valley he grew to manhood and after his marriage established his home on the place, which after the death of his parents he came into by inheritance. His wife, who was Salina Fetter, a member of one of the pioneer families here, also had a "forty," which he farmed as well as his own "eighty," and besides these tracts he bought a farm of fifty-five acres in Pusheta township, to the operation of which he likewise gave his personal attention, and as his affairs prospered added to his holdings until the home place comprised 160 acres and was regarded as one of the best improved farms in that neighborhood. There Andrew Freyman spent his last days, his death occurring in 1902, he then being eighty-four years of age. To him and his wife were born thirteen children, six of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having three sisters, Mary, Caroline and Barbara, and two brothers, Michael and Alexander Freyman. The deceased children of this family were one who died in infancy, John, John (II), Andrew, Charles, Anna and Elizabeth. William Freyman, son of Andrew and Salina (Fetter) Freyman, was born on the old Freyman farm on January 4, 1866, and has lived there all his life. He received his schooling at Wapakoneta and from the days of his boyhood has been devoted to the affairs of the farm. Following the death of his parents he bought the home place of 160 acres and has continued to farm the place, also operating a good farm of 116 acres in Pusheta township. In addition to his general farming Mr. Freyman has long given considerable attention to the raising of live stock and has done well in his operations. He has a pleasant home on rural route No. 1 out of Wapakoneta. He is a member of the Evangelical church, is a Republican and is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta.   ELMER HULBERT YOUNGS, a member of the board of county commissioners for Auglaize county and a substantial farmer and landowner of St. Marys township, proprietor of a well improved farm on the St. Marys-New Bremen highway (rural mail route No. 4 out of New Bremen), where he makes his home, one of the best known men in this county, is a native son of Auglaize county, a member of one of the pioneer families here, and has been a resident of this county all his life. Mr. Youngs was born on a farm on the eastern edge of St. Marys township, about two miles southeast of St. Marys, July 8, 1866, and is a son of Joseph and Jerusha (Doute) Youngs, the latter of whom was a member of the pioneer Doute family which was so prominent in the early affairs of the St. Marys settlement. As a young man Joseph Youngs became engaged in the harness and saddlery business at St. Marys and was thus engaged for some time, or until   638 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   he bought a farm over east of town and there established his home, becoming, in time, one of the substantial landowners of that part of the county, the owner of a tract of 220 acres lying in St. Marys and Washington townships. On that place he spent his last days, his death occurring in 1881. He and his wife were members of the Carter Creek United Brethren church and their children were reared in that faith. There were four of these children, the subject of this sketch having had three brothers, Martin, James and Friedus Youngs, all now deceased. James Youngs was born on August 26, 1851, and died on February 11, 1921. For many years he was engaged in the livery business at Wapakoneta. In 1900 he married Alice Pratt and to him and his wife were born three sons, Roy, Ray and Jay. Friedus Youngs, who died on January 15, 1916, made his home on the old Youngs home place in St. Marys township. He married Mary Barrington, of that township, and had seven children, Bess, Kate, Harvey, Alice, Gail, Ferd and Corinne. Reared on the home farm in St. Marys township, Elmer H. Youngs completed his schooling in the schools at St. Marys and from the days of his boyhood was well trained in the ways of farming. He married at the age of twenty- two years and for some time thereafter was variously engaged at St. Marys, presently becoming engaged in the wholesale liquor business, and was thus engaged until 1908, when he bought his present farm of 105 acres on the St. Marys-New Bremen road (the old Wayne trail), about three miles south of St. Marys, and there established his home and has since been engaged in farming, having developed there one of the best farm plants in that part of the county. Mr. Youngs is an ardent Republican and has long been looked upon as one of the leaders of that party in this county. In the campaign of 1920 he was nominated as the candidate for county commissioner from his district and in the November election of that year was elected and is now serving as a member of the board of county commissioners, his term of service to run to December, 1925. It was in 1888 that Elmer H. Youngs was united in marriage to Lulu Hawkey, of St. Marys, also a member of one of the pioneer families of this county, a daughter of Lloyd Hawkey, and to this union two children have been born, sons both, Elmer and Mont, the latter of whom married Paula Laut, a daughter of Henry Laut, of New Bremen, and has four children, Margaret, Catherine, Rosemary and Carol. The junior Elmer Youngs married Mary White, of St. Marys, and has three children, John, Catherine and William. The Youngs attend the Methodist Episcopal church at St. Marys.   CLARENCE E. WANAMAKER, former ticket agent for the Western Ohio Electric Railway Company at Wapakoneta and later engaged in the restaurant business in that city, proprietor of a lunch room on Blackhoof street, who died in that city on February 26,   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 639   1923, after a brief illness, was born at Wapakoneta on May 25, 1889, and was a son of Oscar and Flora (Hipp) Wanamaker, the latter of whom was born at St. Marys, this county, and who are now living at Royal Oak, Mich. Oscar Wanamaker was born at Albany, Ind., and when about seventeen years of age moved to Ottoville, Ohio. Some years later he moved to St. Marys, where he became employed in the Nietert & Koop mill and continued with that concern until he learned the milling business. He married at St. Marys and about 1886 moved to Wapakoneta, where he became engaged in the Stenger mill, and here he remained for twenty years or more, ten years of which time he served as chief of police for the city of Wapakoneta. In 1907 he moved to Madison, Wis., where he became engaged in construction work, and there he remained until 1918, when he moved to Royal Oak, Mich., where he and his wife are now living, he being employed in the works of the Ford Motor Company of Detroit. To Oscar Wanamaker and wife two sons were born, the subject of this memorial sketch having had a brother, Gilbert, who died in early childhood. Reared at Wapakoneta, where he was born, the late Clarence E. Wanamaker received his schooling in the schools of that city, and early learned the barber trade, a vocation he followed at Wapakoneta for five years, at the end of which time he went to Day-. ton and there became employed in the plant of the National Cash Register Company, later transferring his connection to the plant of the Mercantile Corporation, manufacturers of stamped envelopes for the Government, and remained there for some years, during which time he was married in that city. In 1910 Mr. Wanamaker returned to Wapakoneta and became employed there as the local ticket agent for the Western Ohio Electric Railway Company, a position he occupied for five years, at the end of which time he built a small building just south of and adjoining the traction station and opened in the same a confectionery shop. This establishment he continued to operate for five years and then, on September 1, 1920, bought the restaurant he continued to operate until his death, and had been quite successful in that business. Upon taking over that business Mr. Wanamaker remodeled the place and had an up-to-date and attractive lunch room, serving both "short orders" and regular meals, and built up an excellent trade. Mr. Wanamaker was a Democrat and in 1917 was a candidate for the office of city auditor. He was a member of the local lodges of the Freemasons, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Fraternal Order of Eagles and was affiliated with the local Swabian Society. He was a member of St. Paul's Evangelical church as is his widow. It was on September 12, 1910, while living at Dayton, that Clarence E. Wanamaker was united in marriage to Trela Fletcher, of that city, and to this union two sons were born, Leslie, born on February   640 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   26, 1914, and Donald E., August 1, 1920. Mrs. Wanamaker was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, December 14, 1890, and is the daughter of Pressley and Nora (Uhrig) Fletcher, both of whom also were born in that city. When eleven years of age she moved with her parents to Dayton, where she completed her schooling and where her parents still are living, her father being a machinist there. Mrs. Wanamaker has a brother, Karl Fletcher.   CARL DANIEL FISCHER, who in his generation was one of the most influential factors in the development of the commercial and industrial activities of the city of Wapakoneta and who died at his home in Terre Haute, Ind., in 1921, was a native of Germany, born on June 19, 1855, at Elben-by-Naumberg-Kreis, Wolfhagen-Castle, where his youth was spent and where he received excellent schooling. When eighteen years of age he came to America and joined his elder brother, Ditmar Fischer, who had preceded him to this country some years before and who had become engaged in the retail grocery business at Wapakoneta. Carl Daniel Fischer arrived at Wapakoneta in 1873, just at a time when the village was beginning to emerge from its pioneer state, and it was not long until the impress of his personality was beginning to be felt in the development work then going on. He became associated with his brother Ditmar in the grocery business, this position giving him an excellent opportunity to extend his acquaintance throughout the community, and he thus became one of the best known young men hereabout, an asset which became invaluable to him in the years to come. Five years after his arrival here he married, and for some years thereafter continued engaged in the grocery business, to which a pork-packing department had been added. Attracted by reports from Florida and the promise of possibilities there awaiting newcomers in that field, he moved to that state, where he became engaged in the grocery business, but not finding things there to his liking he presently returned to Wapakoneta and took over his brother's grocery store, entering into a partnership with the senior Charles F. Herbst. Not long afterward he and Mr. Herbst organized the Wapakoneta Spoke and Bending Company, which eventually became merged into the present wheel works at St. Marys, and upon severing his connection with that concern became interested in the management of the Wapakoneta Wheel Company, was elected secretary and manager of the same and presently was made president of the company, a position he occupied for twenty-five years or until the time of its reorganization and his removal to Terre Haute, Ind., where he became president of the Standard Wheel Company, extended his manufacturing interests and spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in 1921. It was in that city that he also established the Standard Machine Company and the Standard Malleable Castings Company, which were carried to their present successful   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 641   development under his direction. In 1891, prior to his removal to Terre Haute Mr. Fischer had organized a company and established a factory adjacent to the wheel works at Wapakoneta for the manufacture of machinery, machine knives and tools, which plant, known as the Wapakoneta Machine Company, is today one of the best known establishments of its kind in the country and a valuable industry in this county. Mr. Fischer continued as president of this concern until his death, though since 1904 the active management of the plant had been in the hands of his son, Carl Ditmar Fischer, present president and general manager of the concern, as is set out elsewhere in this work. Without thought of creating invidious distinctions, it properly enough may be said that the late Carl Daniel Fischer was perhaps one of the most vital personal forces in industrial development in this community. His efforts in Wapakoneta's behalf bore fruit, several of the enterprising manufacturing industries of that city having been secured through the direction of his initiative while serving years ago as president of the local Chamber of Commerce, these including the Wapakoneta Hollow Ware Company, the Krein Chain Company and some others, the period of his service in this behalf marking Wapakoneta's greatest industrial expansion. Mr. Fischer was a Scottish Rite (32̊) Mason and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. During the terms for 1896-1901 he was the worshipful master of Homer lodge No. 167, Free and Accepted Masons, at Wapakoneta, his term of service in that connection having been the second longest of any individual in the seventy-five years of the lodge's history. He also was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Fischer was twice married. It was on August 15, 1878, that he was united in marriage to Louise Upmeyer, of Wapakoneta, and to that union were born four children, two daughters, Margaret and Amelia, both of whom now are deceased, and two sons, Carl Ditmar Fischer, concerning whom further and fitting mention is made elsewhere in this work, and Emil J. Fischer, now living at Terre Haute and who succeeded his father as president of the Standard Wheel Company of that city. Mrs. Louise Fischer died in July, 1892, and in 1902 Mr. Fischer married Daisy Lucas, who bore him two sons, Hans and Lucas Fischer, now residing at Terre Haute.   ERNEST J. ROGERS, a veteran of the World war and one of the most progressive young farmers and stockmen in Auglaize county, operator of the old Rogers farm at St. Johns, successor in these operations to his father, the late John Rogers, was born on that farm, there on the edge of the pleasant village of St. Johns, in Clay township, the site of the old Blackhoof Indian village, and has lived there all his life. Mr. Rogers was born on March 15, 1894, and is a son of John and Hannah (Bitler) Rogers, both of whom also were (40)   642 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   born and reared in that same vicinity, members of real pioneer families there, son and daughter, respectively, of the founders of the village of St. Johns. It will be recalled that it was John Rogers— the senior John Rogers, the pioneer—who settled there in the northwest quarter of section 5 of Clay township in 1833, the year following the departure of the Indians, and that Daniel Bitler settled on an adjoining tract in the following year and opened on his land a store and a blacksmith shop, thus providing the nucleus for the later growth of the village which was platted by the joint owners of the site (Bitler and Rogers) in 1835. John Rogers was a New Yorker by birth but had come to Ohio with his parents when he was fourteen years of age, the family settling in Richland county, where he grew to manhood and was married. In 1833 he entered from the Government the tract above referred to, which then was a part of Union township, Allen county, and when in the next year (1834) Clay township was erected he was a judge of the first election held in that town. ship and was elected township trustee. He afterward also served for many years as justice of the peace and in other ways was a useful and influential public servant in the days of the beginning of that community, he and his wife Mary having been among the leading factors in the development of proper social conditions thereabout. This pioneer was eighty years of age at the time of his death in 1880. The junior John Rogers, a son of these pioneers and father of the subject of this sketch, grew to manhood on that farm there at St. Johns and after his marriage to his neighbor, Hannah Bitler, established his home there and became a farmer by his own right, eventually becoming the owner of a fine farm of 320 acres, a part of which extended over the line in Union township, and early became recognized as one of the leading livestock men in the county, particularly as a promoter of the breeding of big type Poland-China hogs. On that place he spent his last days, his death occurring on January 26, 1918, and his widow still survives him. To them were born six children, all of whom are living, the subject of this sketch having three sisters, Rae, Grace and Nelle, and two brothers, Guy and George W. Rogers. Reared on the old home place at St. Johns, Ernest J. Rogers received his early schooling in the village schools there, supplementing this by attendance on the Wapakoneta high school, from which he was graduated in 1911, and then he took a course of one year at Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. He then returned to the farm and continued active there in the operationS his father was carrying on and after his father's death in 1918 assumed direction of affairs on the farm and has since been in charge. During the time of America's participation in the World war Mr. Rogers rendered service, serving in the field artillery from July 24, 1918, to the time of his discharge on January 5, 1919, the war then   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 643   being over. Since taking charge of the operations of the home farm Mr. Rogers has extended these operations, giving his particular attention to the raising of live stock, and feeds out about 200 hogs a year. He also has 400 or more Merino sheep. On September 14, 1922, Ernest J. Rogers was united in marriage to Elizabeth K. Meyer, who was born at Wapakoneta on September 25, 1895, daughter of William H. and Minnie (Smith) Meyer, and who was graduated from the Wapakoneta high school in 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have a very pleasant home at St. Johns and take an interested part in the general social activities of that community. Mr. Rogers is a member of Auglaize post, No. 330, American Legion, at Wapakoneta, and is a member of the college fraternity Phi Gamma Delta.   CARL F. WERNER, junior member of the firm of Jacob Werner & Son, beef and pork packers and shippers of live stock at Wapakoneta, was born at Wapakoneta on September 30, 1896, and is a son of Jacob and Lura (Herbst) Werner, the latter of whom is a member of one of the old families in this county, a daughter of Alois and Amelia Herbst. Jacob Werner was born at Leichtenan, Baden, Germany, December 3, 1872, and in his native country learned something of the butcher trade. When seventeen years of age he came to this country and for a time worked as a farm hand in the Anna neighborhood in Shelby county, Ohio. He then located at Wapakoneta and there became employed in the Schilling meat market, continuing thus engaged until in 1894, when he formed a partnership with George Bridenweiser. Later he became a partner of Harry Kah in the meat business and this connection continued until in 1916, when the present firm of Werner & Son was established. To Jacob and Lura (Herbst) Werner six children have been born, those besides the subject of this sketch being Frank, Norma, Howard, Florence and John. Frank Werner married Bonnie Sibert and has one child, a son, Joseph. The Werners are members of the German Lutheran church. Jacob Werner is a member of the Swabian Society and is also affiliated with the Odd Fellows, the Elks and the Eagles. Reared at Wapakoneta, Carl F. Werner was graduated from the high school there in 1914 and then spent a year pursuing a business course in the Lima Business College. In his father's meat market at Wapakoneta he had obtained a pretty good general knowledge of the details of the retail meat business and upon leaving college he entered the employ of Buehler Bros., retail meat dealers at Lima, and was for eight months engaged there as a meat cutter, thus extending his experience along that line. He then spent eight months in the employ of J. Boyd Douglas in Lima, furthering his practical experience, and then returned home and entered into a partnership with his father, Jacob Werner, a retail meat dealer of years of experience at Wapakoneta, who had bought from his partner, Harry Kah, the   644 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   latter's interest in the business there, the new concern being incorporated in 1919 under the firm style of Jacob Werner & Son. This new concern straightway began to enlarge its plant and the scope of its trade area and now has the largest packing plant in Auglaize county, killing weekly about 100 hogs, twenty-five cattle and all the calves that can be obtained. Included in the mechanical equipment of the Werner plant are two coolers of ample dimensions, a ten-ton ammonia refrigerating plant, three motor trucks, a fifteen-horsepower electric motor and a gasoline engine, and in addition to the retail establishment maintained at Wapakoneta also maintains retail branches at Lima, Celina and St. Marys, thus providing a wide outlet for the products of the poking plant, which in the few years of its development has come to be recognized as one of the important industries of the town. On April 4, 1917, Carl F. Werner was united in marriage to Cecile Miller, who also was born in Wapakoneta, daughter and only child of Ora J. and May (Hardesty) Miller, and who was graduated from the Wapakoneta high school in 1915. Mrs. Werner's father, the late Ora J. Miller, a motorman in the employ of the Western Ohio Electric Railroad Company, met his death in a collision on that road in 1904 and in 1916 his widow married Frank Budde, who is now employed in the establishment of Werner & Son. Carl F. Werner, who is recognized as one of the enterprising and public spirited young men of his home town, is a member of the Wapakoneta Commercial Club and of the Kiwanis Club and is also affiliated with the local lodges of the Freemasons, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Fraternal Order of Eagles and with the local Swabian Society.   CLIFFORD V. HUENKE, mayor of New Bremen, vice president and general manager of the White Mountain Creamery Company, president of the Allied Dairy Products Association of Ohio, former secretary of the Ohio Creamery Butter Manufacturers Association, president of the Auglaize Furniture Company of New Bremen, vice president of the First National Bank of that city and a member of the directorate of the First City Bank and in other ways actively interested in the civic and industrial affairs of the community, is a native son of Auglaize county and has lived here all his life. Mr. Huenke was born in September, 1882, son of Louis and Emma (Wulfeck) Huenke, and was reared at New Bremen. He was graduated from the local high school in 1901 and then took a commercial course under A. D. Wilt at the Miami Commercial School at Dayton, following this by a course in agriculture in Ohio State University, where he specialized in dairying with a view to the practical application of this course of instruction in the operation of the great dairy interests that were being developed by his father in his home town. Thus equipped, in 1904 he was placed in technical charge of the creamery at New   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 645   Bremen and when (after the plant at St. Marys was established), the White Mountain Creamery Company was incorporated, he was elected vice president and general manager of the same and has since occupied that position. In the exercise of his duties in that behalf he has done wonders in the way of developing the resources and extending the products of this widely known company. In the meantime he had taken a special course in butter making in the well equipped agricultural department of Iowa State College at Ames and had thus expanded his capacity for bringing to bear every accepted utility of modern dairying science in the operation of the White Mountain industries. As the demands upon the company's products grew it became necessary to widen their field of activity and consequently branches were established at Lima and at Ottawa, these being operated by the subsidiary company, the White Mountain Dairy Company, of which Mr. Huenke also is the vice president and general manager; and in 1910 the big corporation began the manufacture of ice cream, a unit of the business that has grown until now it is turning out 300,000 gallons of ice cream annually. In 1921 the company plants turned out 4,250,000 pounds of butter. In addition to the great parent plant at New Bremen, this company maintains an admirably equipped experimental farm on the place and is constantly seeking to improve the quality of its products. The New Bremen plant was erected in 1908 and has a capacity of 20,000 pounds of butter a day. Further details regarding the inception and development of this important industry are set out in the biography relating to Louis Huenke, president of the White Mountain Creamery Company and father of the subject of this sketch, carried elsewhere in this volume, and to which the attention of the reader is directed in this connection. Clifford Huenke has come to be recognized as one of the leading dairy men and butter manufacturers in the country and has rendered valuable service in his fight against dairy substitutes, such as oleomargarine and the like, and has conscientiously and consistently sought to develop the interests of farm dairy products generally. For five years he served as a member of the executive committee of the American Creamery Butter Manufacturers Association, to which he has been re-elected for two years, was one of the organizers and for six years was the secretary of the Ohio Creamery Butter Manufacturers Association, is now the president of the Allied Dairy Products Association of Ohio and is also president of the Ohio Creamery Butter Manufacturers Association. He is a Republican and for the past seven years has been retained by successive re-elections in the office of mayor of New Bremen, his executive and administrative capacity having thus been attested by the people of that town. During the period of America's participation in the World war, Mr. Huenke served as vice chairman of the Western Auglaize chapter of the   646 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   American Red Cross, was chairman of the War Chest committee for this district, was at the head of several of the Liberty Loan "drives" in that part of the county and was also Ohio's representative of the dairy interests in the food conservation movement under Herbert Hoover, Federal food administrator. As noted above, he is also the president of the Auglaize Furniture Company of New Bremen and is a member of the boards of directors of both the First National Bank and of the First City Bank of New Bremen and vice president of the former. He is affiliated with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at New Bremen and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta. Mr. Huenke married Martha Diecker, daughter of William and Louise Diecker, and he and his wife have a very pleaSant home at New Bremen.   A. MERCHANT FINLEY, a member of the Clay township school board and proprietor of a well improved farm in the eastern part of that township, was born in Clay township and has lived there all his life. Mr. Finley was born on a farm in the west half of section 13 on April 6, 1869, and is a son of John M. and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Finley, both of whom also were born in Ohio. The late John M. Finley was born in Union county, and as a young man came to Auglaize county, settling in Clay township. After his marriage he began farming on his own account and became the owner of an excellent farm of 120 acres, on which his last days were spent. He and his wife were the parents of six children, all of whom are living save one son, Elmer, who died at the age of eighteen months, the subject of this sketch having three sisters, Flora, Minnie and Mary, and a brother, William Finley. Reared on the farm on which he was born, A. Merchant Finley received his schooling in the nearby Dobie school (district No. 4) and was early trained to the ways of farming. He remained at home, a valued assistant in the operations of the home farm, until his marriage at the age of twenty-six years, when he began farming for himself, renting fields from his father, and was thus engaged for seven years, at the end of which time he bought his present farm of 120 acres and has since carried out an extensive program of development on that place, including the erection of a new set of buildings and a dwelling house equipped with running water and an electric light plant and the modern conveniences which go with such an equipment, and is thus regarded as having one of the best farm plants in that neighborhood. In addition to this farm, Mr. Finley is farming a tract of seventy acres which was inherited by his wife, being assisted in his operations by his son Lester, the operations of the two thus covering 190 acres. Mr. Finley is a Republican and has ever given a good citizens's attention to local civic affairs, at present serving as a member of the local school board. He is a past noble grand of the local lodge (No. 660) of the Inde-   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 647   pendent Order of Odd Fellows at St. Johns. It was on July 7, 1895, that A. Merchant Finley was united in marriage to Mary Martin, also of Clay township, and to this union have been born four children, all of whom are living save one daughter, Ivy, who died in infancy, the others being Lester, Gladys and Edith, the two latter of whom are still in school, attending the Dobie school. Lester Finley, as noted above, is assisting his father in the operations of the farm. Mrs. Mary Finley was born in Clay township and is a daughter of John and Martha (Powell) Martin. She has a sister, Zurah, and a brother, Edward Martin. The Finley home is very pleasantly situated on rural mail route No. 1 out of St. Johns.   HUGH GROSS, a former trustee of Union township and a well known farmer of that township, residing on his pleasant place about two miles and a half northeast of Uniopolis, was born on that lam there in the valley of Virginia creek and is attached to the place by many warm ties of sentimental association. Mr. Gross was born on September 27, 1867, and is a son of Daniel and Lydia (Hardin) Gross, the latter a member of one of the pioneer families of Union township and who are now living retired at Waynesfield. Daniel Gross, a veteran of the Civil war, was born at Wapakoneta and is son of John and Elizabeth Gross, who had come here from the grand duchy of Baden and had settled at Wapakoneta in the days when the county seat was little more than a straggling village there at the site of the old Indian town. John Gross was a brewer by vocation anc upon locating at Wapakoneta became engaged in the brewing business, a vocation he followed for some years or until the lure of the West attracted him and he moved to Wisconsin, where he bought farm and spent the remainder of his life. Daniel Gross grew up in this county and was living here when the Civil war broke out. Upon the organization of the 37th regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, h( enlisted his services in behalf of the cause of the Union and went t( the front with that gallant command, his service with the 37th cover ing a period of three years and five days, during which time he par ticipated in no fewer than twenty-seven engagements with the enemy Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Gross returned horn( and not long thereafter was married and established his home on an "eighty" owned by his wife in Union township, a part of the old Har din farm there in the northeast quarter of section 16, and there con tinned engaged in farming until his retirement in 1919 and remova to Waynesfield, where he and his wife are now living. To them have been born twelve children, all of whom are living save three, Joseph Jacob and Eva L., the survivors (besides the subject of this sketch: being Ida M., John W., Sarah, Charles P., Mark, Marion D., Milli and Nettie M. Reared on the farm where he was born and where he is now living, Hugh Gross received his schooling in the neighbor   648 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   hood schools and as a young man became engaged in working in the oil fields throughout this section of Ohio. For twelve years continued thus engaged and then he took employment as a railway bridge carpenter and for five years thereafter was engaged in that vocation, much of this time being spent on construction work in the South, and it was while thus engaged that he married. In 1908 Mr. Gross returned to Auglaize county and bought a tract of something more than forty-nine acres in Union township and settled down to f arming. He made his home on that place until his father's retirement from the old home farm in 1919, when he took charge of this latter place, renting the farm from his father, and has since been living there. Mr. Gross is a Democrat and for two terms served as a member of the board of trustees for Union township. He and his wife are members of the Christian Union church. It was in September, 1889, at Huntsville, Ala., that Hugh Gross was united in marriage to Vera L. Erwin, who was born in that city, daughter of James Alfred Erwin, and to this union two daughters have been born, Effie and Ida, the latter of whom is the wife of John W. Webb. Effie Gross married Harvey B. Frazier and has three children, Lucille, Coral E. and Isabel. The Gross home is pleasantly situated on rural mail route No. 1 out of Uniopolis.   JOSEPH MORTON HOWELL, M. D., the first envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Egypt and who is now thus serving in the Legation of the United States at Cairo, is a native son of Auglaize county and has ever retained a hearty interest in all that pertains to his native county, with particular reference to the interests centering in and about the Waynesfield and Uniopolis neighborhoods, where the preparatory years of his useful career were spent. Doctor Howell was born at Uniopolis on March 17, 1863, and is a son of Joseph Giles and Jane (Miller) Howell, both of whom were members of pioneer families in that section of the county, the latter a member of the famous Miller family reared at Uniopolis, of which family there were seven sons and two daughters. Five of these sons became regularly ordained ministers of the gospel and became distinguished in the communions of their respective affiliations. The other two sons were farmers of whom it has been said that they "were noted for their piety, splendid citizenship and high sense of honor." Mrs. Jane Miller Howell, mother of the Doctor, has been referred to as "a woman of great piety and amiability, unassuming in manner and universally loved by all with whom she came in contact." Those who recall those days say that it was her wont during "protracted meetings" to rise in her pew and give religious talks "burning with such zeal and accompanied by such masterly logic and pathos as to melt the entire audience to tears." Joseph Giles Howell, father of the Doctor, has been referred to as a man of   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 649   many facets. Born and reared as he was amid pioneer conditions in Union township, his educational advantages necessarily were limited, but by dint of hard work and perseverance he acquired much more than ordinary education. He possessed an analytical mind and early turned to the study of theology, displaying therein his talents in a quite remarkable manner as a local preacher in the Methodist church. He was an ardent Republican. Religiously opposed to the sale of intoxicating liquors, he was an active foe of the saloon and it is narrated that though many attempts were made to establish a saloon in Waynesfield while he lived on his farm adjacent thereto he was invariably successful in thwarting the accomplishment of such a design. Doctor Howell received his early schooling in the schools of Waynesfield and for three winters was engaged as a teacher in the district schools of this county. He then entered Ohio Northern University at Ada and received from that institution the degree of Master of Arts. Meanwhile he had been giving his serious attention to the study of medicine and under the preceptorship of Dr. Henry L. Mann at Wapakoneta was prepared for entrance in the medical department of the Ohio State University (Starling Medical College), from which institution he was graduated on March 4, 1885, the youngest man up to that time ever graduated from the institution. In June, 1922, Otterbein University conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. Upon receiving his diploma Doctor Howell located at Washington C. H., where he practiced his profession until a little more than twenty-five years ago, when he moved to Dayton and began to specialize in surgery, becoming very successful. For years Doctor Howell has been especially interested in political economy and has made first-hand studies along this line during his extensive travels, these travels having taken him into every country on the globe. As a continuing student of medicine and surgery and while he was in the active practice of his profession he took advantage of the best seats of learning in both Europe and America. He has been a liberal contributor to medical journals and is also the author of an interesting literary production detailing incidents of a Mediterranean cruise and a side trip across Europe. Doctor Howell was made the president of the first local board of health at Dayton in 1910 and while serving in that capacity placed Dayton in high rank in the matter of sanitation and hygiene. Through the legislative function of this board the Doctor was the author of numerous of the state laws now operating in the control of matters of a hygienic character, one of the most important of these being the milk bottling law, of which he was the author, and which precipitated a fight in which the validity of his law was sustained by the court. Later, at the request of Governor Willis, he became a member of the state board of health and in this capacity introduced and had passed measures along sanitary lines which have   650 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   benefited the whole commonwealth. Almost continuously for the past twenty years and until he severed his connection as such official shortly before leaving for his new post in the diplomatic field, the Doctor has been president of the board of United States examining surgeons of the National Military Home at Dayton. On two occasions he was selected by the Governor to represent Ohio at the National Medical Congress, and it is interesting to note that it was he who made the last speech and cast the deciding vote which gave to the United States a national board of medical examiners. He has occupied prominent places in both the state and national medical societies, was one of the founders of the national association for the study and prevention of infant mortality and served continuously as a member of the board of directors of that body until just before he left to enter upon his diplomatic mission in Egypt. During the time of this country's participation in the World war the Doctor served as a medical examiner in the Government's behalf, with particular reference to indigent war claims. It waS on October 7, 1921, that Doctor Howell received from President Harding his appointment as diplomatic agent and consul general of the United States to Egypt. When a change of governmental status was brought about in that country, whereby Egypt became an independent and sovereign state, the President appointed the Doctor the first envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from this country to the new court. In this connection, it is proper to state that this appointment received the unanimous indorsement of the twenty-three members of the Ohio delegation in Congress at a caucus held in Washington. Doctor Howell's address delivered before the King of Egypt on the occasion of presenting to the court his letter of credence attracted international recognition and was regarded as a "master stroke" of modern diplomacy. The Doctor is a Republican, a Freemason and an Odd Fellow, is a present member of the Mohamed Ali Club, the elite social club of Cairo, and he and his entire family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. On April 10, 1884, at Catawba, Ohio, Dr. Joseph Morton Howell was united in marriage to Eva Flood, daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Mercer and Emily (Smith) Flood, of that place, and to this union two children have been born, a daughter, Lorena Caroline, who married Robert H. Turner, of Dayton, and a son, Frederick Morton Howell, who married Elizabeth St. Clair, of Jacksonville, Fla. Mrs. Howell's maternal grandfather Smith served seventeen continuous terms in the Ohio state Legislature, which term of service is believed to constitute the record for continuous service as a legislator in America. Her father, the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Mercer Flood, was long recognized as one of Ohio's greatest pulpit orators, and not a few of the older residents of Auglaize county will recall his famous debate with the distinguished Doctor Summerbell on "The Trinity," Doctor Flood taking the affirmative in the debate, which   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 651   later was presented in book form, some of these books no doubt still being preserved in some of the older private libraries of this county.   JOSEPH GERHARD PLATVOET, the veteran mail messenger and former proprietor of the city transfer line at Wapakoneta, who died at his home in that city in the fall of 1921, was "widely known for his diligence and for his painstaking devotion to his work," as a local newspaper put it at the time of his death. "One of the chief attributes of Mr. Platvoet's life may be summed up in one word, promptness," continued this newspaper's appreciation of the deceased's life and services to the community. "He was the local mail messenger for ten years and delivered mail to fifteen trains a day. This work demanded his services at many different times throughout the day and night. There is a penalty exacted by the Post- office Department for missing a train with first-class mail, but throughout his many years of service Mr. Platvoet never missed a train or paid penalty a single time. * * * He was a man who could be depended upon and many times his promptness has been the subject of comment and admiration on the part of the local people." Joseph G. Platvoet was born on a farm three miles east of Botkins, in Shelby county, Ohio, June 16, 1863, and was a son of Gerhart and Elizabeth (Frekers) Platvoet, both of whom were of European birth, the former born in Holland and the latter in Prussia, and who were married in Cincinnati, both having come to this country with their respective parents in the days of their youth. Gerhart Platvoet was trained as a cooper in the days of his youth but after his marriage settled on a farm east of Botkins and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They had eight children. Joseph G. Platvoet was reared on that farm east of Botkins and made his home there until he was twenty-one years of age, when he went to Ft. Recovery and was for two years a resident of that place, making his home there with an elder sister. He then located at Wapakoneta, where he became engaged as a drayman and after his marriage at the age of twenty-five established his home in that city, of which he thus at the time of his death had been a resident for thirty-six years. When the Standard Oil Company established a local distributing station at Wapakoneta Mr. Platvoet was engaged as distributor, handling the oil then in barrels, and thus became the first local oil man in the town. He afterward operated the city transfer line and in 1911 was given the contract to handle the mail in transit between the postoffice and the railway stations, a service which he maintained to the end and the faithfulness of which has been commented on above. Mr. Platvoet was a Democrat and for some time represented his ward in the city council. He was a member of St. Joseph's Catholic church, as is his widow, and their children   652 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   were reared in that faith. In 1888 Joseph G. Platvoet was married to Mary Nester, of Wapakoneta, and to this union were born seven children, four of whom survive, namely : Mrs. Rosina SheetS, of Botkins ; Richard W. Platvoet, of Wapakoneta, and Urban and Margaret, who are at home with their mother. A daughter, Elizabeth, lost her life in a river tragedy some years ago, when a boat capsized in the Auglaize. Two other children died in infancy. Mr. Platvoet died at his home, 104 Harrison street, November 24, 1921, and his widow has continued to make her home in Wapakoneta. She is the sole survivor of the four children born to her parents, Joseph and Rosina (Fisher) Nester, the latter of whom was born at Freyburg, in Pusheta township, this county. Joseph Nester was a native of Germany. He was married at Freyburg and made his home at Wapakoneta, where for years he followed his vocation as a blacksmith.   CARR V. VAN ANDA, managing editor of the New York Times, has long been regarded as one of the most interesting figures in the newspaper world. He is among the celebrities of journalism, whose name is familiar to the fraternity on both sides of the Atlantic. Carr V. Van Anda was born in Georgetown, Ohio, December 2, 1864. His father was Frederick C. Van Anda, an attorney by profession and his mother Mariah E. (Davis) Van Anda. Though born in Georgetown, the honor of nurturing him in his formative years must be accorded to Wapakoneta, to which place the family moved on May 5, 1871. Young Van Anda attended the public school of his new home and early evinced a precocious mind, and it was predicted that he would climb high on the ladder of fame. For years his record of scholarship was held as a model to succeeding classes, and few, if any, have ever attained it. He was but fifteen years of age when he was graduated from the Wapakoneta high school. The following year he was privately tutored by Prof. William Hoover, a noted mathematician, and Dr. W. H. Minnich, in preparation for college. He attended Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, in 1880-82 but did not graduate. Mr. Van Anda was born a newspaper man. From his earliest childhood his thoughts were of printing. Even at the early age of six years he established a newspaper, and perhaps a record as the youngest editor. His paper was a double sheet of foolscap upon the four pages of which he pasted clippings of prose and poetry. In the solicitations for subscriptions within the family circle there were intimations of the force which he later developed to an unusual degree. At ten, he got hold of some type and proceeded to complete his printer's equipment by manufacturing a press out of some wooden boards. For an ink roller, he took a broom handle and wound around it some cloth from his mother's old dress. On that press was actually produced copies of a paper, The Boys' Gazette. When he was twelve   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 653   he secured employment at odd times in the local printing establishments, but soon started an amateur shop of his own which he operated after school hours for several years. Returning from college at eighteen, he went to work as foreman for The Auglaize Republican, a paper established and owned by W. J. McMurray. He left the Republican in May, 1883, to go to the Cleveland Herald, for which paper he had been local correspondent. He was in the composing room of the Herald, varying that occupation with a little reporting, until the following autumn, when he was made telegraph editor. He held the same position with the Plain Dealer when it absorbed the Herald, later going to the Evening Argus as news editor. When the Argus suspended publication, Mr. Van Anda turned his face eastward. He was offered a place on the Baltimore Sun as night editor and served in that capacity for two years. At the age of twenty-four Mr. Van Anda landed in New York and went to the Mecca of all aspiring young newspaper men of that day—Charles A. Dana's Sun. He got a place reporting and doing desk work on Blizzard Monday, March 12, 1888. He was made night editor five years later, January 1, 1893. His experience covered the whole news side, as he took Chester A. Lord's place when that great managing editor was away on his vacations. Mr. Van Anda had been on the Sum for sixteen years and he stood out as the man for the Times when he accepted Adolph Och's offer on February 14, 1904, to be its managing editor. What his service has meant to the Times is best told in Mr. Och's own words as quoted from the introduction to "The History of the New York Times" published in 1921 commemorating the quarter-century of the present management and the seventieth anniversary of the first issue of the paper. He refers to Mr. Van Anda as a "notably conspicuous figure whose great contribution to the success of The New York Times I desire publicly to acknowledge and express my sense of obligation for the able support in my efforts to make The New York Times the best newspaper in the world. To Carr V. Van Anda, who has been managing editor of the New York Times for the past eighteen years, to whose exceptional newspaper experience, genius for news-gathering and marvelous appreciation of news value and fidelity to fairness and thoroughness, knowing no friend or foe when presiding over the news pages of the Times, the greatest measure of credit is due for the high reputation it has attained for the fullness, trustworthiness and impartiality of its news service. His vigilance and faithfulness to the very highest and best traditions of the newspaper make him a tower of strength to the organization." The application in detail of the principle of publishing "all the news that's fit to print" is in Mr. Van Anda's hands and he puts the accent on the "all." It was he who found the rotogravure process in a German   654 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   paper that came to the Times office and he went to Frankfort, Germany, to investigate. The result was the adoption of the rotogravure in the Sunday Times and marks the beginning of its use in the United States. Upon occasions that move him sufficiently to undertake such work, Mr. Van Anda can write editorials, the point of which no one can misunderstand. But, he is an editor in a different sense from that in which the term is commonly used. As an editor of the daily history of the world, he has won first place in our daily journalism. His intellect is of an acid quality. When news matter is subjected to his, process it is purged of nonessentials. He is an artist in gathering and editing the news. This delicate sense of worth in news has produced a result in the Times which every reader feels rather than knows. The effect is comparable to that of sincerity in an individual. Mr. Van Anda has a wide range of knowledge. There is no subject upon which he does not have an opinion, which he always makes bold to express without reserve. He has a keen sense of beauty in art and literature and has been known to pen poetical lines of tender sentiment. His relaxation is higher mathematics, delighting in abstruse problems. He has an abundant humor, joyous, mirthful humor ; and a modesty that adds to much personal charm and magnetism. Mr. Van Anda has been twice married. The first marriage was on December 16, 1885, to Harriet L. Tupper of Cleveland, Ohio, daughter of an official of the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio railroad. Her death occurred in 1887, leaving a daughter, Julia Blanche Van Anda. On April 11, 1898, he was married to Louise Shipman Drane, daughter DI Judge George Canning Drane of Frankfort, Kentucky. They have one son, Paul Drane Van Anda, who is just finishing a course in Harvard Law School. At Philips Exeter, this son made an absolute A in all six studies—a record never before equaled in the one hundred and thirty years of that school. Mr. Van Anda is a member of the Century Club of New York city. In 1921 Ohio University conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws. In the same year the French government gave him the decoration of the Legion of Honor.   JACOB SWARTZ, a substantial landowner of Goshen township, was born on a farm in Clay township, this county, September 8, 1862, and is a son of Theophilus and Margaret (Linegar) Swartz, the latter of whom was born in Stark county, this state. Theophilus Swartz was born in Germany and was but two years of age when he tame to this country with his parents, the family settling in Pennsylvania. They later came to Ohio and became residents of Auglaize county and pioneers of Clay township. Theophilus Swartz grew to manhood in this county and after his marriage settled on a farm in Clay township, where he made his home until in 1880 when he moved to a farm which he had bought in Goshen township and there spent   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE' COUNTY - 655   the remainder of his life. To him and his wife were born nine children. Of these six are still living, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Mary L., and four brothers, John A., George, Benjamin Franklin and James M. Swartz. Reared on the home farm in Clay township, Jacob Swartz received his schooling in the Castle school and was about eighteen years of age when his father moved onto the farm in Goshen township. When he attained his majority he began farming on his own account, farming "on the shares" on the home place, and continued thus engaged until after his marriage, when he and his wife established their home in Clay township. For fourteen years he made his home there, and then he sold that farm and bought 160 acres of his present farm, a part of the old Swartz home place in the southwest corner of Goshen township, and has since resided here. It was on November 15, 1885, that Jacob Swartz was united in marriage to Cora B. Copeland, who also was born in Clay township, daughter of Madison and Catherine (Hullinger) Copeland, and to this union have been born thirteen children, all of whom are living save two—Ormand and one who died in infancy, the others being Allen E., Edma L., Carl F., Clarence R., Wardner, Jacob E., Roger, Lewis V., George C., Norma L. and Beryl M. Six of these children are married. Allen E. Swartz, who is now farming in Licking county, this state, married Leona Focht and has four children, Jesse M., Jennie P., Jacob E. and Philberta. Edma L. Swartz married Marion D. Gross, a farmer of Goshen township, and has three children, Jacob D., Marie M. and Burrell M. Carl F. Swartz, who is now a dispatcher in the coal fields, living at Corning, Ohio, married Sarah Morgan and has four children, Wilbur, Ronald, William A. and Bettie E. Wardner Swartz, who is now teaching school at Cridersville, married Edna Metz and has three children, Catherine, Theresa E. and Wardner, Jr. Beryl M. Swartz married C. Roger Gossard, a farmer of Wayne township, and has two children, Ruth and Roger, and Jacob E. Swartz, who is farming on the home place, married Beryl Gross and has one child, a daughter, Iris Maxine. Mr. Swartz is a Freemason and an Odd Fellow. For thirteen years he served as a member of the school board in Goshen township.   BARTON MERTZ, one of Clay township's landowners living on rural mail route No. 1 out of St. Johns, was born in the neighboring township of Union on April 20, 1864, and is a son of Isaac and Eliza Mertz, who were born in Pennsylvania. Following their marriage Isaac Mertz and his wife came out here into western Ohio and settled on a farm of eighty acres in Union township, this county. They were the parents of ten children, of whom but two are now living, the subject of this sketch and his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Kreitzer, of Wapakoneta. Reared on the home farm in Union township, Barton   656 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   Mertz received his schooling in the neighborhood school (the Mertz school) and after his marriage rented a farm down in Shelby county and made his home there for a year, at the end of which time he came back into Auglaize county and rented the farm on which he is now living in Clay township and has ever since resided there. For twelve years Mr. Mertz operated this farm of eighty acres on a rental basis, in the meantime coming into possession of an "eighty" in Union township. He then sold his Union township land and bought the farm on which he had been living for twelve years. He is assisted in the operations of his place by his elder son, Vernon Mertz, who is unmarried and remains on the farm. Mr. Mertz is a Democrat. He is a member of the local lodge of Odd Fellows at St. Johns and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. On December 6, 1890, Barton Mertz was united in marriage to Bertha Chiles, and to this union two sons have been born, Vernon, born on October 13, 1893, and Everett, January 25, 1897, both of whom are veterans of the World War. On February 2, 1920, Everett Mertz married Myrtle Faulder and he and his wife have one child, a daughter, Betty Jean, born on May 30, 1922. Everett Mertz served in the navy during the time of America's participation in the World war. Entering the service on February 15, 1918, he was sent to Great Lakes station (Chicago) and three weeks later was transferred to Hampton Roads. Two weeks later he was sent aboard the battleship New Hampshire and on that vessel served until in October, 1918, when he was returned to Hampton Roads, where he remained until February 3, 1919, when he was assigned to the battleship Oklahoma, where he remained until the following April 16, when he was returned to Great Lakes and there ten days later, April 26, 1919, received his discharge, the war then being over. Vernon Mertz also served in the navy. He entered service on December 6, 1917, and from Great Lakes was assigned to the Brooklyn navy yard where he presently was assigned to the battleship Utah, on which he served until his discharge in August, 1919. Mrs. Bertha Mertz was born in Union township and is a daughter of Greenberry and Lenora (Focht) Chiles, both of whom also were born in the same township, their respective parents having been among the pioneers of that part of this county. Of the five children born to Greenberry Chiles and wife all are living save one daughter, Mary, Mrs. Mertz having two sisters, Nellie and Ora, and a brother, Stanley Chiles.   DR. EDWARD F. HEFFNER, one of the best known physicians in Auglaize county, former coroner of this county and a resident of Wapakoneta for nearly twenty years past, was born at Celina, in the neighboring county of Mercer, May 11, 1881, and is a son of George H. and Lucinda (Karch) Heffner, both of whom are still living at   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 657   Celina and the latter of whom was born at Marysville, the county seat of Union county, this state, December 12, 1860. George H. Heffner is a member of one of the pioneer families of Mercer county and was born in Black Creek township, that county, July 21, 1851. He was reared in that county and for years gave his attention to general contracting but of late years has devoted his attention exclusively to street paving. He served for five years (1890-95) as sheriff of Mercer county and has a wide acquaintance throughout this part of the state. To him and his wife were born four children, one of whom, Edith, the only daughter, died in infancy, Doctor Heffner having two brothers, Ralph R. and Dr. F. C. Heffner, the latter of whom is an eye, ear and nose specialist practicing at Cincinnati. Reared at Celina, Dr. Edward F. Heffner was graduated from the high school there in 1900 and in September of that same year entered Starling Medical College at Columbus. A year later he entered the medical department of the University of Cincinnati and on May 25, 1904, was graduated from that institution with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, his studies in the university having been advanced by private tutoring in several of the more important branches of medical science. Thus qualified for the practice of the profession to which he had devoted his life, Doctor Heffner cast about for a likely place in which to engage in practice and on November 1, 1904, opened an office at Wapakoneta, where he ever since has been engaged in practice and where, as was said of him in a local review written some years ago, he "has a reputation (as a physician and surgeon) which might well be the envy of many of the older men of his profession." The Doctor is a close student and keeps fully abreast of modern advances in his profession. His university work was supplemented by a service of six months as surgical assistant to Dr. C. L. Bonifield, of Cincinnati. He is a member of the Auglaize County Medical Society, of the Ohio State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association and in the deliberations of these several bodies takes an active interest. The Doctor is a Democrat and served for one term and a year (1905-8) as coroner of the county, but on account of the pressing character of his professional duties was compelled to decline further public service. He is a Freemason, affiliated with the local lodge of the Masonic order at Wapakoneta, and is also a member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Wapakoneta, while he and his wife are members of First English Lutheran church, of which congregation Doctor Heffner has been an elder for the past seventeen years. On November 7, 1901, Dr. Edward F. Heffner was united in marriage to Ora Collins, who was born at Mendon, in Mercer county, April 4, 1882, daughter of Frank and Elvira Collins, and to this union have been born three children, (41)   658 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   Cleon Collins, who died at the age of three years, and George Paul and Margaret Virginia. Doctor and Mrs. Heffner have a very pleasant home at Wapakoneta and take an interested and helpful part in the general social and cultural activities of the community.   JOSEPH ALBERT KRABACH, of the firm of Bowsher & Krabach, public accountants at Wapakoneta, and former deputy county auditor, who in the campaign of 1922 was the nominee of the Democratic party for the office of county auditor, is a native son of Auglaize county and has resided here all his life, a resident of Wapakoneta since the days of his boyhood. Mr. Krabach was born on a farm in Clay township on June 4, 1885, and is a son of Joseph and Magdalena (Altenburger) Krabach, both of whom also were born in Ohio and the latter of whom is still living, making her home at Wapakoneta. She was born in Stark county, a daughter, of Peter Altenburger, a native of Germany, who later became a resident of Auglaize county and whose last days were spent here. The late Joseph Krabach was born at Monroeville, in Huron county, his father, a native of Germany, having been one of the pioneers of that county, and there he received his schooling. He remained there until in the days of his young manhood when he came with his parents to Auglaize county, the family locating on a farm in Clay township, and on this farm he made his home until his marriage to Magdalena Altenburger. After his marriage Joseph Krabach began farming on his own account in Clay township and remained there until 1893, when he moved to Wapakoneta and became employed in the plants of the wheel works and in the churn factory, and in that city spent his last days, his death occurring in 1916. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, five of whom grew to maturity, those besides the subject of this sketch being William L., Fred, of Terre Haute, Ind., Elizabeth (deceased) and Clara, wife of Carl Vossler. Joseph A. Krabach was about eight years of age when he moved to Wapakoneta with his parents in 1893, and upon completing the course in St. Joseph's parochial school there he took a course in the business college at Lima and then became employed as a bookkeeper in the office of the Democrat at Wapakoneta, he having made a specialty of bookkeeping and accountancy. That was in 1905. When Adam Schaffer, proprietor of the Democrat, entered upon the duties of the office of county auditor, to which he had been elected, in January, 1911, Mr. Krabach was transferred from the newspaper office to the auditor's office and was appointed by Mr. Schaffer to be a clerk in the auditor's office. When Mr. Langhorst became county auditor he was appointed first deputy and was retained in that position when Charles E. FiSher became auditor in 1917. He remained in the office as Mr. Fisher's deputy until on November 30, 1920, when he resigned to accept the position as a traveling accountant for the Ohio Central Equity Exchange. In the following February he formed a partnership with   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 659   H. F. Bowsher and he and Mr. Bowsher took over the auditing department of the Ohio Central Equity Exchange, at the same time becoming general public accountants, under the firm name of Bowsher & Krabach, with offices in Lima, and Mr. Krabach has since been thus engaged. On June 14, 1911, not long after becoming engaged in the county auditor's office, Joseph A. Krabach was united in marriage to Eleanor Catherine Tebben, of Celina, Ohio, and to this union two children have been born, Richard Lowell and Rita Marie. Mr. and Mrs. Krabach are members of St. Joseph's Catholic church at Wapakoneta and Mr. Krabach has served as secretary of the parish. He is a past grand knight of the local council of the Knights of Columbus and since 1916 has served as district deputy of this order for the northwestern Ohio district. He also is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the local aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The Krabachs have a very pleasant home at 206 West Benton street. Mrs. Krabach was born at Celina, where she was reared, and is a daughter of Henry and Mary (Klinkhamer) Tebben, the latter of whom was born at Minster, this county, a daughter of John and Mary Klinkhamer. Henry Tebben was born in the neighboring county of Mercer and is a son of Henry Tebben, a native of Germany, who became a resident of Mercer county following his arrival in this country. To the junior Henry Tebben and wife were born six children, Mrs. Krabach having three sisters, Katherine; wife of Clarence Rinehart ; Frances, wife of A. A. Stolly, and Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Bucks, and two brothers, Joseph and Anthony Tebben.   FRED MOELLER, one of the well known farmers of the New Bremen neighborhood, was born on the farm on which he is now living on July 27, 1878, and is a son of Herman and Luzetta (Wehie) Moeller, both of whom were born in Germany. The late Herman Moeller was but twelve years of age when he came to America with his parents, the family settling on a farm in the New Bremen neighborhood. There he grew to manhood and after his marriage became established as a farmer on his own account. He became the owner of a farm of 120 acres and there remained engaged in active farming until his retirement and removal to New Bremen, where he died about two years later. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, those besides the subject of this sketch being Ernest, Henry, Minnie, Sophia, Chris, William, Mary, Cort and Martha. Reared on the home farm in the immediate vicinity of New Bremen, Fred Moeller received his schooling in the New Bremen schools. Upon his father's retirement from the farm he took over the direction of the same and ever since has been farming the place. On April 11, 1901, Fred Moeller was united in marriage to Anna Fennaman, daughter of Fred and Juliana (Neuman) Fennaman, of this county, and to this   660 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   union four children have been born, Edgar, Carl, Wilson and Elton. The Moellers have a pleasant home on rural mail route No. 2 out of Minster. Mr. and Mrs. Moeller are members of St. Peter's Evangelical church at New Bremen and are Democrats.   CAREY CASSIUS ORR, one of the most widely known cartoonists in the country, is an Auglaize county man whose interest in his old home county and particularly in the affairs of the Uniopolis neighborhood, where he was reared, has never waned. Mr. Orr was born on January 17, 1890, and is a son of Cassius Perry and Martha (Rinehart) Orr, both members of old families in the neighborhood of Uniopolis. He early evinced his interest in art work and after completing his studies in the Academy of Fine Arts at Chicago entered upon his successful career as a cartoonist, his first work being done for the Chicago Examiner in 1912. In that same year he went to Nashville, Tenn., and on the Tennesseean and American was engaged in that city until 1917, when he became connected with the staff of the Chicago Tribune, with which he since, has been connected. Mr. Orr is the creator of "The Tiny Tribune" and of "Kernel Cootie." In 1918 he was awarded the United States government gold medal for the prize-winning cartoon of the Fourth Liberty Loan. He is a Republican, a York Rite Mason and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. On March 25, 1914, at Nashville, Tenn., Carey C. Orr was united in marriage to Cherry Maud Kindel, of that city. They have two daughters, Dorothy Jane and Cherry Sue. Those in this community who knew Carey Orr as a boy were not surprised when it became apparent that he had achieved distinction as a cartoonist, as he had exhibited unusual talent while yet a small lad, while attending school in this county. A number of persons in this county have in their possession drawings which Carey drew when he was a school boy of tender years which were so clever as to attract general attention among his friends. To his early childhood experiences on the farm near Uniopolis Mr. Orr attributes much of the success which has attended his after years. "Farm ideas," he says, "are always popular with the readers of metropolitan papers and I have at times used bits of actual scenery around Uniopolis for my cartoons." Mr. Orr's mother died when he was two years of age and he was reared in the home of his maternal grandfather, A. P. Rinehart, in the Uniopolis neighborhood, where he remained until in 1904, when he accompanied his father to Spokane, Wash. It was in 1911 that he began his art studies in Chicago and it was in the following year, as set out above, that he entered upon his definite career as a newspaper artist, his particular field being the political cartoon. His father, Cassius P. Orr, a formerly well known timber man of this   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 661   county, also for some years prior to his removal to Spokane was proprietor of a restaurant in Wapakoneta. Mr. Orr did not live with his father in Wapakoneta but remained with his grandfather on the farm and attended school in the village of Uniopolis, the late John W. Howe being his instructor, also "Tipp" Howe and Miss Cora Kent. His uncle, F. J. Rinehart, taught him the rudiments of drawing. Bob Ewing was his favorite youthful hero and gave him the incentive to be a baseball pitcher, which he later became, paying his way through art school with the money he earned as a pitcher. In a delightfully reminiscent letter Mr. Orr recalls his skating, fishing and swimming days along the Auglaize. "Every fall," he says, "I used to attend the Auglaize county fair at Wapakoneta. In all my journeying over the world I never was lost but once and that was at Wapakoneta at the county fair. My idea as a kid was that Wapakoneta was a tremedous big city and I never think of it now but that it seems much larger than either Chicago or New York. The idea I got as a kid has always stuck to me."   SAMUEL WILLIAMS, a former trustee of Logan township and proprietor of a farm two or three miles west of Buckland, was born in a log cabin home in the woods not far from the site of his present home in Logan township on April 12, 1862, and is a son of Lebbeus and Anna (Nevel) Williams, who had come here from Tuscarawas county about four years before that date. The late Lebbeus Williams was born in Tuscarawas county in 1836 and was a son of Silas and Sarah Williams, the former of whom also was born in that county. Lebbeus Williams remained on the home place in Tuscarawas county until he had attained his majority, when he came over into this part of the state and became engaged in farming in Allen county. There he remained until 1858, in which year he moved down into Auglaize county and established his home on a timber tract of eighty acres he had bought in Logan township. As his affairs prospered he bought more land until he became the owner of 184 acres, and on that place made his home until his retirement from the farm in 1920 and removal to Petroleum, Ind., where his last days were spent, his death occurring there in the next year, 1921, he then being eighty-five years of age. To him and his wife were born three sons, the subject of this sketch having two brothers, Israel and Isaac. Reared on the farm on which he was born, Samuel Williams received his schooling in the neighborhood schools, and remained at home until after his marriage at the age of twenty-eight, when his father gave him a tract of twenty acres of the home farm, the nucleus of his present farm, and there he established his home and has ever since resided. Mr. Williams has added to his original tract until now he is the owner of 164 acres. He is a Republican and has served three terms as one of the trustees of   662 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   Logan township. He is a member of the Buckland Christian church, as was his wife, who died on October 27, 1920. It was on September 18, 1890, that Samuel Williams was united in marriage to Alfarata Shrader, who was born in Howard county, Indiana, and to this union three children were born, Lulu, Goldie and Eunice, the latter of whom married Fred B. Carmean and is living on the home place. Mr. and Mrs. Carmean have one child, a son, James. Lulu Williams married Louis Fritz, of Lima, Ohio, and has two children, Frederick and Mary Frances. Goldie Williams married Carl Tester, of Wapakoneta. The Williams home is situated on rural mail route No. 7 out of Wapakoneta.   JULIUS W. LUEDEKE, a well known farmer and stockman of St. Marys township, proprietor of a farm on rural mail route No. 4 out of St. Marys, was born on a farm in Van Buren township in the neighboring county of Shelby, January 8, 1886, and is a son of August and Anna (Kawel) Luedeke, both of whom also were born in Ohio, the former in Auglaize county and the latter in Mercer county. The late August Luedeke was reared in Auglaize county and was married in Mercer county. Following his marriage he established his home on a farm in Van Buren township in Shelby county and there spent the remaider of his life, his death occurring in 1904. To him and his wife were born five children, all of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having three sisters, Alice, Laura and Mahalia, and a brother, Frank Luedeke. Reared on the home farm in Shelby county, Julius W. Luedeke received his schooling in the neighborhood schools. He married at the age of twenty-three years and after his marriage was engaged in farming as a tenant fanner for about six years, at the end of which time he bought the interests of the other heirs in the home place of seventy-five acres in Shelby county and was there engaged in farming until in February, 1920, when he moved onto the farm of 135 acres in St. Marys township, this county, which he had bought the year before (in August, 1919), and has since made his home there. Not long after buying his present farm he sold his Shelby county farm and has since given his whole attention to his farm in this county. He makes a specialty of raising pure bred Duroc Jersey hogs. Mr. Luedeke and his wife are members of St. Paul's Reformed church at St. Marys and are Democrats. It was on August 25, 1909, that Julius W. Luedeke was united in marriage to Amada Bloomhorst, of Shelby county, and to this union have been born five children, Arnold, Lester, Elmer, Andrew and Henriette. Mrs. Luedeke was born in Van Buren township, Shelby county, and is a daughter of William and Henriette (Hirshfeld) Bloomhorst.   JOSEPH KINSTLE, proprietor of a farm on rural mail route No. 1 out of St. Johns in Clay township, was born in Clay township   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 663   on July 1, 1874, and is a son of Wendeln and Catherine (Leininger) Kinstle, both of whom also were born in that township. The late Wendeln Kinstle was a son of Severin and Susanna Kinstle, natives of Germany, the former born on October 22, 1821, and the latter August 11, 1820. They were married in their native country and then, in the '40s of the past century, came to America and proceeded on out into western Ohio and settled on a farm of forty acres in Clay township, this county. Severin Kinstle, the pioneer, did well at his farming and became the owner of a considerable tract of land in Clay township. There he and his wife spent their last days, the former dying on December 5, 1908, and the latter on September 24, 1899. It was on that pioneer farm that Wedeln Kinstle was born and reared. After his marriage he settled down to farming and became the owner of 300 acres of land in Clay and Pusheta townships. He and his wife were members of St. John's Catholic church at Freyburg and their children were reared in that faith. There were ten of these children, all of whom are living save one, who died in infancy, the subject of this sketch having four sisters, Susanna, Mary, Caroline and Theresa, and four brothers, Edward, George, Lawrence and Carl Kinstle. Reared on the home farm in Clay township, Joseph Kinstle received his schooling in the neighborhood school there (district No. 8) and in the parochial school at Freyburg. After his marriage he began farming on his own account as a renter. Seven years later he bought forty acres of his present farm in Clay township and has since added to that until now he is the owner of 200 acres. Mr. Kinstle is a Democrat and he and his family are affiliated with St. John's Catholic church at Freyburg. On January 1, 1898, Joseph Kinstle was united in marriage to Barbara Meier and to this union nine children have been born, Edwin, Otto, Raymond, Clarence, Harold, Leonard, Viola, Laurette and Marie. Mrs. Barbara Kinstle was born in Pusheta township on April 24, 1875, and received her schooling in the Weimert school and in the schools at Freyburg. She is a daughter of William and Henrietta (Beaver) Meier, both of whom were born in this county, the former in Pusheta township and the latter in Clay township. William Meier was the owner of a farm of 100 acres.   WALTER E. FLEMING, general manager of the plant and offices of the Wapakoneta Telephone Company, has been for more than twenty years actively connected with the telephone interests of that city. Mr. Fleming was born on a farm in Auglaize county on October 3, 1882, a son of Thomas J. and Mary C. (Bobb) Fleming, both of whom also were born in this county. Thomas J. Fleming followed farming for some years after his marriage and then moved to Wapakoneta, where he became engaged as a contractor and has   664 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   ever since been thus engaged. Walter E. Fleming was but a lad when his parents moved to the county seat town and he received his schooling in the schools of Wapakoneta. Following his graduation from the high school he became engaged as a clerk in a grocery store and was thus engaged for one year, at the end of which time he took service with the local telephone company as night operator. This was on November 11, 1900, Mr. Fleming then being eighteen years of age. In 1904 he was made manager of the company's interests at Wapakoneta. In proper time the present up-to-date installation was effected in the telephone company's modern building on Willipie street and Wapakoneta has long been in a position to pride itself upon the efficient service rendered through that medium. Walter E. Fleming married Bertha Shibes, daughter of Mrs. Bertha Shibes, and to this union three children have been born, Caroline Dorothy, George and Mary Caroline. Mr. and Mrs. Fleming are members of the First Lutheran church and Mr. Fleming has served as a member of the official council of the church. He is a Democrat and is a member of the local lodges of the Idepedent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.   WILLIAM S. ROGERS, president and general manager of the Timmermeister & Rogers Company, dealers in dry goods at Wapakoneta, one of the old established commercial firms of that city, former head of the old Wapakoneta Commercial club and for years regarded as one of the leading factors in the commercial life of Auglaize county, is a native son of this county, a member of one of the real pioneer families here, and has resided here all his life, helpfully identified with the business interests of Wapakoneta since the days of his young manhood. Mr. Rogers was born in the village of St. Johns on April 16, 1860, and is a son of George M. and Hannah (Bitler) Rogers, whose respective parents were among the fouders of that village, as is set out elsewhere in this work, both the Rogers and the Bitler families having settled at the site of the old Blackhoof Idian village there the year following the departure of the Indians from this section in 1832, that part of what is now Auglaize county then having been attached to Allen county, and these two pioneer families are still prominently represented throughout the county. Reared at St. Johns, William S. Rogers completed his public schooling in the Wapakoneta schools and then entered the college of the Methodist Episcopal church at Adrian, Mich., where he continued his studies for two years, at the ed of which time he returned to Wapakoneta and in that city became engaged as a clerk in the Kolter grocery store. Not long afterward he transferred his services to the Kiefer grocery store and after some years of service there took up the clothing line in the Levi clothing store. This form of merchandising proved much more to his liking than groceries and not long afterward he formed a partnership with   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 665   C. B. Benner and purchased the Blume clothing store, and was thus engaged in business until in 1899, when he formed a partnership with C. W. Timmermeister, under the firm name of the Timmermeister & Rogers Company, was made president and general manager of the concern, and has since been thus engaged in business, one of the best known merchants in this section of Ohio. Mr. Rogers served for some time as chairman of the old Wapakoneta Commercial Club, now the Chamber of Commerce, and has for years been one of the really vital factors in the development of the commercial interests of his home town. He also has ever given a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs and for some years rendered public service as a member of the city council. For twelve years he served as a member of the board of control of the Ohio State reformatory, appointed by Governor Nash and reappointed by Governor Harris, and was for two years president of the board. Mr. Rogers is a Freemason and a member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1891 William S. Rogers was united in marriage to Lulu M. Timmermeister, also a member of one of the old families of this county, and to this union were born two sons, Roland H. and Frederick G. Rogers, both of whom are taking an active interest in their father's commercial enterprises, associated with their father in the old established dry goods business at Wapakoneta. Roland H. Rogers served for two years and eight months with the 10th United States Cavalry, stationed at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, and was retired with a commission as captain.   WILLIAM JAMES McMURRAY, whose name appears on the title page of this work and to whose thoughtful editorial supervision of the historical section of this History of Auglaize County the publishers are under many obligations of gratitude, was born near Newport, Ky., October 17, 1849, the youngest child and son of Robert and Mary (Hurst) McMurray, both of whom were natives of England. Mr. McMurray's paternal gradparents deserve special mention in a review of this character, not only because of their own worth, but because they cared for the subject of this sketch for many years and left upon him the impress of their Spartan character and unconquerable spirit. The grandmother, Sophia (Heywood) McMurray, was born in Liverpool, England, in 1789, and died at her home in Wapakoneta on September 17, 1877, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. Fortunate in receiving a good education in her youth, and of a pleasing disposition and beautiful, she made many friends among all classes of people—the rich and the poor alike. She toured Wales in company with well-to-do friends while still a young girl and remained in that country long enough to speak fluently the Welsh language. She was married at an early age to Robert McMurray, in the city of Edinburg, Scotland, and later located at Wigton, a suburb of the city of Carlisle, England. Here they conducted a general store, and chose for their residence a house located on the banks of the river   666 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   Eden, near the Carlisle bridge and in close proximity to the Carlisle Castle, famous in the history of England and Scotland. Here they lived until in the course of time they resolved to seek a home in the United States with the hope that their children might have better opportunities. They decided that it would be an act of wisdom for the husband and father, together with the eldest son, Robert (father of our subject) to go in advance and remain a year or two and if they thought the family could do better in America the father would sed for them. This plan was carried out and the grandmother of our subject sold their real estate and chattels and with eight children left for Liverpool to take a sailing vessel for America. While in that city awaiting the departure of the sailing vessel two of the children became afflicted with smallpox, which was epidemic in the port, and both of them died. It was many weeks before they were out of quarantine and enabled to sail, but finally the heartbroken mother and their children bid farewell to the mother country and set their faces westward, little realizing that they had other sorrows to face. During the voyage, which lasted twelve weeks, two of the remaining children took sick and she was compelled to witness their burial at sea. The father and the eldest son met the family at Castle Garden with great joy and yet with sad hearts when they learned of the deaths of four of the children. The elder Robert McMurray upon landing in America had placed his eldest son, Robert, in school in New York city and had sought employment for himself, securing a position as superintendent of a cotton factory. The family later moved to Philadelphia, where they resided a number of years, and then located in Newport, Ky. Here they lived until their removal to Dayton, Ohio, where the elder McMurray became proprietor of the popular hotel in those days, known as the Mansion House. He was financially successful in this venture, but after some years he sold his holdings in Dayton and bought a farm in Auglaize county on the line between this and Shelby county, where he was successful as a stockman. He sold this farm in 1852, and, together with his wife, made a trip to New York city to visit Crystal Palace Fair, and upon their return located in Wapakoneta, where they spent the remainder of their days. William J. McMurray's mother, Mary Hurst, was born in Manchester, England, April 2, 1818, and emigrated to the United States with her parents in 1831. The family located in Philadelphia, Pa., where they remained for a few years, and then removed to Newport, Ky., where in 1840 she was united in marriage to Robert McMurray II. She was a woman of deep religious convictions and one of the sweetest Christian characters ever met. Mr. McMurray was deeply devoted to his mother and was greatly affected by her death which occurred on Saturday, October 24, 1896. She was a lady of whom it has been said that she never spoke an unkind word of anyone. Her parents, who came to this country from Manchester, England, were typical   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 667   Lancashire people and spoke English with a pronounced Lancashire dialect. After living in Newport, Ky., for some years the Hursts moved to a tract of land which Mr. Hurst had bought in the vicinity of Grants Lick, in Campbell county, Kentucky, where the family lived contentedly until an accident befell Mr. Hurst while returning from Alexandria, which resulted in his death. Mrs. Hurst lived until eighty-eight years of age, cared for in her declining years by a devoted daughter, Jane E. (Hurst) Darlington. Mr. McMurray, while a resident of Covington, spent several years of his childhood with his maternal grandmother and his aunt, and he reveres their memory for their sturdy honesty and Christian character. Mr. McMurray was but an infant when bereaved by death of his father and he thus never knew what it was to have a father's care. The father had been educated for the law and had bright prospects before him when called hence. It might properly here be said that Mr. McMurray's paternal grandfather (Robert McMurray I) favored higher education. But two of his children, however, took advantage of the opportunity thus offered, Mr. McMurray's father, Robert, and the eldest daughter, Margaret, who became the wife of Frederick A. P. Barnard, D. D., LL.D., then a professor in the University of Alabama and later president of the University of Mississippi, and after the Civil war for many years president of Columbia University, New York city. Mrs. Margaret (McMurray) Barnard was a woman of strong character, high intellectual attainments, brilliant in conversation, and her Wednesday evening entertainments at the president's home were attended by leading statesmen and distinguished authors. William J. McMurray was the last born of the children born to his worthy parents and is the only child of that union now living. Robert McMurray III, the elder brother, distinguished himself during the Civil war as a captain in the 67th regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. At the close of the war he was provost marshal of five counties in Virginia, including the city of Richmond. After the war he became postmaster of Wapakoneta, served two terms as recorder of Auglaize county, was admitted to the bar, was elected mayor and achieved distinction as the law-enforcing mayor of Wapakoneta, as is set out elsewhere in this work. The only daughter, Sophia, became the wife of Andrew Jackson Morey, and was the mother of six children, five of whom are living. William James McMurray attended private schools in Newport and Covington, Ky., in his younger days, and also one term in a select school while spending a summer with an aunt near Grants Lick, Campbell county, Kentucky. In the year 1859 he accompanied his mother and sister in their removal to Wapakoneta, the elder brother having preceded them, this change having been undertaken at the request of the grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert McMurray, Sr. After coming to Ohio the family lived at St. Marys for several years, where William J. McMurray attended school for one year, and then   668 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   came to Wapakoneta, where he lived with his grandparents, inasmuch as they wanted one of their grandchildren to remain with them for company. He attended the public schools of Wapakoneta for six years and in the spring of 1867 accepted a position tendered him as a clerk in John Shawber's dry goods store, where he served his employer faithfully for. twelve years, relinquishing the position for a period of rest. During his twelve years of service as salesman, by the practice of self-denial and frugality, Mr. McMurray had saved enough money to purchase a farm of forty-five acres near the village and thus became a real estate owner and had established a high credit for promptness in meeting obligations as well as for his responsibility. It is not too much to say that this credit and responsibility he has maintained throughout his long and honorable career in business. During his rest period, before embarking in larger business undertakings, Mr. McMurray spent much of his time in reading, and was later seized with the wanderlust of his forbears. Accordingly, in the winter of 1880-1, in company with a friend, he planned a trip to the West Indies, to satisfy a longing desire to sped a winter in the tropics. After spending some time in the southern cities, he and his companion sailed from Pensacola, Fla., for Havana, Cuba. While on this trip they made their headquarters at the Hotel Frances in Havana, making occasional trips in the interior. Mr. McMurray, in after life, has frequently spoken of the visit to this wonderful island as being one of the most interesting and profitable experiences of his life. Returning from Cuba in May, 1881, Mr. McMurray was besieged by prominent Republicans who urged him to establish a new Republican newspaper in Wapakoneta, one that would be loyal to the party in the nation. At this time he had no experience in the printing or publishing business other than being an occasional contributor to the local and city press, and besides, he had about made up his mind to locate in Birmingham, Alabama, which he foresaw was to become a large commercial city through its iron industries. The pressure, however, became so great that he reluctantly agreed to start a newspaper, fully realizing the difficulties that he would have to overcome, He secured a partner in the person of Robert Sutton, who at that time was engaged in getting out an atlas of Auglaize county. They issued the first number of the paper, The Auglaize Republican, a weekly publication, on August 18, 1881, and it has been, regularly issued ever since. This partnership lasted about two years, when Mr. McMurray bought the interest of his partner and edited the paper alone until 1887, when he sold a half interest to William Duvall, a very capable newspaper man and a young man of high character. This partnership continued until 1890, when Mr. Duvall sold his interest to enable him to purchase the plant of the Union-Herald at Circleville, Ohio. Mr. McMurray then became sole owner of The Auglaize Republican, and he conducted the paper alone until 1915, when he sold   HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 669   the plant to William B. Morey and Charles Sumner Whiteman, the former a nephew and the latter a nephew by marriage. Mr. McMurray has never held public office. He has been the nominee of his party for various positions, but being the candidate of the minority party, he was each time defeated. At the Fourth district Republican congressional convention in Lima on May 4, 1892, he was chosen presidential elector for the district comprising Allen, Auglaize, Darke, Mercer and Shelby counties and was elected by a large majority, while one of the Republican electors was defeated. When the electoral college met in Columbus in January, 1893, to cast the vote of Ohio for President and Vice President of the United States, Mr. McMurray was honored by being chosen the messenger to carry the returns to Washington. Arriving at the national capitol, he called on Vice-President Levi P. Morton, who received him in his private office, and he delivered to him the sealed package containing the election returns from Ohio. The Vice President was very courteous and asked him questions concerning conditions in general throughout the Middle West. Having been too young to enter the service of his country during the Civil war, Mr. McMurray has no military record. He served five years, however, in the Ohio National Guard as a noncommissioned officer under Capt. F. C. Layton in the 2d regiment, Ohio National Guard, and later in the 11th regiment, Ohio National Guard. Mr. McMurray has always been a staunch Republican, but has never been regarded as a bitter partisan. Although the publisher of a Republican newspaper he always respected the opinions of those who differed with him politically, and he never lost a fried that he was aware of on account of politics. His well known spirit of fairness and justice to all alike won for him the respect and esteem of all with whom he came in contact. Though never having held public office, Mr. McMurray has held many offices of trust and honor in civic and industrial organizations, which well illustrate the place he has among business men of Wapakoneta. He was president of the Business Men's Club for a number of years and later of the Commercial Club, during the time the hollow ware factory and the Western Ohio shops were secured for Wapakoneta. He has been a member of the directorate for many years of various incorporated companies in which he was financially interested, and at the present time is a member of the directorate and president of the Auglaize National Bank, a member of the directorate and president of the Citizens' Building and Loan Company, and a member of the directorate and president of the New Wapakoneta Wheel Company, one of the largest industrial establishments in the county. Mr. McMurray is a charter member of Duchouquet lodge, No. 165, Knights of Pythias, and at the present time is a member of the board of trustees of that organization. He is also a member of the Country Club. Having united with the First English Lutheran church at the age of fourteen years,   670 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY   Mr. McMurray has been a faithful and devoted member ever since, and for more than fifty years has been a member of the choir of the same church. He is still active in church councils and continues as a member of the vested choir, very seldom, and never unless his health forbids, being absent from the choir loft. He has also been a member of the Sunday school for the same length of time and at present is teacher of the men's Bible class. On May 31, 1912, William J. McMurray was united in marriage to Louise Nagel, daughter of Philip and Hermania (Menges) Nagel of Wapakoneta, the marriage taking place at Knightstown, Ind., where the bride at the time was visiting at the home of her sister, Mrs. Ray W. Hussey. Mrs. McMurray passed away on March 4, 1914, after a married life of less than two years. She was a lady of rare Christian character, refined and intelligent, active in church work and a devoted wife. Her death was deeply mourned by her bereaved husband. Though having passed the meridian of life, Mr. McMurray is still active in business and civic affairs. He is in a position, however, to look back complacently on the past as years of honorable industry spent in the service of others and for civic betterment. And this service has brought its reward, for it is believed that it will not be regarded invidiously in the community to say that not only has he been honored with positions of trust and responsibility, but that he has won for himself a name which stands second to none in the county for conservatism and honesty in business and upright conduct and devotion to duty as a citizen.