PICTURE OF ANDREW E. BEECKEL HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1125 (RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) eight-room residence. He is one of the practical fruit growers on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Mr. Shoop was a very small boy when his grandparents died and he has only few memories of those worthy people, who were of Pennsylvania nativity. Mr. Shoop himself is a son of George and Sarah (Driver) Shoop, both of whom were born in Erie County and after their marriage located on what became known, as the Shoop homestead on the Joppa Road. There George Shoop died March 21, 1882, at the age of forty-seven: His widow is still living, and on February 26, 1915, she celebrated her eighty-third birthday. She is now quite enfeebled with years, and she lives in the home of her son Sherman. Sherman E. Shoop is the youngest of the three sons, all of whom are married and have homes, of their own. Alvin lives at Joppa Corners , in Erie County, while Simon lives in Missouri. Sherman E. Shoop was married at Joppa to Miss Della L. Driver. She was born in the State of Indiana, but when nine years of age came to Erie County and lived with her parents until her marriage. Her parents were Enoch and Amarilla (Minkler) Driver, both natives of Maryland and of English ancestry. They came as young people to Indiana and some years after their marriage moved to Ohio and settled in Vermilion Township of Erie County. Mr. Driver died there and his widow is now a third time a widow and is living with her children in the State of Washington, being about sixty-four years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Shoop have two children. Grant Dewey, born October 2, 1899, finished the course of the eighth grade in the public schools in 1914 and is now assisting his father on the farm and in the vineyard. Myron was born March 16, 1911. In politics Mr. Shoop is a democrat, and is serving as a member of the school board. ANDREW E. BEECKEL. Successfully established in business at Vermilion as a dealer in furniture and as a funeral director, Mr. Beeckel is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of Erie County, though he himself is a native of the State of Michigan. He is one of the representative business men and influential citizens of Vermilion, where he. has served continuously as a member of the board of education since 1907 and where he is now serving his fourth consecutive year as president of the board, besides which his civic loyalty is manifest in other directions also, especially through his active membership in the fire department of the thriving and vital little city. Mr. Beeckel was born in Lenawee County, Michigan, on the 21st of October, 1870, and is a son of John and Catherine (Laubach) Beeckel, both of whom were born and reared in Erie County, Ohio, where their respective parents settled in the pioneer days, John Beeckel, Sr., grandfather of the subject of this review, having been one of the pioneer farmers in Milan Township and having emigrated to Ohio from his German fatherland. John Beeckel, Jr., father of him to whom this sketch is dedicated, passed the closing period of his life in Michigan, where he died in the year 1876, when his son Andrew E. was a child of five years, the latter having been but nine years old when he accompanied his widowed mother on her return to her old home in Erie County. Here she established her residence at Vermilion, where she has passed the long intervening years and where Andrew E. was reared to maturity, his educational advantages having been those afforded in the public schools of the village in which he is now serving most efficiently as president of the board of education. The mother of Mr. Beeckel celebrated her seventy-first birthday anniversary in 1915 and is one of the revered pioneer. women of Erie County. 1126 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY From the early age of fourteen years Mr. Beeckel has been virtually dependent upon his own resources, and that he has made the passing years count well in achievement and worthy service on his part needs no further voucher than his standing as a business man and as an honored and popular citizen of the county which has represented his home from his boyhood days. From a position of minor order in connection with business activities in Vermilion Mr. Beeckel made advancement through fidelity and effective service until he was able to initiate an independent business. career. For eight years he was here one of the interested principals in the George Fischer Lumber Company, and in 1904 he sold his interest in the business of this corporation and established himself in business as an undertaker and as a dealer in furniture, both departments of his business being maintained at the best modern standard and his reputation as a thorough and straightforward business man constituting his best commercial asset. Mr. Beeckel is essentially and vitally progressive and public-spirited, and his fellow citizens have had full appreciation of his eligibility for positions of distinctive trust, as evidenced by the fact that he is at the present time serving as treasurer of Vermilion Township and also as treasurer of the public schools of this township, of which latter office he has been the valued incumbent for several years. Since 1909 he has held also the office of clerk of the board of public affairs of the Village of Vermilion, and none could have been more earnest and liberal than he has been during his incumbency of the position of the office of president of the Vermilion Board of Education. In national and state politics he gives support to the cause of the democratic party, but in local affairs he is not constrained by strict partisan lines. He and his wife hold membership in the local Congregational Church and he is serving as a trustee of the same. In the volunteer fire department of he has held various offices and has been active and influential in making the work and service effective. Ina fraternal way. Mr. Beeckel is affiliated with Ely Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, as well as with the local organizations of the Knights of the Maccabees and the Modern Woodmen of America, the while he and his family are popular factors in the representative social activities of the community. Mr. Beeckel married Miss Jennie Versoy, who was born in the City of Newark, New Jersey, and of their three children the first born, Myron E., is deceased, the two surviving children being Nelson A. and M. Lois. ALMON J. LEE. Representing the fine old American stock that first peopled and settled this section of Northern Ohio, Almon J. Lee has for many years applied himself successfully to his chosen work as a farmer in Vermilion Township. With farming he has combined fruit growing. His work, thrift and industry have been well rewarded. His name is always, spoken with due respect, in the community where he spent most of his and his accomplishment and those of other members of the family well justify that this record should be printed in permanent form. The Lee family came originally from Maryland. Mr. Lee's grandfather, Henry A. Lee, was born in the City of Baltimore, and was married there to Polly Driver. The children born to them in Baltimore were John, James and Thomas. Then in 1841 this little family set out upon the long journey to a new home in Ohio. They were people in modest circumstances, and all their .worldly possessions were stowed upon a wagon drawn by a single horse. They went along the highways day after day before reaching their destination, and camped out by the wayside. On arriving in Vermilion Township they selected a place along the Joppa Road, and there in the wilderness they exchanged their temporary abode in the wagon for the comforts and privations of a log cabin home. Year HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1127 after year they worked industriously in improving the land and constituting for themselves and their children a better home, and both grandparents lived to a good old age. They were members of the Methodist Church, while the grandfather was a republican. Of their three sons all grew up and married, and the only one now living is Thomas, whose. home is in Berlin Heights. He is seventy-six years of age, he and his wife are members of the Methodist Church and in politics he is a republican. John Lee, father of Almon J., and the oldest of the three sons was born in Baltimore City January 9, 1839, and died at his home on the Joppa Road March 20, 1913. He was very young when the family came to Erie County and received his education in some of the old time schools. For his vocation he applied himself to general farming and grape growing, and well deserved the comfortable success he enjoyed. He finally changed from the republican party, with which he had early affiliated, to the democrats. For his first wife he married, in Vermilion Township, Sarah Ann Johnson. She was born in Pennsylvania about 1835, and was still a child when. Brought to Erie County by her parents. She was only about twenty-two years of age when she died, and her son Almon at that time, her first and only born, was one year of age. Mr. John Lee married for his second wife Miss Harriet Merriman, who was born in Ohio, her father being a Methodist minister and consequently living in many different localities while Mrs. Lee was growing to womanhood. She is still living on the old homestead east of Joppa Corners, and is now past sixty-eight years of age. She has been a consistent member of the Methodist Church, and Mr. John Lee was of the same faith. Almon J. Lee was born December 21, 1856. As a boy he attended the local schools, and after his marriage he made his home for a number of years in the villages of Berlin Heights and Vermilion. He has now been identified for a long time with the community, at Ashmont in Vermilion Township, and his home is on the Joppa Road. Mr. Lee as the result of many years of steady industry has accumulated seventy acres of good farm land. Of this he has nine acres in fruit, and has a very attractive and prosperous looking home. He and his family reside in an eleven-room residence situated in the midst of a large lawn, and surrounded by various farms and outbuildings. On Hill street in Vermilion Township Mr. Lee married Miss Rozella Hill. She was born in the house that still stands on the old Hill farm December 28, 1862, and has spent practically all her life in Erie County. Her .parents were John W. and Charlotte (Swartwood) Hill, both natives of Ohio. They were reared in Vermilion Township and were married there. The grandfather of Mrs. Lee was David Hill, who came in the early days to Florence Township and secured a large tract of land, improved much of it, and his instrumentality in laying out Hill Street or Hill Road caused that thoroughfare to be named in his honor. David Hill and wife both died in Erie County when old people, and John W. Hill and wife were likewise full of years when called to their final reward. John W. Hill was one of the well known and successful farmers of Florence Township, was a republican in politics, and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Lee naturally take much pride in their children, several of whom have already assumed the serious responsibilities of the world and are making good. The oldest, Vedah A., is the wife of Arthur Heys, and they live in Elyria and have a son Floyd. Elgia L., who runs a market in Rocky River, Ohio, married Elsie Kitson and has three children named Gilbert K., Evelyn and Grace E. Walter H. is showing a great deal of executive and administrative ability in assisting his father run the farm, and like the other children completed a good edu- 1128 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY cation in the local common schools and high school. The daughter Helen, the youngest, is still at home and a student in the local schools. Mr. Lee and his sons are republicans in politics and since he was twenty-one years of age he has been a Mason and is at present a member of Ely Lodge, No. 424, F. & A. M., has filled several of the ;Chairs and his son Walter is also affiliated with the same body of Masons. ORRA G. JUMP. It is the ambition of every man to make his work and ability count for something in the world. The world's work is carried on by a great multitude of individuals and there is a place and responsibility for everyone who has the proper sense of duty, and is willing to serve himself best by serving others. One of the men of Erie County who has accepted these opportunities with good grace, and is now performing a worthy part is Orra G. Jump, who combines his business as a railroad station agent and telegraph operator with fruit growing and farming. In farming he is particularly assisted by his son, now a very capable young min, only recently having turned his majority. Very close to where he now lives on Joppa Road in Vermilion Township, Orra G. Jump was born August 9, 1869. He has spent nearly all his life in this county and in 1892 he accepted a place on the payroll of the Nickel Plate Railway as telegraph operator at Florence Siding. In 1899 he took up his duties as agent and operator at Shin Rock, when that was made a station on the Nickel Plate road. He has been a faithful employee of the Nickel Plate system for twenty-three years. In 1902 he bought from his father twenty-five acres where he now lives at Ashmont on the Joppa Road in Vermilion Township. Since then he has carried forward many improvements. One of these was the construction of a good barn, 20x30 feet, and one special feature of his- farm is an excellent vineyard of two acres. From this, he has gathered as high as seven tons of grapes. The soil is especially .adapted to grape growing of the finest quality and quantity. He also owns twenty-four acres just across the road from his homestead and has two acres of that set in apples. This is a family that has long been identified with this section of Northern Ohio. His grandfather, Ira Jump, was of New York State and Connecticut lineage. He married Sarah Dann, and for some years they lived on Long Island where some of their children were born. During the decade of the '30s they came west to Ohio and located on a new farm on the Joppa Road in Vermilion Township. Here the grandparents spent the rest of their days, as quiet, industrious and honored citizens. The grandmother passed away when about seventy and the grandfather at the age of eighty-four. In politics he was a republican. Some of their children are still living. Lorenzo is now ninety-two- years of age. Other sons were Levi, Rufus E., Charles L. and Giles L. The daughter Laura A. died after her marriage to Harvey Sanders, who is also deceased, and their son Levi H. Sanders married Roxy Ann Sanders of Vermilion Township. The, daughter Abigail is the widow of William Driver and she is now living in Indiana at the age of ninety. Mary is the widow of William Hobbs and lives in Indiana at the age of seventy- eight. Catherine is deceased. Giles L. Jump, father of Orra G., was born in Vermilion Township January 7, 1845, and spent his active career as a farmer and fruit grower. He died at the old homestead February 11, 1913. He made a record as a soldier in the Civil war and served two years with the 98th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, chiefly on guard duty at Camp Chase near Columbus. Giles Jump married Mary Pickett. She was born in Maryland, March 17, 1850, and came to Erie County a young girl. She is a sister of William Pickett, a well known citizen of Erie County. Mrs HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1129 Giles Jump is now living at the home of her son Orra. Orra G. Jump has two sisters: Mrs. Bertha Crum and Mrs. Myrtle Altvater of Castalia. In the neighborhood where he grew up Mr. Jump married Miss Nettie Bryant. She was born at Monclova in Lucas County, Ohio, September 15, 1871, a daughter of Lovinus A. and Fannie M. (flakes) Bryant, who were both born in Ohio and were married in Paulding County, Ohio, lived for some years in Lucas County, where Mr. Bryant followed his trade as painter and later was a farmer. He died there in 1880 at the age of about forty-five. His widow passed away in Norwalk three years later aged thirty-four. Mrs. Jump was nine years of age when she came to Erie count, and since then she has made her home in this locality. Mr. and Mrs. Jump have two living children. Bernice Ora, born January 12, 1893, was educated in the local public schools and graduated from the Vermilion High School, spent four years as a teacher, and is now a member of the class of 1916 in the old Ohio University at Athens. Wilmer L., who is a capable assistant to his father on the farm, was born July 17, 1894, and was graduated from the high school at Vermilion in 1911. WILLIAM T. PICKETT. One of Vermilion Township's highly respected citizens is William T. Pickett, the owner of a farm which has considerable distinction in that township for the fine quality and variety of peaches that come from it and go to the markets each year. Mr. Pickett has lived a quiet, honorable and upright life, has worked hard, and has ample provisions for declining years. He was born in Carroll County, Maryland, April 26, 1846, and is a son of Thomas and Matilda (Driver) Pickett, who were also natives of Carroll County, Maryland, and of old Southern stock. While the con- nection has not been accurately traced, it is believed that this branch of the Pickett family is not distantly related with that which gave the Southern Confederacy one of its greatest generals, the leader of the famous Pickett's charge at Gettysburg. Mr. Pickett's maternal grandfather was a Methodist minister and also a shoemaker by trade, and came to Ohio as a pioneer preacher and died in Erie County in old age. Thomas Pickett, the father, was a blacksmith, and died in Carroll County, Maryland, when in middle life. His widow with her four children then came out to Ohio and located on the shores of Lake Erie in Vermilion township. Here she married a Mr. Slocum, and they spent the rest of their lives on their farm in Vermilion township. She was eighty-four years of age when she died and Mr. Slocum was also an old man. She was for many years a Methodist, but later became a member of the Latter Day Saints. By her marriage to Mr. Slocum she had a son, Morris D. Slocum, who lives on a farm at Ogontz in Berlin Township, and is the father of three daughters, two of whom are now married. William T. Pickett was the oldest of four children. His sister Lucy died after her marriage to Andrew Date, leaving two children, Ethel, now deceased, and Clayton, who is married. Mary R. is the wife of Giles L. Jump, a farmer in Vermilion township, and their children are Ora G., Bertha, Myrtle, and Ellis. James W. is a mechanic in Elyria. and has four sons named William, Guy, Harry and Carl. Owing to family circumstances William T. Pickett has to spend much of his youth and childhood among strangers and what 'he has accomplished has been the direct result of his own well directed labors. When he was less than eight years of age he went to live with Mordecai Lee, on a farm near Lake Erie, and in that home he spent the rest of his youth. On reaching manhood he started out on his own account, Vol. II-42 1130 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY worked for others for a number of years, and by careful saving was finally able to buy 341/2 acres of land. He made this purchase in 1875. The Pickett farm is located near Joppa Corners in Vermilion township. It is nearly all in cultivation, but the conspicuous feature of the place is the orchard of 1,000 fruit trees, including such leading varieties as the Elberta, the Bear Smock, Champion Yellow, St. John Fitzgerald, and the Salloway. This orchard yields nearly 1,000 bushels of peaches every year, and while its care and superintendence are a large responsibility upon Mr. Pickett he enjoys a corresponding profit. As he has never married he has little need for a large home, but has a hove of substantial comforts, and sufficient barns and outbuildings to meet all requirements. In politics Mr. Pickett is a democrat and for a number of years served as constable of the township. He has been strictly honest in all his dealings and has long been able to say that he owes no man a dollar. GEORGE G. GLIME. What the possibilities are of Erie County agriculture as a means of independence and profit are well illustrated by the case of George G. Glime, whose fine farm lies in Florence Township. Mr. Glime spent nearly a quarter of a century of active service as a railroad man, and was reared on a farm and since returning to country life has shown a capacity for accomplishment in that line such as few of the veterans have attained. His birth occurred in Vermilion township of Erie County February 17, 1862. His parents, Philip and Catherine Glime, were born in Hesse Cassel, Germany, and of old German stock. They came when young people in the same vessel from Bremen to New York in the winter of 1858-59, spending six weeks on the voyage. From New York they came an to Vermilion township, and were married these in 1859 and then secured a small farm of sixteen acres in that locality. The father worked industriously and improved his land, but gained his livelihood and support for his growing family at first by employment in Leonard's stone quarry near his home, and for eight years operated a "whip saw" in 'making ship lumber for the vessels which were being constructed in the Vermilion shipyard. "Whipsawing" has long passed out as a feature of the industry connected with ship building, but a number of years ago it was a trade requiring special proficiency and skill, and was paid for at so much per foot. Philip Glime was able to make about $5.00 a day at that kind of labor and that was considered very high wages. In 1871 he traded the little place which he had first bought in part payment for the farm which is now owned by his son George, situated on the Lake Road one mile north of Florence Village in Florence Township, and comprising fifty-five acres. At that time the land was little improved and its buildings consisted of a small log house and a little frame dwelling. In 1879 Philip Glime moved to East Toledo, and on February 16, 1880, was accidentally killed on the Lake Shore Railroad tracks near his home. While stepping from one track to the other he was struck from behind by a rapidly moving train and instantly killed. He was then fifty-five years of age. Two months later his widow and her children returned to Florence Township and resumed their residence on the old farm, where the widowed mother died in July, 1888, at the age of sixty-five. Both parents were members of the German Reformed Church and in politics he was a democrat. There were five sons: John was accidentally killed while crossing the Lake Shore Railroad tracks at Vermilion in 1893, at the age of thirty-three, this being the second fatality of the kind in one family; the next in age is George; Henrys is a farmer east of Florence Village and by his marriage to Minnie Sinning- ham has the following children : William, George, Lucy, Carl, Elizabeth; PICTURE OF CHARLES F. DECKER HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1131 Albert, Henry, Robert and Minnie; Philip, who died at the age of thirtY years, had been twice married, and there are two children of his first wife, Archie, who is now a musician in the United States Navy, and a daughter, Mrs. Stephens, whose husband is a. teller in the bank at Berlin Heights; Barney is a railroad man in the West and has two children, George and Helen. . George G. Glime grew up on his father's farm, and after attending the public schools for the usual period started out in life to become a railroad man which was the principal object of his boyhood ambition. He made good at the occupation and served altogether for twenty-five years, being in the employ of railways all the way from Ohio to San Francisco and in capacities from brakeman, switchman, yard foreman, yardmaster, to freight conductor. While at Salt Lake City in charge of a train he lost his right foot, and being thus disabled had to retire from active railroad life. He was a member of both the Brotherhood of Conductors and of Brakemen, and from the former of these orders received $5,000.00 in benefits and from the latter $1,200.00. This capital, added to his modest savings, he brought back to Erie County, the scene of his early boyhood, and bought back the old homestead, which in the meantime had passed into other ownership and was at that time owned by Paul Sackt. While sentimental reasons may have had something to do with Mr. Glime's purchase of the old home, there are few farms in Erie County which have better repaid intelligent management and thrifty enterprise. When he bought the land it was almost worthless as a crop farm, and had seriously deteriorated under inefficient and slothful management for a number of years. He applied himself with the energy and proficiency which had become the habit of his character through his long railroad experience and in a few years had the land on a paying basis. He has cut up the farm into seventeen different lots, and has successfully pursued the rotation system of management. All these separate lots are fenced and the land is thoroughly drained into the county ditch which crosses the farm. Mr. Glime now has an excellent orchard of two acres and by intensive methods has made his land grow a hundred bushels of corn per acre, thirty bushels of wheat and about fifty bushels of oats. A part of it he keeps in pasture and meadow and each season changes his crop from one field to the next in order. He also keeps good grades of stock of different kinds and has one of the best country homes in Florence Township, a two-story ten-room house with a clean and sanitary basement, the house being heated by pipeless furnace and lighted by acetylene gas. Mr. Glime since taking possession has made his farm worth more than ten thousand dollars and in fact has invested that much either originally or in subsequent improvements. He is a very methodical and systematic man and besides his individual prosperity his example is worth a great deal to the community. He was married in Berlin Heights to Elizabeth (Fox) Hine, widow of Norman Hine and a sister of Peter Fox of Milan. Mrs. Hine was born, reared and educated at Milan, and by her first marriage has two children : Wilbur F. Hine, who is now twenty years of age and living at home ; and Theoficia. Mr. Glime is a republican in politics. CHARLES F. DECKER. The thriving little City of Vermilion, Erie County, claims as one of its progressive and representative business men the. well known citizen whose name appears above and who here conducts a substantial business as a dealer in coal and building supplies, further interest attaching to his career by reason of his being a native of Erie County, with whose history the family name has been closely and 1132 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY worthily identified with civic and business activities in Vermilion for more than half a century. Mr. Decker was born at Vermilion on the 9th of November, 1862, and is a son of Christopher F. and Eve (Beal) Decker, both of whom were born in Germany and both of whom were honored pioneer citizens of Vermilion at the time of their death, each having attained to the venerable age of eighty-seven years. Christopher F. Decker was one of the early settlers of Vermilion, which was a mere pioneer village at the time when he here established his home, and for more than fifty years he was here engaged in the manufacturing of wagons and carriages, known as a skilled mechanic, reliable and enterprising business man and loyal citizen of steadfast integrity and marked civic enterprise. He was a stalwart republican in politics and both he and his. wife were zealous and influential members of the German Methodist Episcopal Church in Vermilion for many years prior to their death, their names and memories being held in lasting honor in the community that so long represented their home. Charles F. Decker was reared to maturity in Vermilion and to its public schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline, which has been most effectively supplemented by the lessons that the man of wisdom is ever able o acquire in the benignant school of practical experience. He has been actively identified with his present line of business enterprise since 1885, and thus is to be considered as one of the veteran business men of his native city, the while his well directed activities have brought to him substantial and well merited success, besides which he has so lived and wrought as to receive the high regard of all who know him, his circle of friends in his native county being limited only by that of his acquaintances. Mr. Decker has always shown deep and loyal interest in all that touches the social and material welfare of his 'native city and county, has been unflagging in his advocacy of the cause of the republican party, has served one term as a member of the city council of Vermilion, and one term, of two years, as a member of the municipal board of public affairs. Though he is a stalwart republican in state and national affairs, he transcends partisan lines in the local field, where no generic issues are involved, and gives support to men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, with the Knights of the Maccabees, and with the Knights and Ladies of Security, with the Vermilion organizations of which he is prominently identified. He is a director of the Erie County Banking Company, which conducts the representative banking institution in Vermilion, and as a substantial business man his success has been the direct result of the application of his own energy and ability. As a young man Mr. Decker wedded Miss Lena Leimbach, who like, wise was born and reared in Vermilion and who was a daughter of 'the late Charles Leimbach, a well known citizen of Erie County. Mrs. Decker passed to the life eternal December 18, 1911, secure in the affectionate regard of all who had come within the compass of her gracious influence. Of the five children of this union four are living, Ruth, Catherine, Pauline and Mary, the only son, Charles C., having died at the age of four years. EDMUND H. ZURHORST. On the business history of the City of Sandusky there appears the name of Edmund H. Zurhorst written in bold and legible characters. From the time of his return. to this city; after the close of the Civil war, he has been continuously interested in, the growth and interests of this his home city and always retained his voting residence here. After a number of years service in the New York HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1133 Custom House and one year with the New York house of Jay Cooke & Company, he returned to his home city to engage in business. He has been an active and influential factor in the city interests and of the . ' State of Ohio. Large as have been his business interests and heavy as have been his responsibilities, he has not allowed them to interfere with the performance of his duties as a citizen, and his contributions in the latter direction have been as numerous and as helpful as those of any one individual during the period of Sandusky's growth from an inconsequential town to a lake city whose importance is recognized universally. Mr. Zurhorst was born in June, 1845, in the City of Montreal, Canada, and is a son of William H. and Letitia (McKenna) Zurhorst. His father, born in London, England, emigrated to the Dominion of Canada in middle life and took up his residence at Montreal, and in 1849, with his family, removed to Sandusky, Ohio, where he engaged in the manufacture of upholstering "goods and passed his last years. Edmund H. Zurhorst had red the high school course at Sandusky when, at the age of fourteen years, the low state of the family's financial circumstances made it necessary to discontinue his studies and secure a position in which. he could contribute to the family support. He accordingly secured employment on lake vessels and was a sailor on fresh water for about one year, and in his sixteenth year he shipped before the mast and sailed on the ocean. When he was nineteen years of age, or in 1864, he returned home and joined the United States Navy, with which he served during the rest of the Civil war, acting both as seaman and as surgeon's steward. His service finished, he came to Sandusky and for several years sailed on the lakes in various positions, then going to the New York Custom House under General Arthur, and resigning his position after seven years' service. He then returned to Sandusky and directed his attention to general business and shipping, eventually building and operating two steamers on the Great Lakes. As managing owner Mr. Zurhorst also became interested in the Marblehead Lime Company of Sandusky, and was its president in 1887, when the company disposed of its interests, its business was exceeded in bulk by few concerns of the kind in the United States. He was the original secretary and chief promoter of the Sandusky & Columbus Short Line Railroad (now the Pennsylvania Railroad), and was one of the most active directors of the construction company which built the line, and its secretary. For many years he served as general agent of the Columbus, Sandusky & Hocking Railroad, with headquarters at Sandusky. Amon̊. other industries of note which Mr. Zurhorst has been connected may Among mentioned the C. C. Keech Company, dealers in hides and pelts and tannery ; the Second National Bank, of which he was a stockholder and director ; the Emma Coal Company, Jackson, Ohio, as president ; the Crown Pipe and Foundry Company, Jackson, Ohio, as vice president ; the Sandusky Construction. Company, of which he was the secretary ; the Sandusky Improvement and Investment Company ; and the, Mansfield Short Line Railway Company, of which he was a director and secretary ; the Trommey Malt Company, Fremont, Ohio, being president ; and the Fremont Lumber and supply Company, of which he was president. Mr. Zurhorst, as chairman of the harbor committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Sandusky, was largely instrumental in securing the assistance of Congress which resulted in the improvement of the Sandusky Harbor and securing all the lights now in harbor use. During President Arthur 's administration he held the office of assistant United States weigher in the New York Customs House, and he has also acted as deputy collector of internal revenue for the Northern District of Ohio and as collector of customs for the Sandusky, Ohio, District. On September 23, 1874, Mr. Zurhorst was united in marriage with Miss Harriet West Keech, daughter of the late C. C. Keech, of Sandusky, Ohio. She died January 29, 1890, leaving three children : Christopher 1134 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY C., William K. and Mary L. William K. Zurhorst died October 28, 1902, as a result of disabilities received while serving as a soldier during the Spanish-American war in Cuba. Mr. Zurhorst is a thirty-second degree Mason, Scottish Rite, and a member of all the bodies of the York Rite, including the Commandery. He is a noble of the Mystic Shrine and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is widely and favorably known in fraternal circles. Politically he is a stalwart supporter of the principles of the republican party. He has taken active and responsible interest in county and state politics, enjoying the personal friendship of the party leaders which included Presidents Arthur and McKinley, also especially the late Senator Hanna, whose personal friendship he enjoyed. As a party leader locally Mr. Zurhorst enjoyed the confidence and assistance of his political associates and citizens. Mr. Zurhorst holds the confidence and esteem of all classes of citizens and is justly accounted one of the solid and substantial business men of the City of Sandusky. RAYMOND W. ROCKWELL. Since the year 1860 Raymond W. Rockwell has been a resident of East Oxford, having come there when a youth, and since attaining manhood has been prosperously identified with the agricultural enterprise of that community with the exception of five years spent in Lenawee County, Michigan. His long residence, his well known integrity of character, and his official position at different times in township affairs have brought him an influential place in the life of Erie County. Mr. Rockwell is in fact a native of Erie County, and his family were among the early settlers. He was born in Milan Township, August 7, 1851, a son of John and Sarah (Wilcox) Rockwell, his father a native of Delaware County, New York, and his mother of Connecticut. John Rockwell came from New York State to Ohio about 1835, the family first settling in Lorain Count, but after a short residence there he came to Erie County, locating in Milan Township. He was there early enough to become identified with the pioneer settlement and development, and lived there until his death. In 1860, when Raymond W. Rockwell was nine years old, his parents moved into Oxford Township, and he grew up in that locality, acquiring his education in the public schools, supplemented by much observation and experience of men and affairs in after life. In November, 1878, he married Miss Louisa C. Koch. Mrs. Rockwell was born in Germany and was brought to this country when quite young by her father, John P. Koch, who for many years has been a resident of Oxford Township and is now a venerable octogenarian. Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell are the parents of four children ; Minnie E., wife of Irvin Fox, .living near Lancaster, Ohio ; William F., of North Monfoeville ; Sarah P., wife of Frank Keinzly, of Oxford Township, and John P., now deceased. In a public way Mr. Rockwell served two terms as a trustee of Oxford Township and has liberally supported every movement that would make this community a more progressive place as an agricultural district and the locality of homes and institutions. He is a republican, and is affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees at Bloomingville. EPHRAIM J. HASTINGS. During an active career of nearly twenty years Mr. Hastings has been known for his capable work as a grain thresherman, as a road contractor, and more recently as the popular and genial merchant at Parkerstown in Groton Township. Most of his life has been spent in Groton Township, where he was born September 20, 1876, a son of James H. and Martha (Kershner) Hastings, his father now deceased and his mother a resident of Groton Township in her sixty-eighth year. Mr. Hastings grew up in his native township, attended the public schools, and soon embarked on a life of practical accomplishments. HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1135 For about twenty years he was engaged in the operation of a threshing outfit among the grain raisers of this county, and in that way acquired a large acquaintance and at the same time furnished an excellent service. For a number of years he also combined this with his business as a contractor for road construction and has built many miles of improved highways in this section of Ohio. In November, 1914, he bought the old established mercantile house at Parkertown formerly owned by M. L. Starr, and has shown a great deal of enterprise in extending and building up the trade which has long been concentrated at this point. He carries a large stock of general merchandise and has made his store a popular trading point in the community. On May 1, 1900, Mr. Hastings married Miss Theresa Swabley. She was born in Erie County, a daughter of Fabian Swabley, who now lives in Milan, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hastings have two children: Catherine G. and Helen R. In a public way Mr. Hastings has served as constable of Groton Township for a number of years, and his attitude has always been that of a public spirited and liberal citizen. WILBERT H. ARNOLD. Specialty farming is the vocation of Wilbert H. Arnold, one of the most progressive of Erie County 's agriculturists. While he has paid attention to the general farm crops, he is‘ a farmer on the diversified and intensity plan, growing crops on the fields, raising stock to consume farm products, and also keeping a fine herd of Holstein dairy cattle which contributes no small amount of the revenue derived from the Arnold farm. Mr. Arnold has two farms, one of them at Avery, known as the homestead, farm, and the other Corn King farm of eighty acres near Milan. One of his specialties is the raising of fine seed corn, and that has given the name to the Corn King farm near Milan. The product of this farm has served to seed many thousands of acres of corn land, not only in Ohio, but in other states. The homestead farm contains eighty-two acres. Both are excellently improved with buildings and are in the best of condition as to fencing, drainage and general fertility. The Avery farm has a barn 36 by 80 feet and other building improvements, while the Corn King farm has a barn 26 by 56 feet with a large amount of space devoted to the care and storage of the seed corn. His crops include practically all the staples of Northern Ohio, and for a number of years he has grown potatoes on a somewhat extensive scale. Among his stock he feeds a large number of hogs. Representing some of the best family stock in Erie County, Wilbert H. Arnold was born at Avery in Milan Township, April 8, 1864. He grew up in that locality, obtained his education at the country schools and in the Milan Normal, and early in life chose farming as his general vocation. He has known all the people in that section of Erie County since he was a boy, and his own work and achievements have been such as to gain him the thorough respect of a wide circle of acquaintances and friends. For the past twenty-two years he has livid in Milan, and now occupies a handsome twelve-room house in that village. Mr. Arnold was the fourth son of Levi and Rachel M. (Everett) Arnold, and for more detailed account of the Everett family the reader is referred to the life of Levi Arnold, found on other pages. In Milan, Wilbert H. Arnold married Miss Louise C. Lockwood, who was born in Milan Village, May 9, 1868, received her education here and at Buffalo, New York, and has practically spent her life in this one locality. Her parents are Stephen A. and Sarah (Lockwood) Lockwood, one of the best known families of Erie County. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold have two children. Harold L. was born December 21, 1897, has been a student in the Milan High School and is still at home. Dorothy 1136 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Louise, born September 4, 1899, is now in the freshman class of the Milan High School. Mrs. Arnold and her daughter are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Arnold is second reader in the Christian Science Church at Norwalk. Politically he is ,a republican, and has given some capable service to the community as a member of, the school board. MARTIN J. TRINTER. A resident of Vermilion Township since his boyhood days, Mr. Trinter holds precedence as one of the substantial and representative agriculturists and stock-growers of this township, where his well improved farm stands as a model in its admirable improvements and its general air of thrift and prosperity, and his ability as a man of affairs and his integrity in all of the relations of life have given to him special prominence and influence in the community which has so long represented his home. His inviolable hold upon popular confidence and esteem is indicated by the prolonged service he has given in public offices of local trust and responsibility, and he is at the present time a member of the board of trustees of Vermilion Township. Mr. Trinter claims Hessen-Cassel, Germany, as the place of his nativity and was there born on the 1st of May, 1853, his parents, George and Catherine (Minch) Trinter, likewise having been born in that same section of the great Empire of Germany, where they remained until 1863, when they immigrated with their children to America and established their home in Erie County, Ohio. Here the father purchased land and improved an excellent farm, the same having become the family homestead in 1864 and having been made by him one of the productive farms of Vermilion Township. On .this homestead George Trinter continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1887, and his widow passed to the life eternal in 1893, both having been devout members of the German Reformed Church and having commanded in. the land of their adoption the respect and good will of all who knew them. They were sturdy, industrious and God-fearing folk and their lives were guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor. Martin J. Trinter was a lad of ten years at the time of accompanying his parents on their immigration to America, and his rudimentary education had been received in his German Fatherland. After the home had been established in Erie County he attended the schools of Vermilion Township when oportunity presented, and in the meanwhile he did arduous and effective service in connection with the development and cultivation of the home farm. He has continued his residence in Vermilion Township during the long years, has never severed his allegiance to the great industry of agriculture and through his association therewith has worked his way forward to independence and substantial prosperity, his excellent homestead farm comprising 154 acres and being improved with good buildings, includ in the commodious and modern house, which is known for its generous hospitality and its pervading atmosphere of optimism and good cheer. Mr. Trinter has always exemplified in his active career the true spirit of American loyalty and progressiveness, as well as the sturdy perseverance and mature judgment typical of the race of which he is a scion. He has made his advancement along normal and legitimate lines of enterprise, has shown *vital interest in community affairs and has stood forward as sponsor for the best civic ideals. His service in public office had its inception when he was elected constable of Vermilion Township, and of this position he continued the incumbent two years. For fifteen consecutive years, or five terms, he was retained in PICTURE OF MARTIN J. TRINTER PICTURE OF EDNA M. TRINTER HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1137 the office of justice of the peace, and his able administration made the position justify its title. Twice after his retirement he was re-elected to this magisterial office, but on each of these occasions he refused to qualify and continue his service, as other interests demanded his attention and he believed also that other citizens should be chosen for the position to which he had given so many years of service. Save for an interim of two years he has served consecutively in the office of township trustee for a prolonged period, and his continuous incumbency of this position covers a period of fifteen years—a statement that gives the most effective voucher for the estimate placed upon him by the citizens of his home township. For several years Mr. Trinter has had the further distinction of being chairman of the Erie County Trustees Association, and his mature judgment and inviolable integrity have resulted in his being called upon to serve as administrator and trustee of various important estates in Erie County. He has held the office of township assessor and also has served with characteristic loyalty and ability as a member of the board of education of his township. Mr. Trinter is a director of the Erie County Banking Company, at Vermilion, and is one of the substantial and highly honored citizens of the county in which he has found the means to achieve large, and worthy success and to exemplify the best ideals of loyal citizenship. Mr. Trinter's political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he is well fortified in his convictions concerning economic and governmental policies. He is affiliated with Vermilion Tent, No. 19, Knights of the Maccabees, and both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the First German Reformed Church of Vermilion Township, of which he is a trustee. On the 23d of November, 1882, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Trinter to Miss Edna M. Hageman, who was born and reared in Lorain County and whose father, Conrad Hageman, for many years a prominent farmer of Black River Township, that county, is now living retired in the City of Lorain. Mr. and Mrs. Trinter became the parents of eight children, namely : Philip C., Elmer C., Lydia E., Edna M., William E., Catherine E., Anna M. and Nellie M. All of these children are living and doing honor to the family name. Elmer C. is his father's able manager of the homestead. Lydia E., who is now the wife of Lloyd Bacon, was. a successful teacher in the public schools of Vermilion Township for several years prior to her marriage, and she and her husband now reside in Brownhelm Township, Lorain County. Edna M. is a popular teacher in the public schools at Berlin Heights, Erie County ; and Catherine A. is employed as a skilled stenographer in the office of the Sandusky Foundry & Machine Co. of Sandusky, Ohio. BURTON P. ROOT. In carrying on the diversified agricultural enterprise of Milan Township one of the important factors is Burton P. Root, a young man of marked enterprise and business capacity, the interest of whose career is increased by the fact that he represents some of the older family stock in this section of Ohio. The farm he owns and occupies in Milan Township comprises 127 acres of excellent land, with high grade improvements in buildings and other facilities, and he is steadily prospering as a manager of the resources entrusted to his care. He grows all the staple crops, and raises excellent stock. Born in Milan Township, March 23, 1879, Burton P. Root grew up and received his education in that locality and has spent practically all his life on the farm he now owns. His parents were John O. and Sarah (Fairchild) Root, also natives of Ohio. John O. Root, his father, who is now living retired in Milan Village, having a nice home on Williams street, was born at Spears Corners in 1138 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Milan Township, April 20, 1848, a son of Perry and Celia (Hardy) Root. Perry Root and his wife were both natives of Connecticut, and came as children with their respective parents to Ohio, the Roots settling at or near Spears Corners while the Hardys located in Berlin Township. Both families were among the pioneers of Erie County. Perry Root likewise played a pioneer part in this section, improved farm lands from almost a wilderness condition, and constructed a large brick house which was one of the landmarks among the early homes of Milan Township, and in which he and his wife spent their last years. However, for several years after his marriage Perry Root lived in different localities, but finally bought the homestead near Spears Corners, where he died at the age of fifty-five and his wife at the age of sixty-five. They were not members of any church, but in politics Perry was a democrat and served as school director and supervisor of roads. He and his wife have three sons and three daughters, five of whom grew up and four were married. John 0. Root and his sister, Elizabeth R., widow of R. M. Wilcox of Bowling Green, Wood County,. Ohio, are the only ones now living. John 0. Root grew up on his father's farm at Spears Corners and was married in Townsend Township, of Huron County, to Sarah Fairchild. She was born in 1851 in Townsend and was reared and educated there, a daughter of Burton and Melissa (Squires) Fairchild, who were natives of New York State and early settlers in Townsend Township, of Huron County, where they married. Burton Fairchild was a cooper by trade, carried on a small farm in conjunction, and he spent his life in that county. He and his wife were active members of the church, and he was a lay preacher and a power in revival work. In politics he was a republican. Burton Fairchild was twice married and had children by both wives. Mrs. John 0. Root was the only daughter of her mother, but she had a brother, William, who married and reared a family and is now deceased. After his marriage John 0. Root located on the farm now occupied by his son Burton. He lived there and went ahead .with its management and improvements and finally retired with a competence to the Village of Milan in 1912. In' politics he is a democrat. He and his wife became the parents of three children. Elma is the wife of William Olemacher, a machinist and department manager, and their children are Burton, Zelta and Howard. Jay 0. Root, the other son, is now a farmer in St. Clair County, Michigan, and is the father of two sons and one daughter, Clair, Delmar and Gladys. Burton P. Root was married in Milan Township to Miss Charlotte M. Everett. She was born in Huron Township, of this County, June 20, 1878, grew up in that locality and received her education there and at Toledo. Prior to her marriage she taught school several years. Her parents were Elias and Emma (Hind) Everett, both natives of .Huron. They were married in that township, and Mr. Everett died in 1906 and his widow is now living, at the age of about sixty, in Norwalk, Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Root were born four children : E. Everett, now ten years of age; John B. aged eight ; Robert P., aged three; and Ada L., one year old. Mr. and Mrs. Root are active in the social affairs of their community, and politically he votes with the democratic party. JACOB EDWARD KISHMAN. It is doubtful if Erie County has a better managed farm and a more attractive and comfortable rural homestead than that of J. Edward Kishman, whose place is in Vermilion Township along Market Road No. 13, not far from Lake Erie. Mr. Kishman might be classed as a general farmer and stock raiser. He owns and conducts seventy-four acres of highly improved land, with all of it except a very few acres under cultivation. His residence is an especially attractive feature of the landscape. It is a ten-room HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1139 house, with all the improvements found in a city home, including hot and cold water, furnace heat, and electric light. There are several large barns in an excellent state of repair, the largest being 32 by 72 feet. His farm grows all the staple crops, including wheat, corn and oats, and his fields in an average season produce about a hundred bushels of corn to the acre, twenty bushels of wheat and forty bushels of oats. This farm has been in his ownership since his father died eight years ago, and in that time he has constructed most of the buildings which now mark it out so prominently in this rural community. Mr. Kishman has lived on the same farm for twenty-one years. As a stock man he takes pride in his animals, and keeps from ten to fifteen head of cattle besides horses and hogs. In this township near the Village of Vermilion J. Edward Kishman was born August 1, 1866, and was reared and educated here. He is the son of Werner and Elizabeth (Lutz) Kishman. His father was born in Hesse, Germany and was seventeen years of age when he came across the ocean to the United States. His first location was in Lorain County, where he reached mature years, and afterwards learned the blacksmith trade in Vermilion Village. He was employed for a number of years at his trade in the ship yards performing the iron work for the sailing vessels constructed by the Bradley firm of ship builders. Later he bought a farm west of Vermilion Village on the lake shore, and there he and his wife spent their declining years. Werner Kish- man and wife were members of the German Reformed Church; and in politics he was a democrat. The Kishman family is one of the older stock in Vermilion Township, and reference is made to its members on other pages. J. Edward Kishman is the second child of the family. He was married in this township to Miss Martha Dickel. She was born in Vermilion Township December 3, 1873, a daughter of George Dickel, the Dickel family also having representation on other pages. MD. and Mrs. Kishman are members of the Mittewanga German Reformed Church, in which he is serving as deacon, and of which his parents were charter members. In politics he is a democrat. COURT C. SMITH. One of the vigorous and independent young farmers in Vermilion Township is Court C. Smith, whose homestead which was also his birthplace, is located on the south side of the township. During his father's lifetime and since then Mr. Smith has applied himself vigorously to the work and management of this excellent farm and the success with which he has pursued his chosen calling has been reflected in a generous estimate of his abilities and good citizenship. Born on the farm where he now lives June 28, 1883, he was reared and educated in that community, and is a son of the late Charles and Anna (Nixon) Smith. His father was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1840 and died in 1899 at the old home in Vermilion Township. His mother was born in New York State in 1859 and died at the Vermilion Township farm in 1892 when in the prime of life. These parents were married in Vermilion Township, and 'were quiet, industrious people who worked hard to improve their sixty acres of land, and left it to their son as a very valuable property. During his. lifetime the father put up a good set of farm buildings, including a substantial nine-room two-story house. He was a man who took an active interest in local affairs and was a democrat. Charles Smith was a son of Hiram Smith, who came from the East to Ohio and married in this State Miss Hardy. They spent their last years in Florence Township of Erie County. At the time of his death Hiram Smith was eighty-three years of age. He had been affiliated with the republican party for a number of years. 1140 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Mrs. Anna Smith, mother of Court C., was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her father, Mr. Nixon, was born in New York State and enlisted at Lewiston for service in the Civil war. He was captured and thrown into a Southern prison, and died while there from exposure and suffering, being then in the prime of his years. He left a widow with two daughters, the elder being Anna Smith, and the younger being Jennie, now the wife of James Jones, living in Cleveland. With Mrs. Jones lives her mother, who married for a second time John McDowell. Mrs. McDowell is now past eighty-six years of age, still vigorous in spite of her years, and a devout Methodist. Court C. Smith is the older of two children, his brother Glenn having died at the age of ten months and Mr. Smith naturally succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead in Vermilion Township on the death of his parents. He grew up in that community, attained a substantial education in the local schools, and for the past fifteen years has been an active farmer. In 1904 in Vermilion Township he married Miss Myrtle Risden. She was born iii Nebraska June 5, 1886, but was reared and educated in Vermilion Township, being a daughter of Almor G. Risden, a well known Vermilion Township citizen. In politics Court C. Smith votes an independent ticket. CHRISTIAN HAUFF. In the years that have come and gone since Christian Hauff first became identified with Erie County as a farmer, he has contributed a great deal of productive labor to local agricultural enterprise and it is in the enjoyment of comforts and plenty that his earlier period of industry enabled him to accumulate that he is now enjoying, retired life in his home on Darrows Road in Vermilion Township. His present place of residence is a good home and a small farm which furnishes him all the opportunity for work he cares to indulge. He has lived there for the past three years. He came to this location from his main farm near the lake shore in Vermilion Township, and which he had occupied and owned since 1875. The lake shore farm comprises sixty acres, all of which was improved under his immediate supervision and by his own labor, including the erection of a number of buildings, among them a good new house. Under his management he kept the place up to the best standards of crops and livestock. Christian Hauff was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, November 4, 1850, a son of Frederick and Fredericka (Siebold) Hauff, both of whom were born in Plockingen of Wurtemberg. They grew up and were married in their native country and town and spent all their lives in Wurtemberg. Frederick Hauff was sixty-eight years of age when he died, and was a man of rugged constitution. This was evidenced by the fact that though dentistry was not practiced then as it is now he had every tooth in his head when be died. His wife lived to be seventy years of age, and she too was possessed of a strong and vigorous constitution. Christian Hauff had three brothers, Jacob, John and Gottlieb, and two sisters, Rosina and Catherine, all of whom still live in their native province. All are married and have children of their own. Christian Hauff grew up in his native town, and was well educated according to the German custom. He was a young man eligible for the army when the Franco-Prussian war broke out in 1870, and in order to avoid military service he left his native land and come to free America. He took passage at Hamburg in February, 1870, on a steamship which twelve days later landed him at Castle Garden. From there he came west to Erie County, and was first employed on a farm in Berlin Township. Subsequently he invested his accumulations in the sixty PICTURE OF THE LITTLE EVERGREEN FARM, RESIDENCE OF CHRISTIAN HAUFF HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1I41 acre farm near the lake shore in Vermilion Township, and that was the scene of his most productive labors in Erie County. That farm is now under the management of his son. While living in Vermilion Township Mr. Christian Hauff married Ernestine Seitz. She was born in Germany, in Baden, in 1846, and was a young woman when she came with her brother William to the United States and located in Sandusky. A few years later she married, and she died at the old home in Vermilion Township in 1888. She was survived by four children : Catherine is now the wife of Orlando Edwards, a farmer in Ashland County, Ohio, and their children are Mabel, Earl and Dorothy Belle. Christian is now living in the State of Washington and is still unmarried. Bertha is the wife of William F. Fichtel, a farmer of Vermilion Township, and their children are Ernest, Catherine, Earl, Frederick, Henry and Lydia. Gottlieb now conducts his father's farm, and by his marriage to Anna Bartzen has a son Harvey and a baby as yet unnamed. At Sandusky in 1912 Mr. Hauff married Mrs. Freda Lutz. She was born Lutz, and married her cousin. Both were natives of Wurtemberg, and Mrs. Hauff came to America in 1892, while Mr. Lutz followed several years afterwards. They were married in Brooklyn, New York, and Mr. Lutz died there in 1903. Ms. and Mrs. Hauff are both members of the German Reformed Church. Politically Mr. Hauff is a democrat. Mr. Hauff visited Germany and his old friends after having been away for forty years. Two' years later he made another visit. W. J. SPROW. It requires energy and ability to get as far ahead in the business world as W. J. Sprow has gone during the comparatively brief thirty-three years since he first saw the light of day in Erie County. Mr. Sprow is now the chief executive head of The Wagner Quarries Company, the largest industry of its kind in Ohio, and has a number of other interesting relations with business and civic affairs in his home City of Sandusky. Born December 23, 1882, he is a son of Paul J. and Mary (Sullivan) Sprow. His father, who was also born in Erie County, in the year 1851, made a fine record in the railroad service.. He early became. a trainman on the old Mad River Railroad, the first railroad in Erie County, and from one post was promoted to another until he became a passenger conductor, and came to be known to thousands of the traveling public in that capacity. He had charge of the first freight train ever run over the Lake Erie & Western Railroad. He was a contemporary and close friend while in railroading of George Randolph, who was born in Norwalk, Ohio, and is now first vice president of the Baltimore & Ohio system, and was also intimate with D. F. Hill, who is now general superintendent of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad. Paul Sprow was one of the best liked men in the railroad service and had a host of friends who keenly lamented his death in 1899. The youngest in a family of three sons, W. J. Sprow had a good practical education, acquired in the grammar and high schools. On graduating from high school in 1900 he ,soon afterward entered the employ of The Wagner Quarries Company as clerk, and two years later his efficiency was rewarded by his election as treasurer and secretary of the company. In 1912 in addition to the duties of those offices he was also made general manager. The plant of The Wagner Quarries Company has the largest capacity in Ohio for the production of limestone in all its forms and commercial products. Its quarries are directly connected with six railroads radiating in all directions, and the output goes frequently to a great distance. The company has five different plants in operation, and altogether produces about one million tons of crushed stone besides a fine grade of dressed limestone used in the con- 1142 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY struction of church and school buildings. All the latest machinery is found installed in the company's plants, and the highest standard of mechanical equipment is everywhere maintained. The company furnishes for different purposes ballast, crushed stone, screenings, limestone sand, building stone and macadam material. The business offices of the company are in the Laurence Building at Sandusky. Besides this business, with which he has been identified now for fully fifteen years, Mr. Sprow is a director in the Peoples Loan & Savings Company, in the Mayfield Estate of Cleveland and the Lake Road Realty Company of that city ; is president of the Portland Vintage Wine Company ; and is president of the A. Schmidt Bros. Wine Company, and the B. F. Sexton. wholesale liquor house. He is a member of the Federated Commercial Club of Sandusky, a member of the Sunyendeand Club, is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Elks. On June 15, 1912, in Erie County he married Miss Elsie Schmidt, a daughter of August Schmidt, Jr., of Sandusky, Ohio. A. W. ALLENDORF. For many years the name Allendorf has been associated with the business affairs of Sandusky, and one of the men of that name is now cashier in the Commercial National Bank, while his son is an active insurance man. The firm of Schaub & Allendorf of which A. W. Allendorf is a member, was organized in March, 1914, and has already built up a large business in general fire and life insurance and real estate. A. W. Allendorf was born August 31, 1890, in Erie County, and for a young man of twenty-five has already achieved a more than ordinary business success. His parents were William L. and Mary (Kunzman) Allendorf. His father, a native of Germany, came to America early in life, and has long been known in Sandusky. He was in the lime business for the Ohlemacher firm up to 1900, and then entered the Second National Bank, and subsequently became cashier of the Commercial National Bank, a responsibility which he now holds. A. W. Allendorf was educated in the public schools of Sandusky and in the University of Michigan, and for two summer terms was a student in Culver's Military Academy in Indiana. In a business way he first became identified with the Easiest Way Manufacturing Company at the time of its organization, and was made secretary. In 1913 he became a clerk in the Commercial National Bank, but since 1914 has given all his time and attention to the insurance and real estate business. WILLIAM H. LUNDY. In 1912 the people of Erie County chose for the office of sheriff a citizen whose fitness for such responsibility and honor is unquestioned and exceptional. Sheriff Lundy is now in his second term, and has spent most of his life in this county, has been a practical and successful worker and faithful to every responsibility, and has always been noted for his honesty and efficiency, qualities which have rendered his record as sheriff of exceptional value to the county at large. Sheriff Lundy since taking office has done a great deal to carry out all the duties of his office, and has two very capable deputies in Edward J. Hartman and Fred C. Staffler. William H. Lundy was born July 12, 1870, in Erie County, a son of John W. and Anna (Haley) Lundy. His father was born in Ireland and came to America in 1849, first locating in Huron, where he spent two years as a laborer. He then moved to Sandusky and was employed by a lumber company for a time, but later purchased a farm, which he operated the rest of his life. He died January 29, 1914. He married in PICTURE OF AUGUST W. LEADRACJ HISTORY OF ERIE .COUNTY - 1143 Sandusky and became the father of five children, four of whom are still living. Fourth in order of age, William H. Lundy was educated in the district schools, and at the age of twenty-two found employment with the Interurban Electric Line known as the Sandusky, Milan & Norwalk Street Railway. For many years he was a conductor on that line, and has the honor of having taken the first electric car into the City of Norwalk. After retiring from the interurban service he engaged in merchandising and conducted a general store at Bogarts Corners in Erie County for ten years. He was called from the quiet routine of a country store in the fall of 1912 to the office of sheriff, and the choice of the people manifested in popular election was never better justified than in the case of William H. Lundy. In politics he is a democrat and has done a great deal to support and maintain the party organization in this section of Ohio. In religious belief he is a member of the Catholic Church and also belongs to the Catholic Order of Foresters and the Knights of Columbus and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. In Sandusky on November 7, 1894, Mr. Lundy married Miss Anna Steinen, a daughter of Joseph Steinen of West Huron, Ohio. To their marriage were born two children : Marie, born July 22, 1895, and William, born August 8, 1897. AUGUST W. LEADRACH. For several interests and activities August W. Leadrach is one of the leading business men and best known citizens of Vermilion Township. Perhaps the occupation by which he is best known in that section of Erie County is as a cheese maker. He has been identified with that industry fully a quarter of a century, and is now president, treasurer and general manager of the Diamond Cheese Company, which has its large plant and offices at Axtell in Vermilion Township. Mr. Leadrach has, also extended his holdings and enterprise to stock breeding and farming, and has an established reputation as a breeder of thoroughbred Holstein cattle. He has done a great deal to promote dairy interests in Northern Ohio and is an able and influential citizen of his township. His family lived for many years in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and he was born in Auburn Township of that county August 1, 1864, a son of Gottlieb and Magdalena (Zimmerman) Leadrach. His father was born in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland, while the mother is a native of Tuscarawas County. Gottlieb Leadrach when nineteen years of age set out for America, and settled with his parents in Tuscarawas County, and he followed farming in Auburn Township of that section until his death in June, 1913. Reared on a farm, educated in the country schools, August W. Leadrach at an early age determined to make his life count for something in the world. From the schools of Auburn Township he subsequently entered upon and completed a commercial course in the Northern Ohio University at Ada, and on finishing there in 1888 at once came to Erie County. For one year he was a partner with C. Bauman in the manufacturing of cheese at Axtell in Vermilion Township, but in 1890 he bought his partner's stock and became sole proprietor. He conducted this as a successful industry for the making of cheese until 1899, and then incorporated the business under, the name Diamond Cheese Company, of which he has since, been president, treasurer and general manager. This company manufactures domestic Swiss cheese and find markets for most of its goods in the large cities of New York State, though the product is also sold in other states. The factory is equipped with the most modern and improved machinery known to 1144 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY the trade of cheese making, and the plant at Axtell has long been a recognized factor in the prosperity of a large surrounding community. As a successful business man Mr. Leadrach has done much to build up his community, and for a number of years has been a member of the board of education of Vermilion Township, and for part of the time was president of the board. Mrs. Leadrach before her marriage was Emma Bauman. She was born in Ohio, daughter of Christian and Magdalena (Wuetrich) Bauman. Both parents are now deceased. Of their marriage five children were born, as follows: Pauline M., Milton A., Roland, Pearl, and Earl, the last named being now., deceased. In politics Mr. Leadrach is a democrat and is affiliated with Ely Lodge A. F. & A. M. at Vermilion, and with the Modern Woodmen of America at the same place. Attention should also be directed to his enterprise as a farmer. He owns a fine, place of 100 acres in Brownhelm Township of Lorain County, and his own home in Vermilion Township is surrounded by twenty-five acres of rich land, and beautifully improved as a country estate. His Brownhelm Township farm is known as the Longview Stock Farm, and for a number of years it has been headquarters for registered Holstein cattle. Mr. Leadrach has probably done more than any other individual in this section of Northern Ohio for introducing this splendid dairy stock and for raising the general grades of dairy cattle through the influence of his farm. GEORGE A. MICHEL. For practically forty years there has been more than ordinary significance attaching to the name Michel in manufacturing circles in Erie County. It is with the cooperage business that the various members of the family have been especially identified, and one of the largest enterprises in the business district of Sandusky is one that bears the Michel name and has a plant covering. an entire city block, devoted to the manufacturing of practically every type and class of cooperage goods, but particularly watertight containers adapted to many varied purposes. The president and active executive head of this large industry is now George A. Michel, a son of the founder. He was born November 22, 1881, in Erie County, a son of the late August and Margaret (Conners) Michel, both of whom were born in the State of Ohio. August Michel came to Erie County in 1876, and after some employment as a journeyman cooper engaged in business for himself in 1880. A year later he became associated with his brother Robert under the name Michel Bros., and together they brought the industry to one of extensive proportions. In 1902 some consolidation of cooperage interests was effected, and the Michel Cooperage Company was incorporated in that year. August Michel, who became president and manager of the company, died March 8, 1906, while his brother Robert passed away July 23, 1906. The late August Michel held a place of high esteem in Sandusky, not only in business but in social and civic circles. He was a thoroughly successful business man, had founded one of the first cooperage enterprises in Erie County, and could always, be looked to for a manifestation of that public spirit which is one of the best assets of a growing and progressive city. Of his eight children six are still living, with the son George A. as the oldest. After the death of his father, George A. Michel succeeded as president and general manager of thee, Michel Cooperage Company. As already noted the plant of this company covers an entire city block in Sandusky, is equipped with all modern cooperage machinery, and furnishes work and wages to a hundred employes.. The output is standard in quality and of a constantly growing volume, the demand HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1145 being practically always equal to the output. The company sends out each year many thousands of casks, tanks. and practically every wooden container bound with hoops. They furnish breweries and wineries with everything needed in those industries, and they also manufacture an extensive line of barrels for packing houses and for the containing of oils and varnish. George A. Michel is one. of the four brothers all of whom are identified with the business, and each one in charge of some important department. George A. Michel was educated in the parochial schools and in the Sandusky Business College, and has now been active in the affairs of the company nearly fifteen years. He has many of the characteristics of his late father, is energetic public spirited, and usually a leader in anything he undertakes. He is a member of the Federated Commercial Club of Sandusky, is affiliated with the Elks Order, the Sunyendeand Club, and is an honorary member of Company B of the Ohio National Guard at Sandusky, and also belongs to the Sandusky Ad Club. In polities he is a republican. Mr. Michel married Miss Cora Koehler, and they have one child, Elsie E. Michel. WILLIAM HENRY DILGART. Everyone in Sandusky, and every person in the surrounding district whose trade relations bring him to that city, is familiar with the large furniture house of Dilgart & Bittner. This is a business which Sandusky people regard with special pride, and for many years its development and prosperity have reflected upon the thorough commercial enterprise and character of William; H. Dilgart, senior proprietor. Mr. Dilgart is a native of Ohio, born April 2, 1875, in Lucas County, a son of E. W. and Sophia (Brindley) Dilgart. His parents are likewise natives of Ohio, and in their family of seven children William Henry was the oldest. Since his education in the public schools at Swanton, Ohio, and at the Davis Business College, Toledo, Mr. Dilgart has been concentrating all his time and energies upon a business career. He started as a bookkeeper in a dry goods store in Swanton, and spent three years there, an experience which gave him an unusual grasp of many of the fundamental details in merchandising. He then entered the furniture house of Hood Bros., at Toledo, was their bookkeeper for two years, and the firm then on March 16, 1901, sent him to Sandusky, where he managed the Hood Bros. interests in the furniture trade for one year. He was making rapid progress, showed great ability in carrying on the business entrusted to him by others, and in the meantime had established credit and standing so that at the end of one year he was able to buy out the concern and continued it under his individual management for one year. In 1903 he organized the firm of William H. Dilgart & Company, which continued under that title a year and a half. On March 4, 1905, the firm of Dilgart & Bittner was organized, and this in turn was succeeded in 1907 by the incorporation of Dilgart & Bittner Company. Fraternally Mr. Dilgart is affiliated with the Perseverance Lodge No. 329, F. & A. M.; Sandusky Chapter No. 72, R. A. M. ; Sandusky Council No. 39, R. & S. M. ; Sandusky Commandery No. 23, K. T.; the Scottish Rite Consistory of thirty-second degree ; and the Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Toledo. He is also affiliated, with the Knights of Pythias, and is vice president of the Sandusky Ad Club. Mr. Dilgart is an active member of the Congregational Church and has served as deacon for the past three years. Besides his main interests as a senior member of the firm of Dilgart & Bittner, he is vice president of the Talbott Chemical Company of Sandusky. Vol. II-43 1146 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY On September 11, 1898, in Swanton, Ohio, he married Miss Margaret Humphreys. They are the parents of one daughter, Jeanette Isabel, born April 7, 1909. JAMES T. BEGG. As superintendent of Sandusky schools Mr. Begg has performed a service which creates his administration a new epoch in the schools under his supervision. He is an exponent of progressive and practical ideals in the educational field, and having been a teacher all his active life he has always been a student, and by his experience has worked out plans and methods which he has applied in making the schools under his supervision vital institutions to the welfare of the coming generation. He was born February 16, 1877, in Allen County, Ohio, a son of John and Mary (Kalb) Begg. His father was born in Ohio but his paternal ancestors came from Scotland, and grandfather John Begg first located at Columbus and afterwards went to Allen County, where he continued as a farmer until his death. The parents of James T. Begg had six children, James being the second in order of birth. He acquired his early education in the district schools of Allen County. Completing his education in the Lutheran College, at Lima, Ohio, and Wooster University. He taught three years in the country schools of Allen County, was principal one year and five years as superintendent of the Columbus Grove High School, was superintendent of the Ironton, Ohio, public schools three years, and then came to Sandusky as superintendent of the city schools on December 1, 1913. Mr. Begg is affiliated with the Masonic Order, being a Knight Templar, also with the Knights of Pythias, with the Sandusky Teachers Association, the Northwest Ohio Teachers Association, the Northeastern Ohio Teachers Association, the Ohio State Educational Association and the National Educational Association. On August 26, 1903, in Allen County Mr. Begg married Miss Grace Mohler, daughter of T. H. Mohler, of Bluffton, Ohio. Their two children are Eleanor, born June 19, 1904 ; James, born December 17, 1909. EDWARD C. WASEM. That enterprise and good management are well rewarded in the country life of Erie County needs no better illustration than the career of Edward C. Wasem, whose fine homestead is located in Vermilion Township. So far as financial capital was concerned Mr. Wasem began life practically at the bottom of the ladder. He had something better than capital, namely, energy, ambition, and a will to make something of himself in the world. He has made out of his farming enterprise a business that would compare favorably with many of the mercantile or industrial concerns in this part of Ohio. He is a general farmer, fruit grower, dairyman, stock raiser, enjoys the comforts of a modern country residence, has modern barns, and all the equipment which goes with up to date farm management. A native of Ohio, Edward C. Wasem was born at Ragersville in Tuscarawas County, May 28, 1868, a son of Engelhart and Catherine (Espensheid) Wasem. His father was born in Ohio of German parentage. His grandfather, Henry Wasem, and his wife were both natives of Germany, but were married in Ohio, and spent most of their lives in Ragersville, where they were early settlers. They developed some of the early farming land in that section of Tuscarawas County. Grandfather Henry Wasem died when about eighty years of age. He was an active member of the Lutheran 'Church. His first wife died in middle life, and he also survived his second marriage. In politics he was a democrat and a man who took a commendable interest in local affairs. There were children by both his marriages. PICTURE OF ELIZABETH E. & E. C. WASEM HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1147 Engelhart Wasem was born at Ragersville, Ohio, sixty-eight years ago, and is still living there. For the past ten years he has been retired, but is still a hale and hearty man and if necessity required could perform a good day's work. His wife died March 11, 1912, at the age of sixty-two. They had been members of the Reformed, Church and in politics he is a democrat. Of their seven sons and four daughters, the oldest is Edward C. and the others are named Elmer, Minnie, Simon, William, Herbert, Cora, Nettie, Robert, Walter and Bessie. All are now married except Herbert. Edward C. Wasem grew up on a farm in his native locality in Tuscarawas County. While living at home he learned many lessons that have been valuable to him in his later career. He was taught to be honest, to work to the extent of his energies, and to bring the best that he had in him to every undertaking. He also attended the local schools, and the education which he gained there has been supplemented by practical experience in after life. When he was twenty-one he came to Erie County. Here he has had his home for nearly thirty ,years. With very little to start, he made the best use of that little, and now stands among the most prosperous citizens of Vermilion Township. In 1901 he bought his present farm of sixty-seven acres near the Village of Axtell. This land is well improved, has a large barn 30 by 70 feet, and other farm buildings, and his home is a seven-room residence. The Wasem farm has a reputation in that neighborhood for producing crops when many less favored places failed. He grows all the staple crops and two conspicuous features about his place give evidence of his modern enterprise. These are silos, one with fifty tons and the other ninety tons capacity. Mr. Wasem grows and feeds a large number of live stock, and has became known to a large number of people as a dealer, buying and selling hogs and cattle. He operates a first class dairy of ten cows, keeps a high grade of work horses and he uses a high power automobile for business or pleasure practically every day of the year. Very naturally a man who has been so successful in his own affairs should have the confidence of his fellow citizens and would be a proper choice for almost any position in the local government. To please his friends Mr. Wasem consented to become a candidate for township trustee. In Coshocton County, Ohio, Mr. Wasem married Miss Elizabeth Hothem. She was born in that county August 18, 1872, and grew up and received her education there. Her parents were John and Elizabeth (Baab) Hothem, the former a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and the latter a native of Ohio. John Hothem came to the United States with his parents when nine years old and settled in Ohio. He made a gallant record in the Civil war as a soldier in the Seventy-second Ohio Infantry. His service for his adopted country is a fact which his descendants will always cherish. Mr. and Mrs. Hothem were married in Coshocton County, Ohio, and by their united efforts and energies they acquired and developed a splendid farm, situated partly in Coshocton and partly in Tuscarawas County. John Hothem is now retired from active responsibilities, and at the age of seventy-five is able to enjoy a well earned leisure and to look back with satisfaction upon his past. His wife died in 1904, when fifty-five years of age. The Hothems were upright and loyal church people and in polities he is a republican. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Wasem have been born three children : Irvin E., born July 18, 1899, is now attending the high school at Birmingham ; Raymond R., born October 22, 1903, is in the sixth grade of the public schools; and Lloyd W., born January 1, 1905. and 1148 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY also in school. Mr. and Mrs. Wasem are members of the Reformed Church at Vermilion. ROY E. OFFENHAUER. No position in Erie County means more to the future welfare of the community than that of superintendent of schools. The incumbent of this position is Roy E. Offenhauer, a capable educator of many years experience, a university trained man, and one of high ideals in regard to educational work in general. A native of Ohio, Roy E. Offenhauer was born August 10, 1881, in Mercer County, a son of Julius and Elizabeth (Yaney) Offenhauer. His father, who was born in Germany, came to America alone in 1868, and located in Franklin County, Ohio, and later in Mercer County, where he spent his life as a farmer. His death occurred in 1888, at the age of sixty. Mr. Offenhauer's mother, although of German extraction, was born and reared in Mercer County, Ohio. Her death occurred in 1889, aged forty-three years. The family were members of the German Baptist Church. In a family of seven children, all of whom are still living, Roy E. was the fourth in age. He acquired his early education in the public schools of Mercer County, and in 1903 graduated from the Normal School at Marion, Indiana. He is also a graduate of Otterbein University, with the class of 1905, and subsequently took special courses in education at Miami, Harvard and Columbia universities. His first work as a teacher was done in the district schools of his native County of Mercer. He subsequently became superintendent of Menden Village and the Union Township schools, Mercer County. Later he was principal of the high school at Mount Vernon, Ohio, and from 1909 to 1914 was identified with Sandusky as principal of the high school. It was his record in this work that made him so well qualified in the eyes of those entrusted with the management of the schools for his present position to which he was chosen in 1914 as superintendent of the Erie County school .system. He is giving the county an "excellent administration, and much good has already resulted from his leadership and guidance. Mr. Offenhauer is affiliated with Perseverance Lodge No. 329, F. & A. M., at Sandusky. He is active in the various educational bodies including the Ohio State Educational Association and the National Educational Association, and in politics is independent. On August 4, 1907, he married Miss Ella May Smith. Their two children are Helen Geraldine, born July 20, 1911 ; and Wayne Berry, born January 21, 1914. Mr. Offenhauer and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. JOHN J. MARQUART. There is probably no better known business man in Sandusky than John J. Marquart, who for fully thirty years has been a factor in the business district and in all his associations and relations has come to be known as a ,man of strictest honor and integrity. While he spent much of his boyhood at Sandusky, Mr. Marquart laid the foundation of his business experience in varied empployment in the City of Chicago, and from there returned to Sandusky to make it his permanent home. He was born August 9, 1854, in the City of Brooklyn, New York, a son of John and Elizabeth (Lauter) Marquart. There were two sons in the family, but he is the only one who survived his father. The parents were both natives of Germany, and John Marquart came alone to America, and worked as a laborer in Brooklyn, New York, until 1860, in which year he brought his family to Sandusky. He is recalled by many HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1149 of the older settlers as a grocery merchant, and he conducted a store in the city until 1884. John J. Marquart attended the public schools, but in 1870, at the age of sixteen left home and went to the then vigorous young City of Chicago to earn his living and if possible make his fortune. His first employment there was as clerk in the firm of Field, Leiter & Company, the original title of what has been developed as the world's greatest dry goods house of Marshall Field & Company. He was in their employ at the time of the Chicago fire in October, 1871. He next spent three years with the Simpson, Norwell & Company, and then was employed in the abstracting of county records which had been destroyed by the fire. Later he occupied several other positions with mercantile houses, and remained in that city until 1884, when he returned to Sandusky on account of his father's rapidly failing health to take charge of his business. For one year he managed the grocery store, then sold out, and went with the firm of Ruff, Son & Kugler, carpets and furniture. That house suffered a disastrous loss by fire in January, .1890. In February, 1890, Mr. John J. Kugler, of the firm of Ruff, .Son & Kugler, and Mr. John J. Marquart, succeeded to the business and continued until February, 1895, when Mr. Kugler retired. In July, 1900, Mr. Marquart disposed of the furniture department, and has since continued as one of Sandusky's leading undertakers. He is also identified with other business affairs both in Sandusky and elsewhere. He has long been identified with Masonry, has taken all the important degrees, including the thirty-second of Scottish Rite, and is past eminent commander of Erie Commandery of Knights Templar and a member of the Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland. He is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Marquart gave some good public service while a member of the board of education of Sandusky during 1898-99. He is a member of the Sandusky Ad Club and the Sunyendeand Club. JUDGE ROY H. WILLIAMS. Now judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Judge Williams is not only a thorough lawyer, a very capable and competent judge, but is undoubtedly one of the most popular citizens of Erie County. In everything he has done he has increased his hold on the confidence of the people, and his record on the bench has been such as to cause many of his friends to predict still greater honors in public life. A member of one of the oldest and most substantial families of the county, he was born at Milan, September 1, 1874, a son of Charles Ronald and Helen Hortense (Hughes) Williams. The Williams family was founded by William Williams, who in 1629 located at Salem, Massachusetts. His son was Abraham Williams, who became one of the proprietors at Watertown, Massachusetts. Judge Williams' great-grandfather was Larkin Williams, who was born October 8, 1765, was married to Miss Lydia Messinger, and in October, 1817, came with his family to Avon, Lorain County, Ohio. This was the year which brought the very first pioneers and permanent settlers to that section of Lorain County. Larkin Williams had no little distinction in Lorain County, and served as the first township clerk of Avon. He died June 13. 1840. Henry Williams, one of his sons, and a great-uncle of Judge Williams, became superintendent of the Western Reserve Normal School at. Milan. Judge Williams' paternal grandfather was David Williams, who lived at Oberlin for many years and died there December 5, 1860. Judge Williams' father, Charles R. Williams, also served as superintendent of the Normal 1150 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY School at Milan, and died there September 8, 1879. He was a well known educator. His wife, who is a member of the well known Hughes family, is still living and resides in Erie County. As a boy Judge Williams attended the Milan High School and also the old Normal Institute in that town, and then entered Oberlin College, where he continued his studies until the sophomore year and followed this with work both literary and law in the University of Michigan. He graduated from that institution with the degree LL. B. in 1897. Since then he has been in active practice as a member of the bar or in official work at Sandusky. In January, 1901, he was elected prosecuting attorney of Erie County and held that office six years. On retiring from office he was for about a year with the firm of Williams & Ramsey, and later a member of the firm of King, Williams & Ramsey. In the fall of 1908 he became associated with Mr: Steinemann under the firm name of Williams & Steinemann. He was called from private practice to his present office as judge of the Common Pleas Court. Fraternally he is affiliated with Perseverance Lodge, F. & A. M., at Sandusky, and Sandusky Lodge, No. 128, Knights of Pythias. On December 7, 1898, Judge Williams married Miss Verna Lockwood of Milan, a daughter of Ralph M. Lockwood and a member of one of the oldest and best known families of Northern Ohio. LORENZO S. CHAPIN. In the death of Lorenzo S. Chapin at his home in Berlin Township, September 1, 1894, Erie County lost one of its splendid citizens, one who had lived and been identified with this section of Northern Ohio nearly all his life. The Chapins were a very early family of settlers in Erie County, and there are many distinctions associated with the name. Brought to Erie County when an infant, Lorenzo S. Chapin was born at the home of his parents in Glens Falls, New York, in 1836. He was in the sixth generation from Deacon Samuel Chapin, who was one of the founders of Springfield, Massachusetts, and was identified with that community as early as 1836. The subsequent generations were prominent in New England affairs, and the older stock was Puritans. The parents of the late Mr. Chapin were Leonard B. and Mary A. (Skinner) Chapin. His father was born in Leyden, Massachusetts, April 1. 1795, while the mother was born in Glens Falls, New York, where they were married. After their four children were born they came during the decade of the '30s to Ohio, making the journey by canal boat via Erie Canal and lake boat to Huron, and thence to North Monroeville in Erie County. Leonard B. Chapin subsequently became interested in map making, and perfected and published a pioneer Map of the State of Indiana, which he sold at considerable profit. Subsequently he bought a farm in Berlin Township, and there spent the rest of his days. Leonard B. Chapin was a man of very brilliant character and attainments, and was a master of many arts and professions. His death occurred when he was seventy years of age. Some of the older settlers still remember him.. He was regarded as one of nature's real noblemen, and every quality and attribute of his mind and heart commanded esteem and respect. He was a gentleman of the old school, and though spending many years in a new country where fashions were reduced to the utmost simplicity, he was a conspicuous figure about the streets because of the cut and style of his clothes. Even to the last he wore the stock collar and silk hat which were characteristic of the dress men wore early in the century, and he was very neat and particular about his dress. His wife survived him some years, and died in Berlin PICTURE OF LORENZO. S. CHAPIN HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1151 Township in old age. She was a member of the Congregational Church, "while he was of the Universalist faith and a republican in politics. It is noteworthy that former President Taft was also related to some of the original branches of the Chapin family in America. Of the four children of Leonard B. Chapin and wife the oldest was Leonidas ; the second was Statira, who died in young womanhood; the next was Capt. Leonard B., who died a few years ago in this county ; and the youngest was Lorenzo S. All the sons married and all had descendants. As a young man Lorenzo S. Chapin was given the best advantages at home and in school. He attended the Huron Institute, Oberlin College, and was also a student at Norwalk. His early ambition took the direction of the law, and he graduated from. the Law School of Cincinnati, Ohio, was admitted to the bar and for several years had an established practice in Mattoon, Illinois. On account of ill health he returned to his home county, and spent his last years on a farm in Berlin Township, where he had a stately old home, with a large brick house surrounded by expansive lawn, shaded by many beautiful maple trees. When in his prime Mr. Chapin exhibited many of the brilliant qualities of his father, but with failing health his mind was impaired, and for about a year he was confined in the State Hospital, though he died at his home. In politics he was a democrat. At Troy, Ohio, Mr. Chapin married Nancy S. Knight. She was born there in 1836. Mrs. Chapin, who for a number of years has lived at Milan, and is now approaching the venerable age of eighty year's, has exemplified some of the finest qualities of womanhood. She was well educated while growing up and attended the Barney Female Seminary of Dayton, Ohio. Throughout her life she has been a reader and student. Her parents were William C. and Matilda (Frizell) 'Knight, the former a native of Lebanon, Ohio, and the latter of Kentucky. Her parents were married in Maysville, Kentucky, at the home of Miss Frizell and at once returned to his farm in Miami County, Ohio, near Troy. Mr. Knight gained much success as a farmer and took a prominent part in local politics. Before the war he was a strong whig and was elected county commissioner, an office which he filled for many years, and subsequently was elected county treasurer of Miami County and filled that office four years. He died at the age of sixty-three. His widow survived him about seventeen years and passed away in 1879. They were consistent members of the Baptist Church. Of the twelve children in the Knight family nearly all of them grew to maturity and married, but Mrs. Chapin and her brother, Henry W. Knight, of Chicago, are the only ones now left. Mrs. Chapin became the mother of four children. Her son Ralph is still unmarried and lives at home. Harriet is a devoted companion to her widowed mother. William C. was graduated from the Oberlin Business College and had started a most promising career when his life was cut short by death when within three days of his thirty-sixth birthday. The other son is Dr. Harry L. Chapin, who graduated in medicine at Cleveland, but has subsequently become best known as a student and writer. He is the author of "The History of the Bible," which has received many favorable comments from critics, and has had a wide circulation; and also a story entitled "The Adoption," well known to readers of fiction. Doctor Chapin was born November 13, 1872. On Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1907, he married, in Cleveland, Mrs. Anna M. (Crone) Fries, the widow' of the late Valentine Fries. Her father was Frank Crone, for many years a merchant in Massillon, Ohio. Anna Fries Chapin has an extraordinary amount of executive ability, 1152 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY and without help from any source she carried on and settled up the estate of her husband, and has since increased it rather than diminished it. The late Valentine Fries was for many years a prominent shipbuilder at Cleveland, and as a capitalist was always identified with the Fries landing on the Huron River near Milan. He was in many ways a remarkable man. He was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, of Huguenot parentage, and emigrated to this country when but a child. He became a drug clerk at first and finally became sole owner of a grocery store in Milan. He saved a few thousand dollars and started to build ships on the Huron River at Fries Landing, which still bears his name., It was in this enterprise that he attained his wealth. At one time he owned thirty-six vessels on the Great Lakes. He was a man of extraordinary business capacity and also a man of veracity and integrity. Mrs. Nancy Chapin and her daughter are identified with social affairs at Milan and are active in the Presbyterian Church and its various charities. F. W. COEN. This is a name which has special significance in electric railway circles in Ohio. Mr. Coen, nearly a quarter of a century ago, when electric transportation was in its infancy, became identified in a minor capacity with one of the early lines in Northern Ohio at Sandusky, and from one grade of responsibility to another was advanced until he is now vice president and general manager of the Lake ,Shore Electric Railway Company. Mr. Coen is also well known in general business and social circles of Sandusky, and he has a brother who is a well known business man in the city. He was born in Rensselaer, Indiana, in 1872, and received his early education in the public schools of that Indiana town. He came from Indiana to Northern Ohio, and in 1893, at the age of twenty, entered the electric railway service as an office assistant and bookkeeper in the terminal office at Sandusky. Two years were spent in that early experience. In 1895 he became assistant secretary of The Lorain & Cleveland Railway, and held that position six years. He was also secretary of The Toledo and The Sandusky, Fremont & Southern Railway, and The Fremont & Norwalk Railroad. In 1901 Mr. Coen became secretary of the consolidated lines of The Lake Shore Electric Railway Company. In 1905 he was made secretary and treasurer, in 1907 treasurer and general manager, and since 1908 he has carried the heavy responsibilities of vice president and general manager. He is an expert in electric railway operation and service. Mr. Coen also holds the position of vice president and general manager of The Sandusky, Fremont & Southern Railway Company and The Lorain Street Railroad Company of Lorain, Ohio. He is now vice president of The People's Light & Power Company, director of The Fostoria & Fremont Railway and in The Electric Depot Company of Cleveland. While Mr. Coen has for many years been closely identified with Sandusky affairs his home is now in Cleveland. EDWARD KERBER. One of the most prominent business men in Sandusky is Edward Kerber, whose interests are now concentrated chiefly in the Kerber Ice Company, of which he is proprietor. Mr. Kerber is a clear headed business man and has won his success through his own efforts. In spite of the many calls made upon his time in business matters he is deeply concerned for the public welfare and gives much of his attention to matters of public interest. Born November 24, 1860, in Erie County, Edward Kerber is a son of Vincent and Constantina (Eckert) Kerber. His father, who was HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1153 born in Baden, Germany, came to America in 1849, locating in Sandusky, where he was soon engaged in his regular trade as stone mason, and subsequently developed a large business as a building contractor. That was the work by which he was best known for eighteen years. He finally retired from active business and passed away in 1898. In his time he was one of the leading building contractors of Sandusky. From 1876 to 1890 he was associated with his sons in the ice business under the firm name of Kerber & Sons, and was also in the flour and feed business up to 1884. His children were four sons and two daughters, all of whom are living, except one daughter. Edward Kerber, who was the second in age, grew up in Sandusky and gained his education from the public schools. When quite young he entered the firm of Kerber & Son, who for a number of years sold and disposed of the entire product of four mills to the retail flour and feed trade. Edward was associated with his father in this line until 1898, in which year the Kerber Bake Ice Company was organized. Since then, for a period of nearly thirty years, he has steadily given his attention to the ice industry, and has been one of the chief factors in this important business along the southern shore of Lake Erie. In 1907 the Kerber Lake Ice Company was sold to the Inter-State Ice., Company. Mr. Kerber has since conducted a plant independently, known as the Kerber Ice Company, being its sole owner. From 1901 to 1903 Mr. Kerber was a member of the city council of Sandusky. Politically he is an independent republican and is a man whose judgment and counsel are much esteemed and appreciated, not only by business men, but by citizens in general. On March 23, 1884, he was married, in Erie County, to Miss Laura Fisher, a daughter of Gustave Fisher. To their marriage were born four children: Elsie, born in November, 1885 ; Frank Robert, born July 3, 1887 ; Roy E., born in April, 1894 ; and Carl E., born in March, 1896. The only daughter, Elsie, married William H. Byron, and lives in California. Frank Robert has his home in Detroit, Michigan. Roy E. is president of the Shamrock Baseball Club and superintendent of the City Ice Delivery Company of Sandusky. Carl E. is attending the high school. ARTHUR L. PIETSCHMAN. One of the younger business men of Sandusky, already securely established in a growing concern, and a man of public spirit in everything he undertakes, is Arthur L. Pietsehman, vice president and manager of the Goosman Transfer Company. A native son of Erie County, he was born December 2, 1880. His father was a native of Germany, immigrated to America some time during the decade of the '50s, and has spent most of his active life in and around Sandusky. From 1876 to 1909 he was best known in the city's marts of trade as a flour and feed merchant, but is now practically retired from active affairs. He is considered one of the pioneers in business circles in Erie County. One feature of his record which will always be regarded with pride by his descendants was the 41/,) years he spent in the Civil war as a Union soldier. At the termination of his first term of enlistment he veteranized and remained in the struggle for the Union from the beginning to the end. In politics he is a stanch republican. Arthur L. Pietschman was reared and educated in Sandusky, attended the local schools. and gained his training in business under the direction of his father. He remained with his father until he was twenty-two, and then took up the livery business in Sandusky. He conducted that for ten years and in 1912 broadened the scope of his operations when 1154 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY he became identified with the Goosman Transfer. Company as its vice president and manager. This is one of the largest concerns of its kind in Erie County, and has ample facilities for storage, transfer and a taxicab service. Mr. Pietschman is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and in politics is a republican. On September 18, 1905, he married Miss Vernia Rickers. They have no children. EBENEZER ANDREWS. It is as one of the most prominent among the early members of the bar in the Western Reserve that Ebenezer Andrews should be remembered. For many years Mr. Andrews lived at Milan, where his descendants are still found, but the scope of his business and professional affairs was by no means limited to one community. He was entrusted with the handling of many large interests, and spent a number of years in the City of Chicago, where he died, and where he left a large estate to his children. He was a representative of the best of New England stock and environment. Born at Greensfarms, Connecticut, April 30, 1795, a son of John and Lydia Andrews, he was in the sixth generation from the immigrant ancestor. The progenitor of the family in America was Francis Andrews. who was born in England and lived at Hartford, Connecticut, as early as 1639. He removed in 1648 to Fairfield, Bankside, and died at Fairfield in 1662-63. Following Francis came John Andrews I, who was baptized September 27, 1646, at Hartford, and died in 1683 at Fairfield, leaving two children : John, born October 24, 1679, and Sarah, born January 12, 1681. John Andrews II was born at Fairfield at the date already stated and died November 4, 1728. He was buried at Greensfarms, Connecticut. He served as ensign of militia, was one of the "seven pillars" who founded the church in Greensfarms in 1715. and for many years was clerk of the parish. John Andrews III was born August 6, 1707, was baptized at Fairfield, June 27, 1708, and died March 28, 1771, being buried at Greensfarms. He was married October 28, 1730, to Sarah Couch, daughter of Thomas Couch. He was chosen deacon of Greensfarms Church in 1760. John Andrews IV was born March 17, 1734, and died November 19, 1777. He married Temperance Cable. The fifth successive John in as many generations and the father of Ebenezer Andrews, was born July 20, 1759. He was just a youth when the war for independence began, but volunteered in Capt. Eliphalet Thorpe's Company in Colonel Waterbury's Regiment and was in the New York campaign of 1776. In 1778 he served in the artillery under Lieut. John- Odell. In 1779 he was in the team service conveying guns for the army, and also fought at Fairfield and Greensfarms. In. 1780 he enlisted in Captain Stanton's Company, Elijah Sheldon's Regiment of Light Dragoons, and served till the close of the war. He lived many years afterward and died May 20, 1825. On October 9, 1783, he married Lydia Gorham, who died September 7, 1851. She was born November 14, 1762. The late Ebenezer Andrews in his own career bore himself worthily as a Revolutionary son. He was fitted for college at Fairfield Academy, Connecticut, and graduated at Yale in 1817. After teaching for a time at Louisville, Kentucky, he studied law at Litchfield, Connecticut, and on April 30, 1823, was admitted to the Connecticut bar. In July, 1824, he was admitted to the bar of Ohio, lived for some time at Elyria but finally settled at Milan in Erie County, where he spent many years in successful legal practice. In 1852 he was elected probate judge in Erie County. His business interests soon became extensive and absorbed PICTURE OF EBENEZER ANDREWS HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1155 much of the time which otherwise would have been devoted to purely legal matters. In 1855 he engaged in the banking and shipping business on the lakes. Prior to that he had an interest in the steamboats George Washington and Sheldon Thompson, which were among the first to be propelled by steam on the waters of the Great Lakes. He also had the agency from the Connecticut owners of fire lands, of large tracts of lands in Huron and Erie counties, particularly in Florence and Wakeman townships. In 1861 Mr. Andrews moved with his family to Chicago, and there added to his banking and shipping business that of real estate. His death occurred in Chicago, April 28, 1864, but he was buried at his birthplace, Greensfarms, Connecticut. The late Mr. Andrews is described as an able, quiet, self-contained and upright Christian man, a republican in polities and not at a loss to define his position when asked. He was a positive man, ready always to give a well matured reason for his convictions on any subject, fond of reading and well informed on all general subjects ; and who showed to the last the refining and broadening effects of a university education, and who was therefore charitable in his intellectual and moral judgment of others. He possessed the well mannered and dignified bearing of. the old school gentleman. In August, 1825, soon after his admission to the Ohio bar, Ebenezer Andrews married Miss Rachel Hyde. She was of a family of no little distinction in New England history. She was born June 13, 1802, and her father, Joseph Hyde, lived at Greensfarms, also the old home of the Andrews. Joseph Hyde drove a team with supplies for the army at White Plains, and in 1777 was under the command of Gen. Gold Selleck Silliman at the burning of Danbury, at the battle of Ridgefield, and was wounded at Compo Hill April 8th. Rachel Hyde was also a granddaughter of Ebenezer Jesup of Westport, Connecticut. Ebenezer Jesup graduated from Yale with the class of 1760, was born at Greensfarms, Connecticut, in 1739, served as a surgeon in the Continental army, of the Colony of Connecticut in the campaign of 1764, and afterwards was a surgeon in the Revolutionary army. In 1777 he was ensign in Captain Nash's Company of Connecticut, on duty at Peekskill. During Tryon's invasion his house and entire property were burned. His devoted patriotism subjected him continually to persecution from Tories. Living directly on the shore of Long Island Sound, he- was much exposed to the raids of the British troops and sympathizers. The official records and colonial history of Connecticut make various references to his name and service. At Peekskill, in October, 1777, he was in Captain Nash's Company, Whitney's Regiment, Fourth Connecticut Militia, Jonathan Dimon, lieutenant colonel, commanding. Ebenezer Jesup died in 1812. He was married in 1764 to Eleanor Andrews of Fairfield, Connecticut. After the Revolution Doctor Jesup represented the Government in negotiating one of the important Indian treaties at Detroit, Michigan. Rachel Hyde was educated at Fairfield Academy, Connecticut, came to Ohio soon after her marriage, and the greater -part of her wedded life was spent at Milan. She survived her husband a number of years and died at Milan, August 13, 1881. She was a woman of great energy and resolution, well fitted to move in the society of cultured people, or, if need be, to meet the hardships of pioneer life. Ebenezer and Rachel Andrews left two sons and two daughters. These children were generously endowed in many ways, and had the unusual distinction of having three Revolutionary soldiers among their near ancestry. The oldest, Rachel Augusta, born at Milan, Ohio, July 9, 1834, became the wife of Dr. Benjamin Andrews and died at Brooklyn, New York, June 10, 1899. Joseph Hyde, the older son, was born at 1156 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Milan, November 18, 1835, graduated at Yale University in 1859 and from the Cincinnati Law School in 186I, was admitted to the bar of Cincinnati and at Chicago in the following year, and became prominent in commercial activities in the latter city, where he died December 11, 1906. Ebenezer Andrews, Jr., was born July 21, 1837, prepared for Pale at Philips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, graduated from Yale University in 1861, studied law at New Haven, lived in Chicago for a number of years, but died at Milan, November 18, 1896. The only living child of Ebenezer Andrews is Miss Eleanor Andrews, who was born at Milan, was graduated at Maplewood Institute in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1859, lived in Chicago for a number of years, but her principal home and the center of her many associations is at Milan in Erie County. She is one of the prominent members of the Sandusky Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. A woman of culture and refinement, she has exercised her strong intelligence in the handling of many affairs outside the usual scope of woman's effort, and has shown both executive and financial ability in looking after her father's large estate: JOHN F. ROSINO is one of the men who began life, at the bottom and by industry and economy worked up to a place of influence and commercial standing in the community. He went through a long apprenticeship as a clerk in a mercantile establishment at Sandusky, but for a number of years has been proprietor of a boot and shoe establishment of his own. He has kept his stock with a reputation for excellence of goods and he has a high class patronage which has continued dealing in this store year after year. His own career has done much to increase the business facilities of Sandusky and he is one of its most popular citizens. Born in Erie County, January 1, 1861, he is a son of Frank and Anna B. (Renner) Rosino. His father was born in Germany and came to America in 1850, locating in Erie County, where he was employed in a local spoke factory until 1875, when lie entered the flour and feed business, and his name was chiefly identified with that enterprise until his death, which occurred December 23, 1905. In a family of ten children, eight of whom are living, John F. Rosino was the oldest. He grew up in Erie County, gained an education in the common and grammar schools at Sandusky, and quite early in his career accepted a clerkship in a local dry goods store. At first his compensation was fixed at $75 a year. He proved himself faithful and competent. His wages were advanced and the responsibilities placed upon him were increased. He gained experience, and gradually acquired credit and capital. In 1892 he left the employ of others to set up in business for himself. Since then, for a period of more than twenty years, Mr. Rosino has conducted one of the best boot and shoe stores in Sandusky. his place of business is at 155 Columbus Avenue. He takes much part in social and civic matters. He is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge, Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery, with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, with the Knight of the Maccabees, is a member of the Sandusky Business Men's Association, the Sandusky Ad Club and Was one of the organizers of the Chamber of Commerce. In politics he is independent. On September 15, 1885, in Huron County, he married Miss Clara J. Fritz of Clarksfield, Ohio. They are the parents of two children : Gilbert G., born September 25, 1887, and Edward J., born July 25, 1892. THOMAS S. AMATO. The passenger agent and cashier at Sandusky for the Lake Shore Electric Railway Company, Thomas S. Amato has HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1157 highly commended himself to the business and civic community of which he has been a part for the past five or six years. He is energetic and faithful in business, public spirited in relation to the welfare of his home locality, and a man thoroughly entitled to respect. He was about twelve years of age when brought to America by his parents in 1892. Mr. Amato was born on the Island of Sicily, Italy, August 29, 1880. His father, on coming to America, located at Norwalk in Huron County, Ohio. Thomas S. was the fifth in a family of six , children. His education, begun in the old country, was continued in the public schools of America, but at the age of eighteen he left school and started out to win his own fortune. At that time he came to Sandusky and his first work was done as collector for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. After a year he was made a clerk in the Moss National Bank, and continued until the affairs of that institution were liquidated. Going to Elyria, he became general manager of a confectionery manufacturing company, and was in business, in that city until 1910. He then took a new line of work as conductor on the interurban electric line, the Lake Shore Railway Company, and after a year was appointed passenger agent and cashier for that company, a responsible post which he still fills. On August 24, 1901, in Erie County, Mr. Amato married Carlotta Sartor. : They are the parents of three children: Thelma, Dorothy and Ruth. Mr. Amato, among other things, is interested in military affairs. He enlisted as a private in Company B of the Sixth Ohio Infantry in 1901, was made a sergeant in 1902, and in 1914 was elected captain of Company B, and is now first in command of that well known local military organization. He is also a member of the Sandusky Ad Club, of which he is chairman of the membership committee, and he has recently' organized an Italian association for the enlightenment of his fellow countrymen and to afford the Italian newcomers better and broader views of American citizenship. Mr. Amato is also a member of the Sandusky Federated Commercial Club. CLIFFORD M. KING. The particular service for which Clifford M. King is now. identified with Erie County is as county surveyor. He is a very capable young civil engineer, a university man by training, and for more than ten years has followed his profession both at Sandusky and elsewhere. A native of Erie County, he was born December 17, 1879, a son of E. B. and Emma King. His father was a native of Medina County, Ohio, and Clifford was the younger of two children. As a boy he was reared in Sandusky and attended its public schools, besides Oberlin Academy. He entered the Western Reserve University at Cleveland and graduated after taking a four years' course, and also graduated from Cornell University with the class of 1904. From 1904 to 1907 Mr. King was connected with the United States Reclamation Service, and for the years 1908 to 1911 he held the responsibilities of city engineer for Sandusky. In 1914 he was elected county surveyor and is now in his first term of office. He has brought to his present duties not only thorough technical equipment but varied and extensive experience. Mr. King is affiliated with the Masonic Order in the varIous branches, including the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, also a member of the Sandusky Golf Club, the Sandusky Motor Boat Association, and is well known socially in the city. He is a republican in politics. On October 1, 1910, he married Miss Edith L. Davis of Sandusky. 1158 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY W. P. BITTNER. Though only thirty-five years of age, W.P. Bittner has reached an enviable position in Sandusky mercantile affairs, where he is secretary-treasurer of the Dilgart & Bittner Company, a concern which carries one of the finest stocks of furniture, carpets and stoves in Erie County. The establishment is a familiar one in the business district of Sandusky, being located at 530-532 Market Street. Mr. Bittner is an example of the newspaper man who graduated ,in business affairs. He was born in Erie County, November 30, 1880, a son of C. C. and Selina (Knowlton) Bittner. His parents were also natives of Erie County, and the respective families have long been identified with this part of the country. The older of two children, W. P. Bittner as a boy attended the public schools at Sandusky, and had the privilege of a liberal education, being a graduate with the class of 1902 from the Ohio State University. Following that he took up the newspaper business, and was with the Journal and other local papers in Sandusky until 1905. In that year he became associated with W. H. Dilgart in the furniture business, and formed the partnership known as Dilgart & Bittner, which in 1909 was incorporated as the Dilgart & Bittner Company. Mr. Bittner became the secretary-treasurer, and his own hard, work and ability have been important factors in making this concern well known to the trade. Mr. Bittner is a member of the Knights of Columbus, and in politics is independent. On June 8, 1904, at Columbus, lie married Miss Elizabeth Sanford. Their three children are named Helen, Sanford and Jane Bittner. A. W. LINK. Among the men whose activities have been responsible for the position of prestige. Sandusky holds as a manufacturing and industrial center of Northern Ohio, A. W. Link is entitled to more than passing mention. His career was, started when he was still a lad, and with only ordinary advantages he has worked his own way to prominence and independent financial circumstances. He was born in the city in which he now lives, September 22, 1863, and is a son of Erhart Link. who was an early settler of Erie County and for sixty years resided here, being engaged principally in the cooperage business. He died in 1906, having reared a family of ten children. A. W. Link received only a common school education and was but twelve years of age when he began to contribute to the support of the family through his earnings as a laborer. He subsequently served an apprenticeship to the moulder's trade in a foundry at Sandusky, and after he had mastered his trade and had some experience therein he went to Cleveland, Ohio, remained there eight years and then went to Buffalo, New York, and became foreman of the Lake Erie Engineering Works. One year later he went to Erie, Pennsylvania, where for ten years he was superintendent of the Erie Foundry, and in September, 1904, returned to his native place and organized and established the Bay View Foundry Company, of which he has since been president and general manager. This institution turns out a high grade of grey iron castings and in addition operates a first class pattern establishment. Mr. Link was also one of the organizers of the Vim Motor Company, of which he is still a stockholder, and for six years was the president of this Sandusky concern. In each of his several undertakings he has shown his capacity for executive labors and the enterprises with which he has been connected have always borne a high reputation in 'business circles. Mr. Link's fraternal affiliations include membership in the Masons, in which he has attained to the council degree, in the Knights of Pythias and in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He belongs also to the Com- PICTURE OF A. W. LINK HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1159 mercial Travelers Association of the State of Ohio. He is a member and director and for six years has held the clerkship of the Baptist Church, and belongs also to the Baraca class. On April 31, 1890, Mr. Link was married to Miss Elizabeth Schaub, the daughter of Jacob S. Schaub, who was an early settler of Erie County, and to this union there have been born five children : Wilma K Oliver P Viola E Irene L. and Ethel M. JAMES FLYNN, SR. One of the oldest business men in Sandusky is James Flynn, Sr. In the course of the past forty or fifty years his name has been closely associated with many of the leading enterprises in that city. He compiled the first complete set of abstract records covering Erie County, and for many years has been at the head of the Erie County Investment Company. The people have'always had absolute confidence in James Flynn, and he has more than justified it. His entire career is a lesson in self-reliance, industry and integrity. Born July 4, 1849, in Buffalo, New York, he is a son of John and Mary (Purcell) Flynn. His father, a native of Ireland, came to America with his family in 1846, and spent the first three years in the City of Buffalo. After living in other places he came to Sandusky in 1850. He was a millwright, carpenter and joiner by trade, and followed that occupation industriously to provide for his growing family until his death in 1869. He was one of the early carpenters and builders in Erie County, and among other examples of his work there might be mentioned the old West Hotel. In his time he was regarded as one of the best mechanics the county had, and he constructed a number of buildings in the City of Sandusky, a few of which are still standing in mute testimony to his skill. He was the father of a family of five children, three of whom are still living. James Flynn, Sr., as a boy had none of the advantages which are conferred by wealth, and it was not his privilege even to secure a fair education. He never went to school after reaching the age of twelve, but sailed until thirty years of age. He laboriously learned to read and write, and by constant practice, by observation, and by experience has always been regarded as a well informed business man. It is action rather than knowledge that counts, and above all Mr. Flynn has been a man of action. His first regular work was done in a wheel- shop in Sandusky, and his wages were eighteen cents a day. Later he became a sailor, and during 1864-65 was employed on Johnson's Island while that island was used by the Federal Government and cooked for a gang of 110 men. In this and other ways he showed his ability, and when thirty years of age he was elected recorder of Erie County. He served six years, and kept the office in a routine of efficiency that completely justified the confidence of the people who elected him. Mr. Flynn has always been a stanch democrat. After retiring from the recorder's office he compiled a complete set of abstracts for Erie County, and then organized the Erie Abstract & Investment Company. He vigorously continued that business under that title until 1904, when he organized and incorporated the Erie County Investment Company, of which he has since been president and treasurer. His son, James Flynn, Jr., is secretary. This is only one of the various enterprises in Sandusky with which he has been identified. He was president of the American Banking & Trust Company for eight years and is now a director. The Erie County Investment Company conducts a large business not only in abstracts but in bonds and in fire insurance. He was one of the organizers and 1160 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY promoters of the Cleveland and Sandusky Brewery and organized and promoted the Dayton Brewery Company, and has employed the energy and a part of the capital to various other undertakings. Mr. Flynn is affiliated with Perseverance Lodge No. 329, F. & A. M., at Sandusky, with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On May 1, 1886, he married, in Erie County, Miss Margaret Moos. Of their three children two are now living : James F., Jr., who is now prosecuting attorney for Erie County ; and Lucile, nineteen years of age, at home. FERDINAND J. BING. One of the most popular of the county officials of Erie County is Ferdinand J. Bing, clerk of the Common Pleas Court. Having been born and reared in Erie County, he has been known by local citizens all his life, and everything he has done has reflected credit upon his energy, efficiency and honesty. He was born April 15, 1882, a son of William and Barbara (Keenie) Bing. His father was also born in Sandusky, and the maternal line came originally from Baden, Germany. William Bing was for many years an active figure in local business circles, first as a carriage manufacturer and later as an ice dealer. He died March 8, 1911. Ferdinand J. Bing was fourth in a family of seven children, and grew up at Sandusky, attended the grammar schools, followed by a course in the Sandusky Business College, and began his actual business practice in association with his father. He continued with his father in the ice business until 1908, at which time his father retired, and then, with his brother, the enterprise was continued under the name Bing Lake Ice Company. In 1913 that business was sold and about a year later, in 1914, Mr. Bing was elected to his present office as clerk of the Common Pleas Court of Erie County. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Sandusky Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, is a member of the Sandusky Ad Club, and in politics is a loyal republican, and has considerable influence in party affairs. On August 30, 1906, in Butler County, Ohio, Mr. Bing married Miss Amelia Wittman. They are the parents of two children : Ferdinand W., born August 14, 1907, and now in school ; and Virginia B., born January 15, 1912. CHESTER C. HAND. It is as a veteran in railroading circles that Chester C. Hand is best known in Sandusky. Mr. Hand has for several years been superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Docks at Sandusky, and it goes without question among those who know him best that his work has been performed with an efficiency that has meant the highest degree of service and has kept him year after year in this important responsibility. A native son of Erie County, Chester C. Hand was born August 19, 1860, a son of Hema n and Esther (Clary) Hand. His father, a native of New York State, came west some time during the decade of the '40s and located in Erie County, where, after a short time spent in farming, he took up the life of a sailor on the Great Lakes. For a number of years he was captain on a sailing vessel, and spent forty years in the lake marine. Chester C. Hand, who was the youngest in the family, was educated in the public schools of Sandusky and completed a course in the Sandusky Business College. His first work was done as a printer, and for fourteen years he gained a more than passing acquaintance with the publishing business and most of those engaged in the newspaper profession at PICTURE OF EDWARD LEA MARSH HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1161 Sandusky. During this fourteen years he was foreman with the Sandusky Register. He left that to take up railroad work with the Columbus & Sandusky Short Line Railroad. He served in the engineering department as superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Docks, and later as station agent and yard master, but in 1905 was restored to his former position as superintendent of the docks and now for ten years has steadily looked after the management of these large and valuable properties at Sandusky. In religion Mr. Hand is a Catholic, is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and in politics is a republican. He was married, in Erie County, to Miss Hannah O'Neal, a daughter of Dennis O'Neal. They are the parents of two children : Esther N. and Donald N. EDWARD LEA MARSH. A. member of a pioneer family of Erie County and one given to valuable and practical accomplishment, Edward Lea Marsh is by inheritance and training well equipped for the responsible position he holds in the business world of Northern Ohio. He belongs to the new and progressive class of business men, a departure from the accepted type of former years, having a degree of adaptability and public spirit seldom associated with his prototype of several decades ago. He relieves the arid and somewhat unchangeable routine of his labor with participation in politics, public life and society, in all of which he wields a sane and progressive influence. Mr. Marsh was born at Sandusky, November 23, 1879, and is a son of E. H. Marsh, one of the early pioneers of Erie County, where he still resides. Edward L. Marsh received his early education in the public schools of Sandusky, following which he was sent to Saint Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, for his preparatory work, and subsequently to Yale University, where he was duly graduated. He began his career as a clerk in the establishment of Marsh & Company, Sandusky, of which his father was the head, serving three years in that capacity and then, June 1, 1907. being elected secretary and treasurer of the Bay View Foundry Company, offices which he still retains. He is likewise president of the Lea Realty Company, secretary and treasurer of the Marsh-Brightman Nut Company, and a director in the Citizens Banking Company, the Davis Boat Works Company and the Easiest Way Manufacturing Company. Mr. Marsh was formerly a director in the Lincoln Stove Company, and an organizer of the Gypsum Canning Company, of Gypsum, Ohio. He is also a member of the Cleveland Engineering Society, a member of the Berzelius Trust Association of Yale University, trustee of the Sandusky Federated Commercial Club and chairman of the industrial department, and vice president and director of the Sandusky Industrial Development Co. At present Mr. Marsh is serving as a member of the Sandusky Board of Health, and as a member of that body is assisting other forceful and public-spirited citizens to maintain the health and sanitation of the municipality and its people. He was one of the charter commissioners who drafted the municipal charter of the City of Sandusky, and in every movement, of any importance has given freely and generously of his services and abilities. For a number of years a stalwart republican, when the split came in 1912 he transferred his allegiance to Colonel Roosevelt and the new progressive party and in that year was a candidate for the office of elector on the so-called Moose ticket. For some years he has been a member of the Commercial Travelers' Association of the State of Ohio. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal Church, and at the present time is a member of the vestry of Grace Church, - where he has been junior warder for three years and formerly vestryman Vol. II-44 1162 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY for ten years and director of the choir for three years. He has done much for charity and is now treasurer of the board of managers of the Good Samaritan Hospital. The children have always had a loyal and interested friend in Mr. Marsh, who is now treasurer of Sandusky Troop of the Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Marsh was married October 15, 1902, to Miss Elizabeth D. G. Moss, who was born at Sandusky and was educated in the public schools of this city and at Miss Capen's School at Northampton, Massachusetts. Mrs. Marsh is one of the leaders in social and charitable circles of Sandusky, and is now acting vice president of the advisory board of the Good Samaritan Hospital. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Marsh : Elizabeth Griswold, Edward Lea, Jr., and Caroline Lane. EDWARD M. VIETMEIER. When he came to Sandusky, in 1905, Edward M. Vietmeier brought with him a wealth of experience, sound and thorough training, and a knowledge of the lumber business excelled by few men known to the trade in Ohio. He had held positions of importance with concerns of consequence, was about ready to enter business on his own account and was fully equipped in every way to successfully conduct an enterprise, and accordingly was hailed as a valuable addition to commercial circles. The years that have passed since his arrival have seen his development into one of the foremost men in his line in the city, and at present he is proprietor of the Sandusky Sash, Door and Lumber Company, a concern of considerable importance and magnitude. Mr. Vietmeier was born December 8, 1861, at Newark, Licking County, Ohio, and is a son of Henry J. and Martha (Rieger) Vietmeier. His father, a native of Germany, came as a young man to America, landing at New Orleans, from whence he made his way to Cincinnati, and thence to Newark, Ohio. He passed the remaining years of his life there, and followed the trade of tailor, being a man of considerable ability, industry and thrift, as well as a citizen who had the respect and esteem of the people of his community. While he did not amass a fortune, he won a satisfying competence, reared his family in comfortable circumstances and gave his children good educational advantages. The eighth in order of birth of his parents' fourteen children. Edward M. Vietmeier was educated in the parochial and high schools of Newark, where he was reared. Later he took a business course at the Iron City College, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and at the age of twenty years began his business career there and engaged in the insurance business. One year in this line convinced Mr. Vietmeier that it was neither a congenial nor a profitable field of endeavor for him, and he accordingly transferred his attention to the lumber and sawmill business at Brookville, Pennsylvania. From Brookville he went to Tarrentum, Pennsylvania, as manager of a retail concern. He subsequently entered the wholesale business at Pittsburgh, being vice president of the J. M. Hastings Lumber Company, wholesale lumber dealers of Pittsburgh. In the interests of this firm Mr. Vietmeier came to Sandusky in 1905 as general manager of the business they had purchased from the J. S. Bennett Lumber. Co. In this capacity he remained until 1913, when, ready to enter business on his own account, and the opportunity presenting itself, he engaged in the trade by buying out the Hastings interests. Since that- time he has operated under the style of Sandusky Sash, Door and Lumber Company. In addition to sash, doors and interior finish he handles lumber, lath and shingles, and has a steady and persistent call for his entire output at Sandusky and in the surrounding towns and villages. He has a modern planing mill and PICTURE OF EDWARD L. COEN HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1163 warehouse and well appointed offices on Water Street, west of the Big Four Depot, where he has every facility for turning out a high grade of work. Few men in the lumber trade have more friends or are better known than Mr. Vietmeier, whose reputation as a business man of the strictest integrity is firmly established. Aside from his own particular enterprise he is interested elsewhere, being president and director of the J. J. Snider Lumber Company, of Columbus, Ohio, to the affairs of which he devotes one day each week ; a director in the New Steelton Lumber Company, of that city, and a director of the Sun Lumber Company at Mount Vernon, Ohio. Mr. Vietmeier is a great lover of the horse and has been the owner of several animals, among them a number of racers in which Mr. Vietmeier has taken a quiet delight. One of his best known horses is "Precious Cresceus," with a trotting record of 2:15 1/4. As a citizen Mr. Vietmeier has always been foremost in supporting good and public-spirited movements in which the civic welfare is at stake. On June 11, 1889, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mr. Vietmeier was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. McCann, and they have become the parents of four children, of whom three are living at this time : Mary F., who is now the wife of Dr. L. F. Meyers, a practicing dentist of Sandusky, Ohio ; Edward Hastings, who is a student at the Ohio State University ; and Martha M., who is attending the Sandusky High School. Mr. Vietmeier is a member of Sandusky Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks ; of the Sandusky Order of Fraternal Order of Eagles; the Knights of Columbus ; the Catholic Order of Foresters, and the Catholic Mutual Benevolent Association. EDWARD L. COEN. A prominent figure in Ohio banking affairs, and one specially influential in the furtherance of financial and other business activities in Erie County is Edward L. Coen, who has been the chief executive of The Erie County Banking Company of Vermilion during the entire period of its existence. He was formerly cashier of this solid and well ordered banking institution, and is now its first vice president. The greater part of his time and attention is still given to the direction of this bank, one of the best in Erie County, Born in Fountain County, Indiana, January 24, 1864, Edward L. Coen is a son of William S. and Caroline (Hosler) Coen, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. His mother died in 1886. His father, now in venerable years, lives at Rensselaer, the county seat of Jasper County, Indiana, and celebrated his eighty-fifth birthday in 1915. His active years were given to agriculture and stock growing and he has long been a well known and honored citizen of Jasper County. The grandfather, John Coen, was an early settler in the State of Ohio. Edward L. Coen was about three years old when his parents removed from Fountain County to Jasper. County, Indiana, the new family home being a farm in Marion Township near Rensselaer. Thus he had the fine and wholesome discipline of the country during his boyhood and youth. His early educational advantages were those of the public schools of his home township and the high school at Rensselaer. He was a good student, made the most of his opportunities, and on reaching high school he did some very promising work for four years as a teacher in the country schools of his home county. Soon after he reached his majority he went to Southwestern Kansas, and for nearly four years was engaged in the real estate and farm loan business. He was also one of the progressive citizens who founded the Town of Bucklin. Ford County, Kansas, during the late '80s. After leaving Kansas Mr. Coen spent a year in the general offices of the 1164 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad in Chicago, and in April, 1891, came to Erie County, Ohio. Here he effected the organization of The Erie County Bank of Vermilion. The following year this institution was incorporated as a state bank and the present title of The Erie County Banking Company was adopted. From that time to the present the practical management of the bank has devolved upon Mr. Coen, who is in many ways an exemplary banker and an expert financier. When the bank was organized he became cashier, a position he held until 1911. Since 1909 he has been first vice president, and has given the bank the benefit of his broad experience even after resigning his post as cashier. Mr. Coen is also a recognized leader in Ohio banking circles. From 1907 to 1910 he served as secretary-treasurer of Group No. 6, and from 1910 to 1913 as chairman of Group No. 6 in the Ohio Bankers' Association. During his term as group chairman he was also a member of the council of administration and served as its chairman during 1913. He served as vice president of the Ohio Bankers' Association in 1914 and was honored as president of the association for the year 19I5. He was also the primary force in effecting the organization and incorporation of the Vermilion Telephone Company, of which he has been president and director since its organization. He is also a director and treasurer of the Gallia Telephone Company at Gallipolis in Gallia County. Broad minded, liberal and public spirited, as a citizen Mr. Coen has always been found ready to give his co-operation and support to measures and enterprises tending to advance the general welfare of his home city and county. He has served fifteen years as a member of the Vermilion Board of Education, of which board he has been president for several years. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and he and his wife are valiant members of the Congregational Church in their home city. For fully twenty years he has served as a member of its board of trustees and has been chairman of the board a greater portion of the time. His course has been in all respects guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity, and this fact, combined with his unfailing courtesy and consideration, has gained him the high regard of his home community and of all with whom he has otherwise come in contact in a business or social way. In 1893 Mr. Coen married Miss Cora S. Lawless. She was born and reared at Vermilion, and is a daughter of Capt. James Lawless and Laura E. (Harris) Lawless, both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Coen are the parents of two sons. Edward M. is a member of the class of 1918 in Yale University at New Haven, Connecticut. Clarence L. died at the age of four and half years. JOHN L. SHEROD. In 1911 the Sherod family celebrated the centennial of its coming to Erie County. A year before the outbreak of the second war against Great Britain., and several years before Commodore Perry gained his triumph on Lake Erie against the British fleet, the Sherods pushed their way through the wilderness and established a rude home on the shores of the lake in Vermilion Township. Three successive generations have occupied and tilled the soil in that locality and John L. Sherod is now a prosperous- farmer and fruit grower on land which was once his grandfather's. The Sherods were Pennsylvania people and Mr. Sherod's grandparents were both natives of that state. His grandfather was a millwright by trade, and on coming to Northern Ohio he established a mill on Sherod Creek, a little stream in Vermilion Township named in honor HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1165 of his enterprise. Here he and his wife spent all their days on the farm which they had acquired from the Government. Their land had a frontage on the lake shore of eighty rods. Both lived here for about forty years, and died during the decade of the '50s when quite old people. They were Presbyterians in religion, and the grandfather was first a federalist and later a whig. He was the pioneer miller in this section of Erie County, though there was no Erie County by name for a dozen years after he arrived. They had one of the first homes in this wilderness region. Their log cabin was surrounded by the great trees of the native forest, by the wild grasses, and on the north it looked out upon the dancing waters of the lake. Wild game of all kinds abounded, and venison was a regular part of their diet. Wild turkeys were also to be found everywhere in the woods, and it was necessary to protect the hogs by heavy log pens in order that the bears might not devour them. The Sherod family has many interesting distinctions in Erie County. The son John was the first white child born in Vermilion Township. Jacob Sherod, father of John L., was about three years of age when the family came to Erie County. He was born in Pennsylvania, January 20, 1808, bufhis first conscious recollections were of the wilderness which surrounded the Sherod home in Vermilion Township. He was reared to manhood, having little education so far as schools were concerned, but practiced himself in all the arts and accomplishments of the frontier. He succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead on which his father had constructed a stone house only a few yards from the lake shore. A great many years ago the site of that home was washed away by the waters of the lake, the lake shore being now five or six rods south of - where it was originally. Jacob subsequently built a home of his own farther from the lake- beach, and that house is now occupied by his son, John L. It is a substantial old home, and is surrounded by a tract of very fine farming land, especially adapted for fruit growing. Jacob Sherod died in this locality December 6, 1872. He was a stanch republican, and a man who took a commendable interest in local affairs. He was married in Vermilion Township to Miss Elizabeth Baumhart. She was born in Germany, May 7, 1823, and had come with her parents to the United States on a sailing vessel which required eight weeks to make the voyage. They arrived in Vermilion Township about 1829. Her father was Elias Baumhart, who died in Erie County when about eighty years of age,- •having followed farming all his practical career. Elizabeth Baumhart died at the home of her son -John February 6, 1905. Both she and her husband were members of the Presbyterian Church, but later, with their children, they became Congregationalists, and died in that faith. Jacob Sherod was a deacon in the church for many years. By his first marriage to a Miss Sherod, Jacob Sherod had three children. One of these, George, is still living and resides in Los Angeles, California. The children by the second marriage were William E., Henry M., Albert, John L., James F., Edward M., Ermina, Martha, Catherine and Hattie. William and Albert are now deceased, and the daughters Ermina and Martha are also dead. John L. Sherod was reared and educated in Vermilion Township and attended the public schools which were maintained here during his early youth. After the death of his father he took over twenty-five acres of the land which had belonged successively to his grandfather and father, and in this one locality he has spent all his years with the exception of six when he was a resident of Cleveland, and followed his trade as carpenter and also was a sailor on the lakes. He had learned his trade in Vermilion Township. During the winters he worked at carpentry in Cleveland, and during the simmer seasons was on the Great Lakes. He 1166 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY first served before the mast and subsequently was first mate and finally master of one of the old lake boats. On leaving the vocation of sailor he returned to his farm, and has since conducted general agricultural operations and fruit growing, having all varieties of fruit which thrive along the lake shore. For six years he has kept open house to summer boarders from May to November. On December 28, 1887, in Vermilion Township, Mr. Sherod married Miss Sarah Ann Risden. She was born in this township November 28, 1862, and was reared and educated here. She is a sister of Almor G. Risden, to whom reference is made on other pages, including a sketch of the well known Risden family. Mr. and Mrs. Sherod have the following children : ,Bessie A., who graduated from the Vermilion High School and is now a teacher in the primary schools of Vermilion Village and is living at home ; Charity May, who graduated from the Vermilion High School with the class of 1908 and it at home ; Lawrence D., who completed his education in high school and is assisting his father on the farm. The family attend the Congregational Church and the daughters are active workers in church organizations. Mr. Sherod is a republican, and of the present time is filling the office of township assessor. FREDERICK OHLEMACHER. It was due to the enterprise of Frederick Ohlemacher that the first lime kiln was established in Erie County. Mr. Ohlemacher represents a sturdy German family that located in Erie County more than fifty years ago, but his own early life was spent to a large extent in Illinois, and he fought with an Illinois regiment in the Civil war. For the past fifty years his home has been in Sandusky and he was actively engaged in business here until a few years ago, and is now enjoying a well earned retirement. Born September 16, 1840,. in Germany, Mr. Ohlemacher is a son of Henry and Catherine Ohlemacher. The family emigrated to the United States when Frederick was a small boy, and in 1854 they located in Sandusky. Henry Ohlemacher spent the rest of his life in Sandusky. and died there in 1873. He was the father of ten children, of whom Frederick was the eighth in order of birth. Frederick Ohlemacher acquired his early education in the schools of Germany. He also attended grammar school in Sandusky for a time after coming to that city. He was about fifteen years of age when in 1855 he took his first regular employment working in a restaurant in Sandusky, but two years later he left here and went to Cincinnati and was employed in a wholesale book store a year. His next location was in Aurora, Illinois, where he was employed in the railroad shops and learned the trade of cabinet maker. He continued there until the spring of 1861. He then enlisted at .the first call for troops to put down the rebellion, going out in the three months' service as a non-commissioned officer in the Seventh Illinois Infantry, Company F. At the expiration of the three months he was discharged as a non-commissioned officer. Returning home he soon re-enlisted as first lieutenant in the First Arkansas Cavalry, Company E, and he .remained in the Union army, participating in many campaigns, until the spring of 1863, and on account of disability resigned and returned to Aurora. In Aurora he resumed his work as cabinet maker in the car shops, but in 1865 he bought a brick yard and lime kiln, which he conducted until the fall of 1866. He then sold out his interests in Illinois and came to Sandusky, where he erected the first lime kiln ever put up in the city. This was the industry with which his name was most familiarly associated and which he conducted successfully from 1867 to 1899. He then sold the property, and since 1899 has been largely retired from PICTURE OF FREDERICK OHLEMACHER HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1167 active responsibilities, though he is still a stockholder in various banks and has a number of business interests here. Mr. Ohlemacher has also taken a prominent part as a citizen and from 1885 to 1889 was a member of the Ohio State Legislature, and while there was instrumental in securing the location of the Soldiers' Home at Sandusky. Fraternally he has been identified with the Masonic Order for fifty-four years, and is affiliated with the lodge, the Royal Arch Chapter and the Council. In politics he is a democrat. On January 1, I862, at Aurora, Illinois, he married Miss Clementine Groch. To their union were born seven children, namely : Lillian, born April 8, 1864; Albert, born October 2, 1866; Cora, born December 25, 1868; Fred, born October 11, I870; Emma, born in 1872 and died aged sixteen years; Eda, born June 19, 1877, and Norma, born February 5, 1879. HENRY CLAY STRONG. A native of Erie County, one who went out in the flower of young manhood and gave three years' of service to the Union during the Civil war, for half a century identified with business affairs, Henry Clay Strong in more recent years has helped to promote Sandusky's prosperity in the motor manufacturing field. He is now the executive head of the Ohio Motor Company of Sandusky. Among those men who were born in Erie County nearly three-quarters of a century ago few have been such efficient factors in varied lines as Henry Clay Strong. He was born October 4, 1841, a son of Lyman E. and Calista Lucinda (Nims) Strong, the former a native of New York State and the latter of Massachusetts. As a boy he had his home in different sections of Ohio, and attended the common schools of Plymouth, Richland and Huron counties. He was not twenty years of age when the Civil war broke out, and for a number of years had been earning his way as clerk in a store. He enlisted, May 8, 1862, in Company B of the Eighty-eighth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers for the three months' service. He became first corporal in the company. Immediately after his first term expired he re-enlisted as a member of Company D in Hoffman's Battalion, Ohio Volunteers, and was appointed second sergeant. In December, 1863, the Hoffman Battalion was enlarged to a regiment and was subsequently known as the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. With this command he became commissary sergeant, and on May 9, 1864, was commissioned: first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, and also acted as commandant for a short period of Company G. In that capacity he remained with his regiment until the close of the war, and was finally mustered out at Camp Chase, Columbus, July 13, 1865. He belongs to both the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. On returning from the war Mr. Strong located at Sandusky, and in December, 1865, was appointed paymaster for the Sandusky, Dayton & Cincinnati Railroad Company, with headquarters in the former city. From July, 1868, until January, 1874, he was a traveling salesman, representing a wholesale lumber house at Sandusky. On January 1, 1874, in partnership with John S. Fleek, he engaged in the wholesale grocery business at Newark, Ohio. For nearly twenty years he had his home in Newark, and helped to build up the business to one of large proportions and success. On ,January 1, 1893, the firm of Fleek, Strong & Company was dissolved, and because of ill health Mr. Strong was then out of active business for seven years. In 1897 he returned to his former influential position in commercial affairs as one of the organizers of the Ohio Motor Company at Sandusky, 1168 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY of which he has since been president. This company manufactures an extensive line of gasoline engines, and its product is known as standard throughout the country. Mr. Strong has had his home in Sandusky since 1893. He is a director in the Coshocton National Bank of Coshocton, Ohio, of which he was also one of the organizers ; is vice president of the Bay View Foundry Co., of Sandusky, Ohio, and is interested in a number of other manufacturing enterprises. On September 21, 1865, he married Miss Mary Harper. They had one son, Harper Lyman Strong, who was born May 8, 1880, and died April 9, 1881. For many years Mr. and Mrs. Strong lived alone, but on June 2, 1909, they legally adopted William Henry Spencer, a son of Mr. Strong's sister. This adopted son has since borne the family name of Strong and is now one of Sandusky's able business men and is vice president and treasurer of the Ohio Motor Company. He married Miss Rena La Dow, of Plymouth, Ohio, and they have two children, Mary and George Henry. EDWARD D. GIBSON. A man of sterling character and distinctive business ability, Mr. Gibson marked the passing years with worthy achievement, and was one of the representative merchants and honored and influential citizens of the Village of Birmingham, Florence Township, at the time of his death, which here occurred on the 31st of March. 1905, since which time his widow has successfully continued the business which he here established and developed. Mr. Gibson was born in Rush Township, Lorain County, on the 6th July. 1854, and thus his death occurred about four months prior to his fifty-first birthday anniversary. He was a son of Dow and Mary (Johnson) Gibson, natives of Ohio and representatives of well known pioneer families of this state. The first wife of Dow Gibson bore the maiden name of Mary Scott, and she died in Lorain County. being survived by seven children. After his marriage to Miss Mary Johnson Dow Gibson was for some time a resident of the City of Cleveland, later removed with his family to the State of Michigan, where he remained several years, and finally he established his home in the little village of Ogontz, Florence Township, Erie County, Ohio, where his wife died at the age of sixty-five years and where he lived to attain to the venerable age of seventy-six years, the subject of this memoir having been the eldest of their three children. Dow Gibson became well known in this section of the state as a breeder of and dealer in horses, and he was a citizen whose popularity was of unequivocal order, his political support having been given to the democratic party. Edward D. Gibson was reared to manhood in Erie County and was afforded the advantages of the public schools of the Village of Berlin Heights. He was identified with agricultural pursuits and other lines of business enterprises at various periods of his earlier independent career, and in August, 1902, he established himself in the retail hardware and grocery business at Birmingham, his wife assisting him in the operation and management of the store thereafter, until his death, since which time she has continued the enterprise with unqualified success. Mrs. Gibson has developed admirable business acumen and executive ability, and gives her personal supervision to all details of the large and substantial business of which she has the supervision, her well equipped establishment having a frontage of twenty-six feet and its stock in all departments being kept up to a high standard, so that the service always meets the requirements and demands of the substantial and appreciative patronage. She is a woman of gracious personality, considerate and kindly in all of the relations of life, and her circle of friends is limited PICTURE OF WILLIAM C. DIELS HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1169 only by that of her acquaintances. She is prominent in the social life of the community and her attractive home is known for its generous hospitality. In Monroe County, Michigan, in the year 1876, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gibson to Miss Carrie Billmire, who was born in that county on the 16th of December, 1860, and who was there reared and educated. She is a daughter of John and Carrie Billmire, who were born and reared in the State of New York, where their marriage was solemnized, and who became pioneer settlers in Monroe County, Michigan, where Mr. Billmire improved a fine farm. This old homestead continued to be their place of residence until their death, the mother having been sixty-five years of age at the time of her demise and the father having attained to the venerable age of eighty-one years. They became the parents of five children, and of the three now living Mrs. Gibson is the only one residing in. Ohio. Mr. Gibson was survived by one child, Matilda May, who was born in the year 1879, and the maximum bereavement in the lives of her devoted parents was when she was called to the life eternal, on the 29th of February, 1901. She was a young woman of fine intellectuality and of the most gentle and winning personality, so that she was loved by all who came within the sphere of her influence. She was afforded the advantages of a thorough course in the Northwestern Ohio Normal School at Ada, Hardin County, and during the last five years of her life was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of the Village of Birmingham. JAMES S. HANSON, M. D. For the past twenty-two years Dr. James S. Hanson has enjoyed rank with the most capable physicians and surgeons of Erie County. His home during this time has been in Sandusky, and he came to this city with a splendid equipment and training for the profession to which he has given the best years of his life. A native of Canada, Dr. James S. Hanson was born June 19, 1868, in London, a son of Dr. Henry Hanson, who was a very prominent physician and surgeon of London, Canada. Dr. James S. was educated in the Wesleyan College in London, Canada, and took his degree in medicine from the Detroit College of Medicine at Detroit, and pursued post-graduate studies in the St. Thomas Hospital in London, England. His first two years in practice were spent in London, Canada, and from there, in 1903, he moved to Sandusky, where he has since built up a large and profitable practice. Doctor Hanson is well known in social as well as in professional circles, and belongs to many of the leading clubs and organizations. He is a member of the American Medical Association, of the Pediatric Society, and is a director in the Columbus Mutual Life Insurance Company. His church is the Episcopal, and in politics he is a republican. In 1906-08 Doctor Hanson was interested in a circuit of theaters known as the Hanson & Albaugh Circuit, having nine located from Youngstown to Tiffin, Ohio. In 1904, at Sandusky, Doctor Hanson married Miss Bessie Arnold. They have one son, James Stephen Hanson, born January 13, 1912. WILLIAM DIELS. For many years a well known business man in Sandusky, William Diels is a native of Germany, and his success is to be credited entirely to his own industry, and persistence. Born February 20, 1868, in Germany, he came to America when a young man, locating first in Huron County, Ohio. For three years he was employed as a common farm hand and then worked for a time in Salem, Ohio, and in Cleveland, and then became clerk with the Hartman 1170 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Manufacturing Company of Sandusky. He remained in their employ for nine years, and then went with the wholesale liquor establishment of August Gunther, with whom he remained four years. He continued in the same line of business for Mr. Zimmerman, but in 1901 engaged in the wholesale and retail liquor business at Sandusky on• his own account, and that is his present line. He is a democrat and is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Mr. Diels married Miss Martha Pfiel, born August 28, 1869. Their two children are Anna, born December 2, 1891, and Laura, born January 3, 1894. HARLEY B. GIBBS. Prominent in business and financial circles at Cleveland for many years, Harley B. Gibbs, whose home is in the Village of Milan, is related to many of the names that have borne a useful and influential share in the development of Northern Ohio for nearly a century. He is a descendant of Giles Gibbs, who came to America from England as early as 1645, landing at Dorchester Bay, Massachusetts, and later becoming an early settler at Windsor, Connecticut. Many of his descendants were identified with Norwalk, Connecticut, and later with Norwalk, Ohio. The line of descent, beginning with Giles, is continued through Samuel I, Samuel II, Samuel III, Samuel R. IV, Edward H. and Harley B. Samuel R. Gibbs married Deborah Hanford, who was also of a New England family for generations resident in Connecticut. The marriage of Samuel R. and wife took place in Norwalk, Connecticut, and their son, Edward H., was born there in 1812. Only a few years later, about 1818, the family came out to Ohio. Samuel was accompanied by his brother David and family, and they made the journey with ox and horse teams, the entire distance overland. The Erie Canal had not yet been opened and the rough roads and trails furnished the only practicable means of coming to the West at that time. The families camped by the wayside as night overtook them, and after many days of journeying settled at Norwalk, Ohio, where a great many people from the Connecticut locality of the same name established pioneer homes. Samuel and David took up a section of land in that vicinity, and part of that ground is now occupied by the Woodland Cemetery and the waterworks of Norwalk. As pioneers they opened homes in the wilderness and gradually extended their farming operations. Samuel had conducted a mercantile business back in Norwalk, Connecticut. He and his wife in time acquired a beautiful home at Norwalk, and he died there in the '50s, and she passed away in 1863, when eighty years of age. She was a Methodist and very strict and devout. In politics he was a whig. Samuel R. and Deborah Gibbs had three sons and eight daughters. It should also be mentioned that another ancestor of Harley B. Gibbs was a Major Gibbs, who served on the staff of General Washington during the Revolution, and later became private secretary to President Washington. Edward H. Gibbs, who was six years old when the family Made their journey to Ohio in 1818, grew up on the pioneer farm and gained such education as local means in instruction could then supply. About 1844 he established his home at Milan, and, associated with Mr. Comstock, started a general store there. The firm prospered and was subsequently reorganized as Gibbs & Graham. During the financial depression which occurred in 1857 the firm liquidated, and Mr. Graham afterwards went south and became a colonel in the Confederate army. Edward H. Gibbs subsequently transferred his business affairs to Norwalk, and died there in the spring of 1872. He was a man of affairs, and well known in the adjoining counties. HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1171 He was married in Norwalk to Maria Louise Brownell. She was born in Ovid, New York, in 1815. She was related to the well known Connecticut family of Brownell, including Bishop Brownell of, the Diocese of Connecticut. Another relative was Corporal Brownell, who was with Colonel Ellsworth's command in the capture of Alexandria, across the Potomac from Washington, at the beginning of the Civil war, and is distinguished in history as the man who killed the hotel proprietor Jackson who had shot Colonel Ellsworth. Maria Louise Gibbs died in 1869 while in Chicago. Her parents were Pardon and Nancy Purdy Brownell, both natives of Ovid,, New York, where they spent their lives. Mrs. Edward H. Gibbs was active in the Presbyterian Church at Milan, and her husband attended the same congregation. In politics he was a republican. In their family were five children : Elizabeth, who died in 1912, married William Lewis, also now deceased, and her son, Fred C., is now married and lives in Chicago, and her daughter, Mary Elizabeth, is the wife of Fred W. Harlow of Louisville, Kentucky. The second child, Edward H., r., died in infancy, and the third was also named Edward H., r. He died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1907; he married Helen Stuart of Milan, and she and her only son, Ralph, now live in Pittsburgh. The next in age is Harley B. Platt P., the youngest, is a music publisher in Chicago, and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Reid, died in 1915, leaving a son, Herbert P., who is now married and has three children. Harley Brownell Gibbs, who was born in his father's home at Milan, March 13, 1849, acquired his early education in the local public schools and had a brief experience as clerk in a local store before entering the Bryant & Stratton Business College at Chicago, from which he graduated. For six years he was bookkeeper in a commission house at Chicago, and in 1871, on the organization of the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, he went to that city as shipping clerk for the company. Subsequently he became a stockholder, director and treasurer in the company, and was actively identified with those interests for forty years. In 1890, associated with a number of Cleveland business men, including Zenas King, Charles A. Otis, Dan P. Eells, John M. Gundry and others, he assisted in organizing the Lake Shore Bank of that city. He is one of the four directors who have been on the board constantly for twenty-five years, and through all that time has held the position of vice president. Mr. Gibbs lives six months of the year at, Winter Park, Florida, and the other six months of the year at his home on Elm Street in Milan. In Masonry Mr. Gibbs is affiliated with all the important bodies of that order at Cleveland, including Tyrian Lodge No. 307, A. F. & A. M.; Royal Arch Chapter No. 148, Cleveland Council, Oriental Commandery of the Knights Templar, Lake Erie Consistory, and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Union Club, the Roadside Club and the Euclid Club of Cleveland, the New England Society of Cleveland, the Firelands Historical Society of Norwalk, Ohio, and the Ohio Society of New York City. In 1878 Mr. Gibbs married Miss Emma Johnson of Hudson, Ohio. She died in 1894 at the age of forty-two. She was a daughter of Enoch Johnson, formerly superintendent of the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railway Company. Mrs. Gibbs left no children. In 1912 Mr. Gibbs married Mrs. Nellie Standart Hobbs. Her former husband, Fred Hobbs, was born in South Berwick, Maine, in 1859, and died in 1908. Mrs. Gibbs is a daughter of George H. and a granddaughter of Needham M. Standart. Her grandfather was born September 9, 1797, in Massachusetts, and in 1818 came to Milan, Ohio. Here he became prominent in the great grain industry which at that 1172 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY time centered at Milan, and it is said that in the high tide of the business Milan was the second greatest grain market in the world. Needham M. Standart was associated in this business with his brothers-in-law, Daniel and Thomas Hamilton. This firm shipped great quantities of grain from Milan. In 1836 Mr. Standart went to Cleveland, and his business operations made him one of the commercial leaders in that city. For many years he shipped grain under the firm name of Whitman & Standart, and his firm as an experiment during the late '30s shipped a full schooner load of wheat by way of the Welland Canal to Liverpool. England. This was a new venture at the time, though there is no record that the firm followed it tip. Under the same firm name they also did business as private bankers in Cleveland for a number of years. Needham M. Standart died December 4, 1877. George Henry Standart, father of Mrs. Gibbs, was born in Milan, May 17, 1829, and died in the State of Colorado April 17, 1898. In 1858 lie married Miss Myra Allen. She was a lineal descendant of Ebenezer Allen, a cousin of Ethan Allen. whose exploits during the Revolutionary war are familiar to every American school boy. She was a woman of many noble and beautiful traits and qualities of character. Her death occurred, some time before that of her husband, on August 9,, 1887, at Cleveland. Myra Allen was born January 28, 1831. George H. Standart had a brother, Capt. William Standart, who was commander of the Standart Battery at McMinnville, Tennessee, and made a gallant record in the Civil war. Another brother was Judge Charles W. Standart, who is now living at San Antonio, Texas. Mrs. Gibbs had a sister, Lucy A., who married Charles S. Wilgus, who was born February 4, 1865, and died suddenly April 9, 1893. Her brother, Henry Needham Standart, is an expert public accountant of Cleveland, is married, but has no children. Mrs. Gibbs is a charter member of Sally De Forest. Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution at Norwalk. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs are members of the Episcopal Church. In politics Mr. Gibbs is a republican. EDWARD WARD. For nine years the administration of the municipality of Kelley's Island has been under the direction of Edward Ward, mayor. That is not the only important relation Mr. Ward has sustained to the life and affairs of that distinctive portion of Erie County. He is related with one of the very earliest families of the island, and both he and his people have been identified with the industry of grape culture on the island ever since it was established on a • commercial scale. On every side can be pointed out important improvements made in the village during Mr. Ward's mayoralty. The streets and sidewalks have come in for much of the attention and expenditure under the Ward administration, and particular pains has been taken to keep the streets and the village clean and sanitary. Mayor Ward was the one who inaugurated the custom of oiling the. streets and keeping up the roads as standard for automobile traffic. Another improvement which has been much appreciated was the adding of a comfort station to the town hall Edward Ward was born on Kelley's Island, a son of Edmond and Charlotte (Titus) Ward. His father was born in New York State and came to Erie County in 1845, locating on Kelley's Island, where he rented a small farm from the Kelley estate. Charlotte Titus, who became. the wife of Edmond Ward after his arrival on the island, belonged to a family that was among the very earliest permanent inhab- HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1173 itants of Kelley's Island. After his marriage Edmond Ward began in a small way to be interested in grape culture, and in 1859 he planted a vineyard to which he devoted his best energies from that time until his death. He was one of the stockholders in the Kelley's Island -Vineyard Company. In early life he was a whig and afterwards a republican. There were eight children, and Edward was the seventh in order of birth. His youth and early manhood were spent on the old home in Kelley's Island, and when he arrived at his thirtieth year his father gave him a piece of land in his own name. There he started- his grape growing, and he now owns a profitable vineyard of six acres, and also rents another vineyard of similar extent. Mr. Ward is a practical vineyardist, and the grapes and other products from his vineyard have for years been distributed in the general markets. Mr. Ward resides in a beautiful residence fronting the lake channel. He is also a director in the Kelley's Island Dock and Steamboat Company. For a good many years he has been one of the active leaders of the republican party on Kelley's Island and in the county at large. In his home community besides his work as mayor he has served as street commissioner three years; chairman of the school board three years; for four years held the postoffice on the island under Harrison's administration; and for seven years was in the custom house service as collector of Kelley's Island ports. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. On November 21, 1887, Mr. Ward married Miss Jennie Duysing. Her father is Adolph Duysing. They have one son, Stewart A., born March 24, 1891. GEORGE M. MUEHLHAUSER. The tendency to shift the heaviest business responsibilities upon the shoulders of the younger generation is quite well illustrated in Sandusky, where many of the hardest working most successful business men are hardly yet in their forties. One of these is George M. Muehlhauser, who though only a little past thirty-five have been more or less closely associated with business concerns in Sandusky for twenty years. He is now proprietor of one of the largest garage and automobile repair and accessories establishments in the county. He was born in Sandusky, March 10, 1879, a son of C. A. and Elizabeth (Fettel) Muehlhauser. His father, a native of Germany, came to America in 1876 alone. He was married in Sandusky several years after he located there.. He was a cabinet maker by trade, and worked for one company, the George R. Butler & Company, for twenty-two years. He had all the thoroughness of the typical German, and was equally expert in many of the most difficult departments of cabinet making. Later he was associated with the Sandusky Furniture Company five years, and in 1898 he organized the Sandusky Fixture Company, and remained with that concern for three years. After the business was sold he organized the Swessinger Manufacturing Company and became its superintendent, an office he filled for five years. Since then he has had his home in Cleveland, and is now superintendent of a large Cleveland furniture house. George M. Muehlhauser, who was the older of a family of two children, received his early education in the public schools of Sandusky. Quite early in life he started regular employment under his father in the furniture business. After six months there he was connected with the old Sandusky Furniture Company until 1896, and then spent a 1174 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY year with the A. B. Conradi & Caswell Company. firm failed in business, and the concern was then carried on by Mr. Caswell for a short time, and young Muehlhauser was in the service of Mr. Caswell up to 1899. In that year the new firm of Franz & Hines, organizers of the Sandusky Automobile Co., came into existence, and Mr. Muehlhauser became foreman, an office he held until 1905. In that year he organized the Dunbar Manufacturing Company and in 1906 became its superintendent, remaining in that capacity until 1908. In that year Mr. Muehlhauser organized the Ogontz Garage, of which he has since become sole proprietor. This is a large garage, furnishing a very reliable service for Sandusky and environs. In connection there is conducted a large repair shop, with ample storage room and sales rooms. Mr. Muehlhauser handles the local agency for the Cadillac and Reo cars. In politics he is independent, and fraternally is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Foresters and United Commercial Travelers, Sandusky Council. On June 25, 1900, he married Miss Susan Eekler of Sandusky. To their marriage were born four children : August C., Mildred, Junior George and Wesley. JOHN E. STANG. In his rise from the position of day laborer to that of directing head of one of the largest industries of its kind in the state : from modest circumstances and obscurity to financial independence and prominence, and from the grind of daily manual toil to a position where his tastes may be gratified in participation in congenial occupations. John E. Stang has exemplified the value of the homely virtues of industry, perseverance and honorable dealing. He started his career with but few advantages ; no fortuitous circumstances aided him in his struggle for the attainment of position ; but hard, continued and unabating work brought its reward, and as vice president and general manager of the Cleveland-Sandusky Brewing Company, of Sandusky, Mr. Stang has an assured position among business men of this part of Northern Ohio. Mr. Stang was born December 10, 1860, in Monroeville, Huron County, Ohio, and is a son of Peter A. and Lena (Hannen) Stang. His father was born in Germany and was brought to America by his parents when a mere lad, the family locating in Huron Comity, Ohio, about eighty years ago. There Peter A. Stang was reared and educated and adopted the vocation of. farming, continuing to be engaged in agricultural operations during the remaining years of his active life. In connection with this occupation, in his early years he followed the blacksmith trade, but as his farming interests grew he gradually gave up the trade. He died at the age of eighty-six years, one of the substantial men of his community. In the family there were three sons and two daughters, all of whom survive. John E. Stang was educated in the parochial and district schools of Huron County and at Saint Mary's Institute, Dayton, Ohio. After completing his course at the latter institution, he returned to the home farm, where he remained for one year, and then, with his brother, Frank Stang, came to Sandusky and embarked in the brewing business. At the start he did the work of a day laborer, but subsequently was advanced to the position of traveling salesman for the concern, which was operated under the name of the Stang Brewing Company. He continued to act in this capacity for twenty-seven years, during which time he formed a wide acquaintance among business men all over the state, and in 1890, when his brother withdrew from the concern, John