1750 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO and honor. The oldest, Julius, is still unmarried and besides giving his labors to the management of the home farm is also doing a large business as a thresherman. The family all belong to the Reformed Church. Mr. Hoffman and his sons are loyal democrats. JOSEPH J. DIEMER is one of the live and progressive young business men of New Bavaria in Henry County. He is a native of this section of Northwestern Ohio, grew up a farm boy, and early in life entered the regular army of the United States, with which he served three years. That experience was valuable to him as an equipment for the work he has since followed. He gained a thorough experience as a mechanical and construction engineer while in the army, and is an all around mechanic and thoroughly familiar with electric and other machinery. Mr. Diemer now conducts a high class garage and general repair shop at New Bavaria. His headquarters are in a large concrete building 30 by 100 feet, situated on Walnut Street. He has conducted that establishment since 1913. He was born in Marion Township of Henry County, April 27, 1872, and grew up and received his education in that locality. At the age of fourteen he began working for his uncle Peter Diemer and remained in his employ for seven years. On December 5, 1894, he enlisted for service in the regular army of the United States, becoming a member of Company A of the Twenty-second United States Infantry. He was granted his honorable discharge on November 4, 1897. For nine months he was with his company at Fort Keogh in Montana, the company was then assigned to Fort Yates in North Dakota, where it remained about ten months, and was then sent to Fort Crook, Nebraska, where the entire regiment was assembled. He remained on the Fort Crook reservation until he was discharged. For thirty-two months of the time he was assistant engineer in the construction of three waterworks plants on the Government reservation. On returning to Ohio Mr. Diemer became stationary engineer in the sawmill operated by Jacob Hornung at New Bavaria. For eighteen months he was employed in a grist mill at Leipsic, Ohio, and then joined Henry A. Detrick in establishing the grain elevator at New Bavaria. He owned part of the enterprise ,and for several years was engaged in handling grain, coal, flour and feed. After four years with this concern the business was sold to the Farmers Grain and Stock Company, and Mr. Diemer continued in the service of the new company for fourteen months. He then established his present business. Mr. Diemer is a son of Joseph and Salina (Zoll) Diemer, both of whom are natives of Henry County. The paternal grandparents came from Germany, and the maternal great-grandparents came from the same country. Mr. Diemer's paternal grandparents were John and Catherine Diemer, who were early settlers in Henry County, and spent the rest of their lives in Pleasant Township. They cleared up a portion of the forest, developed a farm, and lived to the respective ages of seventy-six and ninety-five. They were Catholics in religion, and helped organize and became charter members of the first church of that denomination in Pleasant Township. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Diemer are still living on a farm in Pleasant Township along the Ridge Road, and are now seventy-six years of age. They are active members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at New Bavaria. Of their eleven children, nine are living, eight sons and one daughter, Joseph J. being the oldest. Joseph J. Diemer was married in Pleasant Township in 1899 to Miss Christina Zens. She was born in Pleasant Township and has always made that locality her home. Her parents were born in America, but her grandparents came from Germany. Her parents are still living on their farm in Pleasant Township and are about three score years of age, both of them being active members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Mrs. Diemer's grand- parents spent many years on their farm in Henry County, where they died. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Diemer : Gilbert P., aged sixteen, who has finished his education in the village school and now assists his father; Loretta, aged fourteen ; Viola, aged eleven ; Alfred, aged nine, all of them students in school ; and Arthur, who is now five years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Diemer and their children are members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He is affiliated with the Council of the Knights of Columbus at Napoleon, and in politics is a democrat. PHILIP HECKLER. For a number of generations there lived side by side in the same province or kingdom of Germany the Lautenslager and Heckler families. They were all. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1751 of high German stock and of Protestant or Lutheran religion. About 1832 members of both of these families emigrated to America. The mother of the Lautenslager branch had died in the old country, but her husband together with four daughters and two sons and a daughter that had married Philip Heckler, Sr., set out from Bremen in a sailing vessel and after many weeks of privation landed at Baltimore. From there the entire company proceeded westward and with wagons and teams finally reached Crawford County, Ohio. They located on wild land in Vernon Township three miles northwest of Crestline. Philip Heckler, Sr., was born in Germany about 1800. He married there Catherine Lautenslager and it was not long after their marriage that they set sail for the New World. About a year after the family arrived in Yernon Township of Crawford County a son was born to Philip Heckler and wife. This birth occurred November 11, 1834, and thus was ushered into the world of activity and experience Philip Heckler, Jr., who for many years has been one of the prominent farmers of Monroe Township in Henry County. He grew up in Crawford County, was given such advantages as the local schools could give in that time and in 1861 came with his father to Henry County. Here Philip Heckler, Sr., bought 120 acres of wild land in sections 10 and 15 Monroe Township. On this farm about 1880 Philip Heckler, Sr., passed away, having lived a strong and resourceful life in America and having accumulated considerable means. On the 120 acres above Mentioned in Henry County Philip Heckler, Jr., has staged his active career for more than half a century. He has developed a splendid home and in time. acquired 560 acres of high class land. Most of it he has since given to his children, but still retains a place of 120 acres. On this old homestead, surrounded with all the comforts and the joys which her children could give her, the widowed mother passed away at the age of eighty-four. In Vernon Township of Crawford County in the fall of 1855, some six years before he came into Henry County, Mr. Philip Heckler was married to Lucy Ann Sprow. She was born in the State of Pennsylvania November 17, 1833, and was quite young when she came to Crawford County, Ohio. Her parents Jacob and Catherine (Wiley) Sprow were both natives of Germany but were married after reaching Pennsylvania. On going to Crawford County they secured a tract of wild land on which they placed a log cabin and lived in that until the farm was cleared. The Sprow farm was adjacent to the old Heckler homestead and thus the two young people were thrown together socially and their acquaintance ripened into marriage. Jacob Sprow and wife lived out a long lifetime on the old Crawford County homestead. They were members of the Presbyterian Church. Jacob Sprow and also Philip Heckler, Sr., were democrats in politics. Some time after their marriage Philip Heckler and wife came to Henry County and by working in harmony and by strict economy reached a condition of prosperity where they passed as among the very well to do people of the county. After sixty years of married companionship Mrs. Philip Heckler passed into the rest of eternal life on November 20, 1915. Her memory will always be sacred among her descendants. She was reared in the Presbyterian faith. There were nine children. Eight of the nine are still living. Solomon S., a farmer and horse breeder at Malinta, married Adella Lowmaster and has two children, Harmon and Ray. Catherine is the wife of Howard Overhultz, a farmer in Monroe Township, their children being Lawrence, Daisy and Ernest. Philip died in infancy. Albert, a farmer in Monroe Township, married Sarah Spangler and has three children, Myrtle, Martin and Victoria. Ella married Jacob Burr and has two children, Gladys and Hazel. Josephine is the wife of Charles Long, a farmer in Harrison Township, and has children named Floyd, Lucile, Herman and Nellie. Philip, who was given the name of his infant brother who died and also his father and grandfather, is commonly known as Peter, and he married Bertha Switzer and has children named Josephine, Maud, Roy, Lucy and Ruth. Ann is the wife of Grant Overhultz, who formerly was a high school teacher and is now a farmer in Monroe Township, their children being Glenn, Lloyd, Brooks, Mildred and Forest. Frank, who is a farmer, married Nelia. Detmer and has Herbert and Lillian. Mr. Heckler and all his grown tons are democratic voters. OTIS W. DELPH. The principal trading center for a large number of people in Monroe Township of Henry County is the general merchandise store at Malinta conducted by Mr. Otis W. Delph and his brother. These enterprising merchants carry a general stock of goods to supply the needs of the surround- 1752 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO ing country and have built up one of the best stores in the county. Mr. Otis W. "Delph succeeded in business Mr. Martin Winburg and has been connected with the business more than twelve years. He was first a partner of Mr. Winburg, but in 1908 he succeeded to the business and soon afterwards took in his brother, George R. They have since conducted the business jointly. Otis W. Delph and his brother also were born in Monroe Township of Henry County, Otis on March 21, 1876, and George in 1882. Both were reared in this county, received their education in the public schools, and have found in merchandising a congenial and profitable vocation. They are the sons of Philip and Elizabeth (Witztcell) Delph. His father was born in Crawford County and his mother in Summit County, Ohio, and both are now about seventy years of age. The paternal grandparents came from Wurtemburg, Germany, and the mater nal grandparents were also German people. The Delphs on coming to America located in Crawford County, Ohio, while the Witztcells were settlers in Summit County. Philip Delph was still a child when his parents died. He was then taken into the home of Philip Heckler, and for a number of years bore the Heckler name. Philip Heckler died a number of years ago when quite an old man. When sixteen years of age Philip Delph was brought to Monroe Township, in Henry County, by the Heckler family, and from that time on has steered his own independent course in the world. He began working by the day, afterwards by the month, and when between twenty-four and twenty-five years of age was able to make his first purchase of land. This was a tract of forty acres of completely wild land, and after his marriage he started out to make a living there. He had a small house, and for a number of years most of his time was consumed in clearing up the land and in erecting buildings and other equipment required for his business. He still lives on the old homestead. He was married to Miss Witztcell at her home in Monroe Township. Both Philip and Mrs. Delph are active members of the Lutheran Church and in politics he is a democrat. Philip Delph has two widowed sisters, Mrs. Margaret Weaver of Crestline, Ohio, and Mrs. Callie Porter of Portland, Oregon. The children of Philip Delph and wife are : Cora, who married Jacob Babcock of Monroe Township, and they have two foster children, Martin and Chester. Julia married M. M. Spangler of Malinta. Otto W. is the next in age. Elizabeth married Lem Ordway and lives in Malinta, their children being Pay Philip, Frederick K. and -Marie. Henrietta is the wife of Bruce Robinson, a farmer at Rudolph, in Wood County, Ohio. George R., partner in the store with his brother Otis, married Emma Schultz, and they have two children, Carl and James. Clarence P. is a farmer in Henry County and married Ella Bailey, who by a former marriage has a son, Morris Bailey. Cecil B. lives at home and clerks in the store of his brothers during the summer and is a member of the class of 1918 in Wittenberg College. Otis W. Delph grew up on the old homestead in Monroe Township; and was trained to a farmer, though most of his adult experience has been in merchandising. In 1907 lie married at Malinta Miss Elsie Hemsoth. She was born in Germany in 1882, and when a child came to the United States, first to Fulton County, Ohio, and a year later to Malinta, where she grew up and met her husband. Her parents subsequently moved to Toledo and her father died there, her mother then returning to Malinta, where she lives at about the age of three score. The Hemsoth family are members of the German Reformed Church. Mr. and Mrs. Delph have four children : Elizabeth, now eight years of age ; Maxwell, aged six ; Norman and Mary E. All the family are members of the Lutheran Church, and Mr. Delph is a democrat. JOHN WESLEY DESGRANGES. Among the well-known families of Henry County, one of the best and most favorably known is that of Desgranges, the members of which have long been prominent in agricultural affairs in Pleasant and adjoining townships, and have also taken a part in the matters which have served to contribute to the advancement and material prosperity of this section. One of the worthy representatives of this name is John Wesley Desgranges, who owns and operates a handsome and valuable farm in Pleasant Township, a property which was formerly owned by his father, one of the most highly esteemed early residents of the locality. The Desgranges family, as the name would indicate, is of French origin, but at an early period moved from France to Bavaria, Germany, where, probably, the grandfather of John W: Desgranges, Jacob Desgranges, was born. There he grew to manhood and was HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1753 married, and there all his children were born, including: Mrs. Charles Hornung, Christ, Jacob, Daniel, Margaret and Peter. The last-named, the father of John W. Desgranges, was but seven years of age when the family started for the United States, a journey that was made in an old-time sailing vessel. This craft was tossed about at the mercy of the waves for sixty-four days before it finally arrived in sight of the City of New York, and then there was an exasperating wait of fully two weeks before the captain would risk making a landing. This finally effected, the little party made its way on the Hudson River and Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York, then to Toledo, Ohio, and via canal to Independence, Ohio, on the Maumee River. In the same year Charles Hornung, of Pleasant Township, Henry County, an old settler, induced them to come on to this locality, and here they finally located on the Ridge Road. The homestead was a wooded tract, surrounded by swamp land and absolutely without improvements of any kind. Primitive conditions prevailed everywhere, only the absolute necessities of life could be obtained, and even these were at a premium, but the Desgranges were more fortunate than some others of the pioneers, for on their arrival they were possessed of $2,000 in gold, and with this were able to purchase many of the comforts that all were not able to afford. The first home, of course, was built of logs, and this furnished the family with shelter for a number of years. Wild game of all kinds usual to the region was to be found in the woods and swamps, and the meat from these animals added materially to the family larder, while skins and furs were used in the fashioning of wearing apparel and in the making of various articles of utilitarian value. Here Peter Desgranges worked industriously and faithfully in the forming and establishing of a home for his family and the developing of a farm. He was successful in both directions, and when he died, when about sixty-nine years of age, this worthy man had the satisfaction of knowing that he had rounded out a useful and helpful life. In the early life of the community he took a prominent part, and while he was not active in politics, except as he cast his vote for the candidates of the democratic party, he was an influence for good government in his township and a supporter of all good movements. He was a member of the German Reformed Church, in the faith of which he had been reared in his native land, and was one of three persons to purchase the land for the cemetery of that denomination at New Bavaria. Mrs. Desgranges, who was also a member of that church and one of the most highly respected among the early women of the township, died at the home of her son Peter when past eighty years of age, having survived her husband for many years. Of their children, all grew to maturity, were married and had children, but all have now passed away. Peter Desgranges, the father of John Wesley Desgranges, was born October 26, 1834, in the Town of Elderblough, Bavaria, Germany, and, as before noted, was still a lad when the family emigrated to the United States. He grew up amid the most primitive surroundings, early learned to accustom himself to the use of fire arms, and as a youth did much to help the family in the way of provisions through his skill as a hunter. He was brought up to agricultural pursuits and chose that vocation when he came to young manhood, his first property being a tract of eighty acres of land, located two miles east of the Village of New Bavaria. Here Mr. Des-granges was married to Mary Dirr, who was born near New Bavaria, Pleasant Township, September 16, 1842, and they resided on their first farm until after the birth of their first sons : Peter and Jacob. The former was born there in 1863, and is now a retired resident of Big Rapids, Michigan, married but without children the latter died unmarried when twenty-one years six months six days old. In 1866 the little family came to Section 32, in the same township, and here secured eighty acres of slightly improved land, residing on this property for many years and bringing it to a high state of cultivation. Mr. Desgranges, who was industrious and enterprising in his operations, later secured 120 acres in the same township and eighty acres adjoining the homestead, and in the last years that he lived there he purchased the 160-acre homestead. Later he located on the eighty-acre property now owned by his son, John Wesley, and which was the south eighty of the 160-acre homestead. There his death occurred December 21, 1903, he being buried at Ayersville, Defiance County, on Christmas morning of that year. Mrs. Desgranges, who survives her husband, is now a resident of Pleasant Bend, where she is comfortably passing the evening of life in a new and modern cottage home. While seventy-four years of age, she is still alert in mind and active in body, and is a busy member of the Methodist Episcopal 1754 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Church, where she has many friends who have had evidence of her many lovable qualities of heart and mind. Mr. Desgranges was a member of the Reformed Church. He was a republican in politics and at various times filled positions of importance and trust in the community, being township trustee for two terms and holding other offices. As an official he bore the same high reputation as that which he had earned in business life as an honorable, straightforward man, and as a citizen by his willing support of public-spirited measures. He passed on to his children an unsullied name, one which had always been connected with things worth while. The following children were born on the homestead farm in Pleasant Township : Samuel, born in 1867, passed his life as a Henry County farmer, and died March 14, 1915, married Nida Davis, widow of Charley Davis, who had by her first union two sons and one daughter ; Charles, born in 1869, engaged in farming in Farmer Township, Putnam County, Ohio, married Bertha Parcher, and has six sons and three daughters; Edward, born December 12, 1871, reared on the homestead, now a prosperous and intelligent farmer of Farmer Township, Putnam County, married Miss Della Fender, who was born in 1875. on the farm in Pleasant Township which is now owned by John W. Desgranges, went to Michigan when five years old and was there reared, and has no children ; Philip, born in 1874, passed his life as a farmer in Michigan, and died June 12, 1914, married Minnie Hoffman, of Pleasant Township, and left two sons and one daughter at his death ; John Wesley, of this notice ; Frank, who is engaged in operating a part of the old homestead in Pleasant Township, married Katherine Leader and has one daughter, Mary ; and Carrie, who is the wife of Clyde Foltz, a farmer of Putnam County, Ohio, and has one son and three daughters. John Wesley Desgranges was born on the old homestead place in. Pleasant Township, April 23, 1877: and grew up in this locality, securing his education in the public schools. When he came to manhood he decided upon farming as his life work, and to this vocation he has constantly devoted his attention, with the result that he is now the possessor of a handsome property, finely improved and well drained, on which he has carried on operations since the death of his father. Mr. Desgranges is one of the up-to-date and progressive agriculturists of his locality. using modern methods in his work and making a close study of his vocation. His land is improved with good buildings, these including a barn 36 by 50 feet, with posts 18 feet, and a comfortable and commodious 8-room house, which was built in 1888, and all other conveniences known to the modern farmer may be found on his land. He carries on general farming and keeps a small herd of cattle, incidentally doing something in the line of dairying and the other branches of agricultural work. He is adjudged a good business man, and has a reputation for honorable dealing and integrity that makes his name an honored one in commercial circles. Mr. Desgranges was married to Miss Ruth L. Rowlader, who was born in Barry County, Michigan, May 23, 1897, and reared and educated in the vicinity of Vermontville, daughter of James M. and Lula (Wright) Rowlader, natives of New York. Her father was of German stock, and her parents were married in Michigan. They are now residents of Woodland, Michigan, Mr. Rowlader being sixty-four years of age and Mrs. Rowlader sixty, and of their eight children Mrs. Desgranges is the youngest daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Des-granges have had two children : Laura Mildred, born June 13, 1914 ; and Jess Willard, born March 3, 1916. They are consistent members of the German Reformed Church. Mr. Desgranges is a popular member of Lodge No. 745, Knights of Pythias, of which he is past chancellor. JAMES W. SHIDLER. As much as any other man in Northwest Ohio, James W. Shidler deserves to be numbered among those "sons of toil" who in every time and generation have found favor and honor among the peoples of the earth. Mr. Shidler as the years have come and gone has seen his work blossom and fruit into a considerable fortune, and while he deserves every penny of his wealth bemuse he has made it himself, the wealth has not been the sole end which has urged him on, and it has been gained not without a great share of advantage to the entire locality. When he reached his majority he was stimulated by an ambition to make a success in the world. He had only the primal energies of strong hands and a willing heart, and these directed by intelligence have carried him over every successive obstacle to the goal. Many years ago Mr. Shidler bought twenty acres in Section 6 of Richfield Township, in Henry County. There was not much compe- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1755 tition to secure this land. It was considered a permanent waste and wild, and any man of less determination and courage than young Shidler would have chosen a more favorable spot. It was situated in one of the wildest swamps found anywhere in Henry County. He had to delay the beginning of his operations until the waters receded and he was able to get to the land across logs, which formed a sort of roadway. There he set himself to clearing and making a home. There were no roads in that community, no ditches to drain off the surplus water, and he and one or two others who had land in the same vicinity had to dig out the ditches and make all the roads. Not only that, but he had to contend against the criticism and the opposition which usually stands in the way of every progressive improvement. It took many months of the hardest kind of labor and hardship to get the first twenty acres cleared. That was the nucleus, from which his labors and enterprise have spread over a large amount of land, and the clearing and development of this land in itself constitutes an important achievement and is of great benefit not to Mr. Shidler alone, but to the entire county. After his twenty acres were ready for cultivation he bought forty acres more in Damascus Township, and subsequently forty-seven acres adjoining his first homestead. Another purchase gave him eighty acres in Section 6, also near the first homestead, and he now has a 127-acre farm and considerable other land elsewhere. Every acre of it has been redeemed from the wilderness by his own hands and with the aid of his horses. It is not too much to say that Mr. Shidler has performed as much physical labor in the clearing up of land in Henry County as any other living resident. He has made sacrifices almost innumerable in' his efforts to acquire independence. He has. worked longer hours, walked further to earn a dollar, and has been regardless of personal discomfort and every obstacle that stood in the way of his achievement. Such a man deserves the 'highest honor and respect, and every dollar that he has earned for himself can be counterbalanced against at least equal value which his work has represented to the community at large. At the present time, though Mr. Shiftier is only a little past the meridian of life, he might retire and spend his remaining years in complete comfort. His farm represents many modern improvements, including a main barn 40 by 60 feet, wing 20 by 30 feet, various other sheds and outbuildings and a covered barnyard 40 by 42 feet. He has a cement tank for water 7 by 14 feet, and from time to time has added every implement and convenience necessary for the operation of his farm. His home is one of the landmarks of the rural community in Richfield Township. It is a substantial two-story brick house, containing ten rooms and all the comforts, such as bath, hot and cold water, furnace room and a capacious basement. As a farmer Mr. Shidler gets his revenues largely from the stock which he raises. He keeps about twelve head of horses, twelve head of cattle, twenty head of hogs, milks a small dairy of five cows, and he takes pains in improving and keeping up the grades of his livestock. James W. Shidler is of German ancestry. His grandfather, Daniel Shidler, was born in Germany, where he grew up and where he married. Before he left the old world two sons were born, Benjamin and David. In the latter '20s he set out with his little family in a sailing vessel, and after six weeks arrived in this country and located in Seneca County, Ohio. He lived there among the Indians and surrounded by the forests and wild game. His home was close to the spot sacred in the history of the West, where the `'gallant Colonel Crawford many years before had been burned at the stake by the hostile Indians of Ohio. It is said that Daniel Shidler cultivated the land about his grave, and the tradition is that though he sawed seed on the. grave, none of it ever grew. Daniel Shidler and his wife spent their last years in Seneca County. He was a noted character in that community. Strong, rugged, a physical giant, he did feats which were recounted by the firesides of that community for many years. There were no improved highways in that day in Ohio, and it is said that Daniel Shidler when his wagon would become imbedded in mud would bodily lift the vehicle and would practically hold it up until the horses could pull it to solid ground. He died when in middle life. After Daniel Shidler came to this country other children were born as follows: Catherine, who died young; John, who improved a farm and left a family ; Jonathan, who was commonly known as Jack. Jonathan Shidler, father of James W. Shidler, was born in 1830. After the death of his father he lived for a time with a brother and later among strangers. On reaching his majority he started out .to make his own way in the world. He was known in the early days 1756 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO of Ohio as an expert shingle maker. He was married in his native county to Miss Sarah Wagner, who was born in Seneca County about 1832, a daughter of Abraham and Mary Wagner, who were early settlers in Seneca County, having come from Pennsylvania with teams and wagons. The Wagners cleared up a home in the wilderness, and lived there for many years, though Abraham Wagner died in Woad County, his widow subsequently returning to Grelton, in Henry County, where she died some years later. After Jonathan Shidler was married, he became a tenant farmer. From Seneca County he moved to Wood County, and in 1876 located at Grelton, in Damascus Township of Henry County. There he lived until his death at the age of seventy-five. His widow died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Sarah Battles, near Grelton, about eight years after her husband, and when about seventy-seven years of age. She was a member of the Methodist Church. James W. Shidler was born while his par: ents were living in Seneca County, on October 4, 1861, and was reared and received his early advantages from the schools of Wood and Henry counties. He married for his first wife Ericka Fisher, who was born and reared in Damascus Township. She died eight days after her marriage. For his second wife he married an orphan girl, Clara Howe, who had the happiness of only three years of wedded life. She left one child, Charles R., who died at the age of ten years. Mr. Shidler 's third wife was Tena, daughter of Peter Deitrick of Monroe Township, Henry County. She was born and reared there, and died ten years after her marriage, leaving one son, Peter, who is still unmarried and at home. with his father. Mr. Shidler married for his present wife Mrs. Lina (Bolton) Hollepeter. She was born in Morrow County, Ohio, but was reared in Henry County. By her marriage to Richard Hollepeter she has two children : Bernice, aged nineteen, and Richard, or Dick, aged seventeen. Both live at home with their mother, and Bernice is a teacher, while Dick has finished the course of the Grelton High School with the class of 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Shidler by their marriage have the following children : Beatrice, Mabel, William, all three in school, and Dorothy, now two years of age. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal. Church at Grelton and Mr. Shidler is a democratic voter. HON. J. FRANK MEYERS. While farming has been the business at which Mr. Meyers has made his living, has provided for his fine family of children he has also for many years been closely identified with the educational welfare of his home county and state, and a number of years ago when he was called upon to serve in the Legislature much of his attention and effort were given to educational measures. Mr. Meyers is an. impressive speaker, a man of fine address, has a broad knowledge of the best literature, is well informed on current affairs, and is one of the most broad-minded farmer citizens of Henry County. He comes of old American stock. Some of his ancestors served in the Revolutionary war. The Meyers family were Pennsylvanians for a number of generations, and his great-grandfather spent all his life in Berks County, Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Jacob Meyers, was born in Berks County, and one of his brothers fell in the defense of Baltimore in the War of 1812. .Jacob was married in Berks County to Catherine Miller, who also represented a line of substantial people. From Pennsylvania Jacob Meyers emigrated to Tuscarawas County, Ohio. He brought with him a family of four sons and six daughters. Some of these were already married and had children. John B. Meyers, father of J. Frank Meyers, was born in 1829 in Berks County and was fourteen years of age when the family went to Tuscurawas County, Ohio. In that section of Ohio they cleared up some of the wild land, and Jacob and his wife spent their last years there, dying when past middle age. They were buried in the Gnadenhutten Cemetery. They were very active members of the German Lutheran Church, and practically all the male members of the family have been Jackson democrats. Jacob Meyers and wife had the following children : William, Samuel, Jacob, Jr., John B., Sarah, Christina, Esther, Elizabeth and another daughter who married a Mr. Born. All the children except Elizabeth married and had children of their own. John B. Meyers grew up in Tuscarawas County on a farm. He was married there to Annetta Werner. She was born in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in 1831, of Pennsylvania German stock. Her parents were Jacob and Theresa (Born) Werner. Jacob Werner was a German teacher in Pennsylvania, and about 1846 removed to Tuscarawas County, where he bought and improved a tract of land HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1757 on which he lived the rest of his years. There were three sons and four daughters in the Werner family. The sons were Jeremiah, Albert and Jacob. Jeremiah was a skilled mechanic and pattern maker. Albert became a soldier in the Civil war and died from homesickness in Tennessee. Jacob was a preacher in the Evangelical Church, but also a millwright and skilled mechanic. After the marriage of John B. Meyers and wife they started out as farmers in Tuscarawas County, near the village of Trenton. While living there J. Frank Meyers was born September 3, 1853. His sister Elizabeth was also a native of the same locality. In 1856 the family removed to another farm in Tuscarawas County. This farm was the birthplace of Albert and Samuel. In 1863 they made another move, this time to Wyandotte County, where the sons John and George were born. In 1867 the Meyers family came to Henry County. They made the journey with two covered wagons and teams, and spent several days over the rough roads. The land which they chose was new and raw, and was located in Monroe Township. From the woods of that section John B. Meyers cleared up a good farm. While the parents lived there two more children were born, Etta and Charles. John B. Meyers and wife both died on the old homestead within ten days of each other, in the months of February and March, 1893. They were long consistent members of the Christian Union Church, and he was a sterling democrat who held several local offices. Four of their sons and one daughter are still living. J. Frank Meyers was about fourteen years of age when the family came to Henry County, and while he assisted as his strength permitted in the work of the farm, from an early age, he also wisely improved his opportunities to get a good education, and those who know him say that he has always been a student as well as a practical and progressive farmer. When he was seventeen years of age he was granted a certificate to teach school. It was his long experience as a teacher that gave him the fundamental and lasting interest he has always retained in the welfare of the public schools. Altogether Mr. Meyers taught thirty terms, and his work was largely in Henry County. In the meantime he bought forty acres of wild land in Marion Township of Henry County, and before he left that he had it improved with buildings, with drainage and fences, and sold out at a great advance in value over what he paid. His next purchase was eighty acres in Section 13 of Monroe Township, which constitutes his present attractive rural home. Since taking possession he has cleared up thirty-five acres of this land, and has it all under drainage and otherwise well improved. For his stock and grain Mr. Meyers has a large barn 30 by 60 feet, and has added many improvements to the substantial 9-room house which is the family home. In farming Mr. Meyers follows the rotation principle, and one of his valuable crops is sugar beets, which averages from 12 to 15 tons per acre. In Harrison Township of Henry County Mr. Meyers married Miss Lillie Leatherman. She was born in that township, and her grandparents were Pennsylvania people. Her parents, Joseph and Effie (Beckham) Leatherman, were born in Ohio, and after their marriage and the birth of one child they settled in Harrison Township of Henry County. They made settlement there a short time before the Civil war. From there they removed to Richfield Township, where Mr. Leatherman died in 1899. His widow is now living in Malinta and is bearing the weight of eighty-three years very gracefully and bravely. Both were members of the Disciples Church, and Mr. Leatherman was a democrat who was elected to several local offices, including justice of the peace and a place on the board of education. Mr. and Mrs. Meyers have every reason to take pride in their children, who have grown up to worthy ideals and to useful careers. Grace L., the oldest, is the wife of Isaac Long, a farmer in Hancock County, and they have two children, Gladys and Bruce. James C. is sales manager for a wheel company in Toledo and is very active in church work in that city ; he married Wilda Heckler. Dollie married Bert Patterson, and they have a son Donald. Harry is in charge of rural route No. 1 out of Malinta where he resides, and by his marriage to Gladys Franz has children named Kenneth and Norman. Edith, still at home with her parents, is a very successful teacher in the public schools and a capable musician! All the children were given the best of educational advantages, and all of them have taught school at some time. Mr. Meyers and his sons are active democrats. It was in 1891 that he was first nominated and elected as representative of Henry County in the State Legislature. He was re- 1758 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO elected in 1893,- and gave two terms of very useful service to the. state. In the Legislature he was a member of the military committee, and in that capacity he reported for passage a bill for the purpose of marking the position of the Ohio troops on the battlefield of Chickamauga and other scenes of notable engagements in the South. He was also a member of the committee on universities and colleges, and this gave him a special opportunity to do all in his power to forward the improvement of educational institutions within the state. Some. of the plans which he proposed while in the Legislature have borne fruit in subsequent years, and his entire service was one that reflected high credit upon the representative from Henry County. CHARLES A. SEIDERS. The following iS a sketch of a highly successful Toledo lawyer. Those best acquainted with his attainments rank him high not only in the local profession but at the American bar. The law with him is a profession, a great calling, and not an occupation. He began as a "country lawyer" and by sheer ability has reached secure prestige in one of the leading cities of the state. Charles A. Seiders is of that class of Americans known as Pennsylvania Germans. His ancestors on his mother's side came to this country in the first years of the eighteenth century, and on his father's side some years later. The Pennsylvania German is a most thor ough American. His ancestors coming to this country to escape religious persecution, the old country is so completely left behind that there is no connection. He knows of no relatives in Europe ; he has no letters from there ; he knows only in a general way what part his ancestors came from ; there are no household gods emanating from beyond the seas ; no traditions connected with the other side ; no heirlooms; no old letters, documents or furniture said to have been brought by the "first settlers." In short, the Pennsylvania German is about as thoroughly identified with America only as is the American Indian ; he knows no "Fatherland" but the United States. Mr. Seiders was born in the Village of East Texas, near Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1857, and in April; 1866, his Parents moved to the Village of Flatrock, Seneca County, Ohio, and after two years moved to a farm in Adams Township, that county, and five years later to another farm in the same township. While but a boy he commenced taking a great interest in reading, which he indulged by such books as he could borrow from the neighbors and teachers, and soon subscribed to inexpensive young folk's magazines and weekly papers. His first subscription to a weekly was the Cincinnati Weekly Times, the first copy of which received by him contained an account of the Chicago fire, and which copy he still retains. In moving on to- the second farm he came into a neighborhood where great interest was taken in books and education. To procure these Mr. Seiders had to rely on his own efforts, his father being financially unable to help him, and not having the fortune -of good health he was unable to graduate from college. Having made up his mind at the age of sixteen to become a lawyer, he commenced reading for that profession in the fall of 1878, Vat, having to. work his own way, his studies were often broken into, and he was not admitted until March, 1882, when he passed the examination of the Ohio Supreme Court. In the meantime, and as a means of livelihood, he had in July, 1879, established and edited The Greenspring Times in the Village of Green-spring, Ohio, and the two starved and struggled along together for eight months, when they parted company. In April, 1883, Mr. Seiders began the practice of the law in Paulding, Ohio, the county seat of Paulding County, which was then being just developed, it up to that time having been largely covered by a dense growth of timber. A few years later he became the attorney for the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company for that county, the general offices of that company being at Cleveland, and Paulding County being hard to get at, General Williamson, then general counsel, entrusted all the work to Mr. Seiders, and for twenty-five years he performed it, having continued to do so after his removal to Toledo and after Hon. John H. Clarke, now associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. had become general counsel. In the meantime there was soon added a large general practice which extended into other and surrounding counties. In the fall of 1888 he also became the local counsel for the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinac Railway Company, and continued to represent that company until his removal to Toledo. On November 15, 1897, he went into the office of Doyle & Lewis, Toledo, Ohio, and remained with that firm until January 1, 1902, when he went into practice for himself. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1759 He is and has been for sixteen years an attorney for the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company. While reading law with Lutes & Lutes at Tiffin, Ohio, a firm composed of Nelson B. Lutes and his wife, Nettie Cronise Lutes, Mr. Seiders met Miss Edith Sams, who was then practicing law in partnership with Miss Florence Cronise, a sister of Mrs. Lutes. Mr. Seiders and Miss Sams were married on May 1, 1883, at Tiffin, Ohio, and about a month after Mr. Seiders had commenced practicing law at Paulding. Miss Sams was admitted to the bar of Ohio in December, 1881, and was the first woman admitted to practice in that state by the Supreme Court. Miss Sams was the fourth child of Alexander Brannen and Marianna Stuart Sams, both of English birth,, her mother being a lineal descendant of the royal house of Stuart of Scotland. Mr. Isaac Sams, the grandfather of Mrs. Seiders, came to this country from England in 1824 and established Rock Hill Academy at Ellicott City, Maryland. In 1834 he removed to New York City and there reopened his school, but in 1835, his health having become impaired by overwork, he acquired 1,000 acres of land adjoining the Town of Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio, and in that year removed thither with his family. After the recovery of his health he became the head of a boys' school at that place and continued so for a number of years. He took a great interest in education and everything pertaining thereto, and was during the remainder of his life a member of the board of county examiners. He opened a library and reading room at Hillsboro, was the means of establishing teachers' associations and educational publications, and in many ways, by his culture and energy, lifted educational standards in Southern Ohio. Being Episcopalians, Mr. (Isaac) Sams and his two sons (the uncle and father of Mrs. Seiders) took a leading part in organizing an 'Episcopal Church in Hillsboro, and, in 1853, in the erection of the beautiful Episcopal Church at that place. The memorial window placed in the church to commemorate the names of the founders contains the name of the grandfather, uncle and father of Mrs. Seiders, together with five others. Her grandfather was senior warden from the time of the establishment of the church until his death on December 1, 1878, while her father was secretary of the vestry from the time of its establishment until his removal to Tiffin in 1869. Mr. Alexander Brannen Sams, father of Mrs. Seiders, was educated in New York City as a pharmacist, 'and lived there until 1848, when he too came to Ohio, where he met Mists Stuart, who, with her mother, was then making a tour of this country, and they were married shortly after. They lived at Hillsboro, part of the time on his father's farm and part of the time engaged in the hardware business and also as collector of internal revenue, until 1869, when he purchased a drug store at Tiffin. Ohio, and removed there, where he died in 1893, having survived his wire eight years. Both of the parents of Mrs. Seiders were not only well but liberally educated. After their children were of school age Mrs. Seiders joined with her husband in the practice of law at Paulding, Ohio, under the firm name of Seiders & Seiders, and so continued until December, 1896, when Mr. A. M. Waters was associated with them under the firm name of Seiders, Seiders & Waters, and when, in November, 1897, Mr. Seiders removed to Toledo, Mrs. Seiders and Mr. Waters continued the business at Paulding until December, 1898, when the family removed to Toledo. She did not resume the practice in Toledo. While living at Paulding she was elected a member of the board of education and served the full term of three years, being also elected clerk throughout her whole term. Aside from holding the office of village solicitor for one term at Paulding, during the first years of his practice, and being a member of the board of education at Toledo from March 5. 1906, to June 15, 1908, at which time he resigned, and during the greater part of which period he was president of the board, Mr. Seiders has neither held nor sought political office. His only diversion has been the studying of history, on which subject he has accumulated a library larger than any other private library in the city of his residence. After removing to Toledo, Mr. and Mrs. Seiders became identified with the Unitarian Church, Mr. Seiders being for nearly fourteen years a member of the board of trustees of the First Unitarian Church of that city and, for nearly all of that period, its president. He is a member of the Toledo Club, Toledo Commerce Club, Toledo Automobile Club, Toledo Museum of Art, the American Historical Association and tile Maumee Valley Pioneer and Historical Association. Mrs. Seiders is a member of the Toledo Women's 1760 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Association and the Women's Educational Club. They have two children living : Marian D., who married Dr. W. Frank Maxwell, and Seth, who is in the advertising business at Chicago. HENRY D. PANNING. An honored name in Henry County is that of Panning. Many worthy people have held it, and it has been a synonym for industry, integrity and those hard-working virtues which convert a wilderness into a smiling landscape of villages and farms. One of this name was the late Henry D. Panning, who was born in Napoleon Township of Henry County, March 1, 1861, and died on his homestead farm in section 18 of the same township on November 1, 1908. Though he was not yet fifty years of age when he died he had accomplished a great deal and had filled his years with usefulness and honor. His parents were Fred and Catherine (Bennegen) Panning, both natives of Hanover, Germany, and of old Lutheran stock. The paternal grandparents came to America during the decade of the '50s, bought a tract of wild land in Napoleon Township of Henry County, where the grandfather cleared up a good farm. He and his wife died there when quite old. They were among the early Lutherans of that community and they left descendants who carried on their good name and their reputation for industry. Fred Panning, father of Henry D. Panning, grew up in Henry County, as did also his wife, and after their marriage they settled on the old homestead on section 18 of Napoleon Township. Fred Panning developed his farm of 120 acres, and died there at the age of seventy-six. His widow passed away at the age of seventy-two. Both are now buried in the Bremen Cemetery of Napoleon Township. All of their children are also deceased. Their daughter Dorothy died in 1910, the wife of Fred Panning, who is mentioned on other pages. The son George died when quite young. Henry D. Panning grew up on the old farm and attended both the English and German schools. His entire career was worked out on the farm in section 18. He became owner of that place and in many ways added to its improvements and was very successful as an agriculturist. He was an active member of the Lutheran Church, was a substantial Christian gentleman, and in politics his affiliations were with the democratic party. Henry D. Panning married for his first wife Elizabeth Arps. She was born in Napoleon Township, March 29, 1863, and died at the home on section 18, March 7, 1900. Her father, Henry Arps, married again after the death of Mrs. Panning's mother, and he and his second wife passed away when about sixty years of age. They were Lutherans and were active farmers of Henry County. Mrs. Elizabeth Panning left six children and six months later her daughter Helen also passed away. Those now living are : John A., a carpenter and thresherman who lives with his stepmother, Mrs. Panning, at her home in section 5 and is unmarried ; Freda, still single and employed in Napoleon ; Johanna, who is twenty-two years of age and lives at home ; Anton, who helps work the home farm ; and Otto, who also contributes his labors as a farmer on the old place. For his second wife Henry D. Panning married Caroline Witte. Mrs. Panning, who after the death of her husband in 1911 bought a 55-acre farm in section 5 of Napoleon Township, and now resides there, was born in Toledo, September 26, 1873. When she was quite young her parents, Detrick and Anna (Lange) Witte, moved to Henry County. Her father was born April 21, 1850, in Hanover, Germany. and her mother about seven years earlier. They were married in Toledo, where her father was employed at wages for some years, and in 1881 the Witte family came to Henry County. There the mother of Mrs. Panning died, and her father married a second time and is now living at Holgate, in Henry County. Mrs. Panning has one daughter, Clara, now nine years of age and attending the local schools. Mrs. Panning and her step sons give capable management to her good farm and she lives in the comfort that she deserves. The farm is improved with a large barn and with a good 7-room house. All the family are members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. HENRY F. DAMMAN. Probably every resident of Ridgeville Township has had occasion to admire the capable management and well-kept appearance of the Damman farm in section 13. Its proprietor is a man who has effected a great deal in the course of his career. He started life with very little capital except what he earned himself, and from youth to the present has been one of the thrifty, industrious workers in this section of Ohio. Though he has lived in Henry County, Ohio, most of his life, he was born in a county of HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1761 the same name in Illinois on June 19, 1857. His parents were Henry and Sophia (Brinkerhoff) Damman, both of whom were natives of Hanover. They were of early Lutheran stock of that country. Grandfather Damman was a soldier in the Napoleonic wars from 1812 to 1815 and was wounded at the battle of Waterloo, and for his bravery and gallantry was decorated with several medals.' This old soldier and his wife spent all their lives in Germany, as did also the maternal grandparents. After their marriage Henry Damman and wife emigrated to America. They were seven weeks in crossing the ocean on a sailing vessel between Bremen and New York. From there they proceeded west to Henry County, Illinois, and after their son, Henry F. Dam. man was thirteen months old they moved to Ohio and located in Adams Township of Defiance County. Here they settled on a tract of wild land in the midst of the woods. Henry Damman secured for his first farm eighty acres. After clearing that up and improving it with a log house and stable he continued the successful cultivation of his fields, and in time had a substantial frame house and barn, and then bought a second eighty acres and eventually a third farm of similar size. All of these he put in excellent condition by tillage and drainage and after a long and useful life he died March 24, 1892, when nearly seventy-one years of age. His wife passed away at the old homestead October 26, 1904. They were among the earliest settlers from the Kingdom of Hanover in this section of Northwest Ohio, and they did more than an average part in developing the country. They were among the organizers of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, and he served for many years as one of the officials. Politically he was a democrat. After these parents removed to Adams Township, in Defiance County, the following children were born : Mary, who is a widow and had a son, now deceased, and two daughters, Clara and Hulda, both of whom are married ; Ida, who died after her marriage to Henry Banefelt, leaving Harry and Matilda; Fred, a retired farmer at Hicksville, Ohio, married Sophia Rohrs and has two children, Ralph and Arvilla ; John, who owns and occupies the old homestead in Defiance County, married a Miss Schroeder, and their children are Alvina, Loretta, Arnold, Helen, Emma, Charles, Carl and Ida, the last being now deceased. It was on the old homestead in Defiance County that Henry F. Damman spent his early years. He finally took the manage- ment of the eighty acres which his father had last purchased in Section 5 of Adams Township, and devoted a number of years to its improvement and cultivation. He built a fine barn 38 by 64 feet, a granary 24 by 36 feet, and had a splendid rural residence of sixteen rooms with basement. In 1911 Mr. Damman sold this farm and bought his present place of ninety-nine acres in Section 13 of Ridgeville Township. He has all the land under cultivation except eight acres of native timber. This is splendid soil, well above the average, and he has made it grow large and profitable crops. His farm has a fine group of buildings, including a barn 36 by 80 feet with 14-foot shed, other buildings for the care of tools and equipment, and his home is a 13-room modern dwelling. In October, 1876, Mr. Damman was married in Adams Township to Dora Bremer. Mrs. Damman was born in Napoleon Township of Henry County, February 17, 1865. She was reared and educated there, and is a daughter of Detrick and Mary (Haase) Bremer, both natives of Hanover. Her father was born in 1805 and died November 26, 1893, and her mother died in 1887 aged sixty-one years one month seventeen days. Detrick Bremer and Mary Haase had come to America as young people from Germany. They made the passage on a sailing vessel, and were many weeks in crossing the ocean. Some years after their arrival in Henry County they married. Detrick Bremer was for a number of years employed on the canal running through Henry County, and was one of the German pioneers of that county. Later he bought eighty acres of good land four miles west of Napoleon City, and was identified with its improvement until his death. The Bremers were active members of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church and assisted in organizing it and maintaining it. The children in the Bremer family were : John, who is married and lives in Monroe Township on a farm and has two sons and a daughter; George, who is a farmer and has a son named Arthur ; Mrs. Damman ; Henry, a farmer in Monroe Township and the father of a. son and four daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Damman have two children. Verna is the wife of Fred Yungman, a farmer in Ridgeville Township on the Yungman farm. Alvin C. is now engaged in operating his father's homestead, and married Lela Meister of Henry County. Mr. and Mrs. Damman also have an adopted child, Leona B. Parker, now sixteen years of age. The family are all 1762 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO members of the Lutheran Church at Ridgeville Corners, in which Mr. Damman is a trustee. Politically he is a democrat, and his public spirit has led him to keep in close touch with community, affairs, and his individual success has been an important contribution to the welfare of every community where he has lived. HENRY WITTE. It is a record of a thrifty and progressive Hanover family in Henry County that tells the story of Henry Witte, one of the most prosperous farmers of Freedom Township. Mr. Witte has not only done well for himself, but has achieved a great deal for others. He was the first of his family to come to America, and furnished the means by which his parents and brothers and sisters arrived in this land of plenty. He was born at Salton, in Hanover, September 3, 1871, a son of Fred. and Louisa (Hulsche) Witte, both of whom grew up in Hanover. Fred Witte was a son of Henry and Angel (Wienselmann) Witte. All the representatives of the different generations were members of the Lutheran Church, and all of them were farmers by occupation. Reared and educated in Germany, Henry Witte set out between sixteen and seventeen years of age as the first of his family to seek a fortune in the New World. He came by steamer from Bremen to Baltimore on the ship Brunswick, and was thirteen days in crossing. From there he came on to Napoleon and later went to Freedom Township, in Section 22, where his present home is, and was employed as a laborer. He not only worked hard. but saved nearly all his wages, and as soon as possible sent this money, back to bring his brother. William and sister Dorothy to the new country. A year later he sent the money necessary to pay the passage of his grandfather, his parents, and the other children, Minnie, William, Dietrich, Fred and Alta. Most of the family located in Sherwood, Defiance County, and Henry Witte bought and gave his parents some stock to make a start. The family bought eighty acres of land in Mark Township of Defiance County, and developed that as a farm. A few years later Henry Witte and his father went out to Oklahoma Territory and acquired 320 acres in Woodward County. After four years they sold this at a profit and returned to Ohio, and the father spent his last years in Napoleon, where he died December 23, 1914, aged seventy-one. The grandfather, Henry, died at the age of seventy-six in Freedom Township. Henry Witte's mother is still living with her son Fred in Adams Township of Defiance County and is sixty-nine years of age. Henry Witte, as the record shows, has been exceedingly thrifty and energetic. After getting his family established he started to build up a home of his own, and with the loyal co-operation of his wife has acquired a beautiful homestead known as the Silver Poplar Farm, in Section 22, of Freedom Township. The land under his supervision grows abundantly all the staple crops, and he has excellent building improvements, including a 10-room house with basement, a barn 30 by 52 feet and other buildings. He also grows all kinds of fruit. In 1893, at the home he now owns and occupies, Mr. Witte married Miss Anna Kopka. She was born on the farm where she now lives February 14, 1874, and has spent all her life in that vicinity. She is well educated both in the German and English languages. Her parents were Theodore and Elizabeth (Heldt) Kopka, her father a native of Pomern, Prussia, where he was born in 1835; and her mother a Bavarian, born in 1845. Theodore Kopka came to America at the age of thirty, while his wife came when five years of age. Though they emigrated a number of years apart, both came on sailing vessels and landed at Baltimore, and both were seven weeks three days in crossing the ocean. They were married in Ohio, and lived for some time near Cleveland, -where two of their children were born : Charles, who died in infancy, and' William. The Kopka family in 1873 moved to Freedom Township -and there developed an 80-acre farm from the wilderness and swamp. They lived for some years in a log cabin, and finally built a substantial house and barn.. Mr. Kopka then bought another 40-acre tract and subsequently forty acres additional, both being adjacent to the original home farm. Theodore Kopka died at the homestead in May, 1901, and his wife in August, 1911, both at the age of sixty-seven. They were active members of St. John's Lutheran Church, in which Mr. Kopka was an official, and he was a democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Witte have had no children of their own. They are foster parents of several children. One of them, Fred Moehring, is married and lives on a farm in Clinton Township of Fulton County and has a daughter Bertha, now two years of age. Mr. and HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1763 Mrs. Witte have also adopted a son, Wiliner, taking him when he was an infant. Mr. Witte is one of the official members of St. John's Lutheran Church. VICTOR CLATY has been one of the prosperous agriculturists of Washington Township, in Henry County, for the past twenty-five years. He has made a close study of farming, has applied the results of his experience and his observation, and he runs his business from the beginning of one season to the end with system and efficiency. Representing an old French family, Victor Claty was born in the north of France in 1863, a son of Theophilus and Juna (Veno) Claty. His parents were also born in Northern France and their respective parents spent all their lives there as farmers and devout members of the Catholic religion. Theophilus Claty and wife lived in France for a number of years, and he followed the trade of baker there. All their children were born in France except Mary. In 1875 the family, consisting of the parents, four sons and one daughter, set out for the United States. They traveled on a French liner from Havre. to New York, and thence journeyed westward to Ohio, locating at -Milton Center, in Wood County. Theophilus Claty soon bought a farm of 120 acres in that community, and by his own energies and with the help of his growing family cleared it up and added many improvements. He lived a very active life and was in well-to-do circumstances when he died in 1901 at the age of seventy-three. His widow passed away in 1909 aged seventy. They were life long Catholics, and after becoming an American citizen Mr. Claty voted with the democratic party. All their children are still living, all married, and all are .residents of Wood County except Victor. Victor Claty was twelve years of age when he came to America, and he was educated both in the French and the English languages. He grew up on the farm, learned farming by practical experience, and at the time of his marriage in 1891 he bought the 80-acre farm he now owns in Washington Township, Henry County, in Section 13. Mr. Claty married Miss Norah McEarnner. Mrs. Claty was born in Madison County, Ohio, in 1868, but when a small girl came to Henry County with her parents, Thomas and Anna McEarnner, who bought and located on a farm in Washington Township. Her father died there at the age of sixty-five and her mother when past seventy. They were devout Catholics, and her father a democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Claty have two children : Thomas, who is now twenty-four years of age and is still single ; and Leon, aged twelve and in the fourth grade 'of the schools. Mr. and Mrs. Claty are communicants of the Catholic Church. He manifests a commendable degree of interest in the welfare of his home community, is a supporter of the democratic party, and is a man entitled to esteem and honor for what he has accomplished in life. WILLIAM THOMAS ROBINSON, now in the automobile business at Lima, has had a long experience as a banker and business man in Ohio, and is one of the native sons of the northwest quarter of the state. He was born in Hardin County, Ohio, May 18, 1869, a son of John W. and Sarah (Elliott) Robinson. His father, who was a farmer, was born in Ireland, and on coming to this country first settled. in West Virginia, afterwards in Crawford County and then in Hardin County, Ohio. William Thomas Robinson acquired a liberal education before taking up his active business career. Following his courses in the public schools, he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, where he was graduated in the classical course with the degree A. B. in 1892. Since then for almost a quarter of a century he has been active business life. He was assistant cashier of the Hardin County Bank at Forest nine years, and then became cashier of the First National Bank at Newcomerstown, Ohio, where he remained three years. Mr. Robinson next organized the First National Bank at Forest, and remained as- its cashier until the institution was sold. Following that he went on the road as a traveling salesman, and in 1914 located in Lima and engaged in the automobile business.; In 1915 with H. C. Thew he established the local agency for the Reo car. Mr. Robinson, who is unmarried, has identified himself with various fraternal' and other institutions, and while living at Forest was trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church and superintendent of its Sunday school. He is a Knight Templar Mason and as a republican served on the Central Committee while living at Forest. JOHN P. MANGAS. No people have adapted themselves more skillfully and perfectly to the conditions which are the requisite of success 1764 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO in farming in America than those who represent the Dutch stock. It is of this nationality that John P. Mangas of Henry County comes, and though he was born in Henry County, his people were all of the thrifty German nationality that has so largely prevailed in the early settlement of several of Henry County's townships. Many people call Mr. Mangas a model farmer, and from the general. condition of his environment and property in Marion Township this title seems well qualified. The early generations of the family in this county were headed by his grandfather, Henry Casper Mangas, and his father, Henry Mangas.. Both were born in Prussia, Germany. Henry Mangas was born there October 24, 1829. When he was five years of age Casper Mangas brought the family to the United States. They sailed from Bremen, Germany, and were fifty-two days on the ocean before they reached New York. At that time there was not a single railway built west of the Allegheny Mountains, and only a few miles of track had been built anywhere in this country. The principal route of emigration to the West was the Erie Canal, which had been opened to traffic about nine years before. Thus the Mangas family journeyed up the Hudson River, thence by canal boat across the state to Buffalo, and from there by the Great Lakes to Cleveland and to Toledo. From Toledo they came up the Maumee to what is now New Bavaria in Pleasant Township of Henry County. The Mangas family, together with the Hornungs and the Marches, were the first three families to comprise the original German colony at New Bavaria. Henry County was then a wilderness, divided between heavy forests and swamps. Nearly all .the land was available for settlement by direct contract with the government. Casper Mangas entered his land and filed the claim and paid the initial fees in the land office at Lima. He walked all the way to Lima. Outside of Indian trails there .was probably not a highway justifying the name anywhere in Henry County. The entire district where the Mangas family settled was in its utmost primitive condition. There were no near neighbors, no roads, no schools, no churches, and the mills were many miles away. Casper Mangas would usually put a sack of grain on his shoulder and start out to walk fourteen or fifteen miles to the nearest mill, going one day and returning the next. One time he carried his grist on his shoulder a distance of thirty miles to the mill at Findlay. Thus the Mangas family had to contend with difficulties, inconveniences and privations during their early life in Henry County. They had the true grit and courage of pioneers, and never lost hope, worked on and braved the storms of adversity, and in time they were looked upon as some of the most substantial home makers and citizens of the entire district. Casper Mangas and his wife died on the old farm when in advanced years. Their first home of round logs had been replaced by a house of hewed logs, and they had acquired many of the elements of comfort in .their home before death came to them. They were sincere Catholics,' and were among the charter members of the Sacred Heart Parish, and both are buried in the churchyard of that parish. Casper Mangas was a democrat in his political affiliations. It was in this frontier locality that Henry Mangas grew to manhood. He had some in-. struction at church and some at home, but otherwise was without education, since a real system of schools did not exist while he was growing up. He became a man of good judgment, strong character and of much practical wisdom, and was one of the first men elected to the office of justice of the peace in Marion Township, where he settled as a pioneer. He Was also assessor, and had some place of re sponsibility during the greater part of his life. He was prominent as a democrat. He lived to be seventy-five years of age, passing away September 11, 1904. In Pleasant Township Henry Mangas married Miss Mary Diemer. She was born in Bavaria, Germany, and it hen eight years of age came to America with her parents, who located in Pleasant Township of Henry County, and were also settlers on government land. Six years after they arrived her father, Thomas Diemer, died, and was then in the prime of his years. Her mother survived and was eighty-six years of age when she died in 1902. Both were lifelong Catholics. Mrs. Mary Mangas grew to womanhood in Henry County, and gave the best of her life to her family and home and friends. She died at the old home in Marion Township April 8, 1903, when about fifty years of age. Both she and her husband were confirmed in the Sacred Heart Church and were buried in the cemetery of the parish. John P. Mangas was the oldest son in a family of four sons and seven daughters. All but two are still living, and eight of them are married. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1765 John P. Mangas was born June 27, 1865, in Marion Township, grew up here with the advantages of the local schools and has used his early experience and training as the foundation of his success in farm life. In October, 1895, he took up farming as an independent vocation, and at that time bought 120 acres in sections 29 and 30 of Marion Township. Every year has seen an increase in his property valuation and in the extent and scope of his operations. At the present time his ownership extends over 360 acres, divided into three distinct farms. His home place has a noteworthy group of improvements. His barn is a structure 40 by 90 feet, with 20-foot posts, and he has a complete equipment of tools, implements and other facilities for cultivating his land and getting a maximum yield from his acres, also for the handling of all ether branches- of the farm business. His home is one of the best to be found in the country districts of Henry County. It is a two story brick house containing twelve rooms, with a basement under all, and has conveniences and equipment such as are to be found in the better class of city homes. It has hot and cold running water, operated by the automatic system, there is a furnace to heat the house from basement to attic, and, it is electric lighted. On each of his other two farms Mr. Mangas has a barn nearly new, 36 by 60 feet, and a good house. His crops have been chiefly corn, wheat, oats and sugar beets. In 1894 Mr. Mangas was married at Now Bavaria to Miss Margaret Wagner, who was born in Lorain County, Ohio, June 23, 1868. They were married in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at New. Bavaria. Mrs. Mangas grew up and received her education partly in Lorain County and partly in Henry County. Her parents were both natives of Germany, and her mother died in Lorain County when Mrs. Mangas was a child. Her father, John Wagner, who died June 5, 1911, had spent his early years as a sailor on ocean vessels, and finally brought his family to America on a sailing vessel. They were all active members of the Catholic Church, and Mr. Wagner was a democrat. A fine family of children have grown up in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mangas. Mary S., the oldest, is now twenty-two years' of age and still at home. Ellen, aged twenty, is the wife of Owen Brubaker, a farmer at Hamler, Henry County. Gilbert is seventeen years of age and is still in school. Catherine is twelve Vol. III-28 years old and in the sixth grade, and Paul, aged seven, has also begun his education. The youngest of the family is Julian, now five years of age. The family are members of the Sacred Heart congregation, and Mr. Mangas is a democrat and a member of the Knights of Columbus. JACOB B. SHEPARD. Some of the oldest and best known families of Henry County are represented by Jacob' B. Shepard. He himself is a native of the county, and his own parents and other relatives have been identified with this section since the first clearings were made and the first crops produced. Mr. Shepard was born in Damascus Township June 30, 1853. His family is of Irish origin, but for many generations they have lived, first in Virginia and later in Ohio. His father was Daniel Shepard, who was barn in Athens County, Ohio, December 1, 1822. The grandfather, Martin Shepard, was a Virginian but spent his last' years in Henry County, Ohio. When Daniel Shepard was still a young man he enlisted and went away to serve in the Mexican war, and saw some active fighting south of the Rio Grande, but escaped any serious injury. After his return and before his marriage he came to Ohio, accompanied by his father Martin, and the latter's wife. They located in one of the wildest districts of Henry County. Their cabin was built of logs, the woods surrounded them on every 'side, and these woods were filled with wild game. Daniel even killed some bears during the first years of his residence here. Some of the heavy work of pioneering fell to his lot. He cut down the trees, cleared up the stumps, drained the land and in some of that work to the extent of his strength his father, Martin, shared, but finally became too old for further duties, and died at the age of eighty-four. Martin was twice married. His first wife died when Daniel was eighteen years of age, and for his second wife he married Mary Shradden. There were seven children by each marriage. Religiously the Shepards were United Brethren people, and ever since that party was organized they have usually been republican voters. Daniel Shepard was married in Henry County to Maria Hackman. She was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, December 1, 1833, and her name recalls a very early and prominent family of pioneers in Henry County. When she was quite young she came to Da- 1766 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO mascus Township with her parents, Joseph and Mary (Macklin) Hackman, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The Hockmans were among the first to settle in Damascus Township, and their lives were spent usefully and energetically in clearing up a part of the wilderness and making farm homes. They paid a dollar and a quarter per acre for government land, and on their farm they lived out their lives, Joseph Hackman dying in 1884 and his wife a year later. They were among the very early members of the Christian Union Church, and Joseph Hackman was a democrat. Some of his characteristics have been recalled. He was exceedingly domestic in his tastes, and of very reserved nature. It is said that he would never interrupt a questioner and would wait until the discussion got around to him, and then after careful consideration would express his opinion, and it was usually found to be the right one. Before he married Daniel Shepard had acquired a tract of land in Damascus Township, and he took his bride there and began the heavy work of clearing, draining, fencing and cultivating. His old homestead of 120 acres lies a mile west of McClure. He and his wife were highly respected people. They were prospered and spent their last years with every comfort. His death occurred April 11, 1909, while his wife passed away December 18, 1914. They were members of she United Brethren Church, and he was quite active in local affairs as a republican, serving as township trustee, and was late in life nominated for the office of county commissioner and his defeat is ascribed to the fact that he was then past seventy years of age. Jacob B. Shepard was the oldest in a family of eleven children, five sons and six daughters. Five of them are still living, all married and having children. Mr. Shepard was reared in Damascus Township, attended the local schools, and from an early age has been industriously carving out an independence by successful work as a farmer and as a mechanic. Before he married he paid $625 for forty acres of wild land in section 32 of his native township. The task of clearing up that land began with his marriage. He has made of it a fine home, and his wife also owns a considerable tract of land in the same section, and that is likewise well developed. Mr. Shepard has contributed much value to his farm by the erection of good buildings. His main barn is 36 by 51 feet, and there is a building for the housing of corn and other grains, besides several other substantial smaller buildings. His home is a good seven room house, with cellar under all. Mr. Shepard is his own architect and builder. His services have been in demand for the erection of a number of barns and houses throughout the township and county, and while he is a very skillful carpenter, he is even more successful as a thorough farmer. In his home township in 1894 he married Miss Candis Jones. She was born here November 5, 1861, and has spent practically all her life within the vicinity of her birthplace. Her parents were William and Catherine (Kinney) Jones. Her mother was the daughter of William and Jerusha' (Leech) Kinney, the former a native of Ireland who came to America as a youth and was married in New Jersey, afterward moving out to Seneca County, Ohio, where Mrs. William Jones was born. Later the 'Kinney family moved to Hancock County, Ohio, and still later to Harrison Township in Henry County, where Mrs. Kinney died. Her husband subsequently moved to Kansas and died there when quite old. William Jones and wife after their marriage lived in Harrison Township, but subsequently sold their place there and moved out to Kansas. Their experiences in that western state were not profitable, and they finally returned to Ohio, where Mr. Jones died in 1898. His widow is still living with her son Howard, and she was seventy-seven years of age -on March 22, 1917. She is an active member of the United Brethren Church, while her husband was a Methodist. Mr. and Mrs. Shepard have one daughter, Ada E., who was born in Damascus Township. She completed her education in the McClure High School in 1914, and has since lived at home with her parents and is one of the social leaders in the younger set of people in Damascus Township. CHARLES E. TANNER. The career of Charles E. Tanner of Napoleon constitutes a steadily progressive success since early boyhood. He began selling goods in his early teens, and is now a successful merchant, a, sterling citizen and a man who deserves the honorable position he occupies in the community. His place of business is located near the postoffice on Washington Street, in Napoleon. and is one of the oldest grocery stores in the city, Mr. Tanner having succeeded Frank . HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1767 C. Fisk, who had conducted the store for a period of fourteen years or more. Mr. Tanner carries his stock of merchandise in a building 22 by 80 feet, with basement, and he specializes in staple goods of high quality and has a fine trade. For many years Mr. Tanner was clerk and learned the business with Ernest Spangler. For five years he also conducted the 0. K. restaurant and then bought out Mr. Fisk. Charles E. Tanner was born in Henry County, Ohio, February 26, 1881, and has spent all his life in this section of Northwestern Ohio. His education came from the public schools, but his real training for life was gained by business experience. His parents are Thomas G. and Malinda (Bonnefield) Tanner, both of whom were born in Lincoln County, Ohio, where they grew up and married, and where some of their children were born. For a number of years they lived in Napoleon, where the father conducted the elevator for twenty-eight years, and then retired. His death occurred in 1913 at the age of seventy-six. His widow is still living at the age of seventy-seven, and still strong and bright for one of her years. Both parents were members of the Dunkard Church, and Thomas Tanner was a democrat and served for two years as marshal of Napoleon. In their family were ten children, seven sons and three daughters, and eight are still living, five of them married, and all living in Ohio except one. Charles E. Tanner, who was the youngest in age and the seventh son, was married in Napoleon to Miss Nellie Voke, who was born and reared in Henry County, daughter of Joseph Voke, who married a Miss Keen. .Both her parents were natives of Germany, came to America and settled in Henry County, Ohio, and her father died here fourteen years ago, while her mother is still living in Napoleon past sixty years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Voke were members of the Catholic Church, and he was a democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Tanner are also Catholics, and he is in politics a democrat, and is affiliated with Lodge No. 929 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the Knights of Columbus. THOMAS UPTON MCCLURE. Anyone who knows the farm in Damascus Township owned by Thomas Upton McClure need not be informed that he is one of the most progressive farmers of Henry County and a man who has lived a very full and useful life. He is not old yet, and in vigor of movement and appearance looks ten years younger than his age. Neither he nor his family brought wealth with them to Henry County, and his prosperity has been almost entirely a matter of his individual achievement. He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, August 22, 1864. His grandfather, Samuel McClure, Sr., was born in Pennsylvania, and married in the same state Elizabeth Sidel. They became early settlers in Plain. Township of Wayne County, and Samuel McClure cleared up a good farm there. He died at the age of seventy and his wife at , seventy-five. Both were members of the Christian Church, and he was a loyal democrat as long as he voted. There were six children. John married and is now deceased. Samuel S. is the father of Thomas U. Mary J. is the wife of Otto Kauffman and both are now deceased. Sarah married Jacob Kahl and died without children. Upton served as a soldier in the army from Wayne County and died as a result of illness, his body being returned home for burial. Lucy married Elijah Hague and lives in Iowa, the mother of three children. Samuel S. McClure, father of Thomas Upton, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, October 23, 1838. He lived for many years in Plain Township of his native county, and later came to Henry County and found employment working for others. He finally brought his family to Henry County, arriving with his wife and children in August, 1883. For two years he was a renter and lived on a place that was almost entirely surrounded by dense woods. In 1886 he and his son Thomas bought forty acres in section 35 of Damascus Township. That was the home of Samuel S. McClure the rest of- his life, and he died there highly respected October 9, 1908. His widow still makes that farm her place of residence and is now past seventy years of age. Her maiden name was Jane S. Alexander, and she was born December 3; 1841, and spent her early life in Wayne County, Ohio. Her parents, John and Mary (McKee) Alexander, were born and married in Pennsylvania and were early settlers in Wayne County, Ohio, where they died on their farm, he at the age of eighty and she at seventy-three. The Alexanders were active Presbyterians, and John Alexander was a democratic voter. In the Alexander family were the following children : Thomas, William, Mrs. Elizabeth McClure, Harvey, Sadie, Albert, Samuel, Ellen. All of them grew up and all married except two? and four are still living 1768 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO besides Mrs. McClure. Mrs. Samuel McClure is now seventy-three years of age and retains all 'her mental and physical faculties and is especially devoted to the Christian Union Church, where her husband also worshiped. The late Samuel McClure was a democrat and took an active part in local affairs, serving as township trustee. He and his wife had the following children : Eva married W. H. Tyler, a farmer in Wayne County, Ohio, and their children still living are Clair, Dwight and Jennie. The second in age is Thomas Upton. Calvin lives with his mother and is unmarried. William W., more familiarly known as Ted, is a farmer in Damascus Township, and by his marriage to Elizabeth Long of Grand Rapids, Ohio, has a son Don. Clara is the wife of Wilbur Roberts, a farmer in Fayette County, Michigan, and their children are Herschel, Denton, Maude, Bessie, Dolly and Burt. Lizzie is the wife of Edward Main, a farmer in Liberty Township of Wood County, and their children include Frances, Claud, Calvin and Eva. Sadie is the wife of Jay Pugh of Wood County and has children named Luther; Lake, Lindsey and Maxine. Maud, now deceased, married John 'Bortle, and she left three children named Delmer, Dailey and Nola. Thomas Upton McClure was nineteen years of age when he came with his father and the rest of the family to Henry County. His early life had been spent in Wayne County, and there, he received such advantages as were afforded by his life at home and the public schools. As already stated, he helped buy the first forty acres owned by his father in this county, and after selling his interest in that place he bought forty acres of his own in section 2 'of Richfield Township. There has been no cessation of his vigorous activity, no lapse in his progress, and when one important task has been fulfilled he is already engaged, in another. The forty acres which he first bought was entirely wild land. He put it' in a state of cultivation, and then bought forty acres adjoining. That too has long since yielded up its crops and fruits in -season, and he then extended his ownership to eighty acres in section 35 of Damascus Township. There again he repeated what he had accomplished on his first land. He owns another forty acres well improved in section 36 of Damascus Township, and his home place is 160 acres in section 36, known as the Taylor Dull Farm. This last place he has made his home since he. married. His wife was formerly Miss Della Heckman, daughter of Peter and Eliza (Shepherd) Hockman. Her parents were early settlers in Damascus Township, coming from Fairfield County, Ohio, and they are still living, her father nearly eighty and her mother past four score years of age. They are active members of the Christian Union Church, and Mr. Hackman has been a life-long democratic voter. The success which Mr. and Mrs. McClure have gained has been largely for the sake of 'their children. Their oldest is Eva, wife of Bert Fiser, and they live on one of Mr. McClure's farms in Damascus Township and are the parents of Ruby, Vondale and Clair. Guy, the oldest son, is already prospering as a farmer in Wood County, and by his marriage to Pearl Russell has two children, Russell and Marie. Gail is a farmer in Hancock County, Ohio, and has a son Donald by his wife, Alta Courtright. The three younger children are. Brice, Bernice, both in high school, and Vernon, still in the grade schools. The family are members of the Christian Union Church. In matters of politics Mr. McClure has departed somewhat from the traditions of his forefathers, and is a stanch republican. HENRY HERR. If there is one class of citizens that especially deserve the honor and esteem of this and all succeeding generations it is those sturdy men who have set themselves to the task of making land productive. Nearly all the State .of Ohio was at one time covered with dense forests or with impassable swamps, and only by the intervention of thousands of strong men and their labor, exerted over a period of nearly a century, have the thousands of fine farms become possible. Not all the men who did this important work are of a past generation. One of them who has cleared up and put into cultivation many acres in Henry County is Mr. Henry Herr, who now enjoys the fruits of his toil and labors at a fine country home in Richfield Township. It was thirty-five years ago that he began his task in this county, purchasing forty acres which he cleared up from the woods and brush. Subsequently he sold that forty acres and then bought eighty acres in section 28 of Richfield Township. He made that purchase twenty-nine years ago. In its original condition this land was hardly worth anything in productive crops. It was in the midst of the woods, and much of it under water. His energy effected a magic trans- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1769 formation, and it is now one of the best farms in the county. While living there Mr. Herr put up some substantial buildings, and made the place his hOme for twenty years. He then sold out to advantage and bought his present place of 160 acres, all in one body, in section 18 of Richfield Township. Mr. Herr is the kind of a farmer who does not allow a single foot of his land to go to waste. It .is all under cultivation, he has some fine stock, and he raises crops that equal in quality and quantity the best output of Henry County farms. Mr. Herr has lived in his present home for the past six years. He has some good farm buildings, has his land all well drained, and well fenced. Besides the staple crops, he has been unusually successful in the growing of sugar beets. Same of his land has produced as much as twenty-one tons to the acre. Henry Herr was born in Erie County, Ohio, March 16, 1856. His has been a life of varied experience, mingled with thrift and hard work and a constantly .growing prosperity. When he was a small child his parents went to Sandusky County, and lived for six years near Clyde. Even at that early age Henry Herr made himself useful. Throughout the winter seasons for several years he drove a team and wagon to Sandusky, Ohio, sixteen miles away, the wagon being loaded with spokes. In January, 1867, the Herr family came to Henry County. They made the removal with teams. There was only one highway at the time by which it was possible to reach Monroe Township. Henry Herr was then eleven years of age. He grew up in the wooded district of Monroe Township and became very familiar with the country along West Creek in its condition of forty or fifty years ago. When he was twelve years of age, and one day while out looking for the cows, he became lost and spent the entire night alone in the woods. The more he wandered about the more completely he became lost and he finally waited until sunrise, when he was able to follow one general direction, finally arriving at a creek and recognizing his whereabouts, and after a walk of four miles he reached home. After reaching his majority Mr. Herr went to Paulding County, and spent six years doing some very heavy work, getting out ship timbers from the woods. At the same time he bought and improved a portion of a 160- acre tract near Paulding Center. On the death of his father he sold his Paulding County holdings and returned to Henry County, where he has now lived continuously for thirty-five years. He is a son of Joseph and Benedicta (Fetherley) Herr. They were both born in Germany not far. from the River Rhine. They grew up there, and when Joseph was twenty-eight and Benedicta seventeen they crossed the ocean on the same ship, a sailing vessel, which was twenty-two weeks in making the voyage from Hamburg to New York. That was about 1848. A storm nearly wrecked the vessel and the passengers suffered a great deal from lack of wholesome food. Joseph Herr spent one year in New York City, and then went to Syracuse, New York, where he was connected with the salt works for four years. He then removed to Erie County, Ohio, and from there came to Henry County. Here he bought four tracts of eighty acres each in the wild woods, and he lived. there until his death in January, 1871, when nearly fifty-six years of age. His widow and sons subsequently lost the property, and she died twenty-eight years after her husband in the month of June. Both were members of the Catholic Church and he was a democrat in politics. Of their seven sons and one daughter that grew to maturity, all are now living and married except one. Mr. Henry Herr was married in Monroe Township of Henry County to Miss Hannah Watson. She was born near the Village of Malinta March 28, 1866, and lived there until her marriage. Her parents were Joshua and Elizabeth (Hill) Watson. Her father was born in Virginia and her mother in Ohio and they were married in Napoleon and settled in Monroe Township. Her father died near Malinta at the age of seventy and her mother when about seventy-six. Mr. Watson was a Methodist, while his wife belonged to the Christian or Disciples Church. A constant incentive to the sturdy efforts of Mr. Henry Herr has been the fine family of children who have grown up or are growing up in his household. To him and his wife were born eleven children, but two of them died in childhood. Herman, the oldest of the living, is assisting his father in the management of the farm ; Harlan, a farmer, married Genevieve Whitehead, daughter of George Whitehead, and they had twin boys, one of whom is still living. Nellie is the wife of Edward Ward, a farmer in Richfield Township. Ross, after finishing the common school course, attended Ohio University at Athens, and also a school at Bowling. Green, 1770 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Ohio, and has been very successful as a teacher in Henry County. Henry Jr., who pursued exactly the same course of instruction as his brother Ross and in the same schools, has also qualified as a successful teacher. Julia is a student in high school, Joshua is also in high school, while Francis and Benedicta are both in the grade schools. The family are members of the United Brethren Church, while Mr. Henry Herr and his older sons affiliate with the democratic party. JOHN SP ANGLER. This is a name that has stood for many years representative of the best enterprise and all the virtues of thrift and industry in Henry County. The Spanglers came out of Germany in the early days and settled in Henry County when the entire country was new and undeveloped. They have done their share toward the clearing away of the forests and the making of homes where only wild Indians and wild game had lived for centuries. The birthplace of Mr. John Spangler was the Village of New Bavaria, in Pleasant Township of Henry County. He was born May 28, 1861, and he grew up in that community. His father, Frederick G. Spangler, was a shoemaker by trade, but subsequently became an active farmer. However, his chief business .was trading farms. He would buy and keep a farm for a time, till opportunity came to sell it at advantage, and his success in this business made him quite wealthy many years before he died. His death occurred August 9, 1897, and he died on the farm now owned and occupied by his son, John Spangler, in section 30 of Marion Township. This old Spangler farm is situated along the Ridge road, which was developed from an old Indian trail, and has been the scene of many historic events and circumstances in this section of Ohio. The Spangler home is about four miles east of New Bavaria. The late Frederick Spangler was born in Bavaria, Germany, July 19, 1828. His father died in the old country. The widowed mother and her son Frederick who in the German language spelled his name Gotfritz, when the latter was a young man, set out from Bremen during the early '40s and after many weeks voyage arrived in New York City. From there they came west to Ohio, and the widow Spangler married a Mr. Redabaugh. After that she spent her life near Edgerton in Williams County, Ohio, where she died when quite old. She left a son and daughter by her second marriage. The family in all its branches were Catholics. Frederick Spangler was married in Defiance County to Miss Anna Mess, member of the well known Mess family elsewhere referred to in this publication. She was born in the Duchy of Luxemburg December 11, 1830, and was quite young when her parents came to America and located in this section of Ohio. She grew up there, and after her marriage proved a most devoted wife and mother. She died at the old Spangler home in Marion Township July 1, 1907. She and her husband are buried in the Sacred Heart Cemetery. John Spangler was one of twelve children who grew to manhood and womanhood. Their names were George, Fred, Mary, Susan, Peter, John, Frank, Henry, David, Helena, Sophia and Gustave. Eight are still living, all married and in homes of their own. George, Peter -and Mary died after they married, while Fred died a bachelor twenty-nine years of age. Henry County has been the home of John Spangler practically all his life. Besides the training he acquired in the country schools he learned the trade of carpenter, and has combined the vocations of carpenter and farmer. For nine years he spent most of his time as a practical house carpenter, but since then has devoted his time and attention largely to. farming. For eighteen seasons he also operated a threshing machine outfit, and in that work he gained a large acquaintance with the farmers throughout this section of the state. His first farm was eighty acres in section 29 of Marion Township. It was good land and well improved with buildings. In 1912 he sold that place and then bought the old homestead which his father had so well improved and which is capable of growing every crop suitable to Northwest Ohio. The farm contains very good buildings, including a nine-room house, which was erected by his father thirty-one years ago. The house was well built and though it has stood thirty-one years is still better kept and more substantial than many buildings erected at a later date. As proof of this, the original roof put on the building has stood the test of service for over thirty years and is still weatherproof and in good repair. On February 17, 1886, Mr. Spangler was married in Marion Township to Miss Margaret Schwab. She was born in the same township February 21, 1867. and has spent practically all her life here. Her parents were HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1771 Mathias and Emma (Schnyder) Schwab, both natives of Prussia. They came to the United States and to Ohio with their respective parents, who located in Marion Township of Henry County. These families arrived some years before the Civil war, and the grandparents on both sides died in Henry County, and all four of them were about eighty years of age when death overtook them. These families were also active workers in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and the men of the households were democratic voters. Mathias Schwab after his marriage lived on a farm in Pleasant Township and also in Marion Township, where the last thirty years of his life were spent. He was born January 27, 1831, and died April 10, 1906. His widow was born May 12, 1842, and is still living on the old farm and is bright and active for a woman of her years. Mr. Schwab was buried in the Sacred Heart Church Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. John Spangler have four children. Peter B. born December 1, 1887, has had the advantages of the local schools and is doing his part as a practical farmer at home. Philip William, also at home, was born January 13, 1890. Mathias F., born September 12, 1892, is also on the home farm. Frances C. was born June 13, 1895, and has finished the course of the common schools and is still with her parents. The family are all active members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Mr. Spangler casts his vote as a democrat. WILLIAM F. TOBIAS is a successful Henry Country farmer, who served his apprenticeship at this industry on some of the large stock farms of Illinois. Mr. Tobias came to Henry County in 1907, buying eighty acres in section 18 of Richfield Township. The result of his experience and his individual ability have borne a rich fruitage in the past ten years. Practically every foot of his land is under cultivation or put to some use. It is well drained, and he has carried on a good deal of ditching and other improvements. He is the type of farmer who allows no slackness to show any where around the farm. The fences are strong and well kept, his buildings in good repair, and all of substantial construction and well arranged for the work of the farm. His mitt barn in 36 by 60 feet, and he has other sheds, and his home is a ten-room house with a basement. Mr. Tobias grows as good crops as any land in Henry County produces, and his success has been well earned, likewise the. esteem in which he is held by the entire community. Though he spent a number of years in Illinois, Mr. Tobias comes of an old Ohio family of Welsh antecedents. His grandfather, John T. Tobias, was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, about 100 years ago, his parents having come from Wales. He was married in Hamilton County to Mrs. Maria Jones, whose maiden name was also Jones, and whose first husband was John Jones. They were born and married in Wales, and came to the United States when sailing vessels were in vogue. They located in Southern Ohio, where Mr. John Jones died, leaving one daughter, who grew up and married but is now deceased. After John T. Tobias was married in Hamilton County, he moved to Scott County, Indiana, and began farming in the wilds there, when his home was surrounded by dense timber, and all kinds of game furnished meat for the table. He cleared up a farm and lived there until his death, at the age of sixty years. His wife survived him until she was about seventy, and they both died on the farm which was the result of their joint .labors. They were Baptists, and Mrs. John Tobias was a very warm-hearted and generous woman, exceedingly devoted to her church and her family. Of her seven children by her second marriage six were daughters. Two of these daughters, Emily and Margaret, now widows, live at Deputy in Jefferson County, Indiana. John J. Tobias, father of William F., was born about 1830, grew up on the old Scott County, Indiana, farm, and was married in that same community to Miss Hannah H. Whitsitt. She was born in Indiana about 1840, a daughter of Joseph and Mrs. (Foster) Whitsitt. Her parents were natives of Ireland and were among the pioneers of Scott County, Indiana, where they lived for many years. Mr. Whitsitt had a family of fifteen children by his first wife. He afterward married Elzina Robinson, but there were no children by that union. They were members of the Methodist Church, and Mr. Whitsitt died when about seventy years of age, and his second wife lived about as long. The Whitsitts were prominent people, and a number of them are still found in the states of Indiana and Kansas. John J. Tobias after his marriage took up his career as a farmer in Scott County, Indiana. His first wife died there, and he was a second and third time married, but had no children by the last two wives. 1772 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO William F. Tobias was born in Scott County, Indiana, August 26, 1867, and was seven years of age when his mother died. After that he lived among strangers and with relatives, had to work hard and had few advantages of education. He married a young lady also from Scott County, Miss Alice Griffith. She was born in Scott County, in 1870, and was reared and educated there. Her father, Lloyd Griffith, was born in Scott County, a son of Ivan and Mary (Taman) Griffith. They were both natives of the United States, possibly of Indiana, but of Welsh ancestry. Ivan Griffith was a pioneer farmer in Scott County, where he and his wife died. They were members of the Baptist Church. Lloyd Griffith was married in Scott County to Sarah Bovard, who was a daughter of James and Sarah (Young) Bovard. James Bovard was a first cousin to the late President William McKinley. James and Sarah Bovard reared about a dozen children, but Mrs. Sarah Griffith was the only daughter. Eight of her brothers became Methodist ministers. One of them, Marion McKinley Bovard, was for some years president of the University of Southern 'California, and died there, being followed in the office by his son, George F. One other brother, Melville Y. Bovard, was a missionary to India. The others were well known local preachers and educators. The Bovards are rather a remarkable family. Lloyd Griffith was a blacksmith and carpenter. Very skilled as a mechanic, he was often employed on the delicate and important parts of finishing up a job of carpentering: His death occurred in Abington, Knox County, Illinois, about twelve years ago, when sixty years of. age. His widow died two years later, at Moline, Illinois, but her remains were laid to rest beside him in the Abington Cemetery. Both were members of the Methodist Church. After his marriage in 1893 Mr. WilliaM F. Tobias took his wife to Knox County, Illinois, and there spent eleven years in the employ of Mr. Alfred Ridden, a prominent Short-Horn cattle breeder and raiser. Following his long Services with Mr. Ridden he was for two years engaged in operating 200 acres of the Ridden estate, and then rented a farm of 280 acres from Captain Reynolds, and managed it three years. While in Illinois he showed a great capacity for looking after stock farms, and while there he and his wife by close economy accumulated the capital which enabled them about ten years ago to come to Henry County and secure their present fine place. Mr. and Mrs. Tobias became the parents of eleven children, one of whom died in infancy. Ernest T., a farmer, married Laura Haynes, and has two sons, Evert and J. Wesley. Elsie, a graduate of the high school, is now employed as a stenographer in Indiana. Lane, who lives at home, runs a threshing outfit with his next younger brother, Morton. Morton married Olive Dunkle and has a daughter Florence. Lloyd, a mechanic living at Toledo, is a widower with one son, Harold. Catharine, after finishing her high school course, became a teacher and is now the wife of Ovid Winner, and has a daughter Marcile. The four younger children, still at home, and the two youngest, yet in school, are Dorothy, George, Lewis and Alice. All the family are members of the Methodist Church, while Mr. Tobias and his grown up sons give their political allegiance to the republican party. LUTHER' S. PUGH. More than forty years have passed since the late Luther S. Pugh came to Henry County and began the work of a home maker and business man, as a result of which he left at the time of his death in 1910 not only a large estate but a memory and esteem for his upright character, and his kind deeds and words. His father, John Pugh, was a native of England, and with his brother William came to the United States. William remained in New York State, where he followed his trade as a cooper and where he died. John Pugh came on west to Ohio, locating in Paulding County. He married his first wife there, and afterward removed to Beaver Creek in Wood County. There he established a home on a farm, and there his first wife died, leaving three children, William, Sarah and Mary. For his second wife John Pugh was married in Beaver Creek Township of Wood .Ccunty to Clarissa Junkins. They spent the rest of their lives near Beaver Creek. John Pugh was born February 11, 1810, and died when eighty-six years of age: His widow was born January 3, 1820, and lived to be nearly as old as he. She was a devout member of the Methodist Church, though in the early days in Wood County a church of that denomination was not near at hand and she often worshipped in other churches. John Pugh after 'becoming an American citizen allied himself with the republican party. By his second wife John Pugh was the father of the following children : HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1773 Luther S.; Ann M., who has been twice married and is living with her second husband in Fostoria, Ohio ; Lucretia J., now Mrs. Martin, of Weston, Wood County, Ohio; Mrs. Chester L. Powers, of Weston; and John, who died unmarried. Luther S. Pugh was born near Beaver Creek in Wood County, Ohio, February 3, 1848. His early life was spent as a farmer, and his education was such as the common schools could impart. About a year before his marriage he came in 1874 to Henry County. He bought land in section 6 of Richfield Township, and there not long 'afterward he and his wife began the task of making a home. Mr. Pugh also developed a large stone quarry, and much of his success was derived from his business as a quarryman. For a number of years he carried on an extensive trade in dimension stone. He also invested his surplus capital and at one time owned over 400 acres. Among the improvements which he left to attest his progressiveness and enterprise were a fine barn 40 by 70 feet and a large eleven-room house which was erected in 1898 and is one of the most attractive homes in that section of the county. As already indicated Mr. Pugh was known and esteemed not less for his character and personal virtues than for his business ability. His generosity was proverbial, and he was always giving of his time and resources to the church and to the helping of the poor and unfortunate. When he died in 1910 his community felt the sense of a great loss, and his memory is still kept green. While he was a republican voter, he was never in politics. At the home of the bride in Wood County, Ohio. in April, 1875, he married Miss Harriet Martin. Mrs. Pugh was born on the farm where she was married April 22, 1844. She was reared and educated there and also in Grand Rapids, Ohio. Mrs. Pugh has lived a good many years, but shows few of the marks of age. She is distinguished by strong intelligence and an active interest in everything that goes on about her, and especially she has a great fund of information concerning early days in Northwest Ohio, and talks most entertainingly of many incidents that have occurred within her own time. Her parents were James T. and Matilda (Smith) Martin, both natives of Ohio and married in Fairfield County. In 1831 her parents removed to Wood County, and her father entered eighty acres of Government land on Beaver Creek. He was one of the pioneers there. The year 1.880 brought an unusual fatality to the members of the Martin family. Mrs. Pugh's sister Jane was taken away by death, and a few hours later her mother died, at the age of sixty, and the following day the summons came to the father. Mr. Martin was a cabinet maker by trade, which he followed in Fairfield County, and his father, William Martin, also followed that line of occupation. During his long residence in Wood County James T. Martin not only prospered as an individual but was a valuable man to his community. Though a democrat, he was pronounced in favor of the Union cause during the war. Mrs. Pugh, who still occupies the old homestead in Richfield Township, is surrounded by her children, several of whom remain with her and carry the burdens of farming and business management. Her oldest child is R. M. Pugh, who is unmarried and lives at home with his mother. John J., who is successfully operating a part of the old homestead, married Sarah McClure, and has four children, Linsey R., Lake, Luther S. and Maxine. Otis W., who owns and occupies eighty acres near the old farm, married Anna Dull, and has children named Chester, Ermine, James and Sarah. Elfa S. is the wife of Albert Brightman, of Columbus, Ohio. One child of Mrs. Pugh, David R., died when seven months of age. Mrs. Pugh is an active member of the Presbyterian Church. AMOS DILSAVER has his home at the Village of Westhope in Richfield Township of Henry County, a village with which the Dilsaver family has had much to do in the founding as well as the subsequent growth. This is one of the early families of Henry County. Its members came to Ohio as home seekers, were industrious, upright, Christian people and have done much to promote those civilizing agencies such as churches, schools and other institutions. Though most of his life has been spent in Henry County, Amos Dilsaver was born in Delaware County, Ohio, September 30, 1858. His birth occurred on a farm along the west bank of the Scioto River. His parents were Michael and Mary (Arrowhood) Dilsaver. His father was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia May 10, 1825, and died at Westhope in Henry County February 14, 1903. When he was a small boy his parents, who were of old Virginia stock, moved out to Fairfield County, Ohio, where the grandfather died when about sixty years of age. 1774 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO The grandmother subsequently removed to Delaware County and died there when about eighty years of age. Both were religious people and the grandfather was a strict democrat. By occupation he was a tanner and farmer. Michael Dilsaver grew up in Delaware County and was one of a large family, all of whom are now deceased. His brothers and sisters were Jacob, John, George, Simon, Elizabeth and one other daughter. All these children grew up and married. On September 30, 1849, Michael Dilsaver was married in Delaware County to Miss Mary Arrowhood. She was of Irish parentage and was born in Pennsylvania May 17, 1827. Her parents came early to Delaware County, Ohio, and spent the rest of their lives there. They were members of the Dunkard Church and were farmers. In 1859 Michael Dilsaver brought his wife and family of four children to Richfield Township of Henry County. He made the journey with wagons and teams and had to cut a road through the woods to reach his location in section 15. The preceding year he had come to Henry County and located the land, and had remained long enough to put up a log house, which was the first habitation of the Dilsavers in this county. This log cabin stood at one corner of the present village of Westhope. The village had its start when David Flowers built the first store about forty years ago. For some years Michael Dilsaver and his family lived strictly in the woods. It was a wild country for miles around, and the woods were filled with game. Michael shot many deer, and he would sometimes have as many as six carcasses of deer hanging on a pole at once to dry. Dried venison was almost constantly on the table, and for some years was the chief meat eaten by the family. Michael Dilsaver in coming to Richfield Township had selected eighty acres on the highest spot in that district and at about the center of what was known as the Great Black Swamp. With the aid of his wife and children he cleared the land and in time had a substantial frame house and a good barn. He lived there cultivating his crops and enjoying the esteem of his community until his death. His first wife and the mother of his children died May 17, 1869, when in middle age. He married for his second wife Mrs. Abbie (Klunk) McLaughlin. She had no children by the second marriage, though she had several by her first husband. She died in August, 1912. The children of Michael Dilsaver and his first wife were : William, born in 1850; Drusilla, born in 1851; Hannah, born in 1853; Eliza J., born in 1855 ; and Amos, born in 1858, all these being natives of Delaware County. After the parents came to Henry County three other children were born : Margaret L., born in 1861; Albina L., born in 1862 ; and Adaline R., born in 1865. Of this family the only ones now living are Amos and his sister Albina, wife of Clarence Weeks of Damascus Township, Henry County. The oldest child, William, subsequently located in Kansas, cleared up a farm and died there, leaving a wife and one daughter, Estella, who is now married and has two sons. Some of the other children married but had no children. Amos Dilsaver grew up and received his education in the township schools of Henry County. After his father died he acquired the interest of the other heirs to the homestead and became its sole proprietor. His father had sold some of the land for lots in the Village of Westhope, but Amos still retains the rest and has it all except ten acres in a fine state of improvement, well drained, fenced and with buildings thoroughly adapted to his business as a farmer. His land is capable of growing every crop from corn to sugar beets. Mr. Dilsaver was married in Monroe Township of Henry County December 21, 1879, to Alvert R. Hill. She was born in Monroe Township January 17, 1859. Her grandfather was Michael Hill and her father Jacob Hill, the former a native of England and the latter of New York State. Jacob Hill came with his parents to Richland County, Ohio, in the early days, and later Michael and his family moved to Monroe Township of Henry County, buying land on Turkey Foot Creek, where he and his wife lived to old age. Jacob Hill grew up in Monroe Township and was married in Henry County to Mary Gunter of Richland County. Jacob Hill died in the prime of life, leaving his wife and two children, Mrs. Dilsaver and another daughter who died young. Mrs. Hill subsequently married George Boocher, who became a soldier in the Civil war and died while on his way home. There was one daughter by that union. The widow Boocher married for her third husband Frederick Sprow, had two children by