HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 775 1881, and was reared and educated there. Her parents, George and Julia (Plassman) Haase, were born in Germany and came with their respective parents to this country. The grandparents on both sides died in Henry County. George Haase and wife were married here; but later separated, and Mrs. Hahn's mother is still living in Napoleon. Mrs. Hahn was next to the youngest in a family of seven children, the others being Henrietta; Amelia, Julia, Henry, George, Jr., and William. All of them are married and all have children and all live in Henry County. Mr. and Mrs. Hahn are the parents of two children : Margaret, born May 4, 1910; and Hermenia, born February 26, 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Hahn are members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, of which he is one of the officials, and politically he is a democrat. MARTIN D. SCHWEINHAGEN. The Schweinhagen family was established in Henry County nearly seventy years ago, and since that time its members have contributed in many ways to the development of the farm lands and the civic welfare of that community. One of those who carry on a successful industry as a farmer is Martin D. Schwemhagen, whose home is in section 32 of- Ridgeville Township. He was born in Adams Township of Defiance County October 28, 1872. His parents were Henry and Wilhelmina (Stockman) Schweinhagen, both of whom were natives of Prussia, Germany. Henry Schweinhagen was born May 30, 1839, and when a child came with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Schweinhagen, Sr., to America. They were eight weeks in crossing the ocean on an old fashioned sailing vessel, and from New York they came on to the wilds of Adams Township of Defiance County. Here Henry Schweinhagen's grandfather spent many years in clearing up and developing a good farm. and he lived there until his death when about seventy years of age, his wife being ninety when she died. All the members of the family have been loyal to the Lutheran Wilhelmina Stockman was about ten years younger than her husband and her parents also came to America and helped to clear up a farm in this section of Ohio. The religious meeting point of these various families was the old St. Paul's Lutheran Church. After spending their early lives in Ohio, Henry Schweinhagen and Wilhelmina Stockman were married, and they began housekeeping on the old Stockman farm. Wilhelmina being the only child had inherited that place. They continued to live there and besides making many improvements on the original place of eighty acres and putting up substantial houses and barns, Henry Schweinhagen acquired 210 additional acres, partly in that township and partly in Ridgeville Township. It is the portion of the old homestead in Ridgeville Township now occupied by Martin D. Schweinhagen. The latter has owned and cultivated it for the past nine years. It is excellently improved with a nine room house, a barn 38 by 70 feet, and plenty of outbuildings and sheds. Mrs. Wilhelmina Schweinhagen died on the old Adams Township .farm March 31, 1915, when in her sixty-fifth year. Henry Schweinhagen is still living, hale and hearty, and after a well spent career is living in comfort on his farm. He has become widely known throughout that section of Ohio not only as a successful farmer but as a good citizen. As a democrat he has served as township trustee and in other local offices. Martin D. Schweinhagen was the fourth in a family of four sons, all of whom are living and all married. Henry, the third successive Henry of as many generations, is living on the old homestead in Defiance County. He married Emma Bruns and has five children, Marie, Raymond, Albert, Harland and Adela. William is a farmer on part of his father's place. He married Anna Sadler and has two children, Arnold and Nettie. Charles is also occupying one of his father's farms in Adams Township. He married Louisa Lindhorst and has one son, Erwin. Herman is a graduate of the dental department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and is now in successful practice at Napoleon. ,He married Cora Frank, but has no children. Martin D. Schweinhagen grew up and received his education on the home farm, and was trained in both the German and English languages. In 1907 he married in Ridgeville Township Miss Lucinda Wesche. Mrs. Schweinhagen was born July 31, 1879, in Ridgeville Township, 'and was reared and educated there. Her parents were Daniel and Fredericka (Martin) Wesche. Her father was born in Brunswick and her mother in Prussia, Germany, and they were married after they came to America. They then settled on a farm in Ridgeville Township, and Mrs. Schweinhagen's mother, who was born 776 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO in 1830, died February 4, 1895. Her father is still living and on May 20, 1916, celebrated his seventy-seventh birthday. He is now retired from active business and occupies the old homestead. Mrs. Schweinhagen's grandparents, Andrew and Lucy (Brandis). Wesche, spent their lives in the old country, where Andrew died at the age of sixty-eight and his wife at eighty-nine. Her maternal grandfather; Christian Martin, was twice married and had children by both wives. Mr. and Mrs. Schweinhagen have one son, Paul, born March 13, 1909, and now attending the local schools. The family are active members of St. John's Lutheran Church. WILLIAM REED RUMMELL. For over a half century the name Rummell has been associated in Findlay business circles with the furniture business both manufacturing and retail. William R. Rummell is now sole proprietor of the business which was originally founded by his father, and the business house at 116-118 East Sandusky Street is one of the principal landmarks in the City of Findlay. William R. Rummell is a grandson of Jacob and Catherine (Arter) Rummell. Jacob Rummell was a contractor at New Lisbon, Ohio, and he and his wife had two sons and two daughters. David Rummell, the father, spent his early life at New Lisbon, Ohio, and in 1848 came to Hancock County. Here he established a furniture business with Henry Lee as partner. Their first place Of business was near the courthouse. David Rummell was a skilled chair maker. He made chairs in the winter season and in other parts of the year he followed his trade as a bricklayer. He finally bought his partner Lee and continued the shop for the manufacture of chairs for many years. In 1852 David Rummell married Mary Reed, daughter of William Reed of North Benton, Columbiana County. They became the parents of six children, and the four now living are : Ellen M. Rummell of Findlay; Jessie Benton, wife of Isaac Foucht ; William R. and George B. William R. Rummell was born in Findlay. in 1860 and attended the public schools during his early youth. At the age of fifteen he began working for his father in the furniture shop, and subsequently was taken in as a partner. The store at that time was at 129131 East Crawford Street. His father made chairs, did upholstery work and manufactured mattresses and they also sold a general line of furniture. In 1882 David Rummell built a substantial three story brick block at 116-118 East Sandusky Street, and that has now been the home of the business for thirty-five years. David Rummell after a long and prosperous career passed away in 1896, and his son William R. has since become sole owner. His trade extends all over Hancock County and for years his store has been the principal headquarters for furniture, stoves and other household equipment. W. R. Rummell was married in 1882 to Miss Nancy Bowman, daughter of William. and Lydia Bowman of Allegan County, Michigan. Mrs. Rummell's parents were farmers. Mr. Rummell has three children: Carl Reed, born August 23, 1883 ; Maude Bowman, who is now teacher of domestic science in Findlay College; and Mary Catherine, teacher and principal of the :business department of the high school at Batesville, Indiana. The mother of these children died March 8, 1908. On June 24, 1912, Mr. Rummell married Miss Letty Legner, daughter of Robert Legner also of Allegan, Michigan. Mr. Rummell is a stockholder in the. Glessner Medicine Company and formerly had interests in other local concerns, but is now concentrating his chief attention on his furniture business. He is a republican in politics, an active member of the Commerce Club and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. His only brother, George Berger Rummell, is one of Findlay's progressive business men and is proprietor of the Rummell Auto Sales and Service Company at 119-121 East Sandusky Street. He established that business in 1915 and now has it in a flourishing condition. He married Ettie Struve, and they have two children, Earl David and Harry B. Earl David Rummell is junior partner of the Rummell Auto Sales and Service Company. He married Miss Ada Williams. The second son, Harry B. Rummell, married Miss Laverne Franks. FRED WACHTMANN. A life of quiet and useful industry has been that of Fred Wachtmann of. Henry County. Farming has been his occupation, and by the application of HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 777 hard common sense and persistent hard work he has gained a competence. All his life has been spent in Henry County. He was born in Napoleon. Township February 22, 1865. With an education from the common schools he applied his early years to training himself as a farmer, and for the past twelve Years has occupied his present home of 791/2 acres in section 4 of Napoleon Township. During his lifetime he has witnessed many changes in Henry County. The land has been cleared, the swamps have been drained, beautiful fields have replaced the wilderness, and he himself has borne an effective part in 'those changes. Mr. Wachtmann 's farm is accounted one of the best in Napoleon Township. One of its improvements is a splendid barn 70 by 40 feet, surrounded with other equally good structures for the housing of his grain and stock. His home is a ten room residence. Mr. Wachtmann represents the sterling Hanover German people of Henry County. His parents were John and Mary (Sash) Wachtmann. They were of old Lutheran stock and came to this country when young. John Wachtmann made the journey by sailing vessel from Bremen to New York in ten weeks, and when his wife came she was eleven weeks on the ocean. They came on to Henry County and in the latter part of the '50s were married. They then located on a forty acre 'farm in Napoleon Township, for which they paid $40.00 an acre. Their first home was a log cabin, and yokes of oxen were employed in the heavy task of clearing up the land. Their home was on section 6, and after many years of productive labor they had a fine farm. They lived there in comfort during their later years, and John Wachtmann died in 1901 at the age of eighty-three. His widow passed away in 1904, she being about twelve years younger than her husband. They were among the thrifty and substantial German pioneers of Henry County, and were early members of the Lutheran Church. They are buried side by side in the cemetery which is part of the farm of their son, Fred Wachtmann. There were five children : William, who formerly owned the farm now owned by his brother, Fred, and died there, leaving a widow and children; Fred, who is the second in age : John Jr., who is a farmer in Adams Township of Defiance County and has children by his marriage to Anna Ashemeyer ; Dietrich, who lives on the old homestead and married Anna Miller of Defiance County ; Clara, who died leaving a daughter by her marriage to Frank Rearick of Napoleon Township. In Henry County Fred Wachtmann married Anna Badenhop, who was born in Germany in 1868 and when thirteen or fourteen years of age came from Hanover to the United States, her parents, Henry and Mary Badenhop, locating in Freedom Township. Her father died in January, 1916, at the age of eighty-four years and three months, and her mother passed away seven years prior to that date. They were German Lutherans and are buried in St. John's churchyard in this county. Mrs. Wachtmann first married William Wachtmann, a brother of Fred. By that marriage there were seven children, and those still living are Helen, Anna, Vernon, Amelia, Mary, and Carl, all of whom are married except Carl. Mr. and Mrs. Wachtmann have two children of their own: Bernhart and. Caroline, both of whom are in the public schools. Fred Wachtmann married for his first wife Dora Rosebrook, who died in the prime of life, leaving two children; Clara, wife of Henry Plassman, and they live in Napoleon Township on a farm and have an infant son : and Alvin, who is still unmarried and on the farm with his parents. Mr. Wachtmann and all the members of his family belong to St. Paul's Lutheran Church, and he is a democrat. ALFRED M. LEE, whose fine country home is situated in section 18 of 'Freedom Township, Henry County, comes of some of the pioneer stock of this county. On the whole the family have been devoted chiefly to agriculture, and in the different generations they have lived upright and useful lives, have provided well for themselves and for their descendants, and the family record is one of unbroken thrift and good citizenship. It was in Ridgeville Township of Henry County that Alfred M. Lee was born February 18, 1848. His ancestors were substantial Englishmen and through several generations were tillers of the soil in Lincolnshire. His grandparents on both sides spent their lives in England. Mr. Lee is a son of Benjamin and Mary Ann (Johnson) Lee. Both were natives of Lincolnshire, the former born November 27, 1809, and the latter in May, 1810. The father died at Toledo, Ohio, February 7, 1888, and his widow subsequently returned to the home of her son, Alfred, and 778 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO died there October 23, 1892. Benjamin Lee was one of a family of four sons and several daughters. Benjamin and his wife were married in England. While living there three children were born, Eliza Ann, Emma and William. In 1837 the family set out for America. The sailing vessel on which they embarked encountered rough seas and was sixteen, weeks in making the voyage from Liverpool to New York City. After landing they chose what was then perhaps the most direct and available means of reaching Ohio. Proceeding up the Hudson River, then embarking on a canal boat on the Erie Canal, from Buffalo they made their way over the lakes to Toledo and thence took the canal route to Maumee. From Maumee wagons and teams brought them to Bean Creek in Fulton County. Their destination was Johnson's Mills. These mills had been built and owned by Mrs. Benjamin Lee's brothers, William and George, who had come to America some years previously. They were pioneer millers in Fulton County, and spent their lives there. George Johnson was the father of Hon. Solomon Johnson, a former state senator of Ohio and well known as an editor and lecturer. For several years after arriving in America, Benjamin Lee was employed by the Johnson brothers at the mills above mentioned. He then removed to Ridgeville Township, in Henry County, where he entered forty acres of land and built a log cabin as the first home of his family. This was about 1845 or 1846. The country was still new and had received little improvement from civilized white men. There were practically no roads, and the settlers' cabins were few and far between; Benjamin Lee was a man of great industry and after clearing up his own land he did much other clearing in exchange for land, and eventually had considerable property and a substantial home. In that Henry County home most of the children were reared, and three were born there. The three children born before the parents left England are all now deceased. Two daughters died in young womanhood and the son, William, left a family of two sons and two daughters. The children born in Ohio were Priscilla., who married Comfort' Vanness, and when they died they were survived by two sons and one daughter; Mary A. died after her marriage to Henry Kneal and had six children; Frank lives in Elyria, Lorain County, has been twice a widower and has several children ; George is a widower living with a son in Waterville, Ohio; the next in order of birth is Alfred M.; Sophia died, after her marriage to Patrick Killing, who is also deceased, and they had three sons; Lizzie married Richard Smith, a retired farmer at Waldron, Michigan, and they have three sons. It was in a strictly pioneer community that Alfred M. Lee spent his boyhood. As soon as sufficient' strength came into his arms he took his place on the home farm and did considerable of the clearing up and improvement. Meantime he also attended public school. The school he attended was the well known "Quail Trap" school in District No. 1. This was a log building and received. its name because it had sheltered many flacks of quail in addition to providing quarters for the instruction of the boys and girls of that neighborhood. Some of Mr. Lee's early experiences included the breaking of oxen to the work of the fields, and he also, became familiar with the operations of the crude implements of farm husbandry fifty or sixty years ago. After his father left the farm and retired to Toledo he and his young wife lived on the old homestead several years. With his father's death he took his widowed mother into his home and cared for her until her death. In the meantime he bought about 127 acres in section 18 of Freedom Township. There he and his wife later located, and made a fine farm of it. Its original improvements consisted of a few acres cleared and a log cabin. Eventually they put a substantial ten room house on it and a barn 34 by 72 feet with all other implements and equipment for the necessary farming operations. Mr. Lee also bought another good farm in section 18, and it is on this second farm that he now lives. He and his wife have a comparatively new nine room house, with a large barn 34 by 50 feet, granary, and other equipment. He formerly owned forty acres in section 19, with good buildings, and that was recently purchased by his son, Truman Lee. His son; Stanley A. Lee, owns 100 acres in Ridgeville Township of section 13, and this is likewise improved with good buildings. Mr. Lee himself owns forty acres in section 13 of Ridgeville Township. In Williams County, Ohio, Mr. Lee married Jennie Boyers. She was born in Springfield Township of that county October 7, 1852, being the youngest daughter of John and Margaret (Shantz) Boyers. Both her parents were natives of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, her father born there in 1804 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 779 and her mother in 1810. They were married April 9, 1829, and several years later, prior to 1836, they moved to Ohio, locating as pioneers in Ashland County. There they secured a tract of land, and John Boyers also followed his trade as blacksmith. Seven children were born into the Boyers household in Ashland county, and in 1850 they removed to Williams County. Here John Boyers secured a new farm, and while clearing it up he again conducted a smithy for the repairing of his own and his neighbors' tools. He led a very active life and died July 14, 1888. His wife passed away January 8, 1883. They were lifelong Methodists, active workers in the cause of religion and community welfare, and two of their sons and two of their daughters' husbands became Methodist preachers. A notable fact that should be mentioned of the Boyers family is that John Boyers and all his large family of sons and sons-in-law lived lives of almost perfect temperance. Not one of them ever used tobacco in any form. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lee are : Truman, who is a thrifty farmer on a place adjacent to his father's home in section 18 of Freedom Township ; he married Ida Kline, daughter of George Kline, a prominent resident of Henry County, and they are the parents of two sons, Irving and Howard. -Myrtle, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Lee, married Louis Rupp, who is a manufacturer of tile in Jasper, Michigan; their children are Orlo, Lola, Mildred and Doris. Stanley A., the second son, owns a 100-acre farm in Ridgeville Township and by his marriage to Mabel Weller has a daughter, Thelma. Mr. and Mrs. Lee are active members of the United Brethren Church, in which he is serv- ing as trustee and steward. Politically he is identified with the republican party. HENRY DEHNKE. A fine farm of Henry County that bespeaks the energy and enterprise of the late Henry Dehnke is the Catalpa Shade Farm in section 33 of Ridgeville Township. Mrs. Henry Dehnke still occupies that fine estate, and in that community she has lived upwards of forty years and some of her children are still around her. It is a family well worthy of all the good Words that can be said of people of honest and substantial thrift and of those good and wholesome quali• ties which are prized in every community and in all times. The late Henry Dehnke was born in Hanover, Germany, in April, 1845. At the time of his death at his home in Ridgeville Township, March 5, 1911, he was still in the vigor of his years, aged sixty-six. His parents were farming people and members of the Lutheran Church in Germany. Mr. Dehnke grew up and received his education in Germany and in 1865, about the time he reached his majority, he set out from the fatherland to seek a home and fortune in America. He left Bremen and after a voyage of twelve weeks arrived in New York City. He made the journey by sailing vessel. From the East he came on to Napoleon in Henry County and soon found employment on the Wabash Railroad. Later, during 1874-75, he lived in Toledo. In the meantime he had been working hard and carefully saving his earnings, and on his return to Henry County he. invested his savings in the purchase of eighty acres in section 33 of Ridgeville Township. That was the land to which he devoted his continuous labors as a farmer for more than thirty years and now included within the Catalpa Shade Farm. When he took possession apart of the timber had been deadened preliminary to clearing, and the land also had a small house, which is still standing as a landmark of early days and of the early struggles which Mr. Dehnke went through in order to establish a home. As soon as he got possession he began clearing off the trees, and he soon erected a substantial barn 40 by 60 feet. That, with other farm buildings and a substantial nine room house with all the modern comforts, constitute the home where Mrs. Dehnke is spending her declining years. During his lifetime Mr. Dehnke put all this land under the plow, and in' time his fields produced crops as abundantly as any farm in that section of the county. It is some very splendid soil, and Mr. Dehnke deserves a great deal of credit for practically creating this farm out of wilderness conditions. He' was an active member and official of St. John's Lutheran Church, and always voted the democratic ticket. In 1875, in Freedom Township of Henry County, he married Mary Rosebrook. Mrs. Dehnke was born in Hanover, Germany, October 15, 1850, a daughter of Peter and Emily (Insbrock) Rosebrook. Her parents were native Hanoverians; having been born early in the nineteenth century, and were of German Lutheran stock. All their five children were born in Hanover, namely : Mrs. Dehnke ; William, who is married and lives on a farm in Bartlow Township of Henry 780 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO County and has three sons and three daughters;. Fred, who is a farmer in Fulton County, Ohio, is married and has a family; Henry died at the age of fourteenDora, now de- ceased, was the first wife of Fred Wachtmann, a prominent citizen of Henry County, elsewhere referred to. Mrs. Dehnke's parents emigrated to America in 1869.. They took passage on a steamship at Bremen, and after twelve days arrived in. Baltimore. From there they came on to Ohio and to Napoleon, and soon afterwards located in Freedom Township, where they resumed their careers as American farmers. Mrs. Dehnke's father died there at the age of seventy and her mother a little later, though not quite so old. They were .lifelong Lutherans and he was. a democrat. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Dehnke were as follows: Dora is the wife of William Meinke .and they now live on a farm in Oklahoma, their children being Ida, Anna, William, Dora, and one deceased. William is a farmer in Ridgeville Township and by his marriage to Dora Wesch of that township has three children named Hilda, Lavina and Alice. Mary married Charles Schroeder, a merchant of Ridgeville Corners, and their children are Lawrence, Ruth and Edwin. Henry, who lives on a farm in Adams Township of Defiance County and also owns another farm in Ridgeville Township of Henry County, married Minnie Schroeder, and their children are Thelma and Freeman. Anna is the wife of George Rohrs, a farmer of Napoleon Township, and she is the mother of Alvera, Harold, Mildred, Edna and Ida. Emma is the wife of Mr. Schroeder, a. carpenter and farmer at Ridgeville Corners, and they have children named Helen, Orpha, Margaret and Ethel. Louise, the youngest of the family, is the widow of John C. Meyer of Ridgeville Township, and she now lives in Toledo. GEORGE KLINE, who was born in Henry County more than seventy years ago, represents the second generation of this family in the county, and it is a name that deserves honorable mention in connection with pioneer events as well as subsequent development and progress. The work by which George Kline has commended himself to the esteem of the community has been largely as a farmer. He owns one of the fine farms in Ridgeville Township, situated on section 13, and for years he has borne an effective part in community affairs. He was born in Freedom Township November 24, 1846; a son of Herman and Catherine (Shipman) Kline. His grandfather, Captain Kline, won his title by valiant service in the War of 1812. The great-grandfather served with the rank of a general in the Revolutionary war. Captain Kline spent his life on a farm in Pennsylvania. He was twice married. Each wife became the mother of six sons and six daughters, so that he was the father of twenty-four children. It was a rugged and substantial family stock, as is vouched for by the fact that all these children grew to manhood and womanhood and most of them married. Two of them are still living, George and Abraham, besides several of their '1 sisters. Abe is the youngest of the sons and is now about four-score and was a soldier through the Civil war, but came out without wounds or other injuries. Herman Kline, father of George Kline, was born in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in .1 1800. His wife, Catherine Shipman, was born in New Jersey in 1804. Both were of substantial Dutch stock. The oldest of the large family of his father's children, Herman. Kline grew up in Pennsylvania, was married there, and in that state were born three children, Mathias, Susanna and John. In the. early '30s the family started for Ohio. An ox team drew their wagon, and following that: came other live stock, consisting of two cows and one calf. Over rough and sometimes unbroken roads, camping by the wayside as night overtook them, they came on' day after day and finally arrived in the wilds of Piqua County, Ohio. That was their home for' several years. While there two daughters were born, Catherine and Sarah,. both of whom died at the age of sixteen or seventeen years after they arrived in Henry County. In 1837 the oxen were again hitched to the covered wagon and the family made the last stage of their journey. Going through the black swamps they reached Henry County and Herman Kline established his home in the very center of Freedom Township. Securing 160 acres of land from the Government, he paid $2.25 an acre, and thus began the heavy task of clearing up a portion of nature 's wilderness. This farm was seven miles from Napoleon. Napoleon was then a very rude village, and only one of two houses or shanties lay between the county seat and the Kline homestead. In a short time one of HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 781 the typical structures of pioneer life rose as the habitation of the Kline family. It was a log house with puncheon floor, with clapboard roof tied down, and without the use of a single nail anywhere in the construction. Herman Kline was a man of character, industry, sobriety and intelligence, and was well fitted for the life of the frontier. While he lived on the old homestead he and his household were surrounded for several years by all the features of the wilderness, including the Indians, who, however, were quite friendly and on good terms with the Klines. Most of the meat for the table was supplied by the deer, bear, turkeys and squirrels that were found in abundance in the woods. It was a rough and homely fare, but it was abundant and adequate for people who worked hard and lived much out of doors. In the course of time Herman and his wife saw their farm well cleared and the old rude home replaced with a substantial house and with a good barn. Their lives were prolonged into the modern age of invention, and Herman Kline passed away in June, 1890, and his wife in 1884. Both were reared as Quakers but later became members of the Disciples Church. Politically Herman Kline voted with the democratic party. After their arrival in Henry County the following children were born : Jacob, Lucinda, Ellen, George and Matilda. Of these George, Lucinda and Matilda are still living and all married. It was in the simple environment of the early home in Henry County already described that George Kline grew up to manhood. .Much muscular exertion was a part of his training, and his book learning was secured from some of the old' fashioned log schoolhouses in that community. There was no school for him to attend until he was eight years of age. After reaching manhood he bought a farm of sixty acres in Freedom Township, paying $10.00 an acre for it. Many years later he sold that for $90.00 an acre. In 1903 he bought his present. place in section 24 of Ridgeville Township, paying $50.00 an acre, and has developed it into a good home and has it well stocked for general farming purposes. In 1872, on his twenty-sixth birthday, and on his mother's forty-second birthday, Mr. Kline was married in Freedom Township to Rosanna Bates. Mrs. Kline was born in Hancock County, Ohio, March 16, 1851. She was reared there and in Henry County. When she was still a child her parents, Christopher and Jean '(Riley) Bates, moved to Henry County, and spent the rest of their days in Freedom Township. Her father was forty-nine and her mother fifty-nine when they passed away. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Kline are now nearly all grown and are worthily fulfilling their individual destinies in the world. Dora, the first born, married John Linebrink and they live on a farm in Michigan and have a family of six, one son and five daughters, Olive, Clarice, Mary, Valeria, Florence and John. Flora is the wife of Sem Meyers, a farmer in Ridgeville Township, and they have a son and two daughters, Lavina, Stella' and Morris. Charles is in the real estate business at Toledo. Ida married Truman Lee, a farmer in Freedom Township, and has two sons, Ervin and Howard. William married Lillie Amy, and their four children are Katherine, Celia, Nina and Viola. Fannie is the wife of Oliver Leininger of Ridgeville Township, and has one son, Otis. Nellie is the wife of William Wheaton, a carpenter of Ridgeville Corners, and they have a son, Estel. Bert lives at Fayette, Ohio, where he is a farmer. He married Carrie Leininger and has a son and daughter, Gaylord and Norma. Emma is the wife of Clarence Zimmerman, a farmer in Fulton County, and has three children, Chester, Mildred and Wilson. Edith, who is a graduate of the Ridgeville High School, married Ora Mull. Mr. Kline and his sons are all democrats in politics. CARL D. MINER is the fortunate owner of Locust Grove farm on section 19 of Freedom Township, Henry County. It is a splendid farm and home, well up to the best, standards of agricultural improvement in that section. Since coming to America more than thirty-five years ago, a German boy, Mr. Huner has found opportunities and improved them. He was born in. Hanover, Germany, May 22, 1866. His parents, Cort and Elizabeth (Rosebrock) Huner, were natives of the same kingdom, and represented old Lutheran families that had lived there for generations. Cort Huner spent his active career on a German farm and died when about eighty years old. His wife died when the son, Carl, was a small child. There were twelve children in all. George came to the United States and .died in New York when a bachelor. Henry, who also came to this country, joined the regular army, was in service against the 782 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Indians and at many posts from 1876 to 1887, and died unmarried. William is a farmer in Freedom Township, and has a family. Elizabeth after coming to this country married Fred. Brumes, a candy manufacturer of Boston, Massachusetts, where they and their family live. Mary was twice' married, and died in the United States, leaving several children. Minnie came to this country, and died as Mrs. August Schroeder. In his native village of Buchholtz Carl Huner spent the first fourteen years of his life. He attended public schools, and was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. In 1880 he set out from Bremen, landed at New York, and in the same year arrived in Henry County. Farmers gave him employment, and gradually he accumulated the fund which enabled him to make his first purchase of land. This was forty acres in Ridgeville Township. Selling that he bought sixty-two acres in section 19 of Freedom Township. Since then another sixty-one acres have come under his ownership. being located a little northwest of the home farm. Around his house have grown up a number of locust trees, and these furnish an attractive and fragrant shade and provide the very suitable name for his homestead. Mr. Huner is a very thorough farmer. Big crop yields and first-class live stock are his specialty. His soil is very rich with clay subsoil. Among building improvements is a nearly new grain and stock barn, 38 by 70 feet. The dwelling, of ten rooms with summer kitchen, is painted white with green trimmings, and stands in the midst of the locust trees. There are also quantities of fruit. This has been Mr. Huner's home since he was married twenty-four years ago. His wife was Miss Emma Badenhop. She was born in the same village of Hanover as her husband and on January 28, 1873. However, she has no recollections of the land of her birth, since in the following year her parents, Henry and Dora (Michaels) Badenhop, came to America and located in Freedom Township of Henry County. Her mother died there in 1908; aged seventy-five, and her father passed aWay in January, 1916, when past the venerable age of eighty-six. Both were active members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church and were laid to rest in the' Union Cemetery. Mrs. Huner is one of ten children, and five still living are all married. Mr. and Mrs. Huner are the parents of three children. George, the oldest, now twenty-three years of age, was educated in the public, schools, was confirmed, and is now carrying the heavier responsibilities of the home farm. The second child, Laura, died in infancy. Martha, born May 4, 1907, is a bright young girl and still in school. All the family are members of the Lutheran Church at Ridgeville Corners, and Mr. Huner is a deacon. As to politics, he takes an independent course. FERDINAND LANGENHOP, whose extensive land holdings and farms make him one of the most substantial and well-to-do citizens of Liberty Township, has been a resident of Henry County for thirteen years, and, came from the West, the State of Nebraska, where he had laid the basis of his substantial fortune' by hard work in the comparatively early days of that western state. A native of Hanover, Germany, where he was horn July 28, 1857, he comes of old German Lutheran stock, and is a son of John and Mary (Miller) Langenhop. They were natives of the same locality, and his father was a large farmer, owning a very extensive tract of land for Germany, comprising about 200 acres. That estate is still owned by his descendants. The parents spent all their lives in that locality and the father died there at the age of fifty-eight and his wife in 1866 when about fifty years of age. Of their children, Mary died in Germany after her marriage to Herman Norden, who is also deceased, while their daughter, Sophia, is now married and has a family, with one son in the German army. The son, Henry, died in Germany two years ago when about sixty-eight years of age, and left children named Henry, Emma and Mary, all married, but Emma. Fred was a German farmer and died in that country, leaving children including Herman, Sophia and Fred. Ferdinand Langenhop spent the first twenty-two years, of his life in his native country. In the meantime he had acquired a practical knowledge of farming as conducted on his father's place, and was also given such advantages as the local schools afforded. In 1879 he set out from Bremen, in the steamship Elbe, and after eleven days was landed in New York City. His first destination was Huron, in Erie County, Ohio, where he lived seven years. He then went back to Germany, where he visited for six months, and when he returned to this country he was accompanied by the young lady who had been HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 783 born and brought up in his neighborhood and who a little later became his wife. Going West to Nemaha County, Nebraska, Mr. Langenhop bought a partly improved tract of land, and after getting settled married the young lady who had come with him. Her maiden name was Dora Steller. She was born August 1, 1867, in Hanover, a daughter of Frederick and Louise Linghausen Steller, both of old German stock and Lutherans in religion. Mr. and Mrs. Steller died when in middle life. They were farmers. Their three children were: Mary, who died leaving by her first marriage Maria and, Dora, and by her second husband one son, Carl, who is now deceased ; Henry, who died -a number of years ago ; and Mrs. Langenhop. After his marriage Ferdinand Langenhop continued to live in Nebraska for fourteen years. He developed there a good farm of 220 acres. In 1903 having sold. his property, he came East to Henry County, Ohio, and bought land in section 29, Liberty Township. He now owns a fine place of 206 acres there, and also has eighty acres in section 25 of Freedom Township. All this land is under thorough cultivation and comprises a farm of which any owner might be proud.. He has an ample residence, a large white building, and a barn 45 by 80 feet, with other smaller buildings to serve special purposes. Mr. and Mrs. Langenhop are the parents of three children. Clara, who was born in Nebraska January 28, 1891, is the wife of Fred Homan, who was born in Fulton County, Ohio, and is now a farmer in Freedom Township ; they have two children, Clarence, born March 24, 1914; and Walter, born November 20, 1915. Adolph, the only son of the family, was born in Nebraska May 11, 1893, and is now at home working on the farm. Lydia was born May 12, 1898, and like the other children has completed a common school education. The family are all members of St. Johannes Lutheran Church in Freedom Township, while Mr. Langenhop is an independent in politics. HENRY A. ROHRS. As a breeder and raiser of fine stock, Henry A. Rohrs has a reputation far beyond the limits of Henry County. He is one of the veteran stockmen of Northwest Ohio, and began importing and breeding fine horses thirty years ago. His Freedom Valley stock farm in sections 32 and 33 of Freedom Township is a model place of its kind and its improvements and adaptations to the uses of modern stock raising are the results of an exceptional degree of enterprise on the part of Mr. Rohrs. He has 128 acres of land in use. That farm has been his home since he was twenty years of age with the exception of five years and the old place was settled by his father, who came to the United States from Germany in 1869. Henry County is noted for its fine farms, and that of Mr. Rohrs is one of the very best. The land is adapted for the growing of all kinds of grain, alfalfa, clovers and other crops. Since getting possession of this farm Mr. Rohrs has erected one of the largest barns in the county. The main portion of the barn is 36 by 100 feet, and there is a wing equipped entirely for stock 40 by 75 feet. He also has large tool and wagon houses and other facilities. Near the main barn is a large hog house, where he keeps' his fine Poland China hogs. In cattle he fancies Holstein and Herefords. His chief reputation as a stockman is based upon the breeding of draft horses of the Percheron strain. He also has a number of Leicestershire sheep. Certainly as a horse breeder no man is better known in Northwest Ohio than Henry A. Rohrs. It was in 1886 that he purchased and imported his first Percheron stallion. This was the great Sapauere No. 6327. It became known far and wide as one of the finest horses of the kind in Northwest Ohio and took many prizes all over the state. Since then Mr. Rohrs has imported many animals and has raised some of the finest Percherons on his own farm. 'Altogether. he has had about fifty stallions, and at one time had from twenty-five to thirty graded and blooded horses. Mr. Rohrs owned the great Monarch No. 12315, which combined the best qualities of championship horses in the world. He also owned the prize taker Brilliantine No. 18951. Brilliantine was bred in his own stable. He is now proprietor of the fine stallion Diamond No. 72584, and this is also a horse of his own breeding. It is Mr. Rohr's opinion that the finest horses of the world are now bred in America. He has given time and constant study to the improvement of this class of farm animals, and has rendered a great service in introducing and keeping up the best standards of draft horses. While this has been his main industry he has not confined his energies entirely to horse breeding. He has shown almost equal success with his other stock. Mr. Rohrs and family occupy one of the finest country homes of Henry County. The house contains thir- 784 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO teen rooms, and it and its surroundings are in keeping with the fine farm of which it is a part. Henry A. Rohrs was born in the Village of Riepholm in Hanover, Germany, January 31, 1850. His parents and forbears for generations back were Lutherans and were substantial farmers. His father had a good farm in Hanover. Mr. Rohrs is a son of Frederick and Catherine (Schroeder) Rohrs. In 1869 the entire family, consisting of the parents and four sons and two daughters, set out on the ship Leipsic from Bremerhaven for Baltimore, and after a voyage of nineteen days landed on the 26th of May. From there they came to Henry County, and soon moved to the farm which is now the home of Henry A. Rohrs. Henry A. Rohrs has two other well developed farms in the county, one consisting of forty acres and another of 120 acres. Each one has a set of farm buildings of its own, and on one he has a barn 40 by 80 feet with a covered barnyard and complete equipment for the business of stock farming. One feature of these farms that makes them conspicuous is the fact that all the buildings are painted white, and are kept constantly fresh and in fine repair. Mr. Rohrs' parents both died in Freedom Township. His father was born September 20, 1820, and died December 30, 1878. The mother was born April 4, 1821, and died in 1888. The father was a strong democrat. In Freedom Township April 20, 1877, Henry A. Rohrs married Miss Ann Mahnke. She was born in Germany near the same place where her husband was born on September 25, 1856. At the age of six years she came to America with her parents, Herman and Mary (Brinkman) Mahnke. The Mahnke family came to the United States with three children and all located in Napoleon Township on the farm. They lived in a log cabin for a. time, and the parents died on that place at the respective ages of seventy-five and seventy-one. The Mahnkes were among the organizers of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Napoleon Township, and were people of high standards and of much influence in their community. Into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Rohrs have been born the following children : George is a farmer in Napoleon Township and by his marriage to Anna Dehnke of Ridgeville has children named Alvera, Harold, Mildred, Edna, and Ida. The daughter of Catherine is the wife of William A. Bockelman, a well known Henry County citizen elsewhere referred to. Carl is a farmer in Adams Township of Defiance County, and married Minnie Tietje, who is the mother of two children, named Lorena and Lillian. Anna is still at home, and is well educated in both the German and English schools. Amelia is the wife of John Tietje of Freedom Township, their children being Raymond, Raynette, Norma, Thelma and Leota. Emily and Ida are twins. Emma is the wife of Otto Bischoff, who lives in New York City and is in the office of his father's manufacturing plant there, and they have a daughter named Wilma. The daughter Ida is still at home, as is also the youngest child, Henry. One son, William, died at the age of twenty-one, at the beginning of a promising manhood. Mr. and Mrs. Rohrs are active members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Mr. Rohrs is a loyal democrat. GEORGE A. REUTER, of Fort Recovery, began his career in the lumber woods of Northern Michigan. He worked in almost every capacity demanded of that changing, venturesome and hardy industry. He mastered the various details of lumbering, and he first came to Fort Recovery in the capacity of a lumber merchant. Mr. Reuter is now president of the Fort Recovery Bank, besides having active relations with a large number of other business concerns. This bank has a capital of $25,000 and surplus of $23,000. The officers and directors are : George A. Reuter, president; E. T. Hastings, vice president; W. H. Anthony, cashier; Z. L. Anthony, assistant cashier ; and besides these the other directors are Dr. Vint Richardson, William H. May, Nicholas Money, Fred Hibey and G. E. Leonhard. The old homestead on which Mr. Reuter was born February 18, 1861, is still owned by him. It comprises 160 acres and is located in Barry County, Michigan. When he was born and when his father occupied that land it was in the center of the great lumber regions of Michigan. It is now a farm and practically all the territory around it has been highly developed for agricultural purposes. Mr. Reuter had hard work as his portion almost from the beginning of his boyhood. He learned his lessons in the district schools, also attended a select school in his home county and adjoining county, and at the age of eighteen years he began a career as teacher. He taught six terms in Barry County and HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 785 adjoining county, and in October, 1884, was graduated from a business college at Grand Rapids. In May, 1885, going to White Cloud, Michigan, he was employed as bookkeeper for a lumber company there for 11/2 years. From the spring of 1887 he worked with another company as walking boss, general overseer, bookkeeper and in other capacities, and in 1888 was promoted to superintendent. In 1889 he came to Fort Recovery, Ohio, and engaged in the lumber business under the name of Reuter & Wilson. In 1904 Mr. Reuter sold his interests to Mr. Wilson, though retaining the hard wood branch of the industry. He built a band sawmill, which is one of the largest mills of its kind in the state, and through this industry did much to make Fort Recovery an important center for the production of hardwood lumber in Ohio. From these relations the scope of his interests has been broadly extended. Besides being active head of the bank and the lumber business he was at one time secretary of the Fort Recovery Building & Loan Company and is now its treasurer, is treasurer and manager of the Fort Recovery Telephone Company, is president of the Fort Recovery Tile Company and treasurer of the Fort Recovery Fertilizer Company. Besides the old homestead up in Barry County he owns 160 acres 4 ½ miles northwest of Fort Recovery in Jay County,, Indiana. Mr. Reuter married Miss Rose Wilson of Fayette, Ohio. She was born in that county and was educated in the public schools. They are the parents, of three children : Donnel E., who died in 1908 ,at the age of nineteen years; Mildred M., who was graduated from the Fort Recovery High School and has spent two years in Oberlin College, and Margaret B., now in the high school at Fort Recovery. Mr. Reuter and his family are members of the Congregational Church and he is chairman of the board of trustees. Fraternally he is affiliated with Fort Recovery Lodge No. 539, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was master fourteen years, belongs to Celina Chapter No. 68, Royal Arch Masons, Lima Council, Royal and Select Masters Ivanhoe Commandery, Knight Templars, at Van Wert; Toledo Consistory of the thirty-second degree Scottish Rite, and Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Toledo. Mr. Reuter is a man whose citizenship is of purest Americanism, and his sympathies and impulses can always be counted upon to run true to the paramount welfare of the nation. He is a republican, and has served as chairman of the Mercer County Central Committee. He has also acted as supervisor of elections in the county. CHARLES F. HERKENHOFF. For a man who began his business career as clerk in a store, the present position of Charles F. Herkenhoff as secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Star Brewing Company at Minster, is a splendid evidence of his industry, business push and energy and thorough capability. For years he has been one of the leading citizens of Minster. In that town he was born September 3, 1864, a son of Frank and Mary (Gausepohl) Herkenhoff. Both parents were also natives of Minster, and are still living there in venerable years. The father was born December 12, 1838, and the mother in November, 1838. They were married at Minster in November, 1863, and several years ago they celebrated the fiftieth, or golden wedding anniversary. Frank Herkenhoff had a very limited education, not more than six months altogether, but became a very successful business man. When a boy he worked in a local cooperage factory, and later bought the cooperage plant from his step-father, securing it on credit, and was its active proprietor for forty years. He finally sold the cooperage plant and acquired the fifth interest in the Star Brewing Company, which he still owns, though he has not been actively identified with its business management. His has been a career of splendid effort, of great value to his community, and he enjoys the trust and admiration of every citizen in Minster. He is a democrat, and has served both on the school board and city council. The family are members of the Catholic Church. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Herkenhoff had eight children, and seven of them are still living: Charles F.; Josephine, wife of Dr. C. L. Dine; Carrie, wife of J. F. Kramer, a hardware merchant at Minster; 'Antony L., general manager of the machine shops at Minster; Delia, wife of J. W. Eiting, of Minster; Frances, assistant secretary of the Minster Machine Company; and Alice, wife of Gust Wildenhause, of Maria Stein, Ohio. Charles F. Herkenhoff was educated in the schools of Minster, and for eighteen months was a student in St. Mary's Institute at Dayton, Ohio. After a few years as clerk in a general store he put in three years in similar employment in a hardware store, and for 21/2 786 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO years was employed in a grocery, saloon and general merchandise establishment. He finally bought this stock and continued its management successfully for 15 ½ years. It was after selling his mercantile interests that he bought a fifth interest in the Star Brewing Company in July, 1903. Since then Mr. Herkenhoff has given his entire time and attention to this business, which is one of the leading industries of its kind in Northwest Ohio. He is secretary, treasurer and general manager. The Star Brewing Company is capitalized at $105,000, and its annual output is 15,000 barrels. Nearly all of this is consumed within a radius of twenty miles around Minster, though some large shipments are made to Muncie, Indiana, and Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Herkenhoff is also president of the Minster Machine Company. On May 27, 1891, he married Miss Bernadine Meyer, who was born in Minster. Of their six children five are now living: all at home, named Agnes, Loretta, Elsie, Frank L. and Wilford J. The family are active workers in the Catholic Church. Mr. Herkenhoff is a democrat, and has served both on the school board and city council. W. T. COPELAND is a successful lawyer of Northwestern Ohio with a-special genius for business and finance, and is now vice president and was one of the organizers of the Auglaize National Bank, one of the strongest institutions in that part of the state. When it is recalled that Mr. Copeland began the practice of law a little more than twenty years ago $1,000 in debt his career seems almost remarkable in its achievements. His business associates say that his success is due partly to native endowments and talents out of the ordinary and also to hard concentrated effort and a conscientious handling of every interest entrusted to his charge. His early life was spent in the environment of the rural districts of Auglaize County. He was born on a farm six miles east of Wapakoneta, May 5, 1871, a son of William and Helen E. (Robinson) Copeland. His paternal grandparents, Amos and Mary (Layton) Copeland, were both natives of Clark County, Ohio, and were early settlers in Auglaize County, where they lived out their lives, the former dying at the age of eighty-two and the latter at eighty-six. The maternal grandparents were George and Eliza (Gray) Robinson, who were born in Champaign County, Ohio, and lived in Auglaize County after 1856. William Copeland, father of the Wapakoneta banker, was born in Auglaize County in 1848 and for many years has been a farmer. He is now practically retired and enjoying the comforts of a modern home and a highly improved farm of sixty acres. He is a well educated man, having attended Antioch College during his youth, and for .a number of years was a teacher. He is a republican, a member of the Tribe of Ben Hur, and belongs to the Christian Church. His wife, who was born in Champaign County, Ohio, December 25, 1850, is still living and they were married in Auglaize County. Of their three children W. T. Copeland is the older of the two now living, and his sister is Mrs. Louis Coffin, wife of a merchant at New Hampshire, Ohio. W. T. Copeland attended the public schools at St. Johns and the Normal School at Jackson Center in Shelby County. He was teaching at the age of eighteen, and in the following year was being paid the highest wages given to any teacher of the county. His work as a teacher covered altogether twenty-four months. Taking up the study of law with Layton & Sueve, he was admitted to the bar in 1893. For seventeen years Mr. Copeland practiced law at Lima. As already mentioned he carried the burden of a thousand dollar debt with him when he opened his office, but in the course of a few years he was recognized as one of the leading attorneys of the Allen County bar and his fortune has been steadily growing ever since. For a number of years he was associated in ,practice with W. L. Rogers at Lima, under the firm name of Copeland & Rogers. His financial ability came into evidence while in Lima. He organized the Central Loan Association there, and that institution is still in a flourishing condition with assets of more than a million dollars. Mr. Copeland is a life member of the Allen County Law Library and Bar Association. Finally giving up his law practice, he returned to Wapakoneta and accepted the post of vice president in the newly organized Auglaize National Bank in 1911. That bank has a capital stock of $100,000, a surplus of $30,000 and its total assets are $650,000. The average deposits are $400,000. Mr. Copeland now gives all his time to the business of banking. In 1895 he married Miss Lizzie M. Herbst.             .           . , HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 787 Her father, William Herbst, now deceased, was for many years a prominent German farmer in Auglaize County. Mr. and Mrs. Copeland have reason to be very proud of their son Don Herbst Copeland. He is a youth of great talent, is already a pipe organist of recognized virtuosity, and . is planning a musical career where he will undoubtedly be heard from. He was born January 11, 1898, and recently graduated from the Wapakoneta High School, having led his class every year. He has now entered upon his university work. Mr. and Mrs. Copeland are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is active in fraternal affairs, being affiliated with the Lodge, Chapter, Council of. Masonry, has held all the offices in his camp of the Modern Woodmen of America and was head of the order in the state in 1911, and belongs to the Brotherhood of American Yeomen and the Benevolent and Protective Order. of Elks. Mr. Copeland is now a member of the Board of Education of Wapakoneta, and was very active in democratic politics while living in Allen County. FRANK A. CONAWAY is proprietor of the largest restaurant of Findlay, located at 330 South Main Street. It is also the oldest establishment in point of continuous service, having been under Mr. Conaway's capable management for nineteen years. Mr. Conaway is a native of Northwest Ohio and has had a much varied experience in business and other affairs. He is the architect of his own destiny and success has come to him as a result of hard work and no favors. He is of Scotch-Irish stock, and was born on a farm in Fairfield County, Ohio, March 6, 1868, a son of Basil and Rebecca (Claybaugh) Conaway. His parents are still living, at the ages respectively of seventy-eight and seventy-seven years. His father followed farming throughout his active career. Frank A. Conaway had the advantages of the country schools until he was fourteen years of age. After that he worked as a farm hand for the neighbors until he was grown, and in 1889 he came to Findlay. For the next two years he was employed as a glass maker in the West Park Window House. From this trade he entered the service of James Haley in the latter's cafe and restaurant establishment, and remained there six years. He acquired further knowledge of his business as cook for Mathew Nemeyer, and after two years he started a restaurant of his own on. South Main Street., He was on South Main Street two years, and then in the Adams Block for eighteen months. For two years Mr. Conaway was in the cafe business at North Baltimore, but returning to Findlay he opened the restaurant which he has now personally managed and supervised and has built it up until in point of patronage and service it is one of the best in Northwest Ohio. In October, 1897, Mr. Conaway married Miss Myrtle Phoisington, daughter of Frank and Tillie (Lemley) Phoisington of Findlay. Her father is an oil dispatcher at Findlay. The Phoisingtons were of English stock. Mr. and Mrs. Conaway have two children: Mabel E., who was born in 1898 and is now the wife of William Runkle.; and Marion B., a son, born February 20, 1902. Mr. Conaway is an active republican and a member of the United Brethren Church. He is always public spirited and works harmoniously and effectively with the Findlay Commercial Club in its varied movements for local welfare. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. T. J. CARTMELL was nominated by the democratic party of Auglaize in 1916 as its candidate for representative in the Ohio Legislature. Mr. Cartmell by a long and active career has well deserved the support of his fellow citizens for this office, and it would be a well merited honor to crown the long years of his business experience at Wapakoneta. Mr. Cartmell is a veteran of the Civil war. He enlisted in 1862 and saw active service at first in the Eighty-sixth Ohio Regiment, then in the One Hundred Thirty-fourth Regiment, and finally in the One Hundred Seventy-fourth Regiment. He was drum major with the One Hundred Seventy-fourth. While engaged in the terrific fighting in front of Petersburg, Virginia, he suffered a sunstroke, and spent some time in the Point of Rocks Hospital. After the war Mr. Cartmell took up work on his father's farm in Union County, Ohio. He was born in Champaign County, Ohio, a son of Dr. W. H. and Margaret N. (Cartmell) Cartmell. His father was born in Virginia, a son of Joseph Cartmell, of old Virginia stock. The mother was a native of Pennsylvania. They were married at Mechanicsburg, Ohio, and Doctor Cartmell followed teaching 788 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO for some years and finally finished his course in medicine at Cincinnati. He practiced in Union, Clark and Champaign counties. He was a strong and ardent advocate of democratic principles in politics, was a Universalist in religion, while his wife was a Methodist. Mr. T. J. Cartmell received his early education in the Mechanicsburg public schools, and after his service in the army and his work on his father's farm he took up the music business and for a number of years kept the store for musical merchandise at Marysville, Ohio, and from there removed to Wapakoneta, where he has long been the leading merchant in this line and by close attention to his affairs has gained a well merited success. Mr. Cartmell married Miss Sabra Stacy, of Mechanicsburg, Ohio. Of their four children three are living: Don, associated with his father in the music business; Edith, still at home ; and Alice, wife of W. A. Penrod, on a farm in Miami County, Ohio. Mrs. Cartmell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in politics has long been a leader in democratic circles. For three terms he served as mayor of Wapakoneta and that .city had cause to congratulate itself upon his very efficient management of municipal affairs. G. F. Boos of St. Marys has been one of the prime factors in making that city an industrial center, and has himself done much to create industrial. enterprise and keeping the wheels turning and maintaining employment for a large force of local workmen. He is now general manager of the Boos Machine Works of that city. Born in Sandusky,. Ohio, December 28, 1855, he attended the public schools, and as a boy learned the machinist's trade. He was twenty-one years of age when he came to St. Marys, and that was nearly forty years ago. For a time he worked in a local machine shop, and then with others as his associates bought Mr. Buehler's shop, then known as the St. Marys Machine Company. The principal products for several years were oil well supplies, but afterwards they engaged in the as and engine business. After some twenty years the gas engine business was removed to St. Charles, Missouri, and Mr. Boos then bought the old plant and remodeled it as machine shops. It is incorporated under the name of Boos Machine Company, and it does a general foundry and repair business. Mr. Boos gives all his time to the shops, and for a man who started without capital he has been very successful. For a short time in St. Marys he was in the washing machine business. His parents were G. F. and Christina (Roherbacker) Boos. His father was born in Baden, Germany, in 1815, and his mother on the River Rhine in 1833. They were married in Sandusky, Ohio. G. F. Boos, Sr., was for many years in the real estate business at Sandusky, and also owned one of the early hotels there, the Portland. House. He and his wife were members of the German Reformed Church and politically he was a democrat. The father died in 1860 and the mother in 1902. Of their nine children three are still living: Christina, widow of H. K. Fowler, living at Sandusky; G. F. Boos; and Edward, who is employed in the Canada branch of the Oliver Chilled Plow Company. In 1878 Mr. G. F. Boos married Christine Marshall of Sandusky. They have two children: Warner, who is employed in the machine shops with his father, and Susan, wife of A. F. Blackmen, a real estate man at Hammond, Indiana. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Boos is a democrat, and is a member of the Masonic Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter. At St. Marys he has served ion the waterworks board and is always willing to do what he can to advance the public welfare. E. J. EMRICK, who has spent most of his life in Auglaize County, has been a merchant, public official, and successful farmer and stock man. He was called from the active supervision of his farming interests to the office of county treasurer, but declined a renomination for a second term, which his many friends and well wishers thought he deserved, and will retire from the Court House in 1917, resuming his personal supervision of his farm. Mr. Emrick was born on a farm 3Y2 miles east of Wapakoneta, October 30, 1868. He is of remote German ancestry. The Emrick family came out of Germany and settled in Pennsylvania in colonial days. His grandfather, George Emrick, was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in 1808, and when a boy removed to Butler County, Ohio. He married Mary Sarner, and in 1835 they came to Auglaize County. He was here in time HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 789 to secure his pick of land direct from the Government, and entered a claim in section 36 of Deshongue Township. The deed or title to` that land was signed by President Jackson and is dated October 5, 1835. On that farm George Emrick spent the rest of his life and died in November, 1867. Jonathan Emrick, father of E. J. Emrick, was born in Auglaize County in June, 1836, about a year after the family located here, and he died December 27, 1901. He was well educated and kept abreast of the times by reading and observation. He was a very prosperous farmer of Auglaize County and had 199% acres of well improved land, all fenced and ditched, and brought to a high degree of productivity during his lifetime. He followed both farming and stock raising. He succeeded to the old homestead after the death of his father and thus the land covered by the original deed already mentioned has never passed out of the Emrick possession. Jonathan Emrick was an active member of the Lutheran Church. He was married at St. Johns; Ohio, to Charlotte LaMasters, whose father, Isaac LaMasters, was of French stock and came out of Virginia and settled on a farm six miles east of Wapakoneta in Auglaize County. Isaac LaMasters married Elizabeth Coleman, a native of Warren County, Ohio. Mrs. Charlotte Emrick, who was born in Auglaize County May 7, 1839, is still living and has been a very consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She is the mother of six children, only two are now living, Mr. E. J. Emrick, the younger, and his sister Mary; the widow of James M. Northrup, living in Toledo. • Mr. E. J. Emrick had the advantages afforded by the district schools in the county, and had a commercial course at Ada, Ohio. Though he started his independent career on a farm, he spent eleven years at St. Johns, Ohio, in the hardware and implement business. He then resumed farming and was steadily at that vocation until elected county treasurer in November, 1914. Mr. Emrick's farm comprises 300 acres of tillable and high class soil, managed and cultivated with much efficiency and system. As a stockman he specializes in registered Jersey cattle, Belgium horses, and Poland China hogs. In recent years he has held five public sales of horses, and a number of fine animals from his farm have been shipped to different states. At his last sale one of his Poland Chinas brought a price of $500. The pur- Vol. II-9 chaser soon afterwards refused $1,000 for the animal. This prize hog stood forty-two inches and weighed over a thousand pounds. People in, Auglaize County say Mr. Emrick has a special genius for success in handling and raising stock, and it is also a fact that he is as capable a business man as he is a farmer and stock man. On September 24, 1899, Mr. Emrick married Miss Alverna Brackney. She was born in the same locality as her husband, 21/2 miles east of Wapakoneta. Her father, Samuel Brackney, was one of the prosperous farmers of .Auglaize County. Mr. and Mrs. Emrick have four children : Ralph, Jonathan, Arthur, and Jeannette, the two oldest in high school and the two younger in the grammar schools of Wapakoneta. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mr. Emrick is an Elk and in politics is a democrat. HON. SUMNER E. WALTERS, a former member of the Legislature, has appeared in many of the most important cases tried before the local and district courts of Van Wert County in recent years, and is a lawyer whose reputation is already assured. He belongs to some of the pioneer stock of Van Wert County. He is descended in direct line from George Walters, who was born in Pennsylvania, and at the age of nine years was captured by a band of Indians and taken to Northwest Territory in what is now the State of Ohio. He remained a captive several years before being restored, to his old home in Pennsylvania. It was perhaps due to the influence of his forced residence in Ohio which caused him subsequently to return to the state and locate in what is now Richland County amid scenes made familiar to him during his life with the Indians. He secured some land, developed it as a farm, and remained a resident there until his death.. This interesting old pioneer was the father of William Walters, grandfather of Sumner E. Walters. William Walters was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, learned the trade of tanner, and for a number of years conducted a business in that line ha Richland County. .In the year 1846, while, James K. Polk was President of the United States, and a short time before the outbreak of the Mexican war, William Walters loaded his possessions into a small cart and, driving an ox team, came over the roads and trails into Van Wert County. From his father-in- 790 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO law he secured a tract of timbered land, the southwest quarter of section 14 of Wiltshire Township, put up his log cabin home, and that was the family abode for several years. Railroads had not yet penetrated this section of Northwest Ohio, and under the conditions of transportation as then prevailing the Town of Wiltshire was of considerable importance, being a shipping point on the St. Marys River and drawing trade for miles around. William Walters did his task well as a pioneer, cleared off a portion of the wilderness and made a farm, and remained there until death came to him in his eighty-seventh year. The maiden name of his wife was Harriet McDermott, who died at the age of seventy-five. William G. Walters, a son of these parents, was born in Richland County, Ohio, and was four years of age when the family moved to Wiltshire Township of Van Wert County. As a boy he became familiar with pioneer scenes and incidents, and eventually succeeded to the ownership of a part of the homestead, has made his success in life by farming and he is still in the full enjoyment of his advanced years, a resident on the old farm. He married Jane Anderson, who was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, a daughter of James Anderson. She died leaving three children, named Maria, Chalmers, and Sumner E. Sumner E. Walters was born on the home farm in Wiltshire Township November 12, 1874, and was seven years of age when his mother died. Besides the common schools he attended the Middlepoint Normal, and at the age of seventeen became a teacher. Teaching was his regular occupation for seven years, and from the means secured by that work he entered in 1905 the law department of the Ohio Northern University at Ada, and was a student there under the present governor of Ohio, Frank B. Willis. He was graduated in 1907 and in June of the same year was admitted to practice and opened his office in Van Wert. Mr. Walters cast his first presidential vote for McKinley, and has been one of the stanch supporters of the republican party and very active in local politics. He was elected a member of the State Legislature in 1899 and re-elected 'in 1901, serving in the 74th and 75th sessions. In the 74th Assembly he was a member of the committees on public printing, ditches, drainage, and water courses, and prisons and prison reform. In the 75th session he was chairman of the committee on prisons and prison reform and a member of the finance committee. At this writing Mr. Walters is serving the people as prosecuting attorney of Van Wert County, to which office he was elected on November 7, 1916. On December 23, 1894, Mr. Walters married Miss Kittie May Allen, who was born in Van Wert, daughter of Harrison L. and Statira (Quayle) Allen. Mr. and Mrs. Walters have five children : Mabel I., Paul A., Doyt A., William Harrison, and Sumner Junior. The daughter Mabel is now the wife of Curtis Baxter. REV. JOHN WATSON CHRISTIE is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Van Wert. He is the eldest son of Rev. Professor Robert Christie, D. D. (Hanover College and Miami University), LL. D. (Washington and Jefferson College), who has long been prominent in the Presbyterian ministry as pastor at Shelbyville, Lexington, and Louisville, Kentucky, and in the House of Hope Church at St. Paul, Minnesota. Professor Christie for the last twenty-five years has made his home in Pittsburgh, where he is one of the faculty of the Western Theological Seminary. John Christie was born in Frankfort, Ken- tucky, on the 7th of November, 1883. His mother was Pauline Clay Watson, of Frankfort, who was closely related to the old Clay family of Kentucky. His education was begun in the common. schools of St. Paul and Pittsburgh. He later studied at Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh. He was graduated A. B. at Princeton University in 1904. The next three years were spent in the Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, from which he was graduated in 1907. Following graduation he was licensed to preach by the Pittsburgh Presbytery. For the next fourteen months he pursued studies in Berlin and Marburg in Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland. During this time also he took the M. A. degree at Princeton with a thesis. Returning to America, he was called to Nelson Memorial Church in Columbus, Ohio, and was there ordained in January, 1909. From that position he was called to the First Presbyterian Church in Van Wert in October, 1912, where he has since been pastor. In 1909 he was united in marriage with' Miss Ruth Tracy Bigelow, daughter of Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Dana W. Bigelow of Utica, New York. To this union three children have been born : Catharine, Pauline Clay, and Robert. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 791 FRANK J. SONDERMAN. Over twenty years of successful merchandising in one locality constitutes a claim to distinction that should not be ignored. For that length of time Mr. Sonderman has been the leading dry goods merchant of Fort Recovery, and he and other members of the family have been very closely identified with the history of that town for a great many years. As herdsman (with his brother William) of the villagers' milk cows along the highways in the summer months, often netting 70. cents for the day, was his first earned money. His first experience after he left the public schools of Fort Recovery was as a merchandise clerk, but in 1893 he engaged in the dry goods and clothing business with a brother, William V., and sister, M. Louise. Since then the business has been conducted under the name Frank J. Sonderman & Company. Mr. Sonderman is a very vigorous and progressive democrat, and his activity in politics and his well known commercial integrity made his appointment as postmaster at Fort Recovery in April, 1914, a matter of special satisfaction to all patrons of that office. He holds the term for four years, and will retire in 1918. He was born in Mercer County, Ohio, January 7, 1870, and is a son of the late Antony and Agnes (Harter) Sonderman. His father was born in Germany December 12, 1825, and in the early days made the passage between Europe and America in a sailing ship, being sixty-five days on the ocean. He came to this country with his father, two brothers and a sister. They all landed in New York, but went from there to Pennsylvania, in which state the father and sister died. John Antony and his two brothers then came to Ohio. Under his older brother Frank he had learned the trade of wagon maker, and in Fort Recovery he built a shop in which he took care of the woodwork while his brother Joseph looked after the iron fabrication, and thus together they built up a very creditable and successful enterprise. Antony Sonderman continued in this business until he was sixty years of age, and when he retired he was in comfortable circumstances. He was not only a good workman and business man but highly respected for the admirable qualities of his character, and he left a very honored name to his descendants. His wife, who was born in Mercer County November 12, 1841, is still living. She was about 8 years of age when her parents died in 1849, and after that she lived with a sister in Columbus, Ohio, until her marriage January' 9, 1860. The educational equipment with which Frank J. Sonderman began his business career was acquired in the common schools of Fort Recovery. He was reared in and is an active member of the Catholic Church. Besides his dry goods and clothing business he is one of the directors of the People's. Bank at Fort Recovery, and is secretary and treasurer of the Farmers Feed Barn Company. On November 12, 1895, he married Mary A. Schunck, who belongs to one of the prominent old families of Mercer County. Her father, Jacob Schunck, was for twenty years superintendent of the Mercer County Infirmary. Mrs. Sonderman was born while her father was at the head of the Infirmary. Mr. and Mrs. Sonderman had three children : Catherine A., born October 6, 1897, and Agnes F., born July 12, 1902, are still living, and Madonna F., born June 5, 1900, died of typhoid fever November 22, 1915, at the Good Samaritan Hospital, Kokomo, Indiana, to which she was removed on November 11, 1915, from the St. Joseph's Academy, Tipton, Indiana. During Madonna's illness her mother was continually with her. HERBERT L. SUMMERS iS proprietor of the Broadway Garage at Findlay. He has made that the finest establishment of its kind in the city and one that represents the most complete and effective service. Mr. Summers is not a novice in the automobile business. He began as a helper and, not content with superficial knowledge, he has studied either in the factories or in some of the larger service companies until he is now practically a master of the mechanical detail represented by nearly every known make of car in America. This knowledge he translates into an effective service for the benefit of his customers at the Broadway Garage. Mr. Summers was born at Findlay .October 3, 1888, a son of Martin L. and Catherine J. (Meyers) Summers. In ancestry he is of a mingling of Pennsylvania Dutch and English stock. Mr. Summers attended the public schools of Findlay, put in two years as a student in the high school, and after that he started' out in the world to make his own way. For six months he was employed as stock keeper in the Knox five-and-ten-cent stores. For a year and a half he had some insurance experience as an employee of G. B. Crane. His next work 792 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO was with A. E. Smith in his grocery store for two years. The real opportunity of his life came when he found work as helper in Harry Bennett's auto repair shop. He remained with Mr. Bennett 2 ½ years and then became repairman of the automobile department of the C. F. Jackson department store. Desiring a. complete knowledge of automobile construction from first to last Mr. Summers next went to Flint, Michigan, and had a six weeks' course with the Buick Company, learning the various phases of assembling of motor parts, and the finer details of automobile construction and maintenance. After this post-graduate course, as it might be called, Mr. Summers returned to Findlay and took charge of the service department six months and for a short time was with the Auto Sales Company. He then went to Bowling Green and for a year was assembler for the Gramm Motor Car Company and for a time served as assistant foreman. On returning to Findlay he resumed employment with the Jackson Company service department until July, 1911, when he bought the garage and repair plant from the Jackson Company. Since then he has developed that as an independent business under the name Broadway Garage, and has made it second to none in Hancock County in point of equipment and service. Several times he has been compelled to enlarge his plans, and now contemplates another enlargement in the near future. Mr. Summers has never married, and the chief reason is that he has taken care of his mother and has given her the devotion which many men give to their own families. Mr. Summers' father died in 1915. He has two sisters: Bertha E., now Mrs. F. H. Hoisington, living at Cambridge, Ohio, and Lily J., who is a teacher of the fifth and sixth grades in the Washington school and is living with her mother. Mr. Summers is a Knight Templar Mason. In politics he is a republican, and is a member of the First Church of Christ. JOSEPH J. MOELLER. Forty-three years sums up the lifetime of Joseph J. Moeller, but more than half of that time has been spent in active business and there is no more progressive and successful citizen of Mercer County. His business interests and connections are now widespread, but his home is at St. Henry, where he is proprietor of the St:. Henry Lumber Company. Mr. Moeller was born on a farm in Mercer County, Ohio, April 7, 1873, a son of Henry and Mary (Lange) Moeller. Both his parents are still living and now reside in St. Henry. There were ten children altogether, and a brief record of them is as follows: Amelia is the wife of William Romer, cashier of the St. Henry Bank; Joseph J. is the second in age ; Anna is the wife of Frank B. Romer, a farmer near St. Henry ; Lewis is manager of the Fort Recovery Lumber Company ; Rosa is the wife of Joseph Macke, a farmer near St. Henry ; Leo is manager of the Moeller Lumber Company at Maria Stein; Frances is the wife of Henry J. Rangers, a farmer near St. Henry; Ferdinand is unmarried' and living with his parents; and two of the children are now deceased. With his boyhood days spent on a farm in Mercer County, Joseph J. Moeller had the environment and training of the average Ohio farm boy. The old home place was situated about a mile south of St. Henry. He attended the district schools and also furthered his education in St. Mary's Institute at Dayton. His business experience began in 1891 in the hardware store at St. Henry conducted by himself and William H. Romer. Later he sold his interests to Mr. Romer, and in 1893 engaged in the lumber business. Since then the lumber trade has absorbed the most of his time and energies, and he is a master of that branch of business. From St. Henry his business interests have extended to various other localities, including Fort Recovery, Celina, Coldwater, Maria Stein and Menden. He was one of the original incorporators, is a large stockholder, director and president of the Western Ohio Grain & Milling Company. This brief reference to his varied interests indicates his substantial place in business affairs, and it can be truthfully said that his success is due to his own efforts, since he started out a comparatively poor boy and has mastered circumstances and problems as they have arisen. On October 15, 1895, Mr. Moeller married Emma Romer, a daughter of Ben Romer. She 'was reared at St. Henry and attended .the common schools there. Mr. and Mrs. Moeller are the parents of four children : Bertha, born January 3, 1900, and a graduate of the tenth grade of the high school ; Euletta, born June 13, 1903, a graduate of the eighth grade of public schools; Marie, born April 24, 1908; and Marcella, born July 1, 1911. The family are members of the Catholic Church at St. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 793 Henry and in politics he is a democrat. He is secretary of the local Commercial Club, and being generous and public spirited as a citizen has given time to several local offices, including membership in the village council and as mayor of the 'town. FRED WINKELMANN comes of a sturdy Hanover family that has been identified with Henry County for about thirty years, and is one of the very progressive younger agriculturists of Freedom Township. His farm is on section 32 of that township, and by hard Work and good judgment he has carved out a material competence, has established a happy home and made a place for himself in the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. He was born in Hanover, Germany, February 9, 1873. His grandfather, Fred Winkelmann, spent all his life on a farm in Hanover, and he and other members of the family were Lutherans. Fred Winkelmann is a son of Henry . and Catherine (Heiberg) Winkelmann, both of whom were natives of Hanover. Henry was born in 1.834. Their children were all born in Hanover and were named Henry, Jr., Fred, Herman, Mary and Anna. In 1883 the son, Henry, Jr., came to the United States and located in Henry County, Ohio. In 1889 his younger brother, Fred Winkelmann, who was then 16 years of age, came to this country, making the voyage on the ship Vera from Bremen to New York. Subsequently the son Henry went hack to Germany and brought to this country his younger brother and sister, Herman and Mary, and in the same fall the parents and the only remaining child Anna came to America, and thus the entire family were reunited in Freedom Township of Henry County. The, parents lived on the 80-acre farm of their son Henry on the Ridge Road, and the father died there in the fall of 1899 at the age of sixty-four. His widow is still living with her son Henry, and is still active at the age of seventy-nine. Henry has never married. All the family are members of the Lutheran Church. The son Herman is married and lives in that township and has a son named Eldon Mary is the wife of Henry F. Meyer of Freedom Township and they have a son Karl. Anna is the wife of John Heiberg, a farmer on seventy acres in Napoleon Township, and their children comprise two sons and four daughters. Mr. Fred Winkelmann received his early education in his native land and also attended school after coming to Henry County. In 1905 he bought eighty acres of land in section 33, and during the last ten years has made a decided success in the management of this farm. His land is a fine black loam soil, and all but twelve acres is under cultivation. The twelve acres consist of some fine native timber comprising a number of the forest trees found in Northwest Ohio. He gets large yields per acre and crops of the highest quality, and also keeps some good, stock. In his home township Mr. Winkelmann married Miss Dora Eggers, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Norden) Eggers. Her father was born in Hanover, but came to this country when a young man. Her mother was born in Henry County, Ohio. They owned a farm. in Freedom Township and her father served as county commissioner; he died at Napoleon about five years ago. His widow is still living in Napoleon. Mr. and Mrs. Winkelmann have three 'daughters and a son: Helena, aged ten and now in the fifth grade of the public schools; Anna, aged six; Laura, aged three ; and Henry, born January 16, 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Winkelmann are members of St. John's Lutheran Church. He has served on the school board of his township, and politically is a democrat. MARTIN BROWN has been a resident of Van Wert County more than half a century. His productive years were spent as a farmer, merchant and business man, and with the ample fruits of his industry and judgment he is now enjoying retired life in the City of Van Wert. His birth occurred on a farm in Morrow County, Ohio, July 19, 1844. His father, Payne Philip Brown, was a native of New York State, where he was reared and educated, came in early manhood to Ohio and was an early settler in Morrow County. He reached that vicinity in time to secure eighty acres of Government land. His first home was a cabin of round logs, with a mud and stick chimney. Not only Morrow County but a greater part of the state was at that time a wilderness. It was before the days of canals or railroads, markets were few and far between, and the woods were filled with game and the streams with fish. -In some ways these abundant natural resources simplified the problem of existence, though all the settlers had exceedingly primitive standards. Having secured his tract of Government land, the father began the task of clearing and cultivating it. In a short time his first cabin took fire and burned down. It was replaced with 794 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO another similar structure, also of round logs. It was in this second home that Mr. Martin Brown first saw the light of day. Industrious, energetic and employing good judgment in his work, Payne Brown had a prosperous career. He made an excellent farm in Morrow County, and he also bought 160 acres of land in Wiltshire Township of Van Wert County. However, he kept his residence on the old farm which he had hewed from the wilderness until his death in October, 1872. His wife's maiden name was Elizabeth Van Ater. She was born near New Philadelphia, Ohio, and she survived her husband many years, passing away at the age of eighty-eight. There were twelve children who grew to maturity. Martin Brown attended some of the district schools which prevailed in Ohio fifty years ago. These schools were not remarkable either for their equipment or the breadth of their instruction program. However, he made the best of his opportunities, and he also gained a thorough discipline by work on the home farm. At the age of fifteen he was entrusted with the responsibilities of looking after the quarter section of land which his father had bought in Wiltshire Township of Van Wert County. He continued to live on that land until he was twenty-one. His next experience was as a clerk in the Town of Wiltshire, and in 1875 he came to Van Wert and engaged in the livery business. Returning to Wiltshire in 1883 he set up a general store, and after= wards sold agricultural implements there. With a record as a prosperous merchant, with ample means for his future needs, and with his family well provided for, Mr. Brown returned to Van Wert and is now enjoying the quiet of a comfortable home in that city. He was first married to Miss Frank Work, who died in 1873, her two children having died in infancy. In 1877 he married Miss Maud Graham, who died in 1882. His present wife before her marriage was Miss Hattie Parks. Mrs. Martin Brown was born on a farm about two miles northwest of Topeka in La Grange County, Indiana. Her father, Laban Parks, was born December 22, 1796, and his birthplace was either in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, or in some more easterly locality. He was of colonial ancestry. He grew to manhood in Ohio, but removed from this state to Indiana, living for a time near Goshen in Elkhart County, where he was one of the pioneers. From there he removed to La Grange County, buying land about two miles northwest of the present site of Topeka. Though Indiana is now the center of population of the United States, it was then on the fringe of settlement, and Laban Parks did the work of a true pioneer. He acquired 280 acres, the greater part of which he improved, and he remained successfully engaged in farming and stock raising until 1862. In that year he moved to the Town of Ligonier, where he lived retired until his death in his seventy-fourth year. Laban Parks married Mary J. Gilkison, who was born in Mansfield, Ohio, December 7, 1820, a daughter of James M. and Nancy (Coffinberry) Gilkison. James Gilkison, a native of Kentucky, was one of the first settlers in Mansfield. The home he owned there occupied either the lot on which the Christian Church now stands or the adjoining one. From Mansfield he later removed to Michigan, accompanied by his family, and spent his last years at Centerville, that state. His wife was a native of Virginia. The mother of Mrs. Brown died in February, 1891, in her seventy-first year. Mr. and Mrs. Brown take much pride in their family of seven children, whose names in order of birth are Carl, Maude, Ora, Ceile, Clare, Doyt and Dale. GLENN KING COLE. Hard work and no favors have brought Mr. Cole to a position in business affairs where he is considered one of the most progressive and successful merchants of Vanlue. Mr. Cole is still young and his achievements up to date are only an augury of what he may be expected to do in the more mature years of his career. He was born in Portage Township of Hancock County September 28, 1884, is of Scotch-Irish descent and is a son of Clarence Albert and Emma (King) Cole, his father being a substantial farmer of Hancock County. Mr. Cole attended the country schools until he was seventeen years of age and subsequently had a business course preparatory to his commercial career. In 1903 at the age of nineteen he began working in the oil fields of Hancock County. He put in seven years around the oil wells and in the oil fields, and much of the time he spent as rod puller. Then for a year and a half he was a salesman for the A. C. Hoyt seed and wool house of Fostoria. He then joined his two brothers in purchasing a stone crusher, and for the following year was in the contracting business. That was quite profit- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 795 able and he not only made money but saved it with a view to an independent career. Mr. Cole then bought a half interest in the store which he now owns, his partner being Fred Gemberling. The firm name was Gemberling & Cole, and their place of business was on Railroad Street. Six months later Mr. Cole bought his partner's entire interest and has since been one of the leading merchants in hardware, paints and oil, and roofing and other building supplies. In August, 1915, he moved the store to its present location on Main Street. Mr. Cole has made his store headquarters for the trade of his own township and two of the adjoining townships, and many customers are finding it to their special advantage to trade with this progressive young dealer. He is now making preparations to begin the manufacture of cement blocks as another department of his business enterprise. Mr. Cole was married in April, 1913, to Miss Flossie Gemberling, daughter of Isaac and Jennie (Hendricks) Gemberling. They have one son, David Clarence, who was born June 31, 1916. Mr. Cole is a republican in politics, is a member of the First Methodist Church and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. GEORGE JOHNSON is one of the capable and progressive business men and merchants of Hamler, and senior member of the firm of Johnson & Mack, who have one of the best general merchandise stores at Hamler. That trade extends all over the southern part of Henry County, and they have. constantly studied to improve their methods and enlarge their stock of goods in proportion to the varying demands of their patronage. Their store is on Randolph Street in Hamler and occupies a large building 26 by 85 feet. The firm has been in existence since 1906. Mr. Johnson was also one of the fourteen men who organized and took over the Henry County Bank in 1907. Since then Mr. Johnson has served as president. It is a copartnership institution, and now carries deposits averaging about 475,000 and a surplus of $20,000. While it is not the largest or oldest bank in Henry County, there is no other banking institution which has a better record of conservative and successful management of resources to the satisfaction of all concerned. Mr. Johnson was born in Defiance County, Ohio, September 12, 1875. He grew up in Napoleon Township of Henry County, was well educated in the schools of that city, graduating from the high school in 1894. At the age of nineteen he began teaching, and in that occupation he proved his value and worth and continued it for seven years. He then removed to Leipsic, Ohio, and for two years was a shoe merchant with J. F. Riser, to whom he then sold out. In 1903 he located at Hamler and has since been active in merchandising in that city. He and his brother, J. W. Johnson, a well known citizen of Henry County elsewhere mentioned on these pages, are joint owners in the "Round Bottom Farm," the old family homestead, and also other property. Mr. George Johnson was one of a family of two sons and two daughters, all still living, and three married, being children of John and Flora (Bisonett) Johnson. Further details of the family history are found elsewhere. George Johnson was married at Napoleon June 26, 1.901, to Miss Martha Konzen. Mrs. Johnson was born in Freedom Township of Henry County October 30, 1877, and was one of the younger children of Frank and Mary (Kilhoffer) Konzen. Her parents were born in Ross County, Ohio, were married at Chillicothe, the ancient capital of the state, and during the Civil war times moved to Henry County and settled in the woods of Freedom Township. Their first home there was a log cabin, and Mr. Konzen after years of work cleared up his homestead and made. a good farm. He died there when quite old, and his widow is now living at Napoleon at the age of seventy-five. The Konzens were members of the Catholic Church. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have four children : J. Lawrence, barn April 14, 1902, and now a student in the Hamler High School ; F. Margaret, born June 19, 1.906, also in school; and Robert F., born August 2, 1911 ; and Mary J., born March 1, 1913. The family are members of St. Paul's Catholic Church. Mr. Johnson is a democrat, has served as councilman and village clerk at Hamler, and is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. JOHN C. ROHRS One of the show places in the farming district of Henry County is that owned by John C. Rohrs, a very successful stock breeder, particularly well known as a horse man. His farm is known as Whitehall Stock Farm, and is located on section 23 of Freedom Township. His specialty is the breeding and importing 796 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO of thoroughbred Pereheron horses. All his stock is registered. He has a splendid imported stallion, Kabot, registered in France under the number 93860 and in America as No. 87278. At different times he has owned Roland, Paccador and Ambassador, all of them splendid breeders and with good local records. His horses have been exhibited at many fairs and have carried away seventeen first premiums and in 1913 his animals took the championship in a competition against all exhibitors. For thirty years Mr. Rohrs has been engaged in the breeding of Percherons. Undoubtedly his stallion Kabot is now one of the best of its strain in Northwest Ohio. He also owns Brilliant IV, No. 49768, which he had as an active breeder for many years and still keeps in his stables. This horse gained the championship over all in 1911, and his foals are well known. Mr. Rohrs is also a breeder of the spotted Poland China hogs. His farm comprises 120 acres of black loamy soil. Few places anywhere show such splendid results of cultivation. On the average his land produced forty bushels of wheat to the acre, sixty-five bushels of oats and about the same amount of barley and eighty-five bushels of corn. Naturally Mr. Rohrs has assembled all the mechanical facilities and building equipment necessary for carrying on his highly organized industry. His farm buildings are all painted white with brown trimmings, and his home is a house of ten rooms with all modern conveniences. His main barn is 40 by 70 feet, with an addition 20 by 48 feet. There is a horse barn 34 by 42 feet, a tool shed 20 by 42 feet, a granary and crib 24 by 32 feet, and a hog barn 24 by 32 feet. Mr. Rohrs was born in Hanover, Germany, January 15, 1863, a son of Frederick Rohrs. The family came from Germany to America in 1869 and located in Henry County when much of the land was wild and unimproved and when many of the most substantial families lived in log houses. Mr. John C. Rohrs has thus lived here since he was six years of age, and after getting his education in the local schools turned his attention to improving and cultivating the soil, and soon took up the livestock industry. On his awn farm he has cleared up much of the land and has constructed all the buildings. Mr. Rohrs was educated both in the German and English languages. When he started out he bought a part of the land included in his present farm, and has lived there and in that one place has made his splendid record as a stock farmer. In Henry County he married a neighbor girl, Miss Mary Hahn, who was born in Napoleon Township October 15, 1867. She was reared and educated there and is a daughter of Herman and Margaret (Mahnke) Hahn, who came from Hanover in 1866 and improved a new farm in Henry County. Her parents died when past eighty years of age. The Hahns were early members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Rohrs have been born the following children: Karl, who manages his father's eighty-acre farm in Napoleon Township, and married Erna Drewes of Ridgeville Township ; William, who is unmarried and assists his father in the home farm ; Altha, Herman, Alvina, Emma, and Valeta. All the children have received the best advantages of the local schools and all are confirmed in the Lutheran Church. Mr. Rohrs is one of the officials of St. Paul's Church. Politically he is an independent democrat. WILLIAM H. McKEE. As a merchant and citizen William H. McKee has been identified with the Village of Hamler in Henry County for the past twenty-four years. He has prospered in that community and the community has benefited from his presence. He is a man of action, one who undertakes everything vigorously and with a resolution that gets results. Mr. McKee is a native of Pennsylvania, and is of Irish extraction. His grandfather, John McKee, came from Ulster when yet a young man, crossing the ocean on a sailing vessel and after many weeks at sea landed at Baltimore, Maryland. From there he went to Perry County, Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania he married Miss Stambaugh, who was of German stock. He began life as a farmer in Pennsylvania, and he and his wife lived earnestly but quietly in their Perry County community until they passed away when nearly eighty years of age. They were members of the German Reformed Church and John McKee became a republican. Their three children were : Samuel; David, who is still living in Perry County, Pennsylvania, a widower, and has five living daughters, four of them married ; John, a retired business man in Perry, Pennsylvania, and the father of three daughters and one son, two of the daughters being still unmarried. Samuel McKee was born in Perry County, Pennsylvania, in 1830, came to manhood on HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 797 the farm, and married Margaret Kearn. She was born in Perry County, Pennsylvania, about 1834 and was of German ancestry but of Pennsylvania parentage. Her grandparents had come from Hanover, Germany, and spent the rest of their lives in Perry County, Pennsylvania, where her grandfather was a blacksmith. The Kearn people were of the Reformed Church. Margaret Kearn's parents were Samuel and Mary Kearn, both natives of Perry County. They were married at Andersonburg in that county, where her father became a blacksmith and was noted as a very skilled mechanic. A part of his business was the making of horse shoe nails before factories and machinery turned out such nails. Quite late in life Samuel Kearn bought a farm in Perry County and died there when past three score and ten. He was a Reformed Church man and a whig and republican in politics. Mrs. Margaret McKee was the second in a family of four daughters. Her sister Susie is the widow of 'Samuel Brickley and lives in Akron, Ohio, and has two living sons and a deceased daughter; her sisters Mary and Jane are both unmarried and live in Perry County. Samuel McKee and wife died in Perry County on their farm. He passed away in February, 1894, and his widow some years later, in April, 1904, at the age of sixty years eight months. They were married in 1865, soon after he had come back from service in the Civil war. Samuel McKee enlisted in 1861 and played the part of a gallant and faithful soldier until the end of the struggle. He was a private and later sergeant in Company F of the Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Infantry and was in many hard fought engagements, including the battle of Fort Steadman, where he received his only wound. He was cut across the forehead by a saber, and carried the scar to his grave. William H. McKee was third in a family of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, all of whom grew up, and eight are married and all have families except one. Mr. McKee was born in Madison Township of Perry County, Pennsylvania, August 15, 1869. He had a good education considering the standards of the time and the opportunities of his youth, and besides the public schools he attended Lockhaven State Normal. For four years he was a teacher in his native county. On February 21, 1893, he married Miss Jennie Trostle. She was born in Jackson Township of Perry County, Pennsylvania, April 18, 1868, and spent her early life in the home of her parents and had her education in the public schools. Her parents were George and Catherine (Faust) Trostle, both natives of Perry County. They were of German ancestry, and the Trostle family has lived in Perry County, Pennsylvania, more than a century. George Trostle and wife spent their active years on a good farm in Perry County, where he died March 28, 1915, at the age of seventy-seven, and his wife passed away in 1874, at the age of thirty-seven. He afterwards married for his second wife Elizabeth Swartz, who died in 1903, leaving two sons and two daughters. Mrs. McKee was next to the youngest in the family of five children, two sons and three daughters, all of whom are now married. Mr. and Mrs. McKee have two children. Roscoe, born May 7, 1896, is a graduate of the high school at Hamler and completed the electrical engineering course in the Ohio Northern University at Ada, graduating with the class of 1916. He is now putting his education to practical use as an employe of the Westing house Company at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The second child is Margaret P., who was born July 4, 1898, graduated from the high school in 1916, and is now teaching in the rural schools. In 1893, soon after his marriage, Mr. McKee brought his young wife to the Village of Hamler in Henry County. The town was then nestled in the woods and he has witnessed a remarkable growth and development in the past twenty-four years. On coming here he and his brother James bought the old established hardware store of J. L. Arnold. Two years later William McKee bought his brother's interest and became sole proprietor. He conducted the business successfully until 1897, when he sold it to H. F. Westrick. His attention was then turned to the. furniture and undertaking business, buying the establishment of William Randall, which he conducted alone for three years. Associated with Milton I. Trostle, he then established another hardware store and' that is still operated under the old firm name. In 1911 Mr. McKee bought back his first store and conducted it under his personal ownership until January, 1917. At that date the firm McKee & Wolf was replaced by an incorporation known as The Reliable Hardware Company. Mr. McKee is president of this company and the business is now one of the largest in its line 798 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO in Henry County. They handle general hardware and also an extensive line of agricultural implements. Mr. McKee is a republican in politics. For ten years he did all he could to maintain and improve the local schools as a member of the school board and has also served as a member of the city council. He has filled the various chairs in the Subordinate Lodge No. 715 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of Holgate Lodge of Masons. GEORGE HAYDEN MARSH. No name has a stronger hold upon the affections of the people of Van Wert County than that of George Hayden Marsh. He has spent the greater part of his life in the Town of Van Wert and his parents were prominent among its founders and upbuilders. Mr. Marsh is one of the type of wise men, now fortunately increasing, who believe in distributing a large portion of their wealth for the benefit of the public good, under their own personal direction. Two of his benefactions which mean very much to the people of Van Wert County are the recently completed Van Wert County Hospital, which is extraordinarily equipped, and the Van Wert County Young Women's Christian Association Building, the finest and most complete county institution of the kind in the United States, the two establishments just named involving the expenditure of about $250,000. George Hayden Marsh was born in Farmington, Connecticut, December 23, 1833, and has now reached the age of eighty-three. His grandfather, James Marsh, was a life-long resident of Connecticut. His father, George Marsh, a native of Connecticut, learned' the trade of clock-maker, an industry long associated with that state, and sold clocks all over New England and Canada. He made his first trip to Ohio in 1833, first locating in Athens and later removing to Dayton, where he engaged in the manufacture of clocks. While living in Dayton, he invested in Mercer and Van Wert County lands. He was associated with Peter Aughenbaugh and James Riley in laying out the Town of Van Wert. In 1841 he moved to Bond County, Illinois, engaged in farming and stock dealing for two years, and then returned to Connecticut. In 1845 he came back to Ohio and settled in Van Wert, where he remained until 1848, when he went to Southern Ohio. He died at Marshfield in this state in 1862. Before leaving Connecticut he married Caroline Gilbert, and four children were born to them : James, Henrietta, George. H. and B. Frank. George Hayden Marsh was twelve years old when his parents moved to Van Wert. James B. Smith, a lifelong friend, wrote an interesting article concerning the _coming of the Marsh family to Van Wert, and from this article, published in the Van. Wert Times in October, 1916, a few paragraphs are extracted: “Some years ago, the Colonel invited me to take a drive with him. About six miles east on the Ridge is a short crook in the road, and at that point on the north side, he said, `There,' pointing to the place, 'stood a tavern of the old time.' He then told me the story of his coming to Van Wert with his people. "There were no railroads in this section seventy years. ago, so they came by boat up canal from Cincinnati to Delphos. On arriving in Delphos, Father Marsh looked about the thin little speck of a village for teams to haul the family. and household goods to Van Wert. It so happened that there was a Van Wert man in Delphos that day and he volunteered to assist in loading and moving the goods. He had gone to Delphos on horseback, but the rough roads through the woods would require all the able-bodied passengers to be constantly on guard, so it was arranged that Master George H. should ride horseback to Van Wert. He was twelve years old at the time and much pleased with the prospect of a pleasure ride just ahead of him. When they reached the tavern, it was nearly dark and everybody was much worn, for the frightful roads just filled with projecting roots of heavy trees, with mud holes all along the route, made life very strenuous for everybody. Even the boy on horseback found 'there was no pleasure in it.' "The tavern extended its sheltering arms and they tarried there for the night, having covered possibly seven miles. This horrible road cannot be comprehended by the people of today and it is hard to conceive that it was the advance agent of the Lincoln Highway." The youthful George attended the public schools in Van Wert, such as existed at that time, and later he had better advantages in the college at Athens, after which he devoted himself to a career of strenuous business activity. At the age of sixteen, he worked as an assistant to a corps of engineers surveying the right of way for the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad. Later he worked in the clock fac- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 799 tory of his uncle, William L. Gilbert, a highly successful manufacturer of Winsted, Connecticut. At twenty-one, he entered the employ of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, first as a clerk to the master mechanic and later as a 'Mechanic in the machine shop. After leaving the railroad he engaged in farming and stock raising, and in 1871 he became manager of the Eagle Stave Works in Van Wert, of which he became sole proprietor later. He subsequently built stave factories at Belmore, Putnam County, and Latty, Paulding County, also being partner in a hoop factory at Scott, Ohio. Colonel Marsh has spent many years in active business, has amassed a large fortune and his influence has been widespread throughout this portion of Northwestern Ohio. His business interests have been largely extended, including stock in fifteen national banks and numerous manufacturing institutions. He has been an honored member of the Masonic fraternity for many years, being a thirty-second degree member of the Scottish Rite. Mr. Marsh married Miss Hilinda Vance, at Van Wert, November 26, 1862. Mrs. Marsh died September 19, 1900. One child was born to this union, Katie, now Mrs. Arthur I. Clymer. C. H. KAECK. One of the oldest and most honorable trades known to man is that of the blacksmith, a vocation that has always called into its ranks the strong and the sturdy, the skilled artisan and the perfected mechanic. In every community in which agricultural work is done the blacksmith shop and the wagon works are absolute necessities, and the locality of Fryburg is well represented in this direction 'by C. H. Kaeck. Mr. Kaeck has been engaged in this business all his life, and for twenty-three years has been the proprietor of a business which has attracted and held the patronage of the people of this locality in Auglaize County. Mr. Kaeck was born on the old Kaeck homestead farm in the Fryburg. community, March 15, 1873, and is a son of George and Sophia (Siebold) Kaeck. His paternal grandfather, John Kaeck, was born in Schwop, Germany, and as a young man emigrated to the United States, shortly thereafter locating in Auglaize County, where he took up Government land and for the remainder of his life engaged in agricultural pursuits. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Kaeck, Casper Siebold, was born in Germany and on coming to America located in the vicinity of Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he rounded out his career. George Kaeck was born in Auglaize County, where he was reared and educated, and started out in life a poor boy. For a time he made his home at. Port Wayne, Indiana, being employed on boats on the Maumee River, but subsequently returned to the home farm, where he continued to follow agricultural work until his retirement. He is still living, and has reached the advanced age of seventy-three years. He is the owner of 100 acres of well-cultivated land and is known as one of the substantial men of his community. Mr. Kaeck is a democrat in politics and has served as township trustee in past years.. With Mrs. Kaeck he belongs to the German Lutheran Church. Mrs. Kaeck, who was born in Germany and came to America in girlhood with her parents, also survives and is seventy-two years old. They have been the parents of eleven children, of whom ten are still living, namely : Elizabeth, wife of John Eberle ; Eliza, who married Charles Knerr ; Franie, who married Lewis Knerr ; C. H.; George W.; Louis, deceased, who married Rosie Sammetinger ; John, who married Maggie Engelhaupt ; Rosie, who married Adam Knerr ; Annie, who married Clarence Vagley ; Carrie, who married Adolph Hibner, deceased ; and Lucinda, who married Theodore Ruck. C. H. Kaeck was educated in the district schools and as a youth learned the trade of blacksmith, which he has followed to the present time. In the year 1894 he established a blacksmith shop and wagon works at Fry-burg, and here he has built up a good business in both directions and is known as a skilled, honest and reliable workman. He devotes his entire time to his business and has had little leisure for politics, but has served eight years as township treasurer. He votes the democratic ticket. Mr. Kaeck was married June 28, 1900, to Miss Carrie M. Ruck, who was born in Auglaize County, daughter of Fred Ruck, also of this county, and they have three children : Harold, Florence and Miriam, all attending school. Mr. and Mrs. Kaeek are members of the German Lutheran Church. In .business circles Mr. Kaeck has a reputation for honorable dealing and fidelity to engagements, and as a citizen of Fryburg he has been identified with a number of public-spirited movements organized for the general welfare.