900 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO dom of Hanover, Germany, October 2, 1861, and this people on both sides were all of old Hanover stock. His grandfather Leopold Peper married Elizabeth Rehr, and they spent all their lives in Hanover, where he died at the age of seventy and she at eighty: They were members of the Lutheran Church and he is a carpenter by trade. Peter Peper, father of William H., married Catherine Bockelman, and they lived in that part of Hanover where William H. was born. The mother died when about forty and the father at the age of seventy. He married a second time and had two daughters. William H. Peper was the oldest of two sons and three daughters. He grew up in Germany, learned the trade of carpenter and had the usual education supplied German youth in the common schools. On July 11, 1883, accompanied by his brother August and his half-sister Caroline he took passage on a steamship at Hamburg and fifteen days later on July 26th they landed at New York City. Mr. Peper came on west to Defiance County, Ohio, and for several years lived in Adams Township and was a carpenter and contractor. He gave up working at his trade to enter the lumber business at Hamler, and he has found a gratifying success in this business and through its diligent prose- cution has afforded a good service to his home community. He has prospered, and was one of the organizers of the Holgate Commercial Bank, is a large stockholder and one of its directors. For four years Mr. Peper was honored by his fellow citizens who kept him in the office of mayor, and he did much to improve the town during that time. He has also been the recipient of other positions of honor and trust. In politics he is a democrat, and he and his wife are active members of the Lutheran Church and he is on the Church board. Mr. Peper was married in Napoleon Township to Miss Minnie Panning. Mrs. Peper was born in Henry County forty-five years ago, a daughter of Detrick and Sophia (Bredow) Panning. Her parents were also natives of Hanover, Germany, but were married in Henry County and became well to do farming people of Napoleon Township. Mr. and Mrs. Peper take great delight in their household of children. Edward E., the oldest, is now clerk in a department store at Colorado Springs, Cclorado, and by his marriage to Clare Brayer has a son Robert. Alvina, the second of the children, is the wife of Rev. E. G. Appel, a Lutheran minister at Dafoe, Michigan. The rest of the children are all at home, and their names are Arnold, Lydia, Helena, Clara, William and Sigmund.. Helena is in high school and the three younger children are still in the grammar schools. G. FRED ROTHENBERGER was one of the splendid citizens of Henry County, where he lived to clear up and improve as fine 'a farm as can be found within the limits of that county, and after a long and useful career he retired to a comfortable town home at Holgate, where he resided until his death. Mr. Rothenberger was not only a very successful farmer, but was widely known for his reliability and .good' judgment in all of life's relations. He was a man of information, although as a boy he had only meager advantages in the way of schooling. He made it a point to inform himself upon the great issues of life and on current events, and he took pleasure in all that was going. on about him. Personally he was kindly, genial, companionable, and altogether his life was just and of good report. His full name was Gottlieb Fred Rothenberger. He was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, August 19, 1837, and died at his home in Holgate, Ohio, January 13, 1914, when in his seventy-seventh year. His parents were Jacob P. and Hannah (Stuber) Rothenberger, who were also natives of the Kingdom of Wuertemberg. The mother died in the prime of life, about 1840. She left three children, Fred being the second. Henry also came to America, was a farmer and died in Defiance County, leaving eight children. Frederica, the only daughter, married Daniel Fribley, a prominent man of Holgate. She is now living with her daughter Bessie in Toledo, and is still active at the age of seventy-nine. She was the mother of four daughters. Jacob Rothenberger married for his second wife Dorothy Spinlen. Then in 1845 they came with their family across the ocean to the United States, being forty-eight days on the water. They located in Medina County, Ohio, where they had their home for about five years, and in 1850 arrived in the wilderness of Henry County. Jacob Rothenberger located in Flat Rock Township on a tract of new and unimproved land. This land was subsequently acquired by purchase by his son Fred. His second wife died at that home in Flat Rock Township in 1854,, leaving five children. For his third wife Jacob Rothenberger married Mrs. Matilda (Dixon) De- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 901 Long. Mrs. DeLong by her first husband was the mother of Mrs. Fred Rothenberger, widow of the late Fred Rothenberger. She died while visiting in Medina County in 1865, and had no children by her second husband. For his fourth wife Jacob Rothenberger was married in 1867 to Margaret Bower. She had one son and died some years after her husband. Jacob Rothenberger died in Henry County April 30, 1890, at the age of seventy-nine years, ten months. The late Fred Rothenberger grew to manhood in Defiance and Henry counties. He had such advantages as were supplied by the common schools of that day. He grew up thrifty and industrious, and his career may be said to have been successful from the start. He early became a land buyer, and with the assistance of his capable wife he soon had property and an excellent home. In Florida Township he acquired 320 acres of as fine land as was ever tilled, and that splendid property is still owned by Mrs. Rothenberger. It is improved with two sets of farm buildings, and its productivity is as great today as it was when it first came under the management of Mr. Rothenberger. From his farm with ample material prosperity Mr. Rothenberger retired to Holgate in August, 1901. There he bought a fine home of ten rooms on Greenler Street, and after that spent a—rather quiet life. He was married in Flat Rock Township March 9, 1861, to Eliza J. DeLong. Mrs. Rothenberger was born in Ohio August 25, 1844, and at the age of six years was taken to Defiance County, where she was reared. Her father, Elias DeLong, died at Defiance, where he had been employed as a miller and millwright. He was a native of Medina County, and his father was a Pennsylvania German, while his mother was of Canadian. French ancestry. His parents were married in Pennsylvania and were pioneers in Medina County, Ohio, where they spent their last years as farmers. Elias DeLong was married in Medina County to Matilda Dixon. She had an Irish father and a German mother. After her husband's death Mrs. DeLong married Jacob Rothenberger, as above stated: The late Fred Rothenberger was stimulated in his business career and in the acquirement of prosperity by the encouragement of a noble wife and by a large family of promising children who relied upon him for their early advantages. Hannah, the oldest, died when ten years of age. Alva is a successful mer- Vol. II-16 chant at Montpelier, Ohio, and by his marriage to May Bordner, of Henry County, has three children, Pierre, Lyle and Rachael. Harry is a farmer on the old homestead in Flat Rock Township, and married Maggie Klenhenn, but they have no children. Jennie lives in Michigan, and by her marriage to O. J. McCrilles has three children, Joyce, James and Jane, all in school. Fred, Jr., is a hardware merchant at Napoleon, being associated with his brother Carey, and he married Della Isenhart and has a daughter Carmen. Carey, a merchant at Napoleon, first married Lula Fisher, who died leaving a son Paul, and his second wife was Olga Buchenburg, of Holgate.• Emanuel has built up a successful business as a general hardware merchant at Holgate, and married Madge Gehrett, of Deshler, Ohio. Lillian was graduated in 1904, when seventeen years of age, from the Holgate High School, and several years later she became the wife of Charles Cole, of Sherwood, Michigan. Mr. Cole has for a number of years been a successful traveling salesman. Mr. and Mrs. Cole now make their home with Mrs. Rothenberger. Their children are : Jennie Fern, attending the public school; Charles H., also in school ; and Margaret May. Mrs. Rothenberger and her family are all active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her. son Harry for fourteen years was superintendent of the Sunday school. The sons are all affiliated with the democratic party. HIRAM HOWARD FONCANON, though a native of Seneca County, has spent nearly all his life in Henry County, and having devoted his best years and energies profitably to the business of farming, is now enjoying retired life at Liberty Center. His original ancestors were German people. They settled in Pennsylvania in the early days, and his grandfather, Joseph Foncanon, spelled the name Foncannon. Joseph Foncannon was born in Pennsylvania, became a farmer, and married Mary, better known as . Polly, Poorman, who was also a Pennsylvania girl. After their marriage they started west and made settlement in Perry County, Ohio. While the lands of Northwest Ohio were practically ceded to the United States Government by the Indians after the treaty of 1795, it was nearly twenty years before much actual settlement was made, because of continued strife between the Indians and the white peo- 902 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO   ple, and also because of the unsettled conditions prevailing during the War of 1812. It was about the close of that war that the Foncanon family came to Ohio. Perry County was a total wilderness, and like other early corners they lived in a log cabin in extreme simplicity. It was in the log cabin in Perry County that John C. Foncanon, father of Hiram Howard, was born in 1818. A few years later the family moved to Seneca County, and for several years lived among the Indians along the banks of Sandusky River three miles south of Tiffin. Again their home was a log cabin, and the work of prime necessity confronting the father and the older children was the clearing of the forest and the widening of the area of cultivation. Joseph Foncanon with the help of his children developed a place of 160 acres, and there he and his wife died when very old. They were members of the Reformed Church, and he was an old-line democrat. The children reared by these worthy people were John G., Michael, William Dow, T. Jefferson, Henry J., Mary A., Joseph W. and Oliver. All of them married except Jefferson, and all those that married had children. The only one now living is Joseph, who is a widower residing at Green Springs, Ohio. John C. Foncanon spent his early life on the old home in Seneca County, and was married there to Rebecca Ann Kridler. She was born in Seneca County in 1825, and grew up on a farm a mile east of Tiffin. Her father, Samuel Kridler, and wife were natives of Pennsylvania, and after their marriage went to Seneca County, Ohio, making the journey overland with teams and wagons. It fell to their lot to clear up a tract of wild woodland near Tiffin, and they succeeded in making a good farm of 100 acres near that city, and finally retired from the farm to a home in Tiffin, where Mr. Kridler, who was born in 1800, died in 1872. His wife died a year or so later, and she was born in 1804. They were members of the German Reformed Church, and after the formation of the republican party he became a radical republican. He was a man of considerable prominence in a local way. Of his large family all the children married except one daughter, and all are now deceased. When John C. Foncanon and wife were married they started out as tenant farmers near Tiffin. Three children were born to them there, and seeking a newer country with better prospects they loaded their possessions on a wagon and with teams drove overland to Henry County. Here John C. Foncanon bought a piece of land without improvements and a log cabin home a half mile south of the site where is now located the attractive Village of Liberty Center. With the aid of his children he cleared up that land and lived there in contented prosperity until his death on March 15, 1892. His widow died April 1, 1908. They were thorough Christian people, helpful in neighborhood matters, loyal and sympathetic. He was a member of the Reformed Church, was an elder in the church, and both he and his wife assisted in organizing the society of that denomination in their community and were charter members. As a democrat he held several minor offices. A brief record of their children follows : Samuel L., the oldest, is now a retired farmer living at Wauseon, Ohio, and has two children, Maud B., who is married and living in Indiana, and Estella, married and living at Columbus, Ohio.. The second of the children is Hiram Howard Foncanon, who was born near Tiffin, Ohio, July 12, 1848, and was still a small child when his parents came to Henry County. Joseph Winchester, the next in age, lives in Seneca and his daughter Avo is married and lives in Toledo. George U., a resident of Liberty Center, is married but has no children. Mary E. married Jacob Leist, and they have a daughter Nettie, who is also married and has a daughter. They live in California. William H. and Charles were the two youngest children, and the former died in young manhood, while the latter died after his marriage, leaving two sons. Hiram Howard Foncanon grew up on the old farm near Liberty Center. He improved his advantages at the local schools, and eventually succeeded to the ownership of a part of the homestead, now owning about fifty-three acres. He has a six-room house, a good barn, and is one of the successful crop growers of the county. Some years ago he left the farm and bought a good nine-room house in Liberty Center and also some adjacent property. In 1876, in Liberty Township, Mr. Foncanon married Miss Florence Alspaugh. She was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, in the Village of Baltimore, May 2, 1851. In 1865 she came with her parents to Liberty Township of Henry County. She is a daughter of Michael and Mary (Lantz) Alspaugh, who acquired a tract of unimproved land in section 30 of Liberty Township and developed HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 903 a farm of 126 acres. They finally retired to Liberty Center, where Mr. Alspaugh died in 1888. He was born in 1804. His wife had died in middle life. They were members of the Lutheran Church, and Mr. Alspaugh as a democrat took an active part in local affairs, serving as justice of the peace and trustee. He and his wife were natives of Pennsylvania, but were married in Fairfield County, Ohio, where all their children, twelve in number, were born. Four of these children are living, all married and in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Foncanon are active members of the Reformed Church. He is an elder in his local society. They have one daughter,' Lulu Grace, who was born June 22, 1877, was graduated from the Liberty Center High School at the age of eighteen, subsequently taught school for three years, and then married Dallas Bowers, who is now in the grocery business at Liberty Center. Mr. and Mrs. Bowers have a daughter, Florence Catherine, who was born October 20, 1908. While looking after his own interests Mr. Foncanon has not neglected the public welfare, and has given his hearty support to every movement for improvement. For sev-eral years he has been a member of the city council of Liberty Center. C. WILLIAM ROTHENBURGER died at his home in Holgate, Henry County, April 25, 1906. Thus there passed away one of the county's mast substantial citizens. He was always reckoned as a man of solid worth, whether merely his fortunes as a farmer were considered or his character and public spirit. About five years before his death he had retired from his farm in Pleasant Township. As a farmer he gave thirty-five years to the direction of his excellent homestead. of 160 acres, and it had been largely improved and developed under his immediate supervision and by the labor of his own hands. As a capable farmer he provided for his own needs and those of his family and set an example as an industrious citizen which was not with-out its own considerable influence as a factor in community life. He made a good farm, managed it well, and left it with excellent improvements. This farm is still owned by his family, and the large barn upon it was built since his death by Mrs. Rothenburger. The farm has two complete sets of farm buildings. Mr. Rothenburger did general farming and lived on the homestead from his marriage until he retired to Holgate. C. William Rothenburger was born at Liverpool in Medina County, Ohio, Novem-ber 17, 1847, and was not yet fifty years of age when he died. His parents, Jacob and Fredericka (Ryder) Rothenburger, were both born in Germany, but were married in Medina County, Ohio, where all their children were born. Later they moved to Henry County, Ohio, a short time before the Civil war, locating on the north side of the Maumee River. Some years later they moved to Flatrock Township, a few miles away from their original settlement in Napoleon Township, and there they lived until the father died at the age of fourscore years. His widow survived him and was also in advanced age when she died. The late Mr. Rothenburger was a child when his parents came to Henry County and he grew up here, had the advantages of the local schools, and after reaching his majority put to wise use the training and experience he had acquired in working the home farm. He was one of the loyal democrats in his county, and filled several local offices in Pleasant Township. In Flatrock Township Mr. Rothenburger married Miss Catherine L. Leonhart. She was born on the River Rhine in Germany August .22, 1850, and when eighteen months old was brought to the United States on a sailing vessel. This vessel was a number of weeks in making the passage, and she and her parents landed at New York City and came on west from there to Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Her parents were Peter and Margaret (Barth) Leonhart and there was one other child who came across the ocean, Mary Elizabeth. The family located on a small farm in Tuscarawas County, and lived there six years. During that time two other children were born, Frederick and Caroline. When these children were still infants the Leonharts moved on to Henry County, locat-ing in Flatrock Township on forty acres of wild land. Mr. Leonhart set himself to the task of clearing and improving this and sub-sequently added another tract of forty acres in the midst of the woods. All of this finally came under cultivation, and he built a good house, barn and other buildings, and spent his last years there in comfort and plenty. He died in 1893 at the age of seventy-three, and his wife on September 18, 1904, at the age of eighty-four. They were reared in the Lutheran Church in the old country, but in Henry County became members of the Re- 904 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO formed Church and died in that faith. Mr. Leonhart was a democrat. After he and his wife came to Henry County two other children were born, Margaret and one that died in infancy. Three daughters are still living: Mrs. Rothenburger; Mrs. Charles Barth, a widow living at Toledo, and Mrs. E. M. De-Long of Stanton, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Rothenburger had two children, Rev. William Fred and Margaret E., the latter being the wife of Charles A. Wahl, who is elsewhere referred to in this publication. Rev. William Fred Rothenburger has attained a position as one of the ablest ministers of the Christian Church in Ohio. He was born in 1874 in Pleasant Township, attended the public schools, graduated in 1898 from the Ohio Northern University at Ada, and subsequently spent two years in Hiram College. It was during his college life that he experienced a change of faith and became identified with the Christian Church. Taking up the ministry he was assigned to a pastorate in Ashtabula, remained there four years, and then had a fine suburban church in Chicago at Irving Park. In 1908 Rev. Mr. Rothenburger came to Cleveland as pastor of the Church of Christ at Franklin Circle in that city. During the past eight years he has built up one of the strongest churches of his denomination in Cleveland, and is prominent both as a citizen and minister in that city. He was married in Cleveland to Miss Katie Parmley Teachout. She was a native of Ohio, was reared in Cleveland, and had also been a student in Hiram College. They were married in Cleveland and she died in that city eight years ago, leaving one daughter, Ruth May, now nine years of age. Rev. Mr. Rothenburger was married to his second wife in Buffalo, New York. Her maiden name was Lela Avery, and for four years prior to her marriage she was a teacher in the Cleveland High School. To this union was born one daughter, Ada J., now one year old. HENRY H. MEYER is a substantial example of the thrifty class of people sent to Henry County by the Kingdom of Hanover. No one class of citizens have done more for the fundamental development and improvement of this county 's farming communities than the Hanoverians. Mr. Meyer was born in his native kingdom June 23, 1860. He is of long lived stock, of sturdy and substantial people who were prin cipally identified with agricultural life in the old country. His father Henry was an irrigation ditcher and a worker in woods. He died in 1870 in Germany in the prime of life. He married Magdalena Witte, a native of Hanover. At the death of her husband she was left a widow with three sons and two daughters. These children were : Fred, now deceased ; Henry H. ; Herman, who is now married and lives in Adams Township of Defiance County and has two daughters and one son ; Mary, who died in Henry County after her marriage to Fred Meyer, leaving two sons and two daughters ; and Anna, who is the wife of Henry Panning, a retired farmer originally of Freedom Township but now living in Napoleon, and they are the parents of four sons and one daughter. The widowed mother brought this family of children to America in March, 1872. They took passage on the steamship Weser at Bremen, and after a passage of eleven days landed in New York City. From there. they came on to Napoleon and soon rented a small home in Adams Township of Defiance County. Possessing very slender means, the children soon found employment on nearby farms, and gradually the condition of the family was raised to the average grade of prosperity found among the farmers of this rich section of Ohio. The widowed mother died in Henry County about eighteen years ago, when three -score years of age. She and her husband were active members of the Lutheran Church, a religion which has been characteristic of the family for several generations. Henry H. Meyer was twelve years of age and celebrated that birthday after reaching America. Such education as he had was obtained in German schools before coming to this country. He has been dependent upon his own resources and is in every sense a self-made man. After his marriage he made his first purchase of land. This was eighty acres of wild soil in Tiffin Township of Defiance County. There he set sturdily to work to clear and drain, and made it his home for fourteen years. In the meantime he improved the buildings and erected a substantial barn 40x65 feet. In March, 1900, having sold that farm, he bought eighty-one acres of improved land on the Ridge Road in Ridgeville Township of Henry County. This farm is in section 25. Since then Mr. Meyer's thrift and management have added forty acres more, and now the whole is well improved. It has a substantial ten-room house, and a bank HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 905 barn 36x55 feet. The clearing is all done, and the fields have for many seasons grown abundantly of the staple crops of this climate. Mr. Meyer retired from farming several years ago and built an eight-room frame house on a cement foundation in Ridgeville Corners. He also owns fourteen acres within the village limits. Thrift and industry have been the keynotes of his success. Besides farming he has also operated considerably as a trader. In accumulating his success the chief factor besides himself has been his good wife. He married her in Adams Township of Defiance County thirty-one years ago. Her maiden name was Sophia Behrens. Mrs. Meyer was born and reared and educated in Adams Township, and is a daughter of Fred and Dora (Haase) Behrens. Both of them were natives of Germany, the former of Mecklenburg and the latter of Hanover, and came as young people to America, marrying in Defiance County. There they started out to carve a fortune and securing wild land cleared it up and eventually had a farm of 200 acres. There they spent the rest of their years, Mr. Behrens dying at the age of eighty-four and his wife at sixty-nine. They were hard working and honest people, and left honored names in their communities. They were very active members of the Lutheran Church. Of their family of two sons and four daughters all are married and have children of their own. While they have no children, Mr. and Mrs. Meyer adopted at the age of three years a son, William, who is now twenty-five years of age. They gave him careful, home training and educated him in the schools of the locality, including the high school at Ridgeville Corners. He became a student of electricity and is now employed by the Electric Maintaining Company of Toledo. This adopted son married Anna Schleser of Adams Township in Defiance County. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer are active members of the St. Peter's Lutheran Church, and in politics he is a democrat. HENRY CLAY THEW has been one of the progressive young business men of Lima for the past thirteen years, has built up a distinctive enterprise as a jeweler in that city, and is also a partner with W. T. Robinson in the Reo Sales Company, operating an agency for the Reo car and a garage. Born in Hardin County, Ohio, December 31, 1879, Henry Clay Thew is a son of John Wesley and Martha (Stewart) Thew. His father, who was a farmer, was a native of Marion County, Ohio, while his mother was born in West Virginia. After attending the public schools and attaining the equivalent of a substantial education, Mr. Thew learned the jeweler's trade and is a graduate of the Optical College at St. Louis, Missouri. He was first in business beginning in 1898 and continuing for three years, at Caledonia, Ohio. Then in 1901 he moved to Lima and opened business under the name of H. C. Thew, jeweler and optician. Mr. Thew is a member and treasurer of Olivet Presbyterian Church and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Maccabees. On December 26, 1904, he married Laura Barth. Her father, William Barth, is connected with the Solar Refining Company of Lima. They have two children : Harold Clay and Mary Martha. Politically Mr. Thew is a republican. JOHN W. JOHNSON, at the age of thirty-five, has attained a position of leadership among the business men of Henry County, and at Napoleon is one of the largest dealers in seeds and wool. In fact he is perhaps the oldest merchant in these lines, in point of years of continuous service, in Henry County. For about ten years he has carried on business at Napoleon and at Holgate. In 1910 at Holgate he began business under the firm name of Harrison & Johnson, dealers in feeds, grain, seeds and wool. Their plant was burned August 27, 1911. Then followed twenty months of litigation with the insurance firms, the claims being finally adjusted with a 40 per cent discount. In April, 1913, Mr. Johnson became associated with Yarnell Brothers in a similar line of business at Napoleon. Since April, 1916, Mr. Johnson has been in business on his own account, and recently completed his fine plant at Railroad and North Perry streets adjoining the Wabash railway. He has a large warehouse, stockroom for the storage of seed and wool, and an office building 20 by 60 feet. His trade territory covers all this section of Ohio and is both wholesale and retail. John W. Johnson was born on the old Roundbottom farm in Napoleon Township of Henry County June 10, 1881. When he was eight years of age his parents moved to Napoleon, where he grew up and received his education, and he also had the advantages of 906 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO further training in the Northern Ohio Uni-versity at Ada. His first experience in busi-ness was as a clerk with Spangler Brothers & Company, and later with Ernest Spangler. Since then he has been in business on his own account, and is actively associated with his brother, George A. Johnson, in the ownership of the Roundbottom farm in section 35 of Napoleon Township. This is one of the best farms of Henry County and lies on the east bank of the Maumee River, comprising 141 acres of well improved land with an excellent set of farm buildings. The parents of Mr. Johnson were John and Flora (Bissonette) Johnson. His father was born in Wayne County, Ohio, and his mother in Canada, and both are of French ancestry. They were married in Defiance County, John Johnson's parents having died in Hancock County. John Johnson and wife after their marriage lived for some years in Highland Township of Defiance County. Two children were born to them there : George A., who is now in business in Hamler in Henry County and is married and has a family ; and Rosa, wife of M. A. Kuntz, who is connected with the Cooley Drug Company of Toledo. After the birth of these two children the Johnson family moved to Napoleon Township in Henry County, where the father bought the Roundbottom farm. This was in 1879. On this farm John W. Johnson and a sister, Josephine, were born. Josephine is now living with her widowed mother in Napoleon on Hobson Street. Mrs. John Johnson is now 'about sixty-nine years of age. Her husband died in Napoleon in July, 1907, aged sixty-five. He was a Protestant, while his widow is a member of the Catholic Church. Politically he was a democrat. John W. Johnson was married in Detroit, Michigan, to Martha Groll, who was born near Holgate in Henry County in 1883 and received her early education there, completing her training in Oberlin College. Her parents were John C. Groll and wife, whose maiden name was Mary Yetter. Mr. Groll was born in Germany, while his wife was a native of Ohio. He made an honorable record as a soldier throughout the Civil war and served as county treasurer of Henry County two terms. He is now retired and lives on Woodland Avenue in Napoleon. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have one son, John Howard, born in May, 1907. Politically Mr. Johnson is a democrat, and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. STEPHEN A. CROZIER. One of the best patronized places of trade in Liberty Center is the store of Stephen A. Crozier. Mr. Crozier has been in business at Liberty Cen-ter for the past ten years, having established his general merchandise stock there in 1905. He handles all classes of goods required for the local trade, and has a large and well equipped store 40 by 75 feet. Prior to his removal to Liberty Center Mr. Crozier was in the grocery and meat market business at McClure under the firm name of Crozier & Garster Brothers. Most of his life has been spent in Henry County. He was born in Defiance County, Ohio, July 23, 1860, and was two years of age when his parents moved to Texas in Henry County. At that time Texas was a better business town than either Napoleon or Defiance. Its mills made it the leading milling center of Henry County and it also had a number of stores, shops and a large resident population. It was in that vicinity that Mr. Crozier spent his early boyhood, attending the local schools, and in May, 1879, at the age of nineteen; he entered the service of John W. Geering as a clerk. Mr. Geering died in less than a year, and his successor was John Wesley Wright. With that veteran merchant Mr. Crozier was associated for twenty-three years, and mast. of the time had the main responsibilities of the entire business. After leaving the service of Mr. Wright he engaged in the grocery trade at McClure as already noted and from there moved to Liberty Center. Mr. Crozier is a son of the late Squire William Crozier, one of the most widely es-teemed citizens of Henry County. He was born in Ireland about 1821, and when sixteen years of age was brought to this country by his father on a sailing vessel. From New York City the father Moved to Pennsylvania and later to Piqua, Ohio, where he died, and from there young Crozier came to Defiance. Squire Crozier's first wife was Miss Ross, who died after the birth of two sons and three daughters, all of whom are living and married. His second wife, and the mother of Stephen A., was Louisa Lucas, who was born in Lucas County, Ohio, where her ancestors had settled in pioneer times and had given their name to the county. Squire Crozier and his second wife had three children in Defiance County, and they then moved to Texas in Henry County, locating in. Washington Township. There he engaged in the HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 907 woolen mill industry, which he subsequently sold and bought a sawmill, conducting it with Mr. Smith as a partner for many years. The mother of Stephen A. Crozier died at Texas in June, 1881, when past fifty years of age. Squire Crozier lived out his long and useful career in Henry County and died in 1906. For many years he served as a justice of the peace and was known far and wide as Squire Crozier. He was an old line democrat, and exercised more than an ordinary influence in public affairs. He had ability as a speaker, and many times appeared in some of the old log schoolhouses of the country campaigning in the interests of his friends. Stephen A. Crozier was one of a number of children. The survivors are himself and his brother James R. and three sisters : Mrs. Doctor Ennes of Liberty Center ; Mrs. Gertrude Wadsworth of Detroit, Michigan ; and Mrs. Emma Miers, wife of John E. Miers, who is editor and publisher of the Liberty Press, at Liberty Center. Stephen A. Crozier was married in Henry County at Liberty Center to Miss Mary E. Woodward. She was born at Delta, Ohio, in 1865, received most of her education there, but lived in a number of places in Northwest Ohio. Her parents were John and Anna (Thompson) Woodward, both natives of Ohio. Her father was a blacksmith, a most excellent workman, but had itinerant habits and moved around a great deal. He died in Henry County and his wife at Delta.. Both were well advanced in years. They were members of the Methodist Church and Mr. Woodward was a republican. Mr. and Mrs. Crozier have five children : Rollo, who died in December, 1914, married Maggie Parsons, and left two children, Verna M. and Nondes, both of whom are in school. The second child, Sarah L., died at the age of twenty months. Pearl is the wife of R. B. Warner, a farmer in Washington Township of Henry County, and their children are Stephen and Lowell G., twins, both now in school, and Beatrice L. and Ducie L. Earl Wesley, who like the other children was educated in the grammar and high schools, after employment in different places for some years returned to the service of his father and for the past five years has been his principal clerk ; he married Miss Gracie West, who was horn, reared and educated in Liberty Center. Lvelah E., the fifth and youngest child, is her father's capable housekeeper. Mrs. Crozier died at Liberty Center April 6, 1896. She was an active member of the Methodist Protestant Church. Politically Mr. Crozier is a republican. He is a past noble grand of Texas Lodge No. 409, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has also filled the chairs in the encampment at Liberty Center. His son Earl is a member of Nest 1351 of the Order of Owls at Liberty Center. HENRY F. POHLMAN and family live in the city of Napoleon. His business is in the country. About thirty years ago Mr. Pohlman started out as a modest farmer on something like eighty acres of land. He now has under his proprietorship and direction three splendid stock farms which in point of productiveness, efficiency of management, and general arrangement have no superiors in Northwest Ohio. A visit to these farms is an inspiration to every progressive agriculturist. Everywhere in that part of the state Pohlman methods are coming to be accepted as the highest standard of thorough and profitable husbandry. All his three principal farms are in Monroe Township of Henry County. He has in fact four different farms, and they go by numbers, Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. Farm No. 1 comprises 240 acres. Practically every acre is either under cultivation or has some productive use. The main features of this and the other two farms is the immense stock and grain barn. Each of these barns is built after the wing pattern. The main part of the barn on Farm No. 1 is 40x80 feet, with the wing 30x100 feet. This farm also has a substantial residence. Farm No. 2 comprises 160 acres. That is also equipped with a new barn, standing on a foundation 40 by 96 feet with the wing -40 by 80 feet. There is a hog house 38 by 50 feet, a crib of 2,500 bushel capacity, and two large modern cement silos. These silos are each 14 feet in diameter and 58 feet high and hold 380 tons of silage. His silos on farm No. 1 have a capacity of 230 tons. All his barns are specially arranged for the housing and feeding of stock, and everything is reduced to a system, every detail is carefully provided, and Mr. Pohlman as a result of constant experiment and study has introduced many original ideas which save time, and with a man like him time means money. On the No. 3 farm, which contains 225 908 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO acres, a similar state f improvement and efficiency can be found. The barn on this farm is 90 by 40 feet with wing 80 by 40. There are also two silos similar to those on the other farm and with a capacity of 300 tons. This farm also has an elevator, which eliminates the handling of grain and has proved a very practical feature. Another place f forty acres, known as farm No. 4, has been provided largely as a home for the tenants and workers on the Pohlman estate. There are several good homes, with gardens and with a number f buildings for the housing of equipment and other supplies used on the three farms. All these places are in about the same locality. They all adjoin except farm No. 2, which is a short distance away. These farms Mr. Pohlman has developed primarily for the feeding and fattening of cattle and hogs. He ships about six carloads of cattle every year, partly to the Buffalo market and also to New York City. He feeds three carloads of hogs for every one of cattle. About twenty head of horses and mules are required for the different departments of farm work, and there is also a large tractor used in the fields. The management f the field crops is especially satisfactory on the Pohlman farms. The rotation principle is employed, and the tillage has been reduced to a science. All the corn, both stalk and grain, is cut up for silage, and every pound grown in the fields is fed on the farm, and not an ounce of fertility is wasted. In the fall f 1916, 987 loads f manure were taken back and distributed over the fields. One feature which eliminates waste and also makes feeding and handling more effi-cient is the liberal use f cement about the farm. All the feeding lots and the barn floors are a hard durable cement, and this prevents not only waste f grain and silage, but also of fertilizer. In 1915 fire caused a loss of $13,000 to the property on one of the Pohlman farms, but that was only a temporary setback, and the original property was rebuilt on an even larger and better scale than before. Business goes on as steadily at the Pohlman farms as it would in the best conducted and capitalized factory, and when one examines the quiet efficiency that everywhere prevails it is not strange that Mr. Pohlman has been able to build up such a great business and stands as one of the most successful farmers in Ohio. He has been at it twenty-four years. As already mentioned his first farm comprised only eighty acres. From the first he realized that intelligent methods were as essential to successful farming as physical strength, and the utilization of large resources scientifically and effectively applied have been the chief factors in enabling him to build up this enormous business. In other words he has executive ability, and that is the big quality needed in farming as much as in other lines of industry. Henry F. Pohlman was born in Lorain County, Ohio, September 15, 1865. His parents, August and Caroline (Mons) Pohlman, were both natives of Germany. His father was born in the City of Berlin, and of a substantial family of Prussia. August spent his early years in learning the trade of butcher and followed that vocation in the great German city where he was born. His wife was a native of Hanover, and they were married in that kingdom and not long afterward came in a sailing vessel from Bremen to New York City. They located in Cleveland, where August Pohlman worked as a butcher several years. From there he moved to Lorain County, where he combined both farming and butchering until 1884. In that year the family went to Defiance County, and there August Pohlman met death as a result of an accidental injury when he was fifty-four years of age. He was a Lutheran and democrat, and his widow survived him and died at Napoleon when seventy-five years old. She was a member of the Catholic faith. Mr. Henry Pohlman was married in Henry County to Miss Dora Schulty, a sister of Henry Schulty, mentioned on other pages of this publication. Mrs. Pohlman was born in Napoleon Township, and was carefully reared by her parents, who were among the sterling German settlers of this section. Mrs. Pohl-man has been as capable in the management of the home as her husband in the direction f his farms. She has carefully reared and trained her children, whose names are Lena, Alta, Henry Jr., Emma and Frederick. Henry Jr., the older son, in addition to what he gained from the schools, has been thoroughly trained in all branches of farm hus-bandry as practiced by his father, and has now taken his place as assistant manager and is able to relieve his father f many of the heavy burdens of the farm. Mr. Pohlman has been for many years a recognized leader in local citizenship. He and his wife are active workers in the church HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 909 and in matters of politics he is a democrat. For several years the family have lived in a fine residence on Wellstead Street in Napoleon. Mr. Pohlman has served as a member of the city council and also as a member of the board of education. He is affiliated with the Napoleon Lodge of Elks and with the Royal Arcanum. CHARLES RICHHOLT is one of the founders of the tile business at Holgate, which is now considered one of the town's most important industries. Mr. Richholt and his brother William started a small plant there a number of years ago, and by looking after the quality of their wares from the start and by shrewd business judgment developed the business through the various stages until it became one of the important sources of this material in Northwest Ohio. At the present time the plant has facilities for making all kinds of drainage tile from three to fifteen inches in diameter. Most of the tile made is of the four inch size, and the plant has a capacity for 10,000 of such tile per day. All the raw material, the clay, is mined on the ground, and in quality it is as good as any clay beds in Northwest Ohio. All the drain tile is made in a round down draft kiln. The output has a steady demand and is shipped all over Northwest Ohio. The motive power is supplied by a seventy horsepower engine and the entire plant represents a large investment. The business is still conducted under the old title Richholt Brothers, though William Richholt died in the fall of 1910, being succeeded in the firm by his son Clarence. The Richholts are an old and well known family of Florida Village, Henry County. Charles Richholt was born there September 2, 1871, and was three years of age when his mother and stepfather moved to Holgate, which was then just coming into existence as a village. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had just been constructed but had not yet been completed across the Maumee River at Defiance. Mr. Richholt is a son of Jacob and Amelia (King) Richholt. His father was born in Germany and his mother was born while her parents were coming across the ocean to the United States. Both families located in the Village of Florida in Henry County, where Jacob Richholt and his wife grew up. The grandparents Richholt spent the rest of their days in the county. The grandfather on the maternal side was a physician, school teacher and canal boat builder. The father of Jacob Richholt was a shoemaker, a trade he had learned in the old country, was also a merchant, and for a time worked on the canal. He and his wife died at Florida Village when past seventy years of age, while the parents of Amelia King lived to be beyond eighty. Both families were of the Lutheran faith. Jacob Richholt was married in Florida Village and was the father of three children, Charles, William -and Ettie, the last dying in childhood. Jacob died when in the prime of life at the age of twenty-six. His widow then married William Harris, and they soon afterwards came to Holgate, where Mr. Harris followed his trade as stone mason. He was a very capable and industrious. map, and did the stone work for a number of bridges in Henry and Defiance counties and also for the Henry County Court House. He finally became partially paralyzed and was an invalid for almost eighteen years. He died when still under sixty years of age. He also had to his credit four years of gallant service as a soldier of the Union during the Civil war. He was active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. His widow, mother of Charles Richholt, married for her third husband John Otterbach, who was born in Germany but was reared in this country and was a farmer by occupation. They are now living at Bowling Green in Wood County, Ohio, past seventy, and both are members of the Christian Church. Mr. Charles Richholt, the youngest of his parents' three children, grew up at Holgate, attended the public schools, and found his first employment in the Shelly stave factory. He also learned the trade of blacksmith. While working at an occupation that gave him a living he also became an active student of engineering, and in 1904 was licensed as a stationary engineer. Since then he .has been given an annual license, and this proficiency has enabled him to take charge of the engine in the tile factory. While in the stave factory he had been promoted to the position of assistant foreman. Mr. Richholt was married in Henry County to Miss Margaret Ditson. She was born in that county in 1873 and died in 1900, and both her children died in infancy. For his second wife Mr. Richholt was married in Defiance County to Gertrude Holmes. She was born at Danville, Illinois, February 7, 1876, but when two years of age lost her father, Mahlon Holmes, who was accidentally killed 910 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO while a railway worker on a handcar. Her father was a son of Thomas and Jane (Hill) Holmes, the former a native of Ohio and the latter f Illinois. They were married in Henry County and spent many years as farmers near Ridgeville. Jane Hill Holmes in the early days was skilled as a blanket weaver, and some f her fine handiwork is still kept in the family. The members of the Holmes family were Methodists. Mahlon Holmes was married in Illinois to Amanda Smith, who was born in Eastern Ohio, and had gone to Illinois with her parents. After the death of her first husband she married Edward Mattocks, who is now deceased, and she is living quietly at Oakwood, Ohio, having celebrated her sixty-sixth birthday on February 16, 1917. She and her husband were members of the United Brethren Church. Mr. and Mrs. Richholt became the parents of three children, one of whom died in in-fancy. The son, Robert, is now ten years of age and is in the fifth grade of the public schools. Donald Holmes was born May 23, 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Richholt are members of the Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a republican. He has served as a member of the council at Holgate, and fraternally is a past chancellor commander of Lodge No. 271, Knights of Pythias, and is now county deputy of the National Union. HENRY MINK is senior member of the firm Mink & Weber, general merchants. at Holgate, Henry County. This is a firm with a record of twenty years of continuous business transactions, and in that time it has acquired a patronage hardly second to any enjoyed by the firms f the county. They carry a complete stock of the staple ware& demanded by the uses of the country districts which furnish most f their customers, and they have a splendid store in which to display and shelter their stock. They have been in their present store since 1907. It is 44 by 65 feet and is located in one of the most eligible parts of the town, on Railroad Avenue. The junior member of the firm is Mr. Charles W. Weber, and Mr. Mink and Mr. Weber are brothers-in-law. Mr. Mink's connection with Holgate goes back to about the time the village was estab-lished after the railroad came through this section of Henry County. He has been a resident of the village since 1874, and has been a business man since 1884. For about fourteen years he was in the wine and liquor trade. He was born at Port Clinton, Ohio, December 4, 1860, and when four years of age his parents removed to Indiana, living near Bluffton for six years, then returning to Ohio and spending about a year at Defiance. From Defiance they came into enry County, locating first at Okolona and afterwards at Napoleon. During these various changes Henry Mink had little or no opportunity, to attend school for any regular period, and his education has been rather the result of prac-tical observation and experience in meeting business conditions that such training as his derived from books and formal study. His success in life is all the more creditable for this reason. Mr. Mink is of German parentage. His father, William Mink, was born in Hesse Darmstadt, and his mother, whose maiden name was Catherine Kortz, was born in Baden. Both came to the United States separately. The mother spent fourteen weeks on a sailing vessel crossing the Atlantic, and they met and married at Port Clinton, Ohio. William Mink had learned the trade of wagon making in the old country, and he followed it during all his active career. He was an expert mechanic, and could make a wagon from the raw timbers until it was complete in every detail. He turned out some splen-did wagons, and they endured for years of hard service. This honored old mechanic died at Holgate in 1909 at the age of sixty-nine, and his wife passed away in 1915, aged about eighty years. He was reared a Lutheran, and his wife was a member of the Reformed Church. In politics he voted the republican ticket. Mr. Henry Mink was the oldest of six sons and two daughters, all f whom grew up, all married but one, and all are now living ex-cept Adolph, who died after his marriage. Mr. Henry Mink was married in Pleasant Township f enry County to Miss Catherine Weber. She was born near New Bavaria in that township in 1861, and she first saw the light f clay in a log cabin, and part of her education at least was acquired by attending a school held in a log cabin. er parents were John and Eva (Nickle) Weber, both natives of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. Her parents were Reformed Church people, and her father was a shoemaker by trade. After their marriage in the old country they started HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 911 for the United States, and after eleven weeks of tedious sailing on the ocean they landed in New York City. The Weber family came to this country during the '40s, and first located in Wayne County, Ohio. While there two children were born. Some time before the war they moved to Henry County and Mr. Weber bought new land in Pleasant Township. He made a fine farm of it, and lived there in contentment and increasing prosperity until his death in 1911. His wife died in 1877. He was a democrat and a member of the Reformed Church. Mr. and Mrs. John Weber had two sons and three daughters : Elizabeth, who married George Yenner and has two children, Aaron and Maud; John, who married Elizabeth Ricker ; Catherine, who became Mrs. Mink ; Charles W.; and Amelia Orlando Muntz, who has several children. Mr. Charles W. Weber grew up and received his education in Henry County and married Miss Nettie Franz, who was born and educated in Henry County. Her father, Henry Franz, who died about five years ago, was an honored veteran of the Civil war, and spent his active career as a Henry County farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Weber have the following children : Alvin, now pursuing his studies in the Ohio State University at Columbus; Floyd, a graduate of the Holgate High School with the class of 1917 ; Hallie, in the first year of the high school; and Warren, aged five years ; and Charles and Dorothy. The Weber family are Presbyterians and the Mink family are Lutherans, and Mr. Weber is a church official. Mr. Mink is a republican, while his business partner is a democrat, and both have served as members of the city council, Mr. Weber being connected with the council at the present time. Mr. and Mrs. Mink are the parents of two children. The eldest daughter Gertrude is unmarried and at home. Hazel graduated from Holgate High School,. married Vernon Babcock, of Holgate, 'and they have one child. ALFRED E. QUERINJEAN. Though one of the youngest business men of Celina, Alfred E. Querinjean is undoubtedly one of the most progressive and with success already in his grasp has a splendid future before him. He was born June 21, 1888, at Aachen, Germany, and was educated there, liberally trained for a successful business career and besides the high school course had work in a German college. At the age of twenty- three he emigrated to the United States, landing in New York City, and somewhat later coming on to Celina, Ohio, where he bought a garage. Ile is now proprietor of the Celina Automobile Company, is vice president of the Celina Implement Company, director in the Celina Specialty Company, director of the Celina Furniture Company and director of the Buckland Milling Company. Before leaving Germany Mr. Querinjean had some extensive experience in manufacturing lines, and both by training and natural talent is well equipped for handling complicated business enterprises. At New York City, in 1913, he married Anna M. Frey. Mrs. Querinjean was born and reared in New York City. Her father is a man of prominence and wealth. Mrs. Querinjean received a liberal education both in this country and abroad in Germany, and speaks fluently several languages. Mr. Querinjean is treasurer of the Knights of Columbus council at Celina, is a republican in politics and he and his wife are members of the Catholic Church. WILLIAM R. SMITH is now the leading hardware merchant at Chattanooga in Mercer County. He has had a very active career as a mechanic, worker in the oil fields, merchant and in other lines, and though still young is independently established in a business that has been steadily growing and constitutes in itself a gratifying achievement for a man of his years. Though the greater part of his life has been spent in Ohio, Mr. Smith was born at Dayton, Minnesota, October 24, 1880. His parents were Alexander H. and Maggie (Howie) Smith. His father was born in Scotland and came to the United States alone at the age of eighteen. Alexander's father was a blacksmith and Alexander' himself learned the trade of millwright. It was his employment as millwright and constructor of many mills in America that took him from place to place and kept him seldom settled long in one community. On coming to America he lived one year in Canada, and was employed as miller or millwright at St. Louis, Vandalia, Illinois, then leased a mill at Brunswick, Missouri, moved from there to Harrisonville, Missouri, where he built a mill of his own, and during his stay there he met and married Miss Maggie Howie. She was born at Palmyra, Missouri. After their marriage he followed his trade at various points, Austin, Winona, Dayton, 912 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Minneapolis, Minncsota, in Abilene, Lawrence, .Enterprise, Pleasanton, Kansas, then in Brunswick, Harrisonville and Kansas City, Missouri, and from there he came to Kansas, Ohio, and has since lived in Seneca or Mercer County. For a number of years he was em-ployed by a Milwaukee firm in the erection of mills all over the West. His first wife died in 1885. She was the mother of four children and the three now living are: Anna, wife Of Haye Null of Kan-sas, Ohio ; J. F., who lives in Wisconsin ; and William R. In 1886 Alexander Smith mar-ried Jemimah Lipper, who was born in Keith, Scotland, and- at the age of nineteen came to the United States alone and soon after her arrival was married to Mr. Smith. To their marriage were born four children : Alice, wife of Irvin Walter, who, is in the hardware and manufacturing business at Helena, Ohio ; Alexander A., who is associated in business with his half-brother, William R. at Chattanooga ; Flora., wife of Emory Weaver, at Maple Grove in Seneca County ; and Edgar, who lives with his sister at Helena. In a number of different localities wherc his father chanced to be employed at the time William R. Smith acquired his early training. He afterwards took a course in a business college at Toledo. He has been dependent upon his own resources largely since he left home at the age of eleven or twelve years. He worked on farms, on cattle ranches, and had almost every kind of legitimate employment. He learned the trade of boilermaker with an Old firm. in Toledo, and on April 25, 1901, removed to Chattanooga, Ohio, where he conducted a boilermaking shop. This business was at first a. partnership under the name Smith & Phillibaum. His partner withdrew after a year and Mr. Smith then conducted it another twelve months. Leaving the boiler shop he entered the service of the Center Oil Company and was sent by them from their headquarters in Toledo over the various oil fields handling production. During the six years he was with that firm he was foreman three years. On October 21, 1909, Mr. Smith bought the hardware store at Chattanooga, and successfully operated it alone until March 26, 1916, when he sold a. half interest to his half-brother Alexander. It is known as the Chattanooga Hardware Company, and the Smith brothers are sole proprietors and managers. On January 3, 1902, Mr. Smith married Cora Hisey, daughter of Frank Hisey of Adams County, Indiana. They have three children : Merle R., Ray V. and Martha A. His brother, Alexander Smith, was married November 7, 1912, to Gertrude Morris, who was born at Findlay, Ohio, but was reared at Kansas in this state, she and her husband growing up as children together. Alexander Smith is a member of Kansas Lodge No. 405 of the 'Masonic order. Mr. William Smith is not inclined to strict partisanship in matters of politics, and usually casts his vote independently. He is a member of Willshire Lodge of Masons, and is a member and for seven years was Venerable Consul of the Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America at Chattanooga. Besides his prominent position in business affairs in that community as head of the hardware and implement store, he is also president of the Chattanooga Farmers and Merchants State Bank, and is also a director and one of its principal stockholders. FRANK KROHN. Every farmer recognizes the need of better marketing facilities as a matter of justice to the producer, but most people are prone to accept the old haphazard method and conditions and merely complain Without taking any definite action toward bettering things. The most successful groups of producers in America are those who. are united by some of the bonds of the co-operative spirit. Out of this have grown a number of farmers' and fruit growers' and other producers' associations, and all of them. have ;brought untold benefits to the men who actually grow the crops. A stimulating example of this sort of co-operation and organization in Henry County is the Farmers Grain and Seed Company of Grelton. In order to bring this about there was a man, a leader, one who had the vision, one who understood the handicap under which the growers were laboring, and who had the energy and the enterprise to formulate and carry out the plans for improvement. This man was the late Frank Krohn, who brought about the organization and incorporation of this elevator and grain business at Grelton, and was president of the 'company from the time of its organization until his death, at a comparatively early age, on January 2, 1915. Mr. Krohn was a farmer and grain pro-ducer himself; and therefore he stood side by side with his neighbors in promoting this company. He had their confidence, and he also had experience on both the producer's HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 913 side and the buyer's side. For some years he had dealt as a grain buyer at the tracks at Grelton, and that individual nucleus was expanded in the organization of the Farmers Grain and Seed Company. Mr. Frank Krohn was born in Providence Township of Lucas County, Ohio, June .22, 1861. His parents were Benjamin and Lydia (Miller) Krohn, both natives of Pennsylvania and of Pennsylvania ancestry. Soon after they were married in their native state they went out to Providence Township of Lucas County, and spent their lives as substantial farmers. The father died in 1913, at the age of eighty-eight, while his wife died a number of years before, aged sixty-seven. They were members of the Reformed Church, and he was a. democrat. They had nine children, five of whom grew up and four are still living. Second in age, Frank Krohn spent his early life in Lucas County. Soon after his marriage he came in 1885 to Richfield Township of Henry County and bought eighty acres in the woods. That was his first big task in life, clearing, grubbing out the stumps, gradually extending the area f his fields and otherwise carrying forward his improvements until he eventually owned over two hundred acres of beautiful and productive soil. He erected substantial buildings, modern barns and a comfortable nine-room house. There is no farm in Richfield Township that has better buildings and more evidences of thorough cultivation and improvement than the Krohn place. It was during his career as a successful farmer that he began track dealing in grain at Grelton, and thus had the experience and the ideas which brought about the organization of the Farmers Grain and Seed Company. Mr. Krohn was very prominent in democratic circles in Henry County. He held the various township offices, including that of trustee, and in every way was a leader in his community. For twenty-five years he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Grelton, and was a trustee and always active in its work. Thirty-two years ago he married in his native township of Lucas County Miss Rosa Kurtz. She was born in Providence Town-ship of that county December 14, 1861, was reared on a farm there, gained her education in the local schools, and since her marriage has proved a devoted wife and mother. She still occupies the old home in Richfield Township, and has some sturdy children to help her. Her parents were Leonhard and Wallena (Meyers) Kurtz, both natives of Germany. Her father was a native f Bavaria and her mother of Wuertemberg. Both had been married previously, and the father had one son by his first marriage. They came to the United States by sailing vessel from Bremen and Hamburg, respectively, and were married in Providence Township of Lucas County. They started out on new land and made a farm there, and died when Mrs. Krohn's father was sixty-six and her mother seventy-four. Mr. Kurtz had been reared a Lutheran, while his wife was a Catholic by training, but sub-sequently joined the Protestant faith. He was a republican. Mr. and Mrs. Krohn became the parents of nine children: Charles, who attended the state university at Columbus, specializing on agriculture, is superintendent of the local elevator at Grelton, and by his marriage to Mar-garet Wright has two children, Herbert and Arthur ; Ray, John; Lewis ; May ; Emma ; George ; Laura, and Bessie. All these chil-dren are well educated, several of them college trained, and all the younger ones are looking forward to honorable and useful careers, chiefly as farmers. The family are members of the Methodist Church. EMANUEL W. SHULER is one of the first-class farmers who have recognized the opportunities and the privileges of country life and have made more than an ordinary success out f their vocation. Mr. Shuler was born and reared and had his early farming experience in Allen County, but in December, 1900, brought his family to Lima, and in April of the following year located in Harrison Township of Henry County. He acquired 120 acres of land there by' purchase and also had the management of forty acres belonging to his mother. This forty acres he subsequently inherited. Mr. Shuler has always been willing to invest all his surplus capital in more land, and in 1911 he was able to buy eighty acres in the same section with his other farm. The improve-ments which he has placed on the land indi-cate the general character of his enterprise. There is a barn 34 by 85 feet, with a wing addition 42 by 70 feet. This building is painted red and is kept in the best of repair, and all the tools are in place, and everything indicates both system and efficiency. A con-spicuous feature of the farm is a silo, attached to the barn and of 140 tons capacity. It is built of concrete staves and is 14 feet in 914 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO diameter and 42 ½ feet high. There are a number of other cribs, granaries and store houses for implements and farm products. Mr. Shuler devotes practically all his land to intensive cultivatiOn, but has a fine body of twenty-five acres of native timber which has a value higher than any field crops that could be raised on the land. Emanuel W. Shuler was born in Allen County, Ohio, February 1, 1862. His father, Daniel Shuler, who was born in Northumber land County, Pennsylvania, in 1804, was a son of Rev. John Valentine Shuler, who spent most of his life in Northumberland County and was the son of German parents. Rev. John Valentine was a preacher, a man of literary tastes, and some of the eloquent verses which he composed are still treasured among the family records. Daniel Shuler, father of Emanuel, was reared and married in his native county, and subsequently lived in Tuscarawas and Perry counties, Ohio, and made his permanent home in Allen County. There he died March 22, 1872. He was a farmer, and farming with him was a congenial occupation and he was well fitted to make a success of it. He owned 160 acres. In politics he was a republican and filled such offices in his community as justice of the peace. He was twice married. His first marriage, in Tuscarawas County, was to Helen Kenedy. She was born in Ohio about 1806 and she died in the latter '50s in Perry Township of Allen County. She was the mother of three sons and three daughters. The sons were Valentine, Daniel and William, all of whom married and all are now deceased except William. The three daughters were Elizabeth, Sarah and Mary, all of whom married, and Sarah, the only survivor, was the only daughter to have children. The second marriage of Daniel Shuler was celebrated in Bath Township of Allen County. His wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Mowery, whose maiden name was Gensel. She was born in Pickaway County, where she was reared and where she married Samuel Mowery. After her marriage she and her husband moved to Bath Township, in Allen County, where Mr. Mowery died in 1859 at the age of forty-two. He had been a thrifty farmer and he left a large family of children, including the following: John, Jacob, Susan, Henry, Caroline, Leanna, Samuel and Cassie. Cassie, Caroline and Susan all died within a few weeks of each other during the year 1860 from diptheria. The other children grew up and married, and those still living are Samuel, Henry and Leanna. After his marriage to Mrs. Mowery, Daniel Shuler lived in Bath Township of Allen County. The only child of his second marriage is Mr. Emanuel W. Shuler. One day Daniel Shuler left his home and started to walk the distance of five miles to Lima. While following the track of the Pennsylvania Railway Company he was struck and instantly killed. His widow survived him many years and died in Bath Township in May, 1907. She was a member of the Reformed Church, while Daniel Shuler was a Methodist. It was on the old Allen County farm that Emanuel Shuler spent his early years, with such education as the public schools could give him. In his native county and township he married Miss Talitha Growdon. She was born in Auglaize Township of Allen County. Mr. and Mrs. Shuler were married by the Rev. Mr. Sites of the Reformed Church. After marriage they resided on Mr. Shuler's mother's farm in Bath Township until they cane to Henry County. Mrs. Shuler is a daughter of Brice William and Sarah (Ash) Growdon. Her father was horn in Pennsylvania of parents who came from Cornwall, England, and finally settled in Pennsylvania, where he died. Mrs. Shuler's parents spent most of their lives in Allen County. where her father died in May, 1915, at the age of ninety-two. He had been three times married and he outlived all his wives. All his children were by his first marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Shuler have had a happy married life, and seven children were born into their home. One daughter died unnamed. Those still living are : Mabel, wife of Guy Farrison, a farmer who lives in Ohio, and they have a son Glen. Glen L. is a graduate of the high school and assists his father on the farm. Grace F., 011ie, Leanna and Mary H. are the younger children, all at home. Grace and 011ie are both graduates of the high school, while Leanna is still in high school, and Mary is in the fifth grade of the grammar school. Mr. and Mrs. Shuler are members of the Methodist Church at Grelton, and he is one of the trustees of that organization. In politics he is a democrat. He is a member of the Grelton School Board, a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Malinta and a director of the Farmers Grain Elevators at Grelton and Malinta. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 915. A. A. ATWOOD. The Atwood Automobile Company of Toledo is an institution that from its beginning has been developed and main-tained for the purpose of supplying the most complete and adequate service that can be rendered to buyers and owners of automobiles in the various departments of salesroom, garage, equipment and accessories, and repairs. In the present quarters at 2815 Monroe Street the business presents what is without doubt the finest equipped garage in the Middle West. The new cars handled by the company are exclusively the Overland. A large salesroom is maintained at 607-609 Madison Avenue for the display of the various types and models of these cars. The main plant comprises a new car repository, black-smith and machine shop, repair department, paint shop and a garage with a capacity not excelled by any in this part of the country. The genius of this company was the late Mr. A. A. Atwood, who was president and general manager. Mr. Atwood was formerly a bicycle man when that vehicle was in its high tide of popularity, and by a natural evolution graduated into the automobile in-dustry. He was born at Orangeport, Niagara County, New York, September 29, 1867, a son of Martin E. and Bridget (Moran) Atwood. The Atwoods were of Scotch stock and his great-grandfather was Aldro Earl Atwood, who during the closing years of the eighteenth century was private secretary to the King of Scotland. Martin E. Atwood was born in Vermont, and in the early years of the last century was boatman on the Erie canal, and subsequently followed farming and gardening and also kept one of the typical general merchandise stores of the time at Orangeport, New York. Mr. Atwood's mother was born in Ireland, came to America when a girl, and was married in New York State. Both parents are now deceased. There were five sons and two daughters, and those now living are : Frank E. of North Tonawanda, New York, an engineer ; Mrs. James Perkins of Buffalo, New York, and Charles G., of Toledo, Ohio. A. A. Atwood received his early training in the public schools of Orangeport, attended the high school at Buffalo, and while there took a business course. For a time he was a teacher in Buffalo during the winter terms and in evening school and at the same time kept a set of books for a local firm. His quali-ties of energy and enterprise were highly developed from early youth, and they have proved the keynote of his successful career. His home from 1883 to 1904 was in Buffalo, New York. He was in the grocery business there in 1884-85. From 1886 to 1901 he was one of the trusted men in the old firm of Gormally-Jeffrys Company, which put out some of the most popular types of bicycles. He was a local and traveling salesman and also retail manager for this company. From 1901 to 1904 Mr. Atwood was connected with the National Battery Company of Buffalo, at first in the shops, later as man-ager of their garage department, and also traveled as "trouble man" for the company, with a territory including every important city east of the Mississippi. Mr. Atwood had been a Toledo business man since April, 1904, when he became identified with Kirk-Hall Company dealers in auto-mobiles and operating a service station. In September, 1906, Mr. Atwood left that firm and with other local men organized the Atwood Automobile Company in December, 1906. He was vice president and general manager until January, 1915, and then became president and general manager, which position he held at the time of his death October 6, 1916. The company erected a splendid plant on Monroe Street, and as already stated there is no automobile service and garage in the Middle West can compete with it in capacity and thorough equipment. It occupies 68,700 square feet of floor space. There are three service departments: Offi-ces; showroom, including a complete equip-ment for the care of automobiles, with parts department, battery department and paint department ; and storage and service depart-ment. Mr. Atwood was president of the Boyd Tire & Supply Company of Toledo, director of the Stalker Advertising Company, and director of the Toledo Automobile Shows Company. It is noteworthy that during the year 1915 the Atwood organization at Toledo sold and distributed more than 2,000 Overland cars. This recalls the fact that when Mr. Atwood organized his company ten years ago it was the intention to handle various lines of stand-ard make automobiles in a district comprising twenty-five counties in Northern Ohio and Southern Michigan. The service furnished by the Atwood organization soon gave an added value to every car handled by the firm, and beginning in 1914 this has been superadded to the exclusive line of the Overland output, and throughout a large district around Toledo the many owners of this type 916 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO of automobile think of Overland and Atwood as interchangeable names, one denoting the make of car and the other the service that goes with it. Mr. Atwood remained as president and manager of his Atwood Automobile Company until July. 1, 1916, when the company was purchased by the Willys-Overland Company. Mr. Atwood was identified with all the Masonic bodies in Toledo, including Barton Smith Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Scottish Rite Consistory, thirty-second degree, Toledo Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, St. Omer Commandery, Knights Templar, and Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He was also, a member of Toledo Lodge No. 53, Benevolent Protective Order Elks, of the Toledo Club, the Inverness Club, the Toledo Yacht Club, the Maumee River Yacht Club, Toledo Commerce Club and Toledo Automobile Club. On June 16, 1897, Mr. Atwood married Miss Kathleen Mae Sheehan of Barkers, New York. She was born and reared in Barkers, attended the public schools of Niagara County, and graduated in 1895 from Albion College of Albion, Michigan. Mrs. Atwood who died March 23, 1916, was a resident of Toledo for eleven years, and a very prominent worker in the Epworth Methodist Church, where she was superintendent of the primary department in the Sunday school. One of her brothers Rev. John Wesley Sheehan, is pastor of the First Methodist Church of St. Joseph, Michigan. Her parents were William J. and Ellen Sheehan and her mother is still living at Lockport, New York. CHARLES G. ATWOOD. As vice president and sales manager of The AtwoodAutomobile Company of Toledo, until sold to the WillysOverland Company in 1916, C. G. Atwood was one of the important factors in the building up of this notable institution during the past four years. Mr. Atwood is a thorough business man, prompt, efficient, keen in judgment, and a' very capable salesman, and his record since starting out as a poor boy for himself has always been marked by capability and faithfulness in whatever station he has stood. He was born in Orangeport, Niagara County, New York, January 23, 1877, a son of Martin E. and Bridget (Moran) Atwood, and a brother of A. A. Atwood, president and general manager of The Atwood Automobile Company. His early education came from the public schools of Orangeport, and from study in the night schools of Buffalo. When he was seventeen he started out for himself, leaving home and going to Buffalo, and since then has never been dependent upon anyone except himself for a single day. His home was in Buffalo from 1895 to 1911. For about six years he was employed by the Wells Fargo Company's Express and then became a member of the Buffalo Fire Department, from which he resigned to come to Toledo on March 1, 1911, where he was identified with the Atwood Automobile Company, which several years before had been established by his brother, as above stated. Mr. Atwood is a man of marked individuality and is thoroughly devoted to his home, dividing his time between his business and his residence. He is a member of all the Masonic bodies in Toledo, including Sanford L. Collins Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Toledo Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, St. Omer Commandery, Knights Templar, Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and the Scottish Rite Consistory. He also belongs to the Toledo Commerce Club, the Inverness Club, and finds his chief recreation in golf. On September 18, 1910, at Buffalo, New York, he married Miss Myrtle Marie Keim, who was born and reared in Buffalo and is a graduate of the German School of that city. Her parents were J. C. and Jennie (Cott) Keim, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Buffalo, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Atwood have two children : Alvin A., who was born at Buffalo, and Dorothy Mae, born in Toledo. EDWARD L. SHIDLER. It has been again and again demonstrated that intensive and careful methods on a small farm are more productive than the old loose and haphazard agricultural practices which have so often prevailed on large estates. One of the thriftiest and most successful farmers of Henry County is Mr. Edward L. Shidler, whose home is in section 5 of Richfield Township. At that place Mr. Shidler is owner of forty acres. He took possession of the land in the spring of 1905 and has since created a large amount of improvements and his management shows his progressiveness at every turn. Among other improvements he erected a fine barn 36 by 60 feet, a structure of ideal arrangement and a landmark which at once shows the kind of farming that goes on at the Shidler place. The barn is painted red with white trimmings and was constructed in HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 917 1910. Mr. Shidler and family also have an eight-room modern house. His active years have practically all been spent in this section of Henry County. When he was a boy forty years ago he knew this part of the country when improvements were just beginning, and when farmers as a class enjoyed few of the advantages which they do now. Mr. Shidler lived on the site of what is now Grelton long before that town was thought of. His own labors have entered into the aggregate of improvement and advancement which have been so conspicuous in this part of Henry County. Besides this place Mr. Shidler bought twenty acres of land adjoining, known as the Lane property. Edward L. Shidler was born in Seneca County, Ohio, March 10, 1864, and represents some substantial German ancestry which has been identified with Ohio through three generations. When he was a small child his parents removed to Wood County, Ohio, and about 1876 they came to Henry County and located at what is now Grelton. The Village of Grelton stands on a part of the land formerly owned by the Shidler family. His father, Jonathan Shidler, who died about fourteen years ago at the age of seventy-five, was born in Seneca County, and married Miss Sarah Wagner, also of Seneca County and of English extraction. She was the daughter of Abraham and Mary (Tuttle) Wagner. Abraham Wagner died in Wood County, and his wife at Grelton when well advanced in years. The Wagners were Methodist people and both the Shidlers and Wagners have usually affiliated with the democratic party. Mrs. Jonathan Wagner died at the age of seventy-six at the home of her daughter Mrs. Battles. Edward L. Shidler was the youngest of three children. His older brother, James W. Shidler is a prominent and wealthy farmer of Richfield Township, and is mentioned on other pages of this work. The sister Clara is now the wife of Mr. William Battles of Damascus Township. In Damascus Township April 8, 1900, Edward L. Shidler married Miss Elizabeth Mc-Carley, who was born in Galia County, Ohio, August 1, 1875. She was reared and educated in her native county and came to Henry County alone a few years before her marriage. Her parents John and Sarah J. (Shield) MeCarley were born in Ohio, were married in Galia County, lived a few years in Seneca County, but subsequently returned to Galia County and are living there at the Vol. II-17 present time, her father at the age of seventy and her mother at sixty-nine. They are members of the Christian Church and he is a democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Shidler have two sons : Burdett, who was born April 6, 1901, and is now attending high school; James, born April 23, 1905, and in the third grade of the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Shidler are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has . passed through the various chairs of Grelton Lodge No. 39 of the Knights of Pythias and politically his allegiance is with the democratic party. WILLIAM M. HARMON. " The honest village blacksmith" was the title applied affectionately to William M. Harmon for many years in his section of Henry County. He is now living practically retired at Ridgeville Corners, and that village has been his home and the scene of much of his activity for many years. During his active career he was the trusted and efficient blacksmith employed by a large circle of farmers and other citizens in that section, and had worked at this trade from the time he was sixteen years of age for a period altogether of fifty-five years. He learned his trade by a thorough apprenticeship to John Welder in Napoleon Township. Later he followed his trade in Freedom Township and was always an expert and reliable workman. Another element in his prosperity was farming and the management of land. His first purchase of land was ten acres, later he bought twenty acres from James Lewis, and then eleven acres more lying in Freedom and Napoleon townships. He cleared up this land, made it productive from a farming standpoint, and in 1902 sold it to William M. Tietje. When he sold he received a sum several times as large as what he had paid for the land, this increase representing the value of his own labor. In 1884 Mr. Harmon moved to Ridgeville Corners, and there set up a shop and factory for the making and repairing of wagons and implements, and also a horse shoeing establishment. He has conducted this large shop for a number of years. He and his family now reside in a comfortable nine-room house in the village along the Napoleon and Bryan pike. William M. Harmon was born in Ashland County, Ohio, December 25, 1837. When he was nine years of age his parents Daniel and Rosanna (Mawk) Harmon came to Henry 918 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO County, making the journey with team and wagon for three days over the rough roads and through the woods. They located in Napoleon Township, where his father entered Government land in section 5. There the family lived for some years among the crude surroundings of that time. It was a log cabin home, with a puncheon floor, and the roof of clapboards was held down by weight poles. All the hardships incident to pioneering were part of their experience. After seeing his land cleared up and a condition of reasonable prosperity established the father died at the age of fifty-three. He was a democrat and he and his wife were active Lutherans. His widow survived him and died at the age of eighty-four. Of their eight children, four sons and four daughters, all grew up and married, and five are still living. The oldest of the children, William M. Harmon, was married in Napoleon to Sarah Robinson. She was born July 25, 1837, was reared and educated in Ridgeville Township, and was a daughter of Chester and Maria (Marshall) Robinson. Her parents were also early settlers in Henry County, her father being a native of New York State and her mother of Canada. The Robinsons cleared up a couple of farm homes, and died in Henry County when quite old, leaving a large family of sons and daughters. To Mr. and Mrs. Harmon were born two children. M. Alice married M. L. Redman, and they own a good home near RRidgeville Corners. They have a daughter Corl who is the wife of John Smith of Adrian, Michigan, and their children are Robert and Margaret Smith. The son George E. is a road contractor and builder at Napoleon, has also served three terms as county commissioner of Henry County ; by his marriage to Nellie Harrington he has two children, Leota and Sadonna, both now in school. Mrs. Harmon died at her home in Ridgeville Corners May 8, 1913. For many years she was a devout member of the Christian Church, with which denomination Mr. Harmon is also affiliated. Politically he is a democrat. Besides their own two children Mr. and Mrs. Harmon reared two others. One these is now making her home with her foster father and is a bright and intelligent woman and well known in Henry County. Her name was Margie Ann Taylor, and she was born in Henry County, a daughter of Dr. John and Ann Eliza (Robinson) Taylor. Her father died at the age of sixty-nine and her mother at thirty-one. Margie Ann Taylor married George E. Miller, who was an electrical engineer at Chicago and died at the age of forty-two. Mrs. Miller has an interesting daughter, M. Marguerite, who was born July 24, 1894, and is a success-ful teacher in the public sehools of Victor, Iowa. The other child reared by M. and Mrs. Harmon was Augusta Taylor, a sister of Mrs. Miller. She died after her marriage to R. D. Riggle. CHRISTIAN ZACHRICH has been one of the most successful farmers of Pleasant Township in, Henry County, but is now enjoying a comfortable retirement at the Village of Holgate. He has practically spent all his life in Henry County and is one of the sturdy and self reliant men who have brought about their own prosperity and in so doing have added to the civic and material welfare of their community. He represents a long line of pure blood German ancestry. His people lived in Prussia for generations, were hardy and substantial farming people of that kingdom, and have been Lutherans in religion as far back as the family connections can be traced. Christian Zachrich was born on the site of the Village of New Bavaria in Henry County, Ohio, June 4, 1852. His parents were Henry and Mary (Bartz) Zaehrich, both of whom were natives of Prussia. His father was born in 1819 and his mother in 1824. Henry and Mary Zaidgevi llee married in Prussia. Their first child was born October 29, 1846, and was named John George. When he was a few months old in 1847 the little family went to Bremen and there embarked on a vessel which after eleven weeks landed them in Montreal, Canada. From Canada they came south to Ohio, via, the St. Lawrence River, then to Buffalo via Erie Canal, via canal from Toledo to Dayton, Ohio. They first located at Dayton, and later moved to Medina County, which was their home for three years. While living in Medina County another child, William, was born February 6, 1850. Either in that year or in the following year the family moved to the site of New Bavaria in Henry County. Arriving in this county Henry Zachrich, the father, found employment as a farm hand. His household ordered their ways by rules of extreme simplicity in those years, and while they had all the necessities they had none of the luxuries and they were willing to forego many things in order to get ahead in the world. Finally HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 919 Henry Zachrich was in a position where he was justified in buying forty acres of wild land. He made a farm of it before he sold out, and then bought a still larger place, ninety-six acres, in section 18 of Pleasant Township. Part of this land was cleared and improved and he and his family made a splendid farm out of it in the course of many years of consecutive effort. Among other improvements made while Henry Zachrich lived there were the building of a substantial house and a barn. On that old farm, endeared to the family by so many associations, Henry Zachrich passed away April 24, 1895, secure in the esteem of the entire community. His widow died in May, 1902. They were lifelong Lutherans and he became a democrat after securing the rights of an American citizen. To this worthy couple were born in Henry County the following children : Christian ; William, who lives in Defiance, Ohio, is married and had a family of ten children, nine living ; George, who died at the age of three years; Henry, who now lives on a farm in section 18 of Pleasant Township and has five sons and two daughters ; Conrad, who occupies part of his father's estate in section 18, and is the father of two sons and six daughters still living and one child deceased ; Catherine is the wife of John Reed, a section foreman of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, living at North Baltimore, and their three living children are all married. Christian Zachrich grew up in Pleasant Township. He ,had the advantages of the common schools, and as a young man he learned the trade of carpenter. It was his regular occupation for five years, and it netted him the small amount of capital with which he bought his first farm, consisting of thirty-three acres and located on the Free Pike between Napoleon and Kalida in Pleasant Township. That was the nucleus or the beginning of his landed estate. As his means increased he bought other land, and finally had a farm of eighty-five acres. This land is in the finest state of development, thoroughly drained, tilled to the maximum of productiveness, and has good farm buildings, including a modern eight-room house. He sold this place to his son-in-law, Albert Groll, in January, 1917. In 1909 Mr. Zachrich turned over the management of the farm to his son and moved to a pleasant town home on Blair Street in the Village of Holgate. Mr. Zachrich was married on the farm which he recently owned and on which his wife, Miss Caroline Speith, was born on November 21, 1854, a daughter of Christian and Rosanna (Speith) Speith. Her parents were natives of Wuertemberg, Germany, and on coming to the United States located in Medina County, Ohio. They were then young, and still lived with their respective parents. After their marriage in Medina County Mr. and Mrs. Speith moved to Henry County and bought a home of 100 acres in section 10 of Pleasant Township. With the care and cultivation of this farm they were busied during the rest of their industrious career, and they had a splendid competence for the closing period of life. Mrs. Zachrich's father was born in 1824 and died in 1878, and her mother was born February 2, 1829, and died in 1904. Christian Speith besides his achievements as a practical farmer and a good citizen had the distinction of helping preserve the Union during the American Civil war. He served three years in the Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in one battle was wounded. He and his wife were reared as Lutherans, but in this country were members of the Reformed Church. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Christian Zachrich were born seven children. Four of them died young. Rosa, the oldest of those still living, was born November 26, 1881, and is now the wife of Albert Groll, a farmer. Their children are Almeda, Vera, Martha, Ruth, and Arnold, three of whom are in school. Fred, the only son, was born September 15, 1884, was educated in the public schools, and is now a practical and progressive agriculturist. He married Gertrude Weber, who was born in the State of Alabama June 25, 1891, but since the age of six years has lived in Henry County. Fred Zachrich and wife have three children : Gilbert C., born June 8, 1910 ; Virgil, born June 25, 1912 ; and Woodrow A., born August 28, 1916. Tillie, the youngest of the living children of Mr. and Mrs. Zachrich, was born June 5, 1887, and is the wife of Adolph Foss, a farmer near Mount Clemens, Michigan. Their four children are Donald, Marvell, Gerald and Eugene. Mr. Christian Zachrich and family all attend the Lutheran Church. He is a former trustee and has otherwise taken an active part in church affairs. As a good and loyal democrat he has been called upon to serve his community and for four years was trustee of the township. 920 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO DANIEL E. HAAG, M. D. In spite of his venerable years—now past four-score—Dr. Daniel E. Haag is one of the most useful and influential citizens of Northwest Ohio. It was nearly sixty years ago that he was licensed to practice medicine, and he is certainly one of the oldest if not the oldest medical man in this part of the state. His present home is at Liberty Center in Henry County, and he has lived in that county more than half a century. His achievements and services as a physician and as a medical educator are as well known in Toledo as in his home county. For a great many years, from its inception, he was president of the board of directors of the Robinwood Hospital at Toledo, and for years was a lecturer to the nurses in its training school on materia medica and therapeutics, and was the pathologist of the hospital for years. He was also dean of the Toledo Medical College, and professor of materia-medica and therapeutics, upwards of fifteen years, and in many other ways has been active in the history of medicine in Toledo, though keeping his home in Liberty Center. Doctor Haag came to Henry County in 1863 and after a brief residence at Napoleon located in another part of the county in 1864, was in active practice there for many years, and since 1880 has been a resident of Liberty Center. No other physician in that section has enjoyed greater prestige in medicine and surgery than he, and his practice has always exercised the heaviest demands upon his time and energy. No physician in Northwest Ohio is a more competent witness not only to the changes that have taken place in the profession, but also in the material conditions which surround the work of the physician. In his earlier practice he was a close connecting link with the old time pioneer physician who rode about with his medicine in his saddle bags. Doctor Haag himself did the heaviest share of his practice years before the good roads movement was inaugurated, before the telephone was invented, and before the automobile was dreamed of—these facilities having done more to lighten the burdens of the hard working physician than any other. Fifty years ago he visited many of his patients by riding across trackless swamps and making his way on foot across mud holes. His reputation in medical circles extended beyond the bounds of his home county, and from 1888 until 1914 he was professor of materia-medica and therapeutics in the Toledo Medical College. From 1890 to 1900 he kept an office in Toledo. Doctor Haag was born in Union County, Pennsylvania, and was reared and educated in Lancaster County of that state, attending the public schools. He was just seventeen when he arrived in New Philadelphia, and for the next three years pursued his studies diligently under the tuition of Dr. E. P. Buell at New Philadelphia. In 1858 he was given his license to practice, and has devoted his life to that great and unexcelled vocation in behalf of the public welfare. He has prospered materially as well. About two years ago he became one of the organizers and has since been president of the Liberty State Savings Bank of Liberty Center. Doctor Haag has a vast range of experience which furnishes him innumerable anecdotes and incidents that lose none of their charm by his telling them. Doctor Haag was twice married, and his three children are all by his first wife. His daughter Ada is now a grandmother, the wife of C. A. Clifton, living at Liberty Center, and their son Harry is married and has a daughter named Martha. The second child Adella married W. W. Young, a merchant at Liberty Center, and their son Elden H. graduated in law at Chicago in June, 1916. Harry P. is a graduate of the Toledo Medical College and for twenty years has been active in. the practice of medicine at Liberty Center. Doctor Haag and his son are both democrats. JOHN ADAM SMITH. The, principal figure in the commercial and civic affairs of the Village of Malinta in Monroe Township of Henry County is John Adam Smith who entered merchandising there over twenty-two years ago and has continued to serve the community by carrying reliable goods and making his store one of the best in the county. He has been in the county about forty years. His people for many generations lived in Hesse, Germany, where his grandparents on both sides spent their long lives. They were Reformed Church people and farmers by occupation. His father Casper was born in Hesse, Germany, August 10, 1823, and grew up on a farm. He married Gertrude Roeder who was born in the same province April 26, 1815. Both spent their lives and died at th old home place at Braunings. Casper died in 1893 and his wife in 1868. John Adam Smith was born January 31, 1855. He has one brother Nicholas, who is a farmer in Monroe Township of Henry HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 921 County and has been twice married. His first wife died leaving three sons, and for his second wife he married Mrs. Viola J. (Bickford) Renner. By her marriage to David Renner she has a son Frank Renner, and there are two children by the second marriage, Pearl and Mary Smith. Mr. Smith had a sister Elizabeth, who married John Spertzel and had two sons. In his native country John Adam Smith grew to manhood and acquired a common school education. He was past nineteen years of age when he came to the United States, landing in Baltimore from a steamship. He went into Pennsylvania in 1874 and spent a couple of years around Allegheny. In January, 1877, he arrived in Henry County, Ohio, and his first experiences here were in the locality where the little Town of Malinta now stands. Just across the street from his present store he plowed, hoed, reaped and harvested, and thus he has been a witness to the development of this village since it was farming land. After two years he returned to Pennsylvania and lived nine months in that state. He then returned to Henry County and not long after-ward engaged in the hardware business. He acquired an assignee's stock of a defunct store, and has since carried a full line of general hardware. His store is 30 by 70 feet and he has a large wareroom of the same size. In Malinta Mr. Smith married Miss Mary Faust, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, September 24, 1864. Her parents spent all their lives in Germany, and when she' was a young woman she came to the United States and located at Malinta in Henry County. Mr. Smith and wife since their marriage have lived and labored in this village, and have been important factors in its advancement. Mr. Smith was instrumental in securing the incorporation of the village, being associated with others in that undertaking. He was one of the first councilmen and for many years has been treasurer of the village and served as township trustee having filled that office for eleven years. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have the following children : Walter H., who is thirty years of age, was educated at Malinta and is associated in business with his father. Laura G., born and reared in Malinta married Milton Deitrich and they live with Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Mr. Deitrich being a carpenter and thresherman ; their one daughter Marie was born January 4, 1916. Ada Catherine was born February 17, 1904, and is now attending the eighth grade of the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Reformed Church and in politics he is a democrat. CHARLES B. KROHN is one of the most progressive and promising young business men of Henry County. His foresight, shrewd enterprise, and ability have been factors in carrying him along the road to success. He is genial and obliging, and as manager of the Farmers Grain and Seed Company at Grelton is directing one of the most important lines of business of this kind in Northwest Ohio. Some years ago he and his father, the late Frank Krohn, were doing considerable busi-ness as track dealers in grain at Grelton. Their neighbors seeing how well they managed this business on their own account asked them to handle grain, and out of this grew the organization of the first farmers' elevator in the state. As manager of this elevator and the general business the directors chose Mr. Charles B. Krohn, and he has successfully directed that enterprise since the Farmers Grain and Seed Company was incorporated in 1910. Mr. L. Conrad is president, W. Jackson is secretary and treasurer, and Mr. Krohn man-ager of the company. It has a capital stock of $8,000 and surplus of about $15,000. The company is organized under the laws of Ohio. and carries on a large business in grain, coal, tile, cement, stone and other products. Be-sides the executive officials the directors of the company are : L. I. Winch, George Bremer, E. W. Shuler, E. M. Pope and L. T. Knipp. The elevator and warehouses are located on, the Clover Leaf Railway Each year the company ships about 250 carloads of grain, and while they buy largely from local farmers their sales are made to markets both near and distant. Charles B. Krohn was born in Henry County June 7, 1885, and was reared and received his education in the local high school and in the Ohio State University at Columbus, Ohio. He was associated with his father in the farm and stock business and their joint enterprise brought about the organization of the business of which he is now manager. The Farmers Grain and Seed Company was organized largely to combat a combination which was hostile to the best interests of the local farmers. The present company was largely the out-growth of the ideas of the late Frank Krohn, who laid down the plans for managing a co- 922 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO operative or farmers' organization. Frank Krohn was born in Lucas County, Ohio, of Pennsylvania parentage. He married Rosa Kurtz, who was also a native of Lucas County and of German parentage. After their mar-riage they removed to Grelton, Ohio, where he engaged in the sawmilling business as a teamster. Grelton at that time was an important sawmill point. Some years later Frank Krohn bought eighty acres in Richfield Township of Henry County, and this he im-proved and developed as a first class farm. His success was greatly broadened and at the time f his death he owned 360 acres, nearly all of which was in a high state of improve-ment. He died in December, 1913. His widow is still living and occupies the old farm. She was born in 1863. Both parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Frank Krohn was a democrat though not a hide bound partisan. He had served as township trustee and in other local positions. Charles B. Krohn is the oldest f the fol-lowing children : Charles B., Ray, John, Lewis, May, Emma, George, Laura and Bessie. All the family live at home with their mother except Charles B. All of them received the ad-vantages of the local grade and high schools, while Ray, John and Lewis were students in the state university at Columbus and two of the daughters also had outside advantages. Mr. Charles B. Krohn was married in Liberty Center to Miss Margaret Wright. Mrs. Krohn is a native of Chicago, but early in childhood was brought to Liberty Center, where she attended the grade and high schools. Her parents are John A. and Emma (Crockett) Wright: Her mother died in Liberty Center and her father is living on a farm there, and has also for a number f years been a teacher in the local schools and has served as county school examiner. Mr. and Mrs. Krohn have two children, Herbert and Arthur. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Krohn has served five years on the official board and also as superintendent of the Sunday school. In matters of politics he maintains an independent attitude. FRED HUNER. Nearly fifty years Fred Huner has been an active resident of Henry County. Beginning when little more than a child to make his own way in the world, he has found opportunity, has improved it, and by constant industry coupled with good management has made a large material success. For many years he lived on his farm in sec-tion 36 of Ridgeville Township, but now resides in a comfortable home in the Village f Ridge-ville Corners. He was born in Hanover, Germany, October 30, 1853, and he and his brother Frederick, long associated together in business at Ridgeville Corners, were the only children of John and Margaret (Cordes) Huner. His father was born in 1818 and his mother in 1821. In 1866, when Fred Huner was about twelve years of age, the little family embarked on the steamer Atlantic at Bremen and eighteen days later arrived in New York City. From there they came on to Napoleon and first went to the home of John Cordes in Napoleon Township, where the father died six weeks later on July 1, 1866. After this calamity he and his brother, who was then fifteen years f age, had to face the world alone and do what they could to con-tribute to the support f their widowed mother. The mother lived for many years and died at the home of her son Henry in 1906 at the age of eighty-six. Setting out to earn his own living, Fred Huner worked for several years in the vine-yards of Kelleys Island near Sandusky, and later returning to Napoleon found employment as a water carrier on the Wabash Railroad. Later he and his brother took a contract to clear up some land, and thus by one occupation or another he was steadily increasing his capital and experience and in 1880 he bought sixty-seven acres in section 36. He improved that, made a good farm f it, and was active in its management for twenty-four years. While still on the farm he engaged in the grocery business and the management of a butcher shop at Ridgeville Corners, being asso-ciated with his brother Henry. These brothers erected two substantial business blocks in the town, and in many ways have contributed to the prosperity of that village. Later Mr. Fred Huner retired from other business affairs in order to manage his own interests. For some years he and his family have resided in their comfortable eleven-room house in Ridgeville Corners on the Bryan and Napoleon pike. Politically a democrat, he has contributed in a practical way to the local welfare. He and his wife are active members f St. Paul's Lutheran Church. In Freedom Township he married Miss Mary Gerken. She was born on the old Gerken Farm in that township, and her parents were the first Low German family to locate there. Ref- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 923 erence to the Gerken family will be found on other pages. Mrs. Huner was born in 1860. JOHN A. WESTRICK. To experience and achieve all that John A. Westrick has is to live a very successful and fruitful life. Mr. Westrick is one of the most prominent men of Henry County. He has his home on a fine farm in Marion Township, his postoffice being Hamler, Rural Route No. 1, but his activities have not been entirely confined to his home locality. He is a former county commissioner. For a number of years he has been in the business of building roads. That business he has prosecuted successfully in various counties of Northwest Ohio. He has the experience, the capital, the equipment and all the facilities for rendering perfect service in this line. He now has under way contracts for road building in five different counties. More than fifty .miles have been constructed under his supervision in Putnam County alone. He takes all kind of contracts for county, state roads, and city streets, and takes justifiable pride in his work as a road builder.. Mr. Westrick has prospered also in his farming enterprise. His home place is a 200-acre farm in Marion Township. Much of this land he cleared out of the woods by his own sturdy arms, and has improved it by drainage, fencing and building. Mr. Westrick believes in good equipment and has taken much time to study out the details of improvements which would increase the efficiency of farm management. He has a fine barn 40 by 76 feet with a wing 36 by 40 feet, and surrounding it are various other smaller buildings for the housing of his grain crops and his machinery. He and his family reside in a comfortable home of ten rooms. Mr. Westrick also has a 160-acre farm in section 18 of Marion Township, likewise improved, and owns an interest in the grain elevators at Hamler and at Holgate. Mr. Westrick comes of some of the very old and substantial family stock of Henry County. He was born in Pleasant Township of that county April 10, 1861, and has spent his life so far either in Pleasant or Marion townships. His parents were Adam and Elizabeth (Diemer) Westrick, both of whom were born in Rhenish Bavaria, Germany. The grandfathers were David Westrick and Thomas Diemer, both of whom brought their families to America in 1842. They were seventy-two days on the ocean on a sailing vessel between Havre and New York. Journeying westward to Ohio the families made settlement in some of the wildest part of Henry County along the ridge in Pleasant Township. In those days it was hardly possible to obtain a distant view anywhere in that section, since the country was heavily wooded and much of it was very swampy. The only particular advantage that this wilderness afforded to the pioneers was the abundance of wild game. There was wild meat on the table practically every day of the year. A dam Westrick developed into a noted hunter and he took great delight. in sportsmanship all his life. In early days he killed a number of deer. David Westrick and Thomas Diemer secured and improved farms in the same neighborhood, but neither of them lived to be very old, Mr. Diemer dying at the age of fifty-three. Their wives, however, attained ages of fourscore. David Westrick married Barbara Wilhelm, who died at the age of eighty-three, while Thomas Diemer's wife was Mary Hoffman, who died when fourscore. All of these people were devout German Catholics and Catholicism, has been the religion of the subsequent generations. David Westrick gave an acre of his land as the site for the present Sacred Heart Church. Thomas, Diemen helped build the first log church edifice, while Frank Klear donated an acre of land for the cemetery. All these people lived in the same community, were believers in church, and upholders of religion and morality in their homes and in the community. After Adam Westrick and wife were married they located on a farm in section 36 of Pleasant Township. When John A. Westrick was three years old his parents removed to Marion Township establishing a new home on section 30. There the parents spent the rest of their days, and the father had a fine farm before his death, which occurred in March, 1913. 'He was within a few days of his eighty-third birthday. His widow is now living with her son, Adam, Jr., in Putnam County, and was seventy-eight at her last birthday in September, 1916. Both parents gave their liberal support to the Sacred Heart Church. Adam Westrick was a loyal democrat and all the earlier men in both the Westrick and Diemer families were of the same political faith. John A. Westrick was the oldest in a family of five sons and three daughters. Two of the daughters are now deceased but all the others are married and are heads of families. John A. Westrick was married at the Sacred Heart Church in New Bavaria, Ohio, in 1883, 924 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO on his twenty-second birthday, to Mary Bauer. Mrs. Westrick was born in Florida Villageff Henry County February 2, 1862, and was reared and educated in that community. Her parents were Christian and Caroline (Sefert) Bauer. Christian Bauer was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, one of a large family of seventeen children, and when seventeen yearsff age he and his sister Margaret ventured to find new homes in America, being the only ones of the children who left the fatherland. They came to Florida Village in Henry County and Christian Bauer followed his trade as cabinet maker. He was married at the age of twenty-five to Caroline Sefert, who was born in Ohio of German parentage. Mr. and Mrs. Bauer are still living on their old homestead in Flatrock Township, and that has been the scene of their associations now for more than half a century. Both are members of the Catholic Church and are good and faithful people who have spent their lives in doing good. Mr. and Mrs. Westrick are the parents of six children. William, the oldest, a farmer in Marion Township, married Anna Fauber, and has children named Orlean and Rosilla. Walter, the next in age, is also a Marion Township farmer, and by his marriage to NoraLauventhaus hsas children named Lucile, Dorothy, Charlotte and Baby. Agnes is the wife of Albert Afuby, a Marion Township farmer, and they have two children named Paul and Bernard. Elizabeth, a twin sisterff Agnes, married George Fisher of Flatrock Township and has two boys, Roy and Herman. Alphonse is working on his father's farm and is still unmarried. John is also a bachelor at home. Mr. Westrick besides looking after his many business interests has done much for the benefit of local schools and for seventeen years was a memberff the school board and helped build and rebuild schools in his section. All the family are members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and all the men of the family are democrats. Mr. Westrick was elected county commissioner in 1904 and three years later was re-elected for a second term. Owing to his large business experience he proved a most capable official in handling county af-fairs during those six years, and the county was greatly benefitted by the presence of a man of such character and efficiency on the board. JOHN H. ROARS. More than forty years ago, when John H. Rohrs first came to this country, he felt happy in being able to earn $1.50 a day by hard labor. Industry, thrift and unusual common sense and business judgment have since netted him a comfortable fortune. He has large holdings of land and other property in Henry and Defiance counties, and enjoys one of the fine country homes in Ridgeville Township of the former county. Representing the Hanover people who form such an important class in this section of Ohio, he was born in that kingdom, where his grandparents Christian and Mary (Meyer) Rohrs and his parents Henry C. and Catherine (Ottens) Rohrs spent all their lives, substantial farming people and good Lutherans. Henry C. Rohrs was born in Nordorf and his wife in Heddenden, and they were confirmed in a Lutheran Church that had been built in 1717. Ten children were born to them, seven of whom spent their days on farms in the old country. Jergen Henry, one of the children, came to America in 1866 with a friend Henry Benine. They sailed from Bremen to New York in thirty-two days, and after arriving Jergen conducted a candy kitchen for the manufacture and sale of candy and ice cream. In 1871 he returned to Germany and in the same year came back to the new world with his brother John H. While the brother resumed his former business, John H. Rohrs was content with a job in a grocery and feed store until May, 1874, when he came to Napoleon. He was soon busy with the heavy task of clearing land. The net result of this was that thirty acres were cleaned of timber and brush and made ready for the plow. Later he was employed at $1.50 a day in a brick yard at Toledo. As a rail splitter in those early days he was oneff the most expert. At the rate of 1 cent for each rail, he would split up his 250 a day, and altogether he estimates the production of about 40,000 rails. By his careful economy during these years labor ran into considerable money. For a time after his marriage he conducted the old farm of his father-in-law in Napoleon Township. Later he bought land of his own in that township, where he still owns 160 acres. After the foundation was laid, his prosperity grew apace. His possessions now include 100 acres in Freedom Township, 120 acres near Bryan in Williams County, eighty acres in Tiffin Township of Defiance County, besides his fine homestead of eighty-one acres in Ridgeville Township. As a general farmer, land trader