HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 925 and stock dealer his operations have made him widely known all over this part of Ohio.. His financial integrity has been strictly maintained. The banks have long known that his paper is worth every cent with interest and for years his credit with his bankers has been more than equal to his requirements. He is still active in the management of his business affairs, and as a stock farmer keeps a herd of about 100 high-grade cattle. A In 1877 in Napoleon Township Mr. Rohrs married Miss Magdalena Fricke, who was born in the Hanover settlement of that town-ship May 14, 1854. Her father, Jergen H. Fricke, was a native of Hanover and came to the United States in 1848. After one year in Cleveland he came to Henry County and secured the land which he developed into a good farm before his death, and where both his wives died. His first wife and the mother of Mrs. Rohrs was Mary Helberg. The family were all members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Rohrs were born seven children. Four of them died young. Helen, who married William Helberg, a farmer of Napoleon Township, is the mother of five children, Arthur, Johannes, Anna, Fred, and Dora, the two oldest now in school. Anna married David Norden, who farms a 100-acre place in Napoleon Township, and their two sons are John and William. Dora, who like the other children was well educated in both the German and English schools, is the wife of Louis Helmke, a native of Monroe Township of Henry County, and they live on the homestead of Mr. Rohrs; their One son is named Eldor. All members of the family are confirmed in St. Paul's Lutheran Church, which they attend. Mr. Rohrs has given his time liberally to community interests. He helped build and maintain the first German school in Henry County, and for twelve years served as a director of his home. school district. In 1900 he served as land appraiser for Napoleon Township. In politics he is a democrat. B. T. PRICE. Mendon is one of the principal trade and commercial centers of Mercer County. An important factor in its enterprise for a number of years has been Mr. T. B. Price, who is the present mayor of the little city and in a business capacity is best known as manager and one of the stockholders in the Mendon Lumber Company. Mr. Price has had a varied experience for a man of his years, and spent a good deal of time in the operation of the oil fields of this state and of Indiana. He is a native of Mercer County and was born on a farm in Union Township 41/4 miles southeast of Mendon on January 24, 1876, a son of J. R. and Mary E. (Chambers) Price. His paternal grandparents were John E. and Mary Price, both of whom were born and reared and married in Wales, and one son was born to them in that country. In the early years of the last century they emigrated to America, settling in Licking County, Ohio, and after three years moving to Mercer County and establishing a home in the new farming district in the northeast corner of the county. John E. Price was a typical pioneer, entered land from the Government, and spent the best part of his life in its improvement and cultivation. For three years he lived at Spencerville in Allen County, and was proprietor of a grocery store. While at Spencerville J. R. Price was born August 22, 1835. From Spencerville John E. Price returned with his family to the farm in the northeast corner of Mercer County and he and his wife spent the rest of their lives there. J. R. Price grew up on this farm, and lived at home until his marriage to Mary E. Chambers, who was born in Belmont County, Ohio, May 29, 1837, and was brought to Mercer County at the age of six years. She grew up in the county and knew J. R. Price when a young girl. She is still living and has spent most of her life within a radius of two miles around her present home. After mar-riage J. R. Price and wife established them-selves on a farm and almost in the same lo-cality where they now reside. They now have a fine place of 160 acres. J. R. Price was an active republican, served as road supervisor and township trustee, and was especially active in behalf of education and church maintenance. He was one of the official members and a deacon in the Baptist Church. J. R. Price and wife had twelve children, eleven of whom grew up and nine now living: Mary Frances is the wife of Anderson Keith, who has a tin shop at Van Wert, Ohio ; T. A. lives at Genoa, Ohio; R. D. is manager of a publishing house in Chicago, Illinois; O. E. is a farmer in Trumbull County, Ohio ; S. A. is a teacher at Spencerville ; the sixth in age is B. T. Price ; Bertha is the wife of an oil contractor at Augusta, Kansas; Orel married W. A. Bair of Neptune, Ohio; Tabitha is the wife of Earl Lewis, manager of a door and 926 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO sash mill at Lima ; Louise is deceased ; Ira E. died April 7, 1916; and Merritt died at the age of two years. Mr. B. T. Price spent his early life on a farm, attending the district schools and the Mendon High School, from which he graduated in 1899. In the meantime he had become a practical worker in the world of affairs. At the age of seventeen he was employed in the oil fields, and spent about three years in the different lines of work. At the age of twenty-one he resumed his studies in the high school, graduating three years later. Thus possessed f a happy combination of the prac-tical and theoretical in his educational training, he returned to the oil fields as a driller, and worked in that capacity in Indiana and Ohio until 1907. From 1907 to 1909 he was assistant manager of the Mendon Lumber Company, and since the latter year has been the active manager and one f the stockholders of this business, the largest and most important of its kind in Mendon. On January 13, 1901, Mr. Price married Glendora Archer, daughter of J. H. and Rosa (Dibble) Archer. Her father was born in Union Township of Mercer County and spent his life there, while her mother was born near Ohio City in Van Wert County and has lived in Union Township since her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Price are the parents of four children: Catherine, now in school; Richard, who died at the age of fourteen months; Louise, aged six ; and Eldon, who died when one year of age. Mr. Price is a charter member of Mendon Lodge No. 586 Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is Past Master, belongs to Celina Chapter No. 120 Royal Arch Masons, and with his wife is a member of Mendon Chapter of the Eastern Star. He is also affiliated with Mendon Lodge No. 416 Knights of Pythias, of which he is Past C. C., and he and his wife belong to the Pythian Sisters, in which order Mrs. Price has filled all the chairs. In matters of politics Mr. Price is a thorough republican. He has given much f his time to public duties at Mendon, has served as health officer five or six years, as marshal eight years, and is now the mayor f the town. For eleven years he was a member of the local board of education. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and from early youth he has been a church member and worker, and is now recording steward and class leader in the church at Mendon. HARRY S. GRAY. The owner f an ideal farm, a farmer on scientific and progressive principles, Harry S. Gray is one of the men who are setting new standards for agricultural enterprise in Henry County. Like a number of other men he came into this section of Ohio from the State of Illinois, where he was born and reared and where he learned the business of farming from the ground up. Mr. Gray was born September 16, 1870, in Waltham Township of LaSalle County, Illinois. He was well educated, was trained on a farm, and was identified with agriculture in Illinois until 1910. In that year he moved to Henry County and bought 160 acres in section 11 of Monroe Township. This now constitutes his very substantial farm, and grows regularly the finest crops and the value f the land is increasing every year. Mr. Gray has some excellent barns, the main one being 36 by 75 feet and painted drab and white. He also has a new barn or covered barnyard covering ground 36 by 60 feet. His corncrib and granaries have a capacity of 7,500 bushels. His home is a comfortable eight-room house painted white with drab trimmings. Mr. Gray is of English ancestry and of Pennsylvania parentage. His great-grandfather Daniel Gray was born while the family was coming from Ireland to the United States. He spent his life in Pennsylvania. This an-cestor was noted for his great physical prowess. The vigor and agility of the Gray stock descended to his son John D. Gray, grand-father of Harry Gray. John D. Gray was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, in 1804, and all his life was noted for his feats of physical strength and agility. He was also a man of very active and industrious habits. It is said that when ninety-three years of age he could perform a good job of clog dancing. His death occurred when he had passed his ninety-sixth birthday. A large number of his descendants are still living. John D. Gray was married in 1829 to Miss Elizabeth Fowler of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. She also died when quite old. Samuel D. Gray, father of Harry S., was born in Pennsylvania June 29, 1833. He died at Essex in Kankakee County, Illinois, February 18, 1907. In 1857 he came out to Illinois and settled in Waltham Township of LaSalle County. There he married Mary Sanborn who had also come from Pennsylvania. They started out as farmers in a comparatively new district. She died in Illinois in 1871 when her only son and child HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 927 Harry E. was five months old. Later Harry's father was married in 1872 to Ann Wood. They lived on a farm for several years and then moved. to the State of Mississippi, where they spent about seven years. Returning to Illinois, Samuel D. Gray and wife located at Essex in Kankakee County, where he was proprietor of a hotel until his death in 1907. His widow is now living with her daughter Mrs. M. Bates at Kankakee. Samuel D. Gray was a Mason. By his second marriage there were the following children: Mrs. M. G. Bates, Levi, Nellie (deceased), Floyd, Mrs. John Johnston (now deceased) and Anna. In Freedom Township of LaSalle County, Illinois, Mr. Gray married Miss Cora Tucker. She was born in that township March 29, 1878, and was reared and educated there. She secured a certificate to teach school. Her parents, Amos and Mary (Myers) Tucker, represented an old family of Central Illinois. Her father was born in Freedom Township of LaSalle County and on the same farm as his daughter August 27, 1851. Her mother was born near Earlville, Illinois, in 1853, and was of German parentage and of pioneer stock in LaSalle County. Mr. and Mrs. Tucker met and married near Earlville. Amos Tucker was a son of Levi and Mary Tucker, both natives of Licking County, Ohio. Levi was born August 27, 1817, and his wife on November 1, 1816. They were married August 3, 1843, in Freedom Township of LaSalle County, Illinois. They started out to make a home there when LaSalle County was a wilderness. The Indians still lived. in that section, and as there were no railroads the surplus products were carried to market at Chicago, 100 miles away. Ox teams and wagons furnished the means of transportation. The Tucker family were friends of the noted Illinois Chieftain Shabbonee who frequently visited and stayed all night in the hospitable Tucker home. Mr. and Mrs. Gray have three children : Donald, who was born February 21, 1901, and is in the seventh grade of the public schools ; Harwood, born December 3, 1904, and in the sixth grade ; and Merle, born March 12, 1907. The family are identified with the Presbyterian Church and Mr. Gray is a republican. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Order of Gleaners and he and his wife are members of the Mystic Workers of the World and with the Pythian Sisters. Both are young people of progressive social ideals and are doing their full share in the uplift and improvement of the community. JOHN M. BRAYER. Much of the early business enterprise and civic spirit in Holgate was supplied by the late John M. Brayer. Mr. Brayer came to Holgate when it was just beginning its growth as a town, and was for many years successfully identified with its industrial and banking interests. He was a member of a prominent family of Rochester, New York, and on coming to Holgate he brought the associations and influence of his family connections as an asset in addition to his individual enterprise. Mr. Brayer was born in Rochester March 21, 1856, and died at his home in Holgate March 19, 1910, when still in the prime of his years. His people were from those border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine which have been so mixed in national ownership and control and his parents were of French and German stock but were both under the French flag. They were Michael and Elizabeth (Wackaman) Brayer. They came to the United States in sailing vessels and were still unmarried, their marriage occurring in Rochester, New York, where they spent their last years. Michael Brayer died in Rochester in May, 1878, having survived his wife by five or six years. They were members of the Catholic Church. Michael Brayer at Rochester became very prominent and successful, was a manufacturer and did much to build up the milling interests of that city. He also organized one of the largest banks and was „its president for a number of years. The late John M. Brayer was one of a number of children, including Jacob W., Nicholas, John M., William, George W., Mary, Nellie and Elizabeth, all of whom grew up, married, and all have children except William and Nellie. Two are now deceased, Jacob and John M.. while the others all live in Rochester. John M. Brayer was reared and educated in Rochester, and not only inherited some of his father's business talents but was thoroughly trained in commercial affairs. About the time he reached his majority he came with his brother Nicholas to the Village of Holgate in 1874. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had just been built to this point and its advantages as an industrial center were first appreciated by the Brayer brothers. The brothers in association with David Upton, also a Rochester man, established a stave mill. For years this was the chief industry of the 928 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO village and was conducted by the Brayers and their associates until 1891. The Brayer brothers later were associated with Mr. F. H. Voigt in organizing the Holgate Commercial Bank, and Mr. Brayer was one of its directors until his death. He was keenly alive to all the community needs of his village, and being an influential factor in business he likewise supplied much of the spirit of progress which has given Holgate its permanent prosperity and advancement. In politics he was a republican. After coming to Henry County Mr. Brayer was married in Flatrock Township March 21, 1886, to Miss Caroline Eberly. Mrs. Brayer was born in that township and was married in the house where she was born. She is a daughter of Henry and Eva E. (Rettig) Eberly, both natives of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. They were brought when quite young to the United States and to Henry County. Her mother came with her parents, and both families were among the pioneers who helped to clear out the wilderness and make homes. Mr. Eberly died in August, 1882, when about eighty years of age. His widow married for her second husband her first hus-band's cousin, also named Henry Eberly. Her second husband died in 1904 and she is now living with her daughter Mrs. Brayer at the age of eighty-one and very hale and active for a woman of her years. Mrs. Brayer's family followed different religious faiths, some of them being of the Reformed Church, others Lutherans, and others Presbyterians. Mr. and Mrs. Brayer had a family of six children : Carrie E. is a graduate of the Holgate High School and is now the wife of E. G. Peper, residents of Colorado Springs, Colorado. They have a son Robert Brayer Peper. Thomas H. Brayer is unmarried and is living in Colorado. Nellie E. is a graduate of the Holgate High School and is now study-ing to be a trained nurse in the Wesley Memorial Hospital of Chicago. Jeanne A. is is clerk in a business house in Colorado. John M., Jr., and Josephine E., the youngest chil-dren,' are still living with their mother and attending school. After her husband's death Mrs. Brayer bought the beautiful country place of seventy-two acres near Holgate. This farm has a fine fifteen-room house, with ample barns and other facilities. Adjoining this place she has an-other farm of eighty-four acres, with complete equipment of buildings. She has shown much ability in managing her estate, and under her direction the farms have proved very profit-able. Mrs. Brayer and her children divide their church membership between the Presby-terian, Lutheran and the Reformed churches. CHARLES D. ROEBUCK is one of the enviable citizens of Mercer County. The elements of his life have been so mixed that he has always exemplified the traits and characteristics of a vigorous American citizen, and with a career verging just neither on poverty nor on wealth has been able to provide well for his own wants and those of his growing family, and has made good in all life's relations. He is now comfortably situated as pro-prietor of the Sunland Farm, located in Black Creek Township of Mercer County. This fine country home is on rural route No. 6 out of Rockford. He came to a farm after twenty years of service as a railway telegrapher. He learned telegraphy beginning at the age of eighteen. His life up to that time had been spent on a farm. He was born in Mercer County, November 3, 1875, a son of Albert M. and Mary (Circle) Roebuck. His father was born February 14, 1.848, and died April 5, 1904. His mother, Mary Circle, was born in Mercer County east of Celina on November 20, 1852, and is still living, making her home at Rockford. After their marriage Albert Roebuck and wife lived on Twelve Mile Creek for a number of years, and in 1882 removed to Black Creek. Township and bought the farm now owned and occupied by their son, Charles D. They were the parents of eight children, as follows : James Clemens of Black Creek Township ; Charles D. ; Bertha Grace, wife of John Dysert of Mercer County ; Lilly Ethel and Ruth Esther, both of Rochester, New York ; David Albert, of Berea, Kentucky ; Anna Jane, a teacher of Athens, Ohio ; and Brooks Waldo, a student at Athens, Ohio. Besides such experience as he picked up on the farm, Charles D. Roebuck had the ad-vantage of the district schools during his youth, and having a natural bright mind and a deter-mination to learn and conquer for himself some share of the world's fortunes, he had no difficulty in mastering the art of telegraphy. For four years he was employed as an operator at Van Wert, Ohio, on the Cincinnati Northern. He was also train dispatcher for the Big Four Railway at Mount Carmel, Illinois, for two years. For eight years he held a similar place with the Louisville & Nashville at Paris, Kentucky. Altogether he was HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 929 twenty years in the service of these various railroads. On retiring he bought the old homestead, and is now successfully engaged in the raising of livestock, including some high-grade draft horses. He also does considerable business as representative of the Ohio State Life Insurance Company for the territory in and around Rockford. During his work as a telegrapher Mr. Roebuck was employed for a time at Paulding, Ohio. There on May 19, 1898, he married Chloe Bashore. They are the parents of two children : Burton, now ten years of age ; and Frank, aged eight, both being in the public schools. Mr. Roebuck is affiliated with Lodge No. 248, Free and. Accepted Masons ; Paris Chapter Royal Arch Masons at Paris, Kentucky ; Paris Council No. 30, Royal and Select Masons, and Ivanhoe Commandery of the Knights Templar at Van Wert. He is a charter member of Oleika Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Lexington, Kentucky. He belongs to the Rathbone Lodge No. 12, Knights of .Pythias, at Paris, Kentucky, and is a member of the Train Dispatchers' Association of America. He has always endeavored to do his part as a good citizen, and in national politics is a republican voter. HENRY C. TIETJE. Through a long and useful career Henry C. Tietje has lived since childhood in Henry County. His work has contributed to the development and making of farms in that section of Northwest Ohio, and when he retired some years ago to a comfortable home in the village of Ridgeville Corners it was to enjoy the fruits of a well-spent lifetime. Like many other substantial citizens of this county, he was born in Hanover, Germany, November 18, 1847. His parents were Henry and Sophia (Olow) Tietje, natives of the same section of the fatherland. The paternal grandparents were Henry and Mary Tietje, and that generation spent all their lives on Hanover farms and were active members of the Lutheran Church. Henry C. Tietje was the only child of his parents born in Germany. In 1860, when he was twelve years of age, he and his parents embarked on the sailing vessel Union and set out from Bremen to Baltimore. It was a long and tedious passage of eight weeks, during which the passengers suffered no end of discomforts. From Baltimore they came on west to Napoleon, remained six weeks in the home of Christian Tietje, a brother of Henry, Sr., in the Hanover settlement, and the father then bought forty acres in Section 31 of Freedom Township. Only four acres had been cleared, and the family lived in one of the typical log cabin homes until 1875. This log cabin was then replaced by a substantial eight-room house, which is still standing. Henry Tietje, Sr., was a man of great energy and good business ability and purchased successively sixty acres, forty-two acres, twenty-five acres, and all told had 167 acres of land, which he cleared up with the exception of a small portion and made a splendid farm. It was on the old homestead that he passed away in August, 1906. He was born in May, 1816. His widow is still living with her son Henry and on June 6, 1916, celebrated her ninety-fourth birthday. In spite of the weight of years she is still possessed of her mental and physical faculties to a large degree. Both parents were prominent early members of the Lutheran Church in the Hanover settlement, and for several years attended worship in the old log church until St. Paul's Church was established in Henry County. Henry Tietje, Sr., held all the church offices. Politically he was a democrat. After the parents came to this country one other child was born, Sophia, wife of Henry }Inner, elsewhere referred to in this publication. It was in a home of simple comforts and with much hard work that henry C. Tietje grew to manhood. Some of his education he gained in the German school before coming to America, and he also attended English schools. At the age of fourteen he had so far advanced in proficiency as a practical worker as to be noted for his skill with the axe. He was a competent rail splitter, and his labors contributed much, to the clearing up of the old homestead which he now owns. He has always given a son's loyal affection to his parents and is providing a comfortable home for his mother in her advanced years. Besides the homestead Mr. Tietje owns twenty-four acres of fine land in Section 36 of Ridgeville Township and also a 141-acre farm in Adams Township of Defiance County. This latter tract is thoroughly improved as a modern farm, has two good barns, and only recently his son-in-law erected on this property an eight-room house, brick veneered, with slate roof and all the modern conveniences. Mr. Tietje now owns his village home of eight rooms, surrounded by six acres of land at 930 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Ridgeville Corners, where he located in 1910 on giving up his active duties as a farmer. In Napoleon Township Mr. Tietje married Mary Sophia Otte. Like her husband she was born in Hanover, Germany, April 19, 1852. When she was twelve weeks of age, her mother, whose maiden name was Norden, died, and in 1868 she was brought by her father, Henry Otte, and her stepmother, to America. The Otte family located in the Hanover settlement of Napoleon Township, where her father secured a tract of land and lived there until his death, when past sixty years of age. The Ottes were also active Lutherans. Mr. and Mrs. Tietje are the parents of two children : John H., born November 20, 1881, grew up on the homestead in Henry County, was educated in the public schools, and afterwards learned and followed for several years the painter's trade. He is now living on the old homestead and is a practical and progressive farmer. By his marriage to Amelia Rohrs, daughter of Henry H. Rohrs, a prominent Henry County citizen elsewhere referred to, he has five children, named Raymond, Reonetta, Norma, Thelma and Leoda. The daughter, Minnie Mary, born February 29, 1894, was educated in the public schools and is the wife of Carl Rohrs, a well-known stock grower and horse breeder. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Rohrs have children named Lorena and Lillian. Mr. and Mrs. Tietje are active members of the Lutheran Church. JOHN WEAVER. During his long and active career in Henry County, John Weaver distinguished himself by some of that sturdy constructive ability which has created so many fine farms in this section of Ohio. Mr. Weaver was a citizen of high purpose and character, provided well for his family, and left an honored name. He was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, November 14, 1848, and died at his home in Liberty Township of Henry County, April 24, 1915. His parents were Leonard and Anna (Daring) Weaver, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. They were married in Fairfield County, where all their children were born : Jacob, Leonard, John, Elizabeth, Reuben, Addison and Emma. Emma died in Fairfield County. Just prior to the Civil war the family set out with wagons and teams and crossed the intervening country to Henry County, locating in Damascus Township. Damascus Township was at that time made up largely of wild and swampy land. Leonard Weaver secured 300 acres of that type of land, and his first improvement was the erection of a log cabin, in which he and his family lived for several years. Then followed many seasons of productive enterprise, during which the land was drained, was put under cultivation, and many improvements came into evidence before Leonard and his good wife passed away. He was over seventy when he died, and left his widow, who died several years later, when about seventy years of age. They were members of the Reformed Church, and he was a democrat. In 1871 their sons, Reuben and Allison, died of smallpox within a few weeks of each other. It was never known how they contracted this disease. Both were young men at the time. All the other children who grew up married and had families, and all are now deceased except Elizabeth, the wife of James Perry. Mr. and Mrs. Perry live on the old Weaver homestead and have a family of one son and three daughters. It was on the old farm in Damascus Township that the late John Weaver spent his early days. The public schools gave him an education, and in November, 1871, at the age of twenty-three, he married a neighbor girl in Damascus Township, Alice Cromwell. She was born in Seneca County, Ohio, September 28, 1851. At the age of thirteen her parents came with wagons and teams to Damascus Township in Henry County. Her father, William Cromwell, who was of English extraction and descended from the same family that produced the great Oliver Cromwell, bought 160 acres of wild land in Henry County and gave the best years of his life to its improvement and cultivation. He and his father, Philip Cromwell, were both natives of Frederick County, Maryland. Philip Cromwell and his wife died in that state when quite old. Philip was a slave holder before the war. William Cromwell when a young man walked the entire distance to Ohio, and located in Seneca County, where he married for his first wife Miss M. Cramer, a native of Ohio. She died after the birth of one child, Mary, who is now the wife of Philip King, living in the State of. Illinois. William Cromwell married for his second wife, in Seneca County, Miss Anna Stoner, who was born in Seneca County. About the close of the Civil war William Cromwell and his family came to Henry County and after he had improved his land and erected a good frame house his wife passed away about 1870, when forty-one HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 931 years of age. Her oldest son William died at the same time, both being victims of malaria fever. Of her children, Mrs. Weaver has a twin sister, Alberta. Another child was Robert, who was twice married and is now deceased. Marcena, another sister of Mrs. Weaver, married Merritt Wilcox and left five children, two sons and three daughters. Belle is the wife of Heath Mason, an Indiana farmer, and they have a family of five living children. Frank died after his marriage to Leona Criger, and she now lives in McClure and has two sons and a daughter. Eva is the wife of Andrew Jennings of Damascus Township. Orick died a young man unmarried. Della, the youngest sister of Mrs. Weaver, is the wife of Emil Brand, of Dayton, Ohio, and they have one daughter. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. John Weaver located on a part of the old Weaver homestead in Damascus Township. While living there their first child was born, Nettie, who is now Mrs. Charles Bowers. Mr. and Mrs. Bowers live on a farm in Liberty Township and have tw daughters, Alice and Josephine, both of whom are students in the local schools. In 1879 Mr. and Mrs. Weaver moved to Liberty Township, and bought 160 acres of land in Sections 4 and 9. Mr. Weaver gained his best success as a farmer on that land and improved it with substantial buildings and subsequently acquired another tract of fifty-one acres in Section 4. After a long and industrious life he died on his farm in Liberty Township, and Mrs. Weaver still makes her home there. He was a democrat, and Mrs. Weaver is an active member of the Methodist Church. After the family removed to Liberty Township a son was born, Ora, May 3, 1887. Ora was educated in the public schools at home and also attended school at Lima, Ohio. He is a progressive young farmer and is now successfully managing the 150-acre homestead. He married Erma Leist of Liberty Township. NICHOLAS SMITH. One of the farms of Henry County that show the personality of the ownership is the place in Monroe Township owned by Nicholas Smith. Mr. Smith has spent practically all his life in America, though he is German born. He was born in Hesse Nassau, Germany, December 24, 1849. The family for generations have been members of the German Reformed Church. In the old country, as well as in the new, they have applied themselves to the vocations and activities of the country. Nicholas Smith was a small boy when his grandfather Nicholas died in Germany. The parents of Nicholas, Jr., were Casper and Gertrude (Rader) Smith. His maternal grandparents were Nicholas and Barbara (Rader) Rader. Nicholas Rader married Barbara Rader when she was a widow. Both the Raders did in Hesse Nassau when past eighty years of age. With their marriage Casper Smith and wife started in to make a living as farming people and spent all their lives in Germany. The mother died there November 20, 1868, when about fifty-five years of age. He survived her some years and was past seventy when he died. They, as all the other members of the family, were German Reformed people. Mr. Nicholas Smith has a sister Elizabeth who is living in her native province as the widow of Mr. Spretzel, who died there some years ago. She has two sons, both soldiers in the German armies, and at last accounts all of them were still alive. Mr. Nicholas Smith has one brother, John Adam Smith, a well-known resident of Henry County, elsewhere referred to. Germany was the home of Nicholas Smith until August, 1872. He has acquired a good education in the local schools and had received some training which proved valuable to him after he landed from the ship Rhine on September 2, 1872, in Baltimore. Two days later he arrived at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a little after that went to Beaver County, Pennsylvania. There he found employment as a farm hand. He was thus occupied until 1879. In the spring of 1875 he married Margaret Ifft. She was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1849, was reared and educated there and while she and her husband lived in Beaver County two children were born. Franklin W. is employed in a factory at Erie, Pennsylvania, and by his marriage to Julia Main has children named Albert E. and Julia Etta. Albert W., the younger son, owns and occupies an eighty-acre, farm in Monroe Township of Henry County, and by his marriage to Lavina Parker of Pennsylvania has two children, Geraldine A. and Alvin N. In 1879 Mr. and Mrs. Smith left Pennsylvania and came to Henry County, locating in Monroe Township. Two years later he was able to make his first purchase of land, forty acres. That he gradually improved, and in time had a fine set of building improvements. 932 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO In 1903, having sold out, he bought after some months forty acres and eighty acres in Section 14 of Monroe Township. This has been his home ever since, and there his ideas as a practical and progressive farmer have found ample scope. The improvements of his place class him as one of the leading men in the agricultural affairs of Henry County. There is a large central barn 50x68 feet, painted red with white trimmings, a wagon house, corn crib, a substantial eight-room house, and everything that makes country life attractive and farming a business congenial as well as profitable. About two years after he came to Henry County, Mr. Smith lost his first wife on No, vember 7, 1.881. She left a son, John G., who had been born April 27, 1881. He now lives on a farm in Lenawee County, Michigan, and by his marriage to Cora Redman has two children, Margaret A. and Robert R. In Monroe Township Mr. Smith married for his present wife Mrs. Viola J. (Bickford) Renner. Her first husband, David Renner, died at the age of twenty-six, leaving a. son, Frank H. Renner, who lives in Monroe Township. Frank Renner married Robie Foote, and their children are David H., Reuben H., Mary J., Ruth E. and Pauline. Mrs. Smith was born in Monroe Township, February 1858, a daughter of Happy Wright and Elmina (Osher) Bickford. The Bickford family were of old New England ancestry. In pioneer times they established a home in Richland County, Ohio, and later moved to Crawford County. Happy Wright Bickford was born in Crawford County, December 12, 1826. When he was still young his father, Daniel Bickford, whose wife had died in the meantime, entered Government land in Section 11 of Monroe Township, Henry County. Henry County was then an unsettled wilderness. The first home of the Bckfords here was a log cabin, containing one room, with two windows, and one door. There was a puncheon floor, a roof of clapboards tied down with weight poles. Thus the Bickfords were identified with the very early history of Henry County. There Daniel Bickford cleared up a large part of his land and made many improvements to show for his efforts bfore he died. He married a second wife, but had no children by that union. Happy Wright Bickford grew to manhood in Henry County, and when twenty-nine years of age married Miss Osher, who was born in Richland County, Ohio, in May, 1837. She had come when about nineteen years of age to Henry County. Happy W. Bickford and wife located on the old Daniel Bickford farm, which he had inherited. He had 120 acres. and all their children were born and reared on that place. Mrs. Bickford died there De-cember 18, 1885, and after that he spent a few years in Michigan, but finally returned to Ohio and died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Smith. He was a life-long democrat, and his wife was a member of the Christian Church. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Smith have two children. Pearl' A. was born February 5, 1887, was educated in the local schools and is still living at home. Mary, born December 6, 1895, graduated in the common schools and is now the wife of Vernon R. Matter, living at Fletcher, in Miami County. They have a son, Raymond C. The Smith family are all members of the United Brethren Church at Malinta. Mr. Smith is a sterling republican and a prohibi-tionist in principle. He is a member and past grand of Overhultz Lodge No. 839, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Malinta, and has filled many of the minor offices in the Harrison Township, Grange No. 151. HENRY DREWES. For more than half a cen-tury the name Drewes has been worthily linked with the civic and agricultural activities of Henry County. Throughout that time Mr. Henry Drewes has lived in that section, and though now past the age of three score and tcn, and living retired in comfort at Ridgeville Corners, he is the type of man who carries his years gracefully and easily, and would easily be taken for a man twenty years younger. A native of Hanover, Germany, he was born October 15, 1844, a son of William and Elizabeth (Badenhop) Drewes. His parents were natives of the same kingdom and their re-spective parents spent their lives there. William Drewes, while growing to manhood, learned the trade of tailor and also became a practical farmer. Henry Drewes was the only one of the children born in the old country to survive. When he was three years of age, in October, 1847, his parents took passage on a sailing vessel at Bremen, and after nine weeks landed in New York harbor. From there they came on to join the Hanover settlement in Napoleon Township of Henry County. They were among the earliest people of German stock to locate there. Select- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 933 ing a raw piece of land, they cleared off a spot on which the first log cabin was built, and there they lived for several years, surrounded by the woods and the swamps. It was a difficult region in which to do pioneer work, but William Dre.wes possessed the energy and resources which have developed many fine farms in this section of Ohio. The farm he selected has since become known as the richest in the state. The first land purchased was forty acres, paid for at the rate of $1 an acre. By many years of hard work it was drained, cleared and improved, and from time to time William Drewes acquired other tracts and was known as one of the most substantial and successful farmers of the Hanover settlement. While doing his first work in the improvement of his forty-acre farm he followed tailoring for the benefit of his neighbors, and in that way earned much of the money needed to support the household until the farm could be made productive. On the old homestead William Drewes died in 1886 at the age of seventy-eight. His wife passed away in 1858 at the age of forty-two. The children, besides Henry, were : Anna, who is the widow of Christian Helberg of Napoleon Township and has a large family of sons and daughters. Mary, the wife of Henry Feddere, a farmer in Adams Township of Defiance County, is also the mother of a number of children. Dietrich died after his marriage, leaving four sons and three daughters, his wife being' also deceased. Fred married and he and his wife are now deceased, having left three sons. John A. is a farmer in Monroe Township of Henry County and has two sons. It was in the wilderness home of his parents in Henry County that Henry Drewes grew to manhood. After his marriage he secured eighty acres of the old homestead and also bought eighty acres in Adams Township of Defiance County. On this land he spent many of his most industrious years, clearing, grubbing, cultivating and doing all he could to make the farm one of the most representative' in that section of Ohio. Finally, having gained a competence, he retired in 1906 to spend his last years in Ridgeville Corners. Here he bought a fine house of ten rooms, with all the modern conveniences, on the Ridge Road. This home is surrounded by two acres of ground, and while he is well able to take life at ease, he finds more or less constant employment around his home. Mr. Drewes married for his first wife Minnie Freytag. She was born in Germany, but Vol. II-18 came in early girlhood to America and was reared in Napoleon Township. She is a sister of George and William Freytag, a well-known family of that township. William Freytag was for many years a prominent German teacher. Mrs. Henry Drewes died in 1879 in the prime of life. She was a devout member of the Lutheran Church. Five children were born to her, three of whom died in childhood, and the two now living are George Drewes, elsewhere referred to, and William, who is a farmer in Napoleon Township, and by his marriage to Anna Bockelman has three children named Karl, Arnold and Minnie. For his second wife Mr. Drewes was married in Adams Township of Defiance County to Mrs. Sophia (Imbrock) Rohrs, widow of Herman Rohrs. By her first marriage Mrs. Drewes had one child, Helen, who is now the wife of Henry Rohrs of Napoleon. By the second marriage Mr. and Mrs. Drewes have the following children : Herman, who lives on the Adams Township farm of his father, and by his marriage to Henrietta Blosman has two children, named Dora and Henry ; Minnie is the wife of George Haase, a plumber at Napoleon, and they have a child named Norman ; Erna is the wife of Carl Rohrs, a farmer in Napoleon Township ; Laura and Clara, both educated in the village schools, are still at home with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Drewes are active members of the Lutheran Church and politically he is a democrat. WILLIAM F. HATCHER. Obstacles stop some men in their careers; to others they add only as a stimulus and incentive to real achievement. The gold of human character becomes refined only as a result of action, experience and a constant overcoming of difficulties. The truth of this finds an excellent illustration in the career of William F. Hatcher, proprietor of the Sunrise Farm in Damascus Township of Henry County. When he was fourteen years of age he was orphaned by the death of both his parents. Thus since early years, when most boys are in school, he had an intimate fellowship with toil. Some years later he married. His wife brought to him inspiration and encouragement as well as practical assistance, and together they have shared the burdens as well as the joys of existence. They were married at the age of twenty-two. Both were working out for others at the time, and the fund with which they began housekeeping was only $90. Their 934 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO capacity for hard work seemed to be almost unlimited, and a worthy ambition directed all their efforts. They purchased a farm of forty acres in Section 16, Richfield Township, which was wild, uncultivated land. Besides clearing this property, they also took a lease on eighty acres in the same township. A few years later Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher secured 170 acres of completely wild land in Paulding County, Ohio. With a right good will they set themselves to the task of improving and making a home. While they lived there the land was completely transformed. Fifteen miles of drain tile were laid, the fields were fenced, substantial farm buildings erected, and when Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher were thirty-eight years of age they could look with satisfaction upon the accomplishment of a worthy task and could see their farm cleared and cultivated and entirely paid for. But Mr. Hatcher sold this farm, and they lived in West Mansfield until 1914, when they came back to Henry County and bought the Sunrise Farm in Damascus Township. It is a fine farm and a beautiful country home. It is located in Section 23. They enjoy the comforts of a modern twelve-room house, which, with its white paint and green blinds, makes a very attrctive picture by the roadside. The conveniences and comforts inside are matched by the efficiency and system that prevail in the business side of the farm. The entire eighty acres are well improved with the exception of four acres in a timber lot. Mr. Hatcher grows good stock and is one of the very successful men of Henry County. His contribution to the progress of Northwest Ohio is an important one, since during his career he has cleared up more than 300 acres of woodland in Paulding and Henry counties. William F. Hatcher was born in West Mansfield, Ohio, November 21, 1865. He first came to Henry County in 1889, and seven years later went to Paulding County and cleared up the 170 acres, as already noted. After selling his farm he lived at West Mansfield for twelve years, and three years ago came again to Henry County. For the past seven years Mr. Hatcher has been interested as a stockholder in the Van Cleve Clay Company, manufacturers of tile. This company makes all grades of drain tile, from four inches to thirty inches in diameter. Mr. Hatcher comes of an old Virginia family. Hatcher's Run, where one of the battles of the Civil war was fought in Virginia, was the old family seat. Mr. Hatcher's parents were William and Margaret (Clemens) Hatcher, both of whom were natives of Ohio. They were married near West Liberty, in Logan County, and there started out as farmers. William Hatcher enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil war, and suffered such disabilities while in the army that they eventually caused his death in 1870. He had been born in Logan County in 1837, and was a son of William Hatcher, Sr., who died of the cholera epidemic in Illinois in 1849. His widow subsequently married a Mr. Davis, and they located near Defiance, Ohio, where she died when past ninety, and Mr. Davis also died there. William Hatcher, Jr., started out as a tenant farmer, but subsequently bought a place near West Mansfield, and there his death occurred. His wife also died at the early age of forty-five, and thus when he was fourteen William F. Hatcher was left an orphan, and has been compelled to make his own way ever since. In Logan County William F. Hatcher married Miss Luella Watson. She was born in that county in 1863, a daughter of William and Matilda (Marmon) Watson. Her parents were also natives of Logan County, and spent their lives there, both of them being of old Virginia stock, as were the Hatchers. Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher are the parents of three bright and promising daughters: Esther, who has completed her high school course and lives at home ; Cinda L., who is attending the high school at McClure; and Ruth, who is in the first year of the high school. The family are members of the United Brethren Church, and in politics Mr. Hatcher is a democrat. FRED ROHRS. A continued residence of thirty years in one community constitutes a claim to individual importance, and when such a residence has been accompanied by years of fruitful toil and endeavor and good citizenship there is every reason and propriety in noting the career of the individual concerned as a factor of value and influence in local history. There is a fine farm of 160 acres in Section 16 of Monroe Township which has been continuously occupied and improved by Mr. Fred Rohrs since he made his first purchase there in the spring of 1886. His land lies on both sides of Lost Creek. Thirty years ago it was a tract with almost no improvements and only a part under cultivation. Mr. Rohrs has given the best of his time and energies to the clear- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 935 ing and development of this farm. The results are in striking evidence. Among the building improvements is a large barn on a foundation 40 by 90 feet, surrounded with other smaller buildings for the housing of crops and implements. His rural home is a substantial (sight-room residence. Henry County has become noted in recent years as a center of sugar beet culture. Mr. Rohrs has been one of the important growers of that crop and has a large part of his land devoted to beets, and his yield frequently runs as high as twenty tons per acre. No one class of people has had more to do with the substantial development of Henry County than those thrifty settlers from Hanover who have been coming into the county at different times for the past seventy years. Mr. Fred Rohrs himself is a native of Hanover, and was born there September 13, 1864. He is related to one or two other families of the same name who have been conspicuous in Henry County history. His grandparents spent all their lives as farmers in Hanover, and all members of the family have been Lutherans. Christ Rohrs, father of Fred, married Anna Rohrs of the same name, but not related. All their children were born in Hanover. Mr. Fred Rohrs was the first of the family to come to the United States. In 1880 he made the voyage across the ocean with his bachelor uncle, Henry Rohrs. Henry Rohrs, who located in Brooklyn, New York, became a wealthy confectioner, and died only a few years ago, leaving a widow and daughter who are still living in Brooklyn. Instead of remaining at Brooklyn, Fred Rohrs came on west to Henry County and at first lived with his uncle, John H. Rohrs, in the Hanover settlement. Two years later he found employment on adjacent farms, and it was by hard manual labor that he secured the means that enabled him in the spring of 1886 to buy eighty acres of his present farm. He was getting settled on his farm when, in January, 1888, his parents and all the other children arrived in America. These other children were named Anna, William, August, Emma and Ida. They left- the old country a short time , before the holiday season of 1887 and landed in Baltimore in the month of January following. From there they came on to Henry County, and for a time lived with Fred Rohrs at his place in Section 16 of Monroe Township. Mr. Christ Rohrs, the father, then bought forty acres of wild land. Its chief improvement was a small cabin. He and his wife took possession and began the heavy task of clearing up and making a farm. He was well prospered in his undertaking, and was finally able to retire with a competence. He is now living in Napoleon and is eighty years of age. His wife died at the home of one of her daughters in Monroe Township when about seventy years. After coming to Henry County they joined the Lutheran Church of Monroe Township. Mr. Fred Rohrs and all his brothers and sisters are still living and all are married and have families. His brother August has gained distinction in the field of education and is now connected with the German Church school of Detroit. In Monroe Township Mr. Fred Rohrs married Miss Anna Cordes. She was born in Hanover, December 1, 1864, and her father died in that kingdom, and when she was seventeen she came with her widowed mother to America and joined her sisters in Henry County. These sisters were Mrs. Catherine Fuhrhop, wife of Henry Fuhrhop, and Mrs. Mary Oberhaus of Napoleon. Mrs. Rohrs' mother died at the home of her daughter when fifty years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Rohrs have good reason to be proud of their children, some of whom are already well settled in life, while others are still gaining their education and living at home. Louise, the oldest, is the wife of Arnold Drewes, a farmer of Monroe Township. Frank is farming sixty acres belonging to his father in Section 27 of Richfield Township, and by his marriage to Emma Witte has Walter and Edna. Carl is also a farmer on another 60-acre tract owned by his father in Section 27 of Richfield Township ; he married Minnie Kruse. Anna is the wife of Carl Huber, a farmer in Monroe Township, and their two children are Clarence Alvera and Edmund. Fred lives at home and is his father's right-hand man in the management of the farm, and like the other children has had the best advantages of the local public and parochial schools. Ernest is still in school, as are also Clara and Edmund. Edmund is eight years of age and is in the third grade. All the family are members of Emanuel Lutheran Church. A man who has made a success of his main business in life, and bright and intelligent in his relations with the community, Mr. Fred Rohrs has naturally been called to places of responsibility and trust. For seven years he was a trustee of the German Lutheran Church 936 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO and for two years was assessor. In political affiliation he is a democrat. JOHN M. MILLER has identified himself with the business affairs of McClure in such an energetic and enterprising fashion as to gain prosperity himself and also give an impetus to the growth and improvement of that village. Practically all his life has been spent in Henry County. He was born in Richfield Township, April 21, 1876, was reared there on a farm and besides the advantages of the district schools he attended an academy at Green Springs. His first experience in making a living for himself was as a teacher in the public schools of Richfield Township, and he gave four years to that work. For a year he clerked in the store of T. W. Durbin & Sons at McClure, and then for three years was connected with the lumber business in that village. For about eleven years Mr. Miller was con-nected with the Mollett Grain and Milling Company at McClure. During the greater part of the time he was local manager, and held that position until the mill was destroyed by fire January 10, 1915. Under his management the business grew and prospered. For a number of years about 5,000 bushels of grain were ground, largely for local feed purposes, and the company handled about a hundred carloads of grain and other materials each month. In March, 1915, Mr. Miller became manager of the McClure Grain and Stock Com-pany. This is one of the business establishments which give. character to the commercial activities of McClure. The company was established in 1912. Mr. William. E. Wade was the first president ; another active officer was William Armbruster, while Samuel A. Burwell was manager. There were also five directors of the company : Mr. Wade, Mr. Armbruster, T. W. McClure, George Blair and Carl Nelson. The business was capitalized at $10,000. When Mr. Miller became manager Mr. Burwell took the position of engineer. This company handles about 200 carloads annually, and it is one of the rapidly growing business institutions of the county. Mr. Miller is a son of Martin and Mary A. (Ballmer) Miller. His father was born in Putnam County, Ohio, in 1848, and his mother in Henry County in 1851. She is a daugh-ter of Jacob Ballmer, of a well-known family elsewhere referred to in this publication. Mr. and Mrs. Miller were married in Henry County, in Richfield Township, and at once set themselves to the task of making a home. They moved to one of the swampiest and wildest sections of the county. The land was absolutely valueless for agricultural purposes. After a space had been cut out among the trees they put up their log cabin home, and then followed years of the most intensive toil, self-sacrifice and thrifty management. Event-ually the eighty acres were transformed into productive fields, the swamps were drained, and that land is now said to be worth $200 an acre. Before they left they had the farm improved with good buildings, and when the place was sold it brought them a sufficient competence for their later years. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Miller now reside in Section 27 of Damascus Township. They are active members of the Lutheran Church, and he has long been a local leader in the democratic party, having served as trustee, treasurer and in other township offices. John M. Miller is the oldest in a family of five sons and three daughters, all of whom grew up ; six are still living, five of them married. In Damascus Township John M. Miller married Anna C. L. Weidemann. Mrs. Miller was born at Delphos, Ohio, July 2, 1880, and received her early education in the German parochial schools. Her parents, William F. and Minnie (Myer) Weidemann, both of Ger-man parentage, were married in Allen County, Ohio, and were natives of this state. Mr. Weidemann now lives in Owosso, Michigan, and is a veteran miller and still active in the business. His wife died at McClure about twenty-five years ago when in middle life. She left five children, four of whom are living and married. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have the following chil-dren : Herbert and Agnes, both sophomores in the high school at McClure ; Ralph, who is in the eighth grade ; Robert, in the sixth grade, and Marie, in the second grade of the public schools. The family are Lutherans, and Mr. Miller is a democrat who has served his village as treasurer and member of the council. Fraternally he is affiliated with Lodge No. 538 of the Masonic Order at Grand Rapids, Ohio. GEORGE FREDERICK Fox. Modern, scientific and practical farming has an able exponent in Pleasant Township in the person of George Frederick Fox, who has been a resident of this locality since 1870. He has carried on HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 937 operations on several different properties, and in each community has met with the kind of success that is only granted to those who make an intelligent use of their opportunities and who endeavor to apply up-to-date methods to their activities. Mr. Fox comes of a family of farmers and good citizens and his career is illustrative of the benefits accruing from an intelligent handling of affairs and from dealings carried on in an honorable and straightforward manner. George F. Fox was born in Sandusky County, Ohio, May 12, 1856, and is a son of John and Mary Fox. HiS parents were born in Wurttemburg, Germany, where they grew to maturity, being educated in. the public schools and reared to lives of industry and integrity. They were married in their native land, and after the birth of two children, John and Mary, left their little farm in the fatherland and turned their faces toward the new world, where they felt confident of winning a success and making a comfortable home for themselves and their children. In 1853 they boarded. a sailing vessel and after a reasonably fair trip, which consumed forty-five days, arrived at New York City. From that point they journeyed to Fremont, Ohio, where they resided some years, that vicinity being the birthplace of the two other children : George F. and Samuel. The children all grew to maturity, married and are still living. John lives at Napoleon ; Mary is the wife of Andrew Dosh and lives at Cleveland, Ohio ; and Samuel is a farmer of Monroe Township, Henry County, and has a family. After leaving Fremont, the parents came to Henry County and here settled on a farm in Monroe Township, which they occupied until the time of their deaths. The father passed away in 1883, when seventy-two years of age, while the mother, who was ten years his junior, had passed away before. They were lifelong members of the Lutheran Church and were representatives of that sturdy type of their race which has done so much to settle the world and to develop good living conditions from the wilderness places. Mr. Fox was a democrat, but aside from casting his vote never took any part in politics, being fully satisfied to round out his life in the peaceful occupations connected with the successful operation of his farm and the rearing of his children to honest and honorable lives. George F. Fox received his education in the district schools of Sandusky County, Ohio, and from earliest youth was taught the value of industry and perseverance. He was fully instructed by his father in the various duties of agricultural work, and in 1882 began operations on his own account in Henry County, to which community he had come as a lad of fourteen years. His first property was a tract of forty acres, located in the midst of the woods, an unimproved farm that taxed his best energies to make a success of. He experienced many trials and hardships before he was able to produce favorable results from his land, but his perseverance and persistence finally won for him and he was successful in making a valuable property out of what had once been unimproved land. Later he added forty acres to his original purchase, and still later another small tract, and when he left his land in 1905 he had eighty-seven acres under a high state of cultivation, this being improved with the latest equipment and good substantial farm buildings. In 1905 Mr. Fox removed to the vicinity of Holgate. He had already tasted of the fruits of success, and, on locating in his new community was sure of his ability and experienced sufficiently to go about improving his land in a resolute and assured manner. Again he developed a good property, and during the nine years that he lived at Holgate became known as one of the progressive and enterprising men of that locality. Disposing of his land there advantageously, Mr. Fox came in 1914 to Pleasant Township, where, in Section 32, he bought 100 acres of land, all of which he now has under cultivation with the exception of seventeen acres of timber land. His buildings here are modern in character, commodious in size and attractive in appearance, including a handsome country home, a substantial barn, 40 by 60 feet, with an 18-foot post ; a corn crib with 1,600 bushels capacity, and a large granary upstairs which holds 3,000 bushels of small grain. He has engaged for the most part in general farming, and grows practically everything that can be raised with success in this region. Mr. Fox was married in Monroe Township, Henry County, Ohio, to Miss Lucinda Crist, who was horn in Wyandotte County, Ohio, March 14, 1857, and was there reared and educated. She is a daughter of Perry and Margaret (Bachar) Crist, natives of Pennsylvania who were married in Ohio and lived in Wyandotte County for many years before coming to Henry County. There they passed the remaining years of their lives in agricultural pursuits, the father dying at the age 938 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO of seventy-five years and the mother when she was fifty-three yearsff age, and both are buried at the Edwards Cemetery, in Marion Township. rr. and Mrs. Crist were faithful members of the United Brethren Church. After twenty years of happy married life Mrs. Fox died at the family home near Rol-gate, January 13, 1901. She was the mother of two children : Sarah H., who received a public school education, is unmarried and makes her home with her father ; and Harvey Allen, who is assisting his father in the work of the farm. Harvey A. Fox married Lillie V. Rayle, who was born in November, 1893, at Hamler, Henry County, Ohio, and there educated, a daughter of Perry and Elizabeth (Stevens) Rayle, natives of this state. Mrs. Rayle died at Deshler, Ohio, in 1912, at the age of thirty-seven years, and Mr. Rayle still resides at that place. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Allen Fox are the parents of two children : Perry Frederick, who was born July 25, 1913, and Neva V., born August 31, 1915. George F. Fox and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church. He is a dem-ocrat in his political tendencies, but takes little part in public affairs, save in the castingff his ballot for the candidates of his party. WILLIAM D. CLARK. When the second Lord Baltimore in 1634 introduced the first colony of Catholics into the Province of Maryland, one member of that settlement was a kinsman and relative of the lord proprietor, his name being John Clark. This John Clark was the remote ancestor of Mr. William D. Clark of Monroe Township, in Henry County. It is a long lived and hardy family stock. From the time the first of the name came to America nearly three centuries ago practically all the descendants have been faithful to the Catholic religion, and Mr. William D. Clark and all his relations have been active in that church. For generation. after generation the family lived and prospered in the old colony and later the State of Maryland, and the family seat during most of those earss was near the City of Baltimore. It was in that old colony that Mr. Clark's grandfather, John Clark, was born in 1775. After he grew up he married Mary McGuire, who was of Irish lineage. From Maryland this couple emigrated to the western slope of the Allegheny Mountains and located in Washington County, Pennsylvania. They were substantial farming people there, and that rugged district of Southwestern Pennsylvania was their home until they died. Grandfather John Clark passed away at the age of eighty-five, and his wife at ninety-one. The fundamental vigor of the family stock is well illustrated in the fact that Grand-father John and wife had a family of seven sons and seven daughters, all of whom grew up and married and all became heads of large families. It was on the old farm in Washington County, Pennsylvania, that John Clark, Jr., was born September 30, 1799. His early life was spent in his native county and he married there Eleanor Robinson. She was also born and reared in that county and was of Irish Catholic lineage. Her father, William Robinson, and his wife spent their active careers on their farm near Claysville, Pennsylvania. Not long after their marriage John Clark, Jr., and wife set out for a new home in Ohio. They traveled in a wagon over the rough roads of that day. Again and again deer and other wild game crossed their path, and for some years after they settled in Pike Township of Perry County much of the meat found on their table was supplied from the game killed in the woods. By physique and mentality they were well equipped for coping with the conditions of pioneer existence, and in Perry County John Clark, Jr., secured and in time cleared up 400 acres of fine land. He left that farm in 1832 and moved to Monday Creek Township in the same county. In 1853 he went back to Pike Township and lived on his farm of 420 acres near Lexington until his death on June 17, 1871. His wife was born in September, 1810, and died January 26, 1885. They were the parents of four sons and four daughters, nearly all of whom grew to maturity and married. William D. Clark is the only survivor of his parents children. He was born in Monday Creek Township of Perry County, February 21, 1845, and has already passed that span of life allotted by the psalmist, three score and ten. The old farm in Pike Township of Perry County was the scene of his youthful adventures and experiences. He attended school there and became versed in the practical arts of agriculture. In Perry County, on November 14, 1871, Mr. Clark married Margaret Carroll. She was born in Perry County in March, 1847, a daughter of Peter and Ann (Walpole) Car-roll. Her father was born in Ireland, came to the United States when twenty-one years HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 939 of age, and was married in Morgan County, where his wife was born. His wife was of French ancestry, and both the Carrolls and Walpoles were of the Catholic faith. Peter Carroll and his wife spent their lives in Perry County, Ohio, and he died May 21, 1877, at the age of sixty-nine, and his wife survived him until about 1892. In their family were eleven children, six sons and five daughters, all now living except two daughters and one son. After his marriage William D. Clark and wife lived for a number of years in Perry County, and all their children are natives of that section of Ohio. Henry County has been their home for more than a quarter of a century. They arrived on Thanksgiving Day, November 29, 1888, in Henry County. For two years Mr. Clark rented land. in Harrison Township, and then bought his present homestead in Section 8 of. Monroe Township. This is both a fine farm and a beautiful and attractive home. Its improvements largely represent Mr. Clark's personal labor and energy. He has put up a group of very substantial buildings. His principal barn is 40 by 85 feet and is fifty feet from foundation to cornice. The barn and other farm buildings are well painted, and they stand at convenient distance from the substantial nine-room house. Besides his homestead Mr. Clark in 1894 bought 160 acres in Section 15 of Monroe Township, and that constitutes a fine farm of itself, having a complete set of farm buildings. In addition he owns a 20-acre wood. lot in Section 17 of Monroe Township. Mr. Clark and all the members of his family are communicants of St. Mary's Catholic Church at Holgate. He and his sons are democrats. While he has prospered in his business of fairs, . Mr. Clark has reason to be specially proud of the fine family of children that have grown up in his home. His oldest child, John, is now connected with the Ford Glass Works at Toledo, and by his marriage to Ettie Baker of Henry County has children named Virgil, Burnett and Dorothy. The second child, Nellie, is employed in Toledo by W. L. Ross, president of the Clover Leaf Railroad Company. Anna is the wife of John A. Ramus, a farmer in Adams Township of Defiance County, and is the mother of two sons, Edward and Carl. Laura is the wife of John Robinthaw of Sunflower, Alabama, a lumber dealer in the South. and their children are Theresa ard Marv. Peter J. Clark is a prosperous citizen of Henry County elsewhere referred to. Lillian married Roy Beck of Napoleon, and they have three children, Marie, Carroll and William. Leo, who lives at home, married Theresa Burkhart. Charles is unmarried and assists his father in the management of the home farm. REV. THOMAS M. KOLB. One of the strongest and most influential Catholic churches of Northwest Ohio is the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, situated on the Poplar Ridge road, in Pleasant Township of Henry County, close to the Village of New Bavaria. It was founded as an expression of the religious sentiments entertained by a large part of the early settlers in this vicinity, most of whom were immigrants from Germany and France. The first Catholic services were held there about 1843. It was a mission of St. Francis de Sales Church of Toledo. The first to visit the place and hold services was Rev. Father Amadeus Rappe, who later became the first Catholic bishop of Cleveland. He was assisted by Rev. Louis De Goesbriand, a Frenchman, who eventually succeeded him as local pastor. Father De Goesbriand built a log church in 1847. A Catholic cemetery had been opened in 1840. This was maintained as a mission of the larger church in Toledo until 1850, and all the earlier services were conducted in a primitive log house. The first resident pastor was appointed in 1862. The second church was built of frame and was burned in February, 1887. It was replaced by a handsome new church completed in the same year. The present church is a large brick building, 54 by 125 feet and 72 feet high in the transept, the tower being 195 feet. - Rev. Thomas M. Kolb has been pastor of Sacred Heart parish since December, 1909. He succeeded Rev. Lawrence 'Highland. Under his spiritual direction are now a congregation of about 170 families, and there are three Catholic district schools. It is a rich and prosperous parish. Father Kolb has brought about many improvements since he took charge. He built the new parish house, a modern two-story brick building, with all the conveniences, including hot and cold water and gas plant. The house has twelve rooms. He next brought about the grading of the church property, and this and other changes have made the Sacred Heart Church one of the most attractive religious edifices and grounds in this section of Ohio. The schoolhouse has been modernized, and Father Kolb, who has fine artistic taste, and is a painter in oils, repainted and decorated the altar and has 940 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO employed his artistic ability in a similar way in other parishes with which he has been connected. The cemetery with its stone arch is the finest cemetery in Northwest Ohio. Like most men who do things, Father Kolb has little to say about himself. He is. a consecrated and zealous priest and has given all the mature years of his life to advancing the welfare of his church. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about sixty years ago and is of German and French ancestry. His father, Jacob Kolb, was born in the Province of Lorain, being one of a family of twelve sons, all of whom came to America about 1820. Jacob Kolb was married in New York City, and in the early days he was clearing timber in Northwest Pennsylvania, floating rafts down the Allegheny River to Pittsburgh and later was engaged in wholesale fish buying in Philadelphia. Father Kolb entered college at the age of ten, was graduated from St. Vincent's College, and was ordained to the priesthood in St. Vincent's Abbey, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1881. He has given thirty-five years of his life to the active work of the ministry, and in various parishes and stations. Much of the time has been spent in Northwest Ohio. Early in his career he showed special ability as an organizer and executive, and he has been selected for the special work of upbuilding churches and parishes. For eight years he was pastor at Peru, in Huron County, and has been connected with different parishes in Lucas and Putnam counties, Ohio. He became pastor at Holgate in 1892. JOHN WILHELM. For more than sixty-seven years John Wilhelm has been a resident of Henry County, and during this time has devoted himself principally to agricultural pursuits. He is one of those who has seen the county developed from its primitive condition to a center of the most enlightened civilization, the home of modern education and religion, and a territory noted throughout the state for the fertility and productiveness of its farms. In the great work that has been necessary to bring about developments of this kind he has borne his full share, and while winning personal success in his chosen field of endeavor has also aided his community to grow, advance and better itself. Mr. Wilhelm comes of good old German stock, of Roman Catholic ancestry and of people of the agricultural class. His father, John Wilhelm, was born in Prussia, in 1816 or 1818, a son of Jacob and Odelia (Schmidt) Wilhelm. natives also of Prussia. The grandparents had three children, John, Jacob and Adam, and with them, in 1837, started for the United. States. They boarded a sailing vessel at Havre, France, and after seventy-two days on the Atlantic managed to reach port at Baltimore, Maryland. From that city they traveled by way of wagons to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and two years later located in Henry County, where the grandfather bought land in Section 25, Pleasant Township, 2 ½ miles east of New Bavaria and on what is now known as the old Ridge Road. This country at that time was the wildest of wild land, heavily timbered and in spots practically impenetrable. The family was poor, had none of the implements which make labor so much easier, and were without animals to assist them in their work, but they nevertheless managed to clear sufficient space in the woods on which to erect a small cabin, made of logs, and when thus started they began to engage in the work of development that was really a part of the start of the county's transformation. The roads at the time were mere blazed trails—in some cases not even that, and the pioneers were compelled to make their awn way through the woods. The trip to Brunnersburg, eighteen miles distant, but the nearest milling point, was made at first on foot, the grain or grist, going or coming, being carried on the back over tortuous paths that tried every ounce of strength. After a time thc family managed to accumulate sufficient means with which to purchase a team of oxen, which were driven to the mill with grist and back to the log cabin home with supplies, and the driver was frequently called upon to display a high order of courage in crossing the thin ice of the Maumee. On more than one occasion the grandfather and father of Mr. Wilhelm risked their teams and their lives in order that they might get back to the family the things that were necessary for their sustenance. It was necessary that the family live in the most frugal manner, making everything count and foregoing all but the barest necessities of life, but the steady marksmanship of the pioneers brought much game to the family larder, and as this was abundant it formed an important part of the daily menu. On this primitive, pioneer farm, the grandparents passed the remaining years of their lives, the grandfather dying when eighty-four years of age and the grandmother at the same age. They were devout members of the Roman Catholic Church and were HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 941 supporters of the first log church of this denomination built in the township. John Wilhelm, Sr., was a youth when brought to the United States, and his boyhood and young manhood were passed in assisting his father in the clearing and cultivating of the wilderness farm. He married here Barbara Wein, who was born in Reichbach, Bavaria, Germany, and was a young lady when in 1849 she accompanied her parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Wein, to the United States. The parents passed the rest of their lives here, Mrs. Wein dying soon after her arrival and Mr. Wein a number of years later, when he was past eighty years of age. Like the Wilhelms they were faithful Catholics and belonged to the same parish. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm began life on new land, not far from his father's home, where they cleared up a farm. As the years passed Mr. Wilhelm added from time to time to his property, and at the time of his death, when he was sixty-eight years of age, he was the owner of 460 acres, all cleared from the timber, as well as from dcbts, and a good deal of it under cultivation. Mrs. Wilhelm passed away when seventy-eight years of age, and, like her husband, was a member of the Roman Catholic Church and an active, faithful worker therein. Mr. Wilhelm was one of the most highly esteemed men of his community, trusted and respected alike by all who knew him, a man of sterling integrity and absolute honor. His home was one of the stopping places for the stock buyers, who had unlimited confidence in him, and frequently entrusted large sums to his keeping, often as much as several thousand dollars, with which he was asked to purchase stock. His judgment, like his honesty, was never questioned. Of the seven children of John and Barbara (Wein) Wilhelm, five grew to maturity and three are still living, among whom is John Wilhelm. He was horn in Pleasant Township, Henry County, Ohio, September 1, 1849, his boyhood home being the farm of his father, which was adjacent to the old homestead. He grew up amid pioneer surroundings, and here obtained the educational advantages granted to the youths of his day and locality, and when he arrived at man's estate chose farming as his life's vocation. Mr. Wilhelm inherited the traits of industry and perseverance, and these he has made work out for him a satisfying degree of success. At this time he is the owner of all the land formerly owned by his father and grandfather, with the exception of 140 acres in Pleasant township, his land including 400 acres in Pleasant Township and 280 acres in Marion Township, all finely improved. He has three modern barn buildings and good homes on the latter land, while on his homestead he has two sets of up-to-date, substantial and commodious buildings, attractive in character and equipped with modern improvements. While he has been successful in a material way, he has also prospered in regard to reputation, and few men are held in higher regard in the community. Mr. Wilhelm was married in Pleasant Township, Henry County, Ohio, to Miss Mary Deitrick, who was born near the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in this township, in 1854, a daughter of Michael and Catherine (Jackman) Deitrick. Her parents, natives of Germany, met in this country and were married in Seneca County, Ohio, where they had one child : Mary J., who is the widow of John Westrick. In the early '50s they came to Pleasant Township and here made a home, reared a family, and passed the rest of their lives, the father dying when seventy-six years old and the mother when past eighty. They were members of the Roman Catholic Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm the following children have been born : John, who lives on a part of his father's farm, married Christina Glanz and has one son and one daughter ; Adam, who lives on one of his father's farms, married Maggie Ensman, and has seven children ; Frank A., who is a single man and is engaged in farming with his father; Joseph, who lives on one of his father's farms, married Mary Shondel, and has two sons and two daughters ; Catherine, who is single and resides at home ; J. Albert, who is unmarried ; Peter, who lives on the old homestead and engages in farming, married Frances Diemer, and has two sons and one daughter ; Agnes, who is the wife of Bernhard Shields, of Mount Clemens, Michigan ; Frances Loretta, who was well educated in Toledo and Defiance colleges, and is now a teacher by vocation and residing at home ; and Josephine, who has finished her high school courseand is living with her parents.. The members of this family all belong to the Roman Catholic Church and attend services with Sacred Heart congregation. Mr. Wilhelm is a member of the Catholic Knights of Ohio, and he and his sons are democrats in their political adherence. WINFIELD SCOTT ANDRIC. In a country home of many substantial comforts and improvements Winfield Scott Andric and wife are now living the retired life. In their time 942 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO they have been industrious, hard working, self-denying and capable in meeting all the emergencies that arise in the course of a lifetime. Their home is in Monroe Township of Henry County, and Mr. Andric has long been regarded as one f the foremost citizens of that community, and he and his wife have a host of admiring and loyal friends. The record of his career is one of steady advancement and' determined purpose. He was born in Paris Township of Stark County, Ohio, September 22, 1846, and has now reached that enviable place in years where he can claim to be three score and ten. His early life was spent on his parents' farm. He had a meager education, since he grew up largely among strangers, having lost his mother when he was eight years of age. It can safely be said that since he was a boy he has made his own way in the world. In the paternal line Mr. Andric. is of German ancestry and of Irish stock on his mother's side. His mother's maiden name was Jane Hall. She was born in Stark County, Ohio, where her parents settled more than a hundred years ago, about the time Ohio was admitted to the Union. The Halls came from Ireland, and were people of considerable wealth for those days, and they greatly augmented their fortune by wise investments and the management of their properties in Ohio. Jacob Andric, father of Winfield S., was born in Switzerland in 1813 and four years later in 1817 his parents emigrated to the United States and settled in Stark County, Ohio. Both he and his wife grew up when that section of Ohio Was almost a wilderness. After marriage Jacob Andric located on some land in Paris Township, and there he made a good farm. In 1868, when he was in his prime, he was killed by a horse. This horse had always been regarded as gentle, but suddenly developed a vicious nature, and kicked him to death before help could arrive. In the meantime he had married again, his first wife, the mother of Winfield S., having died at the age of thirty-two. Mr. Andric has a brother and sister. Edward is lving near Alliance, Ohio, and is married and has children. His sister Isabel is the wife f Frank Martin and she also lives at Alliance. Now to resume the record of Mr. Winfield Scott Andric. When he was still only a boy he went to State Line City in Illinois, and hired out to work for a Dunkard named Henry Miller. He remained with that devout man until he was fifteen. After that he worked at different employments in Indiana for a few years, and then returned to Canton, Ohio. While there he was employed in hauling the bricks which were used to build the old Aultman mansion in that city. While engaged in that work he passed his twenty-first birthday. Later he was married in Canton to Miss Catherine Rell (also spelled Reihl). Mrs. Andric was born in Stark County, Ohio, June 16, 1852, and was reared and educated there. Her father John Reihl was born in Germany, and was ninety years f age when he passed away. He had been three times married, and Mrs. Andric was a: child of his second wife. After his marriage Mr. and Mrs. Andric moved to Crawford County, Ohio, and two years later to Henry County. Here he invested his modest capital in a tract of swamp and woodland in Monroe Township. It was eighty acres in section 35. Many young men of the present day would be appalled by the tremendous undertaking. involved in clearing up and making a farm of this land. Mr. Andric faced his task courageously, and after many years has a splendid place to show for his efforts. He put in tiling, cleared off the woods and brush, put up some good buildings, and that was the nucleus of his present hand-some estate. Later he bought sixty acres on section 1 of Marion Township, and here too he has continued his improvements of drain-ing, fencing, the sinking f wells, and the erection of first class farm buildings. All of this Marion Township farm is arable land. He also has eighty acres in section 2 of Marion Township, and this too is highly productive and valuable soil. At his place in Marion Township he has erected a fine cement block two story ten room house, with basement, and with all the modern conveniences. Mr. and Mrs. Andric have very capable sons and daughters who have been well trained to lives of integrity and usefulness such as their parents have led. Emma, the oldest, is the wife f Jahn Cornell of Ashtabula, Ohio, and they have children named Harry, Myrtle and Leola. Willis, who occupies his father's farm in Monroe Township, married Della McChristian and has a daugh-ter Pauline and son Winfield Fred. Agnes is the wife of Charles Miller, and they are also farmers and have a child named Winfield A. Mr. Andric in matters of national politics votes the democratic ticket. MATHIAS F. DIETRICK. Pleasant Township, enry County, is noted for its many fine HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 943 farms, as well as for the progressive spirit shown by its agriculturists, and in this connection attention is called to the handsome property owned by Mathias F. Dietrick, one of the enterprising and energetic farmers of this community, whose homestead comprises 200 acres of well-cultivated and productive land lying in sections 14 and 24. Mr. Dietrick has been a lifelong resident of Henry County, and is a member of a family which has long been known in this locality, where its members have ever displayed qualities of industry and good citizenship that have won for them the respect and confidence of their fellow-townsmen. The Dietrick family originated in Prussia, Germany, where the name had been known for many years in connection with agricultural pursuits, as well as with the Roman Catholic Church. The grandparents of Mathias F. Dietrick, Joseph and Mary M. Dietrick, were born, reared and married in Prussia, and there their four children were born. In 1847 the family came to the United States on a sailing vessel, which, after a long and tortuous voyage made port at New York. From that point the Dietricks made their way to Lorain County, Ohio, which continued to be the family home until 1859, the year of their arrival in Marion Township, Henry County. The grandparents were in modest circumstances, but possessed the sterling qualities of their race, and through tireless perseverance and unremitting labor converted their wilderness home into a good and valuable farm. There they rounded out their long and useful lives, the grandmother passing away in 1881 and the grandfather in 1883, both being seventy-two years of age. They devoted their entire lives to the pursuits of the soil and made their labors count for success. Mr. and Mrs. Dietrick were devout members of the Roman Catholic Church, and attended services at the Sacred Heart Parish, in Pleasant Township. Of their children, one died in Germany ; two daughters passed away in this country, one of whom met an accidental death ; and Mathias J. is still living. Mathias J. Dietrick, father of Mathias F. Dietrick, was born in Germany, in 1841, and was six years of age when he accompanied his parents in their trip to the United States. He was brought up in Lorain County, Ohio, where he secured such educational advantages as were available in the primitive schools of the day and locality, and came to manhood in Henry County. Here he was married, in Pleasant Township, to Miss Catherine Schwable, who was born in this township in 1842, and reared on the old Ridge Road. She belonged to an old settled family from Bavaria, Germany, and was a daughter of Hugo and Mary Schwable, who were married in this country and cleared up a farm in Henry County. Mr. Schwable died in his fiftieth year, while his widow survived him for a long period and was eighty-three years of age at the time of her demise. They were among the most highly respected people of the community and were faithful members of the Roman Catholic Church, and of Sacred Heart congregation. Mrs. Dietrick, who was a confirmed member of that faith, died at the home farm in Marion Township, in January, 1909, while Mr. Dietrick still lives on the old homestead. He is now nearly seventy-seven years of age, and his years weigh somewhat heavily upon him, but he still takes an interest in the affairs of the community in which he has spent such a long period of his life. Mr. Dietrick, during his active years, worked out a very satisfying success. He belonged to the progressive and energetic class of farmers and brought his land to a high state of cultivation, and at this time is still the owner of a valuable property of 275 acres. He has always been a democrat. In the civic affairs of his community he took part as an officeholder some years ago, being trustee of his township and holding other minor offices. There were five sons and three daughters in the family, all of whom grew to maturity, and all now living : Joseph, Mathias F., William, Christina, Mary, Elizabeth, Peter and John. Mathias F. Dietrick was born July 7; 1867, in Marion Township, Henry County, Ohio, and grew up on the homestead of his father, his education being secured in the district schools during the short winter terms. He remained under the parental roof until he was nearly twenty-nine years of age, and June 2, 1896, was married in Pleasant Township, to Miss Elizabeth Laubenthal, who was born at Custer, Wood County, Ohio, September 18, 1874. She was four years of age when brought to Pleasant Township, Henry County, by her parents, Nicholas and Mary (Cotton) Laubenthal. Her father was born in Prussia, Germany, and when eleven years of age came to the United States with his parents, locating first in Lorain County, Ohio, where he was reared to manhood and married, at Elyria, Mrs. Laubenthal being a native of that place. After his marriage, Mr. Laubenthal engaged in saw- 944 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO milling in various places, and continued to be engaged in that vocation after coming to Henry County, in 1878. Here he also engaged in merchandising until 1899 when he made removal to Isabella County, Michigan, that being his home at the present writing. Both he and his wife are hale and hearty, active members of the Roman Catholic Church, and highly respected people f their community. Mr. Laubenthal is a democrat. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Dietrick located on a farm in Pleasant Township, and here Mr. Dietrick has steadily increased his holdings, until he now has eighty acres in section 14, and two tracts, f eighty and forty acres, respectively, in section 24. This land is all well improved, fenced and drained, and its appearance has been made attractive by the erection of a fine set of farm buildings. These include a large and commodious barn on section 14, and a fine two-story, brick, twelve-room dwelling house, built in 1910, on section 24. In the latter section, also, are a modern crib, 28 by 40 feet and two poultry houses. The equipments show th.at Mr. Dietrick is an up-to-date farmer, ready to take advantage of everything modern that can assist him in his work. He has made a study of his vocation and keeps fully abreast of the advancements being made in the field of agriculture. His reputation as a reliable business man has been built up through years of honorable dealing, and as a. citizen he has borne his share of the responsibility for the pushing of progressive movements. He has been a member for fifteen years of the South Ridge Special School District, is a director of the Holgate Mutual Horse Insurance Company, a director of the Holgate Farmers Grain and Supply Company and a director of the Holgate Farmers State Bank. Mr. and Mrs. Dietrick are members of Sacred eart congregation of the Roman Catholic Church, and Mr. Dietrick belongs to the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Knights of Ohio. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Dietrick, namely : Helen C., born August 28, 1897, a graduate of the graded schools and the high" school, and now residing at home ; Edith M., born December 30, 1903, who is in the eighth grade of the local school ; Beatrice E., born February 13, 1910 ; Mathias N., born December 5, 1915 ; and Rufus J., who died at the age f six years. JOHN J. GROLL. Successful farm management demands a great deal in these modern times, and one who fully meets the requirements has a well deserved position as creditable to his energies and activities as that enjoyed by any successful merchant or factory owner. It is no exaggeration to say that John J. Grail of Flatrock Township, Henry County, has met every reasonable expectation and has qualified as one of the most progressive and successful of Northwest Ohio's farmers. Mr. Groll has two fine large farms, one in section 35 and the other in section 36 of Flatrock Township. The building improvements alone constitute a large investment and source of value. Each farm has a modern brick house, and each has barn, corncrib, granaries, cattle sheds and other equipment and facilities indicating how thriftily and systematically Mr. Groll does his work. Both of these farms were developed from wood lands and largely through the labors and enterprise of members of the Groll family. Mr. John J. Groll has lived at his present home since he was eighteen months old, and during the past thirty years has effected countless improvements in the homestead. At his home place he has a barn 40 by 64 feet, and his residence is a two-story ten room brick house, modern in every appointment. He is one of the leading stock farmers in Henry County. His place in section 35 has a similar equipment of buildings and contains 180 acres. Part of the land lies within the corporation limits of the Village of Holgate, and both farms are the more valuable because of their eligible situation with respect to the transportation facilities of that town. Mr. Groll was born in Pleasant Township of Henry County within two miles of where he now lives September 29, 1867. He has spent practically all his life in one community and after getting all the culture afforded by the district schools has applied himself to the business of farming and has given it as much study and careful thought as other men give their stores or their professional lines. Mr. Groll is a son f John C. and Mary (Yetter) Groll. His father is now living at Napoleon, seventy-six years f age, was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, and when nine years f age came to the United States. His parents were John and Rica (Eckert) Groll who were both natives of Wuertemberg, and on bringing their family to America, settled in the woods of Marion Township in Henry County, Ohio. Grandfather John Groll made a farm out of land that for centuries had been covered with woods and was valuable chiefly for its timber and for the game that in the HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 945 early days could be found there so abundantly. From Marion Township he subsequently removed to Pleasant Township, and purchased and improved another tract of land. John Groll was one of Henry County's honored pioneers and died about thirty-five years ago when past sixty. His widow lived to a remarkable age, and died in Holgate in the fall of 1916. Had she lived to January 1, 1917, she would have celebrated her ninety-seventh birthday. All the family were Lutherans and the men of the name have been democrats in their political affiliations. John C. Groll married Mary Yetter. She was born in Ohio but of German parents who Caine to this country and settled in Henry County. The father Jacob Yetter acquired and developed a homestead in Pleasant Township, but late in life removed to Defiance, Ohio, where he died in the late winter of 1916, when he lacked only two months of being ninety years of age. His wife had died in Henry County many years before. The Petters were substantial farmers, members of the Reformed Church, and their political affiliation was also with the democratic party. After his marriage John C. Groll undertook the task of making a home for himself and wife, and eventually securing in Flatrock Township the two large farms now owned by their oldest son, John J. Groll. They moved to these farms in 1869, and after many years of continuous effort and successful enterprise John C. Groll about twenty-six years ago went to Napoleon City following his election to the office of county treasurer. He held that office two terms and is one of the honored ex-county officials. After retiring from the office he remained a resident of Napoleon and he and his wife are highly esteemed people of that city. They are members of the Lutheran Church. John J. Groll was the oldest of six children. Julius, the next younger, is proprietor of the Steinberg Hotel at Wapakoneta and is the father of a son and daughter. Amelia is the wife of Dr. Charles Harrison of Napoleon and is the mother of a son and daughter. Emma married William Knapp of Flatrock Township. Martha is the wife of John W. Johnson a well known Henry County man. George is deceased. Mr. John J. Groll was married at Holgate to Miss Mary Armbruster. She was born in Flatrock Township September 27, 1866, grew up in that locality and received her education in the local schools. Her father, John Armbruster, was born in Germany, came to America when young and settled in Crawford County, Ohio, where he married and he died on his large farm in Flatrock Township of Henry County when only forty-six years of age. His widow lives on the homestead farm with her son. Mr. and Mrs. Groll have five children : Martha L., the oldest, was educated at Holgate and is the wife of Walter Amling, their home being at Maywood, Illinois. Walter W. lives on one of his father's fine farms in Flatrock Township and married Maria Eubrig. Robert W. was born on the old homestead and has finished his education at Holgate and is still at home. Raymond C. is in the eighth grade of the local schools, and the youngest of the children is named Josephine. The family are all members of the Lutheran Church and Mr. Groll is a democrat, though his extensive business affairs have kept him out of active participation in politics. JOHN FRANZ. When a man can bring as much energy and level-headed sense to the business of farming as Mr. John Franz had displayed during the last twenty-five or thirty years, his success is assured. Mr. Franz is one of the very capable and prosperous citizens of Monroe Township, Henry County. He lives in Malinta Village, and he also has a farm of 100 acres in section 13 of that township. His land is well improved, has excellent buildings, including a barn 40 by 76 feet for stock and grain purposes, and a substantial nine-room house, painted cream with green trimmings. A very valuable piece of property is his twenty acres situated within the village limits of Malinta. This is a small farm in itself, and has a complete equipment of farm buildings. Mr. Franz is of German ancestry. His grandfather John Franz was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, and married a Miss George. They brought their family in August, 1850, from Antwerp on the vessel Vista to New York City. It was a voyage lasting many days, and the Franz family brought with them their own provisions and therefore did not have to depend upon the scanty ship fare. Besides John Franz and his wife their children were at that time, William, Henry, Elizabeth, Christina, August and Jacob. William had been born in Hesse Darmstadt December 22, 1833, and was seventeen years of age when he came to America. After the family landed in this country they came on to Galion in Crawford County, and bought twenty acres 946 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO near there. Those twenty acres afforded the family subsistence for three years. They then sold the land and came to Flatrack Township in Henry County. Here they started out in typical pioneer fashion living in a log house and on land that had' practically never been touched by the plow. On that farm grandfather John Franz and wife spent their remaining years. He was seventy-two and his wife not quite so old when she died. After coming to the United States they were members of the Reformed Church. They were energetic, hard working people, and besides the development of their own land they contributed to the welfare of their community. John Franz in Germany had been an official in the forestry service, as his father had been before him. He therefore had no practical knowledge or experience of farming, but he realized that America was a land of opportunities and that his family would have the best advantages and possibilities of success in the New World. After the family came to America William Franz was the mainstay so far as farming was concerned, and had almost a natural genius for that vocation. William Franz was twenty years of age when the family came to Flatrock Township in Henry County. He married there Elizabeth Ricker. She was born May 4, 1840, within 1 ½ hours' journey from Berlin, Germany. She was of old Prussian German stock. When she was nine years of age she was brought to the United States, her family coming in a sailing vessel and spending several weeks on the ocean. Her parents were John and Catherine Ricker. The Rickers lived for a time in Crawford County and later moved to Flatrock Township of Henry County, where they bought some land covered with heavy timber and in time developed it as a farm. John Ricker died there in September, 1871, at the age of seventy-two and his widow in February, 1902, at the advanced age of eighty-nine. They were of the Lutheran faith in Germany, and became identified with the German Reform Church in this- country. John Ricker was a democrat. After his marriage William Franz and wife started out on the old homestead in Flatrock Township and there in the course of time he made many improvements, finally selling out that place and buying a smaller farm now owned by Milton Knipp. From that he finally retired to Holgate, where he died June 22, 1912. His widow is still living with her son George and is gracefully bearing the weight of seventy-six years. Both parents were mem- bers of the German Reform Church and he was a democrat. Mr. John Franz is one of a family of seven sons and four daughters, all but two still living and married. John Franz was born on the old homestead in Flatrock Township May 4, 1868. He grew up and received his education in that locality, and from the first his inclinations were for farming and quite early in life he was able to buy some land and start out independently. He has owned several different farms in Henry County, and as the climax of his. career has the splendidly improved 100- acre place already described, and the smaller farm in Malinta. In Flatrock Township December 24, 1892, Mr. John Franz married Miss Mary Dunbar. She was born in Napoleon Township of Henry County October 12, 1874, and grew up and received her early training there. Her grand-father, Boyd Dunbar, Sr., married a Miss Yockee, and they spent their years in Napoleon Township until they died.. Boyd Dunbar, Jr., father of Mrs. Franz, was born in Pennsylvania and married Anna Pennel, who was born in Tuscarawus County, Ohio. They were married in Napoleon in January, 1861, and soon after his marriage Boyd .Dunbar entered the army as a private in Company F of the Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was in active service four years, and followed the flag constantly except when incapacitated by wounds. In the battle of Champion Hill during the Vicksburg campaign he was struck twice by enemy's bullets, and both times in the hip. He still preserves those bullets as relics of the war and also has the gun which he carried. He was at one time captured by the enemy. He is now seventy-three years of age and he and his wife are still living and enjoy the esteem of their community and their descendants. He is a republican and a member of the Grand Army Post at Napoleon. Mr. and Mrs. John Franz have a family of children to whom they are devoted and who are devoted to them. Gladys married Harry Meyers, who was formerly a teacher but is now on a Government mail route out of Malinta ; their children are Kenneth B. and Norman J. Inez M., the second child, married Floyd Cunningham, a school teacher in Monroe Township, where they reside. Boyd William died when nearly eight months of age. J. Harold was born March 25, 1905, and is now in the fifth grade of the public schools. Bernadine was born February 19, 1907. Dallas D. was born June 7, 1909. Celo M. was born HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 947 March 12, 1911, and died in August, 1912. All the family attend the English Lutheran Church. Mr. Franz has been successful not only in the management of his farming affairs, but has done his share of duties placed upon him by the community. He served one term as trustee, two terms as assessor and for some years filled the office of justice of the peace. In politics he is a democrat. ANDREW HOFFMAN. Among the farmers who have passed their lives in Henry County, have reached the middle period of ordinary human endurance, and whose persevering and diligent labors have placed them in comfortable circumstances, one of the best known is Andrew Hoffman, of Pleasant Township. He is a son of Henry County by birth, was here reared and educated, and has passed his life within its limits. Here he has made good limits the opportunities which have appeared and here he has watched and taken part in the marvelous development which has transformed' the county from a veritable wilderness into one of the most fertile and productive farming communities of the state, Mr. Hoffman's present home, in Pleasant Township, consists of a tract of 120 acres of well cultivated land, situated in section 33. Mr. Hoffman comes of good, reliable old German Bavarian stock, the family in the Fatherland having been members of the Reformed Church, and, in the main, agriculturists. His grandfather on the paternal side passed his entire life in Germany and there died after a life spent in tilling the soil, and in the old country also passed away his maternal grandmother. In the late '40s, the maternal grandfather, the paternal grandmother and the parents, Valentine and Wilhelmina (Schwartz) Hoffman, boarded a sailing vessel with America as their destination. As frequently happened during those days, the vessel was not seaworthy, was overloaded and poorly handled, and as the result of unfavorable winds and frequent storms took eighty-five days to make the trip across the Atlantic. The passengers suffered intensely, and the little Hoffman party particularly, as during one storm, Mrs. Hoffman, the mother of Andrew, was thrown down a flight of stairs and had her leg broken. There was no doctor on board capable of handling the case, and by the time port had been made at New York complications of such a serious character had set in that she was compelled to have her limb amputated. About the time of the landing, one of the children, Caroline; being unable to longer withstand the hardships of such a rough voyage, died, and was buried at New York. As soon as the plucky mother was able to travel, the family once more started upon its way, but their troubles were by no means over, as when the party reached Defiance, Ohio, the maternal grandfather, Mr. Schwartz, who had wished to reach and see his people who had settled in Henry County, died and was buried at that place. Eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman reached the wilds of Henry County, and located in the woods in section 32, Pleasant Township. The father's first work was the erection of a log cabin, which furnished the family with shelter while he went about the preliminaries of clearing his land from the heavy timber, which covered the entire forty-five acres of his original farm. A few years later Mrs. Hoffman, the grandmother of Andrew, died at the pioneer home and was here laid to rest. Thus left alone, Valentine Hoffman and his wife struggled on. Although she was handicaped by her accident, which compelled her to use a cork limb, this brave pioneer mother discharged her duties in an able, expeditious and eminently worthy manner and proved a most valuable helpmate to her husband, making him a, good home and rearing his children to lives of usefulness. Together they made a success of life in this country and accumulated 160 acres of good land in addition to the original forty-five acres. In their community they were looked upon as model residents, kind and charitable to their neighbors, industrious and thrifty, and God-fearing members of the German Reformed Church, which they joined at the time of its founding in Pleasant Township. Mr. Hoffman died January 26, 1903, aged eighty-one years, .Mrs. Hoffman having passed away February 15, 1899, when seventy-seven years of age. Mr. Hoffman was a democrat in politics, but was content to live the quiet life of the agriculturist and never sought public office. Two children were born in Germany, Caroline, above mentioned, and Daniel. The latter was born in 1846 and was three or four years old when the family came to the United States. He passed his entire life as a Henry County farmer and died in August, 1916. He was twice married, having children by both unions, and his widow still survives him. Four children were born in the United States : Jacob, who is a farmer of Pleasant Township, married and with a fam- 948 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO ily ; Andrew, of this notice ; and Margaret and Caroline, both of whom died in childhood. Andrew Hoffman was born on the old homestead, on which his father first settled, in Pleasant Township, October 24, 1857, and received his education in the district schools of that vicinity. He reached manhood under the parental roof and subsequently purchased the farm on which he resided until the year 1895, when he bought his present tract of 120 acres, the southwest one-quarter of Section 33, Pleasant Township, on which he has since continued his agricultural operations. Mr. Hoffman now has all his land cleared with the exception of a good piece of timber land, which he is reserving, and his improvements make this property compare favorably with any in the township. His modern eight-room house was built in 1895, and in addition he has a substantial and commodious barn for his grain and implements, a barn 36 by 60 feet for the shelter of his cattle, hogs and horses, and a corn crib of 1,000 bushels capacity. In addition to general farming; a line of endeavor in which he has been very successful, Mr. Hoffman has given some attention to the growing of livestock, and is adjudged one of the well-informed men in this line of business in this part of the county. He enjoys an excellent standing in business circles and as a citizen is found taking part in all movements fostered to benefit the condition of the community or its people. Mr. Hoffman was married in Pleasant Township, May 20, 1879, to Miss Anna Fraker, who was born in Defiance County, Ohio, April 28, 1861, and was fifteen years of age when brought to Henry County by her parents, John and Elizabeth (Miller) Fraker. They were natives of Switzerland, where they were married, and in that country had two children, Jacob and Fred, the latter of whom died in Henry County, while the former is now residing on a farm in Putnam County. In 1855 or 1856 the" little family started for America on a sailing vessel, and from port at New York made its way to Defiance County, Ohio, where Mr. Fraker purchased and improved a nice farm. He died on his property about 1881, when sixty years of age, while the mother was nearly eighty years old when she died in 1896. They were members of the German Reformed Church. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Fraker in Defiance County John, who is married, lives near Pleasant Bend, in Pleasant Township, and has three children living ; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Andrew Dirr, and has two sons and one daughter ; and Anna, who is Mrs. Hoffman. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman have six children : John, who died aged four years six months ; Jacob, born November 29, 1881, a resident of Farmer Township, Putnam County, Ohio, married Mary Russet and has three children—Anna, Leona and Alma; William, born March 24, 1884, also an agriculturist of Farmer Township, married Maude Quaintance, and has four children—Alva, Edna, Bessie and Ilo ; Frank, born July 4, 1886, a farmer of Putnam County, Ohio, married Katie Frank and has had three children—Lillian, Marjorie and Arthur, the last named deceased; Charles, born October 9, 1889, living with his parents, married Lydia Frank of Pleasant Township, born in 1890 ; and Clara, born May 15, 1898, is the wife of Henry Hess and they live with Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman and their children are members of Emanuel Reformed Church, in which Mr. Hoffman has been a deacon and in the work of which he has always been active. In political matters he is a democrat and takes some active part in civic affairs, having served six years in the capacity of township trustee. HENRY C. SEEKAMP. One of the oldest established and most important business activities of the Village of McClure, in Henry County, is the combined grocery and bakery which has been under the immediate supervision and operation of Mr. Henry C. Seekamp since 1892. The success of the business has been in proportion to .the years of its establishment, and during that time Mr. Seekamp has become widely known and esteemed in the community not only for the business service he rendered, but also for the sterling character of his citizenship. His place of business is in a building 22 by 75 feet, partly occupied by his stock of merchandise and with one part set off and especially equipped with all the modern appliances required for the up-to-date bakery. His ovens have a capacity of 200 loaves of bread, and he has frequently baked as high as 1,000 loaves in a single day, though the average is about 500. He also bakes his own cakes and pies, and there is a wholesomeness and character to his goods which his patrons thoroughly appreciate. Besides his bakery goods he carries a general stock of groceries, and supplies a trade extending over a wide radius around McClure. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 949 Mr. Seekamp has had nearly all his experience as a baker in America, though he began learning his trade and spent his boyhood in Germany. He was born in Oldenburg, Germany, May 27, 1863, and is of old German stock Lutheran religion. His grandparents spent all their lives in Germany. His parents were Henry and Adaline (Rosenbaum) Seekamp. His father was born in an old seaport town along the North Sea, grew up there and was also a baker by trade. He died when about forty-one or forty-two years of age. His widow came to America in 1880 with her son Henry, and afterward joined him in McClure and lived there until her death in 1909, being then a venerable woman of eighty-three years. Altogether there were five children. Johanna spent her life in Germany, and left one son and two daughters, who still live in the old country. Adaline came to the United States, was married in New York City to Adolph Bury, and they now live in Michigan, having a family of three daughters, one son having died a few years ago. Charles also came to the United States and has followed commercial pursuits. Anna was married in New York City to Dick Pleuss, who is now deceased, and who was a German gentleman of aristocratic family ; Mr. and Mrs. Pleuss had a large family and seven of them are still living. The first seventeen years of his life Henry C. Seekamp spent in his native land. He was trained in the German schools, and in 1880 he came with his mother from Bracke to New York City and was soon working at his trade. Three years later his mother returned to Germany, but after five years came again to America, in 1888, and spent the rest of her years in the home of her son Henry. While in New York City, Henry C. Seekamp established himself independently in the baking business, but in 1892 he came west and settled at McClure, Ohio. Here he opened up his bakery at once, and his prosperity has been steadily increasing. In New York City in 1884 he married Miss Dora Kruse. She was born in the old free city of Luebec, Germany, June 26, 1860, and spent her early life there. She came to the United States all alone, her father having died in Germany, and some years later her mother made her a visit in this country, but then returned to Germany and still lives there, past eighty. The Kruse family were also reared and are still faithful to the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Seekamp is the only member Vol. II-19 of her immediate family in America, and her only sister lives in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Seekamp have worked hard and denied themselves many things in order that their large family of children might receive the best of advantages at home and in school, and these children have well justified the care bestowed upon them. Hattie, the oldest, married Edward Dams, and they now live on a farm near Waterville, in Lucas County, Ohio. Dora, who completed her education in McClure, married John Meach, and they now live in Maumee, Ohio, and have two children, Orwell and Alice M. John, who is now twenty-eight years of age, lives in Toledo, and by his marriage to Lillie Kalmback has two children, Donald and Evaline. Gretchen, who is unmarried, has shown special talent in artistic pursuits and is now a newspaper illustrator at Detroit, Michigan. Martha, who completed her education in the McClure High School is a clerk for her father. Mena, aged twenty, is a graduate of the high school and now teaches in the grammar schools at Mel-more, Ohio. Frances is still at home, and has finished the course of the public schools. In matters of politics Mr. Seekamp is independent, exercising his own judgment as to the candidates and policies presented to him by the various parties. He and his family are all members of the Lutheran Church. EDWARD H. WEAVER. The Weaver family have lived in Henry County more than three score and ten years. They arrived when only clearings had been made here and there in the dense forests, and before any important work had been accomplished toward draining the swamps and making the county the beautiful landscape of farms which it now presents. What the different members of the family have contributed toward the advancement and prosperity of the county is beyond computation. They have been steadfast and honorable citizens, hard workers, have supported churches and schools and have consistently stood for the best things in community life. A representative of the third generation of the family in Henry County is Mr. Edward H. Weaver, who was born on the farm where he now lives in Damascus Township, January 1, 1875. His grandfather and a pioneer in Henry County was John Weaver. A native of Germany, he married there and during the '30s brought his little family to the United States in a sailing vessel. They spent weeks