200 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY Elijah W. Greene's mother died when he was thirteen years of age, and two years later he was bound out to a farmer named John Clawer, of Hancock county, with whom he remained until he was twenty-one years of age. He went to school two months in every year during the time he was bound, thus securing a year's schooling during the entire six years. Yet during that time he applied himself diligently to his lessons, and many a night he pursued his studies by the light of a hickory bark fire, thereby becoming a much better educated man than the average for his time, and when he was twenty-one years old he was given a license to teach school, and taught the same school in which he learned the alphabet. In 1874 he engaged in merchandising in VanLue, Hancock county. On the 13th day of August (his birthday), 1848, he reached Columbus Grove and engaged in general merchandising in that place, at which he continued until the breaking out of the late, war. In August, 1861, he enlisted in company K, of the Fourteenth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and served one year, when he was ordered discharged for disability. After his discharge he returned home, and the same year, 1863, was appointed internal revenue assessor, and in that year, also, re-entered the army as first lieutenant of company I, Eighty-eighth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and served until the close of the war. He was mustered out at Camp Chase on July 3, 1865, and then returned to his home. While in the store at Columbus Grove. Mr. Greene read law, in 1853 was admitted to the bar, and is now the oldest man who was admitted to the bar in Putnam county, all those who were admitted before him being now. dead. He practiced law before .the_ war, and upon his return from the war he practiced for. about ten years. On. December' I I 869; he took the position, of internal revenue store keeper for the government, he being stationed at Delphos, which position he held for five years longer than any other storekeeper in Ohio. Just before the war closed Mr. Greene purchased forty acres of land in Pleasant town- ship, and August 13, 1874, he moved to this farm, where he has since resided. Subse- quently he added to this farm, by purchase, until he had altogether 155 acres; recently he sold off eighty acres, as he had more than he could look after, personally. In 1877 Mr. Greene was appointed by President Hayes postmaster at Columbus Grove, and this position he held until the Arthur dministration—a period of four years and three months. Mr. Greene is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Royal Arcanum and the G. A. R. In 1847 Mr. Greene was married to Mary L. Conn, who was born in Athens county, Ohio, and was the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Conn. Her death occurred November .17, 1870, in her fifty-sixth year, leaving three out of six children. These children were named as follows: Wilson Taylor, now a resident of Newton, Kans.; Robert Henry, deceased in childhood; Francis Ellen, deceased in childhood; Laura Jane, deceased at the age of twelve years; Caroline, now the wife of Frank Behm, of Findlay, Ohio, and Alice, now the wife of James Righter, of Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Greene was next married, December 5,. 1871, to Jennie Parker, of Lima, Ohio. Mrs. Parker was born in Delaware county, Ohio, May 15, 1844, and is the daughter of Leutilus and Mary (Place) Ward. Her grandfather Ward was the second son of Lord Ward, of Devonshire, England, who, with his wife, two sons and. his daughter; came' to the United States: and settled at. Newark Ohio, where he died, July 15, 18.67. Two sorts were the result of the second marriage of Mr. Greene, and were named as follows: Joseph L., born OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 201 May 30, 1862, now of Kingsley, Kans., and Martin A., born February 6, 1863, now of Kendall, Kans. SUSANNA GREMLING is one of the well known and prominent residents of Jackson township, Putnam county, Ohio, and it gives us pleasure to offer our readers a brief sketch of her life. Nicholas Gremling, deceased, was the son of Lewis and Catherine (Reading) Gremling and was born in Belgium, April 18, 1819, and the father of Lewis was also a Belgian, named Michael Gremling. Nicholas, the fourth son of Lewis, came to the United States in 1837, and settled in Seneca county, Ohio, and worked as day laborer for five years, at the end of which time he bought a saw-mill and operated it for seven years; then bought forty acres of land in Seneca county, which he farmed for six years, and in 1863 came to Putnam county and purchased a tract of uncleared land, which he began at once to improve. On March 6, 1838, Nicholas Gremling was united in marriage to Susanna Wagner, the daughter of Michael and Catherine (Neither-core) Wagner, the marriage being blessed with ten children, whose names are as follows: Nicholas; Charles, " out in the world; " Michael, a carpenter of Delphos, Ohio; Susan, wife of J. F. Rudolph, a well-borer, living in Chicago, Ill.; Simon, a farmer, residing at home; Lewis, an employee on the railroad at Holgate, Ohio; John, who died at eighteen years of age; Lena, wife of J. Magmus, a farmer of Henry county, Ohio; Frank, a railway employee at Delphos, and Sophia, wife of John Erhart, a farmer of Jackson township, Putnam county. The mother was born in Belgium, her parents being natives of that country, the father's birth occurring in 1788 and her mother's ten years later. They came to America in 1833, locating in Seneca county, where they followed farming until 1857, when they emigrated to Minnesota, where the father died in 1863 and the mother in 1865. Mrs. Gremling's father was a soldier for three years in the army of the great Napoleon, received a wound in his hand, and was discharged with honor. During his residence in the United States he was a democrat in politics, and in religion a communicant of the Catholic church. He was the father of thirteen children, four of whom are now living: Catharine S., of Indiana; Michael, a retired farmer of Delphos, Ohio; Mrs. Susanna Gremling, with whose name this sketch is headed, and Thersa, wife of Peter Sieren, a merchant of Paulding county. Mrs. Gremling still resides on the home farm which she and her husband moved upon on their first coming to this country, and where the husband died. Politically Mr.. Gremling affiliated with the democratic party; he was a member of the Catholic church and died in this faith January 22, 1892, highly respected by all who knew him. Mrs. Gremling has four surviving brothers and sisters and many kind and true friends to cheer her remaining years and make life happy and pleasant. REV. GEORGE L. GRIFFETH, one of the well-known citizens of Columbus Grove, Ohio, and a minister of the Christian church, is a native of Dutchess county, N. Y., born on November I, 1825. He is a son of Lazareth and Matilda (Wilcox) Griffith, both natives of New York state. The father of our subject died when the latter was five months of age, and the mother of subject died in 1880. George L. Griffeth was the only child born to his parents. He received his academic education, and was reared upon the farm. At the 202 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY age of twenty-one years he began preaching the gospel, and two years later was ordained a minister of the Christian church. In 1849 he came west to Michigan, where he preached the gospel for twenty-one years. In 1870 he came to Miami county, Ohio, and there preached for seventeen years. He came to Columbus Grove in 1888, and has since resided here, filling the Columbus Grove pulpit four years, and had charge at different points. The last few years he has supplied at various towns, but at the present time he has no regular charge. He intends to make his home in Miami county, where he owns property. In 1892 Rev. Griffeth was the republican nominee for congress from the Fifth Ohio congressional district, and though he went down to defeat in the general landslide of that year, he ran ahead of his ticket in a democratic district, and would undoubtedly have been elected had everything been equal. He was again solicited to make the race for congress in 1894, but declined to do so. Rev. Griffeth was married on May 29, 1847, to Miss Lorinda Burr, of New York state, and a descendant of that family of which Aaron Burr was a member. Three children have been born to Rev. Griffeth and wife, two of whom are now living—Laura, now the wife of Henry Jay, of Miami county, and Jennie M., at home. JOHN H. GRIFFITH, now a well-to-do farmer of Sugar Creek township, Putnam county, Ohio, is a native of Wales, was born in December, 1826, and is a son of Hugh and Mary (Lewis) Griffith, the former a small farmer. His maternal grandfather, John Lewis, was also a farmer of moderate means. Hugh and Mary, now deceased, were the parents of six children: Sarah, Jane, Ann, John H. .(subject) Esther and Humphrey. Of these, only two survive—Jane, who came to America about 1848, is now the widow of Edward Reynolds, has seven children and resides in Columbus, Ohio; John H., the other survivor, is the subject of this sketch. John H. Griffith was about six years of age when his mother died; at the age of twelve he was thrown altogether upon his own resources, his father being unable to keep his family together. John H. then worked out by the year, being deprived of all educational advantages until 1850, when he came to America, landed in New York, borrowed sufficient money to bring him through to Columbus, Ohio, and was there employed in various kinds of laboring for about fourteen years. In 1859 he married Margaret Roberts, rented a house, and still continued to do laboring work. Mrs. Griffith was born in Wales in 1823, a daughter of John and Jane Roberts, who both died in Wales while their daughter was still a young woman. In 1849, Mrs. Griffith came with a colony to America, and was variously employed until her marriage, having undergone many hardships in the meantime. Mr. Griffith, during his many years of labor in Columbus, saved some money, and in 1863 came to Putnam county, bought an eighty-acre tract of land, of which six acres had bern cleared and which had been improved with a cabin, into which he moved his small family. In May, 1864, Mr. Griffith enlisted, under Capt. Patrick, in the One Hundred and Fifty-first Ohio volun teer infantry, for 100 days, served at Washington, D. C., on guard duty, and was honorably discharged at Camp Chase, Ohio, August 27, 1864. During the interval, Mrs. Griffith been suffering from illness, and on his return from the army, becoming discouraged with his farm, sold it and purchased the eighty acres in Sugar Creek township on which he still resides. On this tract was a cabin, and of the OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 203 land eight acres had been partly cleared. Of course, Mr. Griffith manfully continued the good work, and has now a commodious two-story frame dwelling, large barn, out-buildings, etc.; his land is mostly all cleared, his fields ditched and being tiled, and he has made a most desirable home, all with his own hands, where he enjoys in comfort and peace the fruits of his labor and deprivation. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Griffith has been blessed by the birth of five children, one of whom, however, died in infancy, the survivors being John, who is in the feed business at Lima; Mary, wife of Jonathan Roberts, manager of the homestead of Mr. Griffith; Hugh, a farmer, and Margaret A., wife of John Vandemark, also a farmer. The family are all members of the Calvanistic Methodist church; Mr. Griffith is in politics a republican and has filled some of the minor offices of the township. He is regarded by his nighbors with great respect as an upright, industrious citizen, who would be a credit to any community. W. J. GRIFFITHS, a leading farmer of Sugar Creek township, Putnam county, Ohio, is a •native of Cambria county, Pa., .was born June 18, 1827, and was reared a farmer. In 1852 he came to Ohio, located in Allen county, near Delphos, was employed by the month at farming and at carpenter work for two years, and then bought eighty acres of raw land in Marion township, Allen county. December 12, 1854, he married Miss Ann Hughes, daughter of Jenkins and Jane (Morgan) Hughes, natives of Wales, where, also, Mrs. Griffiths was born January 5, 1830. Upon his marriage, Mr. Griffiths settled upon his farm, of which he cleared sixty acres; and after having under-gone all the toil and hardships of the frontier farmer, sold his place and bought the Hughes farm in Union township, Putnam county, on which he made a home for twenty-one years. This magnificent estate of 240 acres he divided in January, 1893, among his children, excepting only a small portion, which he disposed of by sale, and then retired to Vaughnsville to pass in quietude his declining days, after conquering a country with no roads and facing malaria for years, and successfully struggling with the giants of the forest and winning from the stubborn soil the choicest rewards that Mother Nature had to bestow. W. J. Griffiths, the subject of this sketch, is the third of the ten children born to John and Jane (Lewis) Griffiths, natives of Wales, who came to the United States about the year 1822, settled first in Pennsylvania on leased land, cleared up a farm, and afterward bought the farm on which the mother died in 1866 and the father in 1885, in Cambria county, Pa., in the Congregational church. Their ten children were born and named in the following order: Evan and Catherine, both deceased; W. J., our subject; Mary, deceased; Jane; Elizabeth, deceased; Sarah, John, Edward; and Margaret, deceased. Jenkins Hughes, father of Mrs. Griffiths, was born October 13, 1802, and his wife April 22, 1806. In 1833 the family came to the United States, landed in New York, came to Ohio and lived in Newark three years, then came to Putnam county, where Mr. Hughes entered a farm, on which he made his home until his death, April 19, 1887, having lost his wife January 29, 1886. Of their nine children, eight were reared to maturity, viz: Ann (Mrs. Griffiths), Ellen, wife of Christopher Krause, of Arkansas; John M., deceased; Mary J., deceased; David, a member of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, died at Chatthnooga from wounds received in battle; Evan, died in the siege of Vicksburg; Margaret M., wife of Hugh E. Hughes; Leah, 204 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY who died single, and Joseph E., deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes were sincere Christians and devoted members of the Calvinistic Methodist church, of which he was an elder. He was constantly engaged in church work—inauguating the first Sunday-school in his neighborhood, holding its sessions in his own house, and assisting in inaugurating the first congregation and in building the first church edifice. Of the five children that blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Griffiths, two died in infancy; of the three that grew to maturity Mary J. is the wife of Evan T. Reese, farmer; Margaret A. is married to James P. Jones, of Columbus Grove, and Sarah E. is the wife of Richard Foulkes, a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths are members of the Congregational church, and in politics Mr. Griffiths is a republican. He has filled a few minor offices as a matter of public duty, but has never had any desire for official position. He has been a true man in every sense of the term, and is universally honored for his upright character, his enterprising spirit and his unaffected and gentle manners. CLARENCE W. GRISWOLD, the efficient agent of the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western railroad at Ottawa, is a native of Summit county, Ohio, and was born in the town of Cuyahoga Falls on the 11th day of November, 1871. His parents, Willard M. and Susan L. (Underwood) Griswold, are both natives of the same county and state, and reside at this time at Cuyahoga Falls. Willard M. Griswold is descended from an old Connecticut family, and has been identified with railroading the greater part of his life, having held the position of agent with the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus railroad company for a period of thirty years. He began as telegraph operator, and continued in active service until his retirement in the year of 1887. His father was a farmer, and a man who made many friends wherever his lot was cast. Willard and Susan Griswold are the parents of two children, Clarence W.whose name introduces this biography—and Ellen M. By a previous marriage with a Miss Demming, daughter of Seymour Demming, Mr. Griswold was the father of two children—Mary E., wife of Fred Dyer, and Charlotte E., deceased wife of H. E. Hickox. Clarence W. Griswold received a high-school education in Cuyahoga Falls, and at the early age of sixteen began clerking in a •clothing house of that town, in which capacity he continued for a period of two years. At the end of that time he became bookkeeper for the Brunswick Cigar company of Findlay, which position he held for a few years; and in September, 1891, entered the service of the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western railroad as agent at Creswell, Ohio, where he remained a short time, being transferred from that place to Cloverdale, where he had charge of the office until March 1892. In the latter year he was transferred to Ottawa, where he has since had charge of the company's business, and he is now recognized as one of the most competent and obliging agents of the above line. When a lad of twelve Mr. Griswold learned telegraphy, in which he acquired great proficiency. Besides his duties as railroad agent he has charge of the American Express company's office at Ottawa, and has also had considerable experience at different times as extra, in railroad work, for the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus and Baltim0re & Ohio roads. Mr. Griswold was married April 27, 1893, to Miss Mary J. Hoffa, of Ottawa, daughter of John M. and Lena (Zimmerman) Hoffa, a union blessed with the birth of one child, Ella Milly. Mrs. Griswold was born in Palmyra,. Pa. She is a member of the Lutheran church. OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 207 and is very popular in Ottawa, both she and her husband moving in the best circles of society. WILLIAM GUFFY, one of the oldest and most prominent farmers of Sugar Creek township, Putnam county, Ohio, was born in Franklin county, November 22, 1806, the younger of twins, the first-born children of John and Nancy (Pendleton) Guffy, natives of Kentucky. Henry Guffy, father of John Guffy, with two brothers, came from Ireland and settled in Kentucky at a very early date in the history of the state, and was killed by Indians. John Guffy, father of our subject, had one full brother, one full sister, and five half-brothers and sisters. Of these, the full brother, Henry Guffy, was killed by the Indians near Terre Haute, Ind., in 1812 or 1813. The father, John Guffy, was quite a young' man when he came to Ohio with his mother and step-father, who settled in Franklin county. John was there married and lived on leased land; in 1829 he came to Putnam county and entered a tract of land in Sugar Creek township, but did not come to permanently reside until 1831, when he entered additional land, making a total 0f 304 acres, on which he made his home until his death, which occurred July 1, 1874. He had risen to be a gentleman of considerable importance in his township and county, and died a greatly respected and honored man. Of his land, forty acres were obtained with a warrant granted him for his Services in the war of 1812; this tract was -increased to 304 acres, and he owned, beside, 120 acres in Kansas. William Guffy, the subject of this sketch, was reared to all the hardships of pioneer life, and, like all the male members of the family, he acquired great skill as a hunter. In those days the frontier forests were filled with game and beasts of prey, all, when slaughtered, yielding a double source of revenue--the former for food, and both the former and latter peltries, that were easily exchangeable, partly for cash and partly for the commoner kinds of dry goods and groceries. Flour and meal, however, Were obtained with difficulty, and the latter consisted chiefly of grated corn—and even for this, at one time, our subject had to travel to mill eighty-one miles, taking seven days for the round trip. When he had eventually settled down to farming, he was compelled to haul his surplus products i o0 miles to market, a trip requiring ten days. To group the Guffy children together, it may be stated that to John and Nancy were born a family of ten, in the following order: Isaac and William, twins, of whom Isaac died in Kansas February 2, 1885; Margaret, deceased wife of Samuel Parker; Henry,. deceased; Jane, married to James McKinley; Joseph, who was killed by a falling tree in 1835; Aquilla, who died and left a family of six. children; Sarah, wife of Jacob Rhodes; Nelson, now of Michigan, and Elizabeth, married to William McLain, a farmer. To our subject, who married -Miss Mary A. T. Jacobs in 1834, have also been born ten children, of whom two died in infancy, those who grew to maturity being named as follows: Samuel, in Kansas; Elizabeth, wife of James Rhodes; Alexander, who died a prisoner of war; Anetta, married to Noah Myers; George and James, farmers; Sarah, wife of John Cratty, a farmer, painter and teacher; Alice, wife of Christopher Sake-miller, with whom our subject is now making his home, the mother of the family having died November 8, 1864. On his marriage, in 1834, Mr. Guffy entered eighty acres of land in Sugar Creek township, and here built a hewn log cabin, in which he lived fourteen years, and then built a good frame dwelling that was an ornament 208 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY to the neighborhood. Changing to other farms, which he also cleared up and improved, he added to his possessions until he was owner of over S00 acres, of which he sold a portion and divided the remaining acres of what he had reserved for himself among his children, excepting sufficient to yield an income which, added to the interest from his investment in other ways, would maintain himself, enabling him to live in independence by paying his way with his daughter, Mrs. Sakemiller, with whom he has a more comfortable home than he would have, without her filial care, under any other circumstances. Mr. Guffy has never aspired to public office, but as a matter of duty as a citizen, has served as township trustee, and has filled, also, many of the minor township offices. Samuel Jacobs, the father of Mrs. Mary A. T. Guffy, was a native of Kentucky, who moved to Champaign county, Ohio, where Mrs. Guffy was born, and later moved to Allen county, where he died about 1853, having served as coroner under whig auspices, and having been a faithful member of the Methodist church. Christian Sakemiller, with whom our subject has now his happy home, was born in Allen county, Ohio, January 14, 1852, and is a son of Benjamin and Mary (Sherrick) Sake-miller, natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and Fairfield county, Ohio, where they were married. Benjamin was of German descent and came to.Allen county, Ohio, with his parents, in 1830, was reared a farmer, and died in February, 1889. His wife, a daughter of Christian Sherrick, was also a native of Pennsylvania, of German descent, and came to Ohio, with her parents, about the year 1833. Mr. Sherrick was a carpenter by trade, but was also a farmer, the former trade being his chief occupation. He reared a family of seven children, his parents having had born to them eleven children; the living are named: Rachael, Christopher, Jane, Samps, Charley, Rebecca, William, Benjamin F., and James W. Christian Sakemiller, after his marriage with Miss Guffy, settled to farming on 100 acres of land, which he has brought under a good state of cultivation and improved with every modern convenience, including his elegant residence and commodious barns and out-buildings. He raises sufficient live stock for home use, but his chief attention is given to general farming, from which he makes a decided profit. He has been a democrat in politics, and has filled a number of township offices, including that of trustee. Of his five children, Elnora, who was born April 17, 1876, died at the age of nine months; William D., born May 18, 1879, is still at home; Elsie M., was 'born November 26, 1882; Mary A., May 11, 1884; and Ray, September 4, 1890. The parents of these children are devoted members of the Christian church, and also members of the Patrons of Husbandry. Of all the residents of Sugar Creek township, the probability is that no one has attained a higher degree of respectability or met with a more successful career as a farmer than William Guffy, whose life, in Putnam county, we have, in a feeble manner, attempted to delineate. At the venerable age of nearly ninety years he commands the respect of all who know him, and for the very efficient part he has taken in the development of the county from a wild and barren wilderness to one of the most beautiful and fruitful counties in the state of Ohio, no thanks of the present generation can be too fervent. GEORGE W. GUFFY, a well-known farmer, is a native of Sugar Creek township, Putnam county, Ohio, his present place of residence, was born August 18, 1844, is a son of William and Mary OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 209 A. Guffy, and was reared to agricultural pursuits. He acquired a very good education in the schools of the township and assisted on the home farm until 1869, when he went west, stopping about one year in Clinton county, Iowa; then went to Brown county, Kans., farmed three years on rented property, then bought a farm of 165 acres, and in December, 1874, was married, after which event he broke up his raw prairie farm, built a frame house, stable and crib, but in 1882, sold out and came back to Putnam county, Ohio, and purchased that part of the old John Guffy farm on which he still lives. He has remodeled this place considerably—moving the large barn, building a fine two-story frame dwelling, and by ditching and tiling has placed the fields in an excellent state of cultivation. He has also given especial attention to the grading up of live stock, such as Clydesdale, Percheron and Norman horses and choice breeds of hogs. As previously stated, Mr. Guffy was married in December, 1874, in Kansas, the lady being Miss Cassie A. Hyde, who was born in Missouri September 16, 1857, a daughter of James L. and Mary (Pace) Hyde. The father, James L. Hyde, is a native of Kentucky and the mother of Illinois, and they were married in Missouri; in 1860 they moved to Kansas, where the former had been engaged in teaching, and also as a carpenter and farmer; he was an old resident of that state and was familiar with the events of the border ruffian days and with those of the John Brown, Quantrill and Jim Lane raids; he was a well-educated gentleman, and was formerly a democrat, but of late years has affiliated with the populists; he has served as justice of the peace and has filled many other offices, but, though religiously inclined, is a member of no church. Of his seven children, five are still living, as follows; Cassie, wife of our subject; Anna, married to Samuel R. Guffy, of California; John, a farmer of Missouri; May, wife of O. E. Hardesty, of Oklahoma, and Maud, at home. In 1883 Mr. Hyde returned to Missouri, bought a large farm, remained until 1890, then rented his farm and went to Oklahoma, where he improved a farm on which he still lives. Although born in 1835 and his wife in 1837, both are still hale and hearty and have been prominent in every community in which they have lived. In 1893 Mr. Guffy and his wife also made a visit to Oklahoma, remained three months and were very favorably impressed with the country. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Guffy has been blessed with five children, of whom, however, one died young. The survivors are named as follows: Ola, born May 29, 1879; Vernon, April 5, 1882; Clara, June 30, 1884, and Ralph, August 31, 1886. Both parents and their eldest daughter are consistent members of the Christian church, and their_ social standing is second to none in the county. Mr. Guffy has always been republican. in his poli tics,' but he has never aspired to office. He is one of the best and most progressive farmers in the county, and for further particulars relating to this pioneer family the reader's attention is called to the sketch of William Guffy, to be found on a preceding page. JOHN W. HALKER, a well-known citizen of Glandorf, Putnam county, Ohio, was born in Union township, in the same county, February 3, 1855, a son of H. W. and Catherine (Beucher) Halker. H. W. Halker, the father, was born in Glandorf, Hanover, Germany, where he spent his life until about thirty years of age, when, in 1843, he came to America. He bought a farm of 120 acres in Union township, Putnam county, on which he made his home until 1860, when he moved to Glandorf, in the same county, and engaged in the grocery and saloon 210 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY business, and here passed the remainder of his days until his death, in August, 1890, at seventy-seven years of age. He was married in this county and had born to him a family of seven children, viz: Mary, who died January 1, 1895, the wife of Henry Nolte, of Delphos, Ohio; David, clerking in Ottawa; John W., our subject; Katie; Matt; Aggie, wife of Law-' rence Bohn, of Hamler, Ohio, and Henry, a clerk of Glandorf. His wife survives him and resides at Glandorf. Mr. Halker, during his residence in Glandorf, established a reputation that his descendants may well feel proud of and enjoy. John W., the subject of this sketch, was educated in his native town and at Cincinnati, and began life for himself by opening a grocery and saloon at Glandorf, and he has been in this line of trade ever since, and being of a sociable and good natured disposition, he has made hosts of friends. He is the leading democrat of Putnam county and very popular with his party, whom he has represented in .several conventions. He is a gentleman of unimpeachable integrity and served as treasurer of the Glandorf Building & Loan association for five years, as township treasurer for four years, and as treasurer of Saint John's Benevolent association. He also filled the office of clerk of Ottawa township for two years, and in every instance has given the utmost satisfaction to all concerned. He is one of the broad-gauge, progressive citizens of Glandorf, and always foremost in enterprises ,calculated to benefit the public at large. October 10, 1894, Mr. Halker was married to Miss Lizzie Franke, a native of Glandorf, and a daughter of Fred and Catherine Franke. Mr. and Mrs. Halker are consistent members of Saint John's Catholic church, are liberal in aid of its support, and are punctual at their ..devotions and in the fulfillment of their church duties.W! WILLIAM HANAWALT, a prosperous and thrifty young farmer of Palmer township, Putnam county, was born in Union county, Ohio, December 4, 1858, and has always been engaged in farming. George Hanawalt, grandfather of our subject, was a native of Germany, and with his family came to the United States at an early day and first located in Pennsylvania, whence he moved to Ohio and settled in Ross county, where he and his wife passed the remainder of their days. George Hanawalt, son of the George above mentioned and father of William, our subject, was born in Ross county, Ohio, September 4, 1815, and was also always engaged in agricultural pursuits. He married, in Ross county, Miss Rebecca Latta, who was born in the same county September 17, 1812. Four years after marriage, in 1842, he moved to Union county, bought a good-sized farm and successfully followed his calling until his death, January 14, 1886, his wife having preceded him to the grave September 14, 1881. George Han-await was a hard-working man, made his fortune through his own unaided efforts, and was greatly respected by his neighbors for his strict morality. In politics he was first a whig and afterward a republican, and in religion a consistent Methodist, to which denomination he contributed liberally of his means, as well as to other christian sects. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hanawalt were born in the following order: Phebe, wife of Moses Laird; Allen; Hester, wife of George Wait; John; Mary, wife of Benjamin Bergman; William, our subject; Sarah, wife of J. M. Wilson, and Thomas. William Hanawalt, the gentleman with whom this biographical sketch has most to do, and whose name stands at the head of the opening paragraph, received a good common-school education and was fully trained to the vocation he has followed throughout his life. OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 211 March 18, 1883, he married Miss Maggie Kincaid, who was born in Bath county, Va., December 14, 1861, a daughter of Charles L. and Martha A. (Terrel) Kincaid. Charles L. Kincaid was born September 9, 1814, and his wife April 8, 1838, and were married in Bath county,Va., March 2, 1854. The father dying November 6, 1874, the mother brought her family to Ohio and located, first, in Madison county, and afterward moved to Union county, and was remarried and is still a resident of the county last named. Mrs. Maggie Hanawalt is a highly educated lady, having been fitted for school-teaching at Ada (Ohio) Normal college, and for three terms taught successfully. After his marriage Mr. Hanawalt settled on his present farm in 1884, and here have been born to him the four children who have brightened his home, to-wit: Alma K., Joe B., Thurman Bruce and Mabel Agnes. Mr. Hanawalt has a pleasant home on forty acres of land, which he has earned through his own industry. In politics he is a democrat, and is now a township trustee, taking much interest in the affairs of his township as well as the success of his party. He and wife are members of the United Brethren church, and both are teachers in the Sunday-school, in which work they are untiring. As a farmer Mr. Hanawalt has few equals of his age in the township, and few farms of the size of his are better improved and cultivated. His social standing is an enviable one, and he shares with his wife the exalted respect of the community in which he and she are passing away the prime hours of a happy life. JUDGE WILLIAM H. HANDY has been a resident of northern Ohio all of his life, and since 1868 has been, a lawyer; whose ability has won for him distinction throughout the northern part of the Buckeye state. Judge Handy's paternal ancestors were Welsh people and he traces the family history back through several generations to his great-great-grandfather, Michael H andy, who came to America prior to the war of independence and settled in Vermont. Each succeeding descendant down to the judge's father Was named Michael, but the family is by no means numerous. in the United States. Michael Handy, father of the subject, was born in December, 1812, in Tompkins county, N. Y., and in early life he was a teacher. Later he read law in Fulton county, Ohio, to which part of the state he moved in 1838, and was admitted to the bar at Maumee, Lucas county, in the year of 1850. He began the practice of his profession at Ottokee, the original county seat of Fulton county, and when the seat of justice was removed to Wauseon, located at the latter place, where he conducted a success ful legal business until his death. He served as prosecuting attorney, also as mayor of Wau seon, and at the time of his. death, in March, 1866, was the oldest member of the bar of Fulton county. Michael Handy was a self-made man, having been his. own preceptor in the law, and he became a very successful practitioner. His life was untinged by the. slightest stain of anything dishonorable, his integrity was proverbial among his professional associates, and he always. had an undisguised contempt for sham and hypocrisy. His wife, whose maiden name Was Mary A. Bryan, was born in 1812 and departed this life in the year 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Handy had a family of six children; all living with the exception of one that died in. infancy; the survivors' are named as follows: C. F., who served in cornpany Sixty-Seventh Ohio infantry, is now a claim agent; Mary E., widow of Harry L. Aldrich; Roxie Wife of David A. Rice; of Michigan; William H., and Frank if., a painter residing in Wauseon. The immediate subject of this biography 212 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY was born January 29, 1847, in Fulton county, Ohio, the schools of which he attended until his sixteenth year. At that early age he yielded to a patriotic desire to enter the army; accordingly, on the i 6th day of June, 1863, he enlisted in company H, Eighty-sixth Ohio. infantry, with which regiment he served for a period of nine months, re-enlisting at the expiration of his term of service in the Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry. He was honorably discharged at Richmond, Va., in September, 1865, after participating in many of the bloodier battles around the aforesaid city and Petersburg. For some time after quitting the service Mr. Handy attended school in his native county. In 1867 he began the study of law in the office of his father, and was admitted to the bar the year following. He at once became associated in the practice with his father, with whom he continued until 1875, in January of which year he abandoned the legal profession for a time and entered the field of journalism, establishing at Wauseon the Democratic Expositor, which he conducted a little more than two years. On quitting the newspaper business, Mr. Handy again resumed the practice of law in partnership with his father, and the firm thus constituted continued until his appointment, by Gov. Hoadley, February, 1885, to fill the vacancy on the common pleas bench occasioned by the resignation of Hon. J. J. Moore. In the fall of that year he was elected his own successor and continued to fill the position by successive re-elections until 1894, serving in all over nine years. At the expiration of his judicial career, Judge Handy effected a co-partnership in the law at Ottawa with Julius S. Ogan, Esq., under the firm name of Handy & Ogan, which still continues. Mr. Handy is recognized by his brethren of the bar as one of the oldest and most painstaking attorneys of Putnam county, and his legal abilities have caused him to be retained as counsel in many important cases requiring a thorough acquaintance with the technicalities of legal jurisprudence. In a trial of a case he is fair to all parties concerned, is frank and candid in his dealings with every one, and to this may be attributed in a great measure his success ever since engaging in the practice. His long retention on the bench attests his ability to fill that honorable position creditably, and during his incumbency his dignified bearing and able and impartial rulings won for him the highest encomiums from lawyers, litigants, and all who had business to transact in his court. Judge Handy is one of the leading democrats of northwestern Ohio, active in the counsels of his party and fearless in his advocacy of its principles; fraternally he belongs to the G. A. R. and K. of P. orders. He was married October 15, 1869, to Isabella J. VanArsdale, daughter of John and Marietta VanArsdale. Mrs. Handy was born in Wyandot county, Ohio, and has borne her husband three children, viz: Harry L., an employee of the Lozier manufacturing company of Toledo, Ohio; Clive C., practicing attorney of Putnam county, to 'the bar of which he was admitted in 1895, and May B:, who is still with her parents. REV. THOMAS J. HARBAUGH.— The record of a successful life must ever prove a subject of interest to the student who would attempt an analysis of character, tracing back to the fountain head the widely diverging channels which mark the onward flow of such individuality, and we of this utilitarian age can not afford to hold in light esteem the record which tells of the past and its accomplishments. Through the effective offices of Rev. H. Harbaugh, there was published, in the year of 1856, the " An- OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 213 nals of the Harbaugh family in America, from 1736 to 1856." He who compiled this excellent work was a resident of Pennsylvania, and from these " Annals " we learn that the original progenitor of the Harbaugh family in America was Yost Harbaugh, who came from Switzerland about the year 1736, first settling in the Maxatawny valley, in Pennsylvania, and a few years after removing to a new settlement at Kreutz creek, west of the Susquehanna, where he purchased a considerable tract of land. Yost Harbaugh was twice married, and became the father of ten children—our subject tracing his direct lineage to Ludwig Harbaugh, the second child of the first marriage. Ludwig Harbaugh was born in Switzerland about the year 1728. He resided in Maryland, in the locality known as Harbaugh's Valley, where he died in 1809, aged eighty-two years, his wife, Christina, having died in 1797, aged seventy. They had ten children, the fifth of whom was Yost Harbaugh, who was the grandfather of our subject. He also lived in Harbaugh's Valley, and there died about 1836, having reached the age of some sixty years. He married Elizabeth Sweeney, and their children were ten in number, and the eldest of these, Thomas, was the father of the immediate subject of this review. Thomas Harbaugh was born in Harbaugh's Valley, Frederick county, Maryland, October 8, 1796. and was there reared to manhood. In this connection it may be said that the Harbaugh family is of German extraction, the ancestors having been driven out of their native land into one of the cantons of Switzerland, whence occurred the emigration of the original American ancestors. Thomas Harbaugh was educated in the common schools of Maryland and there learned the carpenter's trade. He married Mary Exline, daughter of Bernard and Julia A. (Beltz) Exline, and they became the parents of twelve children, as follows: Lewis, deceased in infancy; a daughter, deceased in infancy; Julia A., widow of Dr. William Bell, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Valentine, a farmer of Kansas; Elizabeth, widow of Joseph Cable, of Columbus Grove, Ohio; Irenius and Louisa, twins (Irenius died in Columbus Grove and Louisa died in Kansas); Thomas J., of this review; Mary E. (twin of our subject) is the wife of SisnaBoor, of Angola, Ind. ; Sophronia, wife of Isaac Ludwig of Delphos, Ohio; Margaretta, who died in December, 1862, and William T., a farmer of Putnam county. After his marriage Thomas Harbaugh removed from Maryland to Muskingum county, Ohio, and later to Tuscarawas county, where he was occupied at his trade. In 1848 he came to Putnam county, settling near Columbus Grove, where he had previously purchased a tract of wild land. To the reclamation and cultivation of this pioneer homestead he gave his attention and there remained for many years. He died • in Indiana, April 7, 1884. He was a man of quiet and unassuming character, and an honest, industrious, and useful citizen. Previous to the war he was a member of the democratic party, but later became identified with the republican party; originally he was, in religion, a Lutheran, but eventually he became a member of the United Brethren church. His wife was born in Bedford county, Pa., in 1803, being of Pennsylvania-German stock. Like her husband she was reared in the Lutheran church, but died in the United Brethren faith, her demise occurring in February, 1867. Thomas J. Harbaugh, the subject of this sketch, laid the foundation for an education before the light of a hickory bark fire in the kitchen of the old homestead, and in the district schools during a portion of the year, and afterward by attending school at Gilead, Wood county, where he was under the preceptorage of Prof. Avery. Essentially loyal and patriotic, he enlisted, 214 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY April 15, 1861, in company E, Twenty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, under Capt., afterward Gen., A. V. Rice, for three months' service in the Civil war. The command was sent to Cleveland and thence to Columbus, where they received arms and ammunition, and thence proceeded, by the way of Cincinnati, to Jackson, Gallipolis, and Kanawha, under command of Gen. Cox. At the expiration of his term of enlistment, Mr. Harbaugh returned home and taught one term of school, after which, on August 18, 1862, he re-enlisted as a member of company G., Eighty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, Capt. Overmeyer, for a term of three years, being appointed sergeant of his company. He was at once sent to Corinth, Miss., where his regiment passed the winter, and then engaged in a series of raids at Pittsburg Landing and Iuka, participating in all engagements in which the Sixteenth army corps took part. In the spring the command marched up the Tennessee river into Alabama, participating in the battle of Twin Creek, and engaging the cavalry under Forrest and Weaver. Thence they returned to Corinth and from that point proceeded westward and passed the greater portion of the summer near the Memphis & Georgia: railroad at Pocahontas. In October they were sent to Tennessee, marching across the state to Pulaski, where they went into winter quarters, his company being detailed to attend' of the operation of a mill nine miles east of headquarters, grinding grain and sending' flour to the troops at the front. In the spring they marched to. Chattanooga, being the Second' brigade of the Second divison of the Sixteenth army Corps; under Gen. Sweeney, about May 7, 1864, they reached Chattanooga, camping at the foot of the mountains, and in a few days afterward participated in the battle of Resaca. Thereafter our subject was in all the battles and marches of the army of Ten- nessee leading up to and resulting in the taking of Atlanta, being 100 days under fire. After Atlanta was taken he was transferred to the Fifteenth army corps, under Gen. Logan, and was sent to Rome, Ga., to recuperate, and after six ,weeks had elapsed, he started with Sherman on the memorable " march to the sea," being assigned to Gen. Howard's right wing and assisting in the destruction of the railroad lines. Leaving Savannah, his regiment crossed at Sisters' Ferry, in South Carolina, thence proceeding to Columbia, S. C., and Raliegh, N. C., and Richmond, Va., and finally to the national capital, where they participated in the grand review. With the rank of first lieutenant, Mr. Harbaugh was honorably discharged from the Union service July 21, 1865; afterward returned to his home and for a time was employed on a farm. In the meantime he applied himself, with earnestness and devotion, to study, and in the fall of 1866 entered upon his his ministerial labors, having united with the church at the age of sixteen years. His initial efforts in the ministerial field were made at Sandusky, Seneca county, and after preaching for seven years he was. elected, presiding elder, having filled some of the most important stations, including Fostoria, Findlay, and Columbus Grove. He eventually returned to Fostoria, where he remained for some time, when failing health compelled him to relax his efforts, and in 1881 he came to his farm in Union township, Putnam county, Ohio. After having recuperated his energies he resumed ministerial labors, and' his served most of the time as elder, his efforts having been attended with a full measure of Success, and having advanced the Cause of the church, both spiritually and temporally.. For fifteen years he was president of the board of trustees of the United Brethren college at Fostoria. Our subject is a stalwart supporter of the OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 217 principles of the republican party and has been an active worker in the cause. In 1892 he was a candidate for the nomination for state senator on the republican ticket from the Thirty-third district of Ohio, but was defeated by the liquor element of his own party. At the present time (1895) he occupies this important trust, having vindicated the principles of honesty and morality in politics by a large majority. He is thoroughly alive as to the issues of the day, and is recognized as one of the leaders of his party in Putnam county. In his fraternal relations Mr. Harbaugh is identified with post No. 64, G. A. R., of Columbus Grove. On the 26th of September, 1866, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Harbaugh to Annie Scott, daughter of Richard and Margaret (Linn) Scott. Mr. and Mrs. Harbaugh are the parents of six children, viz: Richard E., who resides on the old homestead; Mary and Charles (twins), the former a resident of Fort Wayne, Ind., and the latter of Washington, D. C., where he holds a clerkship in the United States treasury department; Samuel, a teacher in Putnam county, Ohio; James, who is attending a business college at Washington, D. C., and one child who died in infancy. Mrs. Harbaugh was born in Warren cOunty, Ohio, November 2, 1842, and was there reared and educated, being a devoted member of the United Brethren church, and, like her husband, held in the highest esteem, not only through Union township, but the entire county of Putnam. Mrs. Harbaugh's parents were Richard and Margaret (Linn) Scott, natives respectively of Warren county, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, the former having been born on the 31st of March, 1816, a son of Thomas Scott, a native of New Jersey, where his father, Jonathan, was also born, the family being of Scotch extraction. Richard Scott was reared to farm life and in 1837 occurred his marriage. to Margaret Linn, daughter of James and Esther (Thompson) Linn—Mrs. Harbaugh being the third in order of their eleven children. In I 859 Richard Scott removed with his family to Putnam county, Ohio, where he purchased a large tract of land and there retained his abode until 1875, when he purchased 300 acres near Athens, McMinn county, Tenn., and there passed the residue of his life, passing away at the age of sixty-eight years. He had identified himself in the ministerial work of the United Brethren church, and being a man of pure and noble. character, his efforts were attended with good and noble results. Mrs. Scott was a native of Pennsylvania, being a daughter of James and Esther (Thompson) Linn, and was a mere child when her parents emigrated to Ohio and settled in Warren county. She was zealous in her church work, and was a devoted and able coadjutor to her honored husband. PERRY W. HARRIS, one of the most prominent of the agriculturists of Blanchard township, Putnam county, Ohio, was born October 29, 1821, in Licking county. His grandfather, Nehemiah Harris, was a native of Ireland of Scotch extraction, who settled in Virginia prior to the Revolution. He later became a pioneer of Licking county, Ohio, settling near Newark, where he was employed by a Mr. Woodson in clearing up the forest, receiving in payment for his services one acre of timbered ground for every acre he cleared. The land thus acquired he subsequently sold, and then entered eighty acres in Mary Ann township, in the same county, to which he added eighty acres by purchase, and on this farm he ended his days. He was twice married, and by his first wife became the father of John, Joshua, Isaac and Hannah (Mrs. Horn); by his second marriage there were born several 218 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY children, whose names are unknown to the present generation. Joshua Harris, son of Nehemiah, was the progenitor of the Harris family of Blanchard township. He was born in Virginia, and came to Ohio with his parents. Subsequently he located on 200 acres in Mary Ann township, Licking county, cleared up this land and made a good home, where he passed the remainder of his days, dying December 19, 1865. He had married Elizabeth Siler, a native of Pennsylvania, by which union ten children were born, viz: Washington and Andrew, of Licking county; Perry W., our subject; George, of Hancock county; Margaret, deceased wife of Abram Ingraham, of Licking county; Elizabeth, deceased wife of Jonathan Iden; Jacob, of Putnam county; Isaac, who died in Hancock county; Joshua, of Indiana, and Nancy, wife of P. McDowell, of Hancock county, Ohio. Perry W. Harris was reared on the old homestead in Licking county, and was educated in one of the primitive log school-houses of his youthful days. In 1854 he came to Putnam county and purchased 194 acres of land in sections 25 and 36, Blanchard township, and to this property he added 726 acres, the whole comprising four distinct farms, which are, however, practically combined in one tract. Upon this land he has erected his elegant mansion and all necessary barns and other farm buildings, and has cleared and put under cultivation the greater part of the tract. Mr. Harris was united in wedlock November 4, 1844, with Miss Mary Ann, daughter of Joseph Pound, of Licking county, and this union resulted in the birth of the following children: George, deceased; Isaac, of Blanchard township; Adeline, now deceased, but who was married, first, to S. B. Siler, and, secondly, to Henry Huber; Emily; deceased wife of Samuel Gracely; Joseph, of Blanchard township; Belle, deceased wife of E. G. Moffitt, and Reece, of Hancock county. The first Mrs. Harris, mother of these children, was called from her disconsolate family May 20, 1889, and Mr. Harris married, July 14, 1892, Mrs. Emily S. Bebout, née Chambers, of Eden township, Licking county, Ohio. In politics Mr. Harris has been a life-long democrat, but while he has always taken an active interest in advancing his party and its principles, he never sought, nor would accept, public position, his private business, as the most extensive farmer and stock-grower in the township, claiming all his attention. He has served, however, from a sense of public duty, as township trustee and assessor, and for a number of years as school director. He has now, however, withdrawn from the cares and labors of active business and lives in comparative retirement, surrounded by his sons and their families on his own and adjacent farms, and in the unalloyed enjoyment of the esteem of his numerous friends and neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Harris are devoted members of the Christian Union church, which he liberally aids from his means, and, it may be added to his credit, he is never backward in lending a helping hand to other denominations when they are in need. The cause of education has ever found in him an ardent friend and liberal patron, and his public spirit is made manifest whenever any worthy enterprise is set afoot that needs substantial financial recognition, and during his long residence in the township he has been a potent factor in bringing to a successful issue many of the public measures inaugurated for the general benefit of his fellow-citizens. SIMON P. HARRIS, a retired farmer and merchant of Muntanna, Jackson township, Putnam county, Ohio, may be regarded as one of the most prominent citizens of the county. He is the son of OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 219 William H. and Margaret A. (Martin) Harris, and was born in Putnam county December 9, 1833. The father was born in Hartford, Conn., September 3, 1803; his father was Thaddeus Harris, also a native of Connecticut. Thaddeus Harris was a stanch democrat, and came to Jackson township in 1823, where he was elected the first justice of the peace of the township. He had served in the war of 1812, and was a brave and valiant soldier. On coming to Putnam county he located within a mile of Fort Jennings, which is now a part of the town, and in 1839 he moved to Kalida, but returned to Fort Jennings, where his wife died. William Harris, son of Thaddeus, came with his father to Putnam county, where he. farmed with him until his marriage, in 1826, to Margaret Ann Martin, a native of Vermont, and born about the year 1805. The children of William and Margaret Ann Harris were born as follows: Phebe, deceased in childhood; William, of Monterey township, deceased; Squire L., died while in Libby prison; Simon P., of this mention; Nathaniel, a farmer of Monterey township; Arthur, a retired mer:- chant; Thaddeus, of Muntanna, Jackson township, retired merchant, and Mary, wife of Amos Point, who lives on the old homestead at Fort Jennings. After his marriage the father of these children located on the home place at Fort Jennings, where he spent the remainder of his life. His first wife died in 1849, and he married for a second wife Catherine Telhusk, and at her decease the third wife was Sarah Fausler, who still survives. He was a democrat until the second nomination of Abraham Lincoln, when he voted the republican ticket, and ever afterward continued to affiliate with the same party. He was the first constable of Jackson township, and was for a number of years trustee of the United Brethren church at Fort Jennings, of which he was a member, and donated the lot on which the church now stands. Each of his wives was a member of this society, and all were . estimable women. Mr. Harris died September 4, 1890. Simon P. Harris was reared on the farm, and November 27, 1856, married Mina Kortier, daughter of Cornelius and Catherine (Haverhals) Kortier, and to them eight children were born: Katie, born January 3, 1858, at home; Cornelia M., born January 3, 1860, wife of Francis M. Unruh, a farmer of Jackson township; Arthur, born October 20, I 861 , a farmer of Paulding county; Peter, born September 4, 1863; John Logan, born March 9, 1866, a medical student of Columbus, Ohio; Ransferd, born December 26, 1868, a school-teacher and merchant of Muntanna; Mary A., born June 14, 1871, a school-teacher and wife of Michael Schinpker, farmer of Jackson township; and a daughter, born and died March 9, 1875: The mother was born in Holland, near Utrecht, December 19, 1835. At the age of thirteen she came with her father to Delphos, and is yet living. After their marriage they located in Monterey, but later bought a home in Fort Jennings, where he resided until 1869, when he bought a farm, on which he lived until 1881, when he returned to Fort Jennings, resided there for six years, and from there came to Muntanna and engaged in the mercantile business, from which he has now retired, his son succeeding him. On September 10, 1861, Simon P. Harris enlisted in company A, Fifth-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, served in the army three years, and was engaged in about one hundred battles, among them the famous battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Mission Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain and Atlanta, and made the world-renowned " march to the sea " with Sherman. Like every soldier, he took his life in his hands, but proved himself a brave and valiant soldier, and received his well-earned honorable discharge June 17, 1865. In politics Mr. Harris 220 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY is a republican, and is one of the wide and liberal-minded men whose influence is felt for good wherever they may live. He is not a communicant of any religious denomination, but is a supporter of the United Brethren church, and is a liberal giver to all good undertakings. CHARLES A. HARMON, a thriving farmer of Blanchard township; Putnam county, Ohio, his native place, was born on the homestead, on part of which he still lives, December 22, 1850, and is a son of Ira Harmon, who was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Rarey) Harmon, and was born May 27, 1815, in Fairfield county, Ohio, and in 1832 came to Putnam county, settled on 290 acres of land in section 28, Blanchard township—a portion of some 1,900acres which had been entered by his father, Thomas. In 1852 Ira Harmon made a trip across the plains to California, and in the gold fields of that auriferous state engaged in farming and teaming for nineteen months. On his return to Putnam county, Ohio, he resumed his farming on his homestead, and here resided the remainder of his days. He first married Re- becca, daughter of N. Buckingham, of Fairfield county, Ohio, but this lady was called away to a better land in 1845, leaving behind her three children, viz: Darius, who died in California in 1868; Elizabeth, wife of Lewis Oren, and John B., who was born November 5, 1842, and is now a farmer in his native township of Blanchard. John B. Harmon married Miss Emma C., daughter of Jesse McWilliams, to which union were born six children, viz: John S., William A., Francis A., Walter E., Matthias C. and Phebe A. For his second helpmate Ira Harmon married Miss Phebe McClure, daughter of Nathaniel McClure, and this marriage was blessed by the birth of nine children;- in the following order: Pulaski, Ira L.; Charles A., William H. , Casper A., Joshua J., Mollie (wife of Bascom Montgomery), Oscar N. and Mattie, wife of Edward Rogers. The lamented death of Ira Harmon took place May 4, 1894. He was a gentleman of much prominence in his community, and his death was felt to be a severe lose to the neighborhood. Politically he was a Whig in his earlier days, but on the disintegration of that party joined the ranks of the newly-formed republican party. For a number of years he filled the office of school director, and always took a deep interest in the progress of education. He was a sincerely pious Christian, although there were, to a limited extent, mutations in his religious views. In his earlier life he was a Methodist, but in 1859 changed his church affiliations arid united with the Adventists. He was very liberal, however, in his pecuniary support of all denominations, and contributed freely toward the erection of the Methodist Episcopal, Protestant Methodist and Adventist church edifices of Gilboa. Charles A Harmon received a solid common-school education, was thoroughly trained to farming, and has always followed the profession of an agriculturist. His farm, which comprises 1 30 acres of the old homestead on which he was born, is one of the best-kept and best-improved in the township, and is one of which any farmer might feel proud. He married Miss Lizzie Welsh, of Ottawa township. This congenial union has been blessed by the birth of the following children: Gracie, Jay, Lucretia, Roy N., Charles C., Arthur and Myrtle. In politics Mr. Harmon is a democrat. He is appreciated by his neighbors as a useful citizen, and is esteemed for his integrity, public spirit, and his frank and genial demeanor to- OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 221 ward all with whom he comes in contact, as well as for his liberality in his aid to all enter- prises calculated to benefit the public at large. A. L. HAUCK, deceased, was, for nearly twenty years, one of the leading business men of the city of Ottawa. He was a native of Union county, Pa., born October 17, 1838, and was the son of Andrew and Mary (Beaver) Hauck. He was reared to manhood in his native county and state, and served in the Civil war as a member of company D, One Hundred and Fiftieth regiment, Pennsylvania volunteer infantry. Some time after the close of the Rebellion, in January, 1866, he became a resident of Ottawa, Ohio, where he engaged in the drug business in partnership with William W. Kelly. Mr. Hauck, with the exception of a few months spent in the grocery trade, devoted his life to the drug business, having had _charge of the store in Ottawa for nearly twenty years, and it is needless to state that his success, financially, during that time, was in every way most flattering. His early experience in life was by no means encouraging, and the success which he afterward attained and the. prominent position he won in the social and business world, were due altogether to his own unaided efforts. Not only was he known in Ottawa as a business man of superior qualifications, but at no time has the city ever known a more progressive, public-spirited and energetic citizen. In politics he was a stanch republican, and the . Presbyterian church, of which he was a member for many years, represented his religious creed. Mr. Hauck was married, October 24, 1867, to Miss Binnie Simon, daughter of John P. and Savilla (Gensimer) Simon, of Putnam county, Ohio. This marriage resulted in the birth of four children: Maggie, wife of E. L. Fry, of Ottawa; Lulu, deceased; Phillip L. and Freddie E. Mr. Hauck was a member of the F. & A. M. and Royal Arcanum fraternities, in both of which he was much esteemed. His death occurred October 2, 1890, and he was followed to the grave by a large concourse of people who felt that in his death they hadlost a valued friend and kind neighbor. JOHN C. HAUGHN, one of the prominent farmers of Liberty township, Putnam county, was born in Franklin county, Ohio, July 19, 1843, and is a son of George .W. and Mary (Coonrod) Haughn, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Ohio. George W. Haughn was born in 1812, and when twenty-one years of age came on foot to Ohio, located in the then new county of Franklin and there engaged in farming. In that county, also, he married Miss Mary Coonrod, daughter of Wolrey Coonrod, who was one of the earliest settlers—when Chillicothe was still the capital of the state and Columbus unknown. From Franklin county Mr. Coonrod enlisted for and served through the war of 1812. In the early days religious meetings were held at his house, as were also the elections, and he was himself a politician and held many offices of honor and trust. He died in Franklin county, a Universalist in religion, in which faith all his family were reared. The parents of our subject were of German descent and reared a family of eight children, viz: Rachel, who was thrice married —first to her cousin, W. Haughn; secondly, to Alexander Adams, and thirdly, to John Duff, of Franklin county; the second child, Margaret, married G. Ney, and resides in Illinois; the third child is our subject; the fourth and fifth are James M. and Samuel J., residents of Franklin county, Ohio; the sixth, Mary C., is the wife .of James Wade; the seventh, 222 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY George W., resides on the old homestead, and the eighth is Anna, wife of Richard Stump--- all three living in Franklin county. John C. Haughn, the subject of this sketch, remained on the home place, assisting his father, until he reached his majority. At the age. of twenty-four years, in 1867, he married Miss Nettie Taylor, who was born in Franklin county, Ohio, August 18, 1848, a daughter of Alford and Miranda Taylor, natives, respectively, of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and still living in Franklin county, where they were married. To their union were born five children, namely: Janet (or Nettie), the wife of our subject; Samuel, of Franklin county; James, who died in 1891; Mary, wife of Charles Reaves, a farmer, and Josephine, married to James Bell, also a farmer. The parents of these children are still living at a ripe old age, the father having been born in 1821, and the mother in 1826. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Haughn has been blessed with nine children, born in the following order: Charles E., June 17, 1868, a farmer of Henry county; Alford W., December 17, 1870, also a fanner of Henry county; Isa D., July 15, 1873, married to Joseph Warren, farmer; Leslie S., February 7, 1876; Harry S., September 26, 1879; Floyd D., February 6, 1883; Goldie M., July 16, 1885; Mary M., December 18, 1888, and Ruth A., May 5, 1895—the last-named six at home with their parents. After his marriage Mr. Haughn first rented a farm, on which he lived until 1876, when he came to Putnam county and bought a tract of 160 acres of forest land in Liberty township, and which still constitutes a part of his present farm. Here he had to fell the first tree to secure a seat to sit upon, and here he settled his young family and began his business life in Putnam county. He cleared away a space in the woods, built a cabin (which he yet retains as a relic), settled his family in this, and for the first year rented some cleared land and cultivated it, but since then has devoted his attention to his own premises. To his original tract of 160 acres he has added eleven acres, and of the total he has cleared and tiled 140 acres. For the first three years he failed in making crops sufficiently large for his own use, on account of the superabundance of surface water, but now his crops more than supply his home needs and he has a surplus to sell. The 140 acres cleared are all in a splendid state of cultivation and the farm is improved with a fine two-story frame dwelling, commodious barn and substantial out-buildings, wind-mill, orchard, etc., and he has a most desirable home. Beside the usual farm products, Mr. Haughn raises all the live stock necessary for home use and for marketing purposes. He is considered to be one of the best farmers in the township, and from what has here been written the reader will readily glean that he has been a successful one. His residence is situated six miles northwest of Leipsic, in the Black Swamp, and the soil of his farm is all of the black productive. character. In politics Mr. Haughn is a. democrat, and as a matter of public duty he has accepted several of the minor township offices, but is far from being an office seeker. He is a man of the strictest integrity and of sterling enterprise. It is such as he who lay the foundation on which is reared the superstructure of a community's prosperity, and who inaugurate that happy state of civilization which following generations enjoy, but are tardy in recognizing. LOUIS HELMKAMP, a native-born farmer of Jennings township, Putnam county, Ohio, was born November 15, 1845, on the present homestead, bought from the government by his father. His grandfather, Christopher Helmkamp, was OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 223 born in the kingdom of Hanover, Germany, in 1781, married Catherine Margaretta Schimmoller, became the father of eight children, and with four of them, Frank, Henry, William, and Mary E., came to the United States in 1832, and to Putnam county, Ohio, in 1836, and first located in Glandorf, but in 1838 came to Jennings township and bought eighty acres of land from the government, and afterward added eighty acres. He was a devout Catholic and died at nearly seventy-two years of age. Frank Helmkamp, son of Christopher and father of Louis, our subject, was born August 1810, and married Henrietta Schleter, in Cleveland, Ohio. She was born in Hanover in 1802, in the same village with her husband and his father, and was a daughter of Gerhard and Elizabeth ( Schmidt) Schleter. Frank and his wife came to Putnam county in 1835; bought eighty acres of land in the woods at government sale and settled down to farming. His original deed, however, was dated October 1, 1846, and was signed by James K. Polk, president of the United States. Mr. Helmkamp added eighty more acres to his purchase and in the end was a most substantial farmer. To himself and wife were born five children, viz: Bernard, in Cleveland; and Bernardina, Henry, Mary, and Louis in Putnam county. Louis Helmkamp, our subject, was educated in the common schools and was also thoroughly grounded in agricultural knowledge. May 1, 1869, he was united in marriage, at Fort Jennings, with Josephine Brockman, who was born April 23, 1852, at Glandorf, Putnam county, Ohio, a daughter of Joseph Brockman, who was born in Glandorf, Germany, February 2, 1814, and came to America in 1844. He first settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. Joseph Brockman was first married in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Christina Lankman, by whom he had three children, Mrs. Helmkamp being the only one living; was among the pioneers of Glandorf, Putnam county, coming in 1854, and here married Caroline ( Land ) Whire, who still survives, and who bore nine children—seven still living. After marriage, Louis Helmkamp settled on his present farm of 140 acres, which he has under a fine state of cultivation. He has a tasteful brick residence and has made his other improvements to correspond. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Helmkamp have been born six children, viz: Henrietta, Catherine, Frank, Mary, Louis and Bernard. Mr. Helmkamp has given his children excellent educational advantages and their moral training has been attended to strictly. He and wife are both devoted members of the Roman Catholic church, as were their ancestors, and few, if any, of their neighbors hold higher social relations or are more sincerely esteemed. In politics Mr. Helmkamp is a democrat.J JOSEPH H. HELLMANN, of Jennings township, Putnam county, Ohio, is a ubstantial farmer and the head of a respected family. His father, John M. Hellmann, son of George Hellmann, was born in the kingdom of Hanover, empire of Germany, February, 1816, and was reared on a farm. In 1843 he came to America, landed in New York, thence came to Ohio, stopping awhile in Toledo, and then coming to Fort Jennings, where he was employed for a time at farm work. In 1846 he married Mary A. Finkhoener, and the same year bought the farm on which our subject now lives, but which was taken in the midst of a forest. He and wife were parents of four children, viz: Frank (deceased), Christina, John H. and Joseph H. —the first two named born in Jackson town- 224 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY ship and the latter two on the homestead, where the father is still living with our subject. Joseph H. Hellmann, our subject, was born on his present farm December 28, 1853, was educated in the common schools, and at the age of twenty-nine was married at Fort Jennings August 29, 1882, to Bernardina Luersman, who was born in Putnam county, Ohio, October 10, 1855, a daughter of Henry and Christina Luersman. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hellman have been born six children, namely: John M., Henry O., William J., Laura C., Bernardina and Mary. Mr. Hellmann has been -very successful in his calling, and very industrious, and thoroughly understands his vocation. His farm is nicely cleared and cultivated, and in 1894 he erected a substantial two-story brick residence on his place, at a cost of $3,000; his barn and out-buildings are commodious and convenient, and everything about the premises denotes the presence of a masterly manager. Henry Luersman the father of Mrs. Hellman, was born in Hanover, Germany, and came to America between the years 1842 and 1845. He first located in Memphis, Term., where he worked at his trade of carpentering until about 1850, when he came to. Fort Jennings, Ohio, and here married Christina, a daughter of Frank Schimmoller, who was the father of ten children, seven living, viz: Bernardina, Elizabeth, Pauline, Mary, Henry Christina and Anna. Henry Luersman had bought a farm in the woods near Landeck, Allen county, Ohio, when a single man; he also bought a farm in Jackson township, Putnam county, and was a well-to-do farmer. He and family were all members of the Catholic church, in which faith he died on his farm in Jackson township. Mr. Hellman has proven himself to be a good business man as well as a skillful farmer, and his integrity is acknowledged to be beyond question. He is one of the most respectable men of the township, and his farm, with its surroundings, is unsurpassed by any other farm of equal dimensions in the county. DANIEL A. HEMLEY, one of the well-known and prosperous business men of Columbus Grove, Ohio, and a worthy representative of one of the pioneer families, is a native of Putnam county, having been born in the town of Pandora, in Riley township, five and a half miles from Columbus Grove, in Pleasant township, on August 23, 1850. His parents settled at Pandora (then Pendleton) when there were no roads leading into that place or elsewhere in the neighborhood except those blazed through the woods. The father was John G. Hemley, a native of a Rhine province of Germany. The mother was Christine Risser, who was born in the same province as that of her husband. They were young people when they came to America, where they were soon afterward married. They came to Putnam county about 1836, located in Pandora, and lived there the balance of their lives. The father was an expert harness maker by trade, at which he worked in Pandora for many years. In the earlier part of his business he carried on his back most of the leather he used from West Cairo, Allen county, where there was a tannery, as there was no other way of getting it transported. He moved to Pandora without a dollar in his pocket, but being an industrious and hard-working man, he prospered and made money by close work at his trade. When his death occurred he was in very fair circumstances, owning a good farm, as well as good town property. He died in his sixty-second year. His wife died when our subject was but eight years of age. Both parents were members of the Lutheran church. To these par-