OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 475 enty-five years. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, a Freemason, and for twelve years served as constable. Kemp Samsal was reared, educated, and taught the tailor's trade in Fairfield county. Ohio, and February 21, 1851, married Maria Swayze, daughter of Matthias and Polly (Pickering) Swayze, and in 1852 came to Putnam county with his father. The children born to this marriage were eight in number, viz. : An infant son, deceased; Mrs. Sereptor; Mrs. Jane Beam, of Pleasant township, Putnam county; Ellen, who died at three years of age; John, a farmer of Union township; Elizabeth, wife of Edward S. Holt, on the home place; Lafayette, who died at the age of twenty-five years, and Orphia, wife of Samuel D. Best, of Union township. The mother of this family was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, December 3, 1828, and her parents were also natives of the Buckeye state. After his marrige, Mr. Sam-sal farmed in Winchester, Ohio, for a short time, and in 1852 bought a farm in Union township, on which be still lives, and which comprises eighty acres. It was uncleared, but improved with a log cabin, in which he and family lived until 1883, when he erected his present handsome dwelling; he now owns 240 acres, of which too acres are cleared. In politics Mr. Samsal is a democrat, and in 1882 was elected infirmary director, which office he held for six years; for two years he was township assessor, and has also held the office of school director for fifteen years, as well as trustee of his township for twelve years. He is a member of the Masonic lodge, No. 28o, at Kalida; and has been for twenty-seven years, but is not identified with any religious organization, his model in moral ethics being simply " Do right." In 1891 he was a candidate for nomination for county commissioner, but failed of the requisite number of votes. He is a very pleasant gentleman, is exceedingly popular, and is one of the township's most substantial citizens, having well performed his part in advancing its prosperity. HORACE J. SANDERS, D. D. S., one of the well-known residents of Columbus Grove, Ohio, and the leading dentist of the place, was born in Albion, Erie county, Pa., October 13, 1855. He is a son of Horace H. and Fanny (King) Sanders, both of whom are also natives of Pennsylvania. The Sanders family came originally from England, coming to America during the Pilgrim times, there being three brothers of the family. They settled in New England, and the ancestors from whom our subject descends drifted into New York state. The grandfather of Dr. Sanders moved to Pennsylvania from New York, settling in Erie county. The Kings moved from Rhode Island to New York and thence into Pennsylvania, and were early settlers in Erie county. They were of English-Irish descent. The father of Dr. Sanders was a mason by trade. His death occurred when the doctor was five weeks old. There were three children born to the parents, one of whom died at the ,,age of seven years. The widow, though in poor circumstances, kept her children together, and gave them all academic educations. She now makes her home in the old home place in Albion, Pa., where the doctor was born. The other surviving child is Mrs. Daphua H. Van Riper, of Albion. At the early age of thirteen years Dr. Sanders became a wage earner by going to work in a factory, where he worked during the summers and attended school during the winters for about eight years, during which period he took a winter's course at a commercial college at Meadville, Pa. When in his twenty-second year he decided to take up the dental profes- 476 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY sion, and entered the office of Dr. C. H. Harvey, at Erie, Pa.., as a student, with whom he remained a year and a half. He then entered a dental college, where he was graduated in 1881. The same year he graduated he began practice at Liberty Center, Henry county, Ohio, where he followed his profession for about eighteen months, and then left that place and spent a few months in the far west. Returning to his old home from his western trip, he made a visit, and on the 16th day of May, 1883, he came to Columbus Grove, where he has since remained. At that time there was no dentist in this place and the doctor soon established a good business, which has continued to increase from year to year, and has long been the leading dentist of the city. Dr. Sanders was married on December 23, 1886, to Amelia B. Johnson, who was born in Hancock county, Ohio, May 22, 1855, and was the daughter of John H. Johnson. She was a woman of excellent attainments and of fine education. When thirteen years of age she began teaching school, in the public schools at Findlay, Blufton and Columbus Grove. Her death occurred May 20, 1895, in the faith of the Presbyterian church. Her father died December 19, 1894, and her mother in April, 1893. Dr. Sanders is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and owns his residence and office property on High street, Columbus Grove. HIRAM SARBER, retired farmer of Kalida, Putnam county, Ohio, is a native of Franklin county, this state, was born August 23, 1817, and is a son of Adam and Catherine (Enslen) Sarber. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Andrew Sarber, was born in Pennsylvania, it is supposed in Luzerne county, and was of German parentage. He was a patriot of the Revolutionary war, and served four years as a private—three years as body guard to Washington; was a farmer and weaver, and for some time resided near Philadelphia, but met his death in Luzerne county by the accidental falling of a rock. He had eight children, of whom Adam, the father of Hiram, our subject, grew to manhood in Luzerne county, Pa., was there married, and about 1812 came to Ohio and purchased a farm in Franklin county, which he cleared up from the forest and resided on until 1833, when he came to Putnam county and purchased 133 acres in Union township, which he also cleared up from the wilderness, but subsequently became an extensive buyer and seller of farming lands throughout the county. To his marriage with Miss Enslen were born nine children, viz: Sarah (Mrs Clevenger), deceased, and Abraham, who married a Miss Hindren, but is now deceased; Elizabeth, wife of George Clevenger; George, married to Miss Andrakes; Christian, married Miss Lee; John, married Miss Erman—these three sons, all deceased; Hiram, our subject; Lucinda (Mrs. Rimer), deceased, and William, deceased, who married Miss Fresh. Politically, Mr. Sarber was a democrat and filled most of the minor offices of Union township; in religion he was a Presbyterian, and died in that faith. Hiram Sarber, our subject, was educated in the common schools of Franklin county, Ohio, came to Putnam county with his father, and later learned the carpenter's trade. From Putnam county, Ohio, he moved to Kosciusko county, Ind., where. he followed carpentering and milling for ten years; he then returned to Putnam county, Ohio, purchased the old homestead and cultivated it for thirty years, and then retired to Kalida, where he is now passing the remainder of his years in peace, plenty and comfort—the reward of his years of industrious toil. The marriage of Mr. Sarber took place in 1842, with Miss Susan Jenk, daughter OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 477 of Abraham Jenk, of Union township, Putnam county, and this union has been blessed with eight children, viz: Mary K., wife of Thomas Scott; Rebecca E. (Mrs. Vail); Iva B. (Mrs. Ambler); Abraham F. (married to a Miss Jeffrey); John A. (married to Miss Claypool); Sarah I., deceased wife of William Budd; Hiram J. (married to Miss Gochenhour), and Ella M., wife of Abraham Jenkins. In his politics, Mr. Sarber is an ardent populist. He was very popular with his fellow-citizens of Union township, and for many years served them as township trustee. In religion he is a devoted Presbyterian, and has long served as an elder in that church, to the support of which he has always contributed freely of his means. As a resident of Kalida, he stands among the foremost of its citizens, and is universally respected as an upright man and as a useful and desirable member of the community. The family history of Hiram Sarber, our subject, having been related in full, an incident in his pioneer experience in Putnam county may here be reverted to with propriety. When he came here, in 1833, there were very few settlers, but numerous Indians, and the forest was filled with bears, wolves, deer and small game, and several times as many as three bears were found in one tree, where they had made their home for the winter. The boys of the family had many exciting experiences with these wild animals, and often, indeed, narrowly escaped becoming their prey, instead of the reverse. The eldest son, Abraham, having decided to remove to Illinois, sold his land and employed our subject, Hiram, then aged nineteen years, and his brother John, aged twenty-one, to drive his team and goods by the way of Fort Wayne, Ind., while Abraham and his family went via Dayton, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Ind. Hiram and his brother, knowing nothing about the country west of their home, drove along until four miles from Van Wert, when they found they had reached the end of the road and had twenty-two miles yet to travel through dense forests with no roads. There was an Indian trace, however, and the brothers, rather than turn back, ventured in this trace with their two yoke of cattle, and consumed four days in making this stretch of twenty-two miles, before reaching another road. The entire distance from home to their destination was 225 miles, and the time required to cover it was twenty-two days. Returning, the two brothers started on foot, passed up along the Iroquois river until they reached what was called the " cutoff," then crossed the Monon river and found that the road ran down stream; but they wanted' to reach the Tippecanoe river, and luckily struck some fresh wagon tracks, which they followed, and eventually reached the Tippecanoe, and thence followed Indian trails until they reached Ohio and their home in the fall of 1836, from which time forward they lived on the home place until respectively married. H. W. SCHMITSCHULTE, the efficient clerk of the the Putnam county courts, is a native of Germany, born in the province of Westphalia, January 14, 1848, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Wilken) Schmitschulte. The subject's mother died in 1848, when he was but eleven weeks old, and the father's death occurred in his native land, in April, 1851. By occupation Joseph Schmitschulte was a farmer, and by a previous marriage had one child, Joseph Schmitschulte, who still resides in the province of Westphalia. H. W. Schmitschulte was the only child of his parents, and after his father's death, in 1851, made his home with an aunt, with whom he remained for some years. He was edu- 478 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY cated in the common-schools of his native country, also attended the high school for some time, and at the age of about thirteen began life for himself as clerk in a dry-goods house, in which capacity he continued until coming to America, in May, 1866. On reaching the United States he proceeded to Louisville, Ky., where he spent fifteen months in the grocery store of his uncle, Henry Wilken, at the end of which time he came to Putnam county, Ohio, where, for one year, he was employed in the Glandorf woolen mills. The following spring he accepted a situation with Frease & Raff, as clerk in their dry-goods house, and after remaining with the firm a little over one year, took a similar position with the firm of J. Frease & Co., in the city of Napoleon. He continued the capacity of salesman in that place until February, 1870, when he returned to Ottawa, and in the ensuing April embarked in the grocery trade, which he carried on with a reasonable degree of success for a period of two years, disposing of his stock in 1872. For some time thereafter Mr. Schimtschulte clerked for Messrs. Bressler & Cole, and subsequently engaged in the clothing business at Leipsic, where he remained until 1875, selling out at that time, returning to Ottawa, and again engaging as a salesman in various mercantile establishments. In 1880, Mr Schmitschulte accepted a position as deputy clerk with J. J. Zeller, clerk of Putnam county, with whom he remained until the expiration of that gentleman's term of service in August, 1885, at which time he became deputy under R. J. Spelman, and managed the affairs of the office until the death of the clerk in November, 1877, when Mr. Schmitschulte was appointed to fill out the unexpired term. So ably did he discharge the duties of the position that, in 1888, he was elected to the office, was re-elected in 1891, and served until the expiration of his term in August, 1895. When elected clerk, Mr. Schmitschulte defeated his competitor by a majority of 1,753 votes, the largest majority ever given any one man in the county, a fact which speaks eloquently for his popularity with the masses of the people. That he has been a capable, painstaking, and popular official goes without saying,: and it is doubtful whether the county of Putnam has ever had a more gentlemanly and efficient public servant. He is public spirited, takes an active interest in the welfare of the country, and is a typical representative of that large class of Germans who become our best citizens. Mr. Schmitschulte was married May 17, 1870, to Mary Recker, daughter of H. H. Recker. The following are the names of their children: Elizabeth M., deputy county clerk; Herman J., also a clerk in his father's office; Clara K. and Mary. Mr. and Mrs. Schmitschulte are members of the Catholic church, and they moved in the best social circles of Ottawa. JACOB RIMER, a pioneer of Sugar Creek township, Putnam county, was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, January 29, 1815, a son of Daniel and Catherine Rimer. Both parents were natives of Luzerne county, Pa., and of German descent, the mother being a daughter of Jeremiah Vandermark, and, at the date of her marriage with Mr. Rimer, a widow, bearing the name of Carey. They were wedded in the Keystone state and came to Ohio about the close of the war of 1812, located at first in Fairfield county, moved thence to Franklin county, and in 1832 came to Putnam county, where the father, who was a farmer, died in 1857, his widow surviving until 1875, when she passed away at about ninety years of age, both being members of the Primitive Baptist church. Their family OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 481 consisted of five children, viz: Elizabeth, married to Jacob Clevenger, who came to Put. nam county in 1830; Jacob, our subject; Jeremiah, farmer and ex-county infirmary director, who died in February, 1894; Daniel, who re, sides near Columbus Grove, Ohio, and Parmelia, widow of Samuel Hoffman, who died of disease contracted in the army. Jacob Rimer, whose name opens this sketch, was reared to farming and was chiefly self-educated. When quite a lad, however, he worked for his father on the Lake Erie & Ohio canal, the first built in Ohio, and saw the first boat pass through. When the family first came to Putnam county they stopped with the Clevengers, until they could erect a cabin, then moved upon their own land. Jacob here assisted his father in clearing up and cultivating the farm until his own marriage, in March, 1838, with Elizabeth Rhodes, who was born in Franklin county, Ohio, in 1816, a daughter of Peter and Catherine (Huffman) Rhodes, both of Pennsylvania and of German descent, and who came to Ohio before Columbus was made the capital of the state. They settled first in Franklin county, and in 1831 came to Putnam county when there were but three or four cabins in Lima. One of these was a hewn-log house, with punchoen floors, built for hotel purposes by a Mr. Mitchell, and here Mr. Rhodes passed a night; the next day he made his way through the woods and reached the present site of Vaughnsville, where he entered considerable land and built the first mill on Hog creek. After his marriage Mr. Rimer settled on eighty acres of land belonging to his wife in the woods and put up a cabin; he owned a colt and his wife owned another; he owned a young cow and his wife also owned a cow, and with this stock they started in life together, but they are now among the wealthiest residents of the county. His cabin was erected where his splendid residence now stands, and on this spot he has lived ever since. At one time Mr. Rimer entered some lands in Union township, but these he later sold and added to his homestead until he owned 320 acres, of which he, has cleared all but forty acres and placed in a state of cultivation unexcelled by that of any farm in the county, and improved in a manner hardly equaled. These premises are three miles west of Vaughnsville, nine miles from Delphos, and twelve miles from Lima, and here Mr. Rimer has accumulated a competency through his skill as a farmer and as breeder and dealer in live stock, of which he has always kept the choicest varieties. When Mr. Rimer made his settlement here the county had not yet been organized. The first county court was held at the house of a Mr. Sarber, near the present town of Kalida, and the presiding judge (Holt) had his seat on the side of a bed. This judge then had the power of appointing the commissioners and other county officers, and as one of the town proprietors granted to Mr. Saber the contract for laying out Kalida, in the task of clearing away the brush, etc., Mr. Rimer was employed as an assistant—the next legislature approving all the acts of the judge and his court, and ordering the coming election in this wilderness. It will thus be seen that our subject has seen the county grow from its incipiency to its present prosperous proportions. After his own prosperity began to assume form, he was for some years compelled to go to Piqua for milling purposes and to haul his surplus wheat to Fremont, where he disposed of it at sixty-eight cents per bushel. To the parents of Mrs. Elizabeth Rimer were born eight children, all of whom lived to rear families of their own and to aid in carrying out the enterprises of their father, who was ever ready to assist newcomers with grain or meal, and would divide his last bushel in times 482 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY of extreme scarcity without extra charge. This philanthropic gentleman died in March, 1839, and in 1840 was followed to the grave by his faithful helpmate. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Rimer was blessed with nine children, of whom one died unnamed in infancy; George W. died in hospital while in the service of his country during the war of the Rebellion; Daniel P. is prominent as a farmer and is the founder of the town of Rimer; Elizabeth J. is the wife of John Beamand, a thriving farmer; James W. is a civil engineer of note at Van Wert and has twice represented his county in the state legislature; Mary J. is married to Benjamin Clevenger; Eleazer is managing the home farm; Lewis H. is a merchant and postmaster at Rimer; Francis M. is engaged in farming. The mother of this family was called to rest December 25, 1894, a devout member of the Primitive Baptist church. The father has always been democratic in his politics, but has never sought public office, although he has served his fellow-citizens as township trustee and has filled several minor offices from a sense of public duty. He also is a consistent member of the Primitive Baptist church, which ne freely aids with his means, and whose teachings find in him a truly worthy exemplar. The Rimer family and all their connections have ever been among the foremost in promoting the prosperity and in bettering the interests of the township and county, and certainly no family is more highly respected. FRANK SCHIMMOLER, a prominent, well known and highly respected farmer of Jackson township, Putnam county, Ohio, is the son of Francis and Mary Catrina (Richtman) Schimmoler, and was born in Glandorf, Putnam county, October 11, 1836. The father was a native of Germany, was born in Osnabruck, Hanover, in the year 1783, and was reared as a farmer and educated in the excellent schools of Germany. In the year of 1833 Francis Schimmoler came to Glandorf and entered an eighty-acre tract of government land, on which he settled, cleared in part and made his home. Mary Catrina Richtman was also born in Germany about the year 1815. When in the neighborhood of twenty years of age she came to America with a neighbor's family, her parents being dead, and in a few months after her coming was married to the father of our subject, who had paid her passage to the United States. Seven children blessed this union, whose names are as follows: Frank, the eldest, of whom this sketch largely concerns; Dena, who died at the age of two years; John Henry, a farmer of Jackson township; Lizzie, who died at the age of seventeen years; William, of Jennings township; Lewis, of Dayton, Ohio, and August, who died in childhood. In the year 1839 the parents of our subject came to Jackson township, where they at first bought forty-five acres of land and afterward added eighty-two acres more, and then later entered 105 acres, and still later took up sixty-six acres more, on which Frank, our subject, now lives. He was a man of more than ordinary ability and hard-working, good-managing, thrifty and ambitious. He gave efficient aid to many of his country people in securing them good homes in the new world, and was a man widely known and greatly respected. He was a consistent communicant of the Catholic church, and in politics a democrat. He died of cholera, deeply lamented, September 5, 1855, the mother's death having occurred January 30, 1850. Frank Schimmoler, the subject of this memoir, was reared in the county and received the limited education at that time afforded the OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 488 children of early settlers, and after the death of his father worked in a saw-mill and gristmill at Fort Jennings for a space of four years. November 3, 1859, he was united in marriage to Mary Elizabeth Gerking, the daughter of Arnold and Agnes (Von Lehmden) Gerking, and this union was blessed with ten children: Ferdinand, born August 29, 1860, now a farmer in Jennings township; Mary A., born July 2, 1862, the wife of M. Holtgrivy, of Delphos; Frank H., born February 19, 1864, a farmer of Putnam county, Ohio, and William, born January 13, 1866, of the same occupation and place of residence; Bernadina, born August 3, 1868, the wife of Joseph Hohenbrink, of Holgate; Lizzie, born August 12, 1870, the wife of George Fischer, a farmer of Putnam county, Ohio; Lewis, born September 2, 1872, a farmer at home; Rosa Elizabeth, born August 29, 1874; Annie, born March 25, 1876, and August H., born June 22, 1878. The mother was born in Oldenburg, Germany, February 4, 1837, and when three months old her parents came to Fort Jennings, where her father, Arnold Gerking, died in 1838, and for eight years she lived with her uncle, A. Von Lehmden, at the expiration of which time her mother again married, and she returned home. Mrs. Schimrnoler's mother died March 9, 1878. After his marriage our subject began life on an entirely new farm, which he cleared and put under cultivation, and on which he now lives, and is the owner of one of the most pleasant homes and profitable farms of the township. He is a good farmer and good manager, and a good neighbor and good citizen. He has filled with ability the office of school director for five years, and has served as road supervisor for a number of terms. Politically he is a representative democrat, and holds in conscientious respect the dogmas of the party, and in religion is a Catholic, being a communicant of the Fort Jennings church. Mr. Schimmoler is one of the valued citizens of the county and a man of genial worth and character, whose deeds speak louder than his words. BERNARD H. SCHLAGBAUM, a successful farmer of Monterey township, Putnam county, Ohio, was born in Cincinnati, February 26, 1849. His father, George Schlagbaum, was born in the village of Ibbenburen, Prussia, May 5, 1820, on his father's farm. George came to America in 1843, and for a year worked in the coal mines near Wheeling, West Va., and then went to Cincinnati, where he went to work in the Enquirer office at the old-fashioned hand press. He married, in that city, May 14, 1848, Miss Dora Hille, who was born in the village of Boumte, Hanover, Germany, October 14, 1829, a daughter of William Hille. Miss Hille, with some acquaintances, came to America at the age of sixteen years, later was married to Mr. Schlagbaum and became the mother of ten children, born in the following order: Bernard H., our subject; Henry, born January 27, 1852, and died at the age of twenty-one years; Louis, born August 24, 1855; Mary, born October 4, 1857; John, born September 12, 1856 William, born July 17, 1893; Anna, born September 26, 1866; Elizabeth) born June 17, 1869; and two others that died in infancy. Mr. Schlagbaum lived in Cincinnati three years after his marriage, and in 1851 moved to Delphos,. Ohio; in 1853 he removed to Ottoville and bought eighty acres of land three-quarters of a mile east of town, which farm our subject now owns. A log house in the woods had already been built, and here Mr. Schlagbaum, assisted by his sons as they grew old enough, cleared off the timber from his land and made a superior farm, on which he died October 28, 1886, at the age of about sixty-six years and six months. He was a 484 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY true Catholic and aided in the building of the first church of that denomination in Ottoville, and subsequently in the construction of the present magnificient structure dedicated to Saint Mary. In politics he was a democrat, was always a popular, public-spirited man, and died an honored citizen, respected by all who knew him. Bernard H. Schlagbaum was about three years of age when brought to Putnam county by his parents. He was placed at farm work as soon as old enough to pick bark, and was reared to manhood as an agriculturist. February 12, 1874, at Ottoville, he was married by Father Mueller to Mrs. Clara Anna Helmkamp, who was born in Hanover, Germany, July 24, 1846, and bore the maiden name of Grave. She was first married at Delphos, Ohio, June 6, 1866, to Bernard Helmkamp, to whom she bore two children, viz: Annie, born September 24, 1867, and Frederick, January 15, 1870. Mr. Helmkamp was a carpenter by trade and also the owner of fifty-three acres of land, on which our subject now lives and owns. Mrs. Schlagbaum is a daughter of Ferdinand and Mary C. Grave, the former of whom was born in Hanover, Germany, was a shoemaker, was there married to Mary A. Moenter, and by her became the father of three children, viz: Henry, Christian and Clara Anna (Mrs. Schlagbaum). By a previous marriage he was the father of two children, Mary and Elizabeth, and at his death the entire family came to America and settled at Delphos, Ohio, in October, 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Bernard H. Schlagbaum, for a few years after marriage, lived on the old Schlagbaum farm until 1880, when they moved to their present home, the old Helmkamp place. All of this place our subject has cleared from the woods, with the exception of twenty acres, has drained the land, made all the improvements, has built a tasteful resi dence and made a comfortable home. To Mr. and Mrs. Schlagbaum have been born five children, as follows: Maria Dora, November 6, 1874; Louis E., August 8, 1878; Mary, November 26, 1880; Joseph H., June 21, 1883, and Mary Rosa, December 15, 1886. The family is of the Catholic faith, and Mr. and Mrs. Schlagbaum have contributed liberally to Saint Mary's church of Ottoville, which stately structure, like all other persons of means in the country round about, he materially assisted to erect. In politics Mr. Schlagbaum is a democrat. He is a practical farmer and is respected wherever known as an honest man and one who has done much to advance the material interests of Monterey township and Putnam county, of which he has been a resident over forty-four years. WILLIAM SCHLAGBAUM, a rising young farmer of Monterey township, Putnam county, Ohio, and a son of George and Dora (Hille) Schlagbaum, was born July 17, 1863, on the old home farm in Monterey township, on which he still lives and now owns. He received a very fair common-school education, and was reared to the pursuit of agriculture exclusively as a vocation, and in this has become thoroughly practical. His birthplace contains eighty acres, is well drained and is cultivated in a most skillful and superior manner, and few farms of its size in the county can surpass it in appearance or fertility. Besides his eighty-acre tract he owns twenty-four acres adjoining, the reward of his own industry—and the whole constitute a beautiful homestead. His father passed much of his later life in Ottoville, and our subject, since eighteen years of age, has had charge of the homestead, and has done a great deal of the clearing himself, and has taken much pains to do it well. Although yet OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 485 a young man he has manifested much interest in public affairs, and as a democrat he has already held the office of township clerk, as well as that of road supervisor, he being greatly in favor of good roads. May 21, 1895, William Schlagbaum was most happily united in matrimony, at Ottoville, with Miss Louisa Kehres, who was born September 28, 1874, on her father's farm in Monterey township. She is a daughter of August and Louisa (Marks) Kehres, of which highly respected family a biography is given on another page, to which the reader of this sketch is respectfully referred, as well as to the sketch of Bernard H. Schlagbaum, which appears above. Mr. and Mrs. Schlagbaum both come of sturdy German pioneer families, who did so much to redeem the land of Monterey township from the wilderness, build up its villages, construct its roads and lay out and cultivate its farms, and to bring it to its present high state of prosperity, beauty and cultivation. Our subject and his wife are strict adherents of the church of their forefathers and worship at Saint Mary's, in Ottoville, which costly edifice their parents aided in erecting, partly by their labor and partly by their means. The young couple enjoy the esteem of all who know them, and they well deserve the respect of the social circle they so well adorn. CHARLES SCHRODER, one of the oldest of the German settlers of Greensburg township, Putnam county, Ohio, and also one of its most prosperous and influental farmers, was born December 23, 1827. His parents were Nicholas and Mary (Trame) Schroder, the father of whom was born in the fatherland in 1792, and received a fair education and learned the trade of making wooden shoes, although the days of his childhood and early manhood were spent on a farm. To his marriage with Mary Trame ten children were born, all of whom were born in Germany except the youngest. Three of these children are still living, Charles, the subject of our sketch; Clara, the wife of Fred Hoffman, and Mary, the wife of William Wooster. After their marriage the ambitious young couple lived on a rented farm in Germany until 1833, when they, with their children, came to America to join the colony of Father Horstmann. They came direct to this township, and for three weeks lived in a camp in the woods, but by hard work the husband, in that time succeeded in getting a log house built to move his family into. He entered eighty acres of government land and soon afterward purchased forty acres more; from this he cleared the heavy timber and dug and burned out the stumps, and soon had it in an excellent state of cultivation. At different times he added other purchases and built good farm buildings. His wife died in 1872, and he .followed her in 1875, and both were early and faithful members of the Glandorf Catholic church. In politics he was a democrat. Charles Schroder, our subject, came with his parents to America, when he was but six years old, and received a fair education in the German language in a little log school-house not far from his new home. His childhood days were passed happily on his father's farm, and so strong became the tie for the old homestead that when he married he decided to remain on a part of it. In 1850 he was married to Agnes Hohenbrink, who was born in Germany in 1826, and when sixteen years old came to America with her parents, William and Mary (Grimes) Hohenbrink, the former of whom fought at Waterloo and saw Napoleon's star set to rise no more. William Hohenbrink lived to be ninety-one years old, dying in 1883. The mother died in 1853, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. 486 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY After their marrige Mr. Schroder and his wife remained on the old homestead of the Schroders, and here prospered. Here ten children have been born to them: Annie, the wife of Barney Sebemick, of Liberty township; Mary, the wife of Henry Myers, of the same township; Frank, William, John, Fred, and Audrey, all five of whom are living in Liberty township; Clara, deceased; Henry, farming in Greensburg township; Ignatius, farming on the old homestead, and Therese, the wife of John Toby. To each of his children Mr. Schroder gave eighty acres of land, which cost him $35,000. On his own farm he takes great pride in raising and breeding thoroughbred, short-horn and Holstein cattle, Oxforddown sheep, and Norman horses, and he has been remarkably successful at it. He and his wife are members of the Glandorf Catholic church. In politics he is a democrat. To his family he is a kind and indulgent father and his neighbors he is ever willing to help, and is respected by all. Prosperity has attended all his efforts and he has used wisely that with which he has been blessed. BALTAS SCHURER, one of the substantial farmers, a progressive citizen and township trustee of Monterey township, Putnan county, Ohio, springs from sturdy stock. His father, Adrain Schurer, was born in Wittenberg, Germany, in the village of Weitengen, was a weaver, and married, in his native village, Annie Derringer, to which union were born four children, of whom two died in infancy unnamed, one, Francis, died at the age of twenty-three years, in Ohio, and one, Baltas, is the gentleman whose name opens this paragraph. In 1853 Adrain Schurer came to America, remained a year in Cincinnati, and then, in 1854, settled on forty acres of land in the wild woods of Monterey township, Putnam county, which land he entered in the land office at Defiance, Ohio. Here he cleared up a good farm, on which he resided until about 1866, when he sold out and bought the farm of eighty acres now occupied by his son Baltas, our subject, and the two together converted this property into a delightful home. Later the father bought a house and lot in Ottoville, but ended his days on this farm in 1882, at the age of sixty-seven years. He was a sincere member of the Catholic church, and had aided freely with his means in the erection of the Catholic edifice at Ottoville. Mrs. Annie Schurer died in 1880, at the age of sixty-five years, also in the Catholic faith. The Catholic German pioneers did a good and wonderful work when they founded Ottoville, built their church, laid out their good roads, etc., and Mr. Shurer was one of the most active among them, having in the early days been known to carry grist on his back to Delphos, to mill, even when the water in the roadways would reach his knees. Baltas Schurer was born in Germany, May 15, 1845, attended the common schools until about eighteen years of age, and later attended the pioneer schools of Putnam county, Ohio. He grew to manhood on the homestead in the woods, which he ably assisted in clearing away, and also did a vast amount of other work in making it the farm that it afterward became—one of the handsomest in the county, and improved in the most substantial manner, including a fine two-story brick residence. In November, 1868, Mr. Schurer married Mary Hankler, daughter of Christopher Hankler, the latter a native of Switzerland, one of the pioneers of Monterey township, and the father of four children, viz: Mary, Sophia, Kate and Christopher. The death of the father took place, in pioneers days, at the age of forty or fifty years. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schurer OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 487 settled on the old Schurer homestead, where there have been born to them nine children—four still living and named: Joseph, Annie, Caroline, John, and five deceased. In politics Mr. Schurer is a democrat, and he is a citizen who has the full confidence and respect of the people. About 1882 he was elected a township trustee of Monterey township, served three years, and was re-elected to the same office in 1892, has served his three years, and has been elected to serve another term of three years. Mr. Schurer is a thoroughly practical farmer. As may be inferred, he is a member of the Catholic church at Ottoville, which he liberally aided to construct; and is universally recognized as a true Christian and strictly honest gentleman. MATTHIAS SCHULIEN, one of the leading business men of Ottoville, Putnam county, Ohio, and member of the well-known milling firm of Schulien & Wannemacher, was born in the village of Lossheim Trier, Prussia, February 2, 1842. His father, also named Matthias, was a wagon-maker and was married to Mary Petry, the result of the union being five children, viz: Matthias (our subject), Catherine, Nicholas, Barbara and Joseph, all born in the native village of the parents, with the exception of the youngest, who was born in Ottoville, Putnam county, Ohio. The family sailed from Liverpool, England, in June, 1852, and thirty days later landed in New York, whence they came directly to Ohio, and for six years resided in Cincinnati, or until March, 1858, when they came to Putnam county and bought eighty acres of land in the woods west of Ottoville, which land they in due course of time converted into a good farm. The family are all devoted Catholics, and contributed liberally toward the building fund of the present hand- some Catholic house of worship in Ottoville. The father lived to be sixty-three years of age and died a devout Christian and worthy citizen. Matthias Schulien, the subject of this sketch, attended the excellent primary schools of his native land until ten years of age, when he was brought to America by .his parents. In Cincinnati he began his business life as an errand boy for a furniture firm, was advanced to the position of shipping clerk, and remained with the firm until he came, at the age of sixteen, to Putnam county with the rest of the family. For two years he assisted his father in clearing up the farm, and then went to work on the canal as a carpenter, aiding to build locks for three years; for the next two years he was employed at carpenter work in Ottoville, and then, in company with B. Wannemacher, his present partner, engaged in the saw-mill and lumber business, erecting the first steam mill in the town. After a successful career of ten years in this trade, the firm sold out and bought their present flouring-mills, which they remodeled and supplied with the new roller process machinery, now turning out about eighty barrels of superior flour every twenty-four hours and shipping it chiefly to the east. In politics Mr. Schulien is a democrat and has served as a member of the school board nine years, and as treasurer of the village of Ottoville for three years, and was one of the incorporators of the town. In 1890 he married Mary Sellet, daughter of Morent and Catherine (Wolfe) Sellet who came from Alsace, France, about the year 1854, and located in Seneca county, Ohio, and about six years later came to Monterey township, Putnam county, where the father, a shoemaker, bought forty acres of land one-quarter of a mile west of Ottoville, and settled down to farming, making a good home, and dying at the age of seventy years, a highly respected citizen. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Schulien 488 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY has been blessed with two children, Matilda and Frank. The family are Catholic in religion, as were there forefathers, and their social standing is with the best people of Ottoville and Monterey township. ROBERT W. ROBERTS, one of the most enterprising and progressive farmers of Sugar Creek township, Putnam county, Ohio, was born April 2 I, 1 847, in a cabin thut then stood within eleven feet of the site of his present modern residence, and is a son of William and Parthenia (Burch) Roberts. The father was a native of the north of Wales, came to America in company with a brother, Robert, in 1832, lived with him on a farm in Licking county, Ohio, until 1835, and then came to Putnam county, where each brother entered 120 acres-240 acres in all—erected a cabin and kept bachelor's hall until the marriage of William and Miss Burch, a daughter of Sanford Burch, a native of Vermont, who settled in Putnam county about 1828, but some years later sold his farm and moved to Indiana, where his wife died, after which event he returned and made his home with William Roberts and family until his death, at the age of eighty-seven years, a Methodist in religion and a republican in politics. William Roberts was born December 27, 1807. After paying for his land he had fifty cents left in cash, but he struggled manfully, became a man of prominence and independence, and died July 20, 1886, having lost his wife January 27, 1879. To William and this wife were born five children, of whom one died in infancy, two died of scarlet-fever while still young and were buried in one grave; Sarah married John M. Jones, a farmer of Putnam county, and Robert W., our subject, is the youngest. Robert W. Roberts received a very fair education in the common school of his district and assisted his father in the conduct of the farm, and after the death of his mother took entire charge of the place; after his father's death he became owner of 120 acres of the home place to which he has added forty acres by purchase, and of the total he has about 13o acres under a good state of cultivation. He has himself done much of the clearing, has done all the ditching and tiling, and in his operations employs the most approved machinery; his live stock is all graded, and he has imported South down and Oxford down sheep, their fleece. weighing eight to twenty pounds each. He and his son make a specialty of a sheep farm two and a half miles north of Vaughnsville, invariably carrying off the highest awards at the county fairs. The marriage of Mr. Roberts took place August 18, 1868, with Miss Edna M. Ketchum, who was born in Chesterville, Morrow county, Ohio, March 12, 1849, a daughter of John L. and Catherine (Gunsaulus) Ketchum. Her parents were natives of New York state, but of New England stock, who came to Putnam county, Ohio, in 1853; here the father settled on a farm, which he cultivated a number of years and then moved to Columbus Grove, where his death took place in 1880—a leader in the Methodist Episcopal church, and a most enterprising citizen. He was the father of six children, four of whom are still living, viz: Mary J., Merritt D., Edna M. and Eva. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Roberts has been blessed with eight children, as follows: Linna, at home; William, a traveling salesman of New York state; John L., attending the Ohio State university; Robert A., at home; Walter A., who died at the age of one year; Edna E.; Heber and Catherine, at home. The mother of these children is a strict member of the Methodist Episcopal church and has certainly reared her offspring in " the way they should OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 491 go." The father is a republican in politics, is a school director, has served as township trustee, and is now serving his second term as a justice of the peace; he and his wife and four children are members of the Patrons of Husbandry, of which two of his sons have served as secretary. He has served as county master and overseer of the subordinate grange, and as purchasing committee for two years. In 1893 our subject, who had been made administrator of his uncle Robert's estate, made a trip to Wales and distributed the legacies among the heirs, remained in the old country two months, combining- pleasure with his business, and returned much improved by the trip. With Mr. Lewis Gander, Mr. Robbins was the originator of a township picnic, which is annually held in the Roberts grove, and which is very popular. DANIEL A. SHAFER, an enterprising farmer of Perry township, Putnam county, Ohio, and the son of John and Susan (Dickey) Shafer (whose sketch will be found on another page), was born in Paulding county August 16, 1852, and was given an education in the common schools of the neighborhood. His boyhood days were passed on his father's farm until twenty-three years old, when, on January 21, 1875, he married Barbara E. Prowant, who was born in Paulding county on November I, 1859, the daughter of Henry and Catherine (Eyer) Prowant. (See sketch of John Prowant on another page.) Her mother was a native of Canada, and had seven other children, viz: Jacob, who died in infancy; Arminda, also dead; David, a farmer of Paulding county; Sarah A., the wife of Douglas Reynolds, of Monroe county; Emily, wife of Charles Thrasher, of Paulding county; Samuel, also of Paulding county, and William, residing in Kansas. After his marriage Mr. Shafer lived for three years on a farm in Paulding county, and then moved to Putnam county, but only remained there a few months, when he returned to Paulding county. In 1880 he again moved to Putnam county, where he has since lived, a part of the time on rented land. He now cultivates a farm which was all woodland when he moved on it in 1890, when the outlook was very discouraging, but with indomitable courage he set to work clearing, and in time he had converted the recent forest into a fine farm, on which he annually raises good crops and keeps in an excellent state of cultivation He is industrious and economical, and is respected and honored by all. In politics he is a stanch democrat. His family consists of seven children: Alfred F., born November 13, 1875; Levi and Eli, twins, who were born in February, 1877, and died while quite young; Alvie E., born May 29, 1879; Florence, who died when two and a half years old; Samuel I, who was born December 15, 1886, and Frank R., born September 26, 1889. In the kindness of their hearts Mr. and Mrs, Shafer adopted a daughter, Zelma Prowant, who was born. February 16, 1892. John Shafer, eldest son of John and Ellen (Jenkins) Shafer, and father of David A. Shafer, was reared a farmer and is now one of the most prosperous agriculturists of Perry township, Putnam county, Ohio. September 29, 1842, he married Miss Susan Dickey, who was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, in 1818, a daughter of John and Mary (Deats) Dickey, who were natives of Somerset county, Pa., of German descent, and who, at the close of the war of 1812, settled in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where Mr. Dickey died in 1847, and his wife in 1874. After his marriage John Shafer moved to a rented farm in Allen county, Ohio, 492 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY where he lived until 1845, in which year he brought his young family to Putnam county, lived on a farm three years, and then purchased his present home, which he has wrought out from a forest and converted into one of the best farms in his township. There have been born to Mr. Shafer and wife seven children, in the following order: John F., Wilhelmina (deceased), William H., Daniel A. (of the latter of whom further mention is made above), Mary E. and Susan A., both deceased, and Eli, of Paulding county. The mother of this family is a consistent member of the Dunkard church, and in politics the father is a republican. JOHN SHALTER, one of the most enterprising farmers of Palmer township, Putnam county, Ohio, was born in Crawford county, October 18, 1848. His father, John Shalter, of German descent, was also a native of the Buckeye state, having been born in Stark county, where he received a good common-school education and was reared to the pursuit of agriculture, but at an early age left the parental roof and entered into the conflict of life that was to make or mar his future fortune, unaided and alone. Having reached the proper age, he took one of the most important steps of his early manhood —that of embarking upon the sea of matrimony, taking as the life-companion of his voyage Miss Elizabeth Albaugh, also a native of Stark county, who became the mother of the following children, in the order here named: Hiram, Levi, Mary A. (deceased), Catherine (deceased wife of Isaac Libensparger), Emma (deceased), Nancy, John, Salome, Elizabeth, Abraham and Delia (the last named also deceased). Immediately after his marriage in Stark county Mr. Shalter moved to Crawford county, of which he was a pioneer, and there entered 16o acres in the primitive forest, which at that time teemed with all kinds of game, native to the latitude, as well as with animals of fiercer characteristics. By energetic labor and perseverving effort he succeeded in subduing the forest growth and in transforming the wild into a well cultivated farm and comfortable home, improved with every appliance that tended to make life happy for himself and family. In politics he was at first a whig, but, after the disintegration of that party, united with the newly formed republican organization. He took part in the erection of Crawford county, but was never an office seeking partisan, preferring to devote his time to the cultivation of his farm and the welfare of his family. He and his wife were both members of the United Brethren church, and were liberal in their financial aid to its support. Mr. Shalter became, however, very prominent as a useful citizen and a protent factor in the development and growth of his adopted county, and died an honored and self-made man, in August, 188o; his widow, who possessed many amiable traits of character and home-like qualities, survived until August 29, 1895, when she, too, was called to a peaceful rest. John Shalter, the subject proper of this biographical memoir, was early inured to the hard labor of clearing up the farm on which he first saw the light of day, and in its cultivation while his thews and sinews were still undeveloped. At the proper season he attended the district school, acquired a very good education for that day, and continued in aiding in the cultivation of the home place until his marriage, April 13, 1882, with Miss Sophia Bordner, who was born November 12, 186o, a daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Cocher) Bordner, both natives of Stark county, where their marriage took place. Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bordner moved to Crawford OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 493 county, where Mr. Bordner entered 160 acres of land in the woods, there being but few settlers in the county at that time; here he made a comfortable home and became an influential and prominent citizen, and died, a respected member of the Reformed Lutheran church, in 1862. His widow is also a devout member of the same denomination, and is as highly respected a lady as any in the community in which she has passed so many years. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Bordner comprised the following children: Daniel, Samuel, Hugh (deceased), Milo, Sarah J. (deceased), Nancy, Andrew, Eliza, Levi, Mary, Sophia and Aaron. Shortly after marriage Mr. Shalter came from Crawford to Putnam county, and settled on his present farm in Palmer township; he has since been prominently identified with the agricultural interests of the township and with its development and growth, in which he has materially aided. From his tract of wild land he has wrought out a home of which any farmer might well be proud, and which comprises, at the present time, 170 acres. He has improved his place with a modern house and substantial barn and all necessary out-buildings, which compare favorably with any in the county—all the result of his own indefatigable industry. He carries on the farming usual to the region in which his place is located, and also raises such stock as is needed for home use—as short-horn cattle and Poland China hogs--and has a surplus, also, for market. To Mr. and Mrs. Shalter have been born the following children: Kittle, Della, Johnny (deceased), Howard, Harmon and Elizabeth, all of whom, with the exception of the deceased son, are receiving good, common-school educations. The parents are members of the United Brethren church in good standing, and their daily deportment indicates that they take good heed of the lessons taught by that denomination of simple but strict discipline. In politics Mr. Shalter is a stalwart republican, but has never been an office seeker, preferring the peaceful pursuit of the agriculturist to the bitter and heart-burning career of the politician. He is, nevertheless, widely and favorably known as one of the most substantial men of the township, and as a gentleman of sound sense and well qualified for any office within the power of the people to offer. He is a man of undoubted integrity and honor, and as such is respected by his fellow-citizens, while his skill as a tiller of the soil is commended by all who have ever seen his well-cultivated farm and substantial improvements. WILLIAM SHANE, for over twenty years a farmer of Union township, Putnam county, Ohio, is a native of Virginia, born in Frederick county September 4, 1824, a son of John and Catherine (Mason) Shane. The father, John Shane, a native of the same county, was born in 1803, a son of William Shane, a native of Germany, a farmer, and a soldier of the war of 1812, whose death occurred nine days after his return from the gallant struggle. William Shane was married to a Miss Light in 1802, thus showing that the Shane family has been for over a century residents of the United States. The children born to William Shane, the elder, were four in number, of whom John, the father of our subject, was the eldest, and was reared a miller and also a carpenter, and possibly a millwright. In 1822 John married Calla Mason, who was born in the Old Dominion in 1803, a daughter of Bingley and Barbara (Free) Mason, the former a native of England and the latter of Holland. To these parents were born the following-named children: Mrs. Barbara Adams; William, our subject; Martha, wife of James Triploth; Mrs. Nancy M. Bowman, deceased; Hannah E., wife of Aaron   494 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY Dunlap; John F. and Anderson Jackson, all residents of Virginia, with the exception of William, our subject, and Mrs. Bowman, deceased. The parents of Calla Mason, the mother of this family, were married at the close of the Revolutionary war, in which the father had been a faithful soldier. The death of John Shane took place in Virginia about 1865, he having been a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church over forty years, and a democrat in politics; his widow, who had nursed many a sick soldier, regardless of gray or blue uniform, at her own home during the Civil war, survived until 1882, and died also in the faith of the. Methodist church. William Shane, the subject proper of this sketch, was reared both a carpenter and farmer. March 7, 1849, he married Mary J. Neibert, who was born near Dayton, Ohio, June 12, 1831, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Koffman) Neibert, the former a native of Washington county, Md., born in 1800, a son of John Neibert, a German, and the latter a native of the Shenandoah valley, Va., and also of German parentage. The children born to our subject and wife were nine in number, and named as follows: Charles J., who died in 1891 ; John F., of Sugar Creek township; William F., of Union township; Phineas William, of Sugar Creek township; Mary Catherine and Edward, at home; Joseph Neibert, of Dayton, Ohio; Elmer E. and Darsy L., both at home. In 1853 our subject located in Montgomery county, Ohio, whence he moved, about twenty years later, in 18 2, to Allen county, here passed one year, and in 1873 came to Putnam county, where he located on a farm adjoining that which he at present owns. Nine years later, in 1882, he took possession of his present residence and splendid farm; but, at the same time, it must be said that Mr. Shane has done a vast amount of clearing and other pioneer work. Tn politics Mr. Shane is a democrat, and has held several township offices, and as a citizen he stands more than ordinarily high in the regard of the community. CHRISTIAN SHANK, JR., one of the oldest residents of Putnam county, and a pioneer farmer of Greensburg township, was born in Washington county, August 3, 1811. His parents were Christian (Sr.) and Sophia (Herst) Shank; the father was born in Lancaster, Pa., in 1779, and was the son of John Shank, a native of Pennsylvania; the great-grandfather was Michael Shank, a native of Germany. John Shank, the grandfather, moved from Pennsylvania to Maryland, and there married Annie Kaufman, to whom seven sons were born —John, Andrew, Henry, Jacob, Christian (Sr.), Abraham and Daniel, and three girls—Elizabeth, Annie (Mrs. Newcomer) and Nancy. He was a member of the German Baptist church, and a whig in politics. His son, Christian, Sr., the father of the subject of our sketch, was reared on a farm, learned the tailor's trade, and was a man of much ingenuity. On July 12, 1807, he married Sophia, the daughter of Fred and Susan (Christ) Herst, who was born in Lancaster, Pa., in 1780, of German ancestry. After his marriage Mr. Shank moved to Mary land, settled on a farm and there spent the remainder of his life, being prominent in the community, and a whig in politics. Here ten children were born to them: Henry, married to Barbara Myers, died in 1885; Jonas, married to Fannie Myers; Christian the subject of this sketch, who was married to Maria Myers; John, married to Eva Shank ; Jacob, married to Hannah Whiting; Fred, married to Susan Eshleman; Daniel, who died' in infancy; Noah, married to Susan Shank; Sophia, the wife of Henry Myers, and Daniel. Late in life his OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 495 wife died and he married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John and Mary (Gillingham) Myers. Christian Shank, Jr., of whom this biographical sketch is written, was given a common-school education in his native state, where his boyhood days were spent on a farm, and he was taught the wagon-maker's trade, and following that calling until his marriage, in 1837, to Maria Myers, who was born in Maryland, in October, 1794. A short time after marriage he started out on foot to seek a home; he walked across the mountains to the beautiful valley of the Ohio and then to Putnam county, carrying his goods for the 500-mile journey on his back. His brother Jacob accompanied him fourteen days. Having reached his destination he purchased a piece of land of 114 acres, which is now a part of the farm on which he lives. He now turned back to get his wife, and walked the entire distance, and, on arriving in Maryland, he built himself a wagon, and placing his young wife in it he again walked to the land he had purchased, which was then all a forest of gigantic trees. He set to work building a house and clearing the land, and soon saw fine fields of grain waving in every gentle breeze instead of the giant forest which had but recently stood there and seemed to defy man. In their new home two children (twins) were born to them, but they died in infancy. On December 12, 1874, the good wife died, a member of the Baptist church; and left him alone to mourn his loss. August 10, 1876, he married Margaret, a daughter of Michael and Mary (Beemer) Yant, who was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, June 20, 1831. Her parents were natives of Maryland and had moved to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and afterwards became pioneers of Putnam county. Mr. Shank has three times suffered the complete loss of his home by fire, but with renewed courage he has built each time a better house, and now, past four-score and four years, he has a comfortable home and enjoys the fruits of his well-spent life. and sees prosperity around him. He and his wife are members of the German Baptist church, and are prominent workers in it. In politics he is a republican and still exercises his right of franchise. He has held several local offices, his life has been one of much usefulness, and in his good old age, when gray hair is a token of respect, he is honored and revered by all, and he can say he has wronged no man. JOHN SHERRICK, general agent of the Walter A. Wood Mower & Reaper company, for northwestern Ohio, is a native of the Buckeye state, born September 28, 1846, in the county of Columbiana. His parents, Kingery and Maria (Sultner) Sher-rick, were born in the province of Alsace, Germany, and came to America after their marriage, locating in Columbiana county, Ohio, where the father, who was a farmer by occupation, afterward died. The mother is still living in that part of the state. Kingery and Maria Sherrick were the parents of eleven children, all of whom grew to maturity, the subject of this sketch being the tenth in order of birth. John Sherrick was reared on the home farm until his thirteenth year, and had but few advantages for acquiring an education, having been early thrown upon his own resources for a livelihood. When a mere lad he began life for himself, as an employee of the Altman Threshing Machine company, Canton, Ohio, where he worked for a short time, and then began learning the trade of harness-making. When only sixteen years of age, he enlisted, in the spring of 1863, in the One Hundred and Forty-third Ohio infantry, for the 100 day-service, and at the expiration of that time returned home and completed the trade which he had 496 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY formerly commenced to learn. In the spring of 1865 he again entered the army, enlisting in company A, One Hundred and Ninety-first Ohio volunteer infantry, in which he served until the close of the war, receiving his discharge at Winchester, Va., in August of the same year. Returning home, Mr. Sherrick began working at the shoemaker's trade, which he followed until 1882, a part of the time running a shop of his own. He located at Columbus Grove in 1875, and in 1882 entered the employ of Ewing & Co., dealers in farm implements, as salesman on commission, and at the end of one year, having in the meantime made a most excellent record, he was employed in the same capacity at a liberal salary. Mr. Sherrick remained with the aforesaid firm for three years, and in 1885 entered the employ of John F. Caver at Ottawa, with whom he remained for about one year. March 9, 1886, he accepted a position with the Walter A. Wood machine company, with which he has since been identified and the confidence of which he enjoys to an unlimited degree. His success with this firm was assured from the very start, and he now occupies a place of trust such as is accorded few agents. He began as traveling salesman, in which capacity he continued until 1888, in the fall of which year he was made general agent for the district of northwestern Ohio, comprising twenty counties, throughout which he has various sub-agencies, all doing a very profitable business. Mr. Sherrick is a shrewd business man and manages the trade with tact and superior judgment. He is a member of the F. & A. M., Ottawa lodge, No. 325, belongs to the K. of P. order, Ottawa lodge, No. 565, and is also a member of the G. A. R. ; politically he is a republican. He was married in Paulding county, Ohio, May 20, 1871, to Miss Lizzie Miller, a native of the county of Fayette—a union blessed with the birth of three children, Nellie, Leo and Lloyd. The daughters are both graduates —Nellie of the schools of Ottawa and Leo of the Paulding schools. The former is stenographer and type-writer in her father's office and Lloyd also assists his father in the business. DAVID SEITZ, a member of a large and prominent family, of which there are now about 500 members living in many states of the Union, was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, December 12, 1819. John Seitz, great-grandfather of subject, was born in Germany, served his country in the army, and when honorably discharged immigrated to America and located in Virginia, where he farmed until his death. His son Lewis, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Baden, Germany, before his father came to America. He received his education in Virginia, in the German language, spent his childhood days on a farm, and in early life joined the Baptist church, of which he became a Predestinarian minister. He married Anna Beery, and two years before Ohio was admitted as a state (1801), he moved to Fairfield county, took up some government land and improved it; here he followed farming and preaching until his death. He had seventeen children, three of whom died in infancy; all the rest lived to rear families, and were named as follows. John, .born 1790; Daniel, 1791; Catherine, 1793; Mrs. Eliza Hite, 1794; Mrs. Mary Spitler, 1895; Abraham, 1796; Jacob, 1797; Noah, 1798; Mrs.. Lydia Bretz, 1800, who were all born in Virginia; after he moved to Fairfield county the following children were born: Mrs. Susanna Staley; 1801; Lewis, 1802, who when grown to manhood entered the ministry; Mrs. Annie Huddle, 1805; Mrs. Rebecca Friesner, 1807, and Peter, 1810, OF PUTNAM COUNTY - 497 who was also a preacher. In politics Lewis Seitz was a democrat. Daniel Seitz, second son of John and father of the subject of this sketch, lived on his father's farm, working faithfully until June 1, 1813, when he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Andrew and Rebecca Hight, and located on a farm near the old home; here they welcomed to life eleven children: Mrs. Rebecca Friesner, deceased; Mrs. Anna Emmens, of Pleasant township; Mrs. Elizabeth Hendricks, deceased; Andrew, who died in infancy; David, the subject of this sketch; Samuel, who lives in Union township; Daniel, who died in childhood; Lewis, John and Isaac, all of whom are now deceased; Catherine, wife of P. Hufford. On May 14, 1831, his good wife took her departure for the long journey, whence no one returns, and he was left alone to care for this large family; but April 15, 1832, he married Catherine Beery, and this marriage was blessed with eight children: Mrs. Saphronia Blosser ; Mrs. Mary Huddle, deceased; Diana, wife of Dr. Morris, of Columbus Grove; Mrs. Sarah Ann Shoemaker, deceased; George, now living in Shelby, Ill. ; Noah, who died while serving his country in the late war; Prof. Enoch, one of the greatest mathematicians of this country, and who died in Kirksville, Mo., in November, 1883, and was buried at Greenville, Ohio, leaving a wife and four boys, the widow now holding the position of superintendent of the Kirksville public schools, which place she fills with credit to herself and satisfaction to the parents of the children who attend; Levi, the youngest child born to the second marriage of Daniel, died in childhood. The father, Daniel, served his country faithfully for one year in the war of 1812. In politics he was a democrat, and was trusted with numerous offices, holding, of these, that of township treasurer two terms, and that of township trustee a number of years. He was also an active and consistent member of the Baptist church, in which he held office until his death, October 14, 1864. His second wife is still living at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. David Seitz, the subject of this sketch, passed his boyhood on a farm in Fairfield county, Ohio, where he received his education in the common schools, and at the age of twenty-two years learned the carpenter's trade. On October 3, 1844,, he was married to Lydia Hufford, who was born June 17, 1823, in Perry county, Ohio, her parents, Daniel and Nancy (Nelly) Hufford, being Dunkards and natives of Pennsylvania, who had early moved to Perry county, and were among its early settlers. Mr. and Mrs. David Seitz had ten children, viz: Elizabeth, wife of T. J. Clevenger; Nancy, wife of Stephen Clevenger, deceased; Daniel W., a civil engineer; Benjamin, now living in Sugar Creek township; Levina, the wife of Richard Evans; Diana, wife of Samuel Heistan, deceased; Lydia, who died an infant; David and Samuel (twins), of whom David died in infancy; also an infant, deceased. After his marriage David remained three years in Fairfield county, Ohio, and on October 7, 1847, removed to Putnam county, where his father had purchased and given him 16o acres of uncleared land. He set resolutely to work and soon had built for himself a house of logs and had cleared a small patch around it, which in latter days he enlarged. He at once returned to Fairfield county, and as it was before the days of steam and electricity and rapid transit, walking being the only means of locomotion for the hardy pioneers, and roads even were not then cut through, he walked the entire distance—one day walking fifty miles and carrying a pack weighing seventeen and one-half pounds. On this farm, which he has cleared out of the woods and redeemed from its wild state, he still lives, hon- 498 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY ored and respected by all. In politics he believes in the democracy, and in 1870 he was elected land appraiser, which office he held for ten years. He has been intrusted with numerous other offices, serving as justice of the peace three years, and township trustee for a number of years. He has been a member of the Baptist church since December, 1875, and has served in the capacity of clerk and deacon. He can gather around him, in the pride of his old age, twenty-one grandchildren and one great-grandchild. In August, 1888, at Bloomfield, Ohio, he attended a reunion of the Seitz family, nearly 500 of its members being present and some coming from California. He has always been known as a progressive, industrious man, and while looking with care to his own affairs he has had time to look after the interest of the neighborhood, as is attested by the numerous offices he has faithfully held. John Seitz, brother of David Seitz and son of Daniel and Elizabeth Seitz, was born April 19, 1827, in Fairfield county, Ohio. He was given a common-school education while living on his father's farm. When grown to manhood'he came to Putnam county and bought the home where his widow now resides. On February 3, 1853, he married Sarah, the daughter of Samuel Clevenger (see his sketch); this lady was born in Putnam county, April 8, 1835, and here received her education. After their marriage the young couple moved to the uncleared farm which the husband had recently purchased, and by united labors they soon had a place cleared and a log cabin built, into which they moved March 14, of the same year. This union was blessed with three children: Susanna, wife of Jacob Best, a farmer and stock buyer of Union township; Albert, a farmer, married and living on the old homestead, the comfort and pride of his widowed mother; Samuel Lee, who died at the age of eight years. John Seitz was a prominent member of the Baptist church, and a democrat in politics, and his neighbors trusted him with the office of township trustee. He was known as a useful citizen and a conscentious man, and none had aught against him. Death called him away March 17, 1885, his good wife, and one daughter and one son being left to mourn his loss. SAMUEL SEITZ, of Union township, Putnam county, Ohio, prominent both as an elder and as a preacher in the Primitive Baptist church, is the son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Hight) Seitz, and was born in Fairfield county, this state, December 14, 1821. During his boyhood days he worked on his father's farm and attended school, and when old enough he learned the carpenter's trade with Joseph Hendricks, who is now his brother-in-law. October 4, 1847, he came to Putnam county, where he had some uncleared land; on this he began to clear a farm, and continued to work at his trade. Here he built himself a house, and on November 14, 1850, he married Mary, the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Gander) Clevenger (see sketch of Samuel Clevenger); this lady was born in Putnam county December 6, 1830, and received a common-school education. At the age of ten years she went to live with her aunt, Mrs. Nancy Clevenger, with whom she lived at the time of her marriage. The young couple, with bright hopes before them, moved to the newly cleared farm, where they have since lived and prospered. One day, a few months after moving into her new home, while at work in front of the cabin, Mrs. Seitz saw a deer coming toward the house; she ran in and hastily closed the door to keep it out. At another time she and her aunt succeeded in killing a fawn which the dogs had crippled. This happy union