Claridon Township (part 6 of 6)

WILLIAM WITTRED, son of William and Mary (Miller) Wittred, was born in Norfolk, England, December 15, 1820. He emigrated to the United States with his four children in 1857, locating in Claridon Township. The mother of his children is Martha, married in the same country April 4, 1840, a daughter of John and Mary E. (Thew) Bothamly. Three of their children survive - Mary, born April 25, 1841, wife of Henry Key, residents of Richland Township; William P., born April 28, 1845, of Claridon Township, and Martha, born June 14, 1847, wife of James S. Irey, of the same township. Samuel M. entered the civil war October 1, 1862, in Company D, Sixty-fourth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and six days later his regiment joined Gen. Rosecrans, at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and while building fortifications was attacked by typhoid fever, and died April 26, 1863, aged twenty years one month and one day. Mrs. Wittred was born February 6, 1817, and is a member of the United Brethren Church. Mr. W. holds a membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, is a worthy citizen, and affiliates with the Republican party.

WILLIAM P. WITTRED isa native of Norfolk, England, born April 28, 1845. He acquired the rudiments of an education in old England, but completed his common school learning in Claridon Township, when seventeen. He lived with his uncle, Charles Smith, of Marion, two years, and with another uncle, William Thew, two more years. He worked for several years for Jacob Howser, James Lawrence and James L. Douce. October 1, 1876, he married Ida E. Clagett, daughter of James W. and Elizabeth G. (Schooley) Clagett. Their union has been crowned with two children, one living - William, born May 17, 1880. An infant son died May 3, 1878. Mr. Wittred is an industrious and respectable young man, a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Sunday school, as well as his wife. He is a Class-leader.

MRS. LYDIA (KAUFFMAN) ZIEGLER, widow of Gottleib F. Ziegler, was born March 30, 1830, and was wedded to the above May 18, 1858, who was born in Germany January 7, 1820, and emigrated to the United States in 1852, sailing from Havre to the port of New York City. He stopped for a brief period in New Jersey, and came to Marion County about 1856. Before leaving Germany, he secured a good education, and was a German soldier two years. He purchased his farm in Claridon Township when it was covered with forest, but by great labor he cleared and improved the major part of it, willing to his wife and children a comfortable home. The children are Mary A., born March 20, 1859; John W., June 18, 1866; Emma J., October 10, 1868; Jacob F., January 4, 1861, dying October 27, 1880, and Daniel F., February 13, 1863, dying January 11, 1882. Mrs. Ziegler is an estimable woman, and deserves approbation for the manner in which she has reared and educated her orphan children. They are all members of the Lutheran Church, as well as herself.