Sandusky Township (part 17 of 57)

When the Henry County Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company was under organization the founders of this enterprise had little trouble in agreeing upon the man tp- place in the chief executive position. Mr. Blank's broad experience, his sound judgment, his conservative views, his absolute integrity in business affairs and strict probity in private life, and the firm confidence in which he was held by the people of Henry County, made him the logical candidate for the position of president, and in that post he was placed. The officials had no reason to regret of their choice, nor had the people. Under his able administration of afl:'airs, the company followed a policy of absolute fairness, of conservatism blended with progressiveness, and - of principles founded upon the fundamentals _ of honesty, and the affairs of the organization progressed and prospered to such an extent that it became one of the soundest organizations of its kind in the state. If he had done nothing else, the farmers of Henry County would have reason to remember Mr. Blank with gratitude for the work he did in building up an institution which has been of such great benefit to them. In January-, 1911, feeling that he had done his duty in connection with this compan,v, he refused re-election, and was succeeded in office by H. S. Ilashbarger, the present incumbent.

As a citizen Mv. Blank did his full share - and more - in the promotion of public enterprises. He was never too busy to give of his time, or his influence, his means or his abilities, to the advancement of anything that promised to be for the general welfare. For years he had been a strong prohibitionist, and had fought valiantly in the cause of temperance. As a fratemalist, he belonged to Napoleon Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and Haly Chapter, Ro.val Arch Masons. No one ever doubted his pure motives ; he was at all times fair and above board, and in his death the community of Napoleon lost a citizen upon whose honor it could alisolutely rely. About a month before his death, Mr. Blank, accompanied by his wife, went to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to visit a son. There Mr. Blank contracted a severe cold wliich turned into pneumonia, and after an illness of but ten days' duration he passed away April 2, 1911, aged sixty-nine years, eleven months, twelve days. The remains were brought back to Napoleon for interment, and the funeral services were held under the auspices of the Masonic lodge. Rev. W. A. Mast officiating.

On August 30, 1868, Mr. Blank was united in marriage with Miss Emma Clifford, who was born at Wellington, Lorain County, Ohio, August 20, 1848, and was brought as a child to Sandusky County, Ohio, where she was reared and educated. Mrs. Blank is a greatgranddaughter of John Clifford, who was born at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1777, the son of a soldier of the Revolutionary war. He was one of the men who entered the wildei'- ness of Lorain County. Ohio, in 1818, and founded the Village of Wellington. There he became a prosperous farmer, clearing up a good property on Wellington Creek, where he passed away September 17. 1869, at the age of ninety -two years. While John Clitford was a man of courage and decision, he was mild mannered, quiet, sj'mpathetic and of loving and lovable character, and these characteristics have been inherited in large degree by his descendants. He was a member of the Methodist K]iisropal Cliurch, to which the family ha\i' iiciici'iill.y belonged.

Among the children of John Clifford was Daniel Clifford, the grandfather of Mrs. Blank. He was born in Massachusetts, in 1799, and in 1818 came to Lorain County, Ohio, with his father, there growing up in the wilds and experiencing the vicissitudes and hardships of life in an unsettled community. He married a pioneer girl from Massachusetts. Sarah P. Hall, their wedding being after the manner of the times, a log cabin affair to which the guests traveled by horse and oxteam, Mr. Clifford using the latter means of conveyance when he went after his bride. Their honeymoon journey consisted of a fourday trip by ox-team to their lonely hut in the woods where they began life. Their entire lives were passed on their farm, where they built up a comfortable homestead, reared a family that was a credit to tliem, and gained the respect and estfcin of the entire community by their sti'jii^litt'oiwai-d and honorable lives. Mr. Cliflurd was about eighty years of age at the time of his death, while Mrs. Clifford was several years younger when she passed away two years later.

Henry Sheldon Clifford, son of Daniel and Sarah P. Clifford, and father of Mrs. Blank, was born at Wellington, Lorain County. March 3. 1827. He grew up on the old home farm, and worked thereon until he was sixteen years of age. at which time he started to learn the trade of blacksmith, a vocation wliieh he followed until within a few vcaj's- of his death, August 5, 1899. In 1868 he had changed his residence to Lemoyne. Wood County, and there he resided for a period of thirty-one years. Mr. Clifford was married in Lorain County to Miss Sophronia Merrill, who was born at Rochester, Lorain County, in 1824, and who died in that county February 23, 1851, leaving two daughters: Mrs. Emma Blank, and Josephine, the wife of Benjamin Wice, living at Pemberville, Wood County, with a family of sons and daughters. For his second wife, Henry S. Clifford married Sarah Colburn, who was born January 28, 1823, and died without issue, June 23, 1908. She was a faithful wife and Christian woman, and a real mother to her step-daughters. Henry S. Clifford is remembered as a man of sturdy honesty and strength of character, who won friends by his many fine qualities, and confidence and esteem by his integrity and upright dealing.

To Mr. and Mrs. Blank there were born eight children, as follows : Emma J., born in 1870, who died in 1871 ; Amos Byron, a successful oil operator of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, who married Bertha Vockman, of Napoleon, and has one son, Freeman B. ; Myrtle M., who is the wife of Sheldon Osborn, of Indianapolis, Indiana, and has four children, Florence who is married and has three children. May who is married, Emma who is married, and Franklin who resides with his parents; John Palmer, who is now carrying on operations on the home farm as manager for his mother's interests, married Nettie Long, and has three children, Frances, Catherine and Helen; Iva B., the wife of Charles Hagerty, a successful agriculturist of Liberty Township, Henry County, has three children, Charles A., Clara and Clarence, the last two twins; William H., a well-known horseman of Napoleon, a breeder of fine draft horses and the owner of three registered thoroughbreds, is unmarried and makes his home with his mother ; Bertha, who is the wife of William Hincher, a plumber of Napoleon, and has one son, Rockwell B.; and Effa J., who is the wife of Samuel AUerton, a well-known musician of Napoleon.

Walter H. L.\dd. There is hardly a better known man in the Bass Islands than Walter H. Ladd. He has spent forty years in and around Put-in-Bay.

He first became known in that community in 1872, when he was about twenty-two years of age. His early life had been spent in Sandusky, where he was born in 1855. Coming to Put-in-Bay he put in the summer of 1872 as an employe in the Put-in-Bay Hotel boathouse. In the fall of the same year he returned to Sandusky and was employed there at different lines until 1878. In the summer of 1878 he was again at Put-in-Bay and has never left that community since then. He resumed his services with the Put-in-Bay House and until that old structure was burned on August 3, 1878. The following year he started in business for himself with a boathouse, his first location being in front of the Grove. Later this was condemned by the city and he then rented space on the Fox dock. That was the location at which his many friends and patrons found him until the fire which destroyed the dock in 1914. Since then he has continued his boating service at a temporary location.

After coming to Put-in-Bay Mr. Ladd married Elizabeth MeElroy of Elyria. Most of their children are already established in business or in homes of their own. Walter S. is now postmaster of Put-in-Bay and also has a shoe and notion store ; he married a daughter of Rudolph Siefield of North Bass Island. Mayme, the next in age,' lives at home. Georgia who died in 1913 was the wife of Hal Frisbee of Cleveland. Ed R. is in business at Detroit. Harry is foreman for Charles Stenson of Port Clinton. Nathan H. is still at home with his father. Mr. Ladd's mother is still living, now eighty-five years of age, and makes her home with her son in Put-in-Bay. 'Sir. Ladd's father was one of the early settlers and a well known lake captain for many years around Sandusky, locating at what was then known as Blooming\'ille. He died in Hammot Hospital, Erie, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Ladd has long been one of the stanch factors in the republican party at Put-in-Bay. In recent years he has not been so prominent a party man as formerly. For a long time he has held the office of presiding judge of elections, has served on the council, and every one knows him for a sterling and upright citizen. During the winter season he spends his time at the United States fish hatcheries assisting in the propagation of white fish.

His friends tell a story in which he is highly commended for the heroic part he played in the fire which destroyed Fox dock a year or so ago. At tlie time of the fire a barge loaded with oil and gasoline in barrels was alongside the dock, and the fire communicated to this cargo. Mr. Ladd recognizing tliat the only wa}^ to save the shore end of the dock and the Commodore Hotel was to get the dangerons barge out of the way, rode out in a boat and fastened a line to the burning scow, and while the barrels were exploding and throwing burning oil and gasoline in every direction he towed the barge away out of the radius of danger and thus prevented what might have been a very disastrous conflagration, though only at the expense of some severe burns around the head and face from the liquid fire.

C. W. ScHMEHL. The resolute, enterprising man is never discouraged by temporary setbacks and failures. There is a good deal of truth in the old assertion that no one ever succeeds unless he fails. When C. W. Schmehl. now a leading lumber mill owner at St. Marys, left the old farm on which he was reared in Auglaize County, he made his first serious venture as a general merchant. He kept his store through ups and downs for five years, and then came the failure. This disaster put him back to the point of beginning, with only his experience and some liabilities to show for his five yeai's of earnest effort as a merchant. He began working at common labor, then found office employment, and finally entered the service of the St. jVIarys Wbeel and Spoke Company. He was that concern for sixteen years. In that time he did every kind of service in the office and plant. He bought timber, sold the goods on the road, and made himself .so generally useful to the company that he was made assistant treasurer, an office he resigned when he left the firm in 1905. In that year he made his start as a sawmill man. He had only $200 to apply on the purchase price of his sawmill, but he has long since paid out on all his obligations and has one of the principal mills in Auglaize County, cutting all kinds of timber and with a large market for the entire cut.

Mr. Schmehl was born at Erie, Pennsylvania, March 11. 1859, but has lived in Auglaize County practically all his life. His parents are John and Louisa Schmehl, both natives of Mecklenburg, Germany, where his father was born in 1832 in ilecklenburg and his mother in Westphalia in 1829. Both the grandfathers were killed while serving in the German army. John Schmehl died in 1896 and his widow, now eighty-seven years of age, is still living in Auglaize County. They were married in Erie, PenusA'lvania, about 1855. John Schmehl came to the United States at the age of eigliteen, lived in Rochester, New York, for a time, and then went to Erie, Pennsylvania, and in 1860 brought his family to Ohio and settled in Auglaize County. He lived to clear up a farm and make a good home for himself and family. He and his wife were members of the German Lutheran Church and in polities he was a republican. There were fourteen children altogether, and five are still living: C. W. Schmehl; Caroline, widow of Charles Koch : Magdalene, widow of William Sterth and living in Colum-

C. W. Schmehl grew up on the old farm in Auglaize County and received his educatiou in the district schools. In 1879 he married Mary Born, who was born in Lancaster, Ohio. Seven children were born into their home : Amelia, now deceased ; Bertha, wife of Charles Rose, a manufacturer of New York City; Clara and Louisa, both deceased; Carl W., Hazel and Enna, all living at home. The son, Carl, has attained the thirty-second degree in the Masonic order, though still quite a young man. Mr. and Mrs. Schmehl belong to the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Schmehl has passed all the chairs in the Odd Fellows lodge and in Masonry is senior warden in the Blue Lodge and belongs to the Royal Arch Consistory, the council and the various Scottish Rite bodies. In matters of politics he is a republican, but has never sought office and gives all his time to the operation of his lumber mills.

Hermann Ruh. One of the successful grape growers at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, who has grown up in the business and understands both tlie proper cultivation of the vines and the manufacture of wine, is Hermann Ruh, whose father was one of the pioneer settlers here. Hermann Ruh was born on the east point of South Bass Island, Lake Erie, July 18, 1869. and is a son of Charles and Christian (Brandt-Schmidt) Ruh.

Charles Ruh was born in Baden, Germany, December 31, 1834, and in 1853 came to the United States and located at Sandu.sky, Ohio. There he was married April 17, 1854, to Christain Brandt-Schmidt, who was born in Baden, Germany, August 10, 1828. In the year of their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Ruh came to Put-in-Bay, where Mr. Ruh entered the employ of Mr. Rivera, who was the o\vner of this island. In his own country, Charles Ruh had learned the tanner's trade but after coming to America he was otherwise engaged. When he reached Put-in-Bay there were three other residents besides Mr. Rivera: Philip Vroman, Archibald Jones and an old Indian. The latter soon got into difficulties with the white settlers through his thieving propensities and was forced to go elsewhere.

In the meanwhile Mr. Rivera had discovered how admirably the island soil was suited to the culture of fruit, partieiilarly grapes and he had no difficulty in selling it in parcels appropriate for the setting out of vines and establishing a vineyard. About 1857 or 1858 Mr. Ruh had secured through his industry enough capital to purchase a place on east point. This exhausted his means and he had no money left with which to buy gi-ape cuttings or roots that were being distributed by Louis Harms, who is credited with being the introducer here of the Delaware variety of grape. Mr. Ruh was determined to secure some of these roots and succeeded in getting four, paying for the same by taking his oxteam and ploughing two days for Jlr. Harms. With these he started his vineyard.. At that time grapes were mainly grown for the manufacture of wine and from his first grape harvest Mr. Ruh pressed out 500 gallons of juice. Perhaps he had not yet learned every fact concerning the fermenting of grape .iuice for the cask burst in which he had put the liquid and was a total loss. In the course of time lie acquired a wine cellar where he could equalize the temperature and he became a large wine producer and continued in the business as long as he lived. His death occurred in 1895 and that of his wife in 1901. They had two children : Hermann and Marie, the latter of whom resides at home.

Hermann Ruh attended school at Put-in- Bay. He assisted his father in the vineyard and in wine-making and also in the latter 's meat market, for Mr. Ruh, in common with most of the other islanders, carried on several business lines, he being a supplier of meat to Put-in-Hay. Hermann Ruh is now successfully operating the home place of twenty-four acres, sixteen of which are devoted to vineyard purposes and the rest to general farming and orchards. Mr. Ruli cniitiiiued jn-essing his own grapes until liH:; t)ut since then, through excellent trade he has been selling his crop as it is picked. In many sections the grape is yet a luxury but the time is coming when people will surely regard it as a necessity, a fragrant wholesome food and medicine.

Mr. Ruh was married to Miss Wilhelmina Ritter, who was born in Baden, Germany, and is a daughter of Ernest Ritter, who came to Sandusky, Ohio, in 1882, where he was a carpenter and contractor.

Jlr. Ruh, like his late father, is a man well posted concerning public matters. The former is a republican and has never been willing to serve in public office, but the latter was an independent democrat and on more than one occasion was elected to local office, serving honorably and efficiently as trustee and as a member of the board of education. Mr. Ruh is one of the substantial men of the island and one of the most highly respected.

Charles G. Riedling, a native of Put-in- Bay, has been actively identified with the public affairs and the business life of that island for the greater part of his life. His father, the late Frederick Riedling, came to the island from Toledo in 1867. Frederick Riedling was a high class German, scholarly, broadly experienced, and for years exercised more than average influence in every community where he lived. He was born in Germany. He was a student in that country and like many of the university men participated in the revolutionary uprising of 1848. As a result he and countless hosts of Germans found it necessary to expatriate themselves and find a haven of refuge in the United States. Frederick Riedling settled in Ohio. Being one of the few men in the United States at that time who could interpret the complexities of the Chinese alphabet, he was offered and accepted a place in the Government postoffice and was in the dead letter office at Washington during Lincoln's administration. After the war he went to Sandusky, then to Toledo, and in 1867 to Put-iu-Bay. While living in Toledo he was connected with the Humboldt Nurseries. At Pnt-in-Bay he bought some land on the West Side and began farming and grape growing, an occupation which he followed steadily until his death in 1904 at the age of seventy-one. As an American citizen he was a steadfast republican and for many years was a figure in local politics at Put-in-Bay. He served as a member and president of the board of education and gave a capable performance in every public or private capacity. His children were : William, who died at Put-in-Bay in 1892; Lizzie, wife of George lliller of Pnt-in-Bav : Emma, wife of W. F. Mack of Toledo; Rose, wife of E. L. Cook of Monroe, Michigan; Charles G. : and Jennie, of Put-in-Bay.

After leaving home Charles G. Riedling started out as a fruit grower. Later he was entrusted with the management of the Riveria Estate while it was being wound up, and that task completed he removed to Port Clinton and for two years was superintendent of the Port Clinton Canning Company, in which he held some stock. For several years Mr. Riedling was in the service of a Sandusky contracting firm, and in that time had charge of several contracts at Put-in-Bay. It was this experience which led him to start out for himself as a contractor, and since 1913 he has been in business alone as a general contractor. He does all kinds of cement work and also general carpentry and building.

A republican, as was his father, he continuously held office in some capacitj' or other at Put-in-Bay for twenty years. He has been a member of the school board, was supervisor five or six years and is now township assessor, a position which his fellow citizens have returned him to again and again during the past fifteen years. He also served in the town council and was chairman of the Finance Committee and treasurer of the Sinking Fund Trustees. Mr. Riedling is a prominent Mason, being affiliated with the Lodge, Chapter and Knight Templar Cominandery and with the Scottish Rite bodies, including the thirtysecond degree consistory at Toledo. He was raised to the consistory degrees with the Twentieth Century Club at Cleveland, but when the new temple was erected at Toledo he and others of this section became charter members of that organization.

John H. Koenig, since starting his career a comparatively poor boy thirty years ago, has prospered in several different fields of undertaking, especially as a lawyer and as a real estate man. He is now identified with St. Marys, where he has his office as a dealer in real estate and from which point he directs his various interests.

Nearly all his life he has lived in Auglaize County and was born near St. Marys, May 29, 1868, a son of Jacob and Barbara (Hoppel) Koenig. His father, who was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, June 6, 1844, came to America when nine years of age with his father, Charles Koenig. The latter died in Auglaize County. Jacob Koenig grew up on a farm, and though given only the advantages of common schools made a splendid success as a farmer. For a few years he was in the butcher business at Celina. Though past seventy years of age he is still living on his old homestead in Auglaize County and has a fine and well improved farm of 115 acres. He is a member of St. Paul's German Reformed Church, a democrat, and has been elected to various township offices. His wife, Barbara Hoppel, was born near Dayton, Ohio, February 23, 1845. They were married at St. Marys, and have shared a common destiny in life for nearly half a century. Their four children were : John H. ; Rose R., wife of Guy Heap, a farmer and oil man at St. Marys; Laura, wife of Willis Armstrong, a farmer; and Jacob F., who is probate judge of Auglaize County.

John H. Koenig spent his early life on a farm, completed his early education in St. Marys High School, and largely by his own efforts gained a liberal higher training. He taught in the township schools for several terms. For a time he was a student in the Ohio Wesleyan University, and then entered the law school of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he graduated LL. B. in 1893. For a number of years he was in active practice at St. Marys and had a profitable and distinctive clientage. He then became interested in the project of constructing a traction line between Decatur and Fort Wayne, Indiana, known as the Fort Wayne & Springfield Railway Company. He was largely responsible for the successful carrying out of this undertaking, and gave it nearly all his time between 1903 and 1915. In the meantime he began dealing in real estate, aiid has developed a large amount of property in and around St. IMarys, both town and farm property.

Mr. Koenig has taken quite an active part in democratic politics, and liis ehureli membership is with tlie German Reformed (.'hurch. On June 24, 1903, he married Clara Boesel, who was born in New Bremen, Ohio, daughter of Charles Boesel, a prominent resident of New Bremen and at one time state senator. Four children have been born to their union, and the three living are : Anita, John Henry, Jr., and Charles Jacob.

WiLLi.\M ScHNOOR. Hard work and many difficulties have apparently been no obstacle in the career of William Sehnoor, who has steadily marched forward to success and is now one of the leading merchants of Put-in- Bay, being the principal stockholder in the largest merchandise establishment there.

He was born at Oak Harbor in Ottawa County, Ohio, in 1875, a son of Peter ]\I. and Caroline (Buttenhagen) Sehnoor. His father came from Germany at the age of fourteen with his mother, and spent his early life in Oak Harbor, where he finished his education. He married there, his wife being a daughter of Charles Buttenhagen, who also came from Germany. Charles Buttenhagen was one of the earlv settlers on ^Middle Bass Island, where

Mrs. Peter Sehnoor was born. Charles Buttenhagen on coming to America lived for a short time in New York, spent ten years in Sandusky, and then settled on Middle Bass Island where he died. Peter Sehnoor was an active farmer until 1907, when he retired and is now living at Oak Harbor. He and his wife have the following children: Theresa, who married J. A. Fought and lives in Oak Harbor; Frank, who died at the age of thirtysix ; jMatilda, a resident of Toledo ; William ; Edward, of Chicago; Henry, of Oak Harbor; Albert, of Cleveland; Paul, of Toledo; Carl, of Toledo ; Milton and ilarie, both at home.

Since he was twelve years of age William Sehnoor has been depending upon his own resources and energy to bring him success. He received only a meager education before leaving home. For three years he was employed by an uncle at wages of $3 a week. That did not seem enough to him, and after the conclusion of a harvest season he ran away and found work at picking grapes at $20 a month on Middle Bass Island. He was On the island for six years, doing farm work in the summer seasons and attending school to improve his education in the winter. At the age of twenty he began working on the wharf of Mr. Fox. Until he was twenty-one years of age ]Mr. Sehnoor sent most of his earnings home to his father.

After leaving the wharf employment he was clerk for John Holloway in the latter 's store at Put-in-Bay, receiving as his remuneration $12.50 for the first month. That was the start of his successful career as a merchant. After five years he liad reached a point in experience and in tlie careful accumulation of capital which enabled him to buy a fifth interest in the store, and the title of the firm then became Holloway & Company. Later he bought another fifth interest. Next, in partnership with S. M. Johannsen he bought out Mr. Holloway and each of the new partners took a half interest. Upon the retirement of the senior Mr. Johannsen in September, 1915, ^Ir. Sehnoor acquired a three-fifth interest in the business, the other two shares being held by Carl Johannsen, a son of S. JI. Johannsen, and Frank Fox, who is a native of the island. The firm is now known as Sehnoor, Johannsen and Fox. It is the largest general merchandise stock kept on the island, and the volume of business annually aggregates more than $50,000.- are the parents of one son, Lynn, who was born in 1907. Mr. Schnoor is an active republican and town treasurer of Put-in-Bay, is afiSliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Put-in-Bay and with the Lodge of Elks at Sandusky, and is a member of the Episcopal Church.

Parker B. Robinson, M. D. Since Doctor Robinson located at Put-in-Bay thirteen years ago, his abilities and his constant devotion to his profession have won him the place of being the leading physician and surgeon of the island.

A native of Ohio, he was born in Fulton County west of Wauseon August 19, 1874. His father, T. R. Robinson, who is now living, retired at Wauseon, was an early settler in Fulton County and for many years followed farming.

It was on his father's farm that Doctor Robinson spent his early years. He attended the common schools and the Wauseon High School, and having no immediate means with which to pay his expenses for medical training, he taught school four years. He also completed the scientific course in the Ohio Northern University at Ada, and in the spring of 1904 graduated M. D. from the medical department of Northwestern University at Evauston, Illinois. He is a well trained and broad minded physician, and has shown unusual resourcefulness in meeting all the exigencies and problems which come up in a physician's practice.

The summer following his graduation he spent at home partly for rest and recuperation and partly to look after his mother who was then in poor health. On September 8, 1904, Doctor Robinson located in Put-in-Bay, and has since carried on a general practice as physician and surgeon. He lives on the island the year around, and besides his steady patronage among the permanent residents he has a large practice during the summer season among the visitors to the island. Doctor Robinson is a member of the Ottawa County ]\Iedical Staff, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

He has been a vigorous and effective worker in behalf of local improvement. He is a stockholder and director in the Put-in-Bay Improvement Company, is serving on the local school board and town council, and has been a member of the council continuously since 1905 with the exception of one term spent in the mayor's chair. Dr. Robinson is a republican, a Mason, an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Put-in-Bay Board of Trade.

Alonzo Conant during his active lifetime was one of the men who by their enterprise, foresight and business activities secured and brought about a definite business and civic distinction for the City of Van Wert.

AVhen he came to Van Wert in 1852 he found only a village, and a large part of the land now occupied by the city was then covered with woods. All the surrounding country was largely undeveloped and a scant population had found homes in this now populous and wealthy county. There were no railroads. By its position on the canal Delphos then had a dominating importance as a trade and transportation center. It was with a view toward the future and with strenuous endeavor for the present that Alonzo Conant and his ijublie spirited associates laid the foundation upon which the solid superstructure of the City of Van Wert now stands. For a number of years he was an active merchant, being engaged in the grocery business with Simon Swinford. In 1868 the Eagle Stave Company was organized, and he was elected as general mauager, a position he filled three years. For many years Mr. Conant was one of the leading bankers in We.stern Ohio. In 1871 he became a director in the First National Bank at Van Wert and in 1878 was elected president, an ofBce he continued to fill until his death on August 3, 1896.

Mr. Conant represented the sturdy stock of New England which in the early years of the seventeenth century introduced civilization to the rugged shores of New England, and thus by ancestry he was well fitted for the work which he found awaiting him in Western Ohio. He was born on a farm in Turner, Androscoggin County, Maine, March 17, 1817, and lived to be nearly eighty years of age.

He was a lineal descendant of Roger Conant, who was born in England and was baptized at All Saints Chui-ch, the parish of East Budleigh, Devonshire, England, April 9, 1592, the youngest child of Richard and Agnes ( Clarke ) Conant. His early years were spent in England, and in November, 1618, he was married in London. In 1623

Roger Coiiant came to America. His firsrt location was at Plymouth. The original Plymouth colonists it will be remembered were Separatists in religious doctrine and practice, while Roger Conant represented that greater body of Non-Conformists who a few years later comprised the bulk of the population of the Massachusetts Bay colony. It was on account of diit'erences in religious belief that Roger Conant remained only a short time in Plymouth. In the winter "of 1624-25 Rev. John "White of Dorchester chose him to govern a if airs on Cape Ann. The company of which he was the head made the first settlement in the ^Massachusetts Bay colony, and thus Roger Conant, though most historians have not so recognized him, was entitled to the honor of being the first governor of Massachusetts. He performed a notable service in calling the attention of prominent persons in England to the advantages of Massachiisetts for purposes of colonization. Those largely responsible for the direction of emigration to America from England had hitherto been inclined to depreciate the Massachusetts Bay situation, and it is said that but for Roger Conant the colony might have been abandoned on the bay. Hi.s home was at Old Salem, and he built the first frame house erected in that historic city. In 1628 he was succeeded as governor by John Endicott. Many years ago a statue of Roger Conant was erected on "\Yashington Square in Salem.

But a better portrait of him and one more familiar to Americans in general was drawn by Hawthorne in "The Snow Image and Other Twice Told Tales." In that clas.sic Hawthorne writes as follows: "Roger Conant, the first settler in Naumkeag, has bnilt his dwelling, months ago, on the boi-der of the forest path ; and at this moment he comes eastward through the vista of woods, with his gun over his shoulder, bringing home the choice portions of a deer. His stalwart figure, clad in a leather jerkin and breeches of the same, strides sturdily onward, w'ith such an air of physical force and energy' that we might almost expect the very trees to stand aside and give him room to pass. And so, indeed, they must : for, humble as is his name in history, Roger Conant is still of that class of men who do not merely find, but make their place in the sy.stem of human affairs ; a man of thoughtful strength, he has planted the germ of a city. There stands his habitation, showing in its rough architecture some feature of the Indian wigwam, and some of the log cabin, and somewhat, too, of the straw thatched cottage in old England, where this good yeoman had his birth and breeding. The dwelling is surrounded by a cleared s-pace of a few acres where Indian corn grows thrivingly among the stumps of the trees; while the dark forest hems it in and seems to gaze silently and solenmly, as if wondering at the breadth of sunshine which the white man spreads about him. An Indian, half hidden in the dusky shade, is gazing and wondering too. Within the door of the cottage you discern the wife, with her riiddy English cheek. She is singing, doubtless, a psalm tune, at her household work; or perhaps she sighs at the remembrance of the cheerful gossip, all the merry social life, of her native village beyond the vast and melancholy sea. Yet the next moment she laughs with sympathetic glee, at the sports of her little tribe of children : and soon turns round, with the home look in her face, as her husl)and's foot is heard approaching the rough-hewn threshold."

Of the Conant family in its various generations from this pioneer ancestor into recent years a complete account is given in a family genealogy that has been compiled and pxiblished by Frederick Odell Conant of Portland, Maine.

The grandfather of the Van Wert pioneer was Benjamin Conant, who was born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, August 29, 1756. In April. 1775, as a youth of nineteen he was one of Capt. Nathan Mitchell's Company which marched to Cambridge at the Lexington alarm. About 1795 Benjamin Conant removed to that part of Massachusetts now included in the Town of Turner, Androscoggin County, Maine. He was one of the pioneers there, and spent there the rest of his years. His son Benjamin, father of Alonzo, was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 24, 1794, and was only a few months old when the family removed to Turner, Maine. He grew up on a farm and lived quietly and industriously in that section all his days. In 1816 he married Althea Staples, who was born in Massachusetts, July 8, 1793. They became the parents of nine children. Benjamin Conant and wife were members of the Universalist Church and reared their family in the same faith.

It was from the environment of a typical New England town that Alonzo Conant came in 1839 to Ohio. He had been reared on a farm, had been educated in districts schools, and was twenty-two years of age when, with several companions, he started westward. Northwest Ohio was then without railroads or canals, and the first experience of Alonzo was employment in a stone quarry near Columbus. Six mouth.s later he began teaching in the same neighborhood, followed that occupation one term, and then became clerk in a general store. From Columbus he removed to Sunbury in Delaware County, and was in the grocery business with David Hayden until he sold out and removed to Van Wert in 1852.

In Delaware County, November 22, 1849, three years before coming to Van Wert, he married Esther Clark. She was born at Zanesville, Ohio, September 13, 1825. Her father. Satchel Clark, was born at Sanbornton. New Hampshire, in 1794. came to Ohio in 1823, and from Zanesville removed to Orange in Delaware County, where he was among the pioneers in improving the land and where he lived until his death. On September 16, 1816, Satchel Clark married Eliza Goodhue, who was born in 1795, and who survived her husband but a short time.

Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo Conant had four daughters: Mary A., lone E., Myrtle A. and Lida E., two of which are now deceased. The fine old home which for many years has been a landmark in Van Wert is now owned and occupied by the two surviving daughters, Myrtle and Lida.

The late Mr. Conant was a republican in politics from the time of the organization of that party until his death. He was not a politician, but a man whose integrity and ability were so respected that he was offered various offices of trust both in the city and county. He was a Universalist in religious belief and a member of Van Wert Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. A man of great practical energy, always able to pull more than his own weight in the world, he was generous, charitable, unostentatiously doing much for those in misfortune, and personally is recalled as a man mild in manner and not only averse to contention himself but becoming frequently a peacemaker an^ong others.

LiTc.\s Meyer, who was born at Put-in-Bay, is not only one of the native sons of the island, but for years has had a prominent place in its business and civic activities, and a great many people have come to look upon him as a landmark and a mainstay of that community. He is proprietor of the Park Hotel and in that

He was born on East Point, Put-in-Bay, April 23, 1869, a son of Lucas Meyer, Sr. His father came from Baden-Baden, Germany, located near Milan, Ohio, but in a little while moved to Kelleys Island and was employed in the quarries. When the question of grape culture on South Bass Island was first being agitated, he and several others came to the island to put the plan into practical execution. A necessary preliminary was the clearing up of the land, which was covered for the most part by a dense growth of timber. Lucas Mej'er, Sr., thus became one of the pioneer grape growers on the Bass Island, and he continued as a vineyardist on East Point until his death at the age of eighty-one. He was survived by three children : John, who remained on the home place and is now deceased ; Mary, wife of John Jacobs of Wood County; and Lucas.

As a boy Lucas Meyer was attracted to the excitement and incidents of town life rather than the quiet routine of the home vineyard. As soon as old enough he secured employment in Put-in-Bay. He worked as a pin boy in the bowling alleys and at such other jobs as were suited to his age and strength. From that humble employment he graduated into a .substantial position in the commercial affairs of the village, and for a number of years was employed by some of the well known business men and concerns of the town. In 1907 Mr. Meyer bought the Round House and the Park Hotel property, and has since conducted that as one of the leading hostelries of the island. It is without question one of the best hotels in Put-in-Bay, and he operates it during the winter as well as in the summer. He has sleeping accommodations for seventy-five guests, and excellent dining room facilities. Many people who are well qualified to judge say that the cuisine of the Park Hotel is unexcelled anywhere on the island.

Mr. Meyer also owns and operates the old homestead at East Point. He has taken a prominent part in local affairs and is one of the leading democrats in that section of Ottawa County. He was a member of the County Central Committee ten years, on the city council of Put-in-Bay ten years, spent five or six years looking after the interests of the schools as a member of the school board, and for one term enjoyed the dignity and responsibility of vice mayor. He is a member of the Elks Lodge at Sandusky, lielongs to

In 1895 Mr. Meyer married Mi&s Martha Hinger, who was born and reared on this island. They have two children: Carlton, who is now a student in the Ohio State University, and Myron, still at home and attending high school.

Frank Rittman is the veteran merchant and business man of Put-in-Bay, having been identified with commercial affairs in that little city for a longer time than any other man now actively connected with that community. His success and his standing have been in proportion to the long years he has endeavored to furnish a reliable and adequate service to the people of the village and island. It was forty years ago when he came to Put-in-Bay as manager of a local meat market, and for over thirty years he has been proprietor of that business. He also owns and operates the Perry Hotel, one of the popular smaller hotels of the island. Mr. Rittman cares for a large part of the winter hotel business in Put-in- Bay.

He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 22, 1854, a son of Frank Rittman, Sr. When he was a child the family removed to Sandusky, and in that city he was reared and educated and served his apprenticeship at the butcher's trade with Dempsey & Spade. By the time he had reached his majority he was not only a skillful butcher but a reliable business man, and the firm then sent him to Put-in-Bay to operate their market. He arrived at Put-in- Bay April 12, 1876, and has been in business thei-e ever since. Up to 1885 he conducted the market of his old employers in Sandusky, and tlien bought out the business and took personal supervision on September 12, 1885. Throughout he has made it a rule to give first class service, courteous, efficient, and also to furnish the best available supplies to his patrons. This policy has won and kept for him the best trade of the town, and though four different markets have been opened up at various times, in competition, they have not survived long, and he still holds the bulk of the trade.

^Ir. Rittman married Miss Fannie Parker, daughter of Alfred Parker. She was seven years of age when her parents removed to South Bass Island, and the Parkers were also among the pioneers of this section of Ottawa County. Jlr. and ^Irs. Rittman have three children : George is associated with his father in the meat business and married Miss Knapp of Sandusky ; Lucy is the wife of Capt. Granville Heikle of Put-in-Bay ; and Mayrae is the wife of Capt. H. Biekford, commander of the S. S. Perry, which is used for the collection of eggs for the Ohio State Fish Hatchery.

Mr. Rittman is a republican in polities and has served as a member of the Put-in-Bay council. Fraternally he is a member of Commodore Perry Lodge No. 730 Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Put-in-Bay and of Lake Erie Encampment at Port Clinton.

John J. Day. A gfeat host of people who spend their summers around Put-in-Bay know Mr. John J. Day in the capacity of a genial and successful landlord. 'Sir. Day has been identified with Put-in-Bay almost continudiisly for more than forty years. He is proi)rit't(ir of the noted Bay View Hotel and has made a success of this and other institutions with which he has been identified because of his long experience and a close and careful study of the needs and conditions of hotel keeping, particularly of resort hotels.

Mr. Day was born at Minersville, Pennsylvania, October 31, 1867, a son of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Day, Sr. When he was a few months old his parents removed to Detroit. Michigan, where his father was a contractor and builder. After a few years in the public schools John J. Day had to start out in life on his own responsibility. As a youth he learned the trade of organ builder. In 1883 his father came to Put-in-Bay for the purpose of working on the town hall which was then being constructed. John J. Day came along, being then twenty years of age, and this locality has been his home ever since.

Not long afterward he learned that the estate of John S. Gibbons, containing five acres of fruit orchard and a fifteen room house on the Bay Shore, was up for rent, and Mr. Day took it and there made his start in the summer hotel business. After a few years he removed to Ballast Island, and for seven years conducted a club at that resort. On returning to Put-in-Bay he bought the Gibbons' property, and from time to time has installed new improvements and has brought it up to the best standard of summer hotels along the shore of Lake Erie. It is a very popular place of entertainment during the summer months. He has a fifty-room hotel building, especially fitted for the summer trade. Its wide verandas, its spacious lawns and its large outside dining room, are among the features most praised by the hundreds of patrons who have been in the habit of spending a good part of the summer there. For his hotel Mr. Day has his own gardens, cows and chickens, and everything is supplied fresh for the table.

Mr. Day married Miss May Belle Milieu of Norwalk, "Ohio. Their one child Mildred is the wife of Bernard MeCann of Put-in-Bay, and they have a son "William Bernard Me- Cann.

As a democrat Mr. Day has long been prominent in local affairs. For eight or ten years he served on the town council and was mayor one term until on account of the iirgency of his private business affairs he refused to sei-\'e again. He was also a member of the school board ten or twelve years, and is now chairman of the Park Board and street commission. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. i\Ir. Day gives much credit for his success in the world to his capable wife and both of them are active in supervising the Bay View Hotel. For a great m^ny years Mr. Day has spent his winters regularly on the island, but during one winter season he was inside steward in one of the large hotels at Hot Springs, Arkansas.

J. H. Huntley, M. D. With years of practice and with an almost unequalled variety of experience. Doctor Huntley of Lima has attained that position where he is regarded as foremost among the general sui-geons of Ohio, and as an orthopedist has few peers in the country.

It has been well said that the value of a human life is measured by the benefits it has conferred on the social community and the extent of its contributions to the advancement of the human race. Doctor Huntley's career is a story of personal ambition and an overwhelming desire to convert his individual experience into a permanent gain for humanity.

He was born in Hardin County, Ohio, April 11, 1851. His father, Joseph Huntley, was a farmer, and about 1853 removed to Allen County. Largely as a result of a neglect which in his own mature career he has endeavored to repair in the cases of hundreds of others, Doctor Huntley became a cripple in childhood. For more than ten years he was able to go around only by crutches. His own deformity was cured only after the fourth surgical operation. The class of surgery which attempts to relieve and correct deformities in the lower extremities and feet is called orthopedy. Thus it was as a result of his individual suifering and experiences that Doctor Huntley has found his chief life work and success as an orthopedist.

The ambition for a surgical career came to him when a child. The story is told that when be was twelve years of age he crawled up and looked through a window from which point he could command a view of the operating table on which the late Dr. S. A. Baxter amputated the leg of a Mr. Shockey, an old resident of Allen Count}'. The great men of history have often been those who have had one overmastering passion or fixed idea. Doetor Huntley carried the boyhood ambition to become a surgeon through all difficulties and adversities. He did not proceed smoothly and without obstacles into a medical career. As a boy he worked in a saddlery and harness shop. He learned the trade and followed it as a means of self support three years. He also taught school. These occupations were ouly stepping stones by which he endeavored to realize his main ambition. From what he had earned by his own 'exertions he finally entered the medical department of the University of Michigan. No student ever worked harder to master the varied opportunities presented by a great medical .school. He spent one year at Ann Arbor, and then transferred his student career to the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati, where he was graduated in 1878. His first office was at West Newton in Allen County. From there he removed to Alger in his native Hardin County. He was continuously a student during those years, and in 1890, after another course, graduated from the Starling Medical College at Columbus.

Doctor Huntley again and again pursued post-graduate courses, and has attended the great clinics and hospitals of Chicago, New York City, Boston, New Orleans and elsewhere. In 1895 he located at Lima and from that city his fame as a surgeon has gone far abroad. For the past ten years he has devoted himself exclusively to surgery, though in earlier yeai's he practiced both medicine and surgery.

He has handled many cases described as general surgery, but more and more his reputation has come to rest upon his skill as an orthopedist. He has performed some very difficult operations in abdominal surgery. In orthopedic surgery many of his cases have attracted wide attention by members of the surgical fraternity all over the world. No surgeon has shown a rarer skill nor. a greater adaptability of method to individual cases in the treatment of club feet and similar deformities than Doctor Huntky. He has performed more successful operations for the deformity known as club-foot than any other surgeon known in Northwest Ohio. His cases have been widely reported in medical journals, and he himself has contributed the results of his experience and observation to the medical and surgical press. A few years ago the International Journal of Surgery published his article on ' ' Some Special Forms of Orthopedic Surgery" in which he describes with much particularity the methods of his individual treatment for club-foot, knockknees and bow-legs.

He is a prominent member of the Allen County Medical Society, the Northwestern Ohio Medical Society, the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. For a number of years he has been an instructor in the Lima Training School for Nurses, from the time it was founded. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason. Doctor Huntley had the misfortune to lo.se a leg in an automobile accident in 1909, but strangely enough some of his greatest work as a surgeon has been done since that accident, and he is even now at the height of his success and is one of the busiest men of Lima.

Doctor Huntley was married in 1885 to Mary E. McClung, daughter of Hutchinson McClung. Mrs. Huntley was a woman of rare beauty in both face and character. She was devoted to her home and family and was widely beloved in the City of Lima. Her death occurred May 7, 1916," and tliat has been the most grievous blow from which Doctor Huntley has ever suffered.

Doctor Huntley has one daughter, Grace Darling. She graduated from the literary department of Lima College in 1904 with the degree Bachelor of Literature, and then entered the Emerson School of Oratory at Boston. She was then a student in the Leland C. Powers School of Oratory for three years, when graduated. She has the characteristics of her father of doing well whatever she undertakes and ha.s applied herself with remarkable energy- and patience to the mastery of various forms of the dramatic art. As a young girl she made a reputation as, a reader, and after her graduation from the school at Boston she took up a stage

S. W. Downing is superintendent of the United States Fish Hatchery at Put-in-Bay. Of all the many employes of the Federal Government connected with the tish industry it is doubtful if any man has a more widely varied and successful experience than Mr. Downing. He is an expert in practically every phase of fish propagation, and he has worked on ]both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as around the Great Lakes. Nearly forty years of his life have been spent in this work.

He was born at Townsend in Sandusky County, Ohio, May 10, 1849, a son of Ambrose Milton Downing. His father in the earlj^ days of the. last century owned a small farm in New York State. At that time in our national history the money currency was not standardized as it is now. Many articles were current as a medium of exchange, and perhaps none more so than whiskey. It is therefore not strange that when AmlDrose Downing sold his farm in New York State he received as payment six barrels of whiskey. Afterselling out he came with his family and with his household goods, and with the six barrels of whiskey, to Ohio, transporting the entire lot with an ox team. He located as a pioneer in Sandusky County, but later lived for a time in Henry County, though his remaining days were spent in Ottawa County. He was the father of five sons, three of whom were valiant defenders of the Union during the Civil war.

S. W. Downing was the youngest of the family. While his brothers were away at war, and while his father was practically an invalid, he and an older brother did all the work required for the support of the household. Then the older brother married, and when only sixteen or seventeen the youngest son had the entire responsibilities connected with the care of his parents.

Up to the age of eighteen he remained at home, and during that time had attended schools two or three months each winter. He then worked out at monthly wages on farms, and from liis earnings paid for a term or two of school at Milan. With these advantages he qualified for teaching, and for fourteen winters put in his time in that vocation. Duriiisr the summer seasons he could earn more at fishing or farm work than he could at teaching.

His experience in the fish industry began in 1877, when he was appointed field foreman for collecting eggs at North Bass Island. He was then employed for the United States Fish Hatchery at Northville, Michigan. On January 1, 1894, he was appointed fish culturist atthe United States Fish Hatchery in Put-in- Bay. While his time for the greater part has since been spent at Put-in-Bay in the employ of the Federal Government, he has also been called to work in various other fields. For one season he was foreman at Green Lake, Maine. On July 5, 1895, he was appointed foreman at Alpena, Michigan, and remained there five years. In the meantime the Government sent him to the Atlantic coast where he broadened his experience by handling mackerel, lobster, tautog and other marine fish. In 1898 he was sent out to the. Pacific coast on Chinook salmon work along the Little White Salmon River in the State of Washington. While there he built a hatchery and one year later another of the same capacity, and although his experience in salmon fishing was comparatively brief, the hatchery was pronounced the best on the entire coast at the time. On June 20, 1899, Mr. Downing was transferred from Alpena and appointed superintendent of the Clackamas, Oregon, plant.

In 1900 Mr. Downing was again returned to Put-in-Bay as superintendent for the Federal Government of the hatchery at that point. The Put-in-Bay hatchery was established in 1890, with J. J. Stranhan of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, as the first superintendent. For a time ]\Ir. Downing was employed at the Put-in-Bay plant after its establishment, working as collector and watchman. ]\Ir. Stranhan remained as superintendent until succeeded by Mr. Downing in 1900.

The United States Hatchery at Put-in-Bay was built primarily for whitefish. The hatch now includes also pike perch, known as gray pickerel or wall-eyed pike, and also some lake herring. The total of. the annual hatch is .300,000,000. This is one of the important supply points around the Great Lakes for eggs, and all in excess of the capacity of the Put-in- Bay Hatchery are sent to other stations. During the several years the take of eggs has totaled more than 1,000,000,000.

In 1875 Mr. Downing married IMiss Ida Fox of North Bass Island, a daughter of George Fox of Put-in-Bay. Mr. and Mrs. Downing have a fine family of sons and daughters. Guv F. is in the storage business at Lansing, Michigan ; Roy ]\I. is deputy collector of customs at Sandusky; Ivan H. is an undertaker at Alpena, Michigan; Zoe is the wife of Roland Schielle, who is a con.sulting electrical engineer at Cleveland ; Russell is superintendent of the Minnesota State Fish Hatchery at St. Paul ; Rex is head bookkeeper for the Owosso Beet Sugar Company at Lansing, Michigan.

Mr. Downing is a Mason and an active republican. For a number of years while living on North Bass Island he served as trustee and a justice of the peace, but since then has not been active in local politics.

Nicholas Fox. Many of the improvements and much of the business industry of Put-in- Bay have had a close association with the name of Nicholas Fox for the better part of a half century. Mr. Nicholas Fox is now senior member of the firm of Nicholas Fox & Sons, and is living practically retired at Put-in- Bay, the various business interests being carried on under the active management of his sons.

A native of Bavaria, Germany, Nicholas Fox emigrated to America in 1863, and lived for a time on South Bass Island. While there he was employed in the fishing industry by Lawrence Miller. He soon progressed so far as to buy out his employer, and he was one of the operators of a fishing equipment in and around Put-in-Bay. Later in order to have constant employment throughout the year he bought a vineyard and combined the two occupations. About 1879 Nicholas Fox gave up the fishing industry altogether, and applied himself exclusively to the growing of grapes until 1886.

In that year he leased from Lemuel Brown a dock which had been erected by Brown but which for several years had not been maintained in good repair and was hardly available for first class service. It was nothing more than a pier of pilings. The purpose of I\Ir. Fox in purchasing this dock was to erect a building for the sale of refreshments and also secure facilities so that he might realize a better price for his vineyard products. After leasing the dock for some years he bought it in 1890 and since then for a period of more than a quarter of a century it has been under the ownership and management of members of the Fox family. Many improvements have been added and it has been practically rebuilt throughout, now constituting a fine wharf. Nicholas Fox and sons also carry on an extensive business in the handling of coal, feed and building materials. The Fox dock is now used by the following steamship lines, D. C, C. and B., and Asliley and Dustin. Since 1910 Mr. Nicholas Fox has lived practically retired.

In September, 1869, he married ;\Iina Buddenhagen, daughter of Charles Buddenhagen of Middle Bass Island. Charles Buddenhagen came from Mecklenburg, Germany, when Mrs. Fox was an infant. For several years he worked at Sandusky, but about 1865 moved to Middle Bass Island. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Fox were the parents of the following children : Henry, who was born in August, 1870 ; George A., who married Julia Ingold and has three children, named Maria, Vernor and Anita: Andrew, a successful dentist at ]Monroeville, Ohio, and the father of a daughter by his marriage to Miss Asliton of Jloni'oeville ; and Louise, still at home.

Tile sons, Henry and George, are now the active partners in the firm of Nicholas Fox & Sons. The son Henry married Anna ^I. Haller, a daughter of Jacob Haller, and has a son Ethan Oliver. Both the brothers, Henry and George, take an active part in local affairs, and are republican voters, while tlieir father is a democrat. Henry Fox served two terms as mayor of Put-in-Bay and is now president of the board of trustees of public affairs. Fraternally he is afSliated with the Masonic Order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Both Henry and George, during their early youth, were employed in the fishing and other lines of industry about the island, and in 1889 they bought a 100 acre farm on Pelee Island. They were actively engaged in farming this for several years, then leased it, and finally sold out a few years ago. Before buying the farm Henry Fox had worked on the DoUcr Dock, and was thus familiar with the operation of siich a plant when his father secured the Brown "Wharf.

Thomas H. Jone.s. One of the best citizens Allen County ever had was the late Thomas H. Jones, who spent almost half a lifetime as a merchant in that county, was an honored veteran of the Civil war, and at one time was county treasurer. His death occurred August 5. 1914. and marked the passing of one of Lima's oldest and best known citizens.

He was born in Wales, February 18. 1835. the son of Josiah Jones and Mary Hughes of Llanbrynmair, North Wales. Part of his education was acquired in his native country, but at the age of fourteen he came to America and located at Gomer in Allen County, Ohio. He attended the common schools there, and as a poor boy had to start out to make his own way in the world. For a time he was employed in the dry goods store of W. W. Williams at Columbus Grove, and was clerking in that store during the early months of the war. He finally resigned his position behind the counter and in 1863 entered the army as a member of Company F in the One Hundred and Eighteenth Ohio Infantry. From that time forward until the close of the war he was in active service much of the time in the commissary department.

Following the war Thomas H. Jones returned to Allen County and engaged in business with W. M. Ashtou and Brothers, hardware merchants. He continued in the same business and in the same store for thirtyseven years. Later he was a partner with W. K. Boone.

On May 13, 1868, Mr. Jones married Susan Francis, who survives him, and with the competence acquired by her husband through man.y years of activity is now enjoying the comforts of a good home at 519 West North Street in Lima. Mrs. Jones is a daughter of Ellis and Catherine (Jones) Francis. Both her parents were natives of Wales and came to the United States in 1842. settling soon afterwards as pioneers in Allen County, Ohio. Her father was a substantial farmer. There were eight children in the Francis family, six of whom were born in Wales. The foui- now living are : Owen Francis, president of a Lima Building and Loan Association ; Mrs. Jones ; Jane Francis, unmarried and living in Chicago ; Kate, wife of W^illiam R. Jones, a farmer in Allen County. Mrs. Jones was born in Wales, January 18, 1843. She was nine years of age when she came to the United States. Her life has since been spent in Allen County.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones became the parents of five children. Gwen. widow of D. A. Pence, lives with her mother and is a teacher in the Lima High School. Josiah F. Jones is now serving as city treasurer of Lima. M. Myvanwy lives at home and is also a teacher in the high school. Harri 0. Jones is cashier of the Old National Bank at Lima. Ellis E. is a well known Lima business man and by his marriage to Mae W^ard, has three children.

The family are members of the Presbyterian Church. The late Mr. Jones filled all the chairs in the Odd Fellows Lodge. He was very active in church matters and served as an elder of the local Presbvterian Church for fifteen years. In polities he was a republican. He served the city as a member of the school board and was also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was one of the few republicans ever elected to county office in Allen County, and for five years held the post of county treasurer. He is also remembered as a vigorous and interesting writer. He wrote many articles for home papers and also contributed much to papers published in the Welsh language.

Charles Schneider. While the rich soil of Middle Bass Island, Lake Erie, Ohio, is favorable to general agriculture, the main and most profitable industry is the growing of grapes which has been brought to perfection. For a half century the people here have grown grapes and made wine and their product is recognized as equal in many ways to some of the finest distillations of foreign lands. Many of the early settlers came here prepared to engage in fishing or farming or to engage in the practical trades in which they had been trained but the larger number of them subseciuently became the owners of vineyards and prospered with their neighbors. Among these was Charles Schneider, Sr., who was the father of Charles Schneider, who owns and operates his own vineyard and manages the property of his late father, and is one of the representative citizens of iliddle Bass and a useful member of the school board.

Charles Schneider, the elder, was born October 18. 1822, in Saxony, Germany, and died in 1893, on Middle Bass Island, to which he had come in 1864. In the spring of 1861 he had come to Sandusky, Ohio, where he followed his trade of shoemaker, learned in Germany, and when he came with his family to IMiddle Bass it was with the expectation of continuing as a shoemaker. The cultivation of grapes as a business was then in its beginning here and Mr. Schneider was foresighted enough to see that indi^stry would be more profitable than work at his trade. He soon had become the owner of a small tract of land, on which he set oiit grape vines which developed almost beyond expectation and insured him a fine vineyard. He devoted himself mainly to this industry until the time of his death. His three children survive, two daughters and one son : Louisa and Lena, who live on the old home place, and Charles, his father's namesake. The elder Mr. Schneider was a prominent man in the democratic part.y in Middle Bass, although he never consented

Charles Schneider remained at home with his father and aided in the work of the vineyard, which can never be neglected and which, during the bearing season, is a very busy place. He carries on the grape business' very successfully, having, as mentioned above, two vineyards to manage. He is a democrat in politics and at times has served in local offices and on the election and school boards.

Mr. Schneider was married to iiiss Amanda Runkel, who is a daughter of John F. and Mary (Rehberg) Runkel. They have one son, Clmrles Schneider, who is a resident of Middle Bass Island.

John F. Runkel, father of Mrs. Schneider, was a pioneer on Middle Bass Island. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, but was brought by his parents, when six years old. to the United States and they settled on a farm in Erie County, Ohio, near Sandusky. The death of his mother when he was ten years of age necessitated his leaving home and taking care of himself. He worked for farmers in Erie County until 1869, when he came to Middle Bass Island and for a time worked for others here. In 1871 he was married to ]\IisS Mary Rehberg, who is a daughter of the late William Reliberg and a member of a very prominent family on Middle Bass. After marriage Mr. Runkel bought a tract of land and went into the business of growing grapes and continued the operation of his vineyard until his death, which occurred on January 1, 1900. Mrs. Runkel has since resided with her only daughter, Mrs. Charles Schneider. Mr. Runkel was known all over the island and was very highly esteemed.

Chris P. Engel. When the great Civil war broke out Chris P. Engel was between fourteen and fifteen years of age. He was born at Sandusky December 10, 1846. Like most boys, he was thrilled with the idea of "soldiering" and his patriotism was not to be deniecl, even though he was too young to be accepted as a regular musket bearer. He secured his father's permission to enter the army as a fifer. He had never played the fife. "but he thought he could learn if learning would get him into the ranks. His father reluctantly consented, thinking that the war would last only a short while. Thus Chris P. Engel was taken into the army, with the Seventy-second Ohio Volunteer Infantrj', but insteaci of serving as a fifer he was made a drummer boy. For nearly four long weary years he shared all the experiences and hardships of campaigning in the South. He had a host of interesting experiences, and he also endured the sufiferLugs of prison life in the notorious Andersonville prison in Georgia. He was captured with tifteen others from his company in 1864, and was sent to that notorious stocliade and kept there for eight and a half months. Hundreds of brave men died in that prison but young Engel escaped that fate. In February, 1865, when the armies of the North were gi'adually enveloping the Southern Confederacy and following Sherman's march to the sea, the Confederates moved the prisoners from Andersonville, and during that removal Chris Engel m'ade his escape. On reaching the Federal lines he was furloughed and sent home to recuperate. In April he started to rejoin his command, his regiment being then stationed at Mobile, and he went down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and around the Gulf, and after that continued in service in the South until discharged in August, 1865.

It was in the fall following his release from the army that Chris P. Engel gained his first acquaintance with Put-in-Bay. He has been one of the leading grape growers and prominent citizens of that section for more than half a century. His father was Chris Engel, Sr., one of the early settlers at Sandusky. He had a farm near Sandusky, but in 1867 followed his son to Put-in-Bay and bought a vineyard. This vineyard is where Chris P. Engel now lives, and the father built the old home many years ago. Chris Engel, Sr., died in 1896 at the age of eighty-two. His wife died about ten years later, aged eighty-six. The record of their children is : John, who is a printer by trade ; Chris P. ; Louis, who served in the regular United States army for a few years after the war, and died at Put-in- Bay in 1915: Charles, also a printer; Emma, wife of Henry Pfeifer of Cleveland, who at one time was superintendent of the Put-in- Bay Wine Company; Hugo, living in Put-in- Bay.

The veteran soldier, Chris P. Engel, though he was at the time not yet twenty years of age, on coming to Put-in-Bay found work picking grapes in the vineyards. He spent the following winter in Sandusky, but then returned to the island and has remained ever since. His father and family joined him in the spring of 1867. After remaining at home for a few years, he began growing grapes on

In 1892 Chris Engel came to the home place, where he has since lived, and in addition to the vineyard he has other fruit, including peaches and quinces.

Mr. Engel has always been very progressive and alert in all his methods and practices of grape growing. An incident illustrating this occurred many years ago. He learned from some source of the new practice of girdling and thereby introducing new strains on old stock. He was the man who introduced that method on the island, and his fine "Florence" grapes, grown on some of the older vines, created quite a stir among the vineyardists. Some of his envious rivals surreptiously secured scions from his vines, and they were very much surprised and chagi-ined when, after all their trouble, their fruit turned out to be only the common Ives variety. By his practice of "girdling" Mr. Engel reaped considerable profit, but eventually the practice became common among all the other growers.

In matters of politics he has always been a sterling republican. He has served as road supervisor, and also on the County Central Committee.

Mr. Engel married Bina Link, and they have one child, Herbert, who is connected with the Morgan & Wright Rubber Company of Detroit. He married Caroline Lehman.

Andrew Schiele. For many years one of the landmarks around Put-in-Bay has been what is known as " Schiele 's Castle." This fine old residence was built and occupied in 1871 by the late Andrew Schiele, Sr., who was one of the pioneer business men of Put-in- Bay and long a successful vineyardist and wine maker. The present occupant of the old home is Andrew Schiele, Jr., whose home has been on the island for half a centuiy.

The Schiele family moved from Toledo to Put-in-Bay in 1865. Andrew, Sr., opened up a refreshment place under a shed roof across from the park on the 4th of July of that year. Thereafter he continued his bar and hotel until 1869, when he sold oUt. In the meantime he had bought some land which he cleared and planted in grapes and on which he also built " Schiele 's Castle." He continued growing grapes and making wine in his wine cellar until his death in 1880 at the age of sixty-two. For a short time during

Andrew Schiele, Jr., was born in Toledo in 1862 and was three years of age when his family came to Put-in-Bay. He grew up in this community, attended the local schools, and early began supporting himself by work for others. Afterwards he got into business for himself and in that way continued for about seven years. In the meantime both parents had died, and he bought the old homestead from the other heirs and has since kept it up in the original fine condition and has added many improvements. He now owns twenty acres besides the old home, and that is planted in gi-apes. The products of his vineyards are pressed out in his wine cellar, and he makes a very superior grade of wine, a private clientage taking all that he makes. Mr. Schiele has also acquired some valuable property in the Town of Put-in-Bay.

The people of the island have long come to trust implicitly in his judgment and ability as a citizen, and they kept him in the office of township trustee for twenty-five years. Politically he is a republican. By his marriage to Margaret Dennis of Sandusky he has one daughter, Miss Elsie Marie.

E. B. HowAED. who is freight agent of the Hocking Valley Railway lines at Toledo, is one of the prominent men in railway circles in this city, and has reached his present position as a result of a steady progression through various grades and responsibilities of service beginning when he was a boy.

His father. Franklin Howard, is a veteran railroad man, now living retired in Toledo at the ripe age of seventy-six. Franklin Howard was for twenty-eight years in the car department of the Wabash Railroad. He " married Ida Bishop, and they were the parents of nine children, five of whom are still living.

The third in age among his parents' children, E. B. Howard was born at Sedalia, Missouri. October 27, 1871. His early years were spent in Toledo, where he attended the public schools and Davis Business College.

The record of his sei-vice as a railway man begins with his employment as a clerk in the ear department of the Wabash Railway Company. He remained at that work four years ; was next employed by the Northern Pacific Railroad at Tacoma, Washington, as a bill clerk from September 9, 1889, to June 18, 1890 ; from July 5, 1890, to 1894 he was rate clerk with the Michigan Central Railway at Detroit; returning to the Wabash Company, he was clerk in the car department at Detroit from September, 1894, to May, 1896; from May to October, 1896, he was in the service of the Lake Shore Railway, in October went to the Pennsylvania Railway and remained with that company until February, 1911 ; and was then appointed chief clerk for the Hocking Valley Railway Company, an office he filled from";May to July, 1911. At the latter date Mr. Howard was appointed freight agent of this railway with headquarters in Toledo, and has very successfully handled the large volume of business that goes through his office. Mr. Howard is a member of the Catholic Church and is a republican in politics. In Detroit January 17, 1900, he married Miss Rose Downey, claiighter of Jeremiah Downej^ of Detroit. ^Irs. Howard was educated in the public and parochial schools of Detroit. The two children born to their marriage are both deceased.

C.\PT. Elliot J.\mes Dodge. There is no more interesting personality in and around Put-in-Bay than Captain Dodge, captain of the steamship Tourist and one of the prominent old timers of this lake port. Captain Dodge has had almost a lifetime of service in these waters, first as a fisherman, and afterwards as a boat captain and owner. He is known as a rugged, courageous and coolheaded sea-faring man, and one who will undertake anything in the discharge of his duty and with a generosity of mind and heart equal to his physical courage.

Though most of his life has been spent around the waters of the Great Lakes, he was born in an inland village of Wisconsin, Windsor, twelve miles north of Madison, on February 17, 1854. In 1876 the family removed to Illinois, spent one winter there, and then settled at East Point on South Bass Island, Ohio. They lived there for years, and then bought a place on Middle Bass Island, where Captain Dodge's father died soon afterward. The children were: Ellen M., wife of Leroy Webster of East Point ; Jennie, wife of James H. Crowley of St. Louis, Missouri; Louis C, a grape grower on Middle Bass Island ; Captain Dodge; Emma, wife of Louis Edlifsen of Los Angeles, California ; John B., who was practicing medicine at St. John, Michigan, at the time of his death in 1916 ; and Edith, deceased wife of Robert Harris, who lives in Detroit, Michigan.

parents until he was sixteen years of age. In tlie meantime he had secured all the education he was destined to receive from schools, and he then started out to make his own way in the world. He became identified with the fishing industry around the Great Lakes, aijd that was his regular occupation for a quarter of a century.

In the meantime he had taken up boating, having purchased in 1882 the steamer Ina. This vessel he conducted during the season for about twenty -five years. The Ina was then dismantled and he bought the old yacht Wayward, whose quarter deck he trod as captain for six years. Captain Dodge then built his present handsome boat, the steamer Tourist. This is a stanch craft of forty-three tons net and fifty-four gross tonnage, of steel construction, equipped both for passenger and transport service, and for both summer and winter use. The hull is so constructed that it can be trimmed to lift the forward end out of the water making it available for ice breaking.

In the summer months, as the thousands of tourists who frequent this favorite section of Northwest Ohio know, the steamship Tourist is the favorite excursion boat between Port Clinton and Put-in-Bay, making the regular run between those places. It is also chartered for special service. As soon as the fruit season begins, the Tourist is used for transporting many tons of grapes and other products to Detroit, Toledo, and other ports. In the fall, when the summer lines are all laid up. Captain Dodge keeps the Tourist going on regular trips to Sandusky, and his boat is the only means of shipping to and from the island until the ice closes the lake completely. When the Tourist finally ties up at the dock in late fall or early winter, the i-sland remains practically isolated except for such communication as is established over the ice, until the break up of the ice in the following spring. The first trip of the Tourist in the spring is an event eajrcrly ;i\vnitiM| -aui] nflciidcl with almost a t;eiu'i-al i-i'li'lu-jit ion on the island. On its first trip in tlic spi'ing the Tourist brings to the island a cargo of provisions which serve to relieve the monotony of the island '.s winter stock.

He is not only one of the most successful boat owners and managers along the south shore of Lake Erie, but almost a book of incidents might be written describing his service.

On this point Captain Dodge is rather noncommittal, as the modesty of his nature demands, and many who know the quiet and vigilant captain su])fificially are not aware that a special act of Congress granted him the beautiful large gold medal for his act of heroism in taking his boat out from harbor on November 7, 1907, during a terrific gale, and rescuing three men from a capsized small boat. The steamer State of New York was at that time on the rocks near Rattlesnake Island, and several men of its crew had attempted to leave the vessel and get to Put-in-Bay, The boat was overturned and the men were struggling when Captain Dodge and his crew gallantly put out and rescued them. The members of the Tourist crew were each given silver medals In' tite same act of Congress. Captain Dodge lias rescued a great number of people from watery graves, and considers such an act nothing more than a commonplace performance of duty. As a matter of fact, such performance is only the act that might be expected of so large and generous a heart, and it is said that during the many years of his residence on the island he has bestowed a practical generosity and helpfulness upon anyone in financial straits or needing the sympathy of a strong and resolute character.

Captain Dodge married Miss Christine Jar dine, of an old French family of Ontario, Canada. Their children are : Mrs. Inez Gertrude Doller of Cleveland; Wilbur Leo, an engineer at Put-in-Bay; Mildred Catherine, wife of Bert Millen of Put-in-Bay ; Gordon Archie, who is mate and clerk on the steamship Tourist with his father; and Vivian, who died wiirn fi\c years of age. Captain Dodge, is a loyal rcpulilican and is affiliated with the Tribe of lien llur. He has served ten years on the city coum-d of Put-in-Bay. In matters of religion he was reared a Methodist.

GusTAV Heinemann is one of the old time residents of Put-in-Bay, a successful vineyardist and wine and grape juice manufacturer, and has also added one of the most startling and interesting attractions to the thousands of people who annually visit Put-in-Bay as a summer resort.

]Mr. Heinemann is proprietor of the Strontia Crystal Cave. Concerning this remarkable natural feature of Put-in-Bay Island the following description is given: "In November, 1897, on the property of Gustav Heinemann, a well was sunk some forty feet deep for water for drinking purposes. Workmen in making the excavation passed closely to a wonderful cave, the earth tumbling in and disclosing to them a stalactieal, startling cavern, more like a fairy grotto than anything else - a more appropriate name could not be applied. On exploration it was found that there were several rooms, some large and some small, and an immense stratum of strontia, a solid mass of dazzling mineral extending twenty-two feet below the bottom of the cave. The side walls of the different rooms are of solid strontia and the ceilings are arch shape and hung with prismatieally formed crystals emitting prismatic colors fascinatingly splendid with brilliancy and radiance, not unlike that of the clearest cut diamond.

' ' The salts of strontia communicate a vivid crimson color to flame, and are much used, especially the nitrate of strontia in the manufacture of fireworks. It is also used in clarifying beet sugar. The commercial value is about twelve dollars per ton (the weight is much heavier than lead, but two ordinary barrels being required to hold a ton), and this discovery is said to be the first of any importance in the United States."

Mr. Gustav Heinemann was born near Freiburg in Baden, Germany, in 1856. He was reared and educated in his native country and in 1880, at the age of twenty-four, arrived in America. For several years he lived on" Middle Bass Island, but in 1884 returned to Germany. He was back in America in 1885, and since then has been identified with the country in and about Put-in-Bay. He worked for wages until 1889, when he rented a farm on the shares. In 1896 he bought a vineyard of over six acres, and has since been engaged in its cultivation. He uses all his own grapes for making wine and grape juice, and during summer seasons buys large quantities of grapes for his plant.

Since the discovery of the Crystal Cave in 1897, Mr. Heinemann has developed it as one of the attractions of Put-in-Bay, and many thousands of excursionists and tourists have visited it annually. Mr. Heinemann has various other business interests, and is one of the principal owners of the Put-in-Bay Resort Company.

In 1886 jMr. Heinemann married Miss Fannie Zeller. They are the parents of five children: Hilda is the wife of Emil Schrait of Put-in-Bay : Amelia still lives at home ; Gertrude is ^Irs. Fred Cooper of Cleveland ; Herbei't is a successful young attorney at Cleveland ; and Norman still resides at liome. The family are members of the Catholic Church, and in politics Mr. Heinemann is a democrat. He has membership on the board of Park trustees at Put-in-Bay.

John F. Mathias, one of the present board of county commissioners of Lucas County, is a well known contractor and though still a comparatively young man is recognized as one of the forceful business men of Toledo.

He was born in Lucas County, Ohio, August 12, 1879. His parents are Michael and Agnes (Colchester) Mathias. His father, a native of Germany, came to America in 1862, first locating in Detroit, from there moving to Defiance County, Ohio, where he followed farming five years, and then came to Lucas County. He bought and lived on a farm near the City of Toledo, and from there removed to another farm eight miles west of Toledo. He remained on the farm seven years, and coming into Toledo engaged in the teaming business. Subsequently he became a contractor and was identified with that line of work until he gave up an active business career. He is now living retired in his eighty-first year, and his wife is about eighty years of age.

John F. Mathias was the sixth in a family of seven children, all of whom are still living. He was reared and educated in Lucas County and as a youth he learned the concrete business. From that he became a contractor and in the past few years has built some of the substantial bridges of Lucas County. He is a democrat and resides at 1518 Vance Street in Toledo. Mr. Mathias was elected county commissioner of Lucas County in 1916, and now gives practically his entire time to the duties of the office.

C.A.PT. R<3BERT ScHiELE. One of the veteran mariners of the Great Lakes, whose home has always been at Put-in-Bay, Captain Robert Schiele is now commander of the steamship Shearwater, owned by the United States Government and employed for the collection of eggs for the United States Fish Hatchery at Put-in-Bay.

Captain Schiele has spent nearly all his life in and around Putin-Bay. His family were among the pioneer settlers on that island. Captain Schiele was born in Toledo, December 25, 1857. His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Schiele, were natives of Wuertemburg, Germany, but were married in Toledo. While living in the old country Andrew

Schiele learned the trade of aail smith, manufacturing nails by the old hand process. When he came to America machinery was already displacing hand methods of making nails and he had no opportunity to follow his trade. Instead he worked at diffei-eut lines of employment in Toledo, and for a time conducted a saloon there. In 1863 he came to Put-in-Bay and bought nine acres of land then covered with a heavy growth of native timber. He spent many months of hard work in clearing it up, and finally had it planted to a vineyard. In the meantime his familyremained in Toledo, but on June 20, 1865, they arrived at Put-in-Bay. The boat that brought them was the Philo Parsons, which had come into unenviable historical prominence as having been employed by the plotters for the liberation of the Confederate prisoners on Johnson's Island. Andrew Schiele converted the grape."? grown in his vineyard into wine, and later he opened a hotel, restaurant and saloon in Put-in-Bay. His was the first saloon in the town. His death occurred there in the late '80s. Of his ten children, seven died in infancy, and the three now living are : Robert: Andrew, who operates a vineyard on the old homestead ; and Edward, who is in the Club House, on Middle Bass Island.

The first eighteen years of his life Captain Schiele spent at home, and gained his education in local schools. The lake and its activities had a great fascination for him as a boy, and on leaving home he became a sailor under Captain Magel on the Golden Eagle. Later he was on the American Eagle and subsequently on various other boats. In 1882 he was given his papers as a master, and now for a number of years has been captain of the Shearwater, attached to the Government fish hatchery for the collection of eggs.

Captain Schiele married Amelia Fiester of Sandusky, though she was born in Fulton County. They are the parents of two children:' Edith, 'the wife of Otto Herbster, a photographer at Putin-Bay, and they have a daughter Verda E. Fred Robert, who is eraployed on the Doller Docks at Put-in-Bay, married Emma Misch and has a son Robert. Captain Schiele has been affiliated with the Indepfii.lpiit Onlcr of Odd Fellows since 1890. He is a ri'iuililicau in politics and is now serving on tile I'ity council.

island itself, for members of this family were among the first to settle here and have ever since been identified with the interests of this section. A wortliy representative of this sturdy old family is found in Henry Rehberg, one of the most prominent and substantial residents of Aliddle Bass. He was born October 4, 1849, in Mecklenburg, Germany, one of the sons of John Rehberg and a brother of the late William Rehberg.