Sandusky Township (part 32 of 57)

With very few dollars to spare James Cavanaugh made his way west as far as Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio. He worked in that locality as a farm laborer for four years, at the end of which time he came to Deshler in Henry County and became a foreman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He put in two years at that, and having a special liking for railroad work he entered the service of the Wabash Company in 1877, first living at Cecil in Paulding County, later going to Wabash, Indiana, and after four years being transferred to various other points along the line. His last home while in the railway seVvice was at Danville, Illinois.

In 1893 IVIr. Cavanaugh left railroading and came to his farm in section 24 of Marion Township in Henry County. He had bought that land in 1881. At that time it had few improvements, and so far as possible he improved its condition while he was away at work for the railroad. Since 1893 the farm has been his permanent home, and after he took personal charge it rapidly responded to his energetic management. Nearly all the land is now in a state of cultivation, is drained and well fenced, and has two fine barns and a comfortable residence. I\Ir. Cavanaugh now has 178 acres under his ownership in that section, and it represents a substantial achievement for a man who began his career with practically nothing except the strength of arms and body.

Mr. Cavanaugh was married in the township of his present home to Miss Mary Collins, daughter of the lat« Michael Collins, one of the most prominent earl.y settlers of Marion Township, reference to whose family and career will be found on other pages of this publication. Miss Mary Collins was born in Crawford County, Ohio, and was young when her family removed to Marion Township. She was married October 19, 1877, on her twentyfirst birthday, and she and Mr. Cavanaugh had a happy married life until her death on February 22, 1896. She was the mother of four children. James, the fourth of that name in as many successive generations, was born April 3, 1881, in Paulding County, was gi-aduated from the scientific department of Valparaiso University in Indiana, with the class of 1907, and has had a successful career as an educator. He taught for a time in Ohio, later in the State of Oregon, and is now superintendent of schools at Clabber, Washington. He married ^Minnie Yetter, a native of Holgate, Henry County, though living in Washington at the time of her marriage. Their one son is named James William. John B., the second of Mrs. Cavanaugh 's children, was born in Cecil, Ohio, May 14, 1882, was educated in Henry County and finished in the Valparaiso University and is also a teacher. Anna, born at Wabash, Indiana, August 5, 1886, was educated in Henry County and is the wife of Boyd Fullmer, now county superintendent of schools at Liberal, Kansas, but formerly a resident of Defiance County,_ Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Fullmer have three children. Echo, Don B., and Theodore. Joseph P., the youngest of Mr. Cavanaugh 's children by his first wife, is principal of the schools at Centralia, Washington, and is also a graduate of the Valparaiso University. He married a western girl, Elizabeth Worth, and they have a son Joseph A. Thus ilr. Cavanaugh 's children by his first wife are all in educational circles and have made worthy names for themselves.

For his second wife Mr. Cavanaugh married in Napoleon, Ohio, Mary Carroll. She was born in Perry County, Ohio. February 19, 1871. but since three years of age lived in Harrison Township of Henry County. Mr. and Mrs. Cavanaugh have a family of young children as follows : Leonard E., born June 18, 1901, and now attending the eighth grade of the public schools; Philip, born November 16, 1902, also in the eighth gi-ade; Thomas 0., born June 4, 1906, in the fourth grade; and Leo M., born February 2, 1907, and also a student. The family are members of St. Paul's Catholic Church at Hamler. Mr. Cavanaugh is affiliated with the Catholic Knights of Ohio and he and his grown sons are active democrats.

George V. Rudolph. Some men are noted for their achievements in their vocation and others for what they do in their avocations. George V. Rudolph of Damascus Township, Henry County, has attained more than local note not only in the main business of life but also in his recreations. He is one of the most widely known hunters in Northwest Ohio, and in fact is often called the Daniel Boone of this part of the state. But he was a successful business man before he was a hunter, and the enthusiasm with which he pursues the big game in the northern woods is identical with the same quality which he exercises in all his varied business afi'airs.

Primarily he is a farmer, and has gained his success by the successful management of land and its resources. His enterprise, however, extends to various other business interests. Since 1871 he has lived in Damascus Township of Henry Count}-, and on his farm of eighty acres in section 35 has a beautiful modern home, a brick house with full basement, slate roof, and with light and power supplied both to the home and barn from electricity. The barn is fully in keeping with his other improvements. It is a 40 by 60 foot foundation, and there is a covered barnyard 40 by 40 feet. One feature that shows the progressiveness of the owner is the power elevator which lifts the grain direct from the threshing machine into the bins. His farm is the home of some fine stock.

Many people visit the Rudolph home for the purpose of inspecting its many handsome trophies and mounted specimens of some of the great game of America. All these specimens have been gathered by Mr. Rudolph during his career as a hunter. There are four large moose heads, taken from animals weighing from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds each. There are the heads of several deer, also of large size, and the head of a bear. A particularly fine specimen of the caribou has been mounted and weighs about 400 pounds. Mr. Rudolph has killed a great many fine game animals besides those which are represented in his collection including more than a dozen moose and twice that many deer. His favorite firearm is his safety Winchester No. 401, model 1910. Mr. Rudolph has carried his hunting excursions into the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, Canada, and to the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arkansas and West Virginia. For a number of years with the approach of the hunting season he gets, his equipment and paraphernalia ready and

Mr. Rudolph comes of some fine old Virginia stock. He was born near Winchester in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia January 23, 1849. His grandparents spent all their lives in Virginia. He is a sou of Joseph and Rebecca (Clutter) Rudolph, both of whom were natives of Virginia, and their respective families were established there about the time of the Revolutionary war. The original stock was Irish. As a family the Rudolphs have been almost invariably devoted to the agricultural industry. When Mr. Rudolph was two years of age he lost his father and he was eight years old when his mother died. Both were members of the new school of the Lutheran Church, and his father like other Virginians was a slave holder but there is no instance recorded in which he was harsh or cruel to his negroes. Mr. Rudolph was one of five children, and the only other one now living is his unmarried sister Margeline, who is a resident of Philadelphia.

After the death of his mother Mr. Rudolph lived with his uncle, Elijah Rudolph, until he twenty years of age. In that home he was well trained and was educated in private and select schools.

In 1868 he came to Fairfield County, Ohio, and there met and married Harriet Snapp. She was born and reared in that county. Two children were boi'n in Fairfield County, one of whom died in infancy. In 1871 Mr. Rudolph brought his family to Henry County, and bought land in section 23 of Damascus Township. This was a place of sixty acres, partly cleared. Three years later he removed to another farm, and subsequently sold the place on section 23. In 1880 he bought his present place in section 35 of Damascus Township. The land at that time was nearly all brush, and his great energy and business management have cleared it up and brought it under complete cultivation, improved with fences, with thorough drainage by tile, and he has also erected the various buildings already mentioned.

His influence as a business man has extended beyond his home farm. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company and served as a dii'ector for eight years. He was largely responsible for the success of this company in extending insurance to over $3,000,000 worth of property. He was the first resident of ilcClure to have a telephone in his house, and he brought about the organization of the local telephone company and served as its first president. The company grew rapidly and there are now 400 patrons in McClure and vicinity, and numerous exchanges in other counties.

Mr. Rudolph 's first wife died at their home in Damascus Township in 1891 at the age of forty-three. There were two children who grew up. Mary C, who died after her marriage to Ulysses Brown of Damascus Township, left children Virgil, Glenn and Hazel. Virgil and Glenn are now married and Glenn has one child. Alberta V., the second child, died in 1898 at the birth of her firstborn, Elva. She was the wife of Benjamin Kistner. Elva after the death of her mother was reared in the home of her grandfather, ilr. Rudolph, and has since married Harry I. Smith of Michigan and is now the mother of a son, Harold. Mr. Rudolph married for his second wife in Richfield Township Miss Mamie Kistner. She was born on the old homestead of her parents in Richfield Township April 19, 1869, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Kritzer) Kistner. Her father was born in Germany and her mother in Erie County, Ohio. They were married in Erie County, and afterwards moved to Richfield Township in Henry County, where Mr. Kistner cleared up a fine farm of eighty acres in section 1. They now live there, he at the age of seventyfour and his wife at sixty-nine. They are members of the Christian Union Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph have four children: Esther, who is a member of the class of 1917 in high school ; Edna May, a student in high school; Bessie D., also in high school at Mc- Clure; and Irvin, who is in grammar school. The family are members of the Bethany Christian Union Church. Politically Mr. Rudolph is a democrat, and has filled such offices as town.ship trustee. He has passed all the chairs in the Knights of Pytliias Lodge at McClure and has also been a member of the State Grand Lodge.

Ferdinand A. Duding. Now spending his daj's in quiet comfort in his town home at Hamler, Ferdinand A. Duding is by birth and experience a pioneer of Pleasant Township in Henry County. When he was a boy that district was very sparsely populated, little of the land had been cleared and put in cultivation, and the woods were filled with wild game and even Indians occasionally roamed over their old hunting grounds. ;\lr. Duding was not a passive factor in all the changing life about him. and as a boy he put his shoulder to the wheel and did much to push forward the progress of his community. For one thing he developed a farm from the wilderness and has been not only a witness but one of the real elements in the wonderful changes accomplished in Henry County during the past half century.

Mr. Duding was born in Pleasant Township on the Ridge Road July 14, 1852. His parents were Charles or Carl and Margaret (Royal) Duding. His father was a native of Hanover, Germany, and his mother of Alsace. They came at different times and on different vessels to the United States. It took weeks to make the voyage across the ocean in the days of sailing vessels, and they arrived in this country along in the '40s. It chanced that they both located at New Bavaria in Pleasant Township and not long afterward they 'married. With a joint capital of only $50 they started a store for the sale of groceries. The original stock of goods was brought to New Bavaria by Jacob IMangas, having been hauled in a wagon all the way from Findlay, Ohio, a distance of forty-five miles through the dense woods. Two and a half years after setting up as a merchant, Charles Duding died when in the prime of his years. In that short time he had made a favorable start along the road of prosperity and his estate was worth $500, ten times as much as the capital with which he had begun as a merchant. He not only sold goods in his store but also dealt extensively in furs and traded with both the Indians and trappers. He was survived by two children, Ferdinand A. and a daughter Sophia. Sophia, now deceased, married John B. Mess, a well known citizen of Henry County. The widowed mother subsequently married Ludwig Melcher, a native of Germany, and he died six years later. His death occurred while he was working in the woods in Putnam County, Ohio. By that marriage there was one daughter, Theresa, who is now married and has a family. The mother of these children died twenty years ago when past sixty years of age. All the family for generations have been members of the Catholic Church.

Ferdinand A. Duding grew up in his native township, and owing to the early death of his father he had to become self-supporting at a very early age. He was still only a youth when in 1870 he bought eighty acres of wild land and he cut the first stick of timber on this property. Persistent toil early and late and good judgment brought their sure reward, and in time he had not only a good farm but had increased its area to a 120 acres. Before he left the farm he had given it a fine set of building improvements, including a barn 40 by 90 feet, and a nine-room house with full basement.

In March, 1905, Mr. Duding retired to Hamler and bought a good home on Belton Street. He also owns other property in the village. Before leaving the farm he had reared most of his children to manhood and womanhood and liad given them such advantages that they were capable of making their own way in the world. Mr. Duding was married in 1872 in Pleasant Township at Pleasant Bend to Miss Catherine Deimer. She was born in that locality January 26, 1851, and was reared and educated tliere. Her parents were German Catholic people and were among the earliest settlers of Henrv' County. Her father John Deimer died alDOut twenty years ago when quite old, and her mother Margaret Deimer died in 1913 within three months of ninety years of age. Both were active memliers of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and had helped to build the first log church, also the first frame edifice and later the substantial brick church which is still in use.

On the home farm Mr. and Mrs. Duding reared their family of nine children, as follows : John and I\Iary, deceased ; Catherine ; Agnes ; Charles: Mary; Michael F., who is now in the United States navy; and Lena. All the children are married except Michael. Mr. and I\Irs. Duding are active members of St. Paul's Catholic Church. He has always concerned himself with local affairs, served seven years as township school trustee and six years as trustee of his township and has filled various other offices. He is a democrat in polities.

W^TLLiAM S. Ri'noLPH. It is more than thirty years since William S. Rudolph arrived in Henry County and undertook the task of making a home. He was fresh from the northeast districts of West Virginia and was well educated, having taught school for a time in his native state. In Henry County his activities have been chiefly identified with farming, and he owns one of the well improved and valuable places in Richfield Town.ship.

planted from Germany. His grandfather, George Rudolph, Sr., was a native of Germany and came to this country perhaps about the close of the Revolutionary war. He located first in Pennsylvania and afterward moved to Virginia. At Harper's Ferry he married Christena Hotspeler, who was also a native of Germany. For several years they lived in Frederick County, Virginia, where George Rudolph was a charcoal worker. From there they moved to Hampshire County, in what was then Western Virginia but is now the State of West Virginia. George Rudolph made a comfortable living as a farmer, hunter and manufacturer of applejack and lived to be seventy-five years of age. His wife .survived him and died about the close of the Civil war, when very old. Both were active members of the Lutheran Church. Of their children who reached maturity there were Katie, Adam, Jacob, George, jr., Elizabeth, Elijah, Joseph, Peggy, Polly, Barbara and Sylvester. All of these married except Barbara, who herself lived to be eighty years of age. All of them lived in what is now West Virginia.

George Rudolph, Jr., was born in Hampshire County, West Virginia, on Mutton Run, in 1810. He grew up on his father's old farm. He and his brother Joseph became noted all over the country side as local hunters. They killed hundreds of deer and other wild game, and the fruits of this sport furnished most of the meat for the support of their household. Another brother, Adam, in 1859 had an adventure with a panther in one of the recess regions of Pady Mountains of Virginia. It was one of the largest specimens of this animal ever killed in the Allegheny Mountains. The panther had retreated to a cavelike place, and in order to shoot him Adam was suspended head down over a precipice, being held by his legs by three men. A description of the incident was written up and published a number of years ago in Harper's Magazine. Adam was one of the noted hunters of Virginia and West Virginia. The Rudolphs nearly all presented splendid types of physical manhood, and all the children in that generation except two stood over six feet high. George Rudolph, Jr., died at the age of fiftyone in his native county. He was married there to Catherine Litler, who was born in Hardy County, on the Capen River in Virginia about 1812. She died before her husband. Both were followers of the faith established by Martin Luther. Tlieir ehildi-en were named

The youngest of the family, William S. Rudolph grew up in his native county. At the age of twenty-one he went west to Iowa. While in that state he was accidentally shot through the arm, and after this injury he returned to Virginia and took up his neglected studies in an academy in the Shenandoah Valley. Having thus qualified, he began work as a teacher, and subsequently sold goods as a merchant at Kearnstown, Virginia.

In 1883, leaving his business interests, he came to Ohio and bought a tract of wild and new land in section 2 of Richfield Township of Henry County. The suljstantial place he now holds in the community by reason of his fine farm and his record as a citizen and man has been won as a result of .strenuous exertion, particularly in the early yeai-s, arid it was neces.sary to clear and develop practically every foot of the fine farm he now owns. Along with other improvements he put up some substantial barns and has a good sevenroom house. Another feature of his farm is an excellent orchard.

After coming to Henry County Mr. Rudolph married Miss Mary E. Kistner. She was born near Huron, Ohio, Jlay 12, 1864, and when three years of age was brought to Henry County by her parents, Joseph and Elizabeth (Kritzer) Kistner. Her father was born in Mecklenberg, Germany, and when twelve years of age came with his parents and other members of the family on a sailing vessel to America. The vessel was twelve weeks in making the voyage. The Kistners located in Huron County, Ohio, and Joseph's parents, who were farming people, died at Sandusky. Joseph Kistner gi-ew to manhood in Erie County, and was married at Huron to Elizabeth Kritzer, of the same county and of German parentage. In 1869 the Kistners came to Henry County, and Joseph Kistner cleared up a home of eighty acres in Richfield Township, and in section 1 of that township he and his wife still live, aged respectively seventyfour and sixt.y-nine years. They were reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church, but are now identified with the Christian Union Church. ]\Ir. Kistner is a democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph and their family are active members of Bethany Christian Union Church. His polities is democratic, and in a way of public service he has filled the office of justice of the peace in his township for three years. He and his wife have a household of energetic and wholesome young people. Their oldest son, Grover, was educated in the high school and now lives in Canada. George W. died as an infant. Grace, at home, is a graduate of music from the American College of Music at Toledo, and for a number of years has taught musie, having begun teaching when sixteen. Maude is a graduate of the high school and is now teaching at JlcClure, Ohio. H. Clifton is a farmer at Gull Lake in Canada. Joseph Elzar lives at home and helps his father with the farming. Elsie E. is also at home. The j'ounger children, still in school, are Walter B., John Carlton and Bruce D.

David Alfonso Collins. The man who stays at home, is content to work quietly in the community which has known him since childhood, and is never led astray by the restlessness of American life, deserves a special credit. Invariabh- he is a factor in making a better community and in upholding those institutions of home, church and school which are the very basis and framework of American society.

An illustration of this type of citizen is David Alfonso Collins of Marion Township, Henry County. He was born on the farm he now occupies and has never recognized a sufficient reason to seek either fame or fortune beyond the horizon which he knew as a boy. He was the youngest in a family of thirteen children born to Michael and Bridget (Shehe) Collins. Both parents were natives of County Limerick, Ireland. His mother was born in Ballingary and for several generations her people had been farmers there and also were delegated with the duty of keeping the local postoffice, and some of the family still live there and have the same official responsibilities. Both the Collins and Shehe families were devout adherents of the Catholic Church, and those who have come to America have been likewise faithful in their religious devotions and the Collinses in Henry County have done much to maintain ancl foster their church. Bridget Shehe 's parents spent all their lives in County Limerick. They were Roger and Bridget Shehe and both died there while quite old.

Michael Collins was the son of Patrick and Mary Collins. His father died in Ireland soon after ilichael came to the United States. The children subsequently sent for their widowed mother and she came and died at the home of

Michael Collins was about grown when he set out with his sister Mrs. John Welsh and her husband to the land of opportunity ii. America. They made the voyage by sailing vessel, were some forty-eight or fifty days in crossing the ocean and first landed in Canada. From there Michael Collins came to the United States and after his marriage to Bridget Shehe came to Crawford County, Ohio. There he worked as a laborer for tlie Pittsburgh Railroad during its construction, being employed in tlie gravel pits. For some years he lived at Lee.sville. While there five children were born to him and his wife, three of whom died in infancy.

With the two remaining children, John and Mary, who were still very young, Michael Collins and wife set out with one team and all their earthly possessions to find a new home in Henry County. They selected as their location a tract of land in section 13 of Marion Township. This land is included in Mr. David A. Collins' fine farm. At that time Marion Township was in the midst of the wilderness, and the Collinses were among the first to venture into that section. Michael's wife's sister Nora and her husband James Joyce had previously located in Marion Township and had built themselves a log cabin. The Joyces and Collinses were among the first settlers there' and on all sides around them extended the woods and swamps for miles. In the woods could be found abundance of game such as deer and turkey. Mrs. Joyce one day found a deer in her dooryard and w^as able to kill it with a club. It was a plucky undertaking, but pioneer women were equal to such things. The two families worked hard and underwent many privations before they had the comforts of real homes. Michael Collins bought fiftytwo acres as a homestead, and the ground was so low and swampy that it was with infinite pains and difficulty that it became possible to raise crops for several years. When he planted corn he would ridge up the ground around the hills so as to drain off the water. There was abundance of timber and fuel, but in order to get it dried liefore burning the logs would be piled up one above the other so that only the lower tier would be under water. The Collins family lived in their first log cabin home seventeen years. In the meantime the area of cultivation had been steadily extended, and as a result of their work in draining and similar work performed by other settlers the country became more open, was more habit- able, and healthy, and conditions were graduallj- transformed for the better. Jlichael Collins paid only $2.50 an acre for his first land, but subsequently when he bought another eighty acres it cost him $1,000. In 1875 he was suiBciently well off to put up a substantial frame residence, and in that home and with ample comforts for his later years he died September 12, 1889, at the age of sixty-four. His widow sun'ived him until 1907 and was more than eighty years of age when she passed away. Both had attended as regularly as possible the Sacred Heart Catholic Church eight miles away and .subsequently they assisted in organizing and supporting St. Paul's Catholic Church at Hamler, where they could worship more conveniently. Both were good Christian people, hard workers, and Michael Collins was a radical democrat.

David A. Collins was one of the children born to his parents after they came to Henry County. The oldest John R. of Toledo has four daughters and one son ; Maiy, deceased, was the life of James Cavanaugh and she left four children; Bridget is the wife of Frank Collins of TifRn and they have a son and sis daughters; Stephen is a farmer in Marion Township in section 15 near Hamler, and is the father of two sons, one of whom, Frank, is now serving as a private in the United States army on the Mexican border; Ella is the wife of Thomas P. Kelley, in the insurance "business at Leipsic, Ohio, and they have three sons and one daughter: IMargaret married W. J. Long, a farmer in section 14 of Marion Township and has a son and three daughters ; ]Michael is represented on other pages of this history; David A. and some that died in infancy.

David Alfonso Collins was born November 21, 1872. He grew up in Marion Township, attended the local schools, and while he has never strayed far from his birthplace he has nevertheless shown remarkable energj- and has developed one of the fine farm homes in that section. Altogether he acquired 240 acres of land but gave one acre for a sehoolhouse. All this land is now in cultivation except ten acres, all is thoroughly drained and fenced, and the building improvements are among the best found in that section. He has a large barn, the main part 38 by 86 feet, with an L 36 by 56 feet. It is used both for his stock and grain, and he has several cribs and other outbuildings. Mr. Collins and family reside in a comfortable rural home, a two-storv house containing ten rooms and basement, and built of white cement block. Many town homes have not nearly so many practical comforts and conveniences. The house is lighted by the much advertised Delco system of electricity and is heated with hot air furnace.

Mr. Collins was married in Marion Township to Miss Theresa Deters, who was born in Putnam County in Liberty Township, and grew up and was educated there. Her parents were Frank and ilary (Meyer) Deters, both natives of Ohio but of German parentage. They were married in Putnam County and now live retired in the Village of Hamler, owning a farm of fifty acres near that town. Both ]\Ir. and Mrs. Deters are members of St. Paul's Catholic Church at Hamler. He was a democrat. I\Irs. Collins was one of five children. Her sister Lizzie is the wife of John Bussing of Hamler and the mother of three daughters. IMrs. Collins' twin brother Joseph is a farmer in Richfield Township of Henry Countj-, and is married and has seven children. Her sister Anna is the wife of Lee Connor of Hamler and they have a family of four sons and a daughter. George Deters is a blacksmith at Hamler and is married and has one daughter.

Mr. and llrs. Collins take great pride in their own children, and have done their best to supply them with those influences that are part of a good home and also with good educations. Pearl, the oldest, is a graduate of the Hamler High School and is now giving his assistance to his father in the management of the farm. Edward, usually called Ned, is sixteen years old and has finished his school course. Maurice is fourteen, Mildred is eleven, and Owen is seven, all these younger children being still in school. All the family are members of St. Paul's Catholic Church at Hamler. Mr. Collins is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Knights of Ohio and has held offices in the Modern "Woodmen of America. In polities he is true to the faith in which he was reared, democratic.

Fr.vnk CRO^^-ELL. While the rich and fertile agricultural district' of Damascus Township in Henry County is under consideration, some reference .should be made to one of the vigorous and progressive younger farmers of that section, ]\Ir. Frank Crowell, who has practically spent his life on the farm where he now lives.

parents came to Damascus Township. He is a son of Samuel A. and Christiana (Waitman) Crowell. In 1881 these parents bought 901/2 acres of land in Damascus Township. It was comparatively new land at the time and the improvements which now make it so valuable are almost entirely the results of the enterprise of the Crowell family. Some of the land was low, and that has been drained. A large amount of fencing has been done and the buildings are of the best and most substantial character. A large barn 40 by 80 feet is itself an index of the kind of farming that is practiced. This barn was erected in 1904 and the house in 1905. Mr. Frank Crowell and family now reside in a cement block house of eight rooms with basement.

It was in 1912 that Frank Crowell bought the farm from his parents, who then retired and has since lived in Fremont, where they own considerable valuable property. Mr. Samuel Crowell was born in Sandusky County, Ohio, in 1849. His father Adam Crowell was a native of Virginia, came to Sandusky County in the early days, and not only made a good farm there but liberally provided for his family. He died at the age of sixty years. He was three times married, had children by each wife, and Adam was a son of his marriage to Miss Remsburg.

Samuel Crowell and wife had two sons. The son Charles now lives on a f ann in Damascus Township and by his marriage to Jessie Winner has three children, Walter, Virgil and Deloris.

Frank Crowell grew up in Henry County, attended the local schools and learned how to farm under his father's direction. In the past four years he has demonstrated his ability to more than make a living on his farm, and he is one of the young men who are building up the reputation of Henry County as a grain and stock center.

In hist home township and county he married Miss JTaude King. She was born on the old King farm in Damascus Township and is a daughter of Samuel and Mary (Adams) King. Her parents were born in Ohio, were married in Sanduskj' County, in 1871 came to Damascus Township of Henry County. Mr. King has been one of the thrifty farmers of this section, and he still owns and occupies the beautiful home in section 8 south of the ]Maumee River. He is now seventy-seven years of age, has financial independence, and enjoys to the full his many comforts and blessings. His j\Ir. and Mrs. Frank Crowell have three bright and interesting children : Arthur, aged twelve, in the fifth grade of the public schools ; Alverda, aged ten, in the third grade; and Alice, who is four years of age.

Feed Orthwein. While his activities have at times led him into other fields of endeavor, the stable occupation of farming has enlisted the earlier as well as later interests of Fred Orthwein. whose successful career has been worked out largely in Henry County and in Marion Township. People in that section know Mr. Orthwein for his sterling worth, for the prosperity he has gained as a farmer, and for the competent citizenship and public spirit which he has displayed at every point.

Mr. Orthwein was born in Bueyrus, Ohio, May 25, 1857. He is of German ancestry. His father, Fred Orthwein, Sr., was born in Hesse Darmstadt in 1829, and died in Monroe Township of Henry County July 7, 1886. When young people his parents lived in Germany, were farmei*s there, and as a family they have all been Lutherans. Fred Orthwein, Sr., and his step-brother Jerry, both unmarried, came to America " in the early '50s. The voyage was made in a sailing vessel between Hamburg and Baltimore. From Baltimore they came westward to Crawford County, Ohio, locating at Bueyrus, where Jerry followed his trade of carpenter and Fred became a well digger. The latter was married in that locality to Miss Anna B. Bohler, who was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1834. Her parents spent all their lives on a Wurtemberg farm. She and her brother George, her sister Catherine and two other sisters, both of whom had married in Germany, came to America in the times of sailing vessels, landing at Baltimore proceeded westward to Bueyrus, Ohio. There she and her brother and sisters who were still single, married, and all of them are now deceased except Mrs. Fred Orthwein, who is living at the age of eighty-four and is remarkably well preserved in all her faculties. She makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Emma Yacke, in Monroe Township of Henry County. She is a devout Lutheran, has worshiped in that faith all her life as did also her husband, and she has a splendid memory and talks fluently and interestedl.y of earl.y days in Ohio. Of her children the oldest is Fred Orthwein. A brief record of the others is as follows: Jerry, who died leaving a son and three daughters; Frank, who occupies the old farm in Monroe Township and has a family of three sons and two daughters; Sarah, wife of William Harms, a Monroe Township farmer, mother of four sons ; Elizabeth, wife of Frank Foster of Elery, Henry County, and the mother of three sons; ilary, who married ililton Fox, and lives in Lucas County, Ohio ; Amanda, wife of Albert Knipp, a resident of Lima, their family consisting of a son and daughter ; William, a farmer in Flatrock Township, married Ella Westenhauser, and has two sons and four daughters ; Jacob is a farmer in Marion Township, and by his marriage to Anna Rohrs has two sons ; Emma is the wife of Charles Yaeke of Flatrock Township and has a family of sons and daughters.

Mr. Fred Orthwein grew up in his native town of Bucyrus, but until 1863, when at the age of six years, he accompanied his parents to Henry County. They located in Monroe Township, where his father immediately proceeded to develop a tract of wild land. Mr. Fred Orthwein knows what pioneer existence is, since a number of his earlier years were spent in a log cabin home. He had a taste for mechanics' and tools, and without any special instruction from others he developed a high degree of skill a^ a carpenter, and for a number of years his services were in much demand for the building of houses and barns in his section of the state.

In jMay, 1864, ]Mr. Orthwein removed to Marion Township and with his brother Jerry bought each forty acres of land in the midst of the woods. Here again Mr. Orthwein had a pioneer experience, since he cut down the trees, cleared away the brush and stumps, and practically made every acre of soil productive. He also put up all the buildings on his farm, and being a practical carpenter he has built everything with a view to permanence and excellence. He has a substantial seven-room modern house, a barn 36 by 78 feet with 20-foot posts, and also has a covered barnyard 36 by 48 feet affording a sheltered place for his stock while feeding. Mr. Orthwein has steadily prospered since coming to Marion Township, and now has 200 acres of improved land and has been successful in growing everj' crop fitted to this climate.

He has been disposed to co-operate with his fellow farmers in getting better marketing facilities, and was one of the early organizers of the Farmers Elevator at Hamler and one

Those who know Jlr. Orthwein would recognize a fatal omission should there be failure to mention his main divei'sion which is hunting. Mr. Orthwein has something more than a local reputation as a hunter of big game. He has spent a number of seasons in the northern woods of Michigan and Canada, and his home has a number of fine trophies, representing the spoils of his own marksmanship. He has several mounted deer heads and one of the finest specimens of moose head ever secured by a Northwest Ohio hunter. He has gone on those trips with some of the best of the large game sportsmen of Ohio, and has a record not only as a good shot but as a good sportsman in the best sense of that word.

Mr. Orthwein was married in Monroe Township, Henry County, to Mary German. She was born in Harrison Township of that county December 18, 1863, but he grew up in Monroe Township, where her parents removed when she was a small child. She is a daughter of Adam and Catherine (Pose) German, both natives of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. The German family about 1850 came to America, their only child at the time being a daughter Catherine. They made the journey in a sailing vessel and after landing at New York came west to Crawford County, Ohio, and subsequently the father improved a farm in Henry County. He died in Monroe Township October 26, 1893, at the age of sixty-six, and his widow survived him twelve years, being past eighty when she died.

Mr. and Mrs. Orthwein have five children: Ida M., born JIarch 2, 1885, married Fred Barnes and has four children, Hulda L., Mary, Walter and Frances. A. Pauline is the wife of William Heckler, and they now live in jMonroe Township and have a son Harley. William F. is still at home, assisting his father in the management of the farm and married Anna Downer. Francis A. was born January 28, 1895. and is also at home on the farm. Rudolph was born in 1902 and is a student in the Hamler High School. All the children received a good education both in the English and German languages. The family are members of Emanuel Lutheran Church, while Mr. Orthwein and his grown sons are democrats in their political affiliations.

many of the scenes and incidents which were typical of pioneer days in Northwestern Ohio. His father's was one of the early log cabin homes in Henry County. It was a small house, and like other pioneers they lived on a plan of utmost simplicity, but there was a generous hospitality always shining out from their door, and the house was much frequented by early travelers and friends and strangers alike found a hospitable welcome. Mr. March recalls the fact that many an Indian as he passed by came in under the roof and was entertained so as to have a lasting affection for the members of the March family.

Since 1908 Mr. Philip March has lived retired in the Village of McClure. However, he still owns a valuable and well impi-oved farm of 160 acres in sections 9 and 10 of Damascus Township. He bought that farm in 1900, and installed many of the improvements which now give value to the land. He had previously owned since 1878 fifty-five acres and seventy acres in sections 8 and 9 of the same township. On that land he spent his most active years as a farmer. Before removing to Damascus Township he had bought in 1871 forty acres in Platrock TownshiiJ, and he cleared that up from the woods and brush, with the exception of five acres. He lived there four years. As a resident of Henry County he has also had his home in Napoleon and Pleasant townships.

Mr. March is a son of Frederick and Rebecca (Palmer) March. However, his father spelled the name Martz. Frederick Martz was born in Alsace, Germany, in 1808 and was of German ancestry. When he was about of age he came with his father from Bremen, taking passage on a sailing vessel that was six months in making the voyage to New York City. Just before the ves.sel reached the harbor and while it was in sight of land the people engaged in a festive dance and celebration of their approach to the land of liberty and in the progress of that dance Frederick's father fell through an open hatchway, lighting on a chest, and was instantly killed. His body was brought to land and was buried in America.

For a while Frederick March lived with his stepmother in New York State, but then came on to Ohio and located in Henry County. He arrived here when everything was new and just in process of development, and being without capital he worked out for other people. Finally he entered 160 acres of wild land in Pleasant Township, and cleared up a good farm. His first wife died here, leaving five children. Two of these children were subsequently killed when his home was destroyed by fire. One other has since died. Sophia is unmarried and resides in Iowa. Frederick is living in Defiance County. Frederick iMarch married for his second wife Miss Palmer. She died in Pleasant Township in 1862, and in the following year he sold his land there and removed to Damascus Township. He was a very vigorous and enterprising citizen, and enjoyed a long and prosperous life. He died in Damascus Township in 1892 at the age of eighty-four. In matters of religion he was a Methodist, and he was a voter with the whigs until that party went out of existence and then became a republican. His children by the second marriage were : George, Philip, Frank, William, John, Charles, Jacob, Catherine and one that died in infancy. Jacob and John died in boyhood. All those who grew up married.

In Damascus Township Mr. Philip March married Catherine Adams. She was born in Sandusky County, Ohio, November 26, 1846, and was reared and educated in that county. Her parents Samuel and Sarah (Fought) Adams were natives of Pennsylvania and of old Pennsylvania ancestry. After their marriage they removed to Sandusky County, and Mr. Adams cleared up a farm in that section and lived there until his death at the age of eighty-four. His wife died when past sixtyfive, and their fourteen children all grew up, six sons and eight daughters, all of them married and all became heads of families. Those still living are Harriet, William, Mi'S. March, Isaac and Isabel.

Mr. and Mrs. March became the parents of five children. Susanna, the wife of Sherman Meyers, lives in Washington Township of Henry County and has children named Arilla, Gay, Catherine, Abbie, Joseph and Charles. Ellen is the wife of Harley Wolf, a Damascus Township farmer, and she has children named Clifford, Pearl, Elsie, Rollins, Fred, Grace, Dale and Nora. William, who farms his father's homestead, married Delia Davis, daughter of John Davis, and has a daughter Catherine. Elizabeth died, aged eight years. Guy Oscar, who was educated in the public schools of Damascus Township, is an active farmer there, and by his marriage to Louisa Keller had one child, a daughter, that died when one week old. Mr. and Mrs. March are active members of the United Brethren Church. Mrs. March is a member of the Local Lodge of the Knights of Pythias at McClure and has passed all the chairs in the lodge.

In polities he has alwaj'S been a republican and is one of the influential members of the party in his section of the county. He has held the office of township trustee and other places of local honor and responsibility.

Henry Benien. When a man possesses energy, good judgment and integrity of principle, and finds his real work and niche of usefulness earl.y in life, his success is practically assured. One of the most prosperous men of Hamler in Henry County is Henry Benien, who began his career with more disadvantages than advantages, and has had to make his own way against the current of circumstances since early boyhood.

Though a resident of Henry County since early childhood Mr. Benien was born in Hanover, Germany, April 4, 1870. His people have lived in Hanover for generations, has been as a rule of the agricultural class, and all of them were faithful adherents of the Lutheran Church. His grandfather died in the old country in the prime of life, and his widow survived him many years. Their only child was Jurgen Henry Benien, who was bom in 1834. Left fatherless at an early age he grew up with his mother, and being her only support was exempted from military service. After reaching manhood he married a neighbor girl. Miss Mary Lunsman, who was born in the same province and was eight months older than he. Both had been confirmed in the same Lutheran Church. They continued to live in the old country and while there four children were bom: Anna, Fred, Mary and Henry. In August, 1874, the little family left Bremen and crossing the ocean to Baltimore from there proceeded westward to Napoleon, Ohio. They were comparatively poor and they had to make the best of their opportunities. Going into Freedom Township they lived there for six years and then removed to Monroe Township, where the father leased forty acres of wild land from Fred Badenhop. This land was part of the wild and undrained swamp, and presented endless obstacles to ciiltivation and clearing. The father lived thei-e for eight years and in that time had cleared up the land and made it productive. These eight years the family lived in a log cabin 22 by 30 feet. After renting it for seven years "the father bought eighty acres in section 5 of Bartlow Township, and subsequently added another forty acres. He had the entire tract improved and was living in comfortable circumstances at the time of his death on January 10, 1916. His wife died at the old home in 1908. They were devout members of the Lutheran Church and the father became a republican in national politics. They were hard working people and endured cheerfully the many privations necessary to be undergone while establishing homes for themselves and their children. After they came to this country one daughter was born, Sophia. Those now living of the children are Sophia, Henry and Fred, all of whom are married and have families of their own.

Henry Benien grew up in Henry County from the age of four years and acquired his education in the local schools. He learned how to work, and industry has been the keynote to his gradually growing success.

At Holgate on June 15, 1904, he married Miss Anna Meyer. Mrs. Benien was born in Hanover, Germany, September 8, 1878. and was brought to the United States in 1882. Her parents, Fred and Christina (Kruger) IMeyer located in Monroe Township of Henry County. A month after they reached there Fred Me.yer died at the age of thirty-two, leaving two children, Mrs. Benien and her brother, Herman ]\Ieyer. Herman Me3-er is a successful merchant at Holgate and by his marriage to Minnie Voigt has three children. I\Irs. Benien 's mother married for her second husband Henry Meyer, a brother of her first husband. Henry Meyer came to America at the age of eighteen, enlisted in the United States navy and served as an ordinary seaman for twentj- years. During that time he was through the Civil war. They now live at Holgate, Mr. Meyer being seventy-four and his wife sixty-two. They are Lutherans and ]Mr. Meyer is a republican.

Since his marriage Mr. Benien has been located at Hamler and has carried on operations as a dealer in lands and has also supplied most of the pumps and windmills sold to the farmers and citizens of that section of Henry County-. He has shown exceptional judgment in the choice of his investments, whether for himself or for his customers. IMr. Benien now owns 242 acres of well improved land, divided into three separate farms, each having a complete set of farm buildings. He also owns thirteen lots in Hamler and has a very comfortable home there.

Mr. and Mrs. Benien liave five children : Vera, who died at the age of seven months; Donald H., born July 20, 1906, and now in the fifth grade of the public schools; Arleta

H., born December 29, 1908, and in the third grade ; Esther A., born February 20, 1911 ; and Paul J., born July 30, 1913. The family are all members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Benien is a democratic voter and takes both an intelligent and public spirited part in the affairs of his home community.

Fred Gluss is a member of the firm Gluss Brothers, cement roof and block works, at Hamler, Ohio. The business is conducted under the corporate title of Cement Construction Company. The present firm succeeded the old American Cement Roofing Company's plant at Hamler, and since 1911 has carried on the business themselves, manufacturing cement roofing tile, cement building blocks, and furnishing all kinds of cement material and also engaging in an extensive business as cement contractors. The American Cement Roofing Company was a large corporation handling chiefly the New Era cement roofing machines, and established a plant at Hamler largely for demonstration purposes. Having effected those purposes the company then sold the plant to the Gluss Brothers.

The Gluss Brothers have extended the business rapidly since they took active control, and have gone beyond the manufacturing end into the contracting work. As contractors they build county and state roads, public bridges, and have the facilities and the organization enabling them to handle almost any size or kind of contract in this line. Among the work now in operation is 7i4 miles of 16-foot cement roads in Miami County, Ohio. They also constructed a large bridge over the Auglaize River at Auglaize in Allen County, a bridge 214 feet long. Their plant at Hamler includes a main building 67 by 74 feet, and also much warehouse space, the buildings altogether occupying 110 by 130 grounds.

The Gluss Brothers have been for twentyfour years engaged in the cement trade, since 1893. Mr. Fred Gluss was secretary, treasurer and manager from 1907 to 1911 of the American Cement Roofing Company, and was one of its organizers and directors. He and his brothers have constracted many private houses in Henry County, using their cement block and roofing material, and have also built themselves fine homes in Hamler. Mr. Fred Gluss has a model twelve room residence, with a veranda extending fifty feet on the front and sides. All the brothers are men of great enterprise and are doing exceedingly well.

The Gluss Brothers were all born in Neuenkirchen in Hanover, Germany. Their people were Hanoverians and Lutherans. The father, Fred Gluss, Sr., was a brick mason by trade. It was in 1891 that Fred Gluss came to Hamler, and was shortly followed by his uncle, William Gluss, and also by the brother, August W. Gluss, who is now a member of the firm of Gluss Brothers. The uncle was a patentee of the special cement process, and brought his patent to America and with the aid of his nephews turned the patented process to good account. The Gluss Brothers have since acquired the American interests of their uncle, who, being unable to persuade his family to come to America, and having left considerable business interests in Germany, finally returned to that Country.

The parents of the Gluss Brothers, Fred and Sophia (Koster) Gluss, have spent their lives in Hanover, where the father died in 1894 at the age of fifty. His widow is still living in the same old homestead and is now fifty-eight years of age. Besides the three brothers in the firm of Gluss Brothers there is another, Ernest T., who also came to America. All the brothers are now married except William.

Mr. Fred Gluss was married in Freedom Township of Henry County to Miss Catherine Koepke, whose parents were German people, coming respectively from Prussia and Bavaria, and now living on the fine farm in Henry County where Mrs. Gluss was born March 8, 1882. She grew up there and received her education in the local schools. Mr. and Mrs. Gluss have no children. They are members of the Lutheran church and all the brothers are democrats in politics.

The firm of Glu.ss Brothers comprises Fred, William and August W. Gluss. Mr. Fred Gluss has taken a great interest in the civic improvement of Hamler and has served as president of the Hamler Commercial Club.

R. J. Perry. It is the opinion of his many friends in Henry County, especially about McClure, and the opinion is well .justified by the results, that Rollo J. Perry, as he is familiarly known, has an ability amounting almost to genius as a salesman. The adequate and satisfying success which he has won in life has come from farming, stock feeding and the sale of agricultural implements and automobiles.

plements used by the farming community, and also is local representative for the Buick and Ford automobiles. He is also owner of a small farm, especially improved and arranged for the purpose of feeding hogs and cattle. He has a large silo, and conducts his farm as a stock feeding place, and as this is a business to which he was trained from boyhood, it has been a valuable adjunct to his prosperity.

Mr. Perry was born in Damascus Township of Henry County July 28, 1875, was reared and educated on a farm, and in that community has been doing for himself for the past twenty years.

His parents are James D. and Elizabeth (Weaver) Perry. The father was Horn in Virginia an'd the mother in Ohio, but she also was of Virginia ancestry. The respective families came to *Henry County in the very early days. James Perry grew up and married here, and he and his wife have since lived on the original Weaver homestead in section 23 of Damascus Township. James Perry was born in 1848 and his wife in 1851. Both are actively identified with the Christian Union Church, and politically the family as a whole have been democrats. ' There were four children : R. J. ; Lottie, who lives at home ; Dora, who is the wife of John Campbell, now of Grand Rapids, Ohio, and she is the mother of one daughter, Virginia; and Alice, wife of Joseph Older, also of Grand Rapids.

At Lima Mr. Rollo J. Perry married Zelma Highshew. She was born in Fulton County, Ohio, January 20, 1878, and is a woman of exceptional talent and culture. She was educated both in Henry and Allen counties, and is a very proficient musician, and taught that art for some time before her marriage and also for sis years after she linked her destiny with Mr. Perry. Her parents, Zachariah and Edna (Crew)" Highshew, were both born in Fulton County, Ohio, grew up there, but were married in Henry County. They established their home on a farm in Fulton County, and some years later moved to Allen County, where Mrs. Highshew died in 1896, at the age of forty-two. Mr. Highshew now makes his home with his daughter, Mrs. Perry.

Mrs. Perry is an active member of the Lutheran Church. They have only one child of their own, Evelyn, who is now attending school. They have also adopted a nephew of Mrs. Perry, Clay Margaret, who is now eight years of age and is also in school.

MicHiVEL E. Collins. Marion Township in Henry County has many long and interesting associations with the Collins family. They have lived in the county for nearly seventy years, and when they came practically all of Marion Township was in the midst of the heavy woods. It would be impossible to describe in brief space the labors, trials, vexations, hardships and privations endured by the Collins family while getting firmly established in this section of the wilderness. Michael E. Collins is one of the younger generation, was born and reared in Henry county, and for over twenty years has managed a productive farm in his home township near Hamler.

He is a son of the late iliehael Collins, Sr., who was born in County Limerick, Ireland, in 1823. For generations before him his Irish ancestors had lived in County Limerick, and all of them as far back as the reckoning goes were loyal and devout Catholics. ]Michael grew up in Ireland, and was po.ssibly the first of his family to come to America. He made the voyage on a sailing vessel and after a number of weeks landed in New York City, coming on w-est to Ohio and first locating in Crawford County. He lived there for some years and during that time was employed on railroads and also in gravel pits as a worker. While there he met and married Bridget Shehe, their marriage taking place at Wooster in Wayne County. She was also a native of County Limerick, born February 1, 1827. She came when a girl to the United States, and it is believed that she came all alone. She found a home in Wooster, Ohio, and lived there until her marriage. Two children were born to them in Crawford County, John and Mary. Mary died in Henry County the wife of James Cavanaugh, leaving three sons and one daughter. John is now a retired farmer living at Toledo and has a son and four daughters.

After the birth of these children Michael Collins Sr. brought his family to Henry County and bought a tract of land in the wild and swampy district of section 13, Marion Township. He and his wife had only the simple and rude comforts of a log cabin home. The ground was low, and he raised his first crops of corn by heaping up mounds of earth and planting the grain above the level of the waters. It took time and patience to get a home, but Michael Collins had those qualities in a preeminent degree, and after some years he saw the land thoroughly drained. His first purchase was fifty-two acres, and after getting this in a fair way to improvement he bought eighty acres more and lived to see it all drained, fenced and divided into fields that produced the maximum of crops for this section. In fact the Collins farm has for years been one of the best grain growing propositions in Henry County. The old homestead is now owned and occupied by his son, David A. Both parents died on the old farm. Michael passed away September 12, 1889, and his widow survived him until May 31, 1907. They were among the most prominent early members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and traveled a number of miles in order to worship with the congregation. About thirty years ago they transferred their membership to St. Paul's Catholic Church at Hamler, and were eonimunieaiits there during their last years. Michael Collins was a democrat in politics. After they came to Henry County several other children were born. Bridget married Frank Collins, and they now live at Tiffin in Seneca County, where Mr. Collins is a business man, and their family consists of six daughters and one son. Stephen A. is a farmer in Marion Township and by his marriage to Tersia Stewart of Putnam County has two sons. Ella married T, Price Kelley, a retired farmer and insurance man at Leipsic, Ohio, and has three sons and one daughter. Margaret is the wife of William J. Long of Marion Township and the mother of three daughters and one son. The next in age is Michael E. Collins, and the youngest is David Alfonso, who has already been mentioned as the owner of the old homestead in Marion Township. David A. married Theresa Deters of Putnam County and has four sons and one daughter.

Michael E. Collins was born on the old home farm April 26, 1870, and that place was the scene of his early childhood joys and experiences. He attended the common schools and made no mistake in choosing a career as an agriculturist. In April, 1894, having sold his interests in the old homestead, he bought 105 acres of rich and fertile land in section 14 of Marion Township. It was a fairly good farm when he bought it, but twenty years have witnessed many improvements and changes, and the farm is worth several times as much as what he paid for it. He has done much to give it better drainage, has built substantial fences, and has a fine group of building improvements. His barn is 33 by 45 feet, surrounded with cribs, granaries and implement shelters. His home is a modern place of ten rooms. He not only grows crops but raises good stock, including some of the best examples of Chester White swine found in Henry County.

Mr. Collins was married in Lucas Countj^, Ohio, near Toledo, to Miss Frances Long. She was born and reared there, and her father, George Long, came from Germany when a child with his parents and grew up in Lucas" County, where he married Helen C. Lowrey. They spent the rest of their lives in Lucas County, and George Long was a well known and substantial farmer there. They were both very active in membership with St. Patrick's Catholic Church at Providence, and were members when the church was erected in 1845.

Mr. and Mrs. Collins have good reason to be proud of their children, some of whom are still at home attending school and others have found niches of usefulness in the world. George C, the oldest, completed his education at Hamler, and is showing some of his father's capacity as a farmer on the home place. Michael M., after attending public schools, graduated from the business college at Lima and is now bookkeeper for the Farmers' Elevator at Hamler. E. Glenn was born December 6, 1899, and has already completed the course of the common schools. D. Donald was born December 7, 1902, and is now a student in the high school. Florence F. was born November 21, 1908, and the voungest, Mary L., was born December 7, 1910. The family worship in St. Paul's Catholic Church at Hamler. Besides his farming interests Mr. Collins is a director in the Farmers Elevator at Plamler. He served two terms on the board of tax revision. He is af&liated with the Knights of Columbus and the Modern Woodmen of America and has held offices in both these orders, and is also a member of the Catholic Knights of Ohio.

Joseph Dietrick has made his success as a practical farmer and is one of the live and progressive citizens of Marion Township in Henry County. At different times in his career he has been honored with townshi)) offices, and his dependability has been a prominent characteristic in all his relations.

He was born in Marion Township of Henry County August 21, 1865. His family record introduces a number of names that have long been prominently associated with this section of Ohio. His fatlier, Mathias J. Dietrick, was born in Prussia, Germany, in March, 1840. The family had been residents of Prussia for generations and were of Catholic stock. The parents of Mathias were Joseph and :\Iary M. (Thomas) Dietrick. When Mathias J. was four years of age in 1844, the family set out for the United States from Bremen. They were three months in crossing the ocean to New York City. One daughter died while on the voyage and was buried at sea. Another child had died in Prussia, and still another died soon after they came to this country, being accidentally burned to death. Mathias was the youngest of the family, and the only one to grow up. For a short time the Dietricks lived in Cleveland, Ohio, and then moved to Avon in Lorain County, Ohio.

Mathias J. Dietrick spent most of his youth in Lorain County, acquired his education in the schools there, and when about grown he came with his parents to Henry County, locating on seventy-five acres in section 20 of Marion Township. Their home is in Sacred Heart Parish of the Catholic Church, and they and their family connections have long been prominently identified with that parish. When the family came to Henry County they made a home in the midst of the woods, and a log cabin served as their first habitation. Their land was in the midst of the black swamp. They used some of the primitive methods of tiling this land and making it profitable for agricultural purposes. Joseph Dietrick and his wife died in Henry County about thirty years ago. He was seventy-three and she about seventy. They were laid to rest in the Sacred Heart Cemetery. After he came to this country Joseph Dietrick affiliated with the democratic party.

After the death of his parents Mathias J. Dietrick succeeded to the old farm, and he still lives there, being now seventy-six years of age. He is quite feeble in health, that being the result of an injury he received while engaged in his trade as a carpenter. He followed carpentry until five years after his marriage, and since that time has been engaged in general farming. Mathias Dietrick married Miss Catherine Schwabla, who was born at New Bavaria in Henry Countv, June 6, 1841. She died January 11, 1909^ She was one of the oldest natives of Henry County and represented one of the earliest German families to settle here. She was a woman of -very thrifty habits and of most capable character. Her parents came from Germany, her father a native of Baden and her mother of Rhenish Bavaria. They were married in this country, and her father died at New Bavaria in 1854 when in the prime of life. His death left his widow with four young children, Mrs. Catherine Dietrick, the oldest, being only thirteen years of age. Her mother succeeded in keeping her household together and reared her daughters until they were well established in homes of their own. She died in 1S85 when past seventy j'cars of age. This family were also devout membere of the Catholic Church.

Joseph Dietrick was the oldest in a family of eight children. All of them are still living and four of them are married. The names of the others are : Mathias ; William N., at home ; Christina J., unmarried; Mary Magdalene; Elizabeth; Peter; John A., who is an automobile dealer.

Joseph Dietrick grew up on the old home farm, and after his marriage twenty-four years ago he came to the place he now owns, consisting of 110 acres. The farm is well improved, and has a complete set of substantial buildings, all kept in a perfect state of repair. The land is well fenced, and under his proprietorship and in earlier yeai-s it has been thoroughly ditched out and drained.

ilr. Dietrick was married in Marion Township October 18, 1892, to Christina J. Mangas. ilrs. Dietrick was born in Marion Township December 12, 1866, and grew up and received her education there, and is a daughter of Henry and Mary (Diemer) Mangas, both of whom were natives of Germany, her father of Prussia and her mother of Bavaria. The family came to the United States and Mrs. Dietrick 's parents were married in Henry County. They spent the rest of their lives in jMarion Township and were among the capable farmer class of this section and were active Catholics. Mrs. Dietrick 's mother died when about fifty-two years of age and her father when past seventy. Their remains now rest in the Sacred Heart Cemetery. Mr. Mangas took an active part in democratic politics and filled several local offices.

Mr. and ilrs. Dietrick are the parents of five children. Joseph H., born in 1894, was educated in the public schools and took a business course at the Fort Wayne Business College, following which he was employed in the transportation department of the Nickel Plate Railway Company for some time, is now an active assistant to his father in the man- agement of the home farm; he married Genevieve Long of Hamler, Ohio. Marie C, the second child, was born February 7, 1896, and completed her course in the eighth grade of the public schools in 1911. Loretta was born November 22, 1898, completed the eighth grade course in 1914 and is also at home. Hilda was born Februarj' 6, 1902, is now in the eighth grade of the public schools, while Anthony W. was born December 21, 1904.

All the family are communicants of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Politically Mr. Dietrick has been a loyal supporter and worker in the democratic party for many years. He was clerk of the board of education for a long time and is now its president. For four years he was a member of the board of the County Agricultural Society, he served as township assessor for four years, and is now a member of the Board of Trustees of Marion Township.

Cyeus Bish is a member of one of the most interesting pioneer families of Ohio. His own career has been prolonged almost to the age of three score and ten, and these have been fruitful years, some of them passed in the performance of pioneer labors similar to those his parents and grandparents went through, and out of it all he has acquired prosperity, influence and that community esteem which is one of the best of true riches. His home is in Bartlow Township of Henry County.

His ancestry is German. His gi-eat-grandfather, John Bish Sr., came from Germany about the close of the Revolutionary war, and located on the line between Virginia and Pennsylvania. He lived there quietly and not without reward for his industrious efforts and died in that locality. In his family was John Bish Jr., grandfather of Cyrus. The latter was born at the old homestead in Pennsylvania and married a Pennsylvania girl. AH their children but one were born in the old state. These children were Jacob, Andrew, David, Henry, Catherine and Leanna. During the '30s the Bish family joined a little colony of seventeen families, and with wagons and teams they made the slow and toilsome progress over the mountains, across the rivers, by rough roads and scarcely defined trails, camping by the roadside at night, until they arrived in Liberty Township of Fairfield County. All the families settled in one locality, and it was literally a transplanting of a small section of Pennsylvania to Ohio. After thev came to Ohio John Bish Jr. and wife had one other child, Peter. All these children married and all are now passed to their final reward. John Bish Jr. died soon after he came to Ohio and his widow subsequently married Peter Walters, a man of German birth. Mr. Walters had children by his first marriage, but there were none by the second. Mrs. John Bish Jr. was a devout Christian woman active in the United Brethren Church.

David Bish, father of Cyrus, was born in Pennsylvania about 1820, and was still a boy when he accompanied his parents to Ohio. In Fairfield County he married a neighbor girl, Catherine Fenstermaker. She was born back on the Pennsylvaina- Virginia line, and was a member of the colony which went from the East into Liberty Township of Fairfield County. Her p'arents were pioneers there and died when quite old.

Just as his parents had done when he was a boy, David Bish determined to strike out for new fields and seek a home in a new district. He and his wife accordingly removed to Hancock County, making the journey with teams and wagons and settled in the woods of Liberty Township. Not oulj- was their own home in 'the woods but the forest extended for miles around. There were great trees of elm, sycamore, maple and other varieties, and game abounded throughout that district. David Bish in time cleared a fine farm from out these woods and his industry and good business judgment enabled him to accumulate five complete farms. Pie was widely known for his prominence and success, and he died in Findlay, Ohio, at the age of sixty-six. His widow is still living on the old farm in Liberty Township with her daughter, and on October 3, 1916. was ninety-three years of age. In spite of her years she is still smart and active. She and her husband were active members of the United Brethren Church, and he was a democrat and was given several local offices in Liberty Township.

Such a brief record shows that the Bish family have been possessed of the real pioneer spirit which has been responsible for the rapid clearing up and development of Western America during the past centui-y. Mr. Cyrus Bish was bom in the family home in Fairfield County, Ohio, March 5, 1847. He grew up and received his early education in Hancock County, and as a boy he sat on the rough slah seats of a pioneer schoolhouse. The curriculum was limited, but like many other boys of the time he managed to acquire a fair amount of book learning and also the habits

In October, 1874, Mr. Bish removed to Henry County and, following the pioneer instinct which had urged his forefather first from Pennsylvania and then to successively new localities in Ohio, he acquired a tract of 160 acres in the wild woods. The timber was dense, much of the land was swampy, but even then he recognized its surpassing fertility. A remarkable transformation lias occurred since then, due to his energetic labors. The forests have been cleared ofi:' with the exception of twenty acres of standing timber, which now constitutes a valuable asset; the ground has been drained, and the fields are of almost inexhaustible fertility.^ Mr. Bish for many years has grown large crops of corn, oats and hay, and he has made it a policy to Keep good stock on his farm.

In Hancock County Mr. Bish married Mary J. Lanning. She was born in Liberty Township of that county in 1850 and grew up and lived there until after her marriage. Mary J. Lanning was a daughter of Louis and Rothy (Fritchie) Lanning, both of whom died in advanced years, he at the age of seventy-five and she when about eighty. They were members of the United Brethren Church. Mr. and Mrs. Bish have had four children, only two of whom are now living. William died when nearly eighteen years of age. Ira lives at home unmarried. Da\nd died when about twenty-four years of age and never married. Grover C. was born December 21, 1874, grew up on the home farm, was educated in the Deshler schools and is now the active manager of his father's estate. He married Sarah Jackson, who was born in Henry County twenty-six years ago and reared here. Mr. Bish and his sons are active democrats. Grover C. is an active member of the lodge and encampment of the Odd Fellows at Deshler and also belongs to the Rebekahs.

William H. Harm-\n. With everj' passing year more and more honor is paid to the veterans of the Civil war. One whose service was of unusual incident, experience, and hardship, was Mr. William H. Harman, who now lives retired on his country place in Damascus Township of Henry County.

Like most of the soldiers who fought the battles of the war, he was a youth when he enlisted, only nineteen years of age. It was in May, 1861, that he joined the Sixty -fifth New York Chasseurs under Colonel Cochran of New York City. He was out in time to participate in that first humiliating defeat which the North suffered, the first battle of Bull Run. Later he was with McCleUan's army on the move down the Chesapeake Bay, fought at Fort Williamson, later participated in the Seven Days battle, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, and was also a participant in the secpnd battle of Bull Run. During the first three years of the war there was hardly a great battle in which lie was not present and doing all that a faithful and courageous soldier could do. He was at the Battle of Antietam, also at South Mountain, at Brandy Station, in the Battle of Fredericksburg, and also at Gettysburg. In the Battle of the Wilderness he was captured on the 6th of ^lay, and soon afterward with his comrade prisoners was started on the road to the South. When about twenty-five miles from the battlefield he and two comrades named Ramsey and Isenminger made their escape. However, he was recaptured, and was carried on down to Andersonville prison. He has many interesting recollections of that famous stockade in which so many northern soldiers suffered excruciating hardships and died. He himself was kept there until his physical frame was reduced to a mere skeleton and he weighed only seventyfive pounds. His legs were doubled up and his teeth nearly fell out from the affliction of scurvy. In this- more dead than alive condition he was with others on October 8, 1864, exchanged and sent north. Previously he had worked with other prisoners in excavating a tunnel, he' and eight of his comrades having spent three weeks in digging their way to freedom. They were just about to get beyond the stockade when they were discovered, but no special punishment was meted out to them except that they were deprived of their rations. On being released from the stockade he was sent to Cape Hatteras and thence to New York City, and on arriving there was given his honorable discharge.

At the great Battle of Gettysburg a fragment from an exploding shell struck his gun which he was carrying over his shoulder, and that alone prevented his head being torn from his shoulders. As it was, the shock was so great that he lost con.sciousness and was left on the field for dead. After several hours he came to his senses, and subsequently was able to rejoin his regiment and suffered no especial ill effects from the experience.

dersonville. He was born in Seneca County, Ohio, Au^st 13, 1843, and lived on a farm and attended country schools until he enlisted for service in the army. After the war he returned to Seneca County, and then in 1869 moved to Heni-y County, where he bought forty acres in section 20 of Damascus Township. That has been the scene of his most active labors for nearly half a century. The land was covered with timber and brush, and he put in many years of toil in clearing it up. The log cabin home in which he first lived is still standing as a mute witness of his early efforts as a pioneer. In 1899 Mr. Harman bought ten acres adjoining his first purchase, and there he has erected a substantial house and has all his land cleared, .so that it represents a subistantial income. His present wife also owns forty acres.in section 19.

In Seneca Township and County, where he was horn and where she was also a native, Mr. Harman married Catherine A. Shoemaker. Her father, Jacob Shoemaker, was a native of Germany. Mrs. Harman took part in some of the early labors of the old home in Damascus Township, and she died there January 18, 1885, at the age of thirty-eight. She was the mother of five children : Charles N. is living in McHenry County, North Dakota, and has three children. Alberta M. is the wife of Samuel Billig of Harrison Township, Henry County, and the mother of two sons and three daughters. F. Fenton died July 25, 1915, leaving his wife, whose maiden name was Kate B. Van Tassel, who now resides in Toledo and has two living daughters. Dora C. is the wife of George W. Blair, a farmer of Damascus Township, and has a son named Paul. Noah E. is a very successful and extensive rancher in the State of Montana, and by his marriage to Laura Blair has two sons, Howard and Kenton.

In Grand Rapids, Wood County, Ohio, November 26, 1891, Mr. Harman married Mrs. Mary E. Creager, whose maiden name was Fischer.- She was born in Crawford County, Ohio, in 1863 and of German parentage. She was first married in Damascus Township to Benjamin Creager, who was born and reared in Henry County, and while still in the prime of life was accidentally killed while loading some logs. He was a good citizen, very popular in the community, and at his death left his widow and four children. These children of Mrs. Harman 's first marriage are: Daniel J., who is a farmer in Monroe Township of Henry County and has a family of sons and daughters; Allen, a farmer in Villisca, Iowa, and married and the father of one son ; Ettie A., wife of Benjamin Kissner, who lives in Richfield Township of Henry County, and they have quite a family of sons and daughters; Gideon, lives in Pierre, South Dakota, is married and has two sons and two daughters.

Mr. and Mrs. Harman have one son of their own marriage, Harvey D., who does most of the work on the home farm. He married Georgia Briney and has two sons, Lyle and Howard. Mr. and Mrs. Harman are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically he is a republican, has voted that ticket ever since the second election of Abraham Lincoln.

Luke E. Long, who has been in active practice as a lawyer in Henry County for the past seventeen years, has been a moving spirit in ' much of the business and civic enterprise credited to the Town of Deshler.

Mr. Long studied law in the office of Hon. D. D. Donovan while the latter was in practice at Deshler, and subsequently took a twenty weeks' course in the Ohio Northern University Law Department. He was admitted to the bar in 1900 and at once began practice at Deshler. JMr. Long is a graduate of the Weston High School of Ohio and he began the study of law while teaching school, an occupation he followed five years.

In 1897 Mr. Long was elected a justice of the peace at Deshler and in 1905 was chosen to the office of mayor, being re-elected for a second term of two years. He is a democrat and has been quite active in local politics and has served as a member of the county and township central committees. Since 1906 Mr. Long has represented as attorney the Ohio Electric Street Railway Company. When that road was constructed through Deshler he was serving as mayor of the city and was given the honor and distinction of driving the first spike on May 6, 1906. This ceremony was held at what was called the North Yards in Deshler. Mr. Long used six strokes with the sledge in driving the spike home. He is also attorney for the Corn City State Bank of Deshler, and at Hoytville he 'organized the Farmers Elevator and the Tile Company. For several years Mr. Long has been legal representative of Florien Giauque in the latter's insurance and legal business. Mr. Giaque is the largest real estate operator in this part of Ohio.

Though Mr. Long represents families identified with Ohio in early times and has himself spent most of his life in this state, he was bom iu Council Bluffs, Iowa, fifty-thi-ee years ago. His father, Daniel M. Long, was an early stage driver from Council Bluffs to Denver, before the days of transcontinental railways. He drove a stage coach over this long and dangerous route before and during the Civil war, and had many adventures that would bear recalling. In 1865 he left the West and moved to Sandusky County, Ohio, and for some years was a teacher. In 1872 he moved to Prospect, now Bradner, in Wood County, and entered the insurance business. From 1875 he. lived at Weston in Wood County until his death on December 15, 1889, at the age of fifty-four years. It was in these localities that Mr. Luke Long spent his youth and early manhood.

Daniel Long was born in Seneca County, Ohio, a son of Samuel Long. Samuel was a native of Pennsylvania and of German stock. His wife Sarah was of Irish lineage. They came to Ohio and Samuel Long was a pioneer minister of the United Brethren Church and carried on his work when it involved long rides over the country from one church to another. He and his wife lived many years in Seneca County, where they died. Rev. Samuel Long was born in 1800 and died in 1885 and his wife died seven years before him.

Daniel Long spent his early life in -Seneca County and was married there to Elizabeth Hopkins. She died at the old home near Weston January 17, 1879, when in middle life. In her family were three sons and five daughters still living, Mr, Luke Long being the fourth in age.,

Luke Long is active and well known in fraternal circles. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and has passed the chairs of the Blue Lodge and is now an official in the local chapter. His membership is with Sycamore Lodge at Deshler, Deshler Chapter Royal Arch Masons, Ottawa Council Royal and Select Masons, Findlay Commandery Knights Templars, and Maumee Valley Consistory at Toledo. He is also a member of Findlay Lodge of Elks and of Alma Lodge No. 349 Knights of Pythias at Deshler. He has twice sei-ved as grand chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias.

iu 1889. He is a brother of the late Charles R. Stafford, who was one of the first merchants in Deshler beginning business in that community iu 1883.

Mr. Stafford is senior member of the firm Stafford & Lee, general elevator operatoi's and grain dealers at Deshler. Mr. Stafford built the present elevator along the Baltimore & Ohio Railway tracks in 1895, and for a number of years he aud his brother Charles conducted it under the name of Stafford Brothers. Charles R. Stafford died in California February 11, 1915. He had been a general merchant at Deshler since 1883.

The elevator at Deshler has a business record which indicates some of the agricultural history of Henry County. For the past twenty years it has handled on an average 300 earloads of grain annually. Most of this grain is corn and oats, and the proportions in bushels are about three of corn to two of oats. Mr. Stafford has bought and sold grain both at the lowest and at the highest prices. His records show that corn is now ten times higher in price than the lowest price he ever paid, while oats is four times the lowest price. His brother Charles R. Stafford bought and sold in ears on the track the fii-st grain handled at Deshler. Theirs was the first elevator built in the town.

Mr. Stafford was a farmer by training and youthful experiences and came to Deshler in 1889 from Wood County. He was born in Hancock County, Ohio, April 12, 1864, and was eighteen months of age when his parents moved to Liberty Township of Wood County. He does not recall the .journey himself but often heard his parents describe it. It was made with wagons and teams. Nearly all the way they traveled over corduroy roads and it was a hard trip both on the horses and the people. The family located in the heavy timber section of Liberty Township and there had their log cabin home and all the familiar experiences of pioneer existence. Grant Stafford grew up on that farm, attended public schools in the locality, and his first gainful occupation was as a teacher, a vocation he followed six years before coming to Deshler.

His father, Nathan W. Stafford, was born in Ashland County, Ohio, in 1836. His parents had come out from Pennsylvania and located in Ashland County in pioneer times, where his father died when in the prime of years, and his widow later passed away in Wood County. Nathan Stafford was seventeen or eighteen years of age when his father died. His mother and some of the older children kept up the' old homestead in Ashland Couiity while Nathan removed to Hancock County to join his brother and sister at Mc- Comb. He finally went out to Iowa, and in Lee County of that state he met and married Marinda JMcCracken. She was born in Franklin County, near Columbus, Ohio, in 1839 and was a small child when her parents removed to the vicinity of Vandalia, Illinois. When slie was nine years of age both her parents died within a few days of each other. She was then taken by a paternal uncle to Iowa, and lived there until her marriage in 1859. In 1861 Nathan Stafford and wife located in Hancock County, Ohio, and in 1865 they made their last removal to Wood County. Nathan's brother James killed the last wolf ever seen in that section of Wood County. The Staffords developed a first class farm in Liberty Township of Wood County and surrounded with plenty and comforts Nathan Stafford died there in 1903 and his widow in 1908. They are buried side by side in the Sargent Cemetery. The United Brethren Church was on their farm' and they attended its worship regularly. Nathan Stafford once served as county commissioner and also as trustee of liis township, and in politics was a republican, tliough with strong independent leanings.

Mr. Grant Stafford was the foiirth in a family of eleven children, all of whom grew up, all married, and all had children but two. Tliree are now deceased. Twenty-six years ago at Weston in Wood County Grant Stafford married Julia Long. She was born on the line between Wood and Seneca County October 14, 1868, and spent her early youth at Weston, where she taught school before her marriage. She is a sister of Mr. Luke Edward Long, the well known lawyer of Deshler. While Mr. and Jlrs. Stafford have no children of their own, they have adopted and reared since she was four years of age a foster daughter Ellen Laney. She is now sixteen years of age and is a student in the Deshler High School. Mr. Stafford, wife and daughter attend the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Mrs. Stafford and her daughter are active members. Mr. Stafford has served on the school board and the city council, and politically is an independent democrat.

M. Hart Darby is now serving as postmaster of Deshler, Henry County, having been appointed by President Wilson July 1, 1914. This is a third class iDOstoffice and it supplies the mail for four rural routes, and besides the postmaster there is an assistant postmaster and a clei'k. Mr. Darby has shown complete competence in the administration of his official duties and has done a good deal to improve and give greater satisfaction to the patronage of the office.

For eight years Mr. Darby operated the Ross House at Deshler. This is one of the well known hotels of Northwest Ohio, and contains thirty-one rooms. Mr. Darby has been a resident of Deshler since 1882. It was a very small village when he came, and he has witnessed its growth and been a factor therein for thirty-five years. For a long time he was engaged in the wine and liquor trade.

No one has played a more active part in. local affairs than Mr. Darby. For twentytwo years he was fire chief of the volunteer fire department of thirty-six members. He became actively identified with the Northwest Ohio Volunteer Fire Association which he served as treasurer and was formerly president of the Volunteer Fire Chiefs Association, now known as the State Volunteer Fire Department Association.