Sandusky Township (part 34 of 57)

Mr. Dickinson L. Durbin was born within three miles of the Village of ilcClure, a little more than tifty years ago. He grew up on the home farm, attended public schools and had one year in college, but has acquired his knowledge of men and business affairs chiefly by experience. As a boy he took his place behind the counter in his father's general store, and his knowledge of merchandising is the product of most thorough experience.

The Durbins are Scotch-Irish, and they settled in Maryland before the Revolutionary war. Mr. Durbin 's grandfather, Thomas W. Durbin, Sr., spent all his life in Maryland, and of his family of children Thomas W., Jr., and James both came to Ohio. James Durbin was a lawyer, but after coming to Ohio during the "SOs he became a contractor on a canal and also an engineer. He married Sarah Fisk, of Heniy County, and they had the following children: John, who was drowned when fourteen years of age ; Rodney C, who became a railway mail clerk, lived for many years at Napoleon and is now a resident of Toledo : Eva, who for thirty years taught school in Chicago, and is now married; Edward, who became a prominent .young lawyer in Toledo, but died before marriage. After these children were grown James Durbin and wife separated, the former spending his last days in Kansas and the latter in Chicago.

Thomas W. Durbin, Jr., was born in Frederickstown, Maryland, in 1822, and was still unmarried when he came to Ohio. At that time he was a blacksmith, and he had some experience at that trade in the Village of Texas in Henry County. Later he taiight school, also did contract work on the ]Miami Canal for some years, and then engaged in business as a merchant at Texas. His surplus capital he invested in land until he owned some very extensive tracts. In 1908 he retired from business and moved to Chicago, where he is now living in his ninety-fourth year, though still quite hale and hearty. He was one of the stanch leaders of the democratic party in the early days of Henry County, and it is said that he never aspired for any office which he did not get. He served as county clerk, county recorder and county commissioner. His wife, who died in Chicago in 1915, at the age of eighty-four, was before her marriage Lucinda King. She was born in Perry County, Ohio, was educated there and in Seneca County, and was a daughter of Jacob King, who was both a fai-mer and a local minister, of the German Reformed Church. Jacob King was an early settler both in Perry and Seneca counties, and died during the '40s. Thomas W. Durbin and wife later in life became members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

George, the oldest of the children of Thomas W. Durbin and wife, died in infancy. Charles has never mari'ied and spent most of his time at Youngstown, Ohio. The daughter Gayette has gained unusual distinction as a woman physician. She was born in Washington Township of Henry County, attended the public schools there, and was one of the early graduates of the Woman's College of Medicine in New York City. For over thirty years she has ranked as one of the foremost women practitioners in the City of Chicago. She is the wife of Dr. Emil Ries, who for years has ranked as one of the most prominent surgeons not only of Chicago but of the United States. Doctor Ries was born in Germany, gi-aduated in medicine at Stuttgart and Berlin, and for many years has praqticed surgery in Chicago. Doctor and I\Irs. Ries have one son, Emil, Jr., now sixteen years of age and a student in the University of Chicago.

Clark T. Durbin, business partner of Dickinson L., and who only recently retired from merchandising at McClure, married Hattie Light, of Damascus Township. A brief record of their children is as follows : Frances, who finished her education in a high school in Chicago and is now the wife of Leo Pilliod and lives in Grand Rapids, Ohio : Zoe. a high school graduate of Chicago,, is clerk and assistant cashier in her uncle's bank: Dorothy is a graduate with the class of 1917 of the MeClure High School : Thomas is in the medical department of the Universitv of Michigan.

Mr. Dickinson L. Durbin was marriec^ at Napoleon to Miss Anna M. Mcintosh, daughter of Thomas and Ola (Mc Williams') Mcintosh and a maternal granddaughter of Charles McWilliams, one of the prominent pioneers of Henry Count.y. Both the Mcintosh and J\Ic Williams families were actively identified with the early life and affairs of Henry County. 'Sirs. Mcintosh is still living, making her home at Napoleon, and is quite active at the age of sixty-five. These families were all Presbyterians. Mr. Durbin is a democrat, and his wife is a Presbyterian. He is a

Mr. and Mrs. Durbin have the following children : Lillian G., who graduated from the McClure High School in 1913, attended Oberlin College in 1911-15, later graduated from Dr. Mary Laws Kindergarten School at Toledo and is now assistant to the principal of the Lincoln High School at Toledo, ilildred A. is a member of the class of 1918 in the MeClure High School. Melba is four years of age.

Adelbeet E. Couch. Through more than sixty years of residence members of the Couch family have accomplished a great deal for the development and improvement of Henry County. Mr. Adelbert E. Couch represents the second generation of the family residence in this county, and though he had little to start with he has built up a splendid country home and farm in Richfield Township, where he is among the most honored residents.

He was born in Liberty Township, Henry County, May 5, 1865. His early years were spent on the old home, and by personal recollection he recalls many things which belong to the pioneer period of the county. He attended the schools of Damascus Township.

There have been three generations of the Couch family in Ohio. His grandparents were Barnabas and Clarissa (Baird) Couch, who spent most of their lives at Jeromeville in Ashland County, Ohio. Barnabas Couch was a harness maker and worked at that trade iu Jeromeville until his death in 1841. His widow survived him about ten years.

Curtis Couch, father of Adelbert E., was born in Granville, Licking County, Ohio, in 1823. He was jnarried at Oberlin to Miss Amanda Hemenway. She was born in New York State of Yankee stock. When she was nine years of age her mother died in Jefferson County, New York. Ten years later she and her father came to the Western Reserve of Ohio, where he died and where she grew to womanhood. Curtis Couch and wife lived for some time after their marriage at Wooster and in Ashland County, and while there their oldest child, Luther A. Couch, was born iu 1855. In 1857 the family sought a new home in Henry County. They spent li/o years in Napoleon, and then went into the woods of Liberty Township and life as real pioneers. After coming to Henry County four other children were born: Rufus, at Napoleon in 1858; Kindle in 1859; Alva in

1862 ; Adelbert E. in 1865 ; and Mary, in 1868. Marj' is the wife of C. L. Boulton of Trumbull County and the mother of one daughter. Alva is a farmer in Guthrie County, Iowa, and has a daughter Lena. Kindle is a merchant in Portland, Oregon, and has two daughters, Hazel and Louisa. The oldest child, Luther A., lives in Bismarck, North Dakota, and has five sons and one daughter living. Rufus lives at Casey, Iowa, and has three sons and two daughters. The parents of these children are now deceased. Curtis Couch died in Ashtabula County, Ohio, November 28, 1910, and his remains were brought back to Napoleon and laid beside his wife, who had died October 11, 1909. She was an active Methodist, and he was a republican.

In Damascus Township of Henry County March 6, 1892, Adelbert E. Couch married iliss Rebecca Latta. She was born in Monroe Township of Henry Count}- December 13, 1861, a daughter of David H. and Sarah (Fickel) Latta. Both her parents are now deceased. They were among the early settlers of Monroe Township. Her mother died there at the age of forty-nine, while Mr. Latta passed away October 4, 1904. They were active in the United Brethren Church and he was a republican.

When Mr. and Mrs. Couch were married they had very little money, but faced life with determination and energy sufficient to bring them all they desired. For the first twelve years they were tenant farmers in Damascus Township. In the meantime Mr. Couch, by the thrifty accumulations of himself and his wife, was able to purchase in 1895 a fortyacre tract of wild land in section 18 of Richfield Township. He began the work of clearing and improving that land, but did not occup.y it until 1904. Since then this forty acres has become the nucleus of a very fine farm. The rise in land value in this section of Ohio is well illustrated by Mr. Couch's vai'ious purchases of land. For his first forty acres he paid $35 an acre. Some years later when he was prepared to increase his holdings by another forty acre purchase he had to pay $60 an acre. A few j'cars ago an addition of fifty acres to his farm cost him .$100 an acre. All his land is the best of soil and is improved up to the very best standards of Ohio agriculture. He has a fine concrete house of thirteen rooms, fitted up in the best stvle. His barn is 36 bv 80 feet, surrounded

Mr. Couch enjoyed a very happy married life of over twenty years. His wife died January 15, 1916. She was a devout member of the United Brethren Church. There is only one child living, David C, who was born October 1, 1894, was reared and educated in Henry County, and is now the practical manager of his father's fine farm. David married iMaude Johnson, who was born in Damascus Township, September 23, 1893, and before her marriage was a popular and successful music teacher. They were married December 26, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Couch also had an adopted child, Grace Stickley, who grew up in their home, married George Weasel, and they now occupy the large Thompson estate in Richfield Township. Mr. . Couch and his son are vigoi'ously aligned with the republican party.

John Donovan is member of a prominent family of that name long identified with Henrj' County, and for many years has been active in the community life of Deshler.

Mr. Donovan was born on the "old Donovan homestead in a log cabin in Washington Townsliip, Heni-j' County, about sixty years ago. At the time of his birth the entire country was new and wild and the log cabin home in which he first saw the light of day was situated two miles north of the Maumee River. He is a son of John and Catherine (Hannan) Donovan. His father was born in Ireland, of Irish Catholic parents, and after reaching manhood he emigrated to America, being six weeks on the voyage. The vessel's destination was New York, but it was driven out of its course by adverse winds and landed the passengers at Halifax, Nova Scotia. He soon afterwards found his way to Ohio and in this state met and married his wife. She was a native of Canada and of Irish parents, having come to Ohio when she was a young woman. John Donovan, Sr., worked for a time on the old Maumee Canal. Later he bought land a mile or two north of the canal in section 34 of Washington Township. The labor of his hands constructed the log cabin and he and liis wife were in the midst of real pioneer circumstances for many years. His first purchase of land was eighty acres. He cleared, it off and made a farm of it, and his pro.sperity enabled him to acquire eventually a place of 220 acres, constituting a valuable farm. At that home all the seven children were born. John Donovan is the oldest of the family. The next younger is Judge James Donovan, elsewhere mentioned in this publication. Margaret and Mary are twins, the former having never married and living at Deshler. Mary is the wife of E. J. O'Hearn, a fruit raiser living at Calexico, California, on the line between Mexico and the United States. Hon. Dennis D. Donovan of Napoleon comes next in age. Cornelius is a commercial traveling man with headquarters at Keokuk, Iowa.

About 1890 John Donovan, Sr., and wife removed to Deshler and spent their last years retired. He died at the age of about eighty, having been born in 1820. His widow followed him to the Great Beyond exactly ten years later. Both were devout Catholics and he was a democrat.

John Donovan, Jr., grew up on the home farm in his native township and was a successful teacher for several years. In 1883 he removed to Deshler when that was still a hamlet and has been actively identified with community affairs for many years. He carried on merchandising, served as post master and has filled the offices of justice of the peace and mayor. Mr. Donovan lives in a fine home at the corner of Maple and Lind streets. In politics he is a democrat, and for a number of years was local democratic committeeman.

He was married at Custer in Wood County, Ohio, to Miss Agnes Newton, a native of Perrysburg, Ohio. Her father George Newton was bom in England and spent his active life as a farmer in Wood County, where he died when about seventy years of age. He was twice married, Mrs. Donovan being the child of his first wife, who died when she was a small child. The Newton family were all adherents of the Episcopal Church.

John A., the only .son of Mr. and Mrs. Donovan, was graduated as a pharmacist from the Ohio Northern University at Ada, clerked three years at Lima, and has since been a successful druggi.st at Deshler. Beatrice, the only daughter, was educated in the public schools of Deshler, took advanced studies at the university at Ada and graduated from the high school of that city. She is the wife of Rollin C. Gordon, a clothing merchant at Midland, Michigan. They have two children : Robert and Rollin. Mr. Donovan and family are members of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church at Deshler.

Fred Gribbell is one of the talented young lawyers of Henry County, and has made a splendid record during the six years since his admission to the bar and the establishment of his office in his old home Town of Deshler.

Mr. Gribbell was graduated in law from the Ohio Northern University with the class of 1911. Governor Frank Willis was actively connected with the law department of that school while ilr. Gribbell was a student. He was admitted to the bar in the same year and has since .been looking after a growing and profitable general practice at Deshler. He has been continuously retained as city solicitor since his admission to the bar and for six years has served as township clerk.

Though Mr. Gribbell was born at Belmore, Ohio, in 1882 he was brought to Henry County in infancy and has spent practically all his life at Deshler. He is a son of John and Cytharia (Ensminger) Gribbell. His father was born in Pennsylvania of German parentage, but when young was taken to Ohio and grew up in Hancock County. His wife was born in Hancock County of English parentage. About 1873 John Gribbell came to Deshler in the employ of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway Company, and in 1882 moved his family to that point. Thirty-five years ago the site of Deshler was in the swamp, the land covered with water and heavy timber, and it wa.s a natural game pi-eserve. John Gribbell came to Deshler as agent for the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton and for years he not only handled all the business connected with the railway at this point but was very active in other constructive affairs in the village. He sawed wood to keep up the fire in the station and during the time that wood was used as fuel in the locomotives throughout this country. It was also cut at the pump house. He rustled trucks, sold passenger tickets, and looked after the bills of lading for all the freight. He subsequently was appointed the first postmaster of the village and served on the village council. The Town of Deshler for a number of years was a mere collection of log cabins and board shacks. Subsequently John Gribbell opened a tin shop and hardware store and continued one of the active merchants until his death in 1898 at the age of sixty-eight. He was a democrat in politics. His widow died in 1912 at the age of seventy-two. Both were wholesome, substantial people, and did much for the good of their community.

In this village Mr. Fred Gribbell grew to manhood, was educated in the local schools and for a time studied law with his brother the late J. Bruce Gribbell.

Fred Gribbell was married at Deshler to Miss Edna House, who was born near Fremont, Ohio, but was educated in Deshler and prior to her marriage was a teacher in the local schools. They have two children : Marsden, born September 10, 1914; and Justin J., bom April 15, 1916.

Mr. Gribbell is aifiliated with the Lodge of Masons at Deshler and is past chancellor commander of the local lodge of Knights of Pythias. He was the first secretary and one of the organizers of the Boosters Club of the

David Smith is the oldest merchant of the Village of Westhope in point of continuous experience and service, and has sold goods steadily to the people of that community for over nineteen years. He has realized the best success of the careful and conscientious merchant and business man, and has at all times proved himself a loyal and public spirited citizen in a locality where his best years have been spent. His father's farm was the site of most of the Village of Westhope, and David Smith still owns a large part of the village and the old place.

He engaged in the hardware business at Westhope in 1898. In the course of all these years he has developed and expanded his business, and now has a large store and warehouses and handles a general stock of hardware, farm implements, wagons, buggies and other merchandise.

David Smith was born at what is now Westhope in Richfield Township of Henry County, December 12, 1864, and he has knoM'n that community and has been known in it since childhood. He grew up on a farm, learned his lesssons in district schools, and preliminary to his career as a merchant he sold agi'icultural implements on the road for a time. For the past nine years he has had as a partner August Springhorn, who has also spent most of his life in Henry County and is married and has a family of wife and daughter.

David Smith is a son of Amos Smith, who was born in Pennsylvania. Some time before the Civil war he came to Henry County. Ohio, and entered forty acres of land in section 16 of Richfield Township. It is on that section that the present Village of Westhope has been developed. Here he and his good wife set about to make a home and he had goue far toward a realization of his hopes and plans before he died in 1855, at the age of forty-nine years. He was known as a thriftj^ and upright citizen and commanded universal esteem. Amos Smith married Mary J. Baker. They were man-ied in Pennsylvania, and after his death she married Charles ilc- Candless, both of whom are now deceased. She died about ten years ago, when nearly seventy years of age.

David Smith was one of five children born to liis father and mother. Three are still living. His brother Albert Smith is unmarried and lives in Oklahoma. Amanda, his only living sister, is the wife of Henry Fehl, of Medford, Oregon.

Mr. Smith's store occupies the original location of the first store ever started at Westhope. The original merchant here was David Flowers, who engaged in the mercantile business forty years ago and conducted his store for ten or a dozen j^ears. The next store was built by a Mr. Warner, and the building and site is now owned by David Smith. The third store was built by Harry Andrix, and this store is now owned and conducted by Bryant & Rowland, general merchants.

In his native township Mr. David Smith was married in 1883, to Miss Henrietta Andrix. She was born in Liberty Township of Henrj- County forty-nine years ago. She received her early education partly in Liberty and partly in Richfield townships. Her father, Henry Andrix, is now seventy-six years of age and is living in Adrian, Michigan. He made a valiant record as a soldier of the Civil war, having been a private in the Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In the battle of Chickamauga he was wounded in the right elbow, and later received an honorable discharge. He became a well known man in Henry County and was an expert timber inispeetor. Henrj- Andrix married Fidelia Taylor, April 18, 1865, a daughter of Lorenzo and Iris Taylor. Six children were born to them, namely. Fred, Henrietta, Henry. Delbert and Delia, both deceased, and Carrie.

Mr. and Mrs. David Smith have two children living, Nellie, who is twent.v-four years of age and is now the wife of Charles Wade, a farmer in Richfield Township. They have a daughter. Helen M., born October 19. 1915. Cloyee was born January 16, 1908, and is now in the third grade of the public schools.

Henry A. died in infancy and Delia died at the age of eleven years. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the United Brethren Church, in which he has served as trustee. He is a republican and is affiliated with Tapoca Lodge No. 715 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Hamler.

John C. Meyer. It will not be denied that some of the most prosperous farmers of Northwest Ohio live in Henry County. Some of them are experts in their business and they deserve their prosperity because what they have they won by the hardest kind of work and systematic effort. This section of Ohio was originally and not so long ago a continuous stretch of heavy forest and swamp. Its i-eclamation and improvement is one of the greatest achievements agriculturally of which the state can boast.

One of the men who did a share in the reclamation work and is still active in managing his high class improved farm is John C. Meyer, who was born in Adams Township of Defiance County February 1, 1860. Mr. Meyer is of substantial German stock. His parents were J. Christ and Sophia (Kuster) Meyer, both of whom ^ere natives of Hanover and of Lutheran families. They grew up in Hanover, were of the farming cla.ss, and after their marriage two daughters were born to them in the old country. The oldest Anna died at the age of ten years in Defiance County. The second Mary died after her marriage to Casper Miller and left three sons and three daughtei"s.

In 1853 the little Meyer family took passage on a sailing vessel at Bremen and were just three months in crossing the ocean to New York City and arriving at Forida, Henry County, Ohio. From there they came to Defiance County. Christ Meyer brought with him to this country $400 in capital. The greater part of this he used to purchase eighty acres of land in Adams Township. What was left he used to. purchase a couple of cows. The only improvement on the land when he bought it was a log cabin. That was the first habitation of the Meyer family in America. The parents began at once to make a home. and in the course of time the land was improved and cleared and represented a very substantial property. The original hewed log house was remodeled and extended until it was a verv comfortable and commodious home. Christ Meyer also put up barns and other buildings and was enjoying financial independence long before he died. His wife died at the old home in 1907 at the age of seventy-eight. He died three years later in 1910 at the home of his son Henry in the same township and was at the time eighty-nine years of age. Both were active in the Lutheran Church. The children born in this country were five in number. Herman died at the age of forty-eight leaving a family of children. Henry died in Defiance County in Adams Township in January, 1914, at the age of fifty-six, and by his marriage to Dora Bremer, who is still living, has four sons and a daughter. The next in age is John C. Meyer. Fred lives on a farm in Ridgeville Township of Henry County, has been twice married, and has two sons and two daughters by his first wife. Christ is now manager of the Fair Store in Deshler, and by his marriage to Dora Imbrock has two sons and one daughter.

John C. Meyer grew up on his father's old home in Defiance County. He remained there until he reached his majority and having become practiced in industry and in farm work he made a valuable hand on neighboring farms for several years. For five years he rented and farmed the old home. In the meantime in 1887 he bought eighty acres of completely wild and swampy land in section 4 of Bartlow Township, Henry County. In thirty years m^ny changes have been made. The timber and brush have been cut away. Some years ago a large ditch for the benefit of an entire district was dredged through the Meyer farm and Mr. Meyer has ditched and drained all his fields into that main ditch. Thus practically every foot of his soil is tillable and the crops testify to the splendid fertility of the land. The building improvements are also numerous. Mr. Meyer built a barn 40 by 70 feet with twenty-one-foot posts, with a lean-to 16 by 36 feet for cattle and also a storm shed 12 by 30 feet. He has other buildings for the storage of grain, one of them 22 by 36 feet with a capacity of 2,500 bushels. His home is a food seven-room house, and he was the architect and carpenter in the building of all these structures.

In Adams Township, Defiance County, Mr. Meyer married ]\Iiss Mary Meineke, who was also born in that township and is now forty-seven years of age. Her parents were substantial German people who came from Prussia when quite young and were married in this country. They improved 120 acres of land in Defiance County and made that

While Mr. and Mrs. Meyer were industriously working to provide a home children have grown up under their rooftree and of these there are seven. Mary is now the wife of Herman Schroder, a farmer in Liberty Township, and they have two children, Esther and Adala, the only grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Meyer. The daughter Ida married Fred Behrmaun. John is unmarried. Dora and Fred are twins, nineteen years old, both at home. Caroline died aged one year and two days. Clara is the youngest of the family and is nine years old. The family are all active members of St. John's Lutheran Church. Mr. Meyer served as trustee of this church at the time it was built.

Albert Althausen. Former president of the St. Mary's Woolen Manufacturing Company at St. Marys, the late Albert Althausen is properly regarded as one of the men chiefly instrumental in building up the industries and business life of that city.

He was born in Wickrath, Germany, Januuary 13, 1835. He received most of his education in the old' country and was about thirteen years of age when he came to America with his parents. His parents first located in Mercer County. His father established a flouring mill there and the boy grew up in the atmosphere of that mill. Later the parents removed to Piqua, Ohio, where the father died. Albert Althausen remained in Piqua, and until about 1858 was employed by the Holtzerman Company. On coming to St. Marys he and associates established a distillery, 'which was conducted for some years until he sold his interests to the late A. Pauck.

Mr. Althausen took a prominent part in organizing the first banking institution of St. Marys known as the Bank of St. Marys, his associates in that being Mr. Fred Decker and E. M. Piper. Mr. Althausen acted as cashier until he sold his interest in the institution. He was also actively associated as president of the St. Marys Woolen ^Manufacturing Company, in which he had formerly been interested as a stockholder and as secretary. After he acquired an interest in the old woolen mills his energj- soon vitalized the business into a big success. In 1890 Mv. Althausen organized the, Home Banking Company and became its president, an ofifiee he continued to fill until his death in 1912.

111 1859 he married Louisa Herzing, oldest daughter of the late Philip Herzing. They became the parents of four daughters: Minnie, Mrs. E. M. Veeufliet; Emma, widow of the late Willis Kishler; Theresa, wife of C. W. Timinermaster of Wapakoneta, Ohio; and Julia, wife of J. F. Stout of St. Marys. The late ^Ir. Althausen was a Lutheran and an active democrat. He was the recipient of several positions of trust and honor and for many years was a member of St. Marys School Board.

E. M. Veenpliet. One of the industrial distinctions of the town of St. Marys is the St. Marys Woolen Manufacturing Company. It has been a center of woolen manufacture for a great many years. A prominent factor in the upbuilding and success of this institution was the late Albert Althausen, whose sketch precedes thi^ At the present time the secretary and treasurer of the St. ]\Iarys Woolen ^Manufacturing Company, and vice president of the Home Bank Company is Mr. E. JI. Veeufliet, who married a daughter of the late Albert Althausen. Mr. Veeufliet is a civil engineer by profession, but for the past thirty years has lived at St. ^larys and throughout that time has been actively identified with the woolen mills. It may be said that he takes to the woolen business almost naturally, since his grandfather was a woolen manufacturer in Germany, where he spent all his life.

Mr. B. M. Veenfliet was born in Saginaw County, Michigan, August 17, 1855, a son of George F. and Caroline (Kramer) Veenfliet. Both parents were natives of Wesel, Germany, and the maternal grandfather Kramer was a merchant and died in Germany. George F. Veenfliet was born in 1813 and died in 1896, while his wife was born in 1814 and died in 1902. After they married they came to Michigan in 1848 where he followed farming in the northern part of the state. He was quite a factor in politics, beeame a republican upon the organization of that party and was a delegate to the National Republican Convention th&t nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. He afterwards tilled the office of county treasurer and was also a member of the state legislature, and for several years was immigration commissioner of Michigan. He was a man of thorough education, his family having been wellto-do people in Germany and in addition to

He was a member of the Masonic Order and of the Lutheran Church. He and his wife had eight children, and one son, Fred, became a Union soldier, was serving with the rank of lieutenant in the battle of Nashville, where he was killed. The four living children are : Richard, who was also a soldier in the Civil war, and is now an artist, living at East Orange, New Jersey; Au^iisia, a widow living at Freeland, Jlicliigan ; .\lina, unmarried and living at Saginaw ; and E. M. Veenfliet.

E. M. Veenfliet had a thorough literary and technical education. He attended the schools of the City of Saginaw and in 1876 was graduated in the civil engineering course from Union College at Schenectady, New York. The following seven or eight years he devoted entirely to his profession as a civil engineer, but in 1886 he entered the woolen mills at St. Marys. In March, 1880, he had married Miss Jlinnie Althausen, daughter of the founder of the St. Marys Woolen ilanufacturing Company. Mrs. Veenfliet was born in St. Marys. They were the parents of three children, two of whom are living: Lula, at home; Albert F., who was a very promising young man and died at the age of twenty-five years, after having graduated in the law department of Harvard University, and he also spent one year in Dresden, Germany; and Erma, who married Arthur Sayer Brodhead of Denver, Colorado, February 3, 1917. The family are members of St. Paul's German Church. Fraternally he is closely identified with Masonry, being a member of the Lodge, past high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, thrice illustrious master of the Council, and a member of the Consistory and the Shrine. In politics he is a republican.

Samuel Lewis Snyder. Members of the Snyder family, have been prominently identified with the milling activities of Henry County for a long period of years. Mrs. J. C. Snyder with E. F. Snyder are now proprietors of the Snyder Flouring Mills at Holgate. This is an industry which has been in existence almost since the village was established, and for forty years its wheels have been turning manufacturing products vitally necessary to the sustenance of the people of that community.

Subsequently they were operated under the ownei-ship of Rt;iser & Finzel, and subsequently under the firm name of Reiser & Gillette. Later Mr. Jacob Reiser became sole proprietor and in March, lS94r, sold the property to -Mr. Samuel L. Snyder, J. A. Snyder and J. C. Snyder. Mr. J. Jacklin has been the miller of this plant for about ten years, but has worked olf and on for thirty years. For eleven years S. L. and E. F. Snyder were associated in the management and ownership of the mills, but two yeai-s ago E. F. Snyder took over Samuel L.'s interest. For some years Samuel L. had his brothers John and Julius as partners. The mill manufactures fine grades of Hour and meal, and the special product is the Silver Star brand of flour, which is the tlour used by a large number of families in this section of Northwest Ohio. The mill has a capacity of seventy-five bari-els per day.

Samuel L. Snyder before becoming a flour miller was associated with his brother John in the lumber business in and near Holgate for about six or seven years. They succeeded their father in that industry, and Samuel L. Snyder was employed in his father's saw mill from the time he was seventeen years of age until he was twenty-three.

Mr. Snyder was born in a log house in Flatrock Township of Henry County December 6, 1868, grew up on a farm, had farming experience as a boy, but from the age of seventeen has been chiefly identified with lumbering and flour milling. His parents were Jacob and Elizabeth (Lifer) Snyder. Both were natives of Ohio, his father born in Columbiana Count}- November 6, 1835, and the mother in Richland County November 3, 1835. They were married in Henry County, where their respective families had settled about 1844. Grandfather George Snyder was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, was married there, and on coming to America settled in Ohio. On coming to Henry he located on a tract of wild laud in Flatroek Township, developed a farm, and he and his wife spent their last years in Napoleon, Ohio. They were about eighty years of age when they diecl. The Snyder and Lifer families were all communicants of the Lutheran Church.

Jacob Snyder after his marriage located in Flatroek Township and became well known as a dealer and shipper of livestock. He also conducted a farm, had a lumber mill, and for a time was a stave inspector. He had first class mechanical ability and also possessed good business judgment and altogether his life was one of prosperity and of useful service. He died in Flatroek Township in 1900, and his widow passed away in 1904. He was active as a democrat but was never a seeker for public office. Jacob Snyder and wife had nine children ; aU of whom grew up and eight are now living. Mary, the oldest of those living, is the wife of Fred Franz and has a family of children. John is married and lives in Arkansas and has two daughters and four sons. Catherine lives at McClure, Ohio, the widow of G. A, Farison and has sons and daughters. The next in age is Samuel L. Julius a business partner for some years, died leaving a widow and five children. William is a resident on the old homestead in Flatroek Township and has two sons and two daughters. Daniel also lives on part of the old farm and has a family of children. Callie is the wife of William Rettig and has four children. Elbert S., junior partner in the Snyder flouring mills at Holgate, married Estella Rodey and has three sous.

Samuel L. Snyder was married in Flatroek Township January 1, 1899, to Miss Nettie Farison. She was reared and educated in that township, and since her marriage has been devoted to the obligations and responsibilities of her home and family. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have two children. Lincoln L., named for Abraham Lincoln, was born on the great president's birthday February 12, 1906. Franklin F., the youngest son, was born November 11, 1912. Mr. Snyder and family are members of the Presbyterian Church. He and his brothers are republicans, and he is a Chapter Mason and his brother is secretary of the Masonic Lodge at Holgate.

John Ross. This is a brief outline of the family and career of a man who has distinctively made good in the agricultural operations of Henry Country. Mr. Ross lives in the little City of Deshler, has a fine home in town, and from it he supervises the operations of his high-class farms of 268 acres about II/2 miles north of Deshler. His work speaks for itself. He has acquired most of his prosperity through liis own efforts, was a strenuous worker in earlier years, and has relaxed that practice only to the extent of letting his intelligence and experience direct his enterprises more than mere manual toil.

information that is at hand he came to Amei-ica a young man and was married in Pennsylvania. He spent his years in Pennsylvania as a farmer, though part of the time he was engaged in the coal mining industry.

William Ross, father of John Ross, was born in Pennsylvania in 1832 and his brothers and sisters were born in the same state. Later, after William was grown and married, the family came out to Union County, Ohio, and established themselves as farmers near Richwood. Here the parents of William Ross spent their last years. Grandfather Ross died when about sixty and his wife somewhat older.

Before leaving Pennsylvania William Ross married Jemima Shawver, who was of Pennsylvania birth and of German ancestry. She was born and reared in Pennsylvania. After they came to Union County, Ohio, William Ross took up farming and was thus actively engaged when the Civil war broke out. On June 2.5, 1862, he enlisted in the Eighty -second Ohio Infantry, went to the front with his regiment, and saw an active service of three years and three months. Nearly all his experience as a soldier was under General Sherman. He was with that great leader through the Vicksburg campaign, through that magniticent drive across Eastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia, and then in the culminating events of the war in the Carolinas. He fought in many battles of those campaigns but always came out uninjured and apparently suffered little from the experience. When the war was over he returned to his home and family in Ohio and not long afterward he moved to Paulding County. That was the family home for fifteen years, and they next went to Providence Township of Lucas County. William Ross farmed there for a time and died when about forty-five years of age. His widow reared the children, and she came with them to Henry County and died at Deshler, Ohio, in March, 1900, at the age of sixty-seven. Both parents were active members of the United Brethren Church and William Ross was an active republican. The children were seven in number : Sarali J., who died unmarried at the age of thirty-five : Mrs. Ann Langdon, a widow, living in Michigan, the mother of two sons and one daughter; Nettie, who died at the age of twenty-four unmarried; John; U. Grant, who lives on a farm near North Baltimore, Ohio, and has a family of ten cliildren ; David, who is conis married but ha.s no children; and Hattie, who died at the age of thi-ee yeai's.

John Ross was educated chiefly in Paulding County and he reached manhood while the familj' were living in Lucas County and in November, 1883, he came with his widowed mother and two brothers to Henry County. They located in Richfield Township where John Ross bought forty acres of woodland. He cleared up this and put it under cultivation before he sold out. His next purchase was 160 acres in section 22 of Bartldw Township. This is one of the fine farms whii'li he still owns. It is improved througliniit, the soil is thoroughly drained and the fences are stout and permanent, ilr. Ross has for many years grown some of the best crops of corn, oats and hay in this section. His buildings are all first cla.ss. His barn, iO by 60 feet, has a cement foundation eight feet high with 16- foot posts above, and the structure is painted a pleasing French Gray color. The farm house on this place is a modern nine-room structure. Mr. Ross also owns 180 acres of the same kind of land and with similar im.- provements in section 1 of Bartlow Township. The barn on this farm is very similar in construction to the one just mentioned, except that it is two feet less in height. He also has a first class house on that farm. On the average Mr. Ross raises sixty bushels of oats to the acre. His fields have some times yielded as high as ninety bushels of corn and the average is about sixty bushels.

In 1900 Mr. Ross removed from his farm to Deshler and l)ought an acre of land at the corner of Maple Street and Park Avenue with a substantial nine-room house. He also has equipment for the care of poultry and other conveniences of a model town home.

Mr. Ross was married in Bartlow Township to Mrs. Nannie Hickle Jackson. She was born in Illinois, was reared and educated in Champaign County and for a number of years was a dressmaker and seamstress. She came to Henry County in February, 1912. By her first husljand she has two children : Willard and Opal Jackson. Willard graduated from the Deshler High School in 1917 and Opal is a member of the class of 1918.

Mr. Ross is an active republican and iv polities or in civic affairs is one of the live wires of his community. He formerly served as a member of the city council, holding that office seven years. He is a director of the Farmers Elevator at Deshler.

Newton Silas Cole. Bearing a name that has many intimate relations with the early settlement of Henry County more than eighty yeai's ago, Newton Silas Cole is himself one of the oldest living native sons of the county, is an honored veteran of the Civil war, and was a pioneer merchant at the Town of Holgate, where he was in busiaess and civic afifairs for twenty-five years, a leader, and where he still resides. His many friends over that section of Ohio unite in commending him as a thoroughly capable citizen, one honest and true and steadfast in any position to which duty has called him, and the type of man who makes any community the better for his presence.

The genealogy of the Cole name has been traced back by pedigree writers to the third century in England; and from some Christian names which appear attached to the Cole name away back and which have appeared frequently along down the line almost to the present time - for instance the names, Lucius, Marcus and Albert - almost leads one to believe that the family ancestry of the subject of this sketch can claim this lineage. They seem to have been located in the shires of Hampshire and Essex. The family there enjoyed the distinction of a coat of arms and apparently this honor was granted them about 1640.

It seems apparent that the early emigrants to Connecticut including the Coles came from those shires, as the names of many of the towns and cities in Connecticut are identical with those in that part of England. Samuel Cole the pilgrim came to America with Winthrop and settled first in Boston. James Cole his brother came from Essex adjoining Hereford in 1635 and settled in Hartford, Connecticut. His lot in Hartford adjoined the lot on which stood the Charter Oak. Silas Cole was born at Hartford, Connecticut, September 10, 1758. On January 1, 1777, at the age of nineteen years he enlisted in Col. Moses Haseu's regiment of the Continental army and served one year. On October 12, 1779, he re-enlisted in Col. Levy Well's regjraent as third sergeant, was afterwards promoted to first sergeant. His commission as such is now held - also his powder horn he carried through the war - by his grandson, Newton Silas Cole, of Holgate, Ohio. His service was during the most critical period of the Revolution, and he fought in some of the battles which have made early American history a page of glorious deeds and patriotic sacrifice, as he suffered during the winter at Valley Forge. Amos

Cole, a son of the Revolutionary soldier, was born January 25, 1803, in Connecticut. When he was a child the family removed to Chenango County, New York, and in 1812 came to Ohio locating in Scioto County. Silas Cole and wife both died in Southern Ohio. Amos Cole grew to manhood in the district bordering on the Ohio River, and was one of the solid pioneer citizens of his day and generation. He was married in Scioto County to Nancy Watts. She was about the age of her husband, and was a native of Ohio. They commenced their married life as farmers on the banks of the Ohio River. Their first child, Mary Louisa Cole, was bom there in 1832. In the same year Amos Cole and Reuben Wait, his brother-in-law, started on a tour of exploration through Northwestern Ohio. They inspected the land along the Maumee River and finally bought a tract of land on the south bank of that stream opposite the historic Girty 's Island which is now in Henry County. The next year they left their old home and started for their newly acquired possessions in the wilderness. They made tlie trip with two teams of horses and wagons each and one yoke of oxen and wagon, and spent many days in following the rough trails or breaking out roads through the woods and across the swamps. Their route lay through what was then known as the Black Swamp on which it took them several days to go a few miles. They crossed the Maumee River at Perrysburg and came up the north side of the river to the John Patrick Indian trading house which was four miles east of where Napoleon now stands, at that time but a primeval wilderness. From the Patrick farm they made their progress to their lands up the river on pirogues as there were no farther roads and no way of crossing the river. They landed and camped on their land iintil they built a two family log cabin with no floor and no roof over the center so the smoke could escape from a two family union camp fire. There they lived until they built for each family a large two story hewed log house. Their lands were an unbroken wilderness. The timber had to be cut away to make room for crops, and such timber! Had we today the timber that was on those farms we would have a gold mine, hai'dmaple, black walnut, poplar, red and white oak, hickory, red elm and cherry. This all had to be cut down and burned up, as there were no mills to cut it into lumber, and no sale for lumber. Maple sugar and molasses was a great harvest for them for years.

The woods were full of game of all kinds, but these sturdy farmers had no time to hunt. The deer, wild turkey and the squirrel were familiar objects daily on the farm, while the bear and wolves made nightly raids on their hogs. The Indians of the Wyandot tribe were still there, but were removed to the Western Reservation in 1842. Amos Cole in 1850 built a large two story frame house, which was one of the largest and best built houses of that day. It was built on a road back from the river on high ground overlooking his home farm which at that time comprised 228 acres. Amos Cole was not only a hard working pioneer himself but also exercised good business judgment in his private affairs, and those of the public, and eventually amassed a large amount of property, chiefly represented in lands, of which he owned 538 acres. Much of it was improved and put in cultivation under his direct supervision. He lived in Henry County until his death, in December, 1863.

The early annals of Henry County contain rather frequent reference of the name of Amos Cole. He was one of the commissioners selected to organize Henry County, and served on the board of county commissioners for a number of years. For a number of years he was a justice of the peace, and subsequently became an associate judge of the county court, an office he filled almost to the time of his death. Thus his work and his influence in many ways entered into the upbuilding of Henry County as a pioneer comm.unity. In matters of polities he supported the whig party as long as it existed, and when the republican organization took its place he cast his vote for the first presidential standard bearer, General Fremont, and his last presidential ballot was given to Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He was a Protestant in his religious belief and always fed the local and traveling preachers on their rounds and gave his support liberally to various religious causes. For all his public and business activities he is perhaps most deserving of the gratitude of later generations because of his practical charities and kindness. His generosity was wisely bestowed upon the poor and unfortunate, and he was especially helpful to the many German families when the people from that country began settling in Heniy County. He not only furnished counsel to many of these German families, but aided them even more substantially in establishing themselves and in tiding over the critical and unproductive period of their early settlement. Throughout all this section of Ohio he was known as Judge Cole, and his name was a title of respect and of the warmest appreciation for what he was and for what he did.

Judge Cole's widow survived until 1876. She was an active member of the Methodist Church and a woman of strong character, and was closely associated with her husband in his charitable work. Newton Silas Cole was the fourth of their children and^the third of the family born in Henry County. Only two are now living, his sister being Mrs. Sophronia May, who lives in Defiance and is the wife of a Civil war veteran.

Newton Silas Cole was boi*n on the old farm in Flat Rock Township, along the Maumee River, February 9, 1838. He had the background of a good home and excellent influences and environment for his youth, and he was well educated for the time. He used his qualifications in teaching school both before and after the war. The war had not been in progress many weeks before he volunteered his services in defense of the Union. He enlisted in 1861, becoming , a member of the Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Col. Geo. E. Wells. He was in active service for three years. He held a noncommissioned office, and during the last two yeai-s was in the signal service attached to the Seventeenth Army Corps. He was with General Grant, and was signal man on the boat which carried that great leader down the Mississippi River to Vicksburg. He participated in all the marches and battles of Grant 's army in connection with the taking of Vicksburg, was in the advance at the battle of Raymond and received the first fire, and his duties as a signal man placed him in peril during the whole battle. At the battle in the taking of Jackson, the capitol of Mississippi, he was with the advance squad that entered the city through the breastworks and he received the surrender of two Confederate soldiers. He also did duty at the battles of Champion Hills, Black River, and during the siege of Vicksburg. From there he w-as sent on a scout to Little Rock and Benton. Arkansas. From the latter place he was put on a hike to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to take part in the Atlanta campaign of 1864. He was mixed np more or less in all the fighting about Kennesaw Mountain and the big battles about Atlanta. At the battle of July 22nd his signal detachment rode with General McPherson down that woody road that led through the gap in our lines to that of the enemy when the general fell. Again at Ezra's Church on July 28th, when Hood made his last sortie against his besiegers, his signal company was shelled out of observation trees and forced to hug the ground for an hour under a rain of shell and shrapnell. They were th?ii ordered to mount their horses and dash in front of the batteries along the firing line to a hill overlooking the field. At Jonesborough, during Hood's retreat from Atlanta his signal squad dashed across the bridge over Flint Creek and rode into an ambush Init escaped uninjured. Mr. Cole had the qualities of a good soldier, was brave, attentive to duty and willing to obey orders under all and every circumstance. With the close of his service he returned home, having escaped wounds, and resumed his work as a teacher and also did farming.

In 1876 he was attracted to the newly estal)- lished Village of Holgate, which had come into existence about two years before when the Baltimore & Ohio Railway was built through that section of Henry County. He became one of the first merchants of the village and M'as the first hardware dealer of the little community, and for twenty-seven years carried the leading stock of hardware and implements in the town. He prospered as a business man, and throughout liis residence at Holgate, covering a period of forty years, he has always been willing to bear his full share of community responsibilities as village councilman. He served two years as mayor, and has also been a justice of the peace of Flat Rock Township. Mr. Cole is affiliated with the 'Slasonic Lodge, and in matters of politics is a progressive republican.

Mr. Cole married Miss Julia Parker, his first wife, in January, 1866, at Attica, Indiana. They met first in Ohio teaching school. They had" three sons as follows: Dr. C. B. Cole the oldest, who attended the State University of Columbus, Ohio, and two years at the Columbus Medical, graduating at the Brooklyn College Hospital, New York. Afterward taking a post graduate course at the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia and also a cour.se at a hospital college at Chicago. He is now a medical practitioner in Toledo. Ohio, is married and his one daughter, Helen, is attending college at Oberlin, Ohio. Dr. A. E. Cole, their second son after a two-year course at Ada, Ohio, graduated in dentistry at the Ohio Medical, Columbus. Ohio, and is now following his profession in Toledo. Ohio. He married and lives on Woodruff Avenue in that city. Dr. G. 0. Cole, the third son, also attended school at Ada, Ohio, then graduated in dentistry at the Ohio Medical at Columbus, is now practicing dentistry at Holgate, Ohio; he is married and has one daughter, Gladys, who will graduate this year at their home school and attend college next year. In 1893 Newton S. Cole married for his second wife, Miss Nora E. Fisher, a daughter of George W. Fisher, who was a very prominent citizen of this county and for many years a justice of the peace. George W. Fisher married Caroline Howry, also a native of Ohio. They were married in Hardin County and subsequently removed to Holgate, where ilr. Fisher died in 1907, at the age of seventy-two. His widow still survives him. The Fisher family were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Fred Rohrs. One of the splendid old time citizens of Henry County is Fred Rohrs. He has lived in that county half a century, and has had a varied and successful career as a merchant, farmer, and property owner. His success can be traced to his individual efforts, and his material prosperity is not greater than the esteem in which he is held as a citizen and man.

He was born in Hanover, Germany, August 15, 1836. All his people were German Lutherans of the old stock. When he was a small child his mother died and his father, Henry Rohrs, married a second time and died when past eighty.

Reared on a farm in Hanover, well educated in the German schools, Fred Rohrs came to manhood strong, vigorous, and with a strong intellect and keen judgment. He was thirty years of age wOien in 1866 he set sail from Bremen on one of the early steamships crossing the Atlantic, and fifteen days later landed in New York City. From there he came on to Napoleon, and Henry County has ever since been the principal scene of his activities. He brought with him his only sister, Katie. She afterwards married Herman Norden, who died leaving two sons and three daughters, all of whom reside in Freedom Township. About six years later Fred Rohrs sent for his halfbrother, George Rohrs, and educated that young man and they engaged in the dry goods business together at Napoleon. This was a prosperous establishment under their management, but eventually George sold his" interests and with his brother's assistance moved to Muncie, Indiana, and has since become well known and wealtliy in that city, being now retired. George Rohrs had a family of one

After getting his brother established in I\luneie, Fred Kohrs withdrew from the mercantile business and has since given his attention primarily to the improvement of local real estate. His first purchase of land was forty acres in Napoleon Township. He sold that at a profit, and then- bought eighty acres in section 15 of Freedom Township, this being a well improved farm and with a complete set of buildings. He afterwards bought eighty acres near Evansport in Defiance County, and that also is a tine farm now. Fifteen years ago Mr. Rohrs bought 120 acres in section 23 of Freedom TownshiiJ, and he has made that one of the first class farms of the county. Altogether Mr. Rohrs owns 300 acres in Defiance and Henry counties, and all of it is worth at least $200 an acre. His investments have also extended into other states, and he has 245 acres of timber, principally pine and spruce, in Wayne County, Georgia.

His friends and associates have always given I\Ir. Rohrs the reputation of being a man of wonderful push, energy and successful business activity. At the same time he has been generous in suppoi'ting all community endeavors, and is one of the leading members of the Lutheran Church. He and Fred Gerken were the principal builders of St. John's Lutheran Church and he also helped build St. Paul's Church in Napoleon Township. He is a member of the latter church and politically is a democrat. ;\L-. Rohrs has never married.

Edward Brown. Students of efficiency in farming methods find a great deal to encourage them after an examination of the place owned and occupied by Edward Brown in section 36 of Dama.scus Township, Henry County. Mr. Brown not only believes in system and efficiency, but has put his ideas into practice. However, it is not to be understood that he is a theoretical farmer. The methods in iise on his place are the result of thorough experience, and have been introduced fi-om time to time as his .iudgment has approved them.

The Brown farm comprises 240 acres, and he also owns an eighty-acre tract in the same township. All his home farm is under tillage except a small tract of timber. He has all the machinery necessary for farming without the heavy drudgery required of the agriculturists of earlier years, and while he works his land to the maximum he is very careful of conserving its fertility. Anyone acquainted with good farming methods is impressed by J\Ir. Brown's arrangement of the buildings composing his homestead. They are not only commodious in size, but the arrangement has been carefully studied out, and every facility has been introduced with a view to increasing the systematic handling of the work involved on the' farm. The main barn is 36 by 50 feet, with an attached stable 30 by 30 feet, and still another shed 16 by 40 feet, all with twentyfoot posts. These buildings are well cared for and are rcinlcrcil attractive by a thorough coating of w hitr ]):iiiit. The house, also painted white, coiitaiiis tl(\en rooms, and is modern in all its appuintiuents. These constitute the principal buildings in the home group. On another part of the same farm is a complete set of farm buildings, including a house 28 by 30 feet with an attached kitchen 16 by 20 feet, all over a basement, and furnishing eleven rooms. Close connecting with this Jiouse is another big barn, 40 by 60 feet.

ilr. Edward Brown has lived in Henry County since early childhood. He was born in Grand Rapids Township of Wood County, Ohio, January 7, 1868, but received his early education and training as a farmer in Damascus Township, He attended the public schools. He was the only son of his parents, and for the past twenty years has owned and occupied his present farm.

He is a son of Mathew and Martha J. (Dull) Brown. His father was born in Wayne County, Ohio, in 1838, and came when a young man to Damascus Township of Henry County. Mathew Brown was a son of James and Sarah (Wilson) Brown, who were early settlers in this section of Northwest Ohio and cleared up eighty acres on section 24 of Damascus Township. Sarah Brown died there when not yet sixty years of age, while James spent his last years with his son Mathew and was nearly fourscore when he died. He was an active republican.

Mathew Brown was the oldest of his parents' children. The only two now living are David, who lives at MeClure, Ohio, a retired farmer, and the father of a family ; and a daughter, Martha, who is unmarried and lives in Toledo. Mathew Brown married Miss Martha J. Dull, of the prominent family of that name who were identified with the earliest settlement of Wood County. Mrs. Martha Brown was born in that county in 1845, and was quite young when her parents located on the old Dull homestead in section 36 of Da- maseas Township, where she lived until her marriage. Her brother is the well known Taylor Dull of Henry County, whose successful operations as a farmer have been described on other pages. Mrs. Martha Brown was a teacher before her marriage, and she died at her home in Damascus Township at the age of sixty. She was active in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Edward Brown was married in Damascus Township April 22, 1894, to Miss Stella Hoekman. She was born in Henry County in 1874 and was reared and received her education here. Her parents Jacob and Mary (Sheplierd) Hoekman were born in Ohio, were married in Heni-y County, and spent many years on a farm in Damascus Township, where Jacob died at the age of eighty and his wife at seventy-five. They were members of the United Brethren Church, and Jacob Hoekman served two terms as township triLstee and was a loyal democrat.

In politics Edward Brown is a republican. He is past noble grand of McClure Lodge No. 738 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife have four children : Clem, the oldest, now twenty-one, has completed his education and is a very serviceable factor in carrying on the work of his father's farm. Earl, aged nineteen, Jias also completed the course of the grade schools and is living at iome. Esther, after attending the common schools, entered McClure High School, where she is still a student. Brice is still in the grammar schools.

Jacob Buff. While Jacob Buff is not one of the oldest residents of Heniy County, he yields place to none in point of progressiveness and thrift as a farmer, and in the possession of all those good qualities which make up the public spirited citizenship of Pleasant Township. He has a fine farm which represents his diligence and good business judgment, has provided liberally for home and family and has gained the esteem of all citizens in that locality for his uprightness and the practice of high ideals of manhood.

Mr. Buff was born August 28, 1857, his birthplace being four hours distant from the old university city of Heidelberg, Germany. His people were old and respected residents of that locality, farmers, and members of the German Reformed Church. His parents were Henry and Catherine (Muldinger) Buff, and they spent all their lives in that section of Germany. The paternal grandparents Buff erected the old family homestead there more than 100 years ago and they lived in it until they died, the grandfather when past eighty and the grandmother at the age of ninetyfour. Tlie same old stone house in which Jacob Buff was born also sheltered the latter 's parents for a great many years. Henry Buff died there in 1873 at the age of forty-three and his wife in 187?, aged sixty. They were the parents of two sons, Jacob and Henry, Jr. Henry, Jr., came to the United States a single man in 1884, went west to Topeka, Kansas, and for a gi-eat many years has been a foreman in the Santa Fe Railway yards. He has a good standing with that company, and is one of the veterans in point of service. He was married in Topeka to Rosa Stuck, who came from the same part of Germany as he did. They are the parents of two sons and two daughters. Otto, Harry, Elsie and Helena.

Jacob Butt" spent his early life in one of the most beautiful sections of Gei'many, and part of his home training was a discipline in these virtues of thrift and responsibility which have been of so much value to him in his mature years. He received the education supplied by the German common schools. In 1877, at the age of twenty, he was married near the old home to a neighbor girl, Margaret Schafer. Mrs. Buff was born in that part of Germany October 24, 1852, a daughter of Valentine and Susanna (Otts) Schafer. All tlie members of the Schafer and Otts families spent most of their lives in that part of Germany. They were reformed church people and belong to the farming class. Mrs. Buff's grandparents died when past seventy yeai-s of age. Her father was born in 1809 and died in 1884, and her mother was born in 1815 and died in 1899. The children of the Schafer family were Elizabeth, who died in Germany after her marriage, leaving a family of six children; Peter, who died in Germany when past sixty, leaving no children; Catherine, who married Philip Pleister, and they spent their lives in Germany and had five children ; Philip, who died unmarried at the age of twenty-six ; Mrs. Buff; and Valentine, who is a brewer still living in Germany and is married but has no children.

After his marriage Mr. Buff settled down as a farmer in Germany, and while living in the old country the following children came into their household: Jacob, born in 1880; Margaret, born in 1881; and Rosa, born in 1884.

left the old home aud weut to the City of Bremen, aud there on February 8, 1890, took passage on the steamship Vari'o, fi-om which they were lauded in New York Harbor on the 18th of February. From there they came on west to Hancock Couuty, Ohio, where Mr. Buff spent four yeai's as a farmer in Sanborn Township. His next removal was to Palmer Township in Putnam County, where he spent four years as a renter. Ou April 5, 1898, Mr. Buff bought nearly eighty acres of land in section 31 of Pleasant Township, Henry County. Thus his home and farm are in the extreme southwest corner of the county. Eighteen years have sufficed to bring his land into a notable state of cultivation and improvement. He now has seventy acres under the plow, all of it well drained and fenced, and he has taken pains to conserve the great natural fertility of the soil. He grows the best and largest of crops, and has excellent live stock. One prominent feature of his farm is a large bam, 38 by 60 feet, with twentyfoot posts. This building serves to shelter most of his stock and grain, but he also has cribs and other farm buildings. His home is a six-room house.

After Mr. and Mrs. Buff came to America one other daughter was born, Elsie. She is now the wife of Andrew Yetta, of Pleasant Township. Mr. and Mrs. Yetta are farming people, and have one son Wilbur. Jacob, the oldest of Mr. and Mrs. Buff's children, is a successful farmer in Putnam County, and by his marriage to Minnie Schultz has a daughter Edna. The second of the children, ^Margaret, is still living at home witli her parents. Rosa is the wife of Charles Din-, ami they live on a farm in Michigan. Tlieir only I'hikl, a son, Arthur, lost his life by accident. 'Sir. and Mrs. Buff and their family are all confirmed Reformed Church people, and in polities Mr. Buff supports the republican candidates and I)rinciples.

F. Henry Meyer has proved himself one of the hustling and energetic citizens of Henry County, and starting out on his own account with little capital and only such experience as he had acquired on his father's farm, he has developed one of the splendid country places in the old black swamp of Henry County, and is also prosperously identified with business affairs in the Town of Deshler.

His family had lived in Hanover for many generations. His grandfather,- Johannes .ileyer, and wife lived and died on a farm in that country, were strict Lutherans in religion, and they reared a number of children. Henry J. Meyer, father of F. Henry, was born in Hanover in 1843. He learned the trade of carpenter, but combined that with farming. The maiden name of his wife was Catherine Castins, who was about seven years older than her liusband and also a native of Hanover. All the children of these worthy parents were born in Germany. They were five in number including Henry, August, Herman, Catherine and Fred. In 1880 the parents and the children emigrated to the United States. They made the voyage from Bremerhaven on the ship Donau, and after landing in New York City went to Philadelphia to join Mrs. Meyer's brother, Henry Castins. They remained there only a shoi-t time, aud then came westward aud for a time lived in Napoleon Township of Henry County, and a little later moved to Ridgeville Township. In 1882 the parents moved into Bartlow Township, where the father bought a tract of wild laud in section 9. He proved equal to the demands made upon the pioneer farmer of that time, improved his laud, and had his eighty acres under thorough cultivation in a few years. The first home of the family in Henry County was a log cabin. It yielded later to a substantial frame house and around about were barns and many other facilities to attest thrift and prosperity. The father died there at the age of seventy-eight and his wife at seventysix. They became very active and supporting members of the Freedom Lutheran Church. The father was a democrat. The children are all still living, all of them are married, and all have children. Mr. F. Heni-;>' Meyer adopted two children when they were small, Albert now twenty-one and Freda, aged sixteen.

Mr. Meyer was about fifteen years of age when he came to America, and he grew up on his father's homestead in Bartlow Township. He was educated partly in German and partly in English schools, and he early developed his .strength and resourcefuluess by the work at home. Since reaching manhood he has bought a farm of his own consisting of 160 acres in section 32 of Richfield Township. The land had never produced anything except and wild grasses from the time nature created it, and it was his task to clear away the forest wildness, to break the virgin soil with the plow, and gradually redeem it to the uses of mankind. In that work he has succeeded admirably. As already noted the land was originally part of the great swamp district which covered so much of Henry County, and drainage and thorough cultivation have accomplished wonders on his farm. When he went there he was almost an isolated settler, but has seen the community grow and prosper and many of the most substantial families of the county now live in the same neighborhood. All but ten acres of his place are now thoroughly improved. The land is capable of growing as tine crops as any in this section of Northwest Ohio. Mr. Meyer keeps good grades of stock and has a large amount of money invested in building improvements. His chief barn is 40 by 70 feet and he has a substantial twelve-room house.

He was married in Marion Township of Henry County to Mary ileyer, who though of the same name has no other relationship with her husband. She was also born in Hanover, Germany, October 29, 1867, and when six years of age was brought to the United States by her parents Mr. and Mrs. Christian Meyer, who located at Port Clinton, Ohio. The Meyer family at that time also consisted of two sons. In 1881 they removed to the vicinity of Ridgeville in Henry County, where Christian Jleyer rented land and from there went to Monroe Tow-nship where he bought a farm and was engaged in its cultivation and management the rest of his days. He died there when past sixty years of age. He and his wife were active Lutherans and all their children are now married except Fred. One of them, Herman, is a practical farmer in ]\Ionroe Township and is married and has a family.

In 1914 Mr. Meyer built on Main Street in Deshler a large garage, on a lot 50 by 150 feet. It is a two-story brick building, and the lower floor is fitted up for garage, salesroom and workshop and is conducted by Mr. M. A. Brown. The upper floor has been fitted up as living apartments. Mr. and Jlrs. Meyer have always taken much part and interest in the Freedom Lutheran Church, which is not far from their home. He is a democrat and all the family in Ohio have had the same political affiliations.

William C. Eisaman. Combining unusual skill as a farmer with keen business judgment, AVilliara C. Eisaman has favorably impressed his influence upon the community of Bartlow Township and in the Town of Deshler. I\Ir. Eisaman was one of the organizers in 1916 of the Farmers Elevator Company at Deshler, and has since been its president. He served two years as president of the Farmers Institute, and has been very active in the committee work of that organization. He is also a member of the Board of Control of the Deshler Farmers Mutual Telephone Company, and in other ways has been a valuable factor in his community growth and progress. J\lr. Eisaman is a man of liberal education, largely ' self accjuired, and to a remarkable degree has utilized the opportunities of life.

As a farmer Mr. Eisaman owns 100 acres in Bartlow Township in sections 17 and 16, thi-ee miles west of Deshler. He also operates his brother's farm of eighty acres in section 20 of the same township. His own farm bears every mark of improvement and thoroughness of management. As a grain raiser he specializes in corn and oats and he keeps the better grades of live stock. He has a large barn 60 by 60 feet, twent.y-one-foot posts, used both for grain and stock. His home is an eiglit-room modern dwelling built in 1914. ilr. Eisaman has occupied this farm about four years.

He was bom in Harrison Township of Henry County March 24, 1876. He grew up there, and at the age of fifteen beca;ne self supporting. Most of his education was acquired after that date. When he .started out for himself he found work in different lines and at the age of eighteen went to Michigan and spent nearly two years in the lumber camps, an experience which has been vainable to him in his subsequent career. Later he made up for his early deficiencies in the way of schooling and attended the Liberty High School and for ten years was a successful teacher. In the meantime he became identified with farming and a.ssociated w'ith his brother Henry he bought sixty acres in section 20 of Bartlow Township. Later twenty acres were added to this farm, and some years ago Mr. Eisaman bought his present place of 100 acres in sections 16 and 17. He has done much to improve his land and his work and achievements stamp him as a progressive agriculturist.

He is a son of Abraham and Mary (Shook) Eisaman. His father was bom in Pennsylvania of German parentage, and when a young man went to Franklin County, Ohio, where he married Mi.ss Shook, a native of Franklin County and also of Pennsylvania parents. After their marriage Abraham Eisaman and wife lived for several years in Franklin

County on a farm. While there three children were born, Lenora, Francis and Melvin. Lenora died at the age of thirty-seven, leaving cliildrezi by her marriage to Frank Altman. The other two children are now married. Melvin lives in Piqua County, and Francis lives in Harrison Township, Henry County, and has children.

In June, 1872, the Eisaman family located in Harrison Township of Henry County. They moved to a comparatively new farm in section 34. It contained sixty acres, and in course of time it was developed into a first class condition. While the pai-ents lived there two more children were born, Henry and William C. The mother died on the old homestead in Harrison Township August 14, 1891. She was born in September, 1842, and was in her forty-ninth year at the time of her death. Four years later her husband passed awa.y on October 12, 1895. He died while visiting his old Pennsylvania home. He was born August 29; 1827. Both parents were active members of the Chi-istian Union Church, and Abraham Eisaman was a democrat and filled office in the school board of Harrison Township. The son Henry now lives at Deshler and is bookkeeper for the Farmers Elevator Company. He married Ellen Brown, daughter of Jacob Brown, a vei-y well known citizen of Henry County.

The youngest of the family, William C. Eisaman has spent practically" all his life in Henry County. He was married in Bartlow Township to Miss Ella Dayringer. She was born in that township August 18, 1880, was reared and educated there, and is a daughter of Levi and Elizabeth (Linthicum) Dayringer. Her parents were natives of Penns.vlvania but were married in Hancock County, Ohio, and were quite early settlers in Bartlow Township of Henry County where Mr. Da.vringer acquired a farm in' the midst of the woods and lived for a number of .years under most primitive conditions, when the wild game flourished in the ad.ioiniiii;- loivst and when it was extremely ditficiilt to cultivate crops among the stumps and on the marshy lands. He lived a long and useful life and died when nearly eighty-seven years of age. He was horn in 1830. His wife passed away in 1900. Mr. Dayringer had two sisters. Jane and Hannah, who are still living in Hancock County, both past ninety years of age and have large families. Mrs. Eisaman was one of nine children, two of whom are deceased.

Mr. and Mrs. Eisaman have five children: W. Raymond, Mary Elizabeth, Woodrow W., J. Ruth, and Waldo G. The two older cliildreu are in school. Mr. and Mrs. Eisaman are active members of the United Brethren Church. Mr. Eisaman is a member of the local school board. In politics he is a democrat. He is now affiliated with Deshler Lodge No. 617 Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and while a member of the same lodge at Hamler he filled all the chairs.

Mathias J. DiETRicK. It was in pioneer times that the Dietrick family established its home within the wilds of the present County of Henry. They were of the finest class of people, came from Germany, had thrifty virtues of that people, and were also God-fearing, industrious, independent and well fitted for the trials and privations of frontiering. Mathias J. Dietrick has spent more than half a century in Henry County, made his success as a farmer, and still has a share in the landed possessions of the county.

He was born in a town in Prussia, 3Iareh 8, 1841, a son of Joseph and jMary M. (Thomas) Dietrick. His parents were Prussians and of the Catholic religion. Of the four children born to them Mathias J. Dietrick is the only living survivor and the only one who grew up. One daughter, Mary, died in Germany. In June, 1846, the little family, consisting of the father and mother and three children, ilathias, Barbara and Ennna, embarked on a vessel at Bremen and after fortysix days the boat anchored in New York harbor. During the voyage the youngest daughter, Emma, sickened and died, and found her last resting place beneath the weaves of the Atlantic. Some years later the other daughter, Barbara, when eleven years of age, met a tragic death. Her clothing was set on fire as she stood by the open fireplace, and in her terror she ran out of doors, the wind fanned the flames, and she died soon- afterward on account of the horrible burns.

After coming to America the Dietrick family lived for sixteen years on a farm in Loraiii ( 'ounty. Then, in 1862, they changed their location to Henry County. Their settlement here was in the midst of the woods in section 29 of Marion Township. Not only was their land heavily wooded, but comparatively little of the surrounding territory had been cleared and developed. Their first" home here was a log cabin, and it had a minimum of comforts and fui-nishings. In this home which first sheltered them in Henry County both Joseph and Mary Dietrick spent their last days. He died September 3, 1883, at the age of seventy-three, and she passed away January 28, 1881. For many years they were faithful members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and were buried in the cemetery of the parish. They were fine people in every respect, and were very devoted to each other and had a happy' married life of forty-four years.

Mathias J. Dietrick had just turned his majority when he arrived in Henry County. He had grown up and gained his education in Lorain County, and when he married he had as a start in life forty acres of land given him by his father. After his father died he inherited the remaining forty acres of the old homestead, and this farm in turn has been his own home for forty years or more. In point of development and improvement it measures up to the standard of the high class farms which are found scattered over Marion Township. Recently Mathias Dietrick retired from the active responsibilities of managing his property and turned it over to his son William and his daughter. The farm has a notable group of building improvements. The main barn is 36 by 60 feet, with an addition, 40 by 15, and also a lean-to used as a horse shed, 19 by 36 feet. Another building, 22 by 28 feet, is chiefly used for a granary. The home is a substantial nine-room house, which in its comforts and conveniences represents a long advance beyond the log cabin days when the family fir.st settled here. William N. Dietrick, son of Mathias, is not only a practical general farmer, but has made a particular success as a poultryman. He breeds and raises the finest strain of Plymouth Rocks, and is deriving a great deal of pleasure and profit from this bi-anch of his farm husbandry. He believes from experience that one of the chief factors in making a success of the poultry business is constant care and the provision of good buildings for the shelter of the birds. He has one of the best constructed poultry houses to be found in Henry County.

Mathias J. Dietrick was married in Pleasant Township of Henry County to I\Iiss Catherine Sehwabla. She represented one of the earliest German families in the vicinity of New Bavaria, where she was born on what is now the Toma farm June 6, 1842. She grew up there, and for fortj^-four years she looked diligently after her household and performed faithfully all the duties of wife and mother. Her death occurred January 12, 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Mathias J. Dietrick reared some very capable children, and most of them are now established in homes of their own. Reference will be found on other pages of the two oldest, Joseph and ^Mathias. William N., who was born in the old log cabin where his grandparents first had their abode in Henry County, and which was also the birthplace of his brothers and sisters, first saw the light of day July 7, 1869, and has spent his entire career on the old farm. He and his sister Christina J. now have the active management of the farm and the home, and are also faithfully caring for their father. The sister Christina was born November 19, 1871. The next in age was Mary il., who was born February 22, 1877, and is the wife of Albert Swary, a farmer in Marion Township ; their children are Cleda, Hugo, Paul, Albert and Joseph. Elizabeth C, born May 3, 1878, is the next in age. Peter P., born February 10, 1881, is a farmer in Marion Township, and by his marriage to Anna Kiebler of Michigan, has three children, named Angela, Bernadette and Catherine. John A. was born March 22, 1883, is still single and is a dealer in automobiles at New Bavaria. The family are all members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Mr. j\lathias Dietrick has served as trastee of the church and also as trustee of the township. He and his sons are loyal supporters of the democratic party in local and national politics.

John M. Cain is manager of the Deshler Farmers Elevator Company, whose two elevators and extensive dealings in the buying and selling of grain have contributed greatly to the reputation and standing of Deshler as "the corn city of Northwest Ohio."

This company was organized in January, 1916, but Mr. Cain is the oldest grain dealer in point of continuous service in the town. The two elevators operated by the company have been in existence for a number of years. Their combined capacity is 100,000 bushels. The company handles grain produced in this locality, but it is marketed and distributed to the most diverse portions of the globe, some of it without doubt being consumed on the battlefields of Europe. Thousands and thousands of bushels of grain are handled by this company and every year they load and ship 250 carloads of corn. Deshler has well

It was twenty-two years ago that Mr. Cain began handling grain at Deshler. He has (lought grain at the highest prices as well as at the lowest ever known to the market. In 1896 he was selling corn at prices as low as 12 or 14 cents a bushel. The market price of corn on March 10, 1917, was $1.50 per 100 pounds and on April 9, 1917, $1.85 per 100 pounds.

Mr. Cain began buying grain at Deshler before the town had an elevator and it was loaded from the farmers' wagons into the ears on the track. He has been in business as manager of elevators for twenty-three years, and his experience is more extensive than that of any other dealer in the town. He has been connected with different administrations of owners, but for sixteen years was with the elevator on the Baltimore & Ohio Railway track owned by the Corn City- Bank of Deshler. That was before the Farmers Company bought the two elevators above mentioned. Mr. Cain is a thoroughly thrifty and successful business man, is a stockholder in the company, and has long been one of the moving spirits in the prosperity and development of Deshler.

Mr. Cain is a native of Pennsylvania, in which state he was born December 17, 1865. When he was seven years of age his parents came to the Black Swamp region of Liberty Township, Putnam County, Ohio. He is a son of William W. and Mary (MeConnell) Cain, both natives of Pennsylvania, and combining in their ancestry the blood of Dutch, Irish and English. William W. Cain was the son of James Cain, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in Putnam County, Ohio, when past eighty-eight years of age. Mary MeConnell was the daughter of Jolm and Jane (Ensley) JlcConnell, the former dying in Pennsylvania and the latter at Deshler, Ohio, when nearly ninety .years of age: After coming to Liberty Township of Putnam County the Cains located on a tract of almost new land and William Cain developed it as a fii-st class farm. He began with forty acres and increased his acreage until he had a large estate. He subsequently lived on a farm in Bartlow Township of Henry County and finally moved to Deshler, where he spent five yeai-s. He then bought a small farm in Van Buren Township of Putnam County, and is still living there and though seventy-eight years of age is able to look after his own affairs. His wife died in Liberty Township in 1903 at the age of sixty-two. They were members of the old United Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania and Ohio and were devoted and constant in their religious exercises.

Mr. John M. Cain is the oldest in a family of six sons and four daughters, six of whom grew up and mai-ried. He himself was married in Bartlow Township of Henry County to Alice M. Bridenbaugh. She was born in Marion Township of Henry County forty-two years ago, was reared and educated there and is a daughter of Frank G. and Mary (Morris - Bridenbaugh, both natives of Ohio. Her parents were married in Defiance County and her father was one of the pioneer dealers in ship timber in the ilaumee Valley. He got out and manufactured large quanties of timber for boat building on the lakes and elsewhere, and in his time he furnished some of the largest and finest timbers used in the shipwright trade. His death occurred at Toledo in the spring of 1914 while his wife died there in the fall of 1915.

-Mr. and Mrs. Cain have four living children : Alva L., twenty years of age, is now clerk in a wholesale grocery house at Findlay, Ohio; William Victor finished his education in Heidelberg College at Tiffin and is now a clerical worker in Detroit. Charles E. is in the second year of high school, while Mary II. is in the grammar school at Deshler. Mr. and Mrs. Cain take an active part in the Presbyterian Church.

Much of Deshler 's civic progress can properly be credited to Mr. Cain. He has been active in local aft'airs, and has done much to make the Booster Club at Deshler a live and effective organization. He served as mayor of the town four years, as city clerk five years, and is still a member of the city council. He is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Lodge and Chapter at Deshler and in the Council at Ottawa. He also belongs to the subordinate Lodge No. 617 Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past noble grand and deputy grand and has been a representative to the encampment. Politically Mr. Cain is a republican.

Col. Joseph M. Rieger. The broad shouldered manhood of Col. Joseph il. Rieger, now common pleas judge of Heniy County, suggests that he would be capable of undertaking almost anything in the human lot, and that he would carry it off creditably and worthily.

While Colonel Rieger is a man of importance not only in his home county but in the state at large, he has in fact come up through adversities and from humble circumstances. Good common sense and energy have enabled him to overcome every obstacle and to render service that has brought him unusual honors and esteem.