HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 825 (RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) Henry P. Schaffer was born in the City of Meadville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, on the 14th of March, 1869, and he was one year old when his parents, who had remained in that place only a short time, returned to their old home in Bronson Township, Huron County, Ohio, where he was reared to adult age and where he availed himself fully of the advantages of the excellent public schools. One year after his marriage he came with his young wife to Huron, where he engaged in mechanical work and where by industry and progressiveness he has risen to his present secure vantage-ground as a successful business man and influential and popular citizen. Mr. Schaffer is a son of Peter and Margaret (Schoenacker) Schaffer, both of whom were born and reared in Huron County, the lineage of both, as the names indicate, being traced back to staunch German origin. With the exception of a brief period of residence in Pennsylvania, they always maintained their home in Huron County, where the death of the father occurred and where his widow still resides. Peter Schaffer be-' came a skilled mechanic, and in addition to becoming a successful contractor and builder he also owned and operated a good farm in his native county. In the early days he found much requisition for his services in the making of coffins, the work having all been done by hand and with punetillious haste after the death of the person for whom the "long and narrow couch" was intended. As a contractor and manufacturer he gave employment to a force of ten men all the year round, and this continued for several years. This sterling citizen died on his homestead farm, in his native township, in the year 1887, and he was one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of Huron County, his political allegiance having been given to the democratic party and his religious faith having been that of the Catholic Church, of which his widow likewise has been a lifelong communicant. The parents of Peter Schaffer were natives of Germany, where their marriage was solemnized, and after their immigration to America, the voyage having been made on a sailing vessel and having required sixty days, they became members of a pioneer company of colonists who came from Pennsylvania and settled in Huron County, Ohio. They made the overland journey with wagon and ox teams, in the early '30s, and settled on a.tract of heavily timbered land in Bronson Township, Huron County, where they reclaimed a farm and endured the full tension of the strenuous pioneer life. The father died in the, prime of his manhood and the mother attained to the remarkable age of ninety-nine years, both having been representatives of staunch old families of Alsace-Lorraine, the territory of which has been disputed by Germany and France and which is now the stage of a most bitter and sanguinary conflict. Mrs. Peter Schaffer, who has attained to the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, is one of the loved, pioneer women of Huron County and retains her mental and physical faculties to a wonderful degree, as is indicated by the fact that she personally maintains a general supervision of the old homestead farm. Her parents were members of the same company of German colonists in Huron county as were those of her husband, and both crossed the Atlantic on the same voyage of the same sailing 'ship. All of the family have held rigorously to the ancestral faith of the Catholic Church and in Huron County the representatives of each have been aligned with the democratic party. Peter and Margaret Schaffer became the parents of seven sons and three daughters, all of whom still survive the honored father and all of whom are married except Frederick J., junior member of the Huron firm of Schaffer Brothers. At Huron, on the 11th of June, 1899, was solemnized the marriage of Henry P. Schaffer to Miss Bertha Dale, who was born in a home on the lot adjacent to her present place of residence and the date of whose Vol. II-21 826 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY nativity was June 22, 1876, she being the youngest in a family of one son and seven daughters, the other surviving children being : Elmer, who resides at Milan, this county, and who has two sons and two daughters ; and Mary, who is the wife of Peter Roberts, of Toledo. Mrs. Schaffer is a daughter of James and Anna (Murry) Dale, the former of whom was born in Erie County and the latter of whom was nine years of age when she came to this county from her native State of New York, in company with her widowed mother, Mrs. Anna Murry, her father, James Murry, having died shortly before her birth. Mr. and Mrs. Dale became residents of Huron many years ago, and here Mr. Dale died, at his old homestead on Williams Street, July 8, 1905, at the age, of seventy- nine years, his widow still remaining in the home endeared to her by the gracious memories of the past and haviner'' celebrated her eighty-fifth birthday anniversary in September, 1915. Mr. Dale was long identified with navigation interests on the Great Lakes, having served many years as first mate on lake boats. He was a Presbyterian in religion and his widow likewise is a zealous member of that church. Mr. Dale was one of the valiant soldiers of the Union during virtually the entire period of the Civil war, and after having been severely injured in connection with a wagon accident he was confined in a hospital until he received his honorable discharge, his injury having entirely incapacitated him for further military service and having caused him much suffering in later years. He was a popular member of the post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Huron and was a stalwart republican in his political proclivities. His father, Peter Dale, immigrated to America from England and became a pioneer of Erie County, where he married Miss Anna Brundage, the remainder of their lives having been passed in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Schaffer have no children. They arc popular factors in the representative social activities of their home community and both are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church, as members of the historic old parish of Christ Church. Mr. Schaffer is a man of well fortified political convictions, is a loyal supporter of the cause of the democratic party, and is essentially vigorous and progressive as a citizen. Since 1910 he has served as clerk of the board of affairs of Erie County, and since 1905 he has been chief of the volunteer fire department of Huron. He is deputy assessor of Huron Township and the Village of Huron, of which position he has been the incumbent since 1913. Since 1908 Mr. Schaffer has been Government inspector for the docks and two light-houses of the Port of Huron, and he had previously served in a similar capacity at Toledo, Lorain and Cleveland. He is essentially a vital, straightforward and enterprising man of affairs and commands the unqualified esteem of the community in which he maintains his home and in the generall welfare of which he takes the deepest interest. Mr. Schaffer is affiliated with the Huron Camp of the Order of American Woodmen and is past banker of the same. He and his wife reside in one of the beautiful modern homes of Huron, the same having been erected by him, on South Williams Street, and it is known as a center of gracious and unostentatious hospitality. CHARLES W. DILDINE. The chief engineer of the municipal electric- light and waterworks plant of the thriving little City of Huron is one of the valued executives and popular citizens and has been the incumbent of his present position since 1909, his scrupulous attention to all details and careful handling of the important service entrusted to his charge having resulted in the effective upkeep, and operation of these important departments of public utility service. As pertinent to his recognition in this publication further interest attaches to his career by reason of HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 827 the fact that he is a native of Erie County and a representative of a well known and highly esteemed family of this favored section of the Buckeye State. Not far distant from his present place of residence in the City of Huron, which was then known as Huronville, Mr. Dildine was born on the 30th of April, 1876, and in the public schools of this place he continued his studies until he had attained to the age of seventeen years, his discipline having thus included the curriculum of the high school. At the age noted he began the theoretical study and also a practical apprenticeship to stationary engineering, and incidentally he had the good judgment to fortify himself by a simultaneous course of technical study in the Scranton Correspondence School, which has a national reputation. From 1905 to 1907 Mr. Dildine served as stationary engineer at the Huron water station of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern road, and this experience proved of great value to him in fitting him to assume the responsible office of which he is now the incumbent. At the municipal light and water plant he has the supervision of two fine engines of most modern type—one capable of developing 150 horse power and the other seventy horse power. In the handling of the mechanical equipment of the plant he has never encountered an accident to the machinery and has kept the service up to the highest standard of efficiency, his administration of affairs having been loyal and creditable and having inured to the general benefit of the city and its people. Mr. Dildine is a son of William and Betsey (Wolverton) Dildine, the former of whom was born near sithe present beautiful little City of Hillsdale, Michigan, on the 2d of July, 1836, and the latter of whom was born in Huron Township, Erie County, Ohio, on the 1st of November, 1850. The lineage of William Dildine traces back to sturdy German stock and the original American representatives of the name settled in Pennsylvania in the colonial era of our national history. In that state the parents of William Dildine were born and that they became pioneer settlers in Michigan is fully indicated by the fact that he himself was born in the Territory of Michigan in the year prior to the admission of the state to the Union. William Dildine was reared and educated in the Wolverine State and there continued his association with agricultural pursuits until there came to him the call of higher duty, with the breaking out of the Civil war. He promptly manifested his patriotic loyalty by enlisting as a private in Company E, Fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and with this gallant command he participated in the first battle of Bull Run, the Battle of the Wilderness, and many other engagements marking the progress of the great internecine conflict. He proved a faithful and valiant soldier of the Union and was fortunate in that he escaped other than nominal wounds and in that he was never captured. He continued with his regiment until the close of the war, his service having covered a period of nearly five years, and after receiving his honorable discharge he returned to his home in Michigan. In later years he vitalized the more gracious memories and associations of his long and honorable military career by his affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic, and he was one of the organizers of Moses Martin Post of this noble organization at Huron ; he was for many years one of the most popular and influential comrades of this post and he was its commander at the time of his death, his funeral services being held under the auspices of this patriotic organization. In Michigan William Dildine continued his residence until 1867, when he came to Erie County and engaged in farming in Huron Township. A year or two later, however, he severed his association with this line of enterprise and turned his attention to the fishing industry, with 828 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY which he continued to be identified during the 'remainder of his active career, his operations having been exclusively in the waters of Lake Erie and excellent success having attended his operations. His death occurred at Fairport, Lake County, on the 8th of July, 1904, and he was well known in navigation circles as well as in Erie and other counties bordering on Lake Erie, his sterling integrity and genial personality having drawn to him troops of staunch friends. He was unfaltering in his allegiance to the republican party and was active and .enthusiastic in the promotion of its cause. At Huron was solemnized the marriage of William Dildine to Miss Betsey Wolverton, and in her native place her death occurred on the 9th of September, 1887. She was a devoted wife and mother, was a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as was also her husband, and her circle of friends was limited only by that of her acquaintances. Mrs. Dildine was a daughter of Charles Wolverton, who was a pioneer of Erie County, where he settled on a farm at Rye Beach, west of the present City of Huron, and on this homestead both he and his wife continued to reside until their death, he having been a native of England, where their marriage was solemnized, and his wife having been born in Scotland. He whose name initiates this article was the second in order of birth in a family of five children, and the first-born, Leonard, is now a resident of the Village of Rocky River, Cuyahoga County ; Otis was the next in order of birth ; and Cora is deceased, as is probably true in the case of Belle, concerning whom the other members of the family have lost trace. The year 1900 recorded the marriage of Charles W. Dildine to Mrs. Louisa Macky, who was born and reared in Huron Township and who is a daughter of Alexander and Angeline Gilmore (Paxton) Thompson, both natives of Ohio. Mr. Thompson, who celebrated his eighty-second birthday anniversary in 1915, is living retired in the City of Huron and is one of the well known and honored pioneer citizens of Erie County, his devoted wife having been summoned to the life eternal in June, 1899. No children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Dildine, but Mrs. Dildine became the mother of three children by her first marriage, to George Macky, whose death occurred several years ago. Two of the children died in infancy, and George died in January, 1904, a fine youth of twenty years and one whose friends in his native county were many. Mr. Dildine gives his political allegiance to the republican party, is affiliated with Camp No. 113 of the Woodmen of the World, at Huron, of which he is clerk, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. ULYSSES G. SMITH. The proprietor of the Huron Roller Mills, which are thoroughly modern in equipment and control a substantial and representative trade, has literally grown up in the line of industrial enterprise to which he is thus giving his attention, and it is needless to say that he is admirably fortified in both technical knowledge and in practical experience. Mr. Smith not only holds prestige as one of the prominent and successful representatives of the milling business in Erie County and as one of the progressive and influential citizens of the thriving little City of Huron, but he is also a man whose buoyant and genial nature and sterling attributes of character have won for him an impregnable vantage-place in popular confidence and esteem, his coterie of staunch friends being virtually limited only by that of his acquaintances. The Huron Roller Mills do a general milling business and the principal brand of flour produced is designated the "Sweet Home," its superior excellence having gained to it a wide and appreciative demand throughout Erie and adjoining counties, the product being distinctively HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 829 staple and standard. The mills were established about the year 1866, by the firm of Barker & Slack, and after the property passed from the control of this firm it changed hands several times before it came into. the possession of the present owner. This pioneer flouring mill, originally equipped with the old-time buhrs, has not fallen behind in the progress of the milling industry, as it has been remodeled from time to time and was finally supplied with the best` mechanical facilities and accessories that are now in evidence and that give it high standard. Mr. Smith first became identified with the operations of these mills in 1892, and since 1903 he has been the sole proprietor, many improvements having been made since he assumed control. Power is supplied by an excellent steam plant, and the facilities are such as to obtain the best results in the grinding not only of wheat but also of corn, buckwheat, etc., the capacity of the plant being for the aggregate output of fifty. barrels a day. Mr. Smith has stated that he gained his initial experience in the milling business when he was but seven years old, and 'his long association with this line of enterprise makes him an authority in ,all details of the same. Ulysses Grant Smith was born at Lexington, Richland County, Ohio, on the 16th of July, 1863, but moved from there when a mere child and acquired his early education in the common schools of Liberty Township, Hancock County, Ohio, the while he incidentally became familiar with the activities of his father's flour mill, as already intimated in a preceding paragraph, the entire active career of his father having been given to the milling business. Mr. Smith has been personally concerned with his present line of industrial enterprise for the long period of thirty-six years, and from the time he completed his practical term of apprenticeship he has never been found absent from his station of business for a total period of more than three or four months, his energy, ability and close application having been the conservators of his success and advancement and there having been no time at which he could not readily find employment. As a young man Mr. Smith was associated with his father in the operation of the Carland Mills at Findlay, this state, and later they assumed control of the mill at Bloomdale, Wood County, Ohio, from which place he came to Birmingham, Erie County, where the subject of this review was operator of a mill until his removal to Huron, in 1892. He and his father met with considerable loss through a flood which did great damage to the mill which they were operating at Findlay, but both have proved that courage and continued industry will win out in the face of obstacles and financial depression, and it may consistently be said of Mr. Smith that he has never faltered in purpose and never permitted himself to think of defeat or continued misfortune within the realm of possibility. Leander C. Smith, father of him whose name introduces this review, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, in the year 1835, a member of a family that settled in that county in an early day. As a youth he was engaged in teaching school about seven years, and when the Civil war was precipitated on the nation he tendered his service in defense of the Union by enlisting in a regiment that was recruited largely in his native county. After ninety days of service he was granted an honorable discharge, by reason of physical disability. Thereafter he remained for a time on the farm of one of his brothers, and later he found employment as a general mechanic, at McComb, Hancock County, his natural mechanical ability having made him an effective artisan at the trade of cabinetmaker and engineer and having finally enabled him to become a proficient exponent of the milling business, with which he continued to be closely identified for fully twenty years. In Wayne County was solemnized the marriage of Leander C. Smith 830 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY to Miss Fannie George, daughter of Isaac George, the maiden name of whose wife was Gault, both parents having been born and reared in Pennsylvania and having early established their home on a farm in Wayne County, Ohio ; they later removed to Wood county, where the mother died at the age of sixty-six years and where the father passed away at the patriarchal age of ninety-two years, both having been zealous church folk of the highest integrity and honor. Leander C. Smith died at the age of seventy-two years, as the result of an accident ; in an attack of vertigo he fell from a porch, his head striking a rock and the skull being crushed, so that he died about two hours later,- his widow surviving him about four months and dying when about sixty-eight years of age. They became the parents of seven children, all of whom are still living and all of whom are married and have children. Mr. Smith was a staunch republican and was a man of broad views awl superior intellectuality. At Ashmont, Erie County, was solemnized the marriage of Ulysses G. Smith to Miss Clara Bryant, who was born in Indiana but who was reared to adult age in Erie County, Ohio, where she acquired her education in the public schools and where her parents continued to reside until their death. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children, Helen A., who is, in 1915, a member of the sophomore class in the Huron High School and who is developing exceptional talent as a pianist, and Paul, who was born in 1906, and who is attending the public schools. Mr. Smith accords unfaltering allegiance to the cause of the republican party, takes a lively interest in public affairs of a local order and has served two years as a member of the City Council of Huron. He was formerly in active affiliation with the Knights of Pythias, and he and his family attend and support the Presbyterian Church. MILES LANDER. Few farms in Erie County have undergone a more complete transformation than that of Miles Lander, located in the northwest corner of Berlin Township. When Miles Lander was born there April 2, 1870, only a portion of the tract of 100 acres was arable, and fields were thickly strewn with stumps. It was his father, the late William C. Lander, who worked this transformation in the landscape and the combined efforts of the Lander family has produced as fine a farm as can be found within the limits of Berlin Township. Miles Lander is one of two sons of the late William C. Lander, grew up and received his education in the public schools of his native township, and his home has always been on what is known as the old Lander Homestead, comprising 100 acres of well managed and productive soil, with excellent drainage, and cultivated with such rotation of crop as to bring out the best possibilities. Mr. Lander grows about fifteen acres of wheat, fifteen to twenty acres of corn, one or two acres of potatoes, and also has crops of oats and considerable meadow land. To the traveler along Rural Route No. 2 out of Huron the farm at once commends itself by reason of its attractive group of buildings. There is a large barn 36 by 96 feet, besides wagon and tool sheds and other structures for the shelter of stock and equipment. The home is a big white two-story eleven-room house, which was built in 1871 by the late William C. Lander. William C. Lander was born in Hadenham, England, May 28, 1830, being an only son and child, and as an orphan was rearedl. by his grandmother until about nineteen years of age. He then set out for the New World on February 27, 1852, and landed in New York City April 9, 1852. He came on to Akron, Ohio, to visit an uncle, James Lander, spending a year or two in that locality, part of the time employed in a printing office at Akron owned by T. and H. G.. Canfield. While there HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 831 he helped to set type on an old history of Summit County, Ohio. In 1855 he came to Erie County, and being still poor found employment with Charles W. West in Berlin Township in April of that year. On March 17, 1857, he entered the employ of Mr. William Henry Hine, a prominent citizen and business man, and received a great deal of encouragement from Mr. Hine, who aided him in getting a start. Early in the '60s, acting on the advice of Mr. Hine, who gave him all the time he needed to make his payments, Mr. Lander made his first purchase of thirty acres. Economical and thrifty and with the aid of capable wife, he soon had the land paid for, and about 1870 sold it and purchased the 100 acres where his son Miles now lives. On this land he wrought with all the industry of which he was capable, laid many rods of tile, constructed the fine large house already mentioned, and not only prospered there but accumulated the surplus which enabled him to secure 100 acres adjoining, his first home, now owned and occupied by his son, Charles Lander. adjoining C. Lander died at the old homestead November 10, 1913. He was as good a man as his township possessed in its ranks of citizenship, and was not only a capable home maker but also a man whose influence was good in behalf of religion, morality and all local betterment. He was an independent republican in politics. He was married at the home of William Henry Hine, while he was in Mr. Hine's employ, to Mary Jane Ceas, who was born in New York, July 2, 1830. She also lived for several years in the Hine home before her marriage. She was one of a family of seven children and the daughter of El. Nathen and Eunice (Jackson) Ceas, they having moved from York State while their family of children were small and located at Harper's Corners (now known as Ceylon). She was married to Wm. C. Lander April 27, 1861, and died at the Lander farm October 5, 1883. She was a kind mother and known as a quiet and peace-loving neighbor. Mr. Miles Lander was married to Miss Anna C Oetzel, who was b6rn in Oxford Township of Erie County, October 5, 1873. She grew up there and in Milan Township and is the daughter of Justus and Anna B. (Bauereis) Oetzel. Her father was born October 24, 1833, in Hesse-Cassel, and her mother was born March 21, 1836, near Berlin, Germany. They both came to the United States in 1853, the former locating at Sandusky and the latter in Milan Township. In the latter locality on Christmas Day of 1857 they were married. They lived in Milan Village until 1861, and then moved to Oxford Township, in a farm. In 1883 the Oetzel family bought and occupied a farm of 170 acres in Milan Township, and that is still the property of the family. 'Mrs. Oetzel died there July 16, 1907, and Mr. Oetzel is still living, being now past eighty years of age. He was reared in the faith of the Reformed Church, while his wife was a Lutheran, and after their marriage they both affiliated with the Lutheran Church and reared their children in the same faith. There were seven sons and five daughters in the Oetzel family, four of . whom died young, and one daughter has passed away since the death of her mother. Of the seven still living six are married and have children. Mr. and Mrs. Miles Lander are the parents of three children. Barbara Ellen, born September 7, 1900, is now a student in the Berlin Heights High School ; William J., born April 6, 1904, is in the sixth grade of the common schools; and Emma E. was born June 2, 1909. Mrs. Lander is a member of the Lutheran Church, and Mr. Lander is- independent in politics. TALLIEN M. CLOCK. The publishers of this history of Erie County have been fortunate in enlisting in its preparation the co-operation of Mr. Clock, who is one of the representative newspaper men of the county, a citizen of prominence and influence, of distinctive intellectuality and 832 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY great public spirit, and who maintains deep and abiding interest in all that touches his home county. He is editor and publisher of the Erie County Reporter, the only one in the fine little Village of Huron, and under his direction it has been made a most effective exponent of local interests and the generic principles of the republican party. Mr. Clock is a scion of one of the old and honored families of Huron County, within whose borders his paternal grandfather settled al an early day, and the family name has been closely and influentially linked with the annals of this favored section of the historic old Western Reserve, so that it is but natural that the subject of this review should manifest lively interest in the history of the county and have given much study to the same. As editor and publisher of the Erie County Reporter Mr. Clock is the successor of his honored father, David Clock, by whom the paper was founded under its present title, the first edition having been issued on the 19th of March, 1879, and the founder having continued the publication of the paper for more than a quarter of a century and up to the time of his death, which occurred on the 11th of June, 1905. David Clock was a man of strong character, broad mentality and well fortified convictions, so that he was admirably equipped for leadership in popular sentiment. As a newspaper man he was vigorous and independent, and his experience in this line of enterprise covered virtually his entire active career. He believed the functions of a newspaper of the order of that which he so long published to be aside from politics of partisan order, and thus he made the Erie County Reporter independent in politics and a vehicle for the expression of his sentiments regarding public affairs without the restrictions of partisan lines. He developed the Reporter. into one of the strong and popular publications of Erie County and its representative circulation indicated the popular appreciation of his efforts and of high sterling character as a man and a public-spirited citizen of high civic ideals. He was indefatigable in his efforts to promote the best interests of the community and his paper was made to wield large influence throughout the eastern part of Erie County, a precedence which it fully maintains under the direction of his son. Individually Mr. Clock was a staunch supporter of the principles of the republican party and he was active and influential in its councils in Erie County, where he was a frequent delegate to its county conventions and also to the republican state conventions. When Hon. James G. Blaine was nominated for the presidency Mr. Clock became one of the organizers of the Blaine Club of Huron and was elected president of the same. David Clock was born at Monroeville, Huron County, in August, 1831, and was a scion of one of the staunch old Holland Dutch families that was founded in the Mohawk Valley of New York about the middle of -en-e -eighteen-6i century, where the name was one of prominence in social and industrial associations for several generations. Timothy Clock, father of David, was the founder of the Ohio branch of the family. Upon his immigration to the Buckeye State he settled in .Huron County, he having been a young man at the time and one well fortified for the life of a pioneer. His parents finally joined him in Huron County, and several of his brothers and sisters also came to Ohio, the entire number of children having been sixteen and the family having been remarkable for physical and mental vigor in this, as in preceding and later generations. Timothy Clock and his wife passed the remainder of their lives in Huron County, where he followed the vocation of tanner and currier, his brother who came to Ohio having devoted their attention to agricultural pursuits. In Huron county was solemnized the marriage of Timothy Clock to Miss Phoebe Carr, a representative of a pioneer family of HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 833 this section of Ohio and of one that sent forth from Massachusetts its quota of patriot soldiers to render valiant service in the war of the Revolution. Mrs. Phoebe (Carr) Clock was summoned to the life eternal about the year 173, at the age of seventy-nine years, and the older generation in Huron County recall her as a woman of gentle and gracious personality, both she and her husband having been members of the Yresbyterian Church, though the original religious faith of the Clock family was that of the Dutch Reformed Church. Reared to manhood in Huron County and afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period, David Clock learned in his youth, at Monroeville, the trade of harnessmaker and saddler, at which he became a skilled workman. At Monroeville was solemnized his marriage to Miss Emma Bishop; who was born at Mayville, the judicial center of Chautauqua County, New York, near the head of the beautiful Chautauqua Lake, and who was reared to adult age in her native county, she having been a young woman at the time of the family removal to_ Ohio. She continued her residence in Erie County until the time of her death and was one of the gentle and revered pioneer women of the county at the time when she was summoned to the life eternal, her death' having occurred in the Village of Huron, in November, 1812, and her age at the time having been seventy-seven years. Both she and her husband were earnest members of the Presbyterian Church. They became the parents of three sons and one daughter and the third born, Vernon, died at the age of nine years; Tallien M., of this review, was the first in order of birth; Harvey is a well known citizen of Lorain County and his only child, Tallien M., was named in honor of the subject of this sketch ; .Mary B. is the wife of Samuel Overhold and they now reside in the City of Seattle, Washington. Tallien M. Clock was born at Monroeville, Huron County, on the 4th of October, 1857, and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools of that village. In his youth he served a practical apprenticeship to the printer's trade, and after having followed the same for several years in his native county he went to the City of Chicago in 1882 and there found employment as a compositor in the office of the old Chicago Times, of which the erratic but celebrated Wilbur F. Story was then the publisher. After remaining two years in the great western metropolis Mr. Clock returned to Erie County and became associated with his father, who had in the meanwhile retired from the work of his trade and become the founder of the Erie County Reporter, as intimated in a preceding paragraph of this article. In the practical management of the business of the Reporter Tallien M. Clock continued to be his father's valued coadjutor until the death of the latter, in 1905, when he assumed individual control and ownership of the plant and business. He has since continued his effective enterprise as editor and publisher of the Reporter, maintains his newspaper and job-printing plant at an excellent modern standard and has made the Reporter one of the model weekly journals of this section of the Buckeye State, the Reporter being independent in its political policies, as previously intimated. Though his paper is maintained as a non-partisan publication, this does not imply that Mr. Clock holds a neutral personal attitude in politics, for he accords a staunch allegiance to the republican party and has been active and influential in its local councils and campaign manoeuvers. He has served frequently as delegate to county, state and congressional conventions of his party, but has at no time manifested the proclivities of the so-called offensive partisan. Mr. Clock served six years as clerk of the village board of education, and held for some time the 834 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY office of president of the village council of Huron. He succeeded William C. Heyman as mayor, filling out the latter's- unexpired term, and then being elected to the office for the regular term of two years, his administration having been signally progressive and having inured greatly' to the benefit of Huron. Since 1900' Mr. Clock has held the Government office of collector of the Port of Huron. He is a charter member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and in the same has passed all of the official chairs. The marriage of Mr. Clock was solemnized at Huron. Mr. Clock's only child is Marian, who is, a young woman of culture and marked executive ability. She was graduated in Oberlin College as a member of the class of 1907, and thereafter was an official of the Young Woman's Christian Association in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, for two years, after which she held for some time the position of assistant registrar of her alma water, Oberlin College. She now has the distinction of being assistant manager of the Ajax-Grube Rubber Company, in the City of Cleveland. CHARLES EBERT. Prominent among the stirring, wide-awake business men of Erie County, one who has been the architect of his own fortunes and has succeeded in the development of a large and paying business, is Charles Ebert, who is the proprietor of a wholesale butchering busi- ness. He entered upon his career as an agriculturist, gradually added the breeding of live stock to his activities, and finally entered, in a modest way, the butchering business. This latter he has developed to large proportions, and now is doing a very satisfying business within the corporation limits of Huron, on the Bogart Road. Charles Ebert was born in the City of Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio, Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1876, and is a son of Louis and Catherine (Herbell) Ebert. His parents, natives of New York State and of German parentage, have spent the greater part of their lives in Erie County, where the father has been for some years a successful wholesale butcher and farmer. They now make their home in Oxford Township, where they are well known and highly respected among the people with whom they have lived and labored for many years. The public schools of Oxford Township furnished Charles Ebert with the foundation for his education, and since leaving them he has added to his learning by study, experience and observation. He was brought up on the home farm and secured a knowledge of both farming and butchering, so that at the time of his marriage he was ready to embark upon a career of his own. In 1906 he came to his home farm, located in Huron Township, where he has thirty-eight acres, all under a high state of cultivation, on which he raises the various products of this section. Possessed of progressive ideas, he uses the most modern methods in his work and has demonstrated their value by the excellent results he has attained. In addition to this property, Mr. Ebert has a ninety-five-acre tract in Berlin Township, Erie County, which he purchased in 1914, and which he uses largely for a stock farm. While Mr. Ebert grows a large amount of grain, the greater part of this is fed to the stock that he butchers, for his wholesale trade has grown to large proportions, and he kills about fifty head of stock each week, including sheep and hogs. Both of his properties give evidence of the presence of good management and thrift, and both may boast of substantial and commodious buildings of all kinds. Mr. Ebert is known not only as a skilled agriculturist and excellent judge of cattle and other live stock, but as a business man whose straightforward dealings have won him the confidence of those who have been at various times associated with him. A > PICTURE OF CHARLES EBERT HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 835 democrat in politics, he is known as one of the influential party men of his locality, and at the pres6nt time is rendering capable service as a member of the Town Council of Huron. Mr. Ebert married Miss Rose Schwenk, who was born at Sandusky Alay 12, 1878, and was reared and well educated there in the public schools. Her father, Mathias Schwenk, died there some twenty years ago, but her mother still survives and' is making her home with her children, aged past sixty years. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ebert : Dorothy E., aged thirteen years, in the eighth grade in the public schools, and a member of the Presbyterian Church; Catherine, who is twelve years old and a scholar in the seventh grade ; Virginia E., aged eight years, and attending school ; Rosemary, aged six years; and Carl William, the baby, aged one year. LEWIS KUHL, On the fine farm which is his present place of residence, in Huron Township, Lewis Kuhl was born and reared, and he is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of this county, where his father settled fully seventy years ago and became a factor in the civic and industrial development of this now favored and opulent section of the old Buckeye State. He whose name introduces thins sketch has fully maintained the prestige of the name which he bears and is one of the progressive and representative agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county, where he stands exemplar of productive industry, of utmost civic loyalty and of that sterling integrity that ever begets objective confidence and good will. He is one of the honored and influential farmers of Huron Township and is a man who is specially entitled to specific recognition in this history. On his present farm, which has always been his home and the stage of his well ordered activities, Lewis Kuhl was born on the 31st of March, 1860, and he is a son of Peter and Philipina (Meyer) Kuhl. Peter Kuhl was born in the Kingdom of Hesse-Cassel, Germany, in the year 1817, and his parents passed their entire lives in that section of the great Empire of Germany. In his native place Mr. Kuhl was reared to adult age and in the early '40s, as a young man, he came with his elder brother Henry to America, the two having embarked on a sailing vessel at Bremen, and having landed in the port of New York City after a voyage of five weeks' duration. From the national metropolis they took passage up the Hudson River and finally proceeded by Erie Canal to Buffalo, from which port they crossed Lake Erie and landed at Cleveland, Ohio, which city was then a mere village, where they were importuned to take a farm in what is now the center of the city, but they decided that the land was too rough and too heavily timbered to meet their approval, and so' missed an opportunity of which only supernatural prescience could have had recognition. From Cleveland the sturdy young Germans proceeded up Lake Erie to Erie County, and here Henry Kuhl purchased a tract of wild land in Vermilion Township, Erie County at that time having been still an integral part of Huron County. On this original homestead, which he reclaimed and placed under effective cultivation IIenry Kuhl and his wife reared their children and there they continued to reside until their death, both having attained to measurably advanced age. Peter Kuhl, father of the subject of this review, purchased a tract of timbered land in the southern part of Huron Township, and on the present Huron and Milan road, though when he obtained the property public highways were noticeable chiefly for their absence or primitive condition. The zeal and energy which he brought to bear in the reclaiming and improving of his farm soon brought a definite transformation in 836 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY the same, and success awarded his herculean labors and indefatigable perseverance. In the midst of a virtual forest wilderness Peter Kuhl felled the trees and made the clearing on which he erected his pioneer log cabin, which was the original domicile of the family,—a home of crude facilities but one of peace and happiness, its hospitality having fully justified the statement that its latchstring was always, out. In 1867 Mr. Kuhl gave evidence of his prosperity by erecting,,on his farm the substantial frame house of seven rooms that is now occupied by his son Lewis and that is in an excellent state of preservation, as it was builded with the scrupulous care that was more in evidence in the pioneer days than at the present time, when pretentiousness often supplants solidity. One of the steadfast and upright citizens and industrious farmers of Erie County, Mr. Kuhl continued to reside in this pleasant home until he was summoned to the life eternal, on the 17th of July, 1876, shortly before attaining to the age of sixty years. In the year 1845 was here solemnized the marriage of Peter Kuhl to Miss Philipina Meyer, and they began their wedded life in the primitive log house of which mention has been made. Mrs. Kuhl survived her honored husband by a score of years and remained at the old home until she was summoned to eternal rest, on the 1st of May, 1907, at the venerable age of eighty-two years and eleven months. She was born and reared in Laden, Germany, and as a young woman of twenty-one years she came alone to the United States, her arrival in the port of New York City having occurred on her twenty-first birthday anniversary and the sailing vessel on which she had taken passage having consumed forty-nine days in crossing the Atlantic. Coining to Cleveland, Ohio, she was there employed in a domestic capacity for eight months, and she then came to Erie County, where her marriage was solemnized within a comparatively short period after she had formed the acquaintance of Peter Kuhl, to whom she proved a devoted wife and helpmeet,-a woman of gentle and kindly nature and one who was loved by all who came within the sphere of her influence. Mr. and Mrs. Kuhl were earnest members of the Reformed Church, always did their part in supporting those things that conserved the social and material welfare of the community, and in politics Mr. Kuhl was always found aligned as a loyal advocate of the principles of the republican party. These honored pioneer citizens became the parents of three sons and five daughters, all of whom are living except one son and one daughter. Three of the daughters still reside in Erie County and the other daughter is the wife of George Kuhl, their home being at Covington, Kentucky. All of the sons and daughters are married and well established in life. On his present farm, of which he has been the owner for a number of years, Lewis Kuhl passed the period of his childhood and youth under benignant influences, and he early began to contribute his aid in the work of the place. He has here continued his active association with the great fundamental industries of agriculture and stockgrowing without interruption, and he has proved a specially progressive and successful exponent of these important lines of enterprise. His farm comprises 110 acres of most fertile and productive land and the same is devoted to diversified agriculture, the growing of potatoes and other vegetables and to the raising of excellent grades of livestock, scrupulous care being given in the upkeep of all the farm buildings and thrift and prosperity being in evidence on every side. Mr. Kuhl has not hedged himself in with mere individual interests but has taken his share in the supporting of all things tending to foster the general welfare of the community. His political allegiance is given without reservation to the republican party and while he has had no ambi- HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 837 tion for public office his civic loyalty has caused him to give effective service as school director of his district, a position of which he has been the incumbent since 1899, the while his service as a member of the school board of Huron Township has covered a period of fully half this duration. He and his wife are zealous members of the Presbyterian Church and both are actively identified with Milan Grange of the Patrons or Husbandry, in the affairs of which they are specially influential, Mr. Kuhl being steward of this grange in 1915 and his wife holding in the same the office of Pomona. In Milan Township, this county, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kuhl to Miss Helen L. Wikel, who was born in that township on the 3(1 of January, 1863, and who is a daughter of Charles and. Helen (Root;) Wikel. Mr. Wikel was born and reared in Baden, Germany, and was a young man when he came to America and established his home in Erie County. He became one of the successful farmers of Milan Township, where lie passed the remainder of his life. His wife was born in Massachusetts and was reared in the State of New York. Both were consistent communicants of the Lutheran Church. In the concluding paragraph of this article is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and . Mrs. Kuhl, Lewis P., Jr., graduated from the Huron High School, class of 1904, and is now his father 's valued assistant in the operation of the home farm. He married Winifred Kellar, and they have one child, Paul Edward. Carl W., who is a carpenter by trade and vocation,. married Miss Clara Maroney, and they reside in the Village of Huron. They have one child, Jean Ruth. Frederick A., who is employed as a steam-crane operator in the Village of Huron, married Miss Mary Thorne. Albert F. who, like the other children, received the advantages of the public schools of Erie County, was graduated in the Ohio State University, in the City of Columbus, in 1912, and he is now a member of the class of 1917 in the medical department of Western Reserve University, in the City of Cleveland. Elmer, who was graduated in the Huron High School, class of 1912, is now employed in Youngstown, Ohio, as weighmaster and recorder for the Republic Iron and Steel Company's works. Ida R., the youngest of the children, was graduated in the Huron High School as a member of the class of 1915 and remains at the parental home, a popular factor in the social activities of the community. AUGUST H. SCHEID. "Cedar Towers, "'the beautiful rural home of Mr. Scheid and his family, is most attractively situated on his fine landed estate in the southwestern part of Hurton Township, and with Mrs. Scheid as its gracious and popular chatelaine this idyllic home has become a center of most gracious and cultured hospitality, the family being one of special prominence in the representative social activities of this favored section of Erie County. Mr. Scheid is a scion of one of the old and honored German families of this county and has gained foremost rank among the substantial and progressive farmers and stock-growers of this section of the state, the while he is known for his civic loyalty and public spirit and commands the high regard of the people of the county in which he has maintained his home from the time of his birth. Anton Scheid, grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was born in the old Duchy of Nassau, now a part of the Province of Hesse-Nassau, Germany, his birth having occurred in the latter part of the eighteenth century and the family having been for many generations one of prominence in that section of the great German Empire. Anton Scheid was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm in his fatherland and in the same province his wife was born and reared. There 838 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY were born their children—Peter, Charles, William, Emma, Nettie and Celia. In 1852 the entire family immigrated to the United States, and the long period of sixty-five days elapsed ere the. old-time sailing vessel on which they took passage arrived in the port of New York City. Within a short time aster landing on American shores the family came to Ohio, and their original location was at Monroeville Huron County, in which vicinity the father and his sons were identified With farm operations for the ensuing two years, at the expiration of which removal was made to Erie County. Here the. son, William Scheid, purchased a tract of land in Oxford Township, placing it under cultivation. Anton Scheid and his wife passed the remainder of their lives at Pontiac, Huron County, and both attained to advanced age. They were devout communicants of the German Lutheran Church and were folk of strong character and sterling worth, their names meriting enduring place on the roster of the honored pioneers of Huron County. Of their children three are now living and all are residents of Huron County-Charles, Mrs. Janet Heiman, and Mrs. Emma Miller. William Scheid, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1828, was reared and educated in his native land and was a young man of twenty-four years at the time of the family immigration to America, his elder brothers likewise having been bachelors at the time and all of the sons and daughter having married in Ohio, where they reared large families of children. In Erie County, William Scheid wedded Miss Caroline Ohr, who was born in the German Fatherland and who was a young woman when she came with her parents and other members of the family to America, the family home having been established on a pioneer farm in Oxford Township, Erie County, Ohio, in 1855, where her parents died when venerable in years. Of the children only Mrs. Scheid and her sister, Mrs. Brown, are. now living. After their marriage William Scheid and his equally devoted and ambitious young wife began their connubial life on a farm in Oxford Township, their original home having been a pioneer log house, but the passing years having brought to them large and well-merited prosperity, Mr. Scheid having been the owner of a valuable and well-improved landed estate and having been an honored and influential citizen at the time of his death, which occurred on his old homestead in Oxford Township, in 1905, at which time he was seventy-seven years of age. He was a man of indomitable energy and mature judgment and his success was achieved by honest and earnest endeavor As one of the world's productive workers: His political support was given to the democratic party and none has entered more thoroughly into the spirit of American institutions and ideals. He was a consistent communicant of the Lutheran Church, of which his widow has been a devout adherent from the time of her girlhood, she still retaining her residence in Oxford Township and having celebrated her eightieth birthday . anniversary in January, 191.5. Though her physical powers have waned with the advancing years, she retains her mental alertness unimpaired, is fruitful in interesting reminiscences concerning the early days in Erie County and is one of the revered pioneer women of this section of the state. Of the children the eldest is William, who is one of the representative farmers of Huron Township. He married Miss Catherine Crecelius and they have two sons and two daughters. Emma, the next in order of birth, is the wife of Daniel Heyman, a prosperous farmer. in Huron County, and they have two sons and six daughters. August H., of this review, was the next in order of birth. Albert, who is a successful farmer in Oxford Township, married Miss Catherine Gastier, and they have three sons and one daughter. Adolph died in April, 1915. He was on the old homestead HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 839 farm in Oxford Township, wedded Miss Ann Kaltenbach, and-they had two sons and one daughter. Bertha is the wife. of Frank Balduff, a farmer of Oxford Township, and they have one son. At the old-homestead in Oxford Township August H. Scheid was born on the 30th of October, 1866, and while early initiating his association with the practical work of the farm he did not fail to take proper advantages of the educational opportunities afforded him in the public schools, after completing the curriculum of which he took an effective course of study in the Ohio State Normal School at Wauseon and Milan, Ohio. His active and independent career has been one of close and successful identification with the great fundamental industries of agriculture and stockgrowing, of which he has become one of the prominent and substantial representatives and exponents in his native county. In 1902 Mr. Scheid purchased 192 1/2 acres of land in Huron Township, and .this exceptionally fertile and productive tract constitutes his present fine homestead, upon which he has made many improvements—all of the best modern order. He erected his splendid farm residence, of twelve rooms, modern in architectural design and in all appointments and equipments, and the other buildings on the place are of the best order, including a barn 38x68 feet in lateral dimensions. Everything about this fine rural domain indicate's careful management, progressiveness and thrift, and Mr. Scheid and his family may consider themselves signally favored in having for their home so admirable a rural demesne. Nearly the entire farm is available for cultivation. He is essentially a practical farmer, but is ever ready to adopt the most approved scientific methods and machinery in carrying forward the various operations of the farm, so that he makes of success not -an accident but a logical result. His progressiveness has been infectious and he has not been self-centered, but rather has done all in his power to further the interests of the farming community, and the civic and industrial prestige of his native county. He was foremost in promoting the organization of the Huron Farmers' Institute, was elected its first president and is now the valued' incumbent of this position. He and his wife have been prominent and influential in the work of the Patrons of Husbandry and are numbered among the most active and zealous members of the Huron Grange of this organization, as are they also of the Erie County Farmers' Institute. They are wide a wake, loyal and enterprising, and the atmosphere of their beautiful home is that of distinctive culture and refinement. Mr. Scheid is found aligned as a stalwart advocate of the principles of the democratic party and has given effective service in behalf of its cause. That his popularity in his home township is unequivocal is indicated by the fact that though it is a veritable republican stronghold he is now serving his third term as township trustee. For ten years he has served as a member of the school board of his district, and for seven years of this period he has been its president. He has been an earnest advocate of centralization and consolidation in the affairs of the rural schools, and labored earnestly for this improvement in the educational service fully four years before the state authorities of Ohio began to give the matter active consideration. In his own school district he manifested his initiative, well formed opinions and liberality by individually having constructed a wagon of proper equipment for the transportation of pupils to the school, the service which he thus provided having been extended also into an adjoining district. In the City of Huron, Mr. Scheid is affiliated with Marks lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons, besides holding membership in Milan Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Huron Council. Royal and Select Masters. Mr. Scheid's wife is affiliated with the adjunct Masonic organi- 840 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY zation, the Order of the Eastern Star. They hold membership in the Presbyterian Church at Huron and are numbered among the popular and influential members of Huron Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, of which he served for a long period as overseer, besides having been an official of the Pomona Grange of the county. Mrs. Scheid has been the popular and efficient incumbent of the office of lecturer of Huron Grange since 1911, and in 1913 had the distinction of being elected to the same office in the general or Pomona Grange of the county, a position of which she continued the incumbent in 1915. She introduced the system of providing printed programs for the important meetings of the Grange and her inspiring influence has done much to vitalize and make interesting and profitable the work of both the Huron and the Pomona Granges. She, as well as her husband, has been active also in the affairs of the Huron Athletic Association, in the organization of which they took a prominent part. In all things pertaining to the advancement of social and general civic interests they are foremost, and to such loyal and enterprising citizens it is due that the life of the farmer and his family is made to vie in attractiveness with that of the metropolitan centers, the best type of the modern farm associations being the most pleasing and benignant of all that can compass intelligent and aspiring people. Mrs. Scheid is a woman of most gracious personality and broad intellectual ken, the quality of leadership in thought and action coming to her as a natural prerogative. She has made numerous contributions to local newspapers and her journalistic correspondence has covered a period of a quarter of a century, the while she has attained to high reputation in the presentation of interesting and valuable papers and addresses before the Patrons of Husbandry and the Farmers' Institutes. She has also devoted much of her time to art, being especially proficient in water colors and china painting. Not only is the Scheid homestead, "Cedar Towers," one of the ideal places of Northern Ohio, but the family also maintain during the heated summer term a beautiful cottage, "Winona Lodge," at Rye Beach, on the shores of Lake Erie and near the City of Huron, this county. In the year 1895, at the home of the bride's parents, in Perkins Township, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Scheid to Miss Minnie Greiner, who was born in the City of Sandusky, this county, on the 7th of May, 1875, and who was there reared and educated, though in the meanwhile her parents established their home on a farm in Perkins Township. She is a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Weis) Greiner, both natives of Germany, where the former was born in 1833 and the latter in 1832. Henry Greiner was a lad of about fourteen years when, in 1847, he accompanied his parents on their immigration to America, and, proceeding to their destination in Erie County, the parents were attacked with cholera after they had arrived in the City of Cincinnati, and both fell victims to the prevailing epidemic of this dread disease, one having survived the other by less than an hour ; both were communicants of the Catholic Church. Henry Greiner was one of the younger members of a large family of children who were thus tragically orphaned, but he was energetic and self-reliant and soon after arriving in Erie County he found employment, by entering the service of a man named Lea, who was a prominent figure in the fishery industry at Sandusky. After continuing this association several years Mr. Greiner engaged in the draying business in Sandusky, and in the meanwhile he had taken unto himself a wife, who proved from the beginning a devoted and versatile helpmeet, as is shown by the fact that with her own hands she laid the foundation for the modest little dwelling ,which constituted their first real home. Mr. Greiner was a man of energy and ambitious purpose, HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 841 and his very nature was such that he could not long remain in obscurity. In Sandusky he eventually sold his original residence property and purchased a tract of vacant land on Monroe Street, that city, between Meigs and Perry streets. He thus became the owner of two blocks of land, and upon the same he erected small houses, which he sold upon easy terms to persons in modest circumstances, thus aiding them in providing homes and proving himself a public benefactor. He later purchased a tract of laud opposite the present Soldiers' Home, in Perkins Township, and near the City of Sandusky. There he developed one of the fine farms of Erie County and there he continued to reside until his death, in August, 1900, his loved and devoted wife having been summoned to eternal rest in January, 1897, and she having been a devout communicant of the Reformed Church. Concerning the children of this sterling couple, the following brief data are given : Elizabeth is the wife of August Hoph, of Cleveland, and they have two sons. Lena became the wife of Henry Ritter, whose death occurred in June, 1907, she having passed away in October, 1911. They are survived by three children-Carl, who now holds a responsible business position in the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Helen and Florence, who are loved members of the family circle of Mr. and Mrs. Scheid of this review, Helen having been graduated in the Huron High School as a member of the class of 1915. Henry Greiner, Jr., who is married but has no children, is a prosperous farmer near Monroeville, Huron County. The concluding paragraph of this article is devoted to brief data concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Scheid : Wayne died at the age of eight years; Lyndon Eric was graduated in the Huron High School in the class of 1915, and Denver Alston is a member of the class of 1918 in the same school ; Melbourne Emerson, LaVerne Winona, and Randall Durward are the younger children of the family circle. The pervading kindliness of Mr. and Mrs. Scheid has .been shown not only in their gracious care of the children of the latter's deceased brother, but also in their rearing of a foster-daughter, Matilda Miller, who is now, 1915, a young woman of twenty-three years. CHARLES STICKRETH. An Erie County farm that represents many of the ideals in the way of cultivation, productiveness, arrangement and equipment is that of Charles Stiekreth, known as the Sand Ridge Fruit Farm in Florence Township. It is located on the Central Ridge Road in the northern part of the township, and the daily mail delivery comes to his home over Rural Route No. 2 out of Vermilion. At that location Mr. Stiekreth has seventy acres, fifty acres of which are devoted to his diversified enterprise as a farmer and fruit grower, while a valuable feature of the place is twenty acres of timberland. In the general department of farming he grows wheat, corn, oats and potatoes, and his fruit orchard comprises thirty-five hundred trees of all varieties, and he has a considerable acreage in small fruits. Mr. Stickreth has always followed the plan of feeding the crops on his own land and keeps good stock, sheep, cattle, horses and hogs. One of the first buildings to attract attention is the barn, 30x66 feet in foundation, a large red building with white trimmings. It is surrounded by sheds and other buildings, including granary, an ice house which he does not regard as a luxury but as a necessary part of his farm equipment, and a comfortable dwelling of nine rooms. Mr. Stickreth may properly take pride in the fact that he has constructed nearly all the improvements on the farm with the exception of the house. He also has his fields well drained, and the soil is of the best quality. It was ten years ago that Mr. Stickreth bought this farm, and that was his first venture as an independent farm owner it Erie County. Vol. II-24 842 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Since then he has put up the various buildings mentioned, and has brought ten acres under cultivation from its original condition in stump. Most of his life has been spent in Erie County and he was born near Ruggles Corner in Vermilion Township, May 14, 1869, a son of August and Elizabeth (Peters) Stickreth. His father was born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, in 1839 and his mother was born in Baden in 1845. They were married in Germany and came to the United States in 1867, bringing with them their two children, August, Jr., and Anna. It required forty days to make the trip in the sailing vessel which landed them in New York City, and from there they came on to Vermilion Township in Erie County. August's brother Jacob had located there several years before and in his home August and family lived for three years. He then moved to Birmingham in Florence Township, bought land and occupied it for a time, but then sold and purchased other land in the same township near the county line. This was also sold and he finally purchased sixty acres near Florence village, where he lived until his death in 1909, while his wife passed away in 1913. They were members of the German Reformed Church, and in politics, after he gained citizenship, he became a democrat. Of the children born in this country, Charles was the first, and the other two are Jacob, who died in young manhood, and Emma, who is now a capable trained nurse at Oberlin. Most of his boyhood Charles Stickreth spent in Florence Township and his education was finished with the local high school. He was married in this township to Miss Minnie M. Jarrett. She was born in Florence Township in 1877, and was educated in the same schools which her husband attended. Her parents were George and Sarah (Mason) Jarrett, the former a native of England and the latter of New York State, and both came to Erie County when quite young and were married in Florence Township. They lived on the old home farm for forty-seven years, and Mr. Jsiarrett still lives there, his wife having passed away in July, 1913, when about seventy years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Stickreth have two children : Erma, who is now ten years of age and is an invalid ; and Mildred L., aged seven and beginning her school career. In politics Mr. Stickreth is a republican. GEORGE I. BAKER. A representative of the third generation of the Baker family in Erie County, and the name which he bears has been prominently and worthily connected with the development and progress of the county, where the paternal grandparents of the subject of this review established their home nearly a century ago. George I. Baker, now one of the progressive farmers and influential and popular citizens of his native township, was born in Florence Township, this county, on the 7th of January, 1880. His paternal grandparents, Jeremiah and Nancy (Burgess) Baker, representatives of sterling colonial families in New England, came from Connecticut to the Ohio Western Reserve of that commonwealth and became pioneer settlers in Erie County. At the northeast corner of the intersecting roads constituting what are locally known at the present time as the Florence Four Corners, in Florence Township, Jeremiah Baker entered claim to a tract of Government land, the greater part of which was marked by the virgin forest. On this tract, comprising 750 acres, this sturdy pioneer established his primitive home in the year 1818, and set to himself the herculean task of reclaiming a farm from the wilderness: Later he erected on his farm a large tavern, which became widely known and a popular stopping place for those who traversed the pioneer roads through this section, the old tavern having been situated at the junction of two of the principal highways through Erie County. This pioneer hostelry provided entertainment for the wayfaring persons and homeseekers and in the PICTURE OF GEORGE J. BAKER HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 843 early days was a center of much social activity in the county, a stopping place for the stage-coaches and provided with a large dance hall and other facilities of excellent order, as gauged by the standards of the locality and period. In the large barn maintained in connection with this pioneer inn it is known that P. T. Barnum, the great showman, found accommodation for his gigantic elephant, "Jumbo," and other animals in the days when his circus traveled through the country with teams and wagons. Jeremiah Baker brought an appreciable part of his large landed estate under effective cultivation and was known as one of the most liberal and public-spirited, as well as one of the most honored and influential citizens of Erie County. In the early days he became associated with a man named Beebe in the operation of a stage line between Cleveland and the Village of Milan, Erie County, and to provide proper facilities for the stage-coach transportation they felled the heavy timber and constructed a turnpike road over much of the distance between the two points noted. Near Florence Corners he gave three acres of land as a resting-place for the dead, and this was the first cemetery in Florence Township. Mr. Baker and his associate, Mr. Beebe, erected at their own expense the first schoolhouse in the township, and for a number of years they also paid the salary of the teacher in this pioneer scholastic institution. Jeremiah Baker and his wife, both well advanced in years, died about the close of the Civil war and their remains rest in the old-time cemetery which he himself had founded. They became the parents of two sons and five daughters who attained to years of maturity : Jeremiah, Jr., continued his residence in Erie County until his death and is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Mary Boyd, who is a resident of Russell, Kansas. George Perry, father of him whose name introduces this review, is more specifically mentioned in appending paragraphs. Georgiana, who resides in the little Village of Florence, this county, is the venerable widow of Alfred Babcock, and her only, child, Georgia, died after marriage. Theresa, who became the wife of Alonzo Hinckley, was a resident of the City of Buffalo, New York, at the time of her death and was survived by a large family of children. Mary, who likewise resides in Cleveland, is the widow of George Chandler. Nancy became the wife of a Mr. Spaulding and both were residents of the City of Toledo at the time of their death. The other daughter, Melissa, became the wife of a clergyman named Foote and both are deceased. George Perry Baker, named in honor of the hero of the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812, Commodore Perry, of whom he was a distant kinsman, was born on the old homestead farm in Florence Township, Erie County, on the 21st of November, 1841, and in his youth he received exceptionally excellent educational advantages, as he prosecuted his studies not only in Oberlin College but also in the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. Notwithstanding his high intellectual attainments he was content and proud to continue his allegiance to the great basic industry of agriculture, and he became the owner of 165 acres of the old homestead at Florence Corners, besides which he purchased from one of his two sisters her inherited farm of 185 acres, the latter being now owned and occupied by his son George I., to whom this sketch is dedicated. George P. Baker became one of the most vigorous, prosperous and influential citizens of his native township, his character and mentality well fitting for leadership in popidar thought and action and his prominence in the local councils of the republican party having been shown by his service on its township committee, though he manifested naught of ambition for person preferment along the line of public office. Prior to the construction of the present interurban electric line 844 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY through Florence Township he had become prominently. associated with other influential citizens of the county, including Mr. Lockwood, of Milan, and Mr. Bellamy, of Berlin Township, in the promotion and carrying forward of the important enterprise, but about the time The right of way was obtained for the new line his death occurred, on the 24th of May, 1901. The project was later brought to completion by another company, now known as the Cleveland, Columbus & Southwestern Railway Company. Mr. Baker was a man whose life was ordered upon the highest plane of integrity and honor and he thus commanded at all times the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow men, the while his broad mental ken and civic loyalty and progressiveness made him a leader in  community affairs. At Florence was solemnized the marriage of George Perry Baker to Miss Harriet E. Klady, who likewise was born and reared in Erie County, the date of her nativity having been March 14, 1844. She survives her husband, is one of the well known and -loved pioneer women of Florence Township and is a zealous member of the Congregational Church at Florence, her only child being George I., whose name introduces this article. Mrs. Baker is a daughter of Isaac and Juliet (Rowland) Klady, descendants of old colonial families of New England, their ancestors having been early settlers in Connecticut. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Klady was solemnized at Mount Morris, New York, in 1835, and within a few years thereafter they came to Erie County, Ohio, and settled in the little Hamlet of Florence, where Mr. Klady established a smithy, he having been a skilled blacksmith and wagonmaker. Here he continued in the work of his trade for many years, and later he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, as the owner of one of the excellent farms in Florence Township. He was originally a whig and later a republican in politics and served for a time as deputy sheriff of Erie County. His death occurred February 6, 1871, and his wife survived him by more than a score of years, she having been summoned to the life eternal on the 16th of September, 1893, when of venerable age ; she was a devoted member of the Congregational Church and her husband was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, both having been honored pioneers of Erie County. On the old homestead farm of his grandfather George I. Baker was reared to adult age ; here he received excellent educational advantages, and here, as a citizen and as a progressive and substantial agriculturist and stockgrower, he is well upholding the prestige of a name that has been signally honored in the annals of Erie County history. He now owns the homestead farm of 185 acres, eligibly situated on the State Road and near the Village of Florence. The place is specially well improved, eight acres being devoted to a fine peach orchard, and his attention is given to diversified agriculture and to the raising of excellent grades of horses, cattle, sheep and swine. The permanent improvements on the farm include the attractive house and fine barn 36 by 70 feet in dimensions, with basement and with slate roof. In national politics he gives support to the cause of the republican party, but in local affairs he is independent and exercises his franchise in the upholding of means and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. Both he and his wife attend and support the Congregational Church at Florence, and both are popular in the social activities of their home community. At Berlin Heights, this county, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Baker to Miss Nina E. Fowler, who was there born and reared and whose education included a course in the high school and also in a business college. She is a daughter of George and Jennie (Blake) Fowler, the former of whom likewise was born in Berlin Township, a representative of a pioneer family of Erie County, and the latter of whom was born HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 845 in Huron County, their marriage having been solemnized in Berlin Township. Mr. Fowler, who was a sterling and popular citizen and a staunch republican in politics, died at the age of forty years, and his widow, who eventually contracted a second marriage, still resides at ' Berlin Heights. Mr. and Mrs. Baker have one child, a winsome little daughter, Frances E., who was born March 4, 1912. EDWARD J. HUMM was born on the farm he now occupies and operates in Florence Township. It is one mile east of the Town of Florence on the State Road, and is undeniably one of the finest places in the community. Corn, wheat and oats are the favored products of the farm, and blooded Holstein cattle thrive in Mr. Humm's pastures, with fine horses, a goodly number of hogs and a herd of about seventy-five head of sheep to make up the proper complement of livestock for such a place., Mr. Humm is first and last an agriculturist. He is well content to be a prosperous and successful farmer, as well he might be, for no man can boast so great a degree of independence as can a thrifty farming man. Edward J. Humm was born on October 6, 1867, and is the son of Jacob and Catherine (Roach) Humm, natives of the Canton of Arguile, Switzerland. (See sketch of Robert J. and William Humm for family sketch in detail.) It may be said here briefly that Jacob Humm was the father of seven children by his first marriage, and a similar number by his second. Edward J. Humm was a child of the second marriage, and he was born after the family had settled down to farm life on the place he now owns. The early fortunes of the family in America were none too bright. After a long and trying voyage of seven weeks they arrived in New York, soon after coming to Ohio and settling in Cleveland. The,father had in his possession just seventy-five cents when they reached Cleveland, and they met with a good many adversities in the time they spent there. Jacob Humm found work in the ship yards for a time, earning a wage of fifty cents per day, and the children did what they could to help out. When work in the ship yards ceased, he tramped through the country and worked in the harvest fields to gain a livelihood for the family. In time he found it possible to get possession of a small piece of land in Erie County, and he made haste to get the family out of Cleveland and established in the country. They prospered, and soon Mr. Humm purchased a 100-acre farm at a bargain price, and they began their American farm life amid the stumps of the partially cleared land. All were willing workers, and they prospered with the passing years. In time the place presented a very different appearance to the world, and the father lived to see it one of the finest farms in the township. He replaced the small log house and barn with roomy frame structures and one improvement after another brought up the standard of the place. Here children were born to the parents, and here they were reared and educated in the schools of the community. Here.. too, the parents spent their latest days. The father, at the age of eighty- two years, was kicked by a playful horse, and his injuries proved fatal, death coming in the fall of 1894. Five years later his widow followed him to her last rest. These were sturdy and well-meaning people, and their lives meant much in the community wherein they hired. They were widely known and held in the deepest regard wherever they went. The German Reformed Church of Henrietta, Lorain County, gratefully acknowledged their unfailing support, and they were long among its foremost members, while Jacob Humm was a member of its board of trustees for years. He was a democrat in his political faith, though his activities in that field were not especially marked, being content with fulfilling his duty as a citizen and leaving politics to others. 846 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Edward J. Humm was reared on the farm where he was born, and to this place he fell heir on the death of his parents. Already mention has been made of the high character of his farming activities. He was married to Miss Jennie Algood, who was born in this township on February 22, 1867, the daughter of David and Mary (Rogers) Algood, of Southern birth but residents of this county and township since their marriage. David Algood died on his farm here in November, 1913, when he was sixty-eight years old, and his widow still lives on, the old home, aged seventy-six years. Mrs. Humm was a school teacher for eight years prior to her marriage. One daughter has been born to them—Hazel, born August 6, 1895, and a graduate of the Berlin Heights High School, class of 1913. In recent years the health of the wife and mother has not been at the best, and the daughter ably fills the post of housekeeper in the home. FRANK O. KING. Since the early pioneer times the King family has taken a notable part in the improvement and development of Erie County, and a grandson of the original settler, Frank O. King, in his generation has shown all the best family characteristics in this regard. He has taken an intelligent and purposeful part in the happenings which have made up the history of Florence Township during the last twenty-five or thirty years, and is just the type of citizen who deserves the dignity and responsibilities of public office. For the past six years Mr. King has held the office of township trustee,.and his administration has been one of deeds rather than promises. He is impartial, honest, earnest, and has the faculty of getting things done in behalf of the township as well as in his private affairs. He is a man of independent judgment, and none can question his sincerity of purpose and his real public spirit. His birthplace was the farm which he now owns, situated on the Middle Ridge Road in Florence Township. He was born there June 20, 1866. His grandfather, Chester King, was a native of Connecticut, married a Connecticut girl, and came in the early days to Ohio, locating on 130 acres of almost wild land in Florence Township. A portion of his original farm has never passed out of the family possession, and is now owned by Mr. Frank O. King. The land is located along Chappell Creek where Chester King and his wife spent their many years of useful toil and activities. He erected one of the first frame houses in the township, as well as other buildings, and the material for these structures all came from lumber sawed and cut on the farm, the mill being turned by the waters of Chappell Creek. Chester King and wife left a family of six children, all of whom are now deceased and all of whom were born, reared and spent their lives in Ohio. Joseph S. King, father of Frank 0., was born on the old homestead, as were also his brothers and sisters, and his own birth occurred in 1837. He died January 30, 1910, having spent all these years on the farm until he retired to Berlin Heights a few years before his death. He was a very successful farmer, and a man of prominence in the township, having served as trustee for a number of years. In politics he was first a whig, as was his father, and later an active republican. Joseph King was first .married in Florence Township to Melona Masters, who was born in New York State, and when seven years of age came with her mother to Erie County. She died on the old homestead in 1890 at the age of sixty-two. Her three children were : Charles, who died August 3, 1866, aged thirteen years three. days ; Mrs. Ella A. Andress, who is noted on other pages, where other interesting particulars concerning the King family can be found ; and Frank O. After the death of his first wife the father married Mary Meyer, PICTURE OF HENRY J. KROCK PICTURE OF F. L. KROCK HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 847 who is still living, her home being at Ogontz in Berlin Township. There is a daughter, Margaret, by this marriage, still single. After the death of his father Frank 0. King succeeded to the ownership of the fine old farm which comprises eighty-nine acres of land. It has excellent natural drainage, thus eliminating the necessity of tiling.. except over a few acres. For many successive years this land has produced all the staple crops grown in Northern Ohio, and probably no farm in Erie County has a record of more intelligent and successful husbandry than this. Mr. King for a number of years has given much attention to fruit growing. The old orchard, of six acres, is now somewhat depleted, but he has nine acres of fine young peach trees. His farm house is one of the best in the township, a large eight-room house, and the other improvements are in keeping. As already noted, Mr. King has held the office of township trustee for the past six years, and the citizens of that locality testify that the office was never in better hands. He has also been a leader in the Grange and general agricultural uplift of his section, and for a number .of years served as a member of the board of education. Like others of the family he is a republican, and he and his wife and daughter are all members of Florence Grange No. 1844, Patrons of Husbandry. He.is a past treasurer, while his wife is the present treasurer of that Grange. Mrs. King's maiden name was Adella Chandler, and she was born in Florence Township and is a woman of education and culture. Her parents were Daniel and Sarah (Belknap) Chandler. Her father was for many years an active farther, but is now retired, past eighty years of age, and his mind is as keen and bright as in former years. His wife died two years ago, at the age of seventy-five, and also kept her faculties until the end. Mr. and Mrs. King have two daughters : Pearl who was educated in the Florence High School, is now the wife of Edwin Felton, and they live at Florence Corners and have a daughter named Mabel E. Gladys E., the younger daughter, is still at home and a student in the Berlin Heights High School. These children comprise the third generation to be born on one farm, and that is an exceptional tribute to the stability of the King family, and there are not many like cases in the country of the Middle West, where both land and people are new, and almost constant change of residence and activities is the normal features of family life. FRANKLIN L. KROCK. In the year 1894 Mr. Krock succeeded his honored father in the conducting of a well-order and long-established business enterprise in the thriving little City of Huron, and as an undertaker and funeral director he has performed his delicate functions with all of consideration and kindliness and has shown marked business ability and judgment, so that in his chosen field of endeavor he has added to the prestige of a name long identified with this line of enterprise in Erie County, popular appreciation of the effective interposition of the father and sons in directing. affairs after loss and bereavement have rendered such service requisite, being shown in the fact that under the supervision of the two there have been laid to rest in Erie County more deceased persons than the entire population of Huron at the present time. Mr. Krock is a graduate and licensed embalmer of authoritative knowledge and practical skill ; his establishment is admirably equipped, and has the best of modern facilities, so that it is fortified for the prompt and effective meeting of all demands placed upon it. In the homestead in which he now resides in Huron, on South Street, near the corner of Williams Street, Mr. Krock was born on the 15th of August. 1855, and to the public schools of his native town he is indebted for his early educational discipline. After attaining to his legal major- 848 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY ity he held for four years the position of shipping clerk in the esta4)- lishment of the Toledo Carriage & Variety company, of which his brother and brother-in-law were the two interested principals. After remaining thus engaged in the City of Toledo for, the period noted, Mr. Krock finally returned to Huron and became. associated with the undertaking business of his father, besides having charge of the latter’s fine vineyard of ten acres, within the city limits. Since the death of his father, Henry J. Krock, he has successfully continued the business and is virtually the only undertaker and funeral director in Huron. Henry Joseph Krock was born in a village of the Schlichter District of Hessen, Germany, on the 19th of February, 1817, a scion of sterling German stock. He was a child at the time of his parents' death and was reared in the home of an uncle, who assigned him, when he was a mere boy, to the task of herding cattle, and that under most arduous conditions, as he remained with the cattle not only by day, but usually at night also, so that he was able to go to the family dwelling only at infrequent intervals and was compelled to remain out night after night, often in inclement weather and with clothing saturated by falling rain. This proved a depressing situation for an ambitious and vigorous boy, and finally he was enabled to enter upon an apprenticeship to the cabinetmaker's trade, his educational advantages in the meanwhile having been very limited. It may readily be understood that he hailed with gratification his release from the strenuous work of a herder, and in later years he reverted to his, apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker as constituting a happy period of his early life. He became a skilled artisan at his trade and after becoming an independent journeyman he considered himself sufficiently fortified to justify him in taking to himself a wife, in the person of Miss Anna M. Wilhelm, who was born and reared in a neighboring district of Hessen, the date of her nativity having been August 14, 1820. Soon after his marriage, in the year 1840, Henry J. Krock and his brave and devoted young wife severed the ties that bound them to their native land and set forth to seek a home in the United States. The sailing vessel on which they took passage was on the Atlantic for nine weeks before it reached the port of New York City, and from the national metropolis the young couple, as strangers in a strange land, continued their journey westward, by way of the Hudson River, by canal and by vessel on Lake Erie, until they finally disembarked in the City of Toledo, Ohio, where was born their first child. Toledo at that time had few metropolitan pretensions or facilities, and the all-prevalent ague, or chills and fever, so disturbed the Krock family that removal was made within a comparatively short time to the City of Cleveland, where the husband and father found work at his trade in a furniture manufactory conducted by the firm of Vincent & Barstow, which likewise was engaged in the retail trade. In 1842 Mr. Krock came to Erie County and established his residence in the little Village of Huron, where he initiated an independent business as a cabinetmaker, his interposition as a skilled workman being much in requisition in the manufacturing of coffins in the semi-pioneer community, all of the work being done by hand and the manufacturing, as a matter of course, having not been instituted until a death had occurred, the maintaining of pre-manufactured stock in this line having at that early date been looked upon as abhorrent and inconsiderate.. Mr. Krock manufactured also substantial and attractive furniture and he eventually developed a substantial business that required the services or four or five assistants. Finally he purchased a large village lot on South Street, and on the same he erected a good frame house and also a cabinet shop, the lathes in the latter having been operated by horse power. It is gratifying to find in this section of the county at the present day numerous evidences HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 849 of the mechanical skill of this pioneer business man, in the way of fine old pieces of furniture that have suffered practically no disintegration and represent the sturdiness-that typified both social and material conditions in that generation. In various families these ancient articles of furniture of the Krock manufacture are preserved and valued as heirlooms. Mr. Krock was essentially vigorous and progressive and did much to further the development and upbuilding of his home village, in which his name and memory are revered, as' are also those of his gentle and noble wife. Mr. Krock became the leading furniture dealer of the locality, and after disposing of this business.he gave his attention to his undertaking establishment and his vineyard until the close of his long and useful life. He purchased within the corporate limits a' tract of ten acres, on five acres of which he developed an excellent grape vineyard, the products of which he sold for a number of years to wine manufacturers in the State of New York. This worthy citizen, 1whose life was one of signal integrity and honor and who marked the passing years with successful and worthy achievement, was summoned to the .life eternal in July, 1896, about six months prior to the eightieth anniversary of his birth. He was a staunch advocate of the principles of the democratic party, served a number of terms as a member of the village council and one term as mayor after Huron received a charter. A number of years prior to his death Mr. Krock planned the substantial brick business block that perpetuates his name and stands as a monument to his memory and his civic loyalty. He purchased a lot at the corner of Main and Homan streets, and after his death, in accordance with definite provisions and instructions given in his will, his son, Franklin L., erected on this lot, in 1898, the fine three-story building that is 31 by 85 feet in dimensions and is one of the largest and best business blocks in Huron, he later having added for the accommodation of his own business an addition 18 by 31 feet in dimensions and two stories in height. The devoted wife of Mr. Krock survived him but about two years, her death having occurred in September, 1897, both having been devout communicants of the Catholic Church, in the faith of which they were confirmed prior to their emigration from Germany. Catherine, the eldest of their children, was born in Toledo, as previously noted. She became the wife of drover Rigby and she is survived by two children, Burton and Mrs. Elias Sumner, both of whom reside in the City of Toledo. William H. and Joseph, the next in order of birth, were born and reared in Huron and both were afforded the advantages of Oberlin College. William H. became a locomotive engineer and continued in service, on different railroads, for a number of years, his life finally being sacrificed in discharge of duty, he having been accidentally scalded by his engine, on the Winona & St. Peter Railroad, Minnesota, on the 4th of March, 1870, and having died nine days later, as a result of his injuries. Joseph became a railway conductor, and after continuing his service for several years as conductor on passenger trains, he abandoned this occupation at the request of his mother, who could not forget the fate of her elder son. For some time thereafter Joseph Krock was engaged in the carriage and novelty business in the City of Toledo, and he then returned to Huron, where he is now living virtually retired. The maiden name of his first wife was Ella Thornton, and she is survived by two children, Grace and Jay. For his second wife Joseph Krock wedded Miss Lillian Cook, of Huron, and they have one son, Gerald, now a student in the Huron High School (1915). Carrie, the second daughter of the late Henry J. Krock, died on the 26th of January, 1902. Francis F. and Franklin L. were twins, and the former died at the age of twenty-one years, the latter being the immediate subject of this sketch. Minnie, a popular yoUng woman in 850 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY the social activities of Huron, resides in the borne of her brother, Franklin L., who has continued in the ranks of eligible bachelors and who with his sister occupies the old homestead of their parents. Both are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church, as is also their Joseph, who has served as a member of the vestry of the church at Huron. Both Joseph and Franklin L. are unwavering in their allegiance to the democratic party, and both have served as members of the City Council of Huron, the subject of this article having been postmaster of Huron four years, under the first administration of President Cleveland. He has served as chairman of the Democratic Committee of Huron Township. He is affiliated with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and is an active member of the Ohio Association of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, he having been graduated in the Clark School of Embalming, in the City of Cincinnati, and his state license as an embalmer bearing the number 578. ANDREW SCIIISLER. A special page in the History of Erie County should be devoted to the activities and family of Andrew Schisler. They came from Germany, and the founder of the household was in exceedingly poor circumstances when he arrived, but they have since added not a little to the agricultural prosperity of Florence Township, where Andrew Schisler is now one of the most progressive farmers and public spirited citizens. It was on the old homestead of his father in Florence Township that Andrew Schisler was born June 24, 1867, a son of Paul and Fredericka (Springer) Schisler. Both parents were natives of Hesse Cassel, Germany, where the Springers and Schislers had lived one generation after another for a great many years. Paul Schisler's parents lived and died in the old country, and farming was their regular vocation. Paul adopted another occupation and learned the trade of weaver. Some time after his marriage he left the old country, bringing his wife and their one child, Martin, by sailing vessel from Bremen to New York, spending four weeks on the ocean. On arriving in New York, Paul Schisler found his finances so reduced that he was compelled to leave his wife and child in the care of friends, while he journed on to Ohio, and in Berlin Township found employment with George Peek at Harpers Corners. From his earnings he soon sent for his wife, and continued in the employ of Mr. Peek and of James Douglas in that community for six or seven years. Though he had the responsibilities of providing for a family, he managed by great economy and unremittent toil to accumulate a small amount of capital, which he finally invested in twenty-one acres of land in Florence Township. That land is included in the present farm of his son Andrew. The latter was about a year old when his father located on this farm. Paul Schisler, after buying this land, started in with renewed earnestness to make a home, and was soon spoken of by his neighbors as rising in the scale of prosperity, and this was evidenced by his purchase of more land until he had a farm of 126 acres. At the time of his death, however, his estate comprised but fifty-four acres, he having sold seventy-two acres to his son Martin. This land had been thoroughly developed under his management, and aside from the influence of his personal character and his relations as a neighbor and friend he contributed a great deal to the county through the development of its material resources. His wife died on the old farm in 1898 and he followed some five or six months later. They were then about seventy-eight years of age, and all their lives had been members of the Evangelical Church. Their living children are : Martin, a Florence Township farmer, who married Catherine Eyrick of Amherst, Ohio, and their children are Paul, Martha, John and Frank ; Conrad, a merchant at Birmingham, HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 851 Erie County, married Catherine Rosenstoek ; Anna is the wife of Andrew Huttenlocher, of Berlin Heights. The youngest of the family, Andrew Schisler, grew up on the farm where he now lives, and all his early associations and memories center around that place. He secured his education in the district school at Mason Corners and also had the benefit of instruction at Florence from Job Fish, one of the best known of Erie County's older educators. After reaching manhood he secured fifty-four acres of the old homestead of his father, and has since pursued successful enterprise as a general farmer. His home is a very comfortable place, an eight-room residence painted white with green trimmings, and another substantial improvement is a barn on a foundation 30 by 60 feet. Mr. Schisler was married in Berlin Township to Miss Mary D. Stephens, who was born and educated in that locality and is the only daughter of David J. Stephens, whose career is mentioned on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Schisler have two children. Andrew D., born June`25, 1898, has completed the course of the district schools and is now a student in the Berlin Heights High School, while the younger, Catherine P:, was born September 28, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Schisler are members of Florence Grange No. 1844, Patrons of Husbandry, and are also active attendants and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, though he was reared in the faith of the Evangelical denomination. GEORGE M. BROOKS. The land which George M. Brooks owns and occupies as his home in Florence Township comprises part of the tract which his grandfather Lemuel L. Brooks secured direct from the Government more than ninety years ago. It is therefore one of the oldest farms in continuous ownership in Erie County, and three generations of the Brooks family have used it as the chief source of their livelihood. What was one time a wilderness is now a smiling landscape of fields, and what the pioneers redeemed from the wilderness their descendants are now using and cultivating. Lemuel L. Brooks, the pioneer, was born in New York State about 1790. He had reached manhood when the War of 1812 broke out, and saw active service as a soldier in that second conflict with Great Britain. A few years after the close of that war, early in 1822, he made a journey out to Northern Ohio, leaving his family behind in New York State, and at that time purchased the land where his grandson George now lives, situated on the line between Berlin and Vermilion townships. This was a part of the Connecticut fire lands, and he secured it direct through the agency of the fire land company. After securing this land he returned to New York State, and in 1825 brought his little family, comprising his wife, his son Lemuel L., Jr., and his daughter Maria out to take possession. After a long and tedious journey they found their new home in the midst of the woods, and started life here in a log cabin. Somewhat later Lemuel L. Brooks moved over to the lake shore near Vermilion, but after three years returned to his first farm. He had made the journey from New York to Ohio with wagon and ox team, and after arriving employed the oxen in the heavy work of breaking the virgin soil. Some years later, while felling trees, a limb fractured his leg and for lack of proper surgical and medical treatment blood poisoning set in, and he died in 1833, when in the prime of his life., Lemuel L. Brooks married Sallie Crampton, who was from Connecticut, and of fine old New England stock. Her father had served as a patriot soldier in the War of the Revolution. She was a most generous, lovable woman, well fitted for the responsibilities of pioneer life, and had to go through many trials in keeping her little family together after the premature death of her husband. She died in February, 1872, at the 852 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY venerable age of eighty-four years. Both she and her husband were members of the Free Will Baptist Church, and noble people who made religion a part of their daily walk. They reared a family of children to do them honor, including Lemuel L., Jr., Maria, Sallie, Nancy, and Edmund. All these married. Nancy, who became one of the early school teachers in Erie County, and later followed the same profession in Nebraska, died after a record of twenty-five years in educational service. She married when more than forty years old. Lemuel L. Brooks the pioneer was known over a wide stretch of country in Erie . County for his upright, rugged honesty, benevolent nature, and his free handed hospitality in his home. The same qualities descended to his son and namesake Lemuel, and it is not surprising that these early settlers of Erie County did not amass wealth through their operations, ;though the younger Lemuel was aided in securing a competency through his wife, who was quite frugal and thrifty. Lemuel L. Brooks, Jr., was born at Geneseo, Livingston County, New York, in 1822, the year that his father secured the tract of wild land in Erie County, and three years later he was brought in the stow moving wagon across the country to the new home. In this journey the family camped by the wayside as night overtook them, and spent several weeks in getting to their destination. During the three years the family lived on the lake shore they suffered greatly from the ague which was then so prevalent in the lower areas, and it was for this reason that they returned to their hill farm. On that farm Lemuel L. Brooks spent his life, and completed and carried forward the improvement in which his father had been engaged when his life was cut short. He was a man of great capacity, a hard worker, and enjoyed a reputation as a citizen. His death occurred March 13, 1886. In politics he was a republican and in the early militia training days took an active part in the local organization, serving as a drummer in the Vermilion Rifle Company. When the Civil war came on he was past middle age and unable to go to war himself, he gave a hundred dollars to support the cause. He was a man of exemplary habits, much loved and respected, and lived and died in the Christian faith. He was buried in the Old Washburn Cemetery, a burying ground in which one of the very first interments had been the body of his father. Lemuel L. Brooks, Jr., was married in Erie County in Berlin Township to Miss Mary Gordon. She was born in Connecticut in 1827, and died in 1893 in Michigan, but was brought back to Ohio and laid beside her husband. She was of New England ancestry of Scotch origin. Her brother, Gilbert Gordon, served as a soldier in the Fifty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and having been captured in one of the battles in which his regiment was engaged was confined for nine months in the notorious Libby Prison at Richmond, Virginia, and came out so nearly starved that he tottered as he walked. However, he brought out of prison $150 which he had kept in his belt all the time. He is now living at Fremont, Ohio, and is eighty years of age. George M. Brooks is the youngest in a family of four children. The oldest, Byron, lives in Michigan, where he is a farmer and is married and has five children. Burr is a farmer in Vermilion Township, lost his wife in 1915, and has a family of eight children. Ida is the wife of James Waugh, now a farmer in Lapere County, Michigan, and has two daughters and one son. On the old Brooks homestead where his brothers and sister were also born, George M. Brooks first saw the light of dat December 10, 1860. He grew upon the farm, and by purchase and inheritance now has forty-four acres of the homestead and has it improved much beyond the average standard of Erie County rural homes. In 1915 he erected a modern residence of eight rooms with all the facilities and improvements. HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 853 including bath room, furnace, and acetylene lighting plant. He also has • a good new barn and other equipment necessary for adequate farming. For a number of years Mr. Brooks conducted business chiefly as a gardener, selling his product to city markets. At Florence Mr. Brooks married Miss Emma Grobe. She was born in Florence Township September 12, 1864, and was of German parents, a daughter of Mathew and Christina Grobe, who came from Germany when young people and located in Cleveland, Ohio. In Florence Township they spent the rest of their lives. Her father died at the age of eighty and her mother when past seventy-five. They were thrifty farmers and reared a family of children as follows : Mary, Henry, Elizabeth, Emma and Anna. By a former marriage Mr. Grobe became the father of two children, Matthias and Sophia. Mrs. Brooks' parents were active members of the German Methodist Church, and her father was a republican and strong temperance worker. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks attend the Methodist Church and in politics he is a republican. CHRISTIAN SPRANKEL. Erie County has been signally favored in the personnel of its citizens of German birth or extraction, and from this source has had much to gain and nothing to lose. The German contingent in the county has been one of very appreciable order, and its rep- . representatives have not only stood exponent of the most loyal and useful citizenship but have also been specially prominent and influential in the Ievelopment and furthering of the agricultural resources of the county, within whose borders are found today many substantial citizens and representative farmers who are of the second and third generations of the respective families in this favored section of the Buckeye State. He whose name initiates this review is one of the enterprising and prosperous agriculturists and stockraisers of Berlin Township and has been a resident of Erie County from the time of his birth, his father having established a residence in this county fully half a century ago, and within a few years after immigration from his German Fatherland. Christian Sprankel was born in Huron Township on the 9th of August, 1869, and is a son of Henry and Edith (Zeller) Sprankel, both natives of Germany, where the former was born, in Hesse-Cassel, on the 2d of July, 1832, and the latter, in the Province of Baden, in the year 1839. Both passed the closing years of their lives in Milan Township, Erie County, where Mrs. Sprankel died December 23, 1884, her husband having survived her by a quarter of a century and having been nearly eighty years of age at the time of his death, which occurred on the 28th of October, 1910. Henry Sprankel and his wife were both of the staunchest German lineage and both exemplified throughout their lives the admirable characteristics of the race from which they were sprung, the while they entered fully and loyally into the spirit of American institutions and customs and were deeply appreciative of the manifold advantages of the land of their adoption. Henry Sprankel was reared and educated in his native land and was a young man of energy, ambition and sterling integrity of .purple when he severed the home ties and came to the United States to gain independence and success if these ends were to be accomplished through the earnest application of his ability and industry. In the early ‘50s he made the voyage to America on one of the old-time sailing vessels, and he was on the ocean somewhat more than seven weeks before the boat reached its destination in the port of New York City, whence the , young immigrant soon made his way to Cleveland, Ohio, in which place he arrived in the rigorous winter and with his financial resources utterly exhausted. In making his way about the city and its vicinity in search of employment he encountered such exposure that both of his feet were 854 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY severely frozen, so that his problem in making his way as a stranger in a strange land began to assume a formidable aspect. He was finally taken into the home of a kindly German carpenter named Meyers, and was accorded all consideration and care during his period of incapacity. while he was waiting for his feet to recover their usefulness. Mr. Meyers then gave him employment at the nominal but greatly appreciated stipend of $5 a month, his board also being furnished, and about two years elapsed ere his employer was able to pay him his wages in full. Mr. Meyers eventually became a man of influence, and he always continued to manifest a deep interest in his former protege, as did also his sons, who in many ways showed his friendship for Mr. Sprankel. After the lapse of a few years Mr. Sprankel made his way to Sandusky County and finally into Huron County, where he met and married Miss Edith Zeller, a daughter of John and Mary Zeller, who were then living near Weavers Corners, that county, but who later came to Huron Township, Erie County, where they maintained their home for many years, Mr. Zeller having long survived his wife and having been a resident of that township at the time of his death, which occurred when he was eighty-four years of age. Mrs. Sprankel was a girl at the time when she accompanied her parents on their immigration from Germany to the United States. For a few years after his marriage Henry Sprankel and his wife continued their residence near Weavers Corners for a few years, and they then established their home on the old Sage Farm, in Huron Township, Erie County, where they remained nine years. Mr. Sprankel then purchased a farm of sixty-five acres in Milan Township, where he became definitely successful in his vigorous operations as an agriculturist and stockgrower and where both he and his wife passed the residue of their lives, both having been zealous communicants of the Lutheran Church and having shown devotion in the early days by regularly attending church services. In her girlhood days Mrs. Sprankel was compelled to go some distance from home to accomplish this and to make the journey to and from with a cumbersome vehicle and a slow-moving ox team. Mr. Sprankel was liberal and loyal as a citizen, was a staunch supporter of the cause of the democratic party and was called upon to serve in various local offices of public trust, his uprightness and his mature judgment having gained to him the inviolable esteem and good will of his fellow men and his entire life having been one of signal usefulness and honor. Of the children, Christian, the immediate subject of this sketch, was the fourth in order of birth, seven sons and three daughters having been reared to maturity and all of the number still surviving the parents —all married and well established in life. The father ultimately contracted a second marriage, when he wedded Miss Elizabeth Schuster, who likewise was born in Germany and who still remains on the old homestead farm in Milan Township, two sons of this second marriage still surviving the father. Christian Sprankel was born in Huron Township, as already noted, and was about one year of age at the time of, his parents' removal to Milan Township, in 1870, There he was reared to adult age under the conditions and influences of the old- homestead farm, and in the meanwhile he duly profited by the advantages afforded in the public schools. He has never abated his liking for and allegiance to the fundamental and independent vocation of farming and his present status shows that he has effectively directed his energies toward the goal of success. He finally purchased his present fine homestead farm in Berlin Township, which comprises 100 acres of fertile land of remarkable integrity in productiveness. and which is a part of the once extensive landed estate of the Peeke family. It is eligibly situated in Berlin Township, one mile PICTURE OF MR. AND MRS. PETER REIGHLEY HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 855 south of Ceylon Junction, and the permanent improvements on the place are of exceptionally excellent type, including a substantial and commodious brick house, two large barns and a modern granary. In addition to his successful operations in the line of diversified agriculture Mr. Sprankel has given special attention to the breeding and raising of excellent grades of livestock, his cattle being principally of the Durham breed and including the valuable registered bull designated by the name of "Peter." Mr. Sprankel also raises good horses and swine and his various forage crops are virtually used in entirety for the feeding of stock raised on the farm. Like many other enterprising farmers of the county Mr. Sprankel has been very successful in the raising of potatoes upon a somewhat extensive scale, and of this product he has taken as high an average as 3,000 bushels from a tract of twelve acres. He is a thorough, practical, and progressive farmer and both he and his wife take lively interest in community affairs, he being an independent in politics and a communicant of the Lutheran. Church, and Mrs. Sprankel holding the faith in which she was reared, that of the Reformed Church. In Berlin Township was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sprankel to Miss Anna Knott, who was born in this township on the 13th of September, 1871, and who was here reared and educated. She is a daughter of Henry and Martha (Schildt) Knott, who were born and reared in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, where their marriage was solemnized, soon after which important event in their lives they came to the United States and established their home in Erie County. They first located in Vermilion Township and later removed to Berlin Township, where they still reside on their well improved farm, which is not far distant from the homestead place of Mr. and Mrs. Sprankel, the latter having seven children, whose names, with respective ages in 1915, are here indicated, all of the children being still at the parental home : Walter H., twenty years ; Roy E., sixteen ; Sidney L., fourteen ; Raymond E., twelve ; Elmer L., eleven; Edith L., eight ; and Nelson M., five. PETER REIGHLEY. Shortly after the close of the War of 1812 George Reighley, grandfather of him whose name introduces this paragraph, settled in Norton Township, Summit County, Ohio, and thus the family name has been identified with the history of the Buckeye State for more than a century. George Reighley further merits distinction in the pages of Ohio history, for he had previously served through this commonwealth as a gallant soldier in the War of 1812, in which he endured the full tension of the hazardous and arduous campaign activities in a country that was a virtual wilderness and in which the military contests were rendered the more formidable by reason of the support given to the enemy by the Indians. George Reighley was a native of Pennsylvania and was a representative of that commonwealth in the second conflict between the United States and England. His parents were natives of Germany and early settlers of Pennsylvania, where they continued to reside until their death, the father having there devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits. After the close of the War of 1812, George Reighley, a sturdy and patriotic veteran of that conflict, in company with his wife and their one son, John, who was born-in Pennsylvania in March, 1812, settled in the midst of the forest wilds of Norton Township, Summit County, Ohio, where he reclaimed and improved a good farm and where his energy and well ordered endeavors enabled him to accumulate eventually a competency of fully $20,000-a substantial fortune, as gauged by the standards of the locality and period. On the old homestead his wife died at the age of seventy years, and he thereafter resided in the home of his son Peter, near Plymouth, Marshall County, Indiana, until his 856 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY death, at the age of seventy-five years, his name meriting enduring place on the roll of the honored pioneers of Ohio and on the roster of the gallant soldiers of the War of 1812. He had but fifty cents to represent his cash capital when he established his home: in Ohio, and his success in the accumulation of a fortune was due entirely to his own ability and efforts. He was a staunch advocate of the cause of the 'democratic party and his wife was a zealous member of the German Reformed Church. John Reighley, eldest of the children and father of him to whom this sketch is dedicated, was a child at the time when the family home was established on the pioneer farm in Summit County, where he was reared to adult age and where his educational advantages were necessarily limited to those afforded in the primitive schools of the locality. At the age of eighteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade and incidentally also that of cabinetmaker. After the completion of a thorough apprenticeship that had made him a skilled artisan in these lines, he worked as a journeyman and contractor in his home county for several years and then removed to Doylestown, Wayne County, where he engaged in the. manufacturing of furniture in an independent way, all work having been done by hand and being of the most substantial order. In his little establishment he also manufactured by hand the coffins that were used in the community and that were usually made to order after deaths had occurred. The first bureau which he .iurned out was made for use in his own home, the same being of solid cherry wood and being still retained in the possession of the family- unimpaired by the ravages of time and standing in evidence of the honest and thorough work that characterized such manufacturing in the early days. After remaining at Doylestown for a number of years John Reighley returned to the old homestead farm, which had been devised to him by his father, and there he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1856. He had four brothers: George, William, Benjamin and Peter, the family circle having had no daughters, and all of the brothers except Benjamin married and reared children. Peter died in Indiana; George at Chilton, Marshall County, Wisconsin; Benjamin in Norton Township, Summit County, Ohio ; and it is supposed that William was killed in California, to which state he made his way at the time of the gold excitement and in which he had accumulated an appreciable fortune. In Clinton Township, Summit County, Ohio, was solemnized the marriage of John Reighley to Miss Rachel Greenhoe, who was born in that county in 1816, her parent's having been pioneers of that section, where they settled upon their immigration from their native State of Pennsy