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Gc 977.101 H21k v.2 1267458
M. L.
- GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02402 7044
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A TWENTIETH CENTURY
HISTORY
OF
HARDIN COUNTY OHIO
A NARRATIVE ACCOUNT OF ITS HISTORICAL PROGRESS ITS PEOPLE AND ITS PRINCIPAL INTERESTS
By MINNIE ICHLER KOHLER OF KENTON
977.101 Halk V.2
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. 11
V.2,
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO
1910
1267458
meiner cas
W. A. NORTON .- One of Kenton's most prominent business represen- tatives is found in W. A. Norton, the president of the Kenton Savings Bank, the treasurer of the Home Savings and Loan Company of Kenton, the president of the Kenton Gas and Electric Company and the vice president of the Kenton Telephone Company. The Home Savings and Loan Company is one of the substantial concerns of Hardin county, and Mr. Norton has been associated with it in his present capacity since its organization.
He was born at Marseilles in Wyandot county, Ohio, December 17. 1852, a son of Anson and Rachel (Hooker) Norton, and through Anson and Joel Norton, his grandfather and great-grandfather, he traces de- scent to Thomas Norton of Saybrook, Connecticut, son of Thomas of Guilford, England, who with his wife and children emigrated to America in 1639. The grandmother, Lucretia (Woodruff) Norton, daughter of David Woodruff, was descended from Mathew Woodruff, one of the early Connecticut colonists. Anson Norton, Jr., born at Sharon in Litchfield county, Connectient, moved to Livingston, New York, in 1837, and ten years afterward, in 1847, he eame to Marseilles, Ohio. He was a mer- chant during the greater part of his active life. In 1864 he located with his family in Kenton, where he continued his mercantile interests for a number of years, but finally turned his attention to the buying of wool and insurance, and was thus engaged until his death on the 14th of February, 1903. He was born in May, 1828, and on the 5th of Feb- ruary, 1852, in Marseilles, he had married Rachel Hooker, a daughter of Henson and Susanah (Young) Hooker, and a granddaughter on the maternal side of George Young, a Revolutionary soldier who lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and six years and was then laid to rest in Marseilles. His native state was Maryland. W. A. was the first born and only son of the children of Anson and Rachel Norton, and the four daughters are: Emma C., wife of Henry J. Miller, a shoe merchant in Kenton; Mary A., wife of B. F. Schultz of Kenton; Lonie Bell, who became the wife of Elmer E. Gear and lived at Springfield, Ohio, until her death in February 1891, and she left one son, Anson William Gear. who resides with his uncle, W. A. Norton; and Maud, who died when only two years old.
W. A. Norton was a lad of eleven when the family home was estab- lished in Kenton, and thus from an early age he has been identified with its interests and npbuilding. Ile was the first boy to graduate from the Kenton public schools, graduating in the year of 1871, and then until the 15th of July, 1878, he was associated with his father in the dry goods business. At that time he accepted the assistant cashiership of the Kenton Savings Bank, while in 1886 he became the bank's cashier. and sinee 1905, has been its president. He is a Scottish Rite Mason and
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
a Republican in his political affiliations. He has often been called upon for committee work, but the greater part of his time is devoted to his business interests .. On the 5th of December, 1905, at Columbus, Ohio, he was married to Mrs. Lula Carpenter, widow of Eugene G. Carpenter, formerly of that city, and a daughter of Joseph MeCormick of Mt. Vernon, Ohio.
DR. II. S. LEHR, a retired educator, of Ada, Ohio, and the founder and ex-president of the Ohio Northern University of Ada, was born in Oldtown, Mahoning county. Ohio, March 8, 1838. He is a son of George and Saloma (Lesig) Lehr, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former born in Allentown, in 1795. At the age of seventeen years George Lehr enlisted in the war of 1812, serving as a fifer, and when he returned organized a company of militia, becoming captain and later brigadier general. The company attended the memorial exercises of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. In 1837 they came to Oldtown, then in Trum- bull but now in Mahoning county, Ohio, thence to Stark county and later to Wayne county. In the last-named county George Lehr engaged in weaving and manufacturing. He died in 1873. at the age of seventy- nine years. His father. Ulrich Lehr, was a native of Pennsylvania, and was a farmer. He enlisted three times for service in the American revolution ; his grandson, Dr. Lehr, had a flag carried by him in his service, which he presented to the Ohio Northern University, where it is now. Ulrich Lehr carried this flag at the battles of Brandywine, Ger- mantown and Monmouth, where he was slightly wounded; he died in Pennsylvania. His father was a soldier in the German army, and Dr. Lehr has a furlough which was granted during his service, dated 1727.
George Lehr's wife was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, of German and English descent. They had twelve children, of whom Dr. Lehr is the eleventh. His boyhood days were spent in Ohio, and he began working at the age of eight years, making quills, and worked on a farm until the fall of 1854, when he began teaching, continuing until 1861. when he enlisted in Company E. Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but was rejected. He enlisted a second time in the Forty-second Ohio, but was again rejected. He enlisted in 1862 in Company G, Eighty- sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in 1864 reenlisted in the One Hun- dred and Seventy-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until May 20,1865. He served in the ranks as a private.
At the close of the war Dr. Lehr read medicine about four months and began teaching in the winter of 1865. in Stark county, Ohio. In the spring of 1866 he traveled through the state in search of a suitable location in which to establish a school for the common people, and eventu- ally founded what is now the Ohio Northern University, although it has been known by several other names, the first institution being a select school; it then became known at the Northwestern Ohio Normal School, then the Ohio Normal University. Dr. Lehr was president of this insti- tution until July, 1902, when he resigned, and has since assisted in organizing a number of schools, although he has retired from active life.
Dr. Lehr is one of the prominent and successful educators of Ohio,
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
and although he has retired, his work is well remembered, and will leave a lasting impression. Ile installed many modern methods, and was untiring in his services in the cause of education. In 1891 he was superintendent of public schools and president of the normal. teaching seven hours a day. The largest annual enrollment during the time he was at the head of the school was three thousand three hundred and forty- nine. He has also served a long time as superintendent of a Sunday school, and takes an active interest in every movement for the public welfare and advancement. Dr. Lehr is a stanch Republican, and works hard in the interests of his party. He claims that the most just tax is a graduated income tax.
On October 30. 1866. Dr. Lehr married Albina Hoover, of Stark county, Ohio, where she was reared and educated. They have two danghters. Harriet M. and Sarah L. Dr. Lehr is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Masonie order. Ile is one of the best known men in Ohio in educational circles, and has had over thirty- two thousand students under his supervision while he was officiating as president of the University. lle has done much to advance the cause of education in the state, and has been able to win and retain the confidenee and esteem of all who have worked with him or studied under his direction. He is a man of rare intellectual ability and high attainments. whose high character and sincere manner have been generally recognized. He is a member of the Christian church.
ALBERT G. AHLEFELD was born at Ada. Ohio. June 25, 1859, where he lived until about twenty-one years of age, coming to Kenton in 1888. where he has since resided. He is the son of the late Nathan Ahlefeld and Celia ( Wiley) Ahlefeld, the former born in Richland county Deeem- ber 16, 1834. and the latter in Worthington, Ohio, June 10. 1838.
Reinhart Ahlefeld was the founder of the family in America, coming to Richland county from the northern part of Germany about 1818. His ancestors were natives of Denmark who went to Germany about the sixteenth century. Reinhart Ahlefeld possessed a good German edueation and was a miller by trade. In Richland county he operated a mill and also carried on farming. He married Phoebe Young of Richland county who was of German descent. and all their children were born there. Ahont 1849 he moved by wagon to Allen county, Ohio, afterwards coming to Hardin county and settling on a farm near Ada where he died at the age of seventy-six. To Reinhart and Phoebe (Young) Ahlefeld the following children were born : Christina Ahlefeld Moore, who lived after her marriage in Allen county and died there at the age of seventy-six ; Martha Ahlefeld Melhorn who always resided in Hardin county after her marriage and died several years ago at Ada at the age of seventy-six; Nancy Ahlefeld Gilbert who lives in Burlington, Kansas: Sarah Ahlefeld Rockhill who lives in LeRoy. Kansas; Nathan Ahlefeld who lived in Ada and Kenton and died at Kenton July 9. 1902; and Peter and JJacob Ahlefeld, the former living in Cleveland, Ohio, and the latter in LeRoy. Kansas.
Nathan Ahlefeld was the father of our subject and he came to
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
Hardin connty abont 1849 with his parents where he ever afterwards resided till his death. He was educated in the common sehools, and began his business career by working in a store in Ada. Afterwards he became a merchant, and also dealt in real estate and carried on farm- ing. Nathan Ahlefeld was an active, enterprising, shrewd business man who was identified with many enterprises. His active mind seemed to grasp quickly the possibilities of any plan, and all his life he was singularly successful in his many undertakings. Solely by his own efforts he built up a comfortable fortune, and until the day of his death was interested in everything that helped the welfare of his native county. Though an ardent Democrat Mr. Ahlefeld did not aspire to hold office, serving his county but once in publie capacity, that of county auditor in 1871. Governor James E. Campbell appointed him a member of the board of managers of the Ohio Penitentiary during his term of office, and Mr. Ahlefeld attended to the duties of this office, as he did everything else in his business career, well and faithfully. He moved to Kenton in 1881 and thereafter was a prime mover in many of the county seat's most prominent industries. He was married in Worthington, Ohio, June 18, 1856, to Miss Celia E. Wiley, and to them the following children were born : Ida Ahlefeld, who married J. F. Andrews and lives in Kenton, Ohio; Albert G., the subject of this sketch; Effie L. Ahlefeld, who married J. B. Andrews and lives in Goshen, Indiana; Anna who died at Ada, Ohio, aged two years; and Corrinne Ahlefeld who is the wife of Cnrran Flanagan the editor of the Kenton Democrat. Mrs. Celia (Wiley) Ahlefeld is of Welsh descent, the founder of her family in America being Samuel Wiley who moved from Wales to Snowhill, Maryland about the year 1765 and became a Revolutionary soldier. His wife was of Spanish descent and they had several children. One of these, Dr. Isaac Wiley, the father of Mrs. Ahlefeld, located in Worthing- ton, Ohio, and there practiced his profession many years. Dr. Isaae Wiley married Eliza Lewis in Worthington, Ohio. He died at the ad- vanced age of eighty-two at the residence of his son-in-law, Nathan Ahle- feld, in Ada. Ohio. Upon coming to Kenton Nathan Ahlefeld built a handsome and substantial residence on North Detroit street, and engaged in farming and the real estate and banking business. He died July 9, 1902. His widow survives, and lives in the homestead with her danghter Mrs. J. F. Andrews.
Albert G. Ahlefeld was edneated in the public schools of Ada, and spent two years at the Brothers' School, a Catholic Institution of Dayton, Ohio. For some years he engaged in farming near Ada, but afterwards moved to Kenton where he now has many business interests. He was associated with his father in the real estate business during the life of the latter, and now condnets a loan and real estate office in partnership with Mr. J. F. Andrews. Under the second administration of Cleve- land he was postmaster of Kenton, and this is the only office to which he has ever aspired, though an active Democrat and interested in local and national political issues. He was appointed postmaster April 1. 1894 and served four years in this eapacity. In 1904 he helped organize the Crystal Ice and Cold Storage Company, one of the most flourishing
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
of Kenton's enterprises, and is at present vice president of the company and one of the directors. He was one of the organizers of the Scioto Sign Company and was for some years a director in this concern. In July, 1904 he helped organize the Commercial Bank of Kenton and he is now vice president of this institution and one of the directors. In the same year that the bank was organized he built the handsome, pressed briek building at the southeast corner of Detroit and Franklin streets which bears his name and in which his offices are located. In 1905 and 1906 he was president of the Kenton Commercial Club, and has always been interested in everything that pertains to the advancement of Kenton. And all the time he has been engaged in farming, owning large holdings in real estate in Hardin county.
Albert G. Ahlefeld was married in Kenton, Ohio, September 18, 1884, to Florence Ries, daughter of John and Katherine (Ichler) Ries. Mrs. Ahlefeld is a graduate of the Kenton public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Ahlefeld have two children: Katherine and Allan N. Another son, Nathan, was born August 25, 1887, and died April 28, 1892, at Kenton, Ohio. Miss Katherine Ahlefeld was educated in the Kenton public schools and spent three years at Notre Dame, Indiana, a cele- brated school for young ladies. She also studied music in Philadelphia and Washington D. C., spending a year in each of these cities. Master Allan Neal is a student in the public schools of Kenton at present. Miss Katherine is a member of the English Lutheran church. Mrs. Ahlefeld is connected with the First Methodist Episcopal church of Kenton, and the family is prominent in social circles. Mr. Ahlefeld is a thirty- second degree Mason and an Elk. He and his family live in a beautiful modern residence on North Detroit street and are among the most prominent of the city's influential and respected residents.
GENERAL JAMES SIDNEY ROBINSON, who died at his home in the city of Kenton, Hardin county, Ohio, on the 14th of January, 1892, was a member of one of the old and honored pioneer families of this section of the Buckeye state and he was of distinctive prominence in his connection with publie and civic affairs in his native commonwealth. He was a valiant soldier of the Union during the Civil war, in which he rose to distinguished official preferment, and few men of the state were better known or more highly honored. He represented Ohio in congress and held other positions of trust and responsibility. Ilis entire life was guided and governed by the highest principles and his career was one that reflected honor upon the state and the nation.
General Robinson was born in Franklin township, Richland county. Ohio, near the present city of Mansfield, on the 14th of October, 1827. and was the youngest of the four sons of Francis and Jane (Dickens) Robinson, both of whom were natives of England. His parents came to Ohio and took up their residence in Franklin township, Richland county, in 1817. and his father became one of the initial pioneers and substantial farmers of that county. The General was reared to the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the pioneer farm and early began to contribute his quota to its reclamation and development. His specific
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
educational advantages were limited to the common schools of the locality and period, but with an alert and receptive mind he profited largely through self-discipline, including a wide range of effective reading, and became a man of bright mental ken. At the age of sixteen years General Robinson entered the office of the Richland Bugle, where he gained his initial knowledge of the "art preservative of all arts." It has well been said that the training of a newspaper office is equivalent to a liberal education, and the career of General Robinson would seem to authorize fully this statement. In December, 1844, he entered upon an active apprenticeship in the office of the Mansfield Jeffersonian, whose title was later changed to the Mansfield Herald. There he
delved into the mysteries of the printing business and familiarized himself with the intricacies of the same. In June, 1846, he left the office of the Jeffersonian and moved to Tiffin, Seneca county, where he became identified with the Seneca Whig. Ilis connection therewith, however, was destined to be of short duration.
In 1844 a number of sturdy pioneer Whigs of Hardin county pur- chased a printing press in Cincinnati and, establishing the plant in Kenton, they became the publishers of a paper through which they exploited the cause of the Whig party. Like many another venture enlisting the co-operation of many men of as many different opinions, this enterprise did not prove a success. The paper was styled the Weekly News and its existence was turbulent and precarious for some time, owing to the owners becoming dissatisfied with the management of the business. They finally gained the information that connected with a paper in Seneca county was an independent and aggressive young exponent of the principles of the Whig party who had made a record which could not but beget objective confidence. In canvassing the situation and endeavoring to provide for the successful continuance of their newspaper venture, the owners of the same property wrote to General Robinson and tendered him the management of the business. Thus it was that shortly after Christmas of the year 1846 General Robin- son came to Kenton and established his permanent home in Hardin county. With careful circumspection he viewed the field of his future labor, placed the equipment of the office in proper condition and changed the name of the paper to the Kenton Republican of which he thus virtu- ally was the founder. The initial edition of the paper was issued on Wednesday, the 20th of January, 1847, and in its editorial colums was defined carefully the policy under which it was to be continued. It advocated the principles of the Whig party and its motto had a signifi- cant ring, being as follows: "Be just, and fear not." General Robin- son soon made the Republican an effective exponent of the Whig cause as well as of local interests. He was indefatigable in his labors both as a writer and in the management of the technical details of the office, and even in these early years showed his wonderful command of terse and vigorous English and also a broad and well-forfeited view of public affairs. He soon became sole owner and editor of the paper and enlarged it to twenty-four columns. It continued to exert potent in- fluence in this section of the state under his effective control until the
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
inception of the Civil war. When the Rebel guns thundered against the ramparts of old Fort Sumter, the altruistie patriotism of the young editor was aroused to responsive protest and he was among the first to respond to President Lincoln's call for volunteers. However, he con- tinued proprietor of the Hardin county Republican until the 16th of September, 1864, when the plant and business were sold to L. T. Hunt.
There is much of interest attached to the brilliant and loyal career of General Robinson as a volunteer soldier of the republic. On the 19th of April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was chosen as lieutenant of Company G, of which he later beeame eaptain. It was his to live up to the full tension of the great internecine conflict between the north and south, and he participated in many of the most memorable engagements marking the progress of the war. General MeClellan commended him for meritorious service at Ridge Mountain, and he was appointed major of the Eighty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, later being promoted in turn to the office of lieu- tenant-colonel and colonel. In December, 1864, he was raised to the brevet rank of brigadier general, and in Jannary of the following year he received regular commission in this rank. In the following Mareh he was breveted major general. These statements bear their own signifieanee indicating, as they do, the effective service rendered by him as an officer and his advancement was the diametrie result of gallant and meritorious conduet on the field. General Robinson took an active part in the operations in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia under General Fremont, was in General Pope's disastrous campaign, including the second battle of Bull Run and with his command in the memorable battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and in the campaigns in Geor- gia and the Carolinas. On the 1st of July, 1863, in the first day's fight at Gettysburg, he received a severe wound in the left shoulder and as a result of this injury he was confined to the hospital for a month, after which he was granted a furlough and sent to his home in Kenton, where he lay in a critical condition for several months. Upon recuperating his physical energies, General Robinson returned to the front and parti- eipated with his regiment in the battles of Cross Keys, Resaea, Ridge Mountain, Dallas, Peach Tree Creek, New Hope Church, Culp's Farm, Averysboro and Bentonville. He was with Sherman on the historic and triumphant march from Atlanta to the sea and finally proceeded with the vietorious forces to the city of Washington, where he took part in the Grand Review at the close of the war. In later years it was a matter of pleasure and satisfaction to General Robinson that he was called upon to serve as president of the Ohio Commission that erected monuments to the soldier dead of this city on the battlefield of Gettys- burg. General Robinson ever retained a deep interest in his old comrades in arms and was a prominent and honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic as well as of the military order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
After the close of the war General Robinson retired to Kenton, and here his principal business interests thereafter were those of real estate. The following appreciative statements concerning the distinguished
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
subject of this memoir were written by one familiar with his career and are well worthy of reproduction in this connection: "Not alone as a soldier and as a publie official did General Robinson serve his people. In civil life he was ever among the first to assist worthy publie enter- prises. His guiding and helping hand was found in the promotion of all measures that enhance the general welfare. Our railroads, pikes, ditches, public buildings, schools and churches all received his encourage- ment and aid. IIe was indefatigable in his efforts to seenre an east and west railroad for Kenton. Finally when the Chicago & Atlantic Railroad, now a portion of the Chicago and Erie, came to be built, he was one of the contractors for the constrnetion of this line between Kenton and Marion. Ile ever displayed an active interest in all affairs of the city and county and was always especially zealous in the promotion of farming interests.
At this juneture we shall turn briefly to the career of General Robinson as a public official, though the limitations of this article render impossible a detailed mention of the manifold services he rendered in this field. It may be said that his political and civil career was no less successful and brilliant than were his military exploits in defense of the integrity of the Union, and higher praise than this it is hardly possible to extend. Originally aligned as a stanch supporter of the canse of the old Whig party, he naturally transferred his allegiance to the Republican party, of which he became a member at the time of its organization and it is a matter of historieal record that he served as secretary of the first state convention held by that party in Ohio. He was one of the most effective exponents of the party cause in his home state and his services were much in demand as a campaign speaker in Ohio and other states of the union. As a public speaker he had marked facility in the use of forcible and effective diction, was thoroughly fortified in his opinions and marshalled his arguments with masterful skill, so that he always was able to hold the attention of his audience and to impress upon it the cogeney of his opinions and theories. He gained a reputation as one of the most effective campaign speakers of his day.
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