USA > Ohio > Darke County > A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography > Part 74
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99
On the 3Ist of October, 1898, was cele- brated the marriage of Dr. Martz and Miss Bitha Cassatt, of Greenville, a daughter of Rev. J. W. Cassatt, a minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal church. They enjoy the hospitality of the best homes in the city and their own residence is the center of a cul- tured social circle. The Doctor is a prom- inent and valued member of Greenville Lodge, No. 143, F. & A. M., and of the Knights of Pythias, and has represented the latter in the grand lodge. His profes-
sional career has been one of continued ad- vancement and his future will undoubtedly be a successful one, for he is a man of strong mentality, which enables him to mas- ter the principles of medical science and practice, and at the same time he possesses that deep human sympathy without which no one ever made much advancement as a representative of the medical fraternity.
FRANK LONGENECKER.
Elsewhere within these pages will be found a review which takes into account the ancestral and personal history of Harvey Longenecker, who is associated with his brother, the subject of this review, under the title of Longenecker Brothers, in the manufacture of the duplex and spiral duplex penholders, with headquarters at Beams- ville, Darke county, Ohio, the unique and valuable penholders being the invention of Mr. Harvey Longenecker. In the sketch of the latter gentleman, which may be found on another page, more complete details are given in regard to the invention and the reception which has been accorded it, and to that re- view we are pleased to refer our readers, while incidentally will be also found interest- ing data in regard to the genealogy of the family of which our subject is a worthy rep- resentative.
Frank Longenecker is of pure German lineage in the agnatic line, four brothers of the name having come from Germany to the United States about the beginning of the sixteenth century, and these four being un- doubtedly the progenitors of the numerous branches of the family in the Union to-day. Our subject is a native of the county in which he now makes his home, his birth having occurred November 28, 1857, he be-
570
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ing the eldest of the three children of John and Elizabeth ( Beam) Longenecker, both of whom are living. the father being one of the honored old residents of the county, where he has had a long and active career as a car- penter and builder, being a natural mechanic and having made many ingenious devices in a mechanical line. Frank Longenecker seemed to inherit the mechanical skill and taste of his ancestors, and in his youth he learned the carpenter's trade under the ef- fective direction of his father. Since his marriage, however, he has devoted his at- tention principally to agricultural pursuits. in which line of endeavor he has been very successful. He received a common-school education, which has served as the basis of a broad fund of exact and valuable knowl- edge which he has acquired in his peculiarly active association with the affairs of life.
On the 12th of January, 1881. was sol- emnized the marriage of Mr. Longenecker and Miss Ella Plessinger, and to them have been born three children,-Charles C., Arthur B. and E. Ruth. all very bright and interesting children and an honor to their devoted parents. Mrs. Longenecker was born in Richland township. this county, May 25. 1861. being the daughter of Will- iam and Amy Jane ( Byrom) Plessinger, and the only child of their marriage. Mrs. Longenecker was reared by her paternal grandparents. David and Elizabeth Plessin- ger, the foriner being of Pennsylvania Dutch stock and the latter of Welsh extraction. William Plessinger was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, May 17. 1835, and is now living in southern Indiana. about fourteen miles from Madison, being a farmer by oc- cupation. He is now about sixty-five years of age. He is a Democrat in politics and within his lifetime has been a great traveler.
The mother of Mrs. Longenecker passed away when the latter was a mere infant, and she knows little regarding this ancestral branch of the family. Her death occurred June 4, 1861, at the age of twenty-four years, two months and twenty-six days. She was a woman of gentle character and intel- lectuality, having been a teacher for some time prior to her marriage.
In his political adherency Mr. Long- enecker is an ardent Democrat, and he cast his first presidential ballot for General W. S. Hancock. He has been often solicited to accept offices of local trust and responsi- bility, but has invariably declined, though ap- preciative of the honor. He is a stanch friend of the public schools and is now one of the board of directors of the school dis- trict in which he lives, being in favor of main- taining the highest possible standard in all branches of the school work. Fraternally he is a member of Lodge No. 356, Knights of Pythias, at Ansonia, and he also has a mem- bership in the Darke County Horse Thief & Protective Association. He and his wife are consistent members of the Christian church at Beamsville and they have contributed of their means to the support of the church and all worthy benevolences collateral thereto. They are representatives of old and honored families and are themselves to be considered among the representative citizens of our county, peculiarly worthy of representation in this work.
LEVI HUDDLE.
Levi Huddle was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, on the 20th of December, 1820, and died at his home in Adams town- ship. Darke county, Ohio, on the 7th day of February, 1881. His father. Frederick
571
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Huddle, was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, on the 21st of September, 1791. He married Magdalena Byrd, who was a native of the same state and county and who was born on the 25th of August, 1792. They emigrated to Ohio in 1829, locating in Fair- field county, where they remained about six months, when they removed to Montgomery county, eight miles north of Dayton. Here they resided until 1833, when they came to Darke county, locating in Wayne township, near the present site of Webster, where, on the 5th day of June, 1834, he sank peace- fully to rest in the hope of a blessed immor- tality. Magdalena, his widow, survived the storms of life until the 27th of April, 1866, when she, too, was summoned to the un- known world. They were the parents of five children, none of whom are now living.
Levi Huddle, the subject of the memoir, spent his boyhood days on the farm, assist- ing his mother by clearing the land and cul- tivating the soil. He received his education in the district schools. Ilis father died when he was fourteen years of age, which left his widowed mother with the family to care for and support, which duty she nobly per- formed. He commenced teaching school at the age of seventeen, and his first school was taught in an old log school house which stood on the farm upon which he died. He taught during the winter months and in the summer was engaged in farming and trad- ing. He followed educational work for about twenty-three years, and while teach-
ing a term of eleven months in Vandalia, Montgomery county, he took lessons in higher arithmetic, algebra, penmanship and drawing of David Ecker, and by hard study and close application he acquired a good academic education. On the 9th of April, 1854, he celebrated his marriage to Miss
Lucinda, daughter of Abraham and Salome Hetzler. Three children were born to them, of whom two are now living, namely : Mary L., married to R. B. Jamison, of Delaware, Ohio, and S. Jennie, wife of J. H. Martz, of Greenville, Ohio. Mary and Jennie re- ceived their collegiate education at Otterbein University, at Westerville, Ohio, at which institution Jennie was graduated in the year 1881, but Mary was compelled to leave the institution before graduating, her health fail- ing. Mr. Huddle celebrated his second marriage on the 16th of September, 1872, to Mary, daughter of Anson and Lydia Aldrich. She is a native of Massachusetts, born on the 19th of September, 1825, and makes her home with the two daughters be- fore mentioned. Mr. Huddle was a member of the United Brethren church; his wife is a member of the Christian church and his two daughters. are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take a deep interest in its financial and spiritual welfare. Mr. Huddle was a keen financier and success- ful business man, providing bountifully for his family and leaving a safe and ample es- tate to each of his surviving daughters.
JOSEPH MOTE.
This well-known depot agent and gen- eral merchant at Weaver Station, Ohio, was born in Monroe township, Darke county, October 23. 1836, and is a son of Enoch Mote, a native of Georgia and a pioneer of this state. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Mote, was born near Augusta, Georgia, of English ancestry, and continued his residence in that state until 1802, when he came to Miami county, Ohio, but spent his last days in Darke county, where he died at about the age of sixty years, The father of our sub-
572
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ject was only two years old at the time of the removal of the family to Ohio and he was reared near West Milton, Miami coun- ty. There he married Catherine Burket, a native of North Carolina and a daughter of Joseph Burket, who was of Holland de- scent and is supposed to have taken part in the Revolutionary war. When quite young Mrs. Mote was taken by her parents to Ken- tucky, and was only six years old when brought to Miami county. Ohio. About 1824 the parents of our subject took up their residence in Darke county and the father im- proved and, developed a farm in Monroe township. The deed for the first land he purchased was signed by John Q. Adams, the second by Andrew Jackson. He re- mained upon that farm until fifty-seven years of age and then moved to West Mil- ton, Miami county, where he died at the age of sixty-nine years. In early life he was a German Baptist, but after his removal to West Milton joined the New Light Chris- tian church and remained one of its con- sistent and faithful members. His estimable wife died at about the age of seventy years. Their children were: Mary, deceased ; Dily, widow of Levi Burket; Epsy, who died at the age of fourteen years; Margaret, wife of Samuel Glant, of Indiana; John and Philip, both deceased; Joseph, our subject ; and Noah, who died in the service of his county during the civil war in 186.4.
Until twenty years of age Joseph Mote assisted his father in the operation of the farm and at the same time attended the local schools. On attaining his majority he entered the Southwestern Normal School, at Lebanon, Ohio, where he pursued his studies for two terms, and for twelve years there- after he successfully engaged in school teach- ing. This occupation was interrupted, how-
ever, by his service in the civil war. He enlisted September 15, 1861, in Company E, Forty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private, but was later promoted corporal. Subsequent to the battle of Shiloh he was taken ill and sent to the general hospital at Evansville, Indiana, and after his recovery was placed on detached duty. After three years and two months of arduous and faith- ful service, he was honorably discharged, in December, 1864.
Soon after his return home Mr. Mote went to Evansville, Indiana, where he en- gaged in truck farming and later taught school for one winter in Henderson, Ken- tucky. In the winter of 1866 he engaged in teaching at Georgetown, Miami county, Ohio, and the following year came to Fort Jefferson, Darke county, and opened a gen- eral store, which he conducted until coming to Weaver's Station in 1875. Here he has since engaged in the same line of business, and to-day is one of the oldest merchants in · the county. He has also acted as freight, ticket and express agent at the same place for twenty-five years, and has served as postmaster during that period with the ex- ception of four years during President Cleve- land's administration.
Mr. Mote has been twice married, first in 1858 to Emeline Simpson, of Troy, Ohio, by whom he had two sons: Lewis, deceased, and Elmer E., who is now a resident of Kan- sas City and manager of the Missouri Valley Car Service Association. On the 25th of December, 1867, Mr. Mote married Eliza- beth A. Leas, of Fort Jefferson, Darke coun- ty, a representative of one of the pioneer families of the county. By this union were born seven children, six sons and one daugh- ter, namely : Alvin J., who is employed as bill clerk by the Vandalia Railroad Com-
573
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
pany, at East St. Louis; Walter H., who is connected with his brother, Elmer E., in the car service at Kansas City; William E., a stenographer for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad at Kansas City; John H., who is a private in Company G, Twenty- third United States Infantry, and is now stationed in the Philippines; Stanley E., who is a teacher by profession and is now at- tending the normal school at Ada, Ohio; Horace G., who died August 27, 1898, at the age of eighteen years ; and Mable E., who is still in school.
As a Republican Mr. Mote takes an ac- tive and prominent part in local politics, was a delegate to the state convention at Colum- bus in 1900; was also a delegate when Mc- Kinley was nominated for governor of Ohio, and was assistant sergeant at arms of the national convention at St. Louis in 1896. Besides serving as postmaster he has also filled the office of school director. For about forty years he has been a member of the Odd Fellows society, first Stillwater Lodge, then Greenville Lodge, No. 190, and now a member of Champion Lodge of Greenville. He has filled several chairs in the order and is an honored meniber of Frizell Post, No. 257, G. A. R., of Greenville, of which he is now quartermaster. As a citizen he ever stands ready to discharge any duty devolv- ing upon him, and is certainly deserving of honorable mention among the representative citizens of his county.
GEORGE E. MARKER.
The bulwarks of our national prosperity have ever been found represented in the sturdy and basic art of agriculture and in every community the husbandman is a rec- ognized power and is accorded the honor
which is his just due. Richland township, Darke county, is one of the opulent agricult- utral sections of the Buckeye state, although it is small in area, and one of the representa- tive and influential farmers of this town- ship is he whose name introduces this sketch, and he is a member of a family which stands high in social and educational fields as well. Mr. Marker was born in Darke county, Ohio, May 7, 1853, being the youngest in the fam- ily of five sons and three daughters born to Ezra and Catharine (Weaver) Marker. Of the children only one is deceased, and a brief record concerning the other members of the family will be appropriate at this juncture : Perry, a veteran of the civil war, is a resi- dent of Versailles, Ohio; Levi is a farmer of Montgomery county, this state; Isaac, a resident of Versailles, is a prosperous agri- culturist, having for some years been en- gaged in mercantile pursuits also, from which he has now retired; Susannah is the wife of John Nichol, a merchant of Ver- sailles ; and Sarah E. is the wife of George Hively, a contractor and builder of Dayton, Ohio. The other member of the family is a twin of our subject, Lucinda by name, and she became the wife of William Markland, a mechanic of Dayton.
Ezra Marker was born in Frederick county, Maryland, April 30, 1810, and his deatlı occurred August 27, 1893. He was apprenticed in his youth to learn the wagon- maker's trade, having received a rudimentary education in the subscription schools of the early days, and through his alert mentality and personal application he became a man of broad information and mature judgment. He remained with his parents in the state of Maryland until he was about thirteen years of age, when the family came overland in a wagon to Montgomery county, Ohio, which
6
574
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
was then practically a wilderness, and there the parents were numbered among the earliest pioneer settlers. The grandfather of our subject died in that county and the death of his paternal grandmother occurred in Preble county, this state. Ezra Marker was a young married man when he came to Darke county and though his financial means were of diminutive order he was reinforced by sterling integrity of character and a capacity for hard work. He came to this county in 1839 and located on a tract of land known as the Winbigler farm in York township, the township' at that time being still a portion of the primeval forest, save here and there the lonely cabin of the pioneer. The young couple settled in the forest, having had to hew a way through the woods to the place selected for the erection of their little cabin of logs, which in due time became their modest home. The Indians were their neigh- bors and deer and other wild game were plentiful, while the implements utilized in clearing up the new farm and instituting the work of cultivation were crude and primitive in the extreme. Mr. Marker's original pur- chase comprised eighty acres and through his industry and good management he eventually attained a high degree of success, owning one hundred and seventy-one acres of land, besides real estate in the city of Versailles. He was possessed of that energy and frugal- ity so characteristic of those of German lineage and in all relations of life he was honorable, gaining the esteem and confidence of all. His father, George Marker, was born in Maryland and was there married to Mar- garet Storm, who had emigrated thither from Germany, where she was a member of a wealthy farmer, whose estate in the father- land is yet to be divided among the de- scendants. Ezra Marker was a true Jack-
sonian Democrat in political proclivities, his first presidential vote having been cast for "Old Hickory." He enjoyed a marked pop- ularity in his township, and held at different times almost every local office in the gift of the people of the community. His honesty and judgment were proverbial and he was often chosen as administrator of estates and to perform other duties implying the im- plicit confidence in which he was held. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran church and aided in the erection of the church edifices in York township and in Ver- sailles, showing their liberality of spirit also by contributing to similar enterprises of other denominations. The mother of our subject was born near Miamisburg, Mont- gomery county, Ohio, February 16, 1816, and her death occurred February 17, 1898. She was a tender and devoted mother and her teachings will serve as beacon lights to brighten the lives of her children through all the days to come.
George E. Marker, the immediate subject of this review, was reared in Wayne township and is distinctively a Darke county boy. He received a common-school education of a practical nature and his life has been spent as a tiller of the soil, the free and independ- ent vocation to which he was reared, though he devoted about two years of his early youth to work at the cabinetmaker's trade. He remained with his parents until he at- tained the age of twenty years, giving them his labor and his wages, and when he reached his majority he was fortified by only a ster- ling caracter, an alert mentality and a de- termination to make a success of his life. For his companion in life he chose Miss Belle Kershner, whom he wedded August 16, 1874, and three sons have graced this union-Albertus, who was born August 18,
575
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Į875, and is with his parents, is one of the most highly respected young men of the township, being a successful teacher, having received his teacher's certificate at the early age of sixteen and having been engaged in pedagogic work almost every year since that time. He has passed the teacher's examina- tion in both Darke and Montgomery coun- ties and at all times keeps abreast of his pro- fession, being a close and ambitious sttt- dent, and gaining his physical reinforcement by assisting in the work of the old homestead during the summer vacations. In politics he supports the Democracy. The second son, Village, born September 3, 1877, is, like his brother, a successful teacher, having secured his certificate when only fifteen years of age, and he has made his mark as a teacher of tact and discrimination. He was married, April 8, 1900, to Miss Daisy Beanblossom, of Greenville township. He and his elder brother are experts in amateur photography, and both cast their first presidential votes for William Jennings Bryan. Claude, born September 13, 1879, the youngest of tlie children, is the farmer of the family, as he seems to have a natural predilection for the vocation to which he was reared. He suc- cessfully passed the Boxwell examination, which entitles him to admission into any high school in the county. He wedded Miss Grace Wolfe January 7, 1900, and they re- side in Wayne township. The young men are all creditable to their parents and to their native county, having shown exceptional talent and having the esteem of all who have known them from their childhood days to the era of personal accomplishment of effect- ive order.
Mrs. Marker is a native of Richland township, this county, where she was born June 16, 1853, being the second of the three 35
daughters of Daniel and Catharine (Cop- pess ) Kershner. One sister is deceased and the other survivor is Cordelia, who is the wife of George Kissinger, a farmer of Rich- land township, and who is the mother of eight children. Daniel Kersliner was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1830, and died March 30, 1895. He was a blacksmith by trade, having come to Darke county in 1840, when a lad of ten years, and here lie made his home more than half a century, being one of our honored and in- fluential citizens. He was a veteran of the civil war, having been a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was a stanch Republican in politics and was a strong advocate of abo- lition. The mother of Mrs. Marker was born in Darke county November 15, 1828, and she is yet living, retaining her mental and physical vigor to a marked degree. She is a member of the Reformed church and is a resident of Dawn.
Mrs. Marker received her educational discipline in the public schools of her native county and she has been to her husband a faithful assistant and wise counselor, while' to her careful and devoted training may be ascribed much of the success and the ster- ling characteristics of her sons, who cherishi her counsel and admonitions and give her the deepest filial affection. When our subject and his wife began their wedded life they were poor in all save mutual affection, am- bition and intrinsic ability, even having to secure credit for a portion of their first mea- ger supply of farming implements, while the first money they had to invest in land was secured front the sale of a cow. They be- gan as renters in Richland township and for nearly sixteen years they spared neither mind "nor hands in the indefatigable efforts to se-
576
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
cure a foundation for future prosperity. Their first purchase of land was nineteen acres, to which they later added twenty acres, finally disposing of this tract and purchasing eighty acres of their present homestead, which is one of the fine estates of Richland township, improved with a beautiful and commodious brick residence and in all por- tions showing the discriminating care and attention bestowed. They have attained a marked success in temporal affairs through their own efforts and they stand high in the social circles of the community.
In politics Mr. Marker gives stanch al- legiance to the Democratic party, having cast his first presidential vote for Samuel J. Tilden. Fraternally he is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge, No. 286, located at Versailles, and in this lodge he has passed all the chairs. He and his wife are zealous members of the Christian church at Beams- ville and they have always aided liberally in church and benevolent enterprises. As rep- resentatives of that sterling citizenship which has so signally conserved the progress and prosperity of this favored section of the Buckeye state, the family is peculiarly worthy of consideration in this edition.
-
WILLIAM J. IRWIN.
William J. Irwin is engaged in taking and executing contracts for public works and in this capacity has been in control of many extensive and important public inter- · ests. He was born in Cobourg, Ontario, Can- ada, February 22, 1859, his parents being Stephen and Bridget (Rooney) Irwin. His father, Stephen Irwin, was born in the coun- ty of Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1829, and with his parents crossed the Atlantic to the United
States in 1847. In 1854 he left this country and went to Canada, where the same year he was united in marriage, in Cobourg, to Bridget Rooney, who was born in county Leitrim, Ireland, in 1835. She emigrated to Canada in 1847, and after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Irwin remained in that coun- try until 1861, during which time their two eldest daughters and their son, William J., were born. Their eldest child, born Novem- ber 22, 1855, was married, and their second daughter was Annie, born May 22, 1857. Their family now numbers eight children, of which 1.umber three sons and three daugh- ters are yet living. In 1861 the parents removed with their three children to Mont- gomery county, Ohio, taking up their abode in Dayton, where, on the 24th of March, 1861, their son, Felix, was born. The other children are : John, born December 28, 1862; James, born January 2, 1865; Rose Ellen, born May 30, 1867; and Stephen Edward, born August 24, 1870. All are living at the present writing with the exception of John and James. In 1864 Stephen Irwin enlisted in Company K, Thirteenth Regiment of Ohio Cavalry, in which he served until July 4, 1865, when he was honorably dis- charged. He then returned to his home and soon afterward removed with his family to Dayton, Ohio, where he resided until 1868, when they went to West Baltimore, Ohio, where the father engaged in farming. In 1874 the mother was called to her final rest, and five years later, in 1879, Stephen Irwin went with the rest, locating in Scott county, Minnesota, where he remained until 1885. He then returned to the Buckeye state and made his home with his son, William J., until 1898, when he went to the National Military Home, in Dayton, Ohio, where he still resides.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.