USA > Ohio > Putnam County > A Portrait and biographical record of Allen and Putnam counties, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Ohio, pt 2 > Part 39
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S AMUEL MYERS, deceased farmer of Perry township, Putnam county, Ohio, was a son of John and Mary (Dillon) Myers and was born in Washington connty, Md., April 21, 1793. John Myers, the father, was also a native of Maryland, of Ger- man descent, was a wealthy farmer and a land owner, and also the owner of a mill and dis- tillery. His children were named Abraham, John, Jacob, Mrs. Mira Shank, Mrs. Barbara Shank, Henry, Samuel, our subject, and Mrs. Anna Stauffer, Mrs. Mary (Dillon) Myers was a native of Pennsylvania and died at a ripe old age, in the Mennonite faith; John, father of our subject, was a stanch democrat in his pol- itics, was an influential citizen, and also died at an advanced age.
Samuel Myers, subject of this sketch, was reared on the home farm in Maryland, learned the trades of miller and blacksmith, and for a time was employed in a woolen factory, be- coming a very proficient mechanic. In 1829 he came to Ohio and entered a tract of land in Putnam county; on this tract he lived two years and then settled on the farm in Perry township, on which his widow still resides, and which he cleared up from the wilderness. Hc was one of the most successful of the pioneers of the township and reached a position of
prominence and influence before death closed the scene. On Christmas day, 1833, he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Hardin, daughter of Abraham and Catherine (Wishart) Hardin, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Christian Sroufe, and the first to be solemnized in Putnam county. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Myers, William Hardin, served seven years in the war of the Revolution from Bed- ford county, Pa., and died at the remarkably old age of 104 years. Her father, Abraham, served in the war of 1812 from Licking county, Ohio, under Gen. Wayne. Her grandfather Wishart was born in Scotland, and settled in Bedford county, Pa., and lived to be ninety- eight years old. Both of the grandparents were pioneers of Bedford county, Pa. The union of Samuel and Margaret Myers was blessed with ten children, as follows: Adelina, deceased wife of Joseph Boxwell; Mrs. Anna A. Ayers, of Columbus Grove; Samuel, a farni- er of Perry township; Jacob, killed at the battle of Rome, Ga .; Abraham, who died at Nashville, Tenn., during the late war; Susan- nah, wife of G. D. McClure, of Jackson town- ship; Margaret, deceased wife of Daniel Will- sire, also deceased; David, who died in infancy; Huldah, deceased wife of Godfrey Guyer, of Pahner township, and Malida, deceased wife of Sam Price. The mother of this family was born in Licking county, Ohio, May 8, 1816; her father was a native of Maryland, and her mother, at the age of twelve years, came from Scotland with her parents, who settled in Pennsylvania, in which state Dr. David Wish- art, grandfather of Mrs. Myers, attained great celebrity as a physician.
After marriage Mr. Myers settled on and cleared off his land, and soon took rank among the foremost of the farmers of Perry township; he also built the first saw, flour, and grist-mill in Putnam county, and this mill still stands as " a monument to his enterprise. He was a man
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of broad views and extraordinary public spirit, and unaided built three miles of the plank road through the county, and also gave $1,000 to- ward its construction. Politically he was a whig, and was honored by election, at various tines, to all the local offices; he was one of the first county commissioners and the first school examiner; was township trustee for years and built the first school-house in the township; as a member of the Menonnite church he was in- fluential and useful, and was a liberal contrib- utor to its support. To him the people of the county are deeply indebted for its early devel- opment, and his work tells the story of a well- spent life. His death occurred August 27, 1860, and the loss of no man in the county was ever more deplored by the public than his. Mrs. Myers still resides on the old homestead, which has been her home for sixty-two years, she having reached her four-score years of life and being venerated and respected as but few residents of Perry township can ever hope to be. She is the grandmother of fifty children and the great-grandmother of about seventy- five. When she first came here with her husband, he was compelled to go to Piqua, through the woods, with no roads, to have Ins corn ground (except what was ground at home with hand-mills), until his own mill was erected, which men for miles around came to assist in building and in constructing the mill dam, but it was five years before the, for- mer was completed. No man more useful, or more enterprising citizen ever resided in Perry township than Samuel Myers,
3 OHN F. MYERS, one of the most pros- perous and honored farmers of Greens- burg township, was born in Putnam county, September 22, 1848, a son of Solomon and Mary (Shenk) Myers, the former of whom was born in Franklin county, Pa., 1
near the Maryland state line, October 29, 1817. The parents of Solomon were Peter and Elizabeth (Slice) Myers. The father was born in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1780, and the mother was a native of Switzerland.
The great-grandfather of subject, Peter Myers, Sr., was a native of Prussia, and came to America in early manhood, was a shoe- maker by trade and also followed farming. He died in Maryland; his family consisted of six children, viz: Annie Heidlough, Elizabeth, Mary, John, Peter and Samuel. His son Peter Myers, Jr., followed farming in Pennsylvania until 1835, when, on October 1, he started for Ohio, and after a twenty-two day journey, most of the way on foot, he arrived in Putnam county, and entered forty acres of government land in Greensburg township. Martin, his son, persuaded him to move to Perry township; here he lived until 1865, when he moved to Williams county, where he died in 1873, hon- ored and respected by all who knew him. He was an old-line whig and a prominent member of the German Baptist church.
Solomon Myers, the son of Peter Myers, Jr., and the father of our subject, was edu- cated in the common schools of Pennsylvania. In 1835 he came to Ohio, and helped to clear the newly entered land until November 17, 1842, when he married Mary, the daughter of Michael and Mary (Whitman) Shenk, who was born in Canada, near Toronto, in August, 1823. Her father was a native of Penn-vlva- nia, but when seventeen years of age went to Canada, where he married and reared a fam- ily .. After his marriage Mr. Myers lived on a farm in Greensburg township tor six months, and then moved to Perry township, where he lived until 1846, when he returned to Greens- burg township, and two years later purchased the farm on which he now lives, paying $1, 000 for ninety-five acres, and at different times since has added to it until he had a farm con-
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OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
sisting of 117 acres, most of which he has dis- tributed among his children, of whom he has thirteen, eleven reaching maturity, namely: Peter, a farmer in Michigan; Sarah, married to Jacob Shenk, of Ottawa township; Abra- ham, deceased; John and Solomon, Jr., both of whom are mentioned above in this sketch; Susan. the wife of Isaac Stike, of Perry town- ship; Mary, the wife of Henry Sink, of Greens- burg township; Sophia, married to John Le- master, of the same township; David and Daniel, both of whom are deceased, and Martha, married to John Bear, of Greensburg township. The mother died on June 8, 1885, ind had been a faithful member of the German Baptist church for many years. Mr. Myers is a repubhean in politics, and is known as one of the most successful and prosperous farmers in Greensburg township.
John F. Myers, son of Solomon, was reared on his father's farm and given a good educa- tion in the common schools of his native town- ship. On December 8, 1872, he married Ella, the daughter of Richard and Mary (Layton) Davis. This lady was born in Vermillion county, Ill., December 6, 1854. Her father was born in Pennsylvania, March 3, 1822, and married in Marion county, Ohio, April 10. 1827. They were the parents of eleven chil- dren: Agnes, the wife of Eli May, of Michigan; Harriet A., married to Burdette Lamson, of Williams county, Ohio; Hannah and Matilda, twins, who died in infancy; Ella B., of this mention, Mary, the wife of Herschel Opsumer, of Chicago; Ida, wife of W. L. Wallon, Sarah, married to Bryan Carmes, of Bryan, Ohio; Rama, the wife of William Miller, of Williams county; Nancy, the wife of James Rosendal. deputy marshal of Stryker, Wil- liams county, and Louie G., deceased. Rich- ard Davis, after his marriage, went to Illinois, where by farmed for some years and then came to Putnam county, remained a short time, and
then moved to Williams county, Ohio, where he still lives, and is a republican in politics. He and his wife are members of the Disciples' church.
Immediately after his marriage Mr. Myers and his wife settled on the farm where they now live, which was then owned by his father, and was still uncleared. He set bravely to work clearing it and making a good farm out of it, and his father then gave him a deed for forty acres; he has greatly improved it since then and is an industrious and successful farmer; he has spent all his married life on this farm except one year, during which he lived in Perry township. Politically he is a republican and has served as supervisor of his township. He is honored and respected by all who know him and is considered a very enterprising citizen. His wife is a member of the Mennonite church, and their children are five in number, viz: Alfred Herman, Frank Wilbur, Davis W., Mary M. and John P.
R EV. WILLIAM HORSTMANN - The history of Saint John's Roman Cath- olic church at Glandorf, Putnam connty, which is here presented, through the kind offices of Rev. Francis Nigsch, the present pastor, is probably as interesting as that of any institution or event connected with Putnam county's growth ; and the self-sacrificing spirit of its founder, manifested throughout the many years of his labors in Putnam and ad- joining counties, though on a smaller scale, is as attractive and as admirable as is that of Marquette, Hennepin or La Salle.
The Rev. William Horstmann was the founder and the npbuilder of this historic con- gregation. He resigned his professorship at Osnabruck, Germany, in April. 1833, and at a meeting held at Glandorf, non Osnabruck, or Osnaburg, the following persons volunteered
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
to accompany him to America, with the inten- tion of founding a colony: John F. Kahle, William Guelker, Christian Strope, Matthias Bockrath, F. Wischumann, Fred. Bockrath and Fred. Brodeick. These people left their fath- erland on August 28 following, embarking on the ship Columbus on September 7, and arriv- ing in New York, November 6. From New York they went to Detroit, Mich., via Albany and Buffalo. From Detroit Rev. Wm. Horst- mann, or the Professor, as he was familiarly called, and Mr. Kahle, in order to find a suit- able place for the entire family or colony, traveled partly on foot and partly by stage through western Ohio, passing Fort Defiance, Fort Jennings and Wapakoneta, and reaching Cincinnati, December 12, 1833. Returning by the same ronte they paid a short visit to the colonists at Stallo, or Minster, in Auglaize county.
Samuel Meyer, of Fort Jennings, directed them to John Meyer, in Greensburg township, where Mr. Kahle purchased section 15. Prof. Horstmann procured, in Ottawa township, 500 acres in section 20, and 160 acres in sec- tion 29. The rest of their party, whom they had left in Detroit, were brought to the loca- tion selected, after a wearisome journey in the latter part of January, 1834. This journey was indeed an adventurous one, and fraught with many difficulties. The driver : f the only wagon which they could hire could not be in- duced to go further than Maumee City, where they undertook to hire another one, but failed in this attempt, and so had to continue their journey on foot, taking of the baggage as much as they could possibly carry, and finally in this way reached their destination.
Here these few men were in midwinter, in the wide, wild forest, surrounded by Indians as honseless as themselves, but friendly; but they possessed undaunted courage and museu- far arms. They cut down trees, tilled the
ground around the stumps, and constructed their primitive log houses, one of which, 16x18 feet in size, served as church, school-house and dwelling, for the pastor. It was located on the western bank of Cranberry creek, near the present site of Henry Nartker's house; and in this small log cabin Prof. Horstmann celebrated mass, for the first time, on Easter Sunday, March 30, 1834.
It will be readily understood that the years of colonization that followed, were years of painful privations and trials. The scanty pro- visions, which had been taken from Detroit, were soon exhausted. Corn and potatoes, which the poorly cultivated soil conkl yield, were not plenty. Roads were not yet opened, and the woods, which had to be penetrated in order to reach any market, abounded in swamps ard rendered traveling almost impos- sible. All farming implements had to be brought from great distances, and often their transportation caused as much anxiety as did the means of procuring them.
In the spring of 1834 the colony was in- creased by the following arrivals: H. Kolhoff, H. Schroeder, H. Duling, Ed. Mueller, Joseph Uttendorf, B. H. Unverferth, C. Gerding, C. Shirloh, T. Meyer, and William Feldmann. In 1835 J. B. Drerup, J. B. Lehmkuhle, J. H. Moening, J. G. Uphaus and H. Recker, were the arrivals, and in 1836 the numbers there were still further increased by the arrival of J. F. Verhoff, T. Ellerbrock, B. Erhart and oth- ers. By this time the little room hitherto used for a church became too small, and a new one, 22x40 feet, was built on the northwest corner of Jackson street and La Belle avenue, where is now found the elegant house erected for the organist. The Indians, with whom the pio- neers managed to be on good terms, assisted greatly in the erection of the building.
This church was dedicated February 26. 1837. About this me a log house was con-
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structed, containing three rooms -- one for the school, the others for the pastoral residence. Rev. William Horstman acted as the first teacher of that school, and he was followed by George Unverferth and Mr. Tolgeman, the first of whom died in 1837, the latter continu- ing to teach until mental infirmities compelled him to retire. A proper dwelling, 38x36 feet, for the priest, was built by Prof. Horstmann in 1838, about where the pastoral residence is at the present time. Prof. Horstmann, per- ceiving that he was not able to comply with all the demands of a constantly increasing con- gregation, and the missionary work abroad, obtained in 1841 an assistant in the person of Rev. George Boehne, who worked there most zealously until 1848, when he was transferred to Fort Jennings, where he died in 1860.
The manifold difficulties, the hardships and privations which Rev. Prof. Horstmann had to undergo at home and in traversing the whole of Putnam county, and also the greater part of Auglaize county, accelerated the decline of his health, and in the spring of 1842 he was taken dangerously ill. He suffered severely, but with christian fortitude and resignation, with rheumatism during all of the summer and autunm and until February 21, 1843, when it pleased the all-seeing Ruler of the universe to call his untiring and faithful servant to a bet- ter home, he being at that time sixty-five years of age.
Little is known regarding his parentage, his early life, his education, or of his ordina- tion and subsequent priestly career, prior to his emigration to the wilds of northwestern Ohio. He was born in 1778 in Glandorf, Ger- many, of poor but pious parents; add having received holy orders, May 31, 1866, at the hands of Rt. Rev. Von Gruben, bishop of Osnabruck. he was appointed assistant pastor at Glandeif, where, by his energy and untiring zeal, an addition to the church was built, and
he was promoted to a professorship in the famous Gymnasinm Carolinum in Osnaburg. Here he labored among books and papers up to the year of his resignation and emigration to America.
Rev. William Horstmann was above medium height, well proportioned, but of pale complex- ion. He was a man of great learning, versed in all the sacred sciences, in mathematics, in astron- omy, and philology; and being a practical nat- uralist, he was excellently qualified for coloniza- tion. He could survey and parcel out the lands, select wood for building porposes, designate proper places for dwellings, and being. in ad- dition to all his other qualifications, a thorough homeopathist, he was a succoring physician to the sick. A man better adapted by nature and by education for the position he held could not have found.
The nobility of his soul is easily discovered when we take into consideration the favorable circumstances by which he was surrounded in Germany, which he cheerfully exchanged for a hazardous voyage across the Atlantic ocean, the wild forest of America, and all the incon- veniences incident to pioneer life in the wilder- ness; and this he did for love of his fellow- men, his object being to procure for them a free home, and indeed for the greater honor of the God he worshiped. He was generous and benevolent in the extreme, defraying nearly all the expenses of the journey of the colonists, procuring lands for them in the new country, implements for farming, provisions for their households, and assisted them wherever and whenever assistance was required. Conrage and self-denial marked his character, and in the many and ioilsome journeys on foot, neither dense forests, nor swamps, nor rivers, nor any of the dangers from wild beasts or wild men, conld daunt him or detam him. Through the forests he sought the way by means of the compass, and swamps and streams
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he crossed by swimming on logs, frequently carrying heavy burdens, purchased at some distant market, strengthening himself for these labors with corn meal and milk or water.
His missionary zeal was indefatigable, his conduct pious and thoroughly sacerdotal. When at home he instructed the children at school, visited the sick, offered up the holy sacrifice of the mass, administered the sacra- ment to his parishioners, and then hastened to bring the same consolation to Catholics scattered throughout Putnam county. Nearly every month he traveled to Wapakoneta, and Minster. Through his agency a little frame church was built at Wapakoneta, and in Min- ster a log church, 40x60 feet; and also at Petersburg, five miles south of Wapakoneta, a church was built by him.
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Thus did Rev. Prof. Horstmann labor in the vineyard of Christ, being all to all, and it is undoubtedly owing to his animated, self-sacri- ficing spirit that he fell a victim to premature death. The members of Saint John's church in 1883 erected a monument to his memory, which monument is well deserved, for Prof. Horstmann was a kind father to all. When his end drew near he willed all his land to the congregation for which he had worked for so many years, and the proceeds of the estate, amounting to about $6,000, were devoted to to the building of the present beautiful church edifice.
The mortality during the first years of the congregation was within natural limits; though greater, comparatively, than in later times, which is accounted for by the many pools pro- ducing malaria, which have in recent years been thoroughly drained. The average of annual burials was from ten to twelve; though in 1839 twenty-one deaths occurred, that being the greatest number up to 1860, in which year forty-two deaths appeared in the record of burials. The first death in the congregation
was that of William Shroeder, a boy of nine years; the first marriage recorded is that of John F. Kahle to Mary Anna Meyer, celebrated October 7, 1834; the first baptisin was that of Anna Maria Sheter, daughter of Gerhard Slueter and Ann Maria Lamers. The child is now dead, but the mother is living in the home of her son-in-law, Joseph Gerdeman.
Rt. Rev. J. B. Purcell, bishop of Cincin- nati, visited Glandorf in 1841, and when he came again, in 1845, he encouraged Father Boehne to build a larger and more durable church. The foundation of this church was laid in 1846, and the church, 50 x 90 feet, was dedicated December 3, 1854. The nec- essary cash outlay for this church was reduced to a minimum by gratis labor, every member of the congregation'having his appointed days to work; thus all the foundation stones were quarried and brought to the place, all the bricks made and much of the other material furnished free of cost. The church was con- sidered in those times the ne plus ultra of churches, and spacious enough for centuries to come. In the meantime all northern Ohio was separated from the diocese of Cincinnati, and formed into a new diocese, with Rt. Rev. A. Rappe, of Cleveland, for its first bishop.
Bishop Rappe requested Father Brunner, founder and superior of the Society of the Precious Blood in America, to take charge of the parish at Glandorf. Revs. H. Ober- meller, A. Kunkler, A. Herbstritt, Max Hom- burger, Al. Schelbert and A. Kramer, success- ively worked as pastors of Glandorf from 1848 to 1861, when Rev. August Reichert was ap- pointed to the position. In 1862 he built the present pastoral residence, and in 1864 pro- cured the pipe organ still in use. He also built the Saint Peter and Saint Paul's church at Ottawa. It may be here mentioned that church members at Glandorf furnished not less than fifty-four men to the Union army during
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OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
the late rebellion, thirty-three of whom were volunteers, twenty-one drafted. Glandorf's pa- triotisin can therefore not be called in question.
Hitherto all Catholics living in Greensburg, Ottawa, in north Union and Pleasant town- ships, attended church in Glandorf. In 1862 the church of New Cleveland was built; in 1868 that in Ottawa, and in 1878 that in Kalida, and still the necessity of a more spa- cious church building was imperative. There- fore Rev. R. Dickman, who succeeded Rev. August Reichert in May, 1874, undertook the laborious task of raising the funds necessary to build the new church. During the first year he succeeded in raising a subscription of $25, - 000, notwithstanding the great financial depres- sion felt at that time. The foundation of the new church was laid in 1875, and the building put under roof in 1876. The tower was fin- ished in 1877 and the interior of the building completed in 1878. The dedication of the church took place December 15, 1878, by the Rt. Rev. R. Gilmour. This building is cruci- form in shape, Gothic in style of architecture, is constructed of brick and ornamented with white sandstone. It is 175 feet long, and has an average width of 70 feet. The transept is 86 feet, and the spire is 225 feet high. The outside is imposing in appearance, and is of the most perfect symmetry. With its lofty pillars, its high arches and its beautiful win- dows, its rare frescos and paintings, together with its rich altars, the devout representation of Christ's Way of the Cross, and its magnifi- cent pulpit, it has indeed all the sacredness of the House of God, and it fills the visitor with reverence and awe.
Innumerable are the commendations due to Rev. K. Dickman for rearing so beautiful a temple. His grand ideas were an impetus to Delphos, v, Fort Jennings and to Ottoville, and the church is an everlasting proof of his en- terprising spirit, abilities, courage and persever-
ance. The members of the congregation faith -. fully supported their pastor, and universal was the regret when, in May, 1881, he went to Nashville, and was succeeded by Rev. M. Kenk, who, however, remained only a few months.
The Rev. Francis Nigsch received his ap- pointment in. 1881, as pastor of Saint John's church at Glandorf. By the generosity of his people he was enabled to procure the stations of the cross in 1885. the side altars in 1887, the magnificent main altar and the church pews in 1888, and in 1888 and 1891, two beautiful shrines in honor of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and of Mary were placed in the sanc- tuary. By this time, too, the debt which had been incurred in the building of the church, was paid, so that in 1892 the congregation owed not one cent. The furnaces originally placed in the basement of the church were, in 1892, replaced by Smead's heating and venti- lating apparatus, and in 1893 a house was built opposite the church, for the organist. This house is a two-story brick building, and is an ornament to the town.
In looking back over the sixty-two years of the church's history, though there is still room for improvement, Saint John's congregation at Glandorf has kept pace with the general prog- ress of the county, and it is to be hoped that it may continue to prosper as it deserves in the generations to come.
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