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 51
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Mr. and Mrs. Bernard H. Schlagbaum, for a few years after marriage, lived on the old Schlagbaum farm until 1880, when they moved to their present home, the old Helmkamp place. All of this place our subject has cleared from the woods, with the exception of twenty acres, has drained the land, made all the improvements, has built a tasteful resi-
dence and made a comfortable home. To Mr. and Mrs. Schlagbaum have been born five children, as follows: Maria Dora, November 6, 1874; Louis E., August 8, 1878; Mary, No- vember 26, 1880; Joseph H., June 21, 1883, and Mary Rosa, December 15, 1886. The family is of the Catholic faith, and Mr. and Mrs. Schlagbaum have contributed liberally to Saint Mary's church of Ottoville, which stately structure, like all other persons of means in the country round about, he materially assisted to erect. In politics Mr. Schlagbaum is a democrat. He is a practical farmer and is respected wherever known as an lionest man and one who has done much to advance the material interests of Monterey township and Putnam county, of which he has been a resi- dent over forty-four years.
a ILLIAM SCHLAGBAUM, a rising young farmer of Monterey township, Putnam county, Ohio, and a son of George and Dora (Hille) Schlag- baum, was born July 17, 1863, on the old home farm in Monterey township, on which he still lives and now owns. He received a very fair common-school education, and was reared to the pursuit of agriculture exclusively as a vocation, and in this has become thor- oughly practical. His birthplace contains eighty acres, is well drained and is cultivated in a most skillful and superior manner, and few farms of its size in the county can surpass it in appearance or fertility. Besides his eighty- acre tract he owns twenty-four acres adjoining, the reward of his own industry -- and the whole constitute a beautiful homestead. His father passed much of his later life in Ottoville, and our subject, since eighteen years of age, has had charge of the homestead, and has done a great deal of the clearing himself, and has taken much pains to do it well. Although yet
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OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
a young man he has manifested much interest in public affairs, and as a democrat he has al- ready held the office of township clerk, as well as that of road supervisor, he being greatly in favor of good roads.
May 21, 1895, William Schlagbaum was inost happily united in matrimony, at Otto- ville, with Miss Louisa Kehres, who was born September 28, 1874, on her father's farm in Monterey township. She is a daughter of August and Louisa (Marks) Kehres, of which highly respected family a biography is given on another page, to which the reader of this sketch is respectfully referred, as well as to the sketch of Bernard H. Schlagbaum, which appears above. Mr. and Mrs. Schlagbaum both come of sturdy German pioneer families, who did so much to redeem the land of Mon- terey township from the wilderness, build up its villages, construct its roads and lay out and cultivate its farms, and to bring it to its present high state of prosperity, beauty and cultiva- tion. Our subject and his wife are strict ad- herents of the church of their forefathers and worship at Saint Mary's, in Ottoville, which costly edifice their parents aided in erecting, partly by their labor and partly by their means. The young couple enjoy the esteem of all who know them, and they well deserve the respect of the social circle they so well adorn.
HARLES SCHRODER, one of the oldest of the German settlers of Greensburg township, Putnam county, Ohio, and also one of its most pros- perous and influental farmers, was born De- cember 23, 1827. His parents were Nicholas and Mary (Trame) Schroder, the father of whom was born in the fatherland in 1792, and re- ceived a fan education and learned the trade of making wooden shoes, although the days of his childhood and early manhood were spent i
on a farm. To his marriage with Mary Trame ten children were born, all of whom were born in Germany except the youngest. Three of these children are still living, Charles, the sub- ject of our sketch; Clara, the wife of Fred Hoffman, and Mary, the wife of William Wooster. After their marriage the ambitious young couple lived on a rented farm in Ger- Inany until 1833, when they, with their chil- dren, came to America to join the colony of Father Horstmann. They came direct to this township, and for three weeks lived in a camp in the woods, but by hard work the husband, in that time succeeded in getting a log house built to move his family into. He entered eighty acres of government land and soon after. ward purchased forty acres more; from this he cleared the heavy timber and dug and burned out the stumps, and soon had it in an excel- lent state of cultivation. At different times he added other purchases and built good farm buildings. His wife died in 1872, and he fol- lowed her in 1875, and both were early and faithful members of the Glandorf Catholic church. In politics he was a democrat.
Charles Schroder, our subject, came with his parents to America, when he was but six years old, and received a fair education in the German language in a little log school-house not far from his new home. His childhood days were passed happily on his father's farin, and so strong became the tie for the old home- stead that when he married he decided to re- main on a part of it. In 1850 he was mar- ried to Agnes Hohenbrink, who was born in Germany in 1826, and when sixteen years old came to America with her parents, William and Mary (Grimes) Hohenbrink. the former of whom fought at Waterloo and saw Napoleon's star set to rise no more. William Hohenbrink lived to be ninety-one years old, dving in 1883. The mother died in 1853, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years.
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After their marrige Mr. Schroder and his wife remained on the old homestead of the Schroders, and here prospered. Here ten chil- dren have been born to them: Annie, the wife of Barney Sebemnick, of Liberty township; Mary, the wife of Henry Myers, of the same township; Frank, William, John, Fred, and Audrey, all five of whom are living in Liberty township; Clara, deceased; Henry, farming in Greensburg township; Ignatius, farming on the old homestead, and Therese, the wife of John Toby. To each of his children Mr. Schroder gave eighty acres of land, which cost him $35,000. On his own farm he takes great pride in raising and breeding thoroughbred, short-horn and Holstein cattle, Oxforddown sheep, and Norman horses, and he has been : remarkably successful at it. He and his wife are members of the Glandorf Catholic church. In politics he is a democrat. To his family he is a kind and indulgent father and his neigli- bors he is ever willing to help, and is respected by all. Prosperity has attended all his efforts and he has used wisely that with which he has been blessed.
B ALTAS SCHURER, one of the sub- stantial farmers, a progressive citizen and township trustee of Monterey township, Putnan county, Ohio, springs from sturdy stock. His father, Adrain Schurer, was born in Wittenberg, Germany, in the vil- lage of Weitengen, was a weaver, and married, in his native village, Annie Derringer, to which union were born four children, of whom two died in infancy umamed, one, Francis, died at the age of twenty-three years, in Ohio, and one, Baltas, is the gentleman whose name opens this paragraph.
In 1853 Adrain Schurer came to America, remained a year in Cincinnati, and then, in 1854, settled on forty acres of land m the wild
woods of Monterey township, Putnam county, which land he entered in the land office at Defiance, Ohio. Here he cleared up a good farm, on which he resided until about 1866, when he sold out and bought the farm of eighty acres now occupied by his son Baltas, our sub- ject, and the two together converted this prop- erty into a delightful home. Later the father bought a house and lot in Ottoville, but ended his days on this farm in 1882, at the age of sixty-seven years. He was a sincere member of the Catholic church, and had aided freely with his means in the erection of the Catholic edifice at Ottoville. Mrs. Annie Schurer died in 1880, at the age of sixty-five years, also in the Catholic faith. The Catholic German pio- neers did a good and wonderful work when they founded Ottoville, built their church, laid ont their good roads, etc., and Mr. Shurer was one of the most active among them, having in the early days been known to carry grist on his back to Delphos, to mill, even when the water in the roadways would reach his knees
Baltas Schurer was born in Germany, May 15, 1845, attended the common schools until about eighteen years of age, and later attended the pioneer schools of Putnam county, Ohio. He grew to manhood on the homestead in the woods, which he ably assisted in clearing away, and also did a vast amount of other work in making it the farm that it afterward became -- one of the handsomest in the county, and im- proved in the most substantial manner, inchuid- ing a fine two-story brick residence. In No- vember, 1868, Mr. Schurer married Mary Hankler, daughter of Christopher Hankler, the latter a native of Switzerland, one of the pioneers of Monterey township, and the father of four children, viz: Mary, Sophia, Kate and Christopher. The death of the father took place, in pioneers davs, at the age of forty or fifty years.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schurer
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OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
settled on the old Schurer homestead, where there have been born to them nine children- four still living and named: Joseph, Annie, Caroline, John, and five deceased. In politics Mr. Schurer is a democrat, and he is a citizen who has the full confidence and respect of the people: About 1882 he was elected a town- ship trustee of Monterey township, served three years, and was re-elected to the same office in 1892, has served his three years, and has been elected to serve another term of three years. Mr. Schurer is a thoroughly practical farmer. As may be inferred, he is a member of the Catholic church at Ottoville, which he liberally aided to construct; and is universally recog- nized as a true Christian and strictly honest gentleman.
ATTHIAS SCHULIEN, one of the leading business men of Ottoville, Putnam county, Ohio, and member of the well-known milling firm of Schulien & Wannemacher, was born in the village of Lossheim Trier, Prussia, Febru- ary 2, 1842. His father, also named Mat- thias, was a wagon-maker and was married to Mary Petry, the result of the union being five children, viz: Matthias (our subject), Cather- ine, Nicholas, Barbara and Joseph, all born in the native village of the parents, with the ex- ception of the youngest, who was born in Otto- ville, Putnam county, Ohio. The family sailed from Liverpool, England, in June, 1852, and thirty days later landed in New York, whence they came directly to Ohio, and for six years resided in Cincinnati, or until March, 1858, when they came to Putnam county and bought sighty acres of land in the woods west of Otto- ville, which land they in due course of time converted into a good farm. The family are all levoted Catholics, and contributed liberally toward the building fund of the present hand-
. some Catholic house of worship in Ottoville. The father lived to be sixty-three years of age and died a devout Christian and worthy citizen.
Matthias Schmlien, the subject of this sketch, attended the excellent primary schools of his native land until ten years of age, when he was brought to America by his parents. In Cincinnati he began his business life as an errand boy for a furniture firm, was advanced to the position of shipping clerk, and remained with the firm until he camne, at the age of sixteen, to Putnam county with the rest of the family. For two years he assisted his father in clearing up the farm, and then went to work on the canal as a carpenter, aiding to build locks for three years; for the next two years he was employed at carpenter work in Ottoville, and then, in company with B. Wannemacher, his present partner, engaged in the saw-mill and lumber business, erecting the first steam mill in the town. After a successful career of ten years in this trade, the firm sold out and bought their present flouring-mills, which they remodeled and supplied with the new roller process machinery, now turning out about eighty barrels of superior flour every twenty- four hours and shipping it chiefly to the east.
In politics Mr. Schulien is a democrat and has served as a member of the school board nine years, and as treasurer of the village of Ottoville for three years, and was one of the incorporators of the town. In 1890 he mar- ried Mary Sellet, daughter of Morent and Catherine (Wolfe) Sellet who came from Alsace, France, about the year 1854, and lo- cated in Seneca county, Ohio, and about six years later came to Monterey township, Put- nam county, where the father, a shoemaker, bought forty acres of land one-quarter of a mile west of Ottoville, and settled down to farming, making a good home, and dying at the age of seventy years, a highly respected citizen. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Schulien
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
has been blessed with two children, Matilda and Frank. The family are Catholic in re- ligion, as were there forefathers, and their social standing is with the best people of Otto- ville and Monterey township.
R OBERT W. ROBERTS, one of the most enterprising and progressive farmers of Sugar Creek township, Put- nam county, Ohio, was born April 21, 1847. in a cabin thut then stood within eleven feet of the site of his present modern residence, and is a son of William and Parthema (Burch) Roberts. The father was a native of the north of Wales, came to America in company with a brother, Robert, in 1832, lived with him on a farm in Licking county, Ohio, until 1835, and then came to Putnam county, where each brother entered' 120 acres. - 240 acres in all --- erected a cabin and kept bachelor's hall until the marriage of William and Miss Borch, a daughter of Sanford Burch, a native of Ver- mont, who settled in Putnam county about 1828, but some years later sold his farm and inoved to Indiana, where his wife died, after which event he returned and made his home with William Roberts and family until his death, at the age of eighty-seven years, a Methodist in religion and a republican in politics.
William Roberts was born December 27, 1807. After paying for his land he had fifty cents left in cash, but he struggled manfully, became a man of prominence and independ- ence, and died July 20, 1886, having lost his wife January 27, 1879. To William and his wife were born five children, of whom one died in infancy, two died of scarlet-fever while still young and were buried in one grave Sarah married John M. Jones, a farmer of Putnam county, and Robert W., our subject is the youngest.
Robert W Roberts received a very fair edu-
cation in the common school of his district : ad assisted his father in the conduct of the farm, and after the death of his mother took entire charge of the place; after his father's death he became owner of 120 acres of the home place to which he has added forty acres by purchase, and of the total he has about 130 acres under a good state of cultivation. He has himself done much of the clearing, has done all the ditching and tiling, and in his operations em- ploys the most approved machinery; his live stock is all graded, and he has imported South- down and Oxforddown sheep, their fleeces weighing eight to twenty pounds each. rie and his son make a specialty of a sheep farin two and a half miles north of Vaughns: 3, invariably carrying off the highest awards at the county fairs.
The marriage of Mr Roberi took place August 18, 1868, with Mise Edna M. Ketcl. 1, who was born in Chester ille, Monow county, Ohio, March 12, 1849, a daughter of Jobs. . .. and Catherine (Gunsaulus) Ketchum. Her parents were natives of New York state, Fut of New England stock, who came to Putnamn county, Ohio, in 1853; here the father settled on a farm, which he cultivated a number of years and then moved to Columbus Grove, where his death took place in 1880 -- a leader in the Methodist Episcopal church, and a most enterprising citizen. He was the father of six children, four of whom are still living, viz: Mary J., Merritt D., Edna M. and : va. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Roberts has been blessed with eight children, as follows: L .. ora, at home; William, a traveling salesman of New York state; Jolin L., attending the Chio State university; Robert A., at home; Walter A., who died at the age of one year; Edna 1 .; Heber and Catherine, at home. The mother of these children is a strict member of the Methodist Episcopal church and bas certamly reared her offspring in " the way they should
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ROBERT W. ROBERTS.
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OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
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go." The father is a republican in politics, is a school director, has served as township trustee, and is now serving his second term as a justice of the peace; he and his wife and four children are members of the Patrons of Husbandry, of which two of his sons have served as secretary. He has served as county master and overseer of the subordinate grange, and as purchasing committee for two years.
In 1893 our subject, who had been made administrator of his uncle Robert's estate, made a trip to Wales and distributed the lega- cies among the heirs, remained in the old country two months, combining pleasure with his business, and returned much improved by the trip. With Mr. Lewis Gander, Mr. Robbins was the originator of a township picnic, which is annually held in the Roberts grove, and which is very popular.
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0 ANIEL A. SHAFER, an enterprising farmer of Perry township, Putnam county, Ohio, and the son of John ยท and Susan (Dickey) Shafer (whose sketch will be found on another page), was born in Paulding county August 16, 1852, and was given an education in the common schools of the neighborhood. His boyhood days were passed on his father's farm until twenty-three years old, when, on January 21. 1875, he mar- ried Barbara E. Prowant, who was born in Paulding county on November 1, 1859, the daughter of Henry and Catherine (Eyer) Pro- want. (See sketch of John Prowant on another page.) Her mother was a native of Canada, and had seven other chil- dren, viz: Jacob, who died in infancy; Ar- minda, also dead; David, a farmer of Pauld- ing county; Sarah A., the wife of Douglas Reynolds, of Monroe county; Emily, wife of Charles Thrasher, of Paulding county; Samuel, 26
also of Paulding county, and William, resid- ing in Kansas.
After his marriage Mr. Shafer lived for three years on a farm in Paulding county, and then moved to Putnam county, but only remained there a few months, when he re- turned to Paulding county. In 1880 he again moved to Putnam county, where he has since lived, a part of the time on rented land. He now cultivates a farm which was all woodland when he moved on it in 1890, when the ont- look was very discouraging, but with indomit- able courage he set to work clearing, and in time he had converted the recent forest into a fine farm, on which he annually raises good crops and keeps in an excellent state of culti- vation He is industrious and economical, and is respected and honored by all. In politics he is a stanch democrat. His family consists of seven children: Alfred F., born November 13, 1875; Levi and Eli, twins, who were born in February, 1877, and died while quite youn ;. Alvie E., born May 29, 1879; Florence, who died when two and a half years old; Samvel I, who was born December 15, 1886, and Frank R., born September 26, 1889. In the kindness of their hearts Mr. and Mrs, Shafer adopted a daughter, Zelma Prowant, who was bom February 16, 1892.
John Shafer, eldest son of John and Ellen (Jenkins) Shafer, and father of David A. Shafer, was reared a farmer and is now one of the most prosperous agriculturists of Perry town- ship, Putnam county, Ohio. September 20. 1842, he married Miss Susan Dickey, who was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, in 1818, a daughter of John and Mary (Deats) Dickey, who were natives of Somerset county, Pa., of German descent, and who, at the close of the war of 1812, settled in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where Mr. Dickey died in 1847, and his wife in 1874. After his marriage John Shafer moved to a rented farm m Allen county, Oh. ..
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
where he lived until 1845, in which year he brought his young family to Putnam county, lived on a farm three years, and then pur- chased his present home, which he has wrought out from a forest and converted into one of the best farms in his township. There have been born to Mr. Shafer and wife seven chil- dren, in the following order: John F., Wil- helmina (deceased), William H., Daniel A. (of the latter of whom further mention is made above), Mary E. and Susan A., both deceased, and Eli, of Paulding county. The mother of this family is a consistent member of the Dunkard church, and in politics the father is a republican.
J OHN SHALTER, one of the most en- terprising farmers of Palmer township, Putnam county, Ohio, was born in Crawford county, October 18, 1848. His father, John Shalter, of German descent, was also a native of the Buckeye state, having been born in Stark county, where he received a good common-school education and was reared to the pursuit of agriculture, but at an early age left the parental roof and entered into the conflict of life that was to make or mar his future fortune, unaided and alone. Having reached the proper age, he took one of the most important steps of his early manhood --- that of embarking upon the sea of matri- mony, taking as the life-companion of his voy- age Miss Elizabeth Albaugh, also a native of . Stark county, who became the mother of the following children, in the order here named: HFram, Levi, Mary A (deceased), Catherine (deceased wife of Isaac Libensparger), Emma (dleceased), Nancy, John, Salome, Elizabeth, Abraham and Delia (the last named also e deceased).
Immediately after his marriage in Stark county Mr. Shalter moved to Crawford county,
of which he was a pioneer, and there entered 160 acres in the primitive forest, which at that time teemed with all kinds of game, native to the latitude, as well as with animals of fiercer characteristics. By energetic labor and per- severving effort he succeeded in subduing the forest growth and in transforming the wild into a well cultivated farm and comfortable home, improved with every appliance that tended to make life happy for himself and family. In politics he was at first a whig, but, after the disintegration of that party, united with the newly formed republican organization. He took part in the erection of Crawford county, but was never an office seeking partisan, pre- ferring to devote his time to the cultivation of his farin and' the welfare of his family. He and his wife were both members of the United Brethren church, and were hberal in their financial aid to its support. Mr. Shalter be- came, however, very prominent as a useful citizen and a protent factor in the development and growth of his adopted county, and died an honored and self-made man, in August. : 880; his widow, who possessed many amiable traits of character and home-like qualities, survived until August 29, 1895, when she, too, was called to a peaceful rest.
John Shalter, the subject proper of this biographical memoir, was early inured to the hard labor of clearing up the farm on which he first saw the light of day, and in its cultivation while his thews and sinews were still undevel- oped. At the proper season he attended the district school, acquired a very good education for that day, and continued in aiding in the cultivation of the home place until his mar- riage, April 13, 1882, with Miss Sophia Bord- ner, who was born November 12, 1859, a daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Cocher) Bordner, both natives of Stark county, where then mar- riage took place. Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bordner moved to Crawford
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OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
county, where Mr. Bordner entered 160 acres of land in the woods, there being but few set- tlers in the county at that time; here he made a comfortable home and became an influential and prominent citizen, and died, a respected member of the Reformed Lutheran church, in 1862. His widow is also a devout member of the same denomination, and is as highly re- spected a lady as any in the community in which she has passed so many years. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Bordner comprised the following children: Daniel, Samuel, Hugh (deceased), Milo, Sarah J. (deceased), Nancy, Andrew, Eliza, Levi, Mary, Sophia and Aaron.
Shortly after marriage Mr. Shalter came from Crawford to Putnam county, and settled on his present farin in Palmer township; he has since been prominently identified with the agricultural interests of the township and with its development and growth, in which he has materially aided. From his tract of wild land he has wrought out a home of which any farmer might well be proud. and which com- prises, at the present time, 170 acres. He has improved his place with a modern house and substantial barn and all necessary out-build- ings, which compare favorably with any in the county -- all the result of his own indefatigable industry He carries on the farming usual to the region in which his place is located, and also raises such stock as is needed for home use-as short-horn cattle and Poland China hogs -- and has a surplus, also, for market.
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