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 1 > Part 50
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J OSEPH ROTH, one of the well-known and representative business men and citizens of Delphios, Ohio, is a native of Ohio, having been born in Hocking county on February 20, 1850, and is the son . of John M. Roth, one of the leading citizens
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of Delphos. In 1859, when our subject was nine years old, he came to Delphos with his , parents, and has resided here ever since. He attended the German department of the public schools of Delphos until his fourteenth year, when he left school and went to work with his father in the meat business, but continued his schooling for a time by attending night school, and all through his life he has been a student, and has thereby acquired a good education of affairs and public questions. October, 1879, when his father retired from active life, our subject succeeding to the business by purchase. Later his brothers, John and Frank, came into the business, and the firm of Roth Bros. was then formed and has since continued. Their place of business is on Main street between Second and Third streets, where they have the largest meat market in the city. They own their business house, which is a two-story brick building, the lower floor having been fitted up especially for their purpose. They also own their own slaughter house and kill and prepare all their meats. Mr. Roth is one of the directors in the Commercial bank of Delphos, and is vice-president of the Citizens Building & Loan association.
Mr. Roth has always taken an active inter- est in public affairs, particularly those per- taining to his city and county. In 1891 he was elected on the democratic ticket to the city council from the Fourth ward, notwith- standing the fact that the ward is republican. In 1893 he was re-elected to the council from the same ward without opposition, his term of office expiring April 9, 1895. During his term in the city council he served on some of the most important committees, the first term be- ing on the finance, improvement and sanitary committees, and the second time on the finance, improvement aud fire department committees, and on all of them rendered the city valuable service. Mr. Roth was married,
in 1881, to Miss Lucy Harman, of Delphos, daughter of Jacob Harman, deceased.
Mr. Roth is a liberal man on all subjects, whether religious or political. He holds liberal ideas on the church, belonging to no denomni- nation, and accords to all men freedom of thought and speech and action, so long as they do not conflict with the rights of others. In politics he leans to the democratic faith, but votes rather for the man than the party. In all matters pretaining to the development and building up of Delphos he has ever been found progressive and willing to contribute his share toward the industries and institutions of the city. He is in fact a broad and liberal- minded man in every way, and as such com- mands the esteem and respect of his fellow- citizens.
Frank Roth, of the firm of Roth Bros., of Delphos, Ohio, and treasurer of Marion town- ship, Allen county, was born in Delphos, June, 16, 1862, and is the son of John M. Roth. He attended the German and English day and night schools of Delphos, securing a good com- mon-school education. He left school when about fifteen years of age and went to work with his father, with whom he continued un- til the latter retired from business and the firm of Roth Bros., was formed, in 1871. In 1891 he was elected to the office of treasurer of Marion township, Allen connty, for a term of four years, his time expiring in September, 1895. In politics he is a democrat, and is a member of Saint John's Roman Catholic church. He was married in October, 1886, to Miss Flora Amann, of Sidney, Ohio, daugh- ter of ex-treasurer Ferdinand Amann of Shelby county, Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Roth three children have been born as follows: Oscar, born in August, 1887; Ladonna, born in Octo- ber, 1890; and Frank, born in November, 1893. He is a stockholder in the Commercial bank i and in the Citizens Building & Loan association.
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John Roth, Jr., of the firm of Roth Bros., of Delphos, was born in Hocking county, Ohio, in 1853. He came to Delphos with his par- ents in 1859, and attended the German school of the city. When quite young he left school and went to work for his father in the meat business. In 1871, when his father retired from business, he became a member of the firm of Roth Bros., and so continues at the present time. He was married, in 1876, to Miss Josephine Arenhoebel, daughter of John Arenhoebel, deceased, a miller of Delphos. To their union seven children have been born, six of whom are living, as follows: John, Annie, Willie, Carl, Eda and Aline. Mr. Roth is a stockholder in the Commercial bank of Delphos, and of the Citizens' Building & Loan association. He and family are members of the Saint John's Roman Catholic church.
John Roth, retired butcher of Delphos, was born in Bierne, Bavaria, in 1816, and en- gaged at butchering there. In 1842 he came to America and completed learning his trade in Baltimore, Md., afterward locating in Lo- gan, Hocking county, Ohio, where he was suc- cessfully connected with butchering for fifteen years. He was married in Logan, in 1845, to About the year 1851, Henry Roush came to Ohio and purchased a farm of 100 acres in Bath township, just east of the land on which the county infirmary now stands. This farm he cleared from the woods and improved in every respect; and, although a practical black- sinith, gave but little attention to his trade, preferring the life of a farmer, and so closed it in 1881 on this Bath township farm, in the faith of the Lutheran church, and in politics a democrat. He was a man of much . ergy of character, was industrious and frugal, and was held in high esteem by the community in which he had passed the closing years of his useful life. Here, also, his wife died in 1887. Miss Mary, daughter of the late John Ramser, a native of Alsace, Germany, and at one time a prominent merchant of Logan. Our subject had a family of four sons and four daughters: Mary (wife of Joseph Kindly, of Delphos), Joseph J. (of the firm of Roth Bros.), Barbara (wife of George Stevens, of Delphos), John (also a member of the firm), Henry (a butcher of California), Kate, Frank (of the firm) and Julia. In 1859 Mr. Roth came to Delphos and carried on the butchering business success- fully until his retirement from it in 1879, when he transferred it to lus sons, who constitute the firm of Roth Bros., having a meat market prominent among the leading industries of Philip Roush, the subject of this sketch, Delphos; Mr. Roth, by steadily working at his i was but eleven years of age when he came to
business, secured a handsome competence, and he has lived to see his family occupying good positions in the social and industrial life of his adopted city. He has visited the land of his nativity on different occasions. He and fam- ily are members of the Saint John's Roman Catholic church.
p HILIP ROUSH, a well-known farmer of Bath township, Allen county, Ohio, is a native of the Keystone state and was born in Juniata county in 1840 --- a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Mohart) Toush. Henry Roush, the father, was born in Dau- phin couhty, Pa., in 1803, on his father's farm, on which he remained until his marriage, the union resulting in the birth of nine chil- dren, as follows: George, John, Joseph, William, Henry, Catherine (wife of Willis Copeland), Franklin, Philip and Jacob. The mother of this family died in 1843, and in 1844 Mr. Roush married Susan Winegardener, of Juniata county, in the same state, who bore four children, as follows: Theodore, Jane, Emma, and Ephraim.
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Allen county with his parents. Here he was reared until eighteen years old on the home farın, learning in the meantime much of the carpenter's trade. At the age named he went to Orion, Richland county, Wis., where, for a short period, he clerked in -a brother's store; but he soon tired of western life and returned to the home place in Bath township, Allen county, Ohio, where he remained until the outbreak of the late Rebellion, when he took up arms in defense of the flag of the Union by enlisting in company A, Twentieth Ohio vol- unteer infantry. On the organization of his company he was elected corporal and later on. for meritorious conduct in the field, was pro- moted sergeant. He was in nearly all the battles fought in Virginia, in which his regi- ment had. any part, including Fair Oaks, Chapin's Farm, Petersburg, Drury's Bluff, etc. and in all took a noble and valiant part, reap- ing a reward through promotion, as has been indicated a few lines above.
Mr. Roush was united in wedlock January 1, 1866, with Miss Nancy A. Mason, daughter of Jarvis and Elizabeth (Hall) Mason, of Bath township, and the four children born to the union all died in infancy, only one, Jessie, the youngest, receiving a name. For a few years Mr. Roush followed his trade of carpenter, but preferred farm life and purchased forty- three acres in Bath township, to which he has added twenty acres, on which he now' lives and which he has improved and cultivated until it is readily recognized as a model. In politics Mr. Roush is a republican, but seeks 110 office. He is a strictly moral man, and has long been a member of the United Breth- ren church, in which he has held the offices of trustee, treasurer and Sunday-school superin- tendent. He is a public-spirited citizen, and never is backward in his aid to matters that are designed for the public good, and he enjoys the esteem of all about him.
R. WILLIAM ROUSH .- Among the best known and most highly respected citizens of Spencervillle, Ohio, is Dr. William Roush, who may be con- spicuously mentioned. He has been a resident of this place since October, 1893, and although his stay has been comparatively short, has been sufficiently long to establish him in his profession as a physician and surgeon, as well as to make him many warm and ardent friends and admirers. He is a native of Amanda township, Allen county, was born December 6, 1864, and is a son of Jacob M. and Eliza- beth (Holtzapple) Roush. The father died in April, 1894; the mother still survives and re- sides in Amanda township. The doctor was a farmer born and reared, and received his education in the public schools and at Elida, with two terms at the Ada (Ohio) normal. He lived on the farm until twenty-one years of age, giving all possible time to his literary education. He then taught school for four years, reading medicine, the last year, with Dr. S. A. Hitchcock of Elida for preceptor, afterward marticulating at the Cincinnati col- lege of Medicine and Surgery, graduating from there in March, 1891. He first located in Elida, where he remained two years, when he removed to Spencerville. His professional education has fitted him for a general practitioner, being well equipped in the various department of the healing art, and he has established for himself a large and lucrative practice. He is a valuable member of the Allen county Medical society, which finds him a thoroughly live up- to-date doctor. In June of 1894 he was mar- ried to Miss Vada Wright, the accomplished daughter of W. G. and Louisa Wright. Her birthplace was Highland county, Ohio. Politi- cally Dr. Roush is a democrat and has un- bounded faith in the future of the party. In 1893 he was appointed to the pension board of examiners. He is a member of the Odd
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Fellows' order of Spencerville, No. 311; also of the Daughters of Rebecca and Spencerville encampment, No. 279, and is vice-grand sub- ordinate. It is superfluous to say that the doctor is an altogether very able young man- just such as the world is depending upon for its best future.
ON. WILLIAM RUSLER is in a double sense a representative citizen of Allen county, as he is not only prominent in the private walks of life, but he has also been honored at different times with responsible public duties. For these reasons it is eminently proper that his biography should find a page in this record.
Mr. Rusler was born March 7, 1851, upon the homestead upon which he still resides, and which has in fact always been regarded by him as his home. He is a son of Phillip and Elizabeth (Anthony) Rusler, the father of the former of whom, George Rusler, it is sup- posed, was born in Washington county, Pa., and is known to have been of German ex- traction, if not parentage. George Rusler married a Miss Ellenberger, and to theni were born eight children, viz: Thomas, who died in Nebraska; John, of Anglaize county, Ohio; Jacob, deceased; Polly, wife of William Har- riott, residing in Erie, Pa .; Phillip, who died in Allen county; Lavina, who was twice mar- ried-first to David Bailey and second to Mr. Miller, who died in Marion county, Ohio; William, who resides in Marion county, and Juliana, who married George Crozier.
Sometime between 1816 and 1820, George Rnsler removed with his family to Trumbull county, Ohio, and in Lordstown township of that county purchased fifty acres of land. He was, of course, one of the earliest settlers of that county, and having established his home, spent there the remainder of his life. It is:
believed that the only portion of the time from his settlement there until his death in 1846, during which he was away from his home, was while he was serving in the army, into which he was drafted, that defended the country against the British in the war of 1812.
Phillip Rusler, the fifth child of George, whose life is thus briefly referred to, was born October 17, 1825, on the old homestead in Trumbull county, where he remained unt . he was about twenty-two years old. In 1847 he removed to Allen county, where he purchased about three years later, in Shawnee township, forty acres of land in section No. 17, which is now owned by the subject of this sketch. This farm he lived upon, cleared it and car- ried on farming thereon, for about four years, when he sold and went to Iowa, but shortly afterward returned. Not long after his return he purchased sixty acres of land in Auglaize county, but soon afterward sold this and pur- chased eighty acres adjoining the original forty purchased in 1850, and upon which the sub- ject of this sketch now resides. In February, 1865, Mr. Rusler enlisted in company C, One Hundred and Ninety-second Ohio volunteer infantry, serving until the following June, when he was discharged on account of physi- cal disability.
Mr. Rusler was married July 29, 1849, to a daughter of David Anthony, of Northum- berland county, Pa., by whom he had the fol- lowing children: William, David, and three others that died in infancy. Mr. Rusler died August 8, 1873, and his widow married James Yoakum. Mr. Rusler, though a farmer all his life, yet found time to interest himself in the politics of his country, and was strongly in favor of the preservation of the Union, as is evident by his willingness to serve in the army of his country. In politics he was a demo- crat, and in religion a Methodist, being a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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Hon. William Rusler, though reared upon the farm, has followed other lines of activity to a considerable extent, beside agriculture. His primary education was received in the public schools, and later he attended the high school at Lima. It was his intention to take a full college course, but the poor health of his father made it necessary for him to remain at home upon the farm. His education was, however, well supplemented by his experience as teacher in the public schools, he following that profession in Shawnee township, Allen county, and Noble township, Auglaize county, for thirteen years, while he was at the same time managing his father's farm.
His public life began in 1886, he then being appointed. government farmer on the Indian reservation at Lac Court Oreilles, and on De- cember 17, 1888, he was appointed Indian agent, having in his charge the La Point agency of Ashland county, Wis., which agency included the Chippewa reservations of Wisconsin and Minnesota. This position he filled with great accptance until 1889, when he was removed, owing to a change in the administration, from Grover Cleveland to Benjamin Harrison. Mr. Rusler then returned to Allen county, and re- sumed his labors on the farm. From this statement of facts in reference to his public career it is scarcely necessary to say that Mr. Rusler is a democrat. Not only is he a demo- crat, but he is one of the leading democrats of his county. His party has rewarded him locally by giving him several of the minor offices of the township, and, in 1893, he was elected to represent his county in the state leg- islature, which responsible position he filled so satisfactorily to his constituents that he was re- elected in November, 1895, by a handsome majority. He is now a member of the county executive committee, and his counsel is always sought by the party managers.
Fraternally Mr. Rusler is a member of Lima
lodge, No. 91, K. of P. and religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. On October 1, 1874, he was married to Miss Anna M. McClintock, daughter of Charles McClintock, by whom he has four children, viz: Tessie, Albert, Eva and Daisy. The mother of these children died in April, 1884, and Mr. Rusler married, for his second wife, Miss Sophronia Weisenmyer, daughter of George Weisenmyer. To this marriage there has been born one child, viz: Bessie. The career of Mr. Rusler has, as it will be seen, been eminently creditable to himself and to his county, and his private character is as emi- nently worthy as has been his public carcer.
ORRIS RUMBAUGH, who was onc. of the oldest and most cxpr rienced farmers of Bath township, Allen county, Ohio, was a native of the Buckeye state and was born in Greene county, county in 1817, a son of George and Elizabeth (Briton) Rumbaugh.
William Rumbaugh, great-grandfather of our subject, was born in Germany, came to America when a young man, located in New Jersey, and was there married. He served in the Revolutionary war, also had many excit- ing adventures with the Indians, and died in Greene county, Ohio, at an advanced age. His son, Jacob Rumbaugh, was born in New Jersey, moved thence to Virginia, thence to Greene county, Ohio, and in 1835, came to Allen county and settled on 200 acres of land in Bath township. His marriage took place, in Virginia, to Barbara Wikel, who bore nine children, viz: George, William, David, Philip, James, Daniel, and three girls who died in in- fancy unnamed. Jacob Rumbaugh was a whig in politics. In his later years he removed to Missouri, where his death took place, in the faith of the Methodist church.
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George Rumbaugh, eldest son of Jacob and Barbara (Wikel) Rumbaugh and the father of our subject, was born in Virginia, on the homestead, in 1790, married Miss Elizabeth Biton, and came to Ohio when twenty-five years of age, and for fifteen or sixteen years engaged in farming in Greene county. In 1817 he came to Allen county, and settled on 160 acres, the land now occupied by the county infirmary. Here he resided for nearly twenty years, when he removed to Iowa, where he ended his days a member of the Methodist church.
Morris Rumbaugh, the subject proper of this biographical notice, came to Allen county with his parents and rendered his father valu- able service in clearing up the new homestead in Bath township, and with him made his home until nearly thirty-six years of age, when he purchased a farm of 100 acres in Bath township, much of which he cleared up and upon which he made many improvements. In the spring of 1852, he sold this property and moved to Wisconsin, but in the fall of the same year returned to Allen county, Ohio, and purchased the farm of eighty acres in Bath township, on which he resided until his death, July 18, 1895.
Mr. Rumbaugh was united in matrimony, in 1835, with Miss Mary Hanson, a daughter of Benjamin Hanson of Bath township, the union resulting in the birth of seven children, in the following order: Lydia, wife of William McClellan; Milton, deceased; Eliza J., de- ceased wife of George Fungate; Henderson and Holllis, deceased; Lambert, and Cyrus, (deceased). In politics Mr. Rumbaugh was a republican, but never sought public office, yet, as a matter of duty, he felt it incumbent upon himself to fill the office of constable in Bath township, for two years. A strict member of the Methodist church, his life had been such as to show his fellow-men that he was sincere
in his faith in its teachings. A man of unim- peached honor and a man of generous impulses and broad-minded views, he had few peers in the regard of his fellow-citizens.
ANIEL RUSSELL, a well-known banker of Bluffton, and a gentleman who has been largely interested in the other business interests of the town, descends from an old Puritan family of New Hampshire, of English extraction, and was born in Licking county, Ohio, November 24, 1821.
Elijah Russell, father of our subject, was born in New Hampshire, a son of a Revolu- tionary patriot who also bore the na'ne of Daniel. Elijah was but seven years of age when he lost his father, and ever afterward cared for himself. He learned cabinet-making at Norfolk, Va., whither he had gone on a sailing vessel. While yet a single man he came to Ohio, and in Granville, Licking county, married Miss Elizabeth Wright, a native of Shenandoah county, Va., and daugh- ter of Alexander Wright, who was a biack- smith by trade and who died in Illinois, the father of nine children, viz: Alexander, John, Burgess, Alvin, Elizabeth, Catherine, Thomas, Susan and Nancy. After his marriage, Elijah Russell worked at his trade in Granville for some years and then bought and cultivated a farm near that town for some time, thence moved to Hebron, Licking county, and in later life went to Ligonier, Ind., where he died at the advanced age of eighty-seven years, in the faith of the Baptist church, of which he had for a long time been a deacon, leaving behind him, to mourn his loss, five children, viz: Daniel, Mary S., Rachael, Burgess and John.
Daniel Russell passed his boyhood on his father's farm in Licking county, about eight
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miles out of Newark, the county-seat, and, besides farming, learned cabinet-making and also gained a general knowledge of several other trades. February 11, 1844, he married Miss Fannie Townsend, who was born in. western New York, January 23, 1822, was of Puritan stock, and a daughter of Appleton and Roxey (Field) Townsend. After marriage, Mr. Russell lived on the homestead until November, 1851, when he brought his wife and two children to Allen county, making the journey in a wagon, his wife, being sick, lying on a bed. He purchased seventy acres of woodland in Jackson township, on which was a log cabin, and this land he cleared up and converted into a fine farm, and when he moved from it, eighteen years later, he left behind, instead of a rude log house in a wooded swamp, a fine frame dwelling in the midst of fields of nodding grain and fruit-bearing orchards. In 1867, Mr. Russell engaged, in Bluffton, in the general mercantile trade, in partnership with his brother-in-law, I. M. Townsend, and this connection lasted six years, and for the twenty years following Mr. Russell carried on a prosperous trade on his sole account. In 1880, before relinquishing his mercantile inter- ests entirely, he and Mr. Townsend being for three years in the lumber trade, Mr. Russell embarked in banking, in which he has also prospered, and now, besides other valuable real estate, owns the Commercial block in Bluffton, a livery barn and three residence properties
Mrs. Fanny Russell departed this life, at Bluffton. December 12, 1888, a member of the Disciples' church, and the mother of two chil- dren-Mary A. and Orin J .- and sincerely mourned by her family and a large circle of friends. In 1889 Mr. Russell chose, for his second helpmate, Mrs. Martha Cunningham, who had borne the maiden name of Church.
In politics Mr. Russell has been a life-long
republican and voted for John C. Fremont, the first republican candidate for the presidency of the United States. Although one of the founders of the republican party in Allen county, Mr. Russell has taken no real or per- sonal interest in office holding, yet has been a member of the town council of Bluffton. He is widely known throughout the county, is still an active business man, and has always taken a lively interest in the weal of the public. His integrity stands unimpeached, and, a well pre- served gentleman and an honored citizen, he is a credit to the business and society circles of Bluffton and Allen county.
ARSHALL J. SANFORD .- In con- nection with the life of Marshall J. Sanford is it manifest that, beside natural adaptability for a profession, careful and thorough preparation is essential to the highest success. Mr. Sanford is an attorney at law, with his office in the Sattertli- waite block in Lima, Ohio, and having as his associate in practice W. T. Copeland, the firm name being Sanford & Copeland.
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