USA > Ohio > Crawford County > A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio > Part 16
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and his sons in the cranberry marshes, upon their arrival in Ohio, had been saved, and things were not so desperate as they were with some pioneers. Just as he seemed to be recovering from his accident, however, paralysis set in and he was alive but a short time afterward, expiring suddenly.
This was a terrible blow to the widow with her six children, two of whom had come amid the stress of the years after the family arrived in Ohio. John and Daniel, our subject, who was but an infant at this time, having been born in Liberty township, on April 10, 1840, were too small to be of any assistance at this time, but the older children went sturdily to work, and. assisted by the mother, commenced to clear the land, and finally succeeded in a most admirable manner. Later the mother married a neighbor, John Heckenlively, but spent her last years with her son David. She was a re- markable woman, a true type of the pioneer. At the advanced age of ninety she would walk several miles to take part in the services of the Lutheran church, of which she was a devoted member, and walk home again, without apparent fatigue. She would relate that in early pioneer days the congrega- tion would walk to church barefoot, in flax shirts and homespun dresses.
Daniel Pfleiderer was but nine months old when his father died, but re- mained with his mother until he was twelve, and then, as she had married again, he started out to make his own way in the world. His education was necessarily limited. He worked at farm work, as this was all he knew any- thing about, and had saved enough by the time he was twenty-one to pur- chase a team and wagon and then he began farming, on shares, on the old home place for his mother. In 1862 he was married to Miss Mary Kafer, the daughter of Jolin Kafer, who came to Crawford county, Ohio, at an early day, from Germany and became one of the prosperous farmers of Liberty town- ship.
After his marriage Daniel Pfleiderer was employed on the home farm for one year, but in 1863 he purchased sixty acres of land in section 4 and removed to his new home. Three years later he sold this and purchased eighty acres in Chatfield township, and there he resided until 1873, when he ex- changd this farm for one hundred acres of his present home farm, where he has ever since remained. During the subsequent years he has added to his land, until he now owns two hundred and thirty acres of the rich and productive soil of Crawford county. Mr. Pfleiderer comes of good stock and in no way could he have proved this more than in the success which he has made of his business life.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pfleiderer are: Eliza, the wife of
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James Givens, of Mercer county, Ohio; Lizzie, deceased; Tillie, the wife of Charles Hillboat, of Mercer county; John, a butcher of North Robinson, this county ; Rosa, at home : Emma, the wife of William Rhine, of Bucyrus ; Laura, at home; Edward, on a portion of the home farm; and James and Jane, at home.
Although Mr. Pfleiderer has been a life-long Democrat and somewhat prominent in township affairs, he has never sought office, but has cheerfully and efficiently served on the school board for several years. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Lutheran church and have carefully reared their children in the same faith. The family is one which is held in high es- teem in Crawford county.
ABRAHAM FROST.
Among the prominent, successful and highly esteemed farmers of Holmes township, Crawford county, Ohio, is Abraham Frost, who was born in North- ampton county, Pennsylvania, on March 18. 1825, a son of George and Christina ( Kindt) Frost, and was one of a family of eleven children, four of whom survive: Uriah, who resides in this township; Abraham; Isaac, who resides in Osceola ; and Julia A., who is the wife of Mr. Hines, of Nebraska.
George Frost was born in the state of New Jersey and early in life dis- played a talent for working in wood. He learned the trade of wagon-making and was constantly employed in developing a mechanical genius. All of his furniture was made by his own hands, and he finally constructed a carding- machine, which he used for twenty years. After his marriage he removed to Northampton county, Pennsylvania, where he was given, free of charge, water power for his carding-machine, if he would build and operate a carding-mill, and bought a small tract of land near the mill, from which came his power, con- sisting of some twenty acres ; but later he sold this land and purchased a desir- able farm, of eighty acres, although he was obliged to hire labor to work it until his sons grew old enough to take charge of it.
In the spring of 1840, Mr. Frost came to Wayne county, where he remained for two years, farming on rented land, and then removed to Liberty township. Crawford county, where he was engaged in farming until the outbreak of the Civil war. So interested was Mr. Frost in the stirring events of the time that he insisted upon going to town to obtain news from the seat of war for himself, although at this time he was in his seventy-fourth year. that he became the victim of a fast train on the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne &
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Chicago Railroad and was instantly killed. Early in life Mr. Frost was a Democrat, casting his vote for Andrew Jackson, but later his adherence to that party weakened and before his death he had become an ardent Republican. His life was one of morality, and although he never was formally connected with any religious organization he contributed freely and was a constant at- tendant upon religious services.
The mother of our subject was born in Northampton county, Pennsyl- vania, also, about 1798, and died in her forty-fourth year. She was the daughter of Martin and Elizabeth Kindt, both of whom passed their whole lives in Pennsylvania. Both parents are remembered with affection and respect, and their counsels and care had much to do in the formation of the character of their children, all of the survivors of the large family being es- teemed and respected in their several neighborhoods.
Abraham Frost grew up under his father's care, working on the farm and assisting in other ways, attending school and growing to manhood, strong, moral and energetic, a son of whom his parents were pardonably proud. At the age of twenty-one he began his personal business career, in Bucyrus, working at a gristmill. After his first marriage he rented a house one and one-half miles west of Bucyrus and worked industriously, sometimes at chopping wood and sometimes at other labor which he found to do, managing to save enough money to purchase eighty acres in Todd township, and later added to this twenty-seven acres, making a nice farm of one hundred and seven acres, but he never resided upon this place and later disposed of it, advantageously, and bought his present farm, of one hundred and fifty acres, having previously re- sided upon it after his second marriage. In 1872 Mr. Frost erected his pres- ent handsome brick residence, which is one of the best in the county.
In 1850. Mr. Frost was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Hollinger, and to this marriage one child was born, deceased; and Mrs. Frost, on account of giving birth to this child, died some six days later, on July 3. 1851. The second marriage of Mr. Frost was in 1852, to Miss Esther H. McCollough, a native of Crawford county, who was born upon the farm which is now the family home. The father of Mrs. Frost, William McCollough, was a pio- neer of 1828, and entered the land at that time. Ten children were born to this union, the eight survivors being: Nancy, the wife of D. W. Myers, of this township: Laura, the wife of George Studer, of Fresno county, California ; Julia, the widow of F. E. Brester, of Dunkirk, Ohio; Jay, of Bucyrus town- ship: Ira, of Holmes township ; Dilla, the wife of Frank V. Steen, of Holmes township; Willis, the farmer on the home place; and Ida, the wife of George
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Goodwin, of Holmes township. The death of Mrs. Frost was in 1873. In 1877 Mr. Frost was married to Mrs. Jerry Orthwein, formerly Miss Christina Bahler, a native of Germany, who came to America, with a brother, when she was but twelve years of age. She died September 9, 1888. One son, Frank, has been born of this marriage, and he resides at home.
MIr. Frost is known to be a stanch Republican, and he was first a "Know Nothing," and has ever taken an intelligent interest in public affairs. For many years he has been a leading member of the Presbyterian church and one of its liberal supporters. During an extended period Mr. Frost has been frater- nally connected with the I. O. O. F., and has been an active and interested inember, but in late years he has not felt disposed to attend the night meet- ings. He is also connected with Bucyrus Grange, No. 507, P. of H., and is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of Holmes township.
FRANK E. LIEBICH.
Frank E. Liebich, assistant postmaster of Bucyrus, was born March 3, 1859, in the city which is now his home, and during the greater part of his life has been identified with its business and public interests. His grandfather, Franz Otto Liebich, was a native of Germany and died when about fifty-two years of age, while his wife, Mrs. Amelia Liebich, who was also a native of the same country, passed away in 1883. Their son. Leo Otto Liebich, the father of our subject, was born in Gera, Germany, January 29, 1830, and in 1857 emigrated to the new world, settling at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he resided for a few months and then came to Bucyrus. Here he entered the employ of a Mr. Beam, in the printing office of the Democrat, and a year later he entered into partnership with a Mr. Koch, and purchased the office and paper, conduct- ing business under the name of Koch & Liebich. They continued to publish the paper for some years and met with success in the undertaking. Mr. Lie- bich was married in 1858, to Teresa Hoffman, who was a daughter of Andrew and Annie Hoffman. The father of our subject died February 22, 1884.
In his boyhood days Frank E. Liebich pursued his education in the public schools of Bucyrus, but at an early age put aside his text-books and accepted a position in a woolen mill. On leaving that service he went into a printing office, where he was engaged in setting type. Six years were passed in such employ- ments, and from 1878 until 1881 he followed the carpenter's trade. From 1881 until 1883 he was a member of the firm of Broemel & Liebich, proprietors of woolen mills, in which they engaged in the manufacture of blankets,
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woolens, yarns and also did custom work for farmers. The firm continued in existence for about two years, on the expiration of which period Mr. Liebich sold his interest to his partner and through the succeeding year resided in Cleveland, where he was employed as a hard-wood finisher. In 1884 he returned to Bucyrus and entered the service of the firm of Roehr & Sons, manufacturers of banking and church furniture. During President Cleve- land's administration Mr. Liebich was appointed assistant postmaster of Bucyrus under Shannon Clement, and served four years, after which he returned to his old employers, the firm of Rohr & Sons, who at that time were giving work to about one hundred men, and during his second period of service for that firm he was selected among others of their employes to go to Chicago and put in place a large amount of work made by the firm for exhibitors at the World's Columbia Exposition. During President Cleve- land's second administration he was again appointed assistant postmaster, under A. M. Ensminger, and has occupied the same position under Postmaster J. E. Hall. In March, 1901, he was chosen by the Bucyrus city board of education a member thereof, to fill the vacancy which was occasioned by the resignation of J. F. Angel, and at the general election on April Ist, he was elected a member of the board.
On Christmas day of 1884, in Bucyrus, Mr. Liebich was united in mar- riage to Miss Louise Hertzer, a daughter of Theodore and Louise Hert- zer. Unto them have been born four children, namely: Arthur Theodore, who was born March 17. 1886; Richard Otto, born October 18, 1888; Alma Marie, born August 6, 1892 ; and Frank August, born August 18, 1899. Mr. Liebich is a consistent member of the German Lutheran church and also be- longs to the Deutsche Gesellschaft, a very strong German organization. He has a wide acquaintance in Bucyrus, and the strong elements in his character are such as to win for him uniform respect.
MRS. EMMA J. DALZELL.
A history of the educational interests of Bucyrus would be incomplete without mention of Mrs. Emma J. Dalzell, a most successful teacher who oc- cupied a position in the second-grade primary for years. She has been a representative of the educational work of Bucyrus since 1874, having taught continuously from that time, with the exception of a period of three months, until June, 1901, when she resigned her position in the city schools.
She is a native of Huron county, Ohio, and in 1873 came to Bucyrus with
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her parents, Samuel and Rebecca ( Bergert) Frisbie. Mrs. Dalzell was very young at the time of her father's death and she then went to live with an aunt, Mrs. Mary Moffit, who now resides with her, and who is a most interesting old lady. Mrs. Dalzell pursued her education in the schools of Bucyrus and at the age of fourteen began teaching at Wingert Corners, in Crawford coun- ty, where she taught for several terms.
She was married in this county to William Dalzell, a native of Columbus, Ohio, who accompanied his parents on their removal to Crawford county dur- ing his early childhood, the family locating in Chatfield township, where he was reared to manhood. At the time of the Civil war he responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting in 1861 as a member of the Fifty-seventh Ohio Infantry, with which he served throughout the war, the regiment being attached to the Army of the Tennessee. He was in all of the battles with that corps and was ever found at his post of duty as a loyal defender of the stars and stripes and the cause it represented. The rigors and hardships of the war, however, undermined his health, which he never fully recovered and his army experience was the ultimate cause of his death, which occurred in 1871, when he was thirty years of age. He had been engaged in business in Bucy- rus for a short time. His parents were John and Sallie ( Raymond) Dalzell. Unto Mr. and Mrs. William Dalzell were born two daughters, Eva and Lottie, the former is a graduate of the high school of Bucyrus and is now teaching in the grammar school, No. 8, of this city, while the latter is the wife of William Redman, of Canton, Ohio.
In 1874, after her husband's death, Mrs. Dalzell accepted a position in the city schools of Bucyrus, holding the same until she resigned in June, 1901. She is a very successful educator, having the ability to impress strongly and forcibly upon the young minds the principles of knowledge with which each child must become acquainted as a preparation for life's work. She holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and is a woman of high char- acter whose many excellent qualities of heart and mind have won her the high regard and esteem of all with whom she has come in contact.
MICHAEL AUCK.
Michael Auck. a well known resident of Bucyrus, is a son of Chris- topher Auck, a native of Germany, born in Wurtemberg January 31, 1813. The name was originally spelled Auch. The father obtained a fair educa- tion in his native land, and at an early age was apprenticed to learn the
Michael Auch
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tailor's trade. In the year 1831 he emigrated to the United States, locating in Pennsylvania, where, in 1841, he was united in marriage to Rachel Wag- ner. By this union three children were born, the living being Michael and Elizabeth, while Mary is now deceased. In the year 1848 the father removed from Pennsylvania to Crawford county, Ohio, and purchased a farm in Whetstone township. His first wife died on the 2d of September, 1875, and on the 7th of September of the following year he was united in mar- riage to Catherine Flick, who was born in 1818, and since the demise of her husband has made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Kunkle, of Belle- fontaine, Ohio, with whom she is now living, in her eighty-fourth year. Christopher Auck was long a respected and honored citizen of Crawford county. He never sought or desired office, but undoubtedly could have enjoyed political preferment had he so desired. He was a reliable citizen, a faithful friend and considerate neighbor, and wherever known was held in high esteem.
Michael Auck, whose name forms the caption of this review, was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, July 23, 1842, and acquired a good com- mon-school education. On attaining his majority he started out in life on his own account, and on the 20th of September. 1866, he wedded Miss Caro- line Ehiman, who was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, February 9, 1845. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Auck have been born six children : Mary J., who became the wife of D. S. Schieber, of Bucyrus, in IS87 ; John C., who is living on the old homestead in Whetstone township, and who in 1892 married Ora Andrews, a daughter of F. L. Andrews, of Liberty township : William H ... wilo in 1898 wedded Theressa Seifert, of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, and was for one year an assistant in the office of county treasurer, his father being his superior, after which the position of assistant cashier in the Sec- ond National Bank was tendered him and accepted; Lucy E., who was mar- ried, in 1890, to J. E. Myers, of Liberty township: Priscilla S., who, in October. 1900, became the wife of H. G. Hoover. of Bucyrus ; and Samuel E., who was married, in December. 1900, to Lulu Viola Knoedler. He suc- ceeded his brother William in the position of deputy treasurer, and retained the office under the successor of his father, being now the bookkeeper for the American Clay-Working Machinery Company.
Michael Auck was elected township treasurer of Whetstone township in 1880, and continued to serve in that position for seven years. On his retirement he became actively identified with business life, and has been connected with several mercantile ventures and industrial pursuits. He has
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devoted some time to the operation of his farm, and at intervals has engaged in the administration of estates, often acting as guardian and trustee. In all of these the character of the man has been attested by his honesty and integrity in the discharge of his duties. Now, when almost sixty years of age, Mr. Auck is in the vigor and prime of an active business life, and frequently lends his aid for the transaction of business affairs in the office of county treasurer. In the year 1895 he became a candidate for that posi- tion and was elected, and on the 7th of September, 1896, was installed in that office. which he held for two consecutive terms. Upon his retirement, in 1900, his friends and associates presented him with a beautiful gold- headed cane, appropriately inscribed, as a testimonial of respect for him and in appreciation of the honesty and fidelity with which he had discharged the duties committed to his keeping. As the result of thirty years of continued and well directed effort in business affairs he is now the possessor of a com- fortable competence, a handsome residence in Bucyrus, together with a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Liberty township and another of two hundred and four acres in Whetstone township, Crawford county. His land is very valuable and productive and therefore brings to him a good income. In his political views he has always been a Democrat of the Jef- fersonian type, and in his religious belief is connected with the German Reformed church.
ARTHUR M. DUNCAN, M. D.
In no department of professional life has such rapid advancement been made in the last quarter of a century as in the medical. Investigation has been carried forward and remarkable discoveries made so that the methods in vogue and the practices followed twenty-five years ago are hardly known to-day in the light of modern science and discovery. It is this which renders the work of the medical fraternity so effective and makes its work a boon to humanity. One of the most learned and capable physicians in Crawford county is Dr. Dun- can, of Bucyrus, who has attained a position of distinction in connection with his chosen life work and has thus set at naught the old proverb that a prophet is never without honor save in his own country, for the Doctor is a native of Crawford county and his fellow citizens have not been slow in acknowledging his worth and professional skill.
He was born in Texas township, January IS, 1850, and traces his an- cestry back to the colonial epoch in the history of the country, and thence back
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to Scotland, to a period antedating the religious wars of the seventeenth cen- tury. The best information attainable seems to establish beyond reasonable doubt the fact that three Duncan brothers, coming from Scotland about 1722, settled in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and became the progenitors of the family in America. They were descendants of the Rev. William Duncan, a martyr in the Covenanter persecution in Scotland. Andrew Duncan, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, March 12, 1750, and died in 1828, in York county, that state. Under George III, he was appointed justice of the peace. When the colonies had achieved their independence from the British crown he was reappointed by the federal government and served in that capacity for more than half a century. He was of the Presbyterian church faith, and from 1770 to the time of his death he served as an elder of the Round Hill Presbyterian church, in York county, Pennsylvania.
Washington Duncan, the father of the Doctor, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1810, and when a young man left his native state, removing to Crawford county in 1833, with his mother and sister Ann Elizabeth, who afterward became the wife of Arthur Andrews, a prominent pioneer and citizen of Crawford county. They took up land from the government, the deed to their claim being signed by Andrew Jackson, and for many years Mr. Duncan followed agricultural pursuits in Crawford county. He married Eliza Gibson, a daughter of John Gibson and a sister of the late General Will- iam H. Gibson, of Tiffin, Ohio. Her father was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1782, and in 1821 removed to Seneca county, Ohio, his death occurring in that county, near Melmore, in 1854. His wife bore the maiden name of Jeanette Coe and was a daughter of Moses Coe. a soldier of the Revolutionary war and a descendant of Robert Coe, who was born in Suffolk, England, about the year 1590. With his family he sailed from Ipswich, England, in 1634, and finally settled in Jamaica, New York, so that the maternal ancestry of the Doctor can be traced back to a period equally re- mote with that of the paternal. His father died in Bucyrus, in 1888, and the mother in 1890.
Arthur McDowell Duncan displays many of the sterling characteristics of his Scotch and English ancestry. He acquired his preliminary education in the common schools of the county and afterward attended normal schools in Republic and Fostoria. When he had completed his literary education he matriculated in the Columbus Medical College, where he remained as a student
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for two years, after which he was graduated at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, of New York city, in the class of 1878. Having prepared for practice he opened an office in Albion, Michigan, where he remained for about two years and then spent two years in practice in the mining regions of Colorado. In 1885 he located in Bucyrus, where he has since remained and in the per- formance of his professional duties he has displayed marked ability and a com- prehensive knowledge of the principles of the medical science. He has been a prominent and active member of local, state and national medical societies, and has thereby broadened his knowledge and at the same time has added to the fund of information there disseminated, also from his own personal experi- ence, by contributing many valuable papers read before medical societies and published in medical journals. His advancement has been continuous through- out the years of his practice, for he has continued his studies at home as well as in college. He took a post-graduate course in the Polyclinic in New York city in 1886, and in 1892 spent some time in visiting the hospitals of Great Britain, giving special attention to the diseases of the eye, ear and throat. He has served as secretary and president of the Crawford County Medical Society, and president of the North-Central Ohio Medical Society, has filled several minor positions in other medical societies and has served on the board of pension examiners.
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