USA > Ohio > Crawford County > A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio > Part 28
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"Everything a lawyer acquires in the practice of his profession he de- serves, because he has earned it. Every step that he makes is in the face of tenacious opposition. His progress is contested inch by inch. His life is one of mental conflict. The other learned professions, in the acquisition of which the student burns his midnight oil in school or college, are not so. The pastor's sermon is an er parte production. The physician prescribes to his patients in secret and without opposition : if he makes a mistake the world is none the wiser ; but when the lawyer takes a false position or makes a mis- take it is in the glare of the light. He is detected and exposed in public
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and suffers humiliation and perhaps defeat. Therefore, I repeat, that the lawyer who succeeds in the face of incessant and unyielding opposition de- serves all he has gained. In conclusion, my friends, I propose to you this sentiment : There is no more exalted human character than the man of our profession who has rounded up a life of industry as an honest and successful lawyer."
JOHN WESLEY KIBLER.
Throughout the years of his business career John Wesley Kibler has resided in New Washington and has won success by his untiring labor, his ambition, his energy and well directed efforts and is to-day the possessor of a handsome competence and a beautiful home. His name is the synonym for honorable dealings in trade circles and he enjoys an unassailable reputa- tion by reason of his fidelity to the strictest ethics which govern commercial life.
Mr. Kibler was born in New Washington, June 28, 1859, and is a son of Matthias and Frederica ( Pfahler) Kibler, whose life history is given at length in connection with the sketch of Samuel Jefferson Kibler, on another page of this work. No event of special importance occurred to vary the routine of the life of our subject in his boyhood, play, work and study oc- cupied his attention. He attended the common schools of the town and from early youth assisted in the work of the farm and the tan yard. At the age of eighteen years he entered the business house then owned by his brother and mother, who were proprietors of the business which his father had es- tablished. Scon after attaining his majority he purchased his mother's in- terest in the enterprise and the firm name was changed to Kibler Brothers, under which title operations have been since carried on. During the inter- vening years the business has increased to one of mammoth proportions, the partners being now the owners of one of the largest hide houses in the coun- try. During the first ten years of his connection with the firm Mr. Kibler was upon the road as traveling representative, but since that time he has largely remained in the house in control of some of the important branches of the concern.
Our subject exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Democratic party and has served as corporation clerk for six years. He takes a deep interest in the growth and success of his party and at various times has been a delegate to county and state conventions.
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He is likewise a member of the Lutheran church, is a man of pleasing ad- dress, courteous in manner, unflinching principle and unquestioned integrity and yet withal having that practical common sense, which never runs to extremes and it is no wonder that wherever he goes he wins friends. His life has been well spent and his honorable and useful career is worthy of emula- tion.
REV. JOHN P. KUNNERT.
Devoting his life to the spread of the Gospel as a priest of the Catholic church, Rev. John P. Kunnert is now in charge of the congregation in New Washington. He was born in Mandercagne, in the grand duchy of Lux- embourg, on the 27th of October, 1856, his parents being Henry and Mag- dalen (Scheuerens ) Kunnert. The father was born in 1823, in the same house in which occurred the birth of our subject, the property having de- scended through the eldest sons of the family from generation to generation. Through a long period representatives of the name have been farmers and breeders of fine stock, and for a number of years the father received more premiums at fairs for thoroughbred horses and cattle than any other one man. He brought his stock up to a very high standard of perfection and his labors were of benefit to the locality in which he resided, for he greatly improved the grade of stock raised and therefore increased its market value, On numerous occasions he was chosen to act as judge at stock shows. His (leath occurred August 21, 1900. His wife, who also was born in the village where his birth occurred, first opened her eyes to the light of day in 1825 and represented one of the old families of farming people in that locality. She is still living and is also an excellent judge of horses. Since her husband's death she has managed the business, and her opinion is considered authority on stock. Mr. and Mrs. Kunnert were the parents of seven children, of whom six are living, namely: Margaret, now the wife of Jacob Keifer; Nicholas: Mary A .; John N., a railroad contractor in the employ of the Big Four Company at Cleveland, Ohio: Peter; and John P., of this review.
In taking up the personal history of Father Kunnert we note that he remained with his parents until his fifteenth year, when, in 1871, he entered the government commercial college at Ettelbrick, Luxembourg, where he was graduated in the spring of 1874. Subsequently he went to Belgium and entered the Petit Seminary, an ecclesiastical college at Bostogne, Belgium, where he remained for five years. On the expiration of that period he went
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to France and for two and a half years was a student at Luxeuil les Bains, be- ing in the Petit Seminary in the province of Haute Saone: from that place he returned to Belgium Seminary and studied philosophy, continuing in that institution for a year and completing his course there in the fall of 1882.
Father Kunnert then came to America and made his way to Wyandot county, Ohio, to visit some relatives, who were living in the town of Kirby. After some months there passed he went to Cleveland and entered St. Mary's Theological Seminary, where he continued until the spring of 1886. A week after he left the institution he went to Upper Sandusky and said his first mass. He was soon afterward given charge of the Catholic church in Harrisburg, Stark county, and also had charge of a mission, known as Maximo Mission, remaining there until December, 1888, when he was transferred to St. Peter's church in Cleveland, where he remained fifteen months. In the spring of 1890 he returned to his first charge in Stark county, acting as pastor at that place until September, 1899, when he was called to New Washington. In each church he has been handicapped by heavy debts, but these he has cleared away and on leaving the churches has left money in the treasury. He is most earnest and untiring in his labors in behalf of his people and ministers to their spiritual needs with marked devotion. In connection with the church at New Washington he superintends the Honey Creek Mission at Auburn.
Father Kunnert has inherited his father's love for a good horse and now has a mare in his stables whose sire was a brother of Star Pointer. In manner Rev. Kunnert is genial, kindly and courteous and wins friends where- ever he goes, and at the same time he fully sustains the dignity of his high. and holy office.
WILLIAM HAYS.
One of the prominent and leading citizens of Galion, Ohio, who passed away during the closing decade of the last century was William Hays, who was born in Connecticut in 1820 and died at Galion in 1896.
Mr. Hays' early boyhood was spent in hard work, from which he could spare little time to acquire an education. His only text-books were the spelling book and that revered book, the Bible, but he read widely and dili- gently and while yet a very young man had the reputation of being ex- ceptionally well informed, and his practical knowledge of business affairs en- abled him, when he came to Ohio, to take a lead in matters of finance and to advise his associates ably concerning important commercial interests.
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When Mr. Hays was about twenty-six years of age he met Mrs. Susan Black, formerly Miss Seager, of Syracuse, New York, who became his wife. Soon after his marriage he came to Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, where he lived for a time. From Wooster he removed to Ashland county, Ohio, where he remained until 1857, and after living in Morrow county, Ohio, two years, took up his rsidence at Galion, in 1859, where during the remainder of his life he was prominently identified with leading business interests of different kinds. He was one of the original incorporators of the First National Bank of Galion, Ohio, established in 1864, with which important financial institu- tion he was connected for twenty-two years. Afterward he became identified with the management of the Galion National Bank, with which he was asso- ciated until his death.
Mr. Hays has often been referred to as "one of the bright stars that the New England states have given to the financial and monetary interests of the state." His popularity and his position as a useful and prominent mem- ber of society were well attested in a series of resolutions that were adopted by the joint meeting of the Bankers' Association, of which Hon. J. W. Coulter was chairman, in which a glowing tribute was paid to Mr. Hays, not only as a financier, but as a patriotic, public-spirited man who had always had at heart the best interests of Galion.
GEORGE T. KERR.
This well known citizen of Crawford county is one of the largest sheep- raisers in Ohio and has been largely instrumental in improving the grade of stock raised in the state. His efforts have therefore been of public benefit, for the improvement of stock adds to its market value, and the wealth of the agricultural class is thereby augmented. The rich pasture lands of this por- tion of Ohio provide excellent opportunities to the sheep-raiser, and this industry has become an important one in the commercial interests of the state. Mr. Kerr is one of its leading representatives,-a progressive, ener- getic business man, capably controlling extensive interests which have made him widely known.
Mr. Kerr is a son of James and Nancy ( Towers) Kerr and was born on the home farm in Whetstone township. December 13, 1847. He spent his youth there and pursued his education in the country schools. In 1869, after attaining his majority, he married Lydia Echleberry, a native of Penn- sylvania and for two years thereafter engaged in agricultural pursuits in
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Whetstone township. He then took up his residence in Bucyrus township where he now resides. Here he owns four hundred and thirty acres of fine farming land, and with the exception of about forty acres the entire amount is under cultivation and the improvements are most modern. There is a fine frame house built in attractive design and nicely furnished : a good barn, substantial outbuildings and the latest improved machinery for facilitating the work of the farm. He also owns two hundred acres of land in Marion county. He is perhaps the largest sheep-raiser of the county, having about twelve hundred head. In addition he raises other kinds of stock and is also an extensive farmer.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Kerr has been blessed with eight children, namely : Cloyd, who died at the age of seventeen years: Burtie, at home; James, who died at the age of eight years ; Elnora, wife of Charles Hoover, a farmer of Bucyrus township: Bevie May, Clementine, Ava and Walter J. The family is one of prominence in the community, and the members of the household have many warm friends. In his political views Mr. Kerr is a Republican. He has spent his entire life in this county and that many who have known him from boyhood are numbered among his warmest friends is unmistakable evidence of the upright life which he has led. He is well known in business circles for his promptness, trustworthiness and energy and thus he maintains a foremost position among the representative agriculturists of the state.
JOSEPH SCHILL.
The industrial interests of Crestline are well represented by this gentle- man, who is now the president and treasurer of Schill Brothers Company. He is a wide-awake, progressive and enterprising business man, whose close application, perseverance and resolute will have enabled him to advance steadily to a leading position among the most prominent business men of Crawford county. He was born in Sharon township, Richland county, Ohio, December 4, 1862. His father, George Schill, is a native of Germany, and in 1833 came to the United States, locating upon a farm in Richland county, Ohio, where he remained until 1892, when he came to Crawford county. For a number of years he engaged in the operation of a sawmill. In early life he became a stationary engineer and is now acting in that capacity in the factory owned and controlled by his sons.
Joseph Schill was the second child and came to Crawford county in 1875,
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at the age of thirteen years, and entered upon his business career as an em- ploye in the store of L. Schick, a grocer. He was employed as a salesman for some time, but at length embarked in business on his own account, in connection with his brother, as a dealer in hardware. They equipped their store with a large and well selected stock of goods and carried on a successful business until 1892, when they organized the Schill Brothers Furnace & Range Company, which was organized in 1900, with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, Joseph Schill being president and treasurer. This is one of the leading industrial concerns of Crestline, employing about eighty men throughout the entire year. They began operations on a small scale, but their sales have continually increased and in the present year have almost doubled those of the year just passed. Their products are shipped to nearly every state in the Union, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast and from the great lakes to the gulf of Mexico. The success of the business is largely due to the capable management and keen sagacity of Joseph Schill. Four men are continually employed on the road to introduce and sell their goods to the merchants, and they also have distributing points at Minneapolis, Minne- sota : Denver, Colorado; and St. Louis, Missouri; Topeka and Lawrence, Kansas; and other points.
Mr. Schill was united in marriage, in August, 1891, to Miss Maggie Koendere, a native of Cleveland, Ohio.
OLIVER J. KELLER.
Prominent in Liberty township is Oliver J. Keller, a progressive and rep- resentative business citizen of Crawford county and a member of the mer- cantile firm of O. & C. Keller, of Sulphur Springs. Mr. Keller was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, on July 28, 1843, and was a son of Joseph and Lovina ( Kline ) Keller, the former of whom was born in North- ampton county, Pennsylvania, about 1823, and was a son of Jacob and Eliza- beth ( Shook) Keller, both also natives of Northampton county. In the spring of 1857 Jacob Keller, the grandfather of our subject, came to Craw- ford county and bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Sandusky township, and also one of eighty acres in Liberty township, making his home on the first tract, with his son, Joseph, residing there several years, and then removed to a property which he purchased in the village of Sulphur Springs, and upon which he resided until his death.
Joseph Keller, the father of our subject, came to Crawford county in
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1857 with his father, and after some years of residence on the Sandusky township farm, purchased it and continued to live there until 1876, when he rented it to his son, Josiah, since deceased, and removed to Sulphur Springs, where he lived until his death, in 1891. In politics he was a Democrat in his earlier years, but the issues of the Civil war caused him to change and ever after he supported the Republican party. Through the greater part of his life he was an active member of the Reformed church, filling many of its offices, and was one of the most worthy citizens of the community.
The mother of our subject was born in Pennsylvania, about 1825, and was a daughter of Jacob Kline, also a native of Pennsylvania, of German origin, who was one of the prominent farmers of Northampton county, where he passed his whole life. The death of the mother was in July, 1899. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Keller numbered eleven, the four survivors being: Oliver, of this sketch; Jeremiah, a painter residing in Easton, Penn- sylvania; Rev. Reuben, a Reformed minister residing in White Pigeon, Mich- igan ; and Albert D., a professor in Heidelberg University at Tiffin, Ohio.
Oliver J. Keller grew up in a moral and happy home. His education was pursued in the common schools. At the breaking out of the Civil war he offered his services to his country, enlisting on August 15, 1861, in Com- pany C, Forty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, and hence took part in these never-to-be- forgotten battles: Shiloh, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Nashville and Franklin, and went through the Atlanta campaign,-in fact took part in almost all of the important operations of that brave and gallant part of the Union army. At the battle of Stone River he was taken prisoner, on December 31, 1862, and was incarcerated in Castle Thunder and Libby prison for some thirty days. For the following five months he was on parole. his exchange taking place some time in May, when he returned to his com- mand, finally receiving his discharge at Victoria, Texas, in the latter part of November, 1865, but did not reach home until on January 1, 1866.
After his return from the army Mr. Keller accepted a position as clerk in the mercantile establishment of A. Fry & Company, of Sulphur Springs, and remained in this capacity for two years, at the end of which period he pur- chased an interest in the business of J. H. Biddle & Company, of this place. Some years later the firm was merged into the firm of Scott & Keller, but sev- eral years afterward Mr. Keller sold his interest to his partner, Mr. A. J. Scott, and shortly after that purchased an interest in the business of Kloppenstein & Company. Some time later the interest of Mr. Kloppenstein was bought
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by C. A. Keller, who became a partner of our subject, and since that time the fırın has been O. & C. Keller. During the intervening years the industry and ability of these partners have resulted in the building up of an immense trade, and they are justly considered important factors in the mercantile business in Crawford county.
Mr. Keller is a stanch Republican, and has long been an active member of the Reformed church, holding many of the offices in it and supporting it liberally. Socially he is connected with the G. A. R. Mr. Keller is unmar- ried, but takes a prominent position in the social as well as business life of Sulphur Springs.
FRED NEWMAN.
Fred Newman, an attorney at law and justice of the peace of Crestline, is one who has attained a prominent and enviable position as a leading. busi- ness man of Crestline entirely through his own efforts. Without any extraor- dinary family or pecuniary advantages to aid him he has successfully coped with adverse fate and by determined purpose has worked his way steadily upward. He was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, January 21, 1839, and there remained until thirteen years of age, during which time he pursued his education in the schools of his native country. In 1852 he started for Amer- ica, coming alone as a passenger on the sailing vessel, which was fifty-four days upon the water. While on the passage he engaged in cooking and from the wages which he received he managed to save twenty-five dollars, which was the amount of capital which he possessed when he arrived at Baltimore, Maryland. From that city he made his way to Laurel Factory, where he engaged in clerking in a store for a short time. after which he went to An- napolis, Maryland, where he occupied a clerkship in a general mercantile establishment.
In 1854 Mr. Newman arrived in Crestline, after having spent a few months in Leesville. Ohio. He was employed as a salesman in a store belong- ing to his uncle. John Newman, who was one of the pioneers of the county, and he remained in his service until 1866. He desired, however, to enter professional life, and when about nineteen years of age, he took up the study of law, which he continued as occasion offered until he pas prepared for ad- mission to the bar. He was licensed to practice at Mount Gilead, Ohio, in 1868, and immediately afterward opened his office in Crestline, where he has since remained. The profession of law is one in which attainment must de-
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pend upon individual merit ; it cannot come from the aid of birth or influen- tial friends. The lawyer must prepare, plead and win his first case and con- tinue to advance through merit and ability resulting from a comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence and a correct application of the law to the points of the case in litigation. Mr. Newman is always pains- taking and careful in his preparation of the case and before the court and jury he is a logical reasoner, basing his arguments on facts with clearness and force. For a number of years he was city solicitor of Crestline and in 1895 was elected justice of the peace, a position which he yet holds. Success has attended his efforts and in addition to the large practice which he retains he is the owner of a fine business block, the rental from which adds materially to his income.
In 1868 Mr. Newman was united in marriage to Miss Emma T. Smith, a native of Wayne county, Ohio, and unto them have been born three daugh- ters and one son: Florence, now the wife of William Moss, a resident of Utah: Eleanora, who resides in Jacksonville, Florida, and is the widow of Henry E. Bosworth, who was killed at Bristol, Tennessee, in July. 1897 ; Edna, a resident of New York city; and Earl, who is studying law with his father. Mr. Newman is a member of the Presbyterian church at Crestline and his family attend its services. Since 1862 he has been an exceptionally valuable member of the Masonic fraternity and for about the same time he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he has been secretary for a number of years. He takes an active interest in promot- ing the work of these organizations and is a true follower of their benevolent teachings. He gives his support to the Democracy and is unswerving in his allegiance to the principles of the party.
A self-educated and self-made man the work that he has accomplished in life is certainly creditable. He is public-spirited in an eminent degree : na- tional progress and local advancement are both causes dear to the heart of this adopted and thoroughly loyal son of the Republic. His devotion to the country is above question, and no native son of America is more true to her institutions or more faithful to his duties of citizenship.
PHILIP KELLER.
Joseph Keller, ancestor of the Keller family of America, was one of one hundred and eighty passengers, who came to this country in the fall of 1737 from Rotterdam, Holland. in the ship "William," landing October 31.
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His father, who had died when the boy was young, had been a Roman Catholic: his mother was a Protestant. Joseph was nineteen years old and was from Zweibruecken. Bavaria, but the family is believed to have originated in Switzerland. In the fourteenth century, when the "black death" raged especially in the Alps, many people fled into the Rhine countries, and among them the Keller family. Joseph Keller, the emigrant, married and had seven sons. all of whom except one. Christian, were given scriptural names. Fol- lowing is a translation of a record in German that was made by Joseph Keller and which is interesting not alone because it is a part of the history of his family, but because it suggests an always interesting vicissitude of pioneer life: "My beloved housewife, Maria ( Engler ) Keller, was led captive by the Indians. September 15, 1757, my son Christian was killed, and my sons Joseph and John Jacob taken captive. My wife returned October 20, 1760, but of my children I have not heard." Christian Keller, who was murdered and scalped by the savages, was fourteen years and five days old. The youngest son, a babe of five months and twenty-four days, was left unharmed in his cradle. Three sons and his only daughter remained to Mr. Keller. His neighbors sympathized with him, and in testimony of the regard in which they held him, built a block house as a means of defense to him and his remaining family.
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