USA > Ohio > Crawford County > A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
JACOB D. FIRSTENBERGER.
Throughout the greater part of his life Jacob D. Firstenberger was a resi- dent of Galion and was long an active and honorable factor in the business interests of the city. His death occurred on the 4th of December, 1900, and the community thereby lost a valued resident, whom they had learned to re- spect and honor for his upright career and fidelity to principle. He was born in this city in 1851, and was a son of Christopher Firstenberger, a native of Ger- many, who believing that he might find better opportunities for advancement in the new world crossed the Atlantic and took up his abode in Galion. Here in the public schools our subject acquired his education, gaining a good prac- tical knowledge which served him well in his business career. His first independent venture was as a clerk in a grocery store in Marion, and later he was employed in Pittsburg, but in 1874 he returned to Galion, establishing a grocery store on his own account and successfully conducting the same until his life's labors were ended. He carried a carefully selected stock of staple and fancy groceries and his business methods commended him to the public patronage. He was fair in his dealings and in his career demonstrated the truth of the old adage "honesty is the best policy."
.404
CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
In Marion county, in 1876, Mr. Firstenberger was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Dutt, a native of that county and a daughter of Michael and Cath- erine (Meily) Dutt. Her father was a grocer and took up his abode in Marion county at an early day, coming to this country from Germany in his youth. Mrs. Dutt was a daughter of William Meily, of Marion, a brother of Henry Meily, father of Mrs. Senator Brice and Mrs. General Orr. Mrs. Firstenberger still survives her husband and is yet living in Galion, where she has made her home since her marriage and where she has many warm friends.
In public affairs Mr. Firstenberger always took a very active and unselfish interest, doing everything in his power to promote the measures and move- ments which he believed would prove of general good. In politics hie was a Democrat, served as assessor for about six years, was a member of the board of equalization for three years, was elected to the office of trustee of Polk township in 1895, was re-elected in 1898, and during the last three years of his service in that capacity he served as the president of the board. When sixteen years of age he was confirmed in the German Reformed church and was ever afterward a consistent member. He enjoyed the uniform confidence and esteem of all throughout the county by reason of his irreproachable official career and as a business man and citizen.
WILLIAM H. SHECKLER.
William H. Sheckler is a well-known resident of Bucyrus, where he has served as pension attorney for fourteen years, while since 1896 he has oc- cupied the position of justice of the peace. He is a native of the city which is yet his home, his birth having occurred July 13. 1847. The family is of German lineage, the grandfather of our subject having been born in Baden, Germany, near Heidelberg. Hugh Sheckler, the father, was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1818, and there resided until 1847, when he came to Bucyrus and engaged in business as a wagon-maker. He was thus identified with the industrial interests of the city for a number of years, and later in life he located on a farm one mile north of the town, where he en- gaged in the dairy business, meeting with creditable success in the under- taking. He was a well-known and respected cutizen, faithful to the obliga- tions of both public and private life. His death occurred in 1888, when he had reached the psalmist's span of three score years and ten. His wife bore the maiden name of Susan Cheney and was also a native of Pennsylvania, although her parents were born in Holland.
405
CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
William H. Sheckler is indebted to the public school system of Bucyrus for the educational privileges which he enjoyed. He was about sixteen years of age when he entered the military service of his country, enlisting in Feb- ruary, 1864, as a member of Company E, Thirty-fourth Ohio Infantry (known as the First Ohio Piatt Zouaves), in which he remained until the close of the war. The regiment was assigned to the Army of West Virginia, and he participated in the campaign of the Shenandoah valley under General Phil Sheridan. January 11, 1865, he was captured, with the balance of his regiment, at Beverly, West Virginia, and in Libby prison spent two months and was then exchanged. When hostilities had ceased and the stars and stripes were planted in the capital of the southern Confederacy he returned to his home in Bucyrus, where he has remained continuously since. For four- teen years he has been notary public and for a similar period has been pension attorney, representing the interests of the soldiers who fought for the preserva- tion of the Union and were thereby somewhat unfitted for the duties of a business career. In 1896 he was elected justice of the peace on the Republican ticket for a term of three years. In the meantime his political views changed and became an adherent of the Democracy, so that in 1899 he was made the candidate of that party for the same office, in which he was re-elected. He is strictly fair and impartial in the discharge of his duties, his decisions being based upon the facts in the case and the law applicable thereto. In 1870 Mr. Sheckler married Ida Reed, who died in 1873, leaving one child, a daughter, Fairy.
In 1877 Mr. Sheckler was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Steele, a daughter of William Steele, who came from Pennsylvania to Bucyrus. She (lied in 1883, leaving no children. Mr. Sheckler holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Grand Army Post, of Bu- cyrus, in which he is serving as commander. The high esteem in which he is held, not only in official circles, but among all his acquaintances, speaks better than words can do concerning his character as a man and a citizen, one in whom his town and county have a just pride.
G. W. BURT.
G. W. Burt, who fills the important position of station agent for the Big Four Railroad Company at Galion, and for the American Express Company, has occupied these positions for more than a quarter of a century. He is a native of what at the time of his birth was Marion county, Ohio, but is now
406
CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
Morrow county. His father, Ebenezer Burt, took up his abode in Marion county in 1820, removing to Ohio from Greene county, Pennsylvania. There he died when our subject was only two and a half years of age, passing away in 1835. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Hernard and resided in Greene county, Pennsylvania.
During his youth, Mr. Burt of this review, pursued his education in the public schools. He entered the railroad service in 1852, and has since been one of its representatives. In 1855 he secured a situation as telegraph opera- tor and clerk at Shelby, Richland county, Ohio, and was there located during the period of the Civil war. After various removals he came to Galion in 1874 and has remained here continuously since, covering a period of twenty- seven consecutive years. He is one of the most trusted and reliable employes of the company, very careful and painstaking in the discharge of his duties and loyal to the trusts reposed in him. Socially he is identified with the Masonic Order and has attained the Thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite, belong- ing to Cleveland Consistory. In his political affiliations he is a Republican.
JOHN C. SCHIEBER.
Among the old and highly esteemed farmers of Holmes township is John Christian Schieber, who came here when this locality was still covered with its native growth of timber. His birth was in Germany, a country which has contributed many excellent citizens to America, and he was born September 27, 1828. He was a son of Gottleib and Magdalena ( Brosie) Schieber, the former of whom was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1794, and the latter in the same place, in 1802. In 1832, with their five children and a large party of neighbors and friends, they emigrated to the United States. They had some section in the state of Ohio as their destination, and came by way of the lakes as far as Sandusky. A former neighbor by the name of Fred Feichtner had located some years previously in Crawford county, and the Germans deter- mined to find him, if possible, and follow his advice in the matter of locating homes of their own in this county. With this end in view, Gottleib Schieber, with several of his fellow emigrants, left their families in Sandusky and set out on foot to find their friend, although their knowledge of his whereabouts was very vague. However, after a long and wearisome trip, they found him, most comfortably located in Liberty township near Broken Sword. The ap- pearance of the surrounding country pleased them, and after a short visit they started back, on foot, as they came. At Sandusky they procured teams and
407
CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
brought their effects to this locality and then turned their industrious efforts to clearing and improving the land.
Mr. Schieber bought a tract of forty acres from J. Caris, and soon after this he entered forty acres and gradually added more until his farm consisted of one hundred and ten acres. This constituted the homestead where the children were born and where they grew: to maturity. The children num- bered nine in all, their names being: Christopher, Gottleib, Fredericka, Chris- tian, Jacob, Catherine, John, Abraham and Mary, the survivors being our subject; Catherine, the widow of Christian Brown, of Sandusky township; and Mary, the wife of Solomon Shupp, of Nebraska. The father of our sub- ject died in 1870, but the mother survived until 1893, when she had reached her ninety-first year. In early life he was a Democrat, but the issues of the Civil war made him a Republican, though in his later years he returned to the Democratic party. For many years he was a leading member of the Lutheran church, and was one of the highly esteemed citizens of the county.
John Christian Schieber, the subject of this sketch, was reared in the pio- neer home and received but few educational advantages because good school privileges were not obtainable at that time and place. He possessed an abund- ance of natural intelligence, was energetic and industrious, and by the time he had reached his majority understood all of the demands of an agricultural life. In February, 1852. he was married to Miss Leah Hershberger, who was born in Lancaster county. Pennsylvania, and was the daughter of Jacob Hersh- berger, who came to Crawford county about 1848. A family of children grew up around our subject and wife, viz. : Samuel, of Oklahoma; Amanda, the wife of Emanuel Haller, of this township; Jacob, of this township; Jo- seph, of Chicago, Illinois: Elizabeth, the wife of Samuel Mack, of this township; Matilda, at home: Charles, the farmer on the home farm; and Ida, at home.
After marriage our subject settled on a farm of eighty acres located in Liberty township, which he purchased of his father, and here he erected a hewed-log house and a round-log barn, some six years later replacing the lat- ter with a substantial frame barn. This land was all heavily covered with a native growth of timber with the exception of nine acres, and it required four- teen years of industry to redeem the whole tract from the forest. In 1866 our subject sold this farm and purchased the farm which he now occupies. At one time he owned three hundred and twenty acres, but has retained but one hundred and sixty, which is admirably managed by his son Charles.
In politics Mr. Schieber is a member of the Republican party and one of
408
CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
the leading members of the Methodist church, to which his estimable wife also belongs. During his long life in the township he has seen many changes and has done his share in the development of the county, and now enjoys the esteem of the whole community.
CHARLES E. KIMERLINE.
The medical profession is ably represented in Crawford county, Ohio, and one of the best known members there is Charles Edward Kimerline, of Lykens village, who as a physician of wide and accurate knowledge has won an enviable professional success and stands deservedly high in the esteem of his fellow citizens.
Charles E. Kimerline, M. D., was born at New Washington, Ohio, July 4, 1871, a son of Lewis J. Kimerline, a well known citizen of that town. He was graduated at the public schools of New Washington, in 1889, and re- ceived the degree of bachelor of science at the Ohio Normal University, in 1802. From 1893 to 1896, he was a student in the medical department of the Western Reserve University. After his graduation from that institution with the degree of medical doctor, he located at Lykens village. where he entered upon the practice of his profession to which he has since given his undivided attention. He has became favorably known throughout the surrounding country and has a satisfactory and constantly increasing practice. In politics he is a Democrat and wields a recognized influence in local affairs, but he is not an office-seeker nor in the ordinary sense of the term a practical politician, but his public spirit is such that he is a useful and helpful citizen ready at all times to further all worthy objects. He was married June 24, 1897, to Miss Fairy Scott and they have a daughter whom they have named Mary Scott. He is a member of the German Lutheran church.
C. P. FRANK.
Among the representatives of railroad interests residing in Crestline is Mr. Frank, who occupies the position of foreman of the copper shops for the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad Company. He was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, January 21, 1839. His father. John G. Frank, was a native of Muelhausen, Germany, was there reared and learned the tan- ner's trade. In 1835 he came to America, locating in Butler county, Penn- sylvania, at the little town of Saxonburg, where he carried on tanning and
1. & Amp M. N.
411
CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
farming. There he died in 1870, at the age of seventy years, his birth having occurred in 1800. He was a member of the German Lutheran church and a man of the highest respectability. He wedded Mary Schneider, also a native of the fatherland. She had previously been married and was the widow of Carl Hahn. By her first husband she had five children, and by the second marriage she became the mother of five children.
C. P. Frank, the eldest son and the second number of the family, was reared in his native county until seventeen years of age and acquired his educa- tion in the common schools, which he attended for about three months each year. When a youth of seventeen he began learning the coppersmith's trade at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, serving an apprenticeship of four years, after which he entered the employ of the firm of Prior, Harbeck & Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, where he continued for nine months. On the expiration of that period he went to Galion, becoming an employe of the old Bee Line Com- pany, with which he continued for four years. The year 1863 witnessed his arrival in Crestline, where he has since made his home. Here he engaged with the Pittsburg. Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, working at his trade as a journeyman. The business at that time was small but has continually in- creased in volume and importance, and he has remained steadily with the com- pany in the position which he now occupies with the exception of one year when he was granted a leave of absence. He has been foreman of the com- pany for thirty-six years and is one of its oldest and most reliable employes, carefully superintending the department of which he has charge, the work- manship being of a high grade.
On the 4th of February, 1862, Mr. Frank was united in marriage to Miss Ellen A. Keen, a native of Germany, but when three years of age was brought to America by her parents, the family locating in Crawford county, where they were early settlers. There her girlhood days were passed and the common schools afforded her her educational privileges. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Frank have been born six children : John E., who resides at Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio, is agent for the Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company ; Mary M. is the wife of Dr. I. W. Larkworthy, of Ottawa, Ohio; Willard A. is a machinist employed by the Erie Company at Galion : and Frederick G. is with his father, working at the trade of coppersmith. Nellie C. and Alice J., two daughters of the family, died in early childhood. In his political views Mr. Frank is an earnest Republican, giving an unfaltering support to the prin- ciples of his party. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic Order and for a number of years has affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
22
412
CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
lows. He and his family belong to the Presbyterian church, in which he has long been a trustee. Faithful to duty and the trusts reposed in him in busi- ness life. he is also recognized as a public spirited citizen and a man of true worth of character.
WILLIAM HOOD CRITZER.
Many people give music the highest rank among the fine arts. It has not the limitations of sculpturing or painting, it is not bounded by form, color or size, and therefore leaves much greater play to the imagination. It reaches man only through the sense of hearing and exercises over him an intangible power the more strongly felt because indescribable. From the remotest ages it has administered to man pleasure, has given enthusiasm to the soldier on the field of battle, brought comfort to the sorrowing and heightened the happi- ness of the joyful. It appeals to and touches all classes of people as no other art does, and, in fact. is the only universal language. The musical taste and culture of Crawford county has largely been promoted through the efforts of Professor William Hood Critzer, who is director of music in the public schools of Galion, Mount Gilead and Crestline, having thus been connected with the esthetic education of three towns since 1891.
Professor Critzer is numbered among Ohio's native sons, his birth having occurred in Pike township, Fulton county, in 1857, and his parents being William and Amelia ( Mathews) Critzer. His father was a native of Fred- erick, Maryland, being born July 17, 1810; the mother, of Wheeling, West Virginia, was born August 4, 1824. The grandfather of our subject was Jacob Critzer, who was born in Maryland. October 10. 1780. He was a stone-mason and followed contracting throughout his life. He was married to Elizabeth Beckenbough, October 9, 1803. His good wife died August 20, 1821. and he passed away January 20, 1831. On the maternal side Mr. Critzer's ancestry can be traced back to Charles Hood, his great-grandfather, who erected the first of the Ellicot mills in Maryland just after the close of the Revolution and was a very prominent factor in the substantial upbuilding of that portion of the state. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Elze Mathews, was a resident of West Virginia, but at an early day came to Ohio, locating in Franklin county, near Columbus. He brought with him his slaves whom he had owned in the south, and here gave them their freedom. The father of our subject was reared at Frederick, Maryland, and early in life began teaching school, which he followed for several years, and after his
413
CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL IIISTORI.
marriage, accompanied by his young bride, emigrated to Fulton county, Ohio, where they shared the trials and hardships of frontier life. Here he cleared his land and followed farming for many years, when eventually he sold his farm and moved to Delta, Fulton county, where he engaged in the milling business as buyer and seller of grains. While here he was elected mayor, and had the honor of being the first mayor of Delta. Subsequently he removed to Ai, Fulton county, where he purchased a drug store, which he successfully conducted throughout the remainder of his life, dying October 29, 1874. In his political views he was a Republican.
Professor Critzer's love of music was early manifest. From his boyhood hie displayed exceptional fondness for the art, and when a youth of twelve, after much coaxing, he persuaded his father to buy him a flute, which he learned to play unaided. When sixteen years of age he began his preliminary training in vocal culture, under the direction of W. H. Leibe, of Kansas City, Missouri, and afterward studied under the direction of Dr. George A. Veazie, of Chelsea, Massachusetts, and his later preceptors were James M. MeLaughlin, of Boston, and Dr. Lowell Mason, of the same city. He completed his studies in the Detroit Conservatory, where he was graduated in 1890. He had made possible the continuation of his musical education through the work which he had done as a teacher. He was conductor of music in the Northwestern Nor- mal Collegiate Institute, in Wauseon, Ohio, in 1887, but previous to this time he spent from 1885 to 1887 as musical director in the Fayette Normal Music and Business College. He gave private instructions as opportunity offered, and while in Detroit he conducted the St. George's boy choir and was pre- ceptor in the Central Methodist Episcopal Sabbath-school. In 1891 he ac- cepted the position of musical director in the public schools of Galion, Mount Gilead and Crestline. In the first named he has charge of four school build- ings, giving instruction to the pupils of the various departments ten days each month. He spends four days in Mount Gilead and four days in Crestline, and under his leadership the schools have made rapid and commendable ad- vancement in music, the high school of Galion having a reputation unexcelled by any similar institution in the state. Professor Critzer is also choir master of four choirs, that of the Methodist Episcopal church, the German Reformed church, the English Lutheran church and the United Brethren church. He is also conductor of the Galion Choral Society, of seventy-five voices. The work undertaken by the high school of Galion is of a very high and classical order. In the year 1900 they gave a rendition of Haydn's "Creation," with
414
CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
two hundred voices, assisted by the Choral Society, and in 1901 they gave a most excellent production of Handel's "Messiah."
Professor Critzer was united in marriage to Miss Cora M. Nobbs, of Fulton county, a daughter of James and Ann ( Fetterman) Nobbs, her parents being among the pioneer settlers of Fulton county, coming from England to this state. The Professor and his wife now have five children,-Edna, Ruth, Walter Eugene, Paul and Marjorie May. The family is one of prominence in the community, occupying a leading position in social circles, where culture and intelligence are received as the passport into good society. The Professor is a member of Masonic Lodge No. 414, in Galion, the Order of Foresters and the Tribe of Ben Hur. His influence in the two cities of Crawford county and the county seat of Morrow county with which he is connected is incal- culable, but is certainly very far-reaching and very beneficial. To no other citizen is the advancement of musical taste so justly accredited, and through his dissemination of the knowledge of the art he has added greatly to the enjoyment and happiness which should form no small part of life.
R. C. TRACHT.
Among the leading attorneys of Galion is R. C. ,Tracht, who, though a young man, has gained distinction as a member of the bar by reason of quali- fications that always insure success. Endowed by nature with strong men- tality and developing his powers through study and close application, he is now occupying a position in the legal fraternity that many an older lawyer might well envy.
He is numbered among the native sons of Crawford county, his birth having occurred in Jefferson township in 1866. He is of German-English lineage, and his family is one of a group of pioneers who have made Crawford one of the foremost counties in the great northwest. In his boyhood he at- tended the public schools in his native township and later became a student in the Roanoke Seminary, in Roanoke, Indiana, his studies there being supple- mented by a course in the United Brethren Normal Academy at Fostoria, Ohio. In 1883 he began teaching school, and for five years successfully fol- lowed that profession, being recognized as a teacher of exceptional ability. In the fall of 1888 he matriculated in the Ohio Normal University at Ada, Ohio, where he was graduated in July, 1892, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. On the 7th of December. 1803, he was admitted to the bar, and his progress has been marked and rapid in his professional career. He is a stu-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.