USA > Ohio > Crawford County > A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio > Part 76
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Mr. Burgbacher, of this review, was eighteen years of age at the time of his father's death. He then assumed the management of the home farm, which he has since operated and which has continuously been his place of resi- dence since 1835. He to-day owns one hundred and seventy acres of rich land, all under a high state of cultivation, and his farm is one of the best improved in this portion of the county. He is energetic and progressive in his methods and his earnest labor has brought to him success as the years have gone by.
On the 3d of July, 1849, Mr. Burgbacher was united in marriage to Miss Susan M. Koenig, a native of Germany and a daughter of William and Marie L. (Fay) Koenig, who came to AAmerica in 1833 and located in Chatfield town- ship, Crawford county. He secured eighty acres of wild land, where Gottlieb Knicht is now living, and erected thereon a log cabin of one room. This con- tained besides a stove, a table and chairs, three beds, and in that room the fa- ther, who was a cooper by trade, also engaged in the manufacture of barrels. Both he and his wife spent their last days in the home of our subject and both died when eighty-two years of age. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Burgbacher have been born nine children : Otto P., who died in childhood; Mary, wife of Will-
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iam Hohl, of Lima, Ohio; John, a resident fariner of Defiance county, Ohio; William, of Chatfield township; Rosa, the wife of Jacob Bringle, of Chatfield township: Henry and Jacob, who are deceased; Elizabeth, the wife of F. E. Hiser, who is engaged in the operation of a sawmill and tile factory in Car- rothers ; and Hannon, a merchant of Seneca, Ohio.
Mr. Burgbacher has been a prominent factor in public affairs for many years and has been called upon to serve in many positions of honor and trust. In 1862 he was elected county commissioner and served for two terms of three years each, being chosen to the office as the Democratic candidate. In 1853 he was elected justice of the peace and since that time has continuously served in the office, with the exception of nine years. He has also been trustee for many years and school director for forty years, and in every office in which he has been called to serve he has discharged his duties in a manner winning him the highest commendation of all concerned. He and his wife hold membership in the Lutheran church and are earnest, consistent Christian people, everywhere honored and esteemed for their sterling worth. Mr. Burg- bacher aided in laying out some of the roads of the county and has ever borne his part in the work of public progress as a citizen who has the general good deeply at lieart.
SOLOMON SEERY.
Solomon Seery has resided upon the farm in Lykens township which is now his home for more than two-thirds of a century, taking up his abode there when a boy of ten years. He was born in Ross county, Ohio, Septem- 1 er 22, 1823. a son of Solomon Seery, one of the honored pioneers of Craw- ford county, who aided in its substantial development in early days. In the fall of 1833 the father brought his family to Crawford county, where our subject has since made his home. He began his education in a log school- house, seated with slab benches and supplied with other primitive furniture, and the methods of instruction were almost equally crude. Although a youth of only ten summers when he came to this county, he aided his father in the work of clearing the fields for cultivation and assisted in the plowing, planting and harvesting.
In 1855 occurred the marriage of Solomon Seery and Miss Elizabeth Park, and unto them have been born three children, namely: Independence, a hoop manufacturer of St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin; John W., a resident farmer of Lykens township; and Russell O. The wife and mother died April
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20, 1890, at the age of fifty-four years, respected by all who knew her, so that her loss was deeply mourned by her many friends, as well as her imme- diate family.
Throughout his entire life Mr. Seery has carried on general farming, and to-day he owns three hundred and twenty-five acres of rich land, all in Lykens township. The well tilled fields yield to him golden harvest and every- thing about the place is kept in good condition. In the early days he was celebrated as a coon hunter. For a half century he has been a member of the United Brethren church and throughout the greater part of the time has served as trustee, while for a long period he was class-leader and superintendent of the Sunday-school. His first presidential vote was cast for Henry Clay, the Whig candidate, and at the present time he is a Prohibitionist. He gives his support to all movements calculated to promulgate temperance, morality and intellectuality and has aided in many interests for the general good. His life has ever been honorable and upright and all who know him esteem him for his genuine worth.
HENRY J. OBERLANDER.
On the farm in Lykens township which is yet his home Henry J. Ober- lander first opened his eyes to the light of day on the 31st of May, 1847, and throughout his entire life he has been connected with the agricultural interests of Crawford county. He is now numbered among its leading and representa- tive farmers, and wherever he is known is held in high regard.
His father, Jacob Oberlander, was born and reared in York county, Pennsylvania, and there he married Elizabeth Allbright. They began their domestic life upon a farm in that county and also lived for a time in Adams county, Pennsylvania, but determined to try his fortune farther west. In 1832 Mr. Oberlander made his way to Richland county, Ohio, hiring a horse team with which to accomplish the journey. There he resided until 1835, when he came to Crawford county and entered a tract of land of eighty acres in Lykens township, from the government. The following year he brought his family to the new home and soon they were living in true pioneer style in a little log cabin containing but one room. The farm was covered with a heavy growth of timber and it required many long years of arduous toil to clear and improve the place. Throughout the remainder of his days Jacob Oberlander carried on farming here, and at one time was the owner of four hundred and twenty acres of valuable land. He made many excellent im-
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provements upon his place and his property became one of the most attractive and desirable farms of the county. He was a member of the Pietist church and an earnest Christian gentleman, who commanded the respect and confi- dence of all with whom he was associated in the active affairs of life. He died January 21, 1887, at the ripe old age of eighty-three years.
On the old homestead Henry Oberlander has spent his entire life. The common schools afforded him his educational privileges and under his father's direction he early became familiar with all the duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. Together they carried on their farming operations until the father's death, and Mr. Oberlander of this review has since resided on the old home place, devoting his energies to the cultivation of his farm, comprising one hundred acres, of which ninety acres is cleared and the greater part di- vided into fields, which are highly improved. He carries on general farming and his well directed labors bring to him a good financial return.
On the 25th of June, 1874, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Oberlander and Miss Sarah J. Feltis, of Wyandot county, Ohio, and unto them have been born four children: Irvin J., who married Florence Bogart and is living at home; Lawrence E., who married Ida Spade and is a farmer of Lykens town- ship; Iona B., the wife of John Wisenhour, of Lykens township; and Cora M., the wife of Noah Meck, by whom she has one child, Lena L. Mr. Ober- lander and his family are well known people of the community and enjoy the warm regard of a large circle of friends and acquaintances. In politics he is a Democrat, but has never sought or desired office, preferring to give his time and attention to his business interests, in which he is meeting with credit- able success.
JACOB BROEDE.
Jacob Broede, who is carrying on general farming and stock-raising in Lykens township, where he owns and operates two hundred and forty acres of land, is one of the worthy German-American citizens of Crawford county. His birth occurred in Bavaria, Germany, August 25, 1832, his parents being Adam and Catherine (Blinn) Broede. Upon his father's farm he was reared and in the schools of his native land he acquired a good education. At length he determined to try his fortune in the new world, believing that better ad- vantages were here afforded young men. Accordingly he crossed the At- lantic in 1851 and after a voyage of twenty-two days upon a sailing vessel he made his way to Utica, New York, where he worked as a farm hand, by the
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month, for two and a half years. On the expiration of that period he returned to Germany, on account of his father's death, and assumed the management of the home farm, which he operated for six years. He then again came to America, spending three months in the Empire state and in the fall of 1860 he arrived in Seneca county, Ohio, where he remained for seven months. On the expiration of that period he purchased eighty acres of land in Chat- field township and for three years made his home thereon, buying his present farm in 1864. He purchased one hundred and twelve acres of Albert Ham- mond and a few years later added to this a tract of fifty-six acres. His landed possessions now aggregate two hundred and forty-eight acres, and thereon he is successfully engaged in general farming and stock-raising, his business ability, careful management and enterprise enabling him to overcome all ob- stacles and work his way upward to prosperity.
Mr. Broede has been twice married. He first wedded Jacobina Poth, and unto them was born a son, August, who is now overseer of the brewery owned by the firm of Poth & Sons, of Philadelphia, the senior partner being his uncle. For his second wife Mr. Broede chose Eva Ehresmann, and they have eight children : Jacob J., of Seneca county; Adam, who is now living in Iowa; Emma, the wife of Albert Angeny ; Albert, a resident farmer of Seneca county; Malinda, the wife of Henry Kurgis; Henry, Lizzie and Charley, all at home.
Mr. Broede exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Democracy and, while he keeps well informed on the issues of the day, has never sought office. He belongs to the German Reformed church and is a man of genuine worth. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to America, for in this land of the free he has found the opportunity he sought for advancement in the business world and has not only gained a comfortable competence, but has won many friends.
ABRAHAM HAAS.
Old and honorable families of Germany have given to America many citizens of exceptional worth. Crawford county, Ohio, has its share of such and Abraham Haas is one of the best known of this class in Lykens town- ship. Mr. Haas was born near Columbiana, Columbiana county, Ohio, No- vember 3, 1834, a son of Conrad Haas, a native of Germany, who was brought to America by his parents when he was ten years old. The family settled in Pennsylvania and thence Conrad Haas came to Ohio, locating in Columbiana county, where he married Catharine Meyer, who bore him eleven children,
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of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of nativity. John, their first born child, died at the age of sixteen years. Their daughter Lydia is the widow of Solomon Rupert. Their daughter Sarah married Philip Hogert and is dead. Their son Benjamin lives at Aurora, Illinois. Their daughter Catharine is the wife of D. Y. Ditty, of Lykens township, Craw- ford county, Ohio. Their son Henry lives in Holmes township, in the same county. Their daughter Elizabeth is the wife of David Faileck, of Lykens township. Their daughter Susan is the wife of John Meyers, of Lykens town- ship.
In the spring of 1835 Conrad Haas brought his family to Crawford county, making the journey from Columbiana county with ox-teams, and settled in Lykens township, where he homesteaded one hundred and twenty acres of government land, which he developed into the farm on which the subject of this sketch now lives. At that time the land was heavily timbered and he was obliged to make a small clearing on which to erect a log cabin of round logs. He carried the work of improvement forward as rapidly as pos- sible and became prominent in his neighborhood. He died in 1848, at the age of forty-one years. His death was most untimely, for he was a useful man in the township, where he built the first school house, helped to organize sey- eral schools and laid out roads. He was a devout member of the Baptist church and contributed liberally to all its interests. His wife died at about the age of sixty years.
When the subject of this sketch was brought to Lykens township, he was about six months old. He was educated in the common schools and reared to farm work and by the death of his father, when he was fourteen years old, was thrown upon his own resources at a comparatively early age. For three years after his father's death the home farm was leased. Young Haas worked in the neighborhood for a year and afterwards worked near Columbiana until his mother got her family together and came back to the farm. Then, at the age of seventeen years, he took charge of the place which he has man- aged successfully since, except during a year and a half when he lived in Wood county. He now owns eighty acres of the old homestead, and the good house and other improvements on the place were placed there by himself. He has done general farming and has dealt extensively in horses, and during the days of horse-power threshers, he ran threshing machines in season for many years. In politics he is a Democrat and he is not without influence in the councils of his party, but he has never sought nor accepted public office. He was married in 1857 to Miss Martha Schupp, a woman of many good qualities, who has
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been to him a most worthy helpmeet. The recollections of his school days in- clude vivid memories of crude, old-fashioned schools, taught in log school houses with puncheon floors and slab seats and desks, and he has during all his active life done everything in his power to advance the cause of public education.
SAMUEL DEWALT.
The well-known citizen of Lykens township, Crawford county, Ohio, whose name is mentioned above, is of that sturdy Pennsylvania stock, which, transplanted to all parts of the United States, has been fruitful in enterprise, progressiveness and enlightenment.
Samuel Dewalt was born on the farm on which he now lives October 18, 1855, a son of Robert Dewalt, who was born in Lehigh county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1818, and was married there to Elizabeth Broder, who bore him six children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth. Their daughter Isabella married Owen Olds, of Texas township, Crawford county, Ohio. Their daughters Henrietta and Savannah and their son Alex- ander are dead. The fifth in order of birth was the subject of this sketch. Their youngest son, Richard, is dead. In 1850 Robert Dewalt removed from Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, to Crawford county, Ohio, and settled on the farm on which his son Samuel now lives. His first purchase of land there was two hundred and twenty acres, thirty acres of which were cleared, and on which a log cabin had been erected. He died there February 17, 1894. aged seventy-seven years, and his wife died October 10, 1877. They were members of the German Reformed church and Mr. Dewalt took a great interest in all its work, serving in the offices of deacon and elder and as a member of the building committee which had charge of the erection of its house of worship.
Samuel Dewalt was interested with his father in agricultural enterprises until 1876, when he took charge of the farm on which he now lives. He owns one hundred acres of the old Dewalt homestead, which, together with eighty acres in another tract, makes his real estate holdings aggregate one hundred and eighty acres. These two pieces of land adjoin and constitute one of the best farms in the vicinity. Mr. Dewalt is a Democrat in politics and is a member of the German Reformed church. He was married in 1876 to Mahala Shawk, of Seneca county, Ohio, and they have four children, Dora ; Delora, who is the wife of J. W. Swalley; Alta and Ralph. Mr. Dewalt is a
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man of much recognized public spirit, who remembers with pride the fact that he was educated in the public schools of his native township and has always taken an interest in their development and improvement. There is no ques- tion affecting the public welfare in which he does not take an intelligent in- terest and there is no movement for the general good which he is not ready to assist to the extent of his ability. He naturally takes an interest in the church, toward the upbuilding of which his good father labored so zealously, and he is liberal in his assistance of all its varied interests.
ANDREW MOORE.
Any adequate account of the life of a self-made man is necessarily both interesting and instructive. It is always a story of human ambition, struggles and triumph and as such must claim the attention of every student of human nature and of the progress of the people at large: and as an example of what may be done by industry and perseverance by one actuated by worthy motives, it is worthy the emulation of all young men who have their way in the world to make. Such a career as is here indicated has been that of Andrew Moore, of Benton, Lykens township, Crawford county, Ohio.
Andrew Moore was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1847, and when he was six years old, in 1853, his father died. Not long afterward. his mother took her family to Crawford county, Ohio, and settled in Texas township, where, at the early age of twelve years, the boy began working on farms by the month. This was necessary from the fact that his mother was very poor and that as soon as they were old enough her four sons were obliged. to earn money to be expended toward her support and the maintenance of. their home. The names of these sons were William, Joseph P., Andrew and' Henry. Soon after the Civil war began Mrs. Moore, who was a devout Chris- tian woman of much education and refinement and of great patriotism, made- the following declaration, which her son remembers word for word: "I know that this is to be a terrible war and we must make sacrifices to save the Union and I am willing that my sons should go to the front, and may God protect them and bring them back to me." The sons whom she thus de- voted to the service of her country were her only support. Joseph P., the second son, was the first to avail himself of this permission. He enlisted in 1861 as a private in Company H. Forty-ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, and was killed at the battle of Stone River, on New Year's morning, 1862. William, the eldest son, was the next to enlist and he was color-bearer
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in the One Hundred and First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was killed while carrying the flag in the front line of battle at Chickamauga, in August, 1863. At that time Andrew was only little more than sixteen years old, but without serious objection on the part of his mother, who believed that it was her duty, if necessary, to sacrifice her last son old enough to be of any assistance to the cause of freedom, enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty- third Regiment of Infantry at Martinsburg, West Virginia. His first experi- ence of battle was at Newmarket, where he was dangerously wounded in the left thigh by a minie ball. After lying for two days in a field hospital he was taken to Clairsville hospital, in the mountains near Cumberland, Maryland. After he had been under treatment there three months he was able to go home on a furlough. He rejoined his regiment at Kernstown and after that fought at Winchester, Cedar Creek, and in other engagements and participated in the fighting which resulted in the fall of Petersburg and Richmond. After the evacuation of Richmond the One Hundred and Twenty-third Ohio and the Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania Regiments were detached to burn the bridge across the river to keep Lee's army from crossing. When they arrived at the bridge Lee's cavalry was on the point of crossing the river, and not only succeeded in doing so, but took about five hundred prisoners of war from the two federal regiments mentioned, Mr. Moore among them, who were under guard with the Confederates when Lee surrendered.
After the war Mr. Moore returned to Benton, Lykens township, Craw- ford county, Ohio, where he remained only a short time, however, before go- ing to Oil City, Pennsylvania, where he was employed for three years. Re- turning to Texas township, he farmed four years and after that sold agri- cultural implements for twelve years. After that he was for five years a buyer for Young & Brother, lumber dealers at Canton, Ohio. Since that time he has been buying timber on his own account, cutting it up into saw- logs and selling it in that form to lumber manufacturers.
He is a Republican in politics and is a member of Roberts Post, No. 672, Grand Army of the Republic, at Benton, Ohio. He has held the office of town- ship trustee and has otherwise served his fellow townsmen with ability and credit. His mother, of Christian and patriotic memory, who was a lifelong member of the United Brethren church, died at Benton at the age of seventy- one years.
Mr. Moore was married June 1. 1868, to Miss Mary J. Haskins, and she has borne him three children. Their son Earl was accidentally killed in 1895, while attempting to get on board a moving train of cars. Their daugh-
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ter Bertha is now Mrs. Haskins. Their son Clyde, who is a proficient stenog- rapher, is a student at the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, Indiana.
JAMES BRINE.
Men popularly known as Pennsylvania Dutchmen have gone forth from the Keystone state to all parts of the west and southwest and wherever they have gone they have planted the standard of enterprise. prosperity and pop- ular enlightenment and have maintained it wherever they have flung it to the breeze. Crawford county, Ohio, was, perhaps, specially favored in receiving a large number of settlers of German antecedents and of Dutch ancestry from her sister state beyond the Alleghenies. A name that has become well known in Texas township. Crawford county, Ohio, and the history of which may be traced through many generations of such sturdy men and women as have here been referred to is that of Brine, which is most worthily represented by James Brine, who was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, August 6, 1833.
James Brine was brought up on his father's farm in Pennsylvania and educated in the public schools, and at the age of eighteen entered upon a three-years' apprenticeship to the shoemaker's trade. After completing his apprenticeship he worked at his trade in Pennsylvania until 1855. when he went to Seneca county, Ohio, and worked on a farm by the month at Honey Creek for five years. After that he rented a farm nine years and managed it with such success that at the expiration of that time he was able to buy the farm of sixty acres on which he now lives. He has purchased twenty acres elsewhere and now owns eighty acres, which he devotes to general farming.
December 27. 1860. Mr. Brine was married in Seneca county, Ohio, to Amanda Fotelman, a native of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, who had emi- grated to Seneca county with her parents two years before. James and Amanda ( Fotelman) Brine became the parents of six children, the following items of information concerning whom will be interesting in this connection. James, their first born child, is dead. Their daughter Nora, born next after James, is the wife of Warren Johnson, of Lykens township. Crawford county, Ohio. Alfred, their third child in order of birth, is dead. Their daughter Cora married Benjamin Hushouer, of Texas township, Crawford county, Ohio. Their daughters Mattie and Ruth are members of their household. It has been one of the ambitions of Mr. Brine's life to bring his daughters up to be good women and to educate them in such a manner as to enable them to
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take the station in life to which their mental attainments and personal graces. entitle them.
In political affiliations Mr. Brine is a Republican, proud of the history of his party and ardently devoted to its principles and work. Taking a broad and comprehensive view of all public questions and knowing that, like charity, national progress begins at home, he has, while not being an office seeker or in the ordinary sense of the term a politician, given his aid to the utmost pos- sible extent to every movement tending to advance the interests of his township and county.
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