USA > Ohio > Hancock County > A centennial biographical history of Hancock County, Ohio > Part 58
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languages. His father was a justice of the peace in Germany, and being associated with him in business he succeeded in solving some perplexing questions in later life. He was a self made man in the true sense of that term. His wife died August 23, 1890, and after six years he passed away April 22, 1897. They had four children : Rosanna, deceased, Mary, John and Caroline, deceased.
Jolin Brenner, the only member of the family living in Hancock county, received his early training in the district school of Cass township and passed his boyhood without incident of importance. He fitted himself for teaching in the Findlay high school, and was one of the successful teachers of the county for thirteen years. His early training, however, and his natural tastes made the monotony of the school room irksome, and he abandoned that calling for the farm. In 1874 he bought sixty-four acres, in 1879 added forty more, and on this farm he has placed many improve- ments. In 1887 he built a fine barn for his stock and produce and in 1893 erected a commodious and comfortably situated house, which improvements add much to the general appearance of the farm. Politically Mr. Brenner favors the Democracy and was twice elected clerk of the township by his party, besides receiving the appointment of a census enumerator of his dis- trict in 1880. In 1897 he received the nomination on the Democratic ticket as candidate for county commissioner, but although making a gallant race he was unsuccessful. He is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has always been a very active worker, having been for a number of years a class leader and trustee. In 1872 Mr. Brenner was married to Miss Mary Ann, daughter of Gottleib and Mary Meyers, who was born in Washington township, April 27, 1848. She is a woman of estimable character, and has been an excellent mother to her five children : William H., Sara Ella, Ida Mae, John W., deceased, and Treva Nettie.
Mr. and Mrs. Brenner are popular and respected residents of their community, and their standing is such in the county as to merit their men- tion in a volume devoted to the representative citizens of Hancock.
LEVI STAHL.
The above named representative farmer of Hancock county resides in Marion township on a well tilled farm of eighty acres, upon which is situ- ated a valuable gas well. He was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania, January 8, 1855, was reared and educated in his native locality and had the usual experiences of the average farmer's boy. At the age of twenty
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he left home and began life for himself in Wood county, Ohio, where he continued his agricultural labors for two years, and in 1877 came for the first time to Hancock county. After remaining three years he returned to Wood county, but in 1891 became a permanent resident of Hancock county. In the year mentioned he purchased the farm on which he now resides and since then has been engaged in general farming and stock raising. Mr. Stahl takes an active interest in the educational affairs of his community, and was at one time a member of the school board of the second district. May 27, 1877, he married Ella A., a daughter of A. T. and Margaret Mason and six children have come to give joy to their home :- George B .; Alta E .; Orville A .; Zella G .; K. L .; and Charles B. Mrs. Stahl was born in Fair- field county, Ohio, on the 17th of October, 1854, and is a working member of the Lutheran denomination. Her father was a man of influence in the community, and established a reputation as a skilled mechanic. Indeed, he was one of those natural geniuses to whom are due many of the inventions of the day. The parents of Mr. Stahl were William and Manah Stahl, natives of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, from which section they removed a number of years subsequent to the departure of their son Levi. They now reside in Cass township, this county. They reared a family of nine children.
JOSEPH STOFFEL.
This representative of the farming interests of Hancock county is a resi- dent of Washington township, where he owns and operates a farm of eighty acres, which he devotes to general farming. His birth occurred at Tiffin, Ohio, June 21, 1856. His parents, Peter and Margaret Stoffel, were na- tives of Germany, who emigrated to this country in 1852. They located in Tiffin, Ohio, where he engaged successfully in various occupations, but sub- sequently became an employe of a railroad company and removed his resi- dence to Findlay, about 1861. Here he remained until his death in 1885, his good wife's death having occurred in 1879. Of their three children, the eldest was born in Germany and the subject of this sketch is the only surviv- ing member of the family. He was reared and educated in the city of Find- lay, in whose schools he received his elementary education. The period of youth was spent in teaming and general work for his father. Upon coming to maturity in 1887 he purchased from Jacob Wiseman his present farm, and has since been very successful in its cultivation. He chose for a life com- panion Mary C., daughter of Isaac and Julia Wolf, to whom he was mar-
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ried in October, 1889. She was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, March 18, 1856, and her parents on both sides were of Dutch descent. They were a patriotic people, of good and upright principles, whose children fill their various roles in life with credit. One of Mrs. Stoffel's brothers is a prominent physician of Washington county, Pennsylvania. The Wolfs on the maternal side are a family of great longevity, Mrs. Stoffel's grand- mother having lived to be ninety-two years of age. She had reared eleven children, and for over sixty years no death had occurred in the family. Mrs. Stoffel is an educated lady, who has inherited the pride and prin- ciples of her ancestors, and Mr. Stoffel is a gentleman who receives and merits the good wishes of a large circle of friends in his community. Their marriage resulted in the birth of three children, George, Susan and an in- fant unnamed.
CONRAD SHERMAN.
The farming element of Hancock county has a worthy representative in the gentleman whose name is above presented. He lives in Washington town- ship, where he cultivates a farm of eighty acres and belongs to an old and highly respected family, whose descendants have acquitted themselves well in their respective spheres. Conrad is a son of Adam and Margaret (Powell) Sherman. The former was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, in 1803. The mother is a native of Eagle township, Hancock county, and belongs to the prominent family of Powells who came to this county at an early date, and whose history is elsewhere given in this book. Adam Sherman removed to this county in 1833, where he entered one hundred and twenty acres of virgin forest in Washington township. Here he passed the remainder of his days and established a reputation of being an honest, industrious man, who believed always in carrying out the injunction of the Golden Rulc. He and his family were consistent members and earnest supporters of the Lutheran church. The father died at a comparatively early age, in 1854, leaving two children, Laura J. and Conrad. The paternal grandparents of our subject were Conrad and Catherine Sherman, alo natives of Baltimore county, Maryland. The great-grandparents, also named Conrad and Catherine, were natives of the same county in Maryland. The Shermans are of Swiss extraction on the paternal side. The maternal great-great-grandfather was Leonard Sabel, and his son, of the same name, married Catherine Witter.
Conrad Sherman, the immediate subject of this sketch, was born in Washington township, Hancock county, Ohio. September 25, 1853, passed
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his boyhood and youth in the pleasures and occupations of the farm, and re- ceived in the common schools an excellent education, which was tempered by the refining influences of a good home. Upon arriving at maturity he followed in the footsteps of his progenitors and adopted agricultural pur- suits. He owns eighty acres of land purchased in 1890, which he devotes to general farming, and on which he uses the most modern methods and machinery. The most interesting event in his life occurred April 8, 1880, when he set up a domestic establishment of his own and called Miss Ella Pepple to preside over the same. Mrs. Sherman is the daughter of John and Mary Pepple, and a native of Cass township, born November 2, 1859. Her grandparents who were from Bedford county, Pennsylvania, settled in Col- umbiana county, Ohio, in 1820, and later came to Hancock county. Further information about this worthy couple will be found under the sketch of Eli W. Pepple, on another page of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Sherman have four children, of whom Donald Conroy, born January 10, 1901, is the only one living, the deceased being Beatrice, Dwight L. and Dewey D.
As members of families which have been intimately and honorably as- sociated with the advancement and development of Hancock county, Mr. and Mrs. Sherman are entitled to and with pleasure accorded to place in this volume of biography.
TOBIA G. BARNHILL, M. D.
During his professional career at Findlay Dr. Barnhill has met with gratifying success and won the good will and patronage of many of the lead- ing citizens and families of the place. He is a great student and nedeavors to keep abreast of the times in everything relating to discoveries in medical science. Though progressive in his ideas and favoring modern methods he does not dispense with the true and tried systems which have stood the test of years.
Dr. Barnhill was born in Wayne county, Ohio, May 5, 1851, but when two years of age was brought by his parents to Hancock county, where he has ever since made his home. His elementary education was received in the public schools of Findlay, and after completing his term therein he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed in Hancock county from 1869 until 1871. Desiring to enter upon the practice of medicine, he aban- doned the work of the schoolroom in order that he might give his entire at- tention to the study of the healing art, and in 1873 he graduated at the Cleve- land Homeopathic Hospital College. March 4, 1873, he embarked in the
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practice of medicine at Findlay, where his skill and ability soon became recognized and he now enjoys a large and lucrative practice. In 1895 he established the Barnhill Sanitarium, which is now as thoroughly equipped as any institution of its kind in the world. For the past eighteen years Dr. Barnhill has thoroughly studied the various uses of electricity, and the elec- trical appliances in his large sanitarium are now complete in all respects. The institution also contains two large parlors, where patients can visit their friends, is steam heated and electric lighted, and has all the modern con- veniences for the comfort of the patients. Devotional exercises are held in the sanitarium parlors every morning at eight o'clock, to which friends of the institution are invited.
Dr. Barnhill is a member of the Ohio State Homeopathic Medical So- ciety, the Northwestern Homeopathical Medical Association and the Ameri- can Institute of Homeopathy. He has twice served as president of the state society and has also held the position of censor therein. For three terms he has served as coroner of Hancock county, and for eleven years he held the position of county physician. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows fra- ternity and the Tribe of Ben Hur. The Doctor's long professional career has been attended with marked success. His promptness, his sympathetic nature and his generosity are well known factors in his make-up, and those who have known him longest esteem him most highly.
CYRUS L. CASTERLINE.
As a member of the Bradford Oil Company of Findlay, Cyrus L. Cas- terline has been connected with the development of what has become one of the leading industries and a great source of wealth to this part of the state. His position in business circles is a creditable one. A native of the Empire state, he was born in Angelica, in 1851, and was there reared and educated, attending the public schools and acquiring thereby knowledge that well fitted him for the responsible duties of his subsequent career. At the age of twenty-five he left his native town and in 1876 went to the oil fields in the vicinity of Bradford, Pennsylvania, where he remained until he came to Findlay, since which time he has made his home in this place. He is inter- ested in the development of the oil belt here and is an active working mem- ber of the Bradford Oil Company, which owns some good producing and valuable wells.
In 1900 Mr. Casterline was appointed by Charles E. Watson, mayor of Findlay, a member of the city board of improvements and is now serving
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in that capacity. He takes deep interest in the progress and welfare of the city and is using his official position to further every measure which he be- lieves will contribute to the general good. In his political views he is a Re- publican, always voting for the candidate of the party and never faltering in his allegiance to the party principles. Fraternally he is associated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the Knights of Pythias fraternity. He is a progressive, wide awake, enterprising business man, a valued addition to the community, and in Findlay he has gained many friends who recognize his business and social worth.
HENRY F. WINDERS.
In the business circles of Findlay Henry F. Winders has become an important factor. Reliability in all trade transactions, loyalty to all the duties of citizenship, fidelity in the discharge of every trust reposed in him have been his chief characteristics, and through the passing years they have gained for him the unqualified confidence and respect of his fellow towns- men. He is also public-spirited and thoroughly interested in whatever tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of Findlay, and for many years he has been numbered among its honored citizens.
The birth of Mr. Winders occurred in Fairfield county, Ohio, on the 2d of May, 1831, and he is a son of John and Elizabeth ( Paden) Winders. The former was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, where he was a mem- ber of an old and prominent family. The mother was a daughter of John and Sidney Paden, who were natives of Ireland, but came to this country in 1815 and settled in Fairfield county, Ohio. When but a lad Henry F. Win- ders was apprenticed to his uncle, T. B. C. Paden, who conducted a mer- cantile store in New Salem, Ohio, and when twenty-one years of age he em- barked in the dry goods business on his own account in that city, which occu- pation he continued until 1859 and then took up agricultural pursuits. In 1861 he came to Findlay and for the succeeding four years sold goods for Patterson & Taylor, after which he again embarked in business for himself. His efforts in the mercantile world have been crowned with success, and he is now recognized as one of the leading business men of Findlay.
June 22, 1854, in Fairfield county, Ohio, occurred the marriage of Mr. Winders and Miss Araminta S., daughter of Judge Wiseman, of Perry coun- ty, Ohio, and unto this union have been born two children, a daughter and a son, the former, Susie, being the wife of Thomas Frazer, a druggist of Find- lay. The son, John, who is associated with his father in business, married
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Miss Ella Crooks, of Massillon, this state, and they have one son, Henry. Mr. Winders has held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church since his fifteenth year, has long served as one of its officials, and for over twenty- three years has been Sunday-school superintendent. For a period of over thirty years he has also been a member of the old and honored order of Masons. Though he has always avoided public office, he has served with credit in the city council and as a member of the school board of Findlay. In addition to his extensive mercantile connections he has also been iden- tified with many of the industries of this city and has contributed toward the development of many of its important manufacturing and other inter- ests. His political sympathies are with the Republican party.
PARLEE MITCHELL.
Hancock county oil fields have attracted a great many men from other occupations and other parts of the state. This has been the means of building up Findlay as much as the farms for which the surrounding country is also famous.
Mr. Mitchell is of Ohio pioneer stock, his grandfather George Mitchell having been born in Belmont county in 1801 ; he was a farmer all his life, and died at the ripe age of ninety-one years. His father is Jacob Mitchell, a farmer of Hancock county, who was born in 1839. In 1862, Jacob Mitchell enlisted in Company F, Twenty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a pri- vate, and served three years. He is now one of the county infirmary directors. Parlee Mitchell was born on a farm in Portage township, this county, Febru- ary 10, 1872, in which township he lived and received his education until he was twenty-four years of age, when he moved to Findley, and went im- mediately into the oil fields. He began where so many who have succeeded have begun, as a pumper, and rose through all the grades of the industry, until he became a producer on his own account. He purchased the old livery stable on the corner of Main and Larkins streets, together with its contents, then the largest livery on this side of the bridge. Mr. Mitchell put new stock into his stable, so that now it is first-class in every respect. Mr. Mitchell was married in 1899 to Jennie, daughter of R. W. Boyd.
The Democratic party claims his allegiance, and he has served his city as a representative of that party, holding the office of city councilman. That he is popular is evidenced by the fact that he was elected from the first ward by a majority of eighty-three, which ward is a Republican stronghold, having had as high as one hundred and twenty-three majority. Mr. Mitchell was first elected in 1901, and is still serving.
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HENRY WILTS BROWN.
The family of this name, so long conspicuous at Findlay, originated in New York, but has been identified with Ohio for over half a century. Oliver Brown, one of the ancestors, took part in the Revolutionary war as a soldier in one of the New York regiments, and it was his son and name- sake who became the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He lived and ended his days in New York, and reared a family which included a son named Henry. The latter was born in Albion, New York, in 1825, and came to Findlay, Ohio, in 1848. Two years after arriving he was admitted to the bar at Findlay, and practiced law there until his death in 1893. He was an able criminal lawyer and rose to prominence in the profession, besides be- coming a leader in politics. He was elected to the offices of auditor and prosecuting attorney of Hancock county, and at one time represented it as a member of the state legislature. His son, Henry Wilts Brown, was born at Findlay, Ohio, February 14, 1863, and remained at home attend- ing school until the age of seventeen. In 1880 he went to the west and spent several years traveling through Colorado, New Mexico and other sections, during which time he acquired a knowledge of the "art preservative," more vulgarly known as the printer's trade. While on his western tour Mr. Brown got hold of a paper at Meade, Kansas, which he conducted from 1884 until 1889, and then concluded to abandon the west for more inviting fields. In 1890 he returned to Findlay and started the Union, a weekly Democratic paper, whose publication and management have since occupied his time and attention. He is both editor and proprietor of the paper and makes it a strong and conservative exponent of Democratic principles, also paying con- siderable attention to the industrial interests and whatever adds to the life and development of the community.
RALPH D. COLE.
This gentleman, at present a practicing attorney at Findlay, is one of the most prominent men of his age in the county. Though less than thirty, he has held the position of clerk of the courts and represented Hancock county in the legislature, the latter honor being achieved in the twenty-sixth year of his age. The family originated in Delaware, but sent representa- tives among the first pioneers of Ohio and thus became identified with the state at a very early period. Harry Cole, grandfather of Ralph D., came from Delaware early. in the nineteenth century and settled in Ashland
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county. There, in 1821, his son, John W. Cole, was born and there he grew up and cultivated a farm until about 1860, when he came to Hancock county.
Ralph D. Cole, son of the last mentioned, was born on his father's farm in Big Lick township, Hancock county, Ohio, November 30, 1873. He was reared on the farm, attended the country schools and later entered Findlay College, where he was graduated in the class of 1896. After leaving college he taught in the Hancock county schools for two years, meantime studying law in his leisure moments, and in September, 1897, he received the appointment as clerk of the courts of Hancock county. He held this position until July, 1899, and in September following was nominated on the Republican ticket as a candidate for representative in the legislature from Hancock county. At the ensuing election in November he was successful at the polls, and served out his term satisfactorily. In December, 1900, Mr. Cole was admitted to the bar, and has since been engaged in the practice of his profession at Findlay.
ELI W. PEPPLE.
The above named representative agriculturist resides in Cass township on a well cultivated farm which lies in the oil belt of Hancock county, and therefore adds that element of material worth to its general value. He is the son of John and Mary (Groner) Pepple, natives of Pennsylvania, who settled in Hancock county in 1847, after previously residing for some time in Columbiana county. The father of Mrs. Pepple had entered two hundred acres of unimproved land, and of this he gave his daughter sixty-six and two- thirds acres. Afterward John Pepple bought the same amount of land ad- joining that of his wife on the east, which was also a part of her father's entry. Improvements were made on these farms, and in 1865 John Pepple bought forty acres additional, on which there were also some improvements. These forty acres lie along the public highway, north of Mrs. Pepple's land, and to this place the family moved in the spring of 1865, where Mr. and Mrs. Pepple continued to reside until their deaths. John Pepple was a prac- tical and industrious farmer. He had considerable influence in the town- ship among his fellow citizens, who by a popular vote elected him to the office of township trustee. He also served fourteen terms as township treas- urer and a number of years as school director. He was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he served as a class leader and steward. He stood well in the church, in society and in the political field, always true to his faith and to his convictions. He had eight children, seven
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of whom grew to maturity, and six of the number still survive. He was born March 18, 1819, and died March 1, 1897. His wife was born May 17, 1825, and died May 7, 1891.
Eli W. Pepple was born in Morrow, formerly Delaware county, Ohio, April 26, 1847. He was an infant when brought to this county by his par- ents. He passed the days of his boyhood and youth in the pleasures and pastimes peculiar to his day, doing his share of the farm labor, and there laying the foundation of that excellent health which has attended him through life. Besides the ordinary branches taught in the district school, he further added to his literary education by a course in the Findlay high school, where he fitted himself for teaching. Mr. Pepple followed this pro- fession with much success for fifteen years, teaching in the winter and help- ing to conduct the farm in the summer. In 1872 he concluded that "the best part of valor is discretion," so to speak, and he surrendered to the graces of Miss Sarah A. Draper, the marriage occurring December 17, 1872. Mrs. Pepple was a daughter of W. L. and Louisa (Supply) Draper, and she died January 28, 1888, after becoming the mother of three children : Mary L .; Carl. deceased; and Dodie W. December 25, 1889, Mr. Pepple was mar- ried to Miss Sarah J., daughter of Robert and Eliza A. McKee. Mrs. Pep- ple's family are natives of the Keystone state, she having been born in Alle- gheny county in October, 1842. She is an accomplished lady who in former years was a successful and popular school teacher in Hancock county, and has a half interest in a nice farm property of eighty acres in her own right in the northeastern part of Cass township. Mr. Pepple moved to his pres- ent farm in 1879, where he has since resided. He is as popular with the people as was his father before him, and is fully as stanch in upholding Re- publican principles. He has held the office of township clerk for a con- tinuous period of twenty years, and was re-elected in 1902 for two years more, besides holding the office of supervisor and school director. He and his good wife are honored members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are leaders of thought and movement in their part of Hancock county.
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