USA > Ohio > Seneca County > A centennial biographical history of Seneca County, Ohio > Part 34
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In November, 1854, Mr. Deisler was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Shade, who was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, the daugh- ter of Samuel and Catherine (Carrick) Shade, who took up their resi- dence in Seneca county in 1835. The father of Mrs. Shade, Frederick Carrick, was a valiant soldier in the Continental army during the war of the Revolution. During a long and ideal married life of nearly half a century Mrs. Deisler continued as the devoted and cherished companion and helpmeet of her husband, her summons to the "land of the leal" com- ing on the 29th of September, 1898, when she passed away in her sixty- ninth year. She was a woman of noble character and her memory rests as a benediction upon those who came within the immediate sphere of her influence. Mr. and Mrs. Deisler became the parents of eleven children, and all are living, namely : Benjamin F., a farmer of Defiance county ; Lucinda, the wife of Gottlieb Hash, a farmer of Paulding county ; Joseph, a farmer of the same county ; George William, engaged in the insurance business in the city of Sandusky ; Sarah A., the wife of Daniel F. Smith, Bloom township ; James Samuel, a resident of Tiffin ; Simon, a ditch con- tractor of Paulding county ; Reuben, a resident of Toledo and a passenger fireman for the Pennsylvania Railroad; John H., of Williams county; Catherine A., the wife of John M. Sponseller, who has charge of the farm of our subject, and who has three children,-Herbert J., Dora Fay and George Milton ; and Harvey, a farmer of Paulding county.
WILLIAM J. SMITH.
William J. Smith, one of the best-known citizens of Seneca county, is a representative of good old Irish stock. His father, John M. Smith, was born in Londonderry, Ireland, August 10, 1826, but in 1837, when a lad of eleven years, he accompanied his parents, James A. and Eliza- beth A. Smith, on their removal to America, the family locating in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, where the son, John M., grew to mature years and learned the wagon-maker's trade. In 1847 he made the journey to
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Seneca county, Ohio, where he decided to locate, and, sending east for his parents, they purchased the old John Smeltz farm east of Caroline. In 1849, however, John M. Smith left his Ohio home for the gold fields of California, making the journey by way of Cape Horn, and after his arrival in the Golden state engaged in mining and farming, in which he met with a reasonable degree of success. In 1853 he returned to his home in Seneca county, purchasing the James McKittrick farm, where he spent the remaining years of his life, having been called to his final rest on the 17th of April, 1898, his death resulting from the kick of a horse, living but two hours after the accident. From 1867 until 1880 he was a member of the Presbyterian church in Caroline, but in the latter year he united with the Reformed church, of which he remained a con- sistent member until his life's labors were ended in death. His political support was given the Democracy, and for one or more terms he was the efficient justice of the peace of his township. As a companion on the journey of life Mr. Smith chose Miss Mathilda Smith, and they became the parents of ten children, nine of whom still survive: James A., of Baldwin, Indiana; William J., of this review; Mary A., the wife of George Aylea, also of Indiana; Nancy J., the wife of James Clemens, of Carrothers, Ohio; Daniel H., a prominent farmer of Venice township : Samuel A., who also makes his home in this township, as does his brother, Thomas J .; Matilda A., the wife of Charles Armitage, of Reed township; and James H., of Venice township.
William J. Smith, of this review, is a native son of Venice town- ship, Seneca county, his birth having here occurred on the 15th of Sep- tember, 1857, and to its public-school system he is indebted for the edu- cational privileges which he received in his youth. At the age of twenty- one years he began operating a threshing machine, later purchasing a new steam thresher, and for sixteen years he followed that occupation. In 1892 he became the owner of his present home farm, consisting of eigthy acres of rich and productive land, and soon after its purchase he abandoned his threshing operations in order to give his entire time and attention to the cultivation of his land. He is recognized as a man of executive ability and enterprise and is numbered among the leading citi-
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zens of the community. He is liberal in his political views, but his preference is for the Democracy, and in his social relations he is a mem- ber of Attica Lodge, No. 367, F. & A. M.
December 18, 1884, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Theodosia Sovereign, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Rufus and Nancy ( Rodgers) Sovereign, natives respectively of Canada and Ken- tucky. Five children have blessed the union of our subject and wife, but the first born died in infancy, and the third in order of birth, Rufus, also died in childhood. The three surviving are Edith, John and Edna. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Reformed church.
CHARLES L. WEININGER.
One of the leading and representative farmers of Seneca county, Ohio, is Charles L. Weininger, who is a most highly esteemed and sub- stantial citizen of Seneca township.
The birth of Mr. Weininger occurred in Wyandot county, Ohio, May 6, 1846. He was a son of John and Catherine (Lane) Weininger, and a grandson of Adam Weininger, the latter of whom was a native of Germany. From that land he emigrated to the United States in 1815, at a date when this country began to make great strides in the direction of permanent commercial, industrial and particularly agricultural progress.
Adam Weininger was just the type of settler needed in the lands offered by the government, in the state of Ohio. Honest, industrious, plodding and persevering, no physical task was too great for him to undertake in the hope of providing for the welfare of those dependent upon him, and soon his home in Fairfield county showed the effects of his activity. In 1826 he moved to Wyandot county, where he became possessed by some two thousand acres of land, and here he lived until his death, at the age of eighty years, being at that time one of the most re- spected men of his locality. His trade was that of blacksmith. His old home is now owned by the heirs of Jesse Badger.
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John Weininger, who was the son of Adam and the father of our subject, was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, and grew up on his father's farm, accompanying him to Wyandot county. He became a man of prominence in his locality, filled a number of the local offices with great efficiency and was a leading member of the Baptist church. His first marriage was to Catherine Lane, who was a daughter of John Lane, and they had five sons, viz. : Solomon and George, of Wyandot county ; Joel, of Fostoria; Jackson, deceased; and Charles L., of this sketch. The second marriage of Mr. Weininger was to Mary Johnson, who still sur- vives and is a resident of Mccutchenville. After his first marriage he obtained one hundred and thirty acres of his father's farm, which was heavily timbered, erected here a log cabin and here his death occurred in April, 1891, at the age of eighty-one years. From 1832 to 1835 he kept a hotel, on the old plank road, one mile north of Mccutchenville, during which time he became well known to the traveling public, those being the times when the country inn offered most welcome rest and entertainment for the passengers of the old "stage coach," of pleasant memory. At his death Mr. Weininger left an estate of six hundred acres.
Our subject was reared on the old farm and received the best educa- tional advantages offered in his locality. After finishing the common- school course he attended Heidelberg College, in Tiffin. In 1876 he was united in marriage to Miss Laura Welsh, who was a native of Zanesville. Ohio, and four children were born to this union, namely: Frank, at home; Herma, the wife of Paul Bigger ; Dolly, deceased at the age of six years; and Welsh.
Soon after his marriage our subject moved to his present farm, which he had purchased in 1867, and which is located in sections 35 and 36, in Seneca township, and comprises one hundred and forty-five acres of most excellent land, and the old home farm, which he also owns, contains one hundred and thirty acres. Here he carries on extensive operations in farming and stock-raising, being thoroughly equipped for both lines of activity in the way of modern machinery and permanent and substantial improvements. These have all been made by Mr. Weininger and reflect
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credit upon his good taste and judgment. His home is one of the most comfortable to be found in the vicinity.
Mr. Weininger is a sensible and well-balanced citizen, a leading member of the Democratic party, a good business man and one who keeps thoroughly abreast of the times. His children have been given excellent educational advantages, his daughter having become noted for her talents in drawing and music, in the convent school which she attended for four years, in Tiffin. He is highly respected in the township and is justly considered one of the representative men.
CHARLES D. GANGWER.
There may be found in almost all American communities quiet, re- tiring men, who never seek official preferment or appear prominently in public affairs, yet nevertheless exert a widely felt and beneficent influence in the community, helping to construct or solidify the foundation upon which the social and political world rests. Such a man was the honored subject of this memoir, and he was ever found faithful to duty, under whatever aspect it presented itself, never sacrificing integrity and honor to personal expediency and so living as to command unqualified confi- dence and esteem as emanating from those with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life. Not undue eulogy but rather simple jus- tice is done to the memory of such a man when perpetual record is made concerning his life and accomplishment, and this the writer would at- tempt in this simple tribute to one who stood "four-square to every wind that blows," who attained definite success in temporal affairs and who was one of the representative farmers and honored citizens of Seneca county during the major portion of his long and useful career.
Mr. Gangwer was of stanch German lineage and was himself a na- tive of the old Keystone state of the Union, having been born in Allen- town, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, on the 27th of December, 1836. He was reared and educated in his native town and when seventeen years of
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age began an apprenticeship at the shoemaker's trade, becoming an expert in the same and continuing to follow this vocation in Allentown until he had attained the age of twenty-eight years. Then he came to Seneca county, Ohio, and located in Tiffin, where he passed one winter, after which, in 1859, he took up his abode on the fine farm where his widow now resides, in Pleasant township, five miles north of Tiffin. The place was practically unreclaimed from the forest wilds, and the only improve- ment of note was a small log house of the pioneer type in which they lived fourteen years. He cleared the greater portion of the place and brought the land under effective cultivation, having laid hundreds of rods of tile and converting what was originally almost a swamp into one of the best farms of the community. As the years passed and prosperity attended his assiduous and well directed endeavors, Mr. Gangwer made the best of permanent improvements on his homestead, including in 1869 the fine brick residence where his widow now lives, the same being commodious and of attractive architectural design, and standing as one of the beautiful homes of the county. He devoted his attention to diver- sified agriculture and to the raising of high-grade stock; and since his death his widow has superintended the management of the farm, show- ing marked executive capacity and profiting by the experience of her long and grateful association with her honored husband. The farm comprises one hundred and sixty acres, all of which is available for cul- tivation except seven acres, which are yet covered with native timber. In politics Mr. Gangwer supported the Democratic party and its princi- ples, and his religious faith was that of the Reformed church at Fort Seneca, of which he was an elder for years and of which his widow also is still a devoted member.
On Whitsunday of 1858 Mr. Gangwer was united in marriage to Miss Louisa Gensenlither, who was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. March 27, 1840, the daughter of Jacob and Lena Gensenlither. Mr. and Mrs. Gangwer became the parents of four children, namely: Annie M., the wife of William Dutrow, of Tiffin; Caroline, the wife of John W. Coy, a capitalist of Washington, D. C .: Henry, who is successfully en- gaged in farming near Columbia City, Indiana: and Jane, who became
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the wife of Rev. S. W. Seaman, a clergyman of the Reformed church at Columbus, Ohio, and died July 7, 1901, at the age of thirty-five years. She left two children,-Eveline and Karl. She was educated in Heidel- berg College, where she was a classmate of her husband, whom she after- ward married when twenty years of age. All the children have been educated at Heidelberg College, and Henry was a teacher in the county ten years. Since Mr. Gangwer's death Mrs. Gangwer has taken into her family a young girl named Louisa Holsinger, who has become a valued companion. Mr. Gangwer died December 7, 1898, in his sixty-second year. He had an uncle named Thomas Gangwer, who was a saddler by trade, was a cripple and came to Seneca county with his brother James, the father of the subject of this sketch, some five years previously to the latter's arrival. Charles D. came to care for his uncle, who in return for the care gave him eighty acres of land. Thomas set up a shop on the farm, where he worked as long as he was able, for during the last five years of his life he was almost helpless. During the ten years of his life here he was tenderly cared for by Charles D. and his wife. The parents of our subject continued to reside upon this farm until their death, the mother dying in 1876 and the father fifteen years later.
JAMES P. MOURER.
James P. Mourer is a well-known attorney of Fostoria who has at- tained to a leading position at the Seneca county bar, although he has been in practice here only about eight years. He is numbered among the native sons of the city, his father being John J. Mourer, who was born in Alsace, France, and who, on emigrating to the new world, about 1864, took up his abode in Fostoria. Here he established a clothing store, which he successfully conducted for a number of years, dying in 1898, at the age of forty-six. He married Catherine Knissel, who was born at Kaiserslautern, Germany.
At the usual age James P. Mourer entered the public schools, con-
JAMES P. MOURER.
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G. E. Sever
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tinuing his studies until he had completed the high-school course. He was then matriculated in Fostoria Academy, and when his literary edu- cation was completed he began to prepare for the practice of law, read- ing in the office of Brown & Guernsey. He also attended the law de- partment of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, being admitted to the bar in 1894, since which time he has been engaged in practice in this city. Gradually his patronage has increased and to-day he is en- joying a large and remunerative clientage. His preparation of cases is most thorough and exhaustive; he is said to grasp intuitively the strongest points of law and fact, while in his briefs and arguments the authorities are cited so extensively and the facts and reasoning are presented so cogently and unanswerably as to leave little doubt as to the correctness of his views or conclusions. No detail escapes him; every case is given its due prominence and the cause is argued with such skill, ability and power that he rarely fails to gain a verdict.
Mr. Mourer was united in marriage to Miss Alberta Chance, of Fostoria, a daughter of Henry Chance, and they have a pleasant home and enjoy the highest regard of many friends. In politics he is a Re- publican, and while he has firm belief in the principles of the party he has never sought or desired office, preferring to devote his entire atten- tion to his law practice. He represents a number of corporations en- gaged in the development of the oil fields, and has a large share of prac- tice in connection with the most important cases tried in the courts of this district.
HON. GEORGE E. SENEY.
If "biography is the home aspect of history," as Wilmott has ex- pressed it, it is entirely within the province of true history to comment- orate and perpetuate the lives and character, the achievements and honor of the illustrious sons of the state. High on the roll of those whose efforts have made the history of jurisprudence in Ohio a roll of fame appears the name of George E. Seney, who for more than a third of a
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century has been numbered among the legal practitioners of the state. No man has ever been more respected in Seneca county, and none has ever more fully enjoyed the confidence of the people, who, recognizing his merit, have rejoiced in his advancement and the honors to which he has attained. He is a lawyer of the highest rank, learned in his profes- sion and a most persuasive and powerful advocate; and, though nearly forty years have come and gone since he quit the bench for the bar, Judge Seney is yet engaged in the practice of law and maintains his place as a foremost representative of the legal fraternity of this great commonwealth.
Respecting the ancestors of Judge Seney and his kindred, by blood and by marriage, much may be said. His father, Joshua Seney, long a resident of Tiffin, was born in Maryland and reared in the city of New York, where he was educated for the legal profession. He was a gradu- ate of Columbia College and the University Law School and soon there- after was in the war of 1812, as an aid-de-camp on the staff of a com- manding general. He was the private secretary of Albert Gallatin, then secretary of the United States treasury under President Madison. At Uniontown, Pennsylvania, he began the practice of law and won dis- tinction at the bar. He was the law partner of Andrew Stewart, an eminent lawyer and a politician of national fame. While a resident of Uniontown, he declined the appointment of United States judge for the western district of Pennsylvania, tendered him by Andrew Jackson, then president of the United States. After his removal to Tiffin he gave no attention to the practice of law. Twice he was elected treasurer of Seneca county and later and for years was the clerk of the supreme court of Ohio, by the appointment of its judges. The late Judge Lang, who for many years knew Mr. Seney intimately and well, in his history of Seneca County, says: "If Joshua Seney's industry had been equal to his capacity, he would have been very successful as a lawyer. He had a natural aversion to anything that looked like labor. He was all poli- tician ; and a more shrewd and far-seeing politician than him Seneca county never had in any party. He was unselfish, and sought no office for himself. When he liked a person who aspired to office, he did all in
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his power to aid him. Raised in the lap of wealth and luxury, he knew nothing about labor, or the value of money. He had very little taste or application for the practical part of life. His language was chaste and polished, and his manners peculiarly his own. He was perfectly at home in an office, and discharged every trust with ability and fidelity. He was treasurer of Seneca county, for two terms, and clerk of the supreme court for many years. He wrote a fine hand, and his records are spot- less. He had a large, well developed head and expressive countenance, a black eye, a pleasant voice, and his hands were so small as to attract attention. He was finely educated, knew the theory of the law, but had no ambition to practice it. He was a great student and reader, and few men were better posted on good literature. He was not a good public speaker ; but, as a forcible writer he excelled."
The maiden name of the mother of George E. Seney was Ann Ebbert, and she was a daughter of George Ebbert, a prosperous mercham of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. This lady was much more than an ordinary woman. Domestic in her tastes, she lived a quiet and unostentatious life, abounding in good deeds. She was born and reared in Uniontown and liberally educated at the female seminary in Brownsville, Pennsyl- vania, and soon after her graduation became the wife of Joshua Seney. She was a lady of great practical sense, and had strong religious convic- tions. Prior to her marriage she was an active and influential Christian worker in her native town, and in Tiffin, where she lived twenty-two years a wife and twenty-six years a widow, she was held in the highest esteem. In her the poor and deserving had a valued friend, and at the bedside of the sick and dying she was a frequent and welcome visitor. To her four daughters and three sons she was an indulgent and loving mother, and to her husband a most devoted wife.
George Ebbert, the father of Ann Ebbert, and his wife, Sarah Wood, were born, reared and married in Philadelphia. Their parents were natives of Pennsylvania, and in Philadelphia accumulated wealth and held high social position. Upon his marriage George Ebbert re- moved to Uniontown, where he established a mercantile business, which he conducted with marked success for forty years. In many respects
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he was a model man, sound in judgment, successful in whatever he undertook, kind in heart and generous in hand; and this is also to be said of his wife, who was a model as a wife, mother, neighbor and friend.
The paternal grandfather of George E. Seney was the distinguished jurist and statesman of Maryland, Joshua Seney. For three successive terms he represented his native county in the Maryland house of dele- gates, and later the colony of Maryland in the last continental congress. He was a member of the electoral college which re-elected George Wash- ington president of the United States, and was chief justice of the courts in the third judicial district of Maryland. In the first and second congresses, under the constitution of the United States, he was a repre- sentative from the state of Maryland, and was elected to the third con- gress, but died before it convened. Upon the marble stone at the grave of this eminent man is inscribed these words :
"From the Commencement of the American Revolution,
at various periods of his life, he filled with ability some of the highest stations, and discharged with integrity some of the most important duties to which his native state could appoint him ; preserving through the whole a character, both private and public, unstained by a single vice."
The wife of this eminent citizen of Maryland was Frances Nichol- son, a daughter of James Nicholson, a distinguished commodore of the navy in 1776, and whose father, Francis Nicholson, was, prior to the Revolutionary war, the colonial governor of Maryland. Another daugh- ter of Commodore Nicholson was the wife of Albert Gallatin, who was the secretary of the United States treasury under Presidents Jefferson and Madison, a senator in congress from the state of Pennsylvania, also envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Great Britain, to France, to Russia, and to the Netherlands. Another
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of the commodore's daughters was the wife of Colonel William Few. who was a member, from Georgia, of the convention that framed the constitution of the United States and later a senator in congress from that state; and another the wife of John Montgomery, who was the mayor of Baltimore and later a representative in congress from Mary- land. A son of Commodore Nicholson was a member of congress from Maryland, and another son was a captain and later a commodore in the United States navy.
John Seney, the paternal great-grandfather of George E. Seney, was born in Maryland, and there was eminent as a lawyer and in public affairs. In the Revolutionary war he was the captain of a militia com- pany organized for the defense of the colonies and later was in com- mand of a regiment of which he was the colonel. Near the close of the struggle he was elected to represent his native county in the Maryland house of delegates, and was re-elected for nine successive terms, in two of which his distinguished son, Joshua Seney, was a representative. He was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of Mary- land, preparatory to her admission into the Union of the states, and later was a member of the convention called by the people of Maryland to ratify or reject the constitution of the United States. At the first .election of electors for president and vice president of the United States he was chosen an elector for the state of Maryland, and in the electoral college voted for George Washington for president.
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