USA > Ohio > Seneca County > A centennial biographical history of Seneca County, Ohio > Part 64
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Joseph Van Nest was but five years of age when the family removed to Tiffin, and in the public schools of this city he received his early edu- cational training. After leaving school he was employed in his fa- ther's factory until the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a soldier, but as the quotas were filled he was not assigned to any regiment until August 11, 1862, when he became a mem- ber of Company I, One Hundred and First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with the rank of corporal. The regiment was assigned to the First Brigade of the First Division of the Fourth Army Corps of the Army of the Cumberland. He was engaged with his regiment in all the great battles in which it participated, including the engagements at Perry- ville, Knob Gap, Stone River and Chickamauga. In the battle of Stone River he received three severe wounds,-two in the left leg and one in the left arm,-and as a consequence he was incapacitated for active service for a period of five months. On the 13th of January, 1863, Mr .. Van Nest was taken prisoner, at Harpeth Shoals, on the Cumberland river, and was paroled with other prisoners on the same date. He re- joined his command and was in the battle of Liberty Gap, Tennessee, while he had the distinction of being color guard of his regiment during Sherman's memorable march to the sea. Thus he participated in the
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tles of Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost, Dalton and Resaca, in which last engagement he was again severely wounded, in the right knee, on May 14, 1864, being struck by both shell and bullet, though the buller was not found until three years later, when it was extracted. These wounds have proved a permanent disability, and Mr. Van Nest had been con- fined to the hospital for more than a year prior to his discharge from the service, on the 20th of July, 1865.
After his return from the army, where the fortunes of war had so cruelly treated him, Mr. Van Nest returned to Tiffin and again be- came identified with the carriage manufacturing business of his father, having been a partner in the enterprise for three years prior to the lat- ter's death. He then entered into a partnership with his brothers, John, William and George, and they continued the business successfully until 1889, when William Van Nest purchased the same and has since carried forward the important industry individually. Joseph Van Nest was not thereafter actively engaged in any vocation until 1894, when he was brought prominently before the citizens of the county by his candidacy, on the Republican ticket, for the office of sheriff. Seneca county is re- garded as belonging to the Democratic party, but Mr. Van Nest, never- theless, was elected, and that over the most popular candidate on the Democratic ticket. He was the first sheriff elected on the Republican ticket in thirty-five years, and he would doubtless have been re-elected had not an unusual occurrence awakened political animosity. In Oc- tober, 1895, Sheriff Van Nest, with a small force of deputies, repelled an immense mob, maddened by drink and thirsting for revenge for the murder of Tiffin's popular marshal, August Schultz. Nothing but death, which was administered to two of the leaders of the mob, was sufficient to check its impetuosity, and volley after volley was fired by the sheriff and his five deputies before the corridor of the jail was finally cleared of the ferocious multitude. The coolness of Sheriff Van Nest in this ordeal and also in the trying hours afterward, when he laid and executed a plan by which Lee Martin escaped with his life to the Fre- mont jail, brought into high relief the true soldierly qualities and ma- ture judgment of the man.
President Mckinley, who was then governor of Ohio, compli-
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mented Mr. Van Nest on his bravery in performing his duty. The sheriff had a very narrow escape himself, as, in the tumult and excite- ment of the time, a number of bullets were fired at him. Although he felt at the time that he had done only his duty, Mr. Van Nest was later reminded that this fulfilling of his trust was not forgotten by that great and noble man, Governor Mckinley, for through him he received an appointment as land appraiser for the government, in Indian Territory, the duty involved being the providing of the proportionate allot- ment of the lands to the five civilized Indian tribes,-the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, the Cherokees, the Creeks and the Seminoles. About one hundred and seventy appraisers and equalizers were appointed to visit the territory, and in September, 1900, Mr. Van Nest took charge of his portion of the work, returning to Tiffin the following July and having performed his prescribed duty with the efficiency which has marked his entire public and business career. In the Indian Territory the appraisers maintained seventeen camps, in each of which were six of their number, besides a cook and two teamsters. They would estab- lish headquarters in a certain township and would then carefully inspect each quarter section, for the purpose of equalizing the allotment among the Indians, such an equal division of the land having not been previously been made, and after giving the work his most careful attention Mr. Van Nest returned to his home in Tiffin, where he is now living retired from business activity, enjoying the comforts of a delightful home and conscious that he is beloved within the circle of his intimate acquaint- anceship, as is he also esteemed and respected by his fellow citizens at large. In politics it is scarcely necessary to state that he is a stalwart supporter of the Republican party and the principles for which it stands exponent, and fraternally he is one of the popular and valued members. of General William H. Gibson Post, Grand Army of the Republic, in Tiffin.
In the year 1868 Mr. Van Nest was united in marriage to Miss Marian L. Morehouse, a young lady five years his junior. She was born in Onondaga county, New York, where she was reared and edu- cated. She was a woman of gracious and beautiful character, was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and when she was
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summoned into eternal rest she was deeply mourned by a very large cir- cle of appreciative and devoted friends, her death occurring on the 29th of November, 1900. She is survived by her three daughters : Arlie S., who is the wife of Andrew Greer, of Wyandot county ; Jessie E., who remains at the paternal home; and Nellie Belle, who is the wife of W. W. Bemisderfer, of this county.
JACOB WERTZ.
From a little German home across the sea Jacob Wertz was brought to the new world and entered upon a career which seems almost in- credible ; yet it is not simply the outcome of propiticus circumstances, but the honest reward of labor, good management, ambition and energy.
His birth occurred in Wittenberg, Germany, on the 29th of De- cember, 1850, his parents being George and Barbara (Brendle) Wertz. With his wife and children the father took passage on a sailing vessel and came to America, spending thirty-four days on the water, and after his arrival at once made his way to Bascom, where he engaged in the mercantile and sawmilling business. This venture, however, did not prove profitable, and the savings of many years of hard and laborious toil were swept from him; but he immediately set to work to retrieve his lost possessions and embarked in the cultivation of the soil. This proved a more profitable employment and he was soon recognized as one of the leading and successful farmers of Seneca county. He has now reached the seventy-eighth milestone on the journey of life. Mr. and Mrs. Wertz became the parents of ten children, four sons and six daughters, but only five of the number are now living, namely: Jacob, the subject of this review; Barbara, the wife of Michael Weller ; Henry. a successful farmer of Hopewell township: George; and Mary, the wife of Charles Miller, of Scipio township, Seneca county.
When four years of age Jacob Wertz was brought to Ohio, and in the public schools of this locality he received the educational advan- tages which he enjoyed in his youth. At the early age of fourteen he
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began the battle of life for himself, working for four dollars a month for eight years, and during that time he saved eighteen hundred dollars. With the means thus acquired he was able to purchase his present farm of one hundred and forty acres, near Bascom, and he has placed the same under an excellent state of cultivation, and here he is actively en- gaged in general farming and stock-raising. He is in every sense of the word a self-made man,-one who, without any advantages at the commencement of life, has battled earnestly and energetically, and by indomitable courage and sagacity has achieved both honor and afflu- ence.
In April, 1879, Mr. Wertz was united in marriage to Elizabeth Smith, and they have two children,-Emma and Jacob, both at home. The Democracy receives Mr. Wertz' hearty support and co-operation, and all movements and measures which have for their object the ad- vancement of his fellow men find in him a firm friend and active worker. Since ten years of age he has been a member of the Reformed church, and for the past ten years he has served as a deacon therein. Both he and his wife are highly esteemed in the community in which they have so long made their home, and their well wishers are legion.
PAUL MILLER.
We now come to a consideration of the more salient points in the life history of one of the representative business men of Seneca county, one who stands forward as a native son of the county and a member of a sterling pioneer family. His name has ever been synonymous with upright manhood and good citizenship; he has given his influence and means to the betterment of society, to schools and church, to the support of good government and to the industries which have had im- portant bearing on the advancement of the prosperity and material up- building of the county.
Mr. Miller was born in Venice township this county, on the 5th of May, 1840, being the son of John M. and Frederica ( Writer) Miller,
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who became the parents of ten children, namely: John M., David T., Lewis, Elias, Christian C., Paul, Aaron and Moses (both deceased ), Solomon, and Hannah, who is the widow of Mr. Gruner. John M. Miller was born in Germany, on the 15th of June, 1801, and was there educated, learning the weaver's trade. He was there married, and in 1832 emigrated to America, locating in Medina county, Ohio, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits for a period of four years. In 1836 he came to Seneca county and purchased a quarter section of heavily timbered land, in Venice township, having to cut a way throughi the forest to reach his place. Here he built a primitive log cabin, and he cleared the farm and brought it under a fine state of productivity, while the success which had attended his efforts was attested by the fact that prior to his death he had accumulated about five hundred acres of good land in this county. He was a zealous member of the Lutheran church, and held various local offices of trust and responsibility. His first wife died in 1850, and he subsequently married Miss Catherine Kalb, who died in 1880, there having been no children born of their union. The father of our subject passed away in 1885, at the venerable age of eighty-four years and honored as one of the sterling pioneers of the county.
Paul Miller, the immediate subject of this sketch, was reared on the old homestead and acquired his early educational discipline in the public schools. He thereafter learned the carpenter trade, and in Jan- uary, 1864, he enlisted in the Union army as a mechanic, working at his trade in St. Louis, thence being sent to Nashville and later to John- sonville, Tennessee, where his command remained until driven out by the Confederate forces, when they returned to Nashville, where Mr. Miller received his honorable discharge, in the spring of 1865. He then returned home, and for a time was located in Lykens township, Crawford county, whence he removed to Tiffin, Seneca county, where he purchased a sawmill, which he operated four years, and then removed to Swanders Station, Shelby county, where he remained four years, at the expiration of which time he came to Bloomville, where he has since maintained his home and where he has conducted an important business in the way of milling, lumbering, contracting and building and farin-
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ing, being one of the active and progressive business men of the county and having shown a marked capacity for affairs of wide scope and importance. He has owned seven different sawmills, and also is at the present time owner of a well equipped sash and door factory in Bloomville. He is a stanch Democrat in politics and served for four years in the office of justice of the peace, while for more than a decade he was a member of the town council of Bloomville. His religious. faith is that of the Reformed church, of which his wife also is a member.
In 1863 Mr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Mar- shall, who was born in Venice township, this county, the daughter of Jacob Marshall, who was born in Germany, whence he came to America, becoming one of the pioneer farmers of Seneca county, Ohio, where he owned several hundred acres of land at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have had eight children, namely: John B., of Bowling Green, Ohio; Elizabeth A., the wife of E. D. Swanders, of Bowling Green ; Emma C., the wife of C. F. Sponseller, of Cleveland ; Benja- min F., Harry N. and Charles B., who are at the parental home; Ilona, who is deceased; and Iva Pearl, who is at home.
T. D. STEVENSON.
T. D. Stevenson, an insurance broker of Fostoria, has been a resi- dent of this place for a comparatively brief period, locating here in 1890. During the past three years he has represented various insurance companies and has has secured a good clientage in this line. A native of Sandusky county, Ohio, he was born in Green Creek town- ship, in November, 1842, his parents being David and Mary (Madden) Stevenson. The parents were born in the north of Ireland and both were of Scotch-Irish lineage. They became early settlers of Sandusky county and there the subject of this review was reared. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted, in 1861, for three months' service, as a member of the Eighth Ohio Infantry, joining the regiment at Tiffin, after which he went to Camp Chase, but being one of the youngest recruits he was
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sent home. Not deterred, however, he resolved to carry out his de- termination of becoming a Union soldier, and going to Morrowville, he joined the Third Ohio Infantry, for three years' service. For two years he was with that command in the Army of Cumberland, serving under Generals Buell, Kilpatrick and Sheridan, and in other commands. In the battle of Stone River he sustained two wounds and on account of his injuries he was discharged and then returned home. When he had sufficiently recovered, however, he re-enlisted, becoming a member of the Ninth Ohio Infantry, and he served until discharged at the close of the war. He had previously learned the harnessmaker's trade and in the Ninth Ohio he ranked as saddlery sergeant.
While residing in Sandusky county Mr. Stevenson was for fourteen years engaged in teaching, beginning in the district schools. In 1877 he was admitted to the bar, having previously studied law, and while residing in Gibsonburg he engaged in practice. Mr. Stevenson laid out the town of Gibsonburg on the farm which he owned, and he named the place in honor of Colonel Gibson, of Tiffin, giving him an interest in the property. The little village has flourished and grown as the years have passed. Mr. Stevenson engaged in the real-estate business, dividing his land into lots, developed the town and placed it upon a sub- stantial foundation. He established a good school there and was ever active in the promotion of the interests of the community until his health failed. In 1884 he was elected county clerk of Sandusky county and then removed to Fremont, where he filled the office for three years. He was also justice of the peace of Gibsonburg for fourteen and one-half years and in these positions of public trust and responsibility he proved himself capable and loyal. In the year 1890 he came to Fostoria, where he established a grocery store, successfully conducting it until 1899, when he became an insurance broker, representing various fire, life, accident and tornado insurance companies. The policies which he writes amount to thousands of dollars each year, and his commissions thereon return to him an excellent income.
In Wood county, Ohio, Mr. Stevenson was united in marriage to Miss Rosetta A. Fowler, a daughter of Amos D. and Castara T. (Enead) Fowler. Her parents were early settlers of Erie county. Ohie.
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and in 1861 removed to Wood county, where her father engaged in farming. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson has been blessed with four children : Amos Claude, the eldest, is now an attorney of Toledo. He is a graduate of the Union schools of Fremont, of Stedman Business College, at Toledo, and completed the classical course in Oberlin Col- lege. He then began preparation for the legal profession, pursuing his law course in the Ohio State University, at Columbus, and in the cap- ital city he was admitted to the bar. He is now one of the enterprising and capable young attorneys of Toledo, where he is rapidly winning advancement. Ray D., who is a graduate of the high school of Fostoria, will complete a course of study in the Ohio State University with the class of 1903. Thomas D., who was a graduate of the Union schools of Fremont, Ohio, died in December, 1892, at the age of twenty years. Edson M. died in October, 1892, at the age of ten and one-half years. In his fraternal relations Mr. Stevenson is a Mason and for thirty-nine years has been connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has filled all the offices. He also belongs to the post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Fostoria. He is to-day as true to his duties of citizenship as when he followed the starry banner upon the battlefields of the south. Whatever he has accumulated in life is the result of his own efforts. He entered upon his business career without capital and without the aid of influential friends, and has advanced stead- ily to a prominent position. All who know him esteem him very highly for his genuine worth and although he has been a resident of Fostoria for a comparatively brief period he has made many warm friends here.
PHILETUS NYMAN.
Among the men of prominence and substance who have assisted materially in the growth of the industrial enterprises of Tiffin, Ohio, must be mentioned the late Philetus Nyman, whose death occurred at his residence in this city on January 7, 1892. For a long period he was the junior member of the well known manufacturing firm of Loomis
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& Nyman, of Tiffin. He was descended from Revolutionary stock, his maternal grandfather, Mr. Woolvor, having taken a prominent part in the Continental army. Philetus was born in Ithaca, New York, No- vember 12, 1822, a son of John and Elizabeth (Hower) Nyman, the former a native of Holland. He came to the United States during his youth, locating in the state of New York, was there married, and when his son Philetus was still a child removed to Ohio, where he engaged. in farming.
Young Philetus grew up on the farm, taking advantage of all edu- cational opportunities, though limited, which came within his reach, and at about the age of eighteen years entered a shop at New Haven, Ohio, where he learned the trade of machinist. This knowledge was put to practical application after he settled in Tiffin, Ohio, in 1848. Here he formed a business partnership with John D. Loomis, in the manufacture of all kinds of farming machinery in use at that time, mak- ing a specialty of plows. Although the beginning was small the industry and energy of the partners soon made it known, and it grew into one of the largest manufacturing plants of this city, for many years the firm name of Loomis & Nyman being a guaranty of a superior make of goods in that line. With almost unvarying success this business flourished, and the partnership continued until 1891, when it was dis- solved by the mutual consent of both. At the outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Nyman assisted in the formation of a company of one-hundred- day men for action in case of state invasion, and of this he was made lieutenant, but their services were not needed and they returned from Cleveland to their homes. He was in sympathy with stable government, being ever an upholder of law and order.
The marriage of Mr. Nyman occurred on October 7, 1848, in Crawford county, Ohio, to Miss Anna Hanes, daughter of Daniel and Susanna ( Bordner) Hanes, both of whom were natives of Penn- sylvania, but came to Ohio in an early day and located in Crawford county. Mrs. Nyman was born in Stark county, Ohio, January 1, 1831. Seven children were born unto Mr. and Mrs. Nyman, only four of whom grew to years of maturity, namely: Alice, the wife of Charles F. Searles and a resident of Port Clinton, Ohio; Ella, who married.
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Henry L. Thornton and lives in Cincinnati, Ohio; Ida, who married James T. Lynch, of Tiffin; and Etta, who married James W. Knott and lives in Toledo, Ohio. The children were all highly educated and are leaders in their various social circles. Mrs. Nyman is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. Nyman's kind heart made him ever ready to respond to the call of charity, although his unassuming habit and retiring manner made many of his benefactions known only to the re- cipients of his bounty. He was a man who took his greatest pleasure in the comforts of his home and the welfare of his family, for whom he had carefully provided a competency. Although not a man of exceed- ing wealth, his means were ample, and the beautiful home now occupied by his widow is a sample of his provision of her comfort. It is located on Melmore avenue, and its attractive grounds make it a beautiful fea- ture of that handsome thoroughfare. The death of Mr. Nyman was caused by an affection of the heart. He left behind him a spotless repu- tation and a large circle of devoted friends.
HENRY F. SCHEERER.
In the death of Henry F. Scheerer, in the year 1898, the little city of Bloomville sustained the loss of one of its able business men and most highly esteemed citizens,-one who was honored in the community not less by reason of his sterling character than on account of his public- spirited attitude and his influence in the furthering of the progress and substantial upbuilding of the town. It is certainly fitting that a memoir to him be incorporated in this work, and in the connection it will be found that he was the architect of his own fortunes, and that his life was one dominated by the highest principles of honor and integrity.
Mr. Scheerer was born in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, on the 21st of April, 1829, and was there reared and educated, remaining in the fatherland until he had attained the age of twenty years, when, in 1849, he emigrated to America, believing that here were to be found superior advantages for the young man dependent upon his own re-
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sources for a maintenance. Soon after his arrival he made his way to Ohio, locating in Bloom township, Seneca county, where he learned the trade of shoemaker, in the shoe and cabinet shop of the Shideler Brothers, remaining there for three years and then taking up his resi- dence in the little town of Bloomville, where he worked at his trade until 1857, in which year he opened a general store, handling clothing, boots and shoes and groceries, and soon afterward he enlarged the scope of his business enterprises by engaging in the handling of poultry, wool. logs and sheep, and for a great many years his wife had charge of the store while he was absent in connection with his other branches of business. He disposed of his mercantile business in 1872, and within the following year completed the erection of the Scheerer Block, a two- story brick structure, and one of the best business buildings in the town. In 1872 he had erected the attractive and commodious residence in which his widow still makes her home, the same being then the largest and most pretentious residence in the town, and he was also the owner of a con- siderable amount of other town property, improved and unimproved. Mr. Scheerer was a man of mature judgment and marked business ability, and his interest in all that conserved the advancement of his home town was unflagging. He was a Democrat in his political pro- clivities, and he was naturally called upon to serve in various offices of trust and responsibility, having been for a number of terms incumbent of the offices of township trustee and township treasurer, and having also done effective work in the position of street commissioner, in which capacity he established the first turnpike streets in Bloomville, while he was a member of the town council for many years. He was one of the influential members of the Reformed church, in which he served as deacon and trustee, his widow also being a devoted member of the same church. Mr. Scheerer was summoned into eternal rest on the 16th of September, 1898, and his loss was deeply felt in the community where he had passed so many years of his active and useful life and where his friends were equal in number to his acquaintances.
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