USA > Ohio > Allen County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 38
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 38
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HARLES J. MOORE was born near Columbus, Ohio, February 2, 1858. He is a son of W. S. G. Moore, whose biographical sketch also ap- pears in full in this volume, to which the at- tention of the reader is invited.
Charles J. Moore was educated in the pub- lic schools, which, by the time he attended them, had become superior in buildings, appa- ratus and teachers to those of a generation be- fore. Early in life he began to work at vari- ous branches of trade and industry, remaining with his father until he arrived at his major- ity, at which time he began on his own ac- count, working at what was his principal trade, that of brick-niolder, though he was unusually handy with tools of all kinds, and. being of a very ingenious turn of mind, he could have succeeded and has succeeded in other lines.
On June 7, 1884, he was married to Miss Ida Bucher, of Van Wert, and of German de- scent. After his marriage he still continued to work at his trade for a considerable time, un- til he was appointed car inspector on the Cin-
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cinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw railroad, at which he was engaged two years. At the end of this time he began draying in the city of Van Wert, and he has continued at this line of work ever since. In politics Mr. Moore is a republican, and in religious faith he is a Lu- theran. He is a member of five different fra- ternal lodges, viz: The I. O. R. M., K. of P., National Union, Rathbone and Pocahontas.
Ida Bucher, wife of Mr. Moore, was born July 25, 1865. Her father, Peter Bucher, was born in Dauphin county, Pa., July 3, 1801, and was of German ancestry. He was reared on a farm and followed agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred July 24, 1880. He married Miss Lighter, of Rich- land county, Ohio, by whom he had eight children, viz: Amos, Eliza, John, Harriet, Henry, Joseph, Mary and one that died in in- fancy. Mary and Harriet married and have since died. All those who are living are also married. The mother of these children died in 1843, and in 1852 Mr. Bucher married Miss Sophia Fiddler, of Adams county, Pa., by whom he had nine children, viz: Samuel L., Margaret, Albert F., Lydia C., Adeline A., Oliver J., Alice S., Ida C. and Angeline A. Only three of these children are living, viz: Albert F., Lydia C. and Ida C., and all are married. The mother of these children died in Van Wert, Ohio, in 1886. She was of German descent and a member of the Ger- man Reform church. She was an excellent woman in every way and her loss was greatly felt by her family and a large circle of friends.
Miss Ida Bucher was born on a farm in Van Wert county and received her education in the country schools. When sixteen years of age she came to the city of Van Wert, and here met . Mr. Moore, whom she married when she was eighteen years of age. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of the Rathbone Sisters, and also of Pocahon-
tas lodge. She and her husband are the par- ents of one child, viz: Willie E., born in 1884. He is an unusually bright boy, is at- tending the Van Wert public schools, and is the pride and hope of his parents. Both Mr. and Mrs. Moore are excellent people, and are respected by all that know them.
QTTLIEB MOHR, a prominent and successful farmer of Hoaglin town- ship, Van Wert county, Ohio, was born in Sultzfield amt Eppinger. Ba- den, Germany, September 10. 1836. His grandfather, George Mohr, was born, passed his life, and. died in Sultzfield. He owned and operated a small farm and married Elizabeth Hiltzelberger, by whom he had two sons, Fred- erick and Jonathan.
Frederick Mohr, father of the subject. was in many ways a remarkable man. He was born in Sultzfield in 1796 and was married to Catherine Kohn, who was born in 1801. She was a daughter of Frederick and Catherine (Hagenberger) Kohn, the former of whom owned a good farm and shoe store. They reared nine children-three sons and six daugh- ters. Frederick Mohr was a farmer and gave considerable attention to raising sheep. He served as justice of the peace eleven years. He was up to the end of that time a prosper- ous man, but when, in 1848, the revolution broke out in Germany, which drove so many German families to the United States, Fred- erick Mohr took sides with the people against the government: and, his cause being lost. his property was confiscated and he was reduced to poverty. In consequence he emigrated with his family to this country in the spring of 1849, his family consisting of eight members- himself and wife, five sons and one daughter. The sons were Charles, Frederick, Christian,
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Gottlieb and Jacob, and the daughter Cather- ine, she being the fourth child.
Mr. Mohr located first, in 1849, in Richland county, Ohio, but in 1850 removed to Van Wert county, where he entered eighty acres of land in sections Nos. IS and 19, Hoaglin township. At that time there were but two roads cut through the woods north of Van Wert, and the settlers were few and far be- tween. Milling had to be done in Willshire, Delphos or Mercer, two days at least being re- quired to make the trip to mill and back. Mr. Mohr, upon arriving in Hoaglin township, lo- cated by mistake and erected a log cabin on the wrong land, and when this fact was pointed out to him it took him four days to get his land properly surveyed and to get his family upon it, there being no roads cut through, a dis- tance of only three miles, and so he had to travel nine miles to get round to his own en- try. Davis Johnson was at that time the county surveyor, and he lived near Willshire.
In 1854 a German preacher, named John Fox, a member of the Evangelical association, located in Van Wert, and preached for the early settlers. He formed a small class, which numbered among its members Frederick Mohr, Jacob Spieler, Charles Mohr, Jacob Leist and Elias Beamer and their respective wives. In 1862 Frederick Mohr bought an acre of land for a church site and a graveyard, for which the members of this small class paid $25. In 1864, the membership having be- come too large for accommodation in private houses, a frame church building was erected at a cost of $600. Up to this time services had been conducted in the German language, notwithstanding there were a few English- speaking members; but from 1864 to 1880 services were conducted in both German and English. By 1880 most of tho older German families had passed away, and as the younger generation preferred the English language,
services in German were discontinued, which proved unsatisfactory to the German families; ( by that time there were about seventy-five members) so that arrangements were made to build a new church, Lewis Lake, Sr., giving an acre of land for a site, on Hoaglin creek. upon which site a new church building was erected at a cost of $1, 700, and since 1880, up to date, there are 160 members and a Sun- day-school of ninety scholars. This member- ship is divided into two classes; the class-lead- ers are as follows: Jaines Rumble. Henry Beamer, McClellan Hoaglin, Mathew Yoh; stewards and trustees are as follows: Charles Mohr, Sr., Gottleib Mohr, Bender M. Yoh, William Hoaglin; Sunday-school officers at present are as follows: Superintendent, James Rumble; assistant superintendent, Daniel Rider; secretary, Edward Rider; chorister, Henry Beamer; organist, Allie Mohr; treasurer. Mrs. Sarah A. Mohr; librarians, Roy Rogers and Oscar Kirney. Frederick Mohr died June 26, 1871, and his wife, Catherine, died October 6, 1869. Their greatest delight was to attend religious services, and to do good to their fellow-men. Their memory is still fondly cherished by their descendants and relatives.
Gottlieb Mohr worked for his father until he was eighteen years of age, when he was given his time, and began working for $10 per month. This he continued two years, at the end of which time he bought a teain of horses. rented a piece of land in Liberty township. and was married in April, 1860, to Miss Sarah Snearly, of Allen county, Ind. He lived in Liberty township until the fall of 1863. when he purchased eighty acres of land in Hoaglin township, adjoining his father's farm, in sec- tion No. 18. He and his wife have had eleven children, three of whom, sons, have died. The eight that are living are as follows: George Edward, who married Mary Lindsay: Susie, wife of William Hoaglin; David, who
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married Ella Reid; Cassie, wife of George Foust; Lydia, wife of James Rumble; Allie, Hattie, and Walter, the last three living at home.
Mr. Mohr has been an unusually successful man, and now owns 331 acres of good land in Hoaglin township. He is looked upon by every one as an honorable man in all respects, and as one of the truly self-made men of the county. He has always been a hard-working, industrious man, and an excellent manager, and his farm bears evident indications of care- ful and judicious cultivation and improvement. Mr. and Mrs Mohr have been members of the Evangelical association ever since before mar- riage, and take an active interest in all church work, as do their children. As a republican Mr. Mohr has served as treasurer of Hoaglin township two terms. He is a thorough agricul- turist, and built the second tile factory in the township, which he operated ten years, and has well under-drained his farm, which is the one of the main reasons for its being in such a high state of productiveness. Few men if any stand higher in the estimation of their neigh- bors and friends than does Gottlieb Mohr.
ORGAN H. MORGAN .-- The sub- ject of this biography is a leading farmer and business man of Jen- nings township, Van Wert county, Ohio, is an ex-county official and one of the representative men. Mr. Morgan is a native Wales, where his birth occurred in the year 1835: His parents, Hugh and Mary (Jones) Morgan, came to the United States in June, 1849, bringing with them their children, viz : William, who grew to manhood and married a Miss Harris, both deceased; Morgan H. ; Mary, deceased wife of. Joseph Edwards; John, a well-known farmer of Jennings; Jane, deceased wife of D. T. Jones; Richard, who died at the
age of nine years; and Malissa, whose death occurred at the age of thirteen. Hugh Mor- gan was a farmer and land owner in Jackson county, Ohio, where he first settled and where he resided until the death of his wife.
Morgan H. Morgan, after coming to the United States, learned the trade of nail-making in Pittsburg, Pa., where he worked for a period of four years; thence went to Jackson county, Ohio, and learned carpentering, in which he acquired great efficiency, following the same about eleven years. In 1863 he came to the county of Van Wert, being induced to do so at the solicitation of his uncle, William M. Jones, a wealthy and influential stockholder of the Jefferson furnace, who purchased for him a tract of 190 acres of land in Jennings town- ship. Mr. Jones also invested in real estate for the benefit of the subject's brothers, Will- jam and John, to whom he gave ninety-five and 160 acres, respectively. The aforesaid Mr. Jones had been connected with the Jeffer- son furnace for a period of twenty-five years, and after retiring from the same spent the remainder of his days with the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Morgan's first marriage was solemnized with Mary P. Davis, of Jackson county, who bore him two. children : Elizabeth, wife of E. W. Williams; and Mary Jane, wife of Morris Jones. Mrs. Morgan dying, Mr. Morgan after- ward entered into the marriage relation with Mrs. Ann Jones, widow of David S. Jones, who lost his life in a mill explosion. By her first marriage Mrs. Morgan had three children, daughters, who found in Mr. Morgan a true guardian, and his children found in her kind- ness and consideration for their welfare much to compensate thiem for the loss of their own mother. The second Mrs. Morgan also died, and later Mr. Morgan again entered into the bonds of matrimony, choosing for his wife the widow of Richard Chapman.
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Mr. Morgan has been quite successful in the accumulation of wealth, owning, at this time, 246 acres of land in one tract, besides other valuable real estate in town and country. He is a public-spirited man, has done much to- ward promoting the material interests of the township in which he resides, and was one of the principal movers in securing the narrow gauge railroad through Van Wert county, having been a member of the executive com- mittee and one of the directors of said road. In partnership with Dr. Shaffer and D. W. Evans, Mr. Morgan contracted to construct twenty-six miles of the road, which section was completed under his supervision without his realizing any great profit from the undertaking. Since moving to the village of Venedocia, Mr. Morgan has been carrying on the undertaking business, in partnership with D. W. Williams, and for some years he has been interested in the Jefferson furnace; he is also identified with the Ohio Wheel works at Delphos. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan are members of the Welsh Pres- byterian church, in which he has served as deacon for a period of thirteen years. He is secretary of the church at Venedocia and takes an active part in all moral and religious move- ments. He is an uncompromising eneiny of the liquor traffic and politically is a supporter of the prohibition party.
Mr. Morgan's life has been one of great activity and usefulness, and his domestic rela- tions, with the exception of sadness occasioned by the visitations of death, have been of a most happy nature. His social position and standing with the public have been com- mensurate with the flow of his domestic hap- piness, and he has been deserving of all that has been bestowed upon him financially or otherwise. He served as commissioner of 'Van Wert county three years, and proved to the public that the confidence they reposed in him was by no means misplaced. He is a man
of sterling integrity, popular with all who meet him in business or other relations, and few people in the county occupy a warmer place in the estimation of the public than he.
ROF. P. SCHUYLER MORGAN, principal of the Western Ohio Nor- mal school and one of the leading educators of northwestern Ohio .- Rev. John P. Morgan, son of Peter Morgan and father of P. S. Morgan, was born in south Wales in 1830, was about eight years old when brought to America by his parents, and re- ceived a good education, He was married in Jackson county, Ohio, to Abishag Pryse, who was also born in the southern part of Wales, in 1833, a daughter of John and Rachael (Cos- lett) Pryse. This union was blessed by the birth of eight children in the following order: Rachael, Mary, P. Schuyler, John C., James P., Ammie, Elizabeth and Margaret-the first five in Jackson county and the latter three in Van Wert county, Ohio. John P. Morgan, through due course of preparatory study and in due course of time, was ordained a minister in the Calvinistic Methodist church, preached for many years in Jackson and Gallia counties, and in 1865 came to Van Vert county and set- tled in Venedocia, where he was given charge of three congregations-Horeb, Salem and Zion, all within the county of Van Wert-and here he continued in ministerial work until 1883, when impaired health compelled him to retire to private life in his home at Venedocia.
Prof. P. Schuyler Morgan was born in Jackson county, Ohio, October 5, 1865, and was brought to Van Wert county by his par- ents. He received the usual course of prepara- tory education in the district school, was gradu- ated from the classical course of the Oliio Western Normal university at Ada, Ohio, in 1883, and in 1893 from the classical course of
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the university of Wooster, Ohio. During the intervals of his own study he taught in the common schools of Van Wert county and in the Western Ohio Normal school at Middle- point, and after his final graduation, in 1893, became principal of Salem academy, Ross county, Ohio, a Presbyterian academy, which position he resigned in 1894, being elected as principal of the Western Ohio Normal school at Middlepoint, the position he is now so ably filling the second year.
Prof Morgan has infused new life into the Western Ohio Normal, improved the methods of instruction, increased the number of pupils and added to the curriculum, and has other- wise given many evidences of his skill as a dis- ciplinarian and ability as an instructor. He has met with phenomenal success in preparing the students for the higher universities and in training them to become teachers in other schools. This institution was founded in 1885, the first principal being W. F. Hufford, and Prof Morgan being an assistant the first year, the latter being a thoroughly educated classical scholar.
The marriage of Prof. Morgan took place at Middlepoint, May 16, 1889, with Miss Agnes Foster, who was born January 1, 1860, in Middlepoint, a daughter of Simon and Sarah Foster, and this congenial union has been blessed by the birth of two children-Dewitt S. and Lelia A. Mrs. Morgan is a graduate of the Western Ohio Normal school, and has been a teacher of the Latin language since 1888, in the Western Ohio Normal. The school building is a new and commodious edifice of brick, well adapted for all the pur- poses for which it was constructed, and cost $17,000. The institution has been a blessing to the youth of northwestern Ohio and the ad- joining counties of eastern Indiana, and Prof. Morgan, although still a young man, has ac- complished a grand work in the successful
manipulation of the advantages it affords. The professor and wife are both devoted mem- bers of the Lutheran church, and in politics. the professor is a republican.
ICHARD J. MORGAN, a rising young physician of Van Wert, Ohio, was. born in Van Wert county, August 10, 1866, and is a son of William H. and Esther (Harris) Morgan, both natives of south Wales who met after coming to the United States and were married in Pittsburg, Pa., whence they came to Ohio and located in Jackson county, where William H. engaged in coal mining until 1860, when the family came to Van Wert county, where the father pur- chased 172 acres of land in Jennings township and employed himself in farming until his death in April, 1881, being followed to the grave by his wife in September of the same year, both dying in the faith of the Welsh Presbyterian church, and being the parents of seven children, viz : Henry, a farmer of Van Wert county; William, a miller of Venedocia, this county; John. a railroad man of Column- bus, Ohio; Hugh, deceased: Richard J., our subject; Lizzie, wife of William B. Evans, farmer of this county, and David H., dentist of Van Wert city. Four of this family are men- bers of the celebrated Venedocia Welsh choir, of Jennings township, this county.
Richard J. Morgan was reared on the home farm in Jennings township and was educated at the Normal schools of Ada, Ohio, and An- gola, Ind .; he entered the Jefferson Medical college of Philadelphia in 1887, graduated in 1890, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Van Wert. in partnership with Dr. McGavren, with whom he is still identified; in 1892 he took a polyclinic course in New York city, and now makes a speciality of the treatment of disorders of the eye and.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
ear, in which he has gained a fine reputation and built up a lucrative practice. The doctor was married in Van Wert, September 26, 1893, to Dode M. Lynch, who was born in this city September 8, 1866, a daughter of A. and Mar- garet (Hammers) Lynch. The doctor is a Presbyterian in religion, is fraternally a Mason and a Knight of Pythias, and in politics a true repulican.
EV. JAMES F. MOUNTS, of Van Wert, and a minister of the Central Ohio conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, was born in Marion county, Ohio, near Prospect. December 17, 1824. He is a son Humphrey and Sarah (Flemming) Mounts, of whom the former was born in Pennsylvania in 1794. was reared a farmer, and in his early manhood came to Ohio as a pioneer of Delaware county, where he was married. At the end of five years he moved to Marion, county, where he cleared up a farm of 160 acres, and lived on said farm until his death. To his prolific union with Sarah Flemming, a daughter of James Flemming, the following children were born in the following order : Nancy J., wife of Lyman Sherman; Jane, wife of Jerry Moore; Samuel; Mary A., wife of Thomas Davids; James F., subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, wife of William Davis; Rachael, wife of William Conkright: Sarah, deceased wife of John Sells; Matthew, de- ceased, and three children that died in infancy. Humphrey Mounts was a soldier in the war of 1812, was a useful citizen, and died in Marion county, in 1862, at the age of sixty-eight years. His wife, a native of Pennsylvania, was brought to Ohio when a child, and lived to the ripe age of eighty-two years, she being a member of the Presbyterian church for sixty-five years.
James F. Mounts received his preparatory education in Marion county, Ohio, and then
attended the Wesleyan university of Delaware, Ohio, for two years. Being then licensed to preach, he was appointed to Richwood circuit, in the fall of 1858, and after the expiration of his ministrations there received the following appointments : Celina, Van Wert, Delphos, Saint Mary's, Van Wert again, Marysville station. Bryan, Elida, again at Van Wert and Saint Mary's, Rockford, Convoy, once inore Van Wert, Ohio City, and Dixon, in the order named. He was in the traveling connection thirty-eight years. As an example of what ener- gy and determination, combined with a sincere interest in the work in hand and the object to be attained, will do for a young inan, it may be recorded that Mr. Mounts was but eighteen years of age when his father presented him with a horse, which he at once sold for $45, apply- ing the cash for the purpose of defraying his entrance-fees to college, and, to eke out his ex- penses while a student, he worked as a day laborer, shoveling dirt on the college grounds or as a harvest hand for the neighboring farm- ers. For eleven years, also, he was a very successful school-teacher, and concluded his labor in that vocation at Prospect, Ohio. He entered the ministry at the age of thirty-three years, and has never missed a conference and but few appointments on the day he was due. and from the age of eighteen years he has been a member of the church in which he has been so eminent as an eloquent and able expounder of its doctrines.
Rev. James F. Mounts was united in the holy bonds of matrimony in September, 1847, with Miss Ellen Landon, daughter of Darius and Mary Landon, the result of their union being five children-Mary, wife of David My- ers, of Allen county, Ohio; Sarah Florence and Sarah F., who died in infancy; James E .. a fariner of Hoaglin township. Van Wert coun- ty, Ohio, and Emma L., deceased wife of Bruse Oyler. Of these children James E. was
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born in Marion county, Ohio, in 1844, learned the trade of harness-maker, and at the age of twenty-one years married Mrs. Julia Jeannette, daughter of Alexander and Sarah (Beachler) Kunkle. Alex. Kunkle was born in Pennsyl- vania of German parentage. Sarah Beachler, his wife, was also a native of Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio with her parents, who settled in Williams county when there was but one house within its limits. There the father erected a log house, cleared up a farm and followed his trade of carpenter until his death. having been a deacon in the Baptist church, of which his widow is also a member.
Rev. James F. Mounts has been a willing and faithful servant of the Master, and during his ministry has added to his church about 2,000 communicants, has united in marriage about 675 couples, and has preached about the last-named number of funeral sermons. The rising generation may indeed look upon him with pride and pleasure and call him "blessed."
J AMES WALTER MORRIS, a promi- nent young confectioner and dealer in fine cigars, tobacco, etc., of Van Wert, Ohio, was born in Champaign county, this state, April 5, 1865, and is a son of Will- iam and Mary Jane (Tway) Morris, now resi- dents of Mechanicsburg, in the county just named. Our subject was brought up to his business at home, where he had every oppor- tunity of learning the trade of baker and con- fectioner and all the mysteries connected with the making of the finest candies, and there fol- lowed this art until he was twenty-five years of age-or until 1890 -- in March of which year he came to Van Wert and established his pres- ent business, which comprises the manufacture and sale of confectionery of every description, including ice-cream, to which he has added the sale of the finer brands of cigars and tobacco.
His pleasant address and obliging disposition have won a host of friends, and he has built up a remunerative and permanent trade. He was married in Champaign county, Ohio, June 12, 1890, to Miss Maud Barr, who was born in Mechanicsburg, Champaign county, Ohio, September 23, 1868, a daugliter of C.C. Barr, a carriage mannfacturer of that town, and to this union has been born one child -- Marjorie B. Mr. and Mrs. Morris are members of the Presbyterian church and in politics Mr. Morris is a republican; fraternally he is an Odd Fel- low. In his trade he makes a specialty of his delicious cream candies, and he also carries a large line of fine extracts.
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