USA > Ohio > Allen County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 59
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 59
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Mr. Hoffinan was married November 25, 1856, to Margaret Hofman, daughter of Peter and Mary (Wendle) Hofman. The father and mother of Mrs. Hoffman were natives of Ger- many, but immigrated to America many years ago, and in 1857 located in Van Wert county, Harrison township, where Peter Hofman is now a leading farmer. The following are the names of the children born to Christopher and
Margaret Hoffman : Charles P., Christopher J. C., Benjamin F., Philip A., Callie C., Emina C. and Mary M.
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ENRY KANNEL, a prosperous farmer of Pleasant township, Van Wert county. Ohio, is a son of Joseph and Peggy (Welch) Kannel, and was born in Richland county, Ohio, in 1848. Joseph, the father, was born in Adams county, Pa., in IS15, and was a son of Jacob, who was born in Germany about the year 1770, and when a young man settled in the Keystone state. About 1832 Jacob came to Ohio, located in Stark county, where he passed four years, and then removed to Richland county, where he died in 1845. Joseph Kannel, the youngest son of Jacob by a marriage to a lady who bore the maiden name of Hoover, came to Stark county with his parents, learned the trade of carpen- ter and builder. In 1853 he moved to a farm he had long previously purchased in Crawford county, and there died February 2. 1890. Miss Peggy Welch, whom Joseph Kannel mar- ried December 6, 1839, in Richland county, bore to her husband seven children, viz: Mary and James, who died in childhood; Margaret; Henry, the subject of this sketch; Sarah J., and John, who still lives on the homestead in Crawford county. The mother of these children was born in Richland county, Ohio, April 14, 1817, and is still living on the farm in Crawford county, a member of the United Brethren church, of which her husband had also been a member.
Henry Kannel, the subject of this sketch, was educated in Crawford county, Ohio, first attending the little log-cabin school of his neighborhood, and later attending a seminary at Lexington, Richland county, and for two terms an institution of learning in Ashland county. In his early youth he had learned the
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
carpenter's trade, but preferred teaching for a livelihood, and in 1869 entered upon this vo- cation in Crawford county. For eleven terms he followed the profession, and of these eleven terms three were taught in Seneca. The mar- riage of Mr. Kannel took place December 25. 1877, to Miss Lucy A. Briegel, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth (Shafer) Briegel, and to this union one daughter has been born and named Alvira C. Mrs. Lucy A. Kannel is a native of Crawford county, Ohio, and was born in 1853. Her father was born in Baden Baden, Germany, about 1812, and when twenty-one years old came to America and set- tled in Pennsylvania, where he married Eliza- beth Shafer, who bore eleven children to the union. After his marriage Mr. Kannel lived in Bloomfield, Seneca county, about eleven years, following his trade of carpenter. In 1886 he purchased the farm on which he still lives, in Pleasant township, Van Wert county, ,
where he has since been engaged most suc- .cessfully in agricultural pursuits. Mr. and Mrs. Kannel are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and by their daily walk through life give full evidence of their sincere belief in its teachings. In politics Mr. Kannel is a republican, and, though no office seeker, never fails to show his loyalty to his party through the exercise of his franchise.
BRAHAM HOGHE, deceased, form- erly a prosperous farmer and a prom- inent citizen of Van Wert county, Ohio, was born in Schuylkill county. Pa., June 16, 1810. Both of his parents were natives of Pennsylvania, and with them he came to Ohio in 1826, they locating in Picka- way county, where they engaged in farming and lived until death.
Abraham Hoghe removed to Van Wert county in 1843, locating on what has for many
years been known as the Hoghe farm, in Lib- erty township. There he became the owner of 200 acres of land, a part of which he pre- empted from the government, and a part of which he purchased. At the time Mr. Hoglie came to Van Wert county, the greater part thereof was still a wilderness, and where the city of Van Wert now stands there were but two cabins, and, as it is but natural to infer, he endured all the privations and hardships known to pioneer life; but in his old age Mr. Hoghe had the satisfaction of knowing that he had inade one of the best farms in the county. Mr. Hoghe was dintinguished for many things. He was the first man in the county to make a distribution of bibles, selling to those able to buy, and giving to those too poor to buy, and he found the latter class largely in the major- ity. On February 20, 1842, he was married in Franklin county, Ohio, to Eliza Caldwell, a daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth (Cogan) Caldwell, both natives of Tuscarawas county, and at the time of his marriage to their daughter, residents of Franklin county. By trade and occupation Mr. Caldwell was both a farmer and a carpenter, and he was unusually successful in life. Mrs. Caldwell died in 1847 and Mr. Caldwell some few years later.
Mr. Hoghe lived on his farm in Liberty township until his death, but toward the latter part of his life he did not engage actively in any kind of business or labor. For many years he was a true and consistent member of the Presbyterian church, and in politics he was one of the old-time democrats. His death occurred February 4, 1891, when he was eighty-one years old. Mrs. Hoghe, his widow, still survives, is living with her son, Clinton A. She is a member of the Presbyterian church. and is seventy-four years of age. She and her husband were the parents of the following children: Clement R. : Andrew W .. deceased: Charles Merrit, deceased: Elizabeth A .. wife
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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.
of George Copeland, a resident of Lima; Sarah Jane, widow of Milton Curtis; Clinton A .; Alice, wife of D. O. Cooper, and Irene, wife of J. A. Vance, all residents of Van Wert county.
Clinton A. Hoghe was born April 2, 1851, on the old homestead. His boyhood was spent at home and in acquiring such education as the country schools then afforded. With the ex- ception of three years, 1877-80, inclusive, he has lived upon the home farm, those three years having been spent in Kansas. April 10, 1882, he married Alice B. Watt, a daughter of W. N. and Margaret T. (widow) Watt, a biogra- phy of the former of whom appears on another page in this volume. Mr. Hoghe is one of the most successful farmers of the county, and is one of its best citizens. He has 160 acres of land of his own four miles from Van Wert. To his marriage with Miss Alice B. Watt, three children have been born, viz: Hallie A. ; Earl C., and Willie Guy. In politics, like his father, Mr. Hoghe is a democrat, has served on the school board of his township, and is in every way a representative citizen, worthy of and receiving all respect from his fellow-men.
'OHN I. MOOREHEAD, a respected citizen of Tully township, Van Wert county, Ohio, and an ex-soldier of the Civil war, is a son of Alexander and Delilah (Pickens) Moorehead, and of Scotch- Irish descent through an old Pennsylvania colonial family.
Alexander Moorehead came from Pennsyl- vania with his parents to Ohio and located in Fairfield county in the pioneer days, and was first married there, after which event he moved to Putnam county. His children by his first marriage were named Winton, Emanuel, Thomas, Elija, Lorena, Rebecca, and several who died while still young. This first wife died in Putnam county, and Mr. Moorehead
there married Delilah Pickens, and to this union were born nine children, viz: David, Jefferson, Rachael, Henry, John I., Calvin, Phebe, Delilah and Emma. December 25, 1839, Mr. Moorehead came to Van Wert county and settled in Willshire township, where he entered 240 acres in the forest afar from any other settler. With the assistance of his sons he wrought out a good farm from the wilder- ness, and reared a family of sturdy pioneers. In politics he was a democrat until the first Lincoln campaign, when he joined the repub- lican party and became an ardent Union man ; although over sixty-five years of age, would have enlisted to preserve the nation from dis- ruption, but was, of course, rejected by the government on account of age; however, he furnished five sons for the defense of the Union, as follows: David, who served three years in the Forty-sixth Ohio infantry, company H; Henry, in the same company, was drowned by being crowded off a boat while at the battle of Pittsburg Landing; Jefferson died from sickness at Moscow, Tenn., while serving in an Indiana regiment; Calvin, at first in the Fifteenth Ohio infantry, veteranized, and had a record running through five years, being promoted to orderly-sergeant; the experience of John I. will be related further on in this sketch. The father of these soldiers lived to be about seventy-five years old, and died near Leipsic, Putnam county, a member of the United Brethren church, an honored citizen and a sub- stantial farmer.
John I. Moorehead, whose name introduces this biography, was born in Putnam county, Ohio, December 23, 1837, and when but two years of age was brought by his father to Van Wert county, and here reared on a farm. He married Miss Edith, daughter of William and Rhuama Brown, on the 25th day of .December, 1859, and had born to him nine children, who were named Eliza, Alzina, Susan, Calvin,
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Sherman, John J., George M., Leonne M. and Ettie M. Mr. Moorehead, after his marriage, first went to housekeeping on his father's farm and next settled on sixty acres in Liberty town- ship, Van Wert county. This land he labored hard at improving, until his enlistment for 100 days, on May 2, 1864, in company H. One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Ohio infantry, under Capt. Singleton W. Davis, and on the organi- zation of the company was elected corporal. He served ten days over his time, and during his service, which was chiefly at Point Lookout, on the Potomac river, doing guard duty, he was stricken with cholera and also had a severe sunstroke, from which latter he has never fully recovered. He was honorably discharged in August, 1864, and on his return home resumed farming in Liberty township. He had the misfortune to lose his wife June 17, 1888, and lived a widower until 1892, when he sold out, moved to Mercer county, bought twenty acres of land, and on December 29, 1892, married the widow Hannah M. Shope, whose maiden name was Snediker. In the spring of 1894 he came to Convoy and bought the pleasant home in which he at present resides. Mrs. Moore- head is a member of the Society of Friends, while her husband is a member of the United Brethren church, in which he has been a stew- ard, class leader, exhorter for two years, and a licensed preacher for ten years. In politics Mr. Moorehead is a republican, has filled the office of township trustee, and has ever been a gentleman in whom the community has never hesitated to repose its confidence.
James Snediker, the father of Mrs. Hannah M. Moorehead, was born in Pennsylvania, east of the Allegheny mountains, and in the pioneer days came to Ohio with his parents, who set- tled near Yellow Springs, in Greene county. Here he married Martha Hopkins, daughter of Moses Hopkins, the union resulting in the birth of four children, named as follows: Hannah
M., Mary J., Emily and Joseph. The Snedi- ker family was of German and the Hopkins family of Irish ancestry. The Snediker family were early settlers of Jay county, Ind., and for a time resided three or four iniles from any neighbor in a dense wood without roads and swarming with wolves and other wild animals. Mr. Snediker reached the age of sixty-six years. and died a devout member of the Methodist church. Mrs. Moorehead was first married to George Clauson, of Adams county, Ind., and next to William Shope, and last to Mr. Moore- head. The daughter of John I. Moorehead, Rhuama, was married to George W. Jones, a stationary engineer of Willshire township, Van Wert county, Ohio, and became the mother of six children: Emma Eliza, married Philip Krisher, a farmer of Tully township, and has five children; Susanna married Sylvester Myers, of Harrison township, and has four children; Calvin married Lizzie Ackom, and has two children; he is a railroad man and lives in Glenmore; Ira S. married Mary Holder, and the rest of Mr. Moorehead's family are unmar- ried and at home.
HOMAS REDRUP .- Few men, not one in a thousand, have had the varied experiences, and have gone safely through the hardships and dangers, that have fallen to the lot of the sub- ject of this sketch. Thomas Redrup was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, June 23, 1842, and is a son of James and Ann (Phelps) Redrup.
James Redrup was a native of Devonshire, England, and there received his education, following farming as his occupation until 1840, when he came to the United States. While on the voyage across the sea, he met and conrted Miss Ann Phelps, whom he married on reaching Cleveland, Ohio, in 1841. After their marriage they located in Parma, Cuya-
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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.
hoga county, and there Mr. Redrup engaged in farming until 1850, when he removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., and there was engaged in dairying until 1860. Removing then to Mans- field, Ohio, he went into the grocery business, and not long afterward exchanged his grocery store for a grist-inill five miles northeast of Mansfield, and conducted his mill until 1871. He then removed to Van Wert county and bought a farm in Tully township, upon which he resided until ISSo. This farm. he exchanged for land in Harrison township, upon which he lived until 1895. selling it then and buying property in the city of Van Wert, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1886. His wife died in 1884. James Redrup and his wife were the parents of eleven children, viz: Thomas, the subject of this sketch; Hattie; Mary; Emma, deceased; John; Charles; Alice; Fannie, deceased; George; Lottie, wife of O. A. Balyeat, and James, deceased. The parents of these children were both Bap- tists, and in politics Mr. Redrup was an un- compromising republican.
Thomas Redrup was ten years of age when his parents removed to New York, and from that time until he was eighteen he assisted his father in the dairy business. Upon arriving in Mansfield he assisted his father in the grocery business until he attained his majority, when he apprenticed himself for three years. to the harness and saddler's trade. At the breaking out of the war. when President Lincoln called for 75,000 three-month troops, he enlisted in company H, Fifteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, and with his regiment was assigned to the army of the Cumberland. At Columbus, Ohio, he was made corporal, at Zanesville he was made sergeant, and at Grafton, W. Va., he was appointed hospital steward, acting as such until the expiration of his teri of enlist- ment. Afterward he served with a regiment of "squirrel hunters," in the capacity of
orderly-sergeant. Returning to Mansfield in 1862. he, in company with J. Hetrick and eiglit others, drove freight wagons from Grin- nell, Iowa, to Virginia City, Mont., and there engaged in gulch mining at $8 per day, in gold. While en route from the former to the latter place they suffered many privations, were many times attacked by Indians, and drove over mountains were they where compelled to lower and elevate their wagons by chains- traveling some times not more than three miles per day. Streams they crossed by means of pontoon bridges, and at times they had as many as thirty-six yokes of oxen at- tached to a single wagon in crossing a stream.
Mr. Redrup worked in the mines until the fall of that year, when, in company with about fifty others, he started for home with a mule train, via Denver. When about 600 miles from Denver, in the Black Hills, they were overtaken by a tremendous snow storm, and lost half their train, the fall of snow being eight feet deep. Returning to the stage road. Mr. Redrup engaged with the company opera- ting a stage route from Atchison to Salt Lake City, a distance of 1,800 miles, and remained with them one and a half years, and was express agent over the same route for six months. At Virginia Dale station he located an express agency, and remained there three years. his family joining him at that point. Removing to the North Platte river he remained there until 1869. While there a flood swept away the building of the agency, but by good fortune all escaped in row boats, after which they lived in tents until the house could be re- erected. Returning to Mansfield, Ohio, Mr. Redrup engaged in farming in Ashland county, where he remained until 1871. For six months he was then engaged in the grocery business in Mansfield, when he removed to Van Wert county, and purchased a saw-mill eight miles west of Van Wert, which he operated one
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
year, and then removed to Van Wert, still, however, operating his saw-mill two years longer. Selling his saw-mill he was elected constable, serving in that office ten years, in the meantime serving four years as marshal and four years as street commissioner. He was deputy United States marshal eight years and game warden three years. He owns ten acres of land within the corporation.
Mr. Redrup was married in Mansfield, Ohio, to Mary J. Rickets, by whom he has had five children, viz: Charles J., of Fort Wayne, Ind .; Harry C .; Nellie, wife of James Miller, manager of the Singer Sewing Machine com- pany's agency in Van Wert; and Alice, wife of Charles Hunt, passenger conductor on the C., .J. & M. railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Redrup are members of the Baptist church, and Mr. Red- rup has been a member of the Improved Order of Red Men ever since the organization of that lodge in Van Wert.
DAM HIRN, an industrious and ris- ing farmer of Jennings township, Van Wert county, was born in Morrow county, Ohio, October 9, 1852, and is a son of Christopher and Veronica (Schaub) Hirn. The father, Christopher Hirn, was a son of Jacob Hirn, and was born in Weisloch, in the grand duchy of Baden, Germany, June 13, 1814. Jacob, the grandfather of Adam, our subject, was a farmer and niarried a Miss Scholl in 1798, to which marriage were born three children, viz: Englehart, of Iowa, de- ceased; Elizabeth, deceased wife of Fred Hecker, of New York, and Christopher, father of Adam, our subject. The wife of Jacob Hirn having died sometime late in the 'forties, the bereaved husband started for America in 1852, but died at sea in June of that year, a prom- inent member of the Evangelical church.
Christopher Hirn, father of our subject,
was reared to farming, but resided in town. He received a good education, served one year in the German army, and, August 31, 1843, married Veronica Schaub, who was born June 12, 1816, in the same place in which her hus- band was born-a daughter of Nicholas Schaub. To this union were born ten children -- the first five in Germany, and the second five in Amer- ica-in order as follows: Frederick, August 26, 1843-now a butcher in Spencerville, Ohio -who served four years and four months in company K, Sixty-fourth Ohio volunteer infan- try, and was wounded in the head; Barbara, born March 6, 1846, died an infant; Philip, born April 30, 1847, served one year and four months in company B, Thirteenth Ohio cav- alry, and is now a farmer in Ridge township, Van Wert county; Englehart, born March 13. 1848, is a stockman of Seward county. Kans., and is also a teacher; Catherine, born De- cember 24, 1850, died an infant; Adam is the subject of this sketch; John, born December 9, 1853: Louisa, born February 10, 1855, and Nicholas, born September 7, 1856-the three last named deceased; Anna Louisa was born March 10, 1859, was the wife of William F. Marbough, a farmer of Union township, Mer- cer county, and died September 15, 1895. Chistopher Hirn, with his wife and three of the children above named, viz: Frederick. Philip and Englehart, came to America in June, 1852, and located in Morrow county, Ohio, where he bought a farm, on which he lived until 1865, when he sold out and brought his family to Van Wert county and purchased 160 acres of half-cleared land in Jennings township -the same being now occupied by his son Adam. Here he lost his wife January 31. 1874, she dying in the faith of the German Reform church. Mr. Hirn continued to culti- vate the home farm until about ISSr, when he gave the control of the place to his son Adam, and with him made his home till his own death,
787
OF VAN WERT COUNTY.
which occurred August 16, 1895-some four- teen years later. Mr. Hirn was a republican in politics, and for years was an elder in the German Reform church, in the affairs of which he took a very prominent part in managing. He was universally respected, and his loss was deeply and sincerely deplored by the entire community.
Adam Hirn, our subject, was reared a farmer, but received a first-class literary edu- cation-attending, primarily, the common schools of Morrow and Van Wert counties, and for three terms the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio, entering the latter in 1873; he began teaching, following the profession in Auglaize, Van Wert, Allen and Mercer counties-never more than three and a half miles from home, and chiefly in the home district. After eight- een years passed in this vocation, he relin- quished it on account of other duties. June 9, 1881, Mr. Hirn was united in mariage with Miss Anna Elizabeth Hight, who was born in Mercer county, Ohio, July 29, 1860, a daugh- ter of William and Thirza (Perkins) Hight. William Hight was born January 21, 1831, in Juniata county, Pa., and was one of the ear- liest settlers of Mercer county, Ohio, where his death took place April 24, 1877; Mrs. Thirza Hight was born in Auglaize county, Ohio, is now the wife of John Schamp, and is living in the county of her nativity-Auglaize. By her first husband she became the mother of two children beside Mrs. Hirn, viz: Catherine, the wife of O. Kennedy, of Auglaize county, and Myrtle, wife of Charles Giesler, machinist, of Dayton, Ohio. By her marriage to Mr. Schamp she is the mother of one child -- Grace.
Mrs. Anna Elizabeth Hirn was educated at Celina, Ohio, and for three years before her marriage was a school-teacher. To her happy union with Mr. Hirn she has borne five chil- dren, in the following order: William Cullen, August 22, 1882; Mary Gertrude, October 27, 34
1883; Carl Dewitt, October 1, 1885; Thirza, April 3, 1888 (died July 29, 1888), and Lois Louise, November 10, 1889. After marriage Mr. Hirn located in Pierceton, Ind., where for two years he had previously been clerking, and there remained six months, when he returned to the home farm and engaged in agriculture and in teaching. In 1890 he was elected justice of the peace by the republican party, and still holds the office. In 1895 he was also prominently mentioned before the convention of his party as a candidate for clerk of courts. For thirteen years he has been an eider in the Presbyterian church, of which church Mrs. Hirn is also a devout member; for two years he has been a member of Deep Cut lodge, No. 311, I. O. O. F., at Spencerville, and is one of the best posted agriculturists of Jennings township, in which he and family are held in the highest esteem.
R OBERT B. RHODES, mayor of Will- shire, and a retired farmer of Mercer county, Ohio, was born August 25. 1833, in Caledonia county, Vt., and is a son of Josiah K. and Mary (Brown) Rhodes. His father was a native of New Hampshire, born in 1801, and was a son of Oliver and Lucy Rhodes. Oliver Rhodes, the grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of England and a farmer, who, after coming to this country, passed the remainder of his life in New Hampshire. Josiah K. Rhodes was reared on a farm and learned the cabinet-maker's and joiner's trades, at which he worked for many years. In 1821 he mar- ried Miss Mary Brown, a daughter of Robert Brown, a native of Ireland, born in 1795, and came to the United States with her parents when she was five years of age. The parents located in New Jersey, and in that state they spent the rest of their lives.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
To Josiah K. Rhodes and his wife there were born four children, as follows: Mary Ann, deceased, who married Pascal I. Horton, of Granville; John S., a farmer of Fort Recovery, Ohio, who enlisted in the Union army as sec -. ond lieutenant of company C, One Hundred and Eighteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, and came out at the close of the war as captain of his company: Martha J., wife of John Milli- son, cabinet-maker and undertaker of Ostran- der, Delaware county, Ohio, and Robert B., the subject of this sketch.
After his marriage Josiah K. Rhodes located in Groton, Caledonia county, Vt., and lived there until 1838, when he removed to Ohio, settling temporarily in Strongsville, Cuyahoga county, where he lived until 1840, and then removed to Licking county. Here he lived un- til 1861, when he removed with his son, Rob- ert B., to Mercer county, Ohio. Josiah K. Rhodes fought in Canada during the war of 1812-15, and was in his political views a whig until the formation of the republican party, when he united with that organization. During his middle life he was a good deal of a politi- cian, and he was a devoted member of the Baptist church, while his wife was a member of the Covenanter church. She died in July, 1870, and he died in November, 1893.
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