USA > Ohio > Erie County > A standard history of Erie County, Ohio: an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, civic, and social development. A chronicle of the people, with family lineage and memoirs > Part 27
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GEORGE L. NEIDING. Among the farms of Berlin Township which are primarily devoted to fruit production that occupied by Mr. and Mrs. George L. Neiding deserves special mention. Both Mr. and Mrs. Neiding are young, intelligent people, who well represent the staple industry of farming and fruit growing in Erie County, and they now possess and enjoy a fine home overlooking the lake shore.
Mr. Neiding is of substantial German ancestry. Ilis grandparents were born in Germany and after eoming to America and their marriage located in Brownhehn, Lorain County, Ohio, where they followed farming and spent the rest of their lives. They improved a tract of land, and were quiet, thrifty and hard working people, and in religion were Protestant. Of their children who grew up and married there were Jacob, Gus, Henry, John, Elizabeth, Martha and Charles, of whom Jacob. Gus and Henry are now deceased.
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Henry Neiding was born in Brownhelm, Lorain County, April 7, 1846, and died May 2, 1910. He grew up on his father's farm, and sub- sequently removed to Erie County. He was married in his native county to Emma Stephen.
George L. Neiding is the only living child of this union, having lost a young brother named Edwin. He was born on the old farm in Erie County, November 29, 1880, and was well educated and well trained for the work which he now follows with such success. He has always lived on the farm, which was willed to him by his father, who had owned the place many years. Among its improvements is a substantial seven-room house, painted white with green trimmings, and adjoining that is.a three- room packing house and a barn 30x45 feet. As fruit growers both the father and son have been successful in this community for many years. The orehards comprise about three acres, beautifully situated on the banks of the lake, and the ground is all well drained and especially adapted for the growing of peaches and other fruit. Mr. Neiding also raises large quantities of fine vegetables and several varieties of small grain.
George L. Neiding was married in Elliston, Ottawa County, Ohio, to Augusta L. Opfer, who was born in that county, January 4, 1884, and was reared there, and edueated in the publie schools. IIer parents were Conrad and Anastasia ( Krither) Opfer, natives of Germany. Her father was born in Hesse and her mother in Pomerania. They came to America on sailing vessels when still single, and spent a number of weeks of tedious voyage. They finally reached Ottawa County, Ohio, where they met and married, and took up life as farmers near the Village of Martin, where they now own as a result of their thrifty enterprise and industry a good farm of forty acres. Mrs. Neiding's father was born April 14, 1846, and her mother September 23, 1857. Both are members of the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Neiding was the second child of a large family, and has been self supporting since she was eleven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Neiding have one son, Lester C., who is nine years of age and attending school. Mr. Neiding is a member of the Maccabees and in polities a demoerat.
JOHN HOFFMAN. In the farming distriet of Berlin Township there are many prosperous and progressive men who believe that the happiest life as well as the most independent one is to be lived on the farm. Prom- inent among these is John Hoffman, with whose beautiful home all the residents of that seetion are acquainted, located .on Rural Route No. 2 out of Huron. Mr. Hoffman is a native of Berlin Township, has spent practically all the years of his life in the community where he was born, and is known as an excellent farmer and a man who can be depended upon in matters of local moment.
Born on his father's farm in Berlin Township, November 1, 1862, John Hoffman is a son of John Hoffman, Sr., who was born in Hessen- Darmstadt, Germany, October 8, 1829. When the senior John Hoffman died about ten years ago he left a noteworthy vacancy in the ranks of good citizenship and worthy manhood. He eame of an old German fam- ily, and his parents, who were farmers and members of the Lutheran Church, died when John and his sister Mary were still ehildren. Chris- tina Hoffman also came to the United States, and was married at Norwalk, Ohio. to John Ernest. She died in Norwalk, leaving the following ehil- dren : William, John, George, Adam and Christina, all of whom except John are still living. John having died as a result of burns received in a gas explosion and left a wife but no children. After the death of Chris- tina Ernest, John Ernest married a second time and has children by that wife.
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John Hoffman, Sr., spent the formative years of childhood and youth in Germany among strangers. When nineteen years old he set ont for the New World, taking passage on a sailing vessel at Bremen, and sixty-Four days later landing in New York City. During the passage he helped the cook in the galley, and the lessons thus learned were never forgotten in after life. Arriving in this country poor and friendless, his first employ- ment was in a butcher shop, and on going to Buffalo he worked a Few years in a brickyard, and while living there was a member of the volun- teer fire department of the city. About 1855 he came on west to Norwalk, Ohio, and a little later located at Shinrock in Berlin Township. There he was fortunate in finding an employer in Daniel N. Hines. His salary was only $8 per month, though that was not an unusual wage according to the standards of the time. When the field work was finished he spent the winters in cutting cordwood at 15 cents per cord. Thus he spent some four or five years, and in the meantime had given many evidenees of his reliable qualities and good workmanship, and these qualifications resulted in his being placed in charge of the Hines farm. He continued to work that farm for a number of years, slowly getting ahead and pre- paring for an independent start in life. In 1871 he bought sixty aeres near the Hines home, twenty aeres of which were improved. While still continuing the management of the Hines farm he made such improve- ments as he could on his own land, building a small residence, and about 1872 or 1873 moved to the new place with his little family, then com- prising five sons and two daughters, all of whom had been born in a log house near the Hines Estate. With the stimulus that comes to a mall who is his own master and proprietor of a small farm, John Hoffman filled the succeeding years with gratifying accomplishment, improved his land, drained the lowest places and continued to prosper. In the mean- time he not only developed his first farm but acquired two others, and altogether was the proprietor of over 300 acres.
The death of John Hoffman, Sr., occurred October 12, 1905. Of his material achievement nothing more need be said. But he also exemplified many fine qualities of manhood and citizenship which were valuable to his fellow men. It is said that those who knew him best were those who praised him most. He died in the faith of the Lutheran Church and throughout his career as an American citizen was a strong republican. He served several terms as township trustee. John Hoffman, Sr., was married in Berlin Township in 1856 to Christina (linger. She was born in Wuertemburg, Germany, April 7, 1838, and is still living, active in mind and body for one who bears the weight of more than three-quarters of a century. When she was a child she was brought to the United States and to Norwalk in Huron County by her parents, Anson and Aun Clinger, who came across the ocean on a sailing vessel which was wrecked and the passengers were marooned on an island until finally picked up and carried on to New York. From Norwalk the Clingers subsequently moved to a small farm in Berlin Township, where Mr. Chinger died at the age of sixty-six. His widow subsequently lived with her daughter Louisa Ritz in Norwalk, and died there when past the age of fourscore. She and her husband were members of the Lutheran Church, and were strong and vigorons people, well fitted for the duties of home making and child rearing. Of the nine children born to Mrs. Christina Hoffman five are still living.
John Hoffman, Jr., who is the oldest son in the family, grew up on his father's farm, and from the age of ten years exercised his youthful strength in swinging an ax, in guiding a plow and in all the other depart- ments of work required for the clearing up and enltivation of a farm. His education was that supplied by the common schools, but he came to manhood well fitted for the responsibilities which he has since assumed. Vol. II-12
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Mr. Hoffman has sixty-six acres in his homestead, and has one of the most attractive residences in the township. It contains eleven rooms, is mod- ern in all its appointments and has conveniences which many more pre- tentious city homes lack. Ilis group of buildings stand in the shelter of a grove of fruit and shade trees, and he has used one tone of color for the painting of both his home and his barns and sheds. He has a large barn 36x60 feet with a lean-to shed 36x20 feet, and has several eribs and a granary. Nearly all these buildings are new. Under his management his fields have produced all kinds of grain and he has also raised potatoes with considerable profit. lle keeps high grade stock, and has a good herd of sheep.
Mr. Hoffman was married in Huron Township to Miss Louisa Gock- stetter, who was born in Huron Township, September 14, 1866, a daughter of Godfrey and Dora ( Hintz) Goekstetter. Her parents were natives of Germany, came to this country in a sailing vessel, located with their respective families in Erie County, and were married in Huron Town- ship, where they spent the rest of their years. They died when not yet seventy years of age, and were members of the Lutheran Church.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman were born two children : John, who was born June 16, 1890, was educated in the common and high schools, grew up on the farm, is still unmarried and living at home. and is serving as manager of the Berlin Heights Fuel Company's elevator at Ceylon. Addison G., the second son, was born July 10, 1892, graduated from the Huron High School in 1911, taught one year in Vermilion Township and one year in Berlin Township, and is now proving a valua- ble assistant to his father in the management of the farm. Mr. Hoffman and his sons are republicans.
JOHN RITZ. To no one class does Erie County owe more of its wealth and strength of prosperity than to the agriculturist. While Erie County as a whole has a well diversified development, many industries and pro- duetive resources. it is the farms taken in the aggregate which furnish the great bulk of material for the well being of its inhabitants. One of the present generation of progressive farmers is John Ritz, whose home . is in the western part of Berlin Township, with mail facilities supplied by Rural Route No. 1 out of Milan. With the exception of six years spent in the State of Michigan, Mr. Ritz has lived in Berlin Township practically all his life. He was born on his father's farm here July 26. 1861, and acquired his education by attending the local schools. After his return from Michigan, where he was married, he bought the fifty acres contained in his present place on the Wikel Township line road. and his energy and enterprise have since made this one of the most pro- ductive and profitable farms of its size in the entire township. His home has many attractive features. The residence is a frame building of eight rooms and surrounding it are substantial farm houses, including a barn 30x56 feet, and a number of other outbuildings. The barns and other ontbuildings are well painted, and the house is a stone green. Mr. Ritz pursues diversified farming, raises some fine sheep, cattle, horses and hogs, makes a crop of two or three acres of potatoes every year, has an apple orchard covering about one aere, and gives his best energies to every department of his farm.
Mr. Ritz is the third John in as many successive generations. Ilis father and grandfather, both named John Ritz, were natives of Ger- many. His father was born April 27, 1836. in Hesse-Darmstadt, Ger- many, a son of John and Elizabeth (Feik) Ritz, who were natives of the same province. On July 4, 1855, the family left Germany and embarked on a sailing vessel at Hamburg, which sixty days later landed them in New York City. From there they came on to Norwalk, Ohio, where
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HIenry Ritz, a brother of the grandfather, had located a number of years before. The family at that time comprised only John and his wife Elizabeth and their son JJohn. The grandfather located in Berlin Town- ship on the Jeffrey Road, where his first holding comprised only twenty- five acres, but with the assistance of his son John he in time developed a good estate of eighty-live acres. In 1887 the grandfather returned to the old country intending to live there permanently, but in a short time became dissatisfied and in the spring of 1888 came back to America on an emigrant boat where the conditions were such that the passengers were treated more like a cargo of pigs than human beings. He was at that time an old man, and suffered severely from the ill treatment re- ceived on the voyage, and soon after returning to Erie County died at the home of his brother, Henry, at Norwalk on May 11, 1888, about one week after his return. lle was born April 21, 1811. His wife, Eliza- beth, who was born in July, 1810, had died at the old homestead in Berlin Township, August 29, 1885. Both were members of the Lutheran Church and had all the valuable characteristics of the German people.
John Ritz, second of the name, was about nineteen years old when the family came to Ohio and was married in Norwalk to Joan Wilhelmina Voss, who was born in Bremen, Germany, May 28, 1837. Her parents spent all their lives in the old country and she was the only one of their children who came to America, having come alone a young woman. On arriving at Norwalk she found employment in the home of John Gardner until her marriage. She and her husband still occupy the old farm in Berlin Township on the Jeffrey Road. They are members of the Lutheran Church and in politics he is a republican.
John Ritz of this sketch, as already noted, spent about six years in the State of Michigan. Ile was married in Dover Township of Lenawee County in that state in 1887 to Miss Cora E. Griffin. Mrs. Ritz is a native of Berlin Township, Erie County, where she was born November 26, 1866, and acquired her education partly in her home county and partly in Michigan. Iler parents were Adolphus and Martha Hoyt Griffin. Her father was born in Newkirk, New York, May 30, 1825, and died January 4, 1892. Her mother was born February 5, 1825, in C'on- neeticut, and died October 4, 1892. They came to Ohio before their mar- riage, which was celebrated in Erie County, January 8, 1850, and as young people they began life on a farm in Berlin Township. In 1882 they removed to Dover Township in Lenawee County, Michigan. Mr. Griffin was a democrat and his wife was a member of the Baptist Church at Berlin Heights. Mr. Griffin while a farmer was also noted for his skill as a hunter and fisherman, and he and llenry Hline of Erie County were close friends and were frequently together on their fishing trips. Mrs. Ritz has one brother, Morton D. Griffin, a farmer at ('layton, Mich- igan, and has two children, Martha and Burdette Griffin, both of whom are married.
While Mr. and Mrs. Ritz have been prospered in material cireum stances they have also gained honor to themselves through their fine Family of children. Their oldest is Edith M., who finished her education in the Berlin Heights High School, and is now the wife of Grant Squire, living in the State of Nevada ; they have no living children. Fred .J., the oldest son, is a Berlin Township farmer and is still unmarried. Catherine 1., who graduated from the high school at Berlin Heights in 1909 and in 1911 finished a course in the Oberlin Business College, spent three years in elerieal work at the Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland, and is now the wife of a well known young Cleveland attorney, Arthur II. Ilill, a son of Rev. George IIill. Minnie L., after her education married ('lyde D. Cook, who is connected with the Overland Motor Car Company at Elyria, Ohio, and they have a daughter, Lucile G. Charles Verne, who
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is twenty-one years of age in August, 1915, received his education in the public schools and is still at home. Jay died when nine months old. Earl is still at home, aged seventeen, and edneated in the grade schools. Alice E., a fine young woman of thirteen, is still attending the local schools. Mrs. Ritz is a member of the Friends Church. Mr. Ritz in polities is a republican and takes much interest in local affairs.
HENRY JEFFERY. Erie County lost one of its oldest and most capable agriculturists in the death of Henry Jeffery, which oceurred at his beau- tiful farm home in the northwest corner of Berlin Township March 2, 1913. Mr. Jeffery at the time of his death was in his eightieth year. IIe had lived in Erie County sinee boyhood and while all those who remem- ber him speak with respect of his character he has an enduring testi- monial to his practical ability in the beautiful estate now occupied by his widow, Mrs. Jeffery, who is likewise of the fine old stock of Erie County early settlers.
The Jeffery family has been numerously represented in Northern Ohio and came originally from Cornwall, England. Henry Jeffery was born at Lineoln Horn in Southwestern England November 18, 1827. His grandfather, George Jeffery, lived and died in Cornwall, was a prosper- ous farmer and the family for generations had been Episcopalians. George Jeffery had the following children : George, Jr., Thomas, William, John and Betsey Ann, all of whom grew up and married. George, Jr., was born in Cornwall about 1796, grew up there and as the oldest son inherited the large estate of his father. He married Elizabeth Garland, who was also born at Lincoln Horn in Cornwall and about the same time as her husband. After their marriage they located on the large farm comprising about 300 aeres which he had inherited, and before they left there all their children but one were born. These children were : George, Richard, Mary, William, Elizabeth, John, Thomas, Samuel, who is the only one now living, and a resident of Erie County, Elizabeth Ann and Henry. In 1841 George Jeffery and his son William set out for the United States, taking six weeks to make the voyage by sailing ship to New York, and remained in that city until they were joined by the wife and other children, who came over on the ship Gladiator, and the family were united in New York City on Christmas Eve. They left New York in the spring of 1842, and by way of the Hudson River, the Erie Canal and Lake Erie finally arrived in IIuron, Ohio. From that village they drove three miles east and south to the 150 acres which George Jeffery bought and which is now known as the Joseph Smith farm. Some years later George Jeffery sold that land and located on a farm west of Huron. In 1852 he came into Berlin Township, and bought the farm now owned by his sons Samuel and Henry, and also other lands, one tract of fifty acres, making 100 acres all told .. On this last named land George Jeffery and his wife spent the rest of their years. They were both confirmed in the Episcopal Church at Lineoln Horn, England, and practiceed its faith all their lives.
Henry Jeffery was about seven years of age when the family left the old home in Cornwall, and after the experiences noted finally arrived in Erie County. Here he grew to manhood and started life with a fair amount of schooling and with an exeellent inheritance of the industrious and honest qualities for which the family have always been noted. Farm- ing was his vocation, and in 1863, after his father's death, he secured fifty acres of the old homestead. To this he added thirty acres in Huron Township, and in time he had both tracts well improved. The old home is one of the most beautiful pieces of land to be found in Erie County, well drained, and with a degree of productivity which has been undimin- ished by nearly seventy years of continuons cultivation. The home in
HENRY JEFFERY
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which Henry Jeffery died is a large two-story white house. containing eight large rooms, and built in modern style, though it has been stand- ing for thirty-six years. Until he was able to provide that generous home for his family, Henry Jeffery had lived for a number of years in a log cabin which formerly stood on the farm. Of his practical achievements as a farmer nothing more can be said, and it was the general expression of the community when he died that the township lost not only an excellent business man but a good citizen and one of the most upright characters known in that locality. He was a republican in poli- ties and had always been faithful to his training in the Episcopal Church.
Ilenry Jeffery was first married to Ellen Sayles, who was born and reared in Milan Township, and she died in the prime of life without chil- dren. His second wife was Belle Arnold, who died seven years after her marriage, also without children. In 1908 Mr. Henry Jeffery was married in Erie County to Charlotte (Ilinde) Foster. She was born in IInron Township June 12, 1857, and was liberally educated, and is one of the highly cultured women of Berlin Township. She attended a eonvent school, later the high school at Sandusky, and for eighteen months was a teacher. Her parents were Edwin and Theodosia (Shepherd, Ilinde. Iler father was a native of Ireland and her mother of England. Edwin Ilinde was of the fine old Irish gentry, was reared as a gentleman. and after coming to America became a large land owner in Huron Town- ship, where he died when quite old. He was a member of the Catholic Church and a democrat in politics. Theodosia Shepherd's father was prominent in England as a hop raiser, and she was about seven years of age when her parents moved to the United States, and located in Huron Township of Erie County, where her parents spent the rest of their careers as farmers. Theodosia Shepherd after her marriage to Mr. Ilinde became a convert in the Catholic faith and died in that church.
Following her experience as a teacher Mrs. Jeffery was married in 1874 to her first husband, Ephraim Foster. They located at Put-in-Bay. Ohio, where Mr. Foster was for fourteen years a grape grower. They then removed to Sandusky, and Mr. and Mrs. Foster subsequently be eame estranged and separated. Mrs. Jeffery has three children by her first marriage. Harry E. Foster, born August 9, 1875, grew up and was educated at Sandusky and at Port Clinton, took up the trade of mill- wright, and was employed in that capacity by a large firm of paper manufacturers who have their main plant at Munsey, Indiana, and a branch plant at Sandusky until 1915, when he came to Berlin Township. Ile married Amelia Seaman of Port Clinton, Ohio, and their five chil- dren are named Georgiana, Douglas, Charlotte, Blanche and Dorothy. all in school. Wilfred W. Foster, born September 17, 1877, was edu- eated in the same schools as his brother, and took up the telephone busi- ness, in which he is now engaged, with headquarters at Butte. Montana. and is still unmarried. Leota Foster, born October 14, 1882, is the wife of JJay Rnemmele of Sandusky, and their children, Victor, Wilfred. Earl and Kenneth, are all attending the Sandusky schools. Mrs. Jeffery was reared in the faith of the Catholic Church and is an active member of that denomination. Since her husband's death she has shown her inde- pendent enterprise and is a practical farmer and stock raiser, and is capably managing the fine estate which was left her by, the late Henry Jeffery.
CHARLES A. HUTTENLOCHER. German persistence, thrift and in- dustry. qualities which came over with him from the okl country, have enabled Charles A. Huttenlocher to accomplish more than the average man who started life with only a pair of willing hands and a heart cour ageous for any fate. Ile now has a valuable farm estate in Berlin
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Township, with postoffice at Shinrock, and with that farm as the bulk of his capital has a prosperous and contented outlook for the future and he and his little family are valuable people in the community.
Ilis birthplace was the rugged and beautiful Kingdom of Wuertem- berg, and he was born in the Village of Obendorff August 26, 1858. His parents were John and Mary ( Martin ) Huttenlocher, natives of the same province, his father born in 1825 and his mother December 14, 1822. They both died at Tiffin, Ohio, the former September 10, 1875, and the latter December 14, 1874. The preceding generation of both the Hutten- locher and Martin families had lived and died in Germany. The Hut- tenlochers were wine growers in a district noted for its vineyards, while her father, Mr. Martin, was engaged in the coloring of cloth in cloth mills. While the Huttenlochers were Lutherans, the Martins were Cath- olies. John Huttenlocher grew up and was trained in the vineyards of his home locality and was married in his home distrist in 1852. All their children, four in number, were born in the old country. Mary is now the wife of Jacob Deitz, who is now a dry goods box maker in New York ('ity and they have two sons and a daughter. The next in age is Charles A. Minnie, the second daughter, was married in Ohio to Fred J. Eisler, who is now living with his family in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, and was a harness maker by trade but is now employed in the glass works; they have two sons and two daughters. Paul, the only other son, lives on the Isle of Pines in the West Indies, and is a earpenter contractor and unmarried.
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