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 44
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John G. Gunzenhauser is indebted to the public schools of Huron for his early educational discipline, and here has maintained his residence from the time of his birth, which occurred in the family home, on Main Street, on the 23d of November, 1864. Ile was afforded also the advan- Vol. 11- 19
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tages of a course in a business college at Naperville, Illinois, and, there- after he was employed for some time in the meat market conducted by his father. He then turned his attention to sailing on the Great Lakes. his first work being on the schooner Kitchen, commanded by his brother- in-law, Capt. Henry Peterson, with whom he was later associated as a sailor before the mast when Captain Peterson assumed command of the steamboat Superior. Mr. Gunzenhauser later sailed with Captain Hun- phrey on the steamer Townsend.
In 1888 Mr. Gunzenhauser engaged in the meat market business at ITuron, but three years later he entered the employ of the great Chicago paeking and provision concern of Armour & Company, for which he continued as a commercial representative for the ensuing ten years, his headquarters having been for some time in Chicago and for a period' in the City of Milwaukee. After severing his association with this com- pany Mr. Gunzenhauser returned to Huron, which place he has always looked upon as his home, and here, in 1905, he opened his present fine meat market, which is essentially metropolitan in its equipment, appoint- ments and service, and in the conducting of which he has built up a most substantial and prosperous business.
Progressive and publie-spirited as a citizen, Mr. Gunzenhauser is found arrayed as a stalwart in the republican party, and he has been more or less active in local politics. In Huron he is affiliated with Marks Lodge No. 359, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he is held in unqualified esteem in his native city and county.
At Huron, in the year 1891, Mr. Gunzenhauser wedded Miss Julia Lavoo, who was born and reared in Huron, of French and German lineage. Her father died several years ago and her mother still resides in Iluron, at the venerable age of more than eighty years. Mrs. Gun- zenhauser died at Huron in 1895, at the early age of twenty-three years, and is survived by one son, John, and one daughter, Vera, the former of whom is married and engaged in business at Huron, and the latter of whom here resides with her venerable maternal grandmother.
The second marriage of Mr. Gunzenhauser was solemnized in the City of Ontario, November 2. 1907, where he wedded Miss Etta Lermann, who was born and reared in the City of Sandusky, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Ferdinand and Veronica ( Daniel ) Lermann, the latter of whom was born in Sandusky and the former in the Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany. The mother of Ferdinand Lermann died in Bavaria and when he was seven years of age he accompanied his father to the United States. the home having been established at Sandusky, in which city he was reared and educated and in which he has been engaged in the meat market business for many years, his age in 1915 being sixty-seven years. and his wife having been sixty-six years old at the time of her death. on the 12th of April, 1913. She is survived by one son and three daugh- ters : Alvert. Julia, Ada, and Etta. One son, Joseph, died Angust S. 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Gunzenhauser have no children.
EDWARD G. WEIGAND. One of the younger citizens of Huron actively identified with the great fishing industry and Lake Erie is Edward G. Weigand, who has spent practically all his life around the shores of this lake, was sailor before the mast for several years, and since leaving the lake marine has been active in the fishing industry. He now has a valu- able plant and business of his own, operating twenty-two trap-nets of the hell-devil type, the most popular and best adapted instrument for taking the fish out of the Great Lakes. He also owns and operates a boat propelled by naphtha power and employs several assistants. IFis annual eateh is from sixty to seventy-five tons, and during the spring and fall seasons he devotes his energies to their full bent in this industry.
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He has been engaged in fishing on his own account from the port of Huron for the past five years, and his experience on the lakes with others extends back ten years. Prior to that he spent six years as a sailor before the mast, and sailed under some of the best lake captains. among whom should be mentioned Captain Montague, of IIuron, who was his com- manding offieer during 1906.
Mr. Weigand was born in the City of Buffalo, New York, December 15, 1887, and was educated in the public schools of Huron, for the most part, and also took a course in the Sandusky Business College. Ile comes of German ancestry. Ilis grandparents were Charles and Cath- erine Weigand, natives of Germany, but probably married in America. They came to this country in a sailing vessel, the only means of crossing the ocean at that time, during the '30s. The grandfather was a tool- maker and became successfully established as a worker at his trade in Buffalo. After coming to this country he made four trips back to his native land, and while returning from the last died on the vessel and was given a burial at sea. Ilis widow subsequently died in Buffalo when past eighty years of age. They were both Protestants in religion and worthy people who gave their children all the advantages of home and schools.
Charles Weigand, Jr., father of Edward, was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1864. He acquired the trade of carpenter and builder, and died at Buffalo when in the prime of his years in June, 1890. He was mar- ried to Mary Thomas, who was born in Buffalo about the same time as her husband, and was reared in that city. She is now living at Iluron. Ohio, with her second husband, Jacob Meltzer. By this second marriage she is the mother of the following children: Graee, who is married and has a son and lives in Michigan; Ella, at home. Mrs. Meltzer was the daughter of John and Catherine (Fisher) Thomas, who lived at Buffalo and in that section of New York State. Her father volunteered for service as a soldier during the war, and was made a guard for the rebel prisoners at Johnson's Island in Lake Erie. Ilis death oceurred in 1911 at the age of sixty-four, while living in Huron.
Edward Weigand is the third of four children, namely: Charles Weigand, the third of the name in successive generations, is a fisherman with headquarters at Huron, and married Lillian Taylor, of Fremont. Ohio; Catherine is the wife of George Dahlhofer, of Huron, and they are the parents of five young sons, the last being twins ; Edward ; and Amelia, who, like the other children, were educated in the Huron public schools and is now the wife of Paul Lapp, who is engaged in the laundry busi- ness at Huron.
Edward G. Weigand, after showing his worth as a young man of steady and economical habits, gained the affection of one of the reigning belles of IIuron, Miss Lucille Deyo. Miss Deyo was born in Huron, and was carefully reared and liberally educated, graduating from the local high school in 1909 and then being sent to a finishing college at Roan- oke, Virginia, where she completed her education and became proficient in music, and subsequently taught that art before her marriage. Mrs. Weigand is the only and much loved child of George and Minnie ( Krock) Deyo. Her father was born in London, Canada, and comes of distinguished French lineage, the name originally being spelled De Yor, and ancestors of that name were eminent both as warriors and in the professions and arts. It is an interesting fact that George Washington was descended from a branch of the same family, and it is said that his patriotie character was partly due to the Devo blood that coursed through his veins. George Deyo was still unmarried when he came to Ohio, loeating at IIuron, where he has since lived and has for many years been aetive as an engineer and manager of the large Fries estate
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planing mills of Huron. He has likewise taken an active part in village affairs, and is a man of strong character and extended influence. His wife belongs to one of the oldest and best families of Huron, and further mention of the Krock family will be found on other pages of this pub- lication.
In 1912 Mr. Weigand, assisted by Mr. Deyo, his wife's father, built with his own hands one of the most beautiful and attractive residences of Huron, on South Ohio Street. Having been his own architect and contractor, he employed his leisure and ample means to work out his own ideas of what a home should be, and its attractions are not only in the design and originality which conform with the good taste of himself and wife, but also in the installation of the modern improvements and conveniences. Mr. and Mrs. Weigand are the parents of one son, George William. Mr. Weigand was reared in the Evangelical faith, is a repub- lican in politics, and takes much interest in the Lake Erie Lodge No. 756, I. O. O. F., and is past noble grand of his lodge. He is a young man of fine habits, even temper, and his success in business while still on the lee side of thirty years, ean only be taken to promise extensive results in later years.
ELISHA J. PHELPS. In IIuron Township, a short distance east of the corporation limits of the Village of Huron, Elisha J. Phelps has his home and the center of his activities, which classify him as a general farmer and fruit grower and stock raiser. His farm consists of fifty acres of the fertile land found in that community, and is all under thorough cultivation and shows many evidences of his well known enter- prise and ability in agricultural matters. He has a large barn, 40 by 60 feet, and other farm buildings, and his home is nearly new, having been built in place of the house which, with its contents, was burned in February, 1910. Mr. Phelps bought his present farm east of Huron in the fall of 1907, and took possession in the following spring. An attractive feature of this home is its situation on the lake shore front. Most of his land is utilized for the general crops, but he also has a large acreage in fruit and berries, and is a specialist in the raising of graded horses.
Elisha J. Phelps was born in Huron Township on a portion of land that has since been washed away by the action of waters. He was born September 13, 1851, grew up in the township and lived at home until twenty-three. In the meantime he had acquired a good education and had been trained for the work which has been his real vocation in life. He then rented his father's farm in Lorain County, and at the age of twenty-six engaged in the dairy business, living on the Huron River road near the Village of Huron. For twenty-three years his time and labor were chiefly devoted to the management of a first-class dairy. He kept an average of about thirty cows, though sometimes as high as forty, and raised most of the grain and feedstuffs to supply his stock. He abandoned the dairy industry after moving to his present farm.
His parents were James and Mary (Elson) Phelps, both natives of Maryland. His father was born in 1823 and died at his home in Huron Township, April 24, 1879, and the mother was born September 29, 1828, and died May 26, 1911. They came to Erie County as young people and were married here, and set up a home of their own in Huron Village, where James Phelps conducted a grocery store, meat market and livery stable, and subsequently bought a farm near the village, where he and his wife spent their declining years. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in polities he was a republican. Their children are given brief mention as follows: Celesta is the wife of Thomas Sprowl. cashier of the First National Bank of Huron, and
Ora F: Nomell,
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they have a son and a daughter still living. Dora, who is now living in Detroit, is the widow of Jackson Rilett, who was accidentally shot near Iluron while squirrel hunting. Mina Bond, who is living in IIuron, was twice married and is twice a widow, and has two daughters by her first husband. Elmira died with her first child, the wife of Theodore Wells. The next in order of birth is Elisha J. Letitia is the wife of John M. Garritte, a druggist at Huron, and they have a family of one son and two daughters. Elmer spends part of his time in Huron and part in Cleveland with his son. Joseph is in the eigar and confectionery bnsi- ness at Huron and has two sons. Dudley lives at IInron and is unmar- ried. Anna, a widow, has two sons and two daughters.
Elisha J. Phelps was married in Huron Township to Miranda Ells. who was born in Huron Township and died at their home on Hnron River, January 23, 1893, at the age of thirty-nine. There were four children by this nnion. Eva is the wife of Edward Blanchard, of Cleve- land, and they have one child, Myron T. Mildred is the wife of Milton MeSpadden, of Cleveland, and their three children are IIelen, Ethel and an infant. Ethel, the third child, died after her marriage to Irvin Mason. Curtis, the youngest, died in early life.
Mr. Phelps married his present wife at Sandusky. Elizabeth Thomas. which was her maiden name, was born in Buffalo, New York, December 19, 1877, and was reared and educated there and at Huron. Her parents were John and Catherine (Fisher) Thomas, both natives of Germany. her father having come to this country at the age of sixteen and lived at Buffalo, New York, until after his marriage, his wife having been brought from Germany when three years of age. She grew up in Buf- falo, where her parents died, and after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Thomas lived in Buffalo several years, where he followed his trade as a shoemaker and subsequently moved to Vermillion and later to Huron in Erie County, where Mr. Thomas died April 1, 1911, at the age of sixty-eight. His widow is living at Iluron and was sixty-eight years old on August 5, 1914. They are members of the Evangelical Church and Mrs. Phelps' father was a republican.
Mr. and Mrs. Phelps have two children. Lorena May, born Jannary 28, 1895, was educated in the Huron High School, has been a student of musie, and now lives at home. Lavella Alice, born July 22, 1903, is now in the fifth grade of the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Phelps attend the Evangelical Church at Huron. IIe is a republican in politics, and is affiliated with the Huron Lodge No. 113, of the Woodmen of the World.
ORA F. ROMELL, Success consists in a steady betterment of one's material conditions and an increase of one's ability to render service to others. Measured by this standard, one of the successful men of Erie County is Ora F. Romell, who has spent nearly all his life in the county and now has an attractive and valuable farm in Berlin Township. Ro- bust, hard working, thrifty, genial and progressive. Mr. Romell has a host of friends in his part of Erie County, and has mingled good fellow- ship and all that phrase implies with the handling of his private busi- ness affairs.
His birth occurred in Erie County near Castalia on February 2. 1863. His parents were John and Elizabeth ( Altvater) Romell, both of whom are natives of Germany, his father born in 1837 and his mother four years later. John Romell was the only member of his immediate family to emigrate to America, having coming over when eighteen years of age. Ile spent nine weeks on a sailing vessel before landing in New York City, and then came on west to Castalia in Erie County. Ile soon found employment with Calvin Caswell. an old settler in that community, and his first wages were $6.00 per month. Out of this small rennmera-
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tion he soon managed to save enough to pay for his passage to this coun- try. IJe had borrowed money in the old eountry to get him to America, having left the fatherland in order to avoid military service. After some years in Erie County he married. His wife had come to America with her parents, Peter and Catherine Altvater, in 1850, and they lived and died near Castalia, her father in 1872 when past sixty, and her mother a number of years later in 1895, when past eighty. The Alt- vaters were Protestant people. After his marriage John Romell set out as a farmer, later was employed for several years in a paper mill, and finally bought forty-four acres of land in Margaretta Township. Ile sold that, and in 1880 moved to a farm which he had bought near Clarksfield, lived there until the spring of 1896, and then returned to Erie County, buying land just outside the Village of Berlin Heights. He and his good wife still live at that home, and both are well preserved people and have an ample competence for their declining years. The father is a republican, but his wife's father was an equally strong democrat in his day.
Ora F. Romell is the oldest in a family of nine children, six of whom are still living and five are married. He grew up on a farm, attended the schools in his neighborhood, and his ability as a farmer comes from long and thorough experience. Nineteen years ago he moved into Berlin Township and since December. 1902, has been located on his present farm of 10212 acres. This is rolling land, of fine soil, situated on the Ridge Road not far from Berlin Heights Village. It possesses exeellent natural as well as tile drainage. and practically every acre is under cul- tivation. Mr. Romell has a fine apple orchard of more than 100 trees. also four acres of peach trees, and a number of pear and cherry trees. Ile lives in a large house of nine rooms and adjoining is a red barn 38x70 feet in ground dimensions, while there are several other barns and sheds for the shelter of stock and implements. He also has a. 65- ton silo, which is coming to be a feature of the best farms in Northern Ohio, and his water for both domestic and stock purposes is unusually fine. Ile grows large quantities of grain of different varieties and is a thorough, practical farmer in every sense of the word.
Mr. Romell was first married in the State of Michigan to Sabra Ida Sage. She was born and reared in Michigan, and was a daughter of Harlow P. Sage, and a granddaughter of Rev. Harlow Sage, who was of old Puritan stock and a prominent Universalist preacher in Northern Ohio in the early days. Her father came of the Lorain County family of Sages. and is still living in Gratiot County, Michigan, a prominent farmer there. Mrs. Romell died April 30, 1893, at the birth of her first child, who also died. On December 5, 1906, Mr. Romell married Miss Elizabeth Will. She was born in Huron April 23, 1854, and died at her home near Berlin Heights October 21, 1914. Her father, Nicholas Will, was born in Germany. was married there, and then brought his wife to Erie County, where they spent the rest of their lives, he passing away in 1890 and she in 1908. They were substantial farming people in Vermilion Township, and three sons are still living in that locality. Mr. Romell is a strong republican and served as township trustee for four years. During his administration the two interurban lines were built through the township, and both through his office and as a private ritizen he has done everything in his power to promote local improve- ments.
PIMLAP JJ. JUSTI. Distinctive independence and self-reliance were early manifested by this representative and substantial farmer of Huron Township, for when a mere lad, in company with a neighbor boy of comparatively the same age, he immigrated from his German fatherland
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to America and gravely set to himself the task of winning prosperity through his own industry. He has proved himself one of the world's productive workers and his career has been dominated by that sterling integrity that ever begets popular confidence and good will. In Erie County he has worked his way to the goal of worthy success, and he is now the owner of one of the well improved and valuable farms of the county. the same being on rural mail route No. 3, from the Village of Huron.
Mr. Justi was born in the Duchy of Nassau, Germany, on the 28th of January, 1867, and is a representative of a sterling family whose name has long been identified with that section of the empire. He is a son of Philip John Justi and Catherine Switzer, both of the purest of German lineage and both likewise natives of Nassau, where they passed their entire lives, their home at the time of their death having still been at Bonshire, the place in which the subject of this review was born and in which his mother died when he was an infant, the father having sur- vived her and having passed to the life eternal in 1879. at the age of sixty years. Of the six children, Philip J., of this review, is the youngest : Wilhelmina is the wife of IIenry Endridge and they reside on the old homestead farm of the Justi family, in Nassau, their children being three sons and one daughter; Hattie came to the United States in 1870, and in Erie County, Ohio, she became the wife of Joel Springer, their home having been for a number of years on a farm in IIuron Township and their place of residence at the present time being in the Village of Bellevue. Iluron County. They have no children. Frederick aceom- panied his sister Hattie to America and he and his wife reside on their excellent farm in Oxford Township, Erie County, their children' being four sons and one daughter. Henry immigrated to the United States in 1884 and joined his brothers and sister in Erie County, where he is now the owner of a good farm in Oxford Township, his four children, all daughters, still remaining at the parental home. Phoebe is the wife of Philip Pulish, a prosperous farmer in Nassau, Germany, and they have one daughter.
Philip J. Justi, whose name initiates this article, acquired his early education in the schools of his native place, and in 1881, when fourteen years of age, he came to the United States in company with his youthful neighbor, Henry Miller, the voyage from Hamburg to New York City having been made on the vessel Westphalia. From the national metrop- olis the two ambitious young German boys forthwith made their way to Erie County, Ohio, to join the elder brother and sister of Mr. Justi, and after remaining a short time in the City of Sandusky Mr. Justi obtained work on a farm in Huron Township. For a decade he was in the employ of farmers in this eounty, and in the meanwhile he carefully saved his earnings and bent every energy to the preparing for an independent career as a farmer. Prior to his marriage he had purchased a portion of his present homestead farm, which comprises eighty acres and which is located three miles south of the Village of Iluron, on what is com- monly designated as South Main Street, the farm lying on the line be- tween Iluron and Milan townships. With characteristic energy and good judgment, Mr. Justi has made excellent improvements on his land, nearly all of which is now available for cultivation and gives excellent returns in the growing of the various erops best suited to this section. The permanent improvements inelude a good house of eight rooms, a barn 28 by 48 feet in dimensions, and other requisite farm buildings, and everything about the place is kept in excellent order, with the result that thrift and prosperity are clearly in evidence. In addition to con- ducting his own farm, Mr. Justi also operates on the opposite side of the road the William Rosekelley farm, of seventy acres, and he is known as
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one of the progressive agriculturists and stock growers of the county, in which he has found ample opportunity for the achieving of success through well ordered industry. He and his family are zealous members of St. John's Lutheran Church at Union Corners, and in politics he is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the democratic party, though in local affairs he is not governed by striet partisanship. For nearly sixteen years he has been a valued member of the school board of his district, and as a director he has done all in his power to provide the best possible school advantages.
In 1891 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Justi to Miss Louisa Beiler, who was born in Groton Township, this county, where her parents established their home in the early '60s, soon after their emigration from Germany. Mrs. Justi's father, the late Charles Beiler, was long known as one of the substantial farmers of Erie County, where he commanded the unqualified respect of all who knew him, and he died at his old home- stead farm on the 4th of April, 1914, his widow passing away in the following June, at the home of her daughter Louisa, Mrs. Justi. Mr. Beiler was eighty-three years of age at the time of his death, and his wife passed to the life eternal at the age of sixty-seven years, both having been members of the Lutheran Church and the parents of Mr. Justi hav- ing been communicants of the Reformed Church. Mr. and Mrs. Justi have given to their children excellent educational advantages, and the eldest two, Hattie and Rosa, still remain at the parental home ; Elizabeth completed a course in the Sandusky Business College and is now em- ployed as bookkeeper in the office of the Huron Fish Company, in the Village of Huron; Fred is associated with his father in the work and management of the home farm; and Freda and Anna are still members of the ideal home circle, the latter being still in school.
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