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 48
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Mr. and Mrs. Behrens have two children : Leonora Dorothea, who was graduated in the Huron High School as a member of the class of 1915, remains at the parental home, and is a popular young woman in the social activities of the community; the younger daughter, Maria Sophia, who celebrated her twelfth birthday anniversary in 1915, has completed the curriculum of the graded schools and is now attending the Huron High School. All of the family are communicants of the Lutheran Church.
HON. JOHN E. BRAGG. While a resident l'armer in Groton Township, owning a large estate in that locality and successfully directing its oper- ations. the thing which has made the career of John E. Bragg conspic- nous in Erie County has been his long continued and efficient public service. He has filled nearly all the offices of trust and responsibility in his home township, has assisted in giving vitality to some of the functions of county government, and is now Erie County's representative in the Ohio Legislature. His home is at Parkertown in Groton Township.
Born in that township July 6, 1870, he is a son of the late Samuel and Wealtha ( Livengood) Bragg, the former a native of Huron County and the latter of Erie County. After the death of her husband Mrs. Wealtha Bragg married Henry I. Wood of Groton Township, who died in May, 1915, and she still lives in that locality. Samuel Bragg died in 1875. in the prime of his years and powers. He was the father of three
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children : John E. and Herbert, both residents of Groton Township; and May, now deceased. Samuel Bragg was a son of John Bragg, who came to America from England, where he was born, and was numbered among the early farmer settlers of Groton Township. Ile spent there a long and useful career as an agriculturist, was noted for his sturdy and typical English habits and manner, was an excellent business man, acquired a sufficiency of this world's goods, and died at Bellevue, Ohio, in 1889 at the age of eighty-four. Ile had lived at Bellevue for a number of years before his death.
The early life of John E. Bragg was spent in Groton Township on a farm, and in spite of his active public service he has never been long dissociated from farming pursuits. For his education he attended first the public schools of his native township, was also in practice in the old normal school at Milan, and in 1889 completed the course at the San- dusky City Business College. Then for about eight years he alternately taught in Groton and Margaretta townships, and at the same time during vacation periods carried on his education in the Northern Ohio University at Ada, where he took such courses as would better fit him for his pro- fession as an instructor.
Ilis public service may be said to have begun as a teacher. For five years he was clerk of his home township, and for seven years was clerk of the board of education in that locality and for ten consecutive years a member of the board of education. For ten years he was committeeman from Groton Township to the Erie County Democratie Central Commit- tee, served five years as a member of the executive committee of the county, and for two years was its secretary. In 1897 he was appointed deputy auditor of Erie County, held that position five years, and for five years was on the Erie County Blind Relief Commission. In 1914 he was chief clerk in the district assessor's office and he served a term of four years as deputy supervisor of elections for Erie County.
In November, 1914, the people of Erie County gave to Mr. Bragg a substantial majority as candidate for the Ohio General Assembly, and he began his two-year term in January, 1915. He was elected on the democratic ticket and his work has attracted notice and he is considered one of the most capable members of the present Ohio Legislature. His name is especially associated with the authorship of the Quail Bill, which is an excellent measure for the protection of these birds, and forbids hunting them for a period of two years beginning in November, 1915. He also introduced and had passed the so-called Fish Net Bill, which provided for the continuation of the use of the present size mesh in fish nets. That aet was the first one to become a law in the first session of the Eighty-first General Assembly. He likewise introduced other bills on various subjects, and some of these are pending for consideration in the second session of the Assembly.
On June 29, 1893, Mr. Bragg married Miss Zella DeYo. She was born at Clyde, Ohio, a daughter of Denton DeYo, a former resident of Groton Township, but now deceased. . Three children have been born into their home: Lynnetta M., who graduated from the Sandusky High School, was a student in the normal school at Bowling Green, Ohio, and is now a successful teacher in the public schools; Wealtha E., also a stu- dent in the normal school at Bowling Green ; and John D., now attending the Sandusky High School.
IIon. Mr. Bragg has numerous relations with fraternal and other organizations in his county. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias at Sandusky, of the Woodmen of the World at Sandusky, the Loyal Order of Moose at that city, the Knights of the Maccabees at Bloomingville. and is especially active in the Margaretta Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, having served as master of the local order, and is a member
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of the Pomona Grange of Erie County. IIe also belongs to the Castalia Vigilantes. His church is the Universalist and he has been clerk in the congregation.
As a farmer his ownership extends to 230 acres of land in Groton Township, one of the best managed farms in that part of the county and cultivated to the staple crops of this locality. Whether as a farmer or as an official he has stood the tests of a high-minded eitizen and is a natural leader in the progress of his home county.
FRANK P. HART. Hle whose name initiates this paragraph has been a resident of Erie County from the time of his birth, is a scion of a ster- ling German family that was here founded more than sixty years ago, and he has resided on his present fine homestead farm, in the southwestern part of Huron Township, sinee he was a child of two years. Like his honored father, he has proved himself one of the most progressive, ener- getic and successful agriculturists of this section of the state, and his landed estate, with an aggregate area of 370 aeres, is eoneeded to be one of the best improved and most effectively managed in Erie County. The Hart family has been represented by four generations in this part of the Buckeye State, and the subject of this review is a scion 'of the third gen- eration. the name which he bears having ever stood exponent of the ntmost civic loyalty, the most inflexible integrity and of productive indus- try in connection with the practical affairs of a workaday world.
Philip Hart, grandfather of Frank P., represented the first genera- tion of the family in Ohio, though his son William preceded him and other members of the family to America. Philip IIart was born in the Duchy of Nassau, now a part of the Province of Hesse-Nassau, Germany, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and in his native land he was reared and educated, his wife having likewise been a native of Nassau, where all of their children were born, namely : Philip, Jr., Lonis, Frederick, William, and a daughter who became the wife of Jacob Nicholas.
In 1852 William Hart, father of him whose name introduces this sketch, severed the ties that bound him to home and fatherland and set forth to establish a new home in America. Embarking. at IIamburg, on a sailing vessel, he terminated his voyage at the expiration of fifteen days. by landing in the Port of New York City. With but slight tarrying in the national metropolis, he soon made his way to Sandusky, the judicial center of Erie County, Ohio, and in the vicinity he found employment on a farm, at a stipend of $12 a month. Within two years he had saved enough money from his meager earnings to assist the other members of the family in defraying the expenses of their immigration to the United States. This unselfish devotion resulted in the immigration of his parents, his three brothers, of whom Philip, Jr., and Louis had already married and were thus accompanied by their respective wives, and of the one sister. The family party made the long and weary voyage on a sailing vessel of the type common to that period, and after their arrival in Erie County all lived together for some time, or until the sons eould arrange for independent venture as farmers, all of the number eventually acquir- ing excellent landed estates and becoming distinctively successful. The venerable father never beeame the owner of land in the United States, but he and his devoted wife were cared for with utmost filial solicitude by their children until they were finally summoned to the life eternal, in the fulness of years and in the high regard of all who knew them. Both were devout communieants of the Lutheran Church and to this faith their children and children's children have clung, with a few exceptions in the third and fourth generations. Of the sons, Philip. Jr .. Louis and Frederick became substantial farmers and landowners in Huron County.
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and there all passed the remainder of their lives, as did also their respec tive wives, with the exception of the widow of Philip, who is still living on their old homestead farm in that county. Jacob Nicholas, husband of the only daughter, was the owner of a large and valuable farm in Oxford Township, Erie County, where his wife died at the age of seventy years; he survived her by ten years and passed the closing period of his long and useful life in the home of his nephew, Frank P. Hart of this review, where he died at the venerable age of eighty-three years, his only child, a daughter, being likewise deceased.
William Hart was a young man at the time when he bravely took the initiative and came to the United States as the practical forerunner of the other members of this sterling family. In Oxford Township, Erie County, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Louise Hess, who likewise was a native of Nassau, Germany, where she was born in 1840, and who came alone to America when she was a young woman, she having been employed in a domestic capacity in Erie County, Ohio, up to the time of her marriage. After his marriage William Hart made his first pur- chase of land, a tract of seventy-five acres, on the Bloomville Road, in Perkins Township. There he and his wife, who was a woman of noble character and who was ever his devoted companion and helpmeet, estab- lished their modest home, and both worked together toward the goal of independence and definite prosperity. The original and circumscribed farm did not long serve to satisfy the ambition or afford adequate scope for the energies of Mr. Hart, with the result that in Huron Township.he purchased an additional tract, the same, comprising sixty-five acres, being an integral part of the homestead farm of his son, Frank P. With increasing financial prosperity, resulting from his own well-ordered endeavors. William Hart added from time to time to his landed posses- sions, with the result that he eventually became the owner of more than 200 acres on the Milan Road in Huron Township, besides another tract of eighty-seven acres in this township and his original homestead of seventy- five acres in Perkins Township. On his first farm he erected substantial buildings, including a substantial house of twelve rooms, and his enter- prising spirit was further evinced by his providing excellent buildings for and making other advanced improvements on his Huron Township homestead, that now occupied by his son, Frank P., of this review. Thoroughness and thrift typified every detail of his farm enterprise and he long held precedence as one of the most progressive and influential members of the farming community of Erie County, the while he always commanded inviolable place in the confidence and good will of his fel- low men.
Mrs. Louise ( Hess) Hart was summoned to the life eternal in 1875. a devout communieant of the Lutheran Church and a woman whose gentle and gracious personality gained to her the affectionate regard of all who came within the sphere of her influence. William Hart subsequently contracted a second marriage, by his union with Mary St. John, who was born and reared in Ohio and who still resides on their homestead farm in Perkins Township, a place to which they repaired after having resided several years in the City of Sandusky, no children having been born of their union. Mrs. Hart has attained to the psalmist's life-span of three score years and ten and is a zealous member of the Baptist Church. On the homestead in Perkins Township William Hart passed to his reward in November, 1909. at a venerable age, and well may it be said that "his works do follow him" and bear honor to his memory. Ilis political alle- giance was given to the democratic party and he was a consistent eom- munieant of the Lutheran Church, in the faith of which he was reared. William and Louise (Hess) Hart became the parents of seven sons and seven daughters, of whom Frank P. was the seventh in order of birth, and
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of the number five sons and four daughters are living in 1915. All are married and have children and four of the number are residents of Erie County.
Frank P. Hart was born on the farm in Oxford Township. where his parents resided a few years, and the date of his nativity was March 27. 1862, and he was two years of age at the time of the family removal to the homestead which has ever since continued his abiding place and which is endeared to him by the gracious memories and associations of the past, the remains of his parents resting side by side in the Scott Cemetery in Milan Township. Mr. Hart was afforded the advantages of the public schools of Erie County, early began to contribute his quota to the work of the home farm, and is grateful that he was thus able to acquire his initial and inspiring experience under the able direction of his honored father. Like the latter, he stands exponent of energy, progressiveness and good judgment in his operations as an agriculturist and as a grower of high-grade livestock, and like his father he has made of success not an accident but a logieal result. It is much to a man's credit to be pro- nounced one of the foremost representatives of these basie lines of indus- try in Erie County, and this reputation is fully merited in the case of Mr. Ilart. He occupies the substantial residence that was erected by his father, but has made many substantial improvements of modern type. besides which he has erected other high-grade buildings on the home place, including a barn that is 30x96 feet in dimensions. ITis estate comprises some of the best land to be found in this section of Ohio and his scientific methods insure to it the maximum of productiveness. On the homestead farm, which comprises 202 aeres. Mr. Hart has erected a second set of substantial farm buildings, including a good house, and his farm of seventy-five acres in Milan Township is similarly well improved, as is also his father's original homestead in Perkins Township, a prop- erty which he owns, the aggregate area of his landed estate being 373 acres, as noted in the initial paragraph of this article. Mr. Hart has on his home place an excellent apple orchard of four acres and also a small cherry orchard. He and his sons are supporters of the cause of the democratic party in national affairs, but in local matters are not con- strained by striet partisan lines. The family are communicants of the Lutheran Church at Union Corners, and Mr. Hart is a' trustee of the same.
In the City of Sandusky, in 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hart to Miss Margaret Kraft, who was born in Nassau, Germany, on the 20th of April, 1864, and who was three years of age at the time of the family immigration to the United States. She is a daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Schlessman) Kraft, who came to America in the late '60s, and who established their home in the City of Sandusky, where Mr. Kraft became identified with the lumber business and where his cleath occurred in 1880. His first wife passed away in 1872 and he later wedded Reca Lipp, who contracted a second marriage after his demise and who is again widowed, her home being at Fremont, Sandusky County. Mrs. Hart is the only daughter of her parents, and her brother, Jacob, was a resident of Erie County at the time of his death. his widow being now a resident of the City of Sandusky ; they had no children. By his second marriage Mr. Kraft left two sons and one daughter. all of whom are married and well established in life. Of the children of the first marriage two besides Mrs. Hart survive the honored father --- Michael, who is a prosperous cigar manufacturer and dealer in the ('ity of ('leveland and who has one son and one daughter; and Adam, who is a substantial farmer of Milan Township, who has been twice married and whose only child, a daughter, likewise is married. In the concluding paragraph is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Hart.
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Lloyd F., whose educational advantages were those of the public schools and a business college, is associated with his father in the latter's extensive farming operations. Ile married Miss Laura Schearer and they have two children-Alverna M. and Venesta. Earl, whose educa- tional discipline was similar to that of his elder brother, has charge of one of his, father's farms, the maiden name of his wife having been Edith Michael. Lynn Jacob, who availed himself of the advantages of the public schools and a business college, remains at the parental home and is his father's valued assistant in the work and management of the farm. Viola Leone, who was graduated in the Sandusky High School as a member of the elass of 1915, remains with her parents and is a popular young woman in the social activities of the community.
THOMAS J. LUNDY. Erie County is essentially cosmopolitan in its civic makeup, and among the popular citizens who ean claim descent from staunch old Irish stock is the representative farmer whose name introduces this review and who is a native of the county in which he has found ample scope for successful enterprise along the basie lines of industry to which he was reared. He is a scion of one of the well- known and highly esteemed pioneer families of Erie County, with whose history the name of Lundy has been worthily linked for more than half a century, and he is now the owner of one of the well improved farms of Huron Township, where he brings to bear marked energy and eircum- spection in the carrying forward of the various phases of farm enterprise and where he is known as a broad-minded and loyal citizen as well as a substantial man of affairs.
The birth of Mr. Lundy occurred on the 4th of October, 1864, and the place of his nativity was the old homestead of his parents, not far distant from his present place of abode. Ile is a son of John and Ann ( Haley ) Lundy, both natives of the fair Emerald Isle, where the former was born on the 22d of June, 1827, in County Mayo, the latter having been born in County Kerry, in the year 1831. In his native county in Ireland John Lundy was reared to the age of twelve years and he then accompanied his elder brother, Richard, to Manchester, England, in which city both were employed in factories until 1853, when they manifested their ambi- tion and self-reliance by immigrating to the United States, feeling assured of better opportunities for the winning of independence and prosperity in this country. The two sturdy young sons of Erin embarked on a sail- ing vessel of the type common to that period, and seven weeks and three days elapsed ere they completed their weary voyage and landed in New York City. They soon made their way to Reading, Penn- sylvania, and a few months later they came to Ohio and found employ- ment at farm work, in Erie County. The life of the agriculturist made strong appeal to John Lundy and he determined to bend his energies to the goal of independent identification with agricultural pursuits, though his advancement must needs be gained solely through his own ability and efforts. He was not laeking in a full reinforcement of self-reliance and ambition, and finally initiated his individual operations as a farmer by coming to Erie County and renting the MeMann Farm, on the Bogart Road, in Huron Township. On this place he remained eight years. apply- ing himself with characteristic vigor and efficiency and carefully con- serving the financial returns from his arduous labors. Hle then pur- chased a farm of fifty-five acres in the same vieinity and situated on the Lane Road, in the western part of IIuron Township. He developed one of the fine farms of the county and on the same made permanent improve- ments of an excellent order, including the erection of a good house of eleven rooms and a substantial barn, 36x50 feet in dimensions. Ho proved himself one of the successful agriculturists and stockgrowers of
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the county and never had cause to regret his choice of location or vocation. On this homestead John Lundy continued to reside, a well-known and distinctively popular citizen of Erie County, until the time of his death, which occurred on the 27th of January, 1915, his cherished and devoted wife having passed away in 1886 and the remains of both being laid to rest in St. Joseph's Cemetery, in the City of Sandusky. Both were devout communicants of the Catholic Church, in the faith of which they carefully reared their children. Mr. Lundy was an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the democratic party, took a loyal interest in local affairs of a public order and held various township offices. Mrs. Ann ( Haley) Lundy was a young woman of seventeen years when, in 1848, she immigrated to the United States and joined her brother John and her elder sister, Mrs. Eliza MeDermott, both of whom had estab- lished their home in Ohio and both of whom passed the closing years of their lives in Erie County, each having attained to advanced age. Mrs. Lundy proved a devoted and efficient helpmeet to her husband and reared her children with all of kindness and solicitude, so that by them her memory is held in lasting reverence. Of the children the eldest was John, Jr., who died, a bachelor, at the age of thirty-three years; Thomas J. of this review was the next in order of birth; Mary is the wife of Anthony Klein, they reside in the City of Huron, this county. and have several children; William, who is serving, in 1915, as sheriff of Erie County, married Miss Ann Steiner and they have one son and one daugh- ter; Ella is the wife of Simon Purcell, of Toledo, and they have one son.
Thomas J. Lundy was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and acquired his early education in the publie and parochial schools of Erie County. Ile has never abated by one jot or tittle his allegiance to the fundamental industry of agriculture, and has made the same a medium for the achieving of marked success and prosperity. ITis farm com- prises fifty-five acres of most fertile land, the place is well improved and he is indefatigable in his labors to gain the maximum returns in his eulti- vation of the willing soil and his raising of livestock of excellent grades. He is loyal and liberal in his eivie attitude and though he takes lively interest in communal affairs and is ever ready to support progressive measures and enterprises for the general good, he has manifested no desire for public office. ITis political support is given unreservedly to the eanse of the democratic party and he and his family are communi- cants of the Catholic Church.
In the township that is now his place of residence was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lundy to Miss Mary A. Purcell, the wedding having been celebrated on the 15th of April, 1896. Mrs. Lundy was born in Oxford Township on the 1st of January, 1863, and was reared and edu- cated in Iluron Township. She is a daughter of Simon and Bridget (Higgins) Purcell, both natives of Ireland. They are still residents of Huron Township and are now venerable in years. Mr. and Mrs. Lundy have six children-John W., Simon R., Thomas J .. William Leo. Edward M., and Mary A. The eldest son is attending. in 1915, a business college in the City of Sandusky, and the other children are members of the home circle, Simon R. being his father's efficient assistant in the work of the farm.
GEORGE F. HINDE. More fertile and productive land than that found in the fine farm of Mr. Hinde can scarcely be looked for in the entire limits of the old Bnekeye State, and his homestead is most eligibly sit- uated in Huron Township, is admirably improved and maintained in the best order, and indicates to even the easnal observer the thrift and pro- gressiveness of the fortunate owner. Mr. Hinde takes due pride in reverting to Erie County as the place of his nativity and he is a repre- Vol. II-21
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