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 5
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Mr. Giedeman has been twice married. He married, first, in 1875, Miss Katherine Homegardner, who was born in Sandusky, where her parents, John and Mary Homegardner, were pioneer settlers. She died November 20, 1901, leaving three children, namely: Cora, now wife of Thaddeus Green; Edith, and Catherine. Mr. Giedeman married, second, September 27, 1904, Mrs. Katherine ( Wagner) Crotty, widow of Thomas Crotty. She was born in Cleveland, where her father, John Wagner, located as a pioneer on coming to this country from Germany, his native land.
Religiously Mr. Giedeman and his family are members of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. Fraternally he is a member of Sandusky Coun- eil No. 546. Knights of Columbus; of St. George Court No. 238, Catholic Order of Foresters; of Sandusky Aerie No. 444, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and of Sandusky Branch No. 27, C'atholie Mutual Benefit Association.
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WILLIAM COLES. A business record of forty-five years is the honor- able distinction of William Coles, who has spent most of his life in Sandusky, and whose energy in the management of his own affairs has also at different times been diverted for the public benefit through differ- ent public offices he has held.
William Coles was born in Peterboro, England, March 14, 1845, a son of Isaac Coles, who was born in the same locality. Though the grandparents spent their lives in England, three of the sons, James, Stephen and Isaac Coles, all came to America and all became early residents of Sandusky. James died a few years ago leaving one son, while Stephen has no children. Isaac Coles grew up and married in England, and about 1848 came to America, accompanied by his wife and three children. They made the voyage on a sailing vessel, being six weeks on the sea, and after landing at New York came west to Sandusky. This was then a small settlement, and a large part of the land now included in the city was covered with trees and hazel brush. During 1849 Isaac Coles was employed in driving horses to draw freight cars up and down Water Street. Only the older citizens can recall that some- what primitive railroad. The rails were wooden stringers, covered with strap iron. This employment led Isaac Coles to a trucking business in 1850, and he began operating a two-wheeled dray. During the cholera epidemie in the city he carried the dead to the cemetery on this vehicle. That old cemetery was located on Pearl Street. Isaac Coles continued in the general dray and transfer business twenty-five years, and after that lived retired until his death at the age of eighty-six. He married Sarah Escom, who was born in England and died at the age of eighty- one. She reared twelve of her fourteen children, namely : Harriet, William, Stephen, Jane, Phebe, Nettie, Fanny, James, Isaac, Thomas, Polly and Sally. The first three were born in England.
William Coles was three years old when brought to Sandusky, and owing to the large family at home and other conditions his education was much neglected, and from the time he was eight years old he began to be self supporting. He was employed in different kinds of work, with attendance at school only during the winter months. While still young he bought on eredit a team and began hauling freight around the city. He went at this work with the same energy which has characterized all his activities, paid for the team in a short time and then bought other teams and equipment and set up as a general contractor in the freight and transfer business. He continued this business in growing proportions with offices on Railroad Street until 1909, and has now completed fully forty-five years of business activity.
On December 24, 1864, Mr. Coles married Jane Bayless, who was born in England, and was the only member of her father's family to come to America. During the Christmas season of 1914 the Coles family and many friends celebrated the auspicious event of the fiftieth anni- versary of the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Coles. They reared five chil- dren : Sarah E., William, Mary, John, Alfred. Sarah E. lives with her parents. William met his death by accident at the age of twenty-one, while John died at the age of nineteen, and Alfred died in childhood. The daughter Mary is the wife of Dr. F. F. Lehman, and has two children.
Mr. Coles is affiliated with Perseverance Lodge No. 329, F. & A. M. For many years his fellow citizens have imposed upon him important responsibilities of a public nature. He served as a member of the board of education eight years, as a member of the board of safety six years, and also in the city council. While on the board of education the Seventh and Ninth Ward schoolhouses were built, and while he was on the board of safety two new fire steamers were bought for the fire department,
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the No. 5 Engine House was built, also the No. 3 Engine House and the Ninth Street bridge. During his membership in the city council the paving work was done on Columbus Avenne, Market Street, Tiffin Ave nue, Wayne and Hancock streets, and during that time he was chairman of the committee ou paving.
IION. GEORGE C. BEIS. Energetie and decisive, and liberally endowed with natural legal talent and ability, IIon. George C. Beis, who holds a distinetive position among the leading attorneys-at-law of Erie County, is successfully engaged in the practice of his chosen profession in San- dusky. A son of George J. Beis, he was born in Waterville, Lueas County, Ohio, of German ancestry, his paternal grandparents having been lifelong residents of Germany. Two of their sons immigrated to America, George J. and Charles, who settled in Wyandot County, Ohio.
Born and edueated in Baden, Germany, George J. Beis left home in early manhood, coming to the United States in search of a favorable opportunity for advancing his financial resources, and being sixty-two days in crossing the Atlantie in a sailing vessel. Landing in New York, he proceeded by way of the Hudson River and the Erie Canal to Buffalo, and thence by lake to one of the ports of Ohio. Making his way aeross the country to Galion, Crawford County, Ohio, he there served an ap- prenticeship at the brewer's trade, that having been at a time when the brewing business was conducted on a much smaller seale than at present, the brewers making their own barrels, so that he became proficient in both brewing and coopering. Settling in Waterville, Lucas County, he was successfully engaged in the brewing business until 1873, when he bought a traet of land near by, and was there employed in agricultural pursuits until his death. He married Rosina Allion, whose parents emigrated from Germany to Ameriea with their large family of children when she was six years old, settling first in Pennsylvania, from there coming to Ohio and loeating in the vicinity of Waterville. She died in 1893, leaving six children.
An ambitious student in his youthful days, George C. Beis aequired a practical knowledge of books in the public schools, and at the age of seventeen years began his career as a teacher in Providence Township. Lucas County, and subsequently taught one or more terms each year for three years, in the meantime reading law in the office of Scribner, ITurd & Scribner. Entering the senior elass of the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in 1882, he was there graduated in 1883 and immediately admitted to practice in Michigan. Instead of remaining in that state he came directly to Erie County, and after being admitted to the Ohio bar in Columbus commenced the practice of his profession in Sandusky, where he has met with unquestioned suceess.
Mr. Beis married Lucinda M. Zerbe, who was born in Sandusky, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Zerbe. Mr. and Mrs. Beis are the parents of three children, namely: George A., Jeannette and Mary Elizabeth. After his graduation from the Sandusky High School, George A. Beis entered the University of Michigan, his father's alma mater, and in 1912 was graduated from the literary department of that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Later he entered the law depart- ment of that university and was there graduated with the elass of 1915. Jeannette Beis, also a graduate of the Sandusky Iligh School, is now. in 1915, a student at the Western Reserve Woman's College in Cleveland.
Mr. Beis cast his first presidential vote in favor of Grover Cleveland. and has since been an earnest supporter of the principles of the demo- cratie party, serving ably as chairman of the Democratic County Com-
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mittee, and in 1888 was the democratie candidate for presidential elector of his home district. Prominent in the administration of public affairs, Mr. Beis was elected probate judge of Erie County in 1890, and in that position served most satisfactorily to all concerned. He was elected city solicitor of the City of Sandusky in 1885, and was reelected in 1887 and 1889, resigning the office of solicitor to take the office of probate judge.
JUDGE EDMUND B. KING. Among the men whom Sandusky and Erie County have long since learned to value for their personal character and ability of service is Judge Edmund B. King, who has for fully forty years been actively identified with the bar in that city and is a former judge of the circuit bench. Judge King is a man who conceives citizen- ship as a duty involving unremitting service in the general interests of the community. He exercised a wise choice in making the law his profes- sion, and he has long stood as one of the leaders of the Sandusky bar.
Edmund B. King was born in a log house in Mentville Township of Medina County, Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1850. His family were among the early settlers of Northern Ohio. His father, Cyrus King, was born in the Town of Pompey, Onondaga County, New York, while the grand- father, Joel King, was a native of Rhode Island and of colonial ancestry. Joel King brought his family out to the wilds of Onondaga County about 1810, and was one of the early settlers at Pompey, where he spent the rest of his life as a farmer. Cyrus King acquired a good education in the common schools of New York State, and as a young man learned the trade of carpenter. At the age of twenty-one he started for the West, making the journey by the lake from Buffalo and landing at Cleveland, which was then a very small eity. He was employed at his trade there during the summer season and taught a country school in the winter. As carpenter it should be mentioned he assisted in erecting the first build- ings of the Western Reserve College at Hudson, and was also employed a time at his trade in Akron. After that for several years he was a resident of Wadsworth Township in Medina County, where he alternated his trade and his work as a teacher but after his marriage bought fifty acres of land in Mentville Township, three miles from the City of Medina. About half of this land was cleared, and the rest in heavy timber. A log house and a small frame barn constituted the bulk of the improve- ments. There he began the solid work of his life, following his trade part of the time and also superintending the operation of the farm, to which he subsequently added fifty aeres. Late in life he left the farm and lived retired in Medina until his death at the age of eighty-two years and six months. Cyrus King married Harriet Bennett, who was born in Wadsworth Township of Medina County, where her father, Timothy Bennett, was a pioneer settler. Mrs. Cyrus King died at the early age of twenty-seven.
Judge King spent his early boyhood and youth on the old farm above mentioned. and in the meantime attended the country schools. He was ambitions to acquire a higher education, and partly with sneh assistance as his father could give him and partly from means earned by his own labor he attended the public schools of Medina City and also the Oberlin Academy and took a course in Baldwin University. During his student days he was a teacher, and taught two terms in Townsend Township of Huron County. He took up the study of law in the office of Wickham and Wildman at Norwalk, and was admitted to the Ohio bar in August, 1873. In October of the same year he was elected proseenting attorney for Medina County and filled that office until the fall of 1875, when he resigned in order to locate in the City of Sandusky. He was soon recog- nized as one of the coming lawyers and now for many years has con- trolled a large and profitable practice.
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On February 26, 1874, Mr. King married Emma Hackett, who was born in Huron County, Ohio, a daughter of Abner and Ilannah Ilaekett. Judge King and wife have two children, Cora and Clifford M. Cora is the wife of Thaddeus Graves of IIatfield, Massachusetts, and has three children, named Elizabeth, Edmund King and JJanet. Clifford M., a graduate of the Western Reserve University with the degree A. B., and from the technical department of Cornell University with the degree in civil engineering, is now practicing his profession, and married Edith Davis.
Judge King east his first presidential vote for General Grant and has been a stanch republican for many years. He was elected presidential elector in the campaign of 1888, and sat as a member of the Ohio Consti- tutional Convention of 1912, and did some valuable work in framing the present organie law for the state. In 1894 he was honored by election to the office of judge of the sixth judicial district, and filled that position nearly five years, finally resigning in order to resume his private practice. He has for many years been an active member of the Ohio Bar Association, and in 1904 was a delegate to the Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists at St. Louis. Outside of his profession his chief business interest is as president of the Lineoln Stove Company of Fremont. Judge King is affiliated with Lodge No. 50, F. & A. M .; Sandusky City Chapter No. 72, R. A. M .; Sandusky City Council No. 26, R. & S. M .; Erie Com- mandery No. 23, K. T .; Alkoran Temple of the Mystie Shrine at Cleve- land; Toledo Consistory, A. A. Scottish Rite, and is a Mason of the thirty-third degree. Ile is a past grand commander of the Knights Templars of Ohio. At one time he was active in the Ohio National Guard, serving as second lieutenant, later as captain and finally as major in the Sixteenth Regiment, Ohio National Guard, from 1880 to 1897, inelusive.
MARY CLEMONS DEWEY. Some of the first families of Sandusky and Erie County are represented by Mrs. Mary Clemons Dewey, whose own career has been one of exceptional service and length. She is perhaps the oldest native citizen of Erie County, and following the death of her husband, which left her a mother with two children, she took up the work of teaching and for forty years was connected with the public schools of Sandusky,
Mary Clemons Dewey was born October 18, 1832. Iler father was Elijah E. Clemons, who was born in the Town of Hiram, Maine, February 21, 1803, a son of John Clemons, also a native New Englander. John Clemons came out to Ohio in 1819, and was one of the pioneers of Sandusky, which was at that time a village in the midst of the woods and its chief prosperity was as a lake port. John Clemons reared six sons and one daughter, named Carey, John, Alexander, Elijah, Andrew, William and Eunice, who married Daniel Newton.
Elijah E. Clemons, who was sixteen years old when the family came to Sandusky, had only a limited education, but was a man of good business ability and judgment. He learned the trade of cooper, worked at it in Sandusky until after his marriage, and then bought a tract of land about three miles out on the Columbus Pike. There he erected a shop for his work as cooper, also opened a tavern, and cultivated a small traet of land. At that time there were neither railroads nor canals in this part of Northern Ohio, and Sandusky was a market and shipping point for the grain raised by farmers for a hundred miles baek from the lake shore. During certain parts of the year the Columbus Pike was a thoroughfare for almost a continuons procession of wagons bearing all kinds of traffic, and one of the favorite places of entertainment for the drivers was the Clemons Tavern. Elijah E. Clemons was in a fair way to becoming a prosperous man until his death at an early age on December 1 11 3
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27, 1836. He married Hannah Gregg. She was born July 11. 1806, in New York State. Her father, Benjamin Gregg, was probably also a native of New York State, came out to Ohio during the early settlement days, making the trip on a sailing vessel from Buffalo and landing at Venice, then a flourishing village. Ile bought a tract of timbered land on the Columbus Pike, three miles south of the Sandusky courthouse. and was engaged in farming there until late in life, when he removed to Sandusky and died in 1865 at the age of eighty-nine. Benjamin Gregg had a family of several children. Mrs. Dewey's mother. after the death of her husband, assumed so far as possible the responsibilities of managing the farm and the tavern, and kept the old home until her death in August, 1848. She reared five children, named Sarah, Carey, Mary, Hiram and Marcella.
Mrs. Dewey was educated in the rural school near Sandusky and later attended the Sandusky High School. At the age of eighteen she married Royal Dewey, who was born in Poultney, New York, in 1825. His father. Jeremiah Dewey, was a native of New England and came to Sandusky in the early days, where he was one of the first to engage in the jewelry business, and for several years was the only jeweler in town. He died of cholera during the fatal year 1849. Royal Dewey learned the jewelry business under his father and beeame exeeedingly expert as an engraver. He worked at his trade for his brother Hiram for some time, and after- wards was in business for himself until compelled by ill health to retire. His death occurred in 1859 at the age of thirty-four.
Mrs. Dewey, thus left a widow with two children to support, began teaching school. Her first term was at Marblehead, beginning in the spring of 1860. In the fall of the same year she removed to Sandusky and opened a select school. With the improvement of the public schools this institution became unprofitable, and she was then made one of the teachers of the city schools and continued in that work forty years, during which time she taught children, children's children and even grandchildren.
Mrs. Dewey's two children were Ella, who died at the age of twenty years, and Hiram, now a commercial salesman living in Cleveland. Hiram Dewey married Clara Stapleford and has a daughter named Ethel. Mrs. Dewey, though an octogenarian, is well preserved physically and mentally. and has a host of friends, particularly among her old pupils. She occupies a cozy home at 1017 Adams Street.
GEORGE J. DOERZBACH. Prominent among the native-born citizens of Sandusky who have spent their lives within its boundaries, aidling in every possible way the city's growth and advancement, whether relating to its social, commercial or financial interests, is George J. Doerzbach. clerk of the Erie County Board of Elections.
The youngest son of Christopher and Louise (Schweitzer) Doerzbach, he received a practical education in the public schools, in 1888 being graduated from the Sandusky High School. Beginning his active career a short time later. Mr. Doerzbach was for ten years associated with his brothers, G. William Doerzbach and Fred (. Doerzbach. He was sub- sequently identified with the musie business for eight years, being in company with John F. Renner during that time. The partnership being lissolved, Mr. Doerzbach began writing insurance, and has continued in that line of industry ever sinee. For the past five years he has rendered efficient service as clerk of the board of eleetions, a position for which he is well fitted.
Mr. Doerzbaeh married, in 1896, Sallie Belle Rodgers, a daughter of Hazard Rodgers. She comes of honored and patriotic ancestry, being a direct descendant of a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and is a member
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of the Daughters of the Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Doerzbach have one son, Roger IIenry Doerzbach.
Politically Mr. Doerzbach cast his first presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison, and has since been an earnest and consistent supporter of the principles of the republican party. Active and influential in fraternal circles, he is a member of Science Lodge No. 50, Ancient, Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of Sandusky City Chapter No. 72, Royal Arch Masons; of Sandusky City Council No. 26, Royal and Select Mas- ters; of Erie Commandery No. 23, Knights Templar; and is likewise a member of Sandusky Lodge No. 285, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he is past exalted ruler, and at the present writing is the secretary. His chief recreation is bowling, a health and strength giving sport in which he excels.
CONRAD D. ECKLER. Inheriting from his ancestors the habits of industry, thrift and economy characteristic of the German people, Conrad D. Eckler, of Sandusky, has steadily climbed the ladder of prosperity since coming to this country, and has attained high rank among the men who have gained success in the industrial world, his patronage as a painter and decorator being large and remunerative. He was born November 29. 1849, in the Village of Neumoerken, Kress, Melsunger, Cassel Hesse, Nassau, Germany, which was also the birthplace of his father, Justus Henry Eckler.
Ilis great-grandfather Eckler, a Hessian soldier, came to America with the English army during the Revolutionary war, but did not remain very long, as his regiment, which was taken by the American forces on the field of battle, was recaptured by the English and sent back to Ger- many. Before coming to America he had made over all of his property to his sister, and it is supposed that when he did so he intended to remain permanently in this country. A skillful horticulturist, he subsequently had for many years the entire charge of the fruit trees that were planted along the streets of Neumoerken, and belonged to that village, it being the one in which he spent the larger part of his long life of ninety years.
The paternal grandfather of Conrad D. was a farmer by occupation. and a life-long resident of Neumoerken. IFe reared two daughters and three sons, as follows: Elizabeth, Martha, Justus II., Henry and George. All of these children immigrated to the United States and settled in Ohio, becoming residents of Sandusky.
Justus Henry Eckler was a regular attendant of the public schools of his native village during his boyhood days, and after completing his carly education served an apprenticeship at the millwright's trade, which he subsequently followed in the fatherland until 1864. Accompanied by wife and children, he embarked on board a sailing vessel in the month of June, and after a voyage of six weeks and four days landed in New York, July 16. 1864. After a brief stay in that city he went to Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, from there coming to Sandusky, Ohio, where his brothers had been located a number of years. Subsequently finding employment in the factory of Aukaback, Craig & Dory, he had charge of selecting the lumber to be used for different purposes by the workmen. Resigning that position, he became machinist for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, with which he was subsequently connected until his death, at the age of seventy-two years. His wife, whose maiden name was Barbara Kerste, died when but forty-two years okl. leaving two children, Katy and Conrad D.
Having attended school until fourteen years of age, Conrad D. Eckler then came with his parents to Sandusky. Like all German boys of that day he was anxious to earn money, and having sought work he found
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it with the firm of Upp & Welk, in whose employ he remained for a year. Ile afterwards served an apprenticeship of four years with Harry Porter at the trade of painter and decorator. He subsequently followed his trade as a journeyman until 1872, working a year for Samuel Tebbutt, and afterward with the firm of Bauman & Tebbutt. Mr. Eekler having then become a thorough master of his trade, embarked in business for himself, and has continued active ever since, being now one of the leading painters and decorators of the city and its suburbs, and having as a partner his son, Harry J. Eekler.
Mr. Eckler married, in 1878, Caroline Elizabeth Balduff; she was born in Perkins Township, Erie County, of German ancestry. IIer father, Jacob Balduff, was born, reared and married in Baden, Germany. Immigrating with his family to America he was several weeks crossing the ocean in a sailing vessel. ('oming directly to Ohio he was among the first of the German families to locate in Sandusky. For a few years after settling in this city he was in the employ of the Sandusky, Mans- field & Newark Railroad Company, and while with it purchased a tract of heavily timbered land in Perkins Township, and having ereeted in the wilderness a log house moved his family there. Subsequently giving up his position with the railroad company, he devoted the remainder of his life to the elearing of the land and the tilling of the soil, improving a good homestead.
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