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 57
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114
846
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Edward J. Hummm was reared on the farm where he was born, and to this place he fell heir on the death of his parents. Already mention has been made of the high character of his farming activitives. He was married to Miss Jennie Algood, who was born in this township on Feb- ruary 22, 1867, the daughter of David and Mary (Rogers) Algood, of Southern birth but residents of this county and township since their marriage. David Algood died on his farm here in November, 1913, when he was sixty-eight years old, and his widow still lives on the old home, aged seventy-six years. Mrs. IIumm was a school teacher for eight years prior to her marriage. One daughter has been born to them-Hazel, born August 6. 1895, and a graduate of the Berlin Heights High. School, class of 1913. In recent years the health of the wife and mother has not been at the best, and the daughter ably fills the post of housekeeper in the home.
FRANK O. KING. Since the early pioneer times the King family has taken a notable part in the improvement and development of Erie County, and a grandson of the original settler, Frank O. King, in his generation has shown all the best family characteristics in this regard. He has taken an intelligent and purposeful part in the happenings which have made up the history of Florence Township during the last twenty- five or thirty years, and is just the type of citizen who deserves the dig- nity and responsibilities of public office. For the past six years Mr. King has held the office of township trustee, and his administration has been one of deeds rather than promises. He is impartial, honest, earnest, and has the faculty of getting things done in behalf of the township as well as in his private affairs. He is a man of independent judgment, and none can question his sincerity of purpose and his real publie spirit.
ITis birthplace was the farm which he now owns, situated on the Middle Ridge Road in Florence Township. He was born there June 20, 1866. llis grandfather, Chester King, was a native of Connecticut, married a Connecticut girl, and came in the early days to Ohio, locating on 130 acres of almost wild land in Florence Township. A portion of his original farm has never passed out of the family possession, and is now owned by Mr. Frank O. King. The land is located along Chappell Creek where Chester King and his wife spent their many years of use- ful toil and activities. He erected one of the first frame houses in the township, as well as other buildings, and the material for these struc- tures all came from lumber sawed and ent on the farm, the mill being turned by the waters of Chappell Creek. Chester King and wife left a family of six children, all of whom are now deceased and all of whom were born, reared and spent their lives in Ohio.
Joseph S. King, father of Frank O., was born on the old homestead, as were also his brothers and sisters, and his own birth occurred in 1837. He died January 30, 1910, having spent all these years on the farm until he retired to Berlin Heights a few years before his death. He was a very successful farmer, and a man of prominence in the town- ship, having served as trustee for a number of years. In polities he was first a whig, as was his father, and later an active republican. Joseph King was first married in Florence Township to Melona Masters, who was born in New York State, and when seven years of age eame with her mother to Erie County. She died on the old homestead in 1890 at the age of sixty-two. Her three children were: Charles, who died August 3, 1866, aged thirteen years three days; Mrs. Ella A. Andress, who is noted on other pages, where other interesting partieulars eon- cerning the King family can be found ; and Frank O,
After the death of his first wife the father married Mary Meyer,
HENRY J. KROCK
DR. Krock
847
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
who is still living, her home being at Ogontz in Berlin Township. There is a daughter, Margaret, by this marriage, still single.
After the death of his father Frank O. King succeeded to the owner- ship of the fine old farm which comprises eighty-nine acres of land. It has excellent natural drainage, thus eliminating the necessity of tiling except over a few aeres. For many successive years this land has pro- duced all the staple crops grown in Northern Ohio, and probably no farm in Erie County has a record of more intelligent and successful husbandry than this. Mr. King for a number of years has given mueh attention to fruit growing. The old orchard, of six acres, is now some- what depleted, but he has nine acres of fine young peach trees. His farm house is one of the best in the township, a large eight-room house, and the other improvements are in keeping.
As already noted, Mr. King has held the office of township trustee for the past six years, and the citizens of that locality testify that the offiee was never in better hands. He has also been a leader in the Grange and general agricultural uplift of his section, and for a number of years served as a member of the board of education. Like others of the family he is a republican, and he and his wife and daughter are all members of Florence Grange No. 1844, Patrons of Husbandry. He is a past treas- urer, while his wife is the present treasurer of that Grange.
Mrs. King's maiden name was Adella Chandler, and she was born in Florence Township and is a woman of education and culture. Her parents were Daniel and Sarah (Belknap) Chandler. Her father was for many years an active farmer, but is now retired, past eighty years of age, and his mind is as keen and bright as in former years. His wife (lied two years ago. at the age of seventy-five, and also kept her faculties until the end.
Mr. and Mrs. King have two daughters: Pearl L., who was educated in the Florence High School, is now the wife of Edwin Felton, and they live at Florence Corners and have a daughter named Mabel E. Gladys E., the younger daughter, is still at home and a student in the Berlin Heights High School. These children comprise the third generation to be born on one farm, and that is an exceptional tribute to the stability of the King family, and there are not many like cases in the country of the Middle West, where both land and people are new, and almost constant change of residence and activities is the normal features of family life.
FRANKLIN L. KROCK. In the year 1894 Mr. Krock succeeded his honored father in the conducting of a well-order and long-established business enterprise in the thriving little City of Iluron, and as an undertaker and funeral director he has performed his delicate functions with all of consideration and kindliness and has shown marked busi- ness ability and judgment, so that in his chosen field of endeavor he has added to the prestige of a name long identified with this line of enter- prise in Erie County, popular appreciation of the effective interposition of the father and sons in directing affairs after loss and bereavement have rendered such service requisite, being shown in the fact that under the supervision of the two there have been laid to rest in Erie County more deceased persons than the entire population of Huron at the present time. Mr. Krock is a graduate and licensed embalmer of authoritative knowledge and practical skill ; his establishment is admir- ably equipped, and has the best of modern facilities, so that it is fortified for the prompt and effective meeting of all demands placed upon it.
In the homestead in which he now resides in Huron, on South Street. near the corner of Williams Street, Mr. Krock was born on the 15th of Angust. 1855, and to the public schools of his native town he is indebted for his early educational discipline. After attaining to his legal major-
848
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
ity he held for four years the position of shipping clerk in the estab- hshment of the Toledo Carnage & Variety company, of which his brother and brother-m-law were the two mterested primeipals. After remaming thus engaged in the City of Toledo for the period noted, Mr. Kroek finally returned to Iluron and became associated with the undertaking busmess of his father, besides having charge of the latter's fine vineyard of ten aeres, within the city limits. Since the death of his father, Henry J. Krock, he has successfully continued the busmess and is virtually the only undertaker and funeral director in Ituron.
Ilenry Joseph Krock was born in a village of the Schlichter District of Hessen, Germany, on the 19th of February, 1817, a scion of sterling German stock. He was a child at the time of his parents' death and was reared in the home of an unele, who assigned him, when he was a mere boy, to the task of herding cattle, and that under most arduous conditions, as he remained with the cattle not only by day, but usually at night also, so that he was able to go to the family dwelling ouly at infrequent intervals and was compelled to remain out night after might, often in inclement weather and with clothing saturated by falling rain. This proved a depressing situation for an ambitious and vigorous boy, and finally he was enabled to enter upon an apprenticeship to the cab- inetmaker's trade, his educational advantages m the meanwhile having been very limited. It may readily be understood that he hailed with gratification his release from the strenuous work of a herder, and in later years he reverted to his apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker as consti- tuting a happy period of his early life. He became a skilled artisan at his trade and after becoming an independent journeyman he considered himself sufficiently fortified to justity him in taking to himself a wife, in the person of Miss Anna M. Wilhelm, who was born and reared in a neighboring district of Hessen, the date of her nativity having been August 14, 1820. Soon after his marriage, in the year 1840, Henry J. Krock and his brave and devoted young wife severed the ties that bound them to their native land and set forth to seek a home in the United States. The sailing vessel on which they took passage was on the Atlantic for nine weeks before it reached the port of New York City, and from the national metropolis the young couple, as strangers in a strange land, continued their journey westward, by way of the lludson River, by canal and by vessel on Lake Erie, until they finally disembarked in the City of Toledo, Ohio, where was born their first child. Toledo at that time had few metropolitan pretensions or facilities, and the all-prevalent ague, or chills and fever, so disturbed the Krock family that removal was made within a comparatively short time to the City of Cleveland, where the husband and father found work at his trade m a Furniture manufactory conducted by the firm of Vincent & Barstow, which likewise was engaged in the retail trade. In 1842 Mr. Kroek came to Erie County and established his residence in the little Village of Iluron, where he initiated an independent business as a cabinetmaker. his interposition as a skilled workman being much in requisition in the manufacturing of coffins in the semi-pioneer community, all of the work being done by hand and the manufacturing, as a matter of course. having not been instituted until a death had occurred, the maintaining of pre-manufactured stock in this line having at that early date been looked upon as abhorrent and inconsiderate. Mr. Krock manufactured also substantial and attractive furniture and he eventually developed a substantial business that required the services or four or five assistants. Finally he purchased a large village lot on South Street, and on the same he erected a good frame house and also a cabinet shop, the lathes in the latter having been operated by horse power. It is gratifying to find in this section of the county at the present day numerous evidences
849
IHISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
of the mechanical skill of this pioneer business man, in the way of fine old pieces of furniture that have suffered practically no disintegration and represent the sturdiness that typified both social and material condi- tions in that generation. In various families these ancient articles of furniture of the Kroek manufacture are preserved and valued as heir- looms. Mr. Krock was essentially vigorous and progressive and did much to further the development and upbuilding of his home village, in which his name and memory are revered, as are also those of his gentle and noble wife. Mr. Krock became the leading furniture dealer of the locality, and after disposing of this business he gave his attention to his undertaking establishment and his vineyard until the close of his long and useful life. He purchased within the corporate limits a tract of ten acres, on five acres of which he developed an excellent grape vine- yard, the products of which he sold for a number of years to wine manufacturers in the State of New York. This worthy citizen, whose life was one of signal integrity and honor and who marked the passing years with successful and worthy achievement, was summoned to the life eternal in July, 1896, about six months prior to the eightieth anniver- sary of his birth. He was a staunch advocate of the principles of the democratic party, served a number of terms as a member of the village council and one term as mayor after IIuron received a charter.
A number of years prior to his death Mr. Krock planned the substantial briek business block that perpetuates his name and stands as a monument to his memory and his civic loyalty. Ile purchased a lot at the corner of Main and Homan streets, and after his death, in accord- ance with definite provisions and instructions given in his will, his son, Franklin L., ereeted on this lot, in 1898, the fine three-story building that is 31 by 85 feet in dimensions and is one of the largest and best business blocks in Huron, he later having added for the accommodation of his own business an addition 18 by 31 feet in dimensions and two stories in height. The devoted wife of Mr. Kroek survived him but about two years, her death having occurred in September, 1897. both having been devout communicants of the Catholic Church, in the faith of which they were confirmed prior to their emigration from Germany. Catherine, the eldest of their children, was born in Toledo, as previ- ously noted. She became the wife of Grover Rigby and she is survived by two children, Burton and Mrs. Elias Summer, both of whom reside in the City of Toledo. William II. and Joseph, the next in order of birth, were born and reared in Huron and both were afforded the advan- tages of Oberlin College. William HI. became a locomotive engineer and continued in service, on different railroads, for a number of years. his life finally being sacrificed in discharge of duty, he having been acci- dentally scalded by his engine, on the Winona & St. Peter Railroad, Minnesota, on the 4th of March, 1870, and having died nine days later. as a result of his injuries. Joseph became a railway conductor, and after continuing his service for several years as condnetor on passenger trains, he abandoned this occupation at the request of his mother, who could not forget the fate of her elder son. For some time thereafter Joseph Krock was engaged in the carriage and novelty business in the City of Toledo, and he then returned to Huron, where he is now living virtually retired. The maiden name of his first wife was Ella Thorn- ton, and she is survived by two chidren, Grace and Jay. For his second wife Joseph Krock wedded Miss Lillian Cook, of Huron, and they have one son, Gerald, now a student in the IIuron High School (1915). Carrie, the second daughter of the late Henry J. Krock, died on the 26th of January, 1902. Francis F. and Franklin L. were twins, and the former died at the age of twenty-one years, the latter being the immediate subject of this sketch. Minnie, a popular young woman in
850
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
the social activities of Iluron, resides in the home of her brother, Franklin L., who has continued in the ranks of eligible bachelors and who with his sister occupies the old homestead of their parents. Both are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church, as is also their brother Joseph, who has served as a member of the vestry of the church at Huron. Both Joseph and Franklin L. are unwavering in their allegiance to the democratic party, and both have served as members of the City Council of Huron, the subject of this article having been postmaster of Huron four years. under the first administration of President Cleveland. He has served as chairman of the Democratic Committee of Huron Township. IFe is affiliated with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and is an active member of the Ohio 'Asso- ciation of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, he having been graduated in the Clark School of Embalming, in the City of Cincinnati, and his state license as an embalmer bearing the number 578.
ANDREW SCHISLER. A special page in the History of Erie County should be devoted to the activities and family of Andrew Sehisler. They came from Germany, and the founder of the household was in exceed- ingly poor circumstances when he arrived, but they have sinee added not a little to the agricultural prosperity of Florence Township, where An- drew Schisler is now one of the most progressive farmers and publie spirited citizens.
It was on the old homestead of his father in Florence Township that Andrew Schisler was born June 24, 1867, a son of Paul and Fredericka ( Springer) Schisler. Both parents were natives of Hesse Cassel, Ger- many, where the Springers and Schislers had lived one generation after another for a great many years. Paul Schisler's parents lived and died in the old country, and farming was their regular vocation. Paul adopted another occupation and learned the trade of weaver. Some time after his marriage he left the old country, bringing his wife and their one child, Martin, by sailing vessel from Bremen to New York, spending four weeks on the ocean. On arriving in New York, Paul Sehisler found his finances so reduced that he was compelled to leave his wife and child in the care of friends, while he journed on to Ohio, and in Berlin Town- ship found employment with George Peek at Harpers Corners. From his earnings he soon sent for his wife, and continued in the employ of Mr. Peek and of James Douglas in that community for six or seven years. Though he had the responsibilities of providing for a family, he man- aged by great economy and unremittent toil to accumulate a small amount of capital, which he finally invested in twenty-one aeres of land in Florence Township. That land is included in the present farm of his son Andrew. The latter was about a year old when his father located on this farm. Paul Schisler, after buying this land, started in with re- newed earnestness to make a home, and was soon spoken of by his neigh- bors as rising in the scale of prosperity, and this was evideneed by his purchase of more land until he had a farm of 126 aeres. At the time of his death, however, his estate comprised hut fifty-four aeres, he having sold seventy-two acres to his son Martin. This land had been thoroughly developed under his management, and aside from the influence of his personal character and his relations as a neighbor and friend he eon- tributed a great deal to the county through the development of its mate- rial resources. His wife died on the old farm in 1898 and he followed some five or six months later. They were then about seventy-eight years of age, and all their lives had been members of the Evangelical Church. Their living children are: Martin, a Florence Township farmer, who married Catherine Eyrick of Amherst, Ohio, and their children are Paul, Martha, John and Frank: Conrad, a merchant at Birmingham,
851
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Erie County, married Catherine Rosenstock; Anna is the wife of Andrew Huttenlocher, of Berlin Heights.
The youngest of the family, Andrew Sehisler, grew up on the farm where he now lives, and all his early associations and memories center around that place. He secured his education in the district school at Mason Corners and also had the benefit of instruction at Florence from Job Fish, one of the best known of Erie County's older educators. After reaching manhood he secured fifty-four acres of the old homestead of his father, and has since pursued successful enterprise as a general farmer. His home is a very comfortable place, an eight-room residence painted white with green trimmings, and another substantial improve- ment is a barn on a foundation 30 by 60 feet.
Mr. Sehisler was married in Berlin Township to Miss Mary D. Ste- phens, who was born and educated in that locality and is the only daugh- ter of David J. Stephens, whose career is mentioned on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Schisler have two children. Andrew D., born June 25, 1898, has completed the course of the district schools and is now a stu- dent in the Berlin Heights High School, while the younger, Catherine P., was born September 28, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Schisler are members of Florence Grange No. 1844, Patrons of Husbandry, and are also active attendants and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, though he was reared in the faith of the Evangelical denomination.
GEORGE M. BROOKS. The land which George M. Brooks owns and oceupies as his home in Florence Township comprises part of the tract which his grandfather Lemmel L. Brooks secured direct from the Gov- ernment more than ninety years ago. It is therefore one of the oldest farms in continnous ownership in Erie County, and three generations of the Brooks family have used it as the chief source of their livelihood. What was one time a wilderness is now a smiling landscape of fields, and what the pioneers redeemed from the wilderness their descendants are now using and cultivating.
Lemuel L. Brooks, the pioneer, was born in New York State about 1790. Ile had reached manhood when the War of 1812 broke out, and saw active service as a soldier in that second conflict with Great Britain. A few years after the close of that war, early in 1822, he made a journey out to Northern Ohio, leaving his family behind in New York State, and at that time purchased the land where his grandson George now lives, situated on the line between Berlin and Vermilion townships. This was a part of the Connecticut fire lands, and he secured it direct through the agency of the fire land company. After securing this land he returned to New York State, and in 1825 brought his little family, com- prising his wife, his son Lemuel L., Jr., and his daughter Maria out to take possession. After a long and tedious journey they found their new home in the midst of the woods, and started life here in a log cabin. Somewhat later Lemuel L. Brooks moved over to the lake shore near Vermilion, but after three years returned to his first farm. Ile had made the journey from New York to Ohio with wagon and ox team. and after arriving employed the oxen in the heavy work of breaking the virgin soil. Some years later, while felling trees, a limb fractured his leg and for lack of proper surgical and medical treatment blood poisoning set in, and he died in 1833, when in the prime of his life. Lemuel L. Brooks married Sallie Crampton, who was from Connecticut and of fine old New England stock. Her father had served as a patriot soldier in the War of the Revolution. She was a most generous, lovable woman, well fitted for the responsibilities of pioneer life, and had to go through many trials in keeping her little family together after the premature death of her husband. She died in February, 1872, at the
852
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
venerable age of eighty-four years. Both she and her husband were members of the Free Will Baptist Church, and noble people who made religion a part of their daily walk. They reared a family of children to do them honor, including Lemuel L., Jr., Maria, Sallie, Nancy, and Edmund. All these married. Nancy, who became one of the early school teachers in Erie County, and later followed the same profession in Nebraska, died after a record of twenty-five years in educational service. She married when more than forty years old. Lemuel L. Brooks the pioneer was known over a wide stretch of country in Erie County for his upright, rugged honesty, benevolent nature, and his free-handed hospitality in his home. The same qualities descended to his son and namesake Lemuel, and it is not surprising that these early settlers of Erie County did not amass wealth through their operations, though the younger Lemuel was aided in securing a competeney through his wife, who was quite frugal and thrifty.
Lemmel L. Brooks. Jr., was born at Geneseo, Livingston County, New York, in 1822. the year that his father secured the tract of wild land in Erie County, and three years later he was brought in the slow moving wagon across the country to the new home. In this journey the family camped by the wayside as night overtook them, and spent several weeks in getting to their destination. During the three years the family lived on the lake shore they suffered greatly from the agne which was then so prevalent in the lower areas, and it was for this reason that they returned to their hill farm. On that farm Lemuel L. Brooks spent his life, and completed and carried forward the improvement in which his father had been engaged when his life was eut short. He was a man of great eapacity, a hard worker, and enjoyed a high reputation as a citi- zen. His death occurred March 13, 1886. In polities he was a repub- liean and in the early militia training days took an active part in the local organization, serving as a drummer in the Vermilion Rifle Com- pany. When the Civil war came on he was past middle age and unable to go to war himself, he gave a hundred dollars to support the cause. He was a man of exemplary habits, much loved and respected, and lived
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.