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 79
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On the farm that he now owns and occupies and which was included in the old homestead of the late John Milliman, Prescott Milliman was born, March 6, 1872. He grew up in a good home, attended the public schools and also had Job Fish as one of his instructors and completed his education by a course in the Ohio State University at Columbus. From early boyhood he was taught the duties of farming, and that has been his real vocation since starting out on his own account. For a number of years he has owned 115 acres included in the old homestead, and has it well improved, well stocked, and grows all the best grain crops for Northern Ohio. Ile recently put up a substantial barn 36x60 feet, and also has a silo of eighty tons capacity. His home is a ten-room resi- denee, well furnished and with surroundings that are most attractive.
In Milan Township Prescott Milliman married Miss Sarah Merry. She was born in that township June 26, 1880, attended the Milan Iligh School and also the University of Ada, and took a course in the Sandusky Business College. Her father was Charles Merry, of a family whose rec- ord will be found on other pages. Mrs. Milliman taught school for some time before her marriage. Their little household eirele comprises three children. Doris E., born October 25, 1905, is now in the fifth grade of the publie schools. John L., born October 12, 1906, is also in school ; and Marjorie Lueile was born October 14, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Milliman attend the Presbyterian Church at Milan, in which Mrs. Milliman is an active member. He is affiliated with Milan Lodge No. 329, F. & A. M., and he and his wife belong to Milan Grange No. 342, of the Patrons of Husbandry. Politieally he works with the republican party.
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ERNST C. A. SCHEUFFLER. There is an old German publication which contains a complete record of the Scheuffler family history and lineage, and from the data contained in that work it is evident that Ernst C. A. Schenfiler, one of the best known citizens of Milan Township, traces his ancestry in direct line back to the year 1530. The Seheufflers were identified, one generation after the other, with the old capital eity of Saxony, Dresden. Not a few of the family attained distinction. They were soldiers, artisans, and were represented in many of the professions, frequently in the Lutheran ministry. While he takes a quiet and justi- fiable pride in the past record of his family, it is evident that Mr. Scheuffler of Milan Township has exemplified many of the virtues and qualities inherited from previous generations, and he and others who have long since become true Americans have earned eredit for the family on this side of the ocean.
The grandfather of Mr. Scheuffler was Ernst Schenffler, who was born in the City of Dresden, became a Lutheran minister, and spent his life in Saxony. He had a son also named Ernst, who was born at Lar- magh, in Saxony, was educated for the ministry, but gave it up and at the age of twenty years set out a young unmarried man to find a home and fortune in the New World. He spent three months in crossing the ocean, and finally reached Cleveland, Ohio. He was married in that city to Augusta A. Suhr. She was born in Germany, was adopted into a family who brought her to America, and she grew up at Cleveland when that now flourishing city was little more than a village. There she met and married Ernst Scheuffler, and during their residence at Cleveland four children were born to them. In 1873 the parents with their three youngest children moved to Milan Township in Erie County, and bought 104 acres of land, a part of which is now the home place of Ernst C. A. Scheuffler. In this locality the father spent the rest of his days in usefulness and honor, and died in 1885 at the age of sixty-nine. His widow survived him some eight or ten years and was still under sixty at the time of her death. Both were confirmed members of the Lutheran Church. Their oldest child was Caroline, who married Fran- cis Denman of ('leveland, and she died there in the prime of life, her only son having also passed away as a child. The next in age is Ernst C. A. Augusta, the widow of Charles Chambers, lives near her brother Ernst in Milan Township, and has a son, Charles, who is the father of two children and lives in Fremont, Ohio; and a daughter Eda, who is the wife of Ralph Brown, of Cleveland: while another daughter of Augusta, Clara by name, died at the age of twelve. Otto, the fourth in this family, is a carpenter at Milan, and by his marriage to Lena Scholl has two sons, named Paul and Carl.
In the City of Cleveland Ernst C. A. Scheuffler was born September 21, 1855. The first seventeen years of his life were spent in that eity, and in the meantime he acquainted himself with the common branches as taught in the public schools and was trained in those habits and voca- tions which would make him useful after reaching manhood. Ile came to Milan Township in 1873 and has ever since lived on the farm which formerly belonged to his father and a part of which he himself now owns. ITis place comprises a little more than fifty-two acres. All of it is well improved and cultivated except eight acres of pasture land, and his erops during many successive years have included practically every- thing that would grow in this elimate. He and his family reside in a comfortable seven-room house, and his farm buildings are in good con- dition and represent a considerable investment. At East Norwalk Mr. Schenfiler married Miss Hannah Cunningham. She was born in that village April 30, 1861, and grew up and received her education there. Her parents were Warren and Ann ( Wagner) Cunningham, the former a native of Conneetient and the latter of New York State. They came
MR. AND MRS. JOHN C. WIKEL
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to Iluron County when young people, were married there, and Mr. Cun- ningham spent a great many years in and around Norwalk. He died at the age of eighty-four, while his wife passed away when about seventy. In politics he was a republican. There were two sons and six daughters in the Cunningham family, and with the exception of one who died without children after marriage, all are still living and have homes of their own.
The home circle of Mr. and Mrs. Scheuffler comprises seven children. The oldest, Henry, now lives in Sandusky and by his marriage to Ethel Williamson has a daughter, Thelma. Carrie is the wife of Grant Low- man, and they occupy the old Cunningham home at East Norwalk and have two children, William and Viola. Bessie is now studying to become a professional nurse at Cleveland. Ernst is a machinist at Brewster, Ohio, and is still unmarried. Daisy May has completed her public school education and is still at home. Bertha M. is in the Sandusky Hospital studying for the profession of trained nurse. Anna Amelia graduated from the Milan school with the elass of 1915. In politics Mr. Schenffler is a democrat.
JOHN C. WIKEL. Among those leading and representative farmers of Erie County whose labors have contributed to the material advance- ment and general welfare of the community was the late John C. Wikel of Milan Township. His life was a busy and useful one and furnished an example of honorable dealing, steadfast purpose, fidelity to principle and invineible moral courage that is well worthy of emulation. At his death, which occurred March 30, 1914, the community mourned the loss of one of its esteemed citizens, and his memory is still enshrined in the hearts of his many friends.
Mr. Wikel was born May 31, 1848, near Weavers Corners, Huron County, Ohio, a son of Charles and Helen ( Root) Wikel. Charles Wikel was born in Germany, and in 1831, with his four brothers, Peter, Jacob, Adam and Ernest, eame to the United States on a sailing vessel and located in Huron County, Ohio. All were married in this country and had families with the exception of Jacob, and all settled in Ifuron and Erie counties and here died. Their parents later set sail for this country to join their sons and the journey consumed seventy- five days. during which the little vessel encountered numerous storms, one of which carried away its mast. A substitute was rigged and the vessel finally made port at New York, but not long thereafter went to pieces in the harbor as a result of the vicious pounding it had received from the heavy seas.
Like his brothers, after settling in Huron County, Charles Wikel leeame a well-to-do farmer, gaining prosperity by characteristic industry and thrift. There he was married to Helen Root, who was born in Conneetient of New England ancestry, but who had been brought to the Western Reserve by her parents when a child. After the birth of their eldest child, John C., Mr. and Mrs. Wikel moved to Oxford Town- ship, loeating on a farm near Weavers Corners, where they lived with Mrs. Wikel's parents until 1860. In that year they came to Milan Township, Erie County, where the father purchased 154 acres of fine land, on which there was some brush and a little swamp, but the former was soon eleared away and the latter drained, and the farm was developed with patient and painstaking industry into one of the really valuable properties of the neighborhood. There both parents passed their remain- ing years, the father dying December 16, 1888, at the age of sixty-two years, and the mother passing away November 24, 1904, when seventy- six years of age. Both were members of the Lutheran Chmureh, in which they had been confirmed, as had their parents before them. Mr. Wikel was a demoerat, but not a politieian, being content to spend
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his days in peaceful pastoral pursuits and not inclined to push himself forward for publie preferment. There were eight children in the family, namely : John C., Adam, Peter, Mary, Henry, Marian, Helen and C. Albert. All were given the best advantages their parents were able to afford, and were reared to lives of usefulness and honesty and fitted for the positions they afterward occupied in the community.
John C. Wikel received his early education in the distriet schools of Milan Township and passed his boyhood amid the atmosphere of pioneer surroundings, his earliest recollections being those connected with assisting his father in the clearing and cultivation of the soil. Later, through his own efforts, he secured a normal school training, but remained at home until 1872 when, at the age of twenty-three years, he left the parental roof and journeyed to Saunders County, Nebraska, where he entered a tract of eighty aeres of land. To this he later added another eighty aeres, and while not engaged in farming occupied him- self with teaching a class of pupils in his own raneh home, having organized a school. Mr. Wikel continued to make his residence in Nebraska until 1885 and had met with a satisfying success, but in that year was called home by the ill health of his father, for whom he cared until his death three years later. About that time Mr. Wikel purchased the 160-acre farm in Milan Township, to which he subsequently added seventy-five acres in Berlin Township by purchase, and this was still later followed by thirty-five acres in Milan Township, the entire property adjoining. Here Mr. Wikel's labors continued to be prosecuted during the remainder of his long and honorable career. With the exception of several acres of native timber, he put the whole property under cultivation, and its soil was so fertile under his able treatment that it raised tremendous erops of all the staple grains and produce, well paying him for the labor he expended upon it. He was always a believer in the breeding of good stock, and much of his grain was fed to his large herds of cattle and his many hogs, which found a ready sale in the market. ITis large and substantial farm buildings included a 110-ton silo, and his commodious barns, sheds, cribs and outbuildings are painted red, while his 14-room house presented an attractive appear- ance, located on Wickel Road, a comfortable and modern residence fitted with all up-to-date comforts and conveniences. Mr. Wikel was a Metho- dist in his religious belief and endeavored to live his faith every day. In his dealings with his fellow men he exhibited the strietest integrity and honesty. while as a citizen he was publie spirited and always ready to do his full share for the community or its people.
On June 8, 1873. while residing in Saunders County, Nebraska, Mr. Wikel was married to Miss Mary H. Seow, who was born near Drammen, Christiana, Norway. August 2. 1853, daughter of Oliver and Bertha (Torgerson ) Seow, natives of Norway of an old and honor- able family, the father born in 1812 and the mother in 1814. In 1870 Mr. and Mrs. Scow came to the United States with their four children: Mary II., Christian, Hannah and George. Their eldest son, Edward, had preceded them five years, and had taken up a homestead in the West, while their eldest daughter, Isabelle, had come to this country two years before the parents. All met at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from whence they went to the Nebraska home, and there took up a full seetion of wild land. This property is still in the family name and possession and was the scene of the parents' activities during the remainder of their lives, the father dying in 1884, when seventy-two years of age, and the mother in 1897, when aged eighty-eight years. Both were faith- ful members of the Lutheran Church.
To Mr. and Mrs. Wikel there were born the following children: Bertha, who died in infancy; Henry, who is single, and conducting the old homestead farm for his mother; Nora. who is the wife of Charles
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Conkling, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in this work ; George, a farmer in Milan Township, who married Kate Fish, a native of Kansas, and has three children,-John, Edward and Henry L .; Alden, who died in childhood; Marion; Lewis, residing on the home- stead place, who married Grace Von Schnetz, a native of Nebraska, who died June 21. 1915; Mary Isabelle, who graduated from the Huron High School, in the class of 1905, a devoted daughter who still lives at home and keeps house for her mother and brothers; and Ida, who died at the age of six years. Mrs. Wikel is a member of the Methodist Church, while her children are Presbyterians. They are industrious, honest and hard-working sons and daughters, eminently worthy of their parents, of their training and of the community in which their lives have been spent.
JOHN HUBER. Of John IInber, of Milan Township, it can be said as an expression of the general esteem in which he is held by his neigh- bors and fellow citizens that he is an industrious and snecessful farmer, a citizen who looks well after the interests of his own home and family and not without regard to the benefit and welfare of the community in which he lives, and also that he represents a thrifty German stock that has been identified with this section of Ohio more than sixty years.
Born in Berlin Township, January 8, 1864, John Huber is a son of John Huber. Sr. The latter was born in Wnertemberg, Germany, in either 1826 or 1827, and his parents died in that country. As a young man he learned the butcher trade. and four years of his early manhood were taken by the German government for service as a soldier in the cavalry division. He went through the different campaigns to which he was called without injury and not long after being released from the army in 1849 he set ont from Hamburg and five weeks later was landed in New York City. From there he came on to Erie County, and at Ceylon found his first regular employment as a laborer during the con- struction of the railroad which is now the Lake Shore Road. A little later he married Frederica Kngel. She was born and reared in the same vicinity as Mr. Huber, and they came on the same vessel to the United States. After working and exereising the closest economy, John Huber left railroad employment and in 1865 moved to the western part of Berlin Township, buying fifty-six aeres of land, to which he devoted many years of conscientions labor, and spent his last days there in com- fort. He died June 6, 1910. His wife passed away in November of the same year, and was at that time eighty-nine years of age. They were members of the German Lutheran Church, and in politics he was a democrat. A list of their children is as follows: Louis is married and has two sons and lives in Elyria, Ohio; William is a farmer in Berlin Township and has two sons and one daughter; Panlina died after her marriage to George Penny, leaving a son and a danghter; the next in age is John Iber; Angust is a farmer in Perkins Township and mar- ried Miss Hart.
It was during the residence of his parents at Ceylon that John Huber was born. He grew up on his father's homestead in Berlin Township, and after getting his education in the local schools learned the trade of plasterer and stone mason. That was his regular means of livelihood for fifteen years, and in that time he was employed on many contracts in various parts of Northern Ohio. On April 17, 1912, he located on his present homestead, known as the old Sipp farm, in the southeastern quarter of Milan Township. His possessions include fifty aeres of fertile land, and with some excellent improvements, including a good barn 32x36 feet, which was erected partly by his own hands and under his own management, and also a two-story residence of nine rooms in good repair and with an excellent slate roof. He also has a good tool honse
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and has practieally every facility needed for efficient work. As a farmer he grows erops of corn, wheat, melons, fruit and vegetables.
In the township of his present home Mr. Huber married Miss Amelia Finzel. She was born at Sandusky, March 14, 1866, but was reared and educated in Milan Township. Her parents were George and Anna ( Shippel) Finzel, both now deceased. They were among the prominent early settlers from Germany in Erie County, and after living in San- clusky for a few years moved out to Milan Township, where they spent their last days. They were members of the Lutheran Church and Mr. l'inzel was a demoerat. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. lTuber. Norma H. is now fifteen years of age and is a student in the Milan High School; Clarence W., born May 29, 1902, is now in the seventh grade of the publie schools. Mr. and Mrs. Huber are members of the Lutheran Church, and politically he is also identified with the democratic party.
JUDSON PERRIN. In the course of a long life Judson Perrin has had many interesting associations with Milan Township. It was his birth- place, the home of his youth and mature manhood, and while for all these reasons he is loyal to its memory he has made himself further useful by active work and real service in every responsibility to which he has been called.
Born July 16, 1843, his birth occurred on the farm and in the old house which then sheltered the Perrin family, and where his present home is now located. This farm comprises eighty-five acres, and has been in the uninterrupted ownership of the Perrin family fully three-quarters of a century.
His father was Gurdin Perrin, and his grandfather Timothy Perrin. Both were natives of Connecticut, and Timothy spent all his life in the vicinity of Canterbury. Ile was of English ancestry, spent his career as a farmer, and died at the extreme age of ninety-seven years. He married a Conneetient woman, and of their eleven children all died before Timothy except three. Timothy was a deacon in the Presby- terian Church, and in earlier years had been captain of a company of state militia.
Gurdin Perrin was born in Connecticut in 1801, and grew up to the life of a farmer. He married Polly Church, who had also been born and reared in the vicinity of Canterbury. After their marriage they moved to Ineerne County, Pennsylvania, and during their sojourn there most of their children were born, including Elizabeth Ann, Joseph H., Alman Church. Major C., Helen Rebecca, William, Gurdin, Jr. (who died at the age of seven) and Mary. With all these children except one who died in infaney the parents set ont in 1837 to establish a new home within the State of Ohio. They made the journey overland, with wagons and teams, camping by the wayside as night overtook them, and several weeks elapsed before they accomplished their tedious undertaking and arrived at Milan. Gurdin Perrin bought from Benjamin P. Smith the old homestead just east and outside the Village of Milan where Mr. Judson Perrin now resides. After they came to this locality several other children were born: Lydia; Everton, who died in infancy; and Judson. Judson was the seventh son and the eleventh child. He was christened Judson in honor of Rev. Everton Judson, who for sixteen years served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Milan, and was an intimate friend of the Perrin family. Mr. Judson was not only greatly beloved in this community, but was one of the prominent Pres- byterian ministers in Northern Ohio and spent all his active career in spiritual labors and died at Milan in 1849. A memorial work was writ- ten of his career and published in 1852 by E. P. Barrows, Jr.
After the Perrin family located in Milan Township they became very
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useful and aetive workers in the Presbyterian Church and accomplished a great deal of good in the spiritual enlightenment of the community and did much to upbuild the church organization. Gurdin Perrin died at his old home on his birthday, August 13, 1867, when only a few hours past the age of sixty-six. He was a very strong and positive republican in politics, and had given his full support to the abolition movement before the war. Ilis wife had died here October 5, 1855, and she had likewise been closely in sympathy with him in church affairs. After the death of his first wife Gurdin Perrin married Minerva S. Stanton, and she survived her husband several years, though she died without chil- dren. She was also a Presbyterian. Judson Perrin has a brother, Wil- liam, who is a farmer at Norwalk, Ohio, and by his marriage to Mary Newson has a son and daughter, William N. and Emma. There is one sister living, Lydia, the widow of William Schubert, and she lives in Norwalk, and her son, Lewis J., resides at Mansfield, Ohio.
As a boy Judson Perrin was impressed by the usual influences which go to the making of the character of a youth in a country community with such excellent moral atmosphere as Milan Township. He acquired a good education, and at the age of twenty started teaching. For thir- teen consecutive winters he gave his time to this vocation, and during the rest of the year was an active farmer on the old homestead. Ile has owned the Perrin farm for a great many years, and while providing for the needs of his family through agricultural industry has worked in every way possible to keep up and maintain those vital forces of every community, church and school.
At Norwalk, in Huron County, Mr. Perrin married Miss Hannah Theresa Benedict. She was born in Connecticut August 22, 1846, and died at the old home December 22, 1896. She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church. She was still a child when her parents, Rufus and Betsey Benediet, came from Connecticut to Norwalk, and they spent the rest of their lives in that locality. Her father died when past fourseore, and her mother much younger. Mrs. Perrin's mother was a member of the Congregational Church.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Perrin. The son Gurdin A., born in 1868, was educated in the Milan public schools and in the Northern Ohio University at Ada, and at the age of twenty taught his first school in the same district where his father at the same age had begun his work as an educator. For several years he has been actively associated with his father in the management of the home farm, and under the name Judson Perrin & Son they carry on an extensive dairy and truck farm. The daughter, Carrie H., who was also well edueated in the public schools at Milan and finished her education in the Uni- versity at Ada, took up teaching and has spent eighteen years in that noble calling, and is now principal of the Benediet Avenue School at Norwalk. Nellie E. is the wife of Finley W. Kirkpatrick, of Joliet, Illinois.
Mr. Perrin and all his children are members of the Presbyterian Church at Milan. The daughter is a teacher and the son is superintend- ent of the Sunday school. Mr. Perrin is himself an elder in the church. is elerk of the sessions and for twenty-two years filled the post of superintendent of the Sunday school. He and his son are strong repub- lieans in polities. Both are also in great sympathy with the prohibition movement, and lend every influence towards the abolition of the liquor traffic.
CONRAD SCHISLER. A native son of Erie County, Mr. Schisler has here maintained his home from the time of his nativity and that he has had the energy and ability to take full advantage of the opportunities here offered ean not fail to be appreciated by any person in the least
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