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 89
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In Wakeman Township, Huron County, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bentley to Miss Julia E. Deman, who was there born and reared. The only child, Elsie, acquired her education in the public schools of Birmingham and is now the wife of Clinton E. Ennis, owning and occupying the old home farm of her father. They have two children, Glenn, born in 1905, and Julia, born in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Ennis are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as was also Mrs. Bent- ley, whose gentle and gracious personality gained to her the affectionate regard of all who came within the sphere of her influence. Mr. Bentley is a democrat in national polities but in local affairs is not constrained by striet partisan lines, as he gives his support to men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. He served four terms as assessor of Florence Township but official preferment has not been a magnet of any special attraction for him. He was formerly affiliated with the Birmingham camp of the Knights of the Maccabees and served nine years as its commander.
NICHOLAS NIEDING. The really free man is one who has some share in controlling and making his own destiny. It is the satisfaction which comes from in some measure ereating one's own career that gives value to such substantial citizens as Nicholas Nieding, who is one of the thrifty and progressive farmers of Florence Township, owning an attractive homestead along Rural Route No. 2 out of Wakeman. He is a farmer and stock raiser, and his home is situated on the west bank of the Vermilion River along the West Vermilion River Road. With fifty-one aeres under his control and management, he has more than a local repu- tation as a grower of fine crops. Most of his farm land is situated in the river bottom, and possesses a fertility whiel wisely managed has proved the basis of Mr. Nieding's prosperity. Mr. Nieding bought this farm in 1909, having previously for two years operated the Funk farm near Birmingham.
Nearly all his aetive career of more than twenty years has been spent as a farmer in Erie County. However, he was born in Brownhelm Town- ship of Lorain County, September 25, 1872, and was reared and educated there. He has lived in Erie County for the past twenty-five years. Mr. Nieding's parents and ancestors were substantial German people through all the generations. He is a son of Henry and Christina (Fraley) Nieding, who were born in Germany, and were married soon after they came to America. They became man and wife in Milan Township of Erie County and the father started his career as a renter on a farm. Subsequently they removed to Brownhelm Township in Lorain County, where he bought seventy acres of wild wood land. It was necessary to eut down a number of trees to clear a space before he could erect his first frame house. It was a substantial home, comprising eight rooms, and he also added other farm buildings, and made it a most valuable and attraetive place. Prosperity rewarded his efforts, and he spent his last years in comfort. His death occurred in July, 1895, at the age of sixty-four, while the mother passed away February 21, 1909, being then seventy-one years of age. Both were members of the German Reformed
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Church, having been reared in that faith, while in politics he was a democrat. While they were people of most substantial character and achievements themselves, they deserve further honor because of their fine family of ten children, six sons and four daughters, all of whom are married and have families of their own, and all live in this part of the state.
After growing up in Lorain County and getting his education in the local schools, Nicholas Nieding married at Sandusky Miss Emma C. Ilorehler. She was born in Licherode, Germany, December 26, 1868. She was only thirteen years of age when she set out alone for the United States, leaving her parents behind in Germany where they died about two years later. She made the journey from Bremen to New York, and thence eame on to Erie County, where she joined some of her sisters. She lived for a time with her sister Mrs. Margaret Stump. Her other sisters were Mrs. Martha Asmus, now deceased, Mrs. Elizabeth Goodside, of Milan, and Catherine, who died after her marriage to Peter Leimbach.
To Mr. and Mrs. Nieding have been born three children. Christina II., born June 12, 1895, is now the wife of Lloyd Moats and lives in Berlin Heights; Carl E., born May 5, 1899, is still attending school and lives at home with his parents; Caroline M., born April 24, 1902, is also in school. Mr. and Mrs. Nieding are both well known people in their community, are attendants of the Reformed Church and in politics he is a republican.
WILLIAM D. DAUGHERTY. More than any other one factor the rail- road has developed the great resources of America. Thousands of indi- vidual communities derive their importance from their close relations with some great railroad system on which they are stationed. Very frequently the people of a community know a railroad in the personal sense only through its local representative, and whether a railroad means much or little to a town and the degree of esteem in which the transpor- tation corporation stands in such locality very often depends upon the personality of its representative.
The thriving little Village of Avery in Erie County has been par- tienlarly fortunate not only as a result of the several splendid factories which have increased the life of the place but also on account of its location along the line of the Nickel Plate Railway. For many years the Nickel Plate has been personified in the minds of local citizens through the passenger and freight agent, the genial William D. Dangh- erty, who for nearly a quarter of a century has been the efficient medinm for the transaction of business between the railroad and the community. Mr. Dangherty is the type of railroad man who renders a real service. He began serving this railway corporation in March, 1890, as a tele- graph operator at Kimball in Oxford Township, but after eighteen months was transferred to Avery, and has since administered his duties on the chief transportation line through this loeality with signal ability and efficiency, and has also identified himself with community life and affairs. He stands high as a eitizen, as a churchman and as a member of the Masonic Order, and owns one of the most attractive and beautiful homes of the village. While this is a small community it is a name which is gaining inercasing prominence through associations with im- portant industries that have their seat there. The three principal industries are, first of all, the great Hoover Manufacturing Company, and also a tile and briek company and sand company and elevator, all of which furnish an immense traffic to the railroad at this point. Mr. Daugherty has a valuable faenlty of being able to represent faithfully and efficiently an outside corporation and also to look carefully after the interests of his own community. Besides his position as passenger
W.D. Daugherty
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and freight agent he has also served as the local postmaster sinee Mckinley's administration.
Though most of his life a resident of Ohio, William D. Daugherty was born in the Far West, at Nevada City, California, January 29, 1866. Ile was six years of age when brought to Ohio by his mother, who located in Danville, Knox County, Ohio, and he was reared and educated in that town. His education was completed in a business college at the Danville Normal. When quite a young man he entered the railroad service, and for more than a quarter of a century has been closely identified with the Niekel Plate.
Ilis parents were Dennis and Margaret (Kirby) Daugherty. His mother was born in Ireland, while his father was a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, having been born there not long after his people eame to America. Dennis Daugherty when quite a young man went with his parents to lowa, and they were there among the pioneer settlers. Miss Kirby also went to Iowa as a young woman. In 1850, during the gold excitement, Dennis Daugherty went across the plains to California, riding one mule and leading another which carried his pack of supplies and equipment. On reaching the coast he procured a mining elaim and continued its working for several years. Returning to "the States" in the same way as he had gone out, a journey that required several months at that time, he was married in Iowa and soon afterwards started again for the West. He and his young wife made the journey this time in a wagon, and spent day after day pushing steadily westward from the Missouri Valley to the Pacific Coast. For protection against Indians and other dangers they kept in elose company with other travelers, and a number of wagons were usually drawn up for the eamp at night. At Nevada City Dennis Daugherty seenred a mine and conducted it sue- cessfully until his death in the latter part of 1865. He was then about forty years of age and in the prime of life. William D. Daugherty was born after the death of his father. A few months after his birth his mother returned to the East, making the journey by vessel around Cape Horn to New York and thence west to lowa, and spent some time in straightening up the business affairs of her husband in Iowa. She then returned to California and married there Richard Banbury. After a few years they returned East and by this time the transcontinental railway line, the Union Pacific, had been completed and they made the journey over steel rails instead of by the tedious transportation methods previously employed. They located at Danville, Ohio, where they spent the rest of their lives. Mrs. Danbury died there at the age of forty-five, survived several years by her husband. Mr. Daugherty has a half brother, Charles Danbury, who was at one time deputy court elerk, served as a soldier in the Spanish-American war, and finally moved to Illinois, where he died, leaving a widow and two children. Mr. Daugherty also had a sister, Mary, who died after her marriage to Albert Emrick, leaving three children. Another brother, Edward Daugherty, is now eashier of the Danville Bank, having formerly been a teacher, and by his marriage to Clara Workman has a daughter, Elizabeth, now the wife of Wade Watson, a jeweler at Danville, Ohio.
In Berlin Township of Erie County William D. Daugherty married Miss Myra Dotson. She was born February 14, 1875, grew up and was educated in her native township and at Collins, Ohio, and is a daughter of William Dotson, a family to whom referenee is made on other pages.
Mr. Daugherty is an active member of the Lodge and Royal Arch chapters of Masons at Milan, and of the Council at Norwalk. He and his wife do much work in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Milan. He is a member of the official board and his church is one of his chief
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interests. His father lived and died a Catholic, but his mother after her second marriage became a Methodist and her children grew up in that faith. Politically Mr. Daugherty is a republican.
HUGH SUTTON. While reared a farmer and identified with that industry in Florence Township for several years, Hugh Sutton is now giving all his time and energy to supplying the needs of the little com- munity of Florence Village, a place of about 100 population, and the surrounding district, with first class merchandise, operating the prin- cipal store at Florence, and having a large stock of staple goods with a store building 24 by 77 feet. Mr. Sutton is one of the younger genera- tion of business men in Erie County, has shown himself honest and upright in all his dealings and what he has accomplished so far in life is an attractive promise of future usefulness. He has been engaged in merchandising at Florence for the past five years, at which time he came from his farm.
By the accident of birth Mr. Sutton is a native of Lorain County, having been born in Brownhelm Township, January 11, 1881. Ile grew up and received his education there and for eight years before engaging in merchandising was a farmer in Florence Township. His parents, Nelson and Arcelia (Reed) Sutton, were both born in Erie County, where both the Sutton and Reed families had settled in the early days. Grandfather Sutton was an early miller on Chappell Creek, Florence Township, and his mill turned out great quantities of the early lumber used in the building of homes and other improvements in that community. Nelson Sutton and wife after their marriage moved to a farm in Brownhelm Township, Lorain County, rented land there until 1902, and then moved back into Erie County, where the father bought 108 acres in Florence Township. The land was only partly improved, and after living there a few years he sold and purchased fifty-two acres near Birmingham. Nelson Sutton died there in the summer of 1912 at the age of sixty-six, but his widow is still living in the county and is now sixty-four years of age. Both parents were originally members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but in later years dropped their church relations. Mr. Sutton was a republican from the time of casting his first vote until his death. Their children were five in number. Gertrude died at the age of twenty-one; Emma is the wife of William Newberry, of Brownhelm Township, a farmer, and they have a son named Nelson; Cora is the wife of Fred C. Wykoff. a meat dealer at Toledo ; William lives in Elyria and is connected with a hardware house in that city and is married and has two children, Earl and Dessie.
The youngest of the children, IIngh Sutton, managed to obtain a substantial education as a boy, but since early manhood has been self- supporting and is now not only the proprietor of a good business at Florence but also has a happy home. Ile was married in Vermilion Township to Miss Adaline Tisdall, who was born in that township in 1880 and received her education there. Iler father, Hiram, died some years ago when in middle life, but her mother is now living with her daughter in Vermilion Township. The Tisdall family were Scotch Canadians. Mr. and Mrs. Sutton have one child, Elinor G., who was born Inne 2, 1906, and is now a student in the public schools. In poli- ties so far as national affairs are concerned Mr. Sutton is a republican, but exercises his discretion in casting his ballot for local candidates.
JACOB STIEGER. Such capable citizens as Jacob Stieger are the men who are now bearing the brunt of the agricultural activity of Erie County. He is a general farmer and fruit grower in Florence Town- ship and there owns one of the well improved farms near Masons Cor-
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ners, comprising sixty-five acres of land. He has spent many years in this county and the history of his childhood and family is one of more than ordinary interest.
He was born July 4, 1862, in the Province of Odessa, in the southern part of Russia, but is of German ancestry. Several generations pre- viously one of his ancestors had been induced to emigrate from Germany to Russia, being offered freedom from military service and all the land he could eultivate. After he had got settled these promises were disre- garded, and he as well as his descendants were soon reduced to the intolerable conditions of the Russian peasants, a practical serfdom, a condition from which they were freed only by the general enactment of later years that relieved the greater part of the population of Russia from the old feudal burdens. Jacob Stieger's parents were Jacob and Caroline (Betty ) Stieger. His father was a small Russian farmer, was married in that country, and all their children were born there, noted briefly as follows: Mary is the wife of Michael Schatz, a farmer in Huron Township; Gottlieb lives on a farm near Menno, South Dakota, and is married and has a family; Christina is the widow of Andrew Elmer, and lives in South Dakota and is the mother of ten children; the next is Jacob; Stephen lives in the same loeality of South Dakota as his brother and sister and has a son and daughters.
When Jacob Stieger was about eleven years of age the family emi- grated from Russia, passing through Germany and taking a boat from one of the German ports to England and thenee by an ocean liner to America. It required nearly a month for the family to journey from their old Russian home place to New York City. From there they came on to Ohio and located on Kelly's Island, near Sandusky, and later removed into Huron Township, and for five years all the family lived in South Dakota. The parents then returned to Erie County, and the father bought forty-eight acres of land in Vermilion Township. He died there in 1899 at the age of seventy-six, while his widow passed away at the home of her son, Jacob, January 18, 1914, when within three months of her ninetieth birthday. The parents were faithful members of the German Lutheran Church, and after gaining the rights of American citizenship the father voted the republican ticket.
Such education as he had received in the schools of the old country Jacob Stieger supplemented to some extent by attending the local insti- tutions in Erie County. IIe succeeded his father as owner of the 48-acre farm in Vermilion Township, but in 1905 sold that place and bought sixty-seven acres at Masons Corners, in Florence Township. This land was already in a fair state of improvement, and in the past ten years he has carried forward his work in such a way as to not only yield him annual returns and profits, but also to bring the farm to a still higher state of cultivation and improvement. When he came to the place it had a barn 30 by 40 feet, which is still standing, and he also has a new barn 30 by 30 feet, with shed, a cornerib of 600 bushels capacity, and all the farm buildings are painted red. Ile and his family have the comforts of a good 8-room white house. Near the group of farm build- ings is a 2-acre fruit orchard. He has derived his revenue from general crops and keeps good grades of stock.
In Lorain County Mr. Stieger married Miss Catherine Gall. She was also born near Odessa, Russia, in 1865, and was still a young girl when she came with her parents to the United States. IIer unele, Jacob Gall, had first come to the United States, but four years later returned to Russia to bring his sister and her husband, the parents of Mrs. Stieger, to the land of freedom. Louis Beatty, an unele of Mrs. Stieger, returned to Russia, but was not welcome to his native land when he returned after a brief residence in the United States, and in
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fact ineurred a great deal of danger and risk before getting out of the country again, having to resort to travel by night and dressed like a tramp in order to escape detection. The Gall family lived a few years in Dakota Territory, and then Mrs. Stieger's father, John Gall, who had lost his first wife and had married again, eame to Erie County, Ohio. and subsequently removed to Clinton County, Michigan, where he died in 1911 at the age of seventy. His widow is still living there and is now past sixty-five.
Mr. and Mrs. Stieger have a happy family of children: Carrie, the oldest, is the wife of Jay Otto, a farmer in Berlin Township, and their children are named Mary, Edward and Charles. Anna. the second daughter, is the wife of Earl Hendrickson, of Berlin Township, and they have a daughter named Lena. William J., the oldest son, is now nineteen years of age, has completed his education and lives at home. Clara B. is a student in the Berlin Heights High School, while the two younger children are Jaeob J. and Catherine, both attending the common schools. Mr. Stieger in polities is a republican and takes much interest in the local affairs of his home township.
ALBERT C. HOFRICHTER. As a dealer in groceries, produce, meats, ete., Mr. Hofrichter controls a substantial and representative business and is one of the enterprising merchants of the fine little City of Ver- milion, his civic loyalty as well as his personal popularity in the com- munity being indicated by his effective service as a member of the board of education of the distriet. Ile has maintained his home at Vermilion since 1906, has won distinctive success in his business activities and has a secure place in the confidence and good will of his fellow eitizens.
Mr. Hofrichter has the distinction of elaiming the Ohio metropolis as the place of his nativity, for he was born in the City of Cleveland, on the 24th of May, 1887. Ile is a son of Joseph A. and Julia J. (Rols- house) Hofrichter, the former of whom was born in Louisville, Ken- tucky, and the latter of whom was born in the State of Pennsylvania. The Hofrichter family was early founded in Cleveland and has been one of prominence and influence among other leading German families of that city. The father of the subject of this review was for many years engaged in the sheet-metal, roofing and eorniee business in Cleveland and at one time was proprietor of the Cuyahoga Cornice Works. He was one of the substantial and highly esteemed business men of the beautiful Forest City, and there he eontinned his residence until his death, his wife having preceded him to the life eternal.
In the public schools of his native city Albert C. Ilofrichter received excellent educational advantages in his boyhood and youth, though the death of his parents early rendered it necessary for him to become largely dependent upon his own resources, his mother having died when he was but six years of age and his father having passed away about two years later. When he attained to the age of fourteen years Mr. HIofrichter found employment in the wholesale grocery house of the Ross & Sprague Company, and after remaining one year with this repre- sentative ('leveland firm he had gained such experienee as to make him eligible for advancement. He passed a year in the employ of Grace & Housen, jobbers and wholesale dealers in groceries, and later he ampli- fied his experienee through his association with the representative Cleve- land firm of Strong, Carlisle & Hammond, engaged in the machinery and general supply business. For some time Mr. Hofrichter held the posi- tion of assistant secretary of the boys' department in the Cleveland Young Men's Christian Association, and subsequently he was employed by a Cleveland company engaged in the brass and gas-fixture business.
In 1906, as a young man of nineteen years, Mr. Hofrichter came to
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Erie County and established his residence at Vermilion, where he entered the employ of the F. W. Wakefield Brass Company, of which he even- tually became an interested principal and of which he was made seere- tary and treasurer in 1910. Of this dual executive offiee he continued the ineumbent until January, 1915, when he established his present inde- pendent business enterprise, which has proved most suceessful under his energetie and well ordered management. He continued his identifica- tion with the F. W. Wakefield Brass Company, of which he is a director, and he is recognized as one of the alert and successful young business men and loyal and publie-spirited citizens of the eity and county of his adoption. He is a republican in his political proclivities, is a valned member of the board of education of Vermilion and both he and his wife hold membership in the Church of Christ.
On the 4th of June, 1908, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hof- richter to Miss Clara M. Wakefield, daughter of Frederiek W. Wake- field, of Vermilion, and the three children of this union are Albert C., Jr., Hazel W., and Margaret J.
ISAAC SPORE. The late Isaae Spore, long a resident of Erie County, Ohio, came of a family that had its origin in Holland, and representa- tives of the name were long established in the farming country of the Hudson River Valley in the State of New York. As a rule, few of the name penetrated beyond the confines of the valley. They were well content to spend their days in the peace and quiet of their wholesome and industrious lives, and they did mueh from generation to generation to upbuilding communities wherein they spent their days. One of the name, however, who was not content to live and die in the valley was David Spore, the father of the subject of this review.
David Spore was born on June 27, 1809, and died at his home in Berlin Township, Erie County, Ohio, August 6, 1866. He was reared in the trade of a stone mason in Albany County, New York, and there he married Lucy Pratt, born in New York State in 1813, and the daugh- ter of a country lawyer and a prominent local musician in his time. In abont 1852 David Spore, with his wife and children, came, via the Erie Canal and Lake Erie, to Sandusky, Ohio. Later they came to the home of a kinsman, Abram Spore, who had settled previously in Huron County, and after they had a chance to look about them the newcomers bonght a home in Berlin and there spent the remainder of their lives. David Spore died there in 1866. He spent the years of his life in the work of his trade. He was a whig and a republican. His widow sur- vived him for some years, and passed away at the home of their daugh- ter, Mrs. William H. Jefferson. Mrs. Spore was familiarly known in the community as Aunt Lucy, and she was deeply loved and genuinely mourned when she departed this life. She was prominent in the Adventist Church, and was a devoted Sunday-sehool worker all her life. She was also devoted to the cause of temperance, and did much good in the community to promote a higher standard of living.
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