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 92
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In 1886 he married Miss Catherine Sennheim. She was born in Kurhessen, Germany, July 16, 1865, and was reared and educated there. She was about nineteen when the family, consisting of her parents, Detrich and Elizabeth (Brandau) Sennheim, with their two sons and five daughters, set out from Bremen to New York City. They arrived in the year 1884, and coming west located in Vermilion Township of Erie County. Mrs. Vollmer's mother was born January 8, 1839, and died in Vermilion Township September 8, 1896. Her father was born in 1838 and died April 11, 1906, at the age of sixty-eight. Both were members of the German Reformed Church, and her father was a demo- crat. Mrs. Vollmer's brother, J. Nicholas, is married and lives in the Village of Vermilion and has two daughters. Her sister Minnie is the wife of Henry Glime of Florence Township, and they have nine children, six sons and three daughters. Barbara E. is the wife of Peter Brod, a farmer of Berlin Township, and their family consists of two sons and three daughters. Martha is the wife of Conrad Grisel of Florence Township, and they have six sons and three daughters.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Vollmer located on the Bailee farm in Vermilion Township. They had little to begin housekeeping on, but as renters they went steadily ahead for six years, and at the end of that time had a good deal to show for their efforts. With such means as he had Mr. Vollmer in April, 1892, bought a farm of forty- four acres on the Risden Road, or the old State Road to the lake. Since then more than twenty years have passed. These years have been ac- companied by regular improvement and a general raising of standards of comfort and living in the Vollmer household. Mr. Vollmer has a substantial seven-room house for his family, a good barn 30 by 42 feet, and he has put up both these buildings since he bought the farm. He has shown more than average ability in the raising of staple erops, and keeps some good grades of livestock. One feature of his farm is the vineyard of 115 acres.
In the meantime four children have blessed their home. John, the oldest, graduated from the Vermilion High School with the class of 1904, was a teacher for five years and also studied pharmacy in the Ohio Northern University at Ada, and after graduating took the manage- ment of the Jamison drug store at Lorain, where he now lives. He married Miss Mabel Spielman of Crestline, Ohio. George M., the second child, was educated in the grade schools and for the past seven years has been employed on a Lake Erie vessel, and is still unmarried. Martha E. is the wife of John Reinhart, a stationary engineer living at Brownhelm in Lorain County. William George, the youngest, is
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sixteen years of age, and has already finished the eighth grade of the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Vollmer are members of the Reformed Church, while Mr. Vollmer and sons are demoerats in politics.
FRED D. SMITH. One of the well to do families of Erie County is represented by Fred D. Smith, who formerly made his special suceess as a nurseryman and who now owns and conduets a fine farm situated on rural route No. 2 out of the Village of Vermilion.
For nearly a century of time the members of Mr. Smith's family have been identified with the development and progress of this section of Northern Ohio. Fred D. Smith himself was born in Vermilion Township September 15, 1858, a son of Alfred and Julia (Poyer) Smith. Alfred Smith was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, in 1825, a son of Dr. and Anna (Bratton) Smith. These grandparents were both natives of Bennington, Vermont, where the grandfather was born about 1786 or 1787. On both sides there were ancestors who had borne a gallant part as soldiers on the American side in the Revolution. Doctor Smith and wife after their marriage moved to Northeastern New York, where he seeured land from the Holland Company, and still some years later he removed to the vicinity of Buffalo in Western New York. While there he enlisted and served in the War of 1812. The nineteenth century was still young and everything west of the Alle- ghenies was new country when the Smith family finally moved from Western New York to Ashtabula, Ohio. Still later by a few years they made another move and this time established a permanent home in Vermilion Township of Erie County. Here Doctor Smith spent the rest of his days and passed away in 1872, while his widow survived until 1876. She was in many ways a remarkable woman, had keen intelligence and a wit, and maintained her faculties at full up to the age of ninety. The grandfather was first a whig and later a republican in politics.
Alfred Smith was a young man when he came to Erie County, and grew up in Vermilion Township. He came to be well known through his business as a stoek and horse trader. He bought large numbers of horses in Ohio to take to the lumber camps in the northern woods of Michigan. He also bought cattle on an extended scale, and continued trading, dealing and shipping livestoek all his active career. Ile was well known in two states. His death oeenrred in 1870. In polities he was a republican. His wife, who was the daughter of Tilly and Mary (Curtis) Boyer, was born in 1836 and died in 1893. Her parents were born in Connectient, and after their marriage settled in Erie County. Tilly Poyer was three times married, and died in very ad- vanced life. To the marriage of Alfred Smith and wife were born three children, the oldest being Fred D. Belle is the wife of Iloraee Ball, and they now reside at West Vermilion in Vermilion Township, and have a son llerman, a young man of twenty-four. Lewis, the only brother of Fred, lives in the Village of Vermilion and by his marriage to Nellie Goldsmith has three sons, Alfred, Warren and Sterling.
Fred D. Smith was reared and educated in Vermilion Township. As a boy he attended. the local sehools, had praetieal lessons at home in the value of steady industry and in good habits and honorable prin- viples. He took up farming as his active voeation and for many years he was engaged in the nursery business, and supplied the young stock for a great many fine orchards in this part of Ohio. His home farm comprises about sixty acres located on the Bartow Ridge Road. In that locality he has lived for the past twenty-five years, and is one of the older and more successful citizens of that community. He has
LL Goudard
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a good home, has a family, and a great many friends in Vermilion and others townships of Erie County.
Mr. Smith was married in this township to Ida Roberts. She was born in Florence Township in 1863, and died at her home in Vermilion Township December 5, 1905. Her father, Marcus Roberts, who married a Miss Hardy, came from the State of Connecticut and was one of the carlier settlers of Erie County. She died in Florence Township about twenty-eight years ago. Mr. Smith has one son, Marcus R., who is now seventeen years of age and is in the third year of the Vermilion High School.
LUCIUS L. STODDARD. A life of varied experience and useful activ- ities was lived by the late Lucius L. Stoddard, who was a native of Milan, and died at his home in that village on May 10, 1907. His family were identified with the pioneer settlement in this part of North- ern Ohio, and Mr. Stoddard himself was a veteran of the Civil war, and made an honorable record in every relationship of his career.
Born in Milan September 17, 1839, he was a son of Horace and Sallie P. (Parks) Stoddard. Ilis father was born in Greene County, New York, August 17, 1808, and his mother in Caledonia County, Vermont, September 21, 1814. They came as young people to HInron County, Ohio, and were married at Norwalk June 1, 1837. Later on they moved to Milan, where Horace Stoddard kept a shop and did custom shoe making, having learned his trade in Buffalo, New York, when that city was little more than a village. After some years as a shoemaker he branched out into the grocery trade and continued mercantile lines for many years until he retired and went to live with his son, Horace H., in Chicago. He died there February 27, 1883, when about eighty years of age. His wife had passed away in Milan December 15, 1852, when in the prime of life. They were members of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics he was a republican. Of their three children, the oldest, Horace H., was born in Milan May 5, 1838, has for many years been a resident of Chicago, where he is a real estate dealer and enjoys other influential and successful connections, and by his marriage to Anna Bull of Illinois has a son, Horace H., Jr., who is also living in Chicago and is married. The second child was the late Lucius L. Stoddard. Wayne W., the youngest of the three, was born at Milan December 15, 1850, and is still living in Milan, a prosperous farmer and onion grower. Ile was married November 9, 1881, to Theda E. Kline, and their two daughters, Grace and Marian, completed their education in the village schools and are still at home. Theda E. Kline, wife of Wayne W. Stod- dard, was born in Milan March 4, 1852, a daughter of DeWitt and Elvira ( Adams) Kline. Her father was born in Milan April 18, 1820, and her mother was born at Farmersville, New York, April 15, 1822, and as a young girl came to Milan. DeWitt Kline died at Milan October 12, 1871, and his widow survived until July 29, 1901. Mr. Kline was a skillful and well known ship carpenter in this eounty, a republican in polities, and his wife was a member of the Presbyterian Church. De- Witt Kline was a son of William and Margaret (Minuse) Kline. The former was born December 23, 1776, and the latter on January 23, 1782. both in New York City, where they grew up and married. In 1819 the Kline family came West and as pioneers settled in Erie County, where William Kline bought the farm on which was built the old and historie landmark of Fort Avery in Milan Township. These old settlers spent the rest of their lives and died in Milan Township.
Lucius L. Stoddard spent his boyhood and early youth in Milan Village, and after completing his education qualified for work as a teacher and was identified with country schools for several years. Dur-
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ing the Civil war he was in the hundred-day service, and after the war took a position as a clerk with the firm of J. C. Lockwood & Company at Milan. This connection led to his permanent career as a merchant and banker. After some years he became a partner in the Lockwood establishment and still later was associated with Mr. Lockwood in establishing the private bank known as The Milan Banking Company. After the death of Mr. Lockwood, his widow retained her interests for several years, but since 1900 Mr. Stoddard conducted the bank as its chief proprietor. In the meantime he took into partnership his son-in- law. A. H. Cowley, and Mr. Cowley wound up the affairs of the bank after Mr. Stoddard died. In polities he was always a staneh republi- ean but could never be persuaded to accept any official honors. He was active in the Presbyterian Church, was a member of the Masonic Order, and his infinenee and help eould always be counted upon to aid the many local movements of benefit.
In 1870, at Milan, Mr. Stoddard married Mrs. Eliza Jane ( Edison) White. Mrs. Stoddard is a first cousin of Thomas A. Edison, the fa- mous inventor, whose birthplace was in Erie County. Her parents were Thomas and Mary Ann (Harris) Edison, and her father was brother to Thomas Edison's father. Her parents were both born in New York State, but were married in Canada, and spent the rest of their lives in Ontario, where her father, who was born in 1800, died in 1869. His widow died at Whitby, Canada, at the age of eighty-six. They were members of the Presbyterian Church. Two of the Edison daughters married ministers of the Presbyterian Church. Rachael became the wife of Rev. William Doak, and she died leaving a son and daughter. Sarah married Rev. John Abraham, and they are still living in Toronto, Canada, where Mr. Abraham is a retired Presbyterian min- ister, and they have a son, Rev. Albert, who is now a pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Guelph, Ontario. Another sister of Mrs. Stod- dard was Martha, who married William McIntosh and died in Min- neapolis leaving three daughters. Mrs. Stoddard's first husband was Richard P. White of Quebee, Canada, of English and Scotch parentage. He was educated in Aberdeen, Scotland, for a career as a physician, but never praetieed, and instead took up a business career as a lumber dealer. IIis business transactions in the lumber trade brought him to Ohio and to Cleveland and he died in that city about the elose of the Civil war, when thirty-six years of age. He was a man of excellent ability and had his life been spared would undoubtedly have gained a splendid success and high position. He was a member of the Pres- byterian Church. There was one daughter by Mrs. Stoddard's first marriage, Mary White, who was educated in Milan, and married A. H. Cowley, who is now prominently identified with the Norwalk Canning Company, and was formerly associated with Mr. Stoddard in the bank-
ing business. The Cowley family live at Milan. There was another child, the eldest, by Mrs. Stoddard's marriage to Mr. White, named Nellie, who died at the age of five months. Mrs. Stoddard by her second marriage had a daughter, Sarah, who was bern, reared and educated in Milan, and is the wife of Walter E. LaChance. Mr. LaChance is a native of Canada, and of the okl French-Canadian stock of that coun- try. Ile was well educated and is now a successful architect and engaged temporarily in the line of his profession in Manitoba, Canada, though his home is in Milan. Mrs. LaChance lives with her mother. Mrs. Stod- dard, and the LaChance children are: Mareellette, who was born in 1894, was educated at Milan and in Cleveland, and is now the wife of Wells O. Moore, and they live on Center Street in Milan and have an infant child, Wells Walter Moore. Alva E. LeChance, born August 4, 1899, is now a student in the Milan High School. Annetta, born March
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21. 1902. is now in the seventh grade of the public schools. Mrs. Stod- dard is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
GUSTAVUS HI. SCHROEDER. There is always a place in any community for such a sterling and industrious citizen as Gustavus II. Schroeder. He has accepted the opportunities that have come to him in the course of his career, has lived peaceably and honorably among his friends and neighbors, and now in his declining years is able to enjoy the comforts of one of the good rural homes of Vermilion Township.
His birthplace was on the shores of the Baltic Sea in Mecklenburg, Germany, where he first saw the light of day December 21, 1840. His parents were Charles and Sophia ( Poegensee ) Schroeder, both of whom were born in 1799. Charles Schroeder was a physician by profession, and also took a leading part in political affairs in his home province. On account of this activity during the revolution of 1848 he was thrown into prison charged with an active part in the revolution. He remained in confinement for three weeks but the charges were not proved and he was finally released. This experience made him somewhat discour- aged with political conditions in the old country, and he began to prepare to found a home in the New World. In November, 1852, he and his youngest daughter Ida came by sailing vessel, seven weeks in crossing. to America. From New York he came on to Cleveland, and there joined some friends and kinsmen. The following year his wife, with the son Gustavus and a daughter Bertha followed him. They took passage on the sailing vessel North America and landed in New York City, August 5, 1853. There the family were reunited, and the father accompanied his wife and children on to Cleveland, but after a year of residence in that city moved to Russia Township in Lorain County. He bought land, lived as a farmer there for three years, and then moved to Florence Township in Erie County, where he bought a small farm of twenty acres. That was the home of the Schroeder family for a number of years, but late in life Charles Schroeder and wife went to the home of their son Gustavus on the Barnes Road in Vermilion Township. There they spent their last years, and the father died in 1884 at the age of eighty-five and his wife in 1892 aged ninety- three. They were people of rugged vitality and kept their faculties bright almost to the end.
Gustavus II. Schroeder is now the only living child of his parents. His sister Ida first married Oscar Wennerster by whom she had two daughters, and for her second husband married William Heyman, and both are now deceased, leaving one son. Bertha, the other sister of Mr. Schroeder, married Henry Greenlund of Cincinnati, and both died there, being survived by a son who is a druggist in that city.
During the early years he spent in his native country Gustavus HI. Schroeder attended the public schools. He was between twelve and thirteen when he came to America, and after that he was reared on a farm and had only few opportunities to continue his schooling. In the fifty odd years since he reached his years of manhood he has spent the greater part of them in successful farming pursuits. More than thirty years ago he bought the forty acres included in his present farmi, and in many ways has improved and equipped that for profitable agriculture and as a home of ample comforts. He raises a great deal of fruits, and has a three-acre apple orchard, seven acres of peach trees. and other fields devoted to general crops. His home is a substantial eight-room house, and around it are a number of barns and other build- ings.
Mr. Schroeder was married in Lorain County to Miss Elizabeth Miller. She was born in Amherst Township of that county November Vol. II -- 39
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3. 1850, and was reared and educated there. Her parents were Jacob and Catherine ( Baker ) Miller, both of whom were natives of Bavaria, Germany, and came to the United States with their one child, locating in Brownhelm Township of Lorain County in 1849. From there they went many years later to live with their daughter, Catherine Gage- heimer, in Axtel, Vermilion Township.
Mr. and Mrs. Schroeder have two children: Anna, wife of Henry Will of Vermilion Township; and Charles. Mr. Schroeder is a repub- liean in politics. Among other things he has to his credit a service in the Civil war. He was a very young man at the time, and enlisted toward the end of the war, and while doing his duty faithfully as a sol- dier it was not his fortune to be engaged in any really important battle.
GEORGE H. DICKEL. The name Diekel in Erie County means thrift and enterprise. George II. Diekel of Vermilion Township is no excep- tion to the rule. Ile is by trade a practical mechanic, and has exercised his skill and experience to good advantage in the management of his farm. This farm is located on rural route No. 2 out of Vermilion post- office, and is one of the older places in this section of the county. Mr. Diekel has reconstructed an old log house that was built fully a cen- tury ago, and has in many ways effected interesting improvements to increase the value of the farm as a productive enterprise and as a home. One of the features of the place is a large barn 24 by 88 feet to care for his stock and grain, a fifty-ton silo, and he also has a machine for grind- ing grain for stock, a blacksmith shop, and all other necessary facilities.
A member of the well known Dickel family of Vermilion Township, he was born on the Bartow Ridge Road in this township October 8, 1881, and is a son of George and Catherine (Cook) Dickel. Ilis parents were natives of Germany and his father was born February 25, 1837, and recently passed his seventy-eighth birthday. His mother was born four years later and died October 20, 1905, in Berlin Township. These worthy people grew up and married in Germany, and four children were born to them in the old country. They came to America by sailing vessel, and on arriving in Vermilion Township George Dickel, Sr .. bought seventy-six acres of land, but subsequently moved to Ceylon in Berlin Township, and after the death of his wife lived at the home of a daughter in Vermilion Township. Ile married for his second wife Catherine Hinze, and they are still living in Vermilion Township. The four children who were born in Germany are Mary, Eliza, Anna and Charles, all living and married. Those born after the family came to America are: Martha, wife of Ed Kishman; Elizabeth, wife of Charles Walper: John; Gertrude, wife of Elva lleyman; and George.
In his native township George II. Dickel grew to manhood and ac- quired his education in the public schools. He left the farm soon after completing his edneation and learned the trade of iron moulder, which he followed for several years, and then worked with the Nickel Plate Railway as bridge carpenter, and also as a section hand. He then went to farming near Berlin Heights as an employe of Henry Ferber, afterwards spent some time on the old homestead and in differ- ent parts of the county up to September, 1911, when he bought his present place comprising 7512 acres in Vermilion Township. Here he grows live stock, grain and fruits, and is progressive in everything he does.
On January 24, 1903, Mr. Diekel married Miss Florence E. Neiding. She was born near her present home in Vermilion Township April 15. 1887, and finished her education in the Berlin Heights High School. Her parents are August William and Aldora Janette (Crum) Neiding, both of whom were born in Erie County, and her father was born No-
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vember 3, 1856, and has spent his active career as a farmer in Berlin Township. Ile was of German parentage. ITis wife died at the old home July 24, 1911. She was born December 18, 1861, and her parents came from Pennsylvania to Erie County. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Diekel are: Jennie E., born September 22, 1903, and now in the sixth grade of the public schools; Reba Luella, born March 21, 1907, and in the fourth grade of the public schools; Cleo E., born September 14, 1909: Lester A., who died in infancy; and Leo George, born June 16, 1914. In polities Mr. Diekel is a democrat. He served four years as a school director and takes an active interest in the Vermilion Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America.
CAPT. LEONARD B. CHAPIN. The character and activities of the late ('aptain Chapin of Berlin Heights were such that he will long he remem- bered in Erie County, and the honor paid to his memory is only a fitting recognition of many admirable qualities which he exemplified. He was a. gallant soldier, was as loyal in his citizenship as he was while in the army, and upheld the strictest principles of reetitude in all his business dealings, in which he was very successful. ITis death occurred at his home in Berlin Heights, Ohio, in June, 1899, and he is survived by his widow, Mrs. Helen H. Chapin, who has since kept up the household and is a highly esteemed figure in local society.
Of old New York and Massachusetts ancestry, the late Capt. Leon- ard B. Chapin was born near Glens Falls, New York, in 1833. His parents were Leonard Burnham and Mary Ann (Skinner) Chapin, who were also natives of New York State. The late Captain Chapin was in the sixth generation from Deacon Samuel Chapin, one of the most promi- nent characters in the early history of Springfield, Massachusetts. When Captain Chapin was a very small boy the family moved west and settled at Monroeville in Erie County, Ohio, and some years later moved to Berlin Heights, where the father accumulated large tracts of land, prospered in his farming and other business relations, and died there when about seventy years of age, his wife being a little oller at the time of her death. As a family they were members of the Preshy- terian Church. The father was a man of considerable education for his time and was exceedingly enterprising. It is remembered that a great many years ago he published and sold an early map of Indiana, where he owned tracts of land. There were three sons in the family, Captain Chapin being the second among them, and one daughter, Sta- tira, who died in early life. All the sons are now deceased. Leonidas the eldest died in Canada, leaving four daughters. The youngest was Lorenzo, who died at Berlin Heights, Ohio, and his widow and two children now live in Milan, this state.
The early boyhood and youth of Captain Chapin was spent at Berlin Heights. He was well educated, and had already taken up the practical affairs of life before he became a soldier. Soon after the war broke out he enlisted in Company B of the Third Ohio Cavalry, helped to drill that company at Milan, and later went to the front with them and served for nearly three years. Among old soldiers Captain Chapin is remembered for the notable figure which he made while on horseback. Ile had a very impressive air, and his fine character and genial personality made him popular among his eomrades and a gallant leader in all duties to which he was called. The rigor of matny cam- paigns and almost constant fighting and sconting service brought on a permanent illness, on aeeount of which he was finally given his honor- able discharge. The illness contracted in the army was ultimately responsible for his death.
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