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 98
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Mr. Brown was married in Milan Township to Miss Eliza Brei- maier. She was born near Sandusky of German parents who were substantial farming people. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have a family of six children. Ernest J., who was born and reared and educated in Milan Township, is now in the clerical department of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Garrett, Indiana, and he and his wife Inez have a son, Berwyn E. James, the next oldest, is still unmarried and has charge of his father's farm. Earle, the next, died at the home of his parents June 20, 1915, having been well educated and having before him at the time of his death a promising future. Henry lives at home and is associated with his brother James in running the farm, and gained his education in the local high school. Elsie graduated from the Milan High School and is still at home. Dorothy is a student in the Lakeside Hospital at Cleveland and will soon complete her course of training for a graduate nurse. All the family are members of the Presbyterian Church, in which Mr. Brown is an elder, and he and his sons are republicans. Besides his own business Mr. Brown was formerly a member of the local school board in his home district, serving thereon for a number of years.
LOREN WASHBURN. Few Erie County families have been more closely identified with the agricultural activities and the good citizen- ship of the county than that of Washburn, represented by Loren J. Washburn, whose valuable and productive farmstead is regarded as a model of its kind and is in Vermilion Township. Mr. Washburn was born on the very farm that he now occupies, and representatives of two preceding generations have lived in the county, beginning with the pioneer times. It is now almost a century since the Washburns culti- vated their first acres in this county.
Did space permit, a very interesting descriptive article might be written concerning the farm and the farming activities of Loren Washburn. His place is located on Harmony Ridge Road, half a mile west of Axtel, and at that place, more than sixty years ago, on August 5, 1853, he was born. There have been few changes in the outward circumstances of his life since he was born, since he has always lived in one locality, but in that progressive change and evolution which are the essence of advancement in every industry he has more than kept step with the times. The old homestead which he owns and occupies contains 1171% acres of land. Nearly all of it is under a high state of cultivation. One of the features that give the farm special value is the five aere peach orchard containing 700 trees besides 160 cherry
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trees and a large number of apple trees. The farm house is sub- stantial, attractive and comfortable, containing nine rooms. However, people far and wide have come to admire and examine Mr. Washburn's barn, which is without doubt one of the finest and best equipped in the county. It is quite new, and its timbers were sawed out of trees that for the most part grew on the Washburn farm. It is built on a foundation 40x84 feet, with sixteen foot posts, and with an arch roof. The entire foundation floor in laid with concrete. A great many me- chanical devices and arrangements have been supplied to permit the easiest and most economical handling of live stock, feeding and storage. There are stalls for twenty-five head of cattle with stanchions, and nine stalls including four box stalls, for horses. The sewerage and drainage arrangement is practically perfect. As a barn it measures up to the highest standard on the points of convenient arrangement, sanitation and adaptability for its main purposes. In the way of livestock Mr. Wash- burn keeps nine head of horses, milks ten cows on the average, and keeps from fifteen to twenty head of feeding cattle. Ile also has twenty-five head of hogs, though at times this number is much larger. Nearly all the feed needed for this stock is raised on his own farm, and he runs his cultivation and eropping and entire farm management on a system that serves to retain the utmost vitality and fertility of the soil.
The founder of this branch of the Washburn family in Northern Ohio was his grandfather, Amison Washburn, who was of an old New England family. After their marriage they came west to Ohio, almost a century Amison served as a soldier of the Revolutionary war, and after the war spent the rest of his days in Connecticut. Amison Washburn married Sally Whitney, who was also a native of Connectient, and of an old family. After their marriage they came West to Ohio, almost a century ago. during 1817-18. They made the journey largely across country, since the Erie Canal had not yet been opened to traffic. Arriving here in the midst of the wilderness, from which the Indians had hardly departed, they secured a tract of wild and unbroken fire land in Ver- milion township. Their first home was the typical log cabin, surrounded by the dense forest. Near the house, Amison Washburn who was a blacksmith by trade, set up a small smithy, put in his forge and for a number of years did a valuable service to the community. His neighbors brought to his shop the oxen used for work purposes and had them shod, and he also fashioned many of the simple implements used in farm hus- bandry at that time and did much repair work. He was a good work- man, sturdy, honest, sober and industrious, and lived a life in keeping with the best principles. The grandmother died a short time before the ('ivil war, when past fourscore years of age, while the grandfather was ninety-two years old when death eame to him. Both belonged to sturdy and long lived stock. They were devout Christian people, and it is said that never a meal was eaten at that table which was not preceded by the saying of grace. In their family were the following children : David died at a good old age, leaving several children. James was a soldier in the Civil war, was wounded in the battle of Chickamanga, and died not long afterward ; he left a wife. Charles died when a very old man and reared one or two children. Betsey married James Mordoff, and both were quite old when they passed away, leaving two sons and two daughters. Benjamin S., the fifth child, became the father.of Loren. Delphi married John Harrison, they lived to advanced years and left a family. Marietta married a Mr. Buttler, and she was also old when she died. Amison, Jr., died in 1912 at the age of eighty-six, being the youngest of the children and the last to pass away ; he also left deseend- ants.
Benjamin S. Washburn was born on the old homestead in Vermilion
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Township in 1820. That was the scene in which he spent his childhood and early youth, and after reaching his majority he took a full share in the development of a generous traet of land. He possessed and ex- emplified many of the fine qualities which had characterized his honored father before him. His death occurred in 1896. In his early years he voted the whig ticket, later was a loyal republican, but in the very last year of his life gave his support to William J. Bryan for president. He was a Christian man, and in every relationship endeavored to practice the Golden Rule.
While serving as assistant in a ward in the State Hospital at Colum- bus, Benjamin S. Washburn married Miss Sarah Brubeck, better known as Sally, who was filling a similar position in the same hospital. She was born in Columbus in 1823, and her parents were natives of Germany, where they married, and after coming to the United States settled in Columbus, where they spent the rest of their lives. The Bru- becks were members of the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Benjamin S. Washburn died at her home in Vermilion township in 1908. The chil- dren born to this worthy couple were as follows: Isabel L., Luther A. (died aged nine years), Loren, Anna E., Alice C. and Cleora L. Mrs. Washburn, like her husband was a faithful devoted Christian, from prin- ciple rather than from creed, and they practiced kindliness and charity not only from a sense of duty but from the very promptings of their nature. These good old people are laid side by side along with other members of the Washburn family, including grandfather Amison and wife, in the Vermilion Cemetery.
In passing something should be said concerning this Vermilion eeme- tery. It was started in 1822. Grandfather Amison Washburn had the care and superintendenee of the grounds as sexton during his lifetime and was then succeeded by his son Benjamin, and the latter by his son Loren, who was sexton for twenty-five years. For more than eighty years this little city of the dead was looked after by members of one family, and beautiful and well kept grounds are largely an expression of the work and care given by this family. The first burial in the cemetery was a boy named Beardsley, who was laid to rest in 1822, the same year the ground was set aside for burial purposes.
On November 24, 1876, Loren J. Washburn was married in Florence Township to Miss Jennie Blair. She was born in that township in 1855 and passed away October 24, 1914. All her life was spent in Vermilion and Florenee townships, and she was a woman of many graces of ehar- acter and heart and mind, and devoted to her home, her children and her friends. Three sons remain to do honor to her memory. Orma Luther, born in 1877, was educated in the local public schools and at Norwalk, and for a number of years has been employed as an engineer on lake vessels and is now first engineer on a passenger and merchandise boat ; however, he makes his home on his farm at Furnace Corners in Vermilion Township. IIe married for his first wife Anna Baker, who left his home after the birth of one son Lyles. His present wife was before her marriage Sophia Trinter. Ray B., the second son, is still at home. He was well educated in the public schools, is a graduate of Oberlin Business College and has proved a very valuable assistant to his father in the management of the fine farm already deseribed. In addition to his farm work he is agent for the Walter A. Wood farm machinery and the Ross silos, and has sold a large amount of such ma- terial in Erie County. The youngest son, Karl N. is an enterprising young farmer, has a place near the old homestead and has made an excellent start in life. Ile married Cora Brown of Vermilion Town- ship, and they have a small son named Clifford. Mr. Washburn and his sons are all republiean voters.
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RUSSELL KENNEY RAMSEY. In the minds of men of the Middle West. the name of the prosperous, cultured old Buckeye State is asso- ciated with broad mentality, inherent courtesy and genial sociability. These qualities have been possessed by the men who have come from Ohio to gain reputations in business, the professions and public life, in such great degree that they have come to be considered characteristic. Russell Kenney Ramsey, of Sandusky, may be considered a typical Ohioan, in that he is possessed of gifts of a high mental character, and is known not only as one of the leaders of the Erie County bar, but as a courteous and cultured gentleman, popular alike in professional. and social cireles.
Mr. Ramsey was born in the City of Columbus, Ohio, May 27, 1878, and is a son of G. F. and Margaret A. Ramsey. His father, who still resides at Columbus, has for forty-two years been connected in an official capacity with the Pennsylvania Railroad. The elder of two children, Russell K. Ramsey received his early education in the public schools of Columbus, following which he entered the Ohio State University, col- legiate department, class of 1898, and was graduated from the legal department of that institution in the class of 1900. He then entered the law offices of Arnold & Morton, at. Columbus, where he remained for a short period to gain practical experience, and during the same year was admitted to the bar. At that time Mr. Ramsey came to Sandusky and associated himself with the firm of King & Guerin, although the name was not changed until the withdrawal of Mr. Guerin, in 1904, when Judge Edmund B. King and Mr. Ramsey formed the present firm of King & Ramsey. This firm specializes in corporation and business law, and represents largely the corporate interests in and around Sandusky, including the New York Central, the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore and Ohio railroads and the street car company. Through his able gifts as a legist and his sound, popular traits as a man Mr. Ramsey has continued in his progress both in the development of a profitable legal business and a professional reputation. He is a director of The HFinde & Dauch Paper Company, and has been instrumental in the organization of a number of Sandusky's important enterprises. He is a valued member of the Ohio Bar Association and while he devotes almost his entire time and attention to the duties of his constantly growing practice yet he is not indifferent to the pleasures of fraternal and social life, and is a prominent Mason, being a Knight Templar and having attained the thirty-second degree. He is a member of the Sunyendeand Club, of Sandusky, of which he was formerly president, of the Cleveland Athletic Club and of the Pusiness Men's Association of Sandusky. A member of the Episcopal ( hureh, he has aeted in the capacity of vestryman during the past year.
Mr. Ramsey was married September 25, 1901, to Miss Florence Samuel, and one child was born to that union: Russell Archibald, horn May 11, 1904. Mrs. Ramsey died in April, 1913, and Mr. Ramsey was married again, JJune 26, 1915, being united with Miss Helen Wileox, a daughter of Maj. C. B. Wileox, one of Sandusky's well known citizens.
HENRY ACKERMAN. To mention the name Ackerman in Vermilion Township is to name one of the oldest and best known of the substantial German families, who since the early days have been primary factors in the development of this section of Erie County. Henry Ackerman has a fine farm home in that township, on rural route No. 2 out of Huron. Born in Black River Township of Lorain County in December, 1862, he is a son of Frederick and Anna E. (Kothe) Ackerman. His parents were both born in Kurhessen, Germany, and came as young people to
DR. Roma
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America. He was a young man when he came over in 1849 on a sailing vessel that required six weeks to make the voyage, and going to Amhurst in Lorain County he met and married Miss Kothe, who had come from the same loeality of Germany with her parents, Louis and Mary Kothe. Louis Kothe settled on a farm in Lorain County and spent the rest of his life there. Miss Kothe was reared in Lorain County, and after her marriage to Mr. Ackerman they started out as farmers first in Lorain Township and afterwards for four years in Brownhelm Township. They then moved to Erie County, establishing their home on the lake shore in Vermilion Township, where they became owners of 137 aeres of fine land. They did much to make this land valuable, working hard, often denying themselves in order that their children and home might benefit, and in time they had surrounded themselves with every comfort and facility. Frederick Ackerman died there on March 22, 1881, at the age of forty-four. His widow subsequently married Godfreid Nolte, and she continued to live at the old homestead until her death on September 3, 1914. Mr. Nolte is still living on the old farm along the lake shore, and is now sixty-eight years of age. He is a democrat and a member of the Reformed Church. Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Ackerman were among the charter members of the German Reformed Church or the Ceylon Church in Vermilion Township. Besides the Ackermans other charter members were Mr. and Mrs. John Reiber, Mr. and Mrs. Gottlieb Knott, Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Adams Hast, Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Bernhart Koch, Mr. and Mrs. George Knoch, Mr. and Mrs. Werner Kishman, Mr. and Mrs. Christian Hauff, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Knittel, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Wenzel. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Ackerman, Mr. and Mrs. George Schaub, Mr. and Mrs. Christ Huttenloeker, and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Biekel. Frederick Acker- man was also a man of no little prominence in his community. He served for a number of years as township trustee of Vermilion Town- ship, and was a man whose influenee could be counted upon steadily to assist in every movement for the local welfare.
Henry Ackerman, who was the oldest of four sons and three daugh- ters, Henry, Bertha, Carrie, Louis. Martin, William and Catherine, all of whom are now married. He was still a small boy when he eame to Vermilion Township, and he grew up there and acquired his education in the public schools. When quite young he set out on his own account and not many years later was able to buy the farm where he now lives, a beautiful place of fifty-five acres, all highly im- proved, and productive of regular and bountiful erops. Among other improvements he has a large barn on a foundation 30x74 feet, furnish- ing ample facilities for grain storage and stoek. His home is an attrae- tive twelve-room residence. situated within a mile of Mittewanga Park. in which neighborhood his wife owns some valuable property.
Mr. Ackerman married a neighbor girl, Catherine Reiber, who was horn on the old Reiber homestead in Vermilion Township January 24, 1868, and was reared and educated in that community. She has been a most eapable home maker, and has always looked well after the duties of her household. She is a daughter of John and Catherine (Gundlach) Reiber. Both her parents were born in Kurhessen, Germany. They eame when young people, Miss Gundlach only ten years of age. to Amer- iea. making the voyage by sailing vesel between Bremen and New York, and their respective families established homes in Milan Township of Frie County. Here thev met and married and after marriage Mr. and Mrs. Reiber worked industriously and by much labor and self denial aequired a good home and reared their children in comfort. They located in Vermilion Township in 1867, and the Reiber homestead in time was a fine improved estate of sixty acres, known as the Brundage Farm, and still later they bought a fine home of fifty acres on the lake
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shore. This Mr. Reiber improved with a fine lot of buildings and there he passed away August 14, 1901, at the age of sixty-five. His widow is still living, and on June 6, 1915, celebrated her seventieth birthday. As already stated, she and her husband were charter members of the Ceylon German Reformed Church, in which he held the post of trustee for a number of years. They had the following children: Bertha, Catherine, John II., Mary, Elizabeth, Tena, Carl, Anna (deceased).
Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman are leading people in all the activities of their home community. They attend and support the Reformed Church at Mittewanga, in which he has served for a number of years as trustee, and in politics he is one of the leading democrats of the community, being now township central committeeman. He also served as township assessor and one term as township trustee.
PHILIP E. GEGENHEIMER. Many of the best farms in Erie County are the product of the labor and enterprise of thrifty German settlers. One homestead that well exemplifies the characteristic German thrift is the Gegenheimer home in Vermilion Township, located on rural route No. 1 out of the Village of Vermilion. For nearly half a century the late Philip E. Gegenheimer dug and delved, plowed and cultivated, removed the native timber, drained the lowlands, built fences, farm and domestic buildings, and in every possible way improved the land which he got in almost a completely wild state. The results of his labors are now enjoyed and made use of hy his widow and children. His son Wil- liam J. is the active manager of the old homestead, and has a place of his own nearby, and combines the cultivation and management of the two farms in a very capable and successful manner.
The late Philip E. Gegenheimer was born in Baden, Germany, July 20, 1838, and died at the old home in Vermilion Township, December 17, 1898. Ile was twenty years of age when in 1858 he came on a sailing vessel across the ocean, landed in New York City after a tedions voyage of many days, and a few weeks later he joined his parents who had emigrated some time before and located in Brownhelm Township of Lorain County. His father died in Lorain County when past eighty years of age, having followed farming all his life. The mother died at Ceylon Junetion in 1865, at the age of sixty- two. Both were members of the German Reformed Church. Philip Gegenheimer was one of eight children, five sons and three daughters. Two of the sons, Charles W. and Angust, are still living, and both are married, the former in Lorain County and the latter in Portland, Indiana.
While living in Germany Philip E. Gegenheimer received his edu- cation and was also trained in those habits of industry and striet honesty which were his marked characteristics thronghont life. After coming to this country he lived a few years in Brownhelm Township of Lorain County. In that county in 1864 he married Miss Catherine Miller. She was born in Rhenish Bavaria, Germany. December 17. 1847, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Baker) Miller. her father a native of West Prussia and her mother of Rhenish Bavaria. Her parents were married in the latter province, and their first children were born there. In March, 1859. the Miller family set sail from Bremen and after a voyage of many hardships lasting for forty-two days they landed in New York. The long voyage and the stale food nearly killed Mr. Miller, but he recovered and was long known as one of the prosperous citizens of this part of Ohio. The Miller family first located at Elyria, but a few years later bought a new home and started improving the land. This property was lost on account of a defective title and the family then moved to the vicinity of Amherst. Lorain County, where Mr. Miller set up a small shop and began his trade as blacksmith, which he had learned in Ger-
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many. That was his work for a great many years, and he passed away December 5, 1910, being then in very advanced age, since he was born February 11, 1821. lle was a confirmed member of the Evangelieal Lutheran Church. His parents were Jacob and Catherine (Koeh) Miller, who also eame to the United States, when in advanced years, and died in Amherst Township of Lorain County, Jacob when at the extreme age of ninety-five. The mother of Mrs. Gegenheimer died at the Gegenheimer home in Vermilion township when also well along in years. Mrs. Gegenheimer has two sisters and a brother: Mrs. Libbie Schroder, wife of Gustav Schroder, of Erie County; Margaret, widow of Ed Passow, and living in Colorado, the mother of two daughters and a son, and Adam Miller, who has lost his wife and lives with his children in Amherst.
It was fully half a century ago that the late Philip E. Gegenheimer bought the farm of sixty-five acres where his widow now lives. He not only cleared it up for cultivation, but erected the substantial buildings which still stand there. Mr. Gegenheimer was a democrat in national polities, but in local matters voted for the man best suited for the office to be filled, and his sons have followed the same political choice. The family are all members of the Reformed Church. The children are: Fred. who is unmarried and lives at home: Sarah, widow of Simon Stef- fen. and the mother of one daughter, Anna E., now a student of medicine in Boston : Emma, wife of Charles Blair, a farmer in Florence Township, and they have children named Waldo, Merwin and Elton, all in school ; and William J., who has already been mentioned as the enterprising young manager of the old homestead farm. William was educated in the local schools, grew up on the homestead, and has identified himself in very successful manner with Erie County agricultural affairs. He mar- ried Olive (. Allen of Cuyahoga County, and they have a bright young daughter, Mildred C., now four years of age.
FRANK C. BARNES. For many years of his aetive career Mr. Barnes was in the Nickel Plate Railway service, but his best success has been as a farmer and fruit grower, and he now enjoys the comforts and the revenues of an attractive place in Vermilion Township on rural route No. 2 out of Huron.
He was born in Huron County, Ohio, May 16, 1850. His father was also named Frank and likewise that was the name of his grandfather. Both his father and grandfather were natives of England and of old English stock. The grandfather was a farmer, and spent all his life in his native shire, and died when past seventy years of age, having survived his wife several years. Frank Barnes, the father, was born in England about 1805. He learned the trade of butcher and followed it for a number of years. The "steel" which he used at his trade is now owned by his son, Frank C. He married Ann Libbett of the same town. He then became a farmer on a large English estate. and while living there the following children were born: John, William, Joseph and Mary Ann. Mary Ann was born in 1845. and in the following year when she was still an infant in her mother's arms the little family em- barked on a sailing vessel that was pursued by all the vagaries of wind and weather, and after a very stormy voyage landed in New York City six weeks from England. During the passage Frank Barnes, the father, had the care of two hig lions and a valuable horse for Mr. Van Amberg. the noted show man of a former generation. Mr. Barnes and the lions got on very friendly terms, and the male showed an especial fondness for his temporary keeper. Years afterwards when Mr. Barnes visited the Van Amberg circus the old lion recognized him at once and they shook hands through the bars of the eage.
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