A standard history of Fulton County, Ohio, an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. II, Part 68

Author: Reighard, Frank H., 1867-
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 628


USA > Ohio > Fulton County > A standard history of Fulton County, Ohio, an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. II > Part 68


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bors, who admire her courage, cheerfulness and sympathy with others in both their joys and their sorrows.


IRA W. DENNIS. There is a great deal to be said in favor of the man who early in life chooses his sphere of activity, and seldom if ever diverts his energies outside of it. This has been the case with Ira W. Dennis, one of the prosperous farm owners of Amboy Town- ship. He is living today on the land where he was born, where he learned the lessons of good farming, and where he has been pros- pered according to his deserts.


The Dennis farm is in section 22 of Amboy Township. Mr. Den- nis was born there February 1, 1864, son of Alpheus and Sarah (Stahl) Dennis. His father was a native of Connecticut and his mother of Ashland county, Ohio. The maternal grandfather, Wil- liam Stahl, moved to Hillsdale county, Michigan, and he and his wife died therc. Alpheus Dennis after his marriage settled on land in Amboy Township, cleared away the timber, ditched and drained it, and by further purchases owned a fine body of land 104 acres in extent and of unsurpassed fertility and productivencss. Alpheus Dennis died there May 27, 1898, and his wife on November 5, 1909. They have three children: Alta, Mrs. Fred Brodbeck, of Amboy Township; George, of York Township; and Ira W.


Ira W. Dennis has always lived on the farm where he was born. He went from his father's home to the neighboring district schools, and almost from his earliest recollections had some duty assigned him at the house and in the fields. Eventually he bought the in- terests of the other heirs in the place, and has much to show for his individual improvements. He and his wife occupy one of the most attractive bungalows in the country district of Fulton county. The house has electric lights, hot water heat, and all other conveniences usually found in a city residence. Mr. Dennis keeps about eighty acres under cultivation, while the rest is in timber and pasture. Along with general farming he has always kept some dairy stock.


Mr. Dennis has filled the chairs in Metamora Lodge No. 875 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a republican voter. May 15, 1897, he married Jennie Crockett. She was born in Lena- wee county, Michigan, daughter of Willard and Hannah (Rice) Crockett. Her parents were also natives of Lenawee county.


JACKSON WAIDELICH. Though a native of Pennsylvania, Jack- son Waidelich spent thirty years of his active career as a farmer in the great Illinois corn belt, and is one of a considerable colony of former Illinois farmers now found in Fulton county. Mr. Waide- lich is still a farmer, owning a place of eighty acres in German 'Township, and spends much of his time during the growing seasons looking after his crops and his livestock.


Mr. Waidelich was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, March 18, 1850, a son of Christian and Kathrine (Fitler) Waide- lich. His father when a young man came from Wurtemberg, Ger- many, and located in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania. Soon after his marriage he moved to Ohio, his son Jackson at that time being seven months old. Christian Waidelich spent the rest of his life in Ohio. The son Jackson grew up on his father's farm in Pukaway county, Ohio, attended the country schools to the age of sixteen, but most of his schooling was acquired in the winter season, and his summers were spent in farm labors. On leaving the farm he


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learned the wagon making trade, and followed it as his occupation for eight years.


On leaving Ohio Mr. Waidelich went to Vermilion county, Illi- nois, and in the district around Danville operated a farm on an increasingly successful scale for thirty years. On selling his Illi- nois land and property he was attracted to the particularly desirable lands in Fulton county, and in 1913 moved to the place of eighty acres he had bought in German Township. He has done much to improve his farm and increase its productiveness. He has also given his time freely in a public-spirited manner in supporting all mat- ters of community benefit and general welfare.


Mr. Waidelich married Lavina Hoffman, daughter of Jonas and Emma (Fasnaugh) Hoffman of Fairfield county, Ohio. She died in 1884, the mother of six children, five of whom are still living. In 1888 Mr. Waidelich married a sister of his first wife, Mary Hoff- man. To their marriage have been born four children, all still liv- ing. A brief record of the children of Mr. Waidelich is as fol- lows: Clara is the wife of John Apple, of Champaign county, Illi- nois, and has five children. Emma is Mrs. William Bushmeyer, of


Chatham, Ontario, and has two children. Nellie is the wife of Grant Henthorn, of Danville, Illinois, and their family consists of five children. Charles Elmer Waidelich died in June, 1917, at the age of twenty-seven, leaving his widow and three children at Dan- ville, Illinois. William Edwin, thirty-five years of age is a resident of Danville, and is married and has two children. Frank Earl lives at Columbus, Ohio, and is the father of one child. Otis is twenty-two years of age and at home, and the younger children, all at home, are Vina Viola, Arthur Jackson, who was born in 1901, and John Wesley, born in 1903.


Mr. Waidelich is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge No. 754 at Ogden, Illinois.


WILLIAM J. SPENGLER, sole proprietor of the general mercantile establishment at Elmira, is one of the dependable business men of Fulton county, and one who stands high in public opinion. He was born at Archbold, Ohio, on January 22, 1887, a son of Daniel M. and Minnie (Ruffer) Spengler, and a grandson of Herman Spengler. Coming to the United States when still a young man from his native land of Germany, the latter eventually came to Fulton county, locating on the Dave Mcrillat farm at Lauber Hill, and there he reared his family, farming and teaching his sons also to be farmers. Daniel M. Spengler, the father was actively engaged in farming until his retirement, at which time he and his wife moved to Elmira, Ohio. Mr. Spengler died April 12, 1920.


After attending the district schools William J. Spengler finally took a two years' course at the Wauseon High School. In order to prepare himself for a commercial life, he then attended the Metropolitan Business College at Toledo, Ohio. Mr. Spengler was car sweeper in the roundhouse of the railroad during the winter months, and in the summer worked on the farm. Later he was cashier for five years for the Detroit United Railway, and then for two years was car house foreman for the same company. Retir- ing from this position, Mr. Spengler, with his brother James Spen- gler, went into a garage business and remained in it for six months, when he'sold his interest to his brother and established himself in his


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present line, buying the store of B. M. Borton at Elmira on January 1, 1919. Ifis trade comes to his store from a radius of ten miles, and he does a large business in poultry and eggs. Since becoming the owner of this store he has inereased the volume of business in a normal and highly satisfactory way, and has won appreciation by his honorable methods and system of handling goods.


In 1914 Mr. Spengler was united in marriage with Miss Maude Sievert, a daughter of Frederick and Marie Sievert. Mr. and Mrs. Spengler have three children, namely: Margaret, William J. Jr., and Daniel F. With reference to publie matters Mr. Spengler maintains an independent attitude, and votes as his judgment di- rects. He is a Blue Lodge Mason. A friend of the public schools, he is anxious to see them prosper, and he is also interested in all movements which have for their object the furtheranee of the pros- perity of his community and county.


JACOB F. LEININGER is one of the extensive land owners and farmers in German Township, his home being on a rural delivery route from Archbold. In that distriet he has spent practically all his life, and his enterprise has reached out to touch a number of interests in his community and county, while his investments extend outside his native state.


Mr. Leininger operates a 200-aere farm under his personal super- vision. He is owner of 315 acres in German Township, has 1/2 sec- tion of land in South Dakota, and 300 aeres in another part of that state.


He was born on the home farm in 1862, son of Michael and Mary (Funkhouser) Leininger. He now owns eighty acres of his father's old homestead. He attended the distriet schools to the age of sixteen, and since then has been working for himself and owes to his industry and good management the prosperity he has ae- quired.


In 1893 Mr. Leininger married Elizabeth Riee, daughter of Henry and Eva Rice, of German Township. Their only child, a son, died in infaney. Mr. Leininger is an independent voter.


JOHN SIEGEL. The late John Siegel, of German Township, was one of the hard-working and thrifty farmers of Fulton county, and a man who stood in high esteem among his neighbors, who often called upon him to represent their interests in local offices. He was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1844, a son of Jacob and Catherine Siegel. When he was eight years old the family moved from Wayne county to German Township, Fulton county, and his father continued his farming in the new section.


John Siegel grew up on the farm, and continued his education, begun in Wayne county, by attending the school at Arehbold until he was fifteen years old, when his father's need for his services foreed him to leave sehool. During the war between the states he gave his sympathy to the Union, and when twenty years of age enlisted in Company K, of the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at Cleveland, Ohio, from whence he was sent south and did his full duty as a soldier. He received his honor- able discharge in 1865, and returned home.


For a time after his coming back from the war Mr. Siegel was on his father's farm, and then he and a brother opened a black- smithing shop and and also made wagons, continuing in this line


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of business for three years, and handling an excellent local trade Following his marriage Mr. Siegel spent three years on the home- stead, and then in 1872, bought the farm still owned by his widow, which contains eighty acres of land, and he also bought eighty acres in Williams county. A practical farmer, Mr. Siegel knew how to make his land pay him a good return for the labor ex- pended upon it, and he was engaged in its cultivation until he died, on Friday, December 26, 1912. A strong republican, he was elected on his party ticket to membership on the School Board, and to a number of the township offices. Not only was he an earnest mem- ber and worker of the Methodist Church, but he served the local congregation as trustee. For a number of years he was active in the Archbold Post, Grand Army of the Republic.


In 1868 Mr. Siegel was united in marriage with Elizabeth Naft- zeger, a daughter of John D. and Philipina Naftzeger, who lived near Archbold, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Siegel became the parents of eight children, two of whom are deceased, the six surviving being five sons and one daughter, namely: John, Foster, Levi, Peter, Minnie and Joseph.


With the exception of one year spent at Archbold, Mr. Siegel lived out his life on his farm, and is remembered very kindly in his old neighborhood as a man of strength of character and great kindness of heart. His widow is still living on the old farm, and is accounted one of the public-spirited women of the township, where her many virtues have gained her respectful affection from those who are brought in contact with her. The children have grown up to be a credit to their parents and neighborhood, and are aiding in adding to the good reputation of the name in Fulton county.


ADAM SCHRENK, a well-known and well-to-do farmer of German Township, Fulton county, Ohio, is a native of Fulton county, and comes of a family which has had residence in the county for very many years.


He was born in Archbold, German Township, in 1879, the son of Anthony and Barbara (Imthurn) Schrenk. The former was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, but came to America in early man- hood, and as a young man settled in Archbold, where for six years he followed the trade of carpenter. In 1873 he bought the farm of seventy-two acres in German Township now owned and occupied by his son Adam. Anthony Schrenk died in 1917, in German Township. He was a man of sterling character, and gained general respect among his neighbors. ' A capable and hard-working trades- man, he also proved himself to be a good and industrious farmer, and throughout his life in America was a responsible resident.


Adam, son of Anthony and Barbara. (Imthurn) Schrenk, in his boyhood attended the district school No. 15, which was the nearest public school to his home. He continued to attend school until he was fifteen years old, but, like most sons of farmers in Ohio, in his youth he had for some years before leaving school done much work on the home farm, especially during the long summer vaca- tions. He stayed at home assisting his father in the work of the parental farm until he was twenty-one years old, but for the suc- ceeding nine years he worked for neighboring farmers, at the end of which time he returned to his home and managed the farm for his father until the latter died in 1911. In the following year Adam


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was able to buy the farm outright from the other heirs, and since that time he has very thoroughly and generally with good success worked the property. His farming is of a general character, to which the land is suited, and in the raising of cattle and in dairy- ing he has had good return for the strenuous labor it called for.


Politically Adam Schrenk is independent; by religious convic- tion he is a member of the Apostle Church, and he is a man of honorable life and good public spirit. He is closely interested in all that pertains to his native township, and has in the past co- operated in many worthy local undertakings of public or civic char- acter. During the recent war he demonstrated that lie is an Ameri- can of whole-hearted patriotism, and in many practical ways aided the national cause.


In 1900 he married Setta Schlatter, daughter of John and Mag- dalen (Beer) Schlatter, well-known residents in German Township. Mr. and Mrs. Schrenk are the parents of three children, Ruth Hilda, Esther Sarah and Emanuel Paul. The last named is now fourteen years old.


ELIAS SCHENK, well-known in Archbold and vicinity in connec- tion with consequential building contracts, and since 1913 inde- pendently established as a building contractor, with offices in Arch- bold, is a native of Fulton county, and comes of a family long asso- ciated with the development of German Township. He is an enter- prising and able business man, and has quite recently come into local prominence as the main factor in the organization of the Acme Level Company, a local manufacturing enterprise from which much good to the town of Archbold may result.


He was born in German Township, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1881, the son of Anton and Barbara Schenk. He was reared on the homestead of the Schenk family in that township, and as a boy attended the district school at Bush Creek, giving much time during vacations and before and after school hours to minor tasks in connection with the operation of the home farm of eighty acres. He left school at the age of eighteen years, and for the next seven gave the whole of his time to his father, and to agricultural duties upon the home estate in German Township. When he was twenty- five years old he came into Archbold, learned carpentry, and for some years worked at that trade for Archbold contractors. In 1913 he became established in independent business as a builder and contractor, and since that time has maintained himself to good ad- vantage in an independent contracting business. His work has been of high standard, and his contracts have been marked by a technical knowledge and a desire to adhere in spirit as well as in letter to the written contract. He has consequently given general satisfac- tion in his work, and is considered to be one of the reliable con- tractors of the county. He is an executive of marked ability, and is coming to the fore as a man of consequential affairs. Recently he organized the Acme Level Company, the main purpose of which corporation is to enter into the manufacture of spirit levels and other tools. The plant is in its infancy, but there are indications that it may become a consequential industry of Archbold.


Mr. Schenk is, as yet, a comparatively young man in business, and of necessity has had to devote most of his time to the develop- ment and solid establishment of his business enterprises, but he has upon occasion shown that he possesses good public spirit, and


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that his connection with Archbold promises to be that of a help- ful, responsible resident and producer. He is unmarried, and politi- cally is a democrat. Personally he is well-regarded, being of strong personality and steady life.


JOHN EDWARD DURBIN, who for more than twenty years has been a responsible resident and substantial farmer in York Town- ship, Fulton county, Ohio, is a native of Henry county, Ohio, and his parents were among the early settlers of that county. He was born November 26, 1868, the son of Perry and Elizabeth (Harmon) Durbin, who lived in Henry county until 1899, when they moved with their son John Edward into Fulton county, father and son having jointly bought a farming property of forty acres, all improved land, in York Township. Three years afterward, however, Mrs. Elizabeth (Harmon) Durbin died, but her husband lived for a further fifteen years, his demise not occurring until May 4, 1913. During the time they resided in York Township they both made many sincere friends, and were considered worthy neighbors. Their children were: Nettie, who married Elias Detrich, and lives in Michigan; William, who is comfortably established in Napoleon, Ohio; John Edward, of York Township, and of whom more fol- lows; Jennie Elizabeth, who is the widow of Jacob Ulch, of Wau- seon, Ohio; and Effie, who married Charles Warner, of Toledo, Ohio.


John Edward Durbin, third child of Perry and Elizabeth (Har- mon) Durbin, attended public schools of Henry county. After his schooling was at an end, he applied himself diligently to farming in association with his father, and in the spring of 1893 married. For three years after this important event in his life had been solemnized he and his wife lived with his parents, he continuing to assist his father in the management and operation of the par- ental acres. Then, temporarily, father and son became separated, the son having rented another farm in Henry county. He only farmed it for two years, however, and in the spring of 1899 joined his father in purchasing an improved property of forty acres in York Township, Fulton county, to which they then removed, and where John Edward and his family have since resided. John Ed- ward continued to be a business partner with his father in the York Township farm until the latter's death in 1913, soon after which sad event he acquired from the other heirs his father's portion of the farm, and since that time he has conducted it independently. As a matter of fact, he had been conducting it almost solely since they first took up the place, for his father was becoming more and more enfeebled as he advanced in age. However, it must be a com- fort to the son to realize that he remained with his parents until their deaths, and that their last years were passed in comparative comfort.


John Edward Durbin has been an industrious and able farmer, and has had, generally, good success in dairying and stockraising. He has not entered much into public life, but has been a loyal republican for many years, and during the recent war proved in many ways that he was a whole-hearted patriot.


On March 9, 1893, he married Arminda March, who was born in Henry county, Flat Rock Township, Ohio, daughter of Henry and Margaret (Chester) March. Mr. and Mrs. Durbin have four children, all of whom have remained at home. The children in


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order of birth are Victoria, Hazel, Archie and Polly. They have also another member of their household who might almost be con- sidered their son, Donald Steward, son of Mrs. Durbin's sister. He was born in 1909, and has lived with his aunt and unele almost sinee birth, and is now developing into a sturdy, bright boy.


THEODORE DINIUS, a native of Fulton county, and of one of the pioneer families of the county, lived for the greater part of his active farming life in the State of Indiana. But his widow and daughter have returned to the county, and possess good farming property therein, so that this record should properly have place in the present history of Fulton county, especially having regard to the fact that Mrs. Dinius also comes of one of the pioncer families of the county.


Theodore Dinius was born in Pike Township, Fulton county, Ohio, on June 8, 1858, the son of Adam and Carlona (Todd) Dinius, the former a native of Stark county, Ohio, and the latter of New Hampshire birth. The parents of Theodore Dinius were married in Stark county, Ohio, but soon took up a tract of undc- veloped land in Pike Township, Fulton county, where their son Theodore was born, and where he grew to manhood. He was edu- cated in the district school nearest to his parents' farm, and during his school days did much to help his father in his pioneering work. Eventually, having passed through the grades of the district school, and it being impossible for him to pursue a more advanced course of academic studies, Theodore settled down to industriously assist- ing his father in the work of the home farm. When he was twenty- cight years old, on November 24, 1888, he married Laura Harmon, who was born in Pike Township, the daughter of David and Bar- bara (Stecle) Harmon, early settlers in Fulton county. Her father, David Harmon, was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and her mother in Ashland county, Ohio, so that in paternal and maternal descent she comes of early Ohio families. Her parents soon after marriage took up residence in Pike Township, where her father bought a tract of seventy-three acres, which many years afterward she herself acquired by purchase from the other heirs of the estate. She was educated in Pike Township schools, and soon after her mar- riage to Theodore Dinius she went with her husband to Indiana, he having bought a farm in DeKalb county of that state. There they made their home for seventeen years, and there their children were born. Theodore Dinius died on February 16, 1904, and soon after- ward his widow returned to Fulton county, and bought a farm near Delta, York Township. Four years later her eldest child, a manly youth just blossoming into self-reliant, promising manhood, died, and five years later, in 1913, her father died, soon after which mis- fortune she sold the farm she owned near Delta, and upon which she and her children had lived since 1904, as she wished to re- move to the old homestead of her family in Pike Township. She purchased the property, which is seventy-three acres in extent, from the other heirs. and has lived thereon since that time. She holds herself responsible for the operation of the farm, hiring help and being able to get satisfactory returns in general farming and dairy- ing. She does this not from necessity, for she has means sufficient for her and her daughter's needs, but because she prefers to live on the old homestead, which being agricultural land must of course receive attention with the seasons. Theodore and Laura (Harmon)


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Dinius were the parents of three children, two of whom, however, are now deceased. The children in the order of their birth were: Harmon, who died in 1908, at the age of nineteen years; Floyd, who died at the age of four years; and Lola, who is the only surviving child. She has remained with her mother.


Mrs. Dinius has many friends in Fulton county, and is esteemed for her kindly nature and good neighborliness.


EZRA JOSEPH GOTTSCHALK. In touching upon the life history of Ezra J. Gottschalk, a well known citizen of Clinton Township, Fulton county, the writer aims to avoid fulsome encomium and extravagant praise; yet he desires to hold up for consideration those facts which have shown the distinction of a true, useful and honor- able life-a life characterized by perseverance, energy and well de- fined purpose. To do this will be but to reiterate the dictum pro- nounced upon the man by the people among whom he lives.


Ezra Joseph Gottschalk is a native son of Ohio, having been born near Napoleon, Henry county, in 1890, and is the son of Ger- man parents, his father having come to this country in young man- hood. In 1892 the family removed to German Township, Fulton county, removing again in 1897 to Clinton Township and finally, in 1899, to the farm now operated by Ezra Gottschalk. The subject received his educational training in the common schools of his home neighborhood, which he attended until sixteen years of age. There- after until twenty years of age he worked for his father on the home farm, but at the age mentioned he entered the employ of the Wabash Railroad Company as a locomotive fireman, having a freight run between Toledo, Ohio, and Decatur, Illinois, and working out from Peru, Indiana. He remained so employed until 1915, when he came to Wauseon, Ohio, and entered the employ of his brother as an automobile mechanician. In April, 1919, Mr. Gottschalk moved to the homestead farm, to the operation of which he has since de- voted himself, with splendid results. The farm comprises 140 acres of splendid, fertile land, on which he raises general crops. The place is well improved with a good set of farm buildings, the general ap- pearance of the place being a credit to its owner.




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