USA > Ohio > Hardin County > A twentieth century history of Hardin County, Ohio : a narrative account of its historical progress its people and principal interests, Vol. II > Part 26
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In Kenton, this county, on the 23d of October, 1871, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Guider to Miss Marilla A. Kridler, who was born at Lordstown. Trumbull county. Ohio, on the 19th of October. 1850, and who is a daughter of Daniel and Jennette (Campbell) Kridler, who settled in Trumbull county in an early day. the father having come to Ohio from Pennsylvania and having been of stanch German ancestry. Mrs. Guider survived her honored husband and now resides near
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McGuffey. Mr. and Mrs. Guider became the parents of four children: Myrta Julia, Eva Jennette, Ethel Pearl and Emma Grace. Myrta Julia was married to William C. McGuffey, November 28, 1894, and now resides on their farm at McGuffey; Eva Jennette was married to William H. Powell February 10, 1897, and they reside on their farm near Ada; Ethel P. died on the 6th of September, 1880, at the age of four years; and Miss Emma G. is a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Hardin county.
GEORGE ELWOOD GEIGER, a prominent farmer and a successful breeder of hogs and poultry living in Taylor Creek township, Hardin county, Ohio, is a native of Seneca county, born June 7, 1861. He is a son of Jacob and Hannah (Detwiler) Geiger. Jacob C. Geiger was born in Stark county, Ohio, and died in January, 1878, at the age of fifty years ; his widow survived him many years and died July 3, 1904, at the age of seventy-three. They located in Hardin county in 1866, and Mr. Geiger engaged in the grocery business in Kenton, continuing the same until his death. By trade he was a harness-maker. He was a son of Jacob and Elizabeth Geiger, who came to the United States from Germany, settling in Stark county. Jacob Geiger, Jr., was a mem- ber of the first Methodist Episcopal church of Kenton. He was a Republican and held several minor offices. George E. Geiger has three brothers and two sisters living, namely: William Henry, of Los Angeles, California ; Ulysses Grant, a farmer of Cessna township, Hardin county ; Frank August, of North Dakota; Jennie Elizabeth, wife of A. Offen- becker, of Urbana, Ohio; and Alice Ada, wife of Charles W. Kissling, of Urbana.
The boyhood of George E. Geiger was spent with his parents, and he attended the public school until sixteen years of age, after which he turned his attention to farming. At his father's death he began farming on his own account in Hardin county, spending nine years on the Jacob Sponceler farm. He then farmed three years in Logan county, and in 1901 located on his present farm, where he has been very successful as breeder and raiser of hogs and poultry. He has a fine flock of pure bred Barred Plymouth Rocks, also an equally fine flock of Rhode Island Reds, which have attracted attention throughout his part of the state. IIe also makes a success of raising Dew Rock Jersey hogs. Mr. Geiger carries on general farming. raising grain to feed his stock.
In 1886 Mr. Geiger married Ida Bell Nickell, who was born Novem- ber 2. 1868, daughter of James and Lida Jane (Crow) Nickell. Mr. Niekell was a farmer and died at the age of forty years. His widow survives him and lives at Huntsville, Ohio, now seventy-one years of age. Mrs. Geiger was reared in the family of John Pifer, of Kenton, after her father's death. To Mr. and Mrs. Geiger children have been born as follows: Verna E., now twenty-three years of age, teaching school in Lynn township; Vesta, wife of Reuben Koons, a farmer; and Florence G., aged fourteen, attending school. Mr. Geiger and his wife are both members of the Methodist church of Silver Creek, and active in church work. He is a Republican, and has for three years held the office of
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township assessor. Ile was also a member of the school board. He belongs to the local Grange. Mr. Geiger has won his success in life through his own efforts and deserves great credit for the manner in which he has attained his present property and position. He is natural- ly a man of keen perceptions and sound judgment, which coupled with his enterprise and ambition, have enabled him to forge ahead at a good pace. He is well known and popular in the neighborhood.
DR. JAMES M. WOOD, a physician and surgeon living in Dudley township, Hardin eounty, Ohio, was born in Marion county, Ohio, March 1, 1853, and is a son of Hampton and Susanna ( Marsh) Wood. Hampton Wood was born at Egg Harbor, New Jersey, in 1813, and was a son of Isaae and Sarah Wood, of Scotch and Irish deseent. Isaac Wood and his wife moved from Darke county to Marion county, Ohio, in 1882, when the country was sparsely settled, and took up one hundred and sixty acres of land. They made the trip with a team of oxen and brought their farm implements with them. They spent the remainder of their lives in Marion county, where they became prosperous and began making improvements on their farm. They were the parents of twelve
children. They had to bear the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life, and soon after settling in Marion county Mr. Wood would split one hundred rails and trade them for one bushel of corn, which he carried thirty miles to have ground at the mill. In his day the chil- dren had no shoes, and he was a hardy, hardworking man, who strove constantly to make the most of his land and keep his family supplied with necessities. He was a Whig in his younger days and later became a Republican.
Both Hampton Wood and his father were known and admired for their hardiness and their endurance of all kinds of hard work. The former was the oldest of the children and attended school winters until he was eighteen years of age, when he began teaching and was the first teacher in Dudley township, beginning in the old Boynton school. He continned in his profession and carrying on a farm until his death. Politically he was a Republican and held the township offices of treasurer, clerk and justice of the peace. He was an active worker and member of the Free Will Baptist church and often served as a deacon. He became prosperous as a farmer, and was a progressive, enterprising citizen. Ilis death occurred on May 8, 1889. He was married in 1846 to Susanna, Marsh, who died in 1878, at the age of fifty-five years; she was a daughter of Nalen and Mary A. ( Yazell) Marsh, of Marion county. Mr. Wood and his wife became the parents of the following children : Isaac, a farmer of Oregon ; John, of Kenton, Ohio; Dr. J. M .; George, a farmer of Marion county; Scott, a farmer of Marion county; Pearl, on the old homestead; Lawrence, a farmer; Eliza Catherine, wife of A. P. Rhodes, a farmer ; Ollie, wife of JJacob Yauger, and Merty, Nathan and Henry, who died when young.
Dr. J. M. Wood attended the district school nutil sixteen years of age and then spent two years at the Marion high school, after which he taught five years, between his teaching attending the Free Will
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Baptist College in Ridgeville two years. In company with his brother John Mr. Wood bought two hundred acres of land in Dudley township, where they spent one year, and then James M. studied medicine a year, after which he purchased an interest in a mereantile business in Larue, where he remained one year and then sold out. He spent two years at the Columbus (Ohio) Medical College, from which he graduated in 1879. He practiced one year in Yelverton, Hardin county, then worked one year in Kenton as clerk for Dr. Rodgers, after which he spent five years as a druggist and practicing physician at Larue, and while living there was appointed postmaster. He then removed to Lineoln, Nebraska, and shortly after returned to Ohio and purchased his present farm in Dudley township. He carries on general farming and pays special attention to dairying, which in the present day is attracting so nmch attention and returning such large profits. Dr. Wood also keeps up the practice of his profession, in which he has been very successful.
Politically Dr. Wood is a stanch supporter of the interests of the Republican party, and has been an active worker for the same. He is a publie-spirited and useful eitizen, the friend of progress and every eause tending toward the advancement and betterment of humanity. He stands high in his profession and is a member of Hardin County Medical Society. Ifis farm is one mile long, and it faces the Kenton pike road just east of Hepburn. He has twenty-five registered Jersey cows in his herd for dairy purposes. His barn, which is the largest in Dudley township, is ninety feet long, with a silo that will hold a one hundred and fifty-ton crop and his barn holds one hundred and fifty tons of hay. He is using modern methods and has made a special study of scientific farming, so that his judgment is considered very good on all agricultural matters. He carries on his farm as a business proposition and reaps from it the maximum of profit. He is highly respected in the community and well known. Dr. Wood is a member of Lodge No. 463, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Larue, also of the Maccabees of Hepburn.
Dr. Wood married Lucy Potter, who was born July 13, 1859, on her father's farm, daughter of Josiah Potter, who died at the age of eighty- three years, December 9, 1891. Mr. Potter was a native of Johnstown, New York, born in 1807. He was a pioneer of Dudley township, settling there in 1849; in 1844 he located in Wyandot county, Ohio, where he lived about five years. He made the trip west with a horse and wagon, bringing his wife and two children. Ile was a tanner by trade and his wife made mittens and gloves during their trip, in which way they made some money along the way. The mittens and gloves were made of tanned hide, which he tanned by hand. Mr. Potter sent his products to market by way of the lakes for many years, and the trip required weeks, so that he was some time realizing on his sales at times. In 1832 he married Mary Ann Mills, who died in 1868, at the age of fifty-two years. Besides Mrs. Wood their children who still survive are: William, a farmer of Minnesota; Sophronia, wife of W. Kastor, of Washington township; Mary Jane, wife of Isaae Hoyt, of Kenton ; Charles F., a farmer of Minnesota. Mrs. Wood is the youngest. She
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is a member of the United Brethren church and is president of the Ladies' Aid Society. She is a member of the Maccabees of Hepburn and the order of Eastern Star at Larne. Dr. Wood and his wife became the parents of children as follows: Mamie E., a gifted artist, wife of G. Vanatta, of Kenton, who has three children, Keith, Rex and Alice; Aubrey Hampton, a farmer and justice of the peace of Dudley township, married Bertha Drew and they have two children, Madison F. and Esther A .; and Anna B., who is well educated in music and has been a musie teacher, is now attending school in Ada. Dr. Wood is the only physician living in Dudley township, and he has a large practice.
EPHRAIM E. SMITH, a retired farmer living at Hepburn, Ohio, was born in Dudley township, Hardin county, Ohio, January 19, 1846. He is a son of Nathan and Mary Kiser (MeLane) Smith, and grandson of Edward and Jennie (Shaefer) Smith. Edward Smith was a native of Virginia, a son of Thomas and Jennie (Remey) Smith. The father of Thomas Smith married Jennie, daughter of the well known Lord Fairfax, of Fairfax Court House, Virginia, descendant of the English family. Some of the Smiths took part in the Revolution.
Nathan Smith was born at Zanesville, Ohio, April 20, 1818, and was reared on a farm, receiving his education in the public schools. He followed farming and stock raising all his active life, and is now living retired at the age of ninety-two years. He bought a traet of land and cleared it, and has now one of the largest farms in Dudley township; he also operated a sawmill, one of the first in the township. Ile be- longs to the Methodist church, and is now a Republican, having once been a member of the "Know nothing" party. He has voted for every president since casting his vote in 1840 for Harrison, and is the oldest voter in the township. His wife, who was born in 1826, is still living, and they are well known throughout the community, it being a rare thing to find a couple who have lived together so many years and have both attained a venerable old age. She is a daughter of Ephraim C. McLane, a native of Pennsylvania who removed to Ohio when a young man, and became a colonel of militia from Muskingum county. He died July 21, 1861, at the age of sixty-two years, a devout Christian and ready for death. He married Nancy Craig, who died at the age of ninety-four years, and they made their home in Dudley township, Hardin county. Nathan's father, Edward Smith, built the second log house in what is now Zanesville, Ohio. The six children of Mr. and Mrs. Smith are : Nancy J., widow of George Bannig ; Ephraim E. ; Elizabeth A. Hastings, of Pleasant Hill, Missouri; J. S. Smith, Jewell, Iowa, vice president of bank there; Catherine S., the wife of Theo. Me- Henny, of Larue, Ohio; II. C. Smith, of Jewell. Iowa, president of First National Bank there.
Ephraim E. Smith remained at home and attended school and when eighteen years of age enlisted in ompany I. One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Ohio Volunteers, and served three years, being mustered out in 1865. Ile took part in the Virginia campaign and participated in the battles at Antietam, Harpers Ferry, Halltown and many others.
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He had a narrow escape at one time from a bullet which passed through
his clothes. Returning home Mr. Smith spent a year on the home farm and then moved to Iowa, where he began working on the railroad between Boone and Omaha, and remained in this work two years; later he worked a year for the Union Pacific Railway Company and became sick so he returned home. He followed farming for two years and then removed to Larue, where he was engaged in mercantile business four years. He sold his interest in this business and carried on farming until 1892, when he came to Ilepburn and erected the elevator now owned by F. Laubis, end engaged in the flour business. He helped organize the Flour Mill Exchange of Mount Victory, and in 1895, through the speculation of his partner lost his total investment of nine thousand dollars. He then traded stock for a general merchandise store, which he carried on a year, and engaged in farming. He was a successful and industrious business man, and has now retired from active life. He owns two large farms in Dudley township. Mr. Smith is a prominent and influential citizen, actively interested in pub- lie affairs, and is a stanch Republican, although he has never cared for public office, being too much occupied with his business affairs.
Mr. Smith has been a member of the Masonic Order since 1868, and is affiliated with Kenton Blue Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter. He is one of the charter members of Hepburn Lodge of Knights of Pythias, and belongs to Kenton Post, Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Smith married Mary Outland, born October 26, 1848, daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Freer) Outland, who settled in Dudley township in 1864. Thomas Outland's father, Josiah Outland, was a native of North Carolina, and married Miss Kiseoh Gatar. Thomas Outland was a farmer in Logan county, Ohio, but moved to Hardin county, in 1864, where he died in 1875 at the age of sixty-two years; his widow died in 1877, at the age of sixty-five years. Mrs. Smith is a member of the Metho- dist church and the Ladies' Aid Society. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children, Warren H., born in 1873, and Jennie C., born in 1876. War- ren is a farmer, married Blanch Morrison, and they have two children, Berkley M. and Mary Bernardine. Jennie married John H. Clark, an attorney of Marion, Ohio, and they have one child, Gladys Irene.
GEORGE A. LINGO .- A well-to-do young business man of Hepburn, George Alvin Lingo was born on the old family homestead in Dudley township, Hardin county, on the 7th of May, 1887. He is a son of Alvin and Clara V. (Shark) Lingo, both natives of that township, whose useful lives are sketched in connection with the biography of James Lingo found elsewhere in this work. Mr. Lingo's maternal grandfather, Simon Shark, who was a native son of West Virginia, set- tled in Madison county as a boy and in 1863 located in Dudley township, this county. He married Miss Maria Wiggle, daughter of Hiram Wiggle, an old and substantial farmer of the neighborhood, his wife dying in 1896 at the age of sixty-seven years.
The boyhood of George A. Lingo was spent on his father's farm, and he attended school until he was seventeen years of age, continuing
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PIONEER HOME OF RUDOLPH, MATILDA, JOHN AND JACOB DEPPELLER
JOHN DEPPELLER
MATILDA DEPPELLER
JACOB DEPPELLER
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
his agricultural pursuits on the old homestead place until 1907, and for four years he traveled in the west. In the year named he removed to Hepburn, assisting his brother James in the hardware business. He is energetic and industrious, is a thorough business man and stands high in the moral estimation of the community. In Masonry he is identified with the lodge at Larue, Marion county, and his politics have always been Republican.
On July 9, 1909, Mr. Lingo married Miss Edith Ellen Clement, who was born April 15, 1885, and is a daughter of Charles C. and Margaret (IIunter) Clement of Hepburn. Mrs. Lingo's father is a painter and mason by trade and, at the age of forty-two, is an energetic and respected citizen of that town. Iler grandfather, George Clement, was a boy when he came to the community with his parents and settled on what became known as the old Clement place north of Hepburn. He married Mary Ann Armstrong, of a family whose members were pioneers of Dudley township. The maternal grandfather, John Hun- ter, is living at Kenton at the age of seventy years, and his wife is still spared to him, aged sixty-three. Mr. Lingo and his kife are popular socially and highly esteemed for their reliable traits of character.
JOHN DEPPELLER is one of the agriculturists of Washington town- ship and a son of one of Hardin county's early pioneers, Rudolph Deppeller. The father was a native of Switzerland, born August 8, 1800, in Canton of Aargau, and in journeying to the United States in 1816 he spent sixteen weeks sailing on the ocean from Amsterdam to Philadelphia. He was bound out for four years on a farm near Phila- delphia to a farmer to pay his passage to America. His first home in this country was at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he learned the shoe maker's trade, and he worked at that avocation more or less during the remainder of his life. From Philadelphia Mr. Deppeller moved to Wyandot county, Ohio, in 1835, where he made shoes for the Wyandot Indians, and on the 19th of November, 1847, he arrived in that part of Hardin county now known as Washington township, here purchasing one hundred and sixty aeres of wild land. Building him a log cabin, the typical home of the pioneers, he began elearing the land, alternating this work with shoe making and mending, and after a few years he sold eighty acres of his traet, the remaining eighty being now the home of his son John, and it is under a splendid state of cultivation.
Rudolph Deppeller married Matilda Blunden, a native daughter of Fairfield county, Ohio, born August 28, 1825, and two sons, John and Jacob, were born to them, the younger Jacob being now a resident of the state of Kansas. On the 20th of September, 1877, Rudolph Dep- peller was called from this life and his widow survived him many years, dying on March 28, 1892. They were loved and honored in the com- munity where they had so long lived and labored being revered for their true worth of character.
John Deppeller, who owns the old Deppeller homestead in Wash- ington township, was born in Wyandot eounty, May 4, 1847, and was therefore but six months old when the family became residents of Har-
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din county. In the district schools of his home community he obtained a good education and at an early age began teaching, but as his health gave way he was obliged to abandon that profession for the farm, and he has been successful as an agriculturist. For five years he served Washington township well and faithfully as clerk, and he has also served on the school board. He is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry, and is an efficient worker for the order. Mr. Deppeller was married May 5, 1892, to Matilda, a daughter of Jonathan and Sydney .J. Packer.
Jacob Deppeller, the younger son of Rudolph and Matilda (Blnn- den) Deppeller was born on the farm now owned by his brother John.
March 3, 1853. He attended the common schools in his home district, traveling over bad roads a distance of two miles daily. He also assisted
with the farm work using a team of oxen. When a young man he spent some time as a elerk in a store, and then in order to prepare him- self for teaching attended the Ada Normal (as it was then called) and taught several terms of common school. In the fall of 1873 Mr. Dep- peller went to San Jose, California, to attend the State Normal there and to prepare himself to teach in the common schools of that state. Ile received a state certificate and became a county examiner and taught several terms of school. In the fall of 1879 he returned to Ohio, taught a winter term in the home school and then went to Columbus to take a business course. Going then to Denver, Colorado, he there completed a course in assaying in minerals and metals and joined the mining com- pany of Captain Jack Crawford the "Poet Seout" and went with them to New Mexico where they prospected until the Apache Indians drove them out. Mr. Deppeller next went with a government surveying party that worked in Colorado until winter storms closed operations when he began clerking in a bank and store for Archulettas, in Conejos, Colorado.
Returning to Ohio he was united in marriage with Miss Jennie, eldest daughter of Jacob and Adeline Obenour on January 16, 1883. Mr. Deppeller then helped to farm the home place during the winter months teaching school in Washington county, Kansas. He has lived in Kansas a number of years, at one time being employed in an abstract and title office and then in the county recorder's office, later being made deputy recorder. Following a change in officials he then became assist- ant cashier in a bank. In October, 1905, after his return from a visit to his old Ohio home, he became connected with the county treasurer's office and here spent four years as deputy. In the fall of 1908 he was elected to the office of county treasurer assuming his duties in October of 1909.
FRANK J. LAUBIS .- The leading citizen of the village of Hepburn. Ohio, and proprietor of its only business industry, was born in Goshen township, Hardin county. Ohio, January 9, 1870. Ilis father, Rein- hart Laubis, was born in Germany, and came with his parents, Frank and Regina (Znekswort) Laubis, to America, at the age of seven years. Frank Laubis was a shoemaker by trade, and one of the earliest settlers in Goshen township, where he died; his widow died in 1882. They built a log cabin and set to work to clear and cultivate their farm.
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Reinhart Laubis, who has now reached the age of sixty-seven years, has been a farmer all his life and carried on the old homestead after the death of his father; he became one of the most thrifty and prosperous farmers of the vicinity. He is a member of the Lutheran church, and though and ardent Democrat never desired publie office. Reinhart Lanbis married Mary Breidentein, who died in 1877; her parents were natives of Germany and she was born in Goshen township. To this union were born children as follows: Catherine. wife of William Feister. a farmer of Goshen township; Elizabeth. wife of D. HI. Bunce, of Kenton, Ohio; Frank J .: Jacob, foreman for the T. & O. C. Railway Company; Ella, wife of II. Heile, of Kenton. Ohio, and Lena. wife of Albert Rogers, a farmer of Pleasant township. Reinhart Laubis mar- ried for his second wife Catherine, daughter of Abraham and Catherine (Kemmer) Kreinbell both now deceased. To this union were born children as follows: John. a farmer at Forest. Ohio; David. a carpenter at Grants, Ohio; Edward. of Goshen township; Harry at home; and Susan, Nettie and Carrie at home.
Frank J. Laubis attended school until fourteen years of age, worked out three years and then worked at home on his father's farm. At the age of nineteen he began shipping hay on his own account, locating at Larue ; through the fault of his partner he failed in business and returned home. After working out by the day for two years he was able to save sufficient money to again establish himself in business in a small way, and has since been actively engaged in hay, grain and stock ship- ping at Hepburn, where he owns a large elevator. He is one of the largest shippers in the vicinity. and has met with financial sneeess. This enterprise is the main support of the village of Hepburn, and Mr. Laubis is considered an enterprising. valuable citizen. He has paid close attention to his business interests. building up his business by untiring industry and thrift.
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