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 33
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JOHN WEIR, who lives in Forest, Ohio, and owns a farm in Jackson township, Hardin county, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, February 28. 1844. Ile is a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Hamilton) Weir, the former born in Ireland, in 1805, and the latter, of Irish parentage, died in 1868. Robert Weir was a blacksmith by trade and an expert mechanic. He enlisted in the One Hundred and Eighteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in active service at Falmouth, Kentneky, in 1862. His eight children were: Margaret, Elizabeth, Eleanor (deceased), Sarah (deceased), Mary D. (deceased), John, Thomas J. (deceased), and Robert A. John is the only one living in Hardin county.
The early childhood of John Weir was passed in Coshocton county and he received the latter part of his education in Hardin county, Ohio, to which place his parents removed when he was thirteen years of age. He purchased a farm of forty acres in Jackson township, where he lived forty-two years, and brought it to a high state of cultivation. He became a successful farmer and has now retired from active life, to live in the town of Forest, the farm being carried on by his son. Mr. Weir served as township trustee seven years and has for the two years past held the office of township assessor, which he still holds. He is well known and highly respected, being one of the prominent citizens of the town. He now deals extensively in stock, buying and shipping to Buffalo, New York, and ships about three carloads weekly.
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Mr. Weir has been married twice, first, December 19, 1867. to Miriam Case, and to this union were born children as follows: Professor W. O. Weir, superintendent of the Dunkirk school; Arthur J .; Edgar C .; and Clarence O. Mrs. Weir died October 3. 1907, and Mr. Weir married (second) in 1909, Sadie Yarnell.
ADAM KRAMMER, of Washington township, Hardin county, Ohio, is a fair example of the Americanized German, whose loyalty to his adopted country together with his hard work and good management have placed him in a position where he enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. He was born in Germany, in 1844, son of Peter and Barbara Krammer. The father died in Germany in 1859, and a few years later, in 1866, the mother came to America and took up her residence in Columbus, Ohio. They were the parents of eight children: Peter. Annie, Barbara (1), Barbara (2). Adam (1), Adam (2), Catherine and Abalona, most of whom are deceased.
In his native land the subject of our sketch grew to manhood, re- ceived a liberal education, and learned the trade of stone entter. He worked at his trade there until 1871. when he came to America. Land- ing in this country on the 24th of June, he made his way to Columbus, Ohio, where his mother had settled, and there for two years Adam con- tinned to work at his trade. In 1873 he came to Hardin county, and that same year he bought eighty acres of land in Washington township. Two years later he bought thirty-five aeres more, and in 1904 he pur- chased an additional forty aeres. Thus not by speculation but by persistent labor and careful management he in time acquired a fine. tract of land, which he paid for with its own products. Of this hun- dred and fifty-five acres he has cleared sixty-five; he has ditched and drained his land, erected buildings, and made various other improve- ments and today ranks with the up-to-date farmers of his community.
In 1865, in Germany, Mr. Krammer was first married, to Eva Orris. whose death a few years later left him with a family of small children. One child died in Germany, and another in this country the year follow- ing their settlement here. Two of the children of that marriage, Kate and Lizzie, are still living. In March, 1873, Mr. Krammer married Miss Dena Eibling, who has horne him seven children, six of whom are living: Minnie. Anna, Flora, Louis, Carl, and Henry. Mrs. Krammer is a native of Marion county, Ohio.
Mr. Krammer was elected supervisor of Washington township. an office he filled for six years. From the beginning of his identity with the township he has always shown a deep interest in its affairs. takes a just pride in the fact that he is an American citizen. He worships with the German Reformed church of Kenton, Ohio, of which he and his family are worthy members.
SAMUEL BRIGGS, a prominent and respected eitizen of Forest. is a retired farmer. He was born in Richland county, Ohio, July 17. 1834. and is a son of 'William and Mary (Banks) Briggs, both natives of Lincolnshire, England, from which place they emigrated to America in
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1833. They located in Richland county, Ohio, where William Briggs purchased two quarter sections, to which he soon added another quarter section, and subsequently added eighty acres more to his estate. He was a thrifty, industrious, and progressive farmer, and became an influen- tial citizen. His children were: William, George, Mary, Robert, Samnel and Matthew. The first four children were born in England and the last two in Richland county, Ohio; Samuel is the only one surviving.
Samuel Briggs was reared and educated in his native county, and when old enough worked out for neighboring farmers by the day or month. In 1861 he removed to Hardin county, and there bought his first farm of eighty acres, which was then almost in its wild state. This farm cost him eleven hundred dollars, and in 1857 he sold it for twenty- eight hundred. He then purchased a farm of eighty acres in Hancock county, Ohio, which he improved and sold, doubling his investment. In 1879 Mr. Briggs purchased his present farm of one hundred and twenty acres, which contains gas wells in operation. Later he pur- chased twenty acres in Forest, besides which he owns the house and lot where he resides. Mr. Briggs enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, and has served the town as councilman and a member of the school board. While living on his farm he served as trustee of Jackson township. Mr. Briggs is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which order he is a past noble grand. In 1861 Mr. Briggs married Jane Spencer, who was born in 1840, and they became parents of two children, Mrs. Irene Snyder and Mrs. C. Dunham.
DR. F. F. SWIMLEY, one of the leading physicians of Forest, where he has been practicing some eleven years, has one of the best equipped offices in Hardin county for the practice of medicine and surgery. He was born in Springfield, Ohio, in 1871, and is a son of Dr. W. A. and Anna (Hopkins) Swimley. Dr. W. A. Swimley was born in Winches- ter, Virginia, and his wife was a native of Champlain county, Ohio. He is a graduate of Ohio Medical College, of Cincinnati, and first located in Patterson, Hardin county, in 1879; later he removed to Forest, where he remained a number of years and finally returned to Winchester, Vir- ginia, his old home. IIe and his first wife had but one child, Dr. F. F. Dr. W. A. Swimley married (second) Ella Powell, of Springfield, Ohio, by whom he had three children, Lizzie, Dr. A. C. and Alonzo R., a phar- macist. The two latter are located at Winchester, practicing their professions. Dr. W. A. Swimley is a physician of wide reputation and ability, and is well known through Hardin county.
Dr. F. F. Swimley received his early education in the common schools and in Kenton high school, and later received a liberal education in the line of medicine and surgery. He graduated from the Illinois College of Pharmacy, a branch of Chicago University, in 1890, and for ten years practiced pharmacy. In 1898 he graduated from the medical department of Columbus University, at Columbus, Ohio, and took two special post-graduate courses on the diseases of the heart and lungs, of which he makes a specialty. He is a member of the State Medical Asso-
MR. AND MRS. C. B. DRUMM
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ciation. and stands high in his profession. Dr. Swimley has won the confidence of the people of Forest, and has a good practice. He belongs to the Masonie Order, in which he has taken thirty-two degrees, and is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1892 Dr. Swimley married Maud M., daughter of Captain Joseph L. Diekelman ; they have no children.
CHARLES DRUMM, an enterprising and up-to-date stock farmer of Goshen township, Ilardin county, Ohio, was born in 1881 on the farm he now owns and operates. Both his paternal and maternal grandparents were among the early settlers of Ohio. John Drumm, a tailor by trade, came to this state in 1833 and settled in Hardin county, where he and his wife, Martha, reared their family and passed their lives. Their chil- dren, in order of birth, were Chauncey. James, John, Jackson, William, C. B., Jane and Martha, and all are deceased. C. B. Drumm was born in Pennsylvania. September 7, 1831. and was quite small when brought by his parents to Ohio. On January 18, 1876, he married Miss Jennie Cowan, a native of Ohio, whose parents, Joseph and Isabell Cowan, were among the pioneers of Ilardin county. Joseph Cowan bought and im- proved the farm which is now owned and occupied by his grandson. Charles Drumm. C. B. Drumm and wife were retired residents of Kenton, Ohio, and he died January 25, 1910. To them were born two children, Bell and Charles, the former now being deceased.
During the Civil war C. B. Drumm served his country faithfully and well as a soldier in the Union army. Ile enlisted on August 22, 1862, as a private in Company A. One Hundred and Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the fortunes of which he shared until the close of the war. Ile was in numerous engagements in Virginia, was often in the thickest of the fight, and on April 6, 1865, at High Bridge, Virginia, was taken prisoner by the enemy. This, however, was only three days before the close of the war, when all prisoners were released. Ile was honorably discharged on June 13, 1865.
Charles Drumm was reared on the home farm, and on reaching adult age assumed charge of the farming operations, which he has since successfully conducted. October 3. 1906, he married Miss Florence Latham, who was born in Goshen township, Hardin county, Ohio, on March 9. 1884, a daughter of II. B. and Mary Latham.] Fraternally. Mr. Drumm is identified with the Masonic order at Kenton, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church there.
JOHN N. PFEIFFER. one of the prominent business men of Forest. was born in Goshen township. Hardin county, in 1877; he was reared on his father's farm at Pfeiffer's Station, and received his education in the public schools. He is a son of John and Margaret (Ilile) Pfeiffer. both natives of Goshen township. The father. John Pfeiffer, owned the old historie Wheeler Tavern, which is mentioned at length elsewhere in this work. He died March 4. 1904, and his wife is still a resident of Hardin county. He was well known throughout the county and held many offices in his native township and county. He had many friends,
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and stood well in the community, where his loss was universally mourned. He and his wife had eleven children, namely: Lizzie (deceased), Mary (deceased), Sophia, William. Auna, Edward, Minnie, Reverend Joseph (of the Methodist Episcopal church), John N., Earl and Bessie.
John N. Pfeiffer located in Forest in 1903, and the same year mar- ried Bertha, danghter of Louis Crum; they have no children. Mrs. Pfeiffer was born in 1879, in Dunkirk, Ohio. For six years Mr. Pfeiffer has carried on a profitable business as dealer in wagons, buggies, automo- biles and storm wagons. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is Chief Patriarch of the Eneampment. He and his wife are earnest and active members of the German Reformed church. He is a publie-spirited, nseful citizen, actively interested in public affairs.
C. M. REIGLE, a rising attorney of the IIardin county bar, lives in Forest. He was born on a farm in Madison township, Hancock county, Ohio, in 1869, and is a son of Elias S. and Catherine E. (Cramer) Reigle, the former a native of Wyandot county, Ohio. Catherine E. Cramer was born in Germany, and emigrated to America in her youth; she had been liberally educated, and became a teacher in the Haneock county schools. Elias S. and Catherine Reigle had five children. Mr. Reigle served his country in the Civil war and was a member of one of the three companies which went from Ohio and later were merged into a company of sharpshooters ; they accompanied Sherman on the famous "March to the Sea." Mr. Reigle was wounded at Atlanta, also at Resaea, Georgia.
C. M. Reigle was reared on a farm and received his edueation in the public schools of his native township and at Findley, Ohio. He studied law at the latter town and matriculated in the Northern Ohio University at Ada, Ohio, from which institution he graduated in 1893. He was admitted to the bar the same year, since which time he has been a resident of Forest. He stands high in his profession, and has the confidence and esteem of all who have had dealings with him. Before his study of law he taught school nine years in Hancoek county. He is a member of the Baptist church of Forest, and for a number of years filled the responsible office of superintendent of Jackson Township Sunday School Association, which post he still holds.
October 23. 1893. Mr. Reigle married Addie A., daughter of William P. and Ann E. Harman, and to this union has been born one daughter, Lois, born in 1895. Mr. Reigle is a self-made man, a public-spirited citizen, and actively interested in public affairs.
JOSEPH H. VAN HOUTEN, who ranks with the prosperous and highly respected farmers of Hardin county, Ohio, occupies seventy-five acres of fine land in Washington township, which he has owned since 1902. Here he has erected a complete set of farm buildings, among the finest in Ohio, and made other improvements, thus enhaneing the value of his property, and here he is carrying on general farming. He formerly owned sixty acres more, which he sold.
Mr. Van Houten is a native of Ohio. Ile was born in Morrill
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county. in 1864, son of Joseph H. and Caroline (Keller) Van Houten, the former a native of that county and the latter of New Jersey. The father owned a farm and passed his life in agricultural pursuits. He was a veteran of the Civil war. for three years having served his country faithfully and well as a private in Company E. One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He died in 1902; his wife, in 1901. They were the parents of five children: Charles. Joseph H., William B., Alice and Lora, all residents of Hardin county, except Charles, who is deceased. Lora is the wife of a Mr. Ludwig.
Joseph H. Van Houten, the subject of this sketch, spent his boy- hood and received his education in Richland county. from whence, in 1879, he came to Hardin county. where he has since resided. Previous to settling down as a farmer, he was for fourteen years engaged in the manufacture of himber. As showing his plek and good management. we state that Mr. Van Houten bought his first land at $35 per acre, and went in debt for it. In ten years' time he made it pay for itself, and he then sold out for $60 per acre, thus nearly doubling the purchase priee.
In 1880 Mr. Van Houten married Miss Maggie Davis, who was born in Hancock county. Ohio, in 1868. and they have one daughter, Esto May, now attending school. T. W. Davis, the father of Mrs. Van Houten, is also a native of Ohio, but his parents came from Scotland. He is the father of the following children, all living: William. Nettie. Maggie and Ella. William lives in South Haven, Michigan.
As a progressive and up-to-date farmer, Mr. Van Houten has identi- fied himself with the Grange, in which he was honored with the office of master. a position he has filled acceptably. In his church. the Methodist Protestant, he has long been prominent and active, from time to time serving officially, the offices of class leader. trustee and steward having been filled by him.
L. A. CONKLIN, the enterprising and progressive editor of the Forest Advertiser, is also an able business man in other lines, and has various financial interests. He has been editor of the above named paper sinee 1907. and since 1899 has been engaged in real estate business. He has a farm of four hundred and seventy-two acres in Tennessee. besides property elsewhere. Mr. Conklin was born in Cass county. Michigan, July 29, 1865. Hle received his edneation in the common schools and Forest high school. graduating from this instituiton with the class of 1886. Mr. Conklin then spent fifteen years successfully in teaching in Hardin and Wyandot counties. five years of which he taught the A. Grammar Department of Forest.
Mr. Conklin has been a resident of Hardin connty since 1876, when he came with his parents. His father. A. G. Conklin, was a native of the state of New York, and his wife. Rachel Conklin, of Champaign connty. Ohio. He was a carpenter and first-class mechanic. and first moved to Hardin county in 1865; he remained but a short time and moved away, but returned in 1876 and remained. He and his wife were parents of but one child. L. A.
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L. A. Conklin was united in marriage, in 1895, with Eva M., daughter of J. P. Naus, and to the union was born one daughter, May. Mr. Conklin has been successful in all his undertakings, and is con- sidered one of the public-spirited, representative citizens of Forest, where he has a large circle of friends.
ADELBERT G. MERRIMAN .- Characterized by the same mental vigor, business aptitude, and progressive spirit that dominated the life of his father, the late Lewis Merriman, Adelbert G. Merriman has attained a position of note among the valued citizens of Kenton, where he is now actively engaged in the real estate and loan business. He was born, October 17, 1862, in Marseilles, Wyandot county, where his grandfather, Charles Merriman, was a pioneer settler.
Born in Watertown, New York, Charles Merriman emigrated when a young man to Ohio, settling first in Crawford county. In the latter part of 1826 he located in Marseilles, which was then in Marion county but in 1844 became a part of Wyandot county, formed from parts of Hardin, Marion and Crawford counties and from a part of the old Indian reservation. He married Susan Carey, a sister of William Carey, formerly a banker in Kenton, and they became the parents of a large family of children, of whom nine grew to years of maturity, as follows : Lewis, George, Willis, Enoch, Mrs. Rachel Chesney, Mrs. Sarah Powers, Mrs. H. C. Brunson, Belle and Mrs. Mary Lambert. Of these children Mrs. Brunson is the only survivor.
Lewis Merriman was born, May 4, 1827, in Bucyrus, Crawford coun- ty, Ohio, and grew to manhood in Marseilles, Wyandot county, where his parents settled when he was but six months old. Beginning his career as a clerk in his father's store, he became familiar with the details of mercantile pursuits, and on April 1. 1850, began business on his own account as a merchant and a dealer in land and stocks. He gradually enlarged his operations, extending them outside of the village limits, and in 1863 erected in Kenton, on the west side, the building now occupied as a store by Mr. Wendt. On the first of April, 1864, he established himself in business in Kenton, still retaining his interests, however, in Marseilles for fifteen years, forming a partnership with the late Anson Norton, under the firm name of Merriman and Norton, and opening a general store on the west side, two years later moving to what is now Kellogg's store. In 1868 he erected the building now occupied by Nourse & Caine, and the firm of Merriman & Norton immediately assumed its possession. In September, 1875, Mr. Norton retired from the firm and was succeeded by Mr. Merriman's son, Charles C. Merriman. The business was greatly enlarged and extended, being merged into a wholesale notion and gentlemen's furnishing business, and was in a most flourishing condition when the son was taken ill with typhoid fever, from which he died March 22, 1883. A short time after that sad event, Lewis Merriman closed out his stock, and thenceforward lived practi- cally retired from business pursuits until his death, November 23, 1905.
Lewis Merriman was for many years easily one of the foremost citizens of Kenton, and one of the leaders in promoting its highest inter-
L'merriman
weare
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ests. When the old Thompson Exchange and Deposit Bank was dissolved he with others in 1872 founded the Citizens' Bank, an institu- tion which he bought in 1874 and conducted successfully until it passed into the Kenton Savings Bank. The Kenton Savings Bank was organized out of the old Cary Bank in 1876, Mr. Merriman being one of its first directors. When, in 1877, the Citizens' Bank and the Kenton Savings Bank consolidated, it was installed in its present quarters. In January 1882, Lewis Merriman was elected president of this institution, and served in that capacity the remainder of his life. He was also officially connected with other enterprises, having been the founder of the Home Building and Loan Association and was a director in the Kenton Gas and Electric Company. He was active in the upbuilding of the city, having erected four of the five blocks in the business section of the city, while during his life time he had owned many of Kenton's most import- ant business rooms. Ile was one of the most extensive real estate owners of this part of Hardin county, and, with Andrew Carnegie, was the founder of Kenton's Publie Library, towards the establishment of which he gave the munificent sum of ten thousand dollars.
Lewis Merriman married Rebecca Ilooker, of Marseilles, their marriage being solemnized in February, 1850. She died October 4, 1900. Of the children born of their union the following named are living: Luella, widow of F. C. Dougherty, an attorney in Kenton; Clarabelle, widow of D. T. Robey, of Kenton; and Adelbert G., the subjeet of this brief sketeh.
But two years of age when he came with his parents to Kenton, Adelbert G. Merriman received his elementary education in the public schools of this place, after which he took a course of study at Eastman's Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Abont 1886 he em- barked in business on his own aceonnt, forming a partnership with Ren MeConnell, under the firm name of McConnell and Merriman and opening a clothing store. At the end of three years he bought out his partner and closed ont the stock, after which he assisted his father in selling ont his stoek of notions and clothing. Mr. Merriman subse- quently carried on business with his father, and has since continued as a dealer in real estate and money lender, in these lines of industry and in the settling up of his father's affairs being kept busy.
In June 1889, Mr. Merriman married Lillian Bowman, who passed to the higher life in 1897, leaving one child, Lewis. Mr. Merriman married for his second wife in JJuly. 1899. Mame Bliss, of Ann Arbor. Michigan, and they have one son, Richard Bliss. Mr. Merriman is a steadfast Republican in politics, but takes no active part in local affairs. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he is a trustee in the First Presbyterian church. He is a man of much ability and sound judgment, and is connected with various enterprises, being a direetor in the Kenton Gas and Electric Company, in the Kenton Savings Bank, in the llome Building and Loan Association, and is secretary and treasurer of the Forest Gas and Oil Company, of Forest. Hardin county. He built the A. G. Merriman Block in 1905, a fine office building, three stories in height and modern in all its appointments.
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CHARLES WILLIAM SMITH has served Hardin county in many public positions, and he is now a member of its board of commissioners. He served Mt. Victory as a member of its city council, and was during one term its mayor, resigning that office in 1909 to assume his duties as one of the commissioners of Hardin county. He has also been prominent in the business life of his city and county, owning a valuable farm which he sublets in order to give his entire attention to his official position, and he is also quite extensively engaged in the buying and shipping of timber.
Mr. Smith was born in Dudley township of Hardin county on the 6th of March, 1862. His father. Charles Lorenzo Smith, was born in Baden, Germany, on the 20th of May, 1834, and he died on the 29th of January, 1896, at Mt. Victory. Coming from the Fatherland to the United States at the age of seventeen, he settled on a farm near Colum- bus, Ohio, and later coming from there to Mt. Victory was employed in a saw mill here for twelve years. He then bought a farm in Dudley township, which remained his home until within a short time of his death, afterward living with his son, Charles W. Smith. In 1859, in Hardin county, he was married to Sarah Ann Manley, and she died on the 21st of September, 1888. at the age of forty-six years. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, including Charles, are: Thomas L., a farmer in Indiana ; Joseph, a Hardin county farmer; George, employed in the steel works at Marion ; Pearl, also at the Marion steel works; Rosetta, the wife of C. Woods, a retired farmer of Dunkirk; and Margaret, who is living at Dunkirk.
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