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 41
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REVEREND HENRY KATTERJOHN .- The city of Kenton, Ohio, has some beautiful churches, and one of these which is in a very prosperous condition is the Evangelical church, presided over by Rev. Henry Katterjohn. Mr. Katterjohn was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 24, 1869, a son of William and Sophia (Schoer) Katterjohn, both of whom reside in Cincinnati. The father was born in Ladbergen, Germany. where he was reared. Ile came to America in 1866, locating in Cincin- uati. He was a mason by trade. His wife is also a native of Germany, and came to America one year later than her husband; they were mar- ried in the city where they now reside.
The early education of Rev. Henry Katterjohn was acquired in his
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native city, where he attended high school two years. In 1885 he began studying for the ministry and took a four years' course at Elmhurst College near Chicago, after which he spent three years in a theological seminary at St. Louis. His first charge was at Urbana, Ohio, and after spending four years at Waverly he located in Kenton in April, 1897. His work in Kenton has been very successful, and as a result of the growth and prosperous condition of the church and its finances a fine edifice was erected, which was completed August 16, 1903, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. This is the handsomest church building in Kenton, and the members and pastor may well be proud of the result of their efforts. Rev. Katterjohn is an able, convincing speaker, and is accorded the fullest affection of his congregation, as well as the esteem and confidence of all with whom he comes in contact. He is a whole- souled, public-spirited citizen, whose life is an inspiration to many.
On November 7, 1904, Rev. Katterjohn married Mary Eecarius Schindewolf, a native of Hardin county, whose parents were early settlers there.
W. H. LICK, city treasurer of Kenton, Ohio, has for years been in the meat market business here and in many other ways identified with the town. He was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1860, and spent the first fourteen years of his life there. Then he went west, visited St. Louis and Kansas City and various points in Iowa and Minnesota, and after five years spent there came to Ohio and took up his residence at Tiffin. In 1887 he came from Tiffin to Kenton and opened a meat market, and here he has since continued in this business, having occupied his present location for twenty-two years. By honest dealing and close personal attention to detail he has met with deserved success, and with the passing years has accumulated a competency. He is a bank director and the owner of farm property, and he has various investments in Kenton.
In 1880, at Tiffin, Ohio, he married Miss Sarah Diemer, of that city, and to them have been given two sons, Karl and Ralph. Mr. Lick is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine, and he also has membership in the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Kenton. Politically he is a Democrat, and has always taken an active part in local affairs; was a member of the city council in 1890, and at this writing is city treasurer.
PEARL M. MAGLY, manager and treasurer of the Kenton Gas & Electric Company, Kenton, Ohio, was born in this city February 9, 1876, a son of J. J. and Mary ( Handenschild) Magly. J. J. Magly engaged in the pump business at Kenton, has been identified with this place since 1852, when he came here from Licking county, Ohio, where he was born. He has a family of seven children, Pearl M. being the fifth born and only son.
After receiving a common school education Pearl M. Magly went to work as a bookkeeper and clerk for the Scioto Furniture Company, with which he remained four years. Afterward he was with Harry Gray in
e. a. Stevenson
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the grocery business, and later was bookkeeper for Hensel & Snyder. In 1899 he engaged in the coal and tile business, which he continued until 1909, when he became manager of the Kenton Gas & Electric Company. a position he has since held, and since 1907 he has also been treasurer of the company.
Politically Mr. Magly is a stanch Republican, and fraternally, a Mason, having served as master of Latham Lodge from 1906 to 1908. and he has taken the degrees in this ancient and honored order up to and including the commandery. IIe married, in 1904, Miss Clare Keil, of Lima, Ohio.
CHARLES A. STEVENSON .- Worthy of note in this volume. not only as a native born citizen of Hardin county, but as a veteran of the Civil war, Charles A. Stevenson was for many years an important factor in promoting the agricultural interests of this section of the state, having been prosperously engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1909, when he moved to his present home, lying one and one-half miles south of the Kenton courthouse. He was born. November 17. 1843, in Taylor Creek township, Hardin' county, where his father, James Stevenson, was a very early settler. As early as 1822 James Stevenson was living in Champaign county, Ohio, from there moving. in 1827, to Logan county. Settling then near the Hardin county line. he remained there until 1834, when he bought land in Taylor Creek township, which was then a com- parative wilderness. Redeeming a farm from the forest, he was there a resident until his death, June 6. 1865. He married Unity New, whose death occurred on the home farm March 10, 1864. Eight sons and four daughters were born of their union, as follows: Silas, Robert. Lace, Jane, William. John. Ephraim, Harriet. Margaret, Charles A .. David and Louisa. Six of the sons. Robert, Lace, John, Ephraim, Charles and David served in the Civil war, Ephraim dying while in service.
Attending the district schools and assisting his father on the farm, Charles A. Stevenson remained beneath the parental roof-tree until September, 1864. when he enlisted in Company H. One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Going south, he joined with his regiment the Army of the Cumberland at Nashville, Tennessee, and served until the close of the war, taking an active part in all of the marches, campaigns and battles in which his regiment participated. Returning home after receiving his honorable discharge, Mr. Stevenson rented the home farm for a year. and then, in 1865, bought sixty-five acres of land in Taylor Creek township. a part of which had been cleared and on it a log house and barn had been built. A year later he sold out at an advance, and subsequently rented land for a few years. In 1875 Mr. Stevenson purchased a farm of one hundred and five acres in the southern part of Buck township. and carried on general farming there for twenty-six years. Hle then sold and bought land on Mt. Victory pike, and was there engaged in his profitable occupation until 1909, when he sold and bought his present attractive home estate near Kenton.
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Mr. Stevenson married first, in 1869, Mary S. Richards, who was born in Buek township, a daughter of Leonard Richards. She passed to the higher life in 1895. Mr. Stevenson married for his second wife in 1897 Lyda Rice, a daughter of Thomas Rice, of Taylor Creek township. By his first marriage Mr. Stevenson had four children, namely: Stilla, Ida. Louis E. and Arthur J. Stilla, a farmer, married Mary Lyle. Ida, wife of Charles Royer, has three children. Louis E., also engaged in farming, married Gertie Cahill. Arthur, an electrical engineer, resid- ing in Washington, D. C., married Roda Bartlett. In his political
affiliations Mr. Stevenson is a decided Republican. He belongs to Cantwell Post No. 97, Grand Army of the Republic, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, both of his wives belonging also to the same church.
HON. J. B. PUMPHREY, of Goshen township, Hardin county, Ohio, was born in Fayette county, this state, October 25, 1838, and comes of an ancestry that has figured prominently in history. Through his grandmother Pumphrey, whose maiden name was Cromwell, he traces back to Oliver Cromwell of English history fame. Both his maternal and paternal ancestors were among the early settlers of this country. Caleb Pumphrey and his son John W., grandfather and father respec- tively of J. B. Pumphrey, were natives of Maryland, from whence they came west to Ohio and made settlement among the primitive pioneers of the Western Reserve. John W. Pumphrey was a soldier in the war of 1812 and served as a scout under General Harrison. Previous to that time he spent seven years trading with the Indians, during which period he acquired a knowledge of their language and habits which made him valuable to General Harrison in that war. He was married three times and was the father of seven children, four of whom are deceased. The mother of J. B. Pumphrey was before her marriage Miss Jane Wright, and Fayette county, Ohio, was her native place.
It was in Fayette and Wyandot counties that the subject of our sketch was reared and educated. In early youth he applied himself closely to his studies, to general literature as well as to the text books then in vogue, and, indeed, it may be said of him that he has been a student all his life. When a young man he engaged in the profession of teaching, which he followed for some time, teaching both day and night school and making a specialty of penmanship. When the Civil war came on he left the farm to enter the army. On August 12, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company A, One Hundred and Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and remained in the government service until the close of the war. After nine months service as a private soldier he was commissioned second lieutenant under Colonel W. T. Wilson and went to the field of action. On June 16, 1863, at the battle of Win- chester, Virginia, his entire regiment was captured by General Lee's forces. He was conveyed to Richmond and confined in Libby prison, where he remained until May, 1864. After that date he was changed about to various prisons and finally was lodged in Columbia, North Carolina. While on the road to Columbia he made an attempt to
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escape, but failed, and during his confinement at that place he made the second attempt before he was successful in effecting an escape. On this journey he was accompanied by B. F. Blair, adjutant of the One Hun- dred and Twenty-third Regiment. His imprisonment covered a period of eighteen months, and it was during this time that he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, which he held at the close of the war when he was honorably discharged. On reaching his regiment after escaping from the enemy he was placed in direet toneh with and under the orders of the war department, his duty being to transport recruits from various points of distribution to the front. In this capacity he served until the close of the war.
On his return to civil life Mr. Pumphrey engaged in farming, which he has followed more or less ever since. Since 1868 he has made his home in Hardin county, and at this writing (1910) he is the owner of two hundred and twenty-four aeres of choice farming land, his postoffice address being Kenton. He was for two years cashier of the Citizens Bank of Kenton, and for years much of his time has been devoted to activity in political affairs, he being a staneh Republican. For six
years, from 1876 to 1882, he was a county commissioner. He served one term as a state senator; for four years was a member of the state election board and two terms he represented Hardin county in the state legislature, his time in this office expiring in 1909.
Mr. Pumphrey has been married twice. On April 26, 1860, he wedded Miss Adilla Cook, daughter of J. Cook, and the only child of this union died in infaney. This wife having died, he married. Janu- ary 22, 1903, for his second companion Miss Estella Harding, daughter of T. G. Harding. By her he has one son, James C., born December 9, 1905.
Mr. Pumphrey has long been a member of the Methodist church, in which he is prominent and active. He has been recording secretary of the church for thirty years, and for twenty years he has served as Sun- day school superintendent. He is identified with both the Grand Army of the Republic of Kenton, and with the Knights of Pythias at Hepburn, and in all these organizations his influence and substantial support are felt to a marked degree. He is the author of a lecture on "Unwritten History," the income from which, amounting to over seven thousand dollars, has been given to various churches and social bodies, ineluding the Grand Army of the Republic and the Woman's Relief Corps.
DANIEL B. HEILMAN owns and occupies ninety-five acres of valuable farm land situated near the center of Goshen township, Hardin county. Ohio, where he is engaged in general farming. He was born in the township in which he now lives. September 17, 1867, of German descent, and was reared and educated here. His grandparents, John U. Heil- man and wife Elizabeth, nee Dreite, were natives of Germany, the former born in 1804, the latter in 1808. They emigrated to this conn- try in 1840, landing at Baltimore. After a few months spent in Penn- sylvania they came west to Ohio and settled first in Columbiana county, where they remained until October, 1848. At that time he moved to
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Ashland county, purchased sixty acres of land. and lived there until 1861 when they came to Goshen township. Hardin county. Of their seven children, five grew to maturity. While John U. was a shoemaker and worked at his trade his sons carried on farming. On coming to Goshen township he purchased eighty acres of land and a little later forty acres more. Afterward, by the aid of his sons, he bought an additional tract of land comprising one hundred and four acres, and still later, through the aid of his two sons. John U. and Leonard, another tract, thirty-seven acres, was added to the farm. John U. Heilman, the grandfather of our subject. died in 1872. and his widow. in 1880. Their son Leonard, who was born in Germany the same year the family emigrated to this country, 1840. was reared and passed his life in Ohio. In Goshen township, Hardin county, he married Elizabeth Hile, who was born in 1843 in Pleasant township, this county, and they became the parents of nine children, namely : Daniel B., whose name introduces this sketch ; Minnie, deceased : William. deceased; Elmer; Samuel, deceased; George; Zona, deceased ; and two that died in early infancy. Leonard Heilman died in 1888, his wife in 1880.
Daniel B. Heilman was reared to farm life and has been engaged chiefly in agricultural pursuits. From 1878 to 1884 he operated a threshing machine and was interested in the manufacture of tile. With this exception his attention has been devoted to farming.
On February 23. 1892, Mr. Heilman married Miss Amelia Stoll, who was born in Pleasant township, Hardin county, August 19, 1870, daugh- ter of George and Amelia Stoll. To them have been born eight children : Samuel (deceased), Bryan, Ruah. Calvin, Arlo, John, Freda, and Charles Iber.
Mr. Heilman has always taken a deep interest in local affairs, being a stanch Democrat. and has served efficiently in various public offices. For nine years he has been a member of the school board and, at this writing is a justice of the peace; also he has filled the offices of constable and township supervisor and township treasurer. Ile is a member of the Grange and of Marseilles Lodge, No. 515, F. and A. M., and he and his family are worthy members of St. John's Evangelical church of Goshen township.
WILLIAM YAUGER, a highly respected citizen of Goshen township, Hardin county, Ohio, is one of the oldest residents of the county. He was born in Marion county, this state, August 7, 1836, a son of Jacob and Charity (Albertson) Yauger, and in that same year was brought to Hardin county by his parents. His father and mother were natives respectively of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Coming to Ohio at an early day they first settled in Marion county. He had entered the land in 1835, and after their removal to Hardin county, Jacob Yauger built a log cabin and in earnest began the work of developing a farm. This primitive log cabin in time gave place to one built of hewed logs, and years later. after the farm came into possession of the subject of this sketch, the present residence was built. In the pioneer community Jacob Yauger was soon recognized as a man of influence and was honored
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with official position. For years he served as a justice of the peace and also for a number of years he was treasurer of Goshen township. Relig- iously he was an old school Baptist, and exemplified in his daily life the teachings of the faith he professed. IIe died in 1868, his widow, in 1877. They were the parents of eight children, namely: Rebecca, Elem R., Hiram, John, William, Jacob, Joseph and Andrew, and of this number William is the only survivor.
William Yauger grew up on his father's farm, receiving a common school education, and in early life took up the carpenter's trade, a busi- ness he followed successfully for a period of thirty years. During the Civil war he was in the government service from March, 1864, until October of that year, employed on work of constructing hospitals and other buildings along the war front. Following in the footsteps of his honored father, he has for years owned and occupied the old home place, and for twenty-seven consecutive years has been a justice of the peace and during the same length of time has been clerk of Goshen township. He is a member of the Grange at Kenton, and has long been prominently identified with the Methodist Episcopal church.
In December, 1863, Mr. Yanger married Miss Joanna Weldon, a native of Champaign county, Ohio, and a daughter of Jesse Weldon. They have five children: Addison, Edward, Sophrona, Jessie and Cora.
CHARLES W. TAYLOR, an excellent representative of the native born citizens of Hardin county, is actively identified with the promotion of the agrcultural prosperity of this section of the state, being the owner and manager of a fine farming estate in Pleasant township. A son of the late J. W. Taylor, he was born, in 1874, in Dunkirk, where his earlier years were passed. His grandfather, Charles A. Taylor, who was born in Pennsylvania, of Dutch ancestry, was a pioneer settler of Knox county. His wife, Mary A. Taylor, was a native of Ireland. She bore him five children, as follows: Samuel, Caroline, Millie L., Ilannah and J. W.
Born and bred in Knox county, J. W. Taylor became a farmer from choice. When a young man he enlisted in Company A, Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served his country bravely for three years and six months. During that period of service he took an active part in forty-three of the most hardly contested engagements of the Civil war, passing through each battle withont a scratch, and at the expiration of his term of enlistment received his honorable discharge from the army. In 1870 he came with his family to Hardin county, and having purchased eighty aeres of land in Washington township, he was there employed in tilling the soil until his death, in September, 1908. He married Elizabeth A. Landerbaugh, who was born in Knox county, Ohio, and is now living in Hardin county. Five children were born of their union, namely: Delphia A., wife of E. E. Jones, of Kenton. Ohio; a child that died in infancy ; Charles W., the subject of this brief biographical sketch ; Jessie P .; and Mae, deceased.
Having completed his early education in the public schools of Din- kirk, Charles W. Taylor accompanied his parents to Washington town- Vol. II-21
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ship, and while there assisting his father to improve a homestead gained a practical experience in farming methods. In 1904 he purchased his present farm of eighty acres in Pleasant township, and in its manage- ment is meeting with well merited success. He takes great interest in stock raising, and is an extensive dealer in fine horses, of which he is a good judge and a superior manager, knowing well how to handle and train them. He is an expert in the art of dehorning cattle, a work in which he has had much experience and is very skillful.
Mr. Taylor married, on February 18, 1893, Arvillie Yoakam, who was born, in 1873, in Allen county, Ohio, a daughter of C. G. and Harriet A. Yoakam, of Dunkirk. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have one child, Pearl E. Taylor. Politically Mr. Taylor is a stanch Republican, and fra- ternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
MARCUS D. L. MENTZER .- A man of excellent financial and business judgment, enterprising and progressive, Marcus D. L. Mentzer, of Buck township, is connected with one of the leading industries of this part of Hardin county, being ex-president and ex-treasurer of the Mentzer Clay Working Company, of which he is the controlling stockholder. A native of this county, he was born, February 23, 1848, in Kenton, where his father, Samuel Mentzer, was an early and prominent settler.
Samnel Mentzer was born on August 3, 1806. But little is known of his early life. He first visited Kenton, Ohio, in 1834, coming here from Maryland on horseback. The land in this vicinity was covered with timber, and he assisted in clearing the spot on which the courthouse was erected. The following winter he spent in Mansfield, Ohio, but in the spring returned to Kenton, and for two years was here employed in mercantile pursuits. He then took a contract to build a section of the Erie Canal, but the venture proved most unfortunate, and at the end of eighteen months he returned to his home in Kenton, poorer in pocket but richer in experience. Ile subsequently built a hotel on the northwest corner of the block immediately south of the Square, on the present site of the Kenton Savings Bank. At the end of two years he traded that property for one hundred acres of land on Wolf creek, in Buck township, and one thousand dollars in cash. Having first cleared an opening in the timber, he erected a dwelling house, moved in with his family, and began the improvement of a farm. IIe succeeded in his undertakings, bought another one hundred and twenty-two acres of adjoining land, and was there employed in tilling the soil until his death, August 10, 1882. Ile was for many years active in public affairs, serving as town- ship clerk and trustee and as county auditor. Samuel Mentzer was three times married. By his marriage with his first wife, whose maiden name was Susan Lipley, he had three children, David, John and Lydia. By his marriage with Elizabeth Whitman, his second wife, there was one child, who died when small. He married for his third wife Sophia Benjamin, who was born in Athens, Ohio, a daughter of Nathan and Mary (Nulse) Benjamin. Her paternal grandparents settled in New Jersey on coming to this country, from there moving to Pennsylvania, and subsequently locating as pioneers in Muskingum county, Ohio.
On .Le. Mainzer.
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Her maternal grandfather, John Nulse, was a Scotchman by birth, and his wife Rebecca Clendennin, was a native of Ireland. Of his union with Sophia Benjamin five children were born and reared, namely : Susan, Mary, Louisa, Marcus D. L. and William M.
Receiving his early education in the pioneer schools of Buck town- ship, Marcus D. L. Mentzer began as a boy to assist his father on the home farm, and at the age of sixteen years assumed its entire manage- ment. After his marriage he bought a tract of adjoining land, occupied it a few months, and then returned to the old homestead, and subsequent- ly cared for his parents as long as they lived. He bought of his father fifty aeres of land, and after the death of his parents bought the interest of the remaining heirs in the home estate, and still owns the entire tract of two hundred and fourteen acres.
In 1893 Mr. Mentzer began the manufacture of brick tile on his farm, and the enterprise proved so successful that in 1900 he organized the Mentzer Clay Working Company, which bought twenty aeres of land of A. P. Snodgrass in Buck township and four acres of P. J. Dodge, and established the present plant, which is described elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Mentzer served as president and treasurer of this company until 1909, when his son George was made president, but Mr. M. D. L. Mentzer is now again the president. He is the largest share holder in the company, owning two-thirds of the stock.
Mr. Mentzer married. in 1870. Rhoda R. Smith, who was born in Anglaize county, Ohio, a daughter of Garland Smith. Three children have blessed their union, namely: Iona, Annie and George A. Iona married Fay Hisey. and has four children, Floy, George, Laura and Theodore. Annie. wife of II. A. Swope, has three children, Maize, Natilla and Esther. Idello died when three years old. George A. married Victoria Kennedy, and they have one child. Ilelen Louise. Mr. Mentzer has never been out of Hardin county in all his life more than one week. He is a Democrat in politics, and the family are Methodists in religion.
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