USA > Ohio > Miami County > Troy > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 91
USA > Ohio > Miami County > Piqua > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 91
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BERNARD FELGER, a prominent and respected citizen of Newton Township, Mi- ami County, Ohio, is the owner of two farms in Section 3 of that township, one of 141 acres, on which he lives, and another of sixty-six acres. He is now living prac- tically a retired life but oversees the work on his farms; he is also interested in the Stillwater Valley Bank at Covington, of
which he is a director. Mr. Felger was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, Decem- ber 23, 1856, and is a son of Martin and Margaret (Steinhilber) Felger.
Martin Felger was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, October 30, 1825, and lived in that country until he was forty years of age. He then set sail for the United States, with his wife and the two children then living, the voyage consuming seven- teen days. He located in Covington, Mi- ami County, Ohio, where he thereafter fol- lowed his trade as shoemaker during the remainder of his active days. He now lives at that place, enjoying life at the age of eighty-our years, and his wife has passed the eighty-second milestone of life. He owns a fine property there and also has stock in the Building and Loan Associa- tion. He is a Democrat in politics. Relig- iously both he and his wife are consistent members of the Lutheran Church. She was in maiden life Margaret Steinhilber and is a daughter of Bernard and Agnes Steinhilber. The following children were born to them: Peter, who died in in- fancy; Agnes, deceased ; Bernard; Agnes, who married William Routson and has four children, William, Glenna, Maude and May; and Rollen, who married Anna Steinhilber, of Covington, and has three children, Carl, Ivan and George.
Bernard Felger attended school two years in his native country, then completed his educational training in the schools at Covington. After leaving the grade schools he worked on a farm for a time, then at- tended high school in Covington. He then began raising tobacco on shares on the farm he now lives upon, and he has farmed this place ever since. He purchased of Joseph Layton his farm of sixty-six acres
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in Newton Township, but never moved upon it, and he later purchased the 141 acres comprising his home farm. He erected all the buildings on the Layton tract, cleared a portion of it and put in about 800 rods of tile for drainage. There are two sets of buildings on the home place, lie having remodeled the house where his tenant lives in the spring of 1909, the others having been built before his ocenpancy of the place, but he built a tobacco shed in the summer of 1908. He has about twenty-five acres of timber on this farm. He follows general farming and also has raised considerable stock of a good grade.
Mr. Felger was married March 6, 1881, to Miss Emma Musselman, a daughter of John and Sarah Musselman, and to theni were born the following: Sarah, wife of Samuel B. Holfinger; Margaret, who died in infancy; Verna; and Edna, who is at- tending school. In religious attachment, they are members of the Lutheran Church of Covington. In politics Mr. Felger holds Democratic principles. He has served as a member of the Board of Education of the township, and at one time was candi- date for the office of county commissioner.
H. S. LAMBERT, D. D. S., who has been engaged in the practice of dentistry longer than any other man in West Milton, has an office on Miami Street. He has well arranged and modernly equipped apartments and enjoys an extensive prac- tice.
Dr. Lambert was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, November 7, 1863, and is a son of J. Lewis and Susan (Heirsman) Lambert; he is one of seven children, of whom five are now living. J. Lewis Lam-
bert was born in Virginia, but was a mere child when his parents moved to Montgom- ery County, Ohio. There he grew to ma- turity and for many years followed his trade as a carpenter. He died about the year 1890 at the age of sixty-five years.
H. S. Lambert attended the public schools of Montgomery County, Ohio, and after completing the prescribed course be- gan preparation for the profession of den- tistry under a preceptor, receiving a cer- tificate of examination. He first practiced at Lewisburg, in Preble County, where he continued for three years, and then for two years practiced at Salem, Phillipsburg and Brookville, all at the same time. In November, 1890, he located in West Mil- ton, where he soon became well estab- lished. He is a member of the Miami Val- ley Dental Society and of the Ohio State Dental Society at Columbus.
Dr. Lambert was united in marriage with Miss Emma Cruea, who is from near Brookville, and they have one son, Ralph, who is attending school. Religiously they are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics the Doctor is a Demo- crat and is serving on the Board of Public Affairs. He formerly was a member of the Council. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias.
HENRY CLINTON WHITMER comes of an old and well known family of Miami County, Ohio, and is the owner of a farm of eighty acres located three miles south- west of Covington, in Newberry Town- ship. He was born at Pleasant Hill, New- ton Township, Miami County, December 3, 1852, and is a son of Abraham and Mary (Deeter) Whitmer, and a grandson of Abraham Whitmer, Sr.
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Abraham Whitmer, father of the sub- ject of this sketch, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and when a young man came to Pleasant Hill, Miami County, Ohio, where he established the first black- smith shop. He prospered there and be- came the owner of two farms near Pleas- ant Hill, each comprising eighty acres and adjoining. His death occurred April 11, 1908, at the home of his danghter, Mrs. Hudson Gartley, at Sidney, Ohio, when he had attained the advanced age of eighty- eight years. He was married at Coving- ton to Mary Deeter, who was born in Pennsylvania and was a danghter of David Deeter, who moved west to Montgomery County, Ohio, and settled below Wolf Creek. She was a young girl when the family moved to Pleasant Hill, where she was reared to maturity. She died in mid- dle life, in October, 1877, aged forty-seven years. Abraham and Mary Whitmer were the parents of the following children : Mrs. Elizabeth Stewart; Mrs. Hattie Ginn; David, of Piqua; Henry Clinton; Mrs. La- vina Gartley, of Sidney, Ohio; Joshua, who lives in Michigan; and Mrs. Annie Flinn, who is now deceased.
When but a small boy, Henry C. Whit- mer was taken by his parents from Pleas- ant Hill to the farm, where he was reared to manhood. He attended the public schools of that district and at an early age turned his attention to farming, which he has always followed. After his mar- riage he and his father-in-law owned a farm of 100 acres located two miles east of Pleasant Hill, in Newton Township, and he continned to reside there until 1901, when he sold out and purchased his pres- ent farm in Newberry Township. He car- ries on general farming and stock raising.
Mr. Whitmer was joined in marriage with Miss Nettie Bashore, a daughter of William Bashore, who lived just south of Pleasant Hill. They have the following children: Mary, who is teaching school near Tippecanoe City, and is a graduate of the Covington High School and for a time attended Juniata College, at Hunt- ington, Pennsylvania; Minnie, who mar- ried Raymond Anewalt, of Newton Town- ship, and has a daughter, Marie; Frank; Robert, and Esther. Religiously the fam- ily are members of the Church of the Brethren, in which Mr. Whitmer is a deacon.
W. S. KESSLER, a well known mem- ber of the bar of Miami County, Ohio, is located at West Milton, where he has been engaged in practice continuously since 1886. He was born in Union Township, Miami County, Ohio, and is a son of Will- iam B. Kessler, an old and respected cit- izen of this county.
W. S. Kessler attended the district schools, and later the West Milton High School. He later completed a course in the Cincinnati Law School, and immedi- ately after his graduation in 1886 opened an office for practice at West Milton. He has served as city solicitor for twenty-two years, and his clientele includes many of the foremost citizens of this section of the county. His office is in the City Bank Building on Miami Street.
Mr. Kessler devotes a month each year to hunting big game, and has met with some remarkable results. He has speci- mens of various heads and animals, for- which he has had flattering offers from the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, but has refused to part with them. One is
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
that of a moose killed by him in northwest Ontario in 1908, which is hanging in the New Pearson Hotel. It measures sixty- one inches in spread of horns, and sixty- three inches from tip of nose to the end of the horn; it was of mammoth size, be- ing seven feet one inch in beight, and weighing over 2,000 pounds. He also has a magnificent specimen of the original gray timber wolf, measuring five feet from end of nose to tip of tail and weighing 100 pounds.
W. S. Kessler was first married to Sarah Critton, who died in 1902, leaving three children, namely: Arthur A., who mar- ried Miss Josie Farley, and lives in In- dianapolis, Indiana; Ethel, who is the wife of F. Niles, of West Milton, and has a son, Ralph; and Dora, who is at home. In 1904 the subject of this record formed a second marital union with Miss Della Brewer, of Miami County, and they have one daughter, Hellen E., who is two years old. Politically he is a Republican and has served as mayor of the village. For six years he efficiently discharged the du- ties as referee in bankruptcy. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Lodge, In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, and Knights of Pythias. In religious attach- ment he and his wife are members of the Christian Church.
LORAIN HARSHBARGER is a pros- perous farmer of Union Township, resid- ing three miles southwest of West Milton, where he owns a farm of fifty acres. He was born in this township February 8, 1877, and is a son of Lloyd and Electa (Sherer) Harshbarger, who reside a short distance west of West Milton. The first of the Harshbarger family to come to
Union Township was George, the grand- father of Lorain. He came from Mont- gomery County, Ohio, where he was born, and lived here until his death.
Lorain Harshbarger attended the dis- triet schools and assisted in the work on his father's farm. He later rented a farm for a period of six years, after which he purchased a tract of seven acres located between Laura and West Milton. He re- mained there for two years, and then in 1906 purchased liis present farm of fifty aeres from Samnel Hoke. He has made all the improvements on the place, and is en- gaged in general farming. Mr. Harsh- barger was united in marriage with Miss Mary Thompson, a daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth Thompson, who now live in Piqua. Six children have blessed their union : Ruth, James, Ruby, Edwin (who died young), Jacob and Roland. Polit- ically, the subject of this sketch is a Re- publican. He is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.
HENRY LANDIS, one of Newton Township's most progressive citizens and farmers, is the owner of 120 acres of well improved land, and follows diversified farming. He was born near Pleasant Hill, Miami County, Ohio, September 26, 1855, and is a son of Daniel and Susan Ann (Deeter) Landis, the father being a native of Greene County, Ohio, and the mother of Miami County.
Daniel Landis was a prominent farmer and well-to-do citizen of Newton Town- ship, and at his death was the owner of 180 acres of land in Miami and Darke Counties. In 1874 he purchased 210 acres, but of this he subsequently sold 110 acres. He died in 1899, at the age of seventy
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
years; his wife died in her sixty-seventh year, and both lie buried in Sugar Grove Cemetery. She was a daughter of Abra- ham and Barbara Deeter. Mr. and Mrs. Landis were parents of the following chil- dren : Hannah, Barbara, Henry, David, Lydia, Kate, Susan, Tina, Sarah, Abra- ham (deceased), John, Myra, and one who died in infancy.
Henry Landis, subject of this biog- raphy, first attended the common schools of Darke County, and later those of Mi- ami County. He turned his attention to farming in his youthful days, and con- tinued to live with his father until three years after his marriage; then, in 1887, he moved upon the farm on which he now lives. He was for a period of seventeen years engaged in the butchering business, and during that time made two trips each week to market. In the meantime he car- ried on farming operations in a most active manner, raising the various small grains, hay and potatoes. During the past eiglit years he has raised tobacco quite ex- tensively, each year devoting twenty-five acres to the growing of that product. The improvements on his farm are excep- tional; he lias laid 3,500 feet of tile for drainage, and set out 500 cement posts for fencing. He has a wind pump, with gaso- line engine attached, with which facilities he is enabled to irrigate ten acres of ground. He is enterprising and progres- sive in his ideas and farms along modern and approved methods.
January 12, 1884, Mr. Landis was united in marriage with Miss Katherine Bashore, a daughter of W. H. and Hetty Bashore. The following children were born to them : John, deceased; Emma, who married Wal- ter W. Jones, of near Covington, and has
three children-Helen, Mary and Harriet; Grace, who is deceased; Albert, who is a member of the class of 1912 in Ohio State University at Columbus; and Fred, de- ceased. Religiously they are members of the German Baptist Church, of which he is a deacon. Politically he is a Republican.
HON. ALBERT F. LITTLE, mayor of Bradford, Ohio, and the able editor of the Morning Sentinel, a journal which he founded in 1884, is well known in fraternal circles all over the country, and has been particularly identified for years with the order of Red Men. He was born in Logan County, Ohio, in the pleasant town of West Liberty, February 10, 1864, and is a son of John M. and Mary (Jones) Little.
The late John M. Little was a well known business man of Bradford for a number of years, moving to this place in 1879, enter- ing into the drug business under his own name, and being associated for a time with his son, Albert F. Later he moved to Mag- netic Springs, Ohio, and there his death occurred on March 31, 1906. He was thrice married. His first wife, Mary Jones, was accidentally killed in a railway accident, in Logan County. in 1866, and he subse- quently married her sister. Eliza Jones, and after the latter's death, married an- other sister.
Albert F. Little was but eighteen months old when accident deprived him of his mother, and he was reared to the age of ten years by his aunt and step-mother. He then went to Darko County, where he lived on a farm, about five miles north of Brad- ford, for five years, in the meanwhile at- tending the public schools. He was fifteen years old when he came to Bradford and entered the High School, where he was
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graduated in 1882, one of a class of three members, of which he is the only survivor. For several years he was associated with his father in his drug store before he really embarked in the printing business, toward which his inclinations were directed from early youth. He acquired his first press, a hand press of ancient pattern, by trading an old overcoat, and he began business on this little machine, and has been in the same line of industry from that day to this. In 1884 he purchased a printing plant and established his present news- paper under the name of the Sentinel. Later in the same year he bought out a little journal already in existence, the In- dependent, and, combining the two, issued the Independent-Sentinel for a number of years. When he found himself prepared to issue a morning edition of his paper he changed the name to the representative one of Morning Sentinel. The encouragement he has received has made it possible for him to provide the people of Bradford with a first-class newspaper two mornings in the week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and a constantly increasing subscription list and advertising support, indicates that ere long the issue will be daily. Mr. Little does a large business in the line of job printing, and makes a specialty, to some extent, of printing for fraternal organiza- tions and secret societies all over the United States. He has built up a reputa- tion for journalistie enterprise, and on more than one occasion has performed the feat, dear to every newspaper man, of making a "scoop" and being ahead of his competitors with the news of stirring events. This was exemplified on the occa- sion of the death of the lamented President MeKinley, which occurred at Buffalo at
3:15 a. m., and at 4 a. m. the Bradford Morning Sentinel was offered on the streets with news and details of this calam- ity. His was probably the first country newspaper in the United States to an- nounce this fact, and the enterprise would have done credit to a metropolitan sheet.
In 1884 Mr. Little was married at Brad- ford to Miss Rebecca Haley, who gradu- ated from the Bradford High School as valedictorian of the class of that year. Five children have been born to them, Ken- meth, Faith, Carrol F., Russell and Edna. Faith Little graduated from the Bradford High School in 1902, subsequently took a course in music at Otterbein University, after which she was married to H. B. Eller, who is electrician for the Pennsylvania Railroad at Bradford. They have three children, Keith and Lucile and a babe. Kenneth Little graduated from the Brad- ford High School in 1905, and in the same fall entered the Ohio State University at Columbus, where he was graduated in the spring of 1908. He is engaged in the prac- tice of law in Columbus. He married Miss Cora MeCune, a daughter of A. W. Me- Cune, postmaster at Bradford, and they have two children: Delmas and Albert Bernard. Carrol F. Little was gradnated in 1907 from the Bradford High School, and is a student at Wittenberg College, at Springfield, Ohio. Russell Little is a mem- ber of the class of 1909 at the Bradford High School.
Mr. Little is one of the eight representa- tives of the order of Red Men, appointed on account of special preparation for the honor, to the Great Council of the United States: He organized the uniform rank of the order in Ohio, and was the first major- general of the Department of Ohio, and is
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now a retired major-general. At the time of the death of President Mckinley he was great sachem of the Ohio Lodge, and he issued the first fraternal proclamation of sorrow over his death. He is also very prominent in the Knights of Pythias, and is past grand representative, and has or- ganized the larger number of lodges in this section. Mrs. Little is past grand chief of the Pythian Sisters of Ohio, and is past representative in the Supreme Temple, which includes the whole of the United States in Pythian work. He is also an Odd Fellow, and has filled all the chairs in the Junior Order of American Mechanics in Ohio. Mr. Little has always found time to be interested in local matters of moment, and at all times has proven himself a citi- zen in whose judgment and fidelity to the best interests of Bradford all could rely. In 1894 he was first elected mayor of the town, and is serving in that honorable office in his fourth term. In each adminis- tration he lias given his fellow citizens evi- dence of his capacity and public spirit, and in each one great strides have been made forward. With his sons, he is an ardent advocate of the principles of the Republi- can party, and in religions views all are members of the Presbyterian Church. IIe is a ruling elder in the church at Bradford, and is president of the Darke County Sun- day School Association, and is religious director of the Bradford Y. M. C. A.
ALBERT ALBAUGH, a prominent and influential citizen of Union Township, Miami County, Ohio, resides on a farm of 200 acres in all, and in addition owns the farm on which his daughter resides in the same township. He is a man of exceptional business capacity, and from a humble be-
ginning worked his way to the front rank among the substantial men of the commun- ity. He was born in Darke County, Ohio, July 4, 1850, and is a son of John and Aseneth (Mendenhall) Albangh.
John Albaugh was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, whither his parents had at an early date moved from Pennsylvania. When a young man he moved to the vicin- ity of Gettysburg, Darke County, Ohio, where he farmed until early in the sixties. He then moved to Union Township, Miami County, where he spent the last years of his life. Ile had taken sick prior to his re- moval from Darke County, and never re- covered his health, his death occurring at the age of sixty-eight years. ITis wife sur- vived him but three months, dying at the age of sixty-five. They were parents of ten children.
Albert Albaugh was but a baby when his parents moved to Union Township, and here he grew to maturity. His educational training in the schools was limited, as his father was disabled, and he, being the oldest son, was obliged to do the work on the farm. Thus hard work and self-reli- ance came to him at an early age, and proved the foundation for his future sne- cess. When nineteen years of age he pur- chased a team of horses, for which he in- curred an indebtedness of $200, but soon was able to pay this off. He worked at home until he was thirty years of age, and was constantly laying by a part of his earnings, which he used to good advantage in discounting notes. He purchased the farm on which his daughter, Mrs. Younce, now lives, and made his home on that place for twenty-three years. In 1907 he pur- chased his present home farm for a cash consideration of $11,000, and has since
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
lived upon it. He follows general farming and tobacco raising. He is a director of the Miami County Fair Board, to which he was elected in 1907. Politically, he is a Re- publican.
Mr. Albaugh was united in marriage with Ida A. Herley, and they have three children : Leonard, who married Dorothy Rue and lives on the home place; Alma, who married Clark Younce and has a son, Aubrey; and Esther, who also lives with her parents. Religiously, they are mem- bers of the United Brethren Church.
A. F. MIKESELL, one of Newberry Township's well known citizens, who is now living in his handsome brick residence situated on a small farm of twelve and one-half acres on the Shelby County Turn- pike, one mile north of Covington, was born on a farm one mile north of Pleasant Hill, Miami County, Ohio, July 3, 1842, is a son of John and Susan (Friedly) Mikesell, of Covington.
A. F. Mikesell, who is better known as Fridly Mikesell, remained on the farm on which he was born until six years of age, when his parents moved to Clayton, New- berry Township, shortly thereafter, how- ever, removing to Covington, where Mr. Mikesell obtained his education. When a young man he secured a tract of 133 acres of land situated two and one-half miles west of Covington, on Greenville Creek, and while living there he was married. For about five years after this event Mr. Mike- sell continned on this farm, and then sold out to purchase a property of 100 acres, located across the road from that which he now occupies, and he was here engaged in agricultural pursuits for a period cover- ing thirty-five years. He became one of
the best known farmers in Newberry Township, and after a long and active agri- cultural life retired to his present prop- erty, on which, in 1907, he erected a beauti- ful brick residence. He is also the owner of considerable property in New Mexico and Oklahoma.
In 1867 Mr. Mikesell was united in mar- riage with Jane Beery, who was born in Bremen, Fairfield County, Ohio, a daugh- ter of Levi and Margaret (Short) Beery, who removed to Iowa when Mrs. Mikesell was about three and one-half years old. There Levi Beery was engaged in farming and milling. To Mr. and Mrs. Mikesell there were born eight children, as follows: Arthur L., who graduated from Coving- ton High School, studied medicine at the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, spent eighteen months in the County Hos- pital, Chicago, and is now engaged in the practice of his profession at Fort Wayne, Indiana, married Harriet Isabelle Kimn- ball, and they have one child, Helen B .; Alma, who married Charles L. Trump, died October 7, 1905, leaving one child, Flor- ence Janice; Nora, the wife of Ira J. Gump, has four children, Lucile, Luther, Joseph and Rosella, and lives in Coving- ton; Vinnie, the wife of J. S. Flory, lives at Bridgewater, Virginia, Mr. Flory being a teacher in the Bridewater College; Maurice, general manager of the Miami Ranch, in New Mexico, married Elizabeth Rosenberger, and has two children, Mar- garet and Andrew Frank; John Levi, is a farmer and real estate dealer of Okla- homa; Margaret, the wife of Dr. Bernard J. Kendell, of Tippecanoe City, has two children, Sarah Jane and John Jacob; Wil- bur B., is attending the Ohio State Univer- sity, at Columbus.
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