USA > Ohio > Wood County > Commemorative historical and biographical record of Wood County, Ohio : its past and present : early settlement and development biographies and portraits of early settlers and representative citizens, etc. V. 3 > Part 85
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Mr. Lundy takes a justifiable pride in the record of his family, to which his own upright and industrious life, and superior personal char- acteristics, have added new honors. Politically, he is a Republican, is one of the active promoters of progressive movements in his vicinity, and has been township trustee for fifteen consecutive years. Socially, he belongs to the G. A. R. and also the I. O. O. F., Centennial Lodge No. 626, of Bowling Green.
J. H. CRANE, the genial and efficient post- master of Bowling Green, was born in Medina. Ohio, December 25, 1852.
His father, Patrick Crane, a native of County Sligo, Ireland, came to America at the age of twenty-five, and located at Medina, where he was employed some years in a foundry and machine shop. He was married there to Miss Bridget Finney, also a native of the Emerald Isle, and in 1856 they moved to a farmi near Six Points, Wood county, where his wife died, at the age of thirty-five years; his last years were speut
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in Bowling Green, he dying in 1893. They were the parents of three children: J. H., our sub- ject; Ella, married to William Austin, of Wood county; and James, unmarried, living in Bowling Green.
Our subject commenced his business career as a clerk in a dry-goods store in Bowling Green, about a quarter of a century ago, and until his appointment to his present position of postmaster of Bowling Green, January 1, 1894, he was con- tinuously engaged in that vocation for three different firms. The same trustworthiness and courteous manner, which have made him popu- lar as a salesman, have been equally valuable in the position of postmaster, which he fills to the entire satisfaction of the community. He was married in 1878 to Miss Melissa Valentine, who was born in Findlay, Ohio, in October, 1854, and they have had six children: Coren, Ralph, Les- ter, Hazel, Lela, and one at this writing a babe. Although he resides in a community which is strongly Republican, Mr. Crane has been a con- sistent Democrat all his life. Socially, he is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of K. O. T. M.
MADISON ADAMS. Among the young and en- ergetic farmers of Perry township, as well as those who have been successful, and whose ef- forts through life thus far, through their own per- severance, have borne able recompense, is the subject of this personal history. He is a native of Wood county, born in Section 2, Bloom town- ship, December 22, 1863, and is the youngest child of David and Lucinda (Henry) Adams. After pursuing his studies sometime in the dis- trict schools, he entered Jerry City Academy, when Prof. Hubbard was at its head, and there remained for three years,
Until nineteen years of age Mr. Adams spent his time in the usual manner of farmer boys, but at that time went to Fostoria, and learned tele- graphy in the office of the C. H. V. & T. rail- road, after which he acted as night operator for six months at that place. Disliking the work. however, he returned home, where he remained for some months, and then entered the oar factory at Jerry City, Ohio. The next five years were spent as a pumper for the Ohio Oil Company in and around Jerry City.
Mr. Adains was married December 21, 1884, to Ella Gobble, a daughter of Jacob Gobble, and to them have been born three children-Clyde, Verna S. and Harold M. Our subject began his domestic life upon a farm in Section 2, Bloom township, but later removed to Jerry City, and in March, 1894, located in Section 25, Perry
township. where, in partnership with his brother George, he owns and operates ninety-eight and a half acres of rich and arable land. He is very fond of horses, and a good judge of those animals. His political affiliations are with the Democratic party, and he is a worthy representative of au honored pioneer family of this county. Public- spirited and enterprising, he does all in his power for the advancement of the community, and is an excellent specimen of the genial, hospitable peo- ple who are born and reared in the Buckeye State.
ELISHA HELM was born in Liberty township. Crawford county, March 13, 1831, and is a son of John Helm, who was reared in Somerset county, Penn., where he was married to Miss Susan Courts. They moved to Crawford county, and located there sometime between 1820 and 1825, in a clearing in the woods, in which there was an abundance of game, and where Indians were frequently seen on their hunting expeditions. Mr. and Mrs. Helm had nine children -- five sons and four daughters. The parents were farmers all their lives, and had a good farm of 120 acres. He died in Crawford county at the age of seventy- two years, his wife passing away sometime later at the same age.
Our subject, who was the youngest of the sons, was reared to the duties of a farmer's boy. living at home until he was twenty years old. when he worked out as a farm hand, receiving from eight to ten dollars a month. In 1858 he was married, in Crawford county, to Miss Mar- garet Ulis, who was born in Stark county, Ohio. in 1834, a daughter of William Ulis, a farmer of that county. Our subject had at this time bought eighty acres of land in Section 3, Portage towu- ship, Wood county, and for three years after his marriage worked on the home farm in Crawford county. In the spring of 1861 they moved to Wood county and located on the land he had bought, the money with which he paid for it be- ing what he had saved from his earnings. An old house stood on the land, of which about six or seven acres were cleared. He improved an 1 cultivated the remainder of it, and has lived there ever since. Mr. and Mrs. Helm had the follow- ing children: Gerome, who died at the agent eighteen years; Marion and Monroe, both tari- ers in Portage township; two sons (twins) died in infancy. Mr. Helm is a Republican, and regular attendant at elections. . He formerly took great pleasure in hunting, and has killed large quantities of game in his section of county. He is an excellent shot with the ritle, and has achieved fame that is more than local.
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has won first place at many shooting matches, and has used the same rifle for over forty years. Mr. Helin is a self-made man and a hard worker. in spite of which he is to-day well preserved, hale and hearty, and he has a large number of friends.
J. C. HARTMAN, one of the active, prominent and intelligent citizens of Montgomery township, is now engaged in farming in Section 12, where his birth occurred December 29, 1848. His fa- ther, William Hartman, was a native of what was then Union county, Penn., but is now Sny- "der county, and as early as 1833 accompanied his parents, George and Barbara (Fry) Hartman, to Scott township, Sandusky Co., Ohio, being the seventh family there to locate. There the grandparents died at ripe old ages.
William Hartman was married to Miss Esther Buchtel, a native of Stark county, Ohio, and a daughter of Henry Buchtel, after which he lo- cated near Prairie Depot upon a farm that he had rented of his father-in-law. They began their domestic life in a small log house, supplied with the rudest of furniture. The first land which the father purchased consisted of eighty acres in Section 12, Montgomery township, pay- ing $750 for the same. He secured the place in 1847, and the dwelling at that time was a log house situated on a small ridge, south of the pres- ent home of our subject. Not over fifteen acres had been cleared; but to its improvement and cultivation he devoted his time until his death. which occurred at the age of sixty-seven years. His wife died at the age of sixty-one, and both were buried in the Bradner cemetery. Relig- iously they were members of the Evangelical Church. The father was short in stature, but quite fleshy. He had some difficulty in paying for his land, having to trade a horse in order to make the last payment; but at the time of his death he owned 120 acres of fine land. He was a Democrat in politics up to 1863, when he voted the Republican ticket, and ever afterward sup- ported that party.
The family of William Hartman and wife in- cluded the following children: Caroline, now Mrs. Cornelius Bierly, of Montgomery township: Elnora, who died in infancy; Louellen, wife of Henry Hassenplug, of Fulton county, Ind. : J. C., of this review; a daughter, who died in infancy; Lucinda, now Mrs. Frank Fairbanks, of Mont- gornery township; Annie, now Mrs. James Hath- away, of the same township; Alfred W .. of Brad- ner, Ohio; and George H., of the same place.
the present site of Bradner, his first teacher be- ing Addison Lansdale, and out of school hours he assisted in the work on the home farm until reaching man's estate. On January 14, 1872, was solemnized his marriage with Miss Mary E. Earl, who was born at West Millgrove, Wood county, August 14, 1853, and is the daughter of Azarialı and Maria (Bonanitz) Earl, the former born in Columbiana county, Ohio, November 19, 1825, and the latter in Stark county, December 21, 1826. Her mother was eleven years old when brought by her parents to Wood county, locating in Montgomery township, but they later went to Sandusky county, where they continued to reside. Mr. Earl followed his trade of black- smithing at West Millgrove, Tontogany, Prairie Depot, and Bradner. Wood county, dying at the latter place, February 3, 1879. His widow has again married, and now lives at Bradner. Mrs. Hartman is one of a family of six children, the others being Charlotte M., wife of Charles Abels, of Sandusky county; Jasper W., of Toledo, Ohio; and Newton, Hannah and Rosa Belle, who all died in childhood.
Mr. Hartman began housekeeping upon the old homestead, where he worked for his father; but in 1876 bought forty acres of land in Section 10, Montgomery township, on which was a log house and a small log stable. There he lived for eight years, when he traded the land for a share in the home farm. In connection with Cornelius Bierly he purchased the interest of the other heirs, and then divided the property, each receiving sixty acres. Upon our subject's place are all the farm buildings, and its excellent condition shows him to be a systematic, energetic and skillful agriculturist.
Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hart- man-Zada M., wife of Frank McCreary, of Bradner; Esther N., wife of Daniel Green, of Sandusky county: Nora D., wife of W. H. Ream, also of Bradner; and Bert W. and Jessie G., at home. Mr. Hartman has been a stanch Repub- lican since casting his first vote, and served for three terms as a member of the Bradner school board. Being quite a reader, he is a well-in- formed man, and belongs to the best class of citi- zens in Wood county.
JOHN F. HAGEMEYER, who occupies a conspic- uons place among the progressive citizens and leading agriculturists of Wood county, was born in Pemberville, January 21, 1849. His father, Henry Hagemeyer, was a native of Prussia, and was there married. While coming to this country,
On beginning his education our subject Started to the "Old Prospect " school, located on ; the first child in the family died on board the
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vessel. Mr. Hagemeyer located in Troy town- ship, Wood Co., at a very early day, and worked for C. H. Kohring, a pioneer of the locality. Thus he earned the money to buy forty acres of land in Section 10, Freedom township, now within the corporation limits of Pemberville. He built the first house on this tract. a log cabin, 16x 20 feet, and it was in this place that our subject was born. The mother died January 22, 1849, and was buried in Switzer Church cemetery. She had four children, of whom, Henry died in Cleve- land, Ohio, and William, in Freedom township, so that our subject is the only one now living. The father afterward married Catharine Witker, a native of Germany, and the children of this marriage were Mary, who died in infancy; Fred, of Chicago; Mary, wife of Ernest Klous, of Pem- berville; John, of Center township; August, of Toledo, Ohio, who was left a mute by scarlet fever when a child, but is now a skilled cabinet maker; and Edward, also of Toledo.
The father of this family cleared and improved his forty acres of land, and, as the village of Pem- berville began to grow, he sold several small tracts. Afterward, he bought eighty acres in Section 3, Freedom township, and greatly im- proved that property, but continued to reside on his first purchase until his death, which occurred in November, 1885. He was buried in Fish Ridge cemetery. His widow is now living in Pemberville. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religious belief was a Lutheran, serving for many years as elder of his Church. He con- tributed liberally to its support, and was generous with his children, caring not to accumulate great wealth, while his honesty was above question.
The subject proper of this review was less than a week old at the time of his mother's death, and was reared in the family of Casper H. Kohring. He attended the German schools be- tween the ages of seven and fourteen years, and by reading and study has become an excellent English scholar. He is deeply interested in the cause of education, and for eight years served as a member of the school board of Pemberville, dur- ing which time he labored earnestly for progress in that direction. He was reared as a farmer boy, and had a good home in the family of Mr. Koh- ring until eighteen years of age when he began to earn his own liveihood by operating a threshing machine. On attaining his majority he formed a partnership with his brother William, and pur- chased a thresher. Success attended their ef- forts, and the following year he was enabled to purchase sixty acres of land in Troy township, which he partly cleared and then sold. In the
spring of 1871 he bought eighty acres of land in Section 4, Freedom township, and at once began the arduous task of clearing away the timber and developing it into rich fields. For two years thereafter he continued to operate his threshing machine, but since that time he has given his en- tire attention to farming In 1888 he erected his present commodious residence, and all the other buildings upon the farm stand as monuments to his enterprise. Having sold twenty acres of land, he still owns sixty acres, fifty of which are under a high state of cultivation.
Mr. Hagemeyer was married December 19. 1872, in Webster township, Wood county, to Mary P. Muir, who was born in that township, April 10, 1848, a daughter of James and Marion (Dunipace) Muir. Their children are Henry J .. Alice, Bessie R., William and Nelson E. F. Mr. Hagemeyer takes a deep interest in political affairs, and is an adherent of the Democracy. He was elected and served for eight years as assessor, holding that office for six successive years, and to those who know him it is needless to say that his duties were discharged with the utmost fidelity and promptness. He is a mem- ber of the Lutheran Church, in which he has served as trustee, and his wife belongs to the United Presbyterian Church. A wide-awake. progressive citizen, he is active in the support of all enterprises that pertain to the welfare of the community, and it is to such citizens that Wood county owes her present prosperity and progress.
ELIAS FREDERICK, SR. The pioneers of the great State of Ohio, men who, by their hard la- bor, privations and sacrifices, were the factors in her growth and progress, are each year becoming fewer; old age is creeping upon those who are left, and it is indeed a privilege to meet one of these veterans, and to hear from his own lips stories of those early days, when he, with others, made the history of this prosperous common- wealth. Among those early settlers may be found the subject of this sketch, who was born in York county, Penn., January 5, 1822. His father. Andrew Frederick, was a native of Germany, and came to this country when a young man, locat- ing in Pennsylvania. He afterward removed :) Wayne county, Ohio, where he bought a farin on which he resided the remainder of his life. dying in 1835. He married Miss Elizabeth Wellman, and seven children were born to then George, Jacob, Andrew, Elias, Henry, Adam. and Elizabeth.
Our subject spent his early days in Pennsy !- vania. His opportunities to obtain an education
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' were very limited, as when he was twelve years old his father died, and he was obliged to go to work for a living. He learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner, which he followed for twen- ty-four years, in the meantime carrying on farm- ing in Seneca county, Ohio. He then removed to Wood county, settling in Bloom township, where he bought eighty acres of land. In 1887 he came to Wood county, and purchased 120 acres of land, known as the Pratt farm, on which he still resides. In March, 1845, he married Miss Mary Price, who was born June 20, 1825, in Bucks county, Penn., and to this union seven chil- dren have come as follows: John, born January 4, 1846, died in 1871; Jonas, born May 7, 1848, is a farmer in Weston township; Elias, Jr., born November 28, 1853, assists his father upon the home farm; Harriet, born August 18, 1855, died in September, 1862; Sarah E., born July 27, 1856, is the wife of John Lowe; Elizabeth, born April 4, 1862, married Otto Ruchty; Martha, born July 27, 1864, is the wife of G. F. Snider.
Mr. Frederick is a Republican in politics, and has been a school director, and also supervisor of Jackson township, both of which offices he held for one year. He is widely and favorably known throughout the county, and has set an ex- ample for the rising generation, of sobriety. hon- esty, industry, and strict attention to his business. He is a Christian man, who shows forth his be- lief in his daily life, and his purse is always open to the needs of the poor, while the sorrowing and discouraged are ever sure of his helpful sym- pathy. He lias seen much of the hard side of life, but now in his old age, with his estimable wife, is enjoying the fruits of his labor.
ORREN W. FOSTER, an industrious and thrifty farmer of Wood county, resides in Section 12, Troy township, where his birth occurred. Novem- ber 25, 1847. His father, D. D. Foster, was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in 1813, and was a son of Daniel Foster, one of four brothers, na- tives of Scotland, who, on coming to the United States, located at Cleveland, Ohio. The grand- father was reared to inanhood in his native land, and, about 1807, arrived in Cuyahoga county, where he dealt with the Indian traders. His last days, however, were passed in Troy township, Wood county, where he died in 1850; his wife had departed this life in Cuyahoga county, in IS15.
In the county of his nativity the boyhood and youth of D. D. Foster were spent, and, about 1840, he became a resident of Troy township, where two years later he purchased a tract of 160
acres of timber land, in Section 12. He at once began the improvement of his place, erecting a log cabin, and. later, set out a good orchard. In 1846, in Sandusky county, Ohio, he was united in marriage with Henrietta Plumb, a native of Otsego county, N. Y., and a daughter of Jared and Emeline (Hawkins) Plumb, both of whom were born in New York, and, in 1835, located in Woodville township, Sandusky county, where Mr. Plumb secured a tract of 160 acres. He lo- cated in the midst of a dense forest, which con- tained wild game of all varieties, and Indians were far more numerous in the locality than the white settlers. On that farm he died, in :864. His widow resides in Shelton, Buffalo Co., Neb., now aged eighty-nine years.
After their marriage the parents of our sub- ject began their domestic life upon the farm where he now resides. The father operated a thresh- ing machine in connection with his farm duties, and became both widely and favorably known throughout the community. In early life he was a Whig, but later joined the Republican party, and served as overseer of highways, also as tax collector of his township for several years. His death occurred in August, 1875, on the old home farm, where his excellent wife also died, Septem- ber 10, 1893. Our subject is the eldest in their family of seven children, and was followed by D. D., Jr., who resides with him; Mrs. Olive Otis, of Trenton, Hitchcock Co., Neb .; Mrs. Al- varetta Kleuter. of Columbus Grove, Putnam Co., Ohio; George F., who also makes his home with our subject; Lincoln Hamlin, who lives in Troy township; and Lucinda, who died on the home farm in April, 1886.
Orren W. Foster was reared in the usual manner of farmer boys, aiding in the labors of the field, and securing such an education as the dis- trict schools of the neighborhood afforded in those days. With the exception of a short time spent as conductor on a street car in Toledo, Ohio, his entire life has been devoted to agri -. cultural pursuits, and he and his brother, D. D .. now own and operate the old homestead of eighty acres, which is under a high state of culti- vation. He has also engaged to some extent in threshing. In 1879, in Detiance county, Ohio, he married Miss Caroline Hanna, who was born there to Hezekiah and Mary (Bornian; Hauna, the former a native of Fairfield county, the latter of Franklin county, Ohio, in the former of which they were married. At an carly day her par- ents located in what was then Williams county. but is now Defiance county, Ohio, where the father cleared and developed a tract of wild land,
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on which he died in 1874. Later his wife came to Troy township, Wood county, where she passed away in 1892. Their household included six children: Rhoda Jane, wife of G. W. Strawser, of Steuben county, Ind. ; Mrs. Mary E. Matthews, of Webb, Wood county; Daniel. a resident of Steuben county, Ind., who enlisted in Defiance county, in 1862, as a member of Com- pany D. 48th O. V. I., and served until May, 1866; Caroline, honored wife of our subject; Orlando, of Steuben county, Ind. ; and John, who makes his home at Pleasant Lake, Steuben coun- , ty, Indiana.
Mr. Foster brought his bride to his home in Troy township, and as they have no children of their own, they have adopted a daughter, Maud, at this writing aged seventeen. He has assisted in the construction of roads through his section of the county, and otherwise materially aided in advancing its welfare. His vote is cast with the Republican party, and he has efficiently served as a member of the board of education. Socially he belongs to the Knights of Honor Lodge, at Stony Ridge. He and his worthy wife are sin- cere and earnest Christians, members of the United Brethren Church of Lemoyne, Wood county, of which he has served as trustee and treasurer, and of which he is now Sunday-school superintendent. Mrs. Foster was for twenty- three terms a successful teacher in Defiance county.
J. H. KUHLMAN, an energetic young farmer of Portage township, is a native of Wood county, born September 25, 1868, in Freedom township, about a mile and a half nortliwest of Pember- ville, and was reared to manhood about a mile and a half south of that city. The birth of his father, Fred W. Kuhlman, occurred in West Kilver, Herford, Prussia, November 2, 1833, and in Germany he wedded Anna M. Nolte, a native of that country born May 25, 1832. In July, 1867, they started for the New World, ac- companied by their two children-Kate and Mary. In the Fatherland Mr. Kuhlman had al- ways worked as a common laborer, so that on his arrival here he had no capital, and his first home in the county was a small house which he rented of Casper Buschiman, a large land owner. J. H. Nolte, a maternal uncle of our subject, had come to the United States before the Rebel- lion, and during that war was drafted on two different occasions, each time hiring a substitute. He also earned the money which brought Mr. Kuhlman and his family from New York City to Toledo, Ohio. They were seven weeks in cross-
ing the ocean, and on landing were without means to carry thiem farther on their journey.
Atter remaining a short time in Toledo, the father then engaged work as a farm hand near Pemberville, but later removed his family to Freedom township, where he rented land. In IS87 he purchased fifty acres of land in Section 2, Portage township, the place on which our sub- ject now resides. There the father passed away May 1, 1894, and was laid by the side of his wife in Rochester cemetery. Her death had oc- curred March 5, 1893. They were highly re- spected people, and members of the Lutheran Church. The family consisted of the following children: Kate, a dressmaker, of Toledo, Ohio; Mary, who died in childhood; ]. H., whose name opens this sketch; Anna at home; and Henry and Frederick H., who died in infancy.
Our subject was educated in both the Eng- lish and German languages, and has remained upon the home farm during his entire life, with the exception of two years spent in Toledo, Ohio. Since his father's death he has had charge of the homestead, and, besides gen- eral farming, devotes considerable attention to stock raising, in which he is meeting with excel- lent success. He has prospered in his undertak- ings, and is destined to become one of the sub- stantial farmers of Portage township, as well as one of the leading and representative citizens. His political support is usually given the Demo- cratic party, though he is not bonnd by party ties, and in 1895 he was elected assessor of his township.
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