USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 50
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Mr. Shaffer was married October 19. 1876, to Miss Martha A. Herrold, a daugh- ter of the late William and Sarah (Black- wood) Herrold, former residents of Athens County. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer have had the following children born to them : Catherine, who is the wife of. C. F. Turley and they reside at Pickerington and have three children-Louise, Albert and How-
ard; J. Randolph, who resides at Thurston, married Sarah Shriner and they have three children-Doris, Mildred and Elsie ; Grace, who is deceased, was the wife of C. P. Leach, and they had three children-Pearl, Mabel and Kenneth, the last named being deceased; Orland, who died at the age of twelve years; and Wilbur, who is a tele- graph operator at Thurston. Mr. Shaffer and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a trustec. He belongs to the Masonic lodge at Balti- more and to the Knights of Pythias and the Red Men at Thurston. Mr. Shaffer pur- chased his comfortable and attractive resi- dence on Market Street, from C. F. Turley.
GEORGE W. BOERSTLER. M. B. This revered and eminently useful man was born in Funkstown, Md., A. D. 1792, and died at liis residence in Lancaster, Ohio, in 1871. He received a good education and when sufficiently advanced, he yielded to paternal persuasion and commenced to study for the ministry in the Lutheran church. The mind of young Boerstler, however, had been fixed in another pursuit for life; it was the ilustrions profession of his father-the science and practice of medicine. The, more this occupied his thoughts, the more it won the approval of his judgment and propitiated the desires of his heart. At last, all obstacles being re- moved, he entered in earnest upon the study of medicine, and graduated Bachelor of Medicine, at the University of Maryland, in Baltimore, in the year 1820, when he re- ceived from Professor Potter the folowing commendatory certificate, which, coming from such a broadly known and eminent source, was to young Boerstler a credential letter, introducing him in flattering terms
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to the confidence of the medical faculty anywhere in the United States or in Europe.
"The bearer hereof, Dr. George W. Boerstler, has been duly examined by the professors of the University of Maryland and acquitted himself to their entire satis- faction in every department. No man ever left the Faculty of Physic with more eclat. He carries with him as much knowledge as has ever fallen to the lot of any one man since the establishment of the institution. His capacity is not equalled by any man and his industry is equal to his capacity. His sterling integrity and moral worth will always recommend him to the considera- tion and patronage of the wise and the vir- tuous as soon as he becomes acquainted with them.
"NATHAN POTTER, M. D.
"Professor of Theory and Practice of Medi- cine, University of Maryland, March 4, 1820."
Dr. Boerstler was married to Elizabeth Sinks, and removed from Hagerstown, Md., to Lancaster, Ohio in 1833. The deeply lamented Robert McNiel, M. D., had died shortly before his advent, leaving a wide field of practice unoccupied, of which he rapidly gained possession and made his own. Mrs. Boerstler died in 1878. The Doctor married his second wife, Elizabeth Schur, who died in 1889. The medical reputation of Dr. Boerstler was built upon a foundation of solidity and this grew up into vigor and public appreciation more and more with his advancing years. He was a medical student to the end of his life; kept uniform step with the onward progress of his profession; was familiar with all its specialties; was well informed
in its leading scientific expositions; was cognizant of every public valuable curative discovery, and was therefore fully prepared for every existing emergency in his own immediate practice. His diagnosis of dis- ease in its subtle and more complicated forms was always received by his profes- sional brethren with confiding and com- manding respect. As an experienced and learned consulting physician, he acquired a wide reputation. To accomplish the greatest good in the practice of his profes- sion was the passion of his life. No one ever sought his aid in vain, rich or poor, misery in rags or discase in tapestry ; he went to all, if practicable, to relieve all. In whatever household he was called às a phy- sician, he left it as a dear and confidential friend. In his intercourse with his medical brethren he was governed by the strictest formulas of honor. No man understood more sensitively than himself the delicate obligations of the professional code of ethics, and no one was more courteous and punctilious in observing them.
Dr. Boerstler was a member of the Fair- field County Medical Society, and the Ohio State Medical Society, being twice elected president of the last mentioned society. He became a member of the American Medical Association in 1850.
JESSE BROOKE, a retired merchant and a former school teacher, has been a resident of Pleasantville, Fairfield County, O., since 1880, but still retains his farm in Pleasant Township. He has led a very ac- tive and useful life and is a man widely known and highly esteemed. He was born at Havensport, on the old canal, in Fair- field County, March 6, 1839, and his spent his life and carried on large business enter-
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prises within the bounds of his native fant, of whom we have no special record. county. He is a son of Hezekiah and Of these eleven children three attended Frances Ann (Brant) Brooke.
The Brooke family was established in Fairfield County by James Brooke, the grandfather, who came here from Virginia but was of English ancestry. He settled in the deep woods of Greenfield Township, Fairfield County, where from forest and swamp he developed a productive farm and here spent a long life, dying at the home of his son James, at Baltimore, O. He had eight children: George, Joseph, James, Benjamin, Izaiah, Hezekiah, Hannah and Ann, all now deceased.
Hezekiah Brooke, the sixth member of the above family, spent his entire life in Greenfield Township, where he died in 1895, aged eighty-seven years. He was married first to Mary Pence and they had two children: Effie, who married George Swander (both now deceased), and Sarah, who married John Gessell and they are also both deceased. Hezekiah Brooke mar- ried for his second wife, Frances Ann Brant, who was a cousin of his first wife, and eleven children were born to this union, namely: Oliver, who lives at Logan, O .; Emma, who is the wife of Levi Keller, re- siding at Pleasantville ; Jesse ; Frances Ann, deceased, who was the wife of Joseph Wil- liamson: Henry, who lives at Columbus, O .; Louisa, deceased, who was the wife of Samuel Kindler; Jane, who is the wife of William Leightnaker, of Basil, O .: James Alanson, who lives in the neighborhood of Kansas City, and is a graduate of Fairfield Union Academy and Wittenberg College and was for twelve years superintendent of Groveport schools; Allen H., whose home is at Logan, O .; Dora E., who is the widow of Arthur Finks, of Basil, O .; and an in-
Wittenberg College and nine became school teachers.
Jesse Brooke grew up on the home farm on which his parents settled when he was one year old. He attended the district schools and Wittenberg College in 1858 and 1859 and then taught a term of school. On the outbreak of the Civil War his elder brother entered the army as a soldier, and he remained at home to conduct the farm for his father, afterward resuming school teaching. Subsequently, for some twelve years he was engaged in a lumber business and when he came to Pleasantville, in Octo- ber, 1880, he moved his saw-mill machinery here and for three years afterward operated a planing-mill. He then sold his mill and embarked in the dry goods business, in which he continued for seven years, when he sold it to the Henry Company and went into the coal, grain and tile business, but eighteen months later he turned his atten- tion to hardware, entering into partnership with M. D. Wildermuth. Later he dis- posed of his interest to J. A. Keller, his nephew, and then bought his farm which is located one mile out of Pleasantville. He operated the farm for a short time but when a business transaction made him the owner of the Knight of Pythias building at Pleasantville, he purchased a furniture business here. In many ways Mr. Brooke has been an enterprising and progressive man in this town and it is said that he has erected more buildings in the place than any other single individual. He erected the first public scales in Pleasantville and in all movements looking to the developments which make a town known to the outside world as well as a desirable place to live in,
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he has ever been ready to do his full share. Since 1884 Mr. Brooke has been identified with the Prohibition party.
On August 30, 1860, Mr. Brooke was married to Miss Elizabeth Yencer, and the following children were born to them: Carrie, who is the wife of T. H. Henry, and they have had three children-Everett B., Margaret and Thomas J .; Henry M., who died at the age of twenty-three years; Frances Catherine, deceased, who was the wife of M. D. Wildermuth ; Albert H., who married Emma E. Klahr, lives in Lancas- ter and has a daughter, Gladys ; James, who married Iva Dollison and has four children -Marion, Donald, Dorothy and James F .; Jessie, who is the wife of D. E. Sites, and has three children-Elizabeth A .. Harriett and Mary Catherine; Mary May, who is the wife of Silas Kissler, and has two chil- dren-Isabella and Mary; Ray, who mar- ried Carol Kelly, and has three children -- Phebe, Phillis and Jesse Robert ; and Lind- ley Jay, who married Nellie Wooley and has one son, Edward. Mr. Brooke is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Brooke is a Christian Scientist.
WILLIAM A. MEYERS, cashier of the Farmers and Citizens Bank of Stoutsville, O., of which he was one of the organizers, when this institution was founded, July 6, 1909, was born in Clear Creek Township, Fairfield County, O., October 31, 1867, a son of Peter and Susan (Mowery) Meyers, and a grandson of George Meyers and of Jolin and Rachel (Stump) Mowery.
After he had completed the common school course, William A. Meyers entered Heidelberg University, where he was creditably graduated with the class of 1888. For some twenty-two
years afterward he was connected with the C. & M. V. Railroad and then resigned in order to become cashier of the Farmers and Citizens Bank. Like his late father he is a stanch Democrat. For ten years he was township clerk and in July, 1911, was elected township treasurer.
Mr. Meyers was married in January, 1890, to Miss Mattie Thatcher, a daughter of Frank and Maurine (Siddons) Thatcher, residents of Columbus. They have two daughters. Blanche and Ruth, both of whom are accom- plished young ladies, graduates of the Stouts- ville High School. The family belongs to the Reformed church. Mr. Meyers' fraternal con- nections include membership in Scipio Lodge No. 255, Knights of Pythias; and Camp No. 1325, Modern Woodmen of America, both at Stoutsville.
SAMUEL L. FISHER, an honored veteran of the Civil War and a leading and substantial citizen of Greenfield Township, Fairfield County, O., residing on his farm of 200 acres, was born March 29, 1842, in Greenfield Township, and is a son of Daniel and Mary (Wagner) Fisher.
Daniel Fisher was born in Pennsylvania and was three years old when his parents, Henry Fisher and wife, moved to Fairfield County and settled in Greenfield Township, in the midst of the virgin forest, they being real pio- neers. Daniel Fisher became a farmer and was a representative citizen of his township, serving some years as one of its trustees. He married Mary Wagner, who was born in Ohio, and of their children there are five sur- vivors, namely: John and Samuel L., both living in Greenfield Township; Louisa, wife of Charles Harter, living in the same town- ship; Sarah, wife of Samuel Yencer, residing
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in Greenfield Township; and Julia, wife of Jefferson Miesse, living in Franklin County, Ohio.
Samuel L. Fisher was reared on the home farm and has engaged in farm pursuits dur- ing the greater part of his life. When the Civil War broke out, he was an early volun- teer, enlisting in September, 1861, in Co. I, 17th O. Vol. Inf., which became a part of the Army of the Cumberland. He took part in many of the greatest battles of the war, in- cluding the siege of Atlanta, marching with Sherman to the sea, and was honorably dis- charged in July, 1865. He returned to Fair- field County and resumed farming and has lived a busy agricultural life ever since, being not quite so active as formerly, but still taking a keen interest in the products of his lands and the increase of his stock. He is a Democrat in politics and for twenty years has been a member of the school board of Greenfield Township and for a part of this period has been president of this body.
Mr. Fisher married Miss Catherine Harter, who was born in Greenfield Township, and died April 4, 1910. She was an estimable woman in every relation of life and had a wide circle of friends. She was the mother of four children, namely. William, residing in Green- field Township; Minnie M., the widow of Charles Marks, living at Lancaster ; and Syl- vester and Daniel, both living in Greenfield Township. Mr. Fisher is a member of the English Lutheran church at Lancaster, O.
FRED A. HAMPSON, who is engaged in business at Pleasantville, O., where he has well arranged and suitable funeral directing parlors and is well equipped for undertaking, is a lifelong resident of Fairfield County and was born on his father's farm in Walnut
Township, July 22, 1884. He is a son of Henry J. and Zetta ( Outcault) Hampson.
Henry J. Hampson was born in 1853 in Pleasant Township, Fairfield County, O., and is a son of James and a grandson of James Hampson. The elder James Hampson secured land in Fairfield County that is still in the pos- session of the family, in 1803, during the ad- ministration of President Jefferson. With the help of his sons he cleared the land. James Hampson, grandfather of Fred A., was one of the original directors of the Fairfield Union Academy and was also one of the organizers of the Fairfield Agricultural Society. He mar- ried Mary Hite and they both died in Pleasant Township. They had the following children : Henry J .; Levi, who lives in Pleasant Town- ship; Lillian, who is the wife of M. F. Mau- ger, and lives at Lancaster, O .; and James, who resides in Pleasant Township. Henry J. Hampson was reared in Pleasant Township but has been a resident of Walnut Township for the past thirty-five years, where he carries on general farming and is a well known and respected citizen. He married Zetta Outcault, who was born in Liberty Township, Fairfield County, a daughter of Harvey G. Outcault, who lives in California. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hampson, namely : Ermine; Harvey, who died in February, 1908; Mary, who is the wife of James Pruden, of Detroit, Mich .; Fred A .; Clark, who lives at Comly, O .; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Ar- thur Holliday, of Columbus; Charles M., who is a student in the Ohio State University ; and Helen and Martha.
Fred A. Hampson grew to manhood on the home farm and attended the public schools and a business college at Columbus. In 1907 he entered the employ of the firm of Pletcher & Brown, undertakers at Columbus and re-
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mained until he had learned the business. In 1909 he came to Pleasantville and bought the interests of W. I. Winegarner and has equipped his quarters with up-to-date furnish- ings, has a private ambulance, funeral car- riages and cars and a mortuary chapel. He conducts his business along quiet, orderly, dig- nified lines and has patronage from a wide ter- ritory.
In September, 1908, Mr. Hampson was married to Miss Mina Phipps, a daughter of Aaron and Rachel (Worall) Phipps, this family having come to Fairfield from Morgan County in 1896. Aaron Phipps is an honored member of the G. A. R. Post at Chesterhill. Ohio, having served in the Civil War from 1862 until its close. He was a member of the 97th O. Vol. Inf., under Captain George Da- vis, enlisting at Chester Hill, O., and after participating in twenty battles, was mustered out at Nashville, Tenn. Mr. and Mrs. Hamp- son have one son, Harvey Levi. Politically he is a Democrat and is a member of the town council and in 1911 was elected township clerk. He belongs to the Masonic lodge at Pleasantville.
GEORGE W. BEERY, M. D .. a prominent citizen of Lancaster. O., is a representative of one of the old and leading families of the state. He was born October 27. 1857, at Bre- men, Fairfield County, and is a son of John and Lydia (Foreman) Beery.
John Beery was born also in Fairfield County, November 8, 1837, and was a son of Joseph and Mary (Brenneman) Beery. They were natives of Virginia, the birth of Joseph Beery taking place August 8. 1798, and his death in 1841. To Joseph Becry and wife five children were born: Catherine, Abraham, Jo- seph. Magdalene and John. all of whom are deceased. The first of the family came from
Switzerland and settled in Pennsylvania in 1736, and his son, Abraham Beery, was born in Adams County, Pa., in 1762 and moved froni there to Rockingham County, Va. He was twice married and was the father of thir- teen children.
On the maternal side, the Foremans were found in Lancaster County, Pa., prior to the Revolutionary War, in which Jacob Foreman served and participated in numerous battles including that of Trenton. After the close of his military service he moved to Ellicott Mills, twelve miles from Baltimore, Md., where he married Annie Martin, after which he re- turned for a time to Pennsylvania and then moved to Baltimore. They had the following children: Jacob, Henry, George. Mary, Kate and Andrew. Andrew Foreman married Ra- chel Poling, in Muskingum County, O., after which they went back to Maryland for a few years and then returned to Muskingum County and still later moved to near Browns- ville, in Licking County, and subsequently to Hopewell Township. Perry County, where they died. They had the following named chil- dren : George, Daniel. Andrew J., Samuel, Henry. Annie, Peggy. Sarah Ann, Rachel. Bettie. Elizabeth and Lydia, the last named beoming the wife of John Beery. After the death of Mr. Beery, on March 23, 1858, when only twenty-two years of age, Mrs. Beery and her infant son, George W., remained in Fair- field County until her second marriage, with Isaac Switzer, who was a resident of Licking County. Three children were born to the sec- ond union, namely : Henry and Howard, both of whom are deceased; and John, who is a practicing physician at New Straitsville, O. He married Lucy Webb, a daughter of W. C. Webb. of Hocking County, and they have one son. Webb.
George W. Beery attended the public
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schools and also the Normal School at Bre- men, O. When seventeen years of age he be- came interested in photography and as he com- bined taste with talent in this direction, he built up a fair business in which he continued until he was twenty-nine years of age. In the meanwhile he had completed his preliminary medical reading and accordingly entered the Georgia Eclectic Medical College, at Atlanta, Ga. He later took a course in the Cincinnati Eclectic College, secured his diploma, and in 1889 began practice at Union Furnace, Hock- ing County, where he continued for seventeen and a half years. He then practiced for two and one-half years at Logan, also in Hocking County. During this long period he became widely known in that section and when he came to Lancaster, in the spring of 1909, left behind him many yarm personal friends and an enviable professional reputation. At Lan- caster he has found a wider field and is in the enjoyment of a large and substantial practice. He is a man of wide reading and of considera- ble travel. In 1907 he visited all the principal countries of Europe and returned to his pro- fessional duties enriched with many new expe- riences.
In 1879 Dr. Beery was married to Miss Hannah .E. Roley, a daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth (Christ) Roley, of near Hebron, Licking County, and they have three children : Blanche, Jesse and Bessie, the two latter be- ing twins. Blanche married S. S. Still, of Zanesville, O., and they now live at Mont- gomery, Ala., and have one child, George. Jesse married Minnie Folk; they reside at Lancaster, and have a daughter, Georgie. Bessie married Edward Oliver, who is in the furniture and undertaking business at Logan. Dr. Beery is prominent in Masonic circles. He is a member of Mingo Lodge, No. 71, F. & A. M., Logan, O .; Enoch Lodge of Per-
fection ; Franklin Council, Princes of Jerusa- lem, Columbus; Rose Croix Chapter, Colum- bus; Ohio Consistory, S. P. R. S. 32nd de- gree, Cincinnati. He belongs also to Center Valley Lodge, No. 548, I. O. O. F., Amanda, O., and Mineral Encampment, Logan O., and Kilbourn Lodge, No. 635, Knights of Pyth- ias, Union Furnace, O. Politically he is a Republican and for six years while residing in Hocking County, was a member of the Pension Examining Board.
LOUIS J. SNYDER, who conducts a very successful business at No. 244 W. Main Street, Lancaster, O., a dealer in groceries, coal, lime, and cement, exclusively wholesale, is not only a representative business man of this city but is a citizen who has frequently demonstrated his public spirit and through his good judgment and enterprise has brought about many needed reforms. He was born at Lancaster, O., December 23, 1859, and is a son of Henry and Catherine (Hengst) Sny- der.
Henry Snyder and his wife were both born in Germany, came to America in youth, were married in Lancaster and in this city their quiet, virtuous lives came to a close. Of their nine children, Louis J. was the eighth in order of birth.
Louis J. Snyder was reared and educated in Lancaster. O. After leaving school he was employed for two years by his brother and was for one year in the employ of his brother- in-law. Later he was employed as a clerk in other establishments. On April 9, 1877, he started into business for himself as a retail grocery merchant. In 1878 he entered into the coal business, and in 1890 into the cement and plaster business. Proof of his business capacity is shown in the extraordinary success which has attended his efforts, enabling him
HON. CHRISTIAN H. SEXAUER
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to advance until at present he has wholesale interests which make his name a familiar one in marts of trade at various points. For many years he has also judiciously invested in city realty and owns a large amount of valua- ble property and for some years was a di- rector in the Citizens' Loan and Building As- sociation. In politics he is a Democrat and at times has consented to serve in civic offices. his high qualities of business ability making him especially useful. During the period of fourteen years which covered his service as secretary and superintendent of the Lancaster City Water Works, the system was practically renewed and the improvements then brought about have made it a source of civic pride. He has taken an interest also in other civic utili- ties and has cooperated with other capitalists in advancing many public spirited enterprises. He was reared in the Lutheran church and has been a liberal supporter of benevolent and charitable movements.
HON. CHRISTIAN H. SEXAUER. mayor of Lancaster, O., who is now serving in his third term, is one of the strong. broad- minded and representative public men of Fairfield county. He was born at Sulphur Springs, O., January 19, 1871, being one of the family of five children of William F. and Mary J. (Rupertsburger) Sexauer. The father of Mayor Sexauer was a native of Gallion, O., where he was engaged in manu- facturing; he died in 1895.
lations with his fellow citizens, the young man gained public confidence and became popular. In November, 1907, he was first elected mayor of Lancaster, on the Dem- ocratic ticket, with a majority of 752 votes, entering upon the duties of the office in 1908. Public approval of his administration was shown by his subsequent re-election with a majority of 1350. Lancaster has enjoyed a gratifying degree of prosperity under his able administration, the benefits of which are universally acknowledged.
Mayor Sexauer married Miss Bertha Abendroth, a daughter of Fred Abendroth, of Crawford county, O., and they have four children, namely : Paul C., Frederick W., Ralph E. and Dorothy C. The family be- long to St. Peter's Lutheran church, of which Mayor Sexauer is one of the trus- tees. A member of the Masonic order, he belongs to the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Council : he also belongs to the Knights of Maccabees and Royal Arcanum, just retir- ing from the office of Grand Regent of Ohio. The family residence is at No. 221 N. Maple street, Lancaster.
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