USA > Ohio > Mercer County > History of Mercer County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 34
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Clarence E. Marsh was reared at Celina and here obtained his literary training. He entered upon the study of the law under his able father and was a student in the office of Marsh & Loree for three years prior to entering the law department of the University of Cincinnati, where he was graduated in the class of 1900. In the same year he was admitted to the bar and very soon made his way to the front in his profession. In the fall of 1902 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Mercer County and entered upon the duties of his office on January 1, 1903; he was reelected in the fall of 1905 and began his second term January 1, 1906. In this position he has proven himself fearless in his stand for what he considers right and has administered the office with rare judgment and efficiency. He enjoys the warm friendship and hearty esteem of members of both political parties. He is a stanch Democrat. His fraternal relations are with the Masons, Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows.
WILLIAM M. MILLER
WILLIAM M. MILLER, who carries on an extensive furniture and under- taking business in Mendon, is one of the most successful and enterprising citizens of the village. He was born December 17, 1873, in Center township, Mercer County, Ohio, and is a son of Harrison P. and Amanda (Moore) Miller.
The paternal grandfather of our subject, Michael Miller, was one of the
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pioneers of Mercer County, settling in Center township when the country was a wilderness. He entered over 400 acres of land in the county. He died in 1899 when nearly 80 years of age. His wife survived him until 1901, her death occurring when a little over 80 years old. They were the parents of three sons and one daughter : George, deceased; Silas, who resides in Center township, where he owns and operates a fine farm; Mary, a resident of Union township, whose deceased husband, William Hamilton was a stock-buyer; and Harrison P., the father of our subject.
Harrison P. Miller and his wife were both natives of Mercer County. He was born in January, 1845, and has always been engaged in agricultural pur- suits. He is at present a resident of Mendon.
William M. Miller was reared in Center township and attended school in District No. 8. He remained on the farm until he had finished school and then entered the employ of Mr. Yocum, who was in the undertaking business at Mendon. He remained there for about three years and then took a three- years' course at Zanesville, In 1896 he bought out his former employer, Mr. Yocum, and one year also engaged in the furniture business, in which under- taking he met with great success. In 1901 he erected his present large build- ing, which is a fine, two-story structure with a pressed brick, stone-trimmed trimmed front. The wall on the south side of the building is 17 inches thick, being so constructed for protection in the event of fire, as all the buildings on that side are frame. The second floor of the building is occupied by the Odd Fellows' lodge. Mr. Miller has the foundation for another building laid, which is a duplicate in every way of his present building, except in length. Mr. Miller has met with much success as an undertaker and averages one funeral a week. He conducts his furniture business on a systematic basis, keeping a record of all goods sold. He has perhaps the largest furniture store in the county. He even encroaches on the business of other towns, selling goods in all the surrounding towns, such as Rockford, Lima, Spencerville, St. Marys, and numerous other places. In the past five years only two sales of furniture have been made in the town of Mendon by outside parties. Mr. Miller owns one of the prettiest and most attractive homes in Mendon, which he erected in 1905. He has installed in the basement a water-works system designed on his own plans. He is of an inventive turn of mind.
Mr. Miller was married to Mary E. Norris, a daughter of William Norris. She was born in the eastern part of Ohio and came to Mercer County with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have three sons : Elra N., Lowell H., and Hubert. Mr. Miller is a Republican in politics, but reserves the right to vote for the best man. He is a member of Mendon Lodge, No. 750, I. O. O. F., and Mendon Lodge, No. 416, K. of P. He and his family are connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Mendon.
HENRY F. WILLMANN
MRS. LOUISA M. WILLMANN
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS HENRY F. WILLMANN
HENRY F. WILLMANN, a representative citizen of Recovery township, owning 469 acres of valuable land in Recovery and Washington townships, was born July 16, 1839, in Germany, and is a son of Claus Henry and Mary Ann (Evers) Willmann.
Claus Henry Willmann, father of our subject, was born in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany. When Napoleon invaded Hanover, on his triumphal way to Russia, he impressed all the young Germans and Prussians who came within his reach, and Mr. Willmann happened to be one of these. Thus, al- though unwillingly, he accompanied Napoleon to Moscow. On several oc- casions he endeavored to escape and once, when seemingly successful, was, recaptured and with others was confined in a church under sentence of exe- cution. Fortunately, on the night before the sentence was to be carried out,. he, with his companions, escaped. Shortly before the battle of Waterloo, he joined the Prussian forces and on that memorable field he fought against Napoleon. For his loyalty he received a medal from the Kingdom of Han- over, which he displayed with justifiable pride until the day of his death, which occurred in Germany. The mother of Mr. Willmann also died in Germany, but her father crossed the Atlantic Ocean when he was 90 years of age, in 1844, and died at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1846. The parents of our subject had three sons and four daughters, viz. : Mary, who lived and died in Germany ; William, who came to America in 1840 and was never more heard from; Angelina, who resided in Baltimore at the time of her death; Frederick, who resides at Dillsburg, Indiana; Henry F .; and Louisa and Eliza, who died in Germany.
Henry F. Willmann came to America when he was 17 years old and the story of his many adventures, trials, hardships and final defeat of misfortune, reads as an interesting romance. He had been given the good, common- school education which Germany accords every one of her sons, but the labor field in his native land did not seem so large or promising as in America, and before he reached the age of necessary military service, in 1856, Mr. Will- mann crossed the ocean to the United States, coming to this country with many companions of his own land, as a passenger on the sailing vessel "Roland," which required six weeks and two days to complete the voyage, landing the passengers safely, however, at the port of Baltimore, Maryland.
The young German youth landed in the strange city without under- standing the language of the country to which he had come, on October 2. 1856, but he was fortunate enough to have a sister living in Baltimore, and through her he was bound out to a cabinet-maker to learn a trade, to receive $20 the first year; $25, the second year; $30, the third year; and $35, the 20
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fourth year. He worked there six weeks and then seeing nothing promising in the job he left, after having a few words with his sister who wished him to remain. As a brother was established at Cincinnati, he then decided to join him; and the fact that he also had an uncle living in that city made it still more likely that he could find remunerative work there. When he left Balti- more, he had in his pocket money amounting to about 614 cents. Walking was the only means of transportation possible with him, and he started out with his clothes done up in a handerchief. At every likely place on the way toward Cincinnati, he asked for work and when he was about three miles out from Baltimore he obtained a job with a farmer, who offered him for his ser- vices $4 a month and board. Mr. Willmann remained here three weeks and then went to work for the brother of this man, in an ore mine. The pay was the same but the work was very hard.
Mr. Willmann was patient and persevering and continued to work in the mine all winter, but in the spring he went back to Baltimore and secured work there in a shipyard, handling iron ore, railroad rails, etc., doing extra- ordinarily' laborious work, for which he was paid $1.25 per day ; as he worked over time, he secured about $9 or $10 per week. Probably he overtaxed him- self, for in the latter part of July he was taken seriously sick and he learned from his physician that he could never again work in the same manner. As soon as he had sufficiently recuperated, he started again for Cincinnati, having previously saved his money; when he reached there he still had $14. He at once went to work for his uncle, Mr. Evers, who was a gardener, receiving $8 per month. After two months with his uncle, he entered a cooper shop in order to learn the cooper's trade. This entailed his working for one year for his board and washing. When the year was up he left for Indianapolis and reached that city practically in a penniless condition. As he could not work at the trade he had learned without tools, he was obliged to borrow $10 to purchase tools, and these same tools he still has in his possession.
Mr. Willmann worked in Indianapolis until the spring of 1860, although in the previous year he had had another setback, being attacked with typhoid fever and having to spend all his money in paying doctor's fees. From Au- gust, 1859. until the spring of 1860, he was able to work only enough to about pay his board, and thus at this time he returned to Cincinnati just about as poor as when he had reached Indianapolis, a year and a half before. He soon found employment at his trade but was again taken ill, so ill indeed that he had to have two doctors attend him and came very near to death, but by the middle of March was back at work again and worked from March, 1860, to April, 1861, when he enlisted for the three-months' service, in the First Regiment, Ohio Vol. Cav. His company remained at Cincinnati about six weeks, the members boarding themselves; then, as the time of enlistment was
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so short, the company disbanded and our subject went to work on a farm in Indiana, about 30 miles from Cincinnati.
Mr. Willmann was working on this farm when the news of the battle of Bull Run reached him and he immediately determined to re-enlist; for this purpose he made his way to Rising Sun, Indiana, where, on July 23, 1861, he enlisted in the Second Indiana Battery and was attached to the Army of the Frontier, in which he faithfully served from the above date until September 4, 1864, when he was mustered out at Fort Smith, Arkansas, being finally discharged and paid at Indianapolis in the succeeding month. During this long period of service, Mr. Willmann had participated in 28 different battles and engagements and was never disabled except for about six weeks which he spent in the hospital at St. Louis, when he first went out, suffering from malarial fever.
Upon his return from the war he tried work again at his trade, but army rheumatism had attacked him and he found himself unable to keep on in this line. It required trial of about 10 different jobs before he found the one that suited him as to work and also as to pay. In 1865 he engaged at $12 a week as porter with a wholesale liquor house, with the agreement that in three months, if mutually satisfied, he was to be paid more. His first raise was to $15 a week and then to $100 per month, in 1866; for the next two years his salary was $2,100 per year. He filled both the positions of salesman and of foreman. In 1868 he left this store and embarked in the wholesale liquor business for himself at Cincinnati, entering into partnership with Mr. Kren- ning and George H. Branshire. In 1872 he sold out his interest and within Io days was in business for himself, but two weeks later took in John H. Gen- trip as partner, and they continued together until 1879, when Mr. Willmann retired to his farm in Mercer County, which he had purchased in 1877. It consists of 335 acres in Recovery township and 134 acres in sections 30 and 31, Washington township. Although he continued in business at Cincinnati until 1879, he made his home on the farm in 1878, and since the following; year has remained continuously on it. It is fine land, richly cultivated and well-improved.
On December 21, 1865, Mr. Willmann was married to Louisa Margaret Muthart, and they have had six children, namely: William H., living at home, who has two children-Lorena Anna Louisa and Clifford H .; Edward Frank, who died in infancy; Ella, who married George Geyer, of Cincinnati, and died of consumption February 1, 1904; Harry E., who married Ida C. Rabe, lives on the home farm and has four children-Edward, Helen, Henry F. and Hazel Louise; and Amelia Matilda, born March 2, 1879, who mar- ried John Heiby, and died March 29, 1897, leaving an infant daughter,
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Florence Ida, who was born February 12, 1897, and died August 6th of the same year.
Mr. Willmann has served as township trustee and as school director in Recovery township. Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Protestant Protective Association, of Cincinnati.
In 1903 Mr. Willmann took a trip to his old home in Germany. He says he found the same straw roof, but the building was more dilapidated. He made extended visits to different parts of Germany and was there about two months.
Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Willmann accompany this sketch.
E. E. JACKSON
E. E. JACKSON, village solicitor and prominent citizen of Rockford, where he is practicing law, was born February 6, 1869, in Moon township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of G. W. and Mary Jane (Harper) Jackson.
On the maternal side our subject's grandfather, David Harper, was a Pennsylvanian, a respected old resident of Allegheny County. On the paternal side, Grandfather Jonathan Jackson was born in North Carolina and always took pride in being of the same family as was President Andrew Jackson. He died in 1868, leaving a widow who still survives, at the age of 93 years. She is of French Huguenot extraction and was born in Virginia; her family name of Massey can be easily traced to the nobility of France.
The parents of our subject were both born in Allegheny County, Penn- sylvania, where they still reside, the father in January, 1842, and the mother in February, 1849. Their family consists of seven sons and two daughters, as follows: E. E .; William S., of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania; Luther A .; Lena, wife of G. L. McCartney ; Hayes H .; Calvin A .; Charles C .; Vinnie B. and Raymond. The father of our subject served in the Army of the Potomac, during the Civil War, from August, 1862, until the close of hostilities. He was a member of Company K, 139th Reg. Pennsylvania Vol. Inf., Sixth Army Corps, and participated in all the principal engagements in the Virginia cam- paign, being wounded in the right shoulder, in front of Fort Stephens, and re- turning to his home with a record of which his children are proud.
E. E. Jackson was primarily educated in the schools of his native town- ship. In 1887 he entered Bridgewater Academy and attended almost every term until 1890. In 1891, 1892 and 1893 he worked at the carpenter's trade, and in the fall of 1894 began to teach school, continuing until March, 1896, when he spent one term in the West Pennsylvania Medical College at Pitts-
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burg. On October 15, 1896, he entered the Ohio Normal University, at Ada, where he remained until March 1, 1900, from 1898 until 1900 being in the law department. After his admission to the bar, he located at Rockford, where he formed a partnership with C. S. Mauck, and has continued in active practice ever since. Mr. Jackson has met with hearty approval and stands to- day as a leading member of his profession in his locality.
On July 21, 1899, Mr. Jackson was married to Minnie A. Wolf, a daugh- ter of J. B. and Sarah Wolf, of Ada, Ohio. They have three children, two daughters and one son, namely : Dee, Dorothy and Calvin F.
Politically Mr. Jackson is a stanch Republican and his party has chosen him as a leader on numerous occasions. He served one term as mayor of Rockford and is at present serving as village solicitor. He has been solicitor for the building and loan association ever since locating here and formerly was secretary of the Rockford Telephone Exchange. He is prominently identified with fraternal life, being a member of Shane's Lodge, No. 377, F. & A. M., at Rockford; Celina Chapter, No. 120, R. A. M., at Celina; Order of the Eastern Star; Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Eagles.
J. E. HATTERY
J. E. HATTERY, M. D., vice-president of the First National Bank of Celina, and an eminent physician and surgeon of this section of the State, was born July 25, 1857, at Van Wert, Ohio, and is a son of Josiah and Elizabeth (Ritter) Hattery.
Until he was 17 years of age, Dr. Hattery assisted on the home farm and made due preparations, in the local schools, for a collegiate course in the Northern Indiana Normal College, at Valparaiso. Upon his return from college, he began to teach school and for some years continued in the profes- sion, at the same time devoting his leisure to the reading of medicine, under the supervision and direction of Dr. G. W. McGavren, of Van Wert. In 1880 he entered Starling Medical College, at Columbus, where he was graduated in 1884.
Shortly after he received his medical degree, Dr. Hattery began the practice of his profession, locating at Elgin, Van Wert County, where he re- mained until 1893, when he located in Celina. In January, 1894, he entered into a medical partnership with Dr. G. J. C. Wintermute, under the firm style of Wintermute & Hattery, which continued for seven years; since 1901 he has practiced alone. While professional duties claim the larger part of his time and attention, Dr. Hattery has other interests of an important character,
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and since 1900 he has been vice-president of the First National Bank of Celina.
In 1886 Dr. Hattery was married to Mary A. Nichols, who was born in Union township, Mercer County, and is a daughter of Samuel and Sarah Nichols. Dr. and Mrs. Hattery have five children, namely : John S., a teacher in Van Wert County, Ohio; Florence A., Lenora, Russell R. and Sidney Dillon. The pleasant family home is situated on the corner of Market and Ash streets.
Dr. Hattery belongs to the Northwestern Ohio Medical Association and is one of its most scholarly and experienced members, and has contributed to its literature. He is also a member of the Mercer County Medical Society, and the American Medical Association, and in his fraternal connections is a Mason. In politics he is a Republican.
JOHN GRAEBER
JOHN GRAEBER, a successful agriculturist of Franklin township, residing on his farm of 80 acres, in section 32, was born November 19, 1858, in Au- glaize County, Ohio, and is a son of Augustus and Sophia (Seymor) Graeber.
Augustus Graeber was born in Germany and came to America with his parents when quite young. He married Sophia Seymor, also a native of Ger- many, who came to America with her parents during childhood. She had two sisters, Anna and Hannah, and one brother, Henry. Augustus Graeber and his first wife had four children : Mary, Hannah, John and Henry. The mother of these children died in 1872. By a second marriage, to Mary Niemeyer, five more children were born to Augustus Graeber, namely: Anna, Minnie, Charles, Edith and Ida: Both Mr. and Graeber died in Auglaize County.
John Graeber was reared on his father's farm in Auglaize County, where he remained until his marriage, when he moved to St. Marys, later to New! Bremen, and then to Knoxville, Ohio, working at each place for about one year. Then he turned his attention to farming, renting in Auglaize County for five years. In 1893 he bought his present farm, from John Niekamp, where he has since been engaged in general farming. He was married tq Catherine Ritter and they have one daughter, Jennie. They are members of the Lutheran Church.
GRANVILLE FREEMAN
GRANVILLE FREEMAN, who resides on his well-cultivated farm of 20 acres, in Liberty township, is one of the old settlers of this locality and one
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of the representative and highly respected citizens. He was born in Randolph County, Indiana, March 25, 1827, and is a son of Daniel and Mary (Wells) Freeman.
The parents of Mr. Freeman were natives of North Carolina and were early settlers in Randolph County, Indiana. When Granville was three months old, his parents removed to Mercer County, and for a short time resided in what is now Fort Recovery, which at that time consisted of three houses. They then settled in the southeastern part of Liberty township, with the early development of which locality the family had much to do.
Granville Freeman enjoyed only the meager educational opportunities af- forded by the early pioneer schools, mainly subscription ones, and he has al- ways been in sympathy with the great public school movement, which affords such abounding opportunities to the youth of the present day. His father was an educated man and was a pioneer school-teacher, so that he had more en- couragement than fell to the lot of many of his boyhood companions. The only opening in a business way in his section, was in the line of agriculture, and Mr. Freeman became a practical farmer and has given his attention to agricultural interests all his life. He erected his comfortable residence in 1885.
On February 8, 1854, Mr. Freeman was married to Elizabeth Robison, born in Highland County, Ohio, May 25, 1827, a daughter of Henry and Lydia (Stafford) Robison, the former of whom was born in Delaware. The Robisons were among the early settlers of Highland County, whence they moved to Mercer County in 1853.
Mr. and Mrs. Freeman have had eight children, the four survivors being the following: Jacob N., of Miami County, Indiana, who has six children ; Milton J., of Washington township, who has five children; Mary, wife of Edward Herron, of Liberty township, who has three children, and Dora, wife of George Helmer, who has five children. Mr. Freeman has 16 great- grandchildren.
In political sentiment, Mr. Freeman is a Republican and he has frequently been elected to responsible offices. He has served for several years as town- ship trustee and has been president of the board, and he has also served as a member of the Board of Education. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic post at Rockford, having given service in the Civil War and he draws $22 per month pension.
Mr. Freeman has been a great hunter in his time and estimates that more than 1,000 deer have fallen before his unerring rifle. He has never en- countered bear in Mercer County, but killed several in Paulding County. In one season he remembers trapping 95 mink, selling each pelt for 95 cents apiece, and in another season he caught 187 raccoons. On one hunting expedi-
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tion, in company with his neighbor, Amos Heins, Mr. Freeman captured 22 foxes in two days.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Freeman are members of the Society of Friends. They are well known throughout Liberty township and are both esteemed by a wide circle of friends. In 1904 they celebrated their half-century anniversary of wedded life. The story of their lives as pioneers, if faithfully written, would record varying experiences and no small number of early hardships and dan- gers. They still remain active members of society, interested in all that con- cerns the community or the health and happiness of friends, and in their still busy lives, kindly considerate of others and consistent in daily walk and con- versation, they exert an influence which will remain long after they have passed away.
JOHN M. SCHLOSSER
JOHN M. SCHLOSSER, attorney-at-law, at Celina, and a representative citizen, was born in Marion township, Mercer County, Ohio, in 1859, and is , a son of the late John Schlosser.
Frantz A. Schlosser, the grandfather of J. M. Schlosser, was the fourth earliest settler in Marion township. He was a soldier under Napoleon in the Napoleonic wars, also served in the War of 1812, and later settled in this sec- tion of Ohio. The late John Schlosser was a merchant at Carthagena, Ohio, for a long period and also postmaster. He was born and reared in Mercer County and was one of its prominent men.
John M. Schlosser was reared in Marion township and was educated first in the local schools, later at St. Charles Seminary and spent two years at Carthagena. For some eight years he taught school throughout the county, then went to Valparaiso, Indiana, where he became a student of law and in 1890 was graduated from the law department of the University of Indiana. He was admitted to the bar in Indiana in the same year, but came immediately to Ohio and in 1891 was admitted to the Ohio bar and located at Celina. Here Mr. Schlosser has been actively engaged in practice ever since, gaining and maintaining a foremost position in his profession. He is serving in the office of justice of the peace. 1
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