USA > Ohio > Preble County > History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions > Part 56
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The Lesh family are all devout members of the Dunkard church and interested in the affairs of this denomination.
JACOB B. UNGER.
One of the best known and most enterprising of the younger farmers of Preble county, Ohio, is Jacob B. Unger, now in the very prime of life and usefulness. His influence as an honorable, upright citizen has been a potent force in the community where he lives, and with the people with whom he comes into contact. His past success is assurance of something yet to come. He is evidently destined to continue as a potent factor for substantial good for many years to come. Mr. Unger is the owner of splendid farming lands in Preble county, which he operates as one who has kept fully abreast with modern methods of agriculture. He is a man possessed of sound business principles, and who, while he has advanced his own personal interests, has not neglected his general duties as a citizen.
Jacob B. Unger, farmer and stockman, of Twin township, Preble county, Ohio, was born on February 1, 1871, at New Lexington, Ohio, a son of Herman and Sophia (Pundt ) Unger. Herman Unger, the father of Jacob B., was born in 1834.in Germany, coming to this country with his parents, John Henry and Gaesha (Walters) Unger, in 1852. His father died at Cincinnati soon after their arrival. The rest of the family came to Preble county the next year. Herman Unger has lived in Preble county
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ever since on a farm in Twin township. His first wife was Sophia Pundt, a native of Brunswick, Germany, born in 1832, a daughter of John Henry and Rebecca Pundt. She grew up in Germany and came here in 1857, when twenty-five years old. Six children were born to Mr. Unger and his first wife, as follow: Mrs. Kate Voge, of Twin township; Mrs. Margaret Pe- terman died in 1913; John H., of Twin township; Edward, of West Alex- andria; Jacob B., of Twin township; Mrs. Mary Martin, of Montgomery county. The mother of these children died in 1898. A year or two later Herman Unger retired and moved to West Alexandria, and in 1906 married Wilhelmina Heine, who was born at Cincinnati, a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Heine. She was married in Cincinnati, in 1884, to Charles Muel- ler, and moved to West Alexandria in June, 1903. Mr. Mueller died there in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Unger now live in West Alexandria.
Jacob B. Unger was educated in the public schools of New Lexington, Ohio, and when he had reached his majority he rented land from his father. In 1897 he moved to his present farm in section 12, of Twin township, and rented from his father -- in-law, Mr. Steinmeyer. After the death of Mr. Steinmeyer, in 1913, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Unger inherited two hundred and twenty-six acres of land, which, in addition to his own holdings, makes him the owner of three hundred and thirteen acres of highly productive and fer- tile land in Preble county. Mr. Unger has one of the best-improved and most up-to-date farms in Twin township, upon which is situated a large, modern brick house and a stock barn, eighty by seventy-six feet in dimen- sions. Mr. Unger is an extensive breeder of Percheron horses, and has made many exhibits at different fairs. He now owns a string of trotting horses that breed back to the best blood of the trotting stock for speed.
Jacob B. Unger was married, in 1897, to Sarah C. Steinmeyer, who was born in this county in 1875, and to this union four children have been born, Stanley, Herman, Naomia and Paul, all of whom are at home with their parents. Mrs. Unger's father and mother were Herman and Chris- tina (Sauer) Steinmeyer, the father a native of this county and among the early citizens of the county. The mother was a native of Butler county.
Herman Steinmeyer was born on November 27, 1847, on the farm where Mr. and Mrs. Unger now reside. He was a son of Frederick and Caroline (Schreel) Steinmeyer. Frederick Steinmeyer was born in Prus- sia in 1802, grew up there, and, in 1839, with his wife and her parents, and others, came to America. After a short time they located in the northeast part of Twin township, this county, and there Frederick Steinmeyer spent the rest of his life, as a cooper and farmer. Herman Steinmeyer spent his
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entire life there. He was a self-made man and a very successful farmer and stock raiser. He also was engaged in saw-milling and tile making. . He died on December 29, 1912. He was an elder in the Lutheran church, and a school director for many years. His wife was Christina Sauer, a native of Butler county, Ohio, a daughter of William and Sarah (Potterf) Sauer. Her father came from Germany with his parents to Butler county, and to Preble county in 1846. Mrs. Steinmeyer now lives with her daughter, Mrs. Unger.
Jacob B. Unger is a man who, because of his activity as a stock breeder and as a successful, enterprising farmer, should be rated as one of the most progressive citizens of Preble county. He is a man who is well known in agricultural circles, who is broad-minded, public-spirited, and possessed with native powers of leadership.
Mr. Unger is a Democrat, but has never been active in politics, preferring rather to devote his time to his private and business interests. Mr. Unger and family are members of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and active in the work of both the church and the Sunday school.
LEONIDAS DISHER.
Leonidas Disher has attained: pronounced prestige in . Preble county by reason of native and acquired ability, and also because of his prominence in educational affairs and his high standing in the domain of private citizenship. He takes a deep and abiding interest in everything pertaining to the material advancement of the town and township where he lives, and every enterprise which tends to promote the progress of Preble county is certain to receive his hearty support. Mr. Disher, who is a retired farmer, and who formerly was a school teacher, is rated as one of the progressive citizens of Harrison township, and the high respect in which he is held by all classes of people is a deserved compliment to an intelligent, broad-minded and most worthy man.
Leonidas Disher was born on December 12, 1852, in Twin township, Preble county, Ohio. He is a son of Matthias and Jane (Ozias) Disher, who were the parents of four children : Mrs. Mary A. Bunger, a resident of Lewisburg, Ohio; Mrs. Susan Fritz, of Twin township; Mrs. Martha Reich- ard, deceased, and Leonidas, with whom this narrative deals.
Matthias Disher was born in Virginia, January 1. 1818. He came to Preble county, Ohio, with his parents when fifteen years of age, and was
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reared on the farm. He was known to the patriots of Preble county as Captain Disher, he having formed a company at the outbreak of the Civil War. This was Company H, and became a part of the Ninety-third Regi- ment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Captain Disher was the head of this com- pany until 1863, when he resigned on account of ill health. He died at Lewisburg, Ohio, in 1891. Captain Disher's grandfather was a soldier with the Colonial troops, probably from Maryland, in the storming of Quebec, where he lost an arm. He afterward located in Virginia near the head of the James River, where Captain Disher spent his early youth. Matthias Disher was married three times, his last wife being Elizabeth Zircle. She was born in Virginia, where her father was a slave holder until 1862, in which year his death occurred. Elizabeth (Zircle) Disher died in 1898. Matthias Disher was the son of Christian and Frances (Zircle) Disher, who were natives of Virginia. Christian Disher was a soldier in the War of 1812, and served as a lieutenant. He came to Preble county, Ohio, in 1833, and was engaged in farming until his death. Matthias Disher's second wife, who was Jane Ozias, was born in 1825 in Twin township, in this county, and died in 1853. She was a daughter of Jacob and Susan (Christman) Ozias, natives of North Carolina, who came to Preble county in 1805, and engaged in farming.
Leonidas Disher was reared on the farm and attended the district schools, and was a student at the normal schools at Lebanon and Medina, Ohio. He then started to teaching school, and followed this profession for about twenty years along with farming. During this period he served as superintendent of schools at West Alexandria, Arcanum and Lewisburg. In 1898 Mr. Disher was appointed as a member of the county board of ex- aminers, and held this position for three years. In 1903 he engaged in the grain business at Decatur, Indiana, but three years later sold out and returned to Lewisburg, Ohio, where he has since lived, looking after his various busi- ness interests. Mr. Disher has rebuilt his residence, which is located on the main thoroughfare of Lewisburg, securing a handsome and striking effect in modern stucco. Mr. Disher is a heavy stockholder in the Lewisburg bank, and the stone-crushing plant at Lewisburg. He also owns one hundred and two acres of well-improved land in section I of Twin township.
Leonidas Disher was married in 1892 to Ohio Gray, who was born in 1863 in Lewisburg, Ohio, a daughter of Dr. William and Mary (Shoup) Gray, the former born on May 13, 1808, in Randolph county, North Caro- lina. William Gray came to Preble county, Ohio, in 1835, and settled at
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West Alexandria, where he began the study of medicine under Dr. L. Weaver, and later attended the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, from which institu- tion he was graduated. In 1840, he went to Ithaca, and practiced his pro- fession there until 1842, when he removed to West Alexandria. He re- mained in the active practice there two years, at the end of which time he went to Lewisburg, Ohio. He was actively engaged in the practice of his profession for fifty-one years, being, at the time of his death in 1891, the oldest practitioner in Preble county. In 1855 he was married to Mary Shoup, who was born in 1831, in Dayton, Ohio, and died in Lewisburg. in 1900.
To Mr. and Mrs. Leonidas Disher two children have been born, Russell C., who died at the age of four months, and a daughter, Leon Gray, who is attending the high school at Lewisburg. For many years Mr. Disher has been actively identified with the councils of the Republican party, and in 1888 was the nominee of his party for treasurer of Preble county. but was defeated with the remainder of the ticket. Mr. and Mrs. Disher are active and earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mr. Disher is on the official board of his church. Fraternally, Mr. Disher is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons.
If Mr. Disher's success in life is to be judged by the estimation in which he is held by his fellow citizens, it must be admitted that his success is sur- passed by few residents of Preble county.
JOHN D. GILBERT.
To a great extent the prosperity of the agricultural section of Preble county is due to the honest industry, the sturdy persistence and the unswerv- ing perseverance and wise economy which so prominently characterizes the farming element of the Buckeye state. Among this sturdy class of farmers may be mentioned John D. Gilbert, who, by reason of his years of indefati- gable labor and honest effort, has not only acquired a well-merited material competence, but who also has richly earned and won the high esteem of all with whom he has been associated.
John D. Gilbert, a prominent farmer and stockman of Lanier town- ship, Preble county, Ohio, was born on December II, 1859, a son of William and Julia (Clark) Gilbert, and is one of four children born to his parents, the others being Ida, Anna and May, all of whom are deceased.
William Gilbert was born in 1826, near Westminster, Maryland. He
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left Maryland when he was twenty-eight years of age and settled in Preble county, Ohio, where for about six months he worked as a farm laborer near West Alexandria. Subsequently he moved to Montgomery county, Ohio, and, in 1865, he returned to Preble county and purchased land near Enter- prise, in Lanier township. There he farmed until 1900, when he retired from the active life of the farm and made his home with his son, John D., from 1900 until the time of his death in 1911. His wife, Julia Clark, was born in January, 1829, in Maryland, and died in 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Will- iam Gilbert were married in 1854 and throughout their lives they were de- voted members of the Dunkard church.
John D. Gilbert attended district school No. 2, in Lanier township, in his boyhood, and there he attained his education. He lived at home with his parents until he was past twenty-two years of age, and then began farming for himself. During the first ten years of his career as a farmer, he rented land from his father. He was prosperous and successful from the begin- ning, and in 1891 he was able to purchase one hundred and eighteen acres of land in section 20, of Lanier township. Since buying this farm Mr. Gil- bert has been able to build a thoroughly modern house, equipped with all modern conveniences, as well as a large and commodious barn, his total im- provements upon the farm amounting approximately to more than eight thousand dollars. The lumber which Mr. Gilbert has used in his building improvements has come from his own timber. He has a beautiful country home, of which he has every reason to be proud. His house, barn, outbuild- ings and surrounding grounds are models of neatness and thrift, and have attracted the keen interest of hundreds of passersby. One of the examples of his progressive methods is seen in the solid concrete silo, made in a neat ornamental design, and the first of its kind contracted for in Preble county.
In 1881 Mr. Gilbert was married to Harriet Flora, who was born on December 20, 1862, in Lanier township, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Ann (Eikenberry) Flora, residents of this county. To this union was born one daughter, Edna, who was born in 1883, in Lanier township. She mar- ried John Voge, and she and her husband live on the home farm with her father and assist in the operation of the farm. Mrs. Gilbert died in 1906.
John D. Gilbert is not identified with any particular political party, and considers himself an independent voter, being more impressed with meas- ures and men than he is with parties and party emblems. All of the Gilbert family are members of the Brethren church, and take an active interest in the welfare of their denomination. It is not too much to say that John D. Gilbert is honored by his neighbors, and, in fact, by all the people of Lanier township, in which he is well known.
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JOHN E. MYERS.
The two most strongly marked characteristics of both the east and the west are combined in the residents of Ohio. The enthusiastic enterprise which overleaps all obstacles and makes possible almost any undertaking in the comparatively new and vigorous western states is here tempered by the stable and more careful policies that we have borrowed from our eastern neighbors. The combination is one of unusual force and power. It has been the means of placing this section of the country on a par with the older east, at the same time producing a reliability that, certainly in business affairs, is frequently lacking in the west. This happy combination of characteristics is possessed to a notable degree by John E. Myers, the manager of the Lewis- burg Lumber Company, who is too well known to the readers of this work to need any formal introduction. His name is closely identified with the finan- cial, commercial and industrial history of Preble county, and he himself is filling a large place in the industrial and political life of this community. He is recognized as a man of strong and alert mentality, and is deeply inter- ested in everything that pertains to the welfare of the community. Mr. Myers is regarded as one of the progressive and enterprising citizens of Lewisburg, Ohio.
John E. Myers was born on July 28, 1865, in Twin township, Preble county, Ohio, a son of Samuel and Mary (Wehrly) Myers, who were the parents of seven children, as follow : Mrs. Anna Hartrum, deceased; one who died in infancy ; Jesse F., a carpenter of West Alexandria; Samuel I., a farmer of Twin township; John E., with whom this narrative deals; Joseph W., deceased, and Alonzo, a baker, now living in California.
Samuel Myers was born on May 1, 1832, in Carroll county, Maryland, and was reared on a farm. He came to Ohio and settled in Miami county, where he worked as a farm hand for a few years. Subsequently, he pur- chased land in Twin township, but later sold out and rented land in Twin township, where he farmed until his death, September 19, 1895. His wife, who was Mary Wehrly, was born June 2, 1829, in Twin township, Preble county, Ohio, the daughter of John and Barbara (Heckman) Wehrly, both natives of Virginia, and early settlers of Preble county, Ohio. Mrs. Myers now makes her home with her different children.
John E. Myers remained on the home farm until thirty years of age. He received his education in the district schools of Twin and Lanier town- ships, and later worked as a packer for a tobacco firm at Ingomar, Ohio, for
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about a year. With his brother, Samuel I., he then engaged in farming and followed this vocation for two years, at the end of which time he moved to Brookville. Ohio, and worked as a clerk in a bakeshop. Later he removed to West Alexandria, Ohio, and became the manager of a retail grocery. In 1909, Mr. Myers was made the manager of the Lewisburg Lumber Company, at Lewisburg, Ghio, and now owns his residence and four lots in the town of Lewisburg.
John E. Myers was married in 1907 to Elizabeth Travis, who was born in 1873, in Allen county, Kansas, and to this union two children have been born, Edgar Travis, who died in early infancy, and Mary Catherine.
Mr. Myers is an ardent Democrat and is now serving as a member of the Lewisburg town council, and is discharging the duties of this office to the entire satisfaction of the people and residents of Lewisburg. Mr. and Mrs. Myers are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and prominent in the work of the Sunday school. John E. Myers is a man who has risen to his present eminent position in life as a consequence of his in- dustry, frugal habits and careful business methods, and is therefore a repre- sentative citizen of Harrison township, and a man who by reason of this fact, is entitled to representation in this volume.
EZRA J. OZIAS.
Ezra J. Ozias was born on February 26, 1852, in Twin township, Pre- ble county, Ohio, the son of William and Barbara (Crider) Ozias, the for- mer of whom was born on September 22, 1825, in Preble county, Ohio, was a farmer and lived on a farm until his death, April 7, 1907. Barbara (Cri- der) Ozias was born May 8, 1827, at Germantown. She was a member of the United Brethren church and the Lewisburg class for sixty-five years. She died on March 23, 1902, at her home near Lewisburg, Preble county, Ohio. William and Barbara (Crider) Ozias were the parents of five chil- dren, Oscar, who died at the age of two years; Byrom, who lives in West Virginia; Ezra J., the subject of this sketch: Mrs. Elizabeth Cassady, of Lewisburg, and Dr. Mary Cromer, who is a physician at Union City. Indiana.
William Ozias was the son of John Ozias, one of the early pioneers of Preble county, Ohio, who immigrated to the vicinity of Springborough, Warren county, Ohio, from Guilford county. North Carolina in the fall of 1803 with a colony, in which were the Christmans, John Ozias, Sr .. his three sons, Peter, Jacob and John. also Captain Daniel Boone, and the late Judge
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John Meroney. Other families soon followed. John Ozias, Sr., devoted the winter of 1804 to seeking a home in the wilderness west of the Great Miami, selecting finally twelve hundred and eighty acres on the "big bot- toms" of Twin creek, directly south of Lewisburg, in this county. Peter Ozias, the eldest brother of John, Jr., commenced his clearing in 1804, leav- ing the remainder of the colony at .Clear creek settlement, in . Warren county, He was soon joined by his brother, Jacob, and other pioneer settlers, among whom were the Singer family. John Ozias, Jr., remained single until he had made an opening in the wilderness and built a cabin. In 1810 he mar- ried a Miss Higgins, a sister of the late Amos Higgins, of Higgins station, Montgomery county. One day in the winter of 1810-11, John Ozias, Jr., and wife went to help their brother, Jacob, butcher, and returning home as the evening shades appeared, with their portion of spare ribs and sausage, the wolves, ravenous by hunger and already attracted to the vicinity by the smell of blood, caught the scent of fresh meat and, by their peculiar encir- cling process, finally got on the trail of the affrighted fugitives and gave chase. John Ozias, Jr., and wife barely reached the enclosure of their cabin in time to save their lives. The wolves were at their very heels when the cabin door closed. John Ozias, Jr., died at the residence of his son, William Ozias, in Harrison township, on July 19, 1870, at the age of eighty- eight years, three months and twenty-four days. For ten years before his death he was an invalid and was cared for alternately by his devoted chil- dren, George, John and William, and his daughter, Mrs. George Potterf. John Ozias, Jr., was reared in the German Reformed church, of which he was a consistent member from his early youth.
The Ozias family, from one generation to another, has held family reunions and was practically the first family to hold a reunion in Preble county. The first reunion was held on August 26, 1886, at Horns grove, just west of Lewisburg; later they gathered at Moots grove and for the past six years they have met at the county fair grounds with a large attendance in the family circle.
Ezra J. Ozias was reared on the farm. He attended the district schools of Twin and Harrison townships, the National Normal, at Lebanon, and the Medina Normal, at Medina, Ohio. He began teaching in the dis- trict schools of Preble county when nineteen years old and continued teach- ing for ten years, having served as superintendent of schools in the villages: of Euphemia, Preble county, Pyrmont, Montgomery county, and Arcanum, Darke county. During this period, he cultivated his ninety-four acre farm in Twin township and specialized in small grain and live stock. While he
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was a farmer, he invested in a tobacco warehouse at Lewisburg and finally moved to Lewisburg, where he became engaged in the buying and packing of leaf tobacco for the market and now employs fifty people. He has forty acres of land, part of which is in the town of Lewisburg and owns a resi- dence and other property in Lewisburg. He is a shareholder of the tele- phone company, and the electric light company and is president and a di- rector in the former company and director in the latter.
Ezra J. Ozias was married on January 2, 1879, to Leora W. Wheatley, who was born, July 4, 1853, in Medina county, Ohio, the daughter and one of the twelve children of Joseph and Mary (Buck) Wheatley, the former of whom was born in 1818, in Yorkshire, England. Joseph Wheatley came to Ohio with his parents when fourteen years of age and settled in Medina county, Ohio, and engaged in farming there. He became a county sur- veyor in the county and held that office for a period of twenty years. He died in 1893. His wife was born in 1823 in Summit county, Ohio, and died in 1906. Both of Mrs. Ozias's parents are buried at Medina, Ohio.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ozias two children have been born, Clifford W., who was graduated from the Purdue University at Lafayette, Indiana, and is a civil engineer and farmer in Canada, and Blake, who was graduated from the Valparaiso (Indiana) Normal School and is now living in New York City, where he is manager of the Guarantee Sales Company at that place.
Mr. Ozias is a Republican and has held different offices in the town- ship and is a man of wide influence in political circles. For many years he was president of the school board of Twin township, and has always been interested in educational matters. Mr. and Mrs. Ozias are members of the United Brethren church.
GEORGE W. DEARDORFF.
Among the enterprising and progressive citizens of Preble county, Ohio, none stands higher in the esteem of his fellow citizens than George W. Dear- dorff, a farmer living in Washington township, Preble county, Ohio. He has long been actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, and his standing as a citizen and neighbor has increased with the years of his residence in Preble county.
George W. Deardorff was born February 5, 1850, in Darke county, Ohio, and is a son of Samuel and Cynthia A. (Miller) Deardorff, the latter
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