History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions, Part 31

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1744

USA > Ohio > Putnam County > History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions > Part 31

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Soon after the family located in this county, Nimrod Speaker went to Put-in-Bay Island and worked there for some time. However, his health became impaired and, in 1861, he came to Belmore and worked in the timber, cutting out wood and timber, until 1868. In that year he and his brother, George, bought a general store, at Belmore, and continued in partnership, until 1890. In that year, his brother withdrew from the business, and Mr. Speaker continued it alone, until 1897, when he retired from active work. Mr. Speaker has been a participant in the life of Belmore, since its inception. He is better informed on the history of the town than any other man.

Mr. Speaker was married in 1865 to Hattie Ward, who was a native of Ireland and was two years of age when her parents brought her to America, the youngest of several children. At New York both parents died and the children were left orphans. Relatives came and got them and reared them, these relatives living on a farm next to Mr. Speaker's father's home. He and his wife were schoolmates together, in their childhood days. To this union were born three children, George, who died at the age of twenty; Edward, who died in childhood; Katherine, who died on January 2, 1913, leaving her husband, Alvin Hook, with three children, two sons and a daughter.

Mr. Speaker married Ellen Blue, in 1883, who was reared in Ashland county, Ohio, and came to Putnam county, with her brother, William, and now lives five miles east of Belmore. To this second union have been born three children, John Burgan, Harvey and William. John B. is a minister in the Methodist church, and is now stationed in Illinois. He married Lola Lonzway, and has three children. Harvey is a painter and decorator and makes his home in Belmore. William is a farmer at Belmore, who married Gertrude Linkhart. The mother of these three children died, in 1904.

Mr. Speaker has been justice of the peace, for thirteen years, and still has three years more to serve of his present term. He has been clerk of his township for two terms, treasurer for two terms, and has been on the

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school board for the past twenty-seven years. He holds his membership in the Masonic lodge, at Deshler, and in the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, at Belmore. He is financially interested in the Belmore Banking Com- pany, and is now the vice-president of that institution.

HARRY F. WENDELL.

A substantial business man of Leipsic, Ohio, is Harry F. Wendell, who has been a resident of the city since 1894. He was in the newspaper business for the first few years after coming to this place and then engaged in the mail order business and has been engaged in selling by mail various things ever since that time. He started in by selling memorial cards by mail and still continues this business, although he has since added various other lines, such as mops, fire extinguishers and vacuum washers. Mr. Wendell has taken a very active part in the civic life of Leipsic since becoming a resident of the city, and has been one of the potent factors in advancing reforms of all kinds.

Harry F. Wendell, the son of Daniel and Hannah (Schaub) Wendell, was born in Noble county, Ohio, in 1867. His father was born in the same county, a son of Harrison Wendell. Harrison Wendell was a son of Fred- erick Wendell, who was high sheriff of Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, for fifty-two years. Harrison Wendell, the grandfather of H. F. Wendell, was born in Shenandoah Valley, in 1816, and came to Batesville, Ohio, when he was about fourteen years of age and helped to build a seven-room brick house in that place. He carried the brick which went into the building as his father, Frederick, erected it. It was in this building, Harrison Wen- dell died in 1906, which building was for many years the finest in the community.

Daniel Wendell was reared in Noble county and spent his whole life there. He enlisted in the Civil War in the Seventieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was severely wounded and died from the effects of the wound in 1870. His wife, Hannah Schaub, was born in Monroe county, Ohio.

H. F Wendell was reared at Batesville, Ohio, until he was sixteen years of age, and then moved to Cambridge, where he learned the printer's trade, and followed that until the spring of 1894. He came to Leipsic in that year and bought the Leipsic Tribune, a paper which had been started

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two years previously. He was a practical newspaper man and built up the paper and operated it successfully for five years. He sold the paper in 1899. and has since that year been engaged in mail order business, selling me- morials, and he has made an immense success of the venture. He still continues the business and now ships his cards all over the United States and Canada. This venture proving so successful he started the United States Mop Company, another mail order concern, with H. S. Huttinger as partner, and managed this business until the fall of 1910, selling mops all over the United States and foreign countries by mail. He and Mr. Hut- tinger established another mail order proposition in 1909 and sold chem- ical fire extinguishers under the name of the United Manufacturing Com- pany. He disposed of this business in 1910, at the same time when he re- linquished interest in the mop company. He established the Wendell Vacuum Washer Company in the fall of 1913, which he conducts himself. He has a factory at Leipsic for the manufacture of the washers and employs a large office force to attend to the mail orders. Within a very short time he has built up such a business that he now ships his washers all over the civilized world.

Mr. Wendell became one of the incorporators of the First National Bank, of Leipsic, in 1903, and was made vice-president of the institution. The bank went into voluntary liquidation, two years later, and completed its business by paying all depositors in full. He was secretary of the board of trade and for a time vice-president of the Leipsic Industrial Association. He was also president, for a time, of the Law and Order League, an organization which was promoted to improve the moral welfare of the city. This league was very active, after Leipsic went "dry," about ten years ago. Mr. Wendell was one of the most active men in the league and, while the fight was being made to vote the saloons out, he made a canvass of seventeen school districts with petitions signed by the farmers asking the city merch- ants to take the side of the "drys." These petitions taken together made a row of names fifteen feet long, and was a potent factor in subsequently ousting the saloons from Leipsic.

Mr. Wendell has served on the Leipsic council and is now a member of the school board. He has been asked, repeatedly, to run for mayor, but has steadfastly refused to make the race for the office. He has also- served on the board of health, of his city. In fact, there is probably not a man in the city who has been more active in its general welfare than Mr. Wendell, and in all things he has tried to do that which would be the best for the city at large.

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Mr. Wendell was married in 1892, to Laura Gallogly, who was a na- tive of Licking county, Ohio, is a daughter of Jacob and Frances (Brown) Gallogly, and to this union has been born one son, Francis, who is now attending the public schools of Leipsic.

Mr. Wendell is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, and has attained to the thirty-second degree. He also holds his membership in the Knights of Pythias. He and his wife are active workers in the Presbyterian church, and he has performed the duties of treasurer of his church, and for many years, was a member of the board of trustees. At the present time he is an elder in the denomination. In all things, Mr. Wendell has tried to promote the moral welfare of his community, and it is safe to say that he is distinctively one of the representative men of Leipsic.

LLEWELLYN GEIGER.

One of the enterprising and rising young men, who are native born to Putnam county, Ohio, and who are making names and reputations for them- seleves in the marts of trade is Llewellyn Geiger, whose father was also born in this county. Marked aptitude and diligence characterize the activi- ties of this young man, who is highly esteemed for his many excellent quali- ties and for his quiet, gentlemanly methods of transacting his business affairs in the community where he is carving out a career for himself.

Llewellyn Geiger was born in Riley township, Putnam county, Ohio, May 29, 1883, a son of David G. and Mary (Hilty) Geiger. David Geiger was born on November 7, 1852, in Riley township, a son of John G. and Mary (Lugibihl) Geiger. John G. Geiger was born in 1819, in Berne, Switzerland, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Christian Geiger.

John G. Geiger came to America, with his parents, in 1838, when he was nineteen years of age, and settled in Riley township, Putnam county, Ohio, where he entered government land. He experienced the usual pioneer hardships, but cleared his land and built a log house of two rooms and a . log stable. It was in that house that David G. Geiger was born, one of a family of three sons and five daughters.

David G. Geiger attended the public school and, during the periods when he was not in school, helped his father to clear the land on the farm and to operate the threshing machine which, in those days, was operated by horse- power. At the age of twenty-three, in 1875, he married Mary Hilty, a

MR. AND MRS. LLEWELLYN GEIGER.

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daughter of Peter and Catherine (Neunschwander) Hilty, both of whom were of pioneer stock.

After his marriage, he settled on a part of his father's farm, where he still lives. His wife died on April 22, 1885, when Llewellyn Geiger, the sub- ject, was not quite two years of age. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Geiger. They are Matilda, the wife of David Bucher, who lives in Riley township; Helena, the wife of Amos Hilty, who lives in Allen county ; Gideon, who married Elizabeth Steiner and lives in Lima, Ohio; Elizabeth, the wife of Ezra Steiner ; Llewellyn, the principal of this sketch, and Tillman, who married Rosa Suter and lives in Riley township.

David Geiger was married a second time, in 1886 or 1887, his second wife being Rosine Gilliam, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Gilliam. Six children were born to this union, also, who are, Mary, unmarried, who lives at home; Hulda, the wife of Oswin Gerber, of Pandora, Ohio; Hiram, who married Cecil Starkey, and lives at Pandora, Ohio; John, Melvina and Wil- liam, who live at home.

David Geiger has always done general farming and has been eminently successful. He is a loyal member of the Swiss Mennonite church and is active in its work.

He is a stanch member of the Democratic party and has always taken an active interest in political matters. For three years he has been a school director, an office which he has filled to the complete satisfaction of the citizens.

Llewellyn Geiger was born in Riley township, Putnam county, Ohio, May 29, 1883. He grew to manhood on the old homestead and attended district school, No. 7, until he was seventeen years of age. He continued to help his father in the operation of the farm until he reached the age of twenty-one, when he began to work as a carpenter, a trade which he followed for three years, spending a large portion of that time working in a saw-mill.

When he was twenty-four years of age, September 15, 1907, Llewellyn Geiger married Pauline Suter, who was born on November 30, 1882, a daughter of David D. and Elizabeth (Neunschwander) Suter, of Riley township. David D. Suter was born in Riley township on April 14, 1852, the son of Christian and Anna (Basinger) Suter. Christian Suter was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Christian Suter, Sr., Elizabeth Neunschwander was the daughter of Isaac and Mary (Steiner) Neunschwander, both of pioneer stock and Swiss descent.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Llewellyn Geiger spent seventeen

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months in making a tour to the Pacific coast, spending several months in California and Oregon. On their return, Mr. Geiger engaged in the planing mill business, buying an interest in the firm of D. C. Shank & Company, of which concern he is now vice-president, assistant manager and a director.

Mr. and Mrs. Geiger are both members of the Grace Mennonite church and are active in the church work. He is a member of the Democratic party, has taken an active interest in the political affairs of his community, and in his party affiliations has served as a precinct committeeman.

Llewellyn Geiger is a clean-cut and progressive young business man, of good character and unquestioned integrity. He is well known and univer- sally respected.

JOHN WILLIAM ELLERBROCK.

The Ellerbrock family have been residents of Putnam county, Ohio, since 1835, when the parents of John William Ellerbrock came from Han- over, Germany, and settled south of Glandorf. Mr. Ellerbrock grew to maturity in this county and was engaged, for the greater portion of his life, in the manufacture of woolen goods, at Glandorf. In fact, this was the main business of the village of Glandorf for many years. In addition to his woolen manufacturing, he was also engaged in farming, but devoted most of his time and attention to the woolen business. He was a pioneer in the county, and a man who was highly respected by everyone who knew him. He and his good wife reared a large family of children to lives of useful- ness, and they, in turn, married and are rearing families of their own.

The late John William Ellerbrock was born in Hanover, Germany, February 10, 1830, and died at his home in Glandorf, Putnam county, Ohio, May 25, 1914. He was a son of William and Mary C. (Kracht) Eller- brock, and came to America, in 1836, with his parents, being only six years of age at the time the family located in this county. He was reared amidst pioneer conditions and, from his earliest boyhood, knew what it was to swing an ax and handle the rifle. He received such education as was afforded by the schools of his home neighborhood and, immediately after his mar- riage, he and several of his friends started the Glandorf woolen mills, and for the most of his life, was engaged in this particular line of business. Later in life, he invested in farming lands and gave some of his attention to the tilling of the soil. He was an excellent business man and his integrity was such that it was never questioned.

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John W. Ellerbrock was married on October 22, 1856, to Mary A. Utendorf, who was born on February 9, 1838, south of Glandorf, in this county, and was a daughter of Joseph and Mary A. (Gerdeman) Utendorf. To this union fourteen children were born, ten of whom are still living, Andrew, deceased; a twin brother to Andrew, who died in infancy; Mary, the wife of Matthew Schroeder; Catherine, a nun; Theodore, of Ottawa; Elizabeth, the wife of Henry E. Schweickert, of Peru, Illinois; Philomina, a nun in the same convent with her sister, Catherine; Frank, of Peru, Illinois; Theresa, who is living in Glandorf; Charles B., a business man of Glandorf ; Emma, the wife of Peter A. Missler, of Glandorf; Frances, the wife of John Geier, of Galion, Ohio; Joseph, who died in infancy, and Bennie, a twin brother of Emma, who died in infancy. The mother of these children died on July 23, 1910, and the father, as before mentioned, died on May 25, 1914.

The Ellerbrock family are all loyal members of the Catholic church, at Glandorf. Theresa and Charles B. are now living in the old family resi- dence, in Glandorf. John W. Ellerbrock was a man who was widely known throughout the county, and, during his career of nearly eighty years in the county, there was never a time when he was not ready and willing to help those less fortunate than himself. He was charitable to the faults of his neighbors, kind and indulgent to his own family, and a genial and whole- souled citizen, who always stood for the best interests of his community.

FRANK K. HAMMETT.

Almost any business will give a substantial return if it is properly managed. Proper management involves a careful consideration of the re- lation between revenue and operating expenses. Frank K. Hammett has prospered and has made a success of the drayage and transfer business at Leipsic, bectuse he has never failed to look after his business carefully. Mr. Hammett is one of the substantial citizens of Leipsic.

He was born in 1861 at Covington, Ohio, the son of James H. and Elizabeth (Dunning) Hammett. His father came from Bedford county, Pennsylvania, with his parents to London county, Ohio. He grew up in northeastern Ohio and became the driver of a stagecoach along the shore of Lake Erie, between Cleveland and Buffalo. He was employed to drive a coach, hauling the man who had charge of building the Rock Island rail-

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road across Iowa. It was all new country. They stopped at Marengo, a little frontier tavern, and there he met and became much interested in the daughter of the landlord of the little hotel. She was Elizabeth Dunning, the daughter of Theodore Dunning who was a pioneer by nature and in- clination, a genial old man who could play the fiddle.

James H. Hammett returned to Ohio and wrote to the girl occasionally. Again he drove across Iowa, along the line of the road in course of con- struction, to Council Bluffs. When they reached it after a long and tedious journey, they found the town consisted of a tent and a party of men who were there to help build the railroad. In later years Mr. Hammett saw it as a thriving city.

He came back to Ohio but finally returned to Iowa and married the girl. He came back to Covington, Ohio, and worked in an elevator for a time and later bought a farm here, about 1863, where he lived until about 1866. Mr. Dunning, his wife's father, moved here during the war and started the old Leipsic hotel in a two-story frame building, on the corner, where the Geltz store is now located. There were only a few houses then and not over forty inhabitants in the town aside from the railroad construc- tion gang. The old man got the pioneer fever again about 1866, fixed up a pioneer wagon and he and his wife drove to Nebraska, where they entered land and spent the rest of their lives with their sons and daughters who also entered land and prospered in the same community.

Some time after his marriage James H. Hammett moved to Leipsic and took a place in a store. Later he moved to Leipsic and worked in an elevator for two years. Finally he and John Alt went into the general mer- chandise business and prospered. They extended the business and built an elevator and did a large business in grain. They met with reverses, how- ever, and had to retire, Mr. Hammett turning his attention to the insur- ance business. He later moved to Toledo and took a place in a large agri- cultural implement business, living there until his death. Mr. Hammett was twice married.

By his first marriage were born three children, Luella, Frank K., the subject of this sketch, and William W. Frank K. was about three years old when his mother died. His father then married Mrs. Ann Elizabeth (Black) Waters, a widow, and to this second union five children were born, Lily, who died at the age of three; Eva Netta, Alva DeLoss, Lettie Arlina and Edward Early.

Frank K. Hammett grew up at Leipsic and after working in various lines, in July, 1878, began draying at Leipsic and has followed this business

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for thirty-seven years. Most of the time he has had from ten to twelve men employed and many teams. He has prospered exceedingly in this busi- ness. He was agent for the American Express Company for over fifteen years, or until March, 1913.

Mr. Hammett was married to Mary M. Hayes, in 1883. She was born in Warren county, Ohio. One son has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hammett, December 28, 1884, Harry H. He attended the Tri-State Business College at Toledo, Ohio, and has been a stenographer most of the time since. He has worked mostly in railroad services; has traveled over most of the United States and in fourteen foreign countries. He has been in Cuba, Mexico, Hawaii, the Philippines, Japan, where he spent two years, China, Island of Guam and most of the principal European countries. In fact, his chief occupation has been traveling. He has a vast fund of information first hand. Altogether Harry H. Hammett has traveled not less than one hundred and fifteen thousand miles, undoubtedly, the most widely-traveled man in Putnam county, Ohio.

Frank K. Hammett is popular in Leipsic and an influential citizen in his community. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Hammett remembers Leipsic in its early days. He has seen deer between Main street and Leipsic Junction and wild game in abundance where the town now stands.

THEODORE DETERS.

A prominent citizen of Glandorf, Putnam county, Ohio, who was born in this village, before the Civil War, and has spent his entire life in the county, is Theodore Deters. Both of his parents were born in Germany, and they settled in this county in 1841. Since that time, the Deters family have been residents of Glandorf. Mr. Deters has served as assessor of Ottawa township, for more than twenty years, and has filled various other official positions in an efficient and satisfactory manner.

Theodore Deters, the son of Frank William and Mary (Redecker) Deters, was born on May 13, 1858, in Glandorf, near the present location of the tile factory. His father was a native of Oldenburg, Germany, his birth having occurred there on April 14, 1814, coming to America at the age of nine, having previously lost both of his parents. Upon coming to America he became a sailor and, from the age of seventeen until he was twenty-six years of age, he traveled over much of the world in a sailing

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vessel. He then left the sea and, for seven years, worked in a pottery fac- tory at Cincinnati. It was while living there he married Mary Redecker. His wife was born in Hanover, Germany, and came to America in 1833, with her parents, Henry and Mary Redecker. The Redecker family located in Putnam county, Ohio, south of Ottawa, where the father bought a farm and lived the remainder of his days. Frank W. Deters and his wife moved to Glandorf, in Putnam county, in 1841, where he bought forty acres and settled down to the life of a farmer. Later he bought one hundred and twenty acres north of New Cleveland, but spent all of his life in the village of Glandorf, where he died, in 1887. He served as land appraiser on two different occasions and for many years was assessor of Ottawa township, filling this office for more than eighteen years, from 1856 to 1874. He and his family were loyal members of the Catholic church. His widow died on August 26, 1910. Ten children were born to Frank W. Deters and wife, only three of whom are now living, Theodore, of Glandorf; Frank, of Hamler, Henry county, Ohio, and William, a farmer living three miles north of Glandorf.

Theodore Deters received his education in the schools of Glandorf and worked on his father's farm during his boyhood days. He remained at home until his marriage and then began farming for himself, continuing to reside in Glandorf. He served as assessor of Ottawa township, from 1891 until the spring of 1914. He has also been the appraiser of the Glandorf German Building and Loan Association, for six years. He has taken an active part in the civic life of Glandorf, and has been a member of the council for three years.

Mr. Deters was married in 1882, to Magdalene Wischmeyer, who was a native of Hanover, Germany, and, in 1879, came to America with her father, Henry, and her sister, settling in Glandorf, where an elder brother, Herman, had previously located. Her father spent the rest of his life here with his children.

Mr. Deters and his wife are the parents of six children, Frank, a painter who married Magdalene Lehman, and has two children, Lenora and Edna: Mary, the wife of Edward Gerdig, of Ottawa; Magdalene, who is still living with her parents; Frances, who married Charles Ellerbrock, a farmer of Glandorf, and has three children, Carolos, Mildred and Bertha; Joseph, who is now teaching in the public schools at New Cleveland, Ohio; Henry, who is still living at home with his parents.

Mr. Deters and his family are all members of the St. John's Catholic church, of Glandorf. He is also president of the St. John's Aid Society.

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GEORGE FRANKLIN POLK SMITH.

An enterprising newspaper man, of Leipsic, is George Franklin Polk Smith, who is the able editor of the Free Press, in that place. His father was the editor of this same paper for many years, and Mr. Smith has worked in newspaper offices from his boyhood days. He has had a very interesting career, having spent many years in professional baseball, where he made a record as a player. He received an injury, in 1910, which com- pelled him to leave the profession and since that time he has given all of his time to newspaper work. Since the death of his father, in 1912, has had sole charge of the Free Press.

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History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions, Part 31

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836- Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1744

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1744