History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions, Part 45

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 45

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After his marriage, Mr. Carr farmed the place of his wife's mother for five or six years. Mr. Carr and his brother-in-law, William Altman, then went to Kalida, which was the county seat at that time, and purchased a farm of eighty acres, sold by the sheriff for seven hundred dollars. Each took a half interest, or forty acres. Each then built a log cabin and en- gaged in farming.

David H. Carr and wife had three children, Mary Jane, Thomas J. and Barbara Ellen. After the Civil War broke out and in the fall of 1862, Mr. Carr entered the Union army with Company K, Twenty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was attached to the Army of the Tennessee under General Rosencrans and participated in the battle of Stone's River and the campaign against General Bragg. He was mustered out at Dekert's Sta- tion, Tennessee, in the fall of 1863, after which he returned home. He con- tinued to improve his farm and also rented some additional land to farm while he was clearing his own land. He purchased eighty acres one and one-fourth miles northwest of the home place and then purchased forty

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acres to the west of his first forty acres. He then bought his brother-in- law's place and had at this time two hundred acres in all. Later, he built his present residence on the last forty acres. In the meantime he had built a large barn. Afterward he traded his eighty-acre tract to the northwest side of his farm, for forty acres west of the north side. He received sixteen hundred dollars in cash and a twenty-acre wheat crop. This gave him one hundred and sixty acres, all in one tract.

Subsequently, eight more children were born to Mr. Carr and wife, Theophilus L., Persius, Julia, Lucy and William Garfield; Lucy died at the age of three years; William Garfield, the only one of the children at home, married Eva Deitler, daughter of George and Marie (Amstutz) Deitler, both of whom were natives of Switzerland. They came to America and settled as Muskegon, Michigan, about 1883. The other children were : Mary Jane, Thomas J. and Barbara Ellen.

David H. Carr has always done general farming and has been very successful in this vocation. He is a member of the Grand Army of the- Republic of Robert Hamilton Post No. 62, and in politics is an ardent Re- publican. He is a progressive farmer, a man of the highest ideals and of worthy ambitions.

WILLIAM ALEXANDER BELL.

The first member of the Bell family came to Ottawa, Putnam county, Ohio, in the early forties. The grandfather of William Alexander Bell was in the War of 1812, and started a shoe shop in Ottawa during the early for- ties, where he lived the remainder of his life. However, William A. Bell was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, but has lived in this county since 1855, and most of the time he has lived in or near Leipsic. He has been engaged in farming and merchandising in Leipsic, although within the last. few years he has given all of his attention to insurance. Mr. Bell remem- bers when the present site of Leipsic was covered with timber, swamps, and he himself farmed the land from Easton street west. In those early days hoop-poles, squirrels and wild game were the medium of exchange, and live. stock had to be driven on foot to Findlay for market.

William Alexander Bell, the son of Alexander and Eleanor (White) Bell, was born in 1852, in Sheffield, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. His father was a son of George Bell, who came from Scotland to New York and later to Pennsylvania, where he was living at the time of the War of 1812.

WILLIAM A. BELL.

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He joined a Pennsylvania regiment and helped to cut the Perrysburg road, between St. Marys and Fort Meigs, Ohio, and helped to build Fort Meigs. In the early forties George Bell located in Ottawa, Putnam county, Ohio, where he engaged in the shoemaker's trade. Later he moved to West Leip- sic and spent most of the remainder of his life in that place. He entered a tract of government land a mile and a half north of Leipsic and lived on it a part of the time, dying on his farm in 1856. George Bell's wife was Mary Mckinley, a member of the same family as the President.

Alexander Bell was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in 1816, and was married, in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, to Eleanor White, a na- tive of that county. She was born in 1814. Alexander Bell, like his father, was a shoemaker, and also operated a hotel at Sheffield. A year before his father's death, in 1855, Alexander Bell came to Putnam county and located on the farm where his father died a year later. He then remained on this farm until the Civil War. He moved to Leipsic and went into the shoemak- ing business. He employed several men making boots and shoes to order and conducted a shoe shop the remainder of his life. He took an active interest in local public affairs, and held various official positions. He died in 1888, and his wife passed away the following year. Alexander Bell was a very energetic and public-spirited man, and during the war organized two sep- arate companies of one hundred men each. He could not go himself on ac- count of his age, although he sent two of his sons, Arthur and George, to- the front. William A. was not old enough to go, but he assisted his father in hauling wood, flour, potatoes and provisions of various kinds to the war widows in the county.

William A. Bell has lived in or around Leipsic since he was three years of age. He operated the home farm until 1887, and then moved to Leipsic and opened the Nickel Plate House and managed it until 1889. He then spent a year in the lumber business, after which he was in a grocery for five years. He then sold his grocery and went into partnership in another gro- cery store with Charles C. Huber. He disposed of his interests in the gro- cery store and engaged in the insurance business with John D. Hyde in 1898. Three years later Mr. Hyde was succeeded in the firm by A. A. Slaybaugh, and Mr. Bell and Mr. Slaybaugh have since continued in partnership.

While Mr. Bell lived in West Leipsic he was a member of the town council and has been president of the Leipsic board of public affairs for the past eight years. He has been a life-long Republican and was formerly ac- tive in his party, serving as a committeeman for ten years. During the past few years he has not been so active in his party, although he still takes an intelligent interest in its councils.

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Mr. Bell was married in 1875 to Olive S. McConnell, who was born south of Leipsic and is a daughter of Isaac and Mary (Lowry) McConnell. Her parents came to this county from near Youngstown, Ohio, during the early fifties, and her father farmed south of Leipsic the remainder of his life. The first wife of Mr. Bell died in 1897, leaving three children, Effa, William Clayton and Fred Mark. Effa is the wife of Wesley Lewis, of Leip- sic; William C., of Fort Wayne, Indiana, married Nina Foltz, and has two children, Mary and William; Fred Mark makes his home at Leipsic, wherc he is employed by the Nickel Plate Railway Company.

Mr. Bell was married again in 1899, to Lillie B. King, who was born at Ligonier, Indiana, and is a daughter of Isaac and Christina (Gerber) King. She lived in Ligonier until the time of her marriage and her father is still farming at that place. To the second marriage of Mr. Bell have been born four children, Gertrude, Eleanor, George Alexander and Robert L.

Mr. Bell is a member of the Knights of Pythias. He was a United Presbyterian until that organization was abandoned at Leipsic, when he bc- came affiliated with the Lutheran church, his wife being a member of that church. Mr. Bell has an unusually good memory, and having been a witness of the growth of Leipsic from its earliest history, is one of the best-informed men in the city on the early life of the community. He spent about three weeks in the county recorder's office, helping to straighten out the plats and description of town lots, which were vague and contradictory. He was prob- ably the best man in the city to do this work, in view of the fact that he had personal knowledge of nearly every lot in the city. Mr. Bell is an energetic and wide-awake citizen and deeply interested in the welfare of the commun- ity where he has spent his whole life.

PETER P LUGIBIHL.

The province of Alsace, formerly a part of France, but now a part of Germany, and at the present time one of the battle grounds of the greatest war of history, which may any week again change the sovereignty of the province, has produced many of America's most valued citizens. The na- tives of that province came, many of them, during the early pioneer days and played important parts in the development of this country. From their ranks have sprung representatives of every important branch of human endeavor. They have produced famous artists, notcd engineers and eminent

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professional men of every type. From them have also sprung many of the most expert and successful farmers, to whom the country has been, and yet is, deeply indebted for much of its prosperity. The pioneers from Alsace paved the way and laid the foundation, and their descendants have most ably builded on those same foundations until today they are found, worthy sons of worthy fathers, occupying places in the forefront of all branches of American life. And in this respect Putnam county, Ohio, has been fortu- nate indeed, counting among its prized citizens many of Alsatian descent, among which the Lugibihl family ranks second to none in point of value to the community.

Peter P. Lugibihl, the subject of this sketch, was born in Riley town- ship, Putnam county, August 19, 1867, a son of Christian and Mary (Schu- macher ) Lugibihl. Christian Lugibihl was born in Riley township on March 16, 1847. a son of Mr. and Mrs. Christian Lugibihl, Sr. Mrs. Lugi- bihl's maiden name was Hilty.

Christian Lugibihl, Sr., was born in Belfort, Alsace, France, and passed his youth in that province, where he became a veterinary surgeon of the early type which were called, in those days, by the more rugged title of "horse doctors." He came to America in 1835 or 1836 in company with his wife and his brother, John. They settled first in Holmes county, Ohio, but shortly afterward moved to Riley township, Putnam county, where Christian Lugibihl entered three hundred and twenty acres of government land, situated about two miles east of Pandora. It was there that Peter P. Lugibihl's father grew up on the old homestead, one of nine children. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lugibihl, were: Magdalene, Catherine, David, John, Elizabeth, Christian, Adam, Barbara and Mary. Mr. Lugi- bihl died about 1853, when Christian, Jr., was about six years of age. Mrs. Lugibihl lived only a short time after her husband's death.

After his mother died, Christian Lugibihl, Jr., was taken by his mother's sister, Elizabeth (Elsie) Geiger, who lived about four miles east of Co- lumbus Grove, at that time in Putnam county, but which later became a part of Richland township, Allen county. Mr. Lugibihl remained with his aunt's family until he was sixteen years of age, at which timne he learned the car- penter's trade and worked in various sections of the neighborhood. While living with his aunt, he attended one of the typical log-cabin schools and assisted in the work about the farm. During that time he helped in making the home-made bricks of which his aunt's second home was built.

After three years of shifting for himself, Mr. Lugibihl, in November, 1866, when he was nineteen years of age, married Mary Schumacher, who

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was born in Richland township, Allen county, March 10, a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Suter ) Schumacher. Both of Mrs. Lugibihl's parents were of pioneer stock. After their marriage they lived for a short time on the old homestead. Then, when their own home had been finished, on a section of eighty acres of the homestead, Mr. Lugibihl took up the voca- tion of farming. He later bought from his sisters eighty acres, thus making his holdings total one hundred and sixty acres.

Mr. and Mrs. Christian Lugibihl had eleven children, who were: Peter P., the subject; Benjamin Franklin; Susan and Lydia, both of whom died in childhood; Martha, Elizabeth, Gideon, Mary, Alvin, David and Orville.

Peter P. Lugibihl spent his childhood on the west eighty of the old homestead, where he attended the district school. He then took a prepara- tory course of three terms at Angola, Indiana, after which he taught school for two years. When he was twenty-three years of age, March 10, 1892, he married Catherine (Katie) Gilliom, who was born on October 6, 1870, in Adams county, Indiana, a daughter of John and Mary (Sprunger) Gil- liom.

After his marriage, Mr. Lugibihl rented a house on Benjamin Schu- macher's farm and, in the following spring, he and Daniel -Schumacher rented the George Dukes farm, in Riley township, about four miles east of Pandora. The farm consisted of two hundred and sixty acres, which the two men farmed on a partnership basis for the following four years. At the end of that period, Mr. Lugibihl moved to the northeast eighty of the old Lugibihl homestead, where he has since made his home. He has developed the farm along lines of general farming, but has specialized in the raising and feeding of hogs for market, a line of business in which he has met with marked success.

To Mr. and Mrs. Peter P Lugibihl nine children have been born, as follow: Edna Marie, Sylvia Viola, Lydia Ann, Raymond Gilliom, Ralph La Verne, Eldon Paul, Christian John, Treva Marcella, all of whom live at home, and Mary Catherine, who died in infancy.

Mr. Lugibihl is a supporter of the Democratic party and has always taken an intelligent interest in the political affairs of his community. He has served one term as county assessor, the duties of which office he dis- charged with great success.

He is very prominent in all local affairs and is identified with some of the community's most important business enterprises. He is an appraiser for the Mennonite Mutual Aid Society, a fire insurance company; is secre-

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tary of the farmers' institute, and is also president of the Mutual Tele- phone Company, in which company he was elected a director, last year.

Mr. and Mrs. Lugibihl and their three oldest daughters are members of the Grace Mennonite church, in which they are all active supporters and earnest workers.

Mr. Lugibihl is an energetic, progressive farmer and a prominent and influential citizen. He is a man of high principles and stands well in his community, both as a citizen and as a man.

DAVID RISSER.

A Union soldier in the war between the states builded wiser than he knew. Through four years of suffering and hardships, the horrors of prison pens and amid the shadows of death, he laid the superstructure of the greatest temple ever erected and dedicated to human freedom. The world looked on and called those soldiers sublime, because it was theirs to reach out the mighty arm of power and strike the chains from off the slaves, preserve the country from dissolution and unfurl to the breeze the only flag that has ever made tyrants tremble, whose majestic stripes and scintil- lating stars are still waving universal liberty to all of the earth. For all the unmeasured deeds, the living present will never repay them. Pension and political power may be thrown at their feet, art and sculpture may pre- serve upon canvas and in granite and bronze, their unselfish deeds. History may commit to books, and cold type may give to the future, the tales of their sufferings and triumph, yet to the children of the generations un- born will it remain to accord the full measure of appreciation and undying remembrance of the immortal character carved out by the, American soldier in the dark days of the early sixties, prominent among whom was David Risser, the subject of this sketch.

David Risser, one of the most prominent bankers and farmers of Put- nam county, Ohio, was born at Derkheim, Bavaria, Germany, April 5, 1840. He is the son of Abraham and Catherine (Sunzenich) Risser, the former of whom was a native of Bavaria, who in his young days engaged in teaming. Subsequently, he conducted a stage line from Derkheim and vicin- ity to Havre, France, for the convenience of the ocean travelers. This busi- ness was, after about ten years, supplanted by the first river steamer on the Rhine. Abraham Risser did an extensive business before the advent of the

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steamer and after this, he resumed his teaming business. He and his wife had nine children, Abraham, Jr., Catherine, John, who died in Germany at the age of twenty-one; Jacob, Daniel, Henry, David, Christian, and Louis, who died in Germany at the age of two years.

Abraham Risser's wife died in Germany in the spring of 1856. The following autumn David Risser, his father and a young brother, Christian, came to America on a sailing vessel, landing in New York after a trip lasting forty-nine days. All of the other brothers had previously come to America. Abraham, Jr., the eldest, settled at Canandaigua, New York, where he was married and reared a large family and became very prosperous. He was a farmer and at one time controlled six hundred acres of land. The other sons settled in Putnam and Allen counties, Ohio, where they all fol- lowed farming, married and reared large families. All became prosperous citizens. Henry, who settled at Lima, specialized in flowers and truck gardening. Catherine was the only child who was married in Germany and was the wife of Frederick Cost. They settled at Pandora. She had one child, Elizabeth, who was born in Germany. Catherine lived about ten years after coming to America.

When David Risser arrived in America, he first went to Cleveland and there engaged in teaming. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted in the Third New York Cavalry and served until December, 1865. He was attached to the Army of the Potomac and saw active service throughout the whole war. Unlike other soldiers, on account of personal services to the officers of his command, he was permitted to retain his horse at the close of the war. This horse had faithfully served him during the whole period of the war and only one other animal in the regiment survived. Mr. Risser was given transportation for himself and horse to Rochester, New York, from whence it was brought overland to Putnam county, Ohio. Pos- sessed of unusual intelligence, this animal was unsurpassed as a saddle-horse. It is said that no fence was too high for him to jump and so perfectly was he trained that he could be ridden anywhere without saddle or bridle.

After the war, Mr. Risser settled on a farm one mile west of Pendleton, now Pandora, which he had purchased with his savings while in service. There were eighty acres in the original farm, which had upon it a house, partly of logs and partly of frame, and a barn. The land was only partially cleared.

Mr. Risser was married to Margaret Krohn on May 24, 1866, the daugh- ter of Samuel and Sarah (Weaver) Krohn. Mrs. Risser was born in Butler

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county, Ohio, January 5, 1844, and at the age of three months, was brought by her parents to Riley township, Putnam county, Ohio. The family history of Mrs. Risser is to be found in the sketch of Henry Grismore, contained elsewhere in this volume.

David Risser and wife were the parents of eleven children, Samuel E., George W., William M., Minnie A., Irene, Jacob A., Elizabeth, Lena Alma, Ottillia, Louis D., and Edwin A. Samuel E. was born on June 30, 1867, and died on September 7, of the same year; George W., was born on Oc- tober 30, 1868, and who died on December 11, 1914, was married to Clara Boyd. He was a lawyer by profession and was prosecuting attorney of Putnam county for two terms. He was prominent, politically, and was a leading lawyer in Ottawa and Putnam counties; William M., who was born on March 29, 1871, married Elizabeth Lenley, and had five children; Min- nie A., who was born on April 27, 1873, is the wife of William Basinger and has had six children, one of whom is deceased; Irene was born on August 1, 1874, and died on November 5, 1879; Jacob A. was born on December 15, 1876, and died on August 21, 1877; Ottillia, who was born on September 11, 1882, is the wife of Otis McBride, of Lima, Ohio, and has one son; Elizabeth, who was born on July 15, 1878; Lena Alma, who was born on August 13, 1880; Lewis D., who was born on October 19, 1884, and Edwin, who was born on May 21, 1887, are all single and at home.

David Risser has always done general farming. He has added to his farm holdings from time to time until he now owns four hundred and seventy-six acres in addition to his other interests. He has been a large raiser and feeder of cattle and hogs for the market and is considered one of the most successful farmers in Putnam county. His home place is im- proved with a large, beautiful residence which has every modern conven- ience, also large and commodious barns and other buildings in keeping with the surroundings.

David Risser has been a life-long Democrat. He has served his com- munity for six consecutive terms as trustee without any solicitation or effort on his part. It is a remarkable tribute to his character as a citizen and as a man. He is president of the Farmers Banking Company at Pandora and is interested in many other enterprises. Mrs. Risser, after a most beautiful and useful life, died on September 10, 1907, at the age of sixty-three. She was baptized in the Lutheran church and lived a most consistent Christian life, devoted to her husband and to her children. Mr. Risser has given his children every advantage that is possible. They have been well-educated in order that they might become useful citizens of the community where they

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live. All of them have gratified their father and the memory of their mother by filling positions of prominence in the vicinities where they reside. The four children, who are at home, are members of the Presbyterian church, of Columbus Grove. His youngest sons, Louis and Edwin, are graduates of the agricultural department of Ohio State University, and are, therefore, well equipped to take up the active management of Mr. Risser's large farm holdings when his active career is finished. David Risser is a member of the Mennonite church, in which he was baptised in his native country of Germany ot the age of sixteen. and is a member of Ogleby Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and has always been keenly interested in its work. He is a man who well deserves the universal esteem bestowed upon him by his neighbors and fellow citizens.

REV FRANCIS NIGSCH.

A large proportion of the early settlers of Putnam county, Ohio, were Catholics, and from the beginning of the history of the county the Catholic citizen has been a prominent factor in the spiritual life of the people. The well-educated and thoroughly-trained priesthood has had charge of the spiritual needs of the people and has been instrumental in providing beauti- ful buildings of worship as well as substantial school buildings and residences for the pastors. The Rev. Francis A. Nigsch has had charge of St. Peter and Paul's church at Ottawa since 1903, and during the past twelve years has had the satisfaction of seeing his church increase in influence in this community. He is a man of broad education and catholic sympathies, and is not only well beloved by his own congregation, but highly esteemed by all in the community where he has labored so faithfully and well.

Rev. Francis Nigsch, the son of Francis A. and Regina (Erhart) Nigsch, was born at Blons, in Vorarlberg, in the northwestern part of Tyrol, near Switzerland, May 24, 1846. Both of his parents are deceased. Of the five children born to these parents, a sister lives in Austria and one brother is deceased, having been killed by a falling tree. The other three children were sons, and came to America, where two of them entered the priesthood.

Of these three brothers, Rev. Christian Nigsch came to the United States when a young man of twenty years, after having been well educated in his native land, and having taught in the public schools of Tyrol. He came to this country in 1868, and entered the seminary at Carthagena, Mercer

REV. FRANCIS NIGSCIL.

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county, Ohio, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1878 by Archbishop Purcell, in Cincinnati. His first appointment was in Jay county, Indiana, and his next charge was at the Church of St. John, in Mercer county, Ohio. He was next assigned to the Catholic church at Winamac, Puliska county, Indiana, and while pastor there he built a beautiful church. He was trans- ferred to Minster, Auglaize county, Ohio, in 1885, where, after a ministra- tion of five years, he died on November 25, 1890. Frederick Nigsch, another brother, came to America and died in 1873 while preparing himself for the priesthood.

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History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions, Part 45

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