USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, Ohio; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Vo. II > Part 13
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In politics Mr. Black gives his allegiance to the Democratic party, and he has given veoman service in behalf of its canse, bo- ing an able exponent of its principles. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church, and he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Columbus. the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the American Order of Red Men.
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On the 18th of June. 1902. was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Black to Miss Ida G. Wagner, who was born and reared in Tiffin. where the Wagner family home has been maintained for more than half a century. Mrs. Black is a daughter of Joseph and Jose- phine Wagner, and the father prior to his death was one of the representative business men and influential citizens of Tiffin. Mr. and Mrs. Black became the parents of two children, one of whom died in infancy. and the surviving daughter. Josephine Elizabeth. was born on the 20th of February. 1909. and is a shining and com- forting light in the family home.
EDWARD LEPPER .- A genial, broad minded. law abiding citi- zen of Tiffin. Edward Lepper has a large cirele of acquaintances in Seneca county. each one of whom is his friend. He was born. October 14. 1838. in Lisbon. Colombiana county. Ohio, a son of Wil- liam D. Lepper. Jr .. coming from honored German stock. His pa- ternal grandfather, William D. Lepper. Sr .. was born in Alsace. Germany, and was a man of much ability and culture, having been a graduate of the far famed Heidelberg University. the oldest and best institution of the kind in all Germany. Emigrating to the United States. he settled in New York, later in Pennsylvania and finally in Ohio, where he carried on a substantial business as a con- tractor and builder.
Having learned the trade of a carriage painter. Edward Lepper came to Tiffin in 1858. and in following his chosen occupation be- came proficient as a painter and skilful as an artist. many of the more noted pieces of his handiwork being still in evidence in the vicinity of the court house. While the dark clouds of war were hovering over our land in the early sixties. Mr. Lepper's patriotic spirit was aroused, and he enlisted in the One Hundred and First Ohio Volunteer Infantry. in which he served until just after the engagement at Stone River. when he was honorably discharged. the term of his enlistment having expired. Coming home. he re- enlisted in 1863. joining the Ohio Guards and being commissioned second lieutenant of his company. He was stationed with his regiment at Fort. C. F. Smith until the close of the conflict. when he returned to Tiffin.
In 1881 Mr. Lepper was elected county coroner of Seneca county, and has been continuously re-elected to the office ever since. at the present time. in 1910. serving his fifteenth consecutive term. a period of thirty-one years. Attending most faithfully to the duties devolving upon him in this capacity. his services have been highly appreciated by his constituents. Mr. Lepper is a member of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Relief Committee, of which he is secretary. and also belongs to the Seneca County Humane Society. His grandfather came to Ohio in 1808 and established the Ohio Patriot, one of the oldest papers in the state of Ohio, it being now one hundred and two years old.
HEATH K. COLE, B. S .. LL. D. - Conspicnons among the . younger members of the Seneca county bar is Heath K. Cole, of Tiffin, who has inherited in no small measures the legal talents of
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his father. John L. Cole. and in the practice of his profession is meeting with good success. A native of Seneca county, he was born, September 16. 1880. in Republic, of substantial New England ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Nathan Cole, was born in Rehoboth. Massachusetts. in 1785. Leaving his native state when young, he migrated first to New York state. where he resided until 1836. Following then the trail of the emigrant. he came with his family to Seneca county. Ohio. locating south of Tiffin, and there spent his remaining days. He married Mary M. Walker. who was born in Cayuga county. New York, March 3. 1808. and died at Republic, Ohio. March 27. 1907. Of the eleven children born of their union two are living. namely: John L .. father of Heath K .. and Elsie, wife of Charles C. Fox. of Republic.
John L. Cole was born. February 4. 1840, in Seneca county. Ohio, just south of Tiffin. Entering the legal profession when young, he has gained a position of note among the foremost lawyers of this part of Ohio, and is still actively engaged in the practice of law in Republic. He married A. M. Platte, who was born Decem- ber 8. 1841. in Seneca county, about a mile south of the village of Republic.
Brought up in the town of Republic. Heath K. Cole was there primarily educated. being graduated from the common and high schools, receiving his diploma from the high school in 1895. He subsequently taught school a year or more. and in 1897 entered Heidelberg University at Tiffin, and having completed the scienti- fic course at that institution was graduated with the degree of B. S. in 1901. In 1902 and 1903 Mr. Cole was superintendent of the Republic schools, during which time he read law with MeCauley & Weller, in whose office he afterwards remained from Septem- ber. 1903. until September. 1904. ( Going then to Columbus. he entered the law department of the Ohio State University. from which he was graduated with the degree of LL. D. in the spring of 1905. The following eighteen months Mr. Cole spent in Kan- sas, and on returning to Ohio, in June, 1907, he opened an office in Tiffin. and has since been here successfully engaged in the practice of law. having won an excellent patronage in this city.
Fraternally Mr. Cole is a member of Hildreth Lodge. No. 165. F. & A. M .. of Republic : and of the Junior Order of United Ameri- can Mechanics. Politically he is a firm believer in the doctrine taught by Lincoln, Grant. Garfield. MeKinley. Roosevelt and Taft.
LOUIS A. SMITH .- The famous lines of Oliver Wendell Holines.
"There was a young fellow of excellent pith. Fate tried to obscure him by naming him Smith."
might be applied to him whose name initiates this review. but in this case. as in that of the character referred to in the poem fate was cheated in her nefarious designs. Lonis A. Smith, born April 14. 1865. is of German extraction on both the paternal and maternal sides of the house. . His parents. Henry and Barbara (Fry) Smith. were both natives of the Fatherland. The former. born Septem- ber 20, 1827. came here when a boy of five with his parents. His
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father was Rudolph Schmidt, and the subject has anglicised the name. These good people landed at New Orleans and gradually made their way to Ohio, locating on the township line of Wolf creek, the grandparents remaining on the homestead then acquired until their deaths, which occurred in the '60s.
The mother of the subject of this review was born September 6, 1830, and came here when an infant with her parents, Charles and Elizabeth (Rheinbolt) Fry, the year of their emigration being 1831. They were sixty-three days crossing the ocean and after landing at New York, came to Ohio by way of the lakes, locating in Seneca county, near Portland road in the southeast corner of Plea- sant township, on land which they secured from the goverment. They endured with hardihood many difficulties and herculean tasks in their adopted country, among other things making the journey from Sandusky, a distance of thirty-five miles, on foot, with three children. They built their cabin and cleared and improved their land and lived to enjoy some of the benefits offered by the new Mit resourceful country, being gathered to their fathers in 1867. The Frys had been preceded to what was then "the west" by certain relatives who had subsequently gone on to Illinois, and they fol lowed a route laid out by them.
The subject's father, Henry Smith, was a well known agricul- turist. At the breaking out of the Civil war he went to Columbus to enlist, but failed to pass the physical examination. He walked home, making the trip of about sixty miles in one day. His union with Barbara Fry was solemnized February 26, 1851.
Louis A. Smith resided with his parents until his marriage. re- ceiving his education in the district schools of Pleasant township. and at the college at Ada, Ohio. Having passed the teachers' exami- nation when about sixteen years of age, he taught for six years, his pedagogical endeavors being in the townships of Big Spring. Pleasant and Liberty. He was also employed in the post office at Tiffin for three years, but now devotes his whole attention to the cultivation of his land, a tract of one hundred and fifty-seven arres in Pleasant township. After the residence in Tiffin before alluded to he and his wife removed to a part of the old homestead. where they built a house, barn and outbuildings, this being in 1592.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Smith took place October 25, 1890, the latter before her marriage having been Mary E. Buchman. born April 4, 1871, to John and Elizabeth (Steigmeir) Buchman. natives of Germany, who came here when the father was a boy five or six years of age. The natal day of the father was September 28, 1827, and that of the mother, November 30. 1842. To the sub- ject and his wife have been born a family of twelve children, as follows : Celestine E., born January 6, 1892; Florine V .; April 12, 1894; Clotilda M .. November 30. 1895; Urban B. A., January 4, 1897; Marion J., October 12. 1898; Bertha R., December 2. 1900 ; Victoria E .. April 8. 1902; Gertrude V., January 8, 1904; Paul J., December 19, 1905; Louis F, and Louisa F., twins, November 2, 1907; and Mary A., July 14. 1909. One of the daughters, Florine V., secured a teaching certificate at the age of fifteen years. She is now attending the Tiffin high school, being a member of the junior
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class. Mrs. Smith received her education in the schools of Hope- well and Eden townships.
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SAMUEL KISTLER .- This highly esteemed citizen of Seneca county is a son of Joseph and Margaret (Shawbury) Kistler and was born July 8, 1867. Joseph Kistler a pioneer in this vicinity, died at his residence in Adams township, February 2. 1899, aged eighty-four years. Ile was a son of Michael and Magdalena (Hoppes) Kistler, born January 10, 1815, in Lehigh county, Penn- sylvania. The record of his baptism shows the date February 28.
1815. Ile was for more than seventy years a consistent member of the Lutheran church, in which he held important offices greatly to the benefit of the church and. to the satisfaction of all his fellow members. He came to the county in the year 1832 and married Elizabeth Payne, May 22, 1836. She died October 2. 1854, after having borne him five children. He married Margaret Shawbury
September 11, 1855. At his death he left three sons and four
Fifteen of his children and twenty-one of his great daughters.
. grandchildren were living in 1910. In his time he was one of the men of prominence in his township, a leader in and a generous con- tributor to every good work. He was a good husband and father. a kind neighbor and a truly patriotic citizen. Miss Shawbury, who became his second wife, was born in Prussia and in 1833 came to the United States with her parents. They located in Scipio town- ship. She bore her husband five sons and six daughters five of whom died before she passed away. Their father died February 2, 1899. The mother, who was born January 4. 1829. died December
15, 1905. She was an earnest Christian, trying always to love her God and do good to her fellow men and women. She was long an active and very helpful member of the German Lutheran church.
Samuel Kistler married Miss Mary B. Miller. December 29, 1889. She was born August 3, 1870. a daughter of .J. J. and Sarah (Robinalt) Miller. A biographical sketch of her father graces another page of this work. She has borne her husband one son. Albert D. Kistler. born April 21. 1891. Out of the goodness of their hearts. they raised Charles A. McLeod. a native of Maine, who was a member of their household until his marriage and who is now living in Scipio township.
ALBERT J. HENZY .-- A man of acknowledged business ability and tact, Albert J. Henzy holds a position of note in the business circles of Tiffin, being at the head of the firm of A. J. Henzy & Com- pany, undertakers and dealers in furniture. A native of Ohio. he was born October 4. 1864. in Sandusky, Erie county. coming from thrifty German ancestry. Growing to manhood in the city of Sandusky. he attended the public schools until fourteen years old, when he entered the employ of J. Krupp & Son. furniture dealers and undertakers, with whom he remained four years. Feel- ing then the need of a better knowledge of commercial matters. he entered the Sandusky Business College, and there completed the course of study. After his graduation Mr. Henzy was clerk in a
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shoe store in his native city for two and one half years, when, in 1883, he accompanied his mother on a trip to her early home in Germany, being away about three months.
Returning to Ohio, Mr. Henzy located in Cleveland, where for a year he was employed as a clerk in the carpet and furniture store of M. J. Moriarty. Coming from there to Tiffin in August, 1885, he accepted a position as clerk in the shoe store of J. H. Kuebler, with whom he continued for two and one half years. Forming then a partnership with Otto Wagoner, he purchased the furniture and undertaking establishment of P. Grunnnel & Son, and has since carried on a substantial business under the present firm name of A. J. Henzy & Company.
Mr. Henzy married on May 25, 1886, Rosa M. Kuebler, who was born in Tiffin and was here educated, attending first the parochial schools and later being graduated from the Ursuline Convent. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Henzy, namely : Urban L., a graduate of the Buffalo Commercial School; Herman A., who completed his studies in the parochial school; Helen F., a graduate of the Ursuline Convent; and Louisa M., a pupil in the same convent. Mr. Henzy and his family are consistent and valued members of St. Joseph's Catholic church. Fraternally Mr. Henzy belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is treasurer of his lodge. . An active member of the Democratic party. he was elected sheriff of Seneca county in 1902, and served from January, 1903, until January, 1905.
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W. H. STOVER, M. D., who owns and occupies a beautiful home at No. 45 West Perry street, Tiffin, Ohio, has been identified with this city as a physician and surgeon for more than four decades.
Dr. Stover is a native of eastern Pennsylvania, having been born in Northampton county September 23, 1839, and has now passed his three score years and ten. When a young man. in August, 1861, he enlisted as a soldier in the Union ranks, and as a member of the Nineteenth Ohio Battery helped to put down the rebellion. During his long, hard service in the war, from the time of his enlistment until his honorable discharge, in June, 1865. he suffered from exposure and hardships which later resulted in his deafness.
After the war he pursued a medical course. at Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated in the Homeopathie College in 1867, and later, in 1874, further prepared himself for his life work by a course in the Detroit Homeopathic College. In the meantime, April 9, 1867, he took up his residence at Tiffin, which has since been his home and where he has had a successful career as a practitioner. He is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy and the International Hahnemann Association.
A few months after establishing himself at Tiffin, in November, 1867, Doctor Stover married Miss Anna M. Snook, who shared life's joys and sorrows with him for forty-two years. Her death oc- curred in 1909.
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PHILIP H. REIF .- A man of upright principles, strong in his convictions and fearless in the performance of his duties, Philip H. Reif, of Tiffin, now sheriff of Seneca county, is one of the most respected and popular officials in the county. He is a native born citizen, his birth having occurred on May 30, 1866, in Tiffin. His father, John Reif, was born in 1826 in Germany, and in 1832 came with his parents to the United States. £ He is now one of the most venerable and highly respected citizens of Tiffin, where the greater part of his long and useful life has been passed. Ile married Catherine Reis, who was born in Germany, and was there reared until about fifteen years, when, in 1846, she came to Ohio to live, and here met and married her future husband.
Brought up in Tiffin, Philip H. Reif completed the course of study in the primary and grammar grades of the public schools. On leaving school he entered the employment of J. M. Naylor, and was for twenty-two years connected with the hardware business. clerking in the same establishment under different proprietors. Ever interested in advancing the public welfare, Mr. Reif was nominated for the office of sheriff of Seneca county in the fall of 1908, and at the election held in November, 1908, was elected by the handsome majority of two thousand, one hundred and forty- eight votes, his ticket, the Democratic, usually carrying the county by about thirteen hundred votes. On January 4, 1909, he assumed the duties of his office, and is filling the position ably and acceptably.
Mr. Reif married, on the 4th of May, 1892, Mamie Heckle, who was born in Pennsylvania and came with her parents to Tiffin when a child of three years. Four children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Reif, namely : Glenn P., born in June, 1894; Miriam I., born in December, 1901; John V., born in November, 1903; and Arthur A., born in February. 1907. Mrs. Reif and the children are members of the Evangelical church. Politically Mr. Reif is an unswerving Democrat. loyal to the interests of his party and of the county. Fraternally he belongs to Tiffin Lodge, No. 175, K. of P. ; and to Tiffin Council. No. 136, Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
EBER K. ECHELBERRY .- This popular citizen of Adams township. Seneca county, Ohio, was born in Bloom township, that county, a son of John P. J. and Alice (DeWitt) Echelberry, natives respectively of Maryland and of Ohio. His father enlisted in the Federal army in 1862, was wounded at Stone river and dis- charged for disability and later enlisted for the one hundred days service. After the war he came to Seneca county and in 1866 mar- ried Alice De Witt. They began their wedded life in Bloomville. For a time he worked for farmers and others by the day, then they moved to the farm on which he now lives near Tiffin. He was born January 21, 1844, and has been a life long Republican and as such has been elected to several offices in his township. His wife was born August 20. 1846. a daughter of William and Mary (Young) De Witt, natives of Scotland, who came early in life to the United States, later to Ohio. locating near Tiffin when there were on the
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Philip. IX. Reif
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site of the present city only two log cabins .. She died compara- tively young.
Eber K. Echelberry was educated at district schools and at the academy at Republic. He married Olive Metzger, born August 9, 1875, a daughter of HI. HI. and Rebecca (Drinkwater) Metzger, who in the maternal line traces her ancestry to William the Con- querer. After his marriage, October 21, 1896, he established him- self as a barber at Bloomville. After five years successful business there he moved his shop to Republic, where he remained another five years. Then he and his wife moved into the old Drinkwater house, which she had inherited. They have three sons, Klhar. born August 10, 1897; Don, born April 17, 1903; Welton, born May 10. 1907.
Mr. Echelberry is one of a family of six children. One of them died in infancy. Agnes, born February 14, 1869, is the wife of Ervin More, of Scipio. William, born May 28, 1871, lives in Scipio township. Eber K., was born October 7, 1874. Roy, who lives in Scipio township, was born June 29, 1880. Virginia, born March 6, 1883, is employed in Cleveland. H. H. Metzger, Mrs. Eber Echelberry's father. was born June 29. 1837, and died January 20, 1910, in Adams township. He was a son of Samuel and Rebecca (Hoeltzel) Metzger and was the eldest of five children . H. H., John, Jacob, Sarah and Levina. He married June 9, 1859, and his wife died January 13, 1906. Of their five children, Allen died in infancy and Frank, Ida and Adelaide all live in Adams township. In 1878 Mr. Metzger united with the United Brethren church and nobly kept the faith to the end of his days, dying secure in the promise upon which he had turned from the world to better things. In all the relations of his life he was always upright and honorable, helpful to those who needed his sympathy or his material assistance. Mrs. Rebecca Metzger, daughter of Reuben and Sarah Drinkwater, born in Adams township January 28, 1842, died on the farm which had been the scene of her birth. January 13, 1906. in her sixty-fourth year. She had five brothers and a sister, Reuben, Bud, James, William, Addison and Catharine Drinkwater. She was a consistent member of the United Brethren church. a loving wife, mother and sister. Mrs. Echelberry has the old family Bible of her father, bought in 1860, and the much older family Bible of her mother's parents, dated 1775.
As a Republican Mr. Echelberry was in 1909 elected to the office of township trustee, in which capacity he is serving with faith- fulness and discretion. He is interested in having good roads throughout the township and county, and is exerting all his per- sonal influence in that direction. As a member of the township school board, he has done much locally to advance the cause of public education. He is a Knight of Pythias and a Junior. It is to such public spirited citizens as Mr. Echelberry that the people of his township look for the advancement of any measure which promises to improve the condition of any considerable number of them, and he is always in the forefront of those who unselfishly labor for the general good. He is the friend of the church, of the school, of good and honest politics. of everything that makes for public enlightenment and public advancement.
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SAMUEL H. METZGER was born December 4, 1875, a son of John C. and Sarah Miller Metzger. John C. Metzger is a son of Samuel and Rebecca (Holtzel) Metzger. Samuel's grandparents, Henry and Catharine (Highland) Metzger, came from Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and located in Pennsylvania. The earliest known ances- tor of the family in the paternal line was Theobald Metzger, of Hesse-Darmstadt. Samuel and Rebecca (Holtzel) Metzger were natives of Union county, Pennsylvania. Samuel's parents were Jacob and Elizabeth (Sheimer) Metzger, born in New Jersey, the father July 22, 1769. They came with others of their family to Pickaway county in 1813. Jacob's first wife, mentioned above, died and he married Sarah Dilion. By his first marriage he had children as follows: Annie, born July 5, 1792; Mary, August 28, 1794; Henry, January 8, 1797; John, November 2, 1799; Jacob, May 15, 1802; Catharine, April 3. 1804; Christina, January 15, 1806; Adam, February 14, 1808; Elizabeth, April 9, 1810; Samuel. April 21, 1813. By his second marriage he had two sons, Jonathan R. and George A. The former, born about 1820, was killed in Missouri; the latter died at Holtsdale, Michigan, in 1888. Jacob Metzger and his first wife were English Lutherans and diligent and efficient workers in their church.
Like all old families the early history of the family of Metzger has been found somewhat difficult to trace. Descendants of Theo- bald Metzger of Hesse-Darmstadt settled in Wurtemberg and from there, as appears, came the first Metzgers to America, landing at New York. Some of the traditions of the family trace it to Hol- It land, where it is said to have borne the name of Von Metzger. is related that the original Metzger emigrants to the United States came over on a ship on which there was a scourge of smallpox, which took off forty-three of the forty-four children on board, one Jacob Metzger being the only survivor. This ehild seems. in the plan of providence, to have been spared for terrible death in another form. In his earlier years he was a great hunter, and he amused himself in that way long after his children thought it unsafe
for him to do so. In his old age he went to the woods one day against the protest of his friends, a terrific storm came up, he did not return and when sought could not be found. It was not until years afterward that his bones and his gun were found beside a partly subterranean stream whose course he had followed under- ground from the open country in which he had been hunting. It was thought that he might have been dazed and blinded by the storm.
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