USA > Ohio > Shelby County > History of Shelby County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 66
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Mr. Stockstill married Miss Estella Fergus, who was born in Shelby county, and a family of seven children has been born to them, namely : Ethel, Martha, Clem, Joseph, Blanche, Robert and Roger. The eldest daughter married Earl Applegate, who is a well known educator in this county, and they have one son, Ralph. Mr. Stockstill and family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church at Sidney, of which he is a trustee. Not only is Mr. Stockstill a progressive farmer but he is also a progressive citizen, wide awake to public questions and having sensible and convincing opinions of his own. For fourteen years he has been a member of the township school board and at present is serving most acceptably in the office of justice of the peace. For the past twenty-two years he has been identified with the Odd Fellows and belongs also to the Red Men.
LOUIS P. RATERMANN, who carries on general farming and stock- raising on the old Ratermann homestead, consisting of seventy-three acres sit- uated in section 8, St. Patrick Special School District, in McLean township, Shelby county, O., was born on this farm, April 5, 1880, and is a son of Henry anl Sophia ( Wehinger ) Ratermann.
The Ratermann family originated in Germany and the first of those to 36
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come from Hanover was John Henry Bernard Ratermann, who was accom- panied by his wife, Anna Maria Ratermann, and their one son, Ferdinand. They settled in McLean township, Shelby county, O., southeast of Fort Loramie, and there the other children were born, namely: Henry; Philip, who formerly was county surveyor of Shelby county; Bernard, a school- teacher who died at the age of twenty-three years; and Joseph, who is a resi- dent of Sidney, each son receiving the gift of a farm from his father. The latter was one of the pioneers of St. Michael's Catholic church and in early days baptisms and other church offices were frequently performed in his dwell- ing. He died at the age of sixty-seven, his wife surviving him by nine months.
Henry Ratermann was reared on the old farm and has heard his father say that when he settled there but one house had been built in what is now the busy and important town of Fort Loramie. He attended the Berlin district school and afterward continued his studies alone, purchasing books so that he could advance farther in general knowledge. After his marriage Henry Ratermann settled on the farm now occupied by his youngest son, clearing the land and making improvements and on that place his death occurred in 1881, at the age of forty-six years. Like his father before him he was a democrat and all his life he was a worthy member of St. Michael's church. On June 4, 1867, Mr. Ratermann was married to Miss Sophia Wehinger, who was born in Wuertenberg, Germany, April 14, 1849, and was five years old when her parents, August and Frances ( Rupprecht ) Wehinger brought her .to America. They lived for some time at Fort Loramie, O., and then moved to a small farm west of the town, and there the mother of Mrs. Rater- mann died when aged forty-five and her father when aged forty-nine years. They were parents of five children; all reared in the Catholic church : Rosa, who is deceased; Hilda, who is a resident of St. Patrick; Madeline, who is deceased ; Sophia; and Anton, who lives at Mansfield, O.
To Henry Ratermann and wife the following children were born: Wil- liam, who died at the age of twenty-seven years, married Elizabeth Gerling and left one daughter, Wilhelmina, who lives with her grandmother : Jolin Bernard, who lives at Sidney, married Catherine Zimmerman and they have six children-Henrietta, Jerome, Catherine, Hilda. William and Francis: Alolph, who is in the banking business at Fort Loramie; Anna, who is a com- petent stenographer employed at San Francisco; Frank, who is a physician at Fort Loramie; and Louis P. After the death of her husband Mrs. Rater- mann remained on the farm as her sons were able to carry on its industries while she became a school teacher. For eleven years she continued to teach the St. Patrick public school, retiring from educational work and resuming domestic duties in 1895. In 1906 she took charge of her son Adolph's home at Fort Loramie. She was mich beloved as a teacher, being of pleasing man- ner and of intellectual strength. perfectly capable in the line of work she fol- lowed for more than a decade. It is worthy of mention that she was teaching at the same time that three of her sons were also so engaged. these being Frank, Bernard and Adolph. Mrs. Ratermann has a wide and pleasant social
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circle at Ft. Loramie, and is an earnest member of St. Michael's Catholic church.
Louis P. Ratermann received his education at St. Patrick's district school and afterward took charge of the hoine farm and has continued to success- fully conduct it, keeping up the improvements and raising satisfactory crops and cattle. He married Miss Anna Hoying, who is a daugliter of Anthony Hoying, a farmer in Turtle Creek township. They have three children : Mary, Henry and Ludowicka. With his family Mr. Ratermann belongs to St. Pat- rick's Catholic church. He is a democrat in politics and takes a hearty interest in public matters but is filling no office, finding his business important enough to take up all his time.
GEORGE M. BAKER, who owns and operates the old Baker homestead of eighty-eight acres, situated in Washington township. Shelby county. O .. was born on this farm in 1875 and is a son of Ephraim and Nancy ( Cain) Baker.
Ephraim Baker was born also in Shelby county and spent forty-four years of his life on the above mentioned farm, doing the larger part of the clearing. In addition to farming and stock raising, he also worked at the ice business for a time. His death occurred here in his seventy-fourth year. He married Nancy Cain, who came from West Virginia and they had the fol- lowing children : Junie, Mrs. Flora Saunders, Albert, Leo, Franklin, George M., Mrs. Peter Higgins and M. L., the last named being a resident of North Dakota. The four survivors of the family include George M. and M. L. and Mrs. Saunders and Mrs. Higgins;
After his school days were over Mr. Baker was engaged in a grocery business for some ten years. In 1908 he decided to turn his attention to farm- ing and with this end in view bought the interests of the other heirs in the homestead and since then has been successfully carrying on general farm- ing and stock raising, cultivating his own land and an adjoining eighty acres.
Mr. Baker married Miss Adelle Filler and they have two children : Wil- liam and Alfred. Mr. Baker and family are members of the United Brethren church at Lockington, O. Politically he is a republican and fraternally he is identified with the Odd Fellows at Kirkwood and belongs to the Encamp- ment at Sidney.
JOHN BORGER, a retired farmer of McLean township, also president of the board of Berlin school district, was born in McLean township, this county, May 15, 1858. His father Cristopher Borger, came to America from Germany when a single man and after arriving here found employment on various public works. He married in Cincinnati and from that town moved with his wife by horse and wagon to Shelby county, stopping at a farm north of the present family homestead. He then purchased eighty acres of land at $2.50 per acre, which he registered at the land office at Chillicothe, O., walk- ing there and back. This land is now owned by his son. J. Bernard Borger. His entire subsequent holdings included tracts of 120, 160, 80, 107 and 80
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acres, which are now divided among his children. He died at the age of sixty-four years. He was a member of St. Michael's Catholic church. Though not active in politics, he always took an intelligent and useful interest in local affairs. His wife died at the age of seventy-five years. She was a native of the same town in Germany as himself. They had five children, namely: Catherine, deceased, who was the wife of Joseph Tepe of Cincin- nati; Henry, now deceased, who was twice married, his second wife being Rosa Sherman: J. Bernard, who is a farmer in McLean township, married Johanna, daughter of W. J. Scherman; Mary, deceased, who was the wife of John Branlage: and John, who resides at Ft. Loramie, this county, and who married Maria Sherman, daughter of W. J. Sherman.
John Borger received his schooling in McLean township, Shelby county, O. From the age of seventeen he resided at Fort Loramie with his mother. working on a farm, but about six years later began the business of buying and selling live stock, and continued until the year 1900, when he retired from that occupation and was later occupied with agricultural matters, and farming during this time residing at Fort Loramie. He married Mary Sher- man, a daughter of William J. Sherman of Fort Loramie. O., and their children have been as follows: Gertrude and Amelia, both unmarried: John, who died at the age of sixten years: Peter, who died when two months old : Paul, who is unmarried: Teresa, Mary and Carl.
Mr. Borger owns 200 acres in McLean township and has cleared all of one of the farms into which this land is divided, except twenty acres, on this farm being now engaged in draining and tiling. On the other farm, eighty acres have been drained and tiled, ten acres being left in woodland. On each farm is a good set of buildings. Both farms are located on the turnpike about one and a half or two miles east of Fort Loramie, in McLean township. Mr. Borger is a member of St. Michael's Catholic church. In politics he has been a life long democrat. He has served as president of the board of educa- tion for twenty years and has also served a number of years as member of the town council. His residence is on South Main street, on the east side of the canal, at Fort Loramie, and in this neighborhood he has numerous warm friends and agreeable acquaintances.
PERCY R. TAYLOR, attorney at law and a representative citizen of Sidney, O., was born in the great city of Birmingham, England, January 8, 1872, and is a son of F. D. and Catherine (Campbell) Taylor.
F. D. Taylor was born in England and became a mining and civil engineer and in a professional capacity came to Canada and while there was married. Afterward he went back to England but subsequently returned to Canada. where his wife died in March, 1888, he surviving until 1895. They had four children : Percy Radcliffe: Nora, who is the wife of Charles Price Green, of Toronto, Canada; Claud, who is manager of a branch of the Union Bank of New Liskeard, Canada ; and Naomi, who is the wife of Gordon Mccullough, of Toronto.
Percy Radcliffe Taylor was the second born in the above family and dur-
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ing two years of early life, lived in Switzerland. He was ten years old when the family came from England to Toronto and up to the age of thirteen years he was instructed by a governess in his home. He then spent one year in the public schools of Ontario and for two years was a student at Bishop's College, at Lenoxville, province of Quebec, completing his high course there. His first business experience was as a bookkeeper for a contracting firm for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. On July 4, 1892, he came to Sidney, O., where he accepted a position as reporter on the old Sidney Journal and remained with that publication until June, 1898, in August of the following year becom- ing editor of the Piqua Dispatch, at Piqua, O., and additionally, until April. 1900, was interested in the publishing of law books with the Lanning Pub- lishing Company. Mr. Taylor then became proofreader for the Western Publishing Company at St. Paul, Minn., and continued until March, 1901, when he accepted a position as traveling salesman, his territory being Mary- land, Virginia and West Virginia, and afterwards Ohio, and continued on the road until the fall of 1905. In the meanwhile he had utilized all his spare moments in the study of law and in 1903 he took the bar examination at Columbus, having been encouraged in this ambition by his wife, and passed very creditably and on September 1, 1905, opened his law office at Sidney, where he had already a wide circle of friends. On October 1, 1905, he reen- tered the employ of the Western Publishing Company and in one month or- ganized a department for them and then returned to his professional work at Sidney, where he has resided ever since and has rapidly built up a practice. He is a member of the Shelby County Bar Association and has been active and energetic in furthering the interests of the Commercial Club at Sidney and served as its president from 1910 until 1911.
Mr. Taylor was married February 27. 1897. to Miss Dorothy Cary, of Sidney, and they have one daughter, Claribel, who was born October 12, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor attend the Episcopal church. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias and the D. O. K. K. In politics he is a republi- can, and he stands high both as a citizen and as a member of the bar.
D. A. MCKINSTRY, one of the successful farmers of Cynthian town- ship, resides on the old Mckinstry farm in section 26, which comprises eighty acres of well tiled, productive land situated seven miles from Sidney. O. He was born in Mifflin county, Pa., February 22, 1872, and is a son of David and Sarah ( Hoover ) Mckinstry.
The parents of Mr. Mckinstry were born in Pennsylvania and resided in Mifflin county until 1886, when they came to Shelby county. O., and pur- chased the present home farm in Cynthian township, on which they still reside. living somewhat retired. Their four children were all born in Pennsylvania, namely : Allen, Elizabeth, D. A. and Addie. D. A. being the only survivor. David Mckinstry is a democrat in politics. He and wife are members of the Brethren church.
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D. A. Mckinstry was fourteen years of age when he accompanied his parents to Shelby county, and he completed his education here by attending school for one year afterward in Turtle Creek township. His time has been largely given to attending to the various farm industries. He is a stanch democrat and is willing to work for the success of his party but has never consented to fill any political office other than one connected with the public schools and for seven years he has been treasurer of the Forest special school district board of education. He and parents are widely known and all are held in esteem by their neighbors.
J. F. EMERT, justice of the peace and a prominent citizen of Cynthian township, is one of the best known insurance agents in Shelby county, is a large landowner and is also an honored veteran of the great Civil war. Mr. Emert was born in Loramie township, Shelby county, O., May 13, 1844, and is a son of Benjamin and Mary (Methard) Emert, both of whomi passed away on the old home farm in Loramie township.
On both paternal and maternal sides, J. F. Emert can trace his ancestry to the original home in Germany. On the maternal. side, the great-great- grandparents emigrated from Germany early in the seventeenth century and settled at Frederick, Md. There Bartholemew Booher and his wife Margaret, reared a family of fourteen children, the names of thirteen being preserved : Catherine. Daniel, Peter, Margaret, Bartholemew, Leah, Mathias, Rachel, Barbara, Elizabeth, Mary, Solomon and John. Frederick Fox, a great-grand- father, was born at Frederick, Md., May 10, 1751, married Catherine Booher, and they reared a family of seven children: Christeena, Rosine, Mary M., George, Daniel B., Joseph and Elizabeth. The maternal grandfather, George Methard, was born at Two Bricken, Germany, December 6, 1760 and emi- grated to the United States and settled at Frederick, Md. He married Chris- teena Fox and they reared a family of six children : Jacob, George, Elizabeth, Catherine, Mary M. and Jonathan.
The paternal grandfather, Martin Emert, emigrated from Germany and settled in Berks county, Pa. He was a jeweler by trade. He married Cath- erine Knoop and they reared a family of four children: Benjamin, John, Catherine and Andrew. Benjamin Emert was born June 23, 1795 and was married January 25, 1831 to Mary M. Methard, and they were the parents of four children: Catherine, George, Benjamin and J. F. Emert. Among the ancestors of Mr. Emert were men who served with honor in the War of the Revolution.
J. F. Emert was reared and attended the district schools in his native township and afterward assisted his father on the home farm prior to enlist- ing for service in the Civil war. He was a member of Company F, Benton Cadets, Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and during this first enlistment was a member of General Fremont's body guards. His second enlistment was in Company B, 50th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served two years and eleven months and participated in all its engagements, taking part in the great battle at Franklin, Tenn., and continued until he was honorably discharged
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(serving three years in all) and escaping without injury although fifty per cent of the regiment was killed.
In 1875 Mr. Emert came to Cynthian township and here he married Miss Almira Blanchard, who was born and reared on an adjoining farm, a daugh- ter of Eliphalet and Mary Jane (Penrod) Blanchard. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Emert : George I., Eliphalet, Martin, John, and Julian. Martin and Julian are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Emert are members of the Presbyterian church.
When Mr. Emert purchased the farm on which he lives, which is situated in section 33, Orange Special School District, Cynthian township, two and one-half miles southeast of Newport, O., it was wild land and he not only cleared it but has placed here all the present improvements, including sub- stantial buildings. A fire destroyed his first barn but he quickly rebuilt it. Mr. Emert owns three separate farms aggregating 300 acres, and these lie in three townships, Cynthian, Loramie and Orange, all of this property being well improved. Mr. Emert no longer attends personally to the cultivation of his land, having all of it rented to good tenants. He is well known in insurance circles and has covered Shelby county in the interests of the Miami Mutual Fire Association and the Ohio State Tornado and Wind Storm Company. Politically he is a republican and for the past two years he has been a justice of the peace and for three years he served Cynthian township on its board of trustees.
S. J. BOOHER, a leading citizen of Washington township, Shelby county, O., a prominent republican and a substantial farmer, lives ten miles southwest of Sidney, O., where he owns a valuable farm containing seventy-one and one-half acres. He was born in 1859, in Washington township and is a son of George B. and Naomi ( Pohlamus) Booher.
George B. Booher was identified with Shelby county from an early day, followed farming activities all his life and became the owner of 600 acres of valuable land, his death occurring on his homestead in Washington town- ship, his age being sixty-five years. He married Naomi Pohlamus, who died three years before her husband. Ten children were born to them, namely: Mrs. Emma Carpenter, Mrs. Lizzie Jones, S. J., George E., Mrs. Laura A. Everley, Mary K., William F., Charles E., Arthur B. and Floy J.
S. J. Booher has been engaged in farming ever since his school days ended, passing his first ten years on one of his father's farms. During three years he resided at Lockington, and then bought the Wilkinson place, afterward was interested in an elevator business at Lockington and in 1898 settled 011 his present farm in Washington township. He carries on general farming and raises stock and horses and specializes in poultry. In the poultry indus- try he has been well satisfied, his fancy fowls bringing him thirty premiums in the last Shelby county fair and sixteen prizes at the Troy fair.
Mr. Booher married Miss Helen Hoopes, who was born in Chester county, Pa., and they have one son, Dwight, who gives his father assistance. Mr. Booher and family attend the United Brethren church. He has been a leading
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political factor for a number of years in this section and served several terms as township assessor and in 1890 was land appraiser. At present he is the candidate of the republican party for county commissioner, an office for which Mr. Booher is seemingly particularly well qualified.
JOSHUA FRANKLIN COLE, whose 160 acres of fine farming land lies in Turtle Creek township, belongs to one of the old pioneer families of Shelby county. He was born on this farm, which has been in the possession of the family since 1822, on March 24, 1865, and is a son of Broad and Rebecca (Stanley) Cole, and a grandson of Joshua Cole.
Joshua Cole was born near Baltimore, Md., July 3, 1789, a son of Broad Cole. While yet young his father settled in Kentucky, where he remained until 1798, then moved to Ohio, locating first in Fairfield county but later removing to Pickaway county and there Joshua grew to manhood. On Feb- ruary 7, 1811, he married Susannah, daughter of Daniel and Rachel Ranier, then residing in Pickaway county but a native of New Jersey, where she was born January 9, 1792. On August 22, 1812, he enlisted in the command of Captain Reed and served six months in the War of 1812. In 1819 or 1820 he came to Shelby county and entered the southeast quarter of section 6, Turtle Creek township, and then returned to his home in Pickaway county. In 1821 he came back to his land and with the help of two men who accompanied him, cleared about nine acres, when he again returned to Pickaway county. In March, 1822 he brought his family to Shelby county and stopped at Ebenezer Stephens' place, near Hardin, until he could erect a cabin, into which when completed he moved his family in the following month. For some time after he settled here he had no neighbors to the north nearer than eleven miles. He remained on this farm, clearing and improving until 1845, when he rented it and moved with his family to Sidney, where they lived until 1851. In that year he returned to Turtle Creek township and settled with his family on a farm joining his old home farm on the west, on which he passed the rest of his days. His wife died September 15, 1876, and his death occurred on Octo- ber 20 following. They reared a family of seven children: Cynthia, Nancy, Rachel, Broad, Nathan W., Susannah and Joshua R. The last mentioned died of cholera August 3, 1854.
Broad Cole, son of Joshua and father of Joshua Franklin Cole, was born in Pickaway county, O., April 11, 1820, and was brought by his parents to Shelby county in 1822. On March 1, 1842, he married Miss Rebecca Stan- ley, then of Shelby county but a native of Ross county, O., where she was born June 28, 1823. After the death of her father she accompanied her mother to Shelby county in 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Cole settled on his father's home farm and remained until 1845, when they moved to Sidney, where he engaged in a mercantile business until 1849, when they returned to the home farm in Turtle Creek township and during the remainder of his life he gave his atten- tion to farming. In his political views he was a republican and for several years served as a trustee of Turtle Creek township. Broad Cole and wife had children as follows: Orlando Isaac, who was a soldier in the Civil war and
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died in service, at Pittsburg Landing, from typhoid fever; Augusta, who married John McDonald; Eva, who married George B. Toland; Gertrude, who married Robert McClelland; Clara, who married T. L. Ginn; Margaret and Joshua F.
Joshua Franklin Cole attended the public schools in Turtle Creek town- ship and later the Sidney schools and then gave his father assistance on the home farm and before his father's death purchased eighty acres of the same and afterward bought the interests of the other heirs in the property and has continued general farming and stock raising here ever since. This is one of the fine old farms of the county and its owners have always been representa- tive men and sterling citizens.
In 1886 Mr. Cole was married to Miss Olive Burns, who was born in Gentry county, Mo., a daughter of David and Rebecca (Carroll) Burns. The father was a railroad engineer. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Burns were: Roland; Agnes, wife of Oscar Kennard; Olive, wife of Mr. Cole; Mary, deceased, wife of Charles Marr; Ellen, wife of William Preston; and Othello. Mr. and Mrs. Cole are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is a church trustee. Politically he is a republican and has served two terms as township trustee. He is identified with the Knights of Pythias at Sidney. O.
EDWARD C. MADER, a general farmer in Loramie township, Shelby county, O., where he owns forty acres of excellent land, lying in Beech Grove Special School District, three and one-half miles southeast of Russia, O., was born in Loramie township, July 20, 1865, and is a son of Andrew and Elizabeth B. ( Brehm) Mader.
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