USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 75
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In politics Mr. Fluhart has been an uncompromising Republican and has done much to advance the interests of his party in this locality. He has not been a seeker after office or public preferment, but has rendered efficient ser- vice as school director. Religiously Mrs. Fluhart is a member of the Lutheran church at Fredericksburg. Mr. Fluhart is not a member of the church, but gives liberally to its support.
Mr. Fluhart was united in marriage to Lucy Graber, of Maysville, Salt- creek township, this county, a daughter of John Graber, who was a native of Germany. She was born February 14, 1868. To them have been born the
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following children : Ida E., James M., Frank Blaine, Nettie Florence, George Mckinley, Margaret Alice, William Foster, Walter Lester and Joseph Homer.
Mr. Fluhart is a man of many splendid personal qualities and occupies a deservedly high position among his fellow citizens. Among his warmest friends are those who have known him through many years,-a fact which in- dicates that his career has been an honorable one, and upon the pages of Wayne county's history appears the name of no man who is more worthy of public regard than Mr. Fluhart.
A. J. HELLER.
The history of the Buckeye state is not an ancient one. It is the record of the steady growth of a community planted in the wilderness and reaching its magnitude of today without other aids than those of continued industry. Each county has its share in the story and every county can lay claim to some incident or transaction which goes to make up the history of the com- monwealth. After all, the history of a state or county is but a record of the doings of its people among the pioneers and the sturdy descendants oc- cupy places of no secondary importance. The story of the plain common people who constitute the moral bone and sinew of the state should ever at- tract the attention and prove of interest to all true lovers of their kind. In the life story of the subject of this sketch there are no thrilling chapters or startling incidents, but it is merely the record of a life true to its highest ideals and fraught with much that should stimulate the youth just starting in the world as an independent factor.
The subject of this sketch is descended from German stock, his great- grandfather, Peter Heller, having come from Germany to America prior to the Revolutionary war. He was an aide on the staff of Gen. George Wash- ington at the battle of the Brandywine. His son, Joseph Heller, came west and lived on a farm between Lancaster and New Holland, Pennsylvania, where he owned a farm. He built, entirely at his own expense, a church on his farm and for many years paid all the running expenses of the same, including the minister's salary. The society was known far and wide as Heller's Church. At his death the property went to a board of trustees, and when they subsequently erected a splendid new church on the same site it, too, was known as Heller's Church, in honor of the old pioneer and benefactor.
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Heller's Station, on the Lancaster & New Holland railroad, was also named for him. He died at the age of seventy years, and his death was widely re- gretted.
The subject's father was Adam B. Heller, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, but who moved to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1840, set- tling about two miles south of Orrville. He had followed farming pursuits prior to coming to Orrville, at which time he became an employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He did the first shifting for this company in Orrville, the work being performed with the assistance of a horse. His death occurred here in 1886, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. He married Elizabeth Signer, a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, in which state they were married. Mrs. Heller died in 1866, at the age of forty-eight years. To this union there were born nine children, namely: Mrs. Sarah Geyer, of Huntington, Ohio; Joseph, of Orrville; William, of Orrville; Mar- garet, deceased; Kate, who makes her home with the subject; A. J. is the next in order of birth; Mrs. G. R. Burdoyn, of Orrville; Isaac is a printer at Spring Valley, Illinois, and was at one time the publisher of the Newes, at that place ; Frank is night yardman on the Pennsylvania railroad at Orrville.
A. J. Heller was born in the parental home within a few miles of Orr- ville, in 1855, and has spent his entire life in Wayne county. He attended the Orrville public schools in his youth and received a fair education. After leaving school he was employed as a clerk in a grocery store, where he re- mained several years. He then entered the Orrville Planing Mill, but a short time later he became foreman for the Orrville (Ohio) Champion Thresher Company, builders of the Champion threshers. In 1885 Mr. Hel- ler went to Auburn, New York, and took charge of the John M. Hurd Nov- elty Works, and at the death of Mr. Hurd he closed out the business for the estate. Returning to Orrville in 1887, he accepted a foremanship with the Champion Thresher Company, in which position he was retained until 1891. when he became superintendent and vice-president of the company. In No- vember, 1907, Mr. Heller opened a real estate and insurance office in Orr- ville, which he has since conducted and in which he has been remarkably suc- , cessful. He is considered a man of splendid business ability and he possesses an accurate knowledge of real estate values. He has handled a number of large deals and has done much to advance the interests of the community. He is at all times and all places a "hustler" for Orrville and his support is solicited for every enterprise for the advancement of the town materially or otherwise.
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Mr. Heller has served two terms as township clerk, having been first elected as soon as he had attained his majority. He has also served two terms as city clerk, three terms as water works trustee, during which time he served as secretary of the board, having complete management of the water system. His service in this relation was extremely creditable to him as during that period he put the water department on a paying basis, regard- less of the fact that improvements were made amounting to over six thousand dollars. He is at the present time president of the Board of Industry, a local organization composed of one hundred and five business men who have banded together for the purpose of advancing the commercial and industrial interests of Orrville. One of the popular enterprises projected by Mr. Heller is what is known as Heller's Allotment, on Heller avenue, a sub-division of the town.
Mr. Heller has taken a very active interest in the Knights of Honor, having been a charter member of Orr Lodge, at Orrville. He has passed through all the chairs in the subordinate body and for a number of years was a representative to the grand lodge. He was elected vice-grand dictator, refusing the office of grand dictator, and in 1906 he was elected a representa- tive to the supreme lodge, Knights of Honor, which position he still holds. Politically he is a Democrat, takes an active interest in party affairs, and was elected mayor of the city by one hundred and sixteen votes over E. P. Willi- man. Although Mr. Heller is one of the solid, substantial men of his com- munity, he is entirely self-made, having had scarcely any assistance in estab- lishing himself. He is now occupying an enviable position among his fel- low citizens and enjoys the respect of all who know him.
JOHN W. REHM.
This sterling representative of one of the pioneer families of Ohio is a native son of Wayne county, where he was reared to maturity upon a farm, early beginning to assume the practical responsibilities of life and lending his aid in connection with the improvement of the old homestead. That he has lived and labored to goodly ends is clearly indicated in the position which he now holds in the confidence and regard of his fellow men and in the success which has crowned his efforts as an exponent of the great basic art of agri- culture, which has been his vocation throughout his business career.
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Mr. Rehm was born in Baughman township, Wayne county, on the 18th of October, 1862, and is the son of George and Mary (Sickman) Rehm. The father was born in 1838 in Pennsylvania and came to Ohio when a young man, settling in Baughman township, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1882, at the age of forty-four years. Mary Sickman Rehm was a native of Baughman township, born in 1834, and her death oc- curred in 1905, at the age of seventy-one years. Mr. and Mrs .- Rehm were the parents of the following children: John W., the subject of this sketch; Levina, who is the wife of Fred Anthony, of Baughman township; Sarah, the wife of Henry Fisher, of Hancock county, Ohio; George lives on the old homestead in Baughman township; Alice is the wife of Harry Mackey, of Baughman township; Jacob F., of the same township; Catharine N. is the wife of Charley Shenk, of Baughman township; and Andrew J., also of the same township.
John W. Rehm attended the schools of his native township and has lived here all his life with the exception of five years spent in St. Joseph county, Indiana. He was reared to the life of a farmer and has never re- linquished that vocation, in which he has achieved a distinctive success. He is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and five acres located in this township, and the condition of the place indicates the owner to be a man of good tastes and sound judgment. He follows a general line of farming, raising all the crops common to this latitude, and gives proper attention to the rotation of crops and other details so essential to successful agriculture. His farm buildings are modern and conveniently arranged and all the ma- chinery usually found on an up-to-date farm are here used. Mr. Rehm is now living in Orrville, where he has a fine modern home, though he contin- ues to personally supervise the operation of his farm.
Though devoted to his own interests, Mr. Rehm has been public-spirited enough to take an interest in public affairs and he is now serving as the treas- urer of Baughman township. He is a Democrat in political faith and is now a member of the county central committee from his township. He rendered efficient service for a number of years as a member of the school board of Baughman township and continues to take a deep and commendable inter- est in educational matters. His social relations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife are members of the Reformed church at Orrville, to which they give an earnest and liberal support.
On the 9th of February, 1888, Mr. Rehm married Matilda Carbiener, who was born in St. Joseph county, Indiana, and they are the parents of a
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daughter, Ethel. Another child died at the age of five months. He is a man greatly esteemed by all who have his acquaintance and exerts a wide influ- ence in this, his native township.
ADAM W. FIKE.
The importance that attaches to the lives, character and work of the early settlers of Wayne county and the influence they have exerted on the cause of humanity and civilization is one of the most absorbing themes that can possibly attract the attention of the local chronicler or historian. If great and beneficent results-results that endure and bless mankind-are the proper measure of the good men do, then who is there in the world's history that may take their places above the hardy pioneers? To point out the way and thus make possible our present advancing civilization, was the great work accomplished by the early settlers and it is granted by all that they builded wiser than they knew. Admit that as a rule, but few realized the transcendent possibilities that rested upon their shoulders; that their lives, in some instances, were somewhat narrow; that they realized but little the great results that ultimately crowned their efforts; yet there follows the supreme fact that they in a large measure took their lives into their own hands, penetrated the wilderness, and with a patient energy, resolution and self-sacrifice that stands alone and unparalleled, they worked out their allotted tasks, accomplished their destinies and today their descendants and others enjoy undisturbed the fruitage of their labors.
Prominent among the worthy representatives of the pioneer element in the county of Wayne is the well-known gentleman to a review of whose life the attention of the reader is now invited. For many years Adam W. Fike has been a forceful factor in the growth and prosperity of Wayne township and today he is enjoying the full confidence and high regard of all who know him. Mr. Fike is a native of Alsace, France (now Germany), where he was born in 1836, and he was brought to America with his parents at the age of four years. His father, Michael Fike, was a native of the same coun- try, but was ambitious and the New World offered him what seemed great opportunities for the man of energy. The family were forty-one days in crossing the Atlantic. They first went to Cleveland, but in 1839 came to Wayne county, locating in Wayne township, near Wooster. The father pur- chased a little later a piece of land in Canaan township and entered at once
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on the task of clearing it and rendering it fit for cultivation. Of the eighty acres in the tract, only twelve were cleared and thus there remained a vast amount of work to be done. Michael Fike lived on this place nearly all his life, removing to Sandusky, Ohio, a short time before his death, spending his last days with his youngest daughter. He was eighty-four years old at the time of his death. He married Eve Jacobs, who also was a native of Alsace, France, and she lived to the advanced age of ninety-one years. Michael and Eve Fike were the parents of seven children, one of whom died before leaving their home in France. Those now living are as follows: Fred- erick, of Canaan township; Mrs. Emeline Voigt, also of Canaan township, and the subject of this sketch.
Adam W. Fike was the youngest of his father's sons and he was reared on the home farm, securing his education in the schools of the township, which were in that early day somewhat primitive in equipment and methods. In his young manhood he began teaching school, and taught four terms dur- ing the winter seasons, devoting his attention to the farm work in summers. He possessed strong musical talent and did some teaching along that line. Upon reaching manhood's years he applied himself to farming, in connec- tion with which he did considerable dealing in stock, in both vocations meet- ing with success. After his marriage he moved to a farm he owned in Wayne township, and remained there until 1892, when he removed to the town of Orrville, where he has since resided. He is now permitted to enjoy that rest which he has so richly earned, though his is not a life of idleness, as he con- tinues to keep a supervision over the various properties which he owns. He owns two splendid farms in Wayne township, one farm in East Union town- ship, ninety acres contiguous to Orrville, property at Madisonburg and Ca- naan, several residence properties in Orrville, in addition to which he owns the largest and finest business block in Orrville, known as the Fike Memorial block. He platted a tract of land adjacent to Orrville, and is now selling lots from a second plat.
Mr. Fike has twice been married, the first time to Elizabeth May, who was born January 23, 1839, in Wayne township. this county. To this union were born five children, namely : Herschell A., born Novem- ber 26, 1859, and now living at Akron, Ohio; Mrs. Kate Neftzer, born Au- gust 14, 1865 and living in Canaan township: Allie, born Au- gust 22, 1862, died in 1864 ; Horatio W., born March 28, 1868, lives at Mad- isonburg, this county ; Luther, born April 21, 1870. Mrs. Elizabeth Fike died on May 1, 1870, at the early age of thirty-one years, and Mr. Fike was sub-
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sequently married to Malissa Landis, who was born and reared in Wayne township, and to them has been born one child, Milton M., born October 7, 1875, and now living at Canton, Ohio.
Mr. Fike has taken a keen interest in public affairs and served as jus- tice of the peace in Wayne township for six years. He was for many years a member of the Wayne township school board and held a number of local offices, in all of which he performed his duties faithfully and to the satisfac- tion of his fellow citizens. He is a man of positive religious opinions and is a faithful member of the old Lutheran church in Wayne township. Mrs. Fike is a member of the Lutheran church at Orrville. They both give a cordial support to every movement that promises to benefit the community in any way and they are well liked by all who know them.
ERVIN W. THOMPSON.
The subject of this sketch, who is the efficient and popular cashier of the Citizens' National Bank of Wooster and a financier of much more than local reputation, is a native of Delaware county, Ohio, and a representative of one of the oldest and best-known families in that part of the state. The Thomp- sons are of English stock and came to America in an early day, settling first in Virginia, later emigrating to Delaware county, Ohio, where nearly all the descendants of the original immigrants still live and where the subject's ante- cedents for three or four generations have been born. His grandfather, James C. Thompson, a native of that county and a farmer by occupation, died in the year 1906. Calvin Thompson, his father, who was born in the same local- ity and is still living, is an enterprising business man of Ostrander, the place where the family originally settled. The maiden name of Mrs. Calvin Thomp- son was Celesta Sewell. She is a native of Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, and is also living, being the mother of four children, whose names are as fol- lows: Harry Thompson, of Alderson, West Virginia; Calvin, of Delaware. this state; William, who lives in the town of Alderson, and Ervin W., whose name introduces this sketch.
Ervin W. Thompson, whose birth occurred on November 1, 1871, was reared in his native town of Ostrander, Delaware county, and received his educational training in the public schools. He remained under the parental roof until twenty-three years of age, and began life for himself as a teacher. which calling he followed for a period of four years. At the expiration of
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that time he entered upon what has proved a remarkably successful business career, by accepting in 1903 the position of bookkeeper with the Union Bank- ing Company of Marysville, Ohio. After serving four months in that ca- pacity he was elected to the more honorable and responsible post of cashier of the Union Banking Company, West Mansfield, Ohio, which he held with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his superiors until 1900, when he severed his official connection with the company to help organize the Bank of Plain City, in the town of the same name, of which he also became cashier. Mr. Thompson took a leading part in building up the latter institution and making it one of the most successful local banks in Madison county and during his five years' service as cashier added to his already well-established reputation as a capable and reliable business man and forged to the front among the enterprising financiers of central Ohio. In 1905 the Citizens' Na- tional Bank of Wooster was organized and in casting about for a proper person for cashier the choice fell to Mr. Thompson, who at once resigned the post with the bank at Plain City and took charge of the position tendered him by the officials of the newly established institution at Wooster.
Mr. Thompson moved to the latter city in March, 1905, since which time he has devoted his attention very closely to the interests of the bank, which meanwhile has steadily grown in public favor, until it now ranks among the best managed and most successful institutions of the kind in the state. His long and eminently creditable experience as a banker has made him familiar with the business in its every detail, and the creditable manner in which he has discharged the duties of the several important positions with which intrusted speaks well for his ability and for the confidence reposed in him by bank offi- cials and the general public. Mr. Thompson has a broad and comprehensive knowledge of monetary matters and, as already indicated, stands well to the front in financial circles. In addition to his connection with the Citizens' Na- tional Bank of Wooster, of which he is an official stockholder and director, he is also identified with several other similar institutions, being a director and stockholder of the Farmers' Banking Company of Sterling, Ohio, the Farmers and Merchants' Bank at Smithville, the Union Banking Company of West Mansfield, and the Bank of Plain City, Plain City, Ohio, in all of which he is actively interested and to the growth and success of which he has in no small degree contributed. He has also manifested commendable zeal in the material advancement of his various places of residence and since becoming a citizen of Wooster has given his aid and influence to all worthy enterprises for the city's growth and prosperity. Though never entering the political arena as an aspirant for public honors or leadership, he keeps in close touch
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with the leading questions and issues before the people and as a Democrat has rendered efficient service to his party in Wayne county and elsewhere. He has attained to distinguished standing in the Masonic brotherhood, being a thirty-second-degree Mason and as such is widely and favorably known among his fellow craftsmen throughout Ohio and other states, besides being active and influential worker in Wooster Commandery No. 48, Knights Templar, Wooster Chapter No. 13, Royal Arch Masons, and Blue Lodge No. 33. He is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Wooster Lodge No. 32, and while a resident of Plain City was initiated into the Pythian fraternity and still holds membership with the lodge at that place.
Mr. Thompson and Ella D., daughter of S. T. Carr, of Ostrander, Ohio, were united in the holy bonds of wedlock on September 5, 1904, the mar- riage being without issue. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson move in the best society circles of Wooster and are esteemed and faithful members of the Baptist church in this city. By continued industry and careful management Mr. Thompson has acquired a handsome competency, and not only ranks among the financially solid men of his adopted county but also holds worthy pres- tige as one of its representative citizens. A highly respected, honorable gen- tleman, who has won his position in the business and social world by honesty and integrity and whose native ability is supplemented by agreeable manners and a pleasing presence, he fills a large place in the confidence and esteem of the public and enjoys great popularity among the people with whom his lot has been cast.
AMOS SANDERSON, D. D. S.
As a native son of Wayne county and a representative of one of the earliest pioneer families in this section of the Buckeye state, Doctor San- derson is eminently qualified to representation in a compilation which has to do with those who have been the founders and builders of this common- wealth, while such is his personal honor and integrity of character and such his standing as a professional man that this consideration is all the more compatible. Doctor Sanderson occupies an enviable position in his profes- sion, being considered one of the leading dentists of northern Ohio. He is a native of Franklin township, Wayne county, Ohio, where he was born on the 29th of March, 1864. His paternal grandfather, John Sanderson, was a native of Pennsylvania and came to Wayne county in an early day, being one of the first settlers of the county. Here he followed farming as a live-
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lihood and was a successful man, enjoying the high esteem of all who knew him. His death occurred in about 1865. The subject's father, also named John, was born in this county in 1817 and lived in Franklin township all his life, a period of sixty-six years, his death occurring in 1883. He also fol- lowed farming, and during the early days he was a noted hunter, being a good shot with the rifle. Doctor Sanderson of this sketch is now the pos- sessor of a pair of horns from a deer which his father killed in this county in 1834. John Sanderson married Caroline Shaw, who died on March 4, 1904. She was born in 1833 in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, her family remov- ing later to Wayne county. To John and Caroline Sanderson were born the following children: Robert, who resides at Niles, Ohio; John, of Franklin township, this county; James, a farmer living in Holmes county, Ohio; Mary, deceased; the subject of this sketch is the next in order of birth; Hiram, of Saltcreek township, Wayne county; Edward and Ida, both also of Saltcreek township.
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