USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 16
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D. C. Kean, father of the Doctor, made an effort to enlist as a private in the Union army, but was rejected on account of disability. His brother, John, was a soldier in the Civil war and died during his service. Joseph Kean died in Plain township. William Kean retired in 1862 to Shreve and there died. D. C. Kean lived on the old home place nearly all his life. He was educated in the common schools and at Wesleyan College, and taught school for twenty-eight years during the winter months, following farming in the summer time. It is probable that one-third of the time he spent in teaching was in the schools of his own district, being close enough to stay at home all the time he was teaching. He later in life lived in Wooster. Politically he was a Republican and for twelve years served as justice of the peace and filled other local offices, among which was that of clerk of the township. The entire Kean and Brubaker families have been connected with the Methodist Episcopal church. D. C. Kean and wife were the parents of seven children, namely : W. F., V. E., O. L. (subject), Gertrude, O. J., Lura B. and Stella. All these children were sent to the University of Wooster, the entire time spent in that institution by the children totalling thirty-five years.
Dr. O. L. Kean was educated in the home schools and completed the freshman year in the University of Wooster, after which he began the study of medicine in the Wooster Medical College at Cleveland, Ohio, from which institution he was graduated in 1881. He established an office in Creston, Wayne county, Ohio, where he remained for a period of ten years, building up an excellent patronage, much of which he retained after his removal to Wooster, in which place he also remained for a period of ten years, enjoying a still greater practice. While in the practice he branched out into den- tistry, being the first man to use local anaesthetic in dental work. He patented its use and he has received the praise of the medical world for this great addi- tion to medical science. In the year 1901 he left the profession and has since resided on the old Kean farm where he carries on general farming, mak- ing a specialty of cattle breeding. He has been very successful both as a prac- ticing physician and as a dentist and is now making money farming and stock raising.
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The Doctor was married in 1883 to Tressa Peak, the daughter of an old and influential family, and this union has resulted in the birth of the following children : Azella Maude is a student in the high school at Wooster; William and Benjamin.
Doctor Kean is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, also the chapter and commandery. He was one of the organizers of the National Railway Surgeons' Association, established in 1887, and always took much in- terest in the work of the same. He was appointed surgeon for the Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad at the age of twenty-four years, which position he held with credit and eminent satisfaction for a period of seven years.
The Doctor is a pleasant man to meet and at once impresses the stranger as a sincere, able and courteous gentelman, and he and his family are held in high esteem by all who know them.
DANIEL WEBSTER BRENNEMAN.
One of the native sons of Wayne county who has here passed his entire. life figures as the subject of this brief review, and it is not irrelevant to state that he is one of the most popular and highly esteemed citizens of Rittman, where he is successfully engaged in the grocery business. As a member of an honored and well-known family we here enter record of the more salient features in his career.
Mr. Brenneman is descended from good old German ancestry, his pa- ternal grandparents, Daniel and Mary (Bender) Brenneman, having been natives of Hessian Germany. They came to America in 1825 and located in Pennsylvania, probably in Somerset county. Three years later they removed to Garrett county, Maryland, where the father cleared and improved a farm of one hundred acres, and there they lived until the father's death in 1842. The subject's maternal grandparents, Jeptha and Barbara (Zook) Plank, were natives of Pennsylvania and came to Wayne county, Ohio, in a very early day, making this their home during the remainder of their lives. The sub- ject's parents were Christian and Hannah ( Plank) Brenneman. The father was born in Germany, June 19, 1821, and in 1825 was brought to America by his parents, who lived successively in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In 1844 Christian Brenneman went to Canada, where he remained about a year and then came to Wayne county, Ohio. A year later he again went to Toronto, Canada, but in April, 1846, he once more came to Wayne county and made this his permanent home from that time on. In 1849 he bought a farm of one
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hundred and twenty-eight acres, which he improved and cultivated and on this he made his home until his death, which occurred on the 19th of August, 1908. His wife was born in Pennsylvania May 1, 1829, and accompanied her parents on their removal to Wayne county, where she was reared, and where, on October 5, 1848, she married Christian Brenneman. The latter was a quiet and retiring man in disposition, but was a man of fine personal qualities and was universally respected throughout the community. In poli- tics he was a Democrat and gave that party an ardent support, but he had no ambition for office or public preferment. He and his wife were the parents of four children, namely : Daniel W., the subject of this sketch; Mary, born March 1, 1855, the wife of John Klopfenstein ; Lydia, born January 23, 1859, is the widow of Daniel Coonrad and lives at Wooster; Annie, born May 3, 1862, is the wife of Myron Lichenwalter. The subject's mother died on June 19, 1903.
Daniel W. Brenneman was born in Greene township, Wayne county, Ohio, July 19, 1850. He received his education in common school No. 3, Greene township, and was reared on the paternal farmstead, being early in- ured to the labors of the farm. In young manhood he learned the trade of a mason, which he followed about five years, at the end of which time he re- turned to farming, which he followed until 1903, when he went into the meat business, running a butcher shop at Smithville. In October, 1905, Mr. Bren- neman located at Rittman and opened a grocery store, in which line he has since remained and in which he is meeting with a very gratifying measure of success. He carries a large and well-selected line of groceries and all the side lines usually to be found in an up-to-date and first class grocery store and here he is receiving his full share of the public patronage. He is courteous and accommodating to his customers and he readily makes friends of all who come in contact with him.
On the 29th of May, 1873, Mr. Brenneman was united in the holy bonds of matrimony with Elizabeth Forrer, who was born in Pennsylvania, May II, 1855, the daughter of John and Mary Forrer, early settlers in the Keystone state and of German descent. To the subject and his wife have been born eight children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows: Willard, March 5, 1874; Alice, July 19, 1877; Isa, August 17, 1883 ; Alpha, January 14, 1886; Harry, July 29, 1889; Jay, May 15, 1896; Lucile, March 1, 1899. Nora died at the age of three years, being the third in order of birth.
In matters political Mr. Brenneman is a Democrat and takes an active interest in the success of that party, though not himself a seeker after public office. His religious affiliation is with the German Baptist church, of which
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he and his wife are consistent members, doing what they can to further its interests. Mr. Brenneman has shown himself to be a capable, progressive and discriminating business man and has been very successful. His interest in all that concerns the progress and prosperity of his community is unabating, and those who know him best are numbered among his cherished and devoted friends, while he commands unequivocal esteem in the community at large.
FRANCIS LEE RICKABAUGH.
Although yet a young man, F. L. Rickabaugh, who is now the owner of the farm on which he was born in 1870 in Plain township, Wayne county, has shown what may be accomplished in the way of definite results if energy and rightly formed principles are properly directed, as his have evidently been, judging from the large success which he has achieved and the standing he has in his neighborhood as a man of industry and integrity. He is the son of John and Amanda ( Willour) Rickabaugh, the former born in Plain town- ship, the latter also a native of Wayne county. The paternal grandparents were Henry and Catherine (Wagner) Rickabaugh, the former born in Switz- erland, having come to America when a boy, accompanied by his parents, the family settling in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. In an early day Henry Wagner came to Ohio and settled on a farm in Plain township, which is now owned and resided on by Daniel Lawrence. Henry Rickabaugh lived on the farm Mrs. Musser now lives on, later moving north of where F. L. Rickabaugh now lives, and spent the remainder of his life there.
The maternal grandparents of the subject, Abraham and (Lan- dis) Willour, came from Pennsylvania to Wayne county, their last location having been made in Chester township. They were early settlers here and led typical pioneer lives. They were the parents of three sons, all of whom became soldiers in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion. Solo- mon Rickabaugh, half brother of the father of the subject, was also a soldier in the Civil war.
John Rickabaugh, father of the subject, was reared on a farm and edu- cated in the neighboring schools, taking up farming for himself early in life. Shortly after his marriage he bought the eighty acres where the subject now lives. He cleared much of the land, improved it in many ways, erecting sub- stantial buildings and fences and here made a success of his vocation. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, one of whom died in infancy.
MR. AND MRS. F. L. RICKABAUGH
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He was a Democrat and a member of the Disciple Christ church. He took some interest in local affairs and served for two terms as treasurer of his township.
F. L. Rickabaugh, of this review, was educated in the common schools of his native community, also spent a few months in the Haysville school. He then returned to the home farm, where he has since resided, having be- gun farming very early in life, and, having devoted his attention exclusively to the same, has made it a pronounced success. Upon the death of his father, in 1904, he purchased the home farm. He has become widely known as a breeder of Shropshire sheep, Chester White hogs and Jersey cattle, always ยท keeping some fine specimens of livestock about his place, being a careful raiser of the same, and his stock always brings a good price on a ready market owing to their excellent quality.
In February, 1905, Mr. Rickabaugh was married to Mina McMillan, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, and her parents were natives of the same county. To Mr. and Mrs. Rickabaugh two children have been born, bearing the names of Grace Elizabeth and Lela Almeda.
The subject is a member of the Christian church and politically he is a supporter of the Prohibition party, doing what he can in the success of the same.
DANIEL GRABER.
From the vine-clad hills of sunny France to the fertile and highly culti- vated fields of Ohio is a far cry, and yet in these two localities the subject of this sketch has lived. In the United States he has found the opportunities for enterprise and energy, and that he has here attained to a gratifying suc- cess in his business affairs is a fact widely recognized in the section of Wayne county in which he lives.
Daniel Graber is descended from a long line of French ancestry, his pa- ternal grandparents, Jacob and Marian Graber, having lived there all their lives. His maternal grandparents, Christian and Anna (Widmer) Conrad, also lived their entire lives in the land of the lily. His parents were Peter and Catherine (Conrad) Graber, both of whom were born in France, the for- mer in 1821 and the latter in 1822. The father was a successful farmer by vocation, having lived for twenty-four years on one farm, and it is a further matter of record that the same property had been occupied by some member of the Graber family for more than one hundred years. All the members of
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the family clung to the religious faith of the Mennonite church and were highly respected where they lived. Peter Graber died on February 9, 1870, and soon thereafter the widowed mother and her children came to the United States, and came at once to Wayne county, Ohio, locating first in a small house situated about a mile west of the present residence of the subject. Soon af- terwards she and her four sons bought a farm of one hundred and seventy- seven acres in Milton township, and they engaged in the operation of this place during the following eight years. In 1880 the mother and two of the sons, including the subject of this sketch, bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres west of the former place, and they greatly improved, building thereon a full set of well-built and commodious farm buildings and otherwise making many substantial improvements. The mother lived with the subject on this place until her death, which occurred on December 20, 1895.
Daniel Graber was born in France on the 29th of March, 1854, and there received the greater part of his education, being taught to speak, read and write both French and German. After coming to the United States with his mother, he attended school about three months. He has been a close reader and a keen observer and is considered a very well informed man. He has here devoted his entire attention to the tilling of the soil and the breeding and
raising of livestock, in both of which lines he has been very successful. He is an enterprising and practical farmer and has seldom had a failure in any of his crops. He carries on a general line of farming, raising all the crops common to this section of the country. In the handling of horses he has achieved a distinctive success. He handles Percheron, Belgian and trotting stock and has produced and sold some fine horses. One mare which he bred and raised he sold for three hundred and fifty dollars, and the same horse today cannot be bought for fifteen hundred dollars. Mr. Graber also does a large dairy business, shipping his milk daily to Cleveland, where he finds a good market.
In December, 1888, Mr. Graber returned to his native land and there, on the 16th of April, 1889, he was united in marriage to the sweetheart of his early youth, Marie Richard, the daughter of Michael and Fannie (Kurth) Richard. Her father is still living in France at the advanced age of eighty- two years, and in the spring of 1909 the subject's eldest daughter, Katie, paid him a visit. Mrs. Graber's paternal grandparents were Michael and Madeline (Widmer) Richard, while her grandparents on the maternal side were Chris- tian and Mary (Widmer) Kurth. To Mr. and Mrs. Graber have been born the following children: Michael (deceased), Joseph, Peter (deceased), Abel, Homer, Katie, Fannie, Martie and Mary.
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In politics Mr. Graber has given his support to the Democratic party and has taken a live and healthy interest in local public affairs, having rendered efficient service in the capacity of school director. As a public-spirited and progressive citizen, Mr. Graber has given his influence in the furtherance of good government, educational and religious interests and all that conserves the general welfare, while to him is accorded in his adopted county the fullest measure of esteem and confidence.
MILWARD LANCE.
In the anxious and laborious struggle for an honorable competence and solid career on the part of the average business man fighting the every-day battle of life, there is but little to attract the idle reader in search of a sensa- tional chapter; but for a mind fully awake to the reality and meaning of human existence there are noble and immortal lessons in the life of the man who, without other means than a clear mind, a strong arm and a true heart, conquers fortune and gains not only the temporal rewards of his toil, but also that which is greater and higher, the respect and confidence of those with whom his years of active life have placed him in contact.
The subject of this sketch is a native son of Wayne county, having been born north of Sterling, in Milton township, on the 5th of April, 1864, and is the son of Abram and Melissa ( Ross) Lance. His paternal grandparents, Henry and Betsy ( Hoffstater ) Lance, were natives of Pennsylvania, and came to Wayne county in a very early day. They located in Milton township, northeast of Sterling and there cleared a fine farm, on which they spent their remaining days, rearing a family and otherwise doing their full part in the development of this section of the country. The maternal grand father, Joseph Ross, was a native of the state of New York and he too was an early settler in Wayne county, having at one time owned the land where the thriving little town of Sterling now stands. There he and his wife spent their later years and died. Abram Lance, the subject's father, was born in Wayne county, in October, 1838, she who afterwards became his wife being born here two years later. They grew to manhood and womanhood in their re- spective homes and in due time met and married. They at once took up farm- ing on their own account, occupying a part of the old Lance homestead. They were successful and stood high in the community, the father having taken a prominent and leading part in the Baptist church. They are now both de-
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ceased. They became the parents of seven children, all of whom are yet liv- ing. Abram Lance was three times drafted for military service during the Civil war. The first two times he sent substitutes in his stead, but the third time he went to camp himself, being soon discharged because of disability.
Milward Lance received his education in the common schools of Milton township and during his vacation periods he assisted in the work of the farm. He has always followed agricultural pursuits, having early in life realized that agriculture was the great basic industry on which rested the entire na- tional commercial structure, and he has never regretted his choice. He rented land for a number of years, but in December, 1908, he bought a farm of eighty-nine acres, lying west of Sterling, and he established his home there in the spring of the following year. He has made a number of permanent and substantial improvements on the property and has others in contemplation. He is a wide-awake and progressive man and adopts twentieth-century meth- ods in his work when he is satisfied of their feasibility. He carries on a diversified system of farming and is meeting with a gratifying degree of suc- cess.
In May, 1886, Mr. Lance was married to Emma Glessner, a native of Ashland county, Ohio, but who came with her parents to Wayne county at the age of ten years. Her parents were Alfred and Sarah Glessner, prominent and highly respected persons. Mr. and Mrs. Lance have become the parents of the following children : Flossie and Ray, who are at home, and one that died in infancy unnamed. Politically, Mr. Lance is a supporter of the Demo- cratic party in national elections, but in local affairs he is inclined to be inde- pendent, believing that the personal fitness of the candidate is of paramount importance. He is a man of worthy parts, no one in the community enjoying a better reputation for integrity of word and deed, and when a man stands high in the estimation of the people who have known him during his entire lifetime no greater testimonial of his worth can be offered.
JOSEPH JONTZ.
To make a success of agriculture it is necessary to be something more than a hard worker. A farmer might labor from dawn to twilight every day in the year and yet fail to accomplish much; there must be sound judg- ment and discretion exercised at the same time, a knowledge of soils, grains,
MR. AND MRS. JOSEPH JONTZ
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livestock and, in fact, general business. The man who accomplishes much as a tiller of the soil and the manager of a landed estate these days should be accorded a place along with the men who succeed in other walks of life, for often it requires more ingenuity and courage to be a farmer than anything else that claims the attention of men in the world of affairs. A brief review of the life and career of Joseph Jontz, of Plain township. Wayne county. will suffice to show that he has achieved success as an agriculturist partly because he has worked for it and partly because he has been a good manager and a man of proper habits. He is a native of this township, where he was born in 1837, and his long and useful life has been spent in his native local- ity. He is the son of Joseph and Louisa (Hammer) Jontz, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Germany. The maternal grand- parents of the subject were natives of Pennsylvania, in which state they lived and died, and his grandparents on the other side of the house came from Germany and settled in Wayne county, Ohio, later moving to Ross county, this state.
Joseph Jontz received his education in the common schools of Wayne and Ross counties, and he began working on the farm when but a boy, having followed farming very successfully ever since. He is now the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and forty-five acres in Plain township. He started in life with practically nothing and he has made what he has all un- aided. In 1906 he bought a lot of two and one-half acres adjoining his farm and there built a modern and comfortable home, where he now resides, sur- rounded by all the comforts that his age requires, having lived practically retired since that time. Ten years of his early life were spent in Indiana, and he assisted in clearing his step-father's farm of one hundred acres.
Mr. Jontz was married on January 14, 1861, to Elizabeth Myers, who died January 30, 1908, after a faithful and praiseworthy life. This union resulted in the birth of the following children: Mary, who married George Desbrough, of Cleveland, Ohio; George, who married a Miss Bowers, of Hancock county, this state ; Frank, who married a Miss Whitmer; Cora, who married Joseph Newel; Anna, who married a Mr. Eppward; Almeda, who married a Mr. Boreman; Henry, who is single and makes his home with his father.
Politically, Joseph Jontz is a Democrat, and while he has never taken much interest in public affairs, having always preferred to spend a quiet life on his farm, he is one of the best known men in the western part of Wayne county and is respected by all. Religiously he belongs to the Lutheran church.
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WILLARD BROWN JORDAN.
"Man is the noblest work of God" and a truly noble man but fulfills the plan of the Creator. The life of man described a circle. The cycles of exist- ence of different lives form concentric circles, for some are given but a quarter of a century wherein to complete the appointed work, while the span of others varies to the allotted three score and ten. But how true and comforting that life is measured, not by years alone, but rather by a purpose achieved, by noble deeds accredited to it. How often are we confronted when a loved friend and coworker answers the final summons, with the question, "Why must he go when there yet remains so much for him to do, when he can so illy be spared?" But the grim messenger heeds not and we are left to mourn and to accept submissively. These thoughts are prompted in a review of the life and achievements of Willard Brown Jordan, in whose death, on the 3Ist of January, 1907, the town of Creston and indeed the entire community suffered a distinct and irreparable loss. In the prime of his sturdy manhood, active in the prosecution of enterprises which benefited the entire community, a sound, practical business man, a kind neighbor, a loving husband and father, and an enjoyable acquaintance, Willard B. Jordan occupied a conspicuous place among his fellow citizens, each of whom felt a sense of personal be- reavement in his untimely death.
Willard Brown Jordan was born at Berea, Ohio, April 15, 1860, and was the son of Hezekiah Usher and Eloise (Brown) Jordan. His paternal grand- parents were William and Mary (Usher) Jordan, who were natives of Brook- field, Madison county, New York. In 1823 they came to Ohio and settled at Rockport, where they located and created a fine homestead. There they reared their family of thirteen children, twelve of whom grew to maturity. The maternal grandparents were Samuel and Fannie (Silsby) Brown, na- tives of New York and Connecticut respectively. They came to Ohio in an early day, settling near Richfield, Summit county. Subsequently they re- moved to Cuyahoga county, this state, where they lived during their remain- ing years. Mr. Brown was a pioneer ax-maker, and so famous was the quality of his output that he went by the soubriquet of "Axmaker Brown." Hezekiah Jordan was born in 1828 in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and was reared to the life of a farmer. Upon attaining mature years he took up farming on his own account and located at Berea, this state, where he reared his family. He took a prominent part in local political affairs, and, being a well-read and intelligent man, he easily became a leader among his fellow citizens.
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