USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 31
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schools of the neighborhood, and made such progress that in 1835 he began teaching, moving to Wooster, and during the following sixteen years he fol- lowed that occupation. He was connected with the academy which was started in Wooster in the forties, and which has since developed into Wooster University. During the Civil war he served as superintendent of the Wooster high school and was a member of the school board in 1872 when the high school building was erected. Soon after coming to Wooster John Brinker- hoff became an elder in the United Presbyterian church and was retained in that position over fifty years. He was ardent in church work and gave his support to all worthy movements. When a young man he had done some sur- veying and helped lay out much of the land on which the city of Wooster now stands. The subject of this sketch, when a lad, helped his father in some of this work. John Brinkerhoff was a stanch Republican in politics and was the first nominee of that party to be elected to the state Legislature from Democratic Wayne county, and only one other has done so since. He died in 1900. In 1833 John Brinkerhoff married Rebecca Sommers, who was born August 7, 1817, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. She died in 1851, when the subject was but six months old, and in 1852 Mr. Brinkerhoff mar- ried Mary Robinson, who was as true a mother to the subject as it is possible for a stepmother to be. Her death occurred on November 7, 1908. John Brinkerhoff was the father of two children besides the subject, namely : George S., who is a successful teacher at Warrensburg, Ohio, and Daniel O., who died December 24, 1861, as the result of camp fever which he contracted while in the service during the Civil war.
Joseph W. Brinkerhoff was born in Wooster, Ohio, on the 16th of Feb- ruary, 1851, and secured his elementary education in the public schools of that city, graduating from the high school with the class of 1869. Having determined to take up the practice of medicine as his life work, he then entered the office of Dr. L. Firestone, studying with him four years. During that time he attended the medical department of Wooster University, where he graduated with the class of 1873 of the regular school of medicine. Immedi- ately after his graduation Doctor Brinkerhoff went to Warrensburg, Mis- souri, and entered the practice, but in November of the same year he returned to Wayne county and located at Burbank, in the northern part of the county. His success in the practice was assured from the start and the Doctor has practiced there continuously since. He has a large practice and enjoys the unbounded confidence of all who know him. He is a careful reader of the best professional literature and keeps himself in touch with the age in the latest discoveries pertaining to the healing art. Those qualities of mind and
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heart that do not pertain to the mere knowledge of medical science, but greatly enhance the true worth of the family physician, are not wanting in him. He possesses the tact and happy faculty of inspiring confidence on the part of his patients and their friends and in the sick room his genial presence and con- scious ability to cope successfully with disease under treatment are factors that have contributed much to the enviable standing which he has attained. The Doctor keeps in touch with his professional brethren through his mem- bership in the Ohio State Medical Association, of which he is a valued mem- ber.
Politically Doctor Brinkerhoff is identified with the Republican party, in the success of which he takes a great interest, and he has served efficiently as a member of the town council of Burbank. Socially he is an appreciative member of the Free and Accepted Masons, holding membership in Harrison- ville Lodge No. 137, at Lodi; Oriental Chapter No. 128, Royal Arch Masons, at West Salem, and Wooster Council No. 13, Royal and Select Masters, at Wooster. He was raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason in 1881. The Doctor and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and give to that society an earnest and generous support.
Doctor Brinkerhoff was married on the 19th of November, 1874, to Ella M. Hemler, who was born at Utica, Licking county, Ohio, on January 21, 1851, the daughter of James and Mary (Byers) Hemler. To this union three children have been born, two dying at birth and Mary at the age of seven months. Mrs. Brinkerhoff died on December 8, 1909. James Hemler, father of Mrs. Brinkerhoff, was born October 14, 1819, in Huntingdon county Pennsylvania, and his wife Mary was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1820, and died March 27, 1873. James Hemler was a tailor by trade and in 1849 he came from Pennsylvania to Utica, Ohio. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church. In old age he retired from active work and is now making his home with his daughter Alice in Los Angeles, California. He is very handy with the needle and but a few years ago he made for each of his children a silk piece quilt, hemstitched, and remarkable for the arrange- ment of colors and the general workmanship. To James and Mary Hemler were born the following children : Mrs. Elizabeth Rogers, of San Jose, Cali- fornia ; Oscar John, of Susanville, California ; Mrs. Sarah Turner, of Lincoln, Nebraska; Mrs. Alice Virginia Johnson, of Los Angeles, California; Mrs. Lillian Smoots, of Springfield, Missouri ; and Mrs. Brinkerhoff.
Though a busy man, Doctor Brinkerhoff has ever taken a healthy inter- est in matters outside his profession, being an interested reader of the best
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current literature and a man who thoroughly enjoys social occasions. Inci- dentally he is much interested in geology and in his home and the yard he has many interesting specimens of rock, petrified trees, etc., evidences of the glacial period in Ohio.
JOSEPH MILLER.
Conspicuously identified with the business and material interests of Bur- bank and the township of Canaan is the subject of this sketch and he has won for himself an honorable position in the community and is a distinctive type of the successful self-made man. Not a pretentious or exalted life has been his, but one that has been true to itself and to which the biographer may re- vert with feelings of respect and satisfaction. Identified in a prominent way with various interests, and having attained prestige by successive steps from a modest beginning, it is eminently fitting that a sketch of his life, together with an enumeration of his leading characteristics, be given in this connection, as he is recognized as a man of strong and alert mentality, deeply interested in everything pertaining to the advancement of the community along material lines and today is recognized as one of the progressive men of the county of Wayne. Mr. Miller is widely and favorably known in the community and stands high in the esteem of all who know him.
Joseph Miller is a native son of Ohio, having been born at Rocky River, Medina county, Ohio, in 1838. He is the son of John and Adeline ( Addle- man) Miller, the former of whom was a native of France. Early in the nineteenth century John Miller left the vine-clad hills of sunny France and came to the United States with the intention of improving his material condi- tion. Going to Cleveland, Ohio, he had an opportunity to buy land there for one hundred and twenty-five dollars an acre, but, not liking the appearance of the sandy soil there, he located in Medina county, this state, and took up a farm of one hundred acres. He entered at once on the task of clearing this and rendering it fit for cultivation and in the course of time he found himself the possessor of one of the best farms in that section. He made that his home during the remainder of his life and died there at the advanced age of eighty-four years. In connection with his farming operations, he dealt ex- tensively in livestock, in which also he was successful. He and his wife be- came the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one now living. John Miller was a man of many worthy parts and stood high in the community in which he lived.
JOSEPH MILLER
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
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The subject of this sketch received his education in the common schools of Medina county, his attendance at school being somewhat limited, as at the age of fourteen years he began to learn the dual trade of blacksmith and ma- chinist. He developed into an expert workman and followed these occupa- tions during the following sixteen years. In 1860 Mr. Miller moved to Bur- bank, Wayne county, where he worked at his trade for six years, and at the end of that time he entered the hotel and livery business and also secured the contract for carrying the mail, which at that time was a good business. He was occupied in this way for thirty-eight years, when he suffered the loss of the hotel by fire. Since that time he has lived practically retired from active participation in business. He still retains a strong interest in the welfare of the town, however, and in 1907 he erected the largest store building in Bur- bank, in the residence of which building he now lives. In addition to this property, Mr. Miller owns several farm properties in Wayne and Medina counties, and on these he is extensively engaged in the breeding and raising of pure-bred Holstein cattle. He is an alert and progressive business man and is alive to the best interests of the community. In evidence of this fact, he states that he will rent his fine new store room in Burbank at a mere nominal rental in order to induce another store to open in the town. He evinces a public-spiritedness that reflects greatly to his honor and it is this spirit which has gained for him the exalted position he now occupies in the community.
Mr. Miller was married to Lizzie Stein, who was born in Medina county, the daughter of Andrew Stein, an early settler of that county and who died in Toledo, this state. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller four children have been born, namely: William; Lizzie, the wife of O. D. Odenkirk, of Wooster; Jennie the wife of John Spreng; Rose, the wife of Frank Watson.
In politics Mr. Miller renders a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party, and takes a keen interest in local public affairs.
FREDERICK W. NEUMEYER.
The people who constitute the bone and sinew of this country are not those who are unstable and unsettled, who fly from this occupation to that. who do not know how to vote until they are told. and who take no active and intelligent interest in affairs affecting their schools, churches and prop-
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erty. The backbone of this country is made up of the families which have made their homes, who are alive to the best interests of the community in which they reside, who attend to their own business in preference to the affairs of others, and who work on steadily from day to day, taking the sun- shine with the storm, and who rear a fine family to a comfortable home and an honest life. Such people are always welcome in any country and in any community. They are wealth-producers and this country is blessed with many of them, among which is that of the subject of this sketch.
Frederick W. Neumeyer is directly descended from a long line of German ancestors, and the remarkable fact is noted that he is the seventh in consecutive order to bear the name of Frederick W. Another interesting fact is that for seven generations there has been but one child born to each family, and that child a son.
Mr. Neumeyer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, May 28, 1847, and is the son of Frederick W. and Louisa ( Rebble) Neumeyer, both of whom were natives of Germany. They were married in the fatherland, and in about 1845 came to the United States, locating at Cleveland, Ohio. The father was a shoemaker by trade and he followed that calling all his active years. In 1860 the family moved to Wooster and in 1862 came to Burbank, Wayne county, Ohio, where the last days of the parents were spent. They were quiet and unostentatious folk, but were possessed of sterling qualities of character that commended them to the esteem of all who knew them.
Frederick W. Neumeyer, of this review, received his education in the schools of Cleveland, also attending several terms in the schools of Wayne county after the removal of the family here. As soon as old enough he learned his father's trade, that of shoemaker, and in due course of time be- came a proficient workman, following that vocation with gratifying suc- cess for the long period of thirty years at Burbank. He also became profi- cient as a barber, and since 1880 he has followed that vocation in connection with shoemaking. He has been successful in business matters, and is now the owner of a fine and fertile farm of one hundred and thirty-eight acres, which he rents, deriving therefrom a neat income.
The military chapter in the life record of Mr. Neumeyer is one of the most interesting. On February 2, 1864, he enlisted in Company I, Twenty- ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with a most creditable record until the close of the war. He made the entire rounds with that matchless leader, Sherman, having first visited Columbus, Bridgeport, Ala- bama, then went to Atlanta and was in the trying campaign and many hard- fought contests roundabout that stronghold. He was honorably discharged
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on July 13, 1865. He has the distinction of being the organizer of James Young Post, No. 376, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he is still a member.
On February 22, 1867, Mr. Neumeyer wedded Mary Conklin, a native of Wayne county, and to them have been born eight children, namely : Frederick W., Guy, deceased ; Gaylord. deceased ; Mae, Lillie, Hallie, Harry and Ray. There is also an adopted son, William. Mrs. Mary Neumeyer died on January 2, 1901, and on the 4th of September, 1902, Mr. Neumeyer married Minnie Jourdin, a native of Medina county, Ohio. To this union no children have been born.
Politically, Mr. Neumeyer has always given an enthusiastic support to the Republican ticket and has himself been honored by election to several local offices of importance. He has served as a member of the town council of Burbank, as street commissioner, and for fifteen years rendered valuable services as a member of the school board. He is public-spirited and has the best interests of the community at heart.
Religiously, Mr. Neumeyer is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and takes an active interest in the various departments of church work. He is a whole-souled gentleman and a public-spirited citizen, and is ready at all times to use his means and influence for the promotion of such public improvements as well conduce to the comfort and happiness of his fellow citizens, and there is probably not another man in the town who is held in higher esteem by the population, regardless of sects, politics or professions.
DAVID J. WEAVER.
Action is the keynote of the character of all who achieve success-action wisely planned and carefully carried out. The successful life story of D. J. Weaver is a case in point, being one of a determined struggle for a definite purpose. He started in life practically on his own resources, but being a man of force and will he has succeeded and is now comfortably located on his farm in Baughman township, Wayne county, which he has wrested from a resisting nature and improved year by year, and which through his efforts is as good land as the county affords.
Mr. Weaver was born at Attica, Seneca county, Ohio, January 7, 1859, the son of W. C. and Elizabeth (Thompson ) Weaver. The former was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he grew up and was edu- cated. He came to Ohio early in life and married in this state. He was a
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good business man and became an extensive and well-to-do farmer, a man of much influence in his community. He took considerable interest in Re- publican politics. His death occurred in 1893 and his widow, a woman of admirable personal traits, is still living in 1909. They were the parents of the following children: John, Frank S., D. J., Ervin, Mary and Bertha, all living at this writing, D. J. of this review being the only one in Wayne county, Ohio. He was reared upon the farm which he assisted in developing, attending the country schools during the winter months, receiving a fairly good education in the common schools. He remained under the parental roof until he was twenty-five years old, having farmed his father's place for a part of the crops which he raised. He proved to be a good farmer and soon had a start. He is now the owner of a very valuable farm of seventy- five acres, which is under a high state of improvement and yields bounteous harvests under his able management. He carries on general farming and stock raising and is doing well with both. He has a comfortable home and all the farming machinery and outbuildings to meet his requirements.
Mr. Weaver was married in 1885 to Edith O. Stinson, who was born in Wayne county, Ohio, December 9, 1861. She is the daughter of William Stinson. This family has long been an honored one in this county. When Mr. Weaver came to Wayne county he located on a farm east of Dalton in Sugar Creek township. He has always been a farmer and a good one, too.
To Mr. and Mrs. Weaver three children have been born, namely : Edna, born January 5. 1886, is a graduate of the Marshallville (Ohio) high school. She taught school very successfully for some time. She is now married and lives in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. William Weaver was born August 6, 1888, and he gives promise of a successful business man, as does also his brother, Earl, who was born March 1, 1890, and who graduated from the local high school in 1909.
Mr. Weaver is a Republican and he takes much interest in local polit- ical affairs, and he is at present very ably filling the office of one of the trustees of Baughman township, serving his third term. Fraternally, he belongs to Orrville Lodge, No. 430, Free and Accepted Masons. He is a member of the United Presbyterian church at Dalton.
CHARLES WESLEY WHITMORE.
The unostentatious routine of private life, although of vast importance to the welfare of the community, has not figured to any great extent in his- tory. But the names of men who have distinguished themselves by the pos- .
CHARLES W. WHITMORE AND FAMILY
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session of those qualities which mainly contribute to the success of private life and to the public stability, and who have enjoyed the respect and confi- dence of those around them, should not be permitted to perish. Their ex- amples are most valuable and their lives well worthy of consideration. Such are the thoughts that involuntarily come to mind when we take under review the career of such an honored pioneer as the gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph. Though he was not permitted to carry out his original plans for life-work, he has not been denied a fair measure of success in the work to which he has devoted himself, and today he is numbered among the rep- resentative citizens of Canaan township.
Charles W. Whitmore was born in Canaan township, Wayne county, Ohio, on the 21st of April, 1868. He is the son of Hezekiah and Anna M. (Balmer) Whitmore, the former of whom was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the 6th of October, 1830, and the latter in the town of Mechanicsburg, the same county, on September 29, 1839. The subject's paternal grandfather, Samuel Whitmore, of Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, was a very early settler of Wayne county, bringing with him his son Hezekiah. They settled on a farm in Canaan township and after the death of his father Hezekiah Whitmore took up the operation of the home place, and lived there during the remainder of his life. He was converted in the United Brethren church at the age of fourteen years and thereafter he was an earnest Christian, devoting much time to earnest church work and frequently going many miles to attend meetings. He was the possessor of musical talent of a high order and was prominent in the singing in all meetings which he at- tended. In physique he was very muscular, being then considered the strong- est man in his section of the state, it ben asserted that he could, unassisted, lift and move around the rear end of a threshing machine. His death, which occurred at the early age of thirty-eight years, was caused by a strain from lifting. His death occurred August 18, 1868. On the 18th of December, 1866, he married Anna M. Balmer, and they became the parents of one child, Charles Wesley, the subject of this sketch. Anna M. Balmer Whitmore sold the home farm after her husband's death and, on February 18, 1875, she be- came the wife of Cyrus Stratton, who died May 14, 1896. To this union was born one son, Franklin B., July 25, 1876. By a prior marriage Mr. Stratton had a son, Joseph W. Stratton, born in 1861, who died February 27, 1889.
The mother of the subject, Mrs. Anna M. Stratton, was born in Mechan- icsburg, Pennsylvania, on September 29, 1839, and is a daughter of Christian Balmer. The latter was a minister of the United Brethren church, and in his early days he followed the trade of a coachmaker, in this way supporting him-
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self, and preaching on Sundays. The family came to Ohio in 1851. Anna M. attended school in Pennsylvania, and after coming to Ohio she attended the high school at Smithville. Subsequently she engaged in teaching school for twelve terms, meeting with splendid success. In 1866 she was married to Hezekiah Whitmore, to which union one son, Charles W., was born. Mr. Whitmore died on August 5, 1868, and in 1875 she became the wife of Cyrus Stratton. They had one son, Franklin B. Stratton, who was born July 25, 1876. He lives in Cleveland, is married and the father of four children, two sons and two daughters. Cyrus Stratton died on May 14, 1896, and his widow now makes her home with her son, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Stratton is an accomplished penman, having given this line considerable study in her younger days. She has always been an ardent church worker and en- joys the unbounded respect of the entire community.
Charles W. Whitmore remained at work on the home farm until he was fifteen years old and during the interim attended the district schools near his home, completing his public school education by attending the high school at Burbank. He then took the classical course at the Northwestern Ohio Nor- mal University at Ada, remaining there until within a year of graduation, when, by way of review, he took the preparatory course at Wooster Uni- versity, afterwards entering the three-years classical course, including special courses in music and natural history. Soon after he entered upon his senior year his health began to fail and he was advised to quit his studies at once and take up work in the open air. He and his mother then bought the Strat- ton farm of one hundred and eighty-eight acres in Canaan township and since that time ( 1891) Mr. Whitmore has devoted his attention to the operation of that place. The outdoor life has brought a return of health and Mr. Whitmore is giving to his work the same enthusiasm and energy which he formerly devoted to his studies at school. He has taken a strong in- terest in educational matters and gives his support to every movement look- ing to the advancement of the moral, educational or material interests of the community.
In politics Mr. Whitmore is an arden supporter of the Prohibition party, believing the temperance question to be the most vital issue now be- fore the American people. His religious belief is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, his membership being with the society of that denomina- tion at Canaan. He has been actively interested in church work since he was eight years old and for many years he has served as class leader. He served as superintendent of the Sunday school for two years at Canaan and in a like capacity one year at West Canaan, and since 1897 he has served
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continuously as teacher of the adult class in the Canaan Sunday school. He is also a member of the official board of the church, being a steward and trustee.
On the 7th of March, 1894, Mr. Whitmore married Jennie M. Frary, who was born September 30, 1871, in Canaan township, Wayne county, Ohio, the daughter of Asa Frary, who is referred to elsewhere in this work in the sketch of William Frary. To this union have been born three children, namely : Howard Seelye, born January 4, 1895; Lowell Asa, born May 1, 1898; Merrill H., born October 21, 1903. The subject has earned for himself an enviable reputation as a careful and progressive agriculturist, always known for his prompt and honorable methods of deal- ing, and thus he has earned the deserved and unbounded confidence of his fellowmen. His farm is well adapted to the cultivation of the products com- mon to this part of the state, and also to stockraising, to which he has given some attention. His methods have been progressive, and his improvements of a character which are indicative of a thorough knowledge of his business and a deep interest in it. In 1906 and 1908 Mr. Whitmore set out two orchards of about sixteen acres, which are beginning to bear. He has already had some fine apples, peaches and pears and he takes a great pride in it.
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