USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
In her maide. hood Mrs. Krick was known as Sophia Whitmyer, who was married to Mr. Krick on September 4, 1860. She was the daughter of Michael and Catherine (Schwartz) Whitmyer, a fine old family of Canal Fulton, Ohio. Six children were born to this union, only two of whom survive. Mrs. Anna E. Leickheins, of Orrville, and Mrs. Lorena M. King, of Port Huron, Michigan.
Philip Krick was called to his reward on February 24, 1909, after a very successful, busy, useful and honorable career. In politics he supported the Democratic party, and, with his wife, was a faithful member of the Reformed church, he having held all the offices in the local congregation-in fact he was a pillar in the church, always ready to do what he could in furthering its interests. He was truly a good and noble-hearted man, whom to know was to admire and respect, and his place will long be greatly missed in Wayne county.
1254
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
SIMON HAMLIN.
Of sterling Pennsylvania ancestors comes Simon Hamlin, a successful farmer of Plain township, Wayne county, where his life has been spent in agricultural pursuits, he having taken to the same quite naturally, since he is the son of a farmer and spent his boyhood on the home place. He was born in 1857 on the Sidle farm in Plain township, this county, the son of John and Sarah Jane (Hight) Hamlin, the former born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and the latter in Huntingdon county, that state. They grew up in their native communities, met and married in the Keystone state, and one child was born to them there. They believed that better opportunities awaited them in the newer county of Wayne, Ohio, and they accordingly made the journey here in 1855, locating in Plain township, where they got a good foothold and lived very comfortably. They were the parents of three daughters and two sons, namely: Sarah Jane, Harriett, Simon (subject of this sketch), William, and Mary Ellen. They gave their children every ad- vantage possible which their means would permit and especially trained them along ethical lines, so that they grew up an honor to the community. The paternal and maternal grandparents of Simon Hamlin all lived in Penn- sylvania, where they had good homes.
In 1860 John Hamlin and family moved onto the farm where Simon Hamlin, of this review, now resides. The subject was reared on the home farm, as already indicated, and when of proper age he went to work in the fields, attending the neighboring schools during the brief winter terms; he also attended school in Blachleyville, this township, receiving a fairly good education.
Mr. Hamlin is the owner of fifty acres of excellent land, which is well cultivated, and he has a comfortable home and makes a success of his farming operations. He deals in stock, making a specialty of Shorthorn cattle, al- ways finding a ready market for the same.
Mr. Hamlin was married in 1880 to Catherine Stair, daughter of John Stair, a native of Germany, and this union has resulted in the birth of the following children: Martha, Eva (deceased), Mary Anna and John Henry (deceased). The subject was married a second time, the date of his last wedding being in 1893, and his last wife was Mrs. Melinda (Werst) Kiefer, who has borne him one child, a son answering to the name of Franklin. Mrs. Melinda (Werst) Hamlin had by her first husband the following chil- dren : Viola L., John Henry, Oliver A., Clarence Victor, and William (de- ceased). All married excepting Clarence, and all live in Ashland county, Ohio.
1255
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
Politically Mr. Hamlin is a Democrat and he takes an abiding interest in local matters pertaining to politics and other movements for the good of the community at large. He is now a member of the local school board, and he was one of five men who organized the cemetery association at Blachley- ville, in about 1903, since which time he has been trustee and treasurer, in fact, the moving spirit of the organization.
JACOB HECKMAN.
To the person traveling over northern Ohio it seems almost incredible that only a little more than a half century ago much of the land now smiling in highly cultivated farms was covered by a wilderness, through which the light of day could scarcely penetrate; but such was the fact. Innumerable hands set to work removing the timber from the land in order to develop the fertile lands underneath the canopy of timber, the uncertainty of a comfort- able home to reward the laborer spurring him on to the hard task. Such soil and such homes were sought by the Heckman family in Wayne county, and the comfortable circumstances in which the present generation find them- selves indicate that several members of this family succeeded in their efforts.
A well known member of the family in question is Jacob Heckman, who was born in Clinton township, Wayne county, August 22, 1867, the son of Henry B. and Barbara A. (Jacobs) Heckman. His maternal grandparents were natives of Germany who came to America in a very early day, making a tedious voyage across the Atlantic. They landed in New York, but be- lieving that the middle west held greater opportunities, they came to Holmes county, Ohio, where they settled, living the typical pioneer life. Later Mr. Jacobs bought land in Ashland county. He and his wife were not married until they came to America.
Henry B. Heckman, father of the subject, was born in Pennsylvania in 1839 and he came to Ohio when a young man, finally making his way to Wayne county, Ohio, locating in Clinton township.
Jacob Heckman, of this review, brother of Frank Heckman, whose sketch appears on another page of this work, was educated in the common schools of Clinton township and grew up on the home farm. He very early decided to follow farming for a life work, and he has succeeded very ad- mirably at this, having become one of the most successful in his neighborhood. In 1903 he moved to Chester township, where he now manages an excellent farm of one hundred and seventy-one acres, which belongs to his mother. He
1256
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
is also interested in good livestock, having just begun the breeding of Shrop- shire sheep and thoroughbred Durham cattle. He is a good judge of stock and the kind he now keeps is admired by all.
Mr. Heckman was married in November, 1892, to Caroline Matilda Derr, a native of Ashland county, Ohio, the daughter of Valentine and Mary Derr, old settlers of that county, having come here from Germany when small children. Mrs. Heckman's grandparents on both sides of the house came from Germany to America at the same time. To Mr. and Mrs. J. Heckman one son has been born, named Howard C.
In politics Mr. Heckman is a Republican, and his wife is a member of the Lutheran church.
GEORGE A. FISHER.
A native of Wayne county and holding worthy prestige among the en- terprising men of Wooster, the subject of this sketch has long been an in- fluential factor in business circles and stands high in the esteem and confi- dence of his fellow citizens. His father, Philip Fisher, was born in Frank- fort, Germany, but in 1842 came to the United States and settled at Hagers- town, Maryland, where he lived two years, at the expiration of which time he moved to Wooster, Ohio, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1893, at the age of seventy-three years. By occupation he was a bricklayer, which trade he learned in his native land and followed in his adopted country until 1852, when he was employed by the Wooster Cemetery Company as sexton of the cemetery, of this city, which position he held for a period of thirty-seven years to the satisfaction of all concerned. He helped clear the grounds of the present cemetery and to him is due the credit of the subsequent improvement until it became one of the most beautiful and attractive places of sepulture in the northern part of the state. Mr. Fisher was a man of re- fined tastes and a great admirer of the beautiful in all its forms. He took especial interest in the work assigned him and an evidence of his ability in this respect is furnished by the artistic manner in which he laid out and kept the ground, rendering them, as already stated, beautiful and ornate and mak- ing them the model for a number of other cemetery associations in various parts of the country.
Maria Stephens, wife of Philip Fisher, was also of German birth, having been a native of Hessen Darmstadt, where she spent her childhood. While still quite young she accompanied her parents to America and grew to become
GEORGE A. FISHER
1257
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
acquainted with the gentleman whom she subsequently married. Like her husband, she possessed many of the sterling qualities for which her national- ity has always been distinguished, early impressed upon the minds and hearts of her children those principles which make for honorable manhood and womanhood and finished her earthly labors in the year 1888 at the age of sixty-two years.
Philip and Maria Fisher reared a large family-thirteen children in all- twelve of whom grew to maturity, their names being as follows: Mary. widow of Stillman Brown, who died in Toledo, Ohio, in 1870; Amelia mar- ried Darret Brown and resides in that city; Edward S., of Mansfield, this state ; Henrietta, wife of Joseph H. Prentiss, of Toledo: Josephine, widow of Leander LaRue, of Chicago, Illinois; Flora, now Mrs. George Dickinson, of Missoula, Montana ; Emma T., widow of John Healy, of Chicago; Franklin, who died in infancy ; Charles A., who departed this life in the year 1900; Ida L., principal of a high school at Missoula, Montana; H. S. Fisher, a real estate dealer of the same place; George A., the subject of this sketch, and James P., who lives in Wooster.
George A. Fisher was born in Wooster, Ohio, May 26, 1865, and spent his early life in his native city, receiving his education in the public schools. When old enough to be of service he assisted his father in caring for the cemetery and continued that line of work until his eighteenth year, when he began learning marble and granite cutting, a trade for which he manifested a decided taste and in which he acquired much more than ordinary efficiency and skill. Finishing the trade, he worked for a time for others, but soon en- gaged in business for himself, establishing in 1889 the Marble and Granite Works in Wooster, of which he has since been the head and which under his able and judicious management has continued to grow in magnitude and importance until it is now the largest establishment of the kind in the city and one of the most successful to be found among the northern counties of Ohio.
Mr. Fisher deals in all kinds of monumental and cemetery work, carries a full and complete stock of marble, granite and other stone used in the trade and in addition to an extensive retail business commands a large whole- sale trade, supplying numerous customers in various parts of the state. \11 . artist of pronounced ability in his calling, he permits nothing but first-class work to leave his establishment and to this end his assistants have been selected with special reference to their efficiency and skill. He also ranks high as a judicious and enterprising business man, whose well balanced judgment is seldom if ever at fault and whose ability to foresee with remark-
.
1258
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
able accuracy the future results of present plans and actions enables him to inaugurate and carry to successful conclusion large and important undertak- ings. The large and constantly growing business which he has built up and now conducts is creditable alike to his initiative and executive ability and the success with which his efforts thus far have been crowned bespeak for him a future of still greater possibilities and far-reaching results.
Mr. Fisher's domestic life dates from the year 1894, when he entered the marriage relation with Katherine H. Rockey, a native of Wooster and daughter of Charles A. and Margaret. A. Rockey, a union blessed with five children, namely : George P., Mary M., Harold C., Ethel J. and Ralph E., all living and pursuing their studies in the public schools.
Mr. Fisher has always kept in touch with the public interests of Wooster and as a councilman from the old third ward (now fourth) for two terms was instrumental in bringing about much important municipal legislation. He was elected to that body as a Republican and since attaining his majority has always been a pronounced supporter of his party and of recent years an active and influential worker both in local and general political matters. He is a director of the Wayne Building and Loan Association, a stockholder in the Wayne County National Bank, besides having various other interests, . all of which indicate his influence and standing in a community where, as already stated, he occupies a conspicuous place in the confidence and esteem of his neighbors and fellow citizens.
Mr. Fisher is a Mason of high degree, an active worker in the blue lodge and commandery of Knights Templar, and is also a member of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, Royal Arcanum, the Order of Yeomen and the Republican Club of Wooster. Religiously, he subscribes to the Methodist Episcopal faith and for some years has been a leading member of the church in the city of his residence, also treasurer of the same. Mrs. Fisher was reared in the Evangelical church, but joined the church her husband belongs to and to which all the children belong.
RUDOLPH GRABER.
When a farmer is out of debt and is in comfortable circumstances, the chances are that he is just as happy as any other person of moderate circum- stances can be or is. He need not worry for fear his farm may burn up or blow up, as he knows that no matter what may betide, he will still have a home and a means of making a living for himself and family. It is his own fault, therefore, if he is not happy. One of the contented farmers of East
1259
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
Union township is Rudolph Graber, a native of Switzerland, having been born in that country September 13, 1853, the son of John and Anna ( Oplin- ger) Graber, both now deceased, neither of them having come to the United States.
Rudolph Graber was reared on the farm in his native country and at- tended the common schools there, receiving a good education. When he reached maturity he began to cast about for a profession and nothing in his native country appealing to him, he decided to try his fortunes in the United States, consequently he landed on our shores in May, 1877, and soon there- after found himself in Wayne county, Ohio. He was limited in means and in order to get a start he worked on the farm by the year and month. He married Emma Zaugg, who was born September 13, 1860, the daughter of Jacob Zaugg ; she was a native of Wayne county, this state. a member of a good old family of German descent.
Mr. Graber purchased the farm where he now lives in 1899, consisting of forty-seven acres, located in sections 26 and 35, East Union township. He learned the secret of cheese-making in his native country, and he has engaged in the same here with great success, having purchased the Fountain cheese factory. He manufactures cheese and retails the same in various markets. always finding a ready sale for his products, owing to their superior quality and wholesomeness. He has an excellent little farm which yields a very comfortable income under his able management. He has a cozy home and everything about the place has an air of contentment.
To Mr. and Mrs. Graber eight children were born, namely: Ella, Fred, Clara, Edna, Hilda, Raymond, Erma and Laura. They have all received good common school educations.
Mr. Graber and his family are members of the Mount Eaton Reform church. Politically, Mr. Graber adheres to the tenets of the Democratic party. He takes an abiding interest in whatever tends to advance the inter- ests of his community, and because of his honesty and habits of strict atten- tion to his business affairs, together with his neighborly friendliness, he is held in popular favor all over the township, as is also each member of his family.
THOMAS A. WEAVER.
Good intellectual training, thorough professional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attributes essential to success. have made Dr. Thomas A. Weaver, of Blachleyville, Plain township. Wayne
I260
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
county, eminent in his chosen calling and he stands today among the scholarly and enterprising physicians in a community noted for the high order of its medical talent, although he is yet a young man and has not attained the zenith of his popularity and skill. He is a native of Sugar Creek township, this county, where he first saw the light of day August 19, 1870, the son of Henry and Sarah Jane ( Wilson) Weaver, both born in Wayne county, Ohio, and people of sterling worth, each representing honored pioneer ancestry. The grandparents on the paternal side came from Pennsylvania and were Pennsylvania yeomen, the grandfather being a farmer in Baughman town- ship. On the maternal side Scotch-Irish blood prevailed, the grandparents having lived in Baughman township, where they farmed successfully.
Henry Weaver was educated at the Bunker Hill school and he early in life decided to devote his attention exclusively to farming and he has done this, his operations resulting in the winning of a comfortable living all the while and the laying by of a competency that renders his old age free from want. He still resides on the farm where he moved when he was first married. It consists of one hundred and sixty acres, much of which he cleared and im- proved. A Republican politically and interested in all that tends to promote the general interests of his locality, he has never aspired to offices of public trust. He was one of the loyal sons of the North to offer his services to the government during the troublous days of the early sixties, having enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Regiment Ohio National Guard in 1864 as a private. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Presbyterian church holds his membership. To Mr. and Mrs. Henry Weaver the following children were born : Emma B., William D., Anna M. and Thomas A.
Dr. Thomas A. Weaver was educated in the schools of district No. 4, Sugar Creek township, and the Dalton high school. Having been actuated by a laudable desire early in life to become a physician, he began preparations to secure the necessary mental discipline, and he spent one summer at the University of Wooster, taking what is known there as the pre-medical course. He then entered the Toledo Medical College, from which he was graduated with a very creditable standing in his class in 1898. He at once came to Blachleyville, Plain township, Wayne county, where he "hung out his shingle" and has since practiced his profession here, with the exception of the year 1907, when he was located in Orrville. He enjoyed a lucrative patronage from the first, until he is now a very busy man, keeping in touch with his numerous patients throughout this part of the county.
I261
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
Doctor Weaver was united in marriage with Nina E. Cully in 1892, a lady of refinement and pleasing address, her family having been influential here for many decades. To this union the following children have been born : Lois, Vance E. and Wilbert T.
The Doctor is a member of the Wayne County and the Ohio State Med- ical Societies, in both of which he takes much interest, keeping abreast of the times in all that concerns the science of medicine. Fraternally. he belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees. Religiously, he is a Presbyterian, and a Repub- lican in politics. He is known to be a conscientious and honorable man in all the relations of life.
JACOB SHELLY.
Jacob Shelly was born in Plain township, January 15, 1842, and his inter- esting career has been spent in his native community. He is the son of Michael and Elizabeth ( Hauser) Shelly, the former a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, and the latter a native of Cumberland county, that state. The subject's paternal grandparents were Jacob and Elizabeth (Snavely) Shelly. They left their old home in the Keystone state in 1830 and came to Ohio, locating in Plain township, Wayne county, finally becoming the owners of valuable landed estates, owning a total of one thousand four hundred and eighty acres in Plain, Wooster and Clinton townships. The grandfather cleared some of the home place. His family consisted of eight children, and he gave each of them a quarter section of land, which they cleared and im- proved. The subject's maternal grandparents were Jacob and Elizabeth ( Din- ninger) Hauser, natives of Pennsylvania. As early as 1831 they came to Wayne county, Ohio, locating in Wayne township, later buying land in Plain township and lived on the sixty acres they purchased there.
Michael Shelly, father of Jacob Shelly, came to this county with his par- ents. He had received his education in the common schools of Pennsylvania. He began farming early in life and followed this continuously the rest of his life. He was prosperous and became the owner of five hundred acres. He was a Whig and later a Republican, but never aspired to public office; relig- iously he was a Lutheran. To Mr. and Mrs. Michael Shelly ten children were born, namely : Christian, Michael, Jacob, Peter, Joseph, John, Eliza, Sarah, Mary and Susan. Peter was in Company I, Sixteenth Regiment Ohio Volun- teer Infantry ; Jacob was in Company C, of the same regiment ; Joseph was in the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, for one hundred days ; the first two named served three years each.
-
I262
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
Upon his return from the army, Jacob Shelly took up farming in Plain township and he is now the owner of one hundred and two acres of fine land in Plain and Wooster townships, carrying on general farming.
Mr. Shelly was married in 1867 to Harriett Culberson and this union has resulted in the birth of the following children : Charles C., Ella and Jennie.
Christian Shelly, a brother of Jacob Shelly, was educated in the home schools and he took up farming, which he has always followed in Plain town- ship, doing a good business farming and stock raising. He was a Republican in politics, and his family consisted of four boys and one girl.
Jacob Shelly and wife are members of the Lutheran church, and the former belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, also the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically he is a Republican and he has been trustee of Plain township for some time, making an excellent public official.
SAMUEL K. ALEXANDER.
Although twenty-nine years have come and gone with their joys and sor- rows, triumphs and defeats, since the passing away of the picturesque old character who was so greatly admired in Plain township, Wayne county,- Samuel K. Alexander,-he is yet well remembered by the older generation, for his example was that of a strong-minded and generous-hearted, public- spirited citizen, the type of man which the community greatly regrets to lose. He was a native of Juniata county, Pennsylvania, having been born there in July, 1811 the son of Samuel and Mary (Shaver) Alexander. The father died in that county, and his widow came to Wayne county, Ohio, where she survived but a short time. Samuel K. Alexander came to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1833 and he was married here in 1848 to Leah Romich, daughter of John and Mary (Wiler) Romich, both born in Pennsylvania, the former in Berks and the latter in Lancaster county. The Romich family hailed from Holland, coming across the great Atlantic in an old-fashioned sailing-vessel to America. John Romich and family came by wagon from Pennsylvania in 1833, making the tiresome trip over bad roads and unbridged streams, and settled on what is now the John McQuibb farm, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, which he bought. This was then in timber, but the old pioneer liked to wrestle with the adverse conditions which then prevailed and he cleared the place in part, later returning to Pennsylvania, where he died. About two
1263
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
years after that event the family came to the farm here. Still later, Mrs. Romich bought a small place in Plain township on which she lived until her death.
Samuel K. Alexander received a limited schooling in the primitive schools of the early days and when but a lad began working on his father's farm and he farmed for himself about a year before his marriage. He made a success of agricultural pursuits, having been a hard worker and a good manager, and he finally purchased eighty acres of excellent land in Plain township, south of where Mrs. Leah Alexander now lives. This place he greatly improved and skillfully rotated his crops, giving back to the soil as much as he took there- from, having understood scientific farming, until he not only made a very comfortable living but was enabled to leave a competency to his family. He lived on this place eleven years, clearing most of it and making substantial improvements. He then bought forty acres where Mrs. Alexander now re- sides. It, too, was placed in excellent shape and good buildings provided.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.