USA > Ohio > Auglaize County > History of western Ohio and Auglaize County, with illustrations and biographical sketches of pioneers and prominent public men > Part 56
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Church, and actively engaged in the advancement of religious interests in this section.
Mr. McKee was twice married ; the first time, as has already been stated, to Miss Annis Reynolds. Of this marriage seven children were born, of whom three are living. His second wife was Mrs. Sarah Armstrong, a daughter of Judge John Armstrong. one of the first settlers of the county. Five children were born of that marriage, of whom three are living.
HENRY T. BRANDENBURG was born in Frederick county, Maryland, January 31, 1805, shortly after the landing of his parents, who came from Berlin, Germany. They also resided in. Holland prior to their coming to this country. After a resi- dence of ten years in Baltimore, he, in company with his parents, came to Dayton, Ohio, April Ist, 1815. In 1833 he located at St. Mary's, where he clerked for John Pickerell and Samuel Statler, who owned the first tavern or inn at that place. In 1837 he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Benner, and the result of their union was two sons and a daughter. Christian, the oldest, died in the service of his country at Camp Nelson, Ken- tucky. Catharine A. Hagaman now resides in St. Mary's, her birthplace, and the residence of John Jacob Astor, the youngest, is unknown. Soon after his marriage he engaged in mercantile business. In 1855 he moved to his farm situated one mile east of St. Mary's in the dense forest, where the saw and axe had to be freely applied, he doing most of his clearing after night by the light of burning brush heaps. In 1871 he sold his farm and moved to St. Mary's, where he resided until the fall of 1885, after which he lived with Dr. S. H. Sibert, his grandson, at Freyburg, until his death, which occurred February 16, 1891.
(From Sutton's Biographies.)
WILLIAM SAWYER was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, August 5th, 1803, and when fifteen years of age he was appren- ticed to a blacksmith. After the close of his apprenticeship he worked as a journeyman at Dayton, and at the Indian Agency, near Grand Rapids, Michigan, and in 1829 moved to Miamisburg, Montgomery county, and established himself in business. During his residence in Montgomery county he served five terms in the House of Representatives of the Ohio General Assembly - com-
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mencing in 1830 - the last year of which (session of 1835-36) he was chosen speaker. In 1838, and again in 1840, he was a candidate for Congress, against Patrick G. Goode, and defeated in both trials. In 1843 he removed to St. Mary's, and in the year following, 1844, was elected to Congress, and re-elected in 1846 - his Congressional service running through the term of Mr. Polk's administration, and closing March 3, 1849. In Octo- ber, 1855, he was elected a member of the House of Representa- tives of the General Assembly, from Auglaize county.
During the year 1855 he was appointed by President Pierce Receiver of the Land Office for the Otter Tail District, Minnesota, reappointed by President Buchanan, and removed by President. Lincoln within twenty days after his inauguration, for political reasons alone.
In 1869 he was appointed by Governor Hayes one of the trustees of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, and during the last seven years of his life he served as Mayor and Justice of the Peace at St. Mary's. He died September 18, 1877.
(From Knapp's History of the Maumee Valley.)
RICHARD R. BARINGTON was born in Wexford county, Ire- land, May 10, 1797, and came to the United States in 1818, and located at Piqua, Ohio, where he remained until 1822, when he went to St. Mary's, and entered one hundred and seventy-eight acres of land in section II in St. Mary's township. On this land he built a cabin and cleared a few acres of ground in 1823. In 1824 he married Miss Mary Armstrong, daughter of Judge John Armstrong, an early pioneer of St. Mary's. They commenced their married life in the new cabin, surrounded by an unbroken wilderness, inhabited by the fierce Shawnee Indians and a few white people at St. Mary's. After many years of unremitting labor, his large farm was brought under cultivation, and good buildings were erected. He lived many years in the enjoyment of the fruits of his industry.
He died February 10, 1869, and Mrs. Barington in 187I. Their family consisted of six children: John, who resides on his- own farm; David, who lives on the home farm; William (de- ceased), Mrs. Wiliam Clark, Mary (deceased), and Rebecca.
HENRY M. HELM was born in Virginia in 1798. He married
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. Angelina Spanklin in 1819, and after residing in Kentucky and southern Ohio, came to St. Mary's in the spring of 1827. He was elected justice of the peace in 1831, and received his com- mission from Duncan McArthur. He was commissioned captain of militia by Allen Trimble in 1828. He was a carpenter by trade, and possessed great genius. At that time Dayton was the nearest milling point, but Mr. Helm one day went to the river, and finding two very hard stones, took them home, dressed them, and constructed a handmill, which served the purposes of himself and neighbors. His family consisted of three children. Mrs. Helm died in 1827, and Mr. Helm, March 15th, 1875.
(From Sutton's History of Auglaize County.)
JOHN BLEW was born in Champaign county, Ohio, in 1820, and came with his father to this county in June, 1824, and settled in St. Mary's. His mother came to the county in 1818, and was present when the treaty was made with the Indians at that place. Mr. Blew had sixteen horses stolen by the Indians which he never recovered. He relates the means by which he obtained his first gun. An Indian having died in the neighborhood, was not buried, but his body was placed in a tree. Here his gun and bow and arrows were placed by his side. In the course of time the gun fell to the ground, where it was found by Mr. Blew. He was well acquainted with John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, who planted a nursery on the farm of Mr. Dowty, now owned by Michael Cabal. Mr. Blew refers to those days in which "coon" fur supplied the place of wool, and was manipu- lated by spinning wheels and knitting needles of the women. Mr. Blew died December 2, 1876.
(From Sutton's History of Auglaize County. )
THE ARMSTRONGS. This hardy pioneer family moved to the army post at St. Mary's in 1818. Judge John Armstrong came up from Greenville, Ohio, in June of that year and built a cabin on the west branch of the St. Mary's River. Like the other pioneers, he appropriated a portion of the land that had been cleared by the armies stationed at the post. A number of good horses that he brought with him were all stolen by the Indians. Of all those who moved into the township in that year, and for several years afterward, Judge Armstrong was the man of cour-
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age, good sense, and integrity. These traits of character were soon recognized, and he thereby became the master spirit of the community and of Mercer county. Judge Phelps, in his History of Mercer County, says, "So late as 1836, when I came here, Judge Armstrong was the man of most force, largest influence, and best informed citizen whom I met. He was during the latter years of his life and at the time of his death, judge. He died in 1839."
David Armstrong, son of Judge Armstrong, was born in Virginia in 1800. A few years after his birth the family moved to Jackson county, Ohio, and five years later to Greenville, Ohio. When the Edsalls came up from Greenville in 1818, David Arm- strong accompanied them. His citizenship, of the township and town, dates from that summer. He immediately entered upon a business career, which terminated only at his death at the early age of thirty-three years. He and his father engaged in boat building, and boating, between St. Mary's and Fort Wayne. In the meantime Judge Armstrong purchased a farm southwest of St. Mary's, ever since known as the Armstrong farm. David and his cousin William Armstrong for a time did a large business in the purchase and transportation of goods from Dayton to Fort Wayne and Defiance. The goods were transported on wagons from Dayton to St. Mary's, where they were loaded on perouges and floated down the river. The boat-yard was located on the hill in front of where the Fountain Hotel stands. In 1825 David Armstrong was elected county auditor of Mercer county. In 1827 his cousin William Armstrong was also elected auditor of the county. After retiring from office David resumed his former occupation, but it was a hard life, and his naturally strong constitution gave way from exposure, and he died in 1833, at the age of thirty-five years. His only brother joined the gold hunters in 1849, crossed the plains to California, where he died in 1852. Of his sisters, Nancy married John Blew ; Polly married Richard R. Barington; Rebecca, who never married, and Sarah, who married William Armstrong, her cousin.
David Armstrong's wife, Eleanor Scott, died in 1852. Two children were born to them, Harry, who died in 1849, and David, Jr.
David Armstrong, Jr., was born September 28, 1833. His
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first school days were passed in the typical log school house, in which he obtained such an education as the times afforded. "He has a distinct recollection of St. Mary's as it used to be in his childhood days - a roughly built hamlet, with but few houses, and those constituted mostly of logs - and is familiar with every stage of the city's development, from the days when the Indians used to frequent the little village to the present."
"Mr. Armstrong spent the early part of his life on a farm. In 1855 he secured a position as clerk in a store in St. Mary's. Five years later he embarked in the dry goods business for him- self, beginning on a small scale, and for forty-eight years has been the leading dry goods merchant of his native city."
Mr. Armstrong has ably filled various local positions of trust, and the Democratic party has in him one of its most intelligent advocates.
Mr. Armstrong was married in 1854 to Miss Fredonia C. Rankin, a native of St. Mary's. She died in 1864, after a happy wedded life of ten years, leaving one child, R. H. Armstrong, who is at the present time a prosperous boot and shoe merchant of St. Mary's.
Mr. Armstrong was married a second time to Miss Henrietta Carr, a native of Indiana. Of this marriage two children have been born, Nellie, the deceased wife of J. S. Stout, and Lillian, at home with her parents.
William Armstrong, a cousin of David Armstrong, Jr., settled at St. Mary's in 1819, and was a prominent public man of the county until 1840. He was elected county auditor of Mercer county in 1827, and served in that capacity until 1836. After his retirement from office he engaged in mercantile pursuits.
William Armstrong married Miss Sarah Armstrong, his cousin, daughter of Judge Armstrong. Of this union four chil- dren were born; Elvira, who married Augustus Dieker ; Rebecca, who married John Keller ; John Armstrong, and Elza.
Elza Armstrong was the fourth white child born at St. Mary's, and is the oldest white person living, born in the town. He is at the present time (1905) Superintendent of the Children's Home at Athens, Ohio.
Elza relates a thrilling experience that his father had with an Indian about 1831. "Elza was playing with a large dog in
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front of their house in St. Mary's, when an Indian on a pony came along and made an attempt to run over Elza, when the dog seized the pony by the nose, thereby throwing the Indian. This enraged the savage to such a degree that he attempted to kill the dog. Elza's father interfered, and in the melee the Indian lost his upper teeth and received many sore bruises, when he with- drew. The chagrin and ill will of the Indian were so great that Mr. Armstrong was never afterward safe in his presence unless armed. The enmity of the Indian continued until some one told him that his enemy, the white man, wore a pair of blue glasses through which he could see a great distance, and that the Indian would be in danger a mile away. This frightened the savage, and he immediately sought the white man and made friends with him."
DAVID SIMPSON was born in Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, May 20th, 1810, and died at his home in St. Mary's January 27th, 1884.
Mr. Simpson moved with his parents from the place of his birth to Xenia, Ohio, when he was four years of age, where he resided until he grew to manhood. In 1835, April 28th, he mar- ried Miss Caroline Mitchell; of this union eight children were born, of whom Miss Henrietta is the only survivor. In 1839 the family moved to St. Mary's, where Mr. Simpson engaged in business. He was a tanner by trade, and did a lucrative business. for over forty years.
Mr. Simpson was a social, genial gentleman, qualities that were also characteristic of his family. His home was a place of "good cheer," where friends and neighbors delighted to visit.
Mr. Simpson served in civic offices in the municipality and county for many years. He was elected Associate Judge of Auglaize county in 1848, and served in that capacity until the adoption of the new Constitution in 1852: In 1869 he was ap- pointed United States Revenue Collector, and served in that position for several years. He was elected Mayor of St. Mary's in 1860, and was re-elected in 1876. "Mr. Simpson was a man of stern motives, and had the qualifications for serving in high public trusts of honor."
DR. WASHINGTON G. KISHLER, of St. Mary's, who has recently retired from an extensive and lucrative practice of more
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than forty years' duration, has had a wide experience in his profession, in which he has always maintained a high standing, and his name is familiar in many a household in Auglaize county, as the loved physician who is honored by the people to whose ills he so long and tenderly ministered.
The Doctor comes of the sterling pioneer stock of Ohio, and was born in Perry county, October 8, 1824. His father, George Kishler, was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, in 1798, and was a son of Frederick Kishler, who was a farmer of that State and was of Pennsylvania-German descent. In 1810 the latter removed with his family to Ohio, and became one of the pioneers of Perry county, where he died at the ripe old age of nearly ninety years. He reared four sons and three daughters, all of whom are dead. The father of our subject was the second son of the family. He was reared to the life of a farmer, and at the age of twenty-two married and settled in life, taking a Miss Goodwin as his wife. She died at the birth of our subject, and her husband was twice married afterward. He had nine children by his third wife, of whom eight are living. Three of his sons fought nobly for the Union during the late war, and his son Wil- liam gave up his life for his country, at Stone River. He was a brave and efficient soldier who bore a high reputation as a man, and Kishler Post No. 83, St. Mary's, was named in his honor. We may mention in this connection that our subject was very desirous to enter the army when the war broke out, but the people here protested so strongly that he gave up the idea, and did his duty manfully in the home field.
The subject of this biography was cared for by an aunt in early childhood until his father married a second time. His edu- cational advantages during his boyhood were limited to about three months' attendance in a little country school that was fully three miles from his home, and was held in a typical log school house of pioneer times. At the age of thirteen, he was sent to Zanesville, to the McIntyre High School, of which he was a pupil the ensuing three years. After his return home, he assisted his father in his store two years, and at the age of eighteen began to prepare himself for the profession which he was ambitious to enter, by reading medicine with Dr. Mason, of New Lexington, a prominent and widely known physician at that time, with whom
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he studied four years. Under the instruction of that learned man, our subject was well fitted for the responsibilities of the life that lay before him, when he opened an office at Kenton, in Hardin county, and took up his calling in the month of June, 1845. The path before him was not all strewn with roses, how- ever, as he was soon afflicted with chills, a disease he had never encountered among the breezy hills of his native county, and he suffered from them for some months.
In 1847 Dr. Kishler enlisted to take part in the Mexican War, joining the reorganized Second Ohio Regiment, of which he was made steward. He was subsequently taken sick, and was trans- ferred to the general hospital, in which he was confined six months. He was discharged, and arrived home in February, 1848, and in the month of May that year he came to this county, and for a year was established at Wapakoneta. Coming thence- to St. Mary's, he has made this home ever since, and has practiced' his profession in this and adjoining counties until his retirement in March, 1892. When he came here, St. Mary's was a small but lively village, being quite a commercial and milling center on the new canal, and people came here from the surrunding country for a distance of many miles to mill, and the Doctor soon became widely known and very popular, not only on account of his social qualities, but for his success in contending with the prevailing diseases, which were principally chills, bilious and intermittent fevers, etc. He visited his patients on horseback for many years, often riding long distances over rough roads or through forest paths, and many a time he has seen deer and other wild animals not now found in this part of the country. During his long practice of forty-five years, he has had many varied experiences, and has had to deal with many strange and difficult cases. The young doctor of to-day can have no idea of what the physicians of the past had to go through with in pioneer times.
Our subject has been a member of the Northwestern Ohio Medical Society for twenty-five years, has belonged to the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows since 1845, and to the Masonic fraternity since 1848. Politically, he is a Democrat, but not a politician, and never would accept an office. Religiously, he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a trustee thereof. He has been pension examiner for St. Mary's and
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Auglaize county since 1862. The Doctor has been fortunate in his investments, and is one of the wealthy men of the county. He has four hundred and seventy acres of valuable land in the county, all within four and one-half miles of St. Mary's, and three hundred and seventy acres of it are in the oil and gas region. There are now seven wells on his land producing oil, from which he derives a handsome income, and he is also interested in some additions to St. Mary's.
Dr. Kishler was married in 1852 to Miss Louisa Horn, who is descended from an old Maryland family, and was born near Hagerstown, that State. Her father died when she was nine years old, and since she was fifteen she has lived in Ohio, spending the first few years of her life here at Sidney, in Shelby county. Her wedded life has been one of felicity, and has been hallowed to them by three children - Willis, who is married and is cashier in the Home Banking Company Bank at St. Mray's ; Harry, who is a farmer at St. Mary's, and Belle Blanche, wife of Michael Donnelly, also of St. Mary's.
(From Portrait and Biographical Record.)
MAJOR CHARLES HIPP, born in Prussia, January 20, 1830, is a son of Frederick C. Hipp, who for several years was an officer in the Prussian army, and took part in the war waged against Napoleon, which resulted in the defeat of the great French com- mander at Waterloo. After leaving the army Frederick C. Hipp became a merchant, and in 1844 emigrated with his family to America. He first settled near Parkersburg, Virginia, where he had bought land before leaving the Old Country. After living there a short time, he removed to Marietta, Ohio. He subse- quently came to St. Mary's, and here his earthly pilgrimage was brought to a close in 1872. His wife died in 1880. Three of their eight children are still living.
Major Hipp is the fourth child of the family. His early education was conducted in the excellent schools of Neuwied in his native Prussia, which he attended until he was fourteen years old, and after coming to this country he had the advantage of a year's schooling at Prof. Maxwell's academy at Marietta. After that he was a clerk in a grocery store for a year, and then in 1846 he went to Cincinnati with a view to learning the cigar-
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maker's trade. He abandoned that in 1847, to enlist at the second call for troops to serve in the Mexican War, joining Company I, Fourth Ohio Infantry, which was commanded by Col. C. H. Brough, brother of the late Governor of the State. He was in the battles at National Bridge, Huamantla, Pueblo, Tlascala, and in other engagements, serving with his regiment until the war closed, and he was discharged in June, 1848.
On his return from Mexico, Major Hipp resumed his former employment as clerk, and was engaged in a grocery at Hamilton the three years ensuing. In 1852 he went to Central America to join his brother William, who had opened a plantation on the San Juan River at the mouth of the Sevapiqui, then, and still, known as Hipp's Point, and where Walker's filibusters afterward had quite a fight with forces from Costa Rica, defeating them. Later he went to Castillo Rapids, where he engaged in the hotel business two years. From there he went to San Juan del Sur, on the Pacific coast, and kept a hotel there for over a year, enter- taining travelers on their way across the Isthmus to or from the gold fields of California. During his residence at that point he was elected captain of a company of Home Guards, composed of foreigners living in the town and organized for their own protection. A revolution had broken out in Nicaragua, and the forces occupying Castillo sided with the revolutionists. They were surprised by the Government troops, and all but a few, who escaped, were killed. Major Hipp also acted as Vice-Consul for the United States in San Juan Del Sur, and in 1855 found him- self once more in Ohio. He purchased a stave mill at St. Mary's, which he refitted with machinery for the manufacture of flooring and all kinds of finished wood material.
When the war broke out, our subject's martial spirit, which had descended to him from his forefathers and had before found expression on Mexican battlefields, was again aroused, and as soon as he could settle his affairs he, in one week, raised a com- pany of soldiers to help defend the Stars and Stripes. He entered the service August 20, 1861 ; was commissioned Captain of Com- pany C, Thirty-seventh Ohio Infantry, September 7; major, June 5, 1862 ; re-enlisted in the same rank June 14, 1865 ; mustered out August 7, the same year, at Little Rock, Arkansas, and honorably discharged with his regiment August 21, at Cleveland, Ohio.
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Among the numerous engagements in which he fought were those at Cotton Hill, Logan C. H., Princeton, and Charleston, Va., and participated in the assault on Vicksburg, having com- mand of the regiment during the siege. The regiment then marched to Chattanooga, and crossed the Tennessee River on pontoon bridges to Missionary Ridge, where the assault took place November 25, 1863. Again moving southward on the Atlanta campaign, took part in the battles of Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain and Ezra Church, where he was twice wounded and had the left arm amputated.
After the war Major Hipp returned to St. Mary's, and for a few years devoted himself to mercantile pursuits. In 1866 he was appointed postmaster, but was removed five months later by President Johnson. He was reappointed to the same position by President Grant in 1869, and for sixteen years served most effi- ciently. During Cleveland's administration he took a vacation, but was again made postmaster by President Harrison in 1889; and held the office during the time that Harrison occupied the Presidential chair.
In Major Hipp the Republican party has one of its most stanch adherents, and he is an important figure in local politics, and has been a delegate to county, district and State conventions. He was Mayor of St. Mary's two years, and gave the city a good administration, making permanent improvements by estab- lishing grades for streets and the natural gas plant for the town. He is prominent, socially, as a member of Kishler Post No. 83, G. A. R., of the Loyal Legion, and of the Army of the Tennessee. The Major was married in 1853 to Miss Mary Miller, a resident of Hamilton, and they have established a very pleasant home, over which his wife presides with tact and ability.
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