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BIOGRAPHIES
 Source:
A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen & Van Wert
Counties, Ohio
Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co.
1896
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WILLIAM A. WAGNER
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 531 |
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JOHN H. WAHMHOFF
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 529 |
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PHILIP WALTHER
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 530 |
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THE
WARD FAMILY - One of the most distinguished families of
Allen county, Ohio, is that of which the history is here
presented.
Abraham Ward, in 1833, removed from Jackson township,
Pickaway county, Ohio, to Allen county, but was born in what is
now West Virginia. His ancestry were among those who
settled early at Plymouth, Mass., and who came originally from
England; and the descendants of those early emigrants may now be
found in all parts of the United States. Abraham Ward
was a son of JOHN WARD, a soldier in the
Revolutionary war, who after the close of that war settled in
Norfolk, Va. Later he removed to Moorefield, in Hardy
county, now in West Virginia, where he died. Abraham,
following the example of his father, became a soldier in the war
of 1812 in an Ohio regiment. He married Miss Christina
Johnson, by whom he had two children, Joseph and John.
After the death of Mrs. Ward, Mr. Ward married again, but
the maiden name of his second wife is not now known. By
the second marriage he had four children - two sons and two
daughters, an in the fullness of time he died in Jackson
township, Allen county.
Joseph Ward, the elder son of Abraham Ward
and his first wife, was born in Moorefield, Va., in 1793, and
his first wife, was born in Moorefield, Va., in 1793, and
settled in Champaign county, Ohio, in 1812, where he lived until
1827, when he removed to Allen county, locating on what is now
known as the Felter farm. He erected the first
grist-mill in Allen county, and upon this farm he died in 1839,
leaving a family of four sons and two daughters.
John Ward, the second son of Abraham and
Christina Ward, was born in Moorefield, Va., in 1795, and
removed to Champaign county, Ohio, in 1812, locating in Union
township. In January, 1830, he removed to Allen county,
having in 1828 entered eighty acres of land in Bath township.
Upon arriving in Allen county and getting settled, he engaged in
teaching a select school in the winter time, and in farming in
the summer season. He took a very active part in the
organization of Allen county, and was appointed the first clerk
of that county court, under the old constitution, in which
capacity he served until his death, Dec. 25, 1842. He also
filled the office of recorder several terms. Beside being
active and prominent in these local ways, he was also prominent
in the military affairs of the state, holding commissions as
captain, colonel and brigadier-general. Politically he was
a democrat and religiously he was a Presbyterian, assisting to
organize the Presbyterian church at Lima, and serving therein as
an elder for many years.
John Ward married Miss Rosamond Harper,
daughter of Samuel Harper, who was a member of the family
after whom Harper's Ferry was named. She died June
24, 1873, at the age of seventy years. She and her husband
were the parents of six children, viz: Margaret,
who died unmarried; Samuel H., of Paulding county, Ohio;
Joseph, of Lima, Ohio; Rebecca, deceased;
Simon, of Toledo, Ohio, and Elizabeth. Joseph Ward,
the second son of John, was born in Champaign county,
Feb. 16, 1829. He was, however, reared and educated in
Lima, and learned the trade of carpenter. Upon the
breaking out of the Rebellion he felt it his duty to assist in
preserving the Union, and in September, 1861, enlisted in
Company D, Fifty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, in which
company he served until July 22, 1862, when he was discharged
because of a gun-shot wound received in the battle of Shiloh,
Miss. The bullet entered the left leg, passed through the
body and came out through the right hip. From this wound
he at length recovered, and again enlisted in 1864, in company
B, One Hundred and Eighty-first regiment, in which regiment he
served one hundred days. After the war was over he
purchased some land in Latty township, Paulding county, Ohio,
and was there engaged in farming until 1876, when he removed to
Labette county, Kans., where he remained until 1879, when, owing
to the death of his wife, he returned to Ohio, and since then
has lived a retired life at Lima. He and his wife were the
parents of three children, viz: Rosie, deceased;
Isaac W., of Van Wert, and Bruce of Fort Smith, Ark.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896
- Page 532
NOTE: Abraham Ward family can be found in 1830 Census
Jackson Twp., Pickaway Co., Ohio - Film Series #M19 Roll 138
Page 88 along with William Ward family on same page. |
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JOSEPH WATKINS
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 536 |
William Watt |
WILLIAM WATT
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 535 |
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THOMAS A. WEGER
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 538 |
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HON. HENRY WEIBLE
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 539 |
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PAUL WEISENMYER
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 540 |
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LEWIS E. WESTCOTT
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 536 |
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SETH S. WHEELER,
attorney at law of Lima, and president of the First National
Bank of that place, was born in Bedford, Ohio, Oct. 21, 1850,
and is a son of Edwin F. and Mary S. Wheeler. The
Wheeler family came, as far as it deemed worth while to trace
their history into the past, from the Berkshire hills of
Massachusetts, and removed thence to Ontario county, N. Y.,
being among the earliest settlers there. Zena Wheeler
was one of those thus to leave his native state of Massachusetts
and locate in New York, and in Ontario county. Edwin F.
Wheeler, his son, was born. Edwin F. Wheeler
removed to Ohio in 1840, was a farmer, and is now retired and
living with his children. His wife, Mary S., was a
native of Fairfield county, Conn., her ancestry being among the
early pioneers of that part of the so-called Nutmeg state.
Seth S. Wheeler was reared upon his father's
farm, and obtained the rudiments of his education in the
district schools. Afterward he attended Grand River
academy of Ashtabula county, Ohio, and still later, Oberlin
college, graduating there in 1876. During the next year he
was principal of the high school at Salem, Ohio, and in 1877 he
began reading law with Marvin, Hart & Squire, of
Cleveland, Ohio, being admitted to the bar at Cleveland in 1878.
It was in that city that he began the practice of the law,
remaining there until 1881, when he removed to Lima, practicing
there alone for a short time, and then associating himself with
W. E. Hackedorn and G. L. Marble, under the firm
name of Hackedorn, Wheeler & Marble. This firm was
succeeded by that of Hackedorn & Wheeler, which in
its turn, in 1889, gave way to the firm of Wheeler &
Brice, the junior member of the firm being H. L. Brice.
Politically Mr. Wheeler is a republican, but
takes very little interest in political affairs. He is a
director of the Lima Locomotive & Machine company, and he is
president of the First National bank of Lima, having been
elected to that position in 1893. Fraternally he is a
member of Lima lodge, No. 203, F. & A. M.; of Shawnee
cornmandery; of Lima
council and of Lima chapter. He was married in August,
1878, to Miss Laura E. Seaver of Pennsylvania, by whom he
has two children — Esther M. and Ruth I.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 541 |
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DAVID WHISLER
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 546 |
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PHILIP WILCH, of
Bluffton, Allen county, Ohio, and one of the veterans of the
Civil war, was born on his father's farm in Hancock county,
Ohio, Jan. 21, 1841. His father,
PHILIP WILCH, SR., was born in Hesse
Darmstadt, Germany, Jan. 26, 1802, was a farmer and carpenter,
and in 1832 came to America and first located in Pennsylvania,
but a few years later came to Ohio and bought forty acres of
land in Van Buren township, Hancock county, which land he
cleared up from the woods, and by thrift and industry added
thereto twenty acres, making a comfortable home of sixty acres,
on which he passed the remainder of his days, dying at the
extreme age of ninety-three years. Philip Wilch, Sr.,
was married, in Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Bowers, a
native of Germany, the result of the union being seven children,
viz: Wilhelmina, Elizabeth, Anna, Philip, Christian, Margaret
and Peter.
Philip Wilch, the subject of this biographical
record, was educated in the district schools of Hancock county
and early began to work on the home farm, dutifully assisting
his father until old enough to learn a trade, when he went to
Findlay and learned wagon-making. At the age of twenty
years, the war for the disruption of the Union having been
initiated and hostilities actually begun by the southern states,
the heart of young Wilch was fired with patriotism, and
he enlisted at Findlay, in June, 1861, in company B,
Twenty-first regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, under Capt.
George E. Walker, his term of enlistment being for three
years or until the close of the war, should it terminate before
the expiration of that term. Under the conditions of this
enlistment he served until December, 1863, when, at Chattanooga,
Tenn., he veteranized in his own company and served faithfully
until the close of the war, being honorablly discharged and
mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 1, 1865 - more than four
years after the date of his muster in. Among the important
battles in which Mr. Wilch took part may be mentioned the
following: Ivy Mountain, Nov. 9, 1861; Bridgeport, Ala.,
Apr. 16, 1862; La Vergne, Tenn., Oct. 7, 1862; Nashville, Tenn.,
Nov. 5, 1862; Stone River, Tenn., Dec. 31, 1862, to Jan. 2,
1863; Tullahoma campaign, Tenn., June 23, to 30, 1863; Dug Gap.,
Ga., Sept. 11, 1863; Chackamauga, Nov. 25, 1863; Buzzard's
Roost, Ga., May 8, 1864; Resaca, Ga., May 13 to 16, 1864; New
Hope Church, Ga., May 28, 1864; Kennesaw Mountain, Ga., June 9,
1864, and (in the general assault) June 27, 1864; Vining's
Station, Ga., July, 25, 1864; Chattahoochee River, Ga., July 6
to 10, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, Ga.; Atlanta, Ga. (Hood's first
sortie); Jonesboro, Ga., Sept. 1, 1864; Bentonville, N. C., Mar.
19 to 21, 1865. During the Atlanta campaign, in which some
of the battles above enumerated took place, the troops were
under constant fire for nearly four months, Gen. Sherman
having begun his march from Chattanooga, Tenn., May 4, 1864, and
the fall of Atlanta having taken place Sept. 2, 1864.
Mr. Wilch, as will be seen by the above record of the
battles in which he took part, was with Sherman in the
celebrated march from Atlanta to the sea, and through to
Washington, D. C., where he participated in the grand review,
May 23 - 24, 1865. Mr. Wilch was a robust
young man when he entered the army, but is now suffering from
acute rheumatism, resulting from exposure during his four years
of active army life.
After being mustered out of the service Mr.
Wilch returned to Findlay, Ohio, and resumed his trade.
He there married, Jan. 25, 1866, Miss Annie
Fleyge, who was of German parentage, and to this union have
been born two children - Ida and Frederick.
In 1872, Mr. Wilch removed to Bluffton, where he
still makes his home. He and wife are constant members of
the German Lutheran church, of which he has served as a member
of the council four years; he is a member of Robert
Hamilton post, No. 262, G. A. R., in in which he has
held the office of vice-commander. He is a man of
unflinching integrity and is greatly honored, not only for his
splendid military record, but for his usefulness as a citizen.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 547 |
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FRANCIS H. WINEGARDNER, the junior partner in the
firm of
Hesser & Winegardner, of Harrod, Allen county, Ohio,
of which further details will be found in the sketch of
Lucian E. Hesser, on another page, was born in Marion
county, Iowa, August 23, 1862.
GEORGE W. WINEGARDNER, father of
our subject, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, May 10, 1837,
was a farmer, and married Margaret Ann Patterson,
daughter of Samuel Patterson, a farmer of Marion county,
Iowa, the marriage resulting in the birth of the following
children: Emma R., wife of William Davis;
Francis H., our subject; Mary M., wife of J. B.
Andrews; and Clara D., wife of Thomas Drury.
George W. Winegardner was a young man when he first became
identified with the farming interests of Marion county, Iowa,
where he later married and where he resided a number of years;
there, also, he lost his first wife, the mother of the
above-named children. In 1872 he married Mary J. Myers,
daughter of David Myers, of Auglaize county, Ohio, this
union being favored by the birth of one son - John D.
In 1875 Mr. Winegardner relinquished his Iowa
interests, returned to Ohio, and bought a farm of eighty acres
in Wayne township, Auglaize county, on which he made him home
until his death, Oct. 20, 1892. He had been very popular
as a democrat in Iowa, where for a number of years he held the
office of justice of the peace, and, although equally popular in
Auglaize county, he never there aspired to political preferment.
Francis H. Winegardner was reared on the home
farm until twenty-two years of age, receiving a good
common-school education in the meanwhile. At the age
mentioned he became identified with the village of Harrod, his
present place of residence. During the first eight years after
locating here, he was in the employ of his uncle, S. T.
Winegardner, in a saw-mill and planing-mill, learning, at
the same time, the trade of carpenter under his relative's
instruction. He was careful of his earning, and in 1892
bought his half-interest in his present business, in conjunction
with a wood-working shop and a modern blacksmith-room,
with a buggy-trimmed shop above. They handle buggies,
wagons, carts, and all other kinds of vehicles, and do all kinds
of repairing pertaining to this line of trade, and sometimes
contract for the building of a special kind of buggy or other
class of vehicle required for some purpose outside of the usual
demand. Their undertaking outfit is of a superior order,
and they are well prepared to fill all orders in the line when
called upon.
Mr. Winegardner owns and occupies a neat modern
village residence, and all he owns is the result of his own
industry. He was married March 6, 1892, to Sydney C.
Murray, daughter of Michael and Catherine Murray -
the former an agriculturist of Hamilton county, Iowa, and the
latter deceased. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs.
Winegardner has been blessed with two children - Lelab R.
and the baby deceased. Mr. Winegarden is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is faithful
in her observance of its teachings. In politics, Mr.
Winegardner is a democrat, and fraternally he is a member of
the Sager lodge, No. 513, F. & A. M., of Lafayette, Ohio.
As a business man Mr. Winegardner is recognized as one of
the brightest of his years in Auglaize township, and his social
standing is with the best in the community.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896
- Page 549 |
Samuel T. Winegardner
&
Mrs. Judy Winegardner |
SAMUEL T. WINEGARDNER, a substantial and influential
citizen of Auglaize township, Allen county, Ohio, and the
present democratic county commissioner, is a native of Licking
county, Ohio, and was born October 1, 1842.
Henry Winegardner, grandfather of our subject,
was a native of Germany, and soon after marriage came to America
and first located in Loudoun county, Va., was a soldier in the
war of 1812, and was always engaged in farming. He later
came to Ohio and settled in Licking county in the pioneer days
of the state, was ever after connected with the agricultural
interests of the county, and there died about the year 1833, a
member of the Lutheran church.
JOHN WINEGARDNER, so of Henry
and father of our subject, was born in Loudoun county, Va., in
1788, was also reared a farmer, and after coming to Ohio, first
married, in Licking county, Sarah Jordan, a native of
Maryland, and, after marriage, immediately settled on a farm of
160 acres, which he brought under an excellent state of
cultivation. On this farm Mrs. Sarah Winegardner
died February 27, 1840, a devout member of the Baptist church,
and the mother of the following children: William H.,
born March 6, 1816; Malinda, September 11, 1817;
Delilah, July 30, 1819; Isaiah, February 12, 1822;
Eliza A., September 8, 1829. The second marriage of
John Winegardner was with Catherine Bear, a native of
Licking county, and this union resulted in the birth of child,
Samuel T., the subject of this sketch. The second
Mrs. Winegardner died February 2, 1843, a devout wife and
mother, and a conscientious member of the Baptist church, and
the father survived until October 24, 1853. Mr.
Winegardner was very liberal in his aid to church and school
enterprises, and as well to all others having in view the
prosperity of his community, and was an influential, widely
known and universally respected gentleman.
Samuel T. Winegardner, the gentleman whose name
opens this biographical memoir, received a very good
common-school education, which he supplemented with a course of
diligent home study. He remained on the home farm until
seventeen years of age, and shortly afterward enrolled himself
in defense of his country's flag, his enlistment taking place
September 18, 1861, for three years, or until the close of the
war, in company C, Fifty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry.
For meritorious conduct he was appointed corporal November 4,
1862, promoted sergeant September 8, 1864, and commissioned
second lieutenant august 10, 1865. At Bellefonte, Ala., he
had previously veteranized December 31, 1863, was wounded and
captured before Atlanta, July 22, 1864, and for fifty-seven days
suffered all the horrors of Andersonville prison. He
served through the campaigns of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama,
Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, North and South
Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, and
took an active part in the battles of Shiloh, Morning Sun, Wolf
Creek Bridge, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Vicksburg,
Jackson, Missionary Ridge, Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, Dallas,
Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Statesboro, Fort McAllister,
Fayetteville, Bentonville, and participated in all the
skirmishes and battles in which his regiment was engaged,
excepting that of Jonesboro, Ga., which occurred while he was a
prisoner at Andersonville. At Jackson, Miss., he was
struck by a rifle-ball, but not injured, and was never confined
in a hospital any time during his long term of service.
February 24, 1864, while at home on a veteran furlough,
Mr. Winegardner married Miss Judy Ridley who was
born in Auglaize county, Ohio, April 19, 1845, a daughter of
John and Sarah (Myers) Ridley - the union being blessed with
the following children: Alvin D., born February 10, 1867;
Ida V., November 18, 1868; Clara E., September 14,
1870; Oliver H., August 22, 1872; Ansel T., May
21, 1875; Josie A., December 15, 1881; Rosco June
29, 1888. Of these children Oliver H., died October
8, 1873; Clara, September 19, 1871; Roscoe July
28, 1888.
JOHN RIDLEY,
the father of
Mrs. Winegardner, was born in Vermont, May 1, 1794,
served in the war of 1812, and married in Licking county, Ohio,
in 1824, Sarah Myers, who was born in Virginia September
4, 1800. Mr. and Mrs. Ridley resided in Licking
county, Ohio, until 1837, when they moved to Auglaize county.
They were the parents of the following children
Benjamin, Esther, Barbara, Mary, Sarah, Andrew J., Matthias,
Abigail, Eliza, Alanson, Amanda and Julia. The
father of these children was an influential and prosperous
farmer, was a democrat in politics, sand died March 15, 1849, a
member of the Disciples' church. After seven years of
widowhood, Mrs. Ridley was united in marriage with
Levi Mix, a farmer of Auglaize county, who also left her a
widow, dying in August, 1875, her own demise occurring October
14, 1884, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Winegardner,
with whom she had resided for nine years previous to her death.
JOHN RIDLEY, father of John above mentioned, and
grandfather of Mrs. Winegardner, was born in Vermont in
1753. He fought all through the Revolutionary war, serving
eight years, and in his declining years came to Auglaize county,
Ohio where he died in 1858, at the extremely advanced age of 105
years.
Samuel T. Winegardner has made his mark as a
resident of Allen county, and has become prominent as a member
of the democratic party. His record as a soldier compares
more than favorably with that of any msn in the county, and as a
citizen he has exerted in immense influence in promoting the
welfare of Auglaize township, being ever free in his
contributions to all enterprises designed for the public good,
and being especially liberal in his aid to church and school.
A broad-minded man, he never denies to others the privilege he
asks for himself - that of forming his own opinion on all
subjects. Raised a farmer, he afterward learned
wagon-making, at which he worked for eight years in the east
part of Auglaize county, in Waynesfield; then engaged in the
saw-mill and lumber business in Allen county, in 1880, at Harrod,
and has carried it on since; also contracting, and has been
connected with the erection of all the public and private
buildings in that town. He has been a member of the
council since the organization of the town, excepting one year.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896
- Page 542
(NOTE: There is a portrait of Samuel T. & Mrs. Judy
Winegardner, however it is not very clear on the copy that I
have ~ S. Wick) |
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