Source:
A Centennial Biographical History
of
Richland and Ashland County, Ohio
- ILLUSTRATED -
A. J. Baughman, Editor
Chicago
The Lewis Publishing Co.
1901
(Transcribed by Sharon Wick)
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JOHN J. FREEZE.
Of the farming interests of Richland county John J.
Freeze is a representative, owning and cultivating a
tract of land on section 12, Springfield township.
He was born in Crawford county, Ohio, in June, 1848. and
his father, Samuel Freeze, is an
octogenarian of Crawford county, whither he was taken
when a babe in his mother's arms eighty years ago.
He was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, his
father being John T. Freeze, whose birth occurred
in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. in 1788. About 1803
he came alone to this country, having lost both of his
parents, who died at about the same time. He
landed in New York city with two dollars and
seventy-five cents in his pockets. He was also the
possessor of a Swiss watch. Going to
Philadelphia he there worked for eleven years in the
employ of a baker. During that time he was
married, in 1816, to Miss Eldis, who was
born in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. They removed
to Holmes county, Ohio, and soon afterward to Crawford
county, where the grandfather of our subject purchased
eighty acres of land. At his death he owned four
farms, comprising five hundred and forty-three acres.
He was a shrewd, enterprising business man, and his boys
cultivated the farm while he speculated in stock.
He reared five children, - three sons and two daughters,
- but Samuel Freeze is the only one now
living. The grandparents were buried in the old
cemetery in Galion, Ohio.
Samuel Freeze was reared in Crawford
county, and having arrived at man's estate he married
Magdalena Eberly, a native of Prussia,
Germany. She was born about 1826. Their
marriage occurred in 1845. Four childred
graced their union, namely: John J.; Caroline,
the wife of Frederick Tile, of Crawford;
Elizabeth, the wife of John Stoley,
of Bucyrus; and William Albert, who is
living on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres left by
the grandfather.
John J. Freeze, the subject of this review. was reared
to farm labor and early became familiar with all the
duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist.
By practical training he was thus well fitted for his
own business career as a farmer. He received a
common-school education and remained at home until his
marriage, which occurred Nov. 19, 1869, Hannah C.
Snyder becoming his wife. She was the youngest
of a family of thirteen children, and by her marriage
she became the mother of two sons, one of whom was
killed by a mule at the age of seventeen. She died
May 1, 1873, and Mr. Freeze was afterward
married to Miss Margaret Trumpler.
Their children are: Albert R., Lulu, Samuel
Frederick, Ora Minnie, Hattie, Ada, Roy Edward,
Mary Elizabeth and Melvin Guy,
the last named being only two years of age, the oldest
child about twenty-one.
The family reside on the home farm in Springfield
township, where Mr. Freeze has carried on
agricultural pursuits for seventeen years. The
place comprises one hundred and sixty-five acres, a part
of which he purchased of his father. It is called
Fountain farm, on account of a flowing
well which is upon the place. The land is a rich
alluvial soil and the fields are well tilled, yielding
good crops, which bring an ample competence to the
owner. He and his wife are members of the
Presbyterian church and he belongs to the Masonic
fraternity and to the Grange. He has served as a
school director and a deeply interested in everything
pertaining to the welfare and improvement of his
community. His farming methods are progressive and
his well-conducted place indicates that he is one of the
leading agriculturists of the neighborhood.
Source: A
Centennial Biographical History of Richland and Ashland
County, Ohio - Publ. 1901 - Page 612-613 |
NOTES:
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