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Source:
History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County
with
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of
Pioneer and Prominent Public Men
by C. W. Williamson
Columbus, Ohio
Press of W. M. Linn & Sons
1905
BIOGRAPHIES
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JOHN GARMHAUSEN was born in
Osenburg, Germany, Apr. 29th, 1832. He is a son of
Bernhardt and Anna (Heinfeldt) Garmhausen In 1836,
Bernhardt Garmhausen and family left Osenburg for the United
States. They had a tempestuous voyage and landed at
Baltimore in the fall of that year. After remaining a
short time at Baltimore, the family moved to Cincinnati.
Here, John Garmhausen grew to manhood. The
discovery of gold in California in 1849 produced great
excitement in the middle and eastern states. In 1850 young
Garmhausen joined a party of gold seekers at Cincinnati
and made the trip overland to the new El Dorado. He
labored in the mines near Sacramento City until 1852, when he
returned to Cincinnati. In the same year he located near
New Bremen. For fifty-three years he has been a
participant in the development of German township and adjacent
country. Soon after locating at Lock Two he engaged in
mercantile pursuits. He also built a large flouring mill
and warehouse, and a few years afterward erected a saw mill.
In 1854, he married Miss Mary Strasburg. Of this
union nine children have been born: Florenz, Edward,
Charles, Benjamin, Otto, Anna, Ida, Laura and Emma.
In 1892 his store and residence were destroyed by
fire. Since then they have been rebuilt more substantially
than before. He has always been closely allied with all
interests for public improvements having for their object the
public good.
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County -
by C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn &
Sons - 1905 - Page 821 |
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JOHN
H. GOCHENOUR was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia,
January 13, 1835. His father died in 1839, and four years
afterward his mother married John Dingledine, a native of
the Old Dominion. The boy was educated in the common schools
of Shenandoah county, and made his home with his mother and
stepfather, until he was eighteen years of age. In 1849, he
emigrated to Ohio and began learning the carpenter's trade in
Champaign county. In 1853, he married Miss Sarah C.
Weaver. Four children have been born in this union, two,
only, are living: Elva A. and Jeanetta, both
of them having supplemented their common school education by
attendance at college.
Mr. Gochenour, after his marriage, moved to
Logan township, Auglaize county, and settled on the farm now
occupied by him. The first business to which his attention
upon his arrival in 1859, was the erection of a house in the midst
of the forest. The development of a farm was a work slow in
process, but by dint of persevering labor and economy he cleared
seventy-five acres of land. Year by year, as his means
permitted, he added to the original tract of land, until he is now
the owner of four hundred acres of excellent land, all the fruits
of his exertions, coupled with the assistance of his esteemed and
agreeable helpmate.
Mr. and Mrs. Gochenour are members of the
Christian Union Church, and are zealous and active workers in the
same. In his political career, he has always been a stanch
Democrat, and his first presidential vote was cast for James
Buchanan. He has the township treasurer for many years,
and also held the position of land appraiser, and in fact, has
held all the offices of the township; discharging the duties of
each with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the people.
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County -
by C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn &
Sons - 1905 - Page |
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ROBERT
B. GORDON, for more than fifty years an active and
leading citizen of St. Mary's, was born near Winchester,
Virginia, November 20, 1815. When he was fourteen years of
age he came with the family to Piqua, where his father entered
upon a mercantile cancer, which was continued until 1861.
Mr.Gordon obtained his early education in an old
log school house in his native place. After the family
settled in Piqua he attended a public school in that place, and
later finished his education in an academy. At the age of
twenty-one he became clerk in his father's store at Piqua.
In 1839 he came to St. Mary's and established himself in
business as a general merchant at this point in company with
David Bates, who was chief engineer of the canal that was
then in course of construction. At the end of three years
he withdrew from the partnership, and was elected treasurer of
Mercer county, which office he held four years. Upon his
retirement from office he purchased a half interest in a
flouring mill on the canal, which he retained three years.
Later he engaged in farming and stock raising having eleven
hundred acres of land at that time. In 1855 he purchased a
large and well-equipped flouring mill in St. Mary's, which he
operated until his death, which occurred Dec. 25, 1896.
Mr. Gordon was elected Representative to the
State Legislature in 1864, and was re-elected in 1866. He
was prominent in local politics, and was a stanch Democrat.
His first vote was cast for Martin Van Buren.
Mr. Gordon was married, Sept. 18, 1838, to
Catharine Barington, daughter of William R. and
Jane Barington. Of this union eight children were
born, of whom Robert B., Jr., is the only survivor.
The latter is a well-known public man, who has served as county
auditor for two terms, and has represented his district in
Congress for four years.
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County -
by C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn &
Sons - 1905 - Page 681 |
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Pusheta Twp. -
SISTER
MARY GREEN, a missionary, came to Wapakoneta with some
itinerant Jesuits in 1828, and remained among the Indians until
about 1831, when she died of pulmonary consumption at the house
of Rev. Henry Harvey, the Quaker missionary. She
was buried in the cemetery near Rev. Harvey's residence,
of later years known as the Shanahan cemetery. There is a
tradition that she was a native of Canada, and was sent from a
convent at Toronto to the Shawnee reservation in Ohio to
Christianize the Indians, and to each them the arts of
civilization. The same tradition states that she gave
instruction to Indian children at the house of Francis
Duchouquet. Far from her nataive home, in a land of
strangers, the devoted sister was laid to rest by Rev. Henry
Harvey, his wife, and Shadrack Montgomery.
The cemetery was formerly an Indian
burial place, and since that time has become a public cemetery
of that portion of the county. Many of the early pioneers,
and two of Rev. Harveys children repose in that quiet
repository of the dead.
Supplementary to the preceding notice of Sister Mary
Green, Mr. Lyman N. Means, of Wapakoneta contributes the
following reminiscence: About thirty-five years ago,
whilst engaged in buying live stock, Mr. Means was
accosted by a man seated by the roadside near the Scott farm,
making inquiry for a cemetery, composed to be located in that
vicinity. He at the same time unfolded a plat and
description of the subject of his inquiry. Mr. Means
alighted from his buggy, and after a careful examination of the
plat was able to locate the long-sought cemetery. He and
the stranger entered the buggy and drove to the locality.
On their way to the cemetery the stranger informed Mr. Means
that his name was Matthias Green, a brother of the dear
sister who had been buried there more than forty years before.
After alighting from the buggy, and with the plat in hand,
Mr. Means decided upon what he believed to be the locality
marked upon the plat. The stranger decided upon a locality
a few feet to the north. The ground was covered with a
dense growth of blue grass at the time, making it difficult to
discern depressions. Mr. Means cut through the sod
with a pen-knife and removed a circular piece of sod about
eighteen inches in diameter. After removing he dirt from
beneath it, a stone was found bearing the initials M. G.
The brother was overcome by the discovery and fell upon the
grave and gave vent to his sorrow for his dear sister in moans
and tears. After a period of prostration and sorrow he
arose and accompanied Mr. Means to Wapakoneta, where he
remained over night, and left the next morning on his return to
his home in Wisconsin. His further history is wrapped in
obscurity."
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize
County - by C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of
W. M. Linn & Sons - 1905 - Page 757 |
William Grothaus, Sr. |
WILLIAM GROTHAUS, SR. was
born in Hanover, Germany, Dec. 23d, 1824. Learning at an
early age that he was obliged to depend upon his own resources
for a livelihood, and that prospects for success in the old
country being very meager, he decided to come to America, which
he did at the age of fourteen years, unaccompanied, locating
first at York, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a farm hand for
several years, later he came to Cincinnati. At this time
the "California Gold Excitement" was in its height, and being of
an adventurous turn, he determined to make the then long and
perilous trip to California to seek his fortune. This was
in the year 1850, making the journey via Cuba and the Isthmus of
Panama by vessel. He remained in the California gold
fields for three years and by undaunted industry, frugality and
thoroughness, his adventure was crowned with success, bringing
much of the precious yellow metal with him.
Upon his return he spent a short time in St. Louis,
Missouri, being connected with a wholesale house, thence back to
Cincinnati where he became interested in a grocery business for
a short time only, concluding to retire from the city to pursue
an agricultural life, which he did by purchasing a tract of land
in Van Buren township, Shelby county, Ohio. After
following farming for nine years he disposed of the farm and
located in New Bremen, to engage in the wholesale and retail
cigar business.
He was elected Mayor of the village which office he
held for nine years, also, Justice of the Peace for a number of
years. He filled both offices with honor, but was finally
compelled to resign on account of failing health.
Mr. Grothaus was united in marriage to Miss
Elizabeth Marie Lanfersieck in 1856, who still survives him
and resides in New Bremen. Then children were born to this
union, eight of whom are still living.
In youth he was denied the opportunity of education,
but in spite of this fact he was an ardent advocate of learning
and good schools, and was considered one of the best informed
and wide awake men of the community on general subjects,
learning much from experience and travel. He loved his
family and his family loved him. He was highly esteemed
and respected by all who knew him.
He died in New Bremen, Ohio, Dec. 8th, 1885.
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County -
by C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn &
Sons - 1905 - Page 819 |
NOTES:
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