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BIOGRAPHIES
** Source:
A Twentieth Century History of
Hardin County, Ohio
- Vol. I & II -
Publ. The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago
1910
898 pgs.
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W. K. Zehner |
W. K. ZEHNER
is one of the honored pioneers of Hardin county, where he has
resided since 1846. He traces his ancestry to the
fatherland of Germany, the birthplace of his great-grandfather,
but coming to the United States he became a loyal citizen of his
adopted country and took an active part in the war of 1812.
Among his children was a son Peter, who was born after
his father's emigration to America, and his children included
Reuben Zehner, born in Pennsylvania. Reuben
Zehner purchased in an early day one hundred and sixty acres
of land in Washington township, Hardin county, Ohio, receiving a
tax title to the same, as did all pioneers, and the crudest of
log cabins, with blankets for doors and windows, sheltered him
and his family until more convenient quarters could be prepared.
The simple residence which he soon completed served as their
home for twenty-five years, and with the help of his sons he had
succeeded in clearing about two-thirds of his farm when death
claimed him on the 26th of January, 1881. He was born on
the 15th of September, 1806, and his wife, nee Sophia
Klingerman, born in Pennsylvania Aug. 27, 1812, died June
23, 1880. Seven children were born to them, namely:
Mary A., Caroline, Cordilla and Sophia,
all deceased, William K., Michael, also deceased,
and Jesse. Reuben Zehner was by trade
a shoemaker and was also a singing teacher, and a man of
delicate constitution, but of the most sterling characteristics
and these qualities have been instilled into his children.
William K. Zehner was born in Pennsylvania in
1840, and coming with his parents to Hardin county when six
years of age he was educated in its public schools and in his
early life began farming its land. On reaching his
twenty-fifth year he bought one hundred acres of its virgin
soil, and as did his father, built him a log cabin and began to
prepare his farm for cultivation. His home is now a modern
one, showing thrift and artistic taste, and his land is valuably
improved. He has served his township in several of its
offices, including those of supervisor, trustee and school
director, and has in many ways been prominently identified with
the life of his community.
Mr. Zehner has been twice married,
wedding first, on Dec. 27, 1865, Miss Lucretia
Dickson, and of the nine children which were born to them
the following reached mature years: Nora E., the deceased
wife of A. J. Gannon; Amanda J.; Florence,
the present wife of Mr. Gannon; James R.,
who died Sept. 29, 1909; Lydia S.; Carrie E., a
music teacher, wife of Charles Nosker; and
Sarah E., wife of M. Nowlan. Mrs.
Zehner died on Mar. 6, 1886, at the age of thirty-nine
years, and on the 29th of December, 1889, Mr. Zehner
married for his second wife Christine Ann
Garlinger, and a son. William J., has been born
to them. Mrs. Zehner was born in Hancock
county, Ohio, Apr. 4, 1854, a daughter of George and
Elizabeth Garlinger, who were among the pioneers of Hancock
county. Mr. Garlinger died with cholera. Mr.
Zehner is a worthy member of the Methodist Protestant
church, in which he has served in nearly all of the offices, and
he is also a member of the order of Patrons of Husbandry.
Source: A Twentieth Century History of
Hardin County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. The Lewis Publishing
Company - Chicago - 1910. - Page 608 |
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JOHN W. ZIMMERMAN.
- It is a matter of gratification to the editors and publishers
of this history of Hardin county to be able to incorporate
within its pages a brief review of the career of this sterling
citizen and successful agriculturist of Hardin county, where he
has passed his entire life, being a scion of one of the honored
pioneer families of this section of the Reserve, with whose
annals the name has been identified for four generations -
representing a period of nearly seventy years.
Mr. Zimmerman was born in McDonald township,
Hardin county, on the 29th of July, 1857, and is a son of
Humphrey J. and Susan (Wright) Zimmerman, the former of whom
was born in Ross county, this state, about the year 1828, and
the latter of whom was born in Fayette county, in 1832.
Humphrey J. Zimmerman was a child in about six years at the
time of his parents' removal from Ross county to Hardin county,
where his father, John Zimmerman, secured a tract of wild
and heavily timbered land, in the south part of McDonald
township. In a log cabin of the type common to the pioneer
epoch was established the family home and then the task of
reclaiming the land to cultivation. Here the parents of
Humphrey J. Zimmerman passed the residue of their lives,
living up to the full tension, the deprivations and vicissitudes
of pioneer days, and here he himself was reared to manhood, his
educational advantages being limited to the primitive
subscription schools, and even as a boy he began to lend his aid
in the development and other work of the home farm. At the
age of twenty-two years he was married, and later he became the
owner of the fine homestead farm now owned and occupied by his
eldest son, the subject of this review. He was one of the
successful farmers of the county, a man of sterling integrity
and of indefatigable industry, and he did well his part in
connection with the civic and industrial development of this now
favored section of the fine old Western Reserve. His name
is well entitled to a place of honor on the roll of the sturdy
and valued pioneers of Hardin county, where he continued to
reside until his death, which occurred in 1895, his cherished
and devoted wife having passed away in 1867, Humphrey J.
Zimmerman was married to Emely Dolph of Roundhead,
Dec. 25, 1870, and died May 22, 1895, a few months before his
father's death. In politics Humphrey J. Zimmerman
was originally a Whig and later a Republican. Of the seven
children born to him four lived to years of maturity: John W.,
whose name initiates this article, being the eldest of this
number; Eliza J. became the wife of George Tidd
and is now deceased; Samantha is the wife of Wesley
McCoy, of Lima, Ohio; and Lawson L. is a
representative farmer of Roundhead township.
John W. Zimmerman was reared to manhood on the
old home farm in McDonald township, and to the common schools of
that section he is indebted for his early educational
discipline. He continued to be associated in the work and
management of the home farm until his marriage, at which time he
was twenty-six years of age. He soon afterward turned his
attention to the buying of live stock, being thus employed by
David Cole and Jake Wise of Forest,
Ohio, for several years, after which he engaged independently
and successfully in the buying and shipping of live stock.
After the death of his honored father he purchased the interests
of the other heirs to the old homestead farm, which comprised
one hundred and thirty-seven and one-half acres, and his ability
as a business man, together with his progressive policies and
discrimination in connection with the great basic industry of
agriculture, is best vouched for in the splendid success which
he has gained. He is now the owner of a landed estate of
eight hundred and forty-five acres, of which six hundred and ten
acres are located in Hardin county; forty acres in Auglaize
county; seventy-five acres in Logan county; and one hundred and
twenty acres in Jasper county, Indiana, upon which last
mentioned farm his eldest son, Arthur R. Zimmerman
resides. On his finely improved homestead farm, one of the model
places not only of Roundhead township but of Hardin county,
Mr. Zimmerman erected in 1901 his attractive and
spacious modern residence, which contains fifteen rooms, has
more than one hundred feet of verandas, with basement under the
entire building. The house is heated by furnace and was
erected at a cost of more than four thousand dollars, being one
of the finest farm homes of this section and being notable for
its generous and gracious hospitality. The timber for the
building was secured almost entirely from the farms of Mr.
Zimmerman, and the appointments and finishings of the
building throughout are of the most attractive order. In
politics Mr. Zimmerman is a stanch supporter of
the cause of the Republican party and while he takes a loyal and
helpful interest in all that concerns the welfare of the
community he has never been an aspirant for public office, the
Only official position in which he has consented to serve being
that of member of the school board of his district. He is
known as a progressive, liberal and honorable citizen and is
held in unqualified esteem in the community that has ever
represented his home and to whose social and material
advancement he has contributed a due quota.
On the 29th of July, 1883, was solemnized the marriage
of Mr. Zimmerman to Miss Anna
Older, who was horn in Roundhead township, Hardin county, on
the 27th of May, 1862, and who is a daughter of William and
Martha Ohler, who were honored pioneers of the county, where
they continued to reside until their death. Mr. and
Mrs. Zimmerman became the parents of nine children, all of
whom are living and the four eldest of whom are married and
established in homes of their own. The names of the
children, with respective dates of birth, are here entered:
Arthur R., July 8. 1884; Clara M., Apr. 2, 1886;
Esta L., Nov. 8, 1888; James D., Sept. 23, 1890;
John, Feb. 22, 1893; Susan, Nov. 4, 1895; Lloyd,
Oct. 12, 1897; Noble, May 25, 1901; and Martha E.,
Jan. 21, 1907, Arthur R., who resides in Jasper county,
Indiana, as already noted, married Miss Lucretia Hankins,
and they have one child named after his grandfather, John W.;
Clara is the wife of Thomas Plummer, of
Huntsville, Logan county, and has two boys; Esta L. is
the wife of Midd Gossard, of Harrod, Ohio; and
James D., who is engaged in farming on his grandfather
Ohler's old homestead near Roundhead, which John W.
and Anna his wife purchased after William and
Martha Ohler 's death. James D. married
Miss Opal Harbert. All the children are farmers.
Source: A Twentieth Century History of Hardin County, Ohio
- Vol. II - Publ. The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago - 1910.
- Page 798 |
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