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	ALFRED M. LEE, fine country home is situated in section 18 of Freedom Township, Henry County, comes of some of the pioneer stock of this county.  On the whole the family have been devoted chiefly to agriculture, and in the different generations they have lived upright and useful lives, have provided well for themselves and for their descendants, and the family record is one of unbroken thrift and good citizenship.      It was in Ridgeville Township of Henry County that Alfred M. Lee was born Feb. 18, 1848.  His ancestors were substantial Englishmen and through several generations were tillers of the soil in Lincolnshire.  His grandparents on both sides spent their lives in England.  Mr. Leeis a son of Benjamin and Mary Ann (Johnson) Lee  Both were natives of Lincolnshire, the former born Nov. 27, 1809, and the latter in May, 1810.  The father died at Toledo, Ohio, Feb. 7, 1888, and his widow subsequently returned to the home of her son, Alfred, and died there Oct. 23, 1892.  Benjamin Lee as one of a family of four sons and several daughters.  Benjamin and his wife were married in England.  While living there three children were born, Eliza Ann, Emma and William.  In 1837 the family set out for America.  The sailing vessel on which they embarked encountered rough seas and was sixteen weeks in making the voyage from Liverpool to New York City.  After landing they chose what was then perhaps the most direct and available means of reaching Ohio.  Proceeding up the Hudson River, then embarking on a canal boat on the Erie Canal, from Buffalo they made their way over the lakes to Toledo and thence took the canal route to Maumee.  From Maumee wagons and teams brought them to Bean Creek in Fulton County.  Their destination was Johnson's Mills.  These mills had been built and owned by Mrs. Benjamin Lee's brothers, William and George who had come to America some years previously.  They were pioneer millers in Fulton County, and spent their lives there.  George Johnson was the father of Hon. Solomon Johnson a former state senator of Ohio and well known as an editor and lecturer.       For several years after arriving in America, Benjamin Lee was employed by the Johnson brothers at the mills above mentioned.  He then removed to Ridgeville township, in Henry County, where he entered forty acres of land and built a log cabin as the first home of his family.  This was about 1845 or 1846.  The country was still new and had received little improvement from civilized white men.  There were practically no roads, and the settlers' cabins were few and far between.  Benjamin Lee was a man of great industry and after clearing up his own land he did much other clearing in exchange for land, and eventually had considerable property and a substantial home.  In that Henry County home most of the children were reared, and three were born there.  The three children born before the parents left England are all now deceased.  Two daughters died in young  womanhood and the son, William, left a family of two sons and two daughters.  The children born in Ohio were:  Priscilla, who married Comfort Vanness, and when they died they were survived by two sons and one daughter; Mary A. died after her marriage to Henry Kneal and had six children; Frank live in Elyria, Lorain County, has been twice a widower and has several children; George is a widower living with a son in Waterville, Ohio; the next in order of birth is Alfred M.; Sophia died after her marriage to Patrick Killing, who is also deceased, and they had three sons; Lizzie married Richard Smith, a retired farmer at Waldron, Michigan, and they have three sons.      It was in a strictly pioneer community that Alfred M. Lee spent his boyhood.  As soon as sufficient strength came into his arms he took his place on the home farm and did considerable of the clearing up and improvement.  Meantime he also attended public school.  The school he attended was the well known "Quail Trap" school in District No. 1.  This was a log building and received its name became it had sheltered many flocks of quail in addition to providing quarters for the instruction of the boys and girls of that neighborhood.  Some of Mr. Lee's early experiences included the breaking of oxen to the work of the fields, and he also became familiar with the operations of the crude implements of farm husbandry fifty or sixty years ago.      After his father left the farm and retired to Toledo he and his young wife lived on the old homestead several years.  With his father's death he took his widowed mother into his home and cared for her until her death.  In the meantime he bought about 127 acres in section 18 of Freedom Township.  There he and his wife later located, and made a fine farm of it.  Its original improvements consisted of a few acres cleared and a log cabin .  Eventually they put a substantial ten room house on it and a barn 34 by 72 feet with all other implements and equipment for the necessary farming operation.  Mr. Lee also bought another good farm in section 18, and it is on this second farm that he now lives.  He and his wife have a comparatively new nine room house, with a large barn 34 by 50 feet, granary, and other equipment.  He formerly owned forty acres in section 19, with good buildings, and that was recently purchased by his son, Truman Lee.  His son, Stanley A. Lee, owns 100 acres in Ridgeville Township of section 13, and this is likewise improved with good buildings.  Mr. Lee himself owns forty acres in section 13 of Ridgeville Township.      In Williams County, Ohio, Mr. Lee married Jennie Boyers.  She was born in Springfield Township of that county October 7, 1852, being the youngest daughter of John and Margaret (Shontz) Boyers.  Both her parents were natives of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, her father born there in 1804 and her mother in 1810.  They were married Apr. 9, 1829, and several years later, prior to 1836, they moved to Ohio, locating as pioneers in Ashland County.  There they secured a tract of land, and John Boyers also followed his trade as blacksmith.  Seven children were born into the Boyers household in Ashland County, and in 1850 they removed to Williams County, Here John Boyers secured a new farm, and while clearing it up he again conducted a smithy for the repairing of his own and his neighbors' tools.  He led a very active life and died July 14, 1888.  His wife passed away Jan. 8, 1883.  They were lifelong Methodists, active workers in the cause of religion and community welfare, and two of their sons and two of their daughters' husbands became Methodist preachers.  A notable fact that should be mentioned of the Boyers family is that John Boyers and all his large family of sons and sons-in-law lived lives of almost perfect temperance.  Not one of them ever used tobacco in any form.      The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lee are:  Truman, who is a thrifty farmer on a place adjacent to his father's home in section 18 of Freedom Township; he married Ida Kline, daughter of George Kline, a prominent resident of Henry County, and they are the parents of two sons, Irving and Howard.  Myrtle, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Lee, married Louis Rupp, who is a manufacturer of tile in Jasper, Michigan; their children are Orlo, Lola, Mildred and Doris.  Stanley A., the second Son, owns a 100-acre farm in Ridgeville Township and by his marriage to Mabel Weller has a daughter, Thelma.  Mr. and Mrs. Lee are active members of the United Brethren Church, in which he is serving as trustee and steward.  Politically he is identified with the republican party. Source: History of Northwestern Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. 1917 - Page 777
	LARKIN J. LINTHICUM.  It is possible to pay tribute to only a few of the surviving veterans of the great Civil war in this publication.  One of them now living in Northwest Ohio and a prosperous citizen of Henry County is Larkin J. Linthicum.  Mr. Linthicum made a creditable record during the great struggle over slavery, and further interest attaches to his career because he has spent almost eighty years in Ohio and his first conscious recollection is of the woods and primitive surroundings' of this state.      He was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Sep. 29, 1832.  His parents were Aquilla and MAry (O'Rourke) Linthicum, who were natives of the same county and state.  The paternal grandparents had also spent their lives in Maryland, and the family were farming people, and most of them lived to a good old age.  The prevailing religious faith of the Linthicums was Methodist.  Acquilla and wife lived for some years near their birthplace and later with their two sons, Larkin and Franklin, came to Ohio in 1836.  That was years before railroads were built, and consequently they made the journey with wagons and teams.  Their first location was in Knox County, where they started in a primitive section of Morgan Township.  They built and lived in a log cabin, and all around them was new and they endured many of the vicissitudes and hardships of the times.  After some years of hard work and the making of extensive improvements on their lands the family left Knox County and came to Liberty Township of Henry County in 1852.  Here they located on land which had originally been taken up direct from the Government by William Day.  It was on forty acres of that land that Larkin J. Linthicum began his practical career as an agriculturist.  Of the children of his parents and brother Franklin  died at the age of seven years, and the daughter Sophia died in 1866.  The only other one still living is Rachel, who has never married and is now living at the age of seventy-two at Toledo.  It was the old homestead in Liberty Township that both the parents spent their remaining years.  His father, who was born in 1784 died in 1874 at the age of ninety.  He had served as a soldier, having volunteered from Maryland, for the War of 1812, and went through that struggle unhurt.  His wife died prior to 1860, having been born in 1801.  She was born in Maryland of Irish parents, her father, James O'Rourke, having come from Ireland in time to serve in the Revolutionary war.  James O'Rourke, married in Maryland, and while he was a Catholic his wife was a Methodist.       Larkin J. Linthicum is the only member of the family who has grown up and kept the family name alive, since none of his brothers or sisters married.  Many years ago he secured eighty acres of good farming land, improved it and with good buildings and still has his home on section 29 of Liberty township, where he enjoys the comforts won by his earlier years of thrift, and is surrounded by children and grandchildren.      Mr. Linthicum married Miss Sarah Leist.  She was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, October 4, 1849.  She died at Napoleon, July 4, 1897,.  Her parents, William and Sarah (Nye) Leist, were natives of Pennsylvania who first moved to Pickaway County, Ohio, and later to Henry County, and spent their lives as substantial farming people.  The members of the Leist family were reared Lutherans, but later became members of the United Brethren Church.  Mr. Leist was a republican and it has been the political faith of the Linthicums to first be allied with the whigs and later with the republican organizations.     Larkin J. Linthicum entered the Union army with the Sixty-eighth Regiment, Company A, commanded by Capt. Lewis Richards.  He was in the war at the start and he continued until the close of the struggle.  Twice he was scratched by a bullet, but never lost an hour from the ranks on account of wounds or sickness, and while he enlisted as a private he subsequently became principal musician of the regiment and was discharged in that capacity.  For many years he has been an active and honored member of Anderson Clarke Post No. 191, Grand Army of the Republic.      Mr. Linthicum and wife were reared in the Methodist Church but subsequently became members of the United Brethren denomination.  Some record of their children should be found in the concluding paragraphs of this article.  Ida, the oldest daughter, is the wife of Warren Whitmer, a farmer of Liberty Township, and their children are Littie, Harold and Virgie.  The son, Lewis A., who occupies the old homestead and is one of the progressive and enterprising farmers of Henry County, married March 18, 1893, Miss Eva Redfield, who was born and reared in Liberty Township and is a daughter of Albert Redfield, reference to whose life and career will be found on other pages.  Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Linthicum have two children, Albert, born Sept. 9, 1898, who has completed the course in the common schools and is still at home; and Mary E., born Feb. 2, 1901, and also at home.  Giles J., the second son of Larkin Linthicum, is a farmer in Liberty Township and by his marriage to Fannie Murphy has six children named Byron, Charles, Imo, Josephine, Mildred and Vivian.  Judson R., is the professional man of the family, being a graduate in law from the University of Michigan, and now in active practice in Napoleon; he married Byrl Musser and they have a son Harold.  Carrie A. is the wife of Terry Woodward, who is employed in the rubber factory at Akron, Ohio Source: History of Northwestern Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. 1917 - Page 864
Henry Ludeman Mrs. Henry Ludeman	HENRY LUDEMAN belonged to some of the pioneer stock of Henry County, and spent many years in successful business enterprise, part of the time at Toledo and part of the time at Napoleon.  He died at his home, 831 Scott Street, in Napoleon Nov. 16, 1913.  Mrs. Ludeman is still living at Napoleon and she, too, represents a family of early settlers in Henry County.      A native of Germany, Henry Ludeman was born in Hanover Dec. 24, 1842, and was five years of age when brought to the United States.  His parents were William and Mary (Ludeman) Ludeman both natives of Hanover.  William Ludeman and wife grew up in their native kingdom, and he learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed on a private estate in Germany for a number of years.  In 1847, accompanied by his wife and two children, William and Henry, he set out for the United States, leaving Bremen and after fifteen weeks or more landing from a sailing vessel at Baltimore.  The little family journeyed to the interior by way of the river, canals and great lakes, and over a country highway to Henry County.  Here in the midst of the wilderness at what is known as Friday Schoolhouse in Napoleon Township he secured a tract of land and had to cut out the trees in order to make room for his first log cabin, which contained one room for living purposes and one room to serve as his blacksmith shop.  Nearly all the meat consumed in the first years was supplied by the wild game killed in the neighboring woods.  In this Ohio home one more child was born, August, and soon after his birth the mother passed away in the prime of life.  William Ludeman married for his second wife Mary Haas.  She was also a native of Hanover and had come to the United States in young womanhood.  After a few years William Ludeman died, leaving one child by his second wife, Eliza, who is now the wife of Henry Sunenburg of Hamler, Ohio.  The second wife of William Ludeman afterwards married a Mr. Bremer, and both are now deceased, leaving two sons and one daughter.      Henry Ludeman being left an orphan by the death of his mother and afterwards of his father started out at the age of sixteen to make his own way in the world.  For a time he worked on the canal at Florida in Henry County, and then came to Napoleon and found work as a grocery clerk.  After his marriage he established himself in the grocery business and also built up a large trade in the handling of ice.  Still later he engaged in the manufacture of brick, and by these various enterprises acquired a modest capital.  Selling out his interests at Napoleon he moved to Toledo, where for six years he was one of the leading grocery merchants.  He then disposed of his business at Toledo and returned to Henry County, where he bought the 140-acre farm of his father-in-law in Napoleon Township.  To that farm he gave all his energies for twenty-one years, and was one of the ablest and best known farmers in that vicinity.  After that he retired and moved to Napoleon, buying a new home of eleven rooms at 831 Scott Street.  There he remained until his death.  Henry Ludeman was a democrat, was a confirmed Lutheran and was a man of high principles, a good neighbor, and is remembered gratefully by a large circle of loyal friends.      In Toledo, Ohio, in 1865 he married Miss Henrietta Classman.  Mrs. Ludeman was born in Lippe Detmold, Germany, June 14, 1843, a daughter of Fred and Johanna (Bakerman) Classman, who were also natives of the same locality, where they were reared and married.  Besides Mrs. Ludeman there was another daughter Julia, who was born in Germany.  In 1852 the family set out from Bremen and by sailing vessel arrived in New York City ten weeks later.  They came on west as far as Cleveland, where they lived a year, and while there a son was born.  Fred Classman.  Fred Classman grew up and married and left seven children, and of these children Mrs. Ludeman has reared George who married Regina Neidemeyer and now lives with Mrs. Ludeman.  In 1854 the Classman family left Cleveland and moved into the wilds of Henry County.  They established their first home in the woods four miles west of Napoleon on 140 acres of heavily forested land.  There they cut out a space among the trees and built their first log cabin home.  Subsequently this was replaced by a substantial frame residence and a barn, and this farm in its improved condition Mr. Ludeman subsequently bought as already stated.  Mr. Classman lost his wife at the age of fifty- six, and after her death he lived among his children until he passed away at the age of eighty-six. He was a strong democrat and both he and his wife were members of the Lutheran Church.      Since the death of her husband Mrs. Ludeman has lived at her present home on Scott Street.  She also owns some valuable business and residence property in Napoleon and has shown much ability in managing her business and private affairs.  To her marriage with Mr. Ludeman only one child was born.  Julia, who died when two months old.  Mr. and Mrs. Ludeman were both confirmed as members of the Lutheran Church, and Mrs. Ludeman takes an active part in the church of that denomination in Napoleon. Source: History of Northwestern Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. 1917 - Page 1191

 

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