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THEODORE
J. ZELLER. Among the citizens of Keystone state
has furnished to Ohio is numbered Theodore J. Zeller, who now
follows farming in Union township. Miami county. His birth
occurred in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of August,
1832, and he is of German lineage, the family having been
established in America by his grandfather, who came to the new world
from Germany. His parents were Henry and Maria (Miller)
Zeller, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former born Feb. 15.
1805, the latter on the 10th of October, 1808. Reared to
manhood in his native state, Henry Zeller there learned the
saddler's and painter's trades, following those pursuits in
Pennsylvania until 1850, when he took up his abode in Clark county,
Ohio, near Medway, where he worked at his trade until about 1852,
when he came to Miami county and for several years conducted a
general mercantile establishment in Laura. He won a
liberal patronage and derived from his business a good income.
All that he had was the result of his labors and he justly won the
title of a self-made man. In politics he was a Republican and
religiously was connected with the Christian church. He was
married, on Christmas day of 1827, to Miss Maria Miller,
and they became the parents of ten children, three of whom are now
deceased. The father died at the age of seventy-five years and
the mother, who held membership in the Lutheran church, passed away
on the 23d of October, 1872.
Theodore J. Zeller followed plastering until his
health failed in 1S75. He was employed as a farm hand in
Pennsylvania until the spring of 1850, when he came with his parents
to Ohio. Five years later, in 1855, he was married and in the
autumn of that year he came to Laura, where he followed the
plasterer's trade for seven or eight years. In the spring of
1864 he went to West Milton, where he followed plastering until
1875, and then invested the capital he had acquired in a farm of
seventy-two acres in Union township, on which he has since made his
home. He now rents his farm to his son-in-law, Horatio
Elleman.
Mr. Zeller wedded Miss Susan Brosey, of
Clark county, Ohio, and unto them were born six children: Orres
A. and Clara Amanda, both deceased: Elizabeth,
wife of Horatio Elleman; Effie K., Walter K.
and Harry B., at home. The parents hold membership in
the Christian church and are people of sterling worth in the
community, enjoying the warm regard of all with whom they have been
brought in contact. Mr. Zeller is a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In the spring of 1864 he
manifested his loyalty as a citizen of the republic by responding to
the call for men to serve one hundred days. He joined Company
D, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Ohio Infantry, and went to the
defense of Washington. He participated in the battle of Fort
Stephen, and on the expiration of his term was honorably discharged.
All who know him esteem him for his fidelity to principle.
Source: Genealogical & Biographical Record of Miami Co.,
Ohio - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company - 1900 - Page
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