J. G. KEHRWECKER. ––Among the representative farmers of Westfield township, Morrow county, Ohio, the subject of this review is clearly entitled to be classified.  He is a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, where he was born July 20, 1808, and where he remained until he had attained his majority.  He was twenty-two years of age when he left the fatherland and set sail for the alluring shores of the New World.  After a voyage of seventy-two days he landed in New York city and with his few personal effects tied in a handkerchief, and without money, proceeded thence to Pennsylvania, where he remained for a time, coining to that part of Delaware county that is now comprised in Morrow county, Ohio, in 1835.  Arriving here he found occupation in working by the month on a farm, receiving the minimum wages of $6 per month.
     In 1837 he took unto himself a wife, in person of Miss Anna Mary Hack, who was also born in Wurtemburg, Germany, and who came to America when sixteen years of age, her parents taking up their abode in Franklin county, Ohio.  Shortly after his marriage Mr. Kehrwecker located on his present farm, which at that time was almost entirely unreclaimed.  Here he built a primitive log house and therein established his home, while he gave his attention to clearing up the farm and bringing the same into cultivation.
     Our subject and his wife became the parents of thirteen children, of whom we offer the following brief record: John was a soldier in the late war of the Rebellion, being a member of Company C, Ninety-sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and yielded up his life while in the service; J. G.; Jacob and Henry died while young; Frederick also died while in the service of his country during the late civil war, he being a member of Company I, Thirty-first Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry; George is a resident of Westfield township, this county; Christina is deceased; Mary A. is the wife of H. C. Hartsook, of Cardington, this county; Caroline is the wife of George Karn, of Kansas; Frederica is deceased; and Sarah, Anna and Ella still remain at the paternal home.  The devoted wife and mother was called into eternal rest in 1886, having attained the age of sixty-nine years.  She was a woman of noble attributes and a devout member of the Lutheran Church.
     At the present time Mr. Kehrwecker has, as representing the results of his own well-directed efforts, a landed estate in this township of 380 acres, and though he is now an octogenarian he still maintains the supervision of the cultivation of his wide acres, the place being recognized as one of the finest farms in this section of the State.
     In politics our subject lends his influence and support to the Republican party.  Religiously he is identified in an intimate way with the Lutheran Church, of which he is a consistent and devoted member.  Distinctively a self-made man, he has attained his success by honorable methods and has not been narrowed in his sympathies, nor has he ever disregarded the rights of others.  He stands as one of the honored pioneer residents of the county, and in the community is held in the highest esteem as an upright citizen and an honest, true-hearted man.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 292-293
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

ORMAN KINGMAN, deceased —The following memoir, which relates somewhat concerning the life history of one who stood as an honored resident of Morrow county for the long span of an active and useful life; one who was a native son of the county, and whose days were part and portion of the indissoluble chain which linked the annals of the early pioneer epoch with those of latter day progress and prosperity, is offered as a slight tribute to a man who stood four square to every wind that blew, and whose strength was as the number of his days.
     Orman Kingman was a lineal descendant of the eighth generation from Henry and Sarah Kingman, who fled from England on account of religious persecution, and settled with the Pilgrim colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1630.  He was born in Lincoln township, Morrow (then Delaware) county, Ohio, November 21, 1823.  His father was Joseph Kingman, who was born and reared in the State of Vermont.  In an early day, just after the close of the war of 1812, in which he was a solder, he removed his habitation from among the green-clad mountains of his native State, and took up his abode in the forest wilds of that portion of Delaware county, Ohio, which was subsequently included in the organization of the present county of Morrow.  He settled in the woods, at a point five miles distant to the south of Mount Gilead, the present thriving seat of the county, and here he remained until the time of his death, at the age of sixty-seven years.  He was a son of Alexander Kingman, who likewise was a native of the old Green Mountain State, a member of a prominent family, and one of the brave men who took up arms and participated in the great conflict of 1776, by which the colonies determined their independence from the dominion of the mother country.  He came to Ohio a few years after his son Joseph, and with him settled on the pioneer homestead already noted.  Here he passed the residue of his life, dying October 18, 1849, at the age of eighty-five.
     The mother of our subject, née Susanna Wood, was the daughter of Jonathan Wood, an early settler of this county, and one to whom more specific reference is made in the sketch of his son, Thomas A., as appearing elsewhere in this volume.
     Orman Kingman was the fourth in order of birth of the eight children of Joseph and Susanna Kingman, and all of this number lived to attain mature years.  Orman passed his childhood and youth on the parental farmstead, receiving his scholastic discipline in the primitive log school-houses of the place and period.  He remained on the old farm until the time when he married and assumed for himself the responsibilities of life, thereupon locating on a farm in Lincoln township, where he continued his residence for five years, devoting his attention to general farming.  At the expiration of the period noted he effected the purchase of the place where his widow now abides, in the same township.
     He was a man of broad intelligence, sturdy rectitude of character, progressive in his methods, and honorable in his dealings with his fellow men, ––attributes which must ever eventuate in gaining the respect and esteem of all within a person’s sphere of action and influence.  He was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which body he had been prominently and actively identified for a period of nearly a half century, having been a Class-leader, and having held official preferment as Steward for a term of many years.  Fraternally he was identified with the several Masonic bodies, having been initiated into the mysteries of that noble order when a young man.  Politically he was a Whig until the organization of the Republican party, when he transferred his support and sympathy to that party.  He served as Township Trustee, and had also been the incumbent in other minor offices of public trust.  Mr. Kingman was well known in the county, was genial and sympathetic in temperament, and enjoyed a distinctive popularity, being an excellent conversationalist, and a man whose friends were in number as his acquaintances.  He entered into eternal rest on the last day of August, 1891, and in his death the community mourned the loss, not of a great man, for his talents and opportunities were not such as to render possible the achievement of great ends, but of “a good man,” and what higher honor can be accorded than in the recognition of the intrinsic worth of character?
     The widow of our subject, Mary C. (Cunard) Kingman, who lives to bear and reverence his name, was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, September 27, 1827, and was a daughter of Stephen T. Cunard, a native of the same county in the Old Dominion State, where he was born February 3, 1803.  He was reared in Loudoun county, receiving somewhat limited educational advantages, and early in life learning the carpenter’s trade.  He was a son of Edward and Edith (Thatcher) Cunard, both of whom dated their nativity in Virginia.  His father, Edward Cunard, Jr., served in the war of 1812, as Lieutenant of his company, and lost his life in one of the engagements of that memorable conflict.  In his later years he had followed the vocation of civil engineer, being possessed of distinctive ability.
     His grandfather, Edward Cunard, Sr., was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and was at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, in October, 1781.  The family is of English origin, tracing lineal descent from the Hirsts, of Yorkshire.  The original representative of the Hirst family to locate in the New World came here in 1680 and settled near Baltimore, Maryland.  The mother of Mrs. Kingman was Vashti B. (James) Cunard, who was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1805, the daughter of David and Charlotte (Bradfield) James, who were pioneers of Morrow county, having moved to Morrow county, Ohio, in 1835 from Loudoun county, Virginia.  The parents of Mrs. Kingman were wedded in their native State, November 26, 1826, and in 1835 they removed to the forest wilds of Morrow county (then Delaware county), Ohio, where but little had been done in the way of felling the forests, and where the log cabins of the settlers were few and far between.  In 1835 there were twenty-eight votes cast at the general election in Lincoln township, and S. T. Cunard was one of the number of depositors.  At the time of his death, in 1881, there were only three of these voters living, and the last of the number died in 1891.
     When the parents came from Virginia their entire earthly possessions were transported in an old-fashioned carryall, in which the mother rode in state, with her little daughter (Mrs. Kingman) by her side, and the younger child (Ludwell M. Cunard, then a babe of five months, now a prominent citizen of Mount Gilead, this county) in her lap.  The journey was made in this primitive conveyance along the old national road to Wheeling, West Virginia, and thence forward to the destination in this township.  The available cash capital of the family was represented in the sum of $50, which Mrs. Cunard carried in her pocket.  The father walked the entire distance, accompanied by his two faithful watch dogs, Castor and Pollux.  Arriving here he built a diminutive log cabin, in which he installed his family, the place being located five miles south of Mount Gilead, which place was named by Daniel James, an uncle of the mother of Mrs. Kingman.  The father set valiantly at work to clear and improve his little farm of 160 acres, and in time he gained the reward for his industry and good management, being the owner of 1,100 acres of finely improved land at the time of his death.  He was originally a Whig; later a Republican and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Union during the late civil war.  His death occurred March 3, 1881, his wife having passed away in May, 1871.
     They were the parents of six children, namely: Mary C., relict of the honored subject of this sketch; Ludwell M., of Mount Gilead, this county, of whom individual mention is made on another page; Henry Edward, who was killed at the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862, as Captain of Company I, Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Thomas Corwin, a very prominent citizen of Fulton, this county, having filled many places of trust, including that of Notary Public for many years: the town of Fulton is located on a farm which he bought many years ago, and he has the honor of having erected the first house in the town, and of doing more toward its advancement than any other of its residents; Alexander H., deceased; and Amanda E., deceased wife of Dr. A. E. Westbrook, of Delaware county.  All of the four sons were soldiers in the late war of the Rebellion, the youngest of which (Alexander H.) enlisted at the age of fifteen and served four years.
     Mrs. Kingman was the eldest child, and was seven years of age when her parents came to Ohio.  Her education was received in the log school-houses which obtained in these early pioneer days, and as the eldest child much of her time was demanded in assisting in the domestic duties of the little cabin home, where she waxed strong in health and years, becoming an example of that intelligent, wholesome type of young womanhood which the frontier life produced.
     July 17, 1845, she was united in marriage to Mr. Kingman, and she became the mother of six children, of whom we make record as follows: Ada Ellen died in infancy; Elmore Y. is a prosperous farmer in Lincoln township.  His early education was obtained in the district schools, and he afterward taught in the same school where he had been a pupil.  He then attended the high school in this county for several summers, teaching during the winter months.  By economy he managed to save a part of his small salary, and with a little assistance from his father, he was enabled to attend the Baldwin University for several terms.  He married Belle Smith, a very amiable lady, and they settled on the farm where they now reside.  They have two sons, William Orman and Charles Cunard, both exemplary, promising young men.  Stephen Cunard Kingman is a representative young attorney of Mount Gilead, where he has practiced law for the past twenty years.  He received his early education in the schools of his own district, afterward attending the high school and Baldwin University.  After returning from college he commenced the study of law.  Soon after this he married Ada Eudora Coe, a lady of great moral worth.  She died within a few years, leaving two little girls.  The elder, Mary Letitia, a child of unusual promise, died when eleven years of age.  He remained a widower for two years, when he married Mary Alexandria Ireland, a very talented young lady, and they have four interesting children: Helen Valeria, Elba Nile, Hortense Virginia and Cunard Maxwell.  Joseph B. Kingman is at home.  George Edward died in childhood.  Hortense Vashti is the deceased wife of Professor Henry A. Foster.  She commenced teaching school before she was sixteen years of age, and had pupils who were older than herself.  She was a graduate of the high school at Mount Gilead, and afterward attended the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio, where she became acquainted with Professor Foster.  She was a young woman of beautiful character and high order of intelligence.  After her marriage she removed with her husband to Pontiac, Illinois, where she died only eleven months later.
     Mrs. Kingman is a woman of great memory and “strong common sense,” whose kindly character and genial and sympathetic nature have endeared her to a large circle of devoted friends, while in her gentle graciousness lies the charm of true refinement and the evidence of the born gentlewoman.  She is noted in the community for her devotion to the collecting of interesting relics and quaint family heirlooms, and none are more highly prized by her than the little splint-bottomed chair in which she sat during their journey to this country, sixty years ago; a large tortoiseshell comb of her mother’s, bought sixty-eight years ago, and still in perfect condition, not even a tooth missing, although worn almost constantly by her for thirty years; and a little butter tray made by her father sixty years since.  She has set apart a room in her pleasant home for the displaying of this collection, which constitutes an attractive and veritable museum, concerning whose various articles Mrs. Kingman can entertain one with piquant and diverting descriptions and narratives.  Her home is one which shows culture and refined taste, and is one in which there is always assured a gracious welcome.  She is loved and esteemed by all in the community, where so many yeans of her life have been passed.
     The following poem, composed by L. M. Cunard, son of the late Judge S. T. Cunard, was read September 23, 1892, by his sister, Mrs. Mary C. Kingman, at their mountain home:

MY MOUNTAIN HOME.

With weary pace and saddened heart,
  To this dear spot I come;
While gathering tears unbidden start,
  For ’tis my childhood home;
And six decades have rolled away
  Since first I rambled here,
With bounding step in childish play.
  Untrammelled by a care.

But O what changes! Sixty years
  Have given few pleasures birth:
But disappointments, bitter tears,
  Have quenched the flames of mirth.
Now, from my own loved Ohio,
  Here once again I come;
And mem’ry’s currents backward flow.
  While at my mountain home.

Here will I close my eyes and dream
  I am a child again,
Let old-time scenes, like rushing stream,
  Pass by me, now, as then.
Sweet dream.  O’er grand old mountain heights,
  Again, a child, I roam;
Anon, I soar in joyous flights
  Around my mountain home.

I dream, and while I dream, behold
  The “old home” as it was,
Ere three-score years their tale had told
  Of grief, and death, and wars.
I still dream on; and now I hear
  A song of long ago;
I list, entranced, and still more clear
  The echoing anthems flow.

O, how familiar is that strain:
  How soft each cadence steals,
To soothe and quiet every pain,
  My childish spirit feels.
Old Blue Ridge––lofty, more sublime
  Than polished Grecian dome;
Surroundings change, and men; but Time
  Moves not my mountain home.

Here would I stay and still dream on,
  And breathe thy balmy air,
But oh! the sweet illusion’s flown;
  I wake; old age is here;
But while life lasts, and memories live,
  Where e’er on earth I roam,
My latest thoughts to thee I’ll give,
  Thou clear old mountain home.

Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 330-334
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

ADAM KRATT, who stands as a representative of one of the old and honored pioneer families of Morrow county, Ohio, is one of the substantial and progressive farmers of Westfield township.  His father, the late Christopher Kratt, was a native of Baden, Germany, and he grew to manhood in the fatherland, being reared to farm life.  The maiden name of our subject’s mother was Christina Krouse, and she likewise was a native of Baden, Germany, where she remained until she had attained mature years.  The parents came to America about 1830 and were married here, after which they settled near Chillicothe, Ohio, where the father was employed in a factory about six years.  In 1837 they came to that part of Delaware county which is now incorporated in the county of Morrow, and here the father entered claim to ninety-two acres of Government land, the same being entirely unreclaimed and heavily wooded.  He paid for his land at the rate of $1.25 per acre.  On this farm he erected a log cabin and then set valiantly to work to clear and improve his farm, subsequently adding forty-five acres to his place.  In 1861 he erected the present residence.  His death occurred September 23, 1875, and at the time he had brought the farm up to the present high state of cultivation.  The mother of our subject is still living, at the venerable age of eighty-three years.
     Christopher and Christina Kratt became the parents of eight children, of whom seven lived to attain mature years.  Of the children we offer the following brief record: Amena is the deceased wife of Monroe Orcut; Catherine is deceased; Ann is the widow of the late Alpheus Schofield and is the mother of three children; Maggie is the wife of Joel Shaw and they have two daughters; Elizabeth is the wife of F. B. Shaw and is the mother of three children; Jacob enlisted for service in the late war of the Rebellion, entering the Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and while with the same met his death at Arkansas Post; Adam, subject of this review, is the youngest of the family.  The parents early identified themselves with the Lutheran Church and were zealous workers in the same.  In politics the father was a Democrat.
     Adam Kratt, subject of this sketch, was born October 3, 1848, on the old homestead where he now lives, and he received his educational discipline in the district schools.  After the death of his father he assumed the management of the home farm, which he now owns.  He has added to the same until he is now the proprietor of 266 acres, all in one body and all improved.  He has done much in the way of rebuilding and in making the permanent improvements about the place substantial and well kept, while he has also cleared and brought into cultivation a large part of his fine place.  He has about six acres of fine orchard and devotes considerable attention to the raising of graded stock.
     In December, 1873, Mr. Kratt was united in marriage to Miss Sarah B. Phillipy, a native of Pennsylvania, and the daughter of the late John Phillipy.  Our subject and his wife are the parents of two children: Harley J., born September 23, 1875, and Chloe Belle, born May 15, 1883.
     Fraternally Mr. Kratt is prominently identified with the Masonic order, retaining a membership in Cardington Lodge, No. 384, and Mount Gilead Chapter, No. 84.  He is also a member of the I. O. O. F., Cardington Lodge, No. 194, in which he has passed all the chairs, and of Ashley Encampment, No. 125.  The list of his fraternal affiliations is completed in his retaining a membership in the Royal Arcanum at Cardington.  He has been one of the most zealous and progressive workers in furthering educational interests, and has been School Director for many years, being the present incumbent in that office.  His interest in the work is unflagging and he is recognized as the prime factor in promoting the educational advantages in his township.  Politically Mr. Kratt is an ardent supporter of the Republican party and its principles, and he has taken an active part in the local councils of the organization.
     A man of marked intellectual force, careful and conscientious in all his dealings, and charitable and kind hearted, he is not only one of the most prominent men in Westfield township, but one honored and esteemed by all.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 390-391
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

DANIEL KREIS, a prominent farmer of Cardington township, was born in Richland township, Marion county, Ohio, August 20, 1859.  His father, Jacob Kreis, was born in Baden, Germany, where he remained until sixteen years of age, and then came alone to America, landing at Baltimore, Maryland, with only $1 in his pocket.  He worked on a farm in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, for three years, receiving $5 per month and board.  He was there married, and shortly afterward came to Marion county, Ohio, in a one-horse wagon, locating in Richland township.  He traded his horse and wagon in part payment for a forty-acre farm, on which he built a log house.  Mr. Kreis then left his wife in charge of the place, and began work on the National Pike, near Dayton, Ohio, receiving 50 cents per day, and walked back and forth every two weeks to his home.  In that way he earned the money to pay the balance on his farm.  He added to his place from time to time, until in 1859 he owned 900 acres.  In 1862 Mr. Kreis removed to Cardington township, and located on a farm known as the Brooks farm, east of Cardington city.  In 1870 he erected and moved into a fine brick residence in that city.  His first business venture there was the opening of a hardware store, which he conducted about thirty years, and was also engaged in the dry-goods and clothing business.  At one time he was president of the Cardington Banking Company, and was a stockholder in the National Bank of Galion, and in the First National Bank of Cardington.  Mr. Kreis built what is known as the J. Kreis Block in Cardington, the best business place in the city, and was also owner of a large brick block in Columbus.
     He was united in marriage with Miss Helena Smith, born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.  When very young she was bound out, and but little can be learned of her parentage.  Mr. and Mrs. Kreis were the parents of ten children, namely: Joseph (deceased), Jacob, Elizabeth, Helena (deceased), George (who represented Morrow county in the State Legislature four years), John, Cassius (deceased), Mary, Daniel and Samuel.  Mr. Kreis was a Democrat in his political views, and was a member of the City Council at the time of his death, which occurred in 1884, in his seventy-fourth year.  He was a member of the German Reformed Church.  Mrs. Kreis also departed this life in her seventy-fourth year.
     Daniel Kreis, the subject of this sketch, was three years of age when he came to Morrow county, and his education was completed in the Cardington schools.  He commenced clerking for his father when fourteen years old, remaining with him two years after his marriage.  In 1885 he located on his present farm of seventy-six and a half acres, and, in addition to general farming, makes a specialty of Shropshire sheep.  In political matters he affiliates with the Democratic party, and for four years held the office of Assessor, having been elected in a Republican district of 300 majority.  Socially he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Cardington Lodge, No. 427.
     Mr. Kreis was married in November, 1882, to Anna Smith, who was born and reared in Cincinnati, Ohio, a daughter of Ferdinand Smith, a prominent business man of that city.  They have no children of their own, but have an adopted son, Earl Ferdinand.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 405-406
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.