OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS - Morrow Co., Ohio Biographies

JOHN H. WATKINS, of Ransom Township, one of the prosperous, progressive and successful farmers of Hillsdale county is a native of the county, born here in Jefferson Township on August 22, 1861, and with the exception of a short time spent in farming in Ohio, his life has passed among the people of the county, entering fully into the spirit which animates them, helping to advance the interest of the section and taking an active part in its public life.
     He is the son of Jason R. and Margaret A. (Feltis) Watkins, and interesting account of whose life will be found elsewhere in these pages. He remained at home until he reached his legal majority, getting his education at the district schools and Hillsdale College, where he attended one year.
     After leaving college he rented land in Ohio, and during one year was engaged in farming in that state. He then returned to his native county, and here followed the same pursuit, farming rented land, until I896. In that year he bought the eighty-five acres on which he now lives, and which he has since managed with skill and intelligent industry, making it an excellent farm and a very comfortable and attractive home. Mr. Watkins is energetic, progressive and thrifty, being out of debt and with capital to properly push his enterprises and make himself useful in the community and helpful to others who are going through the struggle he has had. He is a Republican in politics, with an earnest interest in the welfare of his party, and breadth of view and public spirit in helping to conduct its affairs. He has rendered faithful service to his township as highway commissioner during the past two years, performing his official duties with an eye single to the general good of the community and without reference to personal interests for himself or others. He is a valued member of the lodge of Foresters at Hillsdale.
     On January 10, I883, he was married to Miss Etta Foust, a native of Montpelier, Ohio, daughter of Edwin and Elizabeth (Cope) Foust, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. For a number of years they have been residents of Jefferson township in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins have three children, their daughters, Alta M., Grace and Avice E. The parents are members of the South Jefferson Congregational church.
(Elon G. Reynolds, Editor, Compendium Of History And Biography Of Hillsdale County, Michigan, Illustrated (Chicago, A. W. Bowen and Company, Publishers, Engravers and Book Manufacturers, 1903), 432, 433.)
Contributed by Judith Anne (Weeks) Ancell jancell@spro.net from family records.

WILLIAM W. WICK is a well-to-do farmer, and is farming one hundred and sixty acres of land in Section 19, Sicily township (Gage Co., Nebraska). This land is the homestead of his parents, Andrew and Maria Elizabeth (Heimlich) Wick, who came to Gage county in 1883 and purchased this land, up0on which they made their home until they were called to the life eternal. Andrew Wick was born in Baden,, Germany, in 1834, and was a son of Sebastian Wick, who was also born in Germany, and who came with his family to America. He settled in Ohio in 1835, and there he tilled the soil until 1863, when he removed to Indiana, where he again beguiled nature to yield her corn and wheat, and where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. Their son, Andrew, the father of William W. Wick, was a baby in arms when his parents immigrated to the United States, and in his early manhood he lived in Ohio where he married Maria Elizabeth Heimlich, who was born in that state, in 1836, a daughter of German emigrants who had first lived in Pennsylvania and then moved to Ohio, where they were farmers in Morrow County, and where they passed their last days.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Wick moved from Ohio in 1863 and settled near Bourbon, Indiana, on a farm of eighty acres. They bought sixty acres more of the fertile land, making in all one hundred and forty acres that they owned in Indiana. In 1883 they came to Sicily township, Gage county, Nebraska, and purchased the land which their son William W. now owns. For many years they lived on this homestead. Mr. Wick died in 1894 and his widow passed away in 1915, at the age of seventy-nine years. They were the parents of thirteen children, and those surviving have taken their places in the world, to enrich the communities in which they live: John and Charles are twins, the former residing in Kansas and the latter in Bourbon, Indiana; Catherine is with her brother William, of this sketch; Mary who is deceased, was the wife of M. Yowell, living in Oklahoma; Lena is the wife of Henry Kelver, a retired farmer living in Plymouth, Indiana; Henry L. is a farmer east of Holmesville, Gage county; Caroline is the wife of M. E. Kerr, a school teacher of Bourbon, Indiana; William W. is the subject of this review; A. C. is a farmer in Elm township, this county; Anna, is the wife of F. H. Kimmerling, a retired farmer of Beatrice; R. J. is a bachelor and lives with his brother William; Philip died in infancy; and M. A. is a farmer in Sicily township, this county.
William Wick was a lad of fifteen years when his parents came to Gage county and here he finished his education in the district schools. He has devoted his time exclusively to his farming interests. He is a member of the Lutheran Church and votes the Democratic ticket. He has served as town clerk and is alive to the best interests of his community.
Source: History of Gage County, Nebraska - Publ. Lincoln, Nebraska, Western Publishing and Engraving Company - 1918

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