Jackson Twp. -
-- WILLIAM F. WAY, the first of this name to settle in Noble County, was born in England and came to the United States in 1820 with his family of wife and two children, a son and a daughter.  He landed in Norfolk, Va., thence came to Duck Creek, Washington County, Ohio, where he followed his trade, that of a blacksmith, until his removal to Wood County, Va., where he died in 1846.  He was an honest, industrious man of unquestioned integrity, and highly esteemed for his sturdy manhood; the daughter died in 1820.  The son, Edward T., was born in England in 1812; his youth and early manhood were passed amid the rough experiences of pioneer days, and in early life he learned to rely on his own efforts.  The family were poor, and for a time he lived with Peter Taylor, a farmer of Jackson Township, doing the work upon the farm, for which he received one-third of its product.  In 1833 he entered forty acres of land, selling the only piece of property he had a horse to make the first payment.  This investment may be called the initial effort of his life, and formed the substructure of a successful business life.  He erected a cabin, cleared his little farm, and as he prospered bought more land, until he became the owner of fine estate of six hundred acres.  The year following the first purchase, 1834, he married Miss Elizabeth Raney  The young couple were destitute of what would now be called the necessaries of life; their home was scantily furnished; a small stand did service as a table; this memento of pioneer times is still in possession of the family.  The farm work was done with the rude implements of that time, the grain was cut with a sickle, thrashed with a flail, winnowed with a hand fan, and ground at a horse-mill; despite these obstacles they thrived by the practice of rigid economy and hard labor.  Ten years after their marriage Mrs. Way died, and was laid to rest in the Taylor cemetery.  Mr. Way's second wife was Miss Ann, daughter of Edward and Mary Ellison.  By this marriage there were nine children: Elizabeth, David R., Mary A., Abagail, Edward E., Henry, Sarah E., Emily J. and Williaml M.  Elizabeth, the eldest of the family, was twice married.  Her first husband was Lindly Garnall her second, James Sheldon.  David R. married Jane R. Smith; Mary A. became Mrs. John C. Hale; Abagail married W. H. H. Hussey and resides in California; Edward E. married Miss Tacey E. Mathews; Henry married Adaline Taylor, Sarah E. became Mrs. George Boon; Emily J. married Elvin Raney, and William M., Mary Reed.  Mr. Way is a prominent and successful farmer, a worthy citizen and the personification of integrity and honor; his "word was as good as his bond."  On one occasion he borrowed $5,000 on his "promise to pay."  He identified himself with all the interests of the community, and exerted a marked influence on the moral welfare of those with whom he was associated.  He was a worthy member of the Methodist church.  His charity was proverbial.  He died at his home in Jackson Township, Dec. 20, 1879.
Source:  History of Noble County, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: L. H. Watkins & Co., 1887 - Page 558

Elk Twp. -
-- I. C. WERNECKE, son of Diedrich Henry and Frederica Charlotta Lizabeta (Galbernagle) Wernecke, was born in Vorden by Osnabruck, kingdom of Hanover, Germany, Dec. 6, 1818 and was educated in the common schools (Volkschule).  At the age of fourteen his ambition was to become a professional teacher, and to obtain the means necessary to prosecute his studies he taught the small scholars, ranging in their ages from six to ten years.  He was thus enabled to obtain private instruction in music and other branches not taught in the common schools at that time.  At the age of eighteen he passed a successful examination and was licensed to teach.  Shortly after, a teacher in the seminary received an injury to one of his eyes, and had to give up his place.  Mr. Wernecke was invited to fill the vacant chair.  Upon inquiry he found that he must take charge of nearly 150 pupils.  This was a responsibility he did not like to assume, and as many of his friends were preparing to emigrate to America, he decided to cast his lot with theirs and try what fortunes or misfortunes the New World had in store for him.  He accordingly left Germany in May, 1837, and reached New York in July.  In August of the same year he went to Savannah, Ga.  A short time after his a[\7   rrival at Savannah he was prostrated by fever, from which he did not recover until the following March.  In May of 1838 he returned to New York, remaining a few days in the city.  He took a trip up the Hudson to Rondout.  At Rosendale he got employment in a cement quarry, where he remained till the spring of 1839, when the company employing him suspended, and he was thrown out of employment.  By the advice of a friend in Baltimore, Md., he left New York and went to that city.  From Baltimore, in company with Judge John Davenport, he came to Barnesville, Ohio.  Finding no employment here, he visited J. F. Bidenhorn at Malaga, Monroe County, Ohio.  He had known Mr. Bindenhorn in Germany.  "At this time," says Mr. Wernecke, "I had barely fifty cents in the world."  Here he attended an English school for a few months, then entered J. F. Bidenhorn's tobacco house.  The next year he was so fortunate as to obtain a situation in a store as a clerk.  He was taken in as a partner in 1847.  In May of 1849 he married Mrs. Sarah Neptune, daughter of Albert and Sarah Lambert.  She died in 1858.  Five children were born to them, tow of whom died in infancy.  The others are Herman A., who married Albertine Werlitz, and is in business with his father at Harriettsville; Charles T. married Jane Finney, and resides in Montana, and William G. married Hester Dickison and lives in Harriettsville.
     In the fall of 1849 he formed a partnership with Theodore Beninghaus, and moved to Harrietttsville, Noble County, Ohio, where he continues to reside with his youngest son.  In 1858 Mr. Beninghaus died, after which he set up in business for himself.
     In 1852 or 1853 Mr. Conrad Shankburg came from the city of New York to clerk for Mr. Wernecke.  He married Lydia Jane Neptune, the stepdaughter of Mr. Wernecke, by whom he had three children:  Albert, Rupert and Frantz.  In 1873 Mr. Shankburg took his two oldest sons to Germany to be educated there.  Albert is still in Heidelberg, studying medicine.  Rupert came home in 1880.  The two youngest sons are now with their father.  Mrs. Shankburg died in 1872.  In 1880 Mr. Shankburg left Mr. Wernecke, with whom he had been in business for several years and went to Marietta, Ohio, and engaged in the wholesale grocery trade, and later to Sioux City, Iowa, where he has a prosperous business.
     Mr. Wernecke married in 1860, Mrs. Temperance Ogle, daughter of Butler and Chloe Wells who died Jan. 19, 1885.  By this marriage he had one daughter, wife of A. W. Sutton; she resides in Kentucky.
     Mr. Wernecke has 265 acres of fine agricultural and pasture lands near the town of Harriettsville.  He has a large and convenient store room in town, filled with a fine assortment of merchandise, and in addition to his fine family residence owns several houses and lots.  He has handled every year, since 1849, 250 hogsheads of tobacco, and has on hand now (April, 1887) some twenty thousand dollars' worth.  In 1870 he laid out the addition to the town of Harriettsville, improving the town very much.  He was postmaster from 1856 to 1886.  He was an old-line Whig until the organization of the Republican party, with which he affiliated, and with which he has acted ever since.  He has long been connected with the Lutheran church, and contributed largely in building the German Lutheran church near Harriettsville, of which he has been secretary and a member of the financial board of the society.  He has been school director also, and treasurer of the township for a number of years.  His life has been a busy and useful one; by industry and economy he has acquired much wealth.  In his varied business transactions he has associated with men of all classes, yet no man is more highly esteemed for his integrity and correct business habits than he.
Source:  History of Noble County, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: L. H. Watkins & Co., 1887 - Page 527