JOHN GOODIN,

     AMONG the many distinguished pioneers of Seneca county was John Goodin, beloved and esteemed alike for his honorable course in life, and for his intelligence and friendly nature.  He was born in November, 1800, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and when about six years old moved with her father and the family to Perry county, Ohio, near Somerset, where he was raised to manhood.  when about twenty-two years of age he married Elizabeth Kishler, and six years thereafter, in 1828, they moved to Tiffin.  There were six children born to them, four daughters and two sons, who are all married and living in the western county.  Joel K. Goodin is the oldest son, and a lawyer of eminence in Kansas, and John R. Goodin was judge of the court in Kansas, a member of the legislature in Kansas, and a member of congress from that state, and lately also the Democratic candidate for governor.  Joel was also a member of the legislature of Kansas.
     In Tiffin John Goodin took a very active part in the development of the town and county.  He built the brick hotel on Washington street, already mentioned, and kept it for awhile, when he rented it to T. J.   There he lived until he sold the lot, with the frame house thereon, to the Seewalds, shortly before he moved to Kenton.
     In 1840 he was elected to the senate of Ohio from the district composed of the counties of Seneca, Wood, Ottawa, Sandusky and Hancock, for two years.  In 1843 he moved to Kenton, Hardin county, Ohio, where he entered into the mercantile business with his brother, and engaged extensively in buying and selling real estate.  His wife died in 1857.

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On the 13th of January, 1859, he married again.  By this union he hand three children.  In 1850, and shortly before the adoption of the new constitution of Ohio, he was appointed one of the associate judges of the county of Hardin.  He then retired from public life and lived quietly and happily on his farm, close by Kenton.  Three years before his death he had an attack of paralysis.  He died on the 20th of February, 1876, seventy-five years of age.  Mr. Goodin was  tall, slender man, of a well proportioned physique; very active and sociable.  He had a kind word for every one, and was personally very popular.  He was a very active and shrewd politician; a man of strict morality and honesty, faithful to his word and duty.  He was highly esteemed wherever he was known.

MRS. ANN SENEY.

     William Wood came from Holland to Philadelphia with a stock of goods, and took into his employ a young man from Maryland, by the name of George Ebert, who some time after married Mr. Wood's daughter.  The young people moved to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Ebert became a prominent citizen and was greatly respected.  He was there engaged in mercantile life for forty years.  They had a numerous family, and their youngest daughter, ann, was a beautiful girl, and received a very liberal education at the Borwnsville female seminary.
     Albert Gallatin, the illustrious secretary of the treasury of the United States, under Jefferson, and some other distinguished gentlemen from Washington, paid a visit to Uniontown.  Mr. Joshua Seney was then the private secretary to Mr. Gallatin.  The people of Uniontown prepared and had a very brilliant ball in honor of their distinguished guests.  At this ball Mr. Seney and Miss Ebert met for the first time.  This short acquaintance ripened into a love affair between these young people, which culminated in their marriage.  They lived in Uniontown ten years after that time, and then moved to Tiffin, in company with Judge Ebert, in the summer of 1831.  They had three children when they came to Tiffin, and there were five more born to them here, making eight in all, five daughters and three sons, who are all still living, but two.
     Mrs. Seney became a member of the M. E. Church when eighteen years of age, and up to her death continued to be a faithful, devoted and highly esteemed member thereof.  She was one of the mothers in Israel, and will be remembered for her christian virtues and her gentle nature as long as one person may live that ever knew her.

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     During the sickly seasons, and whenever Mrs. Seney could leave her own family, she would go from house to house among the sic, assist in caring for them, fetch them some palatable nourishment, cheer up the distressed with her always pleasant smile and christian consolation.
     She was born on the 13th of September, 1803, and died on the 5th of May, 1879.  She was beloved by all who knew her.  The entire community mourned her loss when she died.

MERCANTILE   LIFE.

     Among the many thousands of men who engage in mercantile pursuits there is but a very small per cent, that make a success of it.  The vast majority of them die poor.  According to the commercial reports for many years, only about five per cent, have made money and become rich, and of this small number those that are still in business, and are considered rich, take their chances in the ups and downs of life.  There is a certain fascination in mercantile life that induces men to invest their all, and young men without means are anxious to become clerks in stores, where they often remain, working for their employers until they grow gray with age.
     The substantial mechanics and, above all, the farmers are far more happy.  Of all human pursuits there is no situation in life so well calculated to fill the measure of our joy and contentment as that of a farmer.  The American farmer out of debt occupies the top round in the ladder of human happiness.  Those farmers who, by long, hard work and economy, accumulated a little fortune, then sold out, took the money and put it into a store, made clerks of their sons, who ought to have been left on the farms, and after trying the experiment for a year or two, failed, are generally the most pitiable subjects in the commercial world.  These will appreciate what ha been said above.

REZIN  W. SHAWHAN.

     The father of the subject of this sketch was Frederick Shawhan a native of Kent county, Maryland, but had settled in Virginia after the revolutionary war, in which he was an active participant, having enlisted when but seventeen years of age.  He served under Generals Wayne, Green, Lafayette and Washington.  He was at the capture of Stoney Point by Wayne, at the battle of Monmouth, at the crossing of the Delaware, and at the subsequent capture of the Hessionas, at Trenton.  In 1812 he moved to Ohio, and first located in Fairfield county.  In 1820 he removed to Wayne county, and afterwars settled in Seneca county, and died near Tiffin, Aug. 26, 1840, in the eightieth year of his age.

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     Rezin W. was born Oct. 19th, 1811, in Berkely county, Virginia.  He worked on a farm until he was about fifteen years old.  His chances for education were very limited, comprising only a common district school education of eight months.  In the year 1826, he entered the store of William McComb, in Wooster, Ohio, as clerk.  When eighteen years of age he was employed as clerk in the store of Zopher T. Moore, with whom he remained about three years.  In 1833 he visited Seneca county, where his father had settled, and in the fall of the same year accompanied his employer, Mr. Moore, to New York, where Mr. Shawhan purchased a stock of goods, getting credit on Mr. Moore's recommendation.  With this stock he opened a store in Tiffin, which was then a very new town, with a population of about five hundred.  His capital, to begin with, was small, but in spite of his limited school privileges, it seemed he had a wonderful facility in working addition and multiplication, which, together with his industry, close application to business, his unflinching fidelity to every promise, his sagacity, frugality and good management, tended to make his business increase very rapidly, and in the race for success he distanced every rival.  He continued in the mercantile business for eighteen years, buying and selling goods, grain and provisions of all kinds.  Up to 1840 the only way to obtain goods or ship produce was by wagon to and from Sandusky City.  In 1840, Tiffin became the terminus of the Mad River and Lake Erie railroad, and so remained for several years.  This improved trade in Tiffin very much.
     In 1851, feeling and need of relaxation, he closed up his business in Tiffin and transferred the stock to a branch house he had at Carey.  He devoted the three years then next following to the study of geography, history and the natural sciences.  His love for books soon procured for him an excellent library, and he pursued his studies with the same zeal, close application and perseverance that characterized him as a merchant.  He now added the benefit of travel to his scientific attainment.  He visited the western states, where he purchased large tracts of land.  In December, in company with his wife, he visited Cuba, where he passed the winter following, returning by way of New Orleans.  In 1858 he attended the sales of the public lands in Omaha, Nebraska, and Leavenworth, Kansas, where he purchased some thirty thousand acres.  In the same year, in company with A. G. Sneath, he started a bank of Tiffin, which, after the war, was merged into the National Exchange Bank of Tiffin, and in which he has ever since been a large stockholder.  In 1866 he built the Empire block in Tiffin, and, in company with others, was again largely engaged in the mercantile

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business.  In 1871, Mr. Shawhan took a trip to London, and passed two months in England.  He is still in the full vigor of his health and and manages his immense estate with the same tact and attention as in times of yore he controlled a small stock of goods on Market street.
     In 1839, on the first day of April, he was married to Elvira Tuller, of Washington, Ohio, who is also still living.*  Mr. Shawhan still enjoys excellent health, and, were it not for his white hair and beard, would promise fair to outlive many a young man not half his age.  While the great number of buildings Mr. Shawhan has erected in Tiffin have undoubtedly added largely to his wealth, they have also, at the same time, added-greatly to the wealth and improvement of the city and county, and with his various other operations in this county, for nearly fifty years, he has in a large measure contributed to the development of the resources of the county.  Of the fourteen children which his father had, he and his brother Josiah, at Cary, and Mrs. Anderson, at Fostoria, are the only survivors.

CHRISTOPHER SNYDER.

     A duty I owe to the memory of a dear old friend prompts the writer to record a short personal sketch of one of Tiffin's early merchants, whose name, for more than twenty years, was associated with mercantile life in Tiffin, and whose "German store" was a regular bee-hive of a place.

     Christopher Snyder was born in the city of Eppingen, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, Mar. 22d 1810.  He learned the trade of a shoe maker in his native town when a boy, and in the spring of 1832,  he, together with his brother John, several years his senior left their home for the United States.  They came directly to Tiffin, with the family of Andrew Albright, already mentioned, when Christopher soon found employment in the family of Henry Cronise, whose hospitality and kindness to strangers were equal to the popularity of his name.
     Richard Sneath kept the principal hotel in Tiffin, being located opposite the court house, on Washington street.  Here Snyder found employment as clerk and steward, and soon had charge of the whole establishment.  Mr. Sneath was an enterprising man, and in 1835 he built a store (one story frame, immediately south of Cronise's) with a little porch in front, painted green.  Mr. Sneath bought a very good stock of goods, and a short time after he had opened up he took Mr. Snyder as a partner.  This was in 1836.  All the capital the young
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     *Since the foregoing was written, Mrs. Shawhan and Josiah Shawhan have both died; the former on  the 20th of May, 1880, and Josiah at Upper Sandusky the day following.

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German had was his honesty and his business qualifications.  The German store soon became popular under the management of Christopher, who soon made hosts of friends by his straightforward, honest dealing, and his polished, polite behavior towards everybody.  Meantime, Mr. George Rummell (hereafter mentioned) married Jane, the beautiful daughter of Mr. Sneath, and soon after Mr. Sneath sold his interest in the store to this new son-in-law, and to his old clerk, Christopher.  The new firm started April 1st, 1837, and conducted the business at the same place, under the name of the " German store," for seventeen years, when, on account of ill-health, Mr. Rummell withdrew from the firm.  From this time forward Mr. Snyder conducted the business alone, as he did up to the time of his death.  In April, 1847, Mr. Snyder was married to Philipena, daughter of Philip J. Augspurger of the village of Albig in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, who arrived with her sister, Miss Eva, in Tiffin, in the year 1844.  Miss Eva is a twin sister of Mrs. Snyder, and was clerk in Mr. Snyder's store during the last few years of his life, where she acquired a general knowledge of mercantile business.  Naturally talented, gifted with a lively, pleasant nature and good health, she has herself been in the mercantile business for more than twenty years, and built up a nice trade in the line of woolen yarns, zephyrs, general needle-work and fancy articles.  At present she is in company with her widowed sister, Mrs. Snyder, in their store on Market street.
     On the 32d of March, 1857, Mr. Snyder died, after a short illness, leaving his widow and three small children in good circumstances.  Mrs. Snyder raised her children well, and gave them a good education.  There were two daughters and one son: O. P. Snyder, well and favor ably known among the business men of Tiffin; Augusta, who was married to Mr. Alf. D. Flen, and who died in Davenport, Iowa, about one year ago, and Philipena, the wife of Mr. Russel Knapp, of the Tiffin Tribune.
     Christopher Snyder's short life was a most excellent specimen of manhood turned to utility:; ever ready for business, open hearted, and strictly honest, friendly, yet dignified, he was one of hte most popular merchants of Tiffin.
     The family occupies a respectable position amongst the best families of the city.
     Christopher and the writer became friends when first we met in Tiffin, in August, 1833.  Our friendship grew stronger as years rolled on.  Many a Sunday afternoon we spent in pleasant conversation under the old sycamore three on the bank of the Sandusky river, talking about

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our native hills and our future prospects in this 'Yankee Land."  In the year 1850 it became the duty of the writer to prepare  a bill for the incorporation of the town of Tiffin with Fort Ball, into a city of the second class, and in drawing the bundary of the young city, I did not neglect the old sycamore tree, which now forms a point in the act of the legislature incorporating the city.  Snyder and the old tree have passed away, and the writer is left in the evening of his life to record their memory.  (See act incorporating the city of Tiffin.)

GEORGE RUMMELL.

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DAVID EVAN OWEN.

[photo of David E. Owen]

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TRANSLATION.

     "Neoni ne onea Wa-aweandadogeaghdane, tahhadaghsawer waghsakorihhonnyea et-hone synagogue; neoni yawetowanea yakott, hoende na-ah, wa-akorighcoaneghragoh, wairough: Kah oughdenoe tahhawe nekea - ea Ttinikarihhodease? neoni oghna Kamikonghrodea oughte ne roewawyh, nekinongkeah n agwagh Kayodeaghferas-hatsde yoyo deh ne Rasno'nke?

ANDREW LUGENBEEL.

Was born in Frederick county, Maryland, in 1806.  On the 11th of September, 1832, he was married to Elizabeth Baltzell, of that county, who was a sister of Thomas Baltzell, formerly living in Seneca township, and of Dr. Kuhn's first wife.  Soon after his marriage Mr. Lugenheel moved to Seneca county, where he resided up to the time of his death.  When the writer first got acquainted with Mr. Lugenbeel he was a partner in the mercantile business with Jacob Stern, in Tiffin.  About 1834 he bought the land of Joseph Janay, where, in 1836, he built a grist mill on the river bank, a short distance south of town, that __ is ever since, and until very recently, been known by the familiar name of "Lugenbeel's  mill."  Mr. Lugenbeel took charge of the mill himself, and soon made it the most popular mill on the river.

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     After his appointment as one of the associate judges of the Seneca common Pleas, he was familiarly called "Judge Lugenbeel," which title he retained to the time of his death.  He took a very active part in public affairs, and was very successful in all his undertakings.  He became one of the most popular, as he was certainly one of the most eminent, men in Seneca county.  He was a man of clear views, naturally philosophic in his thoughts, of strong, clear, sound judgment, of polished manners without the least ostentation; a safe counselor, a true friend, kind, benevolent; a man of enlarged views, broad-gauged and generous.  He was beloved by his intimate friends and esteemed by all.  He was one of the originators of the Seneca county infirmary, and one of its first directors. He held a number of township offices also, and filled the bill wherever he was placed.  The writer heard Judge Bowen say, at one time, that amongst all the associate judges in his very large circuit, there was not one the equal of Judge Lugenbeel for sound judgment and capacity.
     About 1843 Mrs. Lugenbeel died, and the judge married Miss Jemimah Souder, Dec. 11, 1845.  The judge died Dec. 10, 1863, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, without a child, leaving his estate, which was regarded as one of the best accumulations in the county, to his widow, who still survives him, but who seems to be either very indifferent or else knows but little about the judge, or both.
     Judge Lugenbeel was about five feet nine inches high; had a fair complexion, very florid face, high forehead, blue, deep-set eyes, clenched lips; his face was always shaved smooth, and he never wore a beard.  He was slow and dignified in his conversation, but whatever he said was solid.  He never indulged in frivolous talk, and enjoyed conversation that required deep, sound thinking.  He died while the country was in her throes of war, and his memory is fast becoming obliterated; but while he lived he was a true man and a most excellent citizen.

JOHN PITTENGER

Was born in Frederick county, Maryland, on the 16th day of January, 1778; was the oldest son among twelve children, two sisters being older.  He was married to Julia Ann Gibson, at Graceham, in the same county, June 22d, 1817.  Mrs. Pittenger was born April 12th, 1801, and is still living, now residing with her eldest living daughter, Mrs. R. R. McMeens, at Sandusky City, Ohio.  There were nine children as the fruit of this marriage, five sons and four daughters, five of whom are still living, viz.: Mrs. R. R. McMeens, at Sandusky City; J. H. Pitten-

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ger, attorney-at-law, at Tiffin, Ohio; Mrs. M. E. Stem, at Sandusky City; Mrs. H. S. Kendig, at Tiffin, Ohio, and Charles W. Pittenger, at West Liberty, Ohio.
     John Pittenger worked on his father's farm, where he was born, until he was over thirty years of age, and when losing his health he moved to Graceham, a small Moravian village, in Frederick county, where he entered into the mercantile business, and which he continued until he removed to Tiffin with his family in 1829.
     He came to Ohio first in  1823 or 1824, passed down to Cincinnati.  Sitting on his horse on a hill overlooking the embryo city, he came to the conclusion that there was nothing there to make a city, and rode on down to North Bend, where he thought the prospect was better.  From there he passed north through Indiana, crossed the Black Swamp into Seneca county.  Here he was pleased with the fine timber and the streams, and concluded to locate here.  In the fall of 1825, he sent a stock of goods by wagons from Baltimore, Maryland, and opened the same in the name of J. and B. Pittinger.  Benjamin Pittinger is a younger brother, still living, and familiarly known by the name of Judge Pittinger.  Leaving his brother Benjamin in charge of the store, he returned to Maryland.  The store and building have already been described.  The business was thus carried on until 1834.  In 1837 Mr. John Pettinger carried on the business in his own name, until 1844 or 1845.  In 1832 the two brothers started the tannery on Perry street, already mentioned, and conducted the same until they sold it to Fleming and Schock, about the year 1839.  Mr. Pittenger was an active and industrious man.  He carried on a farm on lands he entered in this county.  He was constantly employed at something, and when he quit public life he started a nursery on the south side of Market street, on the lot now occupied by the "Turner's Hall" and Mr. John Nuser's residence.  Here he busied himself with budding and grafting trees for a number of years.
     He became a member of the Methodist church at an early age, and remained a consistent member all his life.  His home in Graceham was a general stopping place for ministers of all denominations.  Father Purcell, now arch-bishop of Cincinnati, frequently accepted his hospitality when he was at Emmitsburgh.  Even after he moved to Tiffin he often entertained Methodist ministers at his house.  He crossed the mountains on horseback nine times, between Frederick county, Maryland, and Seneca county, Ohio, upon the same horse - old Major - averaging fifty miles per day.  The old horse, which lived till its twenty-sixth year, was a fine racker, but refused to work in harness.

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     While Mr. Pittenger was a man full of energy and business, he was quiet and unobstructive.  He was not very talkative; there was no flattery or blarney about him.  He was sincere and earnest in his dealings with men.  He was a large, muscular and bony man, not fleshy, but well built.  He had a large head, clear blue eyes, an expressive face, and as the weight of years made their mark upon him his head became bald, his hair and beard white, and his once powerful frame broken down, so that towards the evening of his life he was quit stoop shouldered.  He was a decided Whig, but never a leader in politics.  He died on the 20th day of October, 1857, at the ripe age of seventy-nine years, nine months and four days.

BENJAMIN PITTENGER

Was a younger brother of John Pittenger, He was born in Frederick county, Maryland, on the 29th day of January, 1798, on a farm, where he was raised.  On the 9th day of September, 1825, he was married to Theresa Creeger (already mentioned), and located in Tiffin in December of the same year.  His wife died here Dec. 8, 1847, at the age of forty-two years, leaving five children.  Mr. Pittenger was married again on the 13th day of December, 1849, to Miss Mary Ann Hunter, who also died August 15, 1877.
     Mr. Pittenger was one of the first associate judges of Seneca county, holding that position two terms (fourteen years), and was therefore familiarly  known by the name of Judge Pittenger.  He never was very fond of work, and therefore unlike his brother John, who was always busy.  The judge was one of the early leaders of the Whig party in  the county, and continued thus until that party fought its last battle under General Scott in 1852; and when, in 1856, the Republican party was organized and John C. Fremont nominated for President, he attached himself to that party, and has voted with it ever since.  The judge and his brother John were in partnership in Tiffin, in the mercantile trade, and in the tannery already described.  They sold the tannery to Fleming and Schoch, in 1839.
     Some twenty years ago the judge moved to his farm, about two miles from the city on the Metmore road, where he still resides.  He has two sons, both married and three daughters - Mrs. J. M. Naylor, Mrs. Ed. Naylor and Mrs. Al Buskirk.
     Judge Pittenger, in the full vigor of his life, had a very straight carriage, was about six feet two inches high, had a full head of hair, bushy eye-brows, a lon face and rather large nose.  He resembled General Jackson very much.  But the eighty-two years of life that have passed

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over his head, have left it very white, and broken down his physical powers very materially.
     The judge was not a man of great force of character, but honorable, dignified, kind and sociable.

JOHN AND LOUISA FIEGE

     There were also many mechanics in Tiffin who failed to make a success.  This is a world of cause and effect, and, to a great extent, just as we make it.  John Fiege came to Tiffin from Germany in 1834, a cabinet maker by trade.  He was a good mechanic, a kind, clever man, and strictly honest in his dealings.  He built up a large trade, and accumulated property rapidly.  In 1836 he was married to Mary Louisa, oldest daughter of Philip von Blou, who located in Tiffin about that time and soon moved onto a farm in Eden township, where he lived a long time.
     Mrs. Fiege was born in Waldmohr in the Bavarian Palatinate, on the 8th day of December, 1813.  John Fiege was born in Oedelsheim, in the Electorate of Hesse, July 3, 1811.  They had ten children in all, of whom three sons are still living, now familiarly and favorably known as the "Fiege Brothers," carrying on the most extensive furniture and undertaking business in the city.  John Fiege was drowned in a mill-race Mar. 31st, 1869.  Mr. Fiege died Dec. 29th, 1874.  Both were among the most highly esteemed people in Tiffin.

CHRISTIAN MUELLER AND VALENTINE SCHMIDT.

Were brewers and coopers by trade.  They came to Tiffin in 1847, from Bavaria.  They produced lager beer i 1848, which is thought to have  been the first in Ohio.  In 1854 they erected a new brewery on River street, and conducted the business together until 1860, when Mr. Mueller  bought Mr. Schmidt's interest, and carried on a very extensive business.  He turned Schmidt's brewery into a malt house in 1872.  Mueller's beer is celebrated all over Ohio and the west.
     Mr. Mueller had promised to write out a little history of the breweries in Tiffin, but, like so many of our good intentions, it was left undone.
     "Christ. Mueller," as he is familiarly called, is a very clever and congenial gentleman of excellent social nature, and a fine conversationalist.  He is a great lover of music, and was one of the most active among the founders of the "Bruderbund," a German singing association that was organized in 1854, and is still in existence.  He has a large family, and with the great industry and energy necessary to

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conduct his very extensive operations, he still preserves his youthful appearance; nor has he lost any of his innate jocular and friendly disposition.  Valentine Schmidt died some fifteen years ago.

THE GREAT FIRE OF 1872.

TERRIBLE FIRE!
TWO SQUARES BURNED OVER!
70 BUILDINGS DESTROYED!
$90,000 IN PROPERTY BURNT UP!
FIRE AN UNRELENTING MASTER!

FULL DETAILS OF THE FIRE OF SATURDAY.

     Saturday, Apr. 13, 1872, marks an epoch in the firs history of Tiffin that will never be forgotten by those who witnessed the terrible conflagration.  About two o'clock and forty minutes, the alarm of fire was given in the second ward, and in a moment the fire bells of the city were ringing out the

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A DESPERATE FIGHT.

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threw water in less than one hour from the time she left Sandusky.  After working one half hour she collapsed a fine.  She was well handled up to that time, and Sandusky deserved Tiffin's compliments.

THE SUFFERERS AND THEIR LOSSES.

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