Defiance County Pioneers - Alonzo Krotz

Born on a farm in Mark Township in 1858, Alonzo Krotz lived in Defiance County his whole life.  He was a businessman in Defiance and contributed much to his community.  The Defiance Democrat ran his obituary and a report of his funeral in the December 2, 1897 paper.  Alonzo died on November 28, 1897.

Photo courtesty of one of Mr. Krotz's descendants

"ALONZO KROTZ DIED.

End Came Sunday at 4:20 p.m. 

of Typhoid Fever.

Defiance Suffers the Loss of a Prominent Citizen, Successful Merchant, and Highly Respected Man.

 The Defiance public was shocked late Sunday afternoon to learn of the death of Alonzo Krotz, the well known retail grocer.

Mr. Krotz had been sick for about three weeks, being first attacked with pleurisy.  This disease was brought under control by Dr. Thacker, but the patient, in his natural ambitious desire to attend to his business went out to the store too soon and suffered a relapse.  As a result, typhoid fever set in about ten days before he died.  The fever was of the most malignant type, attacking the nervous system and refused to yield to treatment.  Death came at 4:20 Sunday afternoon, Nov. 28.

Mr. Krotz was as well known as any resident of Defiance, and his death will be mourned by as wide a circle of friends as any man who could be taken by the hand of death.  His ambition and close attention to business were two traits which accounted for his commercial success.  Plain, honest, outspoken, charitable, his deeds of kindness and uprightness of character are known to the entire citizenship of Defiance, and especially to the large number of people who have patronized his store and have been associated with him in various ways.

The sympathies of the entire public go out to the afflicted family and relatives. In respect to his memory, the national flag was placed at half mast on the city building this morning. 

Alonzo Krotz was born May 7, 1858, on a farm in Mark township.  His age at death was 39 years, 6 months and 21 days.  While he was yet but a boy, the Krotz family moved to a farm in Noble township, about a mile west of Defiance, where his father still resides, though his mother has been dead about 27 years.

About 17 years ago, Mr. Krotz engaged in the grocery business in a little frame building at the corner of Clinton and Fifth streets, this city.  While the brick block was building which now adorns that corner and in which his store is now located was in course of construction, he did business in the room now occupied by Root's shoe store.  His business from a small beginning has flourished and grown until it is second to none in the city.

Mr. Krotz was married to Catherine Gorman, June 20, 1882, and seven children have blessed their union, of whom the youngest is 15 months old, as follows: Earl, Clara, Robert, Mildred, Edmund, Ralph, Evaline.

His father's family comprised 15 children, by two wives.  The first family numbered 11, of which Alonzo was one, as follows: Sarah, Hall, Fillmore, Charles W., Daniel F., Elizabeth Sanford, Lavina Welsh of Bellmore, O., George W. now dead, Alvario S. of Springfield, O., Lenford E. and Clara Roedel of Cheyenne, Wyoming.  The second family of four are Mary, Walter of Niles, O., Carl and Josephine.

Mr. Krotz served two terms as township trustee of Defiance township, and was on his third term as city councilman at the time of his death.  So well did he serve the people of his ward and the entire city, in fact, he was each time re-elected in spite of his emphatic protest.

Mr. Krotz was a man of more than ordinary physical power and vigor, having never been sick before his fatal illness, which fact accounts for his failing to be convinced by his doctor and family of the need for special care for himself when disease did attack him.  In his death, not only does his family experience an irretrievable loss, but the entire city keenly regrets his untimely taking off.

The funeral occurs Wednesday forenoon at 9 o'clock from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic church, of which he was a devout member, conducted by Rev. M. P. Kinkead.  Interment at Riverside cemetery."

 

Riverside Cemetery

A very detailed account of the funeral may be found in the same paper. Our Lady of Perpetual Help (St. Mary's) church was crowded and the candles and altars were draped in black.  Eight acolytes assisted as Rev. M. P. Kinkead led the High Mass and Requiem, followed by a funeral sermon paying tribute to Mr. Krotz. City council members served as honorary pall bearers, and the actual pall bearers were Ed. Myers, J. R. Wilhelm, R. W. Wortman, Ed. Brady, Peter Weigerding, and Chauncey Morse. The family, clerks and citizens rode in carriages to Riverside Cemetery for the interment.

Alonzo Krotz's wife, Catherine Gorman Krotz, lived on to the age of 57, raising their seven children by herself.  Whether she kept an interest in the grocery or not, I do not know.