Hugh Manon, Old Settler of Williams Center

 

We're venturing just a bit outside of Defiance County to honor one of the oldest settlers of the area. Later, some of his descendants did venture across the county line, and the author of the piece, found in the Bryan Press of October 22, 1914, was a Farmer area fellow.

Hugh Manon, 88, Last Old Settler

W. S. Tomlinson Writes of Days When Williams Center Was Metropolis of the County"

Men go back to some historical event to establish dates, while women remember them by the birth of their children. Hugh Manon remembered the date when he came to Williams Center as being the year before Tyler was hung.* This was 66 years ago and many of you will wonder why he came to settle down in that quaint old town, but you must remember that at one time Williams Center was a flourishing village, and I can recall a time when there were four general stores, two groceries, three tailor shops, three blacksmith, two wagon, two furniture, three shoe, one harness, a tine, and I do not recall how many carpenter shops, for at that time everything was a shop and besides that, there was a large sawmill and an Ashery* where Mr. Manon worked for many years.

In those days every town had an ashery where the ashes from the timber burnt on the new lands were converted into peals and sent to the eastern cities to pay for goods, and many a day, when I was playing around the corners, I have seen Mr. Manon unloading ashes, filling leaches, pumping water with the old chain pumps for half a day at a time, wetting down the leaches.

Then boiling the lye down into salts in large iron kettles and finally ending up with pearls in the pearling oven, ready to be placed in large barrels to be shipped to New York city where father went twice a year to buy goods on tick* which were sold in like manner.

*The Tyler hanging - the next post will be dedicated to this as it's a long story.

* An ashery converted the hardwood ashes obtained when farmers burned the wood and cleared their land. When soaked, lye would leach for soap. Further leaching would create potash and pearl ash.  These were used in glass making, gunpowder, leather tanning, paper and other things.

*on tick - on credit

At one time, all of the Manons lived in Williams Center and Uncle John, who afterwards clerked for father, ran a tailor shop and kept the post office. (These were brothers of Hugh.)  Jacob settled on a farm in the northwest part of the county and Jerry (Jeremiah) and a Mr. Bitner, brother-in-law, and the old folks went back to their old home near Gettysburg, Pa. where they were during that battle, and Mr. Bitner had to contribute the flour from his mill to the Confederacy.  One daughter, Rebecca, remained here and married James Fisher, and died in Bryan a short time ago. Samuel Burtsfield, who had a shoe shop in Bryan for so many years, came here with them and, for a time, ran a shoe shop for father at Williams Center.

I can recall when a man could speak with pride and say he was from Williams Center, the metropolis of Williams county, and it is not a bad place yet, only the railroads let it set out in the cold, and the men who used to loaf around the stores nights and bad weather in the days before Tyler was hung and tell stories that happened in their old eastern homes have all passed to their long homes, as far as I can tell.

Martin Struble and Jacob Rager of Bryan, Dwight Stoddard of Wauseon, John A. Garver of Des Moines, Jacob Lane of Edgerton and Wm. Yeagley of Farmer, all are old residents of Williams Center and vicinity, but I believe these men did not have homes here until after Tyler was hung.

One thing can be said of Mr. Manon that cannot be said of many of us, he had the knack of getting along with men without making them enemies and I never heard any person speak unkindly of Uncle Hugh. He was an honest, hard-working law-abiding citizen and saved enough out of his wages to buy a farm near where he began housekeeping 66 years ago and besides raised a large family of children.

Two of his sons, John and George, a German Baptist preacher of considerable note, have nice farms in Kansas. Wesley also owns a farm near Melbern and Jerry on the old farm, as well as the two daughters now living, were all present at the funeral. Mrs. Manon died in the 60s*and their oldest daughter, Kate, a few years later, and thus ends the life of one of the nicest old men I ever knew."  W. S. Tomlinson

                                Williams Center Cemetery

Note:

Hugh's father, also Hugh Manon, a War of 1812 veteran, and his wife, Margaret moved back to Gettysburg, it would seem. This Hugh Manon Jr. married Lydia Bender in 1848 in Franklin, Pennsylvania and they had seven children, but Lydia died in 1866, at about the age of 38, leaving Hugh to raise the children, which he did, never remarrying.

The children were Kate, John, George, Wesley, Sarah, Lillie, and Jeremiah. John, George, and Sarah went to Kansas to settle. Katie died young in 1875 at the age of 27. Wesley settled in the vicinity, died in 1938 and was buried in Farmer Cemetery. Lillie married locally, Raymond Pollock, as did Jeremiah to Eva Smith, and they are also buried at Williams Center.

At the end of Hugh Jr.'s life, he had an eighty acre farm in Section 33, Center Township,Williams County.

Christian Diehl - Bishop Post, G.A.R.

Born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany , on August 21, 1842, Christian Diehl immigrated to America on the ship, LeHavre, in 1861, just when the War Between the States began. The Commemorative Biographical Record wrote that Christian's father had died when he was 8. It was not long after coming to America that he showed his new patriotism by enlisting in the Union Army.

He enlisted in Company K of the 194th Pennsylvania Infantry on July 18, 1864.  The 194th was a 100 day unit recruited from all over Pennsylvania, where Christian first settled.  The regiment rendezvoused at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and by July 24th, they headed for Baltimore, Maryland and the eastern shoreline. There they were assigned to guard duty for prisoners and goods, and escorted soldiers to the front.  The regiment mustered out on November 6, 1864.

  Christian married  Mary Rantz in Lucas County in 1869, and, in 1870, Christian went back to what he knew best from the Old Country...brewing. Jacob Karst and Joseph Bauer had a brewing business going in Defiance. Christian bought out Karst and eventually, Bauer, until he remained as sole owner in 1885 and the Christ Diehl Brewery was born.

Christian (Christ) and Mary had six sons : Christian, Jr., John Charles, 

Albert Frederick, Joseph Aloyisus, August, and Frank Benedict.  In 1896, 

he sold out to the older three - Christ, Jr., John C. and Albert, all of whom

had had a hand in the business from a young age. Mary and these three older sons were Lutheran, while the younger sons were raised as Catholic, the religion of their father.

A passport application exists for Christian Diehl, who traveled with

John M. Preisendorfer back to Germany in April and May 1900. Christian's birthplace on this was Bodenheim, Hesse-Darmstadt.  He was described as 58 years old, 5 foot 7 inches, with a forehead square and full, blue eyes,

a large straight nose, with black hair with some gray, a fair complexion and a full, slightly long, face. The purpose of the trip was not listed, nor was there a photo.

On April 2, 1910, Christian's wife, Mary, passed away unexpectedly after almost fifty years of marriage. Her obituary appeared in the Defiance Crescent-News on April 4, 1910:

"MRS. CHRIST DIEHL SR.

Mrs. Christ Diehl Sr. died suddenly Saturday evening, death coming as a surprise to the immediate family and many friends.

She was born August 21, 1849. On June 15, 1869, at Toledo, she was united in marriage to Christ Diehl Sr.  In 1871, they came to Defiance.

Of the union, there were born six children, Christ John, Albert Joseph, Frank B., all of Defiance and August, residing out of the city.  Three sisters also survive her, Mrs. Elizabeth Pottsinger Defiance; Mrs.Anna Steinbach, Chicago; and Mrs. Mason Daiz, Holgate; also a brother, Casper Daiz of Holgate.

The funeral will occur Tuesday morning at 9:30 from the house and at 10 o'clock from the church, Rev. Kiess, officiating.  She was loved and respected by all who knew her."

Christian married again on July 12, 1911, at the age of 68 to Philomena Gardiner, aged 50, in Medina County, Ohio. Philomena was also born in Germany and had not been married before. 

Christ Diehl lived until November 8, 1928, in Defiance with Philomena, when he died of dropsy, a fluid buildup in the body that eventually caused him to be bedridden.  He was a successful businessman and mainstay of his church, St. John's Catholic Church.

Christian's obituary appeared in the Defiance Crescent-News on page 1 a day after his death:

"DEATH TAKES CHRISTIAN DIEHL WHO CAME TO CITY IN 1870 AND BUILT UP BIG ENTERPRISE

Christian Diehl, Sr., who came to Defiance in 1870 and developed the Diehl Brewing Company, being president of the organization for many years, died Thursday at 6:15 p.m. at his home, 223 Jackson avenue at the age of 86 years.

Although he had been in failing health for a year, Mr. Diehl did not become bedfast until three weeks ago.  Dropsy brought about his death.

Solemn requiem high mass will be celebrated for Mr. Diehl Monday at 9 a.m. at St. John's Catholic Church, with Rev. Father George H. Lang officiating.  Mr. Diehl served as a member for the board of trustees of this parish for years and was in the office at the time the present church structure was built.

During the Civil War, he served for 100 days in Company K, 184th regiment of the Pennsylvania Infantry.

After he was discharged from service, he located in Toledo, in 1870 he came to Defiance as brewmaster at the Defiance Brewery, owned by the late Jacob Karst and Joseph Bauer.

Ine 1871, he bought out the interest of Mr. Karst in the firm and in 1885, took over Mr. Bauer's share.  During his regime as head of the organization, he greatly expanded the industry here and made many improvements in facilities of the plant.

After Mr. Diehl retired in 1896, his sons continued in charge of the business.  Mr. Diehl is the last of four children, being the youngest.  He was a brother of Mrs. Christena Gottwald, who died here a number of years ago.

Mr. Diehl was married to Mary Rantz in Toledo n 1869.  Mrs. Diehl died April 2, 1910.  To this union were born six sons, all of whom are living in Defiance except August A. Diehl, who passed away in 1918.  The surviving sons are Christ Diehl, Jr., John C. Diehl, Albert F. Diehl, Joseph A. Diehl, and Frank B. Diehl.

There are also 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Mr. Diehl was married again in 1911 to Philomena Gardner at Medina, Ohio.  She survives him."

After Christian's death, Philomena eventually moved back to Medina County where she lived until 1933.  She was buried there.

A great read on the Diehl family and the brewing company...HERE.

(This is part of a series on Civil War veterans of Defiance County who were part of the G.A.R., Bishop Post, that headquartered in the city.  Formed in 1879, the post was named after a local man, Captain William Bishop, Company D, 100th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Army who died as a result of wounds received in battle.  The veterans' photos are part of a composite photo of members that has survived.  If you have other information or corrections to add to the soldiers' stories, please add to the comments!)

Prohibition Days in Hicksville

 

It was in the midst of Prohibition, 1925, and the WCTU and law enforcement were on a mission to rid Defiance County of its alcoholic beverages. This story is from the Bryan Press, July 23, 1925, and would have been a great movie scene.

"1,600 BOTTLES OF CANADA BEER
IN HICKSVILLE HAUL

Truck Carried High Priced Load
But Driver Got Away

"Friday afternoon, a man drove into the Mastin garage in Hicksville to leave in storage a new Reo truck with sixteen barrels labeled 'Bicarbonate of soda."  After he left, one of the garage men got curious and soon discovered that the barrels were filled with bottled Canadian beer.

He summoned the marshal who swore in deputies and set an ambuscade (i.e. ambush) in the garage to capture the owner of the truck when he came back. The man did not return until about three o'clock the next morning. 

                                          1925 Reo truck

Then he walked up to the garage and at that moment the village nightwatchman came along in uniform, which seemed to alarm the bootlegger who jumped into a passing touring car and made off.

The armed marshal and his deputies kept watch for another 24 hours, but the man did not come back again and had apparently become suspicious of the trap laid for him. So the truck and its contents were confiscated.

Breaking open the barrels, they were found to hold 1,600 bottles of Canadian nine percent, worth at current prices about $4,000. The booze will be emptied into the sewer. The truck was a new one and worth $1,000."

Who Killed Tecumseh?

 

The Defiance County Genealogical Society 

will meet

Monday, September 23, 2024

St. John United Church of Christ

Webster Street, Defiance, adjacent to the 

Defiance College Campus

at 

7:00 P.M.

Our speaker will be

Frank D. Kuron

who will discuss his

book

THUS FELL TECUMSEH

about the historical mystery 

of who really killed Tecumseh.

An autographed copy of his book will be 

the door prize for the evening.

                      See you there!

Andrew Jackson Moran - A Confederate Soldier in Defiance, Putnam, and Williams Counties

 

Andrew Jackson Moran

"Jack" Moran

Born in North Carolina, A. J. Moran was a loyal, Southern man who joined the Confederate Army and served nearly the whole war in its ranks. Born on February 3, 1838, to parents both born in Ireland, he could not be found without question on the 1860 Federal Census. In his land census, he noted the parents were born in Mississippi, but all the rest claimed Ireland.

According to the Confederate records, Andrew joined Company D, 18th Mississippi Infantry Regiment in May 1861, and he may have reenlisted in 1862 for a three year stint.  Company D was very active on the eastern coast, with important battles at Sharpsburg, Maryland and Chancellorsville, Virginia.  The regiment served at Gettysburg in 1863 and ended their term in Virginia again at Spotsylvania and Petersburg.

The 18th Mississippi Regimental Flag

When Andrew was enumerated for the 1890 Veterans Census, he lived in Milford Township, Defiance County, Ohio, and there he reported being in Company E of the 18th Regiment, serving from 1861 - 1865. His name and information, however, were all crossed out with a single line. 

He married Edith Ruth Hannah Updyke after the war's end on June 1, 1865, in Virginia. The couple were found in the 1870 census of Hampton Township, Rappahannock, Virginia with their children, Virginia, Joseph and Thomas. 

By 1880, he had found Ohio and the family was enumerated in Leipsic, Putnam County. A.J. Moran, 42, born North Carolina, was a laborer, and his wife Edith, 39, had six children listed: Jennie (Elizabeth Virginia), Joseph, Thomas, Malinda, Alfred, and Robert E. L. (Robert E. Lee Moran).

We know the family lived in Milford Township, Defiance County, in 1890 when the Veterans Census was taken. By the Federal Census of 1900, they had moved to St. Joseph Township, Williams County, where A. J., now enumerated at "Jack," rented a farm and engaged in farming at the age of 62. Edith had had seven children, but now four remained living. Jennie had married and moved on to her own home, but still with the parents were Joseph, 30, a day laborer; Sinnie, 26, who worked as a servant; and Alfred, 24, who had no occupation listed.

They remained in Williams County until their death. In 1910, Jack, then 73, still rented a farm in St. Joseph Township. Edith was 65, and with them now was only Malinda, 35, working as a laundress. These Southerners had adapted themselves to Northern life. Edith died on February 14, 1919, and her short obituary appeared in the Bryan Democrat on February 21:

"Mrs. Jack Moran died at her home Saturday morning, funeral held at the M. E. Church Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. conducted by Rev. G. M. Baumgardner. Interment in Edgerton Cemetery."

Just a few years later, on April 29, 1921, Jack Moran died at the age of 83. He was a Confederate soldier who learned to love the North for at least the last thirty years of his life. He never had much monetarily, but he seemed to have a rich family life. In 1920, he lived with his daughter, Malinda, and her husband, Peter J. Theison, in Williams County, perhaps in the family home. He was buried with his wife in Maple Grove Cemetery, Edgerton, Ohio.

The Bryan Democrat ran his obituary on May 6, 1921:

"A. J. Moran died at his home near Edgerton Friday morning. Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at two o'clock at the Methodist Church, conducted by the Pastor, Rev. R. Wright; interment in Maple Grove Cemetery."

Levi and Olive Stone Wilder, Prominent Farmers and Early Settlers of Farmer

 

"LEE W. WILDER TAKEN BY DEATH

PROMINENT FARMER HAD PASSED AWAY MONDAY AFTERNOON

CAME HERE IN 1846

AND LIVED ON SAME FARM FOR MORE THAN 66 YEARS - LIFE STORY

Lee W. Wilder died at his home near Farmer Monday afternoon after an illness of several weeks. He was 81 years, 6 months and 4 days old when the end came.

Mr. Wilder was born in Three Rivers, Canada on the 27th day of December 1830 and when a child of a few months, his parents moved to New Hampshire, where his early childhood was passed, but while still a little lad, he came to the new West with his family, and his boyhood up to the age of 16 was passed in the Western Reserve, his home being at Mantua, Medina County, a place of which he has written so interestingly in the columns of this paper*."

*The newspaper referred to is the Bryan Press, Bryan, Ohio, which is where this obituary appeared on Thursday, July 4, 1912. 

"At 16, he pushed on west and settled in Farmer township, buying a 50 acre farm, the same ground on which his house stands today, and where he made his home for more than 66 years.* He bought the original farm for $295 and had it paid for before he was 21 years old, although he was never able to earn more than $11.50 a month in that time. From his youth, he was a man of great energy and activity."

*The farm was in Section 20 of Farmer Township, just a few miles west of Farmer Center. By the 1860 census, the real estate was reported to be worth $2,000, and by 1870, the value was $8,880; however, he could have added to the farm elsewhere by then. His personal wealth in 1870 was reported at $1500.

"While in his youth and after he had paid for his farm, he devoted some time to railroad building and constructed 11 miles of the Wabash Railroad under a contract with Paul, Rodman?, and Gilson, and for this he received a comparatively large salary of $60 a month. And it was by this activity and (frugality) of the early days that he set the foundation for his companions of his later years when he was able to devote much time to the pursuits he enjoyed, and make himself one of the best known men in this section of the country.

At the age of 23, he was married to Olive Stone*, and the happy association continued until June 2nd, 1908 when the partner of his joys and sorrows was taken away. Their home was brightened by the birth of two children, one of whom, Mrs. A. R. Nisly, passed away last winter in Clarence, Wyoming, where she had gone for her health. The other, a son, Mr. Otis Wilder, remains to cherish his memory."

*Olive Abigail Stone was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, a county that contributed many settlers to Farmer, Ohio. She was the youngest daughter of Alpha Stone Jr. and his wife, Rhoda. She had come to Defiance County in 1846 with her parents. They had a daughter, Lilly, who married Abner Nisley. Both are buried in Farmer Cemetery.

Farmer Cemetery - From www.findagrave.com - "This is an unusual cemetery plot and family monument. The family monument has three very large red and gray stone arches with a very tall statue of a woman on the center arch. The statue is facing west. The plot is raised about eighteen inches and is covered all the way around with a stone wall. There are eight persons buried on the plot, five with the surname Wilder and three with the surname Nisley..."

Continuing the obituary...

"Funeral services were held Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock, and the mortal remains were laid at rest in the beautiful cemetery at Farmer, in which he took such pride and for the beautifying of which he was so liberal.

Lee Wilder was a man of exceptional abilities in many ways. He enjoyed unbounded health for a long lifetime and took the keenest pleasure in healthful pursuits and pleasures. He was a fisherman of experience and no man ever enjoyed a trip to the northern lakes more than he.  He had a wide grasp of public questions and always discussed them with intelligence and fairness.

No one in this country was more interested in the progress of the country, and he had a vast lot of accurate information of the early days which it delighted him to recount. He contributed many stories to this paper and they were read with pleasure and interest by hundreds of people, who came to regard him as an authority and will regret that his active pen has been forever laid aside.

We will all miss his hearty greeting, his strong and firm hand clasp, his kindly eye and cheery voice."

 Farmer Cemetery - Levi and Olive Stone