John Zook - Bishop Post, G.A.R.

Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on September 9, 1845, to his parents, John and Barbara (Stricker) Zook, John (Jr.) and his sister, Mary, appeared on the 1860 census of Defiance - without their parents.  They were instead living with J. Wisemantel, 40, and his wife Rosella, 31, and their family.  The reason the children were here has not been established, nor has it been discovered if there was a relationship between them and the Wisemantels.  John Zook was 14 at this time and Mary was 7.  Wisemantel was a merchant/ tailor, born in Bavaria, with three children. Also living with the Wisemantels were John Hengsteter, 23, merchant/tailor; Joseph Haller, 23, carpenter, and Louisa Jantry, 17, servant.




On January 13, 1864, John Zook enlisted into the 68th Ohio Infantry, Company G, as a private.  He served for five months and 26 days, as he reported on the veterans census in 1890, and was discharged on July 10, 1865, with no disabilities.

Elizabeth Luckas (Lucas) became his wife on April 22, 1867, in Defiance.  Defiance Township was their home in 1870; John, 23, worked as a day laborer, and Elizabeth, 22, kept house.

Marriage record for John and Elizabeth Zook

John worked in a saloon, as reported in the 1880 census.  His age was given as 31, while Elizabeth was 28, which does not quite fit with the previous census.  (Perhaps they were not the reporters to the census enumerators.)  Frank S. Gerber lived with the Zooks as a boarder and he worked as a clerk in the saloon.  They all lived at 308 Warren Road, Defiance. 

By 1900, the Zooks had moved into Defiance to 204 Auglaize St.  John was a weaver, working six months of the year, he reported, and they owned their home, free and clear.  In just a short while, Elizabeth Zook passed away on April 28, 1905.
The couple never had any children.

The Defiance Express reported on April 28, 1905:

DEATH CAME SUDDENLY

MRS. JOHN ZOOK DIED IN THIS CITY THURSDAY.

Mrs. Elizabeth Zook, wife of John Zook, the carpet weaver, died at her home on Auglaize Avenue in this city Thursday evening, shortly after 8 o'clock.

Death came suddenly and without warning while she sat in her home in the presence of several neighbors who had called upon her.  At attack of heart trouble seized her and she fell over.  A physician was summoned, but she expired a few minutes after his arrival. 

Mrs. Zook was born in this city 56 years ago on the first of January.  Her name previous to marriage was Lucas.  In April, 1867, she was united in marriage to John Zook.  No children were born to them.  The deceased was a devoted member of St. Mary's Catholic church, and there, Monday morning at 9 o'clock, the funeral will be held, Rev. Doherty officiating.

Mrs. Zook was a member of the WVRU and the Ladies Altar Society of her church.  One sister survives her, Mrs. John Bremen of Lima."

Strangely, her husband, John, was not mentioned in Elizabeth's obituary, although the census indicated they were living together.

Five months later, on September 9, 1905, John married Susie Compo, a former neighbor, now divorced from Camili Compo (Compeau).  In 1900, prior to the divorce, the Compos had been married 28 years and lived on Main Street in Defiance. 

  

 One Sandusky paper noted that John was given a 30 day leave to Defiance from Cottage A of the Soldiers' Home on October 19, 1905, just a few weeks after his second marriage.  Perhaps he needed to settle his first wife's estate and sell their home because he and his second wife then moved to Sandusky. According to the Home's records, John Zook was admitted on July 17, 1905, with chronic diarrhea.  The records also noted that he received $12 a month pension, was a weaver, and had no family living.  He named Catherine A. Gorman, (his sister), 507 Jackson Street, Defiance, as the person to contact regarding his welfare.  

By the time the 1910 census enumerator rolled around in 1910, John, 64, and Susie, 53, lived on Foose Avenue, Perkins Township, Erie County, Ohio.  One source mentioned Homeville as the residence.  The Zooks had Blanch Campion (Compo), John's step-granddaugher , 17, living with them.  She worked as a laundress for a private family - perhaps the Zooks, themselves.  Susie reported that she had eight children and all were living.

Susie lived alone in 1920 and reported herself as married.  The guess is that John was admitted and back into the Home where he died on November 14, 1923, of a cerebral hemorhage.

Sandusky Star Journal, November 14, 1923

 

Sandusky Daily Register, November, 15, 1923

 The Defiance Crescent News reported that John, a former resident of the city and a brother to Mrs. M. B. Gorman, would be brought back to Defiance for burial.

Susie Zook placed a notice in the newspaper thanking the local G.A.R. "for their kind assistance in the burial of Mr. Zook."

It could be assumed that John Zook was buried next to his first wife, Elizabeth, in Riverside Cemetery.  A stone was erected for Elizabeth Zook and was recorded by our genealogy society back in the 1970s, but none existed for John.

Riverside Cemtery, Defiance, Ohio

(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!)

Martin B. Gorman - G.A.R., Bishop Post

Born in Ireland, Martin Barney Gorman immigrated to America in 1848, he reported on one of the censuses.  He was only a lad of about 3 or 4 at the time.

Just before the Civil War broke out, he was living with John B. Weisenberger, John's wife, Margaret, and son, Frank,1, in Defiance.  Martin was 14 at the time.  Perhaps he was Margaret's brother as she, too, was born in Ireland?  Mr. Weisenberger was a grocer, an enterprise that Martin would also follow for many years of his life.

In 1862, when only 16 years old, Martin enlisted as a private in Company H, 87th Ohio Infantry. By law, enlistees had to be 18 unless they had parental permission, but recruiters often looked the other way at this rule. He enlisted on May 29, 1862, and served until October 1, 1862.  During that time, he fought in the battle at Harper's Ferry in September where he was captured and held very briefly.

When he was about 18, he reenlisted as a private in the 7th Ohio Independent Company of the Ohio Volunteer Cavalry on December 16, 1863, where he served until the end of the war, discharged on Sept. 9, 1865.  Another name for this unit was the Union Light Guards.  These soldiers served as bodyguards for President Lincoln, among other duties.

Govenor Tod of Ohio organized this unit with the intention of recruiting one man from each Ohio county to serve.  However, Defiance County had at least four men chosen because some counties did not put forth a man quickly enough.  They were enlisted for three years or until the end of the war and were mustered into service in Columbus.  They were not told that they were a special service group enlisted to act as bodyguards or mounted escorts for the President until they were mustered in. Some men were assigned to the White House, others around Washington D.C., and some to forts around Washington, especially in Virginia.  Those from Defiance who served included Martin B. Gorman, Abraham T. Brechbill, John Crowe, and Lemuel T. Hibbard.

The book, Lincoln's Body Guard, the Union Light Guard of Ohio by Robert McBride, 1911 stated:  
"Taking the company as a whole, the membership was much above that of the average company of soldiers, intellectually, morally, socially, and physically."
According to McBride, some men were disappointed with their assigned duty and thought they should have been fighting instead, but in the end, most saw it as a badge of honor to so serve the nation.

When Martin returned home, he married Catherine Agnes Zook on February 24, 1868, according to Ohio Marriages.  They settled in Defiance and he resumed his occupation as clerk in a retail grocery, according to the 1870 census.  Their first child, Martina, was 2 at the time.

Eventually he opened his own grocery store at the corner of Perry and Fourth Streets in about 1871.  The family, in fact, resided at 87 Perry Street in 1880 with their expanded brood of seven children.  (Later they would move to 507 Jackson Street.)  Along the way, some of the children found employment in the store as bookkeepers or salesmen or clerks.  

In 1910, Martin B., 64, and Catherine, 64, still had living with them Martina, 41; Viola, 35 - a bookkeeper; Millie E., 27 - a bookkeeper, and Thomas E., 25 - city auditor.  Catherine had had eleven children, but at that time only nine were living.

Martin Barney Gorman died on March 22, 1914.  His obituary appeared in the Defiance Democrat on March 26 and it named all the organizations in Defiance to which he had contributed and gave details of his Civil War service.

     
 After his death, his son, Martin Earl, and daughter, Viola, took over the store which eventually moved to Perry and Fifth Street.  

His wife, Catherine, lived on until 1930, and her obituary appeared in the Crescent-News on February 1, 1930:

  She was laid to rest beside her husband in Riverside Cemetery.

On October 20, 1961, on page 6, the Crescent-News reported that the Defiance Historical Society had received some donations for its museum.  Among them was an item related to Martin B. Gorman:

 "From Edward S. Bronson, Union Light Guard badge which President Lincoln presented to his bodyguard, Martin Gorman."

Do we still have that? Please comment if you know.

(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!) 

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.