OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS

A Part of Genealogy Express
 

Welcome to
NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO
History & Genealogy


 

BIOGRAPHIES

Source:
History of Noble County, Ohio
with portraits and biographical sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men.
 
Chicago:  L. H. Watkins & Co., 
1887

For Reference: Noble County was formed in 1851

A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

< BACK TO 1887 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
< BACK TO LIST OF BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES >


I. C. Wernecke
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 arrival 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

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

CLICK HERE to Return to
NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO
CLICK HERE to Return to
OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS
FREE GENEALOGY RESEARCH is My MISSION
GENEALOGY EXPRESS
This Webpage has been created by Sharon Wick exclusively for Genealogy Express  ©2008
Submitters retain all copyrights