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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS
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Genealogy Express
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Welcome to
PUTNAM COUNTY,
OHIO
History & Genealogy
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BIOGRAPHIES
 Source:
A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen & Putnam
Counties, Ohio
Containing Biographical Sketches of Many
Prominent and Representative Citizens,
Together with Biographies and Portraits of all the
Presidents of the United States
and Biographies of the
Governors of Ohio
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Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co.
1896
H. F. RAUH |
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JOHN
HENRY RECKER,
one of the most prominent and enterprising citizens
of Union township, was born in Ottawa township,
Putnam county, Ohio, Aug. 1, 1846. His father,
Henry Recker, was born in Hanover, Mar. 17,
1800, there received his education, and was reared
on a farm. He was three times married - the
last time to Mary K. Kluppenburger who was
the mother of his only child, John Henry the
subject of this biographical sketch. Some time
in the early thirties the father left the fatherland
and came to America and entered forty acres of
government land in Ottawa township, Putnam county,
Ohio, on which he built a log cabin and went
earnestly to work clearing a farm; soon the giant
trees were laid low and rolled into heaps and
burned, and a fine farm was redeemed from the
forest. He underwent many privations and
hardships during this early life on the farm, but as
time passed by he bought other tracts of land and
improved them, until at one time he owned 200 acres
of fine farm land. He was very successful, and
an upright, honest citizen, much respected by all.
In politics he was a democrat and he and his wife
both members of the Glandorf Catholic church.
He died on Sept. 21, 1866, his wife having preceded
him forty-three days.
John Henry Becker, an only child, was given a
good education in both the English and German
languages in Glandorf. He lived on his
father's farm until 1867, and on May 21, of that
year, he married Paulina Kahle, who was born
in Greensburg township, Mar. 16, 1846. (See
the family history of I. H. Kahle, which will
be found in this volume.) After marriage the
young couple settled on a farm which Mr. Becker
had purchased in Ottawa township, where they lived
until 1877, when they moved to the farm where they
now live. Mr. Becker is a progressive
and successful farmer and a breeder of fine stock,
and one of the best-known citizens of Union
township. In politics he is a democrat, and he
and wife are members of the Kalida Catholic church.
At present he is interested in the developing of the
Putnam county oil field. He is held at high
esteem by his neighbors and respected by who come in
contact with him. His children are ten in
number - Frank, Mena, Paulina, August, Barney,
Amelia, Joseph, Ferronia, Amos and Louie.
Source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen and
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen
& Co. - 1896 - Page 434 |
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THOMAS REES, a thriving farmer of
Sugar Creek township, Putnam county, Ohio, was born
in Wales, Feb. 7, 1830, and was reared to coal
mining under his father, for whom he worked until he
reached his majority. In 1851 he came to
America, landing in New York, whence he came direct
to Ohio, having in his pocket one sovereign only,
and for nine years he followed coal mining at
Youngstown. Having saved some money, he bought
eighty acres of land in Putnam county, and in 1860
moved upon it, built a cabin and started to
clearing, but in 1863 disposed of this land and
purchased the eighty acres on which he still resides
in sugar Creek township, to which he has added forty
acres. He has also increased the original
clearance of fifteen acres to nearly 100 acres, and
has replaced the rude log cabin with a modern
two-story frame dwelling; he has, beside; erected a
commodious barn, built all requisite out-houses, set
out an orchard, ditched and tiled his fields and
placed all his cleared land under a fine state of
cultivation; he has also given considerable
attention to graded live stock - horses, cattle,
sheep and hogs.
In 1864 Mr. Rees enlisted in the 100-day
service, One Hundred and Fifty-first Ohio volunteer
infantry, serving under Capt. Patrick on guard duty
at Washington, D. C., and after the expiration of
his term was honorably discharged at Camp Chase
Ohio. He had, however, suffered much from
exposure to the sun while in the service, and was
thus rendered somewhat incapacitated for farm labor;
but he worked on, nevertheless, until 1884, when he
made a trip to Wales for the improvement of his
health and also to visit a brother; but the climate
of the old country was too damp for his
constitution, and he soon returned to his farm and
resumed his agricultural labors.
The marriage of Mr. Rees took place in
Youngstown, Ohio, in 1855, to Miss Elizabeth
Hughes, who was born in Wales, Apr. 19, 1835, a
daughter of Richard and May (Williams) Hughes,
and who, in 1838, was brought by her parents to
America. The Hughes family, on reaching
the United States, first located in Portage county,
Ohio, where they resided about six years and then
removed to Youngstown, where Mr. Hughes acted
as foreman about the coal mines until 1855, when he
came to Putnam county, bought an improved farm, and
here died July 28, 1894, having lost his wife about
1877. Mr. Hughes was a well educated
and intelligent gentleman, who had never been used
to labor in the old country, and was credited with a
remarkable judgment as to live stock, of which he
was very fond. He and wife were members of the
Welsh Congregational church, and the parents of nine
children, viz: Elizabeth (Mrs. Rees),
David R. Winifred, Gomer R.
(died in the army), John (who served in the
late war and died a year later). James F.,
Thomas W., Mary J., and Martha A.
To Mr. and Mrs. Rees have also been born nine
children, of whom one died young, the living ones
being Mary, wife of Timothy Evans;
Philip, a farmer; Janet, a dress
maker; Margaret, married to John J. Jones,
a commercial traveler; Winnie A., wife of
John G. Jones, a farmer; Richard, a
farmer; Mattie E., and Thomas J., both
at home. Mr. Rees is highly respected
by his neighbors as an industrious and intelligent
husbandman, and is an upright and useful citizen,
who is never behindhand when called on to assist in
the promotion of any project designed for the good
of the public.
Source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen and
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen
& Co. - 1896 - Page 436 |
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JOSEPH W.
REKART, a substantial farmer of Monterey
township, Putnam county, Ohio, is a son of the
German Catholic pioneer, WILLIAM
REKART, who did so much to build up the
county in the early days, and of whom so much may be
read in the biography of
Sigmund Rekart on
another page. William Rekart was born
in the village of Kinsingen, kingdom of Baden,
Germany, the eldest child of Joseph and Magdalena
(Geakle) Rekart, 1819. In 1828 Joseph
Rekart came to America with his parents, who
sailed from Havre de Grace, France, and after a
passage of fifty days arrived in New York, losing
one boy, Otto, on the way. July 1,
18139, the family came to Putnam county and settled
on what is now known as the Frederick Smith
farm in Jennings township, and there Joseph,
the father of our subject, grew to manhood. He
worked on the canal with his brother Sigmund
from its incipiency to its completion, and later
kept lock No 13, also keeping a grocery store and a
butcher shop. In an early day Joseph
moved to Ottoville and opened a general store.
He was first married in 1848, in Putnam county, to
Mary Nierman the union resulting in the birth
of three children: Annie M., Joseph W.
and Leo. The mother of these died, and
for his second wife Mr. Rekart married
Louisa Starkley, to which union were born four
children, viz.: Henry, John, Sabina and
George.
About the year 1851,
Joseph Rekart moved to his farm, a part of which
he had entered years before, and which was entirely
covered with timber, and contained 240 acres.
With the assistance of his sons he cleared off this
land, and also bought and cleared off 120 acres on
the creek, and also other lands in the neighborhood,
which he sold. At his death he owned his
homestead of 160 acres and 121 acres in Van Wert
county, besides considerable town property. He
was a devout Catholic and assisted in building the
first Catholic church in Ottoville, and was also a
member of the building committee who superintended
the erection of the present magnificent Catholic
structure. He was a democrat in politics, held
the office of township trustee, and was a member of
the school board, and was likewise township clerk.
He died Dec. 14, 1887, aged sixty-eight years, eight
months and eleven days - a man of most unimpeachable
character and honored wherever his name was known.
Joseph W. Rekart, our subject, was born at
lock No. 16, on the Ohio & Erie canal, now known
as Ottoville, Nov. 19, 1851. He was but about
two years of age when he lost the loving care of his
mother, who, at her death, left also an infant son,
Leo aged but seven days. Joseph W.
was educated in the pioneer schools and was also
early instructed in the details of clearing lands,
the whole country being at that time an almost
unbroken wilderness, and be greatly assisted his
father in denuding the homestead, as well as several
other farms, of the forest growth - becoming at the
same time a practical farmer. He was married
at Ottoville, Oct. 6, 1874, to Miss Josephine
Sallet, who was born in the province of Alsace,
France now Germany), Sept. 14, 1850, a daughter of
Morand and Kate (Wolf) Sallet—the former a
shoemaker by trade. (See sketches of
Benedict Wannemacher and M. Schulien.)
After his marriage Mr. Rekart lived
for two years and a half on the homestead of
William Rekart. (William Rekart, In
the way, was the first to introduce horses on his
farm—a sorrel mare and a pair of grays, oxen having
previously been used.) Joseph W. then
settled on eighty acres of his present farm, which
by good management he has increased to 150 acres,
owning, besides, eighty acres one-quarter of a mile
to the north, and eighty acres in Van Wert county,
making his total possessions 310 acres—all tine
farming land. To Mr. and Mrs. Rekart
have been born ten children, viz: Charles,
William, Annie, Mary, Edward,
Kate, Rosie, Frank, Matilda
and Olive. The family are true
Catholics, and in politics Mr. Rekart
is a democrat. Mr. Rekart aided
in clearing the land on which Father
Mueller’s house now stands and has otherwise
greatly assisted the church with his labor and
means; including his aid in the construction of the
present grand church edifice, at Ottoville. He
possesses the full confidence of the people and has
served as township trustee for nine consecutive
years. He is a good business man, and was a
director of, as well as collector for, the Farmers'
Mutual Fire Insurance company. He is a man of
unsullied reputation and “his word is as good as his
bond.’’
Source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen and
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen
& Co. - 1896 - Page 443 |
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SIGMUND
REKART, one of the oldest and most
substantial farmers of Jennings township, Putnam
county, Ohio, was born Oct. 15, 1820, in the village
of Kenzingen, Baden, Germany, and is one of the
earliest settlers of Putnam county. His
father, Joseph Rekhart, was born in the
village named above in 1788, was a coppersmith by
trade and married Magdalena Geakle, a native
of the same village, she becoming the mother of
seven children, viz.: William, Sigmund,
Joseph, Barbara, Otto, Mary
and Jacob, all born in Baden, except Mary
and Jacob, born in Pennsylvania.
Joseph Rekart, the father of our subject,
had been a prosperous artisan in his native country,
and was the owner of his own shop and other
property. In the fall of 1828, Mr.
Rekart, with his family, embarked in a sailing
vessel at Havre de Grace, France, and after a voyage
of sixty days landed in New York, the boy Otto,
however, dying on the voyage and being buried in
mid-ocean. Mr. Rekart, with the
remainder of his family, journeyed by steamboat and
stage from New York to Philadelphia and for a few
months worked in the latter city at any thing he
could find to do, and then moved to a place in
Montgomery county, Pa., about twenty-five miles from
Philadelphia. In the year 1835 he started with
his family and his own horse and wagon for the west,
crossing the Alleghany mountains and coming via
Harrisburg and Pittsburg to Ohio, and crossing the
state via Wooster, Mansfield, Bucyrus and Finlay to
Putnam county —Mr. and Mrs. Rekart and the
family, with the exception of the youngest two of
the children, walking all this distance and taking
six weeks for the trip —reaching Ottawa in October,
when there was but one house in that town.
Mr. Rekart first rented a house four miles
northwest of this then embryo city, in which the
family lived four years. In 1839, on January
1, they came to Jennings township and settled on
what is now the Frederick J. Smit farm, Mr.
Rekart having purchased fifty acres of land
in the woods of Henry Boehmer.
Of this land he cleared about thirty acres, built a
log cabin, lived on the place about fourteen years,
and then sold out to Mr. Smit, above
mentioned, retired from active labor and made his
home with his son Sigmund until his death,
which occurred in 1861, at the age of seventy-five
years. Mr. Rekart was a pious
member of the Catholic church and liberally
contributed to the erection of the first Catholic
church building in Fort Jennings. He was first
a member of the congregation at Glandorf, who
worshiped in a cabin built of round logs in the
woods and listened to the pioneer priest and
colonizer, Prof. Horstman, and stopped
at the house of John Discher while
locating his land. Mr. Rekart
was a man of sterling integrity and was one of the
most honored pioneers of Putnam county, and his
widow, who survived him until 1871, died also full
of years and respected by all the people for miles
round about her.
Sigmund Rekart was seven or eight years
of age, only, when he came with his father to
America, but can well remember his native village
and the voyage across the Atlantic. He
received a good common-school education in
Pennsylvania, and was about fifteen years old when
he accompanied the family on foot from the Keystone
state to Putnam county, Ohio. On the way
hither the three boys would sleep in the wagon at
night, while the father and mother and the smaller
children sought shelter in the pioneer towns, and at
other times they all camped by the wayside.
They always cooked their own provisions, which they
brought with them or bought on the road, and which
were of a simple but hearty nature — such as bread,
meat, potatoes, coffee, etc.; but these nearly gave
out just west of Bucyrus and the family shifted as
best they could on short rations until they reached
their destination. They at first occupied a
rude log cabin which a former settler had just
vacated for a more convenient hewn-log house, and
for the first two wars had a hard struggle, after
which, through unceasing industry, affairs were made
to assume a more comfortable shape. When the
family settled on what is now known as the Smith
farm, our subject was about nineteen years
old, and this place he assisted in clearing up from
the wilderness and in making of it a comfortable
home.
Feb. 4, 1847, at the age of twenty-seven years, Mr.
Rekart was married, at Fort Jennings, to
Miss Mary Discher, who was born
June 20, 1826, in the village of Verno, Germany, one
mile from the birthplace of Henry Raabe, the
aged pioneer, who came with his family to Fort
Jennings at the same time that John
Discher and his family came, Feb. 11, 1833—
John Discher and his wife (who bore the
maiden name of Catherine Stemler)
being the parents of Mrs. Rekart.
John Discher was a magistrate in his native
country and was a man educated above the average,
having graduated from a high-school. He was
three times married; to his first union was born one
child that died in infancy — the mother soon
following to the grave. His second wife,
Catherine
Stemler, bore him four children, as follows:
Margaret E., Mary, Catherine and John—all
still living and all born in Germany with the
exception of John, who was born on the ocean.
Mr. Discher, on reaching Putnam
county, Ohio, settled on the same farm with
Conrad Raabe, their wives being sisters.
The farm was a half mile south of Fort Jennings, and
of this, known as the Dickson place, Mr.
Discher bought fifty-six acres, all in the
woods, and a place had to be cleared before a cabin
could be built.
Mrs. Mary Rekart was six years of
age in June of the same year of the arrival of the
family at Fort Jennings, and still well remembers
the event of their wagon breaking down and their
inability to proceed further. The first night
at Fort Jennings (Feb. 11, 1833) both families
stopped at the cabin of Jim Thatcher, an
American, who had settled a half mile south of Fort
Jennings, on the place now occupied by Harmon
Schmmoeller. She also well remembers
the old fort, with the pickets still standing and
extending some distance down the stream, and of the
two log cabins at the fort, beside those occupied by
the soldiers, she thinks that a family lived in one
—that of Edward Ladd, an American.
John Discher finally located where Mr.
Hickman now lives, entering sixty acres of
land in the land office, then in Piqua, to which he
subsequently added sixty-six acres. Here the
death of his second wife took place, and for his
third helpmate he married Mary A. Hedrick,
who bore him seven children, named Elizabeth,
William, Lena, Rosa, Barbara, Henry and Jacob.
In his old age Mr. Discher retired
from active work and went to live with his daughter
Elizabeth, who had married John Raabe,
and at her house he died Sept. 6, 1875, in the
eighty-third year of his age, and a member of the
Lutheran church.
After his marriage Sigmund Rekart settled
on his present farm, having entered ninety acres in
the woods, on which he put up a log cabin 16x16
feet, and still had plenty of room for the
accommodation of the pioneer traveler and
land-seeker. He was industrious and worked
hard, and accumulated from time to time until he
owned 172 acres, of which he has given his son
Jacob forty acres. To Mr. and
Mrs. Rekart have been born the
following children: Mary J., Otto (died at
six years of age), Caroline, Adam, Jacob,
Catherine, Rosa, Elizabeth, Amelia and
Sigmund O. The father and the children
belong to the Catholic church, while Mrs. Rekart
adheres to the faith of her parents—the
Lutheran. In politics Mr. Rekart
is a democrat, was land appraiser in an early day
and was township treasurer ten years and township
trustee a number of years. He and his faithful
wife are among the few remaining pioneers who
settled in the woods about Fort Jennings and
transformed the wilderness into
a fertile and blooming field, and both are honored
as being among the sturdy, upright, helpful,
generous and hospitable pioneers of Putnam county.
Source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen and
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen
& Co. - 1896 - Page 444 |
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WILLIAM
J. REKART, of Monterey township, Putnam
county, Ohio, is a son of one of the sturdy pioneers
—Joseph Rekart—who was the first
settler on the farm now occupied by our subject, cut
the first tree from the forest, and wrested from the
wilderness the 160 acres that afterward became so
favorably known as the Rekart farm,
and of which, at his death, he gave his son-in-law,
Henry Beckman, forty-eight acres.
To Joseph Rekart and wife (of whom
further may be read in the biography of Sigmund
Rekart) were born eight children, viz:
Sigmund, Charles, Louisa,
Edward, William J., Emma,
Matilda and Mary. The death of
Joseph Rekart took place Apr. 28, 1886, a
member of the Catholic church, and cue who
freely aided the fund with which the present stately
Catholic church edifice was built at Ottoville.
He was one of the foremost farmers of Monterey
township, a man of the most honorable character, and
reared a highly respected family of children.
William J. Rekart was born Aug. 6, 1858, on the
homestead, on which he still resides. He
received a very good common school education, and,
being thoroughly trained to farming, fell into his
father's place as manager of the homestead. He
was married to Nora Kromer, who was
born February 1869, at Fremont, Ohio, a daughter of
Andrew and Emma (Walker) Kromer, all of
German stock —the father having been born in
Germany, Apr. 14, 1842, a son of Andrew
Kromer, a farmer, who came with his family to
America in 1843 or 1844, and settled about six miles
from Sandusky, Ohio. Andrew Kron__, Jr.,
father of Mrs. Rekart, also a farmer, located
at years of maturity, four miles from Fremont, Ohio,
and in 1883 came to Putnam county and settled
on 160 acres in Monterey township, rearing a family
of six children, named as follows: Nora,
Mary, William, Frank, Katie and Leah.
Mr. Kromer died Apr. 14, 1895, at the age of
fifty-three years; with his wife and family he was a
true Catholic, and in politics a zealous democrat -
holding the position of school director and his name
and that of the family were highly honored wherever
known.
Mr. W. J. Rekart and wife settled, immediately
after their marriage, on the old hometead wehre have
been born their four children, viz.: Ida,
Millie, Josie and Fannie. In
religion Mr. and Mrs. Rekart are dutiful
members of the Catholic church, to the support of
which they contribute most liberally. In
politics Mr. Rekart is a democrat, but has
never been an office seeker. He is a practical
farmer and a good business man, and is public
spirited to an extreme degree. He has taken
great interest in educational matters and is at
present a member of the school board, on which he
serves from a feeling of public duty, and not from
any mercenary motive. His farm of 100 acres is
a model in every respect, and no name stands higher
in the regard of the people of Monterey township
than that of William J. Rekart, where he
maintains the good name of his ancestors.
Source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen and
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen
& Co. - 1896 - Page 446 |
A. V. RICE |
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CLARK HAMMOND RICE |
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ISRAEL RIDENOUR |
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JACOB RIMER |
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ROBERT W. ROBERTS |
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J. H. ROWER
& MRS. J. H. ROWER |
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LEWIS A. ROWER |
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