The Burkholder Families of Wayne County, Ohio

SIMON D. BURKHOLDER.

One of the leading agriculturists of Greene township, Wayne county, is S. D. Burkholder, who has made his influence felt among his fellow men and earned a name for enterprise, integrity and honor, that entitles him to worthy notice in a work of the nature of this volume. He was born in Greene township, this county, September 26. 1863, the son of Jonathan S. and Elizabeth (Smoker) Burkholder, the former born in this township in 1826, the son of John Burkholder, who was a native of Alsace-Lorraine, formerly a province of France, now of Germany. He came to the Lnited States when a young man, having been fourteen weeks on the voyage, the trip being made in an old-fashioned sailing vessel that was slow and tiresome. He made his way to Wayne county, Ohio, and located in Greene township, marrying here and securing a farm, where he spent most of his later life, and where his son, Jonathan S., lived and where S. D., son of the latter, was also reared. The grandfather, John Burkholder, moved to Smithville late in life and died at that place. Thus we see that this name has been a familiar one in \Vayne county since the pioneer days and this family has been a very enterprising and honorable one ever since. Jonathan Burkholder, mentioned above, was reared on the home farm in this township, where he was married and reared his family, which consisted of nine children, namely: Sarah, Anna, Caroline. Menno, all deceased: an infant also died unnamed; Noah S., living in Greene township: S. D., of this review: Amos J., of Greene township: Joseph, deceased.

S. D. Burkholder was reared on the home farm near Smithville and he assisted with the work there, attending the common schools in the meantime, alternating the two until he was eighteen years of age: then he devoted his attention exclusively to farming until he was twenty-two years of age. He Avas married on January 20, 1887. to Emma Musser, the daughter of a highly respected old family, and this union has resulted in the birth of eight children, five of whom are living, namely: Ada, Nora, Allen, Grace and Rov. The mother of these children passed away in 1902. and afterwards Mr. Burkholder married Salina Byler. She was reared in Noble county, Indiana, her birth having occurred September 6, 1868. Three children were born of this last union, Guy, in 1906, Ray in 1908, and Zora in 1909.

When Mr. Burkholder was first married it became necessary for him to borrow money to buy a team with which to begin farming. He rented the home place for one year, then rented other farms, prospering by reason of his habits of industry and economy, until he was able to purchase a farm of eighty-one and three-fourths acres in the center of Greene township, and as good land as the township afforded. HoweYer, he went in debt for all of the place and used what money he had saved to stock the same and began farming in a proper manner. He made a success principally by raising grain, and he has been enabled thereby to pay for the farm, remodel his house and barn and improYe the place in many ways. He has a very good dwelling and other buildings and his land is easily worth one hundred and twenty-five dollars per acre, the entire farm being worth ten thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. He also has an interest in the gristmill at Smithville and had an interest in a threshing machine for some time. Considering the disadvantages under which he started in life he has succeeded admirably well and has shown himself to be a man of soundness of judgment and rare foresight. In politics he is a Democrat, and he holds membership in the Amish Mennonite church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

We now come to a consideration of the more salient points in the life history of one of the representative agriculturists of Wayne county, one who stands forward as a native son of the county and a member of a sterling pioneer family. His name has ever been synonymous with upright manhood and good citizenship; he has given his influence and means to the betterment of society, to schools and church, to the support of good government and to the industries which have had an important bearing on the advancement of the prosperity and material upbuilding of the county.

Amos Burkholder was born on the old Burkholder homestead in section 20, Greene township, Wayne county, Ohio, January 3, 1865, and is a son of Jonathan S. and Elizabeth (Smucker) Burkholder. The paternal grandparents were John and Barbara (Schrock) Burkholder, the former of whom was born in Switzerland in 1801. He came to the United States with an uncle in 1817 and located first in Pennsylvania, where he was employed on farms hy the month for six years. In 1823 he came to Wayne county, Ohio, and located on what is now known as the old Burkholder farm. He was first employed hy his uncle, Benjamin Schrock, whose daughter Barbara he married. They became the parents of four children. Jonathan, Jonas, Nancy and Sarah. Jonathan Burkholder was reared to manhood on the paternal homestead and on attaining mature years he married Elizabeth Smucker, to which union were born nine children, Sarah, Anna, Caroline, Menno, Noah S., Simeon D., Amos J., Joseph and an infant that died unnamed.

Amos Burkholder was reared by \vs parents and as soon as old enough he took up his share of the manifold duties of the farm. During the winter seasons he attended the district schools and secured a fair education. At the age of twenty-one years he took up the operation of the home farm on the shares, and eventually he was enabled to buy a portion of the place, being now the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of splendid and fertile land in Greene township. He is a wide-awake and up-to-date farmer and keeps in close touch with the latest ideas relating to the successful prosecution of the science of agriculture. Progressive in his tendency, he does not hesitate to adopt those methods which have been demonstrated to be better than former methods. Mr. Burkholder gives his personal attention to every detail of the farm work and has met with a gratifying degree of success. The property is well improved and is considered one of the good farms of the township.

On the 12th of February, 1898, Mr. Burkholder married Emma, the daughter of Rev. D. Z. Yoder, her birth having occurred in Wayne county, Ohio, December 1, 1872. The union has been a most congenial one and has been blessed in the birth of six children, namely: David F., born July 24, 1902; Glenn E., born August 18, 1903; Ora J., born June 26, 1905, died on the 29th of the same month; an infant, born October 8, 1906, and died on the 9th; [name withheld], born March 30, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Burkholder and their children are all members of the Amish Mennonite church, to which they give an earnest and generous support. In m.matters political Mr. Burkholder assumes an independent attitude, though he is generally inclined to support the Democratic ticket. Mr. and Mrs. Burkholder are intelligent and progressive people and have traveled extensively, having spent some time in Virginia, Iowa, Missouri, Texas and Indiana. They are a genial and gracious couple in their relations with their friends and their home is the center of a large social circle, where the most gracious hospitality is ever in evidence.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ELMER U. BURKHOLDER.

The emigrant ancestor of the family of this name was John Burkholder, a native of Bern, Switzerland, wLo. when only a boy, was seized with the wanderlust spirit, like so many of his contemporaries, and accordingly made his way across the broad Atlantic to the New World. Believing that greater opportunities awaited him in the then far West, he came to Ohio, locating in Wayne county, and, being a thrifty lad, he got possession of a farm which he redeemed from the wilderness and lived on the same the rest of his life, making a good living and leaving a competence to his descendants. His death occurred in Smithville, Greene township, in 1875. He and his faithful helpmeet were the parents of four children, namely: Jonathan S., Jonas K., Nancy and Sarah; the only one Jiving in 1909 is Nancy, the widow of Enos Hartzler, of the state of Kansas.

Jonas K., father of Elmer U. Burkholder, was reared upon the home farm in Greene township, which he assisted in developing. He married Nancy Smucker and they went to farming, Mr. Burkholder becoming one of the leading farmers of his community and he was regarded as a man of excellent personal traits and was influential in local affairs. He is now sleeping the sleep of the just, his death occurring in 1892. His widow is still living. They were the parents of nine children, of whom one died in infancy and another when fifteen years of age. The others are Emma, David. Malinda, Lydia, Anna, Amanda, and Elmer U.

Elmer U. Burkholder was born in Greene township, Wayne county, June 12, 1873, reared upon the home farm which he helped improve, attending the district schools during the winter months, later going to school at Wadsworth. He received a good education, having applied himself very closely to his text-books, and he taught several terms very acceptably in Wayne county, and he was gaining a wide reputation as an educator when his father died, which event rendered his return to the home farm a necessity, consequently he abandoned teaching and resumed farming, which he continued very successfully for a period of ten years.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

Mr. Burkholder is au all-round business man, exercising wise discrimination and sound judgment in all his affairs. His attention is now devoted almost exclusively to banking, since he is at this writing cashier of the Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank at Smithville, Wayne county, and he is discharging the duties of the same in au able and satisfactory manner to all concerned, his careful methods and his courteous demeanor towards the patrons of the bank having done much in establishing its prestige throughout the community. I'his rapidly growing and sound institution was opened for business on August 6, 1906. Mr. Burkbolder was at once chosen cashier, for when the organizers began to cast about for someone worthy of this res])onsible ])os.'tioii. none more available could be found than Mr. Burkholder, and the successful manner in which he has looked after the same would indicate that they were not misled in their estimate of the man they selected. This is a private bank of four stockholders, namely; Wesley H. Zaugg, president; E. W. Thompson, Charles M. Gray, Christian Tschantz.

In his political relations, Mr. Burkholder is a Democrat, though in the midst of his many pressing duties he does not find much time to devote to his party's affairs. Religiously, he is a member of the Mennonite church. He has always borne a reputation such as those established by his father and grandfather — exemplary in every respect.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

The emigrant ancestor of the family of this name came from Germany during the eighteenth century and located in Pennsylvania. Subsequently he migrated to Ohio, where he was engaged in farming until his death. His son Henry, who had married in his native state of Pennsylvania, accompanied the former to the west in the early forties, became identified with farming pursuits and followed that occupation until his death. I le left a son named William, who married Mary, daughter of Daniel and Polly Smith, whose biographies are given elsewhere in this volume. Wiliam was born in Pennsylvania.in 1830, came to Ohio with his parents in boyhood and was reared in the family of John Kinney, who took care of him until he was able to do for himself. He engaged in the threshing business, when the custom was to go from neighborhood to neighborhood with the old-fashioned threshing outfit, and, as the saying was, threshed from Wooster to Medina. He accumulated a little money in this work and later took up farming, which he followed until a few years ago, when he accepted employment with the Wabash Railroad Company, with wh’ch he remained until his death in 1907. He was rather fond of politics and active in the local campaigns, first as a Republican and later as a Democrat. His widow and four children, two sons and two daughters, are living, the former having reached the age of eighty-two years at this writing (1909).

William Burkholder, one of the two surviving sons of William, was born in Canaan township, Wayne county, Ohio, on November 13. 1857. His education was obtained almost exclusively in the Ben school house, one of the buildings devoted to the common school purposes of Canaan township. In youth and early manhood his work was confined to the farm, but later he spent twelve years with Horr, Warner & Company, a firm engaged in business at Wellington. At the expiration of that time he returned to Jackson and bought a farm of thirty-five acres, fifteen of which, however, he disposed of later and now confines his operations to the remaining twenty acres. He owns a fine residence in Jackson, has a good income and enjoys general respect as one of the solid and reliable citizens of the community. He is extensively engaged in the poultry business, having a very fine strain of White Leghorns. He belongs to the Presbyterian church at Jackson and his political affiliations are with the Republican party. In July, 1880, Mr. Burkholder married Julia, daughter of Edward Edis, who is one of the early settlers of Wayne county and now living at Jackson, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. Mr. and Mrs. Burkholder have four sons: Clem, a conductor on the interurban railroad; Earl is also on the electric line as conductor; Ray and Roy, twins, now attending the Creston high school.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.