The Landis Families of Wayne County, Ohio

DAVID Y. LANDIS. This well known business man of Wooster is a native of the Keystone State, born in Lehigh County, January 10, 1840. His father, William Landis, was also born in the same county, and was of Swiss extraction, his forefather having come to this country to escape religious persecution in his native land, where two of the family had been burned at the state as heretics. They were believers in the Mennonite faith, and besides being a farmer, William Landis was until his ! death a preacher of that denomination.

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David Y. Landis, the subject of this sketch, received his education in the common schools of his native State, and at fourteen years of age began life for himself by learning the trades of cabinet-making and carving at Allentown, Penn. In 18(50 he followed his mother to this county, and worked at his trade in Wooster until 1800, when he formed a partnership, and has ever since been engaged in business in Wooster. His present partner is.Jacob E. Schmuck, and they carry on the furniture and undertaking business, having the largest stock of goods in their line in Wooster.

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Mr. Landis has had to make his own way in the world, and the success he has achieved is due to his energy and industry, backed by good judgment, and made more certain by the reputation he has justly acquired of being a thoroughly honest business man, whose word can at all times be relied upon. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the I. O. O. E. He was a member of Capt. James IP. Eobinson’s Company I, One Hundred and Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, enlisting August 5, IS OP, and served for three years. He is now a member of Given Post, No. 133, G. A. E.

DA M EO 1 1 EST JOI 1 NSON, a well-known farmer of Wooster Township, was born in Salt Creek Township, Wayne County, Ohio, March 19, 1850. His grandfather, James Johnson, a native of Pennsylvania, married Mary White, and in 1810 they came to Wayne County, settling in Salt Creek Township on a piece of wild land, where the sound of the white man's ax had never been heard. Here they died, the grandfather in 1809, at the age of seventy years, and the grandmother in 1884, at the age of eighty-four.

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

Y. LANDIS, dealer in furniture, and undertaker, of Wooster, Ohio, was born in Lehigh County, Penn., June 2G, 184G. His father, William Landis, was also a native of that county, and was a minister of the Mennouite Church, and his parents had also been Pennsylvauians. William Landis was married to Mary Young, born in the same State, and by that union they were the parents of eight children, six of whom are yet living, three in Wayne County, Ohio. The father passed from earth in 1848, at the comparatively early age of forty-nine years, and in 1858 the mother came with her children to Wayne County, and was married to Christian Burkey, of Chester Township, where she yet resides, aged eighty-two years.

The subject of this memoir, when quite young, began to learn the trade of harness-making, and, after completing his apprenticeship, followed it for several years, for four years having a shop of his own. He next turned his attention to cabinet-making, and has now been in that business about twenty years. In 1882 he formed a partnership with William George, which continued for six years, it being dissolved in the summer of 1888, when Mr. Landis embarked alone, on East Liberty Street, Wooster, in the furniture business, in which he keeps a full and complete stock. An important feature of his business is undertaking, to which he gives careful attention. In 1867 Mr. Landis was united in marriage with Miss Talitha, daughter of Daniel and Lydia Pittenger, and a native of Wayne County. Her father lives in Chester Township, where her mother died in the fall of 1887. Two children have been born to this union: Thomas, who died at the age of tour years, and Maud, aged fifteen years. Mr. Landis is a Kepublicau in politics, and at one time was a member of the city council of Wooster. He is an active member of the Royal Arcanum, and was for some years an active member of the Volunteer Fire Department of Wooster. He is a self-made man, who began poor, but has by his perseverance, industry and business tact acquired a good position, and his success in life is a testimony to his upright and straightforward business principles. As an honest and capable merchant, and a progressive citizen, having the interests of the county at heart, he is rightly held in esteem by everyone who knows him.

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

It is an axiom demonstrated by human experience that industry is the keynote of prosperity. Success comes not to the man who idly waits, hut to the faithful toiler whose work is characterized by sleepless vigilance and cheerful celerity, and it has been by such means that George Landis, the present popular and capable manager of the Doylestown State Bank, has forged to the front and won an honored place among the substantial citizens of Wayne county. He is widely known as a man of high character, and for a number of years his influence has been marked and salutary. He was born at Wellington, Lorain county, Ohio, October 26, 1869, the son of George and Elizabeth (Leatherman) Landis. His paternal grandparents, John and Elizabeth Landis, where natives of Pennsylvania where they lived, and they died in Ohio; his maternal grandparents, John and Rebecca Leatherman, were also natives of Pennsylvania; they moved to Medina county, Ohio, in a very early day and died there.

George Landis, Sr., was born in Pennsylvania in 1829 and his wife, Elizabeth Leatherman, was born in Medina county, this state, in 1838. Eight children were born to them. Mr. Landis was a pioneer farmer and saw-mill man in his community and he did a great deal of work in both, developing his farm and cutting timber in the winter months, having been very comfortably situated on his farm when he died. It was in 1868 that he moved to Wayne county and settled in Rittman and there lived until his death in 1890, having been killed in his own saw mill. He was a stanch Mennonite and he lived a quiet and retired life, giving his exclusive attention to his personal business affairs and to his family. He was regarded by all who knew him as a man of more than ordinary attainments, although he never sought to make any outward display, being reserved. He was truly a good and useful man. He and his wife were the parents of these children, namely: John; Mary, living in Portland, Oregon; Frank, superintendent of the Coppen mine in Virginia; Amanda, Elizabeth, George (of this review), Allen and Sarah. The mother of these children died in 1875.

George Landis, Jr., was educated in the common schools of Rittman, graduating from the high school there in the class of 1889. He very early manifested a taste for a mercantile life, and when he had finished his education he entered the mercantile business in Rittman, remaining in the same for a period of six years. He prospered and, desiring a broader field for his operations, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained for a period of twelve years, doing an extensive business there in the mercantile line. For six years before his graduation he worked in a store in Rittman for a Mr. Apade, attending school in the meantime. In 1903 he went to Cleveland.

Observing an excellent field for a bank at Doylestown. this county, Mr. Landis came here from Cleveland and organized the Doylestown State Bank, of which he is cashier and manager at this writing, and he has succeeded in building up the prestige of this institution along safe and sound lines, until it is widely patronized and has a reputation second to none in the county. He seems to have a natural ability for banking and performs his duties in a manner that elicits nothing but favorable comment from all concerned.

Mr. Landis was married in 1893 to Laura Amstutz, the accomplished and affable daughter of Jacob Amstutz, mentioned elsewhere in this work. The Amstutz family has long been a prominent one in this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Landis one child has been born, named Glen, a bright and interesting lad, now a student in the Doylestown high school.

In his political relations Mr. Landis is a Republican and, although he has been solicited by his friends to take public office, he has persistently refused to do so, preferring to devote his attention exclusively to his personal affairs. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Sterling Lodge, No. 173, and the Foresters, Court Levan, Cleveland, Ohio.

Personally Mr. Landis is a straightforward, honest and painstaking business man, courteous and obliging, and in the social circles of this vicinity he and his wife stand high, and none are more deserving of the honor and esteem of the community.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.