Amos Burkholder

As printed in 1910

AMOS BURKHOLDER.

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 History of Wayne County, Ohio (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.