In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1914) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From History of Darke County, Ohio (1914), The history of Darke County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; (1880)
JESSE STUTSMAN, minister, educator and farmer; the subject of this memoir was born in Montgomery Co., Ohio, Oct. 29, 1833, and is a son of David and Francis Stutsman, natives of Pennsylvania; they removed to Montgomery Co. in 1802, when there were but three houses where the beautiful city of Dayton now stands; he cleared four farms in this county, and endured all the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life, and in 1860 he disposed of the old home farm and removed to Polk Co., Mo., where he died the following year, from the effects of exertion and the troubles of war; his mother, after the death of her husband, returned to Ohio, to escape the horrors of guerrilla warfare, and remained about seven years, and then moved to Kansas to spend her declining y-ears with her daughter, and died in September, 1877. Her son-in-law, Mr. Herr, who resided in Missouri, was fully shot down by the rebel bushwhacker, Powell, and. before the close of the war he was captured in Arkansas, handed over to a Missouri regiment, court-martialed, sentenced to death and shot. In the winter of 1857. our subject emigrated to Cedar Co., Mo., and engaged in farming; here he was very unfortunate, losing all his property, and was thus thrown entirely upon his own resources; in 1858, he returned to Miami Co. and engaged in teaching, which occupation he followed for two years, when he removed to Montgomery Co. and still continued to follow his profession; he only received a common-school education, and is one of our self-made men in every respect, and is a successful and proficient educator; in 1869, he removed to Darke Co.. where he now resides, and purchased 87 acres of land, all in a good state of cultivation, the fruit of his labor. Mr. Stutsman is a representative of the German Baptist Church, and has labored in the ministry for twelve y-ears; he was united in marriage with Miss Martha, daughter of Martin Hyser, Nov. 7, 1857; Mr. Hyser emigrated from Lancaster Co., Penn., in 1850, and located in Montgomery Co., is still living, and is upward of 83 years of age, the oldest man in Butler Township; Mrs. Hyser departed this life Jan. 2, 1875, aged 75 years and 1 day; was born Jan. 1. 1800. Mr. and Mrs. Stutsman are the parents of nine children, viz.: Francis E., born July 1, 1861: Willis H.,born Jan. 11, 1864; Charles A., born Aug. 27. 1866: Franklin M., born
Dec. 18, 1868; Anna M., born July 3,1871; Susella. born Aug. 26, 1873; Ira M., born June 1, 1875; infant daughter dying in infancy; Marcus D died Aue 27. 1860, aged 6 months 20 days.
As printed in The history of Darke County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; (1880). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
ELDER JESSE STUTSMAN.
Probably no othr church in Ohio has ever had a pastor who served it so many years and who was so universally liked by all denominations, as the Church of the Brethren, where Elder Jesse Stutsman has preached so many years. He is peculiarly fitted, by nature and endowments, for the ministry, and has given his best efforts in the cause and in the betterment of conditions in the community. He has done much for the church and has also kept his heart open to the needs of people outside his own congregation and church, and sympathized with the joys and sorrows of any who came within his sphere of knowledge. He is well remembered wherever he has entered a home for the purpose of bringing comfort to the afflicted or performing a marriage ceremony, preaching a funeral sermon, or like occasions which have called him there, as a man of sympathetic manner, dignified and kindly of speech, whose soft voice and strong personality have commanded respect and attention. He was born October 29, 1833, on a farm in Montgomery county, Ohio, son of David and Frances (Eller) Stutsman. His father was born at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, July 22, 1793. and died in 1864 near Boliver, Missouri, where he is buried. The mother was born in Maryland, January 18, 1796, and died in Kansas, when she was probably over eighty years of age. David Stutsman was living in Missouri at the time of the Civil war, and on account of his age did not enlist, but two of his sons and his son-in-law had to leave home to escape being forced into the rebel army, and from the hard work and worry thus engendered, the father developed a fever, which caused his death. His sons and his son-in-law lost their homes and all they owned, for the rebels stripped their houses of furniture and took their stock and belongings, with the exception of two horses and wagons, which they left for the three women to reach the railroad station. They had probably less than five dollars in money among them and were unable to sell their horses. The son-in-law, Abraham Herr, went in search of his wife and was killed by a bushwhacker in sight of his old neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Stutsman had ten children, of whom three died in childhood and the others reached maturity, Jesse being the youngest of all. Those who grew up were: Lydia, the wife of George Brumbaugh, who lived near Greenville, Ohio, and both are deceased; Elizabeth, wife of John Landis, lived south of Greenville, and both are deceased; Abraham died some forty years ago, north of Union City, in Darke county; Henry died in California; Mary, deceased, was the widow of Abraham Herr, mentioned above, who went to get his wife, with her sister and mother, and who was killed in sight of home; Sarah is the widow of Jacob Spitler and resides in Kansas; Reverend Jesse. The parents and all the children except Abraham were members of the Church of the Brethren.
Elder Stutsman began his education in the schools of Randolph township, Montgomery county, Ohio, and also attended a select school in Dayton, Ohio, and before he was twenty years of age began to teach school. He taught many years in Montgomery county, beginning in 1853, and until 1879 in Monroe township, Darke county, since which time he has been engaged in farming as a means of livelihood, devoting much of his time and efforts to ministerial work. He was ordained in the church in Montgomery county in 1865, and has resided on his farm in Darke county since 1869, most of this time being pastor of the church at Pitsburg. This is now known as the Pitsburg and Painter Creek District. In po- litical principle he has been in favor of the Republican party, but since taking up the ministry has not cared to take an active part in political affairs, and has not voted except when some question of local option or prohibition has seemed to him to call for his support.
In the year 1857 Elder Stutsman was united in marriage with Miss Martha E. Heisey, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, February 11, 1832, and died in 1898, being buried in Monroe township cemetery at Pitsburg. She was a daughter of Martin E. and Elizabeth (Engle) Heisey, natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Ohio in 1850, in a private conveyance. They spent the remainder of their lives in Ohio and died in Montgomery county. They had eight children, of whom two now survive: Barbara, widow of David Engle, of Randolph township, Montgomery county; David E., of Farmersville, Montgomery county. Nine children were born of the marriage of Reverend and Mrs. Stutsman: one died when forty-eight hours old, in southwestern Missouri; David Marquis died at the age of six months, in Montgomery county, Ohio; Frances, born July 1, 1861, in Montgomery county, is the wife of Arodine Isenberger, of Pleasant Hill, Miami county; Willis H., born in Montgomery county, January 11, 1864, lives in Saskatchewan, Canada, and has four children: Huber who married Myrta Simmons, has one child, Jesse, and lives in Saskatchewan, Claude E., Winnifred and Mabel; Charles A., born September 27, 1866, in Montgomery county, married Miss Clara White, resides at Roanoke, Virginia, and they have one son, Albert Chesterfield, aged eight years; Franklin M., born December 8, 1868, lives in Detroit, Michigan, married Miss Rose Budelier, and they have one son, Marvin; Anna M., born in Darke County, keeps house for her father; Susella, wife of A. T. Lutz, of Monroe township, has seven children: Dale J., Lowell W., Anna, Leonard, James and Robert (twins), and Wilfred; Ira M., born in Darke county, Ohio, June 1, 1875, residing in Warren county, Ohio, married Miss Maude Keiser, and they have five children — Byron, Glen, Harold, Robert and Galen. Miss Anna is a graduate nurse, having taken a full correspondence course, and is of much help to her father in his church work, ministering to his needs in daughterly fashion and always ready to give her sympathy and attention to anything that concerns his work or welfare. All the children are active members of the church. The mother was a charming woman, well fitted for the wife of a minister, a true helpmeet and one whose fine character and lovely disposition endeared her to all. Her high instincts and womanliness were radiated from her features and general bearing, so that she was the sunshine in the home and hearts of her husband and children, as well as of other circles which felt her influence, always ready to perform little acts of kindness which were long afterward remembered with gratitude. Elder Stutsman has become well known for his inspiring funeral sermons, which have numbered some fifteen hundred, and have extended over a radius of some twenty miles, including fourteen suicides and three persons who died from railroad accidents, two of the victims dying instantly and one the day following the accident. His words at such times have come from his heart and soul and have been of great comfort to the sorrowing families, so that he has often heard words of gratitude and commendation years after the occasion from those who had been impressed at the time. He has solemnized nearly two hundred wedding ceremonies and, in fact, has been intimately associated with the home life of people of all denominations, aside from the especial affection and trust shown by people of his own church. His own home life was ideal and his children have been a great comfort to him, all ready to call him blessed.
As printed in History of Darke County, Ohio (1914). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Their biographies name Jesse Stutsman: Levi Minnich (b. 1862)
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