Peter Studebaker

As printed in 1908

PETER STUDEBAKER, a prosperous and highly respected farmer of Pike Township and owner of three hundred and forty-five acres of land, was born June 23, 1840, on his father's farm, in Pike Township, Clark County, Ohio, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Minnich) Studebaker and a grandson of John Studebaker, an early settler of Clark County.

Samuel Studebaker was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and at the age of ten years came to Ohio with his parents, who settled at West Charlestown, where the father later died. His mother died at the home of one of her children in Indiana. Samuel was the eldest of their family of thirteen children, all of whom settled in different parts of the country and are now all deceased. He assisted his father in clearing the land and later operated a mill in Miami County, Ohio, manufacturing flaxseed oil. He married Elizabeth Minnich, a daughter of Michael Minnich, who ched in 1875, aged about sixty-five years. Eight children were born to them, namely: Michael, Margaret, John, and Elizabeth, all deceased; Peter; Samuel and Hannah, both deceased; and Jane, wife of William Carmen, of Indiana. Samuel Studebaker located on a farm east of Troy, Ohio, after his marriage, and five years later bought a tract of eighty acres in Pike Township, Clark County. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1889, at the age of eighty-two years, he was the owner of one hundred and thirty-seven acres.

*Peter Studebaker was the only son who grew to matui'ity, his three brothers all dying young. He helped clear the farm and assisted in its cultivation, almost from boyhood. He received a common school education, attending the old log school at Beach Grove. Since his marriage Mr. Studebaker has always engaged in mixed farming, and for a period of thirty years he also operated a threshing machine, beginning when the old horse-power machine was the only one on the market.

On February 12, 1877, Mr. Studebaker married Susan Richardson, who was born in a log house on the present farm, and is a daughter of William and Eliza (Carmen) Richardson, who came from Mar- land to Clark County, Ohio, and settled on this place. She is one of six children born to her parents: Elizabeth, Prudence, Susan, John, Joseph, and Greorge, the latter of whom is deceased. Her father died in the fall of 1864 at the age of fifty-five years, and was survived by his widow until 1881, she passing away at the age of seventy-one years. Mr. and Mrs. Studebaker have one child: Elizabeth. Mr. Studebaker is a man of public spirit and enterprise and is held in high esteem by his fellow citizens. He is a Democrat.

As printed in 20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens (1908). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.