DANIEL MOHR, a prosperous farmer of Delaware county, is
a native of Lancaster county, Pa., and was born September
3, 1823. He
is of German extraction, his father, Conrad Mohr, having been born in Germany;
and his mother, whose maiden name was Anna Eshelman,
having been a native of Pennsylvania, but coming directly of German stock. Mr.
Mohr's parents were married in Pennsylvania, in which state.his
father settled on immigrating to America, being then a young man, and there
they lived for several years after that event. They subsequently moved,
however, to Ohio, settling in Montgomery county in
about the year 1829. The mother died in Logan county,
where they had moved from Montgomery, in 1867, at the age of sixty-four.
The father survived some years, dying in 1886, aged eighty-six. They were
quiet, industrious people, and lived lives of soberness and usefulness, leaving
the world at their deaths the better for their having lived in it. They had
nine children, seven of whom still survive. The deceased are a son and
daughter, Catherine and Conrad, both of whom,
however, became grown, married and left families surviving them. The other sons
and daughters, besides the subject of this sketch, are Jacob and Joseph, of Bellefontaine, Ohio; Samuel, of Dallas county, Iowa; and George, Frederick and Anna, the last, named being now
the wife of Samuel Shawyer, all of Logan county, Ohio.
Our
subject, Daniel, was reared mainly in Ohio. His parents belonging to one of the
industrial classes of the community where he grew up, his earlier years were spent
in the labors common to his condition in life, he being brought up to his
father's trade, that of a carpenter, and receiving in his youth only what education
could be obtained by irregular attendance at the common schools held, as was
the custom in those days, in the old-fashioned log school-houses, and taught
usually about three months out of the year. Being the eldest child of the family, a larger share of the burden of assisting in
providing for the household fell to his lot than to his brothers and sisters,
and he was, in consequence, kept closely employed at some sort of work from
the time he reached an age when his services were of value until after he
reached his majority. He remained at home until he was twenty-three years old;
then, with the permission and good-will of his parents, he began the solution
of the problem of life for himself, leaving home at that age and going to Logansville, in Logan county, Ohio, where he found employment at his trade.
The same year, also, he was married, taking this important step March 24, 1846,
and with a wife to share his labors and counsel with him in his plans, he
diligently prosecuted his business as carpenter and farmer in that locality for
six years. In 1852, he moved to Iowa and settled in Clayton county. There he purchased one hundred acres of government
land, for which he paid $1.25 per acre, and engaged in farming and worked at
intervals at his trade as a carpenter and in a cabinet factory at Elk Port, making chairs, bed-steads and such other articles of furniture as were, at
that time, in demand in a newly settled country. He resided in Clayton county, until
April, 1865, when he sold out there with a view of securing a home amidst better
surroundings, the population where he then lived being mostly foreigners of
intemperate habits and undesirable methods of living. He moved to Delaware county, purchasing a farm of one
hundred and twenty
acres in Coffin's Grove
township, where he located
and has since resided.
He has a
pleasant place, well stocked
and well improved, most of which
represents his own labor, his place having
but little substantial improvements on it when he bought
it. He now has a comfortable residence and good barns and out-buildings. He has
given his time mostly, in recent years, to farming and he has met with a fair
degree of success. He carries on mixed farming and devotes some attention to
live stock. The only thing with which he has not succeeded has been small
fruit. Like most others, who have tried this in his locality, his labors have
failed to meet with adequate returns. In bee culture, however, he has met with
marked success, being one of the largest producers of honey in Delaware county.
Mr. Mohr
has a pleasant home and has brought up
around him an industrious family of children. His wife abides with him yet, being now
in her sixty-third year, she
having been born in 1827. She is a
native of Rockingham county,
Va., and bore the maiden name of Mary
Garber. Mr. and Mrs. Mohr have had nine
children, six of whom are now living, all being grown. These are—Magdelene,
wife of Edward Ayers,
a farmer of
Linn county, Ore.; Martin
C., a carpenter, residing at
Tampa, Fla.; Nancy, wife of Isaac Conners; John, a
furniture dealer and undertaker; Louie,
wife of Arthur Wasson, a dentist; the
last three residing at Powka, Nebr., and
Mattie, a young lady, still at
home with her parents. The deceased
ones are—Hannah
Jane, Isaac and Laurie.
Mr. Mohr
has held a number of local offices in his township and has taken an active
interest in everything relating to the welfare of his community.
In politics
he is a republican, and has been for many years. He is a member of the Advent
Christian church, in which denomination he has held a membership for nearly a
third of a century, being zealous in his support of the teachings of his church
and active in all church work.
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