A History and Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio
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History of Butler County: HAMILTON

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    Andrew HUBER was born in Hohenzollern, Germany, November 30, 1834. He is a son of George and Frances (HERRMANS) HUBER. He was educated in Germany, and came to America with his parents in 1842. The family settled in this neighborhood, where George HUBER purchased a farm, and lived upon it till his death. He reared a family of four sons and two daughters, of whom five are living. He died about 1853. Andrew HUBER began his education in Hamilton, and was brought up to farming until he was sixteen, when he commenced an apprenticeship at the baker's trade. He worked as a journeyman until his marriage, April 1, 1856, to Miss Anna, daughter of Caspar HOFF. Mrs. HUBER was born in Cincinnati, October 17, 1838. She is the mother of twelve children, of whom seven are living, five daughters and two sons. In April, 1856, Mr. HUBER began business as a baker and confectioner on High Street, and continued it in a successful manner until 1861.

    In that year the war breaking out, he organized Company K, Thirty-seventh Ohio Volunteers, going out as second lieutenant. He was afterwards promoted to first lieutenant, and was in command of the company. He participated in all its battles to Charleston, West Virginia, and was in command in seven battles. Ill health then compelled him to resign, and he was in the hospital some three months. He returned to civil life, and conducted the home farm some six or seven years. He then engaged in the fruit trade in Hamilton for some two years. He was in the employment of Long, Black & Alstatter in their wood-working department for three years, when he returned to the fruit trade, which he continued until beginning his present business in the First Ward in 1878. Mr. HUBER had been a member of the Jackson Guards at the breaking out of the rebellion. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

    Captain Jonathan HENNINGER was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1829. He is a younger son of John and Elizabeth (GAUMER) HENNINGER. Mr. HENNINGER was a turner by trade, and came to Ohio in 1837, settling at Seven Mile. He reared a family of eight children, of whom five are yet living. He died in 1872. Captain HENNINGER had but limited opportunities for an education, but by studying and reading in leisure hours has acquired much. He worked as a farmer until he was seventeen, when he learned the trade of stone mason, and afterwards that of cooper. He worked as a journeyman for three years, until ill health compelled him to abandon the occupation. He then was employed as a carpenter, and gradually acquired a good knowledge of that trade. He worked for others until 1854, when he began building and contracting in Hamilton, continuing this till August, 1861.

    He then enlisted in Company B, Thirty-fifth Ohio, as orderly sergeant, being present at Mill Spring and the siege of Corinth. They went back to Louisville, Kentucky, in pursuit of BRAGG, then at Perryville, and were at Nashville and Murfreesboro. He was promoted to be first lieutenant in February, 1863, and the following May was made captain. He commanded the company at Hooven's Gap and Tullahoma, Tennessee, and also took part in the numerous raids and skermishes. At the battle of Chickamauga he commanded the company both days, going in Saturday morning with thirty-eight men, and coming out Sunday night with eleven. They moved down to Ringgold, where he had several short skermishes, and remained there until May, 1864. They broke camp then, and accompanied General SHERMAN on his Atlanta campaign, during which the captain was severely injured by an accident which disabled him for further service. He was in the hospital at Chattanooga for some two months. The time of the regiment having expired they were mustered out at Chattanooga. The officers who had been promoted were retained for some six weeks, but they were finally discharged in November, 1864.

    On returning to civil life he resumed his former business in Hamilton, which he still continues. He has also been a member of the firm of Cole, Gehrman & Henninger since 1873. They manufacture sashes, doors, and blinds, He is also engaged in the stove and tin business at No. 106 Main Street, First Ward. Captain HENNINGER was married in 1854 to Miss S. E. BALLINGER, daughter of Dr. K. H. BALLINGER of Hamilton. To that marriage have been born twelve children, nine living, five daughters and four sons. All, with one exception, are residents of the town. Mrs. HENNINGER died November 20, 1881. Mr. HENNINGER has been a member of the Odd Fellows since 1852. The family are members of the United Presbyterian Church.

    Daniel Hart HENSLEY was born in Logansport, Indiana, January 10, 1844. His father, Richard HENSLEY, was born in Virginia, but brought up in Kentucky. He emigrated to Logansport in 1829. His wife, the mother of D. H. HENSLEY, whose maiden name was Frances MULL, was born in North Carolina. The boy received a common school education, and enlisted in July, 1862, under Colonel Gilbert HATHAWAY, in the Seventy-third Indiana Infantry. The regiment served with the Independent Provisional Brigade, and was captured. The men were taken to Belle Isle, but were exchanged the same Summer, and sent to the front. He served with the regiment until the close of the war, in 1865. He has been a resident of this town for the last ten years, and is the secretary of the Gas Works Company. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, and is the commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is also a member of the First Baptist Church. He was married to Miss Eliza A. MUNDORFF, December 25, 1867, and has two children--LeRoy R. HENSLEY, thirteen years old, and Mabel M. HENSLEY, one year old.

    Daniel HUGHES, of Lemon Township,was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, January 27, 1806, being the oldest son of Elijah and Sarah (MUTCHNER) HUGHES. He came with his parents to Ohio in 1816. The family settled on the place now owned by Joshua E. HUGHES, which was then deep in the woods, where the father carried on blacksmithing. Daniel HUGHES received but a limited education, and was brought up to farming pursuits. He remained at home until he was twenty-six, when he went to Indiana, and located one hundred and sixty acres on the Wabash, but got tired of it and returned to Ohio. He was married in March, 1833, to Miss Anna B. KAIN, born in New Jersey in 1805. They were the parents of four children, of whom three are living. Mary Jane is the wife of Job MULFORD; Elijah resides with his father, and Samuel K. is also at home. Mrs. HUGHES died in 1877. After marriage Mr. HUGHES located on sixty acres, which constitutes a part of the home place, but was then wild and unproductive. He was in company with his brother Micajah, and for some seven years they owned every thing in common. Upon the marriage of Micajah the partnership was dissolved. Additions were made to the farm at various times, and it now amounts to five hundred acres. He also owns three hundred acres in the vicinity of Kyle's Station. Mrs. HUGHES was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years.

    August F. HINE was born in Germany, January 16, 1828. He is the son of William HINE and Maria GRAHAM. He came in 1848 from Piqua, where his parents settled in 1833, but is now a resident of Hamilton. He was married to Hannah GARRIGUS, in Hamilton, June 28, 1859. She is a native of Crawfordsville, Indiana, where she was born December 18, 1825. Her father was Abram GARRIGUS, and her mother was Mary Ann MESSER. Her uncle, Jacob MESSER, was in the Revolutionary War. Andrew J. GARRIGUS, her brother, and her half-brother, Edward J. GARLAND, were in the late war. The latter served two years. Mr. HINE has only one child, Mary, born July 26, 1860. She lives at Piqua. He enlisted in Butler County, August 15, 1862, and was discharged July 6, 1865, at the close of the contest. He was engaged in the skermish at Yazoo Swamps, December 16, 1862; Thompson's Hill, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, Vicksburg, 1863; and Red River, 1864. He was wounded in the left leg April 9, 1865, and was mustered out of service, as sergeant of Captain F. M. LEFLAR's Company F, Eighty-third Infantry. In 1879 he was chief of police in Hamilton.

    B. HAFERTEPEN was born in Hanover, Germany, November 21, 1836, and was the oldest son of D. HAFERTEPEN. His mother's maiden name was RUVE. Mr. HAFERTEPEN was educated in Germany, where he received a liberal education. With his parents, he came to America in 1848, the family settling in Cincinnati, and served an apprenticeship of two years at the shoemaking trade, in Cincinnati, beginning in his thirteenth year. He worked as a journeyman in Cincinnati until coming to Hamilton in 1856. October 1st he commenced business in a small way, in the same location he now occupies, and is doing an extensive trade. He employs six or eight hands on the average. In 1856 he was married to Miss Philomena MAHLER, and Mr. and Mrs. HAFERTEPEN are now the parents of nine children, of whom seven are living. He was elected township treasurer in 1871, filling that position two years. He has never desired office. Mrs. HAFERTEPEN died in 1880, and he was married again in 1881, to Barbara LEUS, daughter of Walter LEUS, a well-known citizen of Hamilton. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

    Philip HARTMAN was born in Gilversam, Bavaria, March 10, 1827. He is the son of Jacob and Marillus (NEPNOW) HARTMAN, and received instruction in the schools of Germany. In 1847 he was conscripted in the Bavarian army, serving one year, and emigrating to America in 1848. He came directly to Hamilton, and commenced to learn the trade of a turner, at which he was engaged three years. He worked three years as a journeyman for Owens, Ebert & Dyer, purchasing their stove business in 1855, and at once making extensive sales. He is a large dealer in stoves and tinware, and also manufactures tin goods. Mr. HARTMAN was married in 1857, to Anna Maria LINDERMAN, born in Germany, and they were the parents of three children, of whom but one now survives, Mary, wife of Henry FRECHTLING, Jr. Mr. HARTMAN is a member of Zion's Lutheran Church. With Mrs. HARTMAN he visited his old home, in Germany, in the Summer of 1881, and was absent four months.

    John C. HOOVEN was born September 29, 1843, in Montgomery County, Ohio. He is the son of John P. and Mary (BAUGHMAN) HOOVEN, who were both born in Pennsylvania. Mr. HOOVEN was by occupation a farmer and cooper. John C. HOOVEN was educated at Franklin, Ohio, where the family removed in 1849, attending the common school. In 1864 he left Franklin, and removed to Xenia, where the firm of Hooven & Sons was formed, composed of John P., E. P., and John C. HOOVEN, in the hardware business. In 1864 he came to Hamilton, where he engaged in the agricultural implement business. The firm was dissolved in June, 1876, the father retiring, but the old firm name was retained by the two sons. In November, 1878, it was changed to John C. HOOVEN, Mr. E. P. HOOVEN retiring, and in that year the concern took up the manufacture of threshing-machines. In September, 1879, he sold out the implement business to Clark & Stanhope, and in the following year the firm of Hooven, Owens, Rentachler & Co. was formed, now known as the Hooven, Owens & Rentachler Co., the Monarch and Eclipse Machine Works. They are manufacturers of portable and stationary engines, threshers and saw-mills.

    Mr. HOOVEN is a Knight Templar in the order of Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a member of Company B, One Hundred and Forty-sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of one hundred day service men. He was married November 21, 1867, to Miss Jennie ENYEART, of Troy, Miami County, the daughter of John ENYEART, a farmer of that place. Four children have been born to them. Their names are Blanche, Earle, Enyeart, and Paul M.

    Peter HECK was born in Prussia, Germany, December 31, 1828, and is the oldest son of Jacob and Anna Maria (BRUCK) HECK. With his mother and step-father, he came to America in 1834, first stopping in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. In the Spring of 1838 they came to Ohio over the mountains in a wagon, locating in Hamilton. In this place Peter received his education in the public schools. At sixteen he began an apprenticeship, lasting four years, to carriage-making. After completing his time, he worked as a journeyman for some fifteen years in St. Louis, Nashville, Cincinnati, etc. In 1864 he began the carriage business in his present location on his own account and with a small capital, under the frm name of Heck & Co., remaining thus until 1873, when he purchased his partner's interest, since conducting affairs himself. The goods he makes are spring wagons, carriages, and fine work.

    He was married when twenty-three years of age, on the 28th of June, 1852, and has had by this union five children, of whom two sons and three daughters are living. He was again married in 1864 to Mary Frederica BEINKAMPEN. He is a member of the Zion Lutheran Church. Mr. HECK, at the time of the rebellion, was a resident of Nashville, Tennessee, and with difficulty escaped conscription in the rebel army. He finally reached the North in 1862, and saw some stirring times. He again became a widower last year, Mrs. HECK having died August 21, 1881.

    Arthur T. GOOD, D.D.S., the son of Henry and Matilda (CARTER) GOOD, was born near Trenton, March 20, 1849. His father was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1802, and with his parents, John and Magdalena (LANDIS) GOOD, came West, and located on a farm near Trenton in 1816, where he lived sixty years before moving to Trenton, his present place of residence. He was married January 20, 1837, to Miss Matilda CARTER, daughter of Mordecai and Nancy (COX) CARTER, who was born near Lebanon, Ohio, November 5, 1809. Her parents were Quakers and were from North Carolina. Of a family of ten children, nine boys and one girl, but four are now living: John V., grain merchant; Nelson H., farmer; Anna N., wife of A. L. KUMLER (lawyer of Lafayette, Indiana), and Arthur T., dentist.

    Arthur T. GOOD, the seventh son, lived at home on the farm until he was eighteen years of age, attending district school as opportunity afforded. The school was a mile and a half away, and the distance in this case was materially lengthened by the path leading over many hills and hollows, and numerous fences. Hence in bad weather he had to remain at home until old enough to stem the torrents, which was very detrimental to his progress. In the Fall of 1868 he entered Antioch College, where he remained for two years, coming home in the Spring to work on the farm, thus missing the Spring term. After this he went to Otterbein University, remaining three and a half years, and completing the scientific course of study in that institution.

    He entered the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati in the Fall of 1874, taking in that institution two full courses of study--the full requirements--besides one extra term at his own wish, that he might be better prepared for the duties of his profession. By request of the dean, he remained in the infirmary of the college one Summer, which gave him considerable experience before he selected his field of labor. He was graduated on the 2d of March, 1876, receiving the degree of "Doctor of Dental Surgery," and in May following opened an office for the practice of his profession in Hamilton. The doctor being a social and agreeable gentleman, has since that time had all the success the could be reasonably expected, or that might be deserved by a thorough preparation. Just after graduating he became a member of the Mississippi Valley Dental Society, the oldest association of the kind in the West, of which he is still a member, and was appointed by it a delegate to attend the American Dental Association which met at Niagra Falls the following August.

    Dr. GOOD was married on the 14th of September, 1875, to Miss Emma Jane BEAL, of Westerville, Ohio, an old schoolmate and classmate in Otterbein University. Both are members of the Presbyterian Church. She is the daughter of Jacob and Jane (BUDD) BEAL. They have one son, Henry Lee GOOD.

    Jacob MATTHIAS was born in Winchester, Virginia, October 21, 1802, and attended school in the neighborhood of his father's house. Early in life he learned the trade of a coppersmith, and in the Fall of 1827 came to Cincinnati, remaining there a year.He was married in that city on the 27th of March, 1828, to Miss Emily Webb GROOMS. To that marriage were born eight children, of whom one is living, Emma C., now the wife of William MILLER, of the State of Illinois. On his first coming to Ohio he had made a journey to Hamilton on foot, returning in the same manner. In company with his brother Isaac he again went west to Hamilton in the Spring of 1828, with the purpose of becoming a permanent resident. The two brothers at once organized the firm of L. & J. Matthias, engaging extensively in the coppersmithing business, subsequenty adding the stove and tin-ware trade. Jacob MATTHIAS was also a member of the firm of Matthias, Kline & Resor, conducting a general store in Rossville. Mrs. MATTHIAS died in 1845, and on April 23, 1857, he was married to Ann M. JAMES, daughter of Barton JAMES, one of the pioneers of Hanover Township, where he settled in 1817. Mrs. MATTHIAS was born in that township, September 16, 1828. Her father was a successful farmer and prominent citizen. He raised a family of seven children, of whom Benjamin F., now a resident of Missouri, and Mrs. MATTHIAS are the sole survivors. Mr. JAMES died about 1861. Mr. and Mrs. MATTHIAS were the parents of one son, W. J., and two daughters, Lutie E. and Lillie F. Three of the grandchildren by Mr. MATTHIAS's first marriage are residents of Idaho, and one of them, George M. PARSONS, has represented his district in the territorial Legislature.

    Jacob MATTHIAS represented his district in the State Legislature in the session of 1837-1838, and was also a member of the city council and the school board at various times. He was also infirmary director for some years before his death. All of these offices he filled to the utmost satisfaction of his constituents, and with credit to himself. He was a consistent member of the Universalist Church, and an active and influential citizen and successful business man. He died August 21, 1877. The firm of L. & J. Matthias existed until his death, or for fifty years, his heirs soon after purchasing the interest of Isaac MATTHIAS, and since conducting the same under the able management of W. J. Matthias & Co. Mr. W. J. MATTHIAS is looked upon as one of the prominent young business men of Hamilton. Mr. MATTHIAS's death was a misfortune to the poor, to whom he had always been a warm friend, and the press united in encomiums upon his character.