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Henry Allen DeLong, an
enterprising and successful farmer of Shawnee township, Allen county,
Ohio, is a son of John and Esther (Mowery) DeLong. The
great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a native of France;
immigrating to the United States in his young days, he settled in
Pennsylvania, but some years after, while engaged in rafting lumber on
the Schuylkill river, in steering the raft in one of its swift
currents, it struck a rock, and he was thrown in front of the former
and was drowned. He left a widow and five children- Jacob, Andrew,
George, Lydia and Henry-to battle in the world with the assistance of
the elder boys and friends. In a few years after, they moved and
settled near Chillicothe, Ohio. Henry, the youngest son, was married to
Mary Mowery in the year 1816, and became the father of eight
children, and in this marriage career they purchased and improved 160
acres of land. They were pious parents and members of the German Reform
church; their children, as born and named, are John, Henry, Jacob, and
Levi, Isaac, Elizabeth (Mrs. Hinton), Catherine (Mrs. Jacob Beeler)
and Polly (Mrs. Georgia Beeler). John DeLong, the
father of the subject, was born in Ross county in 1822, and in 1849 was
married to Esther Mowery; he moved to the wilds of Allen county
and purchased and settled on eighty acres of land in section No. 26,
Shawnee township, to which he added, by purchase, in sections Nos.
23,26, and 28, until he owned 579 acres; he owns seventy-eight acres in
Auglaize county. In section No. 26, Shawnee township, Allen county, he
cleared 160 acres for a home, farm, upon which he lived until 1891,
when he retired to, and is now living in, Cridersville, Ohio, upon
which income from his accumculations in the years of his active life.
Politically Mr. DeLong is a democrat and held several township
offices; religiously he is a Lutheran. His children are as
follows; Mary, wife of Benjamin Bowsher; Sarah, wife of Ephraim
Crider; Henry A., the subject; Jacob C., of Auglaize county; John
F., of Shawnee township, Allen county; Amanda, wife of John Maher;
Elmer, living on the homestead farm; Lyda A., wife of Ira Rittler;
and two who died in infancy (George and Edward).Henry A. DeLong was
born September 14, 1856, on the home farm and was reared to a farmer's
life, his education was obtained in a district school, and though not
so complete as he could wish, yet his natural ability and the
experience acquired by contact with the world, together with his
scholastic education, enable him to perform all the private and public
duties that he has so far performed. In 1878, when twenty-two
years of age, he settled on his present farm; containing 152 acres,
which he now operates; beside, he owns desirable properties in Lima and
Cridersville, and his income is sufficient for all praticial purposes.
Politically Mr. DeLong is a democrat; in 1886 he was by his
party friends elected justice of the peace, and he has performed the
duty of office with such unusual ability and satisfaction that he has
been re-elected three times; he has also been an active member of the
school board for a number of years. Mr. DeLong was married
April 11, 1878 to Miss Sarah E. Beeler, daughter of Henry
Beeler, and to his marriage have been born the following children;
Ollie A., Grover E., and Floyd A. He is a member of the Lutheran church
at Cridersville, of which he has been trustee for many years, besides
being an industrious and enterprising citizen. Mr. DeLong is of
such character and disposition that he is popular with most of
the people, is a leading man in his calling, that of agriculture, and
is in every way a worthy American.
A Portrait and Biographical record
of Allen and Van Wert Counties by A.W. Bowen & Co., 1896- pg 252,253
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| Abram Early, a prominent
farmer of Monroe township, Allen county, Ohio, is a native of the
county, and was born December 25, 1840, the third of the nine children
born to Jacob and Mary (Simmons) Early, natives of
Shenandoah valley, Va., where they were married in 1838, and whence
they came to Ohio and located, first, in Bath township, Allen county,
then removed to a point near Lima, and many years later retired to West
Cairo, where the father now lives, having lost his wife in 1882.Abram Early
was reared on his father's farm, but was afforded good school
advantages and when a young man entered a store at Lima, Ohio, as a
clerk, and held the position until his enlistment in 1862, in the
Ninety-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, and was assigned to the army of
the Cumberland. He took part in all the hard-fought battles and weary
marches of his regiment until, when marching with Sherman to the sea,
he was captured by the enemy November 6, 1864, and taken consecutively
to Macon, to Athens, to Augusta, to Savannah to Thomasville and lastly
to Andersonville, in which last-named prison-pen he was held until the
close of the war, when he and his fellow prisoners were taken to
Jacksonville, Fla., and there turned loose. Mr. Early succeeded
in making his way to Washington, D.C., where he received an honorable
discharge. He then returned to Lima and resumed clerking, which he
followed until 1866, when he married Sarah Miller, daughter of
John B. Miller of Virginia, who settled in Allen county, Ohio,
in 1838, and was a large land owner, and also a prominent member of the
German Baptist church. To the union of Abram and Sarah Early
were born seven children, viz; Mary, wife of Cario Swick;
Emily, a missionary, but now in Chicago; Ella, at home; Calvin, a
medical student; Mildred, a teacher; Eunice and Carl S., at home.
After his marriage Mr. Early at once
settled on his present farm near Rockport, where he buys, raises and
feeds stock, and largely handles and ships hogs, lately he has been
interested in an organization having in view the development of the oil
interests of the county; the company has already sunk one well, but,
not having struck oil, is on the lookout for a more prolific field.
January 3, 1889, Mrs. Early was called away, dying a sincere
believer in the faith of the German Baptist church. In 1891; Mr. Early
married Miss Susan Miller, a daughter of Samuel R. Miller,
a native of Pennsylvania, but now a resident of Elkhart county, Ind.,
where he settled when a young man, and where, as a democrat, he has
served twenty years as township trustee and six years as county
sheriff. To his second marriage there have been born no children to Mr.
Early. Mr. and Mrs. Early are members
of the German Baptist church, to the support of which he is a liberal
contributor; in politics Mr. Early is a stanch republican, and
while no office seeker, takes an interest as a good citizen in the
affairs of the party and the country.
A Portrait and Biographical record of Allen and
Van Wert Counties by A.W. Bowen & Co., 1896- pg 262,263
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