Before I enter any more of Grandpa's journal, I thought I should provide a little history. I'm going to use the article from the History of Preble County, Ohio published in 1915.



John Winkelman



The history of the Buckeye state dates officially from 1803, in which year it was admitted to the Union. It is a record of the steady growth of a state which in the beginning was a wilderness. Each county has its share in the story of Ohio's growth and progress and every county can lay claim to some incident or transaction which goes to make up the history of the commonwealth. After all, the history of a state is but a record of the doings of its people, among whom the pioneers and their sturdy descendants occupy places of no secondary importance. The story of the plain, common people who constitute the moral bone and sinew of the state should ever attract the attention and prove of interest to all lovers of their kind. In the life story of John Winkelman, there are no striking chapters nor startling incidents, it being merely the record of a life true to its highest ideals and fraught with much that would stimulate the youth starting in the world to an industrious and prudent career.

John Winkelman was born October 1, 1845, in Brunswick, Germany, the son of Cordt and Rebecca (Wendt) Winkelman, who were the parents of seven children, all of whom are deceased except the subject of this sketch. Cordt Winkelman was born in 1812 in Germany and remained in his native land as a farmer until his death in 1892. His wife, the mother of John Winkelman, was born in Germany and died when John was about eight years old. She was about forty years old at the time of her death. John Winkelman left Germany March 12, 1865, and was seventeen days making the voyage across the Atlantic. He came at once to Preble County, Ohio, and engaged in saw-mill work in Lanier Township. He worked at this for seven years for one man and then rented land and started farming. In 1878 he purchased a steam saw-mill located in Twin Township a mile and a half north of West Alexandria and operated it until 1914. He has handled vast quantities of lumber in Preble County. He furnished lots of lumber for bridges, and it was said that what he furnished was the best furnished in the county. He now owns sixty-two acres of land in Twin Township and, in connection with his son-in-law, A. E. Loxley, is farming twenty-four acres of land, upon which they raise tobacco. It may be said that Mr. Winkelman and his son-in-law produced the largest crop per acre of tobacco that was raised in Preble County in 1914. They attribute their success to rotating crops and fertilizing both with barn-yard manure and commercial fertilizer, keeping the soil built up. John Winkelman is a prominent stockholder and director in the Farmers and Citizens Bank of West Alexandria. What education Mr. Winkelman received, he received in the schools of his native land.

John Winkelman was married in 1872 to Sarah J. Hoops, who was born October 20, 1853, in Kentucky, the daughter of William and Anna (Tabelman) Hoops, natives of Germany, who came to Preble County from Kentucky when she was only three or four years old. To Mr. and Mrs. John Winkelman six children have been born; William C. and Caroline, deceased; Leonard, a farmer of Twin Township; Esther, the wife of Elmer Loxley, who lives with her parents; John, who is a school teacher of West Alexandria; and George E., a farmer of Twin Township. Leonard married Ida Clemmer and has one daughter, Margaret. Mr. and Mrs. Loxley have one little son, John Paul. John married Hazel Ozias and has a son and a daughter, Mildred and Richard. George married Mary McGregor and has two sons, Charles and Wilbur.

Mr. Winkelman for years has been prominent in the affairs of Twin Township and served as township trustee for a period of twelve years and served nearly as long on the school board. Politically, he is identified with the Democratic party. Religiously, Mr. Winkelman is a member of the Lutheran Church and is an elder of that denomination and, therefore, active in the affairs of this faith. Throughout his life, John Winkelman has been a hard working, industrious citizen and is honored by the people of his community for his industrious habits.



One comment I want to add: I have a copy of the passenger list for the ship America which sailed from Bremen, Germany to New York and arrived March 27, 1865. Listed in the passenger list is Johann Winkelman, aged 19, M, Farmer, from Thedinghausen, Germany.



That's all I'm adding for today. My next entry will be a couple of articles about George Winkelman.