Introduction to the 1923 Biographical Sketches
This biographical sketch was published along with many others in the 1923 History of Auglaize County, Volume II, edited by William J. McMurray and published by the Historical Publishing Company of Indianapolis. In most cases the subject of the biography was of the first generation born in this country to German immigrants. In some cases the subject may have been born in Germany and came to this country at a young age. In most cases the story tells of the immigrant parents of the subject and also the children and grandchildren of the subject named at the beginning of the story. In some cases comments have been added after the biography to explain the locations of the farms where the immigrants settled. New Knoxville did not have rural addresses until 1955, and therefore the settlers had rural route addresses of St. Marys, Botkins, etc.
Ernst Hoelscher and his wife.
ERNST HOELSCHER, a former trustee of Washington township and one of the best known and most substantial farmers and landowners of that township, proprietor of a fine farm east of New Knoxville, where he is now living practically retired from the active labors of the farm, was born on that place and has lived there all his life, a period of nearly seventy-five years, and has thus been a witness to the development of this region from its pioneer start.
Mr. Hoelscher was born on September 12, 1849, and is a son of Herman Heinrich “Henry” and Elizabeth Anna (Niemeyer) Hoelscher, natives of Germany, who were married in that country and shortly after their marriage came to America and proceeded on out into Ohio and settled here. When they came here the work of canal construction was then under way, and after his arrival here Henry Hoelscher became engaged as a workman on that project, working with the canal crew until the big job was finished.
When he arrived here he had but $1 left of the money he had provided for the journey from Germany and the work on the canal came to him as a godsend, the money thus earned providing a fund for the purchase of a small tract of land east of New Knoxville, in Washington township, where he established his home and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, industrious and helpful members of that community.
The first bit of land Henry Hoelscher bought there was a tract of forty acres. As he got this cleared and developed he added to his holdings and gradually increased the same until he became the owner of a fine farm of 225 acres and was accounted one of the substantial farmers of that neighborhood. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, of whom but two are now living, the subject of this sketch and his brother, William Hoelscher. Reared on the pioneer farm on which he was born, Ernst Hoelscher grew up familiar with all the details connected with the strenuous job of clearing a woodland farm and getting it ready for cultivation. He received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and from the days of his boyhood has applied himself to the affairs of the farm. He continued farming with his father until the latter's death, and then took over 120 acres of the home place and has continued to make his home there. Since taking possession of that place he has made extensive improvements and has long had one of the best equipped farm plants in that neighborhood. He also bought a tract of eighty acres adjoining his original tract on the north, and thus has a farm of 200 acres, which is profitably cultivated and kept up in spick and span order. He also owns a quarter of a section of land in Kansas.
Mr. Hoelscher is a Republican, for years looked upon as one of the leaders of that party in his home township, and has rendered public service in various capacities, for six years a trustee of the township, for six years supervisor of roads in his district, and for several years a member of the local board of education.
He and his family are members of the Reformed church at New Knoxville, of the congregation of which he has been an elder for the past twenty years, and he also has served as a deacon of that congregation. Ernst Hoelscher married Adaline Wellman, daughter of Henry Wellman, and a member of the well-known pioneer family of that name in Washington township, and to this union eight children were born, all of whom are living save two (Emma and Lena), the others being Matilda, Louis, William, George, Caroline and Emil, all of whom are married. The mother of these children died, on March 25, 1912. Matilda Hoelscher married George Cook and has five children, Alvin, Elmer, Raymond, Howard and Wilfred. Alvin Cook married Anna Caroline Zeigler and has three children. Elmer Cook married Lovenia Marie Cammerer and has a son, Wallace. Raymond Cook married Zeta Enid Boxley and has a son, Eugene, and Howard Cook married Genevia Britten. Louis Hoelscher married Sophia Lutterbeck and has eight children, Adaline, Elizabeth, Mary, Enoch, Helena, Julius, Max and Waldo. Adaline Hoelscher married Jacob Meckstroth and has two daughters, Gretchen and Rachel. William Hoelscher married Matilda Bierbaum and has four children, Irene, Lenora, Myron and Elody. George Hoelscher married Anna Lammers and has five children, Martha, Noah, Esther, Ruby and Elmer. Caroline Hoelscher married George Bierbaum and has four children, Olga, Robert, Ruth and Reuben, and Emil Hoelscher married Magdalena Meckstroth and has one child, a daughter, Lucile, it thus being noted that Mr. Hoelscher has twenty-seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, in all of whom he takes much pride and delight.
The Hoelscher home is very pleasantly situated on rural mail route No. 3 out of St. Marys.
The original Hoelscher farm is located at 08842 State Route 219, New Knoxville.