Herman H. Kuhlman

HERMAN H. KUHLMAN, veteran merchant and banker of New Knoxville, president of the board of education of that village, for thirty years treasurer of Washington township and in other ways interested in the general civil and commercial life of that community, one of the best known business men in Auglaize County is a European by birth, but has been a resident of this country, and of Auglaize county since he was fifteen years of age, a period of almost fifty years, and has done well his part in the development of the community in which he has made his home ever since he came here as a lad in the days that still were regarded as pioneer days in this county. Mr. Kuhlman was born on December 1, 1857, in the town of Vehrte, in the principality of Osnabruck, occupying the western part of the Prussian province of Hanover and embracing also the duchy of Arensberg-Meppen, ceded to Hanover in 1803, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Ruesse) Kuhlman, the latter of whom was there in 1867. He was fifteen years of age when in 1873 he came to this country with his father, William Kuhlman, the family proceeding immediately on out into Ohio and locating at New Knoxville, in this county, whither Herman's two elder brothers, George and Henry Kuhlman, had preceded them and effected a location some time before. William Kuhlman was a bricklayer by trade and an artisan in woodworking handicraftmanship, a skilled carver of wooden shoes, which latter vocation he followed during the winters when bricklaying was impracticable. Upon establishing his home at New Knoxville, he continued these vocations, for at that time there still was a considerable demand thereabout for wooden shoes, and he spent the remainder of his life there, his death occurring in 1893. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, all of whom are living save two sons, William Jr. and Christian, and one daughter, Louise, the subject of this sketch now having one sister, Elizabeth, and two brothers, George and Henry Kuhlman. As all these children grew to maturity and had families of their own, the Kuhlman connection in the present generation is a considerable one. As noted above, Herman H. Kuhlman was not yet sixteen years of age when he came to Auglaize county in 1873. He had received excellent schooling in his native land, and after coming here lost little time in settling down into the manners and customs of the land in which his folks had elected to make their home and which he was quite well content to adopt. His first labor upon coming here as a farm hand, working on a farm in the New Knoxville neighborhood for $60 a year. For five years he continued working in the fields and woods, interspersing this employment during the winters as a clerk in one of the village stores, and then, when twenty-one years of age, was married. After his marriage Mr. Kuhlman took his place in the general store of his mother-in-law, Mrs. C. S. Luterbein, New Knoxville, and not long afterward was made a partner in that enterprise. Upon Mrs. Luterbein's death, in 1893, he took over the interest of his deceased partner in the store and has since continued to operate the same as sole proprietor. In 1881, about three years after Mr. Kuhlman became identified with the operation of this store, Mrs. Luterbein built what is the original section of the building now occupied as the Kuhlman store, and in 1891 an addition was built, constituting the present store building, which covers floor space 40 by 70 feet. The Kuhlman store is a general store, handling pretty much everything in the way of merchandise required in that trade area, including dry goods, notions, house furnishings, boots and shoes and the like, and has a reputation founded upon many years of successful operation. In 1910 Mr. Kuhlman, in association with his eldest son, Henry H. W. Kuhlman, established the Peoples Savings Bank of New Knoxville, with the son as cashier of the bank, and the two have since been carrying on a successful banking business there. This is a private bank, the two Kuhlmans being sole owners, and now shows capital, surplus and undivided profits in excess of $24,000, with deposits aggregating more than $325,000. In the spring of 1922 the present well-equipped and modern two-story brick building occupied by this bank was erected, and the patrons of this bank now have as convenient banking accommodations as those of any bank in the county. The senior Kuhlman, head of this bank, is also a member of the Home Banking Company of St. Marys. Mr. Kuhlman is an ardent Republican, for years one of the leaders of that party in this part of the county, and since 1892 has been serving the people of Washington township as township treasurer, a period of continuous public service that likely enough is not exceeded by that of any other public official in the county. He also is president of the local board of education at New Knoxville, and in other ways has ever done his part in local civic activities. He and his family are members of the German Reformed church at New Knoxville, and for thirty-five years he has been a teacher in the Sunday school of that church, and for thirty years has been treasurer of the congregation, a record of continuous church service that also likely enough is not exceeded in the county. Herman H. Kuhlman has been twice married. In February, 1879, he was united in marriage to Emma Luterbein, a daughter of Henry Luterbein and wife, and to this union were born nine children, Henry, Alvina, Ida, Meta, Reinhart, Selma, Clara, Arminta and Leroy. The mother of these children died in 1906, and in June, 1909, Mr. Kuhlman married Emma Fennemann, daughter of William H. Fenneman, and to this latter union three children have been born, Mildred, Laurence and Norman. Henry H. W. Kuhlman, the eldest of Mr, Kuhlman’s sons and cashier of the Peoples Savings Bank of New Knoxville, was born on August 21, 1881, and his schooling was completed in the St. Marys high school and at Ohio Northern University at Ada. Like his father, he takes a proper interest in local civic affairs, is now serving as mayor of New Knoxville, and has rendered public service as clerk of the village. On June 6, 1911, he was united in marriage to Olga Finke, of New Bremen, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Robert. Mr. Kuhlman's eldest daughter,. Alvina, married Herman Holl and has two children, Ruth and Marie, Ida Kuhlman married W. H. Wellman. Selma Kuhlman married Julius Eversman, and Reinhart Kuhlman, who is now a teacher in St. Marys high school, married Dorothy Kuhlman and has one child, a daughter, Melba Louise. Prof. Reinhart Kuhlman is a veteran of the World war with an overseas record and a record of twenty-one months in the army during the time of this country's participation in the great war.