Herman Lammers

HERMAN LAMMERS, one of Washington township's veteran farmers, now living practically retired on his well-kept of old Lammers homestead, along the county line a mile south of New Knoxville, was born on that place and has lived his life, a period of more than seventy years, and has thus since the region developed from pioneer days. Mr. Lammers was born on February 28, 1850, and is a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Wierwille) Lammers, both of whom (natives of Germany) had come to this section of Ohio with their respective parents in the days of their youth, the Lammers and the Wierwille families becoming pioneers of this section of Ohio, back in the days when the lands now occupied by their descendants in Washington township were included within the confines of Allen county, long before Auglaize county was Henry Lammers was a well-grown lad when he came here with his parents, and his first labors here were performed as working on the construction of the canal, these labors procuring for him a sum of money which he invested in a tract of land in the southwest quarter of section 28, just southeast of New Knoxville, in Washington township, and after his marriage he established his home there. He was a good farmer, and as he cleared and improved his place he added to his holdings until he became the owner of no less than 240 acres, including a fine farm of 200 acres in Washington township and an adjoining forty over the line in Shelby County, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, useful and influential members of that community. They were the parents of nine children, all but two of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having four sisters, Sophia, Fredericka, Magdalena and Anna, and two brothers, Ernst and Louis Lammers. Reared on the home farm there southeast of New Knoxville, Herman Lammers received his schooling in the neighborhood schools, and from the days of his boyhood was a helpful factor in the lab, developing the home farm. After his marriage he rented a part of his father's place and has continued to live there, buying the interests of the other heirs in the place after his father's death. Since coming into possession of this place Mr. Lammers has made extensive improvements, including the erection of a new set of buildings, and has an excellent farm plant. He owns 198 acres some of which lies over the line in Shelby County, and his farm is profitably cultivated. Though of late years he has been living practically retired from the active direction of the farm, he and his wife continue to make their home there, and he keeps an interested eye on affairs generally. In his political views Mr. Lammers is an “independent." He and his wife have for years been active in the affairs of the Reformed church at New Knoxville, in the faith of which church their children were reared, and he has served as a deacon of the congregation. Herman Lammers married Mary Ferleman, also a member of one of the pioneer families of Washington township. To this union have been born eight children, Anna, Fred, Wesley, Matilda, Hilda, Benjamin, Otto and Salome, all of whom are married save the two last named. Anna Lammers married George Hoelscher and has five children, Martha, Noah, Esther, Ruby and Elmer. Fred Lammers married Matilda Fledderjohn and has four children, Paul, Tabitha, Silas and Victor. Wesley Lammers married Elizabeth Fledderjohn and has two children, John and Loren. Matilda Lammers married August Fledderjohn and has two children, Vernon and Almeda. Hilda Lammers married Henry Henschen and has two children, Robert and Curtis, and Benjamin Lammers married Louetta Kolthoff. Mrs. Mary Lammers was born in Washington Township and is a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Knappe) Ferleman, who came to this country shortly after their marriage in their native Germany and proceeded on out into this section of Ohio, settling on a farm in the New Knoxville neighborhood. Some years later they moved down over the line into Shelby county, where Henry Ferleman bought a farm and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of five children, three of whom are still living, Mrs. Lammers having two sisters, Fredericka and Louise. The Lammers home is pleasantly situated on rural mail route No. 2 out of Botkins.