R. A. Rulmann, M. D. In point of years of consecutive and continuous service Doctor Rulmann, of Minster, is now the oldest practicing physician and surgeon in Auglaize County. His skill and ability in the profession, his fine character and standing as a citizen, have given him a position in the community such as any ambitious man might envy. He was born in Westphalia, Germany, January 19, 1860, a son of Herman B. and Augusta (Mueller) Rulmann. His father was born in Hanover in 1833. and the mother was born in Westphalia in 1837. She died in 1874. In 1864 the family came to the United States, first locating in New York. The father was a miller by trade, and moving out to Indiana he settled in Franklin County, lived there for many years, and in 1896 came to Minster, Ohio, and bought the mill with whose operation he was identified for several years. At the time of his death he was living retired. By his first wife he had two children, Dr. R. A. and Herman B., the latter now an electrician living in Chicago. Herman Rulmann, Sr.. married for his second wife Mary Hackman, and there are three children of that marriage: Antony, railway station agent at Paulding, Ohio; Frank, in the cigar business at Minster; and Belle, wife of Arthur Johnson, who is in the foundry at Minster. The parents were active in the Catholic Church, and the father was a democrat. Though he came to America poor he succeeded in life and did well by every member of his family. Doctor Rulmann received his early education in Oldenburg, Indiana. In 1881 he was graduated from the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati, and soon afterward located at Minster, where he has continuously practiced for thirty-five years. The profession of medicine represents to him not only a gainful occupation, but also an opportunity for service, and he has given the best of his skill and energies to a volume of professional work which has been practically without remuneration. He enjoys a large practice, has served several years as president of the Auglaize County Medical Society, and is a member of the Ohio State Society and the American Medical Association. In 1881 Doctor Rulmann married Miss Belle Schmieder, who was born in Minster, Ohio, of an old family there, and died in 1886. Of her two children only one is now living, Albert II., who is employed in the automobile works at Flint, Michigan. In 1888 Doctor Rulmann married Josephine Vogelsang, who was also born in Minster. There are four children of this union: Dr. Clarence F., who attended medical college in Cincinnati, the Northwestern University Medical School at Chicago, and in 1915 was graduated from the medical department of the Ohio State University and has since been in active practice with his father; Herbert H. and Oscar, who are in the billiard hall and restaurant business at Minster; Roy B., who is at home. The family are members of the Catholic Church. Doctor Rulmann as a democrat has served on the City Council and board of education, and so far as his busy professional career has permitted he has always closely identified himself with movements for the public welfare of the community.

Joseph E. Schmieder has been an active business man of Minster, Ohio, for nearly thirty years, is a prominent and well known insurance man, not only in this locality, but over the state at large, and is now serving as mayor of Minster. Hardly any other family has been so actively and iufluentially identified with this community from very early days. Minster was the home of the late Dr. J. P. Schmieder, who in his time was one of Ohio's foremost citizens. Doctor Schmieder, who was born in Germany, where his father died, his mother subsequently coming to this country and passing away at Minster at the age of ninety-two, was liberally educated in Germany, studied medicine there, and on his immigration to America settled first in Tiffin, Ohio, and later in Minster. He was in active practice for many years, and his services were in special demand in the country surrounding Minster. He was almost a pioneer doctor, and had to travel almost night and day through all kinds of weather, over roads that were never good, and carried his skill and patient sympathy to hundreds of families living in the remote rural districts. His services as a physician; valuable -as they were, did not constitute the sum of his energies aud worth. In 1849 he assisted in organizing the Minster Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and that company is still in existence and has had a most prosperous career of nearly seventy years. For a number of years he served as secretary. He was a member of the Catholic Church, and was a democrat in politics. Doctor Schmieder represented his home district in the State Senate, and was mayor of Minster for over thirty years, and also filled the office of justice of the peace. Governor Bishop appointed him one of the first trustees of the Ohio Mechanical and Agricultural Institute, and in that capacity he founded and inaugurated the development of a school which is now the State University and an object of pride to every Ohio citizen. Doctor Schmieder showed splendid business judgment, was successful financially, and acquired much real estate in his home locality. For sixty years he owned the hotel building known as the Schmieder House. Doctor Schmieder married Josephine Grieshop, who died in 1870. They were the parents of ten children, and the four now living are: George, who is serving as city marshal of Minster; Joseph E.; Pauline, unmarried and living at Toledo; and Robert, a rural mail carrier at Minster. Joseph E. Schmieder attended the public schools of Minster and St. Marys College at Dayton. Ohio. His first occupation was the insurance business, and he has been steadily identified with that line of work. He is now secretary and treasurer of the Minster Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which his father helped to organize many years ago. The business of this company is widely extended, and Mr. Schmieder spends much of his time traveling throughout Ohio. He is also a director in the Minster State Bank and owns considerable property in Minster, including one of the business blocks. In 1892 he married Elizabeth Fredericks, who was born in Minster. She died in 1908, leaving one child, Velma, who is employed in her father's insurance office. In 1912 Mr. Schmieder married Catherine Heimerdinger, a native of Cincinnati. To their marriage were born twins, on October 10,1916, and they are named Audrey and Constance. The family are active members of St. Augustine Catholic Church. Mr. Schmieder is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and politically is a democrat. For four years he represented his home district in the State Legislature, and has now filled the office of mayor of Minster for twelve years. For twenty years he was a justice of the peace.

John C. Halsema is one of the very successful educators in Northwest Ohio, and for the past three years has been superintendent of the public school system of Minster, in Auglaize County. He was born in New Bremen, Ohio, August 1, 1876, and represents some staunch Holland Dutch ancestry. His parents, John and Veronica (Dutmers) Halsema, were both born in Holland, and are still living. His father was born in 1840 and his mother in 1844. The paternal grandfather, Julius Halsema, spent his life in Holland as a farmer. John and Veronica Halsema came to the United States in 1874, settling in New Bremen, Ohio. He is a watch maker and jeweler, and through his hard work and intelligent business management has provided well for himself and family. He and his family are Catholics, and he is a democrat. There were nine children, and the five now living are: John C.; E. J. Halsema, who graduated from the New Bremen High School and the Ohio State University, and is now district engineer for the Philippine government in the Philippine Islands; Bernard, who is also a graduate of the New Bremen High School, took two years of technical work in the- Ohio State University, and is now an electrician at Chickasha, Oklahoma; Geciena is unmarried, lives at home and is a telephone operator; Elizabeth is also a telephone operator at New Bremen, and a graduate of the Ohio State Normal College at Athens. John C. Halsema attended the public schools at New Bremen, graduating from high school in 1893, and has been actively identified with educational work since he was seventeen years of age. In the meantime he has carried on his studies privately and in higher institutions, was graduated from the Ohio State Normal College at Oxford in 1907, and in 1911 was awarded the A. B. degree by Miami University and in 1915 received the degree of Master of Arts from the Ohio State University. His has been a progressive career, his responsibilities increasing with his experience and his larger attainments. He spent some years in rural schools, spent one year in the seventh grade of the public schools of New Bremen, was promoted from that position to principal of the New Bremen High School, where he served five years, and in 1913 he became superintendent of the Minster schools. He now has twelve teachers under him, and there are 450 pupils enrolled. Mr. Halsema is a member of the Catholic Church and a democrat in politics. He is also a member of the county examining board. He is unmarried. It should be recalled that in the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, the New Bremen and Minster schools were awarded bronze medals for efficiency of their work, and thus for years these schools have enjoyed a splendid standing and reputation in Auglaize County.

Herman H. Hoge, of New Knoxville, is a man of many interests, and everyone of them is well looked after, and his success and prosperity are largely due to the fact that whatever he undertakes he carries out down to the last detail. Nearly all his life has been spent in Auglaize County, and he was born on a farm in Washington Township of that county September 7, 1869. His parents were Henry and Henrietta (Wellemeyer) Hoge. Both parents were born in Germany. Henry Hoge was born August 10, 1833, and his father was also named Henry, and they came to Auglaize County in the early days. Henry, Jr., is still living, though past eighty-three years of age. His wife, who was horn in 1843, died in 1910. They were married in Auglaize County. Henry Hoge has spent his life as a farmer, and still lives on his farm of seventy-five acres, which has all the improvements, and though he started life poor has found prosperity by the key of industry and is likewise a man of sound intelligence and widely read and informed. He is a republican voter and a member of the German Reformed Church. Of his eight children the four now living are: Herman H.; Louis, who is principal of the Centralized School at Valparaiso, Indiana; Anna, wife of William Kuck, a farmer in Auglaize County; and Ernest, who lives at home with his father. Herman H. Hoge started life with only a district school education. He lived at home on the farm until seventeen and then started life as a carpenter. For nine continuous years he was employed by one man, and the following three years he did carpenter work and contracting on his own account. For a time he was connected with the Knoxville Hook Company, which he later purchased, and afterwards engaged in his present business as a general sawmill man and a dealer in pine lumber, lath and shingles. He has a well equipped mill, cutting native timber, and while he ships some stuff his main market is in and around New Knoxville. Besides his business Mr. Hoge is owner of a nice tract of twenty acres of land in the town corporation of New Knoxville, was at one time a director of the local telephone company, has served two terms as a member of the town council and one term as a member of the board of health, and is now a member of the cemetery board. He is independent in politics, and is on the l>oard of trustees of the German Reformed Church. On March 19, 1893, he married Mary Oelrich, who was also born in Washington Township of Auglaize County. Mr. Hoge is a hard worker on general principles, but he has found special delight in work and in getting ahead in the world for the sake of his children. He and his wife have been blessed with thirteen, twelve of whom are living and all at home. Arthur, the oldest son. is a graduate of St. Marys High School, spent one year in the Columbus Commercial College, and is now employed as bookkeeper for his father. The other children at home are Gustav, Rebecca, Marcella, Bertha. Esther, Joel, Olga, Ella, and Oscar and Oliver, twins. Albert died January 21, 1917, and was buried January 24, 1917. aged nine months and eight days.

John N. Gutmann. One of the long-established mercantile houses of Auglaize County is that which is now being conducted at Fryburg by John N. Gutmann, and which was founded by his father many years ago. The Gutmann family is one which is well known and highly respected in this county, where its members have been substantial, solid and reliable people, and John N. Gutmann, as proprietor of the establishment, is proving himself a worthy representative of the name. Mr. Gutman has passed his entire life in the community in which he now resides. Here he was reared and educated and here he has become known in business circles. He was born at Fryhurg, Auglaize County, Ohio, March 31, 1863, and is a son of Nicholas and Mary (Mauger) Gutmann. His father, who was born in Bier, Germany, in 1816, came to the United States as a young man and located at Fryhurg. Ohio, as one of the early settlers of this small but prosperous community. Soon after his arrival he founded a mercantile business, which grew with the passing years, as it was conducted along lines of fairness and honorable dealing and it attracted trade from all over the countryside of a rich farming locality. Mr. Gutmann continued to conduct this business throughout the remainder of his life, and was still at its head at the time of his death, in 1879. At that time it was taken charge of by his wife, who conducted it until advancing years made it advisable for younger shoulders to take up the responsibility. Nicholas Gutmann was a democrat in politics, although not a politician. He belonged to the Catholic Church, and in that faith the children were reared, and Mrs. Gutmann also belongs to that church. She was born in Pennsylvania, October 24, 1829, and was a young woman when she came to Fryhurg, where she still resides, having reached the advanced age of eighty-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Gutmann became the parents of ten children, of whom seven are still living: George, who is a bricklayer of Indianapolis, Indiana; Joseph N., a prosperous citizen of Springfield. Ohio, who is now living in retirement; Mary, who is the wife of Joseph Kunstle, a farmer of Auglaize County: John N.; P. G. N., who conducts a general store and is the express and general freight agent at Gutmann, Ohio: Louisa, who is single and resides at Wapakoneta; and Hannah C. who is the widow of Pete Lear and resides at that place. John N. Gutmann was educated in the district schools of the vicinity of his boyhood home and the graded schools at Lima, and his first business experience was gained in his father's store. His entire business life has been identified with this business, and March 25, 1913, he became proprietor of the store when he bought the interests of his mother. Mr. Gutmann is continuing to conduct the enterprise along the lines that made it successful under its former management, and now has a trade that extends over a wide territory. He carries an up-to-date stock of goods, attractively arranged and well chosen in regard to his customers' needs. Mr. Gutmann was married in 1903 to Miss Agnes Elizabeth Gerstner. who was born near Fryburg, Ohio, daughter of George Gerstner, a native of Bier, Germany, who came to the United States when seven years of age. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gutmann: Norma, Lourena, Hannah, in school; and William Joseph and Dorothy, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Gutmann are members of the Catholic Church. He is a democrat in politics.

Henry Wiedeman is one of the men who have made a splendid success as farmers, business men and citizens in Auglaize County, and is now living retired at New Bremen, with a good home, children who have already taken independent places in the world, and with the honor and respect of his fellow citizens. Mr. Wiedeman was born in New Bremen March 17, 1847, and has spent almost seventv years of his life in that community. His parents were Fred A. and Minnie (Shoemaker) . Wiedeman, both of whom were natives of Prussia, Germany. They were married in their native land, came to the United States in 1845. and the mother died in 1849, when her son, Henry, was two years of age. The father was a tailor in Germany, also served the regular term in the German army, and after following his trade for a time in New Bremen bought a small farm and was busied with it and his trade the rest of his life. By his first marriage he had four children, and Henry Wiedeman is the only one now living. Fred Wiedeman married for his second wife Marie Stroh, and of that union there were twelve children, nine now living. The parents were Lutheran Church people, and in politics Fred Wiedeman was a democrat. After a brief education in the public schools of New Bremen Henry Wiedeman found work as a boatman on the canal between Toledo and Cincinnati, and followed that employment for six years. He then worked in the woolen mills at New Bremen for six years, and having been careful and thrifty he was able to make an investment in forty acres of raw land, without any improvements. On that land he started to make a home. He built a house, gradually extended the area of cultivation, and gave the best of his energies and abilities to the management of the farm for thirty-seven years. His property has increased in quantity as well as in value, and he now owns 130 acres of well improved land. He has also a substantial brick home near New Bremen, where he has lived since retiring from the farm in 1907. Mr. Wiedeman was married in 1869 to Miss Catherine Ellerman, who was born on a farm in German Township of Auglaize County. Three children were born to their union. Gustav is now renting his father's farm. Annie is the wife of Fred Schwaberow, in the woolen mills at New Bremen. Emil is a renter on his father's farm with his brother, Gustav. The mother of these children died in 1905, after thirty-six years of married life. In 1907 Mr. Wiedeman married Miss Lena Stroh, who was.born in Washington Township of Auglaize County. Mr. and Mrs. Wiedeman are members of the St. Paul's Lutheran Church, and he has been very prominent in that organization since early manhood. He has served as trustee and jpresident of the church council. Politically a democrat, he has at different times been honored with positions of trust and responsibility. In 1897 he was elected trustee of German Township, and filled the office six consecutive years. Subsequently for four years he was a director of the county infirmary, and in the fall of 1915 was again elected trustee of German Township. He has always been influentially identified with party politics in this section.

E. G. Conradi, editor of Stern des Westlichen Ohio, a German paper of 1,100 circulation, and of the New Bremen Sun, which has a weekly issue among English speaking subscribers of 750, is one of the prominent newspaper men of Northwest Ohio, and represents a family that has been long identified with New Bremen and has furnished several notable names to the professions. Mr. Conradi is president of the Home Printing Company, and has succeeded in building up a very large newspaper and job printing establishment, making it one of the leading commercial institutions of the city. Mr. Conradi was born at New Bremen October 12. 1872, a son of Carl and Gertrude (Bruetsch) Conradi. His father was born in the famous Hartz Mountains of Germany in 1817, while the mother was born in Bavaria in 1839. They were married in Auglaize County, and the father died in 1891 and the mother in 1900. Carl Conradi came to the United States about 1840, locating in Auglaize County. A shoemaker by trade, he bought a small farm of thirty acres in that county, and combined to profitable advantage his work as a shoemaker with his agricultural operations. He was a republican in politics. Carl Conradi was twice married, and was the father of nine children, seven of whom are still living. Minnie is the wife of Joseph Poppe, who lives on a farm three miles north of New Bremen; Louis, who occupies the old homestead a mile east of New Bremen; August, who is a farmer 1*4 miles east of New Bremen; Edward, who has gained distinction as a leading southern educator and since 1909 has been president of the State College for Women at Tallahassee, Florida. Louise is the wife of J. W. Kuest, a retired farmer of New Bremen; the sixth in age is E. G. Conradi; the youngest is Albert, who is a scientist and educator and is now occupying the chair of state entomologist in the State Agricultural College at Clemson, South Carolina. E. G. Conradi grew up on the farm, attended the district schools and the New Bremen High School, and like some of his brothers also became active in school work, spending eleven years as a teacher. He then engaged in the newspaper business and since taking charge of the German and English papers at New Bremen has not only developed a successful business property but has also given his papers a widely extended influence over this section of Ohio. In 1894 Mr. Conradi married Ida Boesel, who was born at New Bremen, daughter of Jacob Boesel. Her father was a well known banker and merchant at New Bremen, served two terms in the State Legislature, and was a prosperous and prominent citizen of Auglaize County. Mr. and Mrs. Conradi are active members of Christ Church. Politically he is a democrat, and for two terms filled the office of mayor of New Bremen and for one term was a member of the board of education.