Tag Archives: Niklaus Schwartz

William B. Schwartz flashback

[Editor’s note: I am placing this biographical entry here for two reasons: I just rediscovered it and I want to remind my dear readers about how fickle history can be. Over the last month, we have read about William’s early career, his marriage and the insanity of his wife. Although I have not found any 1892 newspaper clippings to apprise us of her condition, Mary Victoria continued to struggle with mental health issues. Whether they were real conditions as we know them today or misunderstood ones because of the limitations of late 19th century society on woman’s health, we may never know. Accessing the court records is an adventure for another day. So be mindful that William was under a lot of strain. A once bright future, full of promise, was heading towards disaster.]

WILLIAM B. SCHWARTZ was born in Holmes County, Ohio, July 1, 1858, and is the thirteenth of a family of fourteen children of Nicholas and Barbara (Kuntz) Schwartz, the former a native of Switzerland, the latter of Italy. In 1852, they emigrated to this country, settling in Holmes County, Ohio, on a farm, where they still live. William grew to manhood on a farm, enjoying the advantages of common schools until, at the age of eighteen years, he entered the Normal Department of the Humboldt School at Pittsburgh, Penn., remaining there eight months. He then returned home and assisted his father on the farm until the following winter, during which he taught a term of school in Holmes County. At the close of this term, he entered the Millersburg Normal Academy; remained there two years, graduating from the institution, in the scientific course class, in 1881. He again returned home and taught another term of school in his native county, at the close of which making a tour of pleasure and recreation through Missouri and Kansas. On his return through Missouri, he taught one term on the frontier of that State, returning to Ohio at its close, where he completed his studies in common law. He at the end of this time moved to Brazil, and was admitted to the bar February 2, 1883, since which time he has been in the active practice of his profession. Mr. Schwartz is one of the promising professional young men of Clay County, and is in possession of literary attainments and an energy which bid fair to place him in the front rank of the legal profession.

Charles Blanchard, editor, Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana: Historical and Biographical (Chicago: F. A. Battey & Co., 1884), 384.

Sunday’s Obituary – Dr. Henry A. Schwartz

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Obituary of Dr. Schwartz

Dr. Henry Albert Schwartz, son of Nichols and Barbara Schwartz was born in Berlin, Holmes county Ohio, Oct. 6th, 1857. When still a young man he became a member of the Reformed church. He studied medicine at Western Reserve University, from which school he graduated in 1886. On April 17th, 1895, he was united in marriage with Miss Anna Etrang [sic Strang] at Millersburg, Ohio. Dr. Schwartz practiced medicine first in Indiana. Afterward he located at Greer, Ohio, and finally moved to Loudonville, where he has resided for the past eighteen years. After an ailness of but a few days he departed this life at 3 o’clock, Thursday morning, March 19, 1925, reaching the age of 67 years, 5 months and 13 days. He leaves to mourn his departure his sorrowing wife, and one daughter, Mrs. C. E. Swartzwalder. He is also survived by one grandchild, two brothers and one half-brother, beside other relatives and friends.

Funeral services, conducted by Rev. J. H. Kuhlman, were held at Zion Lutheran church, Sunday, March 22 at 2 p.m. Interment in the Loudonville cemetery. “Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh”!

“Obituary of Dr. Schwartz,” Ashland-Times Gazette (Ashland, Ohio), 25 March 1925, p. 7.

[Special thanks to the Adult Services Department at the Ashland Public Library in Ashland, Ohio for providing this obituary. I would not have been able to find this obituary without the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center which manages one of the best on-line obituary search databases for the state of Ohio.]

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Dr. Henry A. Schwartz was the son of Nicholas Schwartz and his second wife Barbara (Kunz) Schwartz. He was born in Ohio, 6 years after the family emigrated from Switzerland. The obituary gives Henry a fairly good biography so there isn’t much more to add.

Henry and his wife Anna are buried at the Loudonville Cemetery.

©2014 copyright owned and written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2014/01/18/sundays-obitua…nry-a-schwartz/

A New Story

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For the last 10 days, I have shared the story of Roberta Van Sickle’s tragic death. The process of searching for and then finding contemporary newspaper clippings is exciting. I found that I really like telling stories this way, giving little bits at a time, like an old newspaper, radio or television serial. Yesterday, I reached the end of this part of Roberta’s story. Any good historian or genealogist will tell you that the story is never over. There are always new documents and discoveries to be found. So today, I am picking up a new thread to weave. This one takes place over several decades as the pieces of one man’s life were woven into place. Like Roberta’s story, I will let the documents, clippings and book excerpts tell the tale in chronological order.

My new story tells the tale of William B. Schwartz, also known as W. B. Schwartz. He was the son of Niklaus Schwartz and his second wife, Anna Barbara Kunz, emigrants from Switzerland. William was one of the younger children in the family so he had the privilege of being born an American. William’s older sister, Elizabeth, became the wife of Christian Yegerlehner. I hesitate to call them half siblings as Niklaus’ two wives were sisters. So even though William and Elizabeth had different mothers, they had the same grandparents. Until 1880, William lived in Holmes County, Ohio where he was born. By 1883, he was living in Clay County, Indiana near his sister Elizabeth and her family. He was a school teacher, teaching his nephews at the local school in Harrison township. This is where my story begins.

1880 Census detail from Holmes County, Ohio – Household of Nicholas Schwartz

The first newspaper clipping to mention William was posted several weeks ago in the post School Grades.

Tombstone Tuesday – Niklaus & Barbara (Kunz) Schwartz

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Schwartz, Nicholas & Barbara - gravestone

Photograph by Madeline Troyer

Nicholas (Niklaus or Nickolus) was the father of Elizabeth (Schwartz) Yegerlehner. The Schwartz family emigrated from Switzerland in 1852. Upon arriving in America, they traveled to Berlin, Holmes County, Ohio, and there Niklaus and several of his children stayed. Niklaus had a very large family. He had fifteen children between his two wives. Some of the children moved around Ohio, while two traveled further west into Indiana. Elizabeth moved to Clay County, Indiana after she married Christian Yegerlehner. Her younger brother William B. Schwartz also settled in Clay County.

Niklaus married Elizabeth Kunz who bore him six children: John, Jacob, Christian, Elizabeth, Anna Barbara and Niklaus (d.y.). After Elizabeth died in 1846, Niklaus married his wife’s younger sister Anna Barbara. Their children were Nicholas F., Gottfried, Samuel, Charles, Sevilla, Henry, William, Sophia, and Henrietta.

Niklaus and Barbara are buried at Berlin Cemetery in Berlin, Holmes County, Ohio.