Lyle Heilman

My great grandfather Jacob Heilman was born February, 1819, in Niedesheim Frankenthal, Bavaria, where he spent the first years of his life. In 1840 he served his country in the 9th Infantry Regiment. In 1844 he came to America to work in Albany, New York. From there he went with his brother, who came from Germany, to Tiffin, Ohio. In 1847 he moved to Defiance County which was wilderness. On November 3, 1850, he married Maria Baker who bore him four sons and eight daughters. In the year 1861 when the Civil War broke out he enlisted in the 68th Infantry Regiment Company F where he served until the war was over. After being honorably discharged he lived with his family in Okolona, Henry County, Ohio where he worked on the railroad. In later years he moved to Florida, Ohio, and most of his children remained in that area.

Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Heilman

My grandfather, William H. Heilman who was born January 8, 1879, worked in Florida on the canal boats and the mills. When the canal boats disappeared from the area, the mills left also, so he helped clear the land and went to farming four miles west of Florida. He farmed until 1945 and at that time moved back to Florida to live in the house his father had built at High and Main Streets.

William Heilman married Leah Blanche Siford February 4, 1902. They had seven children: Harold, Paul, Burdette, Richard, Ralph, Florice, and Mary Hannah. Harold, the eldest, is my father and he has always lived in Florida. He married Elmina Brubaker, daughter of Albert and Etty Walters Brubaker, on November 17, 1923. They had two children, Marian Heilman Mann who is deceased and myself, Lyle Daniel Heilman. My mother died May 18, 1937, and my father married Sophie Wulff, July 14, 1938. He was a sheet metal worker and a grocer in Florida until his retirement in 1973.

I was born in Florida, Ohio, on May 15, 1928, and have lived here all of my life with the exception of two years of military service with the U.S. Army 38th Ordinance Combat Unit in Seoul, Korea. I married Julia Farison, daughter of William E. and Eva Nestleroad Farison, On November 25, 1953. We have two sons, Mark William born January 18, 1956, and Edwin Todd born March 31, 1958. Mark is presently in the United States Marine Corps, Third Marine Division in the Asiatic area and Todd is a senior at the Four County Vocational School, Archbold, Ohio.

I have been a village councilman for the past six years, and commander of the Gerken-Hurd American Legion # 654, Florida, Ohio, for the past three years. I have been employed by Central Foundry Division of General Motors, Defiance, Ohio, for twenty-five years. If my great grandfather could see today the land he chose to settle I'm sure he would have been very proud.

Submitted by Lyle Heilman