John Sidlinger Family

John Sidlinger and his brother came from Bavaria, Germany when John was eighteen years old. It is thought that his brother returned to Germany.

John, whose name on arrival was Zeitlinger, married Priscilla (or Orchilla) Weible at Greenville, Ohio, on October 15, 1844. Two years after his marriage, he changed the spelling of his name to Sidlinger, or Sidlingler, because his customers and neighbors pronounced his name that way. John was a wagon maker, and later a farmer. He had six sons and one daughter. The sons were Samuel, George, William, John Weible, Charles Edward, Reuben, and Ida Belle.

Samuel, who later became a physician, was born in Greenville, Ohio, on June 23, 1845.

George was born on March 5, 1848, and William was born on August 19, 1950 and John Weible was born on March 3, 1853, both at Massillion, Ohio.

The last three children, Charles Edward born on December 2, 1855, Reuben born August 20, 1858, died November 23, 1858, and Ida Belle born September 7, 1859, were born at Napoleon.

The family later moved to Liberty Center, Ohio.

The story is told that when Samuel came home at the age of sixteen and told his father that he had enlisted in the 114th Volunteer Band of the Civil War, his father also went down and enlisted in the same unit. John was a fine musician, but lost most of his hearing during an all night rainstorm during the war.

Four of the children moved to Hutchinson, Kansas. Samuel became a railroad physician. John Weible and Charles Edward owned a drugstore. Ida Belle married Amos Hess.

Samuel married Lucinda Wherly and had one daughter, Lila Innes. Lila's daughter, Katherine Cecil, lives at Abilene, Kansas. Samuel lived to the age of ninety, and is buried in Hutchinson, Kansas.

John Weible married Carolina Leonhardt on January 19, 1880 and to this union were born three children. William Noah, born October 13, 1881, and died March 15, 1875, married Lydia Katherine Montgomery, and had three children. Samuel Huffman, born 1894, died 1935, had four children. Mamie was born in 1883, and died in 1904. John Weible was standing in front of his drugstore in 1904 when a runaway horse ran by. While trying to stop the horse, he was kicked in the head and suffered a skull fracture which killed him. His son, William, then sold his interest in the drugstore to his cousin, Arthur Hess, son of Ida Belle Sidlinger Hess. Ida had two other children. Katherine was a teacher in the Hutchinson schools for many years. The other daughter was Mary. Art and his uncle, Ed Sidlinger, continued as partners in the drugstore until Ed's death in 1914. Ed remained a bachelor all his life.

John Weible and Carolina Sidlinger had seven grandchildren. Carolina Leonhardt Sidlinger was a daughter of Frederick and Catherine Ubel Leonhardt, and was born on August 3, 1859, and died on August 5, 1935. The grandchildren were Virginia, William Arthur and Frances Jean, children of William Noah. Virginia is still living. Helen, John, Beth, and Marjory were children of Samuel and all are still living. There are fifteen great- grandchildren living.

This family were pioneers of Ohio and Kansas, and served both states well in family concerns and civic activities.

John Sidlinger's grandson told that John was an excellent cabinetmaker. John Weible remembers going to his grandfather's house and helping on the farm when he was about twelve years old, after his sister's death. He spoke of the general house-cleaning and baking spree at his other grandmother's and the whole church congregation following his grandmother home on Sunday. He said none of the children ever ate anything but a chicken wing, and no cookies at all. He thought about seventy-five people that came home with her. He told many other human interest stories about his family.