Heinrich Stockmann Family

Heinrich E. Stockmann was born on August 10, 1836 in Vethem, Germany, and came to Henry County, Ohio, when he was eight years old, with his father, stepmother, three half brothers and a half sister. The family came in 1844, and located on a farm west of Napoleon, Ohio.

Heinrich, at the age of fourteen years, worked on the Wabash and Erie Canal, walking a tow path and driving a team of mules that towed a boat in the canal. The boats hauled agricultural products, freight and passengers. There must have been colorful stories of hunting, trapping and wilderness adventures to excite the imagination of a fourteen year old boy. During the Civil War, Heinrich worked for an uncle, Henry Ehlfers, on Kelley's Island, in Lake Erie, in a grape orchard.

Heinrich purchased forty acres of land on the Defiance-Henry County Line Road a few miles north of Okolona, Ohio, on March 23, 1857, and paid $440 for the land. In 1865, he bought an adjoining forty acres with buildings.

On June 2, 1865, Heinrich and So; phia Louise Helberg were married. Sophia was born on October 8, 1847 in Westenbolz, Hanover, Germany. She came to America with her parents in 1857 when she was ten years old.

In 1884, Heinrich built a frame house. He became a member of the Henry County Infirmary Board, and took on other civic responsibilities.

Heinrich began a plan to set up his four sons in farming. He would buy eighty acres of land, deed forty acres to the son, and kept title to the other forty acres for a time and collected $1 per year rent for each acre of the forty acres. This farm plan was activated with Frederich Stockmann. Frederich, born 1866, died 1930, settled in Marion Township in 1893 after his marriage to Marie Rohrs. Marie was born in Nordcampton, Germany in 1870 and died on February 9, 1954.

Frederick and Marie lived in a primitive house at first but soon built a frame house. In 1912, they built a large brick house, One child, Henry, was stillborn in 1895. William was born prematurely in 1895 and lived four hours. Their daughter, Emma, was born in 1899 and died in 1949, and married Ernest Rohrs, and was killed in an automobile accident near her home. Emma was survived by her husband and daughter, Laura Crampton of Monroe Township.

A fourth child, Clara, was born November 1, 1902, and married Fred Bockelman. Fred died in 1930. Clara Stockmann Bockelman married William Schwiebert in 1934. William died in 1973. Clara still lives on the home place. They have a son, John, who married Darlene Kruse. Darlene is deceased, and John lives near his mother with his three young sons, Ronald, Michael and Timothy.

The only son of Frederich Stockmann, Sr. was Frederich, Jr. who was born in 1907 and died in 1970. He worked for the Pepsi-Cola Company for a number of years, then returned to his eighty acre farm near Deshler, Ohio.

Doris, born 1868, died 1952, daughter of Henrich Stockmann, Sr., married Heinrich Rohrs, who was born in 1868 and died in 1933. Their daughter, Mary, married William C. Norden. Doris and Heinrich Rohrs lived on the Liberty Center Road, in Freedom Township until they sold the farm to William and Mary Norden. Then they moved to a farm near Ridgeville Corners, Ohio. They had four children: Helen, who married Herman Winkelman, Ridgeville Corners, and had three daughters, Eldora, Alvina, and Mrs. Dorothy W. Rauch, Napoleon.

The second daughter of Doris and Heinrich Rohrs, Minnie, was married to Chris Meyers. Both are deceased. They had three daughters, all living: Mrs. Henry (Mathilda) Badenhop, Archbold; Mrs. Herman (Augusta) Smith, Napoleon Township; and Mrs. Elder (Louise) Drewes, Gerald, Ohio.

Dora, the third child of Doris and Heinrich Rohrs, married Henry Nor- den, both are deceased. They had six children: Harold, Toledo; Dorothy married Ernest Dishop, Wauseon; Hilda married Herman Bunke, Wauseon; Elder; Lorna, Toledo; and Mildred married Wayne Dorsey, Wauseon.

Mary, fourth child of Doris and Heinrich Rohrs, married William Norden and both are deceased. They had two children, Arnold Norden, who lives on the same farm as they, with his wife, Helene; and daughter, Adela Norden. Adela lives in New Haven, Indiana. She has taught in Lutheran schools and now has a position in an Indiana State School.

Wilhlm H. Stockmann was the second son of Heinrich and Sophia Stockmann. Wilhel, 1870-1929, married Elizabeth Mahnke, on October 20, 1898. They lived on a farm in Marion Township near Hamler which was purchased under the Heinrich Stockmann purchase plan. It adjoined the farm of Frederich and Marie. During their lifetimes, they purchased an additional one hundred and eighty acres of land. They had three children: Minna, Anna, and Martha Stockmann.

Minna was born on October 30, 1902 and married Carl Junge on February 17, 1920 and lives on an eighty acre farm in Marion Township, across the road from the one-room country Brady School that all three children attended. Mina and Carl's children are Olga who married Rudolph Schwiebert, Hamler; Edna who married Wendell Phillips, Wauseon; Anna who married Donald Pickering, Hamler; Albert Junge, Deshler; Arleta married Walter Panning, Napoleon; Elnora married Marvin Hohenbrink, Holgate; Luella married Ray Ohlrich, Hamler; and Harold Junge, Deshler. Martin lived only four months. Carl is deceased.

Anna, born on January 23, 1906, went to Fort Wayne, Indiana, graduated from International Business College, and was employed in Fort Wayne for years as a bookkeeper and secretary in the lumber, real estate and insurance fields. On August 16, 1940, she married Albert M. Cahill who worked for newspapers, and was State editor of the Fort Wayne News Sentinel for several years before retiring. They also farmed for a number of years, while both worked in Fort Wayne, raised registered Hereford cattle.

Martha married Rudolph Schwiebert on October 1, 1940 and died six weeks later of multiple sclerosis. She was born in 1912 and died in 1940.

When Wilhelm and Elizabeth married none of their land was cleared and they had to cut a tree down to get some of the furniture into their house. Elizabeth had been given a cow as a wedding present. They had no fences and she would go into the woods, following the sound of the bell, to find and milk the cow. The farm was ditched by hand after the land was cleared for growing crops. tggs were put in baskets of oats to prevent breakage when taken to Hamler for sale. Groceries were ordered, at times, from catalogues, or frequently, bought from a huckster. Father Wilhelm, when taking grain to the elevator in the winter, would bring back a quart of oysters. That was quite a treat when fixed as oyster stew.

At first, in the Hamler area, neighbors got together at fiven times and drove livestock to a railroad car which had been spotted on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad siding. As time progressed, Wilhelm and the other children of Heinrich had windmills to pump water to the house and barn,

Delco plants for lights, and finally electricity through the R.E.M.C. in the early 1930's. Then social activities for those German settlers and their children were few and mostly limited to church. This group were Lutheran. Wilhelm bought his first automobile, a Model T Ford, in 1914.

Herman, 1872-1950, the third son of Heinrich and Sophia, and Maria Bockelman, were married on April 20, 1897. They lived on a farm in Freedom Township until their son, Carl, married in 1929 and moved on the farm. Then Herman and Maria moved across the road. Herman and Maria had two children. Laura married Henry C. Borstelman. They had four children: Ester, Ruth, Raymond and Victor.

Herman and Maria's second child, Carl Stockmann, married Edna Meyer on May 19, 1929. Their children are Richard C. Stockmann, in the vault business at Ridgeville Corners, Ohio; and Robert Stockmann. Richard has three children, Mark, Brent and Gwen. Carl's son, Robert is regional civic planner for the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Minnie, the fourth child of Heinrich and Sophia Stockmann, was born on March 23, 1876 and lived with her father and mother until she died on December 25, 1928.

Henry Stockmann, Jr., 1879-1959, was the youngest son of Heinrich and Sophia. He married Emma Dannenberg, 1904-1975. They had one son, Paul, 1907-1964. Paul married the late Denelda Badenhop, 1908-1977, on June 15, 1930.

Living on the original home place of Heinrich and Sophia, Paul was one of the most progressive farmers in his area. He was one of the original directors of the Henry County Soil and Water Conservation District Board, and later, was elected president of the Ohio State Board of Soil and Water Conservation Districts. He, at one time, was president of the Napoleon Grain and Stock Company, president of the Henry County Farm Bureau, a former director of the Okolona Light Company, and served as a 4-H club advisor for fourteen years.

Paul established a thirty cow dairy herd, and Paul Jr. has continued the herd, doubling it, and increasing his holdings of land and buildings.

Paul Stockmann, Jr. was born on January 20, 1932 and married Anna Lange on December 28, 1952. Their children are Denise, Phyllis and William.

Paul and Denelda Badenhop Stockman also had a daughter, Irene, who was born on October 6, 1934. She married Victor Norden on June 2, 1957. They have four children, Gwen, Kenneth, Beth and Tony.

There are over fifty children and grandchildren, descendants of the quick-to-learn, energetic boy who came at the age of eight years from Germany to a new and promising land when Henry County had less than twenty-five hundred population and was mostly wilderness. Heinrich Stockmann died on April 24, 1915 and Sophia, his wife, died on May 30, 1930.

Submitted by: Anna Stockmann Cahill