John Weirich
(A Copy of News Article)

Frank Weirich, of Liberty Center has brought to our office an old account book kept by his father from 1833 on for several years.

Frank's father, John Weirich was- born in Dauphin County, Pa., June 13, 1815 and he died January 29, 1893. He came with his parents to Wayne County in 1823 and was married to Hannah Gramling who was also born in Pennsylvania, Oct. 7, 1823, and who departed this life in 1894. Both were buried in the Mohler cemetery, a mile west of Colton. They moved from Wayne County to Henry County, landing a mile southwest of what is now Colton in 1848, right in the woods and with very few neighbors.

It took all of the people in the township to raise a log house or barn. The Indians had only left a few years before they came. The canal was just finished and the only roads were rude trails through the forests. Mr. Weirich was a millwright by trade and made turbine wheels. He bought the right to make them in a large territory. He held the important office of township trustee almost all of the time since he came to Henry County. He was a staunch Democrat and many of his party belonged to the Knights of the Golden Circle during the Civil war. He thought they did wrong and he would not join them. He was thankful that slavery and wild cat money was done away with and was not a very staunch democrat after the war.

The account book which he left and which is now in the hands of his son Frank, gives quite a true insight into his noble character. When fractions of cents were involved his customers were always given the benefit. His records are absolutely accurate though at times his wording and spelling were quaint. His education was limited, but he made the best of every opportunity.

We notice some odd figures way back in the early fifties, when farm labor was sold at the rate of 50 cents per day and other labor was not much higher. He sold corn in 1851 at 40 cents per bushel, a pound of tobacco at 31 cents, 20 pounds of plaster for 25 cents. Mr. Weirich was a man of all trades and his accounts kept track of his every day. In 1838 he made one "peter Kealy" a tailor table for 50 cents, chopt firewood for 37 ½ cents and 10 tort of wood chopt and a half for 3.31 ¼ (the fraction of cents being carefully put down, but never added into the total bill) and another feature of the accounts in those good old days is that every single one of them were "paid with money" or "settled with him." How fine that would be if the merchants of today could point to such a record. In an account he had with Daniel Weirich we notice the items "twenty-eight feet of boards, 20 cents, eight pountz of nails 56 cents one calf skin $2."

When he did carpenter work his wage charge was a dollar a day. He sold 56 feet of boards to one James Ball for 56 cents. In 1858 he sold "flower" at $4.25 per barrel and 19 ½ pounds of meat for $1.75, 29 pounds of buckwheat flour at 58 cents, and 1 ½ bushel of tators for 31 cents.

And so on there are hundreds of very interesting items in the old account book which sometimes makes me think that those were the happy days, but as the old hack goes "them days are gone forever."

Frank Weirich fought in the Civil War (1861-1865) for seven months. He received an honorable discharge at New Orleans, Louisiana. He was married to Mahala Waggoner and to this union were born nine children, six girls and three boys. Frederick R. Weirich, the youngest of the family is the only survivor of this generation. Frank was on the jury in the year 1884 for the trial of Wesley Johnson, accused of killing Mr. and Mrs. George Williams at their country home in Freedom Township. He was finally hung. Mr. Weirich saw the hanging of this man on the courthouse lawn. He relates that Mr. Johnson thought Mr. and Mrs. Williams had money. He caught Mr. Williams in the barn and hit him over the head with an axe. He then went into the house and killed Mrs. Williams. He didn't have the heart to kill their eight month old baby so he covered it with a feather quilt. The baby wasn't found for two days. Mrs. Waite, mother of Mrs. Williams, had the baby in court one of the mornings of the trial.

Frederick R. Weirich is a retired bridge foreman of the Wabash RR, retiring in 1952, now residing in Texas, Ohio, along the banks of the Maumee River. He married Alice McKee on Oct. 30, 1906. They had six children, five girls and one boy; one daughter passed away in 1955. The rest are all residents of Henry County as well as eight lovely grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren, with the excep tion of Frederick Henry Germann. He and his wife reside in Dearborn, Mich., where he is a civil engineer for the city of Dearborn.

Mr. Weirich is 89 years old and relates of the many changes in his life span. His brother James (dec.), Colton, Ohio, was on the Republican committee and also Washington Township Trustee for many years. He spent a great deal of time at the courthouse and was an ardent worker for his party. Hugh Weirich, son of Fred, lives on the farm in Washington Township which belonged to Mr. Weirich. He has two sons and four grandsons to continue the Weirich name and so it goes from generation to generation.

Submitted by the Family