We bring you today the picture of a German Pioneer, whom everyone who knows him, meets [him] with deference. This is J. Christian Vollmer, Sr., in Washington Township.
He was born on the 17th of June 1827 in Kirchheim in the Kingdom of Wuerttemberg, the eldest son of Mr. & Mrs. Georg and Maria Vollmer, who besides him had three sons and one daughter. One of his brothers, Georg Vollmer, lived earlier in Washington Township in our county; a brother and a sister still reside in the old Fatherland. His father reached the great age of 90 years, while his mother died when she was only 24 years old.
Mr. Vollmer came to the United States in the year 1851 and found employment on a farm in Philadelphia, Pa., at a monthly salary of $5.00. Two years later he settled in Brunswick, Medina county, O. After another two years he caught the gold fever and via New York and Panama he reached the goal of his longing. Four years he worked in the gold-fields of the western Eldorado. A hut with a roof of sailcloth and a door of the same material was his shelter; four posts driven into the ground and covered with boards served as a table. And fleas and other vermin were his constant companions.
In the year 1859 Mr. Vollmer came to Defiance County and purchased for himself with his gold-dust 80 acres of mostly wooded land in Washington township. On the 5th of February 1860 he married Miss Katharine Mayer of Mallett Creek, Medina county, Ohio, who still lives with him on the old homestead. The marriage was blessed with six sons and two daughters. The son Karl, in the year 1894, was called to a better afterlife. The surviving children are Georg, Christian, Ernst, Emanuel, Gottlieb, Maria and Louise; they all live in Washington Township.
Mr. Vollmer has visited the land of his birth three times, namely in 1864, 1879, and 1897. In 1898 he also took an excursion to the states of California and Washington. Two years ago, he leased his 280 acre farm to his two youngest sons and with his life's companion retired from the active life. In the past year, in view of his age, he also gave up his office in the Lutheran Church congregation and the post of Sunday-school superintendent, which he had occupied extremely faithfully for 35 years.
Of him one can justifiably say, that he is a pious and faithful fellow, who ?eventually will enter into his Lord's Joy.
[mother: Dora Cittinger] [death: 04 Jun 1910 Washington, Defiance, Ohio]
Johann George May
An old citizen
Admittedly not a pioneer of Defiance County, but even so a German pioneer of the state of Ohio and by the count of his years, the oldest citizen of our city is Mr. Johann Georg May, whose well-done portrait we present today.
Johann Georg May, by now an over 60 year resident of the state of Ohio, was born on the 1st of January in Windheim in the Kingdom of Bavaria. His younger years must have been full of cares and privation, since even as a child of three years his father and mother died within six months, ?so that from early on he had to look out for himself. But he got himself through well, and immigrated in 1847 as a healthy (hale) and literate man to this country, where he served in the responsible post of (business) manager for ten years in the Sohn's Brewery in Hamilton, O. There on the 25th of February 1855 he married Miss Eva Maria Hartner, who as is well known here preceded him in death not long ago. Four years later the May family moved to Cincinnati, where he was head of his own business until the year 1874. Then they chose Defiance as a home, and since then have resided among us. For many years Mr. May ran a business in mineral- and seltzer-water, but now he has lived for years in retirement, faithfully looked after by his children, who in observance of the commandment: "You shall honor your father and your mother" lack for nothing. until just a few years ago, Mr. May was still hale, but now the infirmities of age have so taken over, that he is ready and willing to pass on.
Of the eleven children, whom Mr. and Mrs. May were blessed with, still living are: Mrs. Hermann Biede in Hammond, Ind.; Mrs. Henry C. Sass in Chicago, Ill.; Miss Barbara May, who keeps house for her aged father; Georg M. May and Karl May, of here.