Leo Andrew and Emma Cecelia (Stine) Werling

Leo Andrew Werling was born in Seneca County, Ohio, on January 31, 1879. Born and raised in Seneca County, he is the third youngest of Martin Nicholas Werling and Sarah Ann Lonsway's twelve children.

Emma Cecelia Stine was born in the Rising Sun, Wood County, Ohio, on November 4, 1868. She was the seventh of John and Elizabeth (Krauft) Stine's ten children.

While working as a farmhand for Emma's brother, William, Leo got to know Emma. On Tuesday, February 17, 1903, Leo and Emma tied the knot at St. Joseph's Church in Tiffin, Ohio. Together, they reared three boys and one daughter — Vincent Ignatious, James Louis, Cletice Leona, and Martin Leo. Leo cultivated his own acreage near Hopewell. 

Leo was employed during the Great Depression as a night watchman at the Great Western Pottery Company. Leo died on October 22, 1959, in Tiffin, Ohio, at the age of 80, and interned at St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Emma died of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 28, 1944 and buried alongside Leo.

Louis Broussard dit Langevin (Lonsway)

Louis Lonsway was the youngest son of Jean Baptiste Broussard dit Langevin and Marie Thérèse Durand dit Chartier.

In 1844, Louis followed his older brothers, Joseph and Peter, in leaving his childhood home in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, Canada and settling in Ohio, becoming a pioneer of Seneca County. The three brothers worked together in obtaining a timber contract in building and maintaining the railroad for the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad. In 1846, the first train traveled from Sandusky to Kenton. After their eight-year contract ended, Louis moved to Wyandot County for a while then settled on a homestead in Hopewell Township where he lived his remaining days farming. The 1874 land owners map for Hopewell Township lists Louis as a farmer and school director.

Louis married Victoria Cecelia Julien on 2 Feb 1847 at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church (Tiffin, Seneca, Ohio). Victoria is the daughter of John and Eva [Miller] Julien. Together Louis and Victoria raised nine children (5 boys, 4 girls) - Elenora, Frances, Sarah, Sylvester Bertram, Lewis Vincent, Mary Sophronia, Adolph, John Roman, and Albert.

At the age of 70 years old, Louis died of a stroke on March 8, 1893. Victoria died of heart disease on December 14, 1896 at the age of 67. Victoria’s obituary states that she was the first white baby born in Seneca County.

Interesting family fact: Louis' older brother, Joseph Narcisse, married Sarah Ann Julien, who was the older sister of Victoria. The Lonsway brothers had married Julien sisters.

Homer Byron Myler

Homer Byron Myler was born on April 18, 1855, in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was the third of eight children to parents Samuel and Sarah Ann [Cleland] Myler. In 1859, Samuel moved his family to Jefferson County, Ohio, where they settled in Warren Township. Homer's father, Samuel, was a farmer, a skilled woodturner, and the sexton of Spring Grove Cemetery in East Liverpool, Columbiana County, Ohio.

At the age of 22 years old, Homer married 17-year-old Mary Aditha Bucey on March 23, 1878, in Jefferson County, Ohio. Together, they raised eleven children (6 boys, 5 girls) in East Liverpool. Homer was a farmer, worked as a sexton of Spring Grove Cemetery, as well as a kiln fireman for various pottery factories. Homer’s youngest brother, Ulysses Simpson Grant, was a potter for Homer Laughlin (renamed Fiestaware).

In 1910, upon the death of his daughter, Sarah Lowessa, Homer welcomed his son-in-law, Louis Earl Lonsway, and little granddaughters, Ruth Lillian (1904-1992) and Marian Elizabeth (1905-1976), into his home. Shortly after, Louis Earl contracted tuberculosis, and the family moved to Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, to be near the best tuberculosis hospital of its time, Boehne Camp Hospital. Louis Earl succumbed to this disease five years later. Homer and Sarah Ann continued to raise their granddaughters in Evansville. Homer worked as a kiln fireman at the National Pottery Factory in Evansville.

Ida Barbara Haefling

On October 6, 1875, Ida Barbara Haefling was born into the family of Adam and Agnes Barbara [Kuhn] Haefling. Out of her eight siblings, she was the youngest. Ida was born and raised in Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio. Agnes, Ida's mother, was born in the Bas-Rhin region of France in 1830. Adam, her father, was born in January 10, 1823, in Bavaria. Before relocating to Tiffin in 1839, they initially made their home in Pennsylvania. Adam was a prosperous miner during the California gold rush, according to her father's obituary. He possessed 160 acres in the township of Hopewell.

As an adult, Ida lived with her brothers, Francis "Frank" and Jacob Alphorus, and handled domestic chores. In addition to farming, Frank worked as a machinist for Hanson Clutch & Machine Co., a company that manufactured excavators, and Jacob was a butcher. Despite never getting married, the three siblings played a crucial role in raising their nieces and nephews.

After their oldest sister Clara [Haefling] Lonsway passed away, Ida and her brothers took in Everett and Louis Lonsway, their nephews, into their home. Sylvester Bertram Lonsway, their brother-in-law, remarried and relocated to Colorado in the interim.

Ruth and Marian Lonsway, their adolescent grand-nieces, were welcomed into their house following the passing of their parents, Louis Lonsway and his wife Lowessa.

Martin Nicholas Werling

Nicholas and Susan [Mendels] Werling welcomed their baby boy Martin Nicholas Werling into the world on September 28, 1832. When he was five years old, the family relocated to Seneca County from Bethel, Stark County, Ohio, where he was born. In 1831, Martin’s parents and two older brothers emigrated from Belgium.  He was the first American-born sibling. 

Martin and an older brother decided to join their neighbors, the Reinhard brothers, and try their luck at seeking gold after learning about the California Gold Rush. "Seneca County, Ohio History and Families" states that the four men first went to New York, then circumnavigated the tip of South America by sailboat, and finally set up camp at Hangtown (Placerville), California. They stated that chickens were selling for $50 and eggs for $5 a dozen. Only bartenders with a lot of skill were hired since the cost of a drink at a bar was a pinch of gold dust from the prospector's poke. After four years, they walked over the Panamanian isthmus to the Atlantic side, where they boarded a ferry to New York and then Ohio, and returned home in January 1856. "Martin possessed 173 acres at the time of the book and had the resources to start a life in the California mines," according to the "History of Seneca County, Ohio" (1886). 

On September 10, 1861, Martin wed Mary Ann Lonsway in Seneca County, Ohio. Joseph and Sarah Ann [Julien] Lonsway welcomed Mary into the world on May 14, 1843, in Seneca County. Amelia, Joseph Anthony, Sarah Ann, Emma Elizabeth, Rose Ann, Susan K., Lewis Sylvester, Leander Martin, George Edward, Leo Andrew, and Mary M. were the eleven children raised by Martin and Mary Ann. The 1874 land owners map lists Martin as a farmer as well as a grain and stock raiser.

His father, Nicholas, moved in with his son, Martin, after his mother passed away in the 1873. Nicholas lived there until his death in 1881. Martin and Mary Ann Werling are interred at the cemetery of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Tiffin, Ohio, where the Werling's were members. 

Marian Elizabeth (Lonsway) Werling

Marian Elizabeth Lonsway was the youngest of two daughters born to Louis Earl Lonsway and Sarah Lowessa Myler. When Marian was 5 years old, her mother, Lowessa, died at the young age of 26 due to neuralgia of the heart. Shortly after her mother’s death, her father, Louis, died from tuberculosis at 32 years old. Orphaned at nine years old, Marian and her older sister, Ruth Lillian, were raised in Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, by their maternal grandparents. In 1920, Ruth moved to Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio, and stayed with her paternal Grand Aunt Ida Haefling, where she finished her senior year at Columbian High School. Her sister, Marian, soon followed her sister.
 
Leo and Emma [Stine] Werling lived next to Aunt Ida. Their oldest son, Vincent Ignatious Werling, soon began dating the girl next door. Vincent and Marian were married on January 21, 1924 by the circuit court in Monroe, Monroe County, Michigan. The couple made their first home in Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana. Their son, Richard Victor, was born on August 10, 1924, and  their son, Vincent Leo, was born on December 5, 1925.  The family stayed in Kokomo until 1934, when the family moved back to Tiffin to raise their sons near their family.

Ruth Lillian (Lonsway) Bowser

When Ruth Lillian Lonsway was born on January 2, 1904, in Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio, her father, Louis, was 21, and her mother, Sarah, was 19.  Ruth was the oldest of two daughters.

Ruth was raised by her maternal grandparents in Evansville, Indiana, after becoming an orphan at the age of eleven. She later returned to Tiffin and stayed with her great-grand aunt, Ida Haefling. She completed high school graduating from Columbian High School in 1921.

Ruth was a teacher at the Junior Order United American Mechanics National Home (Tiffin).  “Jr. O.U.A.M.” is a fraternal order that originally began as a youth affiliation of the Order of United American Mechanics. Originally, an anti-Catholic, nativist group, the home was an orphanage for children of deceased members.

She married her high school sweetheart, Myron Egbert "Mike" Mann on May 29, 1926, in Seneca, Ohio. Mike graduated from Heidelberg College (Tiffin) and worked as a clerk for Ohio Bell. He died of influenza on February 1, 1928 at 24. Shortly after her husband’s death, Ruth moved to Cleveland and worked as a teacher at the Rosedale and Broadway Schools. Ruth's teaching abilities carried over outside of the classroom, as she frequently corrected the grammar on her little nieces and nephews thank-you notes then returned them. 

Ruth met and married Louis Frederick Bowser on April 18, 1936, in Chicago, Illinois and then settled in Glen Ellyn, DuPage County, Illinois. He was a member of one of Lafayette Indiana's best known families. Louis graduated from Purdue University (Alpha Tau Omega fraternity). He was a Director and co-founder of Wallfill Company of Chicago, Illinois. Nieces and nephews remember being forced to listen to Uncle Lou’s recordings of bird sounds and rolling their eyes at every vinyl record that was taken from the shelf. 

Louis died on December 12, 1976 at the age of 85. Ruth died on February 19, 1992, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, at the age of 88.