One Township's Yesterdays Chapter XXIX  

BEHMER

The name of BEHMER has long been a familiar one in this part of the country, and for eighty years the family has been prominent in the affairs of Marshall County. It was in 1855 that the family emigrated out hero from Ohio.

DANIEL G. BEHMER, a son of HENRY and MARY BEHMER, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1831. In ms boyhood he carne [came] with his parents to Akron, Ohio, and in 1855 came oil to Indiana, settling in Marshall County, where he resided until his death, for a period of nearly fifty years. He came first to Plymouth.

Daniel in early manhood united with the Reformed Church, and subsequently became connected with the United Brethren Church.

After he had become a resident of this county, DANIEL BEHMER was married to MARY JANE PLATT, daughter of JOHN and ELIZABETH PLATT. She had come from the same locality in Pennsylvania that he had. She was born near Lancaster in 1832. When she was a child, her parents moved to Summit County, Ohio. About 1848, she came with her parents to Marshall County, where they settled on a tract of land in West Township, not far from the Union Township line. This land is now a part of the NORMAN BEATTY farm. That was in the far southern part of West Township; in fact the land of J. S. PLATT, consisting of 159 acres, extended dawn to the Union Township line. J. S. PLATT also had land in Union Township near his West Township farm. Here he owned forty acres, crossed by the old Hibbard road where it angled in a northeast direction to pass over the Yellow River by bridge on its way to Twin Lakes. In Union Township, he also owned a long, narrow strip of land, stretching south from the township line to the Behmer Road. This land was on both sides of the Yellow River, a bit west of the forty crossed by the Hibbard Road. J. S. PLATT had still another forty, located on the south side of the Behmer Road, east and nearly to the Green Township line.

DANIEL BEHMER and MARY JANE PLATT were married in 1856, and in 1862 they bought, from the Wabash and Erie Canal Company, 160 acres in the north of Union Township on the Behmer Road. This tract and the surrounding land were then covered with primeval forest. The roads were but trails. The homestead farm has remained in the BEHMER family ever since. The greater part of it is now owned and occupied by HAROLD E. BEHMER, a grandson. A map shows the BEHMER lands in the 'seventies to consist of 92 acres in the name of D. G. BEHMER on the south side of the Behmer Road, just down the highway a piece to the east of the Platt forty on the north side of the road.

These three were then of very advanced age, all of them older than Daniel. They were living at the time near Akron, Ohio.

Of the eight children of DANIEL and MARY JANE BEHMER, four died in infancy. Surviving the father were MARY A. OVERMYER of Culver; ESTELLA J. ALBERT of Hibbard; John F. of Hibbard; and Clarence D. of Culver. Prior to his death, Mr. and Mrs. BEHMER had been married forty-eight years. Her death. occurred June 19, 1916. She was eighty-four.

The children who are now living in the township are

C. D. BEHMER, in Culver
ESTELLA J. ALBERT, on a part of the homestead
Mary A., wife of BEN OVERMYER, north of Culver on Road 17
J. F. BEHMER, on a farm adjoining the homestead.

DANIEL G. BEHMER died November 8, 1903, at the age of seventy-two, and was laid to rest in McElrath Cemetery. His last and fatal illness began in July, 1902. He was one of seven children [ of HENRY and MARY BEHMER, three of whom survived him:

John
Henry
Mary