Alexander Shenk
Alexander Shenk, president of the National Bank of Delphos, was born in Prussia, July 19,1842, and is a son of Martin and Christine (Kern) Shenk.
The parents of Mr. Shenk were also natives of Prussia. The father carried on a mercantile business in Prussia, and was a tailor by trade. He was the father of five sons, all of whom, when reaching the proper age, were subject to military duty if they remained under the home government. Mr. Shenk decided to avoid, if possible, the expense and what he felt was a great loss of time to his boys, in giving three years of their young lives to the army, and in October, 1853, he emigrated with his family to America.
The first stage of the long journey brought them to Paris, thence they traveled to Havre, where the party was obliged to wait a month before securing a passage. Finally accommodations were secured on a vessel, and after a voyage of 42 days they were safely landed in New York City in January, 1854. The destination of the family was the settlement at Ottville, Putnam County, Ohio, six miles from Delphos, where a number of their old friends, formerly from Prussia, had already established themselves. The winter of 1853-54 was one of the unusual severity, and Martin Shenk was compelled to locate temporarily at Williamsburg, New York, where the family remained for six months. In September, 1854, Mr. Shenk arrived with his family at Delphos and was so pleased with the prospects of the place that he decided to locate here permanently instead of a Ottville, as originally intended. He secured work as a tailor at Delphos with Frank Byres, with whom he continued for five years, and was later connected with the firm of Lye & Marble, also a tailoring firm, for the same length of time.
A few years after locating at Delphos, Mr. Shenk purchased a small farm of 10 acres which adjoined the corporation, and he lived on it until 1863. The death of his wife occurred in February, 1867, and his own in April, 1872.
Alexander Shenk began his education in Prussia and competed it at Delphos. He was only a boy of 12 years when he began to make his own way in the world, becoming a clerk in the drug-store of J. W. Hunt in Delphos, with whom he remained for seven years. During this time he earned the drug business very thoroughly, and in 1861, with his brother, the late Saffron Shenk, he opened a drug-store in the lower end of Delphos. After a partnership of two years, our subject bought his brother's interest and continued the businesses alone for the next three years, adding to his business by the purchase from Mr. Hunt, of the drug-store in which he had been an apprentice. After the completion of this business deal, he took John Walsh in as partner, and they conducted the two stores, in different parts of the city, for about a year, after which Mr. Shenk disposed of his interest to his former employer, Mr. Hunt. Within four months, however, he was again actively engaged inn the drug business in partnership with Michael Britain, and two years later he bought Mr. Britain's interest and then admitted to partnership his old clerk, George F. Lang. The firm of Shenk & Lang continued until 1880, when the partners sold the business.
The Union Flouring Mills began business at Delphos, in 1873, and for five years the concern was conducted as a stock company; but business misfortunes come upon it, and in the fall of 1879 it was sold at sheriff's sale. Mr. Shenk bid in the property, acting as the agent of what was then the First National Bank, the main creditor of the old company. In the same year Mr. Shenk and another director of the bank were instructed to remodel the property and put in into operation, and as a result, on April, 1, 1880, the mill was started. While acting as one of the committee to look after the mill, Mr. Shenk saw that under good management it might be converted into an excellent paying property, and after selling their drug business, the firm of Shenk & Lang purchased the mill property.
In 1882 the mills were entirely remodeled and a full roller system was put in at a cost of $9,000. A second remodeling took place in 1892, when new and improved machinery was installed, and the mill made modern in every particular. The mills did business under the name of the " Eagle Flouring Mills" and became the most important in the county, having an output of 150 barrels of flour per day. The firm did an extensive business, becoming the largest wheat buyers in Allen and Van Wert counties. Their average annual shipment was over 200, 000 bushels of weat. The partnership continued until 1895, when Mr Shenk sold his interest to Mr. Lang and the business is now conducted by the heirs of the latter, who died some years since.
In 1872 Mr. Shenk became a director in the First National Bank and he continued as such until the expiration of the bank's charter. In 1883 the National Bank of Delphos was organized as a successor to the First National, by the same capitalists and Mr. Shenk continued on the directing board. Upon the death of President Theodore Wrocklage, in 1891, Mr. Shenk was elected as his successor, a posistion he still holds. Ever since coming to Delphos, he has taken an interest in the city's various enterprises and he has given encouragement and assistance to every worthy cause. He has been vice-president of the Delphos Electric Light & Power Company, and from its organization he has been president of the Delphos Building & Loan Association.
Not only in business circles has Mr. Shenk been prominent; in spite of the responsibilities of a personal nature resting upon him, he has found time to respond to the calls of his fellow- citizens and to serve most efficiently in a number of township and county offices. For 12 years he was clerk of Marion Township. For two years he served in the office of township trustee, and at the close of is term was elected township treasurer, an office he held continuously for 10 years, retiring from that office in 1892. In the latter year he was appointed by the Board of County Commissioners a member of the board of trustees of the Allen County Children's Home. He has been equally prominent as a member of a number of civic boards and charitable and benevolent institutions.
In 1863 Mr. Shenk was united in marriage with Elizabeth Wrocklage, who was a daughter of the late Theodore Wrocklage, formerly president of the National Bank of Delphos, and one of the city's leading financers and prominent men.
Mr. Shenk was reared in the Roman Catholic Church, and from boyhood has taken an active part in its various channels of religious work and social life. In 1878 when the building of the present stately structure of the Chuch of St. John the Evangelist was commence, he was a member of the board of trustees and its treasurer, and he had charge of the finances and handled the contracts until completed. Its cost under his careful management was $100,000, a sum he was mainly instrumental in raising.