John Henry Steinmann
John Henry Steinmann, one of the pioneers of Jackson township, was born in Haldorff, Oldenburg, Ger., Oct. 28, 1808, and came to America in 1832. From Baltimore he came to Cincinnati, but after a short time he left for the South, where he spent about two years. He married Catharine G. Meyers in 1835, and about a year later moved to his pioneer home, three miles west of Minster, then Stallostown. There were then no roads, and travel was performed by the aid of blazed trees as guides through the forest. He occupied this first farm about two years, when he purchased land near Minster, where he built a new home. Here he was elected justice of the peace, which office he held with little interruption until the date of his death. After 1831 he engaged in trade and the manufacture of brick. Again he engaged at different periods in the mercantile trade, real estate operations, cooperage, and grain dealing. His first business was small, but attended by success; he was enabled to enlarge his operations as the increasing demands of the new community would dictate. About 1850 he built a brick dwelling, store, and warehouse, and commenced the shipment of all kinds of produce, and at the same time commenced the pork-packing business. He has reared a family of five children, four sons and one daughter, named John H., Theo. B., Frank J., Charles, and Mary—all married and settled in or near Minster. Mr. S. died Jan. 15, 1871, and Mrs. S. May 23, 1872, both having reached an advanced age, and won the respect of a community which remembers them as worthy pioneers.
From History of Auglaize County, Ohio, with the Indian History of Wapakoneta, and the First Settlement of the County, Robert Sutton, Publishers, Wapakoneta, 1880