Samuel Van Pelt
The farming profession has been revolutionized within the last fifty years, and the farmer of today knows few of the disadvantages which surrounded the pioneer farmers of Ohio. Scores of inventions have been put on the market which enable the farmer to lead a life of ease as compared with the arduous labors which his father had to undergo. The result is that an ever-increasing number of our best young men are remaining on the farm in preference to seeking their fortunes in the city. Ohio is known throughout the length and breadth of this country as one of the best agricultural states of the Union, and Fayette county ranks with the best farming sections of the state.
Samuel Van Pelt, a prosperous farmer of Paint township. was born May 28, 1848, in Highland county, Ohio, and is a son of Ellis and Nancy (Holliday) Van Pelt. Ellis Van Pelt was a son of Isaac and Sarah Van Pelt, while Isaac Van Pelt was the son of Jacob and Sarah (Ryan) Van Pelt. The father of Jacob Van Pelt came from the Netherlands and landed in New York, later settling in Loudoun county, Virginia, where Jacob was born. The Van Pelts went from Virginia to Pennsylvania, and Isaac Van Pelt was born in the latter state, later settling in Belmont county, Ohio, where Ellis, the father of Samuel, was born. Ellis Van Pelt came from Belmont county, Ohio, to Fayette county in 1860, and settled in Paint township. Ellis Van Pelt and wife were the parents of nine children, Sarah, John, Samuel, Amos, Mary Jane, Joseph, Elizabeth, Charles and Hettie. All of these children are deceased except Samuel, Joseph, Hettie and John.
Samuel Van Pelt received part of his education in Highland county and, since he was only twelve years of age when his parents moved to Fayttte county, he completed his education in this county. After finishing the course in the Bloomingburg schools, he attended the Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, for one year, and then went to Bloomington, Illinois, where he was in school for a time. After leaving college he returned to Fayette county and began farming with his father. LIpon his marriage, in 1872, he moved to his present farm of fifty-five acres in Paint township, where he has since resided.
Mr. Van Pelt was married on September 4, 1872. to Amanda Morris, ihe daughter of Samuel and Phoebe (Groves) Morris, and to this union were born five children, Stella. Lula (died in infancy). Verna. Zeda and Ethel. Stella, who died in January, 1906, was the wife of Joseph Allemeng and left two children, Bernice and Mary; Verna is the wife of Dr. A. R. Core and has one daughter, Ercell; Zeda married David Whiteside and has one son, Robert; Ethel is the wife of Alva Skinner and has one daughter, Aileen.
Mr. Van Pelt is a Republican in politics and has always been interested in local affairs. He was a trustee in his township for several years and has been a member of the school board for the past thirty-two years, having held this position longer than any man in the township. He and his family are loyal members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in whose welfare they take a deep interest and to whose support they are liberal contributors.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)