George Brandt
George Brandt, proprietor of a farm in Beavercreek township, situated on rural mail route No. 7 out of Xenia, is of European birth, a native of Germany, but has been a resident of this county since he was two years of age and in consequence is American to the core, every fiber of his mental and moral being giving loyal and devoted allegiance to the great country that has been so good to him. His parents were of the class somewhat contemptuously looked on in Europe as "peasants" and he was born to that condition of life, a condition from which in his native country he hardly could have hoped to escape, so rigid there are the distinctions of "class." But his father possessed something more than the ordinary ambition of a peasant and when the babies began to enter his home he determined that they should have an opportunity to rise out of the condition to which his family had been tied for generations. He had heard of the wonderful opportunities awaiting industry and perseverance in the great New World beyond the sea and his parents gave him money to bring him over here to see for himself whether the reports he had heard could be true. He found here all that he could have hoped for and a year later sent for his wife and the two children, a little girl and a baby boy, who in good time rejoined him in this country and in 1852 the little German family found domicile in Greene county and it was not long until prosperity began to smile on their efforts. That German peasant who had the courage to break away from the traditions of generations of his downtrodden "class" in due time became the owner of a good farm in this county and he and his wife spent their last days in the midst of comforts and in a freedom of community interest that never could have been theirs in their old home land, ever grateful for the impulse that had promised them to seek a new home and better conditions for their children over on this side. The "baby boy" above referred to grew up naturally amid these new conditions, as much an American in spirit as any, ever profiting by the lessons of frugality that his parents had imparted to him, and with the passing of years has prospered, being now the holder of profitable land interests in Beavercreek township besides numerous investments elsewhere.
Mr. Brandt was born in the German province of Hesse, a grand duchy, February 16, 1850, son of John and Mary (Prysell) Brandt, natives of that same province, as had been their respective families for generations. They were adherents of the Reformed faith and John Brandt was the driver of the local minister's carriage. In 1851 he came to the United States in the hope of finding conditions here favorable to the transplanting of his family to this country and made his way to St. Louis, where he knew of some old-country friends. A year later he sent for his wife and the two children, the little girl Mary and the baby boy, George, and welcomed his family at St. Louis. Six months later, however, having meanwhile heard of the conditions existing among the people of the (German) Reformed congregation in this county, he came with his family to Greene county and found employment on a farm in Beavercreek township. He and his wife had the right idea and from the beginning of their residence in this county began to look forward to owning a home and a farm of their own. Their efforts in this direction were presently rewarded and John Brandt bought a farm of forty-six acres in that township and there established his home, that tract being a part of the considerable farm now owned there by his son George. John Brandt and his wife put in their lot with the members of Mt. Zion Reformed church and reared their children in the faith of that communion. John Brandt died on the farm which he had developed, his death occurring there in 1896, he then being seventy-nine years of age. His wife had preceded him to the grave about four years, her death having occurred in the fall of 1892, she then being eighty years of age. Of the two children born to them the subject of this sketch alone survives, his sister Mary having died on February 11, 1874, at the age of twenty-six years.
As noted above, George Brandt was but two years of age when he was brought to this country and he grew up on the farm in Beavercreek township, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools. In time, as his father grew older, he assumed complete management of the farm, in 1886 building a new house on the place. As his affairs prospered he gradually added to the original acreage of the farm until now he is the owner of two hundred and fifteen acres. In addition to his general farming Mr. Brandt has long given considerable attention to the raising of pure-bred Shorthorn cattle and also has considerable outside investments. By political persuasion he is a Republican, with "independent" leanings on issues of merely local importance.
In March, 1892, George Brandt was united in marriage to Charlotte Ingle, who was born in Beavercreek township, on the Dayton-Xenia pike, daughter of John and Elizabeth Ingle, both now deceased and the former of whom was a carpenter, and to that union two children were born, George and Mary, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Brandt died on December 27, 1914, and Mr. Brandt is thus without a living relative, unless there be some of whom he has no acquaintance in Europe. Since the death of his wife he has continued to maintain his home on the farm, his big house being cared for by a housekeeper, Mrs. Martha Hoffman, and is content there to spend his last days.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918