George Engel
This enterprising German citizen is one of the leading nursery-men of Southern Ohio, dealing in all kinds of nursery stock, a business which he has prosecuted successfully since the spring of 1878. That year he came to Xenia from Louisville, Ky., and purchased the greenhouse of T. G. Wilson, in the western part of the city. From a modest beginning he has steadily progressed until he is not only well-to-do financially, but has attained an enviable reputation in connection with his business.
The first twenty-five years of Mr. Engel’s life were spent on the other side of the Atlantic in the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, where his birth took place December 25, 1848. He was reared to the business of a florist, which his father before him had followed successfully. He remained under the paternal roof during his boyhood and in accordance with the laws and customs of his native country, was placed in school when a lad of six years and pursued his studies quite steadily until fourteen. He was trained to habits of industry and economy and these, added to the natural traits which he had inherited from a substantial ancestry, provided him with the surest capital by which to attain success in life.
In 1873 Mr. Engel leaving his native land embarked on a vessel at Bremen and sailed to the West Indies. In the fall of 1874 he determined to seek the United States. Landing in Brooklyn he sojourned there two years where he was employed in a greenhouse and then going to Louisville, Ky., he sojourned there about eighteen months. His next removal was to Xenia of which he has since been a resident.
During his sojourn in his native land Mr. Engel served a year and a half in the Hessian Army, participating in the Franco-Prussian War. He served under Gen. Mantofel and met the enemy in several hard-fought battles. His bravery and fidelity to duty were such as to secure him the respect of his comrades and the approval of his superiors, and at the close of the conflict he was given an honorable discharge—a trophy which he still preserves with care. In the 1881 he identified himself with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Xenia, with which he is still connected. He is also a Knight of Pythias and a Knight of Honor and belongs to the order of Red Men, and is a sound Republican.
From Portrait and Biographical Album of Clark and Greene Counties, Chapman Bros., Chicago, published 1890