Martin A. Oster
Martin A. Oster, who has been engaged in the hardware and implement business at Yellow Springs for many years, is a son of Adam and Emma (Fleckenstein) Oster, and was born on a farm near Xenia on February 23, 1864.
Adam Oster also was born in this county, his birth having occurred in 1834 at Byron. After reaching manhood he took up farming, which occupation he followed all his life. In 1861 he married Emma Fleckenstein, who was a native of Germany and who had come to this county as a child with her parents To this union were born four children, Martin A., the immediate subject of this review; John, who is engaged in the grocery business in Yellow Springs; George, a resident of Dayton, where he is engaged in the cafe business and Anna, who died in infancy. At the age of twenty-six years, Adam Oster settled on a farm near Xenia, where he remained for three years, after which he moved to a farm about four miles west of Yellow Springs, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in 1884. His wife's death occurred in the previous year.
Martin A. Oster was only one year old at the time his parents moved from the farm near Xenia to the home place west of Yellow Springs, and he was reared to the life of a farmer. After living on the farm for some years after his marriage, he decided to engage in the hardware and implement business, and on November 5, 1899, moved to Yellow Springs, where he opened up a store in this line on Dayton street, and has been continuouslv thus engaged since that time.
On August 17, 1886, Martin A. Oster was united in marriage with Anna Hornick, a native of this county, daughter of Sebastian H. and Elizabeth Hornick, and to this union have been born six children: Edward, unmarried, living in Yellow Springs; Emma, who died in infancy; Mamie, a teacher in the public schools at Yellow Springs; Lena, living at home with her parents; Tresia, who teaches in the county schools, and Paul, who is a student in the public school. The family are members of the Catholic church. Mr. Oster holds membership with Eagle Lodge No. 397, at Springfield. In politics, he is independent.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918