Emanuel Westenhaver
Emanuel Westenhaver is a representative of the old pioneer stock of Pickaway County, and for many years he has held an important position among its farmers as the proprietor of one of the large and well-ordered farms of Walnut Township, located on section 12. Our subject was born in Circleville, in one of its early pioneer homes, September 16, 1824. His parents were Jacob and Rebecca (Miller) Westenhaver, who were natives of Virginia and both of German extraction. In the early years of the settlement of Pickaway County, they came hither, at the same time that the Hedges family came, and located at Circleville, which was then in its infancy and had but few inhabitants, and there Mr. Westenhaver engaged at his trade as a cabinet-maker. His wife's father had settled in the woods in the northern portion of Walnut Township, and here came Mr. Westenhaver with his family in 1832, and also took up his abode in the forests, where he died in the year 1846, a most worthy man and an honored pioneer. His wife died in Fairfield County at a ripe age. They were the parents of eight children, of whom our subject and his sister Frances, wife of Absalom Ashbrook, of Kansas, are the sole survivors. The names of the deceased are Nancy, Peter, Elizabeth, Susan, Joseph and Sophronia, respectively.
The subject of this life record was a boy of eight years when his parents came to Walnut Township to live. He grew up to a vigorous manhood, experiencing all the vicissitudes, trials and privations of pioneer life, as well as its compensations, and he early became inured to the hard labor necessitated by their environments. When a boy, he attended school in a log cabin that was rudely furnished with slab seats, and the only desks were boards resting on pegs driven into the walls. He has always followed agricultural pursuits and has a farm of four hundred acres that compares favorably with the best in Walnut Township in regard to tillage, drainage and substantial improvements. He is an example of our self-made men, persistent industry, forethought and sensible methods of carrying on his work contributing to his prosperity and giving him high financial standing in the community where he has dwelt as boy and man for sixty years, and he is known by all the people, who hold him in the utmost respect. In his social relations, he is a member of the Masonic order.
Mr. Westenhaver has been twice married. His first marriage, which took place in 1845, was with Miss Caroline Doan, who bore him a number of children, of whom three survive: Frances, wife of Simon Miller; Lorette, wife of John Clements, and Addie, wife of Josephus Oman. Our subject's second marriage with Miss Sarah Courtright has brought him two children, Jesse and Annie. His present wife is a sister of John and Judge Samuel Courtright, of whom biographies appear in this volume.
From PORTRAIT & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF FAYETTE, PICKAWAY AND MADISON COUNTIES, OHIO - Chapman Bros. [Chicago, 1892]