Philip Maurer
Philip Maurer was born in Germany in the year 1828. He came with his parents to this county in 1833. They first stopped for a short time at Hamilton, Ohio. While located here, his father. Philip J. Maurer, purchased about 1000 acres of land in one body, being partly in this and Auglaize counties. He then brought his family to New Bremen, and left them there while he and his sons erected a cabin on his land. This was the year of the “Cholera epidemic” in New Bremen, which proved fatal to the lives of a number of the citizens of that new village. Mr. Maurer fell a victim to this disease before he moved on to his land. He died November, 1833. The widow, with the family, moved on to the land that same fall. They were among the very first settlers in the township.
The subject of this sketch was only five years of age at this time. He never had the advantage of an English education, only receiving about five months of English schooling in his life. In 1852 he married Miss Doretta Young, who was born in Germany in 1826, and came to the United States in 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Maurer have raised a family of eight children, whose names are as follows: Charles, Elizabeth, Adam, Jacob, Doretta, August, Carolina, and Lewis. Mr. Maurer inherited 137 acres of his father’s farm. To this he has added until he now has 360 acres of well improved land, with good buildings, and is one of the leading farmers in the township. He has filled the office of Township Treasurer nineteen years in succession.
From History of Shelby County, Ohio; R. Sutton & Co, Philadelphia PA, 1883