My Genealogy Hound

SAMUEL HUFFMAN. That well-known establishment, the Palace Livery Stable, located at No. 173 West Main Street, Springfield, is an institution largely patronized by the leading residents of the city and is acknowledged to be first class in every respect. The proprietor with whose name we introduce this sketch, is a wide-awake business man with a thorough understanding of his calling, and whose promptness in meeting his obligations and courteous treatment of his customers, has built up for him a large patronage which is steadily increasing.

Mr. Huffman was born July 26, 1832, at the country home of his parents in Bethel Township, five miles west of Springfield, and is the tenth child of Jacob and Catherine (Farmwood) Huffman, natives of Virginia. Jacob Huffman came wim his parents to Clark County, this State, in 1802, the same year that Ohio was admitted into the Union as a State. He entered a tract of Government land, the patent of which is still carefully preserved in the Huffman family.

The paternal grandfather of our subject was Henry Huffman, a native of Germany, who upon coming to America, engaged in farming and spent his last years in Bethel Township, Clark County, this State. The maternal ancestry of Mr. Huffman was also of German origin. Jacob Huffman, his father, was reared to farm pursuits and learned the trade of a stone mason, becoming skilled in his calling and laid the foundations of many of the houses and barns in Clark County. He built for himself a substantial stone residence, the stone being dressed for the interior and requiring no plastering. The partitions were also of stone and the whole formed a very solid structure, capable of withstanding the storms of a century. The first dwelling of the parents of our subject was a hewed log house, one of the best in the county, and within which the greater part of their large family of ten children were born. These comprise six sons and four daughters, all of whom lived to mature years but of whom there are now only four living, two sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Henry, died at the advanced age of eighty-five years; Samuel, our subject, was the youngest born.

Mr. Huffman pursued his early studies in a log school house in what was familiarly known as the Keifer district and at an early age was taught to make himself useful around the farm. He was but thirteen years old at the time of his father’s death, and he remained with his mother until his marriage. This interesting and important event occurred March 17, 1854, the bride being Miss Margaret Helfrick. Mrs. Huffman was born in 1835, in this county, and is a daughter of Michael and Barbary Helfrick, who were of German birth and parentage and emigrated from the Fatherland at an early day. They settled in this county and spent their last days here.

Mr. and Mrs. Huffman after their marriage located in Springfield Township where Mr. Huffman occupied himself at milling, operating the Rock Point Mills on Mad River, about six years. Later he assumed charge of the Tecumseh Mills in Mad River Township with which he was connected seven years. He next returned to Rock Point Mills which he operated two years more and upon leaving these he removed to the site of the Perue Mills. Later he built and operated the same mill and finally assumed the sole proprietorship, continuing to operate this mill for about seven years. Then selling out, he removed to Springfield and invested a portion of his capital in a stock of hardware. He was in trade two years and then established himself in the grocery business at Springfield. We next find him dealing in coal and lumber and from this he drifted into the livery business, becoming owner of a lot of fine stock and equipages.

Mrs. Margaret Huffman departed this life at her home in Rock Point Mills in 1863, leaving three children, two daughters and a son. Catherine is the wife of William Stickney, of Springfield Township; Effie is the wife of Forrest Zircle, and they reside in Springfield; Stephen J. operates a meat market in Springfield. In 1865, Mr. Huffman contracted a second marriage with Barbara Hertzler, who was then a resident of Bethel Township, but who was born in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1832. Her father, Daniel Hertzler, was a prominent farmer, miller and distiller of Clark County, this State, and is now dead (was murdered in 1867). Of this union there have been born three children, the eldest of whom, a daughter, Mattie, is the wife of H. C. Story, of Springfield; Daniel H. is the chief assistant of his father in the livery business; Harry M. also makes himself useful in a like manner. The family residence is a substantial brick structure, pleasantly located on West Main Street. Mrs. Huffman is the owner of a good farm in Springfield Township, one and one-half miles west of the city. Mr. Huffman, politically, supports the Democratic party and socially, belongs to Clark Lodge, No. 101, F. & A.M; Springfield Chapter, No. 48, R.A.M. and Lodge, No. 146, I. O. O. F. He has become well-to-do by his own energy and industry, and has been no unimportant factor in advancing the business interests of his adopted city.