This post was contributed to the Crawford County Chapter of OGS by Kristina Stearley as part of the Florence Siefert Scrapbook in 2010.
The scrapbook is compiled from undated, unidentified newspaper clippings involving events in the lives of Crawford County citizens living in or having connections to New Washington, Tiro, Shelby, Sulphur Springs, Chatfield, Bucyrus, Ashland, Mansfield, and other areas. Only minimal spelling or punctuation corrections were made. Unreadable areas are shown by underlines, dots &/or question marks. This collection has been scanned, “optical character recognized” (OCR’d), proofed, then coded for HTML by volunteers of the Crawford County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society. Since the copies are not of the best quality errors may have been made. Please contact us if you find corrections needing to be made or can verify any missing dates which could be added.
AT MORNING’S DAWN
The Spirit of William Donnenwirth Passes to the Great Unknown.
After weeks of suffering and a most heroic struggle against the inevitable, William Donnenwirth ceased to breathe at ten minutes after five o’clock Sunday morning. For ten days prior to his death he had been lying in a semi-comatose condition, only arousing from his lethargy at rare intervals to take a little nourishment and give a glance of recognition to those around him, and immediately relapsing into unconsciousness. His age was 57 years, 11 months and 5 days. The funeral took place Tuesday morning at ten o’clock from his late home, No. 610 East Mansfield street. The remains were taken to the German Lutheran church of Good Hope, where sermons in both German and English were preached by Rev. Koepplin, of Sulphur Springs, and the remains were then laid in their final home in Oakwood cemetery.
William Donnenwirth was born in New Washington on January 1, 1839. He was the fourth son of George and Sophia Donnenwirth. His youth was spent behind the counter, as a clerk in the dry goods store of J. A. Sheetz, and also for L. Converse. When about twenty years of age he began learning the blacksmith trade with Jeff Norton, and afterwards worked for the Howald Carriage Company and the Bucyrus Machine Works. In 1871 he formed partnership in the blacksmithing business with J. Seifert, and later with his brother, L. C. Donnenwirth. He continued to work at the trade until the spring of 1877, when he moved to his farm three miles east of Bucyrus, where he resided for nineteen years. Last spring he moved back to the city. In August last he was struck in the eye by a nail, and his health has been gradually declining ever since. On October 1 he was compelled to take his bed, suffering from bronchitis and a complication of other diseases which resulted in his death.
Mr. Donnenwirth was married September 7, 1865, to Catherine Assenheimer. Eight children were born to them, one son dying in 1875 at the age of two years. The widow is left with three sons and four daughters to mourn his untimely death. He was all his life a member of the German Lutheran church. He was well known throughout the county, and his high character and kindly disposition commanded the friendship and the respect of all. In his family relations he was a model of the affectionate and judicious husband and father. To his family his death is an irreparable loss, and the blow will be keenly felt not only by those united to him by ties of blood, but by a circle of friends whose extent is only bounded by the limits of his acquaintance.
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