Joseph Arnold Stroman
Joseph Arnold Stroman was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania, December 9, 1836. His father and mother are mentioned in the sketch of Sidney A. Stroman herein and reference to that sketch is hereby made for any information as to them and his remote ancestors. His father removed to Venango County, Pennsylvania, in 1851 . and to Adams County in March 1861. As a boy, Joseph A. Stroman was educated in the essentials of reading, writing and artithmetic, but was taught hard work. As a youth, in Summer he worked on his father's farm and in the Winters he drove team from Franklin to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In the Spring of the year he would be engaged in rafting timber on the Allegheny River. Before he came to Adams County, he learned the carpenter trade. On coming to Adams County, he determined to take up the life of a farmer. He worked on his father's farm from that time until the war broke out. He purchased sixty-six acres of land of his brother, Levi Stroman. In 1888. he purchased seventy-two acres of William Greenley north of West Union. He purchased seventy-five acres of Samuel Wright in 1875. He purchased twenty-two acres more, in 1897, of William R. Mehaffey. He bought one hundred and ten acres in 1899, known as the James Demint farm. He had but just got to Adams County, when the call to arms came. He did not respond at first, but in the Summer of 1862, when the war had became a serious business and the real condition of the country was understood, he enlisted in Company E, 91st O. V. I. He went from a sense of duty and from purely patriotic motives. He served as a Private until February 25, 1863, when he was made a Corporal. He was wounded September 19, 1864, in the head, by a piece of shell, at the battle of Opecquan, Va., and was sent to the Brick Hospital at Winchester, Va. This wound has disabled him up to the present time. He was mustered out June 25, 1865. The Government had value received in all the service it had from our subject. He served his country with his soul and spirit. He also gave it his bodily strength. Except for the time disabled by his wound, he never missed a ration or a duty. He was with his company all the time, on every march, in every skirmish, and in every battle. He was earnest in every duty as a soldier and when he had laid his arms aside for the quiet walks of peace, he took up life as earnestly as he had begun it before his military service. He has studied ecomony, frugality and the acquisition of property to a good advantage. Now he is the owner of 330 acres of well improved land in Adams County, all in one body. He was married September 28, 1873, to Miss Sarah McDaniel, daughter of Hiram and Caroline McDaniel, of Brown County, Ohio. His land is all well cultivated and farmed, with suitable buildings, is well stocked with animals and improvements, and it shows that it has been handled so as to produce the best results. His farm is as clean and neat as a well kept garden and is a delight to look upon. It is a pleasure to drive along the road and look at it as it declares that its owner is active and energetic and keeping everything in order. He owes no man anything but good will.
Joseph A. Stroman believes that every duty is sacred and should be well done. He believes in continuance in well doing. He became a member of the Oak Grove Christian Church, February 28, 1869, and has continued in its faith and practice ever since. In October, 1898. he attended the Quadrennial Convention of that church at New Market in the District of Ontario as a lay delegate.
From "History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time" - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900