Daniel L. Crites
Daniel L. Crites, son of Charles and Sophia (Ludwig) Crites, was born in Pickaway County, Oct. 30, 1833. His wife is Martha, daughter of Griffith and Rachel John, who came from Ross County in 1832. Mrs. Crites was born in this county, Sept. 25, 1833. Their children are Bertha W., born March 12, 1856; Tirzah Keren, Feb. 7, 1858--both born in this county. Mrs. Crites has three brothers four sisters living; Mr. C. has five brothers and four sisters. Mr. Crites has held a number of public offices; he has been Township Assessor and Land Appraiser, Surveyor of Putnam County, Auditor and Deputy Clerk of Allen County, and was First Assistant Clerk of the Ohio House of Representatives, 61st General Assembly.
From 1875 Historical Atlas of Allen County, Ohio, by H. H. Hardesty & Co. Publishers, Chicago.
Dr. Daniel L. Crites was the eldest son of Charles and Sophia (Ludwig) Crites and was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, in 1833. He was six years of age when he came with his parents to German township. After going to the common or public schools, he studied medicine and for a time made that his profession. Soon after abandoning the practice he entered the service of his country in the War of the Rebellion and remained in the army almost three years. While in the service he contracted disease, which was the primary cause of his death in 1885. After the war he held numerous positions of public trust and was always loved and respected as a faithful public servant and enterprising citizen. Very few men of Allen County were better or more favorably known than he. Always generous and open handed, he was known far and near as the friend of the needy and unfortunate. It is related of Dr. Crites that while he was a candidate for public office 16 times he never suffered defeat. Whenever he employed carriages to take voters to the polls, he instructed the drivers to make no difference in carrying those who were supporting him and those who were thought to be against him. This was characteristic of the generous nature and kindly disposition of the man. It has often been said of him by his old neighbors and friends that “he was generous to a fault.”
Mrs. Martha Crites, widow of the late Dr. Daniel L. Crites, was born September 25, 1833, near the site of the village of Elida, to Griffith and Rachel John, and was the first white female child born in German township. “Aunt Martha,” as she is almost universally known and spoken of by her many relatives and friends, has spent her long and eventful life in Allen County and, up to about 10 years ago, in German township. It was her lot to be reared under very different circumstances from what falls to the lot of most young ladies of to-day. She relates some very interesting incidents which occurred during her girlhood days. Each spring she assisted in gathering the sap in the sugar camp, which was located where the town of Elida now stands. With an ox hitched to a sled on which was a barrel, they went from tree to tree and gathered the sap and hauled it to the kettles and she and her brother, Abia John, who was next older, were work-mates in managing the ox and gathering the sap. In those early days the river was a much more formidable stream than it is to-day, and, with no bridge, it was the duty of the John family to see to carrying people across the river in a boat; many times when strangers came upon the opposite bank and hallooed, desiring to be taken across the stream, she was the one who pushed forth with the boat to meet them and bring them across the river. Their house was situated on the west bank of the stream and near the road, or Indian trail. Very frequently bands of Indians came along on hunting and trading excursions, often stopping at their house upon one pretext or another. While the nearest trading post was at Sandusky a hundred miles away, it was nothing unusual to see quite a hand of “bucks” and squaws astride Indian ponies with children riding behind. She distinctly remembers that on one occasion quite a company of them proceeded along the trail; some of the squaws in the party had pappooses on their backs, but one strong-appearing squaw had a white boy seven or eight years of age tied on the pony behind her. This sight was such an object lesson to her that ever afterward she was afraid of the Indians, no matter where or when she saw them. She often ran and hid before they caught sight of her, fearing lest she too might be stolen and carried away. Her father’s house was the place of holding meeting, as well as the stopping place, for the early circuit riders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mrs. Crites' father was a large landowner and laid out the town of Elida, naming it in honor of his brother, Elida John. When the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway was constructed through German township, in 1854-55, he built the grade for one mile through his own land. In those days the construction of the railroad was as great an object of wonder as the building of the Panama Canal is to-day. They were a large family of themselves and besides they were scarcely ever without some strangers about their table, which was always spread with plenty of wholesome food. Mrs. Crites’ girlhood days must have been very busy ones, for she helped raise the flax as well as other crops. Then they prepared the flax and wool for spinning and wove the same into cloth from which they made the clothing and bedding for the entire family.
The first Sunday-school organized at Elida was a union of all the churches in the vicinity, and was held in the old Lutheran Church, which has long been replaced by a larger and more commodious brick one.
When Mrs. Crites became 22 years of age she was married. Two daughters blessed the union, namely: Mrs. Bertha W. Pfeifer, of Elida, and Mrs. Tirzah K. Sanford, of Lima. With the latter she has always made her home.
From History of Allen County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, Part 2, Edited & Compiled by Charles C. Miller, Ph. D.; Richmond & Arnold, Publishers, Chicago, 1906