Henry Wagner
The Wagners came from Germany to the American colonies in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and settled near Reading, Pa. It was here that Henry Wagner, Sen., was born in 1790. When a young man he went to Harrisburg to work at the carpenter trade. Here, in Dauphin County, about 1812, he married Elizabeth Dick. They raised a family of eight children. Henry, the subject of this sketch, was the second son; he was born near Harrisburg in the year 1819, and was raised on a farm which adjoined the city of Harrisburg. When a young man he learned the carpenter trade, which he followed until 1847, when he married lsamiah Hocker. The following year (1848) they moved to Shelby County and located in Washington Township, where he bought seventy-five acres of land; he afterwards bought twenty-five acres more; then eighty-four acres; then one hundred acres—making in all two hundred and eighty-four acres. This land he has put under cultivation, and has built upon his home place a fine brick house and large bank barn. They have raised a family of six children whose names and date of birth are as follows: Levi, born 1847; Henry, born 1850; George, born 1852; William, born 1854; Napoleon, born 1857; and John, born 1862.
The Hockers, the ancestors of Mrs. Wagner, are of German extraction. Their first settlement in the United States was in Lancaster County, Pa. It was here that Adam Hocker was born and grew up to manhood, and learned the tanning trade. He married Mary Hershy and immediately moved to Harrisburg. They were among the first settlers of Harrisburg. He started the first tannery in that place. He followed this business for a number of years. It was here that George Hocker was born in 1794. He was partly raised in the city, when his father sold his tannery and moved to the country, some nine miles from the city. Here, in 1819, he married Magdalena Landis and raised a family of two children. Mrs. Wagner was the eldest; she was born in Dauphin County in 1821. Mr. Hocker died in 1873: his wife died in 1821. About 1833 he married Catharine Cocklin, who died in 1881.
From History of Shelby County, Ohio; R. Sutton & Co, Philadelphia PA, 1883