While his youth was one of struggle and lack of advantages, David J. Mettler has found his way to a comfortable success, and for a number of years has been one of the influential and successful farmers of Williams County. His place is known as the Hickory Grove Farm, comprising 120 acres located a half mile west of Cooney, and he also had forty acres a half mile east of that town, which he sold to his son.
Mr. Mettler was born at Union Corners, then known as the Adair Farms, on September 9, 1862, son of William and Miriam (Adair) Mettler.
His maternal grandfather, William Adair, was one of the notable pioneers of Williams County, settling in this densely wooded section in 1848. He bought four parcels of land each containing eighty acres, at what is now Union Corners. Later he lived in the west part of the township and he died in Steuben, Indiana.
William Mettler and his wife Miriam were both natives of Morrow County, Ohio, where he was born August 19, 1834, and she on July 20, 1836. William Mettler was killed when thrown from a horse December 11, 1862, about three months after the birth of his son David. He had three children: Melvin C, now of Coldwater, Michigan; David J. and Marcelina D., wife of H. S. Ely, of Montpelier. The widowed mother did a noble part by her small children after the death of her husband and managed to keep them together. She worked out for about twelve years in order to support them. Later she became the wife of J. B. Neer, but had no children by that union.
David J. Mettler lived for three years with his uncle John McCannch, and after that with his aunt, Mrs. Ferguson, until her death in 1874. Much of his boyhood was spent among strangers, and while he managed to attend the district schools he expended much of his youthful strength working out by the month and by the day.
On January 1, 1885, Mr. Mettler married Miss Wilda Moss, a native of Allen County, Indiana, where she lived to the age of twelve when her parents removed to Columbia, Ohio.
After his marriage Mr. Mettler rented a farm for four years and then established a modern stock of general merchandise at Cooney and subsequently was in business as a merchant at Columbia until about 1907. He then sold out and invested his modest capital in the farm where he now lives. This is a valuable property, and represents his accumulations above that needed for the support and rearing of his family. Mr. Mettler had the misfortune to lose his good wife on February 12, 1918. They were the parents of four children: Winfred, a farmer in Northwest Township; Harley, who is a graduate of the Fort Wayne Business College and is also a farmer in Williams County; Dale of Northwest Township; and Waity, wife of Charles Lash.
Mr. Mettler is a democrat in politics and for four terms, eight years, served as treasurer of Northwest Township. He also took the census in 1920. For several years until he resigned he was a member of the County Central Committee representing Northwest Township. He is also actively identified with the various farmers’ organizations, and lends his support to every movement for the benefit of his community.
Source: Bowersox, Charles A. ed. A standard history of Williams County, Ohio: an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development , 2 vols. Publisher Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co. 1920.