Roy E. Oberlin. — A prominent and influential citizen of Brady Township, Roy E. Oberlin has been profitably engaged in general agriculture on section 30 for upwards of twenty years, owning and occupying one of the best improved and most desirable farms in this part of Williams County, it being advantageously located three miles northwest of Stryker. He was born, March 14, 1873, in Jefferson Township, Williams County, a son of Orlando Oberlin, and a grandson of Jacob Oberlin, who settled in Jefferson Township in 1854, and on the farm which he reclaimed from its primeval wildness spent his remaining years.
Born in Holmes County, Ohio, Orlando Oberlin was a small lad of eight summers when he came with his parents to Williams County, where he was bred and educated. Choosing the free life of a farmer, he located soon after his marriage on section 25, Jefferson Township, where his efforts in cultivating and improving a farm were well rewarded. Retiring from active labor in 1915, he has since lived in Bryan, his home being at No. 342 East Bryan Street. Patriotic and public spirited, he enlisted, in 1863, in the Thirtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served as a soldier in the Civil war until the close of the conflict. He is a sound republican in politics, and a member of Bryan Lodge. Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Orlando Oberlin married Althea Reid, who was born in Williams County, Ohio, a daughter of George Reid, who was an early pioneer of Jefferson Township, locating there in 1826, when he took up land from the Government, and with true pioneer courage cleared and improved a homestead. Two children were born of their marriage, as follows: Roy E., the subject of this brief sketch; and Theodore F., engaged in farming in Jefferson Township.
Receiving his elementary education in the district schools, Roy E. Oberlin subsequently continued his studies at the Fayette Normal School for a year. Remaining beneath the parental roof-tree until twenty-three years of age, he taught school winters, and worked on the home farm through seed time and harvest for seven years. When ready to begin life on his own account, Mr. Oberlin purchased 135 acres of land in Jefferson Township, and that he has met with such unquestioned success in its management may well be attributed to his industry, agricultural skill and keen foresight. He is also actively interested in various enterprises, being vice president of the West Unity Bank, and one of its directors; president of the Northwestern Ohio Mutual Rodded Fire Insurance Company; and a director of the Farmers Elevator Company at Pulaski, and director of the Farmers Elevator Company at Stryker.
Mr. Oberlin married first, November 10, 1895, Lizzie Barkdoll, who died September 23, 1910, leaving three children, namely: Wayne! during the World war, is assistant cashier at the Stryker Bank; home; Willis, who was in the training camp at Denison University during the World War, is assistant cashier at the Stryker Bank; and Mercy, attending the Stryker High School.
Mr. Oberlin married for his second wife, October 18, 1911, Cora E. Schnur, a native of Defiance County, Ohio, and they are the parents of two children, Eunice, born December 5, 1912; and Kenneth, born November 28, 1919. Politically Mr. Oberlin is identified with the republican party. Fraternally he is a member of Superior Lodge, No. 179, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at West Unity; of Bryan Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; of the Encampment; and of the Grand Lodge, of which he is past noble grand. He is likewise an active member of Springfield Grange No. 499. Mrs. Oberlin is a consistent member of the German Reformed Church.
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.