Biography of Joseph Hohl, pages 868/869/870.  History of DeKalb County, 
Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.



Joseph Hohl

The people who constitute the bone an sinew of the country are not 
those who are unstable and unsettled, who fly from this occupation to 
that, who do not know how to vote until they are told, and who take no 
active and intelligent interest in affairs affecting their schools, 
churches and property. The back bone of this country is made up of 
families who have made their homes; who are alive to the best interests 
of the community in which they reside; who are so honest that it is no 
trouble for their neighbors to know it, and who attend to their own 
business and are too busy to attend to that of others; who work on 
steadily from day to day, taking the sunshine with the storm and who 
rear a fine family to a comfortable home and an honest life. Such 
people are always welcome in any country and in any community.  They 
are wealth producers and this country is blessed with many of them, 
among whom is the subject of this sketch. Joseph Hohl was born in 1855 
in Rhinepfalz, Germany, and is a son of Sebastian and Mary (Miller) 
Hohl, the latter being born in January, 1827. Sebastian Hohl died in 
his native land in 1866, aged about forty years. He was a man of 
eminent respectability and standing in his native community. The 
subject was reared in his German home, where he remained until twenty-
eight years of age.  In February, 1883, he was united in marriage to 
Anna Leidner, a native also of Rhinepfalz, and a daughter of Frederick 
and Elizabeth (Boltz) Leidner.  In 1883, Mr. and Mrs. Hohl came to 
America, locating at once in DeKalb county, Indiana, being employed in 
Frank Hamman’s tile and brick yard in Smithfield township.  In 1894 Mr. 
Hohl bought the farm where he now lives, comprising seventy-seven and 
one-half acres in section 15, Smithfield township, on which he has 
since resided and which he has developed into an ideal agricultural 
homestead.  He has made many permanent and substantial improvements, 
not the least of which was moving the home out nearer to the public 
road and remodeling it, the building of a new and commodious bank bar 
and other improvements of a like nature.  About 1903, Mr. Hohl bought 
another farm of seventy-four acres and one-half cornering on the 
southwest his first tract, the railroad track running between, and he 
is also the owner of another farm northwest of the last named tract, 
owning one hundred and sixty acres in all.  To all of this land Mr. 
Hohl give his undivided attention and in its operation he has met with 
the most pronounced success.  He raises all the crops common to this 
locality and also give some attention to the breeding and raising of 
live stock, these two things going hand in hand and each contributing 
to the success of the other.  Starting in a strange land with but 
little capital and slight experience in farming, Mr. Hohl has achieved 
a success of which any man can be justifiably proud.  All that he has 
has been attained by the hardest kind of work, combined with grit and 
wisdom, good common sense and sound judgement., which have guided him 
in all his efforts.  Mrs. Hohl has contributed largely to her husband’s 
success, encouraging him by her efforts and advising him wisely in his 
dealings, and together they have accumulated a gratifying portion of 
this world’s goods. To Mr. and Mrs. Hohl were born the following 
children: Matthias, born in 1884, and lives on a farm near his father, 
married Elizabeth Dapp, and they have two children, Henry and Alvin; 
Joseph, born in November, 1885, died at the age of thirteen years; 
Mary, born in September, 1888, lives at home; Louis, born in February, 
1890, died at the age of seven years; Frank, born in 1892, lives at 
home; Joseph, born on August 16, 1899, died at the age of thirteen 
years, and an infant daughter died in March, 1901. Mr. Hohl is and 
honest, straightforward man in all of his dealings, conscientious in 
his work on the farms, and it is with pleasure that this brief synopsis 
of his life and tribute of his worth as a factor in the affairs of his 
locality is given a place in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Hohl are earnest 
and faithful members of St. Michael’s Catholic church, of which they 
are regular attendants and to which they contribute liberally of their 
means. Politically, Mr. Hohl votes with the Democratic party.



Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@cltnet.com