Frederick Strausburg,
who died at his home in Jackson Township in 1908 and whose widow is still
living there, being very comfortably situated on rural mail Route No. 2 out
of Portland, was for years one of Jackson Township's best known and most
substantial farmers, and it is but proper that there should be carried here
in the definite history of the county in which he long made his residence
some brief tribute to the good memory he left at his passing.
Frederick
Strausburg was a native of Ohio, born on a farm in Clark County, that state,
May 20, 1842, a son of Jacob and Susan (Grandall) Strasburg, who later
became residents of Jay County, where their last days were spent. Jacob
Strausburg was born in Frederick County, Maryland, April 2, 1818, and was a
son of Frederick and Mary (Jentis) Strausburg. When he was seven years of
age, he moved with his parents to Ohio, the family settling in Clark County,
where he grew to manhood and became engaged in farming. He also became a
skilled blacksmith, with special reference to carriage and wagon ironing-
and was engaged in that vocation in Ohio until 1872, when he came with his
family to Indiana and settled in Jackson Township, this county, where he
bought a farm of 116 acres and where he spent the remainder of his life.
Of the nine
children born to him and his wife seven grew to maturity, namely: Samuel,
Frederick, George, James, Jesse, Simon and Elizabeth. Frederick Strausburg
grew to manhood in Clark County, Ohio, and early became a skilled carpenter,
a vocation he worked at for several years. He married at the age of
twenty-six and continued to make his home In Ohio until 1872, when the
family came to this county. He established his home on a farm. in Jackson
Township and became actively engaged -in tanning, in addition to which, in
1883, he became engaged in the manufacture of tile in association with his
brothers, James, Simon and Jesse, the tile factory, operated under the firm
style of Strausburg Bros., being carried on for ten years or more. Mr.
Strausburg became the owner of a well improved farm of ninety-three acres
and carried on his operations in up-to-date fashion. On that farm he spent
his last days, his death occurring on May 8, 1908.
He was a Democrat
and an Odd Fellow and was a member of the Union United Brethren Church. It
was on May 17, 1868, while still living in Ohio, that Frederick Strausburg
was united in marriage to Tressa Overpack, who also was born in Clark
County, Ohio, April 22, 1847, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Peyton) Overpack,
and to this union were born four children, one of whom, Lulu, is deceased,
the others being Charles J., Clara A. and Orva S., the last named being the
only one of these children born in Jay County.
Charles J.
Strausburg1 was born in Clark County, Ohio, July 7, 1869, and was five years
of age when he came to this county with his parents. He married Mamie Hiatt,
a member of one of the old families of this county, and has one child, a
son, Russell Strausburg, who married Lea Wise. Clara A. Strausburg, who was
born in Ohio, July 6, 1873, married B. R. Thomas, a Jackson Township farmer,
and has two children, Gladys and Frederick, the first named of whom married
Warren Pierson, of this county, and has one child, a son, Robert.
Orva S.
Strausburg was born in Jay County on June 9, 1881. He married Dorothy Shirk
and is now living in Portland, Ore.
Transcribed by Margie Pearce
Buried in Twin Hills Cemetery