From the 1920 History of Northeast Indiana page 177 & 178:
 
Marion A. Oberst is a proprietor of a valuable and productive farm in Clear Lake Township of Steuben County.  He has spent practically all his life in that county and represents several family names that have had much to do with the development of the county from pioneer times. 
 
He was born in York Township, January 17, 1865.  His father Christopher Oberst, who was born in Ottawa County, Ohio, August 26, 1841, died July 10, 1919.  His parents John and Barbara Oberst were natives of Germany and came to America about 1830, living for three years at Rochester, New York, and then moving to Ottawa County, Ohio, where Barbara Oberst died in 1856 and her husband in 1877.  Christopher Oberst was the youngest of eight children, and he grew up and received his education in Ottawa County.  He was honored among other things for his record as a soldier in the Civil War.  He enlisted in 1861 in Company A of the Forty-fourth Indiana Infantry, and was in the Battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Stone River, and Chickamauga.  He was wounded at Chickamauga in September, 1863, lay on the battlefield 10 days and fell into the hands of the enemy.  After his parole he was sent to a hospital and did not rejoin his command until May, 1864.  After being mustered out of the army in November, 1864, he came to Steuben County and bought a farm in Clear Lake Township and was identified with the community for over half a century.  On September 3, 1861, Christopher Oberst married Mary M. Lord.  Her parents, Henry A. and Catherine (Flora) Lord, came to Steuben County in 1849 and were early settlers in Clear Lake Township.  Mrs. Mary Oberst died in April, 1901.  On March 30, 1903, Mr. Oberst married Mrs. Elvira Fletcher, widow of Milton Fletcher.  She still makes her home on the farm in Clear Lake Township.  Christopher Oberst by his first marriage had two sons, Marion A. and George A.  George A. Oberst, who died September 16, 1914, married Linnie McElhenie. 
 
Marion A. Oberst acquired his education in the district schools and worked on the farm with his father for a number of years.  In 1886 he married Miss Addie Laughlin, daughter of Robert and Kate Laughlin.  Since his marriage he has given his time to farming, and for over thirty years has lived in sections 31 and 32 of Clear Lake Township, where he has 102 acres, the buildings and other improvements representing his personal labor and investment. 
 
Mr. and Mrs. Oberst had two children: Zana and Walter Keith, the latter still at home.  Zana is the wife of Charles Griffin, and three children were born to their marriage, Marvin, Thelma and Velma, the last two, twins.  Marvin and Thelma are now deceased. 
 
Robert Laughlin, father of Mrs. Oberst, was for many years a farmer in Camden Township of Hillsdale County, Michigan.  He died September 25, 1905, and is survived by his widow.  They had four children: Addie, Mabel, who died at the age of five years, Earl and Pearl, twins, the latter the wife of O.V. McFadden.