FREDERICK G WINNER, [page 979] a well-known citizen of Montgomery county, Ohio, and one of the leading insurance men of Miamisburg, was born in Eneskerchen, near Cologne, on the Rhine, in Germany, May 12, 1832. He is a son of Jacob F. and Christiana (Neuman) Gwinner. He was reared and educated in Germany, and there learned the locksmith's trade, and in 1851, when eighteen years of age, emigrated to the United States, locating in Philadelphia, where he was employed for seven years in a chandelier factory. In the spring of 1858 he settled in Miamisburg, Ohio, where for two years he was engaged in grape growing and in the raising of tobacco. In 1859 he purchased the Washington hotel property, remodeled and improved the building and successfully conducted the hotel for twenty-three years. In 1882, having acquired a competency through his prosperous business career, by frugality and strict attention to details, he retired from the hotel business, and for five years afterward was engaged in the buying of tobacco for a Detroit house. Since then he has given his attention mostly to the business of fire insurance, and to the management of his property. In 1878 he purchased the handsome brick block which stands on the corner of Main street and Central avenue, and which bears his name.
Mr. Gwinner was married in 1859 to Hannah Salomon, daughter of Joseph and Rose Salomon, of Germany, by which marriage he has four children: Rose, now Mrs. Samuel H. Mays; Jennie, now Mrs. John W. Burns; Arnold F., and Hannah, now Mrs. William Stroop. Mr. Gwinner has always taken great interest in the advancement of Miamisburg, and for a number of years was a member of the city council, leaving a record as one of the best men for the place that ever held the office. He is interested in a number of leading stock companies, and for years has been a stockholder and director in the Teutonia Insurance company of Dayton. He is a director in the First National bank of Miamisburg, and a member of the Lutheran church. For more than forty years he has been an Odd Fellow, and for thirty years a member of the Harugari. He has been a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen for seventeen years, and is also an active member of the Knights of Pythias. In 1890 he was elected decennial land appraiser for Miami township. Politically, Mr. Gwinner is a democrat. He is a highly respected citizen of Montgomery county, being well known to all its people as a most useful and honorable member of the community.
