Person:Barnheart Zehring (1)

Centennial portrait and biographical record of the city of Dayton and of Montgomery County, Ohio: containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of the presidents of the United States and biographies of the governors of Ohio. (A.W. Bowen, 1897).
a retired farmer of Brookville, Montgomery county, Ohio, was born in Jackson township, in the same county, March 8, 1841, a son of Barnheart and Elizabeth (Swartzel) Zehring, who were of Pennsylvania-German stock, of whom mention is made in the biography of Rev. Aaron Zehring.

John Zehring was reared on his father’s farm, and was educated in the common schools. May 2, 1864, having enlisted in Johnsville, he was mustered into the Union service at Camp Chase, Ohio, under Capt. Coaler, but served under Capt. David Holderrman at Federal Hill, Baltimore, Md., on guard duty, and was honorably discharged at Camp Chase, August 25, 1864, having served about two weeks over his term of enlistment. His marriage took place at Lewisburg, Ohio, October 15, 1868, to Lucretia Kumler, who was born near Lewisburg, Ohio, August 13, 1844, a daughter of David and Frances (Disher) Kumler, both of German descent and respectively of Pennsylvania and Virginia parentage.

Rev. Henry Kumler, father of David, was a son of a pioneer minister, also named Henry whose wife lived to the great age of ninety-seven years –her portrait, which is still in the family, being included in a group of five generations. Rev. Henry Kumler, the younger, and the grandfather of Mrs. Zehring, was a bishop in the United Brethren church, and traveled through many circuits, but made his permanent home in Lewisburg, Ohio. He lived to be eighty years of age, and was the father of nine children, viz: David, Andrew, Noah, Henry, Susannah, Jesse, Salome, Daniel and Samuel, of whom two of the sons—Jesse and Samuel—served three years each in an Ohio regiment during the Civil war.

David Kumler was born in Harrison township, Preble county, Ohio, was a millwright, and also a surveyor, and lived to the age of seventy-two years. To him and his wife, Mrs. Frances (Disher) Kumler, were born two children—Lucretia and Civilla.

The great-grandfather of Mrs. Lucretia Zehring, Peter Discher (as the name was originally spelled), came from Germany prior to the Revolution, was a soldier in that glorious struggle, and fought under Benedict Arnold at Quebec, Canada. At the close of the war he located in Maryland, but some years later removed to Botetourt county, where his death took place about 1821 or 1822. Of his seven children, the youngest, Christian was born in Maryland in 1788, was a lieutenant in the war of 1812, and was stationed at Norfolk, Va. He married Frances Circle and settled on a farm in Botetourt county, Va., where he lived until the fall of 1829, when he came with his wife and five children to Ohio, and settled on a farm in Harrison township, Preble county, where his son, Christian, now lives, and where he died in 1871, at the age of eighty-two years and eleven months. His son, Capt. Matthias Disher, raised or recruited company H. Ninety-third Ohio volunteer infantry, and fought through the Civil war, thus continuing the military record of the family.
After marriage Mr. and Mrs. John Zehring located on a farm of ninety-seven acres in Harrison township, where there were born to them three children—Estolle, Clare and Ernest. In 1882 they removed to Brookville, where they bought a pleasant residence, which is still their home. They are members of the United Brethren church—old constitution—in which Mr. Zehring has held the offices of trustee and steward. He has always been zealous and active in his church work, and largely aided with his means in the erection of the United Brethren church in Perry township. He is a republican in politics, but has never been ambitious for public office. He is greatly respected by his neighbors in Brookville, and was always regarded with esteem in his township as a man of the strictest integrity.

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Centennial Portrait and Biographical Record of the City of Dayton and of Montgomery County, Ohio
Pages 1204-1218 Rev. Aaron Zehring to David Rasor

REV. AARON ZEHRING, [pages 1204-1206] a retired minister of the United Brethren church, with his residence at Brookville, Clay township, Montgomery county, Ohio, is of Pennsylvania-German descent and was born in Warren county, Ohio, near Lebanon, September 22, 1830.

Christian Zehring, his great-grandfather, was the first of the family to come from Germany to America and was one of the pioneers of Pennsylvania, where he was apprenticed until his passage money and that of his family was paid in full to the ship owners who had brought them across the ocean, when he became a farmer and prospered. His son Christian, the grandfather, of our subject, was but a small boy on arriving in this country, and, like his father's, his services and time were sold, but he fell into good hands and was taught blacksmithing and iron working. In due course of time he married a Miss Rough, who bore him the following children: Samuel, Henry, David, and a daughter whose name cannot be remembered. After the death of Mrs. (Rough) Zehring, Christian again married, and to this union were born John, Christian, Henry, Philip, David, Barnheart, Peter, Polly and Susannah. Having amassed considerable money, Christian Zehring brought all his family, with the exception .of his son John, to the Buckeye state, as early as 1818, settled in the woods of Warren county, near Lebanon, and also purchased in Warren and Montgomery counties farms for each of his sons. On his new farm in Warren county he passed the remainder of his days, and, although he had been a member of the German Reformed church in Pennsylvania, he died in the faith of the United Brethren church.

Barnheart Zehring, father of Rev. Aaron Zehring, was born in Lebanon, Pa., in July, 1798, and came to Ohio with his parents in 1818, the family journeying in wagons. He had been taught wagonmaking by his father, who, on that account, presented him with but eighty acres of land, while he gave to his other sons 160 acres each. Barnheart worked at his trade in Warren county for a number of years, and then took possession of his land and began farming. In 1823 he married, near Carlisle, Montgomery county, Elizabeth Swartzel, who was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1800, a daughter of Philip Swartzel.

Philip Swartzel was a native of Pennsylvania, of German descent, and was one of the earlier pioneers of Warren county, Ohio, who endured all the hardships of frontier life, building, on his arrival here, a cabin of round saplings, with neither door nor windows. He had been inured to hardships in the war of 1812, and was well prepared for the life of a pioneer, which he perhaps found to be congenial, as he lived to an advanced age. To himself and wife were born ten children, as follows: Jacob, George, Abraham, Katie, Sophia, Elizabeth, Susan, Mary, Rachael and Lina.

After his marriage Barnheart Zehring cleared a piece of wild land, on which he lived for seven years, and then resided on the Swartzel homestead for quite a number of years. He next bought 160 acres six miles north of Germantown, on which he made his home for some time, when he sold this and bought another tract of 160 acres in Montgomery county, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a member of the United Brethren church, in which he was a trustee, and to the support of which he contributed liberally. In politics he was first a democrat, and voted for Andrew Jackson for the presidency of the United States, but later changed his political affiliations and became a republican, and sent one of his sons, John, to fight for the Union in the late Civil war. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, born in the following order: Maria, Catherine, Susannah, Aaron, Abraham, Sophia and John. He died in his religious faith, and was an honored and valued citizen. His widow lived to reach the advanced age of eighty-nine years, and died May 11, 1889.

Rev. Aaron Zehring, whose name opens this biographical memoir, received a very good preliminary education in the common schools, and later attended the Otterbein university for five years, entering the ministry of the United Brethren church and preaching for nine months at New Hope. After his ordination in 1860 he first settled in Montgomery county, and for two years filled the Mount Zion circuit; he was then transferred to the New Haven circuit in Hamilton county, where he preached two years, and then for two years officiated in Butler, when he was disabled by sickness. Soon after that event he temporarily returned to the Zehring homestead in Montgomery county, where he remained one year, then moved to Darke county, where he had charge of the Mount Zion circuit for about two years, after which he passed a few months in Hamilton county, and then for three years lived in Germantown, Montgomery county; he next lived on a farm for seven years, then bought eighty acres two miles east of Brookville, improved the place and resided on it three years. He then purchased the old Zehring homestead of 160 acres, on which he lived until he retired to Brookville, when he placed his son Charles in charge of the farm, of which he still owns no acres.

Mr. Zehring was united in marriage in Preble county, October 10, 1861, with Miss Sallie Burtner, who was born in Montgomery county, February 11, 1838, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Kemp) Burtner, the former of whom was born in Cumberland county, Pa., August 1, 1808, and was of German descent. Mr. Burtner came with his parents to Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1828, and settled five miles north of Dayton. He married , Catherine Kemp in Germantown, and to their union were born Julien, Lucinda, Sallie, Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, Joshua and Francis M.

Directly after his marriage, Jacob Burtner settled on a farm of 160 acres, four miles from Enterprise, Preble county, and there lived for many years. He and his wife are members of the United Brethren church, and in this faith Mr. Burtner expired at Germantown, Montgomery county, aged seventy-eight years.

Rev. Aaron Zehring inclines to republican-ism in his political opinions, and is also a strict prohibitionist. In his church work he has ever been ardent and energetic, and his life has been one of great usefulness. He and his wife have a family of three children— Charles W., Lizzie C. and William 0.