ALFRED C. KOHLER.

ALFRED C. KOHLER.—Elm township, Allen county, contains few farmers who are more enterprising and progressive than Alfred C. Kohler. His industry and thrift are subjects of common report and his pride in farm-improvement, and thus in county-development, is very apparent to the passerby. It is only sixteen years that he has dealt with conditions in Kansas, for he came here in 1884, and in that space of time Pennsylvania energy and perseverance have done effective work.

November 1, 1845, A. C. Kohler was born n Lehigh county, Pennsylvania. A son of Dr. W. S. Kohler and a grandson of Peter Kohler he was reared in Lehigh and Northampton counties. His ancestors were of the first settled families in that region and Peter Kohler was one of the large land owners in his county. He was a Whig and later a Republican while his ancestors were Federalists. He married Catherine Steckel and died in 1872 at the age of ninety-three years. Of his eight children five were sons of whom Dr. W. S. Kohler was the eldest. The latter spent forty years in the practice of medicine and died at the place of his birth, now Egypt, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, in 1870 at the age of sixty-six years. His first wife was Miss Kern who bore him three children only one of whom died with issue, Dr. John P. Kohler, who left two children. His second wife, and our subject's mother, was Catherine Laury, a daughter of a Lehigh and Northampton county farmer, John Laury. Of the issue of this last marriage Alfred C. Kohler is the eldest. The other children are Sarah, Martha, wife of Dr. Erdman, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Silas Kohler who resides in Lehigh county.

A. C. Kohler secured little more than a common school education. He was a country youth till his seventeenth year when he went to Philadelphia to clerk for S. H. Bibighaus, a prominent hardware merchant, and he remained in the city two years. In 1864 he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Ninety-second Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel W. B. Thomas. The regiment was ordered to Fort McHenry and later to Johnson's Island where it served for a time as prison guard. From this point it was stationed at Galipolis, Ohio; Parkersburg, West Virginia, and finally returned to Philadelphia where it was mustered out of service.

For three years succeeding the close of his army service Mr. Kohler was in a mill at Copley, Pennsylvania. In 1868 he was married and en-

gaged in farming in Northampton county. His wife was Sarah Laubach, a daughter of John Laubach, a Pennsylvania German and a farmer. Mrs. Kohler was born in 1850. Their seven children are: John P., who married Nannie Mitchell and has two children, Helen and Bulah; Esther Kohler, who married Charles Rebman and is the mother of three children, Clara, Esther and Sarah; Irene, Richard, Bulah, Charles and Sadie Kohler are all on the homestead.

When Mr. Kohler came to Allen county he located upon the north-east quarter of section 17, township 25, range 20, and is now the owner of three quarters of the section, less eighty acres. His farm is well stocked and he is otherwise admirably situated for reaping a profit from his labors year after year. In matters of religion the family are members of the Reformed church.

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