Ohmart, Francis M.

OHMART, SNYDER, BINGHAM, CHARLES, BUFKIN, BECHTEL, MIZNER

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 10/2/2012 at 22:08:09

History of Poweshiek County Iowa
Publ. 1911
Page 311

FRANCIS M. OHMART

A good soldier when the life of the republic was assailed and an energetic and progressive citizen in time of peace Francis M. Ohmart, of Washington township, is recognized as one of the highly respected men of Poweshiek county. He was born in Clark county, Ohio, January 12, 1842, and is a son of Christian and Mary (Snyder) Ohmart. The father was born in Clark county March 8, 1819, and the mother in Westmoreland county, Virginia, March 24, 1824. In his early manhood Mr. Ohmart, Sr., engaged in the milling business, but later took up farming in Jefferson county, Iowa, subsequently engaging in the hotel business at Trenton, Missouri. He died at Galt, Missouri, March 6, 1909, the mother having been called away two years previously on December 25, 1907. Politically he gave his support to the republican party, and although he took no active part in politics he served as a member of the school board. Both he and his wife were members of the Christian church. In their family were sixteen children: Francis M., of this review; Newton J., deceased; George W., of Oklahoma; Mary E., Martha E., John W., Alice C., Virginia B. and Samuel, all of whom are deceased; Flora, the wife of Melvin Bingham, of Galt, Missouri; Charles O., Grant and Winifred, all of whom are deceased; and three who died in infancy.

Francis M. Ohmart came to Iowa with his parents and was educated in the schools of Jefferson county. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was nineteen years of age and in response to his country's call enlisted as a private in Company K, Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, September 28, 1861. For three years he faithfully performed his duty as a soldier, being advanced to the position of corporal. He participated in many of the important battles and movements of the war and was honorably discharged from the service at Chattanooga, Tennessee, November 2, 1864. Returning home, he assisted his father in the farm work and later rented a place in Van Buren county, Iowa, for seven years. He came to Poweshiek county in March, 1875, and purchased eighty acres in Washington township where he now lives. He has added one hundred and twenty acres to his original farm and by the application of systematic modern methods has attained gratifying results from his labors. He specializes in raising hogs for the market and is highly successful in raising cereals.

On the 4th of July, 1865, Mr. Ohmart was married to Miss Martha M. Charles, a daughter of Abraham and Ruth (Bufkin) Charles, of Jefferson county, Iowa, and to this union two children were born: Charles O., who is living at home; and Bertha M., who is deceased. The mother of these children died August 23, 1878, and Mr. Ohmart was again married on the 6th of November, 1882 to Miss Mary E. Bechtel, who was born in Van Buren county November 10, 1851, a daughter of Stephen and Martha (Mizner) Bechtel. The father was born at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1816, and the mother at Ithaca, New York, May 1, 1819. They were married in Ohio and arrived in Van Buren county, Iowa, in 1840, where they continued during the remainder of their lives.
Mr. Bechtel served as a member of the Home Guards at the time of the Civil war. He gave his support to the republican party and filled the office of township clerk, also serving as township trustee for ten years. He was steward and class leader of the Methodist church and an active worker in religious causes.

Francis M. Ohmart, of this review, cast his first ballot when a soldier of the Union army, voting the republican ticket, and he has discovered no reason potent enough to cause him to transfer his political allegiance to any other party. He has always discharged his duties as a citizen or in business affairs with promptness and fidelity, according to his best judgment, and he is greatly respected in a section where he has been known for more than a third of a century. It is much to his credit that those who have known him the longest are his closest friends. The prosperity which he enjoys is the result of his own well directed enterprise, as he has indeed been the architect and the builder of his own fortune.