of Salt Creek township, has been as prominently identified with the improvement of that part of the county, and the territory adjoining, as any family who reside in the vicinity. Solomon Riegel, the father, is a man of great activity and industry, and ever since he came to the Stat has been engaged in some enterprise which has developed and enriched the neighborhoods of which he has been a resident. He was a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, a son of George and Elizabeth Riegel, and was born April 10, 1811. He came to Salt Creek in 1832, induced by the favorable reports of the country, made by his brother, Jesse, and others. Two years later, October 31, 1834, he married Mary, daughter of George and Mary Dunkel, natives of Berks county, Pennsylvania, who removed to Ohio in 1802. She was born, March 31, 1803. Soon after their marriage, the couple removed to Fairfield county, where they remained three and a half years. From thence they went to Hocking county, where Mr. Riegel worked for a time for his brother-in-law, George Dunkel; but Mr. Riegel securing, as a present from his father, a farm of one hundred acres in Fairfield county, removed to it, and there made the beginning of his successful and actively industrious life. After living here ten years, accumulating some property, and being generally well rewarded for his labors, Mr. Riegel bought Mr. Dunke'ls sawmill, woolen-factory and about two hundred anf fifty acres of land, and engaged in business upon a large scale. He erected, at Laurelville, a hotel and other buildings, and contributed largely to the good appearance and prosperity of that village. Building has always been one of the most common exhibitions of Mr. Riegel's active creative nature, and one of his family, who has taken pains to sum up the results of his work in this line, states that within a few miles of the corners of Pickaway, Hocking and Ross counties, he has erected nineteen dwelling houses, and enough other building, mills, barns, etc., to make a total of one hundred. In this work he has usually been his own contractor, designer and superintendent, getting the timber from the woods manufacturing the lumber, and taking the stone from the quarry himself--that is, having it done under his supervision. He has also been an enterprising farmer, and has devoted considerable capital and time to milling, and to stock-raising and dealing. His various business ventures have, as a general thing, been thoroughly managed, and have paid well, so that he has accumulated a large property, although, like nearly all men, meeting with an occasional loss. It has been principally through his efforts that some of the best turnpikes of Pickaway county, especially the south-eastern part, have been constructed.

Mr. Riegel is one of those men, who, not having the advantage of education, has still been eminently successful, through the possession of sound native sense, good judgment, a genius for work and strict integrity of character. And we may also add, that having achieved an independency for himself, he has materially benefitted the community of which he has bee a valuable member, the neighborhood in shich he has lived. He is a man of strong moral character, and religiously, is a member of the Reformed church. It is a notable fact, too, that every one of his entire family, nine persons beside himself, are members of the same church. Another fact, rather curious, is mentioned by members of the family. There has never been a death within the circle. Not one family in a thousand of as many members, and aggregating as many years, has thus been spared the terrible visitor. The mother's name (Dunkel) is honored by the insertion of its initial in the name of her eight children. The first-born (February 21, 1836), George D., is now in Salt Creek township, and resides at his father's residence.He married, in 1859, Lovina Werner, of Allen county, Ohio, who died September 18, 1872. He was engaged, for a number of years, in a general mercantile business, at Laurelville, beginning at the time the civil war commenced, and continuing until 1867. From 1870 to 1876 he conducted a large bus ness [sic.] in produce and provisions, in Brooklyn, New York. Harvey D., the second son, born January 31, 1838, was, for a number of years, in California, but is, at present in the lumber and planing-mill business at Laurelville. He married Matilda Hedges, of Tarlton. Jane D., born August 6, 1840, married Andrew Defenbaugh, and resides at Cedarville, Fairfield county. Samuel D., born July 29, 1842, took for his first wife Mary Morris, of Washington township, and after her death, married his present wife, Mary Owens. He resides in Salt Creek, and is a farmer and bee-keeper. He is publisher of the Bee Keeper's Instructor, and one of the best authorities in the country upon all matters pertaining to bee culture. Sarah Ann D., born June 28, 1843, is the wife of Wm. C. Markel, and resides in Salt Creek township. Mary Elizabeth D., born September 2, 1845, is the wife of George H. Lutz. Solomon D., has his home in Salt Creek, a short distance from that of his father. He is one of the representative farmers of the township, and one of its most substantial, well-informed citizens. In addition to farming, he carries on the business of raising and selling stock, and is a large dealer. He Married Mary A. Rush, daughter of John and Melinda Rush, of Greene township, Ross county.