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Surnames: Zent Hege Goodwill Crocket Pealman Shank Ritter Kryder Gallatin
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/gh.2ADI/5177
Message Board Post:
P. W. Zent, one of huntington’s prominent citizens, is a native of Stark County, Ohio, and
was born May 2, 1827. He was the seventh of eleven children born to Samuel Zent, a native
of Franklin County, Pa., of German descent. His mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth
Hege, was also a native of Franklin County, Pa., of German descent. She was a descendant
of Hans Hege, the progenitor of the Hege family in the United States, who emigrated from
Switzerland, crossed the ocean on the ship, James Goodwill, commanded by David Crocket,
and reached the City of Philadelphia on the 27th day of September, 1827. [sic] He settled
upon a farm in Lancaster County, Pa. He was the father of several daughters and a son
named John, who was married to Elizabeth Pealman. By her he became the father of eight
children, one of whom, Christian, married, as his second wife, Maria Shank. This marriage
resulted in the birth of seven children, one of whom was Elizabeth Hege, who, through !
her marriage to Samuel Zent, became the mother of P. W. Zent. The subject of this sketch
was reared upon a farm in his native county, and during that time received in the district
school an ordinary common school education. For a few years after he became of age he
farmed the old home place in Stark County. In 1852 he came to this county and located in
Jackson Township where he pursued the vocation of a farmer until about 1859, when he
removed to a farm in Clear Creek Township. There he resided until the spring of 1876,
since which time he has been a resident of Huntington. Here he was engaged in the grocery
business and the sale of agricultural implements until his retirement from active
business, which occurred in 1884. He was married October 10, 1849, to Belinda F. Ritter,
also a native of Stark County, Ohio, born January 4, 1828. She was the daughter of Henry
and Sarah (Kryder) Ritter, who were natives of the state of Pennsylvania. This union was
broken by the d!
eath of Mrs. Zent on the 2d of January, 1853. His marriage to Cathari
ne H. Gallatin occurred March 2, 1854. She was born in Franklin County, Pa., March 30,
1832, being the daughter of Daniel and Hannah (Howard) Gallatin, both of who were natives
of Pennsylvania, of German descent. The first marriage of Mr. Zent resulted in the birth
of two children, Lovenia C. and Franklin S., both of whom are living. He and his present
wife are the parents of two children, Isaac N. and Howard F., the former of whom died in
infancy. Howard F. Zent has the general agency of the State for the J. I. Case machinery,
and resides, at present, in Indianapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Zent are members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Politically, the former is a Republican. For six years he served as
president of the Huntington County Agricultural Society, and he was instrumental in
effecting a re- organization of that society. From boyhood he has been an ardent
temperance worker, and, in sentiment, is a prohibitionist. He takes an active part in
Sabbath School work,!
and, at this time, he is superintendent of a very interesting and successful school in
the Methodist Episcopal Church of this city.
History of Huntington County, Indiana. (Brant & Fuller: Chicago) 1887. Biographical
Sketches of Clear Creek Township. Pages 562 and 563.