One of the old settlers of Cloud county and one of the few city residents who came to Clyde in the autumn of 1869, and when that town was on the frontier, is Jacob Sohlinger. He emigrated in company with Truellis Stephens who came to start a pottery and with whom he had worked in Missouri. In 1873 he started an establishment of his own which he conducted until after the railroad came into Clyde, having an extensive trade from the wide scope of country to the west. When the railroad came in, competition became heavy, coal was high and he discontinued business. W.B. Mosier conducted a business a short time after but he too gave way under the strong competition. The ware was sold at eighteen cents per gallon and had been sold by Stephens at twenty cents. It was of a good quality, equal to any manufactured at that time. One jugger and three turners were employed, also eight other workmen, Mr. Sohlinger being on the road and his own salesman. In 1882, he entered the employ of Condon & Riley as traveling salesman and later Riley Brothers, who established a biscuit factory. He is still on the road, and has been continuously with the exception of an interim of five years. He now represents the Clyde Milling Company.

Mr. Sohlinger is one of the veterans of the road and of the late Civil war. He was a soldier in Company F, 115th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted with Captain A.J. Ware in Stark county, Ohio, August 1862. Captain Ware died in Colorado a few years ago. Their second captain was W.A. Thompson; they were most of the time under the command of General Thomas. Mr. Sohlinger was taken prisoner in Tennessee about the time of the battle of Nashville, but made his escape after nineteen days. Most of the time he was on detached duty; was in the engagements of Franklin and Nashville; did active service and was in many skirmishes while guarding bridges and railroads.

Mr. Sohlinger was born in New York, May 20, 1842, where he lived until the breaking out of the war, when the family moved to Stark county, Ohio. He received his education in New York and Ohio. His father, John Nicholas Sohlinger, was a cabinet maker before the days of machinery. Our subject remembers when his father manufactured chairs by taking a piece of timber and with an adz chipped a horizontal surface, bored holes in the improvised board, inserted legs and called it a chair, for the simple reason one could sit down on it and it would not collapse, and looked more like furniture than a box. Mr. Sohlinger's parents were natives of Germany where they were married and came to America. A brother came with them and settled in Philadelphia, where he died. Our subject's mother was Margaret Andrews.

Mr. Sohlinger was married in 1872, to Jennie Blair, from the north of Ireland and of Scotch-Irish origin. Her death occurred at Clyde, leaving a devoted husband and five children to mourn the loss of a wife and mother. John Alfred, the eldest son is manager of the Telephone Company and traveling salesman for the Parkhurst-Davis Company, of Topeka. He has been with them six years and two years prior filled his father's place on the road. He is a graduate of the Salina Commercial School, class of 1893. Daisy Ella, her father's housekeeper, is a graduate of the Clyde High School. Maggie Stella, the second daughter, is working for her brother in the central office of the Clyde Telephone Exchange; she is also a graduate of the Clyde High School. Myron Blair and Byron Clair, twins, who own and operate a grocery store are doing a thriving business receiving a justly deserved patronage. These young men are honorable and honest in all their dealings, not forgetting the poor have needs. There is a strong personal resemblance between these two brothers, who are popular in society and universally esteemed.

Mr. Sohlinger, like the rest of the early settlers, enjoyed the excitement of buffalo hunting. His companions were Decker, Ed Statt, Max Alwins, Smith and Lake. In Rooks and Graham counties buffalo were numerous and the sportsmen killed many of them, bringing the meat into camp, a trophy of their skill as hunters and brave men; but two of this party survive, himself and Alwins. Mr. Sohlinger is a Republican all the time and a man must be thoroughly mean if he does not vote for him, and yet he was born and reared a Democrat, but changed his political views while serving "Uncle Sam." He has an honorable standing in the following social orders: The Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Mystic Shriners, Knight Templars, Woodmen, Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Grand Army of the Republic.