HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY	19

	Christian Kilmer was born, reared and married in Pennsylvania.
In 1832, desirous of investing in cheaper lands than could be obtained
in his native state, he moved with his family to Wayne county, Ohio,
where, from land that he bought from the government, he improved a
farm and was for a number of years there prosperously employed in till-
ing the soil. After the death of his wife he moved to Medina county,
Ohio, and spent his last years with his daughter, passing away at the
good old age of seventy-eight years. He married Nancy Boer, who
came from Germany to America with her parents when a young girl, and
until her marriage lived in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.
	A boy of thirteen years when his parents made the overland trip
to Ohio, Jacob Kilmer grew to, manhood in Wayne county, and as a
boy and youth assisted in clearing a homestead and also learned the
trade of a shoemaker. After his marriage lie bought land in Holmes
county, and there, in connection with general farming, followed his trade
for a number of years. In 1852, having a severe attack of the gold
fever, Mr. Kilmer went with a company of explorers across the country
to California, the journey being accomplished with oxen, horses and
ponies. He remained in the Golden state eighteen months, and then,
on account of ill health, returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama.
Disposing of his Holmes county property in 1858, Mr. Kilmer came to
Clay county, locating in Harrison township. Immediately buying eighty
acres of land, he erected a saw mill, and for several years was employed
in the manufacture of lumber. He subsequently exchanged that mill for
a grist mill in Jackson township, where he was in business for a year,
finally trading the grist mill for an eighty-acre farm in Washington
township. His family in the meantime had continued their residence on
his homestead in Harrison township, and he rejoined them and was there
employed in general farming until 1882. He has since that time lived
in Clay City, retired from the activities of business. Though now a
very old man, having passed his four score years and ten, he enjoys many
of the pleasures of living, and can look back with pride and gratification
over a career full of interesting events.
	On August 15, 1844, Mr. Kilmer married Elizabeth Moyer, who
was born September 18, 1826, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania,
which was also the birthplace of her ‘father, John Moyer, Jr. Her
grandfather, John Moyer, Sr., was born in either Germany or Pennsyl-
vania, He was a farmer and a carpenter, and while working at his
trade was accidentally killed by falling from a scaffold. Learning the
carpenter’s trade from his father, John Moyer, Jr., followed it until
1827, when he removed to Ohio, becoming a pioneer of Holmes county.
Purchasing one hundred and sixty acres of land, on which a very few
improvements had been made, he moved into the log cabin that stood
in the small opening, and occupied it for about six years. Continuing
the improvements already begun, he cut down much of the heavy tim-
ber standing upon the land, replaced the log buildings with substantial
frame farm buildings, including a large barn, and there resided until
his death, at the age of seventy-five years. He married Susanna Long-
enecker, who was born in Pennsylvania, which was the life-long home of
her parents, Peter and Elizabeth (Noftsinger) Longenecker, Mr. and
Mrs. Kilmer have six children, namely: John Franklin; Elias ; Isaac;
Henry; Ellen, wife of Albert C. Burnham, of whom a brief sketch may
be found elsewhere in this work; and Susanna.