Johann (John) Rapparlie Bio Johann Rapperlie, 1818-1896
Chronik des deutschen pionier-vereins von Toledo, Ohio : sammt einer kurzen geschichte der ersten deutschen ansiedler in Toledo und Lucas county und der nekrologe der verstorbenen mitglieder des vereins, gegründet am 10. Januar, 1878 by Mettler, Peter J.
See Page 99-100
Johann Rapperlie was born on the 5th of October 1818 in Rheingönheim at Speyer in the Palatinate. As a child one year old, he was handed over by his parents to his grandfather, who raised him. When he reached the fourteenth year, he was apprenticed to a master blacksmith. After completion of his training, he traveled through Germany as a craft lad until 1839. He got the desire to establish his home in America, boarded a sailing ship in the beginning of May of the same year (actually 1840) in Havre and landed in the end of July after a very stormy ride, but safely, in New York. The following October he came to Toledo. The Miami Canal was then in the course of construction, and as Rapperlie was a skilled smith, he was immediately employed at the link between Napoleon and Defiance as a blacksmith. After the completion of this canal, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he was married on the seventh of December 1840 to Miss Catherine Handrich. Here he established a blacksmith and wagon-maker workshop, and as he gave sterling work, he soon acquired a large and profitable clientele, the business one of the best in the city. In 1863 he transferred the same to Fremont, Ohio, but since Toledo for him always had a special attraction, he returned back here in 1869 acquired a lot at the corner of St. Clair and Williams road and built a workshop on the same. Here he worked until his death with great success and received able assistance from his three brave sons. He was already deprived on 29 August 1873 of his devoted wife. From that happy marriage sprang seven children, of whom three survived him. He died on September 3, 1896 after a long illness. Rapperlie possessed an unassuming but character-filled nature and was a brave and respected citizen. He was a longtime member of the German Pioneer Association, whose members gave him escort to his final place of rest.
RAPPALIEUR Johannes / John
Johann Rapperlie, 1818-1896
27 SEP 1818 3 SEP 1896 Toledo, Ohio
Other Sources where John is mentioned:
https://archive.org/details/aalh_toledohistoricalanddescriptive_mvhsf499t6/page/n233/mode/2up?q=Rapparlie
https://archive.org/details/lastofblacksmith0000gebb/page/n11/mode/2up?q=Rapparlie
Johannes John RAPPALIEUR
(1818 - 1896)