Heller Family History 1856 - 1918 ELIAS Heller and his wife Eliza Branstetter were born in Pennsylvania. They came via Holland to Ohio and then to the Towanda area by 1856. They bought 80 acres in 1866 east of Towanda from William Sowards for $2550. They had four daughters-Rebecca Kiblinger, Mary Tilbury, Eliza Fincham and Hester Rodde and four sons-Charles, Benjamin, Squire and William Coke. Elias died April 1, 1888. CHARLES Marion Heller, born October 2, 1839, married Angeline Allene Fling whose family owned property near Towanda. They had 11 children. The youngest died in infancy. The other 10 lived on the family farm near Towanda. All attended Smith Grove School. Some went on to higher education. Most of the family are buried in Smith Grove Cemetery. The 120 acre homestead was sold to clear estate. The Charles and Angeline Heller children are: Fannie Mae Heller married Judson Stover and had four children; Minnie Heller married Charles Hilts and had two daughters; Charles T. Heller (Jim) married Minnie Cameron and had two children. One infant died; Clara Heller married William (Billy) Hilts and had three children; Edwin E. Heller married Myrtle Scott and had three daughters---one died in infancy; Annette Grace Heller married Charles Moffett, but was divorced; Della Leora Heller married Herbert Wakefield and had two children and lived near Heyworth; Ethel Heller never married.. She was a talented artist and lived at the family homestead; Leila Heller married Herschel Payne and had one son; Imogene Angeline Heller married Elmer E. Kenyon and lived in Towanda. They had one daughter, Angeline, a graduate of ISNU and a teacher for many years, married to William Burnell, who lived in Mountain Home, Arkansas. BENJAMIN Heller was born in 1842 and died in December 1927. He was a fireman on the C and A Railroad from Bloomington to Chicago. Ben saw Harriet Alford one day while up on a car and waved at her and nearly fell out the cab. He courted and married her in Towanda. He was in partnership with George Hanna raising pure-blooded Norman Horses and Aberdeen Angus cattle. He and Harriette had nine children: "Mamie" Josephine Heller was the ancestor of Timothy Kraft; Eliza Luvina Heller married Will Hall; Franklin Benjamin Heller married Anna Gossard; Hester Ann "Daisy" Heller married Joe Oglevie; George Daniel Heller married Florence Bellenger; Charles Marian Heller married Pearl Ogden; Elias Webster Heller married Edna Schafer; Mary Heller married Warren Owens. WILLIAM COKE Heller married Emma Homey. Coke and Emma had two children, a boy who died at birth and a daughter, Buelah, who died at six months. Harve Heller, born 3-28-1877, son of George and Mary Margerum, born in 1854 in New Jersey, came to live with Coke and Emma after the death of his mother when he was 7 years old. Harve's sister Sadie lived with the Margerum grandparents, but Harve was not happy there. His father George was a blacksmith nearby in Bloomington. Coke and Emma welcomed him lovingly. Emma thought Harve was sent to her from heaven.
Page 1 of 2
HARVE Ellsworth Heller, married Maude Duncan, born 6-24-1881 in Pennsylvania, October 7, 1903. They had two children, Duncan COKE, born March 7, 1905, and Ayliffe Eleanor (James Haley). Harve and Maude farmed near Fletcher. Harve died in the flu epidemic May 6, 1918. Maude and Harve are buried in Smith Grove Cemetery.
Page 2 of 2
