SAMUEL CARRIE BECHTOL, merchant and assistant postmaster at Brandt, where he does a business of $5,000 annually, was born at Brandt, Bethel Township, Miami County, Ohio, August 21, 1873, and is a son of Joseph and Helen (Blessinger) Bechtol.

Joseph Bechtol was born in the town of German, Ohio, and obtained his education in the schools of Darke County, after which he learned the blacksmith's trade and in that capacity established himself at Brandt. Later he engaged in a mercantile business in Adams County, Indiana, eight months later moved to Greenville, where he followed merchandising for twenty-one months, and then conducted a store at Brandt for three years. Mr. Bechtol then closed out his stock and resumed work as a blacksmith. For a time he resided on his farm of forty acres, which he had inherited from his father, in Darke County, and which is now operated as a truck and nursery farm by his oldest son, Charles Bechtol. Mr. Bechtol has not been active in business for some time, his health not being of the best. He has been postmaster at Brandt since 1905 and is a stanch supporter of the Republican party. He married a daughter of G. W. Blessinger and they have four children: Charles, who married Maude Brown, daughter of Hiram Brown, of Brandt; George Harrison, who married Emma, daughter of John Harness; Samuel Carrie; and Joseph Earl, who married Grace Allen, daughter of Jackson Allen, and has one son, Howard J.

Samuel Carrie Bechtol obtained his education at Brandt and Greenville, Ohio, and began to earn his first money by acting as a clerk in a grocery store, about 1899, and he has continued to be interested in the mercantile line ever since and now owns a first class store stocked with general merchandise. In addition to this he conducts a wholesale and retail ice cream business and he owns four town lots at Brandt. Ever since his marriage he has lived continuously at Brandt and is one of the towns most representative citizens.

On February 22, 1903, Mr. Bechtol was married to Miss Velma Iola Brown, a daughter of Hiram and Hattie (Gantz) Brown, and they have two children, Feta Iola, residing at home, and an infant. Mr. Bechtel was reared in the German Reformed Church, of which his parents are worthy members.