ISAAC H. KREITZER, nurseryman and farmer, residing on his farm of fifty acres, which is situated on the National Turnpike, in Bethel Township, Miami County, not far from Tippecanoe City, owns what is probably one of the finest homes in this section of the country, one of exceptional attractiveness during the summer seasons. Mr. Kreitzer was born in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1850, and is a son of John and Catherine (Haak) Kreitzer.

The parents of Mr. Kreitzer spent their lives in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, where they were farming people of ample means. They had the following children: Henry, Jonathan, Michael, Andrew, John, Eliza, Aaron, William, Kate, and Isaac H. Many years have passed since Isaac H. Kreitzer left the old home and the beloved parents, but their memory is very dear to him and with pardonable pride he shows to the interested visitor a picture of his father and mother, done in pen and ink, bearing the date of 1824, It is a very artistic piece of work and the color has never faded in the least.

Before he was seventeen years of age, Isaac H. Kreitzer had completed his college course in Lebanon County, and for one year thereafter he taught school. He then became interested in the milling business and continued to work in flour mills in his native section until he was twenty one years of age, when he came to Ohio and worked for one year in a mill at Westerville, Franklin County. From there he went to Tippecanoe City, where he followed milling for four years, in the meanwhile marrying, and two years after this event moved to Montgomery County, where he operated his own custom mill for twenty years. When he retired from the milling industry he came to Miami County and located first on a farm adjoining the one he subsequently bought, in Bethel Township, which he cultivated for six years and then came to his present place. Here he repaired all the buildings and equipped them with modern appliances for comfortable living, including a modern system of heating, and spending a large amount on beautifying his grounds. A cyclone that passed through Bethel Township in 1907 destroyed much timber, but he still has four acres standing. He devotes seven acres to cherry, pear, apple and plum orchards and makes a specialty of raising strawberries, raspberries and blackberries and general nursery stock. He bought this farm from the late Robert Defenderfer, who formerly conducted a fruit farm. Mr. Kreitzer has his sons, Charles E., John and Ray, as his partners and the business is conducted under the firm name of I. H. Kreitzer & Sons. In association with his wife, Mr. Kreitzer owns considerable valuable city property in Dayton, Ohio.

On October 10, 1875, Mr. Kreitzer was married to Miss Anna M. Ross, a highly accomplished lady, who was educated at Center Seminary, Indiana, and subsequently for nine years was a successful teacher in the schools of West Charleston and Brandt. Her parents were John and Eliza Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Kreitzer have had the following children: Harry C., John Ross, Charles E., George E. and Raymond Isaac. All survive except George E., who was a twin brother of Charles E., and did not survive infancy. Harry C. married Lucy, a daughter of William and Martha Johnson. Charles E., John and Ray reside at home. Charles E. is a partner with his father and is one of the prominent Republican politicians of this section at present being a central committeeman. He is also a justice of the peace. Charles E. and Raymond I. graduated in the class of 1900 from Bethel High School and reside at home. The Kreitzer sons are musical, and in March, 1908, Charles E. Kreitzer organized the Phoneton Band, of fifteen pieces, he playing the E- flat cornet. The band is fully equipped with fine instruments and an attractive uniform, and their playing met with such popular approval that in the first season they cleared $550. Charles E. Kreitzer is prominent in Odd Fellowship, belonging to Lodge No. 711 of Brandt and to Monroe Encampment, No.140, of Tippecanoe City.