State General Assembly representative from
Holt County, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on July 12, 1829. The
SCHRANTZ family history in Pennsylvania dates to 1735. His father was
Samuel SCHRANTZ and his mother's maiden name was Catharine HULL.
In 1835, the family moved to Stark County, Ohio where John SCHRANTZ
grew up. Formal educational opportunities were scanty and of poor
quality; he kept mostly to home, working on the farm, and became
self-educated to the degree it was possible. He was married at
Stark County in 1850 to Mary E. SCHEETS and went into farming for
himself in the same county.
In the spring of 1854, he moved to
De Kalb County, Indiana. In the fall of 1855, a universal sickness
swept over that part of the state which proved unusually fatal
and malignant in its character. In eleven days he lost his wife
and two children, all his family beside himself. He continued
to farm and in 1857 married Susan DUCH of De Kalb County
He remained
there until the fall of 1865 and served four years as justice
of the peace and for two years was township assessor. He moved
his family to Holt County, Missouri and lives on the 290 acre farm he
purchased on the edge of the bluff two miles above Mound City.
In 1876 he erected a substantial farm dwelling, a conspicuous
object of attraction in a view of the line of bluffs above Mound
City. He has always been a Republican and in 1874 was the successful
candidate for state representative. He has two children living;
Mary and A. B. SCHRANTZ.
Source: "An Illustrated Historical Atlas Map, Holt County, MO.
Published by Brink, McDonough & Co., Philadelphia, 1877
Provided by Dave Roberts of Lyon County, Kentucky,
a former Holt County resident.
