John Benjamin Hoel was born on October 2, 1894 in Mercer County, Ohio. He is Walt’s uncle.

John was the second child born to William and Martha Ann Fisher Hoel. He was born in Mercer County, Ohio. Sometime before the 1900 census, the family moved to Delaware County, Indiana. William was working at an iron mill at the time.

The area around Muncie was enjoying a natural gas boom that brought many industries to the area. There were several steel and iron factories in the are, but the information I have doesn’t say which one William worked at.

The boom was over early in the 1900s, so the family moved back to Mercer County, Ohio. They had a farm in Hopewell Township, and by the 1920 census, John, aged 15, was listed as a laborer and was no longer attending school.

John’s older sister, Sadie, was already married and out of the house. The youngest son, Carl, wasn’t born until 1911. Living with the family was Martha’s mother, Ann Fisher. I wrote about her in this post.

John Benjamin Hoel married Agnes Slack on August 4, 1916. I found a record of it in Cuyahoga County. Agnes was living in Elyria at the time.

I found John’s World War I draft registration card. It stated that he was living in Amherst, Ohio, and working for the Garford Manufacturing Company in Elyria. He was assembling phonographs. There were a number of companies that made various parts and whole phonographs in the area. According to this post, Arthur L. Garford was an innovator and started several companies in the area.

Unfortunately, John and Agnes did not get to enjoy much time together. Agnes died on July 2, 1917. John died on October 29, 1918. They are buried in Crownhill Cemetery in Amherst, Ohio.