Jonathan Bruestle, one of the old settlers of Clay township, Montgomery county, Ohio, was born in Berks county, Pa., July 1, 1829, and is of German extraction.
Christian Bruestle, his grandfather, was a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, a tailor by trade, and married Sabina Wert, by whom he became the father of the following children: Christian, Henry Charles, Caroline and another, whose name has been forgotten by the present generation. The father of this family died in his native country, a member of the Lutheran church, at the age of fifty-seven years, and his second son, Henry Charles, became the progenitor of the Bruestle family in America. Christian, the eldest brother, was a German Baptist minister, was born in Germany in 1772, made three visits to America, returned as many times to his native land, and died January I, 1841, at the home of his father.
Henry Charles Bruestle, father of Jonathan, was born in Germany November 22, 1780, received a liberal collegiate education, and became master of seven languages. April 25, 1819, he departed for America, and after a voyage of four months landed in Philadelphia, August 25, 1819. Later he went to Tulpehocken township, Berks county, Pa., where he married, August 31, 1823, Elizabeth Oldwine. In April, 1853, became to Ohio and bought a small plat of ten acres at Air Hill, Perry township, Montgomery county, and on this little garden spot he died April 25, 1857, a member of the Lutheran church, of which he had been an elder for sixteen years before he came to Ohio. His wife, daughter of Warner and Catherine (Long) Oldwine, was born in Lebanon county, Pa., January 22, 1795, and bore her husband two children--Henry and Jonathan.
Warner Oldwine, the father of Mrs. Bruestle, was born in Germany and was twenty-five years of age when he came to America. Here he enlisted in the patriot army and bore a valiant part in the Revolutionary war at the battle of Bunker Hill, Brandywine, and elsewhere, fought through the whole of the glorious struggle, and lived also to take part in the war of 1812. He made his home in Lebanon county, Pa., where he owned 200 acres of farming land, and where he reared a family of four children, viz: Anty, Jacob, Samuel and Elizabeth. His death took place at the age of seventy-five years, and his patriotic services were gratefully remembered by his fellow-citizens, who interred his remains with the honors of war.
Jonathan Bruestle was reared on the home farm, received a good education in his youthful days, and was also taught the cabinetmaker's and carpenter's trades. At the age of about twenty-five years, in 1853, he came to Ohio and for two years lived in Miamisburg, and then removed to Salem. In the interval, April 27, 1854, he married Ann Mary Buechler, the ceremony being performed in Madison township by Rev. John Reichert, of the German Reformed church. Miss Buechler was born March 15, 1826, in Pine Grove township, Schuylkill county, Pa., and is a daughter of John and Barbara (Stein) Buechler.
John Buechler, father of Mrs. Bruestle, came from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1836, settled on a farm of 144 acres in Madison township; Montgomery county, and died in 1880, at the age of eighty-three years. To him and his wife were born a family that became useful members of the community of Madison township, both those who were born in Pennsylvania and those born in the Buckeye state. They were named, in order of birth, William, George, John, Henry, Daniel, Ann Mary (Mrs. Bluestle) and Katie.
Jonathan Bruestle, after his marriage, located in Salem, Montgomery county, and for seventeen years was the leading cabinetmaker and undertaker of the town and the surrounding country, but in the meantime, October 4, 1864, bought a tract of sixty-six acres, which he devoted to general farming and tobacco growing, making a specialty of the latter product. He erected a good barn, a fine tobacco shed and other necessary buildings, was industrious and thrifty, and added to his land until it covered eighty acres, which he still owns, and on which he is passing in peace his declining years. In religion Mr. Bruestle, with his wife, is a member of the Lutheran church, in which he has held the offices of elder and trustee, in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and in the latter state, for over five years, he was the sexton for his congregation. His only child, John Davis Buechtel Bruestle, was born June 10, 1859, in Salem, and is now a representative citizen of Clay township.
Source: Centennial Portrait and Biographical Record of the City of Dayton and of Montgomery County, Ohio Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens Together with the Biographies and Portraits of the Presidents of the United States and Biographies of the Governors of Ohio, ed. by Frank Conover, A.W. Bowen & Co., 1897, pp. 1113-1114.