Englehard Oehm (1835-1919)

From the Lancaster Enterprise, July 24, 1919.

   Obscure Erie County, New York resident Englehard Oehm earned distinction in local politics and fraternal groups following his resettlement in that county in the 1860s, being a multi-term township supervisor and village president of Lancaster. Additionally, Oehm led in the construction of the International Order of Odd Fellows Lodge in that town in 1879. He earns a place here on the site not only for his service as village president but for his candidacy for the New York State Assembly in 1892.

   The son of Bernard and Christina (Steppeth) Oehm, Englehard Oehm was born on August 10, 1835. There is some confusion as to Oehm's birth-place, with the 1877 History of Buffalo and Erie County giving it as Ohio, and that state is also recorded by Oehm's Wikitree genealogical webpage. However, the 1905 and 1910 New York state census records his birthplace as Germany (along with the birthdate of 1836) and further denotes Oehm's year of immigration to the United States as 1851. His possible birth in Germany is further strengthened by a notice on his 1892 run for the state assembly, where he is remarked as a "German by birth."  Oehm's first name also has variations in its spelling, being given as both Engelhard and Englehardt. All in all, very confusing! 

  While nothing could be found on Oehm's formative years or education, he is recorded as making a journey to California for the Gold Rush in the early 1850s, making the trip via "the isthmus of Panama." In 1864 Oehm married to Catherine Kolb (1841-1897), a native of Cheektowaga, New York, and by 1866 is recorded as having resettled in Erie County. Oehm and his wife would have at least ten children, daughters Wealthy, Barbre, Bertha, Amelia Elizabeth, and Katherine, and sons Englehard Jr. (1877-1923), Frankie, Willie, Jacob, and Erwin (1881-1897). 

  Sometime following his marriage Oehm had another extended stay in California, where in San Francisco he became affiliated with the International Order of Odd Fellows. After his return to Erie County, Oehm led the way for the establishment of the Loyal Lodge No. 480 of the I.O.O.F in Lancaster, and at the same time as that lodge's founding attained the rank of Noble Grand in that organization. 

  Employed as a building contractor and planing mill owner, Oehm entered Erie County politics when he was elected to the first of four terms as Township Supervisor of Lancaster in 1883. He was returned to that office in 1884, 1886 and 1887, and in the early 1890s served as foreman of the Erie County grand jury, holding that post for an indeterminate length of time.

From the Buffalo Evening News, November 2, 1892.

   In 1892 Englehard Oehm sought the Republican nomination for the New York State Assembly, from Erie County's Fifth District. Acknowledged as a "man widely known in the district and thoroughly respected for business integrity and sound judgment," Oehm made a "thorough and well-directed canvass" of the district he hoped to represent, and that year faced off against incumbent Democrat Henry Guenther, who had represented that district since 1887. When the votes were tallied that November, Oehm polled an admirable 5,287 votes, but still lost out to Guenther, who polled 6,024 votes.

   Following his assembly defeat Oehm continued work as a building contractor until his retirement, and in 1908 was elected as Village President of Lancaster. He celebrated his 80th birthday in 1915 and died in Lancaster on July 16, 1919, aged 83. His wife Catherine had predeceased him in 1897 and both were interred at the famed Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.