Gottlob Hertler
 

Hello all, so good to see so many of you out this afternoon (evening). My name is Gottlob Hertler. Some of you may know me as one of the oldest Salinian. I lived to the wonderful age of 103 years, 4 months and 28days. I was Uncle Gottlob to well- known local resident Marilyn Rentschler.
My life started here in York Township. Back then it was called York Washtenaw, MI just up the ways. I was born to German immigrants, Johann or George and Anna Lutz Hertler on September 29th, 1875. They, like so many other settlers, came over to escape the famines and poverty. In fact, many of the immigrants set up a community around these parts.
As a child I had a wonderful life. I was the oldest boy of 14 children. We all helped out with farming the land. However, my family endured some very sad times when we lost five of my siblings to the flu epidemic during World War 1.
My family stayed strong and in the 1890’s I opened Hertler Brothers with my brothers George and Herman and my youngest sister, Emma. You may know it now as downtown Home and Garden located at 210 S. Ashley St. in Ann Arbor. Oh, those were the days. We enjoyed providing feed, seed, tools and equipment to the local farming community. We would take care of our patrons as well as their horses. We gave the horses hay and water for just 10 cents while their owners shopped with us. We were also known to have a good euchre game going on every now and then.
On October 1, 1905 I married the love of my life Euthemia Baur of Manchester. We loved spending time together and in 1913 we were to start a family as she was pregnant. Unfortunately, having this family was not in my cards as my lovely wife had to undergo a Cesarean section on January 11th. Our child was born and only lived until the next day. My wife lived 12 more days, but unfortunately her condition never improved and she passed on January 23rd,1913. It was a very sad day for me.
I loved her so much that I wanted the world to know. I honored her and our baby by having many teams of horses draw the casket from Ann Arbor to Oakwood Cemetery. Now Euthemia and our baby are with me once again.
I never married again. I kept myself busy with the farm and our business. I continued to live a long and prosperous life in the community as the Director as well as other positions for Saline Saving Bank. When I was 80 years old, I decided to travel to Texas to check out their long horn cattle. I was always interested in making farm life better. With my wonderful family I helped contribute to many causes and spent time with them. Yes, I truly did live a long and full life in Saline.