From "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and  
Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902. 
 
Typed by E. J. Heinemann 
 
p. 677 
 
MARTIN SCHMIDT, a well-known retail grocer of Wheeling, West Virginia,  
whose store is located at No. 48 Eleventh street, was born in Germany  
in 1836.  In 1854 he came to America, locating in Wheeling, West  
Virginia.  He had learned the trade of a plasterer in his native  
country, but never followed the trade after coming to the United  
States.  He at first engaged at work in a saw and rolling mill,  
spending thirty-three years at work in the latter.  He worked a number  
of years in the Belmont Iron Works' Top Mill, and for fifteen years was  
with the Riverside Iron Works, being employed as a heater. 
     In 1886 Mr. Schmidt engaged in the grocery business at his present  
location.  He had but little experience in this business, but by hard  
work and close application to his business he has been very successful.  
He handles all kinds of staple and fancy goods, and is ably assisted by  
his daughter, who attends to the books and assists in clerking.  A  
deliveryman is also employed. 
     Mr. Schmidt married Catherine Milliger, a daughter of Jacob Milliger,  
and they have several children, namely: George H. P., of the firm of  
George E. Stifel & Company; Addie L.,; Katie, the wife of Otto Schenk,  
of Wheeling; Emma Louise, who is at home; Harry engaged with George E.  
Stifel & Company, Lillie, who assists her father in the store; Arthur,  
who is general bookkeeper in the National Exchange Bank of Wheeling;  
and John Albert, who is employed in the store of George E. Stifel &  
Company. 
     Politically, Mrs. Schmidt is a Republican, and cast his first vote
for Abraham Lincoln.  He is a member of the German Lutheran Evangelical  
church.  He has always lived in Wheeling, with the exception of three  
years spent at Steubenville, Ohio.