Hon. Emanuel Shultz, retired manufacturer and an ex-congressman from Ohio, was born in Berks county, Pa., July 25, 1819. He is a son of George and Mary (Vinyard) Shultz, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. His paternal grandfather, Frederick Shultz, was a native of Hesse-Cassel, in the Prussian duchy of Nassau, and came to America prior to the Revolutionary war. He became a soldier in the American army during that great struggle for independence, and served his adopted country well.
Emanuel Shultz received his education, until his eleventh year, in the common schools, and then, owing to the death of his father, he was compelled to depend on private study and self-teaching. Learning the shoemaker's trade through an apprenticeship of seven years, in Philadelphia, he was well prepared for self-support, and in 1838 he removed to Ohio, locating in Miamisburg, where he established himself in the boot and shoe business, employing from five to fifteen journeymen. This business he continued until 1846, when he changed his occupation to that of a general commission and mercantile trade. Soon becoming one of the largest and most successful operators in his branch of commerce in the Miami valley, he took a leading part in the establishment, organization and development of all the prominent enterprises of Miamisburg. One of these was the private bank of H. Groby & Co., established in 1865, in which Mr. Shultz was interested from the time of its establishment until 1888. He was the principal projector of the Miami Valley Paper company, which, in connection with Dr. William H. Manning, he organized in 1871. With this latter enterprise he was connected until 1889. From 185310 1870 he was engaged extensively in dealing in leaf tobacco, and did much to encourage the growth of this important staple product of the state of Ohio. The Miami valley is one of the noted tobacco growing regions of the state, comprising about 7,500 square miles, and the average yield of its best soils reaching as high as 1,800 pounds per acre.
Mr. Shultz was married July 23, 1840, to Sarah Beck, daughter of Conrad and Mary (Anspaugh) Beck, of Miamisburg, and to this marriage there were born three children, as follows: Mary A. (Mrs. Dr. William H. Manning), Amanda M. (Mrs. A.T. Whittich), and Sarah Aletta (Mrs. H.C. Schuberth). In religion Mr. Schultz is of the Lutheran faith, and fraternally he belongs to the Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. He is a royal arch Mason and6 a Knight Templar, and was a charter member of Marion lodge, No. 18, I.0.0.F., of Miamisburg, which was organized in 1843. As a republican Mr. Shultz has held every office but one, that of township clerk, in the gift of Miami township and Miamisburg. Previous to the organization of the republican party he was a whig, but since that time has always been a republican. In 1875 he was elected to the legislature, but was not a candidate for re-election. In 1873 he was a member of the convention that revised the state constitution, which, upon being submitted to the people, was rejected. In October, 1880, he was elected to congress from the Fourth district, which position he filled with credit to himself and to the satisfaction to his constituents. Elected commissioner of Montgomery county in 1859, he served three years. In 1881 he was one of the organizers of the Lima Car works, was a stockholder and served as vice-president until he sold his interest.
Mr. Shultz is a gentleman of sound and shrewd business judgment, and few are possessed of a more genial disposition or endowed with so happy a faculty of winning friends. Of quick perception, he reads at a glance the character and disposition of those with whom he comes in contact; a ready conversationalist, he is thoroughly at home in any discussion. Free, unaffected and courteous in manner, he is still dignified and earnest and is a representative man of the better class. He is fully alive to the practical everyday affairs of life, and is now enjoying the fruits of his own industry, which he has accumulated through half a century's exercise of good business tact and discerning and comprehensive survey of the tendencies of commercial movements and the necessities of his fellow-men. In 1889 he was appointed by President Harrison postmaster at Miamisburg, and filled the office in a most capable manner for tour years and five months, retiring on the appointment of his successor in 1894.
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. 1053-1054.