Frank J. Riegel, farmer of Jackson township, Montgomery county, Ohio, was born in Berks county, Pa., April 11, 1831, a son of David and Elizabeth (Kaucher) Riegel, of whom further facts may be read in the biography of John Riegel. When but one year old he was brought by his parents to Ohio, was reared on the home farm among the pioneers and received the usual education of the backwoods schools. He married, in Jackson township, December 1, 1853, Miss Catherine Weaver, who was born June 23, 1831, in this township, a daughter of John I. and Catherine (Pence) Weaver.
John I. Weaver was a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1799, of German parentage, and at the age of eight years was brought to Ohio by his parents, who settled in Jackson township, Montgomery county. Here he grew to manhood, married Miss Pence and went to farming on a tract of 160 acres, which he cleared up from the wild woods, adding to it until he owned about 500 acres, which at his death he divided among his children. These were named Sarah, Malinda, Mary M., Catherine, Urias, John D. and William A. In politics Mr. Weaver was a democrat and served as township trustee and treasurer. He died at the age of eighty-eight years, a deacon and elder in the Slyfer Lutheran church. John Pence, the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Riegel, came from Virginia, and died in Montgomery county, Ohio, at the advanced age of seventy-two years.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Riegel settled on the John B. Miller farm, in Jackson township occupying 124 acres, and have now one of the best improved farms in the township. Their marriage has been blessed with three children--Amanda H., Ellen N. and Altha I. Mr. Riegel is a consistent member of the United Brethren church, in which he has been a class leader for many years, and Mrs. Riegel is a member of the Reformed church. In his politics Mr. Riegel is a democrat and an advocate of the free silver doctrine, and is also an ardent prohibitionist. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Riegel, Amanda H. is married to Allen Bussard, a farmer of Butler county, and has two children--Franklin P. and Elva E.; Ellen N. is the wife of John M. Ebbert, principal of the Nineteenth district public school, Dayton, and has three children--LeRoy, Robert Laird and Wendall; and Altha I. is married to Paris Binkley, a former hardware merchant of East Fifth street, Dayton, and now of San Diego, Cal.
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. 1156-1157.