THE 283COUNTY OF FULTON
A History of Fulton County, Ohio, from the Earliest
Days, with Special Chapters on Various Subjects,
Including Each of the Different Townships;
Also a Biographical Department.
THOMAS MIKESELL
EDITORMADISON, WIS.
NORTHWESTERN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
1905
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
By Thomas Mikesell
Biographical
CHARLES E. BRAILEY, a successful merchant of Brailey Station, is a native of Norwalk, Huron County. O. where he was born on July 13, 1852. He is the son of Gen. Moses R. Brailey, whose life sketch appears fully in this work. His mother's maiden name was Sarah I. Maxon. The General and his wife were natives of New York State and died in Wauseon, O. the former in January, 1896. and the latter on January 17, 1881. The following children were born to these distinguished parents: Melissa N., who died in middle life; Albina, now Mrs. J. N. Michaels, of Toledo, O.: Lester C., of Toledo; James S., whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work; Charles E.;
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Elva F., the wife of Norman F. Dull, of Toledo; Sarah M., the wife of A. H. King, of Toledo; Nora A., now Mrs. Andrew McCain, of Fulton county, and two others who died in infancy. Charles E. Bailey was educated in the public schools of the locality in which he was born and at the Delta and Columbus high schools. His whole life has been spent in the vicinity of the old homestead. For eighteen years he was engaged in the mercantile business at Milroy, and on the advent of the Wabash railroad he moved to his present location, eighty rods south of Milroy, and established the village of Bailey. His establishment is the only general store in the place. In addition to his village property, consisting of fine residence and two store buildings, he owns a valuable and highly cultivated farm of one hundred and forty acres. He transacts a large general merchandise business, handling all kinds of produce and selling all kinds of merchandise. In politics he is an uncompromising Republican wielding a strong influence in the counsels of that party as chairman or member of the county central committee. Mr. Bailey is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having been initiated into Delta lodge at the time his distinguished father was Worshipful Master. His membership is now with Swanton lodge, No. 555. He is also actively identified with the order of the Knights of Pythias. On February 21, 1875, he was married to Miss Clara B. Dixon, a native of Wisconsin and the daughter of John and Margaret A. Dixon, both natives of Fulton county, where they ended their days after spending their early married life in Wisconsin. Of the three children that have been born to this union only one is now living. Their names follow: Bessie M. born in 1876, who was married to Gerald F. Free, an employee of Mr. Bailey, and who died on April 23, 1904, leaving a daughter, Bessie, only eight days old, now a member of the Bailey family: Moses R., who was born in 1882 and died at the age of nine months, and Vera M., born in 1886, who is still at home.
HON. JAMES S. BRAILEY, prominently connected with several corporations in Ohio and Texas, and an influential citizen of Wauseon was born in Huron county, O. December 22, 1849. He is the representative of a family whose ancestral history is especially a matter of deep interest to the reading people of Fulton county because his father, Gen. Moses Rudolph Brailey, was one of the county's most popular and prominent men. General Brailey was a native of Canandaigua county. N. Y., where he was born November 2, 1817. After completing his public school education at Buffalo, N. Y., he removed to Norwalk, O.. where he engaged in farming and the lumber business. Here he was elected a justice of the peace, the beginning of his highly successful public career. He studied law under the tutor ship of Hon. E. M. Stone. of Norwalk, and was admitted to the bar in 1846, and for eleven years practiced his profession in that city. In 1852 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Huron county and two years later reelected. In 1857 he removed to Fulton county, where he continued the practice of law, and where he was twice elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, in 1858 and 1860. Before the expira-
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tion of the second term the Civil war broke out. Resigning his office, he tendered his services to his country, though considerably past the age of military duty. His first enlistment was early in 1861, for a period of three months. At the expiration of that term he promptly re-enlisted on August 21, and was mustered into the service as captain of Company I of the Thirty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry. Having been wounded in a skirmish near Spring Mill, Ky., he was discharged in March, 1862. On May following he again entered the service as captain of Company G, of the Eighty-fifth Ohio regiment, and on August 22, was transferred to the One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio Infantry, with the rank of major and was put in command of the regiment. Major Brailey participated in the battles of Kentucky and East Tennessee, and in January, 1863, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. For gallantry on the field of battle he was subsequently promoted to brevet colonel in the regular army and brigadier general of volunteers. By reason of impaired health, occasioned principally by his former wounds, he was obliged to leave the service receiving an honorable discharge during the winter of 1863-64. As he was averse to engaging in the pursuits of civil life while the war continued, he at the solicitation of Governor Brough, accepted the office of paymaster, a position that he held until the close Of the war. In 1865 he was elected comptroller of the treasurer for the State of Ohio and re-elected three years later, serving in that capacity until 1871. Meanwhile he had been elected a member of the Board of Soldiers' Claims for his State. In 1876 he returned to Fulton county and resumed the peaceful pursuits of private life, enjoying the privacy of the farm and the practice of law at Swanton. General Brailey was married in Eden, near Buffalo, N. Y. April 21,1837, choosing for his companion in life's journey, Miss Sarah J. Maxon, of Buffalo, the daughter of Clark and Charity Maxon. The children born to this union were as follows: Melissa, Susan D., Laura L., Sevilla A., Lester C., James S., Charles E., Elva F., Sarah M., Eleanor A. and Ellen E. General Brailey was the son of Gideon and Ann Brailey, of Massachusetts and New York respectively, who traced their ancestry back to early Colonial times. James S. Brailey having accompanied his parents to Swan Creek township, Fulton county, in 1857, spent his early years on the parental farm and attended the public schools of the county. His education, interrupted by the Civil war, was resumed at its close and completed at the Ohio State University at Columbus. His business interests have been quite varied. Just after the war he secured the position of secretary of the Board of Military Claims and served in that capacity until 1869. Coming to Wauseon, he secured the secretary ship of the Fulton County Building and Loan association and for fifteen years engaged in the insurance business. In 1873-4 he served as deputy county auditor. He was for some years a member of the firm of Rorick & Brailey brokers and dealers in real estate. For six years he filled the office of secretary of the Safety, Loan and Abstract company, and during the administration of President Harrison. was postmaster of Wauseon. In recent years he has become interested in the building and extension of independent tele
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phone lines and in equipping telephone exchanges. Primarily the construction of independent telephone plants was restricted to the territory comprising the States of Ohio and Michigan, but later was extended into the South. Mr. Brailey is at present engaged in building lines in Texas. This invasion of the territory of rival companies whose service is far from satisfactory, was hailed with delight by the people, who see their opportunity to secure better service at considerably less expense. He is also one of the promoters of the Detroit and Lima railroad, an enterprise of great magnitude and flattering prospects. On December 29, 1870, he was married, the lady of his choice being Miss Iona P., born in Fulton county on December 28, 1852, the daughter of Orra and Catherine E. Blake, one of the most influential families in this county. Mrs. Brailey is a lady of culture and refinement, and possesses many admirable graces peculiar to herself. She takes a personal interest in the welfare of the veterans of the Civil war, and has always been a zealous worker in the Woman's Relief Corps, of which organization she was president for two years at Wauseon. She and her husband have entertained at their home the survivors of General Brailey's old regiment when assembled in reunion, and have always been especially interested, both with their means and words of encouragement, in making the lives of the old veterans happier and more comfortable. Mrs. Brailey is an earnest member of the Congregational church and labors unceasingly in its various interests. To James S. Brailey and wife there have been born two sons, James S. Jr., and Orra Lester. James S. Brailey, Jr., of Toledo, O., received his education in the public schools of Wauseon and at the Ohio State University, Columbus. In 1895 he was admitted to the bar as a practicing attorney. Later he turned his attention to other lines of business. After having engaged in the practice of his profession in Wauseon and Toledo for some years, he became interested in the telephone business, having experienced the inadequate accommodations afforded by the company that enjoyed a monopoly in that enterprise. Defying all threats of the Bell company, Mr. Brailey and Edward L. Barber, together with Mr. Brailey, Sr., assumed the aggressive and established an independent exchange at Wauseon. Their request for long distance connections having been refused, these aggressive men proceeded to construct their own line connecting Wauseon with Toledo. As the Wauseon exchange proved a financial success, the Ohio Construction company was organized for the purpose of establishing independent telephone exchanges in other cities, building exchanges at Adrian and Tecumseh, Mich., and Clyde, Elyria and other towns in Ohio, after which J. S. Brailey, Jr., and Ed L. Barber organized the Central Construction company; E. L. Barber as President and J. S. Brailey, Jr., Secretary and General Manager. Up to date the company has installed independent exchanges in Louisville, Ky., Kansas City., Mo., Utica, N. Y., Springfield, O., Napoleon, Tiffin, Bucyrus. Delaware, Sidney, Piqua and many other Ohio towns and cities, besides building several long distance lines. Recently Mr. Brailey, Jr., has invested largely in Toledo real estate and is now connected with a company to build a half million
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dollars hotel in Toledo. He was married to Miss Eda Garret, a native of Fulton county, but a resident of Toledo, O., for some years before her marriage. They have one daughter, Lucile by name. Orra Lester, the younger son, served as a musician during the late war with Spain, serving first as regimental bugler and afterwards as band-master, after which he was located at San Antonio, Texas, engaged in the construction of independent telephone plants at San Antonio, Austin and several other larger cities in Texas. At present he is in California, superintending the mining interests of the family. He was wedded to Miss Lottie Nelson of Knoxville, Tenn., a young lady of high social standing and rare accomplishments. She possesses a superb voice which has been cultivated under some of the masters of musical science.
ORRA M . BRAILEY, justice of the peace and notary public of Swanton, Fulton county, O., was born in Norwalk, O., May 25, 1853. He is the representative of one of the most prominent and well known families of Fulton county, his father being a brother of Gen. M. R. Brailey, whose life sketch appears fully in the personal article of James S. Brailey. The parents of Orra M. Brailey were Lester and Anna Jane (Brewster) Brailey, the former a native of New York State and the latter of Vermont. Lester Brailey removed to Huron county, O., in an early day and located on a farm, where he spent his mature life and died at the age of seventy-three years. His widow, now seventy-four years old, still resides on the home farm. Of the six children born to these parents four are still living. The names follow: Julia and Jonah, both of whom died in infancy; Orra M., Leonard, Mary and Carrie, the last three named all living in Huron county. Orra M. Brailey grew to manhood on the parental farm and received his education in the Normal at Milan, O., and Oberlin College. After leaving school he taught in Huron and Fulton counties for fifteen years, meeting with unusual success. Then he engaged in farming in Swan Creek township until 1902, when he removed to Swanton and engaged in the agricultural implement business. In this same year he was elected justice of the peace, and two years later reelected to the same office. For twelve years he served as director of the Fulton county infirmary and at present holds the office of clerk of Swan Creek township. In the councils of the Republican party he has for years been recognized as one of the local chieftains. Mr. Brailey is a member of Swanton Lodge, No.555, Free and Accepted Masons, being at present Worshipful Master of the lodge, and Past Chancellor Commander of Swanton Lodge, No. 558 Knights of Pythias. In religious affairs he is quite liberal. While not connected with any religions organization he sees good both in and out of the church. On June 29, 1874, he was married, the lady of his choice being Miss. Sylvania Hunter, a native of Norwalk, O. They are the parents of three sons, one of whom, Leman, is deceased. The others are: Dr. Harry E., of Swanton and Corwin, who has been traveling in the West for two years in search of health, and who now resides at Denver, Col. Dr. Harry Early Brailey was born in Norwalk, Huron 288
county, and accompanied his parents to Fulton county when a child. He was reared on the farm and educated in the county public schools and the high school at Delta, where he took a four years' course, graduating in 1894. During the two years following he was engaged in teaching and clerical work. In 1902 he graduated from the Detroit College of Medicine and at once began the practice of his profession at Swanton, where he has established a successful and remunerative business. He is a member of the Fulton County Medical Society, the Tri-State Medical and American Medical associations, and is the medical-examiner of a number of insurance companies. The doctor is a stanch Republican and a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of the World. He is unmarried and still resides at home.
W. F. BRAINARD, the superintendent and a part owner of the Wauseon Lumber Company, was born near Cleveland, in Mayfield township, Cuyahoga county, O. He is the son of L. E. Brainard and Rose (Stratton) Brainard, the former born near Cleveland and the latter in Huron county. His paternal grandfather came from Connecticut, having come to Ohio in an early day. His maternal grandparents were natives of Lockport, N. Y. The subject of this sketch received a careful elementary education in the public schools of his native countv and was thoroughly trained for the important positions he has held and is now holding. His first business connection was with the Pilliod Lumber Company of Swanton, Fulton county, in the capacity of superintendent. During the eight years that he had charge of this concern, he displayed remarkable ability and conducted its affairs so successfully as to endear himself to his employers. When he severed his relations with this company he carried with him their best wishes for success in whatever he might undertake. But greater responsibilities were in store for the subject of this sketch. In 1891 he became part owner and superintendent of the Wauseon Lumber Company having come to Wauseon with the firm. The magnitude of the business done by this company may be judged from the fact that it sells seldom less than seventy thousand dollars worth of manufactured material each year This remarkable success is due principally to the able management of the business by Mr. Brainard. He makes it his business to look after the affairs of the company just as closely as if the entire property belonged to himself. The territory to which this firm ships the products of its large mill is not limited to the United States, for it also enjoys a large export trade. Forty-five men are employed throughout the year by this concern. Lumber, hoops, staves and telephone brackets are manufactured on an extensive scale. Mr. Brainard's wonderful success is due to the fact that he gives his undivided attention to the management of the business, for the success management of a business of such vast dimensions necessarily requires the entire time of its manager.
LEROY S. BRENNER is one of the representative business men and influential citizens of Fayette, where he is junior member of the well-known firm of Acker & Brenner, dealers in agricultural implements 289
and machinery, buggies, carriages, wagons, harness, etc., and manufacturers of harness and saddlery goods, as well as various other products in the line. The present firm was organized in 1893, and the concern has large and well equipped quarters, the establishment being the only one of the sort in the thriving town of Fayette. Mr. Brenner was born on November 3, 1855, in Medina county, Ohio, and is a son of Adam and Mary (Sitz) Brenner, both natives of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Ohio in the early 50's, settling in Medina county and later removing to Lorain county, where the father died at the age of seventy-two years, having been a resident of the town of Wellington at the time. His widow passed the closing years of her life in Medina county, where she died in 1893, at the age of eighty-four years. They became the parents of ten children: George is deceased; Ephraim is a resident of Medina county; Frank and Emma are deceased; Theresa is the wife of Jay Beedle, of Medina county; Christopher is a resident of Cleveland, Ohio; Wade resides in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Mary is deceased; Leroy S. figures as the immediate subject of this brief sketch; Martha is the wife of Henry Strong, of Battle Creek, Mich. Leroy S. Brenner was reared to maturity in Medina county, in whose public schools he secured that excellent training which so well equipped him for the duties and responsibilities of his later career as an active and successful business man. At the age of sixteen years, in Wellington, Lorain county, he entered upon an apprenticeship at the trade of harness making, serving three years and three months and becoming a thoroughly skilled artisan in the line. He then went to Hastings, Mich., where he was employed at his trade a short time, then locating in Bellevue, that State, where he followed his trade several years, a portion of the time having had a shop of his own. Previously to this, however, he had been employed for a time in Union City, that State, in the shop of one of the town's pioneer business men, Edwin Lee, and after returning to Bellevue and conducting his own shop for a time he disposed of the same and removed to Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, where he was engaged in the hotel business for the ensuing seven months. He then returned to Wellington and entered into a contract to manufacture fifty sets of harness, completing the work in due course of time. In February, 1884, Mr. Brenner came to Fayette, and for the following six years was here associated in the harness business with Benjamin D. Durling. He then continued in the same line of enterprise individually, and he also opened a carriage and buggy emporium in connection, building up an excellent trade, and continued his operations in these lines, on Main street, for a period of twelve years. He then formed his present partnership, with Gary Acker, and they control a large and important business, extending over a wide radius of country. In the meanwhile Mr. Brenner had become identified with other business enterprises, having conducted a livery stable one year, and having had a grocery store about the same length of time, and he also became proprietor of a blacksmith shop. He is progressive and energetic and posesses excellent business acumen, so that he has been successful in
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his efforts, and in his business career he has made a steady and substantial advancement, gaining prosperity and independence through his own efforts, and his course has been such as to retain to him the esteem and confidence of those with whom he has come in contact in the various relations of life. He is public-spirited - and loyal to the interests of his home town, where he has stock in several commercial and industrial corporations. He is a supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and he served five years as a member of the village council of Fayette. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. At Olivet, Mich., December 28, 1882, Mr. Brenner was united in marriage to Miss Anna L. Adams, of Bellevue, that State, and they have four children;Clarence, Leta, Verna and Lucille.
HON. FRANKLIN BRIGGS, a prominent and highly successful merchant of Delta, and a representative of one of the early established families of Fulton county, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, February 15, 1841. He is the sort of Francis and Sarah (Cuffel) Briggs. both natives of Wayne county. Francis Briggs was a physician by profession and followed that calling until his death which occurred at the age of fifty-five years in Ft. Wayne, Ind., his wife having died a few years earlier, aged fifty-two years. They were the parents of five children, all of whom are still living. They are: Mrs. Sarah J. Hill, a widow, of Wauseon, O.; Franklin; Margaret, now Mrs. Fluhart of Continental, O.; Matilda, now Mrs. Springstead of Springfield, O.; Charles W., a mechanic of Bellefontaine, O. Franklin Briggs grew to manhood in his native county and was educated in the Waterville, O., graded school. He began his independent life career by enlisting as a soldier in Company I of the Fourteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, serving three months, and then for three years in Company K of the Sixty-seventh Ohio regiment. Enlisting as a private he rose in rank step by step until he reached that of Captain, attaining to the command of his company before he was twenty-one years old, and serving as such for more than two years. Although he took part in forty-three engagements of greater or less degree, he escaped personal injury. Among these engagements may be mentioned the following: Phillippi, Cheat River, First Battle of Winchester and other maneuvers Shenandoah Valley, Black River, Harrison's Landing, Siege and Battle of Petersburg, Siege of Charleston and the Storming of Fort Wagner. In November, 1864, he was mustered out of service and returned home, to embark soon after in the drug business, which he shortly after augmented by engaging also in the hardware business. Disposing of his drug establishment soon after he gave his undivided attention to the management of the hardware business, in which he met with unusual success, his trade extending to all parts of the county. He handles a general line of hardware, farm machinery, vehicles, etc. Mr. Briggs has always been an ardent Republican and has attained to an honored position within his party, having filled various offices in the town of Delta. In 1903 he was elected representative from his county to the Ohio legislature, serving during the 291
session of 1904, and his services were so acceptable to his constituents that he was re-elected on November 7, 1905, for another term. He was chairman of the Temperance committee, member of the committee on Fees and Salaries, also on that of Public Ways. In the counsels of the Masonic fraternity he has attained to the exalted position of a Thirty-second degree member. With the Grand Army of the Republic he is actively identified, being post commander of McQuillin Post, No.271. Together with his family he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, taking an active part in all branches of church work. Mr. Briggs has been married three times. His first wife was Miss Laura Trowbridge, who died without issue. He next was wedded to Miss Mattie Hill, of Tuscarawas county. To this union two children were born, both of whom died prior to the mother's death. His present wife was Miss Emma Gelzer of Delta, who is the mother of four children. They are: Marion W.. a graduate of the Electrical Engineering Department in Armour Institute of Technology, Chicago, who is interested in his father's business: Earnest F., a graduate of the classical course of the University of Michigan, also a member of the firm of F. Briggs & Sons; Clara Louise, a graduate of the Woman's College of Baltimore, Md., who is still at home, and Bernice, a student at Evanston, IlI.
RUFUS BRIGGS, a representative of a prominent timber firm of Boston, Mass., was born in Penobscot county, Me., April 14, 1828. He is the son of Erastus and Cynthia (Holden) Briggs, the former, born in New Salem, Mass., in 1795, and the latter near Sedgwick, Penobscot county. Maine, in 1814. In the fall of 1835 Erastus Briggs removed to Maumee, where he resided until April 1, 1837, when he came to Clinton township. He was a surveyor by occupation, having been thoroughly trained for that work, and had the honor of having taught the first school in Clinton township. At the time Mr. Briggs settled in Fulton county it was a part of Lucas county. His purchase of land of Elijah Huntington constitutes the first transfer recorded in that township. In the first election held in the township Mr. Briggs served as clerk. Finally he moved back to Maumee River, where he died in 1839, forty-four years of age. After his death his widow moved back to Clinton township, where she reared her family on a farm. Here she died in 1898, at the ripe age of eighty-four years. The children of Erastus Briggs and wife are: Catherine, the wife of George Leonard of Napoleon, O.; Rufus, the subject of this sketch ;Maria, the wife of Ben Cooper of Covington. Ky.; Rowena, now Mrs. Miller of Covington, Ky., and Erastus, a resident of Judsonia, Ark.,. since 1870, where he is prominent in public and religious affairs, being identified with the Baptist church. William Holden, the father of Cynthia (Holden) Briggs, served as an officer in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war. The subject of this sketch, at the age of sixteen years, went to Covington. Ky., where he resided for seven years. From Covington he removed to Ohio and in 1854 located at Wauseon. He made this last journey on the first passenger train on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. Since his residence 292
in Wauseon he has quite actively engaged in the timber business representing a prominent Boston firm. His territory consists of North-western Ohio, Northeastern Indiana and Southern Illinois. The magnitude of his business may be judged from the fact that he purchases annually from forty thousand to seventy thousand dollars worth of timber for his firm. He takes great interest in the Pioneer Association of Fulton county, first organized by Col. D. W. H. Howard, who was the first president, holding the office as long as he lived. At the death of Colonel Howard the oldest settler in the county became his successor, for it is one of the rules of the organization that whenever a vacancy occurs the oldest settler in the county becomes its presiding officer. For forty-four years Mr. Briggs has taken part in the propagation of the principles of Odd Fellowship. He married Miss Martha J. Bowen, the daughter of John and Nancy (Willett) Bowen, of Covington, both natives of Virginia. In 1902 he was so unfortunate as to lose his wife, who died, aged seventy years. The family of the subject of this sketch consists of the following children: Harvey O., of Toledo, O.; Julia P. now the widow of Charles Orral, of Wauseon; Ada M., now Mrs. F. S. Kissenger and William W., of Toledo.
JOEL BRIGHAM JR.. the pioneer hardware merchant of Wauseon, was born in Dunkirk. Chautauqua county, N. Y., January 10, 1818. He is the son of Joel Brigham, Sr., and Polly Ann (Durkee) Brigham, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Connecticut. Joel Brigham. Sr., was born in Worcester county, Mass., September 12, 1785, and married Polly Ann Durkee, the daughter of Benjamin and Susan Durkee. He served as a soldier of the War of 1812 with the rank of lieutenant. In 1833 the family removed to Ohio and located near Lodi, Medina county, where both died. Seven children were born to their marriage, one of whom, Winfield, aged ninety years, has resided in Fulton county for more than fifty years. The Brigham family trace their ancestors back to the year 1635, when Thomas Brigham came to America from London, England, and settled at Marlboro, Mass. His son, Thomas Brigham, Jr., was born in 1640 and married Miss Mary Rice. Their son, Jonathan Brigham, born February 26,1674, married Miss Mary Fay and served as selectman and moderator of Marlboro in 1715. Their son, Joel, a selectman of Marlboro in 1763, married Miss Mary Church, in August, 1762. Samuel, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, born December 3, 1765, married Phoebe Davis of Worcester, and moved to Madison, N. Y., where he died in 1811. Their son, Joel Brigham. Sr., was born September 12, 1785, and married Polly Ann Durkee. Joel Brigham, Jr., the subject of this sketch, was reared on a farm and educated in the schools of his home county. In 1848 he embarked in business in Chatham Centre, Medina county, operating a general store and serving as postmaster, having received his appointment to that office from President Taylor, and remained there five years. In 1853 he removed to Clinton township, Fulton county, where for the next four years he engaged in farming and lumbering. He then became interested in the milling business, being a member of the firm of Brigham & Springer. 293
In 1859 he removed to Wauseon and began his career as a hardware merchant, which business he conducted with marked ability and phenomenal success up to the date of his retirement from active duty The present brick building on Main street used by the Brigham hardware store was built in 1871. Joel Brigham. Jr., has been equally active in public affairs, having served as justice of the peace three terms, as mayor of the city two terms and as county commissioner two terms. While always very busy attending to business and official duties, he has found considerable time to devote to the management ot the Wauseon cemetery. In 1877 he was first elected a member of the board of cemetery trustees, in which capacity lie is still serving. Under his skillful management, for he has practically been the superintendent, the Wauseon cemetery has been made one of the most beautiful in Northern Ohio. Since 1877 the sale of every lot has been made by him. The business and official career of Joel Brigham, Jr., has been marked by the strictest integrity and the most pronounced success. In his declining years he still gives time and attention to public affairs, and is happy in the enjoyment of the esteem and respect of his fellow citizens, not only of Fulton county but of the neighboring counties. His friendship, hospitality and good citizenship are well known to all. In 1838 he married Miss Betsy Lyon, born in 1820, the daughter of Elias and Relief Lyon, who located at Chatham, Medina county, in 1835. W. S. Brigham, their eldest son, was for some years city clerk of Wauseon and he is now serving as postmaster, having been appointed by President McKinlev and reappointed by President Roosevelt. He married Miss Ellen E. Buchanan, of Norwalk. O. the daughter of Henry and Phillinda (Chamberlain) Buchanan. They have two children: Luretta, now Mrs. B. W. Crissey of Oak Park, Chicago, Ill., and Ralph W., who is now with his father in the postoffice. H. T. B. Brigham. the second son, was born in Chatham Centre, Medina county, and educated in the Wauseon public schools. He began his business career in the book, stationery and jewelry business and followed that calling for four years. For two years he served in the Eighty-sixth Ohio volunteer infantry, his regiment being a part of the Army of the Cumberland. His command helped to capture the Confederate general, John Morgan. For some years he has been successfully conducting a telephone construction business. In the affairs of the Masonic fraternity he takes a deep interest. He married Miss Elizabeth Lucas, of Madison, N. Y., and by her has two children Lawrence and Helen. Clarence E. Brigham, the youngest son, has succeeded to his father's hardware business and is conducting the same with marked success. He is the husband of Inez Scott. the daughter of W. C. Scott. of Wauseon. Harriet Brigham, the elder daughter is the wife of W. H. Schrowe. They have one child. Harvard B., born March 29, 1886, now a student of Oberlin college. Cecelia, the younger daughter was joined in wedlock to Dr. C. E. Bennett, one of Wauseon's leading physicians. Walter, a student of the Lima Military Academy, and Florence H. are the names of their two children. Col. J. H. Brigham, a nephew of the subject of this sketch, who recently died, was the son of Winfield Brigham, a
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resident of Fulton county for more than fifty years. Colonel Brigham was also a resident of this county and was the owner of a large farm at Delta. During the Civil war he was Iieut.-colonel of the Sixty-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry and commanded a brigade in General Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea. He always took a great interest in agriculture and was at one time an active member of the Ohio State and the National granges. For three terms he was sheriff of Fulton county and for one term he represented his county in the State senate. At the time of his death he was assistant secretary of the agricultural department of the National government.
ROY S. BRIGHAM, a young and prosperous farmer bf Swan Creek township, was born at Wauseon, July 2, 1873. He is the son of Col. J. E. and Edna (Ailman) Brigham, both natives of Ohio. Col. J. H. Brigham was born in Lodi, Medina county, O., December 12, 1838. He grew to manhood, receiving a very liberal education in the public schools of his home county, Berea college and the Lebanon, Ohio, Normal. On the breaking out of the Civil war he entered the Union army as a private, serving at first in the Twelfth Ohio and afterwards in the Sixty-ninth Ohio regiment. Of the latter he became Lieutenant Colonel, having passed through all of the intermediate grades. All of his promotions came to him as a reward of meritorious conduct on the field of battle. Returning from the army at the close of the war, he located in Fulton county, where for many years he was extensively engaged in farming, and during that time held many prominent official positions. For three terms he filled very satisfactorily the office of sheriff of Fulton county and one term he served in the State senate. He was a candidate for Congress on the Republican ticket, but was defeated in a district that was largely Democratic. In the work of the Grange movement Colonel Brigham took a very active part, serving as Master of the National Grange for five successive terms. For six years he was a member of the Ohio State board of agriculture, being its president one year. During his whole life he was very active in politics, being in close touch with the National leaders of the Republican party. He was an intimate personal friend of President McKinley and followed that national chieftain throughout his illustrious career. After serving on the Ohio State board of managers of the penitentiary, he was, in 1897, appointed by President McKinley Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, a position he held until his death. By virtue of his office he was prominently connected with the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, having charge of much of the detail work of each. While on his way from Washington to St. Louis, in June, 1904, he stopped off at his farm home near Delta to visit his son, Roy S., and while there was stricken with heart failure, a malady from which he had been a sufferer for a number of years, and died very suddenly on June 29, 1904, his wife, who was born in Swan Creek township, June 17, 1840, having died one year before. They were the parents of six children, two sons and four daughters. The children are: Kate, now Mrs. Higgins of Ashley, Mich.; Bessie B., now Mrs. Dunbar of Toledo, O.; Roy S.; 295
Harry H., connected with the Board of Government Managers of the St. Louis Exposition, who married Miss Mabel Cofin, of Wauseon, Mary B., the wife of Sheldon S. Cline, of the Washington (D. C.) Post, and Josephine, who makes her home with Mrs. Cline. Colonel Brigham was so long and so prominently before the public that his death occasioned universal grief, not only among his old friends and neighbors but throughout the State and nation. A committee was appointed by the United States Board of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition to draft suitable resolutions of condolence, and Major William H. Michael was appointed as the representative of that body at the funeral. A like action was taken by the officials of the Agricultural Department, who were represented by a committee at the burial services. As he was very successful in his business transactions, he left a large estate, consisting mostly of farms in Fulton county. He was a generous, open-hearted friend, a kind and loving father, whose tragic end came as an irreparable bereavement to his family. Roy S. Brigham was educated in the Delta public schools and has lived on the farm which he now occupies since his sixth year. Of the home estate, consisting of three hundred and eighty acres, one hundred and sixteen, in a high state of cultivation, are in the farm of Mr. Brigham. General farming, dairying and stock raising constitute his occupation, and the surroundings show that he has been unusually successful. He is a member of Fulton Lodge, No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons, of Octavius Waters Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and Aurora Chapter, No.75, Order Eastern Star, his wife also being a member of the last named organization. Politically he is identified with the Republican party. On March 26, 1896, he was married to Miss Carrie E. Mason, a native of Cleveland and the daughter of Charles Mason, deceased. Her mother was Evelyn Clark, now the wife of John G. Rorabeck, a druggist of Delta. Roy S. Brigham and wife are the parents of one interesting daughter, Helen, now in her eighth year and attending the Delta schools.
BYRON BRINK is another of the representative farmers of Chesterfield township who is properly accorded specific consideration in this history, his post office address being Morenci, Lenawee county, Mich., from which village his home is three miles distant. Mr. Brink is a member of one of the well known pioneer families of Fulton county and was born on a farm near Fayette, in Gorham township, this county, on the 6th of December, 1847. His father. Jacob Brink, was born in Richland county, Ohio, where he married Miss Phoebe Taylor, and they came to Fulton county in 1847, locating on a farm west of Fayette, where the father passed the remainder of his life, having reclaimed his farm from the wilds and made good improvements on the same. He died on the homestead. in 1853. His wife was born in the State of New York, and she accompanied her parents on their removal to Richland county, where she remained until her marriage and removal to Fulton county, as noted. She died in 1875, having survived her husband by more than a score of years. They became the parents of four children, of whom Byron was the first born; Bartley died on 296
January 20, 1894; Bainbridge died in 1905: and Jacob B. is a prosperous farmer of Gorham township. Byron Brink passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead farm which was the place of his birth, and his educational training was secured principally in the common schools of the village of Fayette. In 1872 he purchased a farm of sixty acres, and he has since made several additional purchases, as well as sales, and is the owner of three hundred and ten acres of very fine land, his farm being well drained and very prolific in cultivation. He devotes his attention to diversified agriculture and to the raising of high-grade live stock, having made a specialty of thoroughbred and registered Poland-China swine since 1877 and of thoroughbred Holstein cattle since 1900. He has erected good buildings on his estate, including a commodious and attractive residence, and is one of the wide awake and progressive farmers of the county. In political affairs his support is given to the Republican party and he has held various local offices, including that of township trustee, of which he was incumbent six terms, while he has also been road supervisor and a valued member of the school board. In 1870 Mr. Brink married Miss Sarah A. Powers, who was born in Fulton county, in 1849, being a daughter of Peter and Julia (Canneda) Powers, who were natives of Connecticut and who came to Fulton county in the pioneer days, here passing the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Brink was summoned to the life eternal in 1872, having become the mother of one child, George E., who died at the age of twenty-one years. In 1873 Mr. Brink married Miss Elizabeth Rutledge, who was born in Williams county, Ohio, August 19, 1854, being a daughter of William and Sarah (Lipey) Rutledge, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Richland county, Ohio, whence they came to Williams county, where they remained until death, the mother passing away December 27, 1884, and the father on the 7th of May, 1892. Mr. and Mrs. Brink have eight children; Sarah J. is the wife of Arthur Smith, of Lyons, this county; Phoebe M. is the wife of Edwin Powell, of Morenci, Mich., Bertha A. is the wife of Everett Smith, of Chesterfield; Harry married Miss Laura Crow, and is engaged in farming in Chesterfield township ; Maye and Ray (twins), and James W. and John H. remain at the parental home.
JOHN L. BRINK is a representative farmer of Gorham township, is a scion of one of the pioneer families of the Buckeye commonwealth, and is one who honored the State by meritorious and gallant service in the ranks of the Union army during practically the entire period of the Civil war. He was born in DeKalb, Crawford county, Ohio, June 12, 1845, and is a son of Levi and Elizabeth (Robinson) Brink, the former of whom was born in Richland county, Ohio, and the latter in the State of Virginia. Both died in DeKaIb, where the father had followed the vocation of tanner and shoemaker, their deaths resulting from typhoid fever. The father was born June 15, 1820, and died November 16, 1846, and his wife, who was born October 9, 1820, died March 17, 1847, so that in death they were not long divided. They became the parents of two children, of whom
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the younger, John L., subject of this sketch, was less than a year old when he became doubly orphaned. The elder child, Charles Wesley, was born October 31, 1841, and died on the 24th of the following April. After the death of his parents, John L. Brink was taken into the home of his parental grandparents, Cornelius and Hannah (Bodley) Brink, by whom he was carefully reared and educated They were early settlers of Richland county, Ohio, and in 1858 they came to Fulton county and took up their residence in Gorham township, where the grandfather gave his attention to farming until his death, which resulted from an accident. He passed away in 1863, at the age of sixty-five years, and his wife, who was born February 9, 1799, died at the age of eighty-four years, four months and twenty-five days. They became the parents of seven children, all of whom, but one, are now deceased. John L. Brink secured his early education in the common schools of Gorham township, where he was reared on the farm of his grandfather, with whom he remained associated until the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion, when he promptly manifested his loyalty and patriotism. September 1, 1861, at the age of sixteen years, he enlisted as a private in Company K, Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at Fayette, his command being assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. He was an active participant in many important battles and minor engagements, among which may be designated the following: Wildcat and Mill Springs, Ky.; siege of Corinth, Miss.; Perryville and Scone River; Hoover's Gap, Missionary Ridge, Resaca and Kenesaw Mountain; the Atlanta campaign, under General Sherman; Jonesboro, Ga., and the Georgia campaign; siege of Savannah; and the campaign through the Carolinas, including the engagement at Raleigh, North Carolina, on the 10th of April, 1865. He was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., July 12, i865, and received his honorable discharge a few days later, in Cleveland, Ohio. He then returned to Gorham township, his grandfather having died in the meantime, and soon after he went to Northern Michigan, where he was identified with the great lumbering industry until 1868, when he returned to Gorham township, where he has since made farming his principal vocation, having a well improved farm of eighty acres and being one of the honored citizens of the community in which he has so long made his home. In politics Mr. Brink maintains an independent attitude, and in a fraternal way he is an appreciative member of the Grand Army of the Republic, being a popular comrade of Stout Post, No. 128, at Fayette. Mrs. Brink is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. December 29, 1868, Mr. Brink was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Saltzgaber, who was born near Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, January 19, 1841, being a daughter of John and Sylvia (Wise) Saltzgaber, natives of Lebanon county, Pa. The father was born April 13, 1807, and died September 28, 1860, in Gorham township. His wife was born November 25, 1805 and died July 2, 1889. They were married in their native county and in March, 1836, located in Richland county, Ohio, where they remained until 1847, when they came to what is now Fulton county, passing the remainder of their lives
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in Gorham township, the father having devoted the greater portion of his active life to work at the cabinetmaker's trade. They became the parents of eleven children, concerning whom the following data are incorporated: Margaret, born May 6, 1827, died February 21, 1898; Jonathan, born September 16, 1828, resides in Prattville, Mich.; Eliza was born June 14, 1831; Henrietta was born July 24, 1833, and is the wife of James Brink, of Gorham township; John, who was born August 22, 1835, is deceased; Mary, born July 27, 1838, is the wife of Edward Coleman, of Fayette; Sarah A. is the wife of the subject of this sketch; William Henry, born June 1, 1841, resides in Helena, Mont.: George, born July 22, 1843, died September 25, i888; Matilda, born May 18, 1847, died September 27, 1902; and Thomas, born December 18, 1848, died January 10, 1852. To Mr. and Mrs. Brink have been born three children: Hugh C., born May 7, 1870, met his death by drowning, August 4, 1901. Earl E., who was born January 1, 1872, is a successful farmer of Gorham township. May 2, 1895, he married Miss Minnie Glime, of Williams county, and they have one child, Leila May, born April 16, 1896. Nelson L., youngest of the three children of Mr. Brink, was born September 6, 1875, and is engaged in farming in Gorham township. January 23, 1900, he married Jennie Lester, daughter of Isaac Lester, mentioned else-where in this publication, and they have one child, Lois, born February 17,1903.
FREDERICK BRINKMAN is one of those worthy representatives of the German fatherland who have contributed so materially to the stability and progress of the various communities in which they have located upon coming to America. He is the owner of one of the fine farms of York township, and is one of the leading agriculturists and stock growers of this section of the county. He was born in Pyermont, Germany, on the 24th of April, 1845, and is a son of Frederick and Cathrine (Ritterbush) Brinkman, both of whom died in Germany, the mother in 1853 and the father in 1855. Frederick Brinkman was reared and educated in his native land, where he remained until the year 1869, when he immigrated to the United States, first locating in New York City, and he became a resident of Fulton county in 1870. In the centennial year of our National Independence. Mr. Brinkman purchased forty acres of land in York township, taking up his residence in a primitive log cabin, near the site of his present fine brick house, and setting himself vigorously and systematically to the task of reclaiming and improving his property. As prosperity crowned his efforts he added to the area of his landed estate, eventually becoming the owner of two hundred and eighty acres. He has since sold one hundred and twenty acres to his son, retaining the remaining one hundred and sixty acres, including the original homestead which he secured thirty years ago. His residence is one of the best in the township and the other farm buildings are in harmony therewith. Though never a seeker of public office Mr. Brinkman is a stanch supporter of the principles and notices of the Republican party, and he and his wife are members of the United 299
Brethren church. In 1873 Mr. Brinkman was united in marriage to Miss Mary Orth, who was born in Germantown, Montgomery county, Ohio, September 20, 1842, and they have four children, namely: C. William, who married Miss Nettie McKibbens and is engaged in farming in Clinton township; Frederick C., who is a farmer at home; Mary, who is the wife of Sherman Russell, of York township; and W. Herman, who married Miss Fanny Ruhley and is engaged in farming in York township, where he owns and operates a farm of eighty acres.
DAVIS BROWN, secretary and treasurer of the Fulton county Savings and Banking company, of Lyons, and also numbered among the leading farmers of Royalton township, is a member of one of the honored pioneer families of the county and is in all senses eligible for recognition in a publication of the province assigned to the one at hand. He was born in Royalton township, on the 4th of January 1842, and is a son of George B. and Eliza Ann (Coyle) Brown, the former of whom was born in Connecticut, of old Colonial stock, while the latter was born in Monroe county, Mich. Geyte B. Brown was reared and educated in his native State, and as a young man removed thence to the State of New York, where he followed the profession of teaching. About 1840 he came to Fulton county, Ohio. and purchased eighty acres of wild land, in Royalton township, the property being located in Section 11I. For some time he worked by the day in Madison township, Lenawee county, Mich., and after his marriage he located on his farm, which he reclaimed and improved, and later he purchased an additional tract of eighty acres, clearing a portion of the same, and had the distinction of serving as the first sheriff of Fulton county. In 1870 he removed to Bedford, Monroe county, Mich., in which locality he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, and there he passed the remainder of his long and useful life, having been eighty-three years of age at the time of his death, in 1898. He was twice married. His first wife, Eliza Ann (Coyle) Brown, who died in 1852, bore him three children, Davis, subject of this sketch; George a resident of Lyons, Ohio: and Lucy J. deceased wife of Frank Pierce. For his second wife Mr. Brown married Esther Rawson, who died two years previous to Mr. Brown, two children having been horn of this union, Mary E., deceased; and Ida, wife of William Whitmill. Davis Brown was reared to maturity on the old homestead in Royalton township and is indebted to the common schools of the locality for his early educational advantages, while later he attended Adrian College, at Adrian. Mich., for a time, gaining his education largely through personal effort and application outside of the schoolroom. On attaining his majority he engaged in teaching. in Conway township, Livingston county, Mich., where he followed his pedagogic profession two winter terms, working on a farm in the intervening summers. With the exception of these two years he has passed practically his entire life in Royalton township, where he is now the owner of one of the finest farms in the county, the same comprising 160 acres, being under effective cultivation and being well improved, the buildings
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including a handsome brick residence. Since 1902 he has been giving special and discriminating attention to the propagation of sugar beets and to the upbuilding of the industry. He was one of the promoters and organizers of the Lenawee County (Mich.) Beet Sugar company, of which he was president until it was merged into the (Continental Beet Sugar company, which is now building a plant at Blissfield, Mich., at a cost of $600,000. He was also one of the organizers of the Fulton County Savings and Banking company, of Lyons, which initiated business in January, 1899, and he was vice-president of the company until November 1, 1904. When he was elected secretary and treasurer, since which time he has given even closer attention to the executive affairs of this prosperous institution. He is also interested in a capitalistic way in two cheese factories, one in Amboy, this county and the other in Ogden Center, Lenawee county, Mich., each having a capacity for the output of sixteen cheeses a day. In politics Mr. Brown is a stalwart supporter of the Democratic cause, and while not formally identified with any religious organization, he is a liberal supporter of church work and is charitable and tolerant in his views and associations. He is affiliated with Royalton Union Lodge. No. 434, F. & A. M., Lyons Chapter, No. 175. R. A. M., of which he is high priest; and Wauseon Council, R. & S. M., as well as with the Order of the Eastern Star and the Knights of the Maccabees. In 1871 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brown to Miss Harriet A. Johnson, daughter of Sullivan and Fidelia (Worden) Johnson honored pioneers of Amboy township and of this union have been born four children: George S., Marvin D., Chloe, (Mrs. Charles Fetterman), and Eugene A.
REV. GEORGE W. BROWN is the able and popular pastor of the Presbyterian church at Delta and it is consonant that in this volume be entered a review of his life and labors. George Wilbur Brown is a native of the old Buckeye State. having been born in Piketon. Pike county, Ohio, May 18. 1872. and being a son of Henry and Sarah A. (Duke) Brown, both of whom were likewise born and reared in Pike county, being representatives of sterling pioneer families of that section of the State. Henry Brown, who resides on his old homestead farm in Pike county and who is also the owner and operator of a flour mill at Piketon, is a son of John Brown, who was an extensive landholder in the valley of the Sciota River, having inherited the property from his father. who was a prominent and influential pioneer of that beautiful part of the State. His name was Henry Brown, and he was a native of Loudoun county, Va., the family being of English origin, and the genealogy in the American branch is traced back to progenitors who came to the New World in the time of William Penn. Henry Brown was thrice married and became the father of twenty-six children. In a cognatic way the Brown family is related to the well known Lucas family, prominent in the annals of Ohio, Governor Lucas, of this State, having been a great-uncle of the subject of this sketch. Henry Brown (2d), father of Rev. George W., has been prominent in the public and industrial affairs of Pike county for many years, and 301
is now a member of the directorate of the First National Bank of Piketon, where he has varied other capitalistic interests. He resides on the old homestead, in company with his three unmarried daughters. His cherished and devoted wife was summoned to the life eternal on the 24th of March, 1884. Of their nine children two died in infancy. Charles E. is special agent for the Standard Oil company at Charleston, West Va. his home being in Portsmouth, Ohio. Anna L. is the wife of J. W. Bailey, of Anderson Ind. Eudora B., Eliza U. and Sallie D. remain with their father, as before intimated. Harry K. is engaged in the hardware business in Spokane, Wash. Rev. George W. Brown completed the curriculum of the public schools in Piketon, after which he completed the work of the sophomore year in the Ohio University, at Athens, and in 1899 he was graduated in the University of Wooster, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the spring of 1898, while in the junior year at this institution he enlisted in Company D, Eighth Regiment of the Ohio National Guard, and on the 13th of the following May, with his command, was mustered into the volunteer service of the United States. The regiment rendezvoused at Camp Alger, Va., and on the 5th of July left for New York City, where the command embarked for Santiago on the evening of the following day. The transport arrived off the port of Santiago on Sunday, July 10, and fell back to Siboney, where the soldiers disembarked, marching across the province of Santiago and reaching the firing line on the night of July 11. Mr. Brown's command was placed in the entrenchment's, as reinforcement. He witnessed the surrender of Santiago. from the trenches of San Juan Hill, on Sunday, July 17, August 18, he left the island and after various detentions arrived at Mohawk Point. He and his comrades were on the battleship Mohawk for eleven days while en route home, there being much illness on board and much suffering being entailed through other causes, so that a large number of the soldiers had to be borne out on stretchers when the vessel finally reached Mohawk Point. After remaining nine days in detention camp Mr. Brown started with his regiment for Ohio, reaching Cleveland on the 8th of September and being granted a furlough of sixty days. The victory of the American forces was such that he was not again called into service, and he was mustered out, at Wooster, on the 21st of November, 1898, by Harry R. Lee, first lieutenant of the Sixth United States Infantry. Upon his return to Ohio Mr. Brown passed a week at the paternal home and then resumed his regular work in the University of Wooster, losing but four weeks of the college work, though he was in the military service seven months during the Spanish-American war as just noted. Immediately after his graduation Mr. Brown went to the Pacific coast and shipped as a sailor for Alaska, on a vessel chartered by the Presbyterian synod of the State of Washington. Sailing from the city of Seattle, the vessel visited the various mission stations of the Presbyterian church in Alaska, and the trip proved both enjoyable and educational to Mr.. Brown. Upon his return he entered the Presbyterian theological seminary of San Francisco, continuing his ecclesiastical studies later at San Anselmo, that State, and finally entering the Western Seminary, in Allegheny, Pa. He was
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ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian church on the 28th of April, 1902, at Venedocia, Ohio, by the Lima presbytery, the Rev. R. J. Thompson, of Lima, preaching the sermon, and the Rev. D. Evans Jones, of Venedocia delivering the charge. His first Pastoral charge was in Monticello, Ohio, and in October, 1902, he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian church of Tipton, Md., where he remained for two years, doing a very successful work in his pastorate. In October, 1904, Mn Brown received a call to the First Presbyterian church at Delta, Ohio, and he resigned his charge in Tipton to accept the pastorate in which he has since served with so much of zeal, consecration and success, infusing vitality and inspiration into bath the spiritual and temporal affairs of the church and gaining the unqualified regard of his people. The church has one hundred and fourteen communicants, and the Sunday school has an enrollment of more than one hundred, with ten teachers. Mr. Brown has unbounded enthusiasm in his work, being a forceful and eloquent speaker and being a man of broad and practical ideas, striving ever to bring the cause of the Divine Master into the daily lives and works of those who come within the sphere of his pastoral or personal influence. He has voluntarily expanded the scope of his pastorate by taking up the work in neighboring localities, preaching three and often four sermons each Sunday. He is much interested in the opening and establishing of local missions of his church and also in general Sunday school work in the county. During his pastorate in Tipton, Md., he was president of the board of children's' guardians of Tipton county. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party and fraternally is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. June 20, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brown to Miss Inez Vennette Riddile of Barnesville, Ohio. She was born in Cambridge, Guernsey county, Ohio, October 7, 1876, and is a daughter of Dr Garrett V. and Margaret (McCall) Riddile, her father being a leading dentist of Barnesville, Ohio. She was a classmate of her husband in Ohio University, taking the musical course, and was assistant instructor in piano work in the institution. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have two sons. Henry Van Emen, born September 18, 1902; and George W., Jr., born July 6,1904.
DAVID LEWIS BULER a retired citizen of Wauseon, was born in the Canton of Bernes. Switzerland, on January 4, 1816. He landed in New York City December 18, 1819, with his mother, Mary Ann Buler, his father and an only brother having died on the ocean voyage. With his mother he came from New York to Lucas county, O., in 1834 locating near Toledo, where he remained three years. Then in 1838 he removed to Royalton township, very sparsely settled at that time, and settled on wild land. Then he bought land of the United States government at Monroe. Mich., and lived on it until 1852, when he removed to California. Three years later he returned to Ohio, locating in Amboy township, where he lived on a farm purchased by him until 1881. From Amboy township he removed to Wauseon, where he bought land and built a home in which he has lived ever since. As a pastime he 303
has engaged in bee culture, a business in which he has always taken a deep interest. In school affairs and church work he has always taken an active part, having served for many years as a school director and having been instrumental in building a number of churches. He has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church since he was twenty-one years old, having held official positions in that organization for many years. Six churches and three parsonages have been built in this and Lucas county in which he was very active in building. In the building of the church in Royalton township he served alone as building committee, so fully was his ability and judgment recognized by his fellow members. He first married Miss Mary Skinner, the daughter of Henry S. Skinner, a native of Vermont, who lived on a farm in Amboy township. She died in 1889. To this marriage five children were born. They are: Adelia, the wife of Celah Buck of Amboy township, and Lewis D. Buler, deceased. In 1890, in Wauseon, David L. Buler married Miss Mary Linfoot, born in Clinton township, the daughter of John and Jane (Millspaugh) Linfoot, pioneer settlers of that township. John Linfoot was born in Lincolnshire, England, and his wife in Perry, Wyoming county, N. Y. Lewis D. Buler, deceased, son of the subject of this sketch, married Miss Hattie Wood, a native of Lenawee county. Mich. They had one child, Bertha Buler, who married Reverend Olive, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the name of her only child is Flossie Olive. Adelia Buck is the mother of two interesting children, named Ella and Walter. Walter Buck married Miss Nellie Smith and has one child, named Oakley. The picture of all the family, including the children and grandchildren, taken when the subject of this sketch was eighty-five years old, is a fine likeness. Daniel Lewis Buler has never used tobacco or liquor and he attributes his good health to his abstinence from these narcotics.
JAMES F. BURROUGHS is the owner of five well improved farms in Royalton township and is numbered among the large landholders and influential citizens of this section of the county. where he has made his home the greater portion of the time for nearly three-score years, being thus numbered among the pioneers of this section of the State. He was born in Palmyra, N. Y. April 4,1835 and is a son of Patrick and Ann (Forrester) Burroughs, both natives of Ireland. the father having been born in County Carlow and the mother in County Armagh. Their marriage was solemnized in the State of New York. and in 1835, a few months after the birth of the subject of this sketch. they came to Ohio, making the trip by way of Lake Erie and landing in the city of Toledo, which was then a diminutive village. From that point they went to Michigan and in the following year the father came to what is now Fulton county, Ohio, purchasing 130 acres, in two tracts, in Sections 22 and 26. Royalton township. Here the family resided one year, when illness in the family circle, caused by malarial conditions, led to a return to Michigan. In 1837, however, they came again to the embryo farm in Royalton township and Patrick Burroughs set himself vigorously to the herculean task of reclaiming the land to cultivation,
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meeting with success as he years passed and conditions improved, through the development and rapid settling of the county, and he remained on his old homestead until his death at the age of seventy-five years, his wife being seventy-three at the time of her death. They reared a family of six children: James F., to whom this sketch is dedicated: Catherine, wife of John Dowling; Alice, wife of William Mack; Mary, wife of Mathew O'Neill; Elen, wife of George O. Robb; and Michael, who married Delia Dodge, and resides in Toledo, Ohio. James F. Burrough was reared on the pioneer homestead in Royalton township. and being the eldest of the children he early began to assume a full quota of responsibility, aiding his father in the clearing of the farm and otherwise contributing to the support of the family. He attended the common schools of the primitive sort common to the locality and made specially rapid progress in his studies, while he applied himself diligently in a private way also, thus becoming eligible for effective work as a teacher. He taught fifty-nine terms of school, in Fulton and Lucas counties, each term being that of the three winter months, and he also taught two terms in Missouri, where he resided about 1860, for two winters. His vocation, however, has been specifically that of farming from his youth to the present time, and he has been progressive in his methods, thus gaining the best returns from the effort expended and his course has been such, in all the relations of life, that he has ever commanded the respect and good will of those with whom he has come in contact. The aggregate area of his five farms is three hundred and twenty acres and all are well improved, yielding a good income. In politics a stanch Democrat, Mr. Burroughs has never been neglectful of the duties and responsibilities of loyal citizenship, though never an aspirant for public office. He is a communicant of St. Mary's Catholic church, at Caraghar, Ohio, and his parents were likewise devoted members of the Catholic church. January 21, 1861, Mr. Burroughs was united in marriage to Miss Calista Pray, daughter of Archibald and Harriet (Myers) Pray, of Whitehouse, Lucas county and of the six children of this marriage all attained maturity: Edward W., James P., Grace, Hattie, Ella, and Frederick. Grace became the wife of Alva Edgar and is now deceased, being survived by one son, James S. Ella is the wife of William Kahle.
FRANK A. CAMBURN, a representative farmer of Royalton township, was born in the adjoining township of Seneca, in Lenawee county, Michigan, on the 31st of July, 1854 and is a son of James and Lorinda (Brower) Camburn, both of whom were born and reared in Dutchess county, New York. They came from the old Empire State to Michigan and the respective families became pioneer settlers in Lenawee county, where Willis Camburn, father of James, secured one hundred and sixty acres of government land, in Seneca township, developing a good farm and remaining on the same for a number of years. He finally removed to Hillsdale county, Michigan, where he passed the remainder of his life. Jacob Brower, maternal grandfather of the subject 305
of this sketch, likewise came to Lenawee county, Michigan, from New York State, and was one of the pioneers of Fairfield township, where he developed a farm, one and one half miles west of the village of Weston. He died in Seneca township, that county. James Camburn was reared to maturity in Lenawee county, Michigan, and upon attaining his majority purchased a tract of wild land, in Seneca township, improving the place and making it one of the valuable places of the county. That continued to be his home until his death, which occurred in 1871. He was killed by a railroad train, at Westfield, New York, while taking a carload of cattle to the Eastern markets, being forty-eight years of age at the time of his death. His widow is still living. They became the parents of nine children of whom seven are living: Minerva married Clark Standish; Ann became the wife of Alonzo Richardson; Almond; William; Frank A.; Louisa became the wife of Caleb E. Disbrow; Elias; Hattie became the wife of Oliver Dunbar; and Cora married Frank Canton. Frank A. Camburn was reared to maturity in his native county and secured his educational training in the public schools and his vocation throughout his entire adult life has been that of farming, in connection with which he has met with gratifying success. In 1878 he took up his residence in Royalton township, where he now has a fine landed estate of two hundred and thirty-nine acres, all under effective cultivation and improved with good buildings and other essential accessories. In politics he maintains an independent attitude, supporting men and measures approved by his judgment, and fraternally he is identified with Lyons Lodge, No. 622, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Both he and his wife are members of the Universalist church. October 24, 1878, Mr. Camburn was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Standish, a daughter of Clark and Harriet (Smith) Standish, pioneers of Royalton township, and a descendant of the historic character, Miles Standish, the Pilgrim and the hero of the well known poem of Longfellow, "The Courtship of Miles Standish". Mr. and Mrs. Camburn have three children: Howard, who is engaged in the grocery business at Lyons; Ethel, who is the wife of Herbert Hinkle; and Edith, who is the wife of Ira Smith.
GEORGE W. CAMERON is the owner of a fine farm of eighty acres, in Pike township, and is one of the popular citizens and representative agriculturists of this section of the county. Mr. Cameron was born in Wayne county, Ohio on the 20th of March, 1849, being a son of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Andrews) Cameron, who removed from Wayne county to Henry county in an early day, and they passed tile closing years of their lives in Henry county, the father having been a farmer by vocation. George W. Cameron was a child at the time of his parents' removal to Henry county, where he was reared to manhood on the farm, receiving a common school education. He has made the basic industry of agriculture his vocation in life, and through well directed effort has gained success of no indifferent order. In 1874 Mr. Cameron purchased a farm in Clinton township, Fulton county, retaining possession of the same for some years, when he disposed
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of the property and purchased his present homestead, which is one of the valuable farms of Pike township, the same having excellent improvements and being maintained under a high state of cultivation. He has personally effected the greater part of the permanent improve merit of the place and is known as a progressive farmer and as a reliable and loyal citizen, worthy of the high regard in which he is held in the community. He is a Republican in his political proclivities, and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Ottokee. On the 4th of September, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cameron to Miss Martha Howden, who was born in Fulton county, September 2, 1848, being a daughter of John and Jane (Gaston) Howden, the former of whom was born in England and the latter in New York City. They came to Fulton county in an early day, and Mr. Howden later returned to New York City, where he died on the 10th of December, 1848, and his wife passed away on the 7th of the following February, their orphan daughter, Mrs. Cameron, having been reared and educated in Fulton county. One of her brothers was a valiant soldier of the Union in the War of the Rebellion, in which he sacrificed his life. Mr. and Mrs. Cameron have one daughter, Gertrude Irene, who was born February 14, 1880, and who is now the wife of Frank Waldeck, of Delta, Ohio.
WILLIAM H. CAMPBELL is a native of Fulton county, a scion of one of its well known pioneer families and is an enterprising farmer and popular citizen of Clinton township, his well improved homestead being located six miles northwest of the city of Wauseon. He was born in Clinton township, this county, on the 6th of February, 1850, is a son of Reason and Temperance (Cornell) Campbell, the former being of Scotch and the latter of English lineage. Reason Campbell was born in Stark county, Ohio, in 1820, and he came to Fulton county in 1846, locating on a farm in Clinton township and developing the same into valuable property, and he was one of the prominent and influential citizens of his community. He continued to reside on this homestead until his death, which occurred on the 14th of February, 1885. He served most acceptably as township trustee, and was a man of that sterling integrity and honesty of purpose which ever beget popular confidence and esteem. On the 8th of October, 1846, he was married to Miss Temperance Cornell, at Shreve, Wayne county, his wife having been born in that county March 20, 1829, and her death occurred September 11, 1899. They came to Fulton county shortly after their marriage. They became the parents of seven sons and four daughters, and of that number three are living. William H. Campbell assisted in the reclamation of the old home farm on which he was reared, and he attended the common schools of the locality and gained a good, practical education. After his marriage he purchased and located upon his present farm, in Clinton township the place having been partially cleared, and he has reclaimed the remainder of the land, has provided an effective system of drainage, erected substantial buildings and made the homestead one of the valuable farms of this section 307
and for a number of years past he has also operated a threshing machine each season,
finding this enterprise profitable. Politically Mr. Campbell is found arrayed as a stalwart
supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and he has served as township trustee,
road supervisor and member of the school board. He is affiliated with the Knights of
Pythias and the Patrons of Husbandry and attends the Christian Church, of which Mrs.
Campbell is a member. November 5, 1874, Mr. Campbell was married to Miss Mary
Gasche, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio August 8, 1854, being a daughter of George and Catherine (Hoenberger) Gasche. Her father was born in Wetzlar, Prussia, May 2, 1819, and in 1832 be immigrated to America, locating in Cumberland County, Pa., in 1834, and thence coming to Ohio in 1840, locating in Holmes County, where he remained until April 8, 1855, when he came with his family to Fulton county, purchasing land in Clinton township, where he passed the remainder of his life. On January 1, 1847, he married Mrs. Catherine (Hoenberger) Gasche, widow of his brother William, and she is still living, residing with her daughter, Amelia Sower, wife of S. H. Sower, in German township. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have three children: Lulu, born March 20, 1876, is the wife of John E. Plettner, of Clinton township; Nettie A., born February 2, 1888, is the wife of Levi Borton, and they reside in Dover township; George, born January 30, 1885, is associated with his father in the operation of the home farm.
ARTHUR B. CANFIELD, one of the extensive farmers and influential businessmen of Fulton County, was born in Chesterfield township, this county, on the 9th of August, 1859, and is a son of Heman A. and Amanda G. (Brown) Canfield. The father was born in West Bloomfield, Ontario county, N.Y., on the 25th of January, 1816, and he was reared and educated in the old Empire State. In 1838 he came to Fulton county, Ohio, where he purchased land and erected a house of the primitive type common to the pioneer days. He then returned to New York, whence he brought his family to the new home in the spring of 1839. They remained resident of Chesterfield township until 1860, when they removed to a farm in Gorham township, where the father was engaged in agricultural pursuits until about six years prior to his death, having passed the closing years of his life in Fayette, retired from active business. His death there occurred on the 19th of May, 1901. He was a man of much ability and was prominent in public affairs of a local nature, and he held various offices. He served for a number of years as justice of the peace in Chesterfield township, acquiring an excellent knowledge of the law, and his friends and neighbors showed unlimited confidence in his judgment and sense of justice, his services being in much requisition in the trial of minor cases. He and his wife were leading members of the Grange of Fulton county for more than thirty years, and they were held in unqualified regard by all who knew them. Mrs. Canfield was a pr9ominent member of the Presbyterian church at Fayette at the time of her death.
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For eight years Heman A. Canfield operated a saw-mill in the southeastern part of Gorham township, doing an extensive business, as timber was very plentiful in this section at that time. During the Civil war he was clerk in the quartermaster’s department, as was also his son Henry. His grandfather, Titus Canfield, was a soldier in the War of 1812. The latter was a son of Daniel Canfield, who was born in Connecticut, of stanch Colonial stock, and who was numbered among the pioneers of Ontario County, N.Y. He served with the Connecticut troops in the War of the Revolution, and the subject of this sketch has in his possession and prizes as a valued heirloom the musket which his great-grandfather carried during his military service in the cause of independence. On the brass trimmings of the weapon is found the following inscription, “Dan Canfield, 1778.” Amanda G. (Brown) Canfield was likewise born and reared in Ontario county, N.Y., where was solemnized her marriage to Heman A. Canfield, and she died on the 26th of March, 1901, at the age of eighty-one years. Of the six children in the family the following is a brief record: Delia is the wife of John W. Smith, of Fremont, N.H.; Henry Titus is a resident of Wichita Falls, Tex.; Ellen is the wife of D. Anderson Bennett, of Chico, Cal.; Clara is the wife of Dr. Henry D. Kurtz, of Allentown, Pa.; Edward Theodore is a resident of Pettisville, Fulton county; and Arthur Brown is the immediate subject of this review. Arthur B. Canfield passed his boyhood days on the home farm, and after attending the district schools until he had mastered the fundamental branches of learning he continued his studies in the normal schools at Bryan, Ohio, and Valparaiso, Ind., and he taught seven terms of school in his native county, being very successful in his pedagogic endeavors. He has been active identified with agricultural pursuits from his youth to the present time, having initiated his independent operations in the line upon attaining his legal majority, and having been associated with his father in his farming industry for twenty years prior to the death of the latter. He now has a fine landed estate of three hundred and fifty-six acres, and he employs competent men to assist in the practical details of the work. Mr. Canfield is a stockholder in the Chappel Furnace Company of Morenci, Mich., and is one of the stock-holders of the Fulton County Co-operative, of Fayette, which has a large general store, being president of the company at the present time. For the past six years he has been president of the Fulton County Farmers’ Mututal Insurance Association. In politics Mr. Canfield is a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and he has served in various local offices, being at this time president of the school-board of Gorham township. He is an active member of the Grange and is affiliated with the lodge of Free and Accepted Masons at Fayette. October 5, 1881, Mr. Canfield was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Stowell, who was born in Chatham, Medina county, Ohio, October 13, 1858, being a daughter of William H. and Nancy E. (Blake) Stowell, old and respected resi-
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dents of Fulton county, and the children of this unio are five in number, namely: Ada, Heman A., Iva, Carolyn and Hale H.
CHARLES W. CARREL, a veteran of the Civil war and for a number of years prominently identified with railroading business, the now one of the enterprising farmers of Royalton township, within whose limits he was born, being a member of a well-known pioneer family of Fulton township. He was born in Lyons, this township, August 25, 1846, a son of Daniel and Lucina M. (Welsh) Carrel, both of whom were natives of the State of New York. The father settled in Royalton township in 1846, shortly before the birth of his son, Charles W., taking up eighty acres of land, in Section 16, reclaiming the same from the forest wilds and disposing of the property in 1866, for fifty dollars an acre, a fact which indicates that he had put forth marked energy and ability in conserving its development and improvement. He then removed to Quincy, Branch county, Mich., where he was engaged in the hotel business seven years, at the expiration of which he removed to Allegan county, that State, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, his wife also dying in that county, and both lie at rest in the cemetery at Lyons, Fulton county, Ohio. They reared seven sons, namely: Charles W., Chester J., Eugene J., Chauncey C., Isaac W., Alfred D., and Thomas B. Chester, Eugene and Alfred are deceased. Hustus Welsh, maternal grandfather of the subject of this review
was a pioneer of Royalton township where he continued to reside until his death. Charles W. Carrel grew to maturity on the home farm in this township, and is indebted to the common schools of the locality for his early educational privileges. Upon attaining his majority he secured a position as local night watchman for the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, and he rose step by step until he was made incumbent of the responsible position of station agent, in which capacity he served six years, having been identified with railroading affairs for a total of eighteen years. In 1887 he located on the Edson farm in Royalton township, where he has since been successfully engaged in general farming and stock growing. In 1864, when eighteen years of age, Mr. Carrel enlisted as a private in Company D., 130th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he went to the front and served o140 days, principally on skirmishing and guard duty, being honorably discharged at the expiration of his term of enlistment. He is a popular member of Baxter Post. No 138, G.A.R. at Lyons and of the lodge of Knights of Pythias at Kendallville, Ind., where he was stationed for some time during his railroad career. In politics he is a stalwart Republican. In 1870, Mr. Carrel was united in marriage to Miss Marian A. Edson, daughter of Ichabod and Jane (Fenner) Edson, pioneers of Royalton township where Mr. Edson cleared and improved the farm now occupied by the subject of this sketch. He and his wife here resided until death, interment being made in the Lyons cemetery. His first wife having died, Mr. Carrel married Mrs. Sarah Goodwin, of Delta, Ohio. To this union no children have been born, but Mrs.310
Carrel by a former marriage is the mother of a daughter – Mrs. Belle Bartley, of Norwalk, Ohio. Mrs. Carrel is a member of the M.E. church at Delta.
CLYDE O. CASTLE, B.S., superintendent of schools of Swanton, was born at Whitehouse, Lucas county, O., on August 31, 1873. He is the son of Jehiel and Lorinda (Norris) Castle, the former born in Erie county, Ohio in 1837, and the latter in Genesee county, N.Y., in 1842. Lorinda Castle died at Swanton on March 25, 1903. To these parents were born five children, four sons and one daughter. They are: Charles N., a railroad conductor at Salt Lake City, Utah; John N., a resident of Quartz, Cal., where he is engag3ed in the transfer business; Clyde O., George F., a locomotive engineer at Norfolk, Neb., and Carrie E., a teacher in the public schools of Waterville, Lucas county. Clyde O. Castle received his elementary education in the public schools of Whitehouse, after which he entered the Ohio Northern University at Ada, in 1896 and graduated from the scientific course of that institution with the class of 1901. During his collegiate course he was also engaged in teaching, being thus employed for about two years while attending college. After serving one year as principal of the Swanton schools, and for a like period of time as superintendent of the Waterville schools, he was in 1802, elected superintendent of schools at Swanton for a period of two years. His administration was so satisfactory to the patrons and school authorities that he was last year reappointed for a second period of two years. The school curriculum embraces a high-school course of four years. The 300 pupils in attendance are in charge of eight teachers, including the superintendent. Recently a new school building has been erected at a cost of about $40,000. This building is modern in all of its appointments, being steam heated with blast ventilation, and is pronounced to be one of the finest in Northwestern Ohio. Clyde O. Castle is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity, holding membership in Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons; Octavius Waters Chapter, No. 154, Delta; Wauseon Council, No 68, R. & S. M., and Toledo Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templar. He is also a member of Swanton lodge, Knights of Pythias. In politics he is affiliated with the Republican party, and in September, 1903, was appointed for a term of three years one of the school examiners of Fulton county.
ALFRED A, CHATFIELD merits representation in this work by reason of his standing as one of the popular and successful farmers and honored citizens of Pike township, where he has a well-improved farm of eighty acres. Mr. Chatfield was born in the neighboring county of Hillsdale, Michigan, on the 28th of November, 1851, but has passed the major portion of his life in Fulton county where his father took up his resident in 1858, his mother having died in Hillsdale county. Mr. Chatfield is a son of Joel L. and Catherine (Heckle) Chatfield, the former of whom devoted his life to farming, and was one of the prosperous farmers of Fulton county, but he now resides
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on a farm in Gentry county, Mo. Alfred A. Chatfield was reared to manhood in this county, in whose common schools he secured his educational training, and in his youth he learned the blacksmith trade, which he followed as a vocation for a quarter of a century, during the greater portion of which time he was established in business where he no resides. In 1882 he located on his present farm, and the same energy and enterprise which conserved his success as a general blacksmith have characterized his efforts as a farmer, so that he has been successful in his operations and is known as one of the representative farmers and stock growers of Pike township. In politics Mr. Chatfield is independent and votes for the best man. Mr. Chatfield is a member of the famous insurance organization, known as the Gleaners. On January 19, 1879, he chose as his life companion Ella M. Graves, the daughter of Marvin B. and Mariett (Kilom) Graves. To this union one child, Ida M., was born on May 20, 1880, and she is now the wife of Louis Fouty and resides on a farm in Pike township.
CAREY A. CLARK is another of the progressive and successful young farmers of Fulton county who have here resided from the time of birth and have upheld the prestige of the agricultural industry in this section. He was born on the farm which is now his home, i8n Amboy township, on the 7th of August, 1875, being a son of George D. and Susan Matilda (Rair) Clark, the former having been a son of David Clark, who was born in Massachusetts, of old colonial stock, and who became one of the pioneer farmers near Huntington, Lorain county, Ohio. The maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a pioneer of Medina county, Ohio. George D. Clark was born in Becket, Berkshire county, Mass., October 23, 1839 and his wife was born at Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, December 25, 1844, and her death occurred July 7, 1897, their marriage having been solemnized September 26, 1860. They became the parents of five children, of whom three are living – William O., Carey A. and Alcestia, the last named being the wife of George A. Pifer. After his marriage to Susan M. Bair, George D. Clark resided in Medina county, Ohio about five years having come to Fulton county about 1865 and there settled in Amboy township, where he secured 150 acres of land, a large portion of which he reclaimed from the forest, developing one of the valuable farms of the county. He resided on this homestead until 1890, when he retired, taking up his abode in a pleasant home in Swanton, where he died on the 8th of January, 1904, in his 65th year. January 1, 1900 he consummated a second marriage, wedding Sarah Colbath, of Bangor, Maine, who survives him. He was a consistent member of the Baptist church, with which he was identified for nearly a half century, and he was one of the prominent farmers and honored citizens of Amboy township. Carey A. Clark was born and bred on the old homestead farm which has been his home thus far through life. He completed the curriculum of the public schools and thereafter took a course in the Normal School at Fayette. He has never severed his allegiance to the life of the farm and is consistently
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designated as a model farmer. For three years he was also engaged in the manufacture of cheese at Metamora, but has closed out his interests in this line. The home farm is improved with excellent buildings and is maintained under a high state of cultivation, and Mr. Clark also giv3es considerable attention to the raising of live stock, finding a duel combination of the two departments of enterprise the most profitable. He is a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party, though never an aspirant for office, and he is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. February 28, 1898, witnessed the marriage of Mr. Clark to Miss Carrie A. Crockett, daughter of Almon and Sarah J. (Wilmot) Crockett, of Lenawee county, Mich. The only child of this union was Ethel Fay, who died in infancy.
WILLIAM R. CLARK, a prominent and highly-successful veterinary surgeon of Wauseon, was born in Clinton township, Fulton county, in 1862. He is the son of John A. and Elizabeth (Krontz) Clark, both natives of Ohio. John A. Clark was the son of Ebenezer and (Dey) Clark, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Ohio, having been born in Holmes county in 1801. John A. Clark was a farmer and stock raiser by occupation in both of which callings he was very successful. He came to Wauseon in 1839, being one of the pioneer settlers of that section of the country. His farm of 180 acres is one of the most valuable and productive in the county. The accumulation of so much fine land proves that he was possessed of thrift and enterprise. He died at his home place in March, 1890, aged sixty years. At the time he came to Wauseon with his parents, he was only 12 years old. Elizabeth Clark, the wife of John A. is the daughter of Mr. Krontz of German township, Fulton county, who came to Ohio from Pennsylvania. She is still living, having reached the ripe age of 71 years. Grandmother Dey, the daughter of William Dey, traces her ancestors back to the arrival of the Mayflower. The children of John E. and Elizabeth Clark, other than our subject are: James M., a farmer residing in Clinton township; Noah, a farmer of the same township; S. J., connected with the Wauseon Brick and Tile company, and Elizabeth J., now Mrs. Ben Morningstar, of Clinton township. William R. Clark, the subject of this sketch, received a liberal education in his home schools. After completing his education he devoted his time for the next ten years to the breeding and training of race horses. So successful was he in this business that not a few horses with fine records were developed by his training. At this time he decided to become a veterinary surgeon, for whose services there was then a great demand. The fact is that the future success of stock raising depends largely on the work of the veterinary surgeon. His knowledge of horses, as well as his experience in training them, is of great assistance to Dr. Clark in the practice of his profession. In 1898 he graduated from the Ontario Veterinary college and the McPherson Veterinary Dental college, both located at Toronto, Canada. Immediately after graduating he passed success-
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fully the examination of the Ohio State Veterinary board. Locating at Wauseon, he applied himself diligently to his chosen work, and the result is that he has built up a large and lucrative practice. His field of operations is not limited to Wauseon, but extends to all parts of Fulton and the adjoining counties. His services are in great demand for he is recognized by all as a thoroughly competent practitioner in his line. Dr. Clark, together with his fellow veterinary surgeons, has done much to popularize the profession in this part of the state. In the successful treatment of the various diseases of animals they have demonstrated that their calling is indeed a profession, and not a mere theory. He married Miss Leah Hine, daughter of Joseph Hine, a pioneer settler of Clinton township. The names of the children of Mr. And Mrs. Clark are Misola and Harold. With the thorough training that he has received and with the high degree of success he has attained, Dr. Clark is sure to continue to rise and to grow in favor with his fellow man. Merit is readily recognized by the observing classes, and surely the doctor possesses it in a high degree.
MARTIN COONEY, who is now identified with the rural free mail delivery service, being carrier on Route No. 15, from the village of Fayette, is one of the popular residents of this section and is an honored veteran of the Civil war, his health having been permanently impaired through the privations and other hardships which he endured while kin service. He was born in Seneca county, N.Y., July 14, 1837, being a son of Henry and Rachel (Landis) Cooney, who were born in Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Seneca county, N.Y., where they remained until 1855, when they came to Ohio and took up their residence in Fulton county, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Martin Cooney attended the common schools of his native county, and early learned the lessons of industry, finding employment in various capacities. He accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio and at the time of the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion, he was serving as section foreman on the Air Line division of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, continuing thus engaged until the spring of 1864, on the 1st of March of which year he enlisted as a private in Company B., 60th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he participated in the battle of the Wilderness and in the conflicts of North Anna River, Spottsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor, and in the siege of Petersburg. He was identified with the placing of the mines by which the Weldon Railroad was destroyed, and on the 30th of September, 1864, at Poplar Grove church, he was captured, his regiment having been driven into the swamps of that locality. He was conveyed to the notorious Libby prison, in the city of Richmond, and about a fortnight later was taken to the stockade prison in Salisbury, North Carolina, where he was confined about five months, his exchange having been effected February 22, 1865. He weighed 167 pounds when captured, and when released his weight was 90 pounds. He reached the Union lines about March 15 at Wilmington, North Carolina and was then sent home on an invalid
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furlough, before the expiration of which the war was ended by the surrender of General Lee. He received his honorable discharge at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, on the 6th of June, 1865. He then returned to Fulton county, passing the ensuing two years in Pettisville and being practically incapacitated for any employment during this interval by reason of disabilities resulting from his prison life during which he contracted rheumatism. Thereafter he following farming two years and then took up his resident in Fayette, where he followed various lines of occupation being in impaired health much of the time. He was employed in Allen’s gristmill for ten years and then secured the star route mail contract between Fayette and Spring Hill, being engaged in the transportation of the mail on this route until it was discontinued after a period of five years. Since 1900 he has served in his present position as carr8er in the rural free mail delivery service. He is a stalwart Republican and served for some time as constable in Fayette, and he is a charger member of Stout Post, No. 108, Grand Army of the Republic. September 21, 1858, Mr. Cooney was united in marriage to Miss Susan Downer, of Union City, Branch county, Michigan, her father, Orimel Downer, having been an early settler in that locality. Mr. And Mrs. Cooney became the parents of five children, namely: Marietta, who is the wife of Henry Pickard, of Mount Alton, Pennsylvania; Alfred, who is now a resident of Fayette; Cora, who is the wife of Harvey Russell of Fayette; Leo, who also resides in this village; and Elizabeth who died at the age of three years. Mrs. Cooney is a member of the Woman’s Relief Corps., No. 6, at Fayette, and is a member of the Disciple church.
LOUIE C. COSGROVE, M.D. – Among the practicing physicians and surgeons of Swanton, none stands higher, either in a social or professional way, than Dr. Louie C. Cosgrove. He is the only living son of the nestor of physicians, Dr. S. F. Cosgrove, who for more than 30 years has practiced so successfully in this vicinity. Dr. S. F. Cosgrove was educated in the medical colleges at Cleveland and Cincinnati, graduating from the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery in 1875. With the exception of eight years spent in Sylvania and Toledo, he has been in constant practice in Swanton. Dr. S. F. Cosgrove was married to Miss Allie J. Cooper, a native of Ohio, and both are still living, being residents of Swanton. Louis C. Cosgrove was born in Swanton, on August 6, 1869. He received his elementary education in the public schools of his native town and in 1896 graduated from the Fayette Normal University. In 1897 he entered the Toledo Medical college and completed the prescribed course of that institution on April 26, 1901. With the prestige of a well-established practice by his father as a foundation, he has been singularly successful in his professional work. In 1903 he took a post-graduate course in Chicago Polyclinic hospital, covering the topics of Gynecology, Dermatology, General Surgery and Obstetrics. Both he and his father are active members of the Fulton County and the Ohio State medical asso-
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ciations. In the counsels of Free Masonry Dr. L. C. Cosgrove is well advanced, holding membership9 in Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons; Octavius Waters Chapter, No. 154, Royal Arch Masons, of Delta; Wauseon Council No. 68, Royal and Select Masons; Toledo Commandery, NO. 7, Knights Templar, and Zenobia Temple, Ancient Arabic order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Forresters, the Modern Woodmen of America, and Knights of Pythias at Swanton for each of which organizations he has been medical examiner. In his political views the doctor is a Republican, taking an active part in the deliberations of the party. At present he is identified with both the executive and central committees of Fulton county, and in November, 1905, he was elected coroner of Fulton county for a term of two years by a majority of 1,176.
GEORGE LEWIS COTTINGHAM, who is an expert machinist, conducting a well-equipped general shop in Delta, and also owning a valuable little farm adjoining the town, has here passed the greater portion of his life and is one of the representative businessmen of this part of the county. He is a native of England, having been born on the 27th of December, 1864 and having been about 7 years of age at the time of parents’ immigration to America. He is a son of George W. and Elizabeth Cottingham, who took up their residence in Delta in 1871. For many years George W. Cotti8ngham operated an ashery in Delta, meeting with marked success in this field of enterprise which was then one of importance. The sale of wood ashes was a very considerable source of income to the pioneers and Mr. Cottingham was one of the first to engage in the buying of this commodity in Fulton county, and thus he proved in a sense a benefactor to the community as many of the settlers depended largely upon the sale of ashes for the securing of little luxuries which they would otherwise have been compelled to deny themselves. He manufactured the products into pearl ash, having a large plant devoted to this industry and acquiring what was considered in that day a goodly fortune. He was born in Swarford, England, and his wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Larder, was also born in the same locality where their marriage was solemnized. With their six children they came to America and they took up their residence in Delta in 1871. The father rented 120 acres of land and engaged in farming in connection with his other business enterprises, having purchased the ashery from Josiah O. Gates, a well-known pioneer, and having also handled lime, cement, salt and other commodities of the sort. The farm which he originally cultivated embraced most of the present site of Delta and in later years he purchased the small farm which is now occupied by his son, George L., subject of this sketch, erecting the present fine buildings on the place and here continuing to reside until his death in 1903, his wife having passed away in the same year which witnessed their arrival in Fulton county, 1871. The six children are all living, namely: Elizabeth, Emma, William, George Lewis, Anna and Ada. All are married except Ada. Emma resides in North Baltimore, Ohio;
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William is a resident of Leipsic, this state; and Anna has her home in Avilla, Ind., the other three being residents of Delta. George Lewis Cottingham was reared in Fulton county, working on the home farm and in his father’s ashery until he had attained maturity and having duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools of this section. He was a steam engineer for a period of eight years and then served an apprenticeship at the machinists’ trade, becoming a particularly skilled artisan in the line, his practical apprenticeship having been secured in shops at Deshler, Henry county. In 1892 he returned to Delta and here established a general machine shop on the site of the old ashery, and he has built up a very successful enterprise, his mechanical skill and careful attention to the demands of patrons having gained for him a wide reputation throughout this section, and his shop has the best machinery and other requisite accessories for the facile turning out of high-grade work. About 1893 he purchased the lot now occupied by the establishment of the Atlas Publishing company, erecting the present substantial brick building, which has been utilized by that company for more than ten years and which withstood a disastrous fire which destroyed buildings on either side of it. Mr. Cottingham sold this property in 1904. His handsome home occupies a commanding eminence, overlooking the village of Delta and is one of the most attractive places in this section of the county. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and he is loyal to all the duties of citizenship, taking a deep interest in all that makes for the well being of his home town and county. On the 15th of October, 1899, Mr. Cottingham was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Warfield, daughter of Rev. I. N. Warfield, a clergyman of the United Brethren church, now resident of Van Wert, Ohio. Mr. And Mrs. Cottingham have two children, Grace and Stanley, the latter dying when he was about 18 months old.
EDWARD B. COTTRELL, who is engaged in the buying and shipping of livestock, is a native of Fulton county, having been born on the homestead farm, in Royalton township, on the 12th of October 1871 and being a son of Austin and Lucinda (Richardson) Cottrell, the former of whom was born in Willoughby, Lake county, Ohio, and the latter in Royalton township, Fulton county. Austin Cottrell was a son of John and Betsy (Preston) Cottrell and the family came to Fulton county in the early 60’s. John Cottrell purchased 80 acres of land in Section 11, Royalton township, clearing a portion of the same, and there passing the remainder of his life. His five children are here named in order of birth: Asa, Jacob, Duella, Polly, and Austin. Polly is the wife of Thomas Ferguson. Austin Cottrell was reared to the discipline of the farm, and in initiating his independent career continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits in which line of enterprise he was successful. He died on the 22nd of February, 1900, at the age of 55 years, and his widow now resides on the old homestead in Royalton township. Three children were born to them – Estella, who is the wife of Stephen S. Lawrence, a farmer of
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Fulton county; Edith who is now deceased; and Edward B., who is the immediate subject of this review. Lucinda (Richardson) Cottrell is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Fulton county. She is a daughter of Hiram and Mary Ann Richardson, and her father settled in Royalton township in 1836, being a son of Thomas who was the head of the family as represented in the pioneer annals of Fulton county. The latter was born in Niagara county, New York, a son of Thomas, Sr., a native of Vermont and one of the early settlers of Niagara county, New York. Edward B. Cottrelll was reared on the homestead farm in Royalton township, and duly availed himself of the privileges of the public schools. He early became associated in the stock buying and shipping operations of his father, and since the latter’s death, in 1900, he has been successfully engaged in this line of business in an independent way. He is a stanch Democrat, and in a fraternal way is identified with Lyons Lodge, No. 8346, Modern Woodmen of America. October 11, 1894, Mr. Cottrell was united in marriage to Miss Winnie F. Bennett, daughter of Ora and Elizabeth (Brockway) Bennett, of Lenawee county, Michigan, and they have one daughter, Vera.
FRANK R. CRIPPEN, one of the representative farmers and stock growers of the younger generations in Fulton county, being the owner of a fine property in Fulton township, is a native of the patrician Old Dominion State and a scion of one of its honored families on the maternal side, while the paternal ancestors were numbered among the early settlers in New England and later in the State of New York. Mr. Crippen was born in Dranesville, Fairfax county, Va., on the 6th of April, 1863, at which time that section was the scene of some of the most sanguinary contests between the Union and Confederate forces. He is a son of Minor A. and Miriam (Knight) Crippen, the former of whom was born in the state of New York and the latter in Virginia in which latter Minor A. Crippen died at the age of 84 years. The knight family was one of the old and distinguished ones of Virginia, and in antebellum days a large retinue of slaves was retained on the fine old home plantation, a heavy loss being thus entailed by the emancipation of the slaves, as well as through the general ravages of the war. The old estate, comprising 700 beautiful acres was the birthplace of Mr. Crippen and was one of the beautiful and valuable places of Fairfax county in the days before the war, but such have been the changes in conditions that the property is almost worthless at the present time, neglect and deterioration being evident on every side, from causes beyond the control of the owners. Within the past two years Mr. Crippen, subject of this review, sold 80 acres of the tract for only $400. Minor kA. And Miriam Crippen became kthe parents of four sons, Americus N., Henry A., Frank R. and Asa M. All of the sons are living with the exception of Americus who was a members of the metropolitan police in the city of Washington and who was shot and killed while in discharge of his official duties. His widow still resides in the national capital. Mr. Crippen’s mother died
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December 14, 1874, in Fairfax county, Va. Frank R. Crippen secured his early education in a private academy in his native town, and at the age of eighteen years he came to Ohio where he found employment principally at farm work. In Fulton county he was married in 1886, and for the ensuing two years he was engaged in farming on land which he rented, and he then, in 1889, located on his present farm purchasing the property. The place comprises 62 acres and is maintained under effective cultivation, being improved with a good modern house, a large and well equipped barn and other buildings. In addition to raising the various crops common to the locality Mr. Crippen has for the past three years devoted considerable attention to the propagation of sugar beets, to which he gives twenty acres of his land. From this crop he has netted thirty dollars an acre above expenses. He is ever ready to adopt new methods and ideas that promise to facilitate the work of his farm and increase its profits, and is one of the alert and progressive agriculturists of the county. In politics he is an active and uncompromising Republican, though never a seeker of office, and his religious faith is that of the United Brethren church, and his wife is a member of the Christian Union church. In a fraternal way he is identified with the Swanton Lodge No. 528 of the I.O.O.F., and with the Encampment of the order at Delta, and also with the Knights of Pythias and the Knights of the Maccabees at Swanton, and he has a host of friends in the community where he has proven so worthy a citizen. October 27, 1886, Mr. Crippen was united in marriage to Miss Georgia Dennis, who was born and reared in Fulton township, being a daughter of Philip and Eunice (Welch) Dennis, who were representatives of early pioneer families of the township where the former’s parents, Joseph and Mary Dennis, took up their residence in 1834. Their descendants in Fulton county now number fully 150. Mr. And Mrs. Crippen have two children, Floyd C. and Florence aged respectively 18 and 16 years in 1905.
WILLIAM W. CRONINGER, editor and publisher of the Democratic Expositor of Fulton county was born in Richland township, Huron county. He is the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Upps) Croninger, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. Jonathan Croninger removed from Huron county to Fulton county in 1866, having held many offices in that county. In 1843 he married Miss Elizabeth Upps and by her had the following children: Lorenzo D., Francis D., William W., who is the subject of this sketch, Delphena and Florence. Jonathan, who was born in 1820, was the son of Jacob and Mary Croninger, both natives of Pennsylvania. They first settled in Stark county, Ohio, then in Huron county where Jacob died. His widow afterwards removed to Fulton county and died there. Their marriage was blessed with 14 children. The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of his native township and those of the city of Wauseon and Bryan. While living on his farm in Clinton township he taught school for eleven winters. When he was
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appointed deputy sheriff by Daniel Dowling he moved into the county jail and occupied it for two years. In 1889 he was elected county6 auditor and administered the duties of the office so satisfactorily that he was re-elected in 1892 by an increased majority. He was elected as a Democrat in a county that generally gave a Republican majority of from 1200 to 1500. After leaving the auditor’s office, he spent two years on his farm, enjoying a much needed rest. In 1899 he removed to Wauseon and purchased the Democratic Expositor, which he has since published and edited. In 1875 he married Miss Rebecca J. Robinson. They have two children, named Edna G. and Gwendolin. A. B. Robinson, the father of the wife of the subject of this sketch, was both teacher and farmer and for a time engineer of Fulton county. He was born in Wayne county, September 28, 1825. After graduating from Edinburg academy, Wayne county, he taught school successfully for 28 years. On June 17, 1847, he married Miss Nancy Hutchinson, who was born in Wayne county in 1824. Her parents originally came from Pennsylvania. George and Sarah (Fluhart) Robinson, the parents of A. B. Robinson, were natives of Wayne county, where George died in 1846, aged 51 years. At the age of 20 years A. B. Robinson was elected justice of the peace of his home county. Since coming to Fulton county, he has served in the same capacity for 18 years. He was a delegate to the state convention in 1854.
DAVID CRUMRINE is a representative of a family which was founded in Ohio within a few years after the state was admitted to the Union, and he is one of the progressive and substantial farmers of Franklin township, where he has a well-improved farm and attractive home. He was born in Mahoning county, Ohio, January 13, 1847, and is a son of Frederick and Christena (Routsong) Crumrinbe, the former of whom was born in Germany and was a child at the time of her parents immigration to America. The Crumrine family likewise is of German origin and was founded in Pennsylvania prior to the War of the Revolution. Frederick Crumrine was engaged in farming in Mahoning county until 1854, when he disposed of his property there and on the 12th of September of that year he located in Franklin township, Fulton county, purchasing the farm now owned and occupied by his son David. He secured 90 acres for which he paid $19 an acre in gold. He developed and improved the farm which continued to be his home until his death on the 5th of November, 1899. His first wife, mother of the subject of this sketch, died when the latter was but 16 days old on the 19th of January, 1847, and the father later consummated a second marriage, children of the second marriage surviving him, but of the first marriage David was the only child. Receiving his educational training in the common schools, David Crumrine was reared to the discipline of the farm, remaining associated with his father in the work of the homestead place until he had reached his legal majority. He purchased a farm near Bryan, Williams county, but after his father’s death, at the request of other
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members of the family, he returned to Fulton county and purchased the old homestead, where he has since continued to reside, having disposed of his farm in Williams county. He is a stockholder in the Farmers’ Telephone Company of Fulton county. Though never a seeker of office he is a public-spirited citizen and has been a supporter of the principles and cause of the Democratic party from the time of attaining the right of franchise, October 24, 1869. Mr. Crumrine was united in marriage to Miss Mary Clifton, of West Unity, Williams county, a daughter of John R. Clifton, a pioneer of that county. They have one child, Charles Franklin who remains at the parental home.
ELI CUNNINGHAM, one of the representative farmers and stock growers of Fulton township, was born on the farm which is now his home, the date of his nativity having been July 10, 1859. He is a sons of Jacob and Elizabeth (Munson) Cunningham, the former of whom was born in Chippewa township, Wayne county, Ohio on the 18th of March 1827, and the latter was born in Spencer township, Lucas county, about a mile distant from her present home, on the 19th of July, 1836. They were married August 29, 1854, and began their domestic life on the homestead farm, where they now reside and in occasion being a notable one in the community. They are well preserved in both mental and physical faculties, and have the abiding friendship of all who know them and have cognizance of their worthy and earnest lives. Both are devoted members of the United Brethren church, and the father has been a stanch supporter of the Republican party from the time of its organization to the present. In 18673 he enlisted as a private in the 130 Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for a term of 130 days, and he was in active service in Virginia, participating in a number of important engagements, and he receives a pension in recognition of disabilities resulting from his army service. Of the seven children of Jacob and Elizabeth Cunningham, five are living. Levi owns and operates a sawmill and feedmill at Maltby Mills, Geauga county; Eli was the second in order of birth; Aden and Amy are twins, the former being a steamfitter by vocation and being a resident of Toledo, and the latter is the wife of Dr. Eli L. Slough of Defiance, Ohio; Martha J. is the wife of James M. Dennis of Fulton township; Elizabeth died at the age of ten years; and one child died in infancy. Eli Cunningham secured his educational training in the public schools of Fulton county, and he has always been identified with agricultural pursuits in his native township, being now the active manager of the old homestead farm. In politics he has followed in the footsteps of his honored father and is aligned as a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and his religious membership is with the United Brethren church, of which his wife is also a member. June 14, 1887, Mr. Cunningham was united in marriage to Miss Sadie T. Merrill, who was born in Casnovia, Kent county, Mich., November 24, 1868 and her family history is fully detailed in the sketch of the life of F. C. Merrill on another page of this work. Mr. And Mrs. Cunning-
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ham have two children – Ella E. and Gladys E., both of whom are attending the home schools.
ORRIN WATSON CURTIS, the efficient postmaster of Swanton is a native of Fulton county, having been born in Fulton township on March 1, 1871. He is the son of Newton and Abigail (Showers) Curtis, both natives of New York State. His grandfather, George Curtis, was the son of John Curtis, a Revolutionary hero. Newton Curtis was born in Orleans county, N.Y., in 1831 and came with his parents in 1836 to what is now Fulton county. He spent his productive years in the manufacture of brick in Swanton where he and his wife, who was born in 1836, are now living. They are the parents of six children, four sons and two daughters, all except one daughter still living. The names are: George S., a resident of Huntington, Ind., where he is engaged in the railroad business; Ida D., who married O. S. Allen and died at Metamora, this county, leaving three children; Hattie, the wife of R. S. Watkins, a farmer of Swan Creek township; Frank J., a merchant of Swanton; Clemon E., a retired farmer, having operated an extensive dairy business at Swanton for many years; and Orrin W. Orrin Watson Curtis grew to manhood on a farm and received his education in the public schools of Swanton. For a number of years he was employed as clerk in a mercantile establishment. Then he and his brother Clemon purchased the home farm and operated that as an extensive dairy business for some years. While thus engaged, Mr. Curtis established the ice business in Swanton, constructing a large ice pong on the farm. Next he sold his farming interests and entered the employ of George D. Spaulding, then postmaster and merchant in Swanton. For 3 ½ years he served as a clerk in the post office, after which, in 1897, he was appointed postmaster, then a fourth-class office. When, on January 30, 1901, he received his commission of President McKinley, he had advanced the business sufficiently to have it recognized as a third-class office. On January 20, 1905, he was appointed for the third time. Under the jurisdiction of O. W. Curtis five rural free delivery routes from this office have been established. He has also taken an active interest in establishing the system throughout the county. In politics he has always taken an active part, but has never sought official honors other than that of postmaster. Mr. Curtis is prominently connected with the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was worshipful master for two years; Octavius Waters Chapter, No. 154 of Delta, Wauseon Council, No. 68, Royal Arch Masons, and Toledo Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templar. He is also a member of Lodge No. 588, Knights of Pythias, and a member of the Uniform Rank. On August 24, 1893, he was united in marriage to Miss Jennie C., the daughter of Harmon and Melvina (Bechtel) Farner, of an old and prominent family of Lucas county. She was born in Spencer township, Lucas county. To O. W. Curtis and wife there has been born one son, Farner W., a lad of nine years.
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ROBERT H. BETTS, a well-known retired citizen of Archbold, is an honored veteran of the Civil war, having the distinction of having been the first man to enlist from German township, this county. He was born in the town of Digby, Nova Scotia, still one of the principal seats of the fisheries of that section, on the 7th of June, 1842, being a son of John L. and Sarah Ann (Pryor) Betts, the former of whom was born in New Brunswick and the latter in Philadelphia, Pa. The father of John L. Betts died in St. Johns, New Brunswick, aged 77 years; his mother was 80 years old at time of death, and his grandmother on the paternal side attained the age of 92. In New York City John L. Betts was married to Sarah Ann Pryor, a daughter of George and Elizabeth Pryor, the former a preacher in the Society of Friends, who died in Vineland, N.J., aged 92 years. The early married life of John L. and Sarah Ann Betts was attended with much poverty and deprivation, and he made a somewhat precarious living for his family by his labors as a fisherman in Nova Scotia and elsewhere. He finally set sail with his wife and their nine children, in a small fishing boat, in which they made the long and perilous voyage from Digby, Nova Scotia, to New York City, a distance of nearly 1,000 miles, landing at the old Novelty wharf in safety but practically penniless. Mr. Betts sold the boat for $12 and this sum provided for the immediate necessities of the family. This long and eventful voyage was made in 1842, the year which marked the birth of Robert H. Betts, subject of this review. From New York the family came west to what is now Fulton county, Ohio, settling in the wilds of German township which was then in Lucas county. The father secured a tract of government land, three miles west of the present village of Archbold, and here he became a prosperous farmer and honored citizen, continuing his residence in the township until his death, inn 1900, at the patriarchal age of 95 years. His devoted wife passed away in 1883. Robert H. was the youngest of the nine children, and only one other than himself is living, Hiram L., who resides in Stryker, Williams county. Robert H. Betts was reared to the age of 112 years on the old pioneer homestead in German township, receiving limited educational advantages and early initiating his independent career. He left home at the age of 11 years and was employed at vq4ious occupations in this section until the outbreak of the war of the rebellion, when he was the first man to enlist from German township, as already noted. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Com-
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pany H. Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for a term of three months at the expiration of which he re-enlisted, becoming a member of Company E, 38th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and at the expiration of his second term he enlisted in the Mississippi Marine Brigade serving on the United States steamer “Baltic.” Concerning his service Major D. S. Tallerday, of Poplar Grove, Ill., wrote as follows: “I will say in regard to R. H. Betts that he was a member of Co. H, Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. I was a lieutenant in that company and knew him to be a good soldier. He was afterward enrolled as a corporal in Company C, 38th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which I was captain; he was in several battles while in that company, and in March, 1863, he entered the Mississippi River Marine Brigade as a sergeant with me; in this command he did many brave acts. At one time, near Greenville, Miss., he was cut off from the command and about to be captured; he charged through a lane with one other man and made his escape, cutting his way through some 200 of the enemy; his comrade was captured and afterward made his escape. Again, while out scouting with one comrade, he charged into Lake Village, La., when it was garrisoned by some two or three hundred of the enemy, and put them all to flight, as they thought that the Marine Brigade was upon them; they soon found out their mistake, however, and tried to capture the “marine,” as they called him, but they had given him time to look over the town and select a lot of their best horses, on two of which the boys made a hasty retreat, driving ten or fifteen fine horses ahead of them and being hotly pursued for some seven miles. About ten days after this event I went to this same town with my whole command, and R. H. Betts, as usual was in command of the advance guard. He charged into the town and as before, the enemy were again badly deceived, as they thought he was alone. The result was they showed fight and we succeeded in capturing a good lot of them. I could give many other instances of Mr. Betts’ bravery, but will close by saying in regard to him that he was brave to a fault and always in the thickest of the fight.” At the close of the war Mr. Betts was mustered out of the service, receiving his honorable discharge at Vicksburg, Miss. He then returned to Fulton county, where he followed farming a few years, after which he was employed in governmental service in various capacities until 1902, since which time he has lived retired in his pleasant home at Archbold. His last official service was as confidential messenger for Governor Foraker. He is a valued and appreciative member of the post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Wauseon, and also is affiliated with the lodge, chapter and commandery of the Masonic fraternity, and he takes an active
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interest in public affairs, having been a Democrat in politics until the nomination of Bryan for the presidency, when, as he states the case, he “resigned.” In 1865 Mr. Betts married Miss Charlotte Markaler, of German township, this county, and they have one son, Dr. Albert P., who is a graduate of Georgetown Medical College and who is established in the practice of his profession at Woodburn, Allen county, Ind.
ALBERT C. DANIELS is one of the progressive and energetic businessmen who have proven successful in carrying forward the various details of farming and is numbered among the prominent and honored agriculturists of Royalton township. He was born in Mentor, Lake county, Ohio, July 21, 1839, a son of Enos C. and Mary Ann (Carroll) Daniels, natives respectively of New York State and Lake county, Ohio. They took up their residence in Royalton township, Fulton county, in 1840 and here the father followed the carpenter trade several years, later engaging in the undertaking business, manufacturing the coffins utilized in connection with his business. He purchased a considerable amount of desirable farming land in this township, and through his well-directed efforts accumulated a competency, having been the owner of a finely-improved farm of 160 acres at the time of his death, which occurred March 4, 1902. His cherished wife and helpmeet passed for the eternal life on Nov. 10, 1896, both having been devoted members of the Christian church. They became the parents of three children, namely: Albert C., subject of this sketch; Ellen, wife of John Wood; and Mary, wife of Harmon Lauderdale. Albert C. was reared in Royalton township, receiving his early education in the common schools of the locality and period, and at the age of eighteen years he began working at the carpenter trade, becoming an expert workman and having devoted fully one-half of his active career to his trade, becoming a contractor and builder of this section of the county and having been concerned in the erection of many buildings hereabouts. He later turned his attention to farming and is now the owner of a farm of more than 240 acres, sixty acres of the same being a portion of the old homestead on which he passed his boyhood days. Mr. Daniels rendered valiant service as a soldier in the Civil war, responding to President Lincoln’s early call for volunteers. December 14, 1861, he enlisted as corporal in Company I, 67th Ohio volunteer infantry, with which he proceeded to the front, taking part in the battles of Winchester and Fort Wagner, besides many minor engagements and continuing in service, until practically the close of the war. He received his honorable discharge, as orderly sergeant of his company in Columbus, Ohio, January 20, 1865. In 1889 Mr. Daniels engaged in the manufacturing of baking powder at Bryan, Williams county where he remained two and one-half years, then returning to Fulton county and locating in Wauseon. In 1893 he was elected treasurer of the county, being chosen as his own successor in 1895, and thus serving two terms, and his administration of the fiscal affairs of the county was in every way his discriminating and commendable. In 1900 he returned to his farm, in Royalton township, where he remained until 1905, when he took up his
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residence in Lyons where he is now living essentially retired, having here erected an attractive modern residence in the spring of that year. He is a strong adherent of the Republican party, both he and his wife are members of the Christian church, and he is a valued comrade of Baxter Post, No. 35, Grand Army of the Republic at Lyons. On New Year’s Day of the year 1861, Mr. Daniels married Miss Lydia M. Sanford, who was born in Cayuga county, N. Y., a daughter of Cyrenus and Louisa A. (Gardner) Sanford, who were at that time residents of Lenawee county, Mich. Mr. And Mrs. Daniels have four children: Rose E. is the wife of Cyrus Gillis of Mitchell, South Dakota; Luna M. is the wife of John Lowe; Charles J. is a traveling salesman for the Royal Baking Powder Co., and Maud L. is the wife of Luther Haley of Sioux Falls, Dakota.
EDWARD SHERMAN DAVOLL, a representative citizen, president of the Home Savings Bank, businessman of Metamora, and a member of one of the honored pioneer families of Fulton county, was born in Amboy township, June 25, 1853, and is a son of William P. and Eliza (Sherman) Davoll, natives respectively of Tompkins county and Erie county, N. Y. The paternal grandfather, John Davoll was a pioneer of Erie county, whither he removed from Tompkins county; and the maternal grandfather, Charles R. Sherman, was a member of the old Puritan family of the name in Massachusetts, the line including many illustrious representatives, including the late Senator John Sherman and General William T. Sherman of Ohio and many other conspicuous ones in American history. Charles R. Sherman was an early settler of Erie county, N. Y. and died there. William P. Davoll, who was reared and educated in the Empire State, where he learned the carpenter trade, came to Fulton county, Ohio in 1852, working at his trade for the ensuing decade and then making farming his principal vocation, clearing and improving a valuable farm in Amboy township, where he became the owner of 100 acres. He lived in that township until 1884 when he removed to Charlevoix county, Mich., where he has since made his home, being 81 years of age (1905), and his cherished wife still remains by his side. They became the parents of four sons: William A. is a resident of Charlevoix county, Mich.; John and Edward S. reside in Metamora, Ohio; and Lewis F. resides in Marion, this state. Edward S. Davoll passed his boyhood and youth in Amboy township and was afforded the advantages of the common schools, making good use of his opportunities and becoming eligible for effective service as a teacher, being engaged in this capacity for 12 terms in the schools of Fulton county, and he made a specially excellent record for his skill as a mathematician. Later he was employed five years as salesman in a general store in Metamora, and in 1886 he here engaged in the same line of enterprise for himself, building up an excellent business, in which he continued until 1894. In 1892 he purchased a farm of 123 acres, in Amboy township, and he still owns this property, to which he gave his personal management until 1902. He owns a fifth interest in the Metamora Elevator
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company, whose well-equipped plant was constructed in 1903 at a cost of $9,000, having a capacity for the accommodation of 25,000 bushels of grain. He is also a member of the Metamora Lumber Company, retail lumber and coal dealers. He was one of the organizers of the Home Savings Bank of Metamora, in 1901, and has since been its president. He was also one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Wauseon, which initiated business February 15, 1904, and is a member of its directorate. October 15, 1876 Mr. Davoll married Miss Melinda A. Woodring, daughter of Reuben S. and Kate A. (Watkins) Woodring, pioneers of Fulton county. Edward, the only child of Mr. And Mrs. Davoll, died at the age of four years but in their home they have reared a nephew and niece, Earl and Nettie Harger. Mr. Davoll has served two terms as justice of the peace, and also as corporation treasurer of Metamora, as notary public and as president of the school board for a term of ten years occupying this office at the present time, and he is also serving his first term as mayor of his home town, giving an administration which is progressive and effective and showing that lively public spirit which has animated him at all times. He has been very successful in his business affairs and he stands high in the estimation of the people of his native county. In politics he has always given an unreserved allegiance to the Republican party.
GEORGE R. DAVOLL is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Fulton county and is one of the prominent and successful farmers of Amboy township, residing upon and owning the old homestead farm upon which his birth occurred. George Richmond Davoll was born April 7, 1858, and is a son of Job and Martha (Taylor) Davoll, both of whom were born and reared in the state of New York, and they came to Fulton county in 1845 and settled in Amboy township, on the farm now owned by the subject of this sketch. They experienced the u8sual vicissitudes and labors of the pioneer era, but in due time the father reclaimed the greater portion of his land to cultivation and found definite prosperity and independence, and he was a citizen whose worth was much appreciated in the community. He died on the old homestead, March 26, 1869 at the age of 54 years, having been one of the influential citizens of Amboy township, of which he served as treasurer four years. He was a son of John Davoll, who was numbered among the pioneers of Erie county6, N. Y., whither he removed from Tompkins county, that state. Martha (Taylor) Davoll, daughter of John Taylor, proved a devoted wife and helpmeet and she survived her husband by many years, her death occurring in 1902 at which time she was 83 years of age. The children of this honored pioneer couple were four in number: William is deceased; Lucretia Josephine is the wife of Alfred O. Burrill of Galt, Ontario, Canada; Ann N. became the wife of Albert N. Stillwell (both are deceased); and George R. is the youngest. The last named was reared to manhood on the old homestead, which is his present place of abode, and in the public schools of Amboy township he found the facilities which enabled him to acquire a good practical education. He has never wavered in his allegiance to the vocation in which he was reared, and his
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experience and native judgment, as coupled with energy and progressive ideas, have made him one of the leading farmers of his section, and in popular esteem he has well upheld the prestige of the name which he bears. His political adherence is with the Republican party, and he has been loyal to all the duties of citizenship, though never ambitious for office of any sort. His interest in educational matters has been such that he has been retained as a member of the school board of his township for the past ten years. He is affiliated with Metamora Lodge, No. 875, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. December 30, 1880, Mr. Davoll was united in marriage to Miss Emily F. Setzler, daughter of John and Louisa (Searls) Setzler, natives respectively of Germany and the state of New York, and numbered among the pioneers of Amboy township. Mrs. Davoll was born on February 28, 18651 in Huron county, Ohio. Mr. And Mrs. Davoll have one son, Charles A., who is one of the popular young men in his native township.
ANDREW JACKSON DENNIS is another of the native sons of Fulton county who have here continued to reside during the years which have witnessed the development of this section from the comparative wilderness of the pioneer days to that of the beauty and opulent prosperity of the twentieth century, and he is numbered among the representative farmers and stock growers of Fulton township. He was born in this township, within a mile of his present residence, on the 6th of November, 1850, and is a son of Isaac and Martha Jane (Bauvard) Dennis. Isaac Dennis was born in the state of New York on the 19th of November, 1822 and was a son of Joseph and Mary (King) Dennis, both of whom were likewise born and reared in the old Empire State, and they came to Fulton county, Ohio in the early pioneer era, locating on a farm across the road from what became the birthplace of the subject of this review. There they continued to reside a number of years and they then removed to Lucas county, where both passed the remainder of their lives. Isaac Dennis purchased a farm near the parental homestead in this county, as before intimated, and there he developed one of the valuable places of the county, the old homestead continuing to be his residence until death, which occurred while he was serving as a soldier in the Union ranks. He was a member of the 130 Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died at Fort Powhatan, Va., on the 4th of September, 1864. His wife was born in Medina county, Ohio January 1, 18278 and survived him by many years, her declining days being passed on the old homestead where she died on the 14th of May, 1897. They became the parents of seven sons and one daughter. William Henry resides in Lucas county; Matthew Marvin is a farmer of Amboy township, Fulton county; Andrew Jackson was the next in order of birth; Francis Marion is a resident of Lucas county; Joseph resides in the city of Toledo; Ephraim Leroy is a resident of Lucas county, as are also Sarah Ann, who is the wife of William Drennan, and Isaac Alvin, who is a farmer of Spencer township, that county. William H. was a soldier in an Ohio regiment during the Rebellion and he has never recovered
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from the effects of disease contracted while in service. Andrew J. Dennis passed his boyhood days on the homestead farm, in whose work he early began to render his quota of assistance, and he secured his early educational discipline in the public schools, showing a marked appreciation of his advantages in this line and adding effectively to his store of knowledge through self-discipline, so that he is a man of broad general information and one who enjoys good literature, both standard and contemporary. He has never severed his association with the important and basic art of agriculture, and has attained to marked success through his identification therewith. He owns the old homestead on which he was born, having inherited an eighth interest in the same and having purchased the interests of the other heirs. This place contains 60 acres and his home farm, upon which he has resided the greater portion of the time since his marriage, comprises 80 acres. Both farms are under effective cultivation and are operated under his direct supervision, his son residing on the old homestead farm to which reference has been made. Mr. Dennis has ever shown an active interest in public affairs and is a recognized leader in the local ranks of the Republican party. He served one term as trustee of Fulton township and has been incumbent of other local offices of minor sort. He is affiliated with Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons, and with Octavius Waters Chapter, Royal Arch Masons at Delta. Mrs. Dennis is a zealous and valued member of the Christian Union church at Zoar. On New Year’s Day of the year 1878, Mr. Dennis was united in marriage to Miss Marietta Welch, a daughter of Charles C. and Margaret (Cass) Welch, the former of whom was born December 6, 1811, of English and Irish ancestry, and the latter of whom was born January 25, 1815 of German lineage. They were Married March 6, 1834 having been natives of Pennsylvania and having been residents of Seneca county, Ohio, at the time of marriage. In 1845 they removed from Seneca to Lucas county and settled in Richfield township where the father became a prominent and successful farmer, and on the old homestead he and his wife continued to reside until death. He passed to his reward, November 2, 1889, and she died on the 21st of June, 1893. They became the parents of nine children, of whom six are living, the names of the nine being here entered in order of birth: Elias, Lydia, Eunice, Sarah, George, Amanda, Marietta, Eliza Jane, and Melissa. Elias, Lydia and Amanda are deceased and the others live either in Fulton or Lucas counties. Mr. And Mrs. Dennis became the parents of three children: Harley Andrew born April 23, 1881, died December 6, 1900; Elias Charles born March 27, 1884, was married September 29, 1904 to Miss Ella Grove of Fulton township and they reside on the homestead farm secured by his paternal grandfather so many years ago; and Enid Zada, born August 2, 1887, was graduated in the Boxwell course in the public schools of Fulton county in June, 1903, and at present is attending the high school at Swanton, living with her parents in an attractive home, which is a center of gracious hospitality.
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THE BLAIR HOUSE – Wauseon is especially fortunate in many respects, but particularly so in the possession of the Blair House. Northwester Ohio does not possess a public refuge for the weary traveler in any respect superior to the “Blair” of Wauseon. This is not alone the verdict of the writer, but he is sustained in this view by the best of witnesses, the traveling public. As a basis for this conclusion it is necessary to particularize sufficient to establish the claim. The Blair is a handsome three-story brick structure erected in 1896 on the site of the old Wauseon House which was destroyed by fire. The present owner, J. Crawford Blair, was also the proprietor of the Wauseon, and he brought to his aid in the construction of the new building a ripe experience in the hotel business. Errors in arrangement, which had proven themselves such under the crucial test of experience, were carefully avoided and the new building came into existence as nearly perfect in design and workmanship as it was possible to make it. The site of the Blair House has been occupied for hotel purposes ever since the town of Wauseon came into existence. It is conveniently located near the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railway, and at the same time near the business portion of the city. The hotel fronts upon a neatly kept little park and the Toledo and Indiana Electric railway passes by the door. Though the Blair is the handsomest public building in the city, the guests do not judge of a hotel by its external appearance. Internally the Blair is in perfect accord with its outside design. Every available foot of space is carefully utilized yet without the appearance of being cramped, the nooks and corners being converted into receptacles convenient alike to guests and practical utility of the house. The guest rooms are large and airy, handsomely decorated, heated with steam and lighted with electricity. A perfect system of call bells communicates with the office, and assures the guests of safety from fire while a thoroughly competent night service reduces this danger to a minimum. Competent and obliging help in all departments caters to the comfort and convenience of the guest, and renders his sojourn homelike and pleasant. For the benefit of those who need the inspiration of stimulants, a handsome bar has been installed where the best of goods may always be found and the irrepressibly “Cy” Snelbarker ready to cater to the public wants. “Cy” is as much a fixture as the house itself having been in charge of the bar since the opening of the house on July 4, 1896. The management of the Blair is perfect in all details. There is no clashing or discord. Every one knows his or her duty and performs it with scrupulous accuracy and thoroughness. A speck of dust would be a terror to the eyes of a vigilant landlady, and the rooms, halls, stairways, bathrooms, closets, snowy white beds, furniture, etc., are a standing advertisement of her ever vigilant care. But what is a hotel without a dining room? Take a peep into this, the nucleus of all suc-
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cess in hotel keeping on the “American” plan. The room is large and commodious, handsomely decorated and adorned. The tables are easily arranged to accommodate six guests at each. The principal means are served in three courses. The menu includes the choicest articles afforded by the market, in great variety, selected and prepared with that intelligent consideration which comes only with long and varied experience. The culinary department is in charge of thoroughly competent persons, whose long connection with the house has rendered their labors doubly useful. The service is the best, the whole aim seeming to be to please and satisfy the guests. From this brief review of the salient features of the Blair House, the reader would naturally be interested in knowing something of the private life and character of him whose means and business capacity have brought this hostelry into existence and maintained it on the high plane herein described. James Crawford Blair was born near Honesdale, Wayne County, Pa., on November 19, 1849. He is the son of James Hunter and Sarah (Smith) Blair, natives of Pennsylvania. James H. Blair was a prosperous farmer. To him and wife eleven children were born. They are: Robert S., Frank, James C., Samuel T., Sarah, Maggie A., Wells C., Mary E., Jennie, Ellsworth E. (deceased), and Elizabeth. Ellsworth died at the age of 24. All of the others are married and have homes of their own, five of the brothers being residents of Ohio and three of the sisters of Kendallville, Ind. J. C. Blair was educated in the country schools of his native county. He began is life work by engaging for several years in lumbering in the pincries of Wayne county. For the next few years he superintended a tannery at Glade Run, Pa.; then was superintendent of the nitroglycerine establishment at Clarendon, Pa., for one year, after which he had charge of a lumber camp near Saginaw, Mich., for a like period of time. On April 2, 1892 he came to Delta, O., and embarked in the hotel business but was burned out the same year, losing everything except the clothing on his person. In October of the next year he removed to Wauseon and bought the Wauseon House, which was also destroyed by fire within two years of his assuming control. Here he again met with heavy loss. It was to Mr. Blair’s pluck and perseverance that the Blair was built on the ruins of the old Wauseon. J. C. Blair has been a Mason for 28 years united with the North Star Lodge, No. 241, of Warren, Pa., and has attained to the Thirty-second degree. He also holds membership in the Warren Lodge, No. 339, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a charter member of Tent No. 133, Knights of the Maccabees at #Wauseon. In politics he is a staunch Republican. Although reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, he is not identified with any religious organization. On September 16, 1886, he was married to Miss Catherine Kriegelsteiner of Dunkirk, N. Y. She is the daughter of Wolfgang Kriegelsteiner, a native of Germany. Mr. And Mrs. Blair are very affable, congenial people, who take special pains in making their house a pleasant home for those who are entertained under its roof. Music and social games are provided in the spacious parlors and the well-disposed and orderly guest always meets with a cordial reception. The Blair family attend the services of the Congregational church and con-
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tribute liberally towards the support of the Gospel. As a reminder of Mr. Blair’s former business connections, the following is reprinted from the Warren Evening Mirror of August 19, 1886: “Crawford Blair, who constituted one of the active force of the Oil Exchange when that institution was in its glory, but who is now looking after the oil interests of some Titusville parties at Tiona, took a lingering look at Warren today.”
ALBERT DEYO, a retired farmer of Wauseon (farm located in Chesterfield township), was born in Windham, Greene County, N. W., August 21, 1828. He is the son of Aaron and Anna *Ford) Deyo. In 1834 Aaron Deyo came to Seneca county, O., and located on a farm. Four years later he removed to Huron county, where he died in 1842. Albert Deyo was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools of Seneca and Huron counties. When eighteen years old he began life’s work by teaching during the winteer months and following the carpenter trade during the remainder of the year. In 1854 he married Miss Margaret Kishpaugh, of Huron county, and the following year removed to Chesterfield township and located in the woods and cleared up a farm of 160 acres which he had purchased there. After clearing the land and cultivating it for eight years, he disposed of it and with the proceeds bought a farm of 226 acres in Chesterfield township, the present homestead. The character of the residence and other farm buildings as well as the general condition of the farm mark the subject of this sketch as one of the most progressive and prosperous farmers in Fulton county. During the Civil war he enlisted for 100 days in the 130th Ohio regiment and was commissioned captain by Governor Todd, and he was also in command of a company of militia in 1863. In 1864 he was appointed by Capt. L. J. Carrell orderly sergeant of Company D., 130th Ohio volunteer infantry during the term of service, or until September 22, 1864. In 1863 he was elected clerk of Chesterfield township and served in that capacity for nine years. Then he was elected clerk of the court of common pleas and re-elected three years later, serving altogether six years. Five years after leaving the office he was elected to the State legislature on the Republican ticket and re-elected in 1885. During his whole active career he advocated better schools and good roads. On retiring from the legislature he returned to his farm and for three years lived there. From 1890 to 1902 he was a resident of Morenci, Mich. Having sold his Morenci property he removed to Wauseon, where he now resides in strict retirement. He is a Royal Arch Mason, having taken all of the degrees of the blue lodge and the council. He is also identified with the Eastern Star and the Grand Army of the Republic. Three children were born to the marriage of Albert Deyo and wife. They are: Ella F., the wife of Dr. L. E. Miley, now of Chicago, Ill., who at one time practiced medicine at Wauseon; Leroy H., who married Miss Grace Pritchard, daughter of Hiram Pritchard; George H., who resides on the homestead farm, and who married Miss Dora Dull. They have three children: Ethel M., Lee A., and Burton A. Leroy H. Deyo and
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wife have one child named Anna M. After a long and successful business career Hon. Albert Deyo justly deserves absolute rest from the turmoils of active life.
ANDREW T. DISBROW, who was one of the honored citizens and prominent farmers of Royalton township and a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of Fulton county, well merits a memorial tribute in this work. He was born in Lorain county, Ohio, on the 8th of July, 1846, being a son of Orville and Fanny (Buck) Disbrow, both of whom were born in Schoharie county, New York, whence they came to Ohio in an early day, first settling in Lorain county, later moving to Van Wert county, and finally taking up their residence in Fulton county in 1859. Here Orville Disbrow reclaimed a good farm, upon which he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1875. He was a son of James Disbrow, who was one of the early settlers of Lorain county, Ohio, where he continued to reside until his death. Andrew T. Disbrow was about thirteen years of age at the time when his parents came to Fulton county and settled on the pioneer farm in Chesterfield township, where he was reared to manhood, having secured a good common school education. He made farming his life vocation, and in 1870, at the age of 24, he located on the farm in Royalton township where his widow now resides, reclaiming a considerable portion of the land and erecting the present substantial buildings, including the attractive residence. He continued to reside on this homestead until his death which occurred on the 23rd of November, 1889 at which time he was 44 in the very prime of an honorable and useful manhood. He was baptized in the Christian church and was a man of impregnable integrity and one loyal in all the relations of life. In politics he gave his allegiance to the Republican party, but was never a seeker of office. December 4, 1870 Mr. Disbrow was united in marriage to Miss Viola Standish, a daughter of Clark and Harriet (Smith) Standish, sterling pioneers of Royalton township and a lineal descendant of the historic Miles Standish of Plymouth colony and Mayflower fame. Mr. And Mrs. Disbrow became the parents of four children, Hattie, deceased, Leroy, Harvey and Ina. Hattie passed to the life eternal ten months after her beloved father.
CALEB E. DISBROW, one of the representative farmers of Royalton township resumed his identification with the industrial and civic affairs of Fulton county in 1902 after an absence of many years in the state of Iowa. His parents were early settlers in Fulton county and here he himself was successfully engaged in farming for a number of years prior to his removal to the west so that he finds himself again among old and stanch friends. Mr. Disbrow was born in LaGrange township, Lorain county, Ohio on the 20th of May, 1842, and is a son of Orville and Fanny (Buck) Disbrow, both of whom were born in Schoharie county, New York, and they were numbered among the sterling pioneers of Ohio, having first settled in Lorain county whence they removed to VanWert county, and in 1859 they came to Fulton
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county and located in Chesterfield township where the father improved a farm, remaining upon his homestead until his death, in the autumn of 1875, at the age of 66. His widow still survives him (1905) and resides in Chesterfield township having attained the extremely venerable age of 92. The following is a brief record of the six children: Betsey is the wife of Anthony Leonard, Adeline became the wife of Andrew Gleason and is now deceased, Caleb E. is the immediate subject of this sketch, David J. resides in Wauseon, Andrew is deceased and Francis is a farmer of Chesterfield township. James Disbrow, father of Orville, was one of the early settlers of Lorain county, Ohio where he died. Caleb E. Disbrow was reared in Lorain and Van Wert counties and secured such advantages as were afforded in the common schools of the day, and he was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm being 17 years of age at the time of accompanying his parents on their removal to Fulton county. When the War of the Rebellion was inaugurated he manifested his loyalty by enlisting in Company G, Sixth Michigan Cavalry, with which he served two years and six months, taking part in a number of engagements and receiving an honorable discharge at the expiration of his term of enlistment. After the close of the war he returned to Fulton county and was here engaged in farming in Royalton township until 1874 when he removed with his family to Cass county, Iowa where he followed the carpenter trade as a contractor and builder for a period of 27 years after which he was there engaged in farming four years. In 1900 he disposed of his interests in Iowa and took up his residence in Lenawee county, Michigan where he remained until 1902, when he once more came to Fulton county. Here he purchased his present fine homestead farm of 145 acres in Royalton township where he is devoting his attention to diversified agriculture and to the raising of high grade livestock. He is a stanch Republican in politics and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. March 24, 1866 Mr. Disbrow was united in marriage to Miss Rosaline Olds, daughter of Ferdina and Irene (Cone) Olds, of Royalton township and they became the parents of two children, Irene, who is now the wife of Andrew Winterrowd and Charles F., who is a resident of Lyons, Ohio. Mrs. Disbrow died in 1879 and Mr. Disbrow later wedded Miss Louisa Camburn, daughter of James and Lorenda (Brower) Camburn of Lenawee county, Michigan. Of the four children of this marriage three are living, Lorenda, Estelle and Ernest. Walter died in childhood.
DAVID J. DISBROW, a distinguished veteran of the Civil war and a highly esteemed citizen of Wauseon, was born in LaGrange township, Lorain county, O., on July 17, 1844. He is the representative of a family which together with that of his wife furnished an interest history of individual effort (from the far-away days of the American Revolution to the present time.) The first ancestor of the Disbrows, of which the family has any record, was Thomas Disbrow whose will was probated on February 7, 1706. He married Mercy Jones and became the father of one child,
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also named Thomas. The second Thomas Disbrow married Abigail Goding, of which union there were born seven children, among whom was Caleb, the great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Caleb Disbrow married Sarah Davis and to these parents were born nine children, among whom was Henry the great-grandfather of our subject. Henry Disbrow married Rebecca Barnum, and to these parents were born eight children, among whom was James Disbrow, our subject’s grandfather. James Disbrow married Polly Knapp and of this union five children were born, among whom was the father of David J. Disbrow. The latter’s parents, Orville and Fanny (Buck) Disbrow settled with their parents in Lorain county in pioneer days. In 1859 they removed to Chesterfield township, Fulton county, where Orville Disbrow purchased the farm upon which he died in 1882, aged 65. His widow survives him and resides with her son Francis. Although she has passed the 91st milestone on life’s journey, she still possesses her natural faculties to a remarkable degree. The maternal grandfather of David J. Disbrow, was a brave soldier of the Revolutionary war, entering the service with the New York State troops, and sharing with them the hardships of those who established our national independence. David, who was 15 when he accompanied his parents to this county, was educated in the public schools of his native county. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company I of the 67th Ohio volunteer infantry and entered upon active service in the Army of the James under the command of General Gilmore. His military experiences were thrilling and his sufferings intense. At the siege of Fort Sumter and Charleston his command was under fire day and night for six months. At the battle of Chester Station he received three severe wounds, any one of which was sufficient to disqualify him for future active military service. Two of the wounds were in the right side and the third in the shoulder, shattering the arm. After a service of two years and three months, he was discharged because of disability. Of this time he spent three months on detached service with the engineer corps assisting in the laying of pontoons and the building of bridges across unfordable streams. This service was fraught with the greatest exposure, since the enemy usually occupied the opposite bank of the stream, determined to prevent the laying of the bridge; hence their energies were directed to picking off the workmen. Such a position tried men’s souls, the nature of which cannot be fully comprehended by anyone who has never engaged in such a task. Upon his return from the war, David J. Disbrow nursed himself back to a comparative state of health and resumed his labors on the parental farm. In 1865 he was united in marriage to Miss Angeline, the daughter of Colonel Alanson and Lucinda (Rogers) Briggs. A passing notice of Colonel Briggs is essential to a correct history of Fulton county. He was a native of Vermont and commanded a regiment of Green Mountain Boys in the War of 1812. Coming to Ohio soon after the close of that war, he interested himself in organizing the state militia, holding the rank of colonel for many years. Until the encroachments of old age forced him to resign, he served as justice of the peace of Chesterfield township. Here in
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Chesterfield he was engaged in merchandising, farming and hotel keeping, his store being a favorite trading place for the Indians. After a residence of nine years in Cook county, Ill., he returned to Wauseon and died here at the ripe old age of 82. Colonel Briggs was the son of George Briggs, a representative of the early New England colonists. He left two daughters, Mrs. Eliza Beatty of Wauseon and Mrs. David J. Disbrow. The grandfather of Mr. Disbrow was a native of New York state and served in the War of 1812. He removed to Lorain county, O., and was one of the pioneers of LaGrange township, where he died at an advanced age. The Disbrow family traces its genealogy to English antecedents, but like the Briggs and Buck families, it has long been established on American soil. Fanny Buck, who became the wife of Orville Disbrow, was a native of New York state where her parents were born and ended their days. Her grandfather Buck was a Revolutionary hero from the Knickerbocker State. The children of Orville Disbrow and wife now living are as follows: David J.; Caleb E., a prosperous farmer of Royalton township; Francis, who resides at the old homestead in Chesterfield township; Betsy, the wife of Anthony Leonard, a retired farmer of Wauseon, and Adeline (deceased), the late wife of Andrew Gleason of VanWert county, O. Since the close of the war David J. Disbrow has allied himself with the Grand Army of the Republic, being Post Commander of Losure Post at Wauseon, and Mrs. Disbrow is a charger member of Losure Post, No. 10, Woman’s Relief Corps. Mr. Disbrow has been true to this fire-tested organization and regards the little “bronze button” as an insignia of honor par excellence. He realizes, as do all thinking people, that the circle of membership is constantly narrowing with the passing years, and that soon the last member of the grand old army of the sixties will be mustered out and respond to “taps” on the eternal camping ground. In religious affairs he is identified with the Congregational church. To David J. Disbrow and wife two children have been born, a son and a daughter. They are Charles E., a prosperous young merchant at Oak Shade, Fulton county who married Miss Retta Todd of Dover township, and Eva, the wife of George W. Corlett of Wauseon, a traveling representative of the wholesale hardware firm of Lockwood & Taylor of Cleveland.
CHRISTOPHER DOMITTIO, a pioneer merchant of Wauseon, O., was born in the city of Pfalzburg, Loraine, Germany at that time belonging to France. His father’s name was also Christopher Domitio who died when the son was only three years old. His wife survived him only eight years. Thrown on his own resources at the early age of 11 years, the subject of this sketch deserves all the more credit for having made a successful business man of himself. He received an elementary education in the public schools of Pfalzburg. After quitting school he set to work to learn the tailor’s trade in his native city. Standing little show of promotion in his native city, he emigrated to America, locating first at Cincinnati, O., where he worked for a time at his trade. In 1850 he came to Wauseon where he embarked in the
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gent’s furnishing and clothing business, which he has ever since so successfully conducted. Without meddling with the affairs of others, he applied himself closely to his own business, and by dint of hard work and reasonable economy has built up a trade second to no other of the same kind in that part of the state. He came to Wauseon as a skillful mechanic, and his claims were soon acknowledged by all who had occasion to utilize his services. There is today no more popular and highly respected citizen in Wauseon than Mr. Domitio. By dealing fairly with his patrons, charging only a reasonable profit, he has deservedly won the confidence of all who have had dealings with him. As long as the business is conducted along these lines, it must continue to grow, a fact well known to the subject of this sketch. He married Miss Mary Scott, the daughter of John and Mary Ann (Graham) Scott, natives of Holmes county, O., who settled on a fine farm in Clinton township, Fulton county, in an early day. Mr. And Mrs. Domitio have had two children, both daughters. They are: Nellie, the wife of T. W. McKinley of Denver, Colo., and Lora, now Mrs. Charles Shindler, a druggist of Toledo, O.
ORVILLE A. DONOVAN, one of the progressive farmers of the younger generation in Chesterfield township, was born in the adjoining county of Lenawee, Michigan in Seneca township on the 6th of May, 1876. He is a son of George and Margaret Donovan, the former of whom was born in Akron, Ohio and removed from the Buckeye State to Lenawee county, Mich., where he was engaged in farming until his death which occurred in August 1897 at which time he was 53. His wife was born in Ashland, Ohio, January 5, 1850 and is now living with her son, Orville A., subject of this review. The latter passed his boyhood and youth in his native county, and after attending the district schools he was a student for two years in the high school at Morenci. His vocation in life has been that of farming and he has been thus engaged in Chestefield township since his marriage. September 9, 1896, Mr. Donovan married Miss Bertha Onweller, who was born in Chesterfield township October 31, 1873 being a daughter of William and Mary A. (Shadle) Onweller, the former of whom was born in Chesterfield township this county December 1, 1846 and the latter was likewise born in Fulton county in 1849. On the 1st of April, 1897, they took up their residence in Morenci, Mich., where they have since maintained their home. Mr. Onweller having retired from active business, and his fine farm is now operated by his son-in-law, Mr. Donovan. William Onweller was a son of William, Sr., who was one of the pioneers of Fulton county as was also the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Donovan, Joseph Shadle, both families being of stanch German descent. Mr. Donovan is a Republican in politics, and he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being affiliated with the lodge at Morenci, Mich., and both he and his wife are members of the Chesterfield Grange, and they are popular in the social life of the community. They have no children.
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ALBERT DOWELL stands as a worthy representative of one of the prominent pioneer families of Fulton county being a son of William Dowell, who recently died on his old homestead in Fulton township and who is made the subject of a special tribute of honor on a succeeding page of this work so that reference may be made to the article in question for data as to the family history. Albert Dowell is the owner of a fine farm and is also a skilled mechanic with marked inventive genius as will be noted further on in this context. He was born on the old homestead farm on a portion of which he now resides on the 26th of September, 1853, and there passed his youthful days being afforded the advantages of the local schools while he early manifested distinctive mechanical talent as had also his father before him. He is a skilled artisan in both wood and metals and he erected his own house and barn which are models of convenience and adaptability to the purposes for which they were built. His barn was erected in 1899, is 34 by 42 feet in dimensions, and has a self-supporting roof. The attractive residence was built in the same year and has many conveniences and accessories which show the ability of Mr. Dowell in a mechanical way as well as his appreciation of the higher artistic values. He has always been an indefatigable worker, and has so overtaxed his physical powers in past years that his strength is grievously impaired, though he is in the very prime of life. He remained at the parental home until his marriage in 1893, save for such intervals as he devoted to work as a machinist and general engineer, having been employed at railroad work for several years, and he also owned and operated a steam threshing outfit for some time. For the past 20 years Mr. Dowell has been working earnestly to perfect an invention which partially suggests perpetual motion and which is a greater conservator of power. After years of patient thought, study and experimentation he has finally perfected to his satisfaction an appliance radically different from all existing types of motors, the principle involved being brought to practical work in such a way as to require in the operation of the motor only 1/30th the power while the other 29/30ths are made available for the operation of machinery. It is his intention to bring his wonderful device into practical use as soon as possible. Mr. Dowell is a stanch adherent of the Democratic party in whose faith he was reared, and while he has never held or desired office he has never failed in public spirit and loyalty to all the duties of citizenship. He remained on the old homestead until the death of his loved mother whom he considered a type of perfect womanhood and whose memory he reveres with all of filial appreciation. He was married in 1893 and has since given his attention to the improvement and cultivation of his farm which comprises 80 acres. He and his wife lived in a nearby tenant house until 1899 when he erected his house and bar as has already been noted, and he has since beautified his house and grounds in every possible way setting out a good orchard and making other excellent improvements of a permanent order on his farm. April 39, 1893 was solemnized in marriage of Mr. Dowell to Miss Delilah Habel who was
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born in Fulton township September 25, 1869, being a daughter of Peter and Anna Elizabeth (Shuck) Habel both of whom were born in Germany, and they passed the closing years of their lives in Fulton county where they were pioneers. Of their children it may be recorded that Margaret, wife of Daniel Mohr, died in middle life; Jacob died in Fulton township, aged 54 years; Lena is the wife of Christ Ottgen of Amboy township; Caroline is the wife of Sylvester Munson, and they reside near Swanton; Mary is the wife of Owen Dowell of Lytton, this county, her husband being a brother of the subject of this sketch; George is a farmer near the village of Ai; John resides on the old homestead farm; Peter is a gardener near Toledo; and Samuel is a farmer near Delta, this county, and Delilah, the youngest is the wife of him whose name initiates this article. Mr. And Mrs. Dowell became the parents of four children, one of whom died in infancy, and those living are Lona, Naman and Lorena.
MARION DOWELL, one of the representative farmers of Fulton township where he has lived from the time of his nativity is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of the county, being a son of William Dowell, concerning whom detailed mention is made in the review that follows this one so that further reference to the family history is not required in the present connection. Marion Dowell was born on the old pioneer homestead in Fulton township on the 24th of April, 1857, early began to assist in the work of the farm, and he secured his educational training in the public schools of the locality, fitting himself for the proper handling of business affairs through good, practical discipline, both at home and in school. He continued to be associated in the operation of the home place until his marriage in 1886 when he took up his residence in the village of Ai where he remained three years still continuing to be engaged in agricultural pursuits. The ensuing three years he passion on a farm near his birthplace, and he then, in 1892, located upon his present farm which embraces 80 acres of excellent land, of which all but ten acres is available for cultivation, being highly productive and devoted to diversified farming which Mr. Dowell makes profitable, having ample experience and being endowed with indomitable energy and good business acumen. He also gives special attention to the raising of sheep, breeding the full-blood Shropshire type and having a fine herd of the same. He sells many sheep for breeding purposes and is an adept in this department of his farm enterprise. He also raises hogs for market, as well as horses, and in the breeding of cattle he keeps up a good herd of milch cows whose product he sells principally at the cheese factory in Swanton. In his political proclivities Mr. Dowell is a stanch Democrat, and he takes a loyal interest in all local affairs of public import. He is a member of Swanton Lodge, No. 528, I.O.O.F., and Fulton Encampment No 197 of the order at Delta, being past grand in the subordinate lodge and Past Chief Patriarch in the Encampment. Both he and his wife are valued members of Berry Grange No. 1111 at Ai, and Mrs. Dowels is the only woman who has ever been honored with the office of worthy master of a Grange in Fulton county. She is at the present time the head
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officer in Fern lodge, No. 543, Daughters of Rebekah, at Swanton. She is a devoted member of the Baptist church, taking an active part in religious work and being most popular in the best social life of the community. Mr. Dowell has marked natural talent as a musician, and his children all inherit this graceful gift. He was a member of the Ai cornet band for a long period, and for twelve years was its leader, and he is also a good vocalist. The pleasant family home is one in which the refined amenities are ever in evidence and it is a center of a most gracious hospitality. October 13, 1886, Mr. Dowell was unite din marriage to Miss Nina Odell, a daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Wickham) Odell, concerning whom detailed mention is made in the sketch dedicated to their son, Dr. Samuel Odell, on another page of this work. Mrs. Dowell was born in Huron county, Ohio, on the 17th of January, 1865, and there her marriage was solemnized. She completed her educational discipline in the Western Reserve Normal School at Miland, O., and was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Huron county for three years, prior to her marriage. To Mr. And Mrs. Dowell have been born four children, all of whom are living except one. Mahion Ellsworth was born August 28, 1887; Loyd R. was born July 18, 1890; Clayton E., was born July 27, 1893 and died on the 21st of October of the following year; and Herma H. was born April 26, 1897.
WILLIAM DOWELL, deceased, was one of the well-known pioneer citizens of Fulton County, was a native son of the Buckeye State, and resided on the homestead in Fulton township for more than sixty years commanding at all times the esteem of the community and ever playing the part of a loyal and public-spirited citizen. Mr. Dowell was born in Ripley township, Holmes county, Ohio on the 9th of February, 1821 and was a son of John W. and Sarah (Wells) Dowell, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter in Maryland. John W. Dowell was a member of one of the prominent pioneer families of Kentucky and was a valiant soldier in the War of 1812. He passed the closing years of his life in Indiana, and his wife was a resident of Fulton county, Ohio, at the time of her demise, both reaching advanced age. They became the parents of twelve children, only one of whom is living, James, who is a resident of Michigan. William Dowell was reared to manhood in Ohio and received such educational advantages as were afforded in the schools of the early pioneer epoch. As agent for a fur trading company he had several times visited Fulton county prior to 1844 in which year he took up his permanent residence here, purchasing a portion of the old homestead, which was on the “disputed strip,” claimed by both Ohio and Michigan, and the matter of a very bitter controversy between the two states, the contest even calling out an armed conflict along the border. In the earlier years his principal source of income was hunting and trapping, and from the sale of his furs and game he was enabled to pay for his 80 acres of wild land within the first year of his residence here. In following his hunting dogs through this section, he often waded in water to the depth of his waist, and he was seldom less than knee-deep in water during his
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excursions of this sort, the entire locality being practically a swamp, with gigantic forest trees and tangled undergrowth. He was among the first in the county to engage in ditching for the purpose of making the land available for cultivation, and after a few years the settlers began to utilize lateral ditches and underground tiling for the same purpose. North of his present home, and partially surrounding it, was a lake of more than 200 acres and the same has now entirely disappeared through effective drainage, and the land, as well as much other land which seemed the most undesirable is now among the most fertile sections of the county and state, yielding rich returns for the arduous and protracted labors put forth in its reclamation. Mr. Dowell was practically without any financial resources of a tangible sort at the time when he thus sought a home in the wilderness of Fulton county and here he literally “worked out his own salvation.” And his contribution to the general development and progress in material and civic affairs was a generous and commendable one. For some time he was even unable to purchase a gun, and his hunting was done with the aid of his faithful dog, by the utilization of traps, dead falls, and other primitive devices of the pioneer in woodcraft. Finally he traded a three-year old steer and paid in addition ten dollars for a very ordinary gun which he used for some time, but he was not satisfied with the weapon and this led to his bringing his natural ingenuity and mechanical genius into play in the personal construction of a gun according to his own ideas the result being a fine double-barreled rifle carrying an ounce ball. With this firearm he did valiant execution in traversing the wilds in search of game and the gun is still in the family. The making of this gun led Mr. Dowell to exercise his mechanical skill in other directions, and without serving an apprenticeship in any trade, he became an expert workman in both wood and iron. He has made many guns in his day, and for years did general repair work for others in various mechanical lines. He also erected his own house and barns and his versatility with tools was practically unlimited. His shop was a veritable curiosity being well equipped with lathes, tools and others useful devices of his own manufacture. He was engaged in the general merchandise business at Ai for four years and aside from this, his life in Fulton county was passed on his old homestead far, which comprised 160 acres, and he also owned another farm of 80 acres near Swanton. On the home farm 22 acres are still covered with fine native timber. The burden of constructing gravel roads has been onerous, the cost being assessed against the farmers at an average of fully a dollar an acre, but the results justify the expenditure, and in this work, as in other public enterprises, Mr. Dowell lent a ready co-operation. He was always an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the Democratic party and for fifteen years he served as constable in his township and for more forty years he was a valued school officer. March 28, 1847 Mr. Dowell was united in marriage to Miss Caroline A. Warner who was born February 20, 1827 and who died January 31, 1890 having been a faithful wife and helpmeet. Their children were: Oliver, who was born February 2, 1848 and who died on the 26th of the following
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month; Emily, born March 15, 1849; Owen, born April 27, 1850; Olive, born September 22, 1851; NS Albert and Marion who are individually mentioned on the preceeding pages of this work. Olive became the wife of John Shepler, and her death occurred August 29, 1882. On October 3, 1905, Mr. Dowell passed away on the old homestead beloved by all who knew him.
PETER DRUM, proprietor of the Broadway meat market of Swanton, was born in Williams county, O., June 6, 1874. He is the son of John and Rachel (Dunlap) Drum, both natives of Pennsylvania, who removed to Northwestern Ohio in 1865 and located on a farm in Williams county, where they now reside, engaged in general farming. They are the parents of the following children: the eldest died in infancy; Allen E., a retail liquor dealer of Montpelier; Cassie, the wife of James Wilson of Jonesville, Mich.: Ellen, who died in young womanhood on December 24, 1903; Peter: Cora M., the wife of Ora Moore of West Unity, O.; Stella May and Bertha, both still at home. Peter Drum grew to manhood on the home farm and received such an education as the public schools of his day afforded. At the age of 22, he quit the farm and engaged in buying produce for the firm of Miller, Bond and Hilton of West Union, remaining in their employ for three years. In 1898 he came to Swanton and for a year and a half operated a dray line. His next venture was in the livery business which he conducted successfully for a year and then sold at a liberal profit on his investment. For the next four years he was engaged in the restaurant and retail liquor business. Early in 1905 he bought the meat market which he is now conducting with marked success. The fact that he owns one of the best equipped establishments in his line in the county is due to his close attention to business and his thorough knowledge of stock raising. In this business he keeps two skilled workmen constantly employed. He is identified with the organizations of the Foresters and the Odd Fellows. In his political views he is quite liberal, usually supporting the national candidate of the Democratic party but independent in local elections. On January 23, 1896 he chose as his help meet in life’s journey, Miss Nora Juillard of Stryker, O., the daughter of Louis and Margaret (Pruden) Juillard, both natives of France, the former deceased at the age of 45. To Peter Drum and wife, one son has been born named Harold J., who died August 13, 1901 aged four years and twenty-one days.
ALBERT EDGAR is another of the successful and popular farmers of Royalton township who is deserving of specific representation in this historical work. He was born in Royalton township, September 28, 1869, and is a son of William S. and Susannah (Pontious) Edgar, the former of whom was born in county Armagh, Ireland and the latter in Pike county, Ohio. William S. Edgar is a son of Samuel and Mary (Parks) Edgar who came from Ireland to America in 1857, settling in Henry county, Ohio where the latter died. Her husband later removed to Ingham county, Michigan where he passed the remainder of his life. Daniel and Elizabeth (Leist) Pontious, the maternal grand-
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parents of the subject of this sketch, were of stanch Pennsylvania Dutch stock and were pioneers of both Henry and Fulton counties, Ohio in which latter both were residents at the time of death, the former passing away at the age of 83 and his wife at the age of 81. William S. Edgar was born in county Armagh, Ireland on the 10th of July, 1833 and came to America in 1854 about three years earlier than did his parents. He took up his residence in Henry county, Ohio where he was employed in a sawmill for the ensuing three years after which he there engaged in farming on the bottom lands of the Maumee river. In 1864 he came to Fulton county and located in Clinton township where he remained until 1868 when he purchased a farm in Royalton township becoming one of the representative farmers of this section and continuing to reside on the homestead until the autumn of 1904 when he and his devoted wife removed to the village of Delta where he is now living retired. His children are five in number, namely: William R., Alva, Elmer, Albert and George. Albert Edgar, the immediate subject of this review was reared to manhood on the old homestead farm, and has passed his entire life thus far in Royalton township in whose public schools he secured his educational discipline. He is now the owner of a fine farm of 120 acres improved with good buildings and maintained under a high state of cultivation while forty acres of land is a part of the old homestead on which his father settled in 1868. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and he is a loyal and public-spirited citizen, being at the present time a member of the board of education in his township. He and his wife hold membership in the Christian church at Lyons and they enjoy marked popularity in the social life of their home community. September 21, 1893, Mr. Edgar was united in marriage to Miss Mamie E. Mann, daughter of Charles and Mary (Hinkle) Mann of Royalton township and they have one daughter, Ila May. Mable Irene, the oldest child being deceased.
ELMER EDGAR – It is gratifying to note the large number of representative farmers of Fulton county who are of the second generation of their families in this section, many being native of the county and who have found it expedient and satisfactory to follow the vocation to which they were reared, thus aiding in upholding the prestige of agriculture in this section, carrying forward the work inaugurated under so vastly different conditions by those who were pioneers of the county. An able representative of this class of farmers is Elmer Edgar, whose well-improved landed estate is located in Royalton township. He was born in Clinton township, this county, December 9, 1866, being a son of William S. and Susannah (Pontious) Edgar, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Pike county, Ohio. The paternal grandparents, Samuel and Mary (Parks) Edgar, immigrated from County Armagh, Ireland to American in 1857 settling in Henry county, Ohio where the latter died. Her husband who had been there engaged in farming, soon afterward removed to Ingham county, Michigan being a pioneer farmer of that section where he passed the remainder of his life. They became the parents of ten children, name-
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ly: Susannah, Robert, Lucinda, Mary J., Joseph, William S., George, John, Hugh and Margaret. The maternal grandparents of Elmer Edgar were Daniel and Elizabeth (Leist) Pontious who were born in Ohio and of Pennsylvania German parentage, the families having been pioneers of Henry and Fulton counties, Ohio. Daniel Pontious died in Royalton township, Fulton county at the age of 83 and his wife died in Clinton township, age 81. William S. Edgar was born in county Armagh, Ireland, Ju8ly 10, 1833 and was there reared and educated. In 1854 he came to America, settling in Henry county, Ohio where he was employed in a sawmill for the ensuing three years after which he there engaged in farming in the bottom lands of the Maumee river. In 1864 he came to Fulton county and located on a farm in Clinton township and in 1868 he removed to Royalton township where he became a prosperous farmer and influential citizen, accumulating nearly 500 acres of land. He resided on his homestead farm until 1904 when he removed to the village of Delta where he has since lived retired. He is a Democrat in politics and both he and his wife attend the Presbyterian church. They have five sons: William R., Alva, Elmer, Albert and George, all of whom are well established in life and proving worthy of the honored name which they bear. Elmer Edgar has been a resident of Royalton township since he was two years of age, and has always been identified with agricultural pursuits, and he received his early education in the public schools of his native county. He now owns and operates the old homestead farm which comprises 200 acres and is one of the wide-awake, enterprising and successful farmers and stock raisers of the county. He is a stalwart adherent of the Republican party and is serving as one of the trustees of Royalton township, and he has also served in other local offices of public trust. He and his wife are members of the Christian church. December 25, 1901, in fitting observance of the gladsome spirit of the Christmastide, Mr. Edgar was united in marriage to Miss Emma J. Smellie, daughter of Gavin and Julia (Whittaker) Smellie of Dover township, and they have a fine little son, Doyle S. The parents of Mrs. Elmer Edgar are of Scotch descent.
BERT C. ELDREDGE, a veterinary surgeon of Swanton, born in the village of Tedrow, Fulton county, O., on October 19, 1870 is a descendant of early New England pioneers, the maternal line being descended from Perigene White, the first white child born in Plymouth colony. Dr. Eldredge’s great grandfather, Thomas Eldredge, removed from the state of New York to Stark county, O., about the year 1809 and was drafted from that cou7nty to serve as a soldier in the War of 1812. He died in Illinois and his wife in Stark county. Stephen Eldredge, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Stark county on December 19, 1824 and he still resides in Fulton county, at the ripe old age of 80 years enjoying good health and quite active in choring and attending to his home interests. Bert C. Eldredge is the son of William A. and Eva (Clark) Eldredge, the
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former a native of Wood county, O., and the latter of Kalamazoo, Mich. They were married in Fulton county on September 2, 1869, and the wife died July 21, 1875. Bert C. is the only child born to this union. The maiden name of William A. Eldredge’s second wife was Hattie Evans. To these parents, both still living, there have been born four children. They are: Orville A., a machinist of Swanton; George Otis, Lura B. and Lela. The family has resided on the homestead farm adjoining Tedrow for about 30 years. Bert C. Eldredge grew to manhood on the homestead and received his education by attending the Tedrow public schools and the Fayette, O., Normal, graduating from the commercial department of the latter institution. In the fall of 1900 he entered the Ontario Veterinary college at Toronto, Canada, and graduated on March 28, 1902. In May following he came to Swanton where he has since practiced his profession with gratifying success, ranking high in his profession and enjoying the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. In politics he is a Republican, as were his ancestors since the birth of that party. On December 24, 1894 he was married to Miss Mildred M. Somers, a daughter of Martin and Ellen (Fitzsimmons) Somers of Dover township, Fulton county. Martin Somers served as a soldier during the Civil war and died of diseases resultant from army life on June 19, 1903. His widow survives him and still resides on the homestead. To these parents three children were born. They are: Orrin E., a farmer; Mildred M., now Mrs. Eldredge, and Belva M., now Mrs. Porter whose husband operates the homestead. To Dr. Eldredge and wife there was born on September 19, 1904, a daughter, little Eva Ellen.
GEORGE A. EVERETT, attorney and counselor-at-law, Delta, was born in Amboy township of Fulton county, November 21, 1868. His genealogy is traceable to English and German ancestors, English on the paternal side. The Everetts were among the pioneers of Massachusetts, removing from there to Pennsylvania in an early day. He is the son of George and Elizabeth (Sipe) Everett, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. They were married in Holmes county, O., and in 1848 removed to Amboy township, Fulton county, being among the early pioneers, where the father died and where his widow still resides. They were the parents of ten children, six of whom are now living. They are: Mrs. C. E. Haynes of Toledo; Mrs. J. M. Curtis of Swanton; Mrs. Edward Luke of Lytton, O.; Samuel, a merchant of Lytton; George A.; Isaac, who is engaged in raising poultry and bees at Lytton; William, who died in childhood; Isaiah who died in infancy; John and Mary who both died in mature life. George A. Everett grew to manhood on a farm and was educated at the Fayette, O. Normal University completing the teachers’ course in 1890. He then took the scientific course, graduating in 1892 as the salutatorian of the class with the degree of Bachelor of Science. While at college he did the preliminary work in the study of law and graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1895 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws having acted as assistant law librarian during the entire collegiate course. In 1896
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the law firm of Everett and Paxson opened up an office at Delta. After some time Mr. Paxson sold his interest to Mr. Everett who since that time has been alone. He has a finely appointed suite of rooms above the post office and is doing an extensive and very lucrative practice. Since the beginning of his work he has been admitted to practice at the bar of the supreme courts of Ohio and Michigan and to the Federal courts. In politics he is a stanch Republican, always taking an active part during the campaigns. On April 1, 1903, he was elected mayor of the city of Delta for a term of two and one-half years. Althought a young man, he is deeply interested in public school affairs and has served on the board of education for four years. He is a member of Delta Lodge, 194, Knights of Pythias being a past chancellor commander. He is also a member of Fulton Lodge No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons, high priest of Octavius Waters Chapter, No. 154, Royal Arch Masons, and past patron of Aurora Chapter, No. 75, Order of Eastern Star. On May 8, 1901, he was married to Miss Marion V. Corbin of Delta, a daughter of D. E. Corbin who for the past 20 years has been employed by the Oval Wood Dish Company. Mrs. Everett is a graduate of the Delta high school and has developed a remarkable aptitude for elocution, having spent some time in the study of that art and in perfecting herself in music. They have one child, Doris Elizabeth, born February 2, 1905.
SAMUEL EVERETT – To speak of the village of Lytton is equivalent to calling attention to its leading businessman, and that man is Samuel Everett, whose initiative power and broad pragmatic discrimination have enable him to build up in this distinctive rural community a business enterprise which would do credit to a metropolitan center, and which, in fact, encroaches heavily on the trade territory of larger and more pretentious towns in the county, the village of Lytton being located on the line between Fulton and Amboy townships and being in the center of as fine an agricultural section as is to be found in the state. Mr. Everett is a native of Fulton county and is a young man of distinctive ability and sterling attributes of character. He was born in Amboy township on the 20th of December, 1872 and is a son of George and Elizabeth (Sipe) Everett, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Ohio. The Everett family of America traces its genealogy back to sterling English origin, and there have been many distinguished representatives of the name both in England and America in which latter country the family was founded in the colonial era, the original progenitors in the new world having settled in Massachusetts, and later on representatives were numbered among the pioneers of Pennsylvania. From this branch the subject of this review is descended. In Holmes county, O., was solemnized the marriage of George Everett to Miss Elizabeth Sipe, whose lineage is of German extraction and in 1848 they came to Fulton county settling in Amboy township and being numbered among the early pioneers of this part of the county where the father developed and improved one of the valuable farms of the county, passing the remainder of his life on the homestead and being one of
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the most honored citizens of the community. He passed away in 1882 at which time his landed estate comprised 200 acres. This has been distributed among the heirs, the mother retaining her dower interest and still residing on the old place. Of the ten children, six are living. Samuel Everett was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm, contributing a due quota to its work from his boyhood days and being afforded the advantages of the excellent public schools of the county. He initiated his independent career as a farmer, having been but ten years of age at the time of his father’s death, and having in due time come into possession of his share of the estate. He continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until 1894 when he founded the business at whose head he now stands and which is almost phenomenal in scope and importance, even as it is unique in location. His possessions comprise about all that is represented in the business affairs of the village of Lytton, and it is due almost entirely to his progressive ideas and well-ordered enterprise that he has centralized here so magnificent a trade. He designates, with characteristic vim, his headquarters as being located “twenty-four miles west of Toledo,” which city he thus takes into consideration as representing his only formidable trade rival. Mr. Everett carries a large stock of farm implements and machinery, vehicles, dairy supplies, heavy and shelf hardware, tin ware, paints and oils, pumps, stock remedies and patent medicines, groceries and provisions, and such other lines as he believes will supply the legitimate demands of his large and widely extended trade. His stock is selected with discrimination in each department; he buys in large quantities; his relative expenses are light, and he is thus enabled to offer prices which have created indubitable consternation among his rivals in the larger towns from which he has deflected and solidly retained a large and appreciative patronage. His main building is two stories in height and 54 by 62 feet in dimensions, and it has two additions or wings, each 25 by 50 feet. All this space is fully demanded for the accommodation of his stock, and while its valuation is constantly fluctuating in a slight way, by the exigencies of sale and purchase of new stock, its average valuation may conservatively be placed at $18,000, implying annual operations which would be noteworthy in a center of commercial industry. Inflexible integrity and fair dealing characterize the course of this ambitious and successful young businessman, and he may well view with pride the success which has attended his efforts. He is essentially and primarily a businessman, but this fact does not narrow his interest in public affairs, and he is thoroughly loyal and helpful as a citizen and a stanch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, though never an aspirant for office. He is affiliated with Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons, and is popular in both business and social circles in the county. On the 26th of April, 1898, Mr. Everett was united in marriage to Miss Ida Schug who was born and reared in Fulton county being a daughter of Peter and Catherine Schug, and they have two fine little sons, Harold and Howard. Mrs. Everett is a member of the Zion Reformed Church at Lytton.
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ROBERT W. FAUBLE is numbered among the progressive farmers and stock growers of Fulton township where he has passed his entire life, a scion of stanch pioneer stock. He was born in the same neighborhood in which he now resides on the 9th of October, 1849, and is a son of Isaac and Rachel A. (Watkins) Fauble, both of whom were born in Wayne county, Ohio, the former in 1815 and the latter in 1818. Isaac Fauble was a son of Michael Fauble, who was born in Germany and who was the founder of the family in America, having been one of the pioneers of Wayne county, Ohio where both he and his wife died. Isaac Fauble came with his wife to Fulton county in an early day, securing wild land in Fulton township and developing a good farm upon which he died when 58 years, his wife attaining the age of 68 years. He was an energetic, aggressive and industrious man, inflexible in his integrity and straightforward in all his dealings. Though he died in middle life, he had so well directed his efforts that he left his family in comfortable circumstances. He and his wife continued residence of Fulton county until death, save for an interim of about two years passed in Indiana. They became the parents of six children, of whom the eldest died in infancy. Jane is the wife of Jacob Garman, a farmer of Clinton township; Robert W. was the next in order of birth; James E. is a farmer of Swan Creek township; Sarah L., widow of George W. Fraker is individually mentioned elsewhere in this work; and Rachel A. is the wife of Andrew J. Fraker, of whom specific mention is made on another page. Robert W. Fauble was reared to the sturdy work of the home farm and his educational advantages in youth were those afforded by the local schools. His entire life has been devoted to agricultural pursuits and upon the death of his parents he inherited a portion of the old homestead. He and his wife are now joint owners of a well-improved farm of 58 acres and the same is maintained under effective and profitable cultivation, and the land being specially productive, and he also devotes no little attention to the raising of livestock of good grades. He met with some financial reverses during the period of general business depression in the early ‘90’s, but the favorable conditions following the natural reaction in industrial affairs enable Mr. Fauble to recoup his losses thus restoring him to independent circumstances. In politics Mr. Fauble is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and he has served in minor local offices of public trust, and fraternally he is identified with the lodge of Knights of Pythias at Delta. March 30, 1876, Mr. Fauble was married to Miss Clara J. Manley, who was born in Fulton township, this county; being a daughter of Whitfield Manley, an honored pioneer. Mr. And Mrs. Fauble have seven children, all of whom are living. Nellie and Ella (twins) were born January 11, 1877, the former being now the wife of William J. Fleming, and the latter being the wife of Archibald B. Putman, both of this county; Roy, who was born June 23, 1879, is employed in the city of Toledo; Edward,
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born February 2, 1881; Clarence, born July 13, 1887; Ralph, born March 30, 1889; and Florence, born January 13, 1892, all remain at the parental home.
EUGENE FELTZ, one of the venerable pioneer citizens and retired farmers of Amboy township, has contributed his quota to the material and civic development and progress of Fulton county, and has ever stood as a man of loyalty and integrity in all the relations of life so that in his declining years he is surrounded by those who accord him unqualified respect and esteem. He was born in the department of Muerthe et Moselle, France, on the German border, April 3, 1817, and is a son of Nicholas E. and Mary (Payaer) Feltz. His father was for many years in the employ of the French government as warder over timber preserves, and he passed his entire life in France, as did also his wife. Eugene Feltz was reared and educated in his native land where he served an apprenticeship of 18 months at the carpenter trade following the trade as his vocation in France until 1852 when he came to the United States. On May 15 of that year he located in Sandusky, Ohio, which was then a mere village, and he was there employed at his trade for the ensuing four years at the little town of Metamora where he continued in the work of his trade five years, as a contractor and builder as well as general workman. He then purchased 30 acres of land in Section 17, Amboy township reclaiming and improving the same to which he later added by the purchase of a contiguous tract of 20 acres, and still later he purchased 20 acres in Section 8. The 50 acres in Section 17 constitute the farm now owned and operated by his son, Joseph, one of the leading farmers of this township. In 1890 Eugene Feltz located on a farm of 87 and one-half acres in Section 16, having purchased this property a number of years previously and a considerable portion of the same was cleared by him with the assistance of his sons and he erected the present substantial and attractive buildings. He is now living retired from active labor enjoying the rewards of his former endeavors and surrounded by his family and a host of loyal friends. May 15, 1854, Mr. Feltz was united in marriage to Miss Mary Valter, daughter of Walter and Catherine (Minlott) Valter of Sandusky county, Ohio, whither they came from France, and the following is a brief record concerning the children of this union: Mary is the wife of Nicholas Dowling; Edward is deceased; Eugene, Jr., operates the home farm of his father; and Joseph owns and operates the old homestead previously mentioned. Mr. Feltz and his family are communicants of St. Mary’s Catholic church at St. Mary’s Corners, Amboy township, and he has aided materially in the support of the parish work and in the upbuilding of the flourishing organization. He contributed liberally to the erection of the attractive church edifice, now utilized as did he also for the original church which was of primitive type. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, and he has always shown a helpful concern in local affairs, and he served one term as supervisor of his township.
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CHARLES H. FENTON, one of the well known and representative young farmers of Clinton township was born in Ridgeville township, Henry county, Ohio on the 11th of September, 1881, and is a son of Henry K. and Emma C. (Worden) Fenton, the former of whom was born in Henry county, Ohio, and the latter in Coshocton county. The father died in 1889, having been one of the prominent and honored farmers of Henry county. His widow now resides in the city of Wauseon, Fulton county. Of their two children Charles H. is the elder. Howard N. is now a student in the Ohio Weslyan University and has his home with his widowed mother who removed from Henry county to Fulton county in 1902 purchasing the old Hodges farm one mile south of Wauseon where Charles H. now resides. The place comprises 140 acres of excellent land, the major portion of the same is under effective cultivation, and the improvements include good buildings and other needed provisions. Charles H. Fenton passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead in Henry county in whose public schools he secured his preliminary educational discipline while in 189102 he was a student in the Ohio Northern University, a well equipped normal institution at Ada, being there graduated as a member of the class of 1892. His vocation throughout life has been that of farming, his knowledge of the details of the industry being of the most intimate sort, so that he has been able to secure good returns from his efforts in this connection. Since the removal of the family to Fulton county he has had charge of the home farm. In politics Mr. Fenton is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. On the 23rd of September, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Fenton to Miss Matilda Winzeler, who was born in Wauseon, this county, in 1881, the same year of her husband’s birth. She is a daughter of Frank W. and Mary (Seiler) Winzeler. Her father was born in Switzerland, December 24, 1849, and came with his parents to America in 1854 in which year the family located in Franklin township, Fulton county, Ohio. Her grandfather, Jacob Winzeler, was born in Switzerland in 1821, was a shoemaker by trade and vocation, and he served as a member of the country guards during the progress of the French revolution. After coming to America he followed his trade two years and then purchased a tract of wild land, in Franklin township, where he was killed by a falling tree in 1862. Sarah (Kutzley) Winzeler, mother of Frank W., was likewise born in Switzerland, and she died, May 17, 1900 at a venerable age. In 1872 Frank W. Winzeler was united in marriage to Miss Mary Seiler, who was born in Switzerland and who came with her parents, Jacob and Mary (Meister) Seiler, to America in 1855. Jacob Seiler was a successful school teacher in his native land, and also taught seven years after coming to the United States, being a man of fine intellectuality. He now resides on his homestead, his devoted wife having passed away in March, 1904 at the age of 81 years. Frank W. Winzeler secured his educational training in the common schools and remained associated with his father until he attained his legal majority, after which
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he followed the carpenter trade for seven years. After his marriage he located on a farm in Lenawee county, Mich., where he remained three years at the expiration of which he returned to Fulton county and purchased a farm of 40 acres which he later sold, forthwith purchasing the fine farm upon which he now resides. He is a stanch Democrat in his political allegiance, and he served two terms as trustee of Franklin township. Both he and his wife are members of the religious organization known as the German Evangelical Association. They have nine children: Minnie, who is the wife of Adolph Steckle, of Wauseon; Edward of Idaho, married Miss Grace Lee of that place; Matilda, who is the wife of Charles H. Fenton, subject of this review; and Lillian, Alfred, Frances, Jacob, Sylva and Raymond. Mr. And Mrs. Fenton have no children.
WILLIAM H. FIELDS, a builder and house mover of Wauseon, was born in Enniskillen, Ontario, Canada. He is the son of William and Mary Ann Sophrona (Shoaff) Fields, both natives of Canada. William Fields came to Wauseon in 1865 where he engaged in building and house moving in which business he was quite successful. For some years he was actively engaged in the furniture and undertaking business. During the 38 years that he conducted his business so successfully in Wauseon, he found some time to devote to society and social affairs. In Odd Fellowship he took a very active part, having passed all the chairs of that organization and was quite prominent all over the state. He was equally active in the temperance cause, being identified with all the temperance societies. It is therefore not to be wondered at that he enjoyed the respect of all classes. He died in 1902 at the age of 75 years and is survived by his widow, who is still in remarkably good health, notwithstanding she is 76 years old. There were born to this marriage the following children: Almira (deceased), who was the wife of Miles Root of Clinton township; Sarah E., wife of Jason Dowell of Toledo, O.; Sophrona (deceased), who was the wife of James Murphy of Wauseon; William H., the subject of this sketch; Madison, of Michigan; Cyrus of Chicago; Anna M. (deceased), who was the wife of David M. Mikesell of Toledo; Cora B., wife of John Maxwell of Michigan; and Charles of Wauseon. William H. Fields, the subject of this sketch was nine years old when he came to Wauseon with his parents. He was education in the public schools of his home city. After leaving school he formed a partnership with his father in the contracting and house moving business in which he is still actively engaged. His success is largely due to the fact that he is thoroughly equipped for his work, understanding it in every detail. So carefully are buildings moved under his direction that comparatively little damage is done to them. As a matter of course he enjoys a very liberal patronage. He married Miss Adaline A. Dunbar, daughter of James Dunbar, born in New London, Conn., in 1817, who located in Erie county in 1831, and two years later in Clinton township, Fulton county, where he entered wild land. The maiden name of Mrs. Fields’ mother was
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Gleason. The children of Mr. and Mrs. James Dunbar are: William Wallace (deceased), who served in the Civil war; Gurden R. B., who was killed in the battle of Jonesboro, Georgia; Martha E., now the wife of Henry B. Scott of Seattle, Washington; Mary (deceased); Adaline A., wife of William H. Fields; Orin R. (deceased); Anna M., wife of Madison Fields and William Sherman of Wauseon. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Fields has been blessed with one child, Arthur J.
ROBERT J. FINN is one of the energetic and enterprising young farmers of Chesterfield township, his well-improved homestead being located about two miles west of the village of Lyons which is his post office address, though he enjoys the advantages of the rural free mail delivery service. Mr. Finn was born in Fulton township, this county on the 26th of March, 1879, and is a son of James and Rachel J. (Watkins) Finn. James Finn was born in Michigan in 1852, and he took up his residence in Fulton county, Ohio about 1870, being employed in a saw mille the first two years and then securing employment on the farm of Robert Watkins whose daughter, Rachel J., became his wife. He continued on the farm of his father-in-law about four years thereafter, and Mr. Watkins then presented to his daughter, Mrs. Finn, a portion of the homestead farm where they lived until 1891 with the exception of two years passed in Delta, this county. In the year mentioned James Finn purchased the farm where his son, Robert J., now resides, the same comprising 108 acres of which he gave to the subject of this sketch 40 acres at the time of the latter’s marriage and the son now has charge of the operation of the entire farm, his parents maintaining their residence in the village of Morenci, Mich., about six miles distant, and the father having retired from active labor. Robert J. Finn secured his rudimentary education in the school known as the Basswood school in Fulton township, the district having gained its name from the fact that the first school house there erected was constructed of basswood logs. He later attended school at Maple Grove, after which he continued his studies two years in the high school at Morenci, Mich., supplementing this training by attending the Fayette Normal University for one year. Thereafter he was employed in a clerical capacity for three years in the village of Morenci, Mich., and after his marriage in 1900, he located on the home farm which he has since operated with much success. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and he has held several local offices of public trust, being at the present time constable3 of his township. He is a charter member of the Morenci lodge of the Knights of Pythias and is also identified with the Grange of Fulton county. On the 7th of March, 1900, Mr. Finn was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Geyser, who was born in Swanton, this county, March 14, 1879, being a daughter of William and Catherine (Schrock) Geyser who are now residents of Swanton. Mr. and Mrs. Finn have a fine little son, William Geyser Finn born February 2, 1902.
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JACOB H. FIRST, one of the successful farmers and well known citizens of Clinton township where he has maintained his home for more than 30 years, was born in Wayne county, Ohio on the 22nd of April, 1840, and is a son of Samuel and Eliza (Keister) First, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Wayne county, Ohio in which latter country both remained residents until death, the father having been a farmer by vocation. Jacob H. First was reared and educated in his native county where he continued identified with agricultural pursuits until August 22, 1862 when he went forth to do yeoman service in defense of the Union, enlisting as a member of Company D, 120th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and one year later by re-enlistment he became a member of the 48th Ohio Regiment, Company E. with which he remained in active service until after the close of the war, having received his honorable discharge on the 15th of October, 1865. He thereafter continued engaged in farming in Wayne county until 1872 when he came to Fulton County, where he purchased his present well improved farm comprising 53 acres all under cultivation. He is a man of distinctive energy and business ability and has made a success of the vocation which has represented his life work, and he has ever commanded the esteem and confidence of his fellow men. He is one of the loyal supporters of the principles and polities of the Republican party, and he served as constable for two years and as road supervisor for three years. He is a member of the Christian church. In 1868 Mr. First was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth J. Lawrence, daughter of Henry and Barbara (Durr) Lawrence, the former of whom passed his entire life in Wayne county, Ohio, engaged in farming. The latter was born in Columbiana county, and her death occurred on the home farm in Wayne county. Mrs. First was summoned into eternal rest on the 15th of January, 1894 being survived by four children, namely: Margaret E., who is the wife of John Miller of Chicago; Ethan, who married Miss Addie Eck and who resides in Wauseon; and Jessie A. and Cleon L., who remain with their father on the home farm.
FRANK L. FLEMING is another of the native sons of Fulton county who has found it expedient to here continue his residence and to follow the important line of industry to which he was reared, the wisdom of his course being signified in his status as one of the successful farmers and honored citizens of Pike Township. Mr. Fleming was born in Fulton township; this county, on the 23rd of May 1847, and is a son of Amos and Catherine (Lasell) Fleming, both of whom were born in the state of New York and their marriage was solemnized in Huron county, Ohio, the respective families having located in the Buckeye State at an early day. In 1845, the parents of the subject of this sketch came to Fulton county and located on a pioneer farm in Fulton township where the mother died in Febru-
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ary, 1878, her husband passing away in 1889. Amos Fleming was one of the prominent farmers and well-known citizens of Fulton township, and was a man of unimpeachable integrity, commanded the esteem of all who knew him. Frank L. Fleming was reared on the home farm and his educational privileges were those afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. He has always made agriculture his vocation and in the connection has put forth much energy and good judgment in the management of his affairs so that his success has been cumulative, and he has become the owner of one of the fine farm properties of the county his estate comprising 142 acres of fertile land, well drained and dence, large barn and other farm buildings. Mr. Fleming takes a loyal interest in local affairs and lends his aid and influence in the support of measures tending to advance the general welfare. He is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party, has served three terms as township trustee, and for five years he was a member of the school board. He is affiliated with Fulton Lodge, No. 48, Free and Accepted Masons at Delta and with Better Grange, No. 1111 at Ai. On the 21st of December 1869, Mr. Fleming was united in marriage to Miss Clarina A. Mercer, who was born in Ashland county, Ohio, November 28, 1849, a daughter of Washington and Elizabeth (Harvot) Mercer. Her father was a farmer by vocation and his death occurred in Ashland county. About 1857 his widow came with her children to Fulton county, locating near Ai, in Fulton township where she still resides. Mr. and Mrs. Fleming are the parents of seven sons: James B., Lewis W., Roy H., Frederick L., Sidney A., Floyd and Carl M. James and Sidney are carpenters by trade and the former is foreman in the mill of the Demeresq Lumber company at Delta, Ohio. The two youngest sons remain at the parental home.
JOSEPH PL. FLORY, who is successfully established in the general merchandise business at Archbold where he has a well equipped establishment in which he handles dry goods, boots and shoes, etc., was born in German township, this county, on the 22nd of December, 1858, and is a son of Peter and Josephine (Carto) Flory, both of whom were born in France, Havre having been the native place of the former. When Peter Flory was an infant his parents immigrated to America in 1832, and ten years later they came to Fulton county, Ohio becoming pioneers of German township within whose borders the thriving little city of Archbold is situated. Joseph Flory, father of Peter, died soon after the family took up their abode in Fulton county, and of his four sons, Peter is the only one now living. The latter became one of the well to do farmers of German township and he and his wife now reside in Archbold enjoying the benefices of their former years of earnest toil and endeavor. They became the parents of eight children, all of whom are living: Joseph P. is the immediate subject of this sketch; Lewis E. is engaged in the dry goods business in East Toledo;
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Andrew is identified with the Toledo Malleable Iron Works; Edward J. is engaged in the clothing business in Toledo, Ohio; Stephen is associated with his brother, Lewis E., in East Toledo; Frederick is employed by the William Taylor Sons’ Co., in Cleveland; and Amon is with the Winton Automobile Company. Joseph P. Flory was reared on the home farm and secured his early education in the public schools of German township, and he later took a thorough course in the Cleveland Commercial College, being graduated as a member of the class of 1880. Thereafter he was employed in the mercantile establishment of Hull Brothers in Archbold for one year at the expiration of which he purchased their stock and business in association with Joseph Moyne, whose interest he later acquired, having since been sole proprietor of the business which he has made one of the most successful of the sort in the town, having a representative support and enjoying the confidence of the community. He is an enterprising and public spirited citizen, is a stanch Democrat in politics, has served two terms each as township treasurer and village treasurer, and he is at the present time a member of the village council of his home town. In 1883 Mr. Flory was married to Miss Catharine Wahl of Cleveland, Ohio, she being a daughter of Ignatius Wahl. Four children have been born of this union, the names and respective dates of birth being as follows: Celia, February 27, 1884; Lawrence, May 12, 1885; Coletta Olive (deceased), May 30, 1887, died November 6, 1892; and Ivo Joseph, born March, 1889.
ANSEL L. FORD is the owner of one of the largest and best landed estates in Gorham township where he was born and reared, and he is well known as a progressive and successful farmer and as an extensive buyer and shipper of livestock. He was born on the 15th of August, 1851, and is a son of Cyrus and Fanny (Landis) Ford. Cyrus Ford was born in Cummington, Hampshire county, Mass., and was a son of Ansel Ford, who brought his family to Ohio in 1842 and settled in what is now Gorham township. Fulton county, securing a tract of land one mile east and one mile north of the present home of his grandson, whose name initiates this paragraph. In the East he had been a manufacturer of scythe snaths, grain cradles, etc., but after coming to Ohio he made farming his vocation, having cleared and improved his land and had been duly prosperous, and both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives in this county. The Ford family is of stanch Scotch extraction and was early founded in New England, as was also the Tower family of which Deborah, wife of Ansel Ford, was a member. Ansel and Deborah Ford became the parents of ten children: Charles, Otis, Amos, Lucius, Hosea and Cyrus are deceased; Frank resides in Fayette, this county, Elmina is the deceased wife of Benjamin Russell whose second wife was her next younger sister, Delia, who survives him and resides in Fayette; and Ann became the wife of Nathan Shaw, both being deceased. Cyrus Ford devoted his entire life to agricultural pursuits and was one of the honored pioneers of Gorham township. He was born May 18, 1822, and died August 29,
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1868, having joined the Republican party at the time of its organization and having been one of its prominent representatives in Fulton county. His wife, Fanny (Landis) Ford, was born in Erie county, N. Y., whither her parents removed from Maryland, and finally they came to Ohio, remaining for some time in Toledo and then removing to Williams county, continuing to reside in this section of the state until the death of the former. The latter makes her home with the subject of this sketch. Cyrus and Fanny Ford became the parents of seven children: Otis resides in Fayette; Mary Alice is the wife of Frank Hicker; Ansel L. is the subject of this sketch; David resides in Morenci, Mich.; Ella is the widow of Dr. Harry Van Buskirk and resides in Fayette; John B. is a farmer of Gorham township; and Addie holds a clerical position in the general store of the Fulton County Co-operative company in Fayette. Ansel L. Ford was educated in the public schools of his native township, and he has never severed his allegiance to the fundamental art of agriculture, under whose gracious influences he was reared. He is the owner of about 390 acres of land, all in Gorham township, and the greater portion is maintained under effective cultivation, and his homestead is improved with good buildings and is one of the most attractive in this part of the county. He has been a stock grower for many years and has also built up a large and prosperous business as a buyer and shipper of stock, being one of the leading dealers of the county and being known as a straightforward and able businessman. In politics he is a stanch Republican, is the present assessor of his township and he served six years as township trustee, was real estate appraiser and has served on the school board several terms at varying intervals. He has been a member of the election board of the township on nineteen different occasions, and is one of the highly esteemed citizens of his native township. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and has filled all the official chairs in his lodge. Reverting to his operations as a dealer in livestock, it may be said that he has taken stock to Buffalo each year for the past 31 years, and no man in the county is a better judge in that line that is he. September 20, 1874, Mr. Ford was united in marriage to Miss Ann Humphrey, a daughter of the late Renselaer Humphrey, of Fayette, and they have five children: Alvah C., Bermah R., Elbert Clare, Denver A. and Demah A., all of whom are living. Alvah being one of the representative young farmers of Gorham township.
STEPHEN FOUTY who is now living retired in the city of Wauseon was for many years actively engaged in farming in York township and is a citizen of sterling character. He was born in Mahoning county, Ohio on the 17th of February, 1837, and is a son of William Fouty who removed to Fulton county in 1850 becoming one of the representative farmers of York township where he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1867. His wife died in Mahoning county. Stephen Fouty was reared to maturity in Mahoning county where he received a common school
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education, and he came with his father to Fulton county where he has thus made his home for more than half a century, and he assisted in the reclaiming of a farm in the midst of the dense forest. He was among the first to tender his services in defense of the Union when the dark cloud of civil war shadowed the national horizon. On the 28th of October, 1861, he enlisted as a member of Company E, 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he remained in service for three years, receiving his honorable discharge on the 28th of October, 1864 in the city of Washington. He took part in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and other important engagements and was a real and loyal soldier of the Republic. Mr. Fouty continued to reside on his farm until 1892 when he removed to #Wauseon where he has since lived retired enjoying the rewards of his former toils and endeavors. On the 11th of January, 1865 Mr. Fouty was united in marriage to Miss Charlotte Haines, who was born in Medina county, Ohio on the 23rd of December, 1844, and who died in December, 1869 leaving two children: Norval, who is a successful farmer of Fulton county; and Theodore, of whom individual mention is made in the succeeding review. In 1871 Mr. Fouty married Mrs. Leda Eck, who died May 11, 1893 leaving one child by a former husband. October 23, 1903, Mr. Fouty was united in marriage to Mrs. Amanda Gillett who died on the 15th of April, 1905.
THEODORE FOUTY, one of the representative farmers of York township, was born and reared in Fulton county where he has passed his entire life. He is a son of Stephen Fouty of whom individual mention is made elsewhere in this work. Mr. Fouty was born on the homestead farm in York township on the 12th of September, 1867, and his fundamental educational training was secured in the district school after which he continued his studies in the Wauseon high school and in the normal school at Wauseon. He has made farming his vocation and is one of the enterprising and progressive agriculturists of his native county. His farm is equipped with excellent improvements and comprises 100 acres of most fertile land. In politics Mr. Fouty is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, and he takes a loyal interest in public affairs of a local nature. He has served several terms as a member of the board of education of his township. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist ?Episcopal church, and he is identified with the Wauseon camp of Sons of Veterans. In 1889, Mr. Fouty was united in marriage to Miss Martha D. Miller who was born in York township on the 15th of July, 1869, being a daughter of Warren T. and Henrietta (Dumeresque) Miller. Mrs. Fouty was summoned to life eternal on the 23rd of June, 1897 leaving two children: Viola M., who was born January 20, 1890, and Willis D., who was born November 21, 1896. May 11, 1898, Mr. Fouty was married to Miss C. Edith Tressler, who was born in Holgate, Henry county, Ohio, being a daughter of George W. and Celia (Van Fleet) Tress-
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ler. Her father was born in Liberty township, Henry county, December 22, 1854, and was a train dispatcher by vocation. He died at Rawlins, Wyoming, on the 10th of July, 1896 while en route home from California, his death occurring on the train. His wife was born in Liberty township, Henry county, Ohio, March 10, 1857, and she died March 1, 1889 at Lincoln, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Fouty have three children, namely: Vera L., born November 8, 1900; Alda L., born October 23, 1903; and Celia C., born June 29, 1904.
WILLIAM E. FOWLER, secretary of the Delta Building, Loan and Savings Company, and ex-mayor of Delta, was born in York township of Fulton county, January 4, 1852. His ancestors have long been established in America, the founders being of German extraction. He is the son of Thomas W. and Lucy L. (Eddy) Fowler, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York state. Both accompanied their parents to what is now Fulton county and ended their days there. From 1833 to 1896 Thomas W. Fowler was a successful and prosperous farmer, dying in September of the latter year. He and wife were the parents of four children. Those living are: William E., the eldest; Robert, a retired farmer of Delta, and Mrs. Cornelia Meltin of Menton, Ind. His first wife having died July 15, 1860, he married again and became the father of one son, Eli, a real estate agent of Guide Rock, Neb. William E. Fowler was education in the public schools of his native township and Wauseon, and began his business career as a clerk in the dry goods establishment of W. R. Huntington of Delta, remaining in the latter’s employ five years. He then went into partnership with Ward Barber of Colorado Springs, Col., in the clothing and furnishing business. In 1888 Mr. Barber retired, Robert Fowler being his successor. The firm of Fowler Bros. Conducted a large and lucrative business until 1892 when a destructive fire practically destroyed the town of Delta and caused the firm to lose heavily. Since that time Mr. Fowler has been engaged principally in the real estate business, combining with it loans and insurance in the management of which he has met with marked success. Being a notary public he transacts a very large business in conveyancing and in drawing legal papers. The Delta Building, Loan and Savings Company was organized in 1889, the incorporators being Hon. Franklin Briggs, A. Land M. S. Sargent, Henry G. Gelger, now of Wauseon and William E. Fowler, A. L. Sargent being president from the organization until 1902 when he was succeeded by Franklin Briggs. The assets of the institution, which now amount to $125,000, are augmented every year. Mr. Fowler has served as secretary from the date of organization. The company has fine offices and safety vaults which have been occupied for seven years. Since 1875, Mr. Fowler has been identified with the Masonic fraternity being a member of Fulton Lodge No. 248. He also holds membership in Octavius Waters Chapter Royal Arch Masons and has held various offices in the above societies. In politics, he is a Democrat. In 1898 he was elected mayor of Delta
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and being popular with many of the Republicans he was re-elected in 1902 for a term of two years which was cut short one year by the operation of the new code. Mr. Fowler was first married in 1892 to Miss Cora Ackerman, who died February 7, 1900. August 12, 1902 he was wedded to Miss Nellie Oaks, a native of New York State, but since childhood her parental home has been in the extreme southern part of Michigan near Lyons, Fulton county, Ohio.
ANDREW J. FRAKER, member of the Delta Stave company of Delta, is a native of Clinton township, Fulton county, having been born near Wauseon, June 26, 1848. He is the son of George and Mary Ann (Gorsuch) Fraker, both natives of Ohio. George Fraker was born in Wayne county, Ohio in 1819 and at the age of 16 came to Fulton county, at a time when the Indians still occupied that territory, and settled with his parents near Delta in 1835. Our subject’s grandfather, Thomas Fraker, was a native of Pennsylvania, and was a bound boy in that state where he learned his trade. Thomas Fraker entered a farm adjoining the present corporation limits of Delta and there spent the remainder of his life leaving a valuable estate at his death. When his son George attained to his majority Thomas Fraker entered for him the land near Pettisville, Clinton township on which all of his family were born and reared. George Fraker was reared on a farm and chose farming and stock raising as his vocation in life, and that he made a wise choice is evidenced by the fact that he was at the time of his death a prosperous and wealthy man. He was one of the organizers of Fulton county, and was prominently identified with its history for many years having assisted in cutting the first road in the county, and having born his full share in the establishment of schools, churches and county buildings. George Fraker and wife were the parents of eight children. They are: Andrew J., Thomas Jefferson, who died at the age of five; George, who was forty years old at the time of his death; Benjamin, who died of the mumps at the age of 21 years; Amanda Elizabeth, the wife of J. V. Robinson of Toledo, Ohio; William I., who resides on the old homestead; Edna J., the wife of Judge J. V. Cuff of Napoleon, Ohio; Isabel, the widow of Fred. Bennett, who lives with her relatives and is the owner of considerable property in Pettisville. George Fraker died at the age of 85 and his wife at the age of 72. Both were well known and highly esteemed in Fulton county. Andrew J. Fraker was educated principally at Pettisville and grew to manhood on his father’s farm. At the age of 21 he left the parental roof without a dollar to help him make his way in the world. His first work was on a farm in Illinois where he began, April 3, and by Christmas, when he returned home, he was the proud owner of a new suit of clothes and $160. Then he farmed on his father’s place for one season, receiving in payment a share of the crops. Then he bought a well drilling outfit and for 15 years he was engaged in putting down wells for the farmers of Fulton and
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Henry counties, realizing quite a handsome profit. In 1878 he purchased a sawmill, and a lumber business at the location of the present stave factory, and continued the business until it grew to such proportions that he could no longer care for it by himself when he sold a half interest to Byron Yarnell. After running the establishment for five years, the planning mill was destroyed by fire when Mr. Yarnell sold his interest back to Mr. Fraker who then sold the entire plant to the Dewey Stave Company. After resting from active business for three years, he in May, 1903, associated himself with Charles P. Grisier of Wauseon and Gotshall Brothers of Archbold and repurchased the plant now known as the Delta Stave Company. The plant gives employment to twenty men and from five to ten additional men are employed in the timber with from ten to twelve teams. The output, consisting wholly of staves and heading is shipped in carload lots to all parts of the country. Mr. Fraker is a stockholder and vice president of the Farmers’ National Bank of Delta, capitalized at $25,000, of which institution he is one of the incorporators. He is the owner of 400 acres of fine farming land located in different parts of the county and wholly free of any incumbrance. This land in connection with a third interest in the Delta Stave Company and his home property comprises the principal part of his possessions excepting $7,000 which he recently inherited. Mr. Fraker is a member of Fulton Lodge, No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons. In politics he is identified with the Democratic part in national issues, but independent in local elections. Four years he has bee n township treasurer and for eight years treasurer of Delta special school district. January 14, 1878 he was wedded to Miss Rachel Fauble, a daughter of Isaac and Rachel (Watkins) Fauble who were among the oldest and most prominent families of Fulton township. Mr. and Mrs. Fraker are the parents of three children, all graduates of Delta high school. They are: Charles I., employed in his father’s business; William H., assistant cashier of the Farmers’ National Bank and Herma, at home.
JOHN GEE, on of the venerable pioneer citizens of York township, was born in Ulster county New York on the 17th of May 1822, and when he was about twelve years of age his parents removed from the old Empire State to Ohio settling in Seneca county where he was reared to manhood on a farm. There he continued to make his home, engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1865 when he came to Fulton county and settled in York township where he has ever since resided save for a period of about four years which he passed in Clinton township. He improved a valuable farm which he still owns, and he is a man who has ever commanded the unqualified confidence and regard of the community in which he has so long made his home. On the 25th of March, 1849, Mr. Gee was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Grove, who was born in Frederick county, Maryland on the 23rd of December, 1830 and who remained his devoted companion during more than half a century,
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her death occurring on the 17th of July, 1901. They became the parents of two sons, William H., of whom individual mention is made upon a succeedant page of this work, and John C., who resides in Eaton county, Michigan. Mr. Gee is a Republican in his political views and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church as was also his wife.
FRANCIS B. GEER, attorney and counselor at law of Swanton, is a native of Ohio, having been born at Norwalk, Huron county May 7, 1851. He is the grandson of Amos C. and Dollie (Thompson) Geer, both natives of Vermont where they were married and whence they removed to Ohio in 1832 locating in Lorain county. After a residence of 18 years in that county they removed to Norwalk, Huron county. Five years later Amos Geer removed to Oberlin where he died at the age of 85 years. He served in the War of 1812 enlisting as a volunteer from his native state. His first wife dying in 1849, he later was wedded to Harriet Chapin who survived him until 1905 residing in Oberlin where she died at the venerable age of 90 years. Of the children born to the first marriage, eight attained years of maturity, Sylvia A. and Anna dying in infancy. Their names follow: Heman, Ezra, Benoni T., Abner, Betsey A., David, Hannah Eliza and Wakeley W. All were deceased except Mr. Betsey A. (Geer) Thompson and David, both natives of Ohio. Benoni T. Geer came with his parents to Lorain county, O., in childhood and there assisted in clearing a new farm. At the age of seven years he took his ax and went to work felling trees, early in life becoming an adept in the use of that very necessary pioneer implement. Subsequently the family removed to Norwalk, Huron county where from the time he was fifteen years old until his marriage he made his home in the family of Thomas B. Benedict and completed his education by graduating from the Norwalk academy. Then he studied law under the tutorship of “Oc.” Kellogg. Later he attended the Cincinnati Law school, and was admitted to the practice of law in 1853. When Francis B. was only two years old, his father came to Lucas county and taught a special school termed a “Geography school,” for one term. He then returned to Huron county and brought his wife and child back with him, becoming a permanent resident of this locality in 1853, at a time when the country was new and the Lake Shore railroad had not been constructed. Benoni T. Geer began the practice of law at East Swanton, Swanton township, and continued there until 1892. When not otherwise engaged, he devoted his attention to the management of a farm that he had purchased there. In 1892 he established the office in Swanton that is now occupied by his son, the original sign and safe occupying their wonted places. At the age of 66 years, seized by a severe attack of La Grippe, from the effects of which he never recovered, his health began to decline forcing him to wholly abandon his practice in 1896, and on June 4, three years later he died. He was a zealous and active worker in
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politics and a recognized leader in the councils of the Republican party. The only public office that he ever held was that of deputy provost marshal during the period of the Civil war. Of a retiring disposition and generous nature, he was always prompt to assist with his means in every worthy enterprise. Having been quite liberal in his religious views forty years prior to his death, he was not a communicant in any church. He was thrice married, his first wife dying of consumption at Norwalk, O., in February, 1858, aged 28 years. To this marriage one son, Francis B., was born. His second wife was Miss Velina Marsh, by whom he had five children. They are: Wakeley W., Ellsworth W., Ernest B., and Edith L., all of Swanton, and Luella, the wife of Charles R. Trumbull of Toledo, O. By his third wife, Sarah Dixon, who is still living, he had three children Grace, the wife of Vernon Black, a railroad engineer on the “Clover Leaf,” residing at Charleston, Ill.; Otis and Roy Payson, a railway fireman of Charleston. Francis B. Geer is practically a self educated man, his limited school education having been received at East Swanton. He began teaching when 19 years old and for the next 13 years continued in that profession, at the same time preparing himself for the practice of law. In 1883 he received the appointment of postal clerk in the railway mail service, running from Detroit to Toledo. After the expiration of one year, he was placed in charge of the “local case” between Cleveland and Chicago, serving in that capacity for three years. Then he accepted the position of first deputy sheriff of Lucas county under Dr. William Cullison who died very suddenly while in office. Upon relinquishing this position, he turned his attention more closely to the law, and on March 17, 1899, was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Ohio, since which time he has been continuously in the legal work. Politically he is a stalwart Republican, having in earlier life devoted much of his time to conducting political campaigns. In the work of the Knights of Pythias he takes a deep interest. Liberal in his religious views, he believes in the existence of a Supreme Being but he is not wholly in accord with the teaching of Orthodoxy. Mr. Geer has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Martha E. Dixon, a younger sister of his father’s third wife. Four sons and one daughter were born to this union, the daughter, Louisa E., dying when three months old. The sons are: Nathan B., Claud F., Arthur F. and Alfred W. Of these, Nathan B. has been a teacher for the past 14 years and the others are variously employed. Mrs. Geer died on December 23, 1891. He was married to his present companion on June 9, 1904, the lade of his choice being Mrs. Emma J. (Homer) Harris. She was a student under her husband’s teaching and subsequently became a teacher herself.
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ALBERT N. DREW, a well-known citizen of the village of Lyons and a representative of one of the pioneer families of Fulton county was born in the city of Buffalo, New York, on the 6th of April 1847, and is a son of Colonel William H. and Emeline (Richardson) Drew, the former of whom was born in Shelburne, Chittenden county, Vermont, and the latter in Royalton, Niagara county, New York, both having been born in the year 1818, and their marriage was solemnized in 1838. In December, 1862, they settled on a farm in Royalton township, Fulton county, Ohio, securing a tract of 80 acres which the father partially reclaimed from the virgin forest. In 1868 he disposed of his farm and removed with his family to the village of Lyons where he conducted the local hotel one year, at the expiration of which he removed to Blissfield, Michigan where he conducted for several years what was known as the Dewey Hotel. The building was finally destroyed by fire and he erected a new and more modern building, to which he gave the name of the Drew Hotel and which he conducted for 30 years. The building is still in use as a hotel and is known as Coon’s Tavern. In 1898 Colonel Drew removed to Burr Oak, Michigan, purchasing a farm in that locality and there continuing to reside until his death which occurred on the 2nd of June, 1902. His venerable widow now resides in Lyons, Ohio, making her home with her son, Albert N., subject of this review. One other child is living, Addie C., who is now the wife of George W. Edson of Detroit, Michigan. At the outbreak of the Civil war Colonel William H. Drew tendered his services in defense of the Union, enlisting in May, 1861, in the 21st New York volunteer infantry of which he was made major, serving as such until the following July, the regiment having been stationed during this time at Elmira, New York. He then went to the front with the regiment, but was compelled to resign from the service in October, 1862 on account of physical disability, having the rank of lieutenant colonel at the time of his retirement. After his removal to Ohio, Governor Brough appointed him paymaster of Ohio troops in the Western Army, with the rank of Colonel, and he served in that capacity until the close of the war. Thereafter he served two years as clerk of the Ohio state senate. Albert N. Drew passed the first 15 years of his life in the city of Buffalo, New York, where he secured his early educational training in the public schools, and he accompanied his parents to Ohio in the winter of 1862, as noted. He became a member of the Ohio National Guard during the progress of the Civil war, but his father caused him to withdraw from the same on account of his youth. On the 2nd of May, 1864, he enlisted in Company D, 130th Ohio
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volunteer infantry with which he served until the expiration of his term of 140 days when he received his honorable discharge at Toledo, September 22, 1864. On the 15th of the following January, he re-enlisted, becoming a member of Company M, 7th Michigan Cavalry, with which he continued in service until December 15, 1865 when he again received an honorable discharge having continued in the ranks several months after the surrender of General Lee. After his return home Mr. Drew engaged in farming in Royalton township, Fulton county, where he was thus concerned until the spring of 1888 when he removed to the city of Chicago where he remained 16 years as a trusted employee of the Chicago City Railway Company. In the spring of 1905 he returned to Fulton county and located in the village of Lyons where he is now living practically retired. In politics Mr. Drew gives an unqualified allegiance to the Republican party, and his religious faith is that of the Universalist Church of which his wife is a member. He is a charter member of Baxter Post No. 238, Grand Army of the Republic in Lyons and takes a deep interest in his old comrades of the Civil war period. August 17, 1868 Mr. Drew was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Jordan, daughter of Amos H. and Rebecca (Livesay) Jordan, of Royalton township. Mr. Jordan was born in the State of Vermont and settled in Royalton township, Fulton county, in 1834 becoming one of the extensive land holders of the county and one of its honored and influential pioneers. Both he and his wife continued resident of the county until their deaths. Mr. and Mrs. Drew have two children: William H., who is a resident of Adrian, Michigan; and Hattie E., who is the wife of Strickland A. Slack of Lyons.
WILLIAM H. GEE, son of John and Catherine (Grove) Gee, mentioned on a preceeding page, is in the employ of the government in capacity of mail carrier on rural route No. 26, out of the village of Delta, and he is an efficient and popular official, being held in uniform esteem in the county in which the major portion of his life has been passed. Mr. Gee was born in Seneca county, Ohio in 1850 and was thus about 15 years of age at the time of his parents’ removal to Fulton county where he was reared to manhood on the homestead farm, aiding in its improvement and cultivation and receiving a fair common school education. Upon attaining maturity, he learned the trade of brick mason and plasterer and he followed his trade as a vocation for somewhat more than a score of years after which he was engaged in farming until 1900 when he was appointed to his present position in connection with the rural free mail delivery system, having one of the important routes in Fulton county. Although a mere boy at the time, Mr. Gee gave distinctive evidence of his patriotism and his loyalty to the Union when, on the 22nd of February, 1864, he enlisted in Company B, 49th Ohio volunteer infantry, with which he served until June 17th of the same year, when he was granted an honorable discharge on account of illness which incapacitated him for active duty. He manifested his abiding interest
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Civil war by retaining membership in that noble organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, whose ranks are being so rapidly thinned by the one invincible foe, death. In politics he accords a stanch allegiance to the Republican party, and both he and his wife are members of the Christian church. In July, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gee to Miss Mary E. Biddle, daughter of Calvin Biddle, one of the pioneer citizens of Fulton County, and of this union have been born seven children, namely: Arthur B., who resides in Delta; Calvin John, who resides in South Delta; Lucy B., who is the wife of Richard W. Dernier of Eaton county, Michigan; Frederick, who died at the age of 13 months, and Walton N., Gertrude Ellen and Mary Adella, who remain at the parental home in York township.
DAVID GEER, a prominent citizen and retired farmer residing near Swanton, is a native of Chittenden county, Vt., where he was born on February 7, 1832. He is a son of Amos C. and Dollie (Thompson) Geer, both natives of Vermont. After their marriage in their native state, his parents removed to Ohio in 1832, and located in Lorain county where hey resided for 18 years. On April 9, 1865, they removed to Norwalk, Huron county and located in the neighborhood of the present residence of their son, David. Five years later Amos Geer removed to Oberlin, O., where he ended his days. His first wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, died in 1852, and then he married Harriet Chapin, who died in September, 1905 at Oberlin at the venerable age of 90 years. In the War of 1812 Amos Geer took an active part as a soldier from the Green Mountain State. He was born in July, 1790, and died at Oberlin at the ripe old age of 85 years. Of the children there were eight who attained years of maturity, Sylvia and Anna dying in infancy. Heman, the eldest, was a prominent minister of the Congregational church and spent 25 years of his professional life in Ashtabula county, O. He died at Tabor, Ia., in 1892, aged 73 years leaving a family of six children, two of whom have attained prominence, one as a professor of music and the other as a physician. Ezra Geer was a carpenter and builder by occupation who died at Lake Cicott, near Logansport, Ind., in 1893, aged 72 years. Benoni T. Geer at the time of his death had attained prominence at the Swanton bar. Both he and his brother, the Rev. Heman Geer, died very suddenly, the cause of their death being heart disease. The former left a family of nine children. Abner Geer died of consumption at the age of 16. Mrs. Betsey A. (Geer) Thompson was next in order of birth. She was married first in 1868 to Henry Lacy who enlisted in the Union army in 1863 and was wounded while in the service, carrying a ball in his body until his death. He was the recipient of a liberal pension from the national government because of his disability. Henry Lacy, dying, in less than two years after his marriage, his widow was wedded to Heman Thompson, born in 1820 and deceased in 1888. Prior to his marriage to the widow of Henry Lacy, he had married
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her sister, Hannah Eliza. He was a carpenter by occupation and died without leaving any children. For the past nine years Mrs. Thompson has made her home with her brother, David Geer. On August 26, 1856, she was graduated from the lady’s department of Oberlin college, and since that time has devoted the greater part of her active life to teaching. During the lifetime of her husbands she taught school in the country, receiving two dollars per day for her professional services. While thus engaged she found time to do her own housework. She has also successfully conducted select schools in Andover, Pierpont and Swanton. At present she is quite actively engaged in Bible class work and teaching in Sunday schools. Though a devoted Christian woman, she is liberal in her religious views, believing that her influence will be greater if not bound by any church creed. She and her brother, David, are now the only survivors of the family. Wakely W. Geer, a teacher by profession, was educated at Oberlin and died unmarried in 1860 at the age of 24. David Geer, in whose name this sketch is written received his education by attending the public schools. Since 1855 he has been a resident of Fulton county, occupying the farm on which he resides. This farm, embracing 152 acres, has been divided among his children. Mr. Geer served under two enlistments during the Civil war. He first enlisted as a member of Company I of the 38th Ohio, serving ten months in the Western army under Generals Thomas and Sherman, when he was discharged for disability. His second enlistment was in Company H of the 130th Ohio for a period of 100 days, serving near Petersburg, Va. Because of his disability he receives a liberal pension. He is actively identified with Swanton Post, Grand Army of the Republic. On February 21, 1855, he was wedded to Miss Mary Ann Spaulding, born in Fulton township in 1839, the daughter of Africa Spaulding, who came from the state of Maine about the year 1835 and located in Fulton county. To this union there were born six children, three of whom are still living. Their names follow: Harriet, Josephine, May, Della, Addie and Grant S. Those living are Harriet, the wife of Carl Griffin, a farmer of Swan Creek township; Della, still at home and Grant S., who operates the home farm. Mrs. Geer died in 1872 and David Geer married Miss Eliza Matoon, a native of Swan Creek township. To this union there have been born three children. They are: Sarah, the wife of William Zeller of Fulton county; Susan E., now Mrs. John Wittgen of Fort Washington, Wis., and Lee, who resides on the home farm.
CONRAD GEIGER is another of the sterling citizens who have lent dignity to the noble art of agriculture through his association therewith, and he is one of the substantial farmers of Fulton township where he has a finely landed estate. He was born in Seneca county, Ohio, February 22, 1836, and is a son of Henry and Christina (Zutervan) Geiger, both of whom were born in Germany, whence they came to America when young, their marriage being solemnized
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inTuscarawas county, Ohio. They located on a farm in Seneca county where they passed the remainder of their lives the father attaining the age of 70 years and being survived by his wife for several years. Of their eight children, six are living: Conrad having been the first born; Catherine, who became the wife of John Hablitzon, died in St. Joseph county, Ind.; Jacob resides in Bloomville, Seneca county, being a substantial capitalist and the president of two banks; William Martin is a prosperous farmer of Crawford county; Hannah Maria is the wife of Nelson N. Shaffner of Bloomville, Seneca county; John Henry is a farmer of DeKalb county, Ind., near Spencerville; Madison Paul, who is deceased, passed the most of his mature life as a farmer in Wyandot county, Ohio, and the other child died in infancy. Conrad Geiger secured a common school education in his native county and supplemented this by study in an excellent academy at Republic, that county, where he was actively associated with agricultural pursuits until the autumn of 1860 when he came to Fulton County, having previously come into possession of 80 acres of his present homestead, the tract being distinguished in that it has never been under mortgage from the time the government deed was granted to the present. In later years Mr. Geiger purchased an adjoining 33 acres so that his estate now comprises 113 acres. Mr. Geiger has prepared most of the farm for cultivation and has erected fine buildings and made other substantial improvements which place this among the model farmsteads of the township. His residence is a commodious brick structure erected about a score of years ago, and the other buildings are of excellent order and kept in good repair. In politics Mr. Geiger has always given his allegiance to the Democracy, and has taken a loyal interest in local affairs of a public nature, though never a seeker of office. He and his wife are valued members of the Reformed church. July 1, 1860, just prior to his removal to Fulton county, Mr. Geiger was married to Miss Annie Catherine Geiger, the two families being not consanguineous, though of the same name. She was born in Sandusky county, Ohio, July 23, 1832, a daughter of Jacob and Magdalena Geiger, both natives of Germany. Her father crossed the ocean five times, bringing his affianced wife on his last trip, and their marriage was celebrated in the city of Philadelphia shortly after their landing in the new world. They resided in Pennsylvania four years and then removed to Sandusky county, Ohio as pioneers, there passing the remainder of their lives. The father, whose principal vocation was that of farming, died October 5, 1865, aged 65 years; and his widow attained the age of four score years, her death occurring November 21, 1888. They had nine children: Henry and Conrad are deceased; Mrs. Geiger was the next in order of birth; Susan is the wife of Edward Richards of Genoa, Ottawa county; Jacob is a resident of Mississippi; Sophia is deceased; Elizabeth is the wife of Thomas McIntyre, and they reside in Florida; Caroline is the wife of James McIntyre, and they reside in Michigan; and William is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Geiger have had nine children, of whom only one is living, Maria
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E., the second child. She was born December 24, 1867 and was reared and education in Fulton county. September 28, 1882, she became the wife of Lorenzo D. Price of Monessen, Pa., and they have four children, Nellie, Catherine, Conrad G. and Alice. The eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Geiger was an infant son who died unnamed; the next child was Mrs. Maria Price; the third child, Ella D., died at three years of age; the fourth was an infant son who died unnamed; the fifth was William N., who died at about eleven years of age; John C., the sixth child, died when about eight years old; Emma, the seventh child died in her seventh year; Henry, the eighth child, died when about four years old, and the ninth child, an infant son, died unnamed.
PHILIP GARMAN is another of the native sons of Fulton county who has had the wisdom to here continue actively concerned in agricultural pursuits, and he is one of the representative farmers of the younger generation in Clinton township. He was born in Fulton county on the 26th of March, 1867, and is a son of William and Jane (McKibben) Garman, well-known pioneers of the county where they still maintain their home. Philip was reared on the home farm and has been one of sufficient prescience to take advantage of the modern facilities for the handling of the details of farm work so that his success has been one of unequivocal sort. His educational training in his youth was secured in the public schools in the vicinity of his home. In 1891 he purchased the present farm which comprises 26 acres of excellent land and the place is well improved. In addition to the work of his farm he operates a modern threshing outfit each season, finding ready requisition for the same and giving the best of service to his many patrons. He is held in unq2ualified esteem in the community and is at the present time incumbent of the office of assessor of Clinton township. December 25th, 1888, in gracious recognition of the Christmastide, Mr. Garman was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Stutzman, who was born March 31, 1869, being a daughter of David and Mary (Nicodemus) Stutzman. Mr. and Mrs. Garman have two children: Charles, born December 19, 1890; and Paul Encil, born April 20, 1898. David Stutzman, father of Mrs. Garman is a prominent and honored farmer of Clinton township. He was born in the vicinity of Johnstown, Cambria county, Pa., May 24, 1836, and in that county was also born Mary Nicodemus, to whom he was married in November, 1860. Mr. Stutzman was identified with the iron manufacturing industry in Pennsylvania about 13 years and in 1868 he came to Fulton county, Ohio and purchased the farm on which he now resides. His wife was born May 2, 1842, and to them have been born five children: Charles married Emma Geringer and they reside in Paulding county, Ohio; Etta is the wife of Ellsworth McLaughlin of Clinton township; Ella is the wife of John Butler, and they reside in Missaukee county, Mich.; Sarah is the wife of Philip Garman, whose name initiates this sketch; and Florence remains at the parental home. The original American ancestors of the Stutzman family immigrated hither from Switzerland.
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Mrs. Fraker became the parents of three children, the eldest of whom, Mabel, is now the wife of Lyman Eugene Wiley, who now has charge of the Fraker homestead farm, he and his wife making their home with the latter’s mother. Mr. Wiley is a son of Isaac Wiley, of whom individual mention is made elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Wiley are the parents of one child, Frank Fraker Wiley, born December 7, 1901. Frank, the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Fraker, died October 1, 1898, a promising and noble youth of 17 and a member of the senior class in the Delta high school at the time of his demise. Ethel, the youngest of the children, completed her education in Fayette Normal University, this county and she has since been a popular teacher in the district schools of her native township. She is a member of the Daughters of Rebekah, auxiliary of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both she and her sister hold membership in the Rathbone Sisters, adjunct to the Knights of Pythias.
THOMAS H. FRAKER is one of those enterprising citizens who find a due measure of satisfaction and profit in carrying forward the various lines of farming industry and is one of the progressive and successful farmers and stock growers of York township where he owns and operates the old homestead on which he was born and reared. He was born April 23, 1863 and is a son of Isaac and Nancy Jane (Kizer) Fraker, both born in Wayne county, Ohio, the former on April 24, 1826 and the latter on April 22, 1837. They were married in October, 1852 at East Swanton, Lucas county and forthwith took up their abode on the farm where their son, Thomas H., now lives, the fine farmstead being located on the eastern line of York township, and adjacent to the thriving village of Delta. This property was secured from the government in the early pioneer days by Thomas Fraker, grandfather of the present owner, and the original entry comprised a large tract of land of which 106 acres are retained in the present homestead. In addition to this place Mr. Fraker also owns another farm of 80 acres in the same section and a good farm of 100 acres in Lucas county. He has always made his home on the ancestral farmstead except one year during which he was engaged in business in Montpelier. His honored father was one of the prominent farmers and businessmen of the county having been for many years engaged in the buying and shipping of livestock and having also dealt somewhat extensively in real estate. He was a man of unassuming worth, had traveled much and was broad in his intellectuality, and he commanded the esteem of all who knew him. He died January 24, 1901, his wife having passed away January 11, 1889. Of their four children, Thomas H. was the only son and he is the only one now living. Elizabeth I., the eldest was born October 11, 1853, and died in her 18th year; Susannah M., born February 20, 1858 died March 24, 1859; and Ida Ethel, born August 30, 1860, died November 17, 1864. Thomas H. Fraker was reared to manhood on the old homestead and duly availed himself of
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the advantages of the excellent public schools of the village of Delta. He finally purchased the home farm from his father and he has become recognized as one of the leading representatives of the thrifty farming element of this favored section of the Buckeye State, each of his three farms being well improved and conducted under his general supervision though he gives his personal attention more particularly to the old home place. He is one of the leading growers of shorthorn cattle in Fulton county having made this department of his enterprise a specialty during the past eight years and breeding from thoroughbred stock. He has at the present time a herd of about 25 thoroughbreds, and he also has about 20 head of milch cows, selling his dairy product principally to the milk condensery at Delta. In politics he clings to the ancestral faith and is an uncompromising Democrat taking a lively interest in the party cause but never being an aspirant for office. April 2, 1889, Mr. Fraker married Miss Jennie L. Watkins who was born in this county being a daughter of Wesley and Catherine (Fesler) Watkins, concerning whom more detailed mention is made in the sketch of their son, George W., on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Fraker have no children.
SAMUEL FRYBARGER, one of the representative farmers of Fulton township is an honored veteran of the Civil War and in all the relations of life he has shown the same loyalty and integrity which marked his course during the days when he followed his country’s flag on the battlefields of the south. He was born in Somerset County, Pa., on the 15th of October, 1843 being the eldest son of John Henry and Mary (Schultz) Frybarger, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in Pennsylvania, and the respective years of nativity were 1800 and about 1810. They were married in the old Keystone State whence they went to Missouri where the father was engaged in farming fo4r a time, finally returning to Pennsylvania, whence they came to Fulton county, Ohio in 1854. They located on a tract of wild and heavily-timbered land in Fulton township one mile east of the homestead of their son, Samuel of this sketch, and there the father died in the following year, and his widow remained on the farm with her children until her death in June, 1888. Of the 12 children, eight are living: Caroline is the wife of Joseph Gehring of Delta; Samuel is the subject of this review; Barbara is the wife of a Mr. Petty of California; Margaret is the wife of Washington Hall and they reside in Oklahoma; John Henry is a resident of Delta; George W. remains on the old homestead which he owns; and Henry is a successful farmer of Indiana. Samuel Frybarger secured a common school education and remained at home until he had attained the age of 26. Exceptional burden of responsibility were early placed upon his shoulders since he was the eldest son and was but 12 at the time of his father’s death. Largely through his personal effort the home farm was cleared and reclaimed to cultivation, placing his loved mother in comfortable
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circumstances. The early years of toil were very rigid in their demands, and the utmost economy had to be observed by the family but with the passing of years prosperity yielded its grateful tribute in compensation for past labors and self denial. August 15, 1862 Mr. Frybarger enlisted as a private in Company K, 111th Ohio volunteer infantry with which he served three years in the Western army. He participated in the Atlanta campaign, returning with his command, under General Thomas to the defense of Nashville, and taking part in the battles of Franklin and Nashville as well as in many other important engagements incidental to the great conflict which perpetuated the integrity of the Union. Among the engagements in which he was an active participant may be mentioned the battles of Knoxville Campbell’s Station, Hough’s Ferry, Strawberry Plains, Siege of Knoxville, Burnt Hickory, Lost Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek and Atlanta besides innumerable skirmishes. He was never captured or seriously wounded though escaping by very close margins on several occasions. He received his honorable discharge, June 27, 1865 at Salisbury, N.C. having thus served until the close of the war, and in recognition of his fidelity and of disabilities resulting from his service he receives a pension. In 1875 Mr. Frybarger went to Kansas and secured a homestead in Pawnee county where he remained four years. Two years of protracted drouth caused him to meet with entire failure of crops and he therefore left the Sunflower State and purchased a farm in Lenawee county, Mich., where he resided one year when he disposed of the property and purchased his present fine homestead of 102 acres where he has resided for a score of years having sold his Kansas farm after returning to Ohio. He is engaged in general farming and stock growing and for a number of years has also conducted a successful dairying business being associated with his son John in the work and operation of the farm. He is a stalwart Republican in his political proclivities and while he has ever taken a lively interest in public affairs he has never sought or held office. Mr. Frybarger has been thrice married. September 21, 1867, he wedded Miss Lucinda Schrock, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio April 4, 1847 and who died February 25, 1875 leaving one daughter, Rosa B who is the wife of Herrick McArthur of Fulton township. January 24, 1877 Mr. Frybarger married Miss Sarah Ann Cook who died February 27, 1883 leaving two children: Laura who is the wife of Norton Miller of Pike township and Eliza who remains at the paternal home. February 11, 1885 was solemnized the married of Mr. Frybarger to Miss Janne Ann Egnew who was born in East Swanton, Lucas county, Ohio being a daughter of James and Mary J. (Emmick) Egnew, both of whom died in that county in 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Frybarger have two children, John and Grace, both of whom remain members of the home circle.
JOHN J. GAMBER – Lying immediately contiguous to the little city of Fayette, on the northeast, is the fine farm estate of Mr. Gam-
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ber, who is one of the sterling pioneers and prominent farmers of Gorham township. He was born in Fayette, Seneca county, N. Y., on the 11th of September, 1835, and is a soneof Henry and Polly (Hartrauft) Gamber, both natives of Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Seneca county, N. Y., where the father was engaged in farming until 1852, when he came with his family to Fulton county, Ohio having previously visited this section and selected a location for his future home. He and his wife and their six children made the entire trip with a team and heavy wagon and a one-horse buggy being 13 days en route. He purchased 160 acres on the present site of Fayette – 80 acres on each side of the town as now established with Main street as the southern boundary. He paid $750 for the east half and $800 for the 80 acres on the west side, and about one half the present town of Fayette is one the land which he thus secured and which he cleared and improved. The old family residence was on the site of the present fine brick dwelling which constitutes the attractive home of John J. Gamber, subject of this sketch. There were two log houses on the property when the father came into possession of the same, one on each tract described in the foregoing lines, one being situated on either side of the street and about ten rods south of the present residence of John J. Gamber. The entire west 80 acres have been cut up into town lots, and of the east 80 Mr. Gamber retains 37 acres for agricultural purposes, the remainder being solidly built up with business buildings and residences. Save for the portions sold for village lots the property has remained in the possession of the family from the time of purchase, more than half a century ago. Henry Gamber was born June 11, 1808 and his death occurred May 29, 1854, only two years after he took up his residence in the county. His wife was born August 7, 1809, and her death occurred on August 1, 1884. They became the parents of seven children, of whom only the youngest was born in Fulton county. William resides near Norwalk, Ohio; John J., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Maria married a Mr. Tuesly and is now deceased; Sarah is the wife of Myron Smith of Chesterfield township; Lorenzo is a resident of Fayette; Susan is the wife of Charles L. Allen of Fayette; and Francis died in childhood. The father, who was a stanch adherent of the Democratic party held several local offices after taking up his residence in this county, and both he and his wife were worthy members of the Lutheran church. John J. Gamber availed himself of the advantages afforded in the common schools of his native county in New York, and was 14 years of age at the time of the family removal to Fulton county. He remained at the parental home until the death of his father, after which he was engaged in work for others in this locality, principally in farm labor. In 1860 he located on that part of the ancestral homestead which is his present place of abode, and two years later he purchased a farm farther to the north, giving his attention to its cultivation and improvement until 1868 since which time he has resided on his pres-
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ent fine homestead, which he owns partially through inheritance and partially through purchase. He is a worthy representative of one of the old and honored families of the county and is held in uniform esteem in the community which has been his home for so many years. He has always been a loyal supporter of the cause of the Democratic party and has served in various local offices, and he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife was a devoted member of the Disciple church, their long and gracious companionship having been severed by her death which occurred in September, 1898. In 1859 Mr. Gamber was united in marriage to Miss Elvira Sales, daughter of George W. Sales, who was numbered among the pioneer settlers of Fulton county. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Gamber is Lerichmod, who is a representative farmer of Gorham township. He married Miss Clara Coffin of Fayette, and they have two children, Howard and Louise.
HON. WILLIAM GEYSER, ex-senator from the 33rd Ohio district, was born in Wurttemberg, Germany on October 3, 1840. He came with his mother to Lucas county, Ohio when about 10 years old where he resided until 1862 when he enlisted in Company I of the 14th Ohio volunteer infantry serving in the army of the Cumberland, and participating in the battles of Mill Springs, Pittsburg Landing, the Atlanta campaign and the march to the sea coast under General Sherman. At the expiration of his time of service he re-enlisted in the field and remained at the front until the end of the war. He followed the varying fortunes of the Third Brigade to the 14th Army Corps throughout the war, the list of battles to his credit being a long one, and his military record unimpeachable. At Green River Bridge, Ky., while on the chase after the raider Morgan he sustained a hernia which has practically disabled him through life. This, at present, protrudes some 19 inches, and is 17 inches in circumference, and for 35 years the parts have refused to return to their normal condition. In consequence of this disability he receives a liberal pension from the national government. After his return from the war he engaged in the grocery business in Swanton. Beginning in a small way he rapidly increased his business until the sales averaged $40,000 a year for a number of years. He was the first merchant of Swanton and shipped the first grain from this station. He was extremely prosperous for many years, his credit being unlimited. His venture in the cold storage business at Wauseon proved disastrous owing to the indifferent management of his partner. In 1887, unexpectedly to himself and without solicitation on his part, he was chosen a delegate to the senatorial convention at Toledo where he was nominated as one of the two candidates of the joint district embracing the counties of Lucas, Wood, Hancock, Henry and Fulton. The district was normally Democratic, but by energetic work and proper management Mr. Geyser and his colleague, William Carlin of Findlay, were triumphantly elected by a majority of 1840 votes. While serving in the 88th general
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assembly he favored the Sunday closing law, thereby incurring the displeasure of the saloon element, and at the election following he was defeated by 400 votes. After serving as mayor of Swanton for several years he declined further honors in that direction. For seven years he acted as a member of the board of trustees of the State Hospital for the Insane at Toledo. At present he is serving as assessor for the incorporated village of Swanton. He has always been a power in the counsels of the Republican party and active and energetic in anything that he has undertaken. Mr. Geyser has been thrice married. By his first wife he had two children, both living. They are Maude and Lizzie, both married. Mrs. Geyser having died in young womanhood, he was wedded to Miss Catherine Schrock and by her had one daughter, the wife of Robert Finn of Fulton county. Two years after the death of his second wife he married Miss Amy Haubiel of Fulton county who prior to her marriage had taught for eight years in the Delta public schools. To this union there have been born two children, a son and a daughter. William, Jr., the elder child, for the past two years has been bookkeeper for the International Harvester Company of Chicago. He received a liberal education at Oberlin and Gambier and the Cleveland Business College. Dorothy, the younger child, has achieved an enviable reputation as a musician and linguist, having spent two years at the German and French capitals. While her strongest forte is music, she has attained great proficiency in foreign languages. She is now engaged in teaching music and conducting musical concerts in New York City where she has relatives of high standing in the musical world and where she stands very close to the aristocracy. Mr. Geyser has always taken a deep interest in the organizations of the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Elks. Mrs. Geyser, as the granddaughter of a colonel in the Continental army, is actively identified with the Daughters of the Revolution being vice president of the Wauseon chapter.
WILBUR M. GIVIN, a representative farmer of Gorham township, was born in Cadiz, Harrison county, Ohio on the 21st of September, 1853, the place of his nativity having been a primitive log cabin which was the family domicile for a number of years. He is a son of George and Eliza (Lavely) Given, both of whom were likewise born in Harrison county, where the respective families were founded in the early pioneer days. The Givin family is of stanch Scotch-Irish lineage, and the original representatives in Americas were two brothers, who came from the Emerald Isle to this country as young men, one of them being Robert Givin, grandfather of Wilbur M., subject of this sketch. This worthy ancestor first settled in Lancaster county, Pa., whence he removed to Steubenville, Jefferson county, Ohio, and later he took up his residence in Harrison county where died in the year 1854. He was a papermaker by trade, but after locating in Ohio he devoted his attention principally to agricultural pursuits in which he was successful. George Givin made farming his principal vocation during his active career, and
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for several years he was a resident of Illinois, but he passed the closing years of his life in Harrison county, Ohio where he died in 1902 at the age of 77. His widow, who is of German and English ancestry now resides with her son, Robert A., of North Platte, Neb. Of the three children, Wilbur M. is the eldest; Robert A. is a resident of North Platte, Neb., as just stated, and Harvey L. is a resident of Harrison county, Ohio. Wilbur M. Givin was afforded the advantages of the public schools of Harrison county after which he was a student for one year in Scio College. He was a successful teacher in the public schools of Harrison county for a period of three years and since that time his vocation has been that of farming in which he has met with marked prosperity, his efforts having been directed with consummate energy, intelligence and enterprise. In 1876 he removed to Crawford county, Ohio where he maintained his home until 190 when he took up his residence in Gorham township, Fulton county on his present farm which comprises 160 acres of valuable land, and the place has excellent improvements of a permanent nature. Mr. Givin is a Republican in his political proclivities, is serving in the office of justice of the peace, and he was a school director for several years in Crawford county. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Methodist church as is also his wife. On Christmas Day of the year 1877, Mr. Givin was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca Bukey of Franklin county, Ohio, daughter of William and Mary Bukey, prominent citizens of West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Givin have three children: Austin C. and Clark A. are residents of Crawford county and Mary E. is the wife of Charles Young of Toledo, Ohio.
JOHN W. GODDEN merits recognition in this compilation by reason of his being one of the prosperous farmers and sterling citizens of Pike township and he has passed his entire life in Fulton county. He was born in Amboy township on the 8th of February, 1857, and is a son of William and Mary (Bennett) Godden. William Godden was born in county Kent, England on the 10th of September, 1820 and his wife was born in the same county in November, 1820 and there their marriage was solemnized on the 27th of November, 1840. They immigrated to America in 1849 arriving in the month of May. They resided for a short time in Syracuse, New York whence they came to Ohio residing for a time in the city of Cleveland and thence coming to Fulton county about 1855. The father was a tanner and currier by trade, but after coming to Fulton county he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits developing a good farm in Pike township where he died in 1902, his wife passing away in 1897. They became the parents of ten children, six of the number having been born prior to the removal to the *United States. Robus is the wife of Sylvester I. Spring of Fulton county; William is now residing on the old homestead farm; Martha has been thrice married and widowed her last husband having been Ephraim J. Padgham, and she resides in Fulton county; Sarah is deceased;
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Mary resides in North Baltimore; Margaret is deceased; Stephen also resides on the old homestead; Phoebe is deceased; Eliza is deceased, and John is the immediate subject of this review. John Godden was reared on the homestead farm and has never wavered in his allegiance to the industry of agriculture in connection with which he has met with excellent success in his independent operations. He is indebted to the public schools of Fulton county for his early educational discipline, and is a man of broad and progressive ideas. His farm comprises 34 acres, is under a high state of cultivation and is improved with excellent buildings including a fine modern residence. He is a Republican in politics. November 1, 1899 Mr. Godden was united in marriage to Miss Nettie Arnold, who was born in Hillsdale county, Michigan on the 8th of January, 1863 being a daughter of Levi and Nancy (Truman) Arnold, early settlers of the Wolverine State both being now deceased.
NATHAN N. GORSUCH is one of the representative farmers of Pike township and has passed his entire life in Fulton county where he commands the high regard of all who know him. He was born on the homestead farm in Clinton township on the 2nd of December, 1864 and is a son of Ephraim and Anna M. (Cantleberry) Gorsuch, both representative of pioneer families of the old Buckeye State. He was afforded the advantages of the public schools of his home township and was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and he has shown excellent judgment in making agriculture his vocation throughout his mature career finding in the connection ample scope for effective and profitable endeavor and enjoying that independence which is denied those who mingle in the “madding crowd’s ignoble strife.” Mr. Gorsuch is the owner of well improved farm of 100 ¼ acres, the same is devoted to diversified farming and stock growing and special attention is given to dairying which proves a profitable department of the farm enterprise. In politics Mr. Gorsuch is independent and he is one of the prominent members of the Church of God in his native county being a minister in the same and being a devoted worker in the vineyard of the divine Master as is also his wife. On the 16th of December, 1886 Mr. Gorsuch was united in marriage to Miss Lucy S. Becker who was born in Wayne county, this state on the 3rd of December 1861 being a daughter of Charles and Lucy S. (Shaffer) Becker both of whom were born and reared in Germany, their marriage having been solemnized in Wayne county, Ohio where they continued to reside until 1874 when they came to Fulton county and located on a farm in Clinton township where Mr. Becker died on the 19th of April, 1905, and where his widow still maintains her home. Mr. and Mrs. Gorsuch have four children, concerning whom the following brief record is entered: Florence M., who was born February 20, 1888, is the wife of Orrin Baughman, an engineer on the Lake Shore railroad; Robert W., was born January 10, 1893; Sophia, September 25, 1896; and Maria, March 23, 1900.
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HARMON GASCHE, one of the representative farmers of the younger generation in Clinton township is a native of Fulton county and has here passed his entire life thus far, and he has maintained an unwavering fealty to the great fundamental industry of agriculture and has met with marked success in his efforts. He was born in German township this county on the 29th of December, 1861, and is a son of George and Catherine (Honeberger) Gasche. His father was born in Wetzlor, Prussia on the 1st of May, 1819, and in 1832 he severed the tied which bound him to the fatherland and emigrated to America settling in Cumberland county, Pa., whence he later came to Wayne county, Ohio where he took up his residence in Fulton County in 1858 having purchased a tract of land in German township in 1840. His wife was born in the Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany April 23, 1824 and came with her parents to America in 1837, the family first settling in Canton, Stark county, Ohio, and she was a resident of Holmes county at the time of her marriage. Her honored husband passed to the life eternal on the 24th of January, 1895, and she now resides with her daughter, Amelia L. Sower, wife of G. H. Sower of German township. Harmon Gasche was reared on the home farm and was able to properly avail himself of the advantages of the public schools of the locality, and he initiated his independent career by engaging in the vocation to which he had been reared. In 1887 he purchased his present farm, which comprises 80 acres and which is one of the model places of the township having the best of improvements in the way of buildings and being devoted to general agriculture and to the raising of high-grade livestock. In politics Mr. Gasche maintains an independent attitude, being a man of well defined convictions and opinions and taking an intelligent interest in the issues and questions of the hour. He served two years as road supervisor but has never been ambitious for public office of any sort. March 9, 1899 Mr. Gasche was united in marriage to Miss Maria Kimerer who was born in Fulton county, July 23, 1864, being a daughter of Charles and Christena (Biddle) Kimerer, the former of whom was born in Preston county, West Va., October 21, 1812. In 1838 Mr. Kimerer married Christena Biddle who was born January 3, 1822,
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and they came to Fulton county in 1842, the father here turning his attention to farming which was his vocation during the remainder of his active career. He died October 26, 1898, his wife having passed away on the 11th of March, 1897. Mr. and Mrs. Gasche have two children – Carl H., born May 15, 1902; and Catherine, born August 11, l904. In a fraternal way Mr. Gasche is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Patrons of Husbandry.
THOMAS E. GOODWIN, a representative of one of the old and prominent families of Fulton county of which he is a native son, is one of the leading farmers and stock growers of the younger generation in York township where he has a fine property. He was born in Swan Creek township, this county on the 7th of November, 1869 and is a son of Thomas and Rosetta (Keene) Goodwin, being the seventh in order of birth of a family of eight children. He was reared to the strenuous and wholesome life of the farm and productive agriculture, with its allied lines of enterprise, has never lost its attraction in his case, and he has so systematically and ably directed his efforts in that connection that he has gained recognition as one of the progressive and substantial farmers and stock growers of his native county, and his status as a citizen is altogether creditable. On the 26th of October, 1889, Mr. Goodwin was united in marriage to Miss Ruth A. Tremain, and he thereafter operated rented farms until 1894 when he purchased his present place which comprises 62 ½ acres and which was the original homestead of his wife’s parents, having been entered from the government by her paternal grandfather, then descended to her father, and it remained under the Tremain title until Mr. Goodwin purchased the property on the 25th of January, 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin have four children: Piercie A., born August 9, 1890; Leon D., August 2, 2893; Helen F., November 2, 1899, and Charles E., February 20, 1905. In politics Mr. Goodwin has been aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party from the time of attaining to his legal majority, and he has served two terms as township assessor, and for the past several years he has been a valued member of the township school board. He and his wife are members of the Christian church, and in a fraternal way he is identified with Delta Lodge, No. 460, Independent Order of Odd Fellows of which he is past grand, and with the Fulton Encampment No. 197 of the same fraternity. Reverting to the family history of Mr. Goodwin, it has been stated that he was the seventh in order of birth of the eight children of Thomas and Rosetta (Keene) Goodwin, and of these children, seven are living, Charlotte having died in young womanhood. The names of the others in order of birth are: John C., Adella, Jeanette, Agnes M., Lucy, Thomas E., and Albert P. Charlotte who was the sixth child, became the wife of Allen Swartz of Fayette, this count, and was killed by a runaway team in the very flower of her young womanhood. She is survived by 2 children. Lucy, the sister next older, is
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the wife of Harry Persing of Clyde, Ohio; Jeanette is the wife of James Pease of Traverse City, Mich.; Agnes Margaret is the wife of Courtland A. Knapp of York township; and the brothers all reside in Fulton county as does also the eldest sister, Adella who is the wife of Alfred Bloom of Swanton. The father of these children was born at New Church, Radnorshire, in the south of Wales and came to America when a youth, his marriage to Rosetta Keene having been solemnized in the eastern part of Ohio of which state she was a native. She died in Fulton county in 1875 and her husband survived her by nearly a score of years, his death occurring September 3, 1894. Ruth Ann (Tremain) Goodwin, wife of the subject of this review, was born in Fulton county and is the younger of the two children of Daniel M. and Catherine (Markel) Tremain. Her sister, Lillie Arthilla, is now the wife of Robert Carpenter, and they reside in Henry county, Ohio. Daniel M. Tremain was born in York township, this county, January 25, 1840, being a son of Gardner and Elizabeth (Miller) Tremain, the former of whom was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, April 15, 1813, and the latter was born in Dutchess county, New York, March 8, 1814. They were married October 14, 1834 and came to Fulton county in 1836 here passing the remainder of their lives and each attained advanced age. They were numbered among the early and honored pioneers of the county which was not organized as such until nearly a decade and a half after they took up their residence here. They became the parents of eight children of whom three are living, and their descendants are numerous in Fulton county. John J., the eldest of the children, died of smallpox while serving as a soldier in an Ohio regiment during the war of the Rebellion, his death occurring in a hospital in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1864 at which time he was i27 having been a member of the 100th Ohio volunteer infantry. Daniel M., the father of Mrs. Goodwin, was the next in order of birth. He also was a soldier in the Civial war having enlisted in 1861 in Company K, 38th Ohio volunteer infantry with which he was in active service four years and seventeen days. He escaped disabling wounds but has never recovered, and in recognition of which he receives a pension. Phoebe E., the wife of John Schloff, died in 1872; Benjamin Tremain died in childhood; Abraham is a retired farmer residing in Delta; Martha is a wife of A. A. Duamersq, a lumber dealer in Delta; Arthilla died in childhood, and Warren Benjamin, the youngest of the family, resides in Delta. The Markel family was early established in Fulton county, William and Ruth A. (Williams) Markel, parents of Mrs. Catherine Tremain, came here in 1844 shortly after their marriage. William Markel here traded a span of horses and a wagon for 80 acres of wild land, and initiated the development of a farm in the midst of the forest, his cash capital at the time being represented in the sum of $6. He became one of the well-to-do farmers of the county where he died at an advanced age. Mrs. Catherine (Markel)
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Tremain died in Delta in 1891 and five years later her husband was united in marriage to Miss Helen Bayhe, who was born in Bluffton, Wells county, Indiana being a daughter of George and Agnes (Hopplitzel) Bayhe, both of whom were born in Wurttemburg, Germany, the death of the former occurring in 1884 and that of the latter in 1892. In his early manhood Daniel Tremain was employed four years as a government mail carrier, transporting the mail from Waterville, Lucas county to Bryan, Williams county and making one round trip each week. He encountered many hardships and perils during these years of service in the undeveloped country, and his reminiscences of the early days are graphic and interesting.
SOLOMON GOTSHALL is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Ohio and is one of the prominent and influential landholders and businessmen of Fulton county maintaining his residence near Fayette. He was born in Richland county, this state, on the 1st of February, 1836 and is a son of George and Elizabeth (Castle) Gotshall, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania of sturdy German lineage, and the latter was of English descent and was born in Ohio. At the age of 19 in 1833, George Gotshall came to Ohio and located in Richland county. About two years later his parents also took up their residence in the county where his father, Solomon Gotshall, engaged in farming, there passing the remainder of his life as did also his wife. George Gotshall continued a resident of Richland county until 1885 when he came to Fulton county where he made his home until his death though he was in Michigan at the time when the summons came to enter the eternal life, his wife having passed away several years previously. They became the parents of four children, of whom Solomon was the first born. Rachel is the wife of John Bard, of Gratiot county, Mich.; Daniel is a resident of near Fayette; and Mary is the wife of Adam Dare of Mansfield, Ohio. Solomon Gotshall was reared on the homestead farm in Richland county in whose common schools he secured his early educational training. After attaining his majority he there engaged in farming on his own responsibility continuing operations in this line four years at the expiration of which, in 1861, he removed to Williams county where he was engaged in the same line of enterprise until 1866 when he removed to Gorham township, Fulton county, where he engaged in farming. He also became prominently identified with lumbering and stock dealing interests, and for a number of years he conducted an agricultural store in Fayette, and also controlled an extensive business in the handling of agricultural implements and machinery such as engines and separators. His progressive spirit became further manifest in his operation of a threshing outfit, and he was the first man in the township to make a success of utilizing a steam engine for power in this line, the first person for whom he did work with the new outfit of this sort demanding that Mr. Gotshall insure his barn against fire while doing the threshing. In 1881 he engaged in the lumber business at Archbold where he purchased a sawmill and planning mill, also equipped
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for the manufacture of staves and headings. He was with his son, L. D., in this enterprise and a branch factory is maintained in Delta and Toledo run by his sons, L. D. and J. W. The Archbold institution is the leading manufactory of the town and in the same employment is given to about 160 men. Mr. Gotshall is the owner of 240 acres of valuable land in Fulton county, and has taken a foremost part in advancing the agricultural interests of the same. He was the first man to propose the circulation of a petition for the improvement of Bean Creek which has been made to drain in an effective way the southeastern part of Gorham township increasing the value of the swamp lands in that section by the amount of $50 to $100 an acre. He had a great deal of opposition in this project and was compelled to give a bond of $10,000 signed by Heman A. Canfield. Mr. Gotshall was also one of the principal promoters of the Toledo and Western electric railway coming into Fayette. In this project he also had opposition, many thinking it would be a detriment to the village. But it proved to be the reverse. Mr. Gotshall felt confident that it would be a great benefit to the village and surrounding county, and now feels a pardonable pride in the results of his faithful work. Mr. Gotshall is a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party and has held various local offices including that of trustee of Gorham township and he was a secretary of the school board of that township for 18 years. He is a charter member of the Fayette Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On the 21st of December 1856, Mr. Gotshall was united in marriage to Miss Maria Whistler, who was born in Ashland county, Ohio, being a daughter of Christopher and Eliza Whistler, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Ashland county, Ohio; and her parents took up their residence in Richland county when Mr. Gotshall was six years old there passing the remainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Gotshall became the parents of four children: Granville is deceased; L. D. is a resident of Toledo and is interested in the mills with which his brother is identified in Archbold; Minnie is deceased; and I W. is also concerned in the milling business at Delta, Toledo and Archbold, he residing at the latter place.
FRED GRANDY, who is engaged in the livery business in Delta and who is also the owner of a good farm in Fulton township is a son of that sterling pioneer citizen, Henry R. Grandy, to whom a due tribute is paid on pages 385, 386 and 387, so that a recapitulation of the family history is not demanded in the present connection. Fred Grandy was born on the homestead farm now occupied by his father in Fulton township on the 29th of August, 1861, was reared to the discipline of the farm, and his educational advantages were those of the public schools of his native county. He has been engaged in the livery business in Delta since 1900 and controls a large patronage, having the only well equipped livery in the town. He has done much to raise the grade of horses in this section, having kept thoroughbred breeding stock for many years and being a lover of the noble animals
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to whose breeding and raising he has thus devoted his attention. He and his wife own a fine farm of 95 acres two miles north of Delta and also have a handsome modern residence in Delta. He is a stalwart Republican in his political proclivities, and is affiliated with Fulton Lodge, No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons; Octavius Waters Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Aurora Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star of which last Mrs. Grandy also is a member. February 22, 1885 Mr. Grandy was united in marriage to Miss Eva F. Thompson who was born and reared in this county, being a daughter of the late Abraham B. Thompson, one of the old and honored pioneers of Fulton county, concerning whom more specific mention is made in the sketch of the career of his son, Addison B., published on another page of this volume. The only living child of Mr. and Mrs. Grandy is Grace Evelyn, who remains at the parental home. Mr. Grandy served several years as deputy sheriff of Fulton county and he is at the present time a valued member of the village council of Delta being one of the progressive businessmen and popular citizens of this place.
MARSHAL TIMOTHY GRAVES, real estate dealer and pension attorney of Wauseon was born in Clencoe, Ontario, Canada, in 1858. He is the son of Peter W. and Hannah (Warner) Graves, both natives of Pontiac, Mich. His grandfather Graves and John Graves, an uncle of the father of the subject of this sketch, saw active service in the War of 1812. The wife of the grandfather Graves, a native of Pennsylvania, was Mary Cooley before her marriage. One uncle and three brothers of the subject of this sketch served in the Civil War. Marshal Timothy Graves came from Canada to Ohio when 17 having received his education in the schools of Glencoe. For four years he was a sailor on the fresh water lakes and then for two years he was employed in the railway service for the Wabash Company. In 1898 he enlisted in Company G, Sixth Ohio volunteer infantry at the age of 40 with the rank of corporal and was discharged May 24, 1899. He was stationed at Cuenfuegos, in the Island of Cuba. In 1901 he came to Wauseon and bought a farm south of the city and is now living in Wauseon. After coming here he embarked in the real estate business establishing at the same time a pension agency. He has met with marked success in everything that he has undertaken. In the sale of real estate he operates in Fulton and the adjoining counties. As pension attorney he does business in many states. Few pension attorneys have served their clients more successfully than he. Mr. Graves has always taken an active part in all matters pertaining to the general improvement of Wauseon. By subscribing liberally to its stock he succeeded in locating in his home city a large canning factory. He married Mrs. Emma C. Fenton, a widow of Franklin township, Henry county, O. She is the daughter of Rev. N. S. Waden of Henry Co., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church North, well known all over the state of Ohio. The subject of this sketch is commander of Camp Candaleria No. 20,
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United Spanish War Veterans of Wauseon. He is a wide awake, progressive businessman and farmer, part owner of a fine farm of 140 acres, in a state of high cultivation 1 ½ miles south of the city. A fine modern residence and large barn are among the improvements he has erected on the land.
GEORGE GRAY, a leading contractor and builder of Lyons, is a well-known and popular citizen of this part of the county and is a representative of one of the sterline pioneer families of Fulton county which figures as the place of his nativity. He was born in York township, December 5, 1845 and is a son of Charles and Marilla (Donaldson) Gray. Charles Gray was born in England whence he came to America when a young man and he became one of the early settlers in York township, this county where he reclaimed and improved a farm of 120 acres. With advancing years, he retired from active labor taking up his residence in the city of Wauseon where he died August 16, 1900 at the venerable age of 82 years. His first wife, Marilla nee Donaldson died in 1850 having become the mother of three children, George, James and Mary, the last named having become the wife of Stephen Coff and being now deceased. For his second wife Charles Gray married Esther Cooper, and they had three children, Charles W., Amos A. and Jennie. After the death of his second wife he married Miss Mell Hodges who died a few years later leaving one daughter, Etta. Mr. Gray thereafter consummated a fourth marriage wedding Elizabeth Cooper who survives him. George Gray was reared to manhood in Fulton county and duly availed himself of the advantages of the common schools and farming was his principal vocation for many years. He took up his residence in Royalton township in 1886 and has been a resident of the village of Lyons for ten years. He was identified with agricultural pursuits in this township until 1898 since which time he has followed the trade of carpentry being an excellent workman and being successful in his efforts. He rendered loyal service in the Union ranks at the time when the integrity of the Republic was menaced by armed rebellion. In October 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company K, 38th Ohio Volunteer Infantry with which he took part in the memorable battles of Stone Rive and Missionary Ridge after which he was detailed as division teamster in which capacity he served until the close of the war receiving his honorable discharge at Columbus, Ohio, June 22, 1865. He is a valued member of Baxter Post, No. 238, G. A. R., at Lyons, and in politics his allegiance is given to the Democratic party. February 20, 1867, Mr. Gray wedding Miss Mary Kane, daughter of Henry and Mary (King) Kane who were born and reared in Ireland and who were pioneers of York township, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Gray have two daughters: Cora, wife of Michael Heiner, and Clara, wife of William Seward.
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RUDOLPH GIGAX, a retired farmer of Elmira, Fulton county, O., is a native of Switzerland, having been born on a farm about six miles from the city of Berne, July 20, 1850. He is the son of Jacob and Magdalena (Burkholder) Gigax, both natives of Switzerland. Jacob Gigax was a successful farmer in the old country until 1854 when with his family consisting of wife and six children, he emigrated to the United States. Coming directly to Ohio, he located in German township, Fulton county where the present village of Burlington is situated, and followed general farming until his death on March 15, 1871, aged 74 years. His widow survived him until March 15, 1882, aged 67 years. To these parents there was born a family of nine children, two of whom were born in this county. Their names follow: Fred, who died in 1904, aged 65, followed farming in Franklin township; Elizabeth, the wife of L. W. Brown, died in 1881; Godlip, a farmer in German township; Mary, now Mrs. John Keller of German township; Rudolph; Rosetta, the wife of Eli Wyse of Franklin township; Christina, (deceased), the wife of George Younges; John of German township and Mary Ann who died in infancy in Switzerland. Rudolph Gigax was reared on his father’s farm and educated in the public schools. Until 1882 he was engaged in general farming when he embarked in the mercantile business conducting a hardware establishment for two years. Then he purchased the general store at the village of Burlington and conducted it with unusual success for two years. Disposing of this business, he retired to his fine farm a half mile north of Elmira. In politics he has always acted independently, preferring to use his own judgment when passing on the fitness of candidates for public office. His success in life is largely due to his untiring energy, his close application to business and his scrupulous honesty in dealing with his fellow men.
HENRY R. GRANDY – The annals of the pioneer days read almost like a romance to those of the younger generation, but stern reality robbed the era of much of its glamour for those who were active participants in the drama of initial development which has reached its denoument in the opulent material and civic prosperity of the present day as the grand twentieth century rolls into the cycle of the ages. Mr. Grandy is one of those honored citizens whose memory links the formative epoch with that of latter day prosperity, and he is now living practically retired on his fine farmstead in Fulton township where he has made his home for nearly sixty years, being a scion of one of the well known pioneer families of this section. Mr. Grandy was born in Clinton Co., N.Y. on the 9th of Septem-
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ber, 1832, and is a son of Michael B. and Anna (Leggett) Grandy, the former of whom was born in Massachusetts, December 5, 1801, and the latter was born in New Hampshire, December 21, 1809. They were married in Easton, Washington county, N. Y., on the 24th of December, 1827, and thereafter resided in Clinton county, that state until 1838 when they came to Fulton county, Ohio having four children at the time, and three more were born after they became residents of this county. Betsy J., born October 17, 1828, was married on the 8th of November, 1846, to Charles Thompson, who is now deceased, and she resides in Edgerton, Williams county having five children. Judson W. was born August 2, 1830 and his death occurred January 30, 1858, his wife and one child having preceded him into eternal rest. Henry R., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth. Samuel ., born May 21, 1835, married Ann E. Harris, March 27, 1859 and of their three children two are living – Jennie, wife of Daniel K. Ladenburg of Delta and Charles, manager for the Pettsburg Coal Company in the city of Toledo. Samuel P. resides in Delta and is employed by his nephew, Fred Grandy, of whom mention is made in the preceding sketch. John A., who was born January 31, 1839, resides in Delta being a notary public and a pension attorney. Moses D., born July 13, 1841 was killed in the battle of Honey Hill, S. C., December 1, 1864 having been in service at the time as a member of the 125th Ohio Voluntee r Infantry. Anne E., born June 4, 1844, is the widow of William A. Lingle, to whom she was married October 25, 1866, and she resides in the city of Owosso, Mich. Henry R. Grandy secured his early educational discipline in the pioneer schools of this section, and his earliest practical duties were in connection with the work on the farm in the midst of the primeval forest. The family lived on rented farms in Swan Creek township until 1845 when the father purchased a tract of 80 acres comprising a portion of the fine landed estate now owned by the subject of this review, this having been the first permanent home of the family after coming to Ohio. The land was wholly unimproved, and the father and sons found theirs the task of felling the giant forest trees and reclaiming the tract to cultivation, all having rendered due quota of aid in the development of this section. The first house was constructed of logs being 16 by 18 feet in dimensions with a lean-to 14 feet wide running the entire length of the rear. This was one of the best houses in the locality at the time. A mammoth fireplace occupied one end of the living room, and when this was filled with the crackling logs of burning hickory a generous warmth was diffused and the interior made attractive in a homely way. The cooking was largely done in or in front of the fireplace, and bread was usually baked in an iron kettle which was embedded in live coals and covered with a high flanged lid, which also held its complement of coals. A later device was the tin reflector which was supposed to catch and concentrate the heat from a roaring fire and thus do the baking. Mr. Grandy recalls that the roads of those days usually followed the ridges or highest ground, winding around through the forest by blazed trail until the
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desired destination was reached. Some of the larger cabins of the pioneers were often used for religious services led by the itinerant preachers or circuit riders of the day, and log houses which had been discarded for larger ones were frequently used for the primitive schools. The nearest mill was at Maumee twenty miles distant and the ox teams were principally utilized by the early settlers. Amusements were simple but wholesome consisting principally of neighborhood parties and “bees” of various descriptions, and hospitality and good cheer were never lacking. September 20, 1860 Mr. Grandy was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Cameron who was born near Lockport, Niagara county, N. Y., June 14, 1840. She was left an orphan in early childhood and was reared by her paternal grandmother. She had two brothers, Joseph and Alexander, the former of whom died in the spring of 1863 while serving in the Union army and the latter is a resident of Osborne county, Kan. Mr. and Mrs. Grandy had two children, concerning the older of whom, Fred, an individual sketch appears immediately preceding this one. Ida was born June 8, 1863, and remains with her father on the old homestead. She was afforded good educational advantages and is an accomplished musician to the teaching of which art she has devoted her attention for a number of years, having large classes in Delta and in the neighborhood of her country home, and she is held in high regard in the community being popular in its social circles. Mrs. Grandy was called to the eternal life on the 7th of October, 1893, and her remains lie at rest in the Fulton Union cemetery. She was a woman of gentle and noble character and endeared herself to all who came within the sphere of her influence. She was a devoted member of the Christian or Disciples church with which Mr. Grandy also has been identified for nearly half a century, his daughter also being an active member. In politics Mr. Grandy has ever been a stanch supporter of the Republican party and its principles having cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. He has been incumbent of various offices of local trust including those of township trustee, district clerk and school director and his aid and influence have always been freely given in support of measures and enterprises for the general good of all the community. He inherited a half interest in the old homestead of 80 acres and purchased the other half interest and here he has maintained him home since he was a youth of sixteen years. He is one of the sturdy pioneer citizens of Fulton county where his name has ever stood as a synonym of honor, integrity and loyalty.
JOHN A. GRANDY, township clerk of York township and engaged in practice as a pension attorney at Delta is an honored member of one of the sterling pioneer families of Fulton county which has been his home from the time of his birth. He was born in Swan Creek township on the 30th of January, 1839, the old homestead being located three miles east of Delta, and is a son of Mishel B. and Anna (Leggett) Grandy whose marriage was solemnized in the state of New York whence they came to Fulton county in 1838 locating in Swan Creek township as pioneers. There the father developed a
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farm becoming one of the prominent citizens of this section and ever commanding unqualified esteem in the community. Concerning him and his wife detailed mention is made in the sketch of their son Henry R. appearing immediately before this one, and to the same reference may be made for genealogical data apropos of the article at hand. John A. Grandy was reared on the home farm, and in the common schools secured his elementary education which was supplemented by a course in the graded schools at Waterville, Lucas county. His independent career was initiated by his service as a school teacher and in this way he earned the first money which he ever could definitely call his own. He taught his first term of school when he had just passed his 15th year, and he received $88 in gold for his services. He states that never since has he had a sum of money which looked as large to him or one in which he took so great pride. This first pedagogic experience was gained in the winter of 1854-5, and thereafter he continued to teach especially during the winter terms until 1863. On the 2nd of May, 1864 he tendered his services in defense of the Union enlisting as a private in Company H, 130th Ohio Volunteer Infantry with which he served 145 days at the expiration of which he received his discharge. Thereafter he continued to teach for several years in the meanwhile devoting much attention to the study of higher branches of learning, and in the winter of 1864-5 he was employed as principal of the Delta schools. In May, 1865, he sold his farm in Swan Creek township – a property which he had acquired sometime previously paying for the same with money earned by teaching – and he invested the proceeds in a general store at Centerville now known as Swanton where he conducted a profitable business until 1875 when his establishment was destroyed by fire entailing an almost total loss as his insurance indemnity was very small. This misfortune made it impossible for him to resume business, and he again had recourse to his ability as a teacher continuing his work in the schoolroom and also working as a fire insurance agent until 1883. He then went to Hand county, South Dak., where he secured a homestead to which he proved title in due time continuing to reside on the place about five years and then returning to his old home. After returning from the West he taught one term of school and in 1889 he adopted his present profession of prosecuting pension claims before the various departments in Washington in which field of endeavor he has been specially successful, gaining proper recognition of the claims of many deserving veterans of the Civil war. He is also a notary public and has served consecutively as township clerk since 1892 through successive re-election every two years. In political matters Mr. Grandy is a stalwart supporter of the principles of the Republican party in whose cause he has been a somewhat active worker in a local way. He served four years as a member of the board of school examiners of the county, and has always maintained a deep interest in educational affairs. In a fraternal way he is a valued member of McQuillin Post, No. 171, G. A. R., of Delta and is also a member of the National Union, a social
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and beneficial order. On New Year’s day of the year 1863 Mr. Grandy was united in marriage to Miss Amelia L. Quiggle who was born in Hampden, Geauga county, Ohio, being a daughter of Calvin and Louise Quiggle who came to Fulton county in 1852 here passing the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Grandy has five brothers and two sisters. Romanso C. is a resident of Michigan; Horatio H., Claarence C. and Frederick E. reside in Delta; and Elmer C. maintains his home in Hartford, Conn.; Lucy is the wife of Russell G. Merrill of Lincoln, Neb.; and Maria is the wife of Jacob N. Bechtol of Toledo, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Grandy have three children; Frank, who is now engaged as salesman in a mercantile establishment in Delta was here engaged in the general merchandise business for himself until his place was destroyed by fire in December, 1904. He served 13 months during the Spanish-American war as a member of Company G, Sixth Ohio Volunteers, his command having been held in reserve for a number of months at Chickamauga Park and having been on duty in Cuba about six months. Jessie is the wife of Frank Shumaker engaged in the meat market business in Delta, and they have one child, Elmer. Mary, the youngest of the three children still remains at the parental home being one of the popular young ladies of the community.
SYLVESTOR GREEN, a prominent farmer and popular citizen of Royalton township was born in Fairfield township, Lenawee county, Mich., on the 28th of June, 1843 and is a son of James and Eliza (McConnell) Green, both of whom were born near the city of Belfast, Ireland where they were reared and where their marriage was solemnized in the year 1830. In the same year they left the Emerald Isle and set bravely forth to establish for themselves a home in America. They remained several years in the State of New York, and then came to Toledo, Ohio where the father secured employment in connection with the construction of the Maumee canal. He was thus engaged about one year and then settled in Fairfield township, Lenawee county, Mich., where in 1840 he purchased 40 acres of land retaining possession of the same about two years and then exchanging the property for a tract of 80 acres in the same township. This latter farm he reclaimed and improved and there both he and his wife continued to reside until his death which occurred in September, 1888 at which time he was 79 years of age. His widow still survives and has reached (1905) the venerable age of 91 years. They became the parents of ten children of whom six attained years of maturity – Eliza, James Henry, Sylvester, William, Rachel and George. Eliza who is deceased was the wife of Edwin Smith and Rachel is the wife of Richard N. Miller. Sylvester Green had an adequate experience in strenuous work during his boyhood and youth since he aided in the reclaiming cultivation of the pioneer homestead in Fairfield township, Lenawee county, Mich., and his educational training was limited to the primitive schools of the locality and period. He continued to remain at the parental home until his
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