Robert Sly

      Robert Sly, a representative agriculturist of Townsend township, was born August 24, 1829, in Montgomery county, N.Y., the second in a family of seven children of John and Philena (Titus) Sly, both of whom were natives of New York State and of English descent.  John Sly, who was one of a family of four brothers, received in his youth but meager educational advantages, but in after years acquired an ordinary business training.  He was married in his native town, and in the spring of 1831 removed, with his wife and family, to what was then the western frontier, near Buffalo, N.Y.  Here he bought wild lands, and cleared and improved a farm, where he was successfully and extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred December 26, 1886, when he was in his eighty-fifth year.  Mrs. Sly, also deceased, was a member of the Baptist Church.  Robert Sly, father of John, was a lifelong farmer of eastern New York State, where he died in 1855 in his eighty fifth year.  Both the Sly and Titus families were among the early English settlers in eastern New York State, and several members thereof served with distinction in the Continental army during the Revolution.  Robert Sly, whose name opens this sketch, received in his boyhood days a limited education in the primitive frontier schools of western New York, and never attended a day after he was twelve years old.  He is in the main self-educated, is well informed on current topics and literature, and has all his life been a careful and extensive reader.  He remained with his parents, working on the homestead farm, until 1858, when he came to northern Ohio and purchased a partially improved farm in Townsend township, Huron county, to which he has since made numerous improvements and additions., now having a fine farm of 130 acres, where he successfully follows agricultural pursuits.  On December 4, 1861, our subject was married to Miss Jane B. Draper, who was born January 25, 1837, in Bronson township, Huron county, daughter of Sheldon and Clarissa (Cole) Draper, both of whom were natives of New York State—the former of Dutchess, the latter of Chenango county—and of English descent.  To Mr. and Mrs. Sly have been born three children, namely:   Clarissa P., now Mrs. S. G. Evarts; Arthur, and Nettie L., Mrs. A. T. Gamber.  Mrs. Sly is an ardent member of the Baptist Church, and Mr. Sly, though not a church member, is a firm believer in practical Christianity.  In politics he is a Republican, stanch and uncompromising, and is recognized generally as a leading citizen in his community.  In his early years Mr. Sly was a member of the New York Home Guards.

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Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of Huron and Lorain, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, illustrated. Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1894
Pg. 186-187.

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