HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 775 (RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) business as a contractor and builder, the memorable scourge of cholera having visited Ohio and caused severe ravages in Toledo while`the was , a resident of that city, but his having been the good fortune to escape unscathed. In the meanwhile he had married, in Erie County, Miss Isabel Douglass, who was born at Lancaster, Province of Ontario, Canada, and who was young at the time when she came to Erie County, further record concerning the family being given on other pages of this publication, in . the sketch of the career of her brother, James Douglass. After his marriage Mr. Sage continued his business operation at Toledo for some time and later he became associated with the brothers of his wife in the fishing industry on Lake Michigan, their headquarters having been maintained at Manitowoc and Two Rivers, Wisconsin, for some time, and their operations having also been carried on at Whitefish Point and other lake ports of that state. After a few years of identification with this line of enterprise Mr. Sage returned to Ohio, where he became associated with Cyrus N. Davis in the same line of business from Lake Erie ports. Success here attended his undertakings and he continued his alliance with the fishing industry several years, the while the family home was maintained in the Village of Huron, where he long continued to reside, though the last few years of his long and useful life were passed in well earned retirement and in the home of his son, George J., of this review, one and one-half miles from the village mentioned. This homestead, where he died on the 20th of January, 1898, at the age of about seventy-five years, is the present home of his son, George J., the property having been purchased by himself on the 4th of March, 1860. Here his loved wife likewise passed the gracious evening of her life, and she was summoned to eternal rest on the 13th of June, 1912, at a venerable age. Both were well and favorably known throughout this part of Ohio and their names merit enduring place on the roll of the sterling and honored pioneers of Erie County. The present homestead farm of George J. Sage comprises seventy-five acres of most fertile and arable land and the same includes nearly all of the original tract purchased by his father in 1860. The fine place is attractively situated between the Berlin and Lake highways, with frontage on each of these roads, and the residence, an attractive house of seven rooms is in proximity to the Berlin Road, with a commanding view of the lake and harbor. Mr. Sage has made excellent improvements on his land and has proved himself one of the thrifty, progressive and successful farmers and stock-raisers of his native township, where he manifests deep interest in all that touches the communal welfare, though never a seeker of office, insistent partisanship being not observed by him in politics, as he prefers to give his support to men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. He and his wife are communicants of Christ Church, Protestant Episcopal, in the Village of Huron, and these also he is affiliated with Marks Lodge, No. 359, Free and Accepted Masons. In 1883, in Milan Township, this county, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sage to Miss Clara A. Cummings, who was born in the City of Toledo, on the 4th of August, 1861, and whose parmIts passed the closing years of their lives in Milan Township, where they established their residence in the spring of 1883. Mrs. Sage was afforded the advantages of the public schools, and was a student in the Huron High School while residing in this village in the home of her aunt. She is a daughter, of James and Charlotte E. (Stephens) Cummings, the former of whom was born at Sullivan, Ashland County, this state, on the 5th of October, 1830, and the latter of whom was born at Bellevue, Huron County, on the 17th of February of the same year. Mrs. Cummings was called to the life eternal on the 5th of December, 1906, and her husband did not long survive 776 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY her, as he passed away on the 18th of June, 1909. Mr: Cummings devoted the major part of his active life to agricultural pursuits in connection with which he attained to definite success. He was one of the argonauts who made their way to the newly discovered gold fields of California, in 1849, and was a youth when he thus endured the hardslips and perils incidental to the long and weary journey across the plains to the New Eldorado. He was identified with mining in California and Nevada, and after returning to the East he finally went again to the Pacific Coast, making the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama and remaining a few years, this second venture into the distant and isolated State otCalifornia having been made principally for the benefit of his health and his second return trip to the East having been made after the completion and by the medium of the Southern Pacific Railroad. On his first trip to California he had driven a number of cattle across the plains and upon his arrival at his destination he was enabled to dispose of this stock at very high prices. Mrs. Cummings was a daughter of Jacob and Mary (Merry) Stephens and she was a young woman at the time when her parents established their home in Milan Township, Erie County, upon their removal from Huron County, her mother having been a daughter of Ebenezer Merry, who was one of the honored and influential pioneers of Erie County and one of the founders of the village of Milan. Ebenezer Merry made the trip from Mentor, Lake County, to what is now Erie County by means of ox teams, with which he traversed swamps and densely timbered districts and became one of the very early settlers in Milan Township, where he laid out the Village of Milan at a time when the Indians were much in evidence in this part of the historic old Western Reserve. At Milan he built and placed in operations one of the first grist mills in Erie County, and his versatility of talent made him specially influential and valued in the pioneer community. His hospitable home was the local inn for the stranger and wayfarer, and in the same he kept his cobbler's , bench and appurtenances, for the purpose of providing a means of mending the footwear of his neighbors, besides which he showed his skill to a higher degree by frequently manufacturing boots and shoes by the old time fashion of hand work. His little log house was the first in the locality to be equipped with glass windows and he otherwise stood remarkable for his progressiveness under the conditions that then obtained. Jacob Stephens was born November 1, 1799, presumably in the State of Connecticut, and his death occurred January 19, 1841. His wife was born November 14, 1803, and was of venerable age at the time of her death. Jacob Stephens was a son of Samuel Stephens, who was born in Connecticut, in 1756, and who was a pioneer citizen of Ohio at the time of his death, his wife, whose maiden name was Anna Brooks, having been a native of Boston and a member of a family which had prominent representatives in the historic "Boston Tea Party." She was born April 4, 1757, and died June 30, 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Sage have but one child, William C., who was born January 28, 1888, and who was afforded ihe advantages of Oberlin College and also of Purdue University, at Lafayette, Indiana, in which latter institution he completed a thorough course in electrical engineering and was graduated as a member of the class of 1910. Thereafter he was for two years in the employ of the General Electric Company, at Schenectady, New York, and this great corporation then sent him to the city of San Francisco, where he now has charge of the Motor Control out of that branch office. At Vermilion, South Dakota, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Edna I. Cromer, a daughter of Rev. Jeremiah Cromer, a clergyman of the Congregational Church. The one child of this marriage is Ellen C., who was born January 3, 1913. PICTURE OF HENRY SHIRLEY HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 777 HENRY SHIRLEY. Of all the Great Lakes, Erie is foremost in the production of fish on a commercial scale. Many firms have been engaged in this industry and around the lake shore can be found hundreds of the well known and substantial families whose activities have been mainly directed to this branch of business. Of the many men and families whose; activities connect them socially with Lake Erie and its primary industry at Huron, none are perhaps better known or more prominent than the , Shirleys. Shirley is a name that goes back into the earliest history of this section of Erie County and the firm of Shirley Brothers have some special distinctions as fishermen and they and their family deserve special mention in the pages of this publication. The firm comprises Henry Shirley and his brother, Orley W., both tried and experienced veterans of the fishing industry. Both have been identified with the pursuit more or less actively since they were fourteen years of age. For the past ten years they have been independently operating and have at Huron well equipped quarters, formerly the twine and fish house of the iiishman Company. Both men are masters of their trade, and are skilled not only in the practical business of fishing in the deep waters of Lake Erie but also in the details of their industry as net makers, and like many other fishermen around the lake, they manufacture all their own equipment. They own and operate a fine fishing boat and deserve much commendation for their success. Only a few people understand the general methods of the commercial fisherman in Lake Erie, and as a result of this lack of knowledge many misconceptions have arisen and in some cases have resulted in an unwise interference. with the substantial business of those who pursue this work as a means of livelihood. , The Shirley -Brothers operate eighteen double- tunnel trap nets of the Earl pattern, better known among fishermen as the hell-devil trap net. The word "trap" as applied to this net has proved unfortunate,"since it has been the cause of institution of a number of measures in the Legislature to prevent fishing by any means employing devices that could in any way be called traps. As a matter of fact this type of net is in practical use the most humane method of taking fish. The entrance of the net is in heart shape, from which the fish enter the long leads extending from twenty-two to twenty-four rods in length, and thence pass through tunnels into a "crib" about twelve feet long by seven or nine feet wide, and then by other tunnels continue, on into another crib, where unable to proceed further, they must remain captive until the net and its contents are raised to the boats. In passing into these cribs the fish go through tunnels which extend about two-thirds of the length of the cribs, and while entrance is easy, the fish never find exit through the noses of these tunnels, and as it is the nature of fish to seek the deepest water, they immediately, after entering the nose toward the top of the crib, sink down to the bottom and remain there. Like all other firms engaged in fishing on extensive scale with nets, the Shirley Brothers pay a large annual revenue to the Government for the privilege. They keep their nets and boats in operation about eight months of the year, beginning in March and continuing until late in the fall. They handle many tons of fish every year, and this product is distributed to the retail trade all over the country. The Shirley Brothers were both born in the same house in the Village of Huron. There were nine other brothers and one sister. These brothers now occupy one home on Center Street. Henry was born August 14, 1856, and his brother, Orley W., on March 13, 1863. Both were reared and educated in the village and have always lived in Huron. Since he was fourteen years old Henry Shirley has practically lived on and close to the edge of Lake Erie, the greatest body of fishing waters in the world. Orley likewise began when a boy as a fisherman, but subsequently spent Vol. II-20 778 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY a part of each year from 1885 to 1910 as a sailor on the Great Lakes. Since 1910 he has been actively identified with his brother in the above firm. Orley is unmarried, and makes his home with his brother Henry. The early record of the Shirley family in Huron is of particular interest to any historical account. The grandfather, Abitha Shirley, was one of the first pioneers in Huron, having located in this part of Northern Ohio in the early years of the last century. He did muc1. to keep up the activities and to build up the early town, having conducted one of the first inns or hotels, and having secured a large tract of land; all now in the corporation limits, donated a block for town purposes, and on that site the present town hall stands. He was a man of prominence, and in his character and activities was a fine type of the early settler. His death occurred as a result of the plague of cholera in 1834. Hp was born in Massachusetts, possibly in the Village of Shirley, and was one'of the New Englanders who came out to occupy a portion of the "fire lands" in the Western Reserve not long after the War of 1812. One of his daughters, named Sarah, was born on the peninsula off the shore of Huron in Erie County as early as 1815. This daughter died after her marriage to Charles Atwater. Abitha Shirley had four sonsand two daughters, all of whom are long since deceased. Barton Shirley, one of the younger of the children, and the father of Shirley Brothers, was born in Huron, February 23, 1825. The date of his birth of itself indicates an extraordinarily early residence of the family in this community. The presence of Lake Erie early attracted his energies, and he spent practically all his active life as a fisherman. His death occurred on New Year's Eve in 1887. He was married in Erie County to Rhoda Martin, who was born near Montreal, Canada, and when a small, girl was brought to Huron by her parents, Francis and Angeline (Lafayette) Martin. Her parents were of French parentage and both natives of Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Martin spent the rest of their lives in Erie County and died when quite old. Frank Martin, a brother of Mr. Shirley's mother, lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and is now ninety years old, the last of that old pioneer family of Martins. He was born near Montreal, Canada. Rhoda Shirley survived her husband and died in Huron in 1908 at the age of eighty-one. She was an attendant of the Episcopal Church, and in politics both the Shirley and Martin families were early whigs and later republicans. Mr. Henry Shirley was married in Huron, Ohio, in 1888 to Miss Elizabeth C. Kritzer. She was born in Erie County, July 8, 1868, and was educated in the locality of her birth. Mr. and Mrs. Shirley have six children : Milton J., now twenty-six years of age, is a fisherman ; Munson G., aged twenty-four, is a cement worker, and still unmarried ; Manola is the wife of Basil Doane, of Detroit, Michigan ; Gladys, who like the other daughters, has been liberally educated, is a member of the high school class of 1915 ; Abbie is now in the first grade of the high school and Elnora, the youngest, is also in school. FRED H. WASHBURN. The value of a useful occupation, of making one's energy count toward one thing, of forging steadily and energetically ahead regardless of obstacles and discouragements, found expression in the life of the late Fred H. Washburn, who for .a number' of years was engaged in agricultural pursuits in Huron Township. Mr. Washburn squared his account with the World in a manly and honest way, and when he died, July 10, 1908, it was felt that the community, owed him much for the lesson in faithfulness and thoroughness taught by his success. Fred H. Washburn was born near Milan, Erie County, Ohio, on the old Washburn homestead, January 28, 1866, the third child of his parents, the other two children being Theodore R., who still resides at Milan, HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 779 is married and has two sons; and Mrs. Joseph Cutler, living on the old homestead, who has no children. Mr. Washburn was given good educational advantages in his. youth, attending the public schools of Milan and the Milan Normal School, and was brought up to agricultural pursuits, in which he was engaged throughout his life. After his marriage he located on a farm in Milan Township, where he resided for ten years, there making some general improvements, including the4.erection of a home, which was destroyed by fire and which he subsequently replaced. In 1905 Mr. Washburn disposed of his interests in Milan Township and came to Huron Township, where he purchased a tract of 224 acres of fine land, located on South Main Street, two miles south of the Village of Huron. This continued to be his home during the remaining years of his life, and although he died when only forty-two years of age, he had already attained what it takes many men a lifetime to accomplish. Twin Poplars Farm, named for the two magnificent poplar trees which stand in the front yard, is a valuable property, its soil being a loam with a sub-soil of clay, suitable for raising corn, wheat and oats, and frequently producing 3,000 bushels of each. While the majority of the property was put under cultivation by Mr. Washburn there is still a good growth of timber, some sixty acres. The house, a large commodious residence painted white, contains twelve rooms, fitted with every comfort and convenience, while the other buildings include a large bank barn, 40x60 feet, for stock and grain, a modern buggy, automobile and tool shed, a corn crib accommodating 2,500 bushels of corn, and a roomy chicken house and other buildings. Mr. Washburn made somewhat of a specialty of chickens and other poultry and always kept the best breed. He was known as one of the most practical, progressive and intelligent agriculturists of his locality and was a firm believer in modern methods and improved machinery, and in his death Erie County lost one of its firmest supporters of the elevation of agricultural standards. As a citizen he took a leading part in movements promising the betterment of his community, and among his acquaintances and business associates he was known as a man of the highest integrity, whose transactions were always carried on in an honorable and straightforward manner. In politics he was a republican, and his religious connection was with the Presbyterian Church, while fraternally he affiliated with Erie Lodge No. 239, F. & A. M., and the P. of H. On December 24, 1890, Mr. Washburn was united in marriage with Miss Emma Heimburger, at the bride's home in Huron,Township, where she was born February 4, 1868, a daughter of William Heimburger, a well known agriculturist of Huron Township, where he still resides. The eldest of her parents' children, she was educated in the schools of this township and grew up and was married here, and since her husband's death has been conducting the farm in a manner that shows she is possessed of much business ability. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Washburn : Walter H., born in 1892, educated in the graded and high schools and a business college, and now residing at home with his mother, still. single and a member of Marks Lodge No. 639, F. & A. AI.; George T., born January 14, 1896, who graduated from the Huron High - School in 1914 ; Edith Marion, born April 15, 1897, and now a junior . at the Huron High School ; and Dorothy Lena, born February 13, 1905. who is in the fifth grade at the Huron public school. Mrs. Washburn and her children are members of the Presbyterian ChurCh. JOY DIGGINS. Although the labors of Joy Diggins belong to the past rather than to the present of Erie County, he having died November 19, 1898, he is still remembered among the people of Huron Township as an industrious agriculturist and as a citizen whose upright and honest life 780 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY won him the esteem and regard of the members of his community. He was born on the West Huron road, in Huron Township, Erie County, Ohio, March 27, 1857, a son of Richard and Ann (Large.) Diggins. The parents of Mr. Diggins were born in Cambridge, England, and belonged to an old and honored family of that place, where the name has been well known for generations. After their marriage, and the birth of one daughter, now Mrs. Mary Purcell, of Perkins Township, they emigrated to the United States and either in the late '40s or early '50s came from New York to Erie County, Ohio. Here they passed the remaining years of their lives in agricultural pursuits in Perkins and Huron townships, the mother dying at the age of fifty-seven years and the father when he was sixty. They were highly esteemed people and faithful members of the Methodist Church, and reared their children to lives of honesty and industry. Of their children, twolstill survive : Mrs. Mary Purcell and Clark Diggins, both residents of Perkins Township. Joy Diggins was reared on a farm in Huron Township, and passed his early days in much the same manner as other Ohio farmers' sons of that day, dividing his time between working on the home farm in the summer months and attending the district schools during the winter terms. He was married in 1883 to Miss Mary M. Harris, and at that time they went to live on Mrs. Diggins' farm in Huron Township, where he continued to follow the pursuits of the soil up to the time of his death. He was a good and skilled farmer, raising large crops and employing the latest methods in his work, and had he lived would doubtless have become one of his locality's successful men. In politics he was a staunch republican, but found no time to engage in public affairs save to cast his vote and support good men and beneficial movements. While Mr. Diggins was a member of no church, the existence of God and the inhate divinity of Christ were to him lasting verities. Practical morality was to him more than any theoretical religion, and it was this principle which he sought to bring into his daily life. Mary M. Harris was born on the old Harris homestead, near the one where she now lives, in Huron Township, Erie County, Ohio, June 23, 1844; was here reared and educated, and has always lived in this community. In 1883 she received her present farm, a tract of fifty-eight acres of good soil, well developed and having good improvements, including a large barn and a small but well constructed and comfortable residence. She is a daughter of William and Rachel (Powell) (Bedford) Harris, whose other children were George, William Thomas, Priscilla and Elizabeth Ann. All the children grew up, were married and had children, except Priscilla, who was married but died without issue'. All are now deceased except Mrs. Diggins, and their children are to be found now in various parts of the United States. William Harris was born in Herfordshire, near Kingston, England, January 25, 1807, and his wife on the same date in 1806, at Prestyger, Herfordshire. He was a son of Thomas Harris, who was born_ in 1777, and brought up to farming, and became the owner of a small farm called the Wold, where both he and his wife, who had been a Miss Farr, both passed their lives and died. A very well authenticated tradition of the family is that the older ancestors were related to Lord Stanton of England. William M. Harris was a young man when he came to the United States on a sailing vessel, and settled in Erie County, Ohio, in 1833. He met and married Mrs. Rachel Bedford, nee Powell, in DetrOit, Michigan, in June, 1832. She had been married to William Bedford in England and with him had come to America, where he died. There were six children in her first family, but all were at that time deceased with the exception of one, John Bedford, who later died at Jackson, Michigan, when past eighty years of age, twice married, but without children. After HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 781 their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Harris settled in Erie County, Ohio, where they secured a small piece of land in the southwest part of Huron Township. add industry, energy and good management they were able to add to this original tract from time to time until they became the owners of 343 acres of rich and valuable land, on which they made numerous improvements. They lived long, useful and active lives, the father passing away April 27, 1883, and the mother October 31, 1831. He attended the Free Will Baptist Church, in which Mrs. Harris had been baptized and was an active member, and in its work and movements in Erie County they took an active part, donating liberally of their means to its support. As honest, upright, God-fearing people, doing their duty according to the dictates of conscience, they were much esteemed in the community in which they lived and labored for so many years. Mr. Harris was a stanch republican in his political views, but did not seek personal preferment, being content to spend his life as a good agriculturist and honest neighbor. To Mr. and Mrs. Diggins there was born one daughter, Ruby Beatrice, born November 6, 1885, who was educated in the graded schools of Huron Township and brought up under excellent training. She was married to Louis Schnell, who was born and reared in Oxford Township, Erie County, the son of German parents. Mr. Schnell is one of the industrious agriculturists of this part of the county and is engaged in operating Mrs. Biggins' homestead. Throughout her life Mrs. Biggins has been .a hardworking and industrious woman, and has displayed in a remarkable degree business qualities not usually found in her sex. Her long residence in Erie County has made her widely known here, and in her acquaintance she numbers numerous warm and appreciative friends. WILLIAM STARR. Lying on South Main Street, one and one-half miles south of the Village of Huron, is located Overlook Farm, a property of eighty-five acres which is in every way illustrative of the results which may be obtained by intelligent and practical treatment of the soil. While not so large as some farms in this vicinity, it is accounted one of the most valuable, for its owner, William Starr, has devoted the best years of his life to its cultivation and improvement and the result of his labors justifies the toil, thought and care he has bestowed upon it. Mr. Starr, who is one of the representative agriculturists and public-spirited citizens of Huron Township, has made his home on this property for forty-two years, having been brought here by his father when less than one year old from Norwalk, Ohio, where he was born September 10, 1872. His father, Joseph Starr, was born in the State of New York, about the year 1815, and was thirteen or fourteen years of age when brought to Norwalk, Ohio, where he was educated, reared and married. His wife's first name was Elizabeth, but she died when her son, William, was but a few months old, and he remembers nothing of her, her name having even been forgotten. Not long after the death of his wife, Joseph Starr came to Erie County and purchased the farm on which his son now lives. It was at that time practically a wilderness, there having been little clearing made on it, but he worked faithfully and energetically, gradually cleared the land of its brush and timber, plowed and planted the land, and lived to see it develop into a productive farm whose golden crops repaid him well for his labor. He continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits throughout his life, and died in 1893. Mr. Starr did not f:spire to public office, but was content to pass his life on his farm, winning the regard and respect of his neighbors which are always the reward for an industrious and well-spent life. Many of his old crude tools and-implements are still in the possession of his son, who cherishes them as reminders of the fact that the early farmer's lot was a different one from that which confronts. 782 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY the agriculturist of today and as remembrances of one of the sturdy pioneers who made the development of Erie County, ,possible. William Starr grew up amid what might be called pioneer surroundings and was early taught the value of hard work and thrift. While lie was gaining his literary education in the public school in the winter months, his father taught him well the lesson of the farm, and in both cases the lad showed himself an apt and retentive scholar. From his father he inherited a practicality that has stood, him in good stead in later years, but he has been constantly alive also to the possibilities brought forth by modern scientific measures, and there is perhaps no more progressive farmer in Huron Township. He rotates his crops and grows large crops of all products that are raised in this locality, including potatoes, and is constantly seeking to elevate agricultural standards. Mr. Starr's property boasts excellent buildings, including a handsome residence and large red barns, and his machinery is of the latest and most highly improved manufacture. He keeps fully abreast of the constantly changing developments of agriculture, holding membership in Huron Grange No. 1385, in which he has been ,steward for about twelve years, while Mrs. Starr is treasurer of the order. He is also one of the charter members and was an organizer of the Farmers institute at Huron. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias, in which he has passed all the chairs and was an active worker for some years. His political belief is that of the democratic party, and while he has not cared for public office, his sympathies are keen and broad, leading him to co-operate in every scheme calculated to advance the general good or to ameliorate the condition of his fellow-men. Mr. Starr was married in 1901 in Huron Township, to Miss Fannie May Young, who was born at Boone, Iowa, in 1873, and reared and educated at that place, a daughter of Lewis and Maggie (Robbins) Young. Mr. Young fought as a soldier in the commissary department of the Confederate army during the Civil war, and subsequently moved to Boone, Iowa, where he died several years ago at the age of seventy-two years. Mrs. Young, who survives her husband, makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Starr and is still hale and hearty in spite of her advanced years. Mr. and Mrs. Starr have no children. WILLIAM HEIMBURGER. Erie County has had much to gain and nothing to lose through acquiring of a very appreciable contingent of sterling citizens of German birth or lineage, and representatives of this honored class in the community have been especially prominent and influential as thrifty and progressive exponents of the great basic industry of agriculture. Such an one is the venerable and highly esteemed citizen whose name introduces this article. Mr. Heimburger has been a resident' of Erie County for sixty years and has resided upon his present homestead farm since 1865, the same being eligibly situated in Huron Township and having been by him developed into one of the fine-landed estates of the county. Mr. Heimburger was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, on the 29th of February, 1836, and is a son of Diebold and Christina (Herrenknecht) Heimburger, both of whom were born and reared in Baden, where their marriage was solemnized and where the devoted wife and mother died in 1839, in young womanhood. She left two young children, William, of this review, having been about three years of age, and his sister, Barbara, having been still younger. Barbara continued to .reside in Baden until her death, and was survived by a number-of her children. Several years after the death of his first wife Diebold Heimburger contracted a second marriage, and, singularly enough, the maiden name of his wife was the same as his first,-,Christina Herren- HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 783 knecht,—though the two families claimed no kinship. Mrs. Heimburger cared with all of kindliness and solicitude for the motherless children who thus came under her charge, and she herself became the mother of one son, Diebold, Jr. In his native place William Heimburger was reared to adult age on his father's farm, and in the meanwhile he duly availed himself of the advantages of the excellent schools of the locality. In 1854, at the age of eighteen years, he severed the ties that bound him to home and fatherland and set forth to seek his fortunes in the United. States, where he felt assured of better opportunities for achieving independence and success through individual effort. At Havre-de-Grace, France, he embarked on a sailing vessel, and after a voyage of twenty-eight days duration he landed in the port of New York City on the 28th of May of that year. Soon afterward he made his ivay to the City of Philadelphia, and after working about six months on a farm in that vicinity he came to Erie County, Ohio, where he readily found similar employment on a farm near Bloomingville. In 1856, largely through his financial aid, his father, step= mother and half-brother joined him, they likewise having made the voyage to America on an old-time sailing vessel. He then rented land in Perkins Township and instituted his independent career as a farmer. Three years later he purchased a tract of thirty-six acres in 'the same township, and on this place he and his parents remained eight years, within which period he made numerous improvements on the farm. In 1865 Mr. Heimburger disposed of this property and purchased seventy acres of his present homestead place, in Huron Township. The land was exceptionally fertile and with characteristic energy and discrimination he set himself to the cultivation and improvement of his property. The original family domicile was a pioneer log cabin, but in 1873 he erected his present fine residence, which comprises eleven rooms, which has been kept in excellent repair, has been improved from time to time, and which remains one of the model farm homes of this part of the county. The other buildings on the homestead are of substantial order and admirably adapted to the uses for which they were provided, the buildings including a large barn 36 by 90 feet in dimensions. Everything pertaining to the well improved landed estate of Mr. Heimburger gives evidence of thrift and prosperity and of the careful attention that has constantly been given to all details of the farm work and management. The farm gives generous yields of the various crops best suited to this section of the state, and Mr. Heimburger has been specially successful in the growing of potatoes, large quantities of which he places on the market each year. The place also has a fine apple and peach orchard, the same having been developed entirely through the enterprising efforts of Mr. Heimburger, who also has long been known as a breeder and. grower of excellent grades of live stock. In the homestead place he has at the present time 123 acres, and he is the owner also of another well improved farm, of sixty-two acres, which likewise is situated in Huron Township. At his home his father died at the venerable age of seventy-six years, and his stepmother at the age of seventy-two, the memories of both being revered by him and by all others who came within the compass of their kindly influence. They were earnest members of the Evangelical Church and the father espoused the cause of the republican party after becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States. Mr. Heimburger's half-brother, Diebold Heimburger, Jr., served three years as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war and participated in numerous important engagements. At the battle of Chattanooga he received a severe gunshot wound in the left leg, and after being discharged from the military hospital he returned home, having , been honorably discharged from the army with the rank of sergeant. He became one of the prosperous farmers of Huron Township, where his 784 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY death occurred in 1905, his widow still remaining on, the old homestead, which comprises eighty-six acres, and one son and two daughters also surviving him. In the year 1866 was solemnized the marriage of William Heimburger to Miss Sophia Baum, who was born in Perkins Township, this county, on the 8th of April, 1842, and who was summoned to the life eternal August 9, 1900. She was a woman of gentle and unassuming worth of..character, a devoted wife and mother and a consistent communicant of the Evangelical Church. Mr. Heimburger has always accorded stalwart allegiance . to the democratic party but never having manifested any desire for public office. Mrs. Heimburger was a daughter of George and Mary (Ernst) Baum, who, in company with their three children, immigrated to Amer- . ica in 1833 and who established their home in the forest wilds of Erie County, where the father reclaimed a farm in Perkins Township, the original place of abode having been a log cabin, for the erection of which he had to make a clearing in the forest. He and his wife passed the residue of their lives on the fine farm which he developed from the wilds, she having been fifty-eight years old at the time of her death and he having attained to the venerable age of eighty-three years. Both were zealous members of the Evangelical Church. All of their children are now deceased and all are survived by children,. Mr: and Mrs. Heimburger became the parents of nine children, of whom Elizabeth' George and Edward died in childhood. Emma, who resides on her farm in Huron Township, is the widow of Frederick Washburn, and she has four children : Walter, George, Edith and Dorothy. Wilhelmina Rose became the wife of Christopher Koehler and her death occurred at her home in Sandusky, Ohio, on the 28th of July, 1914 ; she is survived by her husband and by one son, Carl. Lena R., who continued her studies in the public schools until she had completed the curriculum of the high schobl at Huron, is one of the popular young women of Huron Township and since the death of her loved mother has presided over the domestic affairs of the paternal home. Sophia is the wife of Glenn O'Dell, a prosperous farmer and fruitgrower of Huron Township, and they have no children. William C., who is a representative young farmer of his native township, resides upon his fine homestead on the Bogart Road. He. wedded Miss Mary Haecker, of Sandusky, and they have four children : Arthur, Walter, Raymond, and Marion. Carl E., the youngest of the surviving children, remains at the paternal home, and is his father's able coadjutor in the work and management of the farm. AUGUST H. SCHNELL. No small share of the activities which have contributed to the definite progress of Erie County during the past fifty years has been accomplished by members of the Schnell family, August H. Schnell is a practical and prospering farmer in Huron Township, his well managed farm being located on South Main Street on rural route No. 3 out of Huron. For many successive generations the Schnell family lived in Germany. The grandfather of Mr. Schnell was Philip Schnell, who was a farmer in Nassau and died there. His widow subsequently came to the ,United States and died in Erie County among her children when past eighty years of age. Philip A. Schnell, Jr., was born in the Province of Hesse- Nassau, Germany, March 31, 1835, and died May 14, 1908. He gre)v up and received his education in his native town, and was still young when he came to the United States in 1851. He came on a sailing vessel, and the family reached Sandusky County, Ohio. There he married Maria Schneider, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, August 7, 1842, and was a child when her parents came to America and established their home at Hessville, a German settlement in. Sandusky County. After his marriage HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 785 Philip A. Schnell located on a farm of forty acres near Gibsonburg in Sandusky County, but in 1865 moved to Erie County. After coming to this county he worked as a farm laborer, and finally, acquired a tract of wild land and lived in a log cabin home until he could provide better accommodations. He spent the closing years of his life on a farm of fifty acres in Oxford Township. He had previously lived Perkins Township of Bogarts Corners. His Oxford Township farm was situated a mile and a half east of Kimball, and after his death his widow lived with her daughter Mrs. Henry Behrens until her death on January 8, 1913. Both parents were earnest and lifelong members of the Lutheran Church. They helped organize and were charter members of St. John's Lutheran Church at Union Corners and continued their affiliation with that church until their death. Philip Schnell was an active democrat, and for twenty- five years served as assessor of Oxford Township. In that capacity he came to know every man and woman in the township, and had a thorough knowledge and just estimate of property values and estates. His excellent judgment gave him no little prominence and he was entrusted with many duties other than those connected with his private life. He was treasurer, deacon and steward for many years in his church. His wife always acted in sympathy with him in church and other affairs, and they were people of the highest class in that community. During the Civil war he was drafted for service, and paid for a substitute in the army. In their family were fourteen children, two of whom died young, seven sons -and five daughters reached adult age, ten of them married, and all have families but one. August H. Schnell was born in Oxford Township on the farm above mentioned June 23, 1877. He pursued his education in the public schools and on reaching his majority started out to engage in his chosen calling as a farmer. For the past seven years he has operated the William Scheid farm on South Main Street in Huron Township. His position as a farmer is now one of assured success. He grows fine crops of all varieties, corn, wheat and oats and potatoes and keeps some excellent grades of live stock. In Oxford Township he married Miss Mary Weilnau. She was born in that township, August 24, 1880, and received her education there. Her parents were Carl and Ann (Speck) Weilnau. Her father was born in Nassau, Germany, September 23, 1840, and his wife was born in Alsace April 19, 1845. She came to the United States and to Erie County, Ohio, in 1860, having made the passage on a sailing vessel from Havre, France, along with about fifty other passengers, and after a rough voyage they landed in New York City, August 10, 1860. She came on with her brother George Speck to Huron County, and George afterwards married and lived in Michigan. After the marriage of Carl and Ann Weilnau in 1862, they lived in Huron County for a few years, and then moved to Oxford Township in Erie County. They continued as active farmers there until quite recently, and are now living retired with their daughter Mrs. Schnell. They are members of the Evangelical Church, and Mr. Weilnau is a democrat. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Schnell were born three children : Mabel died in infancy ; Elizabeth, born November 28, 1903, is now in the fourth grade of the public schools; Cleota was born January 11, 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Schnell are both members of the,Lutheran Church, he is a democrat in politics, and is now giving some capable public service as superintendent of roads in Huron Township. HENRY BEHRENS. Since 1896 Mr. Behrens has owned and resided. upon his present fine homestead farm of 113 acres, the same being eligibly situated in Huron Township, with service on rural free mail route No. 3, 786 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY from the Village of Huron. The land is of distinctive fertility, nearly all ,of the tract being available for effective cultivation, and the progressive policies and scientific methods brought to beay by the owner have resulted making the soil bring forth its increase each successive season, with attending profit, the while the entire peace breathes forth thrift and prosperity. In addition to obtaining excellent, yields of the various crops best adapted to the soil and climate, Mr. Behrens has achieved marked success also in the raising of high-grade live stock, and even as he is one of the representative farmers of Erie County, so also is he a loyal and upright citizen who merits and receives the full measure of popular confidence and good will. The buildings on the farm are of substantial order, including a brick house of seven rooms and a barn 40 by 60 feet in dimensions. Mr. Behrens is a man of unassuming character and as an industrious and far-sighted farmer he well exemplifies the traits for which the German class of agriculturists have been conspicuous in America, he being of staunch German lineage and a member of a well known family of Erie County, within whose borders he has maintained his home from the time of his birth. Mr. Behrens was born in Oxford Township, this county, on the 31st of January, 1866, and from his youth to the present time he has been closely identified with agricultural pursuits, through the medium of which he has achieved success worthy of the name. His education was acquired in the public schools and under the effective direction of that wisest of instructors, experience. He initiated his independent career as a young man and was engaged in farming on rented land until his purchase of his present farm. Mr. Behrens is a son of John and Sophia (Schaeffer) Behrens, both of whom were born in Germany, though in different sections of that great empire, Mrs. Behrens having been a native of the Duchy of Nassau, which is now an integral part of the Province of Hesse-Nassau. John Behrens was born in October, 1829, and his wife in 1839. He died on his old homestead farm in Oxford Township, this county, in June, 1901, and his widow, though nearing the eightieth milestone on the journey of life, retains her mental and physical powers to a wonderful degree, she being still a resident of Oxford Township, where she lives with her sans, William and Charles. Both she and her husband were young folk when they came to America and their marriage was solemnized in Oxford Township, where Mr. Behrens developed an excellent farm of ninety-four acres, to which he added by the purchasing of other tracts from time to time, until he accumulated a valuable landed estate of 287 acres, twenty acres in Milan Township, and the remainder in Oxford Township. He was a man of indefatigable industry and of mature judgment, his enterprise was shown by his erecting good buildings on his homestead, and he gave during the long years of his application to agricultural pursuits an example well worthy of emulation. Mr. Behrens took an active and loyal interest in community affairs, was a stalwart supporter of the cause of the democratic party, but he never sought or held public office. He was a consistent communicant of the Lutheran Church. as is also his widow. They became the parents of eight children, all of whom attained to years of maturity and all but one of whom, Charles, married. John continued his residence in this county until his death and is survived by three sons. Frederick resides in Huron County, is married and has a family of children. Dora is the wife of William Schick, of Norwalk, Huron County, and they have one daughter. Louis- is a prosperous farther in Milan Township and he and his wife have four children. Nettie is the wife of Louis Rau, of Milan Township, and they have two sons and two daughters. William remains on the old homestead in Oxford; Township, as does also Charles, who is a bachelor, William having wedded Miss Lena Hildebrand and their only child being a son. JOHN E. BRAGG HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 787 Henry Behrens, the immediate subject of this review, was reared to manhood on the old homestead farm in Oxford Township, and after severing his association with the work and management of the home farm he was engaged in fanning on rented land until he p.urdiased his present homestead, as noted in a preceding paragraph, and In advancement has been the direct result of his own well ordered endeavors as an agriculturist and stockgrower. As a young man Mr. Behrens married Miss Rose M. Schnell, who was born in Perkins Township, this county, in 1868, but who was reared and educated in Oxford Township. She has been to her husband an effective coadjutor and devoted helpmeet, and he ascribes much of his success to her earnest co-operation, as they have pressed forward side by side to the goal of independence and definite prosperity. Mrs. Behrens is a daughter of Philip and Maria (Snyder) Schnell, the former of whom was born in the Province of Hesse-Nassau, Germany, on the 29th of March, 1839, and the latter of whom was born in the Kingdom of Bavaria on the llth of August, 1842, she having been a child at the time of the family immigration to America and her parents having established their home at Hessville, a German settlement in Sandusky County, Ohio. There she was reared and educated and there was solemnized her marriage to Philip Schnell, who was a scion of a sterling old family of Hesse-Nassau and having come with his parents to the United States in 1851, the voyage having been made on a sailing vessel of the type common to that period. After his marriage Philip Schnell located on a farm of forty acres near Gibsonburg, Sandusky County, Ohio, where the home was maintained until the close of the Civil war, removal having been made to Erie County in 1865 and the father of Mrs. Behrens having passed the closing years of his life on his homestead farm of fifty acres in Oxford Township, where his death occurred on the 14th of May, 1908, his widow having passed the closing years of her life at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Behrens, and having been summoned to the land of the leal on the- 8th of January, 1913, her death having occurred a few months prior to her seventy-first birthday anniversary. Both she and her husband were earnest and lifelong communicants of the Lutheran Church. Of their family of fourteen children eleven attained to maturity and are still living, and all save one of the number are married. Mr. and Mrs. Behrens have two children : Leonora Dorothea, who was graduated in the Huron High School as a member of the class of 1915, remains at the parental home, and is a popular young woman in the social activities of the community ; the younger daughter, Maria Sophia, who celebrated her twelfth birthday anniversary in 1915, has completed the curriculum of the graded schools and is now attending the Huron High School. All of the family are communicants of the Lutheran Church. HON. JOHN E. BRAGG. While a resident farmer in Groton Township, owning a large estate in that locality and successfully directing its operations, the thing which has made the career of John E. Bragg conspicuous in Erie County has been his long continued and efficient public service. He has filled nearly all the offices of trust and responsibility in his home township, has assisted in giving vitality to some of the functions of county government, and is now Erie County 's representative in the Ohio Legislature. His home is at Parkertown in Groton Township. Born in that township July 6, 1870, he is a son of the late Samuel and Wealtha (Livengood) Bragg, the former a native of Huron County and the latter of Erie County. After the death of her husband Mrs.. Wealtha Bragg married Henry H. Wood of Groton Township, who died in May, 1915, and she still lives in that locality. Samuel Bragg died in 1875, in the prime of his years and powers. He was the father of three 788 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY children : John E. and Herbert, both residents of Groton Township ; and May, now deceased. Samuel Bragg was a son of John Bragg, who came to America from England, where he was born, and was numbered among the early farmer settlers of Groton Township. He spent there a long and useful career as an agriculturist, was noted for his sturdy and typical English habits and manner, was an excellent business man, acquired a sufficiency of this world's goods, and died at Bellevue, Ohio, in 1889 at the age of eighty-four. He had lived at Bellevue for a number of years before his death. The early life of John E. Bragg vas spent in Groton Township on a farm, and in spite of his active public service he has never been long dissociated from farming pursuits. For his education he attended first the public schools of his native township, was also in practice in the old normal school at Milan, and in 1889 completed the course at the Sandusky City Business College. Then for about eight years he alternately taught in Groton and Margaretta townships, and at the same time during vacation periods carried on his education in the Northern Ohio University at Ada, where he took such courses as would better fit him for his profession as an instructor. His public service may be said to have begun as a teacher. For five years he was clerk of his home township, and for seven years was clerk of the board of education in that locality and for ten consecutive years a member of the board of education. For ten years he was committeeman from Groton Township to the Erie County Democratic Central Committee, served five years as a member of the executive committee of the county, and for two years was its secretary. In 1897 he was appointed deputy auditor of Erie County, held that position five years, and for five years was on the Erie County Blind Relief Commission. In 1914 he was chief clerk in the district assessor's office and he served a term of four years as deputy supervisor of elections for Erie County. In November, 1914, the people of Erie County gave to Mr. Bragg a substantial majority as candidate for the Ohio General Assembly, and he began his two-year term in January, 1915. He was elected on the democratic ticket and his work has attracted notice and he is considered one of the most capable members of the present Ohio Legislature. His name is especially associated with the authorship of the Quail Bill, which is an excellent measure for the protection of these birds, and forbids hunting them for a period of two years beginning in November, 1915. He also introduced and had passed the so-called Fish Net Bill, which provided for the continuation of the use of the present size mesh in fish nets. That act was the first one to become a law in the first session of the Eighty-first General Assembly. He likewise introduced other bills on various subjects, and some of these are pending for consideration in the second session of the Assembly. On June 29, 1893, Mr. Bragg married Miss Zella DeYo. She was born at Clyde, Ohio, a daughter of Denton DeYo, a former resident of Groton Township, but now deceased. Three children have been born into their home : Lynnetta M., who graduated from the Sandusky High School, was a student in the normal school at Bowling Green, Ohio, and is now a successful teacher in the public schools ; Wealtha E., also a student in the normal school at Bowling Green ; and John D., now attending the Sandusky High School. Hon. Mr. Bragg has numerous relations with fraternal and other organizations in his county. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias at Sandusky, of the Woodmen of the World at Sandusky, the Loyal Order of Moose at that city, the Knights of the Maccabees at Bloomingville. and is especially active in the Margaretta Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, having served as master of the local order, and is a member HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 789 of the Pomona Grange of Erie County. He also belongs to the Castalia Vigilantes. His church is the Universalist and he has been clerk in the congregation. As a farmer his ownership extends to 230 acres of land in Groton Township, one of the best managed farms in that part of the county and cultivated to the staple crops of this locality. Whether as a farmer or as an official he has stood the tests of a high-minded citizen and is a natural leader in the progress of his home county. FRANK P. HART. He whose name initiates this paragraph has been a resident of Erie County from the time of his birth, is a scion of a sterling German family that was here founded more than sixty years ago, and he has resided on his present fine homestead farm, in the southwestern part of Huron Township, since he was a child of two years. Like his honored father, he has proved himself one of the most progressive, energetic and successful agriculturists of this section of the state, and his landed estate, with an aggregate area of 370 acres, is conceded to be one of the best improved and most effectively managed in Erie County. The Hart family has been represented by four generations in this part of the Buckeye State, and the subject of this review is a scion of the third generation, the name which he bears having ever stood exponent of the utmost civic loyalty, the most inflexible integrity and of productive industry in connection with the practical affairs of a workaday world. Philip Hart, grandfather of Frank P., represented the first generation of the family in Ohio, though his son William preceded him and other members of the family to America. Philip Hart was born in the Duchy of Nassau, now a part of the Province of Hesse-Nassau, Germany, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and in his native land he was reared and educated, his wife having likewise been a native of Nassau, where all of their children were born, namely : Philip, Jr., Louis, Frederick, William, and a daughter who became the wife of Jacob Nicholas. In 1852 William Hart, father of him whose name introduces this sketch, severed the ties that bound him to home and fatherland and set forth to establish a new home in America. Embarking, at Hamburg, on a sailing vessel, he terminated his voyage at the expiration of fifteen days, by landing in the Port of New York City. With but slight tarrying in the national metropolis, he soon made his way to Sandusky, the judicial center of Erie County, Ohio, and in the vicinity he found employment on a farm, at a stipend of $12 a month. Within two years he had saved enough money from his meager earnings to assist the other members of the family in defraying the expenses of their immigration to the United States. This unselfish devotion resulted in the immigration of his parents, his three brothers, of whom Philip, Jr., and Louis had already married and were thus accompanied by their respective wives, and of the one sister' The family party made the long and weary voyage on a sailing vessel of the type common to that period, and after their arrival in Erie County all lived together for some time, or until the sons could arrange for independent venture as farmers, all of the number eventually acquiring excellent landed estates and becoming distinctively successful. The venerable father never became the owner of land in the United States, but he and his devoted wife were cared for with utmost filial solicitude by their children until they were finally summoned to the life eternal, in the fulness of years and in the high regard of all who knew them. Both were devout communicants of the Lutheran Church and to this faith their children and children's children have clung, with a few exceptions in the third and fourth generations. Of the sons, Philip, Jr., Louis and Frederick became substantial farmers and landowners in Huron County. 790 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY and there all passed the remainder of their lives, as did also their respective wives, with the exception of the widow of Philip, who is still living on their old homestead farm in that county. Jacob Nicholas, husband of the only daughter, was the owner of a large and valuable farm in Oxford Township, Erie County, where his wife died at the age of seventy years; he survived her by ten years and passed the closing periOd of his long and useful life in the home of his nephew, Frank P. Hart of this review, where he died at the venerable age of eighty-three years, his only child, a daughter, being likewise deceased. William Hart was a young man at the time when he bravely took the initiative and came to the United States as the practical forerunner of the other members of this sterling family. In Oxford Township, Erie County, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Louise Hess, who likewise was a native of Nassau, Germany, where she was born in 1840, and who, came alone to America when she was a young woman, she having been employed in a domestic capacity in Erie County, Ohio, up to the time of her marriage. After his marriage William Hart made his first purchase of land, a tract of seventy-five acres, on the Bloomville Road, in Perkins Township. There he and his wife,,who was a woman of noble character and who was ever his devoted companion and helpmeet, established their modest home, and both worked together toward the goal of independence and definite prosperity. The original and circumscribed farm did not long serve to satisfy the ambition or afford adequate scope for the energies of Mr. Hart, with the result that in Huron Township he purchased an additional tract, the same, comprising sixty-five acres, being an integral part of the homestead farm of his son, Frank P. With increasing financial prosperity, resulting from his own well-ordered endeavors, William Hart added from time to time to his landed possessions, with the result that he eventually became the owner of more than 200 acres on the Milan Road in Huron Township, besides another tract of eighty-seven acres in this township and his original homestead of seventy- five acres in Perkins Township. On his first farm he erected substantial buildings, including a substantial house of twelve rooms, and his enterprising spirit was further evinced by his providing excellent buildings for and making other advanced improvements on his Puron 'Township homestead, that now occupied by his son, Frank P., of this review. Thoroughness and thrift typified every detail of his farm enterprise and he long held precedence as one of the most progressive and influential members of the farming community of Erie County, the while he always commanded inviolable place in the confidence and good will of his fellow men. Mrs. Louise (Hess) Hart was summoned to the life eternal in 1875, a devout communicant of the Lutheran Church and a woman whose gentle and gracious personality gained to her the affectionate regard of all who - came within the sphere of her influence. William Hart subsequently contracted a second marriage, by his union with Mary St. John, who was born and reared in Ohio and who still resides on their homestead farm in Perkins Township, a place to which they repaired after having resided several years in the City of Sandusky, no children having been born of their union. Mrs. Hart has attained to the psalmist's life-span of three score years and ten and is a zealous member of the Baptist Church. On the homestead in Perkins Township William Hart passed to his reward in November, 1909, at a venerable age, and well may it be said that "his works do follow him" and bear honor, to his memory. His political allegiance was given to the democratic party and he was a consistent communicant of the Lutheran Church, in the faith of which he was reared. William and Louise (Hess) Hart became the parents of seven sons and seven daughters, of whom Frank P. was the seventh in order of birth, and HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 791 of the number five sons and four daughters are living in 1915. All are married and have children and four of the number are residents of Erie County. Frank P. Hart was born on the farm in Oxford Township, where his parents resided a few years, and the date of his nativity was March 27, 1862, and he was two years of age at the time of the family removal to the homestead which has ever since continued his abiding place and which is endeared to him by the gracious memories and associations of the past, the remains of his parents resting side by side in the Scott Cemetery in Milan Township. Mr. Hart was afforded the advantages of the public schools of Erie County, early began to contribute his quota to the work of the home farm, and is grateful that he was thus able to acquire his initial and inspiring experience under the able direction of his honored father. Like the latter, he stands exponent of energy, progressiveness and good judgment in his operations as an agriculturist and as a grower of high-grade livestock, and like his father he has made of success not an accident but a logical result. It is much to a man's credit to be pron'ounced one of the foremost representatives of these basic lines of industry in Erie County, and this reputation is fully merited in the cast of Mr. Hart. He occupies the substantial residence that was erected by his father, but has made many substantial improvements of modern type, besides which he has erected other high-grade buildings on the home place, including a barn that is 30x96 feet in dimensions. His estate comprises some of the best land to be found in this section of Ohio and his scientific methods insure to it the maximum of productiveness. On the homestead farm, which comprises 202 acres, Mr. Hart has erected a second set of substantial farm buildings, including a good house, and his farm of seventy-five acres in Milan Township is similarly well improved, as is also his father's original homestead in Perkins Township, a property which he owns, the aggregate area of his landed estate being 373 acres, as noted in the initial paragraph of this article. Mr. Hart has on his home place an excellent apple orchard of four acres and also a small cherry orchard. He and his sons are supporters of the cause of the democratic party in national affairs, but in local matters are not constrained by strict partisan lines. The family are communicants of the Lutheran Church at Union Corners, and Mr. Hart is a trustee of the same. In the City of Sandusky, in 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hart to Miss Margaret Kraft, who was born in Nassau, Germany, on the 20th of April, 1864, and who was three years of age at the time of the family immigration to the United States. She is a daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Schlessman) Kraft, who came to America in the late '60s, and who established their home in the City of Sandusky, where Mr: Kraft became identified with the lumber business and where his death occurred in 1880. His first wife passed away in 1872 and he later wedded Reca Lipp, who contracted a second marriage after his demise and who is again widowed, her home being at Fremont, Sandusky County. Mrs. Hart is the only daughter of her parents, and her brother, Jacob, was a resident of Erie County at the time of his death, his widow being now a resident of the City of Sandusky ; they had no children. By his second marriage Mr. Kraft left two sons and one daughter, all of whom are married and well established in life. Of the children of the first marriage two besides Mrs. Hart survive the honored father— Michael, who is a prosperous cigar manufacturer and dealer•in the City of Cleveland and who has one son and one daughter ; and Adam, who is a substantial farmer of Milan Township, who has been twice married and whose only child, a daughter, likewise is married. In the concluding paragraph is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Hart. 792 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Lloyd F., whose educational advantages were those of the public schools and a business college, is associated with his father in the latter's extensive farming operations. He married Miss Laura Schearer and they have two children-Alverna M. and Venesta. Earl, whose educational discipline was similar to that of his elder brother, has charge of one of his father's farms, the maiden name of his wife having been Edith Michael. Lynn Jacob, who availed himself of the advantages of the public schools and a business college, remains at the parental home and is his father's valued assistant in the work and management of the farm. Viola Leone, who was graduated in the Sandusky High School as a member of the class of 1915, remains with her parents and is a popular young woman in the social activities of the community. THOMAS J. LUNDY. Erie County is essentially cosmopolitan in its civic makeup, and among the popular citizens who can claim descent from staunch old Irish stock is the representative farmer whose name introduces this review and who is a native of the county in which he has found ample scope for successful enterprise along the basic lines of industry to which he was reared. He is a scion of one of the well- known and highly esteemed pioneer families of Erie County, with whose history the name of Lundy has been worthily linked for more than half a century, and he is now the owner of one of the well improved farms of Huron Township, where he brings to bear marked energy and circumspection in the carrying forward of the various phases of farm enterprise and where he is known as a broad-minded and loyal citizen as well as a substantial man of affairs. The birth of Mr. Lundy occurred on the 4th of October, 1864, and the place of his nativity was the old homestead of his parents, not far distant from his present place of abode. He is a son of John and Ann (Haley) Lundy, both natives of the fair Emerald Isle, where the former was born on the 22d of June, 1827, in County Mayo, the latter having been born in County Kerry, in the year 1831. In his native county in Ireland John Lundy was reared to the age of twelve years and he then accompanied his elder brother, Richard, to Manchester, England, in which city both were employed in factories until 1853, when they manifested their ambition and self-reliance by immigrating to the United States, feeling assured of better opportunities for the winning of independence and prosperity in this country. The two sturdy young sons of Erin embarked on, a sail- ing vessel of the type common to that period, and seven weeks and three days elapsed ere they completed their weary voyage and landed in New York City. They soon made their way to Reading, Pennsylvania, and a few months later they came to Ohio and found employment at farm work, in Erie County. The life of the agriculturist made strong appeal to John Lundy and he determined to bend his energies to the goal of independent identification with agricultural pursuits, though his advancement must needs be gained solely through his _own ability and efforts. He was not lacking in a full reinforcement of self-reliance and ambition, and finally initiated his individual operations as a farmer by coming to Erie County and renting the McMann Farm, on the Bogart Road, in Huron Township. On this place he-rem remained eight years, applying himself with characteristic vigor and efficiency and carefully conserving the financial returns from his arduous labors. He then purchased a farm of fifty-five acres in the same vicinity and situated on the Lane Road, in the western part of Huron Township. He developed one of the fine farms of the county and on the same made permanent improvements of an excellent order, including the erection of a good house of eleven rooms and a substantial barn, 36x50 feet in dimensions. He proved himself one of the successful agriculturists and stockgrowers of HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 793 the county and never had cause to regret his choice of location or vocation. On this homestead John Lundy continued to reside, a well-known and distinctively popular citizen of Erie County, until the time of his death, which occurred on the 27th of January, 1915, his cherished and devoted wife having passed away in 1886 and the remains of both being laid to rest in St. Joseph's Cemetery, in the City of Sandusky. Both were devout communicants of the Catholic Church, in the faith of which they carefully reared their children. Mr. Lundy was an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the democratic party, took a loyal interest in local affairs of a public order and held various township offices. Mrs. Ann (Haley) Lundy was a young woman of seventeen years when, in 1848, she immigrated to the United States and joined her brother John and her elder sister, Mrs. Eliza McDermott, both of whom had established their home in Ohio and both of whom passed the closing years of their lives in Erie County, each having attained to advanced age. Mrs. Lundy proved a devoted and efficient helpmeet to her husband and reared her children with all of kindness and solicitude, so that by them her memory is held in lasting reverence. Of the children the eldest was John, Jr., who died, a bachelor, at the age of thirty-three years; Thomas J. of this review was the next in order of birth; Mary is the wife of Anthony Klein, they reside in the City of Huron, this county, and have several children ; William, who is .serving, in 1915, as sheriff of Erie County, married Miss Ann Steiner and they have one son and one daughter; Ella is the wife of Simon Purcell, of Toledo, and they have one son. Thomas J. Lundy was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and acquired his early education in the public and parochial schools of Erie County. He has never abated by one jot or tittle his allegiance to the fundamental industry of agriculture, and has made the same a medium for the achieving of marked success and prosperity. His farm comprises fifty-five acres of most fertile land, the place is well improved and he is indefatigable in his labors to gain the maximum returns in his cultivation of the willing soil and his raising of livestock of excellent grades. He is loyal and liberal in his civic attitude and though he takes lively interest in communal affairs and is ever ready to support progressive measures and enterprises for the general good, he has manifested no desire for public office. His political support is given unreservedly to the cause of the democratic party and he and his family 'are communicants of the Catholic Church. In the township that is now his place of residence was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lundy to Miss Mary A. Purcell, the wedding having been celebrated on the 15th of April, 1896. Mrs. Lundy was born in Oxford Township on the 1st of January, 1863, and was reared and educated .in Huron Township. She is a daughter of Simon and Bridget (Higgins) PuCcell, both natives of Ireland. They are still residents of Huron Township and are now venerable in years. Mr. and Mrs. Lundy have six childrel-John W., Simon R., Thomas J., William Leo, Edward M., and Mary A. The eldest son is attending, in 1915, a business college in the City of Sandusky, and the other children are members of the home circle, Simon R. being his father's efficient assistant in the work of the farm. GEORGE F. HINDE. More fertile and productive land than that found in the fine farm of Mr. Hinde can scarcely be looked for in the entire limits of the old Buckeye State, and his homestead is most eligibly situated in Huron Township, is admirably improved and maintained in the best order, and indicates to even the casual observer the thrift and progressiveness of the fortunate owner. Mr. Hinde takes due pride in reverting to Erie County as the place of his nativity and he is a repre- Vol. II-21 794 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY sentative of one of the old, well-known and highly honored families of this favored section of the state. Mr. Hinde was born on the homestead farm of his parents in Huron Township, this county, on the 15th of July, 1863, and is.a son of William Joseph Hinde and Ellen (0 'Birne) Hinde, both natives of Ireland, the father having been born in County Galway, on the 11th of November, 1810, and the mother having been born in County Carlow, on the 6th of December, 1824. William Joseph Hinde was a son of Thomas and Mary (Galway) Hinde, the former of whom passed his entire life in the Emerald Isle and the latter of whom came with her children to America. William J. Hinde was one of the patriarchal citizens of Erie County at the time of his death, which occurred at his beautiful home in Huron Township on the 29th of July, 1905, only a few months prior to his ninety-fifth birthday anniversary. He was reared and educated in his native county, and after the death of his father he came with his widowed mother and other members of the family to the United States, the family company having included his brothers Patrick, James, Robert, Edward and Joseph, and his sister Amanda. He was about nineteen years of age at the time of this immigration, in,1829, and for seven years after leaving his native land he had been bound out or indentured to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner, in which he became an expert artisan. He finally came to Erie County, and here found ready .demand for his services in the work of his trade. He became one of the best known ship carpenters along the Ohio shores of Lake Erie, and his work took him also to other important lake ports, including the City of Buffalo, New York. He was engaged in working at his trade at many of the important ports along the Ohio shores of the lake, though he always looked upon Erie County as his home and the center of his interests. This sturdy and valued artisan assisted in the building of many vessels and smaller craft placed in commission in the navigation service of the Great Lakes, and he gained wide reputation for his splendid skill as a mechanic, as well as for his unalloyed steadfastness and integrity of purpose in all of the relations of life. His course was guided and governed by the highest principles, he was liberal and broad-minded, and .he commanded the unqualified confidence. and esteem of his fellow men until the close of his significantly long and useful life. For a number of years he lived on the Huron Township farm of sixty-five acres that had come as an inheritance to his wife, and he eventually added to the area of his landed estate by the purchase of a farm of 118 acres and the later obtaining of an adjacent tract of forty acres. He was thus numbered among the representative agriculturists of the county for a long period of years, and upon his homestead he erected in 1881 a house that was considered at the time to be the most perfect in construction to be found in Erie County. He also erected excellent barns and other farm buildings on his homestead place, and his entire active career was marked by energy, enterprise and mature judgment. Though he was a communicant of the Catholic Church and zealous in its support, he was never intolerant or bigoted, but had appreciation of the good qualities of others, was willing td permit to his fellow men the same latitude in opinion which he himself claimed, and he was always ready to aid in the furtherance of those measures projected for the general good of the community. Mr. Hinde was one of the most honored, even as he was one of the most venerable, citizens of Huron Township at the time of his death, and his memory is revered by those who came within the compass of his genial and kindly influence, this also having been significantly true in the case of his devoted wife, who was a woman of most gentle and sympathetic nature and who preceded him to the life eternal, her death having occurred on the 18th of September, 1893, shortly prior to her seventieth birthday anniversary, and she likewise HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 795 having been an earnest communicant of the Catholic Church. Mr. Hinde was a democrat in national politics, but in local affairs he subordinated triet partisanship and gave his support to the men and measures meeting he approval of his judgment. In this state was solemnized the marriage of William J. Hinde to Miss Ellen 0 'Birne, who, as previously stated, was born in County Carlow, Ireland, on the 6th of December, 1824. She was a daughter of James and Bridget 0 'Birne, and was a child of about three years at the time of the family immigration to the United States, she having been reared and educated in Ohio. Mrs. Hinde was a half-sister of Senator Henry E. O'Hagan, of Sandusky, one of the most prominent and influential citizens of this section of the state and long a power in political affairs, the senator having been prominent also in the Masonic fraternity, in which he was a representative of the thirty-third degree of the Scottish Rite. Of the children of William J. and Ellen Hinde the eldest was Thomas, who died in 1897, at the age of fifty-five years. He was a bachelor and was in the railway service for thirty-seven years, during the major part of which period he was employed as a conductor with what is now the Big Four Railroad. Maria, the second child, became the.ytife - of Elias Everett and both are now deceased, four children surviving them. Mary, who was born on the old homestead in Huron Township, in 1851, still resides at the place of her birth, is a woman of great mental and physical alertness and is loved by all who know her, her independence in thought and action being indicated by her spinsterhood. James J. is one of the interested principals and one of the organizers of the Hinde & Dauch Paper Manufacturing Company, in the City of Sandusky, where he and his wife have their pleasant home, with both sons and daughters to complete an attractive family circle. Isabel became the wife of Darwin Boise and died soon after her marriage. George F., of this review, was the next in order of birth. William J. resides on his excellent farm of 100 acres, in Huron Township, has been twice married and has six children. George F. Hinde was afforded the advantages of the public schools in his native county and here also attended the normal school at Milan, after which he passed five years as a successful and popular teacher in the district schools, his pedagogic labors having been rendered in Districts No. 7 and No. 4, Huron Township. It was but natural that with a deep appreciation of the dignity and attractiveness of the life of the farm, that Mr. Hinde should eventually resume his allegiance to the great basic industry under whose influences he was reared. He has thus become one of the progressive and representative agriculturists and stockgrowers of his native county, and his finely improved farm of fifty-one acres is one of remarkably fine soil constituency and splendid productiveness. Its fertility is indicated by the character and volume of products, the average annual yield of corn being sixty bushels to the acre ; wheat more than thirty bushels ; and potatoes of the best grade, more than-200 bushels t6 the acre. The soil is of fine black loam, with clay subsoil, and the farm is equipped with a most complete and effective system of drainage, mostly of the tile order. Broad-minded and progressive as a citizen and well fortified in his opinions, Mr. Hinde takes a loyal interest in all that touches the communal welfare and advancement, his political proclivities are indicated by the support which he gives to the democratic party where national and state issues are involved, and his religious faith is that of the Catholic Church, of which he is a communicant, Mrs. Hinde holding membership in the Methodist Church. The first wife of Mr. Hinde bore the maiden name of Bertha Kiefer, and she was born and reared in Huron, where she was a popular teacher 796 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY in the public schools for some time prior to her marriage. She was summoned to the life eternal in 1899, at the age of thirty years, and is survived by no children. In 1898 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hinde to Miss Nettie Emmons, who was born at Collins, this county, but who was reared to adult age in the State of Tennessee. The three children of this union are Frances, Thomas and George Raymond. Miss Frances, who was born in the year 1900, is at the time of this writing a student in the high school in the City of Sandusky, and Thomas is in the eighth grade of the local schools of his home township. In addition to his successful farming operations Mr Hinde has developed a prosperous enterprise in the buying and selling of high-grade fruit trees, and he has done much through this medium to foster the fruit industry in his home county. HENRY G. BRUNS. Thirty-eight years have passed since Henry G. Bruns took his residence in Northern Ohio, and during this long period of time he has been known to the people of Erie County as an industrious, painstaking and energetic farmer, a man of progressive ideas and thoroughly alive to the needs of his community, and a citizen who has always been ready to perform his duties and responsibilities. His labors have been well directed and have given him a full measure of success, for at this time he is the owner of a handsome property, lying in Huron Township, 2 1/2 miles from Huron. Mr. Bruns was born in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, December 22, 1854, and is a son of Frederick Bruns and a grandson of Frederick Bruns, Sr., both of whom passed their entire lives in their native land, the grandfather passing away in the prime of life after a career passed in agricultural pursuits. Frederick Bruns, the father of Henry C. Bruns, was born in 1821, and grew up on the paternal farm, receiving an ordinary education in the public schools. He was married in Germany to Catherine Wenkleman, who was born in 1825, at the same place, and .after their marriage they settled down to agricultural pursuits, both being close to threescore and ten years of age at the time of their demise. They were faithful members of the Lutheran Church, which they attended all their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Bruns were the parents of seven children, of whom but one was a daughter, Anna, who married a Mr. Bostleman, has four children and lives in the Province of Hanover. The six sons, Fred, Henry C., Heinrich, Dietrich, William and Herman, are all living and all are married, with the exception of Heinrich, whose history has been lost for the past thirty-five years. Like the sons of most German farmers in moderate circumstances, Henry C. Bruns divided his boyhood between attendance at the public schools And assisting his parents in the work of the homestead. He was sixteen years of age when he decided that better opportunities awaited him in America, and accordingly, in 1871, emigrated to this country by way of Bremen to New York on the ship Deutchland. From the eastern metropolis, he made his way to Henry County, Ohio, and in the fall of the same year located on Kelleys Island, located twelve smiles out in Lake Erie from Sandusky. He spent five years there or more, and was married during that time, in 1877, to Miss Christina Beatty, who was born in Summit County, Ohio, October 7, 1850, and who moved to Kelleys Island in 1854 with her parents, Lewis and Mary (Smouse) Beatty, who were born in Russia, of German parents. The father died on Kelleys Island at the age of seventy-two years, and the mother when seventy-five years of age. Two of their sons, Michael and Jacob, served as Union soldiers during the Civil war, one married and all are deceased, Andrew dying when about forty years of age. Beside Mrs. Bruns there are living two sons : Henry, who is married and lives on HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 797 Kelleys Island, and William, who is married, has a family, and is engaged in farming in Huron Township. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bruns: Mamie, who is the wife of Rev. Charles J. Holliger, of Toledo, now pastor of the Evangelical Church at Lorain, and has a son, Herbert H. ; and Lewis Fredriek, thirty-two years of age, reared in Huron Township and educated in the public schools of this locality and the Sandusky Business College, now engaged in fanning with his father, married Sophia Wagner, and now has one son, Robert H., aged four years. The year 1877 saw Mr. Bruns' arrival in Huron Township, where his father-in-law had purchased a tract of land lying between the lake-and Market Road, No. 13 North. He has added from time to time to his property, and at the present time is cultivating 235 acres, on which he grows everything known to this climate, including all kinds of large and small fruit. He has developed an excellent farm, with substantial buildings and modern improvements of every kind, and his progressive methods and up-to-date ideas have been combined with his industrious labor in winning him success. Mr. Bruns and his family are members of the Evangelical Association, in which he has been a trustee for a long period and superintendent of the Sunday school for thirty-five years. He and his sons are republicans in their political views. Mr. Bruns' standing in business circles is that of a citizen of integrity and probity, and his wide circle of friends testifies to his general popularity. AUGUST C. KLEIN. No nation has given to the United States a more valuable element of citizenship than has the great German Empire, and no class has evinced more loyalty to American ideas and institutions, even under the present horrific conditions of warfare in Europe, when the sons of the Fatherland can not but feel sympathy for their native land. He to whom this brief sketch is dedicated is known and honored as one of the sterling German citizens and representative agriculturists of Erie County, and though he claims Germany as the land of his nativity he has been a resident of Ohio from childhood and is primarily and emphatically an American in spirit and ideals. Mr. Klein was born in the Province of Westphalia, Rhenish Prussia, and the date of his nativity was October 4, 1864. He is a son of John and Catherine Klein, both of whom were born and reared in that same province of Prussia, where the respective families have been established for many generations. In their Fatherland the parents continued to reside until there had been born to them the following named children : John, Alice, Catherine, Matilda, August C., Anton and Charles. In 1868, when the subject of this review was a child of three years, the family immigrated to the United States, the weary and tempestuous voyage having been made on a sailing vessel and sixty days having elapsed ere the family disembarked in the port of New York City, in March of the year mentioned. From the national metropolis the journey was continued westward by rail to Sandusky, Ohio, and the father rented a tract of land in Huron Township, this county, where he was engaged in farming for the first two years of his residence in the land of his adoption. He then purchased a farm of forty acres in Ottawa County, where he continued his industrious application and made good provision for his family. At the expiration of six years John Klein disposed of his property in Ottawa County and returned to Erie County, where he purchased a farm of ninety-seven acres in Huron Township, the major part bf this land being now within the corporate limits of the thriving little City of Huron. On this homestead Mr. Klein continued to reside until the close of his long and useful life, and under his effective management it was developed into one of the well improved and specially 798 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY productive farms of Erie County. He died in February, 1903, shortly before his eighty-second birthday anniversary, and his cherished and devoted wife was summoned to eternal rest in June, 1907, at the age of eighty-two years. They were folk of sterling and unassuming worth and their names and memories are held in lasting honor in the community that long represented their home and in which they lived and wrought to goodly ends. Both were earnest communicants of the Catholic Church, and in politics Mr. Klein gave his support to the cause of the democratic party. Of their children all were born in Germany except the youngest, and concerning them the following brief record is given: John is now a resident of the City of Toledo and he has four . children; Alice, who is now a resident of Kokomo, Indiana, is the widow of John Krebser, and she has four sons and two daughters ; Catherine is the wife of John B. Sarter and they reside in the State of California, their children being three daughters ; Matilda is the wife of Peter Hermes, residing in the City of Huron, Erie County, and they have one daughter ; August C. of this sketch was the next in order of birth; Anton, who likewise is one of the prosperous farmers of Huron Township, has two sons and three daughters ; Charles resides at Huron and his children are three sons ; Christina was born in Ohio and is the only one of the children who can claim the United States as the place of nativity, she being the wife of Frank Lonz, a prosperous farmer of Huron Township, and they having three sons and three daughters. August C. Klein was reared to the sturdy and benignant discipline of the farm, his rudimentary education was obtained in the district schools of Ottawa County and later he continued his studies in the public schools of Erie County, where he was reared to adult age on the home farm of his parents. He continued to be associated with his father in the work and management of the farm until the time of his marriage, and after this important event in his life he finally purchased forty acres of the old homestead place, this action having been taken in July, 1903. On his admirably productive and well kept farm, which gives every evidence of thrift and prosperity, he has a pleasant residence of seven rooms, and the other farm buildings prove adequate for the uses to which they are applied. The farm is well drained anal the owner brings to bear the most approved and modern methods in carrying forward his operations as a progressive agriculturist and stock-grower. Though he has never been animated by any desire to enter the turbulent stream of so called practical politics, Mr. Klein has shown a proper sense of civic duty and responsibility, has given support to measures and enterprises advanced for the general good of the community and exercises his franchise in a generl way as an advocate of the cause of the democratic party. He and his family are earnest communicants of the Catholic Church and he is known as one of the substantial farmers and loyal and upright citizens, f Erie County. In Perkins Township, this county, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Klein to Miss Christine Hermes, who was reared and educated in that township, where her birth occurred on the 29th of April, 1874. She is a daughter of Philip and Caroline (Ansel) Hermes, who were born in Germany and concerning whom more specific mention is made on other pages of this publication, in the sketch of the career of their son, Peter. Both parents of Mrs. Klein died on their home farm in Perkins Township shortly before attaining to the age of fifty years, Mr. Hermes having been a communicant of the Catholic Church and his wife having held the faith of the Lutheran Church. In the final paragraph of this article is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Klein : Philip Anton, who was born March 6, 1898, was. afforded the ad- HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 799 vantages of the public schools in the City of Huron and is now associated with his father in the management of the home farm ; Leo Arthur, who was born June 19, 1900, is a member of the freshman class, that of 1918, in the Huron High School; William August, who was born June 25, 1905, is in the fifth grade of the public schools at the time of this writing, in 1915; and Paul Franklin, who is a personage of dignity and importance in the home circle, was born April 11, 1910. ADAM H. HAHN. The stable occupation of farming has enlisted the early as well as later interest of Adam H. Hahn, whose entire life, since his third year, has been passed in Erie County. He has secured excellent financial results and has evidenced a broad knowledge of agricultural science, for many years of practical experience contribute to his agricultural equipment, and his entire life has been passed in the free and independent atmosphere of the country. Mr. Hahn was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, near the capital, January 31, 1870, and is a son of Conrad and Elizabeth (Orth) Hahn, natives of Hesse Castle, Germany, where the former was born in 1828 and the latter in 1835. They were born of parents who passed their entire lives in Germany, and they themselves are still living and make their home with their son, Adam H. In 1872, Henry and John Hahn, brothers of Adam H. Hahn, emigrated to the United States and took up their residence in Ohio, where both are now married and have families, Henry being a farmer near the Village of Huron, while John lives on a farm in Huron County. The other children, all born in Germany, are as follows : William, who is a successful farmer on the Bogart Road, in Huron Township, is married and has two sons and a daughter ; Theodore, who is a farmer of Milan Township, is married and has a daughter; Anna, who is the wife of J. Nicholas Shennen, a fisherman of Vermillion, and has two daughters ; and Adam H. of this review. In May, 1873, the parents of Mr. H., with their four children, took passage on a sailing vessel, the Deutchland, from Bremen, and after a voyage of fourteen days landed at New York. They made their way to Erie County, Ohio, and settled in Huron Township, in July, 1873, this community having since been the family home. After many years passed in hard and industrious toil, the parents succeeded in developing a, good property, with the assistance of their children, and are now living in comfortable retirement. In their native land they early joined the Reformed Church, and in this country have continued to be faithful adherents of that faith. Adam H. Hahn was three years of age when brought to the United States, and his education was secured in the public schools of Huron Township, supplemented by a course in the Sandusky Business College. He was brought up to agricultural pursuits, and has been content to make farming his life work, having entered upon his own career at the time he attained his majority. He accumulated 112 acres of land, which he owned until -1914, when he disposed of half of his property and now retains fifty-six acres, located on the Bogart Road, two miles from Huron on Rural Free Delivery Route No. 1. Mr. Hahn has a finely developed property, on which he grows all the staple products of this section, including corn, wheat, oats and potatoes, as well as plenty of all kinds of fruit. His buildings are of a substantial character, and include a fine ten-room house, erected in 1913, and other modern and handsome structures. During the forty-two years in which he has been a resident of Huron Township, Mr. Hahn has impressed himself upon his fellow- citizens as a man of reliability and substance, who makes a keen interest in his community and its institutions and whose support is freely given to all worthy movements. He is a republican in politics, although not. 800 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY a politician, and he and Mrs. Hahn are attendants- of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Hahn was married at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1899, to Miss Helena '("Lena") Dippel, who was born January 24, 1874, at Cleveland, where she was reared and educated and made her home until her marriage. She is a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Weise) Dippel, the former born at Hesse Castle, and the latter at Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, in 1844 and 1842, respectively. Mr. Dippel came to the United States in January, 1867, and on the 20th of that month located at Cleveland, where he married in 1869 Miss Weise, who had arrived in that city in September, 1865. For a time Mr. Dippel worked at the Grazella Acid Works, then for ten or twelve years was superintendent of the Doan Oil Company, and April 1, 1878, purchased a coal yard in Cleveland. Shortly afterward he purchased two farms in Cuyahoga County, not far from the City of Cleveland, which he operated until the time of his death, December 3, 1912, Mrs. Dippel passing away about four months later, April 20, 1913. When he arrived in Cleveland, Mr. Dippel was possessed of no means, and was forced to borrow 25 cents with which to purchase his first meal. This he paid back the following day, and having secured employment rapidly worked his way to an independent position, being the possessor of a handsome competence at the time of his demise. Mr. and Mrs. Dippel were organizers and charter members of the Reformed Church at Cleveland, and Mr. Dippel early became an elder and trustee thereof, offices which he held up to the time of his death. Mrs. Hahn was the fourth in order of birth of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, all born in Cleveland, of whom ten grew to maturity and married, and five have children. Mr. and Mrs. Hahn have had no issue. JOHN W. STARR. To the strong and resourceful man at the present day the great fundamental industries of agriculture and stock growing offer greater opportunities for successful enterprise than at any previous stage in the world's history, and Erie County has its quota of able and progressive farmers whose definite prosperity and civic progressiveness make them one of the most influential and valued elements of citizenship. A prominent and highly esteemed representative of these important lines of industry in the county is Mr. Starr, who is the owner of two specially well improved and fruitful farms in Huron Township, his homestead place comprising 113 1/2 acres and the second farm having an area of seventy acres, both being eligibly situated on the Bloomville Road and on Rural Mail Route No. 3 from the thriving little City of Huron. The soil cf Mr. Starr's land is a fine loam with clay subsoil— a combination that insures permanent and unrivaled fertility and productiveness when scientific methods are brought to bear in its cultivation. It is patent to even the casual observer that such methods are followed by the owner of this property, and the evident thrift and prosperity indicate his energy, circumspection and good management ; he operates his farm according to business principles, and thus receives from the same the maximum returns. Mr. Starr is in no sense a theorist, but brings to bear mature judgment, devises ways and means in an independent way, profits from experience and is indefatigable in his application, with due appreciation of the dignity and value of the vocation to which he has devoted his entire active career. Mr. Starr devotes annually forty acres of his land to the propagation of sweet corn of the finest grades, and his special success in this line is indicated by the fact that under normal conditions he receives a yield of sweet corn each year that nets him an average of $55 to the acre. Wheat gives an average of somewhat more than thirty bushels to the acre, and field corn also gives splendid returns, about twenty-five acres being ens- PICTURE OF JOHN W. AND MARY M. STARR HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 801 tomarily devoted to its propagation. The permanent improvements upon this fine landed estate are of excellent order, the residence on the homestead place being a commodious and attractive modern house of nine rooms, and among other farm buildings being a substantial and well-equipped barn 36 by 56 feet in dimensions. The fine residence of Mr. Starr was erected within recent years and is one of the most modern rural homes in Huron Township. On his smaller farm Mr. Starr has recently erected a fine frame house, which the son now occupies. In addition to diversified agriculture, he gives much attention to the raising of high-grade live stock, especially the Holstein type of cattle, and the raising of sheep for mutton product. Mr. Starr has resided upon his present homestead farm for the past forty years, and is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of Erie County, which has represented his home from the time of his nativity. He was born on his father's pioneer farm, not far removed from his present home, and the date of his nativity was January 24, 1852. He has always been a resident of Huron Township and his sterling qualities have given him inviolable place in the confidence and esteem of the community, so that in his case there -can be no application of the scriptural aphorism that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country." Mr. Starr was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and duly availed himself of the advantages of the local schools, so that in his youth he waxed strong in mental and physical powers, neither of which have been permitted to wane, it being specially worthy of note that he is a man of much athletic vigor at the present time and frequently attests his continued strength and agility by turning handsprings, a performance which he gives with the vigor of a youth. The English progenitors of the Starr family came to this country long prior to the war of the Revolution, and the original settlement was made in the Massachusetts Colony. Representatives of the name were later numbered among the pioneer settlers of the State of New York, and the family has in later generations sent forth emissaries into various other states of the Union. The name has ever stood exponent of strong and worthy manhood and gentle and gracious womanhood, as one generation has followed another on to the stage of life's activities, and though this article does not permit or demand a detailed record concerning the history of this staunch colonial family, it is pleasing to state that a comprehensive and carefully compiled genealogy of the Starr family in America has been compiled and published by Dr. Comfort Starr, of Boston, Massachusetts, he having been born in the year 1835. John W. Starr is a great-grandson of Josiah Starr, son of John, and this ancestor was born in the State of New York, where he was reared to manhood. He became one of the pioneers of Portage County, Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life, he having been a tailor by trade and vocation. Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their son John, grandfather of the subject of this review, was born in the old Empire State, in 1774, and about the opening of the nineteenth century he removed to Saratoga County, that state, where he remained until 1828. In that year he came with his family to Ohio and established his home in Portage County, whence he came to Erie County in 1831, becoming one of the pioneer settlers in the forest wilds of the present Huron Township, where his death occurred, with suddenness and slight premonition, in the year 1833. In his youth he had learned the hatter's trade, but the major part of his active career was given to agricultural pursuits. Josiah Starr married Miss Sarah Chandler, a daughter of James and Charity (Andrews) Chandler. She was born in the State of New York, in March, 1782, and passed the clos- 802 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY ing years of her life in Erie County, Ohio, whem she died in August, 1862. Of the children of this honored pioneer couple, John Milton, father of him whose name introduces this review, was the second of four sons, there having been also two daughters, the younger of whom, Harriet, died in infancy. The four sons and the other daughter attained to maturity and all married and reared children. All are now deceased, their names having been as follows: Josiah Warner, John Milton, Joseph, Samuel and Mary. John Milton Starr was born at Malta, Saratoga County, New York, on the 30th of September, 1813, and in his native place he acquired his rudimentary education. He was a lad of fifteen years at the time of the family removal to Ohio, in 1828, and was a sturdy youth of eighteen when he came with his parents to Erie County. His father had secured a large tract of land in Huron Township, and on this pioneer farmstead he continued to be associated with his brothers in the reclamation, improving and cultivation of land until he had attained to his legal majority. On the 30th of March, 1850, was solemnized the marriage of John M. Starr to Miss Deborah Maria Wilkinson, who was born at Potter, Yates County, New York, on the 30th of July, 1828, and who was a daughter of Benoni and Polly Dolph (Hardy) Wilkinson, who became pioneer settlers of Erie County, Ohio, where they died when well advanced in years. After his marriage Mr. Starr established their home on the extensive and attractive farm in Huron Township, and a portion of their old homestead is now owned by their son, John W., of this review. Their original domicile was a log house of the type common to the pioneer days, but with the passing years ever increasing prosperity attended them and the closing period of their lives was passed in a substantial and commodious house which Mr. Starr had erected as a homestead many years previously, he having in the meanwhile become one of the leading agriculturists, substantial business men and influential and progressive citizens of the county in which he lived from his youth until he was called to the life eternal, his death having occurred in 1901, at the patriarchal age of eighty-eight years, and his cherished and devoted wife having passed away in June, 1893, at the age of sixty-five years. Theirs were lives of unassuming worth, they were industrious and far-sighted folk of strong mentality and of utmost kindliness, and they were sustained and comforted by deep Christian faith, their earnest convictions having caused them to incline largely to the Spiritualistic tenets. Mr. Starr was a man of mature judgment, took a lively interest in public affairs and kept in touch with the questions and events of the day even in his venerable years, his political allegiance having been given without reservation to the democratic party. Concerning the children of John M. and Deborah M. (Wilkinson) Starr, the following brief record is entered : John Wilkinson Starr, the immediate subject of this sketch, is the eldest of the number. Arthur E. Starr, who married Mary Gunsaulus, is a resident of Brook, Newton County, Indiana, and has three children, Vine, Edith and Edward E. Mary D. Starr first wedded Charles A. Stine, who was survived by one son, Walter. She later married Charles W. Hart, who likewise is deceased, and who is survived by throe children-Arthur, Rollin (deceased) and Halton. Edward Joseph Starr died in childhood. Ella Starr was twice wedded, her first husband, Lewis Link, being survived by one son, Starr Link, and no children having been born of the second union, to Elmer Highland, Mrs. Highland being now deceased. John Wilkinson Starr has well upheld the high prestige of the family name both as a successful agriculturist and as a progressive, loyal and public-spirited citizen. His .active career has been one of constant HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY- 803 advancement and increasing prosperity, and he is one of the representative farmers and highly esteemed citizens of his native county, where his circle of friends is virtually coincident with that of his acquaintances. In politics he maintains an independent attitude and gives his support to the men and measures meeting his approval, without regard to partisan lines. He and his family hold to the Spiritualistic faith and are active and zealous in the support of its organized bodies. On January 18, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Starr to Miss Mary Margaret Hart, who was born in Huron Township, on the 5th of January, 1855, and whose parents, William J. and Louisa (Shane) Hart, who were young folk at the time of their emigration from their German Fatherland to America and the marriage of whom was solemnized in Erie County. Mr. Hart here engaged in the reclamation and improvement of a pioneer farm of seventy-five acres, in Perkins Township, and he eventually became the owner of a fine landed estate of 300 acres. His first wife died at the age of forty-four years, and though she was a comparatively young woman at the time of her demise, she had become the mother of fourteen children who attained to years of maturity, and who married and reared children, nine of the number being still alive. By his second marriage, to Mary St. John, Mr. Hart had no children, and he was seventy-five years of age at the time of his death. The concluding paragraph of this article is devoted to a brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Starr. Edith passed to eternal rest at .the age of twenty years, a gracious and popular young woman who had been a successful teacher in the schools of her native county. Edna L. was six months of age at the time of her death. Pearl Inez married Louis W. Scheid, a farmer of Huron Township, and they have five children, Cornelius G., Marion H., Inez L., John Paul and Peter L. (who died in infancy). John Clayton died in early childhood. Mary Gola married first Henry Lieb, and they had one child, Donald Starr. She married for her second husband Irvin Dussell, a marine engineer on the Great Lakes, and a native of Erie County. Rollin John, who is associated with his father in the operation and management of the latter's farms, married Miss Effie H. Slocum, who likewise was born and reared in this county, and they have one daughter, Edith, the family home being an attractive modern residence on the smaller farm of the subject of this sketch. Erna Leone became the wife of Henry Sherrard, was but twenty years of age at the time of her death and is survived by one child, Marjorie, who remains with her father at their home in Newark, Licking County. HENRY J. ISAAC. A lake shore farm in Huron Township which stands almost in a class by itself and is easily one of the most attractive along the Sandusky highway is the fruit and dairy place owned and operated by Henry J. Isaac, situated on Rural Route No. 1 out of Huron. Mr. Isaac and his wife are English people by birth and are people whose worth as home makers and citizens entitles them to the recognition and esteem they have long enjoyed in Erie County. Their farm property represents a modest fortune and yet about twenty years ago both were young people without special means and have made. their prosperity largely through their own efforts and enterprise. The Isaac farm comprises seventy-five acres, and all its improvements are of the highest class, comprising residence and outbuildings with the farm land well utilized and arranged. Mr. Isaac is now giving his attention primarily to converting this farm into a fruit and dairy farm and in the meantime is carrying on business as a general agriculturist. He bought the place in 1912. For seven years he owned and occupied a fifty-three acre farm in the same township, and sold that and bought 804 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY 140 acres in Florence Township, known as the Judge Sprague farm, which he cultivated for six years before coming to. present location in Huron Township. Among the many features of this farm is its accessibility to transportation. It is on the electric interurban line and is also situated on the main traveled Market Road, No. 13, thoroughfare from Cleveland to Toledo. The farm is watered by Sawmill Creek, and a great amount of tiling has been placed. Mr. Isaac now has 2,000 apple and peach trees, and is planning an orchard that will eventually cover thirty acres. Henry J. Isaac was born in Gloucestershire, England, May, 29, 1850. Reared and educated in his native country he came to the United States in 1873 and located in Sandusky. He came with his parents, Henry and Susan (Aust) Isaac, who spent their last years in Erie County on a farm in Perkins Township. Henry Isaac died in 1903 when past seventy years of age and his widow at the age of seventy about three years after her husband. They were members of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics he was a republican. There were six children. Marian, now deceased, married George W. Shaddock ; the second in age is Henry J.; Charles H. died when a young man from mountain fever while in the Far West ; Amy Frances married Henry Tirymyer of Wakeman, Huron County, and they have two daughters, Susie and Grace ; Sarah is the wife of William Hertlein, living on a farm in this section of Ohio, and their children are Emily, George, John, Hilda and Mary Elizabeth is the wife of James Aust of Sandusky, and their children are named Henry, Herbert and Clifford, twins, Frances and Florence. It was in the City of Sandusky that Henry J. Isaac married Alice Broadley, who is also of English birth and training. She was born in Lincolnshire November 28, 1869, and grew up and received her education in her native land. Her parents were William and Alice (Plumtree) Broadley, both natives of Lincolnshire, where her mother died March 23, 1913, at the age of sixty-five and where her father is still living at the age of seventy-five. For forty-five years William Broadley was overseer of a large estate in England. The Broadleys were members of the Church of England. Mrs. Isaac was the oldest of seven children, and all the others still live in England, their names being James, John, George, Annie, Lizzie and Emma. Mrs. Isaac came to the United States at the age of twenty-four in May, 1894, and after a few years of residence in Erie County married, and has since devoted all her time and energies to the duties of her home and co-operation with her husband in the improvenment of their property. Their children are : Henry J., Jr., now fifteen years of age and a student in the Sandusky High School ; Clarence George, aged thirteen, and also in high school ; and Charles William, aged five years. Mr. Isaac is a republican, and while he and his wife are not members of any church, they are good Christian people, and their children are regular attendants at Sunday School. WILLIAM BRUNS. Two miles west of the Village of Huron is situated Rye Beach Park. To 'the thousands who visit and live along the Lake Erie shore between Cleveland and Sandusky this is one of the best known resorts of the summer season. Its attractive features have been carefully developed and improved by William Bruns, Who is the owner of the land comprised in the park and also of the farm homestead of which Rye Beach was originally a part. Rye Beach Park is primarily a home resort, and many of the cottages and lots there are owned and occupied by individual families and a large part of the annual volume of visitors go there not for a day but for the recreation and enjoyment found in weeks or months of stay. The park is located on the "well elevated shore on the south' side of Lake Erie with a gentle slope down to the water's edge, and HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 805 a great variety of native forest trees cover almost the entire site except the sandy beach itself. The beach is accessible to the cities and villages along the lake shore by means of the Lake Shore Electric Railway, whose cars pass every hour, and there is also a turnpike road to the lake shore. Mr. Bruns, the popular proprietor of this establishment, invested a large amount of capital in improving the grounds, in the erection of a commodious amusement and dancing pavilion, in providing docks and boat houses, bath houses, bowling alleys, and in furnishing all the facilities for amusement and wholesome recreation usually found in summer resorts of the highest, class. He recently acquired thirty-six acres, adjoining this original farm, and this has been subdivided into lots, thus doubling the water frontage and increasing the facilities supplied by Rye Beach Park. While this park has been the favorite center for picnic parties along the lake shore for many years, it was due to the enterprise and foresight of Mr. Bruns that its possibilities have been fully realized and . brought within reach of the thousands who now seek that favorite spot during the heated terms of summer. Mr. Bruns is a thorough business man, has made a success by hard work and capable management of his affairs, and is one of the highly esteemed citizens of Erie County. He was born at Niendorf, in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, November 9, 1861, and was of a high class of German people. His parents were Frederick and Catherine (Winkelman) Bruns, both natives of Hanover. His father was born in 1827 and his mother in 1829. His father began life as a farmer, and was also prominent in local official positions in his native country, and became well-to-do before his death in 1892. His wife had died about two or three years previously. They were members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Bruns was one of six sons and three daughters. The daughter, Anna, is the wife of Henry Busselman and they now occupy the old homestead back in Germany. Those who came to the United States besides William were : Frederick, who is a banker at Stryker, Ohio, and has a daughter and a married son ; Heinrich is a farmer in Huron Township of Erie County and has a son and daughter, both married; Hank went out West and since then his whereabouts have been unknown; Dietrich is a farmer in Berlin Township and has a son and daughter ; Herman lives at the Village of Huron, and has two married daughters and a son. In his native Kingdom of Hanover William Bruns spent the years of his youth and childhood, attended the public schools until fourteen and then worked at common labor for several years. At the age of seventeen he ventured upon his own resources to the New World, and landed from the ship Aller at New York in May, 1878. His first destination was Napoleon in Henry County, Ohio, but a few weeks later he arrived in Erie County, and for about a dozen years was employed in various occupations. At the end of that time he returned home to attend his father in his last illness, and after the funeral came again to this country. In Erie County he bought fifty acres of land in Huron Township along the lake shore, about two miles west of the Village of Huron. This was the nucleus of his present homestead, and included the old site long known as Rye Beach. The subsequent addition et thirty-six acres brings his land holdings up to ninety-two acres, with the exception of that portion included in Rye Beach Park which he has subdivided and sold in lots. Forty-five cottages have been erected in the park, and Mr. Bruns owns a number of them which he rents to summer sojourners. His own home is a modern ten-room residence, with basement, and supplied with hot and cold water, with a broad veranda on two sides, and with every facility for enjoyment and comfort. 806 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Mr. Bruns was married in Huron Township to-Rosa Dingier. She was born at Stuttgart in Wuertemberg, Germany, April 17, 1873, a daughter of Michael and Rosa (Meyer) Dingier, her father a native of Bavaria and her mother of Wuertemberg. The father 'was employed in a factory at Stuttgart and died there in 1893 at the age of fifty-six. The mother lived until 1912 and was seventy years of age at the time of her death. Both were members of the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Bruns was the first of her family to come to the United States, and arrived in Erie County in May, 1892. She has since been joined by two sisters, both of whom are now married. Paulina Zimmerman lives at Huron and has three sons, and Freda is the wife of Albert Calms, and they have two sons. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. William Bruns were born three children : Alvin W., now twenty-one and living at home, was educated in the Huron High School and the Sandusky Business College ; Harry Hugo, aged nineteen, graduated from the Sandusky High School in 1915, and is now planning for a professional career, probably in medicine ; Olga Hulda, aged seventeen, is a member of the class of 1917 in the San- dusky High School. Mr. Bruns has not only accomplished a great deal through his efforts as a farmer and in the development of Rye Beach Park, but has for a number of years been an important factor in the public life of his community. He is a member of the school board, and for six months filled an unexpired term as postmaster at Huron. As a repUblican he has served as a member of the County Central Committee. He and his wife have done much to promote the welfare and influence of the local Lutheran Church, he has served as one of its trustees a number of years, has been superintendent of its Sunday School for about six years, and has given liberally to the building of the new church edifice and to the maintenance of the various charities and organizations. ANTONE J. GUSTAVUS. In Erie County can be found a number of the veteran mariners, but probably none with such a record of experience on both the salt and fresh seas as Antone J. Gustavus. About thirty years ago he retired from the quarterdeck of a lake vessel, on which he had been serving as first mate, and became a landsman. He set up as a Lake Erie fisherman, acquired an equipment of nets and other facilities and in order to refrigerate his products he built an ice and fish house in 1884 on Berlin Street on the east side of Huron Village. In the course of the same year a fire destroyed all his fishing equipment and the ice house, and caused him a loss of $5,000. After that serious reverse, he began supplying the domestic wants of the village in ice, and for the - past thirty years has been chief ice dealer and distributor in Huron. His ice house formerly had a capacity of 1,000 tons, but in 1907 he moved to the central part of the town, bought a house and lot and put up a plant of 2,000 tons capacity. He now does an exclusive ice business for the local trade. Mr. Gustavus was born in Sweden, December 26, 1842, and represents an old Swedish family. His parents were August and Anna M. (Johnson) Gustaveson, and after Mr. Gustaviis had gone to sea he left off the "son" part of his name and has since spelled it in the form above given. His parents spent all their lives on a Swedish farm, the father dying at the age of seventy and the mother at sixty-seven, and both were devout members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Gustavus was the only son, and his two sisters spent their lives in Sweden. His early youth was spent in the vicinity of Helsenborge, and while growing up he attended common schools. His earliest thoughts were of. the sea and at the age of fifteen he could no longer resist the calling to the vocation which is the HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 807 business of so many Swedish people, and found employment on a Swedish vessel. He rose from galley boy to a regular sailor before the Mast, and before he left the sea he had experienced all the romantic, trying and eventful experiences of the sailor. After sailing from Swedish to Norway ports for about two years, he shipped on an English sailing vessel, and made one or two voyages to Russia. He was lying ill of the cholera at Kronstadt at the time the old grand duke, later the czar, brought his bride from Copenhagen, Denmark, to her new home in the present Petrograd. While sailing with Holland boats he went to nearly all the seas of the globe, and called at many of the well known ports of the civilized world. While consorting with English sailors, he learned their language, and made the ports of Cardiff and Swansea, Wales. From that port he shipped on board the Florence Lee, which sailed from the port of Glasgow, and made a voyage to a port only a few degrees south of the equator. There the boat took ballast to Trinidad, West Indies, and took on a cargo of molasses and sugar for Amsterdam, Holland. From Amsterdam he shipped in a Holland bark to Wales, and then loaded Cardiff coal for Batavia in the East Indies. This ship returned with a cargo of coffee, sugar and other East India products, and made the voyage around the Cape of Good Hope to Rotterdam. Then followed a voyage in the Holland bark Macassa. to Singapore, a trip -of a hundred days. From Singapore the ship proceeded to Rangoon, and there loaded with rice for Rotterdam. On this voyage they were 165 days without landing, and the crew all suffered from scurvy, and were nearly famished for food and water. This was among all his voyages the most trying experience Mr. Gustavus had as a sailor. He subsequently made five other trips to India, at one time on the ship Ritcstraw and then on the Noah I, Noah II and Noah III. These were all clipper ships, carrying first class passengers and general merchandise and returning with sugar, coffee and other products from Java. His frequent visits to the Malay countries gave him a familiarity with the Malasian language. For sixteen years Mr. Gustavus sailed on the high seas, generally as a man before the mast and as sail maker. He had many narrow escapes, but was never in an important wreck. At one time his vessel was detained in port for twenty-one days on account of one of the typhoons which are the scourge of sailors in the Indian Ocean. When he returned on the Noah III to Holland in 1870, Mr. Gustavus decided to come to the United States on a Nova Scotia bark, and subsequently landed in Philadelphia with a friend, John Peterson, a shipmate. They reached Philadelphia during the winter and subsequently took passage on a sailing schooner to the West Indies and spent some time at Cienfuegos, Cuba. Three months later they returned to Philadelphia, where Mr. Gustavus decided to come north to the Great Lakes. He drew straws with his friend to decide whether he should go with a party to the lakes or go around the Horn, and the decision was in favor' of the visit to the Great Lakes. Thus was decided a point which has really proved the most vital decision of his life. Mr. Gustavus with three companions arrived in Chicago in the spring of 1872, only a few months after the great Chicago fire. He shipped on a lake vessel from Chicago to Huron, Ohio, with Capt. J. D. Peterson, and continued in the serxice of that master seven seasons. He was second mate three years, and the last season spent on the Great Lakes was as first mate. On leaving the lake as a sailor Mr. Gustavus engaged in the fishing business at Huron, with pound and gill nets. For five years that was his regular occupation, and as already stated, he built his first ice house in order to refrigerate his fish. Then came the fire, and that proved 808 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY again a critical factor in his business career, diverting him into the ice business, which he has successfully followed for many years. At Huron in September, 1884, Mr. Gustavus married Miss Christina Elenz. She was born in Huron in 1865, and has always lived in this one community. Her parents, John L. and Catherine (Leaf) Elenz were early settlers in Huron and vicinity. Her father died here March 9, 1893, and her mother on September 6, 1895. They were farmers, and members of the Evangelical Church. Mr. and Mrs. Gustavus are the parents of three children. Tony M., born July 31, 1885, is a high school graduate, and is now associated with his father in managing the ice business; Anna C., born November 25, 1887, was educated in the Huron public schools, and is the wife of C. W. Martin, a railway man with headquarters and residence at Toledo, and they have a daughter, Gene Rosalind, born March 22, 1914; Eda Christina, born July 4, 1892, was well educated in the local high school and also took a commercial course in the Sanders College in Sandusky, Ohio. Mr. Gustavus is a member of the Lutheran faith, while his wife is Evangelical, and the children have. each taken an individual choice in the matter of religious affiliation. Mr. Gustavus is one of the most helpful citizens the Village of Huron has had in the past thirty years. For fourteen years he was a member of the board of education and part of thd time secretary of the board. lHe was a member of the board of public affairs at the time the new waterworks were built, holding the office of president arthat time, and is still a member of the board. Mr. Gustavus is one of the leading members of the Knights of Pythias order in Ohio, is a past chancellor and district deputy grand chancellor, and for, several years was county deputy grand chancellor. He was a regular attendant at grand lodge for fifteen years, and his son is a member of the Sandusky lodge of that order. To those who delight in stories of the sea and adventure there is no more interesting character in Erie County than Mr. Gustavus. In addition to his fund of reminiscences concerning the years spent on the high seas, he possesses many interesting relics of his earlier career. He still has his Swedish chest that traveled with him for many thousand miles oil different vessels, and he also has an old time Swedish pipe, a collection of souvenir, coins from many nations, including some that are very old, and all these he naturally prizes for their associations with that chapter of his career which was closed when he settled down to the quiet routine of business in Huron more than thirty years ago. EDWARD MANTEY. For a number of years the State of Ohio has enjoyed a well deserved reputation for the culture of the vine, the dark blue-black grapes from this region commanding a ready market in most of the great centers of population. These are admirably adapted to the production of a light, wholesome wine, which, used, in anything like reasonable moderation, is non-intoxicating but acts merely as a gentle stimulant. The use of such mild beverages in place of the strong and often poisonous liquors generally classed as spirits has been recommended by many eminent men, and, if adopted, would do much to advance the cause of true temperance; as it is well known that at least nine-tenths of the drunkenness prevalent comes from the use of spirits, drinkers of beer and light wines seldom going to injurious extremes. That the manufacture of such mild stimulants may be carried on in an honorable manner by an honorable man is proved by the example of Edward Mantey, one .of the leading citizens of Margaretta Township, which he is now serving as a member of the board of education. Mr. Mantey was born near Warsaw, Russia, January 2, 1853, a son of August and Doretha (Pulaski) Mantey. Both his parents were natives of Rus- HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 809 sia, the mother being a member of the same family from which sprang the famous patriot Pulaski. Edward Mantey was a babe in his second year when he was brought to America by his parents, they locating first at Green Springs, Ohio, where they remained several years. Later they removed to Kelley's Island, Erie County, residing there for a short time during the Civil war period. Froir) there, about 1863, they came to Margaretta Township, of which locality they continued residents until their death. Young Mantey was about ten years old when his parents came to this township. He attended its public schools and later was a pupil in the high school at Sandusky for three years. The next three years of his life were spent as a teacher in Margaretta Township, during which time he showed capacity and established a good record as an educator. In 1885 he engaged in the vineyard and wine manufacturing industry, in which he has continued up to the present time, having achieved a gratifying success. He turns out a clean and wholesome product and is so well known in the trade that he has served as president of the National Winegrowers' Association. That he is a man of ability and integrity is shown by the fact that he has been a justice of the peace in Margaretta Township for the last nine years, while he is now serving his second term as a member of the board of education. For one year also he was president of the school board, his service in this capacity being conscientious and whole-hearted, as the cause of education is one in which he has always taken a deep interest. Mr. Mantey married Rosalie Schoenhardt, a native of Tiffin, Ohio, and daughter of Anthony Schoenhardt, formerly a resident of Sandusky, Ohio, but now deceased. He and his wife are the parents of five children, namely : Dora, the wife of Frank Ringholtz, of Sandusky, Ohio ; Josephine, who married Frank Dick and resides with her husband in Margaretta Township ; Aloysius F. married Loretta Messenburg, of Margaretta Township ; Esther M. and Sylvester. Mr. Mantey and his family are religiously affiliated with the Catholic Church. In all movements and measures pertaining to the general good he is deeply interested and his co-operation is active and earnest. FRANK P. BALDUFF. Of the younger men who are now bearing the chief responsibilities of agricultural industry in Erie County should be mentioned Frank P. Balduff, who as a farmer and stock raiser located in the northeast corner of Oxford Township in 1907, and now has the practical management of the Balduff-Scheid farm. This place in its cultivation and productiveness is more than representative of the average farms of Erie County and Mr. Balduff has proved himself an expert in getting the most out of a given acreage. He has the superintendence of 160 acres, part of which lies in Milan Township, and finds his profit in the staple crops of this climate and in the raising of good stock. Nearly all of his life has been spent in Erie County and he was born at Sandusky, May 7, 1873, a son of Jacob and Rose (Rader) Balduff, both of whom are natives of Germany. His father, who was born in Baden, is now past seventy years of age and still active in the management of his farming interests in Perkins Township. He and his wife had four children : Jay, a resident of Sandusky ; Frank P., of Oxford Township ; Rosa, of Perkins Township ; and Clara, wife of John Wieland of Oxford Township. The father of these children came to Oxford Township when seventeen years of age, having benefited by instruction in the German schools up to that time and on reaching Erie County secured employment which eventually led him to independence as a farmer in Perkins Township, where he still lives. He is one of the well known members of the German community in that township, and since Vol. II-22 810- HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY gaining citizenship has steadily voted and supported the republican ticket. Frank P. Balduff grew up on a farm, obtained most of his education from the Sandusky public schools, and from an early age has made himself useful and has accepted every opportunity for his advancement. On May 28, 1907, he married Miss Bertha E. Scheid, who was born in ' Oxford Township, a daughter of William and Caroline Scheid. Her father was a prominent farmer in this township and is now deceased, while the mother is living with Mr. and Mrs. Balduff, being an octogenarian in age. Mr. and Mrs. Balduff have one son, Kenneth S., who was born October 27, 1908. In politics Mr. Balduff is a republican though with independent proclivities, and shows his public spirit by supporting the public schools and all other local institutions and enterprises that will benefit the community as a whole. GEORGE HOMEGARDNER. From the heavy responsibilities of an active business career which engaged him for many years in Erie County, George Homegardner retired to the attractive and not unprofitable business of managing a farm and chicken industry in 1910. His present country home is situated on South Mill Street in Perkins Township. Mr. Homegardner for many years followed railroad and other contracting, and has built many miles of railway lines in this state. His birth occurred in Sandusky, February 16, 1855, a son of George and Mary (Hermann) Homegardner. His father was born in Switzerland and his mother in the Province of Alsace, then a part of France and now of Germany. George Homegardner, Sr., came to America when about twelve years of age, his parents spending a short time in Richland County, Ohio, and during the '30s moving to Erie County. For many years the father lived at Sandusky and was a general contractor, building roads and performing other construction work of that kind. He died in 1881. He was a stanch democrat and a man whose success was mainly the fruit of his own work and good management. Mr. Homegardner, Jr., grew up in Sandusky, and received his education from St. Mary 's parochial schools and the Sandusky High School. His career has been notable for its industry, and for nearly forty years he was constant in his attention to business and allowed nothing to interfere with the main work which he had to perform in the world. For three years he was a locomotive fireman on the old Mad River Railroad. Later he took up railroad contracting, and assisted in the construction of the Washington Park in Sandusky. He did the grading for the Lake Erie and Western Railroad through Sandusky, and also performed the grading of the Mustcash County Road through Margaretta Township for five miles, taking the grade through the Village of Venice. Another contract was the construction of twelve miles of the double tracking for the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway near Glendale and Cincinnati. On leaving the business of railway contractor Mr. Homegardner was for about twenty years engaged in the manufacturing of soft drinks in Sandusky, his plant and industry being known as the Sandusky Bottling Works. He retired from that in 1910 and has since been employed in the quieter routine of farm management. He is now known as one of the most successful chicken raisers in the county and has made a specialty of the White Leghorn. The equipment for his business comprises facilities and improvements of the most modern type, and lie is in the poultry industry on a large scale. His farm comprises seventy-nine acres, and the land is devoted to general crops and he raises most of the feed for his own fowls. Mr. Homegardner married Helen Walter, of Sandusky, a daughter of Philip and Caroline Walter. Her parents lived for many years in PICTURE OF HENRY JARRETT HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 811 Sandusky, where they died. Two sons have been born to their union: Roland P. and Albert. During his residence in Sandusky Mr. Homegardner took an active and prominent part in public affairs. For four years he was a city commissioner and was also a director of public safety. He is a democrat in politics, and a member of Holy Angels Catholic Church at Sandusky. He belongs to several fraternal orders, and has a large acquaintance both in the city and in the country districts of Erie County. HENRY JARRETT. The family of which the honored subject of this memoir was a representative was founded in Erie County three-fourths of a century ago and the name has been most prominently and worthily linked with the history of the country, where its representatives have been strong and resourceful factors in the furtherance of civic and industrial progress. He to whom this memoir is dedicated was a mere child. at the time of the family immigration from Pennsylvania to Ohio and was reared and educated under the conditions marking the pioneer epoch in the history of Erie County. In later years he was for,some time a resident of Iowa, but he eventually returned to Erie County, where he became extensively engaged in farming and stock growing, was `the owner of one of the finest landed estates in the county, and was held in inviolable confidence and esteem as a citizen of influence and as a man of impregnable integrity in all of the relations of life. Mr. Jarrett was born in Upper Milford Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of February, 1827, and thus was seventy. years and seven months of age at the time of his death, which occurred on the 29th of April, 1898, as the result of a pitiable accident. He had gone from his farm to the City of Sandusky with a load of oats, and while he was attempting to mount the load he fell to the ground, his horses started and the wheels of the heavily loaded wagon passed over him, the result being that his death occurred within a few minutes thereafter. He had been tenderly removed to a place on the lawn of the Erie County Courthouse, and the best medical aid was promptly obtained; his injuries were such that he soon expired, his tragic death having been deeply deplored in the county which had been his home during virtually his entire life, and in which his circle of friends was limited only by that of his acquaintances. Mr. Jarrett was a son of Isaac and Polly (Richie) Jarrett, both of whom were born in Lincolnshire, England, about the time of the opening of the nineteenth century, and both of whom were young at the time of the immigration of the respective families to the United States, both families having established their residence in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, where the majority of their neighbors were of German and Holland Dutch lineage. Both the paternal and maternal grandparents of Mr. Jarrett passed the residue of their lives in Lehigh County, and in that county Isaac Jarrett and Polly Richie were reared to maturity. After their marriage they continued their residence on a farm in Lehigh County until 1830, and there were born eight of their children, namely : James, Solomon, Mary, Lydia, Eliza, Rebecca, Clarissa and Henry. In 1830 the parents made the overland journey with teams and, wagons to Ohio, and in the forest wilds of Erie County Isaac Jarrett obtained a tract of Government land in what is now Perkins Township and in the section locally known as the German Settlement. On his embryonic farm he made a clearing and built the primitive log cabin which was the original domicile of the family, and he and his wife endured the full tension of pioneer life, for which they were well equipped, as they were strong and vigorous, earnest and industrious and animated by worthy purpose. With the passing of the years Isaac Jarrett and his sons 812 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY reclaimed the land which he has obtained, and as prosperity attended their efforts additions were made to the rear of the farm, which eventually became one of the finest in Perkins Township. Isaac Jarrett at the time of his death was one of the most extensive landluilders of Northern Ohio, and he well merited the success which he achieved through arduous toil and the application of enterprise and mature judgment., He and his wife continued to reside on their fine old homestead, honored by all who knew them, until they were finally summoned to eternal rest; in the fullness of years and in the gracious temporal prosperity that properly rewards such earnest application and faithful service as had marked their lives. After their removal to Ohio two sons were born to them, Isaac and John, and the latter is the only son now surviving them. The remains of the sterling pioneers, Isaac and Polly Jarrett, rest in the Sandhill Cemetery of Erie County. Henry Jarrett was about three years of age at the time when y the family made the weary overland journey from the old Keystone State to Ohio, and he was reared to adult age under the conditions and influences of the strenuous pioneer days. He early began to lend his aid in the arduous work of the home farm and thus gained abiding appreciation of the dignity and value of honest toil, the while he availed himself of such educational advantages as were afforded in the primitive common schools of the locality and period. Alert of mind and lull of physical vigor, his ambition was early quickened, and to such a man an early educational handicap means nought save that it may be overcome through self-application and through the lessons to be learned under the direction of that wise headmaster, experience. Mr. Jarrett imbibed fully the pioneer spirit, and in 1847, when twenty years of age, with his financial resources represented in the gold, coins strapped about his waist by a belt, he ventured forth into the West. He made his way to prairie wilds of Iowa and entered claim to a large tract of Government land in the vicinity of the present little city of Marshalltown, Clayton County. As one of the sturdy pioneers of the Hawkeye State he essayed the task of bringing his land under cultivation and he had many interesting and numerous unpleasant experiences in connection with life on the frontier, on one occasion having been threatened with robbery at the hands of border desperadoes. Ill health finally compelled him to dispose of his holdings in Iowa, at a distinct sacrifice, and after having remained several years in that now great and prosperous commonwealth, he was thus prompted to sever his allegiance thereto and to return to the old home in Erie County, Ohio. Here, in the early '50s, he obtained 240 acres of fine land, in Huron Township, and on this now magnificent rural domain his widow and their only daughter still maintain their home. The farm is eligibly situated in the southwestern part of Huron Township, on the Milan Road and about seven miles distant from the City of Sandusky, the judicial center of the county. With characteristic circumspection, energy and progressiveness, Mr. Jarrett gave himself right vigorously to the improving .and management of his fine landed estate, and under effective direction it was developed into one of the best and most attractive country seats in this section of the state. In 1874 he erected on the farm the present substantial residence, which has twenty rooms, is equipped with the best of modern improvements and facilities and which was one of the finest rural dwellings in the county at the time of its erection, there being at the present time few that excel it, the while it is certain none . is better known as a center of gracious and refined hospitality. Mr. Jarrett was a man of most genial and companionable nature; considerate and generous in his association with his fellow men, broad- HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 813 minded and liberal in hiS views, appreciative of the personal stewardship success involves, and always ready to do his part in the furtherance _ of measures and enterprises tending to conserve the civic and material welfare of the community. He won friends because he deserved them, and to him friendship was ever inviolable. He was direct, sincere and steadfast in all the relations of life, and thus it miPAT readily be understood that his tragic death brought a distinct shock to the entire community in which he had lived and labored to goodly ends and in which his name and memory are held in lasting honor. Though essentially liberal and public-spirited in his civic attitude and a staunch supporter of the cause of the republican party, Mr. Jarrett never consented to become a candidate for public office. He was a valued member of Perkins Grange No. 637, Patrons of Husbandry, and served as chaplain of the same, besides which he was an active member and supporter of the Erie County Farmers' Institute. He was affiliated with Marks Lodge No. 639, Free and Accepted Masons, at Huron, and was an earnest member and liberal supporter of the Perkins Methodist Episcopal Church, his wife and daughter being zeal; ous members of the same at the present time. In Milan Township, this county, on the 12th of May, 1864, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Jarrett to Miss Delia Tillotson, who was born in Huron Township, at a point not far distant from her present home, and the date of whose nativity was November 2, 1838. She was reared and educated in this county. After her husband's death it was found that the property was heavily involved, but through hard work she eventually cleared the farm of a heavy indebtedness of nearly $10,000. This was accomplished through the assistance of her son John and the other children, and today these children thank this mother for the lesson of industry she taught. Mrs. Jarrett is a daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Mackey) Tillotson. Josiah Tillotson was born in Erie County on the 13th of April, 1814, and his father, Phineas Tillotson, of staunch Scotch ancestry, was among the very early pioneers of Erie County, where he established his home in the wilds of Milan Township. He attained to venerable age and passed the closing years of his life in the State of Indiana. His children were Josiah, Delia, Melinda, Rhoda, Stephen, William, Parenthena and John, and all of them are now deceased. Josiah Tillotson was a successful man in connection with the productive activities of the world, passed his entire life in Erie County, and hs death occurred on the 22d of November, 1888, at Monroeville, his name meriting high place on the roll of the honored pioneer citizens and native sons of Erie County. His political allegiance was originally given to, the whig party, but after the organization of the republican party he continued a staunch supporter of its cause until the time of his death, both he and his wife having been members of the Baptist Church. Mrs. Sarah (Mackey) Tillotson was born near Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on the 14th of November, 1815, and was summoned to eternal rest on the 27th of February, 1880, at her home at Berlin Heights, Erie County, Ohio. The Mackey family was founded in New Jersey in the colonial era of our national history, and there became one of no little prominence and influence. One of its representatives, an ancestor of Mrs. Tillotson, was a gallant soldier and officer of the Continental Line in the war of the Revolution, in which he served as a member of a New Jersey regiment, and his record as a loyal soldier and fervent patriot redounds to the honor of his name. Mr. and Mrs. Jarrett became the parents of four children, all of whom survive the honored father: Henry, who is a representative farmer of Perkins Township, wedded Miss Lisetta Rau, and their three children 814 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY are Alma, Maybelle A. C. and Lydia. John is at resident of Perking Township, is married, but has no children. James, who is engaged in the agricultural implement business in Bogart and whose first wife and their only child are deceased, married the second dine September 29, 1915, Miss Blanche M. Barnes, of Sandhill, becoming his wife. Cora May, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jarrett, is thet wife of Herbert Harris, and they remain with her widowed mother on the fine old homestead farm, to the general supervision of which Mr. Harris ,ves his attention. Mrs. Harris was graduated in the high school at Arlan in 1900, has availed herself also of the advantages of a leading correspondence school, and has given special attention to the study of music,. in which field of art she has much talent. She is known alike for her. fine intellectuality, her gracious personality and her administrative ability, and she is a leader in the social activities. of the representative circles in which she moves and to the other members of which she delights in extending the hospitality of the beautiful old home in which she has resided during virtually her entire life thus far. She' is a practical business woman, and has gained no little reputation through her effective interposition in the raising of high-grade live stock and fine poultry. She has been one of-the most -active and popular members of Perkins Grange No. 637, Patrons of Husbandry, in which she has filled the chair of master and in which she now holds the office of lecturer, many interesting papers having" been prepared by her for presentation before the grange. By virtue of descent from the Revolutionary soldier in the Mackey family side, as mentioned in a preceding paragraph, Mrs. Harris is eligible for and is actively affiliated with the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mr. Harris, who holds precedence as one of the representative agriculturists and stock growers of Erie County, was born and reared in Huron Town-  was born in Huron Township of Erie County, a daughter of the late James Galloway of that township. Mr. and Mrs. Parker are members of the Sand Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is now serving the community. In October, 1894, he married Miss Kathryn Galloway. Mrs. Parker as a trustee. They have one of the good farm homes of Groton Township, and Mr. Parker has applied not only an unusual degree of energy but also excellent common sense and intelligence in his farming operations.    JASPER N. DELANY. Noteworthy among the esteemed and prosperous citizens of Erie County is Jasper N. Delany, of Sandusky, who is likewise distinguished as a veteran of the Civil war. Born in Virginia, December 25, 1842, he was but an infant when brought to Ohio by his parents, who located in Franklin County, and there died a few years later, leaving two young children, Jasper, the subject of this brief sketch, and Sarah C., who married H. S. Sneary, of Vaughnsville, Putnam County, Ohio. . After the death of his parents, of whom he has no remembrance, Jasper N. Delany was taken into the home of W. M. Rower, and in 1849 went with the family to Putnam County as pioneer settlers of that part HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 815 in the field of agricultural endeavor. Endowed with more than average ability, backed with shrewd business judgment, he has prospered in the affairs of life and is now enjoying the comforts of one of the attractive farm homes of Groton Township. He has always been a sterling and public spirited citizen, qualities which were also characteristi. of his honored father, and both have given their aid to those movements which have made for progress and development. The Parker family has been identified with Erie County for a great many'years. George W. Parker was born on a farm in Margaretta Township April 24, 1871, a son of James C. and Mary (Puckrim) Parker, his father, how deceased, a native of Margaretta Township and the mother a native of England, and now living at Columbus, Ohio. James C. Parker was a son of Elihu Parker, who had given active service as a soldier during the War of 1812, and became one of the pioneers in the development of the rich agricultural district of Margaretta Township in Erie County. The Parker family is of English origin. The late James C: Parker was reared in Margaretta Township, attended the local schools of his time, and was married there. Of his four children the two pow surviving are George W. and Lucretia E., who is living in Columbus. James C. Parker brought his family to Groton Township during the decade of the '70s, and settled on a farm along the Columbus Pike and not far from the Seven Mile House. That was his home until his death in December, 1909. He was active as a republican and enjoyed more than ordinary influence and leadership in his community. He served as. a trustee of, Groton Township several years, also as township treasurer, and for three terms or six years was one of the board of county commissioners of Erie County, and during a portion of that time was president of the board. His success was almost entirely due to his own energy and hel gained not only sufficient of this world's goods but lived in the continued esteem of his community. He also made a record during the Civil war as a soldier in the ninety days' service toward the close of the struggle. In his death Erie County lost one of its most admirable citizens. He was a member for many years of the Grand Army Post at Sandusky. George W. Parker was.reared in Groton Township, obtained his education in the common schools, and beginning life as a farmer has always pursued agriculture as a means of providing for his family. He is likewise a republican in politics and interested in everything that concerns the community. In October, 1894, he married Miss Kathryn Galloway. Mrs. Parker was born in Huron Township of Erie County, a daughter of the late James Galloway of that township. Mr. and Mrs. Parker are members of the Sand Hill 1N4thodist Episcopal Church, in which he is now serving as a trustee. They have one of the good farm homes of Groton Township, and Mr. Parker has applied not only an unusual degree of energy but also excellent common sense and intelligence in his farming operations. JASPER N. DELANY. Noteworthy among the esteemed and prosperous citizens of Erie County is Jasper N. Delany, of Sandusky, who is likewise distinguished as a veteran of the Civil war. Born in Virginia, December 25, 1842, he was but an infant when brought to Ohio by his parents, who located in Franklin County, and there died a few years later, leaving two young children, Jasper, the subject of this brief sketch, and Sarah C., who married H. S. Sneary, of Vaughnsville, Putnam County, Ohio. After the death of his parents, of whom he has no remembrance, Jasper N. Delany was.taken into the home of W. M. Rower, and in 1849 went with the family to Putnam County as pioneer settlers of that part 816 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY of the state, which was then but sparsely settled, while wild game of all kinds was plentiful and the streams thereabout abounded with fish. Mr. Rower bought a tract of heavily timbered land and soon erected a log cabin, in which the family lived for a number of years. As soon as old enough to wield an axe Jasper lent able assistance in clearing and improving a farm, in the meantime attending school as opportunity offered. On April 20, 1861, inspired with patriotic ardor, Mr. Delany enlisted for three months in Company E, Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with his command went to the front. Being honorably discharged at the expiration of his term of enlistment, he returned home, and in August, 1862, again offered his services to his country, enlisting in Company I, Ninety-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Going South with his command, Mr. Delany took an active part in many engagements, including the battle of Stone River, Tennessee, where he was so severely wounded as to be incapacitated for active service for one year. On leaving the hospital he was transferred to the Twenty-third Veteran Reserve Corps, made up of crippled soldiers and others unfit for field service, and to which he belonged until receiving his honorable discharge from the service, July 28, 1865, at St. Paul, Minnesota. He served in all three years, three months and fifteen days. Returning to Ohio, Mr. Delany resided in Putnam County until 1880, when he moved to Allen County, where he lived for sixteen years, being employed at various kinds of work. In 1896 he became a resident of Sandusky, which has since been his home. Here he has acquired title to and improved several pieces of valuable property, mostly on Spencer Street and Beatty Avenue, and in 1912 erected the home which he now occupies, located on Beatty Avenue. In 1865 Mr. Delany married Miss Louisa Sasse, who died in 1906, leaving three children, Mary, Ellen and William. Mary, the eldest, died at the early age of twenty years. Ellen married Thomas M. Henton, and they have one daughter, Hazel Henton. William married Gladys Beach, and they are the parents of two children, Bessie and Norman Delany. Religiously Mr. Delany is a member of the United Brethren Church. BELDING DELAMATRE. Many of the successful agriculturists of Erie County are carrying on operations on farms upon which they were born and on which they have spent practically all their lives. In this class is found Belding DeLamatre, one of the most progressive and enterprising farmers of Oxford Township, his home being on Rural Route No. 3 out of Monroeville. While most of his career has been devoted to the pursuits of the soil, his energetic labors have brought him various other interests, and for a number of years he has been an influential factor in local affairs and, has long enjoyed a substantial position in the community. Born on the old DeLamatre homestead November 15, 1849, he is a son of Belding and Elizabeth (O'Leary) DeLamatre, his father a native of Dutchess County, New York, and his mother of Ireland. She came when three years of age with her parents to America, and they first located in Milan and later moved to Oxford Township, where the O'Learys were early settlers. The senior DeLamatre was a son of Benjamin DeLamatre, also a native of New York State, and while the name is French there was also a German admixture in his family. 1Belding DeLamatre, Sr., came when a young man from New York State to Erie County in 1844. He and his younger brother, James V., made the trip across the country in a covered wagon, and camped out along the road wherever night overtook them. They finally arrived in Erie County, and HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 817 being young men of capable industry and determined purpose, though with limited capital, they were soon settled on the farm in Oxford Township where the junior Belding DeLamatre now lives. It was a tract of raw prairie and they were the first to plow its soil and cultivate the land to the fruits of civilization. For many years the DeLamatre brothers were in partnership as agriculturists and cattle raisers and dealers. They built up a large business as dealers and shippers in cattle, and in the early days, when railroads were little known, they drove their stock the entire distance along the roads between Northern Ohio and New York City as their market. It usually required sixty days of driving, making about ten miles each day. James V. DeLamatre, finally sold out his interest in the farm and the business to his brother, and removed to the vicinity of Norwalk, Ohio, in Huron County, where he engaged independently in farming until his death. Belding DeLamatre, Sr., died January 23, 1881, while his wife passed away May 15, 1890. Belding DeLamatre was the architect of his own fortunes, was a keen and successful business man and a man of no little prominence in his community. He and his wife were the parents of six children: Belding, of Oxford Township ; Carrie E., wife of Dr. M. J. Love of Bloomingville ; James C., who died February 28, 1913, aged fifty-nine years ; Clayton W., who has gained success and considerable prominence as an attorney at Omaha, Nebraska ; Grace J., wife of Melburn Love of Oberlin ; and William, who died when twenty months old. Mr. Belding DeLamatre grew up on the old farm in Oxford Township, and all his boyhood associations are connected with the farm and the community in which he now lives. He attended the public schools of his native township and for one year was a student in the fine old educational center of Baldwin University at Berea, Ohio, and was also a student in the Buckeye Business College at Sandusky, one of the best institutions of its class. For many years now ,he has followed his chosen vocation as a farmer and his estate comprises nearly 200 acres, devoted to general agriculture and stock raising. Like his father, he also buys and sells live stock, and this business has brought him a wide acquaintance over Erie and into some of the adjoining counties. Since 1890 Mr. DeLamatre has served as real estate assessor of Oxford Township, and more recently has also been personal property assessor. For three years he was justice of the peace, and for two terms was township trustee. He has also served as a member of the local board of education in the township, and takes an interest in every institution and movement which means better living conditions in his township. He is in addition to other interests now local representative for Erie County Mutual Insurance Company. For his first wife Mr. DeLamatre married Annie Wilson of Montgomery County, Missouri. At her death she left one son, Maro M., also now' deceased. Mrs. DeLamatre, his present wife, before her marriage was Emma James, daughter of the late Crawford James, a well known pioneer settler and farmer in Perkins Township. Mr. and Mrs. DeLamatre have two children: Hal A. and Mrs. Grace Walker, both living in Oxford Township. THOMAS HARTLEY. Many of the most progressive agriculturists of Erie County have gone in for fruit growing, and the lake shore is almost a continuous succession of orchards. Thomas Hartley has been identified with this line of industry in Berlin Township for about thirty years. He is an expert horticulturist, having gained much of his early training in England, and brought to Erie County the fruit of experience acquired by many years of practical agricultural work in the old country. 818 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Thomas Hartley was born in Lincolnshire, England, May 6, 1859. His grandfather was a shoemaker, and he and his wife spent all their lives 'at Dunham in Lincolnshire, where they passed away when old people. His grandmother was about eighty years old when she died. There were seven sons in the family. Of these sons Thomas came to America many years ago, spent three years as a soldier in the Civil war, was once wounded in the back, and now for many years has lived as a farmer in Niagara County, New York, where he is a pensioner and has a family of six sons and two daughters. George and Joseph, two other of the sons, spent their lives in Lincolnshire, England, the former as a foreman in a factory and the latter as a local politician and office holder ; neither of these brothers left children. William, now deceased, was a shoemaker and dealer, and left four children. Charles served as a sergeant in the' English army, and after retiring was employed by his colonel, liyetl in a small village in his native shire, and at his death left a son. Henry died when young, after his marriage. John Hartley, father of Thomas Hartley, grew up in Lincolnshire, learned the trade of butcher, but subsequently became a farmer, and died at the age of seventy-five. He married Susanna West, who was born in Lincolnshire a few years later than her husband, and died when in the prime of life. She left two children. One of them, John, Jr., came to the United States about twenty years ago and located in Erie County, Ohio, subsequently bought a farm in Perkins Township and died there in December, 1913, leaving a widow and three 'children, John, Albert and Frances, the first and the last being now married. Thomas Hartley grew up in his native shire, and received as good an education as his opportunities would permit. Inclinations and circumstances turned him to the business of horticulture, and by the time he had reached manhood he was fairly expert in that profession. In 1880, at the age of twenty-one, he first came to the United States, when still unmarried, and for a time lived with his uncle in Niagara County, New York. In 1882 he removed to Erie County, Ohio, and in 1883 returned to England, and was married at the Episcopal Church in a little village in Lincolnshire to Ellen Bilton. Mrs. Hartley was born there in 1858, a daughter of William and Adelaide (Trevor) Bilton, who were natives of the same shire. Her father was a shoemaker and farmer, and died at the age of sixty-five, and her mother subsequently came to America and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Hartley, at the age of eighty-two, having retained her strength and vigor up to within two weeks of her death. The Biltons were members of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Hartley was next to the youngest in a family of fifteen children, most of whom grew up and married and seven of them came to the United States. Mr. Hartley brought his young bride to the United States, and their journey hither was in the nature of a honeymoon. For some months they lived in Cleveland and in Huron, and in 1888 he bought his first farm of twenty-nine acres in Berlin Township. He has devoted a quarter of a century to its improvement and cultivation, and has developed it almost entirely to orchard and small crops. His fruit farm is one of the highest class along the lake shore. His fruit crops are peaches, apples, cherries, pears, grapes and small fruits, and he also grows a large quantity of vegetables. In the midst of his orchard he has an attractive nine-room house, nearly new, and fitted out with all conveniences. It has a splendid view/along the lake shore and out over the blue waters, and he has also set off along the shore at an elevation of thirty feet several building lots and has erected four summer homes. Mr. and Mrs. Hartley have two fine and vigorous young sons. J. William, now twenty-eight, is manager of the James Anderson farm adjoining the homestead of his father. He married Ida M. Klaholtz, of HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 819 Huron Township, and their children are Fay Geraldine, Ellen Twyla and Catherine V ivian. Kyle T., the second son, who is twenty-five years of age, owns a fine modern eight-room house adjoining that of his father, and is active assistant in the management of the fruit industry for his father. He married Miss Julia C. Beatty, who was born and reared in Huron Township, and they have a son, Thomas W. Mr. Hartley and Family are members of the Presbyterian Church, and for a number of , ears he was active in the Patrons of Husbandry. He and his sons are republican's. T. ROY GILLMORE. For nearly a score of years Mr. Gillmore has given efficient service in the office of superintendent of the docks of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad in the fine little lake port City of Huron, Erie County, and under his administration the docks have been rebuilt and brought up to the best modern standard, the while the most approved mechanical equipment has been installed for the handling of the large ore traffic which comes to this port, in addition to other important transportation business in connection with navigation interests on the Great Lakes. At these docks are handled annually from 700,000 to 1,000,000000 tons of iron or taken principally from the mines of the Lake Superior regions, and the product is largely manufactured at the Labell Iron Works, at Steuben, Ohio, and the Carnegie Iron Works at Mingo . Junction, this state. The Huron docks of the Wheeling & Eake Erie Railroad handle annually about 2,000,000 tons of coal also, and these brief statements indicate significantly the exacting and important official duties devolvino, upon Mr. Gillmore. Facilities are such that a vessel of 10,000 tons burden can be unloaded at the Huron docks in six hours, and the same relative period is demanded in reloading the material on to the railroad cars. Prior to assuming his present position Mr. Gillmore had been assistant superintendent of docks at the port of Conneaut Harbor, Ashtabula County, where he assisted in the construction of the first docks of the railway company with which he is still identified, his services at that place having continued from 1891 until 1897, in which latter year he assumed the office of which he has since been the efficient and valued incumbent. Mr. Gillmore was born at Lorain, Ohio, in the county of the same name, and the date of his nativity was March 21, 1869. He there continued his studies in the public schools until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, and at the age of sixteen years he became assistant to his father, who was engaged in business as a dredging contractor and whose work was largely that of assuming Government contracts. When he was twenty years of age Mr. Gillmore was to be found operating a dredge in an independent way, and in the meanwhile he was admirably fortifying himself in, intimate and practical knowledge of machinery as well as in executive experience. His advancement has been achieved through ability and effective service and he is not only a recognized expert in the mechanical lines along which he has directed his energies but is also known for his fidelity and mature judgment as an executive, so that he is admirably equipped for the important office of which he is now in tenure. At the Huron docks he has as his able assistants Edward B. Day, who has practical supervi5ion of the ore shipments; Henry P. Klasen, who is assigned to the charge of the coal in transportation ; Albert P. Beckloff, who is chief clerk; and Sherman Lutzenheiser, who is master mechanic. At Huron these efficient operatives have control of the entire dock system maintained by the Cleveland Stevedore Company, of which company Mr. Gillmore himself is president, his entire active career having been one of close identification with navigation affairs and late-marine service. 820 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY The lineage of the Gillmore family traces back to stanch Scottish origin, and the paternal grandparents of the subject of this review were natives of the State of Vermont, the family having been founded in New England in an early day. Mr. Gillmore is a nephew of Quincy Adams Gillmore, who attained to marked distinction through his services as a military engineer for the United States Government, and who in this capacity did a large amount of important engineering work on the Mississippi River and along the Pacific Coast. Quartus Gillmore, father of him whose name initiates this article, was born at Lorain, this state, in 1837, and was a son of Quincy Gillmore, who was a sterling pioneer of the Buckeye State and who settled at Lorain when that place was a mere forest hamlet of straggling pioneer type and when the present City of Cleveland was represented by little more than a ferry across the Cuyahoga River. He became one of the pioneer farmers of Lorain County, where he reclaimed- his land from the wilderness and where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. Quartus Gillmore was reared and educated in his native county and he became eventually a successful and representative contractor in the construction of cement and stone work, especially in the building of piers and docks for lake vessels. He held and successfully completed the contract for the construction of the Government pier; and cribs at Huron and also the slip for vessels that is, owned and utilized by the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, these contracts having been completed by him in the early '80s. He did also a large amount of important dredging work, and was known and honored as an upright and able business man and as a citizen of invincible integrity and loyalty. He was concerned with Government improvement work at various points along the shore of Lake Erie, and his activities in this line touched such important ports as Sandusky, Lorain, Fairport, Ashtabula and Conneaut. He became specially well known throughout Northern Ohio, and ever commanded the unqualified esteem of those with whom he came in contact in the varied relations of a long and successful career. He was a radical republican in his political proclivities, and his strong mind and strong body sustained him almost to the last, his death having occurred at his home, at Lorain, his native place, on the 9th of September 1897. At Lorain was solemnized the marriage of Quartus Gillmore to Miss Mary J. Fitzgerald, who survives him and who celebrated her seventy- eighth birthday anniversary in 1915, and who is still a resident of her native City of Lorain, where her circle of friends is limited only by that of her acquaintances. She has been from her youth a devoted member of the Congregational Church, and her husband was a liberal supporter of the various religious organizations in his home city, though he was not formally identified with any of the same, his views having been liberal and tolerant. Of the four children the first-born is Quartus A., who is in charge of the dock of the American Steel & Wire Company in the City of Cleveland, who is married and who has one son and four daughters ; M. Isabel is the wife of John B. Burges, trainmaster for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Garrett, Indiana, and they have two sons ; T. Roy, of this review, was the next in order of birth ; William Eugene, who was educated in the United States Military Academy, at West Point, in which institution he was graduated, was assigned to detail duty in the construction of the rifle ranges for the Wisconsin National Guard, at Sparta, and thereafter became professor of military science and tactics at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, a position in which he continued his services until he was called upon to join his regiment in the Philippine Islands, where he is now stationed and where he was promoted in March, 1915, to the office of captain. MRS H. J. MERTHE H. J. MERTHE HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 821 T. Roy Gillmore is a republican in his political allegiance, and in a fraternal way is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum and the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. At Lakewood, a suburb of Cleveland, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gillmore to Miss Lillian D. Day, who is a daughter of Captairi Edward. Day, her father having been for more than twenty years in charge of docks in the City of Cleveland, where he is still the owner of a valuable dock property, and having been for a number of years similarly engaged at Conneaut. Captain Day now resides in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Gillmore, and though he has attained to the venerable age of eighty-four years, in 1915, he retains remarkable control of This physical and mental powers, keeps in touch with the events of the hour and is able to give most interesting reminiscences concerning the varied phases of his long and useful career, during the earlier stages of which lie was a sailor on the Great Lakes, a service in which he rose to the command of a vessel and thus gained his title of captain. Mr. and Mrs. Gillmore have one daughter. Ruth, who was born in the year 1901 an& who is now a student in the Huron High School. HENRY J. MERTHE, of Huron Township, is one of the industrious and reliable farmers of Erie County, classed with the modern agriculturists who are acknowledged to be as broad and scientific in their methods and as fruitful in valuable results to the community as the workers in any other branch of modern industry. Through his well-directed efforts he has accumulated a farm of 108 acres, located on Lake Avenue, the possession of which stamps him as one of the substantial men of Huron Township. Mr. Merthe is a native son of Ohio, born January 30, 1856, at Amherst, Lorain County, his parents being Henry and Elza (Heusner) Merthe, the former born in Northern Hesse, Germany, April 10, 1830, and the latter in. Southern Hesse, Germany, February 4, 1838. Henry Merthe was educated in his native land and was a youth of nineteen years when he started for America. Going to Hamburg, he boarded an old sailing vessel, which was shipwrecked on the journey, and before the voyage was completed the passengers suffered greatly from hunger and thirst, the ship's provisions having given out. Finally, after twenty-two weeks, the vessel made port at New York City, from whence Mr. Merthe at once made his way to Lorain County, Ohio, began life as a farmer, and there met and married Elza Heusner, who had come to the United States in 1844 with her father, Jacob Heusner. Jacob Heusner was a school and music teacher, and a member of a family of eight generations of musicians, but on coming to Lorain County, Ohio, turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, purchasing a tract of wild, heavily timbered land in Brownhelm Township. There he cut and burned the heaviest growth of walnut, cleared up his farm and made a good home, and died at Elyria, Ohio, in 1880, at the age of eighty years. He was also a composer of music and in Germany had been a preacher in the Reformed Church, of which he was always a member, as was also his wife, who died when forty-five years of age. After his marriage, Henry Merthe began life in Lorain County, where he assisted in the building of the Lake Shore Railroad and worked for several years on that line as a brakeman. Later he purchased and improved 300 acres of land in Amherst Township, that county, on which was located a large stone quarry, which he sold to great advantage. He was a thrifty, industrious farmer, a citizen who was highly respected in his community, and a leader in prayer meeting in the Evangelical Church, as well as deacon, steward and superintendent of the Sunday School for many years. A talented musician, he was particularly proficient as a performer on the violin. In politics he was a republican. 822 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Mrs. Merthe was a member of the Lutheran Church, and in all the county there was to be found no more worthy or upiight couple. They had a family of eleven children, of whom five sons and four daughters are still living, and all but one are married and have Families. Henry J. Merthe received his education in the public schools of Lorain County, and was brought up to agricultural pursuits which have occupied his attention throughout his life. When he came to Erie County, in 1879, he purchased 108 acres of land on Lake Avenue in Huron Township, and this property he has brought to a high state of cultivation, raising fifty bushels of wheat to the, acre and 300 bushels of potatoes, of the latter of which he makes a specialty_ For a number of years he has been an exhibitor at various fairs and expositions, and has taken many prizes and premiums for his exhibits. In former years he was a raiser of fine sheep for the market, as well as other stock, and is now actively engaged in buying and shipping of live stock to the eastern markets, and all of his ventures have been attended by success, which he attributes to the fact that he has always used modern and practical methods in his work. He now has excellent improvements on his farm, known as Pleasant View Farm, including a large and artistic residence of twelve rooms, comfortably and tastefully,furnished, and equipped with all modern comforts and conveniences. Mr. Merthe was married at Elyria, Ohio, to Miss Christena L. Eppley, who was born in 1865 at McConnellsville, Morgan County, Ohio, on the Muskingum River, daughter of Michael and Rosa (Harsch) Eppley, natives of Germany. Mr. Eppley was ten years of age and his wife five years old when they were brought to the United States by their parents on sailing vessels, the families settling in Morgan County, Ohio, where they were farming people and members of the Evangelical Church. After his marriage, Mr. Eppley was engaged as a carpenter and house builder until 1870, in which year he moved to Elyria, Ohio, and there engaged in farming. He erected a good house and bank barns on his large farm, and also specialized in raising fine horses, for which he secured as much as $1,500 a pair, and died well to do in 1894, when about seventy years of age, Mrs. Eppley having died some time before, when fifty years old. They were faithful members of the Evangelical Church all their lives, and in politics Mr. Eppley was a democrat. To Mr. and Mrs. Merthe there have been born the following children: Arthur and Ruby, who died when about nine months old; Edward C., born in 1883, a talented musician, learned the trade of machinist and is now foreman of, the machine department of the United States Corporation's plapt at Lorain, Ohio, married Edith Brunk, of Lorain, and has two sons, Donald and Wendell ; Nellie, who is the wife of Arthur Scully, of Toledo, Ohio ; Elnora, a graduate of the Huron High School, and now the wife of Ross Heilman, of Chicago Junction, Ohio, and has a son, Hubert ; and Lillian Pearl Walcott, living with her parents on the farm, and the mother of one daughter, Yvonne Eleanor Walcott. Mr. and Mrs. Merthe and their children are members of the Evangelical Church. He is a republican in his political views, and while not a seeker for preferment of an official nature, takes an interest in the success of his party and as a citizen discharges his responsibilities in a public-spirited manner. His reputation in business circles is of the highest character, and his numerous friends testify to his general popularity. JOHN C. BRITTON. Since 1906 Mr. Britton has held the position of superintendent of the municipal light and water plant of the City of Huron, this office having been assumed by him on the 20th of March of that year and under his efficient supervision the service having been PICTURE OF RESIDENCE OF HENRY J. MERTHE, PLEASANT VIEW FARM, LAKE AVENUE, HURON HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 823 kept up to the highest standard, with marked popular appreciation on the part of the community. This department of public-utility service has been owned and controlled by the city since 1898, and the municipality having found also that economy has been conserved under its control, the while consumers also have profited largely through the change from private ownership, the cost of the electric-lighting system being much below the average, and the waterworks system having 274 taps in operation, with a constant increase in number from year to year, with the result that the city confidently expects to be able to give in the near future an appreciably, cheaper water service than even the exceptionally low rate at present in force. The effective service and economy of operation have been largely due to the technical knowledge and well formulated policies of the present superintendent, and the citizens in general have marked their gratitude for his effective labors and admirable administration of the important utilities over which he is placed in charge. The fine new municipal light and water plant, on the shore of Lake Erie, was completed in 1909 and is modern in every particular. The water plant has a capacity for supplying half a million gallons each twenty-four hours, and the intake crib in Lake Erie is 1,300 feet distant from the shore line, all water being filtered at the plant by the most approved modern process, so that the supply is unexcelled in purity by that of any city in the state, as shown by careful scientific tests. The provisions for fire protection are admirable and the stand-pipe or water tower has al capacity of 100,000 gallons-a reserve adequate for a city of much greater population than Huron. It is scarcely necessary to say that Mr.,Britton is a practical engineer of careful scientific and technical training and excellent practical experience. Prior to coming to Huron he had been engaged in mechanical and engineering work for the National Tube Company, at Lorain, and previously he had been for three years in charge of the high heating and power plant of the Ely Realty Company, in the City of Lyria. Mr. Britton was born at Spencer, Medina County, Ohio, on the 20th of June, 1881, and when he was a lad of thirteen years his parents removed to Huron, so that he was reared to maturity in the fine little city that is now his home. Here he continued his studies in the public schools until his graduation in the high school, when he was sixteen years old, he having been a member of the class of 1907. Thereafter he devoted himself assiduously to the study of mechanics and engineering, and in the furtherance of his technical knowledge he completed a thorough course in stationary engineering in the International Correspondence School at Scranton, Pennsylvania, the most celebrated institution of this kind in the world. Later he took a similar correspondence course in electrical engineering in the American Correspondence School of Chicago, Illinois, and that he has made good use of his acquirements needs no further voucher than his notable success and his official preferment as superintendent of a modern electric and water plant. Mr. Britton is a son of Erwin E. and Alice (Fenstermaker) Britton, the former of whom was born and reared in Medina County, this state, a scion of a family of Irish lineage, that was founded in that county fully a century ago, John C. Britton, father of Erwin E., having been born in Ireland and having died in Medina county when in the prime of life, his wife, whose maiden name was Phillips and who was of New England stock, having survived him by many years. He was an iron-moulder by trade but eventually turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and became the owner of an excellent farm in Medina County. He was six feet and four inches in height and was noted for his physical prowess—a man of superb strength and vigor. Erwin E. Britton was graduated in Baldwin College, at Berea, Ohio, 824 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY and later was graduated in one of the leading medical institutions of this state. After his marriage he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Spencer, Medina County, until his removal to Huron, Erie County, where he continued his successful practice for a number of years. Doctor Britton is now engaged in active practice at McClure, Henry County, and celebrated in 1915 his sixty-fifth birthday anniversary, his wife being about two years his junior and both being zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has served as a trustee for many years. The doctor is a republican in politics and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Felloivs, and the Modern Woodmen of America, besides holding membership in the Henri County Medical Society and the Ohio State Medical Society. Of the children the eldest is Wayland S., who is still a bachelor and who is a teacher of bookkeeping in a business college in the City of Columbus, Ohio ; John C., of this sketch, was the second child ; Mary, who was graduated as a trained nurse, was an attache of the maternity hospital in the City of Toledo and is now doing private work ; and Robert, who served four years in the United States navy, the last two years having marked his incumbency of a petit office on the flagship of the fleet that made the voyage around the world, died July 5, 1915. At Grafton, Lorain County, was solemnized the marriage of John C. Britton to Miss Lydia E. Jones, who was born and reared in that county and who is a daughter of Adelbert and Clara (Miller) Jones, her father having been engaged in the hardware and farm-implement business at Grafton at the time of his death and his widow being still a resident of that village. Mr. and Mrs. Britton have one son, Erwin Adelbert, who was born February 19, 1915. Mrs. Britton is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and her husband attends and supports the same, his political views being indicated by his alignment with the republican party, and he being affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the former of which he is serving, in 1915, as senior warden of Marks Lodge, No. 359, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, at Huron. HENRY P. SCHAFFER. Though he claims the old Keystone State as the place of his nativity, Mr. Schaffer has been a resident of Ohio from infancy and is a scion of old and honored pioneer families of this state. Since 1890 he has maintained his residence in the fine little City of Huron, Erie County, where, as a building contractor and as a manufacturer, he has gained secure status as one of the representative business men of the county. He is senior member of the firm of Schaffer Brothers, in which his able and valued coadjutor is his younger brother, Frederick J., and they have not only developed a large and substantial business as contractors and builders but are also engaged in the manufacturing of boxes for use in the packing and shipping of fish, the latter enterprise having been founded by them in 1914 and having already become one of most successful order. The manufacturing plant is a building 40 by 80 feet in dimensions, and in its various operations power is furnished by electric motors with an aggregate capacity of twenty-five horse power. The plant includes a modern planing mill equipped with a battery of five saws, and the average daily output of the factory is now 200 boxes. The thriving industry has been developed entirely through the energy, initiative and practical skill of the Schaffer brothers, and they also control a representative business as contractors in the building of houses and other structures, both being excellent mechanics and Frederick J., who is also a practical architect, having the active supervision of the contracting business, the while Henry P. gives the major part of his time and attention to the manufacturing enterprise.