HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 325 ARTHUR ALLEN is a retired business man of Fayette, has lived there continuously for over a half century and is a brother of Mr. Charles L. Allen, also of Fayette, whose individual record will also be found in this publication. Arthur Allen was born in Monroe county, New York, February 8, 1842, and was the youngest of the large family of Isaac 'and Mary (Terry) Allen. He was well educated, attending district schools, the Brockport Collegiate Institute and by a commercial course at Poughkeepsie. At the age of twenty Mr. Allen left home and went out to Bloomington, Illinois, where he became an employe of the United States Express Company, and part of the time was also located at Springfield and Peoria. About 1865 Mr. Allen engaged in the merchandise business at Fayette, Ohio, but soon returned to Illinois, and since 1867 has made Fayette his permanent home. He was in the grist and sawmill business here for thirty-one years, finally selling out his interests, and has since lived retired in a beautiful modern house at Fayette. Mr. Allen also served as mayor of Fayette several terms, has. held the offices of township clerk, justice of the peace, member of the School Board, and has always acted with that group of citizens working for the best interests of the community. He is a democrat in politics. In June, 1869, he married Frances H. DuBois, who was born at Orange in Ashland county, Ohio, a daughter of George and Amelia (Hoadley) DuBois, the former a native of New York and the latter of Connecticut. Her parents settled in Gorham Township of Fulton county in 1847, living on a farm there. Mrs. Allen's mother died in 1904, having been born in 1803, and her father died in 1908, having been born in 1814. Both parents therefore lived to extreme age. Mr. Allen has four sons, all of whom have made places for themselves in modern industry. George, the oldest, is a mechanical engineer at Cleveland and is district manager for the Heffenstall Forge Company of Pittsburg. Harry L., also a mechanical engineer, is with the Bruce-McBeth Engine Works at Cleveland. Edwin, a graduate civil engineer, is now district manager at Chicago for the Lakewood Engineering Company of Cleveland. Terry Joe is purchasing agent for the Firestone Steel Products Company of Akron, Ohio. HENRY BECHSTEIN. While Henry Bechstein was born in Swan Creek Township in January, 1862, his parents were immigrants from Germany. He is a son of Jacob and Anna (Goodlock) Bechstein. The father was born in 1833 in Germany, but when he was about twenty years old he immigrated to America. When he first came to the United States he worked in a clay pit in Pennsylvania. Later he worked eight years in Erie county, Ohio, where he married and in 1858 he bought a farm and removed to Swan Creek Township. In 1888 Henry Bechstein married Ella Biddle, a daughter of Henry and Hannah Biddle. There is one daughter, Florence, the wife of H. T. Krauss, of Swan Creek. Another daughter, Bertha, died in childhood. The wife died in 1897, and Mr. Bechstein married again in 1899. The second wife was Emma Wilhelm, a daughter of David Wilhelm of Seneca county, Ohio. From this marriage there is one daughter, Carmen. For two years Mr. Bechstein lived on rented land, then he bought 326 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY thirty acres in the brush and cleared it all but two acres, and from time to time he has added to the farm until he now has 100 acres, thirty-four acres still in timber. Mr. Bechstein has good farm buildings, making all the improvements himself. For a number of years he worked as a carpenter, and for eight years he did mason and cement work. In politics he is a democrat. He has served the community as road supervisor, and the family is identified with the Christian Union Church. The outstanding facts in the career of Mr. Bechstein are the industry and perseverance that enabled him to perform the heavy work of clearing up new land in Fulton county, making a fine farm, and, nevertheless, finding time to serve his community in behalf of its good roads and other matters connected with the general welfare. ELMER C. TURPENING, of Swan Creek, secured his education in the district school, and for a number of years he has served the community as a member of the Board of Education. He is a republican in politics, and is a member of the United Brethren Church. He has served the church in the capacity of class leader, and the Sunday School as its superintendent. While Mr. Turpening is a native of Fulton county, having been born April 14, 1863, in York Township, his father, Ephraim Tur- pening, was born in New York and his mother, Mary Ann (Croyle) Turpening, was born in Pennsylvania. Since 1854 they have lived in Fulton county. Mrs. Turpening's family ancestors had come in 1845, her grandfather, Samuel Croyle, having come into Swan Creek when there was nothing but a wilderness, and he had his part in reclaiming it. Ephraim Turpening settled in Swan Creek Township soon after his marriage, and for five years he lived there. He sold his land and bought a farm in York Township, but he soon sold it and bought again in Swan Creek Township. He died there in 1871, while his wife lived at the old home until her death in 1897. E. C. Turpening, who relates the family story, is second from the youngest of their children, the others being: John, of Swan Creek; Alfred, of Toledo; Jane, of Delta ; Rebecca, wife of Amos Keith, of Delta; Elmer C. and Alfred. Charles, the oldest child, died early, and Cicero died in the Civil war. On March 4, 1883, Elmer C. Turpening married Mary Delilah Warren, a daughter of Lyman and Sarah (Wilson) Warren, of York Township. Their children are: Charles N.; Loretta, wife of Henry Metzger; Beulah, wife of Watson Lewis, of Swan Creek; Florence, wife of Opher McKinley, of Cleveland; Maud, wife of Fred Enteman, of Toledo; Jay, Ruth and Cecil. His well ordered farm, his substantial home, his attractive family, and the calls that have been made upon him for leadership and service in the community sufficiently establish the place of Elmer C. Turpening among the prominent citizens of Fulton county. He has lived here nearly sixty years, in his mature life has carried forward the work begun by the pioneers and probably has many years of usefulness still ahead of him. JOHN W. EREHART, of Swan Creek, has for many years served as chaplain of Hendricks Grand Army Post of Colton. He enlisted in the Union Army December 17, 1863, in Company H, Eighty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, his home then being in De HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 327 Kalb county, Indiana. He was in many of the. hard fought battles of the Civil war and marched with General Sherman from Atlanta to the sea. He was mustered out of the service June 1, 1865, and the regiment disbanded the twentieth of the same month. Mr. Erehart votes with the republican party. While Mr. Erehart's army record shows him as a soldier from Indiana, he was born December 6, 1844, in Stark county, Ohio. He is a son of Adam and Maria (Kiner) Erehart. The father came from Germany, but the mother was a native of Pennsylvania. Adam Erehart's parents died when he was fourteen years old, and he came to join some brothers who were already in the United States. He worked at the shoemaker's trade and was married in Pennsylvania. Soon after his marriage he came to Stark county, and in 1848 he removed to DeKalb county, Indiana, where he bought a farm of forty acres. He died there in 1887, and his wife died seven years later. In the Erehart family there was a daughter, Catherine, who died in infancy; John W. was the second child; Daniel, of Steele City, Nebraska; Mary Jane, deceased, was the wife of Lon Henning; Eleanor, wife of Henry St. Clair, of Auburn, Indiana; Eliza, deceased, was the wife of William Pepple, and Adam died at the age of five years. On October 11, 1868, Mr. Erehart married Elvira Mathews, of DeKalb county, Indiana. She is a daughter of Nathan and Maria (Richmond) Mathews. The father was a native of Vermont while the mother was born in the state of New York. Her paternal grandparents, John and Chloe (Hatch) Mathews, were early settlers in Portage county, Ohio. After his marriage Mr. Erehart lived in Newaygo county, Michigan, where he followed farming, and in winter he worked in the lumber camps for six years. When he sold the Michigan farm he removed to DeKalb county, Indiana, remaining there three years, when he located in Henry county, Ohio. After living eight years in Henry county Mr. Erehart sold out again and located in Swan Creek Township. He bought a twenty-four acre tract of improved land and selling it he bought forty acres where he lives today. He remained as an active farmer until 1917, when a son assumed charge and he lives there in retirement. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Erehart are: Ralph, of Huntington, Indiana; Nellie, wife of William Wagoner, of Toledo; Edward, at home; and Gladys, wife of Joseph McCullough, of Toledo. MRS. JULIA CARTER ALDRICH. (JOSEPH D. ALDRICH.) In the history of the Aldrich family of Fulton county is the same old story of three brothers who came from England many years ago. In writing of Mrs. Julia. Carter Aldrich, who is one of the most widely known women in the county, a relative says: "It often seems unfortunate that we cannot see how important is our task. To the youth of Fulton county the cultivated fields, the traffic on the network of roads, the great web of telegraph and telephone wires, the steel rails and so many minor things which are so commonplace that in hasty. retrospection I do not think of them, are necessities. "Seldom do they think of a civilization without them, and when they do, because such life seems quite impossible, they conceive of it as a very hazy past, and yet the generation that built these roads 328 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY and wrested the fields from a trackless wilderness has but recently completed its task, and there are still many of these runners before of our civilization, their part in the herculean task complete, sitting quietly silent—not knowing that a recital of their labors would hold us in a thrilled attention as absolute as the telling of an Iliad. Among those early corners was Mrs. Aldrich, who was with her brother, Jabez William Carter, when he was one of the owners of that first Fulton county paper which changed hands so often in its brief existence." Mrs. Aldrich says : "In July, 1853, J. W. Carter, of Medina county, Ohio, came to Ottokee and bought the printery but recently established there, and commenced the publication of the Fulton County Union, a business he very much enjoyed, having been connected with a printing office since his boyhood. He was then twenty-six years old. He wrote his mother, a widow, his father having died in 1852, to shut up the house and come with the family, Charles, Julia, Julius and Margaret, to Ottokee for the winter. We arrived early in November and were taken to the Henry Taylor Hotel until our goods arrived (no trains then from Toledo came farther than Whitehouse.). Our coming happened at the same time as Mr. Aldrich's arrival from New York. Mrs. Taylor was a very genial, motherly sort of a landlady—made her guest room like a family gathering place. "The schoolmaster and editor readily formed acquaintance which soon ripened into friendship, thus bringing Mr. Aldrich to the county seat to spend the week-ends at that home-like hotel. The courthouse, with its genial, intellectual officials, and the editorial sanctum had an attraction for him," and thus began another acquaintance—Joseph D. Aldrich with Julia Carter. In the spring of 1854 Joseph Aldrich was engaged to teach in Spring Hill and Julia Carter in Ottokee. Her brothers, Charles and Julius Carter, assisted J. W. Carter in the printing office. John Youngs, still pleasantly remembered by many in Wauseon, was efficient help on the Fulton County Union. He came from Medina with J. W. Carter when he was seventeen. His daughter, Nora Youngs, became the wife of Willis, son of Edwin Patterson, or Dover. "We all liked Ottokee, and as we all had employment none cared to go back to Medina." The mother went back and sold the place, and returning to Ottokee she bought a home there. On October 3, 1854, Joseph D. Aldrich married Julia E. Carter, and they went into a cozy little home of their own in Ottokee. In 1858 they sold the Ottokee property and bought the Quaker Wright Farm on the north line of Clinton Township. The Aldrich family still own and love the place where three sons: Amos Eugene, Fred Hampson and Benjamin F. Aldrich, were born, and their father, Joseph D. Aldrich, died in 1889, aged sixty-two years. The Fulton county Aldrich family is descended from Abel Aldrich, one of the three brothers who came from England. He married a Miss Tilson and they lived in Providence, Rhode Island. They had the following children : Tilson, Orrin, Abel, Amos, James, Dorcas, Prudence and Hannah. The son Amos is the one to whom the Fulton county family owes its existence, and again it is Amos who perpetuates the name in Fulton county. His son Joseph linked his fortune with Julia Carter, the woman who January 28, 1920, passed her eighty-sixth earthly milestone. On that day her only son, Fred Hampson Aldrich Detroit, visited her. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 329 The files of the Fulton County Union have long ago disappeared, and it is doubtful if a single issue is still in existence. For a time in the history of Fulton county it was the only voice from the outside world other than the stage driver and the transient guest. The Fulton County Union was the voice of the community expressing its ambitions, its hopes and disappointments. In every frontier press room there is the nucleus for innumerable romantic tales. Fulton county was then a frontier, and within the memory of Mrs. Aldrich its farms were small clearings in the primeval forests. The deer would often come out of the woods and destroy the corn unless speedily driven from the fields; there were few beaten roads and unless one went a-foot he must depend upon his horse; the furniture was made, as was the cabin itself, by the owner, and in all this primitive life Mrs. Aldrich had an active part. Mrs. Aldrich was one of the first contributors to the press in Fulton county. Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich were among the first school teachers; they were always interested in working for. better schools, better farming and better social conditions. While Mrs. Aldrich has been an occasional contributor to various publications, she also has a volume of verse from her earlier writings, entitled "Hazel Bloom." She Was the Ohio vice president of the Western Writers' Association, and one of the editors of the National Grange, a paper connecting her with readers all over the United States. Mrs. Aldrich has survived her husband by so many years that she is the one best known in the community of today. Her son Amos Eugene married Mary Siebold, who is of German parentage, her ancestry leaving the Fatherland in the exodus of the '40s as a protest against despotism. He died in Wauseon, leaving his wife and the following children : Ione, Julia Margaret (Madge), John Paul, Joseph Eugene and Donald. The second son, Hon. Fred H. Aldrich, has lived in Michigan since beginning the practice of law, being circuit judge for many years. He married Corine Isbell, daughter of Henry and Jane Lemmon Isbell. Mr. Isbell was born in Connecticut, and was descended from Robert, one of the early settlers in Salem. The Lemmons originally lived near Baltimore. The Aldrich children are : Fred, Compton, May and Corine. Rev. Benjamin Frank Aldrich, D. D., Ph. D., married Bertha Yerkes after he left Fulton county. At the time of his death he was pastor of old First Congregational Church in Chicago. He had made of this church an unusual center of influence. His wife survives 'him, and their children are Benjamin, Margaret, Baldwin and Julian. Five grandsons of Mrs. Aldrich, above enumerated, were in the World war, and all returned in safety. In a poem entitled "Freedom," Mrs. Aldrich answers the question why she was never a church member, and there is no creed or dogma in her conception of Christianity. While she gave one son to mechanical pursuits, one to law and one to the ministry, she has found all church work molds itself to her idea of life. She holds her own judgment unbiased and recognizes good in all things. All, over Fulton county Mrs. Aldrich is regarded as an oracle—a bulwark in the community. REV. BENJAMIN F. ALDRICH. As noted elsewhere in the sketch of the Aldrich family of Fulton county, Rev. Benjamin F Aldrich at the time of his death was pastor of the First Congregational Church of Chicago. In an official publication of that church devoted to the history of the church and its successive pastorates, his sue- 330 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY cessor in the ministry published a tribute to the character of Dr. Aldrich and particularly his influence and work in the ministry in Chicago, a brief sketch that may appropriately be entered as a part of the records in this history of Fulton county. The late Benjamin F. Aldrich, D. D., was born at Wauseon, Ohio, January 29, 1863, and passed to his eternal rest on Sunday evening, November 5, 1916. If Dr. Moses Smith (one of the earlier ministers of the First Congregational Church of. Chicago) had many of the qualities of St. Peter, and if Doctor Noble (also a predecessor of Doctor Aldrich) reminded one of the apostle Paul, Doctor Aldrich's character and disposition were finely suggestive of the beloved disciple, John, or rather, perhaps, some would say both of John and of his Divine Master. The foundations of his sturdy and gentle character were laid amid the hardships and simplicities of the old farm life of Ohio, where his mother prayerfully moulded him towards the holy ministry. Though he studied law and was admitted to the bar, the essential quality of his life was that of a pastor and he gladly resigned the emoluments of the lucrative profession of law in order that the whole tendency of his life might be heavenward and that making the complete oblation he might render a whole-hearted, undivided service to men in the Spirit of Christ. Having diligently served in other churches at Ironton, Sault Ste. Marie, Lansing, Pontiac, Ypsilanti, Aurora and Wellington avenue, he brought the fruit of his large natural endowment, varied experience and whole-hearted consecration to the service of "New First" in the heart of the great west side. He had a genius for friendship, and the time had come when consecrated and unselfish friendship was a gift most needed in this parish. In some ways he stood in strong contrast to the two men of whom we have been speaking . While Doctor Smith's preaching had a dogmatic and prophetic flavor, and Doctor Noble's preaching was highly intellectual and strongly individualistic, the heart of Doctor Aldrich ached for this needy wayward and suffering community. So in its utter simplicity and great practical helpfulness his preaching was a veritable breaking of the Bread of Life to hungry hearers. He had a large and sure vision of the place this church should occupy in the midst of a great unchurched community, and with an ardor greater than his strength he threw himself into the splendid task of adjusting this historic and influential congregation to the needs of a modern and sinful city. Like Timothy he "naturally cared" for men's state. He well knew the needs of the hungry soul and the perils and pitfalls of the great city. So in regard to the summer services on the lawn, and in the development of the Union Theological College, which was born in the vestry of this church in the brain of Professor Jernberg and in the heart of Doctor Aldrich also in regard to the potentialities of Carpenter Chapel and Hooker Hall, in the development of our Sunday School work and summer camps, in the whole social life of the church and especially in the intense and practical pastoral work, he caught the vision, followed the gleam, lived on a high plane and at a high tension until he had prematurely worn himself out with unselfish abandonment in the service of Christ, of this church and this community, but not before he had proven himself an efficient, wise, foresighted and great-hearted leader, and had widened and deepened the scope of the ministry of New First Church. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 331 Slowly he had become an epitome and practical interpreter of that democracy men hear so much about and understand so little because its keynote is service unselfish service even until death. He laid down the pathways of service in this community which New First will probably follow for many years to come. He touched all sorts and conditions of men. While developing loyal and loving contact with rescue and reclamation agencies, he stood between men and the prison walls, stood between the hungry and want, and was looked up to by hundreds for guidance in their hour of trouble and was beloved by hundreds more who seldom entered the church but were the better for this church and his ministry in it. His house was known to all the vagrant train : He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain. He laved unselfishly, sympathized with and suffered vicariously with and for those lives he touched and touching lifted toward the crystal purity of his own trustful, hopeful soul. As he gave so unstintedly so he grew into mastery and in the subtle power of his appeal to men. Honors sought him, but he sought them not. For other aims his heart had learned to prize, More skilled to raise the wretched than to rise. He looked out at this multitude scattered abroad and going astray because they had no Shepherd, so he made the pastorate the crown of all his work. He could not rest while these multitudes were away on the wild mountains of sin. He longed to see them safe in the fold of the Good Shepherd. So he went out after them, carried them on his strong shoulders, literally bore their burdens, shared their sorrows and poured out his life's strength for them until one Sunday two short years ago, about the time of the evening sacrifice, God said: "It is enough, come up higher." Then "God's finger touched him and he slept," But the scene in this church when thousands passed his bier with eyes blinded by tears was eloquent of the people s love for the beloved pastor and will never fade from the memories of those who were privileged to be present. The tablet unveiled now by his son Baldwin bears the legend Psa. 78:22: "So he was their Shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands." CARLOS ALEXANDER ROBERTS was born March 28, 1861, in Wood county,. Ohio. He is a son of Cutler Fellows and Jeannette (Voss) Roberts, who upon their marriage settled near. Wallbridge, where the son grew up and was educated in the common schools. Here he worked at farming many years. Mr. he. F. Roberts first bought land in Wood county, then he bought farm land in Lucas county that is now within the city limits of Toledo. After disposing of this property he owned another farm in Lucas county. Whenever another man offered him his price the land was for sale, and his next land investment was in Henry county where he lived five years, sold the land and in 1878 he invested in timber land in Swan Creek Township. Twenty years later he sold it and removed to McClure, Ohio. He died there February 12, 1907. and his wife died two years later in Wauseon. Although he had his home with his parents, C. A. Roberts worked out as a farm hand until he was thirty-four years old, when 332 - HISTORY OF FTJLTON COUNTY he was married to Fannie Carter, of Amboy Township, Fulton county. She is a daughter of Solomon Carter. She had been married before to Samuel Baldwin, and she has one son, Frank Baldwin, of Swan Creek Township. Soon after his marriage Mr. Roberts bought 120 acres of land, with about sixty acres cleared, and he now has ninety acres under cultivation. He is engaged in general farming and the livestock business, giving special attention to thoroughbred Holstein dairy cattle. Mr. Roberts has modern farm improvements, having built and rebuilt all the buildings himself. He is a member of the Christian Union Church and in politics he is a republican. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Roberts are : Esther Carter, wife of Jacob Evans; and Nolan F. Roberts. The business in which Mr. Roberts has been engaged for many years is a truly constructive service. He has developed farms, bringing them to a state of profitable production, has built homes, and while he has done this as a regular business, the aggregate results have brought substantial benefits to the several communities in which he has lived. His business and his good citizenship are facts that are thoroughly appreciated in his home community of Swan Creek. GEORGE H. CRANE, a banker of Fayette, spent his early life in Lenawee county, Michigan, but for many years was in Pennsylvania, with the iron and steel Industry. Mr. Crane was born in Madison Township, Lenawee county, November 25, 1871, son of Calvin H. and Jennie (Merrick) Crane. His paternal grandparents were George L. and Leah R. (Ramsdell) Crane, the former born in 1810. The great-grandparents, George and Charity (Lincoln) Crane, were natives of Massachusetts, and in 1817 became part of the moving tide of population going over the Alleghenies to the middle west, and were among the first home makers in southern Michigan, in Lenawee county. Calvin H. Crane was born in Lenawee county, and while attending school at Union. Springs, New York, met Miss Jennie Merrick, who was born in Rose Valley, that state, daughter of George W. and Elsie 0. Merrick. After his marriage he returned to Michigan and became an engineer with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway. He died in 1916, while his wife passed away November 30, 1871, George H. being her only child. George H. Crane was reared in the homes of his paternal and maternal grandparents in Lenawee county. He attended the Friends school at Adrian, graduating in 1890, and soon afterward went to Cleveland, where for 1 1/2 years he was superintendent of motive power for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway. For seven years he had charge of the office of the C. B. Pennock whole= sale house at Adrian, Michigan, and then joined the Page Fence Company at Monessen, Pennsylvania, serving as chief paymaster two years and then as chief clerk for the entire plant. He remained with that industry seven years, and in 1906 resigned and located at Fayette. Here he assisted in organizing the Fayette State Savings Bank, of which he has since been cashier. H. C. Rorick is president, John C. Rorick, vice president, A. V. Foster, M. B. Badger, Eva M. Crane and George M. Griffin, directors. Mr. Crane married September 17, 1897, Miss Eva Rorick, who was born in Seneca Township of Lenawee county, daughter of Casper and Alice (Horton) Rorick, also natives of the same county. Mr. and Mrs. Crane have two children, Amy C. and George H. The HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 333 daughter is a graduate of Oxford College for Women in Ohio and is now teaching in the high school at Fayette. Mr. Crane has served Fayette as mayor one term, as member of the School Board five years, and during that time was president three times. He is a democrat and is a Knight Templar Mason. SIMON MARION WAGONER. While John Wagoner, who planted the family tree in the United States, was born in Alsace-Lorraine, Simon Marion Wagoner of Swan Creek is in the third generation of the family in Ohio. His parents, John and Catharine (Kessler) Wagoner, are natives of Seneca county. The grandfather, John Wagoner, of Perry county, was a son of the immigrant, John Wagoner. John Wagoner, Sr., came to the United States when he was fifteen years of age. When John Wagoner came to America he was accompanied by an older brother, who wanted to enlist in the army, but on account of the age of the younger brother the young man had difficulty in enlisting, and finally both were made soldiers. The brother was killed at the battle of the Cow Pens, and at Yorktown John Wagoner was within fifteen feet of General Washington when General Cornwallis surrendered to him. The maternal grandparents of S. M. Wagoner, John Kessler and his wife, came from Germany and they were early settlers in Sandusky county. The paternal grandfather, John Wagoner, Jr., was a soldier in the War of 1812, and he was at Detroit when Hull surrendered. After his marriage John Wagoner, Jr., purchased an eighty-acre farm from his father in Sandusky county, but in 1852 he sold it to a brother and he then located in Swan Creek Township, Fulton county. He entered forty acres and bought forty across the line in Henry county. It was all wild land and he cleared and improved it. He died in 1907, at the age of eighty-six years. His wife had been dead forty years. Simon M. Wagoner was the oldest child born in the family of John. Wagoner, and the others are: Mahla, who is deceased, mar- ried Frank Werich ; Mary, wife of Charles Stevens, of Liberty Center, Ohio ; Jacob, of Swan Creek ; Thomas J., of Swan Creek ; Sarah, wife of Michael McGee, of Sandusky county; Emma, wife of James Gabriel, of Ashtabula county ; and George, who died in childhood and John, deceased. While the Wagoner family's military history began in the Revolutionary war and cropped out again in the second war with England, S. M. Wagoner sustained the reputation of the family in the Civil war, enlisting February 4, 1864, in Company 9, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, S. S., under Capt. W. L. Sterns, and he was mustered in on the eighteenth of March. He was a private to be armed with a Spencer rifle, but bartered the position for a major's commission in the Sixtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, much against the wishes of the company. Major Wagoner was in many of the hard fought battles of the Civil war, including the battle of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Nye River, North Ann River, Salem Court House, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, where he was stationed at the time of a mine explosion, and he was at Weldon Railroad. At Cold Harbor Major Wagoner was shot in the right arm, and he. was sent to an 334 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY army hospital at Washington City. Later he was in the following battles : Yellow Farm, Ream Station, Poplar Grove, Pegram Farm, Squirrel Level Road, Hatches Run, Notaway River and Fort Steadman. On July 28, 1865, Major Wagoner received his discharge. When Mr. Wagoner was again a private citizen he cleared a forty acre tract he had purchased from his father. He built a house and barn and made other necessary improvements there, later buying another forty acre timber tract, which he also converted into farm land, and he was always active in farm work until 1913, when he rented his land, although he lives in retirement at the old homestead where he began his activities at the close of the Civil war. In September, 1866, Mr. Wagoner married Catharine Smith. She was born September 6, 1843, in Seneca county. She is a daughter of Abraham and Rebekah (Berkstresser) Smith. They were natives of York state, but they came early to Ohio. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wagoner are : Charles and William, of Toledo ; Alpha, wife of Ralph Earhart, of Huntington, Indiana; Estella, wife of Charles Hoyt, of Toledo ; and one child, Rebekah, who died in infancy. Mr. Wagoner has been an active man in community affairs. While he had but meager educational advantages, knowing only the log school houses of the day, he has served Swan Creek Township as justice of the peace, and he has served as an elder in the Christian Union Church. In politics Mr. Wagoner is a democrat. He is a member of Hendricks Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Colton, Ohio. For thirty years he served the post as quartermaster. There is perhaps no family represented in the citizenship of Fulton county more completely imbued with American patriotism than that of Simon M. Wagoner. He and his descendants are eligible to membership in the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution and he himself has earned the lasting esteem of his nation for the part he played in preserving the Union. Mr. Wagoner was born at Sandusky, Ohio, August 27, 1842, was a young man when he entered the army, and during the half century since the war he served equally well in civil responsibilities by clearing and developing one of the good farms of Fulton county. JOEL GEARIG, one of the prosperous general farmers of Swan Creek Township, deserves special credit for his success, for he has earned it through his own efforts. He was born in German Township, Fulton county, on September 23, 1863, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (King) Gearig, natives of France and Switzerland, respectively. Christian Gearig, the paternal grandfather, and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Fry,, came to the United States about 1829, settling in Wayne county, Ohio, and when Swan Creek Township was still a part of Lucas county he came to it and entered 160 acres of land north of Pettisville. The maternal grandfather came to Fulton county at an early day and entered 240 acres of land in German Township, on which Joseph Gearig and his wife settled after their marriage, and where they spent the remainder of their lives. Their 'children were as follows: Mattie, who is Mrs. Fred Peters, of Michigan ; Anna, who is Mrs. Nathan Aeachliman, of Clinton Township; Daniel, who lives at Elmira, Ohio; Amos, who lives in Hillsdale county, Michigan ; Catherine; who is Mrs. Joseph Bonier, of Clinton Township ; Joel, whose name heads this review; and Joseph, who lives in Michigan. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 335 Joel Gearig attended the schools of his home district, and remained with his parents until his marriage, which occurred on April 6, 1886, when he was united with Rose Bonier, born in France, a daughter of Andrew and Catherine (Guyman) Bonier. After his marriage Mr. Gearig bought forty acres of land in German Township, but not long afterward sold it and moved to Schuyler county, Missouri, where he bought an eighty-acre farm and conducted it for two years. Selling that farm, he bought another one of 134 acres in the same county, and the operating of it occupied him for five years. Receiving a good offer for this land, he sold it and came back to Fulton county and rented the family homestead in German Township until 1900, when he bought eighty acres in section 3, Swan Creek Township, of which thirty acres were cleared and the remainder in timber. The buildings were old and small, and he has rebuilt and enlarged them, and put others where needed, and made other necessary improvements, having his premises in good condition. At the same time he has kept busy putting his land in condition, having it now all cleared with the exception of about four acres of brush. In all of his farming he has raised a general line of crops, and he is now milking from six to seven cows of the Holstein strain. Mr. and Mrs. Gearig became the parents of the following children : Ira, who died when he was twenty-six years and four months old ; Edwin, who is at home; Homer, who is a farmer of Swan Creek Township ; Oscar., who is a. farmer of Fulton Township ; and Catherine, who is at home. Mr. Gearig is a democrat, but aside from exercising his right of suffrage, he has taken but little part in public affairs. He is a very practical man, and has devoted himself steadfastly, to the earning of a living for his family through the medium of his farming activities. While he has been in sympathy with those measures which had for their object the advancement of the several communities to which his business took him, Mr. Gearig did not feel that he was so placed that he could be active in promoting them. His recreation has been found in his home and with his family, and he is not a member of any fraternity. He does maintain a membership, however, in the Christian Union Church, and gives it a generous financial support. It is such men as Mr. Gearig, dependable, upright, industrious, never sparing themselves, but working along in a straight path of every day duty, who make up the great backbone of real Americanism. They are the men who can be depended upon to rise to the occasion in any emergency where solid citizenship is needed, and are the founders and preservers of the agricultural interests of the nation. WILLIAM V. BARNARD. There is a great satisfaction to be found in the realization that one's life work has brought forth results which are visible to the world. It sometimes happens that a man has accomplished much, but that circumstances are such that he receives no outward credit for his work, and is made to feel that to his neighbors he is anything but a success. Such a condition is not a happy one, and consequently when results appear on the surface the one producing them is to be congratulated. The fine farm property of William V. Barnard of Swan Creek Township proves that he is a good farmer and excellent business man, for he has developed and improved this estate from wild land through his own personal efforts. 336 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY William V. Barnard was born in Wayne county, Ohio, April 6, 1839, a son of Jacob and Hannah (Smith) Barnard, natives of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, respectively. They were married in Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in the early '30s. His wife died about 1843, having borne him five children after they came to Ohio, as follows : John, who is deceased ; Mary Jane and Margaret, both of whom are also deceased ; William V., whose name heads this review ; and Jacob Smith, who is a resident of Wooster, Ohio. After the death of his first wife Jacob Barnard was married to Catherine Burns, and they had four children, namely : Hannah, who is Mrs. James Dennis of Ashland, Ohio ; Jane, who is deceased ; Thomas, who is a resident of Medina county, Ohio ; and a fourth who is deceased. Following the death of the second Mrs. Barnard, Jacob Barnard was married to Margaret Cravin, and both are now deceased. Until 1860 William V. Barnard lived with his father and then for two years conducted one of his father's farms. For the subse¬quent year he worked by the day, and then rented a farm in Seneca county, Ohio, until he bought fifty acres of land on a sand ridge in Hancock county, Ohio, all of which was in a wild state. He partially improved this farm, living upon it for six or seven years, and then sold it and bought forty acres of partly improved land in Wood county, Ohio, operating it for ten years, a portion of the time residing at Hoytville, Ohio, where he bought 1/2 acre of land and erected a house on it. This continued to be his home until in 1894. On September 24th of that year he bought forty acres of wild woodland in Swan Creek Township, and since then has cleared off all the brush and timber, dug out the stumps, and made many valuable .improvements, including the erection of suitable buildings, and he now has one of the best farms in the township In 1860 Mr. Barnard was united in marriage with Mary Bastel, born in Wayne county, Ohio, a daughter of Henry and Bertha, (Bastel) Bastel. Mr. and Mrs. Barnard had the following children : Anna Maria, who is Mrs. Elmer Letherman of Colton ; Lorinda Jane, who is keeping house for her father; Ezekiel, who lives in Kansas; and Mrs. William Thomas, who lives at North Baltimore, Ohio. Mrs. Barnard died about 1897. Mr. Barnard had but few educational advantages in his youth, as he had to go to work as soon as he was able to handle the farm implements, but he has been a keen observer and has kept himself well informed on current matters, and has always had more than his share of good common sense. In politics he is a strong republican. For some years he has been a member of the Church of God. A man of strict integrity and upright living, he stands very high among his neighbors, and deserves the prosperity which is his. WOODSON T. CAMPBELL. Although he has extensive theatrical interests elsewhere, Woodson T. Campbell maintains his residence at Wauseon, and this city would be loath to have him depart from its midst, for he is recognized as one of its leading and most progressive men. He was born in Rush county, Indiana, in 1851, a son of Rev. George W. Campbell, a minster of the Christian Church, and a member of a family founded in this. country by William Campbell, who came here from Scotland and located at Bangor, Maine. His son, Reverend Campbell, came as far west as Indiana when a young man and remained a resident of that state until his death. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 337 Woodson T. Campbell attended the village schools until he was sixteen years of age, when he had the misfortune to lose his father, so he had to become self-supporting, which he did by working in a printing office for two years at Rushville, Indiana. Seeking experience, Mr. Campbell became a sewing machine agent, and canvassed the territory about Cincinnati, Ohio, for a year, then going to Connersville, Indiana, where he was clerk for the Sheridan House, owned by his uncle, and for two years he attended to the office of that hostelry and made friends with the traveling public. His is not a nature to be content with the ordinary routine of lire, and his love of adventure led him to join Cooper & Bailey's circus, with whom he secured show privileges and remained with this firm for a time, when he left to engage with a variety show. Still later he was with other circus owners, traveling all over the country and gaining an intimate knowledge of the demands on the part of the public for entertainment as he could have secured in no other manner, and which has been very valuable to him in his after life. His experience brought him positions of added responsibility, and he was with several circus firms as master of transportation, going as far west as California several times. At last after a number of years with this branch of the amusement industry Mr. Campbell rented the old Woods Museum at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, fitted it up and conducted it for three years, when he sold his interest and returned to circus life, engaging with P. T. Barnum in 1884, but, marrying not long afterward, to please his bride he left the circus and bought eighty acres of land and began breeding trotting horses. Overcoming his wife's objections, he returned in about five years to Barnum's circus and for a season had the feeding contract. Receiving a good offer for his stock farm, he sold it, and then in partnership with Frank M. Drew, bought the Star Theatre at Cleveland, Ohio, and they operated it for three years. They then secured the lease of the Colonial Theatre of Cleveland, Ohio, and own the building in which it is located and were interested in a number of theatrical enterprises throughout the country, and also operated in Canada, but disposed of his holdings in them some time ago. He still is interested in agricultural matters and owns a fine farm of 137 1/2 acres in Clinton Township. In 1884 Mr. Campbell was married to Lura Hollister, a daughter of David and Pamelia (Lamb) Hollister, of .Wauseon. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have no children. Mr. Campbell is a Mason, belonging to Rushville Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Cleveland Commandery, Knights Templar. He also belongs to the Elks of Cleveland. In his politics Mr. Campbell is a strong republican, and is not backward in expressing his opinions. His career has been varied but eminently successful, and he never allows his interest to flag but is constantly looking for new ideas in connection with his business. Genial in a marked degree, he has friends from Maine to California, and from Winnipeg, Canada, to the Panama Canal, all of whom recognize his many excellent traits of character and the warm sympathy which makes him so responsive to the calls upon his purse and his time. Regarding Wauseon as his home, Mr. Campbell is very generous in his support of its improvements, and can be depended upon to subscribe liberally whenever a movement is started looking toward a change which prom- ises to be of benefit to the community. 338 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY GEORGE ELIAS ARNOLD. Visitors in Swan Creek Township have occasion to comment upon and admire the productive farm and the improvements created by George Elias Arnold. Those who understand his career appreciate even more what he has accomplished in this community as a farmer. He came face to face with the serious responsibilities of life at the age of twelve years, and for half a century he has given his time to an uninterrupted program of work and the utilization of such opportunities as have come. He is a good farmer and an equally good citizen of his community. Mr. Arnold was born in Copley Township of Summit county, Ohio, December 18, 1857. He has an interesting ancestry, and on both sides of the family it has been American for several generations. His paternal great-grandparents were Daniel and Christina (Plum) Arnold, natives of England. Daniel Arnold came with two brothers to this country, and was one of the very early settlers in Summit county, Ohio, where he entered and improved a tract of government land. The paternal grandparents were Samuel and Maria (Oswalt) Arnold, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Pennsylvania. George E. Arnold is a son of Daniel and Ellen (Durthick) Arnold, the former a native of Summit county and the latter of Wayne county, Ohio. In the maternal line his great-grandfather was a native of Scotland, but came to the American colonies in time to participate as a Continental soldier in the Revolutionary war. The Durthicks were early settlers in Medina county, Ohio, where they acquired large tracts of government land. The maternal grandparents were Cordon and Fannie (Huckelbone) Durthick. Cordon Durthick about the time of the War of 1812 was pressed into the English service, but soon found opportunity to desert and join the American forces. Daniel and Ellen Arnold after their marriage lived in Summit county, and from that locality Daniel enlisted in the Union Army and gave a gallant service from 1863 until the end of the war. Soon afterward he came to Clinton Township, Fulton county, and thus the Arnold family has been identified with this section of Ohio for over half a century. After a year of residence here he moved to Newaygo county, Michigan, spending three years in that state, and then returned to Fulton county and settled in Swan Creek Township, where he lived an honored citizen and substantial farmer until his death on March 1, 1909. His wife had died in 1876. George E. is the oldest of their children and a brief record of the others is as follows: Fannie, Mrs. George Stacy, of Sand Lake, Michigan ; Flora, wife of Dr. Arthur Cooley, of Cleveland ; Samuel, who was born in Clinton Township, Fulton county, June 22, 1866, and died in Kalamazoo county, Michigan, March 1, 1919; Clara, wife of George Wheatley, living in Colorado ; Etta, deceased, wife of Earnest Andrews; and Alma, Mrs. Edward Rowe, of Swan Creek Township. George Elias Arnold was eight or nine years of age when he came to Fulton county, and after he ,was twelve years old had no opportunity to attend school until he put in one more winter term at the age of seventeen. In spite of lack of early advantages he has used his opportunities for observation and reading and has learned many lessons in the school of experience. As a boy he did farm work, and also followed the strenuous occupation of a woods- HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 339 man in the lumber districts, working in sawmills in winter and cultivating fields in summer. In this way he solved some of the early problems of life and in September, 1881, married Lovina Null, a native of Summit county, Ohio, and daughter of George and Christiann Null. Her father was a native of Germany and her mother of Pennsylvania. For one summer after his marriage Mr. Arnold was employed as a farm hand in York Township, and soon afterward invested his very modest capital in a tract of five acres of woodland in Swan Creek Township. This purchase presented little more than an opportunity for a great deal of hard work in clearing it up. He built his first home on that -tract, and has lived there for over thirty-five years, and each year has brought added proof of his industry and good management. By subsequent purchases he has increased his farm to eighty acres, and of this only six acres are now in timber, all the rest being well cultivated. Mr. Arnold also operates a dairy of eight or nine Holstein cows, and is one of the successful farmers of that locality. In politics he is a democrat, and for many years rendered a valuable service to the community as road supervisor. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold had three children, their twin daughters dying in infancy. The only surviving child is their son Ralph, a well known young resident of Swan Creek Township. He married Blanch Bowers, and their four children, the grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold, are named Ruth, George, Clara and Ethel. HENRY JACOB SCHLATTER is regarded as one of the keenest and most resourceful business men and merchants of Wauseon, being senior partner in Schlatter & Howard, owning and managing the largest general hardware house in Fulton county. Mr. Schlatter is a son of Rudolph and Luisa (Gugerlie) Schlatter. His grandfather, Jacob Schlatter, came from Switzerland and was an early settler in Franklin Township of Fulton county. He located there when a young man and in addition to clearing up and managing his eighty-acre farm he practiced his profession as a veterinary surgeon. He reared a family of three sons and three daughters. Rudolph Schlatter was the youngest child and spent his life on the homestead farm, where Henry Jacob Schlatter was born in 1876. The latter was five years old when his father died, three years later his mother died, and nine days previously the only daughter in the family passed away. When Henry J. was eleven years old he lost the other member of the household, his only brother. That left him alone in the world and under the guardianship of his uncle, John W. Meister. Under such conditions he had to face the test of unusual responsibilities at an early age. He attended country schools in winter, worked on the farm in summer, and at the age of seventeen made a regular contract with his uncle for farm services at fifty dollars a year. At nineteen he went into a factory making buggy bodies at Auburn, Indiana, and worked a year as a driller. Returning to Fulton county, he resumed farm work in Dover Township at sixteen dollars a month, and then farmed forty-two acres which he personally owned in Franklin Township. Selling out, he bought sixty acres elsewhere in the same township and remained on it, farming, for four years. In 1901 he became a clerk in the well known Wauseon mercantile firm of Eager, Standish & Company, and was with them almost continuously until 1911. During six months of that time 340 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY he was on the road selling farm implements. January 1, 1911, he engaged in the hardware business with I. W. Douat at Wauseon under the name Douat & Schlatter. They took in G. W. Howard; and the firm became Douat, Schlatter & Company. November 11, 1911, occurred a disastrous fire, after which the business was resumed and Mr. Schlatter and Mr. Howard soon bought the half interest of Mr. Douat and since then the firm has been under its present title. They handle general hardware, furnaces, roofing and do a large business both in city and country. In 1896 Mr. Schlatter married Bertha Clark, daughter of E. H. and Matilda (Bennett) Clark of Dover Township. They have one daughter, Olive Esther, who is a graduate of the Wauseon High School, spent one year in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, is a graduate of the Davis Business College at Toledo, and is now employed in the county superintendent's office. Mr. Schlatter is a republican, a member of the Methodist Church and is affiliated with the Lodge of Masons, Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America, all at Wauseon. During his many years in business Mr. Schlatter has worked out a system of keeping stock records that is thoroughly practical and admirable, since it enables him to know at an instant just what is on hand and what has been sold, and the purchase of new supplies is therefore quickly and promptly adjusted to the changing demands. LEWIS E. CONNELL is proprietor of the Maple Avenue Stock Farm in Gorham Township. This farm is widely known in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio as the home of one of the best herds of Holstein cattle in the country. Mr. Connell is a noted breeder of this dairy stock, and is president of the Holstein Association in Fulton county and a director of the Ohio State Holstein Breeders Association. His farm is part of the old Coffin estate, his wife's people, and was taken up by Mrs. Connell's grandfather in pioneer times, more than eighty years ago. Lewis Connell was born in Williams county, Ohio, at West Unity, in 1860, a son of William James and Martha L. (Shepardson) Connell. His father was a native of Columbiana county, Ohio, and his mother of Lenawee county, Michigan. His grandfather, Dr. Aaron Connell, a New Englander, moved west to Columbiana county and for years was a hard working country physician in that locality. The maternal grandparents, Lewis and Emily (Gunn) Shepardson, were natives of Massachusetts, and were early settlers in Lenawee county, Michigan. William J. Connell was one of seven brothers, and all of them except one, who at the time was an editor in a southern state, enlisted and served in the Union Army during the Civil war. William J. Connell was in Company C of the One Hundredth Ohio Infantry and made a gallant and faithful record throughout the struggle. All these brothers are now deceased except D. C. Connell, who was born in 1833 and is now living in his eighty-seventh year at Findlay, Ohio. He is well preserved for his years, is strong and active, and is now a magazine agent. William J. Connell and wife after their marriage settled at West Unity, and on his return to that county from the war he developed his talent as a vocalist by special instruction in Xenia College, and for many years was a teacher of vocal music. Later he moved to Fayette and in 1873 to (a farm in Gorham Township HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 341 of Fulton county. He was elected sheriff of Fulton county about 1888 and served two consecutive terms of two years each. Following the war for many years he was in the lumber business, operating sawmills in different localities of northern Ohio. William J. Connell was born in 1839 and died in January, 1913. His wife was born in 1838 and died in 1901. Lewis E. is the oldest of their children. Edwin J. resides at Monroe, Michigan, and Dr. C. V. is a veterinary surgeon at Decatur, Indiana. Lewis E. Connell acquired his early education in the public schools of Fayette, later attended Valparaiso College in Indiana, and at the age of twenty-three began farming in Gorham Township on his father's place. He remained there about twelve years, and during that time specialized in pure-bred Berkshire hogs. Since then his home has been on the Coffin place, formerly owned by his wife's father, in section 21 of Gorham Township. The Maple Avenue Stock Farm comprises 120 acres, and the big feature is the herd of registered Holstein cattle. Mr. Connell keeps about fifty head of pure bred-bred stock and ships large quantities of milk to the condenseries. He was one of the organizers of the Fayette Elevator Company and is president of that institution. In 1884 Mr. Connell married Dora E. Coffin. She was born on the farm where she now resides, a daughter of George W. and Emily (Hill) Coffin. Her father was born at Williamsburg, Massachusetts, and her mother near Detroit, Michigan. Her grandparents were Freeman and Hannah (Whitmarsh) Coffin, natives of Massachusetts, who in 1835 came west and entered a tract of 320 acres from the government in Fulton county. All this land was then covered with dense timber and Freeman Coffin cleared up and developed about 160 acres, selling the remainder. His farm was transferred to his son George W. Coffin and 120 acres of it eventually came to Mr. and Mrs. Connell. Much of its splendid fertility and up-to-date improvements belong to the period of ownership by Mr. and Mrs. Connell. The two daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Connell are, Laura L. and Elsie L. The family are members of the Methodist Church. Mr. Connell is now serving his second term as township trustee of Gorham Township. He is a republican, is affiliated with Tent No. 1186, Knights of the Maccabees, at Fayette, and also with the Gleaners. LELAND D. WESTBROOK. The agricultural interests of Fulton county are among the most valuable assets of this region, and the men who are engaged in promoting them are to be accounted the supporters of the county's prestige. One of these men who is making a success as a farmer, stockraiser and dairyman is Leland D. Westbrook of Swan Creek Township. He was born in section 8 of this same township on May 23, 1877, a son of George and Phebe (Williams) Westbrook, and grandson of John and Elizabeth Williams. George Westbrook was born in New York state, but was brought to Swan Creek Township, Fulton county, Ohio, by his mother, then a widow, and was here reared and married. Following his marriage George Westbrook and his wife located on eighty acres of land in Swan Creek Township, which was covered with heavy timber, and worked hard to get it cleared and developed. His death occurred in March, 1912. His widow survives him and lives at Kendallville, 342 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Indiana. Their children were as follows: Addie, who is Mrs. John Griesinger, of Pike Township ; Elsie, who is Mrs. Elmer Deck, of Franklin, Pennsylvania; Ina, who is Mrs. John Green, of Swan Creek Township ; Celia, who is Mrs. Roy Woodring, of Fulton Township ; Leland D., whose name heads this review ; William, who resides at Knoxville, Tennessee; and Gertrude, who is Mrs. Charles Miller, of Kendallville, Indiana. Leland D. Westbrook attended the local country schools, and learned how to be a practical farmer from his father. Until 1916 he conducted rented land, but then bought forty acres of the old homestead, and has since devoted it to general farming, stockraising and dairying, having always been occupied with these lines of endeavor. The year following his purchase his house was destroyed by fire, and he replaced with the present modern residence, and he has built the barns and other structures on his farm. This property is well improved and shows that the owner takes a pride in keeping things in good order. In December, 1898, Mr. Westbrook was united in marriage with Carrie Woodring, born at Ida, Michigan, a daughter of David and Jeanette (Shide) Woodring, natives of Pennsylvania and Germany, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Westbrook have two children, namely: Nellie and Harold, both of whom are at home. In his political convictions Mr. Westbrook is a republican. He has long been a consistent member of the Union Church of his neighborhood, and for seven years served as superintendent of its Sunday School. He is a man who lives up to his creed in his everyday life and sets an example for others to follow of right living and stalwart honesty, and few men stand any higher in public esteem than he. While he has not cared for public honors, he is always willing to do a good citizen's part in maintaining the proper amount of development ih his township, and is thoroughly representative of the best type of Ohio farmers. DANIEL PETER CHRISTMAN, of Swan Creek, was born at Waterville, Lucas county, December 5, 1872, in the same house in which his father, Daniel Christman, Sr., was born and where the Christman family had lived from pioneer days until 1895, when they removed to Brownhelm, Lorain 'county. The mother, Elizabeth (Hartzing) Christman, was born at Perrysburg, Wood county. The grandparents, who were early residents of Lucas county, died early. They were farmers and helped clear up the timber country. When Daniel Christman removed to Lorain county he had a sawmill and operated it four years, when he sold it and removed to North Olmstead. In 1917 he came to Fulton county to visit his son, Daniel Peter Christman, and died there. Mr. Christman's mother now resides in Cleveland. On December 23, 1894, he married Minnie Heckerman. She is a daughter of August and Mary Heckerman, and was born at Kelley's Island, Ohio. The father was born in Germany and the mother in Ireland. After Mr. Christman's marriage he worked his father's home farm for eight years, then came to Fulton county and bought fifty-acre farm in Pike Township, one mile north of Delta. He remained seven years on this farm, improving it, and when he sold it he doubled his money on it. He then bought eighty acres 2 1/2 miles south of Delta in Swan Creek. Six weeks later he went to Toledo by buy clover seed, and met with a serious misfortune. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 343 It was April 16, 1910, that Mr. Christman went by the Toledo & Indiana Electric Line to Toledo, and on his return he left the car at the Lincoln Hotel in Delta. There was a severe electric storm, and as he was making his way to the home of a friend that night he became entangled in live wires, the traction wire having been blown down and lodged. across some high tension wires, and he was struck by a telephone wire with 18,000 volts. In order. to protect his face he grasped the wire with his hands and could not let loose of it again. It was after night and storming and no one was out to hear his cries for assistance, and Mr. Christman stood holding that live wire one hour and ten minutes, every minute filled with agony. Finally, between eleven and twelve o'clock, some one heard the call of distress and notified the town marshal, who came to his relief. He was carried into a nearby house and doctors were called and the injured hands were dressed, although he was so badly burned they assured him he would not live until morning. Next day Mr. Christman was taken to the Wauseon Hospital, and three days later the hands were amputated as the only possible relief. He was in the hospital three weeks and under the care of the doctor . for seven weeks. The damage case was settled out of court, the Toledo & Indiana Traction Company paying him something like $21,000 in money. In the following December Mr. Christman left the farm and settled on a smaller place suburban to Delta. He still owns the farm in Swan Creek Township. Mr. Christman has invented an artificial hand with which he can accomplish almost anything he undertakes. It is patented and he receives a royalty on the sales, thus benefiting from it financially as well as physically, and he is able to do the work on his smaller farm adjoining Delta. Mr. Christman is a trustee in the Christian Church and also trustee in the Modern Woodmen of America. In a political way he votes the democratic ticket. His children are : Floyd M. Christman, manager of the United States Express Company's business at Rochester, Indiana; Beatrice, who is now teaching school; and Ruth and Roland Frederick, who live at the home of their father. The Fulton county industry of the Christman family is through- out one of honorable ndustry and public spirit, and it is a significant illustration of the character of the family stock that Mr. Christman when handicapped by physical energies has been able to continue a life of usefulness and `by using his head" is able to do more than many otherwise able-bodied men are competent to accomplish. HARRY B. MACK. The Fairmont Farm, known as the Mack family homestead near Delta, was entered from the government in the territorial days of Fulton county history. Although of Scotch parentage, Eliza Brooks Mack was born May 3, 1804, in Donegal, Ireland. She boarded a ship, June 18, 1823, at Londonderry, Ireland, and sailed for the United States. It was August 15 that she landed in New York City. She was almost two months crossing the Atlantic. This young Irish woman remained in New York until December 1, 1829, when she married William Mack, who had also come from Ireland. They located in Jefferson county, New York, where they remained four years before coming to Perrysburg, Wood 344 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY county, Ohio. They lived in Wood county from 1834 until 1840, when they moved to the timber land they had entered in the wilds of what is now Fulton county. There were twelve children born in the family, and the father died April 30, 1872, and the mother lived until May 7, 1899. She was a charter member of the Presbyterian Church which was organized in John King's barn one mile south of Delta. Harry Brooks Mack now owns Fairmont Farm, the old Mack homestead of pioneer days in Fulton county. He is a grandson of the woman who immigrated from Ireland and bears her name as well as the Mack family name. On March 23, 1904, he married Florence LaVerne Haley. She is a daughter of John Rutter and Elizabeth (Roos) Haley. She was born in Chesterfield. The Haley grandparents were John and Sarah (Rutter) Haley. He was from Holmes county, Ohio, and John R. Haley, father of Mrs. Mack, was born there. The grandmother was born in Pennsylvania, but the mother was born in Chesterfield. The maternal grandfather, John Philip Roos, was born at Red. Hook, New York, and he is descended from Dr. John Philip Burchard Roos, who joined Washington's army in the Revolutionary war. They are of Hessian descent. The grandmother, Emily (Noblis) Roos, was born at Warsaw, New York, but her parents came early to Chesterfield. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Mack are: Agnes Elizabeth, May 5, 1906; Harry Haley, March 3, 1909; and Norman Brooks, July 26; 1915. The family are members of the Christian Church. Fairmont Farm is one of the oldest family homesteads in Fulton county. The farm comprises eighty-three acres, is practically all under cultivation, and its improvements easily identify it among the better country homes of the county. To a large degree the success of this modern farm has been due to the intelligent efforts put forth by Harry B. Mack, who in his own character worthily upholds the record of this honored pioneer name in Fulton, county. FRANCIS JEROME HOYT. Having spent his life in Swan Creek Township, Francis Jerome Hoyt, one of the progressive farmers of Fulton county, naturally is much interested in this region and an active factor in promoting its welfare. He was born in Swan Creek Township on January 18, 1856, a son of Charles and Amelia (McCullough) Hoyt, he born near Batavia, New York, and she in Sandusky county, Ohio. In 1844 Charles Hoyt came to Cuyahoga county, Ohio, with his parents, but later left them and settled on the Maumee River in Lucas county. Following his marriage he spent a few years in Henry county, and then bought eighty acres of wild timber land in Swan Creek Township, Fulton county, which he cleared off, improved and resided upon until his death, which occurred on March 16, 1889. His wife passed away in 1875, having borne him the following children: Marietta, who is Mrs. John Alonza King of Weston, Ohio; Ruth Alice, who is Mrs. Eugene Kane, of Toledo, Ohio; and Francis Jerome, who is the youngest. Charles Hoyt had a daughter by a previous marriage, who is Jane, Mrs. Robert Wood, of Wood county, Ohio. Francis J. Hoyt was married to Isabella Hulet, a daughter of Edward and Rachel (Lindley) Hulet, born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio. Mr. Hulet was born at Brunswick, Medina county, Ohio. In HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 345 1860 the Hulet family moved to Swan Creek Township, Fulton county, and Mr. Hulet bought ninety acres of land in section 9. This land was covered with timber, and Mr. Hulet worked hard to clear it off until his death, which occurred on February 14, 1873. His widow survived him until February 4, 1912. Mrs. Hoyt is the only child of her parents. Following his marriage Mr. Hoyt moved on the old homestead of his father-in-law, and after the latter's death cared for Mrs. Hulet as long as she lived. Mr. Hoyt now owns 150 acres of land in his home place and two other tracts, one of twenty acres and the other of forty acres. He has 110 acres under cultivation, the rest being in woodland and pasture. Mr. Hoyt has always been a general farmer and stockraiser, and is recognized as one of the enterprising men in his line. Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt became the parents of the following children : Charles Edward, who lives at Toledo, Ohio ; Francis Leon, who is also at Toledo; Beulah Isabella, who is at home; and Raymond Harold, who died in infancy. While Mr. Hoyt's educational advantages were confined to those offered by the district schools of his neighborhood, Mrs. Hoyt attended Delta High School and the normal school-at Medina, Ohio. In the faith of the United Brethren Mr. Hoyt finds expression for his religious views. He is a strong republican and has been elected on his party ticket to the offices of township trustee and school director, and held the former one for three years. In addition to making a success of his farming, Mr. Hoyt has also gained the respect and confidence of his neighborhood, and is recognized as an excellent type of the Ohio farmer and citizen in good standing. The name of the Hoyt farm home is Seven Oaks. DANIEL LILLEY. Agriculture today continues as essential to peace as it was to war, and consequently now more than ever must the farmer receive due credit for what he has accomplished. Fulton county is producing some of the best agriculturists now, just as it has done in the past, and these men are making magnificent records for their section. One of these progressive citizens is Daniel Lilley, who is engaged in farming in York Township. He was born in Ontario, Canada, on March 24, 1871, a son of Hugh and Jane (Montgomery) Lilley, natives of Ireland and Ontario, Canada, respectively. The paternal grandfather, Hugh Lilley, died in Ireland, and the maternal grandparents, Frank and Jane Montgomery, were natives of the Emerald Isle. When he was seventeen years old Hugh Lilley, the younger, came across the ocean to Canada and learned the trade of a mason, but later became a farmer. In 1874 he came to the United States, and located in York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, buying eighty acres of land that was very heavily covered with timber. He cleared off his land and placed it under cultivation, and there he died in 1911, his widow surviving him until 1916. Their children were as follows: Mary, who is Mrs. F. J. Shannon, of Michigan ; Sarah, who was Mrs. Datin Roach, is deceased; Matilda, who is deceased; Rachel, who is Mrs. Fisk Brainard, of Alabama; Frank, who died at the age of three years; Anna, who is Mrs. Vernon Kesler, of Fulton county, Ohio ; Daniel, whose name heads this review; Jennie, who is the widow of David Mack, lives at Delta, Ohio ; Hugh, who 's a resident of York Township; John, who is a resident of Toledo, 346 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Ohio ; Bertha, who is Mrs. Frank Mack, of Pike Township ; and Verna, who is Mrs. Burr Kesler, of York Township. Daniel Lilley attended the district schools and remained at home until his marriage, which occurred on August 9, 1896 when he was united with Orpha Aummend, born in York Township, May 1, 1874, a daughter of Samuel G. and Martha (Misson) Aummend. For the year following his marriage Mr. Lilley lived on rented land in York Township, and then moved on the eighty-acre farm he owned in section 35 in the same township. This he improved and lived upon from 1898 until 1913, when he sold it and moved to Delta and spent a year. In the meanwhile he had bought the old homestead of his father, and in 1914 moved on it and it has since been his home. Here he is carrying on general farming and dairying, keeping from six to twelve cows of the registered Holstein strain. Since coming here he has either rebuilt or replaced all the buildings and has everything in fine condition. Seventy acres of his land is under cultivation, the remainder being in pasture, and his farm is one of the best improved in the township. Mr. and Mrs. Lilley became the parents of the following children : Howard, one of the veterans of the great war, was discharged from the navy during 1919, after a service of about eight months; and Marion, who is at home. Mrs. Lilley was given the advantage of attendance at the Wauseon Normal School and for eight terms taught in the district schools of Mahoning county prior to her marriage. She is one of the following family : Mrs. Oliver. George, who lives in York Township; Flora, who was Mrs. George Bowers, is now deceased ; Clark, who lives in Pike Township; Alpha, who is Mrs. Daniel Ringel of Huron county, Ohio ; Thomas, who lives in York Township ; Minnie, who died at the age of fifteen years; Mannie G., who lives in York Township ; Dora, who is Mrs. Waldo Smith of Aurora, Illinois; Mrs. Lilley ; Mabel, who is Mrs. Terry Tremain of York Township ; and Harry, who died at the age of four years. Mr. Aummend, father of the above mentioned family, died in 1900, but his widow survives him and makes her home with her daughter Mrs. Oliver George. Mr. Lilley is a democrat, but has no official record, his tastes leading him to keep, out of politics. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias No. 199 of Delta, Ohio, and he has held the office of doorkeeper in that lodge. A hard worker, he has striven to do whatever he undertook well and to render an efficient service, and as a result he has acquired a fair competency and good standing in his neighborhood. DR. JAMES ALEXANDER CRAIG. While he now lives on a Fulton Township farm and devotes himself to pursuits agricultural, Dr. James Alexander Craig supplemented his common and high school education in Christian county, Illinois, with a medical education in Washington College of St. Louis. For a number of years he practiced medicine in Illinois. Doctor Craig was born June 26, 1875, in Christian county, Illinois, and is a son of James and Narcissa (Rape) Craig. The father came from Glasgow, Scotland. The mother was a native of Sangamon county, Illinois. When James Craig was fourteen years old he came with a younger brother to Canada, but he soon crossed the boundary into the United States. He worked on farms in New York until he was twenty-one years old, when he went to Spring- HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 347 field, Illinois, where he again worked on farms in Sangamon county. After the Civil war he removed to Christian county. He bought land there in 1867. He died there in 1918, his wife having died ten years before that time. Their children were : William, of Christian county ; Elizabeth Jane, widow of Robert Armitage, of Taylorsville, Illinois; Minnie Alice, wife of F. W. Kepper, of Jasper, Missouri; Ada and Ida, twins, deceased ; Jacob, of Christian county ; and Dr. J. A. Craig, the youngest of the family. In August, 1897, he married Edith M. Aymer, of Christian county, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann (Beckingham) Aymer. They were from England. Doctor Craig practiced medicine at Farmersville, Illinois, for five years, when he removed to Pawnee, Christian county. In 1916 he purchased a farm of 295 acres in Fulton Township and removed to Fulton county, Ohio. The Doctor laid aside his profession for the oldest occupation known to the sons of men—agriculture. Beside general farming and livestock industry he gives special attention to a. fine Holstein dairy. The children of Dr. and Mrs. Craig are: Jessie M., wife of George E. Kessler of Fulton, Arthur F., James A., Bonnie Marie, Robert E., Alice E., Aymer D. Bessie, Bernidie and Dorothy. The family are members of the Methodist Church. The Doctor votes the democratic ticket and while living in Illinois he served as a,, member of the Board of Education. His Masonic Lodge membership is in Pawnee, Illinois, Gerard Chapter. While one of the newcomers in Fulton county, the community has welcomed a man of such progressive type as Doctor Craig exemplifies. He is a. man of scholarship and education, well qualified for leadership in agriculture, and his opinion is naturally respected on many subjects affecting die interests of the community. FRED LEWIS RICHARDS. The Richards family is one of the old-established ones of Ohio and Fulton county, and its representatives have long been associated with those industries which are connected with agricultural activities. One of the members of this family who has attained to a well merited prosperity is Fred Lewis Richards of Swan Creek Township. He was born in York Township this county on March 12, 1876, a son of Leander E. and Ida (Holborn) Richards, natives of Indiana and Fulton county, Ohio, respectively. A sketch of Leander E. Richards and his wife appears elsewhere in this work. Fred Lewis Richards attended the public schools in the several localities in which his parents' interests caused them to reside, and when he was seventeen years old he began working as a farm hand by the month, and was so engaged for a period of five years. On September 4, 1898, he was married to Ella Detwiler, born in Swan Creek Township, a daughter of Oliver and Mary (Teft) Detwiler, and they have three children, namely : Ophal May, Floy Oliver and Bertha, all of whom are at home. Following his marriage Fred Lewis Richards bought thirty-two acres of land in section 30, which was all cleared, and he has been a farmer of Swan Creek Township ever since. He subsequently added twenty-five acres to his farm, which is also improved, and now has a very valuable property. The present buildings have all been erected by him and he has made other improvements to bring his farm up to modern standards. Here he is carrying on general 348 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY farming and dairying, his herd numbering eight cows of the Holstein strain. Having spent all of his life in farming, Mr. Richards is thoroughly experienced and is not afraid to try new methods, for he recognizes the fact that something is constantly being brought to light. When he finds one which suits him and his work he adopts it. In this way he has brought his operations up to the highest degree of efficiency, and his land produces banner crops. Owing to the fact that he has been so occupied with his farming Mr. Richards has not cared to enter public life, but, like his good father, he always votes the republican ticket and upholds the principles of his party. While not a member of any religious organization, he attends the services of the Raker Universalist Church, and contributes toward its support. Having spent practically all of his life in Fulton county, he is naturally interested in its growth and development, and can be depended upon to back any movement which in his opinion will bring about these results. ALFRED DE LA MARE has developed a valuable farm in Swan Creek Township, and is recognized as one of the representatives of the agricultural class in Fulton county. He was born on the Island of Guernsey in August, 1848, a son of John and Sophia (DeGaris) de La Mare, also natives of the Island of Guernsey, who came to the United States in 1861. After a short period spent in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, they came to Swan Creek Township, buying eighty acres of partly cleared and improved land, of which they later sold their son Alfred half, residing on the other half for some years. They then sold it and bought another forty-acre tract a half mile south of their original farm, and there Mrs. de La Mare died, following which Mr. de La Mare went to live with his son Alfred, and remained with him as long as he survived. His children were as follows: Sophia, who was Mrs. Manuel Cole, is deceased; Alfred; Louisa, who died in infancy ; and John, who died at the age of five years. When he was twenty-one years of age Alfred de La Mare went to Cleveland, Ohio, and worked at gardening for one season and then drove a milk wagon for three years. He then returned to Swan Creek Township, to the forty acres of land he had bought from his father. This property was partly improved, but it had no buildings and he had to erect all of them. He has kept four acres of the original timber land, but has the remainder under cultivation, and has added to his farm until he now has sixty acres on the west side of the road and thirty acres on the east, and his wife owned ten acres one mile north of their farm. This had an old mill dam on it for furnishing the water power to run the Raker mill. This small tract is also operated by Mr. de La Mare. He carries on general farming and keeps a good-sized dairy and breeds cattle, hogs, horses and sheep. On November 25, 1875, Mr. de La Mare was united in marriage with Sarah Engleman, a daughter of John and Catherine (Smith) Engleman, born in Ohio. Mrs. de La. Mare died on October 2, 1897, having borne her husband the following children : Sophia, who is Mrs. Royal Reighard, of Swan Creek Township; an unnamed son who died in infancy; and Ethel, who married Carl Watkins, now operating the home farm, while Mrs. Watkins keeps house for her father. Mr. de La Mare is a member of the Raker Union Church. He is a strong prohibitionist and rejoices in the passage and ratifica- HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 349 tion of the Eighteenth Amendment. When he and his associates in this movement began their fight the general public had but little sympathy with them, never for a moment thinking that it would ultimately be successful. These early workers endured much in their efforts to educate the people with reference to the evils of the liquor traffic, and to them is due the credit for the great reform wave which has swept not only over this country, but is reaching out to include others, so that it is only a matter of time until the entire world will be "dry." THOMAS JEFFERSON WAGGONER. The honored name he bears would suggest that Thomas Jefferson Waggoner of Swan Creek Township is affiliated with the democratic party. Mr. Waggoner was born in Washington Township, Henry county, February 2, 1858, and he is a son of John B. and Catharine (Kessler) Waggoner. In early life he attended the district school, but hard work has always been part of his life history. On November 3, 1879, Mr. Waggoner married Mary Alice Null, who is a daughter of George and Christina (Arnold) Null. For two years after his marriage he resided with his parents, then he bought forty acres of land, with fifteen acres partly cleared, and he at once cleared all of it but five acres retained for pasture. The rest of the land is under cultivation. All necessary farm buildings have been added, and later his father gave him another tract of forty acres. Later he bought thirty-nine acres only a short distance from it, and withal he has one of the good farms in Swan Creek Township. On each tract there is a small amount of timber, and timber always adds to the value of farm land when the beauty is taken into consideration. The children in the Waggoner family are : Nettie, the wife of Louis Hoffman, of Swan Creek ; Myrtle Belle, wife of John Sweeny ; James, who farms the home place; Alice, wife of Allen Worden, of Toledo; George, of Henry county; Jesse, of Minneapolis; Ethel, wife of Charles Detwiler, of Toledo ; Pearl, wife of Floyd Baker, of Swan Creek ; Harry, of Toledo ; and Le Roy, of Toledo, who served in the Light Artillery in France in the World war. It will be noted that Mr. Waggoner had a son in the World war. That is an additional service to one of the most patriotic families found in Fulton county. Mr. Waggoner's own father was a Civil war soldier, and his first American ancestor bore arms for the independence of this country in the War of the Revolution. While the family has done its part in the various wars of the nation, their sustained service has been equally notable in making homes and clearing lands in the middle west, and the farm and home of Mr. Waggoner in Swan Creek Township is an impressive evidence of the substantial character and industry of its owner. ROY O. MERRILL, of Ai in Fulton county is. yet a young man, having been born April 18, 1891, in Fulton Township, Fulton county. His father, Frank C. Merrill, was born near Ottokee, while the mother , Etta (Nobbs) Merrill, was born at Ai. They still reside in Fulton Township, Fulton county. On March 7, 1914, Roy 0. Merrill married Ruby Stillwell, of Adrian, Michigan. She is a daughter of Amos P. and Eva (Blair) Stillwell. After his marriage he resided on his father's farm two years,