HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1875 woods and in the fields before Henry could have properly been called settled up. His individual career was one of much accomplishment, and exemplified the qualities of good citizenship which has so long been associated with descendants of the pioneer German stock in America. Mr. Schall died at his home at Liberty Center on April 7, 1916, having lived retired for some years. His parents, Henry and Anna (Horning) Schall, were both natives of Germany, his father of Wuertemberg and his mother of Bavaria. Henry Schall came alone to the. United States, locating in Pleasant Township of Henry County. His wife was quite young when she came with her parents, making the voyage on a slow-going sailing vessel. In Henry County when everything was so new and primitive these two people met and married, and being impelled by an ambition to make, a home and do their part toward the development of the new country they started out living in a cabin in the woods, cleared up the farm and endured all the trials and hardships of that early day. Henry Schall at the beginning had neither horses nor oxen. Thus when he needed meal or flour in the house he would carry a sack of corn or wheat on his back and walk many miles to the mill which stood on the banks of the Maumee Canal. Having got it ground, he would traverse the same path back home, and it meant an entire day from his work in' order to get a small bag of flour. Neither he or his wife was dismayed by hardship or difficulty, and while for a number of years they.had only the bare necessities of existence, they gradually became prosperous and added some of the comforts of life. After clearing up his first eighty acres Henry Schall bought other land, continued the work of improvement, erected substantial farm buildings, and had surrounded himself with all the evidences of material prosperity before he passed away at the age of seventy-two. His wife. died at seventy-six. All their children were born and reared on the old farm. The parents attended the Reformed Church, and Henry 'Schall was a very prominent early democrat in Henry County, filled the office of county commissioner two terms and was also given the responsibilities of offices in his home township. The late Peter Schall was the oldest in a family of six children and the only son. Of his five sisters, one died-young, one after her marriage, leaving a family, while the other three are still living,. married and have children. All of them reside in Henry County. Peter Schall made the best of such advantages of school as were given 'him, and after his marriage he spent seven winter terms as a teacher. For eighteen years he was a resident of Pleasant Township, and then removed 'to Liberty Township, buying eighty acres in section 27. He put that' in splendid condition as a farm, fencing, tiling, putting up barns and also the nine-room house which still stands on the farm. About ten years ago he and his wife retired to a town home in Liberty Center. It was in that home that he died. Mrs. Schall still lives at Liberty Center. Mr. Schall was keenly interested in local welfare, and for two terms was county infirmary director and held all the township offices. He was a strong democrat. During the Civil war he had served in the One Hundredth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, having enlisted toward the end of the war when he was about twenty years of age. He was long identified with Post No. 25 of the Grand Army of the Republic at Liberty Center, and filled the office of commander. In Highland Township of Defiance. County, Ohio, Peter Schall married Miss Christina Barbara Bauer. Mrs. Schall was born in the same township and county on June 9, 1851, and has spent practically all her life in this section of Northwest Ohio. Her father, Ear-hart Bauer, was born in the Province of Bavaria, Germany, and when twenty-seven years of age came to the United States with his parents. They immigrated in the style and fashion of the time, and both he and his parents located in Henry County. His parents, Jdhn and Margaret Bauer, improved a farm in Defiance County, and John died when he was about sixty and his wife lived to be very old. They were members of the Lutheran. Church, and he was a democrat. Earhart Bauer bought forty acres of land in Highland Township of Defiance County and forty acres in Pleasant Township of Henry County. With the aid of his wife and daughters he made a good farm out of this land. For a time they lived in a hewed log house, and later replaced that with a dwelling of more comforts and conveniences. Earhart Bauer's children were all daughters. He was married to Henrietta Boly, who when three years of age was brought to this country by her parents, who located in Pleasant Township of Henry County, and as pioneers hewed a farm out of the wilderness. 1876 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Her father, Theobald Boly, died when nearly ninety years of age, and his wife had passed her seventieth birthday when called beyond. They were Reformed Church people and helped build up and establish the first church of that denomination in their community. As a family the Bolys were democrats. Mrs. Schall was the oldest of eleven daughters, most of whom died when young. She now has two living sisters, both married. To .the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Schall were born ten children, five sons and five daughters, and it is a remarkable testimony to the rugged virtues of the,parents that all these are still living and all married. Catherine is the wife of Edward Wright, of Toledo, Ohio, and their four children are Burdette, Mien, Helen and Clyde. Henry, a farmer on the old homestead, married Alpha Kiger and, has children named Eunice, Bernice, Roy and Sanford. John is a widower living at Liberty 'Center. George, whose home is also at Liberty Center, has four children named Lawrence, Robert, Minor and Helen. Margaret is the wife Of Charles Miller, an electrician living at Detroit, Michigan. Carl, whose home is in Grand Rapids of Wood County, Ohio, has a daughter, Dorothy Cora married George Wagoner, of Fort Wayne, and their children are Ruth and Robert. Bertha married Louis Beilhartz, of Toledo, and has three children, George, Josephine and Nelson. Eugene has recently established himself in the drug business at Toledo. Irene is the wife of Leo. Tester, of Toledo, and they have a son, Leo, Jr. Mrs. Schall and all her children are members of the Reformed Church. HARVEY NEWELL TRUMBULL, M. D. Though one of the youngest members of the medical fraternity of Sandusky County, Doctor Trumbull in ability and the extent of his patronage enjoys a substantial position in the community. of Woodville. He has brought to his professional work an exceptional equipment, gained both from the schools and from the resources of his own mind. A native of Northwest Ohio, he _was born in Lucas County near Holland February 22, 1884, a son of William Oscar and Eliza (Rush) Trumbull. His parents are well known people of Lucas County, where they reside on a farm. Doctor Trumbull attended the grammar and high schools at Holland, and in his early manhood was engaged in teaching for four years, preparatory to taking up the career which he early decided upon. He studied medicine at the Toledo College of Medicine where he was graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1910, and soon afterward in 1911 took up his home and established his office at Woodville. Besides the large private practice which has come to him, he is medical examiner for the leading life insurance companies doing business at Woodville. He is also a member of the Sandusky County and Ohio State Medical societies and the American Medical Association, and fraternally is identified with the Masonic Order. On February 16, 1914, he married Miss Kathryn Babione of Woodville. EARL K. SOLETHER, prosecuting attorney for Wood County, has every talent and equipment for conspicuous success and achievement in his chosen profession. He is a splendid specimen of virile physical manhood, and he commands unusual intellectual resources with a sterling integrity of personal character. Mr. Solether was nominated and elected to his present office in 1914, and was reelected in 1916. His first term expired January 1, 1917. It was distinguished by an unaccustomed vigor in the enforcement of the laws and he set a standard of official administration such as his successors will have difficulty in equalling. Mr. Solether is one of the young and energetic and progressive republicans of Wood County, and is a former secretary of the executive committee. A native of Wood County, he was born in Bloom Township October 14, 1883. He grew-up. on a farm, was educated in public schools and at Oberlin Academy, and subsequently entered the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated in the law course in 1907. The same year he was admitted to the bar and by virtue of his examination before the Supreme Court was qualified for practice in all the courts of the state. Mr. Solether then located in Bowling Green and for five years was in general practice with William Dunipace as a partner. Afterwards he was associated with Judge Guy C. Nearing, until their associations were dissolved on Mr. Solether's election as prosecuting attorney. His grandfather, Charles Solether, came from Germany and was a pioneer in Wood County, Ohio, where he cleared up a home from the forest. He proved his loyalty to his adopted land by enlisting and serving three years as a Union soldier. He was exposed to many dangers and hardships but went through without wounds and then returned home and HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1877 lived peacefully as, a farm' er until his death in Bloom Township when past eighty years of age. He was twice married, the names of his wives being Miller and Stull. Both were mothers of children, and of the children by the first wife one was Cyrus Wilson Solether. Cyrus Wilson Solether, father of the prosecuting attorney is a man of sixty years, still active and vigorous and a resident of Bloom Township, where he was born. He grew up there, married, and then undertook the development of a new farm. He has been very. successful, accumulated a large amount of land, and has much to show for his life of effort. He married Elizabeth Weaver, who was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, and was reared in that locality. Both are well known people in Bloom Township, are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the father as a. republican has been keenly interested in local affairs and has filled several minor offices. Earl K. Solether was the oldest of his father's children. He was married to a young lady from Bowling Green, Miss Mildred Meeker, who was born in that city in 188.8. She is a graduate of the Bowling Green High .Scheol. Mr. and Mrs. Solether have two daughters, Helen S. and Lois L. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Solether has taken much interest in Masonry, has been secretary of the Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter at Bowling Green, belongs to the Fostoria Council, Royal and Select Masters, and to the Knights Templar Commandery at Toledo. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. ELMER A. POWELL, M. D. For a number of years Dr. Elmer A. Powell has been one of the leading physicians and .surgeons of North Baltimore and his abilities and service have been constantly growing to keep pace with widening opportunities and experience. He graduated from the Illinois Medical College at Chicago M. D. in 1902, but throughout the fifteen subsequent gears he has been both a student of theory and practice while attending college. Four years after graduation he received a diploma from the Chicago Policlinic, and has taken several other post-graduate courses in other schools.. Doctor Powell was born in Hancock County in Blanchard Township, November 19, 1872. After the common schools he gained his higher education largely through his own work and Vol. III-35 ambition. At the age of twenty he 'taught his first term of country school in his nativetown ship and put in ten successive winters in teaching in that county. It was his earnings as an educator that enabled him to complete his course in medicine. His parents, Alexander B. and Rebecca (Jackson) Powell, were both born in Ohio and both in the same year, 1842. His father was born in Fairfield County and his mother in Wyandot County. Both families 'were among the pioneers of Ohio. Alexander B. Powell was married near Carey in Wyandot County and, at once moved to a tract of new land in Hancock County, where his energies developed a good farm in Blanchard Township. Here the wife and mother died in February, 1901, and Alexander B. Powell is still living on the old homestead, but now retired. He has prospered and has always borne an enviable reputation as a man and citizen. He is a democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Doctor Powell was the second child and five of the family are still living, all married except one. The oldest is Rev. Webster H. Powell, a graduate of the Ohio Northern University at Ada and of the Ohio Wesleyan at Delaware and now for a number of years has been actively engaged in his work as a Methodist minister. He has filled pastorates both in Ohio and in Massachusetts and is one of the prominent members of the Massachusetts Conference. Since 1914 he has been district superintendent of the New Lynn Conference. He married in Massachusetts and has a daughter, Ruth G. Doctor Powell married in Hancock County Miss Carrie Walter. She is the same age as her husband and was reared and educated in Blanchard Township., They were schoolmates together and she also .taught until her marriage. They are the parents of two children, Avery D., who was born at Benton Ridge, December 17, 1902, and is now a junior in the North Baltimore High School; and Ruth Marian, born April 20, 1913. Doctor Powell and wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a democrat, is president of the North Baltimore School Board and is also a member of the County Board of Commissioners. Since January, 1917, he has filled the office of director and vice president of the Hardy Banking Company. He is a member of the County and State Medical societies and the American Medical Association, and has gone through both the York and. Scottish Rites of Masonry, being 1878 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO affiliated with North Baltimore Lodge No. 561, Free and Aecepted Masons, Knights Templar Commandery at Findlay and the Consistory at Toledo. DANIEL CARROLL HENRY. One of the prominent citizens and substantial business men of Carey, Ohio, who has through his own efforts made a name for himself in the milling industry, is Daniel Carroll Henry, who is general manager and also treasurer of the Carey Mill & Elevator Company at this place. Mr. Henry has been identified with the milling business and the handling of grain since boyhood and his training has been thorough and his experience wide. In this connection it may be mentioned also that he is a self-made man and that his standing 'in the business world and his stable reputation as a citizen are the result of a well directed life of industry and integrity. Daniel Carroll Henry was born in Peace Valley, Howell County, Missouri, May 17, 1878. His parents are Thomas Hale and Lucy Elizabeth (Matthews) Henry, and his grandfather was John Henry, who was born in Ireland. In. early manhood he came to America and settled first in Greene County, Missouri, but later removed to Howell County. There he cleared land that he secured from the Government and spent his last days. He was a veteran of the Civil war, as were also three of his sons, Thomas Hale included. The latter still resides on the old homestead and is a farmer and stockraiser. Daniel Carroll Henry had few educational advantages, for a few years attending the country schools near his home in the winters only. When thirteen years of age he secured his first job, a humble position with the Peace Valley Milling Company, and worked for that concern for about eight years, applying himself so industriously that he gained rapid promotion and when he left to accept another position he had complete charge of the mill and was probably the youngest manager at that time. of any flour mill in Missouri. Mr. Henry then went to Pomona in Howell County and invested in stock in a new mill there and was made secretary of the company, but one year later sold his interest and came to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he accepted the position of head miller in the P. H. Harshey Flour ,Mill and remained one year. On October 12, 1902, he came to Carey and entered the W. H. Snyder Flouring Mill as second miller and served as such for ten months, when Mr. Snyder made him, head, miller and he continued as such for four years. In the meanwhile he had been provident and saving and when the advantageous opportunity came, had the capital to purchase, in association_ with W. L. Lindsay, his brother-in-law, the grocery store of C. E. Gibbs, the firm name becoming D. C. Henry & Company, which still prevails, Mr. Lindsay being the manager. In January, 1917, the old Snyder Mill Company, was reorganized and the name changed to the Carey Mill and Elevator Company, in deference to the home of the prosperous business and as more clearly indicative of its wider extended facilities. Mr. Henry is one of the leading stockholders in the present enterprise and is, as mentioned above, its secretary and general manager. The company does a general milling and grinding business, shipping flour all over the country and locally dealing also in coal. In June, 1900, Mr. Henry was united in -marriage with Miss Cora Lindsay, who is a daughter of John C. and Lydia (Fourt) Lindsay, of Portsmouth, Ohio. They have had two children born to them.: Carroll Lindsay, who was born May 4, 1901, and died one week later ; and Margaret Eugenia, who was born in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Henry are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Carey, and are interested in other agencies for good; but their charities are unostentatiously bestowed and their benevolences unheralded. Mr. Henry has always been a busy man but he has found time to encourage and work for commendable public enterprises and well deserves the name of a public spirited citizen. Politically he is a democrat. In 1912 he was elected city treasurer of Carey and as indicative of the general confidence he inspires his re-election followed in 1914. JOHN B. MESS. One of the most honored among the old-time residents of Henry County, Ohio, an authority as to pioneer events and dates in the southwest part of the county, and local historian of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Parish of New Bavaria, John B. Mess has also long been identified with the agricultural interests of the county. Nearly seventy years have passed since Mr. Mess first came to Henry County, he then being still an infant and the country a wilderness. He has lived to see the locality brought from its most primitive conditions to prosperity and productiveness, and with his own hands has assisted to HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1879 make this one of the most fertile sections of a fertile state. John B. Mess was born in Luxemburg, 'German, February 18, 1846, and is a son of Michael and Susanna (Niederkorn) Mess, natives of the City of Echternach, Luxemburg, whose parents were all born at or near that place and there reared and married. These families were noted for their longevity; Grandfather Mess being eighty-eight years old at the time of his death, and one of Mr. Mess' maternal ancestors reaching the remarkable age of one hundred and two years. All were members of the Roman Catholic Church, to which faith the family has belonged for generations. After their marriage, Michael and Susanna Mess resided in their native city, and there all their five children were born, namely : Margaret, who was married and is now deceased ; Mary, who was eighty years of age November 25, 1916, now the wife of Jacob Klare, a farmer of Pleasant Township, Henry County, who was eighty-two years old in July, 1916; Henry, who died November 7, 1855, in his eighteenth year; Peter W., born November 9, 1842, who is now a resident of Fremont, Ohio, and has a wife and six living children ; and John B. By a former marriage Michael MeSs had two children : John, who died in the West and left issue ; and Anna, who is the widow of Frederick Spangler, and the mother of Hon. D. D. Spangler, ex-representative in the Ohio Legislature. Michael Mess and his family left their na tive land in 1847, taking passage at Antwerp on an old sailing vessel which was then more than fifty years old, and which carried 300 steerage passengers. This crazy old tub was buffeted back and forth in its journey across the Atlantic, but finally, after fifty-one days, made port at New York and released its passengers, who had lived through seven weeks o misery. From New York the little party of Luxemburgers made their way up the Hudson River and. the Erie Canal, then from Buffalo, New York, by the, Great Lakes, to Sandusky, Ohio, and there took the old Mad-river Railroad, which had rails of strap iron on sills, 4 by 4 inches, and gross ties. Eventually they arrived at their destination, Berwick, Seneca County, an absolutely new part of the country. The father lad in his pocket $1 in cash, but soon secured employment at 37 ½ cents per day, while the mother added her mite to the family income by taking in washing at 25 cents per family. They remained in that community for ten months, and in February, 1848, removed to Pleasant Township, Henry County, and entered forty acres of Government land in section 26. Here the father erected a log cabin, into which the family moved in March of the same year, a welcome shelter from the cold of their former exposed condition. Here the father continued to be engaged in clearing and cultivating his land, working industriously that he might provide a home and comforts for his family; but he did not live long after coming to this community, passing away in 1855, when fifty-six years of age. Mrs. Mess, who was born in 1803,. survived until July 10, 1871. Michael Mess assisted in the scoring of the logs of which the first Roman Catholic Church of the region was built. This was a structure 26 by 40 feet, 15 feet from floor to ceiling. Many years later his son, John B. Mess, helped to raze this pioneer structure, in 1864, in order to build the' structure which succeeded it, this being a frame house. The latter was succeeded by the present brick edifice. John B. Mess was educated in the public schools, and was confirmed in the Catholic faith at Defiance, Ohio. Since his boyhood he has been active in church work and a leader in his section of the county. Reared to agriculutral pursuits, he has made the tilling of the soil his chief occupation through life, and at the present time is the owner of seventy acres of good land in section 30, Marion Township. Here he has excellent buildings, which include his comfortable home, which he erected twenty-six years ago. Mr. Mess is something more than an agriculturist, however. In his community his neighbors rely upon him for the settlement of disputes, for advice and counsel in their undertakings and for his wise judgment and sound, practical common sense in matters of public import. He has served his locality well in public office, having been a constable for one year, justice of the peace during the long period of thirteen years, and township clerk and assessor over an extended era. While he generally supports the democratic party and its candidates, he is apt to act independently if he feels the occasion warrants. Mr. Mess was married in Pleasant Township, Henry County, Ohio, June 3, 1873, at the Roman Catholic Church, to Miss Mary Sophia Duding, who was born in that township, December 3, 1853, a daughter of Charles and Margaret (Royal) Duding. Her father, a native of the Province of Hanover, Germany, came to the United States alone, in 1849, and 1880 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO in 1850 or 1851 was married to Margaret Royal, who was born in Alsace Lorraine, France, and had come to the United States in 1845, her father, Ferdinand Royal, having been one of the earliest of Henry County's pioneers. Mr. Duding began life at New Bavaria as a merchant, but died in 1854, when still in middle life. His widow subsequently married Ludwig Meichor, and they spent the remaining years of their lives here. Both were faithful members of the Roman Catholic Church and worshipped at the Sacred Heart Parish. Mrs. Mess died March 30, 1910, having been the mother of eight children, as follows : Ignatius P., who is conducting operations on his father's farm, married Miss Anna M. Schwab; John, born in 1876, who died single at the age of thirty-three years ; Francis Xavier, residing on a farm in Marion Township, married Matilda Swary ; Andrew A., born in 1880, who died as a single man, January .29, 1911; Joseph Leo, who is a restaurateur of Cleveland, Ohio, single ; William, deceased, a former postmaster of New Bavaria, who at the time of.his death, April 11, 1915, was succeeded in that position by his widow, and also left one son, Jerome Clifford ; Anthony P., who died June 26, 1911, at the age of twenty-three years; and Frances C., who died March 5, 1908, at the age of seventeen years. All the members of the Mess family belong to the Sacred Heart congregation of the Roman Catholic Church, in which the children have been confirmed, and Mr. Mess has been the contractor for the last two churches built. For the past quarter of a century he has done carpentering and contracting as a side line to his farming, and has ''built numerous churches, schools and residences, not alone in Henry, but in adjacent counties. DAVID L. NEWTON, a resident of Bowling Green for a number of years, began when a boys his experience in the oil fields of Western Pennsylvania, where he was born, and has been an operator for upwards of thirty years. His activities have covered some of the best known fields in Ohio and also in Kentucky, and he is a member of a .syndicate that has succeeded in uncovering some of the most notable deposits of oil within recent years. Mr. Newton was born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, January 21, 1858. He is of Pennsylvania ancestry running back for several generations. His parents were Este and Elizabeth (Weikel) Newton. His father was born in New York State of New England stock, while his mother was a native of Pennsylvania of either German or Dutch ancestry. They were married in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, and spent their active careers as farmers. They died near Meadville, the father in 1892, at the age of seventy-five; and the mother in 1895, at the age of eighty. They were honest, hard working, kindly people and richly deserved the esteem paid them during their lives and the kindly memory that follows them after death. The mother was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Both parents had been previously married. Of the father's first marriage there were five children, some of whom are still living. The mother's first husband was William McGill, and he died in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. 'Of that union there were three sons and six daughters, and one of the daughters is still living at the age of eighty. Two of the sons, John and William McGill, were soldiers in the Civil War in the Eighty-third Pennsylvania Infantry. They fought in many battles, and William after three years veteranized and continued in the service until the end of the war. He was a first lieutenant and was mustered out with the rank of captain. John was wounded. Both had enlisted before they were of age, William at the age of sixteen, and after the war they were married, and both died young, William at the age of thirty-eight and John at thirty-nine. Their early deaths were largely due to the hardships incident to their military service. David L. Newton was one of the three children of his parents. Johanna, who died in December, 1915, was the wife of J. S. Dillon, who died six years ago ; David L., the second in age, and Asa A., a farmer in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, who has a family of two daughters. David L. Newton grew up in Crawford County, attended the local schools, and at the age of fourteen he left his father's farm and entered the oil regions of Butler County. His first work there was as an oil pumper. By practical experience he became familiar with every phase of oil drilling and oil operations, and when a little past thirty years of age he started out as an independent operator along Beaver Creek in Beaver County. The first two drills he put down struck dry sand and he then went to Allegheny County and sunk some wells in the Imperial District, which HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1881 brought him his first promising success. He continued his Operations with varying fortunes for a number of years in Western Pennsylvania, and in March, 1904, removed to Wood County, Ohio. Here he became manager and one of the organizers of the Newton Oil and Gas Company, whose field of operations was Portage township of Wood County. He remained with that firm five years. Some of their best wells were drowned out by fresh water, and about that time Mr. Newton severed his connection with the company and became affiliated with White, Newton & Moore in. the operations in Morgan County, Ohio. Morgan County has proved one of the richest ends in the oil industry of Ohio in recent years, and no firm has done more to develop the prospects there than White, Newton & Moore. That company drilled about 100 profitable wells. On July 24, 1913, they sold their interests in Morgan County and have since operated in Indiana and Kentucky. The Kentucky field is one of growing prominence in the American oil industry. Their operations are in Estill County in the Irvine pool; where they now have eleven wells completed and producing, and are rapidly extending their leases and operations throughout that district. Mr. Newton married for his first wife Maria Winger. She lived at Oil City, Pennsylvania, and died at the early age of twenty-four; leaving one daughter, Blanche. This daughter was well educated and is now the wife of John Arnold, of Bowling Green. They have two children, Morgan and Margaret M. Mr. Newton married for his second wife at Gringo, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Miss Jennie McGee. Her father, William T. McGee, was known throughout the length and breadth of the oil district of Western Pennsylvania as a prominent driller and operator and had many prominent associates in the old-time days of the oil industry. Mr. and Mrs. Newton have two daughters and one son. Morgan, the son, now twenty-seven years of age, is general purchasing agent for the Garford Motor Truck Company of Lima, Ohio. He is married but has no children. Anna was educated in the Bowling Green High School, is' a trained nurse, and has offered her services in that capacity to the Allied armies. Agnes, the younger daughter, was educated at St. Mary's College in Monroe, Michigan, and is a cultured young woman, and is the wife of Eugene Kimball, who is employed in the clerical department of the Ford Plate Glass Company at Bassford, Ohio. They have a daughter, Mary Jane. Mrs. Newton and her children are all members of the Catholic Church. Politically Mr. Newton is a republican, though his father was a very ardent democrat. CYRUS D. HARE, advisory and contributory editor to the History of Northwest Ohio from Wyandot County, has lived in that section of the state practically all his life, and has had unusual opportunities to know and to mingle with the people of Wyandot County and their chief interests arid activities. His birth occurred near Carey in that County September 20, 1848. He is a son of Levi and Jane (Berry) Hare. The paternal ancestry is traced back to Switzerland, while through his mother Mr. Hare is descended from English and Irish forefathers. He was educated in the common schools of Crawford Township and in a select school at Carey, for several years was a school teacher, for a similar time was a traveling salesman, and finally located at Upper Sandusky, where for many years he has had a successful insurance business. From 1903 to 1909 he served as clerk of courts in Wyandot County. Politically he has always been a democrat. He is a charter member of Upper Sandusky Lodge, No. 83, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Hare was married, at Bryan, Ohio, November 6, 1878, to Mary M. McCutchan, daughter of Robert McCutchan. His first wife died August 17, 1891, and subsequently he married her sister, Harriet E. McCutchan. Mr. Hare's children, all by his first wife, are : Shirley E. Hare ; Helen E., Harew ife of Judge Charles F. Close ; Robert L. Hare ; Thaddeus D. Hare ; and Elise Hare. BRICE B. HERRIFF is the present county recorder of Wood County. He was first elected to the office in 1914, and began his term in September, 1915. In 1916 the people of Wood County endorsed his administration of the office by re-electing him, and his second term begins in September, 1917. Those familiar with the handling of the county recorder's records know and appreciate Mr. Herriff's ability as the creator of an efficient organization and system. His office has the care and keeping of records involving all the property of the county, and such records are invaluable. These records are consulted not only by real estate men and lawyers but by individual property owners, and Mr. Herriff has made it a point to make the records avail- 1882 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO able at a moment's notice to those occasional seekers of information, and even those unaccustomed to the routine of such an office have little difficulty in finding what they want. Before entering upon his duties as county recorder Mr. Herriff was for seven years deputy county auditor under B. C. Harding. His business experience also included eight years as assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Bowling Green. Some of the prosperity of that bank during that time must be credited to the work and influence of Mr. Herriff, who was young and popular, had many friends and increased the patronage and the substantial resources of the institution. While he was in the bank the deposits increased from a figure at about $200,000 to well upwards of $1,000,000. Mr. Herriff has spent most of his life in Wood County but was born in Sandusky County, May 21, 1877. He is of Pennsylvania ancestry. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Herriff, were both born in Ohio, were married in this state, and from Sandusky County they removed to Wood County when their son Brice was a small child. A. W. Herriff was a blacksmith, and passed away in 1916. The mother is still living at the age of sixty-nine and has her home at Prairie Depot in Wood County. She is an active member of the Christian Church. Mr. Herriff was the oldest of a family of three children. His brother Walter is manager of an oil company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is married and has one daughter. Their sister, Harriet, is living with her mother, unmarried. Brice B. Herriff had only a common school education. Even when in school he had some experience at clerical work and before coming to Bowling Green he was agent for the Toledo and Ohio Central Railway at Prairie Depot, and in that capacity he acquired a general knowledge of bookkeeping and some skill as a telegrapher. He also worked a year for the Ohio Oil Company in their office, and for a time was connected with the Sun Oil Company at Prairie Depot. Mr. Herriff pays a high tribute for his individual success to the fostering care and influence of former County. Auditor Harding. Mr. Harding took a personal interest in the young man, encouraged him and trained him, and more than anyone else fitted him for the responsible duties lie now handles. Mr. Herriff is affiliated with Bowling Green LodgebNo. 818 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, for the past nineteen years has been a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge in that city, and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He was married at Bowling Green to Miss Mary K. Branigan, who was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, but completed her education in the Bowling Green schools. Mrs. Herriff was reared a Catholic. They have one,daughter, Mary V., born April 14, 1914. JOHN A. MOHR. When a man starts life without either money or the influence of friends and gains as substantial a position as John A. Mohr now holds at Lima, the explanation is that he possesses not only hard working ability but also character and integrity. Mr. Mohr was born at Greenville, Ohio, April 26, 1869. His parents, John and Caroline (Krickenberger) Mohr, were both natives of Germany. The paternal grandfather spent all his life in Germany, while the paternal grandmother came to the United States where she spent her last years. The maternal grandfather, Karl Krickenberger, was a pioneer in the farming district of Darke County, Ohio, where he cleared up land from its wild state and made a farm. John Mohr was born July 2, 1837, and died January 16, 1900. His wife was born April 5, 1844, and is still living. He had come to America as a young man after serving three years in the German army, and located in Darke County, Ohio, where he married Miss Krickenberger, who had come to this state at the age of eight years. John Mohr worked in a mill and gas factory at Greenville, but subsequently was in the grocery and feed business, which he continued until April 14, 1886. In that year he moved his family to Lima, where he was in a retail business. He and his family were members of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and in politics he was- a democrat. There were three children : Wilhelmina, who died in December, 1886 ; Charles J., now a member of the police force at Des Moines, Iowa ; and John A. John A. Mohr gained most of his early education by his own efforts. He was schooled both in English and German schools and in Spite of his early handicaps at one time he took an examination for a Government civil service position in which most of the candidates were college boys. He passed at better examination than nine-tenths of his competitors. After leaving school he worked in a grocery store and did everything that was required in that store, from delivery boy up to salesman HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 883 and bookkeeper. This experience was acquired at Greenville,. Ohio, but on coming to Lima he found work in the car shops and was also in the building material business. He worked a number of years as a car builder both at Lima and in Birmingham, Missouri. For a time he was associated with his father in business. On June 1, 1904, Mr. Mohr engaged in the insurance and real estate business. He has built up one of the best agencies and brokerage establishments of its kind in Lima,,, and handles property all over the country. He is also a director and appraiser of the Central Building and Loan Association, and has held those positions since the organization 'of this prosperous concern. He is also a director and treasurer of the Allen County Agricultural Society and has been a member of its executive committee for ten years. On June 1, 1892, Mr. Mohr established a home of his own by his marriage to Minnie G. Requarth of Greenville, Ohio. Four children were born to their marriage : John W., who was born in May and died in July, 1894; Helen W., a talented young woman who is now teaching piano and organ ; Florence L., in the office of her father ; and Robert W. is studying analytical rating at the Ohio Inspecting Bureau at Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Mohr is an active member of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and has been an official of the church for seventeen years. In January, 1916, 'he was elected president of the church board and was re-elected in January, 1917. Politically he is a democrat. He was elected councilman at large for the city in 1914, and in 1915 served as president of the council. His standing as a business man and as a citizen has made him an influential factor in local politics for a number of years. He is one of the men upon whom Lima counts for leadership and effective work in behalf of any large movement involving the general welfare of the city. DAVID THOMAS NITRAUER is sole proprietor of the U. S. Flouring Mills of Upper Sandusky, a local industry that supplies a large trade with 'high class patent flour and other feed stuffs. Mr. Nitrauer has had a long and active career that shows on its face a determined struggle and ambition and an ability to cope with the varying circumstances of life with never an acknowledgment of defeat. Mr. Nitrauer was born at Lebanon, Pennsylvania; August 8, 1856.a son of Daniel and Magdalena (Yingst) Nitrauer. His people were farmers as far back as he has any record. Mr. Nitrauer attended the public schools at Lebanon until he was sixteen, and then had to go to work to support himself. He found employment at different things and in different places up to. the age of twenty-one. This was a period of hard times in Pennsylvania and he decided to come West. All the fourteen dollars he possessed he invested in a railway ticket, a second class ticket that brought him as far as Upper Sandusky. This was in 1877. Here he hired out as a farm hand to George Cook for seventeen dollars a month and board. A year later he entered the service of David Harpster, the wool king of Ohio, and served him as a farm hand for three years. In the meantime his parents had come out to Harpster, Ohio, and they bought a home here where they spent the rest of their days. The father passed away in December, 1911, and his mother in 1907. In 1881 Mr. Nitrauer, though by no means securely established in financial circumstances, got married, Miss Ella Palmer becoming his bride. She is a daughter of Jacob and Arabella (Whittaker) Palmer, of Harpster, Ohio. It is to the credit of Mr. and Mrs. Nitrauer that their children have all grown up to occupy honorable positions in life. Harry D., the oldest, lives at Lima, Ohio. He married Minnie Hauenstine, of Allen County, Ohio, 'and they have two children, Helen and Marian. Edward Y., the second child, married Cora Price, of Wyandot County. Elmer E. is assisting his father in the management of the flour mills. He married Opal Simpson, of Forest, Ohio, and they have one child, Grant E., who is now with the American troops in France having enlisted February 19, 1916, in the One Hundred and Third Truck Corps. After his marriage Mr. Nitrauer rented eighty acres of land at Harpster and farmed there a year. He then moved to .another eighty acre farm close to Harpster, but the year there was one of bad crops and he lost all his savings. He then went to work for Richard Carter on the latter's farm south of Upper Sandusky and was again in the role of a laboring man for two years. He then moved into the village of Harpster and for three years was a section hand and for another three years section foreman for the Hocking Valley Railway Company. By this hard and consecutive work he managed to save $700. This he invested in another home at Harpster, traded that as part payment on eighty acres 1884 -HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO of land near the town, and four years later Sold it for $2,100 more than it cost. Since then his career has been one of progressive industry and fruitfulness. He bought 127 acres at Harpster and farmed it six years. This he traded for a farm of sixty-five acres in Hardin County, which was his home for three years. The next trade brought him 120 acres at Forest, Ohio, and after occupying that for two years he traded for two dwelling houses and other considerations in 1912. In 1913 Mr. Nitrauer bought the Upper Sandusky Flouring Mill, a mill of eighty barrels capacity, and has found this a profitable and congenial business. The principal brand of his flour,, which is distributed over a radius of twenty-five miles around Upper Sandusky, is Roller King. Mr. Nitrauer is a republican in politics. He is a member of the Ohio State Millers Association, and he and his family worship in the First Methodist Episcopal. Church. JOSEPH GILLETTE enjoys the position of a successful merchant and influential citizen at Holgate, Henry County. His prosperous condition at the present is not so much a matter of interest as the long and hard road he traveled and the romantic experiences he had in earlier years. He was born in Italy. His family name he never knew, and the name he now uses was that of his benefactor, with whom he lived in Ohio and later in Kansas. Young Gillette learned to finger and play the violin when a small child and at an early age he came to America accompanied by his father, who hired the boy to an Italian musician, forming a small troupe of musicians. They did not have a great reputation and were not welcomed on the boards' of concert houses, but found means of livelihood by playing on street corners and wherever not forbidden, and they earned a precarious living by traveling about the country in the United States and in Canada. They endured all manner of privations, hardships and insults. They slept wherever they could find shelter and they ate only as their earnings permitted them to do. This little musician band finally reached Detroit. From there they made another stage of their wanderings to Cleveland. While on the streets of Cleveland, carrying his violin, young Gillette became separated from. the other members of the party, and has never since, though. he tried, learned anything of his father. He boarded a train at Cleveland but was put off at Sandusky, where he remained a few days. He then boarded a train for Toledo, but being asleep he became confused and instead of taking his train back to Cleveland he was placed on the wrong train, which took him to Defiance, where he was put off. He made a vain search for his father and attempted to get back to New York City. It would be. an interesting story to know all that he thought and felt, all his emotions and struggles, and all his experiences while drifting about the country. However, to make this long story short, his journey's end first came at Defiance, Ohio, where he found .a place of welcome in the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Moone, proprietors of a hotel there. They kept him for some months, and while there he sought employment in the country, but not being of the physical mold of the farmer boy he found no favor in the eyes of the country people. He finally reached Whitehouse, Ohio, and there became acquainted with another hotel man, Mr. Adolph Gillette. Mr. and Mrs. Gillette became very fond of the young musician, took him into their home, and he lived with them in Ohio from 1876 until 1879. The Gillette family then moved out to Kansas, and the adopted boy remained with them about a year. The Gillette home in Kansas was at Abilene. Seeking fresh experiences of his own, he then beat his way to Colorado, but after some months returned in the same way to Abilene. A year or so later Eben Gillette, a son of Adolph, brought young Joseph to Ohio, and located at Holgate in Henry County. Joseph Gillette has lived at Holgate since 1883, and has been a factor in business life on his own account for the past twenty-three years. He early conceived an ambition to have a home and a station in life of his own, and by hard work, in spite of the disadvantages of lack of education and opportunity and of family connections, he has succeeded in realizing these early aims and is now one of the well-to-do and highly respected citizens of Henry County. After coming to Holgate in 1883 Mr. Gillette was clerk for Eben Gillette and by faith- ful performance of duty 'he not only earned regular wages and thriftily saved part of them, but gained the experience which enabled him to enter business for himself. On February 2, 1894, he embarked in business with a small stock of groceries. He has built up a constantly expanding trade, and now has a general department store, located on Rail- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1885 road Street in the center of the village. His store has a 66 foot front and 80 foot depth, and is completely stocked with dry goods, notions, millinery and other lines. The millinery department is operated by his wife and his son has recently established a music department. Mr. Gillette recently built a fine home on Chicago Avenue. He is one of the directors and stockholders of the Holgate Commercial Bank. He has also served on the town council and is a republican in politics. At Holgate in 1887 he married Miss Alice Sinkey. Mrs. Gillette was born near Florida village on the Maumee River in 1867 and grew up there and at Holgate, where she attended the public schools. Her father, John. Sinkey, was a West Virginian who enlisted in the Union army and gave four years of faithful and gallant service to the cause. He was several times wounded, but was never captured. After the war he brought his family to Henry County, Ohio, and became a fanner. His wife died there about 1875, aged thirty-six, and he died in 1892, aged sixty-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Gillette have one son, Ray. Clare, who was born July 21, 1888.1, He grew up at Holgate, graduated from high school in 1906, took a course in the Toledo. Business College and inheriting musical talents from his father he graduated from the Columbia Conservatory of Music at Toledo. He has become well known in local musical. circles, is a very successful teacher, and is a proficient violinist. For several years he has. been a dealer in musical merchandise and has charge of the music .department in his father's store. This son was married at Defiance, Ohio, to Miss Wilhelmina Groweg, whose grandfather is one of the best known citizens of Defiance, and for over fifty-years has been in the feed and elevator business there. Mr. and Mrs. Ray Gillette have one child, Donald Joe Gillette, born May 8, 1917. Mrs. Gillette is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. G. L. LEWIS has been a factor in Toledo's industrial affairs for many years, and is founder and head of The Lewis Electric Welding and Manufacturing Company and the Lewis Foundry Company, at 4080 Detroit Avenue in West Toledo. Mr. Lewis is a thoroughly capable mechanical engineer and possesses both the inventive genius and the executive ability required for the best success in the field of manufacturing. He started life with none of the advantages conferred by wealth or position. He was born in Monroe County, Michigan, June 25, 1865, and is the only surviving son of the late Sheppard Lewis, who was an early settler of Monroe County, Michigan, and died in 1908 at Magdalena, New Mexico. G. L. Lewis spent his early life on a farm. His school opportunities were limited to the district in which he was reared. When only fourteen years of age he started out to make his own way in the world. For several years he worked on farms and on coming to Toledo he served an apprenticeship in a machine shop. He afterwards spent several years in railroad contracting, and then became erecting mechanical engineer for The Marion Steam Shovel Works at Marion, Ohio. He was employed by this company in superising the erection of much of its machinery. Afterward he had the responsibilities of looking after some of the company's contracts both in this country and abroad. He spent some time in Russia, and in the Central and South American states supervising the placing of machinery from the Marion Company. Mr. Lewis resigned his responsibilities with the Marion Steam Shovel Works to engage in a business of his own. In October, 1909, was organized and incorporated The Lewis Electric Welding and Manufacturing Company, then located at 329 Cherry Street, later buying the present location, 4080 Detroit Avenue. The special output of thiS company is the manufacture of what is known as Popett Valves. These valves are used in automobile, marine, stationary, tractor gas and oil engines, and the demand for this type has produced an enormous sale all over America and even in foreign countries. Mr. Lewis also owns a large foundry for the manufacture of gray-iron, castings. This concern has been in suc- successful operation for over five years. In the meantime Mr. Lewis has acquired many other financial interests and has done his part in promoting several business enterprises in Toledo. Politically he is a republican, and is a member of the Toledo Commerce Club and president of the West Toledo Commerce Club. His present success is the result of the old proverbs taught him by his father—"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," together with "Where there's a will there's 1886 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO always a way," and his belief that there's no such word in the English language as "can't." FRANK D. HALLECK, M. D. In addition to the exceptional service he has rendered as a capable and skillful physician and surgeon at Bowling Green, Doctor Halleck is a man whose presence is valuable to the community in various ways. He has broad interests, is willing to work for anything that promises benefit to the locality, and in every sense is a leading and public spirited citizen. As a professional man he has developed a splendid practice over a large territory around Bowling Green. Doctor Halleck graduated from the medical department of the Ohio State University at Columbus with the class of 1898 and the degree M. D. For two years he practiced at Portage, Ohio, but since 1900 has been located at Bowling Green. Doctor Halleck has found his time more and more engaged as a specialist in diseases of the ear, nose and throat. He is active in the various medical organizations, was secretary ten years and for several years president of the County. Medical Society, and belongs to the Ohio State, the Tri-State, the Northwest Ohio Medical Societies and the American Medical Association. Doctor Halleck is still a young man and in the natural course 'of events has many years of usefulness still before him. He is about forty-four and 'was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His people were Pennsylvanians for several generations and originally the Hallecks were of English extraction. From the time the family. immigrated from England to this country in .1640 up to 1870 the lineage of the Hallecks is carefully traced in a published' genealogy compiled by Cyrus Yale. This work is found in many of the libraries of the country. The Hallecks as a rule were Baptists, and a number of ministers' names in that denomination occur in the published genealogy. When Doctor Halleck was ten years of age his parents removed to Wood County, Ohio. He is a son of Merritt and Frances M. (Elsworth) Halleck. His father was a manufacturer of coal cars in Wilkes-Barre. He died in Bowling Green in 1894, at the age of fifty-five. Doctor Halleck's mother survived until 1915, and was nearly seventy-two when she passed away. Both were active members of the Baptist Church and his father was a democrat. Doctor Halleck's brother Henry H. is a successful oil operator in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, district, is married, and his children are named Keneth D., now a student in Dennison College at Granville, Ohio ; H. Howard, Jr. ; Ruth E. ; Richard and Kathryn Frances. The doctor's sister Adeline is a teacher in the public schools at Bowling Green, still occupies the old home and has been in educational work for many years. His brother Wilber M. is a machinist by trade and is connected with the Overland Automobile Company at Toledo, being unmarried. Doctor Halleck grew up in Bowling Green, graduated from the high school in 1891, and prior to his taking up the study of medicine spent five years in the drug store of Dr. Joseph C. Lincoln, a well known retired physician of Bowling Green. Doctor Halleck married Eva B. Doty. Mrs. Halleck was born in Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio, and is a graduate of Otterbein University, the old. United Brethren Church institution. She is a daughter of Rev. Henry and Sarah (Bishop) Doty, both natives of Ohio. Her father was for twenty-five years a pastor of the United Brethren Church, and for about sixteen years lived in Bowling Green, about half the time as pastor of the local church and the rest as superintendent of his district. In 1904, while he was traveling in the Northwest, he was killed in a rear end railroad collision in Minnesota. His widow is still living and makes her home with Mrs. Halleck. She is' still active and is devoted to the work of her church, as is her daughter,. Mrs. Halleck. .Doctor Halleck still retains his original family faith as a Baptist. He is also affiliated with the Masonic Lodge and belongs to Lodge No. 818 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Doctor and Mrs. Halleck have one son, Dana Merritt, twelve years of age. Mrs. Halleck belongs to the prominent old American family of Dotys, whose advent to this country goes back to the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock in 1620. Her original American ancestor was Edward Doty. A genealogy of the Doty family, including the membership of the various generations from 1620 to 1897, has been compiled and published under the authorship of Ethan Allen Doty. A. D. HOSLER is junior partner in the Model Laundry Company on South Main Street in Findlay. Mr. Hosier has found the keynote to success in hard and faithful labor and began his connection with his present business as a deliveryman and in time obtained a partnership. He was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1887 July 5, 1875, a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Karshner) Hosier both parents being now deceased. He is Of German stock, and his parents were farmers. His father served with credit in an Ohio regiment during the Civil war. Daniel and Elizabeth (Karshner) Hosler have the following children : Raleigh L., Edward E., Charles J., Otis W., Arlie D., Clarence R. and Florence. A. D. Hosler began his education in the public schools of Circleville, Ohio, and at the age of fourteen began working on his father's farm and afterwards worked out as a farm hand for two years. During the winter of 1891-2 the family lived in Findlay, and then removed to a farm at Carey, Ohio. Two years later they returned to Findlay and A. D. Hosier secured a position in the Findlay Table Factory, spending six years in the shipping room. When the factory burned he had to seek employment elsewhere and in 1902 he was given' a place as a deliveryman by Samuel Baker in the Findlay Steam Laundry. He has been associated with Mr. Baker ever since that date and in 1913 they formed a partnership and established the present Model Laundry, which has a business extending over all Northwest Ohio, with agencies in all the principal towns and villages. On December 24, 1901, Mr. Hosier married Alta E. Stahl, daughter of L. W. and Ella (Mason) Stahl of a pioneer family of farmers in Marion Township of Hancock County. Mr. and Mrs. Hosler's only child, Harold T., died April 14, 1911. They are active members of the First United Brethren Church and Mr. Hosier is a republican and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America and with the Chamber of Commerce. ROLLIN S. THURSTIN. The name of Thurstin has been closely and intimately identified with the history of Bowling Green from the time its site was a ridge and swamp covered with timber until the present day. One of the best known members of this family was the late Rollin S. Thurstin, who was born on the old Thurstin farm and in the same block where he spent most of his life, on February 22, 1852. His father, Alfred Thurstin, was the original pioneer of Bowling Green. Born in Chenango County, New York, April 20, 1806, he was a son of Eli and Margaret (Coons) Thurstin. Eli Thurstin was a native of New York City and married his wife at Livingston Manor. In 1835 he came to Ohio, later bought a large tract of land in De Kalb County, Indiana, lived there some years, but finally returned to Ohio and spent his last years in the home of his son Eli at Bowling Green, where he died at the age of sixty-seven. His widow lived to be nearly eighty., Alfred Thurstin grew up in New York State, and in the year 1833 came to what is now the city of Bowling Green. That was an extremely early year in the settlement and development of Wood County. Here he bought a considerable tract of land, and a portion of it has since become the very heart and center of Bowling Green. He owned all the land lying east of Main Street, from what is now Ridge Street on the north to Leahman Street on the south, a distance of about eighty rods, and from Main Street east to Thurstin Avenue. This land is now practically covered with business buildings and residences. Arthur Thurstin built his first log cabin at what is now the northeast corner of Main and Wooster Streets, the two principal thoroughfares of the city. He cut away the woods and improved the land for farming purposes, and with the growth of the town he platted and subdivided much of his land for lots. He finally erected a large brick house at the corner of Main and Wooster, and this site was subsequently chosen for a large brick block occupied by the Lincoln Drug Store and now used for the drug store and office building of Lincoln & Dirlam. After getting his original log cabin completed in the woods Alfred Thurstin returned to New York State and married Emily 0. Pike. He brought his bride back to the new home in the wilderness and she lived in Bowling Green until her death in 1879. For his second wife Alfred Thurstin married Mrs. Martha Louise Van Tassel. She was a woman of splendid education and of excellent business ability. They lived for many years at their home on Prospect Street, and were prominently known throughout the county. Many of the pioneer things at Bowling Green may be ascribed to the late Alfred Thurstin. He laid out the first lot, built the first house on the site of the present city, and gave the ground for the court house and all the churches that were erected on his land in the early days. He grew many crops of corn on land that is now used entirely for residence purposes. In politics he was a Whig and cast his first vote for Governor DeWitt Clinton in New York State. In 1840 he attended 1888 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO the "hard cider and log cabin" campaign at Fort Meigs. From the Whig party he became a republican. Rollin Stanley Thurstin's birth occurred in Bowling Green when the village was still young and when some of his father's land was still used for. agriculture. He lived there usefully and honorably and passed away at his home, 133 North Prospect Street, January 22, 1909, lacking a month of fifty-seven years. As a boy he was filled with the ardor of patriotism, and his desire to do something for his country could not be restrained, though he was little more than a child when the war broke out. In 1863 he left school and was enrolled as a drummer boy in the 130th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was at that time only eleven years of age and had the distinction of being the youngest regularly enlisted soldier from Ohio. He served with his regiment from 1863 until he was discharged at the close of the war. Still a boy when he came home, he was seasoned in responsibility by the experience and at once became self-supporting as clerk in his brother Alvaro Thurstin's dry goods store. He thus laid the foundation of his business experience very young and was always an active and hard working business man. It was his intense devotion to business affairs that undoubtedly shortened his life. Subsequently with his brother Earl he started a general store at the corner of Main and Wooster Streets, on the same site occupied by his father's original log cabin. Some years later he sold his interest in the store to his brother Earl, and then went on the road as traveling representative for Marshall Field & Company's wholesale house at Chicago. He was ever alert to discern business opportunities and requirements. He recognized one in the need of a lime kiln and established a small plant on East Wooster Street, this being widely known as the Thurstin kiln. He developed it into a considerable industry. The site of the plant was in what is now the heart of the city, and with the gradual encroachment of buildings he abandoned the location and moved along the same ridge south two and a half miles to Portage. He opened a plant there and about that time took an active part in organizing the Snowflake Lime Company, which was subsequently merged with other companies in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, under the corporate title of the Ohio and Western Lime Company. Mr. Thurstin was the active manager of this corporation, with office and headquarters at Toledo. He continued business until the very day before his death. He was not only a thoroughly practical business man but a great student, was big hearted and did everything in a large way, and was generous almost to a fault with his friends and family. Mr. Thurstin was one of the fifteen charter members who organized Bowling Green Lodge No. 818 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he was always an active worker in that order, and his funeral was held under its auspices. He was also a member of Wiley Post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Bowling Green. In politics he was a republican, but was too busy to accept the honors of office. His wife was and is a devoted member of the Presbyterian Church and he attended worship there with her. He was one of the active promoters of the Bowling Green Business Men's Club and never neglected an opportunity to improve the welfare and prosperity of his native city. At Bowling Green Mr. Thurstin married Miss Ada M. Fairchild. She was born at Macomb, Ohio, December 19, 1858, and when ten years of age came to Bowling Green with her parents, Seth A. and Jane (Porter) Fairchild. Her father was born in Holmes County, Ohio, of New York State parents and of a family long prominent in the East. Her mother was born in Delaware, Ohio, of Scotch ancestry and of old Presbyterian stock. Her parents were married at Delaware, but soon afterwards moved to Macomb, where most of their children were born. After his marriage Seth Fairchild was admitted to the bar at Findlay, and then in 1869, when the county seat of Wood County was brought from Per- rysburg to Bowling Green, he established him- self in that city and his home was next door to that of the Thurstin family. He was active and prominent in the legal profession until his death at the age of seventy-two, and at the time of his death was dean of the county bar. Mr. Fairchild was a democrat and while living at Macomb served as mayor and justice of the peace for a number of years. He had survived his wife about ten years. She was from early childhood a member of the Presbyterian Church and she reared her children, including Mrs. Thurstin, in the same faith. Mrs. Thurstin, who is still living in Bowling Green, is the mother of two sons and two daughters. Dora C., a graduate of the Bowling Green High School, is the wife of Paul Zeller and they live in a part of the old homestead at Bowling Green. Their children are Thurstin Z. and Mary Margaret. Robert A., HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1889 the older son, graduated from the Bowling Green High School and from Kenyon College with the class of 1910. He distinguished himself as a student at Kenyon and at graduation won the first prize of a hundred dollars offered for scholarship. He chose a career as a mining engineer, and pursued his studies in the Colorado School of Mines at Golden, and since graduation has joined the Government corps with the rank of first lieutenant as a mine rescue worker. His headquarters are now at Leavenworth. Throughout his preparatory course he distinguished himself as a splendid student and was always at the head of his class. The second daughter, Ada B., is the wife of Lester Parks, and they live in Bowling Green and have two daughters, Dorothy and Catherine. The youngest child is Stanley M., who graduated from the Bowling Green High School in 1917 and is now yard clerk with the Pennsylvania Railway at Toledo. EPHRAIM RICHARD EASTMAN is a lawyer by profession, has been a member of the Putnam County bar for thirty years, and is undoubtedly one of the best known citizens in that section of the state. Mr. Eastman has always enjoyed a living practice as a lawyer, though his interests have identified him with many other affairs. He has been much in politics, though usually for the benefit of his friends and the cause rather than to advance his personal ambitions. He is a prominent Mason and has developed several business enterprises in his home county. Mr. Eastman was born in Champaign County, Ohio, May 6, 1854, and in the paternal line is a member of one of the oldest American families. He is a son of Richard Kimball and Christian (Groves) Eastman, the former a native of Madison County, Ohio, and the latter of Union County, Pennsylvania. His ancestry goes back to John Eastman, who lived in England during the early part of the seventeenth century. His three sons came to the American colonies in the year 1628. Of these three sons the only one to marry was Roger, and he is the ancestor of practically every Eastman in the United States. The line of descent goes through Roger Eastman (1) ; Joseph (2) ; Peter (3) ; Joseph (4) ; John (5) ; Apolus (6) ; Richard K. (7) ; and Ephraim Richard (8). Richard K. Eastman gave most of his life to farming, and made a good record as a soldier in the Civil war. During boyhood he lived in Madison County, Ohio, was educated in country schools and in 1852 was married in Champaign County. His seven children were born in Champaign and Union counties, Ephraim R. being the oldest. In 1856 the family removed to Union County, Ohio. Richard K. Eastman was a democrat until the outbreak of the Civil war. He was a thorough Union man and went into the war as a war democrat. His service record is a matter of just pride to all his descendants. He was in the great Vicksburg campaign, fought at Stone River, at Chickamauga, and in the battle of Lookout Mountain he became detached from his regiment but managed to escape without being made a prisoner. He was with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, and was with the gallant General McPherson when that noted leader fell during one of the battles around Atlanta. He also went on the march to the sea to Savannah, and then with Sherman's victorious troops marched up through the Carolinas to Richmond and on to Washington, and was mustered out after participating in the Grand Review. For about a year during the war he served as provost marshal. The State of Ohio granted him a medal of honor for his services, and that medal is still in the possession of his son Ephraim R. at Ottawa. At the close of the war Richard K. Eastman returned to Union County and applied himself diligently to the duties of his farm until after the death of his first wife in 1878. He subsequently married again and removed to Van Wert County but spent some of his later years in the home of his son at Ottawa in Putnam County. He died in 1898 at the Soldiers Home in Sandusky. In religion he was a Baptist. The Baptists were not numerous in the communities where he spent most of his life and he was therefore not specially active in church work. He held several minor offices, Filch as school director and constable, and was always keenly interested in the welfare of his old. comrades of the war. Ephraim Richard Eastman spent most of his early life in Union County. He was old enough to remember the occasion when his father went away from home to enter the war, and the gravity of war times and of the sacrifices made by individual soldiers have given him the highest respect for those who offer life and fortune to the nation's welfare. He made the best of his advantages in the public schools of Union County, and for a period of twelve years he taught in Union and Put- 1890 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO nam counties. When not at work in the schoolroom he worked at the carpenter's trade. Mr. Eastman studied law at Defiance, Ohio, with W. M. Randall and Henry Hardy. He was admitted to the bar in 1885. In the meantime he had come to Putnam County in 1872, but subsequently spent a year or so in Union County, then was again in Putnam County, for two years lived at Defiance, and after his admission to the bar returned to Putnam County and began the practice of law at Ottawa. He is now one of the older members of the Ottawa bar. Mr. Eastman went out to Oklahoma when that territory was being opened up to settlement, and took part in the opening of the Southwestern Indian lands around Lawton in 1901. He lived there portions of two years and acquired a claim and improved a farm. He also practiced law at Lawton and was one otthe pioneer lawyers in that bustling frontier town. In 1903 he returned to Putnam County. Mr. Eastman has taken the greatest of pride and interest in his town and community. A number of years ago he organized the Ottawa Home and Savings Association, which has had a prosperous existence for twenty-nine years. He is now secretary and attorney for this association. Several other business organizations have been promoted by him in Putnam County. In 1883, before his admission to the bar, Mr. Eastman 'served as postmaster at Wisterman, Ohio. In Monroe Township of Putnam County he served as school director in 188182, and supervised the erection of a school building in the township. He was a member of the Putnam Board of Elections during 1903-04. Politically Mr. Eastman classifies as a progressive republican. He attended twenty-six meetings during McKinley's campaign twenty years ago, spoke at many of them, and has had a share in campaign work from the time of James G. Blaine down to the present. Mr. Eastman was chairman of Putnam County and the Fifth Ohio District during 1912 for the progressive party. He is now serving on the Grievance Committee of the State Bar Association of Ohio. He also recently finished a term on the committee of Judicial Administration and Legal Reform, and through the State Bar Association has assisted in framing several statutes, among them those relating to admission to the bar. Fraternally Mr. Eastman is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with the various branches of Masonry and is past regent of the Royal Arcanum. His Masonic membership is with Ottawa Lodge No. 325, Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has filled all the chairs ; Ottawa Chapter No. 115, Royal Arch Masons, in which he was several times king and at present secretary ; Putnam Council No. 69, Royal and Select Masters, of which he is past thrice illustrious master and now member of the Grand Council, Lodge of Perfection, Valley of Toledo ; Shawnee Commandery No. 14, Knights Templar, at Lima ; Northern Light Council, Princes of Jerusalem ; Fort Industry Chapter Rose Croix ; and Toledo Consistory, S. P. R. S. He has been representative of Ottawa Lodge several times to the Grand Lodge of Ohio, has represented Ottawa Chapter in the Grand Chapter, and Putnam Council in the Grand Council. Mr. Eastman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has had an ideal home life, and has reason to take the greatest of pride in his children. On October 18, 1884, he married Miss Elizabeth Ellen Parrett at her home in Monroe Township of Putnam County. Mrs. Eastman is a daughter of John S. Parrett, who came from Virginia to Ohio. Mrs. Eastman was educated in the public schools of her home township, and is prominent in woman 's movements generally, being a member of the Ladies' Centennial Book Club, in which she has filled all the offices, and has been president of the Woman's Federation of Clubs of Putnam County and president of the Woman's Suffrage Association of the county. Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Eastman, nine of whom are still living, named Lillian, Orille, Maud, Ivan, Ethel, Roy, Marie, Herbert and Harold. Lillian was educated in the public schools of Dupont and Ottawa graduating from the Ottawa High School and was given the degree Bachelor of Literature by the Ohio Wesleyan University in the class of 1895. She also did post-graduate work at the Ohio Wesleyan University. She is now the wife of F. H. Wolf, Common Pleas Judge at Wauseon. Orille, the second daughter, was graduated from the Ottawa High School and in 1899 from the Ohio Wesleyan University with the degree A. B. For seven years she was a teacher and part of the time principal of the Wauseon High School, and has taken post-graduate work in Columbia University. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1891 She is now the wife of Harry W. Turner, an engineer at Schenectady, New York. Maud, who was educated in the grammar and high schools at Ottawa, spending one year in Ohio Wesleyan University and one year at the Ohio State University, was graduated from the Protestant Hospital of Columbus as a professional nurse in 1905. She has since become the wife of Dr. E. A. Murbach of Archbold, Fulton County, Ohio. Ivan, the oldest son of Mr. Eastman, is now a successful engineer at Lima, Ohio, and is a young man of many accomplishments and of wide opportunities for training. He is engineer with the Gramm-Bernstein Company at Lima. His early education was in the public schools of Ottawa, after which he attended the Ohio State University a year, spent one year in Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, and in 1909 graduated from the Ohio Northern University at Ada with the degrees M. E. and E. E. He is a crack rifle shot and member of the American Rifle Team in the Olympic Games at Bisley, England, in 1908. Ivan Eastman married Miss Gertrude Stauffer, daughter of I. F. Stauffer, of Kalida, Ohio. The daughter Ethel was educated in the grammar and high schools at Ottawa, spent one year in the Ohio State University, one year in Oxford College at Oxford, Ohio, and also had finishing studies in Chautauqua, New York. She is now the wife of Clinton Hixson, an engineer living at Schenectady, New York. Roy, the second son, is a successful attorney and is now member of the firm Smith, Baker, Mier & Allen of Toledo, Ohio. After doing the work Of the public schools at Ottawa he was graduated from Berea College in Kentucky with the degree Bachelor of Literature and prepared for his profession one year at Yale Law School and one year in the Ohio State Law School. For five years he was in practice with his father in Ottawa, until he removed to Toledo. Roy Eastman married Angela, daughter of J. H. Vocke, of Napoleon, Ohio. Marie, educated in the grammar and high schools of Ottawa and graduated from the high school at Archbold,. Ohio, was a student of Ohio Wesleyan University two years and has since taught one year in the public schools at Hicksville, Ohio. Herbert was educated at Ottawa, two years at Berea College in Kentucky, one year in Union University at Schenectady, New York, part of one year in the Ohio Northern University at Ada, and is now studying law with his father at Ottawa. He married Marie, daughter of J. W. Brown of Ottawa. Harold, the youngest child, is a member of the class of 1917 at the Ottawa High School. THOMAS MIKESELL of Wauseon, advisory and contributing editor for Fulton County to this publication, has lived in Fulton County all his life, a period of seventy years, and represents the old and prominent families of that section. The following account of his family reveals much of pioneer history and experience. George Mikesell, the grandson of a German immigrant who settled in northern Maryland about the year 1700, was born near Cumberland, Maryland, December 15, 1766, and was reared there to the age of about twenty years, when he removed to the vicinity of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A few years later he crossed the mountains to western Pennsylvania in Somerset County. There he worked at his trade and farmed. In 1794 he married Mary Bayes, who was born April 28, 1773, daughter of Stephen Bayes. They were the parents of seven sons and one daughter, one son dying in infancy. In 1830 the whole family came to Ohio and located in Holmes County, where he remained until 1837. In September of that year, with a large party of relatives, he proceeded west to Fulton County, then Lucas County, in Clinton Township, where land had been entered for him the previous year. There he spent the rest of his life. George Mikesell was a brick and stone mason and followed that trade till late in life. In the spring of 1838 he burned a kiln of brick, from which he erected a large and substantial fireplace and chimney in his log house. This was the first brick made in Clinton Township and perhaps the first in the county. George Mikesell was always strict in his habits and honest and straightforward in his dealings with his fellowmen. He died October 9, 1840, and just one week later, October 16, 1840, his wife followed him to the life be-, yond. Both had long been consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. William Mikesell, son of George and Mary (Bayes) Mikesell was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1810, and was there reared to the age of twenty years. His educational advantages were very scanty. All told he attended school only about six months. He worked on the farm until about 1830, when the family removed to Holmes County, Ohio, where he rented land .and farmed. In the spring of 1832 he went back 1892 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO to the old home in Pennsylvania on a visit. On returning the great flood of 1832 in the Ohio River was in progress. Steamboats were running through the streets of Steubenville, Ohio. He crossed the river, which was four miles wide at that point, in a rowboat. May 23, 1833, William Mikesell married Miss Margaret Bayes, who was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1811. Thomas Bayes, her father, a son of Stephen Bayes and of English and Scotch descent, was born April 30, 1775, and died in Fulton County, Ohio, September 2, 1850. The more than seventy-five years of his life were busy years. In 1797 he married Miss Ann McMillen, who was born March 31, 1776. They became the parents of six sons and three daughters. About 1820 he moved his family from Somerset County, Pennsylvania, to Holmes County, Ohio, where he bought a farm and lived until 1837. His wife having died in 1836 he sold the farm and in September, 1837, with a large company of relatives came to Clinton Township, Fulton County, then part of Lucas County, and here he spent the remainder of his life. He was a blacksmith by trade and for a number of years had a shop in this county. He was the first justice of the peace in Clinton Township, which was organized in 1838. Thomas Bayes was a man of more than ordinary ability and served the public in different capacities. He was an especial friend of the poor. He was an active Christian from young manhood and a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in whose faith he passed to his final reward. He was always found doing good, ever counseling the adjusting of differences between his neighbors without recourse to law, and he was humanity's friend at all times, ever holding the respect and confidence of all who knew him. In the summer of 1836 William Mikesell in company with his brother-in-law Thomas Bayes, Jr., came to the wilderness of what is now Fulton County and selected fourteen eighty-acre tracts of land for themselves and certain friends and made entry of them at the land office in Lima. They traveled part of the time afoot, having one horse, which they rode alternately. William Mikesell's crop of wheat that summer furnished him the money to pay for his land and to buy the things necessary for the transferring of his family to the then "far west" in Fulton County and living there until crops could be secured. Early in April, 1837, he came with his family to the new home, arriving there on the last day of the month. The trip with an ox team and wagon consumed about three weeks, much of the road being so muddy through the black swamp that they could make only one or two miles a day. Three nights in succession they had to remain at the same wayside inn. The new home was near the center of Section 14, Town 7 North and Range 6 East. The log cabin, 16x20 feet, was erected in a few days with the aid of earlier settlers, and that same spring William Mikesell cleared the timber and brush from two acres of ground and planted it to corn, from which he secured a fair yield. By fall he had cleared five acres more, which he sowed to wheat and this gave a good yield the next harvest. He had brought sufficient flour and other supplies to last till crops could be raised. Deer, wild turkey, pigeons, etc., were plentiful, so there was no lack of meat in the house, for he was a skillful hunter. Wild honey was readily secured and a supply was always kept on hand, and this with the wild fruits of the vicinity made a variety and abundance of fare. The market town of this locality in those early days was Maumee City on the Maumee River twenty-six miles distant on a straight road, but much further on account of the drive over the higher ground to shun the mud. Grain had to be hauled to that town to sell or to grind. Of course much grain was disposed of in barter, a bushel of wheat commanding so .much service or a variable quantity of other commodities. William Mikesell, being a hunter, had many deer hams and skins to sell; as well as hides of mink and, raccoon. In 1840 he paid the entire purchase price of a horse, $40, by such sales. He continued clearing his land and raising crops and was prospered in his labors. In politics he was a Whig while that party existed, and on the organization of the republican party became a republican. He never held public office except one term as justice of the peace and two terms as township treasurer. Soon after their marriage both he and his wife were converted and lived the balance of their days faithful and devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their home in the wilds was the stopping place for the early day circuit riders, and was often the place of holding preaching services. They were among the first members of the class which developed into the society comprising the present Methodist Episcopal Church of Wauseon. Although it was the common custom in the early days to use whiskey freely HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1893 at barn raisings and in the harvest seasons, William. Mikesell never used it nor furnished it to others. For all that he never had any difficulty in securing all the help he required. He was an official in his church until near the end of his life, which occurred July 13, 1883. Margaret (Bayes) Mikesell, his first wife, was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1811, and accompanied her parents on their removal to Holmes County, Ohio, in 1820. There on May 23, 1833, she was united in marriage to William Mikesell. She proved a worthy and faithful helpmeet, a kind and loving wife and mother, and was a gentle and faithful Christian. She knew the labors, trials and hardships of pioneer life, but hers was the faith that *made her faithful in all things and her life was one of signal grace and purity. Her health began to fail about 1851 and after much patient suffering from cancer she passed to the better land on December 4, 1855. The following year William. Mikesell married Mrs. Catherine (Pfouts) Bayes, widow of Meek Bayes. They became the parents of one son, David, who is now a resident of Cleveland, Ohio. His second wife died December 26, 1869. Of the three children born of the first marriage, the daughter, born in 1834, died in infancy. John, born July 12, 1837, grew to manhood on the home farm and in April, 1861, at the first call by President Lincoln for volunteers after the firing on Fort Sumpter enlisted in the three months' service in the Fourteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served in West Virginia until August, 1861, when he was discharged: with the regiment. In the fall of 1861 he re-enlisted for three years, this time in the Sixty-eighth Ohio Infantry. He was promoted to the position Of fife major of the regiment and served with this command until after the battle of Fort Donelson, when through exposure at the battle and in the storms of February, 1862, he contracted pneumonia, which caused his death March 12, 1862. William Mikesell continued to. reside on the old homestead until his death. He was nearly six feet tall, broad shouldered and a well built man, weighing over 200 pounds and possessed of great strength. He was genial and kind, tolerant in his judgment, and ever tried to avoid trouble with his neighbors and all others with whom he came in contact in all the relations of life. He was a great Vol. III-36 reader, and kept himself well informed on the doings of the world. Mr. Thomas Mikesell, the only survivor of his mother's children, was born on the homestead farm one mile north of the present City of Wauseon August 9, 1845. This farm continued to be his home except for about two years altogether until 1902, when he sold the property and removed to Wauseon where he has since resided practically retired. He attended the district school until fourteen years old, when he found better advantages in the "high" school at Wauseon. This school was called high because it was conducted in an upper room by teachers that were able to instruct and that thoroughly. There he attended several winter terms, assisting in the farm work during the summer months. In June, 1863, he enlisted in Company H, Eighty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for a term of six months, receiving his honorable discharge on February 10, 1864. He took part in the Morgan chase through Ohio during the historic raid of July, 1863, and was only a few miles away when Morgan's men were captured. He was also in the expedition under Col. John F. de Courcey, marching from Nicholasville, Kentucky, to Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, and ending in the capture of the Gap September 9, 1863. During his term of service he was detailed and served as fifer of his company. During the winter of 1866-67 Mr. Mikesell taught school in his home district and the winter following in Kosciusko County, Indiana. In October, 1868, he went to Jasper County, Iowa, where he taught school during the winter and in the spring of 1869 went to Sullivan County, Missouri, where he taught a summer term. On finishing this school he returned in September to the old home in Ohio. He worked on the farm, taught school the next two winters, and in 1872 he learned and worked at the photograph trade in Wauseon. He then returned to the farm. November 23, 1873, he married Miss Martha Herriman, who was born near Ottokee, Fulton County, Ohio, April 21, 1850, a daughter of John and Lettie (Wood) Herriman. Before she was six years old she lost her mother' by death, and was reared after that in the home of Thomas J. Case near Wauseon. Mr. and Mrs. Mikesell have no children. In 1865 Mr.. Mikesell began the study of meteorology and since November, 1869, he has kept a systematic record of weather condi- 1894 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO tions. In October, 1882, on the organization of the Ohio Meteorological Bureau he was appointed one of the observers and has continued ever since to send reports to Columbus, Ohio, and Washington, D. C. In 1902 he was appointed a special observer of the corn and wheat region service, and has reported by telegraph each day from April 1st to September 30th, every summer. In 1875 Mr. Mikesell began the study of the birds in his vicinity and since 1883 has kept a record of their habits, and the dates of the arrival and departure of the migratory species, and the relative numbers of each species from year to year. In 1885 he was elected an associate member of the American Ornithologist Union. His observations have been continued since that time, more or less perfectly. In 1883, in connection with the weather observations, he began phenological observations, to show the effect of weather on: the growth of vegetation. The points covered are, on farm and garden crops, date of planting, above ground, blossoming, ripe, harvesting, etc. ; on fruit and forest trees, date of the buds starting in full leaf, in blossom, fruit ripe, change of foliage, and divested of leaves. Besides these there are the dates of blossoming of over 100 species of plants. In 1915, this thirty-year record of observation was published by the United States Weather. Bueau as Supplement No. 2, compiled and edited by his friend, Professor J. Warren Smith, meteorologist. In politics Mr. Mikesell is a republican. He has never held public office except two terms as village councilman. He is not connected with any secret order or club, having seen so many instances where these things take people' away from their duties to their church and their God to serve the world and making the world their god. He has worked with the Anti-saloon League from its organization and since 1867 has been in favor of the absolute prohibition of all liquor traffic. In February, 1887, both he and his wife became Christians and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are still active and devoted in the service. He was an official since 1887, secretary of the official board from 1888 to 1916, and treasurer of the board of stewards from 1893 to 1916. In 1887 Mr. Mikesell was elected secretary of. the Fulton County Pioneer and Historical Association and served in that capacity until 1895. He has taken great interest in preserving the early historical data of the county. In 1889 he was chosen secretary of the Fulton County Agricultural Society, and held that office for sixteen consecutive years. He saw the County Fair grow from a representation of about 1,450 entries in 1889 to over 3,300 in 1904, and the amount of premiums paid from less than $700 to more than $2,500. In February, 1915, Mr. Mikesell had a request from Col. W. L. Curry, Civil war historian of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, concerning the number of soldiers enlisted from Fulton County during the Civil war, together with how many were killed in battle, died of wounds, or of disease, discharged for disability, etc. There being no public records available, he spent the better part of two months. investigating every source of information that he could find. Although the result, of course, could not be exact, it was the best he could do at this late day, and Colonel Curry complimented him very highly for the report. In 1887 he prepared an article giving a condensed summary of his weather observations from 1870 to that date, which was published as a chapter in a" History of Henry- and Fulton Counties," published in 1888. In 1904 he was called to be editor of a "History of Fulton County, Ohio," and besides his work as editor he prepared a chapter giving a summary of the thirty-five years of his weather record and a chapter giving a systematic list of the woody plants of Fulton County. This history was published in 1905. In 1915 he was called to be editor of the chapter on Fulton County in this present "HistorY; of Northwestern Ohio." He had just finished it when, stricken with paralysis April 18, 1916. His latest work has been the compiling and drawing of a map of Clinton Township, Fulton County, showing the pioneer roads and trails and the location of the cabins of the settlers previous to 1850. This was done for the Daughters of the American Revolution Society of Wauseon. When he began making special observations it was for his own satisfaction and information, but as the work continued he came to think that some day they might prove valuable to others. He feels that if they help along to a better knowledge of ways of nature, the time and labor bestowed on the work will be well repaid. Professor Tallman, writing in the Weather Bureau Supplement mentioned above, has this to say : " The observations published in this present Supplement are but a portion of the records that this one man has maintained during his busy life. They constitute one of the most complete and reliable HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1895 local records of which we have knowledge,, as to the development of plant life and the migration of birds and animals. Quietly, carefully, conscientiously, this man has merely kept his eyes open to see, and systematically recorded the movements of nature about him year after year. He has done what thousands of other men might have done, but which no other one has done. The writer believes that science owes a great debt to such a man, that all honor is due him, and that the name of Thomas Mikesell should be set high among the faithful students of nature in this country." Mr. Mikesell has been a crop correspondent since 1895 for the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1909 he became a member of the National Geographic Society. J. HENRY L. HOOPS. When Mr. Hoops came to America thirty-five years ago he had practically no capital and nothing to commend him to the confidence of a new country except his ability to work hard, and it was by hard work that he made his first stake and after a number of years of working for others he bought land and assumed the role of an independent farmer in Henry County. He is now one of the well-to-do men of Richfield Township and owns some of the fine farming land in that locality of Henry County. His home place is in section 33 of Richfield. He has 110 acres there, the land that was improved by his individual labors from the wilderness. It is drained and ditched and is capable of growing all the crops expected of a Northwest Ohio farm. The .land is now all under cultivation except fourteen acres of native timber. His chief crops are corn, oats, and wheat. Mr. Hoops also owns another farm of eighty acres, also well improved, and with substantial buildings. On his home farm his barn is one of the best in the township. It is 40 by 80 feet, painted a slate color, with sheet metal roof; and has every facility and arrangement that gives perfect service. His home is a substantial eight room house. Mr. Hoops gets much of his revenue from the feeding of hogs and cattle, and he keeps six horses. He was born in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, October 6, 1866, a son of Fred and Mary (Rohrs) Hoops. His parents spent all their lives in Hanover. His father was a carpenter and farmer and served a brief time as a soldier in the War of 1866, when Bismarck compelled the Kingdom of Hanover to become a member of the German Empire. Mr. Hoops' mother died in Hanover in 1916, when past seventy years of age. The family were lifelong Lutherans. J. Henry L. Hoops, the oldest son and child of his parents, was reared and educated in his native kingdom, and when only fifteen years of age he accompanied some friends to the United States. He made the voyage on the ship America and landed at New York City in May, 1882. From there he came west to Holgate, Ohio, and arrived with only $8 in cash. He soon found employment as a farm hand with a Mr. Holers of Defiance County, and remained steadily in his service for eight years. He then went to work for Henry Langenhope of Napoleon Township, Henry. County, and was in his employ also for eight years. In the meantime he had not only been working hard but had been thrifty and saving and had accumulated some capital to enable him to carry out his ambitious plans for a home of his own. He then bought his present farm and his progress from that day to the present has been a steadily upward one. In Defiance County Mr. Hoops married Miss Lucy Harrus. She was born in Defiance County, of German parents, both of whom are now deceased. Her father was one of the pioneer settlers of Adams Township, Defiance County, secured Government land and improved forty acres. Mrs. Hoops was born there in October, 1867. She was a wise and faithful mother, provided well for her home and children and it was a great loss to her family when she died in a hospital at Toledo on April 13, 1913. She was the mother of eight children. One of her children died in infancy. Fred, who was born July 2, 1892, was educated in the public schools and is now a practical assistant to his father on the home place. Caroline is the wife of William Rose-brook, a farmer in Bartlow Township, and they have a son Eugene. Luellen is the wife of Carl Arps, a farmer in Ontario, Canada, and they have a son Edmond. Anna, aged seventeen, is her father's housekeeper and a very capable young woman. The three younger children, all in school, are Martha, aged thirteen, Henry aged nine, and Otto aged 'seven. Mr. Hoops and family are active members of St. John's Lutheran Church and he formerly served as an official of that church. He and his son are democratic voters. JUDGE ELMER G. MCCLELLAND, Of Bowling Green, judge of the Common Pleas Court of 1896 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Wood County, has had a career of varied interest and service in Northwestern Ohio. To his work as Common Pleas judge he brought a character of quiet strength, fortified by a varied experience of men and events, and his influence and service in that capacity have been directed by a kindly but keen presentment of human character and of the forces governing the relations of men and communities. He was elected judge in the fall of 1914, and his work has made him popular with the general public as well as the bar of Wood County. He succeeded on the bench a prominent old attorney, Judge Frank A. Baldwin. Judge McClelland has been in active practice as a lawyer since 1892. He began practice at Bowling Green in 1894. He graduated from the normal schools of Valparaiso, Indiana, and Lebanon, Ohio, and was a teacher for several years before his admission to the bar. In 1896 he was appointed prosecuting attorney for Wood County to fill a vacancy, and when the former incumbent died in 1898 he himself was regularly nominated and elected and by reelection served the county most creditably until 1905. He then became a candidate for Congress in the old Ninth Congressional District. Judge McClelland as a young and vigorous attorney, with a large following in his county, put up a remarkable fight against the experienced campaigner and incumbent congressman, Isaac R. Sherwood of Toledo. It was an interesting campaign, and Judge McClelland was defeated by only forty-two votes. In 1908 he served as one of Ohio's presidential electors and in that capacity cast his ballot at Columbus in 1909 for William H. Taft. Judge McClelland has long been a leader in republican politics, has been a member of the executive committee a number of times, and has also served as chairman, secretary and treasurer of that committee. On coming to Bowling Green Judge McClelland became affiliated in practice with. A. B. Murphy, who was then serving as prosecuting attorney. Mr. Murphy while in office was taken ill with tuberculosis, and Mr. McClelland was appointed to fill out his term. Later he became associated in practice with George B. Lewis, a young lawyer, and this association continued until April, 1909. At that date Mr. Lewis removed to Toledo to :become an insurance adjuster. The next partner of Judge McClelland was S. W. Bowman, who is the present mayor of Bowling Green, elsewhere referred to. They were in active practice un- der the name McClelland and Bowman until the night before Judge McClelland took up his duties on the bench. Another important interest of Judge McClelland's career has been his active connection with fraternal work. He joined the subordinate lodge of Odd Fellows at Jerry City in Wood County, and served as noble grand of the lodge. In 1900 he transferred his membership to Centennial Lodge No. 626 at Bowling Green, and has since been actively identified with that body. He is past exalted ruler of Bowling :Green Lodge No.818 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Judge McClelland is a, deep student of Masonry. His local membership is in Wood County Lodge No. 112, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is past master. He also belongs to Crystal Chapter No. 159, Royal. Arch Masons, at Bowling Green, to Fostoria Council, Royal and Select Masters, Toledo Commandery No. 7, Knights Templar, Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and Toledo Consistory of the Thirty-Second Degree Scottish Rite. Judge McClelland is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Bowling Green. This honored lawyer, jurist and citizen was born in Crawford 'County, Ohio, October 22, 1863. His father, H. H. McClelland, rendered service to his country during the Civil war. He enlisted at the first call for troops in the three months regiment, Twenty-first Ohio, and later enlisted a second time but was in the service only a short time. H. H. McClelland was married in 1862 to Ruth A. Winters. At the close of the Civil war they moved out to Northwest Missouri, spending five years in Ray County. On account of the illness of his wife Mr. McClelland returned to 'Ohio, locating in Seneca County, and in 1884 moved to Jerry City in Wood County. During and before this time Judge McClelland had been working as a teacher. His father died at Jerry City in 1910, at the age of seventy-three. His widowed mother is still living there and was seventy-seven years of age on February 22, 1917. ;The Presbyterian Church represented their religious faith, but in the. absence of a church of that denomination they worshiped for many years as Methodists. H. H. McClelland was an active republican. Judge McClelland married June 3, 1896, Charity Teller, daughter of James and Frances (Caswell) Teller. Her parents were early settlers in Wood County, Ohio, where her father went as. a young man, acquired a tract of land and after his marriage took his bride HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1897 to a log cabin home. His industry and thrift brought him in the course of time a large estate of 360 acres, one of the best improved and most valuable farms of Wood County. Mrs. McClelland's father died in Wood County in 1912, and his widow is still occupying the old home at the age of seventy-six. The Tellers are of Quaker stock, but Mrs. McClelland's mother is a member of the Disciples Church. Mrs. McClelland belongs to the Presbyterian denomination. J. J. SUTTER, M. D. The achievements of the able and talented physician and surgeon have proved abundant in the career. of Dr. J. J. Sutter at Bluffton, and at the same time has come the substantial honors of good citizenship. Doctor Sutter has made a name for himself both in his profession and as a factor in the life and growth of his home community. He is a native of Ohio, .born in Putnam County, September 8, 1873, son of John and Elizabeth (Welty) Sutter. He is of Swiss ancestry. His mother was born in Switzerland and while his father was a native of Wayne County, Ohio, his grandfather, Christian Sutter was a native of Switzerland, coming to Wayne County in the early days. The maternal grandfather was John Welty, a native of Switzerland where he spent all his life. The parents were married in Putnam County. John Sutter was a sturdy and thrifty farmer. He went through many of the hardships of the pioneer. He secured raw land, built a log house, and he and his wife during the first year of their married life had only one pound of sugar, and other supplies were limited in quantity. He cleared his land and in time provided substantially for his growing family. He and his wife were members of the Mennonite Church and in politics he was a democrat. There were nine children, seven sons and two daughters, and seven are still living : Daniel, a blacksmith at Pandora, Ohio ; Abraham, a merchant at Pandora ; Samuel, proprietor of a hotel at Astoria, Oregon ; Henry, a retired real estate man at Pandora; Dr. J. J. ; Joseph, who is clerk in a hardware store at Mound Ridge, Kansas; and Lydia, who lives at Aransas Pass, Texas, widow of Gustav Eberle. Doctor Sutter partly by his own resources and energies and partly by assistance rendered him from home wisely improved his early advantages and utilized every opportunity to gain a liberal education. He attended the district schools of Pandora, also a local college, was a student in the Tri-State Normal School at Angola, Indiana, and in 1898 graduated M. D. from the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati. After one year in practice at Middletown, he removed to Bluffton in 1899, and has been steadily in practice in that community for the past eighteen years. While his work has been as a general practitioner, his services have come more and more in demand as a surgeon, and he is manager of the Bluffton Sanatorium. He has also taken special studies in eye, ear, nose and throat. On coming to Bluffton he bought out the practice of Doctor Bradshaw, and has had nearly all the professional work he could attend to almost from the start. He served as secretary of the Ohio Eclectic State Medical Association, and later as president of that association, and has been secretary and president of the Northwestern Ohio Eclectic Medical Association. He is a member of the Northwest Ohio, the Ohio State and the National Eclectic associations and the Allen County and Ohio State Medical societies. In 1899 Doctor Sutter married Miss Susie Ludibill, daughter of Abraham Ludibill, a Putnam County farmer. Six children were born to their marriage and the four still living are Anna Elvira, Carrie Elizabeth, Helen Ruth and Edith Virginia. All the family are members of the Mennonite Church. Doctor Sutter is a democrat and has made himself a vigilant factor in local politics. He served as president of the board of public affairs seven yOaryearsd for two terms was elected mayor of Bluffton, an office he still fills and his vigorous administration is keenly felt and appreciated in that community. At his first election he was given the largest vote ever paid to a local nominee for that office. Doctor Sutter volunteered his services for the Officers Medical Reserve Corps in the summer of 1917. THE DORCAS CAREY PUBLIC LIBRARY at Carey is one of the most complete libraries for a city of its size in Northwest Ohio. It is housed in an attractive building, has a collection of fifty-seven hundred volumes of standard reference works and literature, and under the management of the librarian, Miss Margie Sutphen, the library is an efficient instrument in the culture and enlightenment of the community. The library was named as a memorial to Dorcas Carey, the mother of Mrs. Cinderella (Carey) Brown of Carey. Mr. and Mrs. Brown gave for the purpose of establishing the library the sum of $5,000. This taken in connection with $8,000 secured from the 1898 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Carnegie Library Fund was sufficient to construct the building, the site having been purchased by subscription. Miss Margie Sutphen, the librarian, was born at Carey, daughter of Edmund Garland and Sarah (Shuman) Sutphen. The Sutphens are a Holland Dutch family that first located in New Jersey, from which state her grandfather, Richard Sutphen, came to Baltimore, Ohio, in pioneer times. He cleared up some land and made a good farm, afterwards removing to Toledo and finally to Carey, where he died in 1900, at the age of ninety-three. He married Sarah Zircle of Virginia. Margie Sutphen acquired her early education in the public schools and was valedictorian of her class when she graduated from high school in 1897. She remained at home for several years. and in the meantime took the summer library course at the Chautauqua in New York and has since been the very efficient librarian at Carey. She is a member of the Ohio Library Association and is affiliated with the English Lutheran Church. ROB V. PHILLIPS. A Toledo lawyer with large practice and influential connection, Rob V. Phillips was reared and educated in Michigan and has been actively connected. with the Toledo bar since 1904. He practices alone with offices in the Nicholas Building. Mr. Phillips was born in Lenawee County, Michigan, April 14, 1879. He is a son of Charles W. and Sarah (Lozier) Phillips. The paternal ancestosomere colonial Americans and some. of them fought in the French and Indian wars. His grandfather, Aaron Phillips, came to Michigperiod1837 during the pioneer peri9d, and was one of the early settlers of Lenawee County. Both he and his son, Charles W., were sturdy farmers, and Charles W. was born in Michigan and is still living on the old homestead at the age of sixty-nine. His wife was born in Ohio and died in. 1905. Rob V. Phillips attended the public schools of Adrian, Michigan, took his law course in the Detroit College of Law and was graduated LL. B. in 1904. He soon afterward came to Toledo to enter practice and has made for himself congenial associations and a profitable general practice. From 1914 to 1916 he served as police prosecutor of the City of Toledo and in 1916 was unsuccessful candidate for police judge. Mr. Phillips is a member of the Toledo Commerce Club, is both a lodge and chapter Mason and Odd Fellow and in politics is a republican. JACOB DIRR, proprietor of the old Dirr homestead in Pleasant Township of Henry. County, represents some of the earliest pioneer stock of Germans to locate in this district of Northwest Ohio. His own life has been one of commendable industry, of thrifty management, and the prosperity he has acquired for himself and his family has been more than well deserved. Mr. Dirr was born on the old' farm originally settled by his father, Henry Dirr. His birth occurred in a log house April 9, 1867. He grew up in Pleasant Township, was educated in the neighboring district schools, and employed his increasing energies with the tasks of the home farm. Mr. Dirr became proprietor of the old homestead in June, 1900. For the past fifteen years he has affected many changes and improvements, which have mate. rially increased the value of the land and property. His home is a substantial ten room modern house, with basement, and practically every bit of his 140 acres are well improved. He farms on the rotation principle, and is careful about conserving the fertility of his soil. He keeps good stock and feeds nearly all the grain raised in his fields. Henry Dirr, his father, was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, in 1816, and came with his parents to the :United States about 1832. The journey to this country was made in a sailing vessel, which encountered heavy seas and adverse weather, and finally laalmosts passengers hungry and alniost exhausted. The Dirr family came West to Cleveland, and in 1836 arrived in Pleasant Township. They located on the Ridge Road, secured their land direct from the Government, and had the log cabin home so familiar in the early settlement of this country. Many of the difficulties which the family encountered during their early years of settlement have been described on other pages of this publication. Henry Dirr grew to manhood on the fron tier, became accustomed. to all the hardships of pioneering, and in early years was a great friend of the Indians who still lingered in this part of Ohio. As a young man he secured work as a mule driver on the canal, but eventually he developed a tract of land as a farm. He had excellent business ability, and had established a material competence long before his death, which occurred March 10, HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1899 1890. He was first a whig and afterward a republican in his political affiliations. Henry Dirr married for his first wife Katharina Gardner, a native, of Bavaria, Germany. She died in 1862, the mother of eight children. After her death Henry Dirr married Ricka Shore, who was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, July 24, 1836, and had come to Amer.. ica from Bremen, making the voyage in sixty-two days. She lived for a time in De; fiance County, until her marriage. Mrs. Henry Dirr is still living and still retains her vitality and mental vigor, though she is now quite old. She is an active member of the Evangelical Church. She was the mother of three children. Catherine, the oldest, is the wife of Henry Graver, of New Bavaria, and they have five sons and two daughters. The second in age is Mr. Jacob Dirr. George is unmarried and lives in California. Mr. Jacob Dirr was married in Pleasant Township. to Miss Jennie Demland. She was born in that township August 17, 1870, and has lived in this locality all her life. Her parents were William and Elizabeth (Hornung) Demland. Her father was born in Bavaria, Germany, but was married in Henry County, his wife having been born and reared here. Mr. Demland became a farmer in Pleasant Township, close to the county line, and after a prosperous career died there January 13, 1909, at the age of sixty-two. He was .a republican, and during the Civil war had served as a soldier for three years in the Sixty-eighth Ohio Infantry. He had many narrow escapes from bullets and other dangers, but was neither wounded nor captured. His widow is still living on the old homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Dirr are the parents of two children. Oliver, who was born in 1891, grew up on the homestead farm, and is now successfully directing its cultivation and has assumed much of its management. He married Viola Kilpatrick, who was born in 1894 and was reared and educated here. They have a small daughter, Wilma, now two years of age. Esther Z., the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Dirr, is the wife of John Mansfield and they live in Highland Township. They have a daughter named Imogene. Mr. and Mrs. Dirr are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is an official, while Mrs. Dirr is a teacher in the Sunday-school. PETER DIRR. The pioneer settlers of a new county or city, independently of any intrinsic qualities which they may possess, are objects of peculiar interest in succeeding generations. Those who follow delight to read their names and to treasure in memory their accomplishments. The early colonists and the Pilgrim Fathers, as the years pass, are gradually raised from the level of common humanity and placed upon pedestals for our contemplation, challenging the admiration of posterity. Each successive step in the settlement of the country, as adventurous pioneers pushed out from the populous centers of this or other countries, in the rapidly receding wilderness, has brought to notice courageous men and industrious families who have connected their names indissolubly with rising states and embryo communities. The first six families to settle in Pleasant Township, Henry County, were the Hofmeisters, the Saurers, the Leshs, the Grims, the Kittrings and the Dirrs, all coming from Germany and all making settlement between the years 1832 and 1835. It will be the object of this sketch to briefly review the Dirr family, one of the best known and most highly esteemed in the township, of which a worthy representative is found in the person of Peter Dirr, a lifelong resident of the locality, who is still engaged in agricultural pursuits and is the owner of a handsome property. Henry Dirr, the father of Peter Dirr, was born in the Province of Wuertemberg, Germany, between 1810 and 1812, and when he was a young man—it is believed in 1832—his parents brought their family to the United States. The journey was made across the Atlantic in an old sailing vessel, which encountered heavy seas and adverse weather, so that an exceedingly bad passage was made, which consumed ninety days. In fact the immigrants, hungry and exhausted, had about given up hope of landing in free America when finally land was sighted and the little party of Dirrs touched American soil in New York. From the great eastern metropolis they made their way to Cleveland, where they remained for about one year, and then came to Henry County, by way of Defiance, following the Indian trail a distance of twelve miles east into what is now Pleasant Township. They located on what was popularly known in the community as the Ridge Road, where the grandfather (whose name is not now re-membered) secured land from the United States Government, and there erected a log cabin of the type which made up the buildings of the territory at that time. It was only a