HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 125 store, exchanging it for property in Chicago, and then moved to Kendallville, Indiana, where he devoted himself to the practice of medicine for the next ten years, removing then to Columbus City, Indiana, and from there in 1900 to .Toledo, Ohio, where he established himself on Glenwood avenue and remained eight years, becoming one of the prominent medical men of that city. Before coming to Wauseon, in 1917, he practiced medicine at North Lewisburg, Ohio, for fifteen months. Always busy in a professional way because of his medical skill, Doctor Kester for years has been a useful factor in the world in still another way. Careful and conscientious as a physician, he has brought healing of the body to the afflicted wherever he has exercised his skill, while as a local minister of his church body he has labored just as faithfully in this field as the other. He still. is serving both city and country churches as opportunity offers, and still carries on his medical practice. Doctor Kester was married August 1, 1869, to Margaret Barnhart, a daughter of Peter and Mary. (McFarland) Barnhart. Mrs. Kester died in 1914, having been the mother of six children, of whom the following survive: Bert, who married and settled at Atlanta, Georgia, has two children; Clyde J., who lives with his family at Detroit, Michigan, has three children Ivy L., who is the wife of Francis Myers, of Toledo; and Loretto, who is the wife of Melvin Castleton, of Toledo. Doctor Kester's second marriage was to Dora J. Longwell, a trained nurse, a daughter of Tilghman Tellner, of Bucyrus, Ohio. EARL NELSON BALDWIN. There is a Michigan side to the family story of Earl Nelson Baldwin of Fayette. He was born November 3, 1878, in Medina township, Lenawee county. He is a son of Nelson and Sarah (Sims) Baldwin. Nelson is a son of Charles Baldwin and a native of Lenawee county, while the mother came from Monroe county, New York. However, they were married in Michigan. For many years they were farmers, finally locating in Morenci, that haven of retired farmers. The mother died in 1905, and the father in 1.914 in Morenci. Beside his common school education Earl N. Baldwin attended the Fayette Normal, and then entered the hardware business in Morenci. Four years later he transferred his business interests to Fayette, and he has prospered in a general hardware store. In October, 1911, Mr. Baldwin married Myrtle C. Rorick. She is a daughter of Mark and Mary (Porter) Rorick, and is a native of Seneca township, Lenawee county, Michigan. Their children are: Ned, Mark, Pauline, Roscoe, Duane and twins, Cary and Mary. GEORGE W. GRIFFIN. The Griffin family as represented by George W. Griffin of Fayette came west from New York to Ohio as early as 1835, the ancestry crossing Lake Erie and living for a time at Maumee before going by wagon to Adrian, Michigan, and later to Fayette: George W. Griffin, who relates the family history, was born in Fayette July 12, 1855, and all of his life has been spent in Fulton county. He was born within its borders five years after its organization. G. W. Griffin is a son of James L. and Eliza Ann (Acker) Griffin. The father was born in Catskill county and the mother near Fayette, New York. His grandparents were William and Sarah (gloat) Griffin, and George and Lydia (Holbon) Acker. The Ackers came from Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, to Ohio, locating in Gor- 126 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY ham township. When the father of James L. Griffin and his family arrived here they turned over the wagon box to shelter the family at night, and after their arrival in Gorham township they converted the virgin timber country into, a homestead. The Griffins left the farm in 1895, taking up their residence in Fayette. While James Griffin is deceased, Mrs. Griffin, at the advanced age of eighty-five years, is still a resident of the community. Their oldest is George W . Griffin of Fayette William, Whitfield and May died in early life; Orvidus A. deceased, was one of the leading opticians of the. United States; Walter lives in Fayette. When George W. Griffin was twenty-one years old he attended the Wauseon Normal school, and for a few years he taught in the public schools of Fulton county. While engaged in the teaching profession Mr. Griffin went to Toledo and taught for a while in the House of Correction there. In 1878 he returned, to Fayette and bought an interest in the Fayette Record. Until 1896 the newspaper was published under the firm name of Lewis and Griffin, when Mr. Griffin disposed of his newspaper stock and devoted his entire time to life and fire insurance. He now represents twelve different insurance companies—fire, life and accident,' and he also does automobile insurance. Mr. Griffin represents the Travelers Life and Accident Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, and he is also engaged in local real estate transactions. He is a director of the Fayette Savings Bank, and secretary of the Fayette Canning Company. Mr. Griffin's children are as follows: Grace May, wife of Frederick H. Lee of Seattle, Washington and Gertrude L., wife of Roscoe Roth of Toledo. Mr. Griffin has had much to do with the material development of the community. He has built and rebuilt thirty-two different buildings in and about Fayette. In politics he is a republican. Mr. Griffin has filled two vacancies as justice of the peace, and he has been a member of the council and Fayette corporation clerk. Beside his own business interests, he has been guardian and looked after the financial interests of others in seventeen estates. Mr. Griffin is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows No. 431 of Fayette, of the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 689 of Fayette, and he is on the official board of the Fayette Methodist Episcopal Church. EDWARD D. SCHAD, owner of a good coal and fertilizer business in the City of Wauseon, Ohio, and a native of Fulton county had shown much ability and versatility in his manhood occupations. Reared on a farm, and restricted to an elementary education such as was only possible in the facilities of a country school, and able only to attend school for about three months each year, he nevertheless proved himself as the years passed to be a man of convincing power as a speaker, and of deep understanding of the Scriptures. Although his occupation until he was twenty-nine years old was farming, he then became a successful evangelist, and for five years thereafter followed that calling, preaching over a wide circuit in Ohio and Michigan. Then followed years during which his main occupation was farming, but in 1917 he came to Wauseon, so that his children might take the higher educational facilities of the city, and he entered commercial business as a coal merchant, his success showing that he is a man of good business ability. He was born in Franklin township, Fulton county, Ohio, on HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 127 August 6, 1872, the son of Christian and Catherine (Swartzendruber) Schad. The family is originally of Teutonic ancestry, but has the distinction of being among the old colonial families of Pennsylvania. It has been stated that the American progenitor of the branch of the Schad family to which the Fulton county, Ohio, family belongs settled in Pennsylvania in the seventeenth century, so that he may have been of the Dutch holders of the territory, before the coming of William Penn. In the pioneer days, Christian Swartzendruber, grandfather of Edward D. Schad, drove his team from Pennsylvania into the wild land of Fulton county, and settled at Franklin township, where he farmed until his death, leaving a cleared and improved property to his sons. Christian Schad, father of Edward D., was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was brought from there by his father in the late '40s to Fulton county. He farmed the Schad home property until his death, at which time Edward D. was only eighteen months old, so that the young days of the latter were passed under somewhat rigorous conditions. As a boy he worked for about nine months of each, year on the home farm, going to school during the winter months, although even then he probably did much of the necessary work of the farm before and after school hours. Eventually, however, he grew to manhood and assumed full control of the farm. He married when twenty-seven years old, and two years later his strong religious impulses, together with his natural power of speech, drew him into evangelical work, and for the next five years he occupied the pulpit almost continuously. He was a convincing preacher, and had much success in his circuit. He then was called to the Methodist pastorate in Tedrow, Fulton county, which he filled satisfactorily. From there he took the Morenci, Michigan, pastorate of his own denomination. During most of this time he managed his farm of 100 acres which he had bought, and there lived, successfully farming it for seventeen years. After giving up the pastorate of Morenci, he again took up evangelical work during the winter months. When it became necessary to move into the city, so that his children might be properly educated, he rented his farm, and since the fall of 191.7 has been in business in Wauseon as a coal merchant and dealer in fertilizers. His coal yard was on the D. T. and I. Railroad until he moved to his present location on North Fulton street. It has been stated that his coal business is one of the largest in the city, and that it also embraces a good country trade. Certain it is that Mr. Schad has shown much energy and good business capability since he ventured into business in Wauseon. As will be assumed by the reading of the foregoing, Mr. Schad is a man of strong religious principles and fervor. He is a member of the United Bretheren denomination, and of late years has been much interested in Sunday school work, and to some ertent, he has entered into public affairs, having for six years, while on the farm, been trustee of Dover township, Fulton county. In national politics he gives allegiance to the republican party. In 1898 he married Emma, daughter of John and Ursula (Seiler) Winzeler, of Franklin township, and to them have been born three children : Inez, born in 1899, and now attending Huntington College, Huntington, Indiana; Elmer, who was born in 1901, graduated in 1920 from the Wauseon High School ; and Laura, born in 1903, is now in her junior year in high school. JOHN B. MEISTER, senior partner of the firm of J. B. Meister and Sons of Pettisville, Fulton county, Ohio, is one of the leading busi- 128 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY ness and public men of that section of the county. He has lived a commendable life, has been in substantial merchandising business for forty years, and has taken good and able part in public life. He was one of the founders of the Pettisville Savings Bank, was probably the one most influential and active in its organization, and has been its president since its establishment. He has been a justice of the peace for twenty-five years, and has interested himself actively with educational matters as a member of the local board of education. John B. Meister was born in German township, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1858, and comes of one of the pioneer families of that district. The family is of Swiss origin, George Meister, grandfather of John B., having been born in that country. He came from the canton Of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, to America in 1830, and his was one of the first nine families to settle in German township, Fulton county where they located in 1833. The nine families came together with ox teams through the wilderness from Wayne the part of the trip after crossing the river at Napoleon taking nine days, and George Meister settled with his family at the ridge now known as Lauber Hill. At that time Benedict, father of.John B., was only three years old. As he grew older he, with the others of the family, aided his father in clearing what proved to be a valuable property at Lauber Hill. He spent his whole life there. John B. was born in the Meister homestead, the son of Benedict . and Anna (Anion) Meister, and in that township was reared, as was his father. He attended the district school during the whiter terms, but during the long summer months there was no school, and he followed the custom of other sons of farmers, and labored in the fields for his father until the harvest was practically over and the winter school term began. So passed his boyhood. After leaving school he gave all his time to affairs of the home farm of eighty acres until he was twenty-one years old. Then he decided to enter commercial life, for which he felt himself to be better fitted than for farming. He secured employment as clerk in the general store of J. E. Hall at Waterville, holding that connection for about twelve months. He mastered the business during that period, and returned on January 23, 1884, to Pettisville, to acquire with his brother the general store business of S. C. Brainard of that place. The brothers traded as Meister Brothers, but at the outset John B. conducted the business alone, his brother coming into active participation in its operation after the business had become well organized and established. For twenty-four years the partnership continued, the brothers prospering and giving good service to local people, and expanding the radius of outside business. John B. then purchased his brother's interest in the business, and having built a new store, soon afterward moved into it. And there the business has since been conducted, in the earlier years by himself alone, and latterly with the aid of his sons, Ralph W. and George E., who were admitted into partnership when old enough, and after they had demonstrated their capability. Since the entry of the sons into the business the firm-name has been J. B. Meister and Sons. and the trading has been of comprehensive scope, embracing a full line of reliable dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, and hardware. To some extent, by reason of his ancestry, but mainly because of his own sterling character, John B. Meister reached a high place in the regard of the people of Pettisville and of that vicinity. He has always given good service, has always been ready to take a good share in the responsibilities of the community, and has been liberal HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 129 in his support of local undertakings, in church and civic affairs. During the last decade he has taken prominent part among the bankers of Fulton county, being the president of the Pettisville Savings Bank, of which he was one of the founders in 1909. He has been elected term after term as justice of the peace, until his record in that office embraces a period of twenty-five years. He must therefore be a man of fair mind and impartial judgment. He has also served for many years on the Pettisville board of education. Politically he is a republican, although he has never followed national politics with a view to political office; in fact he has never sought office, being quite sufficiently occupied by local affairs, and by the multitudinous affairs of his private business. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias Order, a member of the Wauseon Lodge. Thirty-five years ago, in 1885, he married Martha, the daughter of William and Nancy (Kritzer) Fraker, of Clinton township, Fulton county. To them have been born three children. Ralph W., who is now thirty-two years old, is a business partner with his father. George E., now twenty-nine years old, and also a partner on the firm of J. B. Meister and Sons, although in 1917-1919 he had no part in the affairs of the company, for he was during that period in national service. In fact he is now a veteran of the World war, and one with a creditable record of service. He was one .of the early volunteers for military service, and sought the branch upon which the brunt of the fighting fell. He was a member of the Eighteenth Company, Fifth Regiment of 'Marines, Second Division, and was wounded at St. Mihiel. Later, he was with the Army of Occupation in German territory. The third child in the family is John B., Jr., who was born in 1900, and is attending Defiance College, Defiance, Ohio. OTTO A. WALDVOGEL, a native of Archbold, Fulton county, Ohio, has had a successful business career, notwithstanding that he is yet scarcely into his thirties. Ile was for five years cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Archbold, and later manager of the Auburndale branch of the Continental Trust and Savings Bank, and latterly has been president of the Acme Level and Manufacturing Company, a growing Archbold corporation he himself organized and is bringing into satisfactory and substantial establishment. He has shown much ability in responsible affairs, and is actuated by a. commendable strength of character and logical optimism. He was born in Archbold, Fulton county, Ohio, July 18, 1890, the son of John and Elizabeth (Mandley) Waldvogel. His education was obtained in the public schools of the borough, and after graduating from the Archbold High School he applied himself energetically to what seemed to him to be lucrative work. For about twelve months he was in independent business as a trucking contractor, but he was characteristically fitted for the higher spheres of executive business. After about one year at trucking he secured appointment as cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Archbold, and for the next five years continued with that bank in that capacity. Then came a promotion as a banking official, he being placed in charge of the Auburndale branch of the Continental Trust and Savings Bank. About twelve months later he took up another interest, and after about another year he interested himself in the organization of the company with which he has since been identified. The Acme Level and Manufacturing Company, of which 130 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY he has been president since its inception, was organized with a capital of $25,000 to manufacture chiefly spirit levels, although since its establishment its scope of trading has appreciably widened, and includes now a comprehensive line of hardware and many hardware specialties. The business is being ably managed, and is of good standing in the district. The men identified with it are of the type of Mr. Waldvogel, and there is every probability that its business +will continue to expand, and that it will become one of the important manufacturing concerns of the town of Archbold. Otto A. Waldvogel is a republican in political affiliation, although he has not yet evinced an active interest in such movements, and certainly has shown no desire for public office. He is, nevertheless, a man of good public spirit, and has been a useful contributor to many local projects of public character. Fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge and Chapter. Religiously he is a Baptist, and sincere in church work, being a member of the Archbold church of that denomination. In 1910 Mr. Waldvogel married Florence, daughter of John and Aurilla (Murphy) Reith, of Pettisville, Fulton county, Ohio. They have two children : Lowell H., who was born in 1911, and Lorene Elizabeth, born in 1917. ERVIN FRANKLIN HEIST, of the enterprising firm of Heist and Hill of Wauseon, has been coming to the fore during recent years of good business in Wauseon and Fulton county. He and his partner have the agency for the Chevrolet car, and are developing a substantial business in tires and auto accessories and Supplies generally, and also have done an appreciable business in agricultural implements. Ervin F. Heist is the son of Franklin and Amanda (Fluck) Heist, and was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, in 1878. In 1880 the family moved to Henry county, Ohio. At the age of nineteen years he left school, and from that time until he had reached his majority he worked on the home farm. Then he went to Fayette, Ohio, and entered commercial life, for almost four years working in a grocery at that place. For two years thereafter he was a clerk in a dry goods store at West Unity, after which for eighteen months he was connected with a clothing store at Montpelier. From there he went to Bryan, Ohio, where for more than four years he clerked in a local clothing store. In that capacity he eventually found employment in Wauseon, soon afterward taking over the management of the clothing department of the Wauseon store of C. E. Roseman and Company, with which company he remained connected for about a year. Then followed three years of independent business, in partnership with George J. Oakley, although in an entirely different business, the firm of Oakley and Heist handling agricultural implements. The partnership was successful, and at the end of three years Mr. Heist saw business advantage in accepting his partner's offer to purchase his interest. Soon after the dissolution of partnership Mr. Heist joined with Mr. Hill in establishing the firm of Heist and Hill, with the object of entering into the automobile business. The partners built an adequate plant at 222 West Depot street, Wauseon, and having secured the Chevrolet car agency for Wauseon and Fulton county, and made provisions for a wide scope of service in automobile accessories and repairs, the partners entered energetically into the business. They are both live, active men, and soon brought good returns to the partnership. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 131 A substantial business has been developed in auto requirements, and they have satisfactorily handled a general agricultural implement business, and the future prospects are good for them. Mr. Heist is a staunch democrat in national politics, and fraternally is identified with the local branch of the Knights of Pythias Order. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and have many friends in Wauseon. Mr. Heist was married in 1906 to Elsie, daughter of Albert Thomas. One child, a son, has been born to them, Everett Duane, who was born in 1907, and now attends local school. B. M. BORTON. Among the enterprising and successful business people of the City of Wauseon should be placed Mr. B. M. Borton, owner of the Wauseon Auto Garage formerly conducted by David Morningstar. Mr. Borton has a substantial business, being agent in Wauseon for the Dodge and Oldsmobile cars and the Republic truck, and also doing a satisfactorily business in general auto supplies, handling the Dodge commercial line. He was born at the family homestead in Franklin township, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1881, the son of Samuel and Sarah (Riddle) Borton. He attended county schools until he was about seventeen years old, after which he assisted his father in the operation of the home farm for five years. Then for a while he farmed independently, having a property 100 acres in extent near Wauseon. He was, however, a man of aggressive characteristics, and more suited to executive or commercial occupations than for the more manual requirements of farming. Eventually he decided to give up his farm. For a year thereafter he was in Adrian, Michigan, in clerical capacity in the offices of the Wabash Railway Company. Next he was in Spokane, State of Washington, and there for a year he found employment as a salesman for a well-known seed house. He might have remained on the Pacific Coast had it not been for the illness of his father, which called him back to his native place. Thereafter he remained in his home state. He purchased a general store at Elmira, Fulton county, in 1908, operating it successfully for ten years. In 1918 he sold the store, in order that he might acquire the Wauseon Garage, owned by David Morningstar. Since that time he has lived in Wauseon, and has become well-known in the city among auto owners. His auto repairs and accessories trading is of wide scope. He handles the U. S., the U. S. Federal, Goodrich and Miller tires, and has an up-to-date tire repair department. With the Dodge agency for the city and three townships, and the agency for the Republic trucks and the Oldsmobile for Fulton county, Mr. Borton has control of a good business, and with his ability as a salesman he will probably know how to use it to good advantage. He has made many friends since he has lived in Wauseon, and has shown an interest in the affairs of the city. He is a republican in politics, but in his busy life has not had the time to take active part in political matters. He belongs to the Church of Christ, and is generous in support of many activities of the community. In Spokane, Washington, in 1907, he married Katherine E., daughter of George Becker, of Manchester, Michigan, Mr. Borton having met her when he was at Adrian, in the employ of the Wabash Railway Company. They have three children : Samuel B., who was born in 1908, Bernice Otillo and Marie Dorothy. 132 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY HARLEY S. HILL, partner in the Wauseon firm of Heist and Hill, the business of which covers a wide scope in agricultural implements, embraces auto sales and has a good place among the energetic business men of Wauseon. He is a man of good business ability, for many years was in the federal civil service, and since he has been in Wauseon has had good business success. He was born on a farm in Madison county, New York, in 1879, the son of M. M. and Clarinda (Hyatt) Hill. His genealogy connects with good English and Dutch houses, and he received his elementary education in the district school nearest to his father's farm in New York state. Later he took the course at the well-known old Methodist Seminary, Cazenovia, in New York state. Still later, having decided to enter commercial life, Harley Hill took a business course at the Bryant and Stratton Business College, Buffalo, New York. Entering upon a business career, he for about six months worked in the Buffalo railroad office of the Pere Marquette, after which he was for a short time a clerk in the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railway Company's freight office at Toledo, Ohio. He left the employ of the railway company to enter the Federal civil service. He secured appointment by competitive examination in the civilian personnel of the War Department at Washington, District of Columbia, taking clerical capacity in the office of the quartermaster general. He remained attached to the War Department for about eighteen months, then being transferred to the Postoffice Department and assigned as clerk at Detroit, in which city he remained as a civil servant for three years. In 1912 he came to Wauseon and formed business association with Ervin Heist, the two, as partners, entering into business in the city and district as agricultural implement, dealers, under the trading name of Heist and Hill, which name has since become so widely known throughout Fulton county. They established their business in the Old Armory Building at Wauseon, and that has ever since been their business address. Their business embraces the Fulton county agencies for the International Harvester line of implements and farm requisites, for the specialties of the John Deere Plow Company, and the New Idea Spreader Company, and they have the agencies for two good makes of automobiles, the Chevrolet and the Grant. The sales rooms of the partners cover the space of a new building, 50 by 150 feet, and there is every evidence that a good volume of business is done. The partners stand in enviable repute locally, and Mr. Hill has shown a generous interest in projects of consequence to the city, or to some phase of its activities. Politically he is a republican, attends the Baptist Church, and is a consistent supporter of the local church. Generally he has shown himself to be among the representative, responsible citizens of Wauseon, ready to take his share of the responsibilities of communal life. In 1909 he married Nellie B., daughter of II. L. and Adelaide (Beech) Moseley, of Wauseon. They have one child, a son, Mau- -rice M., who was born in 1914. EDWARD DANIEL HAHN, owner of an iron and steel works in Wauseon, Ohio, since 1912, and well-regarded in the city as a responsible, successful man of business, was born within twelve miles of Gettysburg, Adams county, Pennsylvania, in 1856, seven years before the locality became nationally famous. His parents were Andrew and Elizabeth (Wentroth) Hahn, the former a farmer well-regarded in that neighborhood, where he spent most of his life, and where HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 133 he owned a good farming property. Edward D. was reared in the wholesome environment of the paternal farm, and attended school until he was about seventeen years old. After leaving school he began to work for his elder brother, who owned a grist mill in Adams county. For five years Edward D. was associated with his brother in the operation of the A dams County Grist Mill, and then both came into Ohio, settling at Lewisborough, Preble county, where they jointly operated a grist mill. Later Edward D. went to Eaton, Ohio, and there took up another calling, that of blacksmith, at which work he remained in Eaton for three years. For eight years following that experience he was an independent tobacco planter and farmer at West Baltimore, Ohio, having purchased a farm there of twenty-five acres. He was moderately successful at farming, but at the end of eight years sold the property, and for nine years thereafter lived in Dayton, Ohio, where he had lucrative employment as builder of vestibule ends on passenger cars in the car works of Baring and Smith of that place. Then followed two years of less arduous work, as agent for the Singer Sewing Machine Company in Dayton, but eventually Mr. Hahn returned to farming, purchasing a farm of eighty acres situated at Melrose, Ohio, where he lived and farmed continuously for the next twenty years, after which he was in independent business as a blacksmith for six years in Man-dale, Ohio. This brings his life story down to the year 1912, and he had succeeded moderately well during his thirty-nine years of business endeavor. He came to Wauseon in 1912 to purchase the smithing and buggy repairing and wagon building business at that place. Since that year he has conducted the business with very good success, having, it is stated, the largest and best equipped works of that class in the county. Since he has been in Wauseon Mr. Hahn, who is an independent in politics, has shown himself to be a man of commendable industry, thorough and reliable in his undertakings, and of good moral and material integrity. He has shown good public spirit, and is among the responsible business men of the city. He married in 1879, at Lewisburg, Ohio, Dora Schorf, daughter of William and Mary Schorf, of that place. Two children, sons, were born to them: William H., of Middletown, Ohio ; and Raymond G. of West Milton. Both sons have married, and each has two children. FRED HARRISON MOYER, of Delta, is in the third generation of the name in the community. He was born at Swan Creek October 6, 1888, and his father before him, Edward Moyer, was born in Delta. The grandfather, Moses Moyer, came from Germany. He was one of the early settlers at Delta. He was one of those who organized the town, and he conducted the first hotel. Edward Moyer married Caroline Slater, and for two years they lived in Delta. They bought and moved to a farm in Swan Creek, and after his death, she remained on the farm and managed it and brought up her children there. In 1911 she moved to Delta. and she died June 28, 1915. The children are: Hattie, wife of William Dickens, of Oreston ; Frank, of New Glarus, Wisconsin ; Ralph Foster, of Toledo; Hollie C., of Gallipolis; Jessie, wife of Norman Reighard, of Delta; George E., of Toledo ; Fred Harrison, who relates the family history; Arthur R., of Louisville, Kentucky; and Joe Donald of the United States Army of Occupation stationed at Coblenz, Germany. 134 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Mr. Moyer was educated at the Raker School in Swan Creek and in the Delta High School, and until he was twenty h9 worked on farms, then joined a construction crew on the New York Central, but one year later he went to the Moyer farm for five years. He has done carpenter work and house painting, finally joining forces with Mr. Holloway and becoming foreman in schoolhouse building at Portage. Mr. Moyer worked at the Helvetio Condensary, beginning .as a common laborer and finally becoming assistant engineer, remaining there two years. On June 1, 1919, Mr. Moyer became city engineer in Delta. He is in charge of the waterworks extension and other public work within corporate limits. On November 18, 1908, Fred Harrison Moyer married Goldie Lutton. She is a daughter of Lincoln and Minnie (Force) Lutton, of York township. Their children are: Ray Archibald and Edward Lincoln. While living in Swan Creek, Mr. Moyer received the appointment as constable, and while the United States was engaged in war against Germany he was a deputy marshal in Delta. His father before him, Edward Moyer, served as justice of the peace for a good many years. Mr. Moyer belongs to two fraternal orders, the Masons and 'Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Delta. In his sons the fourth generation of Moyers now lives in Delta.. MICHAEL E. LONG. The family to which Michael E. Long of Delta belongs was among the early settlers in Sandusky county. He was born there February 27, 1852, a son of John B. and Lydia E. (Fry). Long. They were from Crawford county, Pennsylvania, and moved to Sandusky county in an early day. John B. Long was a United Bretheren preacher, and lived in different communities. However, Sandusky was in the nature of a permanent home to him. His wife died there in 1879, and he died in 1890, and many of their children died there. Those living are : Rebecca, wife of Adam Gums, of Gibsonburg; Wesley, near Bowling Green ; and Michael E. of Delta. Those deceased are: Louisa, Samuel, Jacob, Daniel, William, Arcanus and Mattie. Michael E. Long attended public school at Gibsonburg and until he was twenty he worked by the month on farms until his marriage. On December 23, 1876, he married Jennie N. Fish, of Wood county. She is a daughter of John and Margaret Ann (Teft) Fish. For three years Mr. Long rented land, and then he bought a farm in Wood county. After four years he sold it and removed to Sandusky county. He bought a quarter section of improved land and lived there eighteen years. When he left the farm he moved to Gibson-burg, and hired a man on the farm for five years, when he rented it. In the spring of 1913 Mr. Long bought one of the best residences in Delta and has made it his home. He owns a farm of 120 acres in York, and Mrs. Long owns the same sized farm in Fulton, and both are rented and they have an income from them. Their son B. Milen Long married Ethel McMillen, and they have one daughter, Mildred. They live in Delta. Ethel Long is the wife of H. B. Klotz and they have one daughter, Ruth. They live on the Long farm in Fulton. John William Long enlisted in the World war and is field clerk at Camp Custer, Michigan. While John B. Long was a United Brethren minister, Michael E. Long does not belong to any church, but affiliates with different churches. He served. as Sunday school superintendent and as an elder in the Disciples Church for many years, and since living in HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 135 Delta he has been active in United Brethren Church circles, and is teacher in the Sunday school at the present time. Mr. Long calls himself independent in a political way, and since he does not unite with any church he must be independent in his religious conviction. He affiliates with any Protestant denomination. ROBERT FRANKLIN HANCOCK, enterprising manufacturer and respected resident of Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, comes of an old Vermont family, but his father came to Fulton county in 1860, and to Delta two years later. Since that time Robert Franklin Hancock has lived practically the whole of his life in or near Delta. He was born at Brear, Ohio, February 1, 1858, the son of Daniel and Ann J. (Wallace) Hancock. Through his mother his genealogy connects with a Scotch-Irish family, she having been born in Ireland. His parents were married in Cleveland, Ohio, where at that time his father, a carpenter by trade, was in business. Later his parents settled in Brear, Ohio, and in about 1860 came into Fulton county, having purchased a farm in the county, upon which they lived for two years, although Daniel Hancock continued to follow his trade. At the end of two years, however, he sold his farm and moved into the. village of Delta, Fulton county, where subsequently for very many years he was in independent business as a contractor and builder, some of the principal residential and other building of that section of Fulton county having been erected by him. He died in 1893, and his widow ten years later, both being buried in Delta, where they had very many friends and were generally esteemed as good neighbors and responsible, public-spirited residents. Their children were: John L., now of Harrison, Clare county, Michigan ; William, deceased; Ellen, who married Esmond Kinyon, of Grand Rapids, Michigan: Sarah, who married George Dunham, of Elsa, Clinton county, Michigan; Robert Franklin ; Daniel, who died at the age of three years; and Emma Jane, who died in infancy. Robert Franklin, fifth child of Daniel and Ann J. (Wallace) Hancock, was only two years old when his parents came to live in Fulton county, and only four years old when they moved into Delta, so that he may almost be considered a native of the county. He grew to manhood in the county, attended the elementary and high schools of Delta, and when fifteen years old began to work for monthly wages on farms in the neighborhood of his home, continuing in such work until he was nineteen years old. He married at the early age of twenty-one years, and for eight years thereafter was connected in business with his father-in-law, George Cottingham, who was a manufacturer of potash in Delta. For the succeeding eighteen years, or until 1905, Robert F. Hancock followed farming on the old Cottingham homestead in York township, Fulton county. He was from his earliest years possessed of abundant energy, and has shown during his life much enterprise and business acumen. In 1905 he established in Delta a plant for the making of cement blocks for building purposes, and was the pioneer of that industry in that section of Fulton county. Much of the result of his enterprise is evident in buildings standing today in Delta and throughout the neighborhood. Mr. Hancock is still in business, and has had good success irk his business endeavors. He is counted among the responsible business men of that part of Fulton county, and is of good personal repute. In religious conviction he is a Presbyterian, a member and good 136 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY supporter of the local church of that denomination, being influenced perhaps to some extent in affiliating himself with that denomination because of his Scotch-Irish origin. His mother, probably, was a staunch Presbyterian; both in her native land and in this. Politically Mr. Hancock is a republican, although he has not evinced any inclination to follow political movements actively and personally, having no desire for political office. In local affairs and in community movements he has, however, always been ready to give substantial support to all that he has felt might prove an advantage to the community. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias Order. On September 3, 1879, he married Melissa Cottingham, who was born in Lincolnshire, England, but who early in life was brought to this country and to Delta, Fulton county, by her parents, George and Elizabeth (Larder) Cottingham. Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Hancock reared from infancy to promising manhood Archie Rollin Hancock, their nephew, son of Mr. Hancock's brother J. L. They afforded their nephew a good education, and he now is a successful bank official of the Northern Bank in Toledo, Ohio. He is married, and the three children born to him and his wife, Gertrude Carpenter, are: Donna Berrill, Norman and Catherine. HARVEY SHADLE. The autumnal equinox, A. D. 1919, marked an important milestone in the history of the pioneer Shadle family in Fulton county. On that day there was a family reunion and farewell dinner party at the old family homestead of almost three-quarters of a century—the home of Harvey Shadle. His father, Joseph Shadle, had obtained possession of the farmstead and family estate December 14, 1844, and had taken up his residence there November 15, 1845, two months lacking to round out three-quarters of a century at the time of this farewell dinner party given by Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Shadle. Few Fulton county families have remained longer on one farmstead, the transfer of the property from Joseph Shadle to his youngest son having been made December 13, 1884, and thus it has been the life time habitation of Harvey Shadle. Joseph Shadle and his wife, Jane (Burk) Shadle, were natives of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania. She was the older, having been born February 29, 1812, having a birthday only every fourth year, while he was born August 16, 1815, and they were married October 17, 1833, the year the stars fell, and twelve years later they took up their permanent residence at the Shadle family homestead in Fulton county, where they became such an integral part of the Ottokee .community. There were six children in the Shadle family when they located, in Dover: Hosea, Richard, Rebekah, Allen, Ferdinand and Emaline, and here Mary, Luther, Harvey and Florence were added to the number surrounding their hearthstone. All but Rebekah and Ferdinand were living, and all the living but Florence were assembled at this family reunion and dinner party September 21, 1919, a sad goodbye to the old family homestead. Hosea and Richard Shadle are octogenarians. At an Ottokee school reunion, which is an annual event in the community, on June 2, 1917, the Shadles were all present—a unique thing in family history. It was suggested by a member of their family, Mrs. Ann Whittaker Shadle, and was in honor of their old time teacher, Mrs. Julia Carter Aldrich, who always meets with them there. In HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 137 the vicinity of Ottokee are many who meet annually in this old time school reunion. All the Shadles married and reared families except Ferdinand, who married but he had no children. Harvey Shadle, born December 19, 1854, married Ella Rawlins August 30, 1874, and they have always lived at the family homestead. While Mrs. Shadle is a native of New Jersey, the year before her marriage she came with her father and mother, John and Mary (Young) Rawlins, to Ohio. She is one of six children : Isabelle, Sarah, Hannah, Charles, Ella and Jacob. Only one sister, Mrs. Isabelle Gordon, is living today. Her home is in New Jersey. One daughter, Louella, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Shadle. She was born June 16, 1875, and August 16, 1893, she became the wife of Frank H. Mattison. On July .7, 1896, one son, Milford Harvey Mattison, was born to them. Her death occurred April 11, 1900, as a result of typhoid fever when it was epidemic in Wauseon and community. She was a graduate from the Wauseon Normal School, and her son, Milford H. Mattison, has had high school advantages and has become a practical printer. Since the death of his mother his home has been with the grandparents at the Shadle family homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Shadle have been successful in agriculture and animal husbandry, and after forty-five years of life together they left the home farm and went to live in Wauseon. The pioneer Shadle family contributed four sons to the Civil war: Hosea, Richard, Allen and Ferdinand, and in the Spanish American war the next generation contributed one soldier, James L. Verity, a grandson of Joseph Shadle. In all of its history the Shadle family has voted the republican ticket, and Joseph Shadle was one time a commissioner of Fulton county. He was one pioneer citizen whose memory is revered by all who knew him. His wife, too, was a useful woman in the community. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Shadle united with the Ottokee Methodist Episcopal Church more than forty years ago. For many years he has been one of the trustees and both are stewards—regular in their attendance and faithful to its support. He is a member of the Wausaeon Lodge Knights of Pythias, No. 156, and she is a charter member of the Pythias Sisters. They enjoy the social relation thus afforded them. While their immediate family has been small, limited to one daughter and one grandson, Mr. and Mrs. Shadle are foster parents to Carrie Butler, who came to them as a child four years old, and she remained with them until young womanhood. She is a niece of Mrs. Shadle. She became the wife of Jackson Vleit. She is the mother of one son, Jackson Vleit, Jr., and they regard the Vleits as members of their own household today. Hosea, the senior member of the Shadle family, is a resident of Los Angeles, California, and two days after the farewell family dinner he departed for his western home, and two months later Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Shadle took up their residence in Wauseon. It was changed economic conditions—the scarcity of farm labor, that caused them to leave the old homestead in the Ottokee community. When the present commodious farmhouse was built it was with the expectation that it would be their life time place of residence. There is every farmhouse convenience, but the time came when the labor requirements were too much and they changed their environment for their declining years. 138 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY The name Shadle has always stood for industry and good citizenship in the history of Fulton county. In the period covered by the history of this pioneer Fulton county family the Indian trails, Ottokee, Wauseon, Winameg, the frontier byways, have given place to the hard surface highways; the rude log cabins of the pioneers have been supplanted by modern farm residences, and there are everywhere affluent conditions of environment. The Shadle family is intimately identified with the development and history of the Ottokee community. ERVIN LANTZ, an enterprising and aggressive young man of Pettisville, Fulton county, is well-known in that section of the county, having been born in German township in 1894, the son of John and Elizabeth (Nobsinger) Lantz, of that place. The Lantz family has had long residence in Fulton county, and have a good agricultural property in German township. Upon the home farm Ervin was reared, and upon that farm of eighty acres he has spent most of his life. He attended the country school nearest to his home for the elementary grades, and later was a student at the Archbold High School. After leaving school he remained at home until he was twenty-two years old. The next two or three years were spent in many occupations in the vicinity, mainly in farming and merchandising. He appears to have done well during such enterprises, and being of a steady, thrifty nature saved some money, sufficient to purchase the interest held up to January 1, 1919, by Mr. Weber in the auto sales business of Weber and Rychener of Pettisville. Taking his place as partner with Mr. Rychener, Ervin Lantz entered into the new business with a will, and appreciably aided the firm of Rychener and Lantz in a satisfactory year of trading in 1919. The partners are agents for the Nash and Dort cars, for Goodrich tires, enter extensively into the auto repair business, and has a good service station, which was built on Main street, Pettisville, when the business first was organized by Mr. Rychener and his former partner, Mr. Weber. And they carry a comprehensive line of accessories. Mr. Lantz is an able and earnest young business man, and is making himself of appreciable value to the business, holding closely to his work, and manifesting alert, enterprising characteristics. He has very many friends in the neighborhood. Politically he is affiliated with the independent party in local affairs, although he does not enter actively into political affairs. He is unmarried. GIDEON DONALD WYSE, who was manager and partner of the Pettisville Grain Company of Pettisville, Fulton county, Ohio, is widely known throughout the county. In his township he is among the leading business men, is a director and stockholder of the Pettis-vine Bank, and he owns a good farming property. It is of interest to record that he comes of one of the pioneer families of the section, his grandfather, Peter Wyse, having come with a few others through the wilderness from Wayne county and settled on wild land in German township, where he lived to the venerable age of seventy-six years. The Wyse family was originally from Germany, but for three genrations have been United States citizens. Gideon Donald was born on a farm in Clinton township, Fulton county, September 24, 1865, the son of Samuel and Christiana (Swartzen) Wyse. He received the limtied education customarily afforded in the country schools of his time, the education resolving itself into what could. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 139 be gained during a winter term, for the school was closed for the greater part of the growing months, when the sons of farmers were generally expected to give what aid they could to their parents. He continued to pass the years in this manner until he was eighteen years old, when he left school and gave his whole time to the operation of the home farm of 112 acres until he became twenty-one years old, in which year he joined others in a threshing machine enterprise. At such work he passed the next seven years, doing a good thrashing business. He then again took actively to farming, having purchased the home farm from his father. He continued to cultivate the land for eight years, ultimately renting his farm so that he might be free to co-operate with a friend, W. J. Weber, in organizing and establishing the Pettisville Grain Company of Pettisville. The partners built a grain elevator of fifteen thousand bushels capacity, and jointly managed the business until 1909, when Mr. Wyse took over the whole management. Mr. Wyse has demonstrated his business capability, and by his enterprises has added very appreciably to his material wealth. He disposed of his business in the elevator and grain company December 1, 1919. He is one of the stockholders and a director of the Pettisville Savings Bank. Politically a republican, Mr. Wyse has taken a somewhat active part in public affairs. He was elected trustee of German township in 1905, and for four years he has been a member of the board of education. By religious conviction he is a Congregationalist, and throughout his life has manifested a consistent attitude toward church duties. He is generally well-regarded in his home district. In 1892 he married Katy, daughter of Christian and Elizabeth (Fryenberger) Rupp, of Clinton township, Fulton county. To them have been born three children : Flossie, who married Fred Neidhardt, of German township, and has one child, a boy, Don Wyse, born in 1917; Herma May and Ruth. Mr. Wyse is a splendid representative of the successful self-made business men of Fulton county. ALLEN AND ANN SHADLE. All about the highways and byways of Fulton county where the name of Allen Shadle is heard, the name of his wife is always coupled with it—Allen and Ann Shadle. While the Shadle family history had already been detailed by Harvey Shadle at the old family homestead in Dover, Mrs. Ann Shadle of Wauseon, who has always gleaned in the field of family genealogy, has a fund of information that is added to it. It was November 6, 1845, that Joseph Shadle and his family left their home in Wayne county for the wild land he had already purchased the previous year in Lucas, now Fulton, county, through so many subsequent years .known as the Shadle family homestead in Dover. They were nine days en route, driving their livestock with them, and for seventy-five years the Shadle family story has been interwoven with the history of Fulton county. In its early history the Shadle family reverts back to Germany and Ireland. Philip Shadle was German and Mary (McGlade) Shadle was Irish, and it was they who planted the family tree in America. They located in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and from there members of the family migrated to the different states. Joseph Shadle coming to Wayne county, Ohio. There were eight children in this original Shadle family in America—sons and daughters of Philip and Mary (McGlade) Shadle. They were: Cyrus, Joseph, Philip, Chambers, William, Jordan, 140 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Mary Ann and Sarah. It is the descent of the second son, Joseph, that lives in Fulton county today. Allen is the fourth child born to Joseph and Jane (Burke) Shadle, their names elsewhere enumerated, and August 9, 1862, he married. The records show that William Allen Shadle married Catharine Ann. Whitaker, but since that day they are Allen and Ann. "Oh, say, Ma—everybody was married in Adrian then," said Mr. Shadle in explanation of the statement made by his wife. They crossed the Ohio-Michigan line because it was a custom of the day, and since their attendants, Claudius Gillis and Polly Eliza Verity, were married at the same time it was the event of the season, both bridegrooms having just enlisted in the Civil war. While no license was then required in Michigan, the "high contracting" parties were given marriage certificates. Mrs. Shadle was the youngest of five children born to David and Sarah Philips (Himes) Whitaker. They were: John, Sarah, Ruth, Amos and Ann. While Allen was born in Wayne county March 1, 1841, Ann was born September 12, 1842, in Huron county. He was one in a family of ten, of whom eight are living, while she is the last of the Whitaker family. The Whitaker family story reverts to Cheshire county, New Hampshire, where David Whitaker was born August 14, 1802, a son of John and Sarah (Philips) Whitaker. Sarah Philips was born July 28, 1807, in Oneida county, New York. They were married February 15, 1827, and their children were: David, Lyman, James, John, Isaac, Sarah and Mary. David Whitaker, father Of Mrs. Shadle, removed with his family from the east to Michigan in 1839, and May 29, 1840, the story begins in Ohio, Greenfield, Huron county, and here occurred the birth of their youngest daughter. It was in March, 1853, that Ann Whitaker came with her mother to Fulton county, and it was while both attended Ottokee School in the palmy days of Ottokee that she met Allen Shadle. The young people grew up together, and while they were married August 9, 1862, they began housekeeping April 1, 1863, on Elm Tree Farm in Clinton, where they lived a full half century. Here on January 9, 1866, their son Joseph Allen Shadle was horn, and he was given the names of the two generations before him in the community Joseph Allen Shadle's common school education at Ottokee was supplemented with the high school advantages in Wauseon, and in June, 1886, he graduated from Fayette College. At the age of sixteen he began teaching, and there were young men and women older than himself in attendance. They all cherish his memory today. In October, 1887, he located in the State of Washington, Where he soon became identified with the community and all of its interests. "He was ambitious, and the great State of Washington held out attractions." Joseph A. Shadle -had commercial interests at Roy, and he was steward of the Insane Asylum of Fort Steilacoom. In 1892 he was elected as a republican representative in the Washington Legislature, and success had crowned all his efforts and ambitions. He died in his western environment March 4, 1894, but his last long sleep is in the Ottokee cemetery near Elm Tree Farm—the home of his childhood, always so dear to him. On an easel in the home of the father and mother in Wauseon is a life size portrait, and at its base there are always flowers. Their greatest comfort in life is this tribute to the memory of their son—Joseph A. Shadle. Allen and Ann Shadle had hoped to lean on the strong arms HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 141 of this son in their declining years, but memory is all that remains to them. Joseph Allen Shadle had lived twenty-eight years in the world, and in North Park, Wauseon, is a completed Soldiers' Monument, the thought suggested to Mr. and Mrs. Shadle by their son, who often remarked : "I hope to live long enough and to have wealth enough to complete that monument," and through their ministrations it is his tribute to the community. The pension fund that had accrued to the father, who was a Civil war soldier in Company H, One Hundredth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was used for that purpose. The monument had been begun at the close of the Civil war by patriotic citizens, but for want of funds it had remained unfinished for half a century. This monument was finally dedicated September 20, 1918, the inscription reading : "This base was erected in 1867 by pioneers under the leadership of Col. D. W. H. Howard in memory of soldiers in Fulton county who enlisted in the Union army, 1861-1865, and finished in 1918 by Allen and Ann Shadle, at the request of their son, Joseph Allen Shadle, who died at Fort Steilacoom, Washington, March 4, 1894," and it stands there an object lesson of patriotism and devotion. In the homes of many friends is a booklet: "Keep My Memory Green," with an introduction written by Hon. John C. Rorick, and signed tributes from other friends, that is a final tribute to Joseph Allen Shadle from his mother, a woman who has so many times written words of comfort for others. While this man and woman live at ease in their home in Wauseon, the loss of their son is a sorrow never to be forgotten by them. While Elm Tree Farm was the scene of their busy life activities, and the graceful, feathery elm has been preserved in picture and in written description, the farm has been sold and the tree destroyed by a storm, and only their Huron county farm and some western land are their realty today, aside from their retreat in Wauseon. At Elm Tree Farm Mr. and Mrs. Shadle conducted a prosperous dairy business, and for eleven years they operated a cheese factory there. The Fulton county milk condensaries are an outgrowth of the dairy industry, and Mr. Shadle was always active in the good roads agitations that have rendered this mammoth industry a physical possibility. While serving as trustee of Clinton, he was instrumental in building the first piece of gravel road in Fulton county, notwithstanding the protest that there was "not a spoonful of good gravel in the county. The building of this road laid the foundation for the gravel road sytem now so widespread in the whole country. In 1903 Mr. and Mrs. Shadle were members of a party who toured the Great West in a car chartered for the purpose, and together they have visited thirty-four states, although northwestern Ohio suits them best of all. They were at the American Centennial in Philadelphia 'together in 1876, and in 1893 they were at the World's Fair in Chicago. They later attended many of the similar smaller expositions, and they had just returned from an outing in Detroit. They always attend the Grand Army encampments, and Mr. Shadle has served as commander of Losure Grand Army of the Republic Post, and as master of Ottokee Grange. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias Lodge and Mrs. Shadle to the much Sisters. She is active in the Women's Relief Corps and in much of the social. life about her. Mrs. Julia C. Aldrich, who is an oracle in the community, attri- 142 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY butes the annual reunions of those who attended public school at Ottokee when she was the teacher to the thoughtfulness of Mrs. Shadle. One time when a log cabin was constructed on the Fulton county fair grounds Mr. Shadle contributed a log from Elm Tree Farm—one of the finest sticks of timber there, and along with many other older residents of the community he regrets the fact that this cabin was removed and without the knowledge or consent of those who placed it there. Whenever there is a community welfare movement Allen and Ann Shadle always respond cheerfully to the demands made upon them. GEORGE R. DAVOLL, of Amboy, has always lived where he was born April 7, 1858, and he has the unique record of being the republican member of the board of education for twenty-eight years. He is a son of Job and Martha (Taylor) Davoll, and the father before him had the distinction of serving as the republican treasurer of Amboy nineteen consecutive years. Job Davoll and his wife were born and married at Collins, Erie county, New York. Their first western venture was to Bethel, Branch county, Michigan. After five years they returned to Erie county, New York, and two years later they came to Fulton county. They traded their Michigan land for land in Amboy. The farm of today was in a swamp when Job Davoll bought it. As he improved the land he added another forty acres, but he died in March, 1869, without seeing the development of the country. His wife died in 1902, having attained to eighty-three years. Their children are: William, who died in infancy ; Josephine, wife of A. 0. Burrill, of Chico, California; Ann Ginevra, who died November 3, 1873; and George R. Davoll, who relates the history. He bought the interests of the other heirs and remained at the family homestead in Amboy. He has acquired fifty acres of other land in addition to the Davoll homestead. On December 30, 1880, Mr. Davoll married Emily F. Setzler. She is a daughter of John and Louisa (Searles) Setzler, and was born in Huron county. Her father was born in Germany and her mother in the State of New York. Mrs. Davoll died October 10, 1917. There is one son, Charles A. Davoll, of Toledo. G. R. Davoll has been through all the chairs as a member of Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 875 of Metamora. Where is there another citizen of Fulton county that has served the community in any one official capacity for more than twenty-eight years? When Job Davoll, who was treasurer of Amboy nineteen years, first went to Michigan from New York he walked, and when he moved there he went through with an ox team. The youngsters of today who are familiar with automobiles never saw oxen drawing vehicles along the public highways. The yoke worn by the oxen would be a mystery to them. What does the twentieth century child know about the ox yoke and the tar bucket, both so essential to travel in the early history of the United States of America? Mr. Davoll was eleven years of age when his father died, and as the only surviving son he had practical responsibilities on the home farm far in advance of his years. While so many years of his life have been spent on the farm and in its work, his neighbors speak in terms of high approval of his public spirit, his faithfulness in matters of trust, and his kindly character. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 143 EDWARD S. DAVOLL. Two generations back the ancestry of Edward S. Davoll of Metamora lived in Massachusetts. He is a son of William P. and Eliza (Sherman) Davoll, and was born June 25, 1853, in Amboy. While the parents had met and married in Erie county, New York, the grandparents had all lived in Massachusetts. They were John and Sarah (Foster) Davoll and Charles R. and Edith (Pickens) Sherman. In December, 1852, William P. Davoll and his wife came by lake boat from Buffalo to 'foredo and overland to Amboy township, where they secured Tact of timber and he cleared it. He had 100 acres clear en in 1884 he sold it and removed to Charlevoix county, Mic igan. The wife died in February, 1909, and he died in September, 1912, and both lie buried at Metamora. The children born to the Davolls are: William A., of Clarksville, Georgia; John, of Charlevoix, Michigan Foster, deceased; Edward S., of Metamora. On October 15, 1876, he married Melinda Woodring, of Fulton township. She is a daughter of Reuben and Katie Ann (Watkins) Woodring, the father from Pennsylvania but the mother a Fulton county woman. For a few years he lived with his parents as tenant and part owner of the farm,and then moved to Burkey, where he engaged in mercantile business as a clerk. One year later Mr. Davoll came to Metamora and worked for one Man as a clerk four years, when he bought R. V. Gilbert's general merchandise store in Metamora. He owned and operated this store eight years, when he sold it and bought seventy acres of land adjoining Metamora. It was partly incorporated in the village. Mr. Davoll bought more land until he had 160 acres, where he handled livestock for nine years. He bought, fed and sold livestock, and this farm was an excellent place for the transactions. In 1901 Mr. Davoll rented the farm, and when the Home Savings Bank of Metamora was organized he became its president. He has remained in that position with. Horace Tredway, vice president, H. H. Tredway, cashier, and Charles J. Malone, assistant cashier. He is a broker in connection with the banking business. From 1872 until 1881 Mr. Davoll taught in the district schools of Amboy township and Fulton township. The last two winters he taught in the community where he had been a school boy. Mr. Davoll had one son, Edward E., who met an accidental death at Burkey when he was three years old. Mr. Davoll is a republican, and he has served the community as justice of the peace twelve years, mayor of Metamora two terms and as president of the board of education at the time two schoolhouses were built. When a man who has made a success of his own business gives his attention to public affairs he usually brings business methods into it, and the public has the benefit from it. FRED E. PERRY, now serving his second term as county auditor of Fulton county, has been an active business man at Fayette and Wauseon for a number of years, and his business abilities, his working membership in the republican party, and his all around popularity have brought honor and credit to his administration of this important county department. Mr. Perry was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, in 1880, a son of Erwin P. and Nancy (Seeley) Perry. He is of English ancestry. His first American ancestor was Jonathan Perry, who came from Plymouth, England, in 1627 and settled at Jamestown, Virginia. Later generations of the family supplied soldiers to the 144 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY American Revolution. As a family they have followed both agricultural and professional lines. Erwin P. Perry, who died in 1914, was an honored veteran of the Civil war. The widowed mother is still living. Fred E. Perry finished his education in the Fayette Normal School, and in 1900, at the age of twenty, married Miss Jessie Gay, a daughter of Theodore and Dora (Eaton) Gay. Her people lived near the state line between Ohio and Michigan. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Perry took up a business career at Fayette with the Home Telephone Company. They remained with that institution fifteen years and became stockholders and managers. Mr. Perry was a director and the secretary. Since coming to Wauseon he has retained business interests as a stockholder in the Fayette Telephone Company. Mr. Perry served eight years as secretary of the county executive committee of the republican party, has also been chairman of the county central committee. He was elected county auditor in 1916, and at his re-election in 1918 had no oppositon for this office. Mr. Perry is a member of the Methodist Church, is a Knight Templar Mason and Odd Fellow, and Mrs. Perry is prominent among the Ohio Rebekahs, serving as president of the Rebekah Assembly of the state in 1915-16. Mrs. Perry has also been chief deputy in the auditor's office during Mr. Perry's entire term. At the last session of the Legislature the auditor's term was extended eighteen months, and Mr. Perry being the acting auditor receives the benefit, closing his term in March, 1923. GEORGE C. DUDLEY senior partner of the Wauseon Lumber Com- pany of Wauseon, Ohio, and one of the business leaders in that city for the greater part of his business life, comes of a pioneer family of the district, and has himself been a material factor in the advancement of the city. As a business man he has been very successful, has manifested good organizing and administrative ability, and his many years of trading have brought him an enviable reputation as a man of rigid principles and business integrity. As a public worker he has demonstrated his interest in the city, has served on the city council under three mayors, and has given active and financial support to many movements of consequence to the community. He is a native of Wauseon, born in the city on February 20, 1862, and has here spent all of his life. He attended the elementary and high schools of Wauseon, graduating from the latter. At eighteen years of age he was in the employ of the Lake Shore Railroad Company as telegraph operator at Wauseon. Two years later he was employed in the flour mill of Lyon, Clement, and Greenleaf, his association with that business lasting for twenty years, at the end of which time he was the owner of an interest in the business. In 1903 he sold his interest in the mill to Mr. C. D. Greenleaf, and soon afterward organized and built the Home Telephone Company at Bedford, Indiana, of which he became a director. That undertaking satisfactorily accomplished, Mr. Dudley returned to Wauseon, and for two years thereafter was in business in the city as a furniture dealer, having an up-to-date and well-stocked store. In 1906 he sold the business to W. L. Milner and Company of Toledo, Ohio, and in the same year was one of the principals in the organization and incorporation of the Wauseon Lumber and Supply Company, of which Mr. Dudley became secretary and treasurer and Mr. F. J. Spencer, president. The business continued in HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 145 good trading until September 1, 1918. when the company was reorganized, the whole business being acquired by Mr. Dudley and his brother, Charles H. The trading name under the reconstruction became .the Wauseon Lumber Company, and so the company is at present constituted. The business is of some magnitude, Mr. Dudley having very satisfactorily developed it before and since the reorganization, and it enters extensively into almost all branches and materials of a high-grade and comprehensive lumber business. Politically Mr. Dudley is an independent, and has served as a member of the city council during the administration of three mayors. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias Order; and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is well-regarded in the city, and has given liberal support to many movements of community interest. He married in 1888, at Wauseon, H. Louise, daughter of Lorenzo and Nellie (Durgin) Lyons, of Wauseon. To them have been born two children : Marjorie L., who is a graduate of St. Mary's College, South Bend, Indiana, and also of the Chicago Musical College, and Donald Lyon, who was born in 1896, graduated from the local schools and also took the four-year course at the Ohio State University. He is a veteran of the World war, having a creditable military record. In October, 1917, he enlisted in the most dangerous, as well as the most glorious, branch of the United States Army, the air service, his acceptance for this branch indicating that he was a young man of almost perfect physical condition. After enlistment at Toledo, Ohio, he was sent to Columbus Barracks and from there to the aviation training center, Kelly Field, Texas. Eventually he was transferred to Morrison, Virginia, soon afterward embarking for France. He saw service in France, and for a while was at the Aero Training Camp at Little Hampton, England. He was mustered out of the Federal service on December 23, 1919, and soon afterward resumed his civilian occupation he has been for some time employed in the purchasing department of the Auto-Lite Corporation, Toledo, Ohio. JOHN VON SEGGERN. One of the successful farmers of Clinton township, Fulton county, who has worked hard for that which he now possesses, and knows how to appreciate the true dignity of labor and to place a correct estimate on the value of money, is John Von Seggern.. He has honored this community with his citizenship in view of the fact that he has been an enterprising and progressive citizen who, while advancing his individual interests, has not been neglectful of the general good of the community. John Von Seggern, who operates a fine farm of eighty acres in Clinton township, was born in Damascus township, Henry county, Ohio, on November 11, 1887, and is the son of Frederick and Caroline (Reuter) Von Seggern. The paternal family came from Olden- berg, Germany, to the United States when Frederick Von Seggern was ten years old and settled on a farm in Henry county, Ohio, where the grandfather spent the remainder of his life, his death. occurring in 1880. The subject attended the common schools of his home neighborhood in Henry county until he was seventeen years of age,. when he went to work on farms in that neighborhood, being so employed until he was twenty-eight years old, when, at the time of his marriage, he bought forty acres of land in Clinton township. He `entered actively upon the operation of this land and was so successful that in 1919 he rented forty acres additional, making his present 146 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY operations cover eighty acres. Here he carries on general farming operations, raising all the crops common to this locality, and by the exercise of good judgment and sound common sense he has gained a reputation as an excellent *farmer. In June, 1916, Mr. Von Seggern was married to Amelia Glantz, the daughter of Adolph and Sophie (Lookmann) Glantz, of Naomi, Freedom township, Henry county, Ohio. Mrs. Von Seggern died on February 12, 1919, leaving one child, Lucille Louise. Politically Mr. Von Seggern is independent, reserving the right to vote for the best men regardless of political lines. He is a member of the German Lutheran Church, to which he gives liberal support. Quiet and unostentatious, Mr. Von Seggern has attended strictly to his own affairs and because of his success and his right personal character he enjoys the respect of the entire community. FITCH JERALD SPENCER has been identified with the business and civic life of Wauseon for over forty years, is one of its foremost merchants, and is one of the oldest officials of the First National Bank, of which he. is the first vice president. He was born at Albion, Indiana, September 21, 1854, a son of D. E. A. and Margaret (Bowen) Spencer. He is of English ancestry, and the family has long lived in Ohio and in Indiana. As a family they have been chiefly merchants and farmers. D. A. Spencer was a merchant tailor at Albion, Indiana. Fitch Jerald Spencer secured his education there, attending the grammar and high schools to the age of eighteen, then went to work for J. D. Black at Albion as clerk. He spent seven and a half years with the firm of Clapp, Phillips & White at Albion, and on March 28, 1878, first came to Wauseon, where he was a salesman for G. W. Hull & Brother for eight years. This firm then sent him to Decatur, Indiana, as general manager of its branch store for a year and a half. He then bought the Decatur store, but after three and a half years returned to Wauseon in 1890 and acquired the business of the Hull Brothers. His associate was F. A. Stuempel, and they continued the business under the firm name of Spencer & Stuempel. Mr. Spencer then sold out to W. L. Milner, of Toledo, and at that time became vice president of the First National Bank of Wauseon, an office he has held for over a quarter of a century. At different times he has also resumed merchandising. With Earl Edgar he bought and established the business of Spencer & Edgar, a firm that in 1915 was reorganized as Spencer, Edgar & Vollmer Company, and Mr. Spencer is president of this general dry goods concern, the largest in northern Ohio and having a trade all over Fulton county. Mr. Spencer is a director and general manager of the Northwestern Ohio Telephone Company, is president of the Arcade Building Company, and is interested in a number of other local concerns. In January, 1880, he married Lizzie Bartlett, daughter of Ward and Elizabeth Bartlett, of Wauseon. She died in 1890. In 1892 Clara G. Brainard, daughter of Sereno Brainard, of Wauseon, be- 'came his wife. Mr. Spencer is a republican and has served as town councilman several terms. He is a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in Masonry is affiliated with Wauseon Lodge No. 349, with the Chapter and Council, with the Knight Templar Commandery No. 7, and Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Toledo. He is also a member of the Wauseon Knights of Pythias. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 147 C. E. PONTIOUS. Undoubtedly the most practical important men in a community, from every point of view, are the enterprising, trustworthy business men, and narrowed down to its finest point, they are men dealing in food commodities. The demand for their goods is continuous and insistent, and it is a demand that cannot be denied, for the teeming millions of the world must have food, whether they have cultural advantages or civilizing conditions or not. Fulton county is the home of a number of practical, level-headed men, who are apt to take a common-sense view of most things, and well known among them is C. E. Pontious, who is the proprietor of a wholesale poultry and egg business at Wauseon. C. E. Pontious was born at Wauseon, Ohio, in 1886, and is a son of Simon and Ann (Jennings) Pontious. He obtained his education in the public schools, and his first business experience was handling poultry and eggs for L. Madison, of Wauseon, with whom he remained one year. He was quite successful in this early venture, but wisely determined to provide for future contingencies by learning a useful trade, hence he worked four years in the plumbing shop of F. R. Harper, when he was deemed proficient. During the following year he worked as a plumber for John Mohr, and in this connection put in a large amount of the plumbing in newly erected buildings at that time in this city, all of which gave entire satisfaction. Circumstances then led to his again becoming interested in the poultry and egg business, and for the next six years he was connected with L. R. Jones in this line at Wauseon. For a short period afterward he was in the employ of Swift & Company, Chicago packers, and then went into the poultry business with Morrison & Company, at Bryan, where he continued until he accepted the management of the Rural Egg Company at Wauseon. In 1920 he became proprietor and now conducts the establishment for his own benefit. This is a wholesale business and draws trade from a wide territory. Mr. Pontious is well known all over the county, and his honorable methods of doing business have produced results most favorable to all concerned. In 1910 Mr. Pontious was married to Miss Maud M. Widener, who is a daughter of John and Vim, (Goebel) Widener, of Ellwood, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Pontious have an adopted daughter, little Nina Rose, now at the attractive age of four years, too young yet to realize her good fortune. Mr. and Mrs. Pontious are members of the Christian Church. Since early manhood Mr. Pontious has been a republican voter, finding in this party's platform and achievements the expression of his own views on public matters. He is a good citizen and a very busy one, and is a valued member of the Modern Woodmen Lodge at Wauseon. WILLIAM J. HARPER, sole owner of the Indian Coal Company of Wauseon, Ohio, and a man who has succeeded well in his many enterprises of a long business career, has been connected with Wauseon since 1866, and has been in business since 1869, a period of fifty-one years. He is among the responsible, representative business men of Wauseon, and has many business and financial interests, being a stockholder and director of a coal mining company at Wellston, Jackson county, Ohio, of the Beaver Board Company of Buffalo, New York, of the Metropolitan Paving Brick Company; Canton, Ohio,. and he has holdings in the Northwestern Ohio Telephone Company, in the Clinton, Iowa, Home Telephone Company, and in the Central Home Telephone Company, 148 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to these financial interests, Mr. Harper also has real estate holdings in Wauseon and the vicinity. It will therefore be recognized that he has shown good business ability during his long and active career. And his long association with Wauseon people has brought him an enviable repute, both among business men and residents generally. He is the son of John and Susan (Buckler) Harper, and was born near Inniskillin, Ontario, Canada, in 1854. He comes of an English family, his father and grandfather having emigrated from Berkshire, England, when the former was in his boyhood. The grandfather settled in Ontario, Canada, and followed agricultural pursuits, but his son John, father of William J., eventually became a machinist, mill-wright and pump-maker. William J. attended the public school at Inniskillin, Province of Ontario, Canada, until he was about twelve years old. He came with his parents to Wauseon in 1865, and for the next three years attended the Wauseon High School. At fifteen years of age he began to help his father in the latter's shop in Wauseon, John Harper by that time having established himself in good business in that city as a wood pump-maker. William J. learned that trade and remained with his father until he was twenty-one years old. After a short time spent as fireman in the Bryan foundry, Wauseon, he entered into independent business as a building contractor, continuing very successfully in that business for nine years. Sickness then forced him to cease work, and when he again was able to take to business affairs he took up a somewhat different connection, opening a machine shop in Wauseon. He continued that enterprise with success for five years, his plant being known as the Wauseon Novelty Works. Then he again entered the contracting business, this time as a well-digger, being still interested to some extent in this business. In 1904 he opened a general hardware store in Wauseon, trading under the name of Harper, Blizzard & Company. Six years later he sold that business to Mr. Arthur Riddle, with good advantage to himself. And in that year, 1910, he became well established in Wauseon as a plumbing and heating contractor. He continued in business for a further five years, when he decided to retire altogether, having up to that time been forty-six years in business. Of course he could not altogether sever his connection with business, for the reason that much of his capital had been invested in industrial and commercial enterprises. Some of these interests have been before referred to, and, with his real estate interests, would have been sufficient to pleasantly occupy most men in retirement. Mr. Harper had, however, been in business for so very many years, had applied himself so energetically to industrial life, that his semi-retirement, in having only directorial duties to fill his days, did not satisfy him, and in less than three years from the date of his retirement he was again actively undertaking the daily executive routine of quite a substantial business. In 1918 he purchased the Wauseon interest of D. S. Knight, coal merchant, and during the last two years he has done quite a substantial wholesale and retail coal business, trading as the Indian Coal Company, of which, of course, he is the sole owner. The coal yard of the company is on the tracks of the New York Central Railway Company at Wauseon. Mr. Harper's business is not only with city customers ; he has a good country trade, and he has a substantial interest in a coal mining business at Wellston, Jackson county, Ohio. During his many decades of connection with Wauseon activities, business, social and civic, Mr. Harper has manifested a praiseworthy HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 149 public spirit. Politically he is a republican, latterly of independent leaning, and without seeking public office he has always taken close interest in political movements. His friends influenced him to stand for nomination for the office of county commissioner, but throughout his life his public actions have been entirely free from self-seeking. He has given generously to many local charities, and has personally furthered more than one project which he considered likely to prove of consequence for the city. In earlier days he was prominent in the functioning of local fraternal lodges, belonging, as he has for many years, to the Wauseon Blue Lodge of Masons, to the Defiance Commandery of that order, to the Knights of Pythias of Wauseon, and to the local branch of the Maccabees. In 1875, at Wauseon, he married Martha, daughter of John and Jane (Smith) Linfoot, of Wauseon. One child, a son, was born to them, which son, F. R., now a well known business man of Wauseon, has married and is the father of three children. ALBERT C. LLOYD. While his interests for several years past have been centered in the capable management of a farm in Gorham township, Albert C. Lloyd, a native of that section of Fulton county, has had his personal horizon enlarged by an interested and varied experience outside his native county. He was born in section 23 of Gorham township, June 26, 1871, son of Ebenezer and Julia E. (Smith) Lloyd. His father was .a native of Vermont and his mother was born in Chesterfield township, of Fulton county. All the grandparents came at an early date to Gorham township. The maternal grandparents were John and Mahala (Edmunds) Smith. Grandfather Lloyd lived to the extreme age of a hundred and one years. Ebenezer Lloyd also had a long life, and was ninety-three at the time of his death in 1917. The widowed mother is still living in Gorham township at the age of eighty. She ocupies the old homestead, where she and her husband located immediately after their marriage, and for many years farmed its eighty-six acres. Ebenezer Lloyd married for his first wife Lettie South-worth. The four children of that union were Ernest, who died in -1911 Mary, Mrs. Silas O'Dell, of Adrian, Michigan Elmer, of Amsterdam, Ohio, and Anna, Mrs: Alonzo Smith, of Gorham township. Albert C. Lloyd was the younger of two sons born to his mother, his brother being Herbert R., of Chicago. Albert C. Lloyd acquired a good education. At the age of fourteen he attended the district school at Handy Corners. He was then a student in the Fayette Normal, Music and Business College and the Fayette Normal University, graduating in the commercial and penmanship course. The following year he taught commercial practice and penmanship in a business college at Coshocton, Ohio. From there he moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia, and for years was head bookkeeper for the Curtis Music Company. While at Parkersburg he made use of his talents as a musician and was leader of bands and orchestras for several years. Since his return to Fulton county he has engaged in farming and stock raising. November 26, 1911, he married Miriam E. Henry, who was born at Canandaigua, New York, daughter of Russell R. and Cassie (Galloway) Henry, natives of New York City. After his marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd for three years lived on the home farm, and he then bought eighty acres across the road in section 23 and improved it by the erection of a modern bungalow, one of the most attractive homes in that township. Thirty acres of his land was in timber,