450 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY William, Patty, Phoebe and Mary Ann. It had been so many years since there was any one with whom he could talk that Mr. Brown was unable to name the contemporaries of Isaac and Hannah Brown. It was in Chemung county, New York, that A. W. Brown married Morelda Brees. She was a daughter of Hosea Brees and was a young woman of the same community. Her sisters were Matilda, Rachel, Mary and Betsey, and her brothers, Arad and Moses. The children born to A. W. and Morelda Brown were: Mary A., Hosea, Isaac, Rachel L., Daniel, John, Frank P. and Judson. All were born in New York and all but the two older ones came with their parents to Lenawee county, Michigan, in 1855—good weather conditions when they came by rail to Adrian, but they encountered a great deal of snow that first winter in Michigan. In March, 1860, the family removed to Fulton county, Ohio, and the Ottokee Cemetery became the last resting place of the father and mother. Today only one sister, Rachel L. Handy, and Mr. Brown are residents of Fulton county. Frank and Judson Brown live in Michigan. Daniel Brown married Lucilia Thompson, March 17, 1866, in Morenci, Michigan. She was a young woman who came from Chemung county, New York, to Fulton county as a teacher in the school at Ottokee. She was a daughter of Isaac V. and Ardia Thompson. She was the only one of her family who came to Ohio. Her brothers and sisters were: Elijah, Alonzo, John, Nathan, Mary, Ardia, Melissa, and Elizabeth. Four children were born to Daniel and Lucilia Brown: Ardia M.; Mabel, Gertrude and Thompson. Ardia M. is the wife of W. S. Todd. Mabel is the wife of F. A. Knickerbocker, and their children are: Iona, Blanche, Wilma and Elsie. Gertrude became the wife of Wilker First, but is deceased and he is buried in Novell, Michigan. Their son, Thompson, is also deceased and is buried in Ottokee Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Todd live in Dover and and Mr. and Mrs. Knickerbocker live at Leslie, Michigan. Iona Knickerbocker is the wife of B. O'Neal. Their children are Owen and Beth-Dale. Blanche is the wife of Frank Holmes. "Mixed up," describes the political outlook, although Mr. Brown usually votes the republican ticket. As to church: "Well, my parents were Methodists," said Mr. Brown. While there is Revolutionary blood in the family ancestry, the lineage has never been traced, but Mr. Brown and three brothers, Hosea, Isaac and John, enlisted in the Civil war. In a short time Isaac went to the relief of Hosea, whose health was broken, and he died in a hospital at Newark, New Jersey. John died in a hospital in Covington, Kentucky, but Daniel was at the front and in actual service 21/2 years. He was discharged from the Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry after one year on account of physical disability, but in March, 1864, he re-enlisted in the Thirteenth Ohio Cavalry, and served until the end of the war. Soon after his return from the service he was a visitor among old friends in Chemung county, New York, and there he met Lucilia Thompson. A short time later Lucilia Thompson came to Ohio as a school teacher at Ottokee, and she remained as the homemaker in the newly established family of Daniel Brown. She died March 23, 1893, and since that time Mr. Brown has traveled and divided his time between relatives in Michigan and Ohio. He has always maintained his place of residence at the family homestead in Dover. He is a member of Losier Grand Army of the Republic Post in HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 451 Wauseon, there being about forty Civil war soldiers in the community. While Mr. Brown has always been a farmer, the farm in Dover is .rented and he is free to come and go at pleasure. The place was in the wild when he bought it, and he has lived there to witness the transformation. There were no roads and no drainage, but there is a different story to relate in Fulton county today. ELIZER BIDWELL BEATTY. At Old Homestead Farm in Chesterfield, A. D. 1919, there are three generations sheltered together, Elizer Bidwell Beatty looking backward at his father, Sidney S. Beatty, and forward at a son and daughter, David S. and Elizabeth. Old Homestead has been the Beatty habitation since 1858, it being the first land acquired by S. S. Beatty in Fulton county. It was October 20, 1845, that Sidney S. Beatty landed in Chesterfield, coming direct from Sussex county, New Jersey. His father, Holloway H. and his mother, Elizabeth (Jefferson) Beatty, and their eight children constitutes the immigrant family from New Jersey to Ohio. They went by wagon to New York City, and from thence by steamboat up the Hudson to Troy, New York. From Troy they went to Buffalo via the Erie Canal, and from Buffalo to Toledo across Lake Erie by steamboat. In Toledo they hired a team for the remainder of the journey, and since he was a boy ten years old S. S. Beatty has lived within a few miles of the original homestead of the family in Chesterfield. For a short time he lived in Morenci—barring that, always in Chesterfield. The children in this immigrant family were Nancy, Margaret, Sidney S., Julia, Mahala, Whitfield, Samuel and Jane, and those born in Ohio were Elizabeth and George. The pioneer Beatty family certainly understood all about wilderness conditions in Fulton county. Today only Mr. Beatty and one sister, Mrs. Julia Gates of Morenci, remain to tell the story. The Beatty family burial plot is in the Roos Cemetery in the immediate community—East Chesterfield. It is another case of some brothers who ventured into the New World in search of their fortunes, and in the Beatty family, Thomas, father of H. H. and grandfather of S. S. Beatty, was one of three brothers who came over from Scotland in 1812—the second war with England, being British subjects engaged in warfare against the United States,, but as time went by they deserted the British Army and became citizens of the country they were fighting against —transferred their allegiance to another country. After the smoke of battle cleared away Thomas Beatty located in New Jersey—the head of the family now living in Chesterfield, and at Cleveland and Columbus there are branches of the Beatty family who are descended from the two brothers, Daniel and Samuel Beatty. The manufacturers of the Beatty organ are known to have the same lineage as the family in Chesterfield. Such was the beginning of the Beatty family history in the Western Hemisphere —the New World. It is understood that Admiral David Beatty of Scotland, who commanded an English fleet in the recent war of the nations, is from the same parent stock—the Beatty family tree having its beginning in Scotland. On November 22, 1859, Sidney S. Beatty married Elizabeth Welch. She was a daughter of James and Amy (Clark) Welch, and was an Ohio woman. There was a sister, Mary Jane, and two brothers, Elizer and Chester, and one child who died early, Perry. 452 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Elizer Welch and Mrs. Mary Jane Briggs are still living in the community. Mr. Beatty and his wife established their home where he lives today; although for a number of years they had lived in Morenci. After the death of Mrs. Beatty, April 28, 1905, he returned to the old home in Chesterfield. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Beatty : The first born, Albert, died before the birth of the others. Clarence C. married Viola Lester. He lives in Freedom Center, Michigan, where he conducts a general store. His children are : Dawn, wife of William Kass, and they, have one son, Gaylord, Margaret, wife of Clarence Deittle, .and the others are Carrie and Whitfield, the latter having been "Over There," in the World war. He spent three years in training camps and service, and was "Somewhere in France," and later in the Army of Occupation in Germany. September 30, 1866, was a momentous day—two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Beatty. Elias C. and Elizer B. Beatty were born the same day, and they have never been long separated from each other. To their friends they are "Chuck" and "Pune" Beatty—names that have always attached to them because of their physical characteristics. Indeed, they were old enough for school before other names were given them, and today .they seldom hear anything but Chuck and Pune. Chuck was always lusty while Pune was puny—a delicate child, although in manhood one is as robust as the other—different physiques, but both are strong men. At one time when the father tipped the scales at 220 pounds Chuck weighed 219 and rune was just one pound lighter, although he is DA inches taller than his brother. The older brother, C. C. Beatty, stands six feet and five inches high, although his weight has always been under 200 pounds. The Beattys have always been portly men and women. Elias C. Beatty married Melinda Jane Ferguson. Their children are: Lira, wife of John Maitland and they have two children, Virginia and Hilda; Lena, wife of Cleve Garsuch, and they have one child, Ellsworth; Sidney S., who married Mary Lamb, and they have one daughter, Adonna Belle; and Letha is the youngest daughter. Elizer B. Beatty, who enrolls the family in the History of Fulton County, married Frances Grace Taylor January 22, 1905, and beside David S. and 'Mary .Elizabeth, already mentioned, there was another child, Elias C. who died at two years Of age.. Mrs. Beatty is an only daughter C., George and Laura (Shaffer) Taylor, and she was reared in the family of her grandparents, David and Elizabeth (Hochstetter) Shaffer, in Delta. The Shaffers were pioneers in Fulton county. .It was in territorial days that they, came, and there is a "mixed multitude" in the blood lines of the ancestral 'families. They are all blended, and today there is an American citizenship of the first order in the Fulton county branch BeattyWelch-Taylor relationship. . In all its past history these families have lived in Fulton county. "There's nothing in politics," said Pune Beatty, and yet the family is slated democratic. While he lived in Michigan a few years, he served as deputy sheriff in Lenawee county. Mr. Beatty is a member of the Chesterfield. Centralized School Board, and he has the different medals showing his activities in the war loans. He was in every Liberty Loan drive, and Mrs. Beatty is secretary of the Oak Shade branch of the American Red Cross Society. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 453 The Beatty family church relation is with East Chesterfield Christian Church, and both E. C. and E. B. Beatty are members of Royalton Union Lodge No. 434, Free and Accepted Masons, al- though E. B. Beatty's original membership was in Morenci. The family belongs to Chesterfield Grange, and they all attend the meetings. The family military history began with the coming of Thomas, Daniel and Samuel Beatty as British soldiers in the second war with England, but they became American citizens instead of British subjects. The Mexican war claimed Amos and James Beatty, who were cousins to S. S. Beatty. In the Civil war his brother, Whitfield H. Beatty, represented the family, and in the World war was William Whitfield Beatty. The Beatty family name stands for loyalty to home .and country. When S. S. Beatty was a young boy he trapped wild animals and sold the furs in Adrian, Michigan. One night he surprised his mother by bringing home the first cook stove. He had seen her cook before the hearth fire always. Many of the settlers came to see the stove, and in a short time others had them. They made their own maple sugar, and Mr. Beatty relates that "Old Uncle Johnny Roos" would say it was time to dig out the sugar troughs, make the spiles and tap the trees, and when he was supplied the Beatty family next used the camp, and then the privilege was extended to others. That was in "the good old days" of Lucas and Fulton county pioneer history. While S. S. Beatty remembers Thomas Beatty "who used to talk Scotch to us," he can only name very few of his contemporaries. They are almost all gone the way of the world. He was the only Beatty present at the 1919 Old Settlers Reunion at the Fulton county fair, while there were eight members of the contemporary Shadle family present. The Beattys came in October and the Shadles in November, 1845, but longevity was greater in the Shadle household. S. S. Beatty was a farmer and later a cheesemaker in his days of activity, and agriculture claims the attention of Chuck and Pune today. For a time E. B. Beatty owned and operated barber shops in Morenci and Delta, and he was a journeyman barber for a number of years. Since 1908 he has lived at Old Homestead in Chesterfield. The children attend Chesterfield Centralized School, and the family is identified with all of the community interests. EDWARD J. HAM. While the ancestral family name of Ham—the line through which Edward J. Ham of Chesterfield is descended, dates back to Holland, it is known that John C. Ham, who planted the family tree on American soil, was born March 1, 1812, at Wadebridge, Cornwall county, England. Relatives of the American branch of the family still live there, although little is known of them. John C. Ham crossed the Atlantic in young manhood, coming to America by a sailing vessel and living along the Atlantic sea, board until he was twice married, being one son, William H. Ham of Raymond, Ohio, born of his first marriage. There is no record available of the name of the woman. In 1842 John C. Ham married Mary Keyes, of Carbondale, Pennsylvania, although she was a Connecticut woman. When she was twelve years old she 454 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY went by wagon with her father. and his family to Pennsylvania, a distance of 200 miles in eleven days. The children born of the second marriage of John C. Ham are: Henry H., Thomas F., Lucius K., Libbie, Charles B. and Alice, ,all of whom with the half brother, William H., reached adult years. Those dying in childhood were : Ida, John, Edwin and Sarah. Henry H. and Thomas F. Ham, who are attorneys at law, were the first to locate in Fulton county, and in 1871 Lucius K. Ham, father of Edward J. Ham, who enrolls the family history, located in Wauseon. He had married Ella Delphene Hewitt in. Slatersville, Tompkins county, New York, and their bridal journey was the new home in Ohio.. Ella Delphene Hewitt was a daughter of the Rev. Jasper W. and Clarissa J. (Wright) Hewitt. Her father was a Methodist minister. She was .one of seven: Louis E., Sarah J., Martha L., Edmond J., Ella D., Mary L. and J. Talcott. Only one, Martha L. Bushnell, survives, and she lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Of the Ham family six are living and half of them live in Fulton county. Mrs. Ella D. Ham died November 28, 1913, while the family lived on a farm near Wauseon. The children born to Lucius K. and Ella D. Ham are: Louis H.; who married Mina Denson, and their children are Iva Lou, the wife of Harold Ingall, Clair E., Fred and Vera. Nellie M., who lives with her father in Wauseon, has one daughter, Della Clark, the wife of Albert Seiler. Bertha L. is the wife of Clyde Randall. On July 25, 1901, Edward J. Ham married Helen Louise Hibbard. Their children are: Donald Edward, Helen Louise, Kenneth Hewitt, Alice Lenore, Ida Mary and Charles Lucius. All are in attendance at. the Ohesterfield Centralized School, and they range from the first to the tenth grades--all riding by private conveyance a distance of four miles, although other children use the township wagons. In this way they have more time at home of mornings and evenings. Mrs. Ham is one of five children born to Charles A. and. Mary Jane (Riddle) Hibbard. The Hibbard family story is elsewhere given, but the Hibbard-Riddle marriage, July 11, 1868, introduces the Riddle family story. C. A. Hibbard died February 6, 1914, and Mrs. Hibbard is a resident of Spring Hill. Her son Lowell E., married Margaret Watkins, and they have. three children, Lloyd, Candace and Gladys. They buried one, Arvah. Maud L. Hibbard lives with her mother, Helen Louise Ham is the third child. Clark D. Hibbard married Blanche Miley. Their children are Irving, Geneva, Irene and Vivian.. James R. Hibbard married Elizabeth Kaenpfer. Lowell E. Hibbard died in March, 1917, but the others all live in Fulton county. Their mother is a daughter of James S. and Matilda (Siddons) Riddle. She was the third and is now the last of the family. She had one sister, Louisa, and four brothers: John Quimby, Clark, Thomas Harrison and James Irving. The Riddle family home was in Franklin Township, They came in an early day from Holmes 'county. The occupation of the family had been agriculture until the four brothers of Mrs. Hibbard changed the order in the Riddle family, all of them being engaged in commercial pursuits. When James S. Riddle first located in Fulton county he always went to Maumee to mill, the trip requiring two days absence and a great deal of exposure and difficulty. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 455 The Ham family history began in Fulton county about the time the seat of government was removed from Ottokee to Wauseon. While the family relationship has representation in all the learned professions, the youngsters growing up about Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Ham belong to the countryside, and near to the soil is the best place in all of the world. Mr. Ham was a teacher and pursued the course of study in the Metropolitan Business College of Toledo. For a few years he was engaged in the hardware trade and a short time in the sale of drugs, but farming finally claimed his attention. Although a tenant, since March 1, 1916, he has lived at the G. Scott -Roos homestead in Chesterfield, where he combines farming and dairying, having an excellent herd of Holsteins. "Politics! Local? Well, not exactly hide bound, but as a general thing republican," said Mr. Ham. The church relation is with East Chesterfield Christian Church, where both Mr. and Mrs. Ham are teachers. in Sunday School and where he is chorister and the daughter Louise is pianist. He is a member of Morenci Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge, and the family is connected with Chesterfield Grange. There were Civil war soldiers in both the Ham and Hewitt families, but that was before they lived in Fulton county. Charles A. Hibbard was a soldier in Company I, Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and his grandson, Lloyd Hibbard, was an instructor in sharp shooting in the training camp at Paris Island. There is Revolutionary blood in several different channels, and Mr. Ham had his part in the necessary increased crop production required by the Council of Defense in time of the war of the nations. Treasured as an heirloom by Mr. Ham is an old chest that his grandfather, John C. Ham, made from a wardrobe carried by the Keyes family from Connecticut to Pennsylvania. In it are hand made tools h.e frequently uses, and the metal in the blades is the kind that holds an edge. A friend of the family remarked: "They're tenants—yes, but there are more newspapers and well chosen magazines in the house than are seen in most rural households," among them the Youths' Companion, which had been read by the parents when they were youngsters. ARCHER ALSTINE BRADLEY. While the name Bradley is English, only a few generations ago the branch of the family from which Archer A. Bradley of Maplehurst in Chesterfield is descended came from West Chester county, New York, to Lenawee county, Michigan, and later to Ohio: John Wesley Bradley was born March 2, 1818, in the State .of New York, and in 1851 he made his pilgrimage westward, remaining in Michigan only long enough for his land to be submerged, when he sought a higher level in Ohio. When he discovered the Lenawee county farm under water he sought another investment in Fulton county. Archer A. Bradley, of Maplehurst, was born July 23, 1854, on a farm in Chesterfield, a short distance from his present home, and when' he was four years old his parents located where he lives today. Except for temporary absence in the west, Mr. Bradley's entire life has been spent in Fulton county. It was June 14, 1843, that John W. Bradley married Amanda Jane Caldwell on Long Island, and they lived for a time at Sheepshead Bay, where he was a "deep water sailor." The Caldwells were fishermen there when 456 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY he met the daughter. She was born in Pennsylvania, but as a child she went with her parents. to the seaside, where they made their livelihood with fishing boats. The first child in. the Bradley family was named Cornelius, but at the age of six months it died and the same name was later given to another child. Emery Anderson was the second son, and the third was Cornelius Tompkins. There was a daughter called Rachel Frances, and when she was a babe the parents left Long Island and were located in Ohio before the birth of Archer Alstine Bradley. C. T. Bradley of Oklahoma and A. A. Bradley are the remnant today. The parents attained to a ripe old age in Chesterfield, the mother dying in 1902, and the father one year later. The Roos Cemetery is the burial ground of the Bradleys. On December 2, 1876, A. A. Bradley married Martha Ellen Welles. She is a daughter of Jeremiah. and Mary Jane (Whitaker) Welles. Their children are : George, Thomas Jefferson, Nancy Catharine, Martha Ellen. (Mrs. Bradley), Simeon Peter, Nellie, Alfred Eugene, twins, Della May and Addie May, and William. Two sisters, Nancy C. and Nellie, are gone from earth and the rest are widely scattered, only Mrs. Bradley a resident of Fulton county today. The Welles family came from Fostoria county, and later they removed to Michigan. Horace Greeley's famous injunction: "Go west, young man, and grow up with the country," influenced Mr. and Mrs. Bradley, and August 14, 1877, they began the overland journey in a covered wagon. Eleven weeks later they reached Hobart, Kansas, where they located a claim of 1/4 section, and they constructed a dugout and a stone granary on it. Both were good rifle shots and they frequently had prairie chicken on their humble bill of fare—not so humble, when they enjoyed it. Mr. Bradley soon made the acquaintance of Dr. George Sowers, who had a stock ranch on the Kansas plains, and under his train; ing he obtained his first knowledge of veterinary surgery and medicine. From this practical frontier experience he mastered the science and today he responds to many calls in Fulton county. The stories Mr. sand Mrs. Bradley tell of the life along the trail would fill an entire volume, but just one will serve to illustrate the difficulties under which housekeeping and cookery was performed in transit, the vehicle a covered wagon. When Mrs. Bradley began frying a buffalo steak by a stump, a heavy rain set in and she boiled it. There were twenty-one wagons in the train, and a fellow traveler from Fayette, Upton McDaniels, kept a diary along the way. The Bradleys have always wished he might publish it. After 2 1/2 years of "roughing it," Mr. and Mrs. Bradley boarded a train at Bull City, thinking the blue sky hanging over Chesterfield suited them better, and Maplehurst an ideal place for any man and woman to end their days. Nineteen years after their wedding day a son was born—October 13, 1895—Roscoe O. Bradley. Maplehurst has always been his home, and December 23, 1916, he married Ethel Elizabeth Heller. She is the oldest in a family of four children born to William Franklin and Alta Amelia (Ritter) Heller. She has a sister, Myrtle May Belle, and two brothers, Floyd Franklin and Harold Cecil. The Hellers have, lived in different parts of Ohio. Mrs. Bradley was born in Williams and married in Wood county. She is at once "Dutch, Scotch and They have a daughter, Evelyn Irene. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 457 GEORGE PHILIP ZINK, who during the last ten years has been one of the leading residents and business men of Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, is the manager of large milling interests in that place, and has entered actively into the public administration. He has been councilman since 1918, and has given much of his time to church work. He was born in Tonawanda City, Erie county, New York, in October, 1872, the son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Graff) Zink. The Zink family is Bavarian in origin, but has been in the United States for four generations. The paternal grandparents -of George P. were John and Mary (Klingelschmit) Zink, who in 1837 settled at Pendleton Centre, Erie county, New York, having acquired a farming property in that place. The maternal grandparents of George P. Zink were Jacob and Mary (Wagner) Graff, whose early experiences in America constitute a somewhat interesting record. It appears that in the early '30s of the last century they were the occupiers of a farm in New York state, their farm later becoming the site of the City of Niagara Falls. Jacob Graff and his family lived on that farm for nineteen years, renting it year by year. At the end of that period the property was offered to him for $200 an acre, which he thought prohibitive, and therefore soon afterward moved to Pendleton Centre, Erie county, New York, where the Graff and Zink families became neighbors. There the next generation of both families were reared, and led eventually to the marriage of Andrew Zink and Elizabeth Graff, parents of George Philip Zink of this Fulton county record. Andrew Zink followed the occupation of his father, farming, and in 1875 moved to Monroe county, Michigan, with his wife, taking up a good agricultural property in that county. For twenty-five years Andrew Zink was an active and successful farmer in Monroe county, Michigan, in 1900 retiring from farming and moving into the City of Monroe, where his wife died in 1904 and he in 1913. Their son George Philip received the whole of his education in the public schools of Michigan, he being only two years old when his parents removed to Monroe county of that state from New York. After leaving school he assisted his father in the operation of the home farm until they moved into the City of Monroe in 1900, when he became connected with G. R. Hurd, a grain merchant of that place. For two years he was associated with Mr. Hurd, and for eight years thereafter was connected with the Amendt Milling Company of Monroe. In 1910 he came to Delta, Fulton county, to take over the management of their large mill, of which he has ever since been general manager, expanding the business of the company and gaining a good reputation for business and moral integrity during his decade of association in business and residential life with the people of that section of Fulton county. Politically he is a democrat, and as such was elected councilman in 1918. He has shown a worthy interest in the affairs of the community, and has been especially active in church work. A consistent Christian, Mr. Zink is of the German Lutheran faith, and is an earnest and helpful supporter of the local church of that denomination. He has held almost all of the lay offices of the church, which is a commendable record. On June 15, 1899, he married in Monroe, Michigan, Barbara C. Lochner, a native of that place, and daughter of Frederick and Caro- 458 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY line Lochner, who were born in Bavaria, Germany, but had spent the greater part of their lives in the United States. To Mr. and Mrs. Zink have been born three children, Alfred, Carol and June, all of whom are still at home with their parents. ALBERT PFAFF, of Fulton Township, was born, September 16, 1854, in Pennsylvania. He is a son of Frederick and Amelia, (Irwin) Pfaff, who came from Germany. They located in Pennsylvania, but in 1.863 they moved to Lucas county. They lived four years near Whitehouse and then moved to Fulton Township, where they, bought a timber tract with log buildings and only fifteen acres cleared land on it. He was improving the place, and died there in 1874, while she lived until 1905, in Fulton county. The children in the Pfaff family are: Frederick, of Delta; Amelia, widow of G. W. Fashbaugh, of Metamora; Anna, deceased, was the wife of David Barbee; Albert, who enrolls the family history; John, of Swan Creek ; William, deceased; George, of Swan Creek ; Louis, of Fulton; Marv, wife of Wilson D. Lett, Marion, Indiana; and Rosa, deceased. Albert Pfaff remained at home until 1880, when he went to Toledo and found employment in a wholesale and retail paint and oil store. In March, 1881, Mr. Pfaff married Ida Burnham, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Burnham. When he returned to Fulton Township he rented land for eight years, then bought sixteen acres of the Burnham farm and eight years later he bought his father's place of seventy-two acres, and thirty-two acres of the Burnham place later, which gives him a valuable farmstead. He has remodeled and built new buildings until he has excellent improvements on it. The Pfaff children of this generation are: Claud, of Swan Creek, and Roy, of Fulton Township. Mrs. Pfaff died in 1888, and in 1889 Albert Pfaff married Alice Lake, of Fulton county. She is a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Shafer) Lake. Their children are: Lawrence, Lloyd and Howard, deceased, and Homer. In all there are three sons living, Claud, Roy and Homer. The family are Methodists. Mr. Pfaff is a democrat, and he has served the community as road superintendent. While Mr. Pfaff spent some of his boyhood years in a log home, and had other experiences connecting him with the pioneer era of Fulton county, lie has succeeded in giving his own family a higher level of comforts and conveniences than the previous generation enjoyed, and at the cost of many years of effort has achieved a fine measure of success and has served his community well and deserves well of it. ISAAC L. COY. M. D., a well-regarded and successful physician and surgeon of Archbold. Fulton county, Ohio, studied medicine at the Baltimore Medical College, Maryland, and at the Cincinnati, Ohio. College of Medicine and Surgery, graduating from the latter in 1896; with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He thus had good credentials with which to enter into practice. But he has supplemented his college experience and wide private practice by taking a post-graduate course in obstetrics under Professor Stark at the Cincinnati College of Physicians and Surgeons and although his extensive practice is a general one, Doctor Coy has had especial success latterly in obstetrical cases. in which branch of medical science he may be said now to specialize. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 459 For a professional man his career has been somewhat remarkable. In his early manhood he was a carpenter and millwright, and did not graduate in medicine until he was over thirty-five years old ; and although he has been in practice in Archbold for twenty-two years, that period is in reality about one-third of his life. He was born in Evansport, Defiance county, Ohio, in 1859, the son of Jacob and Mary A. (Shank) Coy, and comes of one of the pioneer families of that section of Ohio. The Coy family is of Scottish origin, but the maternal lineage is German, or rather Pennsylvania-Dutch, the Shank family being of early Pennsylvania record. At least three generations of the Coy family has had residence in Ohio. Jacob Coy, father of Dr. Isaac L., was born in Dayton, Ohio. In his adventurous youth and early manhood he traded with the Indians of the frontier, and did much pioneering work. He settled at Ridgeville, Ohio, and the greater part of his life was spent in farming occupations, or at all events in the clearing of land preparatory to tillage. But it seems that he was also to some extent a building contractor. He built the first church at Evansport, Defiance county, Ohio, and also the first store at that place ; and in that place he lived for the greater part of his life. Most of the children of Jacob and Mary (Shank) Coy were born in Evansport, including Dr. Isaac L. He spent his boyhood in an agricultural environment, attended the country school nearest to the farm of his parents, and, following the custom in most farming families of the state,, he did much work on the home farm during the long summer vacations. After passing through the district- school he was for a while a student at the Stryker High School, Williams county, but did not graduate. After leaving school he appears to have had no thought of entering a profession. He apprenticed himself to a carpenter and millwright, and for ten years followed that trade at Bryan, Williams county, Ohio. And while following that trade he helped to build the second grist mill to be erected at Evansport. Then came the 'change. His brother M. C. was already in the medical profession, and at that time in good practice at Evansport, their native place. And Isaac L. ultimately resolved if possible to qualify in medicine. With that.object he took up the reading of medicine under the guidance of his brother, and in due course entered medical college, being successful in matriculating at the Baltimore Medical College, Maryland. After spending one term at that college, however, he transferred his studentship to the Cincinnati, Ohio, College of Medicine and Surgery. From that well-known medical college he eventually creditably graduated, being of the class of 1896, and with his graduation gaining the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Thereafter for about one year he was in professional practice in association with his brother in Stryker, Williams county, Ohio, but in 1898 he came to Archbold, and has ever since practiced in that section of Fulton county. During the years from that to the present Doctor Coy has gained for himself an enviable professional record, and none the less enviable is the personal record he has as a public-spirited citizen of commendable life. He has devoted himself to his profession, appears to be an omnivorous student, and has undertaken much research in some branches of medical science. Particularly, has he devoted himself to .obstetrical research; and in his Practice Doctor Coy has shown evidence of the extent of his research in this branch of medicine. As an obstetrical, surgeon Doctor Coy has latterly gained much credit. He took a post-graduate course 460 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY in obstetrics under Professor Stark at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Cincinnati, Ohio, and has closely followed all developments reported, and also those arising from his own practice. He is well-regarded in state and county medical circles, belongs to the state and county medical societies, and also to some of national scope; and generally he has had noteworthy success in his professional career. Religiously he is a Methodist, member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Archbold, and a good supporter of that body. Fraternally he is a Mason, member of a West Unity lodge, and an Odd Fellow, a member of an Archbold lodge. He does not concern himself much with politics. As a matter of fact, his professional ties keep him closely to professional work for the greater part of each day. In 1901, at Evansport, Ohio, Doctor Coy married Jennie, daughter of John and Elizabeth (McCauley) Spangle, of that place. They have one child, a daughter, Isabelle. Since she has lived in Archbold Mrs. Coy has entered much into church and social movements in the community, and has very many friends in the district. During the war both she and her husband worked indefatigably in the national cause, aiding in much of the home work of national bearing, and entering loyally into the various local movements formulated to secure the proper prosecution of local drives in connection with the Liberty Loan and other governmental issues necessary to meet the purposes of the government in the war. And Mrs. Coy has been a worthy church worker. W. B. HARRIS. The banks of any community are the conservitors of the financial interests of the people, and the men connected with their operation are naturally important factors in their localities. One of the men who is accepted as one of the sound financiers of Fulton county is W. B. Harris, cashier of the First National Bank of Wauseon. W. B. Harris was born in Licking county, Ohio, in 1890, a son of William B. and Laura (Woodruff) Harris. The great-greatgreat-grandfather of W. B. Harris came from England to the American colonies and settled in New Jersey, and four of his sons served under General Washington during the American Revolution. One of these sons was with the Colonial Army at Valley Forge. In the period of expansion subsequent to the Revolutionary war representatives of the family migrated into Ohio and secured land in the central portion of the state, developing into prosperous agriculturists. Both the grandfather and father of W. B. Harris were born in Licking county, Ohio. William B. Harris was a school-teacher and became superintendent of the Sylvania High School, but later went into the banking business, organizing the Farmers & Merchants Bank, of which he was cashier until 1907, when he became cashier of the Sylvania Savings Bank, and continued in that position until the time of his death in 1915. His widow survives him and makes her home with her son. She and her husband had a daughter, these two children constituting their family. Before he completed his school-days W. B. Harris helped his father in the Farmers & Merchants Bank, and after the death of his father he went to Toledo, Ohio, and was in the Second National HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 461 Bank of that city for a short time. In 1910 Mr. Harris came to Wauseon as bookkeeper for the First National Bank, and after three years was made assistant cashier. Three years later he was made cashier, and still holds that eminently responsible position. He is also a stockholder in the bank, and is on its board of directors, and he is a director of the Pettisville Savings Bank and the Ridgeville Savings Bank at Ridgeville Corners. Mr. Harris has also a quarter interest in the Blue Creek Stock Farm of 320 acres and is secretary and treasurer of the Arcola Building Company. During the late war Mr. Harris took a conspicuous part in the various drives, being chairman of the Fifth Liberty Loan Campaign of his neighborhood, and more than raised the quota, and he was secretary of the War Savings Stamp Campaign. He is unmarried. A. Mason, Mr. Harris belongs to Wauseon Lodge No 349, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a Knight Templar. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias. The Congregational Church holds, his membership. Mr. Harris makes his home at Wauseon, his mother and sister living with him, the latter being a public school teacher. She was prepared for her career in Oberlin University, from which she was graduated. A young man of spirit, Mr. 'Harris has taken a constructive part in the public affairs of Wauseon since coming to the county seat, and can be depended upon to give an active support to those measures he believes will work out for the further betterment of existing conditions here. Few men of his age have accomplished as much as he, and his fellow citizens are proud of his record. C. P. WEBER. No knowledge is wasted. Each effort in the direction of mental expansion brings its own reward, and therefore it has been found that the men who have carefully trained their minds for scholastic .duties are the ones who develop into the most efficient public officials. One of, these former educators who has made a remarkably good record as county surveyor is C. P. Weber of Wauseon. Under his capable and businesslike administration the roads of Fulton county have been so improved as to attract attention from all over the state, and his efficiency is praised by all who understand the difficulties with which he contended. C. P. Weber was born south of Pettisville, Ohio, in October, 1883, a son of John and Margaret Weber, of German and French descent whose families have been located in this country for many years. After. securing a public school education C. P. Weber attended the Pettisville High. School, from which he was graduated, and later the Tri-State College at Angola, Indiana, and was graduated from the_ atter institution in the scientific course in 1906, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. For four years Mr. Weber was engaged in teaching in the rural schools of Fulton county, rising to be superintendent of schools at Ridgeville Corners in Fulton 'county, and then he was superintendent of the Fulton Township Certified Schools for three years more, and he continued in the educational field until he was elected county surveyor in 1916, and after serving for a term was the candidate of his party to succeed himself, but was defeated, but was re-elected in 1918. He has always been an advocate of good roads, realizing the benefit of them not only to the immediate communities through which they pass but the state and country. He now has $500,000 worth of road im- 462 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY provement contracts, and through his efforts the state has contributed over $120,000 through a bond issue to be used on the roads in Fulton county. In addition to the responsibilities of his office Mr. Weber is interested in a general real estate and insurance business at Wauseon. Mr. Weber was married to Celia D. Wheeler, a daughter of Henry Wheeler of Ridgeville Corners, and they have the following children : Marshall, who was. born in 1911; Morley Vincent, who was born in 1913; and Margaret Genevieve. Mr. Weber is an independent democrat. He belongs to Swanton Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Delta Council, Royal Arch Masons. Interested in the work of the Grange, he belongs to the county and state organizations. Having studied the question of good roads very carefully, Mr. Weber has been able to carry out his ideas in .an intelligent and practical manner, and the people of his community axe reaping the benefit from his knowledge. and public-spirited endeavors. ALBERT BILBEE LAROWE. It is given to but few men to round out the proverbial "three score and ten years," the allotted time of a man's life, on the 'same plot of ground where they first beheld the light of day, but that privilege has been vouchsafed to Albert B. La-Rowe of Silver Brook Farm in Chesterfield. He was born at the family homestead December 6, 1847, and since last December he has been living on "borrowed time." A. B. LaRowe, of Silver Brook, is a son of Moses and Lydia (Bradley) LaRowe. He has one sister, Victoria. The LaRowe family came from Genesee county, New York, in 1843, traveling as far as Toledo by water. Moses LaRowe left his wife there while he came on foot to the site of Silver Brook Farm, where there was already a "cabin in the clearing," placed there on a previous visit to the frontier community. He secured an ox. team and went back to Toledo for his wife and their household belongings brought along from Genesee county. There is a' falling leaf table, some dishes and a bureau at Silver Brook today that were in that original lot of household furniture. While relatives on both sides frequently visited the family, none of them ever lived in Fulton county. Silver Brook was purchased from land speculators who were on the ground early, but since that time it has been a LaRowe family possession, the present owner buying it in 1872 from his father. The father and mother ended their days here, his demise coming January 23, 1882, while she lived until May 11, six years later. They lie buried in Butler or Chesterfield cemetery—the local burial place in their day and generation. He was born January 20, 1807, in New Jersey, and she was born December 2, 1812, in Springport, New York. They. had been among the Fulton county settlers who selected this Chesterfield God's Acre as their final resting place. They had endured the hardships of the pioneers, and in their memory their posterity has a splendid heritage. Albert B. LaRowe married Hattie E. Terpenning, December 25, 1869, and at the time of this interview, October 30, 1919, special plans were being formulated for their Golden Wedding anniversary in connection with the annual Christmas festivities. In their family there is a daughter and son—a repetition of the original LaRowe family at Silver Brook. They are: Mina and Albert Clair. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 463 Mrs. LaRowe is one of three children born to John and Nancy (Van Arsdall) Terpenning. Her brothers are William H. and Francis E. Terpenning. The early Terpennings were also New York emigrants to Ohio. John Terpenning was born October 23, 1816. in Onandago county, and he died January 13, 1889, and he and his wife lie buried in the Wauseon Cemetery. There was another Christmas wedding in 1898, when Mina La-Rowe became the wife of Frank D. Stubbins. Their sons are Donald C., Wilden D. and Elbert F. Stubbins. Albert C. LaRowe married Rena Saulsbury, March 7, 1907, and their children are Frances E., Alice ,C. and William A. LaRowe. The daughter and her family have always lived at Silver Brook, where Mr. Stubbins is a farmer, and the son lives in Morenci, Michigan, where he is engaged in the hardware trade. The LaRowe family has never affiliated with church or secret orders. The family vote, both LaRowe and Terpenning, has always been cast with the republican party. John Terpenning and his son, William H. Terpenning—an unusual thing, father and son—were soldiers in the Civil war, although they only met once while both were wearing the blue uniform. Through the children in the Stubbins family, the fourth generation in the LaRowe household in now being sheltered at Silver Brook Farm. Among the household treasures is a volume of poems given to Mrs. LaRowe by her first school teacher, Mrs. Julia Carter Aldrich, entitled "Hazel Bloom." Their acquaintance began at the Ottokee school when Ottokee was the seat of government in Fulton county. There are few citizens in Chesterfield who have lived longer in one community than have the LaRowes. Their acquaintance lies chiefly among the pioneer families of Fulton county, and it is not over-estimating things to say that their friends are numbered by their acquaintances. MENNO TRAUT. Both as a farmer and citizen Menno Traut measures up to high standards and is entitled to the confidence of his neighborhood, for he has earned it. He was born in Fulton county in 1883, a son of Nicholas and Mary (Riefsnider) Traut, who came to the United States from Russia, although of German birth, and for a time after reaching Ohio, Nicholas Traut worked by the day at Pettisville. Later he engaged in farming for others, and as soon as he had saved up enough money he bought fifty acres of land near Swanton and conducted it until he retired, and he is now living at Swanton, Ohio. He and his wife became the parents of two children. Menno Traut attended the country schools and those at Delta, Ohio, until he was sixteen years old, when he left school and devoted all of his attention to the home farm, where he remained until twenty-three years old. In 1905 he was married at Swanton, Ohio, to Anna Spurgon, a daughter of Nathaniel Spurgon, and they became the parents of six children, all of whom are still living. Mrs. Traut died in 1917 and was deeply mourned, not only by her immediate family but also by the many who knew her and paid respect to her excellent qualities of heart and brain. In 1908 Mr. Traut bought eighty-six acres of land, and this is his present farm, on which he is carrying on a general line of farming. He takes a strong interest in keeping his farm up-to-date, and 464 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY has made a number of improvements since buying it. Mr. Traut is a man who believes in exercising his own judgment with reference to voting, and so has not definitely connected himself with any party, but selects his candidates very carefully after inspecting their records. While he has devoted himself to his farm, he has found time to go into the matter of good roads in a comprehensive and practical manner, and wants necessary improvements made, but does not believe in an extravagant outlay. Working hard and steadily, he has been rewarded for his industry and thrift with a fair measure of success, and at the same time he has so conducted his affairs as to demonstrate that he was a good business man and fair-minded citizen. His progress has been a natural one, and is but the logical outcome of a lifetime of endeavor, and his experiences may well point out the way for others to follow. FRED A. BARBER. Fulton county has known and esteemed Fred A. Barber in many satisfactory relations for thirty years or more. In early life he emulated the success of his father as a teacher. For three terms he adjusted many difficult cases in the Probate Court, has been a prominent leader in the democratic party, and at present is enjoying an extensive practice as a lawyer. Judge Barber was born near Baldwinsville, Onondaga county, New York, February 11, 1865, a son of Corydon Tappan and Louisa (Dye) Barber. His ancestry is notable since in the paternal line he is a descendent of Benjamin Franklin, while on the maternal side there was no less notable a figure than Elihu Yale, founder of Yale University. Corydon Tappan Barber was long and favorably known in Fulton county. Born near Baldwinsville, New York, December 4, 1827, he took his family to Morenci, Michigan, in 1867. A man of real learning, he gave the greater part of his years to school work, teaching in Morenci until 1870, when he brought his family to Fulton county and settled near Fayette. For a number of years he was a teacher in the Fayette High School, but finally returned to Morenci, where he died. His record as a teacher comprised more than sixty terms, and prior to coming to Fulton county he was a school examiner in Michigan. A strong democrat, he had much ability as a public speaker and was in demand for the public work of his party. He volunteered to serve the nation in the time of the Civil war, but was rejected. He was twice married. September 25, 1847, at Plainville, New York, Mary Ann Everts became his bride. She was the mother of two children, Francis dying in infancy, while the surviving son, William, who died in 1890 at the age of forty-two, was during his last years prosecuting attorney of Gladwin county, Michigan, and achieved a notable position as a lawyer. Mrs. Mary Ann Barber died in 1851. February 10, 1853, Corydon T. Barber married Louisa Dye. To this union were born six children: Albert L.; Miles, deceased, who was the father of the present judge of Probate Court of Fulton county, A. M. Barber; Matilda, who married Delos Whaley, of Gorham. Township ; Corydon, who died in infancy; Fred A.; and Homer, of Phoenix, Arizona. The mother of these children died at the home of her son Homer in Seneca Township of Lenawee county„ Michigan, July 14, 1905, at the age of seventy-seven, and was laid to rest in Oak Grove Cemetery at Morenci. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 465 Fred A. Barber was an infant when the family moved to Michigan and was five years of age when their home was established near Fayette. He attended the district schools to the age of twelve, and then for four years was a student in the Morenci High School. From there he entered the Fayette Normal University, taking three courses, teachers', scientific and business. At the age of twenty he took an additional year in the teachers' course at Adrian, Michigan. Judge Barber was a successful teacher for six years. Turning then to business pursuits, he became a hardware merchant at Fayette and Delta, and was prospered in this line of business for twelve years. An official publication of the democratic party of Ohio in 1913 said : "Ever since he became of age Judge Barber has taken an active interest in promoting the success of the democratic party and Fulton county, but he is not partisan and his fair-mindedness on all public subjects adds strength and attracts support to his party. He has served on .both the central and executive branches of the County Committee." That appreciation was well justified by his able organization work and his service as a delegate to many states, congressional and judicial conventions. For years continuously he was a delegate to the senatorial conventions. His public record began with the office of clerk of Gorham Township, in which he served three terms, beginning in 1897. In 1.905 he was elected judge of the Probate Court of Fulton county, and held that office for three terms. He was elected by increased majorities each time, and his third 'election was the more notable because the county was at that time strongly republican. While probate judge he took up the study of law and concentrated his energies upon the subject after leaving office. In 1919 he attended a course of law lectures conducted by Judge Gusweiler at Cincinnati, and was successful in passing the Ohio bar examinations at Columbus the following December. His certificate of practice is dated December 15, 1919. Since- then he has been busied with a rapidly accumulating general practice, and opened his office in Wauseon. Judge Barber is chief deputy of the County Board of Elections. During the World war his time and abilities were at the service of the various organizations supporting national and patriotic interests, and he was actively identified with the Red Cross, Young Men's Christian Association, War Chest, Liberty Loan committees and was a member of the Soldiers Legal Advisory Board. Judge Barber is a Mason, Odd Fellow and Knight of Pythias and a member of the Wauseon Methodist Church. July 2, 1890, he married Carrie E. Cottrell, whose father, Gorham Cottrell, was one of the first settlers in Gorham 'Township. Judge and Mrs. Barber are deservedly proud of their two children. The on Harold G., who was educated in the Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, served in the World war and was one of General Pershing's guards at the army headquarters at Chaumont, France. After returning to America he resumed his connection with the Chevrolet Motor Company at Toledo. The daughter, Gertrude L., is a graduate of the Wauseon High School and is now taking musical instruction with Professor J. Charles Kunz of Toledo. WILLIAM HENRY SEGRIST, a respected and successful farmer of York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, comes of a family which 466 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY for almost seventy years has had connection with that township. William Henry Segrist was born there, has spent the whole of his life in the township, and during that period of sixty-four years has upon many occasions shown that he has been ready to assume his full share in the administrative responsibilities of the district. He has lived an upright, industrious, useful life, and his record in public office includes fifteen- years as trustee, twelve years RS school director and a period as supervisor of roads. He was born in a log cabin in section 36 of York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, on January 10; 1856, the son of John Barnhart and Christina (Lautenscheger) Segrist, of that township. The Segrist family is of German origin, but William Henry is in the third generation of the family to have had residence in America. His father John B.', was only eight years old when his grandfather brought the family from Germany to the United States, settling in Pennsylvania, where Christina Lautenscheger, mother of William Henry, also was born. John Barnhart Segrist was born on August 30, 1823, and died July 28, 1918, in his ninety-fifth year, for eighty-two of which he had residence in Ohio. John B. Segrist was quite young when his father died in Pennsylvania, and until he was eighteen years old he lived with his uncle in Philadelphia. He learned the butchering trade in that city, but when, eighteen years old, in 1841, came into Ohio, locating at Mansfield, where for three years he worked at his trade. For about five years thereafter he worked at his trade in the City of Toledo, Ohio, but in 1852, having prospered as an employe, he decided to take to farming. With that object he came to York Township, Fulton county, in that year and purchased a tract of eighty acres, only five of which, however, had been cleared. In fact, John Barnhart Segrist may be placed among the pioneers of that section, for it was almost all virgin forest land when he came, whereas before his active life was over be owned over two hundred acres of good cleared land in the township. He took his original eighty-acre tract in almost its primitive state: On the five acres that had been cleared was a log cabin, in which four years later his son William. Henry was born, but his property at that time included no other buildings. Gradually he cleared the land, adding the necessary buildings, and even Wally becoming possessed of a commodious, substantial residence. After putting the first eighty acres into good cultivation he purchased an adjioning tract. Of same acreage, and subsequently another adjacent tract of eighty acres. He was a man of strong personality and much energy, and was well regarded in the township in which he lived for sixty-six years. His wife, Christina (Lautenscheger), who was born in Pennsylvania, died in York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, in about 1867. They were the parents of six children, who, in order of birth, were: Amanda,' who married George Yaney, and is now deceased; Mary Ann, who married Jonas Seymour, and now lives in California; William Henry, regarding whose life more will be written later herein; George, who died at the age of forty years; John R, also a resident in York Township; and .Agnes, who married Samuel Ruppert, of Wauseon, Ohio, and died in about 1907. William Henry Segrist, third child of John Barnhart and Christina (Lautenscheger) Segrist, was educated in the public schools of York Township, and after leaving school assisted his father in the HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 467 operation of the home farm until he was twenty-one years old, when he married. His wife. Mary Snyder, whom he married in September, 1877, was the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Carrick) Snyder. She was born in Seneca county, Ohio. After marriage William Henry Segrist moved to an eighty-acre farm in section 34 of York Township. It was not in an advanced state of cultivation; in fact only twenty acres had been cleared, and upon it stood only an old house built by the original settler. Still William .Henry Segrist had many of the commendable traits of his father, and he applied himself resolutely to the work of clearing the farm. For the first eleven years of his occupancy of the property he worked: the land on shares, but at the end of that time he was able to buy the farm and make the necessary improvements. Practically all of the substantial buildings now standing on the property were built by him, including the homestead, a substantial frame structure containing ten spacious rooms, and the barns land granary. He has also acquired a further forty acres in section 3, south of York Township, and his farming has been generally successful. He has shown much enterprise, and has. had good success in the raising of cattle, Hampshire hogs and draft horses. He maintains a small herd of Holstein milch cows, and grows most of his feed. In public movements affecting the township Mr. Segrist has always been interested. Politically he is a democrat, although he has never sought national political office. In local affairs he has been ready to give time and assistance, and has always generously supported worthy local projects of educational, social or church bearing. He is a member of the Taylor Methodist Episcopal Church, and has held many offices. For fifteen years he was a trustee; he served as supervisor of roads for some time; and has been a member of the School Board of Directors for twelve years. His ?life has therefore been one of useful responsible industry and helpful public spirit. William Henry and Mary (Snyder) Segrist are the parents of three children : Olive B., who married Clarence Sturdevant, of York Township, and has five children : Iva, now Mrs. Blain Gambel, Eva who married Richard Harding, Ethel, Emmet and Robert Wayne; Charles E. of York Township, married Bertha Bayes, and they have two children, Clifford and Alta; Howard, also of York Township, married Elitha Leist, and they have two children, Treva and Cora Belle. The family is generally well-liked in York Township, Mr. and Mrs. Segrist being hospitably inclined and they now live in Wauseon. MCCLELLAN PONTIOUS. No person who has not passed through the experience of developing a farm has any conception of the amount of work entailed, nor of the discouragements which must be met and overcome. Once a farm is put in good order, however, especially when it is one in Fulton county, Ohio, the profits from operating it are of sufficient moment to make all the efforts worth while. One of the men who has the satisfaction of having. made practically all of his improvements is McClellan Pontius of Pike Township. He was born in York Township, this county, on March 22, 1881, a son of William and Patience Pontius, natives of York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, and Holmes county, Ohio, respectively. Both survive and are living in York Township. 168 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Growing up in his native. township McClellan Pontious not only acquired an educational training, but a practical one as well, and while he was assisting his father in conducting the farm, he was learning a business which was to be the one in which his efforts are directed. In September, 1902, Mr. Pontious was united in marriage with Clara Ledyard, born in Clinton Township, a daughter of Franklin and Ellen (Kimmer) Ledyard. After his marriage Mr.. Pontious lived with his parents for six months, and then rented a York Township farm for six months. He then bought eighty acres on section 6, Pike Township, which was only partly cultivated. This property had for its sole improvements the uprights standing for the house. With an energy which is characteristic of him, Mr. Pontious set right to work to get things in a proper shape. He erected a comfortable residence, big barn and other outbuildings, put up fences and placed tiling, and did everything to make his farm a paying investment. Here he is carrying on a first-class general farming and stockraising business, and his returns amply justify his wisdom in making the outlay he has. Mr. and Mrs. Pontious have the following children : Hazel Bernice, Hallie Geneva, Audry Ellen, Doris Isabel, Eugene Clifford and Clair Clayton. In politics Mr. Pontious is a republican, but aside from exercising his right of suffrage he has not taken much part in politics, the work of developing that farm of his taking just about all of his time and attention. He has found time, however, to jion and participate in the work of the Gleaners of Dover Township, and is heartily in accord with the principles and policies of that organization. Both he and Mrs. Pontious stand very high in the neighborhood and are recognized as young people of exceptional character, industrious and thrifty, excellent managers and fine citizens. LEWIS CLIFFORD HALSEY. Some years ago the tendency of the farm-bred boy was to leave the healthful influence of the rural districts and seek other opportunities in one or other of the large cities of the country. As a result some of the best men were lost to the farming industries and many who might have achieved notable success in the line of work for which they were fitted through inheritance and training lost out in their life struggle. Fortunately there has been a reaction, and the majority of the young men are remaining on the farms, being convinced that from them they can not only earn a good living but also a competency that is liable to run into wealth, and at the same time they can maintain their own independence of thought and action. Such a representative of the younger generation of agriculturists is Lewis Clifford Halsey, of Swan Creek Township. He was born in Amboy Township, Fulton county, on December 29, 1890, a son of T. Jefferson and Ellen (Carter) Halsey, who are now residents of Delta, Ohio, and very estimable people. In 1908 Lewis C. Halsey was united in marriage with Blanche Meyers, born, at Colton, Ohio, a daughter of Henry and Theodosia (Soles) Meyers. Following his marriage Mr. Halsey resided on his father's homestead in Swan Creek Township where he had been reared for a period of two years, and then rented land for a year. He then located at Delta and worked at carpentering for a year. Mr. Halsey then went to Toledo, Ohio, and until November 7, 1918, was employed in carpenter work by the Overland Auto Company. In that year he returned to the farm of ninety acres owned by his HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 469 father, and has since conducted it with remarkable success proving that in farming he has found his proper vocation. He keeps eight cows of the Holstein strain, and raises hogs • and other livestock, and carries on general farming and dairying. Mr. and Mrs. Halsey have three children, namely : Florence, Vern and Meryl. While Mr. Halsey's educational training was limited to that afforded by the district schools, his wife went to the public schools of. Colton, Ohio.. They are consistent members of the Shiloh Union Church of their neighborhood. In politics Mr. Halsey is a republican, and he supports the candidate of his party at each election. His fraternal connections are with the Modern Woodmen of America, which he joined at Toledo, Ohio, and the Knights of the Maccabees of Colton, Ohio. Both he and Mrs. Halsey are held in the highest respect in their township, and are the center of a pleasant circle of young married people. LEANDER E. RICHARDS, one of the prosperous farmers of Swan Creek Township, is deserving of special mention in a work of this high class character because of his efforts directed toward the advancement of the agricultural interests of Fulton county. He was born at Nankin, Ashland county, Ohio, on April 27, 1851, son of James Lewis and Margaret (Oberholtzer) Richards, natives of West Virginia and Germany, respectively. They were married in Ohio and moved to DeKalb county, Indiana, where they spent three years, and then went to Steuben county of that same state. They were residents of that county when the war between the states was declared, and he enlisted in the Union Army as a member of Company A, One Hundred and Forty-second Indiana Volunteer In' Pantry, and served during the last year of the war, receiving his honorable discharge at the close of the conflict. Returning to his farm, he resumed 'his peaceful occupations. A few years later he went to Fillmore county, Nebraska, took up a soldier's claim of 160 acres, and on it lived until his death, which occurred on February 9, 1892. His widow, who was born on October 15, 1827, survived him until March 15, 1907, when she, too, passed away. Their children were as follows: Milton and Caroline who are deceased; Leander E., whose name heads this review; Ira Alton, who lives at Lorain, Ohio; and Artimitia, Byron, Angeline and Alma, all of whom are deceased ; Josetta, who is Mrs. Davis, of Saint Joseph, Missouri; and Lewis, Margaret and Katie, who are all deceased. When he was eighteen years old Leander E. Richards, at the time of his parents departure for Nebraska, began working for farmers, and was so engaged when he was married on January 13, 1875, to Ida Holborn, born in Henry county, Ohio, a daughter of Stephen and Martha (Chamberlin) Holborn, he was born in Wyandot county, Ohio, on January 1, 1827, and she at Seneca, Ohio, on July 20, 1832. He died on October 12, 1912, and she on December 3, 1865. After his marriage Leander Richards rented land in Fulton county for four years, and then went to Nebraska, where he jioned his father, but after three years in that state decided that he preferred Ohio to the west, and returned to Fulton county, renting land in York Township for several years. He then bought eighty acres of woodland in Swan Creek Township, which he cleared and improved, and made it his home until 1915. In that year he bought thirty acres of land in Swan Creek Township, on which he is now living, renting his larger farm. Since coming to this farm he has: 470 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY erected the buildings now standing, and his place is in first class condition in every respect. Mr. and Mrs. Richards became the parents of the following children : Fred Lewis, who is a farmer of Swan Creek TownShip, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. Mary, who is Mrs. John Murray, of Hot Springs, Arkansas ; Archie Claude, who was born on November 3, 1880, died on September 20, 1910; Essie Pearl, who died in infancy; Virginia L., who lives at Unity, Ohio; and Martha Bell, who is Mrs. Clark Wagner, of Toledo, Ohio. Mr. Richards has always been a friend to the public schools, as he obtained his own educational training in them, although when he attended them conditions were very different from what they are today. He is a very strong republican, but aside from exercising his right of suffrage he does not participate in politics. The Christian Union Church holds his membership and benefits from his contributions. In every respect Mr. Richards measures up to the best standards of American manhood, and no man stands any higher in his home neighborhood than he. REV. HENRY P. WAECHTER. The zealous and. energetic pastor of the Church of St. Mary's Assumption at Caraghar, Ohio, is the son of Frank and Mary Waechter (nee Hydinger). His grandparents were George and Mary Waechter, and were natives of Alsace-Lorraine, that famous strip of country that has been the scene of so many wars, and figured so prominently in many peace treaties of Europe. They came to America as early as 1828 and settled at Rochester, New York. In 1852 they moved to New Washington, Crawford county, Ohio, where the family has resided ever since. They were among the early settlers in this country, and put up with all the hardships of pioneer days. The Rev. Henry Waechter is the youngest of a family of seven children, and was born September 2, 1880, at New Washington, Ohio. He attended St. Bernard's parochial school there, and in September, 1897, he. entered St. Joseph's College, Rensselaer, Indiana. The following year he entered Holy Ghost College, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he remained two years. In 1900 he entered St. Francis Preparatory Seminary at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he also completed his. classical education. In September of 1902 he entered St. Mary's Seminary at Cleveland, Ohio, where he studied philosophy and theology for six years. Having successfully completed his course of studies, he was ordained for the diocese of Cleveland June 13, 1908, by Bishop Koudelka in St. John's Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio. His first appointment was assistant at St. Joseph's Church, Fre- mont, Ohio, when the parish was busily engaged in building the large and monumental parochial school there. On February 10, 1909, he was appionted pastor of St. Mary's parish at Van Wert, with Spencerville and Convoy as missions. He was the only Catholic priest in the whole county, while Spencerville was twenty-three miles away on another railroad. The number of Catholics 'at all three places was very small, so Father Waechter encountered many. incidences that are peculiar to pioneer days. When the diocese of Toledo was created out of the northwestern part of Ohio in 1910 Father Waechter automatically became a member of the new diocese. HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 471 After a successful pastorate lasting nearly four years at Van Wert and missions, he was appointed the first resident pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Blakeslee, Ohio. He entered upon his new field of labor October 15, 1912, with great zeal and energy. He built there a splendid and commodious parochial residence that ranks with the best of any parish of similar size and circumstances. While fulfilling his charge at Blakeslee he also organized Sacred Heart parish at Montpelier, Ohio, and in 1913 he built the first Catholic Church there, which place he attended ever afterwards as a mission. When the large and prosperous parish of .St. Mary's Assumption at Caraghar, became vacant on August 1, 1917, Father Waechter was chosen by Bishop Schrembs to fill the vacancy there. The parish had just finished building a large parochial school, so Father Waechter found his new parish indebted to the extent of $15,000. He at once set about to pay off the indebtedness of the parish. So successful was he .in this matter that in two years time the whole debt was paid, much to the joy and surprise of the whole parish. Father Waechter is possessed of great tact and prudence, which is greatly the cause of the splendid success that he has everywhere met: He is a pleasing speaker, and conscientious in fulfilling the duties of his office. His kind and sympathetic nature, his easy 'and approachable manner, his unassuming ways have always and everywhere won for him the love and esteem of his people. JACOB F. PERKINS. The Perkins family of which Jacob F. Perkins of Swan Creek is a representative is English, the parents and four children coming to the United States in 1853 and locating in Wayne county, Ohio. In February, 1870, J. E. Perkins was born in Wayne county. He is a son of William and Elizabeth (Burr) Perkins. William Perkins removed from Wayne to Fulton county in 1870, locating in Swan Creek Township. He bought eighty acres in the brush, and some of it heavily timbered, and he cleared twenty-four acres, residing there until the time of his death in 1894, and the wife lived there until 1905, when her death occurred. While thirteen children were born to them only five reached manhood and womanhood. Anna is the wife of Levi Swartz, of Hastings, Nebraska; Mary is the widow of Jacob Hodgebone, of Toledo; Julia is the wife of Charles Wilford, of Toledo Joseph lives in. Swanton; and Jacob F. lives on the farm in Swan Creek. In March, 1899, he married Ocie E. Peterson, of Swan Creek. She is a daughter of John and Sarah (Williams) Peterson. Her father came from Long Island, while her mother had 'always lived in Swan Creek. One daughter, Grace, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Perkins. Mr. Perkins has served as school director for :many years. He has served two terms as township trustee, and he was instrumental in building eight miles of hard road in that time. He is a democrat in politics, and is a member of Brailey Grange and a stockholder in the Brailey Grange Hall Company. While he has put in many industrious years on the farm that was his boyhood environment, .Jacob F. Perkins has evidently acknowledged the call of public spirit and has freely enlisted his services in every community project for the general welfare. He is one of the thinking men found in agricultural circles today who are 472 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY doing so much to increase the attractiveness of farm life and also improve the general economic conditions of those who till the siol. JAMES B. TEMPLETON, educator, state official, attorney, and latterly a successful agriculturist also, is one of the leading residents of Swan Creek Township, Fulton county. Now in his sixty-second year, he has lived an active, useful, and consequential life since he graduated from Wooster University. He has successively and successfully been a school teacher, a justice of the peace, a clerk of the state house of representatives, and an attorney ; and concurrently with his practice of law has served as mayor of Swanton, besides many other local offices, as well as attending to the affairs of a farm of moderate size. And it may be stated that he has entered into the labors upon his farm with as much enthusiasm and pleasure as he manifested in a much discussed legal prosecution when he was at the height of his career as an attorney. He has shown much capability in public affairs, and, withal, possesses a commendably sincere public spirit. James B. Templeton was born in Delta, York Township, Ohio, on September 11, 1858, the son of John S. and Lydia A. (Fessler) Templeton, the former having been born in Wayne county,. Ohio, and his mother in Union county, Pennsylvania. The Templeton family is of Scottish origin, but has for many generations been resident in the United States. Evidently the family Can be placed among the early pioneer families of Ohio, for John Templeton, grandfather of James B., and also his wife, Susan Watkins, were born in Ohio, and is of record in. Swan Creek Township, Fulton county, as early as 1852, while the maternal grandparents of James B. Templeton, Joseph B. and Catherine (Fox) Fessler, were on the wild land of Swan Creek Township in 1835, when practically the whole district was wilderness. Grandfather John Templeton was a man of enormous stature. He was six feet, seven inches in height, and is stated to have at one time weighed 502 pounds. His chest measurement was seventy-two inches, and his other measurements were proportionate. He had a farm of 120 acres in Swan Creek Township, and lived the life of a: sturdy pioneer. John S. Templeton, son of John and Susan (Watkins) Templeton, spent some of his early life in Fulton county, and there met Lydia A. Fessler, who became his wife. Soon after marriage they moved to Gratiot county, Michigan,. but two years later returned to Fulton county, and lived. in Delta Village, York Township. For many years John S. Templeton was a railway employe, a. conductor, but he also entered extensively into farming operations. He owned 182 acres of land in Swan Creek Township, Fulton county, Ohio, and also 320 acres in Buenavista county, Iowa, having homesteaded 1/2 of the latter holding and purchased the other portion. He was a man of worthy spirit, and notwithstanding his marital responsibilities, and his farming interests, he could not resist the desire to take personal part in the cause of the Union during the Civil war. He enlisted as a private in Company I of the Thirty-eighth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and went through the severe campaigning of three years, rising to the rank of first lieutenant and receiving honorable discharge at the termination of hostilities. It was soon after. his discharge from military service that he returned to Fulton county and acquired the Swan Creek land; and for the next twenty-one HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 473 years, until his death in 1886, he resided on that property, applying himself steadily to agricultural operations. His wife, however, lived a widowhood of fourteen years, her death not occurring. until 1.910, she being then seventy-seven years old. The children of John S. and Lydia (Tessler) Templeton were: Frank who entered the legal profession and is in law practice in Toledo, Ohio; James B., of further reference; David D., who died in infancy; John W., now of San Hoquin, Cuba. James B., second child of John S. and Lydia A., (Fessler) Templeton, was only three years old when his father left his wife and two children to the care of the nation and himself took up arms for the emancipation of the southern slaves. Fortune favored the family, and the father eventually returned safely and sound of limb after family, years of severe campaigning ; and from that time until the children had grown to manhood and had acquired good educations the father provided amply for the needs of the family. James B. graduated eventually from Wooster University, and when twenty-seven years old married, soon after which he and his wife took up their residence in Swanton, Fulton county, and in that place he entered the teaching profession. He also served for twelve years as justice of the peace in Swanton. He took a leading part in the public life of the community, and was actively interested in political affairs. He served as clerk of the State House of Representatives for the seventy-fourth and seventy-fifth session of the State General Assembly, and he appears to have resolved to forsake his former professional work, that of teaching, and to qualify for admittance to the practice of law. He was admitted to practice law at the state bar on December 6, 1901, and opened a law office in the City of Toledo, Ohio, in 1902, continuing to practice in that city until 1.909, when he purchased the farm of seventy-five acres he has since owned and managed in section 11 of Swan Creek Township, Fulton county. He had served as mayor of Swanton, Ohio, for one term, and the year following that of his purchase of the Swan Creek estate and taking up residence in that township he was appointed prosecuting attorney, was re-elected in 1912, and served until 1915, when he gave up the office and entered more actively into farming. During the last .five years Attorney Templeton has raised upon his farm more than two thousand bushels of wheat, entering zealously into the plans of the Department of Agriculture, which sought to get American farmers during the years of stress, 1917-18, to bring about an abnormal yield of food-stuffs, to circumvent the ravages of war among the famished people of European countries. He has also raised otherfarm products and maintains a moderate sized dairy in fact; five milch cows yield him a. greater return than he received in salary for his professional labors as prosecuting attorney. Mr. Templeton has a rich farm, which is now known as Wheatland Farm, and although he still practices law he gives much of his time to the direction of his farm. Among the minor public offices he has held have been that of clerk of Swanton Village Board and clerk of Swan Creek Township. During the war he was prominent in local activities connected with the various war funds raised by the government and by governmental agencies, and in other ways demonstrated his patriotic feeling and interest. He has been identified with the functioning of local branches of some of the leading fraternal orders. He is a Mason, belonging to Swanton Lodge No. 555, and "to the Fulton Chapter of Wauseon, 474 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Ohio. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 588 of Swanton, through most of the chairs of which he has passed, and has held most of the offices of Viking Lodge No. 892 of Toledo. He also is a member of the Tribe of Ben Hur order, while his college fraternity is Phi Delta Theta. Politically he has always been a republican, and his church is the Methodist Episcopal, in support of which he is consistent as one would expect from a man of his high moral character. On November 1, 1885, he married Amanda J. Bayes, who was born in Wauseon, Ohio, daughter of Benjamin W. and Margaret (Garmon) Bayes, her father a native of Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and her mother of Fulton county birth. In the paternal line her ancestry is Scottish, but her genealogy in the maternal line connects with a German family, her grandparents being Thomas and Elizabeth (Wallick) Bayes, who were born in Pennsylvania, of Scottish antecedents, and Philip and Elizabeth (Koos) Garmon, who were of German birth. All, however, are of record in the early annals of Fulton county, Ohio, and are placed among the early settlers of the region. James B. and Amanda J. (Bayes) Templeton are the parents of two children. Mildred B. married Clare D. Pettingill, who is in the International truck business in Jacksonville, Florida, and is a successful business man. They have three children, James T., Patricia A. and William C. Georgia H. married Elmer F. Pelton, of Erie, Pennsylvania. They have two children, John R. and Althea Nan. Since early manhood Mr. Templeton has been placed among the capable men of Fulton county, and as a citizen and professional man has been among the leaders of York and Swan Creek Townships. ISAAC V. WILLIAMS, who died August 4, 1919, had spent nearly half a century in the Delta community of Fulton county. His capable wife, Mrs. Williams, is still living at Delta, where for many years she has conducted the leading millinery establishment. The late Mr. Williams was born at Reedtown, Seneca county, Ohio, September 3, 1840, son of James and Vanluah (Whitten) Williams, the former a native of Richland and the latter of Coshocton county. They spent their married lives in Seneca county as farmers, and James Williams was also a minister of the Protestant Methodist Church. Isaac V. Williams in April, 1864, enlisted in Company G of the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. There were four brothers in the war, in three different regiments. Isaac Williams was sent first to Johnson's Island and then did garrison. duty in Washington, District of Columbia. In about a hundred days he was discharged for physical defect .and returned to Seneca county. Mr. Williams came to Delta April 6, 1869, and followed his trade as a carpenter and also .clerked in a hardware store.. For several years he was a hardware and dry goods salesman and also lived in South Dakota to benefit his .health. While in the northwest he clerked in a bank and in a merchandise establishment four summers, always returning to Delta for the winter. May 12, 1863, Mr. Williams married Sarah Elizabeth Smith, of Norwalk. She is a daughter of Lemuel and Mary (Rogers) Smith,