474 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY JACOB L. McKIMMY is known as one of the progressive and able business men of the younger generation in Fulton county, and his initiative and executive powers have shown forth in high relief through his building up of one of the largest brick and tile manufactories in this section. Jacob Luther McKimmy has the distinction of being a native of the beautiful Old Dominion State, having been born in Preston county, Va., on the 6th of May, 1871, and being a son of Perry and Caroline (Wotring) McKimmy, of Irish and Holland Dutch lineage, respectively. In 1874 his parents took up their residence in Lenawee county, Mich., where the father became a prosperous farmer of Ogden township, and he and his wife still maintain their home there. They have eight children, namely: John, Theodore, Nathan, Jacob Luther, Saloma (wife of David Cowel), Frederick, Alva and Addie. Jacob L. McKimmy was reared on .the home farm, in Ogden township, Lenawee county, Mich., and he was afforded the advantages of the public schools, making good use of his opportunities and amply fortifying himself for the handling of his business affairs in later years. On attaining his majority he came to Fulton county and purchased a farm, in Amboy township, operating the same two years and then exchanging the property for the brick and tile plant of which he is now proprietor. The following description of the plant was recently published in a local paper and is consistently reproduced in this connection: "The brick and tile plant is located two miles south and one-half mile east of Metamora. It is owned and operated by J. L. McKimmy, who purchased the property of A. H. Crissey, in 1895, and at once began to improve, and enlarge the plant, which now has the most modern facilities for the manufacturing of brick and tile. In 1897 Mr. McKimmy erected a shed 30x100 feet, the following year he added 10o feet to this shed, making it 30x200 feet in dimensions, and in 1899 he built another shed, 30x100 feet, while in the following year he erected still another, 30x75 feet, making m all a building 30X375 feet, built throughout of first-class material and utilized only for the drying of brick and tile. The engine room is 30x40 feet, and the machinery is run by a 25 horsepower engine, with crusher and a modern automatic cut-off- in BIOGRAPHICAL - 475 the same room. The automatic cut-off is a wonderful piece of machinery, doing its own work and cutting off the tile perfectly and regularly. The machinery conducts the clay from the man who his the crusher to the man who sets it on the wheel-barrow, a perfect, green tile, without any help from human hands. The daily output of the plant is ten thousand three-inch tile, and the plant is kept in operation usually from April until October. The kilns used lure of the Stewart patent, while soft coal is used as fuel. Each of Abe two kilns has a capacity of twenty-five thousand three-inch tile, land it requires from thirty-six, to forty hours to burn each kiln. In leach of the seasons of 1904 and 1905 thirty-seven kilns Were burned, an& the average amount of tile in stock is about 500,000, ranging in -diameter from three to twelve inches. Mr. McKimmy has never yet shipped any brick or tile from his plant, the farmers in the sur-sounding country using the entire output. He employs a corps of -ten men during the season of manufacturing, and keeps one man in the yards during the winter season. In 1897 he built a reservoir, 95x300 feet, and this furnishes an adequate supply of water at all times, while in the winter it yields ice not only for the ice-house in the yard, a building 24x50 feet, but supplies many of the farmers in the locality. From the local ice-house also many families are supplied in the summer season. Mr. McKimmy was but twenty-four years of age when he started for himself in the brick and tile business, but by his energy and integrity he has built up an enterprise that is not only of great benefit to himself but also to the farmers of this section. In his political allegiance Mr. McKimmy is a stanch Republican, and in a fraternal way he is identified with Sanders Tent, No 421, Knights of the Maccabees, in Metamora. January 1, 1893, he was married to Miss Agnes Boyce, daughter of Stephen and Miry (Dumeresq) Boyce, of Delta, this county, and four children have been born of this union—Ora L., Lester I., Ellis L. and Iva M., the last-named being deceased. HAULCEY MANN, a prominent and successful farmer of Wauseon, is the son of Francis Price and Mary Elizabeth (Lyon) Mann, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of New Jersey. His grandfather, Charles Mann, who was a pioneer settler of Knox county, 0, came to that county from New York. He married Miss DeWitt, a native of Knox county. As far as the subject of this sketch knows Charles Mann had no brothers or sisters. Francis Price Mann, born near Mt. Vernon, Knox county, in 1815, came to Williams county, O., from Morrow county, same State, in 1857. In 1862 he removed to Franklin township, Fulton county, where he bought a farm and lived on it for several years. Then he removed to Morenci, Lenawee county, Mich., where he died in 1882, aged sixty-seven years. His wife was born in Essex county, N. J., January 11, 1822. Hale and hearty at the age of eighty-three years, she enjoys the best of health and makes her home with the subject of this sketch. She is the daughter of Haulcey and Harriet (Rose) Lyon, and the granddaughter of Samuel Lyon. The following are the children of Francis 476 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Price Mann and wife: Francis Lyon Mann, of Lenawee county,. Mich.; Charles Mann (deceased), who died in Royalton township,. Fulton county; Haulcey Mann, the subject of this sketch, and John Borough Mann of Lenawee county, Mich. Haulcey Mann, reared on a farm and educated in the public schools of his home county? chose farming as his occupation. He first farmed in Franklin township and then removed to Dover township, where he bought a farm. Selling this place he bought a farm in Clinton township, Fulton county, which for the past thirteen years he has owned and successfully operated. His farm is in a high state of cultivation ands rated as one of the best in the county. Having been reared on a farm and carefully trained for that work it is no wonder that he is now one of the most prosperous farmers in that section of the State. He married Miss Mary Ann Dennis, daughter of John and Nancy (Dodd) Dennis, both deceased, who came to Fulton county from Delaware county. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Dennis are: W11-: Liam Dennis, of Clinton township; Charles Dennis, of Franklin township; Alfred Dennis, of Dover township; Mary Ann, the wife of the subject of this sketch, and Mrs. Susan little (deceased).. LUTHER GILBERT MARSH, a farmer and Civil war veteran of Swanton, was born in what is now Swan Creek township, Fulton county, then Lucas county, December 14, 1841. His father, Richard Marsh, was born in Rochester, N. Y., on September 1o, Om, and came in young manhood to Maumee, Lucas county, 0., where he married Miss Sarah Barnes, also a native of New York State, who came to Maumee with her parents when quite a child. Richard Marsh was a carpenter and joiner by trade and worked for, some years at the Maumee ship-yards. In an early day in the history of this locality he located on a farm and walked to and from his work at Maumee, a distance of twelve miles. This land is now within corporate limits of Swanton. He enlisted as a private in Company I of the Thirty-Eighth Ohio volunteer infantry and served for more than two years, notwithstanding he was past the age of compulsory military service. The Thirty-eighth Ohio was organized at Defiance, on September 10 1861, under the command of Colonel Barber, and was reorganized as a veteran regiment at Chattanooga; Tenn:, December 26, 1863. Mr. Marsh's company was once commanded Gen. M. R. Brailey, whose life sketch appears elsewhere in this work. On his return from the war Mr. Marsh was appointed postmaster of Swanton and served in that capacity for a number, of years. Subsequently he was elected justice of the peace. On November 20, 1880 he passed away at his home in Swanton and was survived by widow, who was born November 9, 1818, and died February 10, 1897. They had a family of the following children: Velina Louisa, was, born May 12, 1837, and died October 19, 1871; William H Harrison, born July 6, 1840, and died October 5, 1892; Luther Gilbert, subject of this sketch, who was born December 14, 1841; Jay Maria, born February 19, 1844, and died March 29, 1846, Cal Chandler, who was born February 19, 1847, and died October 20, BIOGRAPHICAL - 477 1874; Frederick Alonzo, born July 14, 1853, died April 7, 1875; William Arthur, born November 20, 1855, died September 29, 1857; es Edgar, a painter of Swanton, born February 2, 1858. Luther arsh grew to manhood on the parental farm, receiving a com- school education On September 13 1861, when less than twenty years old, he enlisted in the same company to which his er belonged and experienced a very active military career until s mustered out of service on September 13, 1864. His company served in the Army of the Cumberland under Generals Rosecrans and Sherman and participated in the following engagements: tie of Wildcat, Ky., Mill Spring Campaign, Siege of Corinth, Perrysville, Ky., both battles of Stone River, Hoover's Gap, Tenn., Mission Ride, Tenn., Resaca, Ga., Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., Atlanta campaign, Jonesboro, Ga., Campaign of Georgia, Siege of Savannah, Campaign of the Carolinas, Battle of Raleigh. Mr. Marsh did not re-enlist because of his disabilities that disqualified him for their military service. On his return to Swanton he took up careening and farming, and he has since followed this occupation as far as his health would permit. He owns the old parental homestead at Swanton, having acquired it partly by inheritance and partly by purchase. Under his management the farm has been made very productive, being fully equipped with all the necessary buildings. He is an enthusiastic member of the Republican party; of Quiggle Post, Grand Army of the Republic; of Swanton Lodge, No. 528, Independent order of Odd Fellows; and with his wife and his daughters, is identified with the Methodist Episcopal, church. On January 19, 1873, he was wedded to Miss Josephine M. Hood, born in Hartland, Huron county, Ohio, and the daughter of Horace and Maria Lois (Lee) Hood. Horace Hood was born in New York State on October 13, 1815, and died October 2, 1855. His widow, who was born March 6, 1822, survived him until February 14, 1886. Of the eight children born to these parents five are still living. The names follow: Mortimer L., born May 10, 1843; Mable L., born April 6, 1845; Alice J., born August 11, 1846; Emily M, born November 24, 1847; Andrew E. born May 10, 1849; Horace E:, born November 24, 1851; Henry born September 26, 1854; and Josephine M., born August 11, 1855. To Luther G. Marsh and wife there have been born three children, as follows: Bertha Viola, born Nov. 16, 1875, the wife of George Paschen of Swanton; Vida Belle, born June 27, 1879, now Mrs. Claude Babcock of Swanton; and Beulah Lenore, born February 1, 1892. The names of the five grandchildren, all the children Of Mr. and Mrs. Paschen, are Arnold. Gilbert, Mable Viola, Georgians. Leslie, Martin and Dora May. Mrs. Marsh is an enthusiastic member and deputy president of Fern Lodge, No. 543, Daughters of Rebekah, at Swanton, Ohio. ALEXANDER C. MOODY, one of the prominent and influential citizens of Delta, is an able solicitor in the employ of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and stands high in the esteem of the community in which he makes his 478 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY home, being a man of high intellectuality and sterling attributes of character. Alexander Campbell Moody was born in Wapello county, Iowa, on the 15th of February, 1858, and is a son of Rev. John F. and Mary Ann (Parker) Moody, both of whom were born in Ohio, their marriage having been solemnized in Morgan county, this State. In 1852 they went to Iowa, becoming pioneers of Wapello county, where the father secured eighty acres of government land, near Ottumwa. In 1856 he exchanged this farm for a quarter section of land in Nebraska, about twenty miles west of the city of Omaha, which was then a mere frontier village. On that farm the mother died, in 1859, and her remains were the first interred in the cemetery near the homestead. Of this union four children were born, the subject of this review being the youngest. Rufus G., the eldest, is at the present time asSistant postmaster of Topeka, Kansas ; JoSiah was a teacher for twenty-one yearS, the greater portion of the time in the State of Nebraska, where he died in October, 1901, at the age of forty-eight years, leaving a wife and one son and one daughter ; Rev. Samuel Parker Moody is a clergyman of the ChriStian church- and now has a charge in the city of Clinton, Ohio. After the death of his beloved wife Rev. John F. Moody returned with his children to Morgan county, Ohio, where he still maintains his home, being venerable in years but still doing more or less active service in his noble calling, having been a clergyman of the Christian church since 1866, and having been a faithful and successful worker in the ministry. In 1862 he consummated a second marriage, his wife dying in 1874, leaving no children. In 1877 he married a third time, and this wife passed to the life eternal m 1903, leaving one daughter, Alice, who remains as the companion and housekeeper for her aged father. Alexander C. Moody secured his educational training in the public schools. of Morgan and Athens counties, Ohio, having been graduated in the high school at Nelsonville. He initiated his independent career 14 engaging as a teacher in the schools of Morgan county, and he devoted his entire attention to the pedagogic profession for the ensuing nine years, meeting with much success, and he haS since taught a number of winter terms. Since 1882 he has been employed as solicitor in various lines, and has proven exceptionally successful in this field of endeavor. For the lat seven years he has given attention exclusively to Soliciting for the Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company, being one of the valued agents of this strong and well known company. In Morgan county, Ohio, in the year 18 Mr. Moody was united in marriage to Miss Louise Price, who been his childhood friend and school-mate. She is a daughter‘ William and Henrietta (Walter) Price and was born and reared, Morgan county, being one of a family of three children. Her el brother, Isaac W., is a mechanic by vocation, and the younger brother, Robert M. remains on the old homestead farm with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Moody have been born seven children, concerning whom the following is a brief record: Mary, born May 19, 188o, 4 December 16, 1884; Martha, born August 18, 1882, died. Decem 8, 1884; the next child, a son, died in infancy ; Edna, who remains at BIOGRAPHICAL - 479 the parental home, is book-keeper and stenographer for the Delta Milling Company; Eva and William are attending the public schools of Delta; and Rex is a fine youngster of three and one-half years at the time of this writing, in 1905. Mr. Moody has long been an ardent worker in the temperance cause, and his fearless opposition to the liquor traffic has caused him to gain the antipathy of the saloon element in his town, a fact in which he takes pride. Though not a political Prohibitionist, he is ever ready to lend his aid in effective temperance work, and in politics he maintains an independent attitude. He and his wife are members of the Christian church, and the family kinds high in the best social life of the community. Mr. Moody has been a resident of Fulton county since 1882, having maintained his time in Fayette until 1901, when he removed to Delta, where he owns an attractive home, opposite the Pommert House. He has twenty- two and one-half acres of land, adjoining his residence, and this is utilized for pasturage and small farming. HIRAM L MOSELEY, a retired capitalist of Wauseon, was born near Rochester, Monroe county, N. T. He is the son of Hiram and Hannah (Olcott) Moseley, the former a native of New York and the latter the daughter of Thomas Olcott, an officer of the American navy in the War of 1812. Hiram Moseley was born near Hamilton, in Madison county, N. Y., having been educated at Hamilton, N. Y. Farming was his chosen avocation. Taking a deep interest in public affairs, he served as township trustee and commissioner of the county. He died at his home in 1865, aged sixty-five years. Arannah Moseley, his brother, served throughout the Civil war in the One Hundred and Fortieth New York regiment with the rank of captain. For eleven months he was confined in Andersonvilleson, from which he was extremely fortunate to escape with his life. Hiram L. Moseley, subject of this sketch, began teaching school at the early age of seventeen years, which calling he followed with marked success for seven years. He then traveled for several years a business representative throughout the Southern States. In 1867 came from Rochester, N. Y., to Wauseon, where he engaged in the mercantile business for eight years. Prior to his election as treasurer of Fulton couy he served for twelve years as school-examiner Of that county. From 1875 to ‘79 he served as treasurer of Fulton county, elected the first time by a large majority by the Republican party and se-elected practically without opposition. He administered the duties of the office to the entire satisfaction of all parties, thereby gaining their good-will. In 1892 Governor McKinley appointed him probate judge to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Newel. Mr. Moseley married Miss Adelaide Beach, daughter of Spencer and Clementia Beach. Mrs. Beach died in Wauseon at the age of eighty- two years. She was a Christian woman and highly esteemed by her neighbors and friends. Mr. and Mrs. Moseley are actively identified with the Baptist church., The children of the subject of this sketch are: Spencer Beach Moseley, a graduate of Michigan University of the class of 1893, is a civil engineer by profession, and resides at 480 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Kansas City, Mo.; Zella and Nellie, both of whom are still at home. Mr. Moseley is enabled to live a retired life, having accumulated a competency by close application to business and his remarkably successful business and official careers. He has just cause to be proud of what he has accomplished, feeling certain that the world .has not been made worse by his living in it. It is to be hoped that he may live for many years to come, enjoying to the fullest extent his well-earned riches. F. W. MOYER, a prominent and successful merchant of Wauseon, was born in Lehigh county, Pa. He is the son of William and Sarah (Rabenold) Moyer, both natives of Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Daniel Moyer, was born in the same house in which William and F. W. Moyer were born, the former's father having in an early day bought a farm of one hundred and forty acres when he settled there. William and 'Sarah Moyer had the following children.: Emeline Rufena, Levy (deceased), Alfred, Isabella, F. W., the subject of this sketch;' Charles B., Louisa, Agnes, Peter, Eunie, Ambrose, Morse, Caroline (deceased), and Calvin (deceased), all the living children being residents of Lehigh county, Pa.., except F. M., and Charles B., the latter of whom resides at Saginaw, Mich. At the early age of nine years F. W. Moyer left the parental roof to fight his own battle in life. In 1877 he began his successful business career as a clerk in a store. For ten years he was engaged in the dry-goods business and after that for some years in the hardware business. Since 1893 he has successfully conducted a large grocery store. Having during his clerkship undergone a thorough training for business, he has met with marked success in every line that he has undertaken. In Masonry he has taken a very active part, as is shown by the fact that he is a' Master Mason and that he has taken the Royal Arch, the Scottish Rite and the Consistory degrees of that order. He is also identified with the Knights of Pythias and is a member of the Merchants! National Union. He. married Miss Mary Schamp, the daughter of Henry and Catherine (Batdorf) Schamp, of York township, Fulton county, where she was born. Henry Schamp was born in New Jersey and came to Ohio, first settling in Wayne county and afterwards in Fulton county. Grandfather Batdorf also came to this county from Wayne county. The children of Henry and Catherine Schamp here follow: James, of York township; John, of Toledo, O.; George, of York township; Lucy, of .Fulton county; Mary, the wife of the subject of this sketch. The children of F. W. Moyer and wife are as follows: Pearl, James H., of Bowling Green, O., a graduate of the Columbus Dental College; Cecil, Florence, and A. D. CASPAR MURBACH is justly entitled to a feeling of pride and gratification in being the owner of one of the model farms of Fulton county, and he has passed his entire life in this` section, having been born in Spencer township, Lucas county, across the road from his present farm, on the 20th of March, 1859. He is recognized al one of the progressive farmers and stock-growers of, the county, BIOGRAPHICAL - 481 where he has a host of friends. His parents, who are now living retired in Swanton, this county, are Jacob and Elizabeth (Rudy) Murbach, both of whom were born in Switzerland, where they were reared and educated and where their marriage was solemnized. Soon after this important event in their lives they immigrated to America, and eventually settled in Lucas county, Ohio, and they have ever since maintained their home in this section, where they have the unqualified esteem of all who know them, the father having followed the vocation of farming during the major portion of his active career. Of his seven children in the family five are living, Caspar being the eldest. Jacob R. is likewise a successful farmer of Fulton township; Lizzie, who has never married, resides with her parents in Swanton; Edward is deceased, his death having resulted from injuries received in being kicked by a horse, and he is survived by his wife and two children; Amelia became the wife of Frank Schaeffer and is now deceased, having left one child; Katie is the wife of Jonas Wicks, a Winer of Fulton township; and Richard is a plumber and electrician, residing in the city of Cincinnati. Caspar Murbach was afforded the excellent- advantages of the public schools at Swanton, and he has been identified with the basic art of agriculture from his :boyhood days to the present. In his youth he learned the carpenter trade, but his knowledge of the same has never been utilized to any extent save in connection with work on his own farm. In 1884 Mr. Murbach was married, and he forthwith located on his present homestead, in Section thirty-six, Fulton township. The place at that time competed fifty-three acres, but he has since added to its area until the firm now includes one hundred and seven acres, practically all being eligible for cultivation, and the improvements are of the best, including an attractive modern residence, with slate roof, and a large and substantial barn, which likewise has a roof of slate. Mr. Murbach devotes his attention to general farming and stock-raising and is ready at all times to adopt measures and principles which will facilitate and itnprove the operation of his fine farm. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank in Swanton, in which he is still a stockholder, as is he also in the Pilliod Milling company and the A. a Baker Manufacturing company, of the same place. His interests aside from his farming enterprise are extensive and important, and his marked capitalitic reinforcement stands as the direct result of his own efforts, as he had but little when he initiated his independent lcareer. His farm is a model in every respect,, and it may be noted that he has installed platform scales for the weighing of stock and produce; has a wind engine and elevated tank, so that water may be carried to any part of the farm, and in the connection is supplied a device for modifying the temperature of the water in cold weather. In his political allegiance Mr. Murbach is a stanch Republican, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian Alliance church. February 26, 1884, Mr. Murbach was married to Miss Mary Meister, of Elmira, German township, this county. Her father, John Meister, was an early settler of the county, and her mother, whose maiden 'name was Elizabeth Zimmerman, is likewise a member of one of the 482 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY old and honored families of this part of the State. Mr. and Mrs. Murbach have one child, Carrie, who is now the wife of Simon Raber, of Graymont, Livington county, Ill. WILLIAM R. McMANNIS is the owner of valuable land, eighty-five acres in one farm and forty acres in another, eligibly located, in Clinton township, two miles north of the city of Wauseon, the judicial center of the county. He is a member of one of the prominent pioneer families of the county, where the major portion of his life has been passed, and he was one of Fulton county's representatives in the Union ranks during the War of the Rebellion. He was born in Wayne county, Ohio, September 29th, 1837, and is a son of Charles and Nancy (Jones) McMannis, the former of whom was born in Washington county, Pa., in April, 1808, and his wife was born in, the same State, in 1805, their marriage having been solemnized in Wayne county, Ohio, where they maintained their home the greater part of their lives. In 1833 they came to Fulton county, being accompanied by three children, and five more were born after the removal to this county, there having been in the family four sons and four daughters, of whom five are yet living. The maternal-grandparents of the subject of this review were William and Elizabeth Jones, and they likewise came to Fulton county with his parents. William Jones was a great hunter, and his old-fashioned flint-lock rifle proved the means of supplying the family larder with much fine game in the early days. The first experience of this family in Fulton county was when there was not a house nearer than nine miles except the Indian huts. Trees were cut and from them puncheons were constructed and used in lieu of chairs. Charles McMannis became a successful farmer of Fulton county, developing a tract of wild land, in Clinton township, and here continuing to reside until his death, in February, 1895, his devoted wife having passed away in 1867. It may be noted, in passing, that the first house of hewed logs to be erected in Fulton county stood near the site of the present fine residence of William R. McMannis. He has made farming and stock-growing his life work, has done his share in the reclaiming and developing of the lands of this county, and also in the civic advancement of its people, and he is held in high esteem in the community which has been his home for so long a term of years. He has resided on his present attractive farm since 1864, and has improved the same and made it one of the model farms of the township. In 1861, in response to President Lincoln's frist call for volunteers, Mr. McMannis enlisted as a private in Company I, Fourteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, serving nearly four months and then re-enlisting, for a term of three years.. About BIOGRAPHICAL - 483 three months after his second enlistment he suffered a sun-stroke, being confined in the hospital about one month thereafter and then receiving his honorable discharge, as he was considered physically incapacitated for further field service. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, is an adherent of the Republican party, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church. December 22, 1863, Mr. McMannis married Miss Rebecca ayes, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, March 1, 1841, and who died in July, 1874, having become the mother of three children: Cora D. is the wife of Charles Wright, a farmer of Pike township; Kittie D. is the wife of Joseph Emerling, of Wauseon; and Alfred T., bachelor, is employed in a hospital at Gallipolis, this State. In 1875 Mr. McMannis married his present wife, whose maiden name was Hattie Peters and who was born in Mercer county, Pa., in 1847. They have four children—Florence M., Ivah I., Effie and Alta M., all of whom remain members of the home circle. JACOB R. MURBACH.—Fulton county is favored in the fine class of men who represent its agricultural community, and among the leading farmers and stock-growerS of Fulton tOWnship is numbered Jacob R. Murbach, proprietor of the attractive Clover Blossom Farm. He was born on the old homestead farm, across the road from his present place,. in Lucas county, on the 4th of August, 1859, and is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Rudy) Murbach, both of whom were born in Switzerland, whence they came to America shortly after their marriage, settling in Lucas county, Ohio, as pioneers, and having ever since maintained their home in this section. They now reside m Swanton, and the father is retired from active labor, having gained a competency through his able efforts as a farmer. Of the seven children Caspar, individually mentioned in the preceding review, is the eldest, and Jacob R. is the second in order of birth. Lizzie, who has never married, resides with her parents in Swanton; Edward is deceased, being survived by his wife and two children, his death having occurred on his farm, near Sylvania, Lucas county, in November, 1904, at the age of forty-one years; Amelia became the wife of Frank Schaffer, and her death occurred in 1899; Katie is the wife of Jonas Wicks, a farmer of Fulton township; and Richard is a plumber and electrician, residing in the city of Cincinnati. Jacob R. Murbach not only availed himself of the advantages of the public schools of this locality, but also devoted much attention to study in an individual way, having a distinctive predilection for reading and study and thus making marked advancement in securing a broad fund of information. He has been actively identified with agricultural pursuits from his boyhood to the present day, and he has so ordered his course as to retain at all times the unqualified confidence and regard of the people of the community which has represented his home from the time of his birth. "Clover blossom Farm," his homestead, comprises one hundred and three acres of most fertile land, is exceptionally well- improved and is under most effective cultivation. In the installing of drain tiles Mr. Murbach has personally drained his farm, of which 484 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY he came into possession in 1894. He follows diversified agriculture raises good grades of live-stock and is engaged in the cultivation of sugar-beets upon an extensive scale, employing from eight to ten men in caring for the crop in the earlier period of its cultivation. In politics he gives support to the Republican party, and his family holds membership in the Mission church at Swanton. May 1, 1884, Mr. Murbach was united in marriage to Miss Barbara Ziegler, of Lucas county,.a daughter of Jacob and Mary Ziegler, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Murbach have four children, all of whom still remain at the parental home, namely : Maude, Christina, Herbert and Grace. GEORGE W. MYFRS, who is successfully engaged in farming in Clinton township, his place being located a short distance west of the city of Wauseon, was born in Henry county, this State, on the 27th of August, 1879, and is a son of John and Magdaline (Rich) Myers, concerning whom more specific mention is made in the sketch of the career of their elder son, Lewis J., which immediately follows this review. Mr. Myers secured his educational training in the public schools and accompanied his parents on their removal to Fulton county, in 1891, thereafter living one year in the State of Michigan. He then located on the home farm which he now operates, and was here engaged in the dairy businesS for three years, at the expiration of which he disposed of this enterprise to his brother, Lewis J., and attended school for a time, in the city of Wauseon. Since leaving school he has given his attention to the cultivation of the farm, which is one of the attractive and eligibly located places of Clinton township. March 6, 1898, Mr Myers was united in marriage to Miss Bessie Hale, daughter of Mr: and Mrs. Charles Hale. When Mrs. Myers was but two years of age her mother died and, in accordance with provisions made by the latter, she was taken into the home of her foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Garman, by whom she was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have two children, Floyd and Wanetta. John C. Garman, foster father of Mrs. Myers, is a representative farmer of Clinton township, his farm being located northeast of Wauseon. He was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, November 25, 1843, and is a son of John P. and Elizabeth (Koos) Garman, both of whom were born in Germany, whence the former came to America when eighteen years of age, and the latter was twelve years old at the time of her parents' immigration to the United States, the family locating in Tuscarawas county, where the pafents passed the remainder of their lives, attaining advanced age. In 1876 Mr. Garman married Miss Caroline Gasman, who was born in March, 1846, being daughter of John Gasman, who was at that time a resident of Findlay, Ohio. Mr. Garman followed the trade of carpenter for thirty years, and then purchased the farm where he now lives, the same comprising one hundred and five acres of good land, and he also owns and operates a saw-mill on his farm. He is a Republican in his political proclivities and served two years as township supervisor. He and his wife have reared two children, one of whom is Mrs. Myers, as already BIOGRAPHICAL - 485 noted, and the adopted son, Harry Hoff, still remains with them, being twey-five years of age, and being associated with Mr. Garman in the operation of the home farm. LEWIS J. MYERS, one of the representative farmers. of Clinton ship, was born in Ridgeville township,. Henry county, Ohio, on 8th of April, 1869, and is a son of John and Magdaline (Rich) ors, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania,. in 1829, and the latter was born in France, in 1843, and accompanied her parents on their immigration to America, in 1855, the family locating in Wayne couy, Ohio. In 1843 John Myers removed with his parents from Pennsylvania to. Bucyrus, Crawford county, Ohio, and in 1864. he married Magdaline Rich. They thereafter remained in Bucyrus about two and one-half years, at the expiration of which, in 1866, they removed to Henry county, locating on a farm in Ridgeville tOWnship; Where they maintained their home until 1891, when they came to Fulton county, locating on a farm in Clinton tOWnship and there remaining until the spring of 1905, when they took up their residence in Wauseon, where they now make their home, the father having retired from active labor, having accumulated a competency through his well directed endeavors in past years. Lewis J. Myers was reared on the homestead farm, in Henry county, secured his early educational training in the public schools, and he has been continuously identified with agricultural pursuits from his youth to the present time. After his marriage he remained for a time in his native county and then removed to Defiance county, where he was engaged in farming during thee ensuing five years, at the expiration of which, on the 22d of August, 1901, he came to Fulton couy, where he has since resided; having a well-improved farm of thirteen acres and devoting special attention to the dairy business, which department of his farming, enterprise he has made a very profitable one. He is a progressive and enterprising citizen, and in politics gives a stanch allegiance to the Republican party, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees. On the 11th of October, 1888, Mr. Myers was united in marriage to Miss Matilda Oden, daughter of Thomas and Susan (Jones) Oden, the former of whom was born, October 14, 1835, and the latter on August 3, 1836, and came to Fulton county in 1881, Mr. Oden having since been engaged in farming in this county. His wife met her death in a runaway accident, August 13th, 1896. Following is a record of the names and respective dates of birth of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Myers : George A., November 6th, 1889; Stanley J., February 12, 1892; Howard J., March 6, 1894; Enod E., November loth, 1899; Harold R., March loth, 1902; and Magdaline A., February 6th, 1905. Mr. Myers deserves the credit for his dairy enterprises, as the quality of milk served to his patrons is of the finest type. WILLIAM NEVITT is one of the venerable citizens and retired farmers of Amboy township, where he has made his home for half a century, and his is the distinction of being a veteran of each the Mexi- 486 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY can war and the Civil war. He was born in East Providence, Bedford county, Pa., March z, 1826, and is a son of Thomas and Rebecca (Earnesh) Nevitt, natives respectively of Scotland and Germany. They were married in the city of Washington, D. C., and thereafter continued resident of Bedford county, Pa., until death, the father having been a farmer by vocation. William Nevitt was reared and educated in his native county, and was there residing at the time of the outbreak of the Mexican war. In the spring of 1847 he enlisted as- a private in Company D, Eleventh Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, and proceeded with .his command to the scene of action. He took part in the battle -of Galveston, Tex., and in the Rio Grande campaign, including the battle of Palo Alto. His command was then ordered to Vera Cruz, but met with shipwreck at Tampico. where he contracted the yellow fever. After an illness of six weeks he rejoined his regiment, near the city of Mexico, the day before the attack on the city, in which action he took part. At the time when peace was declared he was with his regiment at Taluca, Mexico, and he received his honorable discharge in MD, in the city of New York. Thereafter he remained principally in Pennsylvania until 1854, when he came to Fulton county, Ohio, and •settled in Amboy township where he purchased eighty acres of wild land which he cleared and improved, developing one of the valuable farms of the county. On this old homestead he continued to reside until not, when he disposed of the property, but he still continues to make his home in the township, where he is held in high regard by all who know him. In November, 1861, Mr. Nevitt's martial spirit led him to tender his services in defense of the. Union. He enlisted as a private in Company A, Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer infantry, taking.part in the battle of Winchester and in the engagements at Fort Wagner and Fort Sumter, but being principally on detached duty: In the spring of 1865 he re-enlisted, as a veteran, receiving his final discharge in December of that year. Mr. Nevitt, though one of the few survivors of the Mexican war, is still hale and hearty, and finds his evening of life grateful and pleasant. He is identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, and is a stanch Republican in politics, having been identified with the party from the time of its organization. He is one of the oldest citizens of Amboy township, and is well known to' its people. In 1856 Mr. Nevitt wedded Miss Mary Welch, a daughter of Nathaniel and Drucilla (Chase) Welch, of Fulton county, and their son, George, now a resit. dent of the West, was born in 1861. JAMES H. NOBBS, a prominent and highly esteemed farmer of Fulton township, is a representative of one of the early pioneer families of Fulton county, with whose annals the name has been identified for seventy years. He was born in the log cabin homestead, one and one-half miles west of his present farm, on the 2d of June, 1836; and is a son of John and Jane (Mason) Nobbs, both of whom were born and bred in England, where their marriage was solemnized. Soon afterward they came to America, and during the 'first two years they. resided in the State of New York. In 1836 they came to Ohio and BIOGRAPHICAL - 487 settled on the farm on which James H., subject of this review was born. This farm was located on the Ohio side of the Michigan line, in the "disputed strip," which was then in Lucas county, Ohio, now being in Fulton township Fulton county. The parents passed the remainder of their lives here and were held in high regard, by all who knew them, having lived lives of signal honor and usefulness. The father was killed by a runaway team, having been seventy-four years of age at the time, and his wife was seventy-nine years of age at the time of her death, which resulted from an attack of typhoid fever. Of the nine children all are living except three Thomas is a resident of Wood county; Sarah is the wife of Samuel Saeger, a retired farmer, residing in Delta, Fulton county; William died in infancy ; James H. was the next in order of birth ; John resides in the village of Ai, this county Robert was a member of the Thirty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry, in the Civil war, and died in the general hospital in Mississippi, from disease; Anna is the wife of John D. Halsey, of Bowling Green, Wood county ;-Jane, who is deceased, was the wife. of Edward Vaughan; and Daniel M. resides on a farm adjoining the old Nobbs homestead. James H. Nobbs was reared on the pioneer homestead and had such educational advantages as were afforded in the common schools of the-locality and period. He early became familiar with the details of the agricultural industry, and through his essentially lifelong identification with the same he has found ample scope for intelligent and successful effort. He was engaged in the mercantile business for a short time, soon resuming his allegiance to farming. His present farm, which he purchased in 1865, comprises one hundred and ten acres, well-improved and under excellent cultivation, and devoted to diversified farming and stock-growing In politics Mr. Nobbs has been identified with the Republican party from the time of its organization, and he has been influential in public affairs of a local nature. He has held the offices of township assessor and supervisor and has also served as school director, his fidelity and able efforts having justified the course of his fellow-citizens 1n electing him to these positions of trust. During the Civil war he was a member of an independent military company and, by reason of ill-health, supplied a man to go to the front in his place. July 4, 1861, Mr. Nobbs was united in marriage to Miss Anna Fetterman, who was born in Pennsylvania, as were also her parents, George and Maria (Bacon) Fetterman. The mother died in the old Keytone State and Mr. Fetterman later married her sister, the family coming to Fulton county when Mrs. Nobbs was a child of two years. The father and his second wife passed the remainder of their lives in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Nobbs became the parents of eleven children, of whom nine are living, the names and respective dates of birth being as follows : Hattie G., born April 21, 1862; Etta Estelle, November 2, 1863; Cora May, October 7, 1865; Robert Ozza, January 5, 1868; Anna Belle, May 29, 1870; Jennie Luella, July 30, 1873; the next died in infancy, unnamed; Ethel, October 1, 1878; Myrtle Fannie, June 9, 1881; George Lloyd, August 31, 1882; Nellie, August 8, 1885; and Alta Leona, May 18, 1888, deceased. All the children are married and established in homes of their 488 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY own with the exception of George L. and Nellie, who still remain at the parental home. CORWIN F. MILLS properly finds representation in this publication by reason of his standing as a citizen and as one of the Prosperous farmers and stock-raisers of Fulton township. .has passed essentially his entire life in this section of the old Buckeye 'State having been born on a farm in Lucas county, not far distant front Swanton., Fulton county, on the 22d of August, 1860, and being a son of Arthur and Jane A. (Hogle) Mills, whose marriage was solemnized at Swanton this county, and who located finally in Swan Creek township, where they continued to reside during the greater portion of their lives thereafter, the father following agricultural pursuits and being one of the well-known and highly-esteemed citizens of this section. He died February 20, 1884, at the age of fifty-eight years and his wife was of the same age at the time of her death, which occurred on the 12th of January, [894, Corwin F. having been their only child. Arthur Mills had one daughter by a previous marriage, Louisa, who is now the wife of Clarence C. Quiggle, a merchant in Delta, this. county, Corwin F. Mills passed his boyhood days on the farm, and he was afforded the advantages of the excellent public schools of Fulton county. At the age of nineteen years he entered the employ of the Deering Harvesting Machine Company, of Chicago, with which concern he remained six years, operating a turning-lathe in the wood-working department of the great manufactory. He was industrious and provident during these years, and the money which he saved served as the means by which he came into possession of his present fine farm property, and his, position is one of definite independence and prosperity. Within the six, years he saved from his earnings a sufficient sum of money. to pay for forty acres of land in Swan Creek township, this county. He located on the place in 1893, and there continued to reside until March 20, 1899, when he sold the property and purchased his present farm of eighty acres, which is eligibly located two miles northwest of Swanton. The initiative and progressive tendencies of Mr. Mills have led him to engage in a line of enterprise aside from his farming operations, and from each he has reaped, good returns, through energy and good management Since leaving the employ of the Deering company he has given much attention to contracting for the erection of bridges, having built bridges in every township in Fulton county, besides many in Lucas and Henry. counties. His home farm is improved with buildings of the best modern type, his fine barn having been erected in the summer of 1905. It is thirty-four by sixty-six feet in dimensions in the main, with an L thirty-four by forty-eight feet, the self-supporting roof reaching a height. of thirty-six and one-half feet, and the cost of the structure was fifteen hundred dollars. In addition to his general agricultural operations Mr. Mills gives attention to the raising of Short-horn cattle, Poland-China swine and other live stock of good grades. In politics he is a Republican, and in a fraternal way he is identified with Swanton Lodge, No. 528, Independent Order of Odd BIOGRAPHICAL - 489 Fellows, and Swanton Lodge, No. 588, Knights of Pythias, and both he and his wife are identified with the Rathbone Sisters, auxiliary of the latter order, and also with Berry Grange, No. nil. Mrs. Mills is, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Swanton, and both she and her husband are popular in the best social life of the community. On the 23d of November, 1893, Mr. Mills was united in marriage to Miss Addie M. Purdy, who was born in Huron county, but who was reared and educated in Fulton township, where her parents, Dwight and Fannie J. Purdy, located when she was a child,, her father being now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Mills have four children—Robert, Fannie, Harold and Arthur. AUGUSTUS NOBLE is accorded due recognition in this compilation by reason of his position as a representative citizen and prominent fanner of Royalton township, his well-improved homestead being located immediately to the west of the thriving village of Lyons. He was born in Warsaw, Wyoming county, N. Y., July 12, 1841, being a son of Dwight and Eunice (Watrous) Noble, natives respectively of the States of Connecticut and New York, from which latter they came to Ohio, settling in Royalton township, Fulton county, on the 3d of October, 1844, on the farm now occupied by the subject of this review. The Original homestead comprised one hundred and sixty acres, and, the father reclaimed the greater portion of the land from the virgin wilds, developing one of the excellent farms of this section in the pioneer era and both he and his wife died on the old place, of sixty acres of which he had previously disposed. They became the parents of five children, namely : Eleeta, wife of Warren Morey, Emily, wife of Philip Roos; Eliza, deceased wife of George Carrel; Catherine, deceased; and Augustus, subject of this sketch. Augustus, the only son, early began to contribute Ms quota to the work of the old homestead, which has been his .place of abode from the time he was three years of age, and he was given such educational advantages as were afforded in the common schools of the locality. His farm is improved with excellent buildings and is under a fine state of cultivation, being one of the attractive rural farms of this section of the county, comprising one hundred acres, and he gives his attention to diversified agriculture and stock-growing, is enterprise and good management making his success of cumulative character. May 22, 1864; when twenty-three years of age, Mr. Noble went forth to do yeoman service in the cause of the Union, enlisting as a private in Company D, One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, with which he took part in numerous skirmishes and in the battle of Deep Bottom, Va., and he was honorably discharged, at Toledo, Ohio. 490 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY September 22, 1864, at the expiration of his term of enlistment. In politics he is numbered in the ranks of the stanch Democrats of this county, and he has served in various offices of local trust, having been trustee of Royalton township several terms, assessor one term and a member of the village council of Lyons one term. He is a of Baxter Post, No. 238, G. A. R., and Royalton Union Lodge No. 434, F. & A. M. Mr. Noble has been twice married, his first wifem Delia, having been a daughter of Edward and Betsy (Beebe) Patterson, of Royalton township. Two sons were born to this union Albert and Edwin. Mr. Noble chose for his second wife Miss Almira Westfall, daughter of George and Lucy (Burnett) Westfall, of Gorham township, and they have four children—Opha, Frederick, Electra and Bernice. Opha is the wife-of Floyd Barden, of Royalton township. JOHN ODELL, M. D.—At the venerable age of four-score years, and after an average lifetime devoted to the arduous and self abnegating duties of one of the most exacting of professions, Dr. Odell is now, living practically retired in a pleasant home in the, attractive village of Delta, and-his extended circle of friends in the county gives evidence of the popular appreciation of his labors character and his Dr: Odell is a native of the Buckeye State, having been born in Windham township, Portage county, Ohio, do the 10th of March 1825, and being a son of Roswell and Miry (Pedicord) Odell, the former of whom was born in Vermont and the latter in South Carolina, and both families' were founded in America in the Colonial era. The father died in Lorain county, Ohio, aged fifty-five, and his wife attained the very venerable age of ninety-three years, passing her latter days in Barry county, Mich. They became the parents of four sons and three daughters—Elizabeth, Nathan, John, William, Roswell, Mary Ann, and Caroline. Aside from Dr. Odell, subject of this sketch, only one is living, Nathan, who maintains his home near Hastings, Barry county, Mich. When Dr. Odell was about fourteen years of age his parents removed from Portage to Lorain county, and in the latter he was reared to manhood, being able to gain more than the average youth from the somewhat meager advantages afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. A receptive mind and a rare power of assimilation aided him even in his rudimentary study. From the age of twenty-one years to the age of twenty-three he farmed in Lorain county. In 1848 in pursuance of his ambition to enter the medical profession, he entered the Cleveland Botanical Medical College, where he secured his technical training, having previously studied in a private way, under the effective preceptorship of Dr. Marshall Chamberlain, his brother-in-law, and he had practiced for two years in Lorain county. In 1850 he located in Delta, Fulton county, the place being at the time a small hamlet in a section which was to a large extent yet unreclaimed from the forest Wilds, and his was the lot of the average pioneer physician, in that he was compelled to make his way over almost impassable roads, in summer's rains and winter's snows, pursuing his humane mission with BIOGRAPHICAL - 491 marked unselfishness and oftimes at great personal discomfort. He continued in active practice for more than half a century, and he now as the distinction of being the oldest physician in the county, even as lie is one of its most honored pioneer practitioners. The Doctor recalls with appreciation his early and herculean struggles with the all pervading ague, or "chills and fever," and in the early days his practice extended for a radius of from twenty-five to thirty miles from Delta, and he did his best to overcome the ravages of the ague. and other human ills, the first mentioned being largely due to the swampy condition of much of the land in this section—land which is today as fertile and productive as can be found in the State. For many years he made his visitations almost exclusively on horseback, as the roads, if existing at all, were impassable for vehicles much of the time, in many cases being mere bridle-paths or blazed trails through the virgin forest. The Doctor was successful in his profession and also in the accumulation of property. In the early days Dr. Odell stood at the head of his profession in this section in the matter of treating certain prevalent types of disease, following the Eclectic system largely in his practice. Dr. Odell has always been known as a public-spirited citizen, and from the pioneer days to the present his aid and influence have been given in the promotion of those enterprises and undertakings which have conserved the general welfare of the community. Through industry, economy and good judgment in the making of investments, Dr. Odell has accumulated a competency, though he has never been concerned in any speculative enterprises. He has contributed to the upbuilding and civic advancement of his home town and county, and in the summer of 1905 he gave the latest exhibition of his progressive spirit by erecting a handsome business block on the principal business street of Delta, the same being-an ornament to the town, a .monument to his memory and a source of definite and merited income to him during his declining years. The Doctor has been identified with the Republican. party, as a stanch supporter of its principles, from the time of its organization to the present, and while he has never sought office, he served several years as coroner of the county, and for twelve years was a valued member of the municipal council of Delta. Of him an appreciative acquaintance has written as follows.: "Dr. Odell is independent and liberal in his religious views and has never allied himself with any religious organization. He has the deepest reverence for the spiritual and ethical verities and his belief emphasizes only the cardinal principles of right and justice, without the formalities of creeds, dogmas or public professions. He believes that the Golden Rule embraces within its scope all religious essentials, both for personal guidance and salvation and for judgment of the motives and actions of others." It is needless to say, in view of the foregoing, that be is broad, tolerant and charitable in his views, and his life-record stands as the best evidence of his kindly helpfulness. His cherished wife, through a period of more than half a century, has proven a devoted companion and helpmeet, and mutual love and sympathy have brightened their pathway as they passed along through the uncertain journey of life. Mrs. Odell has long been a 492 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY faithful and zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and her gentle and gracious personality has endeared her to all who have come within the sphere of her influence. Dr. and Mrs. Odell have an attractive home in Delta, and the golden evening of their days is being passed` under most grateful surroundings. In Fulton county, in 1852, Dr. Odell was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Ellen Zimmerman, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, in 1833, being a daughter of John and Hannah (McQuilling) Zimmerman, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania. Her parents came from Holmes county, Ohio, to Fulton county in 1839 and here passed the remainder of their lives, having been honored pioneers of Pike township. They became the parents of twelve children, all of whom attained maturity and five of whom are still living. Dr. and Mrs. Odell became the parents of three -children: Dencie is the wife of Wesley J. Clizbe, of Chicago, and they have three sons: Roscoe J., Floyd Odell, and Harry John; Ida May, the second child, died at the age of twenty-one years, unmarried; John L. married Miss Bell Boughton and they reside in Chicago, having no children, but by a former marriage he has one daughter, Marguerite, who now resides in Wauseon, Ohio. SAMUEL ODELL, M. D.—No other physician in Fulton county is more highly rated as a successful practitioner than ,Dr. Samuel Odell, of Swanton. He is a native of Olena, Huron county, 0, born September , 853. His parents, Samuel and Margaret (Wickham) Odell, natives of New York State, of English ancestry, were married, in Huron county, where their parents had located in pioneer days-. Samuel Odell died in his native county at the age of seventy-six years and is survived by his widow, now eighty years old. He was thrice married. By his first marriage there was one child, three by the second, and seven by the third marriage. The child of the first marriage is William, of Milan, Huron county, who served for nearly four years as a soldier in the One Hundred and Twenty-third Ohio volunteer infantry. Those by the second marriage are Joseph, a resident of Norwalk, O., and a farmer by occupation; Mrs. Anson Kellogg, a widow, of Norwalk ; and Mrs. D. K. Gauff, a widow of Milan. The two sobs above mentioned are widowers. The seven children of the third mar-- riage are Mrs. C. H. Brainard, of Fairchild; Allen, unmarried, who lives with his Mother ; Samuel, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Jacob Truxell, a resident of Swanton township, Lucas county; Olive and Ida, unmarried, dressmakers of Norwalk, and Mrs. Marion Dowell, whose husband is a prominent farmer of Fulton township Dr. Samuel Odell was educated in the public schools of North Fairchild, where. the parental family lived for some time. lie was professionally educated at the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, from which institution he received a certificate, and the Toledo Medical College, graduating in 1885. His first professional work was done at Metz, Ind, from which place he soon after removed to the village of Ai, Fulton county, where he practiced about three years. Then he located at Swanton, where he has been in continuous practice ever since. The large and lucrative practice that he now enjoys is the best evidence of BIOGRAPHICAL - 493 his knowledge and skill. He is actively identified with the Fulton county, the Northwestern Ohio and the Ohio State Medical societies. While his practice is general, he holds a special diploma as an oculist and aurist. Dr. Odell has also for years been largely interested in buying timber-land, establishing saw-mills, cutting the timber, and disposing of the products and lands. His success in business has been as marked as that of his professional career. He owns a fine farm of one hundred and thirty acres, well improved with substantial buildings, and a half-interest in a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Fulton county. To his married son and daughter each he has given a valuable farm. In his fine home place in Swanton there are five acres of land, making it one of the most desirable properties in the town. Dr. Odell is prominent in the councils of the Republican party, having served one term as coroner of the county, as member of the Swanton council four years, and for the past two years as a member of the county central committee, and in November of 1905 he was elected mayor of Swanton. His marriage to Miss Louie A. Travis was solemnized on August 28, 1876. She is a native of Indiana, but was a resident of Huron county, O., at the time of her marriage. To this union there have been born three children. They are: Bertha, still at home; Fred, a farmer of Swan Creek township, and Jennie, the wife of Frederick Neis a farmer of Swan Creek township. REV. WILLIAM S. OGLE, the able and honored pastor of St. Mary's church, at St. Mary's Corners. Amboy township, is one of the prominent members of the priesthood of the Catholic church in this section and is eminently entitled to representation in this volume. William Samuel Ogle was born in Cascade, Sheboygan county, Wis, and is of English and Irish extraction. He was reared in the faith of Holy Mother the Church and after attending the public schools entered St. Joseph's College, Dubuque, Iowa, where he completed his Classical education, and his theological course was taken in Mount St. Mary's Seminary, in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was ordained to the priesthood on the 25th of May, 1902, at the apotolic hands of Bishop Horstmann. Father Ogle was at once assigned to his present parish, taking charge of the church and parish on the 14th of June, 1902. He entered upon the work of his high calling with great zeal, and he has infused marked vitality into all portions of the parish work, advancing the spiritual and temporal welfare of the church and having the earnest and appreciative co-operation of his people. Many improvements have been made during his short pastorate which have greatly increased the beauty and Material value of the church property. The .congregation now numbers about one hundred and fifty families and the parish is in a flourishing condition. Father Ogle is not only a power in his pastoral relations but is a forceful and interesting speaker and a man of most gracious presence. He has the high regard of the community in general and is doing a worthy work in his field of endeavor. 494 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY THE OVAL WOOD DISH COMPANY, with principal offnces at Delta, and works at Traverse City, Mich. is one of the leading business enterprises of Fulton county. It was incorporated in 1884 by J. M. Longnecker, of Delta; Henry S. Hull, of Wauseon; and A. S. Flack, of Tiffnn, with a capital stock of $50,000. The primary purpose of the company was the manufacture of the oval) wood dish, but since it firt commenced business its scope has been widened to it luck among its products wire end dishes, clothes-pins, wooden wash-boards, and certain grades of lumber. As the hard or sugar-maple is the only; wood used in the manufacture of the wooden butter-dish the works were established at -Traverse City, soon after incorporation, in order to more easily obtain suitable timber. The plant is under the personal supervision of the president, Henry S. Hull, and the offices at, Delta, where the general business of the company is transacted, are in charge of Mr. Longnecker and a corps of capable assistants. Over three hundred people find remunerative employment in the various departments of this concern; the original incorporators still control the affairs of the company, and the output has grown to mammoth proportions. The wooden butter-dish came as an innovation and a boon to grocers and dealers in meats. If has been generally introduced to the trade throughout the United States and Canada, and is fast coming into popular favor in European Countries. The wooden dish was invented by S. H. Smith, formerly a resident of Delta, but now of Hillsdale, Mich., but it remained for J. M. Longnecker to apply the basic principle underlying its production. It is largely due to his business sagacity that the Oval Wood Dish Company owes its existence, and the great degree of success it has attained is largely due to his unceasing efforts, his business acumen and the high order of his executive ability and of those who he has associated with him. But the establishment of this industry—of itself a great triumph in the industrial world—is not the only line in which Mr. Longnecker has shown himself to be a useful, public-spirited and consequently a highly appreciated citizen of the community in which he lives. He was largely instrumental in securing the passage through Delta and Fulton county of the Toledo and Indiana electric railway, one of the best-equipped electric lines in the State of Ohio. As president of this corporation he has always been a potent factor in shaping its affairs, and with that same quick perception and tenacity of purpose that have distinguished his course in other undertakings, he has. placed the road among the popular and successful lines of the country. In 1900 he erected a finer three-story brick hotel, furnished it throughout and made it ready for guests. The result is that Delta has one of the best-appointed and most popular hotels in Northwestern Ohio, "The Lincoln," comparing favorably with the leading hostelries of some cities twice as large. Mr. Longnecker is a native of the "Keystone State," having been born in Cumberland county, Pa., and there reared and educated. While still' in his 'teens he, like many- another gallant youth of that great commonwealth, heard the call of his country, and in the dark days of the Civil war enrolled as a musician in Company B, Forty-seventh Pennsylvania volunteer militia. After three months in this service he en- BIOGRAPHICAL - 495 listed in Company K, One Hundred and Ninety-second Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, where he served until the close of the war. In both organizations his lot was cast with the Army of the Potomac, there he was an active participant in some of the most stirring and decisive engagements of the war. When war against Spain was declared in the spring of 1898 he again offered his services to his country and was made a United States paymaster. In this capacity he was stationed most of the time at Washington, D. C., where he was engaged in paying mileage and allowances to officers and men. His titles in this line of work were discharged with the same thoroughness and fidelity that have marked the conduct of his private under- ;takings. Mr. Longnecker located at Delta in 1870, and soon became identified with the progress and development of that beautiful little city. Throughout his entire residence, of more than a third of a century there, his career has been distinguished by patriotism, progressiveness and persistence. Always true to his local, state and national institutions, yet filled with a desire to see them keep pace with the world's 'progress, he never swerves a line from what he conceives to be the highest duties of a citizen. Politically he is a stanch supporter of Republican principles, but has never been a seeker for public office, finding his highest satisfaction in assisting worthy men to positions of trust and responsibility, that his political principles may be properly sustained and his party's creed vindicated. In the councils of Free 'Masonry Mr. Longnecker occupies a high place and takes special interest in the deliberations of that ancient and honorable fraternity. In his domestic relations he is to be emulated, if not envied. For a life companion he selected Miss Almeda, daughter of Simon Zimmerman, one of the pioneers of Fulton county. To this happy union have been torn four sons, each an honor to his parents. Charles S. is the owner of the Delta electric light plant, in which he is doing a prosperous business, and has displayed many of those sterling qualities that have characterized his worthy father; Fred M. is associated with his father in business ; Benjamin F. is a graduate of the New York School of Law and is rapidly working his way to eminence in the legal profession, and Edgar B. is attending college at Cleveland, Ohio. JOHN CALVIN PALMER, a builder and contractor of Wauseon, was born in that city in 1869. He is the son of Myron T. and Eugenia (Jacobs) Palmer, both natives of Ohio, the former having been born near Norwalk, Ridgefield township, Huron county, and the latter in the same county. His paternal grandfather, John Palmer, came from New York in an early day and located in Huron county, settling on the farm on which M. T. Palmer lived. The Palmers originally came from near Stonington, Conn. Myron Palmer before attaining to his majority enlisted in the Sixth United States cavalry and served four years. His regiment was a part of the Army of the Potomac and served under both Generals McClellan and Sheridan. He took part in no less than thirty-five battles and skirmishes, and was twice slightly wounded. In 1868 he came to Wauseon, where for three years he engaged in the mercantile business. Then he took up the work of con- 496 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY tracting and building, which occupation he followed as long as he lived. For several terms he was a member of the city council, for he always took an active part as a Democrat in local politics. Having served his country so faithfully, he naturally took a deep interest in the affairs of the Grand Army of the Republic. His wife was the daughter of Whitney and Clyth (Mix) Jacobs, .the former the son of E. W. Jacobs and the grandson of Asa and Elizabeth (Whiting) Jacobs, both natives of Brattleboro, Vt. The members of this family were among the pioneer settlers of Huron county. The father of 'the subject of this sketch died on the home farm on February 15, 1902. The children of Myron T. and Eugenia Palmer are: Harlow, a resident of Wauseon; Luella, now Mrs. Charles McHenry, of Chicago.; Centilla, the wife of Harry Berry, of Toledo; Lina, wife of Ed. Newcomer, a druggist of Wauseon, and John Calvin, the subject of this, sketch. J. C. Palmer received a liberal education in the public schools of his native city, and was carefully trained for a business career. After completing his education he became a member of the firm of Palmer & Palmer, contractors and builders, of which firm he is the surviving member. For eighteen years he has been actively engaged in this work. The greater part of the fine private dwellings of Wauseon are the handiwork of Palmer & Palmer. This firm has met with phenomenal success because it has uniformly dealt honestly with its patrons by charging only moderate prices and using the very best of material. The many beautiful residences of the city are monuments to the skill and workmanship of the firm. For one term he served as mayor, of his native city, having been elected to that office as a Democrat. The fact that he is the second Democratic mayor the city has ever had certainly proves that he stands high with his fellow-citizens, and that his real worth is fully appreciated by them. Honest and straightforward in all of his dealings, Mr. Palmer richly deserves the good will and respect of the people of Wauseon. He is' also actively identified with the Masons and Woodmen. He married Miss Christine Martin, formerly of Chicago, whose father, a contractor and builder, lost his fortune in the great fire of that city. Only one child, Letha by name, has blessed this union. WILLIAM PERCIVAL, one of the well-known and highly esteemed farmers and stock-growers of Swan Creek township, was born in the county of Cumberland, England, on the 12th of March, 1845, and in August, 1849, his parents came td America and located in Elyria, Lorain county, Ohio, and in this State they passed the remainder of their lives. Mr. Percival is a son of William and Hannah (Hutchison) Percival, both of whom were horn and reared in Cumber- -land county, England. They became the parents of six children, of whom the subject of this review was the only son. The mother died in Lorain county, in 186o, and the father passed away in 1871. William Percival, Jr., was reared to maturity. in Lorain county, receiving a common-school education of somewhat circumscribed character and early becoming dekndent upon his own resources. His life has been filled with earnest and consecutive endeavor and he has the utmot appreciation for the dignity of honest toil and the worthiness of him who BIOGRAPHICAL - 497 performs it, so that he is essentially a judge of the true values of human existence and is charitable and kindly in his relations with his fellowmen. At the age of seventeen years, Mr. Percival Manifested his intrinsic loyalty to the Republic by enlisting in Company K, Tenth Ohio volunteer cavalry, in the year 1862. His command was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, and he served under General Kilpatrick, taking part in the battle of Chickamauga, and the siege of Tullahoma, and being under fire for thirty-one days in the Elk river campaign. He was a participant in seventeen general engagements, besides numerous minor conflicts, and while he escaped wounds he was seriously disabled in a train wreck, was also taken prisoner, and he lost the sight of his right eye by paralysis, while in the service, While he was on picket duty near Huntsville, Ala., all the pickets except himself were captured. He reached the regimental headquarters and gave the alarm, thus saving the entire command from practically certain capture. For this valiant service he was tendered promotion, and at his own requet was advanced simply to the position of guard at General John B. Turchin's headquarters. Mr. Percival received his honorable discharge on the 17th of February, 1864, and then came to Fulton county, where he remained until the following February, when he re-enlisted, in Swan Peek township, becoming a member of Company C, One Hundred arid Eighty-second Ohio volunteer infantry, and he received his final discharge in July following, the war having then closed. He returned to Fulton county, and that he had a definite attraction to draw him to this section is evident when we revert to the circumstance that, on the 3d September, 1865, he was here united in marriage to Miss Ellen 'Coder, who was born in Ashland county, and who proved a devoted companion and helpmeet during the years of his struggle to gain a firm footing on the plane of independence and prosperity. She died February 6th, 1886, and is survived by four children : Agnes is the wife of Jacob. Kriger, of Amboy township; George is a successful carpenter and builder in Swanton; Jennie is the wife of Charles Sisson, of Swan Creek township; and. Oril is employed in the State Hospital for the Insane in the of Toledo. In 1888 Mr. Percival married his present wife, whose maiden name was Arabella Spaulding, and who was born and reared in Swan Creek township. They became the parents of two children one of whom is living, Eva, who remains at the parental home. Floyd died in 1893, at the age of four years. In politics Mr. Percival is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, and he is affilated with Swanton Lodge No 528, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with Fulton Encampment, No 289, of the same order, at Delta, having passed the principal official chairs in each body. Mrs. Percival is a member of the Rebekah Lodge of the I. O. O. F. Mr. Percival has cleared and reclaimed fully one hundred acres of land. in Fulton county, mostly in Fulton township, having been an indefatigable worker throughout life, though frequently handicapped by physicam infirmities, having had to use crutches at intervals, and as before stated, he has the use of but one eye. He now has a well-improved farm of twenty acres, in Swan Creek township, and is in independent circumstances, 498 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY HARRISON PATTERSON is a native son of the Buckeye State, which he loyally represented as a Union soldier during the Civil war, and he is numbered among the prominent farmers of Royalton township, where he is the OWner of a well-improved farm of eighty acres in Section 16, and he maintains his residence in the village of Lyons, from which his farm is a short distance. He was born in Trumbull township, Ashtabula county, Ohio, April 16, 841, a son of Abel and Amy (Comstock) Patterson, the former born in Connecticut and the latter in the State of New York. The paternal grandfather, likewise a native of Connecticut and a representative of old Colonial stock, was numbered among the pioneers of Ashtabula county, Ohio, having located in Trumbull township, where he remained until the close of his life. The maternal grandfather, David Comstock, was likewise an early settler in Ashtabula county, whither he came from New York State, and later he located in Fairfield township, Lenawee county, Mich., where he passed the remainder of his days. Abel and Amy (Comstock) Patterson came to Fulton county in 1844, at which time the subject of this review was about three years of age, and the father purchased twenty-six acres of land in Section 12, Royalton township, and an adjoining fifty-four acres in Fairfield township, Lenawee county, Mich. He cleared and improved his farm and became one of the influential men of his section, continuing to reside on the old homestead until his death, in 1892, at the age of seventy-six years, and his devoted wife was called to the life eternal on the 2d of January, 1904, aged eighty-five years. They became the parents of eleven children, namely : Sylvester, Harrison, John, Emily, Adeline, Adelbert, Alonzo, Jason, Thomas, Davis, and Elnora. Sylvester died while serving as a member of an Ohio regiment in the Civil war ; Emily is the wife of Lewis Hackett; Adeline is the wife of James. Royce ; and Elnora is the wife of James Smith. Harrison Patterson passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead farm, availing himself of such advantages as Were offered in the local schools, and contributing his quota to the strenuous work, of the farm. Finally he responded to the call of higher duty, tendering his services in defense of his country, whose integrity was jeopardized by armed rebellion. October 2, 1862, when twenty-one years of age, he enlisted as a private in Company F, Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, with which he proceeded to the front, taking part in the battles of Fort Wagner, City Point, Malvern Hill, Deep Bottom, the Wilderness, and many minor conflicts, and being with his regiment at the .capture of Fort Gregg, in front of Petersburg, and thence taking part in the campaign through to Appomattox, being present at the surrender of General Lee, and having received his honorable discharge at Charlottesville, Va., in September, 1865. On his return home he engaged in work it the carpen- BIOGRAPHICAL - 499 ter trade, which he followed until 1867, when he purchased forty acres of land, in Section 14, Royalton township, developing the property there continuing his residence until 1880, when he purchased his present fine farm of eighty acres in Section 16, making the place his home until 1899 and effecting many improvements on the same. He then removed to the village of Lyons, where he has since resided, owning a good residence property here, and still giving his supervision to his farm. He is held in high regard in the township which has been his home throughout life, has served nine terms as township trustee, and his unqualified allegiance is given to the Republican party. He is a valued and appreciative member of Baxter Post, No. 238, Grand Army of the Republic, at Lyons, of which he is a past commander. Mrs. Patterson is a member of the Church of Disciples. September 3, 1867, Mr. Patterson married Miss Mahala Myers, daughter of Johnson and Caroline (Runnells) Myers, of Amboy township, and of their children two are living—Alphonso, who married Miss Ann E. Rose; and Dellie Grant, who married Miss Laura Falor. Alphonso resides in Royalton township, three miles west of Lyons, engaged in farming a farm purchased by him. He and wife have one daughter, Doris E., five years of age. Dellie Grant Patterson resides in Royalton township, on the homestead farm. He and wife have one son, Mark L. Patterson, eight years of age. JOSIAH C. PAXSON, of Wauseon, is a representative member of the bar of Fulton county, and a scion of one of the old and prominent families of the county. He was born in Chesterfield township, this county, May 27, 1866, and after completing the curriculum of the public schools he entered the Fayette Normal University, this county, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1892. He had previously been a successful teacher in the public schools, and he also taught a number of terms after his graduation, having devoted about a decade to the pedagogic profession. His endeavors in this line, however, he considered merely as a means to an end; as he early determined to prepare himself for the legal profession, initiating his study of the law while still engaged in teaching. This was supplemented by a course of preparatory reading under the preceptorship of M. B. Cottrell, a representative lawyer at Delta, this county, and he finally was matriculated in the law department of the Ohio Normal University at Ma, where he was graduated in 1897, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He forthwith entered into a professional partnership with George A. Everett, the present mayor of Delta, and they were there associated in active practice until February, 1902, when Mr. Paxson came to Wauseon, where he has since been associated in practice with John Q. Files, under the firm name of Files & Paxson, the firm being recognized as a particularly strong one and controlling a representative professional business. The -ancestral history of Mr. Paxson, in both the paternal and maternal lines, traces back to the State of New Jersey, where the respective families, identified with the Society of Friends and contemporaneous with William Penn, were founded in the Colonial days.. Branches of the respective families have adhered to the 500 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY simple and noble faith of the Friends or Quakers throughout several generations. The parents of Josiah C. Paxson were John and Rebecca (Mason) Paxson. The former was born in 1822 and came to Northwestern Ohio and settled near West Unity, Williams county, in 1847. In 1862 he removed with his family to Chesterfield township, Fulton couy, where he passed the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits, his death occurring in September, 1894. He was left an orphan in early childhood and was reared by his paternal grandparents. He was a man of strong character and unbending integrity, and was held in high esteem in the community where he lived and labored so many years. His wife was a daughter of John and Charity (Borton) Mason, who located in Fulton couy in 1837, passing the first four years in German township and then removing to a farm in Franklin township, where the father died in 1878, at the age of seventy-seven years. They were born in the vicinity of Camden, N. J., and both the Masons and Bortons were devoted adherents of the Society of Friends. The Paxson family also was prominent in the ranks of this same society, but Elizabeth (Case) Paxson, paternal grandmother of the subject of this review, was a Baptist in her religious faith, and to this church the majority of her posterity seems to adhere: In 1890 Josiah C. Paxson was united in marriage to Miss Mary Hallett, whose father, Ephraim Hallett, of Meramora, this county, lost his life in the Civil war, having been a member of the Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry. Mr. and Mrs. Paxson have two children, Florence and Edwin. In politics Mr. Paxson is an uncomprising Republican, taking an active interest in the furtherance of the party cause, and in a fraternal way he is identified with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias. WILLIAM B. PETERSEN, one of the representative farmers of Fulton township, is a native son of Fulton county, having been born on the old homestead farm, three miles east of the village of Delta, in Swan Creek township, on the 22d of October, 1866. He is a son of John and Sophia C. (Winklesett) Petersen, both of whom were born in Germany, the former on the 22d of September, 1814, and the latter on the 1st of September, 824, and both came to America in 1845, their marriage being solemnized in a Methodist Episcopal church in New York City in 1852. Thereafter they resided on Staten Island until 1861, the father having there followed his trade, that of cooper. In the year mentioned they came to Ohio and located on a farm in Swan Creek township, Fulton county, where they made their home for the long period of twenty-one years, and the father then purchased a farm in Fulton county, there continuing to reside until hiS death, in 1892. His wife is now a resident of Fulton township. They became the parents of three sons and two daughters : John N. resides in Delta and is individually mentioned on another page of this publication ; Annie is the wife of Wallace Smith, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Henry resides in Wauseon, Fulton county, Ohio; Teresa is the wife of Eugene Wales, of Swanton, this county; and William B., of this review, is the youngest. William B. Petersen secured his educational training in the public schools of Swan Creek township, where he was reared to man- BIOGRAPHICAL - 501 hood under the sturdy discipline of the farm, and he has been consecutively identified with agricultural pursuits save, for a period of three years during which he was engaged in teaming in Swanton. In 1885 he was united in marriage to Miss Laura Schrock, who was born in Fulton township, being a daughter of Levi and Delilah (Hostetter) Schrock, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania, of stanch German lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Schrock became the parents of nine daughters and two sons : Josiah met his death while serving aS a Union soldier in the Civil war; Catherine is the wife of Jacob Everett, of Fulton township; Susan resides in this township, unmarried; Lucinda is the of wife of Saul Frybarger, mentioned elsewhere in this work; Mary is the wife of Joseph Baldwin, of Lytton, this county; Lavina is the wife of Elias Sigsby, of Pike township ; Delilah, wife of John Harger, is deceased; Eli resides at Whitehouse, Lucas county, where he is engaged in the general mercandise business ; Ella is the wife of Martin Collins, of Richfield township; Sarah is the wife of Charles Gates, of Lyons, this county; and Laura, wife of Mr. Petersen, is the youngest of the children. Mr. and Mrs. Petersen have four children, namely : Ora, born February 27, 1886; Fredie, Born November 6, 1891; Ollie, torn February 10, 1901; and Ella, born August 12, 1904. Mr. Petersen is a Republican in his political adherency and takes a loyal interest in public affairs of a local nature. He has charge of the old homestead, which he cultivates, and he resides on a neighboring farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he rents, the same being owned by residents of Toledo. He devotes his attention to mixed farming and stock-raising, is being prospered in his labors, and he is regarded as one of the foremost and most enterprising young men of the community. HENRY W. PIKE has been identified with the agricultural interests of Fulton county for more than two-score years, and is now numbered among the prominent farmers and influential citizens, of Clinton township. Mr, Pike claims the old Empire State of the Union as the place of his nativity, having been born in Monroe county, N. Y., on the 8th of September, 1838, and being a son of Joseph and Lydia (Simons) Pike, both of whom were born in the State of Vermont, of stanch old Puritan stock. The father served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and died in the State of New York, in 1857. His widow came to Fulton county, Ohio, with her son, Henry W., subject of this sketch, and she died at Tedrow, this county, in 1862. Henry W. Pike Was reared to, manhood in the State of New York, having secured his early educational training in the common schools of Alleghany county, and his vocation throughout his entire active career has been that of farming. He came to Fulton county in 1860, first locating in Dover township, and later passing five years in German township, after which he located on his present fine farm, of sixty-two acres, in Clinton township, where he has since maintained his home, and he has made excellent improvements on the place, which is one of the attractive rural demesnes of this part of the county, thrift and prosperity being indistinctive evidence. In his political proclivities Mr. Pike is a stanch Re- 502 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY publican, taking much interest in the supremacy of the party, has served two terms as township trustee, and has also rendered effective service in the offices of road supervisor and member of the school board. The church relations of himself and wife are Methodist. On the 8th of September, 1861, Was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pike to Miss Maria Long, who was born in Ashland county, Pa., April 4, 841, being a daughter of John and Margaret (Carr) Long, who were likewise natives of Pennsylvania, whence they came to Fulton county, Ohio, in 848. To Mr. and Mrs. Pike have been born six children, concerning whom the following brief data are entered : Frederick V. married Miss Eliza Wells and is engaged in farming in Dover township; Ida M. is the wife of Herman Glade, of Chicago, Ill. ; Addie died in infancy; Charles H. married Miss Rosa Stuttsman, and is a prosperous farmer of Dover township; Minnie is the wife of William Stubbins and they reside in Wood county ; and Pearl L. remains at the parental home. JOHANNES ERNST PLETTNER, a retired farmer and an influential citizen of Swanton, was born in Berlin, Germany, on April 16, 1832. He is the son of Ferdinand and Wilhelmina (Lifting) Plettner, both natives of Prussia, where their lives were spent, the former dying at the age of seventy-two years and the latter at fifty-six. They were the parents of the following children, two of whom died in infancy: Theodore A., for two years a soldier in the Prussian army, died in German township, Fulton county, leaving a large family; Bertha, Mahlow and Ida Fitting died in Berlin ; Johannes Ernst Arnold, a bachelor residing in Berlin, who also served in the Prussian army, in the same company in which the subject of this sketch served, and Amanda Aurora, unmarried, who is a resident of Berlin. Johannes E. Plettner remained in his native country until twenty-five years of age and served for three years as company clerk in the regular army of Prussia. Although a soldier at the time of the Crimean war, he was not called into active service in that conflict. He emigrated to America by himself in 1857 and located at the village of Ai, Fulton county. In the spring of 859 he went to Colorado and remained there engaged in mining until October, 1861, making the trip and returning to Ohio in a wagon. On this trip Mr. Plettner acted as hunter for a party of twenty-seven, en route to the gold fields. On 'May 1, when about eighty miles west of Fort Riley, a cyclone struck the train, seriously injuring several of the party, one fatally, and demolishing the wagons. Breaking loose from the wagons the cattle sought safety in flight. The baggage that was left was later transferred to Denver by another train. On the return trip the party had some miraculous escapes from drowning in the Platte river, losing most of the baggage at Floating Island. On May, 2, 1864, Mr. Plettner enlisted for the period of one hundred days in Company H of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, serving until September 22, when he was discharged. His command was with the Army of the Potomac and took part in the battle at Deep Bottom. For six weeks the regiment was under continuous artillery fire. After his marriage he located on a farm and for eight BIOGRAPHICAL - 503 years was actively and successfully engaged in general farming. Then he went to Macon county, Mo., where he farmed until 1872, when he 'returned to Fulton county. After retiring from the farm he resided for several years in Ai, and in 1900 located in Swanton, where he built the substantial residence he now occupies. Mr. Plettner is the inventor and patentee of the Fulton Washing machine and the Twin washer, the former of which is in general use in the State of Ohio. In .politics he is a stanch Republican, having served as assessor of Fulton township. He was a charter member of the Robert O. Nobbs Post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Ai, and now holds membership in Quiggle Post, No. 289. In 1861, on April 14th, he was wedded to Miss Eva Fashbaugh, a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Fashbaugh, each now deceased, who were early settlers of Fulton county. To Mr. and Mrs. Plettner there have been Born seven children, four of whom are living. Those living are : Otto, a machinist of Continental, 0., who married Miss Minnie Holmes and has two daughters : Mildred and Ruth. Augusta, the wife of Alfred Smith ; Elizabeth Eva, now Mrs. Edward J. Hoodless, who have one child, Otto ; and Amanda, the wife of Frank Harger, who have three children living: Hope, Harold and Garland. The three deceased died in childhood. Mr. Hoodless and family now make their home with her father, who together with his wife is a devout member of the United Brethren church. LEAMON S. PLUMMER, a successful merchant-tailor of Swanton, is a native of Lapeer county, Mich., where he was born on November 24, 86o. He is the son of Charles and Margaret (Siver) Plummer, the former a native of England, and the latter of German ancestors, born in the United States. Charles Plummer was a farmer by occupation and in 1869 removed from Michigan to Troy, Ontario, Canada, where he was drowned the following year while on a hunting expedition. His widow survives him and is now residing with her husband's parental family in Canada. Two sons were bolt to these parents. They are : Leamon S., and Eugene, a merchant-tailor of Delta. Leamon S. Plummer was reared and educated in Michigan and Canada. Having learned the tailor's trade in Blenheim, Ontario, he followed that occupation in Canada until 1891, when he removed to Toledo, 0., and there plied his trade for the next two years. In 1893 he changed his residence to Swanton, which has been his home ever since. In 1904, having .up to that time lived in rented property, he purchased a property that answered the double purpose of residence and store room. As he has no competition in his line, he has with little difficulty established a highly profitable business. Being an expert workman himself, he sees to it that only first-class work is put upon the market. Mr. Plummer is a member of Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons (having joined that fraternity in Blenheim), of the Odd Fellows and of the Modern Woodmen of America. While independent in politics, he leans strongly towards the principles advocated by the Republican party. His choice of a helpmeet on life's journey was Miss Margaret E. Hilts, a native of Chatham, Ontario, where she was reared and educated. She is the daughter of William 504 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY and Nancy (Davidson) Hilts, the former of German and the latter of French descent. Of the six children that have been born to Leamon S. Plummer and wife four are now living. They are named, Eugene Irwin, Charles, Miles Ashton, Percey Guy, Louis S., and Robert. Charles and Louis are deceased. The first four named were born in Canada and the others in Swanton. Mr. and Mrs. Plummer are actively identified with the Order of Eastern Star. They are not connected with any religious organization. LOUIS N. PILLIOD, president of the Farmers' and Merchants' Deposit Company and the Pilliod Lumber Company, of Swanton, was born in Napoleon, Henry county, Ohio, on May 24, 1859. He is the son of Augustin and Amelia (Harris) Pilliod, both deceased, the former a native of France and the latter of Genesee, N. Y. Augustin Pilliod was a miller and merchant by occupation, which business he conducted with unusual succeSs, amassing quite a fair competency. They were the parents of seven children, five sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest. Louis N. Pilliod was educated in the public and parochial schools of Toledo, O., and at the University of Notre Dame, Ind. He began his business career in the milling business, following that occupation successfully for fifteen years, and then took up his present line of work. The Pilliod Lumber Company, with a capitalization of $25,000, was incorporated in 1901. This establishment does wholesale lumber business and manufactures all kinds of Luilding material, giving regular employment to twenty-five skilled workmen. Mr. Pilliod was the principal organizer of the Merchants' and Farmers' bank at Swanton, an institution capitalized at $25,000, and of which he is the head. He is the owner of considerable property and the director of extensive business interests. Ail recognize him as an active and progressive businesS man and one of the leading citizens of Fulton county. While he has always led a strenuous business life, he has, nevertheleSs, found time to look after public matters, having served on the village council. In politics he is identified with the Democratic party and in secret society affairs with the Knights of Pythias. Louis N. Pilliod was first married to Miss Emma Hill, of Swanton, who died in August, 1890, leaving her husband one son, Thomas J., to mourn over her demise. His second wife was Miss Lillian Mabry, of Swanton. This union has been blessed with three children. Their names are: Lawrence L., Esther Lucile and Agnes Lorine. ThomaS J. Pilliod is at present engaged as manager of the Pilliod Milling Company. SAMUEL J. POMMERT, who was formerly the genial proprietor of the Pommert House of Delta, was torn in Caledonia, Ohio, October 4, 1852. He is a son of Adam and Sarah (Burkhardt) Pommert, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Pennsylvania, being also of German extraction. Adam Pommert was a tailor by occupation and frequently changed his residence to better promote his business interests. He married in Galion, Crawford county, Ohio, and he and his wife died in LaGrange county, Ind., neither having attained BIOGRAPHICAL - 505 to old age. They had a family of seven children, four of whom are now living, one having died in infancy, one in childhood and Rosa in young womanhood. The living are: Charles, a barber of Auburn, Ind.; Joseph, in business with his brother Charles; Nettie, a resident Goshen, Ind., and Samuel J., the eldest of the family. Samuel J. Pommert was reared and educated principally at Edgerton, Ohio, where be became an apprentice to the barbers trade and completed his apprenticeship at Sandusky, Ohio. For two years he followed his trade at various places and then located at Auburn, where he resided for eighteen years. In 1874 he was wedded to Miss Eliza Swander, who was born on a farm near Auburn, February 7, 1858. Her family are among the pioneers of that section of the Hoosier state. Her father, Jonathan Swander, who lived to a ripe old age, was a prominent and active citizen of that locality. He married Christina Row of Summit county, Ohio, where his mother's people were early settlers. They had a 'family of nine children, seven of whom lived to years of maturity. Their names follow : Susanna, John, Elizabeth, David (deceased), Minerva (deceased), George, Sarah, Eliza and Emanuel. They, lived together for fifty-six years, his wife dying at the age of seventy-three years and he at eighty-eight. Samuel J. Pommert and wife removed from Auburn to Orland, Ind., where they resided for six years. Then they moved to LaGrange, Ind., and finally, in 1896, to Delta. Prior to coming to Delta he had purchased the hotel property now known as the Pommert House. To the work of successfully considing a hotel he and his excellent wife are especially adapted. The keeping of the house is up-to-date in every particular, the table being supplied with the very tet of everything in the market and the charges extremely moderate. Mr. Pommert is a genial, accommodating landlord, whose chief concern is the comfort and convenience of his guests. lie is devoted to his work and takes pleasure in collecting curios and in training his pets during leisure hours. Having no children of their own be and wife have made a home for several children, for whom they provided educational privileges. In politics he is independent, although he was reared in the faith of the Democracy. lie has never sought office and thus is enabled to exercise the right of suffrage without the restraint of the party lash. Mr. Pommert is a member of the National Union and of the Auburn, Indiana, Lodge of the Knights Of Pythias, which organization he joined in 1871. His wife is a member of the Rathbone Sisters, and the Woman's Relief Corps of Delta, in which she takes the deepest interest. In religious matters she is identified with the Methodist-Episcopal Church. WILLIAM W. PRATT.—We of this twentieth century, representing the most electrical progress in all lines of material activity, are too prone not to give due heed to those elemental valuations which touch upon the deeper essence of human life. and human achievement. We can not afford, to hold in light esteem those who have wrought nobly in any field of endeavor, no matter how humble and obscure, nor should we withhold respect and honor from those who have given or are giving an heritage of worthy thoughts and 506 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY worthy deeds. Duty to posterity implies that records of the lives of honest and loyal citizens should be perpetuated in publications of this nature, and those who would withhold such records have neither appreciation of the labors of their ancestors, immediate or remote, nor can they deserve more of appreviation on the part of their own children and later generations. William W. Pratt, who has been for many years engaged in the blacksmithing and wagon making business in Delta, and who still contmues actively identified with the enterprise which he established so many years ago, though he has attained the age of four-score years, is a citizen whose life has been marked by industry, earnestness of purpoSe, inflexible integrity and loyal citizenship, so that none is more clearly entitled to representation in this work than he. Mr. Pratt Was born in Erie county, N. Y., on the 1st of April, 1825, and is a son of Robert and Abigail (Wiles) Pratt. The father was likewise a native of the old Empire State and was a blacksmith by trade, as had also been his honored sire. William W. Pratt received limited educational dvantages, being bound out at the age of fifteen years and serving an apprenticeship at the trades of blacksmithing and wagon-making. He was released by his employer at the expiration of eighteen months and then went to Perry, Wyoming county, N. Y., where he finished learning his trades, and in the autumn of 1847 he came to Ohio. For a short time he worked as a wagon-maker in Maumee, Lucas county, and in the spring of 1849, he located in Delta, where, he has ever since made his home. For many years he devoted his attention to wood-working, manufacturing and repairing wagons, and since about 1865 he has worked in both wood and iron, also done wagon and carriage painting, and he is still actively employed in this way, having a well equipped shop in which he may be found each working-day, and bearing the weight of his many years most lightly. Few men of his age can be found thus actively engaged in such mechanical work and many of half his age can not turn out better or more work in a given length of time than can thiS sturdy and honored octogenarian. He has worked indefatigably from childhood to the present day, and the most serious illnesS which he has ever experienced was that of the prevalent "fever and ague" of the early days. He erected his present shop m 186o, and in all the intervening years he has here been found actively and cheerfully engaged in the work of his trades. The first wagon which he manufactured in Delta was utilized as the conveyance which bore to their destination the commissioners who selected the site for the county-seat of Fulton county. This vehicle waS made and finished after the New York Style and was unique in this section at the time. Its utilization as noted not illy served as an advertisement of Mr. Pratt's business but also bro ght his mechanical ability to the attention of the public. In 185o Mr. Pratt was united in marriage to Miss Susan Tom, who was born in olmes county, Ohio, in 1830. They became the parents of six ch ldren: Edward E. is engaged in the drug business in Delta; Jennie is the widow of William H. Dillman, of Bryan, Williams county, and now resides with her father; Jacob is superintendent BIOGRAPHICAL - 507 and manager of the telephone system in Delta; William is a black-smith by trade; Della is the wife of George W. Shaffer, a merchant of Delta; and Eugene is a painter and decorator by vocation, residing in Delta. Mrs. Pratt was summoned to the life eternal on the 7th of March, 1905, after having been her husband's loved and devoted companion and helpmeet for fifty-five years. Her death was the great loss and bereavement of his life, and he reveres her memory and in his evening of life is sustained by the thoughts of the gracious associations of the years that have gone. He attributes his success in the earlier years to a large extent to his wife, who aided and encouraged him and bore her full share of the burdens and responsibilities of the home. She was a zealous member of the Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Pratt also has been a member for many years, and in politics he has always been aligned with the Democratic party, Though never an aggressive partisan. He served for some time as fat member of the school board, but has never sought office of any description. He reared and educated a large family of children and assisted his sons in establishing themselves in business. He is one of Delta's best-known and most honored pioneers, and during a residence here of nearly sixty years he has witnessed manifold changes in the town and county. The little hamlet of Delta when he came here was a mere backwoods settlements of a few aggressive pioneers, and no railroads had yet penetrated this wild forest country, in which even the ordinary roads were few and primitive. Times were hard, Money scarce and of uncertain value, and about the only thing the pioneers had in unstinted quality was the ague, engendered by the miasmatic swamps, which everywhere abounded. Mr. Pratt and his estimable wife endured their full quota of deprivations and discomforts, but they worked hard and lived frugally in the early days, thus paving the way for a competency for their declining years. Their Children, carefully reared and afforded the best possible educational advantages, left the parental roof, one-by-one, until the parents were left entirely alone. Then, after years of constant and loving companionship, came the separation which brought irreparable loss to the honored pioneer to whom this sketch is dedicated. It is said that misfortunes never, come singly, yet it seems almost that the misfortune which came to Mr. Pratt's daughter, Mrs. Diliman, in the death of her husband, about the same time as the demise of her mother, proved a benefice to Mr. Pratt, in that it gave him the society and companionship of his daughter, thus rendering the home less desolate, and the daughter's grief was rendered less poignant by her return to the roof which had sheltered her in her childhood. Mr. Pratt believes it better to "wear out than to rust out," and he finds satisfaction in keeping at work in his shop, where he has manufactured two complete wagons, including painting, entirely by himself, within the past few months. ISRAEL R. PUTMAN, one of the successful farmers and stock- growers of Fulton township, is another of those worthy citizens of the county who claim the old Keystone state as his place of nativity. 508 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY He was born in Somerset county, Pa., January 29, 1851, and is a son of William and Julianna (Barnes) Putman, the former of whom was born in Somerset and the latter in Bedford county, Pa. William Putman was a farmer by vocation and passed his entire life in his native county. He went forth to do yeoman service as a Union soldier in the Civil war, and he died while at home on a veteran furlough, at the age of forty-three years. His widow is still living in Pennsylvania. They became the parents of two sons and two daughters, Israel R. being the eldest. William Michael is a farmer in Somerset county, Pa.; Mary A. is the wife of Smith B. King, of that county; and Lucretia is the wife of Simon Nicholson, of the same county. Israel Putman was reared and educated in Pennsylvania, where he remained until he had attained the age of twenty years, when he started westward, passing a few months in Noble county, Ind., and then coming to Delta, Fulton county, Ohio. Here he worked by the month about one year, after which he engaged in farming on his own responsibility. In February, 1881, he purchased his present farm, of eighty acres, of which forty acres have been reclaimed by him, and he has erected good buildings on the place and has made other excellent improvements. When he purchased the farm the residence on the same was a log-house. In 1897 he erected - his present attractive farm residence, and his large and well-equipped barn was built in Igoe. The place is divided into ten-acre lots, all being well fenced. Mr. Putman devotes his farm to diversified agriculture and also gives considerable attention to the dairy business, selling milk to the condensing plant in Delta. He is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, and is a public-spirited, enterprising citizen. He has held school offices in his township, but has never been a seeker of official preferment. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. July 4, 1871, is recorded as the date of Mr. Putman's marriage to Miss Mary C. Bratton, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Bratton, of Fulton town, ship, both of whom are now deceased. MrS. Putman was born in this township, on the 29th of November, 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Putman have two children: Archibald B. married Miss Ella Fauble and resides on a farm adjoining that of his father; and Chloe D. is the wife of Clarence Smith, principal of the public schools of Lyons, Ohio. JOHN F. RAKER is a veteran of the Civil war, was long a successful and popular teacher in the schools of Fulton county, and is the owner of the fine old homestead farm on which his parents took up their residence in the early pioneer days, in Swan Creek township. Though he has lived practically retired for nearly a score of years, he still resides on his farm, and is one of the best-known and most popular citizens of his township. Mr. Raker was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, on the loth of October, 1843, and is a son of Martin and Elizabeth (Dindore) Raker, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania, on the 2d of January, 1812, and the latter in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1814. Their marriage waS solemnized, in Fairfield BIOGRAPHICAL - 509 county, on thee 22d of January, 1837. The father was a son of Martin Raker, Sr., who came to what is now Fulton county in 1835 and 1836, settling in Swan Creek township, which was then a part of Lucas county. Here he passed the remainder of his life, dying at the age of seventy-five years, and having, with the aid of his sons, reclaimed a farm in the midst of the dense forest. On his removal to this county he was accompanied by nine of his children—John, William, Jacob, George, Abram, Solomon, Catherine, Sarah and Christena. Two children remained in Fairfield county—Martin, Jr., and Mary. In 1846 Martin Raker, Jr., father of the subject of this review, also came to Fulton county, being accompanied by his wife and their three children—Mary J., Abraham J., and John F. The youngest child, Martin L., was born in Fulton county. All of the above-mentioned members of the Raker family, with the exception of William, remained residents of Fulton county, and the representatives of the name are now very numerous in this favored section of the old Buckeye State. William located in Kosciusko county, Indiana, where his descendants still live. Martin Raker, Jr., died in his seventy-fifth year, and his loved wife was laid to rest in the Raker cemetery in Swan Creek township on the seventy-sixth anniversary of her birthday. John F. Raker was reared amid the environments and associations of the pioneer era in this section, assisting in clearing up a farm it the wilderness. The farm which he now owns was the parental homestead, and it comprises one hundred and sixteen acres of most fruitful land, the place being well improved. At the time when the family located here the virgin forest marked the site, and the father and sons literally hewed out a farm from the dense woods. In the *inter of 1846-7 the logs were hewed for the erection of the family domicile, and it is interesting to record that this substantial old dwelling still constitutes the residence cif Mr. Raker. Improvements have been made on the building, in the way of siding the same with matched boards, repairing and modernizing windows, floors, etc., but the structure still remains essentially the "old log-house" of the pioneer days, and it is one of the landmarks of this part of the county. Mr. Raker inherited one-third of the homestead farm and eventually purchased the interests of the other heirs, and it is needless to say that the place is endeared and hallowed to him through the memories and gracious associations of many years. In the early days, while working on the farm during the almost perpetual "vacations," he contrived to attend the primitive district-school from three to four Months during the successive winters, and thus gained a comparatively good English education. In July, 1862, shortly before his nineteenth birthday, Mr. Raker enlisted in Company H, One Hundredth Ohio volunteer infantry, for a term of three years. His military experience was thrilling and interesting, and his sufferings as a prisoner of war baffle description. At the battle of Limestone Station, Tennessee, while on detached service, a detail from each company of the One Hundredth Ohio, was captured, Mr. Raker being one of the number thus falling into the hands of the enemy, the total number captured being about two hundred and fifty. Mr. Raker was 510 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY held a captive for eight months, during which time he was incarcerated in turn at Pemberton, Belle Isle, Libby prison and Scott, enduring his full share of the wretched hardships and horrors of these famous Southern prison pens. After his release from prison, by exchange, he rejoined his regiment at Washington, D. C., the command being then en route to Fort Fisher, North Carolina. He participated in the various engagements in which his command was thereafter involved, continuing in service until the close of the war. He received his honorable discharge in North Carolina, and was finally mustered out, in Cleveland, Ohio, in June, 1865. Shortly afterward he entered Oberlin College, where he effectively supplemented his somewhat limited common-school education, and he there prepared himself for teaching, having followed the pedagogic profession, with exceptional success, for the succeeding seventeen years. He has ever continued an appreciative student of bookS and affairs, and is a man of broad intellectual ken and well fortified opinions. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party, but he has never sought or held public office. In religious matters he is liberal and tolerant, having a due respect for the spiritual verities and ethical formulas, without regard to dogmatism or secular views. He has leased his farm to capable tenants for the past score of years, but resides in the old home, living practically retired. He has remained a bachelor. WILLIAM RAMSEY, M.D., a pioneer and retired physician of Delta, was born in Omagh, North Ireland, September 1, 1827. His ancestors were of Scotch antecedents and removed to Ireland two generations before his birth. With his mother, three brothers and one sister he came to America, his father having died when William was a child. As his father was a farmer William spent his first fourteen years on a farm in Ireland. The journey across the ocean was made from Londonderry to New York City in a sailing vessel and required seven weeks. After landing at New York they went to Philadelphia, where they spent their first Fourth of July. From Philadelphia they proceeded to Pittsburg by rail and canal and from Pittsburg to Bolivar, Tuscarawas county, O., where the family located in 1842. Mrs. Ramsey, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was a woman universally esteemed for her excellent traits of character and maternal instincts. A heavy task fell upon her in the rearing and education of the family. The sequel shows that she performed her duty well. She was never known to be out of humor and she never punished a child with a rod. She was the mother of the following children: James who died a bachelor at the age of seventy-nine years; Christopher who is still living at the age of eighty- five years; John who died in 1903; Margaret who died unmarried, and William. All except the last named remained in the vicinity of Bolivar, where they spent their lives in agricultural pursuits, and became wealthy. Prior to coming to America Dr. Ramsey had received a fair education, which he supplemented in this country by additional studies in the district school and in an academy at Hagers- BIOGRAPHICAL - 511 town, O. At the age of seventeen he began teaching and the foilowing year read medicine. Teaching during the winter months, he spent his summers reading medicine .in the office of Doctors Bennett & Hodge, of Bolivar. While engaged in this and other work of various kinds he assisted his mother to pay for the home farm. In 1849 he was graduated from the Reserve Medical college of Cleveland. After graduating he spent over one year in the drug business and in practice at Loudonville, O., coming to Delta in the spring of 1852, where after a long struggle he established a large and lucrative business. The struggle of his boyhood days to acquire unaided an education affords a valuable lesson to the struggling youth of to-day who were born without the proverbial "silver spoon." When he entered Hagerstown college he had just thirteen dollars in his possession. A kind gentleman of that town, who had himself been befriended in his youth by a stranger, generously offered to pay his way through college, but this the self-reliant young Ramsey felt obliged to decline. Leaving school in debt, he declined any aid in the way of a loan, and going into the harvest field he earned the money with which to discharge his obligation. The struggle for a professional education was equally arduous. When he reached Delta he found himself possessed of a horse hitched to a two-wheeled "gig" and seven dollars in money, his saddle-bags and medicine having been lost on the way while crossing a stream at Napoleon, Ohio. With this meager capital he began his practice in competition with three experienced physicians who had preceded him. The story of his labors here is one of unrelenting toil, hardship and privations. Traveling long distances in rain and snow, cold and heat, through forest-roads well nigh impassable at all seasons and particularly so during the period when the ground was not frozen, for the mud seemed never to dry up. Continuing this work for a period equal to an average life-time, he was at last enabled to retire from active practice. He now recalls the fact that he was so busy at times in his practice that he did not remove his clothing for weeks. At that time Fulton county was almost wholly undeveloped, and when Dr. Ramsey first began to practice he traveled largely on horseback over roads blazed through almost impenetrable forests. He used a two- wheeled "gig" and a saddle-horse in traveling over the country. As a result of all this effort he has acquired a competency, which he has distributed with a liberal hand, educating his children and starting them on life's journey in profitable business enterprises. Dr. Ramsey has witnessed and has been an active participant in the growth and prosperity of Fulton county. He has been successful even beyond his most sanguine hopes. But his success was only the key-note to the success of others. Possessed of a liberal disposition and a generous nature, he has on several occasions voluntarily furnished the means to ambitious boys to acquire better educational advantages. Once he assisted a poor girl, and the proceeds of his generosity enabled the young lady to be introduced into business society which eventually resulted in her becoming the head immer in a wholesale millinery establishment. Others of his wards 512 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY held high positions in the councils of the nation, and the scriptural text, "Cast thy bread upon the waters," etc., was verified in that each one whom he aided returned to him every cent he had expended in their behalf. For more than fifty years Dr. Ramsey has been a prominent character in Fulton county, during which time he has ministered to suffering humanity with remarkable skill and for titude. During the Civil war he was called into the service as an examining surgeon, and after the maimed and disabled soldiers began to seek pensions for their disabilities, he served for twenty- three years on the pension board of examiners, retiring voluntarily. During the progress of the war he attended the wives and children of the absent soldiers without making any charge for his services, where they were in moderate circumstances. He has always been a zealous worker in everything calculated to enhance the interests of the people. In religious matters he has been a valued member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and with hiS wife has been active in all lines of church work. Since the organization of the Republican party the Doctor has been a zealous advocate of its principles, being well acquainted with all of the party leaders, but has never held a public office. After retiring from active practice he engaged for a time in the banking business, which he afterwards turned over to his son, William. Since 855 he has been actively identified with the Masonic fraternity. On June 1, 1854, he was wedded to Miss Catherine Trowbridge, born June 27, 1832, a representative of one of the first settlers of the county. Her father, Flisha TrOWbridge, came here from Connecticut in 1834 and was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church in pioneer days. The Trowbridge family is traceable to English origin, long established in New England, whence they scattered throughout the rest of the country, assisting materially in its development. Dr. Ramsey and wife are' the parents of four children, two of whom are living. Those living are: William E., born June 29, 1860, who has succeeded his father in the private banking business in Delta and who is also engaged in the real- estate and insurance business. He is married and has two children. Dr. Frank P., a talented and successful physician of Central Lake, Mich., was born December 6, 1872, is married but has. no children. Those deceased are: Lovey L., who was born April 7, 1856, and died August 5, 186o, and John H., born September 22, 1862, and died August 5, 1864. Dr. Ramsey and his estimable wife are now living in retirement in Delta, where they are enjoying the fruits of earlier labor and sacrifices, as well as the highest esteem of all who know them. WILLIAM F. RAMSEY is one of the representative business men of the younger generation in Fulton county, being the cashier, of the Bank of Delta, and he is a member of one of the honored pioneer families of the county, which has been his home from the time of his birth. Mr. Ramsey was born in the village of Delta, on the 29th of June, 1860, and is a son of Dr. William Ramsey, one of the honored pioneer physicians and surgeons of Delta, concerning BIOGRAPHICAL - 513 whom individual mention is made in the review that immediately precedes this one, so that further data are not demanded in the present connection. William E. Ramsey was reared in his native town, in whose public schools he secured his preliminary education, supplementing this discipline by a course of study in the Ohio State University, in Columbus. As a young man he served in the office of the assistant auditor of the Toledo, Delphos and St. Louis railroad, now known as the Clover Leaf railroad. The Bank of Delta was founded in 1868, by Dr. William Ramsey and David C. Teeple, the former eventually becoming the sole owner of the institution, and in 1888 his son, William E., became cashier, a position in which he has ever since been retained, having the executive management of all the affairs of the bank, which is one of the solid financial institutions of the county and which controls a large and representative patronage. A general banking business is conducted, as well as an insurance business in the line of indemnity assurance from loss by tornado, accident, etc. Mr. Ramsey has ever retained a distincinterest in the welfare of his native town, and is one of its most gressive, Metal and public-spirited citizens. It was through his efforts and two others, Mr. J. M. Longnecker and George R. Whitehorn, that the Helvetia milk-condensing plant was established in Delta, and he was also one of those citizens who took a foremost part in securing the Delta depot of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroad. He has likewise been a potent factor in the promoting of local improvements of a public nature, including street paving, electric lighting, etc., and he is a strong advocate of the policy of expanding the public utilities of the village by the installation of modern system of water-works—an improvement whose value is incontestable and one which is certain to be made in the near future. In politics Mr. Ramsey is uncompromising in his allegiance to the Republican party, being well fortified in his opinions and convictions as to matters of public polity, but he has never manifested might of ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office of any description. He is treasurer of the Delta Building, Loan and Savings Company and of the Hone Telephone Company, both local enterprises of importance, and he is a member of the directorate of the Delta Building and Real-Estate Company, each of these three corporations being liberally capitalized and conducting business along safe and conservative lines. The last mentioned company was organized in order to meet an imperative demand in the supplying of residences to strangers seeking homes in the village, and its functions have been most practical and beneficent in application. The association purchases lots, erects dwellings on the same and sells the properties at an advance of but six per cent. above the actual expenditures incidentally made. Mr. Ramsey is an appreciative member of the time honored Masonic fraternity, being affiliated with Fulton Lodge, No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons; Octavius Waters Chapter, No. 167, Royal Arch Masons, of which he is treasurer; and Toledo Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templar, as well as with the adjunct organizations, Zenobia Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the 514 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, likewise in the city of Toledo; and Aurora Chapter, No. 75, Order of the Eastern Star, of which Mrs. Ramsey likewise is a member. In the city of Columbus, Ohio, on the 5th of June, 1883, Mr. Ramsey was united in marriage to Miss Z. Maude Sharp, who was born in Gallipolis, this State, on the 27th of May, 1864, being a daughter of William and Laura J. (Wood) Sharp, who are now residents of the capital city of the State, where Mr. Sharp is a prominent commission merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey have two children,—June A., was born April 29, 1884; and Paul, who was born October J7, 1886. The daughter has been a student in Lake Erie College, Painesville, Ohio, but will complete her education in Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. The son is a student in the college of pharmacy of the Ohio Northern University, at Ada. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey and their son and daughter are prominent in the social life of Delta, and Mrs. Ramsey is a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church. CHARLES A. REGENOLD, senior member of the firm of Regenold & Merrill, of Swanton, was born on a farm near the western line of Lucas county, one and one-half miles east of Swanton, on June 3, 1865. His parents, Andrew and Mary M. (Swigert) Regenold, were both natives of Germany who emigrated to America with their parents when still children. After their marriage, and more than sixty years ago, they located on the farm where Charles was born. Here Andrew Regenold died August 3, 1895, aged seventy- seven years, his wife having died in middle life. To them there were born six children, three sons and three daughters, all still living except Emma, who died in infancy. Those living are: Mrs. Mary E. Decker of Toledo, 0.; William, a stationary engineer of Toledo; Charles A.; Mary M. Berkeybile and Lydia Shaffer, both of Swanton. Charles A. Regenold grew to manhood on the paternal farm and was educated in the public schools of East Swanton. He began his life career on a farm which he purchased near the old homestead, and after eight years of profitable farming removed to Toledo, 0., where he entered the employ of the Merrill Brothers, dealers in hardware and agricultural implements. Three yearS later he returned to Swanton and purchased the business, now known as the Regenold & Merrill establishment. This firm carries a large stock of farming implements, vehicles, stoves and ranges, general hardware, mechanical tools, harness, whips and general horSe equipments, and does an extensive business throughout the county. In his early political life Mr. Regenold was identified with the Democratic party, but since 1896 he has been an earnest Republican. He iS serving his fourth year as a member of the Swanton board of education, and before his removal from Lucas county served for five years as trustee of Spencer township. He is a member of Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons, having passed several of the chairs in that organization, the Order of Eastern Star and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In religious matters he is identified with the German Reformed church. Charles A. Regenold has been twice BIOGRAPHICAL - 515 married, first on August 28, 1885, the lady being Miss Maggie M. Zenk, a native of Richfield township, Lucas county. Three children were born to this union as follows: Grover A., since June 24, 1903, a musician on board the United States Cruiser Chicago, stationed at San Diego, Cal. ; George a employed in the hardware business in Toledo, and Arthur B., a student at Toledo. His first wife having died in February, 1892, he was wedded to Miss Mary J. Hankins, a native of Indiana, in November, 1894. To this marriage there have been born the following children: Carmah M., Charles H. and Reville Raymond. Mrs. Regenold is a member of the Order of Eastern Star and of Christ's church. FRANK H. REIGHARD, editor and proprietor of the Fulton County Tribune, was born in Swan Creek township, Fulton county, 0., October 8, 1867. He is the son of George and Flizabeth Reighard. George Reighard, also a native of Swan township, was born November 24, 1846. He has always resided ml a farm in that township. For many years he served as township trustee and for twenty years has been a member of the school-board. The brothers and sisters of the subject of the sketch are Dell C., Sophia, Royal, Bert and Florence, all living at Delta, 0., and all are married except Florence. George Reighard is the son of Jacob Reighard, who settled in Swan Creek township in 1839, having come there from Holmes county, 0. He was an active citizen and died at the age of sixty-four years. Elizabeth Reighard was the daughter of Thomas Elton, a native of Wiltshire, England, who came to Medina county, 0., in 1854, and seven years later to Swan Creek township, Fulton county, where he located on a farm. The maternal grandparents were both natives of Wiltshire county, England. The subject of this sketch received his elementary education in the public schools of his home township. He then attended the Fayette Normal, the Ohio Normal University at Ada and the University of Wooster. After leaving Wooster he was with the Baltimore and Ohio railway for a time as civil engineer. For ten years he followed the profession of teaching and was then elected township superintendent in 1893, serving two years. Prior to his election to the office of county surveyor (1895), in which capacity he served two terms, he taught school in his own township two years. The paper of which Mr. Reighard is now the editor and proprietor And which was started' in 1883 by "Al" Smith, deceased, was purchased by him January 1, 1903. Under the successful management of Mr. Reighard the circulation of the paper has been largely increased, not only in Fulton county but also in the adjoining counties. The paper iS now the official county organ of the Republican party. Mr. Reighard is as a Knight Templar prominent in Masonic circles, having held various offices in the Council and Chapter degrees. He is also a Knight of Pythias. He married Miss Florence Tischer of Wauseon, a daughter of William and Sophronia Tischer, of German descent, who came from Medina county to this county in 1861. They have had only one child, Helen by name, who died m infancy. 516 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY ALFRED REX merits recognition in this work as one of the representative farmers and stock-growers of York township and as one of the native sons of Fulton county. He was born on the parental homestead, in Pike township, within a quarter of a mile of his present home, on the 24th of June, 1862, being the son of John and Mary (McGinn) Rex, the former of whom was born in Stark county, Ohio, in 1835, and the latter was born in Ireland, whence her parents immigrated to America when she was a child. Her death occurred October 5, 1899, at the age of sixty years, and her husband passed away February i 1, 1900, aged sixty-five years. They became the parents of eleven children, of whom seven are living. The parents were consistent members of the Presbyterian church and were numbered among the honored pioneers of Fulton county, where the father reclaimed a valuable farm, continuing to be identified with agricultural pursuits until his death. Alfred Rex was reared on the home farm and was afforded the advantages of the public schools of the locality, and his vocation from youth to the present has been that of farming. When he was about twelve years of age he came to his present farm to live with his uncle, Robert Moore, who finally went to Ireland for the benefit of his health, being unable to recuperate and returning to the home farm, where he died. Thereafter Mr. Rex remained with his widowed aunt until her death, and she devised to him seventy-three acres of his present farm, after which he added fifty acres which he purchased somewhat later, making a total of 123 acres. Under his control the best of improvements have been made in the way of fencing, tiling, etc., besides the erection of his attractive residence and other buildings, making the place one of the best farms in the county. The fine modern residence was built in 1895, and the barn was erected in the summer of 1905, being one of the most substantial and well-arranged and equipped in this part of the county. The barn is in the shape of an L, each section being 36x6o feet in dimensions, with eighteen-foot posts, self-supporting roof, and cement foundation and floors. The structure is modern in its facilities and is admirably equipped for the care of stock and the storage of farm products. On the Place is an excellent orchard of six acres. Mr. Rex is a progressive and public- spirited citizen and a successful business man. His farm is a model one, thrift and painstaking management being in unmistakable evidence throughout. He raises high-grade live stock, and has made somewhat of a specialty of dairying, which has proven a profitable branch of his farming enterprise, and his new barn has been specially equipped for the expansion of this feature of his business. Mr. Rex brings to bear the same methodical and systematic ideas that are demanded in other lines of business, and thus is able to determine accurately as to the profits or losses in the various departments of his industrial enterprise, and he can also direct his course in such a way as to insure the maximum returns from effort and investment. His example is one well worthy of emulation by the average farmer, and he is satisfied to remain a member of the sturdy yeomanry of his native county, feeling that his lines are cast in pleas- BIOGRAPHICAL - 517 ant places. Mr. Rex is one of the leaders in the local ranks of the Republican party and has served as township trustee since 1898, his long tenure of the office indicating the confidence and appreciation of the people of York township. He is identified with the Lodge and Encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Delta, also with the Knights of Pythias and the National Union, and for years he served as county secretary of the Patrons of Industry. September 6, 1891, Mr. Rex was united in marriage to Miss Mary B. Salsberry, who was born and reared in Pike township, being a daughter of Israel and Belle (Draper) Salsberry, both of whom were likewise born in this county, Mr. Salsberry being a prosperous farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Rex became the parents of four children, three of whom are living: Mezzina was born January 8, 1893; Archie, born March 8, 1901, died at the age of seven days; Joseph was born March 19, 1903; and Ruby Belle was born July 17, 1995. HENRY RICE is the owner of a well improved farm of one hundred and forty acres, in Franklin township, he has been signally prospered as an agriculturist, and his pleasant home is eligibly located and he has the excellent facilities afforded by the rural free mail delivery, route No. 14, from the village of Fayette. Mr. Rice was born near Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, on the 11th of November, 1851, and is a son of Henry and Eva (Weimer) Rice. Henry Rice, Sr., was born November 18, 1818, in Germany, where he was reared to the age of twelve years, when he accompanied his parents on their immigration to America. His father likewise bore the Christian name of Henry, which has been common to the family for many generations. These worthy folk from a foreign land became pioneer settlers in Seneca county, Ohio, having located about ten miles from the present city of Tiffin, where the head of the family and its founder in America continued to be engaged in farming until his death, having developed a farm in the midst of the virgin forest; his wife also died in that county. The father of the subject of this review was reared to manhood in Seneca county, and as a young man he secured employment in connection with the construction of the canal through Defiance county, and later he became a fireman on one of the early railroads in this section, being finally promoted to the position of locomotive engineer, having been one of the pioneer railroad men of the Buckeye State. In 1847 he took up his residence in Wayne county, where he was engaged in farming until 1866, when he removed to Fulton county and located on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in German township, south of the village of Archbold. He had previously purchased the property and he made the homestead one of the valuable farms of this section, continuing to reside thereon until his death, on the 4th of November, 1892. He secured a tract of government land in Gorham township and also bought other land, from private sources, being one of the well known and honored citizens of this part of the county. His widow still resides on the old homestead, having attained the age of seventy-four years (1905). She is a member of the Reformed church, as was also 518 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY her husband. They became the parents of nine children: Jacob and Daniel are residents of Gorham township and are farmers by vocation; Henry, subject of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Samuel is deceased; Sarah, who became the wife of Michael Seiler, is deceased; John is a farmer in Henry county; Philip, who was born January 1, 1860, died January 2, 1892; Mary died on the 18th of May, 1892; and Lizzie is the wife of Jacob Linneger, of Gorham township. Henry Rice was reared to the sturdy labors of the home farm, and was a lad of about fifteen years at the time of the family removal to Fulton county, and his educational privileges had been such as were afforded in the public schools of Wayne and Fulton counties. In inaugurating his independent career he engaged in farming in Henry county, where he purchased one hundred and sixteen acres of land. He devoted himself to the improvement and cultivation of this place until 1883, when he sold the property, and in August of that year he located in Franklin township, Fulton county, where he now owns a well-improved estate of one hundred and forty acres, in Sections 34 and 3. He has served as township trustee and supervisor, and both he and his wife are valued members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Zone, Ohio, in which he is a trustee. October 7, 1877, Mr. Rice was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Seiler, who was born in Switzerland, and who was one year of age at the time of her parents` immigration to America. Her father, Jacob Seiler, is now one of the sterling pioneer farmers of Franklin township, this county. In his younger years he employed himself as a German school teacher. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Rice: Minnie Mary was born December 4, 1878, in Henry county, Ohio; and when she grew old enough she employed herself as a teacher for five years, after which she was married to Frederick Reuthirger, on the 17th of March, 1903, and she now resides in East Toledo, Ohio; Lillian Sarah was born December 10th, 1880, in Henry county. When she was two years old she came to Fulton county with her parents and remained there until she- and her sister Minnie started to school. After her school work was over she remained at home until she was married to Frederick Bretthauer, on the 6th of May, 1903. They now reside on their farm, near Zone, in Fulton county, Ohio; Lena Laura was born February. 23, 1884, in Franklin township, Fulton county, and Alice Eva was born August 12, 1886, in Fulton county, and both remain in the parental home, being popular teachers in the local schools. Elizabeth Margaret, born June 30, 1889, and Alwin Henry, born February 6, 1894, were also born in Fulton county. They both employ their time in school work and have not yet decided what their future occupation will be. HENRY O. RICHARDS, who resides on the old homestead farm on which he was born, in Fulton township, is one of the highly honored citizens of the county and a member of one of its prominent pioneer families. He was born, February 17, 1837, and is a son of Ammi and Percia (Pease) Richards, the former of whom was born BIOGRAPHICAL - 519 in Connecticut and the latter in Massachusetts. The parents were married prior to coming to the West, and they made their advent in Ohio in 1835, first locating in Medina county, where they remained. Out a year, after which they came to Fulton county and located on the farm now owned by their son, Henry O. The land was in its primitive state, being covered with a heavy growth of timber, so that the labors and vicissitudes of the true pioneers were the portion of Mr. and Mrs. Richards, who had left the pleasing associations and advantages of the East to found a home in the practical wilderness. The father developed his farm, on which he made good improvements, and here he died in 1884, at the age of seventy-nine years and six Months, and his devoted wife passed away in 1888, at the age of eighty-four years. They lived lives of signal usefulness, throwing a benign. influence over all with whom they came in contact. They became the parents of two sons and four daughters, concerning whom a brief record is here given: Clarissa became the wife of Elmer Lacy and died in Paulding county, this State; Helen A., who became the life of Joshua Taylor, died in Greene county, Iowa; Henry O. and Benjamin F. are both representative farmers of Fulton township; Emily, wife of Thomas Nobbs, died in this county; and Octavia is Vie wife of James Harrison, of Fulton township. Henry O. and Benjamin F. Richards have been intimately associated from their boyhood days to the present time. Both were afforded such advantage; as were offered in the common schools of the pioneer days and both: assisted in the work of the home farm up to the year 1864, when they turned from the plowshare to go forth in defense of the Union, both enlisting as members of Company H, One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, and their service continued for a period of one hundred and forty-two days, principally with the Army of the Potomac in front of Petersburg. Both received honorable discharges at the close of the term of enlistment. Henry O. Richards learned the carpenter trade as a young man, and he has devoted his attention to the same for many years, having been a contractor and builder and having erected many of the substantial residences and Other buildings in his native township and elsewhere in the county, including two houses on his own farm. His farming operations also have his personal supervision, and he is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of his section. In politics he is a stanch Republican and he has served two terms as township trustee, has been a schooi officer and has held other positions of local trust. He has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity since 1866, having been a charter member of Swanton Lodge, No. 555, in which he still holds his membership. He was transferred to this body from the lodge at Delta. He and his brother Benjamin are both active and valued members of Quiggle Post, No. 280, Grand Army of the Republic, at Swanton, with which they became affiliated in 1902, at the time of the lapse of organization on the part of Robert O. Nobbs Post, No. 521, at Ai, of which latter Henry O. Richards had served ten years as commander. He has twice been a delegate to the annual encampments of the order for the department of Ohio. He and his 520 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY wife have been members of Berry Grange, No.. 1111,. Since 1875, and he has been honored with various offices in the same, being its treasurer at the time of this writing. February 25, 1867, Mr. Richards was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Jane Doren, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, June 20, 1843, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Jane (Gill) Doren, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in the State of Pennsylvania, and both died in Lucas county, Ohio, aged respectively seventy-six and ninety years. They became the parents of thirteen children, of whom eight are living, Ms. Richards having been the eleventh in order of birth. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Richards is Irvin L., who resides on a portion of the old homestead farm and who is the present clerk of Fulton township. He married Miss Maude Pickles and they have one child, named Lucille. BERNUM R. RICHARDSON is one of the representative citizens of the thriving village of Lyons, where he is engaged in, the furniture and undertaking business, having a modern and well-equipped establishment Bernum Reynolds Richardson was born in Royalton, Niagara county, N. Y., May 7, 1842, a son of Elisha and Julia (Tripp) Richardson, who settled in Royalton township, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1843, so that this county has been his home practically during the entire course of his life thus far. The paternal grandfather, Thomas Richardson, was likewise born in New York State, pasSing the major portion of his life in Niagara county, where both he and his wife died. The maternal grandfather, Ira Tripp, was numbered among the pioneers of Richfield township, Lucas county, Ohio, where he settled in the early '50's, there passing the remainder of his life. Elisha Richardson was reared to manhood in the old Empire State, where he learned the carpenter trade; which he followed as a vocation for some time. In the '60's he purchased a farm in Lenawee county, Mich., where he resided thereafter until his death. The subject of this review is the only child of the first marriage of Elisha Richardson, whose second wife bore the maiden name of Jane Dobson, and after her death, without issue, lie married Mrs. Margaret Jaycock, who bore him one son, Frank, who is now a resident of Lenawee county, Mich. Bernum R. Richardson was reared in Royalton township, the common schools of the locality afforded him his early educational advantages, and he began his independent career by working as a farm hand. He was thus engaged when the dark cloud of Civil war obscured the national horizon, and he forthwith offered himself as a volunteer in the Union service. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Forty-fourth Illinois volunteer infantry, serving under his enrollment until December, 1863, when he veteranized, re-enlisting in the same company and regiment, remaining in service for a total of four years and three months and then receiving his honorable discharge. He took part in the battles of Pea Ridge, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Nashville and many other engagements, and was discharged from the rank of sergeant. On his return home he gave his attention variously to farming, lum- BIOGRAPHICAL - 521 bering and carriage-painting, and since 1880 he has been engaged his present line of business at Lyons, having a large and representative trade and being one of the honored citizens and progressive buisiness men of the community. In politics he is a stalwart Republican; he is at the present time village clerk, and he has also served as township trustee, treasurer, clerk and assessor and as justice of the peace, his official record being one which redounds to his credit *every particular. He and his wife are prominent members of the Christian church at Lyons, in which he is clerk, and he is affiliated With Baxter Post, No. 238, Grand Army of the Republic, and Lyons Lodge, No. 622, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. December 19, 1865, waS solemnized the marriage of Mr. Richardson to Miss Delia Hinkle, daughter of Ira and Sarah (Dowd) Hinkle, of Royalton township, and they have an adopted daughter, Goldie, the family being prominent in the social life of the community. ELIAS RICHARDSON maintained his home in Royalton township for more than half a century and ever commanded the unqualified respect and confidence of the people of this community, where be continued to reside until his death. He was born in Royalton, Niagara county, New York, on the 30th of July, 1812, and is a son of Thomas and Susannah (Whiting) Richardson, the former being a son of Thomas Richardson, who was born in Vermont and who became one of the pioneers of Niagara county, New York, where he continued to reside during the remainder of his life. Elias Richardson took up his residence in what is now Royalton township, Ful- . ton county, in 1836, securing government land and reclaiming the Same from the virgin forest. His old homestead is the farm now owned by George Dennis. He first secured the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 10, and subsequently purchased an adjoining tract of eighty acres. On this homestead he resided for fifty years, removing to the village of Lyons in 1.886 and there living retired until the time of his death, which occurred on the 26th of December, 189o. He was a man of inflexible integrity and he left his impress upon the history of his township and county, having held various public offices, including that of county commissioner, of which he was incumbent two terms. He was a Democrat in his political adherency, and both he and his wife were members of the Universalist church. Mrs. Richardson died September 3d, 1891. November 11, 1835, Mr. Richardson was united in marriage to Miss Lucinda Doud, daughter of Gaylord and Phoebe (Bailey) Doud, natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania. Elias and Lucinda Richardson became the parents of seven children, of whom only two attained maturity—Marvin D. and Minerva A. They also had an adopted daughter, Rose, who is now the wife of David D. Allen, of Carey, Ohio. Marvin D. Richardson was born and reared in Royalton township and was for many years engaged in the general merchandise business in the village of Lyons. He was a soldier in the Civil war, having enlisted in Company D,. One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, and having been a participant in   522- HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   a number of important engagements, receiving hiS honorable discharge at the expiration of his term of enlistment. On the 2d of August, 1858, he was married to Miss Roby Johnson, daughter of Sullivan and Fidelia (Worden) Johnson, of Amboy township, and they became the parents of four children: Cora, who became the wife of Frederick Stebbins and who is now deceased, having left two children, Helen and Thomas; Bettie is the wife of Martin L. Cromer, of Sturges, Mich.; Minerva is the wife of John J. Richmond, of Ann Arbor, and Aretus, who married Miss Jennie Gilman, is a resident, of Michigan. Minerva, daughter of Elias and Lucinda Richardson, was married in March, 1865, to Thomas G. Richardson, who was born in Niagara county, New York, and who was chief bugler of the Eighth New York cavalry during the War of the Rebellion, serving three years and three months. He came to Fulton county in 1865, settling in Lyons and having been identified for a time with farming, and later he engaged in the mercantile trade and finally in the hotel business. He, died, August 10, 1902, at the age of sixty-three years. His widow still resides in Lyons, as does also her brother, Marvin D, who is now living retired.   JAMES S. RICHARDSON, one of the representative farmers of Royalton township, is a native of Fulton county and a member of one the honored pioneer families of this section of the Buckeye state. He was born in Royalton township, on the 6th of November, 1849, and is a son of Martin and Jane (Dean) Richardson, who took up their residence in Royalton township in 1838, having come to this county from Niagara county, New York. The father secured forty acres of wild land, reclaiming the same from the native forest, and later he purchased the farm of eighty acres now owned by Cyrus Downer, likewise clearing and improving this place. In 1887 he removed to Gratiot county, Michigan, where he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring February 14, 1904. He was twice married, the two children of his first union being James S., subject of this sketch; and Joseph, now a resident of Adrian, Mich. By his second wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Haywood, he became, the father of three children: Stephen, a resident of Gratiot county, Mich.; Silas, a resident of the same county in Michigan, and Maud, the wife of Lawrence J. Pugh, of Toledo, Ohio. Martin.. Richardson was a son of Thomas and Susannah (Whitney) Richardson, of Niagara county, New York, and the former was, a son of Thomas Richardson, who was a native of Vermont, becoming one of the pioneers of Niagara county, New York, where he passed the remainder of his life. James S. Richardson, subject of this sketch, was reared on the old homestead farm, in Royalton township, where he has made his home from the time of his birth and where he is the renter of a fine farm of 400 acres. In his political allegiance Mr. Richardson is a Democrat, and he has been called upon to serve in various local offices of trust and responsibility. He was township trustee for two terms and served several terms as school director. He is a member of Lyons Lodge, No. 622, Independent Order of   BIOGRAPHICAL - 523   Odd Fellows, having been the third person to unite with the same. March 12, 1871, Mr. Richardson married Miss Philinda Welsh, daughter of Erastus and Lenora (Gates) Welsh, of Royalton township, and of this union twelve children have been born, namely: Rose, Leo, George, Elizabeth, Frank, Belle, Mark, Olive, James, Nellie, Roy and Mabel. Rose is the wife of William Barnes. Leo the wife of Mahlon Terry. Elizabeth is the wife of William Gephart, Frank is the wife of Ernest Hinkle. Belle is the wife of Jacob Gephart.   SIDNEY J. RICHARDSON, M. D., is one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Fulton county, being successfully established in practice at Swanton. He was born on a farm in Webster township, Wood county, Ohio, on the 22nd of April, 1869, and is a son of Dr. William D. and Ann L. (Warser) Richardson, both of whom were born in Erie county, Ohio. The father accompanied his Parents on their removal to Wood county, in the early pioneer days, Ind he there assisted in the reclamation of the home farm, and later he improved a farm of his own, in the same county. He now resides on his home place, the one on which his son, Sidney J., was born, land for many years he has been engaged in the practice of medicine, and also giving his supervision to the operation of his farm. He, is In able physician and controls a large practice. He and his wife Mire two sons and five daughters, all of whom are living except one daughter, Ms. Emily S. Lundy. All the children remain resident of Wood county with the exception of the subject of this sketch. Dr. Sidney J. Richardson received his preliminary educational training in the public schools of his native county and supplemented this by a course in the Northwestern Ohio Normal University, at Ada. He prepared himself for the pedagogic profession, but after a brief experience as a teacher he determined to adopt the profession of *medicine, initiating his technical studies in 1899. In the autumn of that year he entered the Detroit Homeopathic College, in the city of Detroit, Mich., where he was a student for two years. He then was matriculated in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, where he completed his course and was graduated in the spring of 1903, receiving his degree from this unexcelled professional institution. He did not engage in the active practice of his profession until the spring of 1905, when he located in Swanton, where he entered into a professional partnership with Dr. Samuel Odell, and he is meeting with unequivocal success in his professional work. The Doctor is independent in his political views, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with Middleton Lodge, No. 786, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Dunbridge, O.   EDGAR H. RITCHEY is one of the native sons of Fulton county who is here exploiting the fine possibilities of successful enterprise in the domain of advanced agriculture and stock-growing, being one of the prominent farmers of Amboy township. He was born in this township, on the 19th of January, 1858, and is a son of John W.   524 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   and Mary Ann (Luke) Ritchey, the former of whom was born in Bedford county, Pa., and the latter in Shelby county, Ohio. Joseph Ritchey, of Holland-Dutch descent, waS the founder of the family in Fulton county, being the grandfather of him whose name initiates this paragraph. He settled in the wilds of Amboy township in 1836 and here cleared and otherwise improved a farm of eighty acres, upon which, he continued to reside until his death. He married Miss Rebecca Young, a native of Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of ten children, namely: John W., Malinda, Edward, Emanuel, Amanda, Henry, Joseph, Urilla, Rebecca and Linza. Of the children four are living at the present time. John W. Ritchey was a child at the time of his parents' removal from Pennsylvania to Fulton county, and here he was reared to manhood under the environments of the pioneer era. He became one of the large land-holders of Amboy township, where he reclaimed a fine farm from the virgin wilds, and of this old homestead his son, Edgar H., now owns one hundred acres, eligibly located, one and one-half miles south of the village of Metamora. John W. Ritchey retired from the farm in the autumn of 1888 and took up his residence in Metamora, where he was successfully engaged in general merchandise business until the time of his death, which occurred February 14, 1900, at which time he was seventy-four years of age. His widow still resides in Metamora. They reared to maturity four children, of whom two are living--Alvina, who is the wife of David Seebring, of Lenawee county, Mich., and Edgar H., who is the subject of this review. Those deceased are Elba and Zoa. Edgar H. Ritchey was reared ' on the 'farm which is now his home, and his scholastic advantages were those of the public schools of the locality. He has always lived on the old homestead and been concerned in its operation. He has had the entire charge of the place since the removal of his father to Metamora, as noted, and he is recognized as one of the progressive farmers and loyal and enterprising citizens of his native county, where he is ably upholding the high standard of the honored name which he bears. In 1894 he became an interested principal in the Metamora Lumber Company, with which he has since been identified, the concern controlling a large and constantly increasing trade. In politics Mr. Ritchey is a stalwart Republican, has been a prominent factor in public affairs of a local nature, and the esteem in which he is held in the community has been shown in the offices to which he has been called through the franchise support of his fellow citizens. He served six years as trustee of Amboy township, and is now serving his second term of three yeas in the responsible office of county commissioner. In a fraternal way he is identified with the lodge, chapter, and council of the Masonic order and with the Kinghts of the Maccabees of the World. November 20, 1887, Mr. Ritchey was united in marriage to Miss Addie Crockett, daughter of Willard and Hannah (Rice) Crockett, of Ogden, Lenawee county, Mich., and they have one daughter, Rowena.   BIOGRAPHICAL - 525   HENRY H. RITTENHOUSE, ex-sheriff of Fulton county, was born in Wayne county, Ohio. He is the son of J. D. and Sarah E. (Gant) Rittenhouse, both born in Westmoreland county, Pa. His grandfather, Henry S. Rittenhouse, also a native of Pennsylvania, .came from that State, first to Wayne county and afterwards to Fulton township, Fulton county. Here he located on a farm in 1840 and spent the remainder of his life. J. D. Rittenhouse, born in 1822, located on his father's farm in 1848. Taking an active part in the Public affairs of his township, he served as justice of the peace and trustee. He and his wife are still living, being hale and hearty, notwithstanding he is eighty-four and his wife eighty-seven years old. The subject of this sketch came to Fulton township with his parents when three yeas old. He received his education in the public schools of his home county. At the early age of eighteen years he entered the employ of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railway company and served than faithfully for eighteen years. For sixteen years of that time he acted as foreman of track work on the Air-Line division of that road. After leaving the employ of the railway company he served as street commissioner and city marshal of Wauseon for sixteen yeas. In ow he was elected sheriff of Fulton county and was re-elected in 1902. During his administration be arrested the first party tried and convicted of murder in the first degree in his county, and witnessed the electrocution of the criminal at Columbus, June 3, 1904. T. F. Rittenhouse, an only brother of the subject of this sketch, is foreman in the Toledo, 0. tube-works. Henry H. Rittenhouse married Miss Eliza A. Saul of ;he village of Milbern, Williams county, 0. She is the daughter of George Saul, one of the .pioneer settlers of that county, who came to Ohio from Pennsylvania. There has been one child to bless this marriage, Albert, who died in infancy. The career of Henry H. Rittenhouse has been a' remarkably successful one. He has always held positions of great responsibility, and has invariably filled them satisfactorily. His long service as a railroad man speaks well of his capacity for Work of that kind. To be retained as street commissioner and city marshal so long reflects great credit on him for bravery and faithfulness to duty. No other sheriff has done more than he to stamp out crime and to punish criminals. He was elected to execute the law in the county, and he did his duty fearlessly and without favor.   CASSIUS M. ROBINSON, proprietor of a livery, sales and feed stable at Swanton, iS the representative of a family long established on American soil, his maternal ancestors having come from Scotland and Germany. His father, Barnet Robinson, was born on a farm at the head of Seneca Lake, in Cayuga county, N. Y., and came to Ohio about seventy years ago, being one of the very earliest settlers of this territory. In those days he did his milling at Maumee, using an ox team, and spending three days on the round trip. He bought a tract of one hundred and five acres of heavily-timbered land. With the aid of his sons he cleared this land and brought it to a high state of cultivation. In answer to his country's call for defenders, he en-   526 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   listed in the Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry and served with credit throughout the war. The maiden name of his first wife was Miss Caroline Frost, a native of New York State, who died in early womanhood. To this union there were born six children, of whom four are still living. Their names follow: The eldest died in infancy; Marvin, a mechanic, of Lyons, O.; Sarah, the wife of John Gillis, both deceased; Carrie, now Mrs. Vincent Smith, of Morenci, Mich.; Mahlon, a farmer of Van Buren county, Mich., and Cassius M. The father's second wife was Miss Julia Carey in maidenhood, who died one year after her marriage. Cassius M. Robinson was born in Royalton township, Fulton county, on February 22, 1859. With the exception of three years, spent at Toledo, O., he has always lived in this county. He received a limited education in the schools of his native township. At the age of fourteen years he left home and has been self-dependent ever smce. For fourteen years he was engaged in the carpenter business. From early manhood he followed farming until he established his present business at Swanton in 1902. He has prospered sufficiently to own his farm and all the livery equipments, as well as a fine residence. While Mr. Robinson is actively identified with the Republican party, he has never sought or held public office. He is a Past Noble Grand of the Swanton Lodge, No. 528, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On December 1, 1881, he chose as his life partner Miss Frances Fenton, the daughter of the Hon. John Fenton, late of Fulton county, who represented that county in the State legislature for four years. To Cassius M. Robinson and wife there have been born two children. They are: Margaret Myrtle and Lloyd, both still at home and the latter a student at school.   HUBERT D. ROBINSON, who is now living retired in the attractive village of Metamora, is the owner of one of the, fine farm properties of Amboy township and was long and prominently identified with the agricultural interests of the county, the family having located here in the early pioneer days. Mr. Robinson was born in Amboy township, this county, on the 5th of January, 1847, and is a son of George and Rebecca (Davis) Robinson, who came to this county in 1846, settling in Section 20, Amboy township, where the father secured eighty acres of land, which he reclaimed from the native forest, developing one of the excellent farms of the county and being a citizen of prominence and influence in his community, where he was held in unequivocal esteem. He continued to reside on this old homestead until his death, on the 6th of January, 1897, in his ninetieth year. He was born m the State of New Jersey, May 14, 1807, and in 1830 was united in marriage to Polly Morehouse, whose death occurred about nine years later. They became the parents of five children, of whom two are living: Julia, wife of Jonathan Worden, and Jane, the wife of John Henwood. In 1840 George Robinson married Rebecca Davis, who was born and reared in the State of New York, and whose family were residents of Indiana for a number of years prior to coming to Fulton county, Ohio, where her marriage   BIOGRAPHICAL - 527   to Mr. Robinson was solemnized. Of this union were born nine children, of whom eight attained to years of maturity: Louisa, who is the wife of James Blaine; Lyman, who was a soldier in the Civil war and died at Columbus, Ohio, while in the service; Hubert D., who is the immediate subject of this sketch; Didama, who became the wife of Ambrose Stevens and is now deceased; Albert, who resides in Colorado, and Amos, who is engaged in farming in Michigan; Melinda, who is the wife of Scott Taylor; John M., deceased, and William, deceased. Hubert D. Robinson was associated in the work of the old homestead farm until he had attained the age of twenty- two years, and his early educational advantages were those to be had in the common schools of the locality. In 1869 his father gave him forty acres of land in Section 17, Amboy township, to which he later added by the purchase of an adjoining forty acres, and a considerable portion of this tract was cleared by him, and he placed the farm under a high state of cultivation and made all the excellent permanent improvements to be noted on the same to-day, the buildings being of substantial and attractive order. He continued to reside on this homestead until the spring of 1890, when he removed to Metamora, where he has since lived retired, having a pleasant home in this village, but still retaining the ownership of the farm. In politics he is a stanch Republican and he has ever shown a loyal interest in public affais, of a local order. He has served as mayor of the village of Metamora and is now rendering effective service in the capacity of street commissioner. He and his wife are membes of the Methodist Episcopal church. On Christmas day, of the year 1869, Mr. Robinson was united in marriage to Miss Josephine Kennedy, daughter of Robert and Hannah (LaDow) Kennedy, of Fulton township, this county, both having been natives of the State of New York. Mr. and Ms. Robinson have one daughter, Estella, wife of William Penny, who resides on and operates her father's farm.   JOHN RUCKMAN, a representative farmer and stock-grower of York township, was one of the brave ,"boys in blue" who upheld the glory of the Union arms during the turbulent epoch of the Civil war, and in the times of peace he has been found equally true to duty, in whatever way it has presented, so that he has always commanded the confidence and esteem of his fellow-men. Mr. Ruckman was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, August 6, 1836, and is a son of James and Hannah (Hoffman) Ruckman, the former of whom was born in Hampshire county, Virginia, November 29, 1807, and the latter in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1811. The father came to Ohio in 1830, and here followed agricultural pusuits during his active career, both he and his wife passing the closing years of their lives in Hancock county. He died in October, 1892, and his wife passed away in February, 1903, at the very advanced age of ninety-two years. John Ruckman was reared to maturity in Hancock county, receiving a common-school education and early becoming inured to earnest toil and endeavor, since he was reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm. In March, 1858, he started out for himself, being variously em-   528 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   ployed up to the time of the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion. On the 21st. of October, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Fifty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he continued in the service of El country three years, nine months and twenty-three days—representing practically the entire period of the war. He was mustered out, at Little. Rock, Arkansas, August 14, 1865. He participated in more than twenty of the most important battles of the great conflict, and was taken prisoner at Atlanta, in July, 1864, being exchanged two month later, in time to accompany Sherman on the ever memorable "man to the sea." He took part in the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, the Corinth and Atlanta campaigns, the battles of Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Dalton and Atlanta. He thus saw about as arduous and important service as any of the soldiers who so valiantly fought for the old flag. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Ruckman located in Fulton county in 1874, and has resided on, hi! present homestead for the past thirty-one yeas, having a weli, proved farm of eighty acres. He is a Democrat in politics and bath he and his wife are membes of the Methodist Episcopal church March 2o, 1866, Mr. Ruckman was married to Miss Nancy J. Klechner, who was born in Hancock couy, Ohio, October 1, 1847, beings daughter of Isaac and Barbara J. (Fishel) Kleckner, both of German descent. Mr. and Ms. Ruckman have had four children: Mary, who is the wife of Irving D. Miller, of Kansas ; Maggie V., who is decease, having been the wife of William H. Lefferson; Anna, who is the, wife of G. F. Sams, of Clinton township, and John W., who has Are practical management of the home farm, and who was born on this homestead on the 15th of March, 1877.   EDWARD W. RUPPERT, one of the progressive and successful farmes of York township, is a representative of one of the old and . honored families of Fulton county, his grandfather, Henry Ruppert, having been one of the early settlers of York township. Henry Ruppert was born in Berks county, PennSylvania, and was there reared to maturity. In 1851 he took up his residence in York township, Fulton county, Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life, having here developed a good farm from the virgin wilds. He was a man of a strong mentality and received a good common-school education, having been a successful teacher for a season, when a young man, and having thereafter followed the weaver's trade, in Pennsylvania, until his removal to Ohio. In the old Keystone state was solemnized his marriage to Mrs. Magdalene (Zimmerman) Keller, and they became the parents of four children. Sallie Ann, widow of Benjamin Miller, resides in Blissfield, Michigan; John Adam is deceased ; Lena became the wife of Lewis Gerringer and is now deceased, and Henry also is deceased. John Adam Ruppert, father of him whose name initiates this review, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, in May, 1839, and was reared to manhood in his native State, where he was afforded the advantages of the schools of the county in which he was born. He accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio, and he settled in Section 29, York township, Fulton county, where he became   BIOGRAPHICAL - 529   prosperous farmer and honored and influential citizen, continuing to reside in that township during the remainder of his life, save for a few years passed in the city of Wauseon. He first married Miss Elizabeth Lillich, daughter of John M. Lillich, who was an early settler of Clinton township, this county. Mrs. Ruppert was summoned into eternal rest in 1871, having become the mother of eight children, tamely: Edward W., who is the immediate subject of this sketch ;Alfred, Charles 0., Samuel and Henry, all of whom reside in Wauseon, this county; Benjamin, who is deceased; John A., who is a resident of useon; and Lizzie, who is the wife of Philip Upp, Jr., of Wauseon. In 1873 John A. Ruppert married Miss Rachel Ruppert, who died about two years later, the two children of this union having died in infancy. In 1876 Mr. Ruppert married Mrs. Mary (Stimmel) Mayer, who survives him, no children having been born of this marriage. Mr. Ruppert died on the 7th of May, 1896. He was a man of sterling integrity and was a citizen who commanded unqualified respect. He was a Republican in politics and his religious faith was that of the Evangelical church. Edward W. Ruppert, eldest son of John A. and Elizabeth (Lillich) Ruppert, was born in York township, on the 19th of July, 3857, and here he has ever maintained his home, having been identified with the great basic industry of agriculture from his youth to the present and being now the owner of a well-improved farm of twenty acres. He received his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native township, and his interest in all that pertains to the welfare of the community, and county is reinforced by the associations and memories which cover the span of his life thus far. He is a stalwart adherent of the Republican party, but has never been a seeker of public office; is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees, and both he and his wife are members of the Evangelical church. On the 4th of February, 1886, Mr. Ruppert was united in marriage to Miss Nora Biddle, daughter of George D. Biddle, of whom specific mention is made elsewhere in this publication. They have two children—Frances Chloe and Clive Biddle.   AMOS L. RUSSELL, one of the representative farmers and stock-growers of Gorham township, has passed his entire life in Fulton county and is a member of one of its honored pioneer families. The old homestead in which he was born was located about forty rods south of his present residence, on the opposite side of the road, and there he made his debut on the stage of life, January 13, 1848, being a son of Benjamin F. and Delia (Ford). Russell. Benjamin F. Russell was born in the city of Rochester, N. Y., March 9, 1803, and was a son of Simon and Polly (Bailey) Russell, who were born in Maine, of Scotch and Welsh descent, respectively. They settled in Monroe county, N. Y., within the first decade of the nineteenth century, and in 1818 they came to Ohio and located in Lake county, being pioneers of that section of the State, where Simon Russell died about the year 1852, and his widow died in 1855, in Henry county, this State. They became the parents of eleven children, of whom eight attained years of maturity : Mrs. Rebecca Knight, James, Mrs. Mary   530 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   Winkler, Benjamin F., Mrs. Abigail Chase, Joseph, Mrs. Elizabeth Blakely, and Mrs. Caroline Cram. Simon Russell was a shoemaker by trade and followed the same as a vocation during his entire business career. Benjamin F. Russell was less than a year old at the time of his parents' removal to Ohio, he passed his boyhood and youth in Lake county, and he learned the baker's trade when a young man, but never followed the same as a vocation. In 1841 he engaged in the grocery and provision business in Maumee, Lucas county, and in the following year he was engaged as salesman in the grocery store of his brother at Canandaigua, Lenawee county, Mick, and in 1843 he settled in Gorham township, Fulton county, where he purchased thirty acresl of land, for a consideration of one hundred and twenty dollars, eventually adding to it and becoming the owner of a well-improved farm, having been one of the prominent and honored citizens of this section, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1897. In 1843 he was united- in marriage to Miss Elmina Ford, who was born in Massachusetts, being a daughter of Ansel and Deborah (Tower) Ford, who were early settlers of Gorham township; whither they came from the old Bay State, here passing the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Elmina Russell died in September, 1846, and of her three children none attained years of maturity.. On the 2d of March, 1847, Mr. Russell married Miss Delia Ford, who was born April 29, 1827, being a, sister of the first wife. Benjamin F. and Delia (Ford) Russell became the parents of eight children, of whom two died in early childhood, and Elmina, who was- born March 3, 1852, died August 10, 1870, from blood poisoning, resulting from the bite of a potato bug The names, with respective dates of birth, of the five living children are as follows: Amos L., subject of this review, January 13, 1848; L. Fremont; August 25, 1854; Flora May, May 16, 1857; Emily Virginia, October 7, 1860; and Mary Ophelia, September 12, 1862. Amos L. Russell passed his boyhood days on the home farm, in Gorham township, and was afforded the advantages of the district school and the graded schools of Fayette. At the age of twenty-three years he engaged in farthing on his own responsibility, on the John Smith place, in Section 25, Gorham, township, and in 1880 he purchased and located upon his present "farm, the, same comprising one hundred and sixty acres Of fine land, and being well improved in all respects. He devotes his attention to general farmmg and the raising of stock, buying and feeding cattle, which he places upon the market in considerable numbers each year In politics he is a supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and he is an appreciative member of the Masonic fraternity, in which his affiliations are with the following bodies: Fayette Lodge, No 387, F. & A. M.; Wauseon Chapter, No 111, R. A. M.; Wauseon Council, No 68, R. & S. M.; Defiance Commandery, No. 30, Knights Templar; and Fayette Chapter, No 77, Order of the Eastern Star. It will thus be seen that he has completed the circle of York Rite Mason and he takes a deep interest in the work and affairs of each the bodies with which he is identified. February 19, 1871, Mr. Russell married Miss Eliza. Hutchinson. who   531 - BIOGRAPHICAL   was born in Whitley county, Ind., and of their five children four are living, Ora having died at the age of nine years. Nellie, Florence and Mervin became members of the home circle, and Verna is the wife of William M. Marzolf, a prosperous young farmer of Franklin township.   MARVIN E. ROBINSON, a retired farmer and carpenter of Lyons, is one of the honored pioneer citizens of Fulton county, where he has lived from his boy-hood days, representing a period of about three-score years. He was born in Covert, Seneca county, N. Y., in the picturesque lake district of the old Empire State; on the 4th of August, 1833, and is a son of Barnett M. and Sally Ann (Hall) Robinson, natives respectively of Dutchess and Seneca counties, that State, and members of families long established on American soil. In 1834 the parents came to the West and located in Lenawee county, Mich., whence, in 1836, they came over into what is now Fulton county, Ohio, and settled in the wilds of Royalton township, where the father secured one hundred acres of government land, which he reclaimed from the forest, making good improvements on the place in later years and continuing to reside on the homestead until his death, at the venerable age of eighty-eight years. His connubial record is somewhat unique andexceptional, in that he was married seven times. His first wife, Sally Ann, mother of the subject of this sketch, bore him four children—Marvin E. Sarah, deceased wife of John Gillis; James, deceased; and Hannah, wife of Vincent Smith. The maiden name of the second wife was Caroline Carpenter, who bore two children, Mahlon and Cassius. The fourth wife, Alice, nee Shaffer, became the mother of one daughter, Alice, now the wife of Frank Gardner. For his fifth wife Mr. Robinson married Louisa Hopkins, and their only daughter, Ina, is the wife of Reed Loar. Marvin E. Robinson was three years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Royalton township, and he has witnessed the development of this section from the sylvan wilds to its present status of advanced civilization and opulent prosperity, and he has contributed his quota to the work of advancement. In point of continuous residence he has the distinction of being at the present time the oldest settler in Royalton township. He secured his early educational training in the pioneer schools, trudging his way to the little log school house during the short winter terms and assisting in the work of the farm during the summer seasons, for each member of the family assumed a due share of responsibility, money being scarce and the labors of the pioneers most onerous. He has been known as .one of the representative farmers of the township for many years, being actively engaged in-agricul-   532 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   tural, pursuits until 1903, since which time he has lived essentially retired. He is possessed of excellent mechanical ability, and for thirty- five years he followed the carpenter trade, m connection with his farm work. He cleared, and made substantial improvements upon a farm of eighty acres, in Sections 21 and 28, and he has maintained his home in the village of Lyons since 1903. To his honor stands Mr. Robinson's loyalty to the Union cause during the Civil war, in which. he served as a soldier for a short period, havnng enlisted May 2, 1864, as a private in Company D, One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, with which he was on active duty until the ad of the following September, when he received his honorable discharge, in the city of Toledo, Ohio. He is a member of Baxter Post, No 238 , Grand Army of the Republic, at Lyons, is a Republican in his political adherency, and both he and his wife hold membership in, the Christian church. April 5, 1858, Mr. Robinson was united in marriage to Miss Lovina, daughter of William Onweller, a pioneer of Chesterfield township, and she was called to the life eternal in 1869, having borne four children, of whom two attained to maturity, Wesley and Eston. February 9, 1871, Mr. Robinson married Miss Orlina Steadman, daughter of Alva and Thankful (Rogers) Steadman, of Amboy township, and they have one son, Herschel.   GEORGE K. RUSSELL is the owner of one of the valuable farms of Franklin township, where he has maintained his home from his boyhood dayS and where he enjoys the confidence and good-will of the community. He was born near Shippensburg, Cumberland county, Pa. on the 21st of March, 1861, and is a son of William and Harriet (Neal) Russell, both of whom: were born and reared in that county, where the respective families were early founded.. John Russell, father of William, continued a resident of Cumberland county until his death, having been the owner of a good farm and also having operated a saw-mill for a number of years. About 866 William Russell removed with his family from Pennsylvania to Fulton county, Ohio, locating in Section 7 Franklin township, where he improved a good farm. He had learned the carpenter trade in Pennsylvania, where he followed the same as a vocation, and after coming to Fulton county he did a considerable amount of work in this line, having assisted in the erection of a number of school-houses in this locality, besides other buildings. He served several terms as township treasurer and also held the office of land-appraiser, and his political faith was that of the Democratic party. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and both he and his wife were members of the Christian Union Church. The latter was summoned to the life eternal on the 7th of November, 1894, at the age of sixty-one years, and he passed away on the 23d of the same month, at the age of sixty years. They became the parents of two children, of whom George K. is the younger. The elder son, John W., is likewise a representative farmer of Franklin township. After completing the curriculum of the public schools of Franklin township George K. Russell continued his studies under most favorable auspices, in the   BIOGRAPHICAL - 533   Fayette Normal University, at Fayette, this county, and he has been identified with the agricultural industry from his youth to the present and has found it a worthy and satisfactory tield of enterprise. At the of twenty-two yeas he began farming on the place which is now home, after which he rented the Dunebarger farm, adjoining continuing to operate the same for the ensuing fifteen yeas. He then located again on his present homestead, which comprises seventy-eight acres, and he has also purchased the Dunebarger farm, of eighty acres, thus having nearly a quarter of a section of as fine land as is to be found within the limits of Fulton county. The place is devoted to general farming and stock-growing, and Mr. Russell is known as one of the enterprising and successful farmers of the township and as a substantial and liberal citizen. He is aligned in the local ranks of the Democratic party, served one term as constable and two terms as township trustee, and in a fraternal way is identified with Fayette Hive; No. 1188, Knights of the Maccabees. June 3, 1882, Mr. Russel was united in marriage to Miss Angeline Dunebarger, who was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, April 26, 1863, being a daughter of William and Maria (Specht) Dunebarger, early settlers of that county. Her father died in 1900, aged seventy-six years, two months and one day, and her mother now resides with Mr. and Mrs. Russell being sixty-eight years of age (1905). She it the mother of two children,, of whom Mrs. Russell is the younger. The son, Mahlon, resides in Auburn, hid. Mr. and Ms. Russell 'have three children—Hattie May, William Grover and Mahlon John.   DANIEL RYCHENER, a successful farmer and stock-grower of Swan Creek township, is a native of Fulton county and is of one of its prominent pioneer families. He was born in German township, December 21, 1848, and is a son of Chritian and Magdalena (Grieser) Rychener, the former of whom was born in Canton Berne, Switzerland, in 1813, and the latter was horn in Germany, in 1817. Christian Rychener came to Ohio as a young man, first locating in Wayne county, where he remained until 1836, when he came to what is now Fulton county, the family of his wife coming a little later. Christian and Magdalena Rychener were the first couple to be married in this county after its organization. They located on a tract of land in German township, in the midst of the virgin forest, and there the father reclaimed and developed a good farm, being ably assisted by his sons. In the primitive log-house were born eleven children to this worthy couple, who passed the remainder of their lives on this old homestead, which comprises eighty aores and which is still in the possession of the family. Daniel Rychener early began to lend his aid in the work of the pioneer farm, and his educational advantages were those offered by the somewhat primitive schools of the locality. In 1873 he was married, and he and his wife took up their abode on a small farm of their own, in German township. There they spent the first twenty yeas of their married life, and there all of their children were born. In 1894 they sold this farm, which comprised twenty acres, and purchased their present   534 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   homestead, which comprises eighty acres, in Section 22, Swan creek township. This place was at the time practically wild, covered largely with underbrush, with some timber. The land is of good quality and when properly tiled it is exceptionally productive. He has reclaimed much of the place to cultivation, has good buildings, including a com fortable residence and large barn, while other improvements are of excellent sort. A wind-mill pumps water for domestic and general farm use, the water passing first to the house and then to the barn and stock-yards. In addition to his general farm work Mr. Rychener is giving much attention to dairying, selling his product to the milk condensery at Delta. On a fair average his cows produce in milk about six dollars' worth per head each month. In politics Mr. Rychener is a stanch Republican, but he has never sought or held office. Both he and his wife are membes of the Mennonite church. Their son, who is one of the popular and sterling young men of the community, assists his father on the home farm during the summer seasons and attends school wintes. December 18, 1873, Mr. Rychener was united in marriage to Miss Mary Eckley, who was born in German township, August 10, 1851, a daughter of Jacob and Magdalena (Kreiger) Eckley, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania, September 22, 1822, and the latter was born in Holmes county, Ohio, February 9, 1829. They were married in German township, Fulton county, August 10, 1848, and save for two years passed in Michigan, they remained residents of that township during the rest of their lives. Mr. Eckley died December 18, 1877, and his wife passed away October 5, 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Rychener have three daughters and one son: Nancy, born October 7, 1874, is the wife of John Rashley, a farmer of York township; Esther, born August 15, 1876 is not married and still remains at the parental home; Louisa, born January 18, 1879, is the wife of Jesse Richardson, of Swan Creek township; and Aaron, the only son, was born February 10, 1889. All of the family are members of the Mennonite church.   DANIEL H. SAEGER is a scion of one of the stanch old pioneer families of Fulton county, and he has resided in Fulton township from the time of his birth to the present, being numbered among the representative farmers and stock-growers of this section of the county. He was barn on the old homestead farm, one and one-half miles northwest of his present place of residence, on the 8th of January, 1856, and is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Nobbs) Saeger. Samuel Saeger was born in Pennsylvania, December 24, 1828, and his immediate family is now represented by two sistes, one of whom lives in Stark county and the other in Williams county, Ohio. The original American progenitor came from Germany in an early day and located in Pennsylvania, where numerous representatives of the name are found at the present day. Samuel Saeger resides in Delta, but still owns the old homestead, and both he and his wife are held in the highest regard in the community. The latter is a sister of John H. Nobbs, of this county, in connection with whose sketch a resume of the family history appears, on others pages of this work.   BIOGRAPHICAL - 535   Of the children of Samuel and Sarah Saeger the following is a brief record: Tillman died at the age of thirty-eight years; Sarah Jane b the wife of Daniel Beard, of Fulton township; Ida, who became the wife of Charles Hayes, of Pike township, is deceased; Daniel H., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Lavina is the wife of James J. Born, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this publication; Rosetta is the wife of Albert Dennis, of Pike township; Mary, deceased, was the wife of Richard Quilliams; Martha is the widow of James E. Mann and resides in Swanton, this county. Daniel H. Saeger was reared on the old home farm, and continued to be associated in its work and management until 1899, representing a period of forty-four years, and his educational training as a youth was secured in the public-schools of the locality. In 1899 he took up his residence on his present fine farmstead, which comprises eighty acres, in Section five, Fulton township, and he has made excellent improvements on the place, including the remodeling of the house and the practical rebuilding of the barn, both of which, are now of modern type, and the other buildings are of substantial order. He has cleared ten acres of heavy timber on the place, has put up good fences and has made his homestead one of the best of the smaller farms of this section. He gives his attention to general farming and stock-raising, and does a somewhat extensive dairying business, selling his product principally to the milk condensary at Delta. In politics Mr. Saeger is a stanch Republican, and he has served in minor offices in native township. He was reared in the faith of the Methodist church, and his wife is a member of the Presbyterian church. Both are members of Berry Grange, No. 1111, as is also their daughter. March 20, 1883. Mr. Saeger was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Snyder, a daughter of Simon and Rachel (Biddle) Snyder, both families having been founded in Ohio in an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Saeger have two children. Clarence R., who was born February, 20, 1887, is associated with his father in the work of the home farm. Orpha M., born August 1, 1890, is a student in the high school at Delta.   OSCAR M. SARGENT is one of the sterling pioneer citizens of Fulton county, where he has lived from his infancy, having witnessed the development of this section from the virgin forest into one of the most attractive and prosperous agricultural and general industrial sections of the old Buckeye State. He is a representative citizen of Gorham township, where he has been engaged in farming during practically his entire mature life. He was born near Elbridge, Onondaga county, New York, on the 28th of July, 1839, and is a son of Ephraim and Huldah (Collins) Sargent. His father was born in the State of Vermont, of stanch old English Puritan stock, and after the death of his mother, when he was about fourteen years of age, he accompanied his father to the State of New York, where he was reared to maturity . His father likewise bore the name of Ephraim, and in the family were five sons—Ira, George, Jeremiah, Ephraim, Jr,, and Charles, all of whom are deceased except the last-named,   536 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   who resides in Michigan. The venerable father came west with the other members of the family, and he passed the closing years of his life in Ohio, where he died in 1867, at the age of eight-eight years, his vocation during his entire active career having been that of farming, with which basic industry the family name has been closely linked for several generations. In 1840, when the subject of this sketch was about seven months old; the venerable grandfather and his five sons, with their respective families, came to Northwestern Ohio, making the voyage by boat on Lake Erie to Toledo and thence proceeding by railroad to Adrian, Michigan, from which point they came overland to their destination, not many miles distant. The father of Oscar M. Sargent settled with his family in what it now Fulton county, as did other members of the family, and they secured some land from the government and acquired other land through private purchase, reclaiming the same from the forest wilds and living in the primitive but wholesome manner common to the pioneer era in this section. Ephraim Sargent, Jr., became one of the influential citizens and prominent pioneer farmers of Gorham township, and he passed the remainder of his life in Fulton couy, where he died October 26, 1897, at the patriarchal age of eighty-eight years. He was a man of invincible integrity and honor, tolerant and kindly and charitable in his judgment of his fellow-men. He was never involved in a lawsuit and was essentially a man of peace and wise judgment, and in politics he was a stanch Democrat. His first wife, Huldah, nee Collins, was born in Onondaga county, New York, in which State the family early settled, and she died when her youngest child was about two years of age. Seven children were born of this union; Charles died in 1896; Warren resides in Hillsdale county, Michigan; Cynthia is the wife of Rev. Hoxie, and they reside" in Onondaga county, New York ; Roxana is the widOW of Roland Kennedy, and resides in Morenci, Michigan; Oscar M. was the next in order of birth ; John is a farmer in Gorham township, as is also Courtland, the youngest of the children. For his second wife Ephraim Sargent married Phoebe Ball, of Michigan, who died in 189o, their children having been seven in number, namely : Alma Ann, wife of Nelson Benedict, of Hart, Michigan ; Mary became the wife of a Mr. Ball, of Hudson, Mich., and both are deceased; Martha is the widow of Elmer Todd and resides in Morenci, Mich.; Sarah is the wife of Frank Ferris, a prominent lawyer of Sioux City, Iowa ; Elizabeth is the wife of Benjamin Robinson, of Morenci, Mich.; Seymour resides on the old homestead, in Gorham township; and Helen is the wife of Emerson Eager, of Seattle, Wash. Oscar M. Sargent was reared on the pioneer farm, receiving only such educational advantages as were afforded in the primitive schools of the time, and his amusements in boyhood were of simple order and his labors onerous, as each of the family found ample work to do. He continued associated in the reclaiming and cultivating of the home farm until he had attained maturity, and afterward he was employed on various farms in the locality, earning and saving 'about   BIOGRAPHICAL - 537   one thousand dollars before he purchased a farm of his own. He now has a fine farm of one hundred and eighteen acres, in Sections 21 and 22, Gorham township, and is one of the prosperous and honored farmers and stock-growers of this section, which has been his home during essentially his entire life. In politics he is a Republican, but he has never sought public office. He was actively affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for many years, but is riot, active in his membership at the present time. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. March 4, 1873 Mr. Sargent married Miss Georgiana Cottrell, daughter of Joseph and Maria (Lloyd) Cottrell, the former born in Massachusetts, and the latter in Bennington, Vt. Joseph Cottrell was a son of Gorham Cottrell, who was one of the very early settlers of Fulton county, Gorham township having been named in his honor. The family were the first permanent settlers in this township, while Indians were still much in evidence in the locality. Gorham Cottrell was the leader in the organizing of the township and was a man of much influence in the community. He continued engaged in fanning until his death, at the age of seventy-three years. He married Althea Whitmarsh, and they had seven children: Erastus and Joseph are deceased; Gorham resides in Gorham township; Sardis is deceased; Lucy, now deceased, was the wife of George R. Joy, who resides in Pioneer, Williams county; Jane became the wife of Walter Norris and both died in Detroit, Mich.; and Althea became the wife of Bainbridge Belding, their home being in Fayette, O., at the time of his death, his wife having passed away several years previous. Joseph Cottrell .was a successful farmer of Gorham township and was a helpless paralytic for seven years before his death, October 9, 1890, at the age of seventy-six years. He was a prominent. Republican of this section and served several years as postmaster at Handy. His wife, whose maiden name was Maria Lloyd, was a daughter of Martin Lloyd, one of the early settlers of. Williams county, and she taught the first school in what is now Gorham township, Fulton county, the log school-house having been located in Section 21. She died December 2, 1897, aged eighty-four years. Seven children were born to Joseph and Maria Cottrell, of whom the eldest was Trowbridge, who is deceased, and Mrs. Sargent was the next in order of birth; Josephine is the wife of Court- land Sargent, of Gorham township ; Henrietta became the wife of Edward Crane and both are now deceased; Edgar T. resides in Ashley, North Dak. and Freeman and Elbridge are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Sargent became the parents of two children; Wilbur was accidentally killed, at the age of fourteen years, in 1891; and Joseph D., a successful farmer of Gorham township, married Miss Jessie Baker, of Morenci, Lenawee county, Mich., where she was born and reared.   JACOB H. SCHAFFNER, a native son .of Fulton county and one of the prosperous farmers of Franklin township, was born in Dover township, on the 23d of February, 1856, being a son of George   538 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   and Anna (Slaughter) Schaffner, both of Whom were born in the fair little republic of Switzerland. George Schaffner immigrated to America in his youth, and a few years later his father also came to the United States, passing the remainder of his life in the city of Toledo, Ohio. Ann (Slaughter) Schaffner came to the New World in company with her parents, and her marriage was solemnized in the State of Ohio. About 185o George Schaffner took up his residence in Dover township, this county, where he engaged in farming. reclaiming the greater portion of his land from the wild State, and for a number of years he worked at the potter's trade during the winter seasons, in Maumee, having learned this trade in his native land. He became one of the prosperous farmers and highly esteemed citizens of Fulton county, where he continued to reside until his death, in the spring of 1889, at the age of, sixty-six years. His wife died in 1870, in her thirty-sixth year, at which time her son, Jacob H., was a lad of fourteen years. Her remains rest in the Ayres cemetery, in Dover township, and her husband was interred in Spring Hill cemetery. This worthy couple became the parents of eight children; Mary is a resident of Morenci, Lenawee county, Mich. ; Jacob H. was the Second in order of birth; Anna is deceased; Eliza is the wife of Frank Miller, of Morenci, Mich: ; Louisa died at the age of twenty-three years; George resides on a farm near the village of Fayette, this county ; John makes his home in Morenci, Mich.; and Henry left home when a boy, his present address being unknown to his relatives. Jacob H. Schaffner was reared on the home farm, in Dover township, and was afforded the advantages of the public schools: He continued to be associated with his father in the operation of the home farm until the time of his marriage, when he rented a farm in Franklin township, on the Angola road, and six months later he rented old Darby farm, in the same township, remaining on this place seven years. He then purchased one hundred and twenty-five acres in Section 5, north of Bean creek, disposing of this property in February, 1896, purchasing one hundred and ninety-seven acres in Section 36, and in 1905, he bought an adjoining tract of one hundred and forty acres, so that he now has one of the largest and best improved landed estates- in Franklin township, its aggregate area being nearly three hundred and forty acres.. Mr. Schaffner is known as one of the progressive and representative farmers of his native county, and his success has been of unequivocal order, resulting from his well-directed industry and good business methods. True to the duties of citizenship and exercising his franchise in support of the principles of the Democratic party, Mr. Schaffner has never had any desire for public office. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. March 30, 1881, is to be recorded as the date of Mr. Schaffner's marriage to Miss Mary Dunkle, who was born in Switzerland, where her father died when she was a child, and not long afterward her mother came to America with her children, locating in Franklin township, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1861, and here continued to reside until 1887, when she removed to Kansas, where she died in 1893. Following is   BIOGRAPHICAL - 539   a brief record concerning the nine children of Mr. and Mrs. Schaffner: Albert remains at the parental home and is associated in the operation of the farm; Clara is the wife of Martin Sayres, of Franklin township; Charles and Frank are at home; Jacob died at the age of eleven years; and Grover, Oliver, Mahlon and Nina May are all members of the family circle in the attractive home, which is a place of utmost hospitality.   WILLIAM SCHUCH is the owner and operator of a well-improved farm, of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 6, Franklin township, and is one of the popular citizens of the community. He is a native of the old Keystone State, having been born in Lycoming county, Pa., March 18, 1863, a son of Jacob and Regina (Stoltz) Schuch, the former of whom was born in Germany, being six years of age at the time of his parents immigration to America, in 1833, the family settling in Pennsylvania, where he was reared to manhood, becoming one of the prosperous farmers of Lycoming couy, where he still maintains his home. He is a son of Peter and Barbara (Drum) Schuch, who remained resident of Pennsylvania until death. the former having followed farming and lumbering and having died at, the age of sevey-eight years, and his wife died seven months later. Of their seven children six attained maturity ; Margaret is the widow of Philip Heisley and resides in Perry county, Pa..; Peter is a resident of Pioneer, Williams county, Ohio; Jacob is the father of the subject of this review; Katie is the wife of William Krisher, of Williams county, Ohio; Sarah is the wife of Charles Smith, of Williamsport, Pa.; Louisa is the wife of Joseph Aderhold, of Lycoming county, Pa.; and one child died when very young. Jacoby and Regina Schuch, who still reside on their old homestead, in Lycoming county, Pa., have reared seven children, of whom William is the eldest; Charles likewise is a successful farmer of Franklin township, Fulton county, Ohio ; Emma is the wife of Dr. Charles Bastian, of Lycoming couy, Pa.; Peter is engaged in farming in that county; Phoebe is the wife of Edward Williamson, and they reside on the home farm of her father; Hattie is the wife of a Mr. Lusk, of Lycoming county; Katie remains at the parental home; and Harry is a successful teacher in the public schools of Lycoming county. William Schnell remained on the homestead farm until he was twenty- two years of age, having duly, availed himself of the advantages of the public schools of the locality. He then came to Fulton county, Ohio, and settled on a farm which his .father had purchased, in Franklin township. He sold this property in 1892 and purchased a farm near West Unity, in Williams county, and in two he came into possession of and settled upon his present place, which is well-improved and under effective cultivation, being devoted to diversified agriculture and stock-raising. Mr. Schuch is a stalward Democrat in his political proclivities, and his popularity in the community is well attested by the fact that he is now serving as a member of the board of trustees of Franklin township. September 29, 1885, Mr. Schuch was married to Miss Esther Hornberger, who was born   540 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   August 21, 1860, and reared in Lycoming county, Pa., where her parents, David and. Hannah (Ludwig) Hornberger resided until their death. Mr. and Mrs. Schuch have four children: Clarence Wesley, Bessie May, Harry William, and Ruth Regina.   RICHARD H. SCOTT is numbered among the enterprising and representative agriculturists of Royalton township ; he is also vice- president .of the Fulton County Savings Bank, of Lyons, and he is an honored pioneer of the county, where he has made his home for more than half a century. Mr. Scott has the distinction of being a native of the national metropolis, having been born in New York city, on the 9th of June, 1836, and being a son of Robert and Eliza (Halsey) Scott. His father was born in Glasgow, Scotland, whence be came to America in youth, and the mother was a native of the. city of Boston, and a member of one of the old Colonial families of New England. This worthy couple was numbered among the prominent pioneers of Fulton county, Ohio, having located in Royalton township in the early '5o's. Here the father secured eighty acres of wild land, heavily timbered, the property being located in Section 8, and he cleared and improved the place, with the aid of his two sons. Both parents continued to reside on this homestead until death, honored by all who knew them. Of their , two children the elder, Walter, was killed on shipboard, on the Indian ocean, while en route from New York city to Canton, China. Richard H., the younger son, was reared to the age of seventeen years in New York city, where he received good educational advantages, and the year 1853 marks the date of his arrival in Fulton county, where he gave material aid to his father in his reclamation of the homestead , farm, and he also cleared from the wilds a portion of the farm upon which he now resides. He has one hundred and sixty` acres of most arable land and has made the best of improvements on the plate, including the erection of a handsome residence, making the farmstead one of the most valuable and attractive in this part of the county. Mr. Scott was a-loyal soldier of the Union during the War of the Rebellion, having enlisted, on the 16th of, October, 1861, at a private in Company I, Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, which was-assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and he was an active par:- ticipant in all the engagements in which his 'command took part unto he was compelled to retire, by treason of physical disability, having received his honorable discharge in January, 1863. In politics .he. has been identified with the Republican party from the- time of its organization, and the confidence and regard of the community has been manifested in his being called upon to serve in various offices of distinctive trust and responsibility. He was trustee of Royalton township for fifteen years, was township assessor nine years, and was a member of the board of county commissioners for two terms, of three years each. He was one of the organizers of the Fulton County Savings bank, at Lyons, has been a member of its directorate from the start, and for the past two years he has been vice-president of the intitution. He is a member of Baxter Post, N. 238, G. A. R.   BIOGRAPHICAL - 541   In 1853 Mr. Scott was united in marriage to Miss Lucy A. Hilton, daughter of Jesse and Cynthia (Travers) Hilton, of Royalton township, and one son was born of this union, George C., who married Miss Lottie Hoag and who died in 19o2, leaving one son, Charles E.   FRED K. A. SFELY, a prominent merchant of Metamora and so incumbent of the office of cashier of the Farmers' and Merchants' bank, of that village, was born in Monroeville, Huron county, Ohio, October 11, 1862, a son of Robert and Marinao (Searles) Seely. His paternal grandfather, Charles Seely, was a resident of Pennsylvania and a tanner by trade, and the maternal grandfather, Elbridge Searles, was born in Massachusetts in 1812, settling in Hurbn county, Ohio, in the early 50's, and in 1861 he removed to Amboy township, Fulton county, where he knproved a good farm, on which he continued to reside until his death, in the autumn of 1899, at the age of eighty,seven years. Concerning his children the following brief record is given: Ralph and Addison both died while serving as soldiers in the Civil war; Jane is the wife of George Buskirk; Marina is the wife of Robert Seely; Rachel is the wife of Trune Alvord; Louisa is the wife of John Setzler; Oscar is a resident of this county; Mary is the wife of William Brooks; Julia is the wife of Jay White ; and the younger children are Emily, Frederick K. A., Hattie and Elbridge. Robert Seely has been a resident of -Monroeville, Ohio, since 1850, has there been engaged in the livery business since 1872, and he is also one of the oldest merchants of the town. He and his wife became the parents of six children, all whom are living, namely : Charles, Fred K. A., Cora, Edith, Laura M. and Edward. Fred K. A. Seely was reared in Monroeville, and after completing the curriculum of the public schools he took a course in the business college at Ada, Ohio. In 1880 he located M Metamora, where he was 'employed as salesman in a mercantile establishment for five years, after Which he was employed four years as traveling salesman of Agricultural implement& He then established himself in the furnitine and undertaking business in Metamom, in which line of enter- "Prise he_has since continued most successfully, and in 1900 he added a stove-department to"his well equipped establishment Upon the organization of the Farmers' and Merchants' Banking company, in , 1902; Mr. Seely was appointed cashier, in which executive capacity he has since served with marked discrimination and acceptability. He is also the owner of a fine farm of forty acres, in Amboy township, and is a reliable and public-spirited citizen and progressive business man. In politics Mr. Seely is a Republican, he has served in various offices, including that of clerk of Amboy township, and for the past seven years he has been village clerk, having been one of the incorporators of the village of Metamora, in 1893, and having taken a most active interest in all that has tended to advance the welfare and progress of the town. He is identified with the lodge, chapter and commandery of the Masonic fraternity, and also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife are valued members of the Methodist Episcopal church in their home town.   542 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   May 24, 1880, Mr. Seely was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Frail, daughter of Perry and Elizabeth Frail, of Delaware county, N. Y. They have no children.   JOHN B. SEGRIST is one of the sterling pioneer citizens of York township, where he has maintained his home for more than half a century, and he has here gained a full measure of success in connection with the vocation of fanning. He was born in the kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, on the 30th of August, 1823, being a son of John B. and Agnes (Laudenschlager) Segrist, who immigrated to America when he was about eight years of age, settling in Berks county, Pennsylvania, where he was reared to the age of eighteen years, being afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period. He then set forth to face the problems and labors of life on his own responsibility, coming to Ohio and settling in Stark county, where he remained about five years, at the expiration of which he removed to the city of Toledo, where he made' his home about four years, being employed at the butchering trade during this period. In 1853 he came to Fulton county and-settled in York township, where he secured two hundred and forty acres of land, the greater portion being unreclaimed, He has developed one of the valuable farms of the county, having erected good buildings and now having a fine homestead of two hundred and forty acres. He has been knowri as an energetic and progressive farmer and stock-grower, and he has so ordered his course as to retain the unequivocal confidence and esteem of his fellow-men, his entire life having been dominated by absolute integrity of purpose. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party; and his religious faith is that of the Lutheran church, of which he has been a member from his youth. In Coshocton county, Ohio, in 1851, Mr. Segrist was united in marriage to Miss Christina Laudenslager, and she died in 1866. Six children were born of this union, namely: Amanda, who is deceased; Mary Ann, who is the wife of Jonas H. Seymour, a representative farmer of York township; William H. who is likewise a successful farmer of this township; George, who is decease di John E., who is a prosperous farmer of York township ; and Agnes D., who is the wife of Samuel Ruppert, of Wauseon. In February, 1868, Mr. Segrist was married to Miss Lucinda Bowmann, of New Bedford, Coshocton county, and she was summoned to the life eternal. in July, 1891, leaving three children—Ellen, who is the wife of Elijah Dickerson, of Delta, this county; Theodore, who has charge of the operation of the homestead farm; and Fred A., who is engaged in farming in Swan Creek township.   WILLIAM SEGRIST, a prominent fanner and honored citizen of York township, was born in the kingdom of Wurtembtirg, Germany, on the 6th of May; 1829, and in 1832 his parents immigrated to America, locating in Berks county, Pennsylvania, where he was reared and educated. In 1848 ,he removed to Coshocton county, Ohio, where he married Miss Nancy Baad, who was born in Germany,   BIOGRAPHICAL - 543   August 28, 1836, and who was ten years of age at the time of her parents immigration to America, in 1846. Mr. Segrist was engaged in farming in Coshocton county until 1882; when he came to Fulton county, locating on his present farm, which is one of the well-improved places of York township, comprising one hundred and twenty acres. As a young man Mr. Segrist learned the miller's trade, but he has preferred to make farming his vocation and haS been most successful in the same. He is a Democrat in his political allegiance and has served in certain minor offices in his township. Both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. Mr. and Mrs. &grist have three children : John W., who was born September 18, 1858, is engaged in farming in this county ; Sophia, who was born October 20, 1867, remains with her aged parents; and Lewis, who was born June 28, 1870, is engaged in farming in York township 'on a farm he owns of forty acres.   G. SCOTT ROOS is a young man who is well upholding the prestige of the family name in connection with the industry of farming and also as a citizen of utmost loyalty and public spirit. He was born on his present homestead farm, in Chesterfield township, on the 18th of October, 1875, and is a son of George W. and Elizabeth (Tunison) Roos. His father was born in Barrytown, Dutchess county, N. Y. July 4, 1831, and in May, 1836, he came to Fulton county with his parents, who were numbered among the very early settlers in Chesterfield township, his father having here purchased a tract of government land in 1835. He developed a considerable portion of the homestead, which is the one on which his son, George W., now resides, and became one of the representative Citizens of the community, both he and his wife remaining on the farm until their death. George W. Roos was reared on the farm which is now his home, and his memory forms an indissoluble link between the primitive pioneer epoch and the latter days of opulent advancement and prosperity. He is a man who has ever stood high in the esteem of his community and has held various public offices of trust, including that of justice of the peace, of which he has remained incumbent for more than a quarter of a century. He is a Republican in politics, is a valued member of the county Grange and has long been an active and zealous member of the Christian church. He has been twice married. His first wife bore the maiden name of Catherine Bennett, and she was born in the State of New York, about 1834, and she was a resident of Michigan at the time of her marriage, in 1857. They became the parents of three children—Cora, who is the wife of. Calvin Turner, of Chesterfield township; Almina, who is the wife of Jacob Whitehead, of the same township; and Edith, who is   544 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   the wife of Edward Butler, of the same township. Mrs. Catherine (Bennett) Roos died in 1865, and on the 19th of August, 1868, George W. Roos married Miss Elizabeth Tunison, who was born in the State of New York, February 3, 1836, her parents having died in that State. The only child of the second marriage is G. Scott Roos, subject of this review. The paternal grandfather of the subject of this review was born in the State of New York, August 4, 1791, and came to Fulton county in 1836, as has already been stated. The quarter section of land which he secured from the government is the fine farm upon which his grandson now lives, and he resided on the place until his death, on the 26th of August, 1859. His father was a native of Germany, and was one of the Hessian soldiers employed by the British government to assist in suppressing the American Revolution. He was taken prisoner by the Continental forces, and was well content to ally himself with the brave patriots who were thus fighting for independence, and after the war, so well pleased was he' with America that he established a permanent home here. He came here in 1776, at the age of twenty-nine years, and served six years and seven months in the Revolution. He was married after the war and was engaged for a number of years in the practice of his profession, that of a physician and surgeon. G. Scott Roos, to whom this article is dedicated, remained a student in the public schools until 1893, having completed his discipline in the high school at Morenci, Mich., and he has since been actively and successfully identified with farming and stock-raising on the fine old homestead farm, which has been in the possession of the family for three generations, as has been noted, the government deed now being held in the possession of the father of Mr. Roos. December 19, 1894, G. Scott Roos was united in marriage to Miss Ora B. Stutesman, who was born in this county, October 7, 1876, being a daughter of Charles and Anna E. (Roberts) Stutesman. Mr. and Mrs. Roos have three children, whose names, with respective dates of birth, are as follows: Charles G., February 1, 1896; George S., July 17, 1900; and E. Norine, January 18, 1902., Mr. Roos has a fine farm of eighty acres, and his father still owns one hundred acres, having lived on the homestead consecutively since 1836 and being one of the honored pioneers of the county. G. Scott Roos is a stalwart Republican in his political proclivities, and has held various local offices, being at the present time township trustee and also a member of the school board. He is affiliated with the. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Grange and the Gleaners, and both he and his wife are members of the Christian church.   CHARLES L. SEWARD is properly given representation in this volume by reason of his standing as one of the progressive farmers and highly esteemed citizens of Royalton township, his finely-improved farm lying contiguous to the village of Seward, which was named in honor of the family of which he is a member. He was born on the homestead farm, in Royalton township, August i5, 1862, and is a son of Charles N. and Lucy (Roop) Seward. His paternal grandfather, David Seward, a native of Connecticut, settled in   BIOGRAPHICAL - 545   Wayne county, Michigan, in 1834, and somewhat later, while making a visit to Monroe, that State, he was taken ill and there died. His wife, whose maiden name was Susanna Smith, was born in Delaware county,. N. Y., and they became the parents of eight children, namely: Lambert, Parmelia (Mrs. Samuel Richards), Paulina (Mrs. Thomas Lee), Aaron, Versal, Charles N., and Orsemus. In 839 the widow and her children removed to Fairfield township, Lenawee county, Mich, and there she passed the remainder of her life. Charles Nelson Seward, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Delaware county, N. Y., March 17, 823, and was eleven years of age at the time of the family removal to Michigan, where he was reared to maturity. On the 1st of. January, 1840, he located in Royalton township, Fulton county, Ohio, where for many years he successfully followed the carpenter trade, becoming one of the leading contractors and builders of this section and being identified with the erection of a large number of the first houses in his township, and be also assisted in the construction of the old plank-road, one of the first improved highways in this part of the county. In the early Pioneer days his services were also much in requisition in the manufacturing of coffins. September 5, 1852, he married Miss Lucy Roop, daughter of John and Mary (Mills) Roop, of Amboy township, and they became the parents of five children, namely: Melvin D., Alvin T., Ida (Mrs. Edgar Fuller), Charles L., and William H. Charles L was reared to manhood in Royalton township and duly availed himself of the advantages of the local schools during his boyhood and youth, and he has always followed farming as a vocation.- He located on his present farm in 1901, the place comprising one hundred acres and being under a high order of productivity and improved with excellent buildings, making it one of the model farms of the township. He. is a loyal supporter of the principles and cause of the Democratic party, and has served two terms as justice of the peace and one term as trustee of his native township. He is affiliated with Royalton Union Lodge, No. 434, Free and Accepted Mar sons; Lyons Chapter, No. 175, Royal Arch Masons, and Eastern Star, Magnolia Chapter, No. 87. July 29, 1883, Mr. Seward was united in marriage to Alice, daughter of Benson L. and .Mary (Young) Barden, honored pioneers of Royalton township and widow of Alonzo Patterson. Two children were born of her first marriageary E., deceased wife of George S. Brown, and Welcome, who remains with her mother. Mr. and Mrs. Seward have one son, Charles Lewis, who is associated with his father in the management of the home farm. Both the father and mother of the subject of this sketch are living and have spent fifty-three years of their life together.   GIDEON SEYMOUR, one of the honored pioneers of Fulton county and one whose active career. was here given to successful farming, still resides on his old homestead, in York township, and is a citizen peculiarly entitled to representation in a work of the province assigned to the one at hand. He is a native of the old Keystone State of the Union, having been born in Berks county, Pennsyl-   546 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   vania, on the 20th of January, 1820. When he was about twelve years of age his parents removed to Ohio, settling in Pickaway county, where he was reared to manhood and where he received very limited educational advantages, owing to the fact that his parents were in straitened circumstances and to the practical absence of schools in the vicinity of his home, in the pioneer era. He continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits in Pickaway county until 1849, when he came to Fulton county and located in York township, where he has ever since maintained his home. Here he secured wild land, which he developed into a valuable farm, and the passing years brought their due fruitage in the way of independence and prosperity. He has resided on his present homestead since 1850 and is the owner of a well-improved farm. He and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Seymour has been twice married. In 1845 he wedded Miss Effie Markle, of Pickaway county, and her death occurred on the 12th of December, 1867. Five children were born of this union: George M., who is a successful farmer of York township; John, who died at the age of two years ; Jonas H., who is mentioned, in appending paragraphs; Mary A., who is the wife of Sanford Lutton, of York township; and Mattie B., who is the wife of Frederick Schlegel, of the same township. On the loth of May, 1868, Mr. Seymour consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Rosena B. Schlegel, daughter of Gottleib Schlegel, one of the sterling pioneers of Fulton county. Of this marriage were born three daughters: Nettie A. is the wife of Philip Screm, of York township ; Lucy C. is the wife of Rolla Miller, of York township ; Lucy A. is the wife of if. B. Skeels, of the same township.   JONAS H. SEYMOUR, son of the honored pioneer mentioned in the preceding article, was born on the old homestead farm, on which his father still resides, in York township, on the 2d of December, 854, and he was reared to maturity on the farm, early beginning to lend his aid in its work, and he was afforded the advantages of the local schools, receiving adequate discipline to fit him for the successful management of his business affairs in later life and to form a/ basis for the wide fund .of knowledge which he has gained in the school of experience and through keeping in touch with current events. He has maintained his home in York township from the time of his birth to the present, save for an interval of three years, during which he was engaged in farming in Ridgeville township, Henry county. Since 1880 he has resided on his present well- improved and highly-productive farm, in. Section 35, York township, his homestead comprising one hundred and forty-five acres.. In his political adherency Mr. Seymour is a stanch Democrat, and he has ever shown loyal interest in public affairs of a local nature, though never amlitious for the honors or emoluments of political office. Mrs. Seymour is a member of the German Lutheran church. On the' 4th of April, 877, Mr. Seymour was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Segrist, daughter of John B. Segrist, a pioneer of York township. and of this union have been born two children. Dorothy E., who   BIOGRAPHICAL - 547   was born in Henry couy, Ohio, December 31, 1877, died on the 28th of December, 1899. Ira J. was born in York township, January 21, 1882, and is associated with his father in the operation of the home farm. On the 28th of January, 1904, he was united in marriage to Miss Florence Berkeybile, daughter of George Berkeybile, of York township, and of this marriage has been born one child. Agnes Laura, whose advent in the world occurred on the 17th of February, 1905.   JOHN P. ROOS, one of the sterling pioneer citizens of Fulton county, and one who was long and prominently identified with the agricultural interests of Chesterfield township, where he continued to reside until his death, was born iri Dutchess county, N. Y., on the 5th of December, 1821, and was a son of John B. and Elizabeth (Benner) Roos. His father was likewise a native of Dutchess county and a representative of one of the pioneer families of that part of the old Empire State. He was born in 1791, and was reared and educated in his native county, where he was married and where he continued to reside until 1836, when he came with his family to what is now Fulton county, Ohio. March 20, 1839, he secured a tract of government land, in Chesterfield township, the deed to the property being signed by Martin VanBuren, who was then President of the United States. Mr. Roos instituted the work of reclaiming his farm and developed the same into a productive place, continuing resident on the homestead until his death, in 1859. His wife, who was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., in 1791, died in Fulton county, in 1872. They became the parents of eight children, of whom one is yet living. Three of the sons, James W., Richard and Edward, served in the Union ranks during the Civil war, and the last named died in Virginia, while still in service, the others eventually receiving honorable discharge. John P. Roos was about sixteen years of age at the time when he came with his parents to Fulton county, his educational training having thus been secured principally in Dutchess county, N. Y. He had his full quota of pioneer labors and experiences, aiding in the reclaiming of the home farm and ever afterward continuing to be concerned in agricultural pursuits. He was a man of strong intellectual force and of inflexible integrity, becoming one of the influential citizens of Chesterfield township and attaining definite success in temporal affairs. He served for a time as township trustee, and for a number of years was incumbent of the office of township assessor. He owned a portion of the original land secured from the government by his father,, and the property has never passed out of the possession of the family. In addition to general fanning he made a specialty of raising and dealing in live stock for many years. He was   548 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   a Republican m politicS and was one of the leading members of the Christian church, being a charter member, his widow likewise having long been prominent as a member of the same, and they were numbered among the organizers of said church. Mr. Roos was summoned to his reward on the 14th of January, 1896, and the community lost one of its most honored citizens and the county one of its noble pioneers. January 25, 1849, was solemnized the marriage of John Roos and Miss Emily L. Noble. Mr. Roos was born in Genesee county, N. Y., on the 28th of February, 1832, and came to Ohio with her parents in the pioneer days. Mr. and Mrs. Roos became the parents of six children, concerning whom the following brief record is entered : Libbie E., born July 25, 1850, is the wife of J. Rutter Haley; Eunice N., born October 24, 857, is the wife of James C, Holt.; Olive E., born December , 1860, remains on the old homestead with her mother ; Nettie, born December 5, 1863, is the wife of Charles H. Stutesman ; Ann E., born October 12, 1869, is the wife of A. F. Patterson ; and Lena May, who was born December 2, 1872, died on the 12th of the following January. Mrs. Roos is still residing on the old hometead, endeared to her through the memories and associations of the past, and is being cared for with deepest filial solicitude by her daughter, Olive. The home farm comprises ninety-three acres, and is one of the fine old places of Chesterfield township. It may be said in conclusion that Dwight and Eunice (Watrous) Noble, the parents of Mrs. Roos, were born in Vermont and Connecticut, respectively, the former on the 22d of January, 1804, and the latter on the 12th of November, 1806. They passed the closing years of their lives in Lyons, Royalton township, Fulton county.   DAVID SHAFFER, one of the sterling pioneer citizens of Delta, was born in Holmes county, Ohio, January 1, 184o, and is a son of Josiah and Mary (Tomb) Shaffer, the former of whom was born , Pennsylvania and the latter in Ohio, and their marriage was solemnized in Tuscarawas county, Ohio. They came to what is now Fulton county in the autumn of 1844 and located in Delta, the father being the. first shoemaker of the town and here continuing to follow the work of his trade for three years, at the expiration of which he located on .a farm two miles north of the village, where he resided eight years, devoting his attention to the reclaiming and cultivation of the plate, and he also continued to follow the work of his trade, especially during the winter seasons, going from house to house and doing repair work, and he also manufactured boots and shoes, being a skilled workman. In 1855 he removed to a farm two miles west of Delta, and there passed the remainder of his life, having been a comparatively young man at the time of his death. His wife died at the age of sixty- two years. They became the parents of four children: John W., who was a farmer and teacher, died in Swan Creek township, in 1900; David is the immediate subject of this sketch ; Mary J. is the wife of John Hanley, a farmer of Dover township ; and Elizabeth died in infancy. David Shaffer grew up on the pioneer homestead, and his educational advantages were such as were afforded in the primitive   BIOGRAPHICAL - 549   log school-house of the locality and period. He attended school during the winter months until he had attained the age of sixteen years, but through well-directed reading and study in an individual way he has gained a broad fund of information and is a man of marked intellectual power. At the age of fourteen years he was converted, and he then began a systematic study of the Bible, being well-versed in sacred lore, and he has kept in touch with the topics of the day and has been a reader of the best standard and current literature. As a youth Mr. Shaffer enjoyed the diversion and sports common to the pioneer days. He gained many dollars through the sale of raccoon skins, having been very successful in his hunting trips in this line. After devoting a night to hunting these gamy little animals he would spend the following day in cutting timber or in some other of the heavy manual labor of the pioneer sort. He recalls the fact that in the early days the principal market-town for this section was Maumee, which was then the county-seat of Lucas county, in which the greater portion of Fulton county was then included. He has seen five men start forth with a wagon-load of walnut timber, drawn by three yoke of oxen, and five days would be consumed in making the journey to Maumee and return, as en route it was frequently necessary to unload the timber, owing to the wagon becoming mired in the swampy places, carry the same forward to solid ground and again reload, this experience being frequently repeated several times on the trip. Very little money was in circulation, and timber and other products were utilized in making exchanges for groceries and other necessities. Ashes constituted a valuable commodity of barter at the time, there having been two asheries in Delta. Pelts and hides of all kinds. were also merchantable. commodities. When Mr. Shaffer came to Fulton county deer and wild turkey were plentiful, and largely supplied the larders of the pioneers, and bear, wolves and wild hogs were much in evidence. The herds of wild hogs were often as formidable as so many wolves. Mr. Shaffer has passed the major portion of his life in Delta. As a youth he began to work at the shoemaker's trade, under the able direction of his father, and he has worked continuously at his trade during the last thirty years, and previously he follOWed the same during the winter months for a number of years. He has assisted in the clearing of much land in the county, and has contributed a due quota to the development and progress of this section. In his youth he was very athletic, possessed of great strength and endurance. He served as marshal of Delta for three years, and his name was held in fear by all malefactors, for he never failed to effectively discharge his duty. In politics Mr. Shaffer has ever been a stanch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, and from early youth he has been a faithful member of the United Brethren church, of which his wife likewise was a devoted member. July 4, 1859, Mr. Shaffer married Miss Elizabeth Hostetler, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, and who was a resident of Logan county at the time of her marriage. Mrs. Shaffer died' April 25, 1905, and of the six children born to. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer five are living: George William owns and operates a general grocery store in Delta; Eli Augustus conducts a meat-market in   550 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   Bloomington, Ill.; Samuel Thurber is a barber by vocation and resides in the city of Toledo; Laura Belle is the wife of John Cottney, of South Bend, Ind.; Mary Elizabeth died at the age of twey-two months ; and Minnie Idola, who is the wife of Peter Kenny, is housekeeper for her father.   ALFRED F. SHAFFER, president of the board of State Fair managers and ex-sheriff of Fulton county, was born in Franklin township of that county on June 15, 1847. He is the son of Jacob M. and Susan (Dodd) Shaffer, the former a native of MarylanaC\s and the latter the State of Delaware. His grandparents, Martin Shaffer and wife, were natives of Maryland, where their ancestors had settled in an early day. Jacob M. Shaffer, a successful farmer, was born in Baltimore county, State of Maryland, June 15, 1824, came to Richland county, Ohio, in 1827, and from Richland county he removed in an early day to Fulton county and settled on a farm ten miles northwest of Wauseon, taking up the land in a tate of nature and converting it into a fertile and profitable farm. His wife, Susan (Dodd) Shaffer, was born in the State ,of Delaware and when fourteen years old came to Delaware county, Ohio, with her parents, Thomas and Eunice (Lane ) Dodd, pioneer settlers of Dover township, where they took up land in a wild state. In time the father became a successful farmer and business man. Jacob Shaffer and wife had four children: Allen L., a resident of Dover township; William B., also of Dover township ; Alfred F., the subject of this sketch, and Orlena J., the wife of Harrison Schnall of the same township. The subject of this sketch was reared On a farm and educated in the schools of his home county. When a young man he bought a farm in Dover township and lived on it until the fall of 1892, when he was elected sheriff of the county. He then bought a farm adjoining the corporate limits of Wauseon on the south. was three times elected assessor of Dover township, having served as justice of the peace three terms prior to going there. In Franklin township he held the same office. For five years he served on the Wauseon school-board and was president of that body when he resigned in 1904. In agricultural matters he has always taken great interest. For fifteen years he has been a member of the Fulton County Agricultural society, and for the last six years has been president of that society.. On December 12, 1904, he was elected president of the Ohio State Fair Managers' association at Springfield: This association is composed of members from every county that is doing business under the rules of the State board of agriculture. Each of these counties is entitled to one delegate to the fair managers' association. Mr. Shaffer is actively identified with the Independent Order   BIOGRAPHICAL - 551   of Odd Fellows. He married Miss Elizabeth J. Borton, daughter of Isaiah and Mary (Hamlin) Borton, the mother born in 1807, and having come to Stark county, 0., from Virginia in an early day and the father was born in New Jersey. Isaiah Barton, father of Mrs. Shaffer, was born in 1804 and was one of the pioneers of Stark county. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer have two interesting daughters.: Florence M., the wife of Theodore Barnes of Clinton township, a farmer by occupation; Alwilda Jane, the wife of Charles P. Reynolds of Toledo.   AURELIUS R. SHAFFER is a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of Fulton county and is one of the well-known and progressive farmers and dairymen of Pike township, where he has a fine landed-estate and where he is an influential and popular citizen. He was born on the homestead farm, in Pike township, this county, on the 23d of September, 1856, and is a son of Joshua and Mary A. (Cole) Shaffer. Joshua Shaffer was boi la n Richland county, Ohio, on the 1st of March, 1829, being a son of John and Elizabeth Shaffer, who took up their residence in Fu on county in April, 1834, having been numbered among the pioneers of Pike township, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Joshua Shaffer became one of the prominent farmers and influential citizens of this township, and was called upon to serve in various positions of public trust and responsibility, having been infirmary director at the time of his death and having been incumbent of this office five years and three months. On the 15th of February, 1855, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Cole, who lwas born in Pike township, this county, on the 24th of December, 1834, a daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Salisbury) Cole, who were numbered among the first settlers in said tOWnship. Joshua Shaffer died on the 9th of March, 1897, his, wife having passed away on the 21st of June, 1872. Aurelius R. Shaffer, the immediate subject of this sketch, early became inured to the invigorating work of the farm, and in the local schools he secured his early educational discipline, which was supplemented by two terms of study in the graded schools of Wauseon. He has never severed his connection with agricultural pursuits, his success has been such as to.amply justify his course, and to him has ever been accorded a full measure of popular confidence and esteem in the township and county which have represented his home throughout life. In 1890 Mr. Shaffer purchased his present valuable farm; which comprises eighty acres and which has been materially improved since the property came mto his possession, the buildings being substantial and modern and all portions of the farm bearing evidence of thrift and prosperity. In politics Mr. Shaffer gives an unqualified allegiance to the Republican party, taking a lively interest in the promotion of its cause, and he has been incumbent of numerous offices of local trust. Upon the death of his honored father he was appointed to fill out the unexpired term as infirmary director, and at the end of the term, in the fall of 1897, he was elected to the office, of which he remained incumbent six years and nine months by successive re-elections. He   552 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   has been justice of the peace for six years, also served as constable, and he has held other local offices of minor importance. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Modern Woodmen of the World. On the 22d of November, 1874, Mr. Shaffer was united in marriage to Miss Ida Irene Dunbar, who was born in Fulton county, on the 2d of November, 1856, being a daughter of Boyd and Rachel (Fitsimmons) Dunbar, the farmer of whom was born in Pennsylvania, on the 2d of August, 1808, and the latter of whom was born in the same State, on the 1st of August, 1817. Their marriage was solemnized in Wayne county, whence they came to Fulton county in 1846, locating on a farm in Pike township, where Mr. Dunbar continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred on the 29th of March, 1882. His widow now resides in the village of Delta, having attained the venerable age of eighty-eight years (1905), and being remarkably well preserved in mind and physical powers. Of her twelve children seven are living. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer have five children: Ada L. is the wife of Robert Howard; Blanche is the wife of Leonard Sindel; Carrie is the wife of William Shoemaker; Daisy remains at the parental home, as does also Reed R., who is attending school.   GEORGE W. SHAFFER, a prominent and successful grocer of Delta, is of German descent, his ancesters having emigrated to America in an early day, locating in Pennsylvania. He is the son of David and Elizabeth (Hostetler) Shaffer, both natives of Ohio: David Shaffer was born January 1, 184o. For more than sixty years he has resided in Fulton county, a great part of that time at Delta, where he is operating a shoe-shop. He married Miss Elizabeth Hostetler, who was born in Bellefontaine, O., October 14, 1839. They are the parents of three sons and three daughters: George W. Eli Augustus, of Toledo, O.; Laura, now Mrs. Cothney, of South Bend, Ind.; Samuel Thurbur, a barber of Toledo; Minnie, the wife of Peter Kenny, of Delta, and Mary, who died in childhood. George W. Shaffer was born on a farm in Fulton county on November 22, 1859. He grew to manhood in Delta and was educated in its public schools. After leaving school he worked for two years on a farm near his home town. Then he entered the employ of J. T. Gates, a merchant of Delta, serving in, that capacity for six months. For the next three years he was engaged in the livery business, after which he spent three years learning the shoemaker's trade under his father. His next work was in the capacity of clerk in the general merchandise establishment of J. M. Longnecker and his successors, whom he served eighteen years. In. 1898 he and H. B. Snyder formed a partnership in the, grocery business at the tand now occupied by Mr. Shaffer, and conducted it successfully for four years, when his partner sold out to R. C. Snyder. The new find was dissolved in 1903, after a year's existence, R. C. Snyder retiring, and since that time Mr. Shaffer has been alone in business. Under the management of Mr. Shaffer the establishment has become one of the largest and best equipped in Delta, enjoying-   BIOGRAPHICAL - 553   a well-established trade. In addition to groceries he handles queensware, tinware, notions, etc., carrying a stock of at least three thousand. dollars. Although busily engaged in his regular avocation he has found time to devote to the interests of the public schools, having served as a member of the board of education for six years. In politics he is a Democrat, and he is now serving his second term as treasurer of Delta a:, well as of the board of education. He is a member Of Fulton Lodge, No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons; of Delta Lodge, No. 199, Knights of Pythias; of the National Union; and with his wife and daughterS of the Rathbone Sisters. In religious matters he and family are very actively identified with the United Brethren church. On April 18, 1882, he was united in marriage to MisS Della Pratt, of Delta, the daughter of W. W. Pratt, the pioneer blacksmith. They are the parents of three children, all living: Edna M., a clerk in her father's store; Nellie, the wife of R. S. Snyder, Mr. Shaffer's former partner, and Florence, who is still at home. During the twenty-five years that George W. Shaffer has been in business, he has met with unusual success. By dint of close application and sound judgment he has been enabled to acquire his well-merited success.   EVERETT T. SHAW, second hedmiller of the Wauseon flour-mill, was born in Chatham, Medina county, O., in 1841. He is the kin of Marshall and Mary Shaw, both natives of Massachusetts. His grandfather, Ebenezer Shaw, was a pioneer settler of Medina county. Orrin Shaw, the maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born December 16, 1790, and was the son of Thomas and Rebecca (Heisey) Shaw, who were married November 5, 1810. Joshua Shaw, the father of Thomas Shaw, married Mrs. Naomi Bates, a widow, in 1764. The wife of Orrin Shaw was Sarah P. (Pool) Shaw. Marshall Shaw was born in Plainfield, Mass., in 1818. He came to Fulton county in 1852, where he in connection with Joel Brigham bought two hundred acres of land. Then he bought one hundred and sixty acres in York township and lived .on it one year. Having disposed of this land, he returned to Medina county. After a few years he came a second time to Fulton county and embarked in business in Wauseon. After a brief business career here he removed to Cameron, Mo., where he bought a farm. He died here in 1890, aged Seventy-two years. His wife, Mary Shaw, was born in Plainfield, Mass, in 1820, and died in Cameron, Mo., April 12, 1889, aged sixty-nine years. Everett T. Shaw, the subject of this sketch, was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools of Medina and Fulton counties. After leaving the army he entered the employ of the proorietor of the Wauseon flour-mill, in which he is now serving as second head-miller. He has been an employee of the mill-owner for thirty-two consecutive years, having filled all positions from the lowest to the responsible one he now holds. The fact that he has been so long employed in the same capaCity proves that he is an expert miller, understunding the business in all of its details. After quitting school he enlisted in Company D of the Twenty-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry and served three years. For a time hiS regiment was a part of the   554 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   Army of the Potomac and afterwards of that of the Cumberland. While serving in the Army of the Potomac he took part m the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and after his transfer to the Army of the Cumberland he was present in the battles of Atlanta and Lookout Mountain. It was his good fortune to be with General Sherman on his march from Atlanta to the sea. He married Miss Catherine. Crane of Medina couy. The children .that have blessed this marriage are : Erwin E. Shaw, who was born in Litchfield, Medina county, in 1866, and is now a resident of Cameron, Mo. At the age of twenty- two years he graduated from the Cleveland Homeopathic medical college and for the past fifteen years has practiced medicine at Cameron, Mo., where for three terms he has filled the office of city physician. The second child is Edith M., now Mrs. Charles Dudley, whose husliand is a salesman traveling for a Toledo firm from Wauseon. The subject of this sketch has one grandchild, named Burnham E. Shaw, the son of Dr. Erwin E. Shaw and his wife, Nettie Burnham Shaw, the latter being the daughter of Charles and Mary Ann (Carpenter) Burnham. Charles Burnham is editor of the Cameron Observer.   ANTHONY WAYNE SHEFFER is a scion of one of the fine old pioneer families of Fulton county, where his entire life has been passed, and his birth occurred on the farm which he now owns and occupies, in Fulton township, the date of his nativity having been September 17, 1848. He is a son of Jacob and Margaret (Keller) Sheffer, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania, of stanch German ancestry, and their marriage was solemnized in Richland county, Ohio, whence they came to Fulton county and located on the farm now occupied by their son, Anthony W., in the spring of 1847. Of the eighty acres purchased by Jacob Sheffer the major portion was still unreclaimed from the wild state, much of the property being covered with a heavy growth of timber. He reclaimed his farm and made it one of the valuable places of this attractive section of the county, and here both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, his death occurring in 1888 and hers in 1896, and their respective ages at time of death were seventy-one and eighty-four years. They became the parer,ts of seven children, all of whom are living with the excep-, tion of Jacob, Jr., who died at the age of forty-one years, leaving a wife and six% children. He was a soldier in the Civil war and his death resulted from the effects of disabilities incurred during his arduous service in the army. Sarah is the wife of Henry Lake, of Fulton township; William resides on a farm adjoining that of his lirother, Anthony W.; Samuel lived in the village of Fayette, this county, until the spring of 1905, and is now a resident of Nebraska ; George is a farmer of Fulton township; Jacob was the next in order of birth, and Anthony W. was the next younger; and Margaret is the wife of John Fetterman, a farmer of Lucas county. Anthony W. Sheffer was edul cated in the common-schools of Fulton township and has been identirt fled with the operation of the homestead farm from his boyhood tn the present, having purchased the property in 1896, aside from the' one-seventh interest which he inherited. He has since erected a com-   BIOGRAPHICAL- 555   modious and attractive farm residence and otherwise added materially to the excellent improvements of the place. Somewhat over sixty acres are under cultivation, and the remainder is principally covered with good timber, whose value is constantly increasing. The land is to a large extent drained by effective under-tile system, and is exceptionally fertile. Mr. Sheffer is experimenting in. the cultivation of sugar-beets for the Fremont factory, and the indications are that the soil of Ina farm is specially well adapted to the production of the beets, which maybe made a very profitable crop. In politics he is a stanch Republican, with no reservations, and while never seeking or desiring office he takes a loyal interest in local affairs, being one of the essentially progressive farmers and citizens of his native township, where he is held in high esteem. April 17, 1870, Mr. Sheffer was united in marriage to-Miss Amelia Veness, who was horn in Pennsylvania, being a daughter of John and Perrnelia Veness, the former of whom was born in England and the 'latter in the State of Newt York. They came to Fniton county about forty years ago and here resided for many years, finally removing to Wisconsin, where they both died. Mr. and Mrs. Sheffer have five children : Carrie 'is the wife of Frederick Gilmore, a fartner near Delta, this township, and they have two children—Gertrude and Eva ; Bertha is the wife of Louis Taylor, a farmer of. Fulton township, land they have two living children—Leverne and Floyd ; Trfande is the wife of Loren Gambol, also engaged in farming in Fulton township, and they have one daughter, Marie; Leroy, a young man Of twenty-four years, is associated in the work of the homestead farm; arid Lawrence, the youngest of the children, is a lad of fourteen at the time of this writing, in 1905. Mrs. Sheffer is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps of Swanton, Ohio.   FREDERICK B. SHEFFIELD, one of the representative farmers and honored citizens of Chesterfield township, is a scion of one of those staling families which became identified with the history of Fulton county in the pioneer days, and which has rendered efficient service in tbe development and upbuilding of her institutions. He was born on the Old parental homestead, in Chesterfield township, August 3o, '842, his parents being Jeremiah and Sarah (Waite) Sheffield, and he has here passed his entire life, except for the period of his service as a soldier in the Civil war. Jeremiah Sheffield was born in the State of New York, where he learned the business of manufacturing soap and candles, WItich vocation he followed for a number of years. In 1835 he came to what is now Fulton county, purchased forty acres in Chesterfield township and reclaimed the same to cultivation. He never had an ambition to acquire-more land, finding his place adequate to demand hit 'full quota of labor, and it provided amply for the needs of himself and family. He erected a fine residence on his farm, and of the six sons and six daughters nine are still living. Sarah Waite was bonr in England, came to this country at the age of thirteen years and was but fifteen years old at the time of her marriage to Mr. Sheffield. Frederick B. Sheffield was reared on the old home farm and received a good common-school education. Upon the outbreak   556 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   of the Civil war he left the farm and on September 20, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Third Ohio cavalry, with which he served until October 12, 1864, when he received an honorable discharge on account of disability, having participated m eighteen engagements. Under the old law he was awarded a pension and still continues to receive this recognition of the government for his services. After the war he returned to his native county, where he has ever since been actively identified with farming and stock-raising, owning a well improved farm of seventy-five acres. He is a staunch advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party and has been called to positions of distinctive public trust, having served three and one-half years as justice of the peace, two terms as township trustee, three terms as township assessor and as president of the school board. For two years he was master of Chesterfield Grange and he has filled the position of commander of Myron Baker post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Morenci, Mich., which town, is about two miles from his home. At the present time he holds the office of road supervisor and is the executor of the oldest estate in Fulton county, that of Miss Emma Parker. He was one of the organizers and a charter member of the Chritian church in Chesterfield township, in which he is now an elder, his entire family tieing members of this denomination. In 1869 Mr. Sheffield married Miss Alma Hale, who was born in Massachusetts January 7, 1852, her parents being Israel and Amanda (Olds) Hale, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Massachusetts. They located on a farm in Fulton county in 1867, here passing a great portion of their lives. To Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield were born the following children: Ella A., who graduated in stenography and typewriting from the Davis Business college, Toledo, 0., and is now a popular teacher, having taught twenty-six terms, in the public schools ; Addie M., who married Sanford Shaffer and died at North Morenci, Mich., leaving a daughter, Sarah Ella, and a son, Leo; Edward H., a farmer of Chesterfield township, married Bertha Abbott and has one son, Mason H.; Effie S., living with her father; Edith E., wife of Samuel Shaffer, of North Morenci, Mich,, has one daughter, Alma Ella ; Estell H., a son, seventeen years of age, and Alma T. are also at home and are popular young people of the community. Mrs. Sheffield, the mother of these children, died on June 25, 1905, at her Chesterfield home. She was a popular tnernber of the Chesterfield Grange and Myron Baker Women's Relief Corpls, each of which adopted appropriate memorial resolutions upon her death.   HENRY SHUMER.—Like many others of the substantial citizens of Fulton county, Mr. Shumer started out in life with only the subjective resources implied in an abundance of energy, determination and self-reliance, and his success has not only been won through worthy avenues of endeavor but has also been of unequivocal order. He first took up his residence in Fulton county about thirty years ago, but he remained only three years, and in 1894 he came again to the county and purchased his present fine farm, in Swan Creek town-   BIOGRAPHICAL - 557   ship. Mr. Shumer was born in Luxemberg, Germany, on the 15th of December, 1845, being a son of Eugene Shumer. He was but two years of age at the time of his mother's death, and when he was seven years of age his father, who had again married, came with his family to America and located in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, in which State both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. Two sons Were born of the first marriage, Henry having been the younger. His brother, Nicholas, died in Huron county, Ohio, when about thirteen years of age. Mr. Shumer was early thrown upon his own resources and became separated from the other members of the family, and he now has no definite knowledge in regard to any of his relatives, save his own immediate family. His educational advantages were confined to the common schools, which he attended at irregular intervals, and in his youth he provided for himself by working on farms in Huron county and elsewhere in this State. In the early '70's Mr. Shumer clime to Fulton county and purchased a farm in Swan Creek township, where he lived three years, during one of which he was prostrated with ague, which was the scourge of this section in the early days, but which has been entirely abated through the clearing and effective draining of the country. His woeful experience with this very agitating and insistent malady was in a measure the cause of his disposing of his farm here, and he then returned to Wood county, where he had previously resided for a number of years. There he accumulated a good farm, continuing to be actively engaged in agricultural pursuits in that section until 1894, when he came again to Fulton county, where he now found every prospect pleasing. He the purchased his present farm of forty-eight acres, in Section 11, Swan Creek township, and the same has been given the best of improvements in the way of buildings, tile-drainage, etc., the residence being a fine modern country home. Mr. Shumer gives his attention to agriculture and to the raising of live-stock of good grade, and he is one of the energetic and successful farmers of this section; esteemed by all who know him. Though an advocate of the free-silver doctrine, Mr. Shumer is an adherent of the Republican arty, and his religious views are in harmony with the tenets of the Methodist Episcopal faith, of which church his wife was a devoted member. He is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Patrons of Husbandry and is a man of broad views and forceful individuality. In the year 1865, in Huron couy, Mr. Shurner was married to Miss Louisa Burch, who died on the present homestead, in August, 1895, having become the mother of five children —Howard, Mamie (deceased), Mabel, Fugene and Jennie. Howard, who is a baker by vocation, resides in the city of Toledo. He is married and has one child living, Henry Eugene. They had a daughter, Wealthy by name, who recently was burned to death. Mabel is the wife of Cara Waltz and they also reside in Toledo, as does Eugene, who is an attendant in the State Hospital for the Insane. Jennie has been housekeeper for her father since the death of her mother and is popular in the social life of the community.   558 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   JAMES HUNTER SHERWOOD, editor and proprietor of the Wauseon Republican, was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., near Pine Plains. He is the son of Aaron and Maria (Youmans) Sherwood, the former a native of New York and the latter of Connecticut. His grandfather, Hon. Isaac Sherwood, was of Bridgeport, Conn., and was actively engaged in the Revolutionary war, entering the army at sixteen years of age. He and Daniel Sherwood, an uncle of the subject of this sketch, both represented Dutchess county in the legislature of New York, to which State they had removed from Connecticut. Aaron Sherwood was born in Bridgeport, Conn. He belonged to the Quaker society and was a wealthy and highly-respected farmer. His wife was the daughter of Peter Youmans and wife, of Dutchess county, N. Y. Peter Youmans was born in New York city, his ancestors having come from Scotland. The subject of this sketch, James Hunter Sherwood, was educated in Reinbeck Academy on the Hudson. The farm which he owned in Dutchess county he sold on removing to the West. In 1865 he bought the Wauseon Republican, a paper started by Bayes & Hunter, in 1855, and purchased the following year by his brother, Gen. I. R. Sherwood, of Toledo, 0. During his brother's absence in the army James H. Sherwood managed the paper successfully for him. Having purchased the Monitor, a paper published at Ottokee, the first county-seat of Fulton county, he combined it with the Republican and has ever since edited and published the official organ of the Republican party of Fulton county, excepting the few years that he was engaged in the real-estate businesss in Duluth, Minn. While he has always taken part in politics he has never sought an office. In the real-estate business he has been remarkably successful. He married Miss Samantha Yates, the daughter of William and Ann (Brazure) Yates, the former being a pioneer merchant of Bryan, 0., who came' to that State from near Chambersburg, Pa. The following are the children that have blessed the marriage of James H. Sherwood and wife: Jennie, now Mrs. C. F. Baker, a 'merchant of Great Falls, Montana ; Walter, at present engaged in the publishing business in Chicago, Ills.; Annie, the wife of Alex Anderson, telegraphic editor of the Toledo Blade ; Lulu, the wife of Fred Bollmyer, a   BIOGRAPHICAL - 559   stock-broker and commission-merchant of Toledo ; William A., a jeweler of Dundee, Mich., and James Isaac, who lives in Waueson and is associated with his father in editing and publishing the Waueson Republican. A brother of the subject of this sketch, Gen. I. R. Sherwood, lived, at Bryan, O., at the time of the breaking out of the Civil war, and was there serving as probate judge and editing the Republican paper of Bryan. For the first three months of the war he served as a private. When the One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio volunteer infantry was organized he was first made adjutant, and step-by-step was promoted to the command of the regiment, with the rank of colonel. Later on, because of bravery and gallantry m action, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. On hiS return from the war the citizens of Bryan presented him with a sword as a token of their esteem, a gift highly prized by him. By way of recognition of his true worth he was elected to the office lof secretary of State of Ohio and later to Congress from the Toledo district.   EDWARD C. SINDEL, one of the sterling pioneers and much beloved citizens of Pike township, was born in Morris county, New Jersey, on the 7th of December, 1832, being a son of John and Harriet (Dixon) Sindel, both of whom were likewise born and reared in New Jersey, where the respective families were early founded. This worthy couple had the true courage and fortitude which alone made it possible for the work of development to be inaugurated in the midst of the forest wilds of the State of Ohio, and they endured their full quota of vicissitudes and deprivations after coming to the Buckeye State. In 1834 they took up their abode in what is now Fulton county, locating on a tract of heavily-timbered land in Section , Pike township, reclaiming a considerable portion of the same to cultivation and becoming prominent in the affairs of the pioneer community. Here they passed the remainder of their lives, honored by-all who knew them. They became the parents of fourteen children, of whom six are living, three of the number remaining residents of Fulton county, namely: Edward C., the immediate subject of this sketch; John M., who is a well known farmer of Pike township; and Hetet) M., who is the wife of Edwin H. Strong, of Delta, Ohio. Edward C. Sindel was about two years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Fulton county, and here he has continued to make his home during the long intervening period of more than seventy years, and to him has at all times been accorded the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem. He assited in the reclamation of the home farm, availed himself of the advantages of the pioneer schools, and in his youth learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, to which he gave his attention for many years, being a skilled workman and having erected many buildings throughofit this section of the county. For many years he conducted a general store in Winameg and during the first administration of President Lincoln he was appointed postmaster at this point, continuing incumbent of the office for thirty years, during which he also conducted his general store. No man in the community is better known or held in higher regard,   560- HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   and his life has been one of signal usefulness and honor. He has held various local offices; including those of justice of the peace and land-appraiser, township trtfitee and treasurer, of which last he was in tenure eight years, and he also served two terms as township assessor. It should be noted that the family was among the very first to settle in Dixon township, within whose confines Dixon Sindel, brother of our subject, was the first white child born. Mr. Sindel is a stanch Republican in his political allegiance, and both he and his wife have long been devoted members of the Christian church. On the 17th of January, 1863, Mr. Sindel waS united in marriage to Miss Nancy Tappan, who was born in Pike township, this county, on the iith of May, 1842, and they have three children: Estill L., who is individually mentioned in the succeeding review Elmer, who is a rural route mail-carrier, residing in Lyons, Ohio; and Edward E., who resides at the parental home.   ESTILL LEONARD SINDEL, secretary of the Fulton County Farmers' Mutual Insurance and Aid Association, and also secretary of the Mercer Co-operative Company, at Waueson, is a native of, Fulton county and a member of one of its honored pioneer families. His fine homestead, known as Orchard Home, is located in Winameg, and is one of the beautiful places of the county. Mr. Sindel was born in Winameg, this county, on the 21st of May, 1865, and is a son of Edward C. Sindel, of whom individual mention is made in preceding review, so that a recapitulation of the family history is not demanded in the present connection. Mr. Sindel was afforded excellent educational advantages, having attended the Waueson high school, the Fayette Normal University, and the Northern Indiana Commercial College, at Valparaiso, where he was graduated. He began teaching in the district schools when but sixteen years of age, and has ever since followed the pedagogic profession, in which he has labored with marked enthusiasm and has met with unqualified success. During this period of nearly a quarter of a century he has taught consecutively in Pike township, save for an interval of six months, having taught his first term in the Jordan district, in Royalton township, in the summer of 1881. He is now principal of the=-public schools of -Winameg. In January, 1897, Mr. Sindel was elected secretary of the Fulton County Farmers' Mutual Insurance and Aid Association, which was incorporated on the-29th of June, 1877, and which now has a membership of two thousand and twenty-five policy-holders, with more than three million dollars of insurance in force. He has retained this incumbency from the time of his first election and has done much to further the beneficent functions of the association. He has been secretary of the Mercer Co-operative Company, of Waueson, since 1903. In politics Mr. Sindel is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, he served from 1890 to 1894 as clerk of Pike township, he is at the present time incumbent of the office of justice of peace, and he has held a commission as notary public for the past fourteen years. He became a member of the Christian church in 1895, has been for a   BIOGRAPHICAL - 561   decade superintendent of the Bible class, and is the present secretary of the Fulton County Sunday-school Association. He is affiliated with Fulton Lodge, No. 248, Free & Accepted Masons, and his wife is a member of the adjunct organization, Aurora Chapter, No. 75, Order of the Eastern Star, and both are valued members of Aetna Grange, No. 310. On the 26th of October, 1892, Mr. Sindel was united in marriage to Miss Lucy L. Geer daughter of Milo and Rebecca (Parker) Geer, of Delta, this county, and they became the parents of a daughter, who died in infancy, on the 3ist of January, 1894. Milo Gear was a son of Barney Geer, one of the early settlers of Clinton township, this county, the old homestead being what is now known as the Reynolds farm. Milo Geer was a valiant soldier of the Union during the Civil war, having been a member of the Third Ohio volunteer cavalry. His death occurred on September 5, 1899, at Delta, Ohio. Mrs. Geer is of Irish descent, being a representative of the well-known Knott family. Mr. and Mrs. Geer became the parents of nine children, and of those living Mrs. Sindel is the eldest. The others are: Commodore P.., a member of the mercantile firm of Geer & Shoemaker, of Delta; Elsie G., wife of Solomon P. Dinius, a farmer of Pike township; Oscar S., a successful farmer of the same township; Harvey B., an employe in the Briggs hardware establishment, in Delta; Minnie B. wife of Dell C. Reighard, with the Snyder Grocery Company, of Delta.   THEODORE F. SIEBOLD, a civil-engineer of Waueson, O., was born in Hancock county, O. He, is the son of John H. Siebold and Rose M. (Nuding) Siebold, the former having been born in Stuttgart, Wurtemburg, Germany, June 8, 1828. In 1852 he emigrated to Amerida and located first in Hancock county, O., frorn which he removed to Dover township, Fulton county, in 1861, and settled on a farm there. February 13, 1864, he enlisted in the Sixth Michigan regiment and served until August 20, 1865. His regiment was a part of the army that operated in and about Mobile, Ala. He died in Dover township, Fulton couy, in 1897, aged sixty-nine years. The children of John H. Siebold and wife follow : Catherine M., the wife of Philo Stoner, of Jefferson township, Williams county, O.; George J., of Napoleon, O.; William H., a merchant of Tacoma, Wash.; Theodore F., the subject of this sketch; Mary S., the wife of Eugene Aldrich, of Waueson, and Rose A., the wife of Adam Flohr, of Bucyrus, Crawford county, O. Theodore F. Siebold, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the public schools of Fulton county, Ohio. He was thoroughly trained for the profession of civil engineering, which he had made his life's calling. For fifteen years he taught school in the northwest part of Fulton county, meeting with an unusual degree of success. For two terms each he served as clerk of Dover and Clinton townships, Fulton county. For the past fifteen years, during the last twelve of which he has been a resident of Waueson, he has practiced surveying in all parts of Fulton and the adjoining counties. So successful has he been in this business that he has won the esteem and respect of all for whom he has been called   562 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   upon to do work. Being accurate in his work, his surveys are always satisfactory. In the work of the society of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows he has always taken an active part. He married Miss Mary E. Crittenden, the daughter of Henry A. and Cleora (Ufford) Crittenden, of Chesterfield township, Fulton county. This family came to Ohio from Berkshire county, Mass.   FREDERICK A. SLATER, who is engaged in the harness business in the village of Lyons, claims the old Green Mountain State as the place of his nativity, having been born in Essex, Chittenden county, Vermont; on the 1oth day of August, 1843, and, being a son of Augustus and Laura D. (Littlefield) Slater, both of whom were born and reared in Vermont. Ezra Slater, father of Augustus, was born in Connecticut and was one of the early settlers of Essex township, Chittenden county, Vermont, being a farmer by yocation and having for many years served as justice of the peace. Daniel Littlefield, maternal grandfather of Frederick A. Slater, was a native of near Springfield, Massachusetts, and was likewise one of, the pioneers and influential citizens of Chittenden county, Vermont, having represented his district in the State legiilature several terms. Augustus Slater was a successful farmer in Vermont and was held in the highest esteem as a citizen; having served several years as selectman of his town. Frederick A. Slater was reared in his native township of Essex and after leaving the common schools was a student in Essex Academy. On the loth of September, 1862, he enlisted in Company F, Thirteenth Vermont volunteer infantry, serving as fifer and taking part in the battle of Gettysburg and other enkagenfents of minor order. He received his honorable discharge on the 21st of July, 1863, at the close of his term of enlistment On the 24th of the following December, he again tendered his services in defense of the Union, enlisting as a member of Company I, Sixth Vermont volunteer infantry, with which he served until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge on the .26th of June, 1865, in Washington, D. C.' After the close of his military career Mr. Slater learned the harness-maker's trade, and in 187g he took up his residence in. Lyons, where he has since maintained his home and _where he has built up an excellent business in the line of his trade. In politics he is a stalwart Republican, serving as township clerk for eighteen years, still holding the office, and he is affiliated with Baxter Post, No 238, Grand Army of the Republic, in Lyons. April to, 1867, Mr. Slater was united in marriage to Miss Cynthia Chappell, daughter of James G. and Elbia (Butts) Chappell, of Morenci, Lenawee county, Michigan, and they have had eight children, six of whom are living. Laura a is the wife of F. H. Farrand, of Essex Junction, Vermont; Mervin W, of Columbus, Ohio, is a printer by trade; James W., of Adrian, Mich, is a machinist by trade; Edith. Ann is the wife of W. C Kelley, of Morenci, Mich.; Carlos B. is at home with parents; and Roy N. lives at home with parents and is in the printing business.   BIOGRAPHICAL - 563   ABRAM HOLMES SMITH, senior member of the Delta Milling company, is one of the early settlers of Fulton county, and during his residence of fifty-seven years has witnessed the phenomenal . growth and prosperity of his adopted county with feelings of pride. He was born in Reed township, Seneca county, O., Feliruary 2, 1832, and is a son of Elijah and Delano (Holmes) Smith,. the former being a native of New York and the latter of Maine. The parents were married in Scipio township, Seneca county, in 1829, the wife dying at the age of nineteen, when Abram was an infant three days old. Elijah Smith remained a resident of. Seneca county until 1838, when he removed to Crawford county, and coming to Lucas county in 1847, he located on a farm four miles southwest of Delta. Here he resided until 1870, when he removed to Wauseon and there died two years later, aged sixty-five years. Two children were born to father's first marriage, Abram being the only surviving one Elijah Smith and second wife were the parents of two children: E, J. Smith, a farmer living on the old homestead, and Mrs. Mary E. McComb, of Ogden Center, Mich. Abram Holmes Smith attended the district school, until 1849, after which he spent one school-year at the Republic Academy, Seneca county, an institution under the management of 0 f e ss o r Harvey, subsequently Superintendent of Public Instruction for, the State of Ohio. Farming in season and teaching during the winter months constituted the work of Mr. Smith until 1869, when he removed to Wauseon and there engaged in the manufacture of carriages, operating a plant employing from eight to ten mechanicz. As this business venture did not prove profitable he abandoned it and served as an employee of Lyon, Clement & Greenleaf in the milling *bless for seven years. In November, 1889, he formed a business partnership with W.H. Lambert, a sketch of whose life appears elsevitere in this work, and together they purchased the Delta mill of Charles Cullin. In 1900 this plant was destroyed by fire. Since that time a new mill has been erected and incorporated, the capitalization twenty thousand dollars, of which Smith and Lambert own nine cent. The mill has a capacity of seventy-five barrels per day .and employs nine persons. In political views Mr. Smith has been a Republican since the organization of the party and he cast his first vote for, president for Gen. John C. Fremont He has held the offices of clerk, trustee and treasurer of York townships clerk of Clinton township and of the school-board while a resident of Wauseon. For twenty-one years he served as one of the school examiners of Fulton county. With his wife he is a member of the Congregational church, but as this denomination is not represented at Delta, he worships with the, Presbyterian church, being one of the ruling elders. In 1855 he was wedded to Miss Clotilda I. Tremain, a native of Seneca county, who was born in 1835 and came to this locality when one year old. Her father, Warren Tremain, was the first justice of the peace of York township, many years before the organization of Fulton county. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had four children. They are: Eva A., now Mrs. Bates of Bellview, 0; W. L., a merchant of Delta; Delany and Adda having died in infancy.   564 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   IRA SMEDES is the owner of one of the fine farm-estates of Amboy township, and is a business man of energy and progressive ideas, liberal in his views and commanding the regard of all who know him. He was born in what is West Camp, Greene county, N. Y., on the loth of February, 1850, a son of Benjamin I. and Susan (Buckman) Smedes, both natives of the old Empire State and representatives of pioneer families of that commonwealth. The lineage on the paternal side traces back to the sturdy Holland-Dutch stock, and the original American progenitor was Peter Smedes, grandfather of our subject. This worthy ancestor was a native of the city of Amsterdam, Holland, and was a man of advanced intellectual attainments, having long followed the vocation of school-teaching and having been resident of Greene county, N. Y., for many years, his death there occurring. The maternal grandfather, Ira Buckman, lived for a long period of years near Lockport, N: Y., a carder of wool by vocation. Benjamin I. Smedes came with his family to Fulton county in 1854, purchasing eighty acres of land in Section 15, Amboy township, and ' developing the same into a rich and productive farm, the property being a portion of the present estate of his son Ira. He was a man of sterling character and much ability, ever commanding the confidence and esteem of the community in which he lived and labored for so many years. He died on the old homestead, November 4, 1904, in his eighty-fifth year, his wife having passed away April 9, 1886, at the age of sixty-three years. They became the parents of three children, one Lotriss of whom died in early childhood, and Ira is now the sole survivor. His sister, Priscilla, became the wife of Abram H. Van Vlierden, and her death occurred in 1901. Ira Smedes was reared to maturity on the present homestead, and while his early educational advantages were only such as were offered. in the common schools of the locality, he has ever been a close student of good literature and an intelligent observer of men and affairs, and he is known as one of the be informed men in the county, having a fine lilkary of 300 volumes and finding his greatest pleasure in the companionship of his home and his books. In 1871, when twenty-one years of age, he left the pa; rental roof and went to Missouri, where he was employed in railroad   BIOGRAPHICAL - 565   work until the spring of 1872, when he returned home. In 1873, however, he again went to Missouri and re-entered railroad work, in the capacity of brakeman, and in January, 1874, he went to Texas, as brakeman on the line of the International and Great Northern railroad. In June of the same year he was promoted to the position of conductor, serving as such until the spring of 1876, passing the ensuing year at his old home, in Fulton county. In the spring of 1877 he went to Montana, which was still considered on the frontier of civilization, and there he took up a ranch of 16o acres on the Yellowstone river, within a day's ride of the famous battle-field where the gallant Custer and his men were practically massacred by the Indians. Mr. Smedes remained in Montana five years, within which perkid he devoted a considerable portion of his time to hunting big game, living a free and untrammeled life and encountering his quota of hardships and dangers. In 1881, in company with T. A. Clark, formerly of Bucyrus, Ohio, he killed 940 buffaloes, forty antelope and twelve deer in one hundred days, the two men skinning the entire number of animals and hauling the hides forty miles to market. In 1882 Mr. Smedes returned once more to Fulton county, where he has since been engaged in farrnirig4 having had his full quota of more adventurous experiences. He 'owns his father's old homestead of eighty acres and an adjoining tract of the same area, nearly all being under Cultivation and being of .superior quality, and the improvements are of excellent type throughout. In politics he is a Republican, taking a deep interest in matters of public import and keeping in close touch with the issues of the hour. He is affiliated with the following Masonic bodies : Swanton Lodge, No 555, F. & A. M.; Lyons Chapter, No. 17,5, R. A. M. Wauseon Council, No. 68, R. & S. M.; Toledo Commitridery, No. 7, Knights Templar, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; and with Tyenobia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in the same city. He is also a member of Metamora Lodge, No 874, 1.:0. 0. F. ; Landers Tent, No 421, Knights of the Maccabees of the World; and Berry Grange, No HI', Patrons of liltsblandry.. He is also a member of Swanton Lodge, No 588, K. of P. Septerither 3o, 1883, Mr. Smedes was united in marriage to Miss Louise Ottgen, daughter of Christian and Barbara (Ries) Ottgen, of Amboy township. They have no children. An incident occurred in Mr. Sinede's life, in 1874, while a brakeman on the International and Great Northern R. R., which caused, his promotion to conductor. At a siding two oven-topped cars of Texas cattle were ordered by the conductor to be taken into the train. Mr. Smedes objected, claiming they were unsafe. However, his objection was overruled and the cars taken. Soon after starting with them, the train running down grade 50 miles an hour, the cattle broke down one of the doors and Wore Mr. Swedes could prevent it two steers jumped out. He then fought the cattle back until the next stop and was completely exhawted when relieved. It was a piece of "dare-devil" work that he would not pass through again for all the money you could place before him. Mr. Smedes, at the outbreak of the Cuban war, believing that Colonel, Roosevelt's regiment would certainly go to the front, wrote to   566 - HISTORY , OF FULTON COUNTY   Colonel Roosevelt, setting forth the fact that he had put in five years in the saddle on the frontier, and earnestly desired to enlist in his regiment. Colonel Roosevelt immediately replied, saying he could not accept his services, as the quota for his regiment was already filled. Mr. Smedes prizes the reply solely because he is the only person in the locality who has a communication signed by the president personally.   ALBERT H. SMITH, a well-known and highly-esteemed member of the agricultural community of Fulton township, was born on the old homestead, where he now resides, on the 27th of February, 1857, and is a son of Frederick and Margaret (Nort) Smith. The former was born in Germany in 1821, and was a son of Frederick Smith, Sr,, who with his family emigrated to America in 1831, when his son, Frederick Smith, Jr., was a lad, ten years of age. Frederick Smith, Sr., on coming to Ohio, first settled in Tuscarawas county, but later came as a pioneer to Fulton county, where he engaged in farming and where he spent the remainder of his life, dying at an advanced age on the old homestead, now owned by his grandson, Albert H. Smith. Frederick Smith, Sr.'s wife was also a native of Germany and was about eighty years of age of the time of her death. Here Frederick Smith, Jr., grew to manhood on the farm in Fulton township and followed farming until 1882, when he and his wife removed to Swanton, where both are happily spending their declining years. They became the parents of five children, namely: George, who is a retired farmer, residing in Holland, Lucas county; Albert H., who is the immediate subject of this review; Edward, who is a prosperous farmer of Fulton. township; Charles, who is engaged in the drug business in Swanton, as a member of the firm of Price & Smith; Margaret, the wife of Edward Ott, of Toledo; and Louis, who died in infancy. Albert H. Smith has passed his entire life on the old homestead farm, and his educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools of the locality. He has won success in connection with the great farming industry, and his place is one of the model farms of the county. He devoted considerable attention to the raising of live-stock of superior grades, and also to dairying, and he is held in high esteem in the community which has represented his home from the time of his birth. He is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party,; and Mrs. Smith and their children are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. April 13, 1882, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Delilah Snyder, daughter of Jonas and Susanna (Hostetter) Snyder, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania; where they were married. Shortly afterward they came to Ohio and located in Fulton township, this county, where both died at the age of sixty-two years, Mr. Snyder having been a representative farmer of the township. Mr. Snyder and wife became the parents of seven daughters, namely: Minerva, who became the wife of Albert Stillwell, both being now deceased; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Hiram Toland, of Forest, Hardin county; Emma, who married Albert Robinson and is now deceased; Alice, who is the wife of Watson Gardanier, of Fulton township ; Isabel, who is the wife of   BIOGRAPHICAL - 567   Peter Shaffer, of Amboy township; Delilah, who is the wife of Mr. Smith, of this sketch ; and Cora, who is the wife of Manasses Sipe, residing near Manchester, Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Smith became the parents of four children, of whom three are living. Frederick G., born September 1, 1884, is now, a teacher in the public schools of Swanton. He was graduated in the high school of that place and later attended the normal schools at Ada, Ohio, and Angola, Ind. He still remains ,at the parental home when not engaged in the work of his profession. Leo C born April 18, 1885 left the Swanton high school at the bering, in Toledo, where he took a commercial course. He passed the beginning of his senior year and then entered the Davis Business College winter of 1904-5 in the far West and is now assisting in the work of the home farm. Hope Isabel, born September 13, 1892, died at the age of ten years, and Edna Susanna, the youngest of the children, was horn March 17, 1894.   GEORGE W. SMITH, proprietor of the leading meat-market of Metamora, and also a buyer and shipper of live-stock, is an able and .pQpular business man and has passed his entire life in Fulton county, with the exception of about one year He was born in Pike township, October 28, 1867, and is a son of Rufus and Elizabeth (Slocum) Sinithr The father was born in Northampton, Mass, in 1822, and was for many years engaged in the hotel business in his native State, where his marriage was solemnized, his wife being a native of Washington Co., N. Y. In 1862 they came to Fulton county and located in Pike township, where the father developed a fine farm of fifty acres, upon which he still resides, being held in unqualified esteem in the community. His devoted wife passed away on December 23, 1897 Their children are Allister, Alice (wife of Henry GifFord), Alfred, Albert, Frank, Charles, Edward, George W. and Sumner. George W. Smith was reared to manhood on the home farm, and to the public schools of his native township he is indebted for his early educational advantage. He remained identified with the work and management of the home farm until 1892, when he located in Amboy township, where he was successfully engaged in farming and stock- growing until the autumn of 1903, when he removed to Toledo. In June, 19̊4, he came to Metamora and purchased the meat-market which he has since successfully conducted, catering to a large and representative trade, and he also does a profitable business in the buying and shipping of stock, especially cattle. In politics his proclivities are indicattd by the stanch, adherence he accords to the Republican party, and, fraternally, he is affiliated with. Lyons Lodge, No. 622, Indegendent Order of Odd Fellows. October 27, 1892, Mr. Smith Was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Blain, daughter of Marion and Eleanor (Moore) Blain, of Amboy township, and a granddaughter of Charles and Rachel (Bartholomew) Blain, natives respectively of Onondaga and Montgomery counties, N. Y. They came to,Fulton county prior to 1845, and the grandfather died in P9o2, aged qighty,four years. He reared six sons and three daughters, and four of his sons and two of hiS sons-in-law were Union soldiers in the   568 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   Civil war. The father of Mrs. Smith enlisted in the regular army in 1865, serving three years on the western frontier. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two sons—Dallas, born August 17, 1893, and Florence, born November 10, 1897, both attending school.   GILBERT SMITH, a retired farmer and highly respected citizen of Swanton, is a native of Seneca county, N. Y., where he was born on July 7, 1846. He is a son of Colwell and Jane (Waldern) Smith, both natives of Seneca county. Colwell Smith was a farmer by occupation, having. followed that calling with unusual success for many y ars. In 1866 he removed from New York State to Lenawee county, Mich., where he and his wife continued to reside until his de th in April, 19o5. He was eighty-six years of age at the time of his death, and his widow is now eighty-three years old, and resides in Senica, Mich. Of the eight children that were born to this venerable couple all are still living—certainly a happy as well as a remarkable state of affairs. They are: George W., the eldest, express agent at Sterling, Ill., who served three years during the Civil war in the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth New York infantry, was wounded at Petersburg, Va., June 6, 1864, and discharged from the service because of that disability; Gilbert, the subject of this sketch; Jones, a laborer, residing near Adrian, Mich.; Thomas, a farmer of Lenawee, Mich.; Howard, of Seneca, Mich.; Coe, a resi- dent of Morenci, Mich.; Jennie, the widow of Frank Van Dorn, a resident of Adrian, Mich., and Irvin, who resides at Seneca, Mich. All are married and have families. Gilbert grew to manhood in his native county and received his education by attending the public schools. On December 26, 1863, at the age of a little past seventeen, he enlisted as a private in Company C of the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth New York infantry (the same regiment in which his brother served), and was assigned to duty with the. Second Army Corps in the Army of the Potomac, sharing the honors of that grand old army in the suppression of the Rebellion. He participated in the battles of the Wilderness, Poe River, Nye River, Spottsylvania, North Ann and Cold Harbor. In the last named engagement he received a wound which not only disabled him from further active service in the army, but has practically unfitted him for the arduous duties of life. The wound was received while making a charge to dislodge the Confederate sharp-shooters, who were concealed in the trees and elsewhere and were harassing the command on the firing. line. While the charge was successful, it was made at a fearful cost to the forty brave volunteers who participated in it. A mine-ball entered on the right side of Mr. Smith's body and, striking the fourth rib, passed out on the right side of the spinal column, just "grazing it." The wound was identical with that which cost the life of President Garfield. After being in Stanton Hospital at Washington, D. C., until the fall of 1864, Mr. Smith had recovered sufficiently to enable him to perform light duty, and he was detailed as an orderly in the hospital, in which capacity he served until the close of the war. On June 8, 1865, he received his final discharge. After   BIOGRAPHICAL - 569   his return to his parental home in Seneca county, N. Y., he accompanied his parents to Lenawee county, Mich., the following year. After his marriage he came to Swanton and located on a farm half a mile south of the village, where he made his home far twenty-four years. Since December, 1904, he has been a resident of Swanton. Owing to the severity of his wound, he receives a liberal pension from the National government. In polities he is an uncompromising Republican. .The only public office that he has filled is that of assessor of Swan Creek township. He is actively identified with Quiggle Post, No. 289, Grand Army of the Republic, and is an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church. On February 19, 1870, he was united in the bonds of matrimony with Miss Fannie M. Hinkley of Lenawee county, Mich., daughter of Samuel and Sarah Hinkley, natives of Massachusetts. To this union there were born the following children: Herbert L., Floyd D., George W. and Stella. All are married, Stella being the wife of Lloyd Mizer, of Swanton. Mrs. Smith died on September 19, 1901. On December 13, 1902, Mr. Smith was married a second time, the lady of his choice being Miss Myrtle A. Jackson, the daughter of William H. and Harriet R. (Geer) Jackson, formerly of Swan Creek township, but now of Colton, 0. William H. Jackson enlisted as an officer in the Thirty-eighth Ohio Yoltmteer infantry and served throughout the Civil war. To William H. Jackson and wife the following children were born: James E., Myrtle A., Moses W., Chester D., and Susan E. Of these James E. and Susan E. are deceased. Chester D. served in the Spanish-American war, being a member of Company C of the Sixth Ohio volunteer infantry.   HIRAM B. SMITH, a successful farmer and stock-raiser of Swan Creek township, is a native of Milan, Huron county, 0., born February 16, 1862. He is the son of John and Bertha Jane (Barber) Smith, both natives of the State of New York. Their family consited of three sons and one daughter, deceased, as follows: William, a resident of Swanton; Alfred, who is on the farm with his brother Hiram; Hiram B., and Susan, who was the wife of Theodore Little of Swanton, where she died, leaving two daughters. Hiram B. Smith accompanied his parents to Fulton county when he was a child of four years. Here he grew to manhood, was educated and has since resided. He began his life career as a farmer, in which he has been more than usually successful. His home farm is one of the best improved farms in Fulton county. The buildings are new and modern, including a large double-barn, built in 1901, and capable of holding thirty-five head of stock and sixty tons of hay. It is a handsome structure and modern in all of its appliances. In addition to the home estate and adjoining it Mr. Smith owns a tract of eighty acres of well improved and valuable land. In political views he is a Republican, but in religious matters he is not identified with any religious body. The maiden name of the lady whom he married, on July 24, 1881, was Miss Evlyn Kyper, a daughter of Cyrus and Cynthia M. (Spaulding) Kyper, the former a native of Pennsylvania   570 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   and the latter of Fulton county. Cyrus Kyper removed to Ohio and located in Fulton county in pioneer days. Here, in sight of his daughter's present home, he owned a large tract of land and was quite prosperous in agricultural pursuits. He died at the age of forty-two years, and is survived by his widow who still resides on the old homestead. The family comprises a son and a daughter, the former, William by name, being a teacher at Angola, Ind. To Hiram B. Smith and wife four children have been born. They are: Clarence C., principal of the Lyons, O., public schools, who was educated at Delta high-school, Oberlin college aid the Angola, Ind., Normal, and married Miss Chloe Putnam of ulton township; Hazel Grace, a young lady at home; Eva Maude, a student of the public schools, and Fred Dana, an infant six months old, the pet of the family. The grandparents of Mrs. Smith were natives of Maine. Mr. Smith is a genial, companionable gentleman, whose hospitality is unbOunded, in which he is joined by his amiable wife. Their beautiful modern home is the central attraction in the community, where it far excels all rivals and evinces the public spirit and progressiveness of the owners.   WALTER SMITH.—The fair land of hills and heather claims (his venerable and honored citizen as a native son, and he is a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of Fulton county and is to-day numbered among the prominent farmers and influential citizens of Royalton township. He was born in Roxburghshire, Scotland,, on the 26th of May, 1826, and is a son of John and Margaret (Scott) Smith, who immigrated to America in 1842 and who took up their residence in what is now Royalton township, Fulton county, Ohio, in the same year. The old homestead farm is now owned by Adner Frantz and wife. John Smith cleared a portion of his fatm and became one of the influential and popular citizens of the county. He died in 1859, at the age of forty-eight years, and his wife passed away some years later. They became the parents of seven children, all of whom accompanied them to America: Betsey became the wife of James Cuthbert, Jane married Alvin Hamlin, James was the next in order of birth, Margaret became the wife of A. M. Williams, and the Other-children were Catherine, Walter and William S. The subject of this review is now the only survivor. Mr. Smith secured his educational training principally in his native land, and was about sixteen years of age at the time when he came with his parents to Fulton township, and during the long intervening years he has continued to be a resident of Royalton township, honored as a citizen of liberal views and marked public-spirit and as a man of the highest integrity in all the relations of life. He grew to manhood on the home farm and during his entire independent career has continued to be associated with the agricultural interests of the county in whose development and progress he has materially assisted. In 1855 Mr. Smith located on his present farm, which has thus been his home for a half-century, and he has developed the same into one of the finest places in this section. His landed estate comprises two hun-   BIOGRAPHICAL - 571   dred acres—eighty acres in Royalton township, eighty in Chesterfield township, and forty acres in Lenawee county, Michigan, the homestead being all in one body, however, the Michigan portion being in the adjoining township of Seneca. Mr. Smith reclaimed this entire farm from the wilds, and in view of the conditions which are in evidence to-day, bespeaking all of thrift and prosperity, he has no reason to feel that he has been denied a due reward for his many yearn of toil and endeavor. In politics Mr. Smith gives his support to the Democratic party. May 25, 1856, stands as the date of the marriage of Mr. Smith to Miss Eleanor H. Smith, daughter of Charles P. and Jane B. (Helmes) Smith, of Royalton township, and they have four children: Edwin J., Charles E., William M. and Walter Scott, all of whom are well established in life, honorable and useful citizens in their respective fields of endeavor. Mrs. Smith's parents were both natives of Orange county, New York, and were numbered among the pioneers of Fulton county, Ohio, having taken up their residence in Royalton township about 1833. The father secured nue hundred and twenty acres of government land, reclaiming the same to cultivation, and there he and his wife continued to reside until their death. Of their eight children six attained maturity, namely: Eleanor H., wife of the subject of this sketch;l Martin; Louisa, wife of John Atkinson, of Delta, Ohio; Lotan, a resident of Royalton township; Margaret, wife of Dr. Selah W. Moulton; and Charles B., a resident of Royalton township.   JONATHAN SNELLBAKER, who is now living practically retired in his attractive little county home, in Swan Creek township, is, a member of one of the pioneer families of Ohio, and it was his to render valiant service in defense of the Union during the War Of the Rebellion, so that he has upheld the honors of the family name in, the annals of the State. The original progenitors of the Snellbaker family came from Holland and settled in Pennsylvania, in the Colonial era, and from that State representatives came to Ohio in an early day. John Snellbaker, a great-uncle of the subject of this review, was one of the early mayors of the city of Cincinnati, in which city his son became chief of police, about a quarter of a century ago, having been killed while in office. Jonathan Snellbaker was born near Boliver, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, August 13, 1842, and is a son of Jacob and Christina (Hess) Snellbaker, the former of whom was born in Tuscarawas county and the latter in what is now Morrow county. From the latter county they removed to Hancock county about sixty years ago, and in 1863 they came to Fulton county. The father bought a farm two and one-half miles east of Delta, but in 1865 he took up his residence in Wauseon, later removing to the little village of Westbar, where both he and his wife died, the former at the age of seventy-nine and the latter at the age of sixty- two years. Jacob Snellbaker learned the cooper trade in early life and followed the same as a vocation for a time, but the greater portion of his active career was given to agricultural ptWsuits. the six children in the family all are living except the eldest, Eli, who   572 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   died in March, 1899, in \Fulton county, where he had resided for more than forty years; 'Sarah Ann, widow of Henry Snyder, resides at Sand Lake, Mich.; Jonathan was the next in order of birth; Martin is proprietor of the Lincoln, hotel in Delta, this county; John, when last heard from by his Ohio relatives, was in the employ of the Clover Leaf railroad, at Warren, Ind.; and Kate is the wife of a Mr. Bostwick, residing in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Jonathan Snellbaker was reared on the homestead farm, fourteen miles west of Findlay, Hancock county, secured his early education in the common-schools of that locality, and it may be said that he has ever found the great basic industry of agriculture his field of labor, and through the same he has gained a competency. In 1862 he subordinated all personal interests to go forth as a Union soldier, enlisting as a private in Company C, Eighty-seventh Ohio volunteer infatitry, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac and with which he served four months, having enlisted for a term of one hundred days. He received his honorable discharge and returned home, but on the 22d of February. 1864, when the integrity of the Union still hung in the balance, he enlisted as a member of Company G, Tenth Ohio Cavalry, with which he continued in service until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge, at Lexington, N. C., on the 27th of July, 1865. He was with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign and in the memorable "march to the sea," having been continuously on the march from the 14th of November, 1864, until the 5th of the following April, when the command reached Mount Olive, N. C., when they started in pursuit of Johnston, being at Greensboro, N. C., at the time of that famous general's surrender, and they there learned of the surrender of General Lee's army, in. Virginia. The Tenth Ohio Cavalry is on official record as having done about the last fighting of the Civil war. Mr. Snellbaker escaped wounds, but was injured in line of duty, in recognition of which fact he was granted a pension about twenty years ago. On the 15th, of September, 1862, he was captured at Harper's Ferry, but was soon paroled. In the spring of 1866 Mr. Snellbaker located 'on a farm, which he still owns, one and one-half miles west of his present home, and there he continued to be actively engaged in general farming until 1892, when he purchased ten acres of land where he now lives, here erecting an attractive modern residence and other good buildings, and in this pleasant home he has since live practically retired. His other place comprises forty acres of excellent farming land, well- improved and under a high state of cultivation. Politically, Mr. Snellbaker is a stanch Republican, and, fraternally he is' a popular comrade of Quiggle Post, No. 289, Grand Army of the. Republic, at Swanton. Both of his sons are members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On the 23d of February, 1864, the day after his second enlistment, .Mr. Snellbaker was united in marriage ,to Miss Nancy Snider, who was born arid reared in Hancock county, and they have six children: Henna is the wife of Daniel Moughler and they reside on the previously-mentioned farm of her father, west of his, present home; 'Miriam resides in the city of Cleveland; Park is   BIOGRAPHICAL - 573   a farmer of Swan Creek township and resides in the village of Swanton; Dency is the wife of Frank Potts, of Cleveland; Frank is a telegraph operator and railroad employe at Garrett, Ind.; and Nora is the wife of Peter Grube, a farmer near Butler, Ind.   HENRY B. SNYDER, head of the well known Snyder Grocery Company, of Delta, is a native of Hancock county, Ohio, having been born there on September 6, 1855. He is the son of David and Sophia (Gasman) Snyder, who came to Fulton county in 1861 and are now residents of Delta. David Snyder was born in Bolivar, Ohio, and was during his productive years a farmer by occupation. ile and his wife, a native of Maryland, are both advanced in years. They are the parents of nine children, only five of whom are now living. Their names are: Henry B.; Ella, now Mrs. Rowan of Denver, Colo.; David and Emerson, both of the Snyder Grocery Company; Mary, still at home: Drusilla (deceased), Samuel (deceased), Elmer (deceased), and Dora (deceased). Of the deceased the first three died at the threshhold of mature life and the fourth at the age of three years. Henry B. Snyder was educated in the public schools of Hancock and Fulton counties, but a large share of his business qualifications was acquired in the school of "experience." He grew to manhood on his father's farm and began his commercial career as a clerk in a dry-goods store, after which for a number of years he was engaged in various commercial ventures which finally culminated in the establishing of the Snyder Grocery Company, with his brother Emerson and his son Frank as partners. This business is one of the largest and best-managed in Delta and enjoys a liberal patronage. Henry B. Snyder is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the order of Knights of Pythias. In political affiliations he is a Republican and wields a potent influence locally in the counsels of the party. Though in no sense an office-seeker, he has held various offices within the corporation and is at present a member of the village council. On January 21, 1879, he was wedded to Miss Nora A. Fishbaugh, a sister of a former partner in the marble and granite business. Three children have been born to these parents. They are: Frank A., Clarence H., and Pearl E., the latter being the wife of Charles Longnecker, owner of the Delta electric light plant. The children have all enjoyed excellent educational advantages and are well known and popular.   JOHN A. SPAULDING, a representative farmer and stock-grower of Fulton township; was born on the fine farmstead which he now owns and operates, one mile west of the village of Swanton, on the loth of October, 1869, and this old homestead was likewise the birthplace of his father, Dexter Spaulding, who died in 1873, at the age of thirty-three years. Dexter Spaulding married Miss Minnie Cowls, who was born in Lorain county, this State, and who still resides on the old home place. She is now the wife of George Hollis, John A. Spaulding having been the only child of her first marriage, and she has one son, Otis, by her marriage to Mr. Hollis. John A.   574 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   Spaulding was reared on the farm and secured his educational discipline in the public-schools of this locality. He inherited one hundred and sixty-six acres, to which he has since added a one-half interest in 160 acres in Monclova township, and he is also known as one of the most progressive farmers and stock-raisers of Fulton county. A considerable portion of the land which he has thus accumulated has been or is covered with good timber, and for the past five years he has devoted special attention to cutting off the timber and manufacturing the same into lumber and railroad ties, which he has handled upon a somewhat extensive scale, particularly in the handling of railroad ties. His farm lands are given over principally to the raising of the various cereals best adapted to the soil and climate of this section. For the past year he has been carrying through a contract in the removing of rock from the bed of ten-mile creek, this work being done for the purpose of opening an adequate waterway. In politics Mr. Spaulding is a Republican, and fraternally he is identified with Swanton Lodge, No. 588, Knights of Pythias, with the uniform rank of the same, and his religious views are in harmony with the tenets of the Methodist Episcopal church, which he and his family attend. On the 11th of February, 1887, Mr. Spaulding was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Hepfinger, of Fulton township, who was born and reared in this county, being a daughter of Jacob and Margaret Hepfinger, both of whom were born in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding have five children, namely: Viva, Lena, Margaret, Dexter and Minnie. Reverting to the genealogy of the subject of this review, it may be said that the Spaulding family was founded in, New England in the Colonial era, and from the State of Maine, in 1829, Africa Spaulding, father of Dexter S., came to Fulton county, locating in the midst of the forest, on a portion of the homestead farm now owned by his grandson, and he was one of the earliest settlers and most influential pioneers of this section. He was one of the organizers of Fulton county, and was for a number of years engaged in the fur-trade with the Indians, having been very successful in his business operations, which included extensive real-estate transactions, as the early records of the county clearly indicate. He was well-known through Northwestern Ohio and lived to the age of four score years. His son, Dexter, was likewise prominently identified with the civic and material progress of thiq locality, but his life was cut short in the very prime of his manhood. The Cowls family originally came from the Isle of Man, John Cowles, grandfather of Mr. Spaulding, having come to America in 1850, and having previously followed a sea-faring life. He was a soldier in the Union ranks during the entire progress of the Civil war, and he passed the closing years of his life in Fulton township, being about forty years of age at the time of his death, leaving a wife and four children: Minnie, Rosa, Lillie and John. Two died in infancy, Minnie and Lillie still living. His wife lived, until March 7, 1905, her age being seventy-four years.   BIOGRAPHICAL - 575   JOHN W. ROSEBOROUGH, a prominent lawyer and an exemplary citizen of Elmira, was born on a farm about one mile east of the present site of West Salem, Wayne county, Ohio, on July 3, 1829. This farm was formerly owned by Samuel Hartman, but is now the property of John Repp. Mr. Roseborough is the son of John and Jane (Ewing) Roseborough. His paternal grandparents were William and Susannah ( Johnson) Roseborough, the former born in the northern part of Ireland, about 1760, and the latter in Pennsylvania, about 1770. On the maternal side his grandparents were Samuel and Jean (Neal) Ewing, the former a native of Scotland. Jean Neal was the daughter of John and Susie (Sharp) Neal. John Neal having been killed in the Revolutionary war, his widow, a woman of fearless disposition and untiring zeal and industry, conducted the home farm with unusual success and reared her large family in the most satisfactory manner. William Ewing, a son of Samuel and Jean Ewing, and grandfather of John W. Roselxrough, was born in Sherman Valley, Pa., November 7, 1775. He married Miss Agnes White, the daughter of James and Judith (Bird) White, and the aunt of the late Samuel White of Bryan. She was born in Sherman Valley, Pa., December 8, 1775. John W. Roseborough was reared in his native township and was educated in the common schools of the day. On February 4, 1838, his father died, leaving the mother with five children, four sons and one daughter. The eldest son having died before his father, John W., then in his ninth year, was the eldest of the living children. In June, 1846, he began to work at the. blacksmith trade with Samuel Caskey, on the Cleveland pike, six miles north of Wooster, at which trade he worked until January 1, 1848, stopping during the three, winter months to attend school. After working one month as journeyman in the spring of 1848, he quit the trade and entered school at Mechanicsburg, Fulton county. This summer school was conducted by William C. Downing, a medical student, six feet and four inches tall, and a man of superior ability as a teacher. Here he first began to study English grammar, and geography, using Kirkham's grammar and Olney's geography as text books. Having secured a teacher's certificate he taught the Felger district, Chester township, during the winter of 1848-49, the term consisting of four months of twenty-four days each. By way of compensation he "boarded around" and received twelve dollars per month. Some of the pupils who attended that school, fifty-two. years ago, now live in and near West Unity. The following summer he attended for five months the Vermillion institute at Hayesville, where he studied algebra and philosophy in addition to the common branches, and then taught the New Pittsburg village school. He next attended school at the academy in Wooter, where the Hon. John Brinkerhoff, the noted civil engineer and mathematician,   576 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   was one of the professors. This distinguished man died at Wooster, in December, 1900, aged eighty-seven years. Here Mr. Roseborough first studied latin and geometry. After teaching one term in Franklin township he again became a student of this school. His next school was for a term of six months near Mt. Hope, Holmes county. After his marriage to Miss Rebecca C. McCullough, one of his former pupils, he settled in Stark county, where he taught several terms of school near Canton. In .1853 he began the study of law under Hon. Alexander Bierce, a learned and able attorney of Canton, and on May 21, 1855, he was admitted to the bar as a legal practitioner. The same year he removed to Fulton county, where he has since resided. By his wife, who died February 5, 1872, he had twelve children, four sons and eight daughters, all of whom, except three daughters, are now dead. Demosthenes H., the eldest son, was killed by a horse on July 4, 1866, when twelve years old. Cicero E. G., a college graduate and a brilliant young lawyer, had just located at Wauseon, when he was stricken down by consumption., John G. W., a promising student, died of the same disease at the age of twenty-two years, and. William C. S., aged twenty years, and excellent teacher and popular clerk, was the third son to succumb to that insidious disease. The three sons were devoted Christians and ardent Prohibitionists;- Cicero having served two years as superintendent of the Methodist Sabbath School. One daughter, Jennie, was poisoned by her husband, E. S. Blydenburg, on May 24, 1903, at Eldora, Ia., and died five days later. The trial resulted in the conviction of the accused, who is now serving a life-sentence in the Iowa State Prison. Two of the daughters, Armine and Arminda, died in infancy, and three, Antoinette J., Mary E. and Jennie, after they became adults and had been married. The three daughterS living are : Alice A., the wife of William Hagerman, of Fayette, Ohio; Wilmie, now Mrs. William Montgomery, of Portland, Ind., and Cora D., the wife of Walter L. Keller, a merchant of Eldora, Ia. After coming to Fulton county, besides practicing law, Mr. Roseborough taught many terms of schools, teaching in both the German and English languages. In 1864 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county and was twice re-elected. His administration was noted for the energetic, faithful and successful enforcement of the liquor laws. Up to 1854 he acted with the Democratic party, but owing to its pro-slavery leaning he repudiated it and contributed his part to the formation and support of the Republican party. When the leaders of that party became closely allied to the liquor power, he refused to act longer with it, and became a member of the Prohibition party. By one or the other of theSe, or by all united, he has since been nominated three times for supreme judge, three times for attorney-general, twice for circuit judge and once for congress.. He is now, and always has been, pronounced in his hostility to rum-shops, and has ever wielded the ballot as his conscience and judgment dictate& regardless of mere partisian behests. During the Civil war he was enrolling officer of German township. In church matters he is identified with the Methodist church and is now serving as superintendent of the Sabbath-school. He is also a class-leader and trustee of that organization, and waS chairman of the building com-   BIOGRAPHICAL - 577   mittee that built the present fine new church edifice, receiving liberal aid from the wide-awake woman's society. For fifty years he has corresponded freely for the newspapers, writing on moral, social, religious, educational and political topics. After the death of his first wife, in 1877, he married Miss Mary C. Stuller, of Edon, Ohio, with whom he still lives at Elmira. When eighteen years old he was menaced with lung trouble and at once determined to resist the progress of the disease by all the means in his power. By a life-long practice of walking and standing erect and by regular and persistent lung expansion he has cured himself effectively of that dread destroyer, consumption. He is now in the enjoyment of excellent health, and, excepting mere office-work, has practically retired from law practice.   FRANK SPENCER, one of the representative farmers and popular citizens of York township, is a scion of one of the pioneer families of Fulton county, his grandfather, Rev. Uriah Spencer, having come from the State of New York and located in York township, this county, in 1835. He was a man of marked intellectual attainments, and was a zealous member of the clergy of the Methodist Episcopal church, though he followed various other vocations in the pioneer community, including that of farming. He wielded much influence in public affairs in the early days, and he served as auditor of Fulton county and in other positions of trust. He was twice married and became the father of several children, all of whom are now deceased except Martha and Emma, the former being a resident of CalifOrnia and the latter of Michigan. William Spencer, son of Rev. triab Spencer, was born near Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, and was reared to maturity in the old Empire State, where he received a common-school education and where he was engaged in farming and teaming prior to his immigration to the wilds of Fulton county, Ohio, whither he accompanied his honored father. In 1837 he was united in marriage to Miss Emma Donaldson, daughter of James Donaldson, another of the sterling pioneers of York township and a veteran of the War of 1812. Mrs. Spencer taught the first term of school in York township, this being after her marriage, in her own house. William Spencer became a prosperous farmer and highly-honored citizen of York township, where he continued to reside until his deOth, which occurred in 1889, and his cherished and devoted wife wad summoned to the life eternal in 1891, both having been consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They became the parents of eleven children: Ellen, who remains .on the old homestead; George, who is deceased; Jane, who likewise remains on the old homestead, she and her elder sister never having married; Wilson, who is a resident of Bowling Green, Ohio; Ann, who is deceased; Marion, who died in childhood; James, who is a farmer of York township; Andrew, Alice and Mary, who are deceased; and Frank, who is the youngest of the family. Frank W. Spencer was born on the old homestead farm, in York township, on,the 23d of June, 1861, and here he has ever since continued to reside, being   578 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   now the owner of a fine farm of eighty acres. He secured his education in the public schools of his native township, has been identified with agricultural pursuits from his youth to the present, and he has well upheld the honors of the name which he bears. He exercises his franchise in support of the principles and policies of the Republican party. In 1894 was solemnized the marriage of Frank Spencer to Miss Armena Fowler, daughter of William Fowler, another of the pioneer settlers of York township. No children have been born of this union.   SYLVESTER I. SPRING represents a family which was founded in Fulton county more than a half-century ago; it was his to render valiant service as one of the Fulton county men who went forth in defense of the Union when rebellion threatened its integrity; and he is now one of the prominent and influential farmers of Dover township, being also a valued member of the board of directors of the county infirmary. Mr. Spring was born in Portage county, Ohio, August 9, 1840, and is a son of Milton and Eunice A. (Hall) Spring. His father was born in the State of Massachusetts, June 9, 18o6, and at the age of twenty-one years he came to Ohio, locating in Portage county, where, on the 5th of November, 1834, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Eunice A. Hall, who was born in that county, on the 19th of March, 1810, her parents having located in that county at a tint when the white families within its borders did not number more than seven. In 1854 Milton Spring came with his family to FultOn county, locating in the village of Tedrow, where he followed the carpenter trade during the remainder of his active career, and at/one time he was a member of the State militia, Both' he and his wife were very earnest and active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, which had only five members in Tedrow at the time, when they ,Itcated there, and they assisted in building up a numerous and prosperous congregation, with the settling and development of the town and Orrounding country. Milton Spring died, June 23, 1888 at the age of eighty-two years, and his father lived to the venerable age of ninety-five years, longevity being characteristic of the family. Mrs. Eunice A. (Hall) Spring was summoned to the eternal life on the 24th of September, 1864. Of the five children in the family the following is a brief record:. Sarah E., born July 31, -1835, died April 28, 1859; Ellen4I. born November 26, 1836, is the wife of. Barney H. Anderson, of Spring Hill, this county; Sylvester I. is the immediate subject of this sketch; Cornelius M., born December 13, 1842, is a resident of Wauseon; and Nial C.; born March 28, 1847, resides in Tedrow. Sylvester I. Spring passed his boyhood days in the little village of Tedrow, receiving such advantages as were afforded in the local schools, and being employed at farming and carpentry until the time of the Civil war. August 7, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, SixtYlseventh Ohio- volunteer infantry, which was assigned to duty in the campaigning about the city of Norfolk, Va,, His command took part in a number of spirited engagements, including numerous skirmishes. The' first skirmish was at Blackwater, Va., and the regi-   BIOGRAPHICAL - 579   ment thereafter was in service at Newbern, N. C.; Hiltonhead, S. C.; St. Helena island and Folly island, which last was captured; and then the regiment assisted in the taking of Morris island, in which locality they remained nearly all summer, and in the autumn of 1863 they assisted in an attack on Fort Wagner and in the siege of Fort Sumter. After a furlough of thirty days, which he passed at home, Mr. Spring returned to Virginia, taking part in the engagement of Bermuda Hundreds, and being in sight of General Lee's command at the time of his surrender. Mr. Spring was always found at the post of duty, and his military record is without blemish. He received his honorable discharge on the 3d of July, 1865. He then returned to his home in Fulton county, and in 1866 he rented a farm in the eastern part of the county, where he remained until 1869, when he purchased forty acres near Tedrow, where he was actively engaged in farming until 1882, when he sold the property and purchased his present well- improved homestead, which was practically in its primitive condition when he secured the same. Much of the land was still covered with timber and underbrush, and the buildings consisted of a log house and a barn of the same order. He has brought the farm, which comprises ninety-five acres, under effective cultivation, and the attractive residence, large, modern barn, good fences, and well-tilled fields all bespeak good management and unequivocal thrift and prosperity. Mr. and Mrs. Spring are prominent memberi of the Methodist Episcopal church at Ottokee, in which he is class leader and trustee and also assistant superintendent of the Sunday-school. He is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Patrons of Husban and his political allegiance is given to the Republican party. Tde has been a member of the school board for twenty years, served a number of years as road-supervisor, and one term as trustee of Dover township, and he is now serving his second term as infirmary- director. March 13, 1864, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Spring to Miss Ruby S. Godden, who was born in Tenterden, Kent county, England, on the 16th of January, 1842, being a daughter of William and Mary (Bennett) Godden, who came to America in 1850, remaining for a time in Syracuse, N. Y., and then coming to Cleveland, Ohio, where they remained two years, then passing two years in Me(clina county, and in 1854 they came to Fulton county. William Godden was born, September 1820, and he followed the tanning business until he came to Fulton county, where he engaged in farming. He died on his farm, near Delta, this county, October 12, 1902. His wife, who was born November 27, 1820, died February 20, 1897. They became the parents of five sons and seven daughters, and of the number six are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Spring became the parents of nine children: Watson F., born July 28, 1866, married Nellie Sprague and is a farmer of this county; William Milton, born February 6, 1868, died July 7, 1891; Walter 0. was born August 14, 1869; Mary E., July 26, 1871; Flora A., March 18, 1873; Dora E., July 29, 1875; Virgil S., August 25, 1877; James Garfield, January 29, 188o; and Cornelius S., February 28, 1883.   580 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   JOHN STAIR, one of the honored pioneer citizens and representative farmers of Amboy township, was born in Richland county, Ohio, June 1, 1832, a son of William and Sarah (Miller) Stair. The father was born and reared in Pennsylvania and in the pioneer days came to Ohio and settled in Richland county, and in 1836 he located in what is now Fulton township, Fulton county, this section being then practically an unbroken forest wilderness. He secured one hundred and twenty acres of government land and in course of time, through herculean labor, he developed a good farm, finding its cultivation a source of adequate mcome. Both he and his wife died on the homestead, and their names merit a high place on the roll of the sterling pioneers of the county. They became the parents of four children: Josiah (deceased), was a resident of Fulton tOWnship; Melinda is the wife of Joel Witt; Elizabeth is the wife of Daniel Kline; and John is the immediate subject of this sketch. John Stair was reared under the influences and labors of the pioneer era in this locality, and his youthful days were filled with "ceaseless toil and endeavor," and such were the exigencies of time and place that his educational advantages were very limited in scope. He was one of the valiant sons of the Buckeye State who went forth in defense of the Union when its integrity was menaced by armed rebellion. In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company H, One Hundredth Ohio volunteer infantry, with which he proceeded to the front, ever ready to discharge the duties which were assigned to him. At Limestone, Tenn., he was captured by the enemy, on the 8th of September, 1863, and was taken to the historic Libby prison, in Richmond, Va., being shortly afterward transferred to Belle Isle, from which place he received his parole, on the 13th of March, 1864. He rejoined his regiment in the following September, having been confined in the hospital at Camp Chase, in Columbus, Ohio, for some time after his release from the Confederate prison, and in the battle of Franklin, Tenn., it was his misfortune again to fall into the hands of the enemy. He was taken to Columbia, that state, and thence sent to Andersonville prison, where he was held in duress more than five months, his release coming only when the war ended and victory crowned the Union arms. He received his honorable discharge, in the capital city of his native State, in June 1865. After the war Mr. Stair returned to Fulton county, being engaged in farming in Fulton township during the greater portion of the interim until 1879, when he located on his present farm, in Amboy township, where he has been successful in his agricultural and Stock-growing enterprise, being one of the honored citizens of this community and county. He is a Republican in politics. In 1861 Mr. Stair was married to Miss Cevillia Wicks, daughter of Daniel and Harriett Wicks, of Lucas county, and they have two children: Emeletta, who is the wife of Thomas Livingston; and Mary E., who is the wife of Hudson Treadway.   JOSIAH STAIR was one of the honored pioneers of Fulton county and here attained success in connection with the great fundamental   BIOGRAPHICAL - 581   art of agriculture, which represented his vocation throughout life, and the old homestead farm is still in the possession of his widow, the same being located in Fulton township and being one of the valuable farms of the county. Mr. Stair was born in Franklin county, Pa., December 17, 1823, and was a son of William and Sarah (Miller) Stair, both of whom were likewise natives of the old Keystone State, the former having been born August 17, 1800, and the latter December 26, 1793, and both passed the closing years of their lives in Fulton county, the death of the father occurring January 9, 1848, and that of the mother on the 15th of September, 185o. They came to Ohio and located in Fulton county in 1835, having been numbered among the earliest settlers in Fulton township, having located on the farm now owned by Mrs. Josiah Stair, widow of the subject of this memoir. Josiah Stair was about twelve years of age at the time of the family removal from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and he was reared to manhood on the homestead farm of which he eventually becaine the owner and upon which he was residing at the time of his death. He continued to maintain his home consecutively in Fulton county during the long intervening years, save for a period of three and one-half years passed in California, whither he went i,n 1852, at the time when the memorable gold excitement was at its height. On the 3oth of March, 1848, Mr. Stair was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Witt, who was born in Springfield, Hamilton county, Ohio, being a daughter of John and Ann (Heller) Witt, who came to Fulton county in 1844, and were numbered among the pioneers of Fulton township, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Further reference to the family is made elsewhere in this work, in the sketch of Mrs. Clarissa A. Witt, widow of Horatio Witt, who was a brother of Mrs. Stair. In the autumn of 1848 Mr. and Mrs. Stair located on the homestead farm where the latter now resides, theplace being at that time still the property of Mr. Stair's father. Josiah was the eldest of five children, the otherS being: Mary Melinda, born March 1s, 1825; Ann Elizabeth, born October 19, 1826; Margaret, born February 4, 1829; and John, born June 1, 1832. The last named is the only one of the number now living, and he is a well-known farmer of Amboy township, this county. Josiah Stair gave his attention to the reclamation and improvement of the farm of one hundred and twenty acres, of which he eventually became the owner, and he was known as one of the reliable, energetic and progressive farmers of the county, upright and honorable in all the relations of life and commanding the uniform confidence and esteem of the community which was his home during practically his entire adult life. In his death, which occurred on the 8th of February, 1897, the county lost one of its honored pioneer citizens, and in the immediate community his death was felt as a personal bereavement. In politics Mr. Stair was a stanch Republican, and he served in various local offices, including that of township trustee. Since the death of her-husband Mrs. Stair has continued to reside on the old homestead, which is endeared to her through long association, and the farm is under the management of her foster son, Jonas Wicks, concerning whom in-   582 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   dividual mention is made in the article following. For nearly twenty years Mrs. Stair's eye-sight has been affected, and durmg the last decade the affliction has become so definite that she has been able only to distinguish between daylight and darkness. Notwithstanding this infirmity, she shows her intrinsic power of character by bearing the affliction with equanimity and patience, not permitting it to dampen her genial and gracious temperament, being exceptionally genial and companionable, and her life is brightened by pleasant home environments and by the loyal devotion of a wide circle of appreciative friends. She is far from being helpless, her general health being excellent, and she is able to perform many of the customary house-hold duties with as great facility as one not afflicted with blindness, idleness and supme ease having no place in her composition. She is fortunate in having the true filial devotion of her foster-son and his wife, Mr. Wicks having passed practically his entire life in the Stair home, as will be noted in the following sketch. Mr. and Mrs. Stair had no children of their own.   JONAS WICKS, one of the representative farmers and stock-growers of Fulton township, where he has for many years resided upon and had the management of the Josiah Stair homestead, besides owning an excellent little farm of his own, is a veteran of the Civil war, in which connection he showed the same determinate loyalty and fidelity that have characterized his course in all the other relations of his life. He was born in Wayne township, Wayne county, Ohio, on the 8th of February, 1844, and is a son of Daniel and Harriet (Farner) Wicks, both natives of Pennsylvania, where the former was born, May 24, 1810, and he died in 1879. The wife was born September 14, 1819, in Somerset county, Pa., and she died, in Fulton county, Ohio, on the 5th of March, 1897, having been resident of Lucas county at the time of her husband's death many years previously. They settled in Fulton county about 1852, and were residents later of Lucas county, the father having been a farmer by vocation. Following is a brief record concerning their children Cevillia, wife of John Stair, was born April 25, 1842, and they reside in Fulton township; Elizabeth, born August 25, 1845, is the wife of George Surbeck, and they reside in Kansas; Christopher, born September 3, 1847, is a resident of Lucas county, where he and those previously mentioned were born, the other children being natives of Fulton county; Esther, born June 8, 1849, is the wife of Parl Houser, of Lucas county; Lucy, born June 20, 1852, is the wife of Dr. Hale, and they reside in Wayne county; John Emerson and Emma, twins, were born May 8, 1854, the former being now a resident of Swanton, Fulton county, and the latter is the wife of George Higgins, of Bryan, Williams county; Sarah, wife of Enoch Huftile, died in Swanton, at the age of seventy years, having been the oldest in order of birth, and Jonas, subject of this sketch, was the third child. Jonas Wicks was reared to manhood in Lucas county, receiving a good common-school education and early becoming inured to the sturdy duties of farm work. August 7, 1862, he manifested his intrinsic loyalty to the Umon by enlisting   BIOGRAPHICAL - 583   as a private in Company H, One Hundredth Ohio volunteer infantry, which was assigned to the Twenty-third Army Corps of the Western Army, and he continued in active service until the close of the war, participating in the various engagements and manouvers in which his command was concerned and receiving his honorable discharge at Greensboro, North Carolina, on the loth of June, 1865. He was with Sherman on the ever memorable march from Atlanta to the sea, and his command returned into North Carolina to intercept Rood. Mr. Wicks received a slight wound in the head and incurred physical disabilities which have well entitled him to the pension which he receives from an appreciative government. After the war Mr. Wicks returned to Ohio and on the 1st of April, 1867, he entered the employ of the late Josiah Stair, and he has ever since resided on the old Stair homestead, employed in various capacities, and having been for a number of years manager of the farm. Mrs. Stair alwAys considers him "her boy," and ties of deep affection have bound him to both Mr. and Mrs. Stair during an intimate association of nearly two score years, Mrs. Stair maintaining that in all this period no unpleasant word has ever passed between them, and mutual sympathy and helpfulness have ever been in evidence. In politics Mr. Wicks has been a stalwart Republican from the time of attaining his legal majority, though he was reared in the Democratic faith. He is affiliated with Swanton Lodge, No. 528, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Fulton Encampment, No. 197, of the same order, in Delta, having passed the official chairs in both bodies, and he is also an appreciative member. of Quiggle Post, No. 289, Grand Army of the Republic, in Swanton., He owns a small and well improved farm in Fulton township and a good residence property,in the village of Swanton, but practically his entire mature life since the war has been passed on the Stair faim, which he manages with consummate ability and discrimination. April 28, 1889, witnessed the marriage of Mr. Wicks to Miss Catherine M rbach, who was born in Lucas county, Ohio, being a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Rudy) Mur- bach and a sister of Caspar and J cob R. Murbach, both of whom are individually mentioned in this publication. Mr. and Mrs. Wicks became the parents of three children, all of whom died in infancy.   RIAL CLARK STANDISH, a representative'farmer and honored citizen of Royalton township, is a representative of one of the old and prominent families of Fulton county, where he has passed his entire life and where he has been continuously identified with agricultural pursuits from his youth to .the present. He comes of historic old Puritan stock, as is evident when it is stated that he is of the seventh generation in line of direct descent from Miles Standish, the historic pilgrim whO landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, on the first trip of the good ship Mayflower, and one whose life is so beautifully depicted in the poem of the gentle New England bard, Longfellow.. Rial C. Standish was born on the old Standish homestead, in Royalton township, this county, on the 23d of March, 1862, being a son of Clark and Harriet (Smith) Standish. Detailed record con-   584 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   cerning the family is given in the sketch of William H. Standish, appearing immediately subsequent to this one, so that it is not necessary to canvass the data again for the present article. Mr. Standish was reared to manhood on the home farm, and was afforded such advantages as were to be had in the public schools of the locality. He has never severed his allegiance to the great basic industry of agriculture, and his thorough familiarity with all details of farm work, as well as with the local conditions of Soil and climtae, has been so supplemented by energy and good judgment that he has been most successful in his independent operations, being the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and ninety acres, in Sections 18 and 19, Royalton township, and forty acres of the same was a part of the old homestead on which he was born. In politics Mr. Standish is an uncompromising Republican, taking an intelligent interest in public affairs, particularly those of a local nature, but having no ambition for public office. He and his wife are members of the UniverSalist church at Lyons, Ohio. September , 1884, Mr. Standish was united in marriage to Miss Adeline Ross, daughter of Edward and Betsey (Disbrow) Ross, of Chesterfield township, and they have five children: Clark E., Austin C., Louis C., Donald M. and Mabel V.   WILLIAM HENRY STANDISH is one of the leading agriculturists and stock-growers of Fulton county, being proprietor of the. Royalton Stock Farm, at Lyons, and his lineage is of distinguished order, bespeaking the deepest Americanism, since he is in the eighth generation of direct descent from Miles Standish, the Puritan, who came over in the historic Mayflower, in 1620, landing at Plymouth Rock, and whose name figures so prominently and pleasingly in the annals of Massachusetts and in the idyllic poem of the illustrious New England bard, Longfellow. William Henry Standish was born in Royalton township, this county, May 17, 1864, and is a son of Clark and Harriet (Smith) Standish. The father was born in Sempronius, Cayuga county, N. Y., December 22, 1826, being a son of Rial Standish, who came with his family to Ohio in 1831, locating in Huron county, where Clark Standish was reared to manhood. April 14, 185o, Clark Standish married Harriet Smith, of \that county, and shortly afterward they came to Fulton county an took up their abode in Royalton township, making the trip to this county with an ox-team. Clark Standish took up a tract of goVernment land in Section 18, the same being covered withsia dense growth of timber, and with the passing of years this place was developed into a prodnctive and well-improved farm. He retained his residence on the homestead until the spring of 1889, when he removed to the city of Wauseon, where he lived retired until his death, December 18, 1898, at the age of seventy-two years. His first wife, Harriet (Smith) Standish, died on October 4th, 1873, and of their eight children seven are living: Phoebe is the wife of Orin Ranger, of Carson City, Mich.; Viola is the widow of Andrew DisbrOw and resides in Lyons, Ohio; Miles. P. remains a resident of Royalton township; Charlotte is the wife of Frank A. Camburn, of Royalton township; Rial C. is men-   BIOGRAPHICAL - 585   tioned in the preceding memoir: William H. is the immediate subject of this review; and Orin C. resides in Wauseon. For his second wife Clark Standish married Minerva A. Camburn, who survives him, as does also their adopted daughter, whose maiden name was Anna Wheeler and who is now the wife of Frederick Bredee, of Grand Rapids, Mich. Mr. Standish was a man of distinct individuality and great strength of character, unbending in his integrity and direct and unyielding in his views, but animated by a strong sense of justice, so that he ever commanded respect and confidence, though somewhat reserved in nature. He reared a large family of children, giving them good advantages, and acquired a competency through earnest and well-directed personal effort. He was an uncompromising foe of the liquor traffic, never having tasted intoxicating liquors, and in this respect his four sons have followed his worthy example. His religious faith was that of the Universalist church. The fine farml, stead now owned by his son, William H., subject of this sketch, was the one on which he settled when he first came to the county. After reclaiming a portion of this place he sold it to his brother and purchased a farm adjoining on the south, clearing and developing the latter with the aid of his sons and there remaining until his removal to Wauseon, as already noted. William H. Standish has resided in Royalton township from the time of his birth to the present, has always been identified with agricultural pursuits, and his educational advantages in youth were those of the public schools of the locality. His farm is finely improved and practically the entire area is available for cultivation, but for the past fifteen years he has utilized the place more particularly for the breeding of fine Holstein cattle, his stock being registered and of the highest type, and he has been particularly successful in this branch of his farm enterprise and has done much to advance stock interests in this section of the State, being one of the representative breeders of the Holstein cattle in Northern Ohio, and he has exhibited his stock at tate and county fairs in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, and at the present time he has, undoubtedly, as fine a herd of Holsteins as can be found within the border of the Buckeye State. He came into possession of the old homestead, of ninety acres, in 1894, and most of the improvements of permanent order were made by him, including a large and substantial barn which, in design, equipment and facilities is unexcelled by any in the township. The attractive and commodious residence was erected prior to his coming into possession of the farm. Mr. Standish is recognized as one of the most progressive farmers and stock-growers of the county, being a man of fine business talent and a citizen of utmost loyalty and public spirit. He and his wife are members of the Universalist church, and in a fraternal way he is identified with the Knights of the Maccabees. In politics he is a stanch Republican, he served two terms as trustee of Royalton township, and his name has also become prominent in nominating conventions in connection with candidacy for important county offices. He is not, however, a "practical politician," and has never offered subsidies for the sake of securing official preferment. He is a valued and active member of the Fulton   586 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   County Agricultural Society, with which he has been identified for the past decade. July 12, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Standish to Miss Caroline A. Campbell, daughter of George W. and Flore A. (Van Dorn) Campbell, the former of whom is deceased, and the mother is now the wife of Dr. J. H. Waddell, of Wauseon, where she herself is engaged in the practice of medicine. Mr. and Mrs. Standish have one son. George W.   JACOB GOTTLIEB STIRIZ, one of the sterling pioneer citizens of York township, is a native of Germany and possesses those characteristics which have made the true German type so valuable an element in the complex make-up of our republic. He was born in Lauffen-on-Neckar, Wurtemburg, Germany, on the loth of April, 1849, and is a son of Jacob Gottfried Stiriz and Elizabeth (Rueckle) Stiriz, both of whom were likewise native of the kingdom of Wurtemburg. In 1852 they left the fatherland and immigrated to America, being accompanied by their two children, the elder of whom, Christina, is now the wife of Jacob Krauss, of Pettisville, Fulton bounty, where her husband is engaged in the mercantile business and is also postmaster. The family came to Fulton county and located at Luke's Corners, in Fulton township, where they remained about eight years. In 1857 the father purchased a farm of eighty acres east of the present homestead of his son, Jacob G., subject of this sketch, and there he continued to reside until 1865, when he sold the property and purchased two hundred acres in York township—the present fine hometead of him whose name introduces this paragraph. The devoted wife and mother died on this homestead, on the 11th of August, 1889, and her husband later returned to his fatherland, where he died in 1893, at the age of seventy-nine years. He crossed the Atlantic six times in one year, having been restless and unsttled after losing his loved companion. Jacob Gottlieb Stiriz has been a resident of Fulton county for a full half-century, and within this long period he has not only witnessed but has been closely identified with the civic and material development and progress of this most attractive section of the old Buckeye State. His parents were in most modest circumstances when they came to America, and all that is represented or has been in the practical accumulations of the family has been the result of frugality and hard and unflagging effort. Mr. Stiriz thus appreciates to the full the dignity of honest toil and also the advantages which the years have brought and the opportunities which he has been able to give his children and which he was personally denied in his own youth. He is, however, a man of broad information, having been a reader of the best standard literature and having kept in intelligent touch with the questions and issues of the hour, and he has been well-trained in both the German and the English languages. He has at all times held the respect and confidence of the community in which he has so long maintained his home, has served in various township offices, and he has been a member of the school board for the past fifteen years. In national affairs he is an adherent of the Democratic party, but in local matters he is not   BIOGRAPHICAL - 587   constrained by strict partisan lines. He and his famliy are zealous members of the German Lutheran church, as were also his honored parents. It may be said, in passing, that his father served six years in the cavalry arm of the German army. The family came to America in a sailing vessel, arriving in the port of New York city forty-nine days after embarking, and the first three years were passed in Buffalo, N. Y. and they came thence to Toledo by boat on Lake Erie, then overland to -their destination in Fulton county. Mr. Stiriz has one of the finely improved farms of the county and enjoys that prosperity and independence which are the just reward of years of persistent and well-directed effort. July 27, 1876, he was united in martiage to Miss Margaret Hermann, a daughter of John Matthias Hermann and Barbara (Barth) Hermann, both of whom were born in Bavaria, Germany, where the former died, May 24, 1869. His widow came to America with her six children in 1875, and located on a farm near Pettisville, Fulton county, where she died, March 26, 1902. Her six children were George, John, Margaret, Maria, Barbara, and Christina, and all are resident of Fulton county with the exception of Maria, who is decease& To Mr. and Mrs. Stiriz were born seven children: Gottfried, who is associated in the work and management of the parental homestead, married Miss Olga Seible and they have two—children, Walter and Helen; Mary is the wife of key. Justus Kaufmann, pastor of the Lutheran church in Mt. Clemens, Mich., and they have one child, Huldah; Louise, Amelia and William remain at the parental home, and Frederick and Karl died in infancy.   CHARLES E. STRONG, one of the prominent farmers and honored citizens of Pike township, is a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of the Buckeye State and is a representative of stanch New England stock. He is, of the eighth generation in direct descent from John Strong, who was born in Taunton, England, in 1605. This worthy ancestor removed to London and later to Plymouth, England, from which latter place he set sail for America on the 20th of November, 1630, in the ship "Mary and John," commanded by Captain Squab, and the passenger list numbered one hundred and forty persons. The vessel arrived at Nantasket-Hall, Plymouth colony, Massachusetts, on Sunday, May 3o, 1630, and there, in the following December, John Strong was united in marriage to Miss Abigail Ford. He died April 14, 1699, leaving eighteen children, fifteen of whom had children at the time of his death: there were one hundred and fourteen grandchildren and thirty-three great- grandchildren. The direct line of descent is traced to the subject of this sketch through Jedediah Strong, son of John, the founder of the family in America. Jedediah Strong was born May 7,1637, and on the 18th of November, 1662, he was united in marriage to Freedom Woodward, who died in May, 1681. On the 19th of the following December he married Abigail Stebbins, who died July 16, 1689. In January, 1691, he married Mary Hart Lee, who died October 10, 17to. Jedediah Strong lived with his first wife for a period of nine-   588 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   teen years, with his second wife seven years, and with his third nine years, and notwithstanding his three marriages he lived thirty-three years as a widower and sixty-one years unmarried. During the years 1677-8-9 he was paid eighteen shillings a year for blowing the trumpet to summon the people to church on Sunday. He died May 22, 1733, leaving fourteen children. His son, Jedediah Strong, Jr., was born, August 7, 1667, and on the 8th of November, 1688, was united in marriage to Miss Abby Ingersoll who was born August 24, 1663. He was a farmer in Northampton, Massachusetts, until 1696, when he removed to Lebanon, Connecticut, where there were but four white families settled at the time. He waS killed by Indians, at Wood Creek, New York, October 12, 1709, leaving eight children. His son Ezra, the next in line of direct descent, was born November 2, 1702, and on the 12th of January, 1730, was married to Miss Abigail Caverly, who was born in 1715. Ezra Strong was a farmer at Lebanon, Connecticut, where he died March 7, 1785, his wife passing away in 1788: they became the parents of twelve children. Philip Strong, son of Ezra and Abigail (Caverly) Strong, was born, February 9, 1735, and in 1757 or 1758 he married Rhoda Payne, who was born in 1739, and he died September 13, 1789, having been a farmer and drover by vocation and having been one of the first settlers at Warren, Litchfield county, Connecticut. His wife died November 10, 1825. It is a matter of record that in her younger days she was a woman of prodigious strength, and that she raised a large tub of clear water to her mouth and drank to the health of her betrothed, asking him to return the compliment: she became the mother of fifteen children. The next in line of descent to the subject of this review was Stephen Strong, who was born at Warren, Connecticut, January 28, 1770. February 3, 1792, he married Lydia Hine, who was born January 3, 1775, a daughter of Daniel and Lydia (Beecham) Hine, of New Milford, Connecticut. He died December 8, 1852, his children having been eight in number. His son, Stephen Hine Strong, was born August 8, 1804, and was married, on the 14th of January, 1830, to Therza J. Everett, who was born in Warren, Connecticut, February 25, 1807. She died January 6, 1878, and his death occurred in 1898. They became the parents of ten children, whose names, with respective dates of birth, are here entered: Francis Marion, November 5, 1830; Flora J., July 7, 1832; Abbie M., May TO, 1834; Charles E., subject of this review, October 24, 1835; Edwin H., August 3, 1837; Mary A., March 20, 1839; Elijah M., January 3, 1841; William H., October 17, 1842; Stephen A., January 19, 1845; and Frederick, January 24, 1848, his death occurring on the 21St of the following April. Charles E., Edwin H., Elijah M. and Stephen A. were all in active service as Union soldiers in the Civil war. Charles E. enlisted in Company E, First Ohio Light Artillery, and remained in service until the close of the war, having taken part in the battleS of Stone River and Nashville and in more than forty skirmishes. He received his honorable discharge on the 9th of July, 1865. Charles E. Strong was born in Warren township, Litchfield county, Connecticut, on the 24th of October, 1835, and two years later, in 1837, his parents, immigrated to Ohio, settling in Medina county and passing the re-   BIOGRAPHICAL - 589   mainder of their lives in this State. Charles was reared to the strenuous discipline of the pioneer farm, and has ever followed agriculture as his life vocation. He continued resident of Medina county until 1874, when he came to Fulton county and located on the farm which is now his home. He has made excellent improvements on the place and it is now one of the attractive and valuable rural farms of the county, comprising eighty acres of land, all available- for cultivation. Mr. Strong is a stanch Democrat in hiS political aclherency, and is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Grange. On the 19th of September, 1865, Mr. Strong was united in marriage to Miss Helen M. Graham, who was born in Medina county, Ohio, on the 3d of September, 1846, being daughter of Alanson and Jane (Stephenson) Graham, of English and Irish descent, respectively. Mrs. Strong was summoned to the life eternal on the 18th of January, 1896, and is survived by two of her three children. Effie L., who was born February 5, 1867, was married, on the 16th of December, 1885 to John A. Gay, and she died December 21, 1891. Elwin G., born September 22, 1869, is now a resident of North Dakota. Orlo F., the youngest of the children, now has charge of the operation of the homestead farm. He was born on this farm, on the 18th of May, 1875, was educated in the public schools, has continuously been associated with his father in farming operations, and he now devotes considerable attention also to the dairying busineSs. On the 4th of February, 1899, Orlo F. Strong was united in marriage to Miss Edna C. Allen, who was born in Fulton county, on the 11th of September, 1879, being a daughter of Charles E. and Sarah J. (Smout) Allen, both of whom were likewise born in this county, the former on the 22d of October, 1850, and the latter on the 9th of May, 1854: They still reside in Royalton township, where Mr. Allen is a prominent farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Orlo F. Strong became the parents of two children, of whom the elder is deceased. Eva Helen, born February 25, 1901, died on the 17th of March, 1902. Charles A. was born August 22, 1902.   ELIJAH M. STRONG—In connection with the preceding sketch, dedicated to Charles E. Strong, brother of Elijah M., is given a specially complete genealogical record, and by reason of this fact it is not necessary to re-enter the family history in the present article, since ready reference may be made to the one mentioned. Elijah M. Strong is one of the representative farmers of Pike township, where he has a well improved estate of 120 acres, devoted to diversified agriculture and stock-growing. Mr. Strong was born in Medina county, Ohio, on the 3d of January, 1841, and is a son of Stephen H. and Thirza J. (Everett) Strong. He was reared to manhood in his native county, in whose common schools he secured his early educational training. He was but twenty years of age at the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion, but he forthwith signified his loyalty and patriotism by tendering his services in defense of the Union. In 1861 he enlisted as a member of Companyl E, First Ohio Light Artillery, with which he served three years, seeing much of the strenuous duty   590 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   of the soldier and taking part in many skirmishes and a number of important battles. He received his honorable discharge on the 2d of September, 1864, having made a record which stands to his perpetual honor. In March, 1866, Mr. Strong came to Fulton county and located on the farm where he now resides. His farm was in the midst of a tract of virgin forest, three milest square, and his original residence was a board shanty of primitive order. He has, reclaimed his land to cultivation and has made the best of improvements throughout, including the erection of an attractive residence and other good buildings. As a young man he was engaged in teaching in. the district schools at intervals, for a period of ten years. In politics Mr. Strong is a stanch Republican, in 1890 he served as land-appraiser, and he was incumbent of the office of township trustee several terms. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has been identified with the Grange from the time of its organization. He is one of the influential, zealous and prominent members of the United Brethren church at Winameg, Ohio, and is particularly active in the work of the church, contributing liberally of his time and means to the support of the organization and its various collateral benevolences. His wife also is a devoted member of the same religious body. In 1869 Mr. Strong was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Sindel, who was born in Fulton county, in 1851, being a daughter of John and Harriet Sindel, honored pioneers of the county. Mrs. Strong died in November, 1888, and in 1893, Mr. Strong married Mts. Mary E. (Cately) Dinius, widow of Samuel Dinius. She was born and reared in Fulton county and is a daughter of Judge S. H. Cately, deceased, of Delta, Ohio. She had three children by her first marriage, and they were reared and educated by herself and her second husband, and they also reared Miss Estella Converse, a daughter of Mr. Strong's sister.   CHARLES H. STUTESMAN, one of the honored citizens and prominent farmers of Chesterfield township, is a member of one of the old and well-known families of this section of the Buckeye State, his' father having settled in what is now Fulton county seventy years ago: Charles H. Stutesman was born on the farm which he now owns and operates, in Sections 4 and 23, Chesterfield township, the date of his nativity having been September 19, 1849. He is a son of Samuel and Mary A. (Waite) Stutesman, the former of whom was born in Maryland, August 29, 1806, and the latter was born in England, whence her parents immigrated to America when she was a child of four years, settling in New York city, where she, was reared and edit.. cated. She came to Fulton county, Ohio, for a visit, and here met and married Mr. Stutesman. Samuel Stutesman came to Fulton county in 1832 and secured eighty acres of government land in the midst of the dense forests of Chesterfield township. He then went to Maumee Lucas county,where he was employed for the ensuing three years, at the expiration of which, in 1833, he located on his pioneer farm, the place now owned by his only surviving son, and here he died on the 6th of August, 189o, having become one of the prosperous farmers and rep-   BIOGRAPHICAL - 591   resentative citizens of his township. He was a Republican in politics and both he and his wife, who died in 1843, were devoted members of the Christian church. This honored pioneer couple became the parents of three children, of whom Charles H. is the elder. His brother, John W., died at the age of six years, and one daughter, Lucinda Smith, lives in this county. Mr. Stutesman was reared on the old home place, which is an integral portion of his present fine landed estate, and he secured a good common-school education. He has been consecutively identified with agricultural pursuits from his youth to the present, is now the owner of three hundred and fourteen acres of as fine land as is to be found within the limits of Fulton county, and he has made improvements of the best type, including the erection of a commodious modern residence and large and substantial barns, making his homestead one of the most valuable and attractive in this section. An uncompromising Republican in his political allegiance, Mr. Stutesman has taken an active part in furthering the party cause in a local way, and he has served in offices of distinctive trust and responsibility. He was trustee of his township two terms, and in 1903 was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, his term expiring in 1906. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Grange, and both he and his wife are among the most prominent and valued members of the Christian church at East Chesterfield, in which he is an elder, and he was formerly superintendent of the Sunday-school. In 1874 Mr. Stutesman was united in marriage to Miss Anna Roberts, who was born in Allen county, Ohio, December 20, 1855, and whose death occurred May 3o, 1889. She is survived by one child, Ora, who is the wife of G. Scott Roos, mentioned elsewhere in this publication. June 25, 189o, Mr. Stutesman married Miss Nettie Roos, who was born in Chesterfield township, this county, December 5, 1863, being a daughter of John P. and Emily (Noble) Roos, and of this union have been born three children, whose names, with respective dates of birth, are as follows: E. Alleine, July 18, 1891; Glade Roos, March 1, 1897; and Marian Agnes, January 28, 1905.   JOHN SWIGERD merits recognition in this compilation by reason of his standing as one of the worthy citizens and substantial farmers of Fulton county, where he has maintained his home for nearly sixty years and where he has gained a competency through his own efforts, which have been directed with zeal and energy, guided and guarded by a spirit of inflexible integrity, so that he has not been denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem. Mr. Swigerd is a native of Germany, having been born in the kingdom of Wurtemberg, on the 7th of August, 1829, and being a son of John and Elizabeth Catherine (Ely) Swigerd, both of whom were born and reared in Wurtemberg, where their mrraiage was solemnized. The father was born June 16, 1792, and bore the patronymic of his sire, John Swigerd, who was one of a party of devoted pilgrims who started for the city of Jerusalem for the pur-   592 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   pose of rebuilding the sacred place, but he died in Russia while en route, in 1817, his wife having passed away in 18o6. John Swigerd (2d) immigrated to America in 1831, in company with his wife and their little son, John, who was then about two years of age. They located in New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where they maintained their home for several years, later removing to Coshocton county, where the devoted wife and mother died in 1841, in middle life. Her husband passed his declining years in Amboy township, Fulton county, where he died at the age of sixty-four years. John Swigerd (3d), the immediate subject of this sketch, secured his education in the common Schools of Tuscarawas and Coshocton counties, and in his youth he learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, which he followed as a vocation for a number of years, being known as a skilled workman. In 1846, when about seventeen years of age, he came to Fulton county, and here, in 1849, he was married to Miss Mary Schultz, who was born in Allegheny county, Pa., in 1828, and who was a child at the time of her parents' removal to Coshocton county, Ohio, where she was reared. In the autumn of 1861 Mr. and Mrs. Swigerd located on his present homeitEad farm, and here she died on February 2d of the following year, leaving six children, namely: Lucy Ann, who became the wife of James Hayes, now of Gladstone, Iowa, died on the 28th of August, 1876; George, who was born July 29, 1852, died in middle life, of consumption; John, born in 1853, died July 8, 1881, in Illinois; Elizabeth, born December 29, 1855, became the second wife of James Hayes, and she died in Gladstone, Iowa; Cyrus, born February 26, 1858, is engaged in the shoe business at Battle Creek, Mich.; Jacob Washington, born March 4, 1860, is engaged in the restaurant business in the city of Chicago. January 1, 1863, Mr. Swigerd consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Delilah Frybarger, who was born in Somerset county, Pa., and she remained his cherished and devoted companion on the journey of life for nearly forty years, her death occurring February 11, 1900, when She was suddenly stricken, being apparently in the best of health, her death being almost instantaneous. Concerning the five children of this union the following is a brief record: William Henry, born April 4, 1864, died October 14, 1881; Charles Wesley, born April 20, 1865, owns a good farm in Pike township but resides with his father on the old homestead, which he rents and operates; Mary Margaret, born August 12, 1867, is the wife of Addison Hudson, of Beallsville, Monroe county; Samuel, born November 5, 1869, is a contractor and builder in the city of Toledo. Prior to locating on his farm, where he had resided consecutively since, 1861, Mr. Swigerd gave his attention principally to the work of his trade. The farm comprises eighty acres and when he came into possession of the same it was discovered with the native timber and had no improvements. With the aid of his sons he reclaimed about sixty-five acres, and the place is now one of the best improved and most productive farms in this section, having an effective system of tiling and being under a high state of cultivation, and the improvements of a pernianent order are exceptional excellence,   BIOGRAPHICAL - 593   including the fine brick residence, two stories and baSement, with slate roof, which was erected by Mr. Swigerd in 1887. Since the death of his wife he has passed much of his time visiting among his children, but he still looks upon the old farm as his home, the place being endeared to him through the associations and memories of the past. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and he has served in various township and school offices. His religious faith is that of the Evangelical Association, of which both of his wives were also- devoted members. He is a man of sterling character and is held in unqualified esteem in the community which has been his home for so many years.   GEORGE G. TAPPAN was born on the farm which is now his home, is a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of the county, and he honored Fulton county through his valiant service as a soldier in the War of the Rebellion. His attractive farmstead is located in Section 34, Pike township, and comprises one hundred and twenty acres. Mr. Tappan was born June 16, 1841, and is a son of Whitfield and Amanda (Woodford) Tappan, the former of whom was born in the, State of New Jersey, in 1798, and the latter of whom was born at Batavia, N. Y. The father located in Fulton county in 1834, taking up government land and reclaiming the same from the virgin forest. I The original government deed is now in the possession of the subject of this sketch, whose present homestead is a portion of the land secured by his father more than seventy years ago. On this homestead the parents resided until their death, the father passing away in 1884 and the mother in 1881. They became the parents of eight children, namely: Mary A., wife of James Debar; Frances, wife of William Griffin; George G., subject of this review; Helen L., wife of Levi D. Eversole; Laura C., wife of Eugene N. Gunn; Clarissa A., wife of Charles Wright; Eliza, deceased in infancy; and Whitfield W., a farmer of this county. George G. Tappan was reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm, assisting in its development and securing such educational advantages as were afforded in the common schools of the day. He was one of those with responded to President Lincoln's call for volunteers to assit in the suppression of the Rebellion. In November, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company F, Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, with which he served until victory crowned the Union arms and the great factracidal conflict came to a close, and he took part in many of the important engagements of the war, being twice wounded—once in the engagement at Fort Wagner, North Carolina, and later at Chapin's Farm, Virginia. He has never lost his interest in his old comrades, and is a valued and appreciative member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Since the close of the war Mr. Tappan has given his undivided attention to agricultural pursuits, and his homestead, endeared to him through the memories and associations of the past, is one of the fine farms of the county, being equipped with excellent improvements and maintained under a high state of cultivation. Mr. Tappan is a stanch advocate of the principles and pol-   594- HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   icies of the Republican party and is one of the public-spirited and influential citizens of his native township. He has served as township treasurer for twenty years, is a member of the board of directors of the county infirmary and has held other local offices of trust. In 1874 Mr. Tappan was umted in marriage to Miss Martha D. Dunbar, who was born in Wayne county, Ohio, May 31, 1846, being a daughter of Boyd and Rachel (Fitzsimmons) Dunbar, both native of Pennsylvania, whence they came to Ohio, first locating in Wayne county and coming to Fulton county in 1849, here passing the remainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Tappan are the parentS of five children, namely: Walter R., Florence G., Robert A., Misca J. and Frank G. Florence is the wife of Frank H. Hogue, and Misca is the wife of Ira Rambo.   HERMAN M. TAPPAN is the owner of one of the valuable landed estates of Pike township, is a prominent and influential citizen and is a farmer and dairyman of progressive ideas and marked energy. He was born on the farm which is now his home, on the 5th of July, 1848, and is a son of Moses. Q. and Hettie (Miller) Tappan, both of whom were born in Morris county, New Jersey— the former on the 1st of February, 1804, and the latter on the 16th of June, 1806. They were married in their native county, where they continued to reside until 1836, when they came to Ohio, locating in Toledo, where they remained until 1840, when, with their four children, they came to Fulton county and took up their residence on the farm now owned by the subject of this review, the land at the time having been covered with the native forest. The father instituted the work of reclaiming his farm and continued to reside on the same until his death, which occurred on the 27th of June, 1858; his wife passed away on the 16th of September, 1899. They became the parents of seven children, concerning whom the following brief record is incorporated: Quinby, who was born on the 25th of September, 1825, died in February, 1902 ; Jacob H., who was born on the 27th of November, 1827, is a resident of the city of Toledo; William R., who was born in April, 1830, died in May, 1905; Oakley died in childhood; Phineas K., who was born February 16, 1835; is a resident of Colorado; Nancy, who was born May 11, 1842, is the wife of Edward C. Sindel, of Winameg, Ohio; and Herman M., subject of this sketch, is the youngest of the children. Herman M. Tappan assisted in the reclaiming and cultivation of the home farm, and in addition to receiving the advantages of the district schools was enabled to attend school two years in the city of Toledo. He has made farming his life-work, and has been very successful in his operations, bringing to bear much energy and discrimination and thus securing the maximum returns from his efforts. His farm comprises two hundred and forty. acres; the same has the best of improvements and is maintained under a high state of cultivation, and Mr. Tappan also finds dairying a profitable feature of his farm enterprise. In the same locality his son Walter own twenty acres, and he and his two sons conduct their farming operations together, and the results of   BIOGRAPHICAL - 595   their efforts are indicated in the fine appearance of the farm and its live stock, buildings, etc. Mr. Tappan gives his support to the cause of the Republican party and is prominent in public affairs in his township. He served thirteen consecutive years as township clerk, was land-appraiser for the township in i900, and was for nine years deputy State supervisor of elections. He was for several, years president of the board of education of Pike township. He also served as secretary if the Fulton County Farmers Insurance Company for one year and refused re-election. His elder son served four years as township clerk and is the present treasurer of Pike township. On the 18th of January, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tappan to Miss Harriet Wood, who was born in Medina county, Ohio, on the 5th of February, 1849, being a daughter of William and Laura Wood, who came to Fulton county in 1854, locating on a farm in Pike township, where they passed the remainder of their lives, the father dying in July, 1900, and his wife passed to the life eternal on the I ith of November, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Tappan have two sons— Walter A., born October 27, 1870, and Erwin M., born February 3, 1879.   JESSE S. TAYLOR is numbered among the honored pioneers of Pike township and is now nearing the age of four-score years, being admirably preserved in body and physical powers and exemplifying the results of right living through the long years which represent his life span. He has the unqualified esteem of the community in which he has so long lived and labored to goodly ends, and is living practically retired, having retained a homestead of eighty acres out of his former large landed estate and having one of the fine places of this section of the county. Mr. Taylor comes of stanch old Puritan stock and claims the old Bay State as the place of his nativity, having been born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, on the 18th of January, 1828, and being a son of Orrin and Anna S. (Hall) Taylor, both of whom were likewise natives of New England. In 1836 Orrin Taylor came to what is now Fulton county, where he entered claim to three eighty-acre tracts of government land, the most of which was in Pike township. In 1850 he came with his family to this country and instituted the development of his land, becoming one of the successful and influential farmers of his day. He died on his home farm, in 1875, and his devoted wife passed away in 1883. He was a Republican in his political proclivities. Jesse S. Taylor was mainly reared to manhood in Ohio, where he received good educational advantages. He accompanied his parents on their removal to Fulton county, having been twenty-one years of age at the time, and for ten years thereafter he was a successful and popular teacher in the common schools of the county, and during the summer seasons he customarily gave his attention to farm work during this decade. Since retiring from the pedagogic profession Mr. Taylor has made farming and stock-raising his vocation, and he accumulated a fine landed estate of four hundred acres, to which he gave his supervision for many years, and the major of the tract still   596 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY   remains in the possession of members of the family, to whom he has deeded the property, retaining in his fine homestead eighty acres, whose operation he still manages, though he has esSentially retired from the active labors which marked so many years of his successful and honorable career. No man in the community is held in higher esteem, and he has wielded no slight influene in public affairs of a local nature. The political views of Mr: Taylor are indicated in the stanch allegiance he accords to the Republican party, and both he and his wife are valued members of the United Brethren church. In 1857 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage to Miss Harriet E. Knowles, who was born and reared in this county and who died in December, 1865, being survived by one daughter, Lillian E., who is now the wife of Solomon L. Valentine, of Wauseon, Ohio. On the 28th of December, 1869, Mr. Taylor married Mrs. Ellen N. CasSon, who was born in the state of Georgia. Her first husband met his death while serving as a soldier in the Civil war, and she later came to Fulton county with her two sons. Of this second marriage no children have been born.   LUCIUS H. TAYLOR, a progressive farmer and popular citizen of Pike township, is a member of a family whose name has been identified with the annals of Fulton county for more than half a century, and the name has stood for all that is worthy in the various relations of life, the subject of this review being a representative of the third generation of the family in Fulton county. Orrin Taylor, who is to be designated as the founder of the family in the Buckeye State, was born in Franklin county, MassachuSetts, in 1789. In that State, in 1812, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Anna Hall, who was born in Connecticut, in 1795. They came to Ohio in 1831, locating in Portage county, and in 1836 he came to what is now Fulton county and secured three eighty-acre tracts of government land, in the midst of the virgin forest—two of the places being taken for his sons. In 1850 the family removed to this county, where Orrin Taylor and his noble wife passed the remainder of their lives, his death occurring on the old homestead farm, in 1875, and his wife passed to the life eternal in 1883. He held various offices of public trust, having been justice of the peace for twenty years, and having served as township treasurer after he was eighty years of age. He was a man of fine character and much ability and was prominent and influential in local affairs, commanding the unstinted repSect and confidence of all who knew him. Orrin and Anna Taylor became the parents of six sons and three daughters. Two of the sons were valiant soldiers of the Union during the Civil war, Luther having enlisted in the Tenth Ohio Cavalry and having met his death while on the field ; James was a member of the Thirty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry. Three sons and one daughter are still living, namely: Lucius P., who was born in 1817; Mary Ann, who was born in. 1825 and who is the widow of German Stanley; Jesse S., who is individually mentioned in the preceding review; and James, who was born in 1830. Lucius P., father of him whose name initiates   BIOGRAPHICAL - 597   this review, is one of the venerable citizens and honored pioneers of Fulton county, where he has maintained his home since,1843, when he took up his abode on the farm where he now resides, the same having been the land secured in his name by his father. He was born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, on the 15th of August, 1817, and was reared and educated in the old Bay State. He reclaimed his farm from the wilderness and has ever retained a strong hold upon the confidence and regard of the people of the community in which he has maintained his home for more than sixty years. In Summit county, Ohio, on the 13th of February, 184o, he was united in marriage to Miss Susanna M. Ozmun, who was born in Liverpool, Medina county, Ohio, on the 1st of March, 1815, and who remained his devoted and loved companion until her death, in 1892. They became the parents of three sons and six daughters, and one son and five of the daughters are still living, namely: Lucy A., who was born April 4, 1841; Emma,, who was born February 20, 1848, and who is the wife of Milo Barnum : Ida, who was born February 4, 1850, and who is the wife of Edwin Harriott; Susetta, who was born November 9, 1853; Olive L., who was born December 29, 1855; and Lucius H., who is the immediate subject of this sketch. The two deceased sons are Orrin, and Jesse T. The former was a loyal and efficient soldier in Company F, Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, in the Civil war, and was killed in an engagement with the enemy about ten minutes before the surrender of General Lee. Jesse T. was a member of the same company and regiment, and he never recovered from the effects of his arduous service in the ranks, though he lived for many years after the war, his death having occurred on the 17th of November, 1903. The daughter Charlotte died at the age of six years. Lucius P. Taylor was originally a Whig in his political allegiance, but he has been identified with the, Republican party from the time of its organization. Hefts-township trustee at the time of the organization of Fulton county, ana has held other local offices. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, of which, his wife also was a devoted member. He has lived a life of signal honor and usefulness, and is well preserved in his mental and physical faculties, though he is eighty-eight years of age at the time of this writing, in 1905. He assisted in the building of the first government pier in the city of Cleveland.. Lucius H. Taylor was born on the homestead farm, in Pike township, this county, on the 8th of November, 1858; in his youth he duly availed himself of the advantages afforded in the public schools of the locality, and he has never severed his allegiance to the industry of agriculture, of which he is a successful representative in is native township, where he has charge of the old homestead on which he was born and which is one of the valuable farms of the county. He is a Republican in politics and takes a deep interest in all that concerns the progress and prosperity of his home township and county. In 1893 he was united in marriage to Miss Cora B. Falor, who was born in Fulton county, on the 5th of October, 1873, being a daughter of Joseph and Mary M. Falor.