2150 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO land in the course of years underwent many developments and became one of the fine farms of that vicinity. William Mercer died about five years after coming to Wood County, on March 2, 1839. His widow survived until February 2, 1855. They had a large family of thirteen children, named Martha, Mary Ann, George, William, John, Daniel Beulah, Caleb, Charity, Lucretia, Abraham, Ellis and Charles. All of these are now deceased. Charles Mercer, the youngest of the family,' was born in Columbiana County April 22, 1826, and was eight years of age when he came with the family to Liberty Township in Wood. County. He grew up there, and obtained most of his education in the Portage schools. Having inherited part of the old homestead, he proved himself an industrious farmer and a man of capable business judgment and in the course of time had an extensive acreage under his control. In 1888 he retired to Bowling Green and lived there until his death about 1890. He was a well known citizen, was a republican in politics, and was a member and liberal giver to the Church of Christ. Charles Mercer was married in Wood County in 1855 to Jane Mominee, who was born in Lucas County, Ohio, February 28, 1840, and is now living, at the age of seventy-seven, with her daughter Mrs. Rudolph in Bowling Green. She represents one of the oldest families established in the wilderness of the Middle West around the Great Lakes. Her parents were Anthony and Angeline (De-mars) Mominee. Her grandfather, Louis Mominee, was born in Quebec, Canada, in 1740. In 1759 he joined a colony of Frenchmen at an old settlement south of Detroit, at Monroe, in what is now the State of Michigan. It was then merely one of the far outposts of the old French regime in Canada. Louis Mominee married at Monroe Leahr Freedom. These parents had twenty-two children. Of them, Anthony, father of Mrs. Mercer, was the twentieth in age and was born January 15, 1785, in Monroe County, Michigan. He enlisted from Michigan and served during the War of 1812, and at one time was captured and held a prisoner by the Indians. He died July 5, 1854. He was first married in 1817, to Margaret Duso by whom he had two children. On June 4, 1821, he married Angeline Demars, mother of Mrs. Charles Mercer. Charles Mercer and wife had six children. Three died in childhood, named Nora, Hiram, and Hamilton. Of those living,. M. Mercer is a retired farmer of Bowling Green, is married and has a son and daughter. The second is J. D. Mercer. Ellen Etta is the wife of J. H. Rudolph, a former county treasurer of Wood County, living at Bowling Green. J. D. Mercer was born in Liberty Township of Wood County, attended the public schools there and also the city school of Bowling Green. His early environment was a farm, and he began farming as his first independent vocation. Subsequently for eight years he was a lumber dealer at Rudolph. About five years ago Mr. Mercer removed to Bowling Green, but still retains his interests as a farmer. His home is at 410 South Main Street, where a number of years ago he erected a beautiful home. Politically his actions are as a republican and he has served as township treasurer and in other local offices. He is a Lodge and Chapter Mason. Mr. Mercer was married in Rudolph to Miss Rebecca L. Allen She was born in Geauga County, Ohio, and was a small child when brought to Wood County by her parents, Zacheus and Lucy (Martin) Allen. Her parents spent the rest of their years in Wood County and her father died when not much past middle age. Mr. and Mrs. Mercer have four children : Lorenzo D. is a college graduate and is now cashier of the Commercial Bank and Savings. Company of Bowling Green. He married Zula Forest and they have a daughter, Mary Jane, now three years old. Ina is a graduate of the Bowling Green High School, was a student in Oberlin, and is the wife of Grant McQuawn, who is connected with the Heinz pickle factory at' Bowling Green. Hazel, who is still at home, is a graduate of the 'high school, of Bethany College and of the Wisconsin 'State University at Madison. Galen, the youngest of the family, is a student in the Bowling Green High School. The family are all active members of the Church of Christ, of which Mr. Mercer is a trustee. FRANCIS EDWIN PHILBRICK. Among the merchants of Upper Sandusky Francis Edwin Philbrick has one of the largest and best fitted establishments in the grocery line. The up-building of this business is a notable distinction, since it was undertaken when he was past sixty years of age and after his early won competence had been swept away. Mr. Philbrick has steadily prospered and has gained the unqualified esteem of a large community. This business is conducted as F. E. Philbrick & Son. Mr. Philbrick was born at Royalton in Fair- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2151 field County, Ohio, September 10, 1848. He is of English stock on his father's side, and a son of Francis Gideon and Hannah (McDowell) Philbrick. His father was born on a farm near Bangor, Maine, in 1820 and in his native state learned the trade of carriage and wagonmaker. For a short time he was in the South at New Orleans, and on coming North he located at Lancaster, Ohio, worked at his trade four years, and then moved to Royalton, Ohio, where with his savings he opened a shop of his own. In 1843 he married Hannah McDowell, a young Scotch-woman, and of a family of pioneers in Fairfield County. They were married at Lancaster and they spent the rest of their lives at Royalton. Francis E. Philbrick, who was the second of nine children, four of whom are still living, grew up at Royalton and acquired his education in the local village schools. in 1862, when he was fourteen years of age, his father joined the Nintieth Ohio Volunteers as drum major, and the boy then had to become self supporting. He began work on neighboring farms as a hired man at fifty cents a. day for three summers, and during the winters spent three months in the village schools. After his, father returned from the war the son joined him in the shop and learned carriage and wagon painting. At the age of seventeen he too had tried to join the army, but was unable to gain his parents' consent. He remained in the shop with his father until le was thirty years of age, and then took up tenant farming. In 1873 Mr. Philbrick married Althea S. Williamson, daughter of I. N. and Elizabeth (Peters) Williamson. After his marriage Mr. Philbrick farmed three years, and then came to Wyandot County and located on a farm in Crane Township, which he farmed as a tenant for eleven years. In 1894 Mr. Philbrick had his first experience as a grocery merchant when he bought the store in Upper Sandusky. on South Eighth Street from John McAffe. He continued in business there for thirteen years, then sold out and went to his mother-in-law's farm near Royalton, Ohio, where he remained five years. In 1913 Mr. Philbrick returned to Upper Sandusky and at the age of sixty-five started his business career all over again in order to provide for his family. This is an age when most men are ready to give up their active responsibilities, but he showed his courage and enterprise and has since gained a notable success. When he resumed business in Upper Sandusky it was as a retailer of bread, selling from a wagon from door to door. He soon had a large trade, netting him four dollars a day, and after a year he sold his business at a profit and bought the grocery of Finkle & Lowrey at the corner of Wyandot Avenue and Seventh Street. This business he has conducted with a growing trade and has made it one of the best in the town. Mr. and Mrs. Philbrick had the following children : Mark, who was born in 1874 and died in 1888 ; Nellie Blanche, born in 1881 and died in 1910 ; and Ralph Waldo, born November 6, -1883, and is now associated with his father in the store. Ralph W. married in June, 1905, Hazel Stewart, daughter of Joseph. and Diantha Stewart. They have three children : Mildred Diantha, born February 4, 1907 ; Nellie Lucile; born February 10, 1908 ; and Maurice Stewart, born January 17, 1914. Mr. Philbrick has steadily affiliated with the republican party since casting his first vote. He is a memBer of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the National Union and belongs to the First Methodist Church. W. J. SCHWENCK was thrown on his own resources when a boy of twelve years, earned and paid for his education, and with hard work as the keynote of his career has reached a position where he is not only a good lawyer but one of the most successful in the Crawford County bar. Mr. Schwenck was born on a farm in Holmes Township of Crawford County, Ohio, October 18, 1874. His grandfather, J. G. Schwenck, was a farmer and came from Germany to Ohio in 1829. W. J. Sehwenck is a son of Hieronemus and Anna M. (Zimmer) Schwenck. The father was born in Germany October 17, 1817, and was twelve years of age when brought to America The mother was born in Baden, the same district as her husband, on December 18, 1827, and came to this country at the age of eight years. They were married in Ohio, and the father died in 1887 and the mother on September 21st of that year. The father spent his active career as a farmer and was granted a fair degree of prosperity. He was a democrat and he and his wife were members of the German Lutheran Church. They had eight children, but only three are now living : Samuel, a retired resident of St. Marys, Ohio ; J. C., in the lumber business at Jonesboro, Ohio ; and W. J. W. J. Schwenck was about thirteen years 2152 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO of age when his parents died and from that time forward he chose to be dependent upon his own efforts. Out of his earnings he paid his tuition and keep while in the Ohio Northern University, where he was graduated in the scientific course in 1898. The following two years he spent in the Ohio State University Law School, and by crowding three years' work into two years graduated LL. B. in 1900. Mr. Schwenck for a time was in practice with Charles F. Schaber, but is now alone. His political career has been in the democratic party. He served as city solicitor from 1902 until 1906. While in that office he introduced the new code, and that brought him a great deal of deserved popularity. He was also clerk of the board of elections for eight months and put in operation the first compulsory primary law in Ohio. In 1910 Mr. Schwenck was elected prosecuting attorney of Crawford County and filled that office four years, two terms. 'Later he was an aspirant for the nomination for attorney general of the state. While prosecuting attorney he had two murder trials, and secured convictions in both, one for manslaughter and the other for murder in the first degree. June 9, 1909, Mr. Schwenck married Miss Ruth France. She was born at Findlay, Ohio, daughter of William France, a machinist by trade who is now living at Bucyrus at the age of eighty-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Schwenck are members of the German Lutheran Church. He has long been active in the Fraternal Order of Eagles, served as worthy president in 1905 and is again occupying that official dignity in the order. JOHN W. MCCARRON, one Of the successful lawyers of the Northwest Ohio bar, has been a resident of Crawford County for the past seventeen years and has enjoyed a large business and a place of influence in both Galion and Bucyrus. Mr. McCarron was born in Richland County, Ohio, February 12, 1874. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. James McCarron came to Ohio from New Jersey, which was probably the state of his birth, and was a pioneer settler in Columbiana County, moving from there to Fredericktown in Knox County. There he spent his active career as a brick manufacturer. Grandfather James McCarron at the age of fifty years married Jane Baker. She lived to be eighty-five and died in Ashland County. James McCarron and wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Frederick McCarron, father of the Bucyrus lawyer, was born in Columbiana County and spent the greater part of his life as a farmer. His home for many years has been near Fredericktown in Knox County. In politics he is a democrat. He married in Richland County, Priscilla Hunter. She was born in 1848 and died in Knox County March 10, 1908. Her grandfather, James Hunter, was a soldier in the War of 1812 and was the son of a Revolutionary patriot. Her parents were Benjamin and Sarah (Jump) Hunter. Frederick McCarron and wife had five children. Of these John W. grew up in Knox County, and acquired a liberal education. He attended the Ohio Normal, now the Ohio Northern University at Ada, and paid part of his expenses while there by teaching,, He was admitted to the bar in June, 1895. Before coming to Crawford County Mr. McCarron practiced six years at Mount Vernon in Knox County. Moving to Galion he was soon recognized as a coming man in his profession and enjoyed a large practice. He also maintained office at Bucyrus and since 1913 has had his home in that city. Mr. McCarron is a democrat in politics, is an active member of the Knights of Pythias, the Maccabees and the Independent Order of Foresters and with his family worships in the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. McCarron married Julia Menges. She is a native of Sandusky County, Ohio, daughter 'of Jacob and Julia (Strecker) Menges. Her parents were natives of Germany, coming to this country when young and for many years have lived at Crestline, Ohio. For fifty years .Mr. Menges was an instructor of the piano. He had the talent typical of the German people and was an expert in technique and a splendid instructor. Mrs. McCarron, who was the only daughter of four children, inherited her father's talent and has always been prominent in- musical circles. She was two years of age when her parents removed to Crestline and she grew 'up there and received her education in the local schools. Mr. and Mrs. McCarron have two children, Ruth M. and Robert F., the former a student in high school and the latter attending the grade schools. JOHN C. BERG, present superintendent of the Paulding County public schools, has given the best years of his life to schools and educa- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2153 tional matters. He is a man of fine scholarship, and ranks among the leading educators of Northwest Ohio. He was born in Paulding County October 20, 1882, a son of A. and Martha (Buyer) Berg. His father, a native of Germany, came alone to America in 1845 and being poor and without influence or experience worked several years as a section hand during the construction of the Wabash Railway. He then bought some land, lived on it three years, and afterward moved to the small farm which he owned and operated the rest of his life. He was a republican and a member of the Christian Church. John C. was the youngest of the five children, two of whom survive.. Mr. Berg remained at home with his father until the latter's death and in the meantime acquired an education in the local schools. He made the best of his opportunities, and in the intervals of teaching acquired a liberal education. He took a scientific course in the Ohio Northern University at Ada, subsequently graduated from Lima College, and in 1914 received another diploma from the Ohio State University. For thirteen years Mr. Berg was teaching in the graded schools of the county and in 1914 was elected to his present office as superintendent. He has been a member of the Paulding County Board of School Examiners for the past eight years and is at present clerk of the board. He has been an important factor in the educational progress which has brought the Paulding County schools to a high state of efficiency. Mr. Berg is a member of the Masonic order and in politics is a republican. August 30, 1908, in Paulding County, he married Miss Elizabeth Reese. She was one of a family of four children, and her parents came from Wales. Mrs. Berg was well educated both in the public schools and in the Ohio Northern University. Their one son, Max Willard, was born May 23, 1914. HENRY JOHN RUDOLPH. One of the thriving smaller commercial centers of Wood. County is named Rudolph. This name was given in honor of the leading business man of that place, Henry John Rudolph, who now has his home at Bowling Green. Mr. Rudolph is cashier of the State Bank of Bowling Green and was formerly manager of the Liberty Grain Company of Rudolph, and his interests in a business way have become widespread. For years he successfully handled real estate, and his friends and associates say that everything he touches in a business way prospers under his hand. For many years he conducted the leading general store at Rudolph and was a merchant in that vicinity from 1890 to 1911. In 1910 he was elected county treasurer of Wood County, and during his official term of two terms, four years, he moved his home to Bowling Green, where he has since lived. At 428 South Main Street Mr. Rudolph has one of the finest homes of the city, twelve rooms, modern in every particular, and situated in a very fine residential section. Mr. Rudolph has spent nearly all his life in Wood County but was born in Seneca County, at Republic, November 22, 1861. He received his education in the public schools and at the age of twenty began an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade. A few years later he entered merchandising at Moline, Ohio, and was associated with F. J. Schreiber. He then sold out to Mr. Schreiber and his sister and bought and conducted a general store at Mermill. At the same time he served as postmaster and as agent for the Toledo & Ohio .Central Railway at that place. From Mermill Mr. Rudolph went to the little locality then known as Mercer on, a branch of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway. Here he established a store and a lumber yard, was appointed railway station agent, and was also made the first postmaster. The postoffice was named Rudolph in his honor and in a short time the village name was changed to correspond. He served as postmaster there about eight years, and at the same time his business interests grew rapidly. He was a lumber dealer four years, and as a plasterer and contractor he also did much of the building work in that section of the county. Mr. Rudolph owned his general merchandise store at Rudolph until 1912. He is of German parentage and a son of Charles and Sarah (Heerwagner) Rudolph. His mother was a daughter of Henry Heerwagner of Crawford County. She was born in Crawford County, but her parents came from Saxony, Germany, and were pioneer farmers in Crawford County and died in Broken Sword Township of that section. Charles Rudolph was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, and in 1846 came to the United States, taking seven weeks to make the voyage in a sailing vessel. He had been a shoemaker in 'Germany and he opened his first shop at Republic in Seneca County. From there he removed to Lake Township in Wood 2154 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO County, and while following his trade also cleared up forty acres of land and made a good farm. That was his home until his death in 1915, when he was eighty-three years of age. He was a man of fine physique and was in splendid health and vigor all his life. His widow is still living at the old home and is now seventy-six years of age. She is a member of the Lutheran Church, as was her husband, and he was a democrat in politics. Henry J. Rudolph was the oldest of three sons and several daughters. His brother Lawrence died at the age of six years. His brother Edson is a farmer in Lake Township of Wood County and is married and has a family. The sister Louise is the wife of John Bringman, who for many years was a merchant at Lemoyne in Wood County, and is now living at Toledo. A sister Amelia married John Gilbert and they have reared a large family. Maria is the wife of William Hackman, a carpenter living at Toledo. The sister Maggie is the wife of Thomas Crago, and their home is a farm in Lake Township of Wood County. Another sister, Ellen, married Henry Cowles, a farmer in Lake Township and they have seven sons. Henry John Rudolph was married at the Village of Rudolph to Alnetta Mercer. Mrs. Rudolph is a daughter of Charles Mercer and a sister of J. D. and Fulton Mercer, a prominent family elsewhere mentioned in this publication. Mrs. Rudolph was born in Liberty Township of Wood County May 6, 1870, and was well educated, being a student of music in the Ohio Northern University at Ada. Mr. Rudolph besides his service as county treasurer has been township treasurer and has filled other positions of trust and responsibility. He is a republican and he and his wife are active members of the Christian Church. RUFUS B. MOORE is one of the older members of the bar of Bowling Green, where he has been in active practice since June 30, 1888. Time and experience have given him a secure prestige in the local profession, and he has enjoyed a profitable practice both in the courts and as an office counsel. Mr. Moore graduated from Otterbein University with the class of 1883, and subsequently became a student under Judge Robert S. Parker. After his admission to the bar he was associated with Judge Parker. This partnership existed six years, until Judge Parker was appointed to the Circuit Court bench. Since then Mr. Moore has continued in business alone. Through all these years he has held a commission as notary public. Before taking up his work as a law student he taught school several years. Mr. Moore is a member in good standing of the County Bar Association. He is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and a past noble grand of the local lodge of Odd Fellows. In an official capacity he served three terms as city solicitor, and as township clerk of Center Township seven years. Formerly he was an active republican but became a progressive upon the organization of that party and has been officially identified with it in a local way, being secretary of the local committee. Mr. Moore was born in Hancock County, Ohio, March 30, 1860. He was graduated from Galion High School in 1878 and spent two years in the Fostoria Academy before entering Otterbein University. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and of a very early pioneer family in Ohio. The Moores were in this state when it was still a part of Northwest Territory and before Ohio was admitted to the Union. His grandfather, Levi Moore, came out of the locality of Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1799 and located near Canal Winchester in. Fairfield County, Ohio. His situation was in the midst of the forests, and acquiring a tract of government land he lived there for a number of years in a log cabin with surroundings of the very wildest, Indians and wild game being abundant. He was thrifty and industrious and in time had his own farm cleared, and he spent his last years in a substantial brick residence which is still standing as the pioneer landmark of that section. In that home he passed away in 1858. He died at the age of ninety. He was a remarkable man physically and mentally and was widely known up and down the Scioto Valley. He served his county as a commissioner. The maiden name of his wife was Deborah (Debbie) Bright, of Lancaster, Ohio. She died at the old home full of years. Both were active members of the United Brethren Church and Levi Moore was first a whig and afterwards a democrat. Levi Moore, Jr., next to the youngest in a family of five sons and five daughters, was born on the old homestead in Fairfield County August 7, 1823. He grew up as a farm boy, acquired the average training of his section, and early in life became a teacher. At the age of twenty-five he was regularly ordained as preacher in the United Brethren Church, HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2155 and for years did pioneer work in the ministry as a circuit rider who carried his tracts and wardrobe in his saddle bags and rode all over many counties of Northwest Ohio. Much of his time was spent in Hancock County, where he located some time before the Civil war. He afterwards joined the Sandusky Conference, now the. Northwest Ohio Conference, and about 1875 was elected as presiding elder for the Galion District. He was also financial agent for Otterbein University some years. He continued his work as presiding elder for nearly forty years, and in 1893 was superannuated and spent his last years in the home of his son at Bowling Green, where he died in 1900. Most of the pastorates .he filled were in Hancock, Seneca, Sandusky and Wood counties. Rev. Mr. Moore was married at Lithopolis, Ohio, December 1, 1844, to Miss Margaret Line, who was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, September 17, 1825. She was a deeply religious woman and in close sympathy with all her husband's work. She died at Bowling Green in 1901 and they had been married for fifty-six years before death separated them. Of their five children four are still living, all are married, and most of them were teachers before they settled down in homes of their own. Rufus B. Moore was first married to May Rudolph, of Bowling Green, of an old and prominent family of Wood County. She died February 19, 1896. She was the mother of three children. Murton R. is now a petty officer in the United States Navy, being on the superdreadnaught Louisiana. In early life he learned the trade of machinist. He is a member of the Order of Neptune. Donald R., the second son, is an expert engraver living at Indianapolis, Indiana, is married but has no children. Harold B. is a practical printer in Clinton County, Ohio. He is a democrat in politics. By his second marriage, to Beatrice I. Coder, Mr. Moore has one son, Renton B., who is still, in school. For his present wife Mr. Moore married Elsa K. Chamberlin, who was born in Wood County and is a graduate of the Bowling Green High School. She is the mother of one son, Lee A. GEORGE B. HAUMAN is a business man of long and successful experience in Hancock County, and until 1917 was proprietor of the T. & O. C. Grain Elevator at Arlington. He has worked along various lines, was in the public service for a time, has also been a practical farmer, but his later years have been identified with commercial affairs at Arlington. Mr. Hauman is a public spirited and charitable citizen, and success has come to him through the medium of hard work. He was born in Delaware Township of Hancock County in 1871, a son of Balser and Nancy (Peterman) Hauman. His birth occurred on his father's farm of 120 acres. Mr. Hauman is of German stock, his grandfather, George Hauman, having come from Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, in 1847. For several years he worked as a farm hand in Marion Township of Hancock County, and finally accumulated enough capital to buy a small place of forty acres, which he made his home the rest of his days. He had married before coming to America Margaret Simmacker, and they were the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters, Leonard, Margaret, Christine and Balser. Both the sons served in the Civil war in the One Hundred and Forty-second Ohio Infantry. George B. Hauman attended the country schools of Delaware Township, and subsequently attended summer normals and was a student in Findlay College under Edward Mills and Doctor Latshaw. For several years Mr. Hauman was a successful teacher in Delaware, Jackson and Eagle townships, and for one year was principal of the Mount Blanchard High School. His next experience was at Fostoria, where he was an inspector in the Central Traffic Department under the Interstate Commerce Commission. He held that place for a year and a half and then for a similar time was with the Isaac Harder Milling Company as foreman of their elevator department. Leaving this company Mr. Hauman returned to the farm, bought some land and was engaged in its operation for twelve years. At the death of his wife he abandoned the farm and entered the employ of the Ohio Hardware Company at Arlington. Subsequently he invested his capital in the grain elevator formerly owned by John B. Seymour of Kenton. This elevator at Arlington proved a paying proposition in, his hands and he conducted it for five years. He then sold out but in 1914 after three years, bought it again, and gave most of his time to its management until he again sold it in 191.7. Mr. Hauman is a republican and was elected a member of the first school board in Delaware Township, serving one term. He also served three terms, six years, as town councilman at Arlington. 2156 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO For twenty-six years Mr. Hauman has been an active member of the Knights of Pythias, and for twelve years of that time sewed as keeper of records and seals and for six years was a member of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. He also belongs to the Masonic Order, including the Royal Arch Chapter at Mount Blanchard. In religious matters he worships in the First. Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1892 he married Miss Helen. Greer, daughter of M. C. and Rebecca (Pickett) Greer, of Mount Blanchard, where the Greers are a well known family. Mrs. Hauman died in 1902, the mother of three children. Only one is now living, Bernice, who is taking the normal course in the Athens University at Athens, Ohio. The son Hale was accidentally killed in 1907 in his father's elevator, being then a boy of fourteen. The son Carl died in infancy. In 1904 Mr. Hauman married Bessie Gibbon, daughter of Rev. Samuel and Kate (Long-break) Gibbon, of Champaign County, Ohio. Rev. Mr. Gibbon was for a number of years financial secretary of the Great Western Ohio Conference. Mr. and Mrs. Hauman have one daughter, Mary Bess, born in 1912. J. F. ULLOM, sheriff of Marion County, has been identified with this county in a business and official capacity for many years, and either as a citizen or official enjoys the solid respect and esteem of the entire county. Mr. Ullom was born in Ross County, Ohio, May 26, 1859. He is a son of Joshua and Nancy L. (Lemley) Ullom, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Shem Ullom, was a native of Ohio, but lived for a few years' in Pennsylvania, finally returning to his native state and died at Marion at the age of ninety-seven. He spent his active career as a farmer. The maternal grandfather, Ezekiel Lemley, was born in Pennsylvania and was an early settler in Ohio. Joshua Ullom was a soldier of the Civil war, serving through two enlistments. He was reared and educated in Morrow County, Ohio, and followed successively the trades of harness maker, tailor and shoemaker, and finally became a farmer. His death occurred at Marion in 1911. He was a democrat in politics. His wife, Nancy Lemley, was reared in Ross County, Ohio, and is now living at Marion at the age of eighty. She is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had seven children, and of the six still living Sheriff Ullom is the oldest. Ezekiel is an Indiana farmer. Mrs. Rosa Penyard lives at Marion, where her husband is a machinist. W. L. Ullom has for twenty years been connected with the Huber Works at Marion and is now foreman. He is also a member of the City Council and was the youngest justice of the peace ever elected in Ohio. He reached his majority in the month of February, married in March, and was elected to office in April. The fifth child is Martha, wife of Dr. I. P. Eddie, a prominent -physician at Williamstown, West Virginia. A. S. Ullom, the youngest of the living children, is a farmer in Marion County. J. F. Ullom was educated in the public schools and grew up on a farm, where he spent the first twenty-two years of his life. He then became a railroad man, and for three years was a brakeman with the Erie Railway. After that he entered the brick and tile business at Adelaide, Ohio, and that and various official positions have kept him busily employed for a number of years. He was twice elected a supervisor and was twice appointed to that office by a republican board of commissioners., He was also twice elected constable and received two appointments by a republican board. Mr. Ullom was elected on the democratic ticket as sheriff of Marion County in November, 1916, and is now giving close and efficient attention to the duties of his office. In 1884 he married Elizabeth Twedle, who was born in Morrow County, Ohio. She died in 1889. She was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of her three children two are living: W. C. is machinist foreman in the tool department of the Huber Works west of Marion and by his marriage to Anna Secrest has a child, Warren W. Fern is the wife of Albert Kimes, a restaurant proprietor in Cleveland. In 1893 Mr. Ullom married for his second wife Susie Williams, who was born in Marion County. Both are members of the Methodist Church and Mr. Ullom is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Mason, a past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias, and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World. J. WALTER WRIGHT. The name of Wright is a familiar one in many sections of Ohio, being identified with early milling interests, and probably there are old mills yet standing that were built by the father or grandfather of J. W. Wright, who is a representative citi- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2157 ten of Bucyrus, a prominent member of her bar and city solicitor for several terms J. Walter Wright was born at West Liberty, Ohio, July 14, 1874, and is a son of James W. and Margaret (Secrist) Wright, and a grandson of James Wright and George Secrist. James Wright came to Ohio in the early '30s, from Maryland, and was a miller by trade. He died in 1848. George Secricameme. about the same time from Rockingham County, Virginia, and was a farmer. James W. Wright was born at Frostburg, Maryland, in 1831, and died in Ohio in September, 1916, having been brought to this state when six years old. He was a millwright and erected mills in many sections. He married Margaret Secrist, who was born in 1840 and survives, being a resident of Logan County. They had four children, namely : Esta F., who lives at West Liberty.; Mrs. Francis Bailey, who lives at West Liberty ; Clara G. who is deceased ; and J. W., of Bucyrus. The father was a republican in politics and belonged to the Odd Fellows. The mother is a member of the Christian Church. J. Walter Wright completed the public school course at West Liberty when he was graduated from the high school in 1892, after which he was a student in Oberlin College for one term and subsequently entered the law school of the Northern Ohio University, from which he was graduated in 1898 and in March of that year was admitted to the Ohio bar. After a short practice at Marion, Mr. Wright came to Bucyrus, in 1899, and with the exception of a short period spent in Bellingham, Washington, his practice has been confined to Bucyrus. Practicing in all the courts, he. is recognized as one of the able men of the profession. He devotes himself to the law, his only outside interests being a good citizen's acceptance of political responsibility and some social and fraternal duties. In politics he is a republican and in 1913 on that ticket he was elected city solicitor and was re-elected in 1915, proving an able and alert official, and had the distinction of being the only republican who had ever succeeded himself in this office at Bucyrus. In September, 1914, Mr. Wright was married to Miss Edna Bessinger, who was born at Bucyrus, a daughter of Peter Bessinger, for many years a wagon manufacturer here. She was educated in the Bucyrus schools and taught in the city schools for eight years, for one year being principal of the West Side School. She is a lady possessing many social gifts and is a devoted member of the German Lutheran Church. Mr. Wright was reared in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and the Loyal Order of the Moose, of which he was the first local director and served three years in that office. Both professionally and personally Mr Wright is held in high regard. He is called an honest as well as capable lawyer and a citizen in whom reliance may be placed under any emergency. HARRY KANDER, of Bowling Green, has achieved a success which even in America must be regarded as unusual. The bare outline of the story is that of a Russian Polish boy of ten coming to America penniless and friendless, working all the daylight hours and far into the night at wages of $5 a week, then setting up a business of his own, and now, still in his '30s, is rated as a business man with a substantial fortune. Mr. Kander is a dealer in materials which according to the wasteful American practice are cast out of the homes and places of business, and without the intervention of such enterprise as that perfected by Mr. Kander would be lost totally from the sum of the world's products. The Kander place of business is at 500 Court Street, Bowling Green, where he occupies an entire block of land, 140 feet front and 500 feet in depth. This land lies convenient to the Toledo and Ohio Central Railway, and he has trackage permitting the loading and unloading of five cars at a time. In these yards are assembled vast quantities of scrap iron, old tires, rags and all kinds of metal and other material. Mr. Kander has installed devices for cutting and shortening the long iron so as to make it easier to handle, has baling machines for compressing rags and paper, and has various swings and conveyances permitting the easy handling of large quantities of material. Every month about 5,000 tons of iron pass through his yards, and it is shipped to factories in all directions for converting. Mr. Kander started business at Bowling Green in 1905. At first he handled about fifty tons per month and has gradually developed until he now has an important industry. He was born in Russian Poland April 15, 1885, and his people have been Poles for generations. Mr. Kander came to the United States in 1895, at the age of ten years, making the journey from Hamburg to New York. Going to Toledo, he found employment with 2158 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO dealers in old iron and metals, and for five years worked at $5 per week. He made a living, learned and studied the business, and with his experience and such capital as he was able to muster he came to Bowling Green. Mr. Kander about three years ago built a comfortable seven room house for himself and family on East Court Street. He was married in this city in 1913 to Miss Bessie Kander. She was born in Russian Poland, came as a young girl to the United States and grew up in Toledo. Mr. and Mrs. Kander have one son, Herman, born August 29, 1915. They are members of the Jewish Temple at Toledo and Mr. Kander is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias at Bowling Green. Politically he is independent. ALFRED M. RUSSELL. One of the best known and most popular citizens Wood County ever had was the late Alfred M. Russell. For many years he served in some county office, and as an official or business man his integrity was always above question and he left to his descendants a worthy name. He was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, March 7, 1835, and was sixty-four when he passed away at his home at 110 North Prospect Street in Bowling Green June 13, 1899. He was of Pennsylvania parentage, a son of James and Mary (Wolfkale) Russell. The family was of thrifty Pennsylvania stock and valued residents of any community where they made their home. The parents were married in Ohio and the mother died in 1848, when in the prime of life. James Russell was a farmer. He finally removed to Paulding County, Ohio, . and died there at the home of his son James, Jr., when quite old. He was a whig and republican. The children were : Caroline, Nancy, Bessie, Jane, Doctor Robert, James, Abraham, John and Alfred M. Alfred M. Russell was thirteen years of age when his mother died. He grew up among strangers in Paulding County and made the best of his educational advantages and when quite a young man qualified as a successful teacher. His first wife was one of his former pupils Rachel Cary. She was born in Defiance County, Ohio. Her death occurred eleven months after their marriage as a result of measles and the birth of her first child, who also died. She was about twenty-two years of age when she passed away. Four years later, in July, 1866, Mr. Russell married in Pauiding County another of his pupils, Miss Alcinda Sullivan. Mrs. Russell was born in Defiance County, Ohio, July 7, 1843, and was educated partly there and partly in Paulding County. Before her marriage she taught school. Her parents were Washington and Alcinda (Barton) Sullivan. They were probably natives of Ohio and her father was of Irish parentage. Her paternal grandparents spent the rest of their days in Ohio as farmers. Washington Sullivan and wife after their marriage lived on a farm in Defiance County until her death at middle age. There were six children and Mrs. Russell was only six weeks old when her mother died. Three of the children had passed away before that. Mrs. Russell's sister Mrs. Eliza Morlidge died after the birth of one child. Her brother, John Sullivan, was for many years an Ohio River pilot and is now living retired at Cincinnati at the age of eighty-four though hale and hearty. His second wife is living, but his children, Jennie, Alice and Stella, all married, are the children of his first wife. After the death of her mother Mrs. Russell was reared by her maternal grandmother. Two weeks after their marriage Mr. Russell gave up his school work to become deputy county treasurer under John Bonnell of Wood County. At that time the courthouse was still at Perrysburg. He served out his term and then became clerk for a hardware house. In the meantime a successor had been elected to Mr. Bonnell, but after a few months in office died and Mr. Russell was then appointed to fill out his term. His administration of the county treasurer's office was so satisfactory that the people of Wood County gave him a term on his own account and he served three years. He was the first incumbent of the office after the courthouse was removed to Bowling Green. On leaving the office of county treasurer Mr. Russell returned to Perrysburg and conducted a drug store in that village seven years. At the end of that time he was elected for another term as county treasurer for three years. However, he did not leave the courthouse but continued as deputy auditor for seventeen years under the administration of Ed Poe, John Wilson and George W. Gaghan. In the meantime Mr. Russell bought the leading hotel of Bowling Green, since known as the Russell House. Mrs. Russell was its active manager while her husband was in the courthouse. While still serving as deputy auditor Mr.. Russell was stricken with pa- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2159 ralysis and ,after a year was practically helpless. He died after an invalidism of two years and four months. Mr. Russell is remembered as the most capable mathematician Wood County ever had. He excelled in many ways and not least as a citizen and a man of marked integrity of character.. He was one of the chief republicans of the community and always active in local politics. In Masonry he was affiliated with the Lodge and ,Chapter and served as high priest of the latter. It was during his official term that he built his comfortable home at 110 North Prospect Street, where he spent his last days and where Mrs. Russell and her daughters still live. Mrs. Russell is active in the Presbyterian Church and her husband was of the same church faith. Charles H. Russell, only son of the late Alfred M. Russell, attended school at Perrysburg and Bowling Green, graduating from the Bowling Green High School in 1884. He then became a drug clerk for Dr. J. C. Lincoln, and from his store entered the Pharmacy. School' of the Northwestern University at Chicago. For fifteen years he was one of the leading druggists of Bowling Green but finally sold out his local business and bought a store at the corner of Adams and Erie streets in Toledo. He married in Bowling Green March 12, 1890, Charlotte Morrison, who was born in Columbus in 1868. She was six months old when her father, John B. Morrison, died. Her mother, whose maiden name was Mary Haskall, then removed with her family to Granville, Ohio, and some time later to the State of Mississippi. Mrs. Charles Russell's mother and sister died at Panther Burn, Mississippi, about thirty-three years 'ago. After the loss of her mother Mrs. Charles Russell lived at Urbana, Ohio, until 1887, when she came to Bowling Green. She is the mother of one son, Robert A., born July 7, 1895. This grandson of Mrs. Russell is a graduate of the Bowling Green public schools, has attended the Case Scientific School at Cleveland and the Ohio State University, and has enlisted in the Officers Reserve Corps at Toledo. Maude, the only daughter of Mrs. Russell, was educated at Bowling Green and is now a clerk for the Northwest Ohio Gas Company of that city. She is the widow of Mr. F. C. Reed, who was born in Piqua, Ohio, son of James and Catherine (Whiteman) Reed. His parents were well known residents of Piqua, where his father was a brick mason contractor and one of the leading men of his community. Mrs. James Reed is still living at Piqua, making her home with a son and daughter, and is still quite active though past sixty years of age. F. C. Reed was educated in Piqua and entered business as an employe of E. H. McKnight, an electrical engineer. He finally established a supply store for electrical goods at Bowling Green, but after six months in business his death occurred September 16, 1908. Mr. Reed was a member of the Masonic order. Mr. Charles H. Russell is a Chapter 'Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mrs. Russell and her daughter are members of the Eastern Star, and Mrs. Charles H. Russell was treasurer four years and is present marshal of that order. E. W. COOK. The name Cook has an honorable and long record in business and industrial affairs at Lima, where E. W. Cook & Son, manufacturers of cigar boxes, have a large plant on East Elm Street. The output of boxes go chiefly to the cigar manufacturers all over the State of Ohio. E. W. Cook was born in Ohio in 1845, and is now the oldest business man in continuous service at Lima. In 1879 he established the Globe Machine Works and Foundry Business, and conducted it until 1908. Since then he has given his time and business talent to, the Globe Box Factory, which he first established in 1891. For some years he conducted a factory both in Columbus and Lima. The firm is now known as E. W. Cook & Son. E. W. Cook was married in Van Wert, Ohio, to Miss Melvina Evers; who was born in that county in 1847 and died in 1886. They had four children, and the two now living are F. D. Cook, of the Globe Laundry at Toledo, and F. W. Cook. Mr. Cook, Sr., is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in politics is a republican. He started life on absolutely nothing, and by hard work and close attention to details has found prosperity in ample measure. He is known as a conservative business man, but his public spirit has been very effective and has been displayed on many occasions for the good of the community at Lima. F. W. Cook was born at Wauseon in Fulton County, Ohio, May 9, 1876, .a son of E. W. and Melvina (Evers) Cook. He grew up in Lima, attended the public schools; and, as a boy became associated with his father in the factory. In 1909 he was taken into partner- 2160 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO ship, and is now active manager of their large plant. He is one of Lima's most progressive business men and is also a director in the Central Building and Loan Company. In 1896 he married Miss Lula Penney, of Convoy, Van Wert County, Ohio. They have one child, Marvel, who is a young lady of many talents and of great promise. She graduated from the Lima High School and is now a student in the. Skidmore College at Saratoga Springs, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. and he is on the official. board. He has long been prominent in Masonry, being both a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason, is a member of the Consistory at Toledo and a member of the Shrine. He has filled chairs in various degrees and bodies of that order. Politically he is a republican.. GILBERT BARNES, of Paulding, has played several roles, and every one most creditably. Perhaps the majority of people know him as a practical farmer and extensive land owner, though for many years he was identified with the sawmilling and kindred industries in Paulding: Mr. Barnes was responsible for developing a large amount of land in Paulding County that was formerly covered with forest and brush and has actually created values and property that now represent a handsome fortune. Mr. Barnes has had a long and active career of three quarters of a century. He was born in Medina County, Ohio, February 25, 1841, a son of John and Elizabeth (Lowry) Barnes. Both parents were born in Ohio, and his father died in 1870 and his) mother in 1872. The ancestors of the Barnes family were Germans, who settled in Pennsylvania in colonial times. The grandfather of Gilbert came to Ohio from. Pennsylvania and, was one of the early settlers of this state. John Barnes went to Medina County in the .'30s, buying a farm in Homer Township and developed his land from a wilderness condition. He went through all the vicissitudes of the early settlers and in time became a very prosperous citizen. He and his wife had ten children, four of whom are still living. Gilbert Barnes, the sixth in order of birth, was reared in Medina County and while acquiring an education in the local schools he also' was well trained in the work of the homestead. At the age of twenty-one, in July, 1862, he enlisted in Company I of the One Hundredth Ohio Infantry. His brother John enlisted at the same time and in the same regiment. They rendezvoused at Toledo and soon went to the front, Gilbert Barnes serving with credit until his honorable discharge at 'Columbus. He was in the Atlanta campaign and was severely wounded in the battle of Peach Tree Creek. On account of his wound he was furloughed home and during this time he married, and while at home the war closed and he was mustered out with an honorable discharge at Columbus, Ohio. The father presented each of his children with a tract of eighty acres of land, and thus Gilbert Barnes began his early career as a farmer, but after two years he traded his land for a sawmill at Paulding. He operated this mill to convert large tracts of native timber into lumber, and that lumber was used in building most of the houses of early Paulding and throughout that country. It was the chief mill for the manufacture of lumber in the vicinity of Paulding for many years. He also conducted a grist mill and furnished the staple provisions of flour and meal. In 1890 Mr. Gilbert Barnes disposed of his mills in order to give closer attention to his accumulation of land. Through his milling operations he had cleared away and made available' for agriculture large portions of Paulding County, and he has steadily kept up the work of improvement until a considerable area of land that was formerly valuable only for its timber is now worth for agricultural purposes fully $200 an acre.. Mr. Barnes owns 1,000 acres in Paulding County and he has also invested heavily in the lands of Northern Michigan, chiefly in Gladwin County, where he owns 1,000 acres. For a number of years his time and energies have been fully taken up in supervising these large land holdings. Some years ago Mr. Barnes built a beautiful residence at Paulding, and while living there he keeps in close touch by daily visits with his farms in Paulding County. He has done much to develop high grade stock raising in this county. His name is closely associated with many local enterprises. He was one of the organizers and stockholders of the sugar refinery, which has been in successful operation for a number of years. He' also took the lead in the construction of the Cincinnati and Northern Railroad into Paulding, and is a director of the Paulding National Bank. He is a charter member of the local lodge of Masons and HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2161 is a member of the Grand Army Post. Politically he is a republican. Mr. Barnes married first Esther E. Kern. Two children were born of this union, Lyle M., who is mentioned below, and Virgil De Forrest, who died aged about one year. Mr. Barnes married for his second wife Eliza J. Harvey, by whom one child was born, Harvey G. Lyle M. Barnes, born in Paulding County January 12, 1866, was educated in the Paulding grammar and high schools, and also in the Ohio Northern University at Ada, and after a career as a dry goods merchant he traded his store for a section of land in White County, Indiana, but several years later moved to Michigan and has since superintended the land holdings of his father there. Harvey Greeley, the second son, is now conducting the lumber business formerly owned by his father at Paulding. OTHO W. KENNEDY. No student of the early history of Marion County, Ohio, could read far without noticing the names of Kennedy and Monnett, for these families were among the pioneers there and were so prominent in the county's development that record has been made of many of their useful achievements. Prolific families, built up from sturdy stock, representatives, of these old families may now be found in many other sections, a widely known one being found in Otho W. Kennedy, who is the able prosecuting attorney of Crawford County and a substantial citizen of Bucyrus. Otho W. Kennedy is a native of Crawford County, born May 25, 1878. His parents are Thomas S. and Hester F. (Monnett) Kennedy, the former of whom was born in Marion County, Ohio, October 23, 1848, and the latter December 29, 1855. The paternal grandfather was William K. Kennedy, who was born in 1818 in Pennsylvania and moved to Ohio in 1828 and died in Marion County when aged seventy-eight years. The maternal grandfather, Thomas Monnett, was born in Ohio, his parents having been among the earliest settlers in what became Marion County. Both families have been largely interested in agricultural development and at the present day they own many of the best improved farms in the state. O. W. Kennedy was 'the third born in his parents' family of twelve children, all of whom with the exception of Jay Monnett, the youngest, survive, as follows : Thomas M., who is in the banking business at Bucyrus ; William C. who is a farmer in Marion County ; Otho W.; Orange D., who is a farmer in Crawford County ; Myron G., who is a druggist at Niles, Ohio ; Amy E., who is the wife of Samuel W. Stump, who is a farmer in Crawford County; James C., who is a farmer in Indiana; Olive E., who is the wife of Rev. Russell Lisle, who is a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Ralph C., who resides at home; Myrtle F, who is the wife of Fremont Tanner, of Akron, Ohio, a civil engineer by profession ; and Almet E., who conducts his father's farm in Crawford County. The parents of the above family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In his political views the father is a democrat and at times has served in local offices, but has mainly devoted himself to farming, in which he has been very successful. Before entering the Ohio Normal School, now the Ohio Northern University, at Ada, Otho W. Kennedy had enjoyed public school advantages, and in September, 1899, he was graduated from the commercial department, later attended the Western Reserve University at Cleveland and in December, 1902, was graduated from the law department at Ada. In the meanwhile he had taught school for three years, but after receiving his degree, entered into practice in Marion County, coming from there in 1903. to Bucyrus. Until 1908 he was associated with his brother, Thomas M. Kennedy, but since then has practiced alone. In 1907 he was elected city solicitor on the democratic ticket and served as such until 1914, in which year he was elected prosecuting attorney of Crawford County and entered upon his duties on January 4, 1915, and was re-elected in 1916. Perhaps at no time in the history of the county have the responsibilities of this office been heavier than in the present days of universal unrest and it is greatly to Mr. Kennedy's credit that he has so adequately performed his full duty, proving himself both a wise and vigorous prose cutor. In private practice he has successfully handled many very important cases and has a reputation for fairness and honorable methods as well as for profound legal knowledge. Mr. Kennedy was married November 24, 1910, to Miss Edna T. Birk, who is a daughter of Christian F. Birk, who is in the drug business at Bucyrus. They have one son, Paul C., who was born August 18, 1914. Mr. Kennedy and his wife belong to the Lutheran Church and are active and helpful in promoting its 2162 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO benevolent work in every direction. He is identified with several of the well known fraternities, including the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, being past worthy president of the last named organization. As an earnest and enlightened citizen, Mr. Kennedy has always lent his influence to the upbuilding of worthy enterprises and his fellow citizens know without inquiring that his help may be depended upon when appeals are made for help when public calamities occur, and that also he, like other noble men of his profession gives many dollars' worth of professional service freely, without making such charity known to the world. O. G. BRIGGS. With an earlier experience as a practical farmer in Marion County, O. G. Briggs in July, 1904, entered upon his present duties as secretary of The Citizens Building and Loan Company of Marion: and has been an active and responsible official throughout the period of growth and prosperity of that fine institution. When he went with the company its assets were only $30,000, while at the beginning of 1917 the total assets were nearly $1,200,000, the increase in the previous year having been almost a quarter of a million. Mr. Briggs has given close and careful. study to all details of the management of building, and loan companies, and has been instrumental in making this one of the strongest and most successful organizations of the kind in Northwest Ohio. The other officials of the company are J. A. Schroeter, president; and J. W. Jacoby; vice president and attorney. Mr. Briggs was born on a farm six miles north of Marion April 7, 1872, a son of Silas W. and Charlotte (Schank) Briggs. His grandfather, Jonathan Briggs, was a native of Pennsylvania and spent his life there as a farmer. The Briggs family is of English ancestry. The maternal grandfather, Jacob Schank, was also a native of Pennsylvania, but in early days he drove overland from that state into Ohio. For a time he was in Piqua County and from there moved to Crawford County, where for many years he was the well known village blacksmith. He paid for his land by work in his shop, and the old log cabin which he erected as a home is still standing, an interesting landmark of past times. Mr. Briggs' father was born in Pennsylvania, while his mother is a native of Crawford County, Ohio, where they were married. Silas Briggs came to Ohio when about twenty-one years of age, having been educated in Pennsylvania. After his marriage he took up farming in Marion County and at the time of his death had over 200 acres well improved and a valuable estate. He was a democrat in politics and he and his wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had seven children, live of whom are still living : Luther A., a resident of Santa Monica, California ; Emma, wife of E. Bryson, and they live on a farm in Marion County ; O. G. Briggs ; Eugene U, who served two years in the Philippine Islands during the war and is now a farmer eight miles northeast of Marion ; Clarence, who lives with his mother six miles north of Marion. O. G. Briggs acquired his early education in the common schools of his country district and afterwards had commercial training at Delaware, Ohio. On concluding his education he took up farming and pursued that vocation steadily until May, 1904, when he entered the service of the Citizens Building and Loan Company at Marion Mr. Briggs has served as a member of the School Board in Marion for five years. He is a democrat in politics and is affiliated with Lodge No. 32 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He and his wife are active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. In March, 1899, he married Miss Dessie Watts. She was born in Crawford County, Ohio, where her father, George L. Watts, was a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Briggs haVe two children : Fred G., now a junior in high school ; and Dorothy E., a student in the grade schools. FRANK M. COEN. To maintain and conduct such a model grocery enterprise as that of Frank M. Coen in Bowling Green requires a mind that has a complete mastery of details and thoroughly capable business judgment. Mr. Coen is a veteran of the grocery trade, though he is by no means an old man. His place of business, which he has occupied for the past three years, is at 132 South Main Street. There he has a large and well arranged store, stocked with staple and fancy groceries and provisions. Mr. Coen is the leading coffee merchant of Bowling Green. Unlike most grocers he handles little package and widely advertised stock, but gets a superior quality Of the coffee beans and combines and roasts them in. his own coffee roaster. He has the latestpattern 'of roasting machine and supplies HISTORY OF. NORTHWEST OHIO - 2163 the finest quality of coffee at a medium price. He has also introduced machinery for the manufacture of peanut butter and has made that one of the leaders in his trade. His store is 22 by 160 feet. He also has a warehouse back of the store 22 by 40 feet. Mr. Coen practically grew up in a grocery store. When a boy in his teens he began clerking in an old time store of Bowling Green and in 1899 he entered business on his own account.. His associate in that enterprise was Fred Hale. Each of them borrowed $300, and with this modest capital between them and with some credit they launched out on their careers as practical merchants. After a year Mr. Henry Campbell bought the Hale interest and he in turn was succeeded by Mr. William A. Cook. The firm of Coen & Cook prospered and expanded their interests throughout Bowling Green and surrounding territory for eleven years. Mr. Cook then sold his share of the partnership to Mr. Coen, and Mr. Coen later sold the old store to J. R. McDowell. He then bought the Whitaker grocery store and that is his present business headquarters. Mr. Coen was born in Plain Township of Wood County August 29, 1875. He was educated in the public schools and early sought outlet for his business energies in the manner above described. He is a son of William and Catherine (Hoagland) Coen. His parents were also born in Ohio, were married in Butler County and then removed to Wood County. For some years they lived on a farm northwest of Bowling Green and subsequently moved to Bowling Green, where Mr. Coen, Sr., had a livery business. He died in 1898, at the age of sixty-nine. His widow died about five years later at the age of sixty-three. She was a member of the Methodist Church and the father was a very decided republican in politics. Frank M. Coen was one of a family of eleven children. Seven are still living and five of them married. Mr. Coen was married in Bowling Green to Mae M. Mease. She was born at Toledo, Ohio, in 1881, but was reared and educated in Bowling Green and qualified as a teacher. They are the parents of three children : Harold M. and Gerald H., twins, born August 6, 1902, and both of them now students in the high school; and Robert, born November 21, 1907. Mr. Coen and family are all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically he is a republican and while a good citizen locally has found no time to participate in politics. He is affiliated with Centennial Lodge No. 626, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. MATHIAS SCHONDELMYER. In Wood County and especially in the community around Rudolph there were. none better loved and more respected among the early settlers than the late Mathias Schondelmyer. His widow is still living at Rudolph and continues the good and charitable enterprise in which she had a zealous associate in her husband. It is a family name that is entitled to more than passing mention in these annals. The late Mathias Schondelmyer was born near Baden, Germany, in March, 1838, and was in his seventy-ninth year when he passed away at his home in Rudolph November 16, 1916. He was a son of German parents. His father, John Schondelmyer married a Miss Yagely, both of them natives of Baden. They had a small farm in Germany and it was for the purpose of bettering their conditions that they decided to come to America. Accompanying them were their two sons, Fred and Mathias. They embarked on a vessel at Hamburg, and after many weeks of rough sailing arrived at New York City, coming from there West to Ohio and a few years later, when Mathias was nine or ten years of age, to Liberty Township of Hancock County. Their location was in one of the wildest sections of this county, a number of miles from the City of Findlay. John Schondelmyer had the enterprise of the true pioneer, and though he chose a tract of completely undeveloped land, in course of time he had converted it into a splendid farm. He died there when past eighty years of age. He , was twice married, the mother of Mathias having died about 1860. The father married for his second wife a widow, and by that union had a large family. All of the family were members of the German Lutheran Church. Mathias Schondelmyer thus grew up in Ohio, acquired a common school education, and when a young man went out to the territory of Montana, where he put in nine years in lumber camps. His 'mother died while he was in the Northwest. He received good wages for his work, and being of a saving and economical turn he got his real start in life in that way. On returning to Ohio he bought. a farm six miles from Findlay and being thus in a position to support a family he married in 1864 Miss Salina Scott. Mrs. Schondelmyer was born in Stark County, Ohio, December 22, 2164 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO 1842, and at the age of five years her parents located near Findlay in Liberty Township of Hancock County. She is a daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Morehead) Scott. Her father was born in Pennsylvania and was an early settler in Stark County, where he met and married his wife, a native of that county. She was one of thirteen children. When the Scott family moved to Hancock County in 1847 they established themselves in a new district and improved a tract of raw land. The parents spent the rest of their days there. Thomas Scott and his sons James, Robert and John were all soldiers in the Civil war. John was connected with the Mitchell Raiders at Atlanta, Georgia, and was hanged by the rebels on July 18, 1862. Another one of the sons was captured and sent to Libby prison near the close of the war and when he was released after the surrender he was more dead than alive, having contracted smallpox in the most virulent form and yet he recovered and died when past seventy years of age. Thomas Scott while in the service was injured in one arm by a fall. His service in the army was in the capacity of a veterinary surgeon. He lived to be eighty years of age. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church and late in life he joined the Methodists. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schondelmyer lived on their farm six miles out of Findlay from 1864 to 1874. In the latter year they moved to Liberty Township of Wood County and bought a tract of prairie land. There they developed two complete farms, each of 160 acres, and many splendid improvements that grew out of their efforts are still contributing to the value of the farm. Much of the land was subsequently included in the oil developments in this county and from that source alone a considerable fortune was netted to the owners. About twelve years ago Mr. Schondelmyer bought a large general store at Rudolph, and this is now owned and managed by his son Fred, one of the successful merchants of the town. In 1913 Mr. and Mrs. Schondelmyer left their farm and removed to the Village of Rudolph, where Mrs. Schondelmyer is still living in comfort and plenty, strong and active mentally at the age of seventy-five and constant in her good works among her neighbors and friends. Both she and her husband .have long been identified with and active contributors to the Christian Church, which Mr. Schondelmyer served for many years as a trustee. He also occupied public places, nine years as township trustee and in other local offices. In politics he was a democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Schondelmyer had six children. The daughter M. Isabel died in infancy. Amanda A., now deceased, married Levi Stainbrook, now residing in Colorado and by that union there was one daughter, Hazel. Margaret died after her marriage to Hiram Long, leaving no children. George is still unmarried at the age of forty, lives with his mother and is a practical farmer and good citizen of Wood County. Fred is the leading merchant of Rudolph, and by his marriage to Nora Gilmore of Pennsylvania has two children Scott and Lyda B. Fannie, the youngest Child, is the wife of Roy Swope, of Columbus, Georgia. RICHARD CARTER, president of the Citizens Bank Company, has for many years figured prominently in the agricultural and business enterprise of Wyandot County. He has somewhat' retired from the strenuous activities of his earlier years and is now devoting himself chiefly to looking after his private interests. He was born June 9, 1850, while his parents had their home at Wellsville in Columbiana County, Ohio. He is a son of John A. and Mary D. (Connell) Carter. On both sides he has prominent family connections of Revolutionary stock. The Carters were English people, while the Connells were Irish. Two Carter brothers came out of England and landed on the east shore of Maryland in colonial times. They reared large families and their descendants are now wide spread. In early times they kept slaves, but liberated them before the Civil war. Mr. Carter's grandfather, also Richard Carter, was a merchant and land owner and for fifty years lived at Independence in Washington County, Pennsylvania. John A. Carter, who was born at Independence, Pennsylvania, moved from there to Wellsville, Ohio, and became a merchant. In 1852 he went to a farm in Marion County, Ohio, and in the spring of 1864 sold this country property and for two years lived in the City of Marion. He then took his family to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and engaged in the wholesale grocery business as a member of Carter Brothers & Company. This firm continued until 1880, when, removing to Charleston, West Virginia, he engaged in coal mining. He owned some large mining properties, and was president and owner of the Peabody Coal Company, his HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2165 associates being his sons. His retirement came in 1901, when about seventy-two years of age, and he died in New York City in October, 1908. He and his wife had six children. The only brother of Richard Carter was John C. Carter, who died at Upper Sandusky in 1910. The Connell family lived for a number of years at Charleston, West Virginia, and in 1840 they drove across the country to Upper Sandusky, where they were among the pioneers. James Connell, father of Mary D. Connell, had one of the first hotels in the county, located on East Wyandot Avenue in Upper Sandusky, at the present site of the Elks Home. The Connells were of Revolutionary ancestry and one of them served as a member of the staff of General William Henry Harrison in the War of .1812, and General Harrison for his services presented him with a silver watch. The late John A. Carter was the first republican ever elected from Marion County to the Ohio State Legislature. He served in 1861, at the beginning of the Civil war. In 1862 Governor Brough appointed him draft commissioner for Marion County. Richard Carter had good business ability on his own account and developed his career almost unaided and had acquired financial independence before the death of his father.. When he was two years of age the family left Wellsville for Marion County, and he grew up there and received his early education partly in the country schools. At the age of seventeen he entered Newell Institute at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he spent three years. In the meantime he had aquired a practical acquaintance with agriculture on his father's farm and his employment on the farm during the summer and attendance at school during the winter was the regular routine except for three years at Pittsburg until he was twenty years old. He then began working in his father's wholesale grocery house at Pittsburg, spending one year as a roustabout and helper. Following that there came a more methodical knowledge of the business and for six years he traveled as a salesman, with headquarters at Pittsburg. This work proved a severe strain upon his health and after recuperating for a year he removed to Wyandot County in 1877. In the meantime Mr. Carter had married Kate W. Bryant, daughter of Isaac and Maria (Fisher) Bryant. Isaac Bryant was a cousin of William Cullen Bryant, the great American poet. Isaac Bryant had a very extensive farm of twenty-three hundred acres in Wyan- Vol. III-53 dot County and for many years was successfully engaged in stock raising and was also a pioneer pork packer, with a large packing house in Columbus, Ohio. After his marriage Mr. Carter took up farming and followed it actively for fourteen years. He had a place of 400 acres four miles south of Upper Sandusky in Pitt Township, and still owns that place. Altogether he owns about 600 acres of farm lands. In politics he has always been an active republican. His neighbors forced upon him the office of township trustee, electing him for three years, but he served only, one year. That was while he lived on his farm. In 1893 Mr. Carter removed from the farm to Upper Sandusky and subsequently went with his father to Charleston, West Virginia, and became identified with the coal industry, being a traveling salesman for eight years. When the business was sold in 1901 he returned to Upper Sandusky and has been practically retired from that date. In 1902 he helped organize the Citizens Savings Bank of Upper Sandusky and has since been its president and a director. He is also vice president and director of the Scottswood Realty Company, $150,000 corporation of Toledo, formed for the purpose of building high grade apartment houses in that locality. Mr. Carter is one of a committee and is financial chairman of the Red Cross fund. Mr. and Mrs. Carter have two children : May B., born in 1877, is still at home. Martha C., born in 1885, is the wife of Lovell H. Hull, of Upper Sandusky. Mr. Carter is an active member of the First Presbyterian Church. SAMUEL M. COURT, present clerk of courts at Marion, was one of the active business men of the city before he was promoted to his present official responsibility. Mr. Court has spent his life in Marion County, and has a host of friends and admirers who have known him from early youth. Mr. Court was born in Marion County December 25, 1873, a son of Frederick and Lucy (Porter) Court. His. parents were also natives of Marion County and spent their lives there. The grandfather, George Court, was a native of West Virginia and established the family in Marion County at a very early day. He was a farmer and his first home in the county was a log house. He possessed remarkable physical vitality and lived to be ninety-four years of age, his last years being 2166 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO spent in Marion County. The maternal grandfather, Alexander Porter, was also born in Marion County and that family was founded here by his father. Alexander Porter was a farmer and also a local preacher. Frederick Court was a stone mason by trade, and for a number of years much of his business was the building of lime kilns, and he constructed most of the kilns in Marion County. He was a successful man, was a democrat in politics, and was honored with the office of assessor of Pleasant Township. He and his wife had eight children, four of whom are still living: Alexander C., head of a wholesale storage plant at Seneca Castle, New York; Lucy, living at Marion, widow of Frederick Strobel; Samuel M. ; and Earl, a stone mason living at Logansport, Indiana. Samuel M. Court was eleven years of age when his mother died, and almost from that time he has made his own way in the world. Besides a public school training he attended a commercial college at Marion and his first business experience was as a bookkeeper for Fred Strobel, with whom he remained, a year. After that he went into the retail grocery business for himself and enjoyed a large and prosperous trade for five years, at the end of which time he sold out. He then took the management of the John Amacon Brother & Company wholesale fruit house,' and that was his active business connection at Marion for 12 ½ years until called to his present duty as clerk of courts at the election in November, 1916. Mr. Court is one of the popular democrats in Marion County, and has been quite active in party affairs. He; served as a member of the city council for a year and seven months until he resigned to take his present office. He was president of the city council. Mr. Court is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. April 14, 1898, he married Lula Griffin, who was born at Urbana, Ohio, a daughter of John Griffin, for many years a railway conductor. Mr. and Mrs. Court have two children, Catherine Isabel,. aged seventeen, and John Stewart, born in February, 1902. Mrs. Court is an active member of the Catholic Church. E. J. SONGER. Continuously for the past ten years Mr. Songer has given the best of his abilities to the efficient administration of the municipal affairs of Bucyrus in the office of mayor. Mr. Songer's service constitutes one of the longest terms in such an office in the State. of Ohio. Mr. Songer was born in Crawford County October 6, 1867. His parents and grandparents were early settlers in this section of Northwest Ohio. His grandfather, George Songer, was born in Pennsylvania and came to Ohio early in life, locating on a farm in Whetstone Township of Crawford County. He lived there a number of years and later retired and spent his last days in Bucyrus. The maternal grandfather was Joseph Stewart. He was born near Bedford, Pennsylvania, and was a real Ohio pioneer, coming to the state in 1819, and acquiring along with three brothers some land direct from the Government in Crawford County. He did the strenuous work involved in clearing up the land, built a log cabin home, and the old Stewart homestead was in the family ownership until about seven years ago. Mayor Songer is a son of Jonathan and Ruth (Stewart) Songer, both of whom were natives of Whetstone Township, Crawford County. The father was born in 1840 and the mother in 1846. They were married in Crawford County. Jonathan Songer enlisted in Company A of the Twelfth Ohio Cavalry and was in active service until wounded by a bushwhacker at Licking Springs. For a number of months he lay in a hospital, was then sent home, and never recovered from the wound, which brought about his early death on. March 4, 1871. His widow is still living. They had two children, E. J. and Gertrude. Gertrude is the wife of 0. L. Bradley, who recently retired after fifteen years of service as manager of the Carroll Foundry and Machine Company at Bucyrus and now holds an executive position with the Ohio Steel Foundries Company. Jonathan Songer and wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the father was a republican and was honored with several township offices. E. J. Songer was only four years of age when his father died. He received his early education in the Bucyrus public schools, and had an apprenticeship at the iron molders' trade, which he followed 'as his regular occupation until 1907, when he was elected to his office as mayor of Bucyrus. Before his elevation to the mayoralty 'he was president of the city council. In 1897 Mr. Songer married Cora May Risher. She was born at Wellsville, Ohio, daughter of William Risher, who was a loco- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2167 motive engineer. Mr. Songer is active in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, has filled all the chairs in the Subordinate Lodge, and also in the Encampment. He was exalted ruler five terms in Lodge No. 156 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is now an honorary life member, and represented the Grand Lodge at Philadelphia in 1907. In politics Mr. Songer is a democrat. JAMES A. WALKER is truly the old and reliable photographer of Wood County, having been established at Bowling Green for thirty-two years. He took up the art of photography about the transition period between the old wet plate and the modern dry plate system, and he has seen every important development in the art with the exception of the earliest processes. Long years of experience has brought him increasing skill and he is .an artist in every sense of the word. He is as well versed in the modern processes of sepia work, enlarging, color photography, and all branches of commercial work as in the stand and photographic line. He has a valuable assistant in his talented wife, who is most capable in retouching and also in painting and enlarging. For about thirty years Mr. Walker had his studio on Main Street, but for the past three years has been located in a fine studio which he had built expressly for the purpose, and in line with his long experience and careful study of all conditions and requirements, at No. 125 East Wooster Street. The studio is 18x100 feet, and he has all the materials and appliances for the highest type of photography. When he did his first work in photography Mr. Walker used the old wet plate process, and whereas in earlier years he de-. pended exclusively on sunlight for his printing he now has an electric lighting system which enables him to do work night or day and in any kind of atmosphere. Mr. Walker practically grew up in the business. He served part of his apprenticeship in Toledo, and received his first instruction from the late R. P. Morrison. He was practically the pioneer photographer in Bowling Green, and the complete record of his work would show negatives of people from early infancy into mature manhood and womanhood. Mr. Walker attributes the greatest progress in photography during the last ten years largely to the superior methods of manufacture of supplies and materials. He was born in the east part of Center Township of Wood County in a log cabin on his father's farm September 15, 1859. He grew up' there, had a public school education, and on leaving home he began his apprenticeship as a photographer. His parents Abram and Susan (Thompson) Walker were born in Lincolnshire, England, of old English lines of ancestry and both had previously been married and both had two children. Upon arriving in this county they were married in Medina County, Ohio. They arrived in this state seventy-six years ago and seventy years ago they located in the swamps of Center Township in Wood County. No roads or ditches had been laid out and their home was a log cabin surrounded by woods. Perrysburg was their market for everything. Here they cleared up the land, gained a living from it, and made it their home until they retired into Bowling Green. The father died eighteen years ago at the age of eighty and the mother in 1912 when past ninety. It was an accident which shortened her life and reduced her normal expectation of years. Both were known for their charitable and generous nature' and a kindliness to neighbors, and they were devout members of the United Brethren .Church at Bowling Green. The father was a republican. James Walker is one of eleven children, all now deceased except himself and his brother John who lives in Grand Ledge, Michigan and has a family of sons and daughters. James A. Walker married Miss Jennie Sweet, who was born at Perrysburg in Wood County fifty-four years ago and was reared and educated there. They have one son, Ariel, now fourteen years of age, born September 19, 1903, and a student in the high school. Mrs. Walker and her son are members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. JAMES M. SNODGRASS. Through whatever path of useful industry men may carry on the business of life, they are inspired with the hope that their undertakings will be successful, but it is a fact that a large majority of those who reach middle age with a comfortable competency have been engaged in agricultural pursuits. The soil in almost every section of the United States responds to intelligent cultivation, and many are the productive farms that have been developed in Paulding County, Ohio, by men of farm experience and general good judgment. A. farmer of this class is found in James M.. Snodgrass, whose 250 acres of Paulding 2168 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO County land has been placed under a high state of cultivation. James M. Snodgrass is a native of Indiana, born in Washington County October 22, 1840. His parents were Josiah and Margaret (Holsapple) Snodgrass, and his paternal grandfather was Alexander Snodgrass, who moved from Virginia to Ohio and later to Southwestern Illinois. Still later he moved to Washington County, Indiana, but he died in Union County, Ohio. He was a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church and he also was engaged in farming. Josiah Snodgrass was born in Virginia, one of a family of five children, Josiah, Aaron, Christina, Rebecca and Elizabeth. In 1850 Josiah Snodgrass moved with his family to McDonough County, Illinois, where he engaged in farming for a time and then removed to Kansas and died in Butler County in that state. He was a democrat in his political views. A man of sterling personal integrity, he was respected wherever he lived. Of his family of twelve children three sons and one daughter are still living. James M. Snodgrass was ten years of age when he returned from Indiana to Illinois, and he remained there until he reached his manhood in McDonough County, but in 1868 he located in Piatt County, where land at that time could be secured as low as eight dollars per acre. He bought a farm there of eighty acres. Prior to this, however, while still in McDonough County, Mr. Snodgrass, in 1864, enlisted for service in the Civil war as a member of Company II Seventh Illinois Cavalry, in which he served during the closing six months of the war, his regiment being in the Army of the Mississippi. Mr. Snodgrass lived on his farm in Piatt County for twenty-six years and then sold it and moved to Benton County, Indiana, and bought 160 acres northeast of Fowler. That property Mr. Snodgrass developed into a fine farm and carried on farming and stock-raising there for a number of years and then took advantage of an excellent offer and sold out. In 1892 he bought a farm of 250 acres situated 1 ½ miles south of Paulding, in Paulding County, Ohio, and this has been the family home ever since. He carries on general farming, makes use of the best of machinery and the finest of farm equipments and prospers accordingly. Mr. Snodgrass was married in Piatt County, Illinois, to Miss Mary Parker, and they have the following children : Margaret L., who married Harry Goll ; Mary G., who married Henry Hague; Anna P.; James G., who married Gertrude Emerson; Amos W., who married Mamie Williams; Earl W., who married Grace Dotson ; and Alva D., the youngest son, being his father's assistant on the home farm. The two oldest sons are railroad men. Mr. Snodgrass belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic post at Paulding. He is a republican in his political views, but has never desired any public office. He is one of Paulding County's respected and valued citizens. MAAS BROTHERS. About a dozen years ago three thrifty young Germans, John J., Bernard and Charles A. Maas, with a superabundance of vitality and energy that more than made up for their limited capital, started in business on Wooster Street in Bowling Green. Their modest capital was invested in a limited stock of groceries and they started to develop a business. Today the firm of Maas Brothers is one of the leading mercantile houses of the city. The have a large and handsome store at 420 East Wooster Street and furnish a considerable share of the groceries and provisions sold and consumed in that city and surrounding territory. It was in August, 1906, that the business was started. The brothers have always been located on Wooster Street, though at several different locations. Their first quarters were soon outgrown and they then removed to a larger store, where they were located four years. In 1915 they built their present business home, of block and tile construction, twenty-four by eighty-five feet, and two stories. The upper story is arranged and divided as living apartments. Besides a general line of groceries the brothers handle notions. These three brothers were all born in Custar, Wood County, Ohio. John J. is thirty-six, Bernard thirty-four and Charles thirty-two years of age. They grew up and received their early training in Bowling -Green, to which city their parents removed when they were .children. John J. after completing a high school course went to work as a mercantile clerk for Mr. Wiggins and for five years was in the employ of G. H. Bankey, now of Toledo. On the basis of this experience and with the fruit of his savings he and his brother Bernard opened the original stock of goods HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2169 handled by the Maas Brothers. A year later they were joined by Charles Maas. The parents of these thrifty merchants are Jacob and Elizabeth (Koch) Maas. Their father was born in Germany in 1853 and was nine years of age when he came to America on a sailing vessel. His parents Mr. and Mrs. John Maas came on to Wood County, Ohio, and located on a farm near Custar. They were pioneers and improved a raw tract of land on which John and his wife spent their last years.. Large frames and physical vigor have been notable characteristics of the Maas family. They were German Catholics in religion, and John and his wife distinguished themselves as hard working, honest people. John Maas was a man of liberal education and had taught school in Germany and supervised the instruction of his own children. Jacob Maas was one of nearly a dozen children, sons and. daughters, and grew up on his father's farm in Wood County. The old homestead is now owned by his brother John Maas. At the old Maas home the first services of the Catholic Church were held in that vicinity by one of the early Catholic missionaries. Those services in time developed into a Catholic society known as St. Paul's Catholic Church. Members of the Maas family helped to organize and to build the original church, and in the churchyard all the family now deceased are buried side by side. Jacob Maas and wife after their marriage located in the country and Jacob found employment on the original railroad of the county. For thirty-six years he was a steady and dependable employe of the Bowling Green, Tontogany and North Baltimore Railroad. He then retired from active labor, but still owns the fine farm in Putnam County. He and his second wife now live on Manville avenue in Bowling Green. The mother of the three Maas brothers died August 28, 1906, at the age of forty-three. Besides these brothers the other children were Henry, Joseph and Rose. All of them are married except Joseph. John J. Maas married a New York City girl, Martha Corbett. She was born in New York, and graduated from the parochial schools. She is of Irish parentage. Her parents were married in New York City and her father followed the trade of baker there until his death. Mr. and Mrs. John J. Maas have a son John, born August 31, 1909, and now attending the public schools. The family are all members of St. Aloysius Catholic Church. John J. Maas and his brother Charles are members of the Knights of Columbus. RALPH D. SNEATH, now president of the Commercial National Bank of Tiffin, vice president and treasurer of the Sneath-Cunningham Company, president of the Sneath Glass Company of Hartford City, Indiana, director of the Webster Manufacturing Company of Tiffin, and interested in a number of other financial institutions, is a son of the late Samuel B. Sneath, the well known banker and business man and Tiffin pioneer whose career has been reviewed on other pages. A native of Tiffin, Ralph Davis Sneath was born October 31, 1863, a son of Samuel B. and Mary L. (Davis) Sneath. He was educated in the public schools of Tiffin and subsequently attended Oberlin College and the Ohio State University. At the age of twenty he took a clerkship in the Commercial Bank, of which his father was president. About four years later he engaged with his father in the grain and commission business. He made splendid use of his opportunities gained by experience and after three years entered business on his own account. In 1890 he formed a partnership with Arthur A. Cunningham in the grain business, and the partnership has since become the incorporation, the Sneath-Cunningham Company, one of the largest firms of grain dealers in Ohio. The firm operates a score or more of elevators in Seneca and adjoining counties. Mr. Sneath has also in recent years assumed the presidency of the bank of which his father was for so many years at the head. Mr. Sneath has taken a very active part in the banking business. He was president of the Ohio Bankers' Association in 19141915 and is at present a member of the Advisory Board of the American Bankers' Association. Mr. Sneath is a republican and a member of the Greek Letter Fraternity Chi Phi. On July 14, 1886, he married Miss Nancy Hurst Moore, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of Rev. R. B. Moore. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Sneath are Samuel, a graduate of Yale University, and Emily Louise Sneath, a graduate of the, Willard School. N. ESTA ARNOLD of Marion has had many interesting and prominent associations with business and public affairs in Northwest Ohio. He is an old newspaper man and publisher, has been a leader in democratic politics, and 2170 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO is now successfully engaged in the coal business. Mr. Arnold was born at Pomeroy, Ohio, July 23,, 1868, a son of C. A. M. and Susan (Carleton) Arnold. His grandfather, William L. Arnold, was a native of Pennsylvania, and a millwright by trade.. He located at Pomeroy, Ohio, in 1853. He reared a family of eleven children, and one of his sons, James M., served four years in the Union army. Mr. Arnold's maternal grandfather was John Carleton, who was born in County Wicklow, Ireland, and sailed from Cork and after a voyage of sixteen weeks he was landed in America. He was prominently identified with the development of coal deposits in Southern Ohio and acquired extensive tracts of land. He was a man of distinction in many ways, honorable; straightforward and a true Christian. C. A. M. Arnold was born in Venango County, Pennsylvania, January 19, 1844, and is still living at Pomeroy. He was married near Pomeroy in August, 1867. His wife was born near Pomeroy in 1847 and died May 1, 1915. She was a splendid wife and mother and her influence over her children has been beautifully told in one of the poems of which N. Esta Arnold is the author under the title "My Mother's Hands, " which is given herewith : MY MOTHER'S HANDS. I can feel the touch of my Mother 's hands As I sit alone in her old arm chair, I can hear her voice—so sweet and low ! As she gently combed my tangled hair. I can feel that touch so mild and sweet As she soothed the pain in my aching head And gently laid me by her side And "sang me to sleep " in my trundle bed. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * But oh ! for the touch of my Mother's hands And oh ! for the sound of her soft sweet voice, Which memory wafts from the Better Land Now she's at Home—She was His choice. God knoweth best ! His way is Right, He knoweth all and doth not err. He gaveth the hands to touch her boy, To the end he might be drawn to her. From the windows in Heaven she looketh down ; Her hands outstretched to welcome me, Her face all free from sorrow and care, As she speaks so sweetly—" The Lord is here." C. A. M. Arnold became a contractor and builder, and followed that business for many years. About thirty-three years ago he was superintendent of the rebuilding of the State Capitol at Charleston, West Virginia. About 1887 he was in the building business for a year or more at Wichita, Kansas, during the boom days in that country. He is now living retired at Pomeroy and owns a good farm and a splendid home, having attained success from humble beginnings. He is a member and formerly an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Pomeroy, and a democrat in politics. In former years he was quite active in democratic circles, but was never elected to office because his home vas always in a strong republican district. There were seven children in the family, five sons and two daughters, N. Esta being the oldest. Alberta, wife of A. R. Abshire of Winchester, Indiana, is the mother of four daughters, all well educated. These four daughters are : Edith Belle, who completed her training in Virginia College and is now a teacher in the schools of Winchester, Indiana ; Esta Lucile, who has completed the high school course ; and Elma. Susan and Ruth. The third child, John Thurman Arnold, is a farmer near Pomeroy on his grandfather's old homestead, and he is married and has five children, the oldest, Mary Susan, being a graduate of the high school and now continuing her education at Athens, Ohio. Wade C. Arnold, the fourth child, is an attorney by profession, but is now sales agent for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Coal Company at Warsaw, Indiana, and in early life was a teacher. McKinney Arnold., Jr., the fifth child is an expert linotype operator now living at Cleveland, Ohio. Clermont L. Arnold is an electrician at Syracuse, Ohio. Helen Mabel Arnold, the seventh and youngest child, is a graduate of high school and of Kemarr College at Hagerstown, Maryland, has taught school five years, was well trained in both music and art and has had charge of those departments in several schools in Indiana and elsewhere. She is still living with her father. N. Esta Arnold attended the common Schools near Pomeroy and spent four winters HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2171 in Carleton College at Syracuse,. Ohio, an institution founded by his great-uncle, Isaac Carleton. Mr. Arnold was only Sixteen years of age when he essayed writing for the newspapers, and at the age of twenty-one was managing editor of the Herald at Middleport, Ohio, where he remained three years. Returning to Pomeroy he then established the N. E. Arnold Publishing House, but sold out after three years and re-entered newspaper business with Elmer S. Trussell on the old Telegraph. The plant of this paper was burned February 18, 1897, without insurance. Mr. Arnold then, through the backing of friends, re-established the N. E. Arnold Publishing House. He also became managing editor of the State Gazette at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where he remained until September 1, 1900, and coming to Marion, Ohio, took the editorial department of the Daily Mirror, and continued his active associations as a journalist for 7 ½ years. In 1908 Mr. Arnold engaged in the coal business and is now sales agent for the Jones & Adams Coal Company, with his territory in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. He also owns and controls the Chapman Coal & Supply Company of Marion. For five consecutive years Mr. Arnold was secretary and treasurer of the Ohio Democratic Editorial Association. He has always been a democrat, was a member of the County Board of Elections for a number of years, and was delegate to four consecutive state conventions, each of which nominated a candidate for governor who was elected. On June 8, 1892, Mr. Arnold married Fannie. Margaret Chapman, daughter of A. F: Chapman, a prominent manufacturer and business man of Pomeroy. Mrs. Arnold was educated in the Broaddus College at Clarksburg, West Virginia. She is an active member of the Baptist Church, while Mr. Arnold is a Presbyterian, having served as elder of his church VA years and having given much of his time to the Sunday school. He now teaches a class in the Sunday school both morning and afternoon. He is a Knight Templar Mason and holds the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite, and when he took the thirty-second degree he was orator of the class at Columbus. Mr. Arnold has been president of the Civil Service Commission of Marion since it was established. In Masonry he is a member of the National Research Society of the United States, and is also prominent in the Knights of Pythias, having held all the offices in the local lodge, being a charter member of Pomeroy Lodge No. 596, and was district deputy grand chancellor. While Mr. Arnold is one of the thoroughly practical business men and burdened with many responsibilities he has found literature a diversion since early youth and aside from his newspaper work has written much meritorious poetry and prose. ANDREW ALLEN ENSMINGER, a veteran Union soldier, has lived a life of 'intense activity and has been closely identified with Wood County for over forty-five years both as a farmer and citizen. Mr. Ensminger is now enjoying the fruits of his earlier years in quiet retirement at the Village of Portage. He is a native of Northwest Ohio, having been born in Van Buren, Allen Township, Hancock County, April 13, 1843. His father, Perry D. Ensminger, was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, in November, 1817, and died March 14, 1865. The mother, whose maiden name was Phoebe Vail, was born in Hancock County, Ohio, December 25, 1820, and died in that county also on December 25, Christmas Day, 1848, at her twenty-eighth birthday. In 1831, when Perry D. Ensminger was fourteen years of age, he removed to Wayne County, Ohio, with his parents Mr. and Mrs. George Ensminger. George Ensminger married a Miss Umbarger. From Wayne County the family soon moved to Allen Township of Hancock County, it being necessary to blaze the way from Fostoria to the new. home on the Ridge bordering the black swamp of that section. George Ensminger was a very vigorous and hard working pioneer and cleared up and developed a fine tract of farm land in Hancock County. He and his wife died when quite old in Allen Township of that county. They had eleven children, eight sons and three daughters, all of whom grew up and all inherited the vitality of their parents, married and had children. His sons were named David; Michael, George, Jr., Perry D., Lyman, Milton and Alfred. After their marriage Perry D. Ensminger and wife lived in Allen Township until her death and he then established a general merchandise business in Van Buren. As one of the early merchants there he had to combat the difficulties of pioneer transportation. When he laid in a stock of goods he carried his money to Buffalo, New York, and had his merchandise shipped to Perrysburg, Ohio, and 2172 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO from there it was conveyed over the country roads in wagons and teams for twenty-eight miles to his store. Many times the roads were practically impassable. Perry D. Ensminger and wife had the following children : Harriet, born April- 19, 1848, lives at Columbus, Ohio, widow of James Lang and has one child ; Cytharia, who died in March, 1913, married John Gibble, also deceased, and left three ;sons and one daughter ; the next in age is Andrew Allen; Jane is the wife of Eli Spitler of Van Buren, Ohio, and the mother of four sons and two daughters ; and Phoebe R. is the wife of John Ames of Bourbon, Indiana, and they have a family of six children.. Andrew Allen Ensminger grew up on the home farm of his father and had a very limited schooling. He was only five years of age when his mother died, and he early learned to develop the resources of his own character and mind, and though largely self educated he has a keen intelligence due to his extended dealings with men and affairs. As a boy he was very slight physically, weighing only ninety-nine pounds when the Civil war was in progress. He was accepted as a member of the Ohio National Guard,. but was refused an early enlistment in the Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Finally in 1864 he was accepted as a soldier in Company G of the 133rd Ohio Infantry, and was in active service until. November of that year. His regiment was with Grant at Petersburg, at Piedmont, and in the campaign up the James River. In 1871 Mr. Ensminger transferred his home from Hancock County to Wood. County, and in Bloom Township bought the Henry Copas farm in section 31. In June, 1873, having sold this farm, he removed to the Village of Portage and bought property within the corporation limits and from time to time has extended his purchases to land in different localities. He acquired several hundred acres of the fine soil in Portage Township and more than 200 acres in Washington and Damascus townships of Henry County. All of this land shows the results of his industry and intelligent management and has been improved and made many times more valuable than when he thought it. On three of his farms he has productive oil wells, and this part of his property alone constitutes almost an independent fortune. Recently Mr. Ensminger deeded to his children all his property except his homestead in Portage Township near the village of that name. On December 5, 1865, at the age of twenty-two, and after he had given his loyal service to his country as a soldier, Mr. Ensminger married at Van Buren, Ohio, Miss Jane Shaw. She was born at Green Spring in Sandusky County, Ohio, September 21, 1846, but spent much of her early girlhood with the Van Dorn family at Tiffin, Ohio, after she was fourteen years of age. Mrs. Ensminger died at her home in Portage June 21, 1894, the mother of four children. The daughter Mary D., born January 5, 1867, was well educated and qualified as a teacher, married C. A. Johnson, and at her death on February 22, 1913, left three children named Allen, Leonard and Walter. The daughter Maggie L., born March 27, 1869, was educated in Portage and is the wife of Mr. Charles J. Teller, a wealthy farmer and active business man of Portage ; they have two children, Jennie F. and Helena F. Phoebe I., the third of the children, was born June 17, 1871; she is the wife of Lewis Kramer, a farmer in Wood County and their children are Bertha, now the wife of Isaac H. Shinew, and Russel and Lewis Kramer. The youngest of the Ensminger children, Bertha B., born January 24, 1874, is the wife of Franklin Knauss, of Weston, a shipper of livestock, and their children are Mammie Geneva (deceased) and Mearl Franklin. Mr. Ensminger with his family has been actively identified with the United Brethren Church. As a republican he has filled various township offices and has been treasurer, councilman and a member of the school board in the Village of Portage for many years. Mr. Ensminger married for his second wife at Portage Miss Austa Patterson. She was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, in October, 1846, and she died June 10, 1915, six months after her marriage. Her parents Shellis and Mary Patterson, were early settlers at Portage, where her father was a general merchant and died in old age. His wife died when in middle years. WILLIAM S. EAST was formerly president of the East Iron and Machine Company of Lima. This is one of the largest and most successful industries of the city. It occupies the old site of the Lima Locomotive and Machine Works on East Market Street. The company was organized and incorporated in 1903, beginning with a capital of $100,000, which has since been increased to $400,000. During its existence the company has introduced the equipment and machinery for the manufac- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2173 ture of a varied line of products. It has made somewhat of a specialty of structural and ornamental iron work, and has also manufactured iron railing, stairways, fire escapes, jail construction, gray iron castings and large asphalt plants, and since the beginning of the great European war the plant has been largely reorganized for the manufacture of munitions. The buildings cover a block of ground, a large force of workmen are employed, and the payroll is one of the most important assets to the prosperity of Lima. The success of the business is largely due to the former president, who began his career as a mechanic, and on the basis of a trade has developed both his original genius in mechanical affairs and a high degree of executive ability. He was born at Lima, December 25, 1866, a son of Abraham East and a grandson of Isaac East. The East family is of English descent, the first of the name having come to New England in colonial days. The Easts are pioneers of Allen County. Isaac East came here during the decade 'of the '30s, and established the first flouring . mill in the county. When he came Allen County was largely a wilderness, had few towns, and most of the land was still in the woods and could be obtained directly from the Government. Indians, deer and wild game were still abundant. In the milling business he was succeeded by his sons Abraham and David, and he continued the industry for many years. David East at one time served as county treasurer of Allen County. William S. East had the advantages of the common and high schools at Lima, but as soon as his parents were willing. he left school to learn the trade of machinist. He remained a shop worker for twelve years, and for the past nineteen years has been in business for himself. In February, this year, Mr. East retired to his farm and is now devoting his entire time to. farming and recreation. In 1891 Mr. East married Blanche Trues-dale. Her father, S. D. Truesdale, was a well known citizen of Delphos, Ohio. The present officers of the East Iron and Machine Company are : Mr. C. C. Mosher, president and general manager ; Mr. W. T. Agerter, vice president; Mr. H. C. Coleman, treasurer; Mr. S. A. Benedict, secretary and assistant manager. CHARLES H. JOHNSON, proprietor of the City Automobile Salesroom and Garage at Upper Sandusky, is a man of many experiences and one who has gained success by overcoming obstacles from early boyhood. Mr. Johnson was born at Goderich in Ontario, Canada, October 21, 1873, a son of E. L. and Mary Jane (Bates) Johnson. He is of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry. His maternal grandfather Bates married a Miss Eaton in Ireland. In that country he became involved in political troubles and had to refugee to America. He and his family brought their linen and silver and settled at Goderich in Ontario. Charles H. Johnson acquired his early school training at Goderich, Ontario, and at the age of thirteen, after his mother's death, his father moved to Galion, Ohio. Here ,Mr. Johnson continued to attend school until he had nearly completed the common school course. At the age of sixteen he started to earn his own way. It was his intention and ambition at the time to prepare himself for the profession of the physician. He earned the money necessary and in 1893 entered the Ohio Medical University and attended all but a portion of one term, when, through failing eyesight, he was obliged to abandon his studies and never entered the profession of his early choice. After this discomfiture of his plans he went to work on a farm in Shelby County, Ohio, and continued farming as a renter for about eight years. He made a living at this occupation, but on leaving the farm he resorted to an entirely new occupation. He learned the machinist's trade and for several 'years was' employed by the Erie Railroad Company. in the fall of 1912 Mr. Johnson removed to Upper Sandusky. He had saved some money and invested in the City Garage at 212-214 North Sandusky Street. This business he has successfully conducted ever since. His trade has increased so as to justify an increase of his plant four different times. Mr. Johnson now has the Wyandot County agency for the Hudson car. In 1896 he married Miss Daisy B. Sawyer, daughter of G. A. and Ella I. (Richards) Sawyer. Her father was a merchant in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have four children : Ralph Eaton, born in 1897 ; Mary Elizabeth, born in 1898 ; Theodore 'Sidney, born in 1905 ; and Robert Willis, born in 1912. In politics Mr. Johnson is an independent. He has fraternal affiliations with the Knights of Pythias Order. 2174 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO HON. C. H. NORRIS of Marion was for over twenty-five years a judge of different courts in his section of Ohio and is a lawyer of almost half a century's experience. He is now retired from the bench and the forums of active practice and richly deserves the dignity and comforts that surround his advancing years. Judge Norris was born in Waldo Township of Marion County, Ohio, September 29, 1849. When he was four years old his parents, Daniel and Rosanna (French) Norris moved to Morrow County, Ohio, and that was their home for thirteen years. Judge Norris attended the public schools while there and at the age of seventeen graduated from the high school at Cardington. The family returned to Marion County in 1866, and in the following year he entered the University of Michigan, where he was graduated in the law course in June, 1869. Following his admission to the bar at Dayton, Ohio, he was made prosecuting attorney of Marion County in July, 1869, and filled that office consecutively for eight years. He also built up a splendid law practice and for many years was a prominent factor in the commercial life of his home county. He was formerly vice president of the Norris & Christian Lime and Stone Company. At an early time in his career his ability as a public leader was recognized, though most of his public service was in the strict lines of his profession. In 1880 he was a candidate for Congress. Judge Norris was first elevated to the bench in 1885, when he became judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He filled that office two 'terms and in 1896 was elected judge of the Circuit Court and was on the Circuit Bench twelve years. Since retiring from office Judge Norris has devoted much of his time to his large farm situated near Marion. It is one of the best improved farms in Marion County. Judge Norris has long been affiliated with the Masonic Order in its different branches and has been identified with many movements and enterprises in his home city. He married Jessie Harshberger. LA OMRI WEBSTER has for over thirty years been one of the leading vineyardists and citizens of Middle Bass Island and his people were among the pioneers in these islands of Lake Erie. Mr. Webster was born in Dane County, Wisconsin, October 20, 1854, a. son of De Lafayette and Emeline (Holly) Webster. The family were among the pioneers in Southern Wisconsin, but in 1862 they removed to Bass Islands of Lake Erie. They first located at Lime-Kiln, near East Point, Put-in-Bay, and the parents lived in that vicinity the rest of their lives. The father developed a vineyard and was highly honored as a substantial citizen and business man. There were four children : La Roy spent his life at Put-in-Bay; La Fevre and La Tarry were both soldiers in the Union army during the Civil war and now live .in California. La Omri Webster was the youngest of the family and has lived on the Islands of Lake Erie since he was eight years of age. As a young man he did various lines of work on the shore and subsequently did some fishing. In 1882 he removed to Middle Bass, and now resides at East Point on that island. As a result of experience and a thoroughly practical study he has become one of the acknowledged leaders in the fruit industry of this island. He has developed a splendid place of about twenty-three acres, and has a vineyard of fourteen acres and approximately a thousand fruit trees. This in itself constitutes a large industry more than one man could personally attend to, and under his management it is a profitable business. Mr. Webster married Miss Julia Lutes, member of one of the prominent families of Middle Bass. Her father, John Lutes, was an early settler on Middle Bash, and his tragic death is still well recalled by the people of the island. He died when the boiler of the old American Eagle blew up and the boat sank. He and his wife and their daughter Julia, were passengers in the cabin of the American Eagle. As a result of the explosion they were all badly scalded. However, Mr. Lutes managed to carry out his wife and daughter, but while doing so inhaled so much steam that, taken in connection with the severe burns, he died. The old Lutes homestead is just past of the present Webster place. The fine large house in which the Lutes family grew up is now used as a club house. Mr. Lutes had the following children : Albert, Charles, Miles, Arthur, Sarah Mary, wife of Fred Hanck, Frank, and Mrs. Webster. They all live on Middle Bass and the sons have adjoining vineyards at East Point. Mr. and. Mrs. Webster have two children: Earl Lafayette is a successful young attorney at Toledo, practicing as a member of the firm of Robinson & Webster. Vera is the wife of John Roesch, a vineyardist on Middle