COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 25 Concurring with Hon. Charles Foster, Governor of Ohio, in his suggestions to the people of Ohio, and in view of the deep solemnity of the occasion, and as a most deserved and fitting act of respect to the memory of our lamented President, I would respectfully suggest to the citizens of Fremont that upon Monday, the 26th inst., all business pursuits be suspended, also that memorial services be held next Sunday in the city churches, and that the bells in the city be tolled during the last hour (11 to 12 o'clock) of the solemn funeral rites, on Monday. Of this the following acknowledgements were received from James G. Blaine, Secretary of State at the time; By telegram September 22, 188i, To Hon. E. Loudensleger: In the name of the sorrowing family of. our beloved President of the Government I tender heartfelt acknowledgements of your touching tribute of the love and sorrow of the people of Fremont. —James G. Blaine, Sec'y of State." Also by letter dated Department of State, Washington, October 13, 1881: His Honor, E. Loudensleger, Mayor of Fremont, Ohio: Sir: It affords me sincere, although mournful, gratification to make feeling acknowledgement, in the name of the late President Gar-field's grief-stricken family, of the many heartfelt tributes of sorrow for our common loss, and of admiration for the high character of the revered dead, which come to them and the American Government and people in this hour of deep affliction from every part of the Union, and especially for the touching notification of the President's death, made by you to the citizens of Fremont on the 23d ultimo, a copy of which I have received. I have the honor to be, Sir, your obt. servant, JAMES G. BLAINE. In 1888 Mr. Loudensleger was induced to allow himself to be nominated for the mayoralty by the " Law and Order " party, but at the primaries the opposition to that party proved too strong. To his position of postmaster, as, in fact, to all other offices he has held, he was appointed without any solicitation on his part, and he has filled same with characteristic ability and fidelity from 1891, the year of his appointment by President Harrison, to 1895, the affairs of the office never having been more satisfactorily conducted in the history of Fremont; and Mr. Loudensleger ascribes much of the success of the department to his stepson, Isaac Tickner Miller, who, as already stated, was assistant postmaster under him. In religious faith our subject is an adherent of the Presbyterian Church, of which he is a trustee, having been elected to that office in 1867; and he has been an elder of the same for about ten years. He was a charter member of Eugene Rawson Post, G. A. R., and is now a member of Moore Post, of which he was also a charter member. He is the owner of one of the most attractive and pleasant residence properties in Fremont, adjoining that of the family of the late President Hayes. ANSON H. MILLER, banker, of Fremont, Sandusky county, was born at Hinsdale, N. H., May 2, 1824. His father, John Miller, was a descendant of Nathan Douglas, whose property was destroyed by the burning of New London, Conn., by the British, during the Revolutionary war, and to whose heirs was granted a portion of the " Firelands," in New London township, Huron Co., Ohio. John Miller, by inheritance and purchase, came-into possession of a large tract of these. " Firelands," and in 1825 he removed with his family to Norwalk, Ohio, settling on the lands in New London in 1839. His children were Celemene, John, Anson H., Thomas D., and Elizabeth D.—five in all—of whom John and Thomas D. are deceased. During the residence of the family in Norwalk Anson H. Miller attended the seminary at that place, and during the year 1845 continued his studies at Milan Academy. In 1847 he entered the employ of Prague & Sherman, lumber dealers at New Orleans, remained there about fourteen months, and after his return in 26 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 1848 was engaged in farming on the New London lands until 1852, when he took a course of study in the Bryant, Lusk & Stratton Commercial College, at Cleveland, after which he accepted a position as bookkeeper in the office of the treasurer (Dr. William F. Kittrege) of the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland railroad, which he held about two years. In 1854 he was offered the position of cashier of the banking firm of Birchard & Otis, Fremont, Ohio, made vacant by the resignation of Rev. F. S. White. He accepted the offer, and corning to Fremont August 2, 1854, entered at once upon the duties of the position. Judge Otis, being about to move to Chicago, retired from the firm of Birchard & Otis, and on the first day of January, 1856, Mr. Miller became a partner with Mr. Birchard, under the firm name of Birchard, Miller & Co. One year later Dr. James W. Wilson came into the bank as partner, the firm continuing under the name of Birchard, Miller & Co. They occupied a small, one-story brick building on the east side of Front street, between Croghan and State, and the bank did a good business and prospered, without further change, until 1863, when it was merged into the First National Bank of Fremont, with a paid-up capital of $100,000, and an authorized capital of $200,000. This bank was the fifth National bank organized in the United States. The articles of association were signed by Sardis Birchard, James W. Wilson, Anson H. Miller, James Justice, R. W. B. McLellan, Jane E. Phelps, La Quinio Rawson, Martin Bruner, Robert Smith, Abraham Neff and Augustus W. Luckey. The first :board of directors was elected May 27, 1863, and consisted of Messrs. Birchard, Wilson, Justice, Bruner, Smith, Luckey and Miller. The first officers of the board were Sardis Birchard, president; James W. Wilson, vice-president; and A. E. Miller, cashier. At the time the old bank wns merged into the First National, Mr. Miller, with the help of a young clerk, did all the routine work of the bank, which now requires six experienced men. The bank occupies the ground floor of its fine three-story block, with Amherst stone front, erected by the stockholders, on the southwest corner of Front and Croghan streets, Fremont. Mr. Miller still holds the position of cashier. There were five pioneer National banks organized in 1863 in the United States, and Mr. Miller and Morton McMichael, of the First National Bank of Philadelphia, are the only men still living who are occupying the same positions in the same banks that they did at the beginning. In March, 1854, Mr. Miller married Miss Nancy J. Otis, daughter of Joseph and Nancy B. Otis, of Berlin, Ohio, and children as follows came to their union: Mary 0., born April 11, 1856, who was married October 3, 1894, to Samuel Brinkerhoff, an attorney at law, of Fremont, Ohio; Fannie B., born June 15, 1860, who married Thomas J. Stilwell, and who died April 4, 1887; and Julia E., born March 27, 1865, who died March 2, 1884. W. V. B. AMES, M. D., a practicing physician of Fremont, Sandusky county, was born in Huron county, Ohio, in 1821, a son of Jason C. and Sarah Ann (Moore) Ames, the former born in New Haven, Conn., the latter in New York. The parents of our subject each removed in pioneer days to Huron county, Ohio, where they were married, and where the father followed- the trade of shoemaker in connection with farming. They had a family of seven children, of whom five are now living: W. V. B., our subject; Cynthia, wife of D. F. Webber, of Charlotte, Eaton Co., Mich.; Emeline, widow of Smith Bodine, of Charlotte, Eaton Co., Mich., who en- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 27 listed from Plymouth, Huron Co., Ohio, as a soldier in the Civil war, and died in Libby prison; George W., who resides at Sacramento City, Cal. ; Angeline, widow of James Steele, of Charlotte, Mich., who died in 1893; Catharine, widow of Mr. Lewis Garsey, of Ukiah, Mendocino Co., Cal., and Edward, who resides at Ukiah, California. Dr. Ames was reared in New Haven township, Huron Co., Ohio, and was educated in the public schools of the Western Reserve. He began reading medicine in his native county, and commenced practice at South Bend, Ind., where he remained from 1845 to 1851. He then went by the overland route to California, locating in Yuba county, where he practiced medicine about four years, having been engaged in mining for some time prior to that. About the year 1855 he returned to Seneca county, Ohio, and thence, in 1858, moved to Fremont, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession. He was married, in Huron county, Ohio, to Miss Adaline Harrington, a native of that county, daughter of Benjamin and Betsey (Taylor) Harrington, who were early pioneers of the Western Reserve, having come from the State of New York. The children of Dr. and Adaline Ames were: Elizabeth, wife of Evandor Dunning, of Eaton county, Mich. ; Alice, wife of Charles A. Norton, of Kansas City, Mo. ; William V. B., a dentist of Chicago, Ill. ; and Rose, who resides at home. Mrs. Adaline Ames died May 30, 1860, and Dr. Ames subsequently wedded Miss Catharine Strohl, a native of Sandusky county, daughter of Peter Strohl (now deceased),who was one of the early pioneers of Ballville township, Sandusky Co., Ohio. The children by this marriage are: Nell, Jane, and Frank. Frank Ames married Miss Grace Ford, and lives in Sacramento, California. Dr. Ames is a Republican in politics, but not a partisan. He is one of the oldest and most successful medical practitioners of Fremont, having built up a widely extended and lucrative practice. He owns valuable interests in Fremont and vicinity, and a fine farm in California. JAMES JUSTICE, one of the early pioneers of Sandusky county, and for nearly fifty years one of the live business men of Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), was born in Bedford county, Penn., August 18, 1794, a son of William and Eleanor (Umsted) Justice, the former of English, and the latter of German ancestry. At about the age of nine years our subject removed with his parents to Ross county, Ohio, near Chillicothe, where he received a limited rudimentary education. Here he worked for a time at the business of tanning hides, but discontinued it to volunteer, under Gen. William H. Harrison, in the war of 1812. He was with Harrison at Fort Seneca, at the time of the battle of Fort Stephenson, August 2, 1813. After the war he resided at Chillicothe, and resumed tanning. About the year 1817 he engaged in the flat-boat trade with New Orleans, by which the early settlers along the Ohio river found a market for their bacon, flour and whisky, in exchange for sugar and other groceries. In this trade he displayed first-class financial talents, and accumulated considerable cash. On October 12, 1820, he married Miss Eliza Moore, daughter of David Moore, and sister to John and James Moore, two well-known citizens of Ballville, both millers and manufacturers, and both wealthy and enterprising men. In the month of September, 1822, Mr. Justice removed from Ross county to Sandusky county, and located at first in Ballville township. His manner of moving was decidedly primitive, he placing his wife and child on horseback while he journeyed with them on foot. For a 28 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. time after his arrival at Ballville he assisted his father-in-law in running his grist and saw mill at that place. In 1842 he removed to Lower Sandusky, and erected a tannery on the north side of State street, at the foot of the hill on the west side of the river. With the tannery he connected the business of harness making and shoe making, managing only the financial department, leaving the manual labor to expert workmen whom he employed in the different shops. About the year 1847 he turned the business over to his son, Milton J. Justice, and gave his attention to investing and managing his capital. He made large gains by buying and selling lands, sometimes on his own account, and sometimes in partnership with Rodolphus Dickinson and Sardis Birchard. He took a prominent part in the construction of the Tiffin and Fostoria plank roads. When the Wyandot reservation at Upper Sandusky was sold, and the Indians removed to the Far West, Mr. Justice was selected by the Government as appraiser of the land, on account of his soundness of judgment in matters of value. Shortly after coming to Lower Sandusky Mr. Justice was chosen, by the legislature of Ohio, one of the associate judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Sandusky county, which office he filled with singular promptness and fidelity for a number of years, under the first constitution of the State. For a period of about ten years he discharged gratuitously and efficiently the duties of a member of the board of education of the city of Fremont, acting most of the time as treasurer. He was also mayor of the village for a term. In the summer of 1859 Mr. Justice was chosen one of the jurors in the U. S. Court at Cleveland, Ohio, in the famous " 'Wellington Rescue case," in which thirty-seven citizens of Oberlin and vicinity were prosecuted and imprisoned at Cleveland, Ohio, for recapturing and assisting to freedom a runaway slave named John Price, who had left his master in Kentucky to escape to Canada, and had been concealed at Oberlin, where he was discovered and kidnaped by the slave-hunters who were on the return to the South to restore him to his master. When the First National Bank of Fremont was organized, in 1863, Judge Justice placed some capital in the stock of that institution, and was one of the first board of directors; and he held this position by successive re-elections until his death, May 28, 1873. He left a large estate to his wife and children. In person Judge Justice was a man of impressive presence and strong magnetic power, of large size, weighing over two hundred pounds, with light hair and complexion, blue eyes, and full, round head and face. In business promptness and integrity no citizen surpassed him. His portraits, drawn by his son Milton with remarkable accuracy, may be seen at the First National Bank, and at Birchard Library, presented by his children. The wife of Judge Justice was born in Huntingdon county, Penn., October 13, 1800. At the age of fourteen years she came with her parents to Ross county, Ohio. Her father, David Moore, was of full Scotch blood; her mother was born in Pennsylvania. The child Nancy, Which she brought with her on horseback, is now the wife of Dr. James W. Wilson, president of the First National Bank of Fremont. Their way was through an almost unbroken wilderness, and on their arrival here they lived for a time in a fisherman's shanty until their own log cabin was finished. Their means were scanty, and for nine months she never saw the face of another white woman—only Indians, and many of them intoxicated. Her fireplace was a wall of stones in one corner of the shanty, above which was an opening in the roof for the escape of smoke. If the rain put out the fire she would go to the home of the nearest neighbor, a mile and a quarter away, to get live coals to re- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 29 kindle it. Among her cooking utensils was a Dutch-oven, an iron shallow kettle, with an iron lid or cover, in which all her baking was done by setting the kettle over coals and piling coals and hot ashes on the cover. Mrs. Justice survived her husband until October 17, 1876, when she died at the advanced age of seventy-six years. Their children were: Nancy E. Wilson (wife of Dr. James W. Wilson), Minerva E. (relict of Hon. Homer Everett), and Mrs. S. Eliza Failing (relict of Dr. John W. Failing), all now residing in Fremont; Milton J. Justice, a resident of Lucas county, Ohio, and Granville M., who died at Lower Sandusky at the age of sixteen years. The old Justice homestead is still occupied by Mrs. Everett and Mrs. Failing, who cherish the memory of their parents, and preserve with scrupulous care the old-time family relics, consisting of household furniture and pioneer-day portraits. WILLIAM CALDWELL, M. D., was born May 27, 1837, at Fremont, Ohio, a son of William and Jane A. (Davis) Caldwell, who were among the early pioneers of Sandusky and Ottawa counties. Dr. Caldwell spent his early life in securing a liberal education, and in teaching school. He next attended Oberlin College several years, and acquired his medical knowledge in the Medical Department of the University of Michigan, in Charity Hospital Medical College, and in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, being admitted to practice in 1862. He was assistant surgeon of the Seventy-second Regiment O. V. I., and served from April, 1863, until January 4, 1865. After the war he located in Michigan for the practice of his profession, in June, 1880, taking up his residence in Fremont, Ohio, where he has since met with flattering success. He has been a member of the Board of United States Examiners for Pensions, is ex-president of the Northwestern Ohio Medical Society, vice-president of the Ohio State Medical Society, and a member of the American Medical Association, as well as the National Association of Railroad Surgeons. He has also for a number of years been a liberal contributor to several medical periodicals. His enterprise is not confined to his profession alone, for he takes a deep interest in the municipal affairs of his native city. Socially he is a member of the Masonic Fraternity. On January 15, 1868, Dr. Caldwell was married, at Byron, Mich., to Miss Arilla Cook, who was .born March 15, 1848, daughter of Horace L. and Elizabeth Cook. Their children were: Bessie C., born November 10, 1869, died August 12, 1870; Maud, born January 23, 1873, who, after attending the Fremont City schools, entered upon a liberal course of study in the University of Michigan; and Robert L. , born October 21, 1881. WILLIAM CALDWELL was born December 23, 1808, near Chillicothe, Ohio. His father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was at Detroit when Gen. Hull surrendered his army to the British. In 1828 the family removed to Port Clinton, and four years later William Caldwell came to Fremont (then Lower Sandusky). On August 14, 1836, he married Jane A. Davis, and they resided at Fremont until 1850, when Mr. Caldwell went to California, remaining in that State three years, and on his return settling in Elmore, Ottawa county. At Elmore he served for eighteen consecutive years as justice of the peace, and was also township treasurer and a member of the village council for a portion of the time. In 1881 Mr. Caldwell was elected probate judge of Ottawa county, and moved to Port Clinton; he was re-elected in 1884. On August 14, 1886, Judge and Mrs. 30 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Caldwell celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at the home of their son, Dr. William Caldwell, at Fremont, Ohio, which was attended by many distinguished guests from Fremont and Port Clinton, and at which they were the recipients of many beautiful and valuable presents, among which was a valuable gold watch for the Judge from the courthouse officials of Ottawa county. At the expiration of his term of office Judge Caldwell and his wife moved to Fremont, purchasing the " Dryfoos House," on South Front street, where, on September 9, 1890, the worthy couple, after a happy married life of more than fifty-four years, were separated by the death of Mrs. Caldwell. They were the parents of four children, all born at Fremont, of whom, Charles died in 1852 at the age of thirteen; Robert. H. became a member of the Twenty-first 0. V. I., and was killed at the battle of Stone River, at the age of twenty-two; and Dr. William and Miss Juliet Cladwell are still living in Fremont, Ohio. Judge William Caldwell died at his home No. 415 South Front street, Fremont, on May 14, 1892. JUDGE HORACE S. BUCKLAND. The subject of this biographical sketch is a prominent attorney of Fremout, Ohio, and on November 5, 1895, was elected one of the common pleas judges of the Fourth Judicial District of Ohio, comprising the counties of Erie, Huron, Lucas, Ottawa and Sandusky. He is a son of the late Gen. Ralph P. Buckland, and was born in Fremont, Ohio, April 21, 1851. His education was gained in the public schools of his native city, the preparatory school at Gambier, Ohio, a like school at East Hampton, Mass., Cornell University, and the Law Department of Harvard College. He supplemented his school studies by reading and practicing with his father, until August 16, 1875, when he was admitted to the bar. Shortly afterward father and son formed a partnership, continuing their practice in the office which the latter still occupies in the Buckland block, corner of State and Front streets. George Buckland, a brother of the Judge, was also a member of the firm from June 1, 1886, until May 9, 1892, when he withdrew, and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. After the death of the General, which occurred May 27, 1892, H. S. Buckland became his father's successor, and on October 19, 1892, he formed a partnership with Mr. D. B. Love, which still continues. Judge Buckland's practice has been general and successful. His knowledge of the law, his sound judicial mind, and his fairness and integrity at the bar and as referee have been universally admired, and his decisions have generally been upheld. Judge Buckland is engaged in various enterprises. He is president of the Wickland Mnfg. Co., a director of the H. B. Smith Building and Loan Association, and is also interested in other industries. Upon the death of Gen. R. B. Hayes he was chosen his successor as a director of the Birchard Library Association. He is an enterprising citizen, always ready with his means and influence to aid in the general growth and prosperity of his city and county. In 1884 he organized the Buckland Guards, a local volunteer military organization, which has attained a national reputation. It was named in honor of his cousin, Chester A. Buckland, a young man who died during the Civil war from wounds received at the battle of Shiloh. Our subject remained captain of the same until 1891, when he was elected colonel of the First Regiment S. of V. Guards. In 1893 he was elected commandant of the S. of V. Guards of the U. S. A., with the rank of general, and as such had several thousand men, fully armed and equipped at their own expense, and well drilled, under his command. COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 31 Upon his election as commandant his regiment would not accept his resignation, but gave him indefinite leave of absence; and at the close of 1894 he resigned as commandant of the Guards and returned to the regiment. In 1894, while serving as commandant of the Guards, he held two field encampments, one at Davenport, Iowa, and the other at Pittsburg, Penn., in connection with the G. A. R. encampment. At the former he planned one of the finest sham battles ever attempted, in which the Guards, members of the G. A. R., and other military organizations, participated. His regiment has encamped in various places, viz. : Washington, D. C. , in 1892; Columbus, Ohio, in 1893; and Pittsburg, Penn., in 1894. It is needless to say that the interest he has taken in military affairs has given him a wide acquaintance, and added greatly to his popularity. Col. Buckland is also a member of the Masonic Fraternity, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. During the Judicial Convention at Sandusky, Ohio, July 25 and 26, 1895, Col. Buckland was unanimously nominated for Common Pleas Judge on the 147th ballot. The convention was remarkable in many respects, and marks an epoch in the political history of the district. The Sandusky Register, in speaking of the nomination, says: " The name of Col. Horace S. Buckland was presented to the Republican Judicial Convention by Dr. Frank Creager, of Fremont, in the following eloquent address: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: One of the most notable features in politics—one, certainly, which attracts more than anything else the attention of the people —is the prominent position to which the young men have climbed during the political progress of the New World. From the first formation of society he has invariably been a distinctive feature, the prime factor in the world's history; and surely the destiny of the republic was never so thoroughly and systematically cemented, with such a fraternal bond of loyalty encircling the globe, binding man to man, and brother to brother, as it is to-day by the young men of the present generation. Everywhere we see the results of his ambition and energy. We find him all along the pathway of perpetual progress. We find him upon the avenues of life, buckling on the armor and fighting the political battles of his country. We find him in the halls of Congress. We find him everywhere carrying aloft, proudly and triumphantly, that banner of beauty and glory, with its magnificent emblazonry of stars and stripes—the escutcheon of free States—the emblem of the Republican party. No victory intoxicates him; no defeat dismays him; but with integrity too deeply rooted to be shaken by the vicissitudes of fate he treads the path of life unfalteringly, still laboring for the success of the party he so honorably represents. With such an impulse, with such a fraternal feeling, we come before this convention to-day with the name of one who was born, reared and educated within the sacred folds of our country's banner. It is with pleasure, then,. that I present the name of Horace S. Buckland. Perhaps it would be best to take the finger of time and move it backward over the dial of human progress and see where it stops. We will find among other things that he is a young man, a gentleman in the fullest sense of the term, and that to know him personally is to love him dearly. We will find that he belongs. to the Republican party as the lighthouse does to the mariner who steers his bark by its steadfast rays. We will find that he is earnest, intelligent, and commands respect in every position in which he may be placed, particularly so-in the common walks of life. Place him where you will, his fitness and fidelity will manifest themselves, and his true worth will win ever lasting favor. You will find that this is the first time he has asked the people for their suf- frage, and were it not for the urgent solicita- tion of his friends you would not have heard of him being a candidate. Yes, gentlemen of the convention, you will find that he is ever true to his friends, self-sacrificing, not courting popularity, but seeking proficiency and good results. During the late war, although too young to enlist, he even ran" away to do so, and were it not for the timely discovery might have sealed his youthful life in active service, or else been a veteran of the army to-day. But with loyalty too deeply rooted to be shaken by the dissuasion of friends, he still persevered, until at Memphis, Tenn., when he was taken into service by the musicians of the camp, ,marching at the head of the old Seventy-second, proudly victorious over his youth. Let it be remembered, now, that the old Seventy-second was his father's regiment, and as a mother's love goes. out to her first-born, who has come to her "'mid suffering and pain," so the few survivors of that dear old regiment revere the name of Gen. Buckland, whose honored remains lie sleeping beneath the silent clods of Oak Wood Cemetery, that beautiful city Of the dead, where the wild 32 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. winds chant his requiem, and where the virtues of his life of liberty and service will forever live in the hearts of his comrades. * * Such, then, is the national character and standing of our candidate. A true American, ready to serve his country at a moment's no- tice. A gentleman capable of surrounding himself with the truest, the bravest and the most honored guests the world has ever known; and whose every act and purpose are those of an ideal citizen. It is needless to say that he enjoys a large and lucrative practice, being educated at one of the best law schools in the country, and is perfectly familiar with the lower and higher courts. In his profession he is modest and just. His actions at the bargenerallyonduct and decisions as referee, have generally been upheld. His fitness and ability have also been universally approved by his associates. One of the most fitting testimonials that could possibly be offered, one, certainly, that commends itself to this convention, was the universal endorsement of the non-partisan meeting of the bar, which was held in the city of Fremont but a few weeks ago, when he was so magnanimously recommended as a person particularly fitted for Common Pleas Judge. No higher compliment was ever paid so young a practitioner. It marks a page in the judicial history of the country. Men who have grown gray in active practice, his fellow associates in the temple of justice, his brother practitioners at the bar—Democrats and Republicans alike—irrespective of party or politics, not only asked, but actually demanded of this convention the nomination of Col. Buckland. Nay, more; knowing the principles of economy, and the urgent appeal of tax-payers, said that it would be the saving of thousands of dollars to this judicial district by placing him on endorsement With such a compliment, with such an en-dorsement, and in the very face of the brazen -effrontery of power and wealth, he buckled on the armor and entered the race. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the glorious achievements of that campaign. The people have spoken. The farmer left the harvest and attended the caucus. The merchant closed his store and went to the polls, and to-day we lay the trophies of his victory at your feet. * * * The Toledo (Ohio) Blade says that "Col. Buckland deserves all the kind .things said of him by his neighbors. The situation is truly remarkable. All the prominent Democratic attorneys of Fremont have the highest regard for him as a lawyer and a mthe and openly express themselves as willing for thd Democratic Judicial Convention to endorse him. They also recommended him at the time of the non-partisan meeting of the bar as a person particularly fitted for the bench." WELCOMED HOME FROM THE CONVENTION. The Fremont Journal says: Several hundred citizens of all political parties welcomed Col. Buckland and the Sandusky county delegates, whose fidelity for him won the day, on their return from Sandusky at 6:30 Friday evening. Music and cheers and congratulations greeted them as they left the train. Then the crowd, headed by the Light Guard band, escorted the Colonel to his residence on Birchard avenue. Here he was introduced by Mr. H. R. Shomo and made a short address, thanking his friends for their cordial reception, and for the support he had received in the contest for the nomination, and saying if elected he would try to perform the duties of the responsible position of Judge of Common Pleas Court to the best of his ability. His remarks were modest and in good taste. The reception, which was entirely impromptu, was a surprise to Col. Buckland, and is an evidence of the high esteem in which he is held by the people of our city. At the general election in Ohio, held on the 5th day of November, A. D., 1895, Horace S. Buckland was elected judge by nearly 8,000 majority, that being the largest majority ever given to any candidate in the district, carrying his native city and county, though Democratic, and, in fact, carrying every county in the district but Ottawa. He succeeds Judge John L. Greene, and will take office May 9, 1895. Judge Horace S. Buckland was married June 1o, 1878, to Elizabeth Bauman. He is one of a family of seven children, three of whom are living, the other two being George, a graduate of Cincinnati Law School, and Mrs. Charles Dillon, residing on Buckland avenue, Fremont, Ohio. The mother still survives. JAMES W. WILSON, M. D., of Fremont, Sandusky county, was born in New Berlin, Union Co., Penn., February 1 , 1816. His grandfather James Wilson, of old New England stock, about the year 1791 went from Connecticut to eastern Pennsylvania, where he married. His father, Samuel Wilson, only of James Wilson, was born COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 33 in Schuylkill county, Penn. November 25, 1793. He was married to Miss Sarah Mauck, a native of Pennsylvania, at New Berlin, and resided there, a much esteemed and successful merchant, until his death, November 3, 1855. His wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, died May 31, 1872, aged eighty-four years. Our subject chose the profession of medicine, and made his preparatory studies under the direction of Dr. Joseph R. Lotz, of New Berlin. He subsequently attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, where he graduated in March, 1837, in November of the same year commencing the practice of medicine in Center county, Penn. He came to Ohio in June, 1839, in company with Dr. Thomas Stilwell, and settled in Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), July 24, 1839. That part of northwestern Ohio in which he embarked in his professional career was a comparatively unsettled country. A few pioneers, living mostly in log houses erected by their own hands, had made but a beginning of the long and laborious task of clearing the land and fitting it for cultivation. The soil was indeed of unsurpassed richness; but before it could be subdued and brought to the condition of fertility now seen on every hand, it was necessary that a whole generation of hardy men and women should wear out their lives in incessant toil. It was a country of sluggish streams and stagnant swamps, and consequently was a sickly country. It is difficult to imagine the arduous character of the labors of the country physician engaged in general practice fifty years ago. He was able to prove successful only under the conditions that he possessed unusual powers of endurance, thorough devotion to the duties of his calling, self-reliance and true courage. Dr. Wilson was successful. During the years he was engaged in the practice of his profession he ranked among the most successful physicians in this section of the State. He was distinguished for promptitude and faithful punctuality in fulfilling engagements. The urbanity of his manner made him ever welcome to the bedside of the suffering. His intelligence and manly deportment won general confidence. His acknowledged skill, and the painstaking care with which he investigated the cases submitted to his judgment, commanded the respect and regard of his fellow practitioners. It is probable that no physician outside of the large cities of Ohio has ever enjoyed a larger practice or performed more arduous labor in meeting its requirements. In consequence of severe exposure while attending to this large practice, in January, 1858, he suffered from a severe attack of pneumonia, from the effects of which he has never completely recovered; nor has he since devoted himself to the practice of medicine. He has, however, retained a lively interest in the progress of medical science, and whatever pertains to the welfare of his chosen profession. He is president of the Sandusky County Medical Society, and a member of the Ohio State Medical Society. During the war of the Rebellion, in August, 1862, he was appointed, by Governor Tod, surgeon for Sandusky county to examine applicants for exemption from draft. In 1858 he was elected treasurer of the Sandusky County Bible Society, which trust he kept until 1868, when he was chosen president of said society. This position he has retained to the present date, making thirty-seven years of faithful and continuous service. He has also for a number of years been president of the Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Society, in which he takes a deep interest; and he has been president of the Birchard Library Association since the death of ex-President R. B. Hayes, whom he succeeded in that office. On May 25, 1841, Dr. Wilson was married to Miss Nancy E. Justice, daugh- 34 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. ter of Judge James Justice, one of the early settlers of Lower Sandusky, and for a long period a director of the First National Bank of Fremont, Ohio. They have four children—two sons and two daughters: Charles G., the eldest son, a graduate of Kenyon College and Harvard Law School, now of the law firm of Pratt & Wilson, of Toledo; married Nellie, daughter of I. E. Amsden, of Fremont, Ohio. The younger son, James W., is connected with the First National Bank of Fremont, with his father. The eldest daughter, Sarah W. , is the widow of Hon. J. B. Rice, of Fremont, Ohio: The youngest daughter is the wife of Charles F. Rice, of New York City. In 1857 Dr. Wilson became a partner in the banking house of Birchard, Miller & Co. In September, 1863, the bank was merged into the First National Bank of Fremont, with Mr. Sardis Birchard as president and Dr. James W. Wilson as vice-president. On January 27, 1874, after the death of Mr. Birchard, Dr. Wilson was elected president, which position he still (July,. 1895) holds. Dr. Wilson was one of the charter members of the Fremont Savings Bank Company, which was organized in 1882, under the State laws of Ohio. He was elected a director and president, and has held these positions continuously up to the present time. Thus has Dr. Wilson, through a long period, borne important relations to the principal financial institutions of Fremont. He is a conservative banker, and yet a popular one, ever ready to respond to the demands of the business public, and watchful that the affairs of the bank shall be conducted- in accordance with those sound business principles which alone assure success and safety. He has witnessed with deep satisfaction the growth of Fremont, and the remarkable development of the surrounding country. It is not overstating the facts to say that he has never been lacking in public spirit of the commendable kind, and that he has been a liberal contributor toward the various enterprises which have had for their object the promotion of the prosperity of the community. Dr. Wilson is fond of reading, and it has long been his habit to devote most of his leisure hours to favorite books, periodicals and the current news: He loves to mingle with his fellow citizens and join in pleasant conversation. He is a man of conservative views, but liberal and tolerant. He freely accords to others that liberty of opinion which he desires for himself. He is firm in his religious belief, and his daily life is consistent with his convictions. He is a thorough believer in the doctrines of Christianity, and that the highest welfare of humanity can be attained only through obedience to the precepts of Jesus Christ. For forty-five years he has been a member of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, its senior warden for more than forty years, and he is a regular attendant upon its services, and a liberal contributor toward its support and its charities. THOMAS STILWELL, M. D., was born in January, 1815, in Buffalo. Valley, Union Co., Penn., five or six miles west of Lewisburg. His father, Joseph Stilwell, for more than half a century an honored citizen of that county, died in 1851, aged seventy-four years. His mother, Anna Stilwell, died eleven years later, aged eighty-four years. When Thomas was a child his parents removed to New Berlin, the county seat of Union county, where he continued to reside—with the exception of such time as he was absent at school—until he left to make the West his future home. After a full academic course at Milton, Penn., under the tuition of Rev. David Kirkpatrick, a distinguished teacher in that section of the State, and a brief course of selected studies at La Fayette College, Easton, Penn., he entered upon the study COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 35 of medicine with Dr. Joseph R. Lotz, at New Berlin, and graduated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Penn., in March, 1839, the same year locating at Lower Sandusky, Ohio. In 1842 he was married to Miss Jerusha A. Boughton, of Canfield, Mahoning (then Trumbull) Co., Ohio, and the children born to this union, five in number, are: Charles B., residing at Watertown, N. Y. ; Thomas J., at St. Louis, Mo. ; Charlotte E., married to John T. Lanman, living at New London, Conn. ; Mary, married to W. T. Jordan, of Louisville, Ky. ; and Anna M. , at home with her parents. Dr. Stilwell has always occupied a place in the front ranks of his profession. For several years he was vice president of the Sandusky County Medical Society, and for many years a member of the State Medical Society. He was among the first appointed pension examining surgeons (February, 1863), holding that position until he resigned, in 1879. To his letter of resignation the Commissioner of Pensions replied in very complimentary terms, expressing regret for its having been tendered. He was afterward elected one of the censors of the Medical Department of Western Reserve University, Cleveland, having held the same position in Charity Hospital Medical College, afterward known as the Medical Department of Wooster University. Dr. Stilwell has been a member of the Presbyterian Church during the whole of his mature life, and has for many years been an elder. The following account of some of the Doctor's experiences was furnished by him for Williams' History of Sandusky County, from which we take it: " Drs. Wilson and Stilwell grew up together in close companionship in their Pennsylvania town, were fellow students in Dr. Lotz' office, graduating at the same college, and formed the purpose, while yet office students, to migrate to the West together. Accordingly, on the 13th of June, 1839, in a two-horse covered carriage, purposely constructed, with ample room for themselves and baggage, which included a small stock of books and instruments, they left their home for a Western prospecting tour, with the design, if no location to their liking offered sooner, of going on to Illinois, at that day the Far West.' Traveling leisurely, they stopped long enough at each important town on the way to ascertain what inducement it could offer two adventurous young men who were in the pursuit of bread and fame. Calling on their professional brethren, both as a matter of courtesy and interest, the pleasure of their journey was much increased thereby. In this way they reached Lower Sandusky (Fremont). Spending a few days visiting friends, who, a few years before, on coming West, settled in the neighborhood of Lower Sandusky, they continued on to Perrysburg and Maumee. Here they saw what had often been the exciting theme of their children--a tribe of Indians, the Ottawas, who were encamped on the flats opposite Maumee, preparatory to their being removed to their new hunting grounds west of the Mississippi, assigned them by the Government. " Finding the roads impassable for their carriage, the travelers returned to Lower Sandusky, and turned south. At Tiffin they met Dr. Dresbach, of lasting reputation in that locality for his genial manner and his ability as a physician and surgeon. Advised by him, they decided to remain at Lower Sandusky, to which they returned, and put up at Corbin's (later the Kessler House,' now the Wheeling railroad depot), it being then the 24th day of July, 1839. A week subsequently, on the and of August, the citizens of Sandusky and neighboring counties celebrated the anniversary of Croghan's victory by barbecuing an ox on the commons, now the courthouse park, Eleutheros Cook, of Sandusky city, delivering an oration from the porch of the low frame dwelling 36 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. house erected a few years before by Jaques Hulburd, standing in the middle of Fort Stephenson, and which, a few years ago, was removed from the grounds when they became the property of the city and Birchard Library by purchase. The breastworks of the fort were, at that day, still conspicuous. " Within a few days after their arrival both were taken sick with fever. Occupying beds at the hotel in the same out-of-the-way room, they were left pretty much to themselves, to acquire experience as patient, nurse and doctor, all at the same time and at their leisure. A new settler had a good deal to learn about sickness, and but few lacked opportunities for acquiring knowledge by personal experience. A notable fact connected with the history of the hotel that season is remembered by living participants, namely: That at one time for a few days not a woman remained in the house —filled as it was with guests and borders, of whom many were sick--except the landlord's wife, and she, too, down with the fever. The women help had all gone home sick. It was very hard to obtain others. A colored man--a steamboat cook--with man help for general housework, supplied their place. " The sickness that season being very general all over the town and country, before either had so far recovered as to be able to do more than leave their room, they were importuned to visit the sick, and were compelled to comply long before they were fit for service. They secured for an office a little one-story frame structure, which stood where Buckland's Block now stands, at the corner of Front and State streets. It was an unpretentious building, belonging to Capt. Morris Tyler. Their neighbors on the south were Morris & John Tyler, merchants, whose store occupied one-half of a low two-story frame house, of very moderate dimensions, but for size and appearance one of the noted mercantile establishments of the town. To the north they were in close proximity to Gen. R. P. Buckland's law office, of about the same size as their own, and in no way superior to theirs, excepting that it was a shade whiter from having probably had two coats of paint, while theirs had but one, and that one almost washed off by the northeasters which swept its front, unobstructed, as now, by three-story blocks, on the opposite sides of the street. This office at one time narrowly escaped destruction: A cannon fired at the intersection of State and Front streets, on the occasion of a jollification in 1842 over the election of Wilson Shannon as Governor of Ohio, burst, sending its butt end through the north side of Gen. Buck-land's  office, and but for its wise discrimination in the interest of humanity it would have gone through the north side of the doctors' office as well. " The doctor's ride,' in that day, meant twelve or fifteen miles in all directions, and on horseback, mostly through woods on newly cut-out roads, often paths for some part of the way. He found his patients in the scattered cabins in which the. farmers of Sandusky county then lived. During the continuance of their partnership, and until Dr. Wilson's health became impaired by a severe attack of sickness from exposure, as noted in his personal biography on a preceding page, they so arranged their business that their attendance upon patients was by alternate visits, making thus an equal division of the labor. He who went on the eastern round to-day would go on the western to-morrow. The sickly season '—meaning from about the middle of July to the middle of October—was a phrase very familiar in those times, happily not applicable to this day, for the State may be challenged to name, within her bounds, a county now healthier than this same Sandusky. The change has been wrought partly by clearing up the land, but mostly by constructing ditches to carry off the water that overspread the surface. Dur- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 37 ing the sickly season the pressure on their time was such as to enable them to make the round only once in two days. Oftentimes each passed over the other's route before they met in their office—not seeing each other for days—the necessary communications being made on a large slate kept in the office for that purpose. The story of the daily ride, extending far into the night, oftentimes with fog above and mud below, the weariness of body and limb, the loss of sleep, the burden of thought—all this now sounds like exaggeration, but to those who underwent it all it is a well-remembered and now wondered-at reality. Their contemporary physicians were equally hard pressed. " In the season of which this is written, in the cabins visited, which sometimes meant every cabin on the road traveled, it was very exceptional to find but one of a family sick. To find three or four ' was commonly the case. Not infrequently the whole family were patients, and this with no outside help, sometimes not procurable even in times of dire necessity. While extreme cases could not fairly be given as the general experience, yet this class after all constituted a large proportion of the whole. An enumeration would include cases of scanty house-room, of lack of supplies, of distance from neighbors, of remoteness from physicians, of absence of help, of the number down in a family, of neglected ones, of work undone, of fields, such as they were, unprepared for seed. These, in their varied forms, composed a large list. In making the rounds one day he whose circuit included a cabin to be visited' which had recently been erected in a small clearing, a half acre or so, in a dense woods, south of where Hessville now stands, and reached by passing through David Berry's lane and then along a path which led to the opening—found, upon entering, the man of the house lying upon a bed in one corner of the room, in a burning fever; the woman in another part of the room sitting upon the edge of an extemporized bed, with a face flushed with fever, and wild with excitement, leaning over a cradle in which lay their little child in spasms, it too having the fever. Quickly enquiring of the woman for the water-bucket, he was told that it was empty, that their well had just been dug, and was unwalled and uncovered; the only way they had to get water was to climb down a ladder that stood in the well and dip it up, which neither had been able to do that day, and no one coming to the house, they had no water. Pro. curing water from the well, he remained, till the child was relieved of the spasms, when, having dispensed the medicines necessary, he departed, telling them to expect someone in soon, as the result of his efforts to get somebody, if possible, from the first house he reached on the way. " The fevers of this country had peculiarities which for years have ceased to be observed, and which were the conditions exciting anxiety in the mind of the doctor as well as in the friends of the sick. Intermittent fever, one of the forms very common, was sometimes with chills, sometimes without, as now, and was manageable enough unless, as not infrequently was the case, it assumed a malignant type, known in the books as congestive chill, or pernicious intermittent. With the best that could be done, the cases were often fatal, many times for want of care at the critical period. But more marked was the condition which attended the latter stage of bilious remittent fever, the other form of miasmatic fever, generally prevalent in the latter part of summer and in the autumn months. Whether it run a short or a long course, whether of high or low grade, it usually terminated with a sweat and extreme exhaustion. A sinking spell,' as it was commonly called, was frequently its dreaded sequence, and the danger to life at the time imminent. A failure on the part of the attendants then to keep up the 38 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. circulation—by rubbing the surface, by applying warmth to the extremities, by spreading plenty of cover over the bed, and by administering stimulants freely, with liberal doses of quinine—was sure to seal the fate of the patient. Many died in this way. A representative case occurred in a small frame house of two rooms, which stood on what was then open common (now the corner of Croghan and Wood streets), occupied by a man and his family of the name of Tyler, strangers, no relatives of the Tyler family resident here. He was a stone mason, and came to work at the courthouse, the building of which had just been commenced. He and his wife were taken sick with the fever. No one could be found to take the constant charge of them. The neighbors, sparsely settled then in that part of the town, as they could be spared from home, went in, one now, and another then, and did what they could, but withal the care was far from what their condition required. The fever of the husband yielded first; instructions had been left as to what was to be done when the crisis came, which during the day gave signs of its near approach. The doctors, both having reached their office on their return from the country at the same time —about 12 o'clock at night—upon being informed that a messenger had just been down for them from the Tylers, went to the house to find the patient cold and pulseless, no appliances, no stimulants having been used as directed, and he died. They had the wife removed to a neighbor's house. When the crisis came to her--the breaking up of the fever in the manner described—she had the necessary care and lived. " And here it should be remarked that whatever allusions may have been made in this or any other sketch of years ago, to hardship suffered for want of help in times of sickness, it was never refused when it could be given. To the extent of the ability to give it, no neighbor with held it. The brotherly spirit displayed at such times made itself proverbial, and could the deeds to which it prompted be written they would form a grand chapter in the history of Sandusky county." BURGOON. The ancestry, from whom are descended the Burgoon families of Sandusky and other counties of Ohio, was John Burgoon, who served in the French army, and about the year 1740 emigrated from Alsace, France (now in Germany), to America. Here he married and had a family of seven children: Charles, Robert, Peter, Jacob, Francis, John, and Honore, the only daughter. Of these Peter became a Methodist minister; Honore married Ulrich Sate, and removed to Pennsylvania, but the six sons all came to Ohio in an early day, and their descendants are found in Perry, Muskingum and Morgan counties. The father of this family died at his home in Frederick (now Carroll) county, NW., and his remains rest in the St. John's Catholic Cemetery at Westminster, he being of that faith. The mother was of the Protestant faith. Francis Burgoon, son of John Burgoon, the immigrant, and Elizabeth, his wife, was born in Frederick county, Md., where he married Miss Elizabeth Low, a lady of English descent. In 1824 they moved to Perry county, Ohio, in company with a colony of nineteen other families from the same neighborhood, all related to each other. They both died in Perry county, and their remains rest in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, two miles southeast of Somerset. Their children were: David, Mary, Jacob, Theresa; William, Rachel, Peter, Edith and Sarah. Of this family, the youngest died in childhood, and was buried at Taneytown, Md. ; David moved to Knox county, Ohio, where his descendants still reside; Mary married Joshua Coe, and their descend- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 39 ants are to be found in Licking county, Ohio; Jacob's descendants live in the vicinity of Somerset, Perry Co., Ohio; Theresa's descendants are found in Vermillion county, Ind. ; the descendants of William live in Carroll county, Md. ; Rachel married Basil Coe, and lived in the the vicinity of Fremont, Ohio; Edith married David Engler, and lived in Sandusky county, and was one of the earliest pioneers of the county. Peter Burgoon, son of Francis and Elizabeth Burgoon, was born in Frederick county, Md., near Westminster, July 13, 1800. His educational advantages were limited, and for a trade he learned that of a stone mason. On October 18, 1821, he married Miss Margaret Fluegel, at Littlestown, Penn., a daughter of John and Margaret (Hahn) Fluegel, who lived near Westminster, Md. John Fluegel was a son of Vallen Fluegel, an emigrant from Germany, who had settled on a large farm near Westminster. Margaret E. (Hahn), his wife, was a daughter of Andrew Hahn. The names and dates of birth of the children of John and Margaret Fluegel are as follows: Elizabeth, February 6, 1791; John, July 25, 1793; Polly F., January 19, 1795; Samuel, August 18, 1796; George, July 23, 1798; Margaret, July 18, 1801; Henry, October 22, 1802; Daniel, June 25, 1804; Sarah, June 3, 1806; Simon, June 9, 1808; Benjamin, September 23, 1809; and Levi, November 29, 1811, who is still (1895) living. John Fluegel, the father of this family, served in the Revolutionary army as fife-major; he died at the age of eighty-three, his wife Margaret at the age of seventy-three, and their remains are buried in Baust's churchyard, near Uniontown, Md. Of the above named children of John and Margaret Fluegel, Elizabeth married Cornelius Baust, and lived in Uniontown, Md. ; Polly married Jacob Miller, and lived. in Jay county, Ind. ; Margaret married Peter Burgoon, and they became the parents of our subject; - 3 - Sarah married Peter Shriner, and lived near Union Mills, Md. Three of the sons—Henry, Simon and Benjamin—became ministers of the Gospel. The average age of all these sons and daughters was upward of eighty years. Levi Fluegel, now in his eighty-third year, is living at Frizellburg, Md. In religious faith the family originally belonged to the Reformed and Lutheran Churches, but later most of them became members of the Church of God. Peter Burgoon, the father of our subject, came west from Maryland in 1824, first locating in Somerset, Perry Co., Ohio, where he worked at his trade about two years; then removed to Licking county, and there staid one year. In October, 1829, he came to Sandusky county, Ohio, and settled in the forest of the Black Swamp, on the bank of the Little Mud creek, about four miles northwest of Lower Sandusky (now Fremont). Several tribes of Indians were living here then, and the woods were teeming, with wild animals. The Burgoon family had no white neighbors nearer than two miles distant, with the exception of Mrs. Rachel Coe, who had settled on an adjoining farm. Here Mr. Burgoon built a log cabin, and began to clear up the land with all the energy of a man of pluck, resolution and perseverance. Being possessed of sound practical common sense, he was often consulted by his neighbors on matters of business. In connection with farming he worked at his trade about twelve years, and was employed on the residence of Dr. L. Q. Rawson, which was the second brick edifice erected in Sandusky county. With many of the business interests of the county he became identified, and he held various offices of honor and trust. In politics he was originally an ardent Democrat, but during the Civil war he was a firm supporter of the U. S. Government, and from that time forward he affiliated with the Republican party. He was 40 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. possessed of robust health, a strong physical constitution and an iron will, and by his many sterling traits of manly character he gained and held an honorable place among the pioneers of Sandusky county. He died March 17, 1879, and was buried with Masonic honors; his wife passed away June 8, 1871, a member of the Reformed Church. Their remains rest in the Lutheran and Reformed Cemetery, four miles west of Fremont. Their children were named as follows: William, Washington, Miranda, Upton, Elizabeth, Margaret, Romanus, David, Isadore H., Mary and Malinda. Of these, William Washington died July 21, 1846, aged twenty-four years; Miranda married N. R. Tucker, a farmer of near Fremont, Ohio; Upton married Nancy A. Kerr, April 8, 1848; Elizabeth died October 4, 1835, aged six years; Margaret married Solomon Albert, July 4, 1852; Romanus married Mary Taylor, April 12, 1858 (he died January 14, 1860); David married Cynthia Skinner, May 1, 1863; Isadore H. married Eliza Ann Chapman, October 19, 1865; Mary married August Baumer, September 18,. 1862; Malinda married 0. R. Smith, April 6, 1869. MAJOR I. H. BURGOON, railroad manager, Fremont, Sandusky county, was born in Sandusky township, Sandusky Co., Ohio., January 25, 1839, a son of Peter and Margaret (Fluegel) Burgoon, who at that time were living on a 200-acre farm about four miles north of Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), Ohio. He spent his early life on his father's farm, and received a liberal education at the common schools of the district. In the fall of 1858 he commenced teaching a country school, and in the fall of the following year he attended Oberlin College three months, after which he taught another term of winter school in the country. On September 10, 186o, he came to Fremont and took the position of office boy and clerk for Dr. L. O. Rawson, president of the Fremont & Indiana railroad. He remained in the service of that road eighteen years, as follows: From 1861 to 1864 he was clerk in the president's office, and freight and ticket agent; 1864 to 1865, conductor; 1865 to 1866, train master; 1866 to 1867, assistant superintendent; 1868 to 1872, superintendent; 1872 to 1875, general superintendent; 1875 to 1878, receiver; 1878 to 1879, general superintendent of the Lake Erie & Louisville railroad, after the sale and reorganization; October, 1879 to 1881, general superintendent Toledo, Delphos & Burlington railroad; August 1, 1881, to 1883, general manager of the Ohio Construction Company; 1881 to 1885, general manager Cleveland, Delphos & St. Louis railroad; May, 1881, to 1885, general manager, secretary and treasurer, of the Cleveland, Delphos & Western Telegraph Company, and general manager of the Cleveland, Delphos & St. Louis railroad; May, 1885, to June 30,1886, general agent of the Indiana, Bloomington & Western railroad; July 1, 1886, to December 31, 1890, receiver and general manager of the Bellaire, Zanesville & Cincinnati railroad; September 1, 1889, to October, 1892, general manager and treasurer of the Terre Haute & Peoria railroad. When the Terre Haute & Peoria railroad was leased to the Terre Haute & Indianapolis, he was made superintendent of the Peoria division, serving as such from October, 1892, to October, 1893. In January, 1894, he accepted the position of general superintendent of the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western railroad, under a receiver. Upon the sale and transfer of this property, Mr. Burgoon was called to Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 15, 1894, and was appointed general superintendent and general freight and passenger agent of the Utah Central railway, his head quarters being at Salt Lake City, where he is at present, though retaining his residence at Fremont, Ohio, having here many business and social interests. During all his management of these roads he- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 41 made a clean record. By his enterprise, prudence, economy and integrityhe secured the good will and best wishes of all parties concerned. He received many flattering testimonials from his superior officers, and from those who had confided their interests to his care, of which the following may serve as a sample: After having acted as receiver of the Lake Erie & Louisville railway, about three years, Mr. Burgoon filed in the court of common pleas, of Sandusky county, his final report and the account of his doings and dealings in the management of the road, of which he had full charge as receiver, under direction of the court, and his report and accounts were confirmed not only without a question but by consent of counsel on both sides, and he was highly complimented for his management of the affairs of the road, as is shown by the order of confirmation which follows: And this Court, having examined the said final account and report, and found the same in all respects in accordance with law and the order of the Court, and that the said receiver has duly paid and delivered all money, credits and property of every kind which came into his possession or control, by virtue of his appointment and office in accordance with the order and direction of the Court, and has in all respects well and truly and faithfully discharged all his duties as such receiver, it is hereby ordered that the said final report and account be and the same is hereby approved and confirmed, and the said Isadore H. Burgoon discharged from all further accountability as such receiver. And he is especially commended for the ability and faithfulness with which he has discharged the arduous duties of his office. Approved. R. P. BUCKLAND AND CALVIN S. BRICE, Attorneys for Lake Erie & Louisville Railway Company. OTIS, ADAMS & RUSSELL, Attorneys for plaintiffs, the trustees. On May 2, 1864, Mr. Burgoon entered the military service of his country, as private in Company F, One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Regiment, O. N. G. I. He served with his regiment at Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia, a term of four months, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant-major, a position he held until the expiration of his term of service, September 4, 1864, having earned a record for promotion in the discharge of his duties. He wrote many interesting letters to his home papers during his time of service. Mr. Burgoon has for many years been an active member of the Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Society, of which he is still vice-president and secretary, and has been one of the leading spirits in making the annual reunion pioneer picnics a success. He takes a laudable interest in all public affairs in the city of Fremont, but has never been a political office seeker. He was raised a Democrat, and cast his first vote for Stephen A. Douglas, for president, since which time he has been a Republican. He has been a member of the Masonic Fraternity since 1862, and has taken all the degrees in the York Rite, and the Scottish Rite to the 32d degree. He is a member of the Eugene Rawson Post, G. A. R., at Fremont, Ohio, and has always taken an interest in the welfare of the soldiers. Since the year 1888 he has been president of the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth, 0. V. I. Regimental Association. On October 19, 1865, I. H. Burgoon was married at Fremont, Ohio, to Miss Eliza A. Chapman, who was born February 1o, 1844, at Marion, Ohio, a daughter of Joseph and Dorinda (Ayers) Chapman, and their children were: J. Chapman Burgoon, born August 10, 1874, died September 19, 1874; and Charles Paine Burgoon, born May 25, 1878. A lasting honor was fittingly and worthily bestowed on Mr. Burgoon, when, on November 18, 1873, the citizens of the new town, established at the crossing of the Lake Erie & Louisville and the Toledo, Tiffin & Eastern railroads, in Jackson township, Sandusky county, concurred in asking the Post Office Department to name the new post office " Burgoon" after Mr. I. H. Burgoon, whose uniform courtesy 42 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. as an official of the Lake Erie & Louisville railroad had won for him the best wishes of the people of that community. SHARON C. LAMBERSON, editor and co-proprietor of the Democratic Messenger, Fremont, Sandusky county, was born in Seneca county, Ohio, November 16, 1838, a son of William and Anna Mary (Creager) Lamberson. William Lamberson was born at Easton, Penn., March 23, 1813, and came with his parents to Ohio in 1830, locating in the forests of Seneca county, where he helped to clear up a farm. In politics he was a radical Democrat. He married, January 4, 1838, and died January 15, 1882. Ann Mary Lamberson was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, June 12, 1815, and died February 6, 1887, and died a member of the Reformed Church, in which faith she was reared. Their children were: (r) Sharon C., our subject; (2) Eunice A., wife of John Huston, living near Dayton, Ohio; (3) Virgil D., a veteran of the Civil war, living at Tiffin, Ohio; (4) Janett C., widow of Victor J. Zahm, and one of the proprietors of the Democratic Messenger; (5) Herschel W., a farmer, living at Havana, Huron Co., Ohio; (6) Curtis M., who lives in Wamego, Kans. ; (7) Dewitt C., who died August, 1875; (8) M. Marcena, a maiden lady, living at Tiffin, Ohio. Daniel Lamberson, our subject's paternal grandfather, was born near Easton, Penn., served in the war of 1812, became a pioneer settler of Seneca county, Ohio, and died at a good old age. Our subject's maternal grandparents came from Maryland, and settled near Dayton, Ohio. Both of S. C. Lamberson's parents were of German descent. Our subject was reared on a farm, and after receiving a common-school education in Seneca county took a course of study at Heidelberg University, Tiffin, Ohio, from which institution he graduated in 1859, with the first honor of his class. He followed school teaching and farming, alternating these occupations until 1873, when he engaged in the mercantile business at Tiffin for two years. He then became connected with the county auditor's office at Tiffin, for six years. On April 7, 1885, in partnership with his brother-in-law, V. J. Zahm, he purchased the Democratic Messenger, the organ of the Sandusky county Democracy. His partner died in August of the same year, and Mr. Lamberson has continued to conduct the paper since that time. Politically, he is a Jeffersonian Democrat, and socially, has been a member of Seneca Lodge, No. 35, I. O. O. F., about thirty years. On April 18, 1887, he was married, at Tiffin, Ohio, to Miss Johanna C. Zahm, who was born in Buffalo, N. Y., November 30, 1838. Mrs. Lamberson's parents were born in Germany and came to America, her father in 1832, her mother in 1833. PETER BEAUGRAND, M. D., of Fremont, Sandusky county, one of the oldest living practitioners in the State of Ohio, was born at Detroit, Mich., August 26, 1814. The Beaugrand family is of French origin, the grandfather of Dr. Beaugrand, John Baptiste Beaugrand, having emigrated from Bordeaux, France, to Canada about the year 1760. But little of his life's history has been preserved; but it is believed that he was a merchant, and spent his life in barter with the Indians. Dr. P. Beaugrand is a son of John B. and Margaret (Chabert) Beaugrand, the father born in Three Rivers, Canada, in 1768. He grew to manhood there, and at the age of twenty-one migrated to Detroit, Mich., where he engaged in business as an Indian trader with good success until during the war of 1812Indianse was burneuy the Irrdians. He COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 43 removed with his family to Fremont (then Lower Sandusky), Ohio, settling here during the first week of January, 1823; he had spent the previous year here as a trader. The mother of our subject was born in Detroit, Mich., February 26, 1781, and died May 12, 1859, at Fremont, Ohio. The family consisted of ten children: (1) Margaret, who married Rodolphus Dickinson, a brilliant young lawyer, who came to Lower Sandusky from the East shortly after the Beaugraud family took up their residence there; afterward was member of Congress, and died during his second term in Congress, in 1849. (2) Julia, who married B. F. Fletcher, who died in 1849, just after his election for the second term to the office of county recorder. (3) Sophia, who married La Quinio Rawson, a physician who became very eminent in his profession, and died in 1888. (4) Isidore D., at one time sheriff of Sandusky county. (5) John B., who was a sailor and a captain on the lakes; he was strong and athletic, and of a venturesome spirit; in 1846 he was presented by the mayor of Cleveland with a stand of colors for safely bringing into that port, during a severe storm, his boat, having on board a large number of passengers. (6) Peter, the subject of our sketch. (7) James, born in Detroit, died at Fremont at the age of three years. (8) Richard, who was also a sailor on the lakes, enlisted, and died during the Civil war. (9) Helen M., who married M. S. Castle, an attorney at law, of Cleveland, Ohio, where she resided until her death in 1890. (r 0) James A., who has always been engaged in clerical work, is now liv- ing in Racine, Wis., and is deputy clerk of courts at that place; he and the Doctor are the only survivors of the family. Dr. P. Beaugrand is a man much respected in Fremont and vicinity, both as a skillful physician, and a gentleman of culture. He has been a student of the most ardent type during a long and busy life, and is remarkable for his intellectual talents and his genial, kindly disposition. His profession has been to him as his bride, for he has led none other to the altar. Quick in perception, broad and charitable in his sympathies, with a memory that has never failed, and an integrity that has never wavered, Dr. Beaugrand possesses the essential qualities of a successful physician; and if implicit faith in a man by a whole community is of any solace to him, as he descends the western slope of life, the Doctor should be one of the most contented of mortals.  He has also been a favorite in literary circles, there being few important facts of history or science with which he is not familiar. In 1823, Dr. Beaugrand came with his parents to Fremont. He recollects distinctly the trip from Detroit to Lower Sandusky on the ice on Lake Erie, and the incidents that occurred on the way, one of which was the breaking of the ice, by which the parties in the sleigh all got wet, and how they all made for the shore, and built a huge fire by which to dry themselves. He is still able to point out the very spot at which they came ashore to make the remainder of the trip overland. Dr. Beaugrand attended the common schools here, and at the age of eighteen was a student one term at Wells' Academy, Mich. In March, 1833, he commenced the study of medicine at Findlay, Ohio, with B. and L. Q. Rawson, and when the latter returned to Fremont he came with him. During the winter of 1834-35, he attended medical lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Fairfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y. During the scholastic year of 1844-45 he graduated from the Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati, Ohio. He began the practice of medicine at Lower Sandusky in 1834, continuing thus up to 1845 before he took the degree of M. D., and he now has a retrospect of more than sixty years of professional life, at the beginning of which 44 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. our country was in its infancy. He recalls with accuracy the great questions which agitated the public mind during the days of Clay, Webster, and their illustrious compeers. In the spring of 1864 Dr. Beaugrand was appointed surgeon of the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Regiment, 0. V. I., at Cleveland, Ohio, and served one hundred days at Fort Ethan Allen, Va. On his return home he resumed the practice of his profession, which he still pursues, not from personal necessity but to accommodate old patients. He has accumulated a handsome competence which enables him to complete the rest of life's journey at his ease. The Doctor was a Democrat before the war, and during that struggle voted for Republican candidates; but his views at present are Democratic. He has always had a high regard for his mother, who was a remarkable woman, very active in visiting the sick and poor among the early pioneers, and who was very charitable. An oil painting of her now adorns the public library at Fremont. WILLIAM E. LAY. Since the year 1828, this venerable, intelligent and highly-respected citizen of Sandusky county has lived upon the one farm in Green Creek township, a residence that is perhaps unequaled in the county. He has been an eyewitness to the growth of the county from its primitive condition to its present advanced stage of development. But the feature of his citizenship is not chiefly its duration. In public spirit and character, he ranks among the foremost residents. Mr. Lay was born in Tompkins county, N. Y., October 20, 1809, son of John and Mary (Squires) Lay. John Lay was born in Connecticut January 22, 1775, and was the son of Aaron Lay, who, when a young man, emigrated with two brothers from England. One of these brothers, James Lay, afterward settled near Buffalo, N. Y. Mary Squires was born September 9, 1777, and was married January 22, 1797, to John Lay. Their eight children were as follows: (I) Jeremiah, born January 17, 1798, married in 1826, settled in Seneca county, Ohio, and died there about 1879. (2) John, born September 7, 180i, a shoemaker by trade, lived at Attica, Seneca Co., Ohio. By his first wife, Aurora Ewer, he had one child, Henry, who died young; by his second wife, Mary Silcox, he also had one child, William, born September 6, 1850, and died June 18, 1873. John died August 12, 1889. (3) Almira, born November 16, 1803, married John Woodruff, lived in Jackson township, Sandusky county, and reared a large family; she died in 1874. (4) Eustacia, born August 9, 1805, married John Bartlett, lived in Green Creek township, and reared a family; she died in 1877. (5) Harmon, born June 13, 1807, died April 30, 1810. (6) William E. is the subject of this sketch. (7) Mary Ann, born September 8, 1817, married Hiram Babcock, of Green Creek, and died leaving six children. (8) Susan J., born February 16, 1820, was married first to Jacob Martin, of Castalia, by whom she had one child, and afterward to Horace Simpson; she died near Fremont, Michigan. After marriage John and Mary Lay settled in Seneca (now Tompkins) county, N. Y., but moved thence to Steuben county. In 1816 he migrated to Ohio, going by team to Buffalo, and there taking passage on the schooner " American Eagle," and landing at the mouth of the Huron river. Living at Speers' Corners two years, he moved to the eastern part. of Seneca county, and three years later crossed the Sandusky river to the western part of the county. He then moved back to Clinton township after five years, and in 1828, or three years later, settled on the farm in Green Creek township, Sandusky county, which his son William E. now occupies. Here the parents re- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 45 mained until their death. They were buried on Butternut Ridge, or Lay's Cemetery. John Lay was a Henry Clay Whig, and he voted at the first election held in Sandusky county, in 1819; in early life he was in religious faith a close-communion Baptist, and for over thirty years he was either clerk or deacon of the Church; in after life he accepted the Universalist faith. The boyhood of William E. Lay was spent in the wilderness home of his parents in Seneca and Sandusky counties.. Indians were then abundant, and he had more Indians for playmates than white boys. The Seneca reservation was just across the river from the first home of the Lays in Seneca county. He received little education at Speers' Corners, Huron county, and scarcely any more in Seneca county. His chief instruction he obtained sitting in his father's cabin, book in hand, and reading by the light of the log fire. One winter he attended school there, but his days were pretty well occupied by farm work, and the echo of his axe was heard in the forest until midnight. Mr. Lay was married April 11, 1833, to Margaret Lee, who was born in Northumberland county, Penn., September 15, 1815, moved with her parents to Franklin county, Ohio, and thence in 1823 to Seneca county, Ohio. After marriage he began housekeeping on the farm his father had occupied five years earlier, and has lived there ever since; he now owns 200 acres of well-improved land. Eleven children have been born to William and Margaret Lay, as follows: (1) Polly Minerva, born January 26, 1834, died July 26 of the same year. (2) Harkness N., born December 8, 1836, worked on the farm until the war broke out, and then enlisted in Company A, Seventy-second O. V. I.; he was orderly sergeant, and was taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, near Guntown, Miss., June 10, 1864, with 247 other members of the regiment, and was confined in Andersonville prison nine months. On October 4, 1865, he was married to Jemmetta Almond, and has two children living-Francis M. and Bessie. He has followed farming and carpentry since the war, and now lives at Chicago. (3) Ann E., born April 20, 1839, died unmarried February 25, 1888. (4) Cornelia, born July 29, 1840, married Jacob D. Le Fevre October 4, 1865, and died, childless, February 10, 1892. (5) Henry S., born June 16, 1842, unmarried, lives at home and operates the farm. (6) Clementine, born August 6, 1844, at home, unmarried. (7) Francis Marion, born August 24, 1846, enlisted in April, 1864, before he was eighteen, was taken prisoner at Guntown, June 10, 1864, and died from exposure and starvation at Savannah, Ga., October 24, 1864. (8) Fidelia, born September 12, 1848, married Cyrus Alexander February 2, 1870, lives on a farm in Erie county; they have no children. (9) Alice, born August 2, 1851, married December 3o, 1892, to Abraham Van Doren, and resides at Clyde (10) William B., born May 15, 1858, farmer, of Sandusky county, married Alice L. Jones October 24, 1883. they have no children. (11) Mabel V., born July 27, 186o. married Fred Hutchinson March 12, 1884, and has five sons-Claire L., Ernest D., Karl A., Frank M. and Ralph. In politics, William E. Lay was a Democrat until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, when he became a Republican. He cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson at his second term. He is a man of the strictest integrity, and one of the most highly respected in Sandusky county. In social affairs he has been a leader. Having amassed a goodly fortune, he contributes liberally to public enterprises. His family is highly cultured, and the afternoon of his life is cast in an atmosphere that is most congenial. Commanding the esteem of all good citizens, his life reflects the abilities and virtues that have lifted him to the enviable. niche he occupies in the great social fabric of our land. 46 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. LEWIS W. WARD. ,Progress is born of courage. Courage stands erect and thinks while fear retreats. Courage advances step by step, believing in science and in eternal law. If properly guided by a conscience, courage will achieve deeds of heroism in defense of right and honor and friendship worthy of the noblest knighthood. As a living example of one who in early life had the courage of his convictions, in manhood dared where others faltered, one who was willing to forego his golden schemes of wealth for the sake of caring for his widowed mother, and who later kindly cared for other aged people left in his care, we present the subject of this sketch. L. W. Ward, insurance and real-estate agent of Fremont, Sandusky county, was born in Reading township, near Somerset, Perry Co., Ohio, May 27, 1832, son of Amos and Polly (Shoup) Ward, who were natives of Pennsylvania. Amos Ward was born in 1797, and came at an early "day to Perry county, Ohio, where he married and carried on farming. Late in the fall of 1834 he removed with his family through the wilds of Ohio in a large wagon loaded with household goods, provisions and grain for seed, to the northwestern part of Sandusky (now Ottawa) county, Ohio, and settled on 160 acres of land about midway between Port Clinton and Locust Point. He also bought 16o acres in Washington township. As the ground was then frozen solid, it was easy to get about with a team in the erection of a log cabin and sheds, the building of fences and the clearing of land for farming purposes. Work progressed fairly well, but there were some drawbacks. The surrounding country being then a wilderness, the family were often annoyed by the howling of wolves near their cabin before they secured substantial doors and windows, and for greater safety they built a high fence of rails and poles to keep off these midnight prowlers. One incident in this connection is worthy of record. A pack of hungry, howling wolves came inside the inclosure one night, and threatened an attack. Mr. Ward was alarmed for the safety of his family, and decided to test the mettle of his big brindle dog, " Lion," who crouched in a corner for fear of the wolves, by throwing him out of the cabin and making him fight or die. He did so. There was heard a sudden terrific snarling, an encounter for a few seconds, and then a running away and a howling which died off in the distance, the dog having made hasty tracks for Perry county, followed by the wolves, perhaps, for many miles, leaving the terrified family in quiet the rest of that night and for many nights thereafter. A few weeks later the family learned that " Lion " had indeed escaped the jaws of the wolves, and made his appearance at his old home in Perry county in an almost famished and exhausted condition. He had made the trip of about 150 miles in an incredibly short time, as was learned by comparing the records of the two families. The dear old fellow was afterward taken again to Sandusky county, became a great pet in the family, and died of old age. In the spring of the year, after the frost had disappeared, the family were distressed to find that the ground was so soft and spongy that they could not use their team to go to mill at Cold Creek, and for six weeks they were obliged to do without bread, except what could be made from grain pounded in a mortar or hollow stone. There were many other hindrances on account of the wet soil. After a residence of about six months in this marshy, malarious region, Mr. Ward died in June, 1835, leaving a widow and seven children in the wilderness. His family remained there for some time, and then moved upon the 160 acres in Washington township, same county, on what is known as the Limestone Ridge, a few miles 1 southeast of Hessville. The children of COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 47 Amos and Polly Ward, born in Perry county, were: Harriet, John, Hiram, Isaac, Eliza, Lewis W. (our subject), and Sarah. Lewis W. Ward grew to manhood in Washington township, Sandusky county, amid the toils, hardships and privations of pioneer life, in a family bereft of a husband and father when they most needed his assistance. His physical powers were developed by a frequent and vigorous use of the axe, the mattock, the maul and wedge, and his love of sport gratified by the use of a trusty gun. On leaving his mother's roof, in 1847, he hired out to A. W. Green, a neighboring farmer, for six months, at $3 per month. He generously contributed one dollar of the money thus earned to rebuild the Deal Block, in Lower Sandusky, which had been destroyed by fire. His brother Isaac took jobs of clearing land for farmers at $8 per acre, and sometimes the brothers worked on the Western Reserve and Maumee pike. Mr. Ward's schooling in the country was very limited, and in 1852 he resolved to get a better education by attending a school taught in town by James Smith, son of Sheriff Jonas Smith, of Ballville township. He managed to pay his board and tuition by clerking evenings, morning and Saturdays for John F. Wooster, a druggist. His Sundays he usually spent at home or in attendance at the M. E. Church and Sunday-school. He next engaged as clerk on probation with Mr. David Betts, general merchant, and suited his employer so well that he was entrusted with the most valuable papers and records. At the end of about three years the store was destroyed by fire. Mr. Ward was accustomed to sleep in the store, and when roused out of sleep by the alarm of fire he was so intent on saving his employer's papers that he neglected to save his own valuables, consisting of a new suit of clothes and two watches. He next clerked about a year for Charles Haynes, and then started for California. He was one of a company of seventeen who had agreed to go there together, but at the time appointed for starting he alone was ready, and so set out alone. It took him five days to reach New York, and having just missed going on the steamer for the Panama route he took a vessel going by the Nicaragua route, which had on board 400 filibusters, on their way to Granada, South America. In due time he arrived at 'Frisco, went up the Sacramento river, passed Marysville to Sierra county, and found work for about two years as an honest miner. In 1858 he returned to Ohio to visit and care for his mother, intending to go back to California. Finding strong inducements for him to remain in Fremont, he clerked for Mr. Edgerton, who had taken the stock in. Betts & Kreb's store, until Edgerton failed, after which he clerked for Mr. A. Gusdorf. In 1858 he bought out S. H. Russel, and for eight years carried on a grocery and saloon on Front street. In 1866, his lease having expired, he sold out his stock and engaged in the insurance and real-estate business, in which he has continued ever since. His mother, for whom he had kindly cared, died at her home in Elmore in 1879. On October 31, 1858, Mr. Ward married Miss Julia E. Leppelman, daughter of E. J. Leppelman, who with his wife afterward lived in the family of Mr. Ward for twenty odd years. Mr. Leppelman was killed by the cars at a crossing of the L. S. & M. S. railroad, on Main street, Fremont, June 30, 1892; his wife died in July, 1893. Mr. Ward is a regular attendant at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, of which his wife is a member. Socially, he is a charter member of Fremont lodge No. 204, K. of P. , and is also a member of L. W. Ward Division No. 87, Uniformed Rank, K. of P., which was named in honor of him. He was for many years a member of the I. 0. 0. F. Mr. Ward served four years as major of the Sixth Regiment, U. R. K. P., and was 48 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. reelected for four years, but declined to :serve longer. Our subject is one of the best preserved specimens of physical manhood in Fremont, being six feet tall, with broad chest and shoulders, erect carriage, dignified appearance and commanding presence. His fondness for out-door sport and horseback riding, from his youth, has contributed no little to his good health and marked cheerfulness, while his business ventures have secured for him a comfortable competence. PROF. W. W. ROSS, superintendent of public schools, Fremont, Sandusky county, and one of the oldest established and most widely known schoolmen in Ohio, was born in Medina county, Ohio, December 24, 1824 (34) The Ross family descended from ancient and time honored Scottish blood. Our subject's great-grandfather, Capt. Alexander Ross, was an officer in Gen. Wolfe's army of invasion, and took part in the battle on the Plains of Abraham, Quebec, which resulted in the defeat of the French, and the conquest of all Canada. For gallant services he subsequently received a grant of lands from the Crown, and settled in Prince Edward •county, Upper Canada, in 1785, where he lived until his death, in 1805. According to the genealogy, as traced by the Canadian cousins of W. W. Ross, " Capt. Ross, was a grandson of Alexander Ross, Laird of Balnagown, Ross-shire, Scotland, who descended in direct line from Hugh Ross, of Rairiches, who was second son of Hugh, the sixth and last Earl of Ross, of the old family." The fifth Earl of Ross led the Ross-shire clans on the field of Bannockburn. In the ancestral line was Rev. Alexander Ross, of Aberdeen, Scotland, Chaplain to Charles I, of England, and a distinguished author of many religious works, both in English and Latin. When Capt. Ross received the grant of lands in Canada he took his family from the Highlands of Scotland to live there. His son Alexander was the grandfather of our subject, W. W. Ross. He, Alexander, was born in Rossshire, in the. Scottish Highlands, not far from the site of the castle of Macbeth, before the family went to Canada. It is said he spent his life on his father's estate in Canada, near Picton, Prince Edward Co., Ontario. The full details of his life history seem not to be recorded, for his son, Joseph Ross, the father of Prof. W. W. Ross, was born, it is known, near Saratoga, N. Y., in 1805, a few months after his father's death. Joseph Ross married Mary Harkness. He was a shoemaker by trade, and in his earlier days spent his time between New York State and Canada, He migrated from New York to Medina county, Ohio, in pioneer days, in 1830, and was one of the first settlers at Seville, where he worked at' his trade until he was elected justice of the peace, in which capacity he served over thirty years. He was a man of good information, broad views and discerning judgment. His probity and knowledge of law were universally recognized, and it became a proverb among the attorneys that if a case had been tried before Justice Ross an appeal was useless. It is said that not a single case tried before him was ever reversed in the higher courts during his thirty years of service. His death occurred in 1876. Mary Harkness, the mother of our subject, was born in Salem, Washington Co., N. Y., in 1806, and is still alive, having her residence with her son, W. W. Ross. She removed to eastern Ohio about the same time as her cousins of the same name (Harkness), who settled a little farther west, and who eventually became the multi-millionaire founders of the Standard Oil industry. She was a teacher in both New York and Ohio, and was married to Joseph Ross at Seville in 1831. To their COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 49 union were born seven children: Alexander DeWitt, who died at the age of seventeen; Zaccheus, who died in infancy; McDonough, who died in childhood; Zachary, who now resides in Fremont; Mary R., wife of William Decker; Albert, a farmer, of Sandusky county, and W. W. Prof. W. W. Ross received his school training almost exclusively in the common and academic schools at Seville, Ohio, one term only, 1852, having been passed at the Twinsburgh Institute, Twinsburgh, Ohio. His parents gave him and his elder brother, Alexander De Witt Ross, their entire time for school work, besides rendering them much assistance and encouragement at home. Under the inspiration and guidance of Charles Foster, a graduate of Dartmouth College, who was eminent as a preceptor and educator, and who taught a flourishing school for years at Seville, he made rapid progress, and in his earliest " teens " was well along in algebra, geometry and other studies, in all of which he excelled. [His teacher, Mr. Foster, died during the war of the Rebellion, in which he was serving as captain.] Our subject commenced teaching when sixteen, in Seville, and for fourty-four years since has been engaged, almost unremittingly, in school work, giving thirty-one consecutive years of this time to superintending the schools of Fremont, Ohio. After a first trial in a small, select school at home, he taught two winter schools in the country, and then in the fall of 1853 organized a select and normal school at Spencer, Medina Co., Ohio, over which he continued to have charge for four years, building up a large and flourishing school which drew pupils from thirty miles around. He immediately thereafter took charge of the academy in his native village, which he taught for three years, beginning with the fall of 1857. In both these schools he established a reputation as a most successful teacher. He again taught in Spencer in the fall of 1860, and in Wadsworth in 1861-62; in the fall of 1862 he took charge of the public schools of Clyde, Ohio, and after two years of successful work there was, in 1864, elected superintendent of the Fremont public schools. Thirty-one years have rolled away, and still Prof. Ross is holding his position of superintendent. Under his supervision great improvement and progress have been made, and Fremont boasts that no city is her peer in school equipment. During the vacations of his school work in Spencer and Seville Prof. Ross studied law under J. C. Johnson, of Seville, Herman Canfield, of Medina (who fell, while serving as lieutenant-colonel of the Seventy-second Ohio Regiment, at Shiloh), and in the office of Noble & Palmer, Cleveland, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1861. More or less familiar from childhood with law proceedings in his father's courts, where he was accustomed to hear such distinguished men as D. K. Carter (afterward chief justice of the District of Columbia) and John McSweeney (one of America's most brilliant bar orators), his early aspirations were all in the line of the legal profession. His health had partially failed him some years before his admission to the bar, and the apprehension that his health and strength would not justify the labors necessary to eminent success in a new profession he continued to work in a field with which he was already familiar, and in which he was already assured of success. It was nearly a score of years before he fully abandoned the study of the law, but he was eventually well satisfied with his chosen work, into which, from the first, he threw his whole soul and all his energies. He never recovered vigorous health, and has said that he had not seen a. perfectly well day in forty years. Although achieving an immense amount of work, he has always found it necessary to restrain his ambition within prescribed