450 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. interest in everything that pertains to its growth and success. Mr. Powers was united in marriage in Elmore, Ohio, on the 2d of May, 1883, with Wilhelmina Georgii, daughter of Otto and Frederica (Jaeger) Georgii, and a native of Prairie du Chien, Wis., born in January, 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Powers have an interesting little family, numbering the following children: Charles A., born March 25, 1885; Helen Gertrude, born August 2, I 887 ; and Alice Permelia, born November 7, 1891. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Powers is a member of Genoa Lodge, No. 433, F. & A. M., of Genoa, and Fort Meigs Chapter, No. 29, R. A. M., of Toledo. He is also connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Genoa. As well as being one of Ottawa county's most capable public officers, he is known as one of the most enterprising business men of Clay township, and few, if any, residents of that township have taken a more active part in its upbuilding or done more toward its prosperity than Edward A. Powers. WILLIAM H. FRY, a well-known citizen and ex-postmaster of Oak Harbor, Ottawa county, was born in Baden, Germany, May, 23, 1848. His parents Andrew and Katherine (Schlenker) Fry, emigrated to America in 1850, locating in Sandusky county, Ohio, where the father engaged in agricultural pursuits and resided until his death, which occurred in 1858. The mother was afterward married to Chistopher Lammale, and at present resides on the old homestead in Sandusky county. The family consisted of five children, four of whom still survive, viz. : Rosana, wife of William Schcenfeldt, a resident of Sandusky county; William H., the subject of this sketch; Emma, wife of Simon Crane, of Hamler, Henry Co., Ohio; Christian, wife of John Speildiner, a resident of Conneaut, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, and Andrew, who died in 1893. William H. Fry, subject proper of this sketch, received his early education in the public schools of Sandusky county, subsequently taking a course in the Bryant & Stratton Business College, of Chicago, on leaving which he accepted a position as clerk in a general store at Rocky Ridge, Ottawa Co., Ohio. In 1874 he entered into the employ of H. H. Mylander, of Oak Harbor, as salesman, and was also with George Deel, of the same place, for one year, at the expiration of which time he engaged in the grocery business for himself. In 1885, having received the appointment of postmaster of Oak Harbor, Mr. Ery disposed of his grocery store and efficiently filled the position four years. After his retirement from official life, in 1890, he opend a restuarant at Oak Harbor, which he still continues to carry on. Besides filling the position of postmaster, Mr. Fry has served four years as township clerk, also one year as corporation clerk, and as a servant of the public he has proved himself a thorough business man, discharging his various duties with a painstaking fidelity that won for him the respect and esteem of the entire community in which he resides. Our subject also saw considerable service as a soldier during the Civil war. On December 12, 1863, he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-third O. V. I., and with his regiment participated in thirteen important engagements. At the battle of Winchester, Va., he was wounded and taken prisoner by the Confederates, and for seven months was confined a prisoner in Danville, Lynchburg and Libby prisons; after being paroled from the latter prison he received his discharge at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, June 20, 1865, on account of disability, and returned home. Mr. Fry is a member of the G. A. R., George Field Post No. 195, Oak Harbor. On June 20, 1878, our subject was COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 451 united in marriage at Oak Harbor, with Miss Alice Deel, a daughter of George and Julia M. (Koch) Deel, and to this union were born five children, all of whom survive, viz. : 'William, Mildred, Roland, Ursie and Erma. In his political views Mr. Fry is a stanch Democrat; socially he is a member of Oak Harbor Lodge No. 495, F. & A. M. The family are members of the Lutheran Church. GEORGE O. MOMENY, retired merchant and hotel-keeper of Oak Harbor, Ottawa county, whose parents ranked among the prominent pioneers of Sandusky county, Ohio, and who himself is a native as well as one of the oldest living residents of the section of the State to which this volume is devoted, first saw the light of day in Fremont, October 24, 1822. Joseph Momeny, father of our subject, is a native of Canada, while the mother, who bore the maiden name of Catherine Gonia, was born in Monroe, Mich., and both were of French descent. The former served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and was sent by Gen. Harrison with dispatches to Gallipolis, on the Ohio river. On the close of the war he took his family and, accompanied by a neighboring family of the name of Beaugrant, made his way across the country with one horse from Monroe, Mich., to Ohio. They left on account of the Indian ravages. He was well known and on friendly terms with the Indians, however, and therefore his party was not molested, though they witnessed the death of several other settlers at the hands of the savages. The party landed at Presque Isle, at the head of Maumee Bay, and continued their journey to the mouth of the Huron river, where they remained until the winter of 1813. The following spring they proceeded on their way to Sandusky county, and located where now stands the city of Fremont, but at that time the site was an unbroken wilderness. Joseph Momeny worked at the baker's trade, and continued his residence in this section of the State up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1837. His faithful wife passed away in 1834. They had a family of eight children, of whom George O. is the only one now living. Our subject's boyhood days were passed in Sandusky county amidst the wild scenes of pioneer life, and with the family he shared in many hardships and dangers of which the present generation have little realization. Like other children of pioneer parents, he received very limited educational privileges, pursuing his studies in an old log schoolhouse with half barrels for seats. The strictest discipline was maintained by a stern schoolmaster, who believed that " to spare the rod is to spoil the child." In early life Mr. Momeny was initiated into farm labor, and became familiar with the arduous task of developing wild land that had hitherto been untouched by the plow. Subsequently he entered upon a clerkship in a general store, but his labors were interrupted in 1846 by his enlistment in the United States army. He was assigned to Company C, Fifteenth Regiment, commanded by Capt. James A. Jones, of Norwalk, Ohio, and Col. George W. Morgan. He served for one year, and September I 3, 1846, was so severely wounded in the left arm as to necessitate the amputation of that member at the shoulder. In consequence he was detained in the hospital for nine months, and on becoming convalescent was discharged in the City of Mexico, whereupon he returned to his home in Fremont, Ohio. During the succeeding five years Mr. Momeny was a tollgate-keeper on the Western Reserve and Maumee road, and in 1852 was appointed lighthouse-keeper at Port Clinton, efficiently filling that position for three years. In 1855 he embarked in general merchandise there, carrying on his store until 1858, when he 452 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. emigrated westward, locating in Hannibal, Mo., where he was again engaged in general merchandising for three years. In 1861 he returned to Port Clinton, and re-engaged in mercantile pursuits for a year, when he removed to the country, and devoted his time and energies to purchasing furs. His residence in Oak Harbor dates from 1866, and for seven years he was proprietor of a hotel and grocery store. Since 1873 he has been engaged in fruit growing, but is now practically living retired. Mr. Momeny has been twice married. He first wedded Miss Angeline Guyett, but afterward separated, and later he was married at Oak Harbor, in February, 1866, to Miss Hester La Jenness, who was born in Monroe, Mich., January 14, 1856, a daughter of Henry L. and Delia La Jenness, residents of that place and natives of Canada. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Momeny: George H., born September 22, 1878; Mary Louise, born January 6, 1880; and Alverretta, born November 26, 1890. Mrs. Momeny and the family attend the Roman Catholic Church. In his political views Mr. Momeny is a stalwart advocate of the Democracy, and has served as a member of the town council of Oak Harbor, and for four years was a member of the school board, acting for three years as its president. His fellow townsmen recognize in him a citizen who is devoted to the welfare of Oak Harbor, and who in all possible ways will promote its interests. His career has been that of an honorable, straightforward business man, and no one is more worthy of the esteem in which he is held than is George 0. Momeny. GUY P. RAFFERTY, an enterprising citizen and successful manufacturer, of Oak Harbor, Ottawa county, was born at Easton, Northampton Co., Penn., September 16, 1846, to Michael and Margaret (Clemmen) Rafferty, the former of whom was a native of New York, the latter of Schuylkill county, Penn. The family consisted of twelve children--three deceased and nine yet living--namely: John, Mary (Mrs. Peter Magee) and Sarah, all three deceased; and Hannah E. (wife of T. A. Hineline), residing in Sandusky county, Ohio; Felix, a prosperous farmer of near Fremont, Sandusky county; Jacob F., of Easton, Penn. ; Margaret (Mrs. George Brown), of Fremont; Ellen (wife of S. B. Snyder), also of Fremont; Michael H., residing in Creighton, Knox Co., Neb.; Guy P., the subject proper of this sketch; James A. , residing in Fremont; and Mary, wife of Alfred Stierwalt, a prosperous agriculturist of Sandusky county. The parents have both long since passed away, each at a good old age, and are now peacefully awaiting the resurrection morn. Guy P. Rafferty, whose name introduces this sketch, remained at home with his parents for the first eight years of his life, then going to live with his sister in Ohio, near Fremont, and remaining with her until the age of fifteen years, when he returned to his old home at Easton, Penn. His primary education was received in the public schools of Fremont, to which place his parents removed in 1863, and after leaving school he apprenticed himself to the trade of stone and brick mason. On finishing his term of apprenticeship Mr. Rafferty started out in life as a builder and contractor, in Sandusky and Ottawa counties, and being a thorough business man, well acquainted with all the minute details of his trade, he proved very successful. In 1879 he moved to Oak Harbor, and engaged extensively in the manufacture of brick and tile, and has since been an honored and respected resident of that town. In 1880 he was elected a justice of the peace, which office he still continues to fill in an efficient manner; he is also president of the board of education, and has served two terms as a COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 453 member of the Oak Harbor council. Mr. Rafferty has made a complete success as a business man, and fully merits the respect and good opinion of his fellow citizens. On March 25, 1879, our subject was united in marriage with Auzurella J. Yates, born at Green Spring, Seneca Co., Ohio, May 28, 1857, a daughter of Dr. Porter and Mary L. (Williams) Yates. This union has not been blessed with any children, but they have an adopted son, named Bert Yates Rafferty. In his political views Mr. Rafferty is an ardent supporter of the Democratic party. Socially he is a member of Oak Harbor Lodge No. 516, K. of P. Mrs. Rafferty is a member of the Disciple Church, and of Rathbcne Sisters, Portage Temple. Dr. Porter Yates, a retired physician, father of Mrs. Guy P. Rafferty, now residing with his son-in-law at Oak Harbor, was born in Hartwick, Otsego Co., N. Y., February 18, 1818, to George and Elizabeth (Harrington) Yates, both natives of New York State. Dr. Yates' boyhood days were spent in New York State, where he received his preliminary education; subsequently he commenced the study of medicine and surgery under the preceptorship of Dr. S. Brownell, a medical practitioner of Butternuts township, Otsego Co., N. Y. , with whom he remained three years, at the expiration of that time removing to Chautauqua county, N. Y., where he continued his studies for about two years with Dr. Ellsworth, teaching school during the winter months. In 1850 Dr. Yates entered the Medical College at Cleveland, and on graduating from that institution commenced practice in Green Spring, Seneca Co., Ohio. In 1862 he enlisted in the United States army as surgeon, and was assigned to hospital service at Brand's Hospital, in Farmington, Tenn. Besides attending to his hospital duties, he also served as surgeon to the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth and One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiments, O. V. I., his duties being very arduous. In July, 1865, he was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, and on receiving his discharge proceeded to Port Clinton, Ottawa county, where he engaged in the practice of his profession and was a resident of that town until 1875, in which year he removed to Green Spring, Ohio. In 1882 Dr. Yates became a resident of Oak Harbor, and has since lived a comparatively retired life, his health having been seriously impaired during his service in the army. Dr. Yates was united in marriage, at Clymer, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., June 8, 1847, with Miss Mary L. Williams, a daughter of Alva and Silva Williams, and to their union came four children, viz. : Florence, born October 6, 1848, at Wattsburg, Erie Co., Penn., died at Benton, Ohio, June 1, 1850; Everett E., born at Benton, October 23, 1850, died at Toledo, Ohio, February 19, 1875; Auzurella J., born at Green Spring, Ohio, May 28, 1857, wife of Guy P. Rafferty; Edward Van Ness, born at Green Spring, June 21, 1859, residing in Sandusky, Ohio. Mrs. Yates passed away at Green Spring, November 24, 1882. Dr. Yates is a member of George Field Post, No. 168, G. A. R., at Oak Harbor, is affiliated with the Masonic Fraternity, and was a member of Monticello Lodge, at Clyde, Ohio, but is not now connected with any lodge. In recognition of his valuable services rendered, his name has been inscribed on the monument erected at Cleveland to the heroes of the war. WILLIAM G. WINSTONE is a practical and prominent farmer and fruit grower of Portage township, Ottawa county, living on the lake shore road. A native of England, he was born in Warwickshire, May 12, 1811, and is a son of William and Fannie Winstone, who were natives of the same country. In their family 454 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. were fourteen children, our subject being the only one to come to this country. He received no school privileges, for at the early age of seven years he began to earn his own living; but he was endowed by nature with a bright mind, and, cultivating powers of observation and retentive memory, he has learned in the school of experience lessons which have made him a well-informed man. Through much of his life he has followed bridge and railroad building. The year 1850 witnessed his emigration to America, and he soon located in Cleveland, Ohio, whence in December, of the same year, he came to Portage township, where he has since resided, while to-day he ranks among the oldest and most respected citizens of Ottawa county. He has been twice married, his first union being with Mary Kelig and the wedding celebrated at Stratford-on-Avon in 1843. They became the parents of three children, of whom two survive, namely: Stephen, a resident of Lorain, Ohio; and Lucy Ruth, wife of John French, who is living in McMinnville, Tenn. The mother of these was called from earth in 1859, and in 1861 Mr. Winstone was united in marriage with Mrs. Fannie Russell, widow of Reuben Russell. Again Mr. Winstone was deprived by death of his wife, this lady dying May 12, 1886. By her first husband she had four children, of whom George, a resident of Toledo, Ohio, is the only survivor; the others were Mrs. Jane McAlby and James, who died January 3, 1876, leaving a widow and six children, two of whom—Clara and Bert—reside with Mr. Winstone; some years later their mother became the wife of Anthony Lafer, and now resides in Sandusky City. Her other children were George, of Sandusky county, Ohio; Alice, wife of Ora Golden, a resident of Martin's Point, Erie Co., Ohio; Fannie, wife of Phineas Dunham, of Sandusky City; and Nellie, wife of Theodore Schrader, of Vickery, Ohio. In his political views Mr. Winstone has been a faithful supporter of the Democratic party, and in his religious principles he is an adherent of the Universalist Church. He is public spirited and enterprising, and readily endorses any project calculated to stimulate the development and prosperity of the township and county. He is a kind-hearted man, expressing his generous nature in kindliness to his friends and in substantial assistance to the needy. In all the relations of life he has been trustworthy, constant and honest, and his habits of industry and application have enabled him to secure a handsome and comfortable home in which to spend his declining years, while a competence surrounds him with the necessaries and many of the luxuries of life. His home is ably presided over by his granddaughter, Clara Russell. Prompt and decisive in action, practical and steadfast in purpose, industrious and painstaking, he is a man of judgment and probity, held in the highest esteem by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. D. H. BITTINGER, proprietor of a steam sawmill and stave factory, at Woodville, Sandusky county, was born January 4, 1849, in Ashland county, Ohio, son of George and Mary (Kidwell) Bittinger. George Bittinger was born February 0, 1808, in Franklin county, Penn., and came with his father, Daniel Bittinger, to Ashland county, where the family settled, the father following farming and weaving. Here both parents died, the mother at the age of eighty, the father at the age of sixty-six. Their children were: Susan, Catharine Polly, Betsey, Barbara, Sarah, Daniel and George. George Bittinger was reared in Franklin county, Penn., and remained at home up to the age of eighteen. He became a farmer, and selling out his interests in Ashland county moved to Richland county, Ohio, where COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 455 he died in 1894. He was a Democrat politically, and he and his wife were members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. She is still living, at Mansfield, at the age of eighty-five. They had nine children: James, who lives in Richland county, Ohio; George, who lives in Huron county; Margaret, deceased wife of Samuel Steel, of Tiffin, Ohio; Ellen, now residing at Mansfield, Ohio, who married for her first husband E. C. Walker (who lived in Ottawa county), and for her second wedded Daniel Black; Hettie Ann, married to I. P. Walker, who lives at Mansfield; Mary Jane, who married George Steele, of Mansfield; Hattie Alice, deceased wife of I. P. Walker, who afterward married her sister, Hettie Ann; D. H., our subject; and John L., of Bowling. Green, Wood county. The mother's people were from Virginia, of English descent. D. H. Bittinger was reared in Ashland county to the age of nine years, when he removed to Richland county, there working on a farm and at the carpenter's and cooper's trades, having early manifested a peculiar aptitude for mechanical work. On January 7, 1869, he married Miss Sarah C. Low, who was born in Ashland county November 16, 1849, and they have six children living, viz. : Otis E. (at home), Ella Urettah, Mary Christina, George McClellan, Flora Bell and Daniel Cleveland. After working as a carpenter at Mansfield a few years Mr. Bittinger came, in 1872, to Sandusky county, and worked the first four years as journeyman. He then embarked in the coopering business, which he has followed almost exclusively for fifteen years, manufacturing, from the rough logs, flour, lime and meat barrels, etc., which he sells to W. H. Bruns and H. Rancamp. He does cooper work, head sawing, making vats, and in fact all kinds of, work in that line, employing from fifteen to twenty men. He is also carrying on an extensive and constantly increasing lumber business. - 29 - He is a Democrat, politically, and a member of the I. O. O. F. He was elected mayor of the village, but resigned on account of ill health. Mrs. Bittinger is a daughter of Samuel and Christina (Deeter) Low, and was born in Ashland county, of which her maternal grandparents were pioneers; her paternal grandparents were pioneers of Richland county. Samuel Low died when his daughter Sarah (Mrs. Bittinger) was a child; Mrs. Low is still living, in Ashland county, Ohio. They were the parents of two children—Sarah C. (Mrs. D. H. Bittinger) and Mary Elizabeth (wife of John Bittinger, of Wood county, who is a brother of our subject). Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Bittinger have a fine home in Woodville, in which community they are highly respected, and Mr. Bittinger is one of the influential men of the village in which he lives. JACOB BURGNER. The ancestor from whom sprang the Burgner families in America, with which our subject is connected, was a native of Switzerland, who lived near one of its beautiful lakes, in view of the snowcapped mountains, breathed the pure air of liberty, and in early manhood sought his fortunes in the New World. In the year 1742 three brothers—David, Christopher and Peter Burgnercarpenters by trade, emigrated from the vicinity of Berne, Switzerland, and after a long sea voyage on the brigantine " Mary," from Rotterdam, landed in Philadelphia, and settled in Lancaster county, Penn. Peter, the youngest, and the ancestor above referred to, was then about twenty-three years old. They each brought from the Fatherland a large German Bible, printed at Frankfort-on-theMain, 1574, in which they kept brief family records. Peter's Bible has descended by inheritance to the subject of this sketch, and is still, 1895, in a good 456 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. state of preservation. It may be seen in a glass case in Birchard Library, Fremont, Ohio. About the year 1759 Peter Burgner married Salome Burkhardt, and established a permanent home in Lancaster county. Their children were David, Elizabeth, Mary and Jacob. For many years he lived in a log house, the roof of which was thatched with straw. His occupation was that of building houses and bank barns after Swiss models. Jacob Burgner, grandfather of our subject, was born in 1769, and first learned the trade of carpenter. About the year 1800 he married Mary Conrad, and they lived in Cocalico township, Lancaster Co., Penn., where he learned the trade of blacksmith, and procured his supplies of iron from Valley Forge. In the spring of 1806 he moved to Franklin county, Penn., where he kept a blacksmith shop on the public road, near what is now the Richmond Furnace railroad station. In 1812 he removed to Stark county, Ohio, west of Massillon, and a year later settled in Franklin township, now a part of Summit county, on a tract of 320 acres of government land, where he followed blacksmithing and farming the rest of his life. His death occurred January 7, 1844, when he was seventy-five years of age; his wife died in 1843, aged sixty-four. Their children were Salome, Peter, John, Jacob, David, Samuel, George, Elizabeth, Anna, Daniel and Mary, all of whom but two became heads of families, and all are now (1895) dead except Daniel, who is a farmer, near Falls City, Nebraska. Peter Burgner, father of our subject, was born in Lancaster county, Penn., in 1803, came with his father's family to Ohio in 1812, and grew to manhood in the vicinity of Clinton, Summit county, following farming, and working several years in the construction of the Ohio and Erie canal. In 1830 he married Miss Catharine Hollinger, daughter of Jacob Hollinger, and for a short time operated a sawmill near Clinton. In 1831 he moved to the " Oak Openings," in Thompson township, Seneca county, Ohio, and settled upon a farm of 160 acres, four miles southwest. of Bellevue. Here he cleared away the forest and raised heavy crops of grain and grass. He had been accustomed to plow among stumps with ox-teams and cut grain with a hand sickle, but was among the first to use improved methods and implements. In 1844 his wife and infant son died, leaving him with a family of six children: Jacob (our subject), David, Samuel H., Joseph H., Mary and Elizabeth, of whom only the eldest son and the two daughters are now living. Three years later he married Miss Sarah Schoch, with whom he lived seven years; there were no children by this union. In August, 1854, the second son and second wife died of cholera. In April, 1862, he married Miss Sarah Decker, sold his farm and bought another adjoining hers and her mother's, about one mile south of his old home. Here the three lived together about thirteen years. His wife died in January, 1875, and he soon after sold his farm and went to live in the family of his daughter Mary, wife of Henry Biechler, at York Center, Sandusky county. He died January 16, 1878, at the age of seventy-five. He had been a member of the Christian Church at York Center about forty years. His third son, Dr. Samuel H. Burgner, of Bellevue, Ohio, was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Penn. ; he died in 1866, leaving a daughter, Orielle E., an orphan, who was reared in the family of her uncle, Jacob Burgner; she attended the Fremont High School, graduated from Oberlin College in 1883, taught school two years in Chicago, Ill., and a year and a half in the Oberlin public schools. She married in 1888 Mr. S. M. McKee, of Grand Rapids, Mich.; and now lives on a large farm near Portland, Mich. Mr. Burgner's fourth son, Joseph, who was a teacher, died unmarried at the Burgner COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 457 homestead in 1862. The youngest daughter, Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Maurer, a farmer, lives near Monticello, White. Co., Indiana. Jacob Burgner, teacher and stenographer, Fremont, Ohio, was born in Thompson township, Seneca Co., Ohio, November 5, 1833. He grew up to hard work on his father's farm and attended the pioneer district schools. At the age of seventeen he began to teach country schools in the winter seasons in his own township. Between the years 1852 and 1859 he attended several teachers' institutes, four terms of school at the Seneca County Academy, under Prof. Aaron Schuyler, the mathematician, and four years at Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio, from which latter institution he graduated with the title of B. S., in June, 1859. He paid nearly all his expenses while at school by his own earnings. On September 8, 1859, he was married, near Flat Rock, Ohio, to Miss Rebecca M. Miller, daughter of Isaac Miller, then living at Tuscola, Mich. During the following school year he taught the East Grammar School at Fremont, Ohio, and the next year taught the Maumee Grammar School under J. W. Hiett, superintendent. Returning to Fremont he taught the Fremont High School one year under Rev. E. Bushnell (now of Adelbert College), superintendent, and he next served as superintendent of the Port Clinton and Green Spring Union schools. In the fall of 1862 Mr. Burgner bought a farm of fifty acres three miles southeast of Fremont, where for health and profit he followed farming in the summer, teaching country school in the winter seasons for twenty years. In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Regiment O. V. I., and served about four months as a soldier, at Fort Ethan Allen, Va. He was afterward elected justice of the peace of Ballville township, which office he held six years. Having learned phonography, in 1853, at Seneca County Academy, and kept in practice, he now found it convenient to furnish verbatim reports of public assemblies for the county papers, and of legal testimony for the court and bar of Sandusky county, during the intervals that could be spared from farm work. A mere enumeration of his voluminous work in this line during the last forty years would be tedious. In the spring of 1885 he reported the proceedings of the General Conference of the United Brethren Church, at Fostoria, Ohio, when that Church was rent in twain on the question of granting Church membership to persons who belonged to secret societies. He had been a member of that Church for thirty-six years, and was a decided liberal." In the fall of 1885 Mr. Burgner's family, at the urgent solicitation of his niece, Orielle, removed to Oberlin, Ohio, for educational purposes, leaving him alone on the farm. After finishing up his farm work, a few months later, he sold his live stock and farm produce, rented his farm to a neighbor and joined his family at Oberlin. Here, in ill health and under many perplexing difficulties, he spent four busy years in writing the History and Genealogy of the Burgner Family in America, a book of 200 pages, containing 1,500 personal names, and illustrated with portraits and family trees. The work was copyrighted and published in 189o, and found a ready sale among relatives. Not finding enough to do in the line of shorthand and typewriting to occupy all his time in Oberlin, Mr. Burgner changed his place of business back to Fremont, Ohio, his family remaining in Oberlin. During the past year he has assisted in preparing sketches for this volume. Mr. Burgner is a charter member of Manville Moore Post, G. A. R., secretary of the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth O. V. I. Regimental Association, stenographer and assistant secretary of 458 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Society, and a teacher of shorthand and typewriting in Odd Fellows' Block, Front street, Fremont. He and family are members of the Second Congregational Church, Oberlin. In politics he has always been a Republican. The children of Jacob and Rebecca M. Burgner were Mary Alice, who died in infancy; Sarah Katharine, now teaching her fifth year in the Oberlin public schools; Linnaeus Peter, student at the State. University, Minneapolis, Minn. ; and Louis Elvero, a student at Oberlin College. ISAAC MILLER. In writing sketches of the pioneer farmers of the Black Swamp it has been the usual custom to select those who have made a financial success in life, and who have lived to reap the rewards of their toil in rich farms, fine residences and large bank accounts. Yet it is not always the bravest soldiers who survive a battle and return to tell of the victory won. In the battles of life many brave boys must fall through no fault of their own; so also it is a well-known fact that many honest, hard-working, persevering, intelligent pioneers, after an heroic struggle against adverse circumstances, were obliged to give up their farms, abandon their plans for the acquisition of wealth, and in poverty and comparative obscurity seek the higher and nobler consolations of Christianity. As a man of noble character and kind disposition, one who was universally esteemed, who bore the reverses of fortune with manly fortitude, and tried by precept and example to make the world better for his having lived in it, we give place to the subject of this sketch. Isaac Miller, farmer and carpenter, was born in Schuylkill county, Penn., April 16, 1806, son of Jacob and Margaret (Moser) Miller. His paternal grandfather, John Miller, who was an Englishman, married a Miss Bauman, and their children were Jacob, Christian, Henry, Mrs. J. Shafer and Mrs. Cramer. His maternal grandfather was Michael Moser, a Welshman, who married Miss Catharine Wiseman (born on the Atlantic Ocean), and their children were Michael, Isaac, George, Margaret, Daniel and Mrs. Hepner. The children of Jacob Miller, father of our subject, were Samuel, Michael, William, Isaac, Reuben, Jacob, Rebecca and Charles. Our subject grew to manhood on a farm near Orwigsburg, Penn., where he obtained a very limited common-school education and learned the trade of a carpenter. On August 7, 1827, he married Miss Mary, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Faust) Seltzer, of the same neighborhood, and in the spring of 1828 removed to Delaware county, Ohio. Here two children were born to them, Abraham F. and Reuben A., the first of whom died in childhood. In the spring of 1830 they removed to Sandusky county, Ohio, and settled in the wilds of Jackson township, on Wolf creek, near the site of Bettsville. Here was born their eldest daughter, Rebecca M., now wife of Jacob Burgner. In 1832 the family removed to Scott township, and settled on an eighty-acre tract of land since owned by John Hummel. This was on the edge of what was then known as Mud Creek Prairie, near the present site of Millersville. Here they lived and toiled about ten years, trying to clear up a home, drain the prairie and carry on farming, laboring under very adverse circumstances. Bad roads, poor crops, sickness from fever and ague, and doctor's bills were constant drawbacks. Here the family was increased by the birth of Wesley J., Susannah, Amelia, Hannah and Sarah, of whom only the first and the last two named grew to maturity. Their log-cabin home was often visited by the pioneer preachers of the United Brethren, Methodist and Albright COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 459 denominations, and was for some time used as a place of worship. In his anxiety to remove the stagnant water from the prairie, Mr. Miller allowed his zeal to get the better of his judgment. With commendable enterprise and public spirit he got the promises of his neighbors to aid him in the construction of a seven-mile ditch to drain Mud Creek prairie; but when the job was completed and the June freshets came it was found that their engineering was at fault and the ditch did not answer its purpose. The crops of corn were all drowned out as before, and some of the neighbors refused to pay their shares of the cost of the ditch. The debt now fell so heavily on Mr. Miller that he was obliged to lose his farm. In the spring of 1842 he bought eighty acres of partly-improved land in York township of George Donaldson, for which he again went in debt. Here by dint of hard work he succeeded in clearing land and raising a crop of wheat the second year. The price of wheat was then s0 cents a bushel at Sandusky City, his best market; and so anxious was he to make a payment on his farm that in the fall of 1843 he hauled his wheat twenty miles to that market for that price; if he had waited till the following spring he could have had $1.50 per bushel. But other misfortunes were in store for him. In the log-cabin home on this farm was born his youngest daughter, Minerva, now wife of Mr. Henry Hitchcock, a farmer in Nebraska, and a few months later Mrs. Miller died—from illness contracted by watching at the bedside of the wife of a neighbor, A. Dixon—leaving him with five children. His eldest daughter then kept house for him. When Mrs. Dixon recovered she took Mr. Miller's youngest daughter to raise, as she had no children of her own. Failing to receive the financial aid from a Pennsylvania friend which had been promised, and which was his due, Mr. Miller was again obliged to sell his home. He next bought a house and lot at Flat Rock, Seneca county, where he tried to keep his children together and send them to school, while he worked at his trade as carpenter or shingle-maker. In 1850 his sons Reuben and Wesley engaged in the lumber business in Tuscola county, Mich. A year later Mr. Miller joined them, and for a number of years conducted a sawmill at the village of Tuscola, to which his sons rafted the logs cut each winter in the pine forests above on the Cass river. He also kept a boarding-house for the mill-hands, being assisted by his daughters. After a few years of flourishing business Mr. Miller's partner in the sawmill, who also kept a general supply store, failed, and Miller's property was taken by his partner's New York creditors. Such was the law. In 1852 Mr. Miller married Mrs. Hannah Griswold, of Tuscola, and soon after retired from the lumber industry to live on her farm near by. This was a welcome home for both their children (Mrs. Miller also having children by her former husband) for several years, a sort of lumber-men's headquarters. Mrs. Miller died in 1873. Mr. Miller remained to manage the farm about two years, then relinquished his life lease and retired from business altogether. In 1876 he attended the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and spent several months visiting among friends in Pennsylvania. In 1877 he lived for a season at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. Burgner, near Fremont, Ohio, and afterward lived in the family of Mr. John Rinebolt, in Jackson township. In the spring of 1882 he took up his permanent residence at the home of his daughter Hannah, wife of Morgan Sterner, at Bristol, Ind., where he died September 3, 1885, and was buried in the village cemetery. Isaac Miller in early life became a member of the Lutheran Church; but on moving to the Black Swamp, west of Lower Sandusky, and coming under the influence of the pioneer traveling preach- 460 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. ers, he united with the Evangelical Association, and became one of its most zealous and consistent members for many years. In 1850 he united with the M. E. Church at Flat Rock, Ohio, and adhered to that faith during the rest of his life. He was a great friend of children, and established a number of pioneer Sunday-schools in destitute neighborhoods. In politics he was first a Whig, then a Republican, and finally a Prohibitionist. His two sons were soldiers in the Civil war, serving in the Third Michigan Cavalry. His eldest son, Reuben A., living in Wisconsin, has for many years been a professional pine-land hunter; his other son, Wesley, has valuable interests in some gold mines near Idaho Springs, Colo. His daughter Sarah, deceased, was the wife of Dr. Samuel H. Burgner, of Bellevue, Ohio. Though unfortunate in his financial ventures, as the world looks at it, Mr. Miller gave to his children a more precious legacy than wealth in the practical exemplification of an exalted Christian character. HENRY FRY, farmer, Ballville township, Sandusky county, was born in Prussia, Germany, May 3, 1813, a son of Lambert and Mary (Shoetler) Fry, natives of Germany. Lambert Fry, born in 1775, was a cabinet-maker by trade, and also kept a grocery store; he died in 1859 at the age of eighty-four. Their children were: (1) Lambert, Jr., born September, 1803, died in 1849; (2) Mary, deceased in infancy; (3) John, born February 28, 1810, retired farmer, Ballville township; (4) our subject; (5) Mary, born September I, 1819, who married Lambert Speller, in Germany, and whose children are: John, Henry, Augustus, Fred, Lissette and Wilhelmine, all of whom have died, except two, and are buried in Oak Wood Cemetery. Our subject grew to manhood in the German Fatherland. He emigrated to America March 26, 1834, landing in Baltimore on the 1st of July following, having been forty-two days at sea. On the 11th of April their ship was wrecked on a sand-bar, during a terrible storm, but Mr. Fry managed to keep on the wreck, and with several others subsisted on the contents of a keg of rum which they found in the wreck. They were out in the sea from Thursday until Saturday before they were rescued by small boats procured from shore by the efforts of the second mate and two seamen. Mr. Fry was the only passenger who saved all his clothes. Many died from the effects of exposure, and thirty-one out of one hundred and fifty were drowned. After reaching land Mr. Fry had the choice of his passage money back or passage on another ship. He chose the latter, and a few days later engaged passage on the "Neptune," Capt. Williamson, with 164 passengers, in which he made the voyage in safety. Mr. Fry made friends with the captain, and received special favors from him during the voyage. After landing in Baltimore he remained there only three days, then walked to Cumberland, Md., where he worked at his trade of cabinet-making, and then started on foot to meet his cousin, Philip Fry, in Ohio, walking nearly all the way. He subsequently came to Ballville township, Sandusky county, and worked for Samuel Treat. He put up several buildings for Mr. Treat, and then assisted in building a gristmill for James Moore. For the latter he worked five years at one dollar per day. In 1837 he went to Logansport, Ind., remained there one year and built canal locks. On his return to Ballville township he married, September 4, 1841, Miss Abigail Rideout, daughter of John and Sarah (Randall) Rideout. John G. Rideout was born in Augusta, Maine, of English parents. Sarah Randall was born in Connecticut, and after their marriage they removed to Ross coun- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 461 ty, Ohio, and in 1825 to Ballville, Sandusky Co., where they resided until their death. The names and dates of birth of their children are as follows: William, February 10, 1819; David, May 6, 1821; Abigail, April 30, 1823; Ebenezer, April 1, 1825; Margaret, March 6, 1827; Horace, December 22, 1829; Elizabeth, November 4, 1831; Alice, January 28, 1833. Abigail (Rideout) Fry was born in Ross county, Ohio, and came with her parents to Ballville, Sandusky county, in 1825, where she has resided for more than seventy years, and has seen the country grow from a wilderness, inhabited by Indians and infested with wolves, to its present beautiful and prosperous condition. Henry Fry and his brother John bought a farm of 190 acres, where they lived together about eight years, after which Henry moved to a piece of 160 acres, which he had bought some years before, and which has been his place of residence since 1850. He lives about five miles south of Fremont, was a Whig and. is now a Republican in politics, and is much esteemed wherever known. The children of Henry and Abigail Fry were: John Lambert, who died in infancy; Cynthia J., born March 9, 1843; and Amelia S., born April 18, 1846. Cynthia attended school at Oberlin College about three years, and was married June 14, 1865, to Dr. Robert H. Rice, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Amelia also attended school at Oberlin College, and was married December 26, 1866, to Elias B., son of John and Eliza (Rutter) Moore, of Ballville. Elias B. Moore attended school at Oberlin College, and at the outbreak of the Rebellion, enlisted in the Seventy-second Regiment, O. V. I., was appointed sergeant of Company F, with many others was taken prisoner at the battle of Guntown, Miss., and for many months suffered the horrors of Andersonville and other Rebel prisons. After the close of the war he was engaged in business in Fremont, was twice elected treasurer of Sandusky county, and afterward with his family removed to Fort Wayne, Ind., where they now reside. Their children are Abbie, Mabel, Elias, Henry and Ruth. LOUIS A. DICKINSON, the present postmaster at Fremont, Sandusky county, was born in that city May 16, 1860, a son of Abner J. and Louise P. (Mitchener) Dickinson. Abner J. Dickinson was born in New York State May I 3, 1817, a son of Alpheus and Martha Dickinson, whose family consisted of seven sons and three daughters: Rodolphus, Rodolphus, Alexander, Alpheus, Obid, Martha, Sarah (Mrs. David Beard, of Greene, N. Y.), Satira (Mrs. George Grant, of Fremont), Champion, and Abner J. Louise P. Mitchener, mother of our subject, was born in Lancaster county, Penn., December 23, 1815, the eldest of the seven children of Ryner and Lydia Mitchener, viz. : Louise P., Hon. Charles H. (late of New Philadelphia, Ohio), Mrs. Ann French, Mrs. Rachel Bartlett, Lydia, Mrs. Margaret Evans, and Mrs. Henrietta R. Dickinson (wife of Hon. E. F. Dickinson, a nephew of Abner J.), all of whom were reared and educated among the Society of Friends. The father of Louis A. came to Ohio at the age of twenty-one, and six years later settled in Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), where for many years he was engaged in general mercantile business. In politics he was a Democrat, and in 1854-56 he represented his county in the General Assembly of the State of Ohio. During the Civil war he entered the ranks of the Union army, and died May 28, 1863, at Camp Triune, Tenn. His widow now resides at No. 316 S. Arch street, Fremont. To them were born three children: Martha J., deceased wife of James H. Fowler, an attorney. at law, 462 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. of Fremont; Charles J., who died in 1874; and Louis Abner. Louis A. Dickinson was reared in Fremont by his widowed mother, was educated in the city schools, and graduated from Fremont High School at the age of seventeen, taking the combined Latin and English four-years' course in three years. At the age of twenty-two he was elected county surveyor of Sandusky county on the Democratic ticket, and served in that capacity for six years. In 1887 he was elected to the city council from the First Ward, and in 1889 was appointed city civil engineer, which position he held until February 25, 1895, when he was appointed, by President Cleveland, postmaster of the city. He is a member of Brainard Lodge, No. 336, F. & A. M., and of Fremont Lodge, K. of P. In 1886, he married Frances H. Mitchener, of New Philadelphia, Ohio, and to this union were born two daughters: Christine M. and M. Louise. Mrs. Dickinson died in Fremont, August 9, 189o. RICHARD HAGEL, a progressive merchant of and the efficient postmaster at Gypsum, Ottawa county, is a native of Ohio, born in Plasterbed, Portage township, Ottawa county, March 26, 1862. He is a son of Louis and Wilhelmina (Hartenfelt) Hagel, both of whom were natives of Germany, and are now residents of Plasterbed. The father was born in Baden, Germany, October 17, 1828, and is a son of Andrew and Elizabeth Hagel, who spent their entire lives in the Fatherland. He was there educated and learned the trade of a stonemason. Crossing the broad Atlantic to America in 1852, he resided for two years in Newark, N. J., and in 1854 came to Portage township, Ottawa Co., Ohio, where he engaged in farming and quarrying. In 1856 he removed to Carroll township, same county, where he pur chased land, and for two years carried on agricultural pursuits. In 1858 he sold his farm and removed to Plasterbed, which has been his place of continuous residence since. His wife was born in Saxony, Germany, November 9, 1832, and was a daughter of Frederick and Hannah Hartenfelt. With her parents she emigrated to America in 1852, and they lived in Erie township, Ottawa Co., Ohio, until called to their final rest. Mr. and Mrs. Hagel were married June 15, 1856, in the town which is still their home, and their union was blessed with ten children, six of whom are living: John, born March 26, 1857, and residing at Plasterbed; Emma, born December 27, 1858; Richard; Sarah, born January 18, 1872, now the wife of George Austin, of Plasterbed; William, born February 11, 1864, now residing in the same place; and Annie, born April 27, 1878. Our subject acquired a fair English education in the district schools of Portage township, Ottawa county, and when his school life was ended entered upon his business career as a clerk in the store of Charles C. Peet, of Gypsum. He has since been connected with mercantile interests. For nine years he was employed in that capacity, during which time he became familiar with merchandising in every detail, and the experience thus acquired well fitted him for his own career along this line. In 1884, after the death of his employers, he purchased of the administrators the store, and has since been sole proprietor. He has a well-appointed establishment, carries a large stock of goods, and is doing a flourishing business. Mr. Hagel was married in Gypsum, November 23, 1892, to Miss Hannah E. Hess, a daughter of Christian and Paulina (Warner) Hess, both of whom were natives of Germany, residing in Gypsum. Mrs. Hagel was born at Plasterbed, February 20, 1869, and is an estimable lady, having many friends. Socially, our subject is connected with Port Clinton Lodge, COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 463 No. 361, K. of P., and 0. H. Perry Lodge, No. 627, I. O. O. F. In politics he is a stalwart Republican, and has ably served as postmaster at Gypsum since 1884. He attends the Methodist Church, and is interested in everything pertaining, to the welfare and upbuilding of the community. He has served as treasurer of the Island & Gypsum Fruit Co. Mr. Hagel is one of the progressive young business men of the county, and by thrift and energy has raised himself to an important position in the community; by fair dealing and perseverance has built up a large and rapidly-increasing mercantile business which ranks him among the solid commercial men of his locality. In 1891, finding his quarters too small, he erected the spacious store which he now occupies. W. J. ALESHIRE. The subject of this sketch, who is the editor and proprietor of the Gibsonburg Derrick, is recognized as one of the leading business men of Sandusky county, and his paper shows evidence of his ability as a journalist, it being a readable, newsy sheet, fully up to the times, and an acceptable visitor in homes throughout that section of the State. Mr. Aleshire is a son of William and Sarah (Ewing) Aleshire, the former of whom was born October 19, 1814, in Virginia, where he grew to manhood, coming thence to Ohio, where, in Meigs county, he was married. He was a farmer by occupation. In 1846 he went to Fulton county, Ill., and there remained a year or two, afterward removing to Hancock county, that State, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying October 3, 1890, shortly after his wife, who passed away July 17, that year. For twenty years he was engaged in the hotel business. Mr. and Mrs. Aleshire were the parents of ten children, of whom three left their home at the call for loyal men during the war of the Rebellion, and served their country well and faithfully, one finding an early grave in the Sunny South. The record of this large family is briefly given as follows: Sanford, who was a soldier in the One Hundred and Eighteenth Illinois Infantry, during the Civil war, is deceased; Virgil, who served four years in the same regiment, and was wounded in Vicksburg, is also deceased; Mary, who married Thomas Swan, lives at Granger, Mo. ; Orlando, who was in the Twelfth Illinois Cavalry, died at Napoleonville, La. ; Margaret is the wife of Uriah Ashcraft, and lives at La Harpe, Ill. ; W. J. is the subject of this biography; E. E., who is an attorney at law, resides in Stanberry, Mo. ; Albert is carrying on a hotel and livery business in Burnside, Ill. ; Henry died in early youth; 0. E. received an excellent education, and at one time was superintendent of schools at Buchanan, Mich., throughout which State he became well-known owing to his oratorical powers and other .good qualities, and was sent to the Legislature; growing tired of politics, he went to Chicago, where he engaged in business, and he has since made his residence in that city. The subject of this sketch was born February 15, 1849, in Hancock county, Ill., and grew to manhood in that State. He received a collegiate education, and turned his attention to teaching, following that occupation, for which he was admirably fitted, for nineteen consecutive years: During the last twelve years of this time he was principal of schools in four different towns. In 1889, Mr. Aleshire decided to combine newspaper work with teaching, and purchased the Good Hope Torpedo, which he carried on for three and a half years. Selling out this paper he came, in 1892, to Gibsonburg, and purchased the Derrick, of which he is editor and proprietor. When he took hold of the paper, it was a seven-colum n 464 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. folio, which he changed to an eight-column and then six-column quarto. The paper is independent in politics, and has a good circulation. Mr. Aleshire was married November 30, 1882, to Miss Mary McClung, who was born April 22, 1860, in Pike county, Ill., and they have two children, Oscar and Harry. Mrs. Aleshire is the daughter of George and Nancy (Wayfield) McClung, the former of whom was a native of Virginia, and served through the Civil war. Two children were born to them—Mary (now Mrs. Aleshire), and Martha (Mrs. Charles Kennedy, of Quincy, Ill.). Socially, Mr. Aleshire is a member of the F. & A. M. and I. O. O. F. CAPTAIN W. E. GILLETT, township and corporation clerk, and ex-officio clerk of the school board of Green Creek township, Sandusky county, is one of the leading citizens of Clyde. His birth occurred in Groton township, Erie Co., Ohio, on the 4th of September, 1860, and he is a son of William and Elizabeth (Hearson) Gillett, both natives of Lincolnshire, England, where the father was born in 1833, and the mother in 1835. The father is a son of John Gillett, with whom he came to America when quite small, locating near Sandusky, Erie Co., Ohio, where he grew to manhood. His parents both died in Sandusky county, where for about ten years William Gillett conducted a shoe store, but he now makes his home in Bellevue, Ohio. In this vicinity the Captain spent the days of his boyhood and youth, no event of special importance occurring during that period. His education was completed in the high school of Clyde, and on the farm he assisted in the labors of the fields. At the age of twenty-one he became a drug clerk, and later entered a grocery store. For about eight years he was with his father in the shoe business, being a member of the firm of Gillett & Sons. Since that time he has mostly filled official positions, being secretary of the water-works, and, while holding the office of township and corporation clerk, was also connected with the electric light plant. Eleven years ago Capt. Gillett joined the McPherson Guards as a private, was later promoted to sergeant and then to first sergeant, afterward to lieutenant, and finally to captain of his company, which position he now fills. He has had charge of his company during the recent strikes in the coal mines, and on several other occasions where they were called to aid civil authorities. Capt. Gillett was united in marriage with Miss Ida Day, of Sandusky, Ohio, and to them has been born a daughter, Edna. The Captain is one of the most popular men in Clyde, and is spoken of as a probable man for future honors in Sandusky county. He is enterprising, energetic and progressive, and takes a deep interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community, where he is so widely and favorably known. In politics he is a Republican, and is a stalwart supporter of its men and measures. Socially, he belongs to the Royal Arcanum. STEPHEN D. TERRILL. This well-known farmer of Green Creek township, Sandusky county, and for many years a successful business man of Clyde, has made the most of his opportunities. Instead of yearning for the distant and unattainable, he has cheerfully and resolutely done the work that lay before him, and by diligence and steadiness of purpose he has demonstrated by his success in life the golden value of those sterling qualities. He was born in Chenango county, N. Y., June 26, 1818, son of Elias and Hannah (Hickox) Terrill, sterling Presbyterians. Elias Terrill was born of Scotch COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 465 parentage in Waterbury, Conn., August 7, 1775, and was married May 6, 1798, to Hannah Hickox, born July 2, 1781. He was a cooper, and followed his trade in his native town until about 1815, when with his family he moved to Pitcher, Chenango Co., N. Y., where he died August 14, 1835, his wife surviving until November 6, 1856. They were the parents of the following twelve children: Irene, who in 1817 married Solomon Ensign, and reared a family in New York, where she died; Julia M., who in 1819 married James Hinman, reared a family, and died in New York City; Beulah S., who married Harry Chandler, and died in Bellevue, Ohio; Susan H., who married Amos Leonard, and died in the West; Lenora, married in 1831 to J. R. Freeman, and died in Schenectady, N. Y. ; Elias G., who married Penina Dimmick in 1834, and died in Pennsylvania; Shelby W., married to Mary Ann Ruddock in 1835, and died in Pitcher, N. Y. ; Josiah R., who went to Ogdensburg, N. Y., and was never heard from afterward; Stephen D., subject of this sketch; Nancy Judson, married Asa Ensign, and died in New York; Samuel N., who died in California; and Eunice Celestia, who married Henry Warner, and lives in New York. The mother lived to see all her twelve children married, and all were living when she died. Stephen D. Terrill, at the age of fifteen, left the home of his parents and came to Ridgeville, Lorain Co., Ohio, to live with his sister. Two years later he went to Cleveland, and for two years engaged in teaming. He then drove team at Vermilion for over two years, and engaged in the manufacture of potash at Republic for about the same period. For a season he was second engineer on the old steamer " Columbus," on Lake Erie, and after making potash at Milan during the following winter he there purchased a blacksmith shop in the spring of 1842, hired a blacksmith and learned the trade. He was married, June 4, 1843, to Martha Norton, born in Vermilion, Ohio, July 18, 1825, daughter of Leonard and Mary (Bartow) Norton. Leonard Norton was born July 11, 1798, and died in July, 1845. He was a Universalist in religious belief, and in politics a Democrat. His father, David Norton, a member of the Church of England, came to America from Thruxton, England, and was twenty-four weeks on the voyage. Mary Bartow, wife of Leonard Norton, was born in New York State in 1796, and died in 1860; she was a member of the Baptist Church. Leonard and Mary Norton had nine children, as follows: A child who died in infancy; Mary Ann, who married Peter Chance, and is now deceased; Leonard, who died young; Lorin, who died at Milan, aged thirteen years; Martha, wife of Mr. Terrill; John G., engaged in real estate at Toledo; Alfred, who died in Pennsylvania, aged forty years; Adeline, wife of Myron Mills, of Milan; Eliza J., who married George W. Hayes, and died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After his marriage Mr. Terrill remained in Milan until 1854, when he came to Clyde. He here followed his trade for a while, then engaged in cabinet making, and later operated a sawmill. About a year ago he removed to the farm in Green Creek township which he now occupies. He had seven children, three of whom died young, and those who lived to adult age were ( I) Stephen H., born October 31, 1844, who enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixty-fifth O. V. I., and died March 5, 1865, after his return home. (2) John G., born January 6, 1847, a stationary engineer at Chicago, who is married to Mary Youman, and has three children—Gertrude, wife of Henry Denhart; Bessie A., a graduate of the Chicago Conservatory of Music, and Nellie, a graduate of a business college at Chicago. (3) Alfred N., born September 6, 1854, now in charge of an extensive sawmill at Portland, Oregon. (4) Charles 466 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. D. , born August 24, 1856, killed May 6, 1873, by accident, in a sawmill in Toledo. Mr. Terrill has been a member of the Clyde board of education. He has been a lifelong Democrat, first voting for Martin Van Buren and every Democrat candidate for Presidency since. His wife is a member of the Universalist Church. JOHN T. SIVALLS, the courteous and popular postmaster at Woodville, Sandusky county, where he is a well-known and highly-respected citizen of several years' standing, is a native of the city of New York, born August 22, 1828. He is of English descent on the paternal side, his grandfather Sivalls having come from England to America, settling in New Rochelle, Westchester Co., N. Y., where he died. James Sivalls, father of John T., and of the same nativity, followed the occupation of grocery merchant in New York, and died there in 1837 at the age of fifty-two years. He was twice married, and by his first wife had two children--George and Franklin--both of whom died in New York; by his second wife, Cornelia (Lewis) he had five children, namely: Carolina, who married DeWitt Brinhap, and died in New York in April, 1894; William, who also died in New York; John T., the subject of these lines; Tracy, now a resident of Chicago, Ill. ; and Benson, who went to California, and has never since been heard of. As will be seen, our subject was nine years of age at the time he was bereaved of his father, and he then left his native city for Ithaca, N. Y., where he lived with an uncle a few years, attending school and learning the trade of shoemaker. From there he moved to Ashtabula county, Ohio, and then after a short time returned to Ithaca, remaining there some eighteen months, all the time following his trade. This brings us now to 1846, the year of the breaking out of the Mexican war; and our subject, then a lad of barely eighteen summers, fired with military enthusiasm and patriotic ardor, proceeded to New York, where he enlisted in Company E, Third Light Artillery, commanded by Brev. Maj.-Gen. Sherman, and attached to the army under Gen. Zachary Taylor. He served twenty-two months, participated in the battle of Buena Vista, and, receiving an honorable discharge in New Orleans, at once returned northward. For a time he moved from place to place, looking for work—in Rochester, N. Y., remaining one year; then in Toledo, Ohio; later in Maumee, same State. He worked on the Wabash canal about three months, after which, in 1849, he located in Wood county, makhis home with a family by the name of Truax, whose acquaintance he had formed. In 1849 he came to Woodville, where he followed his trade some time, then worked on the canal five seasons; after which he bought a farm in Woodville township, on which he lived five years, cultivating arid improving it. In 1861 he moved into the town of Fremont, same county, but shortly afterward again located in Woodville, and here continued his trade until 1863, in which year he enlisted in Company C, Third Regiment, O. V. C. He served in the Western command about twenty-two months, was honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, and returned to Woodville, where he resumed his trade, in connection with which he also sold sewing machines some ten or twelve years. On June 23, 1851, he was married to Miss Mary Truax, of the family above referred to, and a native of Pennsylvania, born in Bedford county in 1830, to which union eight children were born, a brief record of whom is as follows: Abner, Benson and Caroline died at the ages of ten, twenty-four and four years, respectively; Stilwell is now following the trade of cooper in Woodville; John married Susan Moore, and has three children R , Ralph and Frank; Mary is assist- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 467 ant postmaster at Woodville; James is a cooper by trade at Findlay, Ohio; and Ralph, who was also a cooper, was so seriously injured on July 2, 1895, in Findlay, Ohio, that he died on the following day, at the age of twenty-four years. Mr. Sivalls is a Republican in his political preferences, and during President James A. Garfield's administration, was appointed postmaster at Woodville, continued under President Harrison and President Cleveland, and still occupies the position. In church connection he is a member of the United Brethren Society; in secret society matters he is a member of Elmore Lodge, No. 462, I. O. O. F., and socially no one in the county enjoys more fully the esteem and confidence of the community at large. CAPTAIN CHARLES L. DIRLAM, the efficient and capable postmaster at Clyde, Sandusky county, is a native of Massachusetts, born in Berkshire county, March 2, 1831, and is a son of Sylvenus and Mary (Clark) Dirlam. The father was born in Massachusetts in 1790, there followed farming and carpentering until coming west on the 1st of June, 1831, when he located on a farm in Sandusky county, three miles from Clyde. This place he improved and cultivated up to the time of his death, in 1884. His wife, who was born in Berkshire county, Mass., died at the age of fifty-eight years. In their family were nine children: Hiram, a resident farmer of Berkshire county, Mass. ; James, who makes his home in Indiana; Curtis, who lives in Carroll county, Iowa; Joseph, who died at the age of ten years; Louise, wife of Myron Tuttle, of Indiana; Harriet, wife of L. Craig; Louis, a resident of Sandusky county, Ohio; D. Dirlam, in Mansfield, Ohio; and Charles L. The paternal grandfather was a Hessian soldier, sent to this country to assist the British in subduing the Colonies during the Revolutionary war, during which he was wounded. Later he deserted, becoming a resident of Massachusetts, and during the war of 1812 fought against the British troops. In the usual manner of farmer lads the boyhood and youth of Charles L. Dirlam were passed, aiding his father in clearing and developing the land. Later he learned the brick layer's and mason's trades, at which he worked until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he became a member of Company A, Seventy-second O. V. I., being assigned to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps under Gen. McPherson. The first battle in which he was engaged was at Shiloh, which was followed by the Vicksburg campaign, and with his regiment he participated in all the important engagements in the Mississippi Valley. At Gun-town, Miss., he was taken prisoner, was sent to Mobile, Ala. , thence to Macon, Ga. , from there to Charleston and Columbus, S. C. ; on reaching Charlotte, N. C., he managed to escape, but was re-captured, after which he was confined in Libby prison. As his term of service had expired at the time of his exchange, he returned home. He had entered the army as a private, but at the time of being made prisoner was holding the rank of captain, which he had gained by meritorous conduct on the field of battle. He has ever been a loyal and patriotic citizen, and in his defense of the Union was a fearless and valiant soldier. In 1858 Capt. Dirlam married Miss Mary Gale, born in Sandusky county in 1832, and by this union there are three children: Jay C., a miner at Seattle, Wash., married and has one child, Clyde; Staneberry, a house painter of Denver, Col., married and has one son, Charles; and John, the youngest of the family, still with his parents. On his return from the South at the close of the war the Captain resumed work at his trade in 468 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. his vicinity. In 1891 he was appointed postmaster at Clyde, which office he is still holding, and has ever given the best of satisfaction. For forty years he has made his home in Clyde, where he is widely known and universally respected. In politics the Captain is a steadfast adherent of the principles formulated by the Republican party; socially he is a member of Edon Post, No. 55, G. A. R. in which he takes an active interest. SAMUEL STORER, farmer and fruit grower, of Green Creek township, Sandusky county, was born at Westbrook, near Portland, Maine, January 22, 1807, son of Joseph and Charlotte (Knight) Storer. Joseph Storer was also born in the " Pine Tree State," the year of his birth being 1776. His father was a Revolutionary soldier, and died of smallpox; his wife was a Miss Graves, who was born at Broad Cove, Maine, about 1720, and died at the age of ninety-nine years. The grandfather of Joseph Storer was supposed to be of Irish birth. Joseph Storer was a ship and house carpenter by trade, and he served in the war of 1812. In 1815 his home was burned, and in rebuilding he became involved in debt. Thinking to better his circumstances in the West, and also wishing to keep his boys from going to sea, he came to Ohio in 1817, and settled in Zanesville. He left Portland in May, that year, accompanied by his eldest son, George, and Samuel, then a boy of ten years. On reaching Zanesville he found employment at his trade, and in a year saved money enough to send for his family, so, purchasing a wagon and team, he hired a man to drive to Maine for them. The driver went as far as Connecticut, where he appropriated the team to his own use, and, as a consequence, the family was obliged to wait another year before coming west. Joseph Storer remained at Zanesville ten years, and while there he and his partner, John Wilson, built the great wooden bridge across the Muskingum river. In 1827 he moved to Cleveland, and there followed his trade of ship carpenter for many years. He died in Green Creek township, Sandusky Co., in 1867. In politics he was a Whig and a Republican, and in religious belief a Methodist. His wife, Charlotte Knight, was born in Broad Cove, Maine, in about 1777, and died in '85 r. The children of Joseph and Charlotte Storer were as follows: Eliza, who married Joel Chapman, and lived in Cuyahoga county to the age of eighty-five years; George, still living in Cleveland at the age of ninety-three years; Joseph, who died in Brooklyn village January 11, 1894, aged eighty-nine years; Samuel, subject of this sketch, now (1895) aged eighty-nine years; Webster, now eighty-six years old; Hester, wife of Harris Brainard, of Cuyahoga county. Samuel Storer attended the schools of Zanesville, served an apprenticeship of six years to the trade of tanner and currier, and followed it for thirty-five years at Brooklyn village. In the fall of 1862 he sold out, and in the spring of 1863 moved to the farm near Clyde, which he still occupies and which he had purchased in 1857. Mr. Storer was married in 1831, to Miss Sarah J. Fish, who was born near Cleveland, October 11, 1811. She was the daughter of James Fish, who, in 181,, migrated from Groton, Conn., to Ohio, with an ox-team, and settled in the woods near Brooklyn village (now Cleveland). His wife was a weaver, and supported the family at the loom while he cleared the farm. Mr. Fish lived to the age of ninety-three years. The seven children born to Samuel and Sarah Storer were as follows: (1) Sarah S., born in 1835, was married in 1860 to Ira H. Pool, who in July, 1862, enlisted in the army and died in Nashville hospital in July, 1864; she has two daughters: Bessie, wife of Will- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 469 ard Perin, of Green Creek township, and mother of four children—Ethel, Cecil and Gaylord and Gladys (twins); and Irene, wife of Ira Comstock and mother of three children—May, Ruth and Clara. (2) Miranda, wife of William Cunningham, of Clyde, has five children: Harry; Edna; Lizzie, wife of A. W. Wilds; Nellie, wife of William Wallace, of Lorain, and May, wife of Harvey Cook, of Fremont, and mother of two children— Iva and Mabel L. (3) James, who served throughout the war in the artillery department, and is now secretary and treasurer of the Geo. Worthington Co., wholesale hardware, Cleveland; he married Emma Schneider, of Cleveland, and had three children—May, Winifred, and James (deceased). (4) Mary, who wedded Robert Clapp, of Clyde (now deceased), and became the mother of one child—Irving; she is now the wife of George Lee. (5) Charles, of Green Creek township, married Lucinda Rathbun and has five children—Allie, Bessie, Mary, James and Carrie. (6) Etta, wife of Morris L. Huss, of Green Creek township, and mother of two children--Ruth and Dwight. (7) Benjamin is now deceased. Mrs. Storer, the faithful and devoted wife and mother, passed away in r889. She had been for many years a consistent member of the M. E. Church, and that religious society at Clyde has had no heartier or more influential supporter than Mr. Storer, who subscribes liberally to the Church and its missionary societies. He first joined the church in 1822, and has ever since lived in conformity with its teachings and precepts. He is a man above reproach in his community, and a good citizen. When operations on the Ohio canal were commenced July 4, 1824, Mr. Storer belonged to an artillery company at Zanesville, which was ordered to Licking Summit to be present at the celebration on that occasion. Gov. Clinton, of New York, and Gov. Trimble, of Ohio, lifted the first spadesful of earth in the construction of that work. This, Mr. Storer says, was his first and only experience in military service. ISAAC AIGLER, a retired agriculturist of York township, Sandusky county, is worthy of credit for untiring energy and exemplary character, and to him honor should be rendered. His farm is a model one. The same marked care shown by his wife in the arrangement of her house, Mr. Aigler is renowned for in the appointment of his premises. Amos Aigler, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Pennsylvania, December I I, 1815, and in 1839 was united in marriage with Armina Bobb, who was born in 1819, also in Pennsylvania. They had two children: Isaac, the older child, born in Union (now Snyder) county, Penn., August 23, 1840; and Eliza, now the wife of William Hummel, of York township. Mrs.. Aigler died in 1844, and two years later Mr. Aigler married Mrs. Eliza Aigler, widow of his brother, and they had five children, namely: James, late of Bellevue, Huron county, Ohio, now deceased, and Matilda L., wife of J. D. Harpster, a Kansas banker (they were twins); Henry, of York township, deceased; J. F., a real-estate agent, of Kansas; and Clara, wife of Allen Kern, a farmer of York township. In 1848 the family came to Thompson township, Seneca county, and next year moved to York township, where Mr. Aigler bought eighty acres of land. Here he lived for many years, and then, thinking he had well earned a vacation, moved to Bellevue, where he lives retired. Isaac Aigler was but eight years old when his father came to Ohio. His school life ended shortly after that, and he had to rise early and work late as, forty years ago, life on the farm was not lightened by improved machinery as at present. In 1861 he enlisted in Company D, Fiftieth Ohio National Guards; for five years. 470 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Again, on May 2, 1864, he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Sixty-ninth O. V. I. He served in Maryland and Virginia, defending Washington during the summer of 1864, and was discharged September 4, 1864. On March 5, 1868, Mr. Aigler was united in marriage with Susan Close, who was born August 16, 1847. The parents of Mrs. Aigler, George and Mary (Moyer) Close, came to Ohio in 1856. They had eleven children, as follows: Austin, a Kansas farmer and carpenter; Eliza, widow of LaFayette Hannum, of Perrysburg, Ohio; Marguerite, wife of J. K. Frederick, of Maumee, Ohio; Melinda, who is married to C. P. Deyo, of Bellevue; Henry, who is in the milling business at Venice, and resides in Sandusky City; Joseph W., 'a Bellevue banker; Susan,. Mrs. Aigler; George W., a banker at Berlin Heights; Cloyd, a farmer, of Michigan; Charles C., a livery man in Fremont; and Jay F., a Kansas lawyer. Mr. Aigler has a fertile farm of 108 acres, on which he grows principally grain, also some. fruit. For many years he affiliated with the Republican party; but upon the organization of the People's party he at .once embraced that doctrine, being the first man in York township to openly advocate the Omaha platform. He is one of the best known Populists in the country, and for several years has served on various county committees. WILLIAM REHBERG. Prominent among the old settlers and esteemed residents of Middle Bass Island, Ottawa county, is found the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. He was born in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, January 10, 1825, son of John and Christina (Bohndorff) Rehberg, who were both born in Germany. William Rehberg was educated, reared to manhood and learned the trade of ma- chinist in his native land. On January 7, 1849, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, he was united in marriage with Louisa Stevens, who was born in Mamaro, and they have had seven children, three of whom are now living, namely: Mary, born January I, 1850, now the wife of John Runkle, of Middle Bass Island; Herman, born June 2, 1857, and residing on• Middle Bass Island; and Ida, born July 3, 1863, wife of A. Smith, Jr., of Sandusky, Erie county. In 1849 Mr. Rehberg left the Fatherland for America, and after his arrival in this country resided at Niagara Falls for a few months, then came to Ohio and located in Wyandot county, where he was engaged in the gunsmith business for two years. He then removed to Sandusky, Erie county, and for two years was occupied in fishing, in 1856 removing to Middle Bass Island, of which locality he has since been a continuous resident and one of its most progressive citizens, doing more, perhaps, than any other settler toward the progress that has been made on that beautiful island, and the growth of its material interests. Mr. Rehberg was the first purchaser of land on the island, and immediately after his purchase agreed to improve this part of the township by clearing and cultivating the land, and erecting substantial houses and other buildings. A few years afterward he began the cultivation of grapes, and later entered upon the business of wine making, in which he has since continued, his vineyard now being one of the largest and best cultivated on the island. In 1869 he built his large wine cellar, in 1879 his spacious Middle Bass Club hall, used for the accommodation of the club; He is owner and master of the fine steamer " Leroy Brooks," part owner of the steamer " Secord," which plies between Port Clinton and the islands during the summer months, and is also a stockholder in the Sandusky Fish Company. In his political views Mr. Rehberg is COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 471 an active member of the Democratic party. He was the first trustee of Put in Bay township, and has also efficiently filled many other township offices. He is a member of Science Lodge No. 50, F. & A. M., of Sandusky, Erie county, and was a member of Erie Commandery No. 22, Sandusky, Ohio, but resigned in 1895; is a member of Commodore Perry Lodge I. O. O. F., of Put in Bay; and a charter member of Guttenberg-Hin Lodge No. 91, Druids, Sandusky. Few men have come more in contact with the growing interests of Put in Bay township, and none have commanded more completely the respect and confidence of the community than William Rehberg. He has risen by his own individual efforts, and may justly be styled a self-made man. Of gentlemanly demeanor, he always meets his associates, both in social and business circles, with a cordial and friendly bearing; as a public man he has discharged with painstaking fidelity the duties of every position in which he has been placed, and enjoys the respect and esteem of the people he has so faithfully served. In 1882, after an absence of forty-three years, Mr. Rehberg paid a visit to his native land and town, and after pleasantly sojourning there for some six months with relatives and friends, returned to the United States and to Middle Bass in the fall of the same year. At the present time (December, 1895) he is in Florida, building a cottage in an orange grove. RICHARD BOYD STEVENSON holds an honored and revered place in the hearts of his fellow-citizens of York township, Sandusky county. He has passed the seventy-fifth milestone of his life, and is thus linked by memory to a past generation. Coming as he did when a lad of tender years to the " Black Swamp," he has witnessed the conversion of a swampy - 30 - jungle into a region as fair and fertile as the sun has ever shone upon. Gifted with a memory remarkably acute and vivid, he is an unquestioned authority upon the early history of York and neighboring townships. And blessed as he also is with a keen judgment of men and events, and with a kindly feeling for humanity, he ranks as an oracle among all who know him. Mr. Stevenson was born in Frederick county, Md., January 10, 1820, son of Dr. Matthew and Jane (Gilson) Stevenson. Dr. Stevenson was born in Frederick county, Md., in 1777, and his father, James Stevenson, who was of Scotch origin, emigrated from the North of Ireland to Pennsylvania, married a Miss Buchanan (a relative of President Buchanan), near Carlisle, Penn., and removed across the Maryland line, buying land on the foot hills between Emmittsburg, Md., and Gettysburg, Penn. Here he lived a farmer, of the old Presbyterian faith, until his death. His children were as follows: Matthew; William, who died near Clyde, Ohio; Martha, who married and lived in Cayuga county, N. Y. ; Jane, afterward Mrs. Knox; Abigail, who married and lived in New York State; Elizabeth and Mary. Matthew studied medicine and for a time practiced in Gettysburg, where his uncle, Dr. Buchanan, was also a practitioner. Later Dr. Stevenson practiced near Youngstown, Westmoreland Co., Penn. He was a man of thorough classical education, and his son, Richard B., still has many of his books written, in the Latin tongue. He also possessed high scientific attainments. The latter he was obliged sometimes to call into requisition. Thus in Westmoreland county the good people saw phosphorescent lights move slowly to and fro, and in terror believed them to be spirits from the other world until Dr. Stevenson demonstrated to them the earthly origin of the lights. Jane Gilson, the wife of Dr. Steven- 472 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. son, was born in Pennsylvania in 1789. Her mother was a Miss Boyd, member of a family who settled in an early day among the Indians at Carlisle, Penn. During the French and Indian wars the entire family was captured save the father, who at the time was absent from home. In a neighboring schoolhouse the teacher and all the pupils were massacred. Grandmother Boyd was killed by the Indians, because she was too old to be taken into captivity, and also an infant. The other Boyds were carried back into the wilderness. One of the boys, the grandfather of Dr. Stevenson's wife, was given to a "good Indian," and it was his duty to wait upon an enfeebled old warrior chief. Three years later he was returned to Carlisle. All the other members of the family, except one boy, were restored after seven years of captivity. After the death of his father, Dr. Stevenson returned to Frederick county, Md., and remained there until his migration to Ohio. He came with his family in a three-horse wagon to Tiffin, and later to Sandusky county, arriving June 3, 183o, at the farm in York township still owned by the subject of this sketch and other heirs. The land had been entered by Mr. Birdseye in 1822, and from him purchased by Dr. Stevenson. The latter did not practice medicine in Ohio, but followed farming until his death, in 1849. In politics he was a Whig, and in religious faith a Presbyterian early in life, but later a Methodist. His wife, who had nobly braved the toils and privations of pioneer life, survived until 1877. Dr. Matthew and Jane Stevenson had eleven children, as follows: James G. D., who lived at Buffalo, N. Y. ; Thomas W. B., of Fayette county, Iowa; G. H., for some years a resident of California; Nancy Jane, who married W. Gurley; Richard Boyd, subject of this sketch; Lucinda, born September 15, 1822, a maiden lady, who cared for her parents in their declin ing years, and who now lives at the old homestead with her brother, Richard B.; John W., of Sandusky City; M. A. and B. W. (twins), the former a resident of Chicago, and the latter a farmer of York township; Joseph F., who died in 1852, aged twenty-two years; Mary E., born August 19, 1832, the only child of the family born in Ohio, unmarried and living with her brother and sister on the old homestead. The occupants at the old farmhouse, around which cluster many fond memories, are thus Richard Boyd Stevenson and his two unmarried sisters--Mary E. and Lucinda. Like them he has remained single. The home is one of the landmarks of the revered past, and in the eyes of the community for many miles about it is doubly revered because of the high standing of its owners. The Misses Stevenson are renowned for their ladylike and reserved manners, and for their liberal culture.. They have been reared in the M. E. Church. In politics Mr. Stevenson is a Republican. With his accustomed public spirit and generosity, he has dedicated to public use a spring of remarkable freshness and coldness, which gushes from the earth a short distance in front of the Stevenson home. Around it he has built a stone house, and the passerby is ever welcome to enter and slake his thirst at " the coldest spring and purest water in northern Ohio." ROBERT L. RIFE, a leading citizen of York township, Sandusky county, has amassed one of the largest landed holdings for many miles around by his superior business sagacity and enterprise. He began his farming career in a small way, and added to his acres gradually from time to time, obeying the cardinal principle of success in life by keeping expenses within his income. He is yet a young man, and a native of York township, born April 27, COMMMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 473 1846, son of Michael and Mary (Longwell) Rife. It is a family of pioneer stock. Michael Rife was born in Frederick county, Md., February 15, 1814, a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Zumbrund) Rife. Daniel Rife was the son of a German emigrant who had settled in Maryland. Like his father he was a member of the Lutheran Church. He continued to live in Maryland many years after his marriage to Elizabeth Zumbrund, but in 1832 he migrated with his wife and ten children—three sons and seven daughters—to Sandusky county. These children were as follows: Susan, who married Chester Kinney, of Green Spring; Michael, father of Robert L. ; Daniel, a farmer of Clyde; Julia Ann, who married John Hamlin and moved to Steuben county, Ind. ; Elizabeth, of Bellevue; Mary and Sarah (twins), the former of whom married Aaron Bartlett of Fulton county; Sophia; John, of York township; and Frances. The township was practically uncleared and largely unsettled when Daniel Rife became a resident in 1832, and he engaged in the serious work of making a home for himself in the wilderness. He met with success, and his descendants are among the most highly-respected citizens of the county. He died at the age of fifty-seven years, his wife surviving to the age of seventy-six. Michael Rife, the eldest son, was eighteen when he came to Sandusky county, just the right age to be of most value to his father in the pioneer life. For seven years he labored at home. Then on New Year's Day, 1839, he married Mary Longwell, a young lady who had been orphaned from infancy, and whose parents were among the first victims of an unhealthy climate in York township in its early days. She was born in Berlin township, Delaware county, November 9, 1821, only daughter of Robert and Lucinda (Butler) Longwell. They were married February 2, 1821, and in 1823 journeyed to a new pioneer home. Mr. Longwell brought his goods in an ox-. wagon, while his wife carried the child Mary in her arms and rode horseback. After one brief year of married life in the new land the family was destroyed. Mrs. Longwell died September 17, 1824, aged thirty-two years, her husband, who was a native of Kentucky, five days later, aged thirty years. The mother was one of a numerous family; she was born in Lenox township, Berkshire Co., Mass. Her brothers and sisters were: Sarah; Lydia, Rebecca, Persus, Thankful, Jethrone, Daniel, David, Levi, George, Cornelius and Mary. The orphaned child grew up among relatives in Sandusky and Delaware counties. After his marriage to her in 1839 Michael Rife began housekeeping in York township. Currency was scarce in those days, and to procure the small amount of money needed to pay taxes was a difficult matter. Mrs. Rife raised chickens and produce of various sorts, but the prices they commanded would in this day discourage any agriculturist. Michael Rife was in politics a Republican. He was industrious and economical, and accumulated a highly-improved farm of 400 acres upon which he lived in comfort during his declining years until his death, which occurred January 2, 1894. His widow is at this writing still living on the old homstead on the North Ridge, York township. Four children were born to Michael and Mary Rife. (1) Eudora Ann, born March 30, 1841, married October 16, 1862, to Robert Zuel, of Townsend township, who was born in New York. State October 29, 1831; they have four children: Mary, born October 20, 1863, married to Robert Asher, and living in Kansas, near Kansas City; Sarah, born October 22, 1865, married to William Range, and the mother of five children—Charles, Frank, Fred, Bessie and Harry; Hattie, born August 25, 1869, married to W. Gursuch, and living in Wallace county, Kans. ; and George, born March. 474 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 4, 1877, a farmer of Johnson county, Kans. (2) Sarah Fidelia, born September 7, 1842, is the wife of William L. Richards, of York township. (3) Robert L. is the subject of this sketch. (4) Charles, born February 20, 1848, died March 24, same year. Robert L. Rife grew up in York township, and at the age of twenty-three, on September I, 1869, married Miss Maria Dimock, who was born in Brownhelm township, Lorain county, August 4, 1849. After marriage they settled on a small place, and modestly began farming. It can be said that Mr. Rife has a genius for the noble art of husbandry, for he has prospered almost beyond measure, and he is to-day one of the most substantial farmers of Sandusky county. To Mr. and Mrs. Rife have been born five children: Charles, Fred, Emmet, Gertrude and Homer. Charles, the eldest, married Hattie Wyatt, and has two children—Beatrice and Ellis. Fred married Miss Christena Knoblow, and has one child—Helen. SAMUEL FOUGHT, one of the honored pioneers of Sandusky county, has made his home in Washington township since the days when this locality was a frontier settlement, when the work of progress and civilization seemed hardly begun, when homes were widely scattered, and when many of the now thriving towns and villages had not yet sprung into existence. In the work of progress and advancement he has ever borne his part, and his name is inseparably connected with the history of the county. Mr. Fought is a native of Ohio, born in Perry county, December 3, 1831, and is a son of Michael and Elizabeth (Kline) Fought, who removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio in the days when it was hardly safe to venture far from their log cabin, for the wolves were then more numerous in Sandusky county than are the cattle to-day. They located upon a forty-acre tract of land about two miles from the present home of our subject, and there spent their remaining days, both reaching an advanced age. The father passed away at the age of eighty-one, and the mother was called to her final rest at the age of eighty-three. In his political relations he was a Democrat, and both were members of the Lutheran Church. Their family numbered eleven children, of whom Peggy became the wife of J. Cunningham, by whom she had four children, and after his death married G. Heverland, by whom she had one child; Sally married J. Hetrick, and both are now deceased; Solomon, Nancy and Michael are also deceased; the other members of the family are Betsy, William, Powell, Polly, Samuel and Levi. Our subject was a young child when his parents located in Sandusky county, and when he became old enough to attend school he was sent to the only one in the township, about five miles from his home, and that distance he was compelled to walk. He lived with his parents until 1848, when, at the age of seventeen, with the money that he had saved from his earnings, he purchased seventy acres of land in Washington township, and took up his residence thereon. It is located on what is termed the pike, and is one of the most valuable tracts in the township. Here he is successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits, and his place is under a high state of cultivation, and well improved with the accessories and conveniences of a model farm. On October 5, 1843, Mr. Fought was married to Miss Susan Klotz, daughter of David Klotz, a farmer of Pennsylvania, in whose family there were seven children: Philip, Katie, Susan, John, Martin, Samuel and David. The father died at the age of sixty-three, the mother at the advanced age of eighty-six. To Mr. and Mrs. Fought have been born eight chil-