1150 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY his membership in the Evangelical church. He is public spirited, giving his cooperation to every movement which tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of his native county, with the interests of which he has now been identified for more than a half century. ALLEN BLANCHARD. Allen Blanchard was born in- Albany, New York, in 1843, acquiring his education in the public schools of that city. On putting aside his text-books he commenced business as a patternmaker in association with his father, continuing in that line of activity throughout his entire life. During the three years which he spent in Mansfield he was superintendent of the Eclipse Stove Works. He was ill for the last five years of his life and during the last two years was unable, to do any work. Allen Blanchard was one of the first to enlist in the Civil war, joining the Hawkins Zouaves of New York and serving with them throughout the term of their enlistment. He participated in every engagement in which they took part and was ever a brave and loyal soldier, unfaltering in his defense of the old flag. In 1865 he was united in marriage to Miss Marietta Perkins, a native of Vermont, and the two children of this union are Eugene Blanchard, of Troy, New York, and Mrs. Marie Kegg, who has four children. Politically Mr. Blanchard was a republican, while fraternally he was connected with the Royal Arcanum, and in religious faith was a Presbyterian. His death, which occurred in 1899, was the occasion of deep and widespread regret, for he had ever been an enterprising business man, an upright and public-spirited citzen and a devoted husband and father. ROBERT M. TAYLOR. Robert M. Taylor is the junior member of the firm of Schryock & Taylor, proprietors of one of the leading mercantile interests of Mansfield. The business was established in 1906 and has since been successfully conducted, a large trade being enjoyed in the sale of machinery, buggies, harness, implements, fertilizers, flour, etc. The partners are men of enterprise and good business and executive ability and have made their establishment attractive to the public by reason of their honorable business methods, reasonable prices and earnest desire to please their patrons. Mr. Taylor was born April 2, 1864, in Washington township, this county, his parents being William and Eleanor (Trewhill) Taylor. The father was a farmer by occupation, following that pursuit until his life's labors were ended in death in 1891. His wife, surviving him for about five years, died in October, 1896. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1151 Robert M. Taylor pursued his education in the district schools of Springfield township, for the family removed to that locality when he was but three years of age. He spent his life as a farmer and dealer in agricultural implements until he joined Webster H. Schryock in establishing a business at Ontario, Ohio, under the firm' style of Schryock & Taylor. This was in 1903. There they opened a store, in which they carried a line of goods similar to that which they are now handling at Mansfield. The latter store was opened in 1906 and both establishments are now being successfully conducted. They are also agents for the De Laval cream separator. Their trade has reached profitable proportions and the partners are well known for their enterprise, perseverance and commercial integrity. Mr. Taylor is well known in political circles and in 1900 was elected constable, which office he has since acceptably filled, covering a period of eight years. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and is also a member of the Highland Grange. He is well known in Richland county, Where his entire life has been passed and the fact that many of his stanchest friends are those who have been acquainted with him from his boyhood is an indication that his has been an honorable and upright career. JOHN HARVEY WOODS. John Harvey Woods, a rural mail carrier living at No. 50 Glesner avenue in Mansfield, was born August 16, 1844, upon a farm in this county. His father, James Woods, was a native of Pennsylvania, and with his parents removed to Ashland county, Ohio, in his childhood days. When he had attained his majority he began farming on his own account across the line in Richland county and was thus identified with agricultural pursuits in Ohio until 1863, when he removed to Indiana, where his death occurred in 1865. His entire life has been devoted to farming. He wedded Mary Fifcoat, who was born in Marion county, Ohio, and they became the parents of four children : John F., who, though a resident of Mansfield, is now sojourning in Los Angeles, California, for the benefit of his health; William, a resident of Oklahoma; John H., of this review ; and Ebenezer, deceased. John Harvey Woods pursued his early education in Quail Trap school in Springfield township until the age of sixteen years, after which he devoted his undivided attention to the work of the home farm, continuing thus to assist his father until he reached the age of nineteen years. He had not yet attained his majority when he offered his services to the government in defense of the Union, enlisting at Mansfield on the 19th of August, 1862, as a member of Company I, One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served for three years, two months and four days, and was discharged at Detroit, Michigan, although the regiment was mustered out at Columbus. Mr. Woods, however, was at that time a messenger on staff duty. He participated in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou and Arkansas Post and went down the Mississippi river to Young's Point, where he was in camp for a time. 1152 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY With his command he afterward crossed the river below Vicksburg and participated in the battle of Thompson Hill, while later he took part in the battles of Jackson and Black River and was also present at the siege of Vicksburg until its surrender. From the battle of Arkansas Post he served as a messenger on special duty until the close of the war, being connected with the staffs of General Henseman, General Joseph Hooker, and others. Although he was not wounded in battle he had met with an accident which, though seemingly slight, has since been felt. He started with a message on a dark night and, tripping on a rope, fell and hit a stake. The fall impaired his health and he feels the effects to this day. When the war was over Mr. Woods returned to Richland county and began to clerk for his brother. He afterward went upon the road as a traveling salesman and subsequently was engaged in business on his own account until about six years ago, when he began carrying the mails on rural delivery route No. 7. In 1873 Mr. Woods was united in marriage to Miss Emily A. Brown, who was born in Medina. county, Ohio, and came with her parents to Richland county at the age of sixteen years. They now have one child, Cassius H:, who was born in 1876 and after attending the public schools of Mansfield became a student in the dental department of the Ohio Medical University. He was graduated in 1897 with the D.D.S. degree and began the practice of dentistry in Bellville, where he remained for six years. He afterward practiced in Mansfield for two and a half years, but during the past four years has been interested in the promotion of western enterprises and is a wide-awake, progressive business man. In 1899 he married Miss Jeannette D. Oberlin, a resident of Bellville, Ohio. In his political views Mr. Woods is a stalwart republican and, keeping well informed on the questions and issues of the day, is enabled to support his position by intelligent argument. He was born and reared in the faith of the Seceders church, but both he and his wife are now members of the Congregational church. They own an attractive and well furnished home in the city, keep a team of horses and are pleasantly situated in life. Comparatively few men of Mr. Woods' years can boast of three years' service as a soldier in the Union army and in the years which have since come and gone he has proven himself equally loyal to the interests of his country. LEWIS C. MENGERT. Lewis C. Mengert, who since 1886 has been a representative of the Ohio bar, practicing at Mansfield since 1892, has gained a large clientage, as he has demonstrated his ability to successfully handle involved and important litigated interests. He is one of Richland county's native sons, having first opened his eyes to the light of day in a little log cabin that stood upon a farm in Washington township, his birth occurring August 27, 1858. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1153 His parents, William and Sophia (Griebling) Mengert, were natives of Germany, the former born in Oberbieber, of the kingdom of Prussia, June 18, 1818, while the mother's birth occurred January 2, 1813, in Freilinger in the province of Nassau. They were reared and married in Germany and seven children were born unto them ere they left that country, but five died there. In 1853, with his wife and surviving two children, William Mengert started for the new world and after reaching American shores made his way into the interior of the country, settling upon a rented farm in Washington township, Richland county. His daughter Henrietta died about five or six years after the family came to the new world, but the son survives and is now living in Knox county, Ohio. Two sons were added to the family in America: Frederick, now living in Ashland county, Ohio and Lewis C., of this review. After renting land for several years, William Mengert purchased and located upon an eighty acre tract of school land. He continued to carry on general agricultural pursuits there until 1883, when he and his wife removed to Butler, but in that year Mrs. Mengert died. Both the parents were members of the Evangelical Reformed church and Mr. Mengert was always a stanch democrat, who in Worthington township served as trustee for three or four years. It was upon the home farm that Lewis G. Mengert was reared, early becoming familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He mastered the elementary branches of learning as a pupil in the district school and afterward attended village school at Butler, while later he matriculated at Mansfield Normal School, and that he displayed aptitude in his studies is indicated by the fact that when but seventeen years of age he was granted a teacher's certificate and took up the active work of the profession, which he followed for thirteen years. During the last six years of that time he was principal of the schools at Butler and he became recognized as one of the able exponents of public education, holding high the standard of the schools with which he was connected and inspiring his pupils with much of his own zeal and interest in the work. However, he resolved to enter other professional fields and in 1883 became a law student in the office of Donnell & Marriott, attorneys of Mansfield. His preliminary reading was broad and thorough and secured his admission to the bar in 1886. He practiced at Butler for six years and in 1892 removed to Mansfield. For five years thereafter he was a partner in the firm of Bell, Brinkerhoff & Mengert, and in 1897 the law firm of Douglass & Mengert was formed. Mr. Mengert has continuously practiced law since 1883 and his power and ability have constantly been broadened through experience, research and study. He never neglects to give a thorough preparation nor does he lack that power which results in a clear and forceful presentation of his case and with all its points duly defined in their relative proportion. He can cite law and precedent and is seldom if ever at error in applying a legal principle to the cause in litigation. In 1883 occurred the marriage of Mr. Mengert and Miss Clara V. Gongwer. Their children are four in number: Portia, Gladys, Karl and Paul. The family are all members of St. Luke's Lutheran church and Mr. Mengert affiliates with the Independent Order of Foresters and the Knights of Pythias. 1154 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY His political allegiance has always been given to the democracy and his efforts in its behalf have been effective forces in its success in Richland county. In 1898 and again in 1900 he was chairman of the democratic county executive committee. Without any special advantages at the outset of his career, Mr. Mengert has made steady progress in a profession demanding close application, unfaltering purpose and unwearied industry and his ability is displayed by the liberal clientage which is today his. NORMAN TEETER. Norman Teeter, who is engaged in farming and dairying on section 30. Jefferson township, was born in Richland county, Ohio, August 1, 1867, a son of John and Sarah Teeter, who are mentioned at length in another part of this volume. Norman Teeter obtained a common-school education and remained at home until he had become of age. He worked by the month for two years and on the expiration of that period operated a rented farm for three years. Subsequently he made his home in Bellville for four years and then again engaged in farming for three years. Purchasing forty acres of land on section 30, Jefferson township, he has here since made his home, and in connection with the tilling of the soil also conducts a dairy, both 'branches of his business bringing to him a gratifying financial return. On the 31st of August, 1892, Mr. Teeter was united in marriage to Miss Kate Lewis, whose birth occurred in Morrow county, Ohio, in 1866, her parents being Barton and Martha (Acton) Lewis, natives of this state. The former still living but the mother passed away in 1874, leaving a family of six children : Alvilda, at home; Milton, of Morrow county, Ohio; Rilla, the wife of John W. Teeter; Mrs. Teeter ; Jennie, at home; and Weems, residing in Missouri. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Teeter four children have been born: Lloyd B., Esther L., Maggie A. and Foy L. Mr. Teeter gives his political allegiance to the democracy, while his wife is a member of the Baptist church. They are both well known and highly respected throughout the entire community and Mr. Teeter is widely recognized as one of Richland county's enterprising native sons, whose aid and influence can ever be counted upon to further any movement or measure calculated to prove of general good. WILLIAM DOW. William Dow, president of the Dow Chemical Manufacturing Company and identified with various other corporate interests, has the keen discrimination that enables him to understand and embrace business opportunities and to carry them forward to successful completion along well defined lines of labor intelligently directed. Mr. Dow is a native of Kinross, Scotland, and, HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1155 educated in that country, he came to America as a young man of twenty years, locating at New York. Later he removed to. Cleveland, Ohio, and afterward came to Mansfield, where he conducted a general contracting business until his practical retirement from business activity and management. He was closely associated with building interests here and many substantial structures of the city stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise. He is now largely living retired in the enjoyment of well earned rest, although he is financially connected with various corporate interests which are contributing to the substantial upbuilding of the city and returning to their stockholders a goodly annual dividend. In 1903 Mr. Dow and his sons established the Dow Chemical Manufacturing Company, of which he is the president. He is also vice president of the Ideal Electric Company, a director in the Bank of Mansfield, a director in the Barnes Manufacturing Company, also in a coal and timber company operating in West Virginia and in the Mechanics' Building & Loan Company of Mansfield. As the years have passed and he has prospered in his undertakings he has also invested in realty and is the owner of considerable valuable property in this city. His holdings include his own home at No. 564 Park avenue, west, the residence being erected by Mr. Dow in 1896. Mr. Dow was married at Forest, Ohio, to Miss Lisetta Stetzer, of an old German family connected with the nobility. There are three sons: John W. Dow, who is treasurer of the Dow Chemical Manufacturing Company ; Ralph, who is secretary of the same company ; and Walter, who is its vice president. Mr. Dow is a member of all the Masonic bodies and is a past chancellor of Mansfield Commandery, No. 21, K. T. In politics he is a republican where national questions are involved, but is an independent voter at local elections, nor has he ever sought or desired office. He is a member of the First Presbyterian church and a citizen of substantial worth in the community, who has made rapid progress in his business affairs and has wrought along lines of great good. He early learned to know when one avenue of opportunity seems to be closed there are others which will open to industry, perseverance and determination. Gradually he has worked his way upward and his success is the direct result of intense and well directed energy. W. M. HAHN. W. M. Hahn ranks as one of the representative and prominent residents of Mansfield. He is a man of well balanced capabilities and powers, of strong character, and one who inspires confidence in others. He may not have genius, or any phenomenal characteristics, yet he is capable of mature judgment concerning his own capacity and of the people and circumstances that make up his life's contacts and experiences. Preeminently a man of business sense, he easily avoids mistakes or any course where erratic movements might lead him into unwarranted risk and failure. He is, moreover, ready to meet any of the obligations of life with the confidence and courage that comes of conscious personal ability, right conceptions of things and a conscientious 1156 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities. He was born in Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, November 24, 1848, his parents being Mathias and Mary (Martin) Hahn, who were also natives of the Keystone state. They removed to Ohio in 1852, settling first at Shelby, but soon afterwards took up their abode on a farm near there and later became residents of Crawford county, where Mr. Hahn engaged in the sawmill and lumber business until he retired a few years previous to his death, which occurred in 1876. His wife had died on the farm in Auburn township in 1868. Mathias Hahn had owned and operated a lumber mill and was an energetic, enterprising business man of the community. He represented an old Pennsylvania family whose members were living at Carlisle, Shippensburg and Stauntown, where some of their descendants still reside. They are of German lineage, the grandfather of our subject having been a native of Germany. W. M. Hahn was the fourth in order of birth in a. family of four sons and four daughters, six of whom are living, while two daughters died in early womanhood. W. M. Hahn spent his boyhood, to the age of fifteen years, in Crawford county and acquired his education in the public schools there until he entered a seminary at De Kalb. He was a student in that institution when he enlisted for service in the Civil war, becoming a musician of Company H, Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He played the snare drum and in February, 1863, went to the front, being engaged on active duty until wounded at Peachtree Creek, Georgia, in 1864. He was at that time serving as private orderly to Colonel Wolfe, and after being wounded was sent home on a. furlough, returning to his regiment three months later. He was then detailed as private orderly to Brigadier General Harker and was mustered out of service at New Orleans in 1865. He then returned to his home in Crawford county and began work at the carpenter's trade, following that pursuit in the vicinity of his home for about a year. In 1867 he removed to Plymouth, this county, where he worked at carpentering until September, 1868, when lie became a resident of Mansfield, where he has since lived. For two years he was identified with building interests here and then turned his attention to the fire insurance business, with which he has been connected continuously since 1870, excepting when holding public office. In 1873 he was associated with J. H. Emminger in organizing the Mansfield Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and in 1876 he assisted M. E. Douglas in the organization of the Merchants & Manufacturers Mutual Fire insurance Company of Mansfield. In 1905 he organized the North American Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Mansfield, and is now the general manager and one of the directors of the company. He has also aided in organizing many other financial and corn; mercial institutions of the city and has thus contributed in large measurement to the business development of the county seat of Richland county. Mr. Hahn is equally well known in republican circles and has done an active work for the party. He was elected city assessor from the first ward for three consecutive terms, and was then selected as republican county chairman, which position he filled for two terms. While acting in that capacity he was appointed by Senator Sherman to the position of deputy United states HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1157 marshal for the northern district of Ohio, and served as such for six years. In 1883 he was nominated by the republican state convention far a member of the state board of public works and was elected by about six thousand plurality, notwithstanding the fact that Governor Foraker was defeated in the state election, as were several other candidates for state offices. Two years later Mr. Hahn was renominated and was elected by over twelve thousand plurality. In 1890 he was appointed chairman of the republican state executive committee by Hon. Daniel J. Ryan, and in 1891 was again appointed to this position at the personal request of William McKinley, who that year was a candidate on the state ticket for governor. The day before the election Mr. Hahn in a letter to Major McKinley advised him that he would have in this state twenty-two thousand plurality over Governor James E. Campbell, and the number at the election was exceeded by only about three hundred, which was the closest estimate ever made in the state. After serving for six years On the state board of public works Mr. Hahn was appointed state superintendent of insurance for Ohio by Major McKinley, who was then governor, and served for three years, or until the expiration of the governor's term. In 1892 he was elected a delegate at large for Ohio to the Minneapolis republican convention with William McKinley, J. B. Foraker and. Asa Bushnell, all of whom had been governors of the state, and at the convention at Minneapolis the delegates elected him a member of the republican national committee, in which office he served for four years.. He was still a member of the committee when elected one of the sub-committee and was chosen secretary to that committee to look after the details of the convention that was held in St. Louis in 1898. While thus serving he had supervision over the building in which the convention was to be held in St. Louis and the apportionment of tickets for admission, to convention hall. In 1892 Mr. Hahn was chairman of the speaker's bureau during the Harrison campaign and was located in New York, from which point the campaign was managed. In 1896 he was asked by Major McKinley to accept the same position in Chicago. From the foregoing it will be seen that Mr. Hahn is and has been recognized as a most efficient and faithful worker in republican ranks, capable of formulating and executing plans which have resulted in benefit to the party, and at, all times has enjoyed the confidence of the prominent state and national leaders, who have relied largely upon him for effective organization and marshaling of republican forces in the campaigns. In July, 1870, in Mansfield was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hahn and Miss Rosa L. Hiltabidle, a daughter of John Hiltabidle, of Mansfield. Mrs. Hahn was a teacher in the public schools and was the only girl member of the high school class in which she was graduated. She is prominent in social circles and very active in charitable and benevolent work. She is also a member of the St. Luke's Lutheran church and does much to advance its interest and promote its influence. Mr. Hahn belongs to the various Masonic bodies, to the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and the Mansfield Country Club, of which he is a director. He, too, is a devout member of St. Luke's Lutheran church, 1158 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY of which he has been a trustee altogether for thirty-three years, serving in that capacity in connection with the Lutheran church before St. Luke's church was organized, at which time he was elected to the same office by the newly formed society. His aid has never been solicited in vain in support of any movement calculated to benefit the town and county, and while he has figured prominently in political life he has also found opportunity to assist in local measures. As the years have passed he has prospered in his undertakings and has made judicious investment in real estate. He is now the owner of four hundred acres of valuable land adjoining the Country Club on the west, and known as Roseland farm. Upon this place he resides. It was originally known as the Harvey Hill farm, and comprised three hundred and twenty acres, but later he purchased an adjoining tract of eighty acres. This includes ninety-five acres of timber, which is one of the largest forest tracts in this part of the state. While giving his attention principally to his insurance business Mr. Hahn also looks after the conduct of his farm, and likewise owns some property in Mansfield, including the block at the corner of Park avenue and Walnut street, where his offices are located. He is a man of attractive build and fine physique, and his commanding appearance makes him noticeable in any gathering, while his intellectual force, his business capacity and his powers of organization have gained for him the attention and respect of his associates in business, political and social life. JAMES PURDY. In the spring of 1823 James Purdy, a young lawyer from New York state, seeking his fortune in the new western country, arrived at Mansfield and took charge of a newspaper; admitted to the bar, he rode the circuit of the surrounding counties; as editor, his opinion was felt in local affairs, and his influence extended to the legislature at Columbus, where he procured the survey of a canal route through Mansfield; obtained a charter for a railroad from Pittsburg and organized the corps that surveyed the line; was first president of the first steam road to enter Mansfield; established the first banking house in the county built a railroad in Iowa; mills near Toledo, and died at the age of ninety-three, having passed in Mansfield sixty-three years filled full with the many activities of a prominent townsman and pioneer man of affairs. The Purdy ancestry was thoroughly Scotch-Irish, the four preceding generations on both sides having been drawn from the Scotch Covenanter stock which continued in the north of Ireland after the general emigration of the sect under Charles II. The grandfather, Hugh Purdy (with wife, Esther Bell), came to America in 1762 and joined a previous Scotch settlement at Hopewell, in York county, Pennsylvania, bringing with him his two sons, one of whom, Patrick B., chose a wife (Jeannette Wallace) among the daughters of the colony, and inherited half his father's land; bore a captain's commission in the Revolution, built a grist mill and became the miller of the district. The flour was carted to Baltimore, forty miles to the south, and there shipped to foreign ports. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1159 Patrick Purdy's son James was born July 24, 1793, and, together with seven brothers and sisters, was brought up with all the strictness of early Scotch Presbyterianism. Hopewell was, at that time; a thorough Covenanter colony, the earliest church in the district (perhaps the first United Presbyterian church in America) had been organized in 1754 at grandfather Wallace's house ; and in the district schools Saturday afternoon was devoted to catechism. The homestead consisted of a four-hundred acre farm and its barns, a big stone house, with "P. B. Purdy, 1800," cut in the gable, the spinning-house, the flour mill in the valley, the cooper-shop and warehouse. There were negro domestics and black farm hands, and each Sabbath morning the family, spinning maids and workmen all listened to a long sermon at Round Hill church. Amid such surroundings young James, the eldest of the children, grew up—going to district school, puzzling over Greek and Latin works found among his father's books; working with a surveyor and studying his science; becoming an expert cooper in the shop connected with the mill; joining with the neighbors at barn-raisings and getting a bad fall in one case from the top of the structure. Enlisting with the infantry volunteers he served under arms as corporal when, twice, calls were made for the defense of the frontiers in the war of 1812. Previous to this struggle the Non-Intercourse Acts wrecked the flour industry and (in 1811) the father gave up his mill and moved the family to Canandaigua, New York, a place known in early times as a center of a cultivated society and the seat of the Canandaigua Academy. Here the name James Purdy was presently enrolled among the students. He mastered Latin grammar and read Virgil, obtaining a state license as teacher and taught in the newly organized township schools, studied geometry and taught himself surveying, and in the fall of 1819 was appointed assistant professor in the academy. For three years he studied law with Attorneys Adams & Sibley at Canandaigua and' Benjamen at East Bloomfield. In the autumn of 1822, having been admitted to the bar, he considered his classical and legal education complete and prepared himself for a journey to the new west. James Purdy and James Stewart attached themselves to a party of farmers going prospecting to Ohio, and, reaching Norwalk, turned south, heading for Cincinnati on foot, no conveyance being available. They passed through Mansfield, Fredericktown and Worthington and arrived at Columbus a town of five hundred inhabitants. Here Stewart gave up, and meeting with a Mansfield man went home with him; set up the first classical school in the region ; became judge of common pleas court and a valued citizen of early Mansfield. His companion kept on through Cincinnati to Louisville, where he waited for a boat that would take him to New Orleans, his intended destination being Pensacola, Florida. At Louisville the brutal treatment of a slave so impressed him that he abandoned his journey to the south and crossed the Ohio river to Corydon, the seat of government of Indiana. The state and federal courts being then in session he secured immediate admission to practice and rode the circuit with his friend, H. H. Moore, the district attorney. The south of Indiana seemed to Mr. Purdy to be filling up with an inferior class of immigrant settlers and he was not long in deciding 1160 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY to return northeastward. He forthwith started on foot, bearing a soldier's knapsack. It was a dozen miles between adjacent clearings, and Indianapolis, which had just been laid out, boasted a big log tavern. From Indianapolis to Fort Wayne he followed an Indian trail, the Indians having sold their lands to the government, were just then leaving their villages and moving westward, and squatters were taking possession of their abandoned habitations and clearings. These settlers housed the traveler over night—as mentioned in his diary; he in this way met with several settlers of an earlier date who had come west to escape imprisonment for debt during the industrial depression of 1810. Mr. Purdy was ferried across White River by Bill Connor the notorious trader and squaw-man, who had managed the negotiations between congress and the Indians relative to the cession of their lands. Leaving behind Fort Wayne, with its twenty stores, its throng of Indian traders and fur trap,pers with their ponies and packs, and striking for Defiance, the trip became very rough, and a bivouac under a bush was the only available night's lodging in one case. At Fort Meigs there was a tavern. Between Fort Meigs and Fort Stevenson (now Fremont) the distance of thirty-five miles was covered between sunrise and sunset of December 25th, and his journal says: "It being Christmas night the neighborhood was giving a ball, which I attended." The remainder of the winter he spent at Norwalk writing up the court, records, which had been allowed to lapse. Here the country had been organized seven years and the legal profession well established. After visiting various places in the north of the state Mr. Purdy decided on Mansfield, and came here May 29, 1823. Not allowed to practice until he had been resident in the state for a year, he bought the small equipment of the unsuccessful pioneer newspaper, employed J. C. Gilkinson as printer and began the publication of the Mansfield Gazette. The outfit of type having proved insufficient the editor rode to Cincinnati and brought back a new supply in his saddle bags. Subsequently the entire equipment 'was renewed and enlarged and the paper continued under Mr. Purdy's editorship until he sold in 1832 to T. W. Bartley, afterward supreme court judge and governor of the state. The Gazette was consolidated with the Western Herald, which had been started in 1830, and the resulting paper was named The Ohio Spectator. Having been admitted to practice in the state and federal courts late in 1823, he rode the circuit, which was then composed of the counties of Richland, Wood, Huron, Sandusky, Seneca, Crawford and Marion. Among his associates on the circuit were Messrs. May, Parker, Coffinberry and Stewart (John M. May being the first resident attorney of the settlement, having arrived in 1815), all of whom rode good horses, carried their legal papers in their hats and spent jolly evenings at the log taverns along the way. Mr. Purdy continued in practice until 1860, gradually relinquishing this practice, however, in favor of other interests. Although he was an active whig and republican he was only a candidate for office once, when he was defeated for state senator in 1828.. As time went on he developed a wide acquaintance and many intimate friendships among the prominent politicians and leading men of affairs of the state. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1161 Work on the important Ohio and Erie canal having begun in 1825, Editor Purdy urged the value of a canal improvement for Richland county, and an act was passed directing the survey of a route up the valley of Black Fork creek. In 1833 he summoned from Detroit an engineer to take charge of some local enterprise, which was afterwards abandoned, so, securing authority from the legislature, he sent this engineer with a corps of assistants to survey the Black Fork canal. The line was laid out but the work of building never undertaken, it being found impracticable in this, the "back-bone" county of the state. Steam railroads were a recent appearance in the East. The Sandy and Beaver canal was in process of construction in the eastern part of the state. Mr. Purdy thought a good railroad route was to be had from the western terminus of this canal, westward through Mansfield and on to Fort Wayne. His professional calling had made him acquainted with various prominent men at Pittsburg and with others along the line of the contemplated improvement. He therefore, in the summer of 1834, arranged a meeting at his office in Mansfield, which was attended by representatives of all counties from Stark westward; measures were taken to obtain an act of the legislature, and Dr. A. G. Miller, S. R. Curtis and Mr. Purdy were appointed a committee to forward the work of the proposed railroad. A charter was secured and the state paid the cost of a survey, completed under S. R. Curtis in 1836. Construction could not begin without the aid of Pittsburg capital, and for the present this was not forthcoming. Richland county's earliest outlet for produce was Sandusky City, on the lake. Huron had diverted most of this traffic by building a canal to Norwalk, and Sandusky had replied by building a horse-power railroad to Monroeville. A steam road between Mansfield and Sandusky appeared so desirable that several charters had been granted for such a line, but no work done as yet. In December, 1839, Judge William Patterson and Mr. Purdy were appointed to go to Columbus and obtain or have amended a charter for a road from Mansfield to New Haven. This was effected, and Mr. Purdy, together with the others interested, spent the rest of the winter among the farmers, holding meetings in the schoolhouses and booming the enterprise. In the spring of 1840 the company was organized and Mr. Purdy appointed president. He took direct charge of the work, employed an engineer and had the line located as far as New Haven. The work was let and a day appointed (in August, 1840) for the ceremony of breaking the first ground. This was performed by John Stewart, first surveyor of the county, and Robert Bentley, an early pioneer settler, in the presence of a large and interested assembly at Mansfield, and a very important step in the development of the town and county had been taken. This was among the very earliest steam roads in the state. The undertaking was, in large part, dependent upon the money subscribed direct by the farmers along the line; later these funds were augmented by well-to-do Mansfield citizens. Work having been retarded by changes of administration and financial disaster, it was not until 1846 that the first train steamed into Mansfield. 1162 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Mr. Purdy had been a stockholder in the Bank of Wooster, organized in 1834. When in 1845 the Ohio State Bank was created by the legislature, he organized a banking company which was approved and accepted as a branch of the State Bank, and as such entered into business in September, 1847. This was known as the Farmers' Branch of the Ohio State Bank (capital $100,000.00), and was the first permanent and substantial institution of the kind in the county. Mr. Purdy was president and John M. Rhodes cashier. Mr. Purdy thereby became a member of the state board of control which financed the early times of Ohio, and in 1883, at ninety years of age, was the oldest member present at the annual reunion of that notable body. About 1848 he established branch banking houses in Mount Gilead, Findlay, Ashland and Millersburg—the last two became national banks when (in 1865) the old state bank system was discontinued. The Farmers' Bank at Mansfield at this date was reorganized as the Farmers' National Bank, Mr. Purdy continuing to be its president until his death. Soon after the establishment of the Mansfield and New Haven line, at the request of the Pittsburgers who had failed to support the Big Sandy and Fort Wayne project, Mr. Purdy called a meeting of the original promoters of that enterprise at Massillon in 1848. The proposed route was extended to reach Pittsburg and a joint charter was obtained from the Pennsylvania and Ohio legislatures, Mr. Purdy attending to the Ohio end of it, and the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad was built to Crestline. It was afterward extended through Mansfield to Fort Wayne' and became the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. In 1855 he joined with a number of eastern capitalists in the organization of the Clinton Railroad & Land Company, which laid out the city of Clinton, Iowa, and proposed building a railroad from that point to Cedar Rapids. For some succeeding years Mr. Purdy, as vice president of this company, spent most of his time in the west, taking active charge of the work of construction, which included a bridge across the Mississippi. He laid the corner-stone of the first house in Clinton. Mr. Purdy derived a fondness for mills from the homestead at Hopewell, and when in 1828 he acquired a farm in Richland county, including a small mill, he rebuilt and enlarged the plant. In 1836 he purchased a tract of land on the Maumee river, abreast of the rapids (Grand Rapids) and became proprietor of an extensive water power, built a sawmill, and later added a grist mill, equipping it extensively with machinery of the period, so soon to become obsolete and worthless. Mr. Purdy's long life covered the period of three wars. As a young lad he had been an enthusiastic reader of accounts of the Marlborough campaigns and Queen Anne wars found among his father's books. He had enlisted in the volunteers' service of New York state and served two calls to the front in 1812 at the third call a substitute took his place and was killed and his command captured. In 1824 he took part in organizing a volunteer gun squad, equipped with a six-pounder howitzer, which was one of Mansfield's crack military organizations, and upon the outbreak of the Civil war was revived and put into service, Captain McMullin commanding. In 1827 Mr. Purdy was appointed assistant adjutant general, and in 1846, at the request HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1163 of the governor, raised four companies for the Mexican war service. In 1862 Governor Tod appointed him commissioner to make a draft, and later, when Cincinnati was threatened, he raised a company of "Squirrel Hunters," one hundred and twenty strong, and started for Columbus within twenty-four hours. His son James enlisted at the age of fifteen years in the Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 1861 and served throughout the Civil war. A man preeminently of business interests and active affairs, Mr. Purdy still found time to gratify an inquiring mind by wide and miscellaneous reading, being informed on a variety of subjects not usually explored except by the student. He had a great reputation among his neighbors as an authority on points of Biblical history. IIis interest in higher education was shown by a substantial gift to Washington an.d Jefferson College in 1858 and by his life-long support of Wooster University, the state institution of his religious denomination. In the story of this life we see portrayed a typical pioneer man of affairs. In the development of a new country first there comes the settler who breaks the first roads, clears the forest, drains the swamps and builds himself a rude home; next come the men of affairs, men of brains who practice in the courts, edit the papers and manage the politics of the country; then men of means who establish the stores, build the warehouses, extend traffic and intercourse and supply the money for new enterprises Successively school teacher, editor, lawyer, banker and capitalist, Mr. Purdy was a fine example. of this type. Late in life (October, 1839) he married Mary Beaufort Hodge, third daughter of William Hodge, one of the early. bankers of the city of Buffalo. There were seven children: Mary H., wife of William H. Weldon, of the United States navy, of Mansfield; Jeannette W., of Mansfield, wife of Joseph S. Hedges, United States army; James Purdy, who married Emma Kennedy; Helen S., who married Henry M. Weaver, of Columbus.; Adelaide W., wife of Frank S. Lahm, of Canton; Kate H., wife of Dr. Frank D. Bain, of Kenton; and Hamilton Patrick Purdy. JOHN CHAMBERLIN FISH. John Chamberlin Fish, controlling in an executive capacity many important business concerns, is a man both forceful a.nd resourceful in the active affairs of life. With marked ability to plan and perform, he stands as one of the conspicuous figures in the business interests of this county, and if his achievements were characterized in a single sentence it could perhaps best be done in the words: The splendid success of an honest man, in whose career marked business ability and genuine public spirit are well balanced forces. He is a native of Sheldon, Vermont, and a son of Cortez F. and Helen (Carlisle) Fish, the former proprietor of a flour mill. The son pursued his education in the public schools of Akron and Shelby, Ohio, and in a private school at Gambier, Ohio. As he has proceeded in his business career his interests have broadened in extent and importance, and many prominent 1164 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY industrial and commercial concerns have felt the stimulus of his energy and have benefited by his keen insight, sound judgment and unfaltering enterprise. He has manifested much of the spirit of the initiative in his business career in that he has not followed the paths that others have marked out, but has wrought along new lines, possessing the power and ability to shape varied interests into a harmonious whole. He is now the president of the National Electric Lamp Association, the Shelby Electric Company, the Shelby Printing Company and the Ohio Seamless Tube Company. He is also the vice president of the Shelby Telephone Company, the president of the Auto Call System Company and a director of the Shelby Water Company and the Citizens Bank. His position in business circles is indicated by the fact that he is now president of the Shelby Business Men's Association, being thus honored as a most prominent representative of the trade interests of his city. On the 2d of March, 1892, Mr. Fish was .married to Miss Anna M. Roberts, and they have three sons, De Forest R., Cortez Carlisle and John C., aged, respectively, fifteen, twelve and ten years. Mr. Fish is an independent republican, usually advocating the principles of that party, yet also allied with that independent movement which is one of the hopeful signs of the times, showing that business men are no longer content to be governed by machine made politics, but desire a vote that shall be the expression of public opinion and an official service that will further the interests of the people at large. At the present writing he is serving as president of the board of education and is a stalwart champion of progress in intellectual lines. He belongs to both the Knights of Pythias and Elks lodges and is the president of the. Colonial Club. THEODORE L. GARBER. The agricultural and industrial interests of Richland county find a worthy representative in Theodore L. Garber, who is a native son of Jefferson township, his birth having occurred there August 9, 1845. He was the eighth in a family of twelve children, nine boys and three girls, and was reared to the occupation of farming, assisting in operating the home farm during boyhood and youth. His education was acquired in the district and Bellville high schools, which he attended a few winter terms, and he took the four-year Chautauqua course, graduating in the Pansy class of 1878. He is a great reader and his home is always well supplied with the best literature. He taught five winter terms of school in Jefferson township and worked on the farm in summer. He taught in 1868-9 in District No. 1, the average attendance being fifty-five in all grades. He chose for his companion and helpmate Martha Celestia Lee, who was born in Wyandot county April 7, 1851, a daughter of Ebenezer and Jane C. (Long) Lee, who moved to Richland county in 1852. Mr. Garber and Miss Lee were married October 4, 1869, and their union has HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1165 been blessed with seven children : Lee, who was born April 14, 1871, and died on the 10th of September following; Elbert Glenn, born June 20, 1872; Lloyd M., born April 27, 1876 ; Harry Zeyn, born November 10, and died November 29, 1882 ; Mabel C., born July 24, 1879 ; Louise, born March 24, 1884 ; and W. Carlton, born December 20, 1887. E. Glenn, eldest of the family now living, was educated in the district school and Bellville high school, after which he attended and graduated from the Spencerian Business College of Cleveland. He taught two terms of winter school and worked on the farm in summer. In 1890, in partnership with his father, he established the Valley Farm Creamery on his father's farm. It prospered so well that in 1892 it was moved to its present site in Bellville. In 1896 they bought the Bellville electric light plant and are running it in connection with the creamery. He is the efficient manager and half owner of both plants and has an excellet reputation for fair dealing and quality of creamery products. He married Miss Grace. Swineford in September, 1902, and they now have a son and daughter, Paul S. and Margaret. He is identified with the Universalist church and Grange and supports the prohibition party. Lloyd M. was educated in the district and Bellville high schools and taught winter terms for several years. He bought a half interest in the hardware store of Remy & Kochheiser and is doing a successful business as junior member of the firm of Kochheiser & Garber, Bellville. He married Susie Oberlin, had a son, Ray, who died in September, 1903, in his second year. He is a member of the Universalist church, of the Knights of Pythias and is town treasurer. Mabel C. was educated in district and Bellville high schools; spent one year in Buchtel College, Akron, and at Ashland College. She taught three years in country schools in Ashland county and one each in Bellville and Loudonville Union schools. She married Rev. William H. Beachler, and they have a son, John Russell. They are now located in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania. Louise attended the district school and Bellville high school and is at home. W. Carlton, who attended the district school and graduated from the Bellville high school at seventeen years of age, is at home engaged in teaching and farm work. Theodore L. Garber has been a member of the Universalist church since 1865 and has served many years as the superintendent of its Sunday school. He is now and has been for many years a trustee and deacon and held the office of treasurer of the Ohio Universalist convention for two years. He was a charter member of Jefferson Grange and has held many of its offices and is a trustee at present. He has been a member of Richland County Pomona Grange ever since it was organized and has held the office of master frequently. He has been president of the Richland County Farmers' Institute for several terms, held the office of treasurer of the Ohio Mutual Cyclone, Tornado and Wind Storm Insurance Association for two years and is treasurer of the Federation of Mutual Insurance Associations of Ohio now. The Federation is composed of one hundred and twenty-one associations, carrying risks amounting to over $200,000,000.00. He succeeded his brother, J. L. 1166 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Garber, as secretary of the Patrons Mutual Relief Association of Beilville January 4, 1892, and holds the office now, and is its treasurer also, havin been elected to that office on the 1st of October, 1901. At the time he took charge there were five hundred and eight members, carrying risks to the amount of $1,080,442. On January 1, 1908, there were two thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight members, carrying $6,102,426.00 insurance. His duties in this office occupy all of his time except what is necessary to oversee the farm operations. He began housekeeping in October, 1870, where he now lives, eighty rods north of Gatton Rock station, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The house he now occupies was built in the spring of 1870 and rebuilt in 1902. It is a comfortable habitation; arranged with furnace for heating water on both floors, has bath room, and is supplied with natural gas for light and fuel. The main barn was built in 1888, to which there has been several additions, until the farm is unusually well supplied with buildings. He is a progressive farmer, having built The first silo in the county and he raised the first alfalfa and soy beans. He was the first' to make the milk business in Bellville a success; used the first farm cream separator, the first manure spreader, and hitched his gas engine on his horse hay fork in 1906. His special pride is in the increasing fertility of his farm and in his family. The Garber-Leedy settlement is situate in the southern part of Jefferson township. 'The locality was formerly called "Leedy's Swamp," but the swamp is now a thing of the past, for as the country was cleared and drained wha was once a swamp is now rich, arable land. The Leedys, with their kinsmen, the Garbers, are a numerous people, and the Leedy Association, which holds annual reunions, has a membership of over seven hundred. As a people the Leedys and Garbers are agriculturists. Several, however, are ministers, and one—Aaron Leedy Garber—is a publisher and author as well as a minister. A few of their number are politicians, and one-John Leedy—has been governor of the state of Kansas. As a people the Leedys and their kinsmen are upright, honorable and prosperous and have done much to give tone and character to the township in which they live. CLAYTON C. WAGNER. Clayton C. Wagner is the most prominent young business man in Mansfield. He is the son of John W. and Melinda (Cook) Wagner, and was born in Stark county, Ohio, August 21, 1862. Eighteen hundred and sixty-two was the second year of the Civil war, and, the day the subject of this sketch was born a big war meeting was held in Massillon. Henry and Mary (Cox) Wagner, grandparents of. Clayton C. Wagner, were natives of Pennsylvania, but emigrated to Ohio and settled in Stark county at an early day. Henry Wagner was of German and his wife of Irish descent. Henry Wagner was a potter by trade, but directed his efforts in other directions after HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1167 coming to Ohio. He primarily located in Columbiana county, where he entered the employ of the McKinleys, ancestors of the late President McKinley. Some years later he removd to Canal Fulton, Stark county, where he became general manager of the merchandising, forwarding and commission business of John Robinson. Mr. Wagner was a man of integrity and spotless character and one of devotion to duty and consecutive industry. John W. Wagner, the father of the subject of this sketch, passed the boyhood days of his life in the village of Canal Fulton, where he was born. His educational privileges being such as were then afforded in the common schools of that section and period. At the early age of fourteen years he became a driver on the Ohio & Lake Erie canal, and the sturdy boy who thus trudged his way along the towpath of that primitive, though then important; "artery of commerce" found that his ambition reached out for higher pursuits, and at the age of seventeen he secured a position as salesman in a hardware store conducted by his father's employer, and he continued to be thus employed until 1862, when he was enabled to buy the stock and goodwill of the business, which he carried on successfully until the fall of 1870, when he disposed of the same to W. G. Myers and removed to Canton, where he engaged in business successfully until 1873, at which time he removed to Mansfield and became associated with E. J. Forney, under the firm name of Wagner & Forney, and bought the hardware stock of John Reed. In 1882 Mr. Wagner purchased his partner's interest in the concern and continued the business successfully until 1891, when he admitted his son Clayton to partpership, whereupon the firm name of Wagner & Son was adopted. The further growth and expansion of the enterprise rendered expedient the organization of a stock company, and in the year 1896 the Wagner Hardware Company was incorporated, with John W. Wagner president and Clayton C. Wagner vice-president, and the company has become one of the fixed features of Mansfield's business enterprises and one of the largest concerns of the kind in north central Ohio. Being progressive and public-spirited, Mr. Wagner extended his interests in other directions, and in 1884 assisted in the organization of the Mansfield Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of which he became president. He also became a director of the Citizens National Bank of Mansfield and of the Humphreys Manufacturing Company, and also owned fine farms in both Richland and Ashland counties. Clayton C. Wagner succeeded his father and continued the business very successfully, who, although not seeking the applause of the world, has pursued the even tenor of his way and has attained a social and financial standing and a business record that is alike creditable to himself and the city of his home. Having a thorough, practical and technical training in the hardware business, his keen sense, youthful enthusiasm, and ambition, which combined with his fine managerial gifts make him a successful business man. Clayton C. Wagner came to Mansfield with his parents in 1873, when he was eleven years of age, and this city has ever since been his home. He attended the high school and later graduated from an eastern business college. He was on the road as a commercial traveler for the Wagner firm for several years. 1168 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Mr. Wagner was united in marriage with Miss Mary Jenner, daughter of Judge and Mrs. J. W. Jenner, of Park avenue. His wife died a few years after their marriage, and after having been a widower for about five years Mr. Wagner married Miss Lucy Stine in 1908. The bride is an accomplished lady and the daughter of a prominent Mansfield family. In politics Mr. Wagner is a Republican. Fraternally Mr. Wagner is connected with the Masonic fraternity. The hardware firm of which Mr. Wagner is the head holds a conspicuous position in our city. The business has had a steady growth year after year, which shows the ability and enterprise back of it, and the increasing trade of the establishment is the best indication and recommendation for the high standing of the firm and its method of doing business. JOHN J. McPHERN. John J. McPhern, who is now filling the position of custodian at the courthouse in Mansfield, is numbered among the native sons of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and came to Richland county, Ohio, in .1866. His parents were John and Rosanna (Snyder) McPhern, both of whom were natives of the Keystone state, but in their later years lived in Ohio. They were of Scotch-Irish descent. Their family numbered eight children, four sons and four, daughters, of. whom one sister is now in Maryland and one brother in Pennsylvania, while the others are residents of Richland county. John J. McPhern acquired his education in the public schools of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and came to Richland county in 1866. He had previously served for a time as a soldier in the Civil war, having enlisted as a member of Company E, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, in 1864 under Captain William Tice. The company was attached to the command of General Phil Sheridan and participated in the battles of Fisher's Ridge and Cedar Creek. With the other members of the company Mr. McPhern spent much time in guarding supplies and fighting guerillas including the troops under Mosby. He was discharged at Cloud Mills on the old battle field of Bull Run. He was also at Petersburg and Appomattox and in the Shenandoah Valley campaign and saw active and arduous service but never faltered in his loyalty to the Union as he followed the stars and stripes through the south. Upon locating in Mansfield Mr. McPhern began working at the carpenter's trade and later engaged in the lumber business in which he continued until 1894 when he retired from that work and accepted the position of custodian at the courthouse. He is now capably serving in that capacity and his work has the endorsement of all public officials there located. Mr. McPhern was married to Miss Mary E. Stone, a native of Ohio and resides at No. 59 Park avenue east. He is a member of the Congregational church and also belongs to the Grand Army Post thus maintaining pleasant relations with his old army comrades. In matters of citizenship he has HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1169 always been loyal and progressive and he is well known in this city where for forty-two years he has made his home, during much of this period being an active business man. S. N. FORD. Among Mansfield enterprising business men S. N. Ford is prominent and he deserves much credit for what he has accomplished for he started out in life with little to aid him in the way of educational training or financial assistance. He soon learned to know that hard work and persistency of purpose constitute a safe foundation on which to build success and as the years have gone by he has labored with diligence and determination to gain the present enviable and honorable position which he now occupies. He was born on a farm in Washington township, one of the six children of John and Harriet (Barnes) Ford. His parents were of Scotch-English descent but both were natives of Ohio. S. N. Ford acquired his early education in .the country schools, the little temple of learning in which he began his studies being a log schoolhouse. The advantages which he received were somewhat better as the years went on and after he left the army he benefited by a course of instruction in the Lexington Seminary at Lexington, Ohio. He was but a youth when in response to the country's call his patriotic spirit was aroused and he joined the army, enlisting as a member of Company C, One Hundred and Sixty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Cockley, of Lexington, Ohio. He did active duty with the Eastern Army under Grant in the operations around Petersburg and Richmond and although he was frequently under fire he displayed a valorous spirit and undaunted loyalty equal to that of many a veteran of twice his years. When the war was over and the country no longer needed his aid Mr. Ford at once returned to the north :and, as stated, continued his education in the Lexington Seminary. Starting upon an independent business career in the fall of 1869, Mr. Ford purchased a lumber business in Mansfield, Ohio, and began the manufacture of lumber, sash, doors and blinds. This business has enjoyed a wonderful growth, Mr. Ford remaining always as its chief executive officer and active in its control. He is now engaged in the manufacture of almost everything known to the trade including lumber, sash, doors, blinds and interior furnishings and even builds street cars. The trade has now reached mammoth proportions and the house with its extensive interests stands as a monument to the enterprise, keen discernment and business ability of Mr. Ford. He has been extensively engaged in lumbering both in Kentucky and Michigan, operating a band lumber mill in the Cumberland mountains of Kentucky for fifteen or sixteen years. A man of undaunted enterprise and notable resources he has also been a factor in the conduct of other business interests, being now president of the Mansfield Street Railway, Light and Power Company, of the Humphreys Manufacturing Company, the 1170 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Phoenix Electric Company, the Mansfield Telephone Company and the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Insurance Company. He forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution and the methods which he has instituted in his business career have been such as have won for him the respect and admiration of his colleagues and associates. Mr. Ford was married in 1868 to Miss Elizabeth Cook, of Lexington, Ohio, and they now have a son and daughter: Hoyt, who is managing the interests of the Phoenix Electric Company; and Ada, a practicing physician of Mansfield. Mr. Ford owns the block at the northeast corner of the public square and has there erected a beautiful residence. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, is also identified with the Masonic fraternity and in that order has attained the Knight Templar degree. He also belong, to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and is prominent in the Odd Fellows society, having held every office in the local lodge. His business career is one marked by steady advancement and is another illustration of the fact that it is under the pressure of necessity and the stimulus of opposition that the best and strongest in men is brought out and developed. From a humble beginning he has steadily worked his way upward, utilizing the means at hand to the best advantage, and his life is an illustration of the fact that success and an honored name may be won simultaneously for, in his life, business enterprise, unflagging activity and unassailable integrity have been well balanced forces. MICHAEL D. HARTER. Michael D. Harter was born at Canton, Ohio, April 6, 1846. His life was one of great activity. Before he was of age he established the banking house of George D. Harter & Brother, of Canton. Before the age of twenty-three he became treasurer and manager of the Aultman-Taylor Company of Mansfield, removing to this place in 1869. He there established the Savings Bank and was a director in many large affairs of interest to the town. In Canton he was a partner in the banking business of Isaac Harter & Sons, and he established and was to the time of his death president of the Isaac Harter Milling Company of Fostoria. . With all his private affairs occupying his time he neverturned a deaf ear to a cry for help, giving not only freely of his means, but advice, influence and work. The 'tariff question and the one of honest money was to him a burning question and his life in congress was devoted to this: In his own party few at that time stood with him but none doubted his courage and honesty. Much in political life was a trial and at the end of two terms he declined another nomination and came home in 1895, worn out, and died February 22, 1896. His success in life was largely due to his unselfishness and belief that in all men good could be found. Treachery sickened and saddened but never made him bitter. He had great personal magnetism and in his public speaking had the art of making the dryest subjects clear and interesting. At the HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1171 end of twelve years his family are still learning of his great benefactions. These were known only to himself and the one benefited, and one is safe in saying that the whole will never be known. HENRY A. ENZOR. Henry A. Enzor was born June 12, 1849, in Butler township, Richland country, Ohio. His parents were David H. and Mary (Gribble) Enzor, who came from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and settled in Butler township in 1833. While en route from Pennsylvania to Ohio the parents of the subject of this sketch witnessed the historical phenomenon of the "falling stars," which occurred on the night of November 13, 1833, when lights resembling stars were seen falling for three or four hours. The appearance was like a shower of stars. Butler township had many attractions for the pioneers, the surface was generally level and its soil had every appearance of fertility, which caused a fair proportion of the newcomers to settle in that township, and subsequent events showed that their choice was wisely made. The pioneers of Butler, as well as those of other townships, were people of heroic virtues. The situation forbade much attention to other matters than to work and clearing up the land and in founding homes. The active life of the men who made civilization possible had but little time for educational pursuits. They made history, but they did not write it. The flourishing condition of Butler township and Richland county is the result of the labors of the pioneers—the men who toiled for our betterment, not knowing whether succeeding generations would even be informed of the names of those who cut down the forests and cleared the land. But historical works rescue from the past, preserve and record on the pages of history, not only the names of the pioneers, but descriptions of the life they led, the good results, adventures and exploits of the men of the pioneer times, and these records will be more fully appreciated by coming generations than it is by the people of today. David Enzor being a farmer, his son, the subject of this sketch, was reared upon a farm and in starting out for himself was well qualified to follow that line of pursuit. His education was obtained in the common schools of the district in which he was reared. David Enzor and wife were industrious in their day and reared their children to industrious habits. The parents were prominent in their life and by their death the community was deprived of two good citizens. Henry A. Enzor was married in 1872 to Miss Sarah Keck, who died in October, 1880. In 1893, Mr. Enzor married Miss Ida M. Bricker, of Mansfield, and to these unions five children were born, of which four are living. Shortly after Mr. Enzor's second marriege he bought a farm in Springfield township, four miles west of Mansfield on the Millsborough road. His farm is finely situated and his residence and grounds are the most attractive of their kind in Springfield township. His older children are married and living 1172 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY in Cleveland, and are doing well. One child, an attractive little girl, is yet left in the home of the parents. A son died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Enzor are members of the Christian church of Mansfield. His parents were also of the same faith, and were baptized by immersion by Elder John Reed, a pioneer preacher of the Christian church, who often held services at the Enzor home. In politics, Mr. Enzor is a democrat and believes in the doctrine of Thomas Jefferson that "That government is best that governs least." Among all classes and in every condition of life the struggle for a livelihood is ever going on and there are often numerous trials and hardships to overcome before the top of the ladder of financial success is reached, and the success of Mr. Enzor, financially and otherwise, is a compliment to his exertions and ability. The fact that he has gained the respect and confidence of the community is accounted for by his right principles and his interest in the welfare of those around him. He has a strictly honorable business record and is noted for his fair dealings with all with whom he has business relations. He is truly a self-made man and energy and perseverance are no better illustrated than in his career. He began life with the ability with which nature had endowed him and his prosperous condition at the present time is an appropriate reward for his industry of the past. It is said that circumstances in life will make or mar to a certain extent the life of any man, but that a determined spirit will bend even the force of circumstances to its will. The past life of Mr. Enzor verifies this statement, and furnishes abundant proof of the saying that which is better than silver or gold, a good name gains added luster, and that the sterling qualities of character are strengthened in the combat of life. Mr. Enzor is a courteous gentleman, kind, affable and obliging, and is popular with his neighbors. HON. HENRY C. KOOKEN. Henry Clute Kooken was born September 3, 1836, in Ashland county, Ohio. He is the eldest of his parents' family of thirteen children, Of whom only three still survive, namely: William H., Jr., of Alabama; Louise, the wife of William Fulton, of Lucas, Ohio ; and the subject of this sketch. Henry C. Kooken was married, September 25, 1862, to Miss Mary E. Pearce, a daughter of Louis K. and Elizabeth C. (Driskell) Pearce. Mr. and Mrs. Kooken are the parents of six children, as follows: Landon M., Esther Cedelia, Luella Victoria, Elizabeth Elnora, Mary Pearce and Louis K. -Landon M. was born July 25, 1863, and on August 14, 1888, married Miss Lamira A. Purdey, by whom he has two children, namely: Landon M., Jr., born June 16, 1889, and Ruth Elnora, born January 2, 1902. Esther C. was born July 29; 1864, and married Dr. J. D. Purdey, October 18, 1887. Dr. and Mrs. Purdey have two children: Pledge Kooken, who was born September 30, 1890, and died October 6, 1891; and Marietjee DaLee, born March 24, 1892. Elizabeth Elnora, born August 22, 1867, married Albert Coul, August HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1173 14, 1882, and has had three children : Irene Ryford, born December 29, 1883; Ella Eva, who was born August 29, 1885, and died March 19, 1892; and Albert Ralph, born May 28, 1888. Louis K. Kooken was born August 25, 1878. Luella Victoria and Mary Pearce died young. William Hills Kooken, the father of our subject, was born October 7, 1810, and died April 1, 1888. Susan Devenbaugh, called by some of the early ancestors of the family Derfenbacher, was the mother of our subject. She was born in 1808 and was married to Mr. Kooken in 1836, and, as before stated became the mother of thirteen children. Her parents were Daniel Devenbaugh and Ann Maria Kooken. The original name came from Lord Devenbeaux, of France, whose descendants fled from their native country to Germany at the time of the Huguenot persecution and came thence to America with some of their co-religionists. Daniel Devenbaugh and Maria Kooken were married. in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and were the parents of ten children, but the family records were destroyed by fire about the time, of the beginning of the war of the Revolution. Their ten children are now all dead. The name of the grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Casper Devenbaugh, a son of the Casper Devenbaugh, who came from Germany to America in about 1740. The latter landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and took the oath of allegiance to the British crown before setting foot on American. soil, as was learned from the record of the port of entry, now in the office of the secretary of state in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The maternal grandmother of our subject, Ann Maria Devenbaugh, was a daughter of John Kooken, who was born in. Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania. He was a son of Johannes Kooken, who came to America about 1720. On January 29, 1729, by vote of the general assembly of Pennsylvania, he was naturalized under English rule. Being then a citizen of Pennsylvania county, he was granted land and certain privileges under the Northern Liberties and William Penn's rights to the .state of Pennsylvania. Marie Baker, whom Johannes Kooken married, was a daughter of William Baker and Marie (Penn) Baker. Her mother was a daughter .of John Penn, son of William Penn, by his second marriage, to Hannah Callohill. Inasmuch as Johannes Kooken had married the granddaughter of William Penn, he had to be naturalized and be acknowledged by the general assembly of Pennsylvania, thus 'coming into possession of his land and other property and holding them under the ruling authorities of England and Pennsylvania and to the rights ceded to William Penn, the Free Traders Society and the Northern Liberties. He and his wife lie buried in the old Friends' burying grounds in the city of Philadelphia. William Hills Kooken and his wife were first cousins. The former was a son of John Kooken, who was a son of John Kooken, and a grandson of Johannes Kooken and his wife, Mary or Marie. Penn. William Penn was of the royal house of Tudor, his grandfather being John Tudor. William Penn was buried at Jordan's, near Beckersfield, Buckinghamshire, England, the graveyard being three miles from the London road, on the lands of a Lady Young. William Hills Kooken's mother. was Margaret Hills, a daughter of William Hills and his wife, Susannah Engle. They were married in 1174 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Winchester, Virginia, prior to the war of the Revolution. They were both natives of England; the former having been born in the Parish of Kent. The Hills ancestors were named Jennings, Howe, Innes, Engle and Pennington. John Kooken, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, married a Miss Baker, who was a descendant of William Baker, who married a granddaughter of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. This information having been subscribed to on July 9, 1900, by Henry Clute Kooken as handed down to him by his ancestors. Mary E. Kooken, the wife of Henry C. Kooken, is a daughter of Louis Kenney Pearce and wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth C. Driskell. The former was a son of Stephen Pearce and his wife, Mary Kinney, she being a daughter of Louis Kinney and wife, Mary Williams. Louis Kinney was a son of Louis Kinney and his wife, Esther Dubois, a daughter of Joost or George Dubois, whose mother was a daughter of Louis XIV, of France. The Dubois family was noted among the Huguenots of France for their independence and intelligence, and fled from France to Holland at the time of the persecution of those of their religious faith. Resolved Waldron came to America from Amsterdam, Holland, about 1645. He was a son of Baron Johannes Waldron, of Waldron Hall, of Amsterdam, and was one, of the original patentees of the Harlem land patents under Governors Nichols and Thomas Dongan, under dates of 1666, 1667 and 1668, as shown by the official records in the office of the secretary of state at Albany, New York. Resolved Waldron married Miss Tannekee Von Nagle in New York City in 1654, and among their children were Ruth, born April 12, 1657, and baptized May 10 following. She married Johannes De La Mater, August 11, 1678, in New York city. Mr. and Mrs. De La Mater had seven children, the next to the youngest Marietjee, or Marie, being born in New Harlem, New York, July 9, 1696, and baptized July 26, 1696. Ruth De La Mater died in New Harlem, now New York city, in 1707. Marietjee De La Mater was married to John Pearce, of Flat Bush, Long Island, June 13, 1716, and died near Aquanock, New Jersey, October 24, 1734. John Pearce died in New Harlem, June 3, 1744, and was buried in New Harlem cemetery. James Pearce, the, eldest son of John Pearce, was born. August 8, 1717, and was married to Sarah Van Horn, of Bergen county, New Jersey, January 19, 1742. Stephen Pearce, a son of James Pearce, was born May 19, 1764, and was married to Mary Kinney, August 29, 1787, and died in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1810. She died in Richland county in 1843 and was buried in the Perrysville (Ohio) cemetery. James Pearce was married in Elizabeth, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in 1807. His wife, Sarah, died in Columbiana county, Ohio, and was buried in what was then known as the Bull Creek cemetery. They had ten children. The, sixth child, Louis Kinney Pearce, was born June 19, 1797, and was married to Elizabeth Cedelia Driskell, September 19, 1833, the marriage ceremony being performed by Solomon Gladden, Esq., a justice of the peace, in and for the county of Richland; Ohio, as is shown by the records of said county. They ha.d five children, namely : James McVey Pearce„ born December 19, 1835, married Catharine Miller in 1898. Mary E. Pearce, HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 1175 born October 9, 1839, married Henry C. Kooken in September, 1862. Sarah Sophia., born September 6, .1843, married William S. Banks; John Reed Pearce, born January 11, 1846, was married to Ethalinda J. Johnston. Louis Kinney, jr., born May 11, 1848, was married to Lydia Jane Leppo. Louis Kinney Pearce., Sr. died December 30, 1850, and his wife, Elizabeth Cedelia. Pearce, died March 15, 1890. . Both lie buried in the Ford cemetery in Washington township, Richland county, Ohio. Mr. Kooken's father was a resident of Ashland county, Ohio, until his son Henry was past thirteen years of age. The family then removed to Richland county and settled four miles east of Mansfield, and here our subject's home was continued until after he had attained his majority. The father then removed to the, Village of Lucas, where he engaged in the shoe business for several years. Later he removed to the southern part of the county, and there died. Our subject spent most of his boyhood years on a farm. He received a common-school education, and his first business venture was in the boot and shoe business, first at Lucas and later at Newville. In 1880 he removed to Mansfield, where he was engaged in the work of genealogical and biographical writing and in the insurance business. Mr. Kooken, wife and family are members of the Christian church. Since the above was written, the Kookens have removed from Mansfield to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they are pleasantly and prosperously situated. The son, Louis P. Kooken, since their removal to Philadelphia, has been admitted to the ba.r and has a lucrative practice for a young attorney. He is soon to be admitted to the ba.r of the supreme court of the United States, with good prospects of being appointed to the faculty of the Washington Law College. He has a. wife and one child. Since removing to Philadelphia, Mr. Kooken has obtained other knowledge of his family history. Governor Charles Kooken, of Pennsylvania, was Henry C. Kooken's great-grandfather, and the Rev. John Kooken, first rector of the Church of the Ascension at Norristown, Pennsylvania, was also a kinsman of the subject of this sketch: Mr. Kooken's eldest daughter, Mrs. Esther C. Purdey, who had a reputation as an artist ere she left Mansfield, has further advanced in that line, and her drawings are quite popular with the residents of the Quaker City.