700 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


WHITMORE-DAVLIN FAMILIES—JOHN WHITMORE was born in Leicester, Livingston County, New York, May 29, 1816. When a boy of fourteen years of age he moved with his parents, George and Margaret Whitmore, to Margaretta Township, Erie County, Ohio, and settled on what is known as the old Wadsworth farm. In 1837 Mr. Whitmore was united in marriage to Marcia Swift Chapman, of Erie County, Ohio, and settled in Townsend Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. At this time the county was new and heavily timbered with scarcely any tillable land, and very little cleared up. Many remember "Uncle John," as he was familiarly called, by his friendly acts of charity and kindness to those needing assistance, as a most successful farmer, and a large stock raiser and one who was noted for his thrift and business qualifications, and with his indomitable pluck and many ox teams cleared and opened up his large farm and made it one of the finest tracts of land in Northern Ohio.


His good wife, who died January 17, 1864, had many of those grand qualifications and industrious habits which so greatly assisted Mr. Whitmore to the success which he achieved.


Shortly after Mr. Whitmore settled in Townsend Township he opened up a small store where the few settlers could purchase provisions without making a long drive to Sandusky City.


Marcia Swift was married to Jay Chapman and of this union three children were born, as follows : Jane, the wife of Enoch Beebe ; Jay, who married Mary A. Childs, and Henry, who died when a boy. She afterward married John Whitmore and to this union was born one child, Ann J., now deceased, who was united in marriage to Walter Davlin of Erie County, Ohio, on May Jo, 1863.

Mrs. Davlin was noted for her many charitable deeds and benevolences and was always willing with a helping hand to aid those in distress or need.


Mrs. Davlin united with the Episcopal Church of Clyde, Ohio, in 1886. Her death, which occurred August 16, 1900, was deeply mourned by all who knew her. She is survived by her husband, Walter Davlin, and seven chil dren. Mr. Whitmore had at his death, which occurred January 1, 1881, accumulated about 1,300 acres of land, which he left to his only child, Ann J. Davlin. He was a lifelong Democrat in politics.


WALTER DAVLIN, one of Townsend Township's representative citizens and substantial, reliable men, is well known all through Sandusky County, of which he has been a resident since May Da, 1863. He was born in Delaware County, New York, March 8, 1833, and is a son of Walter and Jane (Foster) Davlin.


The father of Mr. Davlin came from Ireland and settled in New York in 1826. In 1837 he brought his family to Ohio and settled on what was known as the "fire lands" in Erie County.


Walter Davlin grew to manhood in Erie County and then came to Sandusky County. For forty years he has been one of the foremost business men of the county. He has been extensively engaged in farming and stock raising and at one time owned 1200 acres of fine land in Sandusky and Erie Counties. He also managed the immense estate of his wife, who inherited about 1,300 acres from the estate of her father, John Whitmore. For twenty years Mr. Davlin was engaged in a mercantile business at Whitmore and was postmaster of the village. In politics Mr. Davlin has always been identified with the Republican party. In May. 1863, Mr. Davlin was married (first) to Ann J. Whitmore, who died August 16, 1900. She was a daughter of John Whitmore. To. Mr. and Mrs. Davlin were born the following children: William \\T., residing in Townsend Township ; Marcia H., wife of Elmer Dills, residing in Clyde; Sally W., wife of Charles Neill of Sandusky ; Margaret, wife of Lewis Quinn ; Ann J., wife of William Quinn: Mrs. Henry Wilbert and John Whitmore, step-children. Shortly before the first Mrs. Davlin died the Davlin and Whitmore estates, .amounting to 2,500 acres, were divided among; the children. Mr. Davlin was married (second) October 15, 1903, to Miss Maud Hull of Fremont, daughter of James and Elizabeth Hull. They now reside on a finely improved farm on the .state road in Townsend Township.


HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 703


HARMON BECKER, a retired farmer and highly respected citizen of Woodville Township, residing on his valuable farm of 166 acres, situated just beyond the village of Woodville, has been a witness of much of the development of this section from the wilderness, having lived on his present place for over forty years. He was born in 1831, in Hanover, Germany, and is a son of Everett and Dorothy (Turman) Becker.


The father of Mr. Becker brought his family to America from Germany in 1833. Thev resided one year at Buffalo, New York, and then moved to Toledo, Ohio, the father following his trade of tailor, at both places, dying in the latter city when aged thirty-five years. He left four children, all of whom survive, namely.: Mrs. Mary Bodette. living at Genoa, Ohio ; Henry, residing at Pemberville, Wood County; Kate, living in Michigan ; and Harmon.


Harmon Becker attended school at Toledo for a little time, but was vet young when his mother brought him to Woodville Township, where he has lived for over seventy years and enjoys the distinction of being its most venerable resident. He has done his part in developing this section and is numbered with the honored pioneers. He remained at home until he was nineteen years of age and then learned the carpenter trade, which he followed for fourteen vears and assisted in the building of many of the old township landmarks. He was active during the height of the oil industry here and has three unproductive wells on his own land. He has owned two farms, the first one containing sixty acres, which was located above his present one, which he bought about 1869.


Mr. Becker married Anna Bredenwisher, who died in 1897. They had six children born to them, namely : Henry, who oper- ates the home farm, a prominent citizen of the township and a member of the School Board ; Louisa, who died when aged eight years ; Caroline, who resides at Woodville; August, who died in 1904; Eleanora, who is now deceased; and Matilda, married, who lives at Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Becker is one of the pillars of the Lutheran Church at Woodville. In politics he has always been a Democrat.


MAURICE L. HUSS, head of the firm of M. L. Huss & Company at Clyde, dealers in automobiles and farming implements of all kinds, has been a lifelong resident of Green Creek T0wnship, and has lived in Clyde since 1903. He was born on his father's farm in Green Creek Township, March 31, 1848, and is a son of Christian and Catherine (Rathbun) Huss, and a grandson of Noah and Mary (Burkholder) Huss.


Noah Huss, the grandfather, was born in Germany and was young at the time he accompanied his parents to the United States. They/ located in Pennsylvania and Noah lived at Little York for soiree years after his marriage, then in the middle twenties moved to Sandusky' County, Ohio. He located upon what is now known as the Kirnehan farm in Green Creek Township, which they obtained from the Government for $1.50 per acre. He cleared this farm and lived upon it until his death. His wife also died on that place and both were buried in the Bakertown Cemetery,


Christian Huss was born in Little York, Pennsylvania, in 1815, and was about ten years of age when his parents moved to Green Creek Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, where he grew to maturity. He later bought a farm across the creek from the home place and had over three hundred acres of land, which is now divided into three farms and is owned by three of his sons. He was married to Catherine Rathbun, a daughter of Chaplin and Lucinda Rathbun, early residents of Sandusky County, and they became parents of the following children: Chaplin R.; Eliza M.; Shannon, who died at the age of two years; Noah B.; Darius, who died at the age of fourteen years ; Burr; Maurice Lemmon, subject of this record; Jane, deceased; Barbara ; Saxton P.; and Earl C. Mr. Huss died in 1864 in the prime of life, aged forty-nine years and six months, and was survived


704 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


many years by his widow, who died in 1893, aged seventy-seven years.


Maurice L. Huss attended the district school in his h0me vicinity, it being a one-room building, int0 which were crowded some seventy pupils. His schooling was very limited, as his services were required at home in helping to clear the farm. He lived on a farm the first fifty-five years of his life and in 1903 moved to Clyde and embarked in his present business, which is under the direct management of his son-in-law, Ernest Van Schoten, who is a partner in the business. The office and store building is located on West Buckeye Street, near Main, and they deal in the Reo, Regal and Brush automobiles, as well as every make of farm machinery. They do automobile repair work as well as the ordinary repair work done in a place of the kind. Mr. Huss still owns his farm of sixty acres on which he lived so many years, and also has a tract of sixteen acres about two miles west of Clyde. He has an apple orchard of 250 trees, which was set out twenty years ago and still bears abundantly. He has a cherry orchard of 200 trees. He is a Democrat in politics and served ten years as school director in his district, two terms as township trustee and two terms as infirmary director. The fact that he was elected in a strongly Republican district is a pleasing tribute to his personal popularity and his standing in the community.


On February 22, 1871, Mr. Huss was married to Miss Henrietta A. Storer, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah Storer, and she died September 24, 1908, leaving two children, Ruth and Dwight B. Ruth Huss was married to Ernest Van Schoten and they have three children : Alta, Inez and Leon. Dwight B. Huss is an expert machinist and is associated with the Brisco Manufacturing Company of Detroit, Michigan. He was the first man to drive an automobile across the United States, driving in an Oldsmobile from New York to Portland during the Portland Fair. The trip took forty days. He married Miss Bessie Wilson.


The subject of this record has been a member of the Odd Fellows' order for thirty-eight years, having membership in the lodges both at Green Spring and Clyde. He is also a charter member of the Grange at Clyde, and has belonged to that useful order for thirty-five years.


HON. GEORGE W. GLICK, ex-governor of Kansas, was born at Greencastle in Fairfield County, Ohio, July 4, 1827, and with his parents moved to Sandusky County and settled with them in Ballville Township in 1834. His parents were Isaac and Mary (Sanders) Glick.

George W. Glick received his common school education in Ballville Township and attended a select school under the able instruction of Horace E. Clark, one of the most noted teachers of that vicinity. His higher education was obtained in attendance at Central College, near Columbus, where he became proficient in higher mathematics and in Latin but did not remain to graduate.


In March, 1848, he commenced the. study of law in the office of the firm of Buckland & Hayes, composed of R. P. Buckland and Rutherford B. Hayes, the former afterward a general in the War of 1861, and the latter President of the United States. He remained in that office two years and received from Mr. Buckland a very flattering certificate of qualifications for admission to the bar, Mr. Hayes having moved to Cincinnati in 1849. In March, 1850, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court, then in session at Cincinnati, Ohio. Of the committee who examined him for admission were the following prominent lawyers: Mr. Pendleton, father of George H. Pendleton, who was later a United States Senator; Mr. Gwynne, author of "Gwynne of Sheriffs ;" Alexander Long, later a member of Congress, and two other lawyers. Two years later he was admitted to practice in the United States Court, by Justice McLean, at Columbus, Ohio. In the spring of 1850 Mr. Glick opened a law office and commenced the practice in Fremont, Ohio, and at once


AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 705


became successful, and his practice extended to the adjoining counties of Seneca, Huron, Ottawa and Erie. Ralph P. Buckland, Cooper K. Watson, John L. Greene, Sr., Brice J. Bartlett and T. P. Finefrock were then at the head of the bar in Sandusky County.


In 1857 Mr. Glick moved to Sandusky City, Erie County, where he remained until March, 1859, when, catching the Western fever, he left Sandusky City and located at Atchison, in the then Territory of Kansas. He has resided at Atchison ever since his location there. He first there became associated in the law practice with Hon. A. G. Otis, and so continued for sixteen years, enjoying a large and lucrative practice in the State and Federal Courts. Business in those clays was very profitable. Land titles, county-seat questions and overland transportation, all furnished much business for lawyers, frequently requiring attendance at the courts of the states of Missouri and Nebraska. He was general attorney at one time for two banks, three railroads and some other corporations, with good pay; his practice for twelve years paid him from. ten to twelve thousand dollars per year. In 1874 Mr. Click's partner, Mr. Otis, was elected judge of the district court and the firm was dissolved, Mr. Glick retiring from practice. He then devoted himself to farming and stock raising, his farm being known as "Shannon Hill Stock Farm," named for Governor Shannon of Ohio, who was also governor of Kansas Territory, and containing 640 acres. Special attention was given by him to raising Short Horn cattle and Berkshire pigs, which proved profitable. Descendants of his herds are now bred in eleven different states. The farm was sold by him and business discontinued in 1900, and Mr. Glick thereupon retired from active business.


From his first location in Kansas he was prominent in public affairs and served nine sessions in the Legislature of that state, in the House and Senate, and was always a member of the Judiciary Committee in those bodies, appointed by presiding officers different in politics from him. It was his ambition to have the laws 0f Kansas as nearly as possible a transcript 0f those of his native Ohio. In 1882 he was elected governor of the state of Kansas, on the Democratic ticket, and has the distinction of being the only Democratic governor of that state. He served with credit and as a wise and able chief executive and remained in that office but one term. Governor Glick served two terms as pension agent of the United States, under President Grover Cleveland, and during his incumbrance of that office disbursed $85,000,000 to pensioners. He has been for more than thirty-five years a member of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture and frequently its president. He is now president of the Kansas State Historical Society. In 1875-76 he was a member and treasurer of the Board of Managers for the state of Kansas of the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and was also a member of the Board of Managers for the state of Kansas in the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1892-93, and was also a member and president of the Board of Managers of Kansas, at the Omaha Exposition.


On September 17, 1857, Mr. Glick married Elizabeth Ryder, at Massillon, Ohio. They live in peaceful retirement at their home in Atchison, spending their winters in Lakeland, Florida, where they have a winter home and an orange grove. Hon. T. P. Finefrock and he are the only survivors of what is known as the "Pioneer Bar" of Sandusky County, Ohio, a bar noted f0r its able and distinguished members.


HORACE H. RAYMOND, whose death occurred August 10, 1904, was a well-known citizen of Riley Township, Sandusky County. Ohio. He was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, December 2, 1838, and was a son of David Raymond.


The subject of this record was educated in the public schools in his native county and in the New York State Normal School. He took up the profession of teaching and for a period of twenty years followed that


706 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY'


vocation in the state of Texas. He was for years principal of Tyron Academy in that state. In 1897 he located in Riley Township, where he thereafter resided until his death. He was a man of scholarly attainments and Was a credit to the profession with which he was identified for so many years. He was married May 11, 1897, to Miss Elizabeth Meek, who conies of a prominent old family of Riley Township.


Mrs. Raymond was born in Riley Township and is a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Farber) Meek. Her father was born in Virginia and her mother near Canton, Ohio. Her grandfather, Samuel Meek, Sr., was born in the British Isles and established this branch of the Meek family in Virginia. The father of Mrs. Raymond moved to Riley Township about the year 1848 and farmed here until his death in December, 1890, His wife died August 27, 1906.


Mrs. Raymond was reared in her native township and for more than a quarter of a century was an instructor in the schools, principally those of Riley Township. She also taught some in Wood and Seneca Counties, Ohio. Mr. Raymond was a Republican in politics, and at the time of his death was a member of the United Brethren Church. He was in earlier years affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Raymond also is a member of the United Brethren Church and takes an active interest in church work. She is the owner of a splendid farm of 16o acres on which she lives, and is surrounded by many friends of long years standing, in whose regard she stands high.


HON. CARL C. ANDERSON, now serving in his second term as mayor of Fostoria, Ohio, and who was elected a member ofa Congress from the 13th Congressional District of Ohio in November, 1908, enjoys unusual distinction for one of his youth and is a notable example of the enterprise and energy that characterize the American young man in modern clays. He was born at Bluffton, Allen County, Ohio, December 2, 1877, and is a son of John J. and Mary L. (Barringer) Anderson.


The father of Mr. Anderson is one of the representative business men of Fremont, Ohio, and is the capable manager of the Jackson Shear and Razor Company of this city. He married Mary L. Barringer and they have three children.


Carl C. Anderson was brought by his parents to Fremont when young and obtained his education in the Fremont schools. He began his business life early, as a little boy becoming a news carrier, and when he saw more profit in driving an express wagon, he took that position. His next step was a clerkship with the Lake Erie & Western Railroad and later, after a season with the Lake Shore road he became a cashier for the Lake Erie Company, later becoming its agent. When the A. H. Jackson Company made him a good offer he went on the road for them and sold their underwear for five years and out of his salary he erected a fine brick block at Fremont. Mr. Anderson then went into the manufacturing of underwear on his own account, starting at Fostoria and in the following year building a factory at Findlay. During these years while making great headway in material things and honestly accumulating a fortune through his own industry and business capacity, he was likewise cementing friendships and becoming acquainted with people all over the state and particularly in the 13th District. His sterling qualities as a citizen were recognized at Fostoria, where, in 1905 he was elected mayor of the city and in 1907 was re-elected, and further approval was shown him when he was made the Democratic candidate for Congress and was elected in the fall of Igo& over Hon. G. E. Mouser, by a majority of 4742 votes. Mr. Anderson will have the distinction of being the youngest member on the floor of Congress.


Mr. Anderson married Miss Nellie Ford, a daughter of William H. Ford, and they have had two children, Carl Ford, and one that died in infancy. Mr. Anderson holds membership in all the leading fraternities and is connected with many social organizations.


W. T. BAKER, one of Scott Township's representative and substantial citizens,


HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 709


largely interested in farming and identified also with the oil industry and livestock dealing, owns valuable property in this township, consisting of one farm of 130 acres in Section 8, and a second farm of thirty-two acres in Section 9. He was born September 30, 1872, at Buffalo, New York, anda is a son of Richard and Elizabeth (Plato) Baker.


The parents of Mr. Baker settled in Lenawee County, Michigan, when he was young, and he was reared on a farm and went to school at Palmyra. The father still resides in Michigan, making his home at Deerfield, where his wife died May 26, 1905.


W. T. Baker went from Michigan to Buffalo, New York, where he worked for eighteen months at the carpenter trade. After his marriage in 1893 he came to Scott Township, Sandusky County, and went to work for D. J. Winchell for $15 a month, but later rented the farm and operated it satisfactorily for three years. after which he rented a 330-acre farm one mile south, on which he remained for seven years. Mr. Baker then bought his present property. It has proved a good investment. He has twenty-three producing oil wells, has three .sets of substantial farm buildings and two excellent orchards. He has done a large amount of improving and has almost all of the land thoroughly tiled. He has modern ideas as to comfortable living and his home has conveniences of all kinds, all of these having been put in since he took possession. He is financially independent, being a stockholder and a director in the Colonial Bank of Fremont, and also of the Helena Bank and was a charter member of the Bettsville Bank, the stock of which he sold in order to buy his farm.


On January 28, 1893, Mr. Baker was married to Miss Emma Burnor, a daughter of William and Jennie Burnor, and they have five children : William R.; Ruby and Ruth, twin daughters ; Florence Marie, and Lois Theodora. Mr. Baker and wife attend the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican and has served on the township School Board and in 1904 was elected township clerk, his term expiring in 1910. At the solicitation of friends he is a candidate for a third term. Mr. Baker is identified with the Masonic Lodge at Fremont and belongs also to the Order of Modern Woodmen of America and to the County Agricultural Society.


IRA S. COMSTOCK, of the firm of Comstock & Slessman, grain dealers at Clyde, Ohio, is a representative business citizen of this place, but resides on the old homestead farm of eighty acres, situated in York Township. Mr. Comstock was born January 9, 1863, in the old house in York Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, which was built in 1831, and during this period there have been three generations of the Comstocks born there and there has never been a death in it. His parents are Oliver E. and Clarissa (Persing) Comstock.


The grandfather, also named Oliver Comstock, was born in Connecticut and during a number of years sailed his own vessel on the seas. He subsequently lost his ship in a storm and then decided to spend the remainder of his life on land. Fitting up a prairie schooner, he brought his family and possessions to Ohio, securing eighty acres from the Government in York Township, Sandusky County. At that time the timber stood so close and the brush was so heavy that in order to make a way through for his wagon, he had to cut all the distance between the present site of the cemetery, to his farm. The only passage previously made was an Indian trail. He resided on his property during the remainder of his life and he became a man of considerable local prominence, being elected a county commissioner. During his term of office the country was yet so little generally settled that he was obliged to visit different parts, on public business, on horseback. His eight children were : Clara and Oliver E., twins, were the youngest and were born June 20, 1835 ; and Harriet, Ellen, Giles and Arabell, all deceased; Amy, who is aged


710 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


eighty-seven years; and Mary, who is aged eighty years.


Oliver E. Comstock assisted his father to clear up the pioneer farm in Y0rk Township, which continued to be his home as long as he was actively engaged in farming. In the fall of 1902 he retired to Clyde, where both he and wife have resided ever since. He married Clarissa Persing, who was born in Dansville, New York, a daughter of Matthew Persing, and they have two children, namely : Ira Stebbins and Amy, the latter of whom is the wife of C. C. Bronson, residing at Bloomville, Ohio.


Ira S. Comstock was educated in the country schools and the Clyde High School. He has been actively engaged in business at Clyde since August 17, 1891, with Mr. Slessman, but had been previously associated with other partners, in the same business. In 1900 the firm started another enterprise which has proved very successful, building a kraut factory at Clyde, adjoining the automobile factory. Employment is given to thirty men and the output is 120 car loads of kraut a year. Mr. Comstock is a stockholder in the Clyde Savings Bank.


On March 12, 1884, Mr. Comstock was married to Miss Irene Pool, a daughter of Mrs. Sarah Pool, and they have three children : May, Ruth and Clara. For a number of years Mr. Comstock was identified with the Grange movement. He belongs to the order of Knights of Pythias at Clyde. In politics he is a stanch Republican.


CHAUNCEY LEVISEE, a representative agriculturist of Townsend Township, who resides on the old homestead farm, to the cultivation 0f which he has devoted the larger part of his life, was born May 23, 1855, on this same farm, in Townsend Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. His parents were John L. and Diana (Stanley) Levisee.



John L. Levisee was born in Genesee County, New York, but he was educated in Livingston County, and from there he came to Sandusky County in 1831 and settled on the farm of eighty acres, in Townsend Township, which is now occupied by his son Chauncey. He died May 26, 1897, He was one of the most active of the pioneers in developing the new country into which he had penetrated. He was a man of fair education and good business judgment and in his latter days he was township trustee and also practiced law before the justices of the peace in the county. By trade he was a carpenter and for many years he worked as such, erecting many of the buildings which still stand in Townsend Township. He was married (first) May 10, 1836, to Diana Stanley, of Livingston County, New York, who died July 14, 1855, leaving nine children, as follows: Sarah, wife of J. R. Olds, residing in Michigan ; Annie, wife of Hiram Blood, residing in Kent County, Michigan; Elizabeth, wife of James Downing, of Erie County, Ohio ; Eliza, wife of Wallace Downing, of Ottawa County, Ohio; Mary Jane, wife of Winfield Thomas, of Townsend Township ; Savilla, who died when young; David, who died at Gibsonburg; and Chauncey. His second marriage was with Statira Reynolds, of Green Creek Township, Sandusky County, and by this union there were two children : Frances, wife of Frank Lowe, of Clyde, Ohio; and Walter, who died in infancy. The second wife survived Mr. Levisee until September, 1899.


Chauncey Levisee has spent his entire life,with the exception of three years passed near Toledo, as a farmer on the old homestead. On November 19, 1879, he was married to Mrs. Angeline McCreery, widow of Leonard McCreery and daughter of Jonathan and Polly Lyman, of Townsend Township. They have one daughter, Irene M., who is the wife of Louis Brintenburg, of Townsend Township. By her former marriage, Mrs. Levisee had one daughter, Martha, who is the wife of John Rosswurm, of Toledo. Mr. and Mrs. Levisee attend and liberally support the North Ridge Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican, but has never been will-


AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 711


ing to accept office, finding full contentment in the peaceful pursuits of the farmer and in the quiet of domestic life.


NORMAN C. SHERWOOD, manager of the Trommer Extract of Malt Company, at Fremont, has been associated with this large business enterprise throughout his entire business career. He was born at Fostoria, Ohio, May 17, 1857, and is a son of William D. and Frances E. (Harris) Sherwood.


Mr. Sherwood was eight years old when he accompanied his parents to Fremont, and here he was educated and has passed his life. In 1877 he became first associated with the Trommer Extract of Malt Company, then in its infancy, and later became a stockholder and from being bookkeeper has been advanced to the position of manager, one that requires a large amount of business knowledge.


Mr. Sherwood was married April 19, 1882, to Miss Susan Lewis, who is a daughter of B. W. Lewis, of Fremont, and they have four children : Charles Lewis, Norman Dickinson, Jeanette and Norma. The family residence is situated at No. 424 South Arch Street, Fremont.


In his political views, Mr. Sherwood is a Republican and fraternally he is a Mason. With his family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he led the choir for many years.


FRANK E. JOHNSON, a well known citizen of Sandusky Township, residing on a farm which adjoins Fremont on the north, has owned this highly cultivated and productive land since 1892 and has carried on a general gardening business. He was born at Fremont, Ohio, October 11, 1869, and is a son of Peter A. and Rebecca Johnson.


The father of Mr. Johnson was born in Schleswig-Holstein and his mother in Hanover, Germany, and they came to America about 1863. For several years they resided at Syracuse, New York, but after the close of the Civil War they came to Fremont and the father entered into business as a carpen ter and contractor. Both he and wife still survive, aged about seventy-five years, and live in Sandusky Township.


Frank E. Johnson was educated in the Fremont schools and learned the carpenter trade with his father. Prior to 1892, when he embarked in his present business, he followed his trade through the county. Mr. Johnson has f0und the growing of garden produce a very profitable business and has spent considerable capital in fitting up his grounds and buildings, according to the latest 'ideas on the subject. He makes a specialty of fine lettuce but grows all the early vegetables, having many feet of glass over his forcing beds. He finds a ready market, Fremont taking the larger part of what he can produce. He is a progressive and enterprising business man who deserves the prosperity he enjoys.


Mr. Johnson was married on November 20, 1890, to Miss Elizabeth H. Giertz, who was born at Oak Harbor, Ohio, a daughter of the late Carl H. Giertz. They have three children : George W., Carl F. and Raymond H. Mr. Johnson and wife are members of Grace Lutheran Church at Fremont, of which he is a trustee. In politics he is a Democrat.


ALBERT STREETER, one of the representative farmers and highly respected citizens of Green Creek Township and owner of 165 acres of land in Green Creek and York Townships, was born on the old family farm in York Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, September 26, 1839, and is a son of Christopher and Louisa (Kennedy) Streeter.


Christopher Streeter was born in the eastern part of the United States, and after his marriage came west with his wife and one child, with the intention 0f locating in Michigan. They came as far as Huron, Ohio, by boat, when his wife was taken ill. Taking the advice of a friend, he came to Sandusky County, where he bought a tract of eighty acres of timber land in York Township. This he cleared and as the sons grew to maturity, they added to the original


712 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


tract and had at one time over 40o acres 0f land in York and Green Creek Townships, In 1880 he retired from business activity and located at Clyde, Ohio, where he died in 1906 at the advanced age of ninety-two years. He first married Louisa Kennedy, who was born in the east and died December 24, 1851, and of their union were born the following children : Edward, who lives on the old farm, served in the Civil War, enlisting in Company B, 169th 0. Vol. Inf.; Albert, our subject ; and Alonzo, and Lorenzo, twins, the former of whom lives at Clyde, and the latter of whom is deceased.


Albert Streeter was reared on the home farm in York Township, assisting with the clearing of the land, and he attended the old log schoolhouse nearest his home. For a period of thirty-five years Mr. Streeter operated and had full charge of the Streeter saw-mill, which his father and brothers purchased April 7, 1857. On May 2, 1864, he enlisted in Company B, 169th 0. Vol. Inf., and served on garrison duty at Fort Ethan Allen near 'Washington.


On February 22, 1866, Mr. Streeter was joined in marriage with Lucy M0yer, who was born in Pennsylvania and is a daughter of Samuel Moyer of York Township, and of their union were born the following children : Minnie, married T, P. Gibson and resides on part of our subject's farm ; Allie, married John P. Kline, of York Township, and they have two children ; and George, lives on his father's farm, which he operates. He married Laura Bartlett and they have five children. Mr. Streeter's farm is in two tracts, of which 125 acres are in York Township, and the remaining forty in Green Creek Township, there being three houses on the farm, all located on the South Ridge Road. Mr. Streeter is now living in retirement in the enjoyment of a well-earned rest after years of unceasing activity. In politics he is a Republican. He is affiliated with the Clyde Grange, and the G. A. R, Post at Clyde. He is a member of the Baptist Church.


JOHN MICHAEL OVERMYER, a pioneer of Sandusky Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. On the 16th day of September, 1751, a ship named "Brothers," commanded by Captain William Muir of Rotterdam, with over 200 passengers, landed at Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. One of those passengers was a young man nearly twenty-four years old, John George Overmyer by name. He later married and located on Penn's Creek in Limestone Township, Union County, Pennsylvania, in 1770, and later served as a private in the French and Indian War.


On August 31, 1776, he was elected captain of the Sixth Company of the Battalion of Buffalo and Penn's Township, Northumberland County, and commissioned on the 8th day of October following. His company consisted of First Lieutenant James McCelvey, Second Lieutenant Peter Weirick, Ensign Michael Snyder, four sergeants, four corporals, one drummer, one fifer and forty privates, all under command of Colonel Philip Cole, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Sutherland, First Major Thomas Foster, Second Major Casper Youst, Standard Bearer Dewalt Miller, Adjutant James McCoy. This battalion left Northumberland County December 5, and Reading January 3, 1877, and returned after having served three months and eighteen days, for which they received pay as follows : Per month a captain, $20, a lieutenant, $13 1/3, a sergeant, $8, a corporal, $7 1/2, a drummer, $7 1/3, a private, $6 2/3. To find their own arms and clothes.

In 1753 Captain Overmyer had married Eva Rosenbaum ; she died in 1759, leaving him with four children. In 1760 he married Barbara Foucht, by whom he had eleven children. The fifth son. John Michael Overmyer, the direct subject of this sketch, was born at the above mentioned homestead, January 12, 1773. From his parents he received a fair German education and later learned the trade of house carpenter and cabinet maker. Carpenters in those days had to construct all window sash, frames, doors and door frames, and match all flooring by hand. Such work he did during the summer and in the winter season he constructed chairs. tables, cupboards, and at times


HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 715


fanning Mills for farmers, the gearing of which consisted of wooden cogv wheels, which were all made by him. He also constructed many of the hand-weaving looms, on which our grandmothers wove the material for fan- ily clothing.


On September 22, 1793, at Longstown, Pennsylvania, he married Catherine Long, daughter of George Long, a Swiss, proprietor of Longstown (now New Berlin), where he resided until he left Pennsylvania for Ohio. For many years he was Captain of the Seventh Company of the Thirty-ninth Regiment Pennsylvania Militia, commanded by Colonel Youngman.


In 1811 he moved to Ohio with one four-horse and one five-horse team, and located near Somerset, Perry County, entering a quarter-section of forest land, and established a home with a family of six children. In the fall of 1826 he with two of his sons, George L. and Michael, and a neighbor. Daniel Hensel, made a trip to Lower Sandusky with a view of locating- the sons near the water navigation of the Sandusky River. He made the trip on horseback, the two sons and Mr. Hensel traveling on foot, mostly over new roads in the dense forest. On their return trip they stopped at the Government land office at Bucyrus, Ohio. He entered the southeast quarter of Section 18 for George L. and the southwest quarter of the same section for Michael, and Mr. Hensel entered the southwest quarter of Section 17, all in Sandusky Township, paying $1.25 per acre.


In 1831 he again came to Lower Sandusky to visit his sons and found the cleared land so productive and the surroundings so much improved that he decided to sell his holdings in Perry Counts', and he and the rest of his family came to Sandusky County. In 1832 he bought the southeast quarter of Section 19, Pike tract of 153 acres, where he resided for the rest of his life. He had blue eyes, a round full-flushed, always smooth shaven face, a genial disposition.: was very stern in his decisions ; broad shoulders, short stout neck. He was very fond of horseback riding; when mounted on his riding horse, his erect position, broad shoulders, ruddy face, broad rimmed hat, covering a fine head of pray hair, made a pic ture that impressed all who met him, • After a lingering dropsical ailment, he died October 19, 1847, and is buried at Four-mile Cemetery.


His wife, Catherine (Long) Overmyer, was born at New Berlin, Pennsylvania, October i 1, 1775. Having moved to Perry County, Ohio, in 1811, and from there to Lower Sandusky in 1832, she twice endured the severe trials of pioneer life with a family of children. She died October 3, 18;3, and is buried beside her venerable husband in Four-Mile Cemetery, near their last place of residence. They were lifelong members of the Lutheran Church ; he was a Jeffersonian Democrat in politics. They were the chief promoters in establishing the First Church, also in securing the location of Four-Mile Cemetery in Sandusky Township, outside the City of Fremont. Their children were as follows :


George L., born January 4, 1795, died August 29, 1870; Catherine, born June 4, 1799, died November 5, 1874 ; Michael, born September 5, 1801, ; Susan, born February 13, 1804, died December 31, 1840; John, born December 24, 1806, died May 10, 188q; Barbara, born September 25, 1809, died June 7, 1889; Elizabeth and Magdalena (twins) born August 22. 1812, died in infancy ; Samuel, born February 1, 1815, died in 1848, near the City of Mexico, a soldier in the Mexican War.


John M.'s father and two of his brothers, viz. : John George and Jonas, are buried near New Berlin, Pennsylvania; one brother, Peter, is buried near New Reading, Perry County, Ohio; his brother Philip is buried in the old cemetery at Lindsey ; Jacob in Smith Cemetery, Jackson Township, and David near his own grave in Four-Mile Cemetery, Sandusky Township, making four of the emigrant and Revolutionary soldier's sons buried within the limits of Sandusky County, Ohio.


His eldest son, George L. Overmyer, born at New Berlin, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1795, came with his parents to Perry County, Ohio, in 1811. There, on May 16, 1816, he married Mary Bowman, daughter of George and Catherine (Rooch) Bowman, born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, September 10, 1801. In 1827 George L. and his brother Michael moved to Sandusky County and


716 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


located on Section 18, Sandusky Township. In 1836 George L. sold his farm and located on Section 11, of Washington Township, on lands that he had bought from the Government in 1835. He assisted in organizing the township, was elected as one of the first justices of the peae, also as its first township clerk and assessor; the last two offices he served in over thirty consecutive years.


Of the marriage of George L. Overmyer with Mary Bowman were born children as follows: Catharine, born in 1817, died in infancy ; Susan, born April 16, 1820, died January 8, 1887; Elizabeth, born April 22, 1822, died April 15, 1879; Paul, born November 20, 1824, died March 29, 1847; Solomon B., born November 23, 1826; George B., born February 18, 1829, died February 9, 1885; Mary A., born March 12, 1831, died June I I, 1905 ; John, born May 19, 1833, died February 8, 1900; Noah, born January 18, 1836, died December 28, 1852 ; Sarah, born May 2, 1838; Barnhart B., born July 26, 1840; Samuel B., born October 6, 1842, died October 9, 1864, at Savannah, Georgia. He was a member of Company C, Seventy-second Regiment, 0. V. I.; was captured at Guntown, Mississippi, June 12, 1864, and confined at Andersonville several months, then transferred to Savannah, Georgia, where he died as above stated. There is a monument erected to his memory between the graves of his parents in Four Mile Cemetery.


Barnhart B. Overmyer was born one mile east of Lindsey, Ohio, in Washington Township, July 26, 1840. He grew to manhood in said township, attended the rural schools and assisted in the labor of the farm until he was nineteen years of age. He then became a student in the preparatory department of Oberlin College, in which institution he remained two years, after which he taught school in the rural districts and in the village of Hessville for fourteen years. He was elected Second Lieutenant of Company B, Third Regiment, 0. M. I., on July 4, 1863, and commissioned by Governor Todd on the 20th of that month, and with the other officers of his regiment immediately reported at Camp Lucas, Toledo, Ohio, where they were drilled and instructed in military tactics by able and efficient officers under Adju tant General Hill; subsequently drilling a portion of the militia of the north half of Washington Township, frequently, until September, 1864, when the militia officers and privatesa were all discharged by a general order of the Adjutant General of Ohio.


On August 29, 1865, at the parsonage in Fremont, Ohio, by Rev. H. Lang, he was married to Mary Malinda Walborn,a. daughter of John William and Lydia (Rutter) Walborn, born October 15, 1814, at Stouchsburg, Berks County, Pennsylvania, who came with her parents to Sandusky County, in 1860. To this. noble little woman as help-meet and homemaker Mr. Overmyer ascribes much of his success in life.


Choosing the occupation of general farming, they located on a level, wet and timbered farm one mile northeast of Lindsey, Ohio, which he bought for $19 per acre, residing thereon for thirty-three years. During that time he filled various offices of the township to the satisfaction of the people, in the meanwhile giving attention to fine stock raising. For thirty years his farms produced some of the finest horses, hogs, sheep and cattle the county afforded. His agricultural ideas were always-along the lines of progress, he owning and operating the first twine-binding harvester and check-row corn planter in the township; he also laid the first drain tile in his immediate. neighborhood.


During all these years he looked well to the education of his children, giving them much better opportunities in that direction than he ever had himself. Mr. and Mrs. Overmyer are members of Salem Lutheran Congregation at Four-Mile House. They have the following-children : Emma Rebecca, born April 8, 1866, wife of Charles P. Auxter, resides on White. Avenue, Fremont; Samuel Franklin, born May 21, 1870, resides on and operates the home farm in Sandusky Township; John Calvin, born November 20, 1871, resides. on Court Street, Fremont, Ohio, is at present treasurer elect of Sandusky County ; Robert Luther, born May 24, 1877, died November 26, 1902; Arthur Warren, borna May 31, 1879, an attorney, and for six years secretary of the Sandusky County Fair Asso-


AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 717


ciation, resides on West State Street, Fremont, Ohio, with offices over postoffice in the city.


In politics Mr. Overmyer is a liberal Bryan Democrat; has served two terms as county commissioner, and is now serving as justice of the peace for Sandusky Township to the entire satisfaction of the people. He was elected for four years, running ninety-two votes ahead of his party's ticket.


Since 1898 Mr. Overmyer has resided near the city limits of Fremont, on West State Street, on a nicely located farm, enjoying the society of his children and a pleasant community.


ALEXANDER SMITH, a highly re spected retired farmer, who resides on a fine property in Section 1, Scott Township, where he has 102% acres, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1855, and is a son of Alexander and Catherine (First) Smith.


The father of Mr. Smith came to Sandusky County from Pennsylvania, in 1867, and lived in Jackson Township from that time until his death on November 12, 1905. He married Catherine First, who was born in Germany and died in August, 1888, in Jackson Township. They both were interred in the Mitzger Cemetery. They were good people and were consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.


Alexander Smith was reared on the home farm of 10o acres in Jackson Township, a part of which his father cleared. He was twelve years old when he came to this township and completed his schooling there. He continued to live at home and help carry on the farm until he was twenty-three years old, when he married and then rented. a farm in Madison Township for a year, going then to Scott Township, where he operated his father-in-law's farm for a year, after which he bought seventy-five acres of his present farm and subsequently purchased the twenty-seven and one-half-acre tract adjoining. When he took possession almost all of the land was timbered and it required a large amount of hard work to properly clear it, all of this, with the exception of about twenty acres, having been completed by Mr. Smith himself. He has. almost all his land under-drained and has put it into such a fine conditi0n 0f cultivation that it is numbered with the most valuable farms in the township. Mr. Smith has always been a progressive man and when. he decided to erect a new home he determined to make it a modern residence in every way and thoroughly succeeded. The old house which sheltered the family so• long is still standing, but is no longer occupied by them. Mr. Smith has pleasant surroundings and a bountiful orchard adds to the comfort and health of those permitted. to enjoy it. As may be supposed, the farm machinery that Mr. Smith considers neces sary for modern, scientific and successful agricultural operations, is entirely modern. His cattle and stock, also, proclaim the up-to-date farmer.


In 1878 Mr. Smith was married to Missa Elizabeth Klotz, a daughter of John and Ann Klotz, and they have three children: Obydell D., who married Miss Mattie Peck Maud, who is the wife of Peter Myers, and they have a son, Theodore Roosevelt Myers ; and Waneta, who is at home.


In politics Mr. Smith is a Republican, but he has never accepted any office except membership on the School Board. He has long been an Odd Fellow and has passed all the chairs of the lodge at Helena, and he belongs also to the Modern Woodmen of America Lodge at Tinney.


CHRISTIAN MICHAEL, one of Ballville Township's representative and substantial citizens, resides on one well-improved farm of twenty-two acres and owns two others, one containing ninety-three acres and the other eighty acres, all valuable farming land. He was born in Erie County, New York, June 5, 1838, and is a son of Christian and Louisa (Shiver) Michael.


The parents of Mr. Michael were born in France and after coming to America in. 1823, settled in Erie County, New York,.


718 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNT Y


and spent the remainder of their lives there. They had five children : Christian, Mactelana, Philip, Adam and George. Mactelana is the widow of Fred Haines and lives at Buffalo, New York, and has had four children: Benjamin, Nellie, Laura and Emma. Philip married Elizabeth Wolfe and they live at Buffalo and have three children: Libbie, Laura and Emma. Adam lives in Michigan, married Elizabeth Beckman and they have three children : Anna, Hatty and Jesse, the last mentioned being deceased. George lives in New York, where he married Miss Umberhomer and they have one child, Carolina. The parents died aged respectively fifty-five and forty-five years.


Christian Michael lived in Erie County until he was nineteen years of age, learned the harness-making trade and in June, 1857, came to Fremont. He worked at his trade there with William Strealer until the following spring and then embarked in business for himself and conducted a shop of his own on Front Street for five years. His wife owning thirty acres of land in Ballville Township, Mr. Michael then decided to settle on it and added sixty-three acres to it, making a very easily handled farm. He continued to reside on that place forv forty-two years and then took possession of his present farm, on which he has made extensive improvements. In addition to carrying on general farming and stock-raising, Mr. Michael operated a threshing machine for fifteen years.


On December 10, 1857, at Buffalo, New York, Mr. Michaela was married to Miss Elizabeth Mathia, a daughter of Philip and Christina (Oswald) Mathia, and ten children were born to this union, namely: Charles F., Emma L., Aaron C., Mary E., George A., Maniel E., Irving W., Claraa E., Nora C. and one that died in infancy. Charles F. married Hattie Huffard, and they live in Sandusky County and have seven children: Ethel G., William, Charles C.. Clarence, Nellie, Harold and Nolan. Emma L. married Irving McDonald and both died at Fremont, leaving one son, Aaron. Aaron married Elnora Schoch and they live in Ballville Township and have one child, A. C. Mary married Frank Claar and they live in Michigan and have three children : Dewey F., Haven E. and Nora E. George A. married Emma Parker and they live in Green Creek Township and have two children: Lister and Glenn. Maniel E. married Lillie Wagner and they live in Jackson Township and have one child, Arthur W. Irving and Nora C. both live at home. Clara E. married Clarence Cookson and they live in Washington Township and have one child, Iva R.


The parents of Mrs. Michael came to America from the same place in France that the Michael family came from and they too settled in Erie County, New York. In 1838 they came to Ballville Township and bought land and the father died soon after, when aged forty-five years, but the mother lived to be ninety-one. They had two children : Catherine, who died aged seventeen years : and Mrs. Michael. Mr. Michael has been a very active citizen and a valuable one, having served as township trustee, road supervisor and school director. He is a member of the order of Knights of Honor.


JACOB D. LEFEVER, a veteran of the Civil War and owner of Locust Hill Farm, a tract of 100 acres located in Green Creek Township about two and a half miles east of Clyde, Ohio. was born April l0, 1838, on the home farm in Green Creek Township, and is a son of John and Rachel (Schwoop) LeFever.


Jacob LeFever, grandfather of our subject, at an early period came with his family from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and first located in Fairfield County, Ohio, where for many years he followed farming. After the death of his wife he came to Sandusky County, and resided with his son John until his death, his interment being at the McPherson Cemetery at Clyde.


John LeFever was born in Lancaster County, in 1807. and was one of a large family of children. When a boy his parents


AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 719


removed to Fairfield County, Ohio, where he grew to maturity and was later married to Rachel Schwoop, shortly afterwards moving. to Sandusky County. John and Rachel LeFever were the parents of the following children: Louisa, is the wife of J. S. Lee; Rebecca, married William Brown; John, deceased ; William C.; Jacob D., the subject of this sketch ; Oscar T. ; Jennie, who married Monroe Lee ; and two who died in infancy. Mrs. LeFever died in February, 1848, and Mr. LeFever formed a second marital union with Elvira Reed, who died in 1896. His death occurred in 1890. Upon first locating in Sandusky County, Mr. LeFever bought a tract of 100 acres of timberland in Green Creek Township, which he cleared, and resided for some time in a log house. During the winter of 1828 he taught school at Fremont, Ohio, and in 1863, at the outbreak of the Civil War, when his sons, William C., Jacob and Oscar, enlisted in the army, he went to Clyde, where he lived in retirement until the time of his death.


Jacob D. LeFever grew to manhood on the home farm in Green Creek Township and received his educational training in the district schools and at Berea College. In 1863 he enlisted in Company A, 72d 0. Vol. Inf., and served throughout the entire war, being wounded but once, while on picket duty at Nashville, Tennessee. After the close of the war he returned home and on October a4, 1865, was. united in marriage with Cornelia Lay, who was born in 1840, and was a daughter of W. E. Lay, who was one of the' early settlers of Sandusky County. Mr. LeFever has always followed farming and after his marriage bought his present farm of 100 acres in Green Creek Township, from Mr. Eversole. It was the old John Tuck farm and is now knowna as Locust Hill farm, deriving its name from the many locust trees which grow upon the place. In 1883 Mr. LeFever erected a large ten-room brick house and has made many other improvements on the land. In politics he is identified with the Republican party and is a member of Eton P0st, G. A. R., at Clyde.


PETER WEIKER, whose farm of ninety acres, situated in Riley Township, shows careful cultivation, is one of the prosperous agriculturists and respected citizens of this section. He was born January 3, 1855, in Sandusky Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, and is a s0n of Philip and Mary Weiker.


The parents of Mr. Weiker were born in Germany. Philip Weiker accompanied his parents to America and to Sandusky County, Ohio, in 1845, and he lived with them in Sandusky Township until 1870, when he removed his immediate family to Riley Township and lived here until his death, in 1872. To Philip and Mary Weiker there were born ten children and of this family the following are still living: Peter ; Philip, residing in Nebraska ; Jacob, living in Riley Township ; Mary C., wife of J. P. Miller, living in Townsend Township ; Dorothy, wife of J. W. Nelson, residing in Indian Territory; Frederick, living in Oklahoma ; Henry, a resident of Paulding County, Ohio; and Susan A., who is the wife of David L. Karbler, of Riley Township. Philip Weiker was a Democrat in politics. He was a man of excellent judgment and was respected by all who knew him.


Peter Weiker was reared to manhood in his parents' home and with his brothers and sisters shared all the advantages that could be secured for them. He attended the country schools and as soon as old enough gave his father assistance on the farm. He has devoted himself to agricultural pursuits ever since. In his views on public questions, he is independent. He gives encouragement to local movements that promise to be of benefit to his section and has always been interested in the public schools.


Mr. Weiker married Miss Amelia Kistler, daughter of Abraham Kistler, late of Riley Township, and they have three children : Elizabeth, Frederick and Edward.


ALFRED BOOKMYER, Justice of the Peace of Green Creek Township, and owner of


720 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


155 acres of land in this township, was born May 17, 1859, on a farm in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of John and Harriet (Bearer) Bookmyer.


John Bookmyer was born in Germany and When about ten years 'old came with his father, John Bookmyer, to America and located in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, where his parents subsequently died. Here he was reared and became a farmer, and toward the close of the war brought his family west and located in Chicago, Illinois, for about six months. He then moved to Richland County, Ohio, where he farmed for six years and in 1870 came to Sandusky County and bought the old Charles Jackson farm of 106 1-2 acres on the Ridge, northeast of Clyde, where he followed farming until 1895, when he retired and located nearer Clyde, where he died in 1900, aged eighty-three years. He is still survived by his widow, who lives at Clyde. Mr. and Mrs. Bookmyer were the parents of the following children : Celestine F.; Joseph, deceased ; Augustus J. ; Thomas ; Alfred, The subject of this record ; John C.; Henry, deceased ; George ; Mary, deceased; and Ida, who is the wife of Bernard Dowd.


Alfred Bookmyer was quite young when his .parents came from Cambria County, Pennsylvania, to Sandusky County, Ohio. His primary education was received in the common schools of the county, and this was supplemented by a course of study at college at Ada, Ohio, after which he taught for twenty-three winters in Sandusky and Seneca Counties. He is a carpenter by trade and spent the summer previous to his marriage at working at That trade in St. Louis, Missouri. Since his marriage he has followed farming, buying in 1891 a tract of sixty acres in Green Creek Township from Paris Richards. To this he has added from time to time, now owning 155 acres in two tracts, his land cornering in the northeastern part of Green Creek Township, and located about one and 'three-quarter miles northeast of Clyde. Mr. Bookmeyer erected a large frame house and barn in 1904 and has set out a large amount of small fruit on the place.


Mr. Bookmyer was married in May, 1889, to Mary Celestia Matz, a daughter of john and

Lydia Matz, of Seneca County, Ohio, and to them have been born six children : Lily, who died aged four years; and Edith, Charles, Frank, Warren and Mary.


Mr. Bookmyer is a stanch Democrat in politics and in 1907 was elected justice of the peace of Green Township by that party. He is a member of the Catholic Church at Clyde and is fraternally affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Clyde Grange.


JOHN W. WORST, attorney-at-law and formerly a member of the law firm of Meek, Dudrow & Worst, and for many years a resi' dent of Fremont, has been identified with many of the leading- interests of Sandusky as well as other sections, through which he has not only advanced his own interests, but has been the means of advancing others. Mr. Worst was born September 3, 1847, in Ballville Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, and is a son of Jacob and Hannah (Parks) Worst.


Jacob Worst was a patriot whose memory deserves to be perpetuated. He served his country in two wars—in 1846 under Gen. Zachary Taylor, in Mexico, and in the Civil War, under General Grant, giving up his life on the bloody field of Shiloh, April 6, 1862.


John W. Worst was fifteen years old when he lost his father and was the fifth member of a family of nine children. On the maternal side he is of Scotch-Irish and English descent, and can trace his lineage back to the Covenanters. He was reared on a farm, gained his early education in the public schools and began to teach school before he graduated from the Fremont High School. after which he continued to teach and to study law. Later he was appointed superintendent of the schools at Green Spring, Seneca County, and at Elmore. Ottawa County, serving two years at the former place and eight at the latter. In 1882 he was appointed school examiner for Sandusky County, serving until 1885, and in 1887 he entered upon a term as county clerk, which extended for six years. During this period, Mr. Worst, by his efficiency and careful and conscientious willingness to serve everv one who had business with that office, made friends all over the county, and there were many regrets


HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 723


expressed when he gave up official life to turn his attention to his business interests. For a number of years he engaged in the manufacture of staves and lumber, at different points in Ohio, and also acquired large timber and real 'estate interests in the West. He also completed his law course and on December 6, 1894, he was admitted to the bar. For several years he was associated as a partner in one of the most prominent law firms in Fremont.


In the year 1898, through his business tact, and having faith in the future development of south-east Missouri, he abandoned the practice of law and gave his entire attention to his already established business in that section of country. He, with his associates, became interested in the project of building a railroad. They built seventy-five miles connecting the two large railroad systems, the Cotton Belt and Frisco. In 1902, they sold their railroad to the Frisco system, and since that time Mr. Worst has turned his attention to his manufacturing interests and real estate.

He is interested in the manufacture of barrels, at Clyde, Ohio, also in the Clyde Produce Company, manufacturers of saurkraut; he is the principal stockholder in the Fremont Sales-book Company, Fremont, Ohio, and is interested in the Donald Oil and Gas Company. He

also largely interested in raising of stock in Wyoming, Missouri and Ohio.


Mr. Worst was married in 1872. to Miss Calista S. Long, who is a daughter of the late Rev. M. Long, a minister and a pioneer who had much to do with the making of the earlier history of Sandusky County, northwestern Ohio, southern Michigan and northeastern Indiana. He was an example of the highest Christian citizenship, a man of remarkable physical powers, with a strong, clear, voluminous voice, who, in the true spirit of patriotism and Christianity, let neither almost impenetrable forests nor impassable swamps deter him from carrying the message of his Master, the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man; who, for fifty-six years never missed the opening prayer of the annual conferences of the church of his faith.


Mr. and Mrs. Worst by their large-hearted, unassuming lives have gained many valued friends from all classes throughout the country. They have three children, Lambert Le-Clare, Cleora Gear and Vonneida Grey.


WILLIAM DALTON, engaged in general farming and stock raising on his farm of eighty acres in Townsend Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, has been a resident of this township all his life. He was born on the old homestead, July 20, 1857, and is a son of Matthew and Margaret (Quirk) Dalton.


Matthew Dalton was born in County Longford, Ireland, in 1806, and there lived for some years after his first marriage. He married a Miss Kinney, who subsequently died during an epidemic of cholera, and they had six children. Upon his removal to America, he settled in Livingston County, New York, where he was married (second) to Margaret (Quirk) Welsh, widow of James Welsh, by whom she had had two sons who grew to maturity. About the year 1855, Mr. Dalton moved to Sandusky County, Ohio, and purchased eighty acres of land in Townsend Township, Which he added to until he was possessed of 240 acres. He died on this farm January 24, 1883, at the age of seventy-seven years. His widow died August 25, 1907, at the age of eighty-five years. Their union was blessed by the birth of five children: John, William and Henry, all of whom live in Townsend Township ; Mary, wife of Allen Sanford, of Riley Township; and Anna, wife of James H. Garvin, of Townsend Township.


William Dalton grew to manhood on the farm, attended the public schools, and f0r eight years in his early life taught in the district schools. He was married in 1884 and about the same year began the erection of the buildings on the farm he now occupies, consisting. of eighty acres of land which was taken up by his father. Besides the cultivation of the usual crops, Mr. Dalton has paid special attention to the raising of live stock and is rated among the most successful stockmen of the township. He is a Democrat in politics and takes an


724 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


active interest in his party, but has never held any public office.


On May 21, 1884, William Dalton was married to Miss Mary McHugh, a daughter of John McHugh of Clyde, and they became parents of the following children: Maggie, born April 24, 1885; Annie, born June 3, 1887, died when 19 years old; Edwin and Henry, twins, born September 24, 1893; Lucile, b0rn March 25, 1898. The family belongs to St. Mary's Catholic Church at Clyde.


GEORGE H. ROUSH, a representative retired farmer, residing on his valuable farm of 162 acres, thus divided, 116 acres in Section 22 and forty-six acres in Section 27, Scott Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, was born on this farm, May 3, 1857. His parents were Daniel and Katherine (Hefflebower) Roush, both of whom have passed to their last reward, the death of the mother taking place in September, 1885, and that of the father, May 25, 1904, Their remains rest in Trinity Cemetery.


George H. Roush attended school through his boyhood, in the vicinity of his home, after which he went to work on the home farm, and for a number of years pursued his agricultural labors early and late, taking a great deal of interest in developing all the possibilities of his land. His methods were practical and thorough and it is not remarkable that Mr. Roush became one of the most successful and prosperous farmers of his section. After he married he bought fifty acres of the homestead, paying down $90.00, and giving his note for the remainder, and subsequently bought the remainder of the land. He now has only seven acres uncultivated, it being in wood and pasture, and he also has nine oil wells. He rebuilt the old barn and erected a handsome new house, making use of the old foundation, and has everything comfortable about the place. Mr. Roush is a Stockholder in the Helena Bank and also in the Sun Savings Bank of Rising Sun.


On May 20, 1880, Mr. Roush was married to Miss Sophia Bower, a daughter of J. C. and Barbara (Heminger) Bower, and they have two children: Samuel H., who married Myr tle Halbeisen, has one son, Roy G. ; and Ellen M., who lives at home. Mr. Roush is a member of the Church of Saints of the Living God. In politics he is a Democrat and he is serving in the responsible office of treasurer of Scott Township, elected in 1908 to serve until 1910. He is also a member of the township school board. He is widely known and enjoys the esteem and confidence of every one.


B. F. ROGERS, justice of the peace and a representative citizen of Clyde, where he has been engaged in the shoe business for the past thirty-nine years, was born at Lyons, in Wayne County, New York, August 3, 1830, and is a son of Joel and Betsey (Ells) Rogers.


Mr. Rogers is of English-German extraction and of Revolutionary stock. Two of his great-grandfathers served under Gen. Washington in the "War of Independence. The Rogers family has been noted for its longevity. It has produced some members who have particularly distinguished themselves, and many others whose quiet useful lives have, perhaps, c0ntributed more to the well being of their fellow-citizens. One of the former class, admired and honored all over the world, is Randolph Rogers, the famous sculptor.


Joel Rogers, father of B. F., was born near Balltown Springs, New York. In 1830 he came to Ohio and settled in Huron County, east of Norwalk, where he engaged in farming, and also worked at his trade of carpentering and joining. He died in 1854, when aged sixty-one years. He married Betsey Ells, who was born in Connecticut, in 1798, and died in Ohio, July 4, 1888.


B. F. Rogers was educated in the public schools of Hartland, Huron County, and when seventeen years of age began to learn the shoemaking trade, remaining with his uncle, A. G. Ells, for nine years, at Fitchville. He then conducted a business of his own for one year at the village of Wakeman and then returned to his uncle for one more year. Shortly afterward he turned his attention to the study of drugs and medicine


AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 725


and in this connection worked in a drug store at Clarksfield, for a year, later continued his studies in Michigan and still later in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Rogers did not pursue his professional studies any farther, but returned to Clarksfield, during the Civil War resided at .Norwalk, Ohio, and then removed to New London, Huron County. There he continued until 1869, when he settled permanently at Clyde, where he has carried on the manufacture and sale of shoes ever since, his being one of the pioneer shoe houses of the place. His business career has been a long and prosperous one and during these many years he has been one of Clyde's leading and solid citizens.


Mr. Rogers was married (first) at Clarksfield, to Miss Almira Buck, of Norwalk, Ohio, who died in 1876, leaving the following children : Emma, who married Alfred Barber; Belle, who married E. M. Keller; Hattie, who is the widow of I. Boone: and Grant C., deceased. Mr. Rogers was married (second) September 1, 1877, to Miss Belinda Malcom of Ruggles, Ashland County, Ohio, a lady of Scotch parentage.


In politics, Mr. Rogers is a zealous Republican and has long exerted influence, although unwilling to accept many political favors. He has been a justice of the peace for twenty years and can make the proud claim that none of his decisions has been reversed by the upper courts. He is still serving in that office and has also been a notary public for fifteen years. He is a. member and liberal supporter of the Universalist Church. Fraternally, Mr. Rogers is both a Mason and an Odd Fellow, having united with the former order fifty-three years ago and with the latter thirty-eight years ago. He is one of the oldest members in both organizations.


WILLIAM MYERS, one of Scott Township's representative men, lives in his comfortable residence standing on his farm of ninety-six acres, situated in Section 19, Scott Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. In this township he was born March T0, 1862, and his parents were Garmon and Edith (Eberhardt) Myers.


The parents of Mr. Myers came to America from Germany, early in their married life, and after they reached Akron, Ohio, the father was engaged as foreman in a brickyard for one year. He moved then to Wood County, where he resided for a year and then went on the Stahl farm, in Scott Township, Sandusky County, where his death occurred in October, 1870. His widow survived until March, 1901, and they were both buried in Trinity Cemetery.

William Myers spent his school days in Scott and Jackson Townships, Sandusky County, and helped on the home farm until he was fifteen years old, after which he worked in a sawmill and on neighboring farms for about eight years. After his marriage, in 1884, he settled on the Jake Stahl farm of forty acres, in Jackson Township, which he rented for two years, then moved to the Charles Stahl farm of 180 acres, in Scott Township, and one and one-half years later purchased his present land and has occupied it ever since. He has cleared all except sixteen acres, still in wood and pasture, and has all but two acres well drained. His substantial buildings he erected and all the improving has been done by himself, including the setting out of his fine orchard. Mr. Myers has seven oil wells on his farm.


On September 18, 1884, Mr. Myers was married to Miss Ada Harley, a daughter of David and Lavina (Rinebold) Harley, and they have had six children born to them, namely : Alma, Margie, Marion, deceased; Raymond, and Edward and Edna, twins, now deceased. Mr. Myers and family are members of the United Brethren Church, in which he is a class leader and superintendent of the Sunday School. In politics he is a Republican and he was elected a trustee of the township in 1908 to serve until 1910.


JAMES FULLER, one of the largest land owners of Townsend Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, has resided here all his life and is classed among the most progressive and public-spirited citizens. He was born on the farm


726 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


on which he now lives, October 13, 1844, and is a son of William and Emma (Levisee) Fuller.


William Fuller was born in the town of Holly, Franklin County, Massachusetts, in 1799, and was a son of Jason and Filinda Fuller. In 1834, he moved west to Sandusky County, Ohio, and it is said drove the first team of oxen over the main public road in the southern part of Townsend Township. He took up the tract of land on which his son, James, resides, and there lived until his death on February 7, 1884. He was married to Miss Emma Levisee, a daughter of Aaron Levisee, who came to Sandusky County from New York State. Her death occurred January 14, 1902, at the age of eighty-four years.


James Fuller spent his boyhood on the home farm and received his educational training in the public schools of Townsend Township. During the Civil War he was in the one-hundred-day service, enlisting in 1864 as a member of Company H, 169th O, Vol. Inf. At the close of his enlistment, he returned 'to the home place, where he has since lived. He has made a success of farming 500 acres.


On January 7, 1873, Mr. Fuller was married to Betsy Richards, who was born in England and was about six years old when she accompanied her parents, Joseph and Matilda (Whitehead) Richards, to the United States. One son, Albon Bernard, was the issue of their union, the date of his birth being September 4, 1880. He was married to Sadie, daughter of John F, Meek, of Townsend Township, and they reside on the farm settled by his grandfather. They have two children : Bessie Mildred, born June 9, 1905 and James Merritt, born September 21, 1907. The wife of our subject passed away March 15, 1908. He is a member of the Universalist Church. He is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.


E. J. CARTER, president of the Simple Account Sales Book Company, a large business enterprise which has been founded and fostered at Fremont, Ohio, was born at Hudson. Summit County, Ohio, October 21, 1865. and is a son of Noah A. and Jennie R. (Herrick) Carter.

The father of Mr. aCarter was a contractor and builder.a In 1870 he moved with his family to Akron, Ohio, where he continued his work until his death, in 1896. His widow still survives.


E. J, Carter was reared at Akron and after completing the common school course, attended 'the High School for two years, then went to work for M, H. Crumrine as a monument-maker. In 1884 he entered the office of the Diamond Match Company and worked 'there until 1887, when he turned his attention to insurance and continued in that business until he came to Fremont, in 1889. Mr. Carter was the organizer of the business which was started under the name of the Single Account File Company and was made the first president, in 1892. The same name was retained until 1906, when the present one was assumed, Mr. Carter still continuing as president. A large force is employed, about seventy-five people, including men, boys and girls. The pay roll is no insignificant item and as it aclds to the prosperity of Fremont people has its effect in increasing the comfort and welfare of home workers. He is also a director of the Yaryan Company of Fremont.


Mr. Carter was Married to Miss Laura V. Stierwalt, a daughter of Jonathan Stierwalt, a member of an old county family, and they have three children : Russell J.; Kathleen and Adeline. Mr. and Mrs. Carter attend the Methodist Episcopal Church. in which he holds the offices of steward and 'treasurer. Duringa the fall of 1908 when the temperance question was one of such moment in many State and city elections, Mr. Carter was chairman of the Sandusky Local Option Committee and it was largely due to his influence, together with other prominent citizens, that the county went "dry."


GEORGE ZIMMERMAN, who has now retired from active farm life, resides in Section 7, Scott Township, Sandusky County, owning. 208 acres in Sections 7 and i8. comprising cultivated and under-drained land, timber tracts and thirty-two oil wells. Mr. Zimmerman was born in this township, March 29, 1846, and is a son of Jacob and Magdalena (Bowe) Zimmerman.


AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 727


Jacob Zimmerman was born in Germany and was seventeen years old when he came 'to America and was at first employed on a farm in the State of New York, where he remained for some time after he was married. When he acame to Scott Township, Sandusky County, he bought eighty acres of land, to which he added 120- acres and of this he cleared 140 acres. He then returned to New York and lived there for a few years and followed farming, but later came back to his farm in Scott Township and resided here until his death, which occurred in April, 1881. His burial was in Minkler Cemetery. He married Magdalena Bowe, a daughter of George Bowe. She survived until December, 1893. They were worthy members of the Evangelical Church. 'Jacob Zimmerman voted with the Republican party, but he was never Willing to serve in office.


George Zimmerman obtained his education in the district schools of Scott Township and grew to manhood on his father's farm. He is a member of the lodge of Odd Fellows at that place and there has many friends of years' acquaintance. Mr. Zimmerman has two sets of buildings on his property and erected one of the dwellings and has repaired all the structures. He also set out the orchard. which in season. gives a bountiful yield.


In September 1873, Mr. Zimmerman was married to Miss Barbara Moser. who died in March. 1877, leaving two children : Minnie, who married W. H. Keller; and Minerva, who married James Horner and has three children, Bernice, Nellie and Clarence. Mr. Zimmerman was married (second) to Miss Sarah Jane Baird, a daughter of Shelman Baird, and the following children were born to them: Mertie, who amarried John Immel; May, who married Charles Fritz. has two children, Naomi and Laura; Blanche and George S., both of whom are at home; and Christie and two infants, all threea of whoa are now deceased. In politics, Mr. Zimmerman is a Republican.


JAMES E. STARK, proprietor of a first-class grocery store at Clyde, Ohio, has been engaged in this line of trade ever since he started out in business. He was born at Clyde, Ohio, October 28, 1872, and is a son of ,Emmett E. and Louisa (Copsey) Stark.


His paternal grandfather, James B. Stark, was a native of Allegheny County, New York, and came to Sandusky County with his parents about 1840, settling on a farm at what is now Cooperstown. Jamesa B. Stark and his three brothers, Lorenzo D., John and Albert, were coopers by trade and conducted a shop for a number of years, and the village derived its name from this shop. James B. moved to Clyde about 1852 and conducted a cooper shop for a number of years at this point. He and his brother, Lorenzo D., went into the grocery business and later into the live stock business. He died in March, 1905.


Emmett E. Stark, son of James B. and father of the subject of this sketch, was reared to maturity in Clyde and began business life as a clerk in the grocery store. He was later engaged in the stave and heading business with his father, they having a factory in Clyde. Subsequently he operated the Clyde grist-mill, but since 1892 has been engaged in the fire, life and accident insurance business, having an office at the corner of Church and Forrest Streets. He was married in 1869 to Louisa Copsey of Clyde, Ohio, whose parents were Peter and Sarah Copsey, both natives of England. Of this union there have been two children—Tames E., whose name appears at the head of this article, and a daughter, Blanche, who died at the age of six years.


James E. Stark attended the Clyde schools and then entered the employ of the grocery firm of Hughes & Mann. Several years later he worked for Mr. Curtis, another grocer. leaving him to accept a position in the offices of the freight department of the Big Four and Lake Shore Railroads, but he remained for only a short time. He then bought out his former employer, Mr. Curtis, in 1900. and with F. R. Wilson as a partner, conducted the business for two years under the firm name of Stark & Wilson. At the end of that time he bought Mr. Wilson's interest and has continued alone, keeping the same business site, on the cor-


728 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


ner of Main and Duane Streets. Mr. Stark's long experience in the line has made him well qualified to conduct it successfully and profitably.


On January 5, 1898, Mr. Stark was married to Miss Luella B. Carr, a daughter of Leonard Carr, of Clyde, Ohio. Their pleasant home is situated on East Forest Street. Mr. Stark is a Republican in his political views, but he is an active politician only so far as the interests of good government demand. Fraternally, he is identified with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias.


COLONEL WEBB C. HAYES, second son of Rutherford B. Hayes and Lucy Webb Hayes, is the present owner of Spiegel Grove, which has been his residence and the summer home of the other members of the Hayes family, since the termination of his military service. He has not only achieved a high degree of success as a manufacturer at Cleveland, but has attained distinction as a soldier and a local historian. He has the honor of being the only soldier who served in battle in each of the four campaigns Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippines and China. He was wounded and had his horse killed in the assault on San Juan at Santiago and was awarded a Congressional medal of honor for distinguished gallantry at Vigan, P. I.


Colonel Hayes was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 20, 1856, and for a few months attended school at Chillicothe and Cincinnati, before being sent with his older brother, Birchard, to live with his uncle, Sardis Birchard, at Spiegel Grove in 1866, where he attended the public schools until he entered Cornell University. He was personal secretary to his father, while the latter was serving his third term as Governor of Ohio, during his campaign for the presidency, and during his administration as President of the United States. In 1881 Colonel Hayes moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he began his business career as treasurer of the Whipple Manufacturing Company. Six years later, in association with Myron T. Herrick, James Parmelee and W. H. Lawrence, he organized the National Carbon Company, of which he is still vice president, a concern of great magnitude, which operates one of its branches at Fremont, While a small boy, he developed a fondness for the military, hunting, and an out-door life, and his patron saint from childhood, until the latter's death in 1890, was Major General George Crook, U. S. A., the foremost hunter and Indian fighter of the United States Army, who had caused him, while a child, to be uniformed as the junior second lieutenant of his father's regiment during the last year of the Civil War, and later taught him to hunt the big game of the Rocky Mountains ; grizzlies, elk, and Rocky Mountain sheep, in his annual vacations from business during the last thirteen years of the general's life. Colonel Hayes always took an active interest in military affairs, and served as an active or veteran member of the First Cleveland Troop, later Troop A, Ohio National Guard, for seventeen years prior to the war with Spain. He served with Troop A, as the personal escort of all of the presidents of the United States from Hayes to Taft, and at the funeral obsequies of the three Ohio presidents, Hayes, Garfield, and McKinley. He was active in securing the acceptance of a regiment of voluntary cavalry, and the expansion of Troop A into the First Ohio Cavalry, for the War with Spain. This regiment had five graduates of the United States Military Academy among its officers, and every member of Troop A of Ohio became a commissioned or non-commissioned officer of the First Ohio Cavalry, in the war with Spain.


Colonel Hayes was enrolled April 26, 1898, and commissioned major of the First Ohio Cavalry, and mustered into the United States service with his regiment at Columbus, May 9, 1898. He was immediately ordered to report to Major General W. R. Shafter to accompany the First Expedition against Havana early in May, and on the change in plans, rejoined his regiment at Chickamauga Park, where he remained until he embarked with the Fifth Army Corps at Port Tampa, Florida, on June 6th for Santiago de Cuba. He reported to Brigadier General S. B. M. Young, commanding the Second Cavalry Brigade, to which the First Ohio Cavalry had been ordered assigned when equipped and was at-


HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 731


tached to the brigade staff when the Transport "Leona" No. 21 sailed before the arrival of his regiment. He served through the campaigns of Santiago de Cuba, and for the invasion of Porto Rico, participating in the first landing at Daiquiri, Cuba, June 22, the first engagement at Las Guasimas, June 24, the assault on San Juan July 1st, and the siege of Santiago de Cuba, terminating in the surrender of July 17th. He was wounded through the muscles of the back, with contusion of the spine, by a mauser bullet, which killed his horse, at the crossing of the San Juan River, on the morning of July 1st, but participated in the assault on San Juan Hill later in the day, and served until July 8th as acting adjutant general, acting brigade commissary, and acting brigade quartermaster of the Second Cavalry Brigade, vice Captains Mills and Henry, wounded, and Lieutenant Shipp, killed, in the assault, by order of Colonel Leonard Wood, acting brigade commander. On the cessation of hostilities, July 14th, he was detached from the Second Cavalry Brigade, on his own application, and ordered to rejoin his regiment at Tampa to accompany it to Porto Rico, and on July 15th boarded the transport "Hudson," with other wounded, but remained in Santiago Harbor until the 19th. Sailed from Guantanamo Bay, on the Lampassas in Major General Miles' Expedition for Porto Rico and participated in the engagement at the First Landing at Guanica, Porto Rico, July 25th ; temporarily attached to General Garretson's staff, and served with his brigade in the engagement on the Yauco Road July 26th. While scouting on July 27th he received the surrender of the town of Yauco, and was placed in command of an expedition to Talaboa, by General Guy V. Henry, commanding Provisional Division, en route to Ponce. Ordered to report to Major General Brooks at Arroyo, August 9th, and attached to his staff, and served in the advance against the Spanish forces on August 13th, which was stopped by the news of the signing of the Peace Protocol. He sailed August loth from Ponce for New York and rejoined his regiment in camp at Huntsville, Ala., September 13th, left Camp Wheeler, Huntsville, Ala., in command of the Cleveland Squadron, Troops A, B and C, First Ohio Cavalry, which was mustered out of service at Cleveland, October 22d, 1898.


On the breaking out of the insurrection in the Philippines he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-first U. S. Infantry, recruited in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee and organized at Fort Thomas, Ky., in July, 1899, by Colonel James S. Pettit of Ohio (Captain First U. S. Infantry) who with the remaining field officers were graduates of the Military Academy, This regiment was the first to reach San Francisco en route to the Phil. ippines, but on the eve of sailing on the transport "Grant," an epidemic of small pox broke out and the entire regiment was transferred to the Small Pox Detention Camp on Angel Island, from which, six weeks later, on October 25, 1899, Ligget's Battalion Companies I, K, L and M, the "small pox battalion," with a detachment of hospital corps men, all under command of Lieutenant Colonel Hayes, sailed on the U. S. Army transport, "Manauense," for Honolulu and Manila, to be followed by Colonel Pettit with headquarters band, and the remaining companies of the regiment on the Pacific Mail Steamship "City of Peking." It later transpired that the Manauense, a British ship, whose last cargo. curiously enough, had been saltpetre, had been thrice condemned and refused for transport purposes at Seattle, but had been brought to San Francisco freshly painted and, in the great scarcity of merchant ships, owing to the British war in South Africa, had been accepted as a transport. Her boilers were patched up and many additional lights and electric fans added to the already overloaded electric plant. A new refrigerating plant and a water distilling plant were hurriedly installed just before sailing, but the water produced was too salty for use and the true condition of the ship became so apparent before Honolulu was reached, that many of the crew deserted at that point. The trip from Honolulu to Manila was a succession of horrors.

Small pox was again reported by the surgeons from the sick bay, the electric plant broke down, cutting off the lights and the electric fans in the quarters of the men and compelling them to sleep on the deck during the


732 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


remainder of the voyage, except during the days of the typhoon, when the hatches were fastened down.


The morphine-eating chief engineer opened a sea valve which could not be completely closed, shipping thirty tons of water, which flooded the fire room, putting out the fires, and causing the boilers to leak, clogging the pumps with coal dust, so that all the water had to be bailed out with pails by the soldiers, over one hundred of whom were on duty continually for twelve days bailing until the ship reached Manila. The distilling plant collapsed, cutting off the water supply and necessitating the use of salt sea water in preparing coffee. The ice plant failed, causing the loss of all fresh meats and vegetables, which had to be thrown overboard. The coal in the starboard bunker caught fire and had to be removed after the fire was drowned out and then after the soldiers had repaired or plugged the leaking boiler tubes, and gotten up steam by feeding coal to the fires by hand, the ship was struck by a typhoon and with no one on deck save the soldiers forming the bailing crew, who were securely lashed, she was driven a derelict without steam before the storm for three days until picked up by her consort and slowly made her way into Manila Bay, arriving November 28, 1899. The regiment was ordered to the Southern Islands and was the first permanent American garrison on the Islands of Mindanao and Isabella de Basiland, establishing regimental headquarters at Zamboanga early in December, 1899. Pending an investigation of the conduct of the engineers of the Manauense, Colonel Hayes was ordered to report to his old commander, General Young, then on an expedition through Northern Luzon, and sailed on the hospital ship "Relief," and the war ships "Wheeling" and "Princeton," arriving off the port of Vigan late in the afternoon of December 4th, 1899.


On being landed on the beach he found through a Spanish interpreter that the American garrison of eighty-three men with 150 sick and wounded, had been surrounded by 800 Filipino insurgents, who had them cooped up in the monastery buildings on the Plaza at Vigan. It being too near dark to land the sailors and marines that night, Colonel Hayes seized a Filipino pony and forced its owner by the use of his revolver to accompany him through the Filipinos stationed along the trail, and in the darkness succeeded in reaching the garrison. General Young, with his cavalry, and Captain McCalla, U. S. N., with his sailors and marines, arrived at Vigan December 5th, in time to drive off the insurgents and relieve the garrison. Colonel Hayes was subsequently awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry at Vigan and accompanied General Young- to his northern campaign. On being relieved from duty in Northern Luzon he reported at the regimental headquarters at Zamboanga, December 31, 1899, and served with detachments of his regiments at Parang-Parang, Pollok, Cotta-Batti, and Davao, and as senior officer of a joint army, navy and civil government expedition, at a conference with the Sultan of Sulu, the spiritual head of the savage Mom tribes of Mindanao and :fob̊.


He returned to America via the Suez Canal on leave of absence just at the outbreak of the Boxer insurrection in China and, resigning, accompanied the American Relief Expedition to Peking, being appointed a volunteer aid on the staff of Major General Adna R. Chaffee, commanding. He participated in cavalry raids from Peking and on the disbandment of tlle China Relief Expedition, was relieved from duty and returned to America with the remains of Colonel E. H. Liscomb, Ninth Infantry.


On the outbreak of the war between Russia and Japan, with whose soldiers he had served in the Relief of Peking, he again visited the Orient and accompanied General Japanese army on its advance to the Yalu: and while en route to Chefoo from Korea was captured by Russian torpedo boats and taken a prisoner into Port Arthur, but released after a short detention and proceeded to Peking and then visited the Russian army near Mukden. On his return he witnessed one of Admiral Togo's bombardments of Port Arthur, the blowing up of Dalny by the Russians, and the landing of the Japanese army which effected the capture of Port Arthur.


On returning to America he called attention


AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 733


to the unmarked battlefields of American soldiers in Cuba and China and securing Congressional aid, he, as president of the China Battlefield Commission, and secretary of the Santiago Battlefield Commission, has been instrumental in marking these battlefields, this necessitating numerous trips to each of them. He has taken an active interest in the local historical affairs pertaining both to his county. and State—and secured the marking of historical sites and the reburial of Major Croghan's remains on Fort Stephenson. He has recently presented to the State nearly one-half of Spiegel Grove, including that portion through which runs for almost half a mile, the old French and Indian Trail of 1755, later known as the Harrison Military Trail of 18a12, for a State park, in charge of the Ohio State Historical and Archaelogical Society, of which he is a life member. He is a trustee of the Western Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland, and has recently been appointed by Governor Judson Harmon a member of the Perry Centennial Commission of 1913. He is a member of numerous patriotic societies by inheritance and is an active member by reason of his own military service of the campaign societies known as "The Society of the Army of Santiago de Cuba," "The Society of the Army for the Invasion of Porto Rico," "The Military Order of the Caraboa,” "The Military Order of Moro Wars," "Thy Military Order of the Dragon," and "The Medal of Honor Legion." He is a member of the Union Club of Cleveland and of the Army and Navy Clubs of Washington, of New York and of Manila.


ISAAC A. EISENHOUR, one of Sandusky Township's respected and highly esteemed residents, has lived on his present well cultivated farm of seventy-four acres, situated in Section 7. for more than a half century, and his estimable wife has lived here all her life. Mr. Eisenhour was born in Stark County Ohio. July 1, 1836, and is a son of Thomas and Jane (Weston) Eisenhour.


The father of Mr. Eisenhour was horn in Pennsylvania and his wife came from England.

They lived in Stark County until their son. Isaac A.. was four months old, and then removed to Wood County and settled as pioneers in Freedom Township. Thomas Eisenhour died on his farm in Wood County in 1847.


Isaac A. Eisenhour was left fatherless when eleven years of age and thus was deprived of a great deal that makes boyhood an easy and contented period of life.. By the time he was fourteen years of age he was practically thrown upon his own resources. He found employment on farms in Sandusky Township, Sandusky County, and has made his home here ever since. In April, 1857, he was married to Miss Sarah Lay, who was born on the present home farm, July 11, 1837. Her parents were John and Salome (Bowman) Lay, who came to Sandusky Township in early days. They redeemed all this land from its wild state and they became very well known people in this section, living long and useful lives. To Mr. and Mrs. Eisenhour have been born three children, namely : William A., who is now deceased: Mary A., who is the wife of Harmon Moellman, of Fremont: and Lawrence 0.. who resides in Sandusky Township. He married Mary E. Rafferty, a daughter of Felix Rafferty, who now resides on Franklin Street, Fremont. Lawrence Eisenhour and wife have one son, Clifford A.


Mr. and Mrs. Eisenhour are leading members of Salem Lutheran Church of Sandusky Township. In politics he and son are Democrats.


MARION JONES. a representative business man of Vickery, where he has been engaged in the hay and grain business for fifteen years, owns a fine farm of 126 acres, which is situated in Riley Township, on which he resided until the fall of 1899. Mr. Jones was born in Riley Township, Sandusky County, Ohio in 1858, and is a son of Rev. William and Rosanna (Dennis) Tones.


Rev. William Jones was of Scotch descent and was one of the best known early ministers of the United Brethren Church in Northern Ohio. In 1835 he came to Wyandot County taking up the duties of a missionary to the Indians, and while residing there for a few years lived on the Indian reservation. He then moved to San-


734 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


dusky County and in the then prevailing wilderness of Riley Township, erected a log cabin. From this humble home he journeyed forth, traveling through the unbroken country for miles on horseback, carrying his words of cheer and comfort to the isolated settlers and performing the pious duties of his position. He died in the midst of his usefulness, at the age of sixty-two years. He married Rosanna Dennis, who was born in Pennsylvania, and she survived him many years, dying in 1901, at the age of eighty-two years. They had ten children born to them, nine sons and one daughter, namely : John W., who is now deceased, was a soldier in the Civil War; James, residing at Port Clinton, served in the Civil War; Charles, residing in Pemberville, Wood County, Ohio, served in the Civil War, and was a prisoner at Andersonville ; Henry, residing at Clyde, enlisted in the Civil War at the age of sixteen years and was with Sherman's army in the march to the sea ; Edward, who resides in Riley Township; Nelson, who was accidentally killed at Martin, near Genoa; Louis, who resides in Riley Township; Marion ; Benton, who is now deceased ; and Maria, who is deceased, was formerly the wife of Joseph Pearson, of Riley Township.


Marion Jones grew to manhood on the homestead in Riley Township and prior to 1899, when he purchased property at Vickery,. continued agricultural pursuits in that section. He is a member of the Vickery Grain Company, at Vickery, being in partnership with J. J. Pearson and William Wolf. They do a very large business in grain, feed, fuel and other commodities.


In 1879, Mr. Jones was married to Miss Mary A. Smith, a daughter of Wallace Smith, of Townsend Township, and they have two children : Alma, who is the wife of Ralph May, of Townsend Township ; and Della, who is the wife of John Wright of Fremont. Mr. Tones and family attend the United Brethren Church at Vickery. In politics he is a Republican. He is identified with the fraternal order of Modern Woodmen of the World, at Vickery.


GEORGE D. EVANS, a retired farmer and highly respected citizen of Scott Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, residing on Section 5, in which he owns eighty-three acres of the old homestead farm, was born May 9, 1834, in Bristol County, Massachusetts. His parents were James and Hannah (Dean) Evans.


James Evans was born, reared and married in Massachusetts. From there he came to Sandusky County, Ohio, his family consisting of wife, six sons and one daughter. He took up 160 acres of Government land in Section 5, Scott Township, and before his death, in 1864, had cleared sixty acres of it. He was a man of intelligence and integrity and was active in the early civilizing movements in this section. He identified himself with the Republican party after its formation, but never was willing to accept political office. His widow survived until 1897. They were worthy members of the Presbyterian Church and both were interred at Sand Hill Cemetery.


George D. Evans \vent to school through boyhood and then became a valuable assistant on the home farm. After he married he located on eighty acres of the homestead and has resided here ever since. He has excellent buildings and a fine orchard and also has a good income from twelve oil wells on his place. Mr. Evans has always been a loyal, law-abiding citizen and testified to his patriotism in the early part of the Civil War, when he enlisted on August 9, 1862, in Company A, 111th O. Vol. Inf., in which he served faithfully for three years. He was honorably discharged in June, 1865. He went through the campaign in Tennessee, and participated in a number of the hardest fought engagements of the war. He was many times in great danger, but fortunately escaped both wounds and capture.


Mr. Evans was married to Malinda Botchwell, who died in 1894. She was the estimable and well beloved daughter of Henry Botchwell. One son survives her, Guy A., who has charge of his father's farming interests. He married Ida Spade and they have one son, Guy, Jr. Mr. Evans and


AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 735


son are not active in politics, but they are both earnest citizens and they vote with the Republican party.


J. C. FISHER, one of Scott Township's leading men, a capitalist and very large landowner, whose home is in Section 8, where he has 160 acres, has four other farms in the same township, aggregating 700 acres, together with producing oil wells, stock in many financial institutions and an improved farm of 320 acres in Monroe County, Michigan. Mr. Fisher was born May 1, 1848, in Scott Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, and is a son of George W. and Clarissa (Black) Fisher.


George W Fisher was born in Richland County, Ohio, October 27, 182o, but spent the larger part of his time at Lexington until his parents brought him to Sandusky County. In 1845 he married Clarissa Black, a daughter of William and Rhoda (Skinner) Black, and they had four children : Rhoda J., John Calvin, Melissa and William Franklin. After marriage, George W. Fisher settled in a log cabin on the line between Jackson and Washington Township, and during that time he worked for Michael Shawl, who paid him fifty cents a clay during the summer seasons and in the winters, a sixpence for each large deadened oak tree he cut down. He then engaged in farming in Jackson Township, in 1848, moving into Scott Township and then to Washington Township. During 1857-58 he was engaged in the marble business at South Bend, Indiana, but this undertaking was not successful and he lost a large amount. From there he returned to Scott Township and settled on rented land until the spring of 1861, when he bought 160 acres in Jackson Township. This he sold and purchased 140 acres in Ballville Township, which he also sold, subsequently buying fifty-five acres and also selling that tract. About this time he closed out his business affairs and retired to -a comfortable little place of ten acres, near Ballville, and there his death occurred in September, 1899, his burial being in the Ballville Cemetery. He was well known all through the county and while credit was given him as an astute man of business, he was universally regarded as honest and upright in all his opera tions. He was a Republican in politics and in religion, he was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. His widow survived until October 8, 1906, and she was laid to rest by his side in 'the Ballville Cemetery.


J. C. Fisher was educated in Jackson Township and at Oberlin College, spending two terms in the latter place, after which he became his father's helper on the farm. After he married he lived on the bank of the Sandusky River, in Ballville Township, until 1881, when he moved to his present farm in Section 8. Scott Township, on which he has resided ever since. His other land in Scott Township is thus distributed : eighty acres in Section 17; 160 acres in Section 10, 160 acres and 141 acres, both farms being in Section 3. Mr. Fisher has improved his property with excellent buildings and undertiling. Although he has such a large acreage, he raises no crops to sell except wheat, making use of all else he raises to feed to his live stock, the raising of which is a large feature of his work. Formerly he fed as many as 1,000 head of lambs annually, but later gave all his attention to horses and cattle, being the largest shipper in this section. He has thirty producing oil wells on his home farm. He is a stockholder in the Croghan Bank at Fremont, and one of the directors of the same ; is a stockholder and director of the Helena Bank stockholder in the Mechanics' Bank at Bradner ; and a stockholder in the Livestock Yards at Fostoria. In large measure, Mr. Fisher has retired from business activity. In the management of his large properties he has shown great foresight and much progressiveness. In expending large sums to improve his land, he really displayed commendable frugality, for in this way the fertility of his fields was increased and the growing of finer live stock made possible. He has not been unmindful, while attending to so many personal interests, of the demands of good citizenship, taking an interest in everything that has promised to advance the prosperity of his township. He has been active in school matters and for several years served on the School Board, served one term as township trustee and two terms as treasurer.


On July 3, 1873, Mr. Fisher was married to Miss Celia Moore, who was born in Ballville


736 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


Township, Sandusky County, a daughter of James and Harriet (Patterson) Moore, and to them were born the following children: Claude, who married Anna Bowe, and has two daughters, Celia and Beatrice; Guy, who resides at home; Webb, who married Lottie Gschwindt; James M., who married Dottie Hartman, and they have a daughter, Naomi; Maude, who married R. A. Thompson, and has a son, Wilson Edward; Blanche, who married M. A. Hutson; Clara, who lives at home; Bruce and Brice, twins; the former of whom married Lena Halbeisen; Lester, who lives at home, and George, who is now deceased. Mr. Fisher and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics, Mr. Fisher and his sons are Republicans.


ETHAN ALLEN BEEBE. one of the oldest residents of Townsend Township and a member of one of the earliest pioneer families, was born March 17, 1826, in Townsend Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, and is a son of Azariah and -Mary (Ryon) Beebe.


Azariah Beebe was a native of Ontario County, New York, and he came to Cleveland, Ohio, about 1810, and into Sandusky County in 1824. He purchased eighty acres of Government land, a tract now owned by his daughter Harriet, and subsequently added 160 acres to his possessions. He died December 12, 1834, aged fifty-one years. His widow survived until December 11, 1864, when she was seventy-three years old. They had the following children : Amy, William, Almira, James, Harriet, Aaron, Enoch and Ethan A. There are but two survivors of this family of eight children—Harriet and Ethan Allen. The former has reached her ninety-first vear and the latter, the youngest of the family, is hale and hearty at the age of eighty-three.


Ethan Allen Beebe had few educational advantages in his youth. as pioneer conditions prevailed during his boyhood in Townsend Township, but he was reared in a domestic: atmosphere which was tinged with New England thrift and homely virtues. When he began life for himself, he bought the tract of 100 acres, on which he now lives. this being 1850, and to this purchase added the Alpheus Mack farm of ninety acres, then later the Crandall farm of eighty acres, making his present holdings aggregate 270 acres. Since his marriage, in 1867, Mr. Beebe has rented his farms and has spent all his time on the road as a salesman and collector for the Ambrose Ochs Carriage and Buggy Company, of Fremont. He is widely known all through this section of Ohio, his territory being a large. one. He is identified with the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Maccabees.


On January 2, 1867, Mr. Beebe was married to Miss Sylvia Savage, a daughter of Samuel S. Savage, at one time of Townsend Township. The father of Mrs. Beebe was born at Windsor, Vermont, February 20, 1790, and during the War of 1812, served as a musician in a company from Waitsfield. He married Zilpha Gillett, in Genesee County, New York, and in the fall of 1844 they came to Sandusky County. In 1847 he removed to Fulton County, Ohio, where he died April 16, 1871. His widow survived until March, 1880. To Mr. and Mrs. Beebe was born one daughter. Ida, on August 31, 1870, but she scarcely survived childhood, dying in 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Beebe attend the services of the Universalist Church at Sand Hill. In his political sentiments, Mr. Beebe is a Republican.


GEORGE WALTER, one of the most progressive farmers of Sandusky County. Ohio, and the owner of one of the best improved and finely cultivated estates, owns 117 3-4 acres of land a part of the old homestead, situated in Woodville Township, three miles from the village of Woodville. Mr. Walter was born on this farm, February 3, 1855. and is a son of Louis and Anna (Hennis) Walter.


The parents of Mr. Walter were natives of Germany. Louis Walter came to America when about twenty-eight years of age. locating at Wheeling. Virginia, where he continued to live for about two years. He came to Sandusky County when all Woodville Township was yet Government land, entering a tract which has never been out of the Walter name since that time. He

and wife had many hardships, but they lived


AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 737


to enjoy prosperity in their old age. Louis Walter died when nearly eighty-four years old and his wife when seventy-nine. They had a family of ten children, namely: John, Louis, Rosanna, Peter, Rebecca, David, Wesley, George, Mary, and an infant that died at birth.


George Waiter obtained his education in the township schools and then entered into the oil producing business and also became a large farmer. For thirteen years he cultivated .a farm of 16o acres for his father, and when the latter died, in association with his brother, David Walter, bought out the other heirs. In 1904, Mr. Walter added thirty-nine acres more by purchase, bringing his acreage to its present amount. This farm is acknowledged to be one of the best in all this section, Mr. Walter in his management adopting modern methods of agriculture and making improvements along every line. Some fourteen years since the old farm residence was destroyed by fire at a great loss of property and causing the death of a brother. In the building, of his new home, Mr. Walter introduced modern conveniences, and appliances of all kinds that are seldom found in rural homes. He has his own heating and lighting plant, with a system of pipes through all his buildings. and the motive power is supplied by three windmills. The cellar of his house was blasted out of solid rock, this giving many advantages. The superstructure contains ten apartments. all of which are fitted up suitably for comfortable and refined living.


Mr. Walter married Miss Helen Nuhfer and they have three children : Frank, Carl, and Emma. Frank Walter married Edna Baker and they reside in Fremont. Mr. Walter and family attend the German M. E. Church at Woodville. In politics, he is a Republican. fie belongs to the fraternal order of Foresters at woodville.


EARL C. HUSS. a representative of one of the earliest families or Green Creek Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, and one of its leading citizens, resides on his valuable farm of eighty-eight acres. situated about four and one-half miles southeast of Fremont. He was born August 28, 1859, in the old log house on his father's farm in Green Creek Township, and is a son of Christian and Catherine (Rathbun) Huss, and a grandson of Noah Huss, who was born in Germany.


Noah Huss, named for his father, accompanied the latter from Germany. The family lived at Little York, Pennsylvania, where the younger Noah was married, and in 1825 he moved, with his own family to Sandusky County, locating in Green Creek Township on what is now the Kernaham farm, then a wild and sparsely settled section of the county. They were true pioneers and lived in their wagon until a log cabin could be put up in the clearing hastily made in the woods. As plenty of wild game could be secured they were able to exist until they could make the land productive. He married Mary Burkholder and both died on the place. They were parents of many children, all of whom have passed away with the exception of one son, Jacob Huss, who resides in Green Creek Township, with Chaplin Rathbun.


Christian Huss, father of Earl C., was born on an island in the Susquehanna River, opposite Little York, Pennsylvania, February. 2 r, 1815, and was about ten years old when the family came to Sandusky County. He assisted his father to clear the land and remained at home until his marriage, when he settled on a farm of 240 acres on the west side of Green Creek, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1864. He married Catherine Rathbun, who survived until 1893. They had the following children : Chaplin R.; Eliza M., who marrred John Morrison; Noah B. ; Wilson, who died in 1842; Frances, who died in 1844; Burr, who lives on the old home farm; Maurice L., who resides at Clyde; Mary Jane, who is deceased; Oliver P.; Barbara E., who lives in Fremont, Indiana; Saxton P., who lives in Yuma, Arizona, and Earl C. The mother of the above family was born at Avon, New York, and when she was three years old her parents came to Lorain County, Ohio, settling bear Black River. Four years later they moved to Sandusky County, finding more Indians than whites in this section. They proved friendly and she grew to womanhood among them


738 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


without fearing them or ever being harmed, and learned many of their methods of life and also their language.


Earl C. Huss was four years old when his parents moved into the present family home and shortly afterward the father died. The whole family grew to maturity here and all attended the country schools. Mr. Huss, desiring to retain a part of the homestead for himself, bought out the other heirs, from time to time, and now has a well developed farm of convenient size and its well ordered condition proves him a capable agriculturist. In October, 1883, he married Miss Hattie Bax, a daughter of Alfred and Maria (Braund) Bax. Mrs. Huss was born in Brantford, Ontario, September 20, 1859, and was sixteen years old when she came to Ohio. Her parents were natives of England. Mr. and Mrs. Huss have six children : Alfred E., Clay L., Harry B., Lillian Mae, Floyd E., and Laura E. In politics, Mr. Huss is a Democrat. Fraternally, he is an Odd Fellow and also a Mason, belonging to the Blue Ridge Chapter, Council and Commandery at Fremont.


B. B. SMITH, who is engaged in a drug business at No. 110 South Front Street, Fremont, also conducts a store in the Elk Block, which is devoted mainly to cigars, tobacco, candies and soda water. Mr. Smith is a representative business man of this city. He was born here, January 9, 1877, and is a son of Olen Rozell and Linda (Burgoon) Smith.


Mr. Smith is the fourth born in a family of nine children, the others being as follows : Margaret ; Clara, now the wife of John Walters, formerly principal of the State Street School, Fremont ; Laura Gertrude, who also was a teacher, married George P. Hafford ; Eva, who died aged sixteen years ; Ralph P., who is in the U. S. Navy ; Jessie, who died in 1908, was the wife of Walter T. Childs ; Frank R., married, who assists his brother B. B.; and Eula, who lives at home.


B. B. Smith completed the common and High School course at Fremont and 'then entered the University of Michigan and was graduated there in chemistry and pharmacy, in the class of 1899. Previous to this he had been in the employ of the late R. P. Buckland, who, at that time owned the store Mr. Smith now conducts. Upon his return from college he had a year of experience at Elyria and one at Norwalk and then bought the present business from Mr. Buckland, and has brought it to a high state of efficiency, making it thoroughly reliable in every particular, and conducting it along modern lines,


Mr. Smith was married August 10, 1904, to Alice Norton, who is a daughter of Charles A. Norton. Mr. Smith is identified with the Masons, 'the Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows.


J. W. BONAWIT, one of Scott Township's representative men and public officials, resides on his well improved farm of forty-six acres, which is situated in Section 19, Scott Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. Mr. Bonawit was born in this township, October 14, 1842, and is a son of Jacob and Hannah (Chestnutwood) Bonawit.


Jacob Bonawit was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, April 30, 1796. He came to Stark r County, Ohio, in early manhood and there married Hannah, a daughter of Abraham Chestnutwood. She was born March 6, 1806. They had a family of eleven children. Three years after marriage. Jacob Bonawitt left Stark County and in 1837 moved into Wood County, Ohio, and from there to Sandusky County, in 1842. He settled on a tract of eighty acres, which is now owned by his son, J. J. Bonawit, and later he bought forty additional acres and the old sheepskin deeds of the original owners came into his possession. The greater part of this land was cleared by Jacob Bonawit. He made no attempts to put up fine buildings, a log cabin and barn contenting him. At the time of his death he was a man of substance, owning 120 acres in Scott Township. He was a Democrat in politics and served one term as township trustee and during a large part of his life was a member of the School Board. In his early days he was fond of hunting and was so excellent a marksman that he could excel the Indian youths with whom he competed. His death occurred July 18, 1886, his wife having died August 29, 1884. They were


AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 739


members of the Evangelical Church and their burial was in Trinity Cemetery.


J. W. Bonawit went to school during boyhood and then settled down to afarming. His father had worked both as a farmer and bricklayer and stone-mason and the sons gained from him a good working knowledge of both trades. After marriage, J. W. Bonawit engaged in farming, first on rented land in Scott Township and then in Montgomery Township, Wood County, but in a few years returned to Scott Township and settled on his present farm. Here he put up all the substantial farm buildings now standing, but has not destroyed the old farm-house that has weathered the storms of sixty years. It is in strong contrast with the present residence. Mr. Bonawit has his land all well drained and he has six oil wells on the place.


Mr. Bonawit married Miss Eva Blessing, a (laughter of George and Margaret Blessing, and they have five children, namely : Anna May, Franklin, Marv, Minnie and Charles. in politics, Mr. Bonawit is a stanch Democrat and has served as a member of the School Board, as constable and as supervisor.


N. B. MASON, one of Clyde's representative citizens, for many years a justice of the peace and also concerned in agricultural and mercantile enterprises, is an honored veteran of the great Civil War, having given four years of his young manhood to the service of his country. Mr Mason was born April 9, 1839, at Canandaigua, New York, and is a son of Rev. John B. and Laura ( Shaw) Mason.


The father of Mr. Mason was born in Massachusetts and died in advanced age, in Wisconsin, in July, 1888. He served as a soldier in the Mexican War, afterwards became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church, but later in life was similarly associated with the Baptist Church. He married Laura Shaw, who was horn in New York and died at Clyde, Ohio, in 1885. In 1856 they visited Sandusky County, Ohio, where they remained only two years, going from here to Wisconsin. Their family consisted of six sons, three of whom served in the Federal Army, and two daughters, both of whom married soldiers of the Civil War. The family bore the following names : Van Rensselaer, Joseph, Eliza, N. B., John Colby, Mary, Brooks H., and Fred E.


N. B, Mason attended school until he was fourteen' years of age, and then, in spite of his youth, was given the contract to carry mail and passengers between Ontario and Rochester, New York. He must have been a youth of more than usual physical development and stability of character to have been entrusted with the mail coach, which frequently required four or more horses to transport passengers, mail and express, over a road not any too well constructed. He accompanied his parents to Sandusky County and remained after they and other members of the family had removeda to Wisconsin. On October 12, 1861, Mr. Mason enlisted for service in the Civil War, entering Company A, 72nd 0. Vol. Inf., with which he remained connected until his honorable discharge on July 21, 1865. He had a long and hard service, experiencing almost every vicissitude to which a soldier is exposed. He was captured twice by the Confederates, escaping once, and he visited every southern state with the exception of Texas. The 72nd Regiment of Ohio Infantry made a notable record. It lost heavily in many battles, especially at Shiloh, Vicksburg and Brice's Cross Roads ; seventy-eight of its members succumbed to the inhumanities practiced at Andersonville, six were ruthlessly shot while prisoners of war, and nine perished in the explosion on the Sultana, on April 27, 1865. In every battle and every march, Mr. Mason was with his regiment until he was captured on June 11, 1864, after which he suffered every indignity and hardship that have made the names of those southern prison pens, Andersonville and Florence, remembered with horror after the grass has grown green over the graves of many of their victims, these many years. Mr. Mason was confined in Andersonville from June to September, when he vas taken to Florence and was kept there until March 1, 1865, when he was paroled. He then returned to Clyde and after a necessary period of recuperation, he became engaged in various business enterprises which he continued for a number of years. He has been a very active citizen in all that per-


740 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


tains to the welfare of Clyde and on many occasions his public-spirited efforts have resulted in great good to his community.


Mr. Mason was married February 22, 1859, to Miss Elizabeth L. Carleton, whose father was Rev. aThomas J. Carleton, a well known minister, and they have had the following children : Nellie, who married R. G. Tyler and has two children—Carl and Vira; Elizabeth, who is now deceased; Nathan H., who married Alice White; George A., who married Annie White; Maud A., who married O. C. Perrin, but died in September, 1904 ; and May.


Mr. Mason served as sheriff one term, 190203, being elected on the Republican ticket. In 1878 he organized a militia company, of which he was the first captain. He is very prominently identified with the Grand Army of the Republic and was first commander of McPherson Post, which was organized August 15, 1877. He is also a member of the Union Veteran Union. With his comrades Mr. Mason often lives over again those years of strife, their recital of personal experiences recalling vividly to mind the scenes of those strenuous days of 1861-65—the contending armies, the roar of cannon, the rattle of musketry, the pall of smoke, the shouts of victory and the groans of the dying. Also, as experienced by some, the sickness, Starvation and misery endured in the war prisons of the South. Only the old veterans can understand these things in their full significance; the younger generation pass them too lightly by ; notwithstanding, despite an appearance of ingratitude sometimes indicated by State legislation, the veterans are still honored by all who understand the principles for which they fought and the priceless legacy they secured to their country in a restored and solidified union. Mr. Mason fraternal connection with the order of Odd Fellows and for many years was very active both in 'the lodge and in the encampment.


JAMES L. PARKS, a venerable citizen and justice of the peace of Riley Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, owns and resides upon a farm of 100 acres. He comes of a family which has long been prominently identified with the affairs of Riley Township and of the county. He was born on a farm in that 'township, December 13, 1836, and is a son of James and Mary (Boyer) Parks, and a grandson of James Parks, Sr., who is said to have come to this country from the North of Ireland and located in Pennsylvania.


James Parks, father of the subject of this record, was born in Union County, Pennsylvania, November 14, 1799, and was educated and grew to manhood in his native State. His education, like that of Abraham Lincoln, was limited to six months in a common school; his manual training, however, was of wider scope. As a woodworker and tiller of the soil he proved himself equally proficient. Hunting and fishing were the diversions of that early day, and that he was an expert marksman he proved in after years. Desirous of preparing himself more thoroughly for life's duties, he apprenticed himself to a wool-carder, soon becoming an adept in his chosen profession, and while thus engaged he also acquired a fair knowledge of the German language which was a boon to him in later years. He was married September 17, 1824, to Miss Mary Boyer, his faithful companion through a long and eventful life. He came to Ohio in the fall of 1832. locating first in Seneca County, and to Riley Township in the spring of 1833. His team, wagon and what he was able to carry, together with a family of eight persons and 50 cents in cash, were all he had with which to begin life in the wilds of Ohio. The struggle for subsistence was a severe one, but heroic efforts, combined with skill and good management, soon overcame the greater difficulties and the dawn of prosperity began to glimmer. He was not long in gaining the confidence of the people., not only of his own township but, of the county as well. which was attested by his election to various public offices. First he served as township clerk and superintendent of schools, closely followed by the office of justice of the peace. which he filled at various times for nearly a quarter of a century. So ably were these offices looked after and cared for by the incumbent, in 1847 his name was placed upon the county ticket as a candidate for sheriff. He was readily elected. and inspired by the confidence the people reposed in him, filled


AND REPRESENTATIVE. CITIZENS - 741


that position as zealously as the former ones. At one time during his incumbency there was a jail delivery, and one of the fugitives, a colored man, who was shackled, could travel but slowly. The sheriff hearing of his whereabouts mounted his horse and started in pursuit. When he saw the sheriff, he attempted to escape by taking to the woods; when the words "Halt or I'll shoot" reached his ears, he stopped and started to return. On the way he said : "Massa, would you shot me if I hadn't stopped?" whereupon the sheriff replied. "I certainly would if I had had anything to have shot you with." In relating the incident he said he had nothing but his riding whip. The prisoner replied, "If I know dat, you nebber catch me." Mr. Parks was not a soldier in the Civil War, as he had passed the age limit, but times at home were as strenuous to him as though he had been at the front. He was accused of disloyalty to the flag and was threatened with mob violence because he could not be coerced into disloyalty to his political party, If the confidence of the people of Sandusky County was shaken by these accusations, it was soon restored. In the autumn of 1866 he was chosen to represent Sandusky County in the legislature. After filling this office for two terms. he retired from active life to his home near Riles- Center. where, with his aged companion, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, he spent his declining years. He departed this life October 4, 1872, at the age of seventy-two years, ten months and twentv days. Of the children born to James and Mary Parks, five survive, namely : Hannah M., who resides at Toledo. Ohio, and is the widow of James W. Hone : James L.; Oliver H., of Fremont, Ohio : William G., of Riley Township ; and Mary E.. wife of George Doell, of Sanduskv Township.


James L. Parks was reared in his native township. Although his educational advantages were limited to the public schools, he acquired a good education through reading and being brought in contact with those who had had better schooling than he. He is a broad and liberal minded man, who for many years has had an influence in the affairs of moment in his township. From his early clays, his business transactions have been characterized by a high order of intelligence and good management, and he made steady advancement. He served as clerk of Riley Township two years, and has been justice of the peace six years, his commission running until January 1, 1912. He has been zealous and conscientious in the discharge of the duties of office, and well merits the esteem and confidence of the public which is accorded him,


Mr. Parks was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Mooney, who was born in Carroll County, Ohio, and was a daughter of Jacob Mooney. Five children were born of this union, of whom two are living : Nettie L, and Ray V. Those deceased were : Herbert B., James L. and Mervin C. On January 9, 1905, the subject of this record was bereft of his wife by death. She had been to him a faithful companion and a true helpmate.


PETER P. BULLINGER, one of Scott Township's self-made men, successful farmers and respected citizens, owns forty acres of valuable land, one-half of which lies in Section 29 and the other half, on which he resides, in Section 28, his home being on the south side of the road. His parents were Francis P. and Mary F (Bumgardner) Bullinger. Both parents are now deceased, the father dying in 1884. and the mother in January, 1890, and both were buried in the Catholic Cemetery at Millersville.


Peter P. Bullinger did not have many educational advantages in his youth, but all the schooling he obtained was secured at Kansas, in Seneca County. He remained at home Helping his father until he was twenty-two years of age, when he married and then engaged in teaming, at Kansas, for several months. He then bought his first twenty acres in Scott Township. This land was timbered and swampy, so much so that he had to cut down trees before he could build his cabin, which still stands as a landmark, and subsequently expend much time and labor in draining it. He still has five acres of land that has never been under the plough. All the substantial buildings now standing, Mr. Bullinger put up. He has been a hard and persevering worker and now


742 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


has his land in fine condition, producing excellent crops and giving pasturage to his stock. There are five producing oil wells on his place, bringing in a comfortable income.


On August 18, 1874, Mr. Bullinger was married to Miss Mary Lehman, a daughter of Leudegar and Barbara (Staub) Lehman, and they have had the following children : Anna M., who is now deceased; Margaret E., who married Claude Ulsh, has two children—Thelma and Mary Pauline ; Clara, who was formerly a successful teacher, but now is at home; Rosa, who married Vern Hull, has two children—Vendetta and Paul Vernon; Tena, who married Willis Fowler, has one son. Claude J. ; and Ida A., who is a popular teacher in Scott Township and is teaching her second year. Miss Clara Bullinger passed the Boxwell examination in 1897, and Miss Ida A. in 1906. The latter is an accomplished musician, excelling as a pianist. Mr. Bullinger and family are members of St. Mary's Catholic Church at Millersville. In politics, he is a Democrat. He is one of the representative men of his neighborhood and has served six years as school director and two years as road supervisor. He is a stockholder in the Rising Sun Bank.


DR. LA QUINIO RAWSON. In the chapter on the medical profession something of Dr. Rawson's professional career has been given to which the reader is referred, but Dr. Rawson's life was not confined to the medical profession, though he was prominent in that, but was devoted to public affairs to an extent which makes his life a part of the history of Sandusky Cdunty. As to his medical practice, it is, however, proper further to state that the year 1834 was an epoch in the medical history of this county, The cholera scourge prevailed, and many of the frightened people of Lower Sandusky locked their doors and refused to leave their houses or to admit visitors. The village population at that time amounted to about three hundred, a large per cent. of whom were afflicted with the fatal disease, and the mortality was large. Four men,—it is a delight to record their names and preserve the memory of their disinterested charity—Dr. Rawson, Mr. Brown, Mr. Birchard, and Judge Hulburd, went from house to house of the afflicted, performing the tender offices of physician and nurse, and, when sad necessity required, attended the rites of burial. This was the first visitation of the cholera on the Sandusky. It subsequently appeared several times, but never with such fatal results.


As the country developed, Dr. Rawson's practice grew more extensive and remunerative. His practice was laborious, but a physique capable of almost any endurance was his best inheritance. The rugged labor of his early life was a fit preparation for the toils of his professional career. In his case vigor of body was happily equalled by vigor of mind. To a close and extensive knowledge of medical scrence he brought the aid of practical judgment.


Many were the regrets, in 1855, when he announced his intention to withdraw from professional life. His patients cherished toward him more than professional affection. He had been to them a prompt friend in every hour of physical distress and anxiety. Aside from his skill and sincere honesty in the treatment of diseases, Dr. Rawson had one characteristic as a practitioner worthy of imitation by members of his profession. He never failed to meet an engagement. Every summons to a bed of sickness was promptly answered by his cheerful presence, regardless of financial condition. or prospect of remuneration.. He thus endeared himself to the people whom he served.


He was successively appointed to the office of county clerk from 1836 to 1851, inclusive. His laborious professional business 'made it necessary that the charge of the office should be confided to a deputy.


We have now briefly traced the career of Dr. Rawson as a practitioner of medicine during a period of nearly thirty years. But his career of usefulness by no means ended with his retrrement from professional life. He had accumulated considerable property, and had for years been alive to every enterprise which promised to become a public benefit. In preyious chapters of this volume are detailed the history of three of the most important public improvements in the history of the county, the


HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 745


plank-road from Tiffin to Fremont and Fostoria, the Cleveland, Toledo & Norwalk Railroad, and the Fremont & Indiana Railroad. In the plank-road enterprise Dr. Rawson worked actively and vigorously, and when money was wanted his hand went deep into his treasury.


To detail Dr. Rawson's connection with the other two enterprises would be to repeat what has already been said by one familiar with all the circumstances. Dr. Rawson and others, when the Cleveland, Toledo & Norwalk Railroad was first inaugurated, obligated themselves to indemnify the county commissioners, who, without ample personal guarantee, refused to issue the bonds, as authorized by vote of the people of the county.. When stock books were opened, Dr Rawson was among the heaviest subscribers. For the history of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, with which the name of Dr. Rawson is so closely associated, we again refer to a preceding chapter. To the united energy of the incorporators—L. Q. Rawson, Sardis Birchard, James Justice, Charles W. Foster, and John R. Pease—the country benefited by this road is indebted. The leading spirit and advocate from the beginning was Dr. Rawson, who, at the first organization of the company in 1853, was elected president and director, and served in that capacity until 1875. For about twenty years he had the general management of all the interests of the road. His connection with the county agricultural society is duly mentioned under the proper head.


Dr. Rawson married, July 8, 1829, Sophia Beaugrand, daughter of John B. Beaugrand, who was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1768. He was married in St. Anne's Church, Detroit, in 1802, to Margaret Chabert, daughter of Colonel Chabert de Joucaire, of the French army. Mr. Beaugrand was a merchant at Maumee from 18o2 till 1812. He then went back to Detroit, where he remained till 1823, then came to Lower Sandusky.


Mrs. Rawson was born October 20, 1810. The family of Dr. and Mrs. Rawson consisted of seven children, four of whom survived childhood—Dr. Milton E., Joseph L., Eugene A., and Estelle S.


CHARLES E. MAY, deceased, for a period covering thirty-four years was a prominent citizen of Townsend Township, having interests of various kinds and so conducting his life and affairs as to leave behind him a fair and even record. Mr. May was born in Livingston County, New York, in 1840, and was a son of Hiram May, of old Empire State ancestry.


Charles E. May was reared in an agricultural district and remained at home until the second year of the Civil War, when he entered the Federal service as a musician in Company. A, 58th N. Y. Inf. After his honorable discharge from the army, he engaged in farming, coming to Sandusky County, in 1865. He worked as a farmer and also in the oil fields until 1870, when he settled permanently in Townsend Township. He owned a farm of fifty acres and he managed his wife's property, which included forty acres in Townsend Township and eighty acres in Green Creek Township, which she inherited from the estate of her father, Franklin Richards. In addition to his farming and stock-raising interests, Mr. May, for over thirty years conducted a sawmill and a sorghum and cider-mill on his farm. These mills were. burned in 1902. Mr. May took an active interest in the affairs of his township and served as township trustee for six years previous to his death, which took place on May 13, 1904. He was a man of great kindness of heart, was charitable and neighborly, and in every way was held in high esteem by those who knew him best.


Mr. May was married March 1, 1870, to Miss Frances Richards, a daughter of the late Franklin Richards of Townsend Township, and they had three children : James H., Ralph E. and Blanche E. James H. May was born May 26, 1872. He married Carrie Lincoln-back, of Sandusky, and they resided in Townsend Township. During the Spanish-American War he served as corporal in Company I, 6th O. Vol. Inf. Ralph E. May was born August 18, 1877. He married Alma Jones, of Riley Township, Sandusky County, and they live in Townsend Township. Blanche E. May was born April 20, 1889. She resides with her mother on the homestead in Townsend


746 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


Township. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church at Vickery.


CHARLES L. HEINEMAN, a prominent and substantial citizen of Madison Township, who carries on general farming on his 120 acres of valuable land, situated in Sections 25, 26, 11 and 12, was born May 5, 1867, in Madison Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, and is a son of Jacob and Mary (Kennel) Heineman.


The father of Mr. Heineman was born in Germany and came to America in early manhood, working for a time in New York as a plasterer, and was married there to Mary Kennel. They came to Sandusky County, Ohio, where Jacob Heineman bought fifty-six acres of land in Madison Township. He engaged in farming and also worked as a plasterer, and died on that place January 29., 1893. He was survived by his widow until May 3, 1905, and they both were buried in the Gibsonburg Cemetery. They were hard-working, thrifty, honest people and good Christians, worthy members of the Evangelical Church.


Charles L. Heineman attended the country schools through boyhood and then remained at home and helped his father until his own marriage, when he made arrangements by which he worked the homestead farm for five years. He then purchased forty acres of his present holdings, then a second forty acres and still later forty acres more. He has done considerable improving, putting in 10,000 tile for drainage and erecting new farm buildings or renovating those already standing. He has two fine orchards, one of which he set out himself and has an abundance of fruit, the old belle-flower and the wine-sap varieties doing well. Mr. Heineman owns also a house and lot on East Madison Street, Gibsonburg. He has always been interested in the good government of his community and has served as road supervisor of the township. Like his father, he is a Democrat.


On September 11, 1889, Mr. Heineman was married to Miss Mary I. Taylor, a daughter of J. B. and Cynthia (Campbell) Taylor, and they have six children, namely : Elsie, who married Emory Snyder, son of Noah Snyder, has two sons—Claude and Clyde; Cynthia, who is now deceased ; and Roy E., Herbert, Verta Irene and Howard T., all residing at home. Mr. Heineman and family attend the Disciples Church. He is a member of the K. 0. T. M.., Tent No. 115, at Gibsonburg.


STEPHEN WOLF, who has been in the real estate business in Fremont since 1868, and has taken a very active and useful part in the development of the city, was born in Gueinelingen, Baden, Germany, November 22, 1851, a son of Gervas Wolf. When he was eleven years old, his mother having died, his father determined to come to the United States, and accordingly embarked, the subject of this sketch accompanying him. The vessel was burned at sea, but the crew and passengers were rescued by another vessel. This had the misfortune to be wrecked on the Cape Verde Islands, and Stephen Wolf and his father, after clinging all night to a rock at the imminent danger of being at any moment washed off and drowned. were picked up the next night by a British man-of-war and carried to Liverpool. From there they took ship for the United States, landing in New York City. In the New World metropolis Stephen Wolf found employment for some time in driving a bakery wagon. Subsequently, however, he went to Philadelphia. and from there a little later to Cincinnati, Cleveland, Sandusky and Fremont, Ohio, successiyely, arriving in this city in 1868. He soon became connected with the real estate business. in which he has since continued with such success, having been thus engaged longer than any other man in Sandusky County. He has erected more houses here than any other three men and Wolf Avenue was named in his honor. He resides in a very beautiful home on West State Street.


Mr. Wolf has two sons—Jerome Garfield and Scott Stephen. The former acts as his father's foreman in his building- operations, having control of from twenty-five to thirty men. He married Cecelia Ronsky and they have three children—Stephen, Angela and Mildred. The other son. Scott S., is now a leading insurance man of Fremont. He married Adelaide M. Busold of this city and they


747 - AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS


have two sons—Carl Stephen George and Clarence Gervas. The subject of this sketch belongs to Croghan Lodge, No. 77, I. O. O. F., of which he has been an active member since April 19, .1873. He is widely respected for his qualities as a man and citizen and for the work he has done in the development of the city of Fremont. Mr. Wolf was an intimate friend of the late Ex-President R. B. Hayes and handled much of his real estate.


JOHN FOOS, residing on his valuable farm of 185 acres, situated in Section 1, Scott Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, was born September 3o, 1833, in one of the provinces of France. He came to America in boyhood, landing in the port of New York on July 4, 1842.


Mr. Foos soon found work near Rochester, New York, and what few school advantages he had, he found at Rochester. When he was twenty-one years old he came to Ohio and worked for a time as a distiller in Butler and in Montgomery Counties, also south of Millersville in Sandusky County, subsequently returning to Montgomery County, where he lived six more years. After his marriage he bought a small farm near Hessville, from which he came to his present place, buying sixty acres at that time. Just then the Civil War broke out and Mr. Foos became a member of the 32nd O. Vol. Inf., and while in the service marched over hundreds of miles of historic territory through manv states and was finally taken sick and sent to Fort Shiloh, where he was later discharged. When he returned home he lived on a farm near Hessville for ten years, 'then bought eighty acres in Washington Township, on which he lived for five years, and later bought 145 acres, which he still owns and to this he still later added forty adjoining acres on the east side. He had no buildings to erect but has done a large amount of draining. The larger part of the land is under excellent cultivation, there being about twelve acres devoted to pasturage and timber.


On April 16, 1858, Mr. Foos was married to Miss Eva Buchman, a daughter of John Buchman, and to them were born the following children : Mary, George, John, Jr., Frances, Caroline, Catherine, Theresa, Susanna, Albert and Edward. Of this family three are deceased : Mary, Catherine and Theresa. Mr. Foos and family are members of St. Mary's Catholic Church at Millersville. In politics he is a Democrat and served one year as township supervisor, making an excellent officer. Mr. Foos has practically retired from farm work. He is one of Scott Township's best known citizens.


DANIEL M. POTTER, is the active head of the D. M. Potter Drain Tile and Brick Company, a large and flourishing concern of Ballville Township. He is the owner of eighty acres of land on which he lives, and is one of the foremost men of the township, taking an active interest in all that pertains to its development and welfare. He was born in the vicinity of his present home, April 19, 1860, and is a son of Henry Jarvis and Zeruiah Ann (Dawley) Potter, and a grandson of Merritt D. and Maria Potter.


Henry J. Potter was born in Oswego County, New York, October 27, 1836, and was there reared on a farm until he was eighteen years old. In the spring of 1854 the family started west for Steuben County, Indiana, and got as far as the home of Daniel Dawley in Green Creek Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, when Mrs. Potter was taken sick. Mr. Dawley offered them 'the use of an unoccupied house on his place, in which they lived until fall before resuming their journey. Upon arriving, in Steuben aunty, Indiana, Mr. Potter purchased a farm, on which he was assisted in the work by his son, Henry, who in the winter months engaged in teaching school. In 1857, Mrs. Potter died, and soon after Henry Potter returned 'to Sandusky County, Ohio. There he worked on the farm for Daniel Dawley, whose daughter, Zeruiah Ann Dawley, he married on September a15, 18c7. He soon after bought eight acres of timberland in Green Creek Township, on which he built a log cabin, which later was destroyed by fire. Mr. Potter picked up some lumps of clay which had been burned to a bright red color, and this was the first indication that the soil was excellent for brick and tile making. He had in his employ as


748 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY


farm hand, Daniel McNutt. In addition to farming he engaged in teaching at the old Powers schoolhouse, located about two miles west of his home. In 1863, he became a member of Company K, a volunteer military company organized for the defense of Ohio. Mr. Potter enlisted for three years' service as a member of the 72nd Ohio Vol. Inf., with which he served in numerous battles and skirmishes until he was taken prisoner, June 11, 1864. His experience was a terrible one. He was taken to Andersonville Prison, June 17, 1864, and was stripped of all clothing and valuables, being given for wear a pair of pants, a blouse and a cap. The record of the indignities of that prison life, the hardships and privations endured, forms one of the blackest pages in the history of the Rebellion. It rained steadily for two weeks after he was taken there, and with the others of the 32,000 Northern soldiers he received scarcely enough to eat to keep him alive, and the food given was served raw After a month of confinement, Mr. Potter became ill with the scurvy, but received no medical treatment except such as his comrades could give. He was mercifully relieved of his sufferings by death on August 23, 1864, and 108 other Union soldiers were laid to rest on the same day. When news of his death reached his saddened family and friends, a funeral service was held at the Dawley schoolhouse, November 1, 1864, Rev. James Long, who had united him and his wife seven years before, officiating. Potter Post, G. A. R., at Green Springs, was so named as a tribute to his memory. He was a devout member of the United Brethren Church, and was one of the trustees of Mt, Lebanon Church.


Daniel M. Potter has always lived in Sandusky County, and received his educational training in the district school located on the southeast corner of his farm, and in the schools at Green Springs, Fremont and Clyde. He was but four years of age at his father's death and it early became necessary for him to look after the management of affairs for his mother. He continued to do so until his marriage in 1881, when he started out for himself, locating on the farm on which he now lives. He continued farming for a couple of years, and then began the manufacture of drain tile and brick on a small scale. He first did all the work himself, but as the demand for his products grew, his working force was increased proportionately until he now employs an average of eight men. His entire output is purchased by the farmers in the vicinity, and he does an annual business approximating $6,000. He has served as a member of the school board of Ballville Township for thirteen years, and is at the present time president of that body Politically, he is a Republican.


On December 25, 1881, Mr. Potter was united in marriage with Miss Etta A. Huss, a daughter of Chaplin R. and Ellen (Morrison) Huss of Green Creek Township, and they became parents of the following children : Mabel Ellen, who was born August 30, 1884; Henry, J., who was born May 30, 1886; James C., who was born August 31, 1891 ; Merritt P., who was born August 21, 1901 ; and Myron T., who was born June 4, 1903. Mabel Ellen Potter was united in marriage with Henry Sibbrel, of Green Springs, and they have a daughter, Mary Etta, who was born August 7, 1906. Henry J. Potter, who lives on a part of the home farm and assists his father, was united in marriage with Miss Maud Hawk.


Fraternally, the subject of this record is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Green Springs, in which he has filled all the chairs ; and of the Masonic Lodge at Green Springs..


HARMON V. BECKER, who is promrnently identified with the leading interests of Clyde, Ohio, is president of the Elmore Manufacturing Company, a concern which has more than 200 men on its pay roll and is engaged in the manufacture of the well known Elmore Automobile. Mr. Becker was born in Schoharie County, New York, September 24, 1826, and is a son of David H. and Hannah (Loucks) Becker, and a grandson of Harmon Becker. His paternal great-grandfather was the first of the family to arrive in the United States, corning from Germany and locating in New York State.


David H. Becker was born in New York State, and lived there all his life, engaging in